//------------------------------// // #54 - One Degree Off: Part II // Story: Techorse Short Stories // by Spirals95 //------------------------------// One Degree Off: Part II “Twilight, I look… weird,” Techorse complained as his marefriend adjusted a bow tie on his outfit with her magic. The inventor was taking a good look in the mirror at the ridiculous setup she had subjected him too. An argyle sweater over a white dress shirt, a set of glasses he didn’t even need, gelled over hair, and of course the blue bow tie which he found to be quite dorky. “No you don’t,” Twilight assured him, “all the most respected professors in Equestria dress like this! The bow tie is an absolute must!” “I’m not a respected professor though,” Techorse complained, the glasses irritating his muzzle, “and they’re definitely not going to give me any respect when they see me in this!” Twilight shook her head, and finished affixing the bow tie to his shirt, ignoring his complaints about the outfit. Everything she had planned and prepared for the last week before they had moved into the apartment they were currently borrowing was about to pay off for her coltfriend, and she wasn’t going to let his social anxiety get in the way. Since she had taken a huge interest herself in educating others, she figured that it would be simple enough to impart her knowledge in the stallion she’d cared about for so long. “It’s just some clothes,” she continued, “the real part of earning your student’s respect will be to provide them with a solid curriculum.” Techorse lightened up a bit, adjusted the bow-tie a bit himself, “Well, that’s true! I’ve got just the list of topics for this semester in mind for the class. It’ll hopefully not be too much of a hassle for them, since they’re probably each taking three or four courses already as freshmen...” “Already prepared a course for you!” She interrupted, “Full syllabus and everything! You don’t have to lift a mechanical finger to work on this, Techie. It’s all been researched, studied, and put into paper!” The stallion gave her an annoyed look, “Really?” But she was ignoring it, “Of course! I wasn’t going to leave you to your first day without a per-prepared syllabus! We’re partners after all!” Twilight dragged him out of his small personal room in the 2-bedroom apartment and showed him the massive stack of books and scrolls scattered about the completely covered floor. Apparently, the unicorn had spent all night for the past week compiling all the engineering knowledge she could find into a handy syllabus, which was a stack of documents she’d just printed off that morning at the local press. “See? It’s all figured out for you,” she said proudly, “I’ve optimized this course to teach everything the students will need about engineering and learning how to build machines! This all comes from the best books in Equestria on the subject, even the ones we’ve read together!” “What about the textbook?” Techorse asked, seeing a flaw in her plan. “Of course! The textbook!” she answered, smiling broadly in a way that worried him, “I went with Dr. Ohm Breaker’s The Study Of Design.“ Techorse sighed, “Twilight, you and I love that book a lot, but it’s a bit much for first years, don’t you think? I was going to use How to Make Stuff by Filament. It’s just some basic electronics and mechanical design projects that I can use to get across the introductory concept of engineering to the class.” “I’m just worried that your students might not get enough out of the class,” Twilight said, her eyes big like a puppy’s, “I mean, you don’t have to use the book… it only took me a week or so to put this together.” “All right, I’ll give it a try,” he said, trying to smile for her and also give her the benefit of the doubt, “I’m probably just nervous about having to teach... I’ve never done it before! Maybe this will all go according to plan and they’ll be fine with the higher amount of content.” Twilight cheerfully went and got a set of saddlebags, filling them with her notes and the copies of the syllabus she had printed out. These were tied up to Techorse’s sides, the sheer weight of the amount of notes making him feel like he would crack the floor if he happened to trip. “I… I might need to not take so many copies,” Techorse grunted, “there’s only supposed to be about 14 students in the class.” “Oops! I was thinking thirty or so. I guess it is just a community college after all,” Twilight admitted, removing all the unnecessary printings and dropping them on the floor next to her. As predicted, there was a sharp whacking noise as the stack of documents hit the linoleum, “At least we’ve got some extra copies for when one of your precious students inevitably loses a copy!” “That’s for sure,” Techorse half-joked, observing how the stack of paperwork nearly came up to the first joint of his front leg, “anyways, I’m going to saddle up and walk over. Wish me luck!” Twilight approached him and placed a tender kiss on his cheek, which Techorse found to be a bit sloppier than normal, oddly enough… “Love you! I’m so excited to hear all about how your first day of class goes!” she said, eyes twinkling. “If I survive...” he thought sarcastically. Techorse wanted to bring his saddle with him, as always, but the argyle sweater and white dress shirt pretty much made the setup awkward and constricting. So, he decided he could put up with using his hooves and teeth for one day. Maybe if he got up early enough, he could sneak past Twilight with nothing on but the gadget. Leaving the apartment building, Techorse walked out of the development and got on the sidewalk that led over to the college. Already some of the passersby were starting to take notice of his attire. “Ah! Are you a professor at the college?” asked a friendly stallion in a business suit and top hat, “haven’t seen you around here, before!” “Oh… well, kind of. I’m volunteering,” answered Techorse, surprised the other stallion had noticed, “I’ve got 90 service hours to fill in to achieve the rank of Master Engineer. Teaching a class at the college was a choice.” The gentlecolt, who had been going the other way, turned around and trotted alongside Techorse to continue the conversation, “That’s just grand, I say! It’s not often that someone going for such a title lowers themselves to the level of a temporary teacher!” “Hey! This isn’t lowering myself,” complained Techorse, his hairdo beginning to itch from the gel, “these students are just getting into the field of engineering, and I want to encourage them!” “Ah, I see… well try to keep your wits about you, I hear college ponies can be quite the painful experience!” warned the styled stallion as he parted paths down a nearby street, “Take care!” The college campus was definitely much more humble than the League of Engineering’s, with standardized brick and mortar buildings and plain roofs colored in cream and silver. A few sculptures were left here and there on the campus, but the paths between the buildings were broken up a bit by the roots of trees that had likely been planted nearly fifty years ago when the school was founded. Despite this, a wide variety of ponies, and a handful of other creatures were seemingly happy despite the state of disrepair. “This place could use some help,” Techorse wondered aloud, “maybe when I’m done teaching here, they’d accept a donation from me.” A small pebble from the broken sidewalks got into the frog of his hoof, making him stop and shake his leg to try and get it out. “I’m gonna need to add a condition for the donation: fix the sidewalks first,” he grunted, finally managing to get the stone out by force. Knowing the day wasn’t likely to get much better, Techorse took a deep breath and trotted over to the building he was informed would contain his classroom for the next several months. Alloy hall, likely named after the surname of whatever generous mare or stallion donated to the school at the right time. The simplistic glass and aluminum door opened easily, and the stallion stepped inside, surprised at the variety of students. There were definitely the usual college aged ponies, but there were some still in high school eager to pick up some credits ahead of time, and a couple of older folks trying to go back for a degree later in life. The hallways were lined with red linoleum tile, and purple paint covered dry board walling, rows of electric lights keeping the place illuminated despite the lack of windows. “Mix-Up would puke if he saw this,” chuckled Techorse, turning a corner to get to the room. Classroom 124-A, a humble room with a wooden door and cinder block walls, greeted Techorse with some funny looks as he entered. It turns out, dressing like an academic at a high-end university was out of place for a community college. There were roughly 20 or so students as he had been informed, a roughly equal mix of mares and stallions interested in the 101 type class on engineering. At the front of the classroom, however, slouched in one of the plain desks constructed out of treated iron and oak, was a griffin. She wore a T-shirt, leather jacket, and a red do-rag, and cracked the gum in her beak loudly as Techorse made his way to the small table and desk at the front of the classroom provided to him. Behind him sat a degrading green chalkboard with only a meager remaining piece to write with. Other than that, there wasn’t much in the room save a few posters talking about upcoming events on campus, and the occasional groaner of a safety PSA. “Good morning, class!” Techorse started, lugging the bag of syllabus papers on the table with a dull whack, “It’s nice to see you all.” The students were trying not to snicker at Techorse’s ridiculous outfit and overly groomed hair while he continued to talk, “My name's Techorse, in case they didn't tell you yet. It’s my hope that I’ll be able to teach you the basics of engineering, both theory and practice.” Pulling the papers out of the bag, which caused several of the students to go wide-eyed, Techorse went on, “So this is the syllabus for Engineering 101! I’ve never taught a class before, so I’m assuming this is what it’s supposed to be like...” After passing out the enormous packets that Twilight had cooked up, the mares and stallions of the room started flipping through the nearly two dozen pages of content with disappointment, if not abject terror on their faces. Twilight’s design was so complex and thorough that they wondered if they would have any time for anything else they were taking that semester! There was a project due every week, a test every other week, biweekly quizzes, and over 50 pages of reading per day. “So let’s talk about what we’ll cover this semester!” The griffon rapped her talon-tipped fingers on the desk, wondering if her new professor was insane, or just this hopelessly new to teaching. She got her answer when Techorse opened up his own copy of the syllabus, which he never read in front of Twilight, and the blood immediately drained from his face. “Sh… shoot. I um… this is a lot,” he said, laughing nervously and feeling like his sweater was going to sog from sweat. “Can we at least know what the textbook is going to be like?” said a pink mare in the front row weakly, hoping against all hope it would be able to be carried in her saddlebags without snapping her spine like a dry twig. After examining the insane workload Twilight had suggested, Techorse listened in carefully to the students’ reaction to the massive syllabus. “Are we gonna have to do all of that?” “Engineering must be boring.” “Maybe we should drop...” He was caught between a rock and a hard place, not wanting to disappoint Twilight, but also not wanting the students to leave or feel like the field was a waste of their time. “Sorry Twilight,” he muttered, before answering the other mare, “well, it looks like I printed the wrong syllabus, so ignore the textbook listed there. We’re going to be using How To Make Stuff. You should be able to get it for about twenty bits, and it’s only about one hundred and twenty pages or so.” “Interesting,” the griffoness said, chomping on her gum again. She knew something was going on with her teacher, he seemed way too nice to bury them all in the workload the ‘wrong’ syllabus had. “Yo, teach!” she said, raising her claw. “Yes!” answered Techorse, pointing with his hoof at the cream-plumaged bird, “Uh… what’s your name? Need to learn your name and everypony else’s here.” “So I’m Gracimillion the Fourth, but you can call me Gracie,” she joked, pushing the gum under her tongue carefully and changing her slouch in the chair, “you’ve got no idea what you’re doing, do ya?” Techorse felt humiliated, his other students’ gazes were like being burned into by lasers, something he was quite familiar with, “Of… course I do, Miss Gracie! I’ve just never taught a course before, so...” “So when you said this was the wrong syllabus, what did you mean then?” she asked, probing deeper, curious as to what was really going on. Unable to really think on his hooves from embarrassment, Techorse turned red as a beet and tried to think up a good excuse, “Well… it’s complicated. Let’s just say I thought this was an okay idea until I got here. S… sorry.” “All right,” Gracie told him, now openly on the offense with her words, “well, this is an elective for me, so if you have to drop these novels, that’s a good thing! This first draft’s pretty awful.” Techorse wondered how this problem student would be acting if Twilight were in the room. He imagined his unicorn marefriend bursting into tears from the comments, and then worrying herself to death about how the faculty on campus would kick him and her out forever, never able to achieve the rank of Master Engineer! Projecting aside, he knew he was going to have to lie again when he got home when she would inevitably ask how her “brilliant” course plan was received. “Oh, you filthy raven, how dare you speak to a professor in such a way!” came a relatively posh voice along with an explosive slamming of the door. In the doorway stood a tall, mysterious young unicorn stallion, crew cut black hair on a tan coat, glasses kept perfectly clean, and a well-done business casual outfit worn in the name of just barely overdressing. Clearly a very scientific pony, and a top student! Gracie felt herself swallow her gum out of disgust from the air of ‘perfection’ the stallion exuded, “Excuse me?” The somewhat posh pony, uninterested in her, walked up to Techorse, nose held somewhat high, “My apologies for being late, Mr. Techorse. I was held up on important business, arguing with my father over whether or not this class is necessary. He insists I’m beyond it, but I’m fine taking a course from a community school. All I care about is that I learn how to build things that will sell!” “So do we!” complained Gracie, “And… are you even in the right class?!” “Yes,” he answered calmly yet sharply, “I am. I didn’t ask for your opinion, bird. I’m surprised a griffon would even come to receive a class from a future Master Engineer.” “H… hey!” complained Gracie, her claws digging into her desk, “I have every right to be here, pal!” Techorse tried to put some space between the two, “All right, look, Mr...” “Improver,” he answered with his name, the lights overhead reflecting in his glasses neatly, “rude of me not to introduce myself I suppose.” “...Improver,” parroted Techorse blandly, “go take your seat. I want to make sure I get through the lesson plan for today.” Improver walked down the nearest row of seats, and took his… right next to Gracie. He gave her a smug, demeaning look, which boiled the feathered lady’s blood. She dug her talons even deeper, digging grooves in her desk, “Great, first the teacher is completely clueless, and now I gotta put up with this jerk too...” Techorse wondered if he was going to have two problem students on his hands, between the griffon and this new guy who just didn’t sit right with him. “Anyways,” he said, trying to regain control of the room, “thank you all for attending. Let’s start with a basic discussion about what engineering is, and what we can do with it this semester!” He moved over to the chalkboard, and went to reach for one of the pieces of chalk left for him. After a few seconds of being unable to do anything, it occurred to him that he had gone along with Twilight’s outfit for him a little too well, and now he was left without his saddle. This meant no hands available to write with. “Here’s a great example of what we can do with it,” Techorse sighed, trying not to blush, “so normally, I have my saddle with me, which features a pair of robotic arms I can use to pick up writing utensils. As an Earth Pony, I lack any means of picking up items except with my teeth, or whatever will actually stay on my hooves.” “That’s something we all have to put up with,” said an earth pony mare wearing a pink dress said from the back row, before looking at Improver, “well, most of us...” “Exactly. So the main use of engineering is to solve problems,” he explained, “those problems can include overcoming a limitation, making a process easier, or creating a better version of something useful we already have.” Gracie raised her hand again, “Hey, so… if you ponies have so many schools around for magic, why do you even bother with this stuff? Can’t unicorns just cast spells to fix all these problems?” “I actually happen to know some unicorns really well who still need machines,” Techorse answered, raising an eyebrow, “magic might be a more popular field to study in Equestria, but magic has to be repeated every time you want the problem solved. With engineering, we can build a machine that can do useful work over and over again.” “Plus we get tired,” snubbed Improver, “I’d hope you’d understand that.” “Machines are a great way to take the stress off of our unicorn friends’ limited energy,” Techorse agreed, “but it is possible to combine the two if needed. Engineering can use arcane components to produce even more useful machines and gadgets!” “Well, most of us here don’t have any magic,” said another student, a pegasus pony using his wing to show Techorse the fact that Improver was the sole unicorn, “so hopefully that won’t be one of our projects.” “Don’t worry, I wasn’t planning on it,” assured the inventor, smiling, “when we do get to the final project, you’ll be able to use whatever techniques or parts you want! My goal is to teach you how to think like an engineer, not what the best parts are for the job. That’s up to you!” The student smiled back at him, which gave a sudden boost of confidence in his ability to teach the class. Here was an opportunity to impart knowledge that he’d always known and had spent years specializing in. Granted, most of the ponies in the room were just trying to get their 3 elective credits and be done with it. “Good to know we don’t have to have it, since magic is so much stronger,” said another earth pony mare, playing with her orange curly hair, “at least, that’s what I was always told growing up.” Realizing that the room was full of earth ponies and pegasi mostly who had spent their whole lives feeling like they weren’t as strong as a unicorn, Techorse knew he’d have to change that. “By the end of this class, I’m hoping that all of you don’t believe that anymore,” he said, standing up on his hind hooves and leaning on the desk in front of him, “I want all of you to believe that with hard work and problem solving, you can build things just as good without magic.” “Wow, really? I thought we’d just be making some lamps or something,” she replied, “I’m a first year, so I’m just trying to get into the field.” “Yup! In fact, I’m so confident that this course will change your mind, that we will not be doing any exams! I’m going to require just a few written reports, and the final project,” he boasted, for some reason feeling rather biased against magic at the moment. “Woah, no exams? All projects?” said Gracie, eyes going wide from the statement, “Now we’re talking!” Techorse, confident now that he could educate his students, shoved the remaining materials from Twilight off the desk, making a loud sound as the papers tumbled to the floor. He was going to be doing things his way! “Let’s go over what you’ll need to learn in order to succeed in this class,” he continued, moving over to the chalkboard and grabbing a piece of less than tasty chalk in his mouth. He drew a quick list of items up on the green slate, albeit in a very awkward and chicken scratch manner since he had very little practice writing by mouth. Tomorrow, he’d bring back in his saddle again to alleviate the issue, but his jaw would have to do for now. Once finished, he spat the piece of material back into the tray in front of the chalkboard and wiped his mouth clean with a hoof. In horrible writing the board now read: “Learn how to think. Learn how to design. Learn how to build.” “This is all you’ll have to do in order to become a great engineer,” Techorse explained, pointing at his horrid writing, “there’s lots of ponies out there who will want you to pass big exams or memorize the date when the steam engine was invented. I disagree with those ponies. To pass my class, you’ll just need to prove that you can think, design, and build like an engineer.” “I’m confused, wasn’t this supposed to be more of a hooves-off kind of course?” Improver frowned, shuffling in his seat. “Not anymore! Tomorrow, I’ll bring in some supplies for our first project. It’ll be very simple, and fun, too!” answered his teacher, smiling, “in the meantime, everyone’s task for this evening is to find a copy of How To Build Stuff. If you read the first chapter ahead of time, that’s great. Otherwise just be here at the same time next class.” “Wow! I’m liking this new approach,” thought Gracie as Techorse dismissed them for the evening, “I won’t have to spend so much time studying!” After the students filed out of the classroom, Techorse gathered the teaching materials given to him by Twilight and left with a more confident stride. He felt a little guilty for deciding to ditch Twilight’s course design, and knew he’d probably be in the doghouse if she figured out he was going his own way, but he was growing tired of the constant worrying and pushing for things he didn’t want to do. This solution appeared to be the best way forward. Rather than taking the most direct route back to the apartment, Techorse made a short stop at a local cafe. After ordering a hot drink and taking a seat at one of the many outdoor tables, he pulled his left hoof up and started fiddling with the wristwatch around his left leg. It had a small, red button on it, which the stallion managed to push with a hoof. A few blue beams of light came from the wristwatch, in reality it was a holographic gadget he’d managed to sneak past Twilight. PAL’s form appeared on the display, eager to speak to his creator. “Ah, Master Techorse!” came the distorted transmission due to the distance, “How was your first day teaching? Did Mistress Sparkle’s teaching plan thrill your students?” “No,” he answered, shaking his head, “I knew I should have read it ahead of time. Twilight’s sweet for trying to help me, but… it’s definitely way too much book learning for this class. The students need to start designing and building right away to get started on becoming engineers, not take tests all the time.” “Well, I suppose I should have figured as much,” sighed PAL, “but there’s nothing that can be done, right? You only have to stay the course for a few months.” “This is what this call is about, PAL,” Techorse interrupted, “I’m not going to use Twilight’s teaching plan at all.” PAL went silent for a few moments, before groaning, “Please tell me that Twilight will be informed of this change when you get home.” Techorse looked extremely guilty to the robot, and for a good reason, “I… I can’t! If I do, she’ll be upset. I’m just going to act like I’m teaching the course she designed, and in the meantime… provide the class with exactly what they need.” “It can’t be healthy to be willing to lie to your marefriend like this,” PAL countered, “a year ago I probably would have said nothing and let things be, but I’m putting my heavy metallic foot down! Talk to her about this tonight, Techorse.” The other ponies trying to enjoy their drinks were now taking occasional glances at the seemingly insane pony talking to his watch. Techorse continued on his conversation without noticing, typical for himself. “All right… fine,” he sighed, “I’ll talk to Twilight. She’s just… worrying herself to death over this and not listening to me because of it. It’s beginning to get hard to deal with.” “So you’ll tell her?” “Yes,” answered Techorse again, “but we’re still going to change the plan for this semester. So I was originally calling to see if you could drop off a crate of supplies for me in the classroom tomorrow morning.” “Certainly, and thank you for listening to me,” the hologram of the robot nodded, “now what things do you need? The castle forge should be able to put them together overnight if I get the order in now...” Techorse took the short route back to the apartment rented for himself and Twilight, pleased with his plan to take control of the class for himself. Since he was the expert in engineering anyways, why shouldn’t he be the one to get to decide what the students would learn? Today had been a horrible embarrassment with Twilight’s dorky curriculum, and he had failed to keep the attention of any of the students up until he had decided to ditch all of her ideas in favor of her own. Gracie, at least, seemed rather interested with his new plans to do more hooves-on work. “If I’m doing this for anyone, it’s going to be for Gracie,” he told himself while waiting for Twilight to open the door, “she’s going to find out fast that this is much more than an elective. Maybe she’ll even become an engineer, too!” His marefriend eagerly unlocked the door bolt and grabbed him by the sweater collar with her magic, pulling him quickly inside. Twilight’s skills in her art had significantly improved over the years, able to control dozens of objects at once. With a few teleportation spells, she changed him out of the fancy clothes she had sent him in and placed his saddle gently over a nearby coat rack. Then he was whisked over to the dining room table of the three room home, all in the span of a few seconds. “Well… hello to you too, Twi!” he said, amazed by the speed and talent of the mare. “Tell. Me. Everything!” she said eagerly, sitting across from him with a smile on her face, “How were the students? What were they like? Did they love the textbook and the curriculum?!” Techorse knew that this would be the hard part, but he didn’t think it would be this overwhelmingly difficult. Ruining Twilight’s beautiful smile and sparkling purple eyes weren’t his greatest concern however. Her anxiety and the amount of grief being told her coursework wasn’t very interesting to the students was. If he didn’t put it lightly enough, she would probably be crushed and try to “salvage” things. At the best, she might understand that since it was a 101 class, she needed to tone down the workload a bit. But at the worst… He made up his mind very quickly, “Sorry Pal… can’t tell her everything.” “What do you think?” she asked, still aglow. Techorse let out a concerning breath and explained, “I had to make changes… but they liked it! There’s been a… miscommunication in what I need to do.” Twilight’s head bobbed back a bit, her smile dissipated, but she didn’t look too hurt, which was a good sign. “Oh,” she said, “a miscommunication? I thought I read into creating the course perfectly, all of the college rules, what the board needs...” “I know you did everything perfectly, but when I got there, the students told me they didn’t feel like they were getting a complete education without a little more hooves-on work,” he lied, feigning a bit of disappointment, “your course seemed fine, so I’m just going to chop some of the less important quizzes and reading in exchange for some projects.” Twilight raised an eyebrow, “Well, I guess teaching is for the student, not the teacher. I was just worried that you wouldn’t meet all the school requirements.” “Oh the course will,” he assured her, knowing what he was going to teach would do so much better, “it’s just a few minor alterations. You know, it’s just how engineering goes!” “Oh, absolutely!” Twilight answered, nodding her head and smiling again, “And the students weren’t too much trouble, right?” “Not… at all.” “That wasn’t very convincing,” she said, pulling over a tray of mushroom steaks and potatoes she had ordered from a local restaurant, “hungry? It’s your favorite!” “She went out of her way to get me fancy mushroom steak…” Twilight was starting to act nervous since he was zoning out, “Is… everything okay, Techie? Everything’s okay, right?!?” “It’s fine, it’s fine...” he droned, “it’s just this one guy, Improver. He was kind of stuck up about the coursework and wouldn’t leave another student alone.” “He’ll change his mind, the course has so much interesting material, he won’t have any time to bother the other students,” Twilight chuckled, serving herself a mushroom cap on her plate, the fuchsia magic moving the piece of food, “I promise!” “That’s the problem...” muttered Techorse, rolling his eyes. “Hmmm?” Twilight answered, almost dropping the potato, “did you say something?” “Oh… no!” he snapped back to attention, “nothing. Thanks for talking me through things, Twilight.” She rolled her eyes, “Of course! I love talking to you, it’s why we’re together!” Techorse served himself a portion of the meal and nodded, “Yeah… it is.” After failing to enjoy his dinner for some emotional odd reason, Techorse helped her clean up. She seemed pleased, completely unaware he had dumped her entire work in the garbage where his students believed it belonged. He didn’t feel so pleased however, something was “off” even though tomorrow morning a brand new pile of parts would be available for him to give to the students. He was doing things his own way, and keeping Twilight’s anxiety down, so he knew in his brain it was a win-win decision. So why couldn’t he enjoy his evening? “So, you want to cuddle and talk about this cool spell I found?” Twilight asked him after they had finished cleaning up, “it’s been a while since we’ve done that.” He couldn’t find the interest, “I’m really, really tired Twilight. I’d love to, but I could use an early bedtime tonight. Maybe tomorrow?” Her ears fell back, but she seemed to understand his situation, “Hey, I get it. I used to get really tired too when working in the Canterlot library all day. Kiss goodnight?” “Sure.” They shared a quick lip-lock, the most uninteresting, bland one Techorse had ever experienced. Used to be he’d look forward to that moment every day or so, but now… “Whatever. She’s happy.” “Goodnight, babe,” he said, turning around and heading to his room blankly. Techorse nearly slammed the door, which felt as heavy as his current thoughts. “Babe?” giggled Twilight softly, “He never says that.” Techorse spent very little of this time he was “tired” actually sleeping of course. Redesigning an entire college level course from the ground up was hard work, but he’d managed to put a rough draft down on paper before collapsing at roughly three in the morning, giving him just enough time for a few hours of rest before his alarm jolted him awake again. He had set the clock much earlier than what Twilight had woken him up for previously, so that he could avoid being intercepted by her on the way out. This time there’d be no dorky clothes, no piles of paperwork, and definitely no textbooks that could crush someone if it didn’t bore them to death first. All he took was his saddle, his rough draft of the new course outline, and himself out the door that morning. “This will all be worth it for the title,” he said, locking the door to the apartment behind himself as he hurried off, “so long as Twilight doesn’t find out, we’re fine. I’ll be a Master Engineer in one semester, she’ll believe she carried me through it… and hopefully she’ll stop being so anxious.” Now with his new curriculum in mind, the walk to the college felt a lot less embarrassing, and Techorse was able to greet everypony he saw on the way with a more confident smile. He didn’t pay attention to any of the raised eyebrows since no one on the route actually knew him that well, but the morale boost in his head was all that mattered. “What is this thing?” asked one of the campus professors, sipping her coffee held tightly in her wings, “Do we have any idea how it got here?” “No idea,” responded the security officer, an earth pony clad in a tan uniform, “we saw this flying, glowing object, like a meteor, and then it dropped off this… box.” In front of them, having crashed into the middle of the lawn in front of the college’s largest auditorium, was a giant crate that had been dropped off last night by PAL. He failed to mention to Techorse that he was sending the machine parts he had requested by rocket, and that the payload would be parachuted down to the ground. It was the only way that it was going to be delivered overnight. Now there was a six by six foot metal box stuck firmly on the lawn. “Well it can’t stay here,” the teacher muttered, taking another swig, “the grass underneath of it is going to die if it does, and then the groundskeeper will quit for sure. He’s already been threatening to leave as it is...” She heard galloping down the sidewalks and watched several students turn their heads at Techorse making a mad dash for them. “Sorry! Sorry!” called Techorse repeatedly, galloping up to them, “I didn’t think he was going to leave the delivery THERE!” “Oh look who it is,” the pegasus pony rolled her eyes, “the temp. Of course he’s the one who did this.” “Mr. Techorse, you caused this thing to appear on the grass?” asked the guard, not quite understanding. “Look, it’s complicated, and I’m really sorry, but I need to get this open and into the classroom,” he said, looking over the shipping container for the latch, “it’s full of parts we’re using to make machines.” “Wow,” the security officer marveled, stroking his gray mustache, “school supplies sure have changed since I was young. Guess there’s nothing more to see here since you’re gonna get rid of it.” He left Techorse and the professor alone, which she took full advantage of, telling him, “I don’t know how you managed to accomplish this, Techorse, but just keep in mind you look insane right now.” “Who are you, again?” Techorse asked sarcastically, finding the latch and striking it with his hoof. “Professor Chalkmark, meteorology and other weather studies,” she answered before draining the rest of what was in her mug, “probably our biggest subject here on campus. I’d watch the tone.” “Yeah, well, the Canterlot League of Engineers sent me,” he said, picking up some of the neatly boxed components, “so I already know I’m insane being here.” Chalkmark raised her mug, “Point taken. Hope you survive, I guess.” Techorse at least gave her the courtesy of eye contact after realizing it would take him at least six trips to move all of the gear, “Yeah… me too.” With just fifteen minutes to spare before class started, Techorse had managed to move all of the parts from the delivery into the classroom, including the pieces of the shipping container in order to avoid killing the lawn off. Half of the chalkboard was now covered up by individually boxed components stacked up against the walls, likely to the detriment of whoever had to use the room next unless he were to move them out again when his teaching period was over. When the students started to enter the classroom, their new suggested textbook in hoof or talon, they found Techorse smiling and sitting casually at the edge of the table, looking quite proud of himself. “Good morning, class,” he said, with a bit of a laugh, “today we’re going to jump right into the engineering process, so I hope you’re wide awake and ready to learn!” “Woah,” Gracie said, her feathers somewhat fluffed in shock, “what’s all of this, Tech?” “Your first assignment!” he answered proudly, reaching over and pulling out one of the many green-paper wrapped boxes on the wall, “These boxes all contained pre-assembled mechanical and digital parts with connecting wires so you don’t have to design anything or spend any time wiring things. All you have to do is connect in an electrically correct order, and it’ll run.” “Ohhhh,” Improver said slowly, clearly intrigued, “tell us more. Perhaps I was a bit too harsh on yesterday’s sudden change in agenda.” “Sure,” nodded Techorse, excited to share, “catch this one and open it up, Improver.” With a mechanical flick of the wrist, so to speak, Techorse’s saddle chucked one of the packages at the unicorn, who grabbed it with a sparkling telekinesis spell and started to unwrap. Inside, packed firmly with packing peanuts, was a single fan-shaped object mounted on a metal tube, with a black wire leading out of the bottom with two connectors. “What is this… some kind of pinwheel?” the unicorn asked, his sense of awe lost suddenly. “It’s a tiny windmill,” answered Gracie, grabbing it from out of the box and putting it on her own desk, “pegasus ponies can use these to get electricity from wind.” “Correct, and using these, we’re going to explore the first part of engineering you need to know,” nodded Techorse, “designing circuits with a power source. In this case, the windmills. Please turn to page 28 in your textbooks, and I’ll explain the basics. Then we’ll jump right into creating your first project.” In an engaging way, using the chalkboard and not an ounce of Twilight’s design, Techorse went over the basics of designing. While her course would have been filled with math and units of measurement, his introduction to the material included only how inventors and engineers think, and how to use creativity to create solutions to actual problems. He could tell from his student’s bright faces and clear attention that he was doing something right, even if he wasn’t going “by the book” very much. “So now I’m going to hand out one windmill per student. After that, you can use any of the parts in these boxes to design a solution to this problem,” he said, reaching into a nearby brown paper bag. “Oh man, what’s he got next?” joked Gracie, rolling her eyes, and cracking her fresh piece of gum. Techorse pulled out a bag of good old campfire marshmallows and placed them on the table, “Design any safe way to toast a marshmallow using the parts in this room. We’ll test them outside when you’re done.” With only a little bit of help to understand some of the material on electrical flow and how to connect the wires of the parts together, the class quickly picked up on how to build things out of the modular devices Techorse had provided to them and completed their marshmallow cookers. Gracie had struggled a little bit with deciding how to best develop something to keep the marshmallow in place over the heating element she had chosen, but the fan providing power was hardly enough to keep the elements turned on and heated constantly to provide enough heat. She resorted to using her wings to keep the turbine moving, and the heating element glowing. “Darn it, this isn’t working too well,” she muttered, keeping the small windmill going, “I can’t believe I was stupid enough to think wind power was going to work with this.” “Well, that’s your fault, griffon,” Improver teased, showing off his design, “as you can see, mine is working perfectly fine. Perhaps unicorns make better inventors in addition to mages?” Improver’s design was indeed working better, using a set of mirrors he had found in one of the boxes to reflect the sun overhead into a focal point to cook the marshmallow. His windmill was connected directly to a motor to turn the marshmallows, cooking them evenly. Some of the other students had a similar design, although one mare had gone an interesting route by straight up powering a small torch using the windmill, likely to run out of fuel, but easier to run than using it manually. Seeing that this made Gracie frustrated, Techorse tried to offer a suggestion, “Gracie, it’s just a prototype that can be reworked into something better. This is an engineering class, not a science fair.” Knowing he was being ‘called out’, Improver continued to push the issue, “Maybe it’s not a science fair, but you will have to do better if you want to get anywhere in this field, bird.” “I… I don’t!” she growled at him, “I just… I could have done fine if I had been given a solar panel instead of a windmill. They’re really high tech, but they’d do better than those mirrors which could burn you when you go to get your marshmallow.” One of the other students’ ears perked up, a pegasus stallion who was listening in rather than feasting on marshmallows from their creations like most of the others, “I think I have one of those!” He scooped up a nearby green cardboard box and presented it to Gracie, “It’s right here.“ Surprised that Techorse had brought something such a high-technology (for Equestria, anyways), she inquired about it, “Oh, well… thanks, but the teacher here said we’re using windmills for power. Can’t.” Trying to go easier on her, and also to humble Improver, he mentioned casually, “Weeeeell, I only said I’d be handing out one windmill per student. I never said you couldn’t use any other source of power if it was available.” Improver indignantly huffed about as Gracie was permitted to build a better prototype using the new piece, even more so when she copied his idea to rotate the marshmallows using a motor tied to the windmill instead, while heating the treat using the solar panel powering the heating element. Techorse was just happy to see his students enjoying the class and learning how to put machines together. “We’re almost out of time,” he said after another twenty minutes of letting them fiddle around with the machine parts, “since everyone finished their machine, everyone gets an A! Make sure to read the pages I mentioned earlier so we can start our next project tomorrow.” “Oh man, this class is gonna be great!” Gracie cheered, holding her marshmallow cooker tightly in her talons, “So where are we going to store these?” “Just in the classroom, we’ll probably end up taking them apart at the end of the course,” answered Techorse, pointing towards the building’s door, “we’ve got bigger and better things to design.” “Cool!” she answered, a few of her feathers puffing out. “So you’re enjoying engineering?” said the green stallion with a teasing tone of voice. The griffon settled down and tried not to look at him, “Well… I’d rather have a fun elective than not.” Techorse smiled, “Of course. Enjoy your evening!” After the class had left, Techorse decided to spend a few minutes writing down another list of parts he was going to need for future sessions to scan and send to PAL. While working on this intently, he heard the door creak open, Improver let himself in. “Do you have a few moments, professor?” he asked. “Sure,” answered Techorse, “and it’s fine if you call me Techorse, Improver. Don’t be so formal.” “Right,” the stallion answered, “I hope I’m not bothering anything.” “Not much, just writing down a document to scan and send home to get more parts from my lab,” he explained, pointing at the document with a robotic finger, “so how can I help?” Improver sighed, “Techorse, you’re perhaps the most influential inventor and engineer of our time, and yet you’re stuck here teaching these… washouts.” “Of which you are one of them,” Techorse said, raising an eyebrow. “I’m here because it was demanded of me,” grumbled Improver, lowering his gaze, “and something tells me you are in the same boat, so to speak.” Techorse put his pen down fully, and gave the student his full attention, “Yeah. This is a requirement for me to earn my title of Master Engineer. Doesn’t mean I can’t enjoy myself though, I’m liking what I’m doing here so far.” “...and I like what you’re doing here so far as well,” the unicorn chuckled, putting his hoof on the piece of paper in front of Techorse, “perhaps you should consider… ramping things up a bit. Some of those more advanced pieces you make in your lab? Digital devices, I mean. I’m sure they’re Equestria’s future.” He pulled the document out from under the frog of the unicorn's hoof, “I… don’t know about that. That would probably go outside the scope of this course. Besides… I’m not good enough of a teacher. I’m already going outside what I was originally supposed to teach.” “Nonsense,” said the other stallion in a flattering manner, “you’re going to be Master Engineer. Think about it! I’m not saying bring everything in at once, just some at a time. A few things here or there, with explanations, of course. After all, that syllabus you had the first day was much larger than what your actual teaching method indicates. You are teaching us everything we should know, right? Not cutting any content, teacher?” Techorse gave him a guilty look, before finally caving in, ears down in shame over chopping Twilight’s ideas, “I… I am not cutting anything.” “I hope not,” he nodded, continuing to butter up the teacher, “after all, Gracie is only pretending she doesn’t like this class. I think she does want to go into engineering, but in her silly bird culture, you can’t just admit you like something. It would show weakness.” His teacher clearly wanted to hear that, “I figured. I really want to help her see she’s got what it takes.” “Then do so! Go ahead and include the more complex material in your manifest there,” Improver suggested, tapping again with his hoof on the retracted paper, “you already know I’ll do well. I’m only concerned for her and the other students.” “Good to know,” answered Techorse, agreeing, “I’ll ramp things up a little bit, but it’ll just be a fun addition to the course. Understanding digital technology won’t be part of the final grade.” The unicorn was already heading for the classroom door, “Fair enough, Techorse, fair enough. Now make sure you get back home at a good hour. Don’t wear yourself out!” He left him be, and for a while Techorse eagerly jotted down everything he wanted to include in the next few lessons, excited that Gracie might find her calling if he could just show her. After submitting the updated manifest to PAL using a narrow blue scanning beam that emitted from his saddle, the stallion packed up his things and started the long walk back home. “Day 2 of 90,” he said to himself, trying to maintain a smile, “so far so good!” Of course, despite the smile on the outside, something still didn’t sit right. He ignored his feelings up until he reached the front door of the apartment. When the door opened however, what he found was a very different Twilight Sparkle, and he lost his fake confidence immediately. Her facial expression seemed different, but he couldn’t quite figure it out. She muttered in an annoyed tone, “Hey… how was your day?” Techorse raised an eyebrow, “Good… how about yours? This isn’t about being late for dinner, is it?” “Come on in, talk time,” she answered. Uneasy about her sudden shift in demeanor since yesterday, Techorse followed his marefriend inside and they sat down at the simple dining room table. Her eyes seemed like they were digging into his, unwilling to break contact. This side of Twilight rarely came out, but when it did… “So since you didn’t come back for dinner, I decided to go to the local sandwich shop,” Twilight explained, her magic charging up, “while there I happened to run into one of your students, Gracie.” “She loves our class,” Techorse explained nervously, trying to defuse the situation, “so glad you got to meet her!” “Yeah, our class,” Twilight grumbled, her magic hauling up the massive stack of paperwork making up her curriculum. The unicorn slammed the paperwork down on the table, nearly shattering it, dust flying into the air. “Gracie told me all about how you were teaching the class,” she said, demanding an answer, “I thought you said you were making just a few changes, not ditching the whole thing! You even cut out the essay on the history of electricity in Equestria!” Shifting in his seat a few times over having been caught, Techorse sighed and rubbed his muzzle, “Twilight… the students looked at the syllabus and started talking about dropping the course. I only changed to a more hooves-on centered course design in hopes that I wouldn’t lose them!” “But if they don’t learn some of the history, they won’t develop an appreciation for where the field has come from,” Twilight complained, continuing to pick through her paperwork to give examples, “yeah, Gracie seems to be having lots of fun, but they’re not getting the overview they need.” “I… I just didn’t want you to get upset and worry about me,” Techorse admitted, looking at the mountain of paperwork in shame. Twilight leaned over the table, fully confrontational about the issue, “Well, I am upset! It took me days to make this course, Tech, days!” Techorse felt it necessary to get out of his seat to avoid having her muzzle in his face while they were arguing, and slowly backed away, “Look, I know it took a lot of hard work, Twilight, but you have to understand, I couldn’t subject my students to that material, they looked too bored to continue!” The mare lowered her head and also got away from the table, walking towards him with a gruff, even pace, “This is education, they signed up for the course knowing they’d be subjected to learning the material! You threw this all away just because they looked bored!?” He saw the wall of the apartment across from the table coming up, with no place left to go to get away from Twilight’s demanding questions. To avoid being literally cornered, he went over his ways to defuse the situation and try to explain himself. Then the angry unicorn demanded, “Why aren’t you sticking to the plan, Tech? Don’t you want to work with me!?” The sheer audacity of the comment caused the stallion’s face to turn red, and instead of finding a way out, he finally snapped, “YOU were the one who volunteered me for this! I didn’t WANT to be a teacher to finish the Master Engineer’s program, but you forced me to! YOU didn’t work with ME, Twilight! STOP telling yourself this is my fault!” Twilight was taken aback by his sudden anger, stepping away enough for him to pull away from the corner. Techorse could see the gears turning in her powerful, yet anxious mind, and knew he was going to regret snapping. “H… hey, Twilight, I shouldn’t have shouted…” I… I never did ask, did I, she thought reflectively, a lump forming in her throat. The pains of anxiety creeped into her mind, driving her thoughts further, I was so nervous when they said you couldn’t graduate that I tried to fix it my way… like I always do.  Twilight considered what Techorse had said, how he hadn’t wanted to take on the teaching position in the first place. How she’d put herself in his position instead of trying to work with him to find another way to graduate. Even though he was right there, trying to assure her it wasn’t so bad, the words weren’t getting through her deluge of critical thoughts. Techorse would have been better off trying to apologize to a wall. I didn’t even think about what Tech wanted, and he’s somepony I care about. What kind of a mare am I? All I do is let my need for things to be perfect ruin everything for him.. All because I couldn’t control my worrying. She took another look at his face, unable to see the shame for shouting or not being completely straightforward about what he had done with her plans for the semester. Unable to contain it, she cried out, “Oh gosh, the girls are right about me!” The mare dashed to her room, sobbing. “Twilight, WAIT!” called Techorse desperately, “I didn’t mean it like that! I’m sorry!” Far too late to do anything about it, a teary-eyed Twilight brought back her saddlebags full of her personal items, and walked right past Techorse despite his repeated begging to talk to him. “Where are you going?” he asked remorsefully. “I’m going to go stay with family,” she answered, tears rolling down her cheeks while she charged her horn to prepare her transit spell, “I’m a terrible partner.” She vanished before he could respond, leaving him alone in the apartment with his hoof raised to point at where she stood. Techorse let the implications of the moment sink in, before he lowered his hoof and his gaze. It was only now, when it was far too late, occurring to him just how horrible this deceptive “plan” was. “I’m a terrible partner too, Twilight...”