All Hail The Empress

“Sky Blazer, please listen!” pleaded Artemis to the Pegasus mare that was in front of her. Sky Blazer looked a lot like her son, only her purple mane was much longer. Unlike her son, she had a Cutie Mark, a dark gray blob resembling a puff of smoke to show her talent of sneaking into places undetected.

“Absolutely not!” shouted Sky Blazer, snorting as she did, “I will go along, even though I would rather not, but Wild Blitz is absolutely not going!”

“Listen, I know you’re worried about him. But you’ll be there to make sure he’s safe! So will Sapphire, her husband, and myself!”

“I don’t care! I wouldn’t let him go along if every single pony here went with!” retorted Sky Blazer, motioning towards the camp outside of the tent with her hoof.

“Sky Blazer, he wants to go along so he can help!” stated Artemis, who was becoming increasingly frustrated, “Why would you deny him that?!”

“Because…because I’m afraid I’ll lose him too!” admitted Sky Blazer, tears forming in her eyes, “He’s my only child. And I don’t want to lose him. Losing Divine Bolt was hard enough, but if I lost him.”

“I-I’m sorry,” said Artemis, “I had no idea. Growing up without a mother sort of deprived me of the whole maternal instinct experience. He doesn’t have to come along if you don’t want him to. In fact, if you want I can go talk to him myself about it.”

“I say he should go,” said a voice outside of the tent. The flap to it opened, and elderly Pegasus shuffled in. She had the same color coat as Sky Blazer, but her mane was curled and had turned white with age. Her wings were much smaller than either Artemis’s or Sky Blazer’s, a handicap as far as Pegasi were concerned. The elderly mare’s Cutie Mark was a red wheel surrounded by a dark orange fire.

“Mom, do you know what you’re saying?!” questioned Sky Blazer, staring at her mother as though she were crazy, “This is your only grandson we’re talking about!”

“I know full well what I’m saying,” answered Sky Blazer’s mother, “Even if he hasn’t come right out and said it, Wild Blitz, as well as his little friend Ruby, wants to go out and discover who he is. To find out what he’s best at. To be honest, he reminds me of myself around his age. My two best friends and I went and did a lot of crazy stuff trying to earn our Cutie Marks and discover who we are. But that was back before the Royal Pain took over Equestria. Did I ever tell you what led up to-?”

“Yes, you have mom. Quite a few times, in fact,” interrupted Sky Blazer, knowing that her mother was prone to telling stories when she was thinking of her friends, even if they weren’t related to the story itself, “But…you’re right. I guess I just have to accept that he’s doing his own thing now.”

“It’s something every parent has to go through,” noted Sky Blazer’s mother, receiving a sigh from her daughter, “But don’t worry. He still needs you very much. You still come to me whenever you need help, and you’re a grown mare.”

“Heh. That’s true,” said the younger Pegasus before turning towards the Princess, “Princess Artemis, both Wild Blitz and myself shall accompany you.”

“I’m glad to have you on board with this,” replied the Alicorn, smiling at both of the Pegasi, “And, thank you for your input, Scootaloo.”

“Any time you need it, Princess,” answered Scootaloo, returning the smile. She left the tent without a word.

“I’ll go and get Wild Blitz so we can pack,” said Sky Blaze once her mother was gone, “Early tomorrow morning, right?”

“That’s correct. I would make sure that both Wild Blitz and yourself take it easy today and get a good night’s sleep,” advised Artemis, “It’s quite the trek from here to the first place we need to go. And we have no idea where we’re going to after that.”

“Unless we happen to run into each other later in today, I guess I will see you tomorrow morning,” said Sky Blazer as she opened the flap to Artemis’s tent.

“See you tomorrow,” replied Artemis as she waved farewell to the Pegasus, who promptly walked out. After a minute or so, the Alicorn sighed, “That could have definitely started out better, but at least Scootaloo was able to do what I couldn’t. I suppose I should ask him if he’d be willing to advise Emerald and Elusive as he does me.”

Artemis opened the flap to her tent and looked around the camp. Ponies of the three main races were busy attending to various tasks both inside and outside of what amounted to a tent city. To the north of the camp lied the long neglected and decaying ruins of the Castle of the Royal Pony Sisters, the original home of Celestia and Luna, the Princesses who had ruled Equestria prior to the overthrow by the Empress. The Princess walked out and began to walk towards a tent that was the largest of the ones in the camp, dwarfing even hers. The ponies that saw her stopped what they were doing and bowed, much to the dislike of Artemis, who had always disliked the special treatment her lineage gave her. She stopped once she had reached the tent.

“It’s Artemis. May I come in?”

“Hm?” replied the inhabitant of the tent, “Oh, of course you can!” The Alicorn opened the flap to the tent and stepped in. Lying on a bed of hay inside was a somewhat large, purple Dragon with green spikes on his back and a light green underbelly. He sat up when Artemis entered, though he did not bow because he knew of her dislike for it.

“Morning, Spike,” greeted Artemis with a smile, eliciting a smile from the Dragon, “Listen, I have a favor I need from you.”

“I’d be happy to help, Artemis,” stated Spike, “What do you need?”

“Well, you see a group of us, myself included, will be leaving in the morning to go on a small ‘quest’ if you will,” began the Princess.

“Don’t worry, I know all about that. Ruby couldn’t wait to tell her grandpa all about it,” stated the Dragon, which came as no real surprise to Artemis.

“In that case, Emerald and, hopefully, Elusive will be making sure things are running here in the camp while we’re gone,” explained the Alicorn, “I was hoping you’d be willing to advise them if they need it.”

“You don’t really need to worry about that,” assured Spike, “I would hope they would come to their dad if they needed help, but I will definitely make it a point to give them some advice every now and then until you get back.”

“Thanks, Spike. I really do appreciate it,” said Artemis, “And, I know I’ve made this known before, thank you for your continued advice to me.”

“And I’ve also made this known before, but thank you for helping me keep going after she passed away,” said Spike, a tear forming in his eye as he remembered his wife, who had died of natural causes several years earlier.

“You’re welcome, my friend,” stated the Princess before turning to leave the tent.

“Oh, and Artemis?”

“Yes, Spike?”

“Keep my daughter and granddaughter safe.”

“You have my word that nothing will happen to them so long as I am there,” promised Artemis before leaving. That exchange done, the Princess began to walk towards her tent. She silently walked past the ponies who bowed down. They just don’t understand how much I hate it when they do that!

“Excuse me, Artemis?” asked a pony that looked exactly like Sapphire except the various shades of blue were various shades of green. She was also a bit shorter than Sapphire.

“Huh?” said Artemis, who had failed to notice her because she was thinking, “Oh, Emerald! What do you need?”

“I just wanted to let you know personally that I am more than willing to make sure everything is orderly here,” replied the Dragon Unicorn, “And so will that hoof for brains brother of mine even if I have to drag him along everywhere I go.”

“You have no idea how much I appreciate this,” said Artemis with a smile, amused by the sibling rivalry that she’d seen for years, “Make sure to let your ‘hoof for brains’ brother know that as well.”

“Haha, I will,” laughed Emerald, “And don’t let my sister get in your way too much!”

“Don’t worry, I won’t,” replied Artemis before bidding farewell to Emerald and walking towards her tent. She entered and picked up a saddlebag that was on the ground near her sleeping bag with her magic, the aura of which was a light blue. The saddlebag’s clips were a dark blue shield with a pink, six pointed star in the middle and three small, light blue ones at the points on the top of the shield, “Well, I suppose I should start packing for tomorrow. Although, there isn’t a whole lot aside from the necessities to take along.”