//------------------------------//
// Chapter 9: Bait 
// Story: Mystic Machinery: Industry is Magic 
// by Conglomerate 
//------------------------------//

I was sitting at my base, waiting. The tunnels were being dug, my stockpiles were brimming with resources, and there was a ridiculous amount of train tracks waiting to be laid. Things were happening all around me, all automatically of course. The expansion of the base was going along well, with more concrete being poured every minute, rising closer and closer to the plateau. The cleaner tech was set to move a majority of the stone in the tunnels off to the side, then I could at least fit a singular track down it. It was going to take a long time for any of it to finish.

To put it bluntly, I was bored.

Things were progressing at a steady rate, but almost none of it required my intervention. Sure I could check progress, but even that would quickly grow dull when things would be taking days to complete. I needed something to do.

This was obviously something that came with the job, and I knew that. Years upon years of prospecting has hardened me to the harsh realities of working in countless alien environments. There were going to be times where you had to wait, and I was no stranger to being patient.

I just didn’t have anything to do.

I was too far away to listen in on any radio stations, I certainly didn’t have any media saved, and there wasn’t much I could do to multitask. Sure I could attempt to harvest some Celestite or Ignite, but the time overlap and the danger that came with just weren’t worth it. I also wanted to upgrade my production again, but the level I was thinking of couldn’t subsist off of what was in my storage alone. I needed the tunnels and train lines to be done first.

How did I manage to deal with all my free time before?

Well, I had options. Back in the forest, I needed to explore and gather to ensure I could properly survive, any free time I had was spent out in the open without the constant threat of the ponies.

Of course, the natives, and the ponies weren’t the only ones.

I had spent some time with the friends I had made on this world, mainly Zecora. She was a decent conversation partner and seemed to understand my methods well enough. I wonder what she thought of me now? Especially since I kind of dumped an army of ponies on her front doorstep.

I then remembered what happened to the dogs, or more specifically their alpha. He was taken in for questioning, and was most likely treated very poorly if his mannerisms were anything to go by. Zecora had said the ponies were a bit xenophobic, and even though she had managed to make friends with some, I can only imagine what might’ve happened when the hammer of their law came crashing down around her.

I should probably go check on her. She did have some rather sensitive information about me that I didn’t want to reach pony ears after all.

Searching through my pile of blocks, I pulled out the speaker again. Looks like I was going on another mission into enemy territory, preferably a stealth mission. I fabricated another circuit board to upgrade my radar, and replaced the collectors on my plane with batteries and bubbles. I wasn’t planning on picking anything up, and it would be better to have a solid out than a sleek design. I could just keep the bubbles off until I actually needed them anyway.

With that, I took off, checked the tunnels from the surface, and began heading East again. The last time I was over there, it was crawling with guards, but it’s been a few days, so things should hopefully have calmed down a bit.

I was partially right.

From my vantage point up in the sky, there was indeed a general decrease in guard activity, but the newly constructed outpost next to my old base was a surprise. It looked like just a small camp, with one or two watchtowers and a multitude of tents. Any blocks I had left had long since been cleared out, and all that remained in the clearing was purely Equestrian in nature. 

I would be a fool to assume that the ponies hadn’t found the Harmonite, I just had to hope it was the only thing that remained in the cave. It was too risky to check right now, but that didn’t mean I wouldn’t in the future.

Moving on, I was once again at a loss as to the exact location of Zecora’s house, but that would be a different story once I was down on the ground. I began forming a plan. I would be approaching from a fair distance again, this time entering the forest and from the other side. From there, I was confident that I could find one of my old pathways and trace it back to Zecora’s house. With my upgraded radar and general knowledge of the forest, I shouldn’t have much issue avoiding attention, especially since those wooden wolves were no longer going to be a problem.

I touched down on the ground at the edge of the forest and folded my wings up, slipping in a moment later. Ah, the memories of weaving between trees, driving over shrubs and snapping branches along the way. Unfortunately, since my old base was effectively gone, it no longer appeared on my radar, and I couldn’t use it as a waypoint to help guide me. However, it seemed that the ponies had yet to find my old radio tower, which was still emitting signals.

It didn’t take long for me to cross over an old set of tire tracks, and following the path led me to the old Rodite zone. It was just as empty as it was when I left it, and even though I had the resources to access the seam below now, there was no way I was bringing over that much mining equipment this close to Canterlot. I would have more than enough Rodite once the tunnel was finished anyway.

More importantly, the Rodite zone was close to the middle of the forest, and the one pathway from it was a straight shot to my old base. I would only need a slight detour to arrive at Zecora’s house. I sped off down the already overgrown tracks, searching for a good spot to branch off.

The trees remained thick however, and I soon found myself drawing closer to the outpost than I would’ve liked. It quickly became apparent that I wasn’t the only thing that was traversing these pathways, as the foliage was more cleared away than usual, and the uniformity of my wheel tracks was muddled with countless hoofsteps.

Were they patrolling the forest?

There wasn’t as much activity towards the beginning of the path, but further ahead it only seemed to increase, with trampled plants and cut branches. That certainly wasn’t something I did. My radar showed nothing, which did little to reassure me, too many things have managed to sneak past its detection before.

Finally, a blip appeared, about the same time the outpost did through the treeline. I immediately stopped, watching the area carefully. The blip was joined by another, and another, until quite a few were congregated on the edge of my radar. Thankfully they were all in the direction of the outpost, which meant there was nothing to worry about just yet.

Not wanting to go any further, I forced my way off the path, slinking through a few trees. The plane was not as well equipped to traverse the forest proper, though it was thinner, it was much taller, and the wings clipped branches regularly. The rather sensitive propellers were situated at the front as well, meaning I had to take care when pushing through obstacles. Now that I knew where I was though, and with the old radio tower to guide me, I quickly made my way towards Zecora’s house.

I was not expecting what was waiting there.

There was more than one blip on the radar, and creeping forward for a better view revealed two pony guards standing out front. It made sense, being that Zecora was pretty much the entire reason I was able to interact with the ponies in the first place, she would be seen as some sort of ally to me. That meant she would be closely watched.

But there was still a problem.

There were only two blips on the radar, and there were already two ponies in view, neither of which were Zecora. She wasn’t here, just the guards, which was a bit confusing. I knew she was one to peruse the forest regularly, and if she was being watched, then she would probably have an escort, so why were these two here? Did they think something would happen to her house while she was away for business? It was plausible, but even then Zecora was not one to leave her dwelling for long. Why would there be guards if she was going to return soon?

Unless of course, she wasn’t going to return anytime soon. The dog alpha was taken in for questioning and held for several days. He was released of course, but he barely knew me, Zecora did not.

I carefully circled around the back of the tree house, making sure to keep my tech out of view until I was well behind the guards. I then slowly rolled forward, coming to a stop at the very back of Zecora’s house. Maneuvering my view around the front, I got a better look at the guards.

They were almost identical, with solid white coats and golden armor. I doubted it was actually made of Auruite, but it was well polished and glimmered slightly. They both had spears, and that was pretty much it, no other weapons, accessories, or any obvious methods of communication.

‘Easy pickings,’ some would say. Isolated units with subpar weaponry, although spears would probably do the best at damaging my blocks. Depending on what the tips were made of, a well placed hit could pierce a standard block, though I doubted it would do much unless it hit something vital directly, and both my batteries and cabin were pretty much surrounded on all sides.

That being said, I was not looking to pick a fight. That would most likely require harming the ponies, and if I didn’t kill them, they would eventually return to the rest and alert them of my transgressions. If I did kill them, then they would eventually be found and the crime would not only be attributed to me, but possibly Zecora as well. The princesses had made it clear enough that I already had the death penalty for simply existing, whatever reasoning that was. I did not want to extend that same punishment to Zecora when she was technically innocent.

This sucks.
“This sucks.”

I heard the statement at the same time I thought it, which surprised me. It had come from one of the guards, so I began listening in on their conversation.

“Oh suck it up, will you?” The second began, “We’re just doing our job.”

“But this is boring!” The first fiddled with his spear, “I don’t want to sit in this stupid forest all day.”

“We’re guards, we’re guarding, this is what we do. Deal with it.”

“Why are we even guarding this… shack-thing anyway?”

I’m sure Zecora would’ve taken offense to that.

“Oh for the love of-! Why am I always paired with-” The second one stopped himself and sighed, “The zebra was seen colluding with the enemy, until the investigation is complete, we must make sure none of the evidence is tampered with.”

What evidence? Zecora didn’t have anything that would- Oh right, the radio I gave her. That probably wasn’t a good idea, if the ponies now had it, they could technically gain access to my radio networks. That’s nothing an encryption won’t solve, but the simple fact of them using my own tech against me would put me in incredibly hot water with the Federation, regardless if it was intentional or not.

I couldn’t let that happen.

That meant I had to recover anything advanced I had left behind, that included the radio tower in the ruins, and the radio I had given Zecora. That was going to be a problem, I only knew where one of those things was. Though if the investigation isn’t complete yet, then it was reasonable to believe that the radio was somewhere nearby. I could try to go through Zecora’s things, but first I would have to get past the guards, then search a house I was unfamiliar with, not to mention that the whole thing would be seen as ‘tampering with evidence’ and would only serve to hurt Zecora more.

She would know where it is, or possibly where it went, I just didn’t know where she was.

“But she’s not even here! How could she mess with her stuff if she’s locked up in the town hall?”

The town hall. So that’s where she was being kept. I also didn’t know exactly where that was or what it looked like, but if my aerial surveillance was anything to go by, it was probably that large, circular building in the center of town I had seen earlier. That certainly put a hamper on my plans, I don’t think I could sneak around a town as well as I could in the forest, and with the guard presence, I doubted getting caught would end in anything less than a fight.

“It’s not just her that could ‘mess with her stuff,’ we have to be on guard for anything and everything that comes through this area.”

I had to get that radio back, because even if I got control of the planet, I wouldn’t be able to do anything if they found out I broke galactic law. I was then reminded of the gun I had lost earlier, I would have to find that as well before I contacted the Federation. The radio took priority though, it was a form of communication, and since radio waves were already the reason I had to rush, I couldn’t afford to let something else obtain that kind of power.

New plan: Find out where the radio was, recover or destroy it, then do the same with the radio tower. Zecora was currently my best bet, so I would look into getting to her first.

Looks like I was finally heading into town.

“What’s to stop us from just saying we guarded her stuff all day?”

“Were you even listening?! I just said the zebra might not be the only thing looking to interfere with the investigation!”

Like me, but I wasn’t going to let them know that.

“Like what? Those timberwolves I’ve heard so much about? I haven’t even seen one since we got here!”

The wooden wolves? The ones I exterminated personally? That was interesting, I guess they didn’t realize that they were gone, reduced to ash in a blaze of glory. Perhaps I could use that to my advantage, but first I had to figure out where the radio was.

Slowly reversing back into the forest, I left the guards to their conversation, and continued in the general direction of the edge close to town. Once again, I quickly intercepted one of my old pathways, and was once again picking up the pace.

Only to screech to a halt a moment later as a group of blips appeared on my radar ahead of me. I immediately ducked back into the trees, pulled my wings off, and lowered my tech as much as possible with the suspension. There was a decent amount of shrubbery to hide in, and I was thankful I wasn’t carrying anything too large.

Once I was situated, I watched and waited as the group entered my radar fully, going down the same path I was. With no other designation, I could only assume they were ponies, and with this many in a group, it was probably a patrol.

A moment later they entered my view, and I was proved correct. An entire squad of guards was making their way through the forest, each of similar color and armor as the last. There was a more diverse assortment of weapons as well, ranging from a few swords to a crossbow along with the occasional spear. It was certainly a more intimidating ensemble, though still nothing I couldn’t handle.

Again, not that I’d want to.

I simply waited for them to pass, the thick foliage doing an excellent job at obscuring me from view. The group carried on their way without any issue, though they were more silent than the previous guards. If I didn’t know any better, I would say this whole operation was getting a bit boring for them. Patrolling the forest or town day after day with nothing new happening.

Kindred spirits all around me I see. If I had to guess, only a select few here actually saw reason for being here, I gave quite a few ponies the slip back in Canterlot.

When the patrol was well out of range of my radar, I reassembled the plane and returned to the path. With one patrol already past, it was only a matter of time before the next one came through, so I hurried through the rest of the forest. I slowed down upon nearing the edge, and took care to survey my surroundings. Thankfully there were no more blips on the radar, and I carefully slipped out of the treeline.

The town was immediately visible in front of me, and there was nothing between it and me besides a few gentle hills. That was a problem, it would pretty much be guaranteed that I would be spotted if I tried to cross there, and even then I would have to find a suitable location to sneak into town. I knew for a fact that there were a few alleys between the buildings, but none of them led directly to the town hall. I would have to find a way to cross the plaza without being seen.

There was a river that flowed decently close, and while I didn’t know how deep it was, there were several offshoots that I knew were nearby. That approach would probably be better, at least until I made it into town, but the problem of the open street remained. 

That didn’t even account for actually getting into the building as well. Though it was a large, public building, I was sure my tech could fit inside easily enough. The main issue arose from the fact that Zecora was being held there, there were going to be guards. As soon as I burst in, things would get ugly fast. 

I needed a distraction, something to lure away any and all guards so that I could get in unnoticed. A distraction would also help with the plaza, as once attention was pulled away I could probably cross without much issue.

Alright, that will work. How? What did I have that could grab the attention of not only the guards, but the general public as well? I would need something flashy and bright, loud would be nice too.

How about a cannon? Setting off an explosion would certainly be a start, but if I truly wanted it to be a distraction, I needed to actually hit something of worth, that way the guards would be preoccupied dealing with the aftermath.

Now I just needed something to hit, preferably something of decent value that will be seen by as many as possible. It had to be close enough to the town to warrant investigation, and large enough to be seen as an actual threat for extra guard action. I didn’t want to destroy any public property however, as that would paint me as even more of an enemy than I already was. It needed to be a big explosion, but not too big.

Why don’t I just blow up the radio tower?

It was close to the outpost, located in unoccupied ruins, and had the benefit of destroying something I needed destroyed. An attack that close to the guard outpost will surely raise the alarm, which will hopefully cause all units to drop what they’re doing to help out, giving me the opportunity to get in and out quickly and quietly, getting the information I need while also reconnecting with a friend.

The perfect plan.

How was I going to blow up the radio tower?

I didn’t bring any cannons with me, nor any explosives save for my batteries. That was a no go, especially since once attention was drawn, I would need to escape as well, something that might prove difficult if I didn’t have adequate protection. Not to mention that if I was spotted over the outpost, it would be nearly impossible for me to double back to the town unseen in enough time to avoid being followed. 

Not in just one tech anyway. So I’ll use two.

Switching back over to base, I quickly assembled another plane, this time loading it up with a few cannons instead. It left me with just one piece of Erudite spare, but a simple drive-by was far from a death sentence, especially when the tech would be outfitted with its own repair bubble. I don’t doubt that the ponies had their own form of anti air, but unless they were hiding some homing missiles in their tents, there was no way they could bring one of my planes down in the time it would be in their airspace.

With everything in place, I took off again, making sure that the first plane was situated back in the forest. Best not to leave anything out in the open for this, it would be waiting along the closest riverbank for when the tower was destroyed. The flight over was longer, cannons were pretty heavy after all, and it took me a little over an hour to get the second plane into position.

The plan was simple: Launch a surprise attack against my own radio tower. Destroy it, and return the second plane to its hiding spot at the other side of the forest. Then the first plane would sneak along the riverbed to the town hall, cross the plaza and enter as quickly as possible. Once inside, I would have to find and talk with Zecora, learn the location of the second radio, and deal with it as necessary.

Time to commence operation Bait and Switch.

To Be Continued…