Amber was not sure why she had come back. Maybe it was to remember what once was, or maybe her age was finally catching up to her, she did not know. But it didn't matter now.
She walked through the ruins of what had once been Dream Castle.
Even now though, she still recognized bits and pieces of what it had once been. There were the remains of the Throne Room, now just a pile of twisted metal and rubble. There what had once been the Tea Parlor.
Soon though she came to an area that she remembered all too well, one that brought fresh tears to her eyes as she looked at them.
Their old bedroom. All that remained now was a broken wall and an opening where the door had once been. Inside was nothing but ash and rubble scorched black by the nuclear fire. And across the hall.
The Empress's old bedroom. Amber could not look at it without lettering her wings droop as she walked over to it. None of them had been inside since that morning after she vanished.
She smiled as the memories of all the fun the six of them had in that room came back. Only to her Exarchs did Cosmos ever drop the mask of the ruler and be the pony she was. Or as much as she ever could be at least. As much as the girls had known her, there were still things about her that had left them confused. But they never held it against her.
Standing there at the threshold, Amber felt her resolve threaten to break, but she held it together as she crossed the doorway and entered. The room was no different now from the rest of the ruins, Ash and rubble-filled the huge room now, the ceiling open to the sky above.
Standing there in the center, Amber felt the full weight of all that had happened hit her like a rock, and she collapsed in a heap as the tears came thick and fast. "Why?" She whispered through the pain. "Why didn't you tell us? Why did you leave?" She looked up to the sky, an unbroken sea of red-stained clouds. "Where did you go?"
No answer came as she thought as her head slumped forward once more and the tears came faster. There had not been an answer in a long time.
Amber sniffed as she lay there and tried to fight back the pain. A sudden gust of wind ruffled her mane and startled her. On the breeze, there was a faint tinge of magic, so faint no unicorn could feel it. But Amber felt it. But even more than that, she knew it. No matter how long it had been, she could never forget that feeling.
"Empress?" She whispered, hoping against all hope. No answer came, but another gust of wind seemed to be calling her to a corner of the room. Following it she came to another pile of ash. Cosmos's nightstand had once stood on this spot, but no more.
But sticking out of the pile was a piece of paper. Confused she pulled it out and was shocked. It was crisp and new, no sign of fire or anything. There was writing on it, but she paid it no mind. The tinge of magic was higher now.
For the first time in a long time, Amber smiled.
"I can't believe you went back," Ivy said, shaking her head in disbelief. "I mean, what was the point?"
The girls had come together at Moon Petal's home. Her husband and children were in another room, leaving the girls alone for a while. This was so normal they never really mentioned it anymore. Besides, even after years of marriage, Silver Streak still did not fully understand all that Moon Petal had told him, but then again none of their spouses did. But that did not mean they tried, and the girls loved them for it. Among other reasons of course.
Amber shrugged. "I don't know. Maybe I was homesick or something. Maybe my age is finally catching up with me."
The others rolled their eyes at that. Amber just stuck her tongue out at all of them. After a moment they all chuckled.
"Seriously though, why go back?" Diamond asked. "There is nothing there for us." She smirked. "Or did you just wanna smack some Unicornian soldiers around?"
Amber smirked, as they all did. With the collapse of Ponyland, the three types of ponies had racially segregated themselves into different nations. The Pegasi had retreated to the clouds, while the earth ponies claimed the ground.
But the worst was the unicorns. They laid claim to all three. Land, sea, and sky. From what they had heard, any non-unicorn was executed on sight inside their borders.
Which made them and their families stick out like a sore hoof. They were all different kinds of ponies and in the eyes of every tribe, that made them abominations either to be tried and corrected of their ways or killed as racial traitors. Safe to say it had never worked. Even going after their families was pointless as their children had, for some reason inherited their mother's powers to a limited degree. Enough to make them deadly to anypony stupid enough to try and hurt them.
Amber smiled. "I did knock some around. One I think was even related to that sack of flesh they call King." Her smile dropped. "But that is not why I did."
"So why then?" Ocean asked.
She shrugged. "I don't know. Maybe I am getting old. But, something drew me back." Her smile returned as she pulled out the piece of paper from underneath a wing. "I found this in her old bedroom."
The girls shared a look. They knew who she meant. "We have not been in there since." Diamond tried but couldn't finish the thought. But they all knew what she meant.
After a moment Amber continued. "There's more. Can't you girls feel it? That small tinge of magic in it?"
The others shared a look before letting their senses extend out to feel the magic around them. In a moment they found what Amber meant. Their eyes popped in shock and hope.
"That's. That's..." Diamond said in a whisper.
"That's her magic!" They all said together in joy and disbelief.
"There is no doubt about. No one has that kind of magic. Or that signature." Ivy said.
"She came back! She came back!" Amber exclaimed as she did a happy dance around the room, one the girls just barely stopped themselves from joining.
"But why is it so faint? Diamond asked. "Even when we were on opposite sides of the planet, it always felt like we were right there beside her." She gestured at the paper. "We can barely feel it here."
Everyone thought about that for a moment. "I think. She is at the Universal Boundary, laying the groundwork. She has not reentered our realm yet." Moon Petal said.
Even as she said it though, they felt the magic spike dramatically. Not to full power as they remembered, but there was no denying it now.
"She just reentered our universe," Ivy said. "We just felt the shockwave from it." But even as she finished, the magic dropped down close to nothing.
"Correction. We just felt the shockwave through time." Ocean added. "If I remember my Chrono Magic right, she will be born again for a long time. I do not think she even knows we're still alive."
"How is that?" Amber asked.
Ocean pointed at the paper. "Her magic is so faint on this that I do not think she even knew this happened when she was laying the groundwork."
"So that means, when she is reborn, she will have five new Exarchs." Diamond said.
"But what about us?" Amber asked. "I mean, I do not mind having a new family. But would she even remember us?"
"She remembered every other Exarch she'd had before us. I do not see why she would forget us," Moon Petal added.
"But I will go crazy waiting like this!" Ocean wailed, waving her hooves. "It was bad enough the first time. Just knowing we might see her again but we can't know when. I don't think I can take it."
Everypony nodded. It was a feeling they all shared. It was one thing to know she had returned, and would one day rise again. But it was another to not know when.
Amber though had an idea. Ever since she had found that paper, something had awakened inside her, an idea so crazy, it just might work. Or not, and the whole thing would go pear-shaped. "We sleep." She said, getting the other's attention. "Since we can't know for sure, why not just sleep until then?"
Everypony shared a look. "How they hay would we do that?" Ocean asked. "It could be centuries, millennia before she wakes up."
Amber smiled. "The same way she found us in the Age of Dreams." She gestured at the whole group. "Look at us. You'd have never expected us to be anything big. But she chose us for a reason. The Call we all heard."
The girls couldn't argue that. Each remembered the night they had heard the call, that first meeting with the pony who would one day be the empress of a civilization that encompassed the entire world. She had been no different from them then. No one would have ever guessed all that she would become. Least of all them. In all the time since though, they had forgotten what her original name had been. Though no doubt she still remembered.
"So then, how are we supposed to sleep for however long it takes?" Moon Petal asked. "I doubt the idiots around us will leave us alone."
"And what about our families?" Ivy asked. "Our powers are the only thing keeping them from finding us. Our daughters have some of our powers, but they don't have all of them."
Amber motioned them closer. Casting a Room Ward around them, they began to plan.
They talked long into the night.