Chapters Prologue: Info On The Train (fixed)
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.
******
Chapter 1: The Cold North (fixed)
Jack and Flash exited the train station into the cold north. Indeed it was just as cold as Princess Luna had said it would be. It had a chill that stuck to the fur. It was so cold they could see their breath as a thick fog coming from their mouths.
Once everypony was off the train, the General gave an order. “Soldiers, you all will have three hours to get to know every single pony here. Right now it is unknown who we will choose for the Clever Six, so learn their names well. Any four of these ponies could be your teammates later. Tomorrow we go for the second test. More info will be provided then.”
When General Nightflare turned to leave, some of the soldiers started to follow him. Once he notice them, he turned back and said, “Did you not hear me? you are to learn everypony’s name within three hours!”
“But we are still standing in the freezing cold,” said one of the soldiers.
“Yes that’s first test. To learn all the names while standing in the freezing cold,” said General Nightflare. “Once you have a list of every name, then you can go to the mess hall. However the ones that do not have some sort of a list within three hours, will be sent packing back to Canterlot,” he finished, going to stand beside Captain Shining Armor.
“So sir,” said Shining Armor to General Nightflare. “How long do you think it will take them, to realize the quickest answer?”
“It shouldn’t take too long for some of them,” said Nightflare. “And it seems you already figured it out, son.” General Nightflare always addressed Shining Armor as son, even though there was no family relationship between the two. It was sort of a throwback to the time when Shining Armor was Nightflare’s personal protege years ago.
“It was nothing at all, mentor,” said Shining Armor, as he stood there with a proud smile. Shining Armor had great respect for General Nightflare, often still referring him as his mentor. Shining Armor had learned a great many things from Nightflare.
******
Flash and Jack walked around, gathering names. It was cold. Really cold. The two decided to split up. They thought that they would get done faster if they separated, then they would be able to gather up more names that way. Soon they nearly had every name on the list. However they were still missing two.
******
Jack walked around thinking to himself. ‘Dang it, I need one more name,’ Jack kept walking, not noticing a white unicorn stallion with a spiky red mane, and a telescope cutie mark, approaching him.
“Jack? Jack Nox, is that you?” said the stallion as he walked closer.
Jack turn to see the stallion, “Well, if it isn’t Moondancer’s little brother, Moonchaser,” said Jack, as he walked over and gave him a hoof bump. “What are you doing here?” Jack turned his head slightly “And where’s your sister?” he asked with a slight blush.
“Oh calm down, you don’t have to worry. My sister is still in Canterlot. She’s seems to have locked herself in her room, after the failed party thing,” said Moonchaser. “Beside that, I got pulled into this, because well, I am brilliant.”
“Well that has always been up for debate,” said Jack, an eyebrow raised. “Anyway, it seems I will have to go check up on my mare once this training is over with.”
“Hey, hey, hey, you know very well you have no right to call my sister ‘your mare’ until you have at least properly asked her out on a date,” Moonchaser retorted back.
“What? Are you serious? You know how shy I am around your sister,” said Jack. Indeed, although Jack was often seen as reckless with plenty of stuff, one thing he was always shy about was Moondancer.
“Nah, I’m just messing with you,” said Moonchaser. Moonchaser knew about Jack’s crush on his sister. And it would often annoy Jack Nox to the point of slapping Moonchaser in the back of the head, which he proceeded to do. “Ouch!”
“Well I guess you're my last name,” said Jack, as he walked off. Moonchaser noticed and decided to follow him, as Jack Nox went to go look for Flash.
******
Flash walked about trying to find the final name he was after. “Well if I count the two I met on the train, then I have only one name left,” said Flash as he kept walking. Unbeknownst to Flash, he was being watched by a short, red earth pony stallion with a short navy blue mane, and a ninja star cutie mark. “Dang it, I need one more name,” said Flash.
“Perhaps you should look a little closer.”
The voice came completely out of nowhere. So much so that Flash actually jumped upon hearing it. “Ah, who said that?” said Flash, as he looked around.
“Down here.”
Flash looked down to finally see the red earth pony. He stood shorter than a baby dragon. If Flash had not heard the earth pony speak in a voice way too deep for a colt, he would have definitely mistaken him for a colt. “Oh, sorry, didn’t see you. Your name?” asked Flash.
“Savage Raza,” said the red earth pony.
“Okay, Savage, that’s -- ”
But the earth pony cut Flash off. “Savage Raza, not just Savage.”
“Okay, okay, ‘Savage Raza’, I will try to remember that,” said Flash as he wrote down the name. “Well, looks like I’m done. I better go find Jack,” he said as he took his leave to go look for him. Flash didn’t notice that Savage Raza had already disappeared into the crowd, no longer needing to watch him.
******
Flash and Jack finally met back up. Jack walked to Flash and introduced him to Moonchaser. The three looked at each of their lists and found they had all the names they needed. They walked over to the side where a few others had finished as well.
The three noticed quite few had gotten the same idea as they had. Soon the three hours were up. In the end, it appeared everypony had made it. Next, they went to the mess hall.
But then, “Soldiers,” said General Nightflare, as they all turned their attention toward the General. “As I suspected, you got done in time, however you all could have gotten it done in ten to twenty seconds,” This left all of them baffled - even Jack Nox, the self-proclaim ‘Freakin Genius’ as he had always said he was.
General Nightflare looked around to see all the ponies scratching their heads. Here was supposed to be the cleverest young minds in Equestria and yet none of them could see the obvious answer. “Well, since none of you can figure it out,” said Nightflare, as he turn to Shining Armor. “Shining Armor, if you will, son, give them the answer.”
“Of course,” said Shining Armor, as he pulled out his dogtags. “This is a dogtag, you all have your own.” They all noded in agreement. “And yet none of you realized that this itself is a written down name, you needed a list, yet you already had one, each of your dogtags brought together would have made the list.”
All of them including Flash Sentry and Jack Nox dropped their jaws. Then General Nightflare stepped forward and spoke. “None of you ever once asked what the idea of this test was, you just assumed it was just meant to gather names, but it was to test your cleverness. You will find many times throughout your journeys that a test can disguise itself as something else. The true purpose of this test was for you to spot the obvious, even when it was under you own nose,” Nightflare finally finished. He gave a salute and then, “You all got the names, so you all can now go to the mess hall and then to the barracks for sleep, but be ready bright and early in the morning for the next test.” He finally took his leave of them. Shining Armor followed directly behind him.
*******
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.
******