C.O.L.T.S II

Spike landed at the library and knocked. He hadn't seen Twilight for six months and he couldn't wait to see her again. He had been gone for COLT-II training but since he was a dragon he was sent on a different training course which was just as brutal. It was good to be home.

"Just a minute!" The unicorn known as Twilight Sparkle called out. She opened the door and gasped when she saw her old friend.

"S-spike?" Twilight said as she stared at the massive dragon before her.

"It's me Twi." Spike said as he leaned down to hug Twilight. Twilight hugged Spike tightly, ever since she lost Deadeye she had been very clingy to her friends.

"It's so good to see you again Spike! You look so strong and handsome now!" Twilight said. Spike's armor covered only his legs and chest. His arms were displayed to the world. He figured his thick calloused hide would be ample to deflect and weapon thrown at him.

"And your still the same smart beautiful unicorn I remember." Spike said. Twilight smiled, Spike was still such a suckup. Twilight had aged well, even though she was still in her late twenties she looked as though she hadn't aged a day. Twilight made some tea for the two of them as Twilight listened to Spike's stories about training.

"This tea is the best tasting liquid I've had in months!" Spike said as he chugged down the boiling liquid which didn't affect him due to the fact he was a dragon. "Twi?"

"Sorry Spike I just miss him." Twilight said. Spike knew who she was referring to. Dozens of COLT-II's had been sent to find COLTS Omega but their efforts were always fruitless. There were hundreds of worker ponies digging into the collapsed remains of Mt. Hooverest in an attempt to find the lost heroes. Spike had a feeling that they were all still alive.

"Speaking of crushes, Rarity is coming over with Sweetie Belle." Twilight said.

"Twi, you know I gave up on Rarity a long time ago. Besides she fell for Autumn." Spike said.

"I wasn't talking about Rarity Spike." Twilight said as somepony knocked at the door.

"Yoohoo! Anypony there?" Rarity called as she knocked at the door.

"Come in Rarity." Twilight said. In walked Rarity who looked pretty much the same and her sister Sweetie Belle. Sweetie Belle's beauty rivaled that of Rarity's. Sweetie had begun a career as a singer which her cutie mark signified. Her mane was the same style it was when she was a filly only now it was longer.

"Is that you Spike?" Rarity asked the mature armored dragon.

"Yep its me." Spike said.

"Oh what happened to the cute little Spikey-Wikey I remember?" Rarity said as she went to grab his cheek which she had a difficult time reaching. "My Spikey Wikey is all grown up into a strong handsome dragon."

"Well uh-" Spike said blushing.

"Hi Spike!" Sweetie Belle said. Her voice still cracked every one in a while. "Woah you're huge now!"

"Hi Sweetie." Spike said as he examined Sweetie's beautiful features and curves. Wait! What was he thinking? She was a pony for crying out loud and he was a dragon! Sweetie Belle wasn't looking and she bumped into a bookshelf. Before she even had time to scream Spike flew in at unnatural speeds and caught the falling bookcase with one claw.

"Thanks so much Spike! I don't even know what happened!" Sweetie said as she noticed Spike was all that stood between her and four hundred pounds worth of book.

"No problem." Spike said as he effortlessly tossed the shelf back up. Twilight was impressed, the shelf was heavy! Twilight and Rarity retreated to Twilight's room while Spike and Sweetie Belle stayed in the kitchen.

"Do they have any news on Autumn?" Twilight asked.

"No they haven't found anything." Rarity said sadly. "I know he is still alive Twilight, I see him in my dreams."

"I feel the same way about Deadeye." Twilight asked.

"How is Princess Luna taking it?" Rarity asked.

"Princess Celestia said she hardly comes out anymore and she always visits the COLT memorial." Twilight said. She missed Deadeye greatly, she would never get that sight of Gore impaling him out of her head.

"I was about to head over there, would you like to join me and the others?" Rarity asked.

"I'd love to." Twilight said. "Spike, Rarity and I are going to visit the COLT Memorial with the others. We will be back in a few hours."

"Ok Twi." Spike said. He would have like do have gone with but he figured this was private for the mane six. Spike turned to face Sweetie Belle who was glancing around at some books.

"Can I help you find something?" Spike asked hoping he would remember where all the books where.

"No, I'm just lookin." Sweetie said. Spike shrugged as he figured out what to do with the mare.

"Would you like to get something to eat?" He asked.

"Sure! I'm hungry!" Sweetie said as her big green eyes nearly bulged out of her skull. Spike and pony left the library to find somewhere to chow down.

XXXX

"Fluttershy." A voice called out. The yellow pegasus squeaked as she tried to figure out where the voice was coming from.

"W-whose there?" She asked terrified. She looked and saw a familiar grey stallion walk into her sight.

"It's me Fluttershy." The COLT known as Silent Shadow said smiling. Fluttershy saw Shadow walk out of her room and headed outside.

"Shadow wait!" Fluttershy shouted as she chased after him. She chased him all the way outside her home just to find that he had disappeared. Fluttershy then awoke to find herself outside, she had been sleepwalking. She shrugged the whole incident off as she headed back to her bed to finish her nap. Every night since Shadow was pronounced KIA, she had the exact same dream about him. She clung to her pillow and cuddled with it as if it were Silent Shadow.

XXXX

Twilight and Rarity went to the COLTS memorial to see that only Pinkie Pie was there. She was sitting at the statue of Solar Blitz. The statue had Blitz in a running stance with his signature dual sword blades drawn. Pinkie had been bringing different types of treats every week since Blitz was pronounced KIA. Next to Blitz stood Autumn. Autumn's statue had him in a fighting stance with his dagger and crossbow. Next was Deadeye's, which had him standing tall wielding dual crossbows. Nearby was the tomb of the unknown COLT, which was guarded by a COLT-II. It was a beautiful summer day, the wind blew gently.

"Hiya Blitzy." Pinkie said to the statue. "It was your birthday today!"

The statue didn't respond.

"I bought your favorite cupcake!" Pinkie said sniffling as she pulled out a red velvet cupcake, Blitz's favorite.

"Aren't you going to make a wish?" Pinkie asked as she pointed to the single candle in the cupcake. A sudden wind extinguished the candle's flame. Twilight and Rarity's heart melted at their friend. They walked over to Pinkie when the tomb guard yelled at a group of loud obnoxious ponies.

"IT IS REQUESTED THAT ALL VISITORS MAINTAIN AN ATMOSPHERE OF SILENCE AND RESPECT!" The guard yelled scaring the daylights out of the loud ponies. Rarity felt disgusted anypony would dare disrespect this hallowed ground and the ponies who it was dedicated to.

"How dare they?" Rarity whispered to herself. She went up to the statue of Autumn. The sculptors did an excellent job at capturing Autumn's powerful presence. She leaned in and planted a kiss and put down flowers on the foot of the statue. Twilight went up to Deadeye's statue which displayed the soldier in all his glory. Twilight remembered when she first met him and had him take the vial of antibody X for his wounded eye. The memory brought a small smile to her face as she placed flowers at the base of the statue.

XXXX

Of all the ponies, Princess Luna was suffering the most. Everypony else would see their loved ones when they died. Luna would live for another thousand years at least.

"Something on your mind Luna?" Celestia asked as she walked on to the balcony that Luna sat on.

"No sister." Luna said blandly.

"I know it's hard Luna but we must move on." Celestia said.

"Easy for you to say, Astro isn't rotting five miles underground in a collapsed mountain." Luna said angrily. Celestia knew Luna had a point but Celestia did have to watch Astro die before her eyes.

"Luna I know what it is like, I saw Gore murder Astro with my own eyes. How do you think I felt after seeing that?" Celestia asked.

"Yeah but he came back to life!" Luna replied.

"I didn't know that at the time besides what's to say Big Mac won't?" Celestia asked.

"Astro was an alicorn, Big Macintosh had no access to that kind of magic!" Luna said.

"No but he was a COLT and COLTS are trained to do the impossible." Celestia said before planting a kiss on her younger sister's forehead.

XXXX

Sweetie Belle and Spike sat the local cafe. Sweetie looked up and down at the dragon before her. It seems like only yesterday when he was running around on his two short legs trying frantically to get something for Twilight. Spike wasn't like other dragons though, Spike was much calmer and nicer.

"So how has Rarity been?" Spike asked.

"She's still upset over Autumn, I don't think she'll ever move on." Sweetie said.

"What about the cutie mark crusaders?" Spike asked.

"Well we all finally got our cutie marks so that club was disbanded but we still talk." Sweetie said. "Speak of which, here comes Scootaloo."

"Really? I haven't seen her in ages!" Spike said. Once Scootaloo had learned to fly she spent more time in Cloudsdale. She received her cutie mark in flying after countless hours of practice with Rainbow Dash and Soarin.

"Hi Sweetie Belle! Spike is that you?" Scootaloo asked. She still worshipped Rainbow Dash as she still kept her mane in the style that Rainbow did.

"Yup it's me." Spike said. "Would you care to join us?"

"Sure it'd be nice to catch up!" Scootaloo said. The three friends joked about old times past. Eventually their food was brought out. Spike ordered a basket of gems while the two mares got soup.

"Something wrong?" Spike asked as he wolfed down a ruby.

"It's a little cold." Scootaloo said pointing to the soup which was colder than the iced water they were drinking.

"No problem!" Spike said as he opened his mouth. He breathed a quick blast of fire on the two bowls. "There you go! Hot as can be!"

"Uh Spike?" Sweetie Belle said. Spike looked at the two bowls and saw that his fire breath had been so hot it evaporated the soup.

"Hehe uh oops?" Spike said quite embarrassed. Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle just started laughing.

XXXX

Far off to the north in the frozen dead mountains of the world. A lone dark figure walked across a pathway leading into a dark cave. The figure walked down a large flight of stairs until he arrived at the bottom. He passed by thousands upon thousands of dark warriors turned to stone. He eventually arrived at a table where a green and black shadow dwelled.

"My lord King Sombra. I bring urgent news." The figure said.

"What?" The spirit of Sombra said a deep hypnotizing voice.

"The super soldiers known as the COLTS that were lost in the collapse of the great mountain have been found by our darklings." The figure said.

"Interesting." Sombra said. "If we were to capture them they could prove useful!"

"Sire I am confused." The figure said.

"It was by my magic and spells they were created, my dark magic flows through their blood." Sombra said. "Dispatch a group of darklings and bring me these COLTS."

"Yes my lord I will not fail." The figure said.

"You had better not Discord, you may be the spirit of chaos but I am the embodiment of all that is evil!" Sombra growled as a group of thirty creatures made of darkness emerged armed to the teeth. "Once we receive the crystal heart I can return to physical form, I will unleash my army of darklings and I will rule this world once more!"