A week had gone by without incident. Twilight Sparkle had, at the request of Spike, decided to venture out of her library today for a lunch with her friends. Following the confrontations with her respective friends, she had launched herself into her books, studying various topics. The decision was mostly a therapeutic one, and not based on any real desire to learn. Study relaxed and calmed the mare, and after last week's dealings, she needed some peace and quiet. Time had gone by quickly to her though, but not to Spike, who was tired of cleaning up after Twilight. He had made the rounds and gotten every-pony to go out together for lunch today.

Having been pushed out the door an hour early by her assistant, Twilight decided to take a walk around Ponyville. It had been a while since she breathed any fresh air, and she was beginning to enjoy the fragrances the wind carried with it. Smiling happy to herself she wandered through town, and then stopped abruptly. In front of her stood the restaurant, which was where she was to meet with her friends. Deciding that wandering aimlessly with no real destination and possibly losing track of time was a bad idea, she chose to get a seat outside. Almost immediately a waiter was at her table.

"Anything I can get for you ma'am?"

"Actually, sir, I am waiting for my friends... Could you possibly get a second table and four extra chairs here? I'm expecting 5 others."

The waiter scowled slightly but nodded.

"And I will take a small order of hay fries with a water while I wait." Twilight didn't want to seem like she didn't belong. The mare had read recently that taking up seats and tables without placing a order was rude, and the waiter's scowl had confirmed it. 'Best nibble on something while I wait anyway.'

The waiter brought out the table and chairs, making space for her 5 friends to sit and eat. Shortly later, while she was daydreaming about sweet nothings being whispered into her ear by a white stallion, the waiter brought out her hay fries and water, and left as abruptly as he came. Annoyed at being pulled out of her pleasant thoughts, she slowly picked at her appetizer, while she patiently waited for her friends to arrive.

Rarity was the first to show up, not much later after Twilight had received her hay fries. "Darling, what are you doing here so early?"

Twilight looked at her friend, who was dressed in a simple but elegant dress of purple and blue, with gems in the shape of her cutie mark covering her flank where her actual cutie mark would be. "To be honest, Spike shoved me out of the house and wouldn't let me back in, so I thought it would be best to just come and wait here. What about yourself, Rarity? What are you doing out here so early?"

"A lady like me is never early or late, Twilight; she arrives exactly when she means to. I thought it best to show up fashionably early and prepare our seating arrangements."

"This isn't some high society dinner party, Rarity. I doubt the arrangements need to be done up just so," Twilight said with a smirk. After a quick glance at the Ponyville Clock Tower, she added, "you didn't need to get here 15 minutes early to arrange the tables and chairs, and what I'm guessing is also going to be the napkin and silverware placement."

With a quick change of facial expressions from a gasp, scrunching her face up in anger, to a dejected sigh, Rarity sat down next to her friend. "I suppose you are correct, dear, but I do have a taste for more refined settings."

Patting Rarity on the back, the purple mare dismissed her trouble. "Rarity, I know you have refined tastes but consider the setting; it's just us girls getting together for an enjoyable lunch. Don't you think having everything done up 'just so' would ruin the experience of having a good time?"

As Rarity pouted, Fluttershy and Applejack approached. Fluttershy was the first to speak of the two. "Oh, hello girls," she said in a soft voice.

"How are you, Fluttershy? How have you been?" Twilight asked.

"I'm doing very well, Twilight. Thank you for your concern." Fluttershy and Applejack shared a quick glance and blush at one another, and just as quickly both actions were gone. Had Twilight not been looking at the two she would have missed it completely.

"I take it something happened?" Twilight asked inquisitively, curious about the actions the two mares had shared.

Applejack scrunched up her face and darted her eyes back and forth. "Nope, nothin' happened at all. Why, what makes you think anything happened?"

Having remembered her last conversation with the farmer, Twilight decided it was best to keep her mouth shut. Questions could be asked and answers wrung out if necessary, but in the privacy of one's home... away from ears that need not hear such delicate matters.

As the two new arrivals took to their seats, the Ponyville clock tower rang out the noon chimes. At the second ring, following a gust of wind that upset Rarity's hairstyle, Rainbow Dash appeared hovering above the group.

"Rainbow Dash..." Rarity said, her voice dripping with anger. "Could you perhaps make an entrance that does not upset my delicate mane?"

Rainbow snorted as she landed. "Please I was barely moving, I just didn't want to be late... although I see Pinks hasn't shown up yet. Must be finishing something up at Sugar Cube Corner."

The pegasus took her seat and all of them ordered some appetizers while they waited for their pink friend to arrive. They bide their time chatting about all the different things they had been doing all week. Rarity had made a new dress line which was going to be featured in Canterlot in a upcoming show, Rainbow had been practicing her tricks, Applejack mentioned that she had taken care of some personal issues which had turned out for the better, Fluttershy spoke of a similar topic, as well as her fuzzy friends, and Twilight reluctantly confirmed she had done nothing but study. They easily forgot about the passage of time, busy catching up with one another; but as the clock tower struck one, Rainbow looked around. "Guys... Where is Pinkie Pie?"

In Canterlot, Pinkie Pie was very, very busy. She had a party for a very special purpose to plan, and two of the guests of honor were being somewhat of a stubborn pain in her flank.

"Come on, Prince Shiny! You just gotta!" The pink party mare was on her knees, giving the white stallion the biggest, most teary eyed face she could muster.

Shining Armor however, wasn't so easily moved. She had shown up early that morning and while she had patiently waited during the various activities him and his wife had to perform, every free moment was exactly the same. "Pinkie Pie, please, my name is Shining. Furthermore, you haven't given me or my wife any information as to what this whole party you are trying to plan pertains to," Shining Armor scolded the party mare.

"But I can't tell you! Its a seeeeeeeeeeecret", she hissed, while squinting her eyes. Continuing with her previous statement, she added: "AND a Surprise! Its a super secret surprise!"

"Be that as it may, Pinkie Pie," Princess Cadence spoke, "we cannot simply abandon our duties in Canterlot, even for a day, especially for a super secret surprise party." Cadence ended her sentence with air quotes with the 'super secret surprise party.

Pinkie sighed in defeat. "Ok, I give. I'll tell you a teensy tiny little bit of it but you can't spoil it. I want to throw a party for Twilight, and the two of you. Our friends will be there too."

"What is this party for, Pinkie Pie? Why are we the guests of Honor?" Shining asked, suddenly intrigued as to why the three of them would be getting a party, raising an eyebrow.

Pinkie slitted her eyes yet again. "Seeeeeecret."

"So your plan is to what, exactly?" Cadence asked, beginning to get excited at the prospect of actually having a party which didn't involve Blueblood or some other snooty noble present.

"Ok, see, I need time to set up this super secret special awesome party, and I don't mind doing it at your house. That way you don't have to be bothered with needing to be out of Canterlot if some pesky royal emergencies pop up. BUT I need you two to be... absent long enough for me to set everything up and I can't have you walking in and spoiling the surprise so I thought you two could go to Ponyville and round up Twilight, Applejack, Dashie, Rarity, and Fluttershy." Pinkie exclaimed, and paused to catch her breath.

"You want us to leave Canterlot to go and pick up your friends and my sister, and then come back? How long are we going to be gone? How long is this going to take to set up?" Shining asked, mostly worried what state he was going to return to find his home in. Their 'royal duties' had simply been an excuse to get the party mare off their backs.

Pinkie Pie smiled, and pulled from nowhere a copy of the train schedule. "See, I took the late night train to get here, so I could talk to you in time for you to catch the one o'clock train to Ponyville, which will arrive thirty minutes later. At three thirty is a return train to Canterlot, which will arrive around four. At which point you simply come back home and BAM. Surprise party done up Pinkie Style!"

Shining sighed and looked at his wife. Pinkie Pie had been pestering the two of them all morning long, and both agreed silently that this was the best way to get rid of the pink party mare. After Cadence had shown Shining how to read her mind, they had quickly gotten the hang of communicating through their eyes alone. Cadence however, hid the emotions that would have conveyed her immense joy at the prospect of a party without her distant relatives or any other of the 'elite'. Being that all the other friends were involved and it was being thrown by Pinkie herself as a surprise, she had no idea what could be the premise of the party, but during the wedding she quickly learned that Pinkie Pie will be Pinkie Pie. She felt lucky that her husband decided to play along, and prayed silently that he would enjoy this little activity. Besides, she got to go see Twilight again, and so soon. Why shouldn't they both be happy?

"Do you know where our house is then?" Shining asked, in a last ditch effort to get out of this. The train to Ponyville left in a short amount of time. If they had to walk her back there, they wouldn't make the boarding call.

"Of course, silly, I knocked on your door this morning and everything!" Pinkie exclaimed, giving the two royal ponies a huge smile.

With a final defeated sigh, Shining Armor looked at his wife. "I guess we should head to the train station dear. I hope Twilight isn't too shocked to see us visiting her so soon."

"WHEEEE!" Pinkie yelled, bouncing in the air. Fireworks exploded behind her. "This is going to be the GREATEST PARTY EVER!" Landing on her hooves, she produced a hoof full of tickets for the Ponyville express.

"Where did you get those?" Shining asked, shocked by the mare's antics. "How did you do that? Wait, "Shining paused to count the tickets in the outstretched hoof; "NINE tickets? Why do wee need nine tickets?"

Pinkie Pie shook her head. "Doesn't matter, you two have a train to catch!" Handing the tickets to Shining, the party mare dashed out of the palace.

"Coming sweetie?" the Prince asked his wife, hoping for a fleeting moment she would decide against such nonsense.

"Go on ahead, I'll meet you at the station." Cadence spread her wings and trotted to an open window. "I have an errand to run first."

"Very well. I'll see you shortly, my love."

With their momentary farewells, Shining Armor left for the train station as Princess Cadence left to run her errand.

Twilight Sparkle and her friends had paid for their appetizers, and had asked for their sandwiches to go. The five of them ate their daffodil and cucumber sandwich though, due to Rarity demand, pointing out that eating while walking was improper and uncouth. She had attempted a lecture of her friends on proper eutectic, but they had been inclined simply to block her out. As Applejack once put it, "there's fussy, and there's just plain gettin' on mah nerves." It had taken a short amount of time to order and receive their food to go, as well as more time to unpack and proceed to eat, and them more time still to pay for it all, but Sugar Cube Corner wasn't just next door and the mare's were beginning to get worried.

"I don't understand what could be keeping her. Spike said he personally round up every-pony for this lunch date," Twilight said with a frown, looking up in thought.

"Bout' that sugarcube, ah only got a note handed to be by Big Mac, tellin' me to show up at this place, at this time, else you wuz gonna go crazy again. Ah never saw the little guy," Applejack mentioned, with a shrug.

Twilight scrunched her face up in thought. "That means he could of just dropped a note off at Pinkie's too," the mare whispered, followed by a snort. "We should go and check on Pinkie, she probably didn't even get it."

Once the girls gathered their belongings, after leaving a tip, they made their way to Sugar Cube Corner. The walk was done mostly in silence, everypony having spoken their piece over lunch. It wasn't as long as it seemed before they arrived at the pink party mare's residence. Being a business as well as a home, there was no need to knock, and they walked right in.

"Hello, and welcome to Sugar Cube Corner!" Mr. Cake exclaimed, giving the usual greeting to customers. His head however, was under the counter, and he was unable to know the identities of the group that just walked in.

Twilight was the first to speak. "Mr. Cake, we were just looking for Pinkie Pie. She was supposed to meet us for lunch, but she never showed up."

The stallion stood up, and noticing his company for the first time, gave a slight frown. "Well girls, I don't know what to tell you. I haven't seen Pinkie since yesterday evening."

"Did she leave a note or make any mention of where she was going?" Twilight added.

With a shake of his head, "No, nothing. If I had to guess though, it is most likely party related. She asked for today off work almost a week ago. Didn't give a reason besides giving me that creepy look and hissing 'Seeeeeeeecret' as she usually does whenever a surprise party is in the works."

Twilight audibly gulped and looked to Applejack, who's face had gone pale. "Did ANYPONY mention ANYTHING to Pinkie about... things?" Twilight asked with a shudder.

The other mares all shook their heads no, and for a moment all was quiet. Twilight Sparkle's mind was working in over time, trying to connect the dots between Pinkie's absence, the revelations of the past week, what the party was about, and whom it was for. Given the circumstances, all she could think about was herself. 'Wait... we've been absent from the library for over an hour now...'

"Girls! TO THE LIBRARY!"

"That's your answer to everything!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed, then followed her friends who had already darted out of the door.

Author's Notes:

Unedited as of yet. I'm sure 'someone' will pm me with edits on the fly, but having forgotten about this I will just add and say, 'not dead!' which pertains more to me than anything. If you keep up with the news, if it makes the news anymore, there has been some... interesting things going on where I am.