A Lifetime of Dreams

>In all her years Luna had only ever felt true fear once
>When she knew naught the fate that awaited her, Celestia, or Equestria as Nightmare Moon took over her mind
>But that fear returned when she found herself facing the loss of the human she had come to love
>Anonymous was his name, and he was a curious being from beyond her stars and perhaps even further still
>Luna's curiosity began in his dreams
>The dreams of ponies were holistic in nature
>They all had some meaning to them
>But his were beyond rhyme or reason
>The laws of physics and reality needed not apply to the subconscious of the alien creature
>Strange events and characters intermingled and countless environments of countless periods of times churned and writhed in his mind
>She had given up trying to make sense of them or correcting them as his subconscious was all too eager to return to the maddening mindscape
>When she attempted to contact the human and enquire on his dreams his only explanation was that it was common for his species
>Finally after several months of observing the dreams, for amusement if nothing else, she felt as though she overstepped a line
>His dream that night had roiled and spun endlessly as had all the others
>Then suddenly it stopped and the world seemed to shatter like glass
>So violent was the tearing of the mindscape it nearly hurled her out of it
>But this new sensation intrigued her, so she rooted herself in the dream as best she could until the dream settled
>Then, as quickly as it came, the shift ended
>Luna found herself glancing into a small room, decorated with pictures of other humans, some of them resembling Anonymous
>Scattered in corners of the room were pieces of plush furniture
>Upon one of them sat a sight most curious
>A human, now what she knew to be Anonymous in his younger years, enshrouded in a tangling of limbs from two much older humans
>They simply sat their, locked in embrace
>Were it not for the slight shifting of their gangly limbs and soft huff of breathes, Luna would have thought them to be a statue
>Before she could step into the room Luna was halted by the sound of a gentle sniffle
>With a blink, Anonymous in his present form appeared in front of the family, yet was left unnoticed
>His eyes were locked solely on the three, flicking between the three with greater intensity and speed with each passing second
>Each flick of the eyes caused his gasps to grow shallower, his chest heaving deeper and deeper
>His whimper becoming more pronounced
>Finally, like the breaking of a dam, he collapsed, as if he no longer had the strength to bear the weight of his own body
>He fell to his knees and his face fell to the floor, sobs wracking his form, and tears falling endlessly but never hitting the floor
>Yet still, he went unnoticed, the three were blinded by the shared bliss of the tender familial moment
>Luna could only make out two word through his cries
>"I'm sorry"
>She thought she knew what to do here
>She was sorely wrong
>Her hoof tapped the door as she made to approach Anonymous
>Yet it echoed and shrieked with such intensity she had to push her hooves to her ears
>She looked to Anon hoping for an answer as to what was occuring
>Yet her eyes only met rage
>Before she could try to explain, Luna's form was hurled out of the dream, slamming back into the magical hub of connected subconscious that linked her to dreams
>After that night she rarely found Anonymous' mind
>On the night's she did find it, it was sealed and locked tight, and her magic could not ease it open
>Torturing oneself with past mistakes, losses and memories of home
>Luna was all familiar with how deep that pit went, but knew little of its true extent
>All she knew is that it never ended
>She found resolve in that thought
>Even when she found naught but rejection from the human
>However, the moon's luck shined on her one night
>While walking the grounds to clear her head, she bumped into him
>He had been entranced by the architectural achievement that allowed a city to rest on a mountainside and decided to visit
>Luna seized this opportunity as best she could
>While she made little progress, she was able to convince him she was not purposefully invading
>He had even agreed to try and let her into his dreams again
>Over time, his dreams began to settle more and more
>According to him it only occured when she visited
>Luna could not deny that she took great pride in this knowledge
>As dreams shifted to meetings, and meetings shifted to something more, Luna found herself feeling closer to him
>He admitted to sharing her feelings of isolation and abandonment, and the violent afterthoughts of taking the attention back by force
>They shared their troubles of not understanding this new world or how it works
>Even with years of acclimation, Luna never felt like this Equestria was hers anymore
>She had no hoof in its moulding, no say in its goings on
>Celestia had done her best, and Luna faulted her sister naught for her own discomfort
>Celestia had even gone out of her way to try and recreate a millennium old celebration which Luna was quite fond of
>The celebration had fallen out of favor and Luna began to see why
>But she kept up the charade of enjoying it
>Seeing the normally stuffy and indignant nobles dress in millenium old garb was a priceless memory
>The laughter at the absurdity of the events and the remembrance of days gone by she shared with her sister was even more precious though
>But sharing this feeling of loneliness when surrounded by those who accepted you with another was a great comfort for her
>One evening, after sharing a bottle two centuries too old for the human's constitution to handle, his inebriation led to him letting his final wall fall
>Luna came to learn how he ended up in Equestria, and she felt like she had a greater understanding of his apologetic dream
>Equally inebriated herself, Luna brought up the dream that nearly killed their relationship before it began
>No words, slurred or otherwise, were spoken
>But a soft sobbed shook his body
>Luna simply took him into her wings and hooves, and let him lull himself to sleep
>Upon the next morning's rising sun, Luna felt nothing but dread
>She dreaded being pierced by those hateful eyes again
>Once more she had intruded where she wasn't invited
>His mind was slack with booze and nostalgia from his own past
>When she bumped into the human again, Luna was stunned to silence as he wrapped her in his arms and thanked her
>With no reconciliation needed, Luna was eager to enjoy her new found partner as deeply as she could
>She did not anticipate how deep that enjoyment would go for either of them
>As her own troubles and his linked, they spun synchronously, like cogs in a machine
>The two felt true belonging besides each other
>Strangers to each other and to the world they were in
>But they were strangers together
>Yet as their troubles fell into each other, so too did Luna and Anon fall into each other emotionally, mentally, and eventually physically
>The completeness of the connection shared that first night shook them both to their core
>Yet here she is, years later, and happily wed, but she felt nothing but dread
>His love seemed so serene
>So harmless
>But as she awoke each day a nagging thought poked at the back of her mind
>Eventually it broke through completely
>His mortality
>Luna was still so new to this world, and she knew she would not be truly accepted for several generations
>Not with the shadows of her past hanging on her head
>That familiar deep purple approached her once
>But she was far stronger than before, and sealed it deeper in her mind than before
>Even if it meant being alone, it would be better than returning to her
>As time passed her mind began to distance itself from her kingdom and more to her predicament
>Age spells were not possible, since Anonymous bore no magic
>Petrification was possible, but again his lack of magic brought her to question how well his constitution would endure it
>Finally her mind wandered to the dreamscape
>A place of near infinite potential, and a human subconscious mad enough to harness it
>With their beings so intimately entwined it was not too difficult to link their subconscious together
>Thus, Luna began her journey with her other half that crossed the cosmos to be by her side
>With his mind able to recreate endless worlds, and her magic able to stabilise and warp it, she found his immortality
>A lifetime to live and love each other
>Each and every night
>The first few nights left him muddled and dazed, living nearly a century a night was taxing on the constitution of his mind and body
>While the dreams were placed on hold briefly there was no need to worry
>The doctors, after quadruple checking him at Luna's behest, found no medical reason for concern
>Anonymous had stated a belief that waking up to her warmth each time helped settle him back into the waking world
>As countless lifetimes passed they celebrated yet another anniversary
>Such events were saved for the waking world, as neither of the two had any wish to retire from that world
>But neither were either of the two eager to retire from the dream or each other’s side
>Countless more lifetimes stretched out in front of them, and Luna was determined to remember every second