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Part 4: It is early evening, a half-crescent moon hangs gloriously in the gloaming. Anon, having awoken refreshed, is on his way to Princess Luna's personal office. He is prepared in every way to assist her; every way except what he least expects. Prior to departing his modest chambers in the Solar Wing of the palace, he had re-familiarized himself with the preparations that had been delegated to Princess Luna's side of the Ministry of State and he felt bureaucratic confidence. 

>L: Alone in her office, Luna's nerves were in shambles. She was woefully spun-up over what she dearly wanted to be a fateful and electric encounter with Anon. Early attempts to quell her jitters by reading from her preselected list of positive affirmations had failed. So to had trying to distract herself with random tasks around the office, along with another six or seven other methods. Attempting to remain calm, she was speaking assertively to herself. "Steady girl! Steady! Stay calm...calm. You love Anon and it is imperative you make a good impression. You've seen Anon look at you, you've seen him glance at you longingly, even if he didn't know it himself! Deep down you know... and he knows, that...that he loves you too! He certainly does and your instincts are correct! Just be calm...and confident!" She closed her eyes and drew a deep breath, letting it out slowly. For a moment the butterflies dispersed but shortly returned in greater numbers. In the end, she simply paced in the moonlight at the enormous arched windows, trying in vain to prepare herself.
Anon walked confidently through the Lunar Wing of the palace. He had been there before. He admired the cool blue and silver focused color palette of the wing, as well as the ornate cosmos themed paintings, mosaics, scrollwork, and sparkling gabbro floors. Lamps hanging between swirled pillars reflected off august mirrors on either side of the corridors, casting optical echoes of themselves into infinity. Smooth, crystalline, and glittering in the dim light, the decor sent shadows of mystery across his mind, as though the unexpected was at hand and that he was in passage to another world. At length, he arrived at her office door.  
>L: A knock rang out across the white marble floors to Luna's ear, triggering immediate, but disconcerting excitement. She paused a moment. Having put on her best sapphire encrusted jewelry and adorned with a splendid white dress, Luna now sent a few final brush strokes through her mane and swallowed hard. She had applied a perfume that smelled deliciously of rain and spring flowers; her favorite. Yet, she did not feel ready in the slightest. "Come in!"
Stepping from the darkness of the corridor into the moonlit room, Anon announced, "Good evening Your Highness. I've come to assist you with your preparations for the diplomatic conference. I'm sure Princess Celestia informed you that she had reassigned me." Anon paused as he soaked in the scene. The room was beautifully decorated in the style of the wing and lit mostly by the moonlight, augmented here and there with lamps or candles. The white marble floor was a reflector that sent shimmering silver light up the walls to illuminate the ceiling, revealing visions of the heavens painted there in its vaulted grandeur. By the windows stood Princess Luna, glittering like white hot sparks in the moonlight. Her mane, tail, and gorgeous dress, flowing together, seemed to replicate the belt of the Milky Way Galaxy as viewed from a dark mountain. Processing all this, Anon added in awe without thinking better of it, "Your Highness, you look exceptionally beautiful this evening." Internally, Anon angrily locked a dormant emotion back into its box.
>L: Spurred abruptly by the complement and barely controlling the butterflies flapping up a hurricane in her stomach, Luna awkwardly responded, "Oh! Ha! Yes, thank you Anon! I thought this dress would be...nice...uh, appropriate really...That is, considering you have not...been with me...I mean, worked for me before. I thought, maybe it would...relax you...or rather, put you at ease for the first time we...uh...collaborated." Luna was internally searching for words and kicking herself for her dissolving self-control. She meant eloquence and poetry, but stuttering and bumbling came forth instead. She walked toward him, stumbling a bit before quickly recovering. Clearing her throat first, she said while gesturing to a sofa, "Won't you come in and sit down for a discussion? Truly, I am glad to have your services." She managed this mechanical remark with a rather clumsy smile devoid entirely of seduction, the exact opposite of her intention. As Anon turned to the sofa she silently cringed to herself.
Responding to her invitation, Anon replied, "Certainly Your Highness. I'd be glad to." He sat down at the lovely blue sofa that she motioned to, while she sat opposite. Based on her behavior, He could immediately see what Celestia was referring to regarding Princess Luna's stress. He now looked her over with compassion as she nervously smiled at him and poured tea for them from a decanter that had been pre-staged on the table between them. Breaking the uncomfortable silence, he offered, "Celestia also mentioned that I could take some vexing projects off your hoofs. I thought I could talk to you about them and the preparations before I go meet with your staff tonight."
>L: His remark and the tea refocused her, but only enough to discuss business. "Yes, meeting with the staff first would be best. They have all the plans, documents, and materials you'll need. I've let the acting leader know to await your arrival." She paused and looked at Anon while they both sipped tea. He was so close, but out of her reach still. "I'll certainly let you take the projects as well. To tell you the truth, I'm a little loath to let go of them, but I know it's probably for the best. Twirling her hoof in the air, she laughed nervously, "You know, I tend to get a little obsessed and overwhelmed with these sometimes."
"What sort of projects are they, Your Highness?" Anon continued to admire her beauty and elegance, encased as she was in the silvery night. She was enticing to him emotionally, intellectually, and physically. Moreover, he had always felt an irresistible attraction to her. Time spent with her in conversation in the past had endeared her to him and he felt a keen affection for her. Yet, he had suppressed and buried those feelings, knowing that he could only be with one princess. He loved Celestia only and exclusively, and this was just business.
>L: Luna did not answer, for her mind had wandered off into strategies to re-establish her plans on solid terrain.
"Your Highness?" Anon prompted after a moment of silence.
>L: "Oh! Apologies! I was...distracted a moment." Then, without thinking, Luna explained, "Well, there are a few from the Ministry of Agriculture and Resources, three from the Ministry of Defense, five from the Ministry of Knowledge, and seven more from the Ministry of Commerce." Luna spoke in wooden dullness. It was a facade to shield Anon's vision from the gyroscope of her emotional state that was precessing out of control. Psychologically and emotionally overwhelmed, Luna was totally unable to focus and unleash her natural talents of seduction. "Mostly proposals for new projects and expenditures, as well as reports of progress over the past year. I would be most appreciative if you would apply your expertise to analyzing them and produce some astute recommendations."
"I won't let you down Your Highness. Don't worry at all!" Anon spoke with a reassuring smile that seemed to him to immediately brighten Princess Luna's troubled countenance.
>L: Luna smiled in sincere gratitude. At Anon's assurance, her heart warmed and her tension slackened partially. "They are contained in folios there on my desk. For the most part they are self-explanatory. Just let me know if you have any questions." Feeling somewhat more at ease, and the protective facade now cracking, she added, "Thank you Anon. I am actually truly grateful."
"I am very happy to help, Your Higness. Celestia told me about your delayed staff and how terribly it has affected your efforts. I'll do my very best to make sure the preparations are accomplished, hopefully with some time to spare." With a warm smile from his core, he continued, "Don't worry about anything. I'll take care of it."
Feeling a little more at ease following Anon's words, the flames of her love for him suddenly kindled up in her heart and glowed within. Despite the disastrous meeting, her blood rushed and her body tingled. Her body was still finding ways to make its carnal desire known to her mind. How strongly she desired him! She wanted to have her way with him at that very moment, but she had terribly fumbled her opportunity. Nothing could recover from the cold, business-like atmosphere she had unintentionally generated.
Anon finished off his tea and said, "Well, Your Highness. Thank you for the tea. If you'll excuse me, I'm anxious to get to work for you!"
>L: "Certainly Anon!" Luna was pained that their time together was ebbing without any emotional connection being made. However, there was little she could do now; she had squandered all her preparations. She felt her heart strings reach out as if to hold Anon and say "Please don't go! Please, let's start again!", only for those tender strings to be abruptly severed. She longed for him to hold and comfort her.
"I have to admit, by the way, that I don't know the way to the staff council room." Anon said as he stood up.
>L: "The council room is further down the corridor, two doors on the right. I'll be here in my office for some time if you need anything" said Luna while trying to hold on to the moment.
"Thank you Your Highness!" Anon noticed that she was studying him in an anxious way. Her eyes touched every part of his visible frame, as though looking for something to hold on to. This meeting had been unusual and its mostly business atmosphere regrettably made her lovely dress feel out of place. Yet, Princess Luna was not a stranger to him and he understood how she could be. He had often accompanied her on walks, discussed politics and dreams with her, and contemplated the stars with her. She had confided in him, and vice versa. He knew her personality, her tendency to get easily wound-up. Her behavior now was off from what he was familiar with. It must be stress he concluded; he resolved to erase that stress and restore her to her usual self. He walked to the desk and grandly swept up the files. "Good evening Your Highness. By the end of the work-night I'll have everything in order with the staff, and the ball rolling in the right direction!"
>L: His address of her as 'Your Highness' stung her very heart. She wanted to hear her real name casually grace his lips. As he walked to exit the room she called after him, desperate to win at least one battle, "You can call me..."
Anon turned to listen.
>L: "You can call upon me with questions by sending a servant as well...if you prefer...that is" she said. She still could not slay those hellish butterflies.
"Most appreciative, Your Highness! And, if you have any other tasks for me I would be happy to undertake them." He smiled, bowed, and was gone.
>L: As Anon left the room, Luna let out a deep sigh and her eyes became watery from what was for her, an emotional and hormone charged encounter. She had floundered totally and frustration gripped her, as well as sadness. She eased herself deeply into her favorite blue sofa and took up another cup of tea, sipping deeply into her thoughts. "Rusty indeed! Even more rust than metal actually!" she declared to the night. After glaring into the pale moonlight through her window for some time, ruminating, she began to cast her eyes randomly throughout her office. Finally, they locked like a steel trap upon her now barren desk. Like lightening a realization struck her. She had inadvertently given Anon all of her personal projects when only two or three were originally intended. By fate's hoof she now had no administrative burdens nipping at her fetlocks. Slowly a sensation of weight melting off and falling, as molten slag, to the floor swept her. An increasing clarity followed as the effects of stress were shaken off. She now had nothing pressing to do! After so much worrying over the past few weeks, it was a foreign feeling. "How right Celestia was! I had not realized the effect the stress was having on me until it was taken away!" At once she felt an effulgent calm. Triggered by this, a renewed confidence welled up in Luna's soul. She smiled to herself, now absolutely resolute. She decided to make a second attempt in the deeper, more magical part of the night. This time she would succeed! Mingled love and lust inflamed her heart as she drank the last of her tea, calculating her strategy.

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