From the New Worldby Grim NoireChaptersRumblingsGears and FearsSounds of ThunderRumblingsIt started low at first— a quiet buzz that could have easily been misinterpreted for a swarm of bees in the distance or maybe ignored altogether. The first little plume of smoke was seen about an hour before noon, but again it was nothing remarkable, and the first ponies who saw it paid little heed, wondering for a moment that something beyond the east hills could be on fire, a group of foals a bit too zealous with their camping perhaps. A quarter 'till noon half the town could hear it coming, clanking like a wagon full of cookware yet still possessing some ineffable methodicalness like each cantankerous crash had a purpose. Finally at noon it rolled up to the edge of town, black smoke belching from a pipe extending from its roof and two others protruding awkwardly at mismatched angles on either side. The contraption was like nothing anypony had ever seen, shaking and jittering like a nervous creature as it produced a metallic orchestra of cacophony. While it resembled a carriage with its somewhat square body and four wheels the similarities ended there. The wheels were affixed to pistons which rose and fell like great, steel arms rowing a boat while pipes snaked around the rough-looking wooden hull. In all it seemed like some peculiar marriage of a stagecoach and a steam locomotive though surely stranger than the sum of its parts for the mere reason that somepony should have ever decided to built such a thing in the first place. By the time it reached the central square, it would have been impossible to see a single house with its windows and doors unopened, residents and passersby gaping with their eyes stretched and jaws slacked in a mixture of wonder and fear. While some ponies ran back into their homes in horror for what this thing might be, the vast majority held their places and gaze, though many had to cover their ears all the same. When it seemed as though the thunderous furor would never let up, and that all of Ponyville would be shaken down into ruin the odd wood and iron beast simply turned off. The noise ceased almost immediately, too quickly in fact, so that the clamorous ringing and scraping of metal on metal persisted long in the heads of the surprised onlookers. Yet there it sat as the crowd grew larger, all business put on hold. The speculative murmuring eventually grew so loud that only the few brave enough to approach the carriage could hear a trace of something from within, nothing more than a dull series of clicks and clacks but far from the mechanical tumult that marked its arrival sounding much like a pony shuffling around inside. And for nearly half an hour it continued to sit as though it was regarding the crowd, pondering what to do next. Among them were six familiar mares and a young dragon, each for the most part reacting differently to this supreme shake up of the familiar state of affairs. "Well this certainly isn't something you see every day." Twilight said with a bit of a giggle. "You're tellin' me, sister," Applejack replied as she furrowed her brow and scratched her head. "I truly don't see what is so interesting about this," Rarity huffed with an annoyed grimace. "Somepony decides to ruin a perfectly good Sunday afternoon with an awful racket, and we're supposed to be impressed by it? Hardly, I say!" And with an impertinent whip of her head, she turned away but not so much as to break eye contact with the carriage. "Are you kidding?!" Pinkie Pie exclaimed with a flourish of her hooves and widened eyes. "That thing was all like BANG! BOOM! CRASH! and POW! Wait... I don't think it POW'd? Did it? Did I miss it POW? Aww! I knew I should have been paying better attention!" "Yes Pinkie," Rarity lilted sarcastically, though she at least had the excuse to turn around to face the carriage again. "We all heard it, and I do mean all of us! What a hideous thing to bring into town! Why just look at it! It's all dirty and smells of soot!" she finished, enunciating her distaste with synchronized bats of her eyelashes. "I know, right? It's all DIRTY! And it smells like SOOT! Usually you have to go to a fireplace to smell soot and roll around in mud to get dirty, but this thing brought them both to us!" At that, Rarity gave her pink friend a look of absolute bafflement— a common reaction to Pinkie Pie, but just as she was about to collect herself for a rebuttal her thought process was broken by the sounds of struggle at the rear of the crowd. The three mares turned around to see Rainbow Dash desperately dragging a most uncooperative Fluttershy. With pink tail in mouth, the blue pegasus forced her friend forward while the latter panicked, digging her hooves into the ground and spurting out excuses. "No! I'm not coming! Let me go! It's so scary and loud, it terrified all my poor animals, and now I have to take care of them! Please let me go! I-they need need to be comforted!" At that Rainbow Dash opened her mouth, releasing Fluttershy's tail but only so she could argue back. "Your animals get scared and hide every time something happens here! Stop running away for once, and come look at it! It's not moving or even making noises anymore," Rainbow Dash concluded with an impatient flap of her wings, hooves on hips as she stared down at Fluttershy who had now adopted a fetal position. "It's stopped now, but I just know it'll get loud again. It's just waiting!" she stammered out before hiding her face in her hooves. "Oh Fluttershy!" Twilight said sympathetically, walking over and patting her on the back. "It's not a creature! Just an automated vehicle. There's a pony in there right now who controls it." "It reminds me of those mean brothers who tried to steal Sweet Apple Acres." Fluttershy said, face still hidden. "I just know it's trouble!" "I couldn't agree more!" Rarity interjected. "I'm sure nothing good can come of its being here!" "Now hold on a minute, girls," Applejack said, turning around, having been studying it intently for the last few minutes. "We don't even know who's inside it! Probably just some traveler lookin' to bunk up for a night'r two." Twilight smiled at this. "Applejack's right. It's unfair to assume the worst and jump to conclusions so early. I don't know why anypony would build something like this," she said while briefly looking back and regarding the thing with a focused squint, "yet I'm sure whoever did had very good reasons for it. Perhaps all the noise comes from its engine. It may be used for long journeys and needs the extra power." "But it's soooooooo looooooooud!" Rarity whined melodramatically. "Yeah," Spike added, turning away from the crowd, giving up on trying to weave in between the legs of so many ponies to get a better look. "It is pretty loud." "You all say it like it's a bad thing!" Pinkie beamed. "I wish I could make that much noise!" "Something tells me you're gonna try," added Rainbow Dash, rolling her eyes. "And would you just get up and take a look, Fluttershy! It's not gonna hurt you!" Finally, Fluttershy acquiesced, slowly bringing her head up then standing, but the second she turned and looked at it the carriage shook, and a metal hatch popped open, surprising the crowd and causing them to all tilt their heads forward in expectation and Fluttershy to return to the ground, head again buried safely in her hooves. For all the crowd's wild individual ideas of what might be inside, the answer turned out to be quite tame in comparison. He had a pale, yellow coat though his hair was smeared with coal ash, oil, and grease making him look nearly gray. The hair in his mane however shined brilliantly red and spiked out, unkempt and about as far from a comb as anything could be. Simple thick, circular glass goggles covered his eyes, fastened around his head with a rubber strap, their size giving him an almost comedic look. Matching that was a goofy grin that stretched across his face which was framed by a thick, fuzzy, but short red beard that ran from one ear to the other. The crowd watched him, muttering to themselves as he attempted to exit his odd vehicle, the act made stranger by the fact that he seemed too big for the hatch he had surely made as part of the carriage's design. When it became clear that the pony would not be able to free himself Rainbow Dash flew over to hover next to him. "Come on AJ! Wanna gimme a hoof?" "Sure! Ah'll be right over," Applejack replied, tilting her hat back and beginning to trot through the thick crowd. "Oh, for the love of Celestia! You're not actually going to touch him are you?!" Rarity said with disgust, but Applejack ignored her as Twilight gave a little chuckle. Reaching the carriage, Applejack hopped nimbly up to the hatch to join Rainbow Dash. "This... er... um. This en't really necessary." The driver said with a thick accent, blushing a bit. "Not necessary mah eye!" said Applejack with mirth, "You're stuck tighter than a gopher in a snake hole!" "I appreciate the help an' all, but I assure yeh! I'm quite capable of... extricating meself from this situation," he said, blushing more. "Nah, dude. You're pretty stuck. On three, Applejack!" "Got it!" Applejack said, grabbing his right shoulder while Rainbow Dash took his left. "Please. This is all a bit excessive..." "1!" Rainbow Dash yelled, her face growing serious. "No, really! It just takes me a few minutes gettin' out each time! Not a big deal at all!" "2!" "A bit tricky, yes! Of course! But nothing I can't handle. Please dun! ..." "3!" and with that the two mares pulled as hard as they could, yanking him free but causing Applejack to lose her balance and fall backward from the carriage's roof while Rainbow Dash, still gripping the stranger's arm arced upward before crashing with a great thud. After the dust settled, the pony grinned again and gave a hearty laugh. "Well that was certainly spirited! Though I do believe yer hoof is crushing me liver." "Oh uh... heh! Sorry about that!" said Rainbow Dash, blushing as she got off of him. Not long after he stood up as well, he noticed all eyes were on him, and everypony was deathly quiet. "Yeh act like yeh've never seen a stallion before! What's with all the hush? Yeh treat every new pony in town like this?" he said, pushing the goggles back onto his forehead to reveal bright, gold eyes. "Eh, miss? Do they treat every new pony in town like this?" he said, leaning over to Rainbow Dash. "Only the ones that roll up in noisemakers like that," said Rainbow Dash with a playful grin. "Oh! 'course I shoulda realized that'd have somethin' to do wi' it!" He laughed again, his mouth wide. Pinkie Pie had popped up now too, standing beside him and laughing as well. She then put an arm around him and they proceeded to guffaw like two old friends enjoying a joke. "That was a good one! My name's Pinkie Pie!" she said, giving a grin to rival his. The two stood and grinned at each other for a disturbing few seconds before his eyes widened and he opened his mouth again, hitting his forehead with a hoof. "Ah! Look at me! I hadn't even introduced meself yet! Name's Hamilton Iron! Everypony just calls me Hugo though. Yeh can too if yeh want. That er Hugo Iron... or Iron Hugo." His eyes narrowed, "Just not Hamilton Hugo. Hate that one." And the smile returned. The crowd too began to smile, the tension broken like so many times before by Pinkie's laughter. They drew closer as well, faces sparked with wonder as they inspected Hugo's peculiar form of transportation. "I take it these folks en't exactly used to this sorta thing." "Nope!" Pinkie said, happily. "The last ponies who had something like that were these two brothers named Flim and Flam." Hugo wrinkled his brow in deep thought for a moment. "Flim... Flam. Dun think I've ever heard of 'em." "Uh huh! It's weird too because they said they were world famous! Their thingamajig made apple cider!" "Well..." he said, voice trailing off as he eyed her dubiously, "That sounds fantastic! One up they have on me already! Their auto-carriage makes cider, and driving mine makes you sweat everything out!" Then the two had another random fit of laughter which was only interrupted by Twilight, who out of everypony gawking at the machine, was actually trying to discern its method of operation. Seeing this he walked over to join her. "Amazing in'it!" Twilight didn't respond for a spell before she magically lit up her horn, wiggling a piston rod. "Eh, would yeh mind not doin' that miss?" Hugo said with some exasperation, "It can be kinda difficult to fix." Finally she looked up. "I'm sorry Mr. Iron. I've just never seen a machine like this before. I'm interested in knowing how it works," she said in a matter of fact tone. "Well I can teach yeh all about it. Got the schematics inside. Will probably get 'em later though. As yeh've seen, it's a bit eh... challenging going through that procedure. Probably shoulda made the hatch wider. Weren't as fat as I am now when I built it though! Lesson learned! Oh, and please just call me Hugo," he finished, smiling. Twilight, however didn't return the smile. She couldn't take her eyes off the auto-carriage nor dispel the growing tension in her stomach. Rarity was right. It was loud, and now that she was close to it, she was beginning to side with Fluttershy as well. It did look dangerous. She couldn't even guess at how heavy the thing must be. And the amount of power needed to move it must be spectacular, yet Hugo was just an earth pony and a slightly insane-looking one at that. If only she could get inside, look around, and study the schematics, making sense of some of it, some of this mysterious anxiety might go away. For now though she couldn't shake the uneasiness this machine and its owner gave her. Gears and FearsWhatever worries the citizens of Ponyville might have had when Hugo's blustering machine first rolled into town were soon gone as his mirth was hard to resist and the prospects of other strange contraptions hidden away within his auto-carriage were even more difficult to turn away from. By 2:00 PM not a single pony in town was concerned with daily business. Town hall had emptied as the even the mayor looked on like a rank and file gawker. "Hey Hugo!" said Rainbow Dash as if the two were long-time chums. "What else you got in there?" "Suddenly in'trested in that en't yeh?" Hugo replied with a knowing grin as though he had planned the entire afternoon: the loud arrival and his delayed appearance. "Hay yeah, dude! You must have all sorts of cool stuff!" Dash added expectantly, peering at the auto-carriage and trying to guess what goodies he might be hiding. "Well, I do have quite a few things I've made o'er the years..." "Like what!?" Dash interrupted. Chuckling a bit over her excitement he continued. "All sorts o' things!" He said, digging through his trunk, opening up a few boxes before producing something. "Ever feel like having an extra set o' wings?" he said with a sly grin. "No. Bucking. Way!" she exclaimed, eyes wide open in awe of what appeared to be mechanical wings, light, knife-like strips of metal connected to a series of gears and cables eventually merging together at saddle. "Aye! Wings! The Peg-Assist I call it. 'Cause the sky's too nice to not explore. Thought so much 'bout how grand it'd be to have wings like a pegasus, so I made it a reality." Rainbow Dash tore her gaze off the wings and looked back at Hugo. "So you're telling me that any earth pony or unicorn can put these on and fly?" Hugo patted her on the shoulder. "Absolutely they can!" And that was all the justification Pinkie Pie needed to bound over and begin strapping the wings to herself. "Whoa! Whoa! That en't a toy yeh know! Though it's certainly fun like a toy. Eh, take that back. It pretty much is a toy, but a bit tricky to use." "Aww please, Hugo! I gotta try it! I could hang out with Dashie all day long!" she said with sparkling eyes. "You know what Pinkie? Maybe you shouldn't try to use it." Dash interjected. "Please! Please! Please! Pleeeaaassseee!" She begged, her lower lip quivering. "Well how could I say no to that face! I guess there's no harm in it. Unless yeh crash. Then there'd be harm." Pinkie's face immediately flashed with happiness, and Hugo set to work teaching her the basics. "Jus' make sure the straps stay tight, an' dun let go o' the cables in yer hooves. Good, okay. Now move yer shoulders like that. Yes! Se 'em 'em flap!" and before long Pinkie Pie was airborne. Though coarse and ungraceful at first, Pinkie soon had enough control to fly straight, weave and zig zag through the sky, and even perform little loops, awing the crowd as they tilted their heads to follow her movements. "Hey uh, Hugo?" Dash said, nudging him in the side. "I think you may have created a monster." "My apologies, miss Dash." he said with a slight bow. "Aww it's okay! Anypony who can make earth ponies fly is okay in my book... even if it is Pinkie Pie... and as long as they don't fly faster than me! You can just call me Rainbow Dash, too!" "So very nice to make yer acquaintance Rainbow Dash." said Hugo as he gave another little bow. "Well Pinkie Pie might be your next best friend, that's for sure!" Dash said with a laugh. "Got somethin' yeh might be int'rested in too!" He said, going back into his trunk as Dash quivered with expectancy like a filly on Hearth's Warming Eve. The yellow stallion emerged, producing a pair of goggles similar to his own, though the lenses were green, and the frames were covered in small colored wires along with two nobs. "Whoa, dude! What is that?" Dash exclaimed, eyeing the complexity of the ocular device. "Specialized goggles. Been callin' 'em Super-Sighters fer the longest time. Turn that nob there, an' yeh can see at night. Now try turnin' th'other one." Dash complied, putting on the goggles and turning the other nob. As she did so the lenses extended like binoculars from the frames, going forward and backward as she turned the nob right and left. "No way! This is so awesome!" She said with a high-pitched crack. "Well, go ahead! Get used to 'em. They're yers after all." he said with a warm smile. "You're kidding! You're just gonna give them to me?" Said Dash as she pushed the goggles up and stared at him, dumbstruck. "Why not? I've got no use fer 'em anymore. Got me own pair fer doin' stuff in the dark, an' I dun need anythin' wi' that level o' magnification anyway. A pegasus like yeh s'bound to enjoy 'em too. Just dun crash into Pinkie Pie there while yer testin' 'em out." And with a squeal, Rainbow Dash took into the air to join Pinkie. "Mighty kind a' you to let Pinkie try out them wings a' yers!" said Applejack among the other voices in the crowd. "Though Ah gotta agree with Rainbow Dash in some part. Ah'm not sure Equestria's fully prepared for a winged Pinkie Pie. Good luck gettin' them things off her when you need 'em back." she finished and chuckled a bit. "Who said I wanted 'em back? Made tons! Were one o' the first things what put me on the map as a real tinkerer! Would be a cryin' shame not to share the fun wi' others!" "Ah gotta say, Hugo. That's dang generous! So what brings you here anyway, if you don't mind me askin'? Don't think Ah ever heard a' you." "Well I travel here an' there, stoppin' in cities and towns 'cross Equestria. Yeh see there en't many ponies like me." Rarity rolled her eyes. "Of that we can all be sure." but Hugo took no notice, continuing his brief introduction. "Most ponies rely on magic to get things done, but where I come from, there en't many unicorns around, so's we earth ponies have to make do." "And where exactly are you from, Mr. Iron." Twilight asked, her tone a bit more blunt than she meant it to be. "Equusburgh, miss. An' again... please call me Hugo." he said, winking at her. "Equusburgh?" Twilight said with a dubious flat tone devoid of emotion. "Aye." Hugo said, smiling. "In Scoltland?" her tone persisted. "That's the place." and for some reason this elicited some mild laughter from the crowd. "Don't suppose you've ever been there?" He asked her, but his tone was hard to place. "No, I haven't, but I do know it's quite far away. North of Hoofington." "S'right. No place like it in Equestria, tha's fer sure." "Right." She said curtly. "And I suppose you drove that machine here from Equusburgh." "That I did. Though it seems like yeh've got a problem wi' it." His eyes narrowed. She returned the stare. "Only that you'd need a boat to cross the ocean, or does your machine float as well? It looks a bit too heavy." "Uh, Twilight?" Applejack said with a nervous fake smile, nudging herself close to the unicorn before speaking low, "What the hay you doin'?" "No! No! S'quite alright, me dear!" he said in obvious response to Applejack. "She raises a valid point." and at this his voice became somber, the smile vanishing off his face. "Yeh were quite right to prod deep, me little mare. I might've fooled ev'rypony here, but unfortunately yeh've seen through me." Now his face seemed dark and shadowed with ill intent, as the crowd stood puzzled at this ominous change in mood. "The truth o' the matter is..." "What!?" Twilight barked. "That... I did drive here..." his eyes shifted left and right, "after I loaded the auto-carriage onto a boat what sailed across the ocean. An' there yeh've done it! Uncovered me dark secret!" and with that he began howling with laughter along with just about everypony else in the crowd. Twilight suddenly felt a strong heat form in her chest, partly from embarrassment but also from Spike's flames as he rolled around on the ground, chortling and coughing flames with the occasional letter from Princess Celestia. "Spike!" Twilight scowled at the dragon. "Geez Twilight! You just handed him that one!" He coughed out, still straining to not burst out laughing again. This was followed by a hard smack on her back, causing her eyes to widen and pull the corners of her mouth back in surprise. Pinkie Pie had landed behind her. "A boat! Ha! How'd you not see that one coming?" she giggled before hopping off and back up into the sky to rejoin Rainbow Dash. In all the only other pony that didn't seem to be laughing was Applejack who seemed innately concerned. "What's got you actin' like this, sugar cube? Just a moment ago you was tellin' Rarity to calm down, an' now you're just as jittery." Twilight looked long at her friend trying to think of some explanation when it dawned on here that there didn't seem to be any. For all she knew there was no reason whatsoever why she was suddenly so suspicious and angry. "I... I really don't know, Applejack." "You wanna talk about it?" Applejack edged closer, putting a supporting hoof on Twilight's back. "No. I'm fine. I guess I was just being irrational, but there is something about that pony I don't like." She turned and sneered at Hugo as he opened up a trunk in the back of his auto-carriage, ponies gathering around to take a look. "Well he is kind of a showoff, rollin' in here louder than a rodeo. Ah know Rarity agrees with you on that, so don't feel like yer alone an' all." She smiled and gave Twilight a friendly punch in the side. "Ah'm sure once you get over all that clamorin' he's probably not so bad. He aint even near as bad as Pinkie Pie on All-Sugar Saturdays, an' we still like her!" Applejack motioned a hoof over at Pinkie Pie who had just nose-dived into the crowd only to make her way to Hugo's trunk and start busily digging through boxes as the inventor desperately tried to stop her. "Nope! Dun touch that! No! Not that one neither! That'll explode! No! That'll explode too!" A few pushed buttons later there was a snap, and a bolt of electricity shot up into the air. "Jus' be glad that one weren't pointed at yer face!" Twilight gave a giggle, her fears put to rest. "You're right Applejack! Thank you!" "Anytime, sugar cube." Sounds of Thunder***** 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.
RumblingsIt started low at first— a quiet buzz that could have easily been misinterpreted for a swarm of bees in the distance or maybe ignored altogether. The first little plume of smoke was seen about an hour before noon, but again it was nothing remarkable, and the first ponies who saw it paid little heed, wondering for a moment that something beyond the east hills could be on fire, a group of foals a bit too zealous with their camping perhaps. A quarter 'till noon half the town could hear it coming, clanking like a wagon full of cookware yet still possessing some ineffable methodicalness like each cantankerous crash had a purpose. Finally at noon it rolled up to the edge of town, black smoke belching from a pipe extending from its roof and two others protruding awkwardly at mismatched angles on either side. The contraption was like nothing anypony had ever seen, shaking and jittering like a nervous creature as it produced a metallic orchestra of cacophony. While it resembled a carriage with its somewhat square body and four wheels the similarities ended there. The wheels were affixed to pistons which rose and fell like great, steel arms rowing a boat while pipes snaked around the rough-looking wooden hull. In all it seemed like some peculiar marriage of a stagecoach and a steam locomotive though surely stranger than the sum of its parts for the mere reason that somepony should have ever decided to built such a thing in the first place. By the time it reached the central square, it would have been impossible to see a single house with its windows and doors unopened, residents and passersby gaping with their eyes stretched and jaws slacked in a mixture of wonder and fear. While some ponies ran back into their homes in horror for what this thing might be, the vast majority held their places and gaze, though many had to cover their ears all the same. When it seemed as though the thunderous furor would never let up, and that all of Ponyville would be shaken down into ruin the odd wood and iron beast simply turned off. The noise ceased almost immediately, too quickly in fact, so that the clamorous ringing and scraping of metal on metal persisted long in the heads of the surprised onlookers. Yet there it sat as the crowd grew larger, all business put on hold. The speculative murmuring eventually grew so loud that only the few brave enough to approach the carriage could hear a trace of something from within, nothing more than a dull series of clicks and clacks but far from the mechanical tumult that marked its arrival sounding much like a pony shuffling around inside. And for nearly half an hour it continued to sit as though it was regarding the crowd, pondering what to do next. Among them were six familiar mares and a young dragon, each for the most part reacting differently to this supreme shake up of the familiar state of affairs. "Well this certainly isn't something you see every day." Twilight said with a bit of a giggle. "You're tellin' me, sister," Applejack replied as she furrowed her brow and scratched her head. "I truly don't see what is so interesting about this," Rarity huffed with an annoyed grimace. "Somepony decides to ruin a perfectly good Sunday afternoon with an awful racket, and we're supposed to be impressed by it? Hardly, I say!" And with an impertinent whip of her head, she turned away but not so much as to break eye contact with the carriage. "Are you kidding?!" Pinkie Pie exclaimed with a flourish of her hooves and widened eyes. "That thing was all like BANG! BOOM! CRASH! and POW! Wait... I don't think it POW'd? Did it? Did I miss it POW? Aww! I knew I should have been paying better attention!" "Yes Pinkie," Rarity lilted sarcastically, though she at least had the excuse to turn around to face the carriage again. "We all heard it, and I do mean all of us! What a hideous thing to bring into town! Why just look at it! It's all dirty and smells of soot!" she finished, enunciating her distaste with synchronized bats of her eyelashes. "I know, right? It's all DIRTY! And it smells like SOOT! Usually you have to go to a fireplace to smell soot and roll around in mud to get dirty, but this thing brought them both to us!" At that, Rarity gave her pink friend a look of absolute bafflement— a common reaction to Pinkie Pie, but just as she was about to collect herself for a rebuttal her thought process was broken by the sounds of struggle at the rear of the crowd. The three mares turned around to see Rainbow Dash desperately dragging a most uncooperative Fluttershy. With pink tail in mouth, the blue pegasus forced her friend forward while the latter panicked, digging her hooves into the ground and spurting out excuses. "No! I'm not coming! Let me go! It's so scary and loud, it terrified all my poor animals, and now I have to take care of them! Please let me go! I-they need need to be comforted!" At that Rainbow Dash opened her mouth, releasing Fluttershy's tail but only so she could argue back. "Your animals get scared and hide every time something happens here! Stop running away for once, and come look at it! It's not moving or even making noises anymore," Rainbow Dash concluded with an impatient flap of her wings, hooves on hips as she stared down at Fluttershy who had now adopted a fetal position. "It's stopped now, but I just know it'll get loud again. It's just waiting!" she stammered out before hiding her face in her hooves. "Oh Fluttershy!" Twilight said sympathetically, walking over and patting her on the back. "It's not a creature! Just an automated vehicle. There's a pony in there right now who controls it." "It reminds me of those mean brothers who tried to steal Sweet Apple Acres." Fluttershy said, face still hidden. "I just know it's trouble!" "I couldn't agree more!" Rarity interjected. "I'm sure nothing good can come of its being here!" "Now hold on a minute, girls," Applejack said, turning around, having been studying it intently for the last few minutes. "We don't even know who's inside it! Probably just some traveler lookin' to bunk up for a night'r two." Twilight smiled at this. "Applejack's right. It's unfair to assume the worst and jump to conclusions so early. I don't know why anypony would build something like this," she said while briefly looking back and regarding the thing with a focused squint, "yet I'm sure whoever did had very good reasons for it. Perhaps all the noise comes from its engine. It may be used for long journeys and needs the extra power." "But it's soooooooo looooooooud!" Rarity whined melodramatically. "Yeah," Spike added, turning away from the crowd, giving up on trying to weave in between the legs of so many ponies to get a better look. "It is pretty loud." "You all say it like it's a bad thing!" Pinkie beamed. "I wish I could make that much noise!" "Something tells me you're gonna try," added Rainbow Dash, rolling her eyes. "And would you just get up and take a look, Fluttershy! It's not gonna hurt you!" Finally, Fluttershy acquiesced, slowly bringing her head up then standing, but the second she turned and looked at it the carriage shook, and a metal hatch popped open, surprising the crowd and causing them to all tilt their heads forward in expectation and Fluttershy to return to the ground, head again buried safely in her hooves. For all the crowd's wild individual ideas of what might be inside, the answer turned out to be quite tame in comparison. He had a pale, yellow coat though his hair was smeared with coal ash, oil, and grease making him look nearly gray. The hair in his mane however shined brilliantly red and spiked out, unkempt and about as far from a comb as anything could be. Simple thick, circular glass goggles covered his eyes, fastened around his head with a rubber strap, their size giving him an almost comedic look. Matching that was a goofy grin that stretched across his face which was framed by a thick, fuzzy, but short red beard that ran from one ear to the other. The crowd watched him, muttering to themselves as he attempted to exit his odd vehicle, the act made stranger by the fact that he seemed too big for the hatch he had surely made as part of the carriage's design. When it became clear that the pony would not be able to free himself Rainbow Dash flew over to hover next to him. "Come on AJ! Wanna gimme a hoof?" "Sure! Ah'll be right over," Applejack replied, tilting her hat back and beginning to trot through the thick crowd. "Oh, for the love of Celestia! You're not actually going to touch him are you?!" Rarity said with disgust, but Applejack ignored her as Twilight gave a little chuckle. Reaching the carriage, Applejack hopped nimbly up to the hatch to join Rainbow Dash. "This... er... um. This en't really necessary." The driver said with a thick accent, blushing a bit. "Not necessary mah eye!" said Applejack with mirth, "You're stuck tighter than a gopher in a snake hole!" "I appreciate the help an' all, but I assure yeh! I'm quite capable of... extricating meself from this situation," he said, blushing more. "Nah, dude. You're pretty stuck. On three, Applejack!" "Got it!" Applejack said, grabbing his right shoulder while Rainbow Dash took his left. "Please. This is all a bit excessive..." "1!" Rainbow Dash yelled, her face growing serious. "No, really! It just takes me a few minutes gettin' out each time! Not a big deal at all!" "2!" "A bit tricky, yes! Of course! But nothing I can't handle. Please dun! ..." "3!" and with that the two mares pulled as hard as they could, yanking him free but causing Applejack to lose her balance and fall backward from the carriage's roof while Rainbow Dash, still gripping the stranger's arm arced upward before crashing with a great thud. After the dust settled, the pony grinned again and gave a hearty laugh. "Well that was certainly spirited! Though I do believe yer hoof is crushing me liver." "Oh uh... heh! Sorry about that!" said Rainbow Dash, blushing as she got off of him. Not long after he stood up as well, he noticed all eyes were on him, and everypony was deathly quiet. "Yeh act like yeh've never seen a stallion before! What's with all the hush? Yeh treat every new pony in town like this?" he said, pushing the goggles back onto his forehead to reveal bright, gold eyes. "Eh, miss? Do they treat every new pony in town like this?" he said, leaning over to Rainbow Dash. "Only the ones that roll up in noisemakers like that," said Rainbow Dash with a playful grin. "Oh! 'course I shoulda realized that'd have somethin' to do wi' it!" He laughed again, his mouth wide. Pinkie Pie had popped up now too, standing beside him and laughing as well. She then put an arm around him and they proceeded to guffaw like two old friends enjoying a joke. "That was a good one! My name's Pinkie Pie!" she said, giving a grin to rival his. The two stood and grinned at each other for a disturbing few seconds before his eyes widened and he opened his mouth again, hitting his forehead with a hoof. "Ah! Look at me! I hadn't even introduced meself yet! Name's Hamilton Iron! Everypony just calls me Hugo though. Yeh can too if yeh want. That er Hugo Iron... or Iron Hugo." His eyes narrowed, "Just not Hamilton Hugo. Hate that one." And the smile returned. The crowd too began to smile, the tension broken like so many times before by Pinkie's laughter. They drew closer as well, faces sparked with wonder as they inspected Hugo's peculiar form of transportation. "I take it these folks en't exactly used to this sorta thing." "Nope!" Pinkie said, happily. "The last ponies who had something like that were these two brothers named Flim and Flam." Hugo wrinkled his brow in deep thought for a moment. "Flim... Flam. Dun think I've ever heard of 'em." "Uh huh! It's weird too because they said they were world famous! Their thingamajig made apple cider!" "Well..." he said, voice trailing off as he eyed her dubiously, "That sounds fantastic! One up they have on me already! Their auto-carriage makes cider, and driving mine makes you sweat everything out!" Then the two had another random fit of laughter which was only interrupted by Twilight, who out of everypony gawking at the machine, was actually trying to discern its method of operation. Seeing this he walked over to join her. "Amazing in'it!" Twilight didn't respond for a spell before she magically lit up her horn, wiggling a piston rod. "Eh, would yeh mind not doin' that miss?" Hugo said with some exasperation, "It can be kinda difficult to fix." Finally she looked up. "I'm sorry Mr. Iron. I've just never seen a machine like this before. I'm interested in knowing how it works," she said in a matter of fact tone. "Well I can teach yeh all about it. Got the schematics inside. Will probably get 'em later though. As yeh've seen, it's a bit eh... challenging going through that procedure. Probably shoulda made the hatch wider. Weren't as fat as I am now when I built it though! Lesson learned! Oh, and please just call me Hugo," he finished, smiling. Twilight, however didn't return the smile. She couldn't take her eyes off the auto-carriage nor dispel the growing tension in her stomach. Rarity was right. It was loud, and now that she was close to it, she was beginning to side with Fluttershy as well. It did look dangerous. She couldn't even guess at how heavy the thing must be. And the amount of power needed to move it must be spectacular, yet Hugo was just an earth pony and a slightly insane-looking one at that. If only she could get inside, look around, and study the schematics, making sense of some of it, some of this mysterious anxiety might go away. For now though she couldn't shake the uneasiness this machine and its owner gave her.
Gears and FearsWhatever worries the citizens of Ponyville might have had when Hugo's blustering machine first rolled into town were soon gone as his mirth was hard to resist and the prospects of other strange contraptions hidden away within his auto-carriage were even more difficult to turn away from. By 2:00 PM not a single pony in town was concerned with daily business. Town hall had emptied as the even the mayor looked on like a rank and file gawker. "Hey Hugo!" said Rainbow Dash as if the two were long-time chums. "What else you got in there?" "Suddenly in'trested in that en't yeh?" Hugo replied with a knowing grin as though he had planned the entire afternoon: the loud arrival and his delayed appearance. "Hay yeah, dude! You must have all sorts of cool stuff!" Dash added expectantly, peering at the auto-carriage and trying to guess what goodies he might be hiding. "Well, I do have quite a few things I've made o'er the years..." "Like what!?" Dash interrupted. Chuckling a bit over her excitement he continued. "All sorts o' things!" He said, digging through his trunk, opening up a few boxes before producing something. "Ever feel like having an extra set o' wings?" he said with a sly grin. "No. Bucking. Way!" she exclaimed, eyes wide open in awe of what appeared to be mechanical wings, light, knife-like strips of metal connected to a series of gears and cables eventually merging together at saddle. "Aye! Wings! The Peg-Assist I call it. 'Cause the sky's too nice to not explore. Thought so much 'bout how grand it'd be to have wings like a pegasus, so I made it a reality." Rainbow Dash tore her gaze off the wings and looked back at Hugo. "So you're telling me that any earth pony or unicorn can put these on and fly?" Hugo patted her on the shoulder. "Absolutely they can!" And that was all the justification Pinkie Pie needed to bound over and begin strapping the wings to herself. "Whoa! Whoa! That en't a toy yeh know! Though it's certainly fun like a toy. Eh, take that back. It pretty much is a toy, but a bit tricky to use." "Aww please, Hugo! I gotta try it! I could hang out with Dashie all day long!" she said with sparkling eyes. "You know what Pinkie? Maybe you shouldn't try to use it." Dash interjected. "Please! Please! Please! Pleeeaaassseee!" She begged, her lower lip quivering. "Well how could I say no to that face! I guess there's no harm in it. Unless yeh crash. Then there'd be harm." Pinkie's face immediately flashed with happiness, and Hugo set to work teaching her the basics. "Jus' make sure the straps stay tight, an' dun let go o' the cables in yer hooves. Good, okay. Now move yer shoulders like that. Yes! Se 'em 'em flap!" and before long Pinkie Pie was airborne. Though coarse and ungraceful at first, Pinkie soon had enough control to fly straight, weave and zig zag through the sky, and even perform little loops, awing the crowd as they tilted their heads to follow her movements. "Hey uh, Hugo?" Dash said, nudging him in the side. "I think you may have created a monster." "My apologies, miss Dash." he said with a slight bow. "Aww it's okay! Anypony who can make earth ponies fly is okay in my book... even if it is Pinkie Pie... and as long as they don't fly faster than me! You can just call me Rainbow Dash, too!" "So very nice to make yer acquaintance Rainbow Dash." said Hugo as he gave another little bow. "Well Pinkie Pie might be your next best friend, that's for sure!" Dash said with a laugh. "Got somethin' yeh might be int'rested in too!" He said, going back into his trunk as Dash quivered with expectancy like a filly on Hearth's Warming Eve. The yellow stallion emerged, producing a pair of goggles similar to his own, though the lenses were green, and the frames were covered in small colored wires along with two nobs. "Whoa, dude! What is that?" Dash exclaimed, eyeing the complexity of the ocular device. "Specialized goggles. Been callin' 'em Super-Sighters fer the longest time. Turn that nob there, an' yeh can see at night. Now try turnin' th'other one." Dash complied, putting on the goggles and turning the other nob. As she did so the lenses extended like binoculars from the frames, going forward and backward as she turned the nob right and left. "No way! This is so awesome!" She said with a high-pitched crack. "Well, go ahead! Get used to 'em. They're yers after all." he said with a warm smile. "You're kidding! You're just gonna give them to me?" Said Dash as she pushed the goggles up and stared at him, dumbstruck. "Why not? I've got no use fer 'em anymore. Got me own pair fer doin' stuff in the dark, an' I dun need anythin' wi' that level o' magnification anyway. A pegasus like yeh s'bound to enjoy 'em too. Just dun crash into Pinkie Pie there while yer testin' 'em out." And with a squeal, Rainbow Dash took into the air to join Pinkie. "Mighty kind a' you to let Pinkie try out them wings a' yers!" said Applejack among the other voices in the crowd. "Though Ah gotta agree with Rainbow Dash in some part. Ah'm not sure Equestria's fully prepared for a winged Pinkie Pie. Good luck gettin' them things off her when you need 'em back." she finished and chuckled a bit. "Who said I wanted 'em back? Made tons! Were one o' the first things what put me on the map as a real tinkerer! Would be a cryin' shame not to share the fun wi' others!" "Ah gotta say, Hugo. That's dang generous! So what brings you here anyway, if you don't mind me askin'? Don't think Ah ever heard a' you." "Well I travel here an' there, stoppin' in cities and towns 'cross Equestria. Yeh see there en't many ponies like me." Rarity rolled her eyes. "Of that we can all be sure." but Hugo took no notice, continuing his brief introduction. "Most ponies rely on magic to get things done, but where I come from, there en't many unicorns around, so's we earth ponies have to make do." "And where exactly are you from, Mr. Iron." Twilight asked, her tone a bit more blunt than she meant it to be. "Equusburgh, miss. An' again... please call me Hugo." he said, winking at her. "Equusburgh?" Twilight said with a dubious flat tone devoid of emotion. "Aye." Hugo said, smiling. "In Scoltland?" her tone persisted. "That's the place." and for some reason this elicited some mild laughter from the crowd. "Don't suppose you've ever been there?" He asked her, but his tone was hard to place. "No, I haven't, but I do know it's quite far away. North of Hoofington." "S'right. No place like it in Equestria, tha's fer sure." "Right." She said curtly. "And I suppose you drove that machine here from Equusburgh." "That I did. Though it seems like yeh've got a problem wi' it." His eyes narrowed. She returned the stare. "Only that you'd need a boat to cross the ocean, or does your machine float as well? It looks a bit too heavy." "Uh, Twilight?" Applejack said with a nervous fake smile, nudging herself close to the unicorn before speaking low, "What the hay you doin'?" "No! No! S'quite alright, me dear!" he said in obvious response to Applejack. "She raises a valid point." and at this his voice became somber, the smile vanishing off his face. "Yeh were quite right to prod deep, me little mare. I might've fooled ev'rypony here, but unfortunately yeh've seen through me." Now his face seemed dark and shadowed with ill intent, as the crowd stood puzzled at this ominous change in mood. "The truth o' the matter is..." "What!?" Twilight barked. "That... I did drive here..." his eyes shifted left and right, "after I loaded the auto-carriage onto a boat what sailed across the ocean. An' there yeh've done it! Uncovered me dark secret!" and with that he began howling with laughter along with just about everypony else in the crowd. Twilight suddenly felt a strong heat form in her chest, partly from embarrassment but also from Spike's flames as he rolled around on the ground, chortling and coughing flames with the occasional letter from Princess Celestia. "Spike!" Twilight scowled at the dragon. "Geez Twilight! You just handed him that one!" He coughed out, still straining to not burst out laughing again. This was followed by a hard smack on her back, causing her eyes to widen and pull the corners of her mouth back in surprise. Pinkie Pie had landed behind her. "A boat! Ha! How'd you not see that one coming?" she giggled before hopping off and back up into the sky to rejoin Rainbow Dash. In all the only other pony that didn't seem to be laughing was Applejack who seemed innately concerned. "What's got you actin' like this, sugar cube? Just a moment ago you was tellin' Rarity to calm down, an' now you're just as jittery." Twilight looked long at her friend trying to think of some explanation when it dawned on here that there didn't seem to be any. For all she knew there was no reason whatsoever why she was suddenly so suspicious and angry. "I... I really don't know, Applejack." "You wanna talk about it?" Applejack edged closer, putting a supporting hoof on Twilight's back. "No. I'm fine. I guess I was just being irrational, but there is something about that pony I don't like." She turned and sneered at Hugo as he opened up a trunk in the back of his auto-carriage, ponies gathering around to take a look. "Well he is kind of a showoff, rollin' in here louder than a rodeo. Ah know Rarity agrees with you on that, so don't feel like yer alone an' all." She smiled and gave Twilight a friendly punch in the side. "Ah'm sure once you get over all that clamorin' he's probably not so bad. He aint even near as bad as Pinkie Pie on All-Sugar Saturdays, an' we still like her!" Applejack motioned a hoof over at Pinkie Pie who had just nose-dived into the crowd only to make her way to Hugo's trunk and start busily digging through boxes as the inventor desperately tried to stop her. "Nope! Dun touch that! No! Not that one neither! That'll explode! No! That'll explode too!" A few pushed buttons later there was a snap, and a bolt of electricity shot up into the air. "Jus' be glad that one weren't pointed at yer face!" Twilight gave a giggle, her fears put to rest. "You're right Applejack! Thank you!" "Anytime, sugar cube."
Sounds of Thunder***** 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.
