Shortly after Spyro departed back to his world, Aqua wasted no time in grabbing her husband, their token, and what was left of his armor and began running back to Ponyville. On her way back, she did a quick detour to get more water into her system so she could knock a large trail through the forest with her size and strength. After arriving back in town (and briefly refilling the fountain), she rushed to the hospital and got him going into the system before passing out herself from exhaustion and lack of sleep.

As she slept, the Isu Artifact containing Alethia kept a passive lookout over her and her husband. Roughly two hours after Aqua fell asleep, Princess Celestia and Princess Luna entered the hospital, taking a seat next to the sleeping Kappa Dragon shortly after entering. Celestia gave Luna a mischievous smile and placed a hoof over her mouth in a ‘shush’ motion.

Her magic activated and a canister with a horn shape appeared with a quiet ‘pop’. In response to Celestia’s actions, Luna rolled her eyes, magically formed a barrier around the group, and then plugged her ears with her hooves. Celestia then pressed her hoof on the canister’s top, causing it to blare out loudly, waking Aqua and sending her headfirst into the barrier.

Celestia laughed hysterically at the reaction as Aqua recovered from the prank. When they both were done, Aqua took the opportunity to speak. “Greetings your majesties,” She said with a Japanese-style bow. “What brings you here? Hopefully not for hospitalization.”

Celestia and Luna gave a nod in response to her bow and then responded. “We are here to speak to both you and your husband over what I’ve heard concerning yours and his help in freeing my sister from her mental state of mind,” Celestia answered. “Despite the overly violent approach before using the Elements, you have our gratitude.”

“We’re also considering making you both Nobles,” Luna said, receiving a surprised look from Celestia.

“We are?” She asked.

“You weren’t considering it?” Luna asked back.

Celestia shook her head, both answering her sister and conveying her annoyance. “It’s not that simple, at least nowadays,” she explained. She was about to continue, but Aqua interrupted.

"It's the other Nobles, isn't it? Putting us as nobles would add another parasite, or more complaints for you to deal with."

Celestia briefly stared at Aqua in confused awe. “How did you know?”

Aqua smiled sheepishly. “I really didn’t, I just guessed,” she answered.

Luna gave Celestia a bit of a suspicious look. “Tia, didst thou allow the Nobles of Old to place any laws into their favor?” Celestia gave Luna a forced smile that pretty much answered the question. Luna sighed and continued, “Then, effective immediately, I shall go through the various Nobles with a fine-toothed comb. Those who haven’t earned their title shall be removed from their stations.”

“And laws have changed in the past thousand years, like removing nobles from their positions or undoing their laws being illegal,” Celestia informed Luna.

“And you forget that you are a Princess, Sister,” Luna shot back. “You seem so bent on pleasing others, that you neglect your happiness...not the ‘joy of seeing others happy’ type of happiness.”

Aqua giggled at the sisterly banter, gaining the alicorns’ attentions. She was about to explain her laughing when a door began to open behind her. All three looked at the opening door and saw one of the doctors and Jaxon exiting it.

Jaxon looked like he had been put through the wringer, but the look was mostly of a few large bruises since he is able to apply some healing magic to himself. His clothing looked pretty beat up as well, with a few holes and scorched bits of fabric all over them. He signed something the doctor gave him and then approached the group.

“Well, it’s nice to finally be out of that stuffy room,” He said, which snapped his wife out of her silence and she quickly grabbed him in a hug. “And now this stuffy room is much better.”

“It is nice to see you are alive,” Luna said, a grateful look on her face.

“The same can be said about you,” he answered. “To be honest, I think I went a little overboard when I came to after my brainwashing and took my resultant anger out on Nightmare.”

“It’s okay,” Luna said before Celestia could say anything. “Anyway, we are here to reward you for helping us.”

“I was originally planning on giving both of you citizenship, but Luna seems to want you both as Nobles,” Celestia said.

“And she also wants to clear out any corrupt ones,” Aqua added.

“Then, the titles can wait,” Jaxon said. “Allow Luna to clear out the corruption, and then Nobility promotion can be handled.”

Luna and Celestia gave each other a brief look before nodding in agreement and turned back to the couple. “That is an agreeable idea. We will return to Canterlot and see about getting your citizenship started and expedited. If you have any information we’ll need before we go, we’d appreciate it.”

Jaxon pulled his wallet out and retrieved his old ID. Aqua did the same with hers. They gave them to the Royal Sisters, who then handed them a scroll. “What is this?” Jaxon asked.

“It’s a Royal Voucher,” Celestia explained. “That particular one is for property, whether it be a house or just the land.”

“Do you have a voucher for armor?” Aqua asked.

"Yes, but they're usually only for military recruits," Celestia answered. "Why would you need armor?"

"My wife is thinking mostly about me in her question," Jaxon pointed out. "It's because I'm a mercenary, a sell-sword."

"Then, unfortunately, I can't provide what you're asking for," Celestia answered. "As prosperous as Equestria seems, iron and other metals aren't very common, which makes military armor and various civilian applications more important than a set of armor for a mercenary, regardless of his heroic actions."

"Don't you have leather armor?" Aqua asked, pointing at her own to demonstrate.

"We do, but most ponies frown upon its usage," Celestia explained. "Hardly any armorer uses leather."

"What about compacted linens?" Jaxon asked, oddly catching the royals off guard. With a sigh, he explained the minor ins and outs of the Ancient Greek Linothorax. Celestia smiled in appreciation of the new information and left with Luna behind her. With Jaxon and Aqua alone, they shared a kiss and left the hospital to find the mayor.

Author's Note

took me a bit to figure out that in some cases of writing, less is more