Author's Note

Finally!

Let me tell you guys, I have worked on this chapter for wayyyy to long. I know that a lot of you have been waiting for a new chapter to come out, and I'm just as excited to finally move on to the next part of the story. More importantly though, I think I'm starting to get my grove back, so hopefully more chapters will come out more often.

Finally, I realized a new story! I would highly recommend it to anyone who likes this story, since it's super similar to this one. I'll also be working on that story as well, but I'll try not to leave this one in the dust.

I wish you all a happy Veterans Day!

-InternetStranger

Chapter Eleven: Now What?

The room stood in shocked silence as the seemingly invincible man broke down into tears before them. His tears plummeted from his downcast face, falling like the bullets that he fires from his rifle. As those tears splattered against the cold marble floor, Celestia felt her heart move with pity. It had been such a long time since she had seen one of her military's larders weep over casualties. In fact, the last time she saw this was during the war against Sombra, where they had experienced some of the highest casualty rates in Equestrian history.

As Celestia watched, Luna finally moved from her spot and rushed over to the morning soldier. Wrapping her arms around him, she unfurled her majestic wings and wrapped them around him and began to comfort the man who she considered to be her friend. "Shh... it's ok, I'm here for you. I'm here." John pressed his head into her shoulder, weeping into her silky dress.

Spitfire stood in silence for a few brief moments, trying to process everything that had just happened. Her mind went from one of sympathy to a mind filled with rage towards the one she deemed responsible. Looking at Soarin with focused eyes, she began her quick march over to where he was standing, who was quietly trying to make himself unnoticed. "What the hell was THAT all about!" she shouted at him as she accusingly pointed her finger at him.

"S-Spits', I assure you that this all over not-"

"Over nothing?! OVER NOTHING?!" Spitfire quickly countered, her rage quickly building towards the stallion that she had once trusted, "Do you understand that, because of YOUR decision, we lost good ponies in the line of duty? If you had just stayed PUT, then not that many ponies would have died!

Soarin quickly tried to respond, "Spits', you've got to understand, I didn't know that the Changelings were coming!"

"Yet," Spitfire angerly countered, "my point still stands."

Soarin tried to say something, but he came up with nothing. Spitfire sighed with frustration and said, "You know what? I'm done with this. While this is getting looked into, you are put on a indefinite leave!" Soarin's eyes widened as she continued, "Despite what you may have thought, you still had orders, and I am incredibly disappointed that you didn't follow them." After she finished, Spitfire turned around, signaling that her decision was final.

As his eyes began to burn with anger, Soarin quickly turned around and stormed off in a huff.

John felt his tears smear against Luna's dress as he wept over those ponies who had fallen under his command, even though he knew them for such a short time. He couldn't help but think about not only the ponies, but all of his men that had died under his command. He didn't even know what to think about it any more. He knew that most of the blame landed on that bastard, Soarin. Yet, he couldn't help but have a deep sense of regret over what had happened. "I should have brought a larger force," John thought as he continued to morn, "If I had brought thirty more troops, we would have crushed them."

After a while, his tears finally dried and he began to take deeper breaths. He began to slowly regain his posture, and he looked up at Luna's face. He didn't see the face of a princess, or a war leader. Instead, he saw someone who genuinely cared about him. Finally deciding to take initiative, John broke the embrace and said, "I'm sorry you had to see that your majesty."

Celestia quickly reassured, "No, it's quite alright. It's a perfectly natural response."

Luna, seeing what he was thinking, quickly added, "This wasn't your fault John. It never was."

Smiling, John said, "Thank you princess.. it's just that I wish I brought more ponies."

Celestia, walking towards the human, replied, "You couldn't have possible known how it could have gone. Besides, if you had the Wonderbolts, then everything would have been fine."

As she brought up the Wonderbolts, John began to feel anger return to his body. "I've got to keep it cool," John thought as he slowly got back up, "I'm representing the human race here. I can't make them believe that we are a race filled with hatred." John calmly turned to Celestia and asked, "Where's Soarin? That bastard needs to stand trail for what he has done."

"I sent him on a indefinite leave, and we'll launch an investigation into what happened," Spitfire said, joining the small little group. Placing her hand on John's, she asked, "Are you going to be ok?"

He sighed and replied, "Yeah, I think so." However, as he said that, something started to bug him. Looking back to the letter that was in Clear Sky's hand, a worrying question popped in his head. "Wait a second," he stated, as he slowly looked up at Clear Sky, "Why do you still have that letter?"

Clear Sky looked confused and said, "What do you mean?"

John simply looked at her for a couple of seconds until he said, "Are you telling me that, with something as important as that, you've never turned it in?"

"Well," Iron Will explained, " we've been so busy with rebuilding Canterlot, we kind of forgot about it."

John gave the two of them a blank stare before covering his face and letting out a groan. "Idiots," John thought, "I'm surrounded by idiots."

Soarin was pissed off.

As he stormed away from the castle, his mind raced with how badly everything had gone. Storming into an empty alleyway, he violently halted in his tracks. Letting out an angry scream, he slammed his fist into a nearby dumpster, generating a loud 'Thunk'. He pounded his fist into the container, shouting at the top of his lungs, " DAMMIT, DAMMIT, DAMMIT, DAMMIT!" With the final clang, his hand finally started to show signs of damage, revealing little streaks of blood on his hand. Letting out a frustrated groan, he leaned against the wall as his mind was finally able to comprehend what had just happened.

His first thought had drifted to that damn letter. He frowned even harder, as he finally realized how that mare got her hands on it. " I should have held on to that letter, or at the very least destroyed it," he thought to himself as he slowly nursed his wounded hand. Looking back up towards the castle, Soarin felt a growing rage against those inside of it. If it wasn't for that stupid Clear Sky, then his plan would have worked perfectly. He would have been able to get that stupid human out of his way and have no competition with Rainbow Dash, and nopony would ever know.

Alas, here he was, grumbling to himself about what could have- nay, what should have been his moment of victory. Getting off of the wall, he clutched his bleeding hand tightly, as he began to make his way back to his penthouse in Canterlot. As he walks though the streets, he immediately begins to scheme. Once word gets out of his unexpected absence from Wonderbolt events, the press will immediately be on his ass. As he neared the penthouse, he concluded that the best option, for right now, is damage control. Hopefully he'll be able to keep things under control until that stupid investigation happens, but he'll cross that bridge later.

For now, he has to wait for another opportunity to get his revenge.

John ran a hand through his hair, letting out a long sigh of disappointment. After the revelation about the letter, the two princesses escorted John to a more private location. This time, the small group was inside a small study, with a small fire in the fireplace. It brought an orange tint into the room, which washed over the group of three. John then grumbled, "I still can't believe that your communication lines are that bad."

Luna slowly nodded her head as she responded, "I will not deny that, but do keep in mind that the Equestrian army has not been used since..." Luna's face then grew very solemn as she had trouble finishing that sentence.

However, Celestia then interjected and finished, " the Equestrian Civil War."

John raised an eyebrow as he then pressed, "How long ago was this?"

Celestia let out a sad sigh as she answered, "It's a moment in our history that we are not proud of, but to answer your question; it has been about 1,000 years since it happened."

John's eyes widened as he let out a low whistle, trying to take in this new piece of information. "Sheesh, that's quite a long time ago." However his mind quickly screeched to a halt as the meaning of that sank in. "Wait, if that was 1,000 years ago... and you two act like you went through it..." John wondered as he looked at the Princesses, "...How old are you?"

The sisters looked at each other and, seeing an opportunity to talk about herself, Luna answered, "Well, I'm about 2,000 years old, but Celestia here is a little bit older, more like 3,200. Is that right sister?"

Celsetia grabbed her tea cup sitting nearby and brought it to her lips, taking a light sip of the calming liquid. Holding the cup up with her pinkie, she answered, "Something like that. Luna has a better memory then what I have, and it's been such a long time, but I do think that's correct."

John quickly laid down on the couch and let out a loud groan, mumbling "This is starting to hurt my head."

Celesta chuckled as she countered, "Then why are you asking it?"

John wanted to argue, but he didn't really feel like getting into a debate right now. He quickly sat back up and said, "Let's change the subject! Why did you want to see me your majesty?"

Celestia set down her teacup as she responded, " Yes, I suppose we have been delayed long enough. As you know, your actions from over a month ago have not gone unnoticed. Luna told me about what you did, and I'll say, you've certainly made your mark on Equestria, well done."

John blushed at the complement, before responding, " Thank you Princess, but I was just doing my duty as a soldier. I didn't do it for the glory."

Luna smiled at his answer before joining in on the conversation. "Indeed, both of us can tell that you didn't do it for honor. Unlike so many others in Equestria's military, you were one of the few to not only command your troops successfully, but also lead them into battle. You went above the call of duty that day, and for that, you are deemed a hero to our ponies."

However, John's face grew solemn, as he sadly spoke, " I'm no hero Luna. The real hero's are the ponies who died that day. They should be the ones honored and remembered."

Celestia smiled like a mother who was proud of her son, before responding, " You're humility is admirable John, don't forget that. However, we would still like to reward you for your efforts."

He sat there for a bit, the soft crackles of the fireplace filling the empty room. John then nodded and said, "Alright, I accept your reward."

Celestia nodded and said, "Thank you John, you will not regret this."

John smiled at her and nodded his head. His started to ponder what his reward could be. "Mabey I'm getting knighted? Could it be a special unit? Or maybe it's some kind of medal?" he though to himself, as more wonderous thoughts flowed into his head. However, he noticed that Luna and Celestia were still watching him, as if they were going to say something. John decided to break the silence by asking, " Is there something else Princess's?"

The two sisters looked at each other and, after having what John assumed was a silent conversation, nodded their heads together. Celestia looked at him and said, "We have another task for you if you want it."

John leaned forward in his seat, placing both hands firmly on his lap before saying, "I'm listening."

Luna straightened herself and explained, " You see, although we were able to ward off the Changelings, we don't exactly know where they went. We fear that the next time that they attack, they'll strike us somewhere where it hurts. Now, after much deliberation, me and my sister decided that, if they were to attack again, they'd attack at a town called 'Ponyville'. "

"Ponyville..." John thought to himself as he listened, "Wasn't that place on that map when I first got here?"

"The problem is that we don't know when they'll attack," Celestia said, adding some more information, " While Ponyville is the home to the Elements of Harmony, they may not be able to stop an all out assault on their own."

Luna added, " Ponyville does have it's own royal guard, since one of the Element's is a Princess, but it is extremely ill-equipped and un-trained compared to the Solar and Lunar Guard."

"And that's where you come in," Celestia proposed. " We're asking you to go down to Ponyville and help train those guards, while keeping an eye out for any suspicious activity." Celestia looked at John, who rubbed his hand over his chin as if he was in deep thought. Celestia quickly added, "You don't have to if you don't want to, it's just a request. If you refuse, we can always set up-"

"I'll do it," John confirmed, interrupting Celestia. "It's evident that your military is ill-equipped for another attack. If the Ponyville guard is as un-trained as you say, then there is no way they'll be able to halt any attacks. Thankfully, I do have some experience with training troops, so I'll know what to do. Besides, it'll be good to explore Equestria a bit."

"Splendid!" Luna said as she stood up, which caused her beautiful dress to flow across her body.

John and Celestia stood up as well, as John asked, "When do I ship out?"

Celestia responded, " We would like you to get going as soon as you can. We have your gear at the Lunar Guard's barracks, head on over there to get your stuff."

John nodded and began to move towards the exit. However, he quickly stopped himself a few paces away from the royal sisters. He then did an about face, stood at attention, and gave the two of them a sharp salute. The two sisters saluted him back as John turned back around and headed through the exit, preparing himself for whatever Equestria would throw at him.