NEIGHLANDER
Morning in Ponyville was usually a rather sedate affair. Beautiful and calm. The sun rose slowly over the mismatched houses. Birds chirped as they fluttered and spun through the air past Sugarcube Corner's fresh-out-of-the-oven appearance and the Carousel Boutique's tall, graceful spire before roosting in the lofty branches of the Golden Oaks Library.
BANG!!!
The sudden, outrageous and intrusive sound sent all the birds flapping frantically into the sky to escape the source of the noise. The ponies that meandered through the streets of the small town, however, ignored it. Such noises emanating from the library, late into the night, early in the morning or well into the day, had become commonplace since the unicorn, Twilight Sparkle, had moved into the library. The sounds of her magical experiments had, of course, been rather frightening for the first couple weeks, but Twilight had assured them that every experiment was completely safe and would not cause any damage or disruption to Ponyville aside from the occasional sound of backfiring magic. "But," she had said, "If you see any dark tentacles squirming out of my windows, accompanied by the sound of a demonic portal unleashing Tartarus upon Equestria, you should probably let the Princess know."
Few of the ponies of Ponyville knew the first thing about Twilight Sparkle, aside from the fact that she was the Princess' protégé, who had moved to Ponyville to study 'the magic of friendship', and the fact that Twilight's experiments often had nothing to do with said magic, if the sounds emanating from the library were anything to go by. Though, despite the lesson hidden in the assignment, the unicorn was still rather reclusive, only emerging occasionally to meet with a certain five ponies with whom she had formed friendships, mainly due to the persistence of a certain pink party pony. Still, many of the inhabitants thought her crazy, if only a little. Not long after the unicorn's arrival, Princess Luna returned from an extended vacation and Twilight had gone off on a paranoid tangent, going on about the coming of a "Nightmare Moon" or some dread mare of a similar name, predicted to return from banishment during the thousandth Summer Sun Celebration and, assuming that Luna was this evil mare, nearly attacked the Princess of the Night. It took a while for Celestia to talk some sense into her student. In the end, the event had come and gone without anything happening and without any harm done to either party, so the unicorn had returned to her spellwork without much comment, though her frustration had been evident to everypony, and so almost everypony avoided her, aside from her friends.
In fact, one of these 'friends' was currently approaching the library at a brisk trot. The white-coated unicorn tossed her purple mane indignantly as her hoof found the wood of the door, knocking upon it loudly. When there was no response, the mare knocked louder. A few moments later, the door cracked open and a violet eye peered out of the gap, darting to and fro before retreating, the door closing. There was a cacophonous series of noises: scraping wood, the tinkling sound of magical levitation and hushed whispers between two speakers. A moment later, the door swung open, revealing a bedraggled Twilight, dark hair sticking out in every direction and a wisp of smoke curling up from her horn. The room behind the lavender mare had the distinct appearance of having been hurriedly re-assembled, but still bore some scorch marks on the wood floor. "Rarity! What a surprise. I... Uh... I wasn't expecting you today... and I'm kind of in the middle of something."
"Of course, darling, I wouldn't want to impose. But that's why I'm here. Your morning 'experiments' are keeping some ponies from their beauty sleep." Rarity said, letting slip a petite yawn.
"Speak for yourself, Rares," said a tomcoltish voice from the library's leafy branches. a long, rainbow-coloured tail dangled down before a cyan pegasus slowly floated downwards. "I slept like a log."
Rarity rolled her eyes, "I'm quite sure you could sleep through a storm, Rainbow Dash. And you have, quite often. Speaking of which, have you been here all night?" the fashionista asked, her eyes glancing distastefully up at the intertwining branches overhead.
Rainbow nodded, "Yup. Since Spike's off in Canterlot, researching his dragon heritage, Twilight needed my help with an experiment of hers yesterday. Something about... ana-something the magical signa-whatzit of the Sonic Rainboom and how it fits in with Pegasus weather controlling magic. We pulled a late night, but Twilight still couldn't figure anything out," the pegasus said, proudly holding a hoof to her chest, "I guess I was right. The Sonic Rainboom is too awesome to be measured. Just like yours truly."
Twilight rolled her eyes at this, but nodded. "Afterwards, Rainbow was too worn out to fly home, so I offered that she spend the night."
"I see," Rarity said, "And can I be sure that there won't be any... undesirable sounds disrupting my beauty rest for the rest of the morning?"
The lavender unicorn gave a small smile, "Of course, Rarity. I was just wrapping up, anyway. Just one more test to run and then I'll be writing a letter to the Princess about my findings..." Twilight said, sighing disappointedly before continuing with, "...however inconclusive those findings turned out to be. Thanks for the help, Rainbow, You're free to go. Oh, and could you send Ditzy Doo by in a bit to take my letter to Canterlot? Without Spike here, I'll have to use standard delivery methods."
The cyan pegasus tossed off a short salute, "Will do, Twilight. See you later!" and zoomed off, leaving a rainbow streak in the air behind her, which was gone in the time it took for Rainbow Dash to disappear from sight.
Rarity similarly bade Twilight a fond farewell before heading off. Twilight watched them go before closing the door with a swift telekinetic shove. The library's main floor descended into near-darkness again, lit only by a few candles here and there. Short, melted things that were remnants of the long-burning candles set aflame the previous afternoon. Many had guttered and went out in the wake of the small explosion that had drawn Rarity's attention.
The first try had been a failed attempt, to be sure, but Twilight was positive she could get it right this time. Trotting over to her desk, her horn glowing, her eyes pored over the many notes she'd made. She'd underestimated the magical containment necessary to build up the arcane energies, as well as the power required to actually conjure the Sonic Rainboom. Yes, she'd lied to Rainbow Dash about the stunt flier's claim to fame. The tests had proven at least one thing about the Sonic Rainboom. It was magic and, theoretically, any sufficiently skilled unicorn could create one. And better yet, the energy could be focused to assist in breaking up rogue storms and clearing away cloudy skies. It was just a matter of getting it right, using magic to simulate the forces normally created by going at such a tremendous speed, with just a hint of altered focus imitating the innate Pegasus magic. All within a carefully erected magical field, of course. And this time, she wouldn't skimp on the wards.
Her horn began to glow intensely as Twilight shut her eyes and began concentrating...
Across town, Pinkie Pie was sliding a fresh batch of cupcakes out of the oven, a wide grin on her face as she breathed in the aroma of baked goods. A hoof wandered off to the side to grab the frosting tube. Then a cold shiver ran up her spine while every limb shot out from underneath her, twitching wildly as her tail spun like a propeller, knocking a stack of baking trays to the ground with a clatter before she crumpled to the ground, shaking. Mr. Cake came running in, a concerned expression lining his face, "Pinkie, are you alright?"
"D-D-Doozy..." Pinkie managed to gasp out, scrambling to her hooves and darting to the window, eyes looking around wildly. When nothing immediately presented itself, Pinkie began to calm down. Maybe it wasn't going to happen until later-
In the distance, there was a blinding flash, followed by a deafening explosion. Every window in town shattered as the Golden Oaks Library exploded into multicoloured fire, wood fragments and other debris launched in every direction, the walls of the first floor... Well, there was no first floor anymore, since it had been blasted out by the colourful shockwave. Engulfed in the rainbow-hued flames, the surviving sections of the massive, living tree-building creaked on its suddenly-compromised foundations and toppled to the ground.