Word of my awakening was of course taken straight to the Princesses. All five of them. Sakes alive; Rainbow Dash as a princess. The nobles must have been fit to be tied.

I'm sorry, I'm rambling again.

Any way, word was sent out. Within a matter of minutes I had guests. The first to arrive were the Cutie Mark Crusaders (founding members.) I received no warning; there was a clatter of little hooves out in the hallway and suddenly three fillies divebombed me. They leapt over the bedrails and landed atop of me, knocking the wind out of me.  "You're okay!" was shouted at me multiple times at point blank range.

"Whauogh!" I said. "Great. 'He was friend to all the foals, and it killed him.' That's what my tombstone will say...Easy, easy, easy, Shhh--" I pointed at my roommate. Despite all the ruckus, Button Mash was still sound asleep. Brave little fellow...

There was a squeak of recognition from SweetieBelle when she saw the colt. Before I could capitalize on it, though, the rest of the Ponyvilleans poured into the room. Oh, I'm sure it was far fewer than all of them, but in the confined space of the room it certainly felt like the entire cast of characters was paying me a visit. Twilight, Rarity, Applejack, Pinkie and Fluttershy were there; Spike was there as well, as were a couple of my bodyguards (who thankfully contained themselves to standing at the door.)  Exclamations of gratitude and relief filled the room, followed by a great deal of 'shush'-ing on my part. They all caught glimpse of the sleeping colt and got the message; the greetings were muted, if equally as cheerful.

I did take note that SweetieBelle couldn't tear her eyes away from the colt. I restrained a chuckle. "Twilight, hand me my bag, would you?" The princess complied. I dug a few bits out of one of the pockets. "Hey, you three," I said. I gave Applebloom a poke in a ticklish spot on her tummy. She yeeped and scooted to the side of the gurney. "Here's a few bits, why don't you go buy something for yourselves at the gift shoppe."

"They have a gift shop here?" Scootaloo asked.

"They always do. Here." I gave each of them a bit coin. Scootaloo and Applebloom jumped down, eager to run off and spend their loot. SweetieBelle started to hop down but I stopped her. I gave the other two a two second lead then addressed the unicorn filly. "And now this," I said holding up another bit coin, "Is for something from you, to Button over there."

Her little cheeks turned pink. "F-from me?" she squeaked. Hnnng, dang, and I'd just gotten my heart patched up...

"Yes, from you," I said. "Little guy has had a rough time, and I think maybe a visit from a schoolmate might cheer him up." I gave her a wink. "A visit from a cute filly wouldn't hurt, either." her cheeks went from pink to red. She darted a paranoid look around her; yes indeed, the adults present had cottoned to what was going on and were grinning insufferably. Then she looked back at Button. Still blushing, but with an ambitious grin, she jumped down from the gurney and galloped out the door, both bits in her possession. There was muted laughter all around the room.

"Well, that should keep them busy for a moment or three," I said. I hooked the privacy curtain between Button's side and mine and pulled it closed. (1) "Anyone care to give me an update?"

"Well, in case you haven't guessed," Applejack said, "Things are pretty topsy turvy right now. Mayhem purty much made a mess o' Canterlot. It's a tossup whether him or Ataxia did the most damage." She shook her head. "Noone died, thank the Maker, but  a lot o' folk were injured by things flying an' bouncin' around. Even Big Macintosh is getting treated for a sprained cannon an' a dislocated shoulder."

"What makes it worse is that Mayhem's bouncing thing got everywhere. Turned the hospital's files into a tossed salad, for starters." Applejack tipped her hat back. "'Swhy we took so long finding your room."

I nodded; that followed. Ataxia's stunt had just tipped the city on it's side; Mayhem  had shaken it up like an Etch-a-Sketch. "Probably why Button's family hasn't visited him yet," I muttered. Objectively, Mayhem had created a great deal more chaos than Ataxia had managed. Store shelves, book shelves, filing cabinets, pretty much anything that required being stacked and sorted in order had been upended and rattled around like dried peas in a tin. Beyond injuries and material damage, it would take weeks to sort out the mess.

Which meant we'd be back to normal just in time for the next Draconequus to show up and wreck everything. "In other news," I sighed. "How is Rainbow Dash taking her... ascendance?"

"Umm, ups and downs," Twilight Sparkle said. "She's in good health-- didn't even get her wings singed-- but she's a little freaked out about being a princess, being an alicorn..."

"Having a new bone grow out of her forehead..." Applejack finished dryly.

"Yes. She's sort of recuperating in her cloud house right now. The metamorphosis on top of her stunt with the bomb sort of took it all out of her. There also seem to be some..." Twilight fumbled for words. "Some changes in her connection to the Element of Loyalty."

"Changes?" I asked.

"Um, she can't take it off, for one, " Fluttershy said quietly. "Um, that is, she can, but it... sort of follows her if she leaves it anywhere. And reappears around her neck."

My eyebrows went up at that. "That's... different," I said. I looked at Twilight. "I don't recall your element doing that once you became an alicorn."

"Actually it does," Twilight said, vaguely annoyed. She tapped her tiara. I took a closer look; while the tiara itself was more tasteful and understated than the 'big crown thingie,'  it had the same gemstone as the Element of Magic. "It changed shape to this-- a little bit more subtle than the original form, thank goodness. But I can't go more than a few dozen feet before it reappears on my head."

"Funny you didn't mention that before," Applejack said.

Twilight shrugged. "It didn't seem that important," she said. "I told Celestia; she told me that the Elements had always been a little quirky, and it wasn't anything to worry about. When Celestia and Luna had been the bearers, the elements were polished round stones that floated in the air around them all the time."

Rarity tossed her mane. "Thank heavens they don't do that to us," she said. "I could never get any work done with some big stone ball floating around me, knocking things over and getting in the way."

"There have been other changes too," Twilight said. "Buuut I won't say anymore--- I think you'll want to see it for yourself." She rested a hoof on my arm. "Right now we're just glad to see you're okay."

"Are you okay?" She added anxiously.

I scratched my head. "Well, as you said, ups and downs," I said. "The good news is, while your doctors were using their magic to poke around my insides, they went ahead and fixed up several other minor medical issues.  Among other things, my snoring should be cured..."

"Why would they do that?" Spike said. "I mean, Hurray that they did, but weren't they supposed to be dealing with your heart attack?"

"It's a holistic approach, Spike," Twilight informed him. At his puzzled look she explained; "medicine is a whole body thing, Spike. What affects one part of you will affect other parts of you."

"Among other things, snoring and sleep apnea will put a strain on your heart," I contributed. "That in turn puts a strain on the blood vessels in your lungs, and your circulatory system as a whole. It even contributes to swelling of the legs and edema. They also found that it affects your metabolism, making you gain weight--- which contributes to sleep apnea, and puts another strain on your heart and circulatory system... all of the above can effect digestion, causing acid reflux, which in turn can contribute to snoring---"

"Yikes," Spike said. "It's like a vicious cycle. Or a dozen vicious cycles all in one."

"Got it in one," I said. "But Panacea went in and, well, did a quick tune-up of everything. My health should improve quite noticeably."

"And so what's the down side?" Applejack said.

I sighed. "Unicorn magic makes that sort of thing much safer and easier, with more non-invasive procedures. But there's still a cost to be paid for cutting and patching up the body like that. To say nothing of the damage done by the tachycardia. It's... put a good bit of mileage on me. Maybe even trimmed a few years off my lifespan.

"Plus, there's pretty serious scarring on my heart now. So much on my heart that, if I had another attack..." I shrugged. "Next time, it won't just misfire. It'll stop. The heart has, well, redundancies that are there to keep it going. Fixing my heart up involved burning those redundancies out. That's part of why they worked so hard on patching up everything else; to give my old ticker the best chance they possibly could. My heart's otherwise sound as a bass drum. But next time, well,  if it goes... I go."

Their expressions of shock and dismay cut me to the soul. Even Pinkie Pie's mane had gone flat.  Fluttershy nuzzled my arm, but it looked more like they needed comforting than I did. "Hey, hey, what's all this?" I said. I reached out and patted Fluttershy's shoulder. "I'm not dying. If anything I'm going to be as healthy as a-- um, really healthy thing," I finished with an embarrassed chuckle. "Ahem. It's just a minor thing. Don't go dumping the grave soil on my casket just yet."

"But..." I looked down; Scootaloo and Applebloom had already returned it seemed. And they had obviously heard enough of what I'd said to guess what was up. They had smudges of chocolate on their cheeks and half eaten candy bars in their hooves (How in the name of all that's rational do they DO that?), and heartbreaking pathos in their eyes.  "But if your heart gives out, you said--" Applebloom went on.

"If it does, then I'll go meet my Maker," I said, patting her gently on the head. "He and I settled accounts long ago, and He promised He'd have a place prepared for me. I won't be gone, Applebloom... I'll just have gone on ahead." I mussed her mane and chuckled. "Anyway, I promise that dying is the absolutely last thing I'll ever do."

Several ponies groaned.(2) Applebloom made a face like she'd bitten into a green apple. "Now that's just terrible, Arthur," she scolded. I just laughed at her.

"Hah! As if you could get rid of me anyway," I said. "Hm. Where's SweetieBelle? Still at the gift shop?"

Scootaloo rolled her eyes. "She's still trying to pick out something for Button," she singsonged sarcastically. "Yeesh, why does she hafta get all doofy over a colt?"

I coughed loudly. "Aherm aherm herm. I'm sorry I didn't quite hear that I coughCOUGHRUMBLECOUGHcough." Scootaloo went from orange to red. She stuck out her lower lip and glowered at me. I just smirked at her.

Speak of the Devil, here came Sweetie. She had a small novelty teddy bear and get-well card, and was carrying both by the ribbon around the bear's neck. She was also sidling her way towards the dividing curtain towards Button's side of the room and desperately trying to look like she wasn't.  "Hold on," I said to her. I pulled the edge of the curtain back and peeked over at Buttons. He was sitting up and looking around blearily. "He's awake," I told her. "Keep in mind he might be a little loopy from the medicine they gave him. And don't chat for too long, you don't want to tire him out." I motioned for her to go in. With a blush and a grin she trotted on through the gap. I left it hanging open a few inches--- just enough to give them a sense of privacy without actually leaving them unsupervised.

Instantly I was crowded by five giggling mares and two giggling fillies trying to peek in as well. They were literally climbing over my gurney just to watch on the budding puppy love next door. "Ack, leave off," I said, pushing a couple back. "There's not enough room for everyone to spy!"

Rarity huffed. "Well she's my little sister--"

"Fine, fine, you mind the gap, then," I said. "The rest of you? Get. OFF." There were grumbles all around, but I managed to get them all to settle down. All except for Rarity, who stuck to the gap in the curtain like she was glued there. I took a look myself. We couldn't hear anything because of the sound-dampening spell on the curtain, but we both saw SweetieBelle give Button the teddy bear. Button looked both pleased and mortified at the same time. Rarity's squee of delight nearly pierced my eardrum.

"Oh golly, I forgot!" Pinkie exclaimed. I left Rarity to her eavesdropping and turned my attention back to the others. Pinkie had returned to her poufy-maned state and was now bouncing up and down, clutching a gift box by the ribbon in her teeth. "It fo' yoo"! She said and tossed it into my lap. I pulled the bow and opened it. Inside was... a hat?

I pulled it out and looked at it. It was a classic bowler derby. "A new hat!" Pinkie said unnecessarily. "Because you sorta squashed your old one when you sat on it."

"When I...?"

"Sat on it," Pinkie repeated. "You sorta went ACK!" She stood on her hind legs and clutched at her chest with one hoof. "Then you said 'oh no not again' and then you went Aaarrrgh--" she fell backwards, landing with a thump on her bottom. "And landed right on your hat."

"Ayep," Applejack said. "That old Panamare hat ain't gonna play the fiddle no more."

"So I got you a new hat. I saw it and I thought of you, 'cause it's round like you are!"

"Pinkie--" Twilight scolded.

"Try it on," Fluttershy said. "If--"

"If that's alright with me," I said, finishing with her. I flipped the hat over and settled it on my head. It fit perfectly. I regarded my reflection in the mirror. "I have to admit, I always wanted one of these," I said, tipping it to a jaunty angle. "Heh. It goes with my cane, too..."

There was a knock on the doorframe. Standing in the doorway were a stallion, a mare, and a teenaged colt. "Excuse us?" The stallion said. "Is this room 112? We were told our son was here--" then he got a second look at me. "What-- who in Equestria--?"

"Ah," I said, cutting him off. He started to speak again but I quickly shushed him. I leaned back and motioned for him and his family to join Rarity and myself at peeking through the curtain. Faces brimming with curiosity, they obliged.(3)   We all peeked through just in time to see SweetieBelle holding up a cup with a straw so Buttons could get a drink.

"Oh my," Button's mother asked, her worried look melting into a smile.  His father chuckled. "Who's the little filly?"

Rarity pulled herself away from the gap in the curtain . "Oh, you must be Button's family," she said with a dazzling smile, holding out her hoof. "My name is Rarity. That's my little sister SweetieBelle, I believe she's a classmate of your son... oh this is so adorable," she giggled, sneaking another look and clapping her hooves together in glee. "But do forgive me, you'll be wanting to see your son--" She walked to the end of the curtain and poked her head around. "Sweetie dear, we do have to be going," she said. "Button has visitors. Come along... Button dear, your parents and brother are here..."

I saw the two foals make their goodbyes. (I also saw Button hastily cram the teddy bear under his pillow the instant he heard the word 'brother.' Heh. Some things are universal.) SweetieBelle came trotting out a moment later, practically floating on air.

"SweetieBelle, this is Button's family," Rarity said. She lowered her head and whispered. "Now it's only proper to introduce yourself to the young stallion's family. Come on..."

SweetieBelle's eyes finally focused on Button's family. "Um, hi," she said, her face pink. "I'm SweetieBelle... your son is really nice--" She giggled giddily, hiccuped, and fled the room.

I laughed so hard I thought the hospital bed would collapse.

"Well I think that's our cue to leave," Twilight said. "Come on, everyone, it looks like it's back to work..." With that, a few farewells and one peck on the cheek, I was on my own. Button's family took their leave and hustled through the privacy curtain to smother their youngest with overdue affection.

I lay back on the bed and tipped my new hat over my eyes. A magical medical tuneup, a chance to play cupid, and a new hat. Overall, not a bad day....

Author's Note:

1)Said curtains, I had learned in my first visit to an Equestrian hospital, are enchanted to muffle sound as well. (My arrival in Equestria had been-- not without injury.)

2)Pinkie Pie sort of snorted. She was being remarkably well behaved; I suppose even she had her limits.

3)They were courteous enough to walk around my hospital bed rather than climb over it.