The sun shone brightly upon the rebuilt city, as the entourage of two ponies and a man strode through the packed streets. The spring sun shone brightly upon them as they made their way to the looming castle. As the group walked, John stretched out his legs from his month long hiatus. "Note to self; when this all done, I need to get back to training," John thought to himself as he walked through the streets.

As they walked, John couldn't help but notice the ponies who where looking at him. If he had to judge by looks, he would assume that the majority of these ponies were the high class elites. Most of them looked at him with curiosity, some just ignored him, while a few actually gave him a smile. When they smiled at him, he made sure to give one right back at them, with the aim of easing concerns about his nature.

Eventually, the small group finally arrived at the front steps to the grand castle. As he stood their, John realized just how tall this castle was. The only thing that he knew that could possibly match its size was the Empire State Building, and even then, he knew that it probably was taller than that. As the group looked up to it, Clear Sky broke the silence, "Impressive, isn't it."

"Heh, you can say that again," John replied, gazing up at the building with awe, " I just never noticed how tall it really was during the battle."

"Well, being in a battle does do that to you," Iron Will pointed out, as he walked towards the front gate. He then appeared to be talking to the guard stationed at the gate. He then pointed towards him and Clear Sky, which the guard followed his hand with his own eyes. The moment his eyes landed on John, he quickly gave Iron Will a sharp salute and began to bark orders to the others. Finally, the mighty gates to the grand castle creaked open, allowing access to the small group.

"Come on John," Clear Sky ordered as she began to move towards the castle, "The Princess is waiting for us."

The inside of the castle was a lot more majestic than what John ever thought. The warm light of the sun blazed through the beautiful stained glass windows, depicting multiple events throughout Equestrian history. As the small entourage passed these windows, John took a moment to admire some of the works of art. However, before they entered the thrown room, the last window caught John's attention.

The window in front of him depicted an image of six ponies, five of them making the shape of an oval, while surrounding a single mare in the center. The mare in the center had a purple body color with a combination of pink, purple, and dark blue for her hair. Upon her head was a crown, bearing a large jewel in the shape of a star. Looking at the other ponies depicted, he noticed that they all had some kind of jewel over their heads. As his eyes traced the circle, he noticed that one of the ponies looked eerily familiar. The mare had a light blue color with rainbow hair. Above her was another jewel in the color of a lightning bolt.

Staring at it a little while longer, John realized that the mare in the window was the same one who he had saved a month ago. His eyes widened with shock as he finally began to put two and two together. "Whoever that mare was, she must be incredibly important," John thought as he looked at it in silence. Suddenly, he heard Clear Sky shout, "Come on John! We need to get to the throne room!" As he stepped back to join the others, he took a final look at the window before rushing to join the others.

When he finally caught up to Clear Sky and Iron Will, they were standing in front of a large door. Behind it was probably the throne room, since the great door was guarded by guards. Interestingly enough, John noticed that these soldiers were dressed up differently than the others. Instead of Iron Will's darker armor, these ponies dawned golden armor, which shimmered in the light from the windows. In the center of their breastplate was an image of a golden sun, which was clearly the opposite of the crescent moon on Iron Will's.

As soon as the guards saw the group, the stood at attention and gave us a sharp salute. Iron Will and Clear Sky puzzled over the reason why these soldiers were saluting them. Sure, they were a higher rank, but they were dressed in civilian outfits. However, when they looked back to John, they noticed that the soldiers weren't saluting them, but they were saluting John instead. John then saluted back to them, which signaled them to finally open the doors to the throne.

When the grand doors opened, it revealed a large room. This room had multiple windows lining the walls, with banners of a sun and moon covering each of them. At the end of this room was a marble platform bearing two thrones. One of these thrones was made of what appeared to be gold, with an image of a golden sun atop of it, the same one that was on the golden guards armor. The other one, which John assumed was Luna's throne, was very similar to the golden one, but it appeared to be made out of obsidian instead. Instead of a golden sun, this throne had a familiar crescent moon.

However, as John looked down the hallway, he noticed two figures standing at the end of it. One of these ponies John recognized was Captain Spitfire, who John remembered was the leader of the Wonderbolts. However, standing next to her, was a pony who filled John with unrestrained anger. This pony stared down at John, his eyes widened with surprise. His light grey fur began to gather sweat as he saw the enraged human. John let out a low growl as he shouted in a dark voice, " YOU!"

The soft clicks of shoes echoed through the hallway, as the two sisters walked side by side to the throne room. Their ethereal manes flowed through the air, flying against the untouchable wind. As the two of them walked, Celestia took a small glance at her sister. They had just received the news that the human, who Luna had called John, had just arrive at the castle and was prepared to meet him.

Celestia decided to wear a simple white dress, partially showing off her curves and body features. While most ponies would consider her choice as suggestive, this was simply what Celestia chose for a semi-formal outfit. However, she noticed that her sister was wearing a more interesting outfit than her. Luna wore a dark blue dress with thigh cuts that went all the way to the bottom of her panties. The dress itself was even more impressive, having a design of constellations embedded within the soft fabric. Luna had her mane neatly combed, it's silky appearance revealing the painstaking work that must have been used. However, what caught Celestia's attention was what she had on her face.

"Luna," Celestia began, getting her sisters attention, "are you wearing makeup?"

Luna looked back at her sister and responded, "Indeed I am sister."

As Celestia looked closer however, she noticed a tint of light blue on her sisters lips. Quickly stopping her sister, Celestia continued, "Sister! You're wearing lipstick?!"

Luna blushed lightly as she answered her sister, "Yes..."

Celestia's smile changed from an excited one, to a more knowing one. "Luna, let me guess. You are trying to impress that human."

Luna quicky became flabbergasted as she quickly stuttered, " I-I am not!"

"Oh I'm so proud of you little sister!" Celestia teasingly responded, wrapping her sister into a tight hug.

Luna just stood there in the embrace before mumbling , "Thanks."

Celestia let her sister go, and the two of them continued their walk to the throne room. However, as they approached the room, they began to hear strange noises coming from the chamber. As they got closer, the voices became louder and more violent. As she pushed open the door, Celestia asked, "What's happening in there."

When she opened the door, she was able to see the human deliver a mean right hook on Soarin's face. Her eyes widened with surprise as the Pegasus stumbled away from the human. Luna quickly appeared behind her sister and let out a small gasp. The human quickly strode up the the fallen pegasus and pulled out his pistol as he shouted, " I'M GOING TO FUCKING KILL YOU BASTARD!"

Luna quickly shouted, "John! Stop this!"

However, John appeared to be blinded by his anger and rage as he cocked his pistol and pointed it directly at the fallen pony. Luna tried to run up to him, but as she approached, she looked at his eyes. Behind the veil of anger was a soul filled with pain and sadness. She slowed down her sprint to a halt, as she soon realized exactly what had happened. However, Spitfire then rushed up in front of Soarin and pleaded, " John, calm down! What did Soarin do to deserve this!?"

At the mere mention of Soarin potentially being innocent, John somehow became even angrier. "What did he do? WHAT DID HE DO?! ARE YOU THAT BLIND?!" John shouted, suddenly kicking Spitfire to the side as he pushed his gun closer to Soarin's head.

Celestia ran up beside her sister, quickly shouting to her, " Come on sister! We have to stop him!"

However, Luna quickly brought up her arm, signaling Celestia to stop. "Wait," she whispered, "we'll see what he has to say before we act."

John's hand began to shake as he shouted at Soarin. "THIS BASTERED ABANDONED US! HE PUT OUR ENTIRE OPERATION INTO JEPRODY!"

Spitfire, who had recovered from the sharp kick on her side, asked him, "John, what are you talking about? We were ordered by Celestia to help her."

Celestia cocked her eyebrow, as she tried to recall ever sending a letter for help. " I never sent any message like that," she spoke, causing all of the eyes in the room to widen, with the exception of John.

Spitfire was about to ask what Celestia was talking about, but then Clear Sky suddenly spoke, "It's true Captain. Princess Celestia never asked for our help."

Spitfire's eyes somehow widened even further, looking at Soarin with shock, "Then, what was in that letter?"

Clear Sky quickly dug into her saddlebag and pulled out the orders from that battle. She ran over to Spitfire and gave it to her. "This is what it actually said Captain. We were ordered to help them in their battle."

Before Spitfire could ask another question, John suddenly bent down and grabbed Soarin by the neck. He lifted the surprised pegasus up and pinned him against the wall. Holding the pistol directly against his head, John somehow shouted even louder, "WHY! WHY DID YOU DO THIS?! IF IT WASN'T FOR YOU NOTHING WOULD HAVE HAPPENED." However, everypony in the room quickly noticed that tears had begun to fall from John's eyes as he continued, "IF IT WASN'T FOR YOU, WE WOULDN'T HAVE HAD TO LAUNCH THAT ATTACK." After he said that, he gently lowered the pegasus to the ground as his voice became quieter and more mournful. He then suddenly let him go as he finally said, "If it wasn't for you, nobody would have died."

After this, he fell unto both knees and began to weep, his tears streaming down his mournful face.

Author's Note

Finally, we got a confrontation!

We finally are able to see one of the main points of this story with John's reaction. I'll let you discern about what his arch will be, but the only thing that I'll say about it is; victory comes at a price.