The two ponies floated in the microgravity, asleep but far from inactive.
"Orion..." a young mare's voice called.
"Orion..." it called again.
Orion's eyes shot open. He was on the moon. He stretched his hooves. It felt so good to feel the moondust between them. It almost felt like sand on the beach.
"Orion..." the voice called again, sounding a bit more agitated.
He looked up. In front of him was a young mare. He didn't recognize her. "Who are you?" he asked. Maybe he'd finally get an answer this time, he thought.
"I am the one that you have been looking for," she replied.
"Mom?" Orion asked.
The mare only smiled.
"Orion... Come to me. Alone. Leave the other mare, you must come to me alone."
Orion nodded. "What about air? There's no air on the moon."
The mare giggled. "Are you not the foal of The Moon Goddess? Like the foals of Cadence on Venus, and the foals of Ponyseidon in the water, you do not need to breathe, while you are on the moon."
Orion would have never guessed that, but thinking about it, it made sense.
"It is time to wake up Orion. You're here."
"Wake up Orion, we're here." Tess said, waking him up.
Orion slowly opened his eyes. "I've just had a dream."
Tess looked suprise. "What was it?"
"I think I met my mom. She told me that I had to go alone." Outside the window the gray landscape of the moon spread to the horizon. "Out there."
Tess nodded. "The prophecy said the same thing, remember?" She tried to imitate (badly) the raspy voice of the future.
"Go alone to the place without air, and claim your birthright, the nightmare spear."
Orion nodded silently. "She told me that even though there's no air, i'll still be able to breathe, like how Ponyseidon's kids can breathe underwater."
"Wow" Tess said.
Orion got up to leave. "Wait. You're leaving now?"
"Yeah, I don't want to wait too long."
"What in Tartarus am I supposed to do while you're gone?" She asked, frustrated.
"Well, if I were you, I would practice pinochle." Orion said laughing as he stepped out of the chariot and closed the hatch, leaving Tess all alone.
He stepped out onto the gray sandy landscape that seemed to go on forever. He smiled as he lifted his hoof, leaving a hoofprint of a barehoof behind.
High up in the sky Equestria hung in inky darkness. He stretched his hooves, and the feeling of moondust between his toes felt even better than it had in his dream.
It was amazing! Orion did a cartwheel. It felt like he was flying!
Orion turned to look back at the chariot. It must've been a good hundred feet away. The bronze horses were only covered in a dull red glow now. Low gravity rocks! he thought, leaping off into the sky like an ancient pegasus
Off to his left and about a mile away he could see the remnants of an old mortal spacecraft from decades previously.
"Orion..." came a soft whisper.
He turned around looking for its source.
"Orion..." It was louder now. Orion landed in a puff of moon dust and looked right and left looking for the mare that he had seen in his dream."
"This way Orion!" a voice yelled to his left.
Orion spun to his left and ran toward the voice.
It was eerily silent in the chariot all alone. Tess's mind wondered. What was Jamie doing? Had he completed his quest? She hoped it wouldn't take that much longer.
The chariot was suddenly filled with a silver light. Tess covered her eyes.
"TESS CABEIRI! WHERE IS ORION?"
It was Luna.
"Lady Artemis." Tess said reverently. "I thought you would be with Orion. He said that he had seen you in a dream. You told him to go out there alone."
"I DID NO SUCH THING." she said angrily.
Tess cowered in a corner of the chariot. "I'm sorry Lady Luna."
Luna's mood changed rapidly. "I'm sorry. I'm not angry at you. I'm just worried about my son."
A moment of horrifying realization hit Tess. "Lady Luna. If you didn't convince him to go out there. Who... or what did?"
The mare was beautiful. Her mane and coat was a black as night. She sat on a boulder pr her long black hair as Jamie approached. She was a pegasus of legend
"Mom?" Orion asked.
The mare giggled. "No Orion, I'm not your mother."
Orion started to get really worried. He had forgotten to bring any weapons from camp, and was defenseless. "But in my dream you.." Then he remembered, when he asked her if she was his mom, all she did was giggle.
"Well, if you're not my mom, what are you?"
Ripples shook through the mare's long black mane as she raised her wings, laughing maniacally.
" My name is Parthenope" Her mane flew back revealing her body. It was covered in dark feathers. Her feet were talons. She wasn't a pegasus at all. The only thing equine about her was her face.
It was a siren.
Every nerve in his body told him to run. He ran. He ran pouring every amount of strength into getting as far as possible from the Siren.
The siren leapt up from the rock and dove toward him.
Orion dived into the moon dust. The Siren's talons missing his back by mere inches. It screamed in fury.
A few feet away he spotted a glint of sunlight. He hoped it was something useful, scrambling to reach it as the Siren made a second approach.
He grabbed it and turned over on his back, his eyes closed, pointing it the siren. Nothing happened.
Orion opened his eyes, and cursed in ancient eponan.
It was a flashlight.
The Siren hung there above him, unsure at what he thought he was doing. What kind of weapon was a flashlight? Orion clicked the button turning the light on.
A spear of darkness issued forth, piercing the Siren like a spear, who dissolved into a fine golden dust.
It was over.
Orion clicked the flashlight off and looked at the brand name: Nightmare. Then he remembered, Nightmare was another aspect of Luna. She carried two lances of light. One being the silver light of the moon, and the other being the darkness of night.
"Orion!" a voice yelled from behind him.
It was Tess, but she was dressed differently. She was wearing a wolf fur cloak and was dressing in entirely different clothes.
"Tess?" Then he noticed another mare galloping behind her. This mare needed no introduction, especially with the crescent moon cutie mark, both wings, and a horn.
"Hi mom."
"What happened?" Tess asked.
"It was a siren. What about you?"
"I'm a hunter now. Your mom wants me to remain at the camp so you can have some company and some protection." Tess answered.
Luna flew over to them. It was strange for Orion, seeing his mom look younger than he did.
"Is that what I think it is?" she asked, pointing to the flashlight/spear. Jamie handed it to her. "I haven't seen the Spear of Night since a millenium ago, when I was exiled."
"Wow" Jamie thought. "It's been up here all that time."
Luna gave the spear back to Jamie. "Here, you've earned this."
Orion turned looking at his flank, hoping that maybe, he had finally gotten his cutie mark, but there was no such luck.
A few weeks later
Orion lay in his bunk in Stable Eight. Tess was asleep on the other side of the cabin, snoring.
He looked at the symbol of his first quest on his camper necklace. It showing a crescent moon behind a spear, making it look like a bow and arrow.
He looked out the window and saw the moon rising from the forest, and gently eased into sleep as the first rays of moonlight touched the cabin floor.