In the early hours of the morning, Double Diamond sat at his usual table at the bakery. Ever since the encounter with Dr. Lovejoy, he has been very worried about Party Favor. Not to say that the thought of what the old stallion could do to him kept him awake into the final hours underneath the Twilight sky.
“Excuse me, Double?”
“Huh?” the white pony startled himself awake, finding it was the baker was talking to her.
“Sorry, but are you alright, you don’t look so good.”
The stallion rubbed his baggy eyes, “I just haven’t slept well.”
“Why’s that?”
“It’s nothing,” he yawned. “So, since you’re here, can you get me a muffin?”
“Of course,” she nodded, “but they’re still in the oven, they should be out in a couple of minutes.”
He waved her off and the unicorn mare went inside of her shop. Mentally he confessed that it was still too early for most villagers to be out and about. The sun was just peaking above the rocky land, and the air was quite cool. His ears picked up hoofsteps coming towards his direction. Looking up, and with a sigh of relief, he found Party Favor, still alive and unharmed.
“Morning Double,” he said as he took his usual table. “You’re here early today.”
“Couldn’t sleep,” Diamond yawned again. “Party, how are you this morning?”
“A little tired, but fine,” he shrugged. “I’ve got some scraps for my garden that I really need to take care of today.”
“Ah, I see.”
“Morning Party,” a third voice said, the blue unicorn quickly found that Sugar Belle was coming out of the shop. “Here for breakfast?”
“Yeah,” he nodded, “and maybe some for lunch too. I think I’m gonna be pretty busy today so I might as well have breakfast and pick up something before I head off.”
“Understandable. The muffins are about done. So… could I get you anything else?” she smiled meekly.
“Not really. Just some food,” Party looked down at his hooves.
Once Sugar excused herself, Diamond asked, “Something on your mind?”
“Hm? Well, yeah, a bit.”
“Care to talk about it?”
The dull blue unicorn tensed up, “I… I don’t know…”
“Are you worried about Starlight finding out?”
He nodded, “Something like that.”
“I can keep your secret.”
Party raised an eyebrow, “You?”
“Yes. Look, I can tell that something’s bothering you, and I want to lend a hoof.”
The unicorn looked around for a bit, “You promise you wouldn’t tell?” Double nodded, “Well… for some time now, I’ve been given notes from two different ponies.”
“What kind?” the pale pony asked, his heart started to quicken.
“Let’s just say that there… love notes. Both of which are anonymous, but I think I know which one might belong to.”
Double paused for a moment, “Really? Who?”
“I think,” he looked over his shoulder, “That one of them is Sugar Belle’s.”
“Oh… and do you know who the other might be?”
Party shook his head, “No clue. I’ve talked with the doc a while ago. He said that he would help me figure out who the other admirer is from the writing. But so far, I haven’t heard anything back from him.”
“I see… But do you have any guesses who it could be?”
“As the doc pointed out, it could be anyone at this point, and that’s what I’m afraid of.”
“How come?”
“I mean, think about it,” the blue unicorn straighten up, “I now know that Sugar likes me. Okay, but what about this other pony? It’s like I’m making a decision only I don’t know what the other choice is if that makes sense.”
“But you’re not choosing-”
“I know that. Starlight finalizes the choice who gets paired up and what have you. But for the moment, I don’t know how to deal with a love triangle that I’ve never been in one before. To make things even more complicated, the doc asked me something that’s considered a possibility.”
“That being?”
“Well,” he looked around once more, “this might sound a bit out of nowhere, but the doc does have a point. How do I know if this other secret admirer is a stallion? What do I do then?”
Diamond looked away, “I… can’t say for meself.”
“I know it’s like one of those things you don’t really think about, right? That anypony in the village could trot that way and you’d never know. Do you think it could be possible?”
The pale Earth pony shrugged, “What if there isn’t?
“But what if there is? It could be you for all I know,” Double Diamond’s head snapped his attention towards him before Party quickly added, “not that I’m saying that you are, it's just… I don’t know for sure.”
Double sighed, “Out of curiosity, if you did somehow found out, would it make any difference if it was one gender or another?”
“I never really had a special somepony before. Even in Manehattan I didn’t have much luck in the dating field, so to speak. Although, that’s not to say that I’ve never met anyone that was like that. I mean, I knew a neighbor on the same floor as I that they guy did prefer dating stallions. For the life of me, I couldn’t remember what his name was, but I do remember that he was nice. I remembered once when he told about himself to me that I asked him if he thought that I would be the kind of pony he would date. He told me not really since he saw in me more as a friend than anything else. Not really to his tastes so to speak.”
“So wait,” the white Earth pony raised a hoof, “why did you ask him that anyway?”
“What? I wasn’t asking him on a date, but rather if I were the kind of pony he would date. There’s a difference. I asked because I want to get someone’s point of view since I don’t have much luck with the mares and wanted to know why.”
“What about mares?” Sugar Belle’s voice inquired. The two stallions now noticed the unicorn coming outside with a tray of gray muffins. “Sorry, what were you two talking about?”
“Um…” Party started, “I was telling him about not having a special somepony when I was in Manehattan.”
“Oh you poor thing,” her ears folded back. “Well, maybe things will change. I don’t think Starlight has paired you up with anypony yet, has she?”
He shook his head, “I could always hope though. After all, there is a hoofful of villagers that haven’t been paired up with. I kinda hope that Starlight would choose someone wisely.”
“I’m sure she will,” the baker smiled gently. “So anyway, here are the muffins you needed. So, is there anything else I can get you?”
“No, this will be plenty for me, thanks, Ms. Belle.”
She smiled gently after she placed Double’s plate down and returned to her shop, she looked behind her to look at Party Favor eating away, giving a caring look that made Diamond’s eye twitch.
“Good morning gentlecolts,” the sense of jealousy was quickly replaced with dread as Dr. Lovejoy called them up. The white pony saw the old stallion, yawning as he approached them. “Are the muffins any good this morning?”
Party looked up from his plain muffin, “Morning doc, you didn’t sleep too well too?”
He shook his head, “No, it’s just that I’m getting ready for a little hike today.”
“Where?” Diamond inquired.
“You see those mountains over there?” he pointed, “I’ve heard that there’s an entrance to a cave where it’s like a labyrinth. The Line family had agreed to take me there so I could take a few photos of the caves. I think I would do them a favor and help them get prepared before we go up.”
“Does Starlight know anything about this?”
“Don’t worry, we’ll tell here before we go.”
“Say, Dr. Lovejoy,” Party Favor piped up, “Did you figure out about which hoof-writing belongs to yet?”
The old orange unicorn looked over to Double Diamond, “Why, I think I’d need some more time.” He turned to the blue unicorn, “But I can rest assure you that you’ll find out soon enough.”
“I hope so, once I find out who the other pony is, and then I can figure out where to go from there.”
“Still, I have to caution you, there’s always a chance that the answer might,” he glanced over to the white stallion, “change your way in how you see them.”
Once again, Diamond’s eye twitched, and Lovejoy smirked.
“Good morning doctor,” Sugar Belle said, “I’ve just taken some muffins out of the oven, would you like some?”
“Yes actually, and kind I get about a dozen of those?”
“A dozen?”
“I and the Line family am going on a hike into the mountains for me to take pictures from. I thought I’d get everything ready to go before they wake up.”
The baker said that she would, but as she reentered her shop, Double’s eyes narrowed, wondering what was his blackmailer up to. But then, with the suspicious circumstance, it gave the stallion an idea on how to trap the doctor.