Celestia, Artemis and Twilight were seated in the dining room. They ended up eating a late dinner. Twilight and Artemis were both starving and each ate a full meal. Celestia had already eaten dinner so she just ate a couple of slices of cake.

After they had finished their food, Artemis told them of how Blueblood and the rest of the nobility would come every night to his night court with amendments some obscure law that he demanded Artemis authorize. The few problems that came up, they wouldn’t allow him to deal with. They kept telling him that he was not a real prince and was only there to pass messages to Celestia.

When they saw that this wasn’t getting much of a response, they switched to berating his job with the moon and the night sky. Artemis had tried to talk to Celestia but she was always busy with day court and a few peace treaties that required her attention. The final straw came earlier tonight when Blueblood came in with a demand that he give control of the moon and the night sky back to Celestia and renounce his title on the grounds that he wasn’t a real prince. He became so enraged that he lost control.

By the end of the explanation Artemis was in tears but Celestia was furious, as was evident by the fact that she was radiating heat and her mane looked more like a flame than the soft colors that everyone was used to. She took several calming breaths before standing. “Don’t worry, little brother. I'll deal with him.” She nuzzled her brother before pulling him into a hug. “As much as I would like to stay, I must get some sleep. Good night, Artemis and Twilight.”

Artemis’ ears drooped “I understand. Good Night, Big Sister.”

“Good Night, Celestia.” Twilight replied

Artemis was about to say something to Twilight, but paused when he saw that she was clearly tired. I'm not surprised. She went through a lot tonight. His eyes widened when he saw that her horn glowing.

Twilight teleported both of them to the balcony of Artemis’ tower.

Artemis raised an eyebrow. Why did she do that? He was about to ask his question aloud, but stopped when he heard her voice.

“I won’t be able to stay up for much longer but I would like to get in a little stargazing before I fall asleep. Would you like to join me?”

Artemis was so surprised that he couldn’t say anything. Instead, he nodded and lay down. He was even more surprised when Twilight lay next to him, so close that their coats were touching.

Yawning, Twilight mumbled. “It’s beautiful.” She nuzzled him before laying her head on his shoulder. She had planned to move her head to her forehooves after that, but didn’t have the energy.

Artemis stared in shock at the mare that he secretly had a crush on for the last 3 years as she fell asleep against him. His heart was thumping so loudly that he was sure the rest of the castle could hear it. W-what?! N-no . . . Calm down. I-it doesn’t mean anything. She’s just trying to make me feel better. He sighed I should take her to her room, but . . . I don’t want to be alone right now. Noticing that she was starting to shiver, he draped a wing over her.

He watched the stars for a while before developing an overwhelming desire to talk to Twilight. He couldn’t wait until morning but refused to wake her, so he lit his horn and entered her dream.

Next Chapter: Chapter 4 Estimated time remaining: 36 Hours, 42 Minutes