The Romance of Invention

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.