Artemis woke to the gentle pull of the moon, telling him that the night was done and it was ready to be lowered in preparation for the day. He lifted his head, careful not to wake Twilight, and lit his horn. The moon slid below the horizon and the stars faded as his sister’s sun began to rise. His job done, he looked around to find that somepony had covered them with a blanket and there were now a pair of guards posted on his balcony. Surprisingly, one of these guards was the Captain of his Night Guard. He caught the attention of his captain and motioned him closer before asking what had happened last night, aside from the obvious.

The Captain of the Night Guard explained everything that had happened the night before as they both looked at the smaller form cuddled up to Prince Artemis’ side. Artemis quietly told the guards to go get some breakfast and assured them that he and Twilight would be alright for a while until the time they were supposed to meet Celestia for breakfast themselves. They nodded and obeyed their prince, bowing as they left.

Light from the rising sun had gone into Twilight’s eyes causing her to groan a little and turn her face into Artemis’ shoulder as she woke up. After a few moments, she woke up enough to notice that her pillow was warmer than normal and it had a gentle beat that was comforting to hear and feel as she fully woke up. I don’t know what kind of pillow this is, but I wish I could sleep on it every night. Yawning, she snuggled into it a bit more. That is, until she heard and felt a gentle voice saying “Good Morning”.

Not used to her pillows talking to her, she opened her eyes, and saw dark blue. Her head shot up and her face turned bright red as she realized what must have happened.

“Ohmygosh, I am so sorry!” she managed to squeak out. Stupid, stupid, stupid! I came here to help him and ended up using him as a pillow! “I didn’t mean to fall asleep on you, I promise!”

Artemis stared at her Last night was one of the best and calmest nights I’ve ever had and she thinks I’m upset? “Twilight Sparkle, look at me.”

Here it comes she thought as she did as he asked but was surprised to see that he was smiling. She was even more surprised when he nuzzled her. “Thank you, Twilight. I didn’t think I would be able to get to sleep at all last night. I would have spent the whole night drowning in self-pity and hatred if it weren’t for you.”

The only thing she could say was “Huh?”

He sighed, dropping his gaze to the floor “When you and the other Elements freed me 3 years ago, I vowed that I would never let myself be taken over by or turn into Night-Terror Knight again. Yet, here we are but 3 short years later and I made the same mistake and needed you to save me again.” He finally looked at her and she saw that there were tears in his eyes.

Meanwhile, the two Night Guards had just made it to the kitchens. There, they came across Princess Celestia. She was looking around as if she was waiting for someone or something. As soon as she saw them, she asked “Have you seen my brother? I am supposed to be eating breakfast with him and Twilight.”

The guards looked at each other before the captain replied “Prince Artemis woke up to lower the moon. Princess Twilight was still asleep when the prince sent us to get our breakfast. Would you like us to go see what is keeping them?”

Princess Celestia shook her head “I’ll go get my brother, you get some food.” She stood and left the room, heading for her brother’s chambers. She came to the door to his room and entered without bothering to knock. She saw her brother in tears and Twilight trying to calm him.

“There is another reason that my returning to a Nightmare state is a very bad thing.” Artemis managed to choke out “I know what Blueblood is really up to.”

Twilight walked over and stood in front of him, before rearing up to catch him in a tight hug. “What’s he up to this time?”

“He wants me to give into my anger and return to my Nightmare state because he plans to use it to force Celestia to . . . to” he began to shiver uncontrollably “He wants to force my sister to banish me to the moon again, permanently. He thinks that he will be allowed to take my place as Prince of Equestria. My guards found papers outlining his plan.”

Celestia’s mane and tail immediately went full on inferno as her rage threatened to overwhelm her. Before she could say a word, she saw Twilight swallow her own rage and double the strength of the hug she had wrapped Artemis in as well as nuzzle into his neck. None of them saw that Artemis’ guards had followed Celestia back and had heard what was just said. They both had looks of shock and fury plastered on their faces.

“Artemis,” Twilight started, before realizing that he was too terrified to hear her. She saw that her hugs and nuzzles no longer had any effect in calming him. Desperate times call for desperate measures. With that thought in mind, she raised his head and firmly kissed him straight on the lips. His eyes shot open as he realized what was going on before they slowly closed and he returned her kiss. The other ponies in the room smiled at the sight.

“Artemis,” Twilight repeated, once he was calm enough to listen “I won’t let that happen.”

“What can you do to stop it?” he asked miserably

“Plenty” Twilight immediately replied “You forget, your sister needed the Elements of Harmony to banish you. I am the bearer of the Element of Magic now and the other elements can do nothing without me. Even if they were willing to banish you, and I know for a fact that they are not. Whether you know it or not, you have a very powerful group of friends. The girls and I will do anything to keep you here.”

“More importantly, do you really think your sister will banish you again? She has told me numerous times that those 1000 years without you were sheer torture for her. I know that she will do anything to avoid repeating that. But we are not going to let it get that far. Have you told Celestia about Blueblood’s plan?”

He shook his head “I-“was all he got out before a voice interrupted him.

“He just did”

Everypony in the room turned at the voice to find an enraged Princess Celestia. She took several deep breaths and forced her anger down to a level that her mane and tail no longer roared with flames. “Artemis, my dear little brother, why did you not tell me about this sooner?”

Artemis shook his head again as he answered “At first, I thought the plan was utter nonsense, like everything else that comes out of that pony’s mouth. It wasn’t until this morning that I connected the dots, so to speak, and understood the full extent of his plan. He is not going to actually do anything himself, he just wants to push a few buttons, then sit back and watch.”

Celestia walked over to Artemis and Twilight and sat down so that she could envelop them both in her wings before she spoke. “Twilight is right. There is nothing that I will allow to separate us, after so long apart.”

Celestia suddenly got a very mischievous look on her face as she continued “Even if I were to go along with that pathetic excuse for a pony’s plan, which I won’t, Twilight brought up another good point. She is the one that controls the Elements of Harmony now, along with her friends. If she refuses to banish you, there is nothing I, or anypony else, can do about it.”

Celestia cocked her head to the side thoughtfully as she added “Besides, as she proved last night, she doesn’t need them to take care of your Nightmare form. She simply restrained him and asked him to ‘let you out’, as she put it. He actually acknowledged her power, listened to her and did as she asked.”

Artemis looked between his sister and Twilight with more tears coursing down his face. These tears, however, were ones of relief and happiness. They both immediately pulled him into another tight hug.

Celestia continued “Artemis, I want you to give me what you have detailing his plan and both you and Twilight are going to attend day court with me today. We are going to end this,” She retracted her wings and stood “but first, we are going to eat breakfast.”

Next Chapter: Chapter 6 Estimated time remaining: 36 Hours, 32 Minutes