Something Halloween

Twilight stood in her fancy, high-rise office, nose all but pressed to the glass. She only pulled back a little as she sipped from a coffee cup. It wasn't that she needed it nowadays, but it had become a habit and she'd grown to like the taste of this mochaccino and the way Darlene from the front desk made it. She was taking a moment to rest her eyes. She'd been staring at the screen for most of the day and now she was looking into the distance, just like she'd read in some of the articles on workplace health. One of them was even published internally in the company. Twilight didn't even know the person who wrote it, not personally. She'd probably seen the name on the pay list, but she didn't think she'd ever met them.

The business was taking off and it was scary how big it had gotten. She had to give credit to Anon for being able to run it all. Well, he didn't so much run it as surround himself with people he could trust who did it for him. Even Twilight had come to depend on the business expertise of some of their C-levels. Anyway, that was neither here nor there. She wanted to finish the work she'd planned for herself for the day and then she would go and check up on things at the Pony Society, preferably before they closed. She wanted to meet with Clarissa and make sure the girl understood the fine points of scheduling for some of the more... unique staff.

That would come later. For now, Twilight was enjoying her coffee and watching the people on the street far below, going about their business. It was fun to try and imagine what kind of errands they had. A few of them were easy: she followed the path of a jogger, who weaved deftly between other pedestrians, completely engrossed in his headphones. Across the street there were two ladies, one of them pushing a baby carriage. They were probably just enjoying the pleasant weather before winter set in fully. A number of people had suits and briefcases. Maybe some of them even worked for her, Twilight thought. It was a weird feeling.

The rest - it was anypony's guess, but she still liked to imagine. A rather heavyset man in faded jeans was given some berth. He wasn't moving too fast, but there were damp patches on his shirt under his arms. Feeling a bit ashamed of herself, Twilight thought he was heading towards a nearby fast food place. Some distance behind him was another curious-looking human. Twilight stared in mild surprise.

The suit he was wearing was very unusual. She couldn't place it at first, but then realized it was something long out of fashion. He even had a top hat and a monocle! Even from this distance there was no mistaking the glint of gold in one eye and the chain connecting it to his pocket. Maybe someone was trying out their Halloween costume early, the mare thought? She floated the cup closer and sipped, but kept her eyes on the strange human. He looked as if he'd stepped across time from the previous century. Or maybe the one before that.

A gentleman of means, she mentally named him. Out to close a very important business deal with other gentlemen of means. Uh-oh! The jogger hadn't seemed to notice the well-dressed businessman and was running straight for him. They were going to collide! Despite feeling a tiny bit ashamed, Twilight smiled in expectation of some harmless physical comedy.

Here it came! She took another quick sip out of sheer excitement.

The mare blinked, then coughed as some coffee went down the wrong way. It sprayed against the glass and she sputtered for a few minutes before she could clear her esophagus. The jogger had run straight through the business man! Neither of them reacted. For that matter, no one else on the street had seen it. Twilight moved to the next pane of glass and sought out the two guys again. There was the jogger, patiently continuing his run and nearly out of sight. He avoided people, sometimes slowing so he wouldn't run into anyone.

The pony looked for the other person - the man in the old-fashioned suit - but she couldn't find him anywhere. Had he gone inside a building this quickly? Maybe that had been a near miss and it had unnerved him. Except that wasn't right. She had clearly seen them occupy the exact same space for a moment. They just passed through one another as if they were ghosts! She stared some more, even after the jogger was gone around the corner, but she couldn't find the well-dressed businessman anywhere.

Maybe her eyes were more tired than she thought and they were playing tricks on her? Or, perhaps it was a weird effect of light and reflection. It had certainly been very strange. Twilight looked guiltily at the window, which was dripping mochaccino on the carpet. Yeah, she should do something about that. She lifted up some paper from the laser printer and put it on the floor to soak up at least some of it. Then she pressed a button on her phone.

"Yes ma'am?" came the voice of Darlene from the front desk.

Twilight cleared her throat and tried to make her voice steady. The incident had shaken her a little, but there was no reason to worry other people. "Uh, yes, Darlene? Can you send someone up with a mop. I tried to inhale my coffee..."

The woman giggled, then quickly apologized: "Sorry, Miss Twilight. I'll send someone up right away!"

"They will need to clean a window and a bit of carpet," the mare clarified.

"No problem, Miss Twilight! Happy to help!"

The mare thanked the woman and disconnected the call. Having underlings was actually pretty useful. This way she could focus on her work rather than cleaning up her mess. Still a bit weirded out, the alicorn went around her desk and sat down. Both the surface and the chair were a bit lower to the floor to allow her easier access, but there was a button to make the desk rise up. It wouldn't do for her visitors to sit higher and look down on her. It felt impolite, so she raised both the desk and the chair whenever she had an interview or a meeting.

This time she kept it lowered - the assistants and receptionists knew her well and wouldn't read anything into it. They also wouldn't be sitting in front of her table, so that was all okay. Twilight heaved a sigh, forced the unusual occurrence from her mind and looked at the screen. She had finished one function, but now she had to write another to fix the problems with the first. It never ended.

At least it was interesting, she thought. Most of the time. She glanced at the wall clock and made a mental calculation. She could take it slow. Almost an hour before she had to leave the office and head over to the Society. The spell certainly made her days a lot more manageable. Even leisurely, Twilight thought. She loved having enough time to do her work properly.

There was a knock at the door and she looked up.

"Come in!"

A nervous-looking lad whose name the mare couldn't right at the moment remember poked his head in. He held a spray-bottle of window cleaner in front of him as if in defense. "Um, your window, ma'am?"

Twilight pointed, smiling apologetically and lowering her ears. "Over there. Sorry about that - coffee went down the wrong way," she explained.

The youth hurried over, inspected the damage for a moment, then began squirting the fluid right on the glass. He had a piece of cloth in his other hand. Twilight went back to her work.

"Um, ma'am?" the call brought her back out of thought.

"Mm?" She looked around and saw that the boy had finished with the window. The paper from the carpet was gone and in its place was a mop.

"I'll bring in the steam cleaner later. It should all come out."

The mare gave him a brilliant smile. "Thank you very much, um-"

He caught her unspoken question. "Jeremy, ma'am."

"Please, call me Twilight. We don't stand on ceremony here, Jeremy. Thanks again!"

The boy just nodded, flashed another nervous grin and left. He walked a few paces before remembering his cleaning bottle and returning, red-faced, to fetch it. Twilight chuckled a little to herself when she was alone again. Some of these fresh interns were so nervous around their bosses. Hopefully the lad would come to their Halloween party, where she could mingle a bit more informally. That ought to put him at his ease.

Now, if only she could find a way to make Darlene stop calling her 'Miss'. It was too formal for Twilight's taste. Maybe if she got the woman a little tipsy at the party and shared a few secrets. Of course it was impossible to really be friends with all her employees, but Twilight still wanted to try. The people felt better and did a better job if they were happy.

She put those particular problems aside for another day and focused on her code again.