Midnight. The moon hung in the sky over Ursa Major University, situated a few miles from Fillydelphia. The crisp autumn air blew leaves around the dorm buildings, and for the most part, students were turning in for the night. One by one, the lights in the windows of each dorm house went out as sleepy ponies drifted off into sleep. Only a few carriages roamed the roads this late in the small college town, and had any bothered to look, one window was still illuminated by candlelight. One pony was still burning the midnight oil, the glow of his luminous crystal keeping his room aglow as he finished his paper.
“Finally. That took way longer than I expected, but my report's done!” He shouted. Quickly, he covered his mouth as realized how late it was, and uttered a silent prayer to Celestia that he didn't wake anypony. Hearing no commotion, he breathed a sigh of relief, shuffling his report away into his backpack. “I suppose it's not that late,” he mused. “I have time for a shower.” Grabbing his crystal lantern, he afforded himself a glance in his mirror.
The view that greeted him was that of a young unicorn stallion, somewhere between ‘adorable’ and ‘dashingly handsome’ if his mother had anything to say about it. And while he always thought his colors were obnoxious, most ponies seemed to not care too much.
Still, who would want to be stuck with bright, almost fluorescent cyan fur and a mane that could only be called neon orange? Yes, the colors complimented each other, but compared to the more muted tones of his classmates, family, and… pretty much anypony on the street, he was easy to spot. Still, Laugh Track was a young stallion on a mission, and that mission was getting in the shower, cleaning up, contemplating the meaning of life, and then going to bed! He had class in the morning, damn it!
So, grabbing his shower caddy in his magic, Laugh trotted out of his room, locked the door behind him, and entered the dorm house bathroom. It was nice, living in a refurbished house instead of one of the massive dormitories. Quieter. A quick flick of the lightswitch rune and the luminous crystals lit up the bathroom in a bright glow.
Laugh smiled as he felt the water cascade over him, quickly cleaning himself up without issue. Showers were always a place to unwind, the water washing his worries and stress away. So it was with a heavy heart that he reached out and turned the shower handle to the ‘off’ position.
And the water kept running.
“Uh. That. That is not supposed to happen,” Laugh noted to nopony in particular, gripping the knob again in his magic. “Must be stuck, or jammed, or something.” He twisted the handle back to his preferred temperature, and then back to off. Nothing. He stared up at the shower head, groaning. “Great, it's gonna be one of those nights. And my environmental science professor will never let me hear the end of it if I don't conserve water… but facilities isn't open this late!”
The stallion huffed in annoyance and leaned his head against the shower wall. Suddenly though, his ears perked up and he seemed to have an idea. “You know, I do have a screwdriver kit in my room… but I can't let my mane get wet and fall in my eyes while I'm fixing this. Where'd I put my swim cap?”
He cantered out of the bathroom, only to return moments later with his swimming cap, a pair of goggles, a flashlight powered by a smaller crystal, and a set of ten assorted screwdrivers he had brought to college at the insistence of his family.
“Alright, time to go from mild-mannered neuroscientist Laugh Track to my new and improved form… Laugh Track, amateur plumber! This shouldn't take long at all!”
After setting his flashlight down on the sink, he stuck his head back under the still-running water and examined the handle. “Now where's the stupid screw on this thing… aha! Here it is, under the handle. Now is that the kinda screw that uses the flat screwdriver, or the one that looks like an x?” He craned his neck out to look under the handle at the screw, in a very awkward position. He was putting all his weight on one hoof and he had to stay completely focused or-
“Laugh, what in Tartarus are you doing?”
Thud. ...or he would fall flat on his face as his housemate from a few rooms down walked in. Granted, his question was completely justified, as anypony would question a vibrantly colored pony standing halfway in the shower with the curtain wide open, while appearing to do some odd yoga move to stare at the handle controlling the water, all while dressed for a swim meet.
Laugh picked himself off the floor. “Rgh, Inertia! You startled me! What are you even doing in here?”
“Uh… using the bathroom?”
“Oh. Carry on, then.”
The earth pony replied with a skeptical look. “Not until you tell me what you're up to.”
“Long story short, the shower won't turn off. Wanna help me fix it? I need somepony to hold the flashlight so I can get a better look at this,” Laugh explained, gesturing to the aforementioned device on the sink.
“Sure thing.”
Inertia grabbed the light in his mouth and held it up so that it was shining on the screw. Laugh Track levitated a screwdriver up in his magic, making sure it lined up with the screw correctly, amd began turning. “Geez, this screw is in there! It isn't even turning. Come on, you son of a-”
CRACK
Inertia looked at Laugh cautiously. “Uh, what was that?”
“Um. You aren't gonna believe this… the screwdriver broke.”
“What.”
“Half of the little part that goes into the screw snapped off! It wasn't my fault! What a piece of junk,” Laugh snorted, tossing it aside. “I'll just use another one… there! It's off.” He gingerly levitated the handle and screw to the floor, then turned his attention to the inner mechanism. There was a fairly obvious screw in it. “Alright, this looks important.”
“So what's the plan?”
“Disassemble shit until something happens. Now, let me just put the screwdriver in here, and turn it… man, it must be rusted in, it's not cooperating and-”
CRACK
“Again, Laugh? Seriously?”
Laugh tossed the second broken screwdriver angrily to the ground. “Fine, let's just mess with this for now. It looks like I can turn it with my magic to control… the… uh…”
“What now?”
Laugh Track turned and looked at Inertia, worried. “The water's increased in temperature… it's as hot as I can get now. Is that progress?”
“No.”
“Shit, I thought so. And I can't stay under a boiling hot stream of water for long,” he lamented, gazing at the still-running shower. “..you know, I might have something to help. I'll be right back!”
“I wonder what he has planned this time, an umbrella? Nah, he's not that crazy,” Inertia mused as Laugh left the room. Then about a minute later, he wished that was the stallion's plan.
“I'm back!”
Inertia facehooved. “Why are you wearing your winter coat, Laugh?”
“If it keeps body heat in, it should be able to keep the hot water heat out. Now, can we please get fixing?” He stepped back into the shower, and began slowly turning the mechanism. “Yeah, it definitely looks like this controls the water flow. If I can set it just right, i can reduce it to negligible levels and we can just call for maintenance in the morning. Just let me-”
“What the everliving buck are you too doing?!”
Inertia looked over to see his roomate, Galaxy, enter the bathroom. He could only imagine what the pegasus was thinking, walking in on… this. Two ponies, one holding a flashlight, while the other stood in a wide open, running shower in full swim gear and a winter coat. Two broken screwdrivers on the floor, the shower handle missing… and all at one in the morning.
Laugh track poked his head out of the shower, fed up with the interruptions. “What the buck does it look like we're doing?! We're clearly filming a porno. Get over here, we need a third actor.” He paused to let that sink in, then continued. “The shower's bucking broken, numbnuts! Are you gonna help or not?”
”Buck this, I'm going back to bed.”
“Yeah, me too,” Inertia added. “Have fun fixing the shower, Laugh.”
“Wait, where are you going?! Come back! What am I supposed to do, hit it until it stops?!” He threw his hooves up in exasperation, giving the inner mechanism of the shower a solid whack. Surprisingly enough, the water stopped. “Oh. Well, I guess that settles that. I'll handle getting maintenance out here in the morning. Goodnight, guys!”
After waving the pair off and gathering up his things, Laugh took one last look at the shower stall. “That was easy. Looks like I can do anything I set my mind to after all!”
With that said, he slammed the bathroom door shut and went back to bed. A pity he didn't double check, as the slamming door shook the room and turned the shower back on...