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Forever Alone2,517 words
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Forever Alone

“Ugh . . . I hate this holiday . . . .”

Nocturne trudged through the streets of Ponyville, watching happy couples all around him in loving embraces, fits of laughter, and passionate kisses. Even his days in the darkness of the Everfree Forest couldn’t suppress memories of this. Especially when ponies on every corner unwittingly rubbed it in his face everywhere he went.

“Happy Hearts-and-Hooves Day!”

“Ugh, I swear, if I hear that miserable phrase one more time . . .” Nocturne grumbled impotently as he walked. Even with his changed life, living in Ponyville again, and amongst friends for the first time, it made his stomach turn.

“Happy Hearts-and-Hooves Day, my sweet darling!”

Nocturne glanced at a corner of the road he was on and saw two ponies, an orange Earth stallion with a brown mullet and a turquoise-furred, blond-maned Pegasus mare, nuzzling and whispering sweet nothings at each other.

“Happy Hearts-and-Hooves Day, my love,” the stallion replied to his girlfriend, and the two shared a heartwarming kiss.

Or heart-wrenching, as Nocturne saw it.

With a roll of his eyes and a groan, Nocturne waited for the road before him to clear of traffic before closing; Big McIntosh was hauling a wagon loaded to the brim with hay across the street. All the while, the two lovebirds on the street corner bent Nocturne’s ear, making him tap his hoof impatiently.

“How did you find the time to do this, honey?” the Pegasus asked breathily.

“That doesn’t matter,” the stallion replied. “What matters is I’d do anything to make you happy, Sassy.”

“Oh, Carmy,” she nearly whispered it, and they came together for another kiss.

Nocturne promptly stuck his hoof in his mouth and gagged, loudly and irritably, as he contorted his face and closed one scarlet eye. This went on for a few seconds after Big Mac completely crossed the road, and by then, passersby were staring at Nocturne with a combination of disturbance and dismay.

Nocturne froze with his hoof down his throat as the sense of self-awareness filled him like freezing cold water. He turned to see his observers gawking at him on the side of the road, and he removed his hoof and frowned at them. “Oh, what?!” he retorted. “Shut up and chew your gum.” And with that, he started back down the street, the happy couple on the corner still mumbling their insipid love tripe to each other as if Nocturne hadn’t even been there.

Nocturne reached a roadside café called Sea Biscuits and sat down at an empty table. The waitress, a beige Earth mare with a fluffy sky-blue mane, stepped up to him and greeted him cheerfully, “What’s your pleasure, hon?”

Nocturne glanced at her and struggled to keep the irritation out of his voice. “One lunch platter for one, please,” he mumbled.

“Hmmm . . . one ‘Lonely Heart’s Special’, huh?”

Nocturne now resisted the urge to slap the waitress, and instead said, “Yeah, one of those things . . . .”

“Comin’ up, hon,” she said and turned away with a bounce of her permed blue tail. Nocturne spent his time waiting for his food by plopping his chin down on the table and lying there in silence. He glanced to his left, and saw a black-furred Pegasus stallion snuggling up with a Pegasus mare with white fur and a pink-and-green-striped mane, and a glance to the right showed a mint-green Unicorn and a cream-colored Earth pony, both mares, giggling and holding hooves. Another (by now hesitant) glance behind him, and he saw the mail mare aiming (one of) her googly eyes at a sophisticated-looking brown Earth pony.

“Really?!” Nocturne yelled out, tensing up. “Did every happy couple in town just happen to turn up at this café?! Seriously?!”

Even ponies sitting alone at their tables turned to stare at Nocturne, and he felt their eyes biting into him like a swarm of insects. The silvery stallion planted his face on the table and sighed. Another day, another incident, he thought to himself. Well, at least things can’t get much wo—

“So, Nocturne, is this a bad time?”

Yep, of course it can, Nocturne corrected himself before prying his face off the table. He looked up to his visitor, and was even more embarrassed to see Twilight Sparkle awkwardly smiling at him.

“Uhhh . . . yeah, maybe not,” Nocturne admitted. “As you can see, I’m not in the best of moods right now, Twilight.”

“Oh, I see,” Twilight replied, frowning. “It wouldn’t happen to be because today is Hearts-and-Hooves Day, would it?”

Nocturne pressed a hoof to his temple. “Who told you?” he deadpanned.

“Oh, Nocturne, don’t be upset,” Twilight soothed. “We all have preferences, after all. No one can fault you for disliking a holiday.”

“They can if I make it uncomfortably obvious,” Nocturne answered, still rubbing his head with a hoof. “Still kinda having trouble with that . . . .”

Twilight’s hoof gently gave Nocturne a pat on the back. “Maybe you’d feel a little better sharing a table with us?”

Nocturne’s head perked in curiosity. “Us?”

Twilight pointed to the table she’d come from, and Nocturne saw two other ponies he didn’t recognize sitting there: a stocky, white Unicorn stallion, and a lovely pink Alicorn, both sitting close to one another and waving to Twilight and Nocturne happily.

Nocturne scowled at Twilight. “Another happy couple?” he asked.

“Don’t worry. I’m sure you’ll like them!” Twilight then gently tugged at Nocturne, and the stallion reluctantly got up from his seat to join Twilight and her two friends.

“So, this is the notorious Nocturne,” the Alicorn said with a grin. “I must say, you’re taller than I expected.”

“Aside from that, spot-on description,” the Unicorn added. “Then again, my sister always had a good eye for details.”

“Sister?” Nocturne asked. “Twilight never told me she had a brother.”

“Well . . .” Twilight replied sheepishly, “the subject never really comes up a lot around me, I guess . . . a-anyway . . . Nocturne, this is Shining Armor, my BBBFF!”

Nocturne glanced at Twilight with a raised eyebrow. “BB-what, now?”

“My Big Brother Best Friend Forever.”

“Oh,” Nocturne replied, nodding. His head lowered and he stared at the table, past it, not really focusing on anything. “Brother . . .” he muttered to himself, as if trying to recollect something, “. . . big brother . . . .” There was a pause as Nocturne’s eyes shifted for a few seconds.

“Uhh . . .” Twilight’s voice broke through to him, “. . . you okay?”

“Hm? Oh! Yeah . . . I’m fine . . . .” Nocturne shook his head to gather himself, forced a smile, and held out a hoof to greet Twilight’s brother. “Nice to meet you.”

“Likewise,” Shining Armor replied, taking Nocturne’s hoof and shaking. He then gestured to the Alicorn sitting beside him. “This is my wife, with whom I’m spending a wonderful Hearts-and-Hooves Day!”

She giggled before introducing herself. “I’m Cadance, Princess of the Crystal Empire. It’s a pleasure, Nocturne.”

“Princess?” Nocturne repeated, suddenly feeling that icy self-awareness filling him up again. His eyes darted around in his head for a second before he forced himself into a clumsily low bow, his hoof pressed tightly to his hat. “Charmed, Your Highness,” he mumbled.

“Oh, please, that’s not necessary,” Princess Cadance chuckled, putting a hoof on Nocturne’s shoulder. “Any friend of Twilight’s is a friend of mine. Besides, if you don’t bow to her, you shouldn’t have to bow to me.”

Nocturne looked back up at Cadance and saw a caring gleam in her violet eyes. He slowly felt himself blushing and smiling, but his rational thought proceeded to stamp all over all potential implications.

Her husband is sitting right there, idiot!

“Um . . . if you insist,” Nocturne said and picked himself back up. He took the last empty seat at their table just as the waitress returned with Nocturne’s platter: a hayburger with fries, a carrot and oat salad, and a glass of cold milk.

“Meh . . . needs more protein,” Nocturne grumbled as the waitress left. “I’m so used to hunting by now that I just . . . .” He looked up at the three ponies he dined with, and saw the looks on their faces in response to the word “hunting”.

“What? Twilight did tell you about me, right? Vegetarian meals are surprisingly sparse in the Everfree Forest. Most everything is either too sharp or poisonous.” Nocturne thought back to some of his meals during his exile, and instantly thought of a certain yellow Pegasus who would be incomparably upset at such an admission.

“Anyway!” Twilight chirped after a brief pause. “So, Nocturne, what’s on your mind?”

Nocturne glanced at Twilight and scoffed. “You probably wouldn’t find it interesting,” he replied without luster. “Besides, your brother and sister-in-law didn’t come all the way from the Crystal Empire to listen to me whine.”

“Well, as long as we’re here, I see no harm in it,” Cadance offered. “Twilight did invite us to spend Hearts-and-Hooves Day this year, but as long as I’m the Princess of Love, it’s still my duty to tend to matters of the heart.”

“I wouldn’t have it any other way, honey,” Shining Armor added with a proud smile. “So, Nocturne, talk to us. Not a fan of this time of year, huh?”

“I’m not overly fond of it, no. Because of my obvious devilish charm and rugged good looks,” Nocturne’s words dripped with sarcasm, “it may come as a surprise that I’m not exactly Ponyville’s most eligible bachelor.”

“So, you’re afraid of spending the day alone?” Cadance asked.

With a long sigh and a grimace, Nocturne nodded.

“Hey, cheer up,” Shining Armor offered, tapping Nocturne on the shoulder. “Everypony’s got somepony special. You just haven’t found her yet.” He stopped for a second, face screwed up awkwardly as he added, “. . . It is a ‘her’, right?”

“Of course it is!” Nocturne snapped, then felt himself backpedaling. “Sorry . . . my temper struggles notwithstanding, I’m just really sure no mare would date me.”

“How do you know if you haven’t tried?” asked Cadanace.

“I have tried,” Nocturne answered. “Case in point.” He spotted a mare walking down the road beside the café, sporting a fine gray coat and long black mane, a pink bow tie at her neck and a dignified step in her walk. Nocturne held up a hoof to signal his return, and walked out to greet the mare.

“Excuse me, miss,” he spoke to her in a familiar tone, and she stopped and turned to him. “But your fair looks caught my attention, and you personally intrigue me. Wanna go out?”

The mare simply stared back at him as if he’d screamed at her in gibberish. “Well . . .” she attempted to reply, in a Trottingham accent, “. . . I . . . .”

“What’s wrong?” Nocturne asked. “Is it the wings? It’s the wings, isn’t it?”

“Well . . . I . . . .”

“Or is it the mane? Yeah, I know, I don’t comb. But I never take off my hat, so . . . wait! It’s the breath, right? I must offend a tad.” Nocturne exhaled into his hoof and sniffed, then scrunched up his face. “Yep, definitely need a brush, but you know, easily rectified—where’d she go?”

The mare had abandoned her dignified walk and sprinted down the street. From the café table, Twilight cringed, Shining Armor facehoofed, and Cadance smiled, closed her eyes and shook her head wearily.

Closing his own eyes and drooping his head, ears and wings, Nocturne slowly treaded back up to the table and sat down. “I just cannot function around normal ponies,” he muttered. “Besides, look at me. How do you even present the unpresentable?”

Twilight, Cadance and Shining Armor glanced amongst themselves before Cadance replied first. “Well, there are three basic things you need to remember, Nocturne.”

“I know the rules,” Nocturne protested. “I’m not a colt, you know.”

“I’m just trying to help. Besides, if you want to improve your small talk a bit, this could really help you. Give it a chance?”

Eyes narrow and mouth rigid, Nocturne sighed and relented. “Go on.”

Cadance chuckled before resuming, “All right. The three basics: one, you seem to talk about yourself too much. Try to minimize that. Only talk about yourself when you’re asked, and show her you’re interested in her.”

Nocturne nodded. “Uh-huh, uh-huh.”

“Secondly, you can’t try to present yourself as anything more or less than what you really are. You seem like you put yourself down a lot, and that’s not healthy. Just bring out the unabridged you, but only a sneak preview of it. Don’t try too hard, or you’ll come off as obsessive.”

Nocturne was now gripping a pencil tight in his teeth and scribbling away at a notebook. “Yeah, yeah, okay . . .” he mumbled through his clenched teeth.

“And the last thing you have to know,” Cadance said, “is that when a mare shows you she’s not interested, don’t take it personally. Mares are ponies, too, and they have preferences. It’s not because you’re ugly or awkward or anything. You just need to talk to a mare you think will be interested in you.”

Putting away a set of flashcards he was currently converting this lecture into, Nocturne eyed Cadance with a befuddled glance. “How is it you know so much about this kind of . . . oh, yeah,” he cut himself off with a sheepish rubbing of his neck with a hoof. “’Princess of Love’, and all that . . . .”

“Well, there’s that,” Cadance joked, “and there’s also the fact that I know how mares think. Because, you know . . . I’m a mare too.”

“Thank Celestia for that,” Shining Armor quipped and nuzzled his wife’s shoulder. Cadance giggled in response, and Nocturne rolled his eyes.

“But how do I know when a mare is interested?” the bat-winged stallion pressed. “I don’t even know anypony in town who’d be remotely interested in me.”

Twilight looked up and grinned mischievously. “I might know somepony . . . .”

“Really? Who do you know that would be interested in me . . . ?” Nocturne then caught the look on Twilight’s face, and his lips stretched perfectly straight. “Oh, no . . . Twilight, you can’t be serious . . . I thought you had a thing for that palace guard you’re always talking about. The orange guy—”

“Not me, Nocturne!” Twilight yelped, a bit more urgently than was likely intended. At this, Shining Armor and Cadance snickered slightly, but were silent upon a biting glance from Twilight. “I mean, not me,” she repeated, calmly this time, “but I do know somepony, and I think you do, too. At least,” her mischievous tone returned,”somepony you might be interested in . . . .”

Nocturne scowled at Twilight. “Fat chance.”

Twilight did not respond, but pointed a hoof in the direction behind Nocturne. The stallion turned, and his face began flushing almost immediately.

Coming out of a pet food shop across the street was a Pegasus mare—a Pegasus mare that fit Twilight’s “description” very well indeed.

“Fluttershy . . . .”

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