As Artemis and Twilight lay stunned, the parents guided their foals out of the park. The foals shouted “Good night, Prince Artemis and Princess Twilight!” as they left.

It took a few minutes before they were able to move, but eventually Twilight and Artemis stood and gathered their bags before turning towards the restaurant behind them.

They walked into the restaurant and were greeted by the owner, an earth pony stallion, at the front. “Welcome, Prince Artemis! I heard that you are here on a date tonight. Who are we waiting for?” As Artemis stepped fully into the restaurant and moved over to make room for Twilight, the owner gasped. “Princess Twilight! Welcome back!”

Twilight looked up “Blue Berry! I haven’t seen you in a long time.”

Blue Berry looked from one to the other for a moment before he grinned “So Princess, I see you finally found somepony.” He turned to Artemis “I have known Princess Twilight for many years. Her family has been loyal to this restaurant since long before she was even born. Please make sure you take care of her, your highness.”

Artemis’ eyes widened before he smiled “Don’t worry, I plan to do just that.”

Twilight blushed “Blue Berry, is the table on the balcony available?”

Blue Berry smiled at her “Your favorite spot in the restaurant? Of course, your highness. Please wait a few moments while we get it ready.”

He looked at the bags they each had in their magic “I’ll take and store your bags here.”

After a few minutes, a young unicorn walked up to them. “Good evening, your highnesses. My name is Violet Glow and I will be serving you tonight. Please follow me.”

Artemis and Twilight followed her through the restaurant. As they did, everypony stopped their meals and stood before bowing.

Twilight stopped “Please, everypony go back to your meals. We are just here for dinner.”

As the ponies went back to their meals and conversations, one particular comment could be heard from somepony in the restaurant. “This place must be good! The prince and one of the princesses eat here!”

As they got to the balcony, Twilight heard a sharp gasp from Artemis. She turned to him with a smile. “You can see why this is my favorite spot in the restaurant.”

The balcony was at the back of the restaurant and away from the lights of Canterlot. All that could be seen was the stars and moon in the night sky. In front of them was a small table set for two. The only light came from a few lanterns placed around the balcony and a candle arrangement in the center of the table.

Violet Glow pulled both chairs out with her magic and asked them what they wanted to drink.

“Lemonade, please” said Twilight

Artemis thought for a moment before he said “Iced Tea, please”

Violet Glow bowed and placed a couple of menus on the table. “Your meal comes with an appetizer of a fresh salad. I will be right back with your drinks and the salad.”

After taking a few minutes to look through the menu, Artemis looked up at Twilight “I think I’ll go with the Cauliflower and Broccoli Carbonara.”

Twilight turned her gaze from the stars to Artemis “I always get the Eggplant Parmesan when I come here.”

“Wonderful choices, your highnesses. I’ll get those orders put in right away.”

They both turned in surprise to find Violet Glow walking up with their drinks and salad.

“Is there anything else you need?” she asked as she placed everything on the table. They both shook their heads and told her that there wasn’t anything else they needed. She bowed and left to put in their orders.

Artemis looked over at Twilight “Last night, you said that you had been doing something with your friends. What did you do?”

Twilight nodded and looked up “Once a week, if possible, we get together and spend time with each other. What we do depends on what else is going on and whose turn it is to pick the activity. Yesterday, it was really Fluttershy’s turn, but we all agreed to do Rarity’s favorite. If nothing else, it got her to quit complaining.”

Artemis looked puzzled “What do you mean “if possible”?”

“Well, we’re each normally pretty busy. Applejack helps run Sweet Apple Acres with her family. Fluttershy takes care of the local animals and heals them if they are sick or hurt. Rarity runs her boutique and makes clothes for Ponyville as well as some customers from Canterlot. Rainbow is a part of the Ponyville Weather Team in addition to her training to join the Wonderbolts. Pinkie plans parties for anypony who asks, helps out at the bakery and foalsits the Cake twins. I turned part of the first floor of my castle into a Public Library to replace the one that Tirek destroyed. As well as the fact that Mayor Mare has decided that any major decision for Ponyville must first go through her before being approved by me. We have regular meetings a couple of times a week.”

Twilight paused to drink some lemonade and eat a few bites of her salad.

“Then there are the Friendship Missions that the Cutie Mark Map sends some or all of us on all over Equestria. Plus all of the things that have happened that have nearly destroyed Ponyville that we have to deal with.”

Artemis shook his head “Wow, and I thought I was busy. So what was the activity that Rarity chose?”

Twilight shrugged “Her usual. We went to the Ponyville Day Spa. She is a major fan of hoofacures and she keeps trying to get the rest of us to get them with her. We aren’t as fond of them as she is, but she is usually happy as long as we join her at the spa. The one exception is Rainbow Dash.”

Artemis tilted his head “How so?”

Twilight giggled “She likes her “tough pony” image. She thinks that if she is seen at the spa or anything that she considers “too girly”, nopony will take her seriously again. Rarity has made it a personal mission to get Rainbow change her mind.” She paused “You should ask Celestia if she will let you read the letters I send her. Some of the stuff we get into or have to deal with is pretty funny.”

“Actually,” Artemis responded “she likes to read some of them to me if I have trouble getting to sleep some mornings.”

Neither of them noticed that Violet Glow had returned to check on them.

“The one she read to me the other morning was a little strange. Did you really take on an Ursa Minor by yourself, before you ascended?”

Twilight blushed “Yes. A traveling performer had come to Ponyville and was bragging that she had vanquished an Ursa Major. A couple of foals decided that they wanted to see her do it so they went into the Everfree Forest. They found the Ursa’s cave and let an Ursa Minor chase them back to Ponyville. She tried to get rid of it, but only made it angrier.”

Artemis stared at her “What did you do about it?”

Twilight's blush deepened “I created a lullaby by sending wind through the reeds and plants around the village. Then I emptied the village’s water tower and filled it with milk, turning it into a giant baby bottle. After I gave the bottle to the Ursa Minor, I levitated it back to the cave in the forest.”

Artemis’ jaw dropped

“That’s amazing!”

They both looked over at Violet Glow in the door to the rest of the restaurant. “I had heard that you did something with an Ursa, princess, but I thought it was just a myth. That really happened?”

Twilight nodded, her face still red

“Wow.” Violet Glow shook her head and got back to why she was there. “I just put in your orders and wanted to ask if you needed anything else.”

Artemis shook his head

Twilight looked at the glass she had just drained “More lemonade, please?”

“Of course, your highness! I’ll be right back.”

“So Artemis,” Twilight started “we talked about what’s going on with me. What about you? How do you spend your time?”

Artemis looked off to the side “I mainly spend my time awake either in Night Court or reading. Some of my reading is just for fun, but most of it is either for court or on things I missed over the last thousand years. The other task that takes up my time is dream walking. Though I mainly only enter the dreams of foals.”

She paused thoughtfully “I heard about that from Applebloom, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo. They come to see me once a week for what they call “Twilight Time”. Nothing major, I just teach them random things and help Sweetie Belle with her magic. Anyway, they were talking about a time when they had been going crazy for years because they didn’t have their cutie marks yet. Somehow, the topic switched to dreams and how you had helped each of them with their fears and troubles.”

Artemis stared “They still remember that? It is somewhat unusual for dreamers to remember that I was even there, let alone what we talked about.”

Twilight nodded “It left an impression on them, a good one. They each look back at that as a happy memory of a time when they were having trouble and you were there for them.” She tilted her head thoughtfully “Why only enter the dreams of foals?”

Artemis shuddered “I learned the hard way that most adults don’t like their dreams to be seen by anypony but themselves. If an adult wants to ask for help they come to court, usually my sister’s. So I tend to only enter the dreams of the young.”

Twilight smiled “Mine as well.”

Artemis was about to say something when he noticed Violet Glow walking up to them with their meals and new drinks for both of them. They thanked her and assured her that they didn’t need anything else. They each took a few bites of their meals and sighed in contentment.

Then Artemis went back to what he had been about to say “You remember your dream last night?”

Twilight smiled “I remember telling a certain Prince of the Night that he has permission to enter my dreams as often as he likes. In fact, I think I’m going to make it a requirement.”

Artemis’ jaw dropped “What? Why?”

Twilight reached across the table and laid her hoof on his. “Even though we are dating now, we are both busy ponies, live in different towns and keep different schedules. As a result, we may not be able to see each other as often as we’d like. This way, we can see each other and talk as much as we want.”

Artemis got a rather touched look on his face and smiled “Of course”

After that, they both focused on their meals. As they were finishing, Violet Glow walked up to the table with two large slices of chocolate cake and a large bowl of mixed berries.

“Compliments of the chef, your highnesses.” Violet Glow said as she cleared the table and walked away. Before anything more could be said, she came back to the table with two glasses of milk and a couple of forks. They both thanked her, after recovering from their surprise, and she walked back into the restaurant.

They finished their dessert and walked to the front to get their bags from Blue Berry. Twilight gathered their bags and Artemis put some money on the desk as a tip. Before Blue Berry could protest, he was thanked for a wonderful meal and asked to pass the tip to Violet Glow. They both walked out into the night.

Artemis looked over at Twilight as her horn flared. He blinked as their bags vanished in a flash of magenta magic.

“What did you do?” he asked

“I teleported them to your tower where we will get them later. There is something I want to do with you before we go back to the castle.” She spread her wings “Follow me!”

Before he could ask her anything, she launched herself into the night sky. He was left with no choice but to follow her.

Twilight kept flying until she had reached the highest clouds in the area that could support the two of them. She circled one of them once before settling onto it and folding her wings. Artemis landed and laid down next to her. He was about to ask why she brought him up here when he noticed that she was looking up. He followed her gaze and smiled.

Twilight smiled up at him “This is my new favorite way to stargaze. Up here, it’s like I’m surrounded by the stars."

Artemis didn’t respond. Instead, he curled himself around her, covered her with a wing and nuzzled her. For a while, they just relaxed and looked at the stars.

Artemis thought Twilight had fallen asleep until he heard a quiet “Artemis?” He responded with an equally quiet “Yes?”

Twilight shifted enough to look him in the eye “I- Can you promise me something?”

This made Artemis concerned so he raised his head and turned to her. “What is it?”

Twilight looked up at him “If something happens to make you upset, I want you to visit me and talk about it before it gets that bad, even if it’s just in a dream. I promise, I’ll do my best to help with whatever problem you have.” She stared up at him with tears in her eyes “Please. I-I don’t want to see you turn into Night-Terror Knight again.”

Artemis stared at the beautiful, selfless mare next to him, who saved and helped him multiple times. “Twilight . . . Thank You”. He drew her into a tight hug, before burying his face in her neck “I promise”.

They laid like that for what felt like hours before the night’s chill started to get to them so they decided to head back to the castle.

Next Chapter: Chapter 12 Estimated time remaining: 35 Hours, 57 Minutes