Marks of Harmony: ReMastered
Part 2

Shining Armor tugged the curtain of his train car window closed, exerting careful control to keep from ripping it off the mounting in his foul mood. He was more than familiar with how and what attracted throngs of reporters and paparazzi than most ponies. After all, anypony to whom a Princess of Equestria showed any kind of interest (romantic or otherwise) was a prime target for the media types. But that aside, Shining was better accustomed to shielding his Princess of Love from them as opposed to now, where he was the center of attention instead.

Around him, the best of Equestria’s best, the Crystal VanGuard, kept their curtains open, warily eyeing any of the ponies outside. “Sir,” his lieutenant, Hidden Geode, addressed him. “We received a missive just now from Captain… er, pardon, General Threadwing.” A stunned expression crossed Shining’s face as Hidden carried on. “Both Princess Celestia and Princess Luna have declared the Guard to be in war status and all titles altered thereof. General.”

“What in Tartarus… thanks, Lieutenant,” Shining nodded, still wrapping his head around the decree. The Guard hadn’t been under war conditions since the War of the Sun and Moon despite the many, many creatures and threats that had sprung up under Shining’s command alone. His eyes narrowed. No simple desert rogue could warrant this much of a response, and Shining suddenly had a squirming in his gut he was about to find out more exactly what the Guard was up against when he made it inside the castle.

The train’s already crawling pace began to slow even further, and Shining and the other ponies of the VanGuard took this to mean they were pulling into the station, and thusly began gathering their supplies. Such was the nature of the VanGuard that by the time the doors were hauled open by one of Threadwing’s ponies, all of Shining’s were in rank and file, eyes locked to the path the Night Guard had cleared through the clamoring masses.

It was a cacophony, walking between crowds that were more than likely becoming more scared than confused, but Shining allowed himself a small glow of pride that none of his VanGuard ever flinched or glanced to the side. Threadwing was at the entrance of Canterlot Castle with even more of the Night Guard, and Shining and the rest of the crystal ponies were ushered inside wordlessly. Well, wordlessly until the massive doors of the castle boomed shut behind them.

“Ho, Shining Armor!” Threadwing hollered nearly as loud as the closing doors before tightly embracing Shining.

He returned the brotherly hug with a small chuckle of his own. “Thread,” he said, giving the older stallion a light punch to the shoulder. “You’re pretty cheery for what’s going on.”

“And why wouldn’t I be?!” Threadwing pronounced with an armored smack to his chest. “This is the first campaign of the reinstated Night Guard, and I of all ponies get to be the one to lead them!”

“You could be killed,” Shining shrugged, his mood not helping his sense of morbidity.

“Well, better for a pony of the Guard to die protecting Princess and nation than die of old age,” Threadwing replied.

“If you say so,” Shining said. “I personally have a wife I’d like to see after this mess is sorted out.”

“Can’t fault you there,” Threadwing answered; then, turning his attention to Shining’s ponies, bellowed, “VanGuard, attention!” The lot of them fluidly snapped to the position Threadwing had ordered, and the thestral appeared a touch jealous to Shining. “Okay, here we go. I sent a message to General Armor here, explaining the Guards have been shifted to war time organization by order of the princesses. He probably didn’t get a chance to tell you, so I am. You’ll find a full list of changes in the barracks you’re being provided, and I’ll have one of my ponies take you there. My advice, don’t get settled. We’re expecting marching orders from the Mares Upstairs any day now.” He shifted his attention his attention back to Shining with a questioning brow.

“Dismissed!” Shining ordered the VanGuard, and while they eased from being at attention, remained almost scarily alert. A sharp nod from Threadwing later, and they were on their way to the barracks.

“Damn, command has made me a fat softy,” Threadwing groused to the empty halls as he and Shining began making their way to the throne room. “And the annoying thing is, I can remember when I used to be like those… bucking command lifestyle…”

“Thread…” Shining ventured. “What’s goin’ on? You weren’t ever anti-social or anything like my sis, but you’ve never been chatty either.”

“Tartarus if I know,” Threadwing said. “Only thing I’ve gotten that you haven’t is seeing how wound up the princesses are over that damn letter.”

“There was a letter?” Shining asked.

“Mm,” his thestral grunted. “No envoy. Just a piece of paper. But whatever it said specifically… I’ve never seen Princess Luna so hard edged.”

“The fury you know’s there but don’t ever want to see yourself,” Shining mumbled, quoting Cadence’s description of Celestia when the Princess of the Sun was angry.

“That’s an understatement, brother,” Threadwing replied as they came to the throne room’s entrance, protected by six Royal and six Night Guard. “Let’s try not to be incinerated, shall we?”

“My move again then?” Shining sighed, and when Threadwing nodded, he pushed open the door.

______________________________________________________________________________

“Goodness, Luna, you’d think nice things like half-decent coffee would last at least a few days before it all became this black mud,” Celestia fussed as she entered their little lounge just off the throne room, faithful mug clasped in magical aura.

“It won’t be any better once we begin the march to Caedmon,” Luna replied, her attempt at snark completely obscured by her grim tone.

“Little sister,” Celestia answered her softly. “She will not have the chance to once again take so much from us. That I promise.”

“No, she will merely be yet another reminder of my many failures and another part of my past destroyed,” Luna hissed through gritted teeth.

“Oh no, missy,” Celestia scolded, taking a moment to down the rest of her so-called coffee in a single, flinchingly bitter gulp, “you are not, I repeat not, going to start feeling sorry for yourself and getting so moody with me.”

“Oh, and what would you know of how this feels?” Luna very nearly yelled. “Where is the glorious legacy wherein I might take solace?”

“Sunset Shimmer, amongst other things I’m not going to mention.” Celestia said, voice hard with reproach. “Now, Lulu, if you would kindly pull your head out of your own plot, I came to tell you Shining Armor’s train just pulled in. He will be here very shortly.”

“Sister… I… apologies,” Luna’s voice shook. “I’m tired and let my thoughts wander to selfish places.”

“More like you have a lack of coffee, unless you can call that stuff they’re issuing the Guard coffee,” Celestia allowed a light smile. “Sleep is for the weak afterall. But, in all sincerity little sister, I understand.” She squeezed Luna’s shoulder briefly. “Don’t worry, we should have plenty to complain about in a few weeks.”

“Encouraging,” Luna managed a smirk. “It is just… I cannot figure where I erred all those centuries ago.” She thrust up a hoof, warding Celestia off. “And before you say it, I am well aware I never shall find what I seek. But I cannot help but try for my own sanity.”

“Just make sure your way of coping isn’t the thing that’s actually driving you mad,” Celestia cautioned, slowly pushing away Luna’s raised hoof.

“Celly?” Luna asked, her head tilting ever so slightly as she eyed Celestia. “Does my little Aurora’s return not worry you at all?”

Celestia repressed the flinch in her face at Luna’s affectionate reference to the impossibility challenging them at the border, hoping her sister wouldn’t struggle with a confrontation if Aurora Streak demanded there be one. “It’s not that I don’t worry, Lulu,” Celestia sighed, closing her eyes for a brief spell. “I just worry more about what will happen to Equestria with us at her very edge.”

“Celestia,” Luna said, the tables now flipped with her younger sister’s reproving tone. “Both Cadence and Twilight Sparkle are more than capable of caring for our little ponies. I would expect more faith in them from you.”

“I have the utmost trust in those two,” Celestia replied, choosing to take a seat next to Luna rather than stand as she had been. “I just wish we weren’t always forced to test that trust, nevermind their ability. They are both so young…”

“Fear not, sister dearest,” Luna said with a comforting nod and playful smile. “You seem to be forgetting two other young fillies who faced the impossible odds of an untamed Equestria and succeeded quite well.”

“Seems we’ve been drowning ourselves in our own worries in our old age,” Celestia said, her own smile returning at the sight of Luna’s lifted spirits. “Shall we try to recover some of our dignity and get to the business at hoof?”

“She will be stronger Celestia,” Luna said, not even skipping a beat. “It will not be as simple as marching the Guard to her doorstep and demanding surrender.”

“Unfortunately not,” Celestia nodded with a provoking tap of her hoof. “Nor can we be sure she will be alone. Her letter at least implies she is prepared to face the Guard in open battle.”

“I was thinking, sister,” Luna hesitated, earning a wary glare from Celestia, “we cannot make any firm decisions without knowing who or what she is most fueled to harm. Threadwing -”

“And are you prepared to divulge all of what we know Aurora is willing to do just for the sake of a scouting party?” Celestia inserted with a sharp pleading. “I will not burden Shining Armor with that knowledge, not after seeing poor Nightwash lose his mind to what he’d seen.”

“Keeping things from them is not exactly intelligent either, Celly,” Luna replied with a notable dryness.

“A compromise then?” Celestia asked with a note of hopefulness. “We will of course need to explain the nature of their foe, but I am inclined to keep the details unless they insist.”

Luna gave pause, eyes narrow, but gave a terse nod in the end. “Aurora may not give us a choice,” she said, standing and striding out into the throne room; and leaving Celestia to hope no other ponies would ever have to know the extent to which a pony could descend into into the blackness that was beyond even Luna’s control.

______________________________________________________________________________

The throne room looked much as it always had, save for the large mirror-like table standing in its center and the princesses appearing less like the ponies he had devoted his life to guarding and more like the mythic, armor clad versions of themselves the tales of the War of the Sun and Moon recounted. Princess Luna, in particular, made Shining squirm under his skin with how closely she resembled Nightmare Moon in full plate. And only adding to the unorthodox atmosphere was the presence of none other than Discord.

“Princess Celestia,” Shining spoke clearly, just under a shout, as he came to swift attention.

“Princess Luna,” Threadwing said in kind.

“At ease, the both of you,” Luna ordered them with a wave of her silver armored hoof. “Around the table, if you would.” The pair of captains-become-generals took their places opposite their respective princess, while Discord merely lazily hung in the air directly above the table. Shining eyed him with a wary glare, having not quite forgiven the draconequus for his involvement with Tirek; but Discord had his attention focused on Celestia.

“Princess Luna, permission to speak?” Threadwing asked as Celestia moved one of many crystal totems from beside her throne to the table.

“You need not have asked,” Luna nodded.

“Why is the Lord of Chaos floating over my head and not trying to turn my mane into gum?” Threadwing asked with just enough sardonic restraint to still be within the bounds of decorum.

“To answer your question, General,” Discord sneered. “Dearest Celestia asked me to be here, and I must confess, my curiosity is getting the better of me.”

“We, that is my sister and I, wished to explain the situation only once to the relevant parties,” Luna offered her answer to Threadwing.

“It is of the utmost importance we move both quickly and carefully,” Princess Celestia added as she imbued the crystal with her magic until it cast a three dimensional map over a hinter portion of Equestria. Nearer the desert from Shining’s observation of the rock color. “This is a map of the border town Caedmon and the surrounding valley three days ago,” she continued. “A small flicker of magic later, and the map shifted, a sickly pink half sphere of some kind of magic enveloping the entire valley. “This is from two days ago.”

“It’s pretty big if I’m judging the terrain around it right,” Shining said, squinting at the map. “A magical barrier that size would cause ripples across Equestria. I would know. So why haven’t I or any other unicorns noticed anything?”

“Because, General Armor,” Luna elaborated, “it is highly likely the magic is not being cast by a unicorn at all.”

“Even a gemstone machine would produce some kind of effect,” Discord scoffed. “Trick of the eyes, perhaps?”

“No,” Princess Celestia said stoutly. “Everyone, we believe this to be the work of Aurora Streak, a unicorn who, by all rights, ought to have died several centuries ago.”

“Immortality isn’t all that difficult to come by, Celestia,” Discord shrugged, then casting a smirk to Shining, added, “and that’s something I would know.”

“Streak… I know the name,” Threadwing mused. “She…”

“Aurora was - is - from the old thestral city Cornucopia,” Luna said solemnly. “Your hometown, General.”

“What did she do to earn banishment? What are we walking into here?” Shining asked, still analyzing the map. Under normal circumstances, the valley would be the deathtrap all valleys were famous for being. The only problem with this one so happened to be that Shining guessed the back end of it reached into the Griffon Kingdom, ruling out any way to approach it from all directions. It would easy for him to set up pegasi camps on the surrounding plateau, but the sides sloped easily enough that a night-time ambush wouldn’t be out of the question for his opposition.

“Luna?” Princess Celestia deferred to her younger sister, earning a curious, raised brow from both Threadwing and Shining and a chin scratch from Discord.

“Aurora was a prodigy, even in a city where unicorns were as rare as thestrals were plentiful,” Luna began, taking a deep breath. “I sensed her on a visit, met her, and immediately implored her parents to let me take her back to Canterlot to be properly trained under my care. She was quite like your sister, General Armor, with how quickly she mastered subjects even scholars would spend hours studying.

“But, where Twilight Sparkle is quite content to theorize extensively and practice all the magical arts, my little Aurora devoted herself to becoming a master of the foreign and obscure. By the time she was fifteen years of age, I had allotted her a fair deal of money from the Royal Treasury to run her own lab back in Cornucopia. I should have kept a closer watch on her…” Luna trailed off, and Shining felt his skin itching awkwardly beneath his coat at the site of the princess’ eyes moistening with tears.

“She hid her activities from us for four years before I became suspicious and had Commander Nightwash raid the place,” Celestia inserted quickly, giving Luna a chance to surreptitiously wipe away the hints of tears. “In those years, Aurora Streak had become obsessed with some of the most perverted magic, some even of her own design. She is a master necromancer, changeling magic specialist, and was even beginning work on artificiating the Elements of Harmony.”

“The Hallowed Arts Building!” Threadwing burst out. “That’s an old mage’s lab?! Tartarus! And here I’d always thought it was just a plague memorial.”

“Aurora quietly abducted the poor and destitute for several years for use in her experiments,” Luna said with a markedly forced hardness. “She was making them ‘useful’ according to her own logic.”

“Luna and I covered up her actions, compensated the families for their loss, and blamed the deaths on a barely contained plague,” Celestia explained. “I would have executed her then and there, but Luna stayed my hoof. She was banished to the desert instead, where she would have chance enough to think on and repent of her atrocities before either the griffons rescued her or she passed on.”

“When we heard no word from the griffons of finding a half-dead unicorn in the wastelands, I assumed her gone,” Luna said.

“She sounds like a quintessential madmare,” Discord hummed. “They’re the easiest to play with. I assure you, princesses, between the Generals and myself, we shall have apprehended or destroyed this intruder and rescued the little town. But… ahm, do tell what has you so convinced it is this Aurora character?” He glanced toward the projected map and flicked a flat palm at it. “Not exactly much to go on with that.”

“Discord,” Celestia said calmly with a slow blink. “I appreciate your desire to reclaim our confidence, but I called you here to implore you to stay away from the conflict, not join it.” Discord crossed his arms and eyed the princess with a disbelieving look, and Shining Armor was pretty sure he enlongated his arms to add to the effect. “Aurora does not know of you. If you were to appear, she would see you as a challenge and be less inclined to make mistakes in maneuvering against us. If we exploit her arrogance in her own abilities, this will be over much more swiftly.”

“As for how we can be mostly certain it is indeed my old student,” Luna continued, “as you, Threadwing, have shown, nopony remembers her name. The letter of war was signed to her, and I remember the letters she would send me well enough to recognize her style.”

“I take it she’s no warlock though, Your Majesty?” Threadwing asked. “A necro-manic warlock is gonna require a whole different approach if that’s the case.”

“We know,” Luna nodded. “We must learn what she has become in the past six hundred years before committing to any sort of action. General Threadwing, you and your finest scouts shall be joining your princess on the ahead team.”

“Shining Armor,” Celestia stated, “you and I shall take the bulk of the Guard on march to the border.” She turned to Discord with both an amused and sad smile. “Discord, in our absence, we shall be entrusting Cadence and Twilight as well as yourself with the protection of Equestria. Behaving will go a considerable distance in improving the trust you lost.”

“I understand,” Discord tapped a claw and talon together. “And can’t blame you really.”

“That’s settled then,” Luna said firmly. “Shining Armor, stay with our Sister to decide upon how you will want to arrange our encampments around the valley. Threadwing, we shall accompany you in selecting the away team. We shall set off at the Moon rise.”

“Your Majesty,” both Shining and Threadwing saluted before moving to begin their preparations for what was probably going to be the highlight of their military careers.

Author's Note

Inky's back at last. Twelve hour days are killer and the move to upstate NY was pretty harsh too, but I'm back where I belong doin' the things I love. Can't ask for more than that.

This chapter hasn't been read as thoroughly as I'd like in terms of the editing department (again, twelve hour days makes it difficult to coordinate with peeps) so pointing out the small errors is welcome.

And for those interested, the cast will be starting up again on it's every two weeks schedule the week after episode 100.

Cheers!