Upon his arrival in Twilight’s dream, Artemis looked around and almost fell over in shock. He shook his head and thought This is going to be a night of surprises, it seems.

He found himself on a hill outside Ponyville, looking up at the night sky. He realized that this was the meteor shower he put on the week before. He saw that this was an ideal spot for watching his night sky. He was about to begin searching for Twilight when he heard voices.

Turning towards them, he found himself staring at what must have been most of the population of Ponyville. They were all staring up at the show and each of them was commenting on how pretty the sky was. Off to the side, he saw Twilight standing with the other bearers of the Elements of Harmony and their families. A smile came to his face as he saw that Applejack, Rarity and Rainbow Dash each had a young filly on their back. Pinkie Pie was carrying two small foals on her back, a Pegasus colt and a unicorn filly. Fluttershy had a small bunny on hers and Twilight, herself, was carrying Spike. In this way, even the youngest or smallest of them got a good view of the show.

There was something soothing about the scene in front of him and he found himself calming down. He decided to join them in observing the meteor shower before speaking to Twilight. After a while, the shower ended and ponies started to head to their homes. The dream shifted and Artemis saw Twilight putting Spike to bed and tucking him in. After that, she went out onto her balcony and sat down.

“Aren’t you going to join me?” asked Twilight, without bothering to turn her gaze from the stars.

Stunned by the question, it took him a moment to answer. “You knew I was here?”

“You weren’t very discreet in your entrance or maybe I’m a little sensitive to your magic after tonight. Take your pick. Either way, please join me.”

“You aren’t angry?” he asked as he made his way over to sit next to her.

She cocked her head “Why would I be?”

His ears pinned back as he said “I entered your dream without your permission. Not to mention that I lost control of myself earlier tonight. If you had not come when you did, I don’t even want to think about what may have happened.”

“We’re friends, right? You can come in whenever you want. I mean, we don’t get to see each other very often. If you ever need someone to talk to at night, come on in for a visit.” She shrugged “As for the rest, you already told me and Celestia what happened. While you really shouldn’t let Blueblood get to you like that, I know he has a way of getting to under your skin.”

“But . . . “Artemis stopped as he suddenly found a lavender hoof on his muzzle.

“Stop” Twilight said “If you really want to, we can talk about it later, when we’re both awake. For now, let’s just relax.”

There wasn’t much he could say with his muzzle blocked by her hoof, so he just nodded. They spent the rest of the night relaxing under his night sky and enjoying each other’s company.

After following the orders issued by Princess Twilight and personally seeing to it that everypony from the throne room had left the castle, the Captain of the Night Guard was heading towards the personal chambers of Prince Artemis to inform him of his actions. I’ve heard tales of her power but I never thought she could stand up to Night-Terror Knight by herself. She didn’t even need the Elements of Harmony to stop him! The Night Guard Captain was broken from his thoughts by a shout. He turned to see one of the ponies in the Night Guard galloping towards him. “What’s wrong?” he asked.

“Captain!” the guard gasped out as he skidded to a stop before him “We have a problem!”

“Well, tell me already!” the Captain demanded

“Yes, Sir”, the guard replied “I went to inform Princess Twilight Sparkle that a room had been prepared for her, but she is nowhere to be found.”

“How could you lose one of the Princesses?!” the Captain shouted “Have you checked the library?”

“Twice”

“Dining Room?”

“Yes, the cooks said that she was there for a while with Princess Celestia and Prince Artemis before they went their separate ways after their meal”

“Her old tower? The observatory? The rest of the castle?”

“Yes, yes, and we’re going over likely places a second time.”

“Damn it!”

“Should we wake Princess Celestia?”

“Not yet, you are coming with me while I inform Prince Artemis.”

The Guard shuddered “Y-yes sir”

By this time, they had arrived at the door to the personal chambers of the Prince of the Night. The Captain knocked on the large door, emblazoned with a replica of the Prince’s cutie mark. Surprisingly, they got no response. After a couple more knocks with no response, they got worried. Exchanging a glance, they pushed open the door and entered the room only to find it empty.

He was getting really worried, when the captain suddenly heard a whispered “Sir? Over here.”

Wondering why the guard was whispering, the captain walked over to the door to the Prince’s balcony . . . and stopped with a smile. There, on the balcony, were Prince Artemis and Princess Twilight Sparkle. They were both asleep. Princess Twilight was cuddled under Prince Artemis’ wing with her head on his shoulder. The Prince had his head resting on his forehooves with a calm and content look on his face. It was clear to the captain that Princess Twilight had gone out of her way to try to make Prince Artemis feel better, or at least help him calm down, before succumbing to her exhaustion. Thank you, Princess he thought, with a bow. Raising his head, he smiled “I think we found Princess Twilight.”

The captain started to turn back into the room, when he noticed that both the Prince and Princess were shivering slightly. Not too surprising, he thought it is rather cold tonight. And it is supposed to get colder. He went over to the closet in the Prince’s room and got a blanket. Turning to the guard, he whispered “They might wake if we try to move them. Help me cover them, instead.” The guard nodded and grabbed half of the blanket as they walked over to the sleeping royalty.

Once done, they went back to the door to the Prince’s room and the captain gave his orders. “Go cancel the search for Princess Twilight. Then return here. We will guard them until they wake.”

The guard nodded and left, quietly saying “I’ll be right back” as he did.

Next Chapter: Chapter 5 Estimated time remaining: 36 Hours, 38 Minutes