Three months later.

It was now winter. It had been six months since Big Mac left. Applejack continued to buck apples and still waited for Skullcrusher and Big Mac to return, Rainbow Dash was still seeing Soarin from time to time but neither admitted to each other their feelings. Pinkie Pie was throwing parties and Fluttershy was caring for her animals, Rarity was visiting wounded troops while Twilight studied away. Princess Celestia and Luna continued their Royal Duties though Luna still cried for Macintosh from time to time. Deadeye, Recoil, and Earthshock had done an excellent job at keeping Gore and the Steel Talons at bay. Claws Von Griffon was still in charge of the griffon empire and continued to wage war on Equestria.

In the Everfree Forest at COLTS-01, twenty five ponies now remained in training. They were nearing the end and were about to face their biggest challenge yet.

"Recruits!" A trainer yelled. "COLTS are no ordinary ponies, they are augmented with permanent spells that cannot be undone. These alterations are very dangerous and only strong stallions in tip-top shape can survive such procedures, we lost almost thirty ponies to these alterations last time. You will all receive alterations that will make you taller, faster, stronger, fast healers, and the ability to walk on your hind legs."

"Woah thats sounds awesome!" Blitz said.

"So that's why Deadeye was so massive." Big Mac said.

"This procedure is something not even Celestia or Luna know about. Just remember that these are survivable but we will all understand if any of you want to leave now you may. You will not be thought of as a coward." The trainer said. To his surprise all recruits stayed for the procedure. The recruits all nervously walked to an area where twenty five tables were bolted onto the ground with chain restraints attached. All of the ponies were scared of dying right now but they did not come this far just to give up. They all sat on the tables as the were chained down with heavy strong chains and belts.

"You are probably wondering why you are getting chained down. These alterations are excruciatingly painful and you will thrash and scream no matter how tough you are. We had an incident where one pony was in so much pain he broke free and killed one of the doctors and we had to put him down, we do not want a repeat of that again." A trainer explained. If the ponies weren't scared before now they were petrified. If they did die it would be a painful death.

"Try to think of what you are fighting for, it may be your only hope to pull through," A doctor said as the ponies all nodded. Big Mac saw four unicorns approaching him. He closed his eyes as he mentally prepared himself for pain. The unicorns each stood at one of his legs. They bent forward and aimed their horns at his skin. They moved forward until their horns stabbed the skin and entered Macintosh's body. Big Mac let out a yelp as four horns impaled his skin but the worst was yet to come. He immediately tried thinking of Luna to block out the pain. He thought back to the dinner they had and the dance they shared. The horns on the unicorns glowed as they shot spells into the ponies bodies. Macintosh body began to violently jerk and contort. He screamed out in pain, it hurt so much that he actually forgot where he was and what he was doing. All the ponies who were being augmented yelled in pain as they violently tried to break their restraints. Macintosh's pupils shrunk and than grew again as every bone and muscle in his body grew. He felt like all his bones were breaking as his body drastically changed. Two recruits died from the alterations in the first few minutes. Even Silent Shadow was making enough noise with his screams to scare off an Ursa Major. The last wave of pain was the worst, it felt like fire and acid shot through every nerve in Macintosh's body. He pulled so hard on one of the chains he almost broke it, than in an instant it was all over. The pain subsided and all the ponies who survived passed out. His last thought was of Luna.

XXXX

Applejack was inside sipping a cup of warm cider she made with Applebloom. All of her friends were there including the CMC and Spike. There was no apple bucking to be done in the winter so the two had a break for now. Everyday Applejack waited for the return of Big Mac and Skullcrusher. Applebloom was still crusading for her cutie mark. Outside a mighty blizzard raged, it was practically pure white outside and yet despite the cold, the sentries and guards never left their posts. A figure was trudging through the snow towards the farm determined that nothing was going to stop him from seeing Applejack, not even this brutal blizzard. He had just finished training his second platoon

"Why did the stupid pegasi make the blizzard the day I come back?" The figure whined as he tried to navigate his way through the apple orchard. He had never been one to complain but this was ridiculous! He remembered when the pegasi tried using bad weather against the grifs but the grifs were able to manipulate the weather as well so that plan was a bust. He saw a house come into view and pushed forward.

"Big Mac should be coming home anyday now from his deployment in Hoofington right?" Rarity asked.

"Yeah but ah'm a little worried, ah mean he didn't write to us at all." Applejack said.

"Hoofington is pretty far away, it probably takes the mail about three days or something to get to and from it." Twilight pointed out.

"Yeah but ah wrote to him four months ago." Applejack said as she took sip of warm cider and snuggled in her blanket. There was nothing like sitting by a fire wrapped in a blanket and drinking warm cider while a cold storm raged outside. The door suddenly banged open and a pony covered in snow walked in.

"A-a-a-app-ple-j-jack." The pony said shivering from exposure to intense cold.

"Who is that guy?" Rainbow asked.

"Skullcrusher?" Applejack asked as she approached the pony. He looked up at her with his deep blue eyes.

"I'm b-back." He said. Applejack threw her hooves around him and hugged him tight. He was freezing cold to the touch but she didn't care. Skullcrusher felt her warm orange coat against his ice cold gray one.

"AH MISSED YOU SO MUCH!" Applejack said as she nearly choked him from hugging him.

"I ack missed you ack too!" Skullcrusher said as Applejack practically choked him. After hugging for a long time Applejack took his hoof and led him to the other ponies.

"Girls, y'all remember Sgt Skullcrusher right?" Applejack asked.

"Yes, I'm Twilight Sparkle." Twilight said holding out her hoof to Skullcrushers.

"It's a pleasure to meet you Ms Sparkle." Skullcrusher said. The other ponies all introduced themselves. As Skullcrusher talked with the mares, Rainbow went up to Applejack who was in the other room.

"Hey AJ." Rainbow asked.

"Hey Rainbow." Applejack said.

"So, do you and Skullcrusher have a thing going on?" Rainbow asked.

"Yeah ah guess." Applejack confessed.

"Well I was thinking, we should so have a double date! You, me, Soarin, and Skullcrusher!" Rainbow said.

"That sounds like a great idea! When are we doin this?" Applejack asked.

"How bout tommorow?" Dash asked.

"Perfect, ah'll ask Skullcrusher but what about Soarin?" Applejack asked.

"If I ask him he'll do it," Rainbow said smiling with a devilish grin on her face. Applejack chuckled as the two mares walked back into the main room.

"Sorry girls but can ah borrow Skullcrusher fer a minute?" Applejack asked.

"Sure," The ponies all said as Skullcrusher walked over to Applejack. Applejack shut the door and charged into Skullcrusher.

"Ah missed you so much! Don't ever leave me like that again!" Applejack said as she cried into his coat.

"Hey I'm sorry but they-" Skullcrusher said as Applejack put a hoof to his lip.

"Ah understand its okay." Applejack said. The two stared at each other for a while before Skullcrusher finally worked up the courage to speak.

"Applejack" He said. "There is something I have wanted to tell you for a while now." Applejack looked up at him.

"I really like you, and there wasn't a moment when I was gone I didn't think about you. Will you be my marefriend?" Skullcrusher asked. Applejack smiled and moved forward and kissed him.

"Of course ah will sugarcube!" She said as the two ponies nuzzled each other.

XXXXX

Big Mac awoke to find he was on a hospital bed. He didn't know how long he was out for but all he remembered was the excruciating augmentation process. He wondered if he was dead, it would make sense considering how dangerous the alterations were. He raised is head and hit on a hanging light. He noticed he felt pain so he definitely was not dead. He was overjoyed to still be alive. He noticed a note next to his bed.

Big Macintosh

If you are reading this than you have survived the hardest part of your training, you still have one final test before you earn the title of a COLT. Head to the command center. Just as a side note, be careful with your movements, you are much stronger now so you may break stuff without meaning to.

Captain Deadeye

Macintosh put the note away and jumped out of his bed. When he landed he put dents and cracks in the ground. He also noticed he was quite taller than before, he was almost Deadeye's height. He went to the door and grabbed the handle but pulled the entire door off of its hinges. He realized at this point he was going to have to watch his new super strength. He made his way to the command center where he saw Autumn Leaf, Silent Shadow, Solar Blitz, Black Soul, and sixteen other ponies all his size. If there were twenty one ponies including himself that meant that four ponies had died during the alterations. He quickly bowed his head in silence for them before coming over.

"About time Mac." Autumn said as Big Mac entered.

"How long were we out for?" Big Mac asked.

"A week," Deadeye said as he walked in on his hind legs. "Your bodies need time to adapt to its new abilities."

"Can we do that to?" Blitz asked pointing to Deadeye who was standing on his hind legs.

"Yes, you all are rather fortunate. I had to get the hind legs one separately from my others whereas you received all your alterations at once since the scientists figured out a way to sneak it in with your other ones." Deadeye said as all the ponies slowly stood on their back hoofs.

"WOAH!" Blitz screamed as he fell into Shadow who was next to him.

"It will take some time to adapt to your new abilities." Deadeye said. The ponies all nodded as they headed for the test course. Each pony now had the strength of nearly ten stallions however Deadeye, Autumn, Black Soul, and Macintosh had the strength of fifteen stallions due to their already great strength before training. Each pony could run at least 60 miles per hour with top sprinting speeds rivaling that of the pegasi. Solar Blitz was by far the fastest with a top sprinting speed of 160 miles per hour. Blitz's legs moved so fast when he ran all you could make out were four blurs attached to his body. Next came the agility test. An elaborate and difficult obstacle course with tight spaces and and large drops was used to test the recruits agility. Silent Shadow finished the course in the fastest time without bumping into a single obstacle.

"Amazing." Colonel Striper said as he observed the COLTS.

"Von Griffon wont know what hit him!" Deadeye proclaimed. "By the way, are the Ursa Minors ready yet?"

"We sent unicorn teams to run and get them. Rumor is there is an Ursa Major in there too." Striper said.

"Ursa Major huh? It would take more than one COLT to bring that sucker down." Deadeye said.

"Speaking of more than one COLT." Striper said. "I want you to pick your own team."

"My team is Recoil, Earthshock and I." Deadeye said. He preferred to stay with ponies he trained with.

"All three of you will have teams, this order comes from the top." Striper said. "Recoil will take COLTS Alpha, Earthshock will take COLTS Delta, and you will be in charge of COLTS Omega."

"Fine." Deadeye said. He already knew which ponies he wanted. "I want Autumn Leaf, Solar Blitz, Silent Shadow, Black Soul and Big Macintosh."

"Takin all the good ones eh?" Striper said. "Black Soul is already on COLTS Alpha with Recoil, sorry captain."

"How about the other four?" Deadeye asked.

"They're all yours." Striper said. "You sure you only want four guys?"

"Four is all I need, Recoil and Earthshock can have the other ones." Deadeye said.

"Whatever you want captain." Striper said.

"Excellent." Deadeye said. "You know Celestia and Luna would kill us if they found out about how much wildlife we killed."

"Son theres thousands of manticores and ursas in these woods. Seventy-five percent of the forest is still unexplored." Striper said.

"True." Deadeye said as the unicorns arrived with the ursas. "This is gonna be good." The twenty one recruits stood in an arena like area. All the ponies were hoisted to a high cliff by pegasi except for Macintosh.

"Hey what in tarnation is goin on here?" Big Mac asked.

"Big Macintosh, this is your final test! Defeat the Ursa Minor and the title of COLT will be all yours!" Striper said from a viewing box.

"U-ursa M-m-minor?" Big Mac said as he heard a deafening roar come from behind him. The trees fell down as the enraged bear came into the clearing. Macintosh got in his battle stance and nervously prepared for the beast's assault.

"The rest of you pay attention cause your all gonna have to do this." Deadeye said as the rest of the recruits nodded their heads. Macintosh and the Ursa slowly circled each other until the bear leapt at Macintosh. Big Mac quickly moved out of the way as he tried to figure out a way to beat the bear. He remembered he had super strength now so he ran up to the beast and bucked in the leg. It must have worked as the bear shouted in pain. Than with unbelievable speed, the bear brought its paw down smashing Big Mac into the ground.

"BIG MAC!" Blitz yelled as the recruits all stood there shocked. Even Deadeye thought Macintosh was a goner. The Ursa felt something under its paw moving. Everypony was shocked to see Big Mac pushing the Ursa's paw off of him. Macintosh than proceeded to buck the beast relentlessly till it fell down defeated.

"BIG MAC! BIG MAC! BIG MAC!" The recruits all yelled as Big Mac gave off a smile proud of his work. He noticed he felt no guilt killing the beast. Killing without remorse was the very thing he tried to avoid but in the end he had no choice.

"Excellent work recruit or should I say COLT." Striper said as he pulled out armor similar to Deadeye's. "Congratulations recruit, welcome to the COLTS!". Big Mac hadn't felt this way since he graduated basic, he couldn't believe he had actually done it! He was a COLT!

"I'm proud of you Mac." Deadeye said as he slapped him with his hoof. The slap would of sent a normal pony flying into the ground but Big Mac's body absorbed the hit like it was nothing.

"Thanks sir." Big Mac said. Next up was Autumn Leaf who like Macintosh, used brute strength to bring the bear down. Solar Blitz ran around the bear striking it at random areas till it fell. Black Soul was the epitome of overkill, needless to say there was not much left but guts and a bad smell. Silent Shadow used his stealth and quickness to bring the ursa down. After three hours, all twenty one recruits finished and were wearing the COLTS battle armor.

"Excellent work COLTS! Listen up, you will all be broken up into three squads lead by Deadeye, Recoil, and Earthshock." Striper said.

"Yes sir!" The COLTS all replied.

"Recoil, COLTS Alpha: Black Soul, Duststorm, Wrench-" Striper said as he listed all the ponies squadron until he got to COLTS Omega.

"COLTS Omega- Captain Deadeye: Big Macintosh, Autumn Leaf, Solar Blitz, and Silent Shadow." Striper finished. "COLTS remember, nopony can know you are COLTS! Until Von Griffon is taken out, you will be known as your previous military status to the public."

"AYE AYE SIR!" The COLTS replied.

"How bout giving me one last ha-ooh?" Striper asked.

"AYE AYE SIR! HA-OOH! HA-OOH! HA-OOH!" The COLTS all said.

"Give em hell COLTS, give em hell." Striper said as the new super soldiers left COLTS-01. Shadow saw a group of 200 ponies arriving at the base with trainers all over them.

"Poor guys have no idea what they're in for." Shadow said as he walked away.

Guess what real-life special forces the COLTS are based off of and win a rubber ducky!(Not really but still give it a shot).