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.