I woke up to the sun shining in my eyes. I was having a pretty cool dream about me flying about causing all sorts of mayhem in the dream world. Mostly in my home world.

It's been a few days since I was visited my Princess Celestia. About sixty hours and twenty three minutes, judging from the amount of time I've been conscious.

When I first woke up it was late in the afternoon, with a few hours to spare. So I just counted the hours from when Celestia visited me. All in all, I didn't get many visitors since Celestia.

The only one to visit was Fluttershy, and that was a one off. She was too shy to even hold a proper conversation, and about two minutes in she left saying it was time to feed her animals, which I understood if it weren't for the fact that every time I made eye contact she hid in her mane. Even though it was cute it got a bit harder to actually hold the conversation. I also had the feeling it was about how she saw Nightmare Moon beat the hell out of me.

And the weird part was that she didn't have a scratch on her. Not one single nick or anything. And after her visit there wasn't much more activity other than the nurses bringing me food every few hours. Something about caloric regeneration Alicorns have or something.

Rolling over my side without much difficulty I plopped onto the ground with a nice 'clop' noise. Ever since I woke up I began walking around my room. My wings were still a bit messed up and my eye just a bit swollen, but I could live with that. I also had the staff remove my heart beat monitor so that I could actually sleep properly. Dumb thing was annoying.

'Today's the day.'

After I told them I could walk just fine, with light discomfort, they were going to monitor me for a few more days until I was healed properly before being discharged. But before that I wanted to take a nice shower. I heard from Nurse Redheart that there was a hospital shower here that I could use. I haven't left my room at all, with the bathroom being an exception, but it was just down the hall with a sign that said "SHOWERS" above the door. And that I should use it towards the night to avoid bumping into someone. But I feel sweaty and gross, so I'll take my chances.

I walked to the door and opened it to peer outside. The guards were gone, probably eating their breakfast or swapping shifts, and I was alone right now.

Slipping outside I opened my wings a bit to get a little air in them. They felt a bit sore, but it felt heavenly to finally extend them and get all of the tension out of them by stretching the muscles. It was weird to think about that, right?

I walked happily down the hallway, stretching my legs and popping my back a bit. I let out a sigh of content as I arrived to the door. Checking the sign above, I opened the door and walked in.

I was expecting the showers to look like prison showers. Little to no space between the shower heads and no walls to hide your decency along with bland white tiles and pipes running overhead with a guy in the shadows and a soap bar on the floor, but boy was I glad I was wrong.

There were several glass cubicles that were fogged to the point where you could only see the very blurry outline of someone. They were all open and the shower heads were in clean pristine condition with dials that would take me a few tries to figure out. And instead of regular plain white tiles there were what looked like a smooth red and white tiles that seemed to have a unique design with each cubical. It was really fancy and I didn't know where to start my shower.

That is, when I heard a shower already on.

I immediately thought of abandoning this entire plan just because there was another pony here. But I nervously held firm and went into a cubical with two knobs and a nice looking shower head. They sounded a nice distance away so I wouldn't be bothered.

Looking at the knobs both were different colors. One was blue and the other was red. After some time figuring out how to turn them on I removed my bandages from my wings and stepped into the falling water.

"Shit!" I yelped silently as I hopped back from the sudden cold water that hit my fur.

I now realized it was going to take a bit of time for the hot water to actually come out. So I waited for it to get warm. While waiting I was on the lookout for anyone deciding to take a shower this early. Thankfully there were none besides that one pony on the other side, and the water had finally gotten warm enough for me.

I noticed that I had no soap for me to use. So I created one that made lots of lather bubbles for me to play with along with a random scent and a scrubby thing that are used for showers. I don't know what the're called, but it didn't really matter.

I started with my head and worked my way down, eventually making it to my legs and finishing off with my more, sensitive parts. I didn't know what to do with my tail, so I just did the same thing to it as my hair. Once I finished I stopped the shower head by closing the water and made as much bubbles as I could.

Now this cubicle was about six feet high and five feet of space between the fogged windows. So it was pretty well made space for ponies.

However.

With me using the entire twelve ounces of soap, and not having self control, I flooded my entire cubicle with soap bubbles that overflowed into the cubicles around it. And after a few minutes of a continuous stream of bubbles, there were six cubicles filled with bubbles. It also didn't help that after a few seconds, it would refill quickly.

I thought it was pretty funny at first. But then I heard the other shower head stop.

'Oh shit'

I quickly turned on the shower heads that had bubbles along with the one I was in. Hopefully I could clean this up before they could find me like this.

"Hello? Who's there?" Asked a feminine voice. She sounded like she wasn't sure of something.

"No one! Just a doctor taking a shower!" I called back. Why did I even say anything!

We stayed silent and waited for the other to respond. And after a few seconds I heard her speak again.

"Oh. Sorry, I don't know the staff very well." She said. I heard her getting closer if the clip clop of her hooves were any indication. NO! ABORT! ABORT!

I heard her open one of the doors that had the shower head on. Thankfully it was the one on the other side.

"Huh? Where are you?" She said. Why was she looking for me if I was showering!

I then turned on all the shower heads and high tailed out of there, leaving my bandages behind and letting the bottle and brush thing disappear. I didn't even bother to dry myself off. I just wanted to get out of there. Hopefully she'll think it was a ghost or something. A ghost that was taking a shower.

And it would have worked if she hadn't rounded the corner and blocked the exit.

"Hold up. Why are you running?" She asked.

She was shorter than me, with a dark green coat and lighter lime green mane and tail. She had a mark of a few piano keys on her flank along with a horn on her forehead and blue eyes. I noticed a band around her right hoof with her name. Keynote Symphony.

"I ,ah, have to be somewhere?" I answered, a bit nervously. I knew it was lame, but that as all I had at the moment. That and I didn't want to use the "I'm a god" excuse just to get out of the situation. If that's what this form is called. It was getting a bit chilly without the warm water hitting you.

"And where is that?" She said, questioning my motives.

I would have responded when she suddenly cut me off.

"Wait, I know you!"

"You do?"

"Yes! you're the guy who went off with Rarity and got followed by Nether Flame, Blossom, and Silver Shot. I saw you from a bush!" She then took a deep inhale.

"I didn't know you would smell this good." She then added, leaning in a bit. I felt my cheeks redden a little from that comment. What do I smell like?

"And what smell is that?" I asked.

I watched her think for a bit. She even put a hoof to her chin as she processed what I said.

"I don't know, but it's very nostalgic and soothing. Like a childhood memory or something. It's hard to explain but I just really enjoy it." She said with a smile.

"Uh huh." I said slowly. A question popped into my head.

"Wait, why are you here?" I asked. If she saw me then why was she here in the first place. Her muzzle became a slightly brighter red hue.

"Oh that's, a bit embarrassing. You see, I accidentally poisoned myself before going to the party Pinkie had planned for Twilight. You know, the new pony?"

"Yes, and?"

"Lets say I'm not very good at storing my cider. After I had gotten sick the first time, I decided to test them so that I could actually drink them."

"Let me guess, you poisoned yourself again?" I added. She blushed a bit more from my blunt deduction.

"Well, yes, I did. And after putting it off for a while too." She said with a nervous chuckle. Her face suddenly lit up, suddenly remembering something.

"Oh, I didn't even tell you my name! I'm Keynote Symphony. Pleasure to meet you!" She said, closing the distance between us with her hoof extended.

I mirrored her action and held out my own in a friendly manner. Even though I saw her name on the band wrapped around her hoof, it was still nice to be courteous about ones name. And to not seem creepy too.

"I'm Franz." I said after her.

"Ooh, sounds exotic. Where are you from?"

"Somewhere small." I said, hoping she'll not pry further.

"So Prance?" She asked.

"What?"

She giggled.

"Sorry, sorry. It's just that you have a different name from the norm, you know?"

It was a miracle that she didn't notice my wings during the whole conversation. Maybe she was also a little blind as well?

"Oh, right." I said back.

"Well, I should get going. Don't want to keep your 'patients' waiting." She said with a smile before leaving. I nodded at her and she smiled. After she left I let out a breath I had been holding.

"Jesus' Crispy Chicken." I muttered. I noticed that all of them had some sort of mark on their flanks, and I hadn't even thought about mine. I turned to take a look at mine and was confused at what I saw.

It was just a strange symbol that looked to be slightly glowing. It was weird. I didn't even know what it was suppose to mean.

Deciding to not think about it too much I walked out of the shower room and walked back to my room. Things were getting easy again, and I didn't want to ruin it.

"Your Highness, we have been looking for you. We are to escort you to the front office to have you discharged." Said a female voice.

I nearly jumped and turned to see a guard in golden roman armor with a sword on her side. And next to her was another guard who looked remarkably alike. I swallowed nervously. I was assigned guards? Was this Celestia's doing? I didn't really think about it for too long.

"O-oh, thanks." I said nervously.

"Lead the way."

We walked to the front of the hospital, passing various rooms with their doors closed. I was following my 'guards', and looking out for someone I knew. I didn't see anyone, of course. Just the occasional nurse and patient that was in a bed. Now that I noticed, their medical advancements were similar to Earth's, with the exception of a few less practical ways of getting ponies back to health. I knew they at least had the concept of clean bandages and sterilization, but I had the suspicion that they used magic to help them out. If what the doctor said anything about healing magic was true, I could try and learn a spell or two.

I snorted. Who the hell am I kidding. I probably would injure them more than help. What if they had a cut and I made it heal my stretching that fucker out so much that it was barely noticeable. But then it might be just a long cut that would bleed profusely and kill someone. Yeah, that sounds about right. Just roll the die for heal effect and get a low number.

But then again, I might actually be able to do this. Healing and stuff. I've never tried it before, and I'm sure that it should come in handy when a little foal scrapes their legs, or if they have wicked bad tummy ache. Wait, why do I feel like that would be something Pinkie would say?

Heh, maybe someone will dare Applejack to eat a shit load of apples and Pinkie would pop in from somewhere and say that. Well, one can imagine, right?

I was brought back to reality when I saw the entrance to the lobby. I took note that there was a couple guards stationed at either side of the door. One I recognized was that of Thunderlane. And the other was the lady who needed to plant a garden. I forgot her name already.

They had stoic, neutral faces and had spears at their sides. They gave me a glance, before they resumed looking forward. Now I didn't want to be ignored, so I stuck out my chest as far as I could without looking like I was having back problems. The one who looked like she needed to use a garden saw and noticeably reddened, averting her eyes. What, did I just unknowingly flirt or something? I'm gonna have to read a book or something. I'm fairly certain that they don't have a networking power system yet.

"Your Highness, when we open this door there will be reporters outside who wish to have an audience with you. So brace yourself." Said Thunderlane as he got behind me.

"Okay." I responded. I mean, how many could there be?

The door opened and we saw some ponies look in our direction. I saw some of them with hats and a notepad with a quill. Others with a small device that looked like it was used for recording. They all immediately started on their way towards me and I held a hoof up. They all stopped and looked at me expectantly, Clearing my throat I asked them a question.

"Isn't there a place where we could do this? Like a platform or something?" I said. I didn't want to disrupt the staff and their routine.

"Are you certain? We could do a QnA right here!" Said a stallion proudly.

"I could make it worth your while and grab us something to drink?" Asked another one. I wanted to stop them before they started to bicker with each other.

"No, no. I meant at Town Hall. Maybe at a scheduled time?" I said.

"That and I wouldn't want to disturb the hospital staff any longer. So go and enjoy your day." I said, waving my limb around to show emphasis.

Some of them seemed disappointed and others just looked annoyed. My guards helped usher them away before returning to my sides.

I walked to the front desk and a receptionist presented the papers I needed to fill out. There were only three I had to fill, but I had to put my name on it a bunch of times. Mostly legal documents that would be sent to Canterlot with Princess Celestia and Princess Luna.

After I turned the papers in I left to the doors, with my guards following after. It was kinda easy to fill out with papers with hooves, much to my surprise.

Opening the door we walked out and I had to shield my eyes a bit from the sun. I was beginning to think that maybe I should make a hat or something, but instead I pushed through. Suddenly, everything got slightly darker, and my eyes began to sting a little. What the hell?

"Your Highness, Are you alright?" Asked one of the mares that was to my right.

"Yeah, sorry. Uh, do we have anything to do or somewhere to go? If not then I want to pay several ponies a visit." I asked. I wanted to get my saddlebags and my stuff that was inside it.

"Not at the moment. Princess Celestia is to meet you two days from now, along with Princess Luna." Said one of the twin mares.

"Oh, okay." I said.

"Permission to speak freely, Your Highness." Said the other twin. I couldn't make out any difference from the two guards in my front right and left.

"Y-yes?"

"Who will we visit?" She asked.

"I think Rarity is first. She has something I need." I answered.

They didn't say anything else, so I just started walking to her house/workshop's direction. I remembered most of the tour she gave me, but I don't know if she told me where the nearest restaurant is. I was feeling somewhat peckish.

I was beginning to think that having guards for my protection was a bit unnecessary. I could manage fine by myself, even though I was kinda retarded. Or that's what my family called me. Mostly from all of the jokes and stupid things I say and do. Strange, I don't feel as silly anymore. I wanted to appease everyone I knew, but now I want to make up for the things I did. If I wronged Nightmare Moon, then I might have a lot of ponies to apologize to. Even if they try to kill me.

I stopped suddenly. Maybe I can get the girls something for their troubles and injuries! Yes!

Wait, wait, wait. I don't have any currency on me. Darn, it was a good idea too.

WAIT! I cAn JUst MakE It! DOI!

I noticed one of the guards waving her hoof in front of my face. She saw me look at her and let out a sigh of relief.

"Oh, good. I thought you had a attack." She said.

"The hell you mean 'attack'?" I asked, giving her the playful stink eye. She instantly shrunk and let out the faintest of whimpers. Aw hell.

"Forgive me, Your Highness, but often times when a pony returns from a traumatic event, they can experience small episodes called 'Attacks'. That means they reca-" I cut her off.

"Oh, no, I know what an attack means, but why would you think I'm having one?" I asked, tilting my head. Wait. Several things suddenly clicked into place.

"On second thought, don't answer that. Lets just get to Rarity's for now." I said.

"Of course, Your Highness." She said. I gave her another glance before I continued walking. Something about the way everyone said 'Your Highness'. It didn't sit well with me. It sounded like they were saying it differently than what was normal. Kinda like the first letters were capitalized. It was kinda weird and I just ignored it for now.

After a few more minutes of walking, we made it to her house. It was still standing proudly, not a thing different about it. Except there was a cat perched on a window that was open. I didn't know she had a cat. Or it was a stray that happened to be clean and groomed with a small bell on a collar. Never mind, It's definitely her cat.

The guards took positions on the sides of the doors. I opened the door and a bell toned. I hope she was open.

When I initially stepped inside, it was empty. With several things in display. I saw the mannequin that had scared me when I first arrived. I scrunched my nose at that particular memory.

"In a minute dear! I'll be right with you!" Said Rarity. I swallowed. I hoped her injuries weren't permanent.

I was planning to just walk out of here and hope she passed it off as a prankster, but I could hear her hoof steps nearby. They didn't sound off, but I couldn't be too sure.

When we saw each other we just sorta stared. I was a bit nervous, but I held firm. She had a bandage around her shoulder and several small band aids that were fairly clean and tidy. I wonder what she had under that wrap. Suddenly, she grew a smile before walking towards me.

"Franz, Darling! It's so good to see you after such a long time! Tell me, how do you feel?" She asked.

My back is a bit sore from being blasted around an old castle, my wings were a bit stiff and my mental state is going to be slightly fucked up for a bit. Though, it will probably be overlooked and/or ignored completely until it either goes away or ruins my life. But I think there's a 50/50 chance of that happening. Oh, and I have this below average temperature difference thing where I get colder along with some amnesia. But hey, 50/50 am I right?

"I'm good, how about you?" I asked.

I'm going to die from lack of self-care. What a way to go.

"Oh, I'm doing a very fine as well. So, what can I get for you? Surely you didn't visit just to chit chat?" She asked. Oh, jeez, is she busy? She must be if she got straight to the point.

"Ah, well, I'm here to collect my saddlebags, if thats alright with you." I said, making sure to add a bit of courteousness. I gotta be nice, to everyone!

"Oh, those divine saddlebags? I had no idea that you owned a such a pair! Pray tell, where did you acquire them? You must tell me the exact place.-" She then let out a squeal.

"-I cannot wait to get a pair of my own, why, all the mares will me so jealous, they would ask 'Where in Equestria did you get such fabulous saddlebags.' And I would say 'My dear friend, Prince Franz, gave them to me as a gift.' Oh, they would be so envious of me to know the Prince personally, and enough to actually get me such a magnificent gift too! Prince Franz, you must help me and tell me where you got them! Oh please!" She said, now throwing herself at my hooves.

I just stood there, getting blind sided by her sudden transition from storytelling to begging. I looked nervously down at her. Should I tell her that these were one of a kind? Or should I just tell her some elaborate lie to get her into my favor.

'Wait, I can just make some.' I thought.

"Well, I can just get you a pair, just stop doing whatever it is you're doing with your eyes." I said, watching her eyes get bigger the more she stared at me. How is that even possible?

She then got up, squealed, and wrapped me in a hug, not really paying attention at my wings. Pain flared up throughout them and I just shut my eyes from the pain. Jesus, why was she hugging me in the first place! Does she not know my wings are in pain!

Wait, I never told her.

She then let go and to my relief, turned around and started walking away. Ahh! Look away!

"Do follow me, darling. I believe I moved them to a more secure location. I wouldn't wish for somepony to steal one of the Prince's precious saddlebags." She said, heading upstairs. I still had my eyes on the ground and followed her through my peripheral vision. Something was swishing around so I took a small risk, I looked at her behind.

Surely enough, her tail was back to it's full glory. Even had a nice shine to it. I watched it gently sway from side to side before I remembered what, and who, I was looking at. I returned my gaze to the ground until we made it upstairs.

There were two doors. One that had a sign on it that said 'Rarity' in fine printing, While the other had the name 'Sweetie Belle' in crayon. I knew who they both were and I didn't feel like going into either of them. I wanted to respect their privacy, even if they insisted.

She stopped and turned to me.

"Prince Franz, be a dear and wait out here for a few seconds. I will return with your saddlebags shortly." She said, her voice getting a little wavy.

"Sure." I said firmly.

She then opened the door with a push and disappeared inside. I took this moment to ponder about what had happened to Nightmare Moon.

So what I was able to gather is that I had somehow managed to convince her to want to be 'reformed'. I didn't know what that was, but I felt like I had accomplished something. I helped save the world, and it made me happy inside. Although, the fact that she had said that we were past lovers was something that I wasn't sure about. With the way she acted with me, from throwing me out a window to attacking me with magic and swords. That wasn't really fair. All I had was a melee weapon and a long range rifle. even then the only thing I hit was her minions that turned into smoke.

Or was that her?

More things clicked into place as I realized that she had attacked me for me doing the same first! That's why she was so angry!

But then, during our battle, she said that I had betrayed her over 1000 years ago. So what else did I do! Did I cheat on her! I wouldn't know because I had my memory erased for damn sake!

I realized that I had been slowly getting agitated and that I should reel myself back in. My wings were extended to their fullest and a frown was on my muzzle.

I heard the door open and I saw Rarity with my saddlebags in the air, floating with her magic. She still had her smile and passed me my bags. I strapped them on quickly with my hooves.

"Oh, thanks Rarity." I said, my anger dissolving faster than cotton candy in water.

"Of course, I would be happy to keep up our chat, but I must need to get back to my work. It will take me some time to finish, of course." She said, pulling her hoof to her chin.

"Yeah, I gotta go see the other girls too. You know, to make sure they're alright and stuff." I said, nodding my head a few times for emphasis. She smiled at this.

"Well do go. Though I must say, you really are a decent stallion. Why, if I hadn't already had my heart for somepony, I might just have picked you!" She said with a giggle. I gave a weak nod and nervous chuckle.

"Uh, thanks." I said slowly. I hoped she didn't notice my slowness and just show me the door.

She began walking to the stairs still giggling and began going down them. I followed after her.

"So, I hope to see you again soon, Prince Franz. It was lovely meeting you again." She said as I walked to the door. I turned and gave her a quick smile.

"Thanks Rarity. I'll come by to visit later, okay?" I said, now using my flank to push open the doors.

"That would be marvelous! Do please come again!" She said, now waving at me.

"Uh huh." I said, finally making it outside and closing the door. I let out a breath I wasn't aware of holding.

"Did you retrieve your bags, Your Highness?"

I promptly screamed and jumped in the air by several dozen feet.

Bush Pony Revealed!

Also, it's a good thing I'm around ten chapters ahead of ya'll, otherwise I couldn't be able to post so many in such a short time frame.

Keep going, fellow Humans and Equines!

Edit: I changed something about this one, but it wasn't as bad as I originally thought. Mostly corrections and some small stuff like that. Enjoy the re-release!