Anonymous and The Nightingale

by Daedelus

What Are You Prepared To Do?

You paced around the living room, staring at the fireplace while your thoughts run wild.

"Are they really sorry?" Was the question stuck on replay in your mind?
We're they? You couldn't decide whether or not to give them a chance. You did admit to playing victim card a lot harder than you should have throughout this whole ordeal. During your brainstorm, a series of knocks came through the door. Getting up, you nonchalantly walk to the door and open it. You see a seemingly frustrated Nightingale, staring daggers at you as she made her way past. "Why are you staring at me like that?" You ask with a hint of worry in your voice,

"Because of what you did at Applejack's, Twilight and her friends clearly want to make peace. How could you just shut them down like that, even after the way Twilight and Applejack reacted to seeing you?"

"I don't know whether or not to forgive them yet." You say in a monotone,

"From what I heard from Twilight, it's been 3 months since the incident. Either you're just moving around every pony because you feel like they'll hurt you again or you just don't want anything to do with them."

"I-I just don't want to go through that night at the bar again."

"Why? What happened that night with you and Rainbow Dash?"

"I asked her out and she said no. That alone was a hard hit to take, so I went to the bar to drink it off. Then she popped up there with Soarin."

"What's so bad about that?" She asked with care and question,

"She told me she had to work "late" that night, but instead she was with Soarin, that was the last straw and everything else that happened afterward led up to us meeting each other."

"She lied to you?" Nodding in confirmation, you took a seat on the couch. Nightingale joined you, "Don't you at least want to try?"

"Honestly, I don't know. I still don't feel ready, you know." Nightingale hung her head down in defeat, a few seconds after, her face shoots up with newfound glee.

"I've got it, what if they spend Hearth's Warming Eve here?!" She exclaimed cheerfully. But you weren't so cheerful,

"What?!" You scream,

"I said what if we let Twilight and the others spend Hearth's Warming Eve with us? That way you could patch things up with each other and be friends again."

"No no no no. No way!"

"Awww, please. Give them a chance Anon, they deserve it."

"Nope, there's no way that's happening. I'm not ready for that yet Nightingale." The next words she'd say catch you off guard,

"If you keep avoiding them, you'll just be doing the same kind of wrong to them that they did to you Anonymous. You may not know it but you're hurting them, They miss you!"

"Oh please, the only reason that they want to apologize is that they finally know what they put me through. Plus, why should you care anyway, you didn't play in any part of this. Why are concerning yourself with my problems?"

"Because I care about you, okay! Every night I see you sitting on the couch with a bottle of whiskey in your hand while you stare into the fireplace. It isn't healthy, and I don't want you to hurt yourself with how much you've been drinking. Just, at least consider. For me." She said with tears in her eyes. Was it true? Were you really hurting them? Since you couldn't decide whether or not to go through with this, you thought it would be best to go to a certain pony you knew,

"I'll be back, I'm going to the bar, I'm not going to drink too much...I promise."

"O-Okay," Nightingale said in a shaky voice. You grabbed a coat and boots and headed towards the bar to go see Moonshine.

=================================

The bar was a little slow, but there were still some ponies inside playing cards. The bartender looked up to see you approaching,

"Anon! What can I get ya'?"

"Hey Moonshine, a mug of lager would be fine."

"Sure." Reaching under the table, he takes a mug and turns to one of the barrels. Pulling down the lever, the mug is filled with a bronze frothy lager. Taking a seat on one of the bar stools, you rub your head and groan, "What's the matter?"

"I don't know what to do Moonshine."

"About what?"

"Nightingale wants Twilight and her friends to spend Hearth's Warming Eve with us but I don't think I'll be able to do that."

"Why not?"

"I just don't feel ready yet, but Nightingale insisted on it. I even made her cry because of how I had been drinking, now I feel like scum."

"Why aren't you ready? Is it because of that Rainbow Dash mare?"

"...Yeah, I just can't bring myself to talk to her after how she lied."

"How long has it been since you had been hanging with Twilight and the others?"

"Three months."

"Holy Celestia! That's one hell of a grudge. And you're telling me you still aren't ready?"

"Yep, I don't know what it is but I just didn't want to be around them, especially Rainbow Dash. Can't you help me make a choice?"

"I can't give you that much help, given your current situation, but I can give you some words of advice."

"Lay it on me man, I'm all ears."

"If you really don't want to deal with something, don't do it, be wary though, because if you choose not to do anything, then you shouldn't expect things to change. In fact, avoiding your problem may even make it worse, but if you decide to go through with solving the issue, change, even if it is small, is guaranteed to happen. So Anonymous I ask this, what are you prepared to do?" You took his words and pondered them inside of your mind, what are you prepared to do? If you decide to say no, everything would stay the same or probably get worse,

"...I... I have no clue what I'm prepared to do."

"Then think bud, think real hard. And when you do I trust you'll make the right move." Getting up, you fish around your pockets for the bits. "No that's fine, now go on home."

"Thanks, Moonshine." As you walked out of the bar and back into the frigid weather, you replayed the last words of Moonshine's advice. "What am I prepared to do?"

Author's Note:

I have been screwing up on my recent chapters, so I hope this one is up to par. Sorry...

Comments

[MatrixZL1]

Didn't Nightingale go with Anon when he left the Apple farm? I'm confused :v

[Daedelus]

8616734
No she stayed to talk with AJ and Twilight

[MatrixZL1]

8616767

Oh, ok, just add that to chapter five ;y

[AnormalUnicornPony]

8694508
That might be a good idea. Practice makes perfect after all. I didn't get a chance yet to read much past the first two chapters but I think the Anon reactions are off.

[DashFire61]

Ok I really want to read this because bat pony, but I don't want to read a "but I'm a nice guy" anon story, if the premise is that the mane 6 have unintentionally or intentionally hurt him make it something about him being a human or something not "you won't date me so I hate you, send bobs and Vagene."

It looks like you're thinking about revising so please do make a blog post if you decided to so I can come check it out.

[DashFire61]

Or instead of going down this route and picking a reason they hurt him just make it so he's more drawn to the other character because the mane six are nice but he wants a closer relationship.

[DashFire61]

8531381
With what navanastra said here, it brings up the show don't tell point, don't switch to their perspective, show us how they feel through the eyes of the main character. What would it look like if a character was feeling (enter x emotion) towards he main character, how would they act?

[The Unperfect Porkchop]

8616767
The word anon moonshine and nightengale are thinking of is called 'Spite'

[Rubahhitam]

I am now tracking this story.

It has me curious.

-Ru

[tgb089]

"Are they really sorry?" Was the question stuck on replay in your mind?

"Oh please, the only reason that they want to apologize is that they finally know what they put me through. Plus,...

Uhh... What did they do? Did I miss something? From what I know, Rainbow Dash is the one who lied to him and he became antisocial and recluse. Twilight and co. tried to figure out what's going on and he shut them out. So... how he's a victim of anything?

[Pete100]

"She told me she had to work "late" that night, but instead she was with Soarin, that was the last straw and everything else that happened afterward led up to us meeting each other."

Didn’t she already tell her the story?

"If you keep avoiding them, you'll just be doing the same kind of wrong to them that they did to you Anonymous.

Not really?

"If you really don't want to deal with something, don't do it, be wary though, because if you choose not to do anything, then you shouldn't expect things to change. In fact, avoiding your problem may even make it worse, but if you decide to go through with solving the issue, change, even if it is small, is guaranteed to happen. So Anonymous I ask this, what are you prepared to do?"

Now that’s some wisdom.