• Published 11th May 2021
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Factory of the Magical Variety - Conglomerate



Prospector! A new, resource rich planet has been discovered. Preparing for launch.

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Chapter 12: Weapons

I got some more Luxite, and I got to keep my Titanite! What a great outcome, I was not expecting that the dragon would be forced to leave. It probably had something to do with those ponies I saw, I wonder exactly how they did it?

It was confusing, obviously they had some way to deal with the dragon, be it weapons or wits, but I could tell they were scared of me. It didn't make much sense, if they could deal with the dragon, why didn't they think they could deal with me? I guess techs were unknown in this world, and they didn't know what I was capable of. That made more sense, I was certainly capable of a lot.

That was behind me now, I had the Luxite, so I had things to fabricate. The dragon was a big reminder that diplomacy wasn't always going to be the answer, I felt that I was teetering on the edge of destruction the entire time I was with it. I'd need to fabricate more powerful weapons if I was going to be in anymore situations like that.

Thankfully having Luxite allowed me to do just that, and not just lasers either. With the stronger properties of Luxite-Plumbite alloy, I could create stronger weapons, namely, a cannon. Now this cannon in particular wasn't very powerful, not by a longshot, it being the first in its class and all, but it was certainly powerful enough to warrant fabricating it.

I could definitely do some damage with it, but that didn't mean I'd be using it all the time, I did not want to cause any unwanted collateral damage. Right now it was a last resort.

Equipping it onto my original tech, making sure its safety was on, I was once again short on Luxite. If I wanted to create proper storage for my materials, I'd need even more. The only problem was that the dragon's pile did not have a lot of it, sure there was some, but now that I'd taken more than half of its stock, there wasn't much left. There was also the added problem of it being under pony control, and given by their triumph over the dragon, I didn't really want to go back either.

Perhaps now was the time to finally reveal myself to the ponies, they certainly could help me a lot. I still wasn't entirely prepared though, my base was lack luster, and my resources were thin. Going in unprepared could cost me everything. I'd only go to the ponies unprepared if the situation was extremely dire, which it wasn't right now.

I guess I'd go have to find more Luxite somewhere else. There was a small mountain range visible from the dragon's mountain, I'll search there first. I'd have to upgrade my glider first, for it was underequipped for such a long journey, not to mention combat.

Firstly, I made it wider, this allowed me to fit another collector on the back, and another tail wing to give me more control in the air. The fuel tank then fit nicely next the the collectors, and the boosters were subsequently fitted on the sides and bottom. The radar was put on top, along with the radio. At the very front, I put on the COIL laser and the Cannon, while a bit heavy, it shouldn't affect flight that much. I'd definitely have to land more often however, at least until I could make another fuel tank.

I once more drove out of the base and into the ravine, then up the ramp lead to the clearing. My now larger glider would definitely have trouble navigating the ruins again, so I'd have to launch from the forest floor again. I should clear the trees, the math checked out.

My take off was interrupted again though, this time not by Zecora, but by a single red icon appearing on my radar. It wasn't moving very fast, but it was making it's way to the clearing. Not knowing what to expect, I took the cannon off safety, if possible, I'd like to fire a warning shot first.

A few moments later, one of the larger creatures I've run into earlier pushed out of the tree line, but it wasn't alone. There were two 'cubs' you could say following it. They most likely didn't appear on my radar do to their proximity to the apparent parent.

Last time I ran into one of these things, it ignored me, but I knew that most animals were extremely protective of their young, and usually did not appreciate anything getting close to them. I didn't move my tech, while it may be larger in volume, I was certain that it didn't outweigh the creature. I wanted to appear as unalive as possible.

Apparently my tech was pretty interesting to the cubs, as both bounded away from their parent towards me. It wasn't like I could keep completely still either, as both weapon's autotargeting systems locked onto the cubs, while the radar continued to spin around trying to pick up signals. Of course I didn't fire on the cubs, there was no reason, but the parent did see my techs slight movements.

It gave a small roar, and the cubs stopped and immediately ran back towards their parent. It stood up high, menacingly as it shielded its cubs behind it. I did not want to provoke this thing, so I backed up my tech. This calmed the creature a bit, but it still watched my tech the entire time as it started backing up into the forest.

Disappearing into the foliage, I watched the radar as they slowly moved out of range. With that distraction out of the way, I was ready to take off again.

I fired the boosters once more, soaring into the air, I was getting pretty used to gliding like this. I barely made it past the forest edge however, even with the fuel tank. I'd have to make a lot more stops than last time, but I'd have to make less trips overall. The pros outweighed the cons.

I eventually made it to the dragon's mountain, hoping to maybe collect a few more chunks of Luxite, I was severely disappointed. The place was swarming with activity, from what I could see there were several ponies standing around, wearing some sort of golden armor. What disappointed me even more was the several carts being loaded with everything from the massive pile. I guess I wasn't fast enough to get more from here, and I didn't really want to raid the caravan either.

Not being able to launch of the mountain either sucked. I had to start from the ground, meaning it would take a lot more trips to make it to the mountain range in the distance. This time, the journey did turn up something interesting.

A massive stone field lay before me, I could see a lot of rocks, most probably held ore. I wasn't able to take a closer look however, there was a fence around the whole area, and a small set of buildings to the side, probably a mining town. I would have to check this out later, when or if I got permission.

The rest of the glide to the mountain range was short, and it was obvious that these mountains weren't as tall as the dragon's mountain. It was still a good idea to check them out at least. Launching up again I started gliding to the first mountain.

There wasn't much, a few trees and some rocks. Cracking open a few yielded nothing, so I launched over to the next mountain.

This one actually held some Cuprite deposits, I didn't really need any right now, but I kept this mountain in mind in case I ran out in the forest. I launched over to the next mountain.

This mountain held nothing either, just some trees and dirt. I launched to the final mountain in the range.

The fourth mountain didn't have much upon first inspection, but further investigation revealed a well worn trail down it. Obviously there was some reason to climb this mountain if there was a trail, so I looked around again. There were some odd mounds of dirt methodically placed around the mountain top, and upon closer inspection they were obviously made by something.

I drove over one and 'dug' at it with my wheel, spraying dirt everywhere. Something else flew out thanks to my wheel, it was like a small stone. Driving over to it, and closely inspecting it, it was a very small piece of Luxite, so small, it wouldn't even be worth it to dig up every mound.

Why was this here? and why was it buried? It was almost like this small piece of Luxite was like a seed.

Well... it wasn't like growing crystals was impossible, and Luxite did grow in sunlight, I guess whoever 'planted' these here wanted to cultivate some Luxite? An interesting idea, it would take a while though, that's why not many people did it. I certainly didn't have time for it, maybe I could speed up the process?

If I could focus the sunlight somehow, I could grow Luxite quite a bit faster than it would normally be able to grow. That would have to be something to test later however. I carefully placed the Luxite 'seed' back on top of the mound, it wasn't like I could just dig it a new hole. I turned to head back, it was getting dark.

I had a new project for now, growing my own Luxite. There was a bit of a problem though, I didn't have access to glass for lenses or something reflective for mirrors. I would have to find something like that to focus sunlight into a Luxite 'seed'. Maybe I could find another resource for it. Who knows.


Princess Celestia read the report from Twilight, the friendship lesson was to be expected, and she was glad Twilight was able to convince the dragon to leave. But the mysterious metal entity detailed in the report confused her. This unkown third party had apparently made a deal with the dragon, it was trading a rather large block of Cobalt for some Sunstone chunks.

Any merchant worth their salt would say that was a terrible trade, Cobalt was one of the most valuable and rare resources in Equestria. Just where did this thing get so much?

"Sister, your old armor was made of Cobalt right?" Celestia asked Luna,

"Yes it was, it was a shame that the Elements of Harmony destroyed it along with Nightmare Moon though." Luna answered.

"But I remember seeing it there on the floor? Along with that strange grey object. It did not look destroyed." Celestia asked, confused.

"It was not entirely destroyed, sister, but the magic from the Elements of Harmony permanently altered the structural integrity of the armor, making it more brittle than a chicken egg. No amount of forging it would have fixed it, you would have to find a way to reassemble its entire structure. Not even I could fix it with magic." Luna explained,

"Oh, that is a bit disappointing" Celestia paused, "What about this metal entity? If it had that much Cobalt, we should know of it right? You are one of the main suppliers of Cobalt after all sister."

"That I am, but it has been a thousand years since I have distributed any, I have no idea how much is in circulation now." Luna answered.

"A mystery for another time then," Celestia concluded, filing away the report.

To Be Continued...

Author's Note:

Chapter 12 done, now Teck has access to a cannon, but what will they use it on? A dangerous encounter with a Manticore, defused by simply backing away. A new way of obtaining Luxite? And a little more inkling onto the mysteries of Cobalt/Titanite. Can you figure out why it's so rare?