A Noble Cause

by mari tech

10. The Rememberence.

Author's Note:

Takes place 3 years later. I kept writing and rewriting because I couldn't get the idea I wanted and then I burnt myself out for a while which is why this chapter is so late. One chapter left which should not be a long one as long as I can put words to screen.

"And strike."

A glint of steel flashed against the darkness as metal and magic collide. A rapier clashed against its dark mirror as Conrad found himself dueling a great opponent, an enemy he thought he would never have to strike down.

"Conrad, I appreciate these lessons greatly." Luna had spoken, her words slightly tired with physical exertion.

Luna was his opponent for today. She had become enraptured with his performance at the theatre and set her mind to learning how to wield such a civilized weapon.

"Luna, let us take a break. It will not do for you to learn while exhausted and the heat is deadly around this time."

Luna gave her nod and took a seat in a nearby lawn chair with Conrad mimicking her. Conrad gave a motion to one of his servants who swiftly brought them both a table alongside a pitch of lemonade and a few glasses. "Many thanks." He had spoken.

"How have been taking these lessons, my friend?"

"I appreciate the time you have given to help me learn. I do feel as if I am indeed improving albeit at a slow pace."

"Slowly learning is carefully learning."

"Verily. I am glad everything has turned out well so far. It feels like it's been forever since you popped out of my sister's closet and had your head launched across the room."

"Yes, I remember. It's been a fair few years since. I believe 3 would be fair."

"Truly? Already that long?"

"I scarcely believe it myself."

"So much has happened in so little."

Conrad thought back to the past 3 years. A lot has happened with a lot more to come if the past was any indicator.

"You remember when that pony... what was her name? Oh, Starlight Glimmer broke the timeline?" Luna spoke.

"Aye, quite jarring wasn't it." It wasn't a question, rather a statement.

"Indeed."

Silence reigned for a short moment.

"Hey Lulu, remember the ghost that haunted the castle?"

Luna scowled at the nickname. "Unfortunately yes. It terrorized the staff and made a mess of the kitchen. I'm fairly certain that my stuffed animal is still in the rafters of the tower."

"The little tiger? Yes... I remember that one. I'm fairly sure I saw Celly with it in her room."

Luna immediately sat up. "Truly! That fiend! Off with her head!"

"No eternal night Lulu."

"Curses upon her name," Luna grumbled with her arms crossed.

Conrad looked up towards the sky, he was able to see Cloudsdale far off in the distance and got to thinking.

"Kinda want to check out that cloud city sometime. It reminds me of my sovereign somewhat."

"Oh? What do you mean."

"My sovereign was able to rip up chunks of the earth to create floating islands. She created a small city on a few of them she linked together. I think she turned one into a Superfortress as well if I remember."

Luna raised an eyebrow. "You expect me to believe that?"

"What? You raise a big chunk of stone in the sky every night."

"I suppose so, but there is no gravity up there. I could never hope to emulate such a thing with gravity as a factor."

"My sovereign is the greatest wizard of her time. Floating islands aren't even the top of her power."

"Surely you jest?"

"I'm not a jester, sorry."

Luna gave him a flat look before sitting back in her chair, relaxing slightly. "Then what is her top power?"

Conrad thought for a moment. "I admit, I don't exactly know her limit. But she has been able to cast truly epic-level magic before."

"Really? What was the biggest spell she cast?"

"It was, so far, the most grandiose display of necromantic prowess I ever had the honor to witness. For context, I was created by her some six to seven years before such an event. I had the privilege to witness her growth in strength double, triple, quintuple, and so on until the point that taking a glimpse of her pure strength of necromancy could undo the magic holding me together."

Conrad paused to take a sip of his lemonade. "The spell she cast destroyed all life around her for many years to come, the cost of casting such a spell when the god of magic limits you, and brought about night for 36 hours in the world. It marked a turning point in history and it wanted to make sure the world knew that it was a part of something grand."

"Don't leave me on the edge of my seat Conrad, what did it do!?"

"She can raise the dead easily, with a small amount of effort she could raise a ship to be her Dread Hulk... Her epic spell raised an entire city to life..."

Luna was silent for a while.

"The city was long dead, no more than ruins an adventurer would plunder... Do you know how many corpses are in such a place?"

Luna shook her head.

"there were one hundred thousand corpses buried within the city. Every single one dug its way up from the ground and burst through the surface."

"W-what! There is no way she had done that."

"Believe when I say that if I didn't witness it, I would say they are a liar. But she did it. The world was dark for 36 hours under what we would later call 'The Necromancers Moon'. My sovereign fell unconscious and I had to catch her. I brought her to the palace and put her in her new bed. I guarded the door for those 36 hours. She was out that entire event and when the sun rose, so did she."

Luna shook her head. "Such a spell... But you said you were how old?"

"One hundred and forty-five years of unlife."

"And you said that she did this when you were 7 years of unlife."

"Yes."

Luna put her head in her hooves. "Mother of me... how powerful can she possibly be?"

"One of unlife's greatest mysteries isn't it? She refrained from such high-level magic afterward."

"Conrad?"

"Yes?"

"Your sovereign scare's me."

Conrad gave a simple nod.

Luna was silent a little longer as she pondered just what sort of diety Conrad's sovereign was.

Conrad sat up and brought a clipboard from his jacket, along with some paper and a quill.

"How do you fit all that in there?"

Conrad looked to her and pulled his undershirt up. There was no guts or flesh of course because he was a skeleton. "Lot's of room."

Luna shivered slightly at the thought of putting a clipboard in her ribs.

Conrad began writing, pausing occasionally to look over his work before putting quill to paper once more. He was done within a few minutes. "I wrote down an old poem that you might like, maybe even relate to as well. It is far older than I or even my sovereign and It represents how necromancy was viewed in times before the Golden Age of Necromancy."

Luna raised an eyebrow. "Really?"

"Yes, I believe it would do you some good, and when you are done with it, it should go into the archives. I'll read it for you."

Conrad cleared his nonexistent throat and began to speak, his voice deeper than ever heard before, as if to project his own grief into the writing.

"Saved from coffin, casket, urn
Darkness falls, but life returns!
The flesh may fall and bone may burn
But soul remains, for which we yearn"

"Those we return to life's esteem
We see their hearts, their eyes do gleam
They rave! They kill! They gnash! They scream!
So full of joy! Their greatest dream!"

"Returning those that we amend
They hurry home, a distant friend
But do they cheer? Do they commend?
They yell! Does rotting flesh offend?"

"We bring life to lifeless bone
But do they smile? Do they condone?
They sit upon their golden thrones
They shun us, spurn us, make unknown"

"Fools! Sit high in the golden tower
From your lofty perch, you glower
Time will come when you will cower
We rule death, we wield the power"

Luna gave a small clap. "Beautiful Conrad, absolutely beautiful. And it just so happens that my sister has a golden throne huh?" She gave a sly smile.

Conrad gave a scoff. "It's not my fault that Celestia is unoriginal."

"Conrad?" Chryssie had come outside finally.

"Ah, there you are dear! I thought I'd have to have someone drag you out from under your bed again."

"Not my fault that you push my new magic to it's limits." Chryssie gave a scoff. "If you want me to get up earlier, then stop pushing my limits."

"Aye, fair enough. Luna came by for her fencing practice, we are just taking a break and talking."

"What about?" Chryssie tilted her head."

"Lot's of different things. Our sovereign, some poems, just about anything."

Chryssie brought up a chair and sat next to Conrad. "Yes, our sovereign. You've told me many stories of her. Hope to meet her one day."

"Yes, maybe one day." Conrad looked up towards the afternoon sun.

Luna leaned forward after taking a sip of her lemonade.

"Tell us, Conrad, do you believe your sovereign would appreciate our land?"

"Most likely, even if she doesn't, I'm sure her wife would," Conrad added nonchalantly.

Chryssi and Luna both were taken off guard. Chryssi was the first to speak. "Our sovereign is married?"

"Indeed. Quite an odd pairing as well. Our sovereign is a necromancer of course, but her wife is a druid!"

Luna had finally recovered. "What? Aren't they complete opposites? Life versus death thing? Shouldn't they be steadfast enemies?"

"Oh yes, they are complete opposites in almost every way. Our sovereign is dark and dangerous with no emotions, her wife is bright and happy with enough emotions for the both of them. Honestly, they complete each other. They have more differences of course, but those are the most apparent to outsiders."

Luna sighed. "I did not expect that, what's next, they have a child as well?"

"Of course, it's expected of the royal family."

"You're messing with me aren't you?"

Conrad shook his head. "Not in the slightest Luna. Poor little Emiko was adopted by the family. I have had the fortunate experience of meeting her, a great child that one is, wise beyond her years and a magic prodigy to boot."

"My word Conrad. Have any other bombshell's to drop on everypony?"

Conrad thought for a few seconds. "None that I can think of at the moment that is relevant to the conversation."

"Mhm, sure, whatever you say Mr. Bones."

"Please, that was my great great grandfather."

Luna shook her head.

Chryssi spoke up. "Do you have any family Luna? Aside from the obvious."

Luna leaned back in her chair. "Aside from my sister, I do not believe I have any living relatives."

"How about unliving relatives?" Conrad intoned questioningly.

Luna raised a hoof, her intent to call him an idiot, but taking a look at the literal skeleton, she brought her hoof down. "No, I do not believe so." She thought for a moment before looking harshly at Conrad. "Is that something you could do?"

"Well... Considering how old you and your sister are, it is likely that the bones are beyond destroyed by now. But I could likely still cast speak with the dead if you bring me to the grave site."

Luna thought for a moment before nodding. "I would like that my friend. Another day though, Tia is busy all day and I would like her there as well."

Conrad nods. "Of course. How about you Chyryssi, any living relatives?"

Chryssi perks up a bit to respond. "I do in fact. All of the changelings were my children, even in their new form, they are still my children. As for parents, my father died long before I was born and I had to slay my mother in the contest for the throne."

Conrad nods. "I presume that is some sort of changeling custom?"

With a nod, Chryssi continued. "Yes, the custom started a couple of hundred years ago, but I did love my mother to the bitter end."

"That's good. Thank you for sharing."

"My pleasure."

As the conversation petered off, a royal guard ran up to the group. He was out of breath and exhausted, but righted himself quickly. "Princess, Conrad, get to the war room quick! Celestia needs you there, it's an emergency!"

Conrad and Luna gave each other a nod and got up along with Chryssi. "If it's an emergency, you need to come along too Chryssi."

With a nod from her, the group made haste towards the war room, one of the few rooms Conrad had yet to see.

Comments

[LightnDarkGodofSalvation]

I have little care of D&D, but I like this story.

[Fireeaters]

I figure an epic level necromancy spell would be reversing entropy in a large area without just shunting the entropy somewhere else.

[Lupenndawolf]

Noooo, not Conrad! Why!?!