The Romance of Invention

Chapters

Ch. 1: Introductions
Ch. 2: The Party
Ch. 3: Take Two
Ch. 4: Food for Thought
Ch. 5: Further Study
Ch. 6: Black Holes and Revelations
Ch. 7: Unforeseen Circumstances
Ch. 8: Kindness
Ch. 9: Monkeying Around
Ch. 10: Tension
Ch. 11: Sound Advice
Ch. 12: The Dating Game

Ch. 1: Introductions

The yellow unicorn threw himself onto his couch with a frustrated yell, he’d been in his new house at the very edges of Ponyville for a day already but he couldn’t figure out what about it that was bothering him so much. He quickly glanced around the room one more time trying to force his brain to cooperate but was distracted by a loud excited knocking at the door. Glad for something else to distract him, he trotted off towards the door and threw it open without forethought and was immediately assaulted by an explosion of colors in front of him.

“Hello Mister new pony! I heard there was a new hoof in town and I just had to come by and say hello as well as invite you to the party!” yelled an excitedly bouncing pink pony in a very… eccentric outfit. She giggled at his confused face and threw a hoof full of party streamers in his face then continued to bounce around excitedly.

Chrome backed off slightly not entirely sure if he was about to be assaulted by this crazy pony or not. His eyes focused in on a swaying piece of pink that was hanging from his horn, after pulling the offending streamer off his horn and tossing it aside he reluctantly focused his eyes back on her with a worried look.

“Oh silly don’t worry it’ll be the best party EVER! Especially since now I can make it a welcome party! I love throwing those so much… Oooh ooh, we can invite every pony from town, and then I can bring those new cupcakes that I made and (GASP!) I can even ask AJ to bring some apple treats too! What was your name again?” She added as an afterthought as she kept bouncing around his doorstep excitedly.

He had to fight the urge to just close the door and hide deep in his workshop but after gulping quietly he finally found enough of his voice to answer meekly “Chrome, my name is Chrome… Who exactly are you again? You didn’t tell me your name.”

“What? Oh your name right, perfect! That will sound so great on the invitations. Oh I didn’t? Well don’t worry about that I’m just so excited about the party! Oooh the party right I need to go start talking to every pony and planning! Bye Chrome!” She nearly yelled as she then bounced back down the path towards Ponyville leaving him in a slight daze even though he couldn’t help but crack a slight smile.

“Well I guess I came to Ponyville because of the small town atmosphere, still I wasn’t quite expecting that kind of a welcome.” He thought to himself then after a moment amended the statement after closing the door and walking back inside. “I don’t think any pony is ready for that kind of a welcome…”

Chrome continued to muse to himself about the crazy pony and the supposed party as he wandered back into his house once again trying to figure out what it was that was bothering him. Sure it was a bit messy, but comparing it to the way it was before he had moved… Well yeah this was practically sparkling he thought to himself as he glanced around the room at the few dirty dishes, random tools, and even a couple of books scattered around the living room. But that was all part of being an inventor right? He got distracted easily is all; he could clean up the place any time he wanted. That is not the important part right now, first he must figure out what was bothering him so much!

After making himself feel better about the mess he wandered back into his workshop at the rear of the house and stopped dead in his tracks. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d seen it this clean, it seemed almost unnatural. He didn’t get very much time to muse over this though as once again he was interrupted by a knocking at the door. Remembering his last encounter with the door he doesn’t venture over that way until after grabbing a pair of goggles from his workbench with his magic and putting them on his forehead. He stopped at the door and took a few moments to steel himself before he tentatively pulled the door open with his magic.

“Oh sorry am I interrupting something?” asked a purple unicorn glancing at his goggles for a moment before she continued. “I just came by to say hello, and well since I saw Pinkie bouncing off maybe I should apologize if she scared you too much. She can be a bit, well enthusiastic at times.” She giggled quietly and glanced past him curiously towards the interior of his living room for a moment.

“Pinkie? Oh, you mean that bouncing pony who took it upon herself to invite me to a party without ever telling me her name?” He asked with a glance at her that silently pleaded ‘please be sane.’

She laughed loudly with a nod while covering her face with her hoof “Yeah that’s our Pinkie Pie alright, always looking for a reason to throw a party. Don’t tell me; welcome to Ponyville party, everyone is invited… You should come though, despite what I first thought I found out that her parties are fun and she really does just mean well. Anyways my name is Twilight Sparkle; I live in the library and just wanted to come say hello. I love to study well… everything! So if you ever have a question about something let me know I have tons of books and can probably help you out. Then maybe we could talk about your inventing I’m certain it’s very interesting! But I really should get back to the library now; I’ll see you at the party.” She concluded as she turned and gave him a wave of her hoof before walking off, leaving Chrome standing there not even entirely sure what just happened.

He just stared at her for a few moments as she walked off back towards then glanced back inside. He couldn’t remember telling anyone in Ponyville that he was an inventor; he stopped and glanced at his cutie mark with the three interlocked pointed gears then remembers the goggles on his head. “I guess she just figured it out?” he asked to himself then wandered back inside his house to the workshop. He tried his best to try and find something amongst the boxes under his workbench or amongst the papers to distract him but can’t really figure anything out.

After a short while he noticed the end of a telescope sticking out of a box and considered it for a moment. He pulled it out with his magic and levitated it in front of himself while he examined it, no reason he couldn’t try and improve this some more. After making up his mind he appeared from his doorway with the telescope and a few tools levitated in front of him while he made his way around his house up onto a small rise. After setting up the telescope carefully he tried to find an interesting looking cloud off in the distance to focus it on.

“Hey now I know I’m a big deal and everything but you don’t have to go spying on me if you wanted to watch the great and wonderful Rainbow Dash. If you wanted to see me practicing my moves you could have just asked you know.” exclaimed a bold voice from directly behind him causing him to fall over forward in surprise as he barely avoided knocking over the telescope, falling into a jumbled mess of limbs on the ground instead.

After pulling himself up off the ground he turned around to see a cyan pegasus hovering right behind him with a mischievous grin that immediately burst into laughter at the sight of his frightened face. She then managed to retreat back to a nearby cloud and roll around on it for a few moments while laughing hysterically at the same time.

“The look on your face, was… priceless!” she gasped between bursts of laughter even as he stared right back at her with a look of shock plastered onto his face and he placed a hoof on his chest as he attempted to calm down the pounding heart in his chest.

“The great and wonderful Rainbow Dash I presume?” He questioned sarcastically as he looked her over curiously once more, sure she was an interesting looking pony with her rainbow mane, tight muscles, sleek form… He had to stop and shake the thoughts from his head suddenly as he tried to keep himself from staring at her for too long even while he continued to wonder about the grandiose introduction.

“What you haven’t heard of me? The only pony to pull off a Sonic Rainboom? Named the best young flier this year, fastest pegasus alive, and soon to be best member of The Wonderbolts!?” she demanded proudly as she thrust her chest outwards even while she bristled visibly that he hadn’t recognized her name.

“Err, sorry?” he ventured as he stood there awkwardly trying his best not to stare at her body but was having a hard time of it. He still wasn’t entirely sure what exactly was going on as he shied away from looking her directly in the eyes not entirely sure how to proceed from here.

“Tch how uncool can you get, you’re the new pony everyone has been talking about right? I don’t see what all the fuss is about if you’ve never even heard of me geez. Though maybe you just need a demonstration! Hold onto your goggles!” She added loudly as she launched herself off the cloud and zoomed right past his leaving her rainbow trail close by his head. He staggered in place and stared as she soared into the distance. As her trail faded away though he saw that his telescope was spinning slowly on its stand.

He couldn’t help but drop his jaw slightly as he watched her speed around the sky; she was so incredibly fast and agile at the same time how was it even possible? He mused about it to himself as she darted around the clouds; but he soon had to flat out give up trying to analyze it. He had to figure it a lost cause as he realized that she wasn’t just idly boasting before. She was good, really good; she could probably even become as she said the best member of The Wonderbolts if she really applied herself.

She continued to race around the sky her rainbow trail giving him and idea on where she went even when she disappeared behind the clouds. Then suddenly she started to climb straight up into the sky going higher and higher until she finally stopped and grinned down at him. “Ready for the finale? If you’re not impressed yet, prepare to be!” she called out loudly.

*****

A ragged cheer wafted up to Rainbow’ ears as she started to climb again into the sky, she couldn’t help herself and she glanced downwards at the streets of Ponyville. Just as she had feared she noticed several ponies stopped in the center of the streets cheering her on as they took quick breaks from their work to watch her impromptu show. After she neared the optimal height for a Sonic Rainboom she found herself hesitating for a moment and gulped quietly as her nerves started to take over.

“It’s okay Dash, just like you’ve done before, don’t mind the audience you’re going to be the star of The Wonderbolts, you need to learn to perform in front of crowds. You can do this Dash…” she muttered to herself while trying to psyche herself up. Once she’s talked herself up enough she smacked the sides of her head a few times with her hooves and suddenly dove downwards. She had to grit her teeth and squeezed her eyes nearly shut as she kept going faster and faster. As she approached the familiar barrier she couldn’t get the thought of all the ponies watching her out of her head. As she battled to clear her head she suddenly noticed that the wind had stopped and looking around she felt the familiar pressure of the barrier pushing back at her with a huge amount of force.

“Uh oh…” is all she could manage to say as she glanced down at Chrome with a worried look on her face before she was thrown backwards into the air flailing and yelling loudly. Her uncontrollable flight sent her several hills over where she smashed right into the branches of a tree and was immediately lodged and tangled amongst all the branches.

*****

“Umm are you okay Miss Dash?” Chrome yelled out loudly while he ran over the hills towards the tree he saw her disappear into. As he got closer he couldn’t help but notice the limbs of the tree were shaking violently as she tried to free herself unsuccessfully.

“Yeah, sure peachy no sweat, all part of the plan! I just need some more time to get that trick to the full hundred and twenty percent.” she called out extending her foreleg out from the branches just enough to wave it at him nonchalantly. “Never… been… better…” she said stubbornly as the tree once again shook a few more times. “Just knock off that Miss Dash business it’s so uncool; just call me Rainbow Dash, or Rainbow.” She added angrily while she tryed once again to free herself and could do no more than make the tree shake violently.

“Hey tell you what, Chrome buddy old pal; I’ll do you the favor of allowing you to help me out of this tree. You’re new in town and you get to help out the coolest pony around how does that sound? Not every day that happens you know.” She added in a cocky tone of voice that made Chrome think he could actually hear the grin on her face.

He couldn’t help but just stare up at the tree with a look of shock on his face then after a quiet chuckle at her stubborn way of asking for help he stopped to examine the situation. He extended his magic surrounding a good portion of the tree branches with it and carefully started trying to pull open a gap for her to wriggle out of. He worked with her as best as he could trying his best to judge which branch needs to go where based on her frequent yells of indignation. Finally after what seemed like half an hour of yelling and frustration, her face poked out from the tree and she squirmed her way free with a few twigs sticking out in random directions from her wings.

“Are you sure you’re okay Miss Rainbow? That was a nasty crash…”

“Didn’t I tell you to cut out that Miss business!?” yelled Rainbow at him loudly before her expression softened. “But thanks for the help anyways, I couldn’t have done it without you.” She added as an afterthought with a slight blush while she started trying to pick the twigs out of her wings and then glanced back off towards town thoughtfully.

“Hey I’ll see you at the party okay? The weather is misbehaving.” She explained simply as she stretched her wings wide in a testing manner then zoomed straight off towards town and started to clear out some of the larger clouds that were drifting over the town.

He shook his head once again as he stood there he watched her zoom around the sky much faster than was really necessary; she left behind her rainbow trail the entire time she worked allowing him to easy track where she was going. She cleared out the sky back to a bright shiny day and left a few smaller clouds to drift around for aesthetic purposes.

After finally getting enough of watching Rainbow fly around and perfect the look of the clouds he looked back at his telescope with a slight sigh. It was now pointing in the wrong direction and almost all of the clouds he was using to test the magnification on were gone.

“Maybe I should get a helmet out as well if random mares are going to start dropping out of the sky on me.” He muttered to himself quietly with another sigh as he picked up his telescope and slowly started to walk back towards his workshop with all his gear.

“Okay maybe that wouldn’t be such a bad thing, but I’d prefer to have my wits about me if that did start happening,” he chuckled to himself with a stupid grin as he turned his attention back to his telescope and laid it out on his workbench.

“Well that was alright, but I’m sure I can get more power out of it…” he mumbled to himself while he took it apart with his tools. He was glad that he had finally found something to distract him for a while. He poked and prodded at it scrawling plans for improvements onto pieces of paper and made his adjustments, soon he got lost in his work and lost track of the time.

Ch. 2: The Party

The sound of excited knocking filled Chrome’s house, in fact it sounded like there were several ponies pounding at the door at the same time. He dropped his tools back onto the workbench and trotted off towards the door apologizing loudly the entire way. As he opened the door he was once again confronted with the same bright pink pony from before as she jumped through the doorway thrusting her face into his with a dramatic pose and stared him down menacingly.

“Hey! I thought I told you there was a party for you tonight!” she yelled excitedly while still looking peeved. “Huh? Huh? Think you’re going to miss out on a Pinkie party? Yeah right buster!” she exclaimed, and was only able to keep up her mean face for a few more moments before she burst out giggling at her own behavior. “Come on Chrome, every pony is waiting!” she added with a bright smile.

Chrome hesitated and looked at her nervously still not entirely sure how to react around her when she behaved like this. A worried look appeared on his face and he took a step backwards right onto a screwdriver. He stumbled backwards trying to recover himself but instead smacked right into the table behind him with a loud bang.

“Ow! Right, I’m sorry but you never even told me when, or even where it was… Pinkie was it? You didn’t tell me your name either!” He exclaimed louder than he meant to as he got slightly annoyed while he realized just how little about this he was actually told. And here she was trying to drag him off at the last minute with no notice? He winced as he stood back up and glanced back towards his workshop; he could just barely see his helmet resting on the pegboard. Before the thought could fully form in his mind though she grabbed him by the hoof and dragged him out the door happily. Soon she was hopping off into the distance with him so quickly that he barely even managed to wrap the door in his magic and close it as he stumbled to keep up.

“Oh I do that a lot too don’t worry about it if you’re going to miss a party I’ll come get you! Oh, and I throw parties a lot too, but I I’m doing that now so DUH! You should have figured that out by now. Come on your party waits, I’ll introduce you to every pony in town, then there will be the best snacks, and, music, and dancing it’ll be great!” She stopped beside him as she happily explained all the different wonders of the party and bounced around him so quickly he thought he was going to be sick from dizziness. She finished her outburst as suddenly as it started then grabbed him by the hoof and dragged him towards town once again. Somehow she was still bouncing along even while forcibly pulling him beside her; this only made him wonder if he was going to regret having left his helmet at home after all.

*****

“So here it is…” Chrome muttered quietly to himself as he tried to psyche himself up enough to walk through the doorway of The Sugarcube Corner under his own power. It was draped with streamers and a big party banner; he could also hear loud music spilling out of the doorway as well as the sound of many ponies as they talked among themselves from the back room. He didn’t get much time to try and work up the courage on his own though as he was suddenly pushed through the doorway by Pinkie. He stumbled slightly in surprise and tried to gather the words to object but was interrupted again by another couple of nudges from the giggling pony. He soon gave up trying to try to say anything as she kept forcing him forward towards the back of the building. Pinkie only seemed to be amused by his obvious indignation as she finally got him through the doorway and jumped through the doorway after him before yelling for silence.

“Ah, that’s better” she added in a stage whisper that carried across the room as even the music somehow instantly stopped the moment she yelled for silence. “Hey every pony this is Chrome! He’s new in town and the reason for this party is so that you can make him feel welcome! So don’t be shy come and say hello; he’s an inventor isn’t that exciting?”

“Pssst… you said you were an inventor right?” she added in another loud stage whisper leaving him unable to do anything except just nod his head with his mouth gaping slightly. Suddenly the music kicked back in and Pinkie made her way out into the party leaving him suddenly alone at the doorway and he gaped slightly in shock at her random behavior but couldn’t help but chuckle again quietly about it at the same time.

“Why hello there, it is a pleasure to meet you I am Rarity, and those goggles simply will NOT do. You simply must come to The Carousel Boutique sometime so I can look into making something more fashionable for you; I don’t do much in colts wear but I shall take it upon myself as a challenge. No pony should have to wear such a… thing on their face for the sake of their work.” She added as an afterthought as she grabbed the goggles with her magic and pulled them off his head to scrutinize them closely. She completely ignored the growing crowd of ponies around them as she looked them over thoroughly before tossing them aside nonchalantly and declaring them a ‘disaster.’

Chrome tried to say something to her but it was interrupted by a shy squeak as he noticed all the ponies starting to crowd around her. He retrieved his goggles with his magic and put them back around his neck as he quietly mumbled some lame excuse about not wanting to part with them all the while dutifully avoiding her gaze. He kept his eyes pointed downwards to try and avoid noticing the growing crowd but it wasn’t working very well as his face started to flush red at all the attention.

“Well alright then, suit yourself but do consider taking me up on my offer, I could make you something much more suiting if you desired.” With that Rarity trotted off to her friends allowing a few more ponies to squeeze into the still growing crowd around him as they looked at him curiously. He let out a quiet whimper as he glanced around the crowd again his shyness looking into a look of near terror. He only just really started to notice how big the crowd around him was getting, it seemed every pony was taking Pinkie Pie’s suggestion seriously; he could feel the growing pressure of the crowd around him making him dizzy and his body was threatening to collapse on him.

“Are you alright there?” came a rougher voice than Chrome was used to hearing and it startled him out of his haze as he looked up to see a very country looking mare with a cowboy hat on. “Ahem, well ah’m Applejack and ah work at Sweet Apple Acres, the farm you may have seen outside town. You doin’ alright there? You look like you seen a ghost.” She looked at him for a moment while he visibly shied away trying to somehow find some way to escape the crowd around him with a growing look of panic on his face.

“Well umm, we do all sorts of things with apples if you need any apples or apple related products you let me know okay?” She said looking at him with a concerned look then wandering back off into the party before he could manage to find his voice to thank her.

Chrome gulped quietly as the ponies continued to crowd around him and all offer him their best wishes, it doesn’t take long before the desire to just bolt out the door started to well up inside of him. He barely managed to resist but it was taking all his will power to not just collapse on the floor and hide under his hooves, despite his best efforts to try and at least appear polite most of the ponies started to notice his obvious discomfort after only a few awkward introductions and they disappeared from the crowd in ones and twos.

A quiet murmur of “poor guy…” and “just like Fluttershy” were repeated more than a few times as they all disappeared. Chrome found himself standing near the center of the party completely alone with no pony around him. They all disappeared seemingly as fast as they had all come in the first place making him wonder if he had just imagined it. He could feel the weight of the goggles around his neck instead of up on his head though, reassuring him that in fact he had not.

Even though there was no doubt that he was much more comfortable now without all those ponies crowding around him anymore he couldn’t help but feel slightly alone at how quickly things changed for him. He looked around the room while he pondered the situation; every pony seemed to be talking to their friends animatedly. Occasionally some pony would wander off to talk to some other group, but for the most part they all seemed to have solidified into their own little groups. This was a much more familiar setting for a party for him, no less awkward but at least he’d been here before so he let out a quiet sigh of relief.

Most of the ponies were standing in groups of three to four and talking amongst themselves which to Chrome meant they were completely unapproachable. He simply was not the type of colt who could nonchalantly walk up to a group of talking ponies and insert himself into the conversation. In a strange way this realization actually helped him relax even more, it meant he wouldn’t have to deal with any more social awkwardness for the short term most likely.

He looked around the room once more in search of something he could do, sure he wasn’t going to have to talk to any pony but he couldn’t continue to stand here like a dummy. He then spotted the snack table in the back; he started to trot off towards it as he felt it was a safe place for him to be. He glanced back around the room then back at all the foods spread out in front of him. Cupcakes weren’t really his thing, the apple pie certainly looked good enough but for some reason after that encounter at the start of the party he wasn’t really feeling that hungry anymore. He kept looking over his options for a moment longer but came to the conclusion he just wasn’t hungry with a quiet sigh. Well there went that plan, he turned his attention back out towards the party for something to occupy him. He only was able to take a few steps though before he suddenly bumped right into some pony and was knocked sideways onto the floor.

“Oh, I am so sorry are you hurt? It was probably my fault I can be so clumsy sometimes…” said a meek looking pegasus mare with a pink mane as she worried over him and offered him a hoof up. She fell into a silence though as she continued to look at him her face full of worry and he hesitated staring at her for a moment unable to find his voice for a moment.

“No I’m fine, sorry it was probably my fault I wasn’t paying attention so don’t worry about it.” He finally squeaked out then waved her concerns off with a wave of his woof. He seemed to relax a bit more after that since it was just the two of them away from every pony else; he looked her over again curiously as he pondered the situation. He couldn’t remember seeing her before but considering his behavior that wasn’t a surprise. Finally after an awkward moment he turned his attention back towards her.

“I’m sorry but I don’t think we’ve met, I’m Chrome.” He ventured in an effort to break the growing awkwardness between them.

“Oh, oops, I’m Fluttershy I’m so sorry again about that… I’m not very good with introductions so I usually stay away from crowds…” she said shyly as she avoided his gaze and the awkward silence fell between them once again.

“You did alright just then didn’t you?” he chuckled quietly to her after thinking about it for a moment.

“I guess so…” she admitted but after that the two of them just stood there awkwardly shifting between their hooves not entirely sure what else to add to the conversation. Soon Chrome was staring down at the floor as well and the silence seemed to grow into a chasm between them, a wide gap that neither of them were willing to try and traverse. Finally after a long moment they were rescued by the appearance of Rainbow Dash at their sides who then put a hoof around Fluttershy’s side in a friendly manner.

“Hey Shy, Hi Chrome, sorry to bother but I think Twilight wanted to ask you something Shy.” Rainbow explained as she waved to Chrome and walked her friend off away from him.

*****

Rainbow grumbled inwardly to herself as she lead Fluttershy back off towards the rest of their friends pondering to herself for a few moments about what just happened. She deposited Fluttershy with Twilight and the others before making a quick excuse and walked back off by herself into the party.

“Damn, I thought making them bump into each other would work much better than that, they seemed so perfect for each other too why couldn’t they hit it off? Hmm, maybe they’re just too shy to act on their own, I need to change tactics…” she mumbled to herself as a grin slowly spread across her face, the very beginnings of a plan forming in her head.

*****

Chrome watched the two of them walk away as he stood there and watched the group of friends stand around talking in a friendly. A few moments later he laughed quietly as something caused the other ponies to have to hold Rarity back as she suddenly lunged straight at Applejack stumbling over her words in rage. Turning his head away with a smile he looked around the party again; every pony seemed like they were having quite a bit of fun. But here he was still all by himself in the middle of the party that was supposed to be in his honor. He didn’t feel unwelcome though; this is just how parties always were for him he admitted to himself with a sigh. Suddenly Chrome couldn’t help but grin slightly as an idea popped into his head.

“Well if they’re all having fun without me, then do I really need to be here? I mean I’ve been standing here by myself for a while and nobody else has come to say hello…” he reasoned to himself inwardly. “Pinkie did say the purpose of the party was to make me feel welcome didn’t she? And I already feel welcome just by having a party thrown for me... So I guess I don’t really have to stay here any longer.” he concluded triumphantly as he glanced around the party nervously looking for where the pink party pony was.

He grinned slightly as he continued to twist the logic around in his head to suit his own purposes, then finally spotting Pinkie in the back trying to force feed cupcakes to random ponies he started to nonchalantly make his way towards the door.

“That was nice of her, but I never really was the partying kind of colt, do much better in small groups. I’m sure she’ll understand…” he muttered to himself quietly as he continued to justify his actions to himself and made his way out the door to start his walk home. He started to think about what he’d do once he got home maybe he’d start work on his telescope again. As he got closer to his door though, his inner musings were suddenly interrupted by a loud thump and hoofsteps behind him soon followed by an angry voice that made his mane stand on end.

“And just who do you think you are to run out on a Pinkie party thrown in your honor? HUH?”

Ch. 3: Take Two

Chrome gulped and started to apologize before he even finished turning around “I’m sorry Pinkie I can explain, it’s just… Oh, hi Rainbow I thought you were Pinkie for a seco… urp!” He gulped and paled under the intense stare that Rainbow Dash was giving him backing off submissively.

“YOU SHOULD BE SORRY! And you’re going to apologize but to her not me, now come on WALK MISTER!” she yelled as she flew around behind him and landed heavily before head butting him fiercely back towards Ponyville. He stumbled slightly and had to start walking in that direction just to avoid falling over forward.

“Come on Rainbow, I’m not much of a party colt, I’m not at home in crowds… I get awkward and shy. I tense up I’m afraid I was rude to every pony… when they were trying to introduce themselves. I tried honestly I did but I just… couldn’t handle it by myself. Do you really have to keep doing that!?” he snapped at her finally getting tired of her interrupting him with head butts.

“Then just keep walking if you don’t want me to keep doing it, I told you that you’re going to apologize, but to Pinkie! She threw this party for you and put in a ton of effort and you just left without saying anything? Yeah not gonna happen on my watch buster, totally uncool. Now when you get there you’re going to thank her for throwing you such a good party; and I’ll explain that you just had to go outside for a moment to get some air. We don’t want Pinkie thinking you didn’t like her party okay? Just trust me on that one.” She punctuated this statement with another head butt then landed next to him. She started trotting next to him so she could glare at him fiercely as the two of them made their way back towards the party.

“Okay okay, I’m sorry I shouldn’t have done that I really can’t handle a party like this alone what am I supposed to do? I just lock up around that many people.” He tried to defend himself but already the defeated tone was sneaking into his voice as they got closer and closer to the party.

“THEN FIND PINKIE!” Rainbow screamed at him so loud that he visibly cowered away from her. “She loves parties and she loves making sure people enjoy the parties even more than throwing them. She would TOTALLY introduce you to every pony in smaller groups. Just ask her and don’t just LEAVE!” Rainbow actually growled out the last part at him so that he started to walk faster in an effort to try and escape her wrath.

“Okay okay you’re right Rainbow I’m sorry…” he finally admitted after a long silence and hung his head slightly as they walked up to the entrance of the Sugarcube Corner. He gulped quietly and managed to muster up enough courage to walk through the door under his power this time due to the fear that she would start yelling again. The feeling of dread slowly started to return as they got closer to the back room where the party actually was. He hesitated and glanced backwards only to see Rainbow glaring at him fiercely.

“Come on just go already!” she muttered under her breath as she gave him a light shove to get him walking and moved up beside him to walk into the party while she put on her normal face again trying not to betray anything of what happened to any pony who might be watching.

“Okay I’m going, I’m going.” He grumbled as he trotted over towards where Pinkie still was in the back of the room and nearly got a cupcake shoved straight down his throat. Pinkie merely yelled ‘CUPCAKES!” with a giggle then glanced at the two of them a grin slowly spreading across her face as Rainbow let out a quiet groan.

“Ooooooooh, so that’s where you two went off to, I get it” she giggled mischievously and winked at the two of them. She suddenly zipped away before re-appearing between them and started to nudge them in the flanks with her forelegs. Chrome nearly choked on his cupcake as he got what she was referring to and had to cover his mouth with a hoof as he started to cough violently.

Rainbow however turned bright red and pushed away from Pinkie with an indignant look on her face. “Ugh we totally did not do anything like that. Geez Pinkie be cool, he just needed to go outside for some air.” She asserted firmly with a quiet ‘clonk’ as she placed her hoof square in the middle of her face and shook her head lightly.

Pinkie just giggled and waggled her eyebrows suggestively at the two of them though she was admittedly focusing more of her energy towards annoying Rainbow. Finally after managing to clear out his throat from the offending frosting Chrome just stood there blushing a bit and looking awkward. He wasn’t sure how to proceed from here but caught sight of Rainbow as she flashed a meaningful glare at him while Pinkie was distracted otherwise with her teasing. “Oh, umm Pinkie?” he piped up quietly after clearing his throat nervously.

“What? Oh Hi Chrome! How’s the party? It’s great isn’t it? Every pony showed up I love parties don’t you?” she bounced around in place suddenly forgetting about teasing Rainbow Dash the moment he spoke up.

“Well about that Pinkie… I was wondering if umm you could help me with, well introducing myself to the other ponies? I’m not very good at that kind of thing, and I didn’t do very well when they all came to introduce themselves. I appreciate the party and everything; just I’m not very good in a crowd you know?” he finally finished with a nervous glance back at Rainbow to see if he was doing alright to which she flashed him a bright smile and nodded.

“(GASP!) OH I’D LOVE TO! That sounds like so much fun why didn’t I think of that come on!” she yelled at him so excitedly that a few nearby ponies actually stopped midway through their conversations and stared at them with worried looks on their faces. Pinkie didn’t seem to notice though as she grabbed him by the hoof and dragged him out into the party with her. As Chrome stumbled to keep up he turned back to look at Rainbow one more time and caught a menacing look from her that very clearly translated in his mind to ‘I’m watching you buster.’

*****

“I’m just glad so many of the Apple Family were in town so you could meet them! Isn’t that great? Now who else haven’t you met? There’s just so many ponies here Chrome! I love introducing people it’s just so much fun I hope you make a ton of friends today! I love throwing welcome parties because then people make friends!” Pinkie exclaimed as she bounced around as Chrome started to feel tired after being around her for this long, and he had to just pull his hoof free from her grasp.

Chrome just stood there for a long moment as he tried to catch his breath, even though Pinkie was the one who had been bouncing around constantly it seemed to be wearing on him more than her. How was that even possible, let alone fair? Where in Equestria did she get all of her energy? He pondered over the mysteries that were Pinkie Pie but was soon interrupted as she spotted someone new and let out a loud shriek of delight. She immediately grabbed him by the hoof once more and dragged him across the party.

“Oh! Oh! Fluttershy! You have to meet Chrome!” Pinkie said excitedly while she dragged him over next to the mare in question.

“Oh but Pinkie…”

“He’s the new inventory pony guy he’s so nice, but he’s really shy… kind of like you huh? I bet you two would get along well huh? Maybe I should leave you two alone?” giggled Pinkie as she snuck her way between them and nudged them in turn while she waggled her eyebrows teasingly.

“Pinkie…” Chrome tried to interrupt but Pinkie just kept on going without paying any attention.

“Oh I get it, too ‘shy’ to talk to each other huh?” giggled Pinkie again. “Well Chrome this is Fluttershy she works with animals and she’s so good with them too! She’s all like WHOOSH! Flying all over the place as she takes care of all the animals at once and loving them and caring for them when they’re sick it’s so sweet!” Pinkie laughed as she finished her excited outburst and bounced around happily. Chrome could only quirk an eyebrow as he tried and failed to imagine Fluttershy doing anything with a ‘WHOOSH.’

“Pinkie…” Fluttershy tried to interrupt again but was unsuccessful yet again.

“Oh and Fluttershy this is Chrome, he’s pretty shy too he hasn’t talked much all night; you two sure are similar aren’t you? Except he likes to invent stuff, but I don’t know what he likes to invent because he hasn’t been talking much. I’m sure it’s really important though! Then all the ponies will have one of…. Whatever it is in their house and he’ll be FAMOUS!” She laughed again as she looked between the two of them for a moment.

“Pinkie!” exclaimed Fluttershy in a voice just barely above that of her normal speaking voice but her face contorted like she was yelling as she did. “Oh I’m sorry was that rude? I didn’t mean to be so loud…”

“Pinkie I’ve already met Fluttershy…” said Chrome finally through another face hoof with a look of exasperation, his shoulders heaved slightly as he laughed quietly at the whole interaction.

“Oh well then why didn’t say anything you two? Geez way to leave some pony clueless…” Pinkie looked completely oblivious to the fact that they had tried to interrupt her multiple times. Chrome and Fluttershy looked at each other directly in the eyes for the first time which turned into them both giggling quietly at Pinkie’s behavior then shrugging.

“Yeah sorry Pinkie our bad, we’ll speak up louder next time,” sighed Chrome as he shook his head.

“Okay well then seeya Fluttershy! I’m going to keep taking Chrome around to meet every pony then!” exclaimed Pinkie as she started to drag him off again oblivious to the fact that her introduction went far better than their previous meeting.

“Bye Fluttershy” Chrome waved to her with his free hoof as he continued to laugh quietly while he marveled at how much better that went even with all of Pinkie’s craziness. Though it really wasn’t that surprising now that he stopped to think about it; Pinkie didn’t seem to worry about looking silly she just said what she’s thinking. He didn’t get much more time to ponder this though as pinkie suddenly dragged him off in a new direction so fast that he couldn’t help but be surprised his hooves weren’t leaving a trail of sparks at this point.

*****

“Hang on Pinkie… I need a break, let me get some food or something.” Chrome gasped quietly as he had to pull himself free from Pinkie just so he could catch his breath. It hadn’t even been an hour yet as Chrome looked up at the clock but it seemed like Pinkie had dragged him around non-stop to meet the entire town already. She was pleasant to be around certainly, he couldn’t help but laugh quite a bit while around her; but the pure level of energy was making him tired after being around it for so long.

“Okie Dokie Lokie!” said Pinkie with a bright smile as she zoomed off into the party again leaving Chrome looking completely worn out next to the snack table again. This time his stomach let out a definite grumble as that was certainly a workout. He looked across the table again his mouth watering slightly as he glanced across all the food. He hungrily levitated a plate in front of him and started to load it up with some apple treats, a tasty looking muffin, and a small glass of cider before he walked off trying to find somewhere to sit down finally having to settle himself against the back wall by himself.

“Hey now going to leave enough food for the rest of us?” came the voice of Rainbow Dash from beside him as she appeared with a grin on her face. She took a second to look at him sitting there and couldn’t help but let out a quiet laugh at how exhausted he looked before she sat down next to him.

“You knew exactly what I was getting into when you suggested I ask Pinkie to show me around didn’t you?” accused Chrome tiredly as he started to munch on the muffin ravenously.

“Yeah I did, I’m surprised you lasted as long as you did though. Pinkie is hard to keep up with, even for me sometimes. Next time you’ll think twice about being rude huh?” she grinned at him slyly as she kept laughing to herself at how tired he looked. “Are you going to be alright? Pinkie didn’t overdo it did she?”

Chrome just shook his head lightly as he finished munching on the muffin and took a sip of his drink. “No it was actually quite fun, just tiring. It’s hard not to have fun around her; I’ve never really experienced anything quite like that at a party before. Though now I just want to go home and crawl into bed to be honest…” Chrome actually let out a yawn as he finished this statement and shook his head for a second trying to wake himself up.

“Yeah I bet, you did good though Chrome. Made up for your stupidity earlie, I don’t think anyone would mind if you did. Just don’t let me see you ditching out on something nice a friend does for you again okay?” she added with a fierce look, but it quickly turned back into a smile as she got up and walked back off to her friends while waving back to him.

He couldn’t help but smile to himself as he finished up his snacks then got up and looked around for Pinkie; if he was going to leave he was going to do it properly this time. This meant having to put up with the explosion of happiness which was Pinkie Pie for one last time tonight. Finally after spotting her trying to force feed more cupcakes to random ponies again he managed to walk up behind her and dodge the cupcake thrust in his direction.

“Hey Pinkie” he said backing off slightly as she tried to offer him the cupcake again. “I’m full thanks.”

“Aww, that’s too bad they’re so good! I even made them myself special for the party! Did you like the one earlier? I tried something new with it. Did you like meeting all the ponies? Did you make a bunch of new friends? I hope so, that way you won’t be so quiet anymore!” she exclaimed as she jumped up and down happily making another wave of exhaustion wash over him again suddenly.

“Yes the party was great Pinkie but I’m really beat, I’m going to head out and go to bed. Thanks for everything; and no thanks on the cupcake really.” He held up a hoof trying to wave off yet another attempted cupcake assault by Pinkie.

“Well you know where to come if you want some tasty sweets! Thanks for coming Chrome!” she yelled loudly as she waved goodbye. She yelled this so loud in fact that a lot of ponies around them turned to see him working his way towards the door and suddenly they all joined in wishing him goodnight. He could only blush red at all the attention he was getting and had to stop and clear his throat before he was able to say anything.

“Ahem, oops err, thanks every pony it was fun but I really need to go sleep.” He waved shyly which elicited another wave of farewells from the partygoers. He trotted out the door as they all went back to enjoying the party and he started the walk home. As he walked back out of Ponyville towards his house he couldn’t help but smile, he’d actually had fun at a party. That was a new experience for him; usually he had to describe them as ‘alright,’ ‘interesting,’ or some similar vague term. As he thought about this he couldn’t help but attribute this almost completely to Pinkie and Rainbow. He’d have to figure out a way to thank them some other time; but for now he had just enough time to test out the changes to his telescope before he had to go collapse in bed.

Ch. 4: Food for Thought

A loud yawn filled the bedroom as Chrome stirred to consciousness and rubbed his face with his hooves. Still feeling slightly weary from last night’s ‘adventure’ he slowly managed to drag himself out of the bed and trot his way downstairs to the kitchen as all of his muscles seemed to be screaming at him in protest. He bumbled around the kitchen trying to figure out what he wanted for breakfast. It had been a long time since he’d actually had that much exercise and it was really hard for him to keep walking around at first. Walking to the party and back was fine enough; he wasn’t that out of shape, so why was he so tired them? Oh right Pinkie… that certainly was exhausting, just thinking back to the way that she had dragged him around the party at such a quick pace made him want to go crawl back into bed for the rest of the day.

“Get a hold of yourself Chrome… you have to set up the telescope today, no time for slacking off,” he had to remind himself as he finally grabbed a sleeve of pop-tarts. As he munched on his ‘meal’ he wandered back upstairs and into a room full of the last few boxes he’d left unpacked. His tests last night with the telescope had pretty much shown that he was right at the limits of working with a telescope that small. He pondered this thought for a moment as he kept chewing on the last bites of the pop-tarts. He started to unpack the boxes and look inside them, the first few were just full of larger lenses and mirrors he’d used for other telescopes in the past but hadn’t been able force himself to get rid of. Buried deeper in the third box were the first few parts of his full sized telescope.

“Well the entire point was to shrink it to a more usable size, ugh why can’t this ever be simple. I guess I can’t avoid putting this together after all,” he grumbled quietly to himself as he carried the boxes into the back room of his house.

He stopped and looked around this particular room; he had only come in here when he was looking at the house before he moved in. The ceiling was large dome that seemed designed to unlatch and open a good portion of it up to the sky. This room was actually the reason why he had chosen this house over the others despite the distance from Ponyville. Sure it looked a little bit odd with the huge dome perched on the back of it, but it had apparently been owned by an astronomer previously. This fact alone made it so that he wouldn’t have to build a room specifically to fit his telescope, he smiled to himself glad of this fact while he started to unpack the boxes and lay the parts out carefully on the floor. As he looked over all the parts and arranged them into optimal spots all around the room he let out a long sigh, this was going to be a long day…

*****

Chrome stopped to admire his work so far, the telescope was most of the way done and just about ready for him to open up the roof. Sure he still had a decent amount of work in front of him, but he was most of the way there. As he stood there feeling proud of himself his stomach interrupted him with a particularly loud rumble. He wandered back into his bedroom to fetch the extra clock he had bought for this room and stopped as he looked at the time. There was no way that could be right he thought as he glanced at his alarm clock. He ran over to the window not believing that either and drew the curtains aide unable to keep a quiet gasp from escaping his mouth as he saw his sun well on its way towards the horizon.

“Well that would explain why I’m so starving…” he admitted slightly embarrassed to himself as he walked back to the observatory to put the clock up on the wall. Then he remembered his food situation, or more specifically the lack of one with a loud groan. As he walked down to the kitchen and confirmed his fears with a quick glance into his cupboards. Finally after a long moment he just turned and head out the house starting his way towards Ponyville as he figured he could find something to eat there.

“Well I can probably finish the telescope tonight in time to gaze at some stars, but if I can’t get the same power out of the smaller telescope I’ll basically be starting over at that point…” he sighed to himself as he started the long walk to Ponyville proper. He continued to mutter to himself under his breath trying to think of any way to save himself wasted time but suddenly stopped as he realized he was in the center of town without fully remembering how he got there.

“Great too busy not paying attention again, now which way was that restaurant again?” he asked himself under his breath as he looked around with a confused look on his face.

“Hey Chrome! Wha’cha doing standing in the middle of town looking so confused for?” came a bright voice from directly behind. He jumped as he turned around with a hoof over his chest trying to calm down as he looked for the source of the voice. Standing a good distance behind him was a giggling Twilight Sparkle, but she wasn’t close enough to have been who was calling to him. As he looked around looking for the source he heard a loud laugh from above him and turned his head up to see Rainbow Dash laughing hysterically at his frightened expression.

“Oh man that never gets old, but what were you doing just standing around like a dummy for anyways?”

“Yes I was curious why you were just standing there with that confused look myself, though I probably would have approached it differently…” Twilight added as she looked at him inquisitively then switched to a meaningful glance directed at Rainbow which she seemed to completely miss.

“Well I was walking into town looking for somewhere to eat, but I got distracted thinking about the problems with my telescope… Then I found myself standing here in the center of town without remembering how to get to the restaurant.” He looked around the square again looking slightly confused.

“Uhhhm, which one again? Besides you could just say you were spaced out while thinking about smarty hooves stuff and leave out all the extra stuff. I know Twilight does the same thing all the time, right Twi’?” Rainbow teased the other mare with a grin and chuckled at her indignant reaction.

“Well! Ignoring the part about smarty hooves… yes I am familiar with that feeling. Chrome we were just about to head over to get a quick snack from the Sugarcube Corner, you could always come along. I wanted to talk to you about your inventing anyways and you said you’re having problems with a telescope? I could maybe help; I have books about all kinds of things!” Twilight added with an absolutely delighted look on her face at the prospect of being able to fix other pony’s problems with books. She even started to tap her hooves on the ground like an excited school filly before a look from Rainbow made her blush and clear her throat.

“Well if you’re sure I wouldn’t be intruding or anything…”

“Certainly not, we insist come on!” Twilight said with a smile and started to trot off towards Sugarcube Corner with Rainbow hanging back and flying beside him as she gave him a meaningful look. She just stayed there as she waited for him to start walking off first apparently, a point she made abundantly clear as she gave him light head butt before flying lazily next to him as they went.

*****

“You said you were hungry Chrome, but I didn’t expect you to be that hungry,” giggled Rainbow as he walked back towards the table levitating several pastries in front of him.

“Well, I may or may not have forgotten lunch while I was busy working on my telescope…” he admitted with an embarrassed look on his face as he sat down.

“Oh yeah that settles it, you two are totally the same pony in different bodies.” Rainbow grinned at the two of them as she fought back another burst of laughter.

“Well I do admit that I have forgotten a meal or two while studying, but I do try to avoid it when possible. Anyways Chrome what is it like being an inventor? Do you have any exciting projects you are working on?” Twilight questioned as she sat there with an excited look on her face after only taking a few cursory bites of her own food.

“Yeah do you have a secret lab in your house that you’re using to work on your dastardly plan to overthrow Celestia and Luna? That would be so cool! Well the secret lab part not the whole overthrowing the Princesses part…” Rainbow added hastily after Twilight shot her a scathing look.

“Well…” Chrome munched on a danish for a moment and pondered to himself about their questions as he had to consider it for a moment.

“That’s a deep subject you’ve got there” Rainbow teased with a grin and Chrome just ignored her.

“Can’t really say I’ve been asked to describe it before honestly, it’s frustrating at times I guess. I haven’t really done anything revolutionary or anything up to this point, or even had any major breakthroughs. I’ve mostly just been tweaking existing technology, sometimes I wonder about it though because it can be so frustrating and yet it seems to yield so little. But every time I do start to wonder about it I remember that I got my cutie mark while inventing so then there’s not a whole lot I can do to try and avoid that so I stick with it.”

“I assume later on I’ll do better and figure out what it is in particular my calling is in relation to inventing but for now I guess it’s just frustrating.” He pondered this for a moment just staring at the danish he was floating in front of him. He never really had put that particular set of feelings into spoken words before but now that he had, it was really starting to bother him. Why was he still plodding on with inventing?

“Umm, Chrome? Equestria to Chrooome…. CHROME!” yelled Rainbow in his ear making him jump and his danish flew sideways as he’s started out of his reverie.

“Well what exactly were you doing when you got your cutie mark then if you feel like that?” Twilight asked kindly as she caught his danish with her magic and floated it back onto his plate.

“Well I’d always been fascinated with stars when I was younger, I loved to look at the night sky and I couldn’t understand the story of Nightmare Moon because well how could no pony appreciate Princess Luna’s night? It was just so beautiful and my parents had a telescope that I loved to look through so I started to play around with it. At first I would just look at the stars, but I really wanted to see them you know? Not just the tiny little pinpricks of light that were mere imitations but what the stars actually looked like.” He concluded this part and took a moment to eat some more of his food.

“So what did you do then?” Twilight questioned with a curious look on her face as her food lay on the table in front of her completely ignored at this point.

“Well I read up on telescopes and took it apart, and then I put it back together, and repeated this process until I had figured out how it really worked. Then I started to try and improve upon it; the lenses weren’t really optimal, and the mirrors were poorly positioned. The whole thing just gave very poor magnification; I even went to a work pony in town that specialized in glass work to get some new lenses and mirrors made specifically to fit the telescope. I finally managed to improve upon the design enough to make it so that I could see some details a little bit easier but it wasn’t good enough. I even tried to test the magnification by looking for Nightmare Moon trapped in the craters of the moon somewhere. I had this idea she would be gigantic… and that if I could improve the telescope enough I’d be able to see her.” He chuckled quietly to himself at remembering the childish dream.

“I’m not entirely sure when it happened, because I get so focused while I’m working as evidenced by my forgetting to eat today. But one day after a particularly successful day of modifications I felt like I was making some real progress and I passed by a mirror only to see these gears on my flank. I assumed it meant I was to be an inventor because, well they’re gears and the only other Pony I could find record of that had gears as a cutie mark was exactly that. But I really don’t enjoy it for the most part, I really only like the part where it comes to testing the telescopes and I get to look at the stars in all their wonder and glory.” He finished this statement by looking back at the symbols on his flank that taunted him so much, telling him that it was his calling to do what he found so little joy in. He let out a quiet sigh then turned to look out the window aimlessly for a few moments.

“You know I think they look like stars, maybe you should just be an astronomer…” stated Rainbow Dash simply while hovering next to him as she stared at his flank and his cutie mark. Chrome could only blush as he looked uncomfortable with having his flank scrutinized so heavily.

“Clearly they are gears Rainbow can you not see how they are interlocked like that? Besides what kind of stars have holes in the center like that?” snapped Twilight suddenly who was now looking at the other side of his flank studiously making him sit up straighter and while he looked thoroughly confused and uncomfortable.

“How do you know huh? What if there are holes in the middle of stars and you just can’t see them? What if he’s going to discover that somehow, besides why would gears have such pointy ends like that anyway?”

“Umm…” Chrome tried to interject but the two of them didn’t seem to hear him at all.

“Psh, plenty of gears look like those have you not seen clockwork before?”

“Well no, not really but why are the points so far apart then huh?” asked Rainbow smartly.

“GIRLS!” snapped Chrome finally as his face was now quite red and the two of them kept alternating between staring at his flanks and then arguing across his back about his cutie mark. “Do you mind giving me some space here?” he asked awkwardly as the two of them glared at each other for a moment before they then returned to their seats flushing a little pink themselves as well.

“Ahem, well what was the problem with your telescope you mentioned earlier then?” ventured Twilight awkwardly after a long pause while she picked up her food and started munching on it bashfully.

“Well, what I’ve been trying to do is make a smaller version of the telescope I have at home, I have a giant one that I’ve been assembling and getting ready. It has really good power to it but it’s just… large. When I got older I built it myself employing techniques I had developed on my parent’s first telescope and a few subsequent ones. I’m not entirely sure but using my findings I believe I’ve been able to get as close of a look at the stars as Celestia’s own observatory, or maybe even closer I can’t say for sure never having seen it myself. They way they look shining at night is just simply marvelous; also the detail on the various nebulae and galaxies at night is just beyond description. The problem is it takes so much fine tuning and adjustment on the lenses and positioning of the mirrors to get a proper look that it’s just not viable for most ponies. It takes adjusting so many dials and such that no pony other than a unicorn could possibly handle it. Ponies simply just do not have enough hooves to manage everything, plus you really have to understand the way it is set up to use properly since it’s set up under a different design.” He concluded with a shrug then goes back to munching on the rest of his food and started in on his drink.

“Well since you put it like that… could it not be both?” asked Twilight diplomatically.

“What? How?” questioned Rainbow as she quirked her eyebrow at the two of them.

“Well he got his cutie mark while making a telescope right? It sounds like he’s been working on the smaller telescope so that he could show other ponies the stars the way he does right? What if that’s the type of inventing you’re supposed to do? Would you enjoy that more? Making it so that other ponies can see the night sky the same way that you can?” asked Twilight simply before finishing her food finally.

“I suppose… the problem is I’ve really reached the limit on what I can do with a telescope as small as the one I’ve been working on. There’s just too much limitation on the size of the lenses and mirrors, so I’m basically back to where I started without really sure where to go now. I spent almost all day today setting up the full sized telescope like I said, it should be done by tonight but it’s frustrating I don’t know what else I can do at this point. The small one just doesn’t work for my purposes and the big one is still just a problem. Twilight do you have any books on telescopes? Maybe I could pick up some ideas from those on how I can continue from here?”

“Oh certainly, our book selection is amazing! I think we even have more books than I did at Canterlot! You are certainly welcome to stop by and take a look sometime.” beamed Twilight always happy to have any pony stop by for books.

“Yeah I’ll probably stop by sometime tomorrow I’d like to finish setting up the telescope tonight, I just want to look at the stars and relax tonight. I’m rather frustrated and don’t want to bother with any more adjustments for a while. Thanks for sitting and chatting with me girls, it helped a lot.” He added with a smile as he stood up and stretched with a quiet yawn.

“Okay see you tomorrow then Chrome!” waved Twilight as he started to walk away.

“Seeya Chrome!” Rainbow yelled after him as he walked off and then the two of them went back to talking when Chrome glanced back. He started his walk home trying to ignore the spinning sensation that was filling up his head, every time he stopped to think about the implications of what they discussed he came up with different ideas on what he should do.

Ch. 5: Further Study

Chrome finally trudged his way back to the front door a considerable amount of time later, he had walked pretty slowly while thinking over everything that transpired over dinner. It was a lot to process, how hadn’t he ever thought of that? Why did it take Rainbow and Twilight to point out such a simple solution? If it was such a simple solution then why did it not help at all? How does some pony even just show others people the stars, obviously he can’t just invite everyone to his home. His head just wouldn’t stop spinning with all the new information, he stopped to glance at his cutie mark. He’d come to think of his cutie mark as the villain in this whole experience after the long walk home, if it wasn’t for this damn thing he could just be an astronomer. But the stupid gears even if they did kind of look like stars were just bothering him endlessly.

“I guess they do kind of look like stars, and it makes sense; I said it myself that I only really enjoy it when it comes to looking at the stars at the end of the night. So why can’t I do both?” he stopped to think about this question for a few moments. “Ugh, cuz I hate the inventing part, right. Well I told Twilight I’d go visit her tomorrow so I’ll go see what I can come up with at the very least.” He finally concluded as he keeps thinking about everything while wandering back into his house.

“I need to find some way to thank Rainbow though, that’s twice now she’s helped me just by doing something super simple and didn’t seem to realize it. What can I do though for a pegaus who only seems to like speed?” He looked around his house glancing back at his workshop for a moment as he thought about this then shrugged and started to make his way up to the observatory.

The telescope was still partially up on the stand just about ready for him to open up the roof and finish setting up everything. It didn’t take him long after coming back nicely full and rested to finish assembling the last few parts then started to open up the roof to the sky. He had figured out the design of the room earlier before he had gone off to dinner, and he was forced to admit that it was quite slick. The roof actually sat on a small track so that the telescope and the opening could rotate around to face whichever part of the sky he wished. Well, after a little bit of care to the wheels but hey it was much easier than building it himself.

Finally after extending the telescope out the gap he fitted the last couple of pieces into place and checked everything to make sure it was set up properly. He stopped and looked through the opening of the roof. It was dark outside sure, but not quite at the optimal levels for actually seeing any stars. The first of the brighter stars were starting to wink into existence but it would be a while before the rest of them started to appear.

Chrome let out a quiet sigh and wandered back downstairs to his workshop aimlessly, thinking about anything that he could do for Rainbow Dash. Sure he could always try and make her something, but what? He found himself glancing around the workshop for any source of inspiration and not really finding anything useful. He didn’t even know what she would find useful, or even need.

“I don’t really know anything about her do I?” he sighed quietly as he put his head down on the workbench again then suddenly got up and stormed out of the workshop in frustration. After checking a clock again with a quiet sigh he just started to walk out the door and around the house. He found himself gravitating up towards the hill where he had met Rainbow. Laying on his back he nestled into the long grass and just stared up at the sky and fell into just watching the stars as they slowly winked into existance before him. As he kept looking up at the beautiful sight, he watched the nearly full moon as it started its long slow trek across the sky. The wonderful sights of the night did quite a lot to calm him down like it usually did.

“Maybe I can ask Twilight tomorrow about something that Rainbow would appreciate…” he muttered as he lay there. Then he smiled as he watched the sky as it continued to slowly darken above him; for once he forgot about everything else, no more inventons, no projects just the beautiful night sky above him as it took up all of his attention.

Chrome suddenly started awake and shook his head with confusion, he hadn’t really intended to doze off like that. He looked up at the moon and the stars and it became apparent that quite a bit of time had passed. Honestly it wasn’t really that surprising, he had worked pretty hard putting together that telescope in a rather short amount of time. He let out a quiet yawn as he got up and decided he’d just save the telescope for tomorrow night. For now sleep was just far more important he thought to himself as he slowly walked up the stairs and flopped into bed.

*****

Chrome rolled over and looked at the clock beside his bed, normally he wasn’t much of a late sleeper; but this morning he had a strong desire to just pull the pillow up over his head and go back to sleep. He already allowed himself a bit of a lie in though so he couldn’t justify it anymore despite the strong urge. Finally after a long moment of interntal debate he comprised by rolling out of bed with a sour attitude and grumbling about it unhappily under his breath.

He continued his quiet grumbling even as he looked over his food situation again and realized he hadn’t done anything to fix it last night. So his sour disposition continued as he walked out the door with a pop-tart shoved into his mouth. He almost yawned but had to fight it back in the desire to not choke on it. He stopped and glanced quickly up at the sky to see if Rainbow was out clearing the clouds at the moment, that was a meeting he’d rather put off for now. He couldn’t very well just ask her what she’d like as a present that would kill the whole idea of the surprise.

Once again as he continued to ponder what he could possibly do for her he found himself standing in Ponyville proper without fully remembering how he got there. He took a moment to look around and get his bearings straight, he was starting to learn his way around a little bit better; but his objective today was pretty simple. All it took was a quick glance to find the gigantic tree that housed the library. His brain continued to whir with activity as ideas kept blinking in and out of his mind about both the telescope and Rainbow’s potential gift right up until when he arrived at the doorway to the library. Taking a moment to clear out his head with a few shakes he tried to gather himself slightly then reached out to knock at the door softly.

“Oh hey there Chrome, come on in I already have a few good ideas on some books you might like but let’s go look at them together,” beamed Twilight after she opened the door suddenly and started to walk back into the library ahead of him.

“Thanks for the help Twilight I really appreciate it, I’m not really sure what I can do. My original idea seems pretty much dead, so I need a new direction to go in but I’m completely empty on inspiration. I was hoping maybe I coiuld pick up some ideas from you or some of the books here.”

“Well I’m sure we can find you something to get your mental gears turning,” mused Twilight as she looked around the room for the books she had set aside earlier. “SPIKE! What did you do with the books I left out!?” she suddenly yelled causing him to have to step back suddenly as the little dragon skidded into the room at full tilt.

“Well you left them out so I thought you wanted me to put them away…”

Chrome just stood there with an awkward look on his face as the two of them went back and forth in a quick heated argument. It sounded like they had these types of disagreements often so he found his mind wandering and he looked around the room curiously. His eyes fell upon an owl asleep on top of one of the bookshelves and was immediately curious. The owl seemed to be completely undisturbed by the shouting match going on between the two of them and just kept on sleeping right there where it stood.

“Well just get them back out again then!” yelled Twillight loud enough to startle Chrome out of his reverie and he turned away from the bird. She then turned to Chrome with an exasperated look on her face. “Sorry about that it’ll be just a moment.”

“B-but if he put them all away how does he…” Chrome started to ask but was interrupted as the dragon walked up to him holding a teetering pile of books in his hands.

“What… how did he? Oh, umm thanks Spike.” He said while he took the books in his magic and the dragon stormed off into the back room. Blinking a few times with a confused look on his face he just shrugged and lay down off to the side of the room with the books so he could start looking through them.

“Oh Spike? He doesn’t forget anything, so he can remember which books they were and where he put them on the shelves. It lets him find books really quickly it’s very helpful.” She giggled in response to the confused look on his face.

“So then what’s the story behind the sleeping owl up there? I would have figured all of that would have woken it up?” Chrome asked with a confused look as he tilted his head up to look at the still sleeping owl on top of the bookshelf.

“Oh that’s just Owlowiscious, he helps me out at night when Spike is asleep, he’s used to all the noise by now so he just sleeps right through it; don’t worry about him.” Said Twilight completely unconcerned as she waved his concerns away with her hoof nonchalantly.

“So you have a dragon and an owl for assistants? That must be an interesting story, how did that happen?” asked Chrome with a bemused look on his face while he started to flip through the books already setting a few aside that seemed to be of no use to him at all.

“Well they’re both kind of long stories, but if you wanted an animal helper of your own I’m sure Fluttershy could come up with something. Maybe you should go ask her about it anyways huh?” Twilight grinned slightly as she said that last part. “I get the feeling she’d appreciate the visit from you.”

“Why does every pony keep doing that?” asked Chrome quietly while he could feel his cheeks starting to flush red. He looked down at the stack of books again as he avoided her gaze.

“Do what exactly?” asked Twilight looking amused as she stepped in front of him and looked at his reactions studiously.

“Well ponies keep suggesting that I should go visit Fluttershy, or that I should go talk to her. This is usually followed by any of a wink, a giggle, or even nudges to the flanks. Am I missing something here? I mean shes not that kind of pony is she? She seemed pretty normal to me, well shy yeah but hello pot meet kettle.” He chuckled nervously and looked back down at the books.

“Huh what do you mean ‘that kind of pony?’” Twilight looked at him with a stupid look on her face. “Anyways if you want a pet, helper or not she’d be the person to go to. I’m certain you could find some kind of animal to keep you company or help you around the house whichever you’re looking for.”

Chrome started to open his mouth to answer her question but hesitated not entirely sure of a good way to ‘explain’ to Twilight. Finally he just let out a quiet sigh instead and shook his head.

“Never mind, forget I said anything. Thanks for the advice though I’ll keep that in mind if I decide to look for a pet, that’s a good idea actually.” He added as he tossed another book aside onto the growing pile of discarded volumes. He pondered to himself the possibility of having a pet, he hand’t really considered it before for the most part; his face was still flushed pink though as he couldn’t get his mind to stop going back to Fluttershy. Finally he forced his attention back to the books but it didn’t really take him long to come to the conclusion that most of these weren’t really going to be very helpful to him at all. He kept looking through them though out of appreciation for the work that Twilight had put in for him.

“Okay well you let me know if you need any more books okay? Or if you need any help with your research okay?” Twilight finally said after a long awkward pause and she kept watching him for a bit longer before she walked back into the rear portion of the library.

“Don’t you dare rudly pass off another nice thing my friends did for you!” rang the loud voice of Rainbow in his head so clearly that he actually had to stop what he was doing and look arouind nervously just to be sure she wasn’t there. Sighing slightly with relief at the sight that Rainbow was in fact not in the room with him he glanced back at where Twilight disappeared do.

“Okay Twilight! Thanks!” he called out loudly to her disappearing form to make sure that she could hear him. Interestingly enough to him his call actually caused the owl above him to rustle slightly and he turned to watch it nervously afraid that he might have woken it up. After a long moment the bird seemed to fall back into its peaceful slumber and he exhaled in relief that he didn’t wake him up.

He returned to the stack of books but still wasn’t finding much of use as he started to flip through them faster and faster now. His mind started to wander more and more from the books until he was barely paying attention to them at all. He stopped to mentally berate himself as he realized what he was actually doing. He gots up to stretch out his limbs as he tried to distract himself from the subject at hand. He turned his gaze up once again to look at Owlowicious curiously while he pondered the possibilities some more of having a pet. It wasn’t a bad idea, having a cute little pet of some kind to keep him company…

He continued to gaze around the room curiously then glanced back down at the stack of books, there were only really a few more left but he wasn’t really feeling up to sitting down and sifting through them right now. He laid back down anyways and picked up a few of the more recent ones that he hadn’t even really looked at and started to try and flip through them, but he soon found himself welling up with a growing sense of frustration. He shook his head a few times trying to force the issue but the irritating sense of restlessness started to fill his entire body until he finally had to stand up or be forced to start lashing out and kicking at things. He started to pace around slowly he couldn’t help but wonder what it was that is bothering him so much, but he really just couldn’t pinpoint it. He grumbled quietly to himself and picked up the last few books he hadn’t reviewed as he wandered off into the rear section of the library looking for Twilight.

“Hey Twilight can I check these ones out?” he asked as he finally found her in one of the back rooms trying his best to hide his frustration not wanting Twilight to think that he was mad at her.

“Yeah no problem,” she replied as the two of them walked back up towards the front of the library and he filled out some paperwork before heading out the door.

“Thanks Twililght!” he said as he turned around and gave her a wave of the hoof as he levitated the books in front of him and started to walk back off towards his house.

A loud thump signified the books being dropped onto his coffee table in the living room as he muttered darkly to himself and was still unable to figure out the source of the inexplicable irritation. He once again was filled with the urge to just buck out and kick something. He just shook his head as he wandered off into his house and attempted to just walk it off instead. Finally giving up he sighed and walked back into his workshop and put his head down on the workbench with a thump as he turned his head to look at his note board desperate for anything on there to distract him.

*****

Chrome was thrown out of his slumber by the loud sound of knocking on his door, he couldn’t even remember falling asleep as he looked around groggily and found himself lying on the couch. He didn’t remember moving into the living room either but he just shrugged that off as he made his way to the door and opened it up after another loud series of knocks.

“Hey Chrome, can I come in?” asked Rainbow in a slightly more subdued voice than he was used to. She seemed… tentative? He wasn’t entirely sure but it seemed odd.

“What? Oh sure… OH!” he added suddenly then dragged her through the door and excitedly galloped off toward his workshop as an idea suddenly struck him. “Stay right there one moment!” He yelled back at her as he ruffled around the stack of papers on his workbench.

*****

Rainbow just tilted her head curiously as she wasn’t entirely sure what was going on but it wasn’t long until he returned with some paper a quill and a tape measure all levitated in front of him. He started to move the tape measure all around her head and writing down measurements of her… skull? She could feel a sense of worry welling up inside her at the manic look on his face as he continued to measure her skull while he took dutiful notes.

“Umm Chrome what are you doing?” she questioned the tone of worry seeping into her voice as she was wondered if maybe he had finally cracked under the pressure. He was still measuring her head and tilting his face as he looked at her all the while taking very detailed notes. “Are you… okay?” she added after a long pause trying not to laugh nervously.

“Yup, I had an idea earlier but I needed to know the measurements of your head for it to work, nothing to worry about.” He added with a smile then trotted back off towards his workshop to deposit his findings and leaving Rainbow thoroughly unconvinced.

*****

“So what was it you needed again Rainbow?” asked Chrome with a smile after a somewhat long pause between them, he was feeling much better now that he was making progress on at least one of his projects.

“Well hear me out here okay? This will sound a bit odd, but can you show me your telescope?”

Ch. 6: Black Holes and Revelations

“What?” asked Chrome with a stupid look on his face as all sorts of different thoughts raced through his mind. Several of them breaching into the not very appropriate territory either; he shook his head and tried to clear them out while he blushed pink.

“No-nothing like that idiot!” Rainbow yelled at him as a blush welled up into her face as well. “I had been thinking since you came out to dinner with us, and what you had been talking about. The way you described the stars really got to me. I can’t get it out of my head and I was hoping you should show me the way you see the stars with your telescope?” she finally concluded as she looked at him with determination. She shifted her face into a fierce to look tell him via expression to cut out those funny thoughts.

“Well I don’t remember anyone asking me that one before; but it sounds like it would be fun so why not?” He smiled at the though.

“So why did you need the measurements on my head again?” she asked with a worried looking grin on her face as she tried to pry the information out of him even while she was starting to get really curious about it.

“Oh that,” Chrome grinned slightly and a teasing grin appeared on his face. “You’ll just have to wait and see,” he chuckled as he started to lead her inside.

“Just as long as it’s not the crazy mad scientist kind of surprise, maybe I’m here to make sure you don’t actually have a secret lab in my basement huh? Maybe I’m a spy” she said as she snuck ahead of him and peered around the living room curiously with a bright grin on her face. She didn’t find much besides a partially hidden mess behind the couch though and reappeared shortly there afterwards looking disappointed.

“Heh, good luck finding it even if I was; what kind of mad scientist would I be if I left it out in the open for you to find? Anyways come on stop goofing around it’s up to this way. What is it you do by the way Rainbow, we only really talked about me when we were out to dinner. I mean I know you do the weather patrol, but it seemed with the way you’re always zooming around and pulling tricks that’s not what you’re looking to do long term.” He stopped partway up the stairs to wait for her and watched her curiously while he waited for her response.

“I told you when we first met remember? Fastest pegasus alive and future best member of The Wonderbolts!” she exclaimed loudly as she jumped up several stairs at a time then flapped her wings dramatically as she puffed out her chest proudly.

“Oh, that was serious? I thought that was just part of your introductory bravado, the great and wonderful Rainbow Dash and all that.” He grinned as he remembered how grandiose she was acting when they first met.

“Hey now, I didn’t lie about any of that! I won the best young flier competition; I even saved three Wonderbolts’ lives and did a Sonic Rainboom in the process. Done anything like that recently? Didn’t think so, anyways it was completely AWESOME there’s no other pony as fast as me; and I will join the Wonderbolts just you wait.” She dashed up the rest of the stairs and skidded around in front of him with a challenging look on her face. She even crouched down and flexed her wings like she might speed off into the air just to prove it to him.

“Okay okay I believe you just don’t go crashing yourself into any more trees okay? That was pretty tough to get you out you know.” He grinned as he lead her into the observatory and checked everything quickly to make sure everything was still in order, before he moved over towards the telescope and started to fiddle with all the settings.

Rainbow just let out a quiet “hmph!” and flushed red in embarrassment over remembering the incident. For once she couldn’t actually think up an adequate retort.

“Hmm you okay Rainbow?” he turned back with a slight grin “I figured that you would have a snappy response for that.” He chuckled with a teasing grin and used his magic to turn some cranks on the wall. The dome on the roof and the telescope both started to slowly orient themselves towards a completely different section of the sky. The whole while he was doing this he kept glancing down at the console in front of the telescope to refer to the readout of the coordinates he was facing.

“Geez, I thought you were the shy quiet type, I wasn’t ready for all that sarcasm. Don’t make me show you up, you know I can,” said a slightly ruffled looking Rainbow Dash. Chrome actually stopped what he was doing in response and looked back at Rainbow with a slightly worried look on his face.

“Umm did I go too far? I’m sorry I was just joking around, I do tend to tease my friends a bit once I get to know them a little bit more…” Chrome said as his voice trailed off as he reverted to a meeker tone of voice looking genuinely afraid that he might have hurt her feelings with his joke. After a short moment he tilted his head back up towards Rainbow only to see her fighting back a giggle.

“Oh man, you’re just way too easy.” She said then burst into a laugh as she saw his reaction to her act.

“Oh, ha ha if you’re still planning on showing me up though you should probably wait; you know until after I give you your surprise. It might actually help with that a bit.” He grinned slightly knowing she was already really curious about the measurements of her head earlier. He returned to setting up the telescope peeking through it to look for something in particular.

“Argh! What is it already? You’re driving me nuts!” yelled Rainbow as she ruffled her wings impatiently and threw her hooves up into the air with a frustrated look on her face.

“Not much of a surprise if I tell you is it? Besides I haven’t even made it yet, I hope you’ll like it though. Incidentally while we’re on that topic what colors do you like?” He chuckled some more while he adjusted the telescope still apparently trying to find something in particular as he kept pausing between adjustments to look through the eyepiece. He kept peeking back at Rainbow and chuckled quietly at her reactions; he did his best to make a show of taking a long time with the adjustments as well trying to make her even more curious in general.

“You’re driving me crazy Chrome!” She yelled as she put her hooves up on her head and shook it slowly. “Fine, okay okay I’ll wait but they’re Wonderbolts colors of course! Blue and yellow, I suppose you’re not going to tell me what that’s for either?” she asked with a quiet sigh.

“Nope! You’ll just have to wait, and wonder.” He said with a triumphant grin then continued to chuckle to himself while he fiddled with the telescope having fun poking at Rainbow’s curiosity.

“Ugh, sooo mean,” she complained while trying to put on her best pout as she apparently decided to change tactics. She continued to bristle with impatience “Aren’t you done toying with that thing yet?”

“It’s sensitive equipment you’ll just have to wait,” he grinned and checked it a few more times before he finally stepped back and let her move towards the eyepiece. “Okay take a look.”

Rainbow put her eye up to the telescope curiously then suddenly fell completely silent for a long moment her wings frozen halfway through folding back to her sides.

“Oh my Celestia…” she said finally after a long silence.

“Luna,” corrected Chrome with a quiet snicker.

“What?” Rainbow turned away from the telescope and looked at him like he was talking crazy.

“Luna, you know it’s Luna night; so you should say ‘Oh my Luna’ not Celestia. That’s rather inconsiderate you know. She worked so hard making the night sky the way it is; she even turned into Nightmare Moon because no pony seemed to appreciate it. Now Luna is back and you’re crediting Celestia for the night sky. Pretty cold Rainbow… pretty cold, do you want her to go back to Nightmare Moon? Because you’re just being plain mean, you should give her the respect she deserves.” He said with a grin the entire time trying not to laugh while he went through the tongue and cheek admonishment.

Rainbow just rolled her eyes and looked back into the telescope falling silent again for a long while as she just stared at the night sky through the telescope. She even stayed quiet for much longer than Chrome initially though would have been possible after his first few encounters with her.

“This is amazing Chrome, I can see why you enjoy looking at the stars so much…” she said quietly still clearly in awe of the sights before her. Chrome waited for her to finally back away and then went back to adjusting the telescope as he turned the whole contraption around looking for something else to show her.

“It’s completely different seeing it like this isn’t it? Even compared to other telescopes, it’s just wonderful but I can’t really figure anything out on how to share it. Obviously I can’t invite every pony into my house and show them one at a time, the books Twilight had weren’t really very helpful either. Most of them were just full of basic information that I already knew.” He sighed quietly and stepped back again so Rainbow could look again.

“Mmm,” mumbled Rainbow quietly as she looked through the telescope again with her face awash in wonder. She gazed up at the night sky completely unable to comprehend the difference that she was seeing. Chrome couldn’t help but chuckle quietly at the difference he was seeing in the mare. He wasn’t quite sure what he was expecting her reaction to be but after seeing her so quiet and contemplative for once he had to admit she was a hell of a lot cuter like this. He couldn’t help but smile as he saw her not showing off, flexing her wings, or even bragging wildly about how awesome she was for once.

Rainbow in the meantime just whispered “Luna…” quietly under her breath as she continued to gaze at the stars and then suddenly stepped back with her head erect and turned back to look at him with an odd like on her face.

“Why don’t you just take a picture?” she asked simply while she watched him curiously trying to gauge his reaction carefully.

“What?” Chrome blinked slowly not quite understanding what she was trying to get at.

“You know with a camera? Click click? Why can’t you just put a camera up to it and take a picture? That way you could should every pony what it is you see… through this.” She gestured over at the telescope with her hoof. “It wouldn’t quite be the same I mean, since you can’t really see them twinkle…” She stopped again and looked through the telescope for another moment unable to contain herself. “But I’ve seen some really awesome pictures before so why not with this?”

Chrome just stood there for a long moment with a look on his face like she had just slapped him across the room. He just continued to stand there and blinked a few times very slowly while the thoughts seemed to slowly filter through his mind. His eyes didn’t even appear to be in focus as Rainbow looked at him closer with a slightly concerned look on her face.

“Chrome? Chrooome? Celestia to Chrome… Helllooooo? Any pony home!?” Rainbow reached out with her hoof and pushed gently on his nose so that he had to stumble and catch himself starting back into the realm of the living.

“Oh, yeah sorry my mind was kind of racing; I can’t believe I never thought of something that simple. How do you keep doing that Rainbow?” He shook his head quickly and tried to clear it of all the crazy ideas that were bouncing around. Finally he just turned back to the telescope and just focused in on trying to find Rainbow something else interesting to look at while he mumbled under his breath about how stupid he was to never think of that.

“So I take it you like the idea then?” she laughed quietly at his reaction and just stood there looking at her hoof impatiently while he kept adjusting the telescope.

“Yeah it’s amazing at how simple it is! You’re brilliant you know that? Obviously it wouldn’t be as simple as you say. I would need to get a custom lens that will fit the viewfinder, and probably even a custom shutter mechanism as well. I would probably have to stay open for quite a long time, and I’d have to play around with just how long and maybe some different film types…” He continued to mumble under his breath about all the different things he could try out in order to take a good picture of the stars even as he stepped away from the telescope again and let Rainbow get a good look at a different star cluster.

Rainbow finally stepped back from the telescope a good while later only to see Chrome still mumbling excitedly to himself. She let out a quiet laugh and just stood there for a moment waiting for him to come out of his inner monologue with surprising patience.

“Look Chrome, I should be going I have to get up and clear out the clouds first thing tomorrow. Thanks for doing this for me it was completely awesome and I had fun. So I’ll leave you alone to ramble on about the photographs okay? It really was fun though we should do it again some other time.” She added while she looked amused at his excitement still.

“Okay Rainbow, thanks for stopping by it was fun.” Chrome finally said after a short pause his mind still covered in a haze as he walked down to the doorway with her and showed her out. After she was gone he stopped in the doorway and just sat down on the step to just stare up at the sky for a long time. He looked out at the stars his mind still racing with ideas for a long while then finally made his way back inside.

“Okay everything else aside, I am definitely finishing that gift for Rainbow first thing in the morning.” He resolved to himself while he climbed the stairs and made his way into bed.

Ch. 7: Unforeseen Circumstances

Chrome rubbed his forehead with his hoof as he struggled to wake up; once he finally remembered everything that had happened the night before though he suddenly bolted out of bed. He ran off towards his workshop and frantically tore through all the papers for the notes he had taken last night on Rainbow. Finally after finding them he grinned and started to look over them intently as he pulled out some more paper and started to scribble out a basic design.

He couldn’t help but grin slightly as he worked on the idea for his gift for Rainbow and couldn’t help but imagine her possible reactions in his head. He stopped and tried to consider everything he would need in order to make this. It wouldn’t really be that hard to modify an existing pair if he went out and bought the right materials. He chuckled to himself and put everything down where he’d remember where it all was. He set out the door towards town careful to check to see if Rainbow was zooming around the sky before heading towards town to get everything he needed.

*****

Chrome couldn’t help but grin as he barely held back the giggles that were threatened to burst out of him while he levitated the gift in front of him. It was wrapped in a bright blue box and had a big yellow ribbon tied up around it. As he walked towards town he started to imagine how Rainbow would react to the gift inside which only made him chuckle even more.

“Okay okay deep breaths…” he said to himself trying to calm himself down as he stood on the edge of town. He didn’t want to give her the wrong idea by sporting a manic grin and giggling as he approached with a present. Finally after gaining control of himself he started to trot off towards the town center with a slightly more composed demeanor and glanced around the sky looking for the rainbow trail she seemed to leave everywhere as she flew around.

“Ooooh! Who’s the present for? Are you going to a party? I LOVE PARTIES! Oh… but I didn’t throw this party, and I don’t know about it does that mean I wasn’t invited? Oh! Not unless it’s a surprise party! That’s why you didn’t invite me! Oh you’re so nice Chrome thanks!” Pinkie pie finally concluded after one long breath and started trying to grab at the present he was levitating in front of him. Chrome had to keep yanking the present away from her with his magic so that she couldn’t reach it and start tearing it open excitedly.

“Hi Pinkie, no this present is for Rainbow I’m looking for her have you seen her around at all today?” He glanced up at the sky again quickly actually wanting to see the signs of Rainbow this time.

“(GASP!) Nonononono! You’re not supposed to be giving presents to Rainbow; you’re supposed to date Fluttershy! I’m sure you meant to give it to Fluttershy, you probably just didn’t know where she lives did you? I can show you where she is if you want!” She finished excitedly and started to try and drag him off towards the Everfree Forest.

“No, Pinkie it’s nothing like that it’s just a thank you gift; she’s done a lot to help me since I moved here.” He sighed quietly as he shook his hoof away from Pinkie as she kept trying to drag him away.

“Oh, that’s okay I guess… Are you sure you don’t want to go to Fluttershy’s? You could ask her out on a date while you’re there. I’m sure she’d like that.” Pinkie added with a grin and tried once again to drag him off towards her house.

“Yes I’m sure Pinkie, I’ll visit Fluttershy later have you seen Rainbow?” He asserted with a sigh as he had to fight the strong desire to face hoof very very hard.

“OH! So you are going to ask her out then? Oh I’m so happy for you two I should throw you two A PARTY!” Pinkie started to bounce off happily in order to start throwing them a ‘you’re now dating party’ and Chrome had to grab her by the tail with his magic in order to stop her.

“PINKIE! I’m just going to her house to ask about pets, I don’t know if I’m going to ask her out or not. So you don’t have to throw a party, actually please don’t that would make things awkward. But more importantly have you seen Rainbow around recently?” He reiterated forcefully trying to actually get some useful information out of her while he face hoofed rather hard.

“Aww are you sure? I’m sure she’d like getting asked out on a date; besides Rainbow is right there silly.” Pinkie pointed her hoof to Chrome’s left then giggled at how silly he was before bouncing away towards Sugarcube Corner.

Chrome turned with an exasperated look on his face only to see Rainbow on the ground next to him laughing hysterically and silently gasping as she could barely control herself trying her best to stay silent to not interrupt them. Finally once she saw that he had seen her she laughed loudly while she held out a hoof towards him motioning for him to not say anything. She took a deep breath and seemed to get herself under control then fell back down on the ground laughing hysterically again.

“Oh my gosh, Pinkie Pie is so random… The look on your face was utterly priceless.” Rainbow finally said seeming to have calmed herself down a bit but every time she seemed like she was done she just laughed some more at the annoyed look on his face.

“Are you quite done yet?” Chrome asked with a long suffering sigh.

“Almost…” gasped out Rainbow between laughs then slowly started to stand up still shaking visibly from a few giggles.

“You’re making me reconsider this gift thing Rainbow…” he sighed again quietly as he walked over to sit down on a nearby bench while he waited for her to get herself under enough control to realize what was going on.

“What? It’s just Pinkie being Pinkie” said Rainbow then suddenly saw the blue and yellow box before stopping dead. “Ohmygosh, ohmygosh, ohmygosh! You didn’t!” She zoomed over and was suddenly sitting right next to him on the bench nearly bouncing with excitement as she saw the box with Wonderbolts colors wrapped in his magic.

“This is to say thanks for everything you’ve done for me so far Rainbow. I know a lot of it probably seemed small but you really did a lot for me so thanks. It’s nothing huge but I think you’ll like it.” He said before levitating over her lap then letting it drop gently there.

“Ohmygosh, ohmygosh, ohmygosh!” she reiterated while she looked down at the present not even touching it for a moment. Then she surprised Chrome by carefully taking the ribbon off instead of just tearing the gift apart as he had expected. She opened it up slowly building up the tension for herself until she finally saw a sleek pair of blue and yellow flight goggles similar to those the Wonderbolts wore.

“NO WAY!” she yelled out loudly before pulling them out and holding them between her hooves.

“Go on, try them on, I wanted to get you something for your flying. They should fit your head particularly well; let me know if they don’t. Hopefully they won’t create much wind resistance either since I made them to fit your head so well. I had noticed that while you were trying to do that last trick you were straining in your eyes a bit so I thought maybe the goggles would help. I figured it would probably help if you could keep your eyes open while trying to do a difficult trick, you know that’s usually helpful being able to see where you’re going and all?” He chuckled to himself as she just stared at them in awe for a few more moments.

“Oh my gosh… these are totally awesome!” exclaimed Rainbow as she slipped them on over her head and fitted them closely on her eyes. The goggles seemed to fit perfectly on her head and she looked over at him smiling brightly and looking thoroughly excited. “Do they make me look like a Wonderbolt?”

“Yeah totally, now go try them out, go on.” He chuckled at her excited reaction and just waved a hoof off in the direction of the sky with a smile.

She just grinned at him for a moment then zoomed straight up into the sky at full speed. She flew around with agility through the town weaving her way between the clouds and circled around a few of the roofs in town. She stopped halfway through her flight and just hovered a short distance away while she grinned at him and mouthed “Ohmygosh!” a few more times then zoomed far off into the distance to the very edges of the town.

Chrome tried to squint to see what she was up to but soon lost track of her rainbow trail in the distance as well. Suddenly he was rocked in his bench as huge ‘BOOM!’ erupted from the distance and a gigantic circular rainbow exploded outwards from the sky in the distance. Shortly there afterwards he was buffeted by a quick wind and a bright rainbow as she flew right by his head. Her rainbow trail seemed to have been intensified at the increased speed and she flew an entire circuit around the town encircling it completely in the bright rainbow she was leaving behind. Finally she flew back around slower and landed right in front of him looking completely ecstatic.

“These are… completely... AWESOME it was totally about twenty percent easier to do that Rainboom than it normally is. Thank you so much! This is the best present EVER!” Rainbow bounced in place happily reminding him of an excited Pinkie Pie as she was completely unable to come up with anything more to add to this before she finally threw her hooves around him in a light hug. Chrome froze up for a moment but she withdrew and went back to her excited antics without quite noticing his reaction.

“I’m glad you like them Rainbow, you’ve done a lot for me and like I said I wanted to say thanks.” He said unable to keep himself from grinning even as the blush faded from his face slowly and he chuckled in response to the pure joy that Rainbow was exhibiting.

“Thanks? I think I owe you one after this… These are completely amazing! But I heard you say that you were going to off to Fluttershy’s right? I won’t keep you, have fun with that. You are totally going to make the best coltfriend for Fluttershy! Oh my gosh Thank you!” She leaned forward and hugged him again before suddenly zooming off towards Sugarcube Corner while she yelled loudly for Pinkie. She left him so suddenly and so full of excitement that she didn’t see the look on his face as he sat there his eyes unfocused slightly with a look of shock like she had just slapped him as hard as she could across the cheek.

Ch. 8: Kindness

“Stupid! Stupid! Stupid!” grumbled Chrome as he slouched away towards the forest, and he glanced back towards town. He had to make sure that he wasn’t being watched by Rainbow, he didn’t see any pony but he kept going in this direction just in case some pony would come up and ask why he wasn’t going to Fluttershy’s. He finally made his way right up to the forest and found a nice looking tree to sit down against moodily. As he looked up at the leaves and watched them sway above his head he shook his head while he mentally replayed what just happened.

“What did you think she was going to?” he questioned to himself. As he thought about it for a moment all the images of what he had fantasized she might have done started popping back into his head. The fact that the all too real hugs were mixed in with all the other wild fantasies wasn’t helping at all either as he laid down and covered his head with his hooves trying to force the images out. He succeeded at least somewhat in getting those images to fade away but then they were replaced by the truly excited look on her face when she said he would make a good coltfriend for Fluttershy. He stamped his hooves on the ground in frustration a few times before finally settling down somewhat.

“Of course she wants me to be with Fluttershy, all the rest of her friends do.” He sighed and rolled over onto his back to stare up at the leaves as they swayed in the gentle breeze. He just closed his eyes for a few more moments trying to mentally focus on the sound of the rustling leaves, the occasional bird calling out and the feel of the cool breeze as it brushed across his face. He focused in mentally on all of these sensations and tried to force the other bad thoughts out, he focused in on the microcosm of peace that surrounded him with all his might.

Try as he might though, he couldn’t seem to fully drive all the bad thoughts out they kept popping back in unexpectedly and making him stamp his hooves in frustration. He rolled over and lashed out at the tree a few times with his back hooves as he whined and whimpered like a little foal. He tried to wrap his forelegs as tightly around his head as he could while he curled up into the foetal position with his eyes shut tight desperate to force them out. Eventually he tired himself out from the frustration and the raw emotions that were surging through him and he fell into a fitful slumber.

*****

“Umm, Mister Chrome are you okay?” came a quiet voice as he stirred from his slumber. “The forest is a dangerous place, you shouldn’t be sleeping here all alone…”

Chrome let out a quiet whimper and rubbed his face with his hooves as he tried to uncurl himself and sit up. His muscles seemed to all be screaming at him at just the slightest movements and it took him quite a while to accomplish this. As he turned his head towards the source of the voice his eyes refused to come back into focus and he was faced with the very slowly sharpening outline of Fluttershy looking at him with a concerned look on her face. The feelings of frustration were suddenly welling back inside him with new vigor and he wanted to lash out at the tree again. Why couldn’t he just have some time alone without the very mare the entire town seemed to be trying to force on him showing up and bothering him? Finally Chrome settled himself into a comfortable sitting position against the tree and made a show of looking around him with a disbelieving look on his face.

“What do you mean dangerous? It’s just a forest isn’t it?” he asked curiously while he looked back at her dubiously. The scenery around here was so peaceful how could it ever be dangerous? “I thought you guys had a traditional run through the forest every year as well?”

“Ohhh noooo that’s the

other

forest, this one is The Everfree Forest; it’s much more dangerous and mysterious. The animals and weather all take care of themselves without the help of the ponies and there are dangerous beasts that come out at night. Come on Mister Chrome we should come away from the forest… please?” Fluttershy pleaded as she shifted back and forth between her hooves nervously.

“Okay okay if it bothers you that much…” he said reluctantly as he slowly clambered to his feet and promptly stumbled to the side having to catch himself on the tree. His legs felt like they were about to collapse under him they were so weak and wobbling under him like jelly. He took a few deep breaths taking in the fresh air and tried his best to compose himself. Finally after a long moment of leaning against the tree he seemed to regain enough strength in his screaming muscles to stand a bit more steadily.

“Are you sure you’re okay Mister Chrome? You look ill…” Fluttershy asked as she trotted closer with a worried look on her face and moved to help support him with her wing. She started to walk him off towards her cottage completely ignoring his quiet protests.

“Could you please not do the whole Mister Chrome thing Fluttershy?” he asked with a sigh as he tried his best to evade the question and put his hoof to his face as he paused for a moment while he paused to try and clear the sudden nausea that was washing over him. Fluttershy remained stubbornly at his side with her wing supporting him and as he tried to speak up and ask her to give him some space he was overcome by another wave of nausea. He let out a quiet sigh as he just gave in allowing her to keep walking him off towards her cottage as he tried his best to take deep breaths through his nostrils.

“Umm why don’t you go sit down Mi… erm Chrome, I’ll go get you something hot to drink okay?” Fluttershy asked as she led him through the door carefully. She made it sound like a question but she punctuated it by nudging him towards the couch then pushing him again gently until he gave up and sat down on it. She paused on her way out the living room to the kitchen while she looked at him with a concerned look on her face then kept going.

Chrome just sat there in a daze not even really paying attention to the room he was sitting in, his whole body was just aching and he was filled with the desire to just curl back up and go to sleep. He considered it for a moment but decided against it not wanting to make Fluttershy have to fuss over him any more than she already was. Instead he just allowed himself to sink into the couch cushions as he let out a quiet sigh and continued to look miserable his eyes losing their focus as he just sat there and awaited her return with something to drink.

“I’m not being fair to Fluttershy…” he finally concluded after a moment as his eyes slipped back into focus. “She probably doesn’t even know what her friends are up to. I shouldn’t take this out of her…” he admitted with a sigh. He tried to sit himself back up into a more normal position but found that he had sank down between two of the cushions and had to try to struggle to pull himself free with his screaming muscles. Of course right when he was struggling to do this was the exact moment that Fluttershy re-appeared from the kitchen clutching a large mug of a tea. Her face immediately flashed back to that of concern and he let out a quiet groan as she rushed over to help him.

“Oh my, Chrome are you okay? Here let me help you.” She set the tea down on the table in front of him and grabbed him under the forelegs to give him a gentle upward tug. She helped him back up into a comfortable sitting position on the couch as she continued to ignore his mumbled protests. In fact she seemed to snap at the fact that he wouldn’t stop and she pushed him back into a sitting position again more forcibly and pressed the mug into his hooves suddenly.

“SIT! And drink your tea mister, stop complaining; you’re obviously sick so you are going to relax and get better. So stop trying to fight me and just drink your tea.” She said while giving him a fierce look and held her face a few inches from his.

“Yes ma’am…” Chrome mumbled weakly as he took an obedient sip of the tea. The hot liquid seemed to slowly make its way down his throat and fill his entire body with warmth. He took a few more sips curiously as he tasted it and wondered about the flowery taste. He couldn’t help but wonder to himself about caused the normally timid mare to snap and yell at him like that. He pondered the situation for a moment longer and in the process forgot to keep sipping his tea, a problem which was quickly rectified by Fluttershy shooting him another nasty look. He gulped audibly and resumed drinking his tea as he half cowered behind the mug in the process.

“That’s better, now you just stay there and finish your tea. I have to tend to the animals but I’ll be back soon to check on you okay?” she asked as she started to walk out the door. She stopped and watched him for a moment to make sure that he was still firmly in place and sipping his tea before she walked out the door.

Chrome remained there obediently sipping on his tea completely terrified that if he stopped even for a moment she might reappear and start giving him that look again. He started to ponder about his stupidity earlier with Rainbow before he shook his head and distracted himself by looking around the room curiously. He hadn’t really stopped to take in the look of the room at all, everything seemed to be very animal friendly, lots of different vacant bird houses were scattered throughout and there was small sized animal flap in the door for he assumed the animals to come inside.

He stopped and considered the situation; she was being awfully nice and concerned… He didn’t think she was involved with the rest of her friends pestering him but was it possible? As he thought about this for a few more moments he remembered the genuine looks on concern that had taken up her face earlier, and the fierce look she had given him while he was trying to resist her help. That alone was enough for him to make up his mind.

No, there’s no way she was acting; so she must not be aware of her friends’ little plot… Chrome thought to himself then considered the implications of this statement. Oh Luna that meant that his behavior earlier probably seemed all the much worse to her when he was struggling and trying to get away from her. He sighed deeply then drank the rest of the tea in a quick gulp; he set the mug down onto the table in front of him as he yawned wide. His eyelids were starting to weigh down on him, he tried his best not to fall asleep since Fluttershy was coming back but he was having a hard time of it…

*****

Chrome was started awake suddenly and found his movements curiously restricted as he tried to shift himself up to a sitting position. He suddenly found himself wide awake as he tried to figure out what it was that was restricting him, his legs were tangled in something… a blanket? He pulled at it trying to get his legs free when he noticed the face of an angry bunny looming down mere inches from his face. He let out a loud yelp of fright then fell off the side of the couch with a loud thump still tangled up in the blanket.

“Angel Bunny! I thought I told you not to scare our guests like that anymore. Are you okay Chrome?” Fluttershy asked with a worried look on her face as she appeared in the doorway from the kitchen. Suddenly seeing him on the floor, she rushed over to help him extricate himself from the offending blanket.

“Yeah I’m okay; I just wasn’t expecting that kind of an awakening is all…” He glanced back over to the couch where he noticed Angel Bunny curled up in the middle of it pretending to be fast asleep and completely ignoring the two ponies. “I didn’t mean to fall asleep, I’m sorry for intruding so much…” he said meekly as he got up to his hooves and avoided her gaze bashfully.

“It’s okay, sorry about Angel; he likes to nap on the couch and doesn’t like it when other ponies are occupying it. I’ve tried to get him to stop that but he just doesn’t listen to me sometimes. Are you feeling better now? You really needed the rest so don’t worry about intruding at all. You should probably try and get back to sleep honestly…”

Chrome stopped and glanced at himself moving his legs back and forth curiously as he considered the question. The strange aching seemed to have left his muscles and he wasn’t feeling quite as crappy now for sure. He shifted back and forth between his hooves and stretched his neck out not really encountering any of the weariness from before.

“Yeah I guess so; I don’t even know what to say. Thanks Fluttershy.” He admitted with a blush as he looked up at her shyly feeling even worse now that he had acted so poorly earlier. He had even tried to mentally wish her away he remembered while the blush intensified. Yet here she was still being so nice to him and had even yelled at him when he was acting like a foal. What did he do to deserve this kindness?

“Don’t worry about it...” she mumbled under her breath shyly. “I take care of animals and ponies alike when they are sick. Just do me a favor and don’t hang around the Forest alone anymore okay?” She picked up the blanket and gently laid it over the sleeping bunny on the couch with care.

Chrome just stood there awkwardly not sure what to say once the familiar awkward silence between them started to fall. He felt like he should thank her again but he didn’t know what to say. He just stood there for a long moment trying to figure out how to leave politely, and started to consider making something up about having to go home but was interrupted by a familiar voice.

“Don’t you dare skip out on one of my friends rudely again Chrome!” rang Rainbow’s voice in his head so clearly that he winced and turned towards the door with a frightened look on his face. After a moment’s inspection he couldn’t find her anywhere and he let out a sigh of relief as he turned back towards Fluttershy.

“Are you sure you’re okay Chrome? Did something hurt you?” she asked her voice still full of concern.

“Yeah I’m fine sorry,” he affirmed with a wave of his hoof as he made a mental note to avoid doing that again as apparently she was very observant. “I think I just need to go home and get some more rest. I can’t sufficiently express my thanks; you took me into your home and cared for me while I was feeling bad. I hardly even know you either… thank you so much for your help.” He concluded as he lowered his head avoiding her gaze once again.

“Don’t worry about it… like I said it’s what I‘d do for any sick pony” she said as she blushed bright red and scuffed her front hoof on the floor shyly. “Just get better okay?”

He chuckled quietly and nodded before turning towards the door and taking a few experimental steps. His legs still felt much better and it seemed like he’d be able to walk home under his own power so he just stopped at the door and gave her a meek little wave.

“Thanks again Fluttershy…” he added as he walked out the door and started the long walk home.

Ch. 9: Monkeying Around

Chrome’s brain attempted to pound its way out of his skull as he stirred from his slumber, he placed a hoof on it in an effort to calm it down. As he laid there holding his head he slowly became aware that each sharp pain in his skull was synchronized with a loud banging on the front door. He grumbled a few choice words under his breath as he nearly fell out of bed and traipsed his way down the stairs to answer it. Another round of loud pounding on the door caused him to have to hesitate halfway down the stairs and shut his eyes tight as he winced in pain.

“I’m coming, I’m coming! Stop chomping at your bit already” he called down the stairs loudly. At this point he had a pretty good idea of who it was at the door, but he was trying his best to mentally will it to be someone other than Rainbow. He stopped in front of the door and tried again to force it to be anyone else before he opened the door. But as soon as the door swung open he was confronted by the same cyan mare he had expected to see, his sigh turned into a slight giggle as he noticed the goggles still resting around her neck.

“So Chrome, how did it go?” she asked with an expectant grin spreading across her face.

“I don’t suppose you would listen if I asked you to come back some other time?” he ventured as he covered his face with his hoof and yawned dramatically.

“Nope! So get ready to spill it” she grinned as she walked past him and threw herself onto the couch nearly bouncing on it with excitement.

Chrome just shook his head as he closed the door then walked right past her and straight into the kitchen. He opened up his cupboards getting out the kettle and filling it with water before starting to heat it up. Rainbow appeared shortly afterwards in the doorway to the kitchen looking nonplussed.

“What are you trying to ignore me or something? Come on start giving me details!” She walked right up next to him and gave him such a fierce glower that was forced to focus all his willpower to just be able to ignore it.

“I’m making tea, do you want any? I’ll talk about it once I’ve had something hot to drink.” He sighed quietly and pulled out a mug from the cupboard. He turned back and tilted his head at her as he silently questioned her on if he should bother to get her one too or not.

“Yeah yeah, sure just hurry it up okay? I need to hear what happened.” She leaned in close as she said this for emphasis and caused Chrome to just plant a hoof on her nose and nudge her away firmly.

“You will, now go sit down Rainbow.” He rolled his eyes and turned away from her to emphasize the point. He couldn’t help but sigh in relief as he heard her muttering slowly disappear out the door and she flopped herself back onto the couch. He stopped to think about how he was going to approach this, clearly he couldn’t just tell her the straight truth… He didn’t want to have to explain that he was feeling crappy because he was depressed over her reaction; that would be just asking for trouble.

He planted his hoof on his face again and wondered how he hadn’t completely bruised his head to an unrecognizable state at this point. He’d just have to tell her what she wanted to hear without any of the important details he resolved to himself as he picked up the kettle in his magic and poured it out. He wondered to himself how he was going to do that without pissing off Rainbow, it was much easier to say that to himself than to actually do it. After a moment of thought he just shrugged and decided he’d wing it as he levitated the mugs in front of him and walked back into the living room. He had to fight back a chuckle as he saw Rainbow sitting there her impatience plastered all over her face but she was at least controlling herself.

“Okay so we have tea now, going to spill it now?” She asked the exact moment he placed the mug in her hooves not even bothering to try and look like she wanted to sip it.

“Umm, no I’d prefer if you didn’t thanks.” He chuckled to himself quietly as he took a long sip of his own hot beverage and savored the taste for a moment.

“You know what I meant Chrome!” she growled at him and leaned forward to emphasize her point and sloshing tea all over herself as she did.

Chrome burst out laughing as he put his mug down and got up to fetch her a towel. “What did I just ask you not to do? Don’t get any on the couch at least okay?” He chuckled as he came back from the other room and tossed a towel over her head playfully before sitting back down and sipping on his tea slowly.

“There’s not much to tell honestly,” he finally said after a long moment.

“Well then just tell me what you can!” She said indignantly before tossing the damp towel back at his face and making him catch it with his magic. He shrugged and tossed it back into the other room nonchalantly then went back to sipping his tea.

“Fine fine, she found me by the forest taking a nap because I wasn’t feeling well. She got really upset when she did because apparently it’s dangerous or something? I wasn’t feeling really crappy when I tried to get up so she got all concerned and dragged me back to her cottage. She then gave me some tea and I fell asleep on her couch, but her bunny woke me up later because he wanted to take a nap apparently.” He paused and drank the rest of his tea and set it down on the table in front of him trying his best to ignore the seething mare next to him.

“I was feeling quite a bit better when I woke up and had a blanket over me so apparently she was trying to take care of me while I slept. But it was kind of awkward and I felt bad for imposing so I said goodbye after thanking her multiple times for her help and came home to sleep some more. There those are all the details on what happened.” He concluded then turned to look at her very carefully forcing his face into a look of confusion. “… What?”

“WHAT DO YOU MEAN WHAT? ARGH!” she slapped her hoof over her face and looked like she was about to lean over and strangle him. “She took you back to her cottage! Then she proceeded to fuss over you and then you just got up and left? Hopeless… utterly hopeless.”

“What did you expect me to do? You know how shy I am right? I could have cut the tension in the room with a knife. I barely know her and she took me back to her house to nurse me; of course I just thanked her and left what else was I going to do?”

“Ask her out or something SHE TOOK YOU BACK TO HER HOUSE! I mean seriously what else do you need here? That’s even better than what you were saying about asking her about a pet or something. You have to go back….” She said looking completely frustrated as she covered her face with her hoof and dragged it down slowly.

“I was going to ask her about a pet but it was just too awkward… Yeah how about ‘oh thanks Fluttershy for fussing over me now do you have any pets around?’ Sure right… Listen Rainbow I’ll go back some time tomorrow to ask about a pet but I’m not going to guarantee anything will happen okay? But I’m still feeling slightly under the weather so if you’re done yelling at me I’d really like to go back to sleep.”

“Okay but you’re going back to Fluttershy’s house right tomorrow right?” She asked as a slightly worrisome grin started to spread across her face.

“YES, now go home and let me sleep okay?” he asked a little bit more angrily than he meant to.

“Alright, alright I’ll see you later Chrome… Feel better okay? I didn’t mean to yell at you so much it’s just frustrating.” She added as her expression softened and she got up off the couch and walked over towards the door and let herself out.

Chrome just let out a relieved sigh as he picked up her mug and put it by his sink wondering about if he should be worried about her drastic change of tone. He glanced back at the door and thought about it for a moment before he shrugged and made his way back upstairs to crawl back inot bed.

*****

Chrome stood in the living room looking at the door as if he was trying to stare it down; he could feel his heartbeat starting to pick up as he looked at it with a sense of foreboding building inside of him. He’d avoided going out and the inevitable trip to Fluttershy’s for as long as he could and now he was going to have to go risk it but he just couldn’t bring himself to open the door.

Rainbow’s worrying reaction last night wasn’t really making the task any easier for him either, how hard would it be to just avoid going altogether? He’d need something to keep him busy around the house but he hadn’t gone to Twilight’s to ask about books on cameras yet so he’d have a hard time making that excuse fly…. He could always try and clean the place up a bit; it was frankly shocking how quickly the mess had built up in under a week.

“No, I think I’d rather face whatever Rainbow has in store for me…” he admitted with a shudder as he thought about trying to clean up the mess that had built up. With that he gulped quietly and his heart started trying to beat its way out of his chest again as he approached the doorway slowly. He finally shook his head as he stepped right up to it and opened the door with his magic. Finally as he entered the sunlight he glanced up into the sky to make sure Rainbow wasn’t about to swoop down on him and started to walk off towards Fluttershy’s

As he approached the cottage he hesitated with his hoof right in front of the door about to knock when he heard Fluttershy’s voice echoing around from behind the house. He stopped and glanced around the corner of the house curiously; he pondered walking around to greet her but waited to see if she’d go inside so he could just knock instead. Finally after a long moment and it became clear she was going to stay out there for a while he figured he’d have to make his way around. He slowly made his way around the house with trepidation as he was still really nervous about what Rainbow was planning for him and saw Fluttershy making her way between the different animal homes with food. As he approached she turned around to grab a different bag and saw him with a surprised look on her face which after a short delay turned into a shy smile.

“Oh hello Chrome, are you feeling better today? I wasn’t expecting to see you again so soon.” She turned and started to fill some of the bird feeders while she waited for his response.

“Yeah, I am thanks for all the help Fluttershy but I was here to ask you something actually…” He reached up and scratched at his head with his hoof as he avoided her gaze. “I was told that if some pony was maybe interested in getting a pet you were the mare to ask. Is that accurate? I’m not entirely sure about it but I figured I’d come and ask anyways.” He concluded as he found himself nervously checking behind him for any sign of Rainbow Dash.

Fluttershy let out an excited gasp and suddenly Chrome felt a yank on his hoof as she dragged him off forcibly catching him completely off-guard. He wasn’t expecting to be dragged off like this by Fluttershy of all ponies. Sure she had marched him back to her cottage yesterday but that had been more sedate. Right now she was dragging him off so quickly that he stumbled slightly as he tried his best to keep up.

“Oh I’m sure we can find the perfect little pet for you! Was there anything in particular you were thinking of?” She asked excitedly as she rushed around and started gently nudging animals towards him.

“Uhh, not really like I said it was just something that Twilight mentioned the other day and it got me thinking about it. So I decided to come ask you about it; wow I didn’t think you would have this many…” He looked around at all the different animals feeling slightly overwhelmed at the sudden plethora of potential pets surrounding him and Fluttershy just kept bringing more and more forward.

“Oh, come back please…” came Fluttershy’s concerned voice as Chrome turned to see her running towards him. After tilting his head slightly and looking closer he noticed a small monkey scurrying across the ground towards him at full tilt while she tried to catch up to him. “Oh come back! … Please?”

The little monkey darted around Fluttershy’s hooves expertly and ran around to hide behind Chrome. The monkey started started to paw at his hindlegs curiously as he tried to climb his way up onto Chrome’s back. Chrome opened his eyes wider as he turned in place trying to look at the monkey but felt a sudden thump as it landed on the middle of his back. Before he could even try to get a proper look at it the monkey started deftly crawling up his neck and Chrome couldn’t crane his neck around properly to get a good look at him.

“Oh come on now don’t bother Chrome like that please?” Fluttershy asked as she approached and tried to fly over and pull the monkey off his head as it started to pull on Chrome’s ears playfully. Before she could get close though the monkey just ducked around behind his neck and swung off it onto his back again.

Chrome just started to laugh at the antics of the little monkey and kept rotating in place slowly trying to crane his neck to get a good look at him. He couldn’t help but smile brightly as the little monkey hopped around on top of his back and Fluttershy stopped trying to separate the two while she giggled quietly and watched the scene unfold.

“I think he likes you Chrome… He is a bit of a troublemaker though, most ponies were afraid to bring him home since he’s so energetic.”

“He’s cute, I think? I can’t really get a good look at him he’s bouncing around so fast.” He chuckled again and finally gave up turning his neck farther than was really comfortable so he could pick the monkey up in his magic and holding him up in front of his face so they could look at each other curiously. Chrome smiled brightly then turned and put the monkey back on his back so it could go back to playing it wanted but the monkey just sat there staring at him curiously apparently not entirely sure what just happened.

“Should I even bother showing you other animals at this point Chrome?” She asked still giggling quietly to herself as she watched the two of them apparently taking to each other already. Chrome chuckled and shook his head lightly then nudged the monkey with his nose causing it to just reach up and tug at his ears again playfully.

“Hey!” He exclaimed at the monkey with a laugh. “So how does this work? Do I owe you any bits for the monkey? Twilight only told me you were the pony to come to for this sort of thing.” He asked as he let the monkey crawl up on top of his head again and turned back to face Fluttershy.

“Oh no, I’m just happy to see them go to good homes, would you like some tea or something?” She asked as she started to walk around nudging the animals back to where they came from before heading back to her house and pausing halfway there to see if he was following her. Chrome hesitated then trotted up next to her and the two of them started to walk back towards her house.

“Ohhh, that’s where the two of you are! Aww you got a little monkey he’s so cute!” came Pinkie Pie’s excited voice from the distance as she bounced closer and closer stopping in front of Chrome so she could tickle the monkey with her hoof playfully. “By the way are you two free Saturday evening for a get together?”

“Uhhm, yeah I don’t think I have anything planned” Chrome admitted with a slight shrug.

“I’m not doing anything Pinkie…”

“Great then it’s a date!” Pinkie said happily as she turned to bounce off towards Ponyville before stopping as if she forgot something. “Oh right, he’ll pick you at seven Fluttershy!” she added with a wink to the two of them then bounced off towards town and left the two of them looking at each other with confused expressions.

Ch. 10: Tension

A/N: I’m sorry for taking so long to update, I feel bad about it and I’m sorry to the few loyal readers I actually have. My job has actually started taking up real amounts of time again (I had December off mostly) and this chapter was super tough to write for some reason.

Chrome blushed beet red as he tried his best to fight the urge to just back away from her slowly. He struggled to find the words to fill the growing silence between them as he tried his best to try and control his breathing and calm down. The tension between them seemed to once again thicken to palpable levels; it seemed like this time he would need a machete if he wanted to force his way through. As he stood there the shock of what just happened still resounding through his body a quiet buzzing started to fill his ears and he had to focus very hard to not let the dizziness overcome him.

Did that just happen? Did Fluttershy understand it the same way I did? Is she expecting me to say something now? Oh Luna what on Equestria do I do now?

He continued to stand there awkwardly shifting back and forth between his hooves and diligently avoiding her gaze until he was shocked out of his reverie when the monkey on his head gave a playful tug at his mane. He couldn’t help but laugh quietly as he reached up with a hoof and tickled at the offending creature, the tension between the two of them seemed to melt away immediately. Chrome found himself unable to hold back a bright smile and Fluttershy let out a quiet giggle as she watched the two of them playing again.

“So… Fluttershy, what just happened?” He managed to ask after a moment of hesitation as he bashfully forced his gaze back towards the canary mare.

“I-I don’t know. I think Pinkie just tricked us…”

“Yeah me too, I thought she was asking us to come to a party at first…” He scratched the side of his head with his hoof nervously as the obvious question hung in the air between them remaining unspoken. They shared a nervous glance and it seemed to him like Fluttershy was thinking the same thing.

Oh man she’s going to make me say it isn’t she? Damnit Pinkie Pie… she’s got me good this time too. I can’t really wriggle out of this at all can I? If I try then Fluttershy could get the wrong idea, and I can’t just leave at this point either she’s expecting me to say something. Think Chrome think!

He let out a frustrated sigh as he mulled it over in his head; this elicited a concerned look from Fluttershy, but he was too absorbed in his own self pity to notice. Every moment he didn’t say something it felt like there was a vast chasm widening between them. Thought after thought on how to get out of this passed through his head but none of them were good enough. It seemed like no matter how he tried to get out of it the danger of offending Fluttershy was too great. Finally he heaved another quiet sigh and with great force of will pulled his gaze up towards her.

He flushed red in the face as he finally came to the awkward conclusion, there was only one way out of this mess and his body seemed set against it. His legs were trembling slightly as he suddenly was filled with another wave of dizziness. His heart pounded in his chest so hard that he could actually hear the sound coming up through his throat. It took all of his willpower just to force himself to keep his gaze directed at her while he waited for her to notice. Finally as she turned her gaze back towards him he mumbled a quiet “Luna preserve me…” and tried his best to just say it.

“S-so, I guess I’ll see you Saturday then? If you still wanted to that is…” He finished weakly as his voice trailed off into nothingness as he had to try very hard to keep his voice from cracking under the pressure. His gaze immediately went back down towards the ground afraid to even peek at her reaction.

“I-I…” She murmured the rest so quietly that it came out as an adorable little squeak. It startled him out of his daze though and he looked up to see her mirroring the exact shy pose he had been holding a second ago. She dragged her hoof through the dirt slowly, the longer he watched her the more nervous she appeared rather than shy.

Chrome’s heart seized up and he felt his eyes starting to water as he held his breath in anticipation of the incoming rejection. He looked back down and forced his eyes shut as he tried to hold back the tears and turned his face away from hers completely. Why did he care so much anyways? He didn’t even want to go on the date with her to begin with, but now that she was about to reject him he just couldn’t help himself... He should be glad that he is getting an easy why out, but he couldn't stop himself from reacting this way as he had to reach up with a hoof to clear his eyes.

“I-I don’t have any plans… So if you still want to then I-I guess…” her voice trailed off as his heart once again skipped a beat before started to race again. He turned his gaze back towards her tentatively afraid to let get ahead of himself.

“I-I mean you don’t have to… I don’t want you to think you’re being forced into it by Pinkie…” She squeaked out finally before she had to turn her face away as it flushed deep red.

Chrome’s heartbeat seemed beat even more erratically in his chest as even his body was having a hard time of figuring out what was going on now. His legs shook slightly under him again and he felt like he might collapse again. He had to stop and consider it for a moment; she didn't say no, but she also didn't say yes. She was leaving it up to him...

Oh hell… what do I do now? I especially can’t wriggle my way out now, I guess I’m committed at this point…

“O-okay, I guess I’ll see you Saturday then?” His lips said before he was even fully aware of what they were doing. He tried to smile but all that came out was a nervous laugh. “Th-thanks again for the help with… everything.” He added awkwardly as he kept his gaze focused on the dirt in front of him. The little clumps of dirt almost looked like constellations if you looked at them the right way.

Chrome happened to glance back up at Fluttershy right as she did the same and for the first time since the awkwardness had fallen they caught each other’s eyes for just a quick moment. Her teal eyes flashed with something unrecognizable before the both of them turned away. She let out a quiet squeak of embarrassment and hesitated visibly. He turned back towards her and she flicked her gaze to him to make sure he was looking before she merely nodded her head and hid her face from his gaze with her mane.

“O-okay then… It’s a date… for real this time I guess” He chuckled nervously and watched her for a moment. She continued to stand there hiding behind her mane and didn’t give him any more signs.

“I’ll see you then okay Fluttershy?” He asked tentatively and then after a moment took the silence as a yes and turned to walk away. He couldn’t help but glance back at her nervously several times just to make sure she wasn’t going to change her mind suddenly. Finally as his heart started to slow down and his legs seemed willing to carry him normally again he heard her voice call out just loudly enough for him to hear.

“S-see you Chrome…”

Immediately his heart was thumping wildly in his chest again and he turned back trying to force himself to say something but simply turned away and galloped off in frustration after he couldn't manage it. His pulse was racing quickly through his temples and he couldn’t keep up this pace for very long. The physical effects of the conversation tolled heavily on his body as he stumbled up to the edge of Ponyville and collapsed on the ground.

“How are ponies even supposed to deal with this kind of thing?” He complained out loud as he let his head rest gently on his forelegs. His question was answered shortly there afterwards by another playful yank at his ears from the monkey still perched on top of his head. He was suddenly wracked with guilt at the realization that the animal was still up there, how could he have forgotten? What if he had tumbled off and Fluttershy had seen? She would hate him for mistreating the little animal; she had even said she only cares that they went to a loving home and he had completely forgotten about him.

He put his head down and tilted the little monkey off onto the grass gently. For the first time the little monkey seemed content to stay put and just look back at him curiously. All sorts of questions seemed to be filling his head now, how was he even supposed to take care of a monkey? She had said he was a hooffull and he’d never even really had a pet before. He rubbed the creature with his muzzle affectionately as he continued to wonder about it.

The more he wondered about it the more he worried, he had absolutely no idea what monkeys even ate besides the comical conception of bananas. Did monkeys actually eat bananas? Did they need more to their diet to stay healthy? His eyes wandered around the area curiously. He couldn’t very well go back to Fluttershy’s and ask after that debacle. He needed some pony else who would know about monkeys…

There wasn’t much here at the edge of Ponyville for him to look at and he couldn’t remember Pinkie introducing him to anyone useful in this matter at the party. He nudged his head forward and waited for the monkey to climb up on top of his mane again as he made his mind up and stood up. He started to walk towards the center of Ponyville feeling much calmer now that he had something concrete to worry about. He had to make sure he knew how to take care of his new friend, suddenly this worry seemed to make the huge worries about Fluttershy seem slightly more manageable. As he kept walking his eyes kept being drawn towards one area of town in general and as he entered the center of town he could just barely see the top of the giant tree over one of the buildings.

*****

“Wait, you need a what?” Asked an incredulous Twilight as she stared at him inquisitively from the door of the library.

“I need a book on exotic animals, how to care for them something like that. You said you had books on almost everything but still I doubt you have a book like that dedicated to just monkeys so something with a chapter on it? Please tell me you do?”

“Uhhh Chrome, not to pry but why do you need a book on monkeys?” She asked as she gave him a deeply concerned look and quirked her eyes at him.

“What?” He asked taken aback. “Isn’t it obvious?” He tilted his head upwards slightly indicating that she should refer to the monkey on his head while he tried not to tip him off backwards. As he did this though his heart skipped a beat when he noticed the lack of the familiar weight on top of his head. Suddenly his eyes were wide open and he was turning in place a look of panic stricken across his face as he looked all around the ground for the little monkey.

“Oh Luna… Where did he go? Oh this is bad… This is bad…” He pranced in place lifting his hooves up off the ground one at a time and made a nervous clacking with them at the doorstep as his face spread into a manic look of terror. Twilight couldn’t help but take a few steps back as she observed the apparently crazed pony.

“I didn’t even give him a name yet! How am I supposed to call out to him? I can’t just yell out MONKEY! MON MON MONKEY!” He fell to the ground and covered his head with his hooves as his whole world seemed to drop out from under his hooves. Fluttershy was going to hate him now, he’d just started feeling welcome In town and he’d have to leave. Rainbow would hate him too for blowing things with Fluttershy and would never talk to him again either. He had no choice he’d just have start packing as soon as possible.

“CHROME! What are you talking about?” Twilight snapped at him then switched to a concerned voice as she seemed clearly afraid he was about to have a psychotic breakdown.

“My monkey! I’ve lost my monkey! I got him from Fluttershy, and I was on the way home when I realized I didn’t know the first thing about monkeys or how to take care of them. So I came here to find a book on them and now he’s gone. Now Fluttershy’s going to hate me and I’m going to have to leave Ponyville…” He ground his hooves into the top of his head as he tried to just force himself to fall into a deep slumber in the hopes that when he woke up everything would return to normal.

“Chrome! Get a hold of yourself, we can look for him it’s not a problem… seriously. Also I doubt Fluttershy would hate you over something so simple. I’m not even sure she’s capable of hating any pony…” She added thoughtfully as she tried her best to awkwardly comfort him. After a long pause she stepped out of the doorway and gave him a sharp prod with her horn.

“Now get up! First thing you need to do is CALM DOWN you’re never going to find him if you’re panicked like this. Come inside we’ll figure something out.”

Chrome sighed and let himself get walked into the library as Twilight rambled on seeming to ask an endless torrent of questions. She didn’t even appear to notice that he wasn’t paying attention as she didn’t even wait for him to answer before she jumped headlong into the next series of questions. The entire time she was doing this she was pulling books off the shelves two and three at a time while discarding them almost as fast. He found his mind wandering to how he could get himself out of trouble, he certainly wasn’t going to be able to find a replacement…

That wouldn’t work anyways, Fluttershy would know immediately. He really was going to just have to move away wasn’t he? How was he supposed to find such a tiny little animal in a town as big as Ponyville? Sure he’d come here for the small town atmosphere but it wasn’t really a small town these days. His welcome party alone had taught him that, and they all seemed to adore Fluttershy so he’d be shunned. What if he couldn’t even buy food?

“CHROME!!!” Twilight yelled into his ear suddenly and he stumbled backwards knocking over a small table as he nearly fell over with a clatter of hooves.

“You only just noticed he was missing right? What were you before you came here? Did you come here straight from Fluttershy’s? What were you doing there anyways? We need to retrace your steps to the library and figure out what the last place you knew you had him was.” She reasoned logically as she turned back to him from a book impatiently and glared at him waiting for him to fill her in.

“Well, I stopped at the edge of Ponyville to gather my thoughts. My visit with Fluttershy was rather eventful and I had to stop and clear my head. I walked into Ponyville looking for anything to help with the subject of monkeys and how to care for them. I had him on my head when I started to walk but I didn’t check again until you mentioned it…”

“So he could be anywhere between Fluttershy’s house and here?” She sighed audibly and put her hoof to her face. “What exactly happened that had you so distracted that you didn’t notice a monkey jumping off your head and running off?”

“Ugh, you’re going to find out anyways. Pinkie ambushed me at Fluttershy’s…” he blushed as he even started to think about it then suddenly had to raise his hoof and shake his head suddenly at the look Twilight was giving him.

“N-nothing like that! She found Fluttershy and myself after she gave me the monkey and asked if we were free on Saturday. We both assumed she was inviting us to a party… But then she stopped and told Fluttershy I’d pick her up at seven then bounced off without mentioning anything about one. She got me good Twilight, we were both so scared to say anything that it gave me a lot of time to think. I couldn’t get out of it; no matter what I did she would take offense if I tried to pass it off so I had to ask her out… for real. As you can imagine I was slightly distracted on my way over here…”

“WAIT! So you’re going on a date with Fluttershy!?” Twilight exclaimed loudly as she pranced around and tapped her hooves on the floor excitedly her entire worry about the monkey forgotten as she started to pull books off the shelf again.

“Oh my gosh! That is so awesome I’m so happy for you two! I have the perfect book! Ah here it is, Dating 101: Everything you wanted to know about dating but were afraid to ask…” She hummed quietly to herself as she opened the book even as Chrome got a horrified look on his face.

“W-w-wait Twilight! That book isn’t…” He covered his face with his hoof as he wasn’t quick enough to stop her. Her face suddenly turned bright red it looked like she was about to start leaking steam out her ears from embarrassment.

“WH-WH-WHY DO WE EVEN HAVE A BOOK LIKE THIS?!?” She yelled loudly as her magic flung the book violently away from her and she shook her head violently trying to clear it from what she had seen inside. Chrome couldn’t help but let out a long suffering sigh as he buried his face deeper in his hoof.

“Look I appreciate the offer Twilight, but I don’t think a book is really going to help here… Anyways besides having absolutely no idea what I’m going to do about the date we still have to find my monkey…” Chrome couldn’t help but let his voice trail off as a bizarre scene unfolded in front of him. Spike suddenly tore into the room giggling like a little filly as he ran around the room with a small monkey chasing him. Finally he laughed out loud and scampered around behind Twilight where he could make faces back at the monkey from his hiding spot.

Then with a loud squeak the monkey saw Chrome and started tearing his way across the room at full tilt before it jumped into the air and flew right into his chest. The monkey tittered happily with its arms around his neck and Chrome couldn't help himself as he nuzzled the animal and tried not to cry. He laughed as the monkey climbed back on top of his head and started tugging on his ears again. A huge sense of relief filled him as he let out a long sigh before he remembered Twilight and resolutely turned back in her direction just to see her grinning from ear to ear.

“So I guess we’re back to that other problem huh? And I know the PERFECT solution!” She tapped her hooves excitedly on the ground as she thought about it making him let out a quiet groan of frustration. Why couldn’t he try and deal with this without every pony getting involved?

“Okay Twilight, what is it?”

“You, need to go see Rarity!” She exclaimed proudly as she suddenly forced him to turn around and pushed him straight out the door.

“Right down that way it’s only a few buildings over, gigantic carousel, windows filled with dresses you can’t miss it!” She added with an excitement that filled his every muscle with foreboding.

“Okay okay, but do you have a book on monkeys Twilight?.” He sighed as he stopped in the doroway.

“Of course here! Oh cheer up Chrome! You’re going to make an awesome coltfriend for Fluttershy!” She quickly thrust a book into his chest with her magic then prodded him again with her horn. He put the book into his saddle bag and grumbled under his breath as he walked off in the direction she had indicated. He kept nervously checking to make sure the monkey was still perched on his head as we went afraid to have to go through that again. Finally after what seemed like much more than a few buildings he walked up to the only building in Ponyville that could possibly match Twilight's description.

He reached his hoof up to knock at the door and started to make his way inside after a voice called out from inside the shop. His entire body filled with dread as he remembered the disaster of a meeting he'd had with Rarity at the party. So as he walked into the shop he really wasn't that surprised about what happened next considering how well the rest of his day had gone up to this point.

The only thing in his field of vision was Rarity with a look of abject terror as she tried her best to throw her hooves up over her face and screamed at the top of her lungs. While Chrome looked at her with a puzzled look on his face it turned into a look of shock as he saw the scene in unfold in near slow motion in front of him. The monkey flew off his head just barely coming through the top of his vision and as it jumped through the air he saw the monkey reach out with his paws outstretched right towards her mane.

Oh Luna what did I do to deserve this?

Ch. 11: Sound Advice

"GET THIS RUFFIAN OFF ME!" Rarity screamed as her initial fright dropped away, immediately replaced with anger directed like a laser in his direction. He stumbled backwards, and held a hoof up in front of his face protectively as he couldn't help but cower away from her anger.

"NOW!" She screamed, clenching her eyes shut and stamping her hooves on the floor impatiently.

Chrome winced visibly as she yelled again, with a quiet gulp he forced himself to step a little closer. He shut his eyes as he tried to force his magic to cooperate. After a long moment of concentration he enveloped the monkey in his magic, very carefully extracting it from her mane. He turned and levitated the creature onto his back carefully; he tried to force the words of an apology out but was only able to manage a quiet squeak. Looking back up towards her cautiously, he saw her trembling from head to toe as she levitated a mirror over to inspect her disheveled mane. Her left eye started to twitch irregularly as she stared at her mane, and Chrome gulped quietly starting to back up until his hind leg caught on the door frame.

"You..." She said her voice dripping with contempt, as she turned to face him.

"I don't know why you insist on being so impolite, but that is it! No pony messes with my mane... No pony. OUT OUT OUT! AND DON'T COME BACK!" She shouted as her horn glowed brilliantly, and he was thrown backwards and out onto the street onto his rump. He winced as the door slammed in his face so loud that his ears rang from the sudden noise.

He tried his best to ignore the looks of the passing ponies as he scratched his head with a hoof, and let out a long sigh. He turned to make sure his passenger was still alright; he let out a quiet chuckle as he saw the animal was clutching at the hairs of his coat with a terrified look on its face. Getting up slowly he turned towards home and started to walk slowly so that he wouldn't jostle his rider too much.

*****

"Cecil? Winston? Buddy?... Casper?" Chrome rattled off in quick succession with growing levels of frustration. The monkey in front of him just kept shaking his head stubbornly in reference to every name he threw out for him.

"Manfred?" He threw out as a wild guess and chuckled to himself as he knew from experience this was not a 'being of peace.' Chrome's mouth hung open as the monkey jumped up excitedly in reaction to the name and nodded his head excitedly.

"Really? Manfred? Okay then, should have known... That's what I get for letting you choose your own name I guess." He sighed quietly but couldn't help but smile after a moment, he leaned forward and gave his new pet a light nuzzle with his face.

"Don't worry I'm just teasing, it's your name after all. Now lets see about getting those ropes up huh?" He asked as he walked back to workshop, and pulled out several long lengths of rope with his magic. Sure the book had said they would be a good idea, but where was he going to hang them? He could understand the importance of giving Manfred an outlet for his energy especially after today, but he had to figure out how he would set them up. Manfred interrupted this train of thought though by running in and clambering on top of him to tug at his ears. Chrome chuckled at his antics and started to carry him and the ropes back into the living room, but stopped as he heard the knocking at the door.

"Luna preserve me if that's Rainbow Dash..." He grumbled darkly and closed his eyes. He slowly walked to the door and took a deep breath before he slowly pulled it open with trepidation.

"Nice monkey Chrome-" Rainbow started, but she let the sentence trail off, taking in the furious glare that he was directing at her.

"Rainbow, give me one reason why I shouldn't just shut the door in your face right now..." He glowered angrily at her, and held a hoof on the edge of the door swinging it back and forth slowly for effect.

"Uhh, what? Seriously what happened? Nonono!" She quickly added as she stuck a hoof out to stop the door before it slammed into her face. She growled at Chrome angrily shoving her way through the opening, and dropped into an aggressive posture with her wings extended.

"HEY! What gives! I didn't even do anything this time!" She growled angrily then paused for a second to think about what she said. She added a quiet 'oops' as she tried to recover by putting on her best innocent grin.

"Fine, whatever come inside..." He grumbled darkly as he turned his back on her, and went to go fetch the ropes from his workshop. He started sizing them up, and the ceiling of his living room curiously while making a point to completely ignore the cyan mare.

"Hey come on! What happened? Totally not cool at least tell me what I supposedly did... I can't really defend myself if I don't know why you're angry." She insisted as she kept walking in front of him, trying to grab his attention but he steadfastly ignored her. He kept chopping off sections of the rope with his magic, and measured them along the ceiling.

"CHROME! I'm not even asking about what happened at Fluttershy's, please just tell me why you're so mad okay?" She said with an adorable pout that Chrome was finding very difficult to try and ignore. He tried his best to keep it up but let out a frustrated sigh, he finally gave up and tossed the ropes behind the couch with a growl.

"So you're seriously trying to pretend that you don't know what happened when I arrived at Fluttershy's?" He asked as he leaned his face closer to hers trying his best to look menacing despite her continued... successful efforts to look completely adorable.

"Chrome, I have absolutely no idea what happened I swear; cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye." She said with the accompanying hand motions, making him quirk an eyebrow at her in confusion.

"...What?"

"Pinkie Pie Swear... long story anyways I swear I have absolutely no idea what happened. So can you please get around to the whole telling me why you're angry at me part? Hopefully before this turns into some crazy lesson about friendship?"

"Fine, just stop giving me that look already... Pinkie Pie ambushed us when I went to Fluttershy's to ask about pets.She gave me Manfred here, and when we were going back to her cottage Pinkie bounced up... Stop giving me that look Rainbow we weren't going to do anything like that." He nearly growled as she was fighting back a grin at his words.

"Anyways... She made it sound like she was inviting us to a party, but when we both said that we were available on Saturday she told Fluttershy that I'd pick her up at seven. Then she promptly disappeared before we could even say anything. Last night you seemed excited that I was going to visit her again, and made sure to check I'd be going today. So I assumed you had a hand in Pinkie asking us out."

"She... did that?" Rainbow asked as she was clearly trying her best to not burst out laughing.

"YES! And it's not funny Rainbow!" He said covering his face with his hoof. "I can't believe any pony would even think of doing something like that..."

"Listen I'm sorry, yeah I thought about setting up something like that but I didn't, it wouldn't have been fair to you two. Yeah I've been pushing you but in the end it should be your decision... Are you okay Chrome?"

"No, I'm not Rainbow. She just left us standing there, she completely trapped me I had no way out. No matter what I did if I tried to avoid the date with Fluttershy she would think that I was doing it because I didn't like her, or because she wasn't good enough, or some similarly negative thought. I didn't want that to happen so I really only had one choice; I had to ask her if she wanted to go out on Saturday. So now I'm going on a date with Fluttershy, but I have no idea what to do. Twilight tried to help but that didn't end well; she sent me to Rarity and that was... an unmitigated disaster." Chrome sighed as he lay down on the floor and put his head in his hooves.

"Okay so what don't you know what to do?" She asked as she sat down on her haunches in front of him. She smiled hesitantly, and looked down at him with her best attempt at a kindly expression.

"...Everything, I'm supposed to go on a date with a pony I don't know. Okay sure I might be able to get around that; except with Fluttershy we seem incapable of talking to each other. Every time we wind up in the same place neither of us wants to break the silence, and we wind up inspecting our hooves. It seems like this will just wind up being just awkward worse. I'm not even that experienced with dating; and I don't even know Ponyville or what there is to do. I need help, Twilight said Rarity could help but she threw me out of her shop because... well let's not get into that now. The point is Fluttershy seems nice and I want to give her a chance before I just write this whole thing off but I don't know what to do."

"So you don't know where to take Fluttershy? That's not a problem I know all the most awesome places in Ponyville! Is that it really?"

"Rainbow, it's not just that, how is this possibly going to work out? You and your friends have been trying to get me to date Fluttershy since I arrived; now that it's happening I feel like I'm going to collapse under the pressure. How can I possibly live up to the expectations you all have set for me? I'm not good in date situations Rainbow, and I get the feeling she isn't either."

"Get up."

"What?"

"Get... up..." She said and got back onto her hooves, she then walked around behind him and pushed at him with her hoof.

"Fine, fine, why though?"

"Stop asking questions and just get walking!" She snarled as she shoved him towards the door. He had to stumble straight out the door to prevent himself from falling over.

Rainbow pulled the door shut with her teeth and motioned for him to follow with her hoof. When he hesitated she walked up next to him, and shoved him around 180 degrees and pushed him forward. He gave up with a quiet sigh, and started to trot forward as she lead him around behind his house. She grinned and took flight hovering a few feet head of him, she remained silent and lead him across the hills behind his house. He couldn't help but gaze up into the sky as they walked; the sun was nearing the end of its descent, and the sky was being painted a marvelous display of orange, and pink.

Chrome lost track of the time as they walked, his only reference was the descending sun, and the changing colors on the horizon. Rainbow kept leading him over the rolling hills, and when he looked backwards he could barely see his house and Ponyville in the distance. Finally as the last rays of the sun were disappearing over the distant horizon, Rainbow landed in front of him, and started to trot slowly over another hill. As they crested the hill Chrome was greeted with the sight of a vast grassland stretching out in front of them.

The long grass seemed to be flowing like water in the gentle night breeze and made a sound not that unlike a gently flowing stream. She waded out into the long stalks of grass confidently, and he hesitated before he followed. The long stalks brushed against his sides in a way that made him squirm slightly as we walked, but he followed Rainbow with a growing sense of curiosity. Finally after a few long minutes of struggling through the tall grass he felt the ground slope upwards, and she started to lead him up a small rise in the center of the open area. She was waiting for him at the top and pointed her hoof to the ground next to her, and he felt his rear drop to the ground obediently before he even really had time to think.

"Okay not that the scenery isn't beautiful Rainbow, but why are we here? It's going to be a long walk home..." He questioned with a tinge of worry, even as he was clearly enraptured by the beautiful scene. The way the rising moon shined off the tall stalks of grass was simply amazing. The very tips seemed to be just barely reflective enough to shine back small glints of moonlight. As they swayed in the wind the angles of the light changed it seemed like it they were surrounded by the stars as they rippled in the wind. Even as he watched the scene on the ground his eyes were drawn upwards to the stars slowly winking into existence overhead.

"Didn't I tell you to stop asking questions?" Rainbow said as she grinned over at him, she sat down about a pony's width apart from him, and looked out across the scenery herself.

"Yeah you did, but are you planning on answering them any time soon?"

"Fine, listen Chrome you need to relax, so I thought getting you away from it all and just looking at the stars would help. Was I wrong?"

"... No, but-"

"No buts Chrome, is it helping?"

"Yes, but-"

"NO BUTS. Listen you need to stop worrying so much, you'll do fine. You could have just turned down Pinkie's offer, but you didn't. You were worried about Fluttershy's feelings, that part was good and it was nice. But, now you're worried about the date because you don't want things to go poorly. You don't need to worry about that part though; you're a good colt Chrome just be yourself and you'll do fine okay?"

"I suppose... But where am I supposed to take her Rainbow? I can't do anything overly romantic. If we go to some restaurant with candles on the table, cheesy waiters, and all that we'll both be way too nervous to really be able to interact at all."

"Then don't, go somewhere simple; listen your idea of a date is probably way different from mine. Honestly though that's probably a good thing when it comes to Fluttershy. Don't over think it, just take her somewhere nice where it's not too loud and you can get to know each other. There are plenty of places like that around town it doesn't have to be a four star dinner, just relax."

"... Why are you so nice to me Rainbow? What did I do to deserve this?" He asked with a heavy sigh as he flopped backwards onto the hillside and stared up at the twinkling stars.

"Huh?"

"Sorry, it's just been bothering me you've been so nice and have gone out of your way to help me multiple times since I got here. I've never had anyone do the kinds of things for me that you've done..."

"You've helped me out plenty Chrome... Where do you get the idea you don't deserve it? You gave me those awesome goggles which has made my flying WAY easier. You helped me out of that tree, and even indulged my random curiosity in your telescope. Plus you're going out on a date with one of my oldest friends, of course I'll try and help calm you down. The date going well for you two is good for my friend so of course I want that to happen; and well Fluttershy hasn't exactly had very good luck with dates in the past. You're both my friends at this point so whats wrong with me trying to help you both out a bit?

"I guess..."

"No, stop doing that. Stop over thinking everything, you'll be fine" She said rolling onto her side and faced him pointing her hoof into his face.

"..."

"Say it, say that everything will be alright!" She nudged him with her hoof as she glared at him fiercely.

"E-everything will be... alright."

"Good, feeling better now?"

"No... But I will be, thanks a lot Rainbow."

"Hmmph, good enough for now, but I really need to head back now if I'm actually going to get any sleep tonight." She yawned clambering to her hooves as she stretched out, and flapped her wings a few times.

"Thanks again Rainbow, I think I'll stay out here for a while longer."

"Later Chrome, remember just relax and be yourself." She smiled back at him then took off back towards Ponyville leaving him to lay there. He laid there for a long time watching the stars overhead as they twinkled in the sky and pondered everything she had told him.

Ch. 12: The Dating Game

A/N: I went back and redid this chapter, it should be much better now. I'll eventually go back and redo the older chapters in the same style, but I wont do them all in one go like I did last time [

Chrome paced back and forth in front of his couch, glancing up at the clock every now and then. He was clearly having a hard time standing still, every time he attempted to do so, his glance immediately shot back to the clock, then over to the couch. Each one of these nervous episodes, would end in him glancing fervently over the ties draped across the couch cushions; then he would immediately start pacing again.

As the deadline loomed closer, he felt his nervous energy increasing steadily. The familiar constricting feeling in his chest was tightening up inside him, and he had a hard time keeping his breaths even. He actually had to stop in his pacing, and take a few slow, deep breaths to try and restore his regular breathing. Finally, after regaining control of himself, he once again looked back at the ties spread across the couch.

Chrome had the feeling that he shouldn't dress up tonight, but he couldn't help but be overcome by worry. The recurring theme being, what if he showed up without anything, and she was wearing some sort of elegant dress? He grumbled a few choice words, about what he planned on doing to Rainbow and Pinkie, then grabbed a black tie without a collar and stepped up to the mirror.

This was middle of the road right? It wouldn't look bad if she hadn't dressed up, and it wouldn't be too awful if she was dressed up and I'm wearing a tie. Shit, I need to leave soon. How did I get talked into this again? I'm totally not ready for whatever is going to happen tonight.

He sighed deeply, and tried to push the thoughts from his mind. He turned to Manfred and puffed his chest out, showing off the tie with an air of one looking for approval. Manfred on the other hand, didn't seem to notice, and continued to play on the ropes suspended from the ceiling happily.

"Thanks, tons of help buddy," he called out teasingly. He checked the clock again, trying his best to gulp through a dry mouth.

Why was this whole thing so complicated? If I'd been the one to get myself into this mess, then it would be so much easier to deal with all the pressure. However, to be thrust into it like this; it was so frustrating. Pinkie and Rainbow were looming over his shoulder, their expectations hanging in the air. What if they actually planned on spying on him tonight?

"Oh Luna, I hadn't even thought of that... Are they going to try and interfere again?" he asked aloud, his worry building enough, that he stopped his internal monologue for spoken word.

Chrome stopped and pondered on this thought for a long moment, staring at the door all the while. The portal in front of him which seemed to lead to another world, a world filled with troubles, and heartache. It wasn't that long ago that he had moved to Ponyville seeking a simpler life, but it was hard for him to deny that despite those failed intentions, he was having fun here. Back home, though less troubled, he had dealt with awkward social gatherings, parties where nopony seemed to talk about anything at all, while managing to say quite a lot.

What if I just became a shut in? Would that really be so bad? Stay inside, only wander out at night to look at the stars. No pony would really be able to bother me, I even have a pet already to keep him company already. The only downside is, I would need somepony to help me in gathering supplies...

"Pull yourself together Chrome," he grumbled to himself, and tugged the door open with his magic suddenly. He winced slightly at the bright light, and foced himself to step down the road to Ponyville; the one that only seemed to lead to endless troubles for him.

Chrome's breath started to hitch as he neared Fluttershy's cottage, he could feel his heart pounding so hard that he was afraid it would skip a beat. He had to stop, and gather his breath at the edge of Ponyville, then started back down the pathway to her house again. The thought that he could just go home, making up some excuse, or story about being sick was in the forefront of his mind; but he shook that away.

I don't want to do that, I shouldn't do that, besides Rainbow is probably spying on me right now, so I can't do that.

He looked thoughtfully towards the clouds, checking to see if his theory was correct, but he couldn't see any sign of the rainbow pegasus. Still, she could be hiding. He shook those thoughts from his head forcibly, he didn't want to do that to Fluttershy anyways, it had been his concern for her that got him into this situation in the first place anyways.

He slowly forced himself to continue down the pathway, as all the disparate thoughts continued to bounce through his mind, the chaos in his head only intensified as he got closer. As he walked, he slowly seemed to lose his footing, and composure. He couldn't stop wondering about where he was going to take her out. He'd looked around for some good placed earlier, and he had some great ideas, but where would be the best was the thought that kept haunting him.

Oh Luna, what if she has already eaten?

Chrome froze in place as the stark realization tore through him, he hadn't even considered that possibility. He meekly stared at the cottage in the distance, berating himself over the stupid oversight. He had no backup plans, he had only considered places to eat dinner. It was entirely possible that she had to tend to the animals early in the morning, so she always ate early then went to bed.

"Shit, I have no idea what to do if that's the case..." he mumbled under his breath as he considered his options. The only other things that came to mind, were far too romantic to be an option. He had already decided that something over the top romantic, would not end well. The both of them would be far too nervous to really be able to interact at all. He paused and murmured a quiet prayer to Luna, hoping with all his might that he wouldn't have to worry about it . Finally, after a moments hesitation, he forced himself to start walking again shakily, and stepped every so closer to what only seemed like would be his inevitable doom.

It was amongst all of this, his mind awash with worry and concern, that he took a long deep breath; trying his best to control his wild heartbeat and failing miserably. He could actually feel his heartbeat thumping so hard, that it seemed as if he should be able to hear the sound traveling up his throat. Finally, after a long moment, he shut his mouth, gulped again, and knocked on the door. His nervousness prevented him from contacting the wood as hard as he would normally like, so he hesitated.

Did she hear that? Should I knock again? That would be rude wouldn't it? What if she got angry because I knocked again?

"One moment..." called a soft voice, dispelling his worries immediately, and he let out a deep sigh of relief. He shifted back and forth on his hooves nervously, he could still feel the apprehension building. Worry started to overcome him again, what if she showed up in an amazing dress, and all he had was a simple tie? What if the reason she needed a moment, was to finish cleaning up her dishes.

"No Chrome, stop that, it'll be fine. Remember what Rainbow told you... just be yourself," he grumbled under his breath, as he closed his eyes trying his best to control his nerves.

His worries were immediately put aside though, as the door opened, and there was was looking perfectly normal. That is to say, she still looked as elegant and attractive as ever. He gulped nervously, as he tried not to dwell on this thought. The two of them merely stood there awkwardly, their eyes glancing back and forth, as they tried to avoid each other's gaze. Finally with a quiet cough, Chrome managed to speak up.

"Er, are you ready to go? I thought maybe we could go out to dinner? That is... if you haven't eaten already?" He ventured nervously, still praying that he wouldn't have to worry about that contingency.

"Oh, no I haven't, that's fine with me. Just let me make sure Angel is all set before we go, why don't you come inside while I check on him?"

"S-sure..." he struggled to say, then nervously stepped inside her living room. He couldn't figure out why he was so nervous about this. He'd been in here before, actually she had forcibly dragged him in here and basically thrown him onto the couch. As he watched her fuss over the small bunny though, he couldn't get over the nervousness that was welling up inside of him.

"I'm going out now okay Angel? There's an extra carrot in the kitchen if you get hungry." he heard her say to her pet in an adoring tone. The bunny though, responded by looking annoyed, and pushed at her forelegs impatiently. Finally at the insistence of her bunny, Fluttershy turned back towards Chrome looking ready to leave.

"Good to go now?" He asked with what he hoped was a playful smile.

"Yeah, sorry to make you wait..."

"It's fine, don't worry about it," he chuckled, then stood aside to let her pass. He looked back at the bunny curiously, then closed the door behind him.

He trotted up next to her, and started to walk towards Ponyville. He glanced to his side, making sure that Fluttershy was walking alongside. The two of them fell back into what was starting to feel like their usual silence. This time it didn't really seem quite that bad compared to the others, almost as if it was a comfortable silence. Even while he was desperately weighing options on where to go eat, she merely trotted alongside just barely under a pony width apart. It wasn't so close that it was intimate, but it wasn't so far that he felt the distance. If anything, it seemed safe, it could be interpreted either way. It was certainly much more comfortable than having Rainbow breathing down the back of his neck, especially while she was bullying him into doing something.

While Chrome pondered the situation nervously, he glanced over to the mare beside him several times. After a short while, they found themselves passing into the edges of Ponyville. As they came up to a fork in the road, he was forced to stop and think, he'd have to make his decision now. Fluttershy as if she was aware of his plight turned to look at him, and caught his glance for a moment. The two of them flushed red for a moment, but he gestured with his head that they should turn right. Well he was committed now, hopefully things would work out alright. Now he just had to remember the next turn.

As they continued to trot side by side down street comfortably, he eyed an upcoming intersection; he prayed that he was correct in which direction it was. Muttering another quiet prayer to Luna, he turned left down the street, and turned to make sure that Fluttershy was following. When they came around the corner, he exhaled deeply, and saw the sign for the Amber Cafe come into sight.

Thankfully like he'd seen before, there weren't a whole lot of ponies here so it was relatively quiet; the outdoor tables were nicely decorated with a lily sitting at each one. There were no candles or anything over the top either, the decor in the general area was pretty subdued. It was just nice enough that it should be alright without being too much. He just hoped the food was good.

"Good evening! Just you two tonight?" Beamed a waitmare, as she walked up and greeted the two of them.

"Er, yeah thanks" Chrome mumbled, then let Fluttershy walk in front of him as they were shown to their seats. Their table was placed near the edge of the seating area, and just down the road a small park was visible. They were a good distance away from the only other occupied table, and Chrome couldn't even hear them talking.

"So, have you two been here before?" The waitmare asked, handing them some menus while she beamed a bright smile. She was greeted with a shy shake of the head from both of the ponies, and she hesitated for a moment, before continuing on what was clearly her usual routine.

"Well, would you two like anything to drink to start off with? Maybe an appetizer before the main course?" She ventured, apparently seeming to be slightly nervous herself. Her discomfort was apparent, and she was now not entirely sure how to deal with the lack of responses from the other two.

"Uhhm, tomato juice?" Chrome asked meekly

"Sure, and for you miss?"

"Oh, apple juice?" Fluttershy asked timidly.

"Of course, now did either of you want anything to start with? The cheese dip is quite good, maybe the baked Zucchini sampler, gourmet hayfries?"

Chrome just shook his head, and looked over to the mare sitting across from him questioningly. She blinked a few times, then shrugged lightly looking undecided. Chrome hesitated not entirely sure, but shook his head at the waitmare after a moments hesitation. The waitmare continued to look confused by the two ponies refusing to say a word to her, and walked off with a sigh. Now that they were left alone, Chrome found his eyes wandering around the scenery, only occasionally glancing at Fluttershy nervously.

Finally their eyes caught each other, and both their cheeks flushed pink in response. This was going nowhere, it was clear to Chrome that she wouldn't be the one to to try and engage him. So with an inward sigh, he closed his eyes and tried his best to to muster up some courage. He had to give her a chance like he had told Rainbow, and that didn't mean sitting here in awkward silence, then passing it off as a bad date later on.

"So, what is it you do? I saw you with the animals but no pony really explained it to me. Well, that is beyond what Pinkie said at the party. With Pinkie being Pinkie, that didn't give me much to go on." He ventured nervously, unable to think of anything but how bad of a question that was.

"Oh, umm, well I help take care of them. They do a lot on their own, but I help them gather food, and if they need it help with making their homes. Occasionally some of them want a pony to live with, so then I help other ponies in finding a pet. I guess it's mostly just taking care of the animals outside of the forest... I know it doesn't sound like much but, it's nice."

"That sounds like a lot of work actually, how do you keep up with that?" He asked incredulously.

"Oh, it's not that bad really, Angel helps me from time to time, and so do my friends if there's a really big job. Spring is usually busy, but a lot of the ponies in town help with it. How is your new pet by the way?"

"Oh, Manfred? He's a trouble maker like you said alright," Chrome chuckled, and shook his head as he thought about everything he'd gotten into so far due to the monkey.

"Manfred?" Fluttershy asked with a confused look on her face.

"Yeah, he didn't seem to like any other name. I know it doesn't fit him, but it would have seemed odd forcing a name on him. He's certainly tough to keep up with though."

"Oh, I'm sorry, I should have been more clear about that..." She lowered her head apologetically.

"Nono, it's fine he's brightened up my days so far. I'm glad to have him, just it's taking some getting used to is all!" Chrome blurted out waving a hoof at her, trying his best to ease her concerns. He couldn't help but smile though, as it seemed she was at least talking to him a little bit now.

"What kind of trouble has he gotten you into?"

"Well when I was walking home with him, he decided he was going to jump off my head to go play without me noticing."

"Oh my..."

"Yeah, luckily he ran into Spike and was playing with him; so while Twilight was trying to calm me down, the two of them ran into the room. But he scared me a bit there, now I know to keep a better eye on him." He hesitated as the subject of Rarity hovered on his mind. He really wasn't sure if he should bring it up or not, he wasn't really sure how well the two knew each other.

"Well I'm gla-"

"FLUTTERSHY!" came an angry yell from the street. They both jumped in their seats, and turned over quickly to see where the voice had come from. Upon seeing who it was though, Chrome let out a loud groan, and slammed his face onto the table with a loud *THUMP!* The white unicorn bristled with rage as she saw the two of them, and the ground all around her was filled with unceremoniously dumped shopping bags.

"Why in Equestria are you going out with HIM?" Rarity demanded her voice dripping with ice, she waded her way into the restaurant; completely ignoring the indignant waitstaff, and started tugging at her friend.

"Come on, I simply can not allow you to lower yourself to the level of a colt such as him. If you're really that desperate, then I'm sure we can find someone much better for you. Come on darling, we're leaving!" Rarity exclaimed without even looking at him, apparently now pretending that he wasn't even there.

She insistently tugged at Fluttershy, pulling her up out of her seat, and marched the pegasus forcibly out of the restaurant. Rarity completely ignored the quiet squeaks of protest, after a few seconds the sounds of the struggle ceased. Chrome looked up to see Fluttershy nervously glancing over her shoulder; as Rarity continued to walk her down the street, and the two of them quickly disappeared towards the center of Ponyville.

Chrome banged his head on the table a few times as he swore under his breath. Each impact made the small vase, and the condiment stand rattle audbily. He started whining under his breath like a little foal having a temper tantrum, as he smacked his head a few more times on the table.

"Uhhh, sir are you okay? Could you please stop hitting your head?" Came the concerned voice of his waitmare, while she ran up with several other restaurant staff.

"Yeah, I'm great. Wonderful even..." He grumbled darkly, he kept his face planted on the tabletop, but stopped banging it.

"Uhh, did you want to still order any food per chance?" The waitmare asked nervously, with her manager staring her down from behind.

"No, I'll just pay for the drinks okay?" He heaved a sigh, and tossed some bits onto the table. Finally he got up and turned to make his way out of the restaurant.

"Are you sure that you're okay sir?" The waitmare called out loudly as he disappeared.

"Yeah, sure I'm fine, really," he responded, then started walking home.

What the hell am I supposed to do now? Seeing Rainbow tomorrow is going to suck... But I can't really dodge the subject, since she knows Rarity. Maybe Rainbow can figure something out. Either way, I'm going to have to apologize to Rarity sooner than later apparently. But how do I get her to stop shouting at me long enough to even be able to say something?

Chrome was occupied with that last question, it bounced around his head unable to come up with a satisfactory answer the entire way home.