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

[Mojo]

Just as the still airborne Professor Krashkop had finished talking to Derpy Hooves, the elderly green Pegasus witnessed Snickerdoodle losing the grip on her stirring paddle and how the fallout had spilled on the Princess of the Night.

"A thousand pardon, yur majesty!" the Professor neighed sorrowfully, "vee vill be more careful in dee future!"

It was only at that time that he happened to glance down at the rainbow mixture stream and gasped.

"ACK UNEEMAL! Dee colors are all mixing too quickly! Vee must correct dis at vonce!" he neighed, flying up to the top of the feeder valve to temporarily shut off the flow of the cascading rainbow mixture. The green Pegasus then flew back down to the main collection vat to shut off the collection flow of the incorrectly mixed mixture. "Dere! Now vee will fix dis problem! If all of you vill mix vhat's in yur vats SLOWLY in dee other direction for a vhile, it vill restore dee mixture to normal und den vee can turn dee flow back on! Please follow mein instructions! SNELL!"

[Bellosh]

"If all of you vill mix vhat's in yur vats SLOWLY in dee other direction for a vhile, it vill restore dee mixture to normal und den vee can turn dee flow back on! Please follow mein instructions! SNELL!"

“AYE AYE, SIR!” Derpy Hooves saluted, eager to make up for her flawed stirring earlier. This time; she’d stir as slow as a sloth! If she did that and followed the Professor’s instructions to a tee, Derpy knew she couldn’t muck up the job again. And so with the pace of a snail, the gray pegasus followed instructions and stirred the liquid prism the other way.

When Derpy heard Princess Luna ask if she could lend direct assistant, an idea popped in the young mare’s mind. Maybe she wanted to join the other volunteers and have fun doing work… which sounded paradoxical to Derpy, to say the least. “Hey Princess,” she waved Luna over; “You wanna’ help stir the vats with the rest of us? It'll be fuuuuuuun....."

​

[Frost137]

"Aw, man," Spin Art sighed, "what a fiasco."

Spin Art tried her best and she knew it. Maybe, yeah, it was wise to follow the Prof.'s instructions, not the Princess. The thought was so taboo, but hey it's probably worth it.

Slowly the mare stirred clockwise. Spin Art looked up and saw Derpy waving to the Princess.

“Hey Princess, You wanna’ help stir the vats with the rest of us? It'll be fuuuuuuun....."

Spin Art's eyes went big as headlights. Now that is a fiasco. What about her mane and coat? Spin Art's eyes trailed on over to Princess Luna who was splotched in rainbow. Nevermind, then. Would she really waste her time here in the Prism Mixing Department?

"But... Princess," Spin Art cleared her throat. As the Princess looked over to her, Spin was struck with fear. She never talked to the Princesses EVER, "are.... aren't you supposed to be watching the other departments?"

[PedestrianWolf]

Snickerdoodle accepted her fallen paddle from the now rainbow speckled Princess of the Night.

"Um, sorry, Princess. I mean, Thank you. And sorry."

Awkward.

Before she went back to stirring her own vat, Snickerdoodle looked around to see how the other pegasi were faring. Not so well, it seemed. Some ponies were stirring too quickly, and their vats were starting to look muddy from overmixing. Derpy's vat, on the other hoof... the vanilla custard mare shook her head in disbelief. How in Equestria had the walleyed pegasus managed to make some of those colors? She was pretty sure they didn't exist in nature.

[Hippo]

After fetching the dropped paddle for Snickerdoodle, Luna deferred the pony's apology. "No need to apologize, for you are doing the work of the kingdom. It's a very good thing all of you are doing, keep it up!" Luna was enjoying this work environment more than she thought she would. Perhaps it was because of the fact that she wasn't really working, but watching everypony work. It made Luna eager to look for ways to interact with the workers and try to submit her own efforts into the project as well. Just because she was a Princess didn't make it any less important for her to get the job done.

Luna smiled up at the grey pegasus pony. By far, this pony seemed to have the most outward enthusiasm. This was exactly the kind of pony that exemplified what a true hard-working pegasus pony should look and act like. Luna admired her a lot. And it was more than she could say about the professor who seemed to just be barking out orders. "You know what? That is a brilliant idea, weather worker!"

Luna darted words at the Professor. "Leader! Issue me a vat to stir!"

Spin art motioned behind her to get her attention. Luna looked at him with her usual downward pensive frown. "Yes? What is it?" The pony asked if she should be at some other department. "What do you mean?" Luna immediately saw this as a challenge. It seemed that this pony was implying that Luna would not want to get her hooves dirty with this job. Or maybe it was that he wanted her to go away because he was planning mischief. Or maybe he just didn't like the Princess. Luna raised her voice slightly. "What? You don't think I am helping, is that it? I'll have you know that not only do I find this job important, but I rather enjoy it."

Luna swooped down to the rack of paddles, grabbed one, and flew close to the professor. "Show me where my vat is." She smiled with eager eyes.

​

[Mojo]

Professor Krashkop now had two dilemmas to deal with. First, solving the immediate crisis with the mismixed colors and second, satisfy one of the Co-Rulers of Equestria with a work assignment. Using his brilliant mind, the green elderly Pegasus stallion quickly found a way to solve both problems.

"Everypony, please listen to me!" the Professor said holding a megaphone to his mouth so he could be heard better. "I have now cut off dee flow of colored vater, now vee vill reset ourselves. Please remember, vhen vee begin again, stir dee colors vith slow, swooping strokes, like you vould vhen you are stirring soup on a stove. Keep a steady stirring rythem, dat is dee key to success! Now den, each of you, return to your vats. Princess Luna, I believe dere is a vat at dee bottom of dee flow dat is not being attended to, I vould be honored if you vould please vork at dat vone, ja? Ok everypony, vhen you are all back in position, I vill restore dee flow of color. Signal me vhen you are all ready!"

[Bellosh]

"You know what? That is a brilliant idea, weather worker!"

So the Princess agreed to help stir the vats? Woopiee! Another victory for Derpy Hooves; Electrical Weather Specialist 1st Class and temporary factory worker. This was going to be great having Luna around to work alongside the rest of them. True, the alicorn of the night had no known previous factory experience, but why should that derail Derpy's excitement? After all, many of the other volunteer pegasi had never worked here before... not counting the gray pegasus of course, who had already proven herself incapable of working here in the past.

Getting back to her vat, the saluting mare declared to the Professor; "Ready whenever you are!" So stir like soup, huh? Easy peasy!

​

[PedestrianWolf]

All this stopping and starting was making it difficult for Snickerdoodle to maintain a good rhythm. During a normal work day, once you got into the zone it was easy to chat with your neighbor or just get lost in your own thoughts while stirring the vats. It wasn't very challenging work, honestly. All you had to do was stir the colors as they flowed from the turbines at the top to the big pools at the bottom, where the mixture was siphoned off to pipes leading to Vaporisation to be loaded into the outgoing clouds. Some of it was diverted for use in the decorative rainbow falls and fountains around Cloudsdale. She remembered seeing one whimsical fountain in somepony's yard once. Instead of a cherub spitting a stream of rainbow into a basin, it was a lawn gnome bent over a pool. And it wasn't gracefully spitting, either. Snickerdoodle believed the term was a 'technicolor yawn', to put it more politely. The fountain had been made by a friend of her father's. She had stared at it in awe as he explained the mold-making and casting techniques he had used to create it.

She was snapped out of her reverie by a familiar tingle in her nostrils and a build up of pressure in her sinuses. Snickerdoodle held her breath and squeezed her eyes shut in an effort to stop the sensation in its tracks, but it came anyway, will she or never so.

"ah, ah, ah... AH CHOO!!"

The force of the sneeze lifted her in the air a few inches. Fortunately she held on to her stirring paddle this time. Unfortunately, it had risen out of the depths of the vat, and skimmed the surface of the rainbow mixture, throwing a prismatic arc of liquid which glittered in the sunlight as it sloshed over the edge of the vat and down to the floor below.

Snickerdoodle carefully opened one eye, then the other. She peered over the edge of her platform. "oh bother."

[Hippo]

Luna swooped down to the bottom vat as soon as she was told of its vacancy. Luna already had a stir paddle with her and was ready to start. As she looked up at the trail of vats that came from above, she saw that one of the ponies was having issues controlling the liquid in their vat, and before long, it escaped the tub and splattered downwards towards Luna. Quickly, Luna covered her face with her wings, only to feel splats of rainbow paste splash on her azura feathers. It was sticky, and it didn't feel immediately pleasant. "Pony, would you please watch what you are doing. I am trying to get a job done!"

"Dear factory supervisor, I am ready!" Luna shouted across the factory to the Professor, who seemed all too cautious to get this started again.

​

[Mojo]

(ooc): Since Frost137 hasn't logged on for two months, I'm assuming he's left the site so we'll move on

Hearing all stations reporting as 'ready', Professor Krashkop flew up to the top tier and prepared to turn the rainbow flow back on.

"Alright mein fellow ponies, I am turning dee flow back on! Be prepared to stir SLOWLY und carefully so dee colors vill stay separated! Here vee go!"

The Professor turned the main valve and soon, the flow of rainbow liquid began again. Reaching and starting to fill the first vat, the pony at that station started to stir slowly. Now the rainbow liquid started cascading downward, reaching each vat in descending order. Now it would be up to the ponies working each station to continue the delicate stirring motions. Nothing could go wrong now, right?

[Bellosh]

As for Derpy Hooves, those sudden chills she felt several minutes ago before Luna showed resurfaced… big time. A barrage of shivers struck the young mare as she worked het vat, slowly like the Professor said. But to compound Derpy’s misery, fatigue mysteriously overtook her entire body. In a matter of moments, it now became the hardest thing in the world to stir a simple mixing paddle. Come to think of it, this felt exactly like the last time Miss Hooves caught the feather flu!

Once Derpy made that connection, a voice of concern rang out, ordering her to inform the Professor to make sure nopony else caught her flu. But then Common Sense(™) kicked in, reminding the gray pegasus that without her, the Prism Mixing team might not have enough horsepower to reach their production target and save spring; a delayed season would be bad for Equestria! So Derpy continued to stir, even though she now visibly worked at an extremely slower place compared to the other pegasi.....

​

[PedestrianWolf]

"Pony, would you please watch what you are doing. I am trying to get a job done!"

Snickerdoodle quickly ducked back away from the edge of the platform. She had inadvertently splashed Princess Luna with rainbow speckles again! She was mortified for a moment, then stifled a giggle as she attempted to keep stirring. Luna now bore a strong resemblance to Snickerdoodle's grandmother, Nana Noctilucentia, whose coat was midnight blue, and whose cutie mark was a rainbow cloud. If she managed to survive the day, she would go visit Nana and tell her all about it.

As the new prism mixture flowed into the vats, she found her rhythm and her mind started to wander off again. But before it could get too far, she heard an ominous rumbling in another part of the factory. "What is that? I didn't think making thunderclouds was on the schedule for today. They're too difficult for inexperienced pegasi to transport safely." she muttered to herself. Clearing her throat, she called over the side to the vats below, "Hey, um, Princess? Shouldn't you maybe go check on the Cloud making department? It sounds like maybe they could use your help."

[Hippo]

Luna started stirring once she saw that rainbow liquid forming the start of a puddle in her vat. It was well separated, and swirled, just like she imagined it should look like. But as she started stirring more, she realized that the rainbow was actually a lot thicker than it looked, taking the entire energy out of Luna's arms in stirring. Eventually, she resorted to using her magic from her horn to stir the vat. She hoped that no pony would see her, but she didn't have a choice. She would rather be seen as a princess that exploits her magic for productivity than to be blamed for not stirring because of fatigue.

Suddenly, Luna took notice of the clouds that the other pony was mentioning. It was starting to look a little crazy. After a short while, Luna confided in herself that the way things were going now in the prism factory were smooth enough for her to attend to whatever problems were occurring on the other side of the facility. Should other ponies need her help in an emergency, she did not want to be blamed for her lack of supervision. It is why she is here in the first place, after all.

So, without hesitating to think about who would replace her at her vat, she dropped the paddle in the vat and took off flying to make her away over to the cloud generator.

​

[Mojo]

Professor Krashkop remained airborne as he watched the renewed action in the Prism Mixing Department. The first thing that caught his eye was how much slower Derpy Hooves was stirring. The elderly green Pegasus stallion hovered over to her vat to try to correct the situation.

"Fraulein Derpy Hooves, you must stir a little bit faster den dat," he said in a very kind and sincere voice before pointing a hoof at Snickerdoodle who was just below, "vatch Fraulien Snickerdoodle und match her stirring pace. She knows vhat she is doing."

As he spoke, the Professor noticed Princess Luna flying upward and out of the factory area.

"Dee Princess must have other tings to do," he said causally before a look of fright appeared on his face, "ACK UNEEMAL! HER VAT!"

Zooming over to the abandoned vat, slowly watching Luna's stirring paddle sinking under the mixture, Professor Krashko managed to catch the paddle handle in the nick of time and began to stir with it. Within a few seconds, the gray maned Pegasus had restored the balance of the vat back to normal pace.

"Dere now, I vill have to stir dis vat until vee get more help in here. Vee are short hooved as it is already."

[Bellosh]

Uh oh, the old stallion notice Derpy’s slowness! Whatever should that pegasus do? Should Miss Hooves admit to Prof. Krashkop that she felt weaker, or should she be a big mare and tough it out? Obviously, she chose the latter after a couple seconds of pain-staking deliberation; “Sorry Professor, I uhhh… got distracted by a daydream. That’s all!” Wiping sweat off her brow, Derpy took a good hard look at Snicks before attempting to match the other volunteer’s speed. Derpy WILL succeed at her job, no matter how much strength left her.....!

​

[PedestrianWolf]

Even though Princess Luna had flown off to investigate what was happening in Vaporization, Snickerdoodle was still a little uneasy. The ominous rumbling hadn't stopped. The air felt different, too. Heavier, somehow. That wasn't right. The Weather Factory was supposed to be strictly climate controlled (that's a little joke. Pegasi control the weather? Funny, right? Eh...) to prevent accidents like stormclouds forming within the building. And yet... was it getting darker in here?

Snickerdoodle shook her head. She must still be feeling the after effects of the feather flu. As soon as the break whistle sounded, she would go get herself a nice hot mug of ginger lemon tea with a generous dollop of honey in it. Looking around to check on how the other volunteers were faring, she noticed that the ditzy blonde mare was looking a little... more dizzy than she usually did.

"Hey, um, Derpy? Are you feeling okay?"

[Mojo]

"Please Fraulien Derpy, you must remained focused on our task!" Professor Krashkop shouted out as he continued to stir the vat Princess Luna had abandoned. When the elderly green Pegasus stallion looked up, he was relieve to see more Pegasi volunteers entering through the upper window.

"VEE NEED ASSISTANCE DOWN HERE PLEASE!" he shouted, causing the group to hover downward. One Pegasus stallion landed near the Professor and immediately took over his stirring paddle.

"Danka! Now I can go back to supervising," the Professor said as he took flight, observing that all of the vats had at least one pony stirring the mixture vats. He flew down to each vat, trying to encourage the volunteers to keep going. He passed by Snickerdoodle's vat.

"Keep up dee good vork, fraulien Snickerdoodle!" the airborne green Pegasus stallion neighed as he descended over to Derpy Hooves.

"Now you are keeping dee rhythm, fraulien Derpy! I know you can do dis! I believe in you!" the Professor said confidently, hoping his 'pep talk' would help the blonde Pegasus mare to keep going.

[Bellosh]

Derpy didn’t think much of Snickerdoodle’s question, other than how silly it was. “Are you kidding Snicks?” the ditzy mare incredulously replied; “I’ve never felt... I’ve never felt... felt... fe-fe-felt.... ..bett-be-better?” Even as Miss Hooves maintained her standing as a worker in good health, a strange tingling sensation overwhelmed her throat. There was no mistaking it; Derpy felt the urge… the urge to cough! Drats, she really was sick with feather flu!

But Derpy mustn’t show her illness. Nope, not at all. While the Professor cheered on, the young mare closed her mouth shut and kept on working. And by keeping her mouth shut, that entailed not daring to breath through her mouth. So thus began the Great Battle: could Derpy hold her breath long enough until the tingling passed? Or would she throw a coughing fit, or worse yet, pass out?

​

[PedestrianWolf]

Snickerdoodle kept stirring, although she definitely could feel the pressure building up in her sinuses again. The headache was starting to become unbearable. She looked around to see if it was breaktime yet, so she could go get some tea and asprin, when she noticed the floor was moving. The pegasus shook her head, and looked down again. Nope, not an illusion, the floor really was getting darker and bulging upwards. An ominous rumble began to come from below, followed by a booming thunderclap that she felt in her chest.

"Oh, crud. This is definitely not good. Professor! We have a problem!" she shouted, although frankly unless he was deaf, Krashkop would have noticed the anvil thunderhead forming in the factory. No wonder her head ached!

Not waiting for her temp supervisor, Snickerdoodle put her paddle down on the side of her vat and flew off in search of Sugar Apple. She was a proper weather pony, she should know what to do, right?

I'm basing this off the events happening in the Vaporisation thread.

[Mojo]

Suddenly, the still airborne Professor Krashkop heard the thunderous sounds above and saw the factory literally shaking from the force of it.

"ACK! UNEEMAL!" the green Pegasus stallion shouted. "DIS IS AN EMERGENCY! EVERY PONY! TAKE COVER! I VILL SHUT DOWN DEE FLOW!"

Flying into action with unusual speed for a pony his age, Professor Krashkop flew upward until he reached the master spicket valve again, turning it to shut down the flow of rainbow water. Looking down below, the elderly stallion shouted to the other Pegasis scrambling all around the factory.

"Frau Snickerdoodle! Fly for help! Oh ja, you're doing dat already. Everypony, seek shelter! SNELL!" the Professor shouted, watching as most of the Pegasi were leaving their vats to find a safe place to hide. But the Professor noticed that Derpy Hooves was still at her vat. Quickly, he descended towards her.

"Frau Derpy! Vee all must find shelter! Please come vith me to safety!" he shouted, just as a bolt of lightning shot downward and barely missed the hovering Pegasus stallion. "Dere is not much time to lose, Frau Derpy! Come vith me now! SNELL!"

[Bellosh]

Even Derpy managed to notice the rogue thundercloud seeping through the mixing room floor. But back in Ponyville, the crossed-eye mare routinely worked with electrical weather, hence her official job title Electrical Weather Specialist 1st Class. Therefore, she expressed no fear as the cloud starting shooting out bolts of lightning in every random direction. Even if she feared the electrical discharge, there wasn’t much a pegasus afflicted with feather flu symptoms could do to leave the scene.

“I *COUGH* *COUGH* think I’m going to stay put Professor,” the fatigued volunteer declared, not feeling the strength to find safety like the others; “*COUGH* Honestly, I work with lightning all the time. Doesn’t *SNIFFLE* bother me. Oh.............. I think I got feather flu too. I have no idea how that happened.....”

​

[Mojo]

Professor Krashkop realized he had to act fast and decisively.

"Fraulien Derpy! Dere is no more time for debate! Dis place is collapsing! Vee must leave now! SHELL!"

Not waiting for an answer from the blonde Pegasus mare, the elderly green winged stallion scooped her up in his front legs and made a mad dash for the nearest window, intending to lead her and himself to safety. Flying with all his might, the determined Professor flew out the open window just as the wall tumbled behind him. Safe with Derpy Hooves, Professor Krashkop spots a safe place where other ponies were gathered and gently lands there.

"Is everypony alright? Did everypony made it out of dee factory?" he asked. "It is quite odd dat a storm vould come all dee vay up to Cloudsdale like dis! Dere should be an investigation about it! I tink dere could be some villainy a hoof here!"

[Bellosh]

Derpy Hooves barely registered the events around her. Sweating to no end, the fatigued mare just laid there on the cloud, coughing up a storm only slightly less dreadful than the one occurring in the now-distant Weather Factory. Oh, if only she listened to her instincts and stayed home in bed. But Cloudsdale needed all the help it could, but it looked like even all of that effort would be going to waste now. That was, unless those brave pegasi who stayed behind in Vapor Dep found a way to stop those booming thuderclouds from tearing the entire place apart.....

​

*THE STORY CONTINUES IN VAPOR THREAD. THANK YOU EVERYONE WHO PARTICIPATED IN THIS RP*