The Ponyville library had several helpful books on the art of baking. Twilight Sparkle was more than happy to help Pantheon find which books might be the most helpful to him. Pantheon selected the single most promising looking book, Baking for Beginners; a Step By Step Guide, and, after a quick check of the nearby clock showed there was still some time before Pinkie's "surprise" party, sat down to read it.
Meanwhile Flash Sentry looked about for something to do. While he knew that one could find all sorts of helpful information in them, books weren't normally his thing. He much preferred comic books, with their colorful pictures and fantastical action scenes. In fact, it was actually a particularly well-made comic about the Royal Guard, coupled with a healthy dose of thrill-seeking, which had inspired Flash to pursue his career.
Out of the corner of his eye Flash saw the librarian approaching. He thought he recognized her from somewhere, but he couldn't quite think of where that could be. Flash figured that he was probably just imagining things. As he turned to face her a flash of color caught his eye.
"Can I help you too?" the librarian asked, drawing Flash's attention away from what he realized was a Power Ponies comic book lying on the table. He couldn't see what issue it was, and resolved to take a closer look at it later.
"No, I'm good," Flash said, then, "Actually, do you have any comic books?"
The librarian looked rather taken aback by the question. "No," she said. "We only have regular books here." The way she emphasized made Flash realize that the librarian thought comics weren't worth her time, which instantly made Flash dislike her a little bit.
"Well what about that one?" Flash pointed out the comic on the table.
The librarian looked where Flash was pointing and narrowed her eyes at the comic book. "That's my assistant, Spike's," she raised her voice with each word, until she was shouting at the ceiling like a crazy person, "Which he shouldn't be leaving lying around!"
A muffled voice shouted back from somewhere upstairs, "Sorry!" Flash immediately decided that this "Spike" sounded like a cool dude, and wanted to talk about comics with him later. "It won't happen again!"
The librarian huffed in annoyance. "Anyways, like I was saying..." she trailed off when she realized Flash Sentry had stopped paying attention to her and was walking towards the comic book on the table.
A small grin spread accross Flash's muzzle when he realized that the comic was an issue he hadn't read yet. Grabbing it up, he pulled a chair over next to Pantheon and started reading it.
~~~
Time passed swiftly for Pantheon and Flash Sentry. Before they knew it, Twilight was reminding them that it was time to head over to Sugarcube Corner for their "surprise" party. Pantheon and Flash set out for the party together with Twilight Sparkle and Spike. As they walked Pantheon noticed that not a single pony was out and about. From what he had heard of Pinkie Pie's parties, it was likely all of the ponies were lying in wait for him in Sugarcube Corner.
Out of consideration for Pinkie Pie's feelings, Pantheon decided to at the very least act surprised.
From the outside, Sugarcube Corner looked unoccupied. Curtains were drawn and shutters were shuttered, but, Pantheon's sharp eyes picked out a few peeking pony faces monitoring his approach through the gaps. The watching faces swiftly vanished when Pantheon's group neared the building.
Pantheon stepped up to the bakery's door and paused for a moment to listen. Quiet giggling and the sounds of a benign ambush ready to spring reached his ears. Without further ado, Pantheon shoved open the door to find...
A party that was already in full swing. Ponies were chatting around snacks, playing games, and overall having a great time. Pantheon blinked.
"Wasn't this supposed to be a surprise party?" he asked rhetorically, scratching the top of his helmet in confusion.
"Well, duh!" Pinkie exclaimed. Flash Sentry let out a yelp of shock at the pink mare suddenly standing before the group. "But since you were already expecting a surprise, I thought to myself, 'Hmm, how can I surprise that totally un-surprisable man if he totally suspects a surprise party?' and then I came up with a brilliant plan! What if I dropped some subtle hints that this would be a surprise party, but then it wasn't actually a surprise party, but a normal party instead?"
"That's actually rather brilliant," Twilight remarked. Pinkie beamed at the compliment.
Pinkie then turned her suddenly steely gaze upon Pantheon. "Well, Mr. Un-surprisable, were you surprised?"
Pantheon managed to keep a straight face, an act aided in no small part by the fact that his helmet hid most of his face, and said, "I can tell you with perfect honesty, that..." he purposely trailed off to admire the pink mare's growing glower. He had fought with and against entire armies that had less concentrated menace than she was displaying with her gaze alone. "...this was the most surprised I've been in quite some time."
The impressive glare melted right off of Pinkie's face, replaced instantly with the exuberant smile she usually wore. "That's fantastic news, Panthy!" Then, as if realizing they were still outside, she bounced into the building while calling over her shoulder, "Come on in and we can get this party started for realsies!"
A small cheer rose from the ponies that heard and Pantheon and Flash were swept into a throng of mostly unfamiliar faces who wished to meet the town's new additions. In the middle of what seemed like an endless meet-and-greet, something about the refreshment table caught his eye.
It was a tray of croissants that looked suspiciously similar to the tray that Flash Sentry had incinerated and buried earlier that day.
Pantheon nudged Flash with an elbow to get his attention and pointed out what he'd discovered. Flash squinted through the crowd but, since he wasn't twice as tall as all the ponies in the room like Pantheon was, couldn't quite make out what was on the table. With an inquisitive look on his face he set out through the crowd to see what it was.
"This will be good," Pantheon said to himself as he watched the guard pick his way through the crowd.
"I know, right?" Pinkie said from beside him. "Popcorn?" She offered him a small paper bag filled with popcorn which he gladly accepted.
Flash reached the table and terrified recognition dawned on his face. "No!" he shrieked, drawing the attention of nearly every pony in the building. "It can't be! I burned you!" He pointed an accusing hoof at the offending baked goods. "I buried you after I burned you!"
Then, one of the croissants started to float into the air. Pantheon and most of the rest of the party goers saw the thin wire holding it aloft, but Flash was apparently too panicked to notice.
"Don't worry Flash Sentry!" Pinkie yelled as she posed heroically. "I'll save you from the evil, ghost croissant!" With catlike grace and an audible "sproing" sound she leapt clear across the room and swallowed the wayward croissant in one gulp. She then smacked her lips and sighed contentedly. "Delicious."
Flash sputtered incoherently at Pinkie's apparent guts of steel. "Don't worry Flash," Pinkie patted the gibbering guard on his withers, "they weren't actually evil, see?" She showed him the wire.
After a few more moments of murmuring Flash was able to pull himself together enough to ask, "But how did you know about the croissants?"
"Silly Flashy," for just an instant the smile on Pinkie's face became incredibly unnerving. It was back to normal so fast that Pantheon nearly didn't notice the change and he doubted that anyone else did. "I know everything."