-The Next Morning, the Main Hall-
Nightmare Moon was absolutely furious. Everypony could tell just by looking at her that something terrible had happened during the party. To prevent the students from eavesdropping on them a barrier had been erected and an array of spells to prevent others from hearing or listening in was placed around Nightmare and the Light Princesses.
“So what’s eating you Nightmare?” Celestia asked, “There must be something wrong to make you go through all this trouble of protecting a conversation.”
Nightmare Moon took a deep breath and said, “My sister’s tomb has been tampered with.”
“What do you mean ‘tampered with’?” Luna said, utterly confused, “You set the correct spells in place to warn you the minute somepony other than you and Atar opened the door. Celestia and I watched you do so. There is no way that somepony got passed the door without you knowing about it.”
“That’s just the thing,” Nightmare said, “Somepony got passed the spells and did the one thing I’ve been dreading since the day she died. Somepony resurrected Darkstar and disappeared with her.”
“You mean to tell me she’s out there right now?” Celestia said, “Doing who knows what to whoever she meets?”
“She’ll be weak without her collection of souls,” Nightmare quickly said, “but it gives her time and she’ll eventually regain her dark powers. You need to focus on teaching the young ones while I hunt down my sister.”
With that Nightmare Moon turned into a mist and exited the room as her barrier fell apart. Ponies either noticed her exit or were occupied with something to notice. Celestia sighed and turned towards the entrance of the main hall, where Applejack was confronting her brother Big Macintosh. The colt in question looked the exact same as he always did, though for three small differences; he wasn’t wearing his work harness, he was dressed in armor, and he carried a book that radiated a yellow energy.
“Big Mac, what are you doing here?” Applejack asked, stopping her brother in his tracks, “I thought you were staying at the farm while Apple Bloom and I stayed here.”
“Applejack,” her brother said, “we have enough family members that can watch over the farm while we’re here and ah’m sure that nothing will go wrong. Now if you’ll excuse me, ah have a class to prepare for.”
As Big Macintosh walked down the hallway Applejack remained where she was, confused by what she had heard. Her brother never spoke that much of a completed sentence and never sounded like that. And there was the armor he was wearing and the book that he carried. And she didn’t remember her brother receiving a letter like she and Apple Bloom did.
“If you must know he is a Paladin.”
Applejack turned around and saw Princess Celestia standing behind her. She was surprised and thought she’d be with her sister at the head of the table.
“A Paladin you say?” Applejack asked, “What’s that Princess?”
“I can’t say much,” was the reply as the Princess turned towards the entrance of the school, “but he is a soldier blessed by the light and a protector of the innocent. I’ll see you little ponies later, Canterlot needs me there. Besides, this was Luna’s idea, so she’s the Headmistress of the school.”
With that said the Princess walked towards the train’s platform, leaving the students in her sister’s capable hooves. Celestia had no doubt that Luna would teach the students and their Shadows how to live in harmony and would do what was necessary if Thrack began to take over yet again. Mist covered her body and she vanished, returning to her realm so she could bring order to the nobles again.
“So girls,” Sweetie asked, sitting next to Apple Bloom and Scootaloo with some juice next to her plate, “what did the two of you get for your first class? I got a class called Paladin 101.”
“So did us,” Scootaloo said, “though neither of us has ever heard of this ‘paladin’. Our schedules don’t even say who the teacher is.”
“That’s that same with mine,” Sweetie replied, drinking some of her apple juice, “though I’ve got classes to train my magic and control the power coursing through my veins.”
“It almost looks like you have a hangover,” Scootaloo said, getting a surprised glance from her friends, “Rainbow Dash taught me what that meant one time. I bet staying in that form is draining you of your energy.”
“It’s not the form,” came the reply as Sweetie shook her head, “it’s the dreams that tell me more and more about Thrack’s ugly past. I want to learn what I came here to learn so I can destroy all that remains of her.”
Sweetie’s glass cup shattered in her hand, which she was not used to using since she had never assumed Thrack’s form willingly. The clawed limb allowed her to grip cups without her magic and could do many other things, but she needed to control it. She sighed and lowered her right claw, glancing around to see if anypony had noticed the glass shatter. To her relief none turned to look for the source of the noise and were still chatting or eating like everything was normal. She failed to notice Princess Luna staring at her and her friends the entire time.
-Paladin 101 Classroom-
Sweetie Belle looked around the classroom after the Crusaders had a hard time finding the door and was surprised to find Applejack had come into the room as well. She was also surprised to find that the classroom was none other than the center of what appeared to be a cathedral, with Big Macintosh standing in the teachers spot. And she was sure that Apple Bloom was shocked to see her brother dressed in armor and carrying a book around.
“Take you’re seats,” Big Mac said, watching the ponies in front of him move to the desks with their names on them, “Thank you. Now ah’m sure that you are all wondering what a Paladin is and what this class is all about. Truth be told ah am not the one that will be teaching the class, but ah can tell you who WILL be teaching the class instead.”
That was when Sweetie noticed a second armor suited pony appear in the cathedral, standing behind Big Mac and still wearing a helmet. And floating next to the other Paladin was a weird set of stairs made out of some strange yellow glowing material. Though Sweetie was sure that she could see through it and observe whatever was behind the stairs. She was sure that the second Paladin was the one Big Macintosh was talking about, but then she heard something thud on one of the steps.
“Who is that,” one pony curiously said.
“I don’t know, but he looks brave,” another said.
“And he seems fierce as well,” a third added.
The pony who finally stopped behind Big Mac was also dressed in armor like the other two, but different at the same time. His coat was white colored, similar to Shining Armor’s own color except that it was just a bit lighter than his, and his mane, while short on his head, was light brown. His eyes, while they held a kind and gentle look to them, were light blue and held an air of experience in them. Big Mac stepped off to the side and allowed the newcomer to take his place before standing at attention.
“I am called Uther the Lightbringer,” the stallion said, his voice calm and collected as he surveyed the classroom, “I was a Paladin of the Silver Hand, but now that order is known as the Silver Hoof. I am the leader of the order, trainer of Paladins across the ages. I will spare you all my long story, but know I am here to train you to defeat whatever darkness lies in your hearts. I know you all have met Big Macintosh, but allow me to introduce my other associate.”
The other pony removed its helmet and there stood Pinkie Pie in all her chaotic glory. To think that she of all ponies would be a Paladin. Sweetie Belle and her fellow students were very surprised.
“Yes,” Uther said, “Pinkie Pie, the energetic pony who represents the Element of Laughter and trained by the Spirit of Chaos himself. Trust me, she has been made aware that it is important to keep calm and not be a bundle of energy. We three will teach you all what it means to be a Paladin.”
-Cavern below the School-
“I must say all the dirt on the way here is going to make me visit the spa later,” Rarity complained as she entered a busy workshop filled with spinning gears and the works, “not that a pony like you would know anything about the spa.”
The room itself was huge; nearly the size of her entire boutique, and each wall was covered in some sort of machinery. Each wall held some strange long barreled and short barreled weapons, which Rarity was sure she’d learn the names of eventually. One wall was open to a canyon with a bridge stretching across to another opened area, where there sat some strange flying contraption. And there was another opening further down that faced a canyon wall to practice firing some sort of large barreled weapon.
“Sorry lass, I wasn’t expecting yah to arrive until this afternoon,” said a voice as a door opened in the wall to Rarity’s right, “if yah want to quickly wash up there is a small shower in that room. Don’t worry about if all the parts working, I made sure they worked before you arrived.”
Rarity was surprised to hear that there actually was a shower down under the school and that it was actually working. She smiled and closed the door behind her, leaving the other pony to whatever he was doing at the moment.
Ten minutes later she emerged from the room, feeling refreshed and ready for whatever her partner was planning.
Princess Luna had invited Rarity to the School of Shadows to help the strange pony she found create whatever he was working on. She turned a corner and found her partner working on something long with some sort of telescope attached to the top. Her partner had a light brown coat that was dirty from all the work he was doing and a short spiked gray mane with a similar colored small beard. According to Princess Luna the stallion called himself the Mechanic, which matched his gear shaped cutie mark.
“Ah, I see you’ve come out at last,” the stallion said, barely turning back to look at her, “that is good. I need yah to test this weapon out and see if it needs any fixing.”
Whatever weapon he had been working on he tossed over his shoulder and Rarity snatched it in her magical grasp, surprised to find what she held.
“Where I am from we had a name for a weapon like this,” the stallion said, finally turning around to face her and smiling at her, “it was called a rifle, a weapon of the Hunters. Sometimes they carried much smaller versions of that and were simply known as a gun, but I have made none of those yet. These ones are designed to use concentrated magic without having to cast the more taxing spells.”
The Mechanic led Rarity to what appeared to be a shooting range, an area of the second chamber filled with circular boards with multiple colors and bottles hanging in the air. From the mess that she could see it was clear that the Mechanic was fond of firing off his own creations in his spare time. Testing and fixing whatever he found that was wrong in each of his designs.
“Fire at whatever yah want,” the Mechanic said, taking a seat as Rarity faced the targets, “whenever yah want.”
“One small question dear,” Rarity said, taking aim on one of the boards, “what is that huge flying contraption your building in the third chamber?”
“Oh, that,” the Mechanic asked, “That, my dear Rarity, is an airship we used quite frequently back on my world. If yah meet a Paladin called Uther he’d tell yah more about it.”
Rarity smiled at the thought of an airship flying through the sky of Equestria. Right now the nobles had larger balloons and ships carried by said balloons, but an airship would be new. Rarity magically pulled the trigger and a hole punched through the center of the target she had been aiming at. She could definitely get used to using something this.
-Luna’s Office-
“Seems that everything is going according to what each teacher planned,” Luna said, recounting what she had been told so far, “Uther is training the next order of Paladins and the Mechanic is perfecting the art of weapons we have never seen before. Derpy Hooves will train the students in the way of using the airships once they are completed. And it seems that Twilight Sparkle is going to train the next line of sages while she prefects her fire elemental powers.”
She chuckled and looked up at the mirror in front of her, showing Luna her sister in Canterlot. A set of mirrors created so the two could chat while they were apart and exchange information. Celestia seemed surprised to hear that Rarity was helping some stallion called the Mechanic build new weapons, Derpy was actually not causing destruction, and Twilight was taming another element.
“That is good to hear,” Celestia replied, “I do hope that all of this training isn’t necessary and we’re wasting our time in the false hope that Thrack doesn’t return.”
“Do not worry sister,” Luna said, “Sweetie Belle will hold the monster back will all her might and we can finally put an end to the curse once and for all.”