It had been a rotten day, capping off a terrible week. Harvest Moon knew that the one thing sure to cheer him up was a good meal, and the best place to get a good meal in Ponyville was the Round House. Midnight Snack was something of a soft touch, always adding a little extra to an order for his regular customers, and providing a few more free refills that he probably should. When the Unicorn saw what kind of mood Harv was in, he led him to a nice, quiet corner table where he wouldn’t be bothered, and told him that tonight, for him, the happy hour half-price appetizers were going to be half-price all night.
 
Harvest felt a little bad about playing on Midnight’s sympathies, but half-price appetizers all night? On the house refills? That was hard to pass up. He always had something of an appetite, but tonight, for some reason, it seemed to be kicked into high gear.
 
He was a little surprised when Defenceless showed up to refill his basket of bottomless hay fries; usually, Midnight Snack handled the whole place by himself. The demure little mare explained that she helped out occasionally on busy nights, and that tonight promised to be exceptionally busy. Harvest looked around, but didn’t see that many more ponies than usual. He shrugged to himself; after today, he wasn’t going to complain about a little extra attention.
 
And goodness, he did he get extra attention. The chubby Unicorn and the petite Earth Pony made sure that he was well taken care of; his glass was never empty, and his plates rarely were. They’d make suggestions for menu items he hadn’t sampled; they’d bring full-sized portions when he just ordered samplers; they’d surreptitiously refill his plates when they thought nobody was looking. It was almost as if they were competing to see which of them could provide him the best service.
 
For his part, Harv had never, ever eaten so well. He wasn’t really HUNGRY anymore, and hadn’t been for a while now … but he wasn’t really FULL yet, either. Not so full that he could resist the temptation of another order of blueberry-drizzled alfalfa balls, or deep-fried ricotta ravioli, or those delicious little spring rolls that only Midnight’s Unicorn magic could prepare so delicately.
 
He had no clue that his cutie mark changed under such circumstances, no idea that the slim crescent that adorned his flank most of the time slowly crept through the phases as his stomach grew ever more full and round. He’d never eaten enough to make to quite so OBVIOUS before, and with so many delectable treats in front of him, he wasn’t particularly inclined to look behind him.
 
Both Midnight Snack and Defenceless had noticed long ago, of course, and neither of them were the sort just to let something like that go by without testing it to the limit.
 
Harv patted his lips contentedly, comfortably replete. It was closing time for the Round House, alas, and he knew he had to drag himself away from the table soon; Midnight and Defenceless had already herded the other customers out the door and locked up.
 
It had been a magnificent evening, a perfect meal. His only regret was that he hadn’t had a chance to order more than one of Midnight’s magnificent desserts. He probably could have wheedled another freebie off of the generous Unicorn.
 
Maybe more than one.