Jace awakens to find his hospital room still packed with his visitors from last night. Smiling to himself, he sit up and looks around at their still slumbering faces. Applejack is in one corner of the room softly snoring while Applebloom uses her belly as a pillow. Big Mac is sleeping by them, a content smile on his face, unknowingly cuddling with Zecora, who, despite being asleep, has a blush on her face. Shining Armor and Cadence are snuggled peacefully under a blanket near the window. Rarity and Sweetie Belle are sleeping in a spare hospital bed. Rainbow Dash and Scootaloo are resting on a cloud that Dash had brought in last night. Twilight, Spike, and Nyx are all huddled together, keeping warm thanks to the little dragons inner fire. Pinkie Pie is passed out on a bean bag chair.

The only two who aren't asleep other than Jace, are Celestia and Luna, as it was time to lower the moon and raise the sun. Jace watched as the sisters horns lit up with their magics and the process took place. It was a masterpiece to see the sunrise, as if it was a painting in motion. Once the process was complete, Celestia and Luna shared a smile before noticing Jace watching them.

"Ah, Jace, you've awoken with my sisters sun." Luna remarked with a smile.

Jace smirked playfully back. "I've had more than enough sleep, Princess Luna. I need to get back in the fight."

Celestia stepped forward and laid a gentle hand on his shoulder. "Not until the doctors clear you for duty. Whatever you did to land yourself here has taken an immense toll on your body."

Jace looked at her calmly. "I knew it would before I did it, Princess. The flash movement mode built into my armor is meant to be a last resort, since it strains the body so much."

Luna gasped softly at hearing this. "then why would you do it?"

Jace looked into Luna's eyes with a serious expression on his face. "Because if I hadn't, I'd be dead and mostly Twilight, Spike, and Nyx would be too."

Luna looked at him in surprise, while Celestia's eyes widened. Celestia was the first to regain her voice.

"Was your foe truly that powerful?" She asked hesitantly.

Jace nodded slightly. "Razor Death was stronger than any opponent I have ever faced before. I feared that if I didn't use F.M. mode, more would die. So I made a judgement call, one that I do not regret making."

Luna stepped forward slightly as the others started waking up. "Jace, you have to promise us that you won't use it again unless you have no other choice, no other options left."

Jace looked into her eyes and saw the worry and sadness in them. Such lovely eyes shouldn't hold that much worry. He thought.

Jace smiled and nodded. "I promise. I give my word that I will try to avoid using F.M. again."

Celestia smiled wryly. "Pinkie Pie Promise?"

Jace looked at her, confused. "What is that?"

Pinkie Pie giggled and hopped up from her bean bag chair and walked over. "A Pinkie Pie promise is a promise that can never be broken, cause breaking a promise is the quickest way to lose a friends trust FOOOREEEVVERRRRR! but anyways, it goes like this; cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye."

Jace leaned back, smiling at the pink ponies antics. "Very well. Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye. I Pinkie Pie promise."

By this point everypony had woken and smiled as they heard the Pinkie promise being made. Spike and the little fillies gathered around Jaces bed and smiled brightly at him.

"Mister Veritas?" piped up Nyx.

"Yes Nyx? What can I do for you?" The soldier replied with a smile.

"Could you please tell us another story? or maybe about your friends?" The little alicorn pleaded, giving Jace her best puppy dog eyes.

Jace looked around at the adults in the room and they all gave him a nod. Apparently, they all wanted to hear more after last nights stories. Seeing how hopeful the children were and how attentive the adults were, Jace nodded. This earned a cheer from the Crusaders and Spike.

"Alright, settle down now," Said the Diablo. "Before we start, I could use something to eat."

"Okie dokie, I'll go get us some muffins!" Said Pinkie pie before running off.

Either she has a lot of energy or she somehow got her hands on a lot of crack. Doesn't really matter, but hell, no one should be that bubbly in the morning. Even I'm not that energetic and I'm used to waking up at the crack of dawn

Pinkie Pie came back after 30 minutes, carrying three trays of freshly baked muffins and oatmeal. With the meal she brought twenty-four gallons of fresh apple cider. Applejack gave Pinkie a knowing look but didn't say anything to here about the cider. With the food finally having arrived, everyone settled in and shared a hearty breakfast.

After their breakfast, everyone gathered around Jaces bed and got comfortable, so they could hear his next story. They were all wondering what he was going to tell them. Would it be one of his many adventures? Or would he perhaps tell them about his life after his war?

Jace smiled at his audience. He knew exactly what he would tell them. He was going to tell them all about his team, right down to the last detail.

All italics are Jaces voice. open links in new tab

"Alright everyone, listen up. I'm going to tell you all about my team today."

Spike and the fillies shook with excitement and the adults smiled. They were hoping to hear about them sometime.

"You already know about me from last night. So I'll start with my second in command; My younger twin, Ryuk Veritas. Ryuk looks almost exactly like me with a couple of slight differences. His hair is The same color as my eyes while his eyes are the same color as my hair. He has a scar over his left eye, mirroring my own. Other than that we are basically the same, though I always joke that I'm the better looking twin. He has a preference for heavy weaponry."

The mares in the room chuckled at this, though a few gave him some winks. Jace used one of his gauntlets to project a hologram of each Diablo as he describes them.

"Ryuk and I grew up on the streets together until we were taken in by the military for the Diablo project. We've always had each others backs because we are the last of our blood related family. I miss him very much, though he tends to talk way too much sometimes."

Celestia wiped a small tear from her eye as she listened intently.

"Next up we have Artemis."

Jace paused as Artemis's hologram came up. The mares noted her slim yet alluring figure and some got a bit jealous.

"Artemis has emerald colored eyes and long, golden blonde hair. But don't let that fool you. She's a natural at hacking into systems. Never met a system she couldn't get into. Whiles She may look weaker than most of the others, she's definitely more creative. She's always told me that art is one of her hobbies and I have seen her work on a few paintings, pastel portraits, and other forms of the visual arts. Sh'es quite good at it, too. I kinda have a crush on her. No telling though."

Next up was a man with an angular face and lean muscles.

"This is Hawk. He's our aerial recon/air support. He's got Chestnut brown hair and hazel eyes. Hawk is kinda the comedian of our group, always quick with a joke ore a wisecrack. He's definitely an asset for team moral, since he can find the silver lining in any situation and can use his armor to give us air superiority."

Next a hologram of a slender male came up.

"This is Pablo, our stealth and infiltration specialist. He has black hair and dark grey eyes. Pablo doesn't really speak much, but when he does, it's usually something wise or uplifting. I always had the feeling that he really just didn't need to talk for us to understand him. His eyes and his body language would always tell us what he wanted to say."

The next hologram was of a shorter female Diablo, only a few inches shorter than Artemis, but still enough to notice the difference in height.

"This is Pikushi. She is our teams Medic. She has long, multicolored hair and her eyes change color depending on her mood. She's always patching us up after a tough mission and never complains about not getting frontline duties. We'd be dead a hundred time over if it weren't for her. She's a gentle soul usually, but when she gets angry it's extremely scary, since she knows anatomy like no one else."

The next hologram to appear was a tall, muscular, African American male.

"Here we have Heavy. Despite his name, he favors mid-range weapons, including a hi-tech bow with multiple arrow types and semi-auto assault rifles. He has short black hair and light brown eyes. Heavy is a serious person. He takes his missions one step at a time and knows the value of patience. He's kept us all in check at least ten times each when we were chomping at the bit on missions. He's one of my favorite sparring partners because he is a methodical fighter."

The next hologram popped up, this one being a man with a long fire tattoo going all the way up his left arm.

"That is Helios. He has short onyx hair and green eyes. Out of all of us, I'd say he's probably the craziest. His weapons of choice are explosives and fire. Needless to say, he has a rather volatile temper, so the rest of us actively avoid making him angry. He has the ability to look at the stranger angles none of us notice. For instance, he can set up an ambush using his explosives and incendiary grenades, placed in unusual spots, such as the ceiling or even behind the enemy. Despite his eccentric personality, he is still one of my best friends."

A new hologram appeared in place of helios, this one being a woman of average build.

"Here we have Umi. She's our aquatic warfare specialist as well as a fully automatic weapon user. You'd be hard pressed to find anyone on land that can compare to her knowledge of the water. She has Medium length brown hair and pale blue eyes. She grew up in a small fishing village before being brought in for the Diablo project. At least, that's what she's told us. She is a valuable asset to the team, as her knowledge of aquatic warfare is helpful on many different missions. I consider her one of the most intelligent I've had the pleasure of knowing and I have a great deal of respect for her."

The next hologram was of a man with a lithe build.

"This guy is Viper. No one knows very much about him. I know he has orange eyes with slit pupils and midnight black hair. He prefers bladed weapons and poisons. Other than that, he's an enigma. He never talks to anyone, preferring to be by himself. Out of all the Diablos, he is the one that frightens enemies the most."

Another hologram came up. This one was of a full bodied woman with a scowl on her face.

"This mean looking woman is Angel. She has medium length black hair and Violet eyes. Angel preference in weaponry is shotguns, shotguns, and more shotguns. She never goes anywhere without at least one. She has a mean streak a mile wide. She's almost always angry about something and seems to take delight in battle. The only time I've ever seen her be sweet and kind is when Ryuk was badly injured after a mission and she was taking care of him. I always suspected her of having a crush on him. Over the years she's slightly mellowed out, but she still has a long way to go with anger management."

Next up was a rather muscular man.

"This guy is Darius. He has close shaven, light brown hair and grey eyes. Darius is like a human wrecking ball. The guy is the strongest of the Diablos and prefers hand to hand combat. Since he loves fighting hand to hand, he trained exclusively in martial arts and has mastered every art. He's my favorite sparring partner since he will switch between styles without warning, making him unpredictable. With his armor on he can plow through solid steel walls like they weren't even there. in his downtime he teaches his martial arts to others."

A new hologram appeared, showing a short male.

"This is Red. He has spiky red hair and blue eyes. Red is kinda the jack-of-all trades in the Diablos though he prefers close range weaponry. He's the shortest of the Diablos but he has the most heart. Red will usually analyze the situation before acting and he always tries to keep our spirits up. He likes to make and listen to music in his free time. Red is kind of like the kid brother a lot of the Diablos never got to have."

Jace smiled and brought up a group hologram of his whole team.

"Together, we stand against the odds. We are united in our goal and have become family through the bonds of battle. The Diablos are the greatest fighting force in the universe, and it saddens me that they are not here with me. Regardless of that, I will fight to protect this land as if it were my own."

The group looked at Jace, wide eyed and smiling. The way he spoke about his team made them realize that he cared for each one of them. He spoke passionately and without bias on each of them. None of them had seen Jace as happy as he was right now, talking about his team...no, talking about his family.

Luna smiled brightly at Jace. "Hopefully we will be able to meet them someday, Jace. Should that day come your family will meet your new friends and we shall celebrate."

Jace smiled and nodded. "I'm positive that you'll get to meet them someday. I'm sure they would love it here in a time of peace."

Thus passed another day for Jace and his new found friends. Little did they know, they were being observed from the shadows by a pair of green eyes with slit pupils. As the eyes faded away, none heard the shadows soft laughter.

Author's Note

I've finally figured out where to go with this chapter. Yay! I'm so happy I have some time to write now. It's been way too long since the last chapter. On a partially related side note; I shall be adding a lot more music to the story.

Hope you enjoyed the latest chapter.

P.S.- As always, I look forward to hearing what you, the readers, think. If you have any Ideas on how I can make the story better, music suggestions, or you'd like to see a chapter surrounding a certain character (whether a pony, changeling, or member of the Diablos) Please feel free to comment or pm. ((I will happily use OC's, as long as I am provided a detailed description of them including their Mane and tail color, fur color, eye color, cutie mark, any accents, and mannerisms. So if you wanna see your OC in the story please pm me with all the details of the character.))

P.P.S- Nyx belongs to Pen Stroke

P.P.P.S- All the Diablo super soldiers belong to DanteRaijin