Artemis opened the door and walked into the throne room before stopping in shock. A rather large crowd of ponies were waiting for him, not as many as Celestia’s court normally draws, but far more than he was expecting.

They turned to the doorway as he entered.

“Good Evening, Prince Artemis” came as a chorus from everypony in the room.

“Good Evening” he replied as he walked to the throne and sat down. Midnight Fang and Steel Night followed and took their positions in front of him. “Forgive my surprise, I was not expecting many ponies here tonight, if any at all.”

Ice Blossom stepped forward “That is understandable, Prince Artemis. However, we have talked it over and decided to split our petitions more evenly between Day and Night courts. The two petitions here tonight are ones that you are better suited to pass judgement on anyway. So it works out better this way.”

Artemis raised an eyebrow “Such as?”

Ice Blossom smiled and gestured to the Pegasus next to her.

He stepped forward “My name is Sky Chaser and I am the president of Equestria’s Astronomical Society. It was formed last week and is made entirely of ponies that love to study the night sky. We have purchased a building in Canterlot and are in the process of turning it into a location where the public can come to learn about the night sky as well as observe the stars.” He paused and smiled, looking up at Artemis. “The reason I am here tonight is that we would be honored if you would officially open it to the public when it is ready.”

Artemis’ eyes widened for a moment before he smiled “Of course. Let me know when the building is scheduled to be ready. I would like to see it for myself before it opens to the public.”

Sky Chaser bowed “Thank you, your highness. It is currently scheduled to be ready for the public a week from tomorrow.”

Artemis turned to his personal secretary, a bat pony mare seated at the desk not far from the throne. “Please put this on my schedule, Azure Rose.”

She nodded, already making a note “Of course, Prince Artemis”

Ice Blossom smiled "There is one other petition that requires your attention, Prince Artemis.”

Artemis nodded “Please present it to the court.”

An earth pony mare stepped forward “My name is Rose Petal, my prince. I work in the Royal Archives. Yesterday, I was going through records from roughly eight hundred years ago and found two star charts. Something doesn’t seem right about them. We have seen an influx of fakes recently and can’t tell if these two are genuine or not.”

She pulled two rolled star charts off her back and presented them to Artemis. Midnight Fang stepped forward, took them and opened them before rolling them back up. After determining that they were not hiding anything dangerous, he placed them in front of the throne for Artemis to read.

As he looked them over, Rose Petal continued “These charts are both around eight hundred years old, so I am aware that you can’t personally confirm if they are genuine or not. However, I brought them to you because they concern your night sky and I am also aware that you are courting Princess Twilight.” She paused “Princess Twilight Sparkle is widely renowned as both an astronomer and a librarian, I believe that she can help us.”

Artemis set the star charts next to the throne. “You brought these to my court at a good time. I plan to spend this weekend in Ponyville visiting Twilight, anyway. I will bring these with me and we will work on this mystery together.”

Rose Petal’s eyes lit up “That’s great news! With the two of you working together on this, my prince, I have no doubt that the truth will be revealed.”

Artemis nodded before turning to Ice Blossom “I believe you said that there were two petitions for the court. Yet there are many other ponies present. Is there another issue?”

Ice Blossom nodded “Indeed, Prince Artemis. There were only two petitions for court tonight. The rest of the ponies present came here tonight with a demand.”

At that, Artemis uncontrollably, and unsurprisingly, visibly flinched.

“I understand your reaction, Prince Artemis, but this demand is very different than the one you are undoubtedly thinking of. These ponies heard about what happened but were unable to make it for the trial. They have simply demanded to see you. They have stated that, until they do, they will not believe that you are safe.” Ice Blossom continued

Artemis stared at her for a moment but before he could respond, a noise surprised him.

The crowd parted as he looked over to see a foal that had just woken up and was crying. His mother, a unicorn mare, was thoroughly embarrassed as she tried to quiet her son. “I-I’m so sorry, Prince Artemis. It’s just the two of us. I had nopony to watch him and I couldn’t leave him behind but I had to see for myself that you are safe.”

She stopped her apology as she saw Artemis’ horn glow.

The little unicorn colt on her back suddenly stopped crying as sparks of midnight blue magic started raining down on him. He began to laugh as he tried to catch them.

Artemis chuckled “Much better”

He turned to the colt’s mother “There is no harm done, he was probably just scared.” He saw her stunned expression “Don’t worry, I did not cast any spells on him. What you see falling on your son is merely magic. I have learned that most foals like to try either catching it or batting at it. Whichever they prefer, it is a good way to distract them.”

“I know that you would never hurt my son, your highness. I heard about how you protected the foals after the trial.” She shook her head “I’m just surprised that you got him to stop crying so quickly. That has to be a record for turning the tears of a foal into laughter.”

Before Artemis could respond, everypony else laughed.

Ice Blossom stepped forward, still laughing. “Now that the petitions have been taken care of. I think it is time that we called it a night.”

Artemis nodded and stopped showering the foal with his magic. As soon as he did, the foal began to cry again.

“Hmm”

Everypony turned to see Artemis looking thoughtfully at the foal before he lit his horn again, this time bringing the foal closer and placing him on the floor as he stood and walked over, laying in front of him.

Noticing that the foal was staring at his wings in wonder, Artemis spread one and let him get a closer look. With the foal distracted, Artemis lit his horn again and created a small glowing feather. He floated this over to the little colt and watched as he grabbed it in his mouth before walking back to his mother as she walked over to them. She levitated her son onto her back and smiled as he curled around the feather, falling asleep.

Artemis stood, lighting his horn and bringing the star charts over to float next to him.

“Prince Artemis?”

Artemis looked over to see that the foal’s mother was staring at him. “Yes?”

“How did you do that? It’s usually hard to figure out what he wants, let alone getting him to stop crying. However, you did this twice and in rapid succession.” She explained, with an awed expression on her face.

Artemis smiled “It wasn’t hard. Foals are easy to deal with.”

Before she could reply, everypony turned as the foal on her back began to whimper and squirm, clearly having a nightmare.

Artemis closed his eyes and entered the dream realm, quickly finding and entering the dream of the young unicorn. This one was rather easy, he was scared of the darkness surrounding him. Artemis created a ball of light that followed the foal around, lighting the way, and watched as he bounded off to explore.

Artemis opened his eyes to see that the foal had calmed and was smiling in his sleep. “There is no need to worry, he was just afraid of the dark. I took care of the problem so he should be fine now.”

Everypony just stared at him before an earth pony mare gasped.

She looked up as Artemis turned to her.

“Is something wrong?” he asked

“No, Prince Artemis” she replied, bowing “My name is Mythic Blossom. I was just reminded of something my daughter once told me. She had been having a nightmare for a couple of hours when she suddenly stopped squirming and calmed down before she woke up giggling a little while later. When I asked her about it, she said that she had been chased by a pack of Timberwolves. Then the moon suddenly rose and glowed before you appeared and destroyed the Timberwolves. When she was still scared, she said that you stayed and talked to her for a while to calm her before tickling her.”

Artemis smiled, remembering that particular young dreamer. “Ah yes, little Marigold. That was quite a bad nightmare. I’m sorry I didn’t notice it sooner.”

Mythic Blossom’s jaw dropped “T-that really happened?”

“Yes”

“If I may ask, how did you know about it and enter her dream?”

Artemis took a deep breath, not liking where this was going. “As Prince of the Night, I have the ability to dream walk. For the most part, I only enter the dreams of foals, and only when they are having nightmares. I stop their nightmares and try to help them with their fears.”

Mythic Blossom looked at him in awe “I assume that you do this for all foals?”

Artemis nodded “Every foal in Equestria”

Mythic Blossom paused, curious “Why only foals?”

“I have learned the hard way that most adults do not like their dreams to be seen by anyone but themselves. To avoid conflict, I usually enter the dreams of only the young.”

Ice Blossom spoke up “You said “most adults”, Prince Artemis? Are there adults whose dreams you enter?”

Artemis nodded again “Only one”

Ice Blossom looked confused “Who is that, and why do you enter their dreams?”

Artemis smiled “Twilight Sparkle. She has asked that I enter her dreams on a regular basis because we live in separate towns and keep different schedules. This way, we can still see each other often and not have to rely on just letters.”

Ice Blossom smiled “That is a wise idea and I am not surprised that Princess Twilight thought of it.” She paused “However, I had no idea that you do so much to help the foals of Equestria.”

“Most ponies don’t, I have always preferred to work in the background.” Artemis replied “The adults that require help usually approach my sister in her court and the foals receive help from me in their dreams. This works as a way to ensure that everypony in Equestria receives help from one of us, if they need it.”

Ice Blossom smiled “That’s incredible, Prince Artemis. I am happy to know that our foals are protected as they sleep.”

The other ponies in the room smiled and nodded as they agreed.

“I believe that it is time we called it a night.” Ice Blossom said and she saw a few in the room yawn and nod. “Have a good day, Prince Artemis. We will see you tonight.”

With that, everypony headed home and to bed.

Suddenly, it was just Artemis, Midnight Fang and Steel Night. Knowing that nopony else was coming to court tonight, Artemis decided to retire to his room. He was not ready to sleep, but it would be more comfortable to check the dream realm there than sitting on the throne.

Once in his room, he placed the star charts in his desk and walked over to the dark blue couch against the wall, not far from his bed. Laying down on it, he closed his eyes and entered the dream realm. After checking the dreams of foals for nightmares and finding none, he turned his attention to Twilight’s dream.

Entering it, he found himself on the balcony to her room, staring up. There, he saw a large cloud above her castle. Curious, he flew up to see what was going on. As he drew level with the cloud, he stopped and stared.

Curled up on cloud, sound asleep, was Twilight. He settled next to her and covered her with a wing. Careful to only wake her in the dream, he nuzzled her and smiled as she turned her face into his shoulder as she yawned and woke up.

“Good evening” he said softly, causing her to gasp and raise her head

She immediately pressed herself closer and nuzzled into his shoulder, letting out a happy sigh.

“Rough day?” he asked

“You have no idea.” She replied, her face still in his shoulder “It wasn’t difficult, just long and tedious.”

“What happened?” he asked, nuzzling her

She looked up at him “As soon as we got to Ponyville, we found a large group of ponies waiting to welcome us back. After the crowd dispersed, Spike went to open the library, the girls each went home to get to work, and I went to Town Hall. Mayor Mare had told me that she wanted to discuss what had happened in my absence. There was actually nothing wrong, she just wanted to know about the trial.”

She paused to snuggle closer and nuzzle him again before continuing. “After I was done talking to her, I decided to go check on the library. I found it packed. There was actually a line of ponies just trying to check out books while Spike was running around trying to help others find what they wanted to read. I began to check out the books and Spike kept helping ponies find what they needed. It stayed that busy all day.” She sighed “We weren’t even able to sit down until we went to Sugarcube Corner for dinner.”

She shook her head “The girls had all had similar days. Rarity, Applejack and Pinkie are swamped with orders for baked goods, cakes, parties, and clothes. Fluttershy has the rest of the month booked with ponies that want her to groom their animals or have her songbirds preform for them. Rainbow is already tasked with a major storm tomorrow.”

“After dinner, Spike and I went home. I’m not sure what he did, but I was so tired that I went right to bed.”

Artemis laughed “Wow, and I thought I had a busy night. I did wonder why the seven of you were all asleep so early.”

Twilight looked at him “What?”

He shook his head, still laughing “After raising the moon, I checked on the dream realm before dinner and found that all seven of you were already sound asleep. I didn’t have time to visit, so I made sure that none of you would have nightmares before heading to dinner and Night Court.”

She shifted to look at him. “How was your night? Is Night court over already?”

He nodded “My night was nowhere as busy as your day, but it was far busier than I was expecting.” He saw her confusion and tightened his wing around her before continuing. “Dinner went as it normally does. I ate with Celestia before she went to bed and I headed to court. With Blueblood and his conspirators imprisoned, I expected my court to be empty. That is not what I found.”

She gave him a questioning glance, causing him to smile.

“Ice Blossom was there with a few dozen ponies. They have decided to split the petitions between Day and Night courts. Tonight, there were two. The first was asking me to officially open a new astronomy building for the public in Canterlot next week.” He stopped as he saw the excited look on her face.

“That sounds fun! Is it OK if I come, too?” she asked

He stared at her for a moment before smiling and nuzzling her. “Of course. I’ll send the location and date details to Spike tomorrow.”

His breath caught as he saw her give him a bright smile before kissing him. “Thank you, I can’t wait!”

He smiled back at her before continuing. “The second petition was from one of the ponies that work in the Royal Archives, Rose Petal. Apparently, she found a couple of eight hundred year old star charts. She says that there have been a lot of fakes lately and she wants the two of us to try to discover if they are genuine.”

He stopped as Twilight frowned. “Twilight? What’s wrong?”

“I want to take a look at those.” She looked up at him, suddenly very serious. “When Tirek destroyed the Golden Oaks Library, he also destroyed my star charts. Celestia gave me permission to take the ones from the Royal Archives last month. She told me to make copies for my library before I return them. I’ve been rather busy lately, so I haven’t been able to copy all of them yet.”

She saw the look on his face and nodded. “I have all of the original star charts in my library’s restricted section and have told Spike not to allow anypony to check them out. Most ponies don’t even know that I have them. Either somepony’s stolen them from my library or the ones you have are fakes. I will check on them first thing in the morning and let you know if they are still in my library.”

He nodded “I have them in my room and plan to bring them with me when I come to Ponyville this weekend.”

After that, they just cuddled together for the rest of the night. A few hours later, Artemis raised his head. “It’s time for me to lower the moon.”

Twilight nodded “Wake me up too, please. I’m going to check the library and ask Spike if anyone has even looked at the star charts. I’m also going to try to finish copying them. If I can get them copied today, I’ll bring the originals back to Canterlot. Either way, I’ll let you know.”

He nodded but before he could light his horn, she kissed him and held it for a moment. “I love you”

He smiled and kissed her again “I love you, too” before lighting his horn and waking them both.

He stood and walked onto his balcony and lowered the moon and stars. Then he headed to the dining room for breakfast with Celestia.

In Ponyville

Twilight woke up and smiled. She stayed in bed for a moment and just stretched before getting up and heading to the library. In the hallway, she met Spike and asked him about the star charts.

“No Twi” he replied, confused “Nopony even knows that we have them, let alone has seen or asked to see them. Why do you ask?”

“Artemis came into my dream last night.” She replied “He told me that one of the Royal Archivists found a couple of star charts from eight hundred years ago and wants me and him to find out if it’s a fake.”

Spike stared at her “But we have all of them!”

“That’s the problem,” she replied “and today’s task. The library will have to remain closed. We will check on the star charts now, making sure that we still have them all, and write Artemis with what we find. After breakfast, we’re going to finish copying them. Then, I’m returning them to Canterlot today. Depending on what time we finish, I may spend the night.”

Spike nodded as they headed to the library’s restricted section. They found the star charts exactly where they left them and, thanks to Twilight’s inventory and organization skills, were able to quickly determine that all of them were present and accounted for. Twilight cast a barrier over the entire area, to make sure nopony could enter while they are gone before she and Spike headed to the kitchen. While Spike made fried haycakes, Twilight wrote a letter to Artemis telling him what she found and planned to do. She levitated it over to Spike and watched as he sent it to Artemis.

In Canterlot, Artemis and Celestia were almost finished eating breakfast.

He had told her about Night Court and the petitions. She was excited about the new astronomy building and confused about the star charts that Rose Petal found. She confirmed that Twilight had all of the originals in Ponyville but neither of them had told anyone other than Spike.

They both looked up as a bit of green fire flew in through the window and stopped in front of Artemis before turning into a scroll.

“Ah” Artemis said “This should be the letter from Twilight letting me know if she still has them.” He opened the scroll and read it before breathing out a sigh of relief.

“She has them all.” He confirmed “After breakfast, she and Spike plan to spend the day copying the remaining ones. If she is able to finish it today, she’ll bring the originals here.”

“Good” replied Celestia “Go get some sleep, Artemis. If she comes today, it will probably be around dinner.”

Artemis nodded and nuzzled Celestia “Have a good day, sister.”

He walked to his room and over to his desk. He opened his desk and pulled out the star charts again, taking a closer look at them. If these are fakes, they are good ones. It will be interesting to compare them with the ones that Twilight has. They may be duplicates. If they are, I wonder who made them and why. He put them back, locked his desk and placed a spell on it that only allows him to open it. Then he walked over to his bed, lay down and fell asleep, still needing the sleeping spell to do so.

In Ponyville, Twilight and Spike were hard at work copying the old star charts while the storm raged outside. It was slow going because many of them were very old and required special handling. It wasn’t until almost six-thirty in the evening that they finished. She packed the scrolls in a pair of saddlebags that had an enlarging spell placed on it while Spike wrote and sent a letter to Celestia telling her that they were done copying the charts and Twilight was on her way.

Twilight nodded to Spike “Send the scroll, please. Then let Mayor Mare know that I will likely be spending the night in Canterlot to deal with a clerical issue in the Royal Archives, but do not explain any further. If she asks for details, tell her that Celestia and I told you not to give any.”

He nodded and sent the scroll while he and Twilight walked out the Castle’s front doors. They found that the storm had past and the late afternoon sky was clear. They found the girls and Mayor Mare about to knock on the door. The girls and Mayor Mare paused as they saw Twilight’s saddlebags.

Twilight saw their expressions “Celestia and Artemis have asked me to go to Canterlot to help with an issue in the Royal Archives. It’s nothing serious, they just need my help. I’ll be spending at least tonight there because the issue was brought up in last night’s Night Court and I’ll likely be attending tonight’s.”

“Depending on how things go, I may be there for a few days. Spike is staying here and will be taking care of the library. If anything comes up, tell him and he’ll send a letter to Artemis or Celestia.”

The girls and Mayor Mare nodded

“See ya later, Twi.” Applejack told her

“Fly safely” added Fluttershy

Twilight smiled “I will. See you later.”

They watched as she spread her wings and took off towards Canterlot.

Rainbow smiled as she saw how quickly Twilight was flying. “Yes! Twi’s really getting fast at her flying now. I think that I’m going to continue working on her endurance and add maneuverability to her training.”

Not if Princess Celestia is right and Twilight’s pregnant. At least, not until after she gives birth. Spike thought before he turned to the girls. “Twi and I have been working in the library all day. We were gone for several days and got behind on a few things. I’m really tired, so I’m going to go to bed. I’ll see you all tomorrow.” He turned back to the castle and went inside, closing and locking the doors.

The girls nodded and decided to head to bed themselves. The only reason they were there was that they wanted to ask if Twilight wanted to join them for dinner. They were all a little disappointed that she couldn’t but they all knew that her Princess Duties come first.

In Canterlot, Celestia looked up as Artemis walked into the dining room, carrying the star charts in his magic. She cleared off a part of the dining room table and they both bent over them to get a closer look.

Before they could get a really good look, they both looked up as a swirl of green fire appeared in front of Celestia and turned into a scroll.

She opened and read it before she smiled. “Twilight finished copying the charts and is already on her way here.”

“Really?” Artemis asked “That was fast.”

Celestia laughed “Twilight has always been something of a workaholic. Once she sets her mind to a task, she doesn’t stop until she’s done. I give her thirty minutes before she gets here.”

Next Chapter: Chapter 35 Estimated time remaining: 30 Hours, 54 Minutes