"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.