//------------------------------//
// Chapter 18: Recovery 
// Story: Factory of the Magical Variety 
// by Conglomerate 
//------------------------------//

Losing expensive items sucked. Not only did I lose the whole plane, I also lost the upgraded speakers. While not too hard to fabricate again, it was the Erudite that was expensive. I still didn't have a good way of obtaining it, it wasn't like I could just make an Auto Miner either, those needed Titanite, more than what I had. I was a bit pissed.

Besides, Auto Miners were really only good on highly saturated veins of material, I'd pull up mostly rock and dirt before I got to any Erudite. If only I had some Geocorp excavators, those things could move earth like it was nothing. Sadly, those costed a lot of Titanite too.

Thankfully I still had some Erudite left, well, one Erudite left. I was still able to speak "normally" but I still needed more Erudite, it was like my lifeblood. I was left with only one other option to get some, I had to ask for help. I didn't know how much Zecora knew about mining, but I did know someone who knew a lot about gems, probably enough to know where and how to get them too.

There was a problem though, it wasn't like I could just roll into town. Even though Rarity had seen me, other ponies hadn't. There's no telling how they'd react. I could probably go get Zecora to fetch her, but that felt like I was asking her too much. I guess I'd just have to wait around until the next opportunity to ask her for help.

In the meantime, I could always try more donuts and explosives to get more. At least I could get some before probably having to pay for it. I headed out of the base, making a detour to Zecora's so I could tell her I was back. She was surprised to see me back so early, but saddened to hear I was destroyed again.

I caught her muttering about my bad luck with flying, but I didn't comment on it. I had things to do.

It was still early morning, last night's 'fight' was still fresh on my mind, I wanted to burn something. I normally didn't hold anger for anything, but I loathe insectoids. I've had several bad run ins with them on several different planets, and since learned that fire usually works best. Those Fire ants were a real problem though.

It was especially bad that they were 'guarding' an essential resource from me. From what I could tell, those insectoids were the reason why there was more Ignite around that area, it's too dangerous to mine it. I'd really have to gear up when I went back to try again.

One thing was for certain however, I was not driving there, a three day trip just to get there was too much, not to mention I would probably run into something or another that might cause problems. Flying really was the best option, but first I had to rebuild the plane.

It was just then that a large colorful ball rolled from out of the trees, straight at my tech. It wasn't rolling very fast, but it was about as large as my tech. Unable to maneuver out of the way, the large ball smashed into my tech, it didn't do much damage, nor move my tech, meaning it was relatively light.

What happened next though confused me, this giant ball 'dissolved' into a pile, like the bindings that held it together simply just disappeared, not too unlike a tech. The pieces that made it up however were still moving, like each piece was alive in some way.

Turns out they were alive, as most of them simply sprouted wings and began buzzing around my tech. They made no obvious signs of attack, but they didn't fly away either.

Now you may be thinking, why hadn't I destroyed these insufferable little insectoids? Well it's obvious, they haven't inconvenienced me at all, so I had no quarrel with them.

That all changed when a wave of purple energy washed over the area, causing all the little buggers to pause mid air.

The swarm immediately encapsulated my tech, buzzing around it and landing on it. Several of the insectoids attempted to pierce through some of the blocks, and while successfully damaging them, the repair bubble I had recently installed quickly patched up the holes.

Repair bubbles don't last forever though, my battery was quickly draining, I'd have to deal with these things before it ran out. Quickly turning back, I drove through the forest back towards my base, it was a little hard to see through the swarm, but it lagged behind enough to get a clear enough view.

Firing my guns didn't do much, they were just too small and agile, and I'd only hit one at a time. With my battery half empty, I made it back to the clearing. I drove down the ramp, into the ravine, and quickly switched the the extra cabin I had left inside the base.

I wasn't just going to unload a bunch of hostiles into my base you know. Quickly building a small tech, only 4 wheels and two blocks, I attached the flamethrower as well as a full battery. Driving out of the base, I attached the full battery too the swarmed tech, giving it more power.

Since my new tech wasn't noticed yet, I was free to get into a good position. I unleashed flames all over my tech, vaporizing any of the bugs around it. Thankfully it didn't take much to put them down, I wouldn't have to damage my tech too much trying to take care of these things.

Sensing the danger, the swarm broke off into several smaller swarms, scattering around the inside of the ravine. They didn't appear to be capable of flying out of it though, perfect.

I drove the weaker tech back into the base, but not before attaching the flamethrower to the my original one. Switching to the larger tech, I began methodically searching out the swarms and burning them, making sure none survived.

After about five minutes of doing this, there were none left flying, I wasn't sure if there were any left alive however, so I went around torching the piles of bodies again. Just to be sure, it wasn't like I was enjoying myself or anything. Ok maybe just a little.

With everything taken care of, I still had my quest to obtain more Erudite. The best option I could think of using the resources available to me, was to fabricate the largest wheels I could, and then simply attempt to dig with those. Thankfully GSO allowed some large wheels, and while nothing compared to Venture's Titan Truck Wheel, the Muddy Dog Wheel will serve my purposes well.

With my tech now effectively a tractor, I traveled to the Erudite zone. It didn't take too long, larger wheels doesn't mean slower speed after all.

I simply got to work, just driving back and forth with as little traction as possible. Dirt and stones sprayed everywhere, but so did a lot of Erudite. After about an hour of 'excavating', I had seven Erudite chunks, enough for now.

The bad thing about larger wheels however, was they were big, clunky, and left huge tracks. Something I didn't really want to do, I wasn't really left with a choice however, so I just drove home. Hopefully no-one follows my tracks too much, at least the first ones I've made were beginning to clear up.

With Erudite once again in my possession, I was able to craft more circuit boards. I would've liked to craft some simple A.I.'s but an essential piece of any A.I. is Celestite, for some reason. Since I didn't have any, I was forced to do most things manually.

What really sucked was that I wasn't able to guard my base, with a simple A.I. I could just set it up to defend against hostiles. Right now I was only capable of a regenerating wall, which was still pretty powerful, but easily breachable with a powerful enough attack.

I couldn't get any Celestite right now however, so there was no point in anticipating what I could do with it. There was something I could get though, but I'd have to prepare for it. Whether they like it or not, I'm going to get some Ignite, and to do that, I'd need a bigger plane.

I started fabricating...

To Be Continued...