Option Three

by Mirta

Chapter 12 - Princess Luna

“While your idea is most fascinating, it would be terribly uncouth of me to make the decision on this particular issue. As you well know, Cadence rules over the Crystal Empire and thus you must ask her for permission.”

Luna was aware that her annoyance was seeping into her voice but felt no need to correct the issue. Spending hours on end in the throne room listening to various ponies request this and whine about that was supposed to be her dear sister's duty. Yet said sister had had “something extremely important” to do and had had the nerve to send her assistant to tell Luna she had to go in her stead.

“But Princess Cadence surely won't appreciate the-”

“Maybe so, but I still cannot make the decision for her. Now, was there something else?”

The stallion, whose name Luna had already forgotten, mumbled something in response as she looked to her side and at Raven, Celestia's assistant.

“No, that is everything for now. I will pass on your decisions and see that they're carried out, you needn't worry about anything else.”

Luna let out a sigh of relief. All she had to do now was find her sister and have a few select words with her. She spread her wings and leaped off the raised platform the throne was on and landed at the doors at the other end of the room with just a few wing beats. The only good thing about being Celestia's sister was that she could fly recklessly while indoors and nobody would scold her for it.

“You.”

Both of the guards at the door snapped to attention, the one she was facing trying his best to only look ahead and not at her.

“Tell me where my sister is.”

“Princess Celestia was in the royal library last I heard.”

The stallion was sweating bullets, his face had turned deep red and he seemed to have trouble staying still. Luna knew the signs: a fresh recruit.

“Why, thank you.”

She leaned in closer, so close she could feel the heat radiating off him, and lowered her voice to a whisper.

“Tell me, was she the only reason you joined the guard?”

Without waiting for an answer, she planted a chaste peck of a kiss on his cheek and pulled away to see the train wreck of an expression on his face. He was trying to keep serious but hadn't been able to stop a wide smile from taking over. His eyes were asking if she was being serious and his lips were parted to answer the question he wasn't sure he was allowed to answer. Luna let out a short, quiet giggle at the sight.

“Don't get your hopes up, she's even worse than I am.”

The other good thing about being who she was was that she could tease the guards as much as she liked.

The corridor between the bookshelves was so narrow that if she had spread her wings she would've knocked several books off the shelves. She saw Celestia ahead of her, sitting on the floor with a pile of books next to her, and whispered a spell to silence her hoofsteps. Creeping closer in the enchanted silence, she read the titles of the books on the floor. Diary of Mirehoof the Mysterious, part 1. Diary of Mirehoof the Mysterious, part 2. Celestia had the complete set, all 7 books, with the last one open in front of her. The odd choice in literature piqued her curiosity, but she nevertheless lifted a hoof off the floor in preparation as she stood right behind her.

“So this is important enough for you to shirk your duties, dear sister?”

Her sister jerked in a very satisfying way when Luna suddenly placed the hoof on her withers. The frown on her face was priceless as she slowly shuffled around and Luna considered them even when she saw it.

“You didn't have to sneak up on me like that! I could've accidentally blasted you!”

“Oh?”

She swung her head a bit and made her horn glow.

“You think I am something you can blast away?”

Celestia narrowed her eyes and turned her head so she looked at Luna down her snout. An ethereal breeze blew along the corridor they were in, making the sisters' manes and tails sway with it as raw magical energy concentrated in the area.

“I didn't know you were a fan of historical diaries; why the sudden interest?”

Luna relaxed her horn and let the magic fade away. The breeze stopped. Her sister stared at her like she'd seen a ghost, with her eyes frozen wide and lips parted like she had meant to say something.

“...what?”

Celestia slowly closed her eyes and rubbed them with a fetlock before looking at her again.

“For a moment I thought... Never mind. It was Twilight who first thought of Mirehoof, and I thought I remembered something and had to come and check.”

Celestia told Luna of Mirehoof's life, how he had been an extremely talented unicorn who had graduated from her School for Gifted Unicorns with top grades before moving out to a small village where he'd spent the rest of his life working on theoretical magic. His earlier life, culminating in his famous theorems, was well-documented but he'd had even greater ambitions – proving that parallel worlds exist. He had disappeared before he'd finished his work and hadn't kept notes, only a very generic diary which mostly dealt with his day-to-day life – worthless for replicating his work but of some historical value thanks to its age and the amount of detail.

“...see what he's written here as one of his last entries: 'Unexpected outcome, lost the object.' Doesn't that sound like he was successful? And then there's the second last entry: 'I woke up to a realization. I've been on the wrong track the whole time. I'll try it tomorrow.'”

Luna followed her sister's hoof as it traced the words on the page.

“His last entry is just about what he'd eaten that day, but he vanished without a trace soon after writing it.”

She and her sister gazed at each other in silence for a while.

“He succeeded and crossed into another world, didn't he? Is that what you're thinking?”

“Yes.”

Celestia slammed shut the diary and stood up.

“But there's no way to be sure. And even if he did succeed, he never returned so we can't know if the same thing that's happening to Anonymous happened to him.”

The books on the floor were engulfed in a golden glow and slowly rose upwards before arranging themselves neatly into an empty spot on the shelf next to them.

“Now, what would you like for dinner?”

Celestia's pink eyes fixed themselves on Luna as she looked back with a soft smile.

Luna had to magically drag her sister from the dinner table to stop her from gobbling all of the cake.

“I keep wondering how you can stomach all that sugar and you keep amazing me by acting like a filly every time you see some.”

Her sister's pout and miserable slouch while being dragged away from the desserts may have melted the hearts of lesser ponies, but it did not work on her.

“I just wanted one more bite...”

She pulled her sister through a door and out of the dining hall before slamming shut the door behind them and releasing her magic grasp.

“I thought you'd know how to share and not hog the whole thing for yourself.”

Celestia made a 'hmph' sound, squeezed her eyes shut and looked off to the side.

“Says miss 'I've flirted with half of the guards.'”

“Hey!”

She snapped her head towards her sister and pointed a hoof at her.

“Don't act like you're innocent, I've heard the rumors. 'She'll be in the secluded courtyard every Friday afternoon, make sure you're alone and slip her a sweet treat.'”

Mockingly imitating the voice of the sergeant she'd heard it from, Luna watched a hint of crimson rise onto her sister's face. Then, with a sudden crack, Celestia vanished.

“Oh.”

She must've accidentally hit a sore spot, she'd only meant to jest a little. She had a feeling that she wouldn't be seeing her sister that day, and that they'd both apologize to each other on the morrow.

The sound of hoofsteps echoed in the marble-walled corridor and let her know somepony was coming long before the guardspony in question turned a corner to the corridor she was in.

“Princess Luna?”

Luna let the bushel she was holding fall onto a respectable above and looked down the corridor, lined with fresh lavender, at the other end of it where the guard was standing.

“Yes?”

She knew what it was about, recognizing the stallion as the same on she'd instructed to find her when Twilight returned, but waited patiently as he saluted before speaking.

“Princess Twilight and the alien have returned. They went to the alien's room.”

“Thank you.”

Luna left her trolley behind and headed to the tower Anonymous' room was in.

She heard Twilight's excited voice onto the landing, muffled just enough so she could not make out the words. She waited for a short while until it was silent, then knocked and pushed the door open.

“Princess Luna? Good thing you're here, I was about to come see you but then Anonymous said he'd start fixing his transporter device and I just had to stay and watch.”

Twilight was standing in the middle of the room, her head turned towards Luna and the door with her body facing the desk Anonymous was sitting at. The alien had the strange device of his, a paper bag and a soldering iron on the table in front of him. He glanced at Luna. There was a very focused look on his face, and he turned back towards the device without saying or doing anything to recognize her presence.

“I see you've got the parts he needed, but I am curious about how the rest of your evening went.”

Luna walked into the room from the landing, the sound of her hooves joined by the giddy clip-clop of Twilight's prancing as she turned around to face Luna, unable to completely contain her excitement.

“Oh, I've learned so much about him! Did you know it's possible to use wires to transmit light? Because I didn't!”

She trotted in place, her hooves turning into a blur and filling the room with noise.

“That is interesting, yes. But how did you get along with Rarity, Anonymous?”

Twilight froze in place, two hooves in the air and her mouth hanging open, but recovered just as the alien set down the part he'd been inspecting and turned around on his seat.

“I found her very interesting. She was pleasant to be around even if I did not quite understand everything she said. It is a shame I can not get to know her better.”

He made a circular motion with one hand as he spoke. Luna wasn't sure what, if anything, that meant.

“You could choose to stay for a bit longer if you so wish, we would be honored to learn more about you and your kind. I feel like there is a lot we could teach to each other.”

Anonymous stared at her in silence for a while. His brows furrowed as he covered his lips with his forefinger, then momentarily shut his eyes and shook his head.

“No. I appreciate your offer, but there is something I must do and it can not wait.”

The determination in his voice told her that he wouldn't change his mind. Luna drew breath and held it for a second before deciding she wanted to know.

“And what is this 'something' that has had you think of nearly nothing but returning for the last few days?”

The silence that followed felt like it could be carved with a knife. Twilight lifted a hoof onto her chest and let her ears press flat on her skull whereas the alien stared at Luna with a not-so-friendly expression on his face while thumbing the stubble on his chin.

“I had a bit of a fight with someone and we never made up for it.”

His posture slumped as he breathed out loudly. He said something in his native language and cast his face downwards.

“And now I need to apologize... And hope she has had time to understand.”

The last part came out slowly and quietly, like it was something he may not have wanted others to hear.

Luna closed the door of Twilight's room, letting the sound it made die down before taking her hoof off the solid wood it was made of. She wished to help the alien, she really did, but what could she do? Force him to stay? Try to make him talk about something he didn't want to? Her hoofsteps echoed in the deserted corridors as she headed to nowhere in particular. According to Twilight, he'd spoken of “football” very passionately, like someone who truly enjoyed it. She'd got the impression that his team was far more than just a sports team, like a circle of friends with a common interest. Yet his dreams were troubled. Full of him being downtrodden by those who did not understand. Or those who did, but didn't care. Luna took a right and found herself on a balcony, looking up at the moon she'd raised hours ago and the stars surrounding it. Had coming to Equestria helped him realize how important those who cared were? Or had he misinterpreted their words of kindness as a meaningless political theater? She let out a sigh and spread her wings, launching herself up high into the cloudless sky.

The dreamscape was troubled that night. She found Twilight sobbing in the ruins of the Golden Oak library and watched Rainbow Dash get caught by a shadow that made the feathers on her wings fall off. Pinkie Pie's dream made even her feel disgusted: the chipper mare had been trapped inside a mirror and was forced to watch her image live in her stead. Luna consoled the sad, helped the weak shatter the bonds of their mind and broke the broken out of their nightmares.

She felt the difference the moment she slipped into the dream. Anonymous was on some kind of an outdoors sports arena with about twenty others of his kind. He glanced down at his feet, at the white quarter circle drawn on the grass and the ball on the line, then at the people waiting for it ahead of him in front of the goal. He took a few steps backwards, closed his eyes for one breath and let go. The ball flew in a beautiful curving arc, falling between the goal and the players. One of those with yellow shirts, his teammates, jumped higher than any others.

A cheer filled the pub as a dozen pints clanged into each other, some of the amber brew inside spilling from the impact. Anonymous felt multiple hands pat his back as he brought down his mug and drank deeply of it, savoring the bitterness. His teammates broke down into a few groups, separating into different tables. He went with three others, chatting about the game and their individual efforts. Each of the three complimented his corner kick despite his attempts to play it down.

The talk eventually moved away from the game but remained cheery and the chatter was often speckled with laughter. They drank, they spoke, they laughed, they played darts and went for another pint. It lasted for a good while, but Anonymous apologized and said he had to leave after the second beer had been drunk.

The streets of the city night were filled with people, coming and going to and from the malls, pubs and clubs he passed by. He stopped at a bus stop. A few minutes passed as he watched the bustle around him, then he got on the vehicle that stopped in front of him.

The ringing of the doorbell faded and was replaced by hurried steps from inside. Anonymous put a smile on his face as he heard the lock turn and the door creaked open. It revealed a female of his kind, and he greeted her as their eyes met. The woman responded similarly and stepped out of the way to let him in. He remained still for a moment, looking at the mess of hair on her head and the shirt that was speckled with dried remains of some liquids, but went in anyways. As he passed by, he got a whiff of the reek of alcohol coming from her.

It started when she asked him to get her a drink. He went to the kitchen, looked at the plethora of bottles in there, and filled a glass with water. She thanked him when he handed her the glass, took a sip and started yelling about how he always tried to trick her and how she hated it. He raised his voice and told her how she was always drunk off her ass by the time he could get there and he was only trying to help. But she wouldn't listen, only going on about how she hated his holier-than-thou attitude and that she didn't need help, just a bit of a drink to unwind after a day's work.

He left the apartment a few minutes later, holding a tissue to his mouth so the bleeding lip wouldn't mess his clothes. He hadn't thought she'd hit him. But she had. And then she'd started crying when he'd grabbed her by the wrist and she couldn't make him let go. Knowing that she'd be easier to deal with when sober, he decided to head home and put on the finishing touches on the electronics project he'd worked on. It always seemed to go better when slightly tipsy. He could even stop by the pub for another one on his way.

Luna's night was restless. She woke up several times, and her dreams were a patchwork of nightmares. At first she'd went to a market and had arrived to a deserted plaza. Then she'd galloped down a street to the train station only to find the station devoid of both trains and ponies. In the third dream she sat on the throne, waiting for someone who never came and when she went out to find out why, the castle had been deserted. After the fourth dream, one about her preparing for the Gala and going to the event only to see nopony, she gave up and dragged herself out of bed.