The Horror of Happiness

by CrackedInkWell

Chapter 1: Welcome

“When a monster stopped behaving like a monster, did it stop being a monster?” – Graceling.

There is a village in Equestria that’s so small, so out of the way, and so isolated that if one were to blink, sneeze, cough, turn their heads, or simply glance over on a map; they would have missed it. Before the arrival of Princess Twilight Sparkle and her friends had come to this village, extremely few have even heard of this place. This was a place that not even the Equestrian Railway would dare venture beyond the mountains that surrounded this desert valley because, for most ponies, this was indeed the middle of nowhere.

So it stands to reason of why very, very few ponies would not only venture but explore into this valley where it lies. For some, they came to make themselves a brand new life. For others, they came by accident and for one reason or another decided to remain there among the other smiling ponies. But for one that came to this village, it was simply because he needed a place to hide.

Pulling the cart behind him, a unicorn named Dr. Lovejoy carried everything that was worth of value to him. From his personal collection of classical music with a working phonograph, his bed, a photographic camera on a tripod, a collection of books, some tools of his trade, some tools such as a shovel and a hatchet, some rolls of canvas, rope, a pocket watch, some food and water, a tea set, a box that had vials of various liquids, several empty glass jars, a compass, and a map of Equestria; just to name a few. This stallion pulling this cart wasn’t young. He was quite old with his wrinkly orange coat, his brown mane with sweat underneath his hat, and he could feel an ache coming from where his cutie mark is – a blood red cross with two red snakes circling around it.

He stopped for a moment, sitting down on his hind legs to take a sip of water. “I wonder,” he said as he unrolled the map in his aura. “Do I have to keep going up North ‘til I reach the Crystal Mountains? Surely... there must be something out here.” He looked around at the narrow canon of earth between him. “I wonder if this trail would lead me somewhere.”

After resting for about fifteen minutes, Dr. Lovejoy started his trek up once more. He knew that what he was doing was dangerous, being out here by himself. However, by his nature, he was a careful stallion. While he knew what risks might lay before him, it was necessary due to what happened in Fillidelphia. For one might say that he was trying to get as far away from potential trouble as he possibly could.

By the time his hooves reached a high mark in the road, he noticed something truly remarkable. He saw that the trail he was on lead to a village in a desert valley. From what he could see, the houses in two, perfect and equal rows with the exception of the one house that marked the end of the trail. He squinted his eyes to see that there was, indeed, life in this tiny town.

He hummed in thought, “A village in the middle of nowhere… No other signs of communication to the outside world… Miles and miles away from the nearest pony settlement… This looks promising.”

---

“Welcome.”

“Welcome.”

“Welcome.”

These are the voices that Lovejoy heard as he pulled into the one lane village. As he walked passed these smiling ponies, they greeted him, stallion and mare, foals and grown-ups. Almost as if they were expecting him.

“Welcome.”

Yet, what astounded him the most were the ponies themselves. Apart from the pale color of their coats, different types of ponies, ages, and even degrees of body physique, everypony looked exactly the same! From the uniform manecuts to their wider-then-a-mile smiles, and even had the exact same cutie mark! In all of his years of research, Lovejoy had never even heard of such a phenomenon.

“Welcome,” he stopped in front of a very white earth pony and a turquoise blue unicorn with a deeper blue mane.

“Oh, afternoon,” the elderly stallion nodded. “Who are you?”

“I’m Party Favor,” the turquoise unicorn said, “and this is Double Diamond.”

“Yes,” Lovejoy lit up his horn to grab out an empty canteen, “I was hoping if somepony would get me a drink of water?”

“I’ll do that,” a voice said, the doctor looked down to the dull butterscotch pegasus colt. “Can I?”

“Please,” he gave the canteen to him, in which he watched him trot off to the lonely water pump up the road.

“I see you have your own cutie mark,” the blue unicorn pointed out.

“Pardon?”

“I’ve never seen one like it,” Diamond told him as he craned his neck over, “Especially that deep shade of red.”

“Well... thank you?” Lovejoy raised his eyebrow. “But in all seriousness, I was running out of the water.”

“You’re quite lucky to have found us,” the white pony told him. “We have the only water source within several miles.”

“So I’ve noticed, I was hoping if I could speak with whoever is in charge, for I am quite tired from undergoing such a long trek.”

“Of course,” Party said as he and the other stallion turned around. “You could talk to our town’s leader, Starlight Glimmer.”

“Thank you, kind sirs,” the elderly stallion pulled his cart up to the lonely house at the end of the road. While he, at last, unstrapped himself from it, the blue unicorn went inside the house first while the snow white pony waited for him to enter.

As he entered, Lovejoy found another pony waiting for him. A mare that had a brighter pink coat, bright violet, and blue mane then compared to the other ponies he’d seen. But unlike the villagers, the unicorn’s smile before him looked genuine.

“Welcome to our little village,” she said, “Please come right in, how can we help you?”

“Hello, are you the one in charge?” the doctor inquired as he reached his hoof to shake hers.

The mare shook his hoof, “I am indeed, my name is Starlight Glimmer, the founder of this village. Tell me, what brings you here? You look awfully tired, could I get you anything?”

“I had some colt run for some water for me,” he said, looking out the window towards the water pump. “In fact, that’s him over there.”

Starlight looked, “You mean little Finished Line? Ah yes, what a helpful little thing he is. Diamond, could you go tell little Line that the new gentlecolt is right in here so he wouldn’t get lost?”

The pale Earth pony nodded and exited the cottage.

“Oh, I’m sorry,” Starlight exclaimed, “I don’t think you’ve told me your name, what is it?”

“Lovejoy, Doctor Lovejoy ma’am.”

“A doctor you say?” She walked over to the modest table at one corner of the room, waving a hoof to invite him over. “We haven’t had one of those in quite a while.”

“What do you mean?”

“It’s just that we haven’t had anypony that was a doctor for a couple of years now. So tell me, what are you a doctor of?”

The elderly unicorn sat down across from her, “I have a major in medicine, and a minor in Psychology, Philosophy, and Photography. And at the moment, I’ve been recently retired.”

“Ah, I see,” Starlight nodded as the colt Finish Line entered with the doctor’s canteen. After thanking him, he was excused as the mare continued, “That’s very interesting. So what’s a retired doctor like you doing all the way out here?”

“Well, I was hoping for a place to spend my retirement at and beside the fact that I was running out of the water, this place looked promising. I take it that there’s not very much going on here?”

“Not really, it’s nice and quiet out here. Our ponies are like that since we have no problems or quarrels among us to separate us. We’re a strong community that embraces true friendship. For you know, we would be more than happy to offer it to you,” she said with a smile.

Lovejoy, however, frowned, “As kind as your offer is, I’m afraid that I have to decline.”

“What? Why not?”

He looked around before lowering his voice, “The truth is ma’am, I’m not sure if I’ll live long enough to enjoy such a community that you and your ponies had created.”

“But, why?” Starlight’s expression turned more sympathetic.

“For you see, Ms. Glimmer, I’m a dead pony walking,” he said tapping the side of his head, “Aneurysm, right here. My next breath could very well be my last. It’s one of the reasons why I’ve retired. After all, it’s come to a point where I couldn’t help my patients at a hospital in Fillidelphia. I could literally drop dead while I’m treating them.”

“Oh… I’m so sorry about that.”

“You have nothing to do with it. As a stallion that has lived a full life in the physician area, and who doesn’t have a family or real friends to turn to, all I want is a peaceful place to be in before I go.”

“I see,” she thought for a moment, “What if we take care of you?”

“Sorry?” he blinked.

“What if I make it a priority for this village to take care of you? You may say that you have no friends, but I can assure you, that you now got an entire town to look after you.”

“Oh no, you don’t ha-”

“I insist,” Starlight smiled, “We’ll have you stay in one of the houses that you can spend your final days at. Free of charge, and you’ll have the whole village to come by to see if you needed something. In fact,” she got up from the table and went to the front door. “You there, Lilly, would you come here?”

A moment later, a yellow earth pony mare came through the door, “Yes Starlight?”

“We have a new pony that will be moving in, and he’s very sick. So, I was hoping that you could assist him for tonight. That is if that’s alright with you.”

Lilly’s eyes shifted nervously for just a moment, something that didn’t go unnoticed for the doctor. “Of course I can. Anything you say Starlight.”

“Well, in that case,” Dr. Lovejoy stood up, “For you Lilly, I have two questions for you: Do you like tea?”

“I don’t mind it,” she said.

“As for the other, are you happy?”

The mare’s grin grew a little wider, “Why yes indeed! I am very happy here.”

Lovejoy gave a smile of his own, “Wonderful, perhaps after all of my things have been moved in someplace, could I interest you in some tea I’ve brought with me?”

Comments

[Starlight Nova]

When does the gore come into play?

[CrackedInkWell]

7034103 Well, Lilly was invited over for tea...

[Mix-up]

It's been a long time that I have been hopping to see a multi chapter story of a pony wandering to Our Town long before the M6 arrival. I'm looking forward to see more of this story. The main problem that I fore see for Starlight is seeing how frail the Doctor is I don't think that he could survive the equalization house, or be able to practice his trade correctly after such an ordeal. I also wander what will be the effect of the equal mark on him, in the show it seemed to me that it has a subtle influence over the subject by subjecting them rewarded or punished system to on their mind gradually influencing there thoughts over time.

[CrackedInkWell]

7034110 Considering what he did in Fillidelphia, I think you might underestimated this frail Doctor.

[Jman14102]

"You can't have a nightmare, if you never dream."
They never said anything about living nightmares...

[Skye Mist]

7034110 I'm pretty sure Dr. Lovejoy is not as frail as he appears.

[Undead Equestrian Writer]

7034110 "...subtle influence over the subject by subjecting them rewarded or punished system to on their mind gradually influencing their thoughts over time." I'm pretty sure his thoughts are already fucked. and any reward given he would most likely enjoy.

[Cozybro]

Does anyone else hear Hannibal Lector's voice in regards to Lovejoy?