//------------------------------// // Chapter 5 - Princess Luna // Story: Option Three // by Mirta //------------------------------// He had the same dream again. Luna quietly landed behind him, careful not to disturb anything. He was sitting on a mat in front of a glass wall, a divider between the space they were in and the dream proper. On their side, there was the mat that continued for some distance in every direction before fading out. On the other side was a meeting room, with a long table, a video projector and some twenty people. They were sitting at the table, each one having a small sign with their title on it in front of them. The projector was displaying some graphs and other fiscal data. The talk was about how the profits of the corporation were down from both last quarter and last year. Anonymous, one of the people in the room and the only whose nameplate wasn't his own but belonged to someone who couldn't have been bothered to come and had sent him instead, was asked what he thought about the plans of laying off people. ”I told them firing people from product development was a bad idea, but did they listen?” The real Anonymous, one sitting with Luna on the other side of the glass wall, had become aware of her presence. ”I told them that finding new people who can be taught to be good at what they do wouldn't be easy, but did they listen?” He was holding one palm on the glass wall, gently tapping it with his middle finger. ”I told them that firing the people who had been there for years would give us a bad reputation and make it even harder to find competent replacements, but did they listen?” His tone became exasperated as he ranted on. ”I told them all this but did they fucking listen?” He turned his head to glance at Luna before looking back into the meeting room, not the least bit surprised by her presence. ”I was supposed to be yet another yes-man, saying 'Yes, yes, yes, of course you are correct oh Great and All-Knowing.'” Knowing that trying to stay out of sight was now pointless, she trotted beside him and sat down to watch. He glanced at her again and the scene in front of them changed. The glass wall was gone. The room was replaced by a vast, flat and snowy expanse of a frozen lake. Behind her was a rocky, wooded shore, the firs topped with white snow. The scene was illuminated by a three-quarter moon, hanging high in cloudless and starry sky, which painted everything in a silvery hue. The snow shimmered with tiny flashes of light whenever Luna moved her head. The air was completely still and so cold that the hair in her nose froze when she drew breath. It was completely silent, not even the faintest of sound could be heard. ”I wasn't laid off, but promoted to be the head of department.” Anonymous, clad thickly from head to toe and sitting on a rock some distance to her side, broke the silence. ”From then on, every failure was my fault and every success was thanks to the new strategy.” He pushed himself off the rock, his feet sinking into the snow up to his knees, and gazed up at the stars. Luna, trotting gracefully on top of the snow without even leaving hoofprints, moved his way. ”It was fine for the first year, but eventually I let it get to me.” He lifted one foot, leaving a neat hole in the snow, then moved it forward before putting weight on it. He took a few steps like that before you got to his side. “Don't dwell on the past so much. You can't change it.” She placed a hoof on his shoulder, the gesture made possible thanks to the snow nullifying their height difference. But, as soon as she touched him, he flinched visibly and turned to look at her, his eyes wide with fear. He looked away immediately, embarrassed by his reaction. ”I try letting go, but it keeps coming back.” This time, he didn't react when she put her hoof on his shoulder. “It just keeps coming back.” Dawn was about to break when Luna ended her vigil in the dream world. It had been an easy night. The few nightmares she encountered were dealt with ease, and she had spent most of the time simply meandering from dream to dream, marveling at the wonders that ponies' minds could conjure. One thing troubled her, however. Why had Anonymous reacted the way he did when she touched his dream self? Was he frequented by nightmares in which some beings sneaked behind him? Luna had not felt even a trace of anything such tonight. That did not mean it couldn't have happened earlier, before his arrival to Equestria. She could, and decided to, ask him once he was awake, but there was no guarantee he would remember if he'd had such dreams – or be willing to talk about it. Plus he had stayed up late with Twilight, so she would most likely be asleep when he'd wake up. ”How was your night, sister?” Celestia greeted her like she always did when Luna made her way into the dining room. “Easy enough that I had time to make sure even yours was peaceful, sister.” Her body was yearning for rest, but she made herself sit down in front of the plate Celestia had prepared for her. ”I could tell. Thank you.” Even though such sweet treats were not precisely her favorite, Luna knew that her sister prepared the pancakes personally just for her. And she had been shown how important they were to Celestia. “I only wish I could understand what made Anonymous' dreams so... disturbed.” Staring at the smiley face made of fruit that's in front of her, she concentrated her magic and made her knife cut it in half. ”Oh, how come. I was meaning to talk about him.” Celestia made her knife and fork set themselves next to her plate and looked at Luna with a smile on her face. ”I know Twilight was working on a way of understanding him and returned last night. Did you happen to hear whether she made any progress?” “She told me she had made four amulets to translate his speech and was going to test them. Since she spent several hours in his room after that, I would assume she was successful.” Luna skewered one half of the pancake with her fork, cut off a small piece and ate it. Too sweet for her taste, as always. ”Then perhaps I should talk with him. I have to admit, I am rather curious.” As she threw a sideways glance at Celestia, Luna noticed that her sister's eyes were out of focus as if she was looking at something that was very far away. “Is something bothering you, sister?” Her eyes quickly refocused and fixed themselves on Luna. ”Ah, no. Of course not.” She smiled at her in a way that was supposed to be reassuring, but her response had been just a touch too fast and her tone had been just a touch too light.