//------------------------------//
// Chapter 27: Moon 
// Story: Factory of the Magical Variety 
// by Conglomerate 
//------------------------------//

The trip back was uneventful, I gave the large cloud another wide berth, and made it home with the Celestite. I wanted to get fabricating right away, but I only had so much of it, so I'd have to decide what to make and what not to make.

The unfortunate thing was that while I could use a Scrapper to get back the materials from any block. I could not use it to 'unmake' components, so anything that used Celestite components I had to really think about. Unfortunately, there wasn't much that just used pure Celestite, but I could fabricate an A.I. for the base, which I immediately did.

Celestite was mainly useful for two things, anti-gravity fields, which were essential for shields and space travel, and A.I.s which were also essential for space travel.

To do what I wanted to try, I needed a collection satellite, which is used by all prospectors. This wouldn't just be a normal collection satellite though, it would also have a delivery cannon on it, so it could move resources from one place to another.

My plan was to put a base on the moon and have a delivery cannon fire Titanite from the moon, into orbit around the planet. There, the collection satellite will collect the Titanite, then use its delivery cannon to fire it back down to my base. Of course, it would have to wait until it gets into the right position first, but that was easy.

Now you may be thinking, don't you need a heat shield to enter the atmosphere? Well you're right, but heatshields are made of Titanite, so it shouldn't be a problem. If I could pull this off, I wouldn't have to spend another couple of weeks harvesting more resources to sell.

There were four stages to my plan. First, I needed to get the materials for the satellite, and the moon base up into orbit, easy enough. Then, I would build the satellite with programming to seek out Titanite, and also to launch it back to the planet at a certain location, not as easy.

Next, I would travel to the moon with the rest of the materials, easy. Then I would have to build up a moon base with a delivery cannon specifically aimed so that the Titanite will remain in orbit, not very easy. Finally, I would switch techs and build a receiving platform for the Titanite to land on, easy. No heatshield required, though I would still need Titanite.





Designing the satellite was easy, especially since a majority of its programming was already made. For the actually body however, I would need a few things. I needed solar panels, batteries, shields, a delivery cannon, conveyors, a silo, collectors, and an A.I. cabin. Maybe even a radio tower, but that was mostly optional, though it would certainly be helpful.

The only things that were really a problem was the solar panels, delivery cannon, silos, and conveyors. The delivery cannon just need Titanite, while the conveyors and silo just needed Luxite, both easy enough to get. For solar panels however, I needed Ignite, and while I some left over, I wasn't sure there was enough for both the satellite and moon base.

I really didn't want to go back to get more just yet, but I knew I would have to eventually. For now, I'll just see if I can do it without any more Ignite. Some more Luxite had grown during my trip, which gave me enough to at least finish the satellite.

The design for the moon base was relatively simple, just a platform with a receiver, another silo, some conveyors, another delivery cannon, and everything needed for shielding as well as a wireless charger for the mining tech.

Since techs could operate in the vacuum, although somewhat limited, I could simply just switch to the satellite or moon base whenever I needed more Titanite. All in all, it was a really effective plan, I just had to get it done.

First things first. I needed Titanite for the delivery cannons, it was as good a time as any to cash out. Thankfully the Princesses had made it so I could just order Titanite whenever I wanted. I just had to pay Filthy Rich, and it would arrive by train a few days later for me to pick up.

Having to wait longer for Titanite wasn't a bad thing either. It would allow more Luxite to grow, and allow me to properly design the satellite and base.





With the order placed, I went right to work on designing and building the space tech. I decided to go with rocket propulsion, while a bit outdated, it was certainly faster and more cost efficient than motion engines. I still needed to conserve my Celestite.

Rocket fuel was simple enough, it was actually a combination of Rodite, Carbite, and Oleite, something that I'd have to gather more of to get enough. The larger plane made short work of that.

To start, I built a large platform in which to launch the rocket, and started from the ground up. 

Large rocket engines sat on the platform, above them was a large fuel tank filled with the semi-solid rocket fuel. Above that was the payload housing, able to fit both the folded up satellite, moon base, and a rover in its cargo. Above that was the cabin of the rocket, with both a regular cabin, and a housing for a Seed A.I. which would guide the rocket into the correct position. Along the whole rocket were fins and adjustment thrusters, which would allow advanced movement in the vacuum.

Next up was to actually program the satellite, which only required a little modification to its source code. Instead of firing resources back to the Federation, it would track the Titanite Receiver I would build and only fire at it when ready. Its collection programming didn't need to be changed at all.

Then there was the moon base, which was relatively simple except for one thing, getting the Titanite to stay in orbit once fired. I had to find a way to get the perfect angle from the moon to the planet in order for that to happen, luckily, I had advanced A.I.s on my side, so it wouldn't be too hard. I would have to add a few motors to the build so it could adjust the cannon whenever necessary.

All I had to do now was wait, the Titanite should be arriving soon enough, and I needed more time for the Luxite. Other than that, everything else was complete.





Waiting sucks when you have nothing else to do, I harvested a bit more of the forest, and flew to collect more resources, but after all that, there wasn't else much to do.

There was one last thing I did before the Luxite finished. I flew back to the plateau I had seen earlier and investigated closer.

It was solid, mostly made of volcanic rock, there weren't any useful resources on it, but some plant life. It was a very suitable spot for a base, if the chunk of Harmonite wasn't in the cave, I would definitely base here.





After a long wait, everything was ready to launch. I was a bit unsure about how long it would take, but I was certain it wouldn't take that long, which is why I chose to go right at sundown. Hopefully the moon would be right above when I made it into orbit, as I did not want to wait to catch up to it.

Everything was checked away, base was secure, Zecora was informed, and the launch pad was clear, so was the weather, everything was perfect. I started an unnecessary countdown.

3
2
1

Launch!

The powerful engines below blasted into action as large flames shot out of them. The whole rocket lurched, and began to rise faster and faster. It wouldn't take too long, as it should really only take around five minutes to escape the atmosphere, at least based on the calculations made by the rocket's A.I.





All the ponies at the Grand Galloping Gala turned to look at the great spectacle coming from the far off Everfree forest. A great point of light continued to raise higher and higher, leaving a large smoke trail. The whole thing was accented by the setting sun.

Everypony was speechless, even Princess Celestia stopped setting the sun for a moment to look at this grand display. 

After about a minute or too of everypony gawking, the shining object raised above the higher clouds and disappeared above them. Only glimpses of it could be seen as it continued to fly higher and higher, breaking all known records for high flying.

The whole gala stood still, and after several minutes, the festivities slowly continued, though a little bit less enthusiastic due to the strange event that had just transpired.





The calculations were a bit off, as it took about twice as long to finally escape the atmosphere. When I did escape the atmosphere though, I was able to see just how large the planet was.

It was pretty large, based on how long the horizon stretched and the time it took to get up here. Though the resource value was pretty low, based on my explorations around the continent.

Speaking of continents, the one I just came from, 'Equestria' appeared to be the largest. It started at the North pole and made it all the way down into the Southern hemisphere, but not the South pole. It was decently large too, it took up a majority of the view down below, but an ocean was visible on both sides.

Towards the edge of my view, I could see the start of another continent. It was brownish and looked to have many mountains, probably volcanic.

Due to the time of my launch, the moon was fully visible from my location, it was a lot closer than I originally thought, and therefore was smaller than once thought.

Starting the second phase, I detached the folded up satellite and began to construct it. It didn't take long to finish it, and it was now up and running, I made sure to leave an extra cabin inside so I could take control when I needed. Using some small thrusters, I made sure that the satellite would stay in orbit.

Now for the long part, travelling to the moon. Thankfully it wouldn't take as long as I thought, but it would still take some time to traverse the distance.

The journey would take a few hours at most, and I wouldn't just be beelining it straight to the moon either. I made sure to predict its path and aim towards that direction.

After the hours passed, I was now close enough to the moon that I didn't have to worry about missing it, it took up a large part of my view. I began the landing procedures, and enclosed on the moon.





Luna spat out her tea as a jolt rocked her body, and she nearly knocked the tea tray off the table nearby. She gasped loudly as she felt an odd sensation. Celestia quickly took notice.

"Sister, are you alright?" she asked.

"Unnghh, I am feeling the most... peculiar sensation," Luna answered, shaking a bit.

"I told you not to eat that much cake sister, nopony can eat that much." Celestia scolded.

"Except for you" Luna mumbled under her breath, she shivered a bit.

"What was that?" Celestia asked, looking a bit annoyed.

"Nothing at all sister," Luna quickly said, before jolting once more, "Besides, this is not a stomach ache, it is concentrated more on my connection to the moon, I can feel it at the base of my horn and neck. What could that mean?"

"You do not think it has anything to do with that flying light, do you?" Celestia asked, looking at her sister worriedly.

"It is possible, but this feels like... It feels like..." Luna trailed off.

"It feels like what sister?" Celestia was getting really worried now.

"LIKE THERE IS SOMETHING ON THE MOON!" Luna exclaimed, surprising Celestia.

"On the moon? How is that possible?" Celestia asked

"I do not know, but whatever it is, it is moving around quite a bit." Luna answered, "I am going to take a look,"

Luna's eyes closed, then opened again revealing them to be glowing white, her pupils were still visible, but had an obvious sheen around them as she began looking around.





I had just finished anchoring the moon base, it now had everything ready, including the delivery cannon on a motorized arm. It was now able to aim in a full 160° field around it, perfect for getting the Titanite into orbit.

The rover I made was simple enough, just a small thing with tracks, shielding, and batteries. Not to mention a drill and plenty of collectors.

Upon driving around, the gravity difference was obvious, as every time my tech went over a slight slope, it lifted off the ground for a second or two.

Another thing was obvious however, there were Titanite seams everywhere, no matter which direction you looked, the tell tale blue veins were visible in almost every rock. It was Titanite paradise for any tech, I was able to gather so much right now, so that's what I did.

After only about twenty minutes of mining, I was able to completely fill the silo I had brought along, now all I had to do was build a receiving platform and I would be able to get Titanite whenever I wanted. All I needed to do was simply switch back to a tech down on the surface.

But not before doing some sick jumps in this lower gravity of course, I had to do that.





Luna was speechless, she blinked once more and her eyes returned to normal.

"I do not believe it," she started.

"What is it sister, anything to worry about?" Celestia asked, a little nervous.

"It looked like something eerily similar to Tecka, just moving around on the moon." Luna explained.

"Similar to Tecka? Perhaps we should ask her about this, did you see anything else?" Celestia asked, no longer nervous, but curious.

"Yes, it looked like they harvested a large amount of Cobalt from the surface, it was held in some sort of structure they had built." Luna described.

"Most peculiar, we will definitely discuss this with Tecka, she may be more dangerous than we once thought sister." Her gaze hardening.

Celestia began drafting a letter to Twilight.

To Be Continued...