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// Chapter 1: A New Mission 
// Story: The Frost Chronicles: Book 2: Shadow of the Storm 
// by steelwingx 
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CHAPTER 1
A New Mission


For those of you who don’t know who I am, allow me to tell you my journey so far:

Six months ago, I received a very strange and enchanted gift, a gift that changed my life forever, I didn’t know it yet, but I had become a part of a greater destiny. After being forced to leave my home, along with my friend Vapor Cloud, we befriended a young Pegasus thief by the name of Dust wind. Along with his help, we managed to escape and flee into the forest, where we encountered a small group of rebels known as the Night Ranger’s.

After striking a deal with the rebels second-in-command, a Pegasus stallion by the name of Iron Star, we had arranged to go back home. But we soon came to find that our town had been occupied by one of the army’s top General’s. After a series of conflicts, we managed to defeat the soldiers and force them to retreat, but with any victory, it came with a heavy cost. 

After we had left the town behind, my friends and I traveled to an abandoned monastery that served as the Night Ranger’s HQ. There, we met their leader, the former Princess of the Night herself, Luna. Five months of training past, before we found ourselves fully inducted members of their order.

My name is Frost Fall, and I…am a Night Ranger.
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In my dreams, I dreamed of Ashen.

I couldn’t help but imagine what my life would have been like if I had never encountered that Medallion. Would my mother still be alive? Would Ashen have been spared the onslaught from the royal soldiers? But I had no answers to those questions. Instead, I had the life I had been so forcefully pushed into, at first I had come to hate this new life, the life of a Rebel. But, a pony I knew, gave me some helpful advice, by saying this:

“…no matter how bad things may get, something good can always come out of it”

A month had passed since my friends and I had rescued the crew of the NRS Night Sky, and life had returned to a more peaceful time. After River had fully recovered from the injuries she had sustained in the battle, with the group of royal soldiers, Luna held a private ceremony for us, in which she fully inducted us into the Night Ranger Order.

To say we were happy, would have been an understatement. Knowing that our first mission had been traumatizing for us, Luna allowed us to stay in the Monastery while we all recuperate from our injuries, both physical and mental. But that did not stop her from putting us through more relentless combat and magic drills, but by that point, we had stopped our complaining. But what we didn't know, is that our lives were about to get even stranger.
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I awoke to the steady beeping of my alarm, my eyes slowly opened as I focused on the ticking of the clock. I groaned and fumbled to hit the snooze button, and then rolled on to my back, putting my hoof over my eyes, but before I could fall asleep again, I heard a loud squawk come from above me. I removed my hoof to see my black-feathered friend, sitting on the top of the bed frame, staring down at me with her big eyes.

I groaned again and sighed heavily, “good morning to you too, Winter…” I said in a sleepy voice. She squawked at me again and glided over to the foot of the bed, and chirped at me. “Alright, alright I’m up” I said as I pushed myself out of bed and walked over to the window, she happily glided over and sat on the sill, pecking at the glass. I lazily dragged my hooves over and slid away the curtains, and opened the window. I smiled as she hopped outside and fluttered her wings out.

“Alright, I’ll see you later” I said as she took off into the air, and flew off into the distance.

After I had told my friends about Winter, I knew it would be hard to convince Luna to let me keep her, but much to my surprise, she seemed to be pretty open to the idea, and allowed me to keep her as a companion.

After making myself proper for the day, which consisted of showering, teeth brushing, and mane combing, I made my way down to the mess hall.
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The hall was filled with the other initiates, all trying to get their food and sit with their friends.

As I carried my tray across the room, I smiled as I saw my friends Vapor and Dust sitting at our usual table, and much to my surprise, Aurora was sitting with them. By this time, Aurora had pretty much become the fifth member of our group, and she had opened up to the others of her Alicorn heritage, which they had welcomed with open hooves.

They saw me coming and waved to me, “well, looks like you finally got up, I know yesterday’s training was tough, but come on” Vapor said with a chuckle. I smiled and sat across from them, Vapor’s wing injury had fully healed a week ago, but she was still undergoing therapy, to make sure her wing could still function properly. “Yeah, well thank Winter for that, she wouldn't let me sleep, I’m still tired” I said with a chuckle.

But before either of them could speak up, we heard another chuckle from beside me, “ah, too sleepy to come down and have breakfast with your friends…or your marefriend” came a softer voice, that greatly peaked my interest. I turned to see River smiling at me as she scooted in next to me and gave me a loving peck on the cheek, one that was heartfelt and sincere.

I smiled and nuzzled her slightly, but Dust gave off a disgusted sigh, “jeez you two, get a room” Dust said with a cheeky smile, which only made us blush more, but he was met with a playful shove from Vapor. “What’s the matter tough guy, you jealous of them?” she teased him, he reared back in shock, “not a chance, I have had plenty of marefriends before I met you guys, it’s just that…nopony here has really caught my eye” he said with a pouting face as he looked at Vapor.

She smiled and rubbed his mane roughly. “Ah, poor you, I’m sure there’s somepony here who likes you…” she said as they trailed off. While they did, Aurora leaned forward and whispered, “wow…could those two be any more obvious, I should know, daughter of the princess of love here” she said with a short chuckle, both River and chuckled as I wrapped a hoof around her shoulder, and scooted her closer to me.

Just as our conversation continued, we heard another pony clear their throat quite loudly, we all turned to see the Lieutenant standing at the end of the table, a frown on his face. “Well, good morning Lieutenant Arrow, what brings you here” Aurora said with as pleasant smile as she could muster, but we could all tell she couldn't stand him. The lieutenant smiled back at her, but it wasn't a friendly smile, more like a rude and arrogant smile. “Well it’s nice to see you as well Aurora, I just came by to tell you that Luna wants to speak to you four in her study, so I would hurry up and eat” he said as he began to walk away, but not before I spoke up.

“You need to lighten up lieutenant, I think you take this job a little too seriously, you should join us for lunch sometime, let off some steam” I said and every pony chuckled lightly, he topped and walked over to me, cutting through River and placing his hoof on the table, and leaning in to me. “I’ll be sure to keep that in mind. Just so were clear on one thing, you may have that fancy medallion of yours, but that doesn't make you better than others, one day you will see that, that stupid medallion won’t save you” he said as he pushed away and stormed down the rows.

I sat there completely shocked, while the others just stared at me, I finally looked at the others and sighed, “Well…that was mildly unpleasant” I said as River scooted back to me. The others chuckled lightly, “yeah, and what was that whole look he was giving you Aurora?” Dust asked, she nearly spit out her drink, but managed to control herself, and look at us, a deep blush on her face. We could all tell she was trying to find something to say, but groaned and hid her face in her hooves.

“Oh fine…there was a time…when Arrow and I…dated” she said and we all burst out laughing, she blushed harder and growled at us. “But that was before I found out just how rude and arrogant he was, that….and the fact that I am a few decades older than him.” She said, but we kept laughing, but then she smiled. “Yeah, keep laughing it up, but remember, I’ll outlive all of you” she said with a smug look, while we all stopped laughing, and stared at her.
She smiled happily and finished her food.
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After we had finished our meals, we made our way up to Luna’s quarters on the top floor, where we would find out what she wanted to talk to us about. Along the way up, we met Iron Star who was also on his way up there as well.

Not long after, we made our way to the top and stood in front of the doors, we all looked at each other and walked inside. As we did, we saw Luna walking around the main room, multiple books levitated in her magical grasp. She turned to us and smiled, “ah there you are, glad you can make it” she said as she placed all the books on her desk, and walked over to us.

We all gave a slight bow, but quickly stood up and waited. “Now, I hope you have all finished recuperating from your last mission, because it’s time I give you your first mission as true Night ranger’s” she said with a smile. We all looked at each other, but Dust spoke up, “awesome, is it some sort of rescue mission, or and infiltration?” he asked with an excited look.

Luna chuckled lightly, “no, this mission will be much simpler, you’re going to be doing a simple undercover mission” she said with a smile, and Dust’s face fell immediately. But I stepped forward, “I think we’ll do fine, what’s the mission?” I asked her, she nodded and continued, “in Manehatten, there is a pony who serves as an informant for the Night Ranger’s, his name is Silver Wing, he owns a very popular nightclub in the city. Many army officer’s visit there when they are off duty and…shall we say he has a special way of getting information out of them. He recently contacted me about some pony who might be able to help us stop the king” she said as she turned back to her desk.

We stood there exchanging confused looks, but as I turned back to look at Dust, I was surprised to see shocked look on his face. “Dust? You okay?” I asked him nudging his shoulder, he stumbled and shook his head, and then smiled at me, “oh me? I’m fine, just spaced for a little bit” he said with a nervous smile, but we all looked at him with suspicious glances, but we quickly dismissed that and turned back to Luna. “Anyway…your mission is to go to his club, get the information he has, and bring it back here” she said with a calm look on her face.

We all looked at each other, it seemed like a simple mission but one question still lingered in my mind. “That sounds great…but how are we going to get there?’ I asked her, but she seemed to be a step ahead. She smiled and walked past us slightly, “I thought you might bring that up. About 20 years ago we acquired a royal cargo ship, we haven’t made much use of it, but we believe you can use it to make it into the royal airfield not far from the city. We’ll supply you with some uniforms and formal attire, and of course, you’ll have to go without your weapons. And now we come to your role’s” she said as she turned to us with a smile.

We all looked at each other with concern, but she smiled, “Frost, it will be your job to find Silver Wing, he’s frequently seen at the bar, but I will warn you, he can be rather…unpredictable. Vapor and Dust, it will be your job to make sure nopony interrupts them while they are talking, and River….how’s your singing?’ she asked with a sly smile, we all turned to see River’s eyes widen, as she looked at all of us.

“Well…I guess you can say I’m good, my dad used to buy me old collections of Sweetie Bell, and I would practice, why?” she asked with an interested look, Luna smiled wider at that. “Excellent, because you’ll be the distraction. While Frost is talking with Silver Wing, you’ll be performing on stage” she said with a smile. I turned back to see River’s eyes widen and her mouth drop, and she started rambling, “but…but, I can’t…I've never. Frost, help me out here!” she said with a panicked look on her face.

I walked up and smiled at her, “hey…it’s going to be fine, you’ll be great, we all think it, and we’ll all be there” I said in a comforting tone. Soon her eyes returned to their normal beautiful look, and she smiled at me and nuzzled under my chin, but then she looked up at Luna and nodded her head.

“very well, but there is one more thing…he is very fond of code, so when you meet him, tell him that ‘North Star need some advice’, tell him that, and he’ll know I sent you. Now, head down to the airfield, we’ll have that airship ready to go” she said, and we all smiled and made our way out of the room. Luna nodded at Iron Star, who nodded back and followed us out.