From what Twilight told me, Pinkie is in charge of the fireworks….
Suitable but…. argh……

Giving myself another face hoof Pinkie skipped down the road with me still lying on her back until she stopped for a moment, opened up a pink door and we hopped right in.

“Here we are Shadow!” she said excitingly as I fell down from her back and tried to right myself up with difficulty from the earlier fall. To no avail I just gave up for now and landed back on my back.

“Twilight was going around town and told me you were helping EVERYPONY and I really need the help! So can you help me? Can ya, can ya?” she pressed her face uncomfortably closer to mine.

“Umm… well… I’m in pain right now but…”

“GREAT! I’ll get the stuff while you can lie down and learn how fireworks are made!”

Pinkie hopped into and around the kitchen grabbing various mixing bowls and apparatuses that would seem better for making pastries as compared to volatile explosives.

A few seconds later an adult couple I remember as the “Cakes” walked in to see me sprawled out on the floor with my back and Pinkie going into overdrive trying to find everything she needed to make fireworks.

“Oh buon giorno Mr. and Mrs. Cake, Pinkie’s in charge of making some stuff with the festival and somehow I’m here to learn? All I know is that my back has been killing me all day.”

“Let’s get you up Shadow,” Mr. Cake said as he helped lift me back onto my hoofs from my sore back.

“You really shouldn’t work so hard Shadow. Pinkie told us all about the work you sit through on a daily basis. It must be difficult,” Mrs. Cake said worryingly to me.

“Don’t worry Mr. and Mrs. Cake I plan to take a very long break during the festival but after it’s back to work, after all somepony has to do it right?”

“Ah Shadow, always such a hard worker. You’ve been a good influence to our Pinkie and to the town. We’re all so proud of you and the help you’ve brought us,” Mr. Cake said shaking my hoof.

“Really, it is no trouble,” I said giving back a smile.

“Oh dear, we should really get going and pick up the foals,” Mrs. Cake said to her husband.

‘That’s right! Shadow can you make sure Pinkie doesn’t explode the house while we’re out?”

“I’ll try my best,” I reassured him.

They both gave a sigh of relief then quickly left the building leaving me there to give myself another face hoof. As soon as I finished Pinkie grabbed me from my spot and brought me over to the kitchen where everything was surprisingly well organized and neat.

Asides from those were the piles of clearly unlabeled materials and powders as I immediately recognized as explosive reagents.

“Pinkie you know we’re making fireworks, not cupcakes right?”

“Well duh! But a nifty trick I’ve found are that bomb recipes are similar to baking recipes!” she clapped her hoofs together.

“Pinkie you can’t be serious? Making bombs is a careful and very-closely timed mixture to do--,” I started to say but a pink hoof blocked my mouth.

“Enough talking, it’s time to get baking!” Pinkie ran over to a hidden stereo and turned it on playing a somewhat catchy tune I might add.

Oh no… she’s not going to…

Pinkie took a deep breath in and let out her loud hearty musical vocals.

Sure enough before me lay a large tray of perfectly made fireworks…. straight from the oven?

Still that song and the actual making of them forced me to plant a very hard and impacting face hoof on my forehead.

“Silly Shadow, you can’t make fireworks if you just keep hitting your head!” Pinkie smiled at me as she spun a tray from her head to my hoofs.

“Wait a second Pinkie, you don’t expect me to make these fireworks also?” I stared confusingly at the tray I held.

“Nope.”

Whew what a relief, I know cooking makes me look sexy but this is just too much…

“We’ll do it together!” Pinkie raised a hoof in triumph.

This can’t end well…

------3 and a half minutes Later-----------------

“Pinkie I’ve got smoke! I don’t think that’s supposed to happen!” I shouted to her while holding out the potentially ticking time-bomb my hoofs were grasping onto.

“Mmm! It looks delish!” Pinkie came over and wafted the smoking fumes coming from my firework stick.

I have never heard an explosive substance be described like that before.
What am I saying!? I HAVE A LIVE EXPLOSIVE IN MY HOOFS!

“But you might have to throw it out so we can work on a different batch okay?” she said before walking to her oven while humming to herself.

Where do I throw this away!? Not in the house that’s for sure!

My other hoof grabbed a nearby window opening and the other chucked the firework outside. A few seconds later a small pop was heard and the breaking of dishes coming from outside.

“NO! MY 2000 YEAR CHINA!” a voice from outside shouted which I quickly closed back the window and let out a sigh of relief.

“Okay Shadow I’ve got more stuff why don’t you try it again?” Pinkie came back holding the usual ingredients for fireworks.

Make it stop please! I can’t handle these explosives anymore!
“Oh it’s just like baking, how hard can it be?”
Ya right, now I’m stuck here until I can do this right.

I grabbed the materials, wiped some sweat from my brow and began the cooking process for the firework recipe once more.

It’s GO TIME!

Mixing the materials, spinning the bowl faster and faster with the stirring stick, getting the texture just right and sticking my creation into the oven at 350 degrees. All my concentration was fixated on this one simple of creation, the one explosive that was sure to aid my release from this infernal bomb factory and from Pinkie’s grasps.

THIS IS 100% ASSASSIN RELATED BUSINESS!

A small ding came from the oven which I immediately pulled out the still-hot explosive mixture and deposited it into a firework casing.
Lifting it proudly above my head I gave a victory yell then calmed down and put my creation onto the counter.

“Yippee! You did it Shadow!” Pinkie came over and gave me a hug of accomplishment.

“It was no problem Pinkie, guess I just needed some time to adapt and learn how to make them properly.”

“We should celebrate with some fireworks!” Pinkie shouted eccentrically while carrying a firework in her hoof.

“NO PINKIE!” I quickly swatted the explosive from her and it fell to the ground.

But there was something wrong… the fuse had gotten lit from the scrape along the kitchen tiles.

Doing the rational thing I usually would do if there was a live explosive device near me, I immediately grabbed it with lightning reflexes and tossed it well away from the vicinity of me and Pinkie.

Whew… crisis averted…

The thrown lit firework landed in a pile of other fireworks lighting them all.

“OH SHI-- PINKIE GET DOWN!”

My grey hoof grabbed her pink one and I situated both of us behind a table after flipping it over it's side with a kick to protect us from the blast.

"....."

“…..”

It never came.

Pinkie was giggling and my look went from mortified to confused. Peering over the counter slightly as to not get an explosion to rip through my skull, the fireworks I observed on the counter are completely burned out and white foamy fluff was coming out from them.

“Pinkie?” I looked back at her as she was trying ever so hard to stifle her laughter.

“Those fireworks are not actually fireworks, they’re FIREWORK CAKES!” Pinkie burst out into tears of laughter as she clutched her sides.

“Dammit Pinkie!” I shouted out in rage.

But then my mouth betrayed me with a small grin and my illusion broke, I too began to laugh my flank off from Pinkie’s creation.

Some moments later we picked ourselves up from the ground and began to clean around the kitchen until Pinkie stopped and used her mop to balance her.

“Shadow can I get your opinion on something absolutely fantastic!?” Pinkie asked me.

Just this one thing, but then I’m out of here. Got to help everyone else too.

“Sure Pinkie what is it?” I replied while putting down my broom.

She ushered me into the next room and showed me something I couldn’t believe she was actually going to do. My mouth hanged out and my mind was completely shocked as Pinkie gave a little showing off gesture.

“Pinkie… where… you know what I don’t even want to know. But you can’t… use this… you just can’t,” I said from my astonished, astounded and horrified face.

No it wasn’t a Pinkie Nuke. It was a PINKIE NUKE FIREWORK!

“I thought the festival could end with a big bang! A really really REALLY BIG BANG!” Pinkie grinned ear to ear.

“Pinkie there’s something’s you do and something’s you just don’t do EVER. This counts as one.”

I then face hoofed myself. Except this time it was very hard much harder than the other times from that day, I recoiled from the pain and my vision clouded. My eyesight started to flash and my head became washed in a dizziness of nausea as I stumbled onto the ground.

“….okay Shadow…. you….”

My head cleared and I can finally hear properly again.

“Are you okay Shadow? You didn’t look so good,” Pinkie said with worry in her voice.

“It’s alright,” I got up from my position, “Too many things happening today that are challenging my thoughts, very painfully I might add.”

“You know what Pinkie you do whatever with that firework, can I get some fresh air for now, I’ll be fine?”

“Okie dokie lokie Shadow! Try not to bump your head again!” Pinkie waved to me goodbye as I went over to the door outside.

Shutting the door behind me I slumped my flank onto the steps of Sugarcube Corner while rubbing my eyes with my hidden blade bracers.

In truth I was not fine.

My head pounded with such ferocity that it made me almost unable to stand back up to my hooves.

At least the baking madness is over with.
Still got to see Applejack and Rarity as well as anyone else who might need my help.

Another sudden pain happened in my head and for some reason I took a small look around myself just to see the usual festival decorators hard at work.

A strange feeling I’m getting… *head-trob*
Arg, I just hope I can deal with this pain until tomorrow; maybe Dr. Mareio can give me something.

Shaking my head to clear my thoughts as well as the headache I started to trot my way back into the festival preparations.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

A short distance away a dark figure was overlooking Ponyville from a rooftop and more importantly had its sights fixated on Shadow walking out from Sugarcube Corner while rubbing his head in pain.

“You do make this sometimes oh so easy for me Shadow.”

The figure brought a hoof up to its face to readjust something on top of its nose from under a large smuggish grin.
Not a second later it vanished, not even leaving a trail of wind behind.