My Little Senshi

by sister_mike

Chapter 8: Journey

Chapter 8

Journey

"Cadance will give you details on what you are to do in the Crystal Empire," Celestia said. "I suggest you head out now."

"Of course," Twilight said, nodding firmly.

She and the others began to leave the throne room. Celestia retreated into a secret room hidden within the walls off to one side. Once she was gone, Luna began to walk with the others.

"Are you coming with us?" Twilight asked, her voice a little too hopeful sounding for her like. Luna shook her head.

"Unfortunately not," the princess said quietly. She sighed, "Please forgive Celestia. When she was in rule, long ago, secrecy was part of the job. She only ever instructed the bare basics of what a team needed to know. I did not want to keep things from you, especially not when you used to be my guardians, my best friends..."

Luna stopped and closed her eyes. Twilight wasn't sure, but it looked as though a tear formed in the corner of the princess's eye.

"I do wish I could go fight with you," Luna said, "Wish with all my heart I could be in the battle, protecting my daughter. But fighting now... it's just... just too hard. Too hard without Endymion at my side. Sometimes it's too hard to breathe. And my mother is right—our souls are tired. Our time has passed and yet we remain. We must protect the rest of Equestria, should you fail, and should King Sombra attempt to take over."

Twilight hesitated and then tentatively put her hoof on Luna's shoulder. Luna opened her eye and gave her a small smile.

"We won't fail," Twilight said.

"I know," Luna said, "I have never doubted you."

Luna pulled Twilight into a hug. Twilight was caught off guard, but then quickly hugged back.

"I've missed you, my scouts," Luna said quietly.

"We'll always be here," Twilight said softly.

They broke apart and Twilight left the room, joining the others.

"We need to go get Fluttershy," Pinkie Pie said.

"She should be back soon. Let's go to our room and meet her there," Twilight said.

She led the others back to their room. They picked up their bags, ready to go, and waited for Fluttershy. Fluttershy arrived only a few minutes later. Spike was on her back, a cone of ice cream in his hand.

"Oh man, did you guys miss something fun! There are so many different animals, some I didn't even know existed! We're going to have a blast on Thursday when we go to this!" Spike said.

"And there's a special group rate, for a group of 6 or more," Fluttershy said. She smiled as she brought out the tickets. But as she looked around and saw the sombre, serious faces of her friends, she hesitated. "Is something wrong?"

Twilight took a deep breath. "Fluttershy, while I was on my way out, I got called to the palace to see the princesses. They have a mission for us, for the Elements of Harmony. There's an old empire, the Crystal Empire, north of Equestria. Long ago, it was attacked by an evil unicorn king, and as the princesses went to banish him, the empire disappeared. It's back. Now they fear that with the empire's return, King Sombra, the evil unicorn, is back as well."

"Oh my," Fluttershy said.

"They want us to leave right away," Rarity said.

Fluttershy nodded and picked up her bag. She regretfully packed the tickets away.

"We'll come back and see the exhibit after, I promise," Twilight said. She smiled at Fluttershy, who smiled back. "Ok, let's go."

Twilight led the group to the train station. The princesses had arranged for their tickets to be held at the counter. They boarded the next train and waited impatiently inside their car.

"My brother and Princess Cadance are already up there," Twilight explained to Fluttershy, "Apparently Cadance has put some sort of force-field around the empire."

"There's no defense mechanism on its own?" Rainbow Dash asked. The five of them already knew all of the details, but they played dumb so that they could fill in Fluttershy and not look suspicious.

"There is. The key to it is the Crystal Ponies. Long ago, they used to be able to protect the kingdom themselves. But now, they can't. I'm sure Cadance will tell us more when we get there," Twilight said, "I'm not sure of all of the details."

"The crystal ponies must be glamorous," Rarity said, "All sparkly and such."

"Now's not the time to make fashion notes, Rarity," Applejack said. A few of the others chuckled.

"Well, I'm going to catch some shuteye then," Rainbow Dash said, "Wake me when we get there."

Twilight nodded. The others around them settled in for the long train ride as well, the rhythmic movements of the train causing many of them to fall asleep.

---

When Twilight woke, she didn't feel all too well rested. Her dreams had been plagued with scenes of her memory, her old lives flashing and meshing together. When she looked out the window, she could barely see anything. It was dark and snowing like mad. She could barely even see the train station as they pulled in.

The six of them walked out onto the platform, their scarves blowing crazily in the wind.

"Twily!"

Twilight squinted in the blizzard and saw her brother approaching them. He wore a scarf wrapped tightly around his neck and he had thick goggles on.

"Shining Armor!"

"So glad you could all make it so quickly," Shining said. He hugged Twilight briefly. "Come on, it's a bit of a walk, and we don't want to stay out here after dark."

"It's not after dark?" Pinkie Pie said, balloons flying out of her bag. Shining Armor chuckled slightly.

"Everypony hold onto this," he said. He unravelled a long piece of rope. "So nopony gets lost or left behind."

As they followed Shining Armor through the wintry wonderland, Twilight couldn't help but occasionally stare at him. He knew this whole time who she was. He had known that she was a sailor soldier the minute she was born. And he had never said anything. She couldn't remember a lot about Helios, except that he and Small Lady were in love, and that he had appeared in her childhood dreams as an alicorn.

"How much further?" Twilight asked. She could barely grip the rope, she was so cold. Her scarf had blown off long ago, and she was surprised she hadn't lost her saddle bags as well.

"We're almost there," Shining Armor said, "It's just—"

But his last few words were lost. Fluttershy shrieked from near the rear of their chain, and Twilight turned her head. A massive wave of black, lightning cloud began to descend towards them. A maniacal laugh floated from somewhere in the blizzard.

"Run!" Shining Armor shouted. He let go of the rope and faced the monster. Twilight began to run, leading the group. Just ahead she could see the outline of the empire, the force around it. She raced towards it. She jumped through the barrier, the others tumbling in after. A few seconds later, Shining Armor emerged as well. Twilight turned just in time to see the black cloud shriek in anger and stay outside of the shield.

"Everypony ok?" Shining Armor asked.

"Yes, we are; but you're not," Twilight said, "Your horn!"

Shining Armor stared up at his head. He tried to use magic, but it only fizzled and failed. At the top of his horn were small, black crystals, poison left behind by the beast.

Comments

[sister_mike]

Just a short update

[NightmareKnight]

Ummmmm. I don't remember Sailor Moon. I think I may have watched it years ago when I was little. Maybe. Only thing I remember though is from Robot Chicken. Where the jamaican dude and the evil witch BOTH got boners from Sailor Moon. Still, I'd be lying if I said I wasn't interested. Maybe I'll end up liking it... what the hell, time to read!

[CoastalSarv]

Ah, alternate episode! :) Bravo!

[AkatsukiKaizoku]

Just gonna say, never stop updating, never.

[sister_mike]

1919090

Hahaha, I looooove Robot Chicken.

[Vigriff]

I'm not sure if I'm late stating this...but I think Lyra and Bon Bon are Sailor Neptune and Uranus, respectively.

[really pathetic]

vigrff i agree on that satemant