Silver Shadow, Midnight Fang and Steel Night watched Twilight from across the room. They did not notice Artemis stand and walk over.

“Well,” Silver Shadow said thoughtfully “if our princess was protected like the Day Guards protect Princess Celestia, she wouldn’t have been able to save Prince Artemis a couple of weeks ago. In order to make sure she can function properly, we need to come up with a different approach to guarding her.”

Midnight Fang looked at his boss. “She just said that she will allow us to guard her as long as we don’t change the way we treat her. Why should we come up with a new approach?”

Steel Night nodded “I agree with Midnight, Sir. For now, I think the best thing we can do is stay with her. Any situation that comes up, can be dealt with as it arrives. We should also ask her before doing anything for her, except for guarding her. That way, she will feel a bit more in control.”

“Very Good”

The three guards jumped and turned to see Artemis standing there.

“That is exactly what she wants.” Artemis told them “I’m glad you understand. Midnight Fang and Steel Night, both of you are reassigned to protect Twilight when she is not with Celestia, Cadance, Shining Armor or myself, effective immediately. If she is with one of those I just named, protecting her will not be necessary. You both still take orders from Silver Shadow for Night Guard training and other matters. However, if you are actively guarding her, you follow her orders.”

“The two of you are part of half a dozen that I am assigning specifically to guard her. The others will be responsible for guarding her at night. However, the two of you will be with her during the day, no matter where she goes. She knows both of you, so I doubt she will object.” He paused, making sure he had their attention “I am trusting you with her safety when I can’t be there. Do not allow anything to harm her!”

They both nodded but, before they could respond, they saw her stand and head towards them.

Artemis smiled as Twilight joined them.

Midnight Fang looked at Artemis “My prince, if we are to protect Princess Twilight, we may be in Ponyville for extended periods of time. How will we receive our orders and what about living situations?”

Twilight smiled “I can answer both of those questions. For at least the next month or so, I’ll actually be here in Canterlot during the week and in Ponyville on the weekends, starting this weekend. As for a living situation when we are in Ponyville, you will be provided rooms in my castle. I will not make you find a place to stay in town. As for communication, there are three ways to do that. The first, and slowest, method is regular mail. The second is Spike, my assistant and the dragon who lives with me. He can send letters to, and receive letters from, Artemis. The third way is even more direct and probably the preferred method. I know a mail spell, so I can communicate with Artemis, sending and receiving the orders myself.”

She paused

“If any of you have families that you would like to come with you, let me know. There is plenty of room in my castle and I have no problem with some extra visitors. I will not separate ponies from their families because they are seeing to my safety.”

She looked at Steel Night “I’m not going to demand that you move your family, but I expect Cherry Blossom and Moonlight Shadow to visit.” She smiled as his eyes lit up and he nodded.

Before anything else could be said, Shining Armor walked up. “Before either of you goes anywhere, I’m testing you and putting you through a quick training exercise this weekend.” He looked at Artemis “It’s not that I don’t trust you, or how you train your guards, Artemis. It’s just that, they are going to be protecting my little sister. I want to know for myself, that they are well trained.”

Artemis nodded “I expected no less from you, Shining Armor. I will ensure that Twilight stays with me while in Ponyville, so you won’t have to worry for her safety. Besides, I’m certain that the girls will be spending a lot of time with us this weekend, especially once we tell them the news tomorrow. They are rather protective over her as well.”

“Good” Shining Armor said

In Ponyville, Spike and the girls were eating dinner in Sugarcube Corner. The conversation stopped when Spike burped up the letter from Celestia. He opened and read it two, then three, times. It was obvious to the girls that he was confused.

“Spike?” asked Applejack “What’s Princess Celestia say?”

“She’s sending a chariot to bring us to Canterlot tomorrow morning. It will be here at seven and we have to go, no exceptions. She doesn’t say why, just that there is nothing wrong and we will receive the explanation when we get there.”

“You’re right, that is strange” Rarity commented “Regardless, we should go to bed early tonight and meet in front of Twilight’s castle in the morning.”

The girls and Spike nodded and walked out of the bakery. Spike headed to Town Hall to tell Mayor Mare while the others went home to get some sleep.

In Canterlot, everypony had finished dinner. Most of the Royal Family were going to bed in rooms provided for them in the castle. Twilight and Artemis, however, were headed to the throne room for Night court, followed by a very happy Steel Night and Midnight Fang.

I can’t wait to tell Cherry Blossom the news. Steel Night thought with a smile. She is going to be so happy when she hears about this!

As they got closer, several voices could be heard coming from inside the room. Shaking his head, Artemis opened the door before he and Twilight walked into the room.

They were met with cheers.

Confused, Artemis and Twilight stopped for a moment before they walked to the throne and sat in front of it.

Artemis saw Mythic Blossom standing off to the side talking to Ice Blossom. As he looked at them, Mythic Blossom smiled at him.

He shook his head with a smile of his own, as he suddenly understood. “You told them about the events of last night and today, didn’t you, Mythic Blossom?” he asked

“Of course I did!” she replied “I know you said that you prefer to work in the background, your highness, but this kind of thing really needs to be told.”

Ice Blossom smiled “I agree, Prince Artemis. The citizens of Equestria need to know what you do to help and protect our foals.” She turned to Twilight “Is it true that you are going to be taking over the teaching of the foals in Fire Fly’s class, Princess Twilight?”

Twilight nodded “I will be teaching them during the month that Celestia is sending Fire Fly through a refresher course on how to deal with foals, starting Monday. What happens after that is up to Celestia and remains to be seen. However, this means that I will be on a day schedule and not present in Night Court very often.”

Mythic Blossom shook her head “I would far rather you teach my daughter than be here in court, princess. You are going to be affecting the future of those foals, and Equestria, by making sure that they are taught properly, even if you’re only doing it temporarily.”

She shook her head again, smiling “My daughter has been practically bouncing around the house in excitement, it was almost impossible to get her to go to sleep. She can’t wait for Monday.” She paused “I hope you can deal with hyper foals, princess.”

Twilight smirked “Have you met Pinkie Pie? She’s worse than any hyper foal.”

The entire throne room erupted with laughter.

Ice Blossom stepped forward as it calmed down. “Prince Artemis and Princess Twilight, there are no new petitions tonight. The ponies here all wanted to confirm what they had heard about the events of last night and today as well as the fact that you, princess, will be personally teaching our foals. We have done the latter. Now, I would like to ask about the former.”

She turned to Artemis “We have heard about the events of last night from Mythic Blossom, but are aware that there is much more to the story. Prince Artemis, can you please tell us about what our foals have been going through?”

Artemis did better than that. He lit his horn, created a large sphere of dark blue magic in the center of the room and replayed the events of the previous night.

He started with Marigold’s nightmare before moving on to those of her classmates. Artemis had to stop playing the memory as her nightmare came to an end because he heard Mythic Blossom gasp. “I tried asking about it her but she was too afraid to tell me. That’s what happened in her nightmare?!”

Artemis nodded “That’s why I brought you into her dream. There were several other foals also having nightmares, so I couldn’t stay with her but I didn’t want her to be alone.”

She couldn’t even say anything, so she just stared at him.

He played the rest of it, showing each foal’s nightmare, and ending with how he entered Celestia’s dream and informed her of his discovery, along with her reaction.

As the memory ended, everypony just stared at him for several minutes.

“Prince Artemis?” Ice Blossom asked, finally recovering “Why were you so tired at the end of the night? It looked like you were exhausted as you informed Princess Celestia. She actually had to catch you before you fell over at the end of it.”

“I was exhausted” replied Artemis “Moving through the dream realm requires magic, but I’ve been doing that for centuries so I’m used to it. However, affecting dreams, or merging them, requires far more. After over a dozen nightmares where I was required to intervene in such a forceful manner, I was nearly out of magic by the end of the night. I knew that I was going to need to sleep for much of the day, but decided that my sister had to be informed immediately. That is why I entered her dream.”

“Wow” Ice Blossom said, looking up at him “This is not just a problem in the dream realm. All of those foals were having nightmares because of events going on in the waking world. If you weren’t taking care of our foals as they sleep, it is quite possible that this entire situation would have never been discovered and we wouldn’t have known why the foals are afraid to go to school.”

Mythic Blossom shook her head “You call your dream walking “working in the background”, Prince Artemis? I certainly don’t.”

Artemis shrugged “Compared to the work that my sister does, it is in the background. Most ponies don’t even know that I do it.”

Ice Blossom was about to respond before she saw that many ponies were beginning to yawn. “I think it’s time to call it a night. Prince Artemis, Princess Twilight, have a good day.”

Twilight nodded and stood “One last thing. Tonight, Artemis and I will be making an important announcement. We can’t tell you about it now, but I would like you to be here tonight.”

Ice Blossom nodded “Of course, princess. We’ll see you tonight.”

Everypony filed out of the throne room.

Artemis, Twilight, Steel Night and Midnight Fang headed to Artemis’ tower.

Once inside Artemis’ room, Artemis and Twilight walked over to the bed, lay down and cuddled together. Twilight was tired from the stress and the length of her day. As a result, she fell asleep almost immediately, snuggled close to his side.

Artemis, however, did not. As he looked at her, he finally allowed himself to reflect on what she had revealed before dinner. He moved a hoof gently over Twilight’s stomach, causing her to stretch a little and let out a soft sigh. S-she’s really carrying my foal, isn’t she?

The more he thought about it, the more nervous he became. Trying to calm himself, he decided to enter the dream realm a little early tonight. In the dream realm, he did find a few foals that were having nightmares. However, these were the usual nightmares. A couple of small foals were afraid of the dark and one young colt was dreaming that he’d have to go through his entire life with no Cutie Mark. Artemis did what he could for each foal before giving them happier dreams.

He opened his eyes, chuckling lightly. He had paid special attention to the students in Fire Fly’s class and found that many of them were having dreams about Twilight teaching them.

Knowing he had to be up for at least part of Day Court, he pulled Twilight close and closed his eyes.

Opening his eyes, he saw that he had not actually fallen asleep, but was in the dream realm again. Looking around, he saw Twilight curled up on the ground a few feet away. Walking over, he saw that she was asleep. Not wanting to wake her, he lay down and curled himself around her.

There was a flash of magic, causing Artemis to look up. He saw Night standing in front of him but, before he could say anything, Night lay down and looked at him.

“What’s wrong, Artemis?” Night asked, speaking quietly, trying not to wake Twilight

Artemis shook his head

“Don’t tell me that it’s nothing. You seem to have forgotten that I know you as well as you know yourself, sometimes better.” He paused, looking at Twilight “You are worried about Twilight’s pregnancy.”

Artemis sighed and nodded, nuzzling her gently “How can I not? There are several reasons for me to be worried.”

“Such as?”

“We’ve only been courting for two weeks. This is way too fast, even by modern standards. Our families may have accepted this,” he paused and chuckled softly “hay, they’re actually happy about it! The rest of Equestria probably won’t be as happy or accepting.”

He sobered “Then there is what happened two weeks ago. A pony tried to, and nearly did, kill me. As soon as they find out that she is carrying my foal, she may be their next target.” He glanced up at Night “There are other reasons, but those two are the main ones.”

“Given the reaction that the citizens have had to the two of you over the last couple of weeks, I don’t think the first one will be a problem. Yes, the two of you have moved a bit faster than anyone, other than Celestia, may have liked. However, I believe that most of Equestria will be very happy about the announcement tomorrow.” He looked at Artemis

“As for anyone attacking Twilight, she has enough ponies guarding her that there shouldn’t be much to worry about.” He shook his head “Besides, if anyone is foolish enough to attempt to harm her . . . How do you think Celestia, Cadance, Shining Armor, and the other Elements Bearers will react? That’s not even including what you and I will do about it. Earlier, I said that I will help protect her and I meant it.”

“More importantly, she is obviously nervous herself and will be looking to you for comfort. You must be there as a source of strength for her.” He paused, looking at them both. “You will likely be having a big day and night. Get some sleep, Artemis.”

Artemis reluctantly nodded and closed his eyes. Within a minute, he was asleep.

Night looked at them for a moment before suddenly sensing somepony else’s presence. Lighting his horn, he put a quick barrier over Artemis and Twilight. That done, he looked around for a couple of minutes before Celestia stepped out of the shadows nearby. Sighing in relief, Night let his magic, and the barrier, fade and waited to see what she wanted. I know Artemis and myself are the only two with the dream walking ability. Clearly, Celestia has developed a spell that does something similar. I wonder why she’s here. He was torn from his thoughts as he heard Celestia speaking softly.

“I thought he would be nervous tonight and it seems I was right. I’m glad I saw this, it calms my nerves a little about Night’s presence in my brother.” She said quietly, not knowing he could hear her. She shook her head “Artemis once said that Night was acting like a protective older brother now. At the time, I thought that was a bit of a stretch but this seems to confirm it. Still, it will be awhile before I feel comfortable enough to talk to Night myself.” She glanced up to see Night watching her and nodded to him before vanishing.

Night just stared at the space Celestia had occupied for a long moment. Well, that was unusual. I don’t think I’m going to tell Artemis about this, though. He’s finally reconnecting with his sister and I don’t want to jeopardize that by making him suspicious.

Artemis woke to the pull of the moon and lit his horn, lowering it and the stars. He then looked down at Twilight and decided to wake her a little early so that they could take a bath.

He nuzzled her and smiled as she turned her face into his shoulder. He heard her mumble something and leaned closer.

“Five more minutes, Mom.”

He stared at her for a moment before he burst out laughing.

Twilight lifted her head to see Artemis laughing rather hard. She was about to ask before she realized what she had just said and turned bright red.

He nuzzled her again, still laughing “Twilight, this time next year, our foal may be saying that to you.”

She stared at him as two of those words echoed in her head. Our foal. That’s right, I’m pregnant. And Celestia wants to make the announcement to Equestria today. She shuddered and cuddled close to Artemis.

He noticed this and pulled her into a hug. You were right, Night, she is nervous.

I knew she would be. He replied. Now go take care of your mare.

Artemis nodded “Come on, Twilight, let’s take a bath. I think that will calm us both. Then, we can go eat breakfast.”

Twilight nodded “A bath sounds nice, but I’m too nervous to eat.”

Artemis looked at her I’m not letting her skip meals. “Maybe the bath will calm you.” He said, before he suddenly laughed, causing her to look up at him. “Besides, I don’t even want to think about what Celestia, Cadance and Shining Armor will do if they find you not eating.”

Twilight stared at him for a moment before laughing as well. “If I know Cadance, she’ll try to feed me.” She shook her head, still laughing “No thanks, I’ll eat on my own.”

He nodded Good, I’m glad that worked.

They both stood and walked into the bathroom to take a quick bath. Roughly twenty minutes later, they walked out and into the hall.

Midnight Fang and Steel Night looked up “Good Morning, Prince Artemis and Princess Twilight.”

“Good morning” They both replied as they walked towards the dining room.

In the dining room, Twilight was surprised to find her parents, Celestia, Shining Armor and Cadance. Also present were Spike, Mayor Mare and the girls.

As they walked in, Celestia looked up, just finishing the explanation of what had happened with Fire Fly and the foals and what she planned to do about it.

Mayor Mare smiled at Twilight “Good morning, Princess Twilight. I think it is a good idea for you to be the one teaching those foals, I know you will do a good job. I will make the necessary preparations in Ponyville. You’re right, as long as you are able to be in Ponyville on the weekends, everything will be fine. I’ll move our meetings to Saturday afternoons and will inform you of the events of each week.”

Twilight smiled and nodded “Thank you”

Then, she looked at Celestia, Cadance, Shining Armor and her parents. They all shook their heads. “No, Twilight,” Celestia said “we did not tell them the big news. I know you want to tell them yourself.” She paused and laughed “However, if you don’t tell them soon, I think Cadance may spill the beans.”

Twilight looked at Cadance to find her giggling giddily.

Twilight took a deep breath and turned to the girls, Mayor Mare and Spike. “I went to the doctor yesterday afternoon because I haven’t been feeling well for the last couple of days.” She paused, making sure that the girls, Mayor Mare and Spike were all looking at her. “I’m pregnant.”

“We are making the announcement in Day Court after breakfast. The reason Celestia insisted that all of you come here this morning is that I wanted to let you know before we tell the rest of Equestria and I wanted to tell you myself.” She continued before she held her breath, waiting for their reaction.

There was a moment of silence before, suddenly, Twilight found herself at the bottom of a pony pile. The girls and Spike had tackled her in a group hug. They were all squealing in delight and laughing.

As they finally allowed Twilight to stand, Spike hopped onto her back and gave her another hug. “When am I getting my new little brother or sister?”

Twilight laughed and nuzzled him “I just found out yesterday, Spike. Probably between ten and a half and eleven months.”

Rarity squealed again “I’m going to start on the blankets and clothes as soon as I get back! Ten months is barely enough time to make everything!”

Applejack grinned “You’re both coming to Ponyville tomorrow, right?” she waited for Twilight to nod “You’ll have some apple fritters and apple pie waiting for you. Ah’m going to make sure that you’re well fed, Twi.”

Rainbow smiled “I’m going to talk to the doctor in Cloudsdale for flight exercises for pregnant mares and change your training routine, Twi. We still need to make sure you get enough exercise.”

Pinkie bounced in place “Baby Party Tomorrow Night! There will be a special menu for you, Twilight, that’s low on sugar. I’ll even make you some special cookies!”

Fluttershy smiled “I’m going to train my songbirds to sing for you to help you calm down on the weekends. Teaching can be a stressful job and you need to be as stress free as possible.”

Mayor Mare smiled “Congratulations, Princess Twilight! I assume that Prince Artemis is the father?” She paused until she saw Artemis nod “Congratulations, Prince Artemis! The citizens of Ponyville are going to be so happy to hear this!”

Artemis and Twilight glanced at each other before Rarity spoke up. “I know you are going to say something about the short period of time that you have been dating but, frankly Darlings, we don’t care. We are so happy for you both!”

Celestia looked at the clock before gesturing for Apple Crunch to come in with breakfast for Artemis and Twilight. After they both finished eating, everypony stood and walked to the throne room.

As usual, the throne room was packed.

Celestia, Artemis, Twilight and Cadance walked up to the throne. Celestia sat in front of it with Cadance on one side and Twilight on the other, with Artemis sitting on Twilight’s other side. Shining Armor, Twilight Velvet, Night Light, Mayor Mare, Applejack, Fluttershy, Pinkie, Rarity, Rainbow and Spike stood not far off to the side. In front of the four Alicorns, stood four guards. Two Day Guards on one side, Midnight Fang and Steel Night on the other.

The ponies present stared in surprise, not expecting to see all four Alicorns present and holding a joint court. They knew something special must be going on.

With so many ponies present, nopony noticed that one of them was glaring at Artemis and Twilight. They won’t like my petition, but it is crucial that it is accepted. The unicorn mare thought. This is for the safety of Equestria.

Celestia cleared her throat, catching the attention of the ponies in the room. “I’m sure you are wondering why the four of us are all present today.”

Everypony nodded

Celestia smiled “There are two announcements that we need to make.”

Arctic Breeze stepped forward “Princess Celestia, does one of them have to do with what Prince Artemis discovered about the way that a teacher, Fire Fly, has been teaching our foals?”

Celestia looked at him “Yes. However, before I explain further, there is something I need to take care of.”

Celestia looked at Fire Fly. “Fire Fly, you were asked to bring your lesson plans to court today. Do you have them?”

Fire Fly nodded and stepped forward, opening a pair of saddlebags and pulling out a thick stack of paper. Sapphire Wing stepped forward and took the plans before giving them to Celestia. She set them on the throne behind her. “Thank you, this will help make sure that the education of your students stays on track.”

“Princess Celestia?” Arctic Breeze asked, gaining everypony’s attention “What has happened to our foals?”

Artemis cleared his throat “It may be best if I explain the situation.”

Arctic Breeze nodded and turned to him, waiting for him to continue.

“As Prince of the Night, one of my abilities, aside from taking care of the moon and night sky, is dream walking. I can enter the dreams of sleeping ponies and affect them. However, I only do this when ponies are having nightmares and, except for Twilight and my sister, only enter the dreams of foals.”

“When an adult has a problem and needs help, they come to my sister’s court. However, foals can’t do that. Instead, they receive help from me in their dreams. I stop any nightmares that they may have and help them work on the fears that cause them to have the nightmares in the first place.”

“Two nights ago, I found that several foals, over a dozen, were all having severe nightmares. These foals all had two things in common. First, all of them are students in Fire Fly’s class. Second, each of them was dreaming of being attacked by creatures that live in the Everfree Forest. The reason for these nightmares, I soon discovered, was that their teacher has been telling them stories about what it would be like if they were attacked by these creatures.”

There was a collective gasp from everyone in the room.

“For each foal, I stopped the nightmare, changed their dream to something more pleasant and brought one of their parents into their dream for the rest of the night.” He paused “The education of foals, as you know, falls under my sister’s guidance. Naturally, my next move was to inform her of the situation.”

Celestia nodded and continued the explanation. “I had my guards bring Fire Fly, his students, and their parents to the castle yesterday afternoon and talked to him about this myself. I believe that he is in need of, not punishment, but further training. As such, I am sending him for a month of training on the proper way to deal with foals.”

Arctic Breeze stared “Incredible. Your highnesses, I am very glad that this was discovered. Thank you for taking such good care of our foals, Prince Artemis.”

The rest of the ponies present, except for that one mare, quickly agreed.

Arctic Breeze tilted his head thoughtfully “Your highnesses, I do have one question. If you are sending Fire Fly to further training, who will be teaching our foals?”

Twilight turned to him “Celestia has asked me to temporarily move back to Canterlot for the month that Fire Fly will be gone. I will be teaching the foals, here in the castle, starting Monday.”

Everypony in the room, except the unicorn mare, cheered and stomped their hooves in approval of that announcement.

Arctic Breeze smiled at her “I am glad to hear that, Princess Twilight.”

Arctic Breeze turned to Celestia “I understand that there is one more announcement that you wish to make, Princess Celestia. However, one of the ponies present has come with a petition that she claims is both urgent and for the safety of Equestria, so it actually works out well that all four of you are here right now. Is it alright if she presents it to the court before the second announcement?”

Celestia nodded, curious and concerned, and watched as a unicorn mare stepped forward. Something about this mare is familiar. “I was unaware on anything urgent, other than what was mentioned earlier in court. What is your name?”

“My name is Dahlia, princess.”

That name set off alarm bells for Celestia. “I’ve heard your name before. If I recall correctly, you are the wife of Marble Bolt, one of Blueblood’s conspirators.”

“That is correct, Princess Celestia. You have imprisoned my husband, simply because he was trying to keep Equestria safe.” She glared a Twilight and Artemis “I recently went to visit my husband and Prince Blueblood in the Royal Dungeons. We have come up with a petition that we believe is a compromise.” She pulled out a scroll and read from it. “We will allow Prince Artemis to remain in Equestria and in his role as Prince of Equestria, but only on two conditions. The first, is that Princess Twilight must remain close to him. She has already proven that she can subdue his Nightmare form if he loses control. The second is that he is not allowed to reproduce. We can’t risk his Nightmare form being passed along to a foal that cannot control it.”

She stopped as she saw that all four Alicorns were now standing and glaring at her. However, it was Twilight that responded.

“This petition is denied, for many reasons. I have no problem with the first condition. However, as far as the second is concerned, you are too late.”

She looked around at everypony in the throne room. “The second announcement that Celestia spoke of is this: I am pregnant.”

Before anyone could respond, Artemis spoke up. “The foal she is carrying is mine.”

A sudden shout caused everyone to turn their attention back to Dahlia. “I will not allow the Nightmare to be passed onto another generation!”

With surprising speed, she lit her horn and launched an attack directly at, not Artemis, but Twilight.

Next Chapter: Chapter 38 Estimated time remaining: 29 Hours, 53 Minutes