Nocturne’s eyes bolted open, as if he’d heard the location of Shangri-La.
“Y- . . . yes?”
“Oh, of course, Nocturne!” Fluttershy said with a warm smile. “I was even hoping you’d ask me. I wanted to keep you company today, in case you got lonely. I would have asked you, but . . .” her face began to redden, “well, I . . . didn’t really know how . . . .”
“Wow . . .” Nocturne muttered, feeling the word tumble out of his mouth without thought. Quickly, he gathered himself and resumed, “W-well, I mean, it doesn’t have to be, like a date-date, you know? Just two ponies spending the day together. I mean, I know how busy you are, and I don’t wanna interfere with that, and all—”
“Oh, you wouldn’t be interfering at all!” Fluttershy replied. “I only have a few more places to go today, and after those, we can do whatever you like. Okay?”
There was a giggle in her last word that made Nocturne’s knees weak. He smiled and sniffed lightly.
“Yeah . . . I’d like that.”
“Great!” Fluttershy stepped up next to Nocturne and pointed down the street. “I’m on my way to Sugarcube Corner next. Let’s walk together!”
Nocturne smiled and allowed her to lead. As they began to walk, Nocturne glanced back at the café, and saw reactions from his benefactors. Twilight waved to him, Shining Armor pumped his hoof in victory, and Cadance held both forehooves together and shook them above her head in celebration. All three wore dazzling smiles. As Nocturne smiled back, he felt a blush tinge his face, and Twilight and Cadance glanced at each other and giggled once again.
Nocturne faced forward again, glancing to his side only long enough to confirm what was happening. It was true: Fluttershy was walking by his side on the most romantic day of the year. The thought had impacted him so suddenly, that a million questions had rushed in through the hole it left in his thoughts.
What does this mean for me?
What does this mean for us?
What direction is this going in?
Does she want this to go further?
Did she ever want this to go further?
Is this really a date even though I said it didn’t have to be?
Is she taking me out? Am I taking her out?
Is she really interested?
Am I?
Do I want this to be something more? Is this what I want right now?
Am I in . . . ?
Nocturne shook his head and sighed, a bit more audibly than he’d wanted.
“Nocturne?” he heard off to his side. “Are you okay?”
Nocturne turned his head to see Fluttershy looking up at him, that usual worried gleam in her teal eyes. Nocturne’s heart began thudding, a combination of panic and this new, strange infatuation driving it.
“I . . . y-yeah, I’m fine.”
“Are you sure?”
“Mm-hmm.” Nocturne could feel his heart hammering harder.
“I just want to be sure, you know,” Fluttershy continued. “You’re my friend, and you’ve been through a lot. I just want you to be happy today.” She flashed him a lustrous smile. “Okay?”
Nocturne smiled back weakly and nodded, unable to speak. His heartbeat stayed strong, yet steady; just her presence was enough to do that by now. The flowery scent of her mane, the smooth, warming brightness of her coat, her mere proximity to him—he was back to being a child, and she was giving him a far better “childhood” than the barely coherent strings of memory he had left of it.
I have to give her something, Nocturne thought. Anything. Date or not, she deserves it. Nopony else would have said yes to me. Nopony else would even try . . . .
As the two entered the market district, Nocturne scanned the various stalls for something that could provide him with some kind of gift. Grocery stalls sold fruits and vegetables, wares stalls sold dishes, frames and other household items, and toy stalls sold plushies and action figures. One particular stall seemed to have a surplus of figurines shaped like Twilight Sparkle, but two were separated from the rest. As an eager stallion rushed up to buy these lone two figures, it was then that Nocturne realized that those two were the only ones without wings.
Idiots, Nocturne found himself thinking as he kept walking.
At last, a stall selling flowers caught his eye, and Nocturne slipped away from Fluttershy, digging under his hat for his last three bits. He walked up to the stall and whispered urgently, “Excuse me, a bouquet of your best roses, please.” He placed the bits on the counter, resolving to take some extra odd jobs over the next week.
The pink Earth mare behind the counter brushed a lime-green curl from her eye as she looked at the meager payment, and walked to a bunch of roses. She plucked four of them from the bunch and brought them to the counter.
“Uhhh . . . that’s it?” Nocturne blurted out.
“For three bits, yes,” the mare said with an anxious voice. “We’ve been running low on supplies lately.”
Nocturne scowled at first, but knew that four flowers was better than none. He shoved the bits to the mare, grabbed the roses and snuck off to rejoin Fluttershy. As he left, a rose-maned mare and a blonde mare, both Earth ponies, approached their co-worker.
“How much did we make?” the rose-maned mare asked.
The green-maned mare held up the weak payment and replied with a frown. “Only three bits.”
At once, the other two moaned and dropped down to the ground, writhing and whining at their pathetic income.
“It’s awful!”
“The horror! THE HORROR!!”
Nocturne glanced back at the stall with a raised eyebrow before returning his gaze to Fluttershy—then switching directly to the ground when he realized he was staring at her backside. He looked at the roses loosely rolling around on his hoof, took a deep breath, and marched up to where Fluttershy had walked ahead.
Until one of the roses blinked.
Nocturne stopped right behind Fluttershy as she stopped at a stall selling goldfish, and stared at the flower.
Did I see . . . was that . . . .
Nocturne then scoffed and rolled his eyes. The petals looked as though they’d just been moving in the breeze, nothing more. He looked back to Fluttershy, ready to offer the roses.
Then they blinked again. Looking again, Nocturne nearly jumped when he saw that two of the petals of one flower now sported huge yellow eyes.
Oh, no! Not him! NOT NOW!!
Before Nocturne could moan out loud, the flower morphed out of his hand, transforming into a large, hodge-podge dragonlike creature. “Happy Hearts and Hooves Day, everypony!” he called out jovially, tossing red heart-shaped confetti over passersby. “And how are you two this fine day?”
“Always a pleasure, Discord,” Nocturne growled through gritted teeth.
“Oh, Nocturne, you’re a card,” Discord replied with a chuckle before finishing with a deadpan snap, “Really.” He slithered through the air to Fluttershy and received her tight embrace. “There’s my hug!”
“Oh, Discord, it’s so good to see you!” Fluttershy squealed before they released each other. “You came just in time! Would you like to join us? Nocturne and I weren’t doing anything for Hearts and Hooves Day, so we decided to just make it a day.”
“Oh, dear, sweet, empathetic Fluttershy, you are too kind! But it would be rude of me to create a third wheel.” As he said the last four words, Discord’s superior gaze was aimed directly at Nocturne. The stallion only seethed back. “Besides, I have a little get-together planned with old K.K. today! As we speak, she’s probably slipping into something nice and gilt to go with her flowy mane!” He gave a mischievous chuckle and curled into a ring, slowly spinning in midair.
Fluttershy giggled into her hoof, her face growing pink. Nocturne leaned over and muttered, “Does he mean Princess Celestia?”
“But!” Discord announced, lowering himself down to Fluttershy and tickling her chin with his lion paw. “I didn’t want you to think I’d forgotten my number one girl!” He reared up and made a fist with his talon, and made a gesture with his paw as if to pull something out of his fist. Instead of air, he conjured a massive bouquet of multiple breeds of flowers, from roses to lilies, from daisies to violets, from tulips to daffodils. Nocturne saw them and immediately felt as though the roses he bought were wilting in his hoof.
“Oh, Discord!” Fluttershy gasped, her eyes wide as dinner plates. “They’re gorgeous! You didn’t have to do this!”
“I most certainly did, my dear!” Discord replied with a leer. “Only the most beautiful for the most beautiful, you know!” He shoved the bouquet into Fluttershy’s forelegs and gave her a noisy kiss on the top of her head. Fluttershy giggled again, and Nocturne exerted maximum effort just to keep his eyes from glowing.
“Well, I’ll leave you two young things to your ‘hanging out’,” Discord concluded, using quotation gestures for “hanging out”, “and I shall see you all later . . . unless . . . Nocturne!”
Nocturne swept the flowers in his hoof behind his back the second he heard his name. “What?”
“Why, don’t you have a gift for Fluttershy, dear boy? I mean, it is Hearts and Hooves Day, and our lovely princess deserves nothing but the best! Shall we see what kind of gift you’ve given her? Hmmmm?”
Nocturne felt his brow heat up slightly and he glanced between Discord and Fluttershy, the latter still holding a bouquet that was nearly as big as she was. Nocturne snuck the flowers into a fold of his wing and set his hoof on the ground.
“No . . .” he muttered, feeling his heart plunge, “. . . no, I don’t.”
“Hmm,” Discord grinned. “I thought not.”
“Oh, don’t feel bad, Nocturne,” Fluttershy spoke up, approaching him and patting his shoulder. “You don’t have to get me anything. I’m just glad to be with you when you need me.”
“Oh, Fluttershy, your kindness toward the weird and incongruous astounds me still,” Discord chirped. “I must chat to the good Princess about this. You know, she’s been surprisingly tolerant of me lately. Must be all of these . . . hmm, what do you call them again? Ah, yes! ‘Good deeds’! Yes, my endeavors have been quite impressive lately! I think that’s what’s drawing her to me, really. And who could blame her? I mean, this is me we’re talking about. You know, sometimes I have to stop and ask myself, ‘Discord, old chap, are you really that good?’ and I must answer, ‘Why yes, you magnanimous god, you truly are!’”
Nocturne held back a moan, but pressed his hooves against his ears nevertheless. And I thought Rainbow Dash had an ego, he thought. This guy does nothing but talk about himself!
Thinking this suddenly triggered something in Nocturne’s memory—Cadance’s words from minutes before came back to him in vivid detail:
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.
“Hey, Fluttershy?” Nocturne asked, interrupting Discord. “What was it you were going to do at Sugarcube Corner today?”
“Oh, yes!” Fluttershy replied, seeming to remember. “I’m so sorry, Discord. I didn’t mean to keep you, but I need to pick up an order at Sugarcube Corner today, and I want to make it before the crowds. I hope you don’t mind.”
“I’m sure he doesn’t,” Nocturne said with (well feigned) concern, “he’s got an important date to get to later, after all. I’m sure if he leaves now, he’ll make it in time.” He shot Discord a smug look of triumph when Fluttershy wasn’t looking.
Discord’s eyes widened slightly, but he seemed to recover quickly. “Well, I suppose you’re right. Have a pleasant outing, Fluttershy, dear. Shall I see you again for our Tuesday Tea?”
“Oh, I’d never miss it!”
“Lovely! Toodle-oo, you young things!” Discord swept past Nocturne, but stopped after saying “Oops!” A split-second later, something plopped to the ground in front of them both, and Nocturne grimaced when he saw that it was Discord’s mouth. As Discord bent over to pick it up, the mouth moved on its own, whispering so that only Nocturne could hear:
“I’m not jealous, by the way. You and I both know you haven’t a chance with her. She saw the good in me. She just feels sorry for you. Remember that, and it will hurt less when she dumps you flat on your silvery plot.”
Discord seemed to slow down on his way to pick up his mouth only until it stopped whispering. When it stopped, he swiftly plucked it back up and slapped it back onto his face, making faces and stretching his mouth as if testing it. “Ahh, much better. Didn’t mean to give you lip, Nocturne! HA-HAAA! See ya!” And with that, he formed a spiral in midair and shrunk down into it until he popped out of existence.
Fluttershy laughed out loud. “Give you lip! Ohh, that Discord. He’s so funny!”
Nocturne might as well have heard a dull echo in a cave. “Yeah . . .” he replied blankly.
“Well, let’s go,” Fluttershy continued with a grin, “Sugarcube Corner is waiting for us.”
Nocturne faked a smile. “Lead the way.”
Fluttershy stuffed the massive bouquet into her saddlebag and walked on, listing to one side slightly as the massive bunch made her tilt. Nocturne slowly trudged behind, ruminating on Discord’s words.
You haven’t a chance with her.
She just feels sorry for you.
Remember that, and it will hurt less when she dumps you.
Nocturne was walking much slower now. Fluttershy had left the market district already. He felt those words strangle him too much to move any more than an inch at a time.
Damn him . . . Nocturne thought, wishing to Celestia he could say it aloud.
Damn him . . . .
“Hey, Nocturne!”
The Pegasus shook himself out of his funk long enough to see the pony calling out to him, Apple Bloom, walk up to him with Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle in tow.
“Were you with Fluttershy just now?” Scootaloo followed up. “You guys spending Hearts and Hooves Day together?”
“How romantic!” Apple Bloom added. “Ya know, if ya need any advice, we know a thing or two about settin’ up ponies for Hearts and Hoov—”
“No, no, that’s fine,” Nocturne sighed, shaking his head. “I just . . . well . . . .”
“You okay, Nocturne?” Sweetie Belle asked.
“Yeah, I’m good, I just . . . I gotta go.” Nocturne took a step, and felt a sharp poke in his rib, and was suddenly reminded that he still had roses hidden in his wing. He pulled out the flowers, glanced up at Fluttershy’s receding figure, and saw that the flowers Discord gave her were more visible from there than she was.
“Uhhh . . .” Nocturne mumbled, glancing at a gift he claimed he didn’t have. His gaze shifted all around, trying to find a place to keep the flowers that wouldn’t waste them (and the three bits he spent on them). He saw the Cutie Mark Crusaders hadn’t left yet, and held out the roses to one of them at random.
“Hang onto these for me, will you?” he asked Sweetie Belle as he held out the flowers. Sweetie Belle’s eyes widened as she stared at them for a second, then after a pause, she took them.
“Thanks,” Nocturne added before turning tail and trotting briskly up to catch up with Fluttershy.
There was another, longer pause as Scootaloo and Apple Bloom glanced at one another. “Well,” the former spoke up, “that was weird.”
Apple Bloom nodded. “Yeah. Didn’t even say goodbye or nothin’. Guess he really wanted to spend the day with Fluttershy.”
“He gave me flowers . . .”
Apple Bloom and Scootaloo turned toward Sweetie Belle. Her eyes were still wide, and now she was vividly blushing. She caressed the roses in her hooves as if they were her most prized possessions.
“Uhh . . . Sweetie Belle?” Apple Bloom asked. “You okay?”
“Well, she did just get flowers on Hearts and Hooves Day,” Scootaloo said with a shrug, “even if he is a grown-up, I guess it was really nice of him to . . . do that . . . Sweetie Belle!”
Apple Bloom looked over at her, then on the ground in front of her. “Oh, come on, Sweetie Belle! He’s like, super old! It’s just creepy!”
Sweetie Belle, her face still glowing red, was now drawing a heart in the dirt in front of her with the stem of a rose. Inside the heart, she wrote “N + SB”.