*****
That night, calmed by Applejack's words Twilight fell asleep easily after some light- though heavy to anypony else- reading. The summer breeze sent warm shocks of wind against the tree, thick with bloom so that the clicking of branches against the windows was dampened by the sibilant sweep of leaves. Even this was further muted by Spike, who in the last few weeks for one reason or another, had taken to snoring, and this was the last sound that Twilight heard before she drifted off into a deep slumber, smiling at the endearing nightly noises of her number one assistant and longtime friend.
Her dreams granted only visions of steel, copper, brass, and abyssal darkness. The cosmos was cold and dark— a time before anything at all existed. Then a flash of light, and the sun rose into view followed by a planet which eclipsed the it creating a coronet of blazing brilliance around the planet's dark silhouette. It was a calming sight for awhile, to see all of creation from so far a distance until the planet began to turn, revealing not a sphere at all but a disc. The sun's light shone upon it and caused a sudden blinding glare to reveal the disc to be highly polished metal. The reflection was so intense that Twilight's vision blurred, and her head spun, dizzy with sickness. Finally the disc came to lie sideways in space, bisecting the sun. Then it did a curious thing. It opened. Like a metal clam, the top popped open ever so slowly, any possible noise lost in the horrible vacuum of infinity. The open shell of the disc eclipsed the sun to once again form a crown of solar prominence, light creeping around the edge to illuminate the open disc. Though the glare nearly blinded her again sight soon returned to showcase now the truth of the disc. As the flaring reflection subsided on its glass interior she began to see the cold, logical movement of clock hands, and though no noise could be heard though the blackness a thick, pounding tick tock slammed against her mind like one hundred thousand bass drums.
But there was more beyond the ticking. So much more under or behind that noise. Each thud seemed to echo with little ringing jabs, hundreds and thousands of small ticks and tocks. So many tiny voices singing a clockwork choir, one asking and another answering their timed cyclical questions. Some spoke of land others the oceans or the air. Some, the birds that flew, the fish that swam, and beasts who lumbered. Some spoke of tiny things. The flitter of a single blade of grass in the wind, while others spoke of the celestial rotation of galaxies— their voices so similar— to try and tell them apart would bring only madness. One voice mentioned Twilight, but it was gone so fast that, she had no time to comprehend what it had said. Had it talked of her or to her?
They talked of ponies in fields, plowing the dirt generation after generation until the earth at long last bent to their whim. They talked of the changing of seasons, the pegasi moving clouds back and forth until the sky blurred with movement, so overtime she couldn't tell which was cloud and which was pegasus. Then the wax and wane of magic, the stars in the icy night sky shining their micron gazes down, each brittle ray of light barely captured in the dust sent airborne by the closing of thousands of dusty tomes within countless libraries. And unicorns spoke back, their horns like antennae broadcasting secrets and mysteries back into space. Somewhere Twilight knew she was there, one of them, but her own signal was lost amidst the ocean of others.
Eventually the top of the pocket watch began to close, sealing the music within, but so too went the light of the sun, it's spherical, undulating magnitude becoming a pocket watch-shaped disc too, now sandwiched between the watch's glass and closing lid. Twilight screamed at it to stop, that the sun didn't have to be part of it, that it was beyond the control of all those tiny, spinning gears and rods, but the sun wouldn't listen to her and continued to let itself be imprisoned. The light was swiftly departing now, but just before the lid closed for good Twilight caught a glimpse between the minuscule sliver of light, witnessing with bewildered terror as the sun itself became just another cog.
The absolute darkness of dream was suddenly shattered then as Twilight's eyes opened, her mind rudely awakened by a sharp whip-like bang close outside the library. A quick movement of her eyes to the window showed a clear, bright sky with barely a cloud in sight, much less a storm. Just as her waking brain was straining to make sense of it there came another thunderous snap, and as she was still looking out her window, noticed a flash of light. She also heard some sort of commotion following the noise as well. While Twilight couldn't really be sure, the voices being muffled, it sounded much like cheering. The third bang not only threw her into full wakefulness but made her jump a bit, her irises constricting- jaw clenched in surprise as she sat in silence, noticing that her bed was bouncing a bit from her little hop.
With a cross expression she crawled out of bed, thinking to open the window but stopped herself at the prospect of getting her eardrums blown out by whatever was surely exploding outside. And then there was more chattering. It sounded vaguely like Rainbow Dash. Well that made sense at least, though usually Dash was a bit more subtle in her pranks, normally not dragging storm clouds around town for a laugh or two. Not like it mattered why though. This was Rainbow Dash after all. Celestia help anypony who was unlucky enough to attract her gaze whenever she got restless. Now with a sigh, Twilight trotted downstairs to the front door, opening it to see something most unexpected.
"Oh! Oh! Lemme do this next one! Put some more copper in it!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed as she, Spike, Pinkie Pie, Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo, and Applebloom crowded around Hugo who had set up an assortment of different bottles, jars, and tubes all containing various powdery materials of different hue and consistency.
A group of ponies gathered outside her library for some reason, presumably making ad hoc fireworks aside, Rainbow Dash had just allegedly used a chemical term. This made Twilight blink in dumbfounded amazement.
"Alrighty! More copper it is!" Hugo replied, handing Dash a vial full of rust-colored powder. "Anythin' else yeh want in it?" he inquired, raising a red eyebrow.
"Hmm... let's see here." She said, eyeing the generous panoply of chemicals with a devious and almost evil grin. "Yeah! Here!" she said, grabbing a vial of white powder and another filled with metallic shavings.
"Rainbow Dash, do you even know what you're..." Twilight began to say before the pegasus interrupted her, pouring a bit of each into a paper shell, speaking to Hugo as she did so.
"The lithium oughta make a nice red burst. Would go good with the copper chloride, and this magnesium's sure to give it a super cool flash!"
Twilight's jaw dropped.
"Oh hey Twilight! Sorry if we woke you up!" Rainbow Dash said, turning around. "Pinkie, Hugo, and me were just out making some fireworks, when Scoots, Sweetie, and Applebloom decided to stop by.
"So why are you here, Spike?" Twilight said, giving Spike an accusing stare.
"Uhhnuh." Spike lazily mumbled with a shrug.
"You know, Rainbow, you shouldn't be handling all those chemicals. Some of them can be pretty dangerous, especially when your plan is to get them near an open flame." she chided.
"Nah. It's all good. Hugo loaned me one of his chemistry books yesterday."
"And you read it?" Again, Twilight was in a state of non-belief.
"Well not all of it. Just the first six chapters. I wanted to skip ahead but figured I might as well start from the beginning. You know? Better to get the basics down and all," Rainbow Dash finished in a nonchalant, scholarly tone.
"You read a book on chemistry. You."
"Why you actin' all surprised?" Rainbow Dash's voice shifted defensively as she narrowed her eyes at Twilight.
"Rainbow! I tried to teach you about chemistry a few months ago, and you got bored and flew out after half an hour!"
"Yeah, so?" Rainbow Dash crossed her arms, looking to one side.
"You literally flew out! You crashed right through the window to get away from it!"
"Uh huh. It was boring."
"So why did you read six chapters from a chemistry book!?"
"Twilight... I don't think you get it."
"Well you're right about that! I cannot possibly conceive why you would, on your own volition, decide to read about chemistry!"
"Duh! The stuff you were teaching me was a total bore! All I did was sit around while you made me write things!"
"Dictation can be a very important tool in the lab!"
"But it was bucking miserable! Hugo's letting me blow stuff up! Now that's what I call education!"
Twilight twitched and groaned with exasperation, her eyes then moving to the trio of fillies. "And I suppose you three plan on getting your cutie marks in rampant, wanton destruction?"
"Nah." Said Applebloom.
"Controlled demolition!" Sweetie Bell yelled as she leaped happily into the air.
"And pyrotechnics!" Scootaloo stated confidently as she gave a flourished kick and punch.
"Yeah! And maybe one day we can work with those two stallions from Myth Buckers!" Applebloom proclaimed dreamily.
Twilight then turned to Hugo who was smiling all the while. "You do know that the fiery deaths of these fillies will be on your hooves, I hope."
"Oh lighten up, miss Sparkle!"
"Just Twilight."
"Fine, miss Twilight, but..."
"Seriously... Just. Twilight."
"Understand then, Twilight, that we're jus' havin' a wee bit o' fun here! From what yer friends say, yer always findin' new adventures to go on wi' new things to do."
"What's your point," she said dryly.
"Well this is somethin' to do if I've ever seen it!"
"You're making improvised explosives and detonating them outside my house while I try to sleep!" Twilight yelled, stomping a hoof.
"But we're being super safe about it!" Pinkie cut in, still wearing her metal wings. "I'm not allowed to touch anything!" she finished with a cheery grin.
"All that proves, Pinkie, is that Hugo doesn't have a death wish. This stuff is too dangerous without a controlled environment! You can't just make your own fireworks outside whenever you feel like it! You'll blow a hoof off!"
"Well Hugo's cousin Tavish does it all the time! He's a demopony for hire, and he's never blown a hoof off!"
"Lost an eye though." Hugo interjected.
"Ooh! we need eye patches!" Scootaloo suddenly blurted out to her friends who squealed with delight in response.
"Check the knot hole in the tree next to the well behind the secret bakery. I have eye patches stashed all over Ponyville in case of an eye patch emergency." Pinkie proudly announced.
"Pinkie Pie..." Twilight said with a sigh.
"Yes Twilight?" she beamed.
"Ugh... never mind."
"But how'll we find the secret bakery if it's a secret?" asked Applebloom.
"Oh! I forgot none of you are part of the organization. Just look in Twilight's fireplace. I think there're a few left."
"What? No! Girls, wait!" Twilight shouted, but the fillies were already racing through her door. Then sighing again, she addressed Hugo once more, now with more disdain. "You know none of this is necessary!"
"'Course it en't! The fun things ne'er are!" He responded happily before attaching a fuse to a tube that Rainbow Dash had just finished assembling.
"Yet nopony seems to care that I was woken up by all of this!"
"Go 'head an' do the honors, Spike." Hugo said aside to the dragon who belched a small gout of flame at the very short fuse. After a moment, the rocket flew up into the sky spitting bursts of sparks before exploding in a marvelous bloom of shining red and blue. After a bit of applause, and a short bow by Rainbow Dash, Hugo turned back to Twilight.
"Yeh say it like bein' woken up is the real problem, but we both know it en't." The two stared uncomfortably at each other for a few seconds, trying gouge their way into each others' heads. Finally with a scowl Twilight broke the silence and drew Spike away.
"Come on, Spike! We're leaving!"
"Why? I'm having a blast! Get it! A... blast!" He chuckled, but Twilight kept a straight face.
"No. We're leaving."
"This isn't fair! There's nothing else to do!" Spike crossed his arms, looking away in an angry pout.
"I bet I can think of somepony who also has nothing to do. Rarity." Twilight said, slyly.
"You know what? You see one firework, you see them all. Let's go! Thanks anyway, Hugo!" he said before walking off in the direction of Carousel Boutique, his arm now firmly gripping Twilight's hoof as he dragged her to follow. Contented, Twilight gave a slight smile before walking away, though Hugo's words still echoed and haunted her.