The spa twins, Aloe and Lotus, went straight to work on Twilight, cleaning her up while getting her to slowly relax. Rarity stayed with the lavender pony, for support reasons of course!, and chatted away with Twilight about small unimportant things.

After spending the rest of the morning at the spa, the friends moved onto phase two of their master plan: sit Twilight someplace out in nature near shade if she wanted but in sunlight as well and let her sleep.

They used an open space in Sweet Apple Acres (away from any apple bucking and Cutie Mark Crusading), had some of Fluttershy's birds sing softly nearby while Rainbow Dash made sure it was a nice sunny day while keeping an eye on the sleeping unicorn.

This was after they made sure she had double helpings at lunch, of which Twilight had scarfed down her food like she hadn't eaten in two days. Twilight then had a lovely sleep, undisturbed by anything or anypony. Rainbow Dash had fallen asleep as well as she was keeping watch over the unicorn and missed when Twilight had a nightmare. She didn't scream but woke up stiff and anxious, as she looked around to reassured herself that it wasn't real...

Twilight had dreamed that Pinkie Pie was upset at her because of how she ignored her and the others for days. Pinkie Pie's hair was straight and her light pink color had faded to dull tones and was on the verge of tears. Pinkie said that if Twilight didn't want real friends instead of books than she would just find somepony else to be best friends forever with. It was as the pink mare was walking away that Twilight woke with a start.

(Sigh, if only I could see her, I could know that she isn't upset with me... or even if she is I'd explain and apologize... Maybe Rainbow knows where she is.) Twilight thought as she rested her head onto her fore-hooves while laying down. She looked up at the cyan pony in the sky (on top of the only cloud left in the sky) and called up to sleeping mare.

“Huh? Whazzat? I wasn't napping!” Rainbow Dash looked around quickly before looking at the lavender unicorn with a guilty smile.

“Of course not.” Twilight smirked. “Have you seen Pinkie Pie? The spa was Rarity's contribution, this is yours, Applejack's and Fluttershy's. But aside from the intervention, I haven't seen her.”

“Oh, er, heh heh, well Pinkie is, ah, watching … the … library...” Rainbow Dash trailed off, cringing.

She knew the library was a touchy subject if anypony was watching it in Twilight's stead. Twilight froze, her first impression was the tree library exploding in a pink cloud. Then she gave herself a shake and tried breathing normally.

(Spike's there. How much could go wrong... But perhaps I won't stay out too much longer...) Twilight tried to relax again but her concern grew for the library and her research project! Twilight jumped up and called to the sleepy peagasus.

“Hey Rainbow Dash! I won't be able to relax until I check on the library. I'll be back.”

“Oh no you don't. I'm coming with you to make sure you relax.” Rainbow crossed her front hooves as she hovered in the air above Twilight. Twilight nodded once and took off at a fast trot to the library with Rainbow Dash flying overhead.

Soon the tree library came into view and while Twilight did feel better seeing it, she couldn't shake the feeling of impending doom. They slowed to a walk and Twilight managed to not kick open the door in her anxiety.

The first thing she noticed was that the library was clean, cleaner than when she left. The next thing she noticed was that the books were organized differently. While it wasn't necessarily a bad thing, it meant something happened. Then she saw that Spike and Pinkie were hunched by her work desk, muttering to each other.

As Rainbow closed the door behind them, the odd pair spun around to face the visitors. Pinkie had a huge grin on her face when she saw who it was, while Spike had a nervous smile and had his hands behind his back (never a good sign).

“Hey Twilight! Didn't expect you to be back so soon! Did ya enjoy your relaxing? Are you a relaxed happy calmed pants now?” Pinkie asked as she bounced towards the pair by the door.

Twilight couldn't see anything but the desk as she ran up to it, noticing the lack of long scroll. As she stepped up to the desk, she saw a much shorter scroll that had details about Star Swirl the Bearded with a book open to corresponding section next to it. The other three in the library began to get nervous as Twilight searched around the desk and flipped the scroll back and forth, looking for the original research paper.

“Where is it? Where is it? This can't be it, what happened to my research!?!” Twilight's hair started to become frazzled as her movements became jerkier and slightly twitchy.

The cyan pony looked at the pink one as Pinkie Pie's shoulders slumped and she walked forward slowly. She sat next to Twilight and put a hoof on the lavender mare's shoulder to try and calm the frantic movements.

“Twilight? I'm sorry... it was an accident. I was cleaning up and then suddenly ink spilled and it was all over and I tried to fix it but you didn't have a book about the Bearded Star and so I got you one and I'm really super sorry and-” At this point Twilight looked sharply at the pink mare, shook off the reassuring touch and cut off the attempt apology with a shout.

“ACCIDENT?!? This was just an ACCIDENT?! No no no, Nightmare Moon Rebelling was an ACCIDENT! This is a CATASHROPHE! Do you know how long I worked on this?! Three days! Three whole days, down the drain, because of an 'accident'! Not including all the preparations before starting to write down anything!” At this point, Twilight's fury couldn't contain it's self as it peaked in the form of a fiery mane on the lavender mare, who hovered a few inches off the floor, facing the others in the room.

Twilight closed her eyes as she yelled in rage and frustration before looking at the mare before her. Once the fire went out, Twilight took a few steps towards the pink mare, who had backed away slightly at the peak of the unicorn's rage. Pinkie Pie crouched lower as Twilight towered over the mare with her purple mane sticking out in random places and having a slight singed look to it, as well as frown and slightly twitchy eye.

“THIS IS WHY I COULDN'T RELAX BEFORE! Now I'll start all over again!” Twilight shouted as she sharply turned back to her desk, levitating more quills, inks and books over.

“Twilight, I really am sorry, I tried-” Pinkie tried once more, with ears flipped back and a shake to her voice.

“If you're so sorry, you should just leave me alone so I can get some REAL work done!” Came the snappy response.

Pinkie Pie's whole demeanor drooped. Her ears dropped, blue eyes downcast with a slight watery sheen to them and she wore a small frown.

“Ok Twilight. I am really sorry though.” Pinkie quietly said as she walked away out of the library, dragging her hooves along the way.

Twilight felt a sudden sharp pain in her heart as reality was over-shadowed by dream as she saw her nightmare come true before her. She was so stunned that she could only watch as the pink pony left.

Rainbow Dash managed to throw off her shock at the scene before her as she saw how her party friend had tears forming in her eyes and flew into the unicorn's face, her own face crunched up in anger.

“Listen here Egghead! I know that report was important to you but from the sounds of it Pinkie went to a lot of trouble to set it right! She even got you a new book, not including trying to write the report over again. It was Pinkie Pie who showed us how you were acting before. And she knew you wouldn't have liked her method of relaxing so she offered to watch this boring old tree for you! I'm going to get the others and when we get back you better be ready to make it up to apologize to Pinkie Pie.” Rainbow angrily shouted at the still stunned unicorn before flying out the door to gather their other friends.

Twilight remained in a stupor, only having vaguely heard the cyan peagasus. She couldn't form any thought aside from how her dream had come true, and it was all her fault. Unsure of what to do, the studious pony turned back to the desk, and noticed the 'report' that had been made. As habit dictated, she read the report in front of her, if for nothing else but the act of doing something.

As Twilight read the report slowly, Spike walked over quietly as he scrapped his claws together nervously.

“Pinkie Pie really did try to fix it. I mean, she went all the way to Canterlot and back to get that book for you. And while it's not much, we did get some of the report rewritten for you... Twilight?” Spike peered at the hunched unicorn.

Twilight's ears twitched to catch everything that her young assistant was saying as thoughts began to form once more in her mind.

“All the way from Canterlot huh?.... and it's true, I didn't have this book.... sigh.” Twilight face-planted onto the desk.

(The report isn't completely ruined, it's just less detailed... there must be a decent amount about Star Swirl the Bearded in that new book.... she even got me a new book, she knows how much I love getting new books....)

Twilight gave a small snort of laughter. (Bearded Star? How does she come up with these things?....)

(Oh Pinkie Pie, I'm sorry about how I reacted. I didn't really mean what I said. How can I show you that I'm sorry too and that I don't mind that you tried to help? How can I set things right? Come on Twilight! This is one thing you can't mess up!) Twilight sat up at this thought and put a hoof to her chin in thought.

Spike was getting a little more worried, Twilight hadn't said much after Spike tried to explain and she kept making funny faces. Just as he was about to creep away Twilight jumped up with an “AH HA!” while slamming her hooves onto the desk. Spike gave a jump as well, surprised by the sudden outburst and watched as Twilight ran to various shelves and suddenly sat at the desk. She wrote a little on the report before handing it to Spike to send off. He was even more confused at this.

While eying the lavender unicorn, the young dragon sent the report with a blast of fiery breath. Not even a minute later, Princess Celestia sent a response. Twilight snatched it out of the air and read it quickly.

“What's it say -?” Spike tried to ask but Twilight just ran out of the library. Spike scratched the top of his head and shrugged. He turned to the desk and cleaned up the mess left behind.

Ten minutes later the rest of the gang busted through the door with Rainbow Dash in the lead and Fluttershy bringing up the rear. While the others searched and called for Twilight, Fluttershy closed the door behind them. Spike came out from the kitchen at all the shouting, where he had been eating gems to help ignore the slight worry he had for his long time friend.

“Spike! Where's Twilight?” Rainbow Dash rounded on the little dragon, who took a step back at the anger in the cyan pony's voice.

“Uh, well, she sent the report, got a response and took off. I'm not sure where to though.”

The confused ponies looked at each other and left to find their missing friends.

Meanwhile, Twilight was searching for a certain pink mare. She wasn't at Sugarcube Corner and not around town, so the lavender pony began to search the lands close by.

As Twilight was searching in the forests close to town, she came across an open glade on top of a hill, surrounded by trees on all sides aside from one which faced the town below. Sitting on the edge facing the town was a grey pink pony with extremely straight hair. She was laying down on her stomach with her head on her hooves as she faced the town below. Twilight slowly walked up to Pinkie and sat down next to her, while trying to catch her eye. The earth mare turned her face away as she sniffled, though she made no effort to leave the clearing.

“Pinkie Pie, I'm really really sorry. I know you were only trying to help, I was upset over unimportant things. Here, I wanted to show you this...” Twilight floated a scroll over to the pony next to her, who opened it with a hoof, making sure to not look Twilight in the eye.

[My faithful student, I'm glad to see that you are working together with your friends.
It's always more fun learning new things together. As you requested, here is your report back with accompanying grade (A+ of course!). Please give Pinkie Pie and Spike my regards.
Sincerely, Princess Celestia]

“Bu-but, Twilight! This is the report that Spike and I did! You didn't re-write it or change anything or or anything! Why-?” Pinkie asked as she looked Twilight in the eye.

Twilight could see some unshed tears still in the blue eyes, which she felt bad about since she was the cause but there was also a small sparkle of hope as well.

“I looked over the report and while it wasn't as long or extremely detailed it had the main points. So not only did you write a decent report, you bought me a book from Canterlot. You know I love getting new books.” Twilight asked with a small smile and nudged the party mare.

“I mean, my gosh, how did you get there and back so fast?!” Twilight asked with a bigger smile.

Twilight's eyes grew wide and she opened her mouth to dispute that when she remembered what happened not even twenty minutes ago. So instead she just shook her head a little and smiled at her friend.

“Of course. You must be faster than Rainbow Dash to have come and gone so quickly, the two of you should race.”

“Pinkie, I'm really sorry that I spoke to you that way. I didn't mean it. Please don't be sad...” Twilight asked quietly as she nuzzled the neck of the pink mare. Pinkie leaned into Twilight in return.

“I'm sad because I've upset a good friend of mine with thoughtless words and petty concerns. Any ideas how to cheer up somepony that I've upset?” Twilight asked as she tried to catch blue eyes that were trying to not look back at her.

“Oooooh, a toughy.... how about an apology cupcake?” Twilight nodded slowly, warming to the idea.

“That may work. But I may need help picking the best one for an 'apology cupcake'. Can you come with me to Sugarcube Corner?” Twilight asked slowly, looking at the other mare with pleading eyes.

While it wasn't 'Pinkie Pie' level of puppy dog eyes, the party mare couldn't say no to such honest eyes. She had a feeling of where Twilight was going with this but wanted to see for herself. So she nodded slowly and together they left the clearing, heading back to town.

Since their friends searched the town first, they missed the two mares who walked slowly to Sugarcube Corner as the five others began to search the nearby fields.

As the lavender and pink ponies entered Sugarcube Corner, they were greeted by Mr Cake who was working the counter at the time.

“Well hi girls!... Pinkie, are you ok?” He asked in concern. Pinkie Pie merely shrugged and nodded.

Mr Cake looked towards Twilight, hoping she could explain about the non-bouncing, un-energetic mare before him. Twilight waved her right hoof in an assuring manner, conveying that it's being worked on.

Pinkie gave a small smile and walked over to the nearest display, humming in thought. She proceeded to look at all the cupcakes in a detailed manner, even standing on top of display cases to look at them from above.

“Hmmmm... HHHMM? Hmmm...*inhale* HMM? Hhmm-hmmm...” This continued for a short while, Twilight smiling a little at the more Pinkie-like behavior and Mr Cake even more shocked that the pink mare wasn't chatting away like usual. Finally Pinkie Pie came to a sudden stop as she found the perfect cupcake.

“Ohhh, Twilight, this is the bestest 'I'm sorry' cupcake in the history of the history of Equestria! The blue wrapper to show how sad the give-ee is, the strawberry cherry goodness center for sweet feelings and yellow colored icing to make everything seem like it's a brighter better day!” Pinkie said a little excitedly looking at the unicorn before getting down from the display and sat while staring at the floor, her face going back into a neutral expression.

Mr Cake nodded and quickly but quietly got the order ready, he was still shocked at the behavior of their best baker. Once bits were exchanged the lavender mare leaned in towards the orange stallion and whispered into his ear. He grinned at the unicorn, pulled out some pink icing and wrote on the cupcakes before closing the box and hoofing it over to the lavender mare. Who then promptly turned to the pink mare and offered her the box.

Pinkie Pie looked at Twilight with a confused tilt of her head. As Twilight opened the box via magic, she leaned it slightly downwards so the other could read what was written there.

“I'm sorry Pinkie Pie. Please cheer up. I Pinkie Promise to think before yelling at my friends, especially when they are just trying to help.” Twilight said as she made the motions while looking at the pink earth pony.

“Oh Twilight! I forgive you, you silly filly!” Pinkie Pie exclaimed as her hair poofed up and gave Twilight a big hug, which Twilight was more than happy to return.

“And I Pinkie Promise to not forget what's really important and that my friends will always care for me.” Pinkie Pie squeezed the unicorn before stepping back from the hug. Mr Cake smiled in relief, glad to see Pinkie back to normal.

“Have you read your new book yet Twilight? It has lots of interesting facts. Have ya haveya haveya?” Pinkie asked in her usual rapid fire way as she leaned forward to look Twilight in the eye. Twilight in turn just gave a light laugh.

“No, not yet. I was trying to make up with somepony, remember? Why don't we go and you can show me some of these facts?” Twilight asked as she stood up and turned towards the door while keeping an eye on the pink mare.

Pinkie jumped into the air with an excited “OOHHH!” as she waved her hooves around before landing back down and frog-hopping towards the door. Twilight shook her head and laughed while picking up her pace to keep up with the once again energetic pony.

“And so the unicorn says to the ursa minor, 'You can be a MAJOR pain'!” The lavender mare said to pink, who proceeded to crack up with laughter. The unicorn was thrilled that their friendship was still intact and laughed as well as the two friends walked (or frog-hopped in one's case) to the library.

Suddenly a blue blur rammed into the lavender pony and pinned her to the ground.

“I've got her guys! Over this way-” Rainbow Dash began to shout until a pink blur landed on to of her and causing to Twilight to grunt as more weight landed on top of her.

“AND I'vvvveee got YOU! Is this a pony pile? Ohhh, here's the others! Come on and join in girls, it's a pony pile!” Pinkie yelled from on top of Rainbow Dash, who in turn was on top of Twilight.

The other three ponies (and one dragon) ran up to the pile only to stop in confusion at the happy earth pony, slightly annoyed peagasus, and sheepish unicorn who was looking a little flattened at this point.

“Piiinks~! It's not a pony pile! Get off me!” Rainbow tried to push the party pony off but Pinkie merely looked confused at her and allowed her weight to settle even more to prevent from being moved.

“What in the hay is goin' on? Sugarcube, Rainbow here was tracking down and preventin' Twilight from tryin' to escape. Ya have some explaining to do girl...” Applejack said as she glared down at the unicorn who gave them a sheepish grin.

“Oh.” Pinkie looked thoughtful as she got up from the pony pile. “Are you guys playing tag? Or hide and go seek?”

“No Pinkie Pie. We're trying to make sure egghead here doesn't mess everything up even more by exploding over nothing.” Rainbow Dash also shot a glare at the unicorn who remained on the ground even though the cyan mare stood up from the pile. Though Rainbow Dash stayed nearby in case Twilight tried any funny business.

“Sigh. I am sorry for how I reacted and I've already made it up to Pinkie Pie.” Twilight said as she finally stood up but couldn't look any of her friends in the eye.

At this statement, everyone paused though the confusion left Pinkie's face as she realized what this was all about.

“Yeppery! Good ol' Twilight and I made up and now we're off to see the wizard! Well, more like to the library to read about a Bearded Star in the new book Twilight has.” Pinkie said as she hopped over to sit next to the lavender unicorn and pat her on the head a little. Twilight endured it with an eye roll and smile, still very much glad that Pinkie was back to her usual self.

“Oh! um... I'm – we're so glad to hear that!... it's um never nice to fight among your friends... uh... sorry that we were so rough with you Twilight eep....” Fluttershy said as she stepped out from behind Rarity, where she had been hiding since they all ran up to the two mares.

“Yes, we do apologize for our behavior, we merely wanted to be sure that Twilight did a proper job of making it up to Pinkie. Well! We'll just leave you two at it, come along darlings!” Rarity stated as she she turned around and headed back to her Boutique.

“Well, I'm mighty sorry Twilight for jumping to conclusions like that. Ah'll head back to the farm and leave ya to yer hanging out.”

“I'm glad it all worked out...”The peagasus shyly said as the earth pony and unicorn returned the hug.

“Sorry we made you guys worry. But it's fine now. We'll see you later Fluttershy.” The yellow mare gave her two friends a shy smile and flew home to her animals.

Spike walked up and Twilight gave him a one legged hug, which Spike returned with both of his arms.

“Sorry Spike. But don't worry, everything's going to be fine now. Let's head home and work on some supper. How's that sound?” Twilight asked as she leaned over a little to look at the baby dragon.
Spike stepped back half a step and looked up at the lavender mare.

“Sure thing Twilight! What do you feel like having? Perhaps an Emerald Cake, or maybe some Sapphire pancakes?”

The two ponies laughed as they all turned and headed for the tree house library.

The Party Animal and the Bookworm

by Wolfie 03

One Giant Mess