"So, how have you been doing?" Iron Will asked his college in front of him.

Lieutenant Clear Sky, who was slowly sipping her coffee, looked up at him and gave Iron Will a smirk. "I've been doing alright Will, how about you?"

" I could say the exact same thing," Iron Will replied. The two of them had been in Canterlot for nearly a month after The Battle For Canterlot. It had been a long and grueling month, but in the end, it was worth it. Thanks to the nonstop work that the soldiers of the Solar and Lunar Army's went through, Canterlot was rebuilt faster than what anypony had expected. In fact, it was so quick, that by the second week of reconstruction, most of the citizens of the damaged city had managed to start opening businesses again, bringing vital jobs back into the stagnating economy. In fact, the majority of families had already moved back into their homes by the first week of rebuilding, since the residential areas where the least damaged and the first to be rebuilt.

To be entirely honest with himself, after the dust had settled, he found himself in a very good position to be in. For starters, he had met Clear Sky when they were both assigned to find John after the initial battle. He still remembered the look of horror on her face when they saw his broken body in the streets. The two of them quickly carried his battered body to the medical ward. The two of them oversaw the initial operation, but they eventually decided to just let the doctors work.

After leaving the room, they received a special assignment from Princess Luna, who ordered them to wait for John to wake up. Once he was recovered, they were to bring him to the castle to catch him up to speed on what he had missed. However, after nearly a month of waiting, the two of them had a lot of time on their hands. Over time, they made this trip to the Café a weekly thing, mostly just cracking jokes to one another or how they were doing. Nevertheless, it has been a blast for the both of them.

Clear Sky looked off to the distance, here mind seemingly weighing on some heavy topic. Noticing this, Iron Will asked her, "Miss Clear Sky, are you alright?"

She blushed lightly when she heard him say "Miss", as she quickly brought her thoughts back to the stallion at the table. She gave him a soft smile and said, "Iron, we've worked together for nearly a month. You can just call me Sky." She turned her eyes back towards the direction of the hospital as she continued, " I've just had a lot on my mind lately."

"Oh?" Iron questioned, leaning in slightly into the table, "What do you have on your mind?"

She gave him a long sideways glance, as she quietly whispered to him, "I'm worried about John."

Will gave his own sigh and responded, "Sky, we have talked about this."

"I know ok!" Sky shouted back, causing most of the ponies in the establishment to focus on them, wondering what was about to happen. She suddenly realized how loud she just shouted that, so she quickly sat back down and said, "Sorry." Once the rest of the patrons had gotten beck to their beverages, Sky continued with her response, " I know what you told me, but I cant help it! It's been nearly a month and he still has not waken up yet." She looked down at the floor, a look of sadness clouded her face as she finished, " Will... what if he never wakes up."

Suddenly, Iron Will understood what had his friend so worried. He brought his hands over hers and grasped them tightly as he comforted her. " Look, I understand why you are so worried, and to be perfectly honest, I am worried too. Yet, we can't loose hope. Sure, he may not be awake right now, but at least he is alive. He never gave up on us on the battlefield, so we can't give up on him now."

Clear Sky looked at Iron Will, a look of shock and awe plastered on her face. She then began to smile and let out a small chuckle. "You know, that has to be one of the most mature things that I have ever heard anypony say to me." She looked into Will's confused eyes, which urged her to continue. "Heh, thanks for that. I think I needed to hear that," Sky spoke, a small blush adorning her grinning face.

Another blush grew on Wills face as he stuttered, "T-Thanks."

The two of them stared into each others eyes, there faces slowly growing closer and closer to each other. The blushes on their faces grew brighter and brighter the closer they got. Their lips were merely a few inches away from each other. They both knew that it was only a matter of time until the-

"LIEUTENANTS!"

A soldier burst into the small café, causing both soldiers to yelp and move away from their suggestive position. Iron Will, being startled by the soldier, angerly replied, "This better be important soldier! Me and the Lieutenant were in the middle of something." Clear Sky blushed as she remembered a few moments ago and slowly brought a hand up to her lips, wondering what would have happened if the messenger hadn't suddenly appeared.

"I assure you sir," the soldier began, handing Will a letter, "it is of the upmost importance."

As the soldier turned around to leave, Will tore open the letter and began to read it in silence. As he read, his eyes became wider and wider as a smile grew on his face. Clear Sky looked at him with curiosity and asked him, "What is it?"

Iron Will turned a look at Sky, with a bright smile plastered on his face, and responded, " I don't think you have to worry anymore Sky."

Royal Guard Recovery Ward
East Canterlot
10:53 A.M

John took a large bite out of a delicious donut, feeling the sweet frosting flow down his throat. Although the donut was only a simple vanilla one, to John, it felt like heaven. As he ate, he noticed out of the corner of his eye the other young nurses, including Redheart, watch him with blushes on their faces. "Nurses never change," John thought as he chuckled to himself. He grabbed the large glass of milk next to his plate and downed it in three satisfying gulps, washing the rest of the donut down with it.

An elderly lady, who was in charge of the meals for the Ward's occupants, chuckled as she saw John devour his donut. "Be careful eating that fast honey, you don't want to get yourself sick," the elder mare softly warned, watching as John let out a small sigh.

"Trust me mam," John began, wiping off the remaining frosting off of his face, " with how hungry I am right now, I don't think it's even possible for me to get sick."

The old mare chuckled a bit at his response, which warmed John's heart. It had been such a long time since he has seen anyone laugh. It felt good to see that again. Taking another, albeit smaller, bite from another donut, John observed the room and noticed the lack of other patients. "Damn," John thought as he looked around the room,"either not that many ponies got hurt, or their magic stuff is a lot more effective than I thought."

As he sat there, munching on his donut, he failed to hear the stomping of boots rapidly approach him. Suddenly, he was thrusted against the back of his chair as a white pegasus crashed into him. John was shocked, and for a moment, he began to try to throw her off him, thinking that she was an enemy, but before he could, the mare spoke, and he recognized her voice immediately.

"JOHN! You're awake!" Clear Sky exclaimed, a joyous look growing on her white muzzle.

"Lieutenant Clear Sky?" John asked, looking at the mare with relief.

"Yup, that's me!" she exclaimed, lifting her face to his. She quickly brought her hand to his hair, and proceeded to give him a noogie. "I'm glad that you didn't loose anything in there." He let out a laugh at her antics, quickly bringing up his own hands to combat hers. Hearing him laugh after so long soothed Sky's soul, and a huge wave of relief washed over her. "Thank Celestia he's alright." she thought, finally releasing his dark-blonde hair from her relentless attacks.

John eyes then looked behind her, to the double doors that she had emerged from. His silver eyes changed from a joyful look to a more curious one. "Hey," John began, doing a double take of the room around them, "where's Iron Will? I thought he'd be with you?"

Clear Sky finally removed herself from John's lap and stood up, stretching out her wings to their full extension. Looking back to those doors, she answered, "Yeah, he should be coming right about..." She then looked to the clock and waited five seconds until she finally finished, "now."

Immediately afterwards, seemingly on command, those double doors bursted open, revealing an exhausted stallion behind the doors. His black fur glistened with sweat, the salty liquid dropping to the hospital floor. His red eyes surveyed the room until they finally landed on Clear Sky, seeing her, he gave out a snort and said, "Cheater."

"Hey, it's not my fault that I can fly," Clear Sky rebutted, a tad bit of arrogance ringing through her voice.

"Yeah, but that still doesn't make it fair," Will muttered, recovering himself after his long run. After taking a couple deep breaths, he finally stood back up to his full height, and noticed the human sitting at the other end of the room. Suddenly, a large grin formed on his face as he gleefully greeted, "John!"

In response, John sat up and briskly walked towards him. Iron Will also walked to meet him, trying to make the same long strides that John was walking. When the two finally met, they both clasped their hands together for a strong handshake. "It's good to see you again Lieutenant," John greeted, his voice both professional and joyful at the same time.

"Likewise Sir," Iron Will replied, letting go of John's hand. He then moved his hand onto John's shoulder and, with a strong pat, asked, "How are you feeling? That wound must have hurt."

"Heh, you have absolutely no idea," John answered, chuckling softly. "I'm fine now, but when I woke up earlier, it felt like I had just finished crawling out from hell itself."

"Damn dude, I'm sorry to hear that." Will sympathized, changing his look to a more comforting and apologetic look.

However, instead of continuing the conversation, John instead looked at him with confusion. "Dude? What are you talking about? I'm not dressed up nicely at all," he asked, his right eyebrow raising slightly.

"What? No, I meant it in a way as another way to say 'fellow'," Will responded, giving John a confused look of his own.

The two both looked at each other like this for a while, until Clear Sky finally broke up the awkward conversation. "While it is nice to finally catch up with you again John, we are here for another reason," she said, brushing her black hair away from her eyes.

"Oh? And what would this mission be?" John asked, turning is silver gaze unto Clear Sky.

Deciding to explain it himself, Iron Will answered for her. "Yeah, we were ordered by Princess Luna to take you back to the castle once you had woken up."

John turned his gaze back to Iron Will, with a stone cold expression on his face. Will was actually worried that he might have done something wrong, but that all changed when John's expressionless face changed to a smirk. "Alrighty, just give me five minutes," he answered, and then sped off to the recovery rooms.

Clear Sky and Iron Will were confused as to why he sped off, but about four minutes later, they finally got there answer. The door was opened once again, revealing John in his army uniform. Although it had been damaged during the battle, it had been repaired within a week after the battle, which a mare by the name of Rarity persisted to do. In his right hand, was the green helmet that he had worn into battle all of those weeks ago. Sliding the helmet onto his head, John smiled at them and said, "Alright then troops, let's move out."

Author's Note

FINALLLY IT'S OUT!

This chapter took abnormally long to write, and I deeply apologize for that. I had to go through a lot during April, so I was not able to focus that much as I should have. Not to mention that I think I was suffering from a little bit of writers block.

However, I am glad that I finally got this chapter done. The next one should be a little bit easier to write, since school is winding down and I know what I want to do next for the part.

I also would like to thank all of you for supporting me and motivating me to get this done. Without all of you guys who have gave me support, I probably would have never got back to writing. I would specifically like to thank Donares, zar630, and Norwegian Boy. Go give them a follow.

One thing I would like to point out in this chapter is John's confusion with the word "Dude". I did some research and I found out that, from the 1870's to the 1960's, "Dude" referred to a person who was dressed up with extreme fashion. I thought that was interesting, so I decided to make it a throwaway line.

School should be done in about four weeks, so I should be able to crank out some more chapters soon.

Until then, keep surfing the web my friends.

-InternetStranger