Child of Silverby WilliamShakeshoofChaptersChapter 3: TartarusChapter 4: Orion ReturnsChapter 5: Nothing but a Hound DogChapter 6: A different kind of LoveChapter 7: Child of SilverChapter 8: Orbital ChariotChapter 9: OrbitChapter 10: The Spear of NightmareChapter 1: The Sun will not harm you, nor the moon at nightSon of the HunterChapter 3: TartarusElysium, near Tartarus Luna slowly descended to the fields of Elysium, and to the only colt she had ever loved. Pip. She had loved him so much that the first time, when she had killed him, as a result of her sister's trickery, she had pleaded with with Death to let him live again. The next time, Pip had been killed in Changeling's first uprising, killed by Chrysalis' scorpion. There was no possible way for Luna to convince Death to allow Pip to live even if for one day longer, she had tried. Pip would have to drink from the River Lethe just like the other souls. Still, he would be the only colt that she had or would ever truly love. Pip looked out over the fields of Asphodel and sighed. "Hello Pip" a voice came behind him. He turned, and even the most glorious Hell became a heaven to him once again. "Luna." Pip said, smiling. "It's nice to see you again." "And you as well." she replied. Formalities, over, the two rushed to each other and embraced. "Pip, my sister's tricked me into having agreeing to bear a foal." Pip's face filled with anger. "What! The nerve, of her. If I were alive, I would march out of here and kick her shiny golden backside." Luna laughed. "I swore on the Styx. I have to do it. But Celestia never said any specifics." Pip didn't know where Luna was going with this, but she normally knew what she was doing. "I want you to be my son." she said. "Pip, all you have to do is drink from the River Lethe. I know you haven't wanted to go anywhere near it, but please do it for me." "How can you be sure I'll be reborn as your son." Artemis smiled. "I'll pull a few strings, I am the goddess of childbirth. That way I won't break my vows. I'll still be a virgin, but I will still give birth, and you will be of my blood." "Loony" Pip asked her, using her old nickname from way back "Yes?" "I'm afraid. I don't want to lose you. If I drink from the Lethe, that's what will happen." "Don't worry. I'll be right there with you until the end." She told him, as they both walked to the shores of the River Lethe. Luna sat next to him the whole time, as each drink, he became younger, and younger, she remained at his side. Even to the point that he was simply a spirit, like the mist. Luna gingerly held her lover's spirit close to her. It was time. She held Pip's spirit closer and closer until she finally enveloped it inside of her. It was completed, she was going to be a mother. Chapter 4: Orion ReturnsLuna looked at the beautiful foal in her hooves, wrapped up in a silvery blanket, as silver as the moon. She didn't want her hunters to find out. At least, not yet. Within a few moments, she reached the small stable; on the edge it was in complete coverage of the trees. If anyone knew how best to protect her son, it would be her. She approached the doorsteps. The light coming from the windows provided the only illumination, but the goddess of night did not need it; she could easily see through the dark. She arrived at the foot of the door and was about to knock on it when it swung open, revealing an young mare behind it. "You sensed me coming?" she asked. "Yes, I still have not forgot the old ways,"with a smile. "It's been a long time, Lady Luna." "Yes, Samantha it would seem that way," Luna answered looking up and down at the mare. She looked like a normal mare in her late teens. Her long blonde mane fell all the way to her waist, and her blue eyes still held the brilliance that they always had. She was still beautiful as well, but she had not changed much from the filly Luna used to know as one of her hunters. "Please come in," the mare said, moving away from the door frame to allowed the goddess entry. Luna trotted pass her into the house. From outside the stable, it did not seem that impressive to her; it was only two stories tall, rectangular and well proportioned but that was it. But on the inside was not what she had expected; the room was large and bright, the south wall had been replaced with glass, revealing behind a small porch that spread to a wide lawn. A staircase dominated the east side of the room; the walls, the high ceiling, the wooden floor and the thick carpets complemented the room well making it look even more impressive. Samantha always had excellent taste. "You seem to be doing well, all on your own." Luna's voice broke the short silence. "Well, it has not been easy, but I manage." "I see." "I was surprised to hear from you again, my Lady." Samantha watched the goddess with sad eyes. "I thought that after everything that happened you would never want to see me again..." Luna cut her off. "I'm in need of your service Samantha," she said, turning around to face her. "I spared your life, and now I need your help." "My Lady..." Luna Artemis cut her off again. "I'm not here to harm you Samantha." Samantha relaxed. "What do you need from me then, my Lady?" she asked the goddess, who in return remained silent. She looked down. For the first time Samantha noticed the small bundle Luna was carrying in her hooves. "I need you to look after something for me," she said in a low voice, as if she were afraid someone else might be listening. Luna took a step toward Samantha extending her hooves to give the bundle to Samantha. She hesitated for a second then took it from her. Samantha carefully proceeded to remove the blanket that was wrapped around the object, only to reveal a sleeping foal inside. Her eyes opened in shock at the sight of it. "My Lady, is this foal yours?" Samantha tentatively asked. "Yes, Samantha you are holding my very own foal." Samantha could not believe what she just heard. "But my lady have you…?" She was forced to hold the statement she was about to make as Luna shot her an angry look daring her to finish that sentence. "I have not broken my oath Samantha. I am a maiden, and I'll always be one." "But then how did you...?" "The birth of this foal is a long and complicated story," Luna explained. "Promise me that you will look after him as if he were your very own," Luna said with a bit of sadness at the very end. "You're the only one I can entrust him to." Samantha had her eyes glued at the small infant the whole time the goddess had spoken. Then it hit her. Him. She turned to face the goddess " It's a colt." "Yes," Luna responded with a sad smile on her face. Then her expression turned serious "Will you do it?" Samantha kept quiet for a moment. Then she nodded her head at the small goddess who sighed in relief. "Yes my Lady, I'll raise him as if he were my own." "Thank you." Luna turned to look at the glass doors; she noticed the sky beginning to brighten at the sign of uncoming dawn. Narrowing her eyes she said, "I have to go now." Then she turned to Samantha and trotted to her. She stopped and placed a small kiss on the foal's cheek. Then turned to the door and turned toward the west, her wings outstretched. "My Lady?" Samantha stopped her as she was about to exit the house. "What is his name?" Without turning Luna answered, "Its Orion." With that she flew away. Samantha watched her, but within a few moments the goddess was gone. She trotted walked back inside the house and closed the door. She felt the foal staring to move in her hooves; she brought it up to her face and whispered to him. "It's ok. Everything is going to be just fine. I will protect you. I promise." Samantha laid Orion in the crib that had appeared just as suddenly as the nursery in a vacant room. "Thank you, my lady." Rocking, the crib, Samantha began to sing an old lullaby. Far away it was echoed by Luna as well. Chapter 5: Nothing but a Hound DogSome months later She had to get away from them, find some way of making a loud enough noise to scare them off, but that was going to be difficult, especially at full gallop through the Everfree forest. She had not expected the monsters to appear so soon. They had been running from them ever since. Up in the sky, the silver moon hung, with Luna's silhouette. She said a quick prayer for her and the baby's safety. A howl pierced the silence. The timberwolf leapt, and she screamed. Within moments Silver arrows streaked through the air, instantly killing the immense wolf that had been feasting on a mare. It was too late. The mare was dead. Luna trotted over to the carcass of the timberwolf and shock ran through her. It was Samantha! The former hunter that she had given her foal to. Where was he? she worried. She frantically looked around around her. Not daring to picture the colt's fate. A cry broke forth from under Samantha's body. "Thank you Faust," Luna silently prayed. Her son was alive. She tenderly rolled Samantha's body around, exposing the body of a crying foal. "It's okay, your mother's here now." Luna said gently into the foal's ear. She expertly debarked the wolf, "One of Lycaon's" Artemis cursed. Using the fur coat she wrapped her foal inside. "Momma?" It asked, Luna read his mind. He stopped crying. "There, There. It will all be okay now." Luna thought to his mind. He was still so young. The foal hadn't even been weaned yet. The scene evaporated into silver as Luna transported herself back to her Tent. Luna's Tent Orion was sleeping in her hooves. Warmed by both the timberwolf's fur and the campfire Luna sat next to, inside her tent. She gently rocked him back and forth, filling his dreams with calming dreams of nature. It was rudely interrupted by her lieutenant Twilight, outside the tent. "Princess Luna!" she said loudly. Luna looked to Orion, luckily he was still asleep. "What is it Twilight?" she said softly, skillfully hiding Orion's presence. "A colt has stumbled into the campsite. We've knocked him unconscious. What do you want to do with him?" Luna began to worry for the safety of her foal and former lover, the reborn Pip, Orion. If her hunters had found out, what would they think of her? Luna thought about her situation. To even her huntress's eyes the moment was too small for them to notice, but by then she had made her decision. As the goddess lay her foal to sleep in a comfortable bed, his body began to fill with fur, merging with the timberwolf coat he was wrapped in. His ears and face began to lengthen. He slowly became a timberwolf puppy. Luna couldn't help but think that he was cute. She turned and resolutely strolled out of her tent to deal with the colt intruder. Maybe this time I'll go lenient and give him Sipriote's* punishment, she thought Unfortunately, there was no such luck, and one more jackalope was added to the world. Year's Later Orion understood why he had to take the shape of a hunting hound. It was easier now that the other Huntresses knew. No colts allowed. Animals welcome. He happily chased down the snow white rabbit and brought it back to Stormcloud. "Good Orion," She said cheerfully scratching behind his ear. "Orion!" his mom called, and he walked inside the tent, transforming back into a colt. His mother always looked just about the same age; she was the immortal princess Luna, goddess of the moon, that as understandable. He sat down next to the small campfire. "Orion. You're old enough, and so I want you to go to camp Half-hoof." The words almost made him sick. He would be away from the Hunters, away from his mom, away from his Luna. "But mom..." he whined. "I know it might be hard. But you'll make plenty of friends. You need to have the opportunity to live a normal foalhood. You can't stay a timberwolf forever." Luna caught him off guard and put in him a headlock, giving his mane a nuggie. "Even though you do make a cute one." "Mom, you're embarrassing." "No I'm not." she said firmly. "We have to leave tonight, the moon should pass over the camp sometime around midnight." His mom carried him to her chariot as a timberwolf and once they were away from camp, he turned back into a colt. "I'm gonna miss you," he said, as the chariot descended onto the snow just outside of camp. "Don't worry, I'll be close-by." He looked up at the sky until his mother's chariot was out of sight, drowned out by the light of the moon. Orion had never been this alone during the night. Never. Quickly he trotted up the hill, and headed toward camp. Chapter 6: A different kind of LoveOrion slowly trotted over the hill and into camp. He made his way to the Big Stable. It felt like everypony was staring directly at him, like he was some type of freak. In actuality, nopony was staring at him. The Big Stable was just that, Big. Trotting up to it, even though he was the son of a goddess, it made him feel incredibly small and insignificant. He knocked on the door. "Come in." a mare's voice echoed from the attic. Orion slowly trotted into the house. Calling it a mansion would have been an understatement. It seemed even bigger on the inside, if such a thing were possible. Next to a cozy little fireplace there was a older pegasus in a wheelchair sleeping, Off on the other side there was somepony that looked like he went to a lot of college parties, he was even wearing a toga. The college student either failed to notice, or just simply ignored his entry. Orion knew right away that the college colt was a god, because he was an alicorn. "Hello there." came the same voice from outside. Orion looked and coming down the stairs was a red haired girl. "My name's Rose." "Hi. I'm Orion." "So you're the new demigod that all over the Canterlot Enquirer. It says that you're the Son of Luna, but it hard to believe since that thing's nearly as bad as the normal Enquirer." "Well, yeah, I am the son of Luna. Nice to meet you" "I'm the Oracle." The two of them trotted outside, and looked out over the camp. Rose pointed to a small stable nestled off to the side, it was nestled in between small dense group of trees right on the edge of the forest. "That's Stable Eight. Normally whenever Luna's Hunters are staying at camp they normally stay there." She pointed to the next stable over. Sounds of Guitar Horse Hero echoed forth through the window. "That's Celestia's cabin." She then pointed out all the rest of the stable. Cadence, Armor, Poniseidon, Death, Faust, and the minor gods. Between the small stables and the Big Stable, there was another stable. "What's that one?" Orion asked. "That's where the unclaimed foals go who don't have their cutie mark. Once a parent claims them, they receive their cutie mark normally. Everypony gets theirs by age 13 now, but if they haven't or if their parentage hasn't been revealed, they stay in that cabin. They don't normally stay that long though. If a camper arrives to camp, normally if they're younger than 13 they get claimed within a year for the most part." "So, even though I'm still a blank flank," Orion began. "It's positive that you're Luna's son, you just have to figure out your special talent" Rose led Orion down toward Stable Eight. As soon as they started passing cabins, doors opened and curious campers watched him pass. Though, none of them said anything until they got past the Cadence cabin. "Be careful about those kids." Rachel warned. "It's okay, I have an ace up my sleeve they'll never see coming." A little filly stumbled out of the cabin sleepily. She couldn't have been much older than seven or eight. She was clutching a pink teddy bear and rubbed her eyes. She trotted up to them and looked up at Orion. "The other foals want to know if you're really the son of Luna." Orion nodded. He loved foals, just like his mom. It was only when they got older the problems began. "So your daddy's really special, then." "Why do you think that?" Orion waited for a name. "Mare-y.." "Well Mare-y what do you think?" "Well, its just that normally the the myths Luna doesn't really like to get attached. But it must've happened, cause you're here, but that means its really rare. So in a way its special, like True Wove." "So Orion, do you have anyone special?" one of the Cadence foals asked from the window. His eyes gleamed as he looked up into the sky "There's only one girl I could ever love, had ever loved, will ever love. So don't try anything" There was a moment of silence, but only a moment. "Oh, that's so sweet." another Cadence camper said. "Who is she?" Orion just smiled as the Rose and him trotted toward Stable Eight while the other campers filed back into their own stables. It was getting late. "Light's out in half-hour. That means you too, Celestia cabin!" Rose yelled. "So who is your dad?" she asked. "Well, its complicated. And I mean really complicated." "Try me." "Its me." "What!" "Yeah its kinda weird for me too. I'm supposed to be either the second of third reincarnation of Luna's best friend. Before her exile on the moon, I was called Orion, and was Pip when she returned a thousand years later. Now I'm Orion again. The only colt that Luna ever truly loved. She couldn't just get him/me out of Tartarus, so he/I drank from the Lethe, and Luna volunteered to me my mother." "But... when you get older..." "I know... I'm confused too. Ripe for an Oedipal complex...I guess." he chuckled. "Well goodnight Orion." Rose said, and then started to walk back up to the Big Stable. "G'night!" he called back. Chapter 7: Child of SilverOrion lay in his bed in Stable Eight. The scents of pine and other types of trees filled the air as he slowly drifted off to sleep. Orion was standing on an immense gray desert. He was dreaming. Ever since the past month, it had always been the same dream. Off in the distance, the most beautiful mare beckoned him forth. "Orion" she beckoned. "Come to me." "Who are you?" he asked. He asked every night. Every night the maiden remained silent. It couldn't have been his mother, he thought. The two looked different. The mare only smiled. "Wake up Orion!" Opening his eyes there was a filly only inches away from his face. "Aaaaaaahhhhhhhhh!" he yelled. The filly jumped off of the bed, laughing. "Who are you?" He said, a bit frightened. "I'm Dinky. I'm one of your mom's hunters. She sent me here to check up on you." In fact she was the only one that was willing to go. All the others, even Twilight, wanted nothing to do with him, as a colt at least, and Luna had accepted their decisions. He went into the bathroom and quickly put on some new clothes. He decided to rewear the shirt, though. It wasn't dirty, at least. He walked out and Dinky was already changed. They made their way up to the dining area. "Starswirl gave me the training schedule when I got here around dawn. First up is breakfast, then archery, then a very special hunting game in your honor, after that's dinner, and then free time." "Sound's good with me. Wait, what kind of hunting game is it?" "Oh, its just Venatio. Its really fun." Orion stood in the middle of a pit. Dinky stood next to him. "Are you crazy!" he yelled. "Don't worry, you're the son of Luna, the alicorn goddess of the Hunt. Plus we have plenty of stuff that will heal you up, even though you probably won't need it. After all, its only 20 Elephants." "That's what I mean, are you crazy? 20 elephants!" A distant thundering could be heard. The ground shook. Orion could feel the tremors but couldn't yet see the elephants. Oh, there they were. "What the hell, those things are not elephants." 20 of the most hairy looking beasts were charging down the open field directing toward him and Luna's Hunters. "What! You thought I meant those puny things you see in zoos. No these are what mortals called wolly mammoths. We call them Calydonian Boars." And boars they were. As big if not bigger than elephants. They each had two large ivory white tusks. The only different between them and wolly mammoths were they they did not possess the trunk. "Mom, please don't let me die." Orion silently prayed. His arm and the blade in it began to glow a brilliant silver. Suddenly, all he could focus on was how to best kill the beasts. He focused on the quick kill spots.The Brain , from any way possible,and the Heart, also by any way possible. Time seemed to slow as he charged forward, gaining momentum. He leapt onto the head of the first Calydonian, and thrust his blade behind its skull. An instant kill. Cheers issued forth the the campers on the sidelines. Orion couldn't hear them. As soon as he had thrust the blade in he leapt from the tumbling beast and ran to the next nearest. Dinky was keeping up but only just. She was just a second or so slower than Orion. Within 20 minutes, all of the Calydonian boars had been defeated. The crowd was on their hooves. Orion stood on top of the last bleeding carcass. Finally he looked up. "Orion... Orion...Orion" Andrea was yelling. At that moment, he felt more exhausted then he had ever felt n his entire life. "Woah.." he said, and suddenly collapsed. He awoke to the scent of pine trees. He was in Stable Eight. Dinky was sitting next to his bed. She saw his eyes open, and smiled. "Wow, that's amazing. Berserker Rage like that hasn't been seen for a hundred years." "What's Berserker..." Orion asked feebly. Andrea gave him another cup of nectar. "Long ago ponies called it the Call of the Hunt. Hunters and warriors: demi-gods, would be able to become super-strong. But afterward, they were really weak, and always fainted or kinda just shut down afterward." "How long have I been out?" "Only a couple of hours, luckily we have nectar. Its lucky that you woke up, since it's dinner time." "To Luna," he said, scraping the choice meat into the fire. As he walked back to the Luna table a small wind picked up. Over at the head table, a green mist suddenly arose, centered on Rosel. Rose's eyes glowed green with smoke... and she became to speak with a voice as ancient as time. "Child of Silver, you must be Bold, Aided by foal of Fire and Gold. The Goddess Luna grants you a boon, Something once lost, now rests on the moon. Go alone to the place without air. And claim your birthright, the nightmare spear." She fell silent. Orion was just standing there, between the Luna table and the fire. "Orion," Starswirl said. "come here." Wordlessly, Orion trotted over the the head table, where Buckkus, Starswirl, and Rose were sitting. "Child of Silver, that means me doesn't it?" Orion said. Starswirl nodded. "Unless your mother has any other children?," he said with a hint of sarcasm. "Yes, it means you." "I think I can guess the rest. Well, since Silver is representing the Moon, the Children of Fire and Gold, probably means the foals of Hayphestus or Celestia. The rest is pretty straight forward." "I'd say that's a fair assumption." Starswirl said. About a moment later... "Wait. My mom wants me to go to the Moon! How in Tartarus am I supposed to do that?" Chapter 8: Orbital ChariotOrion was having the dream again. Once again he was on the barren grey landscape. He looked around, in the distance was an old lunar lander and an Equestrian flag depicting the two alicorn sisters of myth. Of course, he realized, he was on the moon. If he was on the moon then the mare calling to him probably was his mother, Luna. It had been a few days after the prophecy had been given about him. Dinky had gone back to the Hunters, and Stable Eight felt strangely empty. Preparations were being made for the journey to Tallahorsee it the best way to get to the moon. In the field the foals of Hayphestus "So. What do you think?" Tess, a fifteen year old filly of Hayphestus asked. Her cutie mark was a hammer an anvil, the usual cutie mark for the Hayphestus stable. In front of her were the plans for a custom built space chariot. Orion looked at them carefully. Tess went on to point out features in the design. "Its airtight. You'll need that for where you're going. There ain't no air there." She pointed to the spot where the horses normally would be. "We weren't sure if you were going to use horses. Were ya?" Orion shrugged. "Well that's a relief. Ya' see" she pointed at the design again. A half dozen intricately designed rocket engines appeared were the horses normally would have been. "We designed a special Greek Fire Mechanical Rocket Mechanical Horse. It's Strong Stuff. Should get ya to the Moon in about a day." "Plus it miniaturizes!" Tess said. She pressed a button and the chariot collapsed into a miniature version that fit in her hoof. "Wow!" Orion said. "What's really weird is that I'm been dreamin' about this thing months before you even arrived at camp." That had to be important. Orion thought. "Tess, the prophecy did say that I would be aided by child of Hayphestus, and I was thinking; Maybe you should come too." "I was actually hoping that you would ask that. The other night I dreamt of an enormous gray desert. There was this girl and she told me to help you." "That settles it then. I've had almost the same dream. You're coming along." "Yay!" Tess yelled. Wrenches and screwdrivers flew up into the air. "Duck!" "Watch Out!" "What in Tartarus is wrong with you Tess!" screamed other various Hayphestus campers as they dived, dipped, and dodged the projectiles. "Sorry!" Tess said loudly. "But Yay! I'm going on a quest!" she said, this time a bit more quietly. She moved to hug him. "No." he said, looking at her hooves. "Right, sorry." Her hooves were covered with grease. She wiped them on her leather work apron, but the oil stain still remained. "When do we leave?" "If the chariot's done, we can leave in the morning." The next morning Argus drove Orion and Tess into Manehattan where they were dropped off at the local bus-wagon depot. The day was uneventful until they got closer to Baltimare and where the bus they were on stopped. Orion's stomach growled. "Sorry, I haven't eaten much today." "I know the feeling, I'm hungry too." Tess said, her stomach growling in affirmation. Off in the distance a restaurant's billboard caught our eyes... it was a KFC. We galloped toward it. Inside, hardly anypony was working, so it wasn't that long of a wait to get the two of them small plate for the buffet. They set aside the best piece of hay, flowers, and chicken and finished their meal, refreshed. Luckily for all demigods on missions, every single restaurant had a sacrificial fire that was hidden by the mist. Normal ponies saw trash cans and places to return the trays. To the ponies whose vision was not obscured by the Mist, they were tiny fires to offer sacrifices to the gods. "To Luna" He said, dumping the piece of chicken into the fire. "To Hayphestus" Tess followed with her leftovers. While they were eating the two didn't notice a sixteen-wheeler pulling up to the back of the store. Now that they were outside and the demigod smell filled the air, it shook on it wheels from side to side, like something big was trying to find its way out. The two of them jumped back and readied themselves for a fight Steel peeled back from the side of the sixteen-wheeler. A harsh noise, like a hissing-crow issued forth from the darkness. Two large scaly talons reached out to touch the ground. They were followed by a large, bulbous, scaly body partially covered with feathers. For once, Orion knew his monsters. The creature that stood before him was a cockatrice, sometimes refered to as a basilisk, the unholy offspring of a chicken's egg hatched by a toad. The two of them quickly shut their eyes. He racked his brain trying to dig up any information that he could remember about basilisks from the lessons at camp. Basilisks did something. They could kill or turn you into stone with a single glance, or a single breath, but couldn't remember which. "Don't look," he warned Tess. Although it didn't sound like it was getting any closer. Daring a peek, he saw that the animal was more interested in the garbage, and not them. It was greedily picking at any bit of food that it could find. The basilisk was greedily going after every bit of trash food in the dumpster. "So, I wonder if this is part of the 11 herbs and spices." Tess said, causing Orion to chuckle. His mind raced with strategy. If he couldn't look at the thing, then he would use a different strategy than if he simply couldn't get in front it, and vice versa. He decided to go with the not seeing part and try an attack from behind. Hopefully that would cover all the bases, he thought. Slowly, he snuck up behind the overgrown chicken. He let out a blood-curdling battle cry as he leapt onto the back of the basilisk, landing on its neck and not daring to look into its eyes. Orion thrust his sword into the beast's neck. It glanced off the side, as if the monster was made out of metal. He tried again, and again the killing blow simply glanced off to the side. There was no way of simply killing this beast. Sensing the attack, it began to buck and kick, trying to get the nuisance off of its back. "Orion! Only three things can kill a basilisk, the crow of a rooster, looking at itself in a mirror, or a weasel." as he rushed back inside. "Aha," he said. There are very few things that could kill a basilisk, and all he had to do was hang on. Orion did not a mirror, or a weasel, so he needed to find a rooster. He dug into the basilisk's feathers, and held on for dear life. It was out of his hooves. He silently prayed to the gods that there was a farm nearby. Underneath of him, he could feel the basilisk running. In all likelihood, it was no longer in the parking lot of the KFC. Shadows danced behind his eyelids. He hoped Tess was keeping a safe distance. The basilisk continued to run, doing everything to get the creature off of its back. Then it rolled. His eyes shut, Orion felt the cool, damp grass as the basilisk tumbled. He had let go. Any minute the basilisk would peck at him into a million pieces. Its shadow fell upon him. "COCK-A-DOODLE-DOO" a sound echoed from the distance. The shadow departed. After a few minutes Orion was brave enough to open his eyes. A dozen feet away, at the base of a large tree, the basilisk lay dead. It body, slowly dissolving into golden dust, leaving only the head. Orion was disappointed, almost. He had hoped that he might be able to test whether it tasted like chicken. He had never had basilisk before. The two of them got a room in a hotel, and the next day got a ride on a bus headed to Tallahorsee. Chapter 9: Orbit"Hey Orion wake up!" He opened his eyes. It was already ten'o clock in the morning. "Why do I always feel so tired in the mornings?", he asked himself. "I guess being a son of the goddess of the moon doesn't help it." He opened the window. Outside was the city of Tallahorsee. Tess was holding a bag, allowing it to hang from her shoulder. It was her stuff for the trip. "Dammit, I forgot to pack" he thought, mentally kicked himself. "I'm up. Just let me get changed first." he said. "Okay." came Tess's reply. "Okay I'm ready to go...Woah." He said stepping out of the hotel into the sun. Tess set the chariot on the ground and pressed a tiny button. It soon grew to the size of a school bus. The sun was bright. It didn't help that the chariot was parked outside the cabin attached to four mechanical bronze horses that were reflecting it directly at him. Tess saw the look on his face and smiled. "I got those horses from my dad. I modified them a bit to run on Eponan fire. Did you know that they used Eponan Fire for their spacecraft?" Orion shook his head. The mechanical horses' hooves were made of actual fire. They glowed orange and slightly charred the grass beneath them. They were beautiful, and almost looked alive. Orion slowly got closer, wanting it stroke it. Suddenly, the one nearest him twitched its head and sneezed black smoke. Orion backed away instantly. "So what do we do now?" "You're so not a morning pony." Tess said. "Duh, we get in and launch." Inside the chariot was amazing. It looked even more comfortable than the hotel they stayed at. "Why didn't we just ride this thing down here?" "We only have enough fuel to get to the moon and back. No extra" "Oh" Orion and Tess were leaned back in some very comfortably made chairs. "You ready?" Orion nodded. "Lets go to the moon." he said excitedly Tess flipped the switch. "Ignition." she said. Outside the horses strained at their reins. Bluish-white fire surrounded their entire bodies. The whole chariot had now risen to a good twenty or twenty-five feet and drifted away from the parking lot. Wagon alarms sounded off. Tess switched the lever holding the horses in place. It was like being sparta-bucked in the chest. The two of them were firmly planted into their seats. Through a tiny window, they watched as the sky slowly changed from a blue to a violet and then finally to black. She dialed back the horses. Outside they went from a bluish white flame to a yellow, but the flames still covered their entire bodies. Their hooves floated loosely in the air. "Wow, this feels so weird." Orion said, unbuckling his seat harness. Unhindered he slowly drifted out of the seat. "I wonder if this is what pegasi feels like when they're flying?" Tess unbuckled her harness and floated next to him. Outside one of the windows they could see all of Equestria. Both of them just hung there, wordlessly, mystified by the beauty. They turned and looked at each other. If she had been the romantic kind of person Tess would've kissed Orion right then and there. However, she wasn't. "So now that we're in space. What you do want to do? It will probably be next morning before we reach the moon." "I don't know. D'wanna play pinochle?" An audible sigh came from Tess. Chapter 10: The Spear of NightmareThe 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. Chapter 1: The Sun will not harm you, nor the moon at nightA long time ago, there used to be three main pony species; the pegasi, masters of the sky, Unicorns, students of Magic, and normal ponies, strong, durable, and workers of the earth. Above them the alicorns ruled, for a time. Eventually, the pegasi and unicorns vanished and faded into obscurity, and with them, the alicorns; leaving the earth ponies to themselves. These eventually were to be viewed only as myths. But the alicorns still watched over Equestria. Sometimes they would disguise themselves as normal ponies and have children, who would go on to influence history, but the alicorns forever lurked in the shadows. "We choose to go to the moon. We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard, because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to win, and the others, too." A voice echoed from a distance. "Its a shame." Celestia sighed. She knew what was going to happen, but she could do nothing at all to stop it. "Luna!" she screamed, as her sister appeared next to her. "WHAT IN DISCORD DO YOU THINK YOU ARE DOING. WHY IS YOUR FOAL SAYING THINGS LIKE THAT?" "Wait a minute honey, it not me, its the mortals. Faust thinks its a good idea too, so you'll just have to deal with it." "But the moon's my territory," Luna said calming down,"just as the sun is yours. You wouldn't want ponies messing about on the sun, would you? "In fact, I already decided to ruin the Sun as a precautionary measure, Cadence has already ruined Venus, but Armor is on the fence about the whole thing. But I'll tell you what, I'll let you pick who gets to go to the moon, on some conditions. But first you have to swear on the Styx, you'll do it." she told her. "What conditions?" she asked. "I won't tell you until you swear on the Styx." Luna thought about it, by swearing on the Styx, she would have to do whatever Celestia said, if she wanted to have any say, but if she didn't, any type of pony would be allowed on her sacred territory. Faust was going allow them anyway. She could either have a say in it or not. "Okay, but please, be gentle. I swear on the Styx to Celestia's conditions." Thunder boomed off in the distance. Celestia smiled. "Okay. The first condition is that you have to pick colts that are the foals of former Hunters of yours." "WHAT!" Luna yelled. "Those Hunters betrayed my trust, and had sons. Why would I let one of their foals into my sacred territory?" Celestia's smiled widened. She continued. "The second condition is that there has to be at least one of my children to accompany them. No before you get mad, it doesn't matter if they walk on the moon, but they have to be included in the mission." "Fine. What's the third condition?" Celestia braced herself. Luna was going to be furious, with a capital F. Luckily, she had already swore on the Styx. "You have to have a foal." "No." Thunder boomed louder, it was much closer. "Okay, Okay." It was never good to break an oath sworn on the Styx. "That's it. I've had enough. You know what's wrong with you, and your whole virgin act?" Celestia said furiuously. "You're chicken. You're afraid to stick out your neck and say 'Okay, life's a fact.' Ponies fall in love. Ponies do belong to each other, because that's they only chance anypony's got for real happiness. You call yourself a 'free spirit and wild'. You're just terrified that somepony's going to come along and stick you in a cage." Luna was speechless. "Maybe its time to realize, that you're already in that cage. You built it yourself, and it not bounded by bars, it's wherever you go. Because no matter where you run, you just end up running into yourself." Luna burst into silvery flames that danced across her body. "I would kill you, but you had me swear on the Styx. Forget about the present I was going to get you for your birthday." She disappeared and Celestia went back to listening to the assembly. It wouldn't have been a great birthday present anyway, she thought. Son of the HunterSince she was being forced to, Luna knew the first colt she was going to pick. It was the right choice. "It's nice to see you again, Aunt Moon" Luna smiled. To Buzz, she was just a well-loved Aunt. His mother had been her top lieutenant in her Hunters, before like many of them, the grew up and fell in love. She had been the best, the closest thing she had yet had to a daughter. "Its nice to talk to you again as well, Buzz How's your mother?" "She's good." Buzz replied. "Does she still look up at the moon at night?" Buzz nodded. "Do you?" "Yeah." Not surprising, Luna thought, given who his mother was. The phone rang. That was one good thing about not having foals. They didn't have to worry about using mortal means of communication. It nearly always attracted monsters. She already knew who it was. It was Deke Colton. He was going to ask Buzz if he wanted to be an astropony. "Say yes." she told him. "Yes Deke, I will. Thank you for calling." "It was nice talking to you Buzz, but I have some business I have to attend to. Tell your mother I said hello." Out of sight, Luna disappeared and readied the moon for its nightly circuit. If nothing went wrong, Buzz Aldrin would be the first man on the moon. April 12, 1970 A.E It felt so good to be loved again. All across the world, people looked up at the moon with a sense of deep reverence and pride. She looked at the tiny capsule coming closer to her territory, and her smile faded. It was infuriating. Celestia had pulled one of her little tricks again, almost like back in Troy. Not only did they name the missions after her sister, but now there two of her unclaimed sons on board. She appeared in front of her. "WHAT IN DISCORD DO YOU THINK YOU ARE DOING." "What!" "Don't give me 'What!', you arranged to have one on your colts put on the moon. And this is even after you got them to name the mission after you. O, the irony. Naming a mission to the moon after the alicorn goddess of the sun." Celestia was speechless. Honestly she had no clue what Luna was talking about. "Well, guess what sister, I won't have it. I don't want to do it, but as per the terms of our deal, they aren't going to land on the moon. I forbid it. None of them are going to get hurt, but these ponies are not allowed on the moon." Off in the distance thunder boomed. A decree had been spoken by a goddess. Just as quickly as Luna appeared, she disappeared again.
Chapter 3: TartarusElysium, near Tartarus Luna slowly descended to the fields of Elysium, and to the only colt she had ever loved. Pip. She had loved him so much that the first time, when she had killed him, as a result of her sister's trickery, she had pleaded with with Death to let him live again. The next time, Pip had been killed in Changeling's first uprising, killed by Chrysalis' scorpion. There was no possible way for Luna to convince Death to allow Pip to live even if for one day longer, she had tried. Pip would have to drink from the River Lethe just like the other souls. Still, he would be the only colt that she had or would ever truly love. Pip looked out over the fields of Asphodel and sighed. "Hello Pip" a voice came behind him. He turned, and even the most glorious Hell became a heaven to him once again. "Luna." Pip said, smiling. "It's nice to see you again." "And you as well." she replied. Formalities, over, the two rushed to each other and embraced. "Pip, my sister's tricked me into having agreeing to bear a foal." Pip's face filled with anger. "What! The nerve, of her. If I were alive, I would march out of here and kick her shiny golden backside." Luna laughed. "I swore on the Styx. I have to do it. But Celestia never said any specifics." Pip didn't know where Luna was going with this, but she normally knew what she was doing. "I want you to be my son." she said. "Pip, all you have to do is drink from the River Lethe. I know you haven't wanted to go anywhere near it, but please do it for me." "How can you be sure I'll be reborn as your son." Artemis smiled. "I'll pull a few strings, I am the goddess of childbirth. That way I won't break my vows. I'll still be a virgin, but I will still give birth, and you will be of my blood." "Loony" Pip asked her, using her old nickname from way back "Yes?" "I'm afraid. I don't want to lose you. If I drink from the Lethe, that's what will happen." "Don't worry. I'll be right there with you until the end." She told him, as they both walked to the shores of the River Lethe. Luna sat next to him the whole time, as each drink, he became younger, and younger, she remained at his side. Even to the point that he was simply a spirit, like the mist. Luna gingerly held her lover's spirit close to her. It was time. She held Pip's spirit closer and closer until she finally enveloped it inside of her. It was completed, she was going to be a mother.
Chapter 4: Orion ReturnsLuna looked at the beautiful foal in her hooves, wrapped up in a silvery blanket, as silver as the moon. She didn't want her hunters to find out. At least, not yet. Within a few moments, she reached the small stable; on the edge it was in complete coverage of the trees. If anyone knew how best to protect her son, it would be her. She approached the doorsteps. The light coming from the windows provided the only illumination, but the goddess of night did not need it; she could easily see through the dark. She arrived at the foot of the door and was about to knock on it when it swung open, revealing an young mare behind it. "You sensed me coming?" she asked. "Yes, I still have not forgot the old ways,"with a smile. "It's been a long time, Lady Luna." "Yes, Samantha it would seem that way," Luna answered looking up and down at the mare. She looked like a normal mare in her late teens. Her long blonde mane fell all the way to her waist, and her blue eyes still held the brilliance that they always had. She was still beautiful as well, but she had not changed much from the filly Luna used to know as one of her hunters. "Please come in," the mare said, moving away from the door frame to allowed the goddess entry. Luna trotted pass her into the house. From outside the stable, it did not seem that impressive to her; it was only two stories tall, rectangular and well proportioned but that was it. But on the inside was not what she had expected; the room was large and bright, the south wall had been replaced with glass, revealing behind a small porch that spread to a wide lawn. A staircase dominated the east side of the room; the walls, the high ceiling, the wooden floor and the thick carpets complemented the room well making it look even more impressive. Samantha always had excellent taste. "You seem to be doing well, all on your own." Luna's voice broke the short silence. "Well, it has not been easy, but I manage." "I see." "I was surprised to hear from you again, my Lady." Samantha watched the goddess with sad eyes. "I thought that after everything that happened you would never want to see me again..." Luna cut her off. "I'm in need of your service Samantha," she said, turning around to face her. "I spared your life, and now I need your help." "My Lady..." Luna Artemis cut her off again. "I'm not here to harm you Samantha." Samantha relaxed. "What do you need from me then, my Lady?" she asked the goddess, who in return remained silent. She looked down. For the first time Samantha noticed the small bundle Luna was carrying in her hooves. "I need you to look after something for me," she said in a low voice, as if she were afraid someone else might be listening. Luna took a step toward Samantha extending her hooves to give the bundle to Samantha. She hesitated for a second then took it from her. Samantha carefully proceeded to remove the blanket that was wrapped around the object, only to reveal a sleeping foal inside. Her eyes opened in shock at the sight of it. "My Lady, is this foal yours?" Samantha tentatively asked. "Yes, Samantha you are holding my very own foal." Samantha could not believe what she just heard. "But my lady have you…?" She was forced to hold the statement she was about to make as Luna shot her an angry look daring her to finish that sentence. "I have not broken my oath Samantha. I am a maiden, and I'll always be one." "But then how did you...?" "The birth of this foal is a long and complicated story," Luna explained. "Promise me that you will look after him as if he were your very own," Luna said with a bit of sadness at the very end. "You're the only one I can entrust him to." Samantha had her eyes glued at the small infant the whole time the goddess had spoken. Then it hit her. Him. She turned to face the goddess " It's a colt." "Yes," Luna responded with a sad smile on her face. Then her expression turned serious "Will you do it?" Samantha kept quiet for a moment. Then she nodded her head at the small goddess who sighed in relief. "Yes my Lady, I'll raise him as if he were my own." "Thank you." Luna turned to look at the glass doors; she noticed the sky beginning to brighten at the sign of uncoming dawn. Narrowing her eyes she said, "I have to go now." Then she turned to Samantha and trotted to her. She stopped and placed a small kiss on the foal's cheek. Then turned to the door and turned toward the west, her wings outstretched. "My Lady?" Samantha stopped her as she was about to exit the house. "What is his name?" Without turning Luna answered, "Its Orion." With that she flew away. Samantha watched her, but within a few moments the goddess was gone. She trotted walked back inside the house and closed the door. She felt the foal staring to move in her hooves; she brought it up to her face and whispered to him. "It's ok. Everything is going to be just fine. I will protect you. I promise." Samantha laid Orion in the crib that had appeared just as suddenly as the nursery in a vacant room. "Thank you, my lady." Rocking, the crib, Samantha began to sing an old lullaby. Far away it was echoed by Luna as well.
Chapter 5: Nothing but a Hound DogSome months later She had to get away from them, find some way of making a loud enough noise to scare them off, but that was going to be difficult, especially at full gallop through the Everfree forest. She had not expected the monsters to appear so soon. They had been running from them ever since. Up in the sky, the silver moon hung, with Luna's silhouette. She said a quick prayer for her and the baby's safety. A howl pierced the silence. The timberwolf leapt, and she screamed. Within moments Silver arrows streaked through the air, instantly killing the immense wolf that had been feasting on a mare. It was too late. The mare was dead. Luna trotted over to the carcass of the timberwolf and shock ran through her. It was Samantha! The former hunter that she had given her foal to. Where was he? she worried. She frantically looked around around her. Not daring to picture the colt's fate. A cry broke forth from under Samantha's body. "Thank you Faust," Luna silently prayed. Her son was alive. She tenderly rolled Samantha's body around, exposing the body of a crying foal. "It's okay, your mother's here now." Luna said gently into the foal's ear. She expertly debarked the wolf, "One of Lycaon's" Artemis cursed. Using the fur coat she wrapped her foal inside. "Momma?" It asked, Luna read his mind. He stopped crying. "There, There. It will all be okay now." Luna thought to his mind. He was still so young. The foal hadn't even been weaned yet. The scene evaporated into silver as Luna transported herself back to her Tent. Luna's Tent Orion was sleeping in her hooves. Warmed by both the timberwolf's fur and the campfire Luna sat next to, inside her tent. She gently rocked him back and forth, filling his dreams with calming dreams of nature. It was rudely interrupted by her lieutenant Twilight, outside the tent. "Princess Luna!" she said loudly. Luna looked to Orion, luckily he was still asleep. "What is it Twilight?" she said softly, skillfully hiding Orion's presence. "A colt has stumbled into the campsite. We've knocked him unconscious. What do you want to do with him?" Luna began to worry for the safety of her foal and former lover, the reborn Pip, Orion. If her hunters had found out, what would they think of her? Luna thought about her situation. To even her huntress's eyes the moment was too small for them to notice, but by then she had made her decision. As the goddess lay her foal to sleep in a comfortable bed, his body began to fill with fur, merging with the timberwolf coat he was wrapped in. His ears and face began to lengthen. He slowly became a timberwolf puppy. Luna couldn't help but think that he was cute. She turned and resolutely strolled out of her tent to deal with the colt intruder. Maybe this time I'll go lenient and give him Sipriote's* punishment, she thought Unfortunately, there was no such luck, and one more jackalope was added to the world. Year's Later Orion understood why he had to take the shape of a hunting hound. It was easier now that the other Huntresses knew. No colts allowed. Animals welcome. He happily chased down the snow white rabbit and brought it back to Stormcloud. "Good Orion," She said cheerfully scratching behind his ear. "Orion!" his mom called, and he walked inside the tent, transforming back into a colt. His mother always looked just about the same age; she was the immortal princess Luna, goddess of the moon, that as understandable. He sat down next to the small campfire. "Orion. You're old enough, and so I want you to go to camp Half-hoof." The words almost made him sick. He would be away from the Hunters, away from his mom, away from his Luna. "But mom..." he whined. "I know it might be hard. But you'll make plenty of friends. You need to have the opportunity to live a normal foalhood. You can't stay a timberwolf forever." Luna caught him off guard and put in him a headlock, giving his mane a nuggie. "Even though you do make a cute one." "Mom, you're embarrassing." "No I'm not." she said firmly. "We have to leave tonight, the moon should pass over the camp sometime around midnight." His mom carried him to her chariot as a timberwolf and once they were away from camp, he turned back into a colt. "I'm gonna miss you," he said, as the chariot descended onto the snow just outside of camp. "Don't worry, I'll be close-by." He looked up at the sky until his mother's chariot was out of sight, drowned out by the light of the moon. Orion had never been this alone during the night. Never. Quickly he trotted up the hill, and headed toward camp.
Chapter 6: A different kind of LoveOrion slowly trotted over the hill and into camp. He made his way to the Big Stable. It felt like everypony was staring directly at him, like he was some type of freak. In actuality, nopony was staring at him. The Big Stable was just that, Big. Trotting up to it, even though he was the son of a goddess, it made him feel incredibly small and insignificant. He knocked on the door. "Come in." a mare's voice echoed from the attic. Orion slowly trotted into the house. Calling it a mansion would have been an understatement. It seemed even bigger on the inside, if such a thing were possible. Next to a cozy little fireplace there was a older pegasus in a wheelchair sleeping, Off on the other side there was somepony that looked like he went to a lot of college parties, he was even wearing a toga. The college student either failed to notice, or just simply ignored his entry. Orion knew right away that the college colt was a god, because he was an alicorn. "Hello there." came the same voice from outside. Orion looked and coming down the stairs was a red haired girl. "My name's Rose." "Hi. I'm Orion." "So you're the new demigod that all over the Canterlot Enquirer. It says that you're the Son of Luna, but it hard to believe since that thing's nearly as bad as the normal Enquirer." "Well, yeah, I am the son of Luna. Nice to meet you" "I'm the Oracle." The two of them trotted outside, and looked out over the camp. Rose pointed to a small stable nestled off to the side, it was nestled in between small dense group of trees right on the edge of the forest. "That's Stable Eight. Normally whenever Luna's Hunters are staying at camp they normally stay there." She pointed to the next stable over. Sounds of Guitar Horse Hero echoed forth through the window. "That's Celestia's cabin." She then pointed out all the rest of the stable. Cadence, Armor, Poniseidon, Death, Faust, and the minor gods. Between the small stables and the Big Stable, there was another stable. "What's that one?" Orion asked. "That's where the unclaimed foals go who don't have their cutie mark. Once a parent claims them, they receive their cutie mark normally. Everypony gets theirs by age 13 now, but if they haven't or if their parentage hasn't been revealed, they stay in that cabin. They don't normally stay that long though. If a camper arrives to camp, normally if they're younger than 13 they get claimed within a year for the most part." "So, even though I'm still a blank flank," Orion began. "It's positive that you're Luna's son, you just have to figure out your special talent" Rose led Orion down toward Stable Eight. As soon as they started passing cabins, doors opened and curious campers watched him pass. Though, none of them said anything until they got past the Cadence cabin. "Be careful about those kids." Rachel warned. "It's okay, I have an ace up my sleeve they'll never see coming." A little filly stumbled out of the cabin sleepily. She couldn't have been much older than seven or eight. She was clutching a pink teddy bear and rubbed her eyes. She trotted up to them and looked up at Orion. "The other foals want to know if you're really the son of Luna." Orion nodded. He loved foals, just like his mom. It was only when they got older the problems began. "So your daddy's really special, then." "Why do you think that?" Orion waited for a name. "Mare-y.." "Well Mare-y what do you think?" "Well, its just that normally the the myths Luna doesn't really like to get attached. But it must've happened, cause you're here, but that means its really rare. So in a way its special, like True Wove." "So Orion, do you have anyone special?" one of the Cadence foals asked from the window. His eyes gleamed as he looked up into the sky "There's only one girl I could ever love, had ever loved, will ever love. So don't try anything" There was a moment of silence, but only a moment. "Oh, that's so sweet." another Cadence camper said. "Who is she?" Orion just smiled as the Rose and him trotted toward Stable Eight while the other campers filed back into their own stables. It was getting late. "Light's out in half-hour. That means you too, Celestia cabin!" Rose yelled. "So who is your dad?" she asked. "Well, its complicated. And I mean really complicated." "Try me." "Its me." "What!" "Yeah its kinda weird for me too. I'm supposed to be either the second of third reincarnation of Luna's best friend. Before her exile on the moon, I was called Orion, and was Pip when she returned a thousand years later. Now I'm Orion again. The only colt that Luna ever truly loved. She couldn't just get him/me out of Tartarus, so he/I drank from the Lethe, and Luna volunteered to me my mother." "But... when you get older..." "I know... I'm confused too. Ripe for an Oedipal complex...I guess." he chuckled. "Well goodnight Orion." Rose said, and then started to walk back up to the Big Stable. "G'night!" he called back.
Chapter 7: Child of SilverOrion lay in his bed in Stable Eight. The scents of pine and other types of trees filled the air as he slowly drifted off to sleep. Orion was standing on an immense gray desert. He was dreaming. Ever since the past month, it had always been the same dream. Off in the distance, the most beautiful mare beckoned him forth. "Orion" she beckoned. "Come to me." "Who are you?" he asked. He asked every night. Every night the maiden remained silent. It couldn't have been his mother, he thought. The two looked different. The mare only smiled. "Wake up Orion!" Opening his eyes there was a filly only inches away from his face. "Aaaaaaahhhhhhhhh!" he yelled. The filly jumped off of the bed, laughing. "Who are you?" He said, a bit frightened. "I'm Dinky. I'm one of your mom's hunters. She sent me here to check up on you." In fact she was the only one that was willing to go. All the others, even Twilight, wanted nothing to do with him, as a colt at least, and Luna had accepted their decisions. He went into the bathroom and quickly put on some new clothes. He decided to rewear the shirt, though. It wasn't dirty, at least. He walked out and Dinky was already changed. They made their way up to the dining area. "Starswirl gave me the training schedule when I got here around dawn. First up is breakfast, then archery, then a very special hunting game in your honor, after that's dinner, and then free time." "Sound's good with me. Wait, what kind of hunting game is it?" "Oh, its just Venatio. Its really fun." Orion stood in the middle of a pit. Dinky stood next to him. "Are you crazy!" he yelled. "Don't worry, you're the son of Luna, the alicorn goddess of the Hunt. Plus we have plenty of stuff that will heal you up, even though you probably won't need it. After all, its only 20 Elephants." "That's what I mean, are you crazy? 20 elephants!" A distant thundering could be heard. The ground shook. Orion could feel the tremors but couldn't yet see the elephants. Oh, there they were. "What the hell, those things are not elephants." 20 of the most hairy looking beasts were charging down the open field directing toward him and Luna's Hunters. "What! You thought I meant those puny things you see in zoos. No these are what mortals called wolly mammoths. We call them Calydonian Boars." And boars they were. As big if not bigger than elephants. They each had two large ivory white tusks. The only different between them and wolly mammoths were they they did not possess the trunk. "Mom, please don't let me die." Orion silently prayed. His arm and the blade in it began to glow a brilliant silver. Suddenly, all he could focus on was how to best kill the beasts. He focused on the quick kill spots.The Brain , from any way possible,and the Heart, also by any way possible. Time seemed to slow as he charged forward, gaining momentum. He leapt onto the head of the first Calydonian, and thrust his blade behind its skull. An instant kill. Cheers issued forth the the campers on the sidelines. Orion couldn't hear them. As soon as he had thrust the blade in he leapt from the tumbling beast and ran to the next nearest. Dinky was keeping up but only just. She was just a second or so slower than Orion. Within 20 minutes, all of the Calydonian boars had been defeated. The crowd was on their hooves. Orion stood on top of the last bleeding carcass. Finally he looked up. "Orion... Orion...Orion" Andrea was yelling. At that moment, he felt more exhausted then he had ever felt n his entire life. "Woah.." he said, and suddenly collapsed. He awoke to the scent of pine trees. He was in Stable Eight. Dinky was sitting next to his bed. She saw his eyes open, and smiled. "Wow, that's amazing. Berserker Rage like that hasn't been seen for a hundred years." "What's Berserker..." Orion asked feebly. Andrea gave him another cup of nectar. "Long ago ponies called it the Call of the Hunt. Hunters and warriors: demi-gods, would be able to become super-strong. But afterward, they were really weak, and always fainted or kinda just shut down afterward." "How long have I been out?" "Only a couple of hours, luckily we have nectar. Its lucky that you woke up, since it's dinner time." "To Luna," he said, scraping the choice meat into the fire. As he walked back to the Luna table a small wind picked up. Over at the head table, a green mist suddenly arose, centered on Rosel. Rose's eyes glowed green with smoke... and she became to speak with a voice as ancient as time. "Child of Silver, you must be Bold, Aided by foal of Fire and Gold. The Goddess Luna grants you a boon, Something once lost, now rests on the moon. Go alone to the place without air. And claim your birthright, the nightmare spear." She fell silent. Orion was just standing there, between the Luna table and the fire. "Orion," Starswirl said. "come here." Wordlessly, Orion trotted over the the head table, where Buckkus, Starswirl, and Rose were sitting. "Child of Silver, that means me doesn't it?" Orion said. Starswirl nodded. "Unless your mother has any other children?," he said with a hint of sarcasm. "Yes, it means you." "I think I can guess the rest. Well, since Silver is representing the Moon, the Children of Fire and Gold, probably means the foals of Hayphestus or Celestia. The rest is pretty straight forward." "I'd say that's a fair assumption." Starswirl said. About a moment later... "Wait. My mom wants me to go to the Moon! How in Tartarus am I supposed to do that?"
Chapter 8: Orbital ChariotOrion was having the dream again. Once again he was on the barren grey landscape. He looked around, in the distance was an old lunar lander and an Equestrian flag depicting the two alicorn sisters of myth. Of course, he realized, he was on the moon. If he was on the moon then the mare calling to him probably was his mother, Luna. It had been a few days after the prophecy had been given about him. Dinky had gone back to the Hunters, and Stable Eight felt strangely empty. Preparations were being made for the journey to Tallahorsee it the best way to get to the moon. In the field the foals of Hayphestus "So. What do you think?" Tess, a fifteen year old filly of Hayphestus asked. Her cutie mark was a hammer an anvil, the usual cutie mark for the Hayphestus stable. In front of her were the plans for a custom built space chariot. Orion looked at them carefully. Tess went on to point out features in the design. "Its airtight. You'll need that for where you're going. There ain't no air there." She pointed to the spot where the horses normally would be. "We weren't sure if you were going to use horses. Were ya?" Orion shrugged. "Well that's a relief. Ya' see" she pointed at the design again. A half dozen intricately designed rocket engines appeared were the horses normally would have been. "We designed a special Greek Fire Mechanical Rocket Mechanical Horse. It's Strong Stuff. Should get ya to the Moon in about a day." "Plus it miniaturizes!" Tess said. She pressed a button and the chariot collapsed into a miniature version that fit in her hoof. "Wow!" Orion said. "What's really weird is that I'm been dreamin' about this thing months before you even arrived at camp." That had to be important. Orion thought. "Tess, the prophecy did say that I would be aided by child of Hayphestus, and I was thinking; Maybe you should come too." "I was actually hoping that you would ask that. The other night I dreamt of an enormous gray desert. There was this girl and she told me to help you." "That settles it then. I've had almost the same dream. You're coming along." "Yay!" Tess yelled. Wrenches and screwdrivers flew up into the air. "Duck!" "Watch Out!" "What in Tartarus is wrong with you Tess!" screamed other various Hayphestus campers as they dived, dipped, and dodged the projectiles. "Sorry!" Tess said loudly. "But Yay! I'm going on a quest!" she said, this time a bit more quietly. She moved to hug him. "No." he said, looking at her hooves. "Right, sorry." Her hooves were covered with grease. She wiped them on her leather work apron, but the oil stain still remained. "When do we leave?" "If the chariot's done, we can leave in the morning." The next morning Argus drove Orion and Tess into Manehattan where they were dropped off at the local bus-wagon depot. The day was uneventful until they got closer to Baltimare and where the bus they were on stopped. Orion's stomach growled. "Sorry, I haven't eaten much today." "I know the feeling, I'm hungry too." Tess said, her stomach growling in affirmation. Off in the distance a restaurant's billboard caught our eyes... it was a KFC. We galloped toward it. Inside, hardly anypony was working, so it wasn't that long of a wait to get the two of them small plate for the buffet. They set aside the best piece of hay, flowers, and chicken and finished their meal, refreshed. Luckily for all demigods on missions, every single restaurant had a sacrificial fire that was hidden by the mist. Normal ponies saw trash cans and places to return the trays. To the ponies whose vision was not obscured by the Mist, they were tiny fires to offer sacrifices to the gods. "To Luna" He said, dumping the piece of chicken into the fire. "To Hayphestus" Tess followed with her leftovers. While they were eating the two didn't notice a sixteen-wheeler pulling up to the back of the store. Now that they were outside and the demigod smell filled the air, it shook on it wheels from side to side, like something big was trying to find its way out. The two of them jumped back and readied themselves for a fight Steel peeled back from the side of the sixteen-wheeler. A harsh noise, like a hissing-crow issued forth from the darkness. Two large scaly talons reached out to touch the ground. They were followed by a large, bulbous, scaly body partially covered with feathers. For once, Orion knew his monsters. The creature that stood before him was a cockatrice, sometimes refered to as a basilisk, the unholy offspring of a chicken's egg hatched by a toad. The two of them quickly shut their eyes. He racked his brain trying to dig up any information that he could remember about basilisks from the lessons at camp. Basilisks did something. They could kill or turn you into stone with a single glance, or a single breath, but couldn't remember which. "Don't look," he warned Tess. Although it didn't sound like it was getting any closer. Daring a peek, he saw that the animal was more interested in the garbage, and not them. It was greedily picking at any bit of food that it could find. The basilisk was greedily going after every bit of trash food in the dumpster. "So, I wonder if this is part of the 11 herbs and spices." Tess said, causing Orion to chuckle. His mind raced with strategy. If he couldn't look at the thing, then he would use a different strategy than if he simply couldn't get in front it, and vice versa. He decided to go with the not seeing part and try an attack from behind. Hopefully that would cover all the bases, he thought. Slowly, he snuck up behind the overgrown chicken. He let out a blood-curdling battle cry as he leapt onto the back of the basilisk, landing on its neck and not daring to look into its eyes. Orion thrust his sword into the beast's neck. It glanced off the side, as if the monster was made out of metal. He tried again, and again the killing blow simply glanced off to the side. There was no way of simply killing this beast. Sensing the attack, it began to buck and kick, trying to get the nuisance off of its back. "Orion! Only three things can kill a basilisk, the crow of a rooster, looking at itself in a mirror, or a weasel." as he rushed back inside. "Aha," he said. There are very few things that could kill a basilisk, and all he had to do was hang on. Orion did not a mirror, or a weasel, so he needed to find a rooster. He dug into the basilisk's feathers, and held on for dear life. It was out of his hooves. He silently prayed to the gods that there was a farm nearby. Underneath of him, he could feel the basilisk running. In all likelihood, it was no longer in the parking lot of the KFC. Shadows danced behind his eyelids. He hoped Tess was keeping a safe distance. The basilisk continued to run, doing everything to get the creature off of its back. Then it rolled. His eyes shut, Orion felt the cool, damp grass as the basilisk tumbled. He had let go. Any minute the basilisk would peck at him into a million pieces. Its shadow fell upon him. "COCK-A-DOODLE-DOO" a sound echoed from the distance. The shadow departed. After a few minutes Orion was brave enough to open his eyes. A dozen feet away, at the base of a large tree, the basilisk lay dead. It body, slowly dissolving into golden dust, leaving only the head. Orion was disappointed, almost. He had hoped that he might be able to test whether it tasted like chicken. He had never had basilisk before. The two of them got a room in a hotel, and the next day got a ride on a bus headed to Tallahorsee.
Chapter 9: Orbit"Hey Orion wake up!" He opened his eyes. It was already ten'o clock in the morning. "Why do I always feel so tired in the mornings?", he asked himself. "I guess being a son of the goddess of the moon doesn't help it." He opened the window. Outside was the city of Tallahorsee. Tess was holding a bag, allowing it to hang from her shoulder. It was her stuff for the trip. "Dammit, I forgot to pack" he thought, mentally kicked himself. "I'm up. Just let me get changed first." he said. "Okay." came Tess's reply. "Okay I'm ready to go...Woah." He said stepping out of the hotel into the sun. Tess set the chariot on the ground and pressed a tiny button. It soon grew to the size of a school bus. The sun was bright. It didn't help that the chariot was parked outside the cabin attached to four mechanical bronze horses that were reflecting it directly at him. Tess saw the look on his face and smiled. "I got those horses from my dad. I modified them a bit to run on Eponan fire. Did you know that they used Eponan Fire for their spacecraft?" Orion shook his head. The mechanical horses' hooves were made of actual fire. They glowed orange and slightly charred the grass beneath them. They were beautiful, and almost looked alive. Orion slowly got closer, wanting it stroke it. Suddenly, the one nearest him twitched its head and sneezed black smoke. Orion backed away instantly. "So what do we do now?" "You're so not a morning pony." Tess said. "Duh, we get in and launch." Inside the chariot was amazing. It looked even more comfortable than the hotel they stayed at. "Why didn't we just ride this thing down here?" "We only have enough fuel to get to the moon and back. No extra" "Oh" Orion and Tess were leaned back in some very comfortably made chairs. "You ready?" Orion nodded. "Lets go to the moon." he said excitedly Tess flipped the switch. "Ignition." she said. Outside the horses strained at their reins. Bluish-white fire surrounded their entire bodies. The whole chariot had now risen to a good twenty or twenty-five feet and drifted away from the parking lot. Wagon alarms sounded off. Tess switched the lever holding the horses in place. It was like being sparta-bucked in the chest. The two of them were firmly planted into their seats. Through a tiny window, they watched as the sky slowly changed from a blue to a violet and then finally to black. She dialed back the horses. Outside they went from a bluish white flame to a yellow, but the flames still covered their entire bodies. Their hooves floated loosely in the air. "Wow, this feels so weird." Orion said, unbuckling his seat harness. Unhindered he slowly drifted out of the seat. "I wonder if this is what pegasi feels like when they're flying?" Tess unbuckled her harness and floated next to him. Outside one of the windows they could see all of Equestria. Both of them just hung there, wordlessly, mystified by the beauty. They turned and looked at each other. If she had been the romantic kind of person Tess would've kissed Orion right then and there. However, she wasn't. "So now that we're in space. What you do want to do? It will probably be next morning before we reach the moon." "I don't know. D'wanna play pinochle?" An audible sigh came from Tess.
Chapter 10: The Spear of NightmareThe 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.
Chapter 1: The Sun will not harm you, nor the moon at nightA long time ago, there used to be three main pony species; the pegasi, masters of the sky, Unicorns, students of Magic, and normal ponies, strong, durable, and workers of the earth. Above them the alicorns ruled, for a time. Eventually, the pegasi and unicorns vanished and faded into obscurity, and with them, the alicorns; leaving the earth ponies to themselves. These eventually were to be viewed only as myths. But the alicorns still watched over Equestria. Sometimes they would disguise themselves as normal ponies and have children, who would go on to influence history, but the alicorns forever lurked in the shadows. "We choose to go to the moon. We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard, because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to win, and the others, too." A voice echoed from a distance. "Its a shame." Celestia sighed. She knew what was going to happen, but she could do nothing at all to stop it. "Luna!" she screamed, as her sister appeared next to her. "WHAT IN DISCORD DO YOU THINK YOU ARE DOING. WHY IS YOUR FOAL SAYING THINGS LIKE THAT?" "Wait a minute honey, it not me, its the mortals. Faust thinks its a good idea too, so you'll just have to deal with it." "But the moon's my territory," Luna said calming down,"just as the sun is yours. You wouldn't want ponies messing about on the sun, would you? "In fact, I already decided to ruin the Sun as a precautionary measure, Cadence has already ruined Venus, but Armor is on the fence about the whole thing. But I'll tell you what, I'll let you pick who gets to go to the moon, on some conditions. But first you have to swear on the Styx, you'll do it." she told her. "What conditions?" she asked. "I won't tell you until you swear on the Styx." Luna thought about it, by swearing on the Styx, she would have to do whatever Celestia said, if she wanted to have any say, but if she didn't, any type of pony would be allowed on her sacred territory. Faust was going allow them anyway. She could either have a say in it or not. "Okay, but please, be gentle. I swear on the Styx to Celestia's conditions." Thunder boomed off in the distance. Celestia smiled. "Okay. The first condition is that you have to pick colts that are the foals of former Hunters of yours." "WHAT!" Luna yelled. "Those Hunters betrayed my trust, and had sons. Why would I let one of their foals into my sacred territory?" Celestia's smiled widened. She continued. "The second condition is that there has to be at least one of my children to accompany them. No before you get mad, it doesn't matter if they walk on the moon, but they have to be included in the mission." "Fine. What's the third condition?" Celestia braced herself. Luna was going to be furious, with a capital F. Luckily, she had already swore on the Styx. "You have to have a foal." "No." Thunder boomed louder, it was much closer. "Okay, Okay." It was never good to break an oath sworn on the Styx. "That's it. I've had enough. You know what's wrong with you, and your whole virgin act?" Celestia said furiuously. "You're chicken. You're afraid to stick out your neck and say 'Okay, life's a fact.' Ponies fall in love. Ponies do belong to each other, because that's they only chance anypony's got for real happiness. You call yourself a 'free spirit and wild'. You're just terrified that somepony's going to come along and stick you in a cage." Luna was speechless. "Maybe its time to realize, that you're already in that cage. You built it yourself, and it not bounded by bars, it's wherever you go. Because no matter where you run, you just end up running into yourself." Luna burst into silvery flames that danced across her body. "I would kill you, but you had me swear on the Styx. Forget about the present I was going to get you for your birthday." She disappeared and Celestia went back to listening to the assembly. It wouldn't have been a great birthday present anyway, she thought.
Son of the HunterSince she was being forced to, Luna knew the first colt she was going to pick. It was the right choice. "It's nice to see you again, Aunt Moon" Luna smiled. To Buzz, she was just a well-loved Aunt. His mother had been her top lieutenant in her Hunters, before like many of them, the grew up and fell in love. She had been the best, the closest thing she had yet had to a daughter. "Its nice to talk to you again as well, Buzz How's your mother?" "She's good." Buzz replied. "Does she still look up at the moon at night?" Buzz nodded. "Do you?" "Yeah." Not surprising, Luna thought, given who his mother was. The phone rang. That was one good thing about not having foals. They didn't have to worry about using mortal means of communication. It nearly always attracted monsters. She already knew who it was. It was Deke Colton. He was going to ask Buzz if he wanted to be an astropony. "Say yes." she told him. "Yes Deke, I will. Thank you for calling." "It was nice talking to you Buzz, but I have some business I have to attend to. Tell your mother I said hello." Out of sight, Luna disappeared and readied the moon for its nightly circuit. If nothing went wrong, Buzz Aldrin would be the first man on the moon. April 12, 1970 A.E It felt so good to be loved again. All across the world, people looked up at the moon with a sense of deep reverence and pride. She looked at the tiny capsule coming closer to her territory, and her smile faded. It was infuriating. Celestia had pulled one of her little tricks again, almost like back in Troy. Not only did they name the missions after her sister, but now there two of her unclaimed sons on board. She appeared in front of her. "WHAT IN DISCORD DO YOU THINK YOU ARE DOING." "What!" "Don't give me 'What!', you arranged to have one on your colts put on the moon. And this is even after you got them to name the mission after you. O, the irony. Naming a mission to the moon after the alicorn goddess of the sun." Celestia was speechless. Honestly she had no clue what Luna was talking about. "Well, guess what sister, I won't have it. I don't want to do it, but as per the terms of our deal, they aren't going to land on the moon. I forbid it. None of them are going to get hurt, but these ponies are not allowed on the moon." Off in the distance thunder boomed. A decree had been spoken by a goddess. Just as quickly as Luna appeared, she disappeared again.
