Secluded

by Discorded SheepcityUSA

Rating: teen
Tags: Original Character, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Romance, Pinkie Pie, Slice of Life, Main 6
Length: 5953

Pinkie Pie tries to make friends with the new stallion in town, only to find out that he not only isn't the social type, but he's really anxious, and has trouble understanding emotions outside his own.

A new stallion by the name of Gear Gizmo moves into Ponyville, and of course, Pinkie tries to introduce herself...with mixed results.

Turns out Gear is not only not very sociable, but he can't seem to understand the concept of other ponies' emotions, and appears to be prone to anger. Gear can't explain why he acts this way to Pinkie, as apparently, he doesn't even know himself.

So, Pinkie feels that she needs to help Gear through this difficult point in his life, help him find answers to his complicated personality, and help him make some friends. Celestia knows he needs some.

A story about the everyday social and emotional struggle of those with Asperger's Syndrome.

Published 2014-12-07 06:50:08 UTC
Last updated 2015-08-08 22:08:23 UTC

I'm Not Scary!

Emotion should be a normal concept for anypony to understand. Most ponies clearly express how they feel through everything they do, such as their body language, facial expressions, or perhaps even some of their work. For the most part, a majority of their heart and soul is put into their special talents and what they do for a living. It is this expression of emotion that can allow the ponies that live in this kingdom to form happy, long-lasting friendships and live together in harmony.

But, there are some ponies that find it difficult to understand emotions, and why others react the way they do to certain things. This inability to understand other ponies in this way can cause major distress in these individuals, making them socially awkward, a little insensitive toward their fellow ponies, and results in some very strong anxiety from having such difficulty in forming relationships. Bear in mind, these ponies are intelligent, and well-educated equines, but they just can’t bring themselves to communicate with others, tend to mostly keep to themselves, and can become very reclusive and isolated from everypony else. They believe that if this much stress is what it takes to have friends, then it wasn’t worth it in the long run, and they avoid other ponies as much as physically possible.

However, that doesn’t mean there is no hope for those ponies. They can be taught to comprehend the feelings of other ponies besides themselves, and can live relatively normal lives.

Gear Gizmo is one of those ponies.

SMASH!
CRASH!
BAM!

“Agh! Ms. Hooves, please be careful! This equipment is very, VERY expensive!”

Derpy looked down at the mess she had made (completely by accident) of her newest client’s boxes, which she kept dropping on the ground below on account of her slight clumsiness. Also staring back at her from the ground was the stallion she was working for giving an angry glare through his glasses back at her. He was a Pegasus with a light purple coat with an even darker purple and brown mane. He wore a pair of light green, rectangular glasses over his eyes, and his Cutie-Mark was three, different sized gears intertwining and working together.

This was Gear Gizmo. Tech enthusiast, inventor, and a new resident to Ponyville.

Now if only his hired help for unpacking could go five measly minutes without nearly killing him by almost dropping his boxes full of electronics and tools on his head, then maybe some actual progress could be made.

Derpy looked again at the mess she made, and then back at the stallion and smiled sheepishly.

“Hehe. Sorry Mr. Gizmo. I just don’t know what went wrong.” Derpy laughed nervously and rubbed the back of her head.

Gear put a hoof to his face and groaned in aggravation. He couldn’t tell if she was trying to be funny, or if she seriously had no clue how this happened, but he honestly couldn’t care less. Either way, he felt it was a pretty lousy excuse. He just wished Derpy wouldn’t make his front yard a major hazard to trot through.

“Well can you please, pleeeeeaase try to be more careful? I’m on a limited budget, and I can’t afford any more of my property being broken.” He groaned with a slightly annoyed look on his face.

Derpy nodded as confidently as she could, trying to bring a smile back to her face, despite the situation.

“Alright! I’ll do the best I c-“ Derpy didn’t even get to finish her sentence, as she had dropped another box in front of Gear. It probably would’ve smacked him right in the head if he hadn’t flinched at the sight of Derpy picking up another box and moving out of its way.

“SORRY!” Derpy shouted with an apologetic look on her face.

Gear wasn’t amused in the slightest. He looked like he was going to flip for a moment, his eye twitching and his eyes going bloodshot. He stopped himself though by trying to stay calm and breath slowly as he rubbed his temples with his now outstretched wings.

‘Ugh. If I had known that the moving company was so understaffed that they had to send this mare to assist me, I think I would’ve just done this on my own…actually that doesn’t sound so bad all of a sudden.’ Gear thought to himself.

“Umm…Ms. Hooves, I think I’ll just take care of my own things from here. Just…go off and enjoy yourself. I’ll still pay you for the work you’ve done already.” Gear said as he waved a hoof towards town to her. Derpy looked at him with a confused and concerned look on her face.

“Are you sure Mr. Gizmo? These things seem awfully heavy. If you want, I could-“

“NO!...Erm…no. It’s fine. Just…go. Please.” Gizmo interrupted before Derpy could find any other reason to stick around. He didn’t think his insurance covered clumsy pegasi messing things up this badly.

Derpy stared for a moment before shrugging and preparing to fly off.

“Well…okay then. If you’re so sure, I’ll just be going. Hope I see you in town later Mr. Gizmo!” Derpy shouted as she flew off into Ponyville, and out of Gear’s sight.

“Yeah well, for both our sakes, let’s hope not.” Gear said sarcastically to himself. The last thing he wanted was ponies going all “Social Butterfly” on him. He didn’t know how to behave around other ponies, and whenever one tries to talk to him, it really stressed him out. He didn't need anypony around for him to be happy. He was perfectly fine on his own. The only reason Derpy was around was because it was her job to help ponies unpack their stuff into new houses.

Gear pondered his social status in several of the previous towns he lived in for a moment. In pretty much all of them, too many ponies tried to be all friendly with him. Why? He never asked them to talk to him, and he tried his best to give off signs that said he was never interested in conversation.

Why did they never pick up on them?

For reasons he couldn’t comprehend, Gear didn’t like being talked to. He just didn’t know what to say whenever somepony approached him, and the experience of just being near other ponies was very stressful and gave him a major headache. If all that stress is the price of friendship, Gear figured that it wasn’t worth the effort.

Not to mention Derpy could probably be a potential threat to his safety later on. Best avoid contact with her at all costs.

Gear shook his head to rid himself of those thoughts. He didn’t have time to dwell on the subject of his social life, which probably would’ve looked sad and depressing from an outsider’s point of view. Not to him though. He had boxes to move.

Gear trotted up to one of the much larger boxes and wrapped his hooves around it, trying to lift it off the ground…

Without it budging even a single inch. He tried lifting it over and over, heavily straining his leg’s muscles as he did so, but to no avail. The box simply refused to move. He tried pushing it across the ground from the side, but still found little success in getting the box to move at all.

Gear stood straight up and looked with an angry expression down at the box, his face contorting into a slight scowl. He stretched out his wings and wrapped them around the box, hoping to find some form of success in moving it with them.

He didn’t. His wings pulled him back towards the ground and his face landed on the box, which gave him a slight bruise and his glasses went crooked as a result.

After properly re-adjusting his glasses, Gear’s left eye started to twitch. He was starting to remember why he even asked for a mover in the first place; he was severely lacking in the body strength department. Why did he have to be so physically behind other Pegasi? If he was destined to be a weak flyer for the rest of his life, the least his wings could do was ATTEMPT to be useful.

“So help me Celestia, I will get you to move, even if it kills me." he growled to the box, as if it could say anything back.

It was another glorious day in the cheerful little town of Ponyville. Everypony was happily going about their daily business and overall trying to enjoy themselves. Among those ponies was Pinkie Pie, the town’s resident party pony, who was working at Sugarcube Corner and serving milkshakes to her five friends who happened to be at the bakery themselves.

“Order up everypony!” Pinkie happily shouted as she propelled the milkshakes off the tray on her back by jerking her flank forward, sending the drinks flying and landing on the table in front of the five mares sitting there, all of them smiling in response.

“Thank you very much darling. I really do enjoy just spending quality time together like this.” Rarity said, levitating the milkshake up to her mouth and taking a sip.

“I’ll admit, it is nice to just be able to have fun and not facing down the newest threat to Equestria.” Twilight, the newly entitled, “Princess of Friendship” said with a smile, also taking a drink of her own milkshake.

“Umm, yes. This is very nice.” Fluttershy mumbled, wearing a similar smile to her friends.

Pinkie loved this more than anything in the whole world. Being able to make her friends smile and enjoy her company meant more to her than all the cupcakes in all of Equestria. And considering how much she liked cupcakes, that was really saying something.

Not one to be left out of fun with her friends, Pinkie popped up between Applejack and Rainbow Dash, pulling them close to her shoulders with a huge smile on her face.

“Hehehe! Isn’t this fun? No magic-stealing baddies, no changelings trying to kill us at every turn; nothing but friends and sweets!” Pinkie Pie said happily, to which Applejack and Rainbow replied with slightly uncomfortable laughs. It was still surprising to them just how happy Pinkie could get. It almost seemed like there wasn’t any extent, not that that was a bad thing, it was just sort of unusual.

“Hehe. Sure is sugarcube.” Applejack said with a slight chuckle.

“Yeah…awesome” Rainbow said, still disturbed a little by Pinkie’s energy.

Almost as if on cue, a grey streak flew through Sugarcube Corner’s doors, skidded across the floor, and smacked into the counter that held the register, where Mr. Cake happened to be standing behind. He looked across the counter and down to the object that had just crash-landed into his shop and was left with an unsurprised, deadpanned expression.

“…Hello Derpy.” He said.

The mare in question had been quite dazed from the crash, her crossed eyes spinning around and around. She quickly shook her head and got to her hooves to face Mr. Cake with a sheepish smile.

“Hehe. Hi Mr. Cake. I’m sorry I crashed in the store…again.” She said nervously, still wearing that same, unsure smile.

Mr. Cake slightly smiled and rolled his eyes. This sort of thing had become routine for the grey mare as of late.

“It’s alright. It doesn’t look like you caused nearly as much damage this time. You’re getting a lot more coordinated it seems.”

Derpy rubbed the back of her neck nervously.

“Umm…I think Mayor Mare’s mailbox disagrees with you…anyway, I was just hoping I could get a muffin.” Derpy said.

“No trouble at all. We always appreciate your business.” Mr. Cake said, reaching into the display case in the counter and pulling out a delicious-looking blueberry muffin. Derpy licked her lips at the sight of the pastry, gave Mr. Cake the necessary bits from her saddlebags, and was given the muffin. She was about to take a bite out of it, when she heard a familiar voice call her over.

“Hey Derpy! Nice entrance! I give it 11/10!” Pinkie Pie squealed. Derpy looked over at Pinkie, who appeared to be hanging out with her friends at a table nearby.

“Hehe…thanks Pinkie…I guess.” Derpy said a little unsure if her crashing into the bakery for the 7th time this week could really be considered a “Nice entrance” or worthy of a rating that went outside a grading scale.

“So Ms. Hooves, how’s things been going for you lately? Is your job treating you well?” Rarity asked.

Derpy shrugged. “It’s alright. It can be a little hard to get through sometimes though. Some of those boxes can be really slippery.” She said.

“Yeah, that’s it.” Rainbow said sarcastically to herself. She hadn’t forgotten how badly repairing City Hall had gone with Derpy around.

“Hang on Derpy…don’t you normally work on Tuesdays around now? What’re you doing here?” Twilight asked with a confused look on her face.

Derpy’s ears folded back and she still appeared to be a little uneasy.

“Umm…I think I was breaking too much of the new pony’s stuff, because he let me go early and said he’d just do it himself.” Derpy said.

That sentence made Pinkie Pie go as stiff as a board. If she heard Derpy right, then there was a new pony in town. A pony she hadn’t met yet! A brand new pony that she could call her friend! This was a rare occurrence nowadays, seeing as some ponies tended to avoid Ponyville lately because of all the crazy things that the town seems to attract, and she wasn’t going to waste this opportunity, not by a long shot.

Faster than anypony could even blink, Pinkie Pie shot out of the doors of Sugarcube Corner like a rocket, hoping to find this new pony as quickly as she could so she could befriend the lucky mare or stallion.

“Huh? Where’d she go?” Fluttershy asked.

Applejack chuckled. “Knowing Pinkie Pie by now, she probably went to go introduce herself ta the new pony in town. That mare can’t ever seem ta have anypony NOT know her can she?” Applejack asked, to which the rest of the ponies shook their heads with slight smiles.

Derpy seemed to be the only worried one out of the bunch.

‘Oh boy. Mr. Gizmo really didn’t seem like the social type. He was pretty quick to just get me out of there, so who knows what’ll happen when Pinkie gets to him…Oh gosh.’ Derpy thought to herself. She looked back at her muffin and smiled a little inside, hoping for the best with Pinkie Pie’s attempts at befriending that stallion. Maybe she could manage to get him to chill out a little, because he did seem pretty anxious and a little irritable.

Muffins make everything seem better.

Alright, this officially sucked major plothole.

Gear had been straining himself for the past half-hour trying to just get this stupid box off the ground and into his house, but made literally zero progress in such a long amount of time. He was starting to sweat heavily now, and to make matters worse, his glasses kept sliding off his face from the sweat. He kept having to push them back to his face just so he could see three feet in front of him.

“Urgh! COME ON!” Gear yelled. He was having half a mind to go into town and find Derpy again, but decided against it. What the heck was he supposed to say to her anyway? He’d already basically told her to piss off once, and he wasn’t signing up for…ugh, talking.

Gear laid himself on his new front lawn, breathing heavily and giving himself a break from his battle with the box.

“Urrrgh. This is humiliating. A pony with an IQ of 160 beaten by a frickin’ box…well, at least nopony else is around to see th-“

“HI!” an unfamiliar, high-pitched voice squealed. Just as fast as the voice chimed in, the figure of a pony’s face came into Gear’s view.

As you could imagine, Gear was not ecstatic about this.

“GAH!” he yelped, pushing himself across the ground and to the door of his new house in a combination of fear and confusion. Now that he was in a proper position to see what was happening, he found the source of his fright. In his yard, staring him down with cheerful, cerulean eyes was a pink coated, poofy-maned mare with a huge smile on her face.

Much too happy for Gear’s taste.

The mare, still wearing that gigantic smile, came trotting closer to him and began to talk at a pace that Gear thought was impossible for anypony to achieve.

“Hiya! I’ve never seen you around here before, so that must mean you’re new! And I know everypony in Ponyville, so I need to introduce myself to every new pony that moves in! My name’s Pinkie Pie! What’s yours?” the mare asked.

Gear’s breathing came in very short bursts now, and his sweating was starting to increase. See, this is exactly the type of pony that Gear was hoping he would never meet when he moved to Ponyville. He could barely handle it when normal ponies tried to “make nice” with him. This mare seemed like his worst nightmare from just how forward she was.

And the fact that Pinkie was directly looking into his eyes, just mere inches from his own face was definitely not helping him. Not helping at all.

“I-I…uhh…I-I ummm…” Gear stuttered. This situation was pretty familiar. Pony talks to him, and Gear inwardly freaks out, although this seemed to be a rare occasion where it was outward as well. That was the norm with him. He just wanted to be left alone. Why was that so hard for so many ponies to understand? Is it too much to ask to just have some privacy once in a while?

Did once, any of these inconsiderate equines ever think “Oh, maybe he doesn’t want to be bothered so we should leave him alone and just let it be?” What a concept.

Pinkie tilted her head to the side, now wearing a genuinely confused face.

“Umm…are you okay? You aren’t looking so good Mr…?” Pinkie kept dragging that last word out for quite a long time, still waiting for a name, and a reason why this new pony was looking so freaked at the sight of her.

Gear still kept quiet, but quickly opened the door to his new house and rushed inside, slamming the door behind him, which now had a sign hanging from the doorknob with “Do Not Disturb” written on it in big red letters.

Meanwhile, Pinkie Pie was left in Gear’s front yard staring at the door, trying to comprehend what just transpired.

“…What just happened? Did I say something wrong? Why did he just run away from me like that?” Pinkie thought to herself. Very few ponies didn’t want to be friends with her. In fact, this had only happened to her one other time with a certain, grumpy donkey. Even that turned out well in the end though.

This stallion however, didn’t seem to be grumpy at all. Just really, REALLY anxious and stressed.

“But…why would he be scared of me? I’m not scary, am I?” Pinkie asked nopony in particular, still very confused on the subject.

Author's Note

Some symptoms of Asperger's Syndrome include:

Avoiding eye contact or stare at others.

Have delayed motor development.

Appear to lack empathy.

Not picking up on social cues and may lack inborn social skills, such as being able to read others' body language, start or maintain a conversation, and take turns talking.

Tend to have anxiety and depression

I only show these because Gear displays all of these behaviors in this chapter, and will continue to display these behaviors throughout the duration of the story, as well as quite a few others because he actually has Asperger's. And not in the sense where we always say "Oh, Twilight didn't think friendship is important, so that means she must have it." Being a person with Asperger's myself, I actually know what it's like, and I made Gear legitimately have the same condition, except he doesn't know it.

Anyway, feedback is always appreciated. :twilightsmile:

(Really) Unwanted Physical Contact

Gear was now sitting on the other side of his front door, slightly shaking and still heavily panting, freaking out as if his life depended on it. What the heck was that mare’s problem? Never had he made any attempt to convey that he was in the mood to talk, and yet here she was, galloping into his yard without a care in the world trying to do just that. Who on Equestria does that anyway?!

Most ponies probably would’ve felt bad about slamming the door in a mare’s face like that without saying a word, but Gear didn’t want to even think twice about it right now. All he wanted was just for…Pinkie he thought he heard her say, to leave him alone.

“Maybe she’s gone by now.” Gear said to himself as he got up and peeked through the blinds of one of his windows…

Only to see Pinkie’s face staring at him again through the glass.

“Hiya! Me again!” Pinkie cheered.

Gear immediately shut the blinds back, really not wanting to make eye contact with the mare outside.

‘Why can’t she take a hint?!’ he inwardly yelled.

“Umm…are you sure you don’t want to come out? I just wanna be your friend. I’m not going to bite you or anything.” Pinkie said, a slight tinge of concern lacing her voice. Gear didn’t dare respond. If it would get her to leave sooner, it was best to keep quiet. She would lose interest eventually if he shut up.

…Right?

Unfortunately, Gear’s theory was proven horrendously wrong when he looked up and saw one of Pinkie’s eyeballs squeezing through the lock on his door and looking down at him.

“AAGH!” Gear practically flew away from the door in shock. How in the heck was she doing this?! By all accounts, this should not have been possible on any conceivable level.

“Oh come on! It’s no fun to just be cooped up in there all day! You really look like you could use some friendly company!” Pinkie said happily from the other side of the door.

It was starting to dawn on Gear that for whatever reason, Pinkie wasn’t going anywhere any time soon. Who the heck was so unable to take a hint that they were considered unwanted company and just wouldn’t leave him be? Sure, he’d run into some ponies that were all too social and happy for his taste…

But how on Equestria was this mare even real?!

Gear inwardly resolved that Pinkie wasn’t going to leave no matter how long he didn’t respond and sighed. It was starting to look like he was going to have to resolve this with words…

In Gear’s mind, this could only end badly.

Gear reluctantly got off the ground and resolved that he would do his best not to completely lose it in front of this pony. He unlocked the door and very slowly opened it…

Only to now be tackled to the ground by a big mass of pink, fluffy fur and landing with an audible “Oof!” Gear looked back up at his attacker, and not with much surprise, he found it was the same, overly happy mare that he’d met only moments before.

“Oh goodie; you finally decided to come out!”

Gear didn’t really respond, but only grunted in pain as he contemplated why on Equestria this was happening to him.

‘Urgh, how’d it come to this? Just trying to unpack over here and-waitasecond……there’s a mare on top of me….’

Gear’s entire face flushed when he realized the…position he was in, and he almost immediately started to squirm. “OHDEARCELESTIAPLEASEGETOFFME!” Gear yelled as loud as possible. Pinkie flinched at just how panicked and scared he sounded and got off of Gear.

“Uhhh, sorry…I was just a little excited about meeting you.” Pinkie said with a sheepish smile.

Gear stood back up and dusted himself off from Pinkie’s assault. Crazy mare got him pretty dirty. He looked back at Pinkie, who was still smiling very sheepishly and raised an eyebrow. “Uhhh…why?”

Pinkie rolled her eyes. “Pfft, well duh! Because new ponies means new friends, and Pinkie is friends with EVERYPONY!” She exclaimed.

Gear cringed. Dear Celestia he knew it. She was one of THOSE ponies. The super-forward, social-butterfly, smiles too much for their own good, type of pony. He fidgeted nervously as he contemplated his next move.

“Umm…listen erm…Pinkie was it? No disrespect to you, but why don’t you just go and have fun with some of your own friends instead of bothering with boring ol’ me?” Gear chuckled nervously. Hopefully he could get her out of his mane soon. Just having to talk to her was painful enough.

“Awww, but I haven’t made friends with YOU yet you silly stallion!” Pinkie giggled a little, seemingly not quite picking up on Gear’s hinting. In addition to the laughing, Pinkie also pulled Gear into a tight hug, still giggling a little.

Of course, Gear’s face turned completely red at the sudden contact, and he felt like he was getting unnaturally hot.

“Nnnnngh…” he groaned. Whether it was out of annoyance or from a lack of better words from being flustered, he didn’t know. What he did know for sure though, was that he wanted it to stop.

“Heehee. You sure are warm.~” Pinkie giggled, as she started to slightly nuzzle his cheek.

That was what did it in for Gear.

“NONONONONO!” Gear yelled, quickly worming his way out of Pinkie’s hug and dropping to the ground, taking deep breaths so that he could calm himself down.

Pinkie was put off by this pony’s behavior all of a sudden. What did she do that was so bad? Maybe she was doing it wrong. She could’ve been hugging a little too tight. Or maybe hugs were considered offensive where he came from. And…

Why was he turning red?

“Ummm…are you alright?”

“No, now can you please stop with the unwanted physical contact PLEASE?!” He said in a loud tone of voice, clearly rather irritated.

Pinkie frowned a little. This pony was acting like he wanted nothing to do with her at all. It seemed like he didn’t take her compliment of him feeling warm very well either. He seemed very embarrassed by it if anything.

“Hmm…Oh, I have a better idea! You wanna hear a joke? I’ve got a reaaally good one in mind!” Pinkie said, practically beaming at the thought.

Gear looked back up at Pinkie with a slightly deadpanned sarcastic look on his face “You try to smother me to death and now you…ugh, whatever, might as well.” He groaned.

Pinkie nodded, already starting to giggle from thinking of her own joke.

“Okay okay…Why do you never see elephants hiding in trees?” Pinkie asked, preparing for the punchline.

“Probably because they can’t-“

“Because they’re really good at hiding! Hahahaha!” Pinkie laughed.

Gear slapped a wing onto his face and groaned.

“Listen Pinkie, why don’t you just go and associate with some of your own friends hm? I still have a lot of unpacking to do, not to mention I really don’t know you, an-“

“Oh! But I can help a ton with that! Really, watch!” Pinkie shouted as she trotted over to the very same box Gear had been trying to lift for the past half-hour, and hoisted it up onto her back, seemingly without any sort of difficulty.

Gear’s jaw dropped and his eyes widened in shock. Pinkie not only lifted the same box he had just lost a war with, but also managed to effortlessly skip into his house with the box bouncing in time with her skips on her back.

Gear’s glasses fell to his muzzle. He tried to make sense of what just happened. He tried to form a coherent sentence to display his surprise, but all that came out was-

“Abbbwaaah?”

Author's Note

Okay, so explanations for the delays. Well, obviously IRL stuff has gotten in the way, and also the writing this chapter itself. I've written it over several times and even the way it is now, I'm still not entirely sure I'm satisfied. Maybe because Gear Gizmo is probably one of the most personal characters I have and I just wanna make sure he's at his best in showing what exactly Asperger's can do to a person (or pony in this case) and their situation around others, as a lot of the time it's not depicted like it actually is.

I don't know. Comments on how I'm doing are always appreciated, but VERY much so for this story in particular.

Embarrassment

After about 45 minutes of moving boxes (mainly on Pinkie’s part, seeing as Gear couldn’t seem to get any of them to move a single inch.) Gear’s new home was finally furnished and both of them now had a couch to lay down on to rest after working this hard.

“Phew. Well that sure was worth the effort huh?” Pinkie sighed, wiping a bit of sweat from her forehead.

“Hehe, if you say so.” Gear said, smiling a little nervously again. Although he was a little salty that he’d been shown up by a mare, he did appreciate the help. For the most part, this was alright…

Although, he was still not entirely fond of the verbal contact or Pinkie’s unnatural energy.

“So…since you did help me a whole lot moving in Pinkie, I guess I should pay y-“ Before Gear cold get another word in though, he found his mouth being covered by a pink hoof.

“Oh hush. I was happy to help! All that I ask is that you tell me your name silly!” Pinkie said with her usual, big smile.

Gear’s ears fell back to his head. Of course that’s what she would want. He wasn’t very keen on giving his name out to random ponies that he’d just met…but he DID owe her for the help. Next time, he’d just handle his issues himself.

“Mmph….Gizmo. Gear Gizmo. Just came here from Baltimare.” Gizmo mumbled quietly. Hopefully after he revealed this information Pinkie could give peace a chance and give him some time alone.

“Nice to meet ya Gear! My names-“

“Pinkie Pie, yes I know. You’ve said it several times now.” Gizmo said, rubbing his forehead.

“….Oh right, I forgot! Silly me!” Pinkie giggled cutely, putting a hoof to her mouth.

Gear looked at Pinkie with a look of confusion all about him. Part of him was wondering “What about that was even supposed to be funny?” but looking at Pinkie and her adorable, giggling self set something else off in Gear’s head. As much of a headache Pinkie seemed to be causing him, he had to admit she was rather cute. She just had that child-like innocence about her, in addition to that curly and poofy mane and bright blue eyes.

…

“Hey watcha starin’ at?” Pinkie asked Gizmo when she noticed he was looking at her with a slight tinge of red on his cheeks. Gizmo quickly perked up, shook his head, and looked away awkwardly.

“N-Nothing. I don’t know what you’re talking about….” He mumbled hoping to Celestia she didn’t catch that. And here he thought he was above checking mares out like that. Turns out Pinkie Pie was proving him wrong on several accounts today.

“Oh…okay!” Pinkie said, smiling at him. Gear sure acted funny for a stallion that didn’t seem all that into funny stuff. “Soooo, how’s Ponyville been treatin’ ya so far Gizmo?!” She asked.

Gizmo deadpanned a bit to himself as he considered his next sentence. ‘You mean outside of the moving mare nearly giving me a concussion and now this hyperactive cute one getting me all flustered and making a complete ass of myself?’ he thought.

“…Fine.” He said, still mumbling.

Pinkie raised an eyebrow. That could have meant anything, and from the way he was wording it, he didn’t sound all that happy. “You’re a stallion of few words aren’t you?”

“I’m not really all that invested in conversation most of the time is all…”

“You’re no-Ooooooh.” Pinkie’s mouth made an “O” shape in realization of Gizmo’s dilemma. “Ooooh I get it! You’re shy aren’t you? Don’t worry Gizmo, I have a friend that’s kind of like that too! Don’t worry, I can help you get over your shyness lickity split!~” Pinkie said happily, now hugging Gizmo tight.

Gizmo felt that familiar heat come back to his face as Pinkie hugged him. What was it with this mare and hugging, and why was he both hating it and liking it at the same time? This mare was just too much for him.

“U-Umm…touchiiiiing…” Gizmo mumbled, his face still bright red. He honestly couldn’t want anything more than for Pinkie to let go of him, but he’d be lying if he said he didn’t appreciate how warm Pinkie felt.

“Shhhhh, just let it happen Gizmo.” She said quietly, slightly nuzzling his cheek.

That was it for Gizmo. He quickly managed to squirm his way out of Pinkie’s grasp and bolted to the other side of his couch, hyperventilating and his face still feeling unbearably hot. “OKAY ENOUGH WITH THE HUGGING THANK YOU!” He yelled at practically the top of his lungs.

Pinkie’s ears folded back a little at that. “…Wow, you REALLY don’t like being hugged do you?...” Pinkie said, putting a hoof to her chin, thinking a little. “Hmmm…okay! So, you look like you’re in a very desperate need of friends Gizmo, soooo what could be better than to introduce you to some of mine?!~” Pinkie cheered, clapping her hooves together at the thought of her new friend meeting her current friends.

“Please don’t.” Gizmo said meekly.

“AAAAND OFF WE GO!” Pinkie said happily, grabbing Gizmo by the hoof and bouncing out the door, dragging a very hesitant Gizmo with her.

This was exactly what Gizmo was hoping wouldn’t happen. Meeting some crazy, unnaturally happy, and blissfully unaware pony, one thing leading to another, and then BAM. Dragged into yet another social situation by said pony. He hadn’t even known this mare for more than an hour, and she was already draining all the life out of him…

On top of all of this, she was holding his hoof.

“….I NEED AN ADULT!” Gizmo yelled at the top of his lungs as he was dragged through Ponyville’s streets with a red face and fogged-up glasses.

Pinkie only giggled. “Silly stallion, I AM an adult!~”

Author's Note

As someone that is as socially defective as I am, I tend to think that I'm the only one that has any common sense and that everyone else is wrong; that I know what's best for me and nobody else does. Of course, that's irrational as all hell and I know it, but there's some points where I can't help but think like this, so I think it pertains to this story and Gizmo because he thinks the same way a lot of the time.

In terms of this chapter, a lot of it has been done for a while, but I just haven't had much motivation for writing much lately. I don't plan on quitting, but writer's block comes around every once in a while. It happens to the best of us.