"W-where am I?" Artemis' eyes shot open, his heart racing as he swung his head to search his surroundings. He found himself surrounded by a dense, soft blue fog. Soft pink lights flickered through it, leading to a clearing just a few feet ahead of him. He coughed, before taking a step…

Or at least, he thought he did. Suddenly, two blurry figures appeared before him, while the fog seemed to take shape. For a moment he swore they seemed to be by a field or on a shore, yet he wasn't able to make out any real details. Well, aside from the fact that the two figures were both women, and that they seemed to be talking. Then, one of them raised an arm.

"What's going..."

"OOF!" Artemis's eyes bolted open as he jerked up. Looking around he saw he was laying on his bed, in his room. "So it was just a dream…" he moved to get out of bed… only to find his fluffy gray rabbit had decided to be his alarm for the day and was now resting in his lap..

"Good morning to you too, Cygnus." Artemis laughed a little as he gently petted the rabbit before carefully picking her up and placing her back on her own bed. He checked her hay supply, refilled it and set up some pellets for the day. Then he quickly dressed himself in a nice light blue shirt and some khaki pants.

Making his way downstairs, he found his grandparents already at the breakfast table. Giving them a quick good morning he took his seat. He glanced at the seat next to him before turning back without a word. River smiled, and handed Artemis a pitcher of orange juice and he happily poured himself a glass. Moments later, his parents made their appearance in the dining hall. As normal, discussing their plans and duties for the day. Almost as soon as the two of them sat, servants came out and brought the table breakfast. Everyone ate up, with a bit of idle chit chat.

Once the meal had completed, the family dispersed to their duties for the day. Luckily for Artemis, he didn't have much to do. Just some sparring practice with the royal guards, which wasn't that long, and soon enough Artemis was back in his room. Walking over to this desk he got out some snacks, opened the Magic Spell Book and began reading it. And for a few moments, he imagined what his ancestors were like.

"ARTEMIS!" Suddenly his door burst open, causing him to fall out of his chair. Looking up he saw Arroyo, Marina, and Janelle standing on the other side.

"A simple hello would do," Artemis groaned as he lay on the floor

"Artemis, you gotta help us!" Arroyo flew over, tears quickly filling up his eyes. "We got robbed!"

"Robbed?" Artemis stood up and raised an eyebrow.

"We went to the Pie Folk stands and..."

"Nope!" Artemis raised a hand.

"We didn't even finish!"

"Yeah don't you care that three of your best friends just got robbed!" Marina huffed and turned away.

"Um I'm pretty sure all our parents told us to stay away from the Pie Folk." Artemis returned to his book.

"We just wanted to prank them," Janelle crossed her arms and leaned on the desk. "We didn't expect to get pickpocketed."

"Listen, I'm sorry, but I'm busy." Artemis didn't look up from the page, causing the Ponyheads to whisper amongst themselves.

"Oh come on what could-" Janelle looked over and saw a young princess Moon hugging Little Chauncy. "Oh..."

"Yeah, I've been actually waiting for this," Artemis gently placed a hand on the picture. "It's amazing reading about how she was before..."

"Hey, don't worry about it..." Janelle placed a hand on his shoulder.

"And yoink!" Marina snatched a bag of corn chips from his desk

"Can I have those back please?" Artemis asked.

"Oh those look delicious." Arroyo studied the bag while floating around it.. "Oh and they're the seasonal Sweet Blue flavor too!"

"Are you seriously trying to bribe me with my own snacks?" Artemis grit his teeth.

"Can't get me!" Marina flew up to the ceiling.

"I don't have time for this." Artemis shook his head and started to return to his desk. Only for Arroyo to fly in front of him.

"Come on Artemis, please?" Arroyo asked with big wide eyes. His sister and Janelle joining him soon after.

"Fine," Artemis sighed as his friends cheered. "But I don't want any trouble." Before he grabbed a sweater and turned to leave.

"Hey aren't you forgetting something?" Marina asked.

"No…" Artemis checked himself. Only for all three of his friends to point to the wand. "Oh yeah that..."

With everything all set, the group headed out. Once they reached Mewni's shore, Janelle summoned a small boat and they headed off.

"So before we get there," Artemis started to say.

"Boring, we don't need a plan!" Arroyo leaned back on the boat. "Just blast people with the wand."

"Blast people?" Artemis looked at his wand. "I can't do that..."

"Oh please, they're Pie Folk!" Marina said, emphasizing the last part.

"No, I mean I actually can't. I don't know how to use this!" Artemis held up the wand.

"Wait, you don't know how to use the wand?" Janelle gasped, her face freezing in confusion.

"The Spell Book doesn't say. And look" Artemis raised the wand over the size of the boat. And did a quick motion. "Waricorn Stampede."

Everyone else in the boat moved closer. But… all that happened was the wand's flame growing slightly.

"See? Nothing…" Artemis lowered his head in shame. "Not even a spark..."

"Hey, well in that case, we've got my Demon magic. That's something." Janelle smiled.

"Oh and Arroyo and I can use our horns," Marina sang, spinning around.

"And maybe we can find you a sword, you do practice combat after all." Arroyo added.

"Okay..." Artemis paused with a smile. "Anyways, before we get there, do you know who robbed you?"

"It was really crowded," Janelle sighed as she sank a little.

"Oh Arroyo, do you have that cloth?" Marina gasped.

"Oh yeah!" Arroyo pulled out his bag and dug through it a little before pulling out a piece of red cloth. "I was able to snag this off the culprit."

"Hmm." Artemis took it and felt it, finding it to be surprisingly soft. "This seems to be quite fancy for Pie Folk."

"Probably stole it," Marina humphed.

"Still, it's a start. We just need to find someone with a rip in their clothes of this color and material." Everyone else looked at Artemis. "What? That's all we've got so far!"

"Hang on Pie Folk Island coming to view!" Janelle quietly announced before she steered the boat into a small alcove. Then, once everyone climbed out, she pulled out two necklaces from her bag and held them out to Arroyo and Marina.

"Put these on. They'll create an illusion to others to make you look humanoid."

"Ooooo." Marina flew into hers before looking into the water. "Hey I still look like seahorse!"

"Yeah I'm still working on it," Janelle said sheepishly. "From whatever reason those who know it's an illusion can see through it so be careful."

"Got it," both of them said.

"Oh speaking of disguises," Artemis said as he dug his hands in the dirt before dirtying up his face, mostly his cheeks. "That should hide it."

"Perfect!" Janelle said as she tied her hair in two buns, over her horns. "Let's go."

"Now remember," Artemis said as the group approached the town. "We stick together."

The group did a quick nod before walking into the main market. Soon, they found themselves surrounded by people peddling wears, trying to scam people, or both. Luckily it appeared no one seemed to notice them… though in turn no one stood out to them either

"There's got to be something!" Artemis said.

"Wait, doesn't that look like your coin purse?" Arroyo whispered to Marina.

"It looks like it." She slowly started to approach it, only to get shoved.

"Um, find your thing," the girl with the purse said, grabbing it tighter.

"I for one I admire your boldness," a different girl said.

"Thing?" Marina said angrily. "This is a Cloud Kingdom coin purse, I'll have you know!"

"I know," the girl with it said grinning widely. "That's why I took it!"

"Well I'll have you know that..." Marina started to say before a bell rang out across the island.

"Oh well, we've gotta get going. If you actually have something we'll see you at judging." The group of people started laughing and heading towards the center.

"Hey where do you…" Marina stopped as Artemis grabbed her shoulder gently.

"They're all going to the same place." Artemis pointed to the large building in the center. "Pie Folk Castle."