That's it. That's enough. I've had enough stress with this already. I just have to unwind. Relax. Enjoy it. What's it called when a mind is thinking furiously about relaxation? Whatever it was, it took quite an emotional toll on Twilight. This relationship is fantastic. Remember, you agreed. You started it. You love her. The unicorn paused her little early-morning pacing routine to ponder this thought her mind so willingly came up with. Love her. Love her?

Shut up, brain. Yes, I do. I love her. Is that so hard to understand? she scolded herself, and resumed pacing, but with less frustration-induced rage. I love being around her, she's funny, she's not... not bad-looking, and when we kiss, I get that feeling. That really good feeling. A warmth tickled her spine as if on cue. It's gotta be love.

She smiled to herself, and sighed contentedly, closing her eyes and standing calmly in repose. She'd finally lost the frustration that had been building up in her over her own ignorance. Now that questions had been answered, she could just be. Be in meditation, be in love, be in a relationship - just be.

Now what?

Her brow furrowed, and she shook her head, which was now pounding out a symphony on Twilight's temples. Pacing was exercise - maybe the only exercise she got on a daily basis. Maybe early-morning exercise wasn't such a good idea. She put a hoof against her sore skull. Yeah, what now? What comes next? What do I do?

"Hey, Twilight -"

Her thoughts interrupted, she reared back in shock and gasped dramatically. Spike raised an eyebrow and snorted at her reaction. "So, doin' your daily Pinkie pace?" he asked, trying badly to hold back laughter.

"That's not fair! It's - it's not daily! And it's not always about Pinkie!" she protested, but Spike dismissed her argument with a wave of the hand.

"Alright, don't get your panties in a bunch."

"I - I don't even own panties!!" she replied, indignant.

"Calm down. Jeez. I'm just joking," he finished with a chuckle. "Somepony's in the library looking for you. I told her you'd be downstairs in a second."

"It's not just Pinkie and you're being funny, right?"

"No. Never seen her before in my life."

"Oh. Yeah. I'll just follow you out. I'm exhausted."

Spike opened his mouth as if to speak, but thought better of it, shrugged, and turned to walk out, Twilight trotting alongside.

"Gee, you're chipper," he commented dryly. "Did you have a good auto-conversation?"

"Honestly, I did," she replied, grinning. "You couldn't have popped in at a better time."

"Twilight Sparkle, ma'am?" a young mare's voice came from below. When she came into view, Twilight could see her caramel coat and bright, styled copper hair. She was wearing a shoulder-slung, well-worn saddlebag and her horn was filed to a neat point.

Twilight stepped off the staircase and smiled politely. "Good morning, miss. How can I help you?"

The visitor smiled, and held out a hoof in greeting. "Good morning to you, too, Miss Sparkle. I'm Penny Lane. I'm just stopping by real quick with a donation I'd like to give to the library."

Twilight laughed, accepting the hoofshake. "Oh, that shouldn't take long at all. I'll get the forms, and you can get your donation whenever you're ready."

"Oh, I don't need to go get it, I have it right here." She levitated a nicely bound, aged-looking, thick book out of her saddlebag. It was in generally good condition, and Twilight noticed the golden lettering on the front: Coquere: Coquus Amicum Enim Proficiebat Cibum Parat.

"Oh, wow, Miss Lane, this is in the Most Ancient Tongue. This was before the Common Tongue, before the Queen's Tongue, and just after the Genesis Tongue. I'm pretty sure it's a reprint, of course, but either way, it's still quite rare. You're willing to don-" She cut herself off. An idea just popped into her head: what if Pinkie and her made a day of this? They find a random recipe, Twilight translates, and Pinkie cooks? That's perfect.

"Well, I mean, I couldn't sell it. It's all written in gibber- er - that one language you were talking about."

Twilight glanced at the book again, before levitating it over to her and flipping through it, actively inspecting every page. Everything seemed to be in order. "If I could, Miss Lane -"

"Oh, call me Penny. It's fine."

"Okay, um, Penny, I'd like to buy this book from you."

"What, buy that? Naw. I couldn't. If you really want it, it's my gift to you." She smiled along with Twilight, and, grudginly accepting Twilight's small barrage of thanks, turned to leave the library.

"Oh, um, Penny? One more thing?" She turned back in response. "Um, if I can ask, your dual cutie marks?" she said quizzically, pointing to the visitor's flank.

"Oh, sure, I get that all the time. Um, the comb is for mane styling, and the barbell on the right is 'cause of my one magical ability. You wanna see?" she asked, almost excitedly.

"Most definitely, please!" Twilight replied, instantly enthralled.

Penny suddenly became silent, steadied herself, and her horn began glowing a tannish-gold. A hazy fog of the same color surrounded the employee's desk close to them both, and, in only a few moments, it began to rise slowly, until it was almost ten feet in the air, nearly touching the ceiling of the treehouse. Twilight's eyes grew larger, and her jaw dropped comically. She finally began laughing as the desk was returned carefully to its original position.

"Oh my gosh, Penny, that's amazing! That must be hundreds of pounds! It's solid carved maple!" she gasped, clapping her hooves wildly.

Penny shook her head. "No. You should see me at work for the construction crew. Having just one pony lift something heavy is better than having a lot of ponies lift something heavy. I'm sure you know the unfortunate drawbacks..." she trailed off nervously.

"Either way, that was pretty amazing. Thanks for showing me."

Penny laughed, and waved goodbye as she turned and walked out of the library, leaving Twilight alone, considering a perfect new development.

After staring at the book in a bit of a trance for a few minutes, the idea finally took off in her mind. She trotted out the door, hurriedly grabbing her saddlebag and yelling, "ByeSpikeIgottago!"

Spike raised a hand slowly, and sighed. "Bye, Twi."

If she could whistle while walking to Sugarcube Corner, she would have. It was a beautiful day, and her spirits were high. Now that she was thinking about all the time she was about to spend with her marefriend, her spirits flew. It felt great.

She strolled into the open door, a little buzzer indicating her arrival. She walked up to the counter and looked around behind it, through the kitchen, but there was no sign of life. Anywhere, at all.

She glanced back at the door. Usually, when a door is open, so's the company... apparently, not in this case. She shrugged to herself and turned away.

"Oh, morning, Twilight Sparkle," a familiar voice greeted from behind her.

Putting on the best smile that she could, she turned back to Trixie and nodded. "Hey, Trixie. How you doin' here?"

"Oh, great, fine. Everypony's helpful and nice to me here. In fact, every employee has asked me whether I want to stay with them, instead of where I'm at now. But, I'm fine where I am." She smiled again, and turned away from the other unicorn tithe complicated pastry machinery behind her.

"By the way, I wanted to ask where Pinkie was?"

Without turning, Trixie replied, "She doesn't have a shift today. I would think she's out and about, or just at home." She threw a glance behind her. "I've heard about you two."

Twilight felt a warmth on her cheeks. "D--Did you now?"

"Yeah. Congratulations."

Twilight smiled. It didn't take long at all for Trixie to change. She wondered, for a moment, if she caused it; but soon giggled to herself. Just leave one thing unknown, Twilight. "...Thanks."

From the moment she trotted into the cul-de-sac, she could smell Pinkie's apartment. It had to be Pinkie's apartment; she wouldn't forget the warm apply scent of those amazing cupcakes anytime soon.

She grinned and continued her cheerful walk across the tiled street, her mind slowly beginning to fill with memories. She remembered the cupcakes first - one of the best things she'd ever eaten. Second, she remembered the first kiss she'd ever had, and who she had it with.

See, this is what I was talking about, brain. Just be happy, she thought, giggling to herself. She bounced up the stairs and knocked a few times on the short Germanic door.

She let out a yelp as two pink hooves threw open the door, grasped her behind the neck, and dragged her into the apartment. With a dull thud, she slammed into the pink earth-pony staring in front of her, and they tumbled back together. When they stopped, Twilight was standing in a rather awkward position over Pinkie, who grinned widely.

Twilight's muzzle turned a shade of maroon and she carefully stepped over Pinkie, letting her pop up and begin bouncing in place. "Thank Celestia you're here, Twi! I have to get the potluck going, and it starts in an hour, so I have to gather up all the food and stuff once the cupcakes are done, then I have to -"

"Hold up for a second, Pinkie!" Twilight interrupted. "What's the deal here? How'd you know that was me at the door? Why'd you pull me inside?"

Pinkie giggled. "I have a sixth sense for these kinds of things, Miss Sparkle," she said jokingly.

Twilight's shocked expression slowly changed into one of amusement. "You got me, Pinkie," she acceded, smiling. "I have no idea how you do it."

"Well, because you're my marefriend, silly!" she giggled again, walking into the kitchen and leaving Twilight behind her, genuinely flustered. "That's why I try. Now will you help me finish this batch up? All that's left is the icing," she finished, flipping the hot cupcake in out of the oven with a flourish.

Twilight shook her head and followed Pinkie, inhaling deeply to savor the scent. "So there's no way at all I can ruin these?"

"Not as far as I can see. All I want you to do is fill the icing bag. You think you got that?"

Twilight laughed. "I think I can handle it, Pinkie."

She walked over to the corner of the counter with the bowls of freshly-made orange and red icing, and stared for a few seconds at the empty bags and the little metal things next to them.

"Pinkie?" she asked. "Could you show me how?"

Pinkie turned from the cooling rack and grinned.

Everything was as it should be, and the world was perfect. Exactly what she wanted. Baking, smiling, and closely embracing her marefriend.

Pinkie had one foreleg gently laid over Twilight's neck, and was leaning against her happily, going through the icing step-by-step. Since, of course, telling Twilight how to fill the bags didn't take too long, it kinda bled over into the actual decoration. Not that Pinkie was complaining, though; more time spent hugging her marefriend was fine with her.

After maybe the second decoration, Twilight interrupted Pinkie's instruction. "Can I try one for myself?"

"You're not gonna eat it, right?" Pinkie joked.

"Of course not. I'm not five, Pinkie, I have self-control. Even if your cupcakes are the best things ever," she added, causing a short round of laughter between the two. Twilight picked up the bag carefully with her magic and started drawing the tip slowly across the surface, in the cross-hatching pattern Pinkie was explaining.

She didn't totally botch it, but it wasn't perfect. "Not bad for your first time," Pinkie commented, picking it up and looking it over. She looked over at Twilight, who just giggled and grinned. He eyes eventually strayed to the shining clockface hanging above the kitchen doorframe, and gasped, throwing the cupcake in the basket already full if the other iced ones and picked it up with her mouth.

"Twi! We gotta go! We only have fifteen minutes to set up!" she shouted, and trotted briskly out the front door, leaving Twilight to follow. And lock up.

The pair arrived not a moment too soon. Checkpoint Hill overlooked all of the farming fields to the East; the perfect place for anything. Anything at all, really, Pinkie thought, looking over the plains below and back to Twilight. A few images of poofy white dresses, necklaces, and parties flashed through her mind before she shook her head, almost laughing. Nice try, Pinkie.

Without too much conversation, Pinkie and Twilight laid out the three neon, party-flavored blankets across the ground and began unpacking the cupcakes and a few other things Pinkie just happened to bring.

"Pinkie, is that a boombox?" Twilight asked, as Pinkie pulled all sorts of compact-sized things out of the little basket she was carrying.

"Yup!" she replied cheerfully. "And here's some balloons, and here's a few extra cassettes I snatched on my way out. Oh, and of course, I never go anywhere without my party cannon!" she finished, trotting down the hill for a moment and trotting back up with a confetti-covered cannon in tow.

Twilight looked around at all the party supplies Pinkie had obviously planned to bring, and stuttered, "How- why- when did you -"

"Howdy, everypony!" Applejack called, walking up the hill with a cart and her family following her. "Ah see we're a bit early."

"Oh, no, no, wait, AJ!" Pinkie shouted, waving her hooves wildly. "You don't get to see it yet! I'm not done decorating!" She turned and pulled the cannon to the front, aiming at the gnarled tree growing out of the top of the hill and firing in one smooth movement. A blast echoed across the valley as the tree was instantly converse in streamers and confetti. "Okay, done!" She grinned and bounced in place.

Applejack had already pulled the cart onto the hill and snapped it open with a flourish, proudly revealing great-smelling, apply wares. Applebloom soon went off to skipping around in the meadow a bit, Pinkie was making a crucial entertainment adjustment, and the rest of the guests soon got caught up in an interesting conversation about bears.

The rest of the guests turned up sometime in the next ten minutes. Fluttershy walked up carrying a shiny covered dish on her back, Rarity and Sweetie Belle walked in just after with meringue cookies ("I made them myself." "I helped!"), and then the floodgates opened.

Derpy crashed into the tree, Carrot Top climbed to the top of the hill exhausted, Colgate popped out from behind the tree, scaring the dickens out of a few colts who showed up a few minutes before, and Lyra and Bon-Bon skipped in happily alongside one another. It was only when ponies began showing up that Twilight didn't know that it finally dawned on her.

"Pinkie," she began, pulling her aside. "You know everypony in Ponyville."

"Yeah?"

"You invited everypony you know."

"Yup!"

"So..."

Pinkie stared at the shocked lavender unicorn and burst into laughter. "Oh, just the expression on your face... absolutely priceless!"

Twilight looked around at the massive mob now bleeding from the hill into the fields below. "Pinkie. How are you gonna handle this? You have some balloons and a boombox."

"I'd eat my tail if Vinyl didn't bring some kinda music."

"That's not what I was - how'd you even get her to come?"

"Oh, she knows about my parties." She paused, a faraway look in her eye. "They have quite a reputation."

As a matter of fact, Vinyl was in a conversation down in the fields, her saddlebag speakers ever-present and blasting out her latest work. Pinkie caught a riff and giggled. "There she is."

Twilight smiled, and leaned over to kiss her quickly. "Well, you know what you're doing. I'll get out of your way."

"No, wait!" Pinkie said, catching Twilight on her shoulder. "Don't go yet."

Twilight turned back to her, staring into her light blue eyes and smiling. "Alright. What do you wanna do?"

"I wanna talk to Lyra and Bon-Bon."

"You - oh. What?"

Author's Notes:

And with that pathetic cliffhanger, I have some people I wanna give a shout-out to. First, my thousandth tracker, Gypsinessity. If you're there, brony, give me a comment. Also, of course, I wanna shout to General_Link, who kept me from stopping myself completely on my first story, and some of my larger fans, Craterfist and Flutterdashguy. Also, shouts to Crukan Xyloniac. I love you guys, Jesus loves you guys, just keep readin'!