Pinkie was surrounded by a wall of sound. She could feel the beat surging through her body as she stood in the center of the party. The volume was perfect, just enough bass to make her coat resonate to the beat music. All of the ponies around her were enjoying the music, and as she looked around she realized that all of her closest friends were here enjoying the party. Several ponies were dancing all around her, laughing and reveling in the party she had thrown together.

The sound of their laughter was enough to make sure there was a smile on her face, but she wasn’t really feeling the smile. Everypony was here, sure, except for one pony. She bounced off to the edge of the party, and then as she walked out to the front of the shop, her pace dropped to a slow walk. She apprehensively peered out the window of Sugarcube Corner , her ears drooping slightly as she scanned the skies. Her eyes flicked all around the clouds for any sign of the bright purple mane or gray coat nearby.

“Relax, Pinkie. I’m sure that she’s on her way,” Twilight said gently, and then Pinkie felt a comforting hoof rest against her side.

“I know, it seemed like she was going to come, but what if she doesn’t? I made her cry, Twilight. I made her cry… That’s not like me, I like making ponies smile, and laugh. What kind of crummy friend am I if I make her cry instead?” Pinkie sulked, emphasizing the last bit with an exaggerated pout.

“Pinkie, no matter what happens, I’m sure you’ll find a way to make it up to her. Even if she doesn’t come to the party, you’ll find a way. For now, though, we’re at a party with your friends. So come back and have some fun, okay?” Twilight asked in her best assuring voice, and gently tugged Pinkie back towards the party with a hoof.

Pinkie shot one more glance out the front window, and then nodded sadly with her eyes closed. She stopped on the edge of the party and took a deep breath. Slowly, a smile spread from the corners of her mouth to the edges of her face until she was beaming her usual happy smile. It was difficult, she wasn’t really very smiley right now, but Twilight was right. She couldn’t stop herself from worrying about it, her worry would affect her friends as well. So with that thought and the realization that other ponies relied upon her smiles, she bounced back into the party sporting the biggest smile she could manage. She would keep smiling for her friends, not bring them down with her.

“Heya everypony, are you all enjoying yourselves so far? Our guest of honor doesn’t seem to be here yet, but she should be here soon!” Pinkie exclaimed loudly as all the guests turned to look at her.

She jumped back into the center of the room, right into the center of the thrumming music and started dancing wildly. A few ponies who knew her well stared at her for a few moments, but soon, everything was back to the previous merriment. She managed to keep her smile across her face, with some effort, but her mind kept returning to the thoughts of the what if situations and the implications of the gray mare not showing up.

"What if she doesn’t show up?”

“I already apologized; does that mean she didn’t accept it?”

"But she said that she accepted my apology. Well, she nodded, but that's the same thing right?"

“I was hoping that a party would seal the deal, but I didn’t think she wouldn’t show up. Do I need to apologize again? Was the first one not enough? Does she hate me? What else can I do to show her how sorry I am?”

Pinkie may have let her smile falter a teensy amount, as Rainbow Dash and Rarity were shooting her concerned glances, but she kept bouncing around the dance floor. When the song ended, the dark thoughts started to overwhelm her again. She turned her back to the dance floor and then trotted over to the music setup, taking the excuse to drop the mask temporarily. Her face fell as she was hidden behind the turntables to rifle through the records she had on hoof. She kept her expression hidden from sight, taking a quick opportunity to peek her eyes around the table towards the entrance.

Pinkie’s ears suddenly snapped straight back up and twitched a few times as she thought she heard the front door open. She quickly slammed a new record onto the turntable and then got the music started before she zipped out of the room. She ran right up to the front door, skidding to a stop a few feet away. Her face broke into a genuine smile as she saw a bit of a bright purple mane peeking through the door, followed shortly there afterwards by a shy looking gray face and a pair of lavender eyes.

“You came!” Pinkie nearly yelled in excitement, as she bounced closer to the door. The gray mare’s eyes shot open wider and then her face quickly disappeared behind the open door.

“Oh come on, I’m not going to hurt you. I’m just happy you’re here. Come inside, the party has already started!” Pinkie exclaimed, pulling the door wide open. She stood aside so the gray mare could see, and Pinkie saw her leaning backwards with her ears flat against her head.

The pegasus hesitated visibly, but after a moment, she cautiously stepped through the doorway. Her ears perked up slowly, as she looked around at the welcoming atmosphere. Her eyes slowly passed over the balloons, the streamers, and the large banner over the entrance to the back room. Pinkie couldn’t stop the quiet laugh that escaped her mouth as she shut the door after the pegasus took a few slow steps inside and then watched as her new friend glanced around the room with curious wonder.

“This is Sugarcube Corner; The Cakes run it as a pastry shop. I live here with them and help with the business. They even let me have parties here too!” Pinkie added happily, stepping around to the gray pegasus’ side as the mare continued to look around.

“Oh, by the way…” Pinkie said with a hushed, almost conspiratorial voice.

“Can you write down your name for me? I wanted to introduce you, so that nopony would make the same mistake I did, but then I realized I still don’t know your name,” Pinkie whispered, the smallest hints of concern leaking into her voice.

“I can get you paper and a quill…” Pinkie offered, and looked around the shop quickly for the appropriate instruments.

The gray mare shook her head and, instead, curiously looked around the room herself. Finally, her eyes spied her objective, and then she walked over towards the counter-top next to the register. She raised a fork in her hoof, and gestured with it towards Pinkie.

“A fork? I don’t understand… Oh! Is this about your name?” Pinkie asked excitedly. The pegasus nodded again with a smile, then gestured with the fork again.

“Fork? I still don’t get it. Your name isn’t fork is it? No? Thought so, that’d be kind of a silly name, who would name their foal Fo—“ Pinkie was cut off by another gesture of the fork and giggled happily.

“Sorry, uhh, Fork? I said that already. Cutlery? Tines?” Pinkie asked wildly, and the gray mare shook her head vehemently. The gray mare turned back to the counter-top and lightly chewed on her lower lip as she looked for something else to help her out. She picked up another fork, a spoon, as well as a knife, and then she turned back to show the collection to Pinkie.

“Huh? Silverware?” she guessed, eliciting an excited nod from the pegasus. She gestured with the silverware grasped in her hoof again, then put them back down on the counter-top. She stepped in front of Pinkie’s gaze and tilted her head expectantly.

“What? I don’t get it. Your name isn’t Silverware right? So, why are you shoving silverware in my face?” Pinkie asked looking extremely confused. The pegasus covered her face with one of her hooves, and then slowly dragged it over her features, stretching her face out slowly. She shook her head again, and then with a new look of determination gestured towards the silverware again with a hoof.

“Yeah, I get that part, Silvewa—“ Pinkie started, but was cut off by the gentle pressure of a hoof being applied to her mouth.

“Silverwa? Silver?” she asked with a giggle. Pinkie beamed a bright smile and started to bounce in place, enjoying the way her new friend was making a game out of it.

The gray mare happily nodded back, her mane flipping out wildly from her enthusiasm, and then turned in place. She very clearly showed her side off to Pinkie and then flapped her wings a few times, extremely slowly and theatrically.

“Pegasus? Feather! Ooh, ooh Wing!” Pinkie exclaimed happily. The other mare shook her head a few times, and then nodded excitedly. She pointed at the wing she was offering to Pinkie with a hoof, then turned around and pointed towards the other one as well.

“Both of them? Wings?” Pinkie asked, causing the mare to giggle and nod excitedly. She pointed back towards the pile of silverware, then flapped her wings again with a bright smile.

“Silverw— Oops, silver… wings? Silver Wings? Your name is Silver Wings!” Pinkie concluded excitedly. She bounced around the gray mare in a small circle as she laughed happily. She was certain that she had figured it out, but she stopped after a moment just long enough to check. Her new friend was still smiling and gave her a happy nod of the head.

“Yay! That’s a nice name, can I call you Silver?” Pinkie asked politely and bounced in place happily once more when Silver nodded again emphatically. Silver Wings kept the bright smile plastered across her face, looking even happier than when Pinkie had been singing the welcome song.

“Yay! Ready for your party now?” Pinkie asked, slightly more seriously. She received another quick nod in response, and then bounced in place a few times before she started to lead the pegasus back towards the music.

“Okay then, Silver! Your party awaits!” Pinkie exclaimed.

The moment the two of them entered the room, everypony stopped what they were doing. The dancing stopped, all of the sounds of happy chattering died away, and somehow the music stopped immediately as well. Pinkie and Silver saw all the faces in the room turn towards them expectantly, and the ponies slowly turned the rest of the way towards the doorway. They waited patiently, nopony said anything, all of them waiting and watching Pinkie in particular.

“Alright, listen up everypony!” she exclaimed with a giggle after she realized how unnecessary it was.

“This is Silver Wings. She’s new in town, and well, this party is for her! It’s kind of a welcome party, but there’s a reason it’s smaller than usual. I kind of messed up…” Pinkie admitted bashfully. She turned her gaze down towards her hooves for a moment. She was startled slightly when she felt a hoof rest on her side comfortingly. When she turned up to see who it was, she found that it wasn’t Twilight, but Silver giving her a kind smile.

“Well, long story short, I accidentally made her cry when we first met. I still feel really bad about it, so I decided to throw her a party! This party is to say sorry, and to make her feel welcome to Ponyville. Now, you all are probably thinking “Well, Pinkie, that doesn’t explain why you didn’t invite the entire town like usual!” and you’re right.” Pinkie said excitedly, glancing with a smile back towards Silver. She waited for the gray mare to give her a slight nod before she continued.

“You see, the thing is she can’t talk. Like, not she’s shy, or she’s really quiet. She actually can’t talk. That’s why I messed up you see? I was introducing myself, and rolled out the welcome wagon when I kept asking her for her name. Well she didn’t tell me her name, then I kept asking her questions, and I had no idea what was wrong. I was just so sad that she wasn’t being my friend! So I overreacted a teensy bit, and maybe got slightly frustrated, then she got frustrated because she couldn’t tell me why she was upset!” Pinkie exclaimed, and paused for a big breath.

“Anyway, you’re all here because Silver didn’t want a trademark everyone in town is invited Pinkie party. My wonderfully smart friend Twilight Sparkl— Hi Twilight! Glad you could make it by the way… Oh, right. Twilight helped me figure out the reason she didn’t want a big party. Since she can’t talk, parties are kind of tough for her. So keeping that in mind, I decided to throw her a smaller party! So now you all can be nice and friendly, and make her feel welcome, without overwhelming her. So, just don’t swarm her okay?” Pinkie asked with a bright smile, then turned back towards Silver.

“Make her feel welcome, but keep in mind that I don’t want things to be awkward for her. This should be warm and welcoming, without any of the awkward questions about why she can’t talk," Pinkie concluded seriously, her smile temporarily dropping as she swept her gaze across the room. After making sure that everypony understood and receiving nods from most everypony in attendance, Pinkie burst back into a vibrant smile.

“Okay then, is everypony ready to get this Pinkie party back on the road? Come on Silver let’s dance!” she nearly yelled to room at large and then happily dragged Silver with her to the center of the room. Pinkie started to dance in place wildly, encouraging the gray pegasus to join her. Finally, after a moment’s hesitation, Silver awkwardly joined in. As the rest of the ponies around them started dancing as well and the music kicked back in suddenly Silver’s dancing slowly became more natural and the smile playing across her face widened.

The corners of Pinkie’s face hurt slightly from the, even wider than normal, grin that had burst across her face. She was delighted that things were going according to plan. She checked around the room, then back to Silver. Her new friend was dancing a little bit more enthusiastically, but she still wasn’t into the groove of the music. Pinkie giggled at the silly filly, and started bouncing closer, dancing even more excitedly. Pinkie started getting sillier, trying to make Silver laugh, flinging her limbs around more and more wildly.

Finally, after a minute or so, Pinkie’s goal was achieved. Silver stopped dancing and laughed silently at Pinkie’s antics. With that, the pegasus started dancing again, but this time she danced more freely. She clearly started to enjoy the music more, and danced with Pinkie more in time with the music. Pinkie ceased her exaggerated antics, and returned to a normal level of flailing, clearly glad her friend was enjoying herself now. The two of them continued to dance as the ponies around them cycled in and out of the dance floor for a few songs.

“That was great Silver! You did way better after you started laughing and having fun; you just gotta relax and enjoy it. Let’s get some punch though, I’m thirsty,” she said and then made a path through the dancing ponies towards the refreshments. Pinkie poured out a glass of punch for Silver and then one for herself before she glanced back towards the party. All the rest of the ponies were having fun, and a gentle smile was still stretched across Silver’s face. Everything, so far, was absolutely perfect.

“Hello Silver, hi Pinkie,” Twilight called out from behind them, as she stepped closer.

“Hey Twilight, you having fun?” Pinkie asked excitedly, and poured out a drink for Twilight as well.

“Yeah, I am Pinkie, thanks. It’s nice to meet you properly by the way, Silver. I’m Twilight Sparkle, I don’t remember if I told you that earlier. I’m glad to see you’re smiling now, and it’s clear Pinkie is too. We’re all glad that you decided to come,” Twilight added with a friendly smile.

“Oh, Twilight thanks again so much for your help earlier. I don’t think I would have figured out why everything was going wrong in time without you. We really appreciate it, right Silver?” Pinkie asked happily, and turned to see the pegasus nodding.

“Don’t worry about it, you both looked so upset that I’m just glad I was able to help out. It’s a great thing you’re doing here Pinkie. Also…” Twilight dropped her voice, and looked back at the party conspiratorially. “That was really smart, the way you prevented everypony from swarming her by dragging her out to dance like that.”

“You picked up on that? Yeah, I thought after what we had talked about, it would be bad if everyone swarmed towards the doorway to say hello. Plus, the dancing was fun, right, Silver?” Pinkie asked happily, and received another nod in response as Silver gave a silent giggle as well.

“Anyways, I’ll leave you in Pinkie’s capable hooves, Silver. I’ve had a ton of fun, but I’ll probably be heading out soon, Pinkie. I need to get up and re-shelve the books books tomorrow morning, so I can't really stay too late," Twilight said, and then downed the rest of her punch. She put the glass down, before giving the two of them a wave of the hoof and a playful wink. She then trotted off into the party to say good-bye to the rest of their friends.

Pinkie took her goal of throwing the best possible party for Silver that she could seriously. She stayed with the pegasus for the rest of the party. She made sure that the guests were having fun, but did so with Silver next to her the entire time. Every time things started to get slightly awkward, Pinkie was there to brighten things up and steer the conversation to something else. Each awkward beginning, turned instead to a bright smile from all parties involved. After all the rest of the ponies had met Silver, and another long dance session, the rest of the ponies seemed partied out.

Upon closer inspection, so did Silver, as well. Pinkie could see that past the smile, there was a slight weariness to Silver’s gait. She saw Silver’s ears drooping slightly whenever she didn’t think that Pinkie was watching. Also, Pinkie caught Silver sneaking a few moments to shut her eyes and take a few deep breaths. Pinkie walked with Silver over towards the music and waited for the song to end. Once it did, she turned the next song down, and then looked out towards the remaining partygoers.

“Hey everypony, sorry but we’re pretty much out of time. I think we’ve successfully worn out our guest of honor, and I have to be up to help Mr. and Mrs. Cake in the morning. Thanks everypony for coming and being so nice to Silver. I’m sure she feels much more welcome in Ponyville now, right?” she asked, turning to the pony next to her. Everypony laughed at the emphatic nod Silver gave and at how her ears perked up as she did so.

“Hang on, Silver,” Pinkie said softly, and stuck a hoof out to keep her friend from leaving with the rest of the ponies. Everypony else eventually filed out, each of them wishing a final goodnight to Silver and Pinkie before they did.

“Thanks a ton for coming, I just wanted to say sorry once again…” Pinkie said seriously once they were alone. Her smile dropped away, and her ears drooped slightly as she scuffed her hoof against the floor lightly.

“I’m supposed to be the embodiment of laughter, but I made you cry. I’m really sorry, and I’ll do my best to never ever do it again okay?” she said sadly. Silver tilted her head to the side, looking bemused and pointed a hoof at Pinkie questioningly.

“Oh, the laughter thing? Long story, I’ll tell you about it some other time. Anyways, I’m glad you were able to forgive me enough to come to the party. I hope that you consider me your friend now? And I guess I just wanted to tell you, if you need anything just let me know, okay? Because that’s what friends are for, right?” Pinkie finished, and broke into a hesitant smile. Silver stared at Pinkie for a long moment, and then her face broke into the biggest, brightest smile Pinkie had seen from her the entire night. She punctuated the smile by leaning forward and tossing her hooves around Pinkie’s neck in a gentle hug.

“Stay safe alright? I’ll see you around.” Pinkie hugged Silver back gently, then withdrew and started to walk with Silver towards the door. She saw a few happy tears forming on the edges of Silver’s eyes, but the pegasus rubbed them away quickly with a hoof. When they got to the doorway, Silver looked around the room once more and pulled Pinkie back into a gentle hug.

“Aww, you’re welcome…” Pinkie said with a giggle, then waved a hoof goodbye. She sat on her haunches in the doorway, and watched as Silver flapped her wings a few times before disappearing off into the night.