//------------------------------// // 11. Laughter // Story: The Legend of Friendship - Harmony // by Danieru //------------------------------// Toys N Stuff That was the name of a toy store in Ponyville. It was also the workplace of the local prankster, Crash, who while doing his job seriously, most of the time, some times tend to spent his time playing around with toys whenever he got bored. This was one of those times... "Alright soldiers! Are you ready!?" He asked towards a bunch of toy ponies right in front of him, that he placed carefully to look like an army that was about to charge into battle. He was also wearing a soldier helmet to cement his position as the commander of this little toy army. "Listen!" He then said in a serious tone before he was about to give a speech to his soldiers. "Your hearts may be little but if you work together as one, your hearts will become one as well! Into a giant one! And that is what we need to defeat our dreaded foe!" He said before he pointed at the target in front of his army, which consisted of a black coated stuffed toy pony. "Now march forward my soldiers!" Of course, the toy soldiers didn't move on their own so Crash had to move every single one of them by hoof, which he didn't mind at all, he was having fun after all. He was fiddling around with some little toy catapults and fired some tiny rubber balls at the stuffed toy. "Fire!" He shouted with an almost maniacally tone and a determined grin on his face like he was some kind of evil emperor or something. After firing a few rubber balls at the stuffed toy for a few seconds, it eventually fell down, and Crash let out a victorious laugh. "We did it! Victory! Victory! Victory!" He repeated over and over again, not realizing how many ponies walking by looked at him as if he was completely out of his mind, which probably wasn't too far from the truth. In the middle of his victorious laughter however, the ground started to shake and he looked in surprise to see another opponent closing into his army. "What's this!? Can it be!?" He said as he took a good look at his next enemy. "It is the Pink Giant! The most fearsome enemy of the Crash Army!" He announced as he readied another shot with his tiny catapults. "Fire!" He then said before the ball hit the pink giant, making it not even flinch in response. "Hey there, Crash! Watcha doing?" The giant replied happily, who turned out to be Pinkie Pie, the pink coated party planner of Ponyville. "Working," the stallion casually replied, which of course was far from the truth for everyone who would see him "working" like this. He then started picking the toys up again to place them into their respective place again. "Do you need some toys, Pinkie?" He asked at the same time. "Nope, not today!" She replied as she bounced next to the stallion, helping him to put back some toys as well, grabbing them with her mane, something that didn't seem to be weird for the stallion at all. "I just dropped by to give you the newest invitation to one of my parties!" She said before she took out a letter that was hidden inside of her mane and gave it to the stallion. "Uuuuh!" Crash said in reply before he ripped it open to read its content out loud. "Pinkamena Diane Pie, aka Pinkie Pie, hereby invites you... to a party!" He said in excitement. "However!" He continued as he noticed that the letter was going further than usual. "You will not attend this party as a guest...huh?" He said confused after reading that bit of the letter. "Go on," Pinkie Pie simply said with an excited smile on her face, as if she was waiting for Crash to get to the end of the letter. Crash did exactly that. "You will attend this party as an..." he paused after he read the last word and widened his eyes. "...Entertainer!?" He said in shock, his mouth open in disbelieve. "Uh huh!" Pinkie Pie nodded before she explained. "You see, there happen to be two different ponies who want a party on the same day, at the same time, in two different locations. Of course, as a professional party planner, I couldn't let down any of them so I accepted both their requests! But...I can not be at two parties at the same time," she then paused and thought for a moment. "If there was only a way to clone myself," she mumbled while she tipped her chin a few times before returning to her explanation again. "Anyway, that is when I thought about you!" Crash began to grin widely. "Because I know how to make ponies laugh and how to have a good time!" He said confidently. "You sure do!" Pinkie Pie replied. Crash began hopping up and down on the spot in his excitement. When it came to throwing parties, there was nopony who was better at it than Pinkie Pie, and the fact that this exact pony asked him for help to take care of one party, felt like a huge honor to the stallion. Of course, he accepted right away, he never hosted a party before so this was his chance to spread a lot of laughter. Pinkie Pie said that she could easily set up two parties on the same day but she knew how much laughter Crash was spreading through Ponyville every day and believed that he was more than capable to take care of one party. She also had to admit that she was curious about how Crash's party would turn out in the end. Of course, the stallion was eager to accept this task from Pinkie Pie and assured her that he will do his very best to come up with a really awesome party. So much that Pinkie Pie herself got excited. "I'm looking forward to it!" She said as she hopped up and down on the spot before she left again, fully trusting that Crash will take care of everything. When the mare was gone Crash instantly had his mindset to the party that he was about to prepare. Having the best party planner to task you with taking care of one of her parties was a once in a lifetime chance for him. If he would be successful with that he would surely get a boost in reputation as well, something that was just too tempting for him. "This will be...Awesome!" Was the only thing that he could think of at this very moment before he went back to his..."work". Later... Summershine, Happytrade, and Star Twinkle heard already the news about Crash's mission to prepare this party. Tomorrow the party was supposed to be done so Crash was heading home after work and decided to prepared everything. He was very passionate when it came to pretty much everything so of course, he went right to it. Knowing how Crash was about to handle things, however, was exactly what made some of his friends nervous. They were walking over to Crash's house to take a look at what he came up with so far. On their way, Happytrade openly shared her opinion on the whole thing. "A bad idea?" Star Twinkle asked confused after he listened to Happytrade's words. The mare backed down a little after hearing this response. "Well, not necessarily bad. but..." she then paused, trying to find the right words. But Summershine was the one who finished her thoughts. "I get what you mean," he said agreeing with whatever Happytrade was thinking about. Star Twinkle was the only one who felt left out at this moment, he would have expected his friends to be fully supportive of Crash after hearing that news but that was clearly not the case for some reason. "Come on, we are his friends we should believe in him more," The two ponies almost felt bad that Star Twinkle was defending Crash, something that they should do as well. "We do!" Happytrade said almost offended. "It's just...you know how Crash can be! Sometimes he can get a little bit...overboard..." she explained. The green pony was kinda getting what Happytrade but he felt as if he should defend the Crash further. "When did Crash ever go too overboard?" He said in a little hesitant tone as if he wasn't believing his own words. Summershine was quick to answer that question. "How about that one time where he was pulling pranks on everypony in town, and driving everyone crazy with it?" Star Twinkle didn't expect an answer but he decided to defend Crash again. "I mean, recently," he said in a desperate attempt. Again, Summershine was quick to answer. "That was just a while ago, in fact..." he said, making Star Twinkle take back his words about Crash. Happytrade explained further. "That is why we are a little bit concerned about all of this and decided to check on him, you know, to see if he does something like that again...just in case..." To a degree, Star Twinkle had to admit that this was not such a stupid idea. Hearing that he was putting everypony through some rough times, got him a little weary. It couldn't hurt to just check on him and maybe look after what he has planned for the party to see if he wasn't going too far. With those goals in mind, the three ponies arrived in front of Crash's door. He was most likely already planning everything for the party tomorrow. Happytrade knocked on Crash's door and shortly after, Crash's voice replied to it. "It's open!" The muffled voice told them, asking them to come in as if he already knew who was coming to visit him. The three ponies didn't hesitate to slowly open the door. What confused them was that there were no lights on inside the house, giving the three ponies quite a shill. Crash was inside though so it's not like something happened to him or Celestia knows what other scenarios were inside of their heads after only seeing darkness in front of them. Still, walking inside the house with not being able to see anything was still nerve-wracking for the three. "Why are the lights not on, Crash?" Summershine said, asking the most obvious question in the room right now. The only response that the stallion got was some evil giggles that came from Crash somewhere inside of this darkness. Summershine did not feel comfortable hearing this at all but he continued to walk inside despite his second guesses. But proved to be even more stressful than he expected, once the door was slammed shut behind him and his friends. Happytrade and Star Twinkle shrieked in shock after this surprise. Soon, Crash began talking, slowly and menacingly. "I want to play a game..." he said like a sick maniac who just trapped some clueless victims in some kind of trap. Star Twinkle, while he was getting really nervous by now, asked. "What kind of game?" In an instant, the light was turned on again and Crash revealed himself to stand right behind the stallion, "Pin the tail to the pony?" He casually asked with a big grin on his face, which was enough to make Star Twinkle jump in shock and landing into Happytrade's front hooves, who while still being scared a bit by those events grinned at the stallion's behavior in the eye of fear. Things returned to normal, as best as it could, and the group saw the colored decorated room that they were standing in. Crash clearly used his own home to set up some kind of idea of how to decorate the party tomorrow. The three ponies figured as much before they even arrived at his house. "So, what do you think?" Crash asked, most likely wanting to hear what his friends thought about the decoration around him. The three ponies looked around closely. While it did look really colorful and impressive at first, at a closer look, everypony noticed how randomly just some random objects were placed at random spots. Balloons that were not blown up yet, confetti and streamers were scattered on the furniture or rather stuck on them randomly, and some board games were placed on the ground with all pieces scattered around in the whole room, instead of on the boards. The three ponies looked at each other, fishing for an answer that someone of them hopefully would provide. But no reply came, which made Crash wonder a little. "I just take a guess that you are not saying anything because you are so impressed?" He asked while he kept up an obviously forced smile on his face. "Uh..." Summershine started before he realized he didn't know exactly what to say. "How to say it..." Happytrade continued while she also tried to figure out what exactly to say without upsetting Crash. "It's a mess..." Star Twinkle then bluntly said, causing the two ponies next to him to slap their faces in response. The reaction that they got from Crash was not exactly what they expected. He started to rub his mane in frustration. "I know!" He exclaimed. "This is horrible! Pinkie Pie trusted me to take care of this party and here I am not even knowing what to do!" Seeing his friend frustrated like that quickly made Summer go supporting the stallion. "Hey don't worry, the party is tomorrow isn't it? So you still have some time to prepare," he explained. But Crash quickly rushed to Summershine's side. "But what if I don't!?" He asked in a panic. "What if I mess everything up!? I never threw a party before so what exactly do I need to do!?" He said as he grabbed his friend's head, shaking it in the process. "Shouldn't you have thought about that before you accepted Pinkie Pie's request?" Star Twinkle pointed out, which were words that made sense but didn't really help right now. Crash then laid down on the ground, seemingly giving up already. "Maybe it would be better if I just tell Pinkie Pie to pick somepony else...or let her take care of it. She did say that she could easily take care of two parties if needed after all," the stallion then let out a huge sigh just thinking about how the mare would react to this. "Boy, will it feel bad to let her down..." To think that the usually upbeat and positive pony was down to this, certainly worried his friends, who were watching him in this moment of defeat. It was really important to him to show Pinkie Pie how good of an entertainer he was and he really didn't want to let her down with her request. But after realizing that it was a little bit harder than he expected, that was all forgotten and he just worried about how bad the party would end up with him being in charge of it. Summershine, Happytrade, and Star Twinkle didn't need to speak to each other in this situation and seemed to have come up with the exact same conclusion for all of this. "Then let us help you!" Summershine said, with a determined expression on his face, which was shared by his two friends as well. The stallion looked up to the three of them in confusion, it was as if he didn't know the meaning of those words. "Yes!" Happytrade added. "If we and the others help you out, then there is no way that you will ruin this party!" By now, Crash was sitting up on his flank. "I don't know. I was supposed to be taking care of this party so..." he replied, trying to recall if Pinkie Pie said something against that or not. But Star Twinkle had a pretty convincing argument for that ready. "I'm sure, Pinkie Pie, the mare who likes to make friends with everypony she meets, wouldn't mind if you ask for some help from your friends," Slowly, Crash was forming a smile on his face. "You would really do this for me?" He asked happily. His friends nodded in reply. Of course, they would help out a friend in need, they didn't even have to think about this once. It was important to them that Crash was pulling this off and his task became their task now, and they would put the same effort into all of this like his would. Before the group could discuss everything through, they decided to fetch the rest of their friends to come and help, leaving Crash in his house, so that he could take a break and let the bulk of this work taken care of from them. The stallion couldn't help but smile warmly once he was alone again. "What would I do without you all?" He asked himself, as he waited for the return of his friends. Later... As expected, Summershine, Happytrade, and Star Twinkle brought back, the rest of their friends, which included, Brilliance, Lightbeam, and Nightsky, all of them ready to help out as well. Just like Crash before, the six ponies were setting up a party inside of his room as preparation for the real thing, the next day. Everything looked a lot more sorted and made sense when it came to the general rules of decoration. Crash also looked a lot happier seeing how the room was decorated like this. There were drinks and snacks laid down on a table, games like pin the tail on the pony or apple bobbing were also in the room for some entertainment. If the party on the next day would look even remotely like this then there was no way that Crash would disappoint Pinkie Pie. "Crash, Crash!" Happytrade was saying in a singing voice as she entered the door to his room. "I got some ponies who will take care of the music for the party!" The stallion's ears were standing right up as soon as he heard that. "Nice!" He replied excitedly before he rushed towards the mare who was standing next to some well-dressed, and almost snobbish looking ponies, who had instruments with them that looked like as if they were really, really expensive. The stallion looked around and tried if he could spot those so-called musicians that Happytrade spoke of. Surely it wasn't those ponies, who were equipped with violins, flutes, and harps. "Where are they?" He asked confused. Happytrade gave back a confused expression. "You're looking at them!" She replied as if it was the most obvious thing ever. Needless to say, Crash was caught off guard by that answer. While those ponies next to Happytrade didn't look like bad musicians, they were certainly not what he expected her to bring for a party. They more looked like musicians that you would want at a wedding and not musicians that would play some upbeat music for a party. It also didn't help when the stallion asked for those musicians to play something, what he got was pretty much what he expected, slow and more elegant music, instead of cheerful and upbeat one. Still, Crash didn't say anything, maybe he was actually wrong and this is the kind of music that would be more fitting. He thought back at his breakdown, a while ago and figured that he should give those musicians a chance, he didn't know any musicians anyway so any at all was still better than none. The Earth Pony mare and her musicians were walking inside his room, probably to play some more music somewhere in the background and when the stallion was about to close the door again, the next mare entered the room. "Hey! I'm back!" Lightbeam announced as she stepped inside. "And I brought the clown!" She added. "A clown!?" Crash said in excitement. "Now this is an idea that I can finally get behind!" He added, waiting for this clown to enter the room. However, again, his expectations were again turned upside down once he saw this so-called clown. While the pony was dressed and looked like a clown based on his outfit and makeup, the build of him was really big, muscular, and almost threatening, something that you don't really want in somepony who is supposed to be making others laugh. In fact, the clown had a rather serious expression on his face, causing Crash to get a little bit scared, especially after he asked for a smile from him. But before Crash could even address that, Happytrade walked up to the two with a bothered and confused expression on her face. "We can't have a clown at this party!" She demanded. Crash and Lightbeam both looked upset. "Why not?" They asked in unison. "Because formal music doesn't go well with clown nose honking!" Happytrade explained before one musician, almost on a clue, stepped next to the mare and played on his violin, as if he wanted to support her statement. Lightbeam gave a quick answer. "You're not supposed to play formal music at a party in the first place!" She replied. There was a lot of argument going on between the two, something that wasn't needed right now. Crash tried to diffuse the situation but the two mares wouldn't listen, causing him to get a little bit panicked. But then rescue came, and it came in the form of Summershine. "We can try both," he suggested, much to the confusion of both of them, wanting him to explain further. "Those two things may not go well together but you have to remember, that Crash is the one throwing it. That means it is bound to be unique, right?" He pointed out. After hearing that, both mares were up to give this combination a chance even if they didn't really like it. Crash was actually the one who was against that idea the most, but once again, he gave in, trusting his friends with all of this. They were putting a lot of thoughts into this party, after all, at least that's what he was telling himself. With this little problem out of the way, he was looking around the room and found some snacks on a table. There were cookies, some cake, and even cupcakes, homemade from what it looked like as well. "Don't mind if I do!" Crash said before he tasted one of the cupcakes, throwing it whole into his mouth. What followed was sweat flowing down his face and widened eyes. Seconds later, he spits out the cupcake in the next nearby trash bin. He couldn't even explain how bad the taste of something as delicious looking, and even smelling could be. "Hey, Crash," Brilliance then said as she approached the stallion, who was still trying to clean his tongue with his hooves to get that taste away, which didn't work all too well so he chooses to ignore it the best he could and listened to what Brilliance was talking about. "Want a taste? I made all of that myself. It was quite some work but I think it ended up well," the mare explained as if she wanted to boast with it, even though she sounded as emotionless as ever. That explained a lot, Crash thought. He was well aware that Brilliance wasn't the best cook or baker. He was one of the unfortunate ponies who had to taste test some things from her before and the results were similar to what he ate just now. Looking back, the stallion had no idea how she could be that bad at cooking or baking, considering that she probably learned everything from a cookbook. When it came to books, the mare was highly capable to take in information so it was a complete mystery how she couldn't make her food tasty at all. Of course, Crash was highly disagreeing with the whole "ended up well" statement after tasting only one cupcake but he didn't want to hurt his friend's feelings so he just lied in her face that they were very tasty. Brilliance was happy to hear this, at least that's what Crash thought, he couldn't quite tell based on her facial expression. When the stallion was walking around the room, he was having second guesses about some things but he tried to smile and not let anypony see what he was thinking. Star Twinkle walked up to the stallion. "Hey, Crash!" He greeted the pony with a smile on his face. "Everything looks quite good, right?" He asked. "Uh...yeah, of course, it does. You all helped me out here after all," Crash replied in a rather uncomfortable voice, something that Star Twinkle didn't seem to notice. "Yes. It's really fun to help out with this party," Star Twinkle said as he watched everypony working together. "If the party, tomorrow will look even remotely like this then surely everypony will remember you as the one who threw this party," "...Yeah..." Crash replied, ironically that is what he was fearing would happen. Summershine also walked next to the stallions. He overheard what Star Twinkle said and couldn't agree anymore. "It sure was a little bit exhausting to put all of this together but you know what?" He started, waiting for Crash to reply, even though Summershine continued anyway. "Knowing that we could help you with all of this makes us all really happy," As soon as Summershine said that, all of his friends were looking at him with a smile on their faces. Seeing that made Crash only more nervous. He didn't want to look nervous or worried just when everypony was looking at him like that and put on a forced smile and once he noticed how everyone was waiting for a response of him he simply replied: "Yes, I'm happy that you all help me with this party," Everypony smiled even brighter than before after hearing that and went back to work with even more enthusiasm. By now, Crash was having a really bad feeling that things might not turn out well, for the party tomorrow. The music was not fitting, the clown was scary and the food tasted bad. But saying all those things right now, while everypony was putting so much work into all of this, not to mention that they were doing all of this because of him made it really hard to tell them that he didn't like some of the things they did. Later that night... The preparations for the party were pretty much done and all that had to be done was doing the exact same things at tomorrow's party. It was exactly that which made it hard for Crash to fall asleep. He was laying there with his bed covers on him and his eyes focused at the ceiling, wide open and with concern in them. All he could think about was how the party would look like tomorrow. After observing how the "test party" earlier this day looked like, he had to admit that he would have made quite a few changes but his friends put so much work into everything, which prevented him to speak up to that in time. He knew that worrying about that right now was only preventing him to get some sleep so the stallion tried his best to ignore those concerns and closed his eyes in hope to fall asleep fast and before he knew it, that is just what happened. The real fun, however, started in his dreams... ... As expected, Crash was having a dream about the party. The stallion was already part of it and watched how everypony was having fun, which in turn, made him really happy. But as soon as he was feeling safe, everything turned upside down. The balloons that were placed all around the room started to swirl around him, blurring his vision, even blinding him for a moment. He closed his eyes in order to not get dizzy and as soon as he opened them again, everything was on fire, the balloons, the food, everything except the ponies attending the party. Shock was the only thing that was visible on his face right now. He knew that things would maybe derail a little bit but this was just too extreme. Just when things started to get even more dramatic, a mare was coming out from a bowl of punch. Crash didn't even question how that was possible, first because there were other things happening in the room, and secondly because the pony who came out of the bowl was none other than Pinkie Pie. The mare pointed at the stallion with an angry face. "You did this!" She said over and over again until everypony else in the room did the same, completely forgetting that everything was on fire right now. Crash could swear that the words were getting louder and louder by the second. He tried to cover his ears but it didn't help at all. "No! I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" He repeated in hope that everypony would stop, closing his eyes in the process. ... With a scream in terror, the pony finally woke up again. Heavy breathing was the only thing that could be heard inside his bedroom. Nothing was on fire, that was a good start for Crash. Due to the shock, it took him some time to figure out what happened. "Oof! It was just a dream..." he said in relief while he sat up on his bed with some sweat coming down from his head. "Or rather...a nightmare..." he corrected. While he was relieved that the things he saw were just a dream, it actually made him worry that something similar would happen today. But before he could even consider that, something else was shocking him at the very moment. The time... "Oh, no! I'm late!" The stallion exclaimed as he looked at the clock hanging on the wall across the room. He woke up one hour too late. The party already started and he, the one who was originally supposed to take care of it, was late. As if things weren't bad enough already. Without thinking, and much preparation, Crash was getting ready and left the house within a minute. He ran as fast as he could towards the house where the party was held at, which was actually quite a march through Ponyville. He earned some glances from other ponies who were wondering why he was speeding through the town in this hurry. Of course, Crash couldn't care less about what ponies were thinking about that, not that he would have under any other circumstances anyway. "Please don't be on fire! Please don't be on fire! Please don't be on fire!" Crash told himself over and over again as he ran towards the house where the party was held. It didn't take long until he saw the house. "There! Please don't be a total catastrophe!" He prayed to Celestia as he ran faster and faster now. However, he soon slowed down. He decided to think about the situation a little bit more logically. Suddenly, he felt stupid. "What am I thinking?" The stallion said as he was approaching the house where the party was held at, slowing down in the process. "I'm overreacting. Surely the party won't be that bad," he told himself, calming down in the process. "And even if things don't go exactly as planned, I will do my best to make it work in the end!" He said determined to deal with everything that might comes up. After taking a deep breath, the stallion slowly opened the door and peeked his head slowly inside the room, expecting the worst-case scenario, which would be fire everywhere. He was surprised to not see this happening though, or rather, glad. In fact, he was very surprised about what he was not seeing in this room. Nothing... There was absolutely nothing going on in this house. No cheers or screams, no laughter or crying, just a bunch of ponies standing in the room doing...nothing. The party was held for a little filly in town, who just recently got her Cutie Mark. This party was to celebrate an important event in this pony's life. There were quite a few guests inside this house but none of them seemed to enjoy this party. Right about now, Crash completely forgot his previous concerns and walked inside, looking around confused and without any direction of what was going on. At this party, there were also his friends, who did a pretty good job of decorating this place. As soon as they saw the stallion walk towards the middle of the room, they all rushed towards them, with helplessness literally painted on their faces. "Crash! There you are!" Happytrade said frustrated. "What is going on here?" Crash immediately asked after seeing probably the lamest party ever happening in front of him. His friends didn't even bother to ask why the stallion was late, it seemed like as if they had much bigger problems to worry about now, like making this party a success, or even get it to start from the looks of it. "Everything that we planned isn't quite working," Summershine started before he explained everything that went wrong. "For example, it looked like Brilliance was putting too much spice in some of her treats," he said before he looked at the mare, who was looking away from a little embarrassed. "And the music..." the stallion continued before Happytrade took it upon herself to do the explaining. "Yeah, about that..." Happytrade said before she rubbed her neck in discomfort and smiled awkwardly. "It looks like paying those ponies was far more costly than I originally expected. Can you believe that they wanted me to pay for a hotel room in this town!?" She said, feeling rather offended. Lightbeam took the opportunity to explain her problem as well. "I also messed up with the clown. For some reason, some of the kids thought that he was a little scary," she explained, which surprised Crash not one bit. "I even made sure to get a replacement but..." the mare then moved her head towards a clown who was standing there in the middle of the room. At first glance, Crash didn't recognize that the clown was no other than Nightsky. And as expected, Nightsky wasn't the most perfect candidate when it came to making other ponies laugh so of course, he had a hard time entertaining the colts and fillies. Crash had to admit that all those fails didn't really surprise him, if nothing else, they actually were a lot tamer than what he would expect to happen. For some reason, things started to feel funny. He was the one who didn't know what to do and was so afraid to disappoint Pinkie Pie and now with everypony helping him, things were just as bad. If there was something that he should bad for, then it was having his friends go through all of this and being sad that they couldn't help him. Seeing his friends be upset like this surely was not what he wanted to see now. If he would have gone through with his party on his own, then his friends wouldn't have gotten through all this disappointment and regret. They probably felt really bad that they couldn't help their friend out in his time in need. Of course, Crash was not blaming them at all for all of this. Instead, surprisingly, he was the one blaming himself that his friends put so much work into all of this and felt like as if they were the one who was failing. In reality, it was actually him, who was at fault for giving up this early. Seeing his friends upset like this, and everypony else as well is not what a party should look like, and that was what made him more determined than ever. "Things might not look too good right now but I don't plan on sitting here and let this party stay like this!" He announced as he walked past his friends and ready to make those words come true but not before he said some last words to his friends, who were wondering right about now where he was drawing this determination from. "I think I just gave up too early without trying too much unlike you, who tried your best to make this party a success! What kind of friend would I be if I don't try my hardest as well!?" Despite Crash showing no signs of giving up now, his friends still wondered how the stallion wanted to save this party, and Crash straight replied that he had no idea but he still wanted to try his best. And with that mindset, the party was about to start. Later... Pinkie Pie, who had some time to spare to check up on Crash, was already on her way to the house where the party was at. She happily bounced towards the house and was just about to open the door, Nopony seemed to expect the mare entering the room right now and turned around to face the door only to see a really shocked mare standing at the door. "Oh. My. Celestia." The mare said with a wide-open mouth as she watched what was happening inside this house. It was as if she couldn't truly believe it. Ponies, laughing, and having fun, much more how she expected it. Upbeat and cheerful music played by Lightbeam and Summershine, colts and mares eating sweets that Brilliance was handing out while Happytrade was making them on the spot, entertaining everypony in the process who were watching her. Star Twinkle and Nightsky allowed the little ponies to ride on them so that they could have races with each other. It was beautiful to look at. "This. Is. AMAZING!" The mare exclaimed as she rushed inside the house to jump from one spot to another, admiring how everything looked at this party. "You did even better than I could have ever expected!" She said as she tried to find out where exactly Crash was at this party. Soon, the stallion showed himself, wearing the clown costume that Nightsky wore previously. He clearly felt much more in his element than the Pegasus. "Hey there Pinkie Pie!" He greeted the mare with a grin on his face. Again, Pinkie Pie complimented the stallion on his work at this party. "I knew you would make this party a success but this is way better than I expected! How did you do that!? You must be a natural when it comes to parties!" She figured. But Crash shook his head after hearing all those compliments. "Actually, I had no idea what to do at first and I even wanted to give up completely because I was worried that I would let you down after you were counting on me like this. My friends offered me to help and everything didn't quite work out well," he shared much to the surprise of Pinkie Pie who didn't expect that at all. "Instead, I should have thought about the ponies at the party and how they should have fun. That was the most important thing," he said as he looked around to see only laughing ponies at this party, making him smile as well. "Hearing my friends laugh is the best thing ever...and there is nothing in this world that I wanted to exchange for that," he said happily before he looked back at Pinkie Pie again. "That also goes for everypony else I know," he added. Pinkie Pie sure was caught a little off-guard listening to that story. Here she thought that there was just another party going on but it looks like it all was quite an experience for Crash. An Experience that he will probably never forget. And with that, the party continued, without anything going wrong and everypony enjoying themselves in the process. Still, after the party ended, Crash asked Pinkie Pie to not ask him to throw another one so soon. He didn't know how well his nerves could handle it...