It was the next day, the air was heavy with moisture as it had just rained, and it was dark with cloud cover out. The wind blew throughout Canterlot and wave flags, trees, and signs. The air had a faint smell of rain and the slight tingle of lightning. The world stood at attention for today would be a momentous day. The winds of fate are changing, churning, and history will be made.
Conrad had awoken from his silent meditation to calm his mind and prepare his bardic magic. His grim violin sat in its dark case in front of him. He had a job to do today and he will do it for his nation. Conrad looked to the window, observed the dark clouds outside, and started his planning for victory.
Conrad brought his view back to his grim tool and slowly opened the case in reverence. Lifting it from the case, he observed the bardic instrument and marveled over the details of it. The wood grain flowed like natural bone and the special divots and cuts into the instrument helped empower its influence. The bottom half of the violin was shaped to be almost like a skull was fused to it but still be uncanny enough to freak observers.
Finally, Conrad lifted the beautiful black bow from the case and looked down to make sure it was even. The bleached bone-white strings contrasted the black wood and gave an impression of grim balance.
"Doing what needs to be done... Despite how you feel about it."
Conrad brought the violin to his cheek and drew his bow across the string, producing a single shrill note that allowed for the phantom orchestra to manifest. The spirits flew around the room before coalescing into instruments to accompany Conrad.
The instruments began to pick up the beat and played to Conrads will.
Conrad was ready, he had only hoped that Chryssie would be ready. He remembered how training was yesterday.
"Again."
Chryssie let loose another blast. Her ray of enfeeblement struck the tossed apple true. The apple shriveled into nothingness.
"Again."
Chryssie brought the decaying wand across her body in a slash, unleashing another blast. Another tossed apple shriveled to nothing.
"Defend!"
Chryssie went wide-eyed before dropping to the ground, an expanding bubble of darkness following her as an arrow whizzed past her.
"Two shots!"
Chryssie shot back up and looked outside the bubble of darkness, bringing her wand up, she shot another ray of enfeeblement that split off and struck two airborne apples.
"Good. Take a rest."
Chryssie walked away from the darkness and sat next to Conrad who had been sitting in a cheap plastic lawn chair throughout the training.
"How are you feeling Chryssie?"
"Exhausted... And nervous?"
"Why are you feeling nervous?"
"I'm sure I've said it before... But I never killed when I was alive."
"I understand. I was nervous for my first kill as well."
"What was your first if I may ask?"
"A thief had broken into my living parents' home. They were after some deeds for land if I remember correctly. I couldn't let them take what was rightfully ours so I took a knife from the kitchen and took him by surprise. That was the day I became a rogue in life and set down the 'admittedly' short path of an adventurer."
"How did it make you feel afterward?"
"Scared that I did something wrong. I was only 13 at the time and I didn't realize I was in the right to kill him. I ran from home but I got found the next day a town over."
"Am I going to have to kill in the fight tomorrow?"
"Yes, if the smug bastard agrees to the duel."
Chryssie looked down at her wand and gripped it tighter. "It's going to be difficult for me."
"Luckily, you are not alone dear Chryssie. Wherever you walk, you will have an ally at your side. For the likes of us, the dead will follow under our banner. Our sovereign is a part of us as we walk towards our next quarry, her confidence flows throughout her being, and her resoluteness suffuses our body. Have a little faith and see where it takes you young one."
Chryssie could feel the tingling of bardic inspiration permeate through her half-dead flesh. The false confidence becoming real to her. "I understand. I think I will be ready."
Conrad got up with his instrument of death in hand. Moving to his wardrobe, he brought out a small pet project he was hoping to finish before the duel in the afternoon. He brought out a leather jacket that could cover most of a pony. Turning it out revealed that the other side was darker than the abyss. Conrad had to keep his concentration to see the coat as it began to fade in and out. Pouring a small bit of magic in it rendered it inert enough to work with.
Taking a sewing kit, he began working more and more sigils of power into the dark side of the jacket. Conrad set his instrument aside for the moment as he worked with practiced hands on the magical garment he was working on, his bardic craft allowing him to go above and beyond his own capability.
"Few more left," Conrad spoke to himself to help him think.
"Just a few are needed." He finished with the sigils base before stringing an outline around them of pure gold thread.
"Gold for magic conductivity..." Then he began connecting each sigil with silver thread.
"Silver for transference..." Lastly, he began to outline both sides of the jacket in a thread made of equal parts lead and adamantine.
"Magic composite for insulation." The greyish orange thread tied the jacket together, making it clear it was no ordinary garment.
"There." Conrad brought his magic back to him from the jacket, no longer inert, it began fading from view again.
"I'm glad that Twilight showed me some of her magic yesterday. The notice-me-not spell was so much easier to work with than invisibility..."
"Conrad, are you talking to yourself?"
Conrad jumped and let go of the jacket that clattered to the ground. Turning around, he saw that Chryssie had come into his room. "It is perfectly normal to talk to one's self. It is instrumental in keeping your sanity."
"Whatever, what are you working on?" Chryssie rose an eyebrow.
"I WAS working on a gift for you."
"Where is it then?"
"It was right..." Conrad looked to where he dropped it and noticed it missing. "Oh..."
"Oh, what?"
"Well, I seem to have misplaced your shadow stalker jacket."
"Misplaced?" Chryssie leaned against the wall with her hooves crossed.
"Yes, it is a reversible jacket with a notice-me-not spell on one side. Our sovereign makes them for most stealth troops."
"Sounds useful. How do we find it?"
"Well, not with our eyes apparently." Conrad stuck a finger into his eyehole and out the other.
"Okay Conrad, first, ew. Second, I guess we gotta feel for it." Chryssie got down on her hooves and began searching.
Conrad got on his hands and knees looking for the coat. Luckily, It didn't fall too far away from him and he found it in no time at all. "Found it." Dusting off the now visible jacket, he helped to put it on Chryssie. "There."
"Okay, it feels nice. Very lightweight but how do I reverse it quickly?"
"Flex your right hoof hard."
Chryssie did as instructed and to her surprise, the jacket teleported in place, only reversed. Conrad had to concentrate to keep Chryssie in view.
"I see it is working. Are you ready for combat?"
Chryssie summoned her rotten wand to her and held it up in her magic. "I am." she nodded. "But... you mentioned it was a 3 on 5? Who's our third?"
"Well... I was gonna invite Luna because I thought it would've been hilarious if she just showed up to help kick this guy's ass... but she's asleep during the day and she works at night. So I've just called in lefty."
"Aren't they still mute?"
"Yes, It is incredibly difficult to bring speech to an equine skull for some reason with necromancy."
"Then how am I speaking?"
"Because you are animated with your whole original body. All the skeletons were animated with a single bone from the owner. Two incredibly different spell processes."
"Hmm, I don't know enough about magic to say whether or not that is true, but I'll trust you."
"Magic is very strange."
"Indeed it is."
"Ready to go kick some noble ass?"
"I suppose."
Conrad put his grim violin into its case alongside its bow and picked it up to bring with him. "Now I'll be honest... I have no clue where the arena is."
Chryssie face hoofed.
It was now the afternoon, the sun was high and the streets were crowded. It had taken the asking of directions multiple times for Conrad, Chryssie, and Lefty to find the way to the arena.
"Finally made it..." Conrad had mused.
"Only took us two hours." Chryssie had chuckled.
"I thought you knew the way here from yesterday?"
"It was dark okay!"
"You should be able to see perfectly fine in the dark!"
"Tch, whatever. Let's get this fight over with."
Lefty had not said anything, for he could not.
Conrad led the charge into the stadium arena. He had expected cheering and applause, but silence had met them. In the sandy battlefield stood a pony, flanked by four others.
"Conrad."
"Sure Hooved."
"I see you didn't flee the city like I had thought you would."
"I see that you agree to be a gutless coward."
"What!?"
"That's why you showed up, isn't it? You're a coward but you want to prove otherwise."
The noble pony twitched in slight pain, but mostly an annoyance. "I will place your skull upon my mantle. A trophy of course. Then I'll take the bug for myself. I'm sure she would look good in a maid costume."
"You little-" Conrad had cut her off with a raised hand.
"You have a gift unlike any other. I am proud to be your companion." Conrad had spoken lightly to Chryssie. She had felt her dead heart beat once again as she felt the bardic inspiration once more. She gave a quick nod and a smirk.
Conrad looked back to the noble pony and took him and his gaggle of mercs. He pried for weakness with his bardic ability.
First was Sure Hooved himself. His coat was sandy and his long straight mane was burgundy. He had an insecure posture, hiding his weakness. His dark grey eyes spoke volumes of cowardice. His cutie mark was as bland as he was, a scroll being written on. A testament to how he is a blank slate being written upon, unfortunately, someone had spilled an inkpot all over his personality.
Conrad was sure of his own confidence. He had look to his right hoof stallion.
Dull. Boring. A brick wall would have a more interesting conversation. The firehouse red of his coat clashed with his greying orange mane. An older stallion past his prime. He had hefted a hammer upon his shoulder. Conrad chuckled and prayed quickly for his swift recovery. The massive hammer surely had been compensation for something important.
Conrad was sanguine about his chances. He looked to the back row at the mage.
Full of himself and so self-assured in her abilities that she can do no wrong, this mare was everything a Canterlot noble believed they were but dial up to one hundred. A blazing mane accented against an icy coat told Conrad exactly what he needed to know. The mare specialized in harnessing the elements and Conrad had prepped the appropriate spells for it.
Conrad was nonplussed at the presence of a mage. Conrad leveled his cold gaze to the noble's left.
A cheat, a scoundrel, a rat, and smug could all be used to describe the stallion. Conrad immediately recognized the rogue-ish talents of this black coat on brown mane stallion. Conrad was more than ready to counter the incoming sneak attacks.
Conrad was unperturbed by the thief. Conrad glanced towards the last mare.
Beauty, grace, and she's going to be in your face. The light teal coat and purple mane struck Conrad as eccentric and his suspicions are confirmed upon spying her weapon. A crossbow. A crossbow loaded with magic-infused bolts.
Conrad had found the shooter at Celestia's speech. The one that killed Chryssie and threatened to kill Conrad.
"Well, Sure Hooved, you certainly seem to have quite the father-less, trash-born, misbegotten crew with you. Guess they were right about misery-loving company huh? Need help getting around Mr. Dead-from-the-neck-up?"
Chryssie's eyes bulged at the tirade of insults from Conrad. She had to put a hoof to her mouth from laughing.
The noble had taken a step back, eyes wide. "Y-you bastard! I'm going to enjoy stomping your bones into the sand, fight me, coward!"
"I see you're an apostate to common sense. Very well, to arms!"
Chryssie had summoned her wand to her magic grip, lefty brandished a halberd in their hoof and rested it against their shoulder, Conrad brought a hand across his chest and slowly swung outwards to brandish a rapier of necrotic energy.
Conrad held out the case with his macabre instrument and let go. Despite what the ponies thought, the case began to float and opened itself. The instrument and its bow began to dance forth by Conrad's side. The ensorcelled instrument stood at attention.
The noble brought out his jewel-encrusted rapier and aim for Conrad. The brick brought his hammer down into the sand, ready to be hefted in any direction. The magic lit her horn and brought forth missiles of ice and fire. The thief brought out daggers and backed away. The arbalest brought the crossbow up, bolt loaded and brimming with chaotic energy.
The violin began to sing, and a ghostly crew followed its lead into appropriate battle music.
The noble stuck out first, his rapier aiming to obliterate Conrad's skull. Conrad swiftly brought up his own to parry and knocked the attack away. Growling, the noble unleashes a flurry of strikes towards Conrad, eager to draw first blood.
Conrad held out his unused hand to steady himself and he deflected blow after blow, sparks flying into the battlefield as Chryssie brought her wand towards the Mage and the Brick.
She let loose a flurry of sickly rays towards them, some splitting to try to strike at both like an enraged cobra. The Mage had stepped in front of the Brick and countered each ray with a shield the size of a dinnerplate jutting towards each blast.
After the assault, the Brick rushed from behind the mage, using momentum to attempt to slam Chyrssie into an impromptu grave only to meet empty sand.
Chryssie stood mere inches from the strike with a smug look before blasting the Brick with ray after ray and barely missing Lefty who had taken on the Rogue who had jumped in from a sneak attack. Halberd met daggers in a ferocious duel as the Arbalest lined up a deadly shot.
Lefty bashed the Rogue with the blunt end just in time to deflect the ensorcelled bolt with the flat edge of the blade right past Conrad's and Sure Hooved's duel.
"Why won't you strike back!" The Noble took another stab at Conrad.
"Because it makes you angry." Conrad deflected it just as easily as the last.
The Noble had roared a terrible cry for blood and made a singular deadly strike towards Conrad's neck, the fighting paused momentarily for everypony to witness the fight. The pointed sword sailed closer and closer to its target and Conrad stood ready.
Chryssie gasped as the rapier almost reached its target, but Conrad had simply leaned his head to the left, causing the strike to miss. Conrad brought up his own weapon to knock it away with a power unseen and brought his weapon back, preparing for his first and last strike. With his hand in front of him, Conrad brought it back as his cursed weapon raced forward, the necrotic energy licking over the Nobleponies fur, as Conrad struck his final blow. The music had stopped just in time for a loud ringing to sound throughout the arena as the rapier reached its hilt in the skull of Sure Hooved.
What little movement in the arena had stopped dead at the display of grace and brutality. The Brick dropped his hammer at the sight of his lifelong friend being defeated by a bony upstart.
Conrad pulled his weapon back with a sickening sound, the necrotic weapon reforming and wasting away, its purpose fulfilled. Conrad held out a bony claw and his grim violin and bow slide into place. He looked up to the scared and cowering expressions of The Mercenaries, awestruck by the power of a single skeleton.
Conrad took a grip of his bow and dragged it across the violin, letting out a hollow hissing, as necrotic tendrils reached out in a display of power. He relaxed and gave a dramatic bow as the note faded away.
Sure Hooved fell over to the sand, motionless. However, before anypony could react, he opened his eyes and took a deep gulp of air, bewildering the audience of mercs.
"What! You're alive!"
"I'm alive? I'm ALIVE!" The noble had cheered.
Chryssie looked to Conrad and gave him a wink. He recognized the signal and gave a deep bow to the stands while holding at his instrument. Chryssie and Lefty mimicked the action, giving their own bow towards the nonexistent audience. The Mercs and Noble were bewildered at the action and looked towards the stands as they began to warp and tear at the fabric of reality to reveal a cheering audience in a sprawling and massive theatre. The sand washed away to reveal a hefty and massive stage.
Conrad stood upright and began to wave to the audience, especially towards the large box room at the back containing Princess Luna and Princess Celestia alongside Princess Twilight.
"What is the meaning of this?!" The noble had spit towards Conrad.
"Just the show of the century my friend."
Conrad lead his companions off to stage left to great Princess Celestia in person, leaving a bewildered noble and his mercenary group to wonder what happened.
It had taken a few minutes to travel to meet up with Celestia. Lefty had left to assume his standard guard post once more and Chryssie had left to go enjoy the fans she was swamped with. Conrad and Celestia stood apart from each other, each bearing a grin of victory.
"What an admirable show you had so generously gifted us with. I sincerely appreciated how realistic it was. It reminded me of my own battles." Celestia gave a small chuckle.
"I thank you for the stark review, it was a pleasure to put on for her majesty. I do certainly hope that this is a show to be remembered for many years to come."
"Oh, it surely shall."
Twilight had moved throw the crowd to reach Conrad.
"Ah Twilight, thank you very much for the help."
"It was no problem, Conrad, I wasn't that important." Twilight rubbed her neck.
"Oh, but you were. I needed the solid acting at the book store to be able to pull it off. Chryssie had found Sure Hooveds' agents stalking me, so it was just a matter of baiting them into check. The stage and show were checkmate on top of it."
"Hehe, yeah, I supposed I helped a lot. But I do have a question."
"Yes? Let's hear it."
"How were you able to pull off such a grand illusion and trick Sure Hooved into the building without notice?"
Conrad chuckled. "Very high-level magic. It started with a Mirage Arcane spell to coat a large radius in illusion magic. The rest was set up with a feedback loop in the arcane with a Detect Thoughts spell, feeding the expectations of Sure Hooved and His companions into the Mirage Arcane spell. They saw EXACTLY what they expected to see today. The only downside of this combination of spells is that the loop is incredibly strong, strong enough that unless they had reason to believe the world was an illusion, they would have been trapped forever within their own fantasy world as the spells would endlessly feed each other. That is why the spell only dropped when we displayed odd behavior. Believe me, it was hard to maintain concentration on the spell throughout the fight."
"I can't imagine how you would be with even more power. Now, how did you find this building?"
"All Chryssie's doing. She found this amazing place on one of her missions and gave me the idea. I sent her ahead the day before to clean up the place and get it ready for the show."
"Amazing..."
Celestia cut in. 'Well, I think it is time for a private afterparty at the castle. What say you, Conrad?"
"I always love a party, my friend. Have I ever shown you the trick where I take off my thumb?"
"WHAT?!"
The party was fantastic, many drinks were had, many stories told, and Luna even put on a shooting star show for the party.
However, Twilight will forever wonder how Conrad took off his thumb and put it back on without magic...