Cloudsdale Frenzied Factory Zone: Prism Mixing Department (Sign-up in OOC Thread)

[Bellosh]

By all accounts, the Prism Mixing Department is among the more awe-inspiring locales in the Royal Weather Factory. The actual turbine room where water is heated to the point of transforming into a nebulous colourful liquid is actually a small off-to-the-side area, but the outflow leads to a vast open chamber exposed to the blue sky in almost every direction. There, the prismatic liquid is allowed to flow into a series of five floating pools, where workers stir the outflow to give it the distinctive look of a beautiful rainbow. The final product collects at pools on the floor, where the liquid rainbow can be collected and stored for further use.

Most of the pegasi who’ll come and work in PrismDep today are not skilled workers however. An undertrained and understaffed group of volunteers, it is their job to satisfy their demanding quotas and produce enough rainbows in time for the spring rains. Just as long as everypony makes sure to keep the rainbows flowing and remember not to expose themselves to the spicy liquid, they’ll stand a chance of fulfilling their all-vital tasks.....

OOC thread is here.

[Mojo]

Professor Krashkop looked regal as he stood on an elevated stage looking down on the rest of the volunteers and workers in the Rainbow making department. [colour=#008000]"Vee must begin our task now! Mixing dee colours for dee rainbows is a very important job! Dee mixture und formulation must be exact, othervise vee vill have colour patterns only Discord could love! Vee are blessed to have vone of dee regular Colour Mixers who vas NOT sick among us, Fraulien Snickerdoodle! She und I vill help vith dee initial mixing of dee colours."[/colour]

Hearing Spin Art's question over the 'buzz' of the crowd, the elderly Pegasus stallion raised his voice as he pointed at the filly.

[colour=#008000]"Dis fraulien asked a very good question! Vhat are dee procedures in dis Department? It is quite simple! As you can see, dere is a big vat of colours in dee centre of dee room. This is dee Main Vat from vhich dee finished rainbow mixture vill be distributed through all of dee hoses you see all around. Our job is to mix all of dese primary colours in dee proper set formulation so dee mixture in dee Main vat is precise! How do vee do dis? Look upvard, mein fellow Pegasi! See how dee flow of colouring begins up at dee top und den flows downvard into each smaller holding vat? At each stage of dee flow, vee must keep stirring und tending dee mixture so dat the formula vill remain in tact vhen it finally reaches dee bottom. After dat, it vill be up to dee Transportation Department to deliver dis mixture to vhere it needs to go! Any questions before vee begin?"[/colour]

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[PedestrianWolf]

Snickerdoodle had the colour mixing formulas memorized, mostly anyway. Her headache was interfering with her ability to think this morning. She hoped that she would be able to leave most of the actual mixing to the Professor, and just stir the vats for the rest of the day. That job didn't require a lot of brainpower, even if she would have to remain focused to prevent the pools of colour stagnating or getting agitated.

She flew up to the platform next to Professor Krashkop. [colour=#8b4513]"Yeah, it's fairly simple, really. Two things, though. One, don't drink the rainbow mix. Sure, it may look like a tasty tiki cocktail, but it isn't actually potable. And two, don't fall in the dye vats. This stuff does stain fur and feathers, you will come out a very different colour than you went in. Safety first!"[/colour]

The rainbow pigments did make excellent dye, if one wanted to change their appearance. However, they were also kinda permanent. A pony would have to take many baths with harsh soaps to get the colour out, and even then some faded spots would remain until the hair was shed or the feathers moulted. That's why she always wore coveralls in addition to her jacket and hardhat when she was on dye vat duty.

[SparkleFire]

Sparkle Fire stood in awe at the splendorous prism mixers, he'd heard tell of the huge machinery of the weather factory in Cloudsdale, but he never quite expected it on this scale, he was also secretly glad that Spin Art had asked the Professor what they'd be doing, because upon viewing the cascading falls of Rainbow being mixed by the complex machinery, it soon became apparent that Sparkle was in over his head. There was knowing how to mix colours, then there was THIS.

Regardless though, Sparkle always resolved to cross hurdles when he came to them, and didn't like admitting he was struggling. He'd do his best with what the Professor told him and just hope that some other pony asked what he needed to know.

After the instructors finished their address, Sparkle took the opportunity to mingle with his fellow workers, he gently nudged the mare next to him, the one who'd raised the query.

"Hey, the name's Sparkle, nice to meet you." He spoke quietly, so as to avoid an altercation with the Professor. " You have much experience in this sorta stuff?"

[Bellosh]

Rainbows have always been an object of great curiosity and wonder for Derpy Hooves. Ever since she was just a wee filly, the gray pegasus always regarded the prismatic objects as the most prettiest sights in Equestria. In fact, there have been days when Derpy wished she worked in PrismDep instead of serving as Ponyville’s electrical weather specialist, 1st class. As history would have it though, the young mare’s first-ever job working at the Weather Factory only lasted six hours before being asked to take her talents someplace else. Miss Hooves couldn’t imagine why so, but she had never been one to reflect too much on the past anyway.

When the call rang out for volunteers to work at the Weather Factory in a time of great peril, Derpy Hooves immediately signed up to do her duty for Equestria and revisit PrismDep in the process. And egads... it looked like it hardly changed a day! The googly-eyed mare almost found herself swept away by nostalgia, but a forgotten detail prompted Derpy to ask her volunteer supervisor; [colour=#ffcc00]“Excuse me uhhhh... Professor, but what’s up there? You know, where the rainbow mixture’s coming from?”[/colour] Derpy pointed to a point in the wall where the unrefined prismatic liquid flowed out of.....

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[Mojo]

[colour=#008000]"I very good qvestion, young lady!" [/colour]Professor Krashkop neighed as he seemed to produce a large tripod stand and large colourful chart that sat upon it. [colour=#008000]"Please observe dis simple diagram! Vater is collected every year from somevhere in dee kingdom und funneled up to our huge container unit here in Cloudsdale. Den, part of dis vater is diverted to dee Prism manufacturing area. Dis vater is treated vith sunshine und suoperheated in order for dee advanced condensation to develop und isolate dee primary colour pigments vithin dee chemical makeup of dee individual vater molecules. Dis is a patented process und a closely guarded Pegasi secret, vhich I know because I am a scientist! Anyvay, vone dee separated colours are released vithin dee vater, day form dee rainbow effects you see vhen dee flowing vater is pumped upvard until it reaches dee top spout as you vill note at dee very top of dee apparatus! Does dis answer your qvestion, Fraulein Hooves?"[/colour]

[Bellosh]

Even though Derpy Hooves experienced severe difficulty in deciphering the accent of Professor Krashkop, his handy-dandy diagram did the job of making perfect sense. While the professor droned on, one of the volunteers quietly asked the googly-eyed pegasus if she had any prior experience working with rainbows. Derpy had one honest answer to provide to Sparkle; [colour=#ffcc00]“I worked here before; I got asked to go home the very first day I started my job! So yep, I’ve got plenty of experience.”[/colour] All of this Miss Hooves said with a gleaming smile on her face.

After Professor Krashkop concluded his briefing, Derpy Hooves knew what she’d be doing. [colour=#ffcc00]“Thank you professor, I get it now.”[/colour] she thanked;[colour=#ffcc00] “Shine sunlight on water, turn water into colours, dump colours into more water, and you got an unmixed rainbow. Sounds easy enough!”[/colour] 100% confident that she knew the entire process, the young mare started to make her way on hoof towards the accompanying turbine room.....

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[PedestrianWolf]

[colour=#ffcc00]“Shine sunlight on water, turn water into colours, dump colours into more water, and you got an unmixed rainbow. Sounds easy enough!”[/colour]

[colour=#8b4513]"Well, the process is actually a bit more complex than that..." [/colour]Snickerdoodle started to say, but trailed off as she watched the grey mare disappear up by the turbines. Then she sighed and rubbed the bridge of her nose with her fetlock. It was going to be one of those days.

She decided to let the Professor handle whatever messes resulted from allowing Derpy to be in the Prism Mixing department. He was the boss today, right? Instead, she grabbed a mixing paddle and headed up to the middle tier of rainbow pools to start stirring.

[Frost137]

"Well at least stirring this wouldn't be so hard." implied Spin Art as she grabbed another paddle. She trotted over to the lower tier and dipped her paddle in.

Spin worried about Derpy though. When she met her in Ponyville, something didn't feel right about her. [http://www.canterlot...en/#entry378899] It was not when she flew into her line of the rainbow bubbles, Spin Art knew it was her own fault that she accidentally flew in. But it was that time she blew the bubbles in her face! Thankfully she wasn't blind right after, but didn't Derpy already know rainbow solution is spicy at that time?

No, Derpy seems like a nice pony. Spin thought if Derpy did that on purpose. Might as well keep an eye on her?

But Spin Art kept stirring.

[Mojo]

After finishing his impromptu lecture, Professor Krashkop noticed both Derpy's acknowledgement of his presentation and how she was quickly moving into position to work (or at least he THINKS she is).

[colour=#008000]"Vonderba!" [/colour]the elderly green Pegasus neighed. [colour=#008000]"Frau Derpy is showing dee kind of enthusiam vee are looking for in dis department! Everypony, get into your positions so vee can begin to do our job! Move out everypony! Snell! SNELL!"[/colour]

The Professor's gaze returned to Derpy because he wasn't quite sure of where she was going or what she was doing.

[colour=#008000]"Fraulien Derpy!" [/colour]he called out, [colour=#008000]"Vhere are you going?"[/colour]

[Bellosh]

Derpy Hooves wasn’t quite sure why Prof. Krashkop was shouting to get her attention. Wasn’t it obvious that she was heading off in the direction of the turbine room? Just to clear things up with the elderly stallion though, Miss Hooves stopped and turned around to face her team leader; [colour=#ffcc00]“Isn’t somepony supposed to be in the turbine room right now, making sure all that machinery is working... or something?”[/colour]

The gray pegasus didn’t really have a guess to the answer, but Krashkop fortunately could set everything straight, right? He was their boss, after all... and it seemed like that Snickerdoodle mare also had experience working in the factory. Either of them would probably know the answer.....

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[Frost137]

Spin Art stirred. It became a bit quiet as the ponies worked. She wanted to strike a conversation, but what was there to talk about? Maybe they can sing? ... Noooo, really? Who would want to sing? Singing wasn't Spin Art's thing. Singing was some other type of art in a way, but Spinny wasn't good at it.

"So... who's a good singer?" Spin Art piped. She assumed that everypony knew what she was just thinking, hopefully nopony tried to make her sing.

[Mojo]

"Please vait, Frau Derpy Hooves!" Professor Krashkop neighed as he quickly rushed over to the gray furred Pegasus mare. "I vill be vatching dee machinery. Vee need you to help dee others in dee stirring. Keeping dee vats stirred is an important task! Stirring keeps dee colors together und stops dee pigment colors from clumping together und blocking dee flow of mixture. Do not vorry, fralien. I vill keep an eye on dee machinery. Please ask Frau Snickerdoddle to vhere vould be dee best place for you to vork, ok?"

[Bellosh]

Derpy Hooves pondered over Prof. Krashkop’s words for a moment or two. According to the old stallion, he wanted to look after the machinery himself… which Derpy found rather odd. If Krashkop was their team leader, shouldn’t he be out with the rest of the team? But the googly eyed pegasus never kept on a single strain of thought for long, and now another part of her brain explained that since the professor’s in charge, he knew what to do. Who was Miss Hooves to question an old pony?

“I’ll get on the stirring right away, Professor!” Derpy shouted in affirmation, changing course and flying over to the vats. Once she produced a stirring paddle, the gray pegasus realized she had another problem on her hooves; she didn’t know which vat to work at! Should she go to one being worked on by another pony, or pick a deserted one? Ah, so that’s why the professor wanted Derpy to talk to Snickerdoodle! “Excuse me Snickerdoodle!” she yelled to the factory worker from across the room; “Which vat do I need to stir?”

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[PedestrianWolf]

“Excuse me Snickerdoodle! Which vat do I need to stir?”

Snickerdoodle looked up, startled. She hadn't been paying close attention, but apparently the Professor had convinced miss Derpy not to mess with the turbines in the machine room. She looked around, and saw a small vat two tiers below her that wasn't being stirred by anypony.

"That little one down there." Snickerdoodle pointed it out to the grey mare. "Remember, not too fast, and not too slow. We don't want the colors to get gloopy or overmixed, okay?"

The vanilla custard mare went back to stirring her own vat, and hummed to herself to keep tempo. She wasn't completely over her illness, and would sound like the frogs in the swamp outside her house if she started singing.

[Hippo]

"Ah, so this must be where the rainbows are made." Luna wasn't completely foreign to the ways that pegasus ponies maintained the skies, however the technology over the past thousand years did mature a bit and it took a little getting used to, but she was intrigued. The way the streams articulately made their way down the vats was an art form in itself. However, they did remind her of something she saw in the dreamscapes of young foals. Many of them were nightmares, explaining details about a cruel fate that awaited innocent ponies at a piston and bearings infested factory in which rainbows were produced. The things Luna could remember even brought herself to the conclusion that it may have been the result of legend, and not so much a real world emotional issue that common foals were having. Still, Luna feels the need to eventually address the issues at the factory for minor instances in which the work environment may negatively affect some of Equestria's youngest ponies.

But that was for another time.

"You must be the professor!" Luna exclaimed as she attempted to make her presence known around the work area. "Forgive for my ignorance, but I'm am not familiar with this form of mixing. May you mind going over it briefly with me?"

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[Mojo]

When he saw Princess Luna walking towards him and then addressing him, Professor Krashkop immediately bowed to her.

:"Princess Luna! It is indeed mein pleasure to answer all of your qvestions!" the elderly Pegasus stallion said as he once more produced a tripod stand and colorful chart from behind his back to help him illustrate his improptu lecture.

"Your highness, please follow along with dis simple diagram. As you know, vater is collected every year from somevhere in dee kingdom und funneled up to our huge container unit here in Cloudsdale. Den, part of dis vater is diverted to dee Prism manufacturing area. Dis vater is treated vith sunshine und superheated in order for dee advanced condensation to develop und isolate dee primary color pigments vithin dee chemical makeup of dee individual vater molecules. Dis is a patented process dat perhaps you are familiar vith since you are royalty. Vonce dee separated colors are released vithin dee vater, day form dee rainbow effects you see vhen dee flowing vater is pumped upvard until it reaches dee top spout as you vill note at dee very top of dee apparatus! Dat is dee basic vorking of dee process, Princess Luna. Do you have any further qvestions? Your vish is mein command!"

[Bellosh]

Once Derpy Hooves received instructions from Snickerdoodle, she flew on over to her assigned vat and proceeded to stir the prisimatic liquid as instructed; not too fast, but not too slow. Only one problem though; what was too fast, and what was too slow? It didn’t occur to the googly-eyed pegasus to have the dilemma clarified earlier, and now it was too late to do so. Derpy didn’t want to go back to the factory worker like she was a dufus or something. Nope; the young mare would have to figure things out herself!

While in the middle of experimenting with various mixing speeds, a sudden chill overcame Miss Hooves. It eerily reminded her of that time a year ago she last got feather flu, but Derpy dismissed that notion. She chatted for a while with a couple bedridden Weather Team friends a couple days ago, but the pegasus didn’t feel ill then. Why should she become sick now? As Derpy overheard the voice of Princess Luna, the confused volunteered guessed that it must be the fear of goofing up in front of Luna that was giving her the frights. And so the mare sharply increased her stirring pace in an attempt to look busy, not taking heed that she was stirring WAY too fast.....

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[Frost137]

Spin Art overheard the Professor talking to somepony. Spin Art looked up and saw royal Princess Luna! She gasped to herself and made sure she was working hard.

"Don't stir too fast, don't stir too fast," Spin Art whispered to herself. She shouldn't worry to much since she was doing fine but when the Princess was here she couldn't help but correct her mistakes.

[Hippo]

The Princess was interested in everything that was going on around her. Unfortunately that attention taxed how much Luna would be able to understand the charming professor who had an accent that the Princess wasn't too accustomed to. Regardless, Luna looked around and pretended she was in complete understanding. And she would ask the questions that interested her the most. She noticed that a lot of ponies had noticed she was there, but seemed too involved in their work to stop working. Luna realized that she might be affecting the work environment and wanted to make sure that the productivity of whatever it was that made the process work was not being hindered. So she politely asked the professor. "Scholarly pony, these ponies are not string their vats too slow are they?"

Princess Luna fluttered herself near some of the vats within earshot of the workers. She wanted to assure them that they are doing their jobs well, so she decided to encourage them. "Do not concern yourselves with me, subjects! I am only here for your moral support! So work as fast as you can!" Luna shouted at them with glee, intending the best case scenario of highest productivity to occur now that she has arrived.

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[Mojo]

"Nein, mein Princess," Professor Krashkop replied to Luna's question, "everypony is doing a fine job during dis crisis! Der is nuting to fear at all und..."

Suddenly, the Professor spotted Derpy Hooves at a vat and stirring way too fast.

"ACK! UNEEMAL!" the Professor shouted as he flew up to the vat Derpy was stationed at. "Frau Derpy! You are stirring too quickly! Please slow down before dee pigments of dee mixture are affected. Do you understand me?"

[Bellosh]

"Do not concern yourselves with me, subjects! I am only here for your moral support! So work as fast as you can!"

Uh-oh, Derpy wasn’t spinning the vat fast enough! Following orders from Princess Luna, the confused volunteer spun even faster than before, her chills becoming more and more frequent. It didn’t matter than the liquid prism started to look blurred and faded; Luna said everypony needed to work fast! And because Luna was a princess, she probably knew the most about brewing rainbows anyway.

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"Frau Derpy! You are stirring too quickly! Please slow down before dee pigments of dee mixture are affected. Do you understand me?"

First she was told not to go too fast or slow, then she needed to go faster, and now she needs to go slower? Can’t anypony make up their minds today? In sheer bafflement, Derpy stopped working altogether as she scratched her head and turned towards the Professor; “But Princess Luna said we needed to stir the vast fast. Isn't the princess always supposed to be the one in charge.....?”

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[Frost137]

Spin Art looked up and stepped to the side. The Princess flew over right next to her and boomed into her ear,

"Do not concern yourselves with me, subjects! I am only here for your moral support! So work as fast as you can!"

Spin Art stared at the tall alicorn pony. She could tell that she tried to make herself look less imitating. Spin Art gave her best smile for the Princess then focused back on her work.

[PedestrianWolf]

Snickerdoodle looked up from her own vat to see that Princess Luna had graced them with her presence. The vanilla custard mare nearly jumped out of her skin when the princess commanded them loudly to work faster.

"AAH! What? No! Not too fast, or the colors will get all messed up!"

Too late, she saw that several of the volunteers had taken the princess's advice to heart, and were whirling away at their vats. Snickerdoodle looked on in horrified fascination. She had never actually seen what would happen if the pigments were overmixed. She wondered vaguely if the results would be merely a muddy mess, or something more interesting.

Not really paying enough attention to her own vat, the mixing paddle slipped from her hoof. It flipped over, falling to the factory floor below, spraying droplets of rainbow pigment in an arc through the air.

"oh crud"

[Hippo]

Princess Luna was constantly in the mode of pleasing the relationships between her and her subjects, as was it always a princess duty to do so. In fact, she rather enjoyed the hard hat she worn in expression of safety of this work environment, and was hoping the cute accent that softly matted her flowing mane would give her a more approachable look. But as it immediately turned out, Luna saw ponies nervously excited about her presence yet again, and it caused quite a stir... ...literally.

One of the ponies dropped her large vat paddle, and it spilled rainbow color down with it. Like a bullet shot from a gun, Luna darted towards the falling paddle, grabbed it with her mouth and flew it back up to Snickerdoodle. With rainbow droplets all over Luna's face, pelt and mane, she smiled at the pony and gave her solidification. "Don't worry, here is your job utensil." Luna winked. She was unphased by the willingness to help, as she understood she was her for them, not they were here for her. "Does anypony else need my direct assistance? I shall go to where I am most needed!"

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