Tinker Farmer Fluttershy

"All in all, it could have gone worse." Or, at least, that's what Cloque Worque told himself after waking up in the hospital. He had a splitting headache, it hurt whenever he inhaled, and you do not want to get him started on the absolute agony that enveloped his wings. He mentally cursed himself for letting his guard down in a strange new town.

"What had happened anyway?" he thought. "Was there a mob? No, I've been beaten by mobs before, and this felt more like the time I got hit by that runaway train. That must be it," he thought. "There was a train station in town. Another train must have jumped the tracks and run into me. Why does that seem to always happen?" he wondered aloud.

"Oh, you're finally awake I see."

Cloque Worque looked up to see a relatively short pony, with a very frog-like face, walk into the room. He had a light gray coat and an even lighter gray mane. One that seemed to thin as it got closer to his head, leading up to a dome of shining skin.

"What do you mean 'finally'?" Cloque Worque asked.

"You were asleep for something close to two weeks," the frog-faced doctor pony said.

"Oh alright the- WAIT. WHAT THE BUCK DO YOU MEAN TWO WEEKS?" Cloque Worque practically screamed.

"Heh heh, yes. Some of us weren't entirely sure that you would wake up," the doctor said with an smile on his face.

"Hey Doc, anypony ever tell you that your bedside manner needs improvement?" the injured dragon asked, sarcastically.

The doctor just chuckled and said, "That doesn't matter right now. All that matters is that you heal up."

"Alright, I can accept a that. But can you tell me why I'm here?"

He chuckled again, something that was quickly starting to get on Cloque Worque's nerves, and said "Really? You don't remember? Well, how about we let your visitor tell you."

Cloque Worque looked to the door, wondering who it would turn out to be, hoping deep down that it was that pretty yellow pegasus mare.

Sadly, he couldn't have been more wrong.

"Ah, hay's bales!" Cloque Worque shouted, all of the repressed memories returning to him in a rush, "GET HIM THE BUCK OUT OF HERE!"

~*~

*Two weeks and some change earlier*

"Anything," Cloque Worque said. "Anything your heart could desire."

"I am highly certain that you being able to create whatever we want is not entirely plausible," said a lavender unicorn. "I'd even say," she continued, "that it is scientifically improbable."

"And while Ah'm not entirely sure what she jus' said, ah am certain that ah agree with her," said an orange earth pony.

Cloque Worque only sighed. Having there be neigh-sayers where ever he went was practically a part of the job. And it wasn't exactly the first time that he had faced a mare of science. But just because he had experience with them, didn't mean that he had to necessarily enjoy running into them.

In the end, he decided that since he had already created such a ruckus in town, starting an argument with what appears to the town brainiac wouldn't be the best idea he could have. "And I don't really want to piss off that pegasus anymore than I already have," he thought.

"Miss, you seem like a rational young mare, and so I assure you that there is nothing here that cannot be scientifically explained, given time and an open mind. But before we get to that, I wish to apologize for any undue stress that my appearance might have caused. I wish to make it known that my reasons for being here are completely benevolent."

He punctuated this impromptu speech with a winning smile. One that was slightly detracted from by the fact that his mouth was full of razor sharp teeth.

~*~

Applejack nudged Twilight and whispered, "Twi, now ah don' think that he's fibbin', but all the same, ah get a weird feelin' about this guy." The two ponies look back to Cloque Worque to see that he is still holding his toothy grin, seeming lost in his own thoughts. "Ah'm not entirely sure what it is about him, but it sets mah mane on edge."

"I know what you mean AJ," Twilight responded. "There is a weird tingling feeling all over my body. It's like he's putting an aura of magic out around him."

"Actually it isn't magic," CW said, making the two mares jump halfway out of their skin from the sudden interruption. "It's lightning. I naturally generate a large amount of lightning."

"That doesn't sound very natural," Twilight said.

"Dragon powers," Cloque Worque replied cryptically, waggling his claws at them.

"Ah've never heard of dragons bein' able ta make lightning. Heck, pegasi can' even do that."

"Applejack is right. In all that I've studied about dragons, I have never come across any example of that," Twilight stated. "And anyway, 'dragon powers' isn't a very scientific answer."

"Well, I could give you the scientific answer, but (1) you wouldn't believe me; and (2) it is a very long story. And I would prefer not to have to remember that particular part of my life."

Both ponies seemed a bit taken back by this, but they recovered quickly. Twilight was the first to respond. "Be that as it may, there are plenty of other things that need explaining. Take your cart-"

"Wagon."

"But it's a cart."

"Humor me?"

"...."

"What?"

"Nothing. Anyway, as I was saying, your "wagon" moves on its own, plays music, and can apparently change its shape. How do you explain that?" Twilight asked.

"Oh, that?" Cloque Worque said, nonplussed. "I have two unicorns chained up in the back."

Twilight's eyes grew wide with fear.

"Actually, I recently lost a unicorn, so there is an opening, if you are interested."

Twilight started shaking and slowly backing away.

Cloque Worque burst out laughing. "Ha ha ha ha ha! Sorry...I..I couldn't help it." he said, clutching at his stomach. "But y-you should have seen your face! Ha ha ha ha ha!"

Twilight only glared at him, switching her glare to AJ when she tried to stifle a chuckle. After hearing a familiar laugh from somewhere behind her, she turned around to growl "Shut up, Pinkie."

Slightly miffed that the dragon had been able to trick her like that, she turned back around, with a slight blush, and quickly asked, "well if that isn't the answer, then what is?"

"OK, I might as well tell you. I owe you that much. So to make a very long explanation short, this cart-" He paused in annoyance. "SEE WHAT YOU MADE ME DO?! Ahem. Sorry for the outburst. Anywho, I built this wagon myself. As a tinker, I have an intimate knowledge of all things mechanical. Once I got all the pieces together, the assembly itself was quite easy. The hard part was powering the thing." At this, he gained an excited glint to his eye. "I betcha wanna know how I did it?"

Twilight, quite interested now, just nodded her head.

"Here. It'll be easier if I show you," with that, CW walked into the back of the wagon, and with a series of whirs, clicks, and the sound of gears turning, he walked back out, wearing gloves, and holding a dragon-egg sized metal container. The container had small rectangles of glass, through which, what looked like swirling lightning could be seen. The thing hummed audibly, and gave off a glow that could easily be seen, even in the light of day.

"This is the generator that I created to power my cart. I based it off a design from my Mentor. I call it the Tempest's Eye. What it does is absorbs any energy source that I select, captures it, and through a process that I like to call 'momentium duplification,' it can easily double, triple, or even quadruple said power source."

"Hmm. That is quite interesting. Oh. What he means AJ, is that-"

"Ah could understand him jus' fine. Hmph. You could learn a thing or two from him Twi," Applejack said grumpily.

The two mares glared at each other for a second, but the tension evaporated just as quickly as it had popped up.

"Ah'm sorry Twi, I should know by now that you just mean to help."

"It's fine. I could have been a little gentler with how I said it."

"Wow. Just wow. If that had been my family, there would have been a lot more screaming. And more things flying towards each other's head," CW said, gently setting the Eye on a pedestal behind him.

Applejack just shook her head. "By the way, mister...uh.."

"Please, just call me Cloque Worque."

"OK. Well, uh, Cloque Worque, why d'you need to use those gloves to hold your dohickey?"

"That is an excellent question. The reasoning behind that is that, since the Eye can absorb energy, if it comes into contact with my scales, it will absorb a very large portion of that lightning that I was telling you about earlier. And that is definitely not a good thing."

"Oh, uh, OK."

~*~

"Well, Mister Cloque Worque, I think that this has been a very informative talk. To be honest, the reason we came was to make sure that you weren't here to... um..."

"What? Raze the village? Plunder, destroy, and generally cause chaos?"

"Well...yes."

"Don't worry about it. You are not the first to doubt my motives. By now, I've gotten used to it."

"Iff'n you don't mind, ah'm a bit curious as to why you're not so..."

"What?" Cloque Worque asked. "Rampage-y?"

Applejack chuckled weakly.

"That's one way t'put it, if a little blunt."

"It's fine." Cloque Worque smiled.

"Actually, Mister...er, sorry. Actually," Twilight said, "Cloque Worque I'm a little curious myself."

"This is another long, painful story. But I'll give you the abridged version. My Mentor, the one I mentioned before, was a tinker, as well. Over time he showed me that I was living my life in completely the wrong way. He went on to teach me everything he knew about Tinkering. He was a good pony."

Cloque Worque got a look on his face that Applejack knew well.

It was a mixture of happiness, gratitude, sadness, and nostalgic longing that came from losing a loved one.

"He died, though. But what he taught me keeps me going."

"Well ah'm mighty sorry to hear that Mister Cloque Worque. He seems like a right nice stallion."

"Thank you," Cloque Worque said. "He really was."

He sniffed a little, and wiped something out of his eye, muttering something about "allergies."

"Anyway, I get that you just wanted to make sure that your town is safe. I understand that I look like a big scary monster," Cloque Worque said mildly.

Both AJ and Twilight snickered.

"What? You don't think I'm scary-looking? How about now?" With that, Cloque Worque raised himself up to his full height, flared his wings, and growled lightly. "So girls, what do you thi-"

Cloque Worque was forced to stop when he got hit by what he was sure was a train. A red, growling, obviously angry train, but a train nonetheless.

CW was thrown backward onto the pedestal that held the Tempest's Eye. There was an audible crunch.

"Macintosh Apple! The hay is wrong with you?" AJ shouted.

"Um..." was all the large stallion could manage to say before a loud cry of "OH BUCK ME!" interrupted him.

All three ponies looked at the dragon who held the Eye in his claws, as he just stared at the growing crack in the small generator, and the blue-white sparks which were jumping out of and off the thing, like they were sailors abandoning ship.

"Oh no," CW said, looking like he had aged several years in a few seconds. His scales were a darker green, and he gave off the look of being on the verge of losing consciousness.

Surprise clearly showing on their faces, the ponies looked to the pained dragon.

"Remember when I said that it would be bad if it absorbed my energy?"

The two mares nodded.

"Well, it did, and it is. Chances are, this thing is going to create significantly more energy than the original housing's design was made to sustain.

The mares just stared at the dragon.

Cloque Worque sighed.

"It's going to explode. We need to get rid of it. Unfortunately, I'm currently drained, so one of you will have to."

Stepping up to the challenge, Big Macintosh replies with an easy "eeyup."

Turning around, the large, red stallion reared up onto his front legs, and with all of his considerable might, knocked the Eye high into the sky.

Unfortunately, he did so by launching the dragon holding it.

"Wait! Why didn't you just buck the-"

BOOOOOOOOMMMMM!!!!!!

A enormous explosion rocks Ponyville, knocking nearby ponies to the ground, reducing most windows to piles of glass shards, and sending a certain dragon careening into the ground at dangerous speeds.

Big Mac gets up to see his sister glaring at him. "Um...oops?"

~*~

"You must really have it out for me," CW said, rotating his shoulder, eliciting a fresh wave of pain. Wincing, he mumbled, "that was some kick."

"If it makes you feel any better, my sister chewed me out somethin' fierce for knocking you into the air like that."

Cloque Worque just laughed. "Don't worry about it. Lemme guess, you saw me, figured that I was attacking your sister and her friend, and flipped out?"

Big Mac blushed, turning his head away. "Yeah, somethin' like that."

CW chuckled, and started pulling tubes and wires off of his body.

"Uh...are you sure that you should be doin' that?"

"Yeah, the docs here did a good job and all, but what I really need is a nice hard cider."

Big Macintosh just smiled. "Ah may be able to help with that."

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

A/N : If anyone can think of anyway to make this story better, feel free to let me know in the comments section below. Also, I'm looking for some beta-readers and an editor to help me catch myself from having too many spelling/grammatical mistakes and to make sure that the story flows properly. So if you think that you are up to the job, shoot me a pm.

Thanks,
CptDemos