//------------------------------//
// Chapter 11 - State of Affair's 
// Story: Reborn 
// by Pensive 
//------------------------------//

POV: Mark

Mark was asleep when he was woken by the sound of the wind. Looking around, the tired eyes of Mark saw not but darkness and dark shapes. The only light in the room was the moonlight. Looking at the window, he saw it was open. He would have closed it himself, but being magicless and injured he wouldn't be able to.

Briefly, Mark considered waking Star to do it just to annoy her, though his thought process was cut short when there was a knock on the door.

Mark, being tired and grumpy, thought to just ignore it and come up with an excuse later. Unfortunately, the pony outside decided to come in anyway. Mark only saw a thestral but wasn't sure whom because the lantern light from outside the room nor the moonlight from the window was enough to see any features mark could use to Identify the pony.

The soft hoof steps of the pony roused Star as she shifted, opened her eyes, yawned, and slowly got up.

"Apologies, but I'm afraid the ship is on high alert and ordered to move all non-combatants to a safer area."

It took a few moments for Mark to process what the thestral had said. By the time he did, Star was up and awake although a little confused.

"I'm sorry? What happened?' asked Mark, concern in his voice.

"We're missing some of the captured pirates and everypony is on the look for them. It's currently unsafe right now."

Mark, unsure of how to feel looked to Star who was equally confused. 

"Umm," Star, who just finished wiping her tired eyes said, "so what are we doing...?"

The guard only moved to open a way out of the room.

"We're moving all non-combatants to a secure area. Which includes you two."

Looking at each other Mark and Star shrugged.

"Okay, but what about Mark?' asked Star, "He's still injured-"

Head poking through the doorway was a unicorn guard coming in.

"I'm here you know," said the recognizable voice of Bright Blaze, "so that won't be a problem."

"Then what about..." Mark waved his wings about and pointed at his horn, "these... I thought Eclipse said that Luna didn't want everyone to know about it."

"Didn't Eclipse tell you?" asked Blaze, "The Princess put a spell so even with them exposed or in use, they wouldn't be noticed. Only trusted ponies would notice and or know about it."

"Oh... Then," stumbled Mark, "just give us a moment."

Mark was a bit lost and confused. 'Are there no laws about casting spells without consent? Granted I was asleep and injured but still.' Deciding to ignore that for now, Mark just decided to continue to get up.

Star was already getting up and out of the bed. They didn't have anything in the room with them as most of it was stored away in a mess that neither Star nor Mark wanted to dig through. The storage room mess was far too large and would be far too much effort for what little they brought along for their trip.

Soon, both of them were walking down the hall, Mark carried by Blaze. 

"Where's Moonlight?"

Blaze was the one whom answered, "she was called to help with the search."

With an 'oh' sound from Star, the four of them continued to walk. 

Mark took the chance to wipe his eyes again and looked around again and found it kind of creepy considering that the environment was a dark hall with lanterns placed sparingly and windows even rarer to find throughout the ship. ' Then again, you wouldn't normally even want to create a ship that has windows. Wait... who's dumb enough to add windows to a ship? Ugh, If I ever find the shipbuilder, what he'll get is a piece of my mind.'

Looking at the floor, you couldn't even see your hooves. Deciding not to focus on the creepy environment, Mark tried to get some sleep. The idea of getting sleep was scratched because he wasn't tired. The only reason he was asleep was because of his sister.

Lost in thought, the four of them soon reached the ship's hold. It already had others. Ponies, Zebra's, griffins, and even an Abyssinian. Once Mark realized where they were, he did a double-take when he saw the griffin. Remembering some of the idol chatter with Eclipse yesterday, then he'd guess that the griffin there wasn't with the pirates.

The guards covered most of the entrances and critical spots in case somebody attacked, while the non-combatant's all spread out and stayed in a small group. In general, it looked as if they had all lost hope and are just waiting for it to all come to an end, even though they were technically free.

A more detailed look around showed two young Zebrican foals huddled around an older Zebra mare.

"Thanks," said Mark, "we can take it from here. You guys can return to your duties."

While Blaze slowly let him down to the floor, he still made a rebuttal.

"With all due respect your-"

"With all due respect Lieutenant Bright Blaze," sternly replied Mark looking at the rank on the guard's armor, "whom will protect the others?"

The guard, while stunned a bit tried to make his quick reply.

"Sir, I have order's from princess-"

"Bright Blaze, whom is it you protect? The people, or the princesses?"

Blaze never expected back talk from a foal and not on a matter like this. It took him a moment to regain his composer but nonetheless, he was surprised by Mark as he never thought Mark, as a foal, disagreed with royal orders, alicorn or not. With a deep breath, Blaze made his final rebuttal.

"Sir, as part of the Lunar Guards," Blaze said, "I serve Princess Luna. Just as the Solar Guard her sister and the Royal Guard Equestria."

Hearing that brought Mark's spirits down as he was pulling most of what he was saying out of thin air as he had no idea how the Equestrian military system worked. Luckily for him, he at least partly succeeded.

"However," Blaze said after a few moments with a smile slowly forming, "Princess Luna has made it clear that we are to protect the citizens before even herself. I'll be at the door should you need me."

Walking away, Mark and Star looked at the other pony, Starry Night which his nametag said.

"That means you too."

With a nod, he turned around and left as well. 'Well, Starry Night seems a bit strange. I'll ask Eclipse later.'

"Wow there," said Star smirking giving Mark a light punch to the shoulder, "really taking charge with your new title eh?"

"Please,"  came the reply plus a roll of the eyes, "you know I'm not the leader type."

"Oh really? Didn't look like that to me."

Mark only looked at his sister who had a toothy smile mixed with a slight smirk.

"Oh really? If anything you'd do much better than me."

This comment caught Star off guard as she didn't expect that.

"How so?"

Mark only raised an eyebrow at Star with an 'are you kidding me' look.

"You, my dearest sister," Mark put a hoof up to Star's chest, "was practically a second a second mother to the foals back at the village."

"I-i-! What?!"

"Oh pleeease, Star," Mark slurred, "You can't seriously say that and expect me to believe you didn't realize did you?"

Star was flushed and on the verge of blushing even more. Mark realize she really didn't realize and took to an offensive move.

"Unless... ooh! Maybe... " Mark as circling Star viciously, ignoring the pain of walking around, "perhaps... Just maybe...-oof!"

Mark was swiftly stopped when a pink hoof found its way onto Mark's side.

"Oww! What was that-"

This time, a hoof was holding Mark's mouth. Looking at Star, she was flushed to the point of no return. Mark could practically see her on the verge of collapsing from embarrassment. Knowing Star, Mark knew he'd probably regret this later.

"QUIET!" Star harshly whispered, trying not to gather attention to her brightly glowing face.

While Mark was stopped, he considered that a win. He smirked and looked her in the eyes as she put her hoof down. Turning around, Star walked over to a wall and sat down. Soon enough, Mark followed and sat as well. 'She's going to be angry about this for a while... Eh, too bad sooner or later I'll be healed and we'll be on equal grounds again.'

As the two sat on the wall, Star made an effort to ignore Mark. Mark tried to ignore the fact that Star was ignoring him. Now that was done, Mark looked around the room, and all he saw where other creatures huddled up. To him, they seemed afraid. 'Perhaps, they haven't been as lucky as us'

Mark, now with nothing to do resigned himself to the silence.





POV: Princess Luna

Princess Luna, whom is now mostly awaken walked down the halls to the planning room. Scythe silently floating alongside her. 'It's been well over a thousand years since I've seen you, Stella. I wonder how well kept your blade still is.'

While Luna was idly inspecting her most prized weapon, Eclipse came walking up gaining her attention.

"Princess, no sign of the two yet."

"Any chance they just ran off?"

"No Ma'am, we have no dinghy, and any land is days away by flight. They'd never make it."

The news did not please Luna.

"Then check again, they might not even be in the ship, instead of flying in the shadows."

"Understood."

With that said, Eclipse swiftly relayed orders around.

Luna, while she did not seem angry, she was furious. 'Not only have I been awoken in the middle of the night, but now I have a situation to deal with. Luna would not be merciful when she finds those responsible.'

Luna, walking into the makeshift planning/war room put Stella, her most trust worth weapon in battle on the wall while she teleporting a file she had left in her room she looked at it.

CLASSIFIED BY THE CROWN

She looked at it, knowing that once she has time to ask Mark, it will no longer be empty. It would have a powerful spell that even she dare not attempt if the reports were true.





POV: Mark

Mark soon realized that his mental resilience was far weaker than Star and he found himself nervously shifting around.

"So... uh, Star-"

Mark was cut off by a humph from Star who promptly turned away. Mark decided to give up for now. Looking dead ahead Mark saw something he didn't think he'd see. It was three violin cases, probably stolen by the pirates. He and Star had played orchestra, though they didn't play much anymore, they still knew how to play.

Seeing that sparked a plan in Mark's mind.

"Hey, Star..."

Nothing but the silence of the room was what Mark got in response.

"Look... I'm sorry."

Mark was trying to get a response but even after apologizing, Mark got nothing. 'Granted I'm not really sorry as it was totally worth it'

"But, if you take a look over there you might see something familiar."

Star, unable to resist just a quick look at saw the cases. His eyes widen a bit in recognition, but she quickly turned away in disinterest.

"Fine... I will indulge in whatever your thinking." Stay said, replying in a tone you'd expect an annoyed noble to say.

Seems Mark's plan was going well so far. 'Now time to finish it...'

"Star, tell me," Mark said in a sincere tone, "look around and tell me what you see."

Star sighed inside and slowly looked around and saw something she didn't notice before. Everyone around looked miserable. Less than five feet away was a group of children who stayed huddled with an adult Zebra mare. She never noticed because of Mark's suddenly being annoying.

Sighing aloud, Mark continued, "Cmon Star, let's play a song. At least to ease the worries of everyone here. I know you wouldn't want them to stay in the current state they are in now."

Star looked at Mark, her previous mood forgotten.

"And how do you suppose we play with these?"  Star waved her hooves in Mark's face, "I doubt hooves would work well for us, even if they use magic to grip things."

"We don't," Mark's answer thoroughly surprised Star, "we use these."

Now to was Mark's turn to wave a wing in Star's face. Star only moved it away to stare at Mark.

"Really."

Star's reply was more a statement than a question. Mark only shrugged. In response, Star extended her wings and inspected them. They were preened right before they went to sleep so it was looking fairly fine, but that wasn't what we were looking at.

She ran her hoof along with it and felt each feather react. A minute, she held them in a position as if she was holding a violin. She tested her feather over each string and her other wing holding the bow.

A few moments later, Star was done.

"Okay, I'll admit it could work, but I doubt if it did work we'd play anything well."

"Well fine then, let me try a song and we'll see. Just bring me one of the violins."

Star rolled her eyes and brought over two cases. 

Everyone else, whom already was interested in the two for their unusualness, were even more interested. As Mark opened one of the violin cases he pulled out the violin and started digging into whatever is inside.

"So, brother of mine, what song are you thinking? I'm sorry, I mean what song can you even remember how to play? You don't even have a music sheet."

"Going to use this." Mark instantly replied, pulling out a book full of music sheets.

Star face hoofed.

"Mark, you know you can't just look at a sheet and learn how to play it."

"Which is why I'm using this," Mark pointed at an empty page, "and this generously left bottle of ink plus a quill."

Star at this point wanted to smash her head into the wall.

"Mark, you really think you can write down an entire song from memory?"

Mark only grinned, "Why do you think I was the best in the entire orchestra?"

"Mark... Just because you were the best doesn't- oh wait... Was the entire reason for you playing the violin annoyingly right before we went to sleep so you can memorize it!?"

Mark was now blushing a bit.

"Oh... heheh didn't think you heard it... Was I any good?"

"Mark, think about what you just said. You were the best in the orchestra."

"Oh, right... redundant question..."

Mark flattened his ears and tried to look away hiding his embarrassment. Moments go by as Mark was practically frozen with nothing to do while Star just stared with a poker face.

"Erm, uh, well I need a couple of minutes."

"Fine, but don't come asking me for help if you can't remember something."

Star, now with nothing to do decided to sit back and relax while Mark tries to remember the notes. Unfortunately, she now noticed the attention she and her brother were now getting. She tried to ignore this as everyone else went back to do their own things. Looking around she saw Blaze near the back of the room guarding the door.

"So Star, you wanna play the song with me?"

"What?! No! I don't want to be the attention of everyone when and or if you fail."

"Cmon Star, I don't wanna be the odd one out."

"I'm not the one who wanted to play the violin."

"Really? Because it seems to me, that once I start all the attention will be on us. Do you really want to be the one casually sitting next to me not helping? By the time you do start playing with me the next song, they'll think you just didn't want to help."

Star looked at Mark who was too busy using his wing to write to look back.

"You know there are so many holes I could poke in that, one of the biggest being that everyone thinks differently."

Mark stopped for a moment to look at Star and sighed.

"Fine, how about that favor you never let me use because you were to busy being an angry grump."

That comment got a harder than normal punch to Mark's non-bruised side.

"Say that again and I'll make sure to hit your bruised side."

"Keep doing that and you going to bruise both sides."

That earned a glare from Star.

"Okay, okay..." Mark said, successful de-escalating the chance of another punch, "so is that a yes?"

Star sat for a moment pausing what she was currently doing,

"Fine... but then I'll owe you no such favor."

Her agreement caused Mark to silently shout to himself. 'Mission Success'

Ten Minutes Later

"Ah-ha!"

Mark was finally done writing down two songs. While Mark was finishing the first, he was in the mindset to easily write down another song he remembered so he took the chance. Looking at Star, who was busy playing a game of solitaire.

"W-What?! Where do you get a deck of cards?"

Star only looked mildly amused.

"Following Eclipse's advice of keeping a deck in my mane."

With an unsure face of how to treat the news, Mark just continued on.

"Anyways, I'm finished," said Mark giving Star her sheet, "here's your part. "

Star's eyes wondered over the sheet and recognized the song.

"Did you really choose this song? My role isn't even that noticeable."

Star was scowling at Mark now. Mark sighed inside. 'Oh but dearest sister, you didn't even want to play.'

"It felt appropriate for the situation," said Mark, "besides the song is supposed to have a piano and guitar but for now we're just going-"

Mark suddenly stopped his sentence only to snicker a bit.

"We're just going to wing it."

Star was not amused.

"Oh come on, you can't say that wasn't a least a bit funny."

Star continued to stare.

Mark rolled his eyes a few moments later, "Fine. Just hurry up. I found some rosin if your bow needs it and if you don't remember how to tune the violin I'll do it for you."

"I perfectly know how to tune a violin," Star said indignantly, "Just because you were better doesn't mean everyone else can't do the same as you."

Mark only grunted an affirmative as the two began to use play the violin without touching the bow to the string.

Now everyone in the room was watching them. The few Griffins, Ponies, Zebra's, Foals, and even the one Abyssinian in the back. Their eyes reflected curiosity, even in the state they were in. The Zebra foals especially seemed interested.

As Mark and Star prepared, someone else entered the room but stopped seeing what was going on. That person soon went out for a moment but soon, guards started peaking in seeing what was happening including Mark and Star's personal Guard.

Mark and Star, unknowing that more people came into the room, we're ready to play.

"Ready?" asked Mark, "if you need-"

"Of course I'm ready else I wouldn't be waiting on you," Star said with a light smile.

Mark smiled in return.

"Alrighty then."

Within a moment, the two began to play, skipping pass the piano and guitar part to where the violin starts.

Stating, Mark found that it was quite easy to play with a wing then it is with a hand, however awkward it was to be using a wing, something they've had for not that long. Thought Mark didn't pay attention to that. He focused on the sheet in front of him. With no conductor, if one of them lost tempo, it would be hard to get back on track so there was no room for error.

The crowd around went even quieter then they were before, which was already practically just silence.

The two Zebra foals smiled as they watched and hugged their mother, which cause their mother to smile as well. Others were also smiling, but neither Star nor Mark saw as they were too focused.

When Star's part was shown more obviously, she smiled to herself. She missed the days when they came home and showed their parents how they played the violin.

As for Mark, he was happy to be able to play with his sister. At the very least, the people around would be a little less worried.

Now, the song was coming to an end and as the last note played, they took a deep breath. They turned to look around but were surprised the entire room looking at them and clopping their hooves down on the floor lightly.

Now, both of them were slightly blushing at the attention. Mark took a silent note that the room was filled with more happiness than the depressing theme it had before.

"Wow, I didn't know you two could play."

"AHh!"
"AhH!"

The sudden yelp of Mark and Star ma most of the crowd smile a little bit more.

"Eclipses!" Star said in a tone with her teeth gritted that was practically screaming for Eclipse to stop doing that, "You're going to give us a heart attack."

Both Mark and Star were scowling at Eclipse, whom giggled at their expressions.

"Stop what?" she replied, smirking inside.

Star wanted to smash her head through the wall again.

While the three of them talked, the rest of the crowd went back to doing their own thing, only more lively. Neither of them noticed.

"Well, unfortunately, I'm not here to talk about music. I'm here because Princess Luna wanted to talk with you."

"Why-"

Mark was cut off by a hoof from Eclipse.

"Now's not the time or place to say, though we should hurry as Luna isn't in such a good mood being woken in the middle of the night."

With the reminder, it's night Star yawned, which made Eclipse laugh a bit.

"And I see she wasn't the only one woken in the middle of the night."

"Alright, just let us put these-"

"No need, I'll tell a guard."

Mark and Star looked at each other than Eclipse.

"As I said, Princess Luna is not known to be forgiving when a situation occurs."

"Eh, too lazy to pack the stuff up anyway. Was planning on letting Star do the work herself-"

Mark got a smack to the back of the head for that comment.

"Well, with no more objections lets go."

As the two got up, Mark had forgotten that he was still injured and stepped on a sore hoof. Eclipse whom saw that quickly intervened.

"Don't worry, I'll carry you."

While Mark didn't like how embarrassing it was to be carried around, he rather that then slowly walking around so he accepted the help.

With Eclipse lowing her wings to help Mark get up, Star watched amused. When they were done, the two whom weren't injured began to leave.





POV: Eclipse

After Eclipse told their personal guards that she was taking to from then on it was long before the three of them found themselves walking down a dark hallway, Star teasing Mark as revenge for earlier. They hadn't been walking for long before Eclipse had tuned out the antics of the two. 'Okay, well the search of the other ship was completed 8 minutes ago and the few available unicorns we have begun casting light spells to the water looking for them. After I'm done taking these two, I'll have to-'

"Hellooooo??" said Mark, "anyone home?"

The sight of Mark waving a hoof in Eclipse's face finally got her attention as Mark and Star were looking at here.

"Oh, sorry what did you say?"

"Finally, what do you-"

Mark never had the time it finish his sentence as the window next to them shattered as a black shape in the poorly litten hall knocked Eclipse over to the wall and Mark elsewhere. An oof from Mark hitting the floor was heard.

Eclipse quickly got up to assess the situation and when she saw what was happening immediately pulled her sword out and yelled.

"GUARDS!"