The buzzing and beeping of the machines filled Twilight Sparkle’s ears, blotting out the rest of the world. She was in another science trance, experimenting once again on another ground-breaking project? What had spurred the inventions this time? She had trapped herself in her lab about four days ago when she had the sudden craving for ice cream.
"Spike! This is it!” Twilight jumped up and down in excitement as her frazzled mane bobbed back and forth. “I’ve created a machine that will create the perfect frozen confection!" Twilight beamed.
"Twilight. Don't you think you're being a bit..." Spike looked around the unkempt room. Various food wrappers, dirty laundry, and discarded notes littered the floor. Twilight’s coat was a now a dull purplish-brown, and she smelled like she hadn’t showered in weeks. Spike covered his nose with a claw and gagged. "Obsessive?"
"Spike." Twilight put her hooves on the dragon's shoulders. "When a pony has a goal in life, isn't it only natural for them to stop at nothing to get it? It’s perfectly healthy and natural!" Twilight scanned the room with suspicion, her eyelids twitching and spasming. “Perfectly natural…”
"Well, yea, but you could have gone to Sugarcube Corner and—"
"No! I've had all there is to have from there so far! None of them can match my level of desire for flavor! It’s just not good enough! So, with this machine, I'll create the most perfect flavor that anypony who's anypony has ever dreamed of! A flavor such as this should make Princess Celestia give up her throne if it meant tasting it."
"Well, err... good for you. Why don't you try it out now?"
"Of course; here, put these on." Twilight tossed Spike a pair of safety shades, which he secured tightly over his eyes.
Twilight put her hoof on a lever that was connected by a mess of wires to a fairly large machine covered in light bulbs and buttons that probably didn't do anything. She gave a stifled giggled as she looked at her glorious invention, not even knowing which lever did what.
"Get ready, Spike. For this is about to be the greatest moment in pony science, no, in pony history! I sure hope this works; don’t want us to explode or anything like that!" With one quick motion, Twilight pushed down the lever and the sounds of the machines went into double-time. The cacophony of clanks and electricity grew louder and louder, as the room lit up like a disco pad. And then, there was silence.
"Did it work?" Spike said, lifting his goggles.
Twilight fell to the floor. "N-no... it didn't. It seems we don't have enough power for the machine to make ice-cream."
"It's okay Twilight, lets just go to Sugarcube corner and—"
"I just need more power!" Twilight announced.
"T-Twilight, you, okay?" Spike walked over to the lavender unicorn and moved in front of her to see her face. He waved his hand in front of her face as she sat still, unmoving. "Uh-oh..." Twilight's eyes were wide and her pupils shrunk. Her lower left eyelid was twitching as well.
“It’s obvious that this lab is not capable of storing the amount of power needed. Here’s what we have to do.” Twilight wheeled a whiteboard in front of the confused dragon and pulled the cap off of a black marker. “So, imagine Ponyville like a series of pipes..” Twilight drew a single line and made it branch off into two segments and then each of those ends branched off as well. At the end of each one, she drew a simple house.
“Now, power is supplied equally to each house from the power station as they need it. Whether it be lightbulbs, sewing kits, or the refrigerator, power is sent like water down these pipes and it flows through each path. Now, the reason we don’t have enough power to supply the machine is because the flow is stretched between many homes. We need to make sure that all the power that would otherwise be supplied to homes in Ponyville is directed to the lab. You get all that, Spike?”
Spike just continued to stare at Twilight with eyes glazed over.
“Spike!”
“Wha? Huh? Yea! I totally got it!”
Twilight nodded in affirmation. “Good, now lets get to work.”
Twilight grabbed a map of Ponyville and a few electronic devices and placed them in her saddle-bag. With the contents secured, she casually walked up the stairs and exited the library, Spike quickly followed.
“So, where are we going first, Twilight?” Spike had a bad feeling about this, but his curiosity got the better of him.
“First, we’ll go to Sugarcube Corner.”
Spike perked up. “Are we getting ice cream?”
Twilight scoffed at the idea of consuming a dessert of such low quality. “No Spike, we’re going there to shut off their power. Remember the diagram? We need to make sure that all the power that would go to Sugarcube Corner goes to the library, understand?”
“Sure?” Spike shrugged.
Twilight sighed. “Whatever; lets just go, okay?”
As they walked down the street, Twilight couldn’t help but notice the many houses they passed. She resented them for impeding her ability to enjoy frozen ecstasy. How dare they siphon power from the one pony in town who needed it the most!
Twilight was in a trance. She couldn’t stop thinking about her taste buds exploding and the sensation of cold sugar flowing across her tongue. She wanted it. She needed it and she needed it now.
“Twilight? Twilight!” Spike’s voice brought the unicorn back into reality. “We’re here. Umm… are you, drooling?”
“Huh?” Twilight put her hoof up to her mouth and felt a strand of a saliva on her chin causing her to turn red, “Uh... No! Of course not! Focus, Spike!” Twilight said, quickly wiping the drool off her face.
Twilight could see Pinkie Pie skipping in and out of the kitchen, bringing a plethora of sweets out each time. Twilight moved around to the back of the building and peered in through the kitchen window. Inside, she could see a room full of life. There were several ovens, all of which were cooking something inside, there was a refrigerator unit, a dishwasher, blender, toaster, and more. Even though her view of the inside was limited, Twilight could safely assume that every electrical outlet in the kitchen, or the building, was currently in use.
“Wow, it sure looks busy in there. What do we do now?” Spike asked.
Twilight put her hoof up to her chin. “Well, we need to find the main power box. It should be somewhere around the outside of the building. We need to switch it off and cut the cables.”
“Why do we have to cut the cables? Wouldn’t just turning it off be enough?”
Twilight shook her head. “We have to make sure that once the power is off, they can’t turn it back on. Think of it as a safety net.”
Spike wanted to talk sense into Twilight but from experience, he knew that he’d have a better time convincing a rock to grow wings. He took a deep breath and began his search for the power box.
He walked around the corner and saw a light grey box on the side with a yellow triangle on it that read: “Danger: High voltage.”
Spike undid the latch on on the panel and opened the power box. Inside was a mess of switches that almost gave the dragon a headache. The crackle of electricity flowed through the air as he eyed each one carefully, being careful not to let his hands connect any of the circuits.
“Oh boy. Which one is the one? This one or that one?” Spike scanned the many switches and decided to just flip all of them. Using both of his claws, Spike flipped all the switches downwards and could hear Pinkie Pie from inside,
“Hey? What happened? Oh no. Is it a g-g-ghost?! EEEEEEK!”
Spike peered around the corner just in time to see Pinkie Pie burst through the front door and disappear into the distance.
“Sorry, Pinkie.” Spike muttered under his breath.
“Spike, I take it that you managed to turn off the power?”
“Yea, I think so. I kinda scared her too.”
“She’ll be fine. Anyway, lets head to the next one.”
The two continued going house to house throughout Ponyville, repeating the same steps that they did at Sugarcube Corner. By the time they had sabotaged the last house, eleven hours had passed and the sun had gone down.
“Well, I guess someponies are going to have to spend the night without lights. Lets go back Spike, we’re about to execute the final stages of my master plan.” Twilight grinned wickedly.
The sounds of the machines was almost deafening. No matter how hard Spike pressed his claws against his ears, the sound still managed to break through his meager defenses.He winced as the echoes of industrialism and thievery continued to rebound throughout the lab.
Twilight moved to the ice cream machine, walking over the mess of wires and scattered papers, seemingly unphased by the head-splitting sound waves that were shaking the foundation of the tree they were beneath.
If anypony was wondering where their power was at currently, there was no discretion here. It was obvious that something big was going on at the library and it wouldn’t be long before ponies would be knocking at her door.
“Twilight! Are you sure this will work?” Spike screamed, trying to make himself audible over the loud power surges.
“Aha! I have no idea!” Twilight exclaimed, throwing the lever down.
Spike took cover behind a chair and cautiously peered over to see the machine start to shake violently. It buzzed, rattled, and beeped for ten seconds, becoming more and more aggressive with each passing moment. Suddenly, all the noise stopped and the room was engulfed in a white light.
“Spike. I think I did it…”
Spike saw Twilight in front of the machine. Her body blocked him from seeing whatever it had made.
Twilight slowly turned, her eyes fixed on the sorcerer’s stone of frozen treats. “Spike. I’ve done it.” She held her creation high above her head, “I’ve created the perfect ice cream!”
“Go on, Twilight, try it. Tell me what it tastes like.”
Twilight lathered her tongue on the frozen mound and instantly reeled back in delight, “It… it… it…”
Before Twilight could reveal the secret, her eyes rolled to the back of her head and she collapsed.
“Twilight!” Spike rushed over to the unicorn, “Twilight, what is it?” Spike shook her to no success, she was out cold and there’s no way Spike could tell when she’d wake up.
He decided that he’d wait patiently for that to happen because after all the trouble he went through, he had to know what he had helped Twilight create.
