//------------------------------// // Chapter 4: Dinner with Party Favor // Story: The Horror of Happiness // by CrackedInkWell //------------------------------// The record floated over to the phonograph, Lovejoy lifted the needle up from the previous record to switch it for a new one. A few cranks of the handle later, a royal sound of strings poured out into the kitchen area where he and his guest were dining in. “What’s this one?” the blue unicorn asked. “Moztrot’s Symphonie Concertante for Violin, Viola, and Orchestra, I think this is the first movement of it.” “How many records do you own?” he asked as he picked up another spoonful of soup. “I think about…” the elderly stallion lifts up a hoof, pointing in the air to count his collection in his mind. “Nearly five or six hundred, but I had to narrow that down to about thirty… seven of my most favorite pieces with me. After all, there was only so much room I could fit in that cart.” “I don’t think I’ve ever heard any songs from Moztrot before.” “Really? You’ve never heard anything from Moztrot?” Party Favor shook his head, “I don’t think so. By the way, this soup is incredible! There’s so much flavor in it.” “It’s just a simple potato soup, nothing more.” Then a thought came to the doctor’s head, “Where does all the food come from? I haven’t seen a farm for miles.” “Starlight orders everything to come by train. There’s a set of tracks a couple of miles from here that comes by to drop off whatever we need. The same goes for the wood, tools, paper and such things.” “Were you born in this village or from someplace else?” “Oh,” he set his spoon down. “For me, I came here a couple of years ago. Back then, I was a party planner for foal’s parties in Manehattan. In fact, I was an assistant in a party company for a time before it closed down, leaving me out of the job. I tried to find work, but even when I did get employed, I was never really happy because planning and setting up parties was my passion in life. I was never cut out as a bus-colt, or a guy that hulls stuff around, or even a janitor. So I moved away to find a better life outside of the city. I was lucky to run into Starlight Glimmer, in which she showed me that my own cutie mark is what’s keeping me back, and offered a way for me to be happy once more.” At this point, both ears on Dr. Lovejoy’s head perked up, “Oh? Your cutie mark was keeping you back?” Party nodded, “Yes sir, it was. But she removed it with the Staff of Sameness to replace it with what I have now. So because of her, I won’t have to worry about my own special talent from keeping me back ever again,” he ended it with a grin. Lovejoy’s eyebrow rose, “Fascinating…” He stood up from the table and walked over to the counter, “I think it’s about time we have some dessert. I’ve baked some snicker-doodles earlier, and they just need one final touch.” “Mmm,” Party hummed, “I haven’t had cookies in years and those sound really good to me.” The orange unicorn nodded, looked over at the row of cookies that now have been cooled. He opened up a small jar nearby that contained the sugar and cinnamon mix and sprinkle some over the treats. But before he placed them on the plate, he eyed the poison nearby it. “Party Favor, can I ask you a personal question?” “You sure can.” “Be honest with me when I ask this, as of now… Are you happy?” “I…” curious at his trailing off, Lovejoy looked behind him to find that his guest looked nervously at the windows. “Is something the matter?” “I… I don’t know. You can keep a secret, can you?” Frowning, the elder stallion picked up the cookies with his magic to put them on a plate. “May I remind you that I am a doctor, Party, both of medicine and of Psychology? With anypony that comes to me, anything that my patients have to say to me, I keep it confidential to only myself and those that seek my help.” He turned around, carrying the plate of baked goods to the table to sit them down. “So tell me, Party Favor, what’s on your mind?” “In truth doctor,” Party rubbed his hooves, “I don’t know exactly what to feel now. You see… a couple months back, I’ve been starting to be receiving some… love notes, but I don’t know who it’s from.” “You have a secret admirer?” “I think so,” he nodded, “I’ve never had anypony tell me that they had feelings for me before. And for a while, I had a guess who it might be… that was until today. I thought it was Lilly that was sending those notes, but now… I’ve got a new one right before I came here, telling me that they were sorry for Lilly’s disappearance. Isn’t that weird? You would think that if it was her, she would have told me that she was fine or where she had gone to. But now this… I’m wondering if it’s somepony else.” “Forgive me for asking this but… why are you telling me this? This sounds like something you would tell a close friend.” “That’s… what I’m kinda afraid about.” The doctor asked him to clarify, “In Our Town... only a committee with Starlight Glimmer at the head could decide who we should love who, romantically that is. If anypony in the village wants to court another, they needed to go to them, and if they said no, that’s it. I’m afraid that if they found out about that, then…” “You may never get the chance to date this secret admirer?” “Yeah...” Party nodded, “Exactly! Whoever it is, they sound really nice and I’m curious to really know who it is.” “Now there’s something I don’t understand,” Lovejoy sat back down, “How could you say that you’re happy here when you’re not exactly free to date whoever you want?” There was a pause, the Party looked at the plate of cookies and immediately put one in his mouths. “Mmm, shat’s rely goot,” he said between mouthfuls. The elder stallion narrowed his eyes, “Is there something you’re not telling me?” “Oh, look at the time!” the aqua pony stood up, taking a few cookies in his aura, “I’m really sorry, but I’m afraid that it’s close to curfew, so I must be going!” With that and a forced smile on his face, he quickly excused himself from the doctor’s house, closing the door behind him. Lovejoy sighed, “Great… no luck tonight. Oh well, better luck next time I suppose.” He went up to the living room of the house to look at the window towards Starlight Glimmer’s home. “What exactly did you do to these ponies anyway?”