Marks of Harmony

by Lapis-Lazuli and Stitch

Epilogue: One More Letter

Marks of Harmony
Epilogue

Dear Twilight Sparkle,

No doubt this letter finds you filled with righteous anger and no short amount of confusion. But such emotions will be yours to sort, and alleviating any sense of them is not my due: at least not necessarily. However, there are some things I wish to share with both you and the majority of Equestria at large.

I first insist that no effort be made by any to locate me and my followers. You will fail. At any rate, I am confident that in time, there will be no need to search for me. My reputation and the reputation of that which I shall build will speak for itself and colts and fillies across the world will know the name of Red Dunes.

Secondly, I have included a list of all the names of my current followers. I am sure it will aid Celestia in ascertaining how many have departed, but her ease of governing is not the list’s primary purpose. It is there for those whose family members and friends were left in favor of what I offered that they might truly consider the truth and legitimacy of what I spoke.

And lastly, I mean to address the matter of Inky Jay’s current condition. Where we have gone, we have not the time nor the resources to care for an invalid, thus my choice of leaving him behind. That said, I am more than aware of the danger of one of my disciples forced into residence in Equestria. To that end, I am placing him in your care Twilight Sparkle. From the Device that transmitted this letter is also the last of my battle harnesses and the notes I created regarding its operation. I believe you are the only one capable of fully understanding Device mechanics, Twilight Sparkle, and thus I feel that with some ingenuity you will be able to modify the harness to allow my scribe to walk again, if not fly as well.

Should Celestia, Luna, or any of the other powers now levelled against me disagree with this decision, I bring to their attention their other options. They might well execute him for association with myself, but I would implore they consider the public backlash upon their discovering his integral role in aiding the Elements. They might remove him to a prison, but I do not believe I need elaborate upon how swift his death will be in one of those houses of half-lives.

Thus, I rest my case upon where he ought to reside. I do feel the need to reiterate my further points. All else I wish to say can be found in the open invitation to Red Dunes I have sent to Celestia for Equestria at large. If one believes in a higher being, a greater truth… we will find them and take them in

Sincere vestrum,
Aurora Virgarum
Investigator Intelligentia

Twilight stopped reading, taking the second sheet of parchment in her magic and saying, “And this is the list of names. There’s over three dozen here. I never knew…”

“And did she send the harness?” Inky Jay asked from where he lay propped upon the cot.

“Wait… you’re not upset?” Twilight asked, somewhat bemused. “She abandoned you. You don’t—”

“I am neither discouraged nor elated,” Inky interrupted her. “I grew up the Land of Red Dunes and her points in that regard are more valid than you realize. But… I am changed. The disciple of Aurora Streak that I was is just that… was. I will never be able to change the new ways she taught me of analyzing the world, nor will I ever shake my contempt for the complacent; but you showed me that ideology, however valuable, is not a tangible thing. The disciple I was believed otherwise. I am not the same; thus I do not feel the same.”

“Well then,” Twilight said, trying to put on a cheery voice to slice through the weight of all the events so recent, “since you asked, yes, she did send the harness. But I really haven’t had enough time with the negotiations to actually go through the notes; and actually, just looking at it sends a twisting feeling into my stomach.”

“I will not forget the image of those Changelings myself,” Inky replied. “But you need not rush. Bearing in mind this will be my natural magic the harness will be tampering, I would rather wait and be lame than hurry along and die.”

“Besides, you do need to get to know everypony better if you’re going to be living here,” Twilight said. “Can’t really get around it if you can’t go anywhere.”

“I suppose… though I hope they understand that I am still largely the same pega— pony they knew,” Inky cautioned. “I hold back no criticism.”

“I’m sure they’ll figure it out,” Twilight assured him. “I’ll come by later to give you something decent to eat for supper.”

“I still have three weeks in this bland tent before they allow me a wheelchair, so you can be sure I will still be here,” Inky answered, closing his eyes for undisturbed rest as Twilight exited the ward.

Comments

[Xaldon Ajide]

yea when the sequel comes up just put a link in a new chapter for it.

[Heliostorm]

Well, I unfortunately can't say I liked this ending too much. All things considered, it just feels too incomplete. I realize it's obviously preparing for a sequel, but at the same time I can't help but feel that something should have been resolved. It's in a strange in-between spot where it's not like, say, the Fellowship of the Ring, which was clearly just part of a larger story and thus didn't need any kind of strong resolution at the end, and a true story ending. Aurora's escape also felt a bit like a Diabolus Ex Machina to me, and just reminds me of the retconned ending to Portal 1 with the robot dragging you back into Aperture to set up the sequel. Emotionally, it's very unsatisfying to see the protagonists put in so much effort and finally succeed, only to have it all been for nothing in the end.

I suppose it's justified by the fact that it's just Part 1 of X. I guess I'll just hope that things are resolved more neatly in the sequel.

[Dee Forty-Five]

And it finally comes to an end.

And my questions still far outnumber my answers.

Still, kudos on creating a complete fic of such size and ambitiousness!

[Inky Jay]

3162227 3173157
What things in particular were you guys wanting to know? While I obviously won't go into sequel material, maybe there's some stuff that I could safely elaborate on. Stuff that didn't exactly come out as clearly as I had intended.

[Dee Forty-Five]

3174142

Well, I think that a fair bit of information that the story had was resolved; my major thing is that the end chapters set up so much for the next installment with Verdance and his little subplot, that they felt more like sequel preparation than a denouement.

Other questions are: Where the hell did Aurora get the House of a Thousand Fangs? Did her ideology spread beyond Ponyville? Did she even expect it to? Were the various teasings of Discord red herrings or does he have some roll to play? How does Shining Armor feel about an alliance with the Queen who brainwashed him? Are there still ponies brainwashed by the Element of Loyalty running around?

[Inky Jay]

3174401
Okay, so I can actually answer all of your questions without being spoilery.
First, Aurora built the House on her own. In the beginning scene with Aurora, her reference to 'flouting the laws of the land for the longest time of anypony in history' is an indication of her original prison having been transformed and expanded over her thousand years in exile. The House was literally built, little by little, underground over her thousand years of exile. The original site of its construction will be witnessed up-close in the sequel.

Second and third, yes and yes. Aurora chose Ponyville as a target primarily for its proximity to Canterlot (a not so subtle insult to Celestia), but also because, being close to Canterlot, Ponyville is situated as an Equestrian crossroad town of sorts. Even in the event of her failure, she supposed traders and artists passing through the town would carry her ideology to places she could not spare time.

Fourth, Discord. I'd like to say more, but without spoiling, I can only say that Discord did not have any part to play in direct association to Aurora, but he does have a incredibly significant role in the larger narrative involving the Arbiters.

Fifth, Shining has mixed feelings on the issue. Obviously the events of the wedding weigh on his mind, but he also has to take into account what Twilight has told him. As of the end of this story, his priority is on Aurora.

And lastly, no there are not. Patrols throughout the ruins were designed to both recover survivors and apprehend the anti-Loyalty affected ponies.

Hope those answers satisfy.

[Spice of Life]

Well that was a thing. You have an interesting concept but there are soooo many little things that just bug the hell out of me in this story, not enough to stop me from finishing it, but more than enough to hurt my enjoyment of it.

Aurora's philosophy got crazier and crazier as the story went on but I think that was the point, it did make her a good villain though, or at least one that was villainous enough to need to be dealt with. My main problem with her is that no one seems capable of arguing that with her, she just monologues and everyone is like "damn, I guess shes right, we should give her everything she wants." All of the negotiations go that way also. In fact they give her more than everything she wants. Even the concessions they want from her get twisted by our heroes so Aurora looks better for having done them. Like letting everyone know about the changelings. I honestly can't remember a single instance of anyone telling her outright "no."

Inkie has the same issues for me, hes an ass, but the world bends over to make sure no one calls him on it, its the same reaction. "Well, he is a jerk but anyone who talks like that must be right so lets just give him whatever he wants." It's not till the end that anyone tries to come up with a real argument at all regarding Aurora's stupid ideology.

Also, Celestia should have just gutted Aurora when she had the chance, something like her is a bit beyond help in any other way.

[Yoda249]

I like dis.

[Inky Jay]

3439763
I like that you like dis.

[Yoda249]

3440689

Indeed.

[ScopeEva]

Wow. That was a blast of a story, I'm also a sucker for sympathetic changeling depiction so that's a good few positive points for me.

This was beautifully written as well, the main six never felt out of character and I really could picture every scene in my head, though a little more elaboration about how Thunderlane came to his line of thinking would be welcome.

All in all I'm surprised this story isn't more popular.

Can't wait to read more from this world of yours.

[Inky Jay]

3447365
A NEW COMMENT!

Thank you for the kind words, good sir. You can look forward to at least two more installments that follow the main events of the tale, and possibly quite a few other side-stories. Pinkie Pie's Lurve Eatery is one such story, though its relation to the universe of Marks as a whole is mostly a utilization of the world built by Marks.

As for popularity... I suppose it's merely lack of exposure and coming into the fandom a little later. Not that I mind. It's kinda nice that with a smaller group of fans I more or less know that the enjoyment of the story is genuine and not based on hype or reputation. But eh, I drag on.

Thanks for the fav again!

[ScopeEva]

3447397 No problem, and I'm reading that one now. I'll be sure to leave my thoughts. Good luck with the rest of them, I'm looking forward to it.

[Inky Jay]

3450514
Unfortunately, I'm well aware of the issue. I'm just being a lazy ass about going back through and correcting all of them. I do change to the correct spelling at some point in the story I assure you.

[Crystal Static]

I doth declare that Inky Jay shall consider writing a sequel.

[Inky Jay]

3796056
You're in luck. I'm finishing up a collab project with Lapis-Lazuli (go check him out for reals) and after that I start earnest work on the sequel. I already have two chapters completed, btw, so GET HYPE!

Thanks for the fav too!

[Crystal Static]

3801144 I know of lapis, he writes some great fics.

And hurry up and get on that sequel, before I go all impatient iron will on you.

[Aelflonra]

Eheh. What can I say. I certainly did enjoy the fiction. Though it's not quite the kind of a fiction I do really like. It, however, did seem a bit similar to Lapis' Codeverse fictions (or however does he call it) in the writing style.

Nice work on the Aurora character if you ask me, I didn't really suggest what would happen once the shield is down. I certainly did suspect something wrong till that time, of course. The ending was... My question is if Thunderlane got under unloyalty beam. Otherwise it is nice to be continued by a sequel. As much as I wait for the Code of Dissonance, will wait for this sequel to be complete. But, there is a way to go for you, 'causa all those mistakes... You know, I was thinking of sand every time I read "desert", it meant "dessert" though as it was revealed further most of times.
Oh, and I just want to complain about Luna's speech, it is different to most fictions, I'd say it's quite overwhelming.
//sry bad english
//any chance "bugpony" to crawl into here?

[Lapis-Lazuli and Stitch]

6162496

Ayo, Inky here. Bear in mind, this was written almost two and a half years ago. I was certainly not as decent a writer, definitely filled with the lingering shadow of teenage angst, and hadn't met any of the people I consider my best friends because of this site. I'm not making excuses for this story; far from it (how you've been able to stomach reading through it at all amazes me). Just throwing out there why it's so god-awful by comparison to our later stuff.

Marks of Harmony: ReMastered is my attempt to tell the same general story with the same general themes with all the skill and maturity I've acquired both as a person and writer since writing the original. Again, I can't express my surprise and thanks for you somehow being able to read the original, but what I have put out of ReMastered I do believe is far better.

Cheers!
Inky

[Drynwhyl]

6823321 why hello there, response to my 2.5 year old comment.

[Razzy]

6823611 I'm good at necromancy.

I liked this story, a lot. Characters seemed true to themselves, I liked the idea of Rainbow becoming a changeling and acting as a bridge between the two nations, Aurora came off as a proponent of mind-based eugenics, instead of getting rid of genetic undesirables, she wanted to get rid of mental undesirables. And your Chryssie was simply awesome.

6162891

I noticed that Marks of Harmony Remastered doesn't have a Chryssie or changeling tag. Does this mean that they're no longer part of the story?

Cya
Raziel-chan

[Lapis-Lazuli and Stitch]

6824175
Changelings are, rather were at this point since I don't know when I'll pick up ReMastered again, scheduled to be involved. Though not Chrysalis. The original Marks was always supposed to be about Aurora, and to a lesser extent, the idea that alicorn OCs were not necessarily impossible to do. While my perspective on how well the story captured that idea has very much changed since I wrote it, the core of ReMastered remains grounded in that objective. In so much as it is a story about Aurora and her alicorn status.

I do appreciate your comment bombs though. As my bestie Lapis said, they're the best.

Cheers!
Inky

[Kichi]

So... There is a little too big of a world building... Do you plan a sequel?

P.S: I wonder if Aurora and Starlight are related or what could happen if they meet each other...

[Raziel80]

Wow,

Love this story and it has one my favorite kind of ending where the good guys win but the bad guys pull a small victory off in the end as well. Though I guess Aurora isn’t a complete villain, but merely misguided in her beliefs. I do think it a shame that Chrysalis will not be in the remastered version, not only a favorite character of mine but great foil for the mane 6 and Aurora in the beginning half of the story. I would have liked a direct sequel to this version, but you are the artist who am I to say how your art should be. I am sure I will enjoy the remastered when it is completed just as much, but I will always wonder what might have been with chrysalis involved. Great work, I hope to keep reading your works.