Title: Memories

Author: Sere G If you write, put 'Fanfic'

in the subject, please. This will prevent it from being sorted into the junk.

Fandom: Sailor Moon

Chapter: One – Ponyback Riding

"Princess Rini, would you like to go riding?" Rini's nursemaid, Alea, asked. She already knew with certainty what the little girl's reply would be, but just loved seeing her reaction.

"Oh, Lea, do you mean it? On a real pony?" the happy five year-old lunar princess asked, her eyes gleaming with excitement and joy.

Alea smiled and nodded. "So, is that a yes?"

Rini giggled and jumped up and down happily, causing her silver and violet pigtails to bounce. "Yes, Yes, YES! I am going to go pony-back riding… YAY!"

Rini giggled with pleasure as she rode a small white pony. There were no horses or anything of that sort on the moon, so she had never done this before; it was a completely new experience.

The only reason she was on Earth in the first place was because her mother was there on a diplomatic trip. Right now, Queen Serenity XI was meeting with King Arutha of Earth.

Alea, of course, had been brought along because of who she was; nursemaid to the princess. It was her job to watch over Rini, and keep her entertained… and it was a job she loved. She looked at Rini almost as she might a little sister; she loved the little girl, and would do anything for her.

The reason that Lea had offered to take Rini riding in the first place was because she knew that such official matters would be rather boring for the young girl. Besides, how often would the princess get the chance to enjoy Earth's beauty at this age? Not often, not often at all.

So now here they were, riding ponies on the outskirts of the forest.

Rini was not wearing her royal dress; instead, she was wearing a deep purple skirt along with a long-sleeved white blouse that was covered in ruffles. For having never done it before, she had adapted quickly to riding, even though the pony which she rode was, of course, the most placid and mild-mannered one within miles and miles. Nothing but the best for this princess.

Alea could see dark clouds rolling over the horizon towards them, including a large menacing-looking thunderhead. Even from here, she could see lightning flickering in the thunderhead, and gulped. Alea herself had been born and raised on Earth, had only come to the lunar castle when she was fourteen, when the princess was born, to begin training as the little princess's nursemaid.

When she herself was little, she'd had a big fear of storms, especially lightning. She knew they had to get going. She called out to the princess, whom was a few feet away. "Princess Rini, we need to head back to the castle now. I think a storm is coming." The ponies were snuffling, appearing anxious. The animals could obviously smell the storm's approach.

"A storm? What kind of monster is that, Lea?" Rini asked, curious and a bit scared. The dark clouds rolled closer, and thunder could be heard in the distance. Rini gasped, thinking that was its roar.

Lea laughed. "It is not a monster, Princess. It is…" She paused and tried to think of a way to explain it that the little princess would understand. "A storm is a lot of big dark clouds that are together, like those over there." She pointed at the clouds. "They have a lot of water in them and that water pours out in many, many droplets. This is called rain. But there is also electricity in the storms, which is very dangerous because it could come down and strike anything… even you, Lea. Also, the storms make big noises that can scare you."

"Oh." The child's eyes were big and round, but she appeared satisfied with the answer.

The clouds were closing in now.

Suddenly, from out of nowhere, the sky flashed and a bolt of lightning struck the ground about two feet from Rini and her pony. The scared animal whinnied and reared, nearly throwing her off.

Luckily, Rini was able to hold on, but that did not stop her pony from bolting, taking off into the forest.

Leah tried to get her steed to chase after the pony carrying the little princess, but her own pony was older and had much less stamina than the other one. Also, these ponies usually only ran when frightened, and this one definitely was not.
Rini's pony ran deeper and deeper into the forest, and it reared when lightning again lit up the sky. Rini, her grip on the reins slick from the rain, was thrown off. Her head struck again a rock as she landed, and then all was dark.

Queen Serenity: Okay, people. This fic… I have very little idea where I'm going with it. It's quite annoying, you know. Any ideas? Also, I have a request…

SG: Bla bla bla, yap yap yap, is she EVER gonna shut up!

QS: narrowing her eyes at her alter-ego Like I said, I have a requests… sweatdrop Would anyone out there like to do me a fave, and make a pic or two of Rini, the lil version of Queen Serenity? You could draw her in her riding clothes or her princess dress, it doesn't matter. BTW, how I imagine her is… well, did you ever see that episode where Serena's mom showed a pic of her as a lil girl? Well, she looks more like her than the pink-haired Rini. If you want to do a pic of her, e-mail me, please?

SG: Finally, she shut up!

QS leaps on SG and the two start strangling one another