Conrad slipped his new gloves over his boney hands and flexed them a few times to get a good feel for them. It had been a few days since his talk with Celestia. The first parts of the mansion were beginning to take shape at last and he began training the newest batch of skeletons to be his personal guards.
Conrad looked up into the mirror opposite of himself to inspect his new threads. He had finally gotten around to seeking out a tailor since the outfit he arrived in was starting to come apart. He had on a fine black shirt that was under a navy blue overcoat that had pockets on the inside to slip some metal plates into to protect his spine and ribs. For his pants, simple black work pants did the job he needed along with heavy steel-toed boots for a devastating kick when he needed it. Last but not least, his new gloves stopped him from accidentally scratching any wood he touched.
"Somebody stop me!" He gave a whistle to himself before frilling his jacket and heading towards the door.
Conrad gave a sidelong glance to his case for the macabre violin before deciding he wouldn't need it for the day. Exiting the door, he was flanked on both sides by the best of guards he trained clad in steel armor and shortswords at their sides.
"Morning gent's, I see that guard duty has done well."
In response, the one on his left saluted before returning his hoof.
"We will be heading out today, I want to check the mansion and make sure the workers didn't misinterpret any commands again. I'm already on thin ice with Celestia as it is. Then perhaps I'll stop by the book store and see what is available."
Lefty saluted once more.
Conrad gave a low sigh. "Someday, I will figure out what is wrong with the spell. I swear it should allow you to speak." He scratched his head before shrugging.
Conrad made his departure with guards in tow, steel sabatons clanking in perfect harmony. He was about to pass right by Chryssie's room before he stopped himself and backed up. He gave a chaste knock on the door and allowed Chryssie some time to get up.
The door opened at a snail's pace to reveal Chryssie with a look of death on her face. "What."
"Heading out, you know what you need to do for the day I assume?"
Chryssie gave a small nod before yawning. "Yes, just give me a few minutes. I've been tired lately."
"I understand, the week after my own resurrection I was lethargic. I think our sovereign said something like the adrenaline of dying finally leaving our body as negative energy replaces it or something."
Chryssie nods. "That explains the black stain that smells like rot."
"Well... I guess in your case, the adrenaline left in a physical way. Anyway, I'll leave you to it. Get better soon Chryssie, I still need to tutor you in more necromancy as soon as I can."
"Alright, have fun." Chryssie closed the door.
Conrad stood at the door for a moment longer before catching up with his guards and continuing his path. "I should do something for her..."
"SERIOUSLY!?"
The skeletons in the fields looked up towards their noble.
"YOU NUMBSKULLS CAN'T GET ANYTHING RIGHT! WHAT AM I GONNA DO WITH A BLOODY MASSIVE HOLE!" Conrad motioned vigorously at the bottomless pit in the middle of his lawn.
The skeletons had dug out stone for the foundation but had dug deep to get the stone needed, not knowing they could move to another area for it.
"I can't believe this after last week's incident." Conrad put a hand to his chest and breathed a heavy sigh. "Guess we have a well now. Not that it was really needed."
Conrad pointed to the two closest workers. "You two, build a well on top of this hole before something falls into it."
The skeletons gave a clumsy nod and set to work.
Conrad stormed off to the bookstore, his guard struggling to keep up with him. "Ridiculous..."
Conrad was on his walk down the street with his guards towards the library. He was still grumbling to himself even half an hour later.
"Ridiculous, absolutely ridiculous... I just can't believe that they wou-"
Conrad stopped in his tracks, as if frozen, as he listened attentively. He could just barely perceive it but it was there. A light tingling in the air. He immediately rose to his full and intimidating stature as he kept his head on a literal swivel looking for the source.
That's when he spotted it, a piece of sheet music flowing with the light wind. He immediately knew what it was and spoke two words before sprinting after it.
"Power chord..."
Conrad extended his limber form to build up as much unstoppable force as possible and left his guards in the dust. He ran with the force of an athlete born to gods of fitness, he was unbound by muscle and energy as his body extended farther than anyone could believe. Ponies were blown away literally and figuratively by the immense speed this undead monstrosity was able to manage.
Conrad had only one thought in his empty head, a thought powerful enough to drive the devoted undead into a frenzy to grab this paper.
'Power'
He, with minimal effort, rolled over crates in the way, jumped through fruit stands, and climbed rooves after the evasive sheet music that had begun outmaneuvering him. The closer Conrad got, the faster the sheet evaded until the inevitable. The troublesome piece of paper began to fly out over the moat of Canterlot. Conrad, being upon the defensive wall found this situation unreasonable for him.
"Any cost." That was all Conrad had said when he dived forward into a roll and into a forward dive off the wall of Canterlot.
He was close, closer than he had ever been as he was suspended 800 feet off the moat in the open air. With a desperate swipe, Conrad was now the proud owner of the sheet.
Conrad tucked his sheet music away in his coat as he began his descent into the water. He maneuvered himself into a dive and aimed for the deepest part with gloved hands downwards.
Bringing his hands up and to the sides like a bird, the magic within his skeletal body began to surge wildly. If another magic-user was nearby, they likely would see how jagged his aura had become as he chanted a few words of power.
"Subtus pinnas venti ferre gloriari"
From his back grew sharp and pointed bones that branched into more sharp and pointed bones and began the rough shape of a bird's wings without flesh. A small test flap stopped his rapid descent almost entirely and a hard beat brought him shooting in the opposite direction as the wings began to flake away into nothingness.
Luckily, Conrad had enough momentum to bring him within reach of the edge of the wall. Like a mad cat, he caught himself upon the edge but only just barely.
"Phew... too close for my liking..."
Conrad was quickly grabbed by his guards that managed to catch up and hauled back onto the wall. Lefty gave him a blank stare.
"Yes." Conrad pointed upwards. "It was stupid."
Righty simply gave him a shake of his head.
"But it worked... Didn't it?" Conrad was rarely smug, but he had felt this was the perfect time to bring out the unfamiliar feeling.
Lefty face hooved with the armored hoof.
"Since you asked so nicely..." He brought out the troublesome sheet of paper. "Boom!"
Conrad rose to a sitting position and showed off his paper. "Lookit that, a power chord."
Conrad briefly turned the page to look at it. "Fantastic, this trip has been worth it after all. To the library then."
If his guards could speak, they would've groaned, so they settled for aggressive clacking instead.
Conrad began his trek to the library once more, seemingly ignoring his exasperated guards.
If only he noticed the camera slowly retreating into the guard tower...
Conrad threw open the doors to the library and stroll inside, his guards waiting outside in a silent vigil. It was a small yet cozy library, very old-fashioned, but was suitable enough for what was needed. Conrad strode past a shocked librarian and right into the history section and grabbed a book, seemingly at random.
The book was well made, and with the title 'history unrevised', it would make a good start on his search for further knowledge. "Perfect." Conrad plopped himself in a chair near the window, to be able to keep an eye on his guards of course, and opened the book. The light was perfect to read in and the chair was very plush, keeping his old bones off of hardwood was a good thing.
"Alright, let's get a good look at the world..."
Conrad spared one last glance to his guards before reading to himself under his nonexistent breast.
"Chapter one..."
It had become later in the evening and Conrad was surrounded in a small fortress of books he was cross-referencing in case there were errors in his research. The librarian was none too happy about how many books he was using but relented when she realized he wasn't technically breaking any rules.
Conrad had been looking for a specific set of laws and got lost down the rabbit hole of different strange laws that he could only attribute to the nobles.
"Seriously... can't have an ice cream cone in your back pocket on a Tuesday? Ponies barely wear clothes as it is."
Conrad shook his head as he pulled a notebook from his jacket that he got from requesting one of his guards grab from his room. Writing down the ridiculous law, he simultaneously grabbed another book with a small sigh.
It had long been since that Conrad told his guards to go home, feeling that they would have a more enjoyable time watching the workers. So Conrad had been working on his research alone for the most part aside from the librarian finding books he needed. Despite it being past mid-day now, he had not gotten as much progress as he wished.
Rubbing his temple, he took a small break and sat down in his original seat. He gave a small say as he looked out the window and froze like a deer in headlights.
Staring back at him was a purple alicorn with an open mouth. Whomever she was, she was gobsmacked at the sight of him. Conrad thought he saw her swallow a fly before he decided to become unfrozen. Conrad gave himself a small sigh before motioning to the door.
The alicorn moved ever so slowly towards the door, prompting Conrad to look at a pocket watch he had gotten. It took minutes for Her Purpleness to actually enter the store and approach him. He motioned to the seat across from him and she sat down like a zombie.
Conrad and Her Royal Purpleness™ stared at each other for a few moments before Conrad gave a small cough into his glove.
"W-what are you..." She had finally said.
"A skele-ton of fun."
And so, Conrad had beaten his personal record of 5 words to make someone groan on the first contact, the gods above and demons below exchanged cash for their bets and made new ones as this moment of history had unfolded.
"Really... Your first words to me are a pun! Celestia, it's like another pinkie."
Conrad gave her a shrug. "Well, let's start with introductions. I am Conrad Moody of house Moody under Her Royal Highness Rosa Grimbane first of her name. I am the father of the first noble house of her kingdom and among the first raised by our sovereign."
"I am Twilight Sparkle of house Velvet. I am the bearer of the element of magic and a former student of Princess Celestia. May I ask you some questions, Conrad?"
"It's nice to put a name to that shocked face in the window. Yes, of course, you may ask me some questions."
"What is your kind called?"
"Ah, that is a question I haven't been asked for a long time. For generalization, we are just called undead or skeletons. But the true name for my race is 'The Forgiven' for we were raised with kindness rather than hatred."
Twilight's ear flicked as she tilted her head in thought. 'I wonder if Fluttershy could be a necromancer...'
"But at the moment, I have to raise undead the old-fashioned way. I never learned how my sovereign was able to do it and I doubt I ever could've. She has been through a harrowing experience in her youth that gave her the knowledge on it."
"A harrowing experience? Old_fashioned way?"
"Yes, if you absolutely need to know, you may ask Celestia. It is not a story for the faint-hearted. And yes, the old way, using sheer willpower and a piece of obsidian." Conrad turned his coat out to reveal 20 pieces of obsidian stitched to the inside.
"Alright, and what about it being dark magic? Doesn't it corrupt the wielder?"
Conrad sighed, for he already had this conversation before. "No, there is no such thing as 'dark' or 'light' magic. They are all in effect, JUST magic. You might get magic from the gods, but that doesn't make it light magic. It's just magic that came from a god. You can get magic from a demon lord, but that is still just magic, not dark magic. All that dark and light magic are just for legal purposes for banning one or the other in cities. How magic is used determines whether it is good or bad."
"But the corruption?"
"Built into the spell itself either because the creator is mean, or as a side effect to make the spell stronger."
Twilight lifted a hoof to retort before pausing. She mimicked a gasping fish as she tried to come up with an argument for why that is wrong and come up empty hooved. Lowering her hoof slowly, she closed her mouth and begrudgingly accepted it.
Conrad gave her a knowing nod. "Strange isn't it? A trade for power is usually only used by those that seek to misuse it."
The door to the library opens and closed just as quickly. One of Conrad's guards came back to him and pulled a scroll out from its armor.
"Oh lefty, thanks for grabbing the mail for me."
The scroll had an unknown coat of arms seal upon it. "Any idea Miss Twilight?"
Twilight briefly examined the seal and shook her head. "Likely one of the nobles. Unicorn from its design."
Conrad picked the seal off the scroll and threw it behind his back while shrugging. "If they were important, the seal would look important." Conrad cleared his non-existent throat and read the scroll.
"Anselmo Maria, challenge ad me vespere, cras enim ius auxilii bifariam terra petita quia tu me. Non erit pugna tria in tribus permissa, magicas invitam accingier." Conrad scratched his head. "I can't understand it. It's very familiar, however."
"It's high noble!" Twilight perked up. "Lemme see it!" Twilight ripped it out of Conrad's hands before she began translating it.
"From what I believe... Conrad, I challenge you to a dual tomorrow evening for the right of the land you claimed for myself. It will be a three on three battle with magic allowed." Twilights face dropped quickly. "Oh no..."
"Only a three on three? What do they take me for? One of my guards can rival three of theirs!" Conrad quickly grabbed a piece of parchment from inside his coat and quickly began to write.
"You insult not only my right as a diplomat to the kingdom of death but also the capability of my guards? How dare you. How dare your mother for creating you. Your first mistake was being born and your last is opposing me. It will be a three on five at your advantage to the final death. I will make sure you arrive home in a beautiful box. Signed Conrad to the noble..."
"Uh, Twilight, what's this useless bag of flesh's name?"
Twilight was too stunned at Conrad's aggressiveness to say anything more than "N-noble Sure Hooved..."
"Sure Hooved. What an awful name... I'll send him home with an apology to his parents that he was named as such."
Conrad signed off the scroll and sealed it back up. "Righty, return to sender please." Conrad handed off the scroll to his guard who went on his way.
"Conrad..."
"Yes, your purpleness?"
"Why did you declare war on one of the strongest noble families in military strength?"
"He has the strongest mercenaries?"
"Yes."
"Well, have you ever heard of beating up the strongest guy in prison to establish dominance?"
"What?"
"Well, I didn't know that he was the strongest when I insulted him and his mother, but now that I know..."
Conrad took a moment to ponder.
"I think I would've insulted his grandmother as well."
Twilight brought her hooves to his head.
"Why would you do this! This is so bad!"
"I am confident in my strength Twilight. One must be confident in their own judgment to become a noble in my sovereign's kingdom. And Twilight..."
Conrad brought his head up to twilight, straightening his back to rise another 6 inches above her, and his empty eyes radiating confidence only a con artist could muster.
"I am unshakably confident."