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?”