A/N: Chapter last updated on 19/7/23
The New Princess
The Early Years - Part 1
Chapter 2 - The Prophesied Princess
Previously:
Releasing a shuddering sob Pluto, the princess of Pluto, the now last of her race collapsed to the ground as the last remains of hope to correct her mistake left her.
If asked later Pluto would not be able to tell you how long she wept and wallowed in her grief. She truly was alone now. The last guardian of a now-extinct and soon-forgotten race. Several times, she even briefly considered suicide, if only to join her sisters in the great beyond. It would be easy, all she would have to do was stop time, but each time she managed to stop herself.
She just couldn't do it. She felt it was now her task... her punishment for her sins... her failure. To guide the remains of the other races and help them recover from the destruction of the galaxy.
Only then, only when she had undone her mistakes... or at least helped to undo whatever mistakes and damages she could, would she finally allow herself to pass on, on to the next great adventure. But until then she would wait, she would teach, she would guide and watch over the other races, guard the gates and continue to protect the solar system from outside threats as she had always done before. Only this time it would be just two planets she would have to protect, not a whole galaxy.
Her honor and sense of duty would demand no less.
And so, slowly, she settled down to wait, standing vigil at the gates, as the last immortal of a soon-to-be-forgotten empire, holding silent vigilance for the young world she had just sworn to protect as it evolved and revolved under her watchful eyes.
As the sole lonely guardian of the world, she had inadvertently helped to destroy.
And now the continuation:
Approximately 7000 years later, in the Ancient Greek Era, The Gates of Time, Planet Pluto.
It was just another monotonous day on the job. The same repetitive watch, just one more notch on the eternal calendar of her life, measuring the endless days and years that had come and gone and those that had yet to come to pass. Pluto stood motionless at the steps of the time gates, her eyes vacant, as she watched the hours tick away.
Tick! Tock! Tick and tock, tick and tock. That same old silent sound.
A meaningless vision here, another pointless vision there. It was always the same.
'Has it really been that long?' she mused to herself, thinking once again of the destruction of the moon kingdom. She could no longer fully remember; it had been so long ago and she honestly didn't care anymore either. She had lost count somewhere past the 5033rd year. Sometimes it was just so difficult to keep track of time.
Several millennia had passed since the fall of the moon kingdom. It had gone from being an infamous part of history to a mere legend, swept away by the sands of time, told now only as simple bedtime stories to small children or as stories told during campfires at night. Remembered now simply as the 'Great Calamity', 'The Big Bang' or to the more superstitious lot as - 'The day the great moon goddess exploded with great vengeance and furious anger to strike down those who dared to betray her trust.'
While inaccurate and not entirely fair to Serenity, that was how people now remembered it. True or not, in the end, it had been her death that had kicked off Saturn's rebirth and set her on her course of destruction.
So, in a way, it could even be considered true, depending on your point of view. Not that it mattered, not anymore.
Since that catastrophic event, Earth's worldwide population had steadily climbed back up from a mere ten thousand humans and a few hundred or so sentient beings to a far more respectable sixty million people and the descendants of the other kinds of beings who were now hidden away, preferring to live separated from the rest of the primitive human rabble.
Thinking back all those many years ago, without the old king's noble sacrifice, things could have gone much worse- there could have been nobody left at all.
Admittedly, compared to the former ten billion or so population which had once inhabited the Earth during the Silver Millennium's height of power, of which 4 billion had not even been human, this number was small, true…
But considering how Earth had been reset with all its technology lost and its infrastructure destroyed, it was an impressive feat. Other civilizations had crumbled under much less stressful circumstances than what this one had now endured twice.
It was perhaps the one thing, maybe even the only thing Pluto was truly thankful for from that dreadful time, the only true silver lining of the whole situation. She may never have liked Elysios, the old king of Earth, father of the late prince Endymion, but she had to admit, there wouldn't have been anyone left at all, if it were not for him. Despite their many past differences, for this, Pluto was forever grateful to the old codger. May his soul rest in eternal peace.
Still reminiscing, Pluto was suddenly disturbed by her silent vigil by the sound of silent paw-like steps as another individual entered her vicinity.
Not bothering to look away from the gates, Pluto waited for the new arrival to come to a complete halt before she opened her mouth to speak.
"I take it from your arrival that I need to go down to the surface again for another meeting?" she asked, shifting her weight from one leg to another and her gaze away from the gates, toward the incoming visitor - a medium-sized white tomcat with a golden moon symbol visible on its forehead.
The cat gave a slight nod in response before beginning to reply to the lone sailor guardian who was now the oldest being in the galaxy, far outstretching the lifespan of every other creature by a few thousand years— making her the current - and currently only - uncontested leader of the galaxy. Not that it meant much when you were the only one qualified enough to take up the role in the first place… or indeed the only one of your kind left alive to rule at all.
"Yes, princess, it's time. Luna has informed me that the pompous loudmouth - her words, not mine - has called for yet another summit meeting." Artemis spoke seriously, bringing a smile to the old guardian's face. Standing in front of her was one of the only surviving Mau that had survived the fall of the entire galaxy. One of now only five Mau of what had once been an entire race of speaking cats with sentient human-level intelligence.
This particular cat's name was Artemis and the only reason he had survived at all was due to his privileged position as an advisor to the royal family and because the queen had ordered Artemis away from the moon to find out what had happened when fighting first broke out.
Luna, the only other Mau to survive at the time, had thankfully already been on Pluto with a troubled look in her eyes when he arrived. She had sensed that something terrible had happened, but by then it had already been too late. Just two lucky survivors of a very unlucky day, plus their three kittens, Selene, Regulus, and their youngest Diana, who were all now adults themselves, all of which were born after the event.
Pluto sighed as she backed away from the pair of towering ten-meter gates which made up the gates of time; a massive doorway from which she could look into the 'sands of time' and search through space and time to see moments in history of 'what had happened', 'what was happening' and that of which 'had not yet come to pass'- If only they had done so when it had truly mattered.
"I guess I shouldn't keep King Zap waiting any longer than necessary," Pluto said to herself more than to the Mau beside her. She grabbed her staff from where it leaned against a nearby wall and used some of her magic to change her guardian uniform into a silvery purple silk peplos dress. With that done, she slowly continued walking with the Mau tailing behind her. "And don't call me princess," She added, shaking her head. "That title belonged to someone else."
"Oh, are you not the princess of this world?" Artemis asked her slyly.
"That may be so," the guardian of Pluto replied. "But only one person has ever been officially dubbed 'princess'… and it wasn't me." Even though she was indeed a princess and now considered to be the most qualified to have the esteemed title, she felt uneasy about actually being called 'the' princess. Especially given that it had been due to her own mistake so many years ago that the original had lost her life.
"The only two who were ever worthy of that title are long gone. Even if I am now the last remaining guardian and therefore the only one fit for the role, it's something I can't accept. Especially since it happened because of me."
Artemis sighed, exasperated. "Pluto! Setsuna!" he said emphatically, "We've said it before and I'll now say it again - you were deceived, and that is how the queen died, and our kingdom fell. But! It! Was! Not! Your! Fault!" he continued, emphasizing each syllable of his last words in a bid to make them finally sink into the old guardian's stubborn mind.
"It has happened to people far wiser than you before and I dare say it will happen again to others far wiser. Beryl had always been a loyal ally until she too was fooled by our enemy. No one could have expected this, not even with the gates open. They can only show us so much and even then it can be dangerous to misinterpret it, as you well know. And let's not forget Metalia, who knows what powers she had. Even the Queen herself was taken for a fool until it was too late," the wise cat reminded the sailor guardian.
Pluto listened to her faithful companion's words of encouragement as he tried, yet again, to lift her spirits. With a small grateful smile, she thanked Artemis for his efforts. "Thanks, Artemis, I do remember your advice, I do. It's just," she paused briefly as if collecting her thoughts before continuing. "I can't help but ponder what could have been if I had just uncovered her wicked plans before the attack. But I guess we'll never know now," she said wistfully, grateful for the cat's attempt at cheering her up.
Reaching a small futuristic-looking platform with a large ring circling it, one of the last remaining intact items of ancient technology left over from the old empire, Pluto stepped onto it before turning around to face the cat, who had not followed her on the platform.
"As it is, all I can do now is bide my time and teach, guide, and protect the descendants of the survivors that survived the destruction of the old kingdom and make sure that they thrive. I leave the gates in your capable… paws until I return. As always, remember, it can never be allowed to be left alone for too long. Thanks, Artemis. If not for you, Luna, and the triplets, I probably would have gone insane or abandoned my post by now."
"I promise, I'm doing my best to keep it all in the past and I'm improving every year. Still, our memories and mistakes linger as an immortal's life is so long – especially our mistakes which tend to fester within us. I'll get there," she said with a wink before with a wave of her hand her body suddenly separated into billions of bright particles as the machine temporarily enhanced her innate powers giving her enough of a sudden boost or power needed to allow her to disappear in a flash and travel the 0.79 light-year distance at speeds greater than even light to Earth before reappearing on another platform just moments later.
Sometimes being the final inheritor of a race of intergalactic magical girls whose powers were enhanced by the planets was pretty awesome. The perks were great and it made for faster travel. However, maintaining the technology was an absolute nightmare of a chore. She was a princess, not a mechanic after all!
A few hours later, Mount Olympus, The Legendary City of the Greek Gods.
Pluto sat in a secret wizard town on top of Mt. Olympus, disguised as Artemis, the ancient Greek virgin goddess of the moon, the hunt, wild animals, vegetation, chastity, and childbirth. She attempted to remain serene and composed while trying not to roll her eyes as the self-proclaimed King of the Gods, 'Zeus', complained once again about another incident that had happened in the past week.
This time he was grumbling that some insignificant farmer hadn't given him enough recognition for the sudden rain he had wished for and received – never mind that the farmer's house had been struck by one of his lightning bolts and badly damaged in the downpour. Fortunately, the fire had been extinguished quickly by all the rain. But still! The gall of the man not to show him, Zeus, the proper appreciation he was so obviously due. The nerve of the man. Really!
Do you notice the sarcasm?
It was at times like this that Pluto, or rather Lady Artemis as she was currently going by, wondered why she had ever joined this group of like-minded wizards and witches turned gods and goddesses. Oh, wait, yes, she remembered, it was because it gave her a great way to influence the newly developing civilizations of the Earth without having to hide her godly planetary-fueled powers. That's why.
The other 'gods' and 'goddesses' were actually all wizards and witches who had the luck to have been born at the right time with larger than most magical cores and who had come together to influence their non-magical, highly superstitious 'mortal' neighbors to be more accepting towards magic. By helping those in need with their magical powers, for a 'small' tribute of course. In an age where civilizations on the newly populating earth still fully believed in gods and other superpowered mythical beings… what better way than to become one of those gods yourself.
Besides, it also gave her something to do while she waited for the world to recover, not to mention the fact that it also gave her the perfect way to hunt any youma which from time to time still happened to make their way to Earth from the Negaverse.
Sadly, even though their Queen and leader was no longer with them and hadn't been seen since the Moon's fall, the dark monsters still existed and sometimes managed to find their way from their dimension into theirs. Enter Pluto - currently Artemis - who had taken on 'the hunt' as one of her domains when the group had first created the gods.
Her other domains - those of wild animals, vegetation, and childbirth - were added due to her advanced futuristic knowledge of all types of animals and plants and all of the different types of childbirth techniques she knew and used frequently to help the 'mortal' population recover that little bit faster. Techniques that ensured a near 100% childbirth efficiency thanks to her advanced medicinal knowledge from the Moon Kingdom. Some of these techniques, animals, and plants didn't even exist anymore and in a time where life expectancy was low and birth mortality high...they were priceless.
Add to this the fact that she could also naturally fly, teleport, cast elemental 'spells', in certain cases even slow time (though never stop), and even predict things that hadn't even happened yet. Not to mention the fact that she was the only true immortal one of all the gods…
Well…
It made being a goddess in a primitive world easy.
The fact that she was also sometimes seen talking to the Mau and as such was believed to have the ability to somehow make them sentient and even give them the ability of speech also helped to ensure her godly status to the mere mortals, much to the envy of the others. She couldn't, of course… but they didn't know that and that was all that mattered. Come to think of it, it was probably because of this that the Egyptians started to worship cats as the familiars of the gods… and in the case of the last remaining Mau's, even as gods themselves. Artemis and Luna always loved to stay in Egypt whenever they visited Earth and their children were never far behind either.
As for her domain of chastity and her huntresses, well… she was hardly going to allow herself to get knocked up by 'cavemen' who sometimes smelled almost as bad as skunks and probably felt even worse any time soon. Preferably never. A girl had standards after all…and hers were set to Moon standards, thank you very much.
Of course, as a sailor guardian turned goddess, no matter how powerful she was, she could never be expected to take on every youma on her own. Especially not a goddess and so she had once, on a mere lark, started to adopt groups of young girls - usually girls who had just lost their parents in a battle or girls who were being abused and would have died otherwise - and had proceeded to teach them how to hunt the monsters for her, in exchange for a warm place to stay at night, an education and a decent meal each day, of course.
These 'huntresses' had all grown up to become her unofficial daughters, believing her to be the newest goddess of the moon and she had even told them stories of the old moon kingdom and the old queen who once ruled it before she, Artemis, had taken over as the moon's new goddess when the former chose to fade away.
Why she told them this story and why she told it in that way, she wasn't sure… but it was probably because she wanted to keep the memory of her former friends alive if only in a story.
It had only progressed from there.
As for her so-called hatred of males…
She had been accused of harboring a strong dislike for males, probably because she only ever recruited female huntresses. But that was only because she was used to working with the sailor guardians, who had only ever been girls, never boys. It felt strange, even wrong to work with males. That was the only reason why she avoided doing so. It was all just a huge misunderstanding. She had no animosity towards men. Honest!
Luckily, the youma without their evil queen were nowhere as powerful as their pre-moon destruction counterparts and could be harmed with arrows and swords unlike the youma of the past otherwise this would all have been impossible but even so, even then it usually took at least ten huntresses to take down one youma. Anything stronger she would usually take care of herself.
As for the other gods. Like her, they were all magically powerful and they each took domains of their own… however, unlike her, they were not immortal. But that didn't seem to cause much of a problem. Far from it. To keep up the ruse, the others sometimes had children of their own - which they named demigods - and one favored child would always take over when the parent got too old. As witches and wizards usually always lived for over 100 years sometimes even into their 150's, far longer than their more 'mortal' counterparts it was manageable as they tended to outlive their more mortal followers by a large margin. Illusion spells took care of the rest. Sometimes a god's child would even become a god themselves and if a 'god' didn't have a child to carry on their godly legacy or simply chose not to… then they just 'faded' away. It was a simple yet effective system.
Hours later, Pluto breathed a sigh of relief when Zeus finally finished off the godly meeting with one of his signature lightning strikes, bringing the current meeting to an end as the sound of thunder once again rumbled across the night sky. That man loved his theatrics.
It was at that moment, just as everybody was getting up to depart, eager to get home, that something unexpected happened. Suddenly, she gasped with shock, instantly capturing everyone's attention. The room grew silent and still, as they all watched her body shuddering in her throne, her head slowly bending back as her eyes glazed white as if in some sort of trance.
Luckily, this had happened before and so the others simply settled down again to wait and see what would happen next.
A mighty shock of energy spiked through her veins, awakening her powers of time and space. Suddenly a vision began to form in her mind's eye. Somewhere, something of paramount importance was beginning to unfold or would someday take place. It was uncommon for Pluto to have such prescient dreams and visions, especially when away from the time gates, but when they occurred it signified something severe had just happened or would soon take place in the course of events.
These prophetic messages were seldom seen but constantly significant, advising her of colossal modifications occurring in the timeline.
Most significantly of all…and this was very critical indeed; these prognostications were nearly always authentic or became so if she didn't strive to alter them, no exceptions. While, yes, in situations of visions of the future, she could indeed shape them if she so wished, it wasn't usually safe and hardly ever worth the effort to do so. Only foolish individuals after all meddled with time if they didn't have to… and that rule was meant even for a goddess like herself.
To put it into clear context, her last visions of such magnitude had been about the founding of Rome and before that the battle of Troy. Two very important historical moments in history. As such, seeing as Troy had indeed fallen and Rome was currently being built, she and the others were always very interested when another such vision occurred, and while they usually only happened when she was close to the time gates, on very rare occasions they were also known to happen when she was away from them as well. This was one such occasion.
Allowing the vision to fully settle and take control of her, she started to see a city. Not just any city, but a very familiar silver crystal city with a palace which she was very familiar with. One which she thought she would never see again outside visions of the past. It was a vision of the moon palace. No!.. not the moon palace as she remembered it, but rather a different moon palace… and it was still very much intact and quite obviously at the height of its splendor.
Gasping mentally and physically in surprise as the vision assaulted her senses even further, not believing her inner eye at first, she eagerly tried to get closer to see more like a starving dog looking for the last few scraps of its favorite meat.
Suddenly to her continuing surprise, the vision shifted abruptly and a woman materialized before the palace gates. A woman with a mass of wild black hair cascading down her shoulders with vibrant emerald green eyes that seemed to be illuminated from within complete with a golden crescent moon symbol on her forehead while dressed in a sailor guardian costume. This woman was soon surrounded by others also in sailor guardian costumes.
All of the other girls' faces seemed blurry as if their identities were still unknown but they were all sailor guardians. NO! They were 'the' sailor guardians. She could make out the costumes of the other guardians from Mercury and Venus… right up to Uranus and Neptune.
But what finally really broke her at that moment was the final guardian who was standing proudly behind the others with a huge smile on her face.
It was a vision of herself… a truly happy self, the happiest she had seen herself for a very long time.
The sight alone brought tears to her eyes as she mentally looked at her other self in pure undiluted shock, mesmerized in pure undiluted longing. She had never thought to ever see another guardian again, least of all herself amongst them… especially not herself, surrounded by all of the guardians that had been lost, and even if these were completely unfamiliar to her and not the sailor guardians she had once known, she craved every moment of it.
Suddenly both visions seemed to phase in and out of reality before just as suddenly as they had come they collapsed and vanished. For a second she desperately tried to bring them back but it was no use.
It was at this moment that Pluto snapped out of the vision with a loud cry of "NO!" at the sudden loss of the vision, a cry which was followed quickly by an equally loud sob, as she was brought back into reality.
Completely overwhelmed from her ordeal, tears running down her face in secret longing for what she had just lost, like a drug addict going through the throes of drug withdrawal while it had just been taken away from her unopened and unused, she gasped and sobbed heavily as she tried to get herself back under control from the experience, ignoring all attempts from the others to comfort her or to tell them what she had seen.
The others, seeing how deeply affected she was by the vision stayed silent, patiently allowing her some space and time to recover from the vision. It was clear to them that it must have been a real doozy to have affected her that much. It had affected her a lot.
All too soon Pluto started to recover and calm down. It was only then that she tried to make sense of what it was that she had truly seen.
The palace in the vision was almost definitely a moon palace there was no doubt about that… but not the moon palace she had once known. There were differences. Slight differences but still differences nonetheless. Most strikingly of all was the location. The location was different. It was not on the moon at all. And that alone was very important to her. Besides that, the mere fact that she had seen it, an intact palace, moon or not, one that was most evidently not the one she remembered, was very important. So important in fact that it was potentially life-changing. Not just Life…but even 'Time' changingly important.
Because if what she saw was real… and she had no reason to believe otherwise, as all of her visions had always come true so far… it could only mean one thing and that one thing made her feel very happy even giddy with joy and gave her back the one thing she had long thought lost.
Next, and probably even more importantly, the woman; she seemed young very young and nowhere near passed a normal human's lifespan.
If she had to guess the girl could be in her early twenties, maybe in her late twenties… early thirties at most.
She was dressed in a sailor costume that she had only ever seen on one other person before, and if that was true - and again she had no reason not to believe so - then that could only mean one thing:
That wonderful woman… that undeniably amazing oh so incredibly special woman, was a future princess. Someone she had long thought lost forever.
A new start!
A new Sailor Moon!
A new Princess!
A new royal family!
And maybe even a new Silver Millennium!
Bah! Who cares about that, to the void with the Millennium!
We are about to have a new Princess!
She could finally start calling herself Sailor Pluto again. Hah! Take that Artemis, no more calling me princess anymore.
At that moment she felt like jumping and skipping and laughing, proper decorum be damned. This was a time to celebrate. To let your hair down, open the bottles, sing, dance, and be merry… and…well…for the first time in…well ages really, she was going to allow herself to get drunk!
She could still hardly believe it, there was going to be a new princess!
She had a true purpose again.
Suddenly, her tears forgotten, she sprang up out of her throne and grabbed the nearest person she could find, who just happened to be her 'younger brother' Apollo, and gave him a deep kiss right on the mouth, an action which froze the other gods in the chamber, most of all the wide open-eyed 'brother' she had just kissed.
Speechless, the others could only watch open-mouthed in disbelief as the goddess in front of them - a goddess who had just mere moments been crying her eyes out - was now literally skipping and dancing around the room in sheer delight radiating out from her before she turned to face the rest of her godly 'family'.
"Χαίρετε οἱ φίλοι μου, ἐπεὶ ἐγὼ ἄγγελον ὑμῖν φέρω μεγάλων νέων. Νέων θαυμασίων μετρίων. Ἡμεῖς λήψομεθα βασίλισσαν. Νέα βασίλισσα γεννηθήσεται,"( Ancient Greek:
"Rejoice, my friends, for I bring tidings of great news. News of wondrous proportions. We are going to gain a princess. A new princess is about to be born") she said out loud before rushing out of the room without another word. She was in such a hurry to get back to Pluto and to share the great news that she never noticed the stunned gods she was leaving behind nor the chaos of misunderstandings that were about to follow her declaration leaving behind a chamber full of frozen and shocked gods and goddesses who could only stare in shock at what had just happened.
A few minutes later Zeus turned towards Apollo and asked,
"Οὖν!.. Υἱέ, εἰπέ μοι, εἰ ἴσως ἐστί τι, ἀλλά, οἶδας… τι θέλεις ἡμῖν εἰπεῖν περί; Θυγατέρα ἐρχομένη τάχα, ἣν οὐκ ἀκηκόαμεν ἔτι… μετὰ τῆς φιλτάτης σου ἀδελφῆς οὐχ ἧττον?"
(Ancient Greek: "So! Son, tell me, is there perhaps something, well, you know… something you want to tell us about? An incoming daughter perhaps one we have not yet heard about… with your dear sister no less?")
Little did Pluto realise, it was at that moment, that Artemis briefly lost her title as a virgin goddess.
If only for a short while.
At the edge of the solar system, Planet Pluto, moments later.
Sailor Pluto, ecstatic with joy, knowing nothing of the chaos she had just unleashed on her adopted brother, traveled back to Pluto to spread the news of her sudden vision and the upcoming birth of a new princess to the last remaining Mau. They would certainly want to know of her newest vision.
Still dressed in her Greek peplos she could feel her heart pounding in anticipation as she rematerialized in a flash and then raced through the massive double doors of the antechamber of the palace before descending up into its very core to the gates of time where she knew Artemis and Luna were standing vigil at the gates eagerly waiting for her return.
She was sure that even now they were waiting for her, to tell them about the newest hottest news of planet Earth, fresh from the grapevine of the gods themselves. It was usually always good for a laugh. This time however it would be different. This time they would be in for quite a shock.
The closer Sailor Pluto got to the gates, the more her excitement grew, and she could hardly contain her enthusiasm as she burst through the double doors which smashed open with a bang to spread the news.
Needless to say, from that day onwards things changed drastically on Pluto, as a very giddy sailor guardian turned goddess soon told two very equally excited Mau about her vision. No longer would Pluto be the mopey emo princess she had been for the past 7000 years. The news was soon accepted with open paws and ecstatic mews of surprise by both Artemis (the cat) and Luna alike and they all celebrated late into the night and into the next day.
In a celebration that would last for several days and result in a massive headache for all involved, all three of the current inhabitants of the Plutonian palace got so drunk they couldn't see straight. Least of all walk a straight line. Human or cat, it took them a full day just to recover from their self-inflicted hell. Even two days later Pluto could still be seen holding her head and wincing whenever she walked to the gates.
'Oh my head!' she thought groaning in agony. 'I really wish I could erase the past few days from my mind. Especially those images of Artemis rolling his tongue all over my cheek…or of Luna rolling around the grand chamber and down the stairs with Artemis trying to imitate her, after they had got stoned on too much catnip. I wonder what I did? I can sort of vaguely remember trying to sing in a trio with the cats…and is that my…ahem… hanging on the palace tower spire?'… 'Hmm…no, well... better not think about it,' she thought dismally, as she glanced at the small mountain of bottles of wine and other drinks, all the while trying to ignore her headache. The celebrations sure had been wild. Purrrrfectly wild even.
Yeah, maybe a bit too wild.
But that didn't matter. The pain would soon be gone… and the humiliation was well worth it in the end.
Besides, it was all done among friends, and the cats sure had no room to talk. They weren't doing any better either.
Soon everybody recovered, unmentionables were retrieved from certain high places, and plans were made for the future:
Artemis, Luna, and the triplets were soon sent to Earth with a mission: they had to connect with their cat-like brethren, both the mundane house cats, and their more magical relations the Kneazels. They had to make sure their eyes were peeled and whiskers alert for any signs of a girl who fit Pluto's vision – one born with either a small half-moon or a lightning bolt on her forehead and with special powers.
Meanwhile, Pluto in her guise of the goddess of the moon and the hunt would spread the word to her huntresses to keep an eye out for the same.
All of them were well aware that she might even not have been born yet and that it could take years, maybe even centuries, before the new princess was discovered. Still, they were patient and looked forward to the adventure and the hunt. For now, they took comfort in knowing a new princess would be born sooner or later. It might happen tomorrow, or they may have to wait for many years to come. No matter how long it took, the hunt had started and nothing else mattered.
A few weeks later, Planet Earth, the great forge of Mt Olympus, Hephaestus workshop.
Pluto hummed a little ditty to herself; an old now long-forgotten song from the moon which had once been sung to her as a child as she walked down the stone sett paved road of Pyraia Avenue on Mt. Olympus. Acknowledging people who bowed at her with a nod as she passed, she soon proceeded to enter a small yet very important workshop. A workshop currently owned by her current adopted brother Hephaestus, the god of fire, metalworking, stone masonry, forges, the art of sculpture, technology, and blacksmiths. Or was that his son or grandson? She wasn't sure anymore. With the illusions, they all looked the same.
Either way, she was there on a mission of her undertaking, to ask her godly 'brother' for a favor. Not just any favor, but a very important request. One critical for the future.
She needed him to make her a few items. Not just any items, but some very special items of a very magical nature. Items that she knew would one day be needed and critically important if the new royal family of the moon-to-be was ever to prevail.
As the greatest inventor of his time and the self-proclaimed god of technology, Pluto had high hopes that he would be up to the task. It was either that or she would be forced to train the newest sailor guardians in the 'old way' and that was something that took time. She wanted to avoid that if she could.
She feared if what she saw about the future was true then they may not have enough time to prepare for the challenges the new princess would one day have to face.
As such, to help the inventor turned god along so that he didn't have to start completely from scratch, she had decided to bring along one of the last remaining items in existence, a small brooch that she wanted him to recreate. It was a gamble because if lost or damaged it truly would be irreplaceable, but she knew if nothing else it would keep him focused and committed to the task. After all what better way to keep someone who hated to be second best at creating something committed to the job than if the item in question already existed? His pride and sheer stubbornness would take care of the rest.
Sure, she doubted he would be able to recreate the actual technology of the Silver Millennium…but if nothing else, maybe a more magical solution could also be found.
Already Pluto could make out the smell of oil and rust, of burning wood and steel acrid with the smell of burning fire and flesh, of gunpowder and smoke as she neared the abode of the mad inventor turned Greek god.
Leaving the well-made paved road she walked up so far, to a dirt pathway that led to the front door, she raised her hand to knock on the door of Hephaestus's workshop; a typical at least for wizards small on the outside but massive on the inside magically expanded building which had at one point been a mere cowshed.
Hearing her 'brother's' voice bidding her permission to enter, she promptly opened the door and stepped inside only to be nearly overwhelmed by the amazing sight of a near ludicrous amount of tools and materials, cogs, gears, pistons, and springs all working together in a cacophony of mechanical buzzes of activity of a thousand gears working together at once.
For a moment even she, the last survivor of a spacefaring race was taken by stunned surprise.
Considering that she was currently in a world that had been thrown back into a version of its ancient historical past, it was quite a sight to behold. Here was clearly a workshop of someone who believed he could invent anything.
'Well come what may today I will give him something which will test his skills to the limit' she thought as she greeted him with a wave.
If he couldn't do it then nobody ever would!