Author's Notes:

Me: Warning, it is one in the morning when I'm posting this. Proofreading might be a bit subpar and more errors may be here.
Nexus: Then why bother doing it at all?
Me: Because I don't like sitting on my work. I want to get it out ASAP. At most there'll be a line or two that read funny and can be fixed.
Nexus: I know you're a creature of the night and all but you need sleep dude.
Me: Ugh, I know. But all my best ideas happen at night.
Nexus: Where's the idea that gets you a job?
Me: Places... DON'T JUDGE ME!
Nexus: We'll judge all we want!

The castle was dead silent. The air was still in its nearly complete halls as Nexus walked. He moved through the halls as though he'd done so hundreds of times. Considering how much he'd seen through Goldenchord's eyes, it wasn't all that surprising. Nexus let out a yawn as he rounded the last corner before his destination. The sun was still out, but not sleeping more than five minutes for four months takes a toll.

Nexus shook his head of the thoughts of going to the bedroom he knew was at the end of the hall and opened second door on his right before the bedroom. A finely crafted bathroom stretched the length of a regular bedroom on the other side. The large basin took up most of the room. On either side of the basin, two large phoenixes's stood with their beaks wide open and a knob at their talons.

The tiling was interesting; the ground and lower half of the wall was tiled dark blue with a white crescent moon in the center and the ceiling and upper half were tiled white with a bright orange sun over the moon. The sun gave off a yellow glow; keeping the room well lit. The two halfs melded together where they met with a much more tightly packed group of tiles to create a very detailed mosaic. He found this all very beautiful but that wasn't what he was here for, thought it would certainly help him relax.

He used his magic to turn the dials at the feet of the stone birds and watched as steaming water poured from their mouths. Nexus let out a sigh of relief seeing the water flow. Nexus walked around to the other side and set his bag down on the ground. He looked to the wall and started to study the mosaic more. Seeing as the bath would take some time to fill, he had a little bit of time to kill.

Moving closer, he noticed the large amount of detail that went into the mosaic in between what he would hope was day and night, instead of Celestia and Luna. From where he stood, a small farm scene was depicted on both planes. In the day side, the farm hands worked the field; while on the night's side, they sat around a campfire laughing. Nexus did have to tilt his head, but he could make it out well enough.

Further down, a mountain range cut through the clear blue sky as ponies trekked its dangerous paths during the day. At night, a bright green aurora weaved its way through clouds as the hikers watched in awe. As Nexus made his way around the room, more and more scenes unfurled showing how the hard work and stress of day was blessed by the cool relaxation of the night.

Glancing back, he noticed the water was now half way up the basin. Hot mist hung at the ceiling like clouds obscuring the sun. Nexus went back to the mosaic that reached around the room. As he went, the scenes shifted slightly from rural country sides to towns and cities. The beautiful Manehatten skyline was hard to miss. The lights in the night scene surprisingly well done for being in very small tiles. But when Nexus reached the door, he was amazed at what he found. The City of Canterlot took up most of the wall and reached across both sides of the door.

He was expecting Canterlot, but the sheer size of it and the day and night were now on either side of the door; day occupying the left and night on the right. Canterlot in the day stood under Celestia and her sun. The ponies chatted and played in the castle gardens as she looked down smiling. The night sat under Luna's pure white moon. Her head held high as ponies admired her starry night. Behind them both, a single pony stood out. On Celestia's side, a lavender alicorn stood with a smile on her face. Behind Luna, a dark blue unicorn with gray legs stood tall, holding a stern glare like a centurion. He wasn't at all surprised to see Twilight, but he was surprised to see himself.

With a quick glance back at the tub, the water now nearly fully filled the basin. He shut off the water and took one last look at the mosaic of Canterlot. He sighed, still wondering why he was there in the picture and continued to where he left his saddle bags. Though it would have sounded stupid to most, he liked bathing. Who doesn't? But his was affection to it was more of what it caused him. The hot water brought a certain kind of calm over him that no martial art technique had ever come close to reaching.

He stepped into the water and flinched. He hadn't expected it to be that hot. Nexus started slow. His forelegs first then the rear. The water was steaming and the heat hit him fairly hard. Once his hindlegs were in, he slowly sat down and let the water slid up to his chest. He let out a few gasps of surprise but that quickly went away with a sigh of relief as he got use to the temperature.

He took in a deep breath of the warm moist air and let the warmth run through his whole natural body. His horn glowed as he looked to his chest. The metal plate glowed with it and the water around him started to ripple. It took him a few seconds to find the frequency, but when he did and held it, the metal plate connected to his chest and legs detached with a loud click.

Where the plates were, his coat was pressed against his skin. Leaving a definite outline of dirt. As he set his forelegs on the side of the basin, he looked down at himself. The scars left from all those years ago were still fresh along with the resulting skin tags. It was disgusting to look at. With his magic, he reached into his right saddle bag and grabbed the bar of soap and loofah he'd brought. After giving the loofah a quick soak and lathering the soap in it, he started to scrub the dirt and grime from his now navy blue fur.

It took some work, not bathing with anything but a bucket of water for every two weeks of the eight months he was gone wasn't ideal for getting the filth out of fur. He could only imagine how he smelled and what the Princess had to put up with during the ceremony. Once the obvious dirt was gone, he dunked the loofah in the water. He pulled it out of the water and held it over his head as he wrung it out. The hot, soapy water dribbled down his still filthy mane and started washing out everything else.

Preferring having feeling in his front half, he levitated the limp, mechanical limbs into the water and placed the contorted plate against his chest. Within a few seconds, a loud click came from the plate and the legs jolted to life. He moved them gently and pressed the plate down to force out some of the water. Nexus repeated the process with his wings but chose to leave them on the side for now. It was nice to feel the air on his back with his skin.

He then took a deep breath before dunking his head into the water. The world went silent as he listened to the beat of his own heart for. He swished his head around a little to try and shake out more dirt before coming back up for air. He shook the water from his mane and physically felt his heart stop for a split second. Standing at the door with towels and brushes in their magical hold were Celestia and Luna.

Nexus shouted in surprise and instinctively covered his groin. "What part of I need to be alone don't you understand?!" He shouted angrily. "But a better question is how'd you know this is where I was, and why you're prepared?"

"Because you always bathe when you are troubled." Luna said as she stepped into the basin without flinching followed shortly by her sister.

"Still doesn’t explain why you're joining me."

"Luna and I haven't bathed in this pool since the war." Celestia said as though it should have been obvious.

"And…"

"And we wished to take advantage of the opportunity to get away from it all. Even if it is for but a few hours."

"Isn't there another bathroom in this castle you could go to though?"

"It's still in renovation I'm afraid." Celestia said as Luna dunked her head under the water. "Would you be so kind?" Nexus hesitantly levitates the soap to Celestia as Luna came back up to shake out her mane. "I do see why you came here Colonel. Or would you prefer Senator?"

"Lunar or Nexus is fine, just don't call me Lunarus."

"Well then, Nexus, I see why you came here. Remote, nopony to bother you, all the time in the world."

"Well almost nopony." Nexus mutter as Celestia started to scrub her back with the brush.

"Lunarus, we must talk." Luna said with an worried look in her eyes.

"What about?" Nexus replied somewhat worried.

Celestia levitated the soap to Luna before dunking her how head in the water. "About you and Ms. Storm."

"What's there to talk about. She doesn’t love me anymore."

"Did you hear her say this to you?"

"Well…" Nexus thought back to the conversation he had with her and realized she'd only said that things wouldn't work out. Not technically saying she didn't love him, but it certainly felt like it. "I guess she didn't say that." He said as Celestia re surfaced.

"Then why assume?" Celestia asked after shaking the excess water from her mane.

"She said she didn't believe I was serious about marrying her. That's more or less a signal saying I don't love you anymore."

"We are aware of what she said." Luna said as she scrubbed under her left wing. "But what we wish to know is what you plan on doing about it?"

"What I- What am I suppose to do?! Telling her how I feel and saying I was sorry wasn't enough, so what would be? And why do you want to know!?"

"Because we want to help you, Nexus." Celestia said.

"Why do you want to help me?"

"From what you've been through, all the losses you've faced, you deserve to live a happy life."

"And I can still."

"But you know that isn't true Lunarus." Luna said as she moved to the right wing.

"What do you mean?"

"You saw what happened when you were lied to by your mother and when Ms. Storm sent you that letter."

"Please don't remind me, Luna. Just get to the point."

"The point is you need her."

"What?"

"Luna is right. From what you told me, it was the thought of her that brought you back."

Nexus would have argued that she also helped cause it, but knew that wasn't the only time she brought him back from that point. The incident after his father's funeral was a prime example. Just the sight of her helped bring him back.

"Why are you two still so concerned? I'm back now." he asked.

"Look at yourself." Luna said setting her brush down. "You have not fully returned."

Nexus looked down at himself. "So my coat didn't change back. Big deal."

"The deal, Nexus, is that the first time it happened, you returned to normal, all of you."

"I was only angry then. Not given up on everything." Nexus said trying to distinguish something.

"Lunarus, you love Ms. Storm with all of your being. I can feel it. You do not wish to see her go anymore than I. And she still loves you, she just doesn’t know if you love her."

Nexus let that sink in a moment before speaking. "She said that? Why would she tell you?"

"Because I asked."

Nexus leaned back for a moment. She didn't hate him after all. She just needed to know he loved her back. But that was the biggest obstacle.

"So what do you suggest? I told her that I loved her and that wasn't enough." Nexus said.

"What did she say to you?" Celestia asked as she started to wash under her wings as well. It still weirded out Nexus that they were bathing right in front of him without batting an eye.

"She said… That I had to prove I was serious about marrying her. So, start planning the wedding with her?"

"That would work, but it isn't quite a declaration of love that she seems to be hoping for."

"So what then?" Nexus sunk down to his nose in the still hot water and started to think. What could he possibly do? Planning a wedding wasn't a declaration of love so what was? A song? A dance? Holding up a boom box playing her favorite romantic song (exceedingly obscure reference). Dinner? Gah! What did she want from him? He wasn't a romantic, he was a soldier. What would she do in this situation?... Okay that went nowhere. Despite being a tactical genius, he had no way of delving into the female mindset.

He glanced to Luna who was busy quickly preening her left wing to really notice anything. She might be able to put in a word but again, not a declaration of love. And what could she really do? Go into her dreams and plant messages in her mind to make her see he still loved her? That was stupid and morally wrong.

Then he looked to Celestia. What could she do? Obviously talk to her but what else other than that? All she did was sign paperwork, plan out the future of Equestria and officiate weddings… … …

"That's it!" Nexus tried to say but forgot his mouth was under water.

He came back up coughing up the hot water before mumbling it again.

"What's it?" Celestia asked.

"I'll explain on the way." Nexus said getting out and wrapping his body in a towel. "Dry off and get your best regale on. I've got a plan."