Techorse Short Stories

by Spirals95

#52 - Weathering Mix-Up: Part II

Weathering Mix-Up: Part II

“What a fine mess of a situation we’re in, Techorse. Can’t others simply learn to let go of what they find off-putting in the name of cultural enrichment?”

Although Mix-Up had been granted a second chance to stay out of prison by learning to value the work of his fellow pegasi in the weather industry, that hadn’t changed his immediate attitude even minutely, and his displeasure at his situation was still being made known to Techorse. If it hadn’t been for the fact that the Cloudsdale Police had confiscated his battle saddle, the green earth pony might have already strangled Mix-Up with a pair of cold, metallic hands. Ears back, eyes at the ground, and nose wrinkled in anger, he refused to talk to the pegasus at all and was merely tolerating his incessant yapping about the alleged value of his art. His nerves were already ground down to the core thanks to the constant debate, and it seemed like any moment the stallion could flip out.

“Are you even paying attention to me?” demanded the pinto pegasus, huffing at him, “I’m just as unhappy as you are about this pointless situation Mr. Featherfall has put us in, but there’s no reason for you to give me the silent treatment.”

“I'm not trying to give you the silent treatment,” he promised with a false sense of being calm, “I'm trying to think of a way to help you earn those signatures you need. You're probably going to have to accept that your art ruins the weather and apologize to the workers affected.”

“Apologize?” snorted Mix-Up, “And what do you mean ruins? The clouds still produce rain, snow, and hail no matter how I choose to decorate them.”

“No one in Canterlot, Ponyville, or anywhere else wants to have to guess that,” argued the earth pony, “didn't you say the other Cloudsdale residents found your artwork weird, too?”

“Just the ones from my neighborhood, the higher society,” he answered in his usual manner of disappointment, “they want me to repress my creative expression as well. But that's exactly why I must do what I do. This idea of mine truly is great!”

“Well, I plan on helping you see why that's wrong and switch you to a good use of your artistic talent,” continued the inventor, getting more rolled eyes and sighing from the pegasus in return.

Of course, Techorse's only goal was to make sure Mix-Up was using his talents the way he thought was appropriate. Professional painting, the creation of commissioned artwork for others, and interior decoration were all possibilities. But somehow, Techorse maintained the feeling that the other pony wasn't going to be so cooperative.

---

They didn't speak to each other until later when they finally entered the urban center. Downtown Cloudsdale was bustling with activity, pegasus ponies darting in and out of flight lanes and dropping into various storefronts and restaurants along the city squares. A stranger pulled off of her casual aerial route to land in front of the two ponies on the sidewalk, the one place not permitted as a flight path.

“Good afternoon,” she said cheerfully, adjusting her delicately curled red and purple striped mane, “couldn’t help but notice you two boys taking the slow way around Cloudsdale. Are you new around here?”

Techorse forgot his annoyance and cracked a joke, “Not new, just a bit flightless.”

“Ohhhh, sorry,” the mare blushed, “didn’t notice. I moved here a few months ago from a village down below, still getting used to others needing magic to stay here. So what brings you for a visit? Mind if I walk with you?”

“Of course, no need to ask,” offered Mix-Up with an over-the-top bow, “please accompany us.”

She hid her smile behind her hoof at Mix-Up’s behavior and walked with the stallions down the busy sidewalk, the fluffy clouds beneath their hooves cushioning their steps. As typical for Cloudsdale, they were surrounded by buildings that towered over them with columns cut from the tallest cumulonimbus possible, and the craftsmanship rivaled anything else in the world even if the structures' materials was a bit flimsy.

“So what brings an earth pony to Cloudsdale?” the mare asked, “My name’s Windburn, by the way.”

“Well, I’m here to help… this guy,” grumbled the stallion, pointing at him with a curled hoof, “he’s Mix-Up, and I’m Techorse.”

“We’re going to the weather factory to speak with the workers, not that I like the idea very much,” the other pegasus complained, turning his nose up, “I’ve seen enough of it already.”

The mare whistled, “Oooh, bad day for a tour, boys. See, the reason I moved here is because my brother got a job at the weather factory. He was really mad because some dope broke into the factory last night and sabotaged the clouds, which he’d spent all of his shift making.”

Mix-Up opened his mouth to speak but was shot down by Techorse who gave the vandal a glare, “Poor guy. He must work really hard, only to find out someone ruined his stuff.”

“It was so funny,” she giggled, ruffling her feathers, “he told me this morning that he was so mad that if he ever finds out who did it...”

She imitated the gruff voice of her brother while pouting sarcastically, “I’ll pluck him alive and break his legs one at a time!”

Techorse got a sensible rise out of Mix-Up’s reaction to knowing he was the target of the sibling’s wrath, the pegasus making himself look as small as possible. Windburn didn’t seem to make a connect between the guilty, horrified look on the artist’s face and the threats her brother had made over their normally relaxing lunch break.

“Well, anyways, if you see that big lug, tell him to chill like I did,” she said, Mix-Up breathing a huge sigh of relief, “breaking somepony’s legs over this would be dumb. He got paid to make the clouds either way, am I right guys?”

“Yup, and hopefully whoever did it is sorry, and can understand why he was so upset,” Techorse aggressively stated, shoving the middle of his leg into the left side of Mix-Up’s barrel.

“Oof! Well maybe he should learn to lighten up over a necessary change,” he returned, jabbing his own hoof into Techorse’s ribs.

Windburn raised an eyebrow at the two stallions acting so rough with each other, and stopped walking to get their undivided attention.

“Aaaare you two okay?” she asked, shaking her head sideways, “You seem a little bit on edge with each other.”

Having been caught, the two stallions sheepishly backed away from each other. Any further with their roughhousing and it was highly likely that Windburn would start asking questions she didn’t need to know the answers to.

Techorse backed away from Mix-Up slowly, “Oh, sorry. We’re just goofing around.”

“Yes… messing around,” coughed the painter, “so are you planning on going to the factory with us, perhaps to visit your brother?”

“I’d love to, but I’ve got to get back to my own job running my lotion shop,” she answered cheerfully, “Windburn’s Burn Creams!”

“Oh, I know that little place!” said Mix-Up pridefully, placing a wing over his breast, “I’m sorry I didn’t remember sooner, it’s that charming little outlet by the newsstand, isn’t it? Do you still have your cutesy slogan?”

“Yes sir!” answered the mare with a cheesy salute, “When flying dries out your face, come on down to Windburn’s place!”

Techorse couldn’t help himself but smile, “Clever! Bet it sells well.”

“Never a short supply of chapped faces from the speeds the ponies around here reach,” she winked, starting to pull ahead of them, “Now I gotta run boys! Put a sign out saying I’d be back in by one!”

She galloped to full speed and took off, wings pumping away at the air around her in rapid flight. Windburn was way out of sight and mind within moments, all the time necessary for Techorse and Mix-Up to begin attacking each other again.

“So...” Techorse asked, “Can you see why Featherfall wants you to learn some appreciation for other lines of work?”

“If you hadn’t noticed yet, Techorse, I have an appreciation for Miss Windburn’s lotion store,” he answered without a shred of guilt, “I can appreciate more than my own work, but you must come to understand my viewpoint on what I’ve done, and why I will not formally apologize for any of it!”

“Well, either way, I’ll try to make sure Windburn’s brother doesn’t break your legs,” jested his mentor for the afternoon, “or Twilight might think I did it!”

Sure enough, Twilight and company were hanging out in a nearby collectibles shop browsing over the comics and adventure books Rainbow Dash was quite fond of. As predicted by the quick-thinking pegasus, the two stallions had walked right past her chosen hiding spot on schedule!

Rainbow nudged Pinkie Pie, who dropped the comic she was perusing, “Psst, arguing buddies at 12 O'clock!”

“But Rainbow Dash, it's gotta be at least one right now!” teased the other mare.

To her joy, it annoyed her friend easily, “You know what I mean! We're gonna follow them, remember?”

Pinkie Pie ruffled through her mane and pulled out a small knitted coin purse, “I know silly, but lemme buy this comic real quick, I reaaaally wanna know what happens to Lady Swordswift in this issue!”

After bouncing up to the cashier, Pinkie exchanged the required amount for the comic, and after rolling it up in her hooves, stuffed it in her fluffy bountiful mane, which absorbed the paper without a trace. Twilight, who was buried muzzle deep in one of the larger storybooks wasn't even phased by the event.

“Ready to go, Twilight?”

“Whoops, guess I got a little caught up in that compelling storyline,” she said, paying attention, “where are they headed next?”

Rainbow led the way out the door, “Looks like the weather factory, kinda obvious since that's where all the weather ponies work. Come on, I know a guy who can sneak us in!”

---

Featherfall had alerted the Cloudsdale weather facility to Mix-Up's arrival far ahead of when the two stallions were expected to make their entrance. Of course, the crafty investor had intentionally failed to mention that their new 'guest' was indeed the pony behind the mysterious discoloration of their life's work. Having lived long enough to understand business quite well, Featherfall's personal policy was to make sure that others were like mushrooms... kept in the dark and fed garbage. The longer it took Mix-Up to earn his five signatures, the more chances he would have to eliminate Techorse and appease his newest client.

“Now to decide how to get rid of that grass green moron,” he muttered, “I can't use hired help at this point... too obvious. It'll have to be something less conspicuous.”

From his perch on the balcony above most of the factory equipment and the white cloud material that kept it all afloat, he would monitor the situation. There were cloud generators with their brass gears and tubes to condense water with the help of pegasus magic, the lightning farms that generated quite the voltage in massive glass jars lined with electrodes, and the rainbow water maker, a high-pressured machine made of all sorts of tubes and bellows that let out a continuous stream of the chromatic liquid into collecting pools below. Those were just the three types of machines available in the main production room, flooded with sunlight from the apertures in the cloud walls. Water collectors, mixing machines, and other hideous ways to 'deal with' his target were in all the surrounding rooms.

“Uh, Mr. Featherfall?” asked a polite voice behind him.

He gave a casual look over his shoulder to see one of his worker mares holding a second hardhat in her wings, “You gotta wear your hat, sir, rules are rules. Can't have an accident today, right?”

“Ha ha, no... we most certainly can't,” he answered as she placed the white plastic protective gear over his head.

Watching back over the front door to the main production floor again, Featherfall just happened to catch his quarry and the pony behind this morning's fiasco waltz into the building. Techorse had failed to successfully trigger the wing-activated automatic door, and ended up pushing through it.

“Techorse is so out of it,” Featherfall said in a bored tone after watching the spectacle, “I hope that will make this quick for him...”

The sizable hole he had left behind in the door healed itself back up quickly, a strong advantage of cloudhomes. Escorting the two was a security guard wearing a bright orange vest who had them both sign a form relieving the factory of responsibility should something happen to harm them. It wasn't very likely that it covered the terrible act Featherfall was about to perform, but it was even less likely that he cared given that Cloudsdale would be under his hoof. After taking a quick look around, he knew which machinery was likely to be visited first and went to begin preparations.

---

“All right, I've got to get back out to the gatehouse,” the security officer told Techorse and Mix-Up, “you guys stay with Avia here, she'll be taking you through the factory one station at a time.”

“Thank you,” said Techorse politely.

Avia approached them with a clipboard under her wing and a pleasant smile on her face. Being one of the most extroverted ponies on the weather factory team, she was often left in charge of the tours. Her white coat and tangerine mane contrasted with her dust colored eyes, but there was an aura of energy about her that definitely rivaled Windburns'.

“Heeeey boys, welcome to the factory!” she said all peppy and ready for action, “What brings you here today?”

Techorse motioned with his head at her, Mix-Up rolling his tired eyes, “Oh brother... well, I'm here to redeem myself apparently. You see, I'm Mix-Up, the stallion who turned the clouds colorful and creative this morning while you were asleep!”

Avia gritted her teeth, “Oof, and you were sentenced to public humiliation like this?”

“Hardly. I was promised I wouldn't go to prison if I managed to get five weather ponies to sign a document I have here,” continued the cerulean stallion, digging out the parchment Featherfall gave him, “this is completely unnecessary of course, but it was this or a cell I guess...”

The worker accepted the wing-to-wing transfer of the paper and attached it to her clipboard with a satisfying 'click'. Even after looking over the legal terms on the documentation, she was still only able to go back to the fake grin that had replaced her real one.

“You know, you caused a lot of extra work this morning for us,” said the employee, “I was scrambling to reset the snowflake sublimation unit. Not sure how I feel about giving a tour to the guy who made us work unpaid hours.”

Tech responded, “Avia, Mr. Featherfall himself offered this agreement as a way for Mix-Up to stay out of prison. He picked me, Techorse to make sure he completes his apology. Once Mix-Up has learned how hard you guys work and stops making this kind of art, you'll never have to deal with this again.”

She shook her head in disbelief, “I don't know... he might try something funny.”

There were unpleasant words Mix-Up wanted to say to Techorse, but they would just dig the hole deeper. For now, he tried to put on the shy act he had done with Hotfront in his efforts to stay out of trouble. Out came the innocent puppy dog eyes and the pleading face as he knelt in front of the mare in hopes of

“Oh, please miss Avia. Give a struggling pony another chance,” he whimpered like a wounded puppy, “I promise I won't touch a thing! This is for me to see just how awful my artwork is!“

“Awful?” Avia asked rhetorically, scoffing, “Mix-Up, I'm upset because you damaged the cloud generator trying to paint the clouds. The designs you put on the clouds aren't the problem, in fact...”

Techorse's irked expression suddenly changed to surprise, “WHAT?!”

Taken aback by the shouting, Avia recoiled, “Like I s... said, Techorse. The designs of the clouds were pretty neat, I just didn't like the mess they made. So if he's not going to make any more messes here...”

With a click of her trusty pen, Avia signed her name on the first slot of the official papework, much to the disgust of Techorse. She turned around, tail bobbing behind her as she walked towards the first work station. Mix-Up dropped his clever little act and brushed himself off with his wings, factory floors were filthy even if they were just for making weather.

Without waiting a minute to brag, Mix-Up turned his snout up at Techorse, “You see? My art isn't the problem, Techorse.”

His opponent scrunched his face up, “I'm not convinced yet, Mix-Up. Breaking into the factory and tampering with the machinery was still illegal and caused a lot of collateral damage. You've still got plenty to work on.”

“Fine... fine. Please don't burst an artery over me,” sighed the stallion, “let's see which one of us turns out to be right, okay?”

Peeved at the arrogance, Techorse followed him over to Avia and the first workstation, which was being attended by one of the largest pegasus ponies in the factory. A strong stallion with a purple and red striped mane combed gently over the side of his neck, and a steely gray body that sported powerful wings. This strong worker had the important job of pounding down old clouds into the recycling chute attached to the side of the massive cloud generator, a giant box of parts, dials, and levers made of a metallic white substance. Rainwater, old clouds, and ice entered in the funnel on the right side, and through a series of condensation pipes, swirly alchemical glass, and several heat pumps, exited as the clouds on the left. There was still evidence of Mix-Up's scheme on this machine, as many of the radio pumps mounted on the top still had small traces of paint from where he had poured it in.

“This is Raincheck,” Avia said over the sound of him grunting and punching, “he's working the cloud generator today!”

After managing to stuff the cloud inside the narrowing funnel, he wiped the sweat off his brow and offered a hoofshake to Techorse, “Nice to meet you fellas. This here is the main cloud generator, capable of making all of Equestria's new weather systems for a week in just 48 hours of continuous operation!”

“Cool! Seems like that cloud you were trying to recycle was giving you a hard time,” Techorse commented, pointing at the wisps of evaporated water coming out of the recycle tube.

“Ah, nah... I'm just a bit on edge after this morning,” admitted the worker, rubbing his hoof on the machine gently, “I said some things I shouldn't, got called out on it by my sister... and I started taking it out on the clouds here. Just needed some stress relief.”

Techorse saw the gears turn in the head of the cloud artist next to him, his body quivering out of nausea. Possibly over the thought of having each of his legs broken after being plucked.

“So this is Mix-Up,” Techorse blabbed loudly, “he's actually here to help calm your nerves!”

A dry, throaty gasp came from the panicking stallion, shaking like a leaf. Raincheck was at least twice his size and muscular strength, giving away that he was the one who ruined his morning would likely end in his body being broken.

“I... I just remembered, prison isn't so bad!” he yelped, “I'm out of here!”

“Hold on, hold on,” Avia assured him with an outstretched hoof and a giggle, “Raincheck, Mix-Up here is the guy who broke in and painted the weather.”

Techorse had found it funny at first, but then he actually started to worry that Mix-Up might really get assaulted. Windburn's recommendation that her brother be told to chill might not save the scarf-wearer's femurs.

Luckily, Raincheck seemed mildly amused, “Heh heh heh, is that so? A scrawny wimp like him couldn't break into a pillow fort, much less this factory!”

“I think Mix-Up and I ran into your sister today,” explained Techorse, “she said you were going to break Mix-Up's legs.”

“Ah come on, we say dumb stuff when we're mad, right?” laughed the worker, a strong hoof coming down hard on the floor, “I'm not going to hurt him, they'd just fire me for it...”

---

Rainbow Dash had managed to smuggle Pinkie Pie and Twilight into the weather factory via a friend of hers from flight school, having taken a secret entrance normally used for unloading boxes of storage jars used to keep lightning bolts fresh. After slipping on some protective gear and lab coats to pretend they were supposed to be inside the facility, they avoided eye contact with other workers until they reached the main production room.

Rainbow's keen magenta eyes were the first to pick up on the boys, “There they are, near the cloud maker!”

The three mares hid behind a cart filled with hailstones left behind by a worker who was supposed to have disposed of them. Peering out from the cover, they couldn't really hear much of the conversation, but Mix-Up looked extremely pleased talking to the employees while Techorse looked a bit upset.

“Hey, something's wrong,” Twilight whispered, “Mix-Up seems to be learning his lesson, but Tech's not happy for some reason.”

“Let's get a closer look,” suggested Rainbow Dash, “I bet he's still mad Mix-Up ruined his saddle.”

Pushing the cart up, they stopped as close as they could behind the group without getting caught by the employees or their friends. Now they could hear the conversation loud and clear.

“...so you want to know the truth?” asked Raincheck rhetorically, “those snobs in Canterlot needed a good awakening as to what we do up here for them! Your cloud art finally got the attention of those mindless dopes. If you want to keep sending them a reminder as to where their weather comes from, you let me know!”

With that, the burly stallion grabbed the pen from Avia and made his own mark on Featherfall's paperwork, earning Mix-Up two of the necessary five.

“Finally, a pony who understands the purpose of my work!” Mix-Up beamed, puffing out his chest again, “the weather goes ignored so often by ponies because of all the boring whites and grays that make up the clouds!”

“Yup, and that's what makes your artwork so great, to me anyways,” continued the worker with a hearty chuckle, “you make those loons remember us!”

Techorse sat there, irritated and unsure how he was going to get Mix-Up to change. The weather ponies were letting him get away with his actions by finding common ground in attacking the elitist ponies around Equestria! Granted, he didn't like them very much either, but he wasn't going to have much luck helping his 'assignment' learn anything. He hoped these two ponies were an anomaly.

“What's wrong with Techorse?” asked Raincheck, noticing his frustration.

He shook his head to get rid of his heart being on his sleeve, “Oh... nothing's wrong with me! Just thinking.”

“Oh, poor Techorse. He insists I've done something wrong,” Mix-Up teased, “and that I should stop painting clouds all over Equestria in exchange for something more wholesome, so to speak.”

Raincheck tried to stare the green stallion down, “I say no harm, no foul. Now, let me show you guys around the machine before you keep going.”

Featherfall, having been paying close attention from an area above the cloud maker, studied Techorse's movements carefully as he walked forward. Raincheck and Avia were carefully showing them each part of the machinery, starting with the massive bellows on the sides of the machine and working their way over to some of the more intricate moving parts. Eventually, Techorse stopped right in front of a large set of gears intermeshed with each other vertically, a powerful crushing force between them even if they were standing still at the moment. Normally the gears would not move unless the cloud generator were operating at full capacity, when they would be connected to the rest of the flywheel system inside to generate more speed for the cloud mixer.

“Here's my opportunity,” he said, moving to take action.

“As I was saying, we're working on making a fresh set of heavy rain clouds for some wheat crops to the west,” continued Raincheck in his booming voice, “normally it takes about two minutes to process each one, and...”

From behind the cart, Twilight saw the giant gears behind her coltfriend begin to groan and move with increasing amounts of speed. Since he was looking at Raincheck, he had no idea how close he was to the hazard. In the time it was taking her to process what was going on, Pinkie Pie felt a large surge of pins and needles climb up her spinal column from the base of the tail. That could only mean one thing!

“TECHORSE!” she shouted out, leaping in the air and waving her hooves around, “LOOK OUT BEHIND YOU!”

Tech couldn't hear her over the loud groaning of the infrequently used metal behind him, but Avia saw the threat right away when Pinkie's moving bright coat drew her eye off the clipboard and over to the side of the machine.

“What?” she gasped suddenly, “We never were given orders to go to full capacity! Techorse, don't back up!”

Featherfall had positioned himself behind another cart, and disengaged its brakes with the side of his body. He felt a slight tug on his suit's coat, but away the cart went with a loud squeaking noise. To avoid suspicion, he walked away from the scene casually. The carts' poorly oiled wheels continued to make loud noises, Avia whipped her head in time to see the hazard, one huge load of sandbags barreling for Techorse in an effort to shove him into the factory equipment.

“Runaway cart!” shouted Raincheck, “Get outta there!”

Having been given the warning, Techorse rolled away from the threat, the cart smashing into the gears and splintering into a thousands chunks of wood and iron, crunching into the mechanics and grinding the operation of the cloud generator to a halt with a terrifying blast of steam. Piecees of the cart flew everywhere, including a few that landed near Twilight's hiding spot. Alarm bells rang from the top of the contraption, and cloud production halted from the extreme damage the mixture of sand, wood and metal had done. A lone gear rolled away from the wreckage of the full capacity system, and the tour group stared silently.

Except for Raincheck, who was shouting, “CODE RED! INDUSTRIAL ACCIDENT!”

---

Back from behind the hailstones, Rainbow Dash breathed a sigh of relief, “Woah... that was a close one! Techorse almost ended up as hayburger”

“Yeah, that was super duper scary, I'm lucky my Pinkie Sense just went wild!” agreed Pinkie, “Twilight, we need to go right up there and tell Techie we're here! He's probably all shook up!!”

The lavender mare could barely stop shaking, but swallowed back her anxiety, “We could, but... there's something that tells me that wasn't an accident.”

“What do you mean 'it wasn't an accident'? That was clearly just a cart that wasn't being watched!” Rainbow Dash complained, “We should be up there making sure Tech is okay, not hiding like this!”

“Nope! Twilight's right, it wasn't an accident,” Pinkie Pie said while shaking her head rapidly, siding with Twilight's analysis, “it was one hundred percent, positively on purpose! I don't get that awful prickly feeling any other way!”

“But then who tried to hurt Techorse?” Rainbow Dash asked, “It couldn't have been Mix-Up, he was right there minding his own smug business.”

Taking a look at the bits of metal near their cover, Twilight picked one up and inspected it before leading the way onward into the factory.

“I have an idea as to who it might be,” answered Twilight seriously, “but we need at least one more piece of evidence. Let's go, girls.”

Pinkie's eyes lit up, “Oh boy, we get to solve a crime! This is the best worst thing ever!”

While staying out of sight of Techorse, the friends took the long way around the now disabled weather machine, disappearing into a maintenance corridor, with Pinkie Pie bouncing every step of the way in anticipation.

---

Already, two workers had shown up with fire extinguishers in the form of rainclouds to begin dousing the burning equipment from the outside, hoping the machinery wouldn't suffer any more damage. Two incidents in just one day was enough to really begin to subdue worker morale.

“Techorse, are you okay?” asked Avia, her heart still pounding in her ribcage from the horrific event, “you almost got turned into a thick paste from that!”

Techorse seemed short of breath, “I'm fine... just, was that an accident?”

“Yeah, somepony must have forgotten to lock down that hailstone cart,” answered Raincheck, pointing to the pile of scrap metal freshly pulled out of the gears, “yet another safety violation we're going to be spending hours doing the paperwork for!”

“A shame. I'm glad you didn't end up as mush, Techorse,” said Mix-Up, sympathizing as best as he could, “but I suppose that is why they had us sign those waivers, isn't it?”

He laughed, “I guess! Twilight's going to freak out when she finds out about this.”

An engineer who was in charge of repairs to the cloud generator finished completing his analysis of the situation got up from his work with a grim look on his face, and walked up to Raincheck to tell him the bad news, “I knew we should have gotten that missing gear access cover replaced, it was an accident waiting to happen! We've not only lost the ability to go full capacity, but... well, just come take a look.”

The others followed the mechanic to the front of the machine, where a large clear fiberglass tube transported the completed clouds out of the system to the main output funnel that projected them out to the surrounding territory. Each very dark gray cloud coming out of the barely functioning machine had a tear in the back of its cottony form, particles of swirling condensed water trailing from the wounds.

“We're producing torn clouds, they can't hold themselves together in the air pressure. I doubt these would even make it the farmlands without completely disappearing,” explained the engineer, rubbing his forehead with his left wing out of disappointment, “I think it's best we just take her offline and rely on the others.”

“Are you sure? The clouds just need denser material in their tops,” pointed out Avia.

He continued with a metaphor, “Yeah but the tears are occurring inside the formation unit deep in her guts. We can't get inside to fix the components until we take her off.”

“We'll never make quota that way,” Raincheck groaned loudly, “this machine was making heavy rainwater models from recycled storm systems, we'd have to shut down one of the other machines and change the inputs to get the heavy storm clouds out!”

“So even with replacement parts and a full engineering team, you don't have time to complete repairs,” said Techorse, following along with the conversation, “I'd offer to help, but I'd have to read the manual for this equipment just to get started.”

“We're well aware you have the skills to help fix the device, but I have a more proper solution!” said Mix-Up proudly, seeing opportunity.

The factory workers, desperate for an answer, gave him eye contact and full attention.

“What are you suggesting?” asked the mechanic.

Mix-Up pointed to a small brass handle on a segment of the wide pipeline, “Is that a way into the tube my good stallion?”

“Yeah, it's a quality assurance access hatch,” interrupted Avia, much to the maintenance worker's chagrin, “when I'm not giving tours, I get to do the quality check by inspecting each cloud! If it's no good, I open up the pipe and yank out the offending cloud.”

Mix-Up eagerly flew up to the raised platform that stood in front of the pipe, and took note of a green lever on a valve immediately after the wide door. One of the badly damaged clouds exited the still smoking machinery and started its way through the tube.

“So what might this lever do?” he asked, pointing it out.

“Oh, well that closes the pipe off,” Avia answered, spreading her wings and fluttering up next to him, “here, watch.”

She pulled the green rod down with her hooves, and a ring of interlocking metal segments shut off the end of the pipe, restricting the cloud from leaving. It stopped in front of the access door, which Mix-Up pulled open to take a look at the dying rain maker. Then, the pegasus searched within his duster scarf for a few moments, and pulled out a small tool that looked like a spray gun for painting carriages. Along with it came three vials of colored fluid that swirled and sparkled. Techorse wondered just how many things Mix-Up was capable of smuggling inside that seemingly tiny article of clothing.

“Observe!” he said, attaching one of the vials to the top of the tool.

Mix-Up then guided it with his wing, spraying a stream of pink mist into the top of the damage stormcloud. Pink substance filled in the tear, sealing the cloud completely shut and giving it a bright pink spot on the top.

“Now it'll hold together and it'll look amazing,” Mix-Up said proudly, “my color cloud weaver will patch up any problem or create a new cloud from scratch!”

Avia opened up the valve and permitted the now repaired cloud to exit out the funnel towards its destination. The engineer who had initially inspected the cloud maker felt amazed by the cloud's quick repair. But more importantly, it had been colored in, just like the clouds he had seen this morning!

“H... hey,” he asked, “are you the guy who colored in our batch this morning?”

“The one and the same!”

“So how did you do it?” he continued to probe.

Mix-Up closed the access hatch and spun the spray tool around on his wing tip, “I've researched clouds and rainbows for years, and have developed an understanding of what you can do with rainbow water to create these vials of cloud color. With it, I can generate clouds with patterns, bright hues, and the most amazing of patterns!”

Avia was curious, “I take it you got in here this morning and injected the machines with your coloring agents, then?”

“Exactly!” answered the artist proudly.

“Well, 'color' me impressed!” joked the attendant, “You know at first I was pretty mad you broke in here and changed everything, but these color patches are a great way to fix damaged clouds and still let ponies tell which ones had to be fixed! I may not really see it as art but... it's useful!”

“Hey, would you mind signing this paper, Powerwrench?” asked Avia, addressing him by name, “If you do, it'll help Mix-Up get out of trouble for breaking in this morning.”

“Well sure! I'd say he's earned it,” Powerwrench agreed, grabbing the clipboard from her, “just lend me a pen.”

With a quick motion of his wings, he signed the paper as well, adding the third necessary signature to the legally binding contract. Mix-Up was happy to leave his cloud repair tool with the engineering team to continue to fill their quota in exchange.

“Do you two want to keep going on the tour, or should we just find two more ponies to sign?” Avia asked, “I'm not sure Techorse has recovered fully from that scare.”

“I'm doing well enough to keep going,” Techorse answered, smiling broadly, “lead the way onward!”

“Great! We've only got enough time to visit the rainbow water treatment plant, but that should be enough!” she answered, “Follow me.”

“Have fun you guys, and thanks for the help!” called out Raincheck as the three walked away.

While Avia lead them on, Techorse turned to Mix-Up, “You see? Your talent has some good uses, like fixing clouds instead of ruining them.“

“Someday Techorse, they'll all be colorful. You'll see,” answered his companion stubbornly.

From above them on the observation platforms, Featherfall began to feel a twinge of panic, “They're almost done already? I suppose the rainbow water plant is my only chance now...”

---

Avia brought the stallions through the archway that lead to the rainbow water manufacturing zone of the factory. The room was a massive work of beauty, breathtaking to anyone who had never visited a pegasus city before. Instead of being closed over, it was a vault made of pure white columns, a vast pool dug into the floor which contained several lakes of shimmering chromatic fluid. The workers here, smiling and enjoying the sunlight that came down from the open roof structure, stirred, bottled, and drew samples of the rainbow liquid.

Techorse was amazed, however, by the looming object above him, “Would you look at that...”

The centerpiece of the room was the rainbow water generator, which sat perched upon a flat bedding of clouds near the top of the ceiling. Three arcane devices which resembled anemometers spun at the top of the machine, flanking a massive overhead tank that was provided water via vortex from pegasus ponies who lived on the ground. The body of the machine resembled an upside-down pipe organ with drums that spun on the sides, and dozens of clear pipes which overflowed with fresh rainbow water. Some of the pipes ended quickly and drained into the lake below, others ran into the cloud walls of the factory to serve other areas.

Techorse had never been to this room before, having only visited the lightning room before on less than happy terms. Needless to say, he was quite impressed.

“It's amazing!” he said softly, “How does it work?”

“Well, unfortunately, I don't even know,” she answered, “rainbow water is so important to the economy of Cloudsdale, but it's highly tied to the understanding of magic. Only a few engineers here and a few of our major shareholders understand the technology deeply.”

“Can you give me an overview?” Tech politely requested.

“I can!” Mix-Up answered boastfully, “You see Techorse, those spinning devices at the top are pegasus magic extractors! As you might know, magic is inherent to all beings, the surplus our bodies produce seeping into the outside world. Us pegasus ponies can fly and create some weather naturally, so our magic is very useful for the creation of rainbow water. Once that magic is harvested from the air by the spinners at the top, the drums mix it with water delivered through that large pipeline, giving it its rainbow color.”

“Wow! Did you go to weather engineering school?” asked Avia, “That's the best short description I've heard so far. Mine's even simpler than that!”

“In order to understand the spectrum of colors in our world, one must know rainbow physics by heart,” bragged the other pegasus, running a hoof through his blue mane, “The Cloudsdale public library has a hoof in it I suppose.”

A hovering misty cloud came down to the ponies, acting as a platform for the three to stand on, Avia taking control with her wings.

“Let's go up to the rainbow machine, and I'll let you take a closer look! The Whirlwind twins will be happy to explain more.”

The platform lifted them all the way up to the raised machine, which was much larger closer up than Techorse had anticipated. Each drum on the device was at least as large as he was. When they got up to the giant hovering manufacturing equipment, a pair of similarly sized pegasus ponies both with teal coats and light blue manes in spiky patterns turned away from control panels full of knobs and buttons. The two were a brother and sister that had since a young age wanted to work with rainbow water technology, so each had a cutie mark made of a bright bottle of rainbow water, the only difference being one had a book behind it, and the other, a wrench.

“Oh hey, we have a guest!” said the sister, “let's go greet them!”

“Hello! Said the brother, approaching the three as they stepped off the platform, “I'm Warm Whirlwind, and this is my sister, Cool Whirlwind! We're two of the rainbow water engineers here at the facility.”

“This is Techorse, and that's Mix-Up,” said Avia, “he's the guy who changed the clouds this morning...”

“Oh... how funny!” giggled Cool nervously.

While they talked, Featherfall had taken off his suit jacket and flown up to the rear of the machine, noticing that Techorse had again conveniently become oblivious to his surroundings again. This time the inventor stood in front of one of several emergency purges valve, which was marked as such with yellow and black tape, but looked like an ordinary access door to the outsider. Since the rainbow maker was nearly eighty feet from the ground, a sufficient blast of rainbow water would mean a nasty fall for Techorse.

The Whirlwind twins were able to operate the machine from the massive control console out front, but Featherfall had a secondary set of controls installed on the other side of the machine. Having memorized what each knob and lever was for, he reached over with his right wing without looking to place it over the small metal control wheel which controlled internal stops within the rainbow water generator. The plan was to intentionally build up pressure inside the machine's internal storage that would eventually trigger the purge valve when it reached critical levels. As soon as the shareholder heard Techorse start to talk to his employees about how magnificent the engineering of the system was, he put all his wing strength into twisting the dial.

*SNAP*

Featherfall's heart skipped a beat when he realized what had happened. Ducking behind the corner again to look at the secondary control panel, his panic turned into absolute terror. He had not only twisted the wrong wheel, but had broken it off as well.

To make matters worse, it was the master wheel that controlled all of the machine's stops.

Not wanting to get caught, he dropped the broken piece of metal and glided down towards the ground floor, landing softly in order to pretend nothing was wrong. A couple of his employees carrying testing equipment for the water passed them by, and he grinned at them like an idiot.

---

“... and here are you signatures!” said Cool Whirlwind, finishing signing.

“That's all five!” Mix-Up cheered, “I'm a free stallion again! What a waste of everyone's time this ordeal was, right Techorse?”

“If only you'd learn,” he answered gruffly.

Alarm bells rang out from inside the machine, and the riveting on the sides of the monstrous brass engine began to buckle as steam escaped the sides with a loud hissing.

“What's wrong!?” gasped Warm Whirlwind, diving for the main control panel, which quickly lead to him bellowing,

“SWEET CELESTIA! THE MAIN TANKS ARE RUPTURING!”

“WHAT?” cried the other sibling, joining her brother at the controls, “What's going on?!”

“Oh not again...” whimpered Avia, burying her face in her wings, “we'll be doing paperwork for weeks!”

“If we're ALIVE to do it!!” screamed Cool, “All that pegasus magic will cause a massive blast! We've got a minute before this thing blows! EVACUATE!”

Techorse dashed over to the control console, the emergency valve giving way just a second later, water of all colors surging out like a broken fire hydrant.

“Was I standing in front of another hazard?” he asked rhetorically, “N.. never mind! What are our options?”

“Get out of here or get turned to slime by the explosion,” said Warm Whirlwind honestly, “the tanks aren't responding to any of the controls, and we can't shut her off without a cooldown period.”

The factory started to fall apart as the magical energies contained in the backed-up rainbow water began to wreak havoc upon the building. Columns holding up walls and ceilings began to crumble and dissipate into precipitate rainwater, causing chunks of the factory to break off and fall. Pipes in the walls started to burst, flooding rooms and sending weather clouds in random directions that sent ponies diving for cover to get away from the hail and lightning. To top it all off, the glass thunder generator lost containment and explosions rocked the building as lightning streaked through the place, shaking the foundations of Cloudsdale itself.

“The place is coming down, purge the tanks!” shouted another worker from down below.

“The purge valves aren't going to be enough!” said Avia, “I can see on this dial that the pressure is still rising!”

Red bolts of electric energy stormed throughout the walls of the rainbow factory, alarms blaring and leaving most deafened or scared out of their wits. Worker ponies panicked and flew around, but were forced to go through the exits due to the lightning blasting through the walls. Raincheck and the others helped usher out as many as they could safely, taking charge of the situation despite the weather-based hazards starting to wreck the facility. Whatever explosion would follow the destruction of the rainbow water room was likely to alter the city forever, if it didn't rip it apart entirely.

“It was a mistake trying to make up for the damage done this morning,” answered Cool sadly, “we took on extra water to ramp up production, but now we can't stop the flow! This entire factory will be destroyed!”

“Taking Equestria's weather with it...” Warm added direly.

Featherfall's ground his teeth in fear of the weather machine starting to buckle and groan from internal damage. Once that machine exploded, his investment would be severely devalued. Even if he took over the factory at this point, there might not be much left to rule! But now that most of his employees had flown away, he saw this as a good time to get out. The stallion turned around to slink away, only to find his hooves locked in place by several clouds of fuchsia colored magical energy. Unable to move in these shackles, he looked up to see a very angry Twilight Sparkle and company.

“Where are you going, Featherfall?” demanded Rainbow Dash, hovering above with crossed hooves and dagger eyes.

“Away from here!” he pleaded desperately, “Something's happened to the rainbow water generator, the blast will be tremendous!”

“Oh something's happened all right, and you're our number one suspect!” answered Twilight, “I've got a feeling you were behind the cart accident earlier.”

“Preposterous!” he lied.

“Is it?” Twilight Sparkle fired back, taking out some items in a separate bubble of magic.

To the owner's horror, he saw that the metal dial he had broken had also ripped out one of his wing feathers, confirming his connection. Twilight had also saved a piece of scrap metal from the cart, of which a small amount of fabric from his suit had torn off in when it had gotten stuck in the brake.

“I... how...” choked the captured pegasus.

“Princess Celestia will find a great place for you in Tartarus for this,” Twilight threatened, “unless you confess and tell us how we can stop the rainbow factory from being destroyed.”

“I'll never confess to anything!” he growled.

Pinkie Pie mocked him, “Okaaaay, just remember, if we blow up, YOU blow up silly!”

Mr. Featherfall, having been caught red-hooved, turned around and watched terrified as the cloud platform the suffering machine was on slowly descended to ground level from the power surges acting upon the cloud magic holding it up.

---

“There's got to be something we can do,” pleaded Avia desperately, terror in her eyes, “I... I don't want to die!”

After a few more seconds of staring at the exploding machine, Mix-Up came to a simple conclusion and turned to Techorse, “Get the others out of here. I know what to do.”

“Mix-Up, what are you talking about? You don't know how to do anything except ruin the weather and mock ponies who criticize your art!” Techorse snapped back, “Shut up and let us engineers handle it!”

The pegasus permitted Techorse to get his angry words out, and waited for his eyes to soften in realization.

“I... I'm sorry about that.”

“Techorse, I get why you hate me, but I want you to save it for later,” he said, “I know what to do here. I must go inside and convert every last drop of rainbow water to cloud paint!”

Avia blinked and twisted her head, “Wait, what?”

“The main ingredient in my cloud paint is rainbow water, of course!” answered Mix-Up, “I will dive inside and change the machine's contents to it! By using up the magical energy, the factory will be saved... with a mess of course!”

Cool protested desperately, “But Mix-Up, the insides of the generator are filled with moving parts and are constantly submerged... you'll drown or get crushed!”

He spread his wings and flew up to the input tank, prying open the hatch with his front hooves, “There's no time to argue! If I perish... well, my art will be worth more, right?!”

“Mix-Up, WAIT!” Techorse gasped, “Don't!”

Ignoring him, the neckerchief clad pony dove into the water with a massive splash, entering the innards of the machine. It hit the ground floor with a heavy thud, knocking over the other ponies and stretching out the flexible tube supplying the water to its maximum length. The pressure continued to build up, rivets now shot out like bullets, sending them for cover.

“Tech, over here!” called Twilight.

Techorse saw her and brought the others to the unicorn, holding Featherfall in place.

“Twilight? What are you doing here?” he asked, “What's with Mr. Featherfall?”

“It's a long story,” said Rainbow Dash, rolling her eyes, “Now let's go before...”

Rays of bright light seeped out of the now bulging and cracking rainbow water machine, nearly blinding them all. Twilight, thinking quickly, ducked and sent a spray of magic from her horn as a deafening, massive explosion consumed the machinery and sent a multicolored mushroom cloud over Cloudsdale. A huge bolt of electricity shot down from the city itself as its base clouds turned into a temporary dark storm to help vent the discharge of pegasus magic, listing several degrees to compensate for the recoil. Sirens sounded off throughout the urban areas, but it was far too late as the shockwave was already on its way.

A rapidly moving wall of air mixed with gooey masses of paint flew through the city, stripping some of the buildings of their walls and flinging pegasus ponies around like a filly throwing a ragdoll. Without too many hardened materials making up the surfaces of the city, injuries were a lot less common than embarrassment, but untold sums of bits worth of damage had been done, not to mention the months of labor it would take to repair the cloud homes. To make matters worse, the paint tsunami that had burst out of the top of the factory was gluing them to the streets and covering everything in a thick rainbow sludge that would take forever to clean.

---

When the light died down, a thick coating of rainbow paint slid off of a shield bubble projected from Twilight's head. The mare dropped the protective field, having saved everyone in the room. Unfortunately, every last cloud wall was covered in thick, sticky cloud paint. The rainbow water generator was history along with all of the factory's windows, a tangled wreck of parts oozing with gunk from every ruptured gasket and tube.

“I guess that's that,” Avia sniffled, drying her eyes with her soft feathers, “Mix-Up managed to turn the rainbow water into paint... but.”

“I'm pretty sure he's alive in there,” Rainbow Dash chuckled, “he's too much of a goofball to go like that.”

Darting off to the wreckage quickly, she found his red duster sticking out of one of the sections of the device. With a quick kick of her hooves, the brass panel fell off and splashed into the contaminated rainbow pond. Sure enough, Mix-Up was alive, soaking wet and half drowned, but alive. He forced a spray of water from his lungs with a horrible coughing, and sat up.

“Ha... I... I have done it!”

“Yup, and with your signatures, you're free to go buddy,” answered Rainbow Dash, “good work!”

Avia's eyes opened wide at the mentioning of the signatures, “Uh oh. I dropped the clipboard. That paperwork is history.”

“Ha! If I go down, you're going down too!” laughed Featherfall, “I'll make sure you end up in prison for all of this, Mix-Up!”

“What's wrong with Mr. Featherfall?” asked Avia.

“Your boss here tried to hurt Techorse,” said Twilight, “I don't know why, but he's in deep trouble as soon as the police get here.”

Techorse turned to Mr. Featherfall and questioned him with a tone of disbelief rather than anger, “Is that what you were planning this whole time? Getting rid of me? What did I ever do to you?”

“I confess nothing,” he chuckled,“and have you noticed something else went missing in the blast, Miss Sparkle?”

Twilight realized that she had dropped her bubble filled with evidence of Featherfall's crimes in order to shield everyone from the explosion.

“That's right you foolish mare, you lost your case against me!” he laughed, “Now, since I'm such a good sport, I'll even agree to drop charges against Mix-Up despite the loss of the signatures. Aren't I sweet?”

“Fine,” sighed Twilight, releasing his shackles, “Go.”

Featherfall snickered and adjusted his tie with his wings, “Well, it's been nice doing business with you all. I must be going. Enjoy your life out of prison, Mix-Up!”

“Now I don't even have to deal with my client anymore! With that explosion the factory price will drop for sure and come back the moment I've fixed the rainbow water machine. Plenty of time to buy out my fellow investors!” he thought with avarice as he walked away from the disaster scene, confident he had gotten away with the entire ordeal.

---

Officer Kite and Hotfront soon arrived on the scene along with pretty much the rest of the Cloudsdale Police department, and a small detachment of Wonderbolts. While Rainbow Dash did the best to explain the situation to Spitfire, the police confronted the others. A large crowd of Cloudsdale residents had assembled within the rainbow water room to take a look at what had caused the defiling of their home, many of them grumbling.

“We came as soon as we could. Who's responsible for this?” asked officer Kite, taking notes on a pad of paper.

“Well officer,” Techorse blurted proudly before anyone else could act, “the rainbow water generator was destroyed, but Mix-Up dove into it to make sure it wouldn't level Cloudsdale!”

The crowd that had gathered, many of them splattered with strong-smelling paint, heard what Techorse had said and started to close in on the small group of ponies in the middle of the factory floor. Twilight gritted her teeth as she looked over all the rather angry expressions. Some of the pegasi even seemed to have brought along their favorite blunt cooking utensil, possibly to use as a club 'in case'. They were forming into an angry mob very quickly, which the other police stallions had caught on to, trying to push back with their wings as best as they could.

“Sugar, we might not want to talk about this here,” Twilight warned Techorse with a gentle nudge.

“Why not? Mix-Up's heroics are what got us out of the situation,” he answered naively, “that could have been a lot more destructive.”

“So you're saying that guy's behind all of this?” asked one of the ponies in the mob, the police's crowd control efforts finally failing as they got up close to the group, “Why didn't he just let the weather engineers handle it?!”

“That guy's a menace!” shouted another mare, “he ruined the city! I lost half of my house in the middle of a shower!”

Techorse tried to fight back, “What are you talking about, he's a hero!”

“Some hero!” responded another stallion carrying a frying pan with which to bash Mix-Up, “He's the guy who messed up the weather this morning too, isn't he! Let us have him!”

As the mob rushed in to grab Mix-Up and do unholy things to him, Techorse felt his pride vanish. For all the heroism and selflessness he had supposedly taught to the artist, it had ened up being worth nothing. With the entire town disagreeing with his point of view, they were likely going to dismember his patchy friend.

Or at least they would if Kite wasn't still on duty, as she stepped in front of the vicious swarm and spread her wings out to cover Mix-Up, “Hey! Cloudsdale's supposed to be a peaceful city, remember? We're civilized ponies here!”

To try to help, Rainbow Dash made sure the other flank was protected, the two pegasus mares keeping the crowd away from the artist they wanted to beat senseless. Strong tensions filled the air as the ponies in the middle struggled to keep them from charging, even with Kite's friends carrying away some of the rioters, the situation was getting dire.

“You'd better take that guy in!” shouted another rampaging pony, making the hundred or so pegasi yell in agreement.

“Fine, fine, I'm working on it!” she assured them loudly.

The officer stowed her wings and took out a pair of cuffs, “Mix-Up, you're under arrest for operating sensitive weather generation machinery without an official permit.”

“But... he wasn't the one who caused the machine to explode,” argued Rainbow Dash, “this seems thankless.”

The officer made a 'come here' motion with her hoof and got the couple to lower their heads so she could whisper into their ears, “I know, but we're already in trouble here with this mob. They know Mix-Up ruined the weather this morning and caused the explosion. We need to pacify them, or else they'll tar and feather him with his own feathers!”

Techorse and Twilight agreed relunctantly. To have two weather disasters in one day, including the loss of the rainbow water that powered almost everything in the city, would lead to terrible consequences for Mix-Up if he were to be found responsible. After explaining the situation to the artist, he simple shrugged and allowed the police officers to cuff him. The citizens of Cloudsdale cheered, whooped, and applauded with their hooves, only for officer Hotfront to yell at them to shut up and not make the legal system a spectacle. As expected, they dispersed and left with their blunt weapons to go home and start patching up all the damage.

“Officer Kite, may I please say something to Techorse before I go?” Mix-Up asked politely.

“All right, but make it quick,” she answered, “I don't know if they'll believe you're being dealt with if we hang around for too long.”

“I know... and thank you,” he said, before moving his green eyes to Techorse's guilty face.

“You know Techorse, you look like someone's dunked you in bucket of ice water,” he joked, “why are you upset?”

“I failed,” he answered simply, refusing to make eye contact, “I couldn't change your mind on the consequences of your art project, and I couldn't keep you out of prison. I got my hopes up when you fixed the clouds and kept the city from being destroyed, but it all backfired.”

“You know Techorse, you're not upset that Cloudsdale didn't recognize me as a hero. You're upset because you couldn't get me to see things your way,” Mix-Up answered, finally getting eye contact out of him, “the way that involves confining art to a cage if it means all the rules get followed. You hate rule breakers unless they're hurting.”

“Tech always gives everypony a chance,” Pinkie said as a counterpoint, “that's why we like him!”

“Yes, but plenty of others do not,” answered the artist honestly, “your sense of justice and fairness is annoying to those who seek change and expression outside of the parameters you deem acceptable. Honestly... you're a jerk.”

“I get it, Mix-Up,” said Techorse, sighing, “take all the potshots you want. I misjudged you.”

“All you saw was a trespasser to fix instead of a point of view to understand. A shame that even after my daring use of my talent, you pity yourself and still can't see my brilliance,” answered the chained stallion, “I don't ask you to, but I do hope you'll learn to stop trying to repair things that aren't quite broken.”

---

Officer Kite took Mix-Up away and had him put in the back of the police carriage for processing back at the station again. Techorse, Twilight, Rainbow Dash, and Pinkie Pie bid farewell to Avia and the other workers so they could begin the cleanup process. While they were waiting for Pinkie Pie to get the attention of a taxi, since Twilight was too tired to teleport them, they sat on the stairs leading up to the factory where Techorse sulked. The stallion had built up over the day a proud sense of accomplishment in watching Mix-Up sort through his problems, only to have them all fall apart on him at the last moment. He looked like a child who's dreams had been crushed, although explaining the situation would make it clear it was just a pity party. On the bright side, Kite had returned his saddle to him freshly washed since he was about to leave town, and it faintly smelled of that wonderful lemon detergent scent.

“Quit moping, Techie,” said Rainbow Dash, offering no pity to him.

“Do you think he's right?” he asked, hoping for a pat on the back.

“Probably,” answered the pegasus honestly, ending that hope, “sometimes you're really uncool about others if they mess up and won't apologize, fix it, or regret the stuff they did. You need to be able to let it go, or he's right, it just makes you a jerk.”

“As pointless as it might seem, that guy wants to stand up for his art even if it means doing the wrong thing in the eyes of Equestria's law books,” Twilight answered plainly, “there's been lots of times ponies have done this throughout history, and they've sometimes become known as heroes.”

“So I was being a jerk...”

“Even if you are a jerk sometimes, you still got your friends,” Rainbow Dash answered with a wink and smile, “we're all kind of jerks in some way. Except for me of course!”

Techorse rolled his eyes, then said, “Anyways... I'll talk to Princess Celestia and accept responsibility for this today. Of course, I also need to file a report about Featherfall trying to get me hurt... or worse.”

“I've already sent a letter to Arbiter to open an investigation,” Twilight answered, giving him a hug from the side, “I'm so glad you're okay!”

“That shield of yours is still one of my favorite spells,” he answered, smiling and rubbing his muzzle on her mane, “keep practicing!”

“Hey guuuuys!” interrupted Pinkie Pie, “I just heard that they're taking Mix-Up straight to the courthouse, and I've got us a ride! Come on, we can still do something to save him!”

---

Without needing to deal with the shady centaur he had originally been in communication with, Featherfall kept a pleased air about him despite his ripped, paint-splattered suit and high level of anxiety. At the end of the day, the weather factory had exploded, and the other shareholders were almost certain to drop their stock quickly, which he would rapidly scoop up.

“I should have just sabotaged the factory myself to start with,” he chuckled, walking up to his main office in the administrative building a few blocks away from the disaster, “I don't have to deal with that crazy knight, and without Techorse having any evidence against me, I'll still be remembered as the great benefactor of Cloudsdale that I am!”

Opening the door to his room with his hoof, he entered his office and locked the door behind him. It was a fairly lavish room, carpeted in blue with fine wooden chairs that of course had to be carved from trees miles below on the ground, adding a hefty sum to their price tag. The centerpiece was of course his desk, carved from a tree deep within the Everfree forest that had been found poking its canopy far over the others, an ode to the triumph of pony over nature. There was not a piece of paperwork or a decoration out of place in the large room, even his green comfy swivel chair had been cleaned that morning.

He walked over and jumped into his seat, spinning around to face the windows in the back of the room, “Maybe I'll go out tonight, grab myself a drink...”

“You are not going anywhere, Featherfall.”

Featherfall's mane hairs stood up on the back of neck from the deep voice, and he turned around, his eyes freezing in terror. In front of him, having entered the room without a sound, was his client. The centaur knight was almost too tall for the room, hunching over slightly. Orange and black fur covered strong muscles, perfectly toned and proportioned with his powerful set of four legs. A breastplate of dark armor sat over his torso, culminating in his plated mask with glowing eyes.

“I... How did you...” panicked Featherfall, pushing back on his chair so hard it fell backwards.

“You've compromised my objectives,” growled the centaur, pointing in accusation, “failing to destroy Techorse is one thing, but trying to pretend you are not dangerous to me with the knowledge of my existence is another. Eventually, someone will believe the words of the witnesses and question you as to why you wanted to destroy Techorse, and when they do... you'd tell all to keep your money. You are a slimy vermin, pony.”

Featherfall tried to fly away, and smacked into the thick glass windows of his room pathetically, ending up on his back. His former boss took his left arm and smashed it through the desk, splintering it.

“SECURITY!” screamed Featherfall, “SOMEPONY HELP!”

“They're away dealing punishment to the artist you wanted to frame,” answered the centaur, reaching behind himself for something, “isn't it funny how betraying others results in being alone at the worst possible time?”

The pegasus's heart went into full throttle as he watched the dark armored warrior pull out with the sound of sharp metal a long polearm. It had a large, angular tip that resembled the blade of a scalpel mounted upon a shaft consisting of silver and green rods that ran parallel to each other and met near the blade, with a rotating fiery gemstone in the center that sparked with arcane magic. A blue ribbon had been tied just below this stone, and the centaur placed his dominant hand behind this ribbon, the other near the bottom of the weapon's shaft. As the giant knight moved the blade closer to Featherfall, the sharp edge began to glow an angry white.

“I wasn't really going to turn you in for a reward, I was joking! I'll turn myself in about Techorse, even!” sobbed Featherfall, begging for mercy and looking into his attacker's sinister glowing eyes, “P... please! I've got a daughter in school... she'll miss me!”

The giant spear cooled off, its owner moving it back up away from Featherfall's face and into his arms. Featherfall smiled weakly, believing that he was being let free.

“Huh,” said the knight, the mask still distorting his voice, “I'll keep that in mind. She deserves to know the truth.”

As the spear heated up again and the centaur moved his arms to swing, Featherfall let out a bloodcurdling scream that rang out for miles, but fell on no ears.

---

“...and the jury has found you Guilty,” said the judge, slamming her gavel on her stand, “now, for your sentencing, Mr. Mix-Up.”

Despite the best efforts of Twilight and her friends, no one was able to convince the incredibly hostile jury or anyone else in the courtroom for that matter of Mix-Up's innocence. All the evidence had made it seem like the rogue artist was responsible for the destruction of the rainbow water machine, which only compounded upon his charges for ruining the morning's cloud batch. At this point Techorse didn't believe it could get any worse, having barely accepted his role in Mix-Up's fate.

The judge, her purple hair curled into tight locks, said to Mix-Up who stood before her and his peers, “Based on the witness of your friends, Avia Hoverfree, and the Whirlwinds, however... it would appear that you had a change of heart halfway through your vandalism spree. I highly doubt you are completely to blame for the destruction of the machine, as more safety precautions should have been taken. But you are responsible for your vandalism and ultimately the damage caused by operating a device so sensitive without proper licensing.”

“It's okay, I understand,” Mix-Up answered bravely, “and I am willing to go to jail for my cause of bringing beauty to our clouds.”

“Ah, but you'll never learn if you're allowed to stay here on Cloudsdale taxpayer bits,” she answered, smirking, “which is why I'm sentencing you to exile for two years! If I hear you have behaved yourself, we may allow your return in one. By then all the damage should be fixed up.”

“Exile? Where is he supposed to go?” asked Rainbow Dash a bit disrespectfully.

“Since he may be a fugitive if he gets away from a watchful eye, I thought I'd place him in Ponyville under the watch of Techorse,” she answered, ignoring her frustration.

“What?!” Techorse squeaked out in disbelief.

Mix-Up was also bothered by the arrangement, “You cannot do that!”

Twilight buried her face in her hooves, “Oh no...”

“Your Honor, what makes you think I'm going to accept that?” a rather red-faced Techorse continued, beside himself and clearly irritated, “There's no charges against me for you to issue that!”

The judge put down her gavel and placed her hooves on the stand, “Techorse, it's not about charges. The reason why I am requesting you to monitor Mix-Up is because you were already chosen to be responsible for him by Mr. Featherfall.”

After looking around her courtroom again, she added, “Who... strangely, might I add, did not show to give witness for this trial.”

“But... he picked Techie to set him up!” Pinkie Pie yipped, jumping up on the podium and invading the judge's space, “He was trying to get him! That's why he didn't show!”

“Well, we'll certainly look into that for sure,” the older mare answered, pushing her small spectacles up her muzzle with her wing, “but for now Miss Pie, could you please avoid smudging the stand? I am not the only judge who uses it.”

Pinkie Pie obediently jumped back into her provided cloud chair, allowing the judge to continue her sentencing, “That being said, I am aware from several witnesses that you desire to keep Mix-Up out of prison, Techorse. To help you accomplish this, I will have Mix-Up placed in Ponyville to be monitored by you, Miss Pie, Miss Sparkle, and any of your friends working for Princess Celestia. We will compensate you for any expenses.”

“What if he refuses?” interjected Mix-Up, not wanting to be under his hoof and certain he wouldn't decline.

“Well, he can if you wants to,” she answered, nodding, “it certainly is extra trouble, and he's correct that I cannot force him to be your warden. But if he declines this, we'll be transferring you to Canterlot penitentiary for five years.”

The judge leaned back in her chair and took confidence in Techorse's defeated exhalation. It was also evident that the cloud painter still didn't mind hard prison, but it wasn't up to him anymore what his fate would be.

“Fine, I'll watch over him,” groaned Techorse, “just don't send him to prison in exile. He doesn't deserve that.”

“Predictable,” muttered the artist, ears back in annoyance, “you've learned nothing.”

“So it's settled! Mix-Up is hereby exiled for the duration of one to two years depending on behavior. Costs spent watching Mix-Up plus a fifty percent bonus will be paid to Techorse and company, who may terminate their watch any time and have the defendant sent to prison for the matching portion of his sentence,” said the pleased judge, who banged her gavel on the desk, “Dismissed!

---

With court being out of session, Twilight brought her friends back to the hot air balloon to depart the city, which even from the landing dock could be seen to have blobs of paint splattered all over the place. Techorse refused to speak to Mix-Up, and vice-versa. Even the power of being able to get rid of Mix-Up at any time wasn't enough to get him over being called a jerk by the other pony.

“Uh oh, I don't think they're too happy about this!” Pinkie Pie said, trying not to laugh at the situation, “I hope they can work it out! I know I'll help!”

“We're all going to,” Twilight answered, “it's not an ideal situation, but I think Mix-Up and Techorse both learned some important things today. Maybe it means they'll get along later... I hope.”

“Either way, they're stuck with each other!” laughed Rainbow Dash, “and Featherfall's still stuck with a broken weather factory. Looks like I'm gonna be taking a loooong break until they fix it!”

“I guess you could say he... painted himself into a corner!” Pinkie Pie joked while hopping along, “Get it?! Geeeet it?”

Shaking their heads at the joke, they boarded the balloon behind the stallions, who were sill refusing to talk. As the balloon lifted away from Cloudsdale, officer Kite stood watching with her notepad in hand, having taken careful notes about the Featherfall accusations. For some reason, when she had sent Hotfront to pull him in for questioning, the stallion wasn't in his office... just his tie had been left behind near the window, and a faint aroma of what smelled like cheap cigar smoke.

“Guess Featherfall was the stallion I was looking for this whole time,” she said to herself, “Princess Luna warned me there was an insider looking to gain a monopoly on the factory. Not surprised he skipped town when his plans went up in ashes.”

After looking at the notebook again, she placed it back in her shirt and spread her wings to fly back home. She had one interesting police report to write.

Author's Note:

One of my long time readers actually creates cover art for stories, so I added a version of his OC Mix-Up in this story arc.

You can check out his page here.