Chapter 2
As Sombra started to walk away from the house, a shadow passed overhead and he was at first filled with a desire to send a bolt of magic at the airborn menace. He quickly squashed the feeling down after all, Griffons no longer attacked Ponies as prey. This particular Griffon was also somewhat dear to him-
I knew you cared about her! You can't hide things from the voice in your head! The Voice said in a singsong way.
Sombra sighed, the voice was now using the image of a mare (that was rather attractive) to occupy his mind. It was currently doing a victory dance, standing on her rear hooves, and sliding one of them across a floor before stepping forward with the other and repeating the process. Her forehooves were pushed out and pulled back, with the rhythm formed by the rear hooves. Given that when she had used a singsong tone that was rather melodious and her current dancing, he decided to call her Head Voice. (also the pun upped his evil factor) Though a more adult themed name might be appropriate, given that she was also giving him an excellent view of her...
HEY! Thanks for the name and all, but my eyes are up here! Head Voice exclaimed while hastily covering herself and blushing.
Thank you for using an image in there when you speak, doesn't seen like I am completely losing my mind that way. Very good choice, quite pretty... for an incessant, whining, overly boisterous, know-it-all, that cannot stay quiet to save their soul! One more word and Gilda will have permission to break out the HARD liquor!
Okay, okay! Yeesh! Do you have to be mean all the time? Head Voice seemed to be genuinely hurt by the fact that he would threaten her.
How odd...and speaking of odd here comes Gilda.
Gilda skidded to a stop just in front of him kicking up a cloud of dust he casually blew away with a gentle wave of magic. "Sup Sombrero. So where is the foal? Honestly with the way our relationship started I thought foals would be the last thing on your mind, " the griffoness stated as she spit from her semi pliable beak.
Head Voice immediately broke into hysterical laughter.
"Gilda, you really need to think more about how things will sound, BEFORE you say them." Sombra said as he facehoofed.
Gilda's cheeks immediately turned crimson as the other way her words could be interpreted dawned on her. Wow, that was smooth Gilda, really classy. Now he will have no choice but to fall for you!
Gilda sighed inwardly, Great now I am doing it again. Berate yourself mentally in front of your crush and he will fall in love with your odd facial expressions as you yell at yourself internally and look like a mental patient.
"Maybe going out today was a bad idea. I think I will be going back now," Gilda said in a forlorn sort of voice.
"Nonsense, I actually need you to do a few things today Gilda."
Gilda was momentarily startled by Somber's voice, she hadn't been expecting him to ask her for assistance at all. Not that she was disappointed, just kind of surprised. She was also surprised by the sudden responsibility being given to her. Somber had done everything, letting her recover from her depression, and her more recent addictions. He had been there for her in ways that nopony or birdy had. He wasn't off put by her being the daughter of the King of the Griffons either. He hadn't been solely kind. No he had forced her to give up her addictions, despite the pain this caused her. She was happier now though, and she could get alcohol when she felt like it. She had dreamt of him most nights, some were terrifying, but most had been pleasant and innocuous. The last few weeks her dreams of him had become rather lewd though, leading to some embarrassing mornings for her. Apparently she moaned in her sleep...
"Yes, I need some help today Gilda," Somber said, snapping her out of her thoughts. "I need you to go get things for the filly to play with. Board games and the like, and more food for all of us. Make sure to get plenty of fish for us. Flour, baking powder, some kind of chocolate, milk, eggs, *squawk* sorry, something tells me she will enjoy baking though so we will need these. And anything else you think of." He said as he levitated a large sack of bits to her.
"The foal is a unicorn, so should I get her a foals spellbook?" Gilda asked, thinking it would be a good idea for her to have one.
"No, I will make one for her. Besides the spells in the standard store bought copies are completely worthless." Somber answered, surprising Gilda again.
Well for somepony that only wants to suck the fear out of this filly, you are going to an awful lot of trouble for her. Are you sure you haven't changed? Head Voice asked in a rather serious manner.
Yes I am in fact VERY sure I am still the evil King Sombra.
"Well I am off, I am going to see what I am up against in this young filly. Her mother also mentioned bullies, so I am going to have a talk with the teacher," Somber said as his expression shifted to a much darker look.
For a moment Gilda thought Somber appeared as he did the day he had incapacitated her, his horn malformed and red, fangs protruded from his mouth sharp and dangerous in appearance. Then as quickly as the as it came it was gone, leaving the same unicorn stallion that she had come know. Gilda felt bad for whoever was making life for that filly difficult.
Why did I have to be the one to help this school? Cheerilee thought miserably as the children did everything possible besides learn. Three children were attempting to make fireworks in the back of the class, two were running about, booping everypony on the nose and laughing. The only one who was actually doing something conducive to learning was the same yellow unicorn filly who was always well behaved unless told to have fun, she would sit there and do her work quietly, raising her hoof when she came across something she had a question about. Cheerilee had openly praised this filly, and as recourse the other students had taken to picking her.
Miss Cheerilee had been selected out of the countless teachers in Equestria to come here to this school, in order to set it straight due to her own outstanding record of dealing with her own.... difficult class while still making learning enjoyable for them. This school had been plagued with troubles of every sort. the teachers who worked here were less than enthused to be placed at what they considered to be a sub-standard place of education. The students were therefore in a near constant state of riotous chaos, and Cheerilee was only dealing with one class of the older students, she shuddered to think what the Kindergarten class was like.
Cheerilee sighed as she remembered that there was a VERY special guest coming for a visit today. Hopefully the children would have a greater respect for learning after they met with such a perfect example of what education could bring them. The letter Celestia had sent her noted that while this guest was in fact visiting the town for the express purpose of security for the kingdom, Cheerilee should milk this opportunity for all it was worth. The teachers would likely improve when they learned that the guest would be staying to help the local guard stations improve performance. A very good idea since the local Diamond Dogs were becoming more active and and had threatened a few ponies. The world was quickly becoming a more dangerous place. The MInotaurs were apparently preparing for something building massive airships that were being outfitted with weapons of a magical nature. The Griffons were stockpiling weapons, armor, food, and building materials. Both of these nations were in fact also currently engaged in diplomatic relations. The Diamond Dogs remained separated from the rest of the world, divided into their various tribes. Their numbers were great but they lacked the cohesion of the other countries. The changeling hive had been unusually quiet for quite some time and it was suspected that they were warring internally. All of this was spelling trouble for Equestria, and Cheerilee noted that she had learned all of this from simply reading the newspaper on a daily basis. The Princesses information was likely to be far more detailed and put together. If they suspected that their neighbors were going to be attacking, they would have taken greater steps to secure the country. Steps that didn't involve sending one soldier to this suburb. It was a reassuring thought and made her feel better.
A knock at the door interupted her train of and the room quickly became quiet. Cheerilee had to use all of her will to simply remain seated instead of throwing the door open and begging the pony behind it to deliver her from this place.
"Come in!" she called unable to keep all of the excitement from her voice. (she had been praying that the guest would deliver her from the madness this place was sure to bring her)
As the door opened the classroom became pin drop silent. The figure in the doorway was large, and that of a unicorn in officers armor. The figure stepped into the room and greeted the class.
"Hello fillies and colts, my name is Shining Armor."
The cheering from the class was near deafening, as one of the bestest unicorns ever was right in front of them. He had married a princess and fought King Sombra after all.
King Sombra entered the school still disguised and immediately turned towards the room closest to him. The foul noises coming from this particular room suggested that powerful necromancy was at work inside, the screams of Eldritch horrors and abominations, demons and tortured souls sounded close and brought a sense of foreboding to his mind. He laughed loudly along with Head Voice when they saw the truth behind the door. It was a music room. Sombra stopped laughing as he took note of the age of the students inside. They would be heading to secondary school soon if not at the end of this year and this was one of the classes that chose to be in music for the love of it... and they couldn't play to save their souls. Sombra had respect for learning that was far greater than most ponies. Where would he have been had he not learned magic?
This entire class is headed straight for low paying jobs at best, they will never be able to support a family at this rate. And look at the slack-jawed idiots in charge, that one is reading a Daring Do book! And the other is just playing the cello over there! They are completely ignoring them and dooming them to a bad future! By the sisters... most of them don't have their Cutie Marks yet. They have no idea what their destiny will be and they are nearly grown stallions and mares! Something NEEDS to be done here!
As Sombra looked at the mare in the room her mane for the first time found himself agreeing with Head Voice. Where would he be had he not been educated? He certainly wouldn't be the most feared unicorn to ever walk the face of Equis. To his own surprise he found himself becoming enraged at the system in this school for allowing this callous state of affairs to exist. They were essentially throwing away these lives simply because it was easier than actually teaching them.
As much as I hate to admit it, you are right Head Voice. So I will do something. Sombra thought as he strode through the door of the classroom.
Treble Clef and Octavia looked up at the large stallion in their classroom. Treble's green eyes widened with surprise as she was lifted by his powerful telekinisis and unceremoniously plopped into the corner of the room.
"Now, you are to stay there until the end of the period, and when this is over you WILL actively teach every filly and colt that comes into your classroom. Or I will personally go to Canterlot and tell Celestia how you are treating these young lives. Understood?"
Treble had no choice but to agree by nodding her head her blue eyes never leaving the stallions blood red eyes. She watched in absolute amazement at the way this stallion was reacting to this schools way of doing things. When she had come here she had had the same mindset, had been completely furious. But she hadn't acted on her feelings as he was. She had allowed the status quo to remain unmolested and simply fell in with the rest of the teachers. She was surprised yes, but mostly because he wasn't a parent or a teacher here. Just a stallion doing the right thing. Octavia was also inspired as she ran out the door towards Cheerilee's classroom calling for her as loudly as she could.
The stallion grunted in irritation and began to play the piano in the front of the room and speaking at the same time as he reacquainted himself with the instrument.
"I am going to show you all what you will be capable of if you practice to the very best of your ability, and try to get better everyday."
The piece he chose was done from memory and Treble remembered it from the radio the other day.
It started slow with only the piano being played, and the stallion singing in his voice between a baritone and tenor, but soon it picked up in pace and several other instruments were added, an acoustic guitar, a tamborine, drums, even an electric guitar made specifically for unicorns to power and use. The song was done to absolute perfection not a note missed, it was as though this stallion had written the song himself. Though everypony knew Don McLean had, it certainly seemed as though this was not the case. Unbeknownst to the occupants of the room they had gathered drawn quite the crowd.
Previously in Cheerilee's room
"So does anypony have any questions?"
Shining Armor was pleased with how well this had gone. He had been expecting far less enthusiasm than had been generated. He was certain that now the children would learn far more than they would have otherwise. They would be driven to be their best, a few had gained Cutie Marks while he told them of his adventures and through his lecture. They would make excellent soldiers, guards and town constables. Others still had to find their destinies, but they had been inspired to search for it.
One yellow filly with a red mane raised her hoof.
"Yes miss..." Shining said as he called on her not knowing her name.
"Sunshine," the filly said shyly.
"Well Miss Sunshine, what is your question?" Shining said, smiling pleasantly.
"Have you ever fought a Griffon?"
Shining was taken aback. He hadn't been expecting a question about combat from the filly. Then he remembered the report that had come in concerning the inebriated Griffoness that had been fought by a unicorn who had recently moved into the area. Shining had considered the event a lucky win for the stallion in question. But these ponies obviously believed he would be able to protect them better than the local guard, or better than him! He needed to make sure that they knew it was a fluke. And that the guard is the best protection the world had to offer.
"No I haven't. Why do you ask?"
"Because Mr. Somber stopped one from hurting one of my mom's friends, and he said it was really easy."
Shining opened his mouth to respond, but never got the chance as an earth pony mare burst into the room yelling for Miss Cheerilee.
"Miss Cheerilee a unicorn burst into our classroom and took over teaching!"
Cheerilee sighed, this was going to be one of those days.