Cold Vlight

The train heading to the Mountains north of Griffinstone was moving a at moderate speed. It was carrying several passengers, all them soldiers and new recruits. Everypony knew why they were on the train. They had all been specially selected to go through a series of tests to see if they were strong enough and clever enough to join a special group being created by Princess Luna called, “The Clever Six”. Its name alone showed that only six of these one hundred ponies would be selected. But with Captain Shining Armor seemingly chosen to be the group's leader, it appeared there were only five spots left that could be filled.

On the train were two unlikely allies now somewhat friends; a yellow pegasus with a blue mane named Flash Sentry, and a purple batpony with green mane named Jack Nox. They were told to sit in the lower class part of the train with the other soldiers while Captain Shining Armor and General Nightflare Redstar took first class. During the train ride, Flash and Jack had brought some info they gathered from Barrack A and B, before the train ride.

"So what info could you find about our Captain?" asked Jack.

"Well as far as I can gather, Captain Shining Armor is a well-ranked captain who has served well in the Equestrian Guard. He is currently dating Princess Mi Amore Cadenza and he is consider to be a good and fair Captain," said Flash as he looked through the info. "So what did you find out about the General?" asked Flash. There appeared to be no info in Barrack A about him.

"From what little info I could gather, General Nightflare Redstar is known as 'The Red Sword of Royalty' due to his extreme chivalry towards the Crown. He is as loyal as possible and will always defend a royal's honor," replied Jack, to which Flash lifted his left brow and said, "Riiight, you do remember that he cleaved that villain in two, with one slice of that Red Katana of his?"

"Well ponies that have worked under him say he can be quite laid back as long as there are no Royals being insulted. He can be a good General to work under as long as you hold your tongue," said Jack.

"Well, I guess that’s alright. I have no disrespect for the Princess anywa- " said Flash as he got interrupted by Jack as he continued.

"However he will be very tough on new recruits that he takes special interest in," said Jack, as he began to shake. He continued to read.

"Tough?" asked Flash worriedly.

"It seems he will put those ponies through his own special series of tests to prove their worth, and the fact is only two ponies out of all the ones he chose have succeeded, and those are Captain Brood Gem, a.k.a. 'The Vampire Bat of War', and General Frara D., a.k.a. 'The Great Wall'," said Jack.

"Wow, they sound like they have great prestige, but how many have failed?" Flash asked.

"Well currently over seven hundred others have gone though his test and all have failed, except for the two I stated, and that's all I could gather," Jack replied.

"Is that all the info we could gather?" Flash grumbled, annoyed they could not find more. Neither of them noticed two ponies watching them. A dark yellow, heavy-set unicorn with a long brown mane, and a green batpony with a blonde mane. They were sitting across from them, listening in on their conversation. The heavy-set unicorn seem intrigued by their intel, so much he decided to help these two.

"Hey, I heard you guys talking about the General and the Captain," said the heavy-set unicorn as he leaned forward.

"What?" said Flash.

"Well, I just happen to know plenty of things about them," said the heavy-set unicorn.

"And just who are you?" asked Jack, in a slightly annoyed, sarcastic.

"Oh I am sorry, my name is Robert Minder or Bob Mind if you like. I am a private investigator, and this is my associate Leod Quarts," replied Bob Mind, as he moved closer. "And of course we know who you two are, Jack Nox, son of Norman Nox, CEO of Nox Corp."

"So? Everypony knows that. I’m one of the richest ponies in the world," said Jack, his  annoyance growing.

"And I know you, Flash Sentry. You received your cutie mark twelve years ago, on the same day as the famous Sonic Rainboom," said Bob Mind.

"Right," said Flash, as he tried his best not to remember that horrible day.

"Well, did you know, Flash, that there were six certain other ponies that received their cutie marks on that same day?" Leod Quarts asked, butting in.

"Who?" Flash asked curiously, but before Leod Quarts could give an answer, Jack intervened.

"Hey can we get back to the reason you two bugged us?"

"Yeah, right. Well, as a private investigator, I have been asked on a few occasions to investigate certain ponies, like General Nightflare and Captain Shining Armor," said Bob Mind.

"Well what did you find out?" Jack asked, now interested in what Bob Mind was saying.

"Well not much on General Nightflare. He is mostly an enigma. I mean, he joined the Equestrian Guard at an extremely young age at the time, and rose through ranks so fast that he not only became the youngest Captain on record at that time - which was broken later by Captain Shining Armor - but still holds the record for youngest to be ever promoted to the rank of General. He is also currently the highest ranking General. Heck, the only General that even comes close to him in medals is General Iron Hoof, and that's by twenty medals," said Bob Mind.

"Wow that is impressive," said Flash.

"Wait you said he had an enigma about himself?" asked Jack.

"Well he does. On the fact that even though he is in his forties, he looks like he's in his early twenties. His past is very vague. He spent his childhood living in Yakyakistan even though he was born in Equestria, but what he did in Yakyakistan is completely unknown and there is not a single record of his teen years before he joined the Equestrian Guard," said Bob Mind.

As the train kept moving, Leod Quarts gave them the info on Captain Shining Armor. Suddenly the train pulled up to their stop. "Well looks like we are here," said Jack as he got up.

"But I wasn't done talking," said Leod Quarts, as he began to plead, but Jack was already moving.

"Don't  worry we can talk more after the first day of training," said Flash, as he got up to join Jack.

"Okay...... Hey wait up," said Bob as the two ponies followed after them.

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