Cold Vlight

It was early morning and everypony was asleep, unaware of what was about to happen when -

BOOM!

Everypony woke up upon hearing the explosion. They ran outside, most of them still in their pajamas. Moonchaser got outside and said, “Jack, what the blazes is going on?!?”

“Don’t know,” said Jack Nox as he turned and saw Flash getting up. “Hey Flash do you know what’s going on?”

“No, not a clue,” said Flash as he walked up to them. An explosion had woke them up, as well as everypony else. It was strange - there was no sign of an explosion, yet they knew they had all heard one.

“Hey Jack, Flash,” called out a heavy-set, dark yellow unicorn stallion with a long brown mane and a magnifying glass cutie mark.

Jack looked, “Oh I wondered when you two would show back up.” Moonchaser looked at the two and only saw one. But where was the second one? Suddenly the other one showed up, a green batpony stallion with a blonde mane and a kunai cutie mark.

“Who are you two?” asked Moonchaser.

"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," said the heavy-set unicorn.

“You are the two we met on the train,” said Flash. “It’s good to see you again.”

The five attempted to figure out what was going on. They still couldn't see what had caused the explosion. Then they heard a deep voice above them. They looked to a small, red earth pony stallion the size of a colt. He was standing on the roof of one of the barracks. “You five. Look,” he said pointing out to the sky.

The five looked to see a strange-looking blizzard on the horizon. It was slowly approaching the base. “Good. It will soon be here,” said General Nightflare as he walked up to the group.

“Sir is that what I think it is?” asked Shining Armor.

“Indeed, it is the endless blizzard called Cold Vlight,” said Nightflare.

Suddenly Jack chimed in the obvious questions, “Okay, first who are you?” pointing to the red earth pony who was still on the roof. “And what is Cold Vlight?”

“If you must know, I am Savage Raza,” said the red earth pony. Jack jumped as Savage Raza was no longer on the roof. Instead he was now behind Jack.

“How did he do that?” asked Moonchaser.

“Enough bickering. Cold Vlight will be here by the beginning of next nightfall, but since everypony is currently awake, I guess it's time for another test.”

“What? none of us have even had breakfast,” said Flash.

“Well if you are so hungry, then go…..and while you're at it, board the train, because you either take my test or leave,” said Nightflare. Each one of them stopped their bickering and paid attention as General Nightflare filled them in on what today’s test would be. Meanwhile, a strange creature in a cloak slowly walked up behind him. This creature was huge, standing twice as tall, and three times as wide as Nightflare.

Flash and the rest of the group noticed. They thought it was strange and yet didn’t think anything of it. That is, until the creature grabbed a giant axe and swung it at the General, sending him flying across the snow into a rock.

Everypony looked on in shock. As General Nightflare Redstar, Red Sword of Royalty, was took out by a single swing. They stood in and didn’t know what to do. Even Shining Armor had been shocked by this unprovoked attack that came completely out of nowhere!

Flash instinctively jumped in to fight the unknown enemy as the giant charged at the soldiers. Jack followed right behind Flash, being as reckless as ever, and Moonchaser as well. The three charged in without even thinking.

The giant swung its axe and tried to hit a few soldiers who were still in shock, but the axe was stopped by Shining Armor's shield spell. The shield was hit so hard it began to crack. Luckily, Bob Mind added his own magic to the spell, restoring it to full strength.

The giant moved back and swung again when several kunais and shurikens hit it. They were thrown by Leod Quarts and Savage Raza. This was followed by Flash, Jack and Moonchaser charging in and tackling the giant to the ground.

Once the giant was subdued, they demanded answers. But instead they got laughter from the creature. This left everypony confused. “So these are the two you told me about Nightflare?” said the giant as he spoken in a hefty welsh accent.

“Well that settles which ones will make the first team for today’s training,” said General Nightflare. All the soldiers turned to see the General was perfectly fine. Not a scratch on him. The three got off the giant, letting him up. He walked over and stood by the General. “May I introduce my long time friend, Great Oxen.”

The giant took off his cloak, revealing a rather large brown yak in Viking armor. Everypony was stunned at this. “Wait, this was another test wasn’t it?” said Jack.

“Why yes it was, and it seems like you six have passed, and will be Squad One,” said General Nightflare. “This test was to gauge your reaction time - this was very crucial. I couldn't even tell Shining Armor what was going to happen. It had to be a complete surprise. Even I was not aloud to know when the attack was going to happen.”

He then informed them there would be many squads, each one filling the groups of soldiers. Afterwards, every one of them were assigned to a squad. They were allowed to finally head to the mess hall, but before they could, Leod spoke up. “I just have one question to ask.” They all turned towards him. “How did you survive the attack? That axe should have chopped you in two,” They all turned toward the General, expecting an answer.

“Well that’s simple. I stopped it with my blood red katana,” said General Nightflare. It was then everypony finally realized he had had his katana out since the attack.

“I didn’t even see him pull it out,” Moonchaser whispered to Jack.

“That's a surprise, even for you of all ponies,” Jack whispered back.

“How is that a surprise?” asked Flash.

“Because Moonchaser’s talent is farsight. He can spot things no matter how small or far away they are, up to a mile away.”

“We can talk about it more later,” said Moonchaser. “We best get to the mess hall before he pulls another test.”

“Right, let’s go,” said Bob Mind.

“What? You two aren’t going with us,” asked Jack, annoyed. Flash began to notice Jack’s slight irritation at them. Flash was curious as to why Jack was so annoyed by them, but he pushed the thought aside as somepony else started to speak.

“Actually we are part of the same squad,” chimed in Leod.

“I agree with the green one,” said Savage Raza.

“Oh fine,” said Jack as he finally gave in.

“Come on, Squad One,” said Moonchaser. “Let’s get some chow.

So the six left for the mess hall. Squad One, consisting of Flash Sentry, Jack Nox, Moonchaser, Savage Raza, Bob Mind, and Leod Quarts.

******

Princess Luna was in her personal chariot, with Princess Cadence by her side. They were going to check on how the training was going. At least Luna was. Meanwhile Cadence just wanted to see Shining Armor.

This was no surprise to Princess Luna. She could easily see that these two were meant to be and yet something was nagging at the back of her mind. She just couldn’t figure out what yet.

“Princess Cadence, what can thy tell us about General Nightflare?” asked Luna. She wasn’t really that curious. She simply wanted to talk.

“Well I’m not the best one to ask on that,” said Cadence. “The truth is, I have always had a strange distrust of him, and I really don’t know why.” She turned to Princess Luna. “Why? Is there a reason you wanted to know him better?” asked Cadence with a raised eyebrow and a small smirk.

Princess Luna turn her face away and spoke. “Please don’t go assuming. We were simply trying to obtain more info on him, nothing more.”

“Yeah, I know, I’m kidding,” said Cadence. “Aunt Celestia is right - you do need to lighten up.”

Princess Luna did not seemed amused. The rest of the time was spent in silence.

******

The six stallions gathered around the table were talking - Flash about himself, while trying to dodge any questions about his past. Jack talked about the crazy stuff that him and Moonchaser used to do when they were colts, while Bob Mind and Leod talked about a few old cases they were working on.

Everypony seem to be talking, except for Savage Raza, who would only speak a few words at time.

Through talking to each other, they found out about each other's talents, such as how Bob Mind’s talent was to look beyond a problem. And Leod’s talent was a mastery of daggers. Savage Raza was an expert ninja - his talent was being quiet and stealthy. Moonchaser said that he was an expert archer - with his talent of farsight, he could hit a bullseye up to a mile away. They tried to figure out Flash’s talent, which he still did not know. Then Jack chimed in and said his own talent was hacking, which was the ability to break through any kind of locks or codes. Moonchaser even let slip Jack’s unusual ability to teleport despite being just a batpony.

******

Princess Luna and Princess Cadence finally arrived at the base north of Griffinstone. They walked up and saw General Nightflare and Captain Shining Armor waiting for them, or rather Cadence ran up and hugged Shining Armor, rather tightly.

“Well, Cadence, I’ve only been gone a few days,” said Shining Armor as he returned the hug.

“I know. I was just worried after hearing how you will be going into Cold Vlight,” said Cadence, “I’ve heard the rumors of how dangerous it is.”

Meanwhile General Nightflare and Princess Luna greeted each other. The General bowed. “Princess.”

“General,” replied Luna as she did the same.

Then Great Oxen walked up and spoke. “Oh, so this is the Princess you talked about.  She is a fine mare,” That caused General Nightflare to turn and scowl at him with an angry look. “Oh, sorry,” he apologized.

Princess Luna just gave a small giggle. “Thou need not worry. We don’t mind thy  compliments.”

“Sorry. Anyway Princess Luna, I did not mean to dishonor you. This is Great Oxen.  He’ll be joining us,” said General Nightflare. “Shall we go? I have made reservations for the five of us at the nearest fine eatery.”

“That, would be kind,” said Luna. “We shall enjoy it.”

******

So the five left to go enjoy a meal and talk. Meanwhile the blizzard, Cold Vlight, slowly made its approach.

******