“How art we supposed to know that we were to remain hidden at all times? Regardless, thy hoof gestures for us to duck were quite unnecessary and insulting. We expect a full apology for thine indignant behavior to a royal.”

I reached out, grabbing a hold of the halyard line to bring the sail down by a few feet. Having already furled the jib I was gradually, as the sea and prevailing winds became more erratic, reducing the amount of sail in use. All I needed to do was control my heading; going anywhere in the face of a rising storm was out of the question. I just had to batten down the hatches, lower the sails and secure all the rigging to ride it out.

I sighed, giving another great heave to lower the head of the mainsail a few feet towards the boom. The wind reached out, tugging and clawing like a savage beast trying to tear it away from my control, but I would not let it. My life depended on maintaining control of my cruiser.

The wind howled in my ears and, as the rain began to fall, the sea around me started frothing and foaming with each gathering swell. Gritting my teeth, I hauled the mainsail down another few feet and tied it off at the nearest cleat before returning to the wheel. While I was trying my best to stomach the quite understandable queasiness, both from unease and being tossed around, my gut continued to ache with discomfort.

Suddenly there was a flash and an ear-splitting crack of thunder and I watched in horror as the steel wire of the forestay snapped like a twig. I clambered across the deck to secure it, only to be buffeted by a huge gust, the small boat rocking helplessly in its wake.

I struggled to steady myself and once the boat started down the next swell, I pushed forward until I was stopped by another sound—the tired groan of a rope as it gave way.

I froze and turned, just in time to see the boom vang torn apart, hanging limply. Looking up I only had a fraction of a second to realize how screwed I was before the sail boom swung around and caught me in the side, knocking me clean off the vessel into the cold and unforgiving ocean.

Re-emerging above the waves I coughed, trying to expel a copious volume of seawater from my lungs, all the while paddling towards my helpless sailboat. The more I struggled to reach it, the further away it was tossed. With every paddle, waves crashed down upon me and sent me under, the gale screaming loudly in my ears.

I screamed, swimming as fast as I could, but in only a moment my diminutive boat had gone up a swell, down the other side, and out of view for good. The water chilled me to my bones, draining my spirit and resolve. Each crash of the waves sent me under for progressively longer until I could no longer reach the surface. My sense of self-preservation told me I needed to keep trying, but it was no use. Down and down I sank—deeper, darker, colder.

I was always told that drowning wasn’t such a bad way to go. The cold embrace of the water was said to lull one off to that eternal sleep and whatever waiting beyond this plane of existence. My eyes became heavy, blurred by the saltwater, leaving me with rapidly diminishing vision as I sank. This was it. The end. The blaze of survival that had been kindled in me from my first breath faded, replaced by a cold. Too cold to properly comprehend. Words like freezing simply didn't do the sensation justice as it filled my core, drowning and subduing warm to an icy numbness.

The only fire that remained within my form was the searing pain from my lungs as they screamed for oxygen— yet that too faded in time. All was black, all was well. I’d drift off to that eternal rest any moment now. I did wonder what my parents would do with me gone. They’d be fine, I was sure. So would my friends, and everyone I’d ever met. Life would go on. It always had and it always would, but not for me. My time had drawn to a close.

I opened my eyes one last time, only to be greeted by a piercing pair of blue-green eyes, staring back at me. The asphyxiation had finally gotten to my brain, I reckoned.

Then, there was a voice. Echoing throughout my mind as if it were a mighty cathedral. “Orion… Orion… Orion!”

* * *

The covers were so warm, so secure, so comforting. My mind harkened back to my days of youth sleeping in on the weekends. What simpler times those were! No job, no missions, no Nightmare Moon, just blissful sleep.

I pulled them up over myself a little with a contented sigh. For being two-hundred and forty thousand miles from home this was still awfully cozy. I was subconsciously aware that the alarm clock was blaring, but it would wait. Just five more minutes, then I’d be ready to start the day.

“Sweet Celestia, just wake up already—we don’t have time for this Orion!”

Then, suddenly there was a torrent of cold. I shot up, slamming my forehead into the underside of the bunk above me and, consequently, writhing in pain, I rolled out of bed and hit the cold, unwelcoming floor with a meaty thump. My eyes fluttered open, looking up at the form of a group of Azure’s standing over me, an empty water bottle still clutched in their hooves.

I blinked and the duplicated image gradually focused down to a single Azure, the smallest of smirks showing at the edges of her lips before she spoke. “You’re late, Orion. Over half an hour late, to be precise. What in Tartarus is wrong with you? You never oversleep like this.”

I glanced up and over at the still beeping alarm clock. 0706 hours. Well damn, I had overslept by a fair bit.

She glanced over at the clock, then at me, then at the clock again before reaching over and turning it off with a careful press. She threw away the water bottle in the bedside trash can, then returned her gaze to me. “Is that better, sleepyhead?”

I nodded slowly, giving a sheepish smile. “Sorry about that, Captain. I won’t let it happen again, I promise. I was just having a nightmare and— oh! That reminds me, I need to speak to you about something mission-critical, if you—“ I stopped, feeling a tickle progressing down my forehead.

Azure’s brow furrowed, then her eyes widened in surprise. “F-faust have mercy Orion, you’re bleeding! What the hell did you— Oh.” She smiled awkwardly, rubbing the back of her head before regaining her composure and standing up straighter, “My apologies for the rude awakening, but you were late for today’s mission briefing. Don’t do it again.”

I nodded, rising to my hooves before shaking the water from my coat, making sure to get as much on her as possible.

Azure flinched back, a goofy smile returning to her muzzle. “H-hey, watch it hotshot! I’ll write you up for your impish behavior!”

I smirked, having dried myself to a sufficient degree and rendered my comrade wet in the process. “Oh yeah? I’d consider wasting a whole water bottle quite impish, potentially even mission-hampering. I could write you up for that!”

She scoffed, rolling her eyes. “The dehumidifiers will get it, goofball. We still have a standard rations load, even though Circuit Solder is not with us. A single bottle of water is not going to kneecap us, Orion.”

I groaned. That brought some not so pleasant thoughts to the forefront of my mind. “I’m well aware that most of our water will have been recycled or caught from the air by the time we head back to Equus, Azure. There is no need to remind me…”

Azure nodded. “Well, let’s get that cut of yours patched up and find out what you’re going to be doing today. I have some paperwork to deal with and need to start preparing for our first mission brief for the Administrator, so that’ll eat up most of my day. By the way, you said you had something important to tell me?”

I glanced around before replying. “Yeah. It’s a long story but, suffice it to say, I have evidence to… to… Well, to prove that—“

“Azure!? Azuuuure!”

The door to my room slid open and Morning Frost strode in—suited up, minus her helmet, readjusting the glasses on the bridge of her muzzle before regarding both of us for a moment. “Ah, there you are, Captain. I see you were able to wake our freeloader! Good,” she said with a snort, glancing over at me with the same level of indignation as someone who just saw a cockroach on their floor. She was already starting the basic bitch behavior this early? Today was going to be a day, I could already tell. Luna, help me and give me strength…

“Well, I just wanted to remind you that, as per the mission directive we received this morning, there is an impetus on sample collection today. The sooner we get out there the sooner we can break for lunch.”

I opened my mouth to give a taste of early morning snark, but Azure immediately stuck her hoof in my maw to shut me up. “Of course, Frost. I know you really want to hurry up and do some science but, as I already told you earlier, I need to work on getting ready for our performance checkup later in the week and don’t think I can swing it…” Azure gave a wavering smile before continuing, “Not to mention I woke Orion here a little too hard and he bashed his head on the bunk above him. I need to take him to the medbay and get him patched—“

Frost sighed, seemingly dejected, before picking up my spacesuit, helmet, and saddlebags in her magic. “I can already see where you’re going with this, Azure. Go work on your paperwork. Administrative duties have the utmost importance, especially since they are your main responsibility. I’ll take our clumsy compatriot to the medbay and get him fixed up really quick. I… Suppose he can be of some use for sample collecting. At least I can check off that the area was canvased—saying nothing to the degree of skill that was employed doing so.”

I bit my tongue. The unbridled audacity of Frost. There were some days I could just ignore it, and other days I wished I could see her outside of a professional environment and settle our score. Today I was in a gray area between both possible outcomes. Surely Azure would tell her off, she almost always did when she crossed a line like this.

Azure looked at me for a fleeting moment, seemingly mulling over the possibility. “Well… If you promise to bring him back in one piece with his self-esteem intact, I don’t see any reason why you can’t work together today—if that’s what you want to do.”

My heart dropped. Down, down, down into a bottomless pit with no return. My own friend was throwing me to the wolves! Or wolf in this case. I might as well just lay down and die, that would be better than this. But that’d be too melodramatic… Nopony wants that on their obituary—maybe I could just frame it as a tragic aerospace accident instead. That could work!

Frost snorted, puffing up her chest before taking on a quite regal and unequivocally insufferable tone. “No, it’s not particularly what I want. What I want is for you to assist me, or Circuit Solder to be here, or literally anypony but him. But, we all have a job and responsibilities to uphold, and if taking this featherbrain along is what gets the work done, then so be it. Come along, Orion, let’s fix up that predictable blunder of yours and get you suited up—we are already behind schedule and I will not suffer any more delays today.”

With that display of pure professionalism out of the way, Frost cocked her head to the side, beckoning me to follow as she turned and trotted out of the room with all my gear floating about her. My teeth clamped down on my tongue even harder as I tried to keep some more colorful words to myself, only to shudder reflexively as Azure placed a hoof on my back—rubbing my shoulder in monotonous and soothing circular motions.

“Azure, you don’t have to say anything. I know she’s good at smiling for the camera and making everything seem fine in front of oversight. She just doesn’t like me, or maybe she doesn’t like my personality—or she just hates pegasi!”

“…Or all of the above. I suppose we won’t ever know unless she blatantly tells you why. I know it’s probably no consolation, but I’ve tried to ask her before and she remains tight-lipped on the matter.” Azure sighed, removing her hoof from my shoulder and straightening her stance. “Something tells me it’s something painful though. Maybe you… remind her of somepony else who hurt her? A relative? Friend? Ex-coltfriend? Maybe I’m just grasping for straws.”

Now that was a thought. It did make me wonder, what was it specifically about me that she could not tolerate? For all my joking and mood-lightening, I didn’t go out of my way to spite her that often. No, that was triggered by her instigation more often than not, so what was the spark that lit the flame of her distaste? “I don’t know. Like you said, all that could be done is ask her… But, if you had no luck, and you’re her best friend, what chance do I have?”

Azure nudged her flanks against my own in a friendly, reassuring manner. “Orion, if there’s one thing I’ve learned in this line of work is to expect the unexpected. It’s probably just a matter of finding the right moment. Now, before she interrupted us, you said you had something important to tell me?”

Damn, I had honestly hoped she had forgotten already, I was struggling to find the right words to explain it to her. ‘Ah yes, Nightmare Moon exists and she tried to kill me!’ That would just blow over so well and totally not get me ridiculed. Then again, Azure was the pony I trusted most—maybe she could suspend her disbelief just long enough for me to show her the evidence.

“Well, you see… I found something yesterday while I was exploring out on the surface, and it may sound absolutely crazy to you, but—“

“Orion! Chop chop, let’s get a move on!” Frost shouted from the hallway.

Azure rolled her eyes and laughed. “Give him a minute, Chief Scientist! I’m talking to him about something important.” She shook her head, messing up her mane a bit before returning her focus back to me, “You were saying you found something, Orion?”

I gulped. “Y-yeah. I took some pictures on my helmet cam, which is…” It was then that I realized that Frost had taken my helmet with her, leaving me without any of the evidence I needed to show Azure. I deadpanned immediately, causing Azure to burst into laughter.

Azure grinned, already putting two and two together. “…And it’s with Frost now, haha! Odds are she won’t be receptive to any further delays. How about you show me tonight? Or tomorrow morning? It just depends on when I get my metaphorical mountain of paperwork done for this conference call.”

I nodded somewhat sheepishly, praising my own good fortune in the back of my mind. I really did need more time to gather my thoughts so I didn’t sound batshit crazy. “That sounds like a plan, Captain.”

She smiled, nudging me out the door and into the hall. “Well, off you go! Please let me know how today goes—and if she ever gets a little too spicy on the radio, it’s just as easy as muting it for a few minutes. I won’t fault you for that. Don’t worry, if something happens then I’ll get in touch over the emergency channel.”

I trotted out into the hall with her, laughing as we made our way towards the medbay in step with one another. “Silence? Silence sounds good, especially in the context of Morning Frost.”

She giggled, pausing in the hall as we reached the medbay—speaking in an unnaturally loud voice. “Orion, for what it’s worth I’m glad I chose you from the stack of résumés for this mission. You were and still are the right choice, and I’m even more glad that I can count on you for a good laugh at any time!”

An annoyed scoff emanated from within the room, along with an under-breath muttering of quite a few obscenities that would make a tradespony blush with shame. “We get it, Azure, you have no regrets yet, that day is coming though— I’m certain! Come on in Orion, let me fix that little boo-boo of yours so you can stop delaying our mission.”

Azure snickered, giving my flanks a hard shove to get me moving into the medbay “As much as I hate to say it, she is right, y’all have quite the busy day of sample collection. Better hop to it, big guy. I’ll see you on the other side!”

I tried to force a smile for Azure, waving a wing goodbye before taking the hint and trotting through the doorway into the medbay. As the doors slid shut behind me I was treated to a most interesting sight. Morning Frost had one of the red and white medical kits mounted to the wall grasped in her magic and was trying with little success to pull it off.

She glanced over at me with an infuriated expression, seemingly daring me to make a snide comment about her predicament. “I always hated these medkits, the magnets on them are too strong! It would have made much more sense to lock them to the wall instead, but nooooo, we just have to do everything experimental, fancy, and ‘new’ on this ship model instead of being proven and practical!” She growled frustratedly, whipping her head back as if the extra effort on her part would yield a different result. I was watching the definition of insanity play out in front of me over and over again as she tried in vain to pull the kit off of the wall.

I sighed, trotting over to her. “Do you need any—“

“Yes!” She shouted, slumping to the floor with a pant. Had she really exhausted that much of her magic trying to get it off? She must have been at it the whole time Azure and I were talking. I couldn’t help but feel somewhat bad for her, even if it was just a passing thought. I did not recall her magic being that weak, maybe she wasn’t sleeping well or something?

I stepped forward, gripped my hooves on opposing sides of the metal box, and gave it a firm yank. To my surprise, it came off quite easily, leaving me stumbling back a few steps to maintain my balance. I turned the medkit over in my hooves, looking at the two strips of magnets on the back in bemusement.

Frost slowly stood up, brushed herself off, and magically pulled the medkit from my grasp as she trotted over to a nearby chair. Opening the container up mid-air and perusing its contents, she levitated my spacesuit and other effects over before depositing them in a haphazard pile next to the chair. “Now, Orion, if you would be so kind as to take a seat, I will fix you up in a jiffy. Don’t worry, it won’t hurt at all, I promise.” Somehow I did not believe her, as her voice dripped with sadistic sarcasm.

I apprehensively made my way over to the chair and took a seat, at which point I was assaulted by a blinding light as Frost examined my forehead with a flashlight. I blinked a few times, doing my best to ignore her antics and remain as professional as possible.

“Tsk. That’s a nasty cut! How did you say you got this again?” Frost said, turning off the flashlight and pulling a bottle of rubbing alcohol and a cloth from the medkit.

I couldn’t help but groan. Was she really going to question me the whole time? “I overslept. Azure decided to, after being unable to wake me gently, arouse me from my slumber by pouring a bottle of water on me. Needless to say, my head shot off my pillow and… Ow, Faust have mercy, Frost!”

I hissed through my teeth as Frost pressed the cloth against the cut, rubbing it around sparing no amount of pressure as she thoroughly cleaned the wound. “Watch it! No need to be so harsh!”

She huffed, tossing her long braid to the side as she leaned over me to examine her workmanship. “No, the cut has to be cleaned extensively, every medical training handbook on Equus will tell you that, Orion. Now, would you like stitches or for me to glue it back, good as new?”

I glared at her, wishing I could crush her into a ball and toss her into the nearby garbage receptacle with my mind alone. “Why not use a potion? We should have plenty of those for— Ffffffff…!” I bit down hard on my tongue, starting to taste copper in my mouth as Frost grabbed the two edges of the cut in her magic, pulled them tightly together, and squirted a bit of medical-grade superglue on the gap. It burned like hell, reminding me of the first time I tried whiskey in my youth.

Frost gloated, starting to pack away the contents of the medical kit. “Glue it is, it’s much faster. Also, it’s mission protocol to conserve heavy-duty healing supplies in case of emergency, no? Or has it been that long since you last read the rulebook?”

There were some days I really wished that my parents had taught me to throw punches at my troubles. Then again, I probably would not be in this career if I was. It didn’t change the fact that I’d like to take her out back and show her a little retribution, but, I had promised Azure that I’d have a good day, so I held my words and not so nice thoughts to myself.

“…Thank you for your help, Frost. I appreciate your valuable and irreplaceable medical expertise.” I put on my best smile through the throbbing pain. Kill with kindness, kill with kindness—that’s what mom had always told me.

Frost did a double-take, evidently expecting much, much harsher words. She closed the medkit, still clutching it in her magic aura as she regarded me. “Well, you’re welcome, Orion. I’m glad my years of medical training on the side could culminate in some use, even if it is just patching up boo-boos and ouchies. Now, get suited up and let’s—“

There was a loud click and immediately the room was plunged into utter darkness. Frost shrieked, the sound of the medkit clattering to the floor echoing throughout the medbay as the low rumble of the A/C system winding down faded away to nothing, that and every last door on the ship slamming shut with a resounding clang. “L-Luna damn it all! Why can’t this ship just fucking function as intended!? Tripping breakers, leaks, faulty systems, I’m surprised and relieved that nothing’s exploded yet!” Frost groaned, the audible and repeated smack of hoof against forehead echoing in the silence. “And don’t get any ideas on changing the status quo on explosions, Orion, for the love of Faust.”

I smiled, although she couldn’t see it. “I didn’t plan on it, although that does sound quite fun.” I could feel the icy daggers shooting in my general direction after that comment.

Frost snorted. “I’m just going to try and ignore that I heard that, smartass. Anyways, the emergency lighting should come on just about…. Now! Uh… right now! Maybe now?”

But the whole ship remained blanketed in darkness and silence, the dim light from a few panels being the only remaining source of illumination. I heard Frost trotting in place, her hooves tip-tapping on the floor, clearly anxious as she turned the flashlight on and stepped toward the door, hitting the intercom panel and calling out. “Azure? Captain? Is everything alright!?”

There was a crackle from the ship’s intercom system before Azure’s voice projected from a speaker mounted in the ceiling. “Yeah! Everything’s fine, I caused a power-trip fault while taking various systems offline for inspection! Trying to finish a report. I’m already at the breaker box, just waiting for the reset timer! Proceed as planned on your assignment, I’ll get everything squared away.”

Frost breathed a sigh of relief. “Alright, understood! We’ll head over to the airlock and leave for our mission once emergency power is restored!” Frost then turned to me, flashing the flashlight in my direction and temporarily blinding me again. I brought a hoof up over my face, trying to shield myself from the beam. “Did you get all that Orion?”

I hissed angrily. “Of course I did, for Luna’s sake watch where you’re pointing that thing! I can feel you burning my retinas!”

“Well sorry, I was just trying to give you a little light. You heard the captain, meet me in the airlock and we’ll get started,” Frost said with a sing-song hum, hitting the door’s override and trotting away down the hallway.

My eyes widened. “F-Frost! Come back! I need that flashlight to get suited up!” But the sound of her hoofbeats faded away down the hall without hesitation. Damn you, Frost! Why must you always make my life miserable, why?! I mentally kicked myself before cautiously getting out of the chair and fumbling around on the floor for my things. Okay, there was my suit, saddlebags… I fumbled around still further. Where was my helmet? I smacked the side of my head with a hoof, trying to remember the scene before the lights had cut out. Had she left it on the table or on the floor?

Pulling my suit on was a challenge, especially without any light, and without the slight friction reduction that the underlayers normally provided. I mentally kicked myself again. If I Celestia-damned chafed because of Frost's antics I would be pissed.

It definitely took a little trial and error but after a minute or two I was able to wriggle into my suit, then went searching for my saddlebags. There was one! It was a composite, almost metallic and sturdy bag with a U-shaped bracket that would slip between my wing covers and the body of my suit. This one felt like the left one. They adhered with magnets to both my suit and wings, ensuring a strong connection so they would not fall off—even when loaded down with equipment.

Frost’s voice nagged from down the hallway. “Orion, what’s taking you so long!? I thought everypony was trained to suit up in under five minutes under stressful circumstances! Three and a half and counting!”

“Yeah, well normally my spacesuit pieces aren’t strewn about haphazardly, much less having to suit up in the pitch black! Cut me some slack, Frost!”

“Tick-tock, one minute left…”

I scrambled around, not because I was going to let her rush me, but because I had taken too long to suit up. Now where in Equestria was that second saddlebag?! I searched under the chair and table, on the table—finding my helmet in the process, and started to shuffle around in a larger and larger radius from where I had been seated.

“Thirty seconds, Orion!”

I grit my teeth. “Don’t rush me, I’m working on it!” Suddenly, there! My forehoof brushed against something solid on the floor. With a sigh of relief I scooped it up, and let it magnetically stick into place to my wing. Perfect, now to just make it to the airlock. I swiped my helmet off the table and slotted it into place, fumbling through the dark into the corridor, waiting for the suit’s systems to come online so I could use the flashlight.

With a slight whir, the red emergency lights came on throughout the ship as I trotted my way into the airlock next to Frost. She had already finished stuffing her braid into her helmet and quickly got it on.

She scoffed, pressing her hoof on the keypad to start the airlock cycle. “It took you long enough, any more and I would have had to write you up for incompetency. Which, while I would take great pleasure in, sounds like even more paperwork I don’t have time for—given the amount of science that needs attending to. Consider yourself lucky.”

“You’re welcome,” I replied, content to sit in silence for a few moments as we waited for the airlock to open into the cargo bay.

Morning Frost harrumphed, tapping her hoof impatiently against the floor, only to be rewarded by the airlock doors opening with agonizing slowness. I guess they weren’t as peppy as they normally were operating on emergency power. “Finally! It’s about time, let’s hit the road.”

I followed in step as she practically pranced across the cargo bay and down the ramp to the lunar surface. “Say, Frost, why are you in such a hurry? We have a month to get all this done—I’m sure we have days of nothing built into the end of the mission just to complete tasks we didn’t get around to…”

Frost clicked her tongue dismissively but also took her sweet time in coming up with a reply, as if she really had to think about it. “…Well you see Orion, there is so much science to be done, and procrastination is the enemy of discovery!” We cantered past the rover, which had been parked neatly nearby to the ship for later use. “Now, it’s time for some peer-to-peer and your assignment. I have some sample collection bags for you in my saddlebags, let me just…” Frost turned around, using her magic to root around in her bags until she looked up at me and froze, mouth slightly agape.

“Uhhh… Is something wrong, Frost?”

She deadpanned, beating a hoof repeatedly against her helmet. “Orion, I had curbed my expectations for this, but you really are a dumbass.”

What in Tartarus was she on about this time? I glanced over my left shoulder, everything was in order—saddlebag in place and wing-cover pretty and straightened. Then I glanced over to my right and immediately felt my cheeks flush. That was definitely not a saddlebag attached to my right wing, that was the medkit from earlier. “I… U-uh… It was dark and you wanted me to hurry? I’m sorry?”

Frost groaned, pulling the sample bags out before levitating them over and stuffing them in my singular saddlebag. “Sweet Celestia, Orion. Sometimes I wonder what the hiring ponies saw in you, much less how you made it this far.”

I stared at the regolith between my forehooves in shame. For once this blunder was completely on me and I deserved the chewing out I was getting. “I’m sorry, it won’t happen again.”

“It’d better not, especially since half the contents of that kit are probably ruined by the temperature difference. Now, where was I… Oh, of course, the mission briefing. I’ll try to spell it out to you as deliberately as possible because, evidently, rushing and extrapolation are not in your skill set yet.”

I glanced up—refocusing my attention on Frost while biting the inside of my cheeks to keep from exploding. Kindness, kindness, kindness… Never mind that she just embarrassed you and will definitely be telling Azure later, just focus on the task at hoof, Orion. Just a temporary setback in the grand scheme of this mission, you’ll survive. Of course, that was completely ignoring the fact that if she’d waited five seconds for the lights to turn on I would have been fully dressed with all the right equipment for the job.

“Today we will be canvassing an area about a kilometer in diameter around the landing site in search of rock and soil samples—just collecting a baseline of what is here in our general area so it can be compared to prior landing sites. That means that each of us has a five-hundred-meter hemisphere to search, or at least that can be inspected from afar.”

I nodded, taking extensive mental note of everything she said. Just collect a few ‘average’ samples and visually look for any objects of interest. It sounded easy enough!

“…By my calculation, four or five hours should be enough-ish. That said the area won’t be completely searched, but it already wasn’t going to get searched properly because, erm,” Frost waved a hoof at me, “…That, that’s why.”

I rolled my eyes, my attention drifting beyond Equus’s most pompous and self-centered unicorn to the lunar surface and starscape behind her. It really was gorgeous, to think that there’d be ponies waking up to this stellar beauty every single day for months on end once they finally set up a moon base… I didn’t get to choose my assignments but, man! Count me in, a hundred-thousand times and then some.

I looked back at Frost, pressing her for any further instructions. “You’ve made that abundantly clear. Is there anything specific that I should be looking for that might be outside of the norm and scientifically significant?”

She smiled smugly. “Atta boy, Orion. That’s exactly what I was going to tell you next. If you find anything with signs of crystallization, either micro or macro, that would be worthy of taking a sample. That indicates that it cooled quickly or slowly when it formed. Additionally, if you find—“

My attention subconsciously flicked away again, I could have sworn that something in the background had moved. Maybe my mind was just playing tricks on…There it was again! A deep-blue speck poking out from overtop a large boulder in the background. I looked directly at it, and it quickly disappeared behind the rock. I immediately felt my brow become a little clammy, maybe I was just seeing things—Nightmare Moon has said she was not interested in us and would not be—

“Orion. Pay attention.” Frost said, standing up a little straighter as I quickly brought my gaze back to her.

I gulped slightly, clearing my throat. “S-Sorry. Still getting used to the landscape, it is oddly beautiful in a way, no?”

“Yes, it is otherworldly. Now, if you find any rocks that show signs of strike-slip fault action, or any other metamorphic process that is found on Equus but not known to occur on the moon, please take a sample. Crater ejecta is also of some interest, but collect baseline samples before collecting any of that type or—“

The blue and black speck in the distance poked up from the rock again, this time staying visible for longer. There was an unmistakable ethereal mane, the tiniest glint off a polished helmet, and a pair of deep green eyes this time. I glanced back and forth between it and Morning Frost. This was not going to be good.

Duck… I mouthed. Hide. Run. For the love of Faust, please duck!

“…If you find anything of any other sort. Just do your best and we’ll collect any other additional samples tomorrow before widening our search further—“

I waved my left forehoof in a downward motion repeatedly, praying that she would get the message and, for the love of all that was good in Equus, just make herself scarce! I could see the alicorn tilt her head slowly, eyes widen with realization, and finally duck down behind the boulder again.

“Orion, what the hell are you doing?” Frost asked, glancing over her shoulder in the general direction of where I had been looking. After a few breathless moments of scanning the horizon she turned to face me, her annoyance evident.

Damnit, I needed to think fast. “I, uh, I have a really bad cramp! I-I need to stretch and I didn’t want to interrupt your mission briefing, I’m so sorry!” I said hurriedly, leaning forward in a downward dog pose and stretching my back in an attempt to sell it. “Ahhhh, that feels so much better! My back and forehooves were absolutely killing me.”

She looked unconvinced, but eventually rolled her eyes and scoffed before trotting past me. “Very well then, I think my explanation is boring you, and you’ve probably received enough already. Since you seem to be so enthralled by the landscape in that direction, you search the southern search area, I’ll take the northern one. I’ll call you on the radio when it’s time for lunch, happy searching.”

I waited a few moments for her to pass me by before turning my gaze back to looking for—

“Orion.”

I turned back, putting on a sheepish smile. “Yes, Morning Frost?”

She glanced back at me out of the corner of her eye before smirking mischievously. “Don’t take another tumble, please. Not because I care about you getting bruised or knocked around, but because I am not going to help you dust off your suit in the airlock, nor am I going to help you fix whatever the hell you manage to break this time with your foolishness. Kapeesh?”

I blinked, nodding along. “Kapeesh, completely understood.”

Frost’s smirk grew a little before she scoffed, turned, and cantered off behind the ship—shortly followed by a static indicating that she muted her helmet’s microphone. I did the same before slumping to the ground, my anxiety-weakened knees giving up on me. That was close, too close.

My heart thumped away in my ears, gradually calming to a placid and rhythmic pace as I gathered my thoughts together. Ok, so Nightmare Moon was within visual range, which was far too close for comfort. That was a complete one-eighty from yesterday when she said she wanted nothing to do with us. I needed to be rid of her, and fast—or else Frost would find out and be the death of this Faust-forsaken mission in the process.

The scenarios started racing through my head. Frost would see her, she’d freak out, she’d take pictures and write a report back to ESA—If she didn’t just lose her mind and override the ship’s controls and make us leave of her own choice. That or she’d find the hoofprints and… Celestia have mercy, the hoofprints!

I fell over myself as I shot to my hooves, breaking into a full-bore gallop towards the rock in the distance. Really, to call it a ‘gallop’ was generous. Moreso one sprinting vault after another, carrying me a few yards before my hooves came back into contact with the surface and I launched myself again. I was surprised I hadn’t eaten shit yet, but didn’t want to try my luck by thinking about the mechanics of my movement too much. I’d probably stumble and faceplant if I did. I only had a singular thought coursing through my mind—I could not, by any means, let Frost follow any print trails and find her way to Nightmare Moon.

* * *

I rounded the rock cautiously, looking for the eldritch horror that was Nightmare Moon. Alas, nothing. I cursed myself for taking so long to get here, had she moved on to a new piece of cover? Canvassing the whole area behind the boulder I also came to the odd conclusion that there was not a single trace of, well, anything. Not a hoofprint, disturbed stone, not even— tink!

There was a hollow, metallic clank as something hit my helmet. I instinctively wheeled around, expecting her to be right behind me. But the dark princess was nowhere to be found, then where had…? I glanced up towards the rock, locking my gaze with those terrible, slitted pupils. There was Nightmare Moon, crouched with her forehooves beneath her and hindquarters raised up, her ethereal tail wagging from side to side slowly behind her. I couldn’t break my gaze away. She was positioned like a cat about to strike. Wait, about to strike?

“Huzzah! En garde!” Nightmare shouted with glee, springing off the rock with a toothy smile.

I turned and desperately tried to open the distance, but my hooves slipped on the loose regolith and I struggled to get off the line until… Oomph! A weight bore down upon my back and I face-planted hard into the lunar soil in front of me, my vision now mostly obscured, save for a sliver of sky visible near my temple. My ears started to ring, both from the whiplash and the gleeful cackles of laughter from the alicorn now standing on the square of my back.

Nightmare Moon’s archaic, regal accent projected into my mind once again—with a painful lack of sympathy for my own eardrums. “Haha! Thou are certainly tricky, knight! We have licked our wounds, changed our stratagem, and art ready for a rematch! We shall best thou in the field of combat and regain the honour which art rightfully ours!”

How in Luna’s name was she doing that? It felt like her body ignored the lesser gravity and I had the full weight I’d expect back on Equus bearing down on me. It made it much harder to breathe. I groaned, my poor back crying out for mercy. So… Damn… Heavy… “Hnnng… M-my name is Orion, we’ve been over this already…”

Nightmare huffed, pressing one of her metallic hoofguards against the back of my neck. “Thou art witty, Orion. A fool, but witty nonetheless. Now, get up! We must fight.” With that she jumped off of my back, letting me breathe normally once again. “Come now! We must not delay, I have many matters that require my attention.”

I lifted my head slightly, shaking it gently to remove the dust from my visor before looking back up at her. I was not going to play this song and dance again, especially considering I was still sore from our prior scuffle. I knew she couldn’t harm me in any appreciable way. Sure, she could jump on me, evidently, but that was letting gravity do the work. “No, I refuse your challenge, Nightmare Moon.”

“Thou cannot refuse, we are the princess of the lunar realm. Thou must engage us in combat,” she said, snorting in annoyance.

I had started to form a quippy remark, but the words fell flat in my mind as I stared up at the alicorn leering over me. I didn’t know why. Well, that was a lie, I did know why. Kill with kindness. But kill her with kindness, seriously? Was I really considering that, for the enemy of all harmony in Equestria?

“I yield the field of combat to you, Nightmare Moon. I came for the peaceful purpose of scientific study and openly challenging you to combat is contrary to my peaceful mission directives. I fought with you in self-defense before, but I will not do so again. You are of no danger to me.”

Nightmare's jaw dropped open as she stepped back, mouthing my first sentence back in silence as she stared wide-eyed at me. “Excuse us, thou—yield the field?”

All I did was smile and nod. She was thrown for an absolute loop. All she could do was stare daggers at me, hoping that she might vanquish me with looks alone.

She groaned, visibly upset, sitting down and holding her forehead in her hooves. “This was not what we planned, thou are ruining everything! We were supposed to beat thee in combat and feel… feel… Vindicated! Superior! Better! That we accomplished in triumph!”

I rose to my own hooves, shaking myself off before sitting down. “Sorry to disappoint, I just have no interest in fighting you. You can still try if that makes you feel better.”

She grit her teeth, glaring with seething hatred at me before relenting. “That would hardly be honourable of us. We would be victorious, yes, but victories won against foes who will not fight back are shallow and meaningless.”

She certainly had a way with words, for being batshit crazy. “Well, if that settles things then you need to leave. You are too close for comfort to my ship, especially since Frost is—“ I bit my tongue, damnit, I forgot that I was talking to a creature who tried to kill me less than a day ago.

The ethereal alicorn raised an eyebrow curiously. “Frost? Is that the name of the pink unicorn who accompanied thee?”

I bit my tongue even harder. Stupid mind. Stupid tongue for getting ahead of it, and stupid me for having a tongue and a mind in the first place! I tried to think of a way to tell her a little truth while also not telling her too much, especially about anything going on back home in Equestria. The less she knew, the better. But at this point, I’d tell her just about anything to make her leave.

“…Yes. That was Morning Frost. But she would not take kindly to your presence—she’d probably freak out and want us to leave immediately, and probably succeed in that, through one way or another. You need to stay hidden and out of sight—better yet, stay away entirely.”

She harrumphed, turning her head to the side before glancing at me. “How were we supposed to know that we were to remain hidden at all times? Regardless, thou’s hoof gestures for us to duck were quite unnecessary and insulting. We expect a full apology for thine indignant behaviour to a royal.”

I did a double-take. She wanted me to apologize for keeping her from being found? Clearly she misunderstood the situation at hoof. “Look, I’m sorry but I’m serious, you need to go, now! If Frost follows your hoofprints and finds you that could be—“

Nightmare interrupted. “That will not be a concern, we assured and will reassure thou of such.” She lifted her left hoof and pressed it into the lunar soil before lifting it back up again, the regolith rebounding as if she was never even there.

I stared, eyes wide. She had shown the ability to do that yesterday, I just thought it was going to be temporary so she could slink away unfollowed. I had almost forgotten that she was an alicorn and, even though it seemed she was diminished in power, still had magic to use. “But what about—“

“…We also took the liberty of erasing all our prints within a sizable radius of thine… what did thou call it, a ship?” she said with a laugh, shaking her head from side to side, “It looks like no ‘ship’ we have ever seen, but we will take thou’s word for it… does it sail? Fly perhaps?”

I blinked, scrunching my muzzle slightly in thought. Okay, that certainly made things easier, but she was still too close. “W-well, flying is a good way to summarize its function,” I replied, intent on not revealing anything that I didn’t have to. “And while I appreciate your efforts, I’m really not comfortable with you being so close to the ship, especially while any of my other comrades are outside doing work. Better yet, why are you here? You said you wanted nothing to do with us or our endeavors—or so you so tactfully put it yesterday.”

Her brow furrowed and she stood up, so I followed suit. “We suppose that our prior determinations may have been a bit rash and… Perhaps we have a little time to interact, in between all our diabolically evil scheming of course.”

I nodded along slowly. “I can’t imagine there’s much of anyone to converse with up here.”

Nightmare Moon winced at my observation, looking away sheepishly and kicking at the ground idly. Was she embarrassed? Her demeanor reminded me of recess on my first day of grade school. I had no idea what to do or where to fit in, that’s for sure. “That’s… Not entirely incorrect. Thine mind is certainly sharper than we expected it to be. But that is not of concern, we want to know what thou art doing.”

Okay, sure. Put on that secretive alicorn persona again, I’d figure out your motives eventually. “Well, I was supposed to be collecting some rock samples because you nearly revealed yourself to Frost. I really should be getting back to that, actually…” I mused, reaching back into my saddlebag and pulling out a sample bag before looking around for anything interesting to put inside it.

Nightmare snickered, bringing up a hoof to stifle it quickly. “We almost forgot, thou art here to study rocks. What a noble and philanthropic pursuit.”

I huffed, trying to ignore her as I found a particularly bland stone to put in the sample bag. “Geology is an important science! We’re trying to better understand the makeup and formation of the moon. It’s not frivolous, it was important enough a pursuit to bother sending us up here…”

“Well, we have a proposition for you then, Orion Zephyr.”

I glanced up from my work, Nightmare Moon staring back at me with her concerningly toothy grin. Faust have mercy, she needed to stop that. “And what would that be, your Highness?”

She tapped her horn with a hoof a few times before replying. “Well, if thou would be so kind as to remove this ring from our horn, we will help thou find the best, most interesting and valuable rocks that our domain has to offer.”

“Uh, well, considering I have no idea what it does, no thanks?”

Her eyes went wide. “Not interested? Surely thou cannot be serious! I’m sure thou would like to prove thyself capable amongst thou’s peers. How better than to bring back the most valuable rocks?”

Tempting, but still a no. I had a general idea of what that ring might be doing, especially given that she was asking me to take it off for her. I stood up straight, giving her a smugly confident expression before responding. “Well, you would need to tell me in detail what the ring does, why you can’t remove it yourself, and if I can keep it after.”

She crossed her hooves before snorting a cloud of icy vapor at me. “Thou hast no right to tell us what we will and will not do. We are the one with dominion here, not thou. Thou will do well to learn that, or else...”

I smiled happily, turning to trot away in search of more samples. “Well, I suppose it’ll be your loss then and not mine.”

“W-wait!” Nightmare said pleadingly, causing me to stop and turn to face her again. “We will tell thou about the ring, but thou must swear on thy life to never tell a soul. Upon fear of death, we may add!”

I hissed through my teeth. “Ooo, threatening hmm? That certainly doesn’t win you any trust. Seems like you really need that ring off!”

Nightmare stamped a hoof. “We will tell all if thou swears to secrecy.”

I smirked, turning back to her with a shit-eating grin. “Sure, sure. But I don’t think help in finding samples is enough to risk removing it. I need your word that you do everything in your power to stay out of sight of the others first and foremost. Next, I want the truth and nothing but the truth regarding the ring before I take it off.”

She stuck out a hoof without a second thought. “Thou hast a deal.”

I took her hoof up in my own, giving it a firm shake. “Then we have a deal, Ms. Moon.”

Her deep emerald eyes glinted sharply, their almost reptilian slits narrowing slightly as she relished the outcome. “Good, good. It is a magic suppression ring, it has no effect on our lethality, if that is thou’s concern, it only hinders our ability to retain magical reserves and perform more complex spells. Spells that, we may add, will aid in us staying hidden as thou requests. We cannot remove it because that is the point of a suppression ring, and thou can keep it for all we care! We just want to be rid of it, ‘lest our horn start growing around it if we must suffer wearing it any longer.”

I grinned. “You know, unicorns wear these in the bedroom to—“

“Yes, YES. We are well aware of their use, thou acts as if the degeneracy of ponykind has changed over the last millennium—trust us, it has not.”

“And how exactly would you know that?” I pressed, testing my luck.

She snorted, glaring with a cold lack of amusement as her cheeks darkened slightly. She bowed her head, bringing her horn within easy reach. “Take the ring off, we had a deal.”

I mulled over these revelations in my mind, staring at the rune-etched ring on her horn. This was probably a terrible idea but, then again, I had proven myself quite capable of weaselling my way out of tricky situations. She didn’t seem like she was lying, especially with the extent she had gone to ensure the secrecy of the matter. Why go through all the trouble?

“That’s right, we had a deal and I’m a stallion of my word,” I replied, placing a hoof on either side of the ring before carefully slipping it up the length of her horn before removing it entirely, quick to stuff it into one of the pockets on my forehooves for later study.

Nightmare Moon arched her back methodically, lighting her horn with a crackle of electric arcs as she spread her wings wide. She grunted in a satisfied way, eventually dimming her horn and re-folding her wings. I could have sworn that her eyes and mane glowed a little brighter than before, but I might have just been imagining it. “We thank thee, thou hast no idea what it’s like to be stuck to telekinesis and cheap parlour tricks for a thousand years—or how fogged the mind can become over such a long time! There’s so many spells we will have to re-invent, since they have escaped our memory from lack of use…”

I chuckled nervously, taking a few steps back. “Y-yeah, just don’t plan on having any test subjects for any of those spells.”

She glanced back at me with a subtle, toothless smile, only interrupted by her fangs protruding from her lips. “Of course not, we had a deal and, just as thou upheld thy end, so shall we. Now, let us find you some rocks, shall we?”

I relaxed slightly, which seemed to make her smile just a little more. “Well, you can lead the way, since you know exactly what you’re looking for.”

Nightmare nodded, lighting her horn and bringing her head down to ground level, scanning from side to side before moving on with a slight limp to her steps. “Trust us, this should not take— aha! See, not long at all.” She hooved at the ground gently, pushing aside the first few inches of regolith before levitating up a jet-black basalt with a brilliant white crystal embedded in it. She examined it thoroughly before turning and presenting it to me, much to my own amazement. “See? We are a mare of our word! There are many more nearby to find yet, although, only take what thou needs. There is no reason to arouse suspicion among your peers by bringing home too many trophies, hm?”

As I took the crystalline sample up in my hooves, I nodded in agreement with her. I was a little amazed at what I was looking at, but I didn’t want to show too much emotion over it. I could just imagine Frost’s reaction, she’d be both excited and livid that I was the one who found it. “That’s right, I honestly hadn’t even considered that yet. Bringing back a single ‘diamond in the rough’ won’t arouse any suspicion, but many might! Maybe just the one will do for now, I'm sure you can help me find more at a later date.”

Nightmare Moon puffed up her chest proudly, ruffling her wings a little. “We assure you, there is no being on the moon more knowledgeable than us!”

I couldn’t help but laugh. For being the most evil creature imaginable she certainly had a way with words all her own. Still, I was trying to be cautiously reserved around her, she was not my friend. Now that was a thought, friends with Nightmare Moon… Impossible, there was no way on or off Equus that that’d ever happen. I pointed towards her right foreleg for a change of subject. “I noticed you’re limping, are you completely healed from our, er… misunderstanding?”

She glared for a moment before relenting, pulling the hoof in question away and trying her best to hide it behind her other foreleg. “It is no matter, we assure thee that we art in tip-top condition. The best, as we always are and always have been!”

I didn’t buy it. “May I see it then? If I caused it then I should fix it, it’s the least I can do as a gesture of goodwill.”

Nightmare Moon opened her maw to protest, but looked at me, then at her hoof, then back at me before sighing deeply and dropping to a lying position. “Fine. Thou mayest inspect the damage, but nothing more.”

I smiled honestly, sitting down in front of her before taking up her foreleg and, much to her chagrin, sliding off her hoof guard to reveal whatever was underneath. It was a deep gash, maybe an inch or so deep, and three or four inches long, neatly squared on the leading edge of her foreleg. “I don’t remember stabbing you, how’d you get this?”

Nightmare looked like she was about fifteen seconds from either smashing my skull in, or bolting—and I really wished she’d do neither. “Well, thou misshaped our guards a little with thou’s blows, and the ornate filigree began to dig into our flesh on the way home. We put them back to the proper shape, but the gouge remains. No worry is warranted, it will be healed tomorrow.”

I shook my head. Stupid, so so stupid. I reached back and pulled the waylorn medkit from my side. “Well, I have something that could help, if you could just give me a moment to—“

She tried to rise to leave, picking up her hoof-guard in her blue magic aura. “We have interrupted thine important rock-collecting tasks for too long, we simply must be—“

I grabbed onto her hoof, careful to avoid the area of the cut. I stared intensely at her, causing her to freeze in place. “Stop right there. I’m trying to right my wrongs and help you, now sit down and let me treat your leg.”

She blinked, glancing back and forth as if someone might see her. Eventually, she relented and laid back down, turning her head to avert her gaze. “Fine. Be quick, we have matters to attend to.”

I sighed, relieved that this opportunity to make amends was not going to escape me. I opened up the medkits and rummaged through its contents. Frost had said that half the stuff would be ruined by being exposed to a vacuum, so at least what was left would be going to a good cause. I pulled out a roll of bandage and—huh. I picked up a small potion bottle filled with a deep red fluid. I shook it slowly, a little surprised that it hadn’t frozen.

Even more curious now I pulled the stopper from the bottle. Still, it didn’t freeze. I guess it was magic after all, maybe they thought this far ahead? Well, it was worth a shot. I gently poured it onto the open wound where it bubbled and sizzled, eliciting a wince from the alicorn.

“That feels pleasant,” Nightmare Moon retorted, clenching her teeth together tightly. Still, she observed my every motion out of the corner of her eye with interest.

I rolled my eyes and started with the gauze, wrapping her hoof up tightly before responding. “No one ever said healing potions were pleasant. This should do the trick for you though, it’ll feel much better in a few minutes.”

She said nothing for a long time, continuing to look elsewhere. Finally, she opened her mouth to speak, only to be cut off by a wave of static feedback from my helmet’s speaker.

“Zzzt… Orion? Orion! Just checking in, I’m ready to head in for lunch. Did you collect any interesting samples? I’m hoping for a yes, but I also realize you probably struggled to pick up some interesting dirt, much less any rocks.”

I groaned, clicking the side of my helmet to unmute my microphone before replying. “I appreciate all your encouraging words, Frost. I did find one sample you might find interesting, but I’ll let you be the judge of that… Any idea what’s on the menu for lunch…?”

“Rehydrated salad? Vacuum-sealed hayburgers? Hell if I know Orion, I’m not a school lunch-mare— your dietary needs and the nutrition algorithm will decide what’s available to you, if it were up to me you’d be having nutritional paste. Come on, don’t be slow. And I’d love to see how mundane your sample is, I’ll meet you back at the ship in thirty minutes.”

I glanced up to give Nightmare Moon an apologetic look for the interruption, but she was gone. All that was left in her wake were the neatly repackaged contents of the medkit, ready to be closed and returned to my suit. I looked around for a moment but saw no sign of her, so I sighed. “That sounds like a plan, Morning Frost. I’ll see you back at the ship shortly…”

* * *

Lunar medical care, duh. [Source]

Everyone has that one coworker, right? [Source]

Author's Note

Sorry this took so long! I’ve been battling a new line of work for the past year, struggling with long-term writer’s block and general motivation issues surrounding my creative pursuits. This chapter has gone through the hell of four or five rewrites–some shorter, some longer, and I’m still not fully content with it. I have cut much fat from this chapter for the sake of brevity– although those words have not gone to waste. Many of the ideas that did not tonally make the cut have greatly benefited the next and subsequent chapters.
But at some point discretion is the better part of valor, and it's best to keep moving forward rather than try to tweak to perfection. Thanks for sticking around! (: