Ok. Before anyone harps on me about starting a new story before finishing the others, this one is just going to be a short little snippet sort of thing. Maybe three or more chapters, I dunno... Um... Summary.
Ten years have passed since the defeat of Tirek, and Twilight and her friends have decided it's time to settle down and think of their futures. Granted, they're all very well known, now, as the Bearers of the Elements of Harmony and as the Heroines of Equestria. But that can't be their legacy. Follow the misadventures of the children of Equestria's greatest heroes, and all the hardships, laughs, and other stuff in between. Rated M, or T, depending on language, frequency of lemons, and... well, you probably get the gist of it. Pairings will be determined by a pre-determined paring list as drawn up by kilala97 over on Deviant Art. I hope you all enjoy reading it, cause I sure as hell will enjoy writing it.
Chapter 1: Artemis Meets The Kirin.
I'm not much one for story tellin', to be honest. But I do know this. The day I met Crystal Clarity was the strangest day of my life. Name's Artemis, by the way, Artemis Sparkle. I know, I know, a young pup of a wolf named after one of the Heroines of Equestria? Who might he possibly be? Well, I'll tell you. I'm the oldest child of Princess Twilight Sparkle and her Captain of the Guard, Knight Shadow. Sure, we easily could have named me after my dad, then I'd be Artemis Shadow, but when my Warriors Cutie Mark appeared, we knew I was a Sparkle. In fact, the day it appeared was the day my little sister Melody was born and the day we learned I could do Unicorn magic. I don't have a horn or anything like that, but I have wings and a crystal in the middle of my forehead. I suppose the crystal marks me as an Alicorn, so I'm a Wolf Alicorn, or a Wolficorn, as I like to call myself. Anyways, the day I met Crystal Clarity was strange. I didn't develop a crush on her or anything like that. She was about two years younger than me, and she and her folks had just moved back to Ponyville. Don't get me wrong, seeing Aunt Rarity and Spike again was great, but when Spike introduced me to their daughter and I saw her horns and claws, well... let's just say I was a little rude.
Sure, she laughed about it, and so did Spike, but looking back I was rude. Ya know what... instead of me trying to tell you what happened and probably botching the whole process, how about I just show you. Let me just get this gauntlet of mine working and... yes!
"Hey Knight, Twilight, long time no see." Spike said as he walked into the castle. Knight was standing in his usual place near one of the windows and Twilight was, as usual, pouring over a book. Rarity was, of course, with her husband as they walked into the castle, her belly heavy with another child. Twilight looked up at her two long time friends, Knight only raising a hand in greeting as he stared out over Ponyville.
"Twilight, darling, I heard the news. I'm happy to see you two are still talking and still friends, but it saddens me to know you aren't together anymore. You were such a great couple." Rarity said as Twilight put the book down and revealed a little filly nestled under her wing. "Oh my, Twilight. That little one isn't Knight's, is she?"
"No, though he treats her like she is. This is Starburst, Flash's daughter. And this little one here is her twin sister, Radiance." Twilight said, turning just slightly to reveal a little unicorn Filly tucked under her other wing.
"They're adorable Twilight. How are Artemis and Melody taking having little sisters around?"
"They're taking it good, if they'd ever settle down long enough to spend time with their sisters. Artemis has become one of the more popular boys at school and Melody can't keep the boys from fawning over her. It's pretty cute actually." Twilight giggled a little as the aforementioned children came rushing into the room, Artemis holding a stick with a Star Spider dangling from the end and Melody running for dear life to get away from the creepy crawly. As soon as she saw Spike, she did what she'd always done and rushed to him, dive bombing under his wing. Spike chuckled as Artemis slid to a stop, the stick forgotten about five feet away and the Star Spider crawling away.
"Hello Spike. Aunt Rarity. It's been too long." He said, smiling as he hugged his aunt, sitting back on his haunches to wrap his forelegs around her. Rarity returned the embrace then smiled and held him back.
"You look just like your father, Artemis. Remind me to redesign your wardrobe the next you come to visit us in the Boutique. And Melody, darling you look absolutely gorgeous. You take after your mother in smarts and your father in looks, that much is clear." Rarity said as Melody extracted herself from under Spike's wing. As soon as her hooves hit the floor, she stopped. Standing next to Spike, hiding behind his leg, was a little filly with claws and horns. "Oh, yes, of course. Crystal Clarity, please come out and meet the prince and princess, they won't hurt you dear." Rarity said and the little filly timidly stepped out from behind Spike's leg. As she revealed herself, Artemis' ears shot up and he padded towards her. When he was within range, he stuck his nose in her face and stared at her, looking her over in mere seconds.
"You... are horny..." He said and the ensuing guffaw from Spike had Clarity giggling and Rarity blushing. Knight choked back a laugh and Twilight covered her own mouth as a fit of giggles overtook her.
"Artemis Sparkle, you do not say that to a lady." Rarity said and Melody giggled at her brother's reaction. He looked like he'd just been smacked. It was only momentary, however, as Clarity reached up with a claw and poked him right between the eyes, on the crystal in his forehead.
"So are you." She said and that set Artemis chuckling before he fell over backwards, a loud guffaw escaping from Clarity's father.
"Clarity, you're great. It's good to know someone has a great sense of humor. Dad, I think it's ok now." Artemis said and Knight nodded, snapping his tail like a whip. A long time ago, before Spike and Rarity had moved to Canterlot, Knight had learned a powerful reality altering spell. What the spell could do was alter the reality ponies and other creatures viewed. He'd gotten so good with it that he could change the physical appearance of everyone in the entire world to look like their animalian counterparts. Once the spell was severed, everyone could see each other as they really looked.
"My goodness Knight, don't you ever shave?" Rarity asked as Knight turned to look at her, the scruffy beard he'd been working on for months sticking out in odd places. Using her magic, she managed to adjust Knight's armor as well as trim and shape his beard, braiding it into two perfect braids that came off of his chin and hung down to about the middle of his neck. "There, if you're going to have a beard, at least make it look fashionable." She said and he stroked his beard lightly.
"I'll look however I please, Rarity. But thank you." He said and she smirked at him. Not six years ago, that voice of his would have had her weak in the knees, but ever since she married Spike and had Crystal Clarity, she'd been leaning more towards the smooth, silky voice of her own husband and farther and farther away from Knight's smooth, deep rumble. It wasn't too deep, nothing like some of Spike's new dragon friends, but more like the subtle, deep rumble that men with barrel chests have. And if Knight was anything, it was barrel chested. She could remember more than one time he'd taken a smack to the chest from his own brother's training staff that it left a red stripe across his chest, yet he didn't flinch from it. Now, with Lance gone and the Knights of Twilight stronger than before, Ponyville had grown from a bustling little town to a prospering city.
"Hey, Knight, you think maybe I can learn how to summon something now?" Spike asked and Knight looked him over. He'd passed Spike up as a student before simply because he was too small and didn't have the strength of will to control a small creature like Kuriboh, but now that he'd grown, his strength of will had nearly tripled, and Knight could feel he was ready. Artemis, however, didn't care about that.
"Hey, Claire, let's go play up in me and Melody's room." He said as he bolted for the stairs. Melody looked to Rarity for permission before dragging Claire after her at Rarity's nod. On their way up, Claire looked around at the murals on the walls. Most of them, if not the vast majority of them, were of Twilight, her mom, and their friends, but Knight wasn't in a single one of them. At least, not until they got farther up the stairs. Then it was mostly Knight and Twilight or Knight and Rainbow Dash before she married Soarin. All of their other friends had gone off on their own or gotten married and were traveling now. Even the Cutie Mark Crusaders that Claire had heard about from her aunt Sweetie Belle had grown up and moved on. Sweetie Belle was hooked up with her childhood crush, Button Mash. Even Scootaloo, the rebel of the group was doing the on again off again thing with Rumble, Thunder Lane's little brother. Currently, they were in the "off" stage of their relationship, Rumble currently seeing one of Scootaloo's past tormentors, Diamond Tiara.
"So, think Diamond Tiara will take it well when Rumble drops her for Scootaloo?" Artemis asked and Claire looked at him.
"Probably not. From what Aunt Sweetie told me, Diamond Tiara's always been a bit of a bully." Claire said and he nodded.
"No joke. She even bullied the younger kids until Mel and I put a stop to that. She was picking on one of our friends and we'd had enough. I guess that's when I earned this bad boy." He stopped only momentarily to undo his shirt and pull it down off of his shoulders. The spectacle sent Clarity to blushing, he wasn't a bad looking boy for being two or three years her senior, but what he was showing her was what really caught her attention. Unlike his father, who wore his Warrior's Mark with pride, Artemis wore his like a symbol of his status. It was a bright white star with different colored stars around it. Each star seemed to mark one of his friends, or one of his mom's friends, one star even being rainbow colored.
"Wow, so, your talent is magic? Wait... there's a shield there too, it just almost blends in with the bigger star. So your talent is magical shields?" Claire asked and he shrugged his shirt back on.
"Sort of. I can learn almost any kind of magic because I'm an Alicorn half blood, but my real talent is defending people I care about. With wolves, you get what you're good at for a Warriors Mark, but since I'm half Alicorn, I got a Cutie mark too, so I'm good at defending people, and my talent is magically defending the people I care about."
"What about you Claire? Dating wise, I mean. Anyone you like?" Melody asked and Claire blushed just a little and nodded. "What's his name? Do you know much about him?"
"His name is Illusion, and from what he's told me, he's Princess Celestia and Discord's son." Artemis nodded like that made sense, but the look on Melody's face told Claire that Discord and Celestia having a child was news to her, even though Illusion was about two or three years older than both of them. "Other than that, I think my mom is expecting another baby, so... I guess I'll get a baby brother or sister." Claire said and Artemis smiled. There were soon going to be two Kirin in Ponyville, and both of them would be his friends. He just knew it.
And... chapter one. So far we've been introduced to Artemis Shadow, Melody Sparkle, and Crystal Clarity. Illusion was mentioned, and we'll meet him later, as was Claire's little brother or sister. Stay frosty, and make sure you read the next chapter to find out more about their adventures.