Factory of the Magical Variety

by Conglomerate

Chapter 17: Hostility

Lets just say the week passed, there wasn't anything too exiting, the Luxite finished growing, and I heard back from the Twilight pony. Apparently the Princesses were very busy, the had to deal with nobles and country maintenance. The closest slot I could fit into was a month away.

It wasn't so bad though, It gave me plenty of time to explore and if I stressed enough that it was an emergency, I could possibly get my meeting earlier. It wasn't that much of an emergency, at least I thought it wasn't. I was fairly sure that I was far from Federation space, I didn't have any star charts to prove it, but I didn't recognize any of the constellations, so I was at least several Lightyears away. Very much a traversable distance, but there were most likely a lot of planets to prospect before this one, I had some time.

I met with the Rarity pony, and she provided her crystal insight. She didn't know of Celestite, but she had heard of Ignite, which was apparently called Fire Topaz. It was uncommon, but it could be found down South, way into the desert. I'd have to really look for it though, most obvious outcrops had been mined already, Ignite sure had its uses.

The desert was far though, about three days for a train ride, maybe a day for my plane. I could fly over whenever I wanted, but spending two or more days there just to collect five Ignite shards. wasn't something that I wanted to do. If I was going to go collect Ignite, I wanted to collect a lot, so I'd have to figure something out.

Not having access to my inventory sucked. If I did have it, I could've just packed up my fabrication station and fly over to the desert. Then I could set everything up, refine a bunch of Ignite, fabricate some storage blocks, then stick them into my inventory and fly home.

But I didn't have that, so I'd have to be careful with how I did it. They best idea I had was similar to what I'd do with my inventory, only when I made the storage blocks, I'd replace some of the structure of my plane with them. With the Venture Fabricator, I could make lighter weight ones, even if they didn't store as much. I'd be able to fit some more collectors on my plane as well. I would stuff it full of Ignite.

The only problem was moving the Fabricator and Refinery, I had to take them on the plane with me, but there wasn't any good place to fit them on. They were big, bulky, and messed with both the plane's balance and aerodynamics. If only I had better propellers, I could make a larger plane.

To make larger propellers though, I'd need Ignite, another loop, I'd need Ignite to get Ignite. Fortunately I was able to get some, just not much. I could replace another block on the plane with a collector though, that allowed me ten pieces of Ignite, and hey, maybe I could find a way to grow Ignite too.

First I needed to refit the plane, I added another collector and placed a small drill on it, in case I needed to break open some sturdy rocks. Next was to inform Zecora that I was leaving, and to tell that to any'pony' who came searching for me that I was away for a few days.

With everything in order, I was ready to head off into the desert.

This time I wasn't interrupted before takeoff, so I started without any delay. I would be flying for a long time, almost an entire day by my estimates. I didn't need to take any breaks, except maybe to cool down the propellers, but they were usually alright with air cooling.

I was able to fly much higher too, with constant thrust I wasn't just stuck to gliding below the clouds. I was much less visible this high up, I wasn't certain how high a Pegasus could fly, but there came a point where you were just too high up to breathe. Something I didn't need to worry about, of course my dinky little engines couldn't function that high, but that was soon to be solved.

My trip was very boring, some clouds here, another cloud there, hey look a tree the size of a pebble. Normally when I had free time I could spend it doing something, but there wasn't much to do up here, and flying like this didn't take much focus either.

I ended up just thinking about the future. In a month I would be meeting with a "Princess Celestia" who was apparently the head of government. During that meeting, I will reveal my plea for help in my endeavors. If I get desperate enough I will reveal my extra terrestrial nature.

I wasn't sure about revealing it right away, mainly because I had no idea what their reaction would be, and also I had an unhealthy habit of keeping secrets of potentially useful information. I don't know why I do it, maybe to keep an edge over everyone else, but if push came to shove, I'd reveal it. This planet, or more importantly what it held was very important to me.

After several hours of flying, the sun started to go down, and the ground below me shifted from bright green to greenish yellow, a sign of a more arid climate. I wasn't just in the desert yet, but I was getting close. Hopefully I could find some Ignite soon, I didn't want to stay away from base too long.

There wasn't else much to think about during my flight, maybe why I was doing this? If I could pull off this whole plan without fail, I'll be one of the most successful and famous prospectors out there. I would hardly have to pilot a tech again with all the money I could make from this world. And there were the friendships too.

Zecora wasn't my first friend, I've had friends before. Not like Mike, he was a business partner. My friendships usually didn't last however, prospecting was challenging work, and if you weren't up for it, you would fail. That's what happened to most of my friends, they simply quit the business and we lost touch.

There was that one time though, where one of my longer friendships ended in a bitter battle, all over a simple miscount of profits. I could never go back to them, especially since I accidently killed them. They didn't tell me they were out of cabins, I still regret it to this day.

It wasn't the first time I've killed before, accidents happen all the time, especially in the prospecting business. I've destroyed so many cabins of other techs, it was statistically impossible for me not to have directly caused another prospector's death. I didn't like to think about it.

The next few hours were silent, nothing but the annoying noise of the propellers, they sounded like a large wind up toy, and there were two of them. The terrain beneath me turned to a yellowish orange, there wasn't anymore obvious plant life, a sure sign I was above a desert. Banking around, I descended slowly, making sure to check out the landscape for any signs of Ignite.

I landed the plane on a relatively flat stretch of land, it wasn't all sand, I was on a mesa, perfect.

My immediate surroundings didn't hold anything of interest, but I was in prime Ignite country, I'd just have to keep searching. I didn't know how far away I was from civilization, so I wasn't sure what direction to keep travelling in. I decided to keep going South, following a dirt road.

Flying low this time, I kept a keen lookout for anything resembling Ignite, it would be easy to see in the dark. I did come across an abandoned mining town, it was worn down and falling apart. Probably because whatever they were mining ran out, hopefully it wasn't Ignite. Venturing further South, the dirt road ended, there was even an abandoned cart on it.

It looked torn to shreds, hopefully by the weather, if there was anything dangerous here I didn't want to stick around to find out. I kept going in the cool night air.

Continuing South, I spotted something orange against the dark yellow sands. It was, in fact, Ignite, though a very small outcropping of it, only enough for one good chunk. I continued South.

The yellow sands eventually turned to a dull grey, with large cracks in the surface. Not quite like the salt flats from the previous world, but pretty close. I spotted several dead trees. That wasn't good, something made this land uninhabitable. That many trees didn't just grow in a desert.

Ignite didn't grow very well in this climate either, so I stuck to the border between the desert and wasteland. A bit of dread setting in.

Continuing on, I spotted a larger crystal of Ignite in the sand, quickly driving over to it, I placed the drill on front of the plane. Drilling into it yielded several chunks of Ignite, several of them clinking when they landed on the sand.

Wait a minute, clinking on sand? That wasn't normal. Looking closely, there was nothing in or underneath the sand to warrant such a sound, just what had caused it?

Just then, my radar showed a hostile, right behind me, I don't know how it got close without the radar catching it, but it did. I didn't really need to turn the tech around to see it, but if I wanted a clear shot, I needed to move the tail wing out of the way. I turned the tech around.

What stood before me was strange to say the least. It was large, black, though not like 'Nightmare Moon', this thing had a glossy, green look to it, making it more visible in the dark. It was obviously an insectoid, I could see large pincers and antenna on it's 'head' It was covered in chitin, I could also see elytra on it's back. Only four legs however, dotted with holes, probably to reduce weight.

We both stood still for a moment, before it hissed, and spit a green glob at my tech. I backed up, but not before it grazed one of my wings, quickly eating through the material while igniting into green flame.

I fired back, I only had the one gun, plus the two weaker ones on my cabin though. It was enough however, as the bullets impacted it's side, cracking the carapace and knocking it to its side.

It screeched, a shrill echoing noise pierced the silence that once resided over the area.

Just then, hundreds of red icons appeared on the edges of my radar. Looking around I could see a lot of black shapes in the distance, almost hidden against the night sky. I must have stumbled upon a hive of these things, and I couldn't fly away either, the acid or fire or acid-fire had eaten through the rest of the wing, permanently disabling it.

I could still drive at least, so shedding the other wing to take away any lift I had, I started driving back North, towards the least dense part of the swarm.

A cacophony of hisses, clicks, and screeches sounded around my tech, several bolts of acid-fire flew past my tech. My tech drove faster than they could run, but they could also fly, which was much faster.

Starting up the propellers, I gained extra speed as I made a break for the edge of the swarm, which was now closing in on me at all directions. Firing directly in front of me, I tried to clear a path through the insectoids, but there were just too many.

Thankfully, none of them wanted to be run over by my tech, but they still spat acid-fire at me, which hit. My two front wheels popped, and I was no longer able to drive away, just forced to lay there, immobile.

Swiveling the gun around, I fired at the most dense part of the swarm, downing several of them before those around me spit acid-fire at the gun, destroying it.

Since the gun was right above my cabin, a lot of the acid-fire rained down onto it, eating through the hull and dissolving the glass. It was destroyed.

So much for getting Ignite I guess, the original tech powered back up as I took control. Next time, I'm bringing the flamethrower...

To Be Continued...

Author's Note:

Fun fact, I live right next to a mesa, for those who don't know, a mesa is essentially a flat topped mountain. I've only been to the top once or twice, I should do it again sometime, maybe when it's not pouring rain. Also, what a wacky chapter! I'd say it's pretty obvious just what Teck encountered in the desert, and just when they were so close to finally getting Ignite.

Comments

[Jamesonboo22]

Get an orbital strike on that position. Phosphorus is authorized

[Conglomerate]

10823742
Haha! Thanks for the idea!

[Nosoni]

Get the heavy flamer and torch those foul xenos

[Cheshirek4t]

10824510
Beat me to it
😂😂😂

[DenzelRamos]

He should probably learn how to control multiple vehicles at once. Less time being bored, and more time working with multiple vehicles at once.

[Conglomerate]

10842635
I'll tell you this, it isn't possible to do that in the game, but this isn't the game is it?

[Draco Dei]

The mention of princess confused me... did at least that specific individual shape-shift to add them?