//------------------------------//
// 2. The Meeting. (Edited) 
// Story: A Noble Cause 
// by mari tech 
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Luna simply stared at the unmoving corpse. Celestia looked between Conrad and her sister. Conrad sat dead still. It was a strange affair indeed. Luna hefted a war hammer up above her in her midnight colored magic. 

"Sister... Have you been practicing dark magic on strange corpses like in those weird books you read again?" 

Conrad didn't move, but Celestia could feel his gaze upon her. "N-no Luna..." Celestia was sweating bullets as she spoke. 

"Sister..."

"N-no, Luna. I found this one in my closet! Say hi to Conrad!" Celestia nervously pointed a hoof at the skeleton. 

Luna drifted a tired gaze towards the strangely well-dressed skeleton. "Uh... Hi Conrad... Nice threads you have?" 

"Why thank you, Luna, I strive to make a good first impression on all that I meet." Conrad's sudden animation startled Luna into swinging at the corpse. 

"GOOD LORD!" With that exclamation, Conrad's head was across the room. 

Unbeknownst to everyone present, Luna set a new world record for distance in hitting a strange skull across the room. Also unbeknownst to them, the record would be broken soon. 

Celestia stood up almost immediately as did the headless body of Conrad. "Luna! Why!" Luna stood back in shock at her sister's outburst. 

"It's a creature of darkness! It probably wants your bones sister!" Conrad's body ran after the skull that was just ahead of him.

Celestia stared in shock at the still moving body of Conrad. "Look at him! Would a creature of the dark chase it's own skull!? It's something out of one of our filly books if anything!"

"SISTER, IT IS EVIL!" Conrad managed to finally catch up to his own head. 

"CONRAD HAS BEEN NOTHING BUT KIND LUNA!" Conrad dropped the skull back onto his neck, clacked his jaw a bit, and stood up. 

"Your sister has a point, Luna. I have done nothing to threaten anyone since my arrival. Yet you swing thy hammer upon me after only learning my name." Conrad dusted off his fine shirt. "Frankly, I am starting to regret extending my olive branch if this is how you're gonna react to me." Conrad turned away from Luna with his arms crossed.

Celestia looked between Conrad and her sister who was steadily raising her hammer again. With a glare from Celestia, Luna groaned and put the hammer back down.

All was silent for the moment before Luna swung again.

Conrad however, anticipated the swing, and with hurried words, he cut down her resolve to keep going. "Careful shrugging, for thy head is not attached and may take leave if thou shrugged with too much vigor." 

Luna missed her swing completely, burying the hammer in the marble floor while clutching her head. Celestia was flabbergasted at the scene before her, with what seemed to be simple words, Conrad forced Luna to miss. MISS! Celestia found it hard to understand how this could've happened. 

The world seemed to stop at the pure majesty of the scene. The world moved again when Conrad spoke. "My future friend Luna, I am sorry to say I am disappointed in you. I had hoped to show you friendship, but you forced me to use my words to cut you down." Conrad seemed to look to the floor in disappointment. 

Luna looked up towards the skeleton, mostly in confusion. 

Conrad continued before Luna could interrupt him. "I truly wish to become friends with you and your sister. I hold no ill will towards you or Celestia, I simply have no reason to. I understand that you were trying to defend her from me, but you are misguided in your attempts to do so. I did not wish to bring harm to you in stopping you from smashing me, but it seemed you left me no choice. Again, I am sorry and I hope that you can understand and forgive me for my actions." 

Luna was in shock from the kindness and sincerity of a literal skeleton. "I..." Luna glanced at her sister and her features softened. "I deeply apologize for my actions sir Conrad. They were rash and misguided by my own misconceptions. I forgive you for hurting me, and I am sorry for hurting you." Luna let her head hang, defeated. 

Conrad pulled her chin up to let her look at him. "Apology accepted. Don't grind yourself to the bone worrying about it." With a chuckle, Conrad sat back in his seat. 

Luna was still for a moment before groaning. "Knew I shouldn't have gotten out of bed tonight." With a chuckle of her own, Luna got back onto all fours.

"Wait, Celestia, Shouldn't you be in bed by now?" Luna raised an eyebrow towards her nervous sister. 

"A-hehe... Perhaps I should." Luna leveled an unamused gaze at her sister.

Luna rubbed her nose. "I guess I'll take Conrad to one of the diplomat suites." Luna drifted a look to Conrad, one of which the skeleton recognized as 'we need to talk' and obliged the request. 

"Yes, it is quite late and I'm sure you must be tired Princess Celestia. I also assume you might have an announcement or two tomorrow." Celestia gave a tired nod and extinguished the candles nearby. 

She had noticed that the darkness allowed Celestia and Luna to see the pinprick lights in Conrad's hollow eyes.

Conrad had followed Luna out into the hall, silently grateful there were no others patrolling the halls just yet and began his pace with luna towards his new chambers. "So, you're an undead creature?" 

Conrad gave something akin to a chuckle with more clacking in it. "An undead creature of the night to be more exact. I a monument to your inevitability. An everlasting art piece to convey your mortality." Conrad seemed to grin. Luna gave a simple retort. "We are immortal."

Conrad shook his head as if he just saw his child doing something bad. "Yes, the 'we are immortal' thing. Have you never wondered why so-called 'immortal' beings don't rule the world, my friend?" 

Luna raised an eyebrow in question as Conrad continued. 

"Death is the most patient hunter Princess Luna. It will wait for you. It will wait for you to be at your weakest, then he will guide you on. Whether your weakest is physical, mental, or emotional does not matter to him. Even as I am now, death will take me eventually. It is our job to stay vigilant against his attempts."

Conrad looked to Luna who seemed to be in deep thought. "But my dear Luna, do not misunderstand. Death is not evil. He comes for heroes, villains, and all in between the same. He just has a job like all of us."

Luna took a steady breath. "You certainly have unique insights into death, Sir Conrad."

Conrad looked out a nearby window in the hall as he moved, his clacking bones more silent than usual. "Yes. I would say I do. I have unique insights into the darker elements of life." 

Luna looked up into Conrad's pinprick lights. "Tell me Conrad do you still have your soul, now that you are undead." Conrad looked back at Luna, stopping entirely.

"No Luna. Conrad's soul is in the afterlife. I am bones that have simply been given animation and sentience. My intelligence isn't my own. It has been given to me by my sovereign, Rosa Grimbane." 

Conrad looks down in what seems to be contemplation. "I am unsure where Conrad's soul has gone Luna. I heard from my sovereign that Conrad was not a kind man in life." 

With a nod, Luna opened the door with her midnight magic. "I understand Sir Conrad. This will be your suite, for the time being, it should have everything you need. If something is missing, ring the bell near the door, and a maid should come by to help. We will talk more tomorrow. Try not to scare anypony." 

Conrad chuckled "I will try my best." The door closed behind him as he walked into his suite. Conrad took in the sight of his new home, and to him, it looked good. 

"Hard to argue with a king-size bed, a beautiful writing desk, bookshelves full of delicious knowledge, and a few bottles of wine." He sat at the mahogany desk with its soft chair, grabbed some ink and papers from the drawer, and pulled a quill from seemingly thin air. He began to write and he began to scheme using a few books from the shelf.

It had only taken a few minutes for Conrad to finish his first document, a rough draft of a contract for getting peasants under his noble rule and expanding his influence. Giving the document a nod, he brought a bony hand up, filling it with arcane power before whispering "caeca servus". With a shrug, he threw the document over his shoulder, where one would expect it to hit the ground, the packet was caught by an unseen force and held in the air. With a smirk, Conrad got started once again on making a rough draft. Conrad had eventually rung for the maid and left a note, asking for more paper and ink. 





It had been several hours since Conrad had started writing. There were approximately 20 packets of rough drafts floating through the air as if held by an invisible force. Three drained ink pots sat discarded upon the desk and Conrad sat staring and pouring over his latest draft. He almost didn't hear somepony enter his suite. Almost. 

Conrad spun his skull around to stare at Celestia trotting up behind him, startling her into tripping. "Your highness?" Celestia giggled. "Sorry, I tried to sneak up on you." Conrad spun his body around to match the angle of his skull. "I see. What do you need at this time of night?" Conrad put his packet on his lap.

Celestia got back up and wiped some dust off her rump. "It is morning and I wanted to invite you to breakfast. We have much to discuss, especially your introduction to my people." 

Conrad stood up, putting his packet in his coat pocket, and dusted himself off. "I would love nothing more, Princess. Please do lead the way, I do not exactly have a map."

"Of course, I have personally cleared the halls of guards and any other ponies so that you can move to the dining room without incident."

Conrad seemed to give a smile. "Ah, good. I would hate to scare anyone out of their skin." 

Celestia began her walk with Conrad to the royal dining room. The halls were barren as she said. Celestia took a chance to ask Conrad a question. 

"Conrad, might I ask what you were doing in your room? I must say, the floating packets of paper were a little concerning." 

"If the paper was concerning, we might have to find you some scissors then." Celestia scrunched up her face, unknowing of the joke. "But the answer is that I was designing the contracts for when I decide to expand my influence to the peasants." 

Celestia raised a brow. "You surely are honest. Am I to assume you read some Equestria law books as well to help?" 

Conrad nodded. "Of course, granted, some of the laws were foreign to me, I believe I created a fair and lawful contract." 

Celestia gave a nod back. "I see, might I take a look at what you have?" 

Conrad seemed excited. "Of course!" Conrad took out the contract and gave it to Celestia who took it in her magic. Celestia looked it over for a couple of minutes as they walked, her face seemed to shift through many emotions. 

"Well, I certainly have a few things to say. Firstly... Wow... These are some of the fairest trades of all the nobles... You only take five percent of crops and three percent of the profit from farmers in exchange for labor and what seems to be a high amount of protection and magic ability... you only request 5 custom pieces of equipment from blacksmiths per calendar year alongside gaining half of the raw material you bring in for their personal use or to sell... and it just goes on! It makes even me want to work for you." 

Conrad chuckled. "Of course, I do not need much food, eating is not required for me. And the limited custom pieces of equipment is to entice more blacksmiths so the limit isn't exactly a problem for me." Celestia smiled but frowned upon reaching the end of the packet.

"But Conrad. Do tell me what 'Upon being pronounced dead by an official coroner or doctor, the head of household that signs will give the corpse to be animated and awakened to serve the noble under fair conditions' means..."