//------------------------------//
// Day 2: Refrigerator Trouble 
// Story: Ponyville the Town of Youth 
// by Ironskull 
//------------------------------//

Twilight was sitting in an armchair with a book held in her magical grasp.  She had decided that just because she couldn't further her education didn't mean that she couldn't enjoy a good book.

A movement caught her eye.

"Oh, Fluttershy!" said Twilight.  "You're awake!"

"Yes," answered Fluttershy.

Twilight hesitated.  "What time is it?"  She took notice of the clock.

"Ten o' clock," she remarked, not waiting for Fluttershy to answer the question herself.  "Wow, I can't believe it's so late!  I just couldn't keep my nose out of that book!  I wonder how things at the party are going by now.  I suppose I ought to forget about breakfast at this point and wait until lunch.  Which means that we'll have to see what the others have available."  The prospect didn't seem particularly exciting.  "Would you like to go see how everypony else is doing?"

"Okay."

Twilight closed her book and put it down before hopping out of the chair.





"Pinkie?"

Pinkie Pie stopped her strange dance and looked toward the new voice.

"Twilight!" she exclaimed, throwing her hooves into the air.  "And Fluttershy too!  You finally decided to come and join us!"

"But... everypony else here is passed out," said Twilight, motioning toward the tables and booths surrounding them.  There were far fewer faces here than had originally attended.

"Did you actually stay up the entire night?" asked Twilight.

"You bet I did!"

"... But nopony else did?" asked Twilight.

"Well, a few of the others almost did, but they got tired.  And a bunch of them also started complaining about how they ate too many sweets."

"I told you."

"Well, I feel fine!"

"I can see that..."

Meanwhile, Fluttershy had wandered over to the unconscious Spike.  The phrase 'Don't wake a sleeping dragon' ran through her head, causing her to hesitate.  However, she ultimately could not bring herself to see Spike in that light.  She carefully poked him in the side.

Spike responded by muttering and shifting in his sleep.

Fluttershy poked him again, just as gently as before.

"Stop iiit..." muttered Spike.

Another poke.  This time, Fluttershy whispered "Spike," into his ear.

"What is it?" asked Spike, his eyes finally blinking open.  He looked up at his oppressor.

"Oh, it's you Fluttershy..." he grumbled.

"Did Rarity leave?" asked Fluttershy quietly.

"Yeah, she was one of the first to go home..."

"Could you take me to her house then?" said Fluttershy.  "I don't know my way around Ponyville."

"Urgh, can it wait 'til later?" moaned Spike.

"Oh...  Okay..."

Spike groaned, this time out of frustration.

"No, wait, Fluttershy.  I'll help you.  Where did you say you wanted to go?"

"Um... Could you take me to see Rarity?"

"Rarity?" asked Spike in surprise, his overstuffed stomach temporarily forgotten.  "Well, I guess I can make the time to do that for you..."

Spike hopped down from his chair.  "Hey, Twilight."

Twilight stopped her conversation with Pinkie to look back at him.  Spike was startled to see that Twilight had an angry look on her face.

"Um..."  Spike hesitated.  "Fluttershy wants me to walk her over to Rarity's place..." he managed.  "Is that alright with you?"

"Yes, yes, go on," said Twilight.  She turned back around to Pinkie.

"Now, let me get this straight," Twilight said to Pinkie in an annoyed tone.  "You are already completely out of flour?"





"A note?" asked Spike and Rarity in unison.

"Yes, I have it right here."

Fluttershy gave Rarity a piece of paper.  Rarity read through it with an expression of confusion on her face.

"And, since this is the second of this month, I thought I should check to see if you still want to..." said Fluttershy.

"But I wasn't the one that wrote you this note!" protested Rarity.  "My future self did!"

"So does that mean that you don't want to have lunch together?"

"... Well I-  But how can we?  There's no place in Ponyville to get lunch from!  I mean, I guess I could check to see what's in my refrigerator...?"

"Well, only if you want to..."

"No, it's okay.  Come inside, lets go take a look."

Rarity stepped aside and motioned for Fluttershy and Spike to come into the boutique.

"These dresses are lovely," remarked Fluttershy.

"Well, thank you, but they're not mine.  Not really.  Sweetie Belle assured me that my adult self stitched every last one of these dresses, but it wasn't me.  Future me is so much more talented than I am..."

Fluttershy said nothing.

"Eleven O' clock is a little early to be having lunch," continued Rarity.  "I suppose the original intent was to not get food immediately after you show up, but I am hungry.  I didn't have breakfast, you see.  Um, I think the kitchen is... this way?"

Rarity peeked through the archway and, to her relief, saw that her guess had been correct.

"Whoa!" exclaimed Spike.

"Rarity!" exclaimed Fluttershy in a hushed cry.

"What?" asked Rarity.

"What happened to your refrigerator?"

"Huh?"

Rarity approached the refrigerator and quickly realized that something was very wrong.

"What in Equestria is that?" she wailed.  "Why is my refrigerator covered with rainbow slime!"

Rarity rushed toward the appliance with panic in her eyes.

"It's pooling on the floor!" she cried.  "And look!  It's just covering the lower door!  It's coming out of the freezer!  What is this stuff!?"

Rarity carefully avoided the pool of multi-colored slime on the floor and threw the freezer door open.

"Agh!" she screeched in a shrill voice.  "My ice cream!"

She stuck a hoof into the freezer and, to her horror, discovered that it was no colder than the room she was standing in.

"My refrigerator is broken!" Rarity wailed.  "Fluttershy!  What do I doo-ooo-oooooooo?"

"Well, first-"

"I know!" Rarity cried out.  "I'll ask the others for help!  Somepony in this town has to be able to fix a refrigerator!  They must!"

Rarity shot out of the kitchen and out the front door.

"Rarity!" cried Spike as he chased after her.  "Wait up!"





Back at Sugar Cube Corner, Twilight and Pinkie heard the front door fly open and a voice cry "Somepony help me!"

There were groans of annoyance from the surrounding sleeping fillies and colts.

"Rarity!" cried Twilight.  "What's wrong?"

"All of her ice cream is melting," said Pinkie.

"Pinkie!" chastised Twilight.  "This is serious!  What's the matter, Rarity?"

"My refrigerator is broken and all of my ice cream is oozing out!" cried Rarity!  "Somepony must help me!"

"Really?" asked Twilight bemusedly.

"What's going on?" sputtered a tired looking Sweetie Belle.

"I said, my refrigerator is broke and all of the ice cream is oozing out all over the kitchen!" cried Rarity.  "Somepony has to help me!"

"Whoa," said Rainbow Dash.  "Wait up, ice cream all over the kitchen?  Now this I gotta see."

Rainbow Dash flew up from the bench that she had fallen asleep on and flew to the door.  She wasn't the only one to start moving, however.  Before Twilight could wrap her head around what was happening, everyone in Sugar Cube Corner was following a tearful Rarity back to the boutique.

"Do any of you actually know how to fix a refrigerator?" Twilight called after them as she ran to catch up.

The group of colts and fillies eventually ran past Spike, who was running in the opposite direction.

"Hey!" he cried out as he braked to a stop with the back of his feet.  "Wait up you guys!  Argh!"





"Hey!" cried Rainbow Dash in annoyance, now inside Rarity's kitchen along with the others from Sugar Cube Corner.  "You said that it was all over the place!"

"It is!" insisted Rarity.  "Just look at that!"  She pointed at the puddle under the refrigerator.

"That puddle is like, two feet wide."

"It's icky!"

"So, you were serious?" said Twilight in confusion.  She turned to Pinkie Pie.  "Pinkie, how did you know about this?  You didn't have anything to do with it, did you?"

"Nah!" Pinkie answered.  "I just used my pinkie sense!"

"... You're what?"

"So I guess we're gunna need some tools to crack it open and see what's wrong," said Apple Bloom.  "Anypony know where we can get any?"

"First things first," said Diamond Tiara.  "Let's wipe this mess up so we don't get any on us.  Somepony open the freezer."

Rarity did so.

And then she screamed again.

"Good grief Rarity!" complained Sweetie Belle.  "Haven't you screamed enough today?"

"It's gone!" Rarity cried.  "It's all gone!  Where did my ice cream go!  Even the buckets are gone!"

"Fluttershy!" shouted Rarity in an accusing tone, whirling around to face her.  "You ate all of my ice cream while I was gone!"

Fluttershy let out an "Eeep!" and began to back away into a corner as Rarity approached her.

"How could you do this to me?" demanded Rarity.

"Whoa whoa whoa Rarity," cried Rainbow Dash as he flew to Fluttershy's side.  "Me and Flutters go way back.  There's no way she ate your ice cream.  Trust me!  That's not like her!"

"Then where is it?" shouted Rarity.

"Maybe if you'd back off, Fluttershy could tell you!"

Reluctantly, Rarity stepped away from Fluttershy.

"Fluttershy, do you know what happened to Rarity's ice cream?" asked Rainbow Dash.

"It's... outside," whispered Fluttershy.

"What was that?" demanded Rarity.

"Um..." began Rainbow Dash, her expression showing confusion.  "She said it's outside...?"

"Here it is!" cried Pinkie.  She stepped into the crowd of foals as they parted to make way for her.  She was carrying two buckets of ice cream in each hoof.  "They were sitting by the front door in the snow!  I thought you would have noticed!"

"You put them outside?" cried Rarity.  "Why would you do that, Fluttershy?"

"Um, because it's below freezing out there?" said Rainbow Dash.

"...  Oh.  Right.  I'm... sorry Fluttershy.  Thank you."

"What about the rest of the food?" asked Diamond Tiara.

"I never checked," said Rarity.  She opened the lower door (being careful not to get melted ice cream on her hooves) and stuck a hoof in.  "It's warm in here too."

"Alright, let's pile everything on the table and clean this mess up," said Diamond.  "Only, not in that order!"





"I got tools here!" shouted Apple Bloom as she came through the front door.

Everypony moved out of the kitchen to look.  Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo were waddling through the door while awkwardly carrying piles of various kinds of tools.

"Where did you get all those?" asked Applejack.

"We borrowed them from neighbor's tool shed!"

"Borrowed?" said Applejack.  "Without askin'?"

"It's not like there's anypony to ask," defended Apple Bloom.  "And besides, nopony actually even lives in the neighbor's house anyway!  This isn't the real Ponyville, remember?  Which means that all of this stuff isn't technically owned by anypony!"

"Well, ah guess so," answered Applejack reluctantly.

"Well then," said Apple Bloom, "let's get to work!"

Within minutes, the back of the refrigerator was pried off and a dozen colts and fillies were trying to make sense of the mess inside.

"What's this thing?"

"Is this supposed to be like that?"

"Where does this tube here go?"

Twilight decided that she had better things to do than listen to them argue about how to fix the refrigerator.

"Rainbow Dash!" she called.

"Huh? asked Rainbow, looking away from the refrigerator to look at Twilight.  "Whada you want?"

"Come here."

Rainbow did so, confusion in her face.

Twilight pointed out a window.  "You see that?"

Rainbow looked.  "Yeah."

"Discord said that you're the weather pony around here," continued Twilight.  "Don't you think that it's about time you cleaned up all of these clouds?"

Rainbow Dash grimaced.  "No, Twilight.  I don't.  Discord said that I should be the weather pony.  That doesn't mean that I have to.  And there's nopony around scheduling the weather, so I'll decide what kind of weather we'll be having around here.  And I say that today is going to be a cloudy day."

Twilight threw her hooves up.  "Alright, fine!"





One hour later, no progress had been made.  In fact, the refrigerator probably needed more repair than it did previously.

"I'm hungry!" announced Snips.

"Me too!" agreed Snails.  "What time is it?"

"It's noon," announced Sweetie Belle, who knew where to locate the clock.  "Should we break for lunch?"

"Where should we go?" asked Pinkie.  "Back to Sugar Cube Corner?"

"Pinkie," said Rainbow Dash in deadpan, "There's food right here."  She pointed at the table, which had several dishes with various food items in them.  "And if we can't get that stupid refrigerator fixed then its all going to go bad before too long, sooo..."

Soon everypony was grabbing food from Rarity's table like a buffet.

Rarity herself was trying to not think about the amount of dishes that would need to be cleaned after this was over.

"There must be a better way to do this," remarked Diamond Tiara.  "A solution to the problem that doesn't actually involve fixing the refrigerator."

"We could leave it like it is," suggested Rainbow Dash.

"No!" cried Rarity.  "My ice cream!"

"Well, we could eat all the ice cream and then you won't have to worry about it?"

"Absolutely not," continued Rarity.  "That ice cream is all mine!"

"Wait a minute Rarity!" said Sweetie Belle.  "I know what we can do!"

"You do?"

"Let's just take the neighbor's refrigerator!"





"How did you all rope me into this?" complained Twilight.

The front door to the neighbor's house opened and out came a crowd of colts and fillies balancing a new refrigerator on their backs, assisted by Twilight's magic.

"Hey," said Sweetie Belle.  "Where are Scootaloo and Rainbow Dash?"






"So," began Scootaloo.  "we're doing what exactly?"

"We're exploring, Scootaloo!" answered Rainbow Dash as they walked through the hallway of the neighbor's house.  "You saw the the others, they don't need our help!"

"But this is somepony's house!" protested Scootaloo.

"Didn't we already steal their tools and refrigerator?" countered Rainbow.

"That wasn't stealing!  But what if we come across somepony's secrets or something?  Shouldn't we respect their privacy?"

"Relax," assured Rainbow Dash.  "It's not like we're going to snoop through their personal stuff.  Hey, what's that?"

Rainbow and Scootaloo stopped to stare at a small brown object that was laying in the floor.  Scootaloo picked it up.

"It's somepony's money purse," she announced.

They both hesitated.

"Do you wanna..." began Scootaloo anxiously.

"Yeah!" answered Rainbow Dash.  "It doesn't belong to anypony, remember?  Spill it!"

Rainbow held her hooves out in front of Scootaloo.  Scootaloo opened the zipper on the purse and poured the contents into Rainbow's hooves.

"Holy googly moogly!" exclaimed Rainbow.  "That's gotta be, like, forty bits here!  That's more money than I've ever held in my life!"

"Yeah," said Scootaloo unexcitedly.  "But what are we going to do what it?"

"What do you mean?" asked Rainbow, looking at Scootaloo as though she was crazy.

"I mean, what is there to even spend money on around here?  There's nopony selling anything around here!  We just grab what we need when we need it!"

"But, But..." Rainbow stuttered.  "But there must be something we could use these for!"

"Hmmmmm..." Scootaloo sat back in thought.  Suddenly her face lit up.  "You're right!  There is one thing we could use bits for!  But we're going to need way more than just forty!"





"Everypony," said Sweetie Belle, "We forgot something."

There was a groan from the other ponies.  "What?" they all asked in deadpan unison.

"We have to get that old broken refrigerator out of here so we can put this one in it's place."

There was more groaning as the group carefully set the new refrigerator down outside Rarity's boutique.





"Good work, everypony!" announced Sweetie Belle as she stood in front of Rarity's new fridge.  "We have successfully replaced Rarity's refrigerator and placed the left-overs inside.

"There is just one problem.

"The freezer already had some stuff in it, so there is not enough room for all of the ice cream.

"Therefore," Sweetie raised a declaratory hoof and paused for effect.

"We need another refrigerator!"





"I can't believe you all roped me into this again," complained Twilight.

The front door to another neighbor's house opened and out came a crowd of colts and fillies balacing a second new refrigerator on their backs, assisted by Twilight's magic.





"Well.  So, where do we put this one, again?" asked Twilight in annoyance.

"Oh yeah," said Sweetie Belle.  "I forgot.  There's only a spot for just the one refrigerator.  Let's just... drop it in the middle of the floor, I guess?"





"Thank you all so much!" cried Rarity with happiness to her guests.  "I thought for sure that I was done for, but you all pulled through for me!"

" 'T'wern't nuthin'," said Applejack.

"Yes it was!" countered Sweetie Belle.  "That was alot of work, but we did it because we're all in this together, and we take care of each other!"

Each colt and filly took turns saying 'you're welcome' to Rarity.

"So," said Pipsqueak.  "Now that that's over, what do we do with ourselves for the rest of the day?  I don't really want to go home all by myself.  We should stick together!"

Several of the others nodded in agreement.

"Well," said Featherweight, "where should we go then?"

"First of all," said Applejack, "Ah think we should decide what to do for dinner."

"Really?" asked Twilight.  "You all just had lunch!  Good grief!  Is food all you ponies can think about?"

"Well, it is an every day part of life," countered Applejack.  "I'm just tryin' to be prepared for the future."

"Wherever we go," said Rumble, "let's make sure there's lots of room.  Staying at Sugar Cube Corner was fun and all, but it was rather cramped."

"Okay," said Diamond Tiara, holding a hoof up.  "I can take a hint.  How would everypony like to have a sleep-over at my place?  We have, like, a fifteen hundred square foot living room, so you can all crash in there."

"Yeah," said Sweetie Belle.  "While you sleep in your bedroom."

"She would not," countered Silver Spoon.

"Yeah," said Diamond Tiara.  "Of course I wouldn't!"

"What about dinner?" repeated Applejack.

"I don't know!  I'm certainly not going to cook for all of you!"

"Well, that's not being a very good host," said Sweetie Belle.  "You're inviting us to your house and you won't even take care of dinner?"

"Just because I can cook doesn't mean that I like to," answered Diamond Tiara in annoyance.  "Now are you going to be grateful and take me up on my offer or what?"

"Actually," began Applejack, "if you don't mind that is, Diamond Tiara...  Apple Bloom and I are sorta hopin' you'll let us take care of it."

"That would mean everything will have apples in it, right?" asked Diamond Tiara.

"Well... most of it?" answered Applejack, taken aback.  "If you don't like 'em, we could always-"

"No, I'm fine with it," answered Diamond.  "I was just checking.  If it means I don't have to worry about it, you two can go for it.  Just... don't make a mess in my parent's kitchen?"

"Of course not!"





"Well," said Scootaloo as she came to a stop and lifted a hoof.  "Here we are!"

Rainbow Dash dropped the sack that she was carrying, which landed on the ground with a thousand 'click' noises, and stared at Scootaloo incredulously.

"What are we doing at Ponyville General Hospital?" she demanded.  "I thought we were going someplace cool!"

"Don't worry," Scootaloo assured.  "Even though this is a hospital, they have one thing here that is really cool."

"What in Celestia's name could that possibly be?"

"Come on, I'll show you!"

Scootaloo ran toward the door and looked at Rainbow expectantly.  Rainbow reluctantly picked up the bag of bits again and followed Scootaloo.

After going inside, Scootaloo took Rainbow down a hallway, and then another, where she stopped.

"There's what we're after!" declared Scootaloo.

"This place has vending machines?" asked Rainbow Dash in excited disbelief.  "Why do they have vending machines in a hospital!  Aren't these places supposed to be all healthy and stuff?"

"I don't get it either," answered Scootaloo, "but they're here all the same!"

"Oh my gosh," said Rainbow, looking at the drink machine.  "They have Canterlot Mountain brand soda!  I love that stuff!"

"It's that good?"

"Oh yeah!  This was an awesome idea!"

Rainbow heaved the sack over her shoulder and dumped the contents onto the floor, which resulted in a very loud series of metallic noises as a small mountain of bits formed.

"Alright!" declared Rainbow happily.  "Let's start with the snack machine!  We're going to clear this place out!"





Twilight smiled to herself as she walked down the street, carrying a box.

The rest of the foals had decided to bring some board games to Diamond's house to pass the time until dinner.  Since Twilight had decided that she would rather have a proper meal than just eating lone fruits and vegetables for dinner, she had reluctantly agreed to also attend.

Of course, it would make Twilight feel that she was taking advantage of Diamond Tiara if she just showed up for dinner and then ran off, so she had chosen to spend the rest of the day playing games with the others.

Which she would have ordinarily found to be rather boring.  However, the game in Twilight's hooves was one of a few board games that she felt sure that she could enjoy.





"Alright, that does it for the snack machine!" said Rainbow Dash as she reached into the slot at the bottom of it and grabbed the wrapped candy bar and tossed it into the sack that had previously held the bits.  "Now the drink machine!  Hehehehe!" she laughed, rubbing her hooves together.

Rainbow took another bit and poked it into the machine and pushed the button to request from the first column, first row.

Nothing happened.

"Hey!" she shouted in anger, bashing the machine with a hoof.

Nothing continued to happen.

"Stupid machine ate my bit!" Rainbow complained to Scootaloo.

"Try another bit?" suggested Scootaloo.

Rainbow tried.

It didn't work.

"Well, what do we do now?" asked Scootaloo.  "It's not like we can go complain to the management."

"Scootaloo," said Rainbow Dash determinedly, not taking her eyes off of the drink machine, "You and me are going to get those sodas out of there."

Rainbow Dash lifted up a sledge hammer.

"No matter what it takes!"





"Candy Land, Pinkie?" said Twilight, now seated on a dining chair that had temporarily been relocated to Diamond Tiara's living room.

"Candy land is fun!" protested Pinkie.

"I guess if you are so easily entertained, go for it," Twilight sighed.  "Meanwhile, I am going to occupy myself with something a little more strategic and intellectual!"  She lifted the lid from her box.  "Chess!"

The other colts and fillies gave Twilight a variety of looks.

Twilight didn't notice.

"Now," began Twilight as she turned to the others.  "who wants to be my opponent?"

Nopony responded.

"Nopony at all?" asked Twilight in disbelief.

Silence.

"Why don't any of you want to play with me?" demanded Twilight.

"Wellllll..." began Sweetie Belle hesitantly.  Twilight shot her attention toward Sweetie.

But it was too late to turn back now.  Sweetie Belle knew that she had already spoken, and Twilight would not be satisfied until she had finished her thought.

"It's just that..." Sweetie continued.  "Everypony here already knows without a doubt that you'd... kick all of our flanks at that particular game."

Twilight's expression remained unchanged as she stared off into space to digest this information.

"I don't know how to play chest," said Dinky, "but I'd like to learn how!  Maybe you could teach me?"

Twilight broke out of her trance and looked at Dinky.

"I suppose so," she sighed.  "Lesson one.  The name of the game is 'chess', not 'chest'."





Some time later, there was a knock at the door.  Diamond Tiara arose from 'The Game of Life' to answer the door.

"What the hay?" she said.

Rainbow Dash and Scootaloo pushed a mobile hospital tray loaded with canned drinks and a bulging sack past Diamond.

"Attention everypony!" announced Rainbow Dash as they walked into the living room.  "We bring you good tidings of soda pop and individually wrapped candy!"

"Cool!" cried Sweetie Belle.  "But let's not dig into them just yet.  Apple Bloom and her sister are fixing up dinner.  We can dig into all that stuff later."

"Says you!" said Rainbow Dash.  She snatched a Canterlot Mountain soda off of the tray and started fiddling with the tab.

"Where did you get all of this?" asked Twilight.

"The hospital vending machines," answered Scootaloo casually.

Suddenly there was a loud squirting sound and Rainbow Dash got a face full of soda.

Everypony else in the room burst out laughing.

Rainbow's face started to turn red, out of equal parts embarrassment and anger.

Apple Bloom walked into the living room to see what everypony was laughing about.

"Hey, Rainbow!" she said.  "Are all of those cans like that?"

"Prooooobably..."

"Don't sweat it none, come get yerself cleaned up."

Rainbow wordlessly followed Apple Bloom into the kitchen.

"Whoa," remarked Applejack when she saw Rainbow's dripping face.  What happened to you, Rainbow?"

"Soda pop exploded in my face..." muttered Rainbow.

Suddenly, a grin popped onto Apple Bloom's face.

"Hey, Rainbow."

"What?"

"Why don't you put that can down and have a cup of apple juice instead?"

"Apple juice?" asked Rainbow in a tone of voice suggesting that she might have heard incorrectly.  "Why would I want a cup of apple juice?  There's no way that tastes as cool as this."

"Just try it," insisted Apple Bloom as she poured Rainbow a cup out of a pitcher.  "I insist!"

"Alright, fine," said Rainbow.

Apple Bloom ignored Applejack's suspicious gaze as she gave Rainbow Dash the cup.

She waited as Rainbow took a sip.

"Hmm," said Rainbow speculatively.  "Not bad, I guess."

She took a larger swig.

"Okay, this stuff isn't normal apple juice.  What did you two do to it?"

Apple Bloom grinned.  "Secret recipe."

Rainbow took another swig.  "Alright, I take it back.  This stuff is pretty good."

She held out an empty cup.

"Gimme more."





"Say!" declared Twilight in a voice loud enough to get the attention of the other ponies.  I just realized something!  Spike's not here, is he?"

"Oh, I know where he's at," said Scootaloo.  "Rainbow Dash and I ran into him at Rarity's botique.  He told us that all the rest of you had left and come to Diamond's house.  Huh.  I wonder why he was there all by himself."

"Ugh," grumbled Twilight.  "I better go check up on him."





Spike didn't notice the sound of the door opening.  He was too busy trying to comprehend a certain book.

"Air compressor..." he muttered to himself.

"Spike?"

"Agh!" shouted Spike as he jumped into the air in surprise.  He turned around to face Twilight.

"Twilight?  What are you doing here?"

"What are you doing here?" asked Twilight evenly.

"Still trying to fix Rarity's refrigerator," said Spike gloomily.  He picked up the book he had been reading and showed it to Twilight.

"I grabbed this from the library.  It's an appliance maintenance guide.  But I can't make heads or tails out of this stuff!"

"Spike, you do know that we just replaced the refrigerator in the end, right?" asked Twilight.  "There's no need to fix the old one."

"I know, I know!" said Spike in frustration.  "But Rarity wanted it fixed!"

"But you don't know how to fix a refrigerator!" Twilight pointed out.

"I know that too!  But...  I just wanted to do something nice for somepony, okay!"

Twilight wasn't sure how to respond to that.

"I don't care how long this takes!" continued Spike.  "I'll stay up all night fixing that thing if I have to!  ...  Twilight, I bet you can understand the instructions in this book!  Will you help me?"

Twilight gave Spike a funny look.  Is Spike always like this? she wondered to herself.  Why is he acting funny?

"Pleeeeeease, Twilight?"