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// Chapter 9: Bake or Break 
// Story: Penned IN 
// by Qwix 
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	Warmed by cocoa and the hearth, they eventually set out once more, bound for Sugarcube Corner as Twilight had promised Pinkie. It wasn't a fantastically warm day, so they all threw on scarves. Bon Bon said something about needing to get to work; at one point, she bid adieu to the rest of the group and headed off her own way. Only Twilight, Pennaprose, and Lyra remained; a silence hung around them, despite the fair-goings of the townsponies.
The tell-tale jingle of the door to Sugarcube Corner preceded its appearance to them. There was a steady stream of ponies, Pennaprose noticed, looking slightly miffed or concerned. They brushed pass a couple, overhearing mutters about inconvenience, and stepped inside.
The smell of warm pastry and sugar laced the air as too be sickening. Peeking over the counter, a blur of pink was whizzing through the room, making all sorts of squeaks and clanks as bits of dough and icing covered the walls and floor. Twilight smirked, ducking behind the counter and grabbing the rolling pin out of Pinkie's mouth with her magic to grab her attention.
"Busy, I see. Need any help?"
"Oh you don't know the half of it! Maybe a third, maybe four-ninths, but not even half! I showed up with the Cakes working to fill an absolutely Big McMagnormihuge order from a VIP client! I've had to turn away other customers since I showed up, we don't have the time for it!"
Twilight frowned. "…So really big, then? What exactly–?"
"Fifteen cakes, fourty-one dozen cupcakes, and two dozen cherry pies! All ready by eight tonight! I can't stop to breathe, or even stop to think! Except thinking about how to stop to breathe or where I put that thing with the wires or why cherries come in pairs or–"
"Whoa, slow down… That's just insane, how did you plan on getting all that done?" asked Twilight, who was gazing around the messy kitchen with a slack jaw.
"Huh? Besides moving plot ahead at the speed of Dash?" answered Pinkie. "No, why?"
Twilight dropped the pin on the counter. "I know just the thing! You need a plan! And I am the plan you need! All right, first: I need to review the recipes of each to see if we can't multitask..."
Pinkie pulled a sheaf of papers off the fridge and pointed them at Twilight. She took them, ruffling through the sheets at light speed. "Don't worry about the cakes, though, the Cakes are taking care of them in the other room!" said Pinkie as she went back to the chaotic mess of dough and icing atop the counter while Twilight thought. 
In minutes, Twilight looked up once more. "I've got it! Gather round, everypony, here's the plan…
"Pinkie and I will handle making the dough and constructing the pies. Penni, Lyra, you two focus on mixing all the batter for the cupcakes and icing while we work on this. Thankfully, the cupcakes and pies can be cooked at the same temperature; twenty minutes for a batch of cupcakes, thirty for a pie… There appears to enough room in the oven for two pies and two batches of cupcakes, so we'll stick the cupcakes in with the pies, ensuring a rate of six dozen cupcakes and four pies per hour. Its… noon now, so… the cupcakes should all be done cooking by 7:40 and the pies by 7:00! Providing extra time for making the dough and batter, of course… That should give you enough time to frost the cupcakes…"
"Particularly if we make all the dough and batter in bulk now to make time for frosting while the other stuff cooks," Pennaprose chimed in.
"Exactly, Penni," responded Twilight. "The recipe makes two dozen cupcakes each, so multiply the amount of ingredients by twenty-one and stick it in a huge bucket." She handed one of the pieces of paper off to him; eggs, cake mix, vanilla… butter, sugar, cream cheese…?
They set to work. Lyra elected to handle the mixing of the batter while Pennaprose took care of the icing. Pinkie was bouncing endlessly on a huge mound of dough to knead it while Twilight lopped off parts of it and pressed it into trays atop layers of cherries. A sense of clockwork rung as they worked, the hours passing in relative silence. Pennaprose was the first to finish his task as the first batch of cupcakes came out. He iced them in accordance to Pinkie's instructions, not letting them cool first due to the lack of time and the recipe actually calling for 'striking while the cake is cupped'. In between batches, he had time to help Lyra pour the next rounds of cupcakes. Twilight set up a multi level wire rack to the side to hold them for the time being.
Time went by in it's busy way, Pinkie stopping to rebuff customers every now and then, until around four o'clock.
Pinkie trotted out of the kitchen in response to the bell ringing. "Sorry, we can't help you today, we're terribly–Fluttershy?"
"Oh, is this a bad time?" came Fluttershy's voice, out of sight from the kitchen. "Sorry. I just wanted to visit and give you some of this jam I made this afternoon as a present. I know you really love this stuff, so this is on the house!"
"You know I love this stuff! I just wish I had time to eat some it, I've got a ginormabiggus order to fill before 8 tonight… But thanks, Flutters!"
Pennaprose peeked his head from around the corner. "Jam? Sounds delicious."
"Oh hello, Pennaprose!" said Fluttershy. "This is the result of your guys' help earlier today! I'll drop off a jar with Spike later, all right?"
Twilight poked her head over the top of Pennaprose's. "Jam? I thought you needed it to help your income."
"I can do without profit on a few jars. I made at least 10 dozen jars, this is nothing."
"Oh, well thank you very much, Fluttershy! And thanks for the visit!"
Fluttershy smiled. "You're welcome! Now I need to get back and prepare a picnic for later, goodbye!"
She turned and sauntered out the door. "Well, that was nice of her," said Twilight. "But we have a rush to meet! C'mon ponies, let's get this done!"
They hurried back to their roles, an air of becalmed happiness now joined with the tense, purposeful rush. Time passed even faster, until 6 came around. Pinkie jumped off the counter and inspected the kitchen; the racks of already iced cupcakes and cooling pies filled the room while the batter and dough sat in the remaining trays and pans.
"…Y'know what, now that the batter is made and the dough is ready, I think I can handle the rest of the things. The Cakes should be done with the cakes before I am, so they'll help me finish the rest. Why don't you guys go rest for the day?"
Twilight looked up from the pile of dough in her face, eyes clearly tired and cheeks dusted with coats of flour. "…Huh? You sure, Pinkie?"
"Yeah, yeah… you look tired anyway. You've been awfully busy lately, haven't you?"
Twilight stepped down from the counter, rubbing some of the flour off her face. "Hm… yeah. If you're sure about it, then we'll go. Penni? Lyra?"
"If you want to," said Pennaprose. "Can't vouch for her, though. …Lyra?"
She was staring at the racks of cupcakes, lost in thought. He tentatively poked her shoulder. "…Huh? Oh, I don't have anything else to do today. Do you mind, Pinkie?"
"Oh! Not at all, all the better!" Pinkie said.
"All right," said Twilight. "We'll be on our way."
She stumbled over the kitchen equipment on the way out. Pennaprose waved goodbye, noting with mild relief that Lyra had completely stopped paying rabid attention to him. That realization distracted him enough to hit his face on a hanging frying pan on the way out.
The two of them trotted through the thoroughfare. Pennaprose was licking some of the remaining batter off of his left hoof absentmindedly, lost in simple thoughts. Twilight seemed distracted until halfway there, when she spoke up.
"Penni. I'm sure as Tartarus is hot that you've noticed Lyra's… keen interest for you by now."
He looked up from a particularly stubborn clump of icing in his fur. "YES. Yes, I have. No, I don't particularly like it. Yes, I wish she would stop clinging to me like flies on shit," said Pennaprose. "Advice?"
Twilight hesitated. "Um… Maybe I'm not the right pony to say this… oh heck, as much as I don't want to slander anypony, she's a kind of local nuisance. You will want to tell her before tonight that you don't want her hanging around if either of us want to get any sleep tonight."
"No, I don't want to hurt her feelings…" began Pennaprose. "Besides, she's calmed down now. I'm sure she had her reasons for it at the start, but–"
"No," interjected Twilight. "She is a special kind of insane. Bon Bon might seem like her best friend, but that's because she's the only pony who knew her before she developed this human obsession, or so I've been told. Nopony in town wants to associate with her because of it, she drives everypony up the wall."
"Well… isn't that a little… unfair?"
Twilight sighed, opening the door to the library. "Nopony besides Bon Bon knows where she lives. Mayor Mare pays her a certain amount as a penance for her to keep Lyra in check for the town's peace of mind. Yes, it seems unfair to Lyra, but she won't tell anyone about why she is so obsessive about humans. Not even Bon Bon knows. It's an impasse, really."
He fell silent, wondering. He felt a little guilty about trying to avoid her attention, but he shook his head to clear the thought, grabbing his laptop and opening a document to type the events of the day. But try as he might, he couldn't bring his thoughts to focus from Lyra. Nothing came but that same, gnawing guilt.
Twilight's voice penetrated his foggy meditation. "Penni? Do you know where Spike is? I can't find him anywhere."
"Uh… no," he said. "Want me to go look for him?"
"No, I'll go… do it…" She motioned towards the door, but tripped over the carpet and smacked face-first into the door. 
Pennaprose shut his laptop and got up. "Okay, you need your rest. You've had a long, injury filled day. First the crane, then the ice lake, now this door thing. Not to mention the six-hour cooking fest and berry picking–" he said as he helped her up "–that nopony forced you to do. You've done enough for today, you deserve a lie down. I'll go look for him."
He guided her over to the fireplace without further protest from her, which was still lit. She silently lied down and curled up in one of the blankets, falling asleep by the dying embers in mere moments. He smiled, laying another blanket on top gently then trotted out the door and shut it as quietly as he could. He thought of a few places off the top of his head to try to look.