Author's Note

Another new champ, another new chapter. This time, things are shaking up in Equestria as Jhin enters the scene. Don't get me wrong, I've had a lot of ideas of what to do up to this point, but when looking through some of the quotes he says in PBE, it would just fit for something like this.
Ekko's new look

Hope you like it. Enjoy!
-Frost

Break 7- Curtain Call

Chronobreak- Curtain Call

Canterlot (Nightfall)

The curtain of twilight that was the midnight sky had finally fallen as Luna released the spell she had used to raise the moon. It was well into the night, but around now though was not the time for her to relax. Earlier in the day, she had to talk to her sister because of the numerous disruptions to the public that were caused by her nephew, Prince Blueblood. This ranged from some minor offenses such as the encounters with the customers at the Canterlot Ice Cream parlor to the outrageous claims that were made by him in public against the owner of one of the top jewelry retailers in Canterlot. Celestia had told her that she had to discipline him with his actions against the young boy named Ekko. Now, it was her turn to do the same.

Trotting through the halls of elements gave the lunar princess time to compose herself as she began to think of the right words she would say to Blueblood. However, the words that she needed to choose had to be meaningful. They needed to leave an impact on him and not just bounce off like anything else that he completely ignores. As she reached the end of the hallway and trotted out into the garden, she personally cursed under her breath. He was right in front of her and it seemed like he was going to walk away.

“Blueblood…” She said at first, loud enough to catch his attention, but to not make it sound like she was using the Royal Canterlot voice. “We need to talk to you.”

“Auntie?” He first said before shaking his head a minute. “Auntie, what are you doing here this late? I thought you would already be in bed.”

“Actually, I stayed up because you and I need to talk about your recent string of behavior.” The Prince personally groaned, droning what Luna was going to say until she snapped at him. “And don’t be taking this lightly, nephew. You are one of Canterlot Royalty. You are suppose to set an example for all ponies that come in and out of this city's gates. That includes the one that we know as Ekko.”

“You can’t be serious? You expect me to show some commoner like that thing respect?” Blueblood questioned, gritting his teeth.

“I do… Tell me something, Blueblood… What do you want everypony to remember you for when you pass on? Do you want them to see you as a rich boy who doesn’t have any sense of character or respect? Or do you want to see them as somepony who would do anything to help Princess Celestia in times of need?”

“What kind of a question is that?” He asked, looking at Luna in disbelief. The lunar princess could only sigh deeply as she looked back at him with a disappointed look on her face. She never thought that Blueblood would be at the point where he can’t think for himself.

“It is a question to be thinking of everyday of your life. Every choice that we make always has a consequence. And one day, something like that will make your life flash right in front of your eyes. Your choices so far have been based on your own pleasure and greed, making yourself look like a spoiled colt. And for somepony in your position, those actions can’t be tolerated anymore.” Luna addressed to him, catching Blueblood’s immediate attention.

“Sure Auntie, like that will ever happen to somepony like me.”

“Your arrogance just adds to your overconfidence and it reeks.” Luna told him, “Be thankful that it was me telling you this instead of my sister.” Before Blueblood was be able to say anything, both of them were caught off guard by a loud ringing noise that ran through the courtyard. It sounded like it was cannonfire, but it was too close to be that and the cannons were pointed away from the city instead of towards.

“What was that?” Luna asked. Her nephew had no response to the matter, but both of them flinched a little at hearing two more loud bangs go off. It was then though that the Princess and her nephew hear three bodies fall to the ground. Three guards that stood up on the wall and were watching over the city. But where all three were shot, the strangest thing could be found on the bodies themselves.

A flower. One that looked like snow that would fall during a winter storm before the color changed. Resembling a violet shade of color. Luna herself began to worry about what was going on. Why was it that three guards were just killed out of nowhere. It doesn’t add up… unless.

Unless it was to attract bystanders. To set them up for being targeted again. She heard a brief click from far away and from a distance, the Alicorn thought she heard someone say something briefly. All while pointing a smoking barrel at them and looking down at them in a mask while hiding from the safety of the shadows.

Your final scene begins.

That was when the final shot was fired, heading towards Luna. She closed her eyes and braced herself for what was to happen, given that she had no magic in order to defend herself. But after a few moments, she didn’t feel anything. No pain, no wounds, no scar. Nothing. Did the Assassin’s shot somehow miss her? Did it hit somepony else? But it was then that she opened her eyes and saw the horror that unraveled before her.

Blueblood, who was previously right next to her, had taken the final shot to the left side of his chest. Blood formed at the mouth as he coughed and hacked as what was forming in his throat. This shot though, did something unordinary though. It began to root the body of the dying prince into the ground as the roots formed a tree from underneath that resembled one of the cherry blossom trees you would find in Neighpon. But this one sewn Blueblood’s body into the roots as it bloomed and formed the tree from the ground.

The marksman who took the shot now stepped forth, walking over to the body of the prince that he had just killed. The light had now revealed to the lunar princess who just took the life of her nephew. The one in the mask wore a white garment over his chest and shoulders, but his right arm appeared mechanical. There was an extended barrel on the right side that she saw him detach from the weapon he kept on his left hand and the mask he wore has separate carvings. One set on it’s right and one on it’s left. Though, the left side was more majestic than the right. “Another resounding masterpiece…” He said, with a sinister and chilling edge to his deep tone. “A fine work of art…”

Luna froze. THIS was art to him!?! That just made her angrier more and more. “W-what have you done? What have you done to my nephew!?” The stranger just turned around, staring down the princess for a brief moment. But, as he walked away, he told her one thing that made heart stop cold.

He has been made… perfect.

As the Virtuoso left and the curtain of night dropped over him once again, he left Princess just sitting on the ground. Mourning over the loss of her nephew as the flowers on the deceased guards slowly began to turn white. And the princesses tears began to glow with the stars in the sky.

Ponyville (The Next Morning)

By the time the sun began to rise, Twilight had to get herself ready. The princess was going to meet Shining Armor and Princess Cadence in Canterlot to get the chance to see Princess Celestia again. Along with that, it will also be a chance for Poppy, the yordle that Ekko had introduced her earlier in the week, to meet her teacher and everyone else in Canterlot. She even saw the Yordle this morning being very eager to meet with the royal leaders of the city.

However, one thing was stuck on her mind as she looked at her friends that morning. Something that was… well… off. “Hey everypony, have you seen Ekko anywhere?”

“Uhh, last I checked darling, he was asking me yesterday to make him a better set of clothes than the previous set that he was wearing,” Rarity replied, letting out a sigh of relief. “I think the boy is making sure to dress properly for our meeting with royalty today.”

“Seriously?” Rainbow Dash groaned. “We’re just saying hello, not going to the Gala again. That’s not going to be another year from now.” The Pegasus herself was rolling her eyes after what they had to put up with involving Discord the last time the Gala was being celebrated. However, all that did was just leave a confused expression on the face of the Yordle that was next to Spike.

“Pardon my interruption, but what is this Gala that you are talking about?” She asked.

“It’s an annual celebration involving almost all of the nobles and friends of the princesses.” Twilight explained to her briefly before looking around the room. “Come on now, he can’t be that busy now, can he?”

“Maybe he’s tinkering his equipment again?” Applejack replied.

“Possible, but not exactly an immediate answer-.” The Princess stopped speaking shortly after she heard the sound of footsteps lurk now far from where they were standing. From there, she saw Ekko, but he had a new set of clothes on and his hair was completely different than before. Almost like he washed all the white out of his hair and tied it all back.

“Sorry I was late. It takes a while to get use to a new set of clothes.” The boy said as he walked into the room. Now noticing that everypony was staring at him. “What? Was it something I said?”

The boy now had a pair of leather boots with strong black leather pants, metal gauntlets, and a new pair of goggles to add to his classic shirt and red scarf. The major change though was the style of his hair as it now looked like “dreadlocks” as it was referred to by the ponies that lived in South Amareica. His guile and gadgets also fit the new look as well, leaving everypony surprised.

“E-ekko… You look… different.”

“Well, I asked Rarity for some more casual clothes and I had to pull an all nighter fine tuning my gear to match my new appearance. Other than that, I spent almost half an hour trying to fix up my hair.” The boy said, putting his guile over his shoulders. “So, aren’t we going to Canterlot soon?”

“R-right… We just need to get to the train.” Twilight replied as all of them went out to the station. On the way to the train, Poppy had a few questions regarding who they were meeting and if there were anything specific regarding them that she should say or do so she wouldn’t embarrass herself when they arrived. Twilight and the others were happy to comply, since it was also Starlight Glimmer’s first time with meeting the Princesses as well.

However, when they pulled into the station, right away they could all tell that something did not seem right. Especially with the heavy presence of royal guards up on the walls and inside the train station. Leaving all of them to wonder why was there so much commotion amongst the city’s military.

“This isn’t normal,” Twilight said as she scanned the streets for signs of her brother and his wife. “The guard would only be acting like this if it was an emergency. But nothing major has ever happened since the incident involving Lord Tirek at Tartarus.” The Alicorn seemed worried alongside her friends. As for Ekko though, he and Poppy were trying to see where the commotion was coming from. It was only then though that Ekko noticed a small gathering of civilians not far from Canterlot Castle, outside the garden as several guards were trying to prevent them from entering the complex.

“This area is closed to civilians and is under investigation by the Royal Army. Please return when the Princess deems the location safe and sound.”

Ekko was surprised a bit, trying to see what it was. But what he did see caused his eyes to widen. “By the league…”

The bodies of four ponies were found dead inside the garden. But what the bodies looked like was another story. Three of them had a white rose form from where they were shot, but the fourth one looked like it was rooted into the ground while the wooden roots around it formed a tree that looked like something you would find in Ionia. But the victim… he remembered seeing him before.

“Don’t just stand there! Kill that filth and arrest them!!”

“Blueblood…” Ekko gasped, upon realizing who it was. It was the prince that Fleur De Lis told him was personally obnoxious. How this would have happened though was beyond him. It got to the point to where he wasn’t even aware of the friends that were calling his name.

It was only until he felt a tap on his arm that he looked to see Rarity standing next to him. “Ekko dear, we’ve been calling you for the last five minutes. What seems to be the matter?”

Turning to her, he sighed. “I just found out the reason for this whole crowd,” he said, pointing towards the garden. “There’s been a murder.”

The unicorn looked at him, shocked and in defiance. Claiming that Canterlot was suppose to be a peaceful city and nothing like this would ever happen. However, Ekko knew all too well what murder was like from the streets of Zaun. It was a normal occurrence because of how corrupt things were. The smell of corpses was all but a familiar stench to him and it wasn’t really a matter of how they died, but why. Everyone had their own reasons for wanting someone dead. He did too at one point. He wanted the killer of his friend Ajani to pay for what he did to him. But in the end, vengeance would never have been able to save him.

He had learned that many times, through the numerous rewinds, that not everything could be fixed. Not everyone could be saved.

It was only by Twilight calling out to them that they finally started walking back over. But in Ekko’s mind, he had questions that needed to be answers. How could something like this, in such a peaceful city no less, have happened. He had an idea of who to ask, but he had to deal with what was on his plate right now first beforehand as he walked back towards Twilight and the others. Soon though, he noticed two other figures. Two ponies that he had not previously met before. One was a unicorn and wore armor like a Captain of the guard would while the other one was a Alicorn.

“Shining, Cadence, this is my friend Ekko.” Twilight happily told them as the boy walked over to them.

“It’s a pleasure to meet the both of you.” he replied, shaking their forehooves.

“Same. I just wish it could be on better terms though,” Shining sighed. “I’ll explain once we’re inside. Follow me.” With it, the unicorn lead everyone inside, having the guards clear out of the room as the mane six, Spike, Starlight, Ekko and Poppy were now in the presence of Princess Celestia. However, one thing that Ekko noticed was that Luna was personally not in attendance.

“Greetings everypony.” The princess said, looking at everyone. “It is good to see all of you here. Including some… new arrivals.”

“I am honored to be in your presence, Princess.” Poppy said, bowing to her. “I am Poppy, Keeper of the Hammer.”

“So you are a hero, I take it?” She asked, causing the Yordle to blow it off.

“Hero? Nah, I’m just a Yordle with a hammer.” The Keeper replied, leaning back against her hammer as she set it against the ground.

“Pardon me, Celestia… but where is Princess Luna?” Rarity asked. “Normally, she isn’t one for being late to attend meetings like this.” Celestia looked at Shining Armor and Cadence for a short moment before sighing deeply. She had something to say and what she needed to tell them was not exactly good.

“Last night, a masked assailant killed four ponies in the garden and my sister witnessed the whole thing happen right in front of her. Three guards were victims, but the fourth one was her nephew, Prince Blueblood.” The Princess addressed. “The shot was intended for her, but it was him who took it in her place. We’ve been having the Royal Guard establish an ongoing investigation into what happened with my sister being the only witness.”

Everypony was just as equally shocked as they were horrified. Mostly because the mane six and the other equines in the room thought that out of all the cities in the world, the last place they expect for this to happen would be in Canterlot. Ekko and Poppy though, weren’t as terrified as the others. In fact, what the Yordle said next surprised everyone.

“Do you have an autopsy on the bodies? Or a witness account of the incident?” She asked, catching Princess Celestia’s attention. “Matter of fact, a description of the suspect?” The sun princess was going to answer for them, but instead, it was her sister who trotted out and began to answer some of Poppy’s questions. “The assailant was bipedal, had a mechanical right arm and a mask to cover his face. His tone was that of a male, but very sinister and when he shot the guards on the left hand side, a flower bloomed forth from the victims chest. As with my nephew, seconds after being hit, he was rooted into the ground around him like a tree as the roots weaved around his body and left it out on display.

“Luna… why are you up? You should be getting some rest-.”

“If there is anyone that can find out what happened to them, I believe Ekko and his friend can. That murderous rat treated death as it was an artform!” That though, caused something to click in Poppy’s head, causing her to start speaking to herself and trying to problem solve what was going on.

“... Four victims… flowers… tree… masked… Oh no. Don’t tell me…”

“What’s wrong Poppy?” Ekko asked, a bit concerned for the yordle.

“Princess Luna, may I ask you something?” The Yordle asked. “This killer… did he mention something about making his victims… perfect?” Her fears were confirmed when the mare nodded her head yes, causing Poppy’s eyes to widen as she gritted her teeth. “We might just have a bigger problem on our hands than we thought.”

“What exactly do you mean, Poppy?” Twilight asked, confused at the Yordle’s change in tone and how serious she was.

“If what Luna said is right, then what were dealing with is something more complex. A fellow Yordle of mine back home named Kennen had heard of such a person, who is an insane criminal that goes by the title “The Virtuoso”.” The Yordle began to explain as everypony looked at her. “He was supposed to be locked away in a prison in the country of Ionia because of how he saw killing and murder as a form of art. However, it has been said that shadowy elements within Ionia’s ruling council lead to him being freed and now serves as an assassin and messenger of terror. He treats his gun as a paintbrush, his kills as a work of art and his act like a performance in a theater.”

Luna’s eyes widened. “That… all makes sense. Before taking the last shot, that assailant said Your final scene ends as in the final scene of an on stage play.”

“He also has an obsession with the number four, since his weapon fires four shots before he needs to reload. Given that there were four victims, it just makes me suspect it even more,” Poppy said to himself. “Jhin has been wanted in various countries for the crimes he has committed. If we want this to end, than we need to do what we can to capture him before he strikes again.”

That brought something up in Ekko’s mind. “Hang on, does he even know that there are other people from Runeterra here as well? If so, then that would mean than we might become his next targets.”

“It all depends on how we proceed.” Poppy told her. Right now, it was like they were playing a game of cards. Play the hand you have been given right and you will have a good outcome. However, play it wrong and there could possibly be consequences for both of them. One being that they could end up as potential victims or get anypony else hurt if they are pulled into the matter.

“If we are dealing with what you described to us, than this killer is not one to be taken lightly.” Celestia said, looking at all of them. “Unlike those such as Lord Tirek, who would just cause an immediate rampage, this… Jhin that you speak of is as cold as he is calculated. He would plan out his next attack before executing it. We need to know who could be a potential target and see what we can do to protect them. I will not let a ruthless monster such as him harm any of my subjects!”

“What do you propose we do, Princess?” Shining Armor asked.

“Get as many royal guard as you can find to sweep through Canterlot. In addition, we will need to take extra security measure until things calm down,” The princess explained. “Twilight, Cadence. I advise that you take similar precautions in both Ponyville and the Crystal Empire to keep everypony living there safe and sound. If anything does change, inform me immediately. We will not let this man go unpunished for what he has done.”

“Yes Princess, right away.” Shining Armor saluted the Alicorn, shortly before everypony else was dismissed and allowed to leave. However, from a distance, one man watched through a scope as they all began to part ways. If they could see his face right now, he would be grinning to himself as everypony soon went their separate ways.

“Just like Ionia,” The Virtuoso said to himself as he put away the weapon that he saw as his paintbrush, returning into the cave that he used as hiding place on the mountainside. “You only understand harmony… Discord is required for contrast.”

End Break 7