Estimated time till planetary invasion... 15000 hours.
Total progress on planetary control... 4%
Get to work!
The long awaited sequel to one of my more successful fics on this site. Once again, this story is going to be based off a combination of the games "Terratech" and "Factorio". There may be some other large references as well.
“I want a detailed report on everything related to this ‘Tecka’ entity and any other associates there may be.” Princess Celestia ordered, ignoring her.
“Yes, your highness, right away.” One of the ponies following them bowed, and quickly ran off.
“Sister?” Princess Luna repeated,
“Shining Armor,” she was once again declined. “Assemble the rest of the guard, I want ponies in the air and on the ground, search the entire forest, and secure anything non-native.” Princess Celestia commanded,
“Yes, Princess,” Shining Armor saluted, and soon diverged from the group.
“Sister!” Princess Luna was having trouble keeping pace.
“And you.” Princess Celestia turned to the last pony in the group, who also looked incredibly confused.
“Y-yes, your highness?” He asked nervously.
“Get somepony to clean up this mess,” Princess Celestia finished, gesturing to the streaks of slag and ashes on the floor along with the glass shards littering the area next to the window.
The servant nodded rapidly, “Yes, your highness,” and he quickly scampered off.
Princess Luna had had enough, she took in a deep breath, and prepared her Royal Canterlot Voice.
”Sister!” She shouted,
Princess Celestia whipped around in an instant, “What!?”
Princess Luna flinched at the outburst, but quickly recovered.
“Sister, will you please tell me what is going on!”
Princess Celestia took a moment to calm herself, “I am sorry, it is just that this situation is incredibly tense at the moment.”
“I do not know if I can agree with you on that sister.” Princess Luna responded, “Why did you outright destroy that ‘Tecka’? And why are we going to such lengths to stop the rest of them?”
Princess Celestia stopped, and turned to more properly address her sister, “Because they have proved themselves to be even more dangerous than they already were.” She explained, “You saw what Tecka was capable of, and the destruction she caused. That is why it is paramount that we stop all of them at once.”
“Is it though?” Princess Luna asked, finding it odd that she was now the voice of reason, “Just because they are capable of horrid things does not mean they actually commit them. What have they actually done? Their infractions are far from the worst, if not personal, and to our knowledge they have yet to actually harm anypony.” She argued,
Princess Celestia gave her a hard stare.
“Besides self defense,” Princess Luna added on quickly.
Princess Celestia sighed, “They might not have assaulted anypony yet, but that does not mean that they will not in the future.”
“How could you possibly know that?”
“Tecka was a liar sister, a good one, you saw how well she could do it. That alone makes every other one of their actions untrustworthy. There is no way to know what their true intentions are unless we see them from every angle.”
“So you just assume that they had ill intentions from the start?” Princess Luna countered,
“No, I did not,” Princess Celestia answered, “But then Tecka revealed their origin.”
Princess Luna frowned, “Why does that matter?”
“Because they are not of this world.”
“That does not answer my question, sister.”
“You would not understand,” Princess Celestia said, “You were not there.”
“Then help me understand,” Princess Luna said, a bit exasperated, “What happened that made you so wary of otherworlders?”
Princess Celestia paused, and looked towards her sister with a bit of longing. “It was during your banishment, a small group of extraterrestrials came directly to me, promising peace and prosperity for all of ponykind. However, just like Tecka, they were not so truthful. Though they were not so adept at hiding their true intentions, so I was able to stop them before they could act.”
“What were their intentions?” Princess Luna asked, genuinely curious.
“They had planned the assassination and replacement of the world leaders, starting with myself,” Princess Celestia explained, “I can only assume that they meant to control the whole world, and use it for their own nefarious purposes.”
Princess Luna looked at her for a moment, “That certainly sounds less than ideal, but one experience with otherworlders should hardly facilitate such a reaction with others,”
“You are right,” Princess Celestia agreed, “But both the untrustworthiness of Tecka and their origin makes them too dangerous to simply let them be. They have the potential to cause untold amounts of chaos.”
As soon as she uttered that final word, laughter began to echo throughout the room, causing the both of them to stop and look around.
“Who goes there?” Princess Luna shouted out.
The laughter slowly died down, and was replaced with a voice, seemingly from everywhere. “Ho ho, very poor choice of words, my dear Celestia.” It spoke
Both sisters immediately recognized it.
“Discord!” Princess Celestia exclaimed,
“Reveal thyself!” Princess Luna demanded
“Hm, how about no? Though I am very invested in this Tecka you keep speaking of.” Discord said, “So please do continue as if I was never here”
“What did you hear?” Princess Celestia called out.
“Only what I needed to,” Discord replied smugly,
“How did you escape your imprisonment?” Princess Luna shouted, frantically looking around.
“Why isn’t it obvious?” Discord asked, “It was only that little debacle earlier that set me free,”
Princess Celestia grunted, “Of course it did.”
“Now tell me, where is that incredibly beneficial machine?” Discord asked,
“Gone.” Princess Luna quickly stepped in, “Destroyed.”
“Tsk, what a shame, though I wonder if the others would be willing to help me, considering you just murdered one of their kind.”
“You will do no such thing!” Princess Celestia shouted.
Discord laughed again, “And what are you going to do to stop me?” He taunted, “Anyway, I have business to attend to, toodaloo!”
And with that, his presence disappeared, leaving the two sisters in a state of shock. They both looked at each other for a moment as they realized what happened. Princess Celestia was the first to speak.
“Guard the Elements of Harmony, I must write a letter to Twilight. We will discuss the other matter later.” She commanded.
Princess Luna nodded, and quickly ran off towards the castle vault, meanwhile Princess Celestia summoned a quill and parchment, and hastily began drafting a letter to her student.
I was absolutely right in my earlier assumption, the rails leading up to the plateau could not hold my train. Whether it was due to the excessive weight or the years of neglect I didn’t know, but I made sure to slow down quite a bit before I made it all the way to avoid a huge accident. That didn’t mean my tech didn’t derail though, and I had to spend a few moments reassembling the large tech so I could make it the rest of the way.
The plateau lay ahead, just as barren as the last time I was here. It took some effort just to get my tech up on it, but a quick ramp solved that problem, and I quickly downsized to a more manageable tech to properly begin building a new base. Of course the essentials were first, and a quick fabrication station was up and running a moment later. Next was storage, which was also easy considering how little I had, that was something I would have to change in the future. After that however, there were some commodities.
I was running a little low on blocks, and resources for that matter, which meant anything extra wasn’t possible just yet. No easy defenses, no infrastructure, and no recklessness, that would have to wait. However there was one thing that was important enough to build, a radio tower.
Or perhaps not a tower per say, since they are pretty visible and I am trying to lay low for the moment, rather something else. Thankfully I had equipped my satellite with a radio, which meant I could use satellite communication, which certainly increased the range, but made it patchy in some areas. I would need more satellite coverage if I wanted to rely on it fully. Still, it would work for now.
A quick fabrication and setup of a satellite dish later and it was nearly complete. All that was left to do now was to-
Clap, Clap, Clap
The slow clapping of something behind me stopped my work, and I quickly moved my view to see whatever it was, which had somehow managed to sneak past my radar, something I was getting increasingly annoyed at. However what stood, or rather, floated there was something I was not expecting.
To say it was a strange creature was an understatement, with obvious asymmetry and haphazard construction. It looked like some mad scientist’s worst, or possibly best creation.
“My my! What a marvelous display you caused earlier. I must say, bravo! Bravo!” It clapped once more.
I had expected it to speak, considering all of the things that had happened recently, but I was not expecting its attitude. I also realized I had yet to fabricate any new speakers, meaning I couldn’t actually respond to it yet. So I had to go about making some real quick. The thing noticed my lack of response however, but just kept talking.
“That was a neat little trick you pulled as well, faking your death and all. You certainly fooled those ponies.” It spoke.
That certainly caught my attention, this thing somehow knew I was only one tech. How it did I didn’t know, but it meant it was smart, which made it dangerous. I got an eerie feeling , much like when I was face to face with Nightmare Moon, I would have to be wary about what I say and do around this thing. I finished making the speakers, and quickly set to making a circuit board to upgrade them.
Once again noticing my lack of response, the creature teleported right in front of my tech, right as I finished installing everything.
“You’re not ignoring me are you?” It asked,
“No, I’m not, now who are you and what do you want?” I asked, sounding a bit annoyed.
“Straight to the point huh? Very well then.” It said, then in a flash, it was decked out in all sorts of formal attire, suit, top hat, a cane, everything. “I am Discord! Lord of chaos!” Discord bowed, “And what I want, is you.” he finished.
Lord of chaos? Interesting title, at least the name fit, but what did it want with me?
“Elaborate.” I demanded.
“Gladly,” Discord responded, “You see as my name suggests, I do enjoy a little bit of mischief from time to time, and your little scene earlier really caught my eye,” He said, and proceeded to take out his eyes and begin juggling them, which was an incredibly disturbing sight. He continued a moment later, “So I came here to make a deal.”
“A deal?” I asked, a little unnerved about how easily he dismembered himself.
“Why yes. It would be a simple exchange of services,” Discord explained, “You would do something for me, and in return I can do something for you.”
“Such as?” I asked, getting genuinely curious. Based on what this Discord being has already displayed, it might actually be quite lucrative to work with him.
“That’s really up to you now, isn’t it?” He began, “See I can do many things, and can offer you just as much. Be it wealth, fame, or power, if you want it, you can have it.”
That certainly wasn’t suspicious, not at all, but perhaps this was worth pursuing.
“Okay then, and what would I be doing for you?”
“To quote Celestia,” Discord said, then his face morphed into an incredibly unflattering depiction of her, “'They have the potential to cause untolds amounts of chaos.'” He said in a higher voice, before reverting back, “You need only to do what you did earlier, just make a mess of things from time to time.”
“You’re asking me to willingly provoke a now hostile faction?” I asked,
“For a reward of course,” Discord answered quickly
“Uh-huh,” I said, liking this deal less and less by the moment, “But why me? From what you’ve told me, why can’t you just do it all yourself? Why do you even need my help?” I asked.
“Ah, good question,” Discord said, “It’s simple really, my brand of chaos is known to this world, which makes it easier for those ponies to counteract it, but you, my friend, are different. You aren’t from around here, which makes you so much harder to deal with, oh you should’ve seen the look on Celestia’s face when you pulled that stunt earlier.” He gave a small chuckle.
A tempting offer, but the idea of causing trouble that might result in retaliation from what was quite possibly this world’s only superpower was not high on the list, especially if it was only for a meager reward. Still, I had a few more questions for this Discord fellow.
“And what would legitimize this deal?” I asked.
“Why nothing of course,” Discord answered, “Only the both of our words.”
Major red flag, non legit deals are the types of deals you never take, that’s prospecting 101, but there was still a major problem.
“And should I refuse this deal?” I asked.
Discord’s smile disappeared, “I suppose we would just go our separate ways. Though I would recommend you reconsider.”
Was that a threat? Did this Discord just threaten me for not taking his deal?
Normally something like that would trigger a very aggressive response from most prospectors, myself included, but as of right now, I wasn’t feeling too confident in my ability to try and take him out. So it was probably best not to aggravate him. Still, I didn’t like what his deal entailed.
“Well Mr. Discord-”
“Oh please, Mr. Discord was my father, just call me Discord.” He smiled.
If I could’ve given him a stink eye I would’ve.
“Well Discord…” I repeated, “I’m going to have to decline your proposal, I’d rather play it safe than take an unneeded risk.”
“Shame.” Was all that Discord said, then he snapped his claws.
There was a flash of light, but nothing notable seemed to change.
“Now do be a dear and go mess with those ponies.” Discord commanded, pointing back down the train tracks.
What?
“What?” I asked out loud.
Discord gave me a very confused look, and snapped his claws again. There was another flash of light, but nothing else.
“Spin in a circle,” He tried to command.
“No” Was all I said in return, my uneasiness about him quickly leaving.
His brow furrowed, and he closely inspected his claws, snapping them a few more times.
“Spin,” Discord tried again.
“Still not doing that.”
“What the..?”
“Is everything okay?” I asked, more out of curiosity than actual caring.
“Yeah, it’s just…” Discord said, “This usually works.”
He floated over and tried to place a paw on my tech, but I quickly reversed out of his reach.
“You should probably just go.” I said
Discord turned around, defeated, before a lightbulb literally appeared above his head.
“Wait!” He exclaimed, “If I can’t control you, then I’ll just make more of you!” And he snapped his fingers.
Another flash of light, and an exact copy of my tech sat across from me, unmoving. I wasn’t too worried about it, considering it didn’t appear on the radar, but Discord was looking at it in anticipation.
It moved slightly, then proceeded to fall apart, collapsing in on itself as if it was completely hollow, considering it probably was.
“Oh come on!” Discord shouted
“Please leave.” I reiterated,
“Ugh! Fine!” He exclaimed, and began to slowly walk off.
I paid Discord little mind as he did that, and went back to finishing the communication array, all that I needed to do was set its frequency and activate it, which was easy enough. It did a quick scan, and soon found the satellite… along with something else, something nearby, something that wasn't from any of my things.
I looked back towards Discord, who had stopped mid stride, the mismatched horns on his head vibrating.
“Wait,” He said, “Is that how you communicate?”
Discord turned back around, another lightbulb floating above his head.
“That gives me an idea!” And he snapped his fingers.
In an instant, both my radar and the communications array were overloaded with signals, forcing them to shut down and reboot. That was something I was not expecting.
“What did you do!?” I demanded, a little peeved.
Discord just smiled, “I sent a message.”
“To who?”
“Well, everyone,” He shrugged.
It was then that I realized what exactly Discord had done. He had just sent a ping, on probably all radio frequencies, that was powerful enough to overload any radar or radio. Whoever it passed by would certainly notice, and it wouldn’t take long for people to trace it back to here and investigate.
“Do you realize what you just did?!” I was more than pissed off now.
“Something chaotic I hope,” Discord shrugged again,
Long before any of the Federation arrived, before any environmentalists arrived, before even traders arrived, the corporations and prospectors will, and all they will see here is a quick buck to make. They will gut this place and eradicate anything that stands in their way long before it becomes illegal to do so.
“You just doomed this planet to an endless war until it is stripped completely barren of anything useful and left to die.” I said,
“Wow, ominous much?” Discord said nonchalantly, “I’m just causing a little chaos. Now if you don't mind, I have somewhere else to be.” And he just disappeared.
I was left in a state of shock, I mean what would you do if some mysterious person came up to you and with a snap of his fingers just made your life exponentially harder? I had just lost the leisure of time, that radio wave was not going to stop, and while I probably still had some time before it reached Federation space, it was going to get there eventually.
I needed to pick up the pace, if I didn’t have complete planetary control by the time the first scouts arrived, then I would lose it all. I would need to plan, I would need to build, and I would need to do it fast.
Since that oh so gracious Discord fellow took away my leisure of time, I needed to think of something, and quickly. My goals at the moment are still the same as before, they just needed to be done quicker. Really all I had to do was assemble and launch an entire planetary defense system within a certain amount of time by creating a factory powerful enough to do so using only the resources from a singular planet that I had managed to make an enemy out of, partly.
Something easier said than done.
Yes things are sure looking up for me aren’t they? However there is no use crying over spilt Oleite is there, right now I needed to act.
In order to do all the things I need to do, I would need to upgrade my production, a lot. A single fabricator is usually enough for a single prospector going about their day, not an entire production line. I would need to expand, which brought me to my next problem.
Resources, if I needed a large output, I would need a large input as well, and simply traveling to and from resource locations to pick up what I need was nowhere near enough to satisfy my plans. I would need locomotion, and while I had planned for that with trains, another problem got in the way.
How I would go about doing this. There was no doubt that the ponies wanted to destroy me now, the most recent addition to that club, and even though it was only the Princesses that wanted me gone, they were still a powerful enemy, and they most likely had a lot of influence over what those underneath them did. That meant I would have to keep my encounters with the ponies to a minimum, and to make sure I’m well enough equipped to deal with any altercations.
But that also brought on another problem, the more I encounter ponies, the more they learn about me. That makes them dangerous, and just to make it clear I certainly don’t intend to kill anybody, unless I absolutely need to of course, but that makes it harder for me. Woe is me for actually caring about life.
That meant I was technically dealing with two time constraints, either until the first prospectors arrived here, which by my calculations would take several months, or until the ponies figured out how to effectively deal with me. I would need to be fast, but careful in all of my actions from now on.
Moving on to my actual plan, which was still in its infancy, but should work nonetheless. The design and assembly of the planetary defense system was easy enough. Just a simple array of interceptor satellites that would shoot down anything I told them to. The real difficulty came from procuring the resources and actually launching the satellites.
Both would be incredibly visible, as repeated rocket launches and mining operations tend to be, so I would have to work around that. The first problem was easy enough to fix, simply stockpile resources until I could complete the whole system in one go, I’d rather launch a hundred rockets at once than over the course of months, and once that was done I wouldn’t have to worry much about the ponies finding me anyway, considering I would then have control over the entire planet.
However the second problem wasn’t as easy. Clandestine mining itself was hard, but not impossible, but the actual transportation of the resources was another matter. Since the ponies appeared to control the land, air, and the seas as well I suppose, it would be incredibly hard for me to move things around. Even if my trains were blink and you’ll miss it fast, and my planes flew higher than any living creature could, that didn’t mean they couldn’t be stopped or followed. If I wanted to transport my goods safely and efficiently, I would need to obscure them from view, and what better way to do that, than underground.
Underground railroads would most certainly be the safest way to transport resources, but they came at a cost. Digging tunnels and constructing proper rails took time, a lot of time, time I didn’t have, but perhaps there was something I could do to alleviate that.
I had already bridged the gap between GSO and one company, so why not another?
The Tough Titanic Titanite intensive Techs of Geocorp were experts in all forms of mining and digging, which is something I desperately needed right now, and now that I had access to Titanite, I could afford to branch into the company, provided I could actually obtain said Titanite.
With the moon base and collection satellite already set up, all I needed to do now was build the receiver I had already designed, preferably not right next to my base, for several reasons actually. I knew for a fact it wouldn’t be one hundred percent accurate, meaning chunks of Titanite travelling at terminal velocity could deviate into the surrounding area, not something I wanted nearby. There was also the fact that something falling from orbit was pretty visible, especially at night, which would only bring attention to it, and right now I was trying to lie low.
The best thing I could think to do would be to put the receiver somewhere decently far from everything, so nothing would either notice or get hit. I would then be able to send as much Titanite down as needed, and then go retrieve it. Of course that would mean it would need a transit system as well, but that would take time, and I needed the Titanite now.
For now I’ll just simply fly back and forth, and eventually I will set up a proper transport. First though, I needed to find a place to actually set up the receiver. I wanted it decently far, but not far enough to make it too long of a trip. Then there was the direction, having it be as far away from the pony's capital and subsequently the majority of their military would be nice, but if I were to do that my main base would lay directly in between them, which was not a good idea. I would have to offset the receiver so that should the ponies discover it, they won’t immediately find my main base as well.
That left me with two general directions, North or South of my base. To the North was a more temperate area, while the South led to a much more arid environment that eventually gave way to a desert. An interesting choice, and one that was not easy to make.
The Northern option would be ideal because it was closer to some other resource locations I had scouted out earlier, which gave me the opportunity to create a more efficient transport route sooner. However, given how the ponies lived, at least from what I’ve seen, there would be more settlements in that area, and while I was confident that I could find a decently empty place, the entire area would be more traveled, which meant a greater chance of discovery long term.
The Southern option wasn’t much better, there were still settlements, but I knew there were less overall. It was also close to another resource, Ignite, but that also meant it was closer to the insectoids, an incredibly hostile faction, not to mention the desert sands would make it harder to actually set up an underground railway.
So I could either compile two rare resources into a securer line, with the possibility of incurring the wrath of insectoids, or I could combine the transport lines for several common resources, and risk an early discovery from what was most likely a much more powerful hostile nation.
With it all laid out the choice was clear to me.
Dealing with an infestation was much easier than total war, though the issue with the sand still persisted. I would have to figure out how to effectively tunnel through it, but that was a problem for another time. Right now I need some Titanite.
Unfortunately, the materials required to build the receiver were too much for my current plane to handle, meaning I would have to make multiple trips. That wasn’t too much of a problem, but I would’ve preferred to keep my exposure to a minimum now. Nonetheless, I loaded up what I could, and began the longish first trip to the desert, making sure to fly high and fast.
Almost immediately into my flight, something strange happened, the sun zipped down to the horizon and disappeared, with the moon soon rising up on the other side. However any sense of an accelerated cycle was soon lost as the sun rose once more, equaling the moon in the sky before it dipped back down again, with the moon soon following again.
The display made me nervous, I knew who controlled the sun and moon in this system, and these strange movements were entirely unlike them, which meant something was happening. My first thought was that they were searching for me, however that might work, but their movements didn’t seem to fit any search pattern, they were too fast and…
…Chaotic…
I am now extremely thankful that my encounter with Discord went as well as it did. If he truly was the one causing the rapid movements of the celestial bodies right now, then there was no telling what might have happened if that deal went truly bad.
I was tempted to ground my flight until further notice, but decided otherwise, the rather eye-catching display acted as an excellent distraction, and while I wasn’t sure on how much longer it would last, to not take advantage of it would be foolish. So while the sun and moon continued to move in rapid and random movements, I continued flying towards my destination.
Besides the obvious, the rest of the flight was uneventful, and eventually I made it to the Ignite desert, sadly there was none visible in the immediate area. I spent a few moments looking around for an acceptable landing zone, as well as a zone for the Titanite receiver. Preferably someplace lower, so it would be obscured a bit by the dunes.
After I found a decent enough place, I then searched the surrounding area for any immediate signs of civilization, or signs of the insectoids, thankfully there wasn’t, which meant I could start building. Using what little materials I could bring with my plane, I constructed the base of the receiver, making sure that the anchor blocks penetrated deep enough in the sand. It was far from completion, but the beginnings of it were there, I would have to make several more flights to finish it completely. That was also not much of a problem, and with another quick take off, I was back in the air headed back for more.
The next few flights were just as uneventful as the first, though as I was taking off for what was probably my last flight of the day, the sun and moon stopped, and slowly returned to their natural order, which made me realize just how much time I had spent flying. It was nearly midnight, as opposed to it being about midday when I started. I suppose you can really get desensitized to the passage of time when you don't have an accurate reference, I should really get a clock. Still, I was already in the air with the last of the materials for the receiver, so I may as well finish it in the cover of darkness.
Over the course of the day, the receiver went from a low base nestled in between some dunes, to a decently tall tower that just barely peaked over its natural cover, you would have to stand at the very top of the nearby dunes just to get a glimpse of it, so I was pretty happy with how it turned out.
I still had to test it however, and while I would’ve preferred to do this during the daytime, I needed to make sure it actually worked before I started using it more. For now I would just do a simple test, just one piece of Titanite since I was still trying to lay low, I would send more in the morning, when it would be less visible.
To start, I switched to the tech all the way on the moon base, and loaded a chunk of Titanite into the delivery system. I watched as the motors carefully aligned the cannon with the horizon of the planet, and a few seconds later it fired, the chunk of Titanite skirting off into orbit, towards the collection satellite. Switching to that, I waited for a few moments until the chunk came within detection range. The automated system moved to intercept it, and the chunk was caught in the satellite’s collector.
Its small conveyor system then moved the Titanite chunk to its own cannon, and then its motors aimed it towards the planet below, specifically the desert, and more specifically the receiver platform. I gave it the greenlight, and a moment later the chunk was sent hurtling to the ground, lighting up as it entered the atmosphere.
I then switched back to my plane in the desert and quickly vacated the area. I knew what happened when a tech was struck from orbit, it’s happened to me more times than I care to admit.
When I was a safe enough distance away, I sat and waited,
and waited,
and waited,
Until a light appeared in the sky above. It streaked downwards, directly towards the platform. I watched as the internal array of receivers powered up, and their containment beams shot up just in time to catch the chunk of Titanite. They shined brightly as they slowed down the meteorite, stopping it just above the ground before depositing it into the small storage area.
It worked, a little power intensive, but it worked.
I picked up the first piece of Titanite that I had mined myself since arriving on this planet, and set it in the plane’s collectors. I would definitely be back for more in the daytime, but right now there were a few more things I had to take care of in the meantime.
Starting the plane’s engines, I took off once more in the direction of my base.
With Titanite importation squared away, I could now move on to working with Geocorp, their technology would be essential for all my future operations. Provided I could actually fabricate their fabricator of course.
My previous experience with the fabrication of the Venture fabricator made me cautious. At least a Venture one was of similar size to a GSO fabricator, but a Geocorp one, those things were massive, as was typical for most Geocorp blocks, and that was an issue. GSO fabricators just weren’t designed to handle such loads, and neither were Venture fabricators. I had no idea what might happen if I were to try and force another fabrication.
Perhaps I could do some tinkering, if GSO fabricators weren’t designed to fabricate Geocorp blocks, then I’ll just alter the design. Now actually doing that wasn’t as easy as you would think, fabricators themselves were designed to prevent tinkering, their blueprints were hard locked to prevent any modifications during the fabrication process. Mostly, the fact that I managed to fabricate something from Venture attested to that. Still, the main problems arose from the limitations of the fabricator itself, which meant I had to do something so that the fabrication would actually go through.
An interesting conundrum, but one with a possible work around. If I couldn’t alter the design of the fabricator during its fabrication, then I’ll just alter it afterwards.
That also wasn’t easy, but opening up a few panels was a much better alternative than trying to crack the code to an encrypted schematic. I quickly fabricated a new fabricator, and went about trying to open it up. In the age of techs, accessible designs had long since faded out, meaning I had to tear away the entire back plating of the fabricator just to access it.
Its juicy insides were not all that complicated, though I was in no way an expert. My general understanding combined with my limited manipulation wouldn’t be making this easy either. So with great difficulty, I crossed some wires and removed some limiters, hoping that whatever I was doing would work.
With my bootleg modifications complete, all I needed to do now was to amass the resources necessary to fabricate a Geocorp fabricator. It just needed some Titanite, which was now the easiest to get, some Plumbite, Carbite, and some Rodite.
Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to bring much with me in my rush to escape, not to mention I didn’t have much stored in the first place, so I was missing most of the required materials. Fortunately, I knew several locations where these materials could be harvested, so I could just go out and get some. There was also the fact that the areas weren’t very populated, at least from what I saw, so that was a plus.
I still wasn’t too fond of travelling far just yet, I was in a very vulnerable position, but this endeavor would certainly aid in the matter, so it would be worth it. I geared up the plane for a little mining expedition, and took off.
There was no way for me to make it all in one trip, which was a little disappointing, but it certainly wouldn’t take as long as the receiver did. With that in mind, I began to fly in the direction of the first location, one of the Plumbite fields nearby.
As with most of my flights, it was pretty uneventful, which gave me the time to get a lay of the land, and possibly plan out how I’m going to do things. Along the way to the Plumbite zone, the surface was calm, with rolling hills and plenty of trees and grass. Though it gave no indication of what may lay below, this area certainly seemed like a more easier place to tunnel through.
The same could not be said for the next area. The direct pathway to the Rodite location was a mess. Rock and stone littered the ground, with large boulders peeking through every now and then. This gave a little more inkling as to what the underground consisted of, and while it probably wouldn’t be an issue to drill through, it would take longer, and tunneling through rocks that breached the surface would be a dead giveaway. This would certainly put a hamper on my progress, but for now I just needed to grab the materials.
Collecting the Carbite was much easier, even though the trips were all pretty much the same. The landscape was of the same nature of the Plumbite location, so from up in the sky it was shaping up to be an easy dig, though there was no way for sure to know what lay below the surface yet.
With that in mind, and now that I had the materials necessary, I went about preparing for the fabrication. This time I spared no expense, I made a second extra fabricator just in case things got outrageously destructive. I lined the modified one with a wall of blocks each equipped with a repair bubble and plenty of batteries. I set up the whole thing away from my base as well, making sure to build a secondary wall between them.
Just in case. You never know what might happen.
And so I was ready to fabricate. Loading up all the materials, it didn’t even get halfway through the load before it gave a distress signal. I quickly overrode it, and the next few ingots were packed in. The last one physically couldn’t fit inside, and I was forced to jam it in with an inserter. The fabricator’s storage compartment bulged outwards, but it held.
Then it began fabricating, the assemblers inside processing the insane volume. Slowly of course, it took well over ten minutes for it just to get a third of the way done, and it started slowing down even further partway through. The machine was failing, the storage was overstressed, and the assemblers were wearing down, but with a few bouts of percussive maintenance, it kept on chugging.
Eventually, after nearly an hour of fabricating, it gave the completion signal. And yet, nothing popped out, the Fabricator simply went still.
Now, I’m sure you’ve been taught to never look down the barrel of a gun, especially if it’s jammed or loaded. So the first thing I did was look down the output of the fabricator, it wasn’t like I had to be in front of it to do so. There was something obviously jammed in there, stuck against the walls and refusing to exit the machine.
At least something was there, I just had to get it out and see what it was.
It didn’t budge with any amount of pulling. Even with an Ignite powered inserter, it only served to crimp the edge that was visible. Not wanting to damage it any more, I set about releasing it as opposed to forcing it out.
Did somebody say loop?
I had no way of reliably cutting through the fabricator, and while Geocorp gave me access to plasma cutters, I could not get them without first cutting through the fabricator. I needed Geocorp to access Geocorp, the entire cycle I was trying to break with this workaround.
Whatever, with enough effort I was able to start ‘disassembling’ the fabricator, allowing me more room to work with. The object inside was given a little leeway, but it was still stuck, the frame of the fabricator being the only thing left to hold it.
Oh well, it wasn’t like I was going to use it again anyways. I tore the frame apart, completely compromising the base structure of the fabricator.
That was when it exploded.
Don’t look down the barrel of a gun? Try smashing a bomb with a hammer.
At least it wasn’t a very powerful explosion. Just a simple release of pressure with no combustible materials. It still gave me quite a jolt, but nothing was outright destroyed.
Except the GSO fabricator of course. In the wake of its death, a brand new, heavily damaged, and off color Geocorp fabricator lay on its side. I had done it again.
Take that, corporate seclusion!
I immediately brought the fabricator over to a repair bubble, it barely fit into its radius, but the damage slowly started to mend. I then opened up its menu, redeemed my license, and was met with an array of basic Geocorp blocks. Calibrating it with my mineral findings of this planet so far yielded a multitude of familiar blocks along with quite a few new ones.
Similar to GSO, Geocorp had their own line of motors and pistons. Of course, they were much larger, could move more weight, and provided more torque/force at the cost of moving slower overall. I was also surprised to find they had a brand of inserter. Again, it was much, much larger than a GSO one. Even when folded, it took up a ridiculous amount of space, but it could reach a heck of a lot farther.
It also came with the benefit of transmitting power to the claw.
That being said, it was certainly expensive, but it would be instrumental in any further mining operations. That kind of control would allow me to harvest any material with peak efficiency.
I wanted one immediately.
It took a literal ton of Titanite, and given that the sun was rising on the horizon, I decided it was finally time to gather some more. There were a few other things I needed as well, as I was getting ready to create the ultimate mining machine
In only a few hours, the stockpile of Titanite I had harvested from the moon was now down on the surface at my base. That, along with some other materials I had gathered while waiting allowed me the perfect amount of resources to build something big.
Specifically a tunneling machine.
Now this tech was massive, with a wall of drills up front, several channels to process the raw material, tracks on all sides for guaranteed traction, and all the commodities you could imagine, it was ready for action. I did notice one thing during its construction however, and that was that the only resource I was really lacking in was Fibrewood. It made sense, now that I was in a new area, one that was arid, flat, and most importantly not smack dab in the middle of a forest, it meant that I couldn’t just get more Fibrewood whenever I wanted, and the same went for Rubber Jelly.
Of course I could still travel to go get some, but that meant I had to travel, as there were only a few trees in viewing distance from my base. A worrying thought, but once the underground transport lines were active, it wouldn’t be a problem, and that was about to become a reality.
I took control of the tunneling tech. It was easily the largest one I had built on this planet so far, and looked to hold that record for a good while. Starting up the drills, I prepared to plunge beneath the earth and start digging away. Then I realized one major problem, I still didn’t have a way to angle my drills.
Just kidding.
With but a single thought, the massive bore head shifted downwards, the bottom part of it cleaving into the surface rock. The multitude of tracks started up a moment later, pushing the whole thing forward and further downward. The tech lurched as it cleared the initial bump, but continued slowly yet steadily, a cascade of dirt and broken stone falling out the back.
I had chosen to start digging in the center of the plateau, and you may think that is a silly idea, especially if I was planning on building a base on top. All in due time, as I knew for certain that I couldn’t fit everything I needed for my plans atop the plateau, so what better way to go than down? I was trying to stay hidden after all.
I reached the point where I was level with the plains around my base, and continued downward still, steepening my angle to the point where the tech was almost vertical. I wasn’t just tunneling under the surface, I was tunneling underground, and I intended to go well beneath the bedrock.
Unfortunately, it looked like that wouldn’t be an option for me, as it didn’t take long for my progress to slow. A layer of stronger stone awaited me at the bottom, and while I wanted to go deeper, digging at this level would’ve added weeks of time to this project.
Security or speed, a tough choice.
Hollowing out a small area at the divide, I set up a few supports I had brought with me, then waited for the stream of loose material to pile up from the hole in the ceiling. That was another problem of mine, I would be tunneling through miles of terrain at a time, and all that rock and stone had to go somewhere. I hadn’t really planned for that, but I had a few ideas.
Simply letting it pile up around my base could work for a short while, allowing me to extend the plateau or construct simple defenses. However any excess would quickly become noticeable, especially when I travelled far enough to pull up differently colored stone. Another option was to dump it somewhere out of the way, but the main issue with that was actually transporting it, repeated trips with any land based tech would leave tracks, and the plane was nowhere near efficient enough to be considered an option. Digging a tunnel seemed redundant, but it might be viable in the long term.
For now though, I had space, but not a lot of resources, so it was time to fix that. I angled the drill tech in the general direction of the Plumbite hills I had spotted earlier, and just started drilling.
Compared to flying, drilling was much more boring. It was definitely slower, though the steady march of progress was nothing to scoff at. My main gripe was the lack of visuals, all I got to see was rock passing by, with a trail of rubble at the back. Every once and a while the drill would hit something, whether it be a fault in the stone or a small deposit of resources, I actually managed to gather a fair share of Plumbite and Carbite that way, but it wouldn’t have even put a dent in the total amount I needed.
Thankfully, I had already acquired all the resources necessary for an A.I. Cabin. With a few simple commands it would continue to tunnel at a certain depth while aiming towards a specific point, with a few failsafes just in case. The only problem was that I had to physically set the waypoint, so I quickly flew over with the plane and planted a beacon.
As soon as they connected, the drill tech sent me a ping: a reading of how far it had to go, and how far it had already gone.
467 km : 6 km
Just over an hour of drilling, and not even two percent done. About three days worth of digging just to connect one resource location.
Of course, it wasn’t like I could only use one drill, once this first line was finished, I could set several, if not all of them along their paths. Given its current pace, the entire system could be excavated in under two weeks. That was certainly nothing to scoff at, and was better than any alternative that I could come up with, and once all the proper tracks and train lines were put into place, the whole network could probably supply enough material to complete the planetary defense system in only a few months.
That was only part of the final product however, logistics didn’t mean anything if you weren’t producing anything, and storage is a whole other issue in itself. Though right now I was happy with the progress being made, and though it would take a couple of days to dig the tunnels, I was already planning on what to do next.
For now.
There was no guaranteeing that everything would go to plan, and just looking around the Plumbite area made me worried. It was nearly barren, with only a few shiny rocks glinting in the sunlight. If I was operating like I was in the forest, then I wouldn’t even give this place a second glance, but these rocks didn’t just fall from the sky, the real money was hidden down below, and that was something I could get full access to now.
It was hard to gauge exactly how much Plumbite - or any resource for that matter - was waiting underground, but simple surface deposits meant there was more to harvest.
On a lighter note, there was a decently sized forest nearby, and while it didn’t have the massive trees of the last one, it would certainly provide the resources I needed for now.
There was also a road. Albeit a dirt one that was heavily overgrown and almost washed away, but a road nonetheless. I had mapped out the area beforehand, and there was a town a sizable distance away, but the road lined up with it, which meant there was a chance that ponies would come down it. It didn’t lead directly toward my future mine, but it was close enough that it would be within proximity to any more noticeable operations.
I would have to be careful with how I do things in this area.
Thankfully, the other areas were in the clear, with the only other issue being that Canterlot itself was visible from the Oleite fields. It was only a speck in the distance, and due to its position on the mountain it was partially facing away, but if I built anything large there it would be within view.
That was unfortunate, as when the tunnels got here I would have to keep most of the work subsurface, and refrain from constructing anything larger than a small outpost up top. Envisioning it, I could tell it wouldn’t pose much of an issue. Autominers existed because most techs didn’t work under the ground. They were developed to efficiently access any underground reservoirs of resources. Since I would already be approaching from the underground, I could probably access the reservoir much easier, I just had to be careful not to flood my tunnels with Oleite.
I marked a spot a fair distance from the Oleite for the next beacon, then checked the progress on the drill.
466 km : 7 km
Great, looks like I was going to be waiting for a bit again. At least I had some things to do in the meantime.
Arriving back with a small load of Plumbite, I sought about planning the layout of my future base. Currently, most of my things were in a pile at the top of the plateau, which would quickly have to change if I wanted to make anything fast. I left my fabrication station and storage where they were, but moved the satellite dish to the edge so it wouldn’t get as much interference.
Then, I just took all of my spare blocks and organized them off to the side. Extra wheels, structure, lights, batteries, bubbles, and generators were separated out and strung together. All that was left was my Luxite Growing Chambers, which I quickly planted out the back of my base. There was plenty of space, plenty of soil, and plenty of sunlight. Mineral content was up for debate though, so I would have to monitor the crystal’s growth throughout the week. Then came the problem of visibility, as the chambers acted as mini spotlights in the dark, and while I had already devised a method of fixing this; simply covering them up at night, it was a repetitive task that I didn’t want to do.
You know what’s really good at repetitive tasks?
With the simple attachments of some motors to the chambers, they would all automatically close when it got too dark. The only thing left to implement was the A.I. to control it, just a simple daylight sensor would suffice. Gathering up the resources to make one, I noticed a distinct lack of Erudite in my storage.
Oh.
Oh no.
I didn’t have any spare cabins, and without Erudite I wouldn’t be able to make any more anytime soon. All that I had left was the plane and the drill, with all the other habitable ones being either frozen in ice, high in orbit, or on the surface of the moon. If both of my viable ones were destroyed then guess what?
Game over.
I needed more Erudite. Now.
Luckily, I had already devised a method of acquiring a great deal of it, so loading up some extra Luxite in the plane, I prepared to travel back to the underground dogs to trade. Unluckily, they resided extremely close to both Canterlot and the forest I had lived in before. That area was for sure going to be extremely hot, and if I was spotted at all, then it wouldn’t take long for a scuffle to occur.
Which may or may not result in the destruction of another cabin.
Unfortunately, I had yet to spot another source of Erudite in all my travels, and based on how the first source was formed, I hazarded a guess that the crystals sparsely breached the surface on this planet. I wouldn’t find any by flying, that was for sure.
It was always possible that the drill would find some, but that was risky. It was like waiting while teetering over the edge of a cliff, just begging for whoever saw me to give me a push. That didn’t mean the other option wasn’t risky, probably even moreso, but if I was successful then I wouldn’t have to worry as much about risks in the future.
I wasn’t just going to go in willy nilly though, I needed a plan of action.
Time for some reconnaissance.
At its current status, my plane could maintain a pretty high altitude, enough to the point where it would hardly be visible from the ground, especially if the sun was above it. The same went in reverse however, as everything on the ground would look like a speck. Since I didn’t have the resources necessary for advanced optics, I was only going to get a rough estimate of any area I was flying over.
Speaking of, my old base was clearly visible in the middle of the forest. A large patch of green grass had overtaken the area I had cleared out, and though I had only been gone for a day or two at most, it looked like most of my tire tracks were fading away. Countless specks of varying color littered in and around the ravine. Most of them were shiny yellow, the same color as the pony guards’ armor.
That area was secure, and was a no go.
There were a few grey spots as well, each angular and uniform. Pieces were being carried out into the field by soldiers. They were taking apart what remained of my base. They wouldn’t find much though, I had taken everything of use, and left only walls, floors, and the small amount of bits that was left after I cashed out on Titanite. The money didn’t concern me, I doubted I would’ve found a good use for it after becoming an enemy of the state anyway.
Tracing the pathways through the trees, I couldn’t see Zecora’s house at the end. It was a tree amongst trees however, I wouldn’t be able to spot it from above. It was a little worrying to have no indication on where she was though.
Moving on, the small pony town near the forest came into view. I never learned the name of it, but I knew Twilight and that Rarity pony resided there. There were also quite a few guards permeating the streets, patrolling regularly and keeping watch. I wouldn’t have gone in even if they weren’t there.
So I continued, reaching the air above the Erudite zone. Countless mounds of dirt dotted the once flat land, just as it was when I left, but there was no further development. That made sense, being a subterranean race, the dogs would leave little trace above ground. However, I could still see the larger hole that I had created by accident a while back, and it looked like there was no attempt to fill it in. That was more worrying.
I doubled back in the air several times. Watching, waiting. The town and forest were abuzz with activity, but the Erudite fields were relatively calm. There was a small amount of tree cover off to the side, but no obvious signs of pony presence.
It looked clear, but I wouldn’t know for sure until I actually landed.
Any approach from the air would be incredibly visible, so I was forced to take a more level approach. Banking way over to the side, I landed a fair distance away from everything in a small field. I kept the engines running the entire time though, I was not going to get caught out without an escape plan.
The immediate area was silent, so I began creeping through the field. A line of trees awaited at the end of it, and I stopped just in front of them. There was another clearing to get through before the Erudite zone, and it also looked empty. I was blocked by the trees however, and since flying over wasn’t an option, I rearranged my tech.
Folding the wings up on top, I slipped through the gap. It was not a decision made lightly. I could no longer fly as soon as things turned sour, and would be forced to confront any obstruction before making a getaway. I contemplated undoing the action in the next clearing, but I would have to repeat it again anyway to get through the next divide. It was clear enough, and I didn't want to spend any more time in the open with a larger profile. I quickly zipped across the field.
Once I was on the other side, I could see the Erudite area much better. The piles of dirt had long since settled, becoming simple mounds that broke up the flat ground. The treeline that partially wrapped around was thankfully empty, especially because I was now in it. Towards the center I could see my 'entrance' to the cave system below, but from my current angle there wasn’t much else visible.
I carefully crept out of the treeline and into the open field. There were no ponies here now, but that didn’t mean there won’t be in the future. I shouldn’t linger.
Rolling up to the large hole in the ground, I could see that a bit more of it had collapsed in my time away. The softer topsoil had flowed inwards, smoothing down the walls and leaving a deep layer of muck at the bottom; there was a small puddle of stagnant water in the middle.
Funnily enough, there was a chunk of Erudite visible in the mud, but I couldn’t just fly away with just one piece. Looking inwards, I could see that the rest of the tunnel was at least filled in, meaning this hole was no longer an entrance.
Good, I knew where their actual entrance was.
Retreating back to the treeline, I drove up to a small hill nearby. Larger stones stuck out of the earth, giving the area a more rugged appearance. I assumed it was designed that way, as weaving between them revealed another hole in the ground, this one at a much shallower angle.
New problem, no matter which way I attached my wings to my tech, they wouldn’t fit in the tunnel. In fact, the plane as a whole wouldn’t be able to fit without downsizing first. That would leave me extremely vulnerable, but I desperately needed that Erudite.
Shedding off a few blocks, I carefully set down the wings and extra girth off to the side. Since they were flat on the ground, they would be much less visible thanks to the obscuring stone, but that didn’t mean they couldn’t be found.
I would have to be quick.
The Luxite I was carrying acted as an excellent light source, illuminating the tunnels in front of me to the point where I didn’t need to use my cabin’s lights. They twisted and turned and diverged, but I sparsely remembered the right path. It certainly helped that some of my tire tracks were still visible.
The tunnels were quiet, the air was still, and there was a general lack of activity. Where there had once been a brand new 'mining operation' in the past now looked like a ghost town. I would pass an abandoned minecart every once and a while, and every so often I would see a pile of discarded tools. I expected to see one of the dogs by now, but there was simply nothing.
Eventually, I made it to the almost throne room from before. The pillars were now barren, with unlit torches and empty sockets where gems were once embedded. The furniture from before remained where it was, though the bed looked a bit more unkempt than it was before.
A faint flicker of light shined through one of the corridors.
I don’t know what I felt at that moment. Could it be relief? Worry? Dread? A mix of all of them?
As quietly as I could, I rolled up to the entrance, making sure the light from my Luxite wouldn’t shine through. Manipulating my view around the corner, I saw a dimly lit room, with several dogs just sitting around a table.
No, they were not playing poker.
They were simply sitting, and not much more than that. I recognized two of them, they both wore jackets like the alpha, who was currently not present. They all just sat, hanging their heads with some even slumped over the table.
They weren’t dead either, I could tell that much.
“Knock knock.” I had the speaker say, interrupting the somber atmosphere.
They all tensed, several drawing spears as they jumped from the table. Barks and yips filled the halls, and I quickly backed away as dogs flooded out of the room. They quickly surrounded me, preventing any easy escape. One of the more prominent members stood at my front, an actual sword in his grip. He was scowling, which quickly turned to a look of confusion as he tilted his head.
“It you again…”
“Hello.” I put on as cheery a tone as I could manage, “I’m back.”
There was some growling from the others.
“Why you here?!” The ‘beta’ demanded,
“To trade hopefully,” I answered, “But now that I’m here. What happened?”
The beta squinted at me, glancing at the Luxite in my collectors. He lowered his weapon ever so slightly.
“You actually trade…” He said in disbelief,
“Again, hoping to, but what happened here? Everything seems… less.”
The dog frowned, “Ponies come. Take alpha. Want to know about…” His eyes widened, “About you.”
“Oh.” So that’s how it is.
“They say, ‘If we have nothing to hide, we have nothing to worry about.’ but alpha been gone almost two days now!”
“I see.” I began, looking for some way to explain this, “Well I am sorry for any undue stress I might have caused, but the ponies do not like me, and if you associate with me, then you might find it hard to stay in their good graces.”
“Bah!” The beta exclaimed, “Ponies already bad. Take many gems. No like.”
The ponies had taken their gems? That wasn’t good, for either of us.
“Do you still wish to trade?” I tentatively asked,
The dog turned to murmur with another, and the rest began to slowly lower their weapons.
“Yes. Want Sunstone. Alpha will be pleased.”
‘If he comes back.’ I thought to myself, “Good, then do you have any of that green gem, Earth Jade?”
“Yes, yes. Ponies only take so much, we still have some.”
“Then I will take as much as you can give me.”
The beta barked at some of the dogs, and they rushed back into the side room. A couple of moments later they came back out, several armfuls of Erudite in their grasp. It was quite the impressive haul, especially for creatures of their size. I could almost fill up all of my collectors with that much.
“That is satisfactory, thank you.” I pulled the Luxite out of my collectors and set it in a pile in front of the beta. “I will be back for more in the future. Don’t tell the ponies how you got this.”
The dog took a moment to tear his gaze away from the jewels, then he zipped his lips and smiled. The other dogs hastily grabbed their spoils, taking the glowing crystals deeper into the cave. I hoovered up the Erudite, leaving just one space free in my collectors. Five Luxite chunks for fourteen Erudite ones, I liked those numbers.
“Do you still have that diamond?” I asked,
The beta nodded, “Ponies want, we no give. You want?”
“Later,” I said. I didn’t have any more Luxite to trade with, “Oh, and one more thing.”
They all tilted their heads.
“If you ever move to a new location, give me some indication as to where you go. I would like to trade more in the future, especially this Earth Jade.”
The beta thought for a moment, “Yes, yes. We leave… directions.”
“Good, now I must leave. I can’t stay here, and I’m sure you know why.”
“Ponies.” The dog said with a snort.
“Correct.”
I then turned to leave, the rest of the dogs readily letting me through. What was once a drab cave turned a bit brighter, even after the Luxite was gone. I was glad that the transaction went so smoothly, and so quickly. Without those dogs, the only method I had of getting Erudite wasn’t very effective, nor was it very stealthy. I don’t know what I would have done if I was on my own.
They were still dangerously close to the ponies however, maybe I should’ve hinted more at having them move. The only problem was then they wouldn’t be near the only source of Erudite I knew of. Perhaps I should ask them how to find it next time I trade with them.
Meeting the open air once more, I drove out of the hole in the ground. My things were right where I left them, and with one space left in my collectors, I was longing for that piece I had seen earlier.
Looking back onto the field, I froze.
There were ponies there.
I actually recognized two of them. Twilight and Rarity, along with a whole contingent of guards. Surprise surprise, the dog alpha was also with them, though he was hanging his head.
They hovered around the large hole in the ground, inspecting it. I immediately rolled back down the shallow slope and back underground, only to shoot back out again. The rest of my belongings were right there, and since I couldn’t fit them in the hole, I had to hide them somewhere else.
I practically threw them into the treeline, the foliage doing an okay job at obscuring them. It would have to do, at least they weren’t right at the entrance. Slinking back down the hole, I reversed into one of the many alcoves around the entrance. Then I shut off the lights in my cabin and waited in the dark.
A distant murmuring reached my sensors, and it quickly drew closer. Footsteps came not long after, and the light shining through the hole flickered as several things moved in front of it.
“This way…” I heard the alpha dog mutter,
I inched back as far as I could, my back wheels beginning to ride up the wall.
“Why are there tracks here?” A gruff voice demanded,
“It is entrance, why wouldn’t there be tracks?”
“Wheel tracks, mutt. Why are there wheel tracks?”
“Ponies take carts out not long ago.”
“These don’t look like ordinary cart tracks.”
There was a mix between a grumble and a growl.
“I told you machine already left. It only come through here once. It not come back.”
They finally entered my view, the alpha leading the ponies into the cave. Twilight and Rarity were still among them, but they were surrounded by the guards. They squinted in the dark, but they didn’t immediately do anything to provide any light. The alpha was not squinting, which made sense, he would have better vision in the dark. This was made evident when his eyes landed on my tech.
He made an expression that I didn’t think a dog could make.
I didn’t have a way to gesture to him, I could only hope he didn’t mention me. He just stared at me with wide eyes as they passed, the ponies not even noticing my presence.
Crisis averted. For now.
I waited a good few moments before driving back out. I then made sure to retrace my tracks as best I could to prevent any more suspicion, and then I recovered my parts from the tree line. In under a minute I was already flying away as fast as I could, gaining as much height as possible without stalling the engines.
That was close.
At least I had my Erudite, and I got to keep a trading partner. The dogs didn’t seem eager to side with the ponies, and neither did the alpha, so I wasn’t too worried about them selling me out. The only problem was continued interaction. With them so close to the ponies, I would have to enter the danger zone any time I needed more Erudite. I would have to do something about that in the future, even if things calmed down.
Perhaps I could just tunnel straight to their home.
The plane’s engines buzzed as I landed back on the plateau. The sun was setting, which meant I needed to implement the daylight sensor sooner rather than later. It also meant that I couldn’t send down any more Titanite, which was unfortunate. That didn’t leave me with much to do during the night.
I checked the progress on the drill.
355 km : 118 km
It was on a good schedule, and there wasn’t much I could do to speed it up anyways. Setting the Erudite in its storage, I quickly finished upgrading the Luxite Growing Chambers. As soon as the A.I. was plugged in, they all closed in unison. Good to know that it works.
And so I was left to my own devices. I didn’t have enough resources to develop the base any more, and since the drill was doing its own thing I couldn’t excavate any space underneath effectively. My thoughts went towards alleviating that.
Once the drill made it to the Plumbite area, it didn’t mean I would just have Plumbite to work with, I still needed to mine it and transport it. The drill tech could mine it well enough, but before I could move any resources I had to clear the tunnels of their excess. I could probably get most of it out at my base, where I would have some use for it, but any more would have to be put elsewhere. The drill could also fix that.
Then came the tracks for the trains. The materials would have to be transported first, but that was easily done with a few cargo techs running through the tunnels. Once that was done I could branch out to the other resources, with each passing day sending down more and more Titanite. When everything was good and done, I could start producing, I only needed the capabilities to do so.
There it was, that was what I could work on.
In order to create a factory powerful enough to control the planet, I first needed a factory powerful enough to build it, and a factory powerful enough to build that one and so on and so forth. It all started with the few manufacturing blocks I had at my base. With just a select few fabricators, a component factory, and a single mobile refinery, I needed an upgrade.
To do that however, I needed resources. It would take time to tunnel to every source, but I didn’t need ridiculous income just to reach the next level of production. If I wanted to do this fast, then I would need to multitask. I needed anything and everything, so while the drill kept on drilling away, I took the plane to go and gather some things.
It was dark, it being night and all, and I was neutral to that fact. The bonus was that it made things harder to see, which meant a lower chance at being spotted. Most individuals didn’t work through the night either, which meant I could afford to be a bit more obvious. The downside was that it made things harder to see, and I would be forced to either work through the dark, or light it up, something that would be incredibly visible from almost any distance. With less activity overall though, there was less of a chance of that coming into play to begin with.
Like I said, neutral.
The first on the list was Plumbite. It was very common, which meant I needed a lot of it. Several trips with the plane filled my stockpile, though the surface deposits were quickly dwindling. Next up was Cuprite, which was also pretty common, though it was more specialized in its uses, I only made one trip for it.
The next few resources came easily enough, and with a few tonnes of materials in my storage, I was looking to begin production. First came a line of refineries; I needed some way to process the raw materials I was bringing in, and a single mobile refinery with reduced efficiency wouldn’t cut it. Next up was a few component factories, where the refined materials would then be processed into more complex items. These complex items would then be forwarded to my fabricators, which would take them and any other resources they may need to create the components of my factory.
The whole setup was a very common design, any prospector with even a single hint of knowledge would know how to build one of these. Though you would be surprised at how many don’t even have that. Onto the design though, the whole system was a closed loop, with the only input being resources and the only output being finished blocks. Everything else was enclosed within, including refining, storage, and fabrication, any excess or mistakes in the assembly line would just be funneled back around into storage again.
That is where a glaring issue made itself known.
Logistics. Normally, factories such as these used an excessive amount of conveyors. Conveyors were made with Luxite. I didn’t have a lot of Luxite, and I wouldn’t have a lot to work with in the near future either. That was going to be a problem, besides large scale transport with trains, anything smaller would require the use of conveyors. At the size and scale I was planning, it just simply wouldn’t work out, the sheer amount of space I would need to produce enough Luxite fast enough would just be too expensive, not to mention visibility.
That meant I had to devise another method of moving resources from point A to point B.
But how?
The only other method I had of moving materials automatically was with inserters, and while they could move stuff over short distances well enough, they were nowhere near long enough to span an entire factory. Chaining them together might work, but the insane resource cost of doing so would not be worth it. I needed something simple and cheap.
I could not tell you how long I scoured the fabrication list. It was one of those things where no matter what criteria or option you chose, it was always the same answer; conveyors or nothing. I even opened up the blueprint just to see if there was anything I could do to negate the cost.
A whole lot of nothing.
Except for the version history.
I was hesitant to look at the changelog, most current versions were top of the line, the most efficient and cost effective designs possible while still fulfilling the same purpose, anything before that would just be subpar. With little other options though, I opened it up, and was immediately proved right.
The previous version of the conveyor costed twice as much Luxite, and it even needed some Plumbite to hold together. The next one was even worse, it incorporated some Erudite into the design, and required an obscene amount of Fibrewood and Rubber to create, making it much bulkier in the process. The next few iterations were just less refined versions of the same thing, somehow packing on even more resources as it became less developed.
This was going nowhere.
On a whim, I flipped to the next version, totalling almost three hundred years in the past. The Luxite cost actually went down a peg, and that caught my attention. Looking closer, this design was actually an entirely different model than the current conveyor. Some of the other material costs were flipped as well, with Erudite being phased out completely with the addition of some Cuprite wiring.
Hold on a minute, this might actually go somewhere.
Cycling back a little more, the conveyor design changed even more. Physical belts replaced movement fields, driven by mechanical movement that could be linked together and rotated in almost any direction on a single plane. It still used a decent amount of Plumbite and Cuprite, but there was no Luxite at all within the design.
The design was far from perfect, as the conveyor had many flaws. For one, it had lost almost all sense of verticality, with the only way to move things up and down being on a gentle slope. It hardly had any structure, and needed additional supports if it wasn’t placed directly on the ground. Since it had physical belts though, it could actually move quite fast, but that brought another issue.
It wouldn’t be able to handle more hazardous materials without quickly degrading, and liquids or other loose resources would be out of the question entirely. I would have to use something else for them.
Fabricating a few, I created a simple loop of conveyors, hoping to test out any more nuances that weren’t immediately obvious. One thing that I quickly noticed was that they had a lot of surface area, and could actually hold more of a resource than a modern conveyor. Without the complexities of movement fields however, they could not handle overflow in the slightest, with any excess either clogging the line or falling off completely. They lacked any sort of intelligence either, meaning they couldn’t communicate with each other or know when to stop; the belt would just dump resources off the end until it either ran out or backed up, resulting in even more of a mess.
It made sense, these things were outrageously simple, and I would have to work around that. They would function more as pieces of a larger machine than as modular components. That revealed even more problems. The conveyor belts could not interface directly with any of the other machines, that included the silos and the receiver.
Luckily, this issue was easily solved with the implementation of inserters, they were smart enough to make up for some of the conveyor belts’ failings. They could pick up resources to and from the belts, placing them into any inputs or storages necessary. They could count too, meaning there wouldn’t have to be any guesswork when fabricating blocks, which decreased the chance of any mistakes happening in the process.
That left just one more issue: Liquids.
Modern conveyors were universal in what they transported, these ones were not. They could not physically transport fluids, but following that same philosophy, there was another method I could try.
Pipes.
They were even more simple, just tubes that allowed the flow of liquids in either direction. Actually controlling that flow was a bit more difficult, but the blueprints for pumps and junctions were readily available in the list. There was just one problem. Like the conveyor belts, they also couldn’t interface with the silos, or the inserters. It wasn’t like it could just grab an orb of suspended liquid anyway.
Thankfully I had already devised a solution to this problem thanks to my lack of storage options in the past. By simply attaching the pipes to a larger reservoir or tank of the resource, it would work well enough as a separate system.
I quickly redesigned the fabrication station to incorporate these new restrictions. The closed loop remained, for its purpose wasn’t affected by the conveyors themselves, and by supplementing them with pipes, it could handle all of the resources I had access to. I was a little wary of Rodite however, seeing as how it was incredibly corrosive in both its refined and unrefined forms, so just to be safe, I surrounded the whole system in repair bubbles.
Giving it a few test runs revealed a much more animated process with much more moving parts, but it was overall fine. Good speed, okay handling, and less than ideal size, but it would suffice for my current needs.
It was kind of funny, in an effort to upgrade, I had somehow downgraded in the process. It was necessary however, these belts, inserters, and pipes would become the very foundation of my factories from here on out. Of course that would all change when things went automatic, but that was a quest for another time, because I now had to figure out just what to do with thousands of cubic meters of loose stone and rock.
The drill was almost done with its first leg, which meant I had to deal with properly outfitting the tunnels it created. It all started with clearing them out, a seemingly endless line of rubble to pick up and funnel out.
No time like the present. I had assembled a rather large cleaner tech, which would automatically scoop up a set amount of loose rock and compact it into a more manageable cube. These cubes could then be loaded up and transported back to the entrance of the tunnel, where they could then be lifted out once I constructed an elevator.
That was all besides the point however, as I still needed somewhere to put all that material once I got it out. The initial plan was to fortify the base with it, but I needed something a bit more practical than just piling loose stone around. If I wanted to construct sturdy foundations and walls with what I had, then I needed a binding agent.
Rodite to the rescue! Because of its acidic properties, it would chew through the rock I mixed it with, forming a slurry that would quickly set once it was diluted with water and evaporated. Then it could be reinforced on its own to form complex yet tough shapes, or it could be used to effectively glue larger rocks together to form a larger piece.
It was a type of cement, which is why Rodite was so sought after besides its use in electronics. It was a fast acting construction material that could reliably be assembled on the go.
Problem, I didn’t have the equipment necessary to process the cement. The reason? Rodite Cement was typically used as a permanent construction material. Techs were anything but permanent, therefore they didn’t have a use for it, and therefore the designs weren’t standard for the companies.
No matter, I could create my own large scale mixer on my own, the only problem was the recipe. There were different ratios for different strengths of cement, ranging from smoother, finishing cement to stronger, foundation type cement. I was no architect, and neither were any of the cement recipes available to me. I would have to do some testing before I started any major construction.
Setting up several small batches, I prepared to start mixing, but first I actually needed the ingredients. Now was the time to build an elevator.
Starting with a solid frame, four pillars rose from the bottom of the tunnel, just barely fitting into the slight spiral I had carved out. Support came next, making sure the whole thing was rigid and secure, able to handle some of the heaviest loads. Then I added some custom tracks in which a carriage could traverse. The whole thing was driven internally, and using some designs from Geocorp, it could lift as much weight as I could reasonably pack on, albeit at a slower pace.
It was smaller than I would have liked, being able to carry only three or four stone cubes at a time, and that was because it was restricted by the stone around it. When the drill returned however, I could expand as much as necessary, but it worked well enough for now.
Now I just needed water.
I was in an arid shrubland. There were no nearby bodies of water. That was going to be an issue.
Sure the plane could hold some, collectors were capable of holding water after all, but it was an issue of volume. Collectors could only hold so much, certainly not as much as a tank of equal size, but they were effectively weightless, which made them great for travel. I needed a lot of water, and as far as I could tell, a single load from the plane would only be enough for one or two small batches of cement.
I would need a better option if I wanted to construct anything larger, namely, my base.
This was quickly proving to be an interesting conundrum, and I debated on whether or not it was worth pursuing. It was using up excess resources that I didn’t have another use for, but the difficulties of actually doing so were becoming more and more expensive. If I did do it, then I would have ready-made infrastructure for any future projects at the cost of complicated setups and increased visibility. However if I didn’t do it, then I would have to resort to constructing my bases purely out of materials desperately needed elsewhere, delaying my goals even further.
I started drafting up plans for a few solutions. One, I could construct a pipeline to the nearest water source, it would have to be set underground of course, and that required more drilling. Two, I could dig down to the aquifer of the region and work from there, also more drilling. Three, I could hope the drill hits a higher water table, and be able to pump it back to base along with the other resources.
Switching to the drill, all I could see was darker stone, which was only slightly damp. I wouldn’t find enough here either. I switched back to the plane, watching as the sun started to rise. All the other viable options required more digging, and since the drill was occupied with its own thing, I would have to wait until it finished before clearing out the tunnels.
That was going to be a problem. Every time the drill passes through an area, the stone it had previously excavated would become less and less manageable, making it more difficult to deal with in the long run. It would have to go over the rock once to get back to base to dig a well, twice to begin drilling another tunnel, then who knows how many more times as more drills were constructed and sent on their way.
Wait a minute, it was daytime! I could send down more Titanite! I wouldn’t have to wait for the drill when I could just make another one!
I immediately switched up to the moonbase, peeling out of it with the rover and beelining straight towards the nearest seam of Titanite. I rammed into the rock with my drill, practically exploding it as dust and ore were sent flying. The collectors snapped into action, picking up the succulent Titanite for me to bring back. I only needed to harvest two seams to fill the rover, and I raced back to the base to unload it before going back out for more.
In only a few minutes the silo was filled again, and a moment later it was firing Titanite off into orbit for collection. The whole process from moon to satellite to ground only took about fifteen minutes per chunk of Titanite, and since they could overlap, I could unload an entire silo’s worth in under two hours. Collection and transport were a different story, I had to make quite a few trips with the plane to move everything over, but that just meant I had Titanite to work with.
First things first, another drill tech. This one was a bit smaller, which made it capable of traversing the denser rock faster, it wouldn’t take long for it to reach the water table, and then I could construct a well. I sent it on its way. Next up was a simple excavating tech, it would be able to effectively hollow out the ground underneath the base, making sure to add any supports when necessary. That kind of space would allow me to move my storages underground, reducing visibility.
Finally, I made some guns. Now that I had the materials, I could arm my techs with more than just a single rifle or laser. I could also phase out some of my more expensive weapons with an abundance of cheaper alternatives. I could even outfit my base with proper defenses, and have an A.I. be able to actually retaliate against any incoming attacks.
They were still cheap alternatives though, and were nowhere near up to snuff against anything larger than my techs. I was dreading the return of that dragon I had managed to piss off. It wasn’t my fault those ponies intervened, and now I no longer resided in their protective radius. I just hope it didn’t notice that just yet.
The guns were also vulnerable to being rushed down. They didn’t have good range, and at the moment they were few and far between. I could think of several things that could exploit that, mainly insectoids, but the threat of the ponies was ever present. They had an organized military, something I would have to be mindful of when beefing up my defenses.
Ding
The small drill had hit water. After only a few minutes of digging, I was surprised it didn’t hit an aquifer sooner. Moving down to see, I had it reverse out of the hole it had dug, pushing up a small hill of gravel in the process. Once it was out, and the area around it was clear, I constructed the base of the well, giving it a solid foundation with a large pump. I then fabricated some Plumbite cable, and winding it around a motor created a winch in which to lower the pipe down.
Once it reached the bottom I pushed it further, penetrating the rock and securing it tightly in place. It was then sealed, and flicking the pump on didn’t immediately make it explode or implode, which was probably a good sign. It took a few seconds, but eventually murky water started gushing out the end, and I quickly shut everything off.
It worked, for how long I didn’t know, but it worked.
I hooked up the pump to a large tank, setting it to slowly fill as I extended a pipeline back up to the surface. The first load of rock and stone arrived not long after, and from there I went about pulverizing it and loading it up into some mixers. I started with drastic ratios, ranging from nearly equal parts Rodite and rock to almost no Rodite in the mix.
The results went about as well as you would expect, the saturated solution fully dissolved the rock, forming a thin slurry that required an absurd amount of water to set. It formed a very fine block, with easy to smooth surfaces and an easy pour. It was not very strong however, with even the slightest bit of pressure causing it to crack and chip.
The unsaturated solution also wasn’t viable, with large chunks of undissolved rock permeating the mix. It didn’t take as much water to set, but the finished block was full of deformities, crumbling to dust in some places while fracturing in others.
The middle test worked the best, with a higher strength overall, it could handle more pressure while remaining uniform in texture. It retained some viscosity however, making it harder to work with, and it still couldn’t match the limits I needed. More testing would be required.
The next round performed even better, with the data leading to a relatively cost effective mixture. Eventually, I landed upon a good mix. With a five to one ratio of rock to Rodite, it was pliable enough to work with, and strong enough not to falter under adequate pressure. Once it was mixed with a congregate and reinforced, I could use it to construct some of the toughest fortifications for my base.
I assembled another tech, this one with a large tank connected to several motors on the back. It spun continuously, keeping the Rodite concrete mix constantly moving as it was transported. When it arrived at its destination, the tank could be tilted back, and promptly poured into whatever form was desired.
It, along with the small drill, began circling around the plateau, filling out the first layer of many all the while putting a dent in my obscenely large stockpile of stone. Though it put a drain on my Rodite collection, it was easily replenishable with another trip from the plane.
I checked the large drill again.
36 km : 437 km
Looks like I would be digging some more soon, I switched back up to the moonbase to begin harvesting more Titanite.
As fun as it was to drive around the moon, I realized how quickly it would get boring in the long run, and began to regret not bringing a harvester A.I. to do the work for me. I would have to send one up the next time I could, but that was for when I could launch a rocket without immediately being found out. The demand has yet to meet the supply though, so as long as I kept my silos full on the surface I would be fine.
The next load of Titanite was launched into orbit, and while I still had time I began restocking the moonbase, finally clearing out a small perimeter around it. Once that was done, I switched back to the plane and took off to go collect my spoils.
Ding
The drill was finished, it had arrived at the Plumbite resource location. Fantastic, once I returned with the Titanite, I could begin work on expanding even more.
The repeated trips with the plane were also rapidly getting dull, there was only so many times you could see the same landscape pass underneath over and over without getting bored. I would probably be working on the Titanite tunnel first.
It was just turning evening when I returned with the last of the Titanite, and by that time a fair bit of the Plumbite line had been cleared away. Most of the stone was simply off to the side in cubes, but a good chunk of it had been used in the construction of the base. Speaking of, the foundation was done, and while I had plenty of Rodite Cement left to use, it wouldn’t perform very well above ground, it needed reinforcements first.
Fabricating a bunch of Plumbite bars, I had another automated tech set out planting them in the foundation, with another constructing temporary walls around them. They would then be filled with concrete, and since they were done in sections, all the construction techs could work in unison, planting, walling, and filling, gradually building up the next layer of my base.
Things were looking good, but with all this automation, my Erudite stock was already quickly depleting. I had blown through more than half of it in just a few days, and while I was sitting pretty where I was now, I was going to need a lot more in the future. I doubted I could get more from the dogs right now either, as while they had a decent amount of it when I traded, they probably didn’t mine as fast as I would.
I would give them a week or two to replenish, but in the meantime, I halved what was left of my Erudite again to construct two more drills. Luckily I could cannibalize parts from some of my more obsolete techs, but even with that I could only afford the two.
Nevertheless, I flew out to the other resource locations, marking the Oleite one, then Rodite, and finally the Titanite receiver. Unfortunately, I had to backtrack the first drill over some usable stone, but I was confident I would have more than enough to finish the first part of the base, and would soon need somewhere else to put it. That could wait however, as once the drills were in position, they set off, tunneling through the earth once more.
1053 km : 2 km for Titanite. 568 km : 1 km for Rodite. 331 km : 1 km for Oleite.
Only the Titanite measurement accounted for how far the drill actually was from the base, as both the Rodite and Oleite drills were branching off of the Plumbite line. Oleite was by far the closest, sitting a bit Southeast of the Plumbite hills, the fields were about the same distance from my base, and as such the tunnels branched off early. Rodite was a bit more Northern, requiring a later offshoot and a lot more tunneling, but once they were all completed they could be roped into a single transport line. Titanite was almost directly South, and as such the drill had quite the distance to cross to get there.
Each drill had their own set of special instructions too. For Rodite, it would be crossing under a rather large river, so in order to avoid any flooding, it would stop when the liquid content underground reached a certain threshold. The Titanite drill was ordered to stop once it hit softer rock or sandstone. At the intensity they were working at, there was a considerable risk of a collapse, something I definitely couldn’t afford to deal with if it reached the surface. Oleite was a bit simpler, shorter distance and smoother landscape, it was just instructed to stop a fair distance from the actual resource location so that it wouldn’t breach the underground reservoir.
I would also be monitoring each one from the surface to make sure there are no irregularities. Thankfully there were none from the previous dig, but some of the landscape looked questionable in some places, it would be better to be safe in that regard. That was for the coming days however, as once again my resources were dwindling, and I would need to restock soon if I wanted to do anything besides wait. So while a multitude of automated techs toiled away in and around my base, I flew out to go collect some more materials.
The surface deposits of Plumbite were completely gone by the time I was done with them. Underground was a completely different story though, as before the drill was even finished digging the tunnel, it had started pulling up more ore than stone, alluding to the fact that the whole area was saturated with Plumbite. When the drill pulled away, I could see just how much was embedded in the rock, or rather, how much rock was embedded in the Plumbite. I had certainly seen much larger deposits of resources on other planets, but it was nice to know that this one should last me for quite a bit.
The only issue with the ore underground was transporting it, as there were still miles of uncleared tunnels to cross before it could be refined. The plane could make the trip in about an hour, so I scrounged up what little Plumbite was left and flew back. Rodite was much easier, as the mountains where it was located were still teeming with runoff, and I was easily able to gather enough at the base. Putting a mine at the peak would be an interesting challenge however.
Oleite was just as simple, as several pools awaited me at the location, with some of the previously harvested ones already refilling. With a quick look towards Canterlot, I gathered what I needed and returned to base.
There were a few other resources I needed as well, a few trips back East awarded me with more Carbite and Cuprite, and it was about time for the first batch of Luxite to finish growing. Checking on the growth chambers revealed less than spectacular growth; the crystals were just barely large enough to be harvested and replanted. It was clear that the soil here wasn’t as saturated as the soil from the forest. Still, there was growth, and though it would take longer for Luxite to grow, it was still growing, and I could continue to expand production. I replanted half of my surplus.
I then had a wide array of resources to use, but I was still missing two key things. Ignite and Celestite. This was the moment I had been dreading. There was simply no way for me to properly defend myself, generate power, or produce enough rockets in time without those two crystals. If I couldn’t find a way to reliably harvest them, then I was as good as done.
Celestite was difficult due to its location, it being so far North that it took a couple days for one of my small planes to make the trip. It would take extraordinarily long to drill that distance, and there was no telling what I would encounter along the way. It didn’t help that the crystals themselves were difficult to access, requiring advanced mining techniques not only to extract them from the ice, but to avoid causing any avalanches in the process. I had a couple of ideas on how to get more, but that would have to wait until I had a drill on standby.
Ignite was a whole other issue. I could travel and possibly tunnel to the desert easily enough, but the last few times I went to harvest some were not easily forgotten. If I wanted Ignite, I would need to be prepared for a fight, and when I needed more than I could count, things would only get uglier from there.
Luckily, both of those materials weren’t essential yet, and while they would be incredibly, incredibly helpful to my cause at the moment, I could go without them for now. Probably.
Once I had a proper factory up and running however, I could produce powerful enough techs to the point where I wouldn’t have to worry about traveling large distances or getting into scuffles every now and then. That required I actually build the factory however, and with more of the resource lines being dug every moment, I was looking to start transporting some materials.
This is where the trains came in. I had the designs, I had the location, and I had the resources. It was time to get to work. By now, a large space had been carved underneath the plateau thanks to an excavator tech, and with plenty of additional supports, there was a very low risk of it collapsing any time soon. Most of the space was actually taken up with a bunch of rock cubes, and with the cleaner tech continuing to venture into the tunnels to get more, the remaining space was dwindling by the hour.
I shut off the cleaner, I had more than enough stone around the base right now, and while the tunnels still needed to be cleared, I needed somewhere to put the stone first. The Oleite drill should be done in a few days, I’ll have it sneak off to a dumping site later. Once I found a suitable location of course.
Moving several of the stone cubes back into the tunnel, I set up a small circle of track in the center of the basement. Since I didn’t have much Fibrewood, it was made purely of Plumbite, which given how much I was going to be pulling in soon, shouldn’t be an issue.
I assembled a basic train, a cabin, an A.I., and plenty of storage space. Luxite based storage wasn’t viable due to both the lack of resources and the speed the train would be travelling at, so the idea was just to have a line of flat cars, with plenty of attachment points for resource blocks. Though it required a few extra steps when loading and unloading, it was compact and secure, and the cars could easily be modified to hold other, more loose materials, which would come in handy when they had to be loaded up with crushed stone and rock or anything miscellaneous or unrefined. I also added the option for a tank car, which would be helpful for transporting any liquids that couldn’t be compacted, such as water.
The way it worked, there was no need for a primary engine up front, meaning every car could be used for transport. Aerodynamics were still an issue however, so it would be better to give each end of the train a pointed tip, which gave a nice housing for the cabin and A.I. as well. The whole thing functioned decently well in the small circuit I had available, though there were some minor issues that were cropping up.
As expected, it couldn’t take tight turns at high speeds, which would be accounted for with the rather straight tunnels being dug. Endpoints and stations would be the only real speed limiters for the trains, and with a proper schedule that could be reduced to a degree. They also couldn’t hold as much as I would have liked. Compared to some other wheel type blocks, the train foundations could only hold so much before failing completely, and that limit was on the lower end of the spectrum. I could only put so much of certain resources on a car before it would falter, which was nowhere near their total volume.
They were not very efficient, which made sense. Given the restrictions I had when designing them, it was a wonder they functioned so well in the first place, but now that I had access to a near unlimited supply of Titanite, I could begin work on an improved version.
I started right away, pulling up the previously saved blueprint in the fabricator and immediately replacing some of the extensive Plumbite supports with Titanite ones. A quick fabrication revealed an immediate improvement, with an increase in handling and carrying capacity. It could take turns faster, and could hold more weight. It was still decently expensive, but with a few cost reducing methods, I ended up with a new and improved Train Foundation 2.0, which could perform to the specifications I had.
I could fill a car to the brim, send it careening around a corner, and have it screech to a halt with little overall damage to the car itself. Cargo was another issue, but with proper restrictions I could get the trains to move pretty fast without dumping their loads at any minor disturbance.
Things were looking good, and I couldn’t wait to put these trains to work, but first that required the tunnels to be dug and cleared, and that would take time.
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.
The second plane took off, banking around to cross the forest, its repair bubble powering up. It only took a minute or so for it to reach the outpost, and by then it was already too late for them to do anything. I zeroed in on the radio tower, aiming at the base of the ruined spire it was situated in. The cannons fired as soon as they were in range, a series of explosions lighting up the ancient masonry.
Small explosions, mind you, as I could only fit the smallest of cannons on the plane.
The reaction was immediate, the outpost practically exploded with activity. Guards ran out from all directions, quickly grouping together to form a defensive line. It was such a shame they were wasting their time.
I banked around for another go at the tower, unloading several more rounds at the base. Cracks began to travel up it, and one of the sides began to crumble. It looked like it was going to fall at any moment, but I had to be thorough.
This time I aimed for the top, where I knew the actual radio equipment was. It blew up spectacularly, the partially destroyed rooftop collapsing fully, creating a cascade of rubble to rain down around it. Another strike at the base caused the whole thing to teeter slightly, then fall off to the side and crash into the ravine below.
Mission accomplished, and the ponies were just barely getting their things in order. Subsequently, that was when the first round of arrows rose to intercept my plane.
Not a single one hit, and I was already flying out of their range. A moment later I touched down on the forest’s edge again, folded up the wings, and drove into the trees.
The first plane then started back up, peeling out of the forest and slipping into the river. I had reorientated the wings along the back in order to better conceal them, and though it messed with my weapon placement, it allowed for a shorter stature, something that was more necessary than combat effectiveness right now. The wheels splashed against the current, easily pushing through it and carrying me upstream. Thankfully it wasn’t too deep, and the flow was quite calm as well, there was also the benefit of finally being able to clean one of my techs.
Even from my low vantage point, I could already tell that the distraction was working. Ponies were rushing across the streets, jumping into their homes or any other nearby structures as guards streamed towards the forest and outpost in droves. Unfortunately that meant we would be crossing paths, but by that time I had already reached a bridge to hide under.
I waited there for a moment, watching as the last of the guards trickled out of the town. Once they were gone, the streets were left completely empty. Perfect. I continued upstream, exited the river near a cluster of buildings, and dipped into the closest alleyway.
It wasn’t very long of course, it being a small town and all, and the layout was hardly uniform. There were a few times I had to cross the streets, but they were just as empty as before, with pretty much all icons on my radar congregated inside the buildings. All the activity had stopped, I guess they were on high alert.
I probably wasn’t helping by doing this either.
The large building near the center of town came into view, and I stopped to get a better look at it from the alley. It was as circular as ever, though the roof extended quite a bit over the actual walls, making the whole thing smaller than I originally thought. Still, it was decently tall, and had an entrance large enough for the compacted plane to fit through. Two balconies wrapped around it, one higher, one lower, both I assume would normally have several guards on watch, but thanks to my earlier actions, were left empty.
Inside was a similar story, as opposed to every other structure nearby, it was almost empty, with just one blip located somewhere inside. I would have to actually go in to check who it was though, so I hurried across the plaza, bounced my way up the stairs, and stopped just outside the front entrance. The doors were closed, and nudging them slightly only caused them to bow backwards a bit, but not open. They were barred or latched, and since my manipulation field wasn’t fine tuned enough nor did I bring an inserter, it was quickly becoming a conundrum.
I didn’t have time for this, but I also didn’t want to cause undue damage, especially if this part was supposed to be stealthy. The best solution I could come up with would be to grab the entire door, apply a slight rotation force, and hope that whatever was keeping it closed would come loose before the entire thing was ripped off its hinges. I did so, and the wood creaked and groaned from the stress, tilting slightly as it pushed against the frame, yet it didn’t open. I tried harder, causing the hinges to shriek as they were stretched and warped.
Finally, the door swung open, although slightly askew, and once one side was open, I could easily work on the other. I pushed into the building, closing the doors behind me as best I could even though they didn’t fit together anymore. Once inside, I got a good look around the interior, which was well lit thanks to the multitude of windows set in the walls. The room was empty, which meant whoever was in here was somewhere in the back, I would have to keep looking.
Their exact location was muddled thanks to the relatively tight space, but there were only a few other doorways at the other end of the room, and since it already took up most of the interior, there wouldn’t be much to search through. Going up to the first doorway, I pulled aside the curtain, revealing a short hallway with a door on each side, both had windows. The first looked like a well decorated office, but was otherwise empty, and the second looked almost like a living area, with a couch and bed tucked away in each corner, also empty. The next doorway revealed a small stage with a multitude of cots lined up on it. There were some small spaces off to the side, but they only held crates and other items such as armor pieces or weapons.
Was this where the guards were staying? Didn’t they have the outpost? I guess it wasn’t large enough to house all of them just yet.
There was little else of importance for me there, so I moved on. The third doorway was similar to the first, a small hallway with two doors, only this one was more cluttered. Filing cabinets, potted plants, and a desk were all situated at the end, just barely leaving enough room for the doors to open. Again, both had windows. The first was obviously a storage room, with boxes upon boxes filling the back, and several cabinets lining the walls. Another desk was on its side in the center, with several other miscellaneous items packed in around it.
The other room was bare, most likely having been hastily cleared out to act as a holding room. That was probably where all the stuff in the hallway came from. Inside, there was a black and white figure sitting dead center on the floor.
“Hey Zecora.”
She shuffled around a bit.
“Who could it be knocking on my door? Didn’t expect you to come around here no more.” Came her muffled reply,
“Yeah… Sorry about that. I didn’t mean for you to get caught up in all this mess.” I checked the door, it was barred across the front, something I could easily undo.
“What could you have done, to make you public enemy number one?” She asked, moving up to the doorway as I opened it.
“A number of things I would imagine, but the only reason I was given specifically was that I’m not from here.”
Zecora huffed, “Does their racism know no bounds? Though that is not what I found profound. They said that you attacked the princesses, and that there were plenty of witnesses.”
“Ah, that. It was self defense, I assure you. They attacked first.”
“They also said you were quite the liar, you must’ve really drawn their ire.” She was squinting at me, keeping her distance even as I moved out of the way.
Oh boy, how do I explain things to someone who thinks I’m a liar. Well I was a bit of a liar, but not a prolific one. Zecora couldn’t have known that however, and I had no way of proving that to her now either.
“Well I hope my actions speak louder than words.” I began,
“You’ve come to free me?” She was taken aback, “Surely doing something like that is not easy.”
“It wasn’t, but if you want the truth, that is not my intention. In fact, I believe it might be better for you to stay here.”
Zecora raised an eyebrow.
“Not to say that you deserve this, but me helping you escape would make you just as wanted as I am. You’re already here because of me, I don’t want you to get in any more trouble just because I am tying up loose ends.”
Her expression hardened, “Am I a loose end? I thought you were my friend.”
She wanted the truth, “You are, but it’s not like I’m here to kill you or anything.”
“Then what are you here for, if not to stop talking to me anymore?”
“Three things. I wanted to make sure you were alright, other associates of mine were caught in the crossfire as well, and you knew me the best. That leads to the second thing, you know more about me than anyone else on this world, that kind of information would be catastrophic to me if it got out. I can’t force you not to talk, but I will ask that you keep it to yourself.”
Zecora finally relaxed, “Thank you, but I am not a little bird, what of the third?”
“The radio I gave you, do you still have it?”
She nodded, “It is by my dwelling, but I would never even think of selling.”
“That is not the problem. The ponies - and I don’t think I can stress this enough - cannot have it. It is not just an issue of them having that technology, but what would happen if my superiors found out. I trust you enough to keep it, but if the ponies have even a chance of getting it before I do, it must be destroyed.”
This time Zecora took a moment to think, “I have hidden it well, they would not even find it with a spell.”
“I can guarantee you they are going to search your whole house.” I stressed,
“Then it is a good thing it is not in my home, rather deep among the loam.”
She buried it, that was a relief. In a forest like that, she really would be the only one that would know where it is. Of course, with the right equipment, I could probably find it easily enough, but the ponies couldn’t.
Still though, I had to be sure, “Then you can keep it, and use it if you must, but can you promise me that you’ll keep it safe or destroy it if necessary?”
“Only if you promise me something as well, somepony’s worries you have to quell.”
“What? Who?” What reason would I have to talk to a pony for?
“Twilight Sparkle, she is conflicted, she was most confused when you were convicted.”
Oh right, I guess I did have other ‘friends’ in the area.
“Why?”
“You were her friend, now you are the enemy. To what end, does she have to experience this dichotomy?”
“I didn’t choose to become her enemy.”
“But you did choose to work with peace, you should strive for the fire to cease.”
“That’s going to be pretty difficult.”
“I didn’t say it would be easy, I hope that doesn’t make you queasy.” Zecora taunted,
I thought about it for a moment. It made sense, not all of the ponies hated me, I technically did have some allies in their ranks, and since Twilight would be so close to the princesses and subsequently the military, it might prove useful to try and win her over. It would also be extremely risky, seeing as getting close to her would probably put me within close proximity to those that truly hated me.
It would also safeguard the radio for now.
“Fine. I’ll talk to her, but don’t get your hopes up.” I eventually said,
Zecora smiled, and took a step back, “Then I will remain, and try not to be put in chain.”
I was then reminded of the situation at whole. I was currently in enemy territory, talking with a prisoner of war, directly after conducting an assault nearby. There was no way there wasn’t going to be consequences, and not just for me either.
“You can still come with me, if you want. You won’t be able to keep living in the forest though.”
Zecora held up a hoof, “I would prefer to do this legally, and I don’t want to cross mountain and valley.”
“I mean, with enough effort I could probably move your whole house-”
“Just go,” she interrupted, “but do try to come back before the snow.”
That was some good advice, I didn’t have a lot of time. There was only so much to investigate after an attack before the alert would spread outwards. Guards could be coming back into town at any moment.
I reversed out of the hallway, making sure to close Zecora’s door and relock it, then I zipped out of the town hall, the front entrance still not closing properly. Almost immediately I could tell that there were ponies in the streets, and several immediately took notice of me as well.
Cue an immediate resurgence in panic, as several screamed and ran. That was not good, civilians were one thing, but word would quickly spread until it reached the guards. I needed to leave. Reassembling the plane so that it could fly, I started the engines, picked up speed in the middle of town, and took off right down the main street.
There was no way I could talk to Twilight now, I would just have to do it later. All I knew was that she also lived in a tree, and with a much closer bird’s eye view of town, I could see another hollowed out tree close to the edge. That was good, it would be easily approachable, even if it was on the complete opposite side of town as the forest.
Why did all my friends live in trees?
I briefly entered the airspace over the outpost again, but by then my shield and repair bubble had already powered up, and I was effectively immune against all forms of attack from the ground. I only spent a few moments in it as well, so it wasn’t like they could even respond by the time I was gone anyway.
“Hey Mr. Fly Guy.” A mysterious voice announced,
Or maybe not. Where did that come from?!
I glanced around frantically, there was nothing in the air around me, but there was something on me. A cyan blue pony stood nonchalantly on my fuselage, easily staying attached despite the rush of air.
All of my guns slowly turned to aim at her, and she didn’t even flinch.
How did she get there? There weren’t any ponies near me when I took off, and there certainly weren’t any pegasi in the air ahead of me while I was flying. Did she come up from behind while I wasn’t paying attention? If so, she would need to be incredibly fast to do that, I was travelling close to top speed the entire time.
“Why were you in Ponyville? And why did you feel the need to blow up those ruins?” She asked inquisitively.
Wait a minute, I recognized her. She was one of the ones with Twilight on top of the dragon’s mountain. It would be hard to forget something that looked like that.
“...” I cut the speaker right before it could say anything. She had seen me before, I was in a plane right now, she was in contact with Twilight.
“WERE. THERE. ANY. CASUALTIES.” I changed my voice.
That certainly gave her pause, “N-No?”
“GOOD.” I did an aileron roll, shunting her off as I dove.
Picking up speed, I levelled out just above the canopy, skirting off the top of some trees. The pony was quick to get back on my tail, and started gaining alarmingly quickly. I began evasive maneuvers, pulling back up and rolling to the side. Every time she neared on one side, I would turn to the other, ascending and descending at random intervals.
Yet I couldn’t shake her.
It occurred to me that I wasn’t dealing with another plane. I was dealing with a living, breathing creature. One that for all intents and purposes, was faster than me. I wouldn’t be able to escape her by normal means, though I could probably outlast her.
I couldn’t waste that much time in an pseudo-dogfight.
Wait a minute. I was dealing with a living, breathing creature. I immediately pulled up, climbing as fast as I could. The pony followed my every move, and pretty soon we were both ascending above the clouds. The landscape faded beneath us, great swaths of land becoming just shapes on a slowly curving horizon. Further and further I continued, and the higher I got, the more and more turbulence affected the plane. The engines started to sputter, and I knew it wouldn’t be long before they stalled.
Looking back, the pony was right there with me, though she was lagging behind a bit more than usual.
It was at that point that my engines finally gave out, and there was a brief moment where the plane floated in the air. The pony caught up a moment later, and joined me at the zenith.
“Did you really think-” She stopped to gasp for breath, “That you could- escape from- the Rainbow Dash? Boy this is high up…” She muttered, then took another deep breath, “You’ve got a lot- to answer for, mister.”
Okay, ‘Rainbow Dash’, seeing as how I can’t realistically escape you yet. I’ll answer some questions.
“VERY. WELL.” I entered a gentle descent, picking up speed and gliding as I waited for my engines to start back up again.
Rainbow Dash looked incredibly relieved at that, and she readily followed me as I made my way back down to the ground. My propellers spun into action again, and though I could’ve probably given her the slip by now, if I wanted to talk to Twilight in the future, this would be a good place to start.
We touched down on the edge of the forest near where the second plane was hiding. I couldn’t have her lead me into town right after I disturbed the hive. She didn’t seem to take issue with this, and once we were both situated, she sat down in front of my tech and tried her best to look intimidating despite being drenched in sweat.
“Alright, what are you doing here?” She began.
How should I respond to this? Whatever I told her would surely be spread to Twilight, the guards, the princesses, and maybe even Zecora, I had to make sure everything I said was in order. Oh wait. “MAKING. SURE. THINGS. ARE. IN. ORDER.”
“Uh huh.” Rainbow Dash eyed me up, “Where’s your sister?”
What sister? I didn’t have any siblings. Well, not real ones anyway. “YOU. MEAN. TECKA.”
“Yeah, her.”
“SHE. IS. GONE. I. FIGURED. YOU. WOULD. KNOW. THAT. ALREADY.”
“Where'd she go?”
She didn't know? What were, or weren’t they telling them? I needed to know more.
“SHE. WAS. DESTROYED.”
Rainbow Dash’s eyes widened, “But…” She quickly shook her head, “So you decided to terrorize Ponyville as revenge, huh?”
How do I tell her what I was doing without actually telling her what I was doing? “I. WANTED. TO. RECONCILE.”
“By blowing up an old tower?”
“THE. GUARDS. WOULD. HAVE. GOTTEN. IN. THE. WAY.”
She paused to think for a moment, “No casualties…” She muttered, “Who were you looking to talk to? Who’s in town hall that you wanted to speak with? Were you looking to apologize to the mayor for all of the environmental destruction?”
Did she seriously not know that Zecora was locked up in town hall either?
“ZECORA.” I answered plainly.
“What? Zecora’s not in the town-” Her face dropped in realization. “She’s the one that was arrested?!”
“AND. TWILIGHT. SPARKLE.” I continued.
Rainbow Dash just stared at me blankly, “You want to talk to Twilight? Why?”
Now time to give this an emotional spin. “TECKA. SPOKE. OF. HER. BEFORE. SHE. WAS. DESTROYED. I. AM. GETTING. HER. AFFAIRS. IN. ORDER.”
“Oh…” She trailed off, before a frown overtook her face, “Wait, how do I know you’re not lying about any of this?!”
There it was. That’s what was going to make this difficult. A sob story isn’t going to mean anything if the person you’re telling it to doesn’t believe a word you say. What could I do to make Rainbow Dash trust me? I looked at my timeline. Two of the tunnels would be completed in the next few days, which meant I would need to work on setting the drills up elsewhere. Enough of the first tunnel would be cleared to begin a track, and the final few layers of my base would be completed in the meantime. There was also the fact that this area would be white hot with activity for a while thanks to my actions today.
Rainbow Dash eyed my tech suspiciously again, “Two weeks?”
“TWO. WEEKS.” I repeated,
“Right here?”
“OR. CLOSE. BY.”
Rainbow Dash turned slowly, taking in the lay of the land for a moment. She looked at the forest, the gentle hills surrounding us, and finally at the grass that covered the landscape.
“Alright, fine. But you better be here, or else.”
“PLAN. ON. IT.” I finished,
With that, she gave my tech another odd look, then took off and fluttered back over the forest. I watched her leave, making sure she was completely gone and off of my radar before pulling the second plane out of its hiding place.
Taking a bit of time myself, I disassembled both planes and reconstructed the parts into a much larger one. Leaving nothing behind, I took off back in the direction of my base, taking extra care to ensure that nothing else was following me.
There were a lot of things to do in just two weeks.
Rainbow Dash touched down just outside of the Golden Oaks Library, taking a moment to stand aside for a passing patrol of guards.
“You should return to your home, ma’am, there was an attack just outside of town.” One of them advised,
“Yeah yeah, in a minute.” She waved them off.
They didn’t stick around to argue, instead choosing to hurry along the road towards town hall. The place where Zecora was being kept prisoner. Rainbow Dash shook her head, and promptly knocked on the door of the library. There was a moment of silence, then a slight shuffling from the other side before it was unlocked and opened.
“Heya, Twilight, can I talk to you about something?” She began,
“Oh, Rainbow Dash? What are you doing outside?” Twilight asked, “Aren’t you worried about the attack?”
“Psh, you think I’m scared of a little explosion in the Everfree? Danger is literally my middle name. I had it changed. Besides, the threat has already left.”
Twilight frowned, tilting her head, “What makes you say that? The guard is still on high alert.”
“Because I personally saw to it that he left.”
“He?” Twilight repeated,
“Which is what I wanted to talk to you about.” Rainbow Dash leaned in close, “It was the guy that was with Tecka.” She whispered,
Twilight’s eyes widened, and she stepped out to peer up and down the street for a moment. “Come in, come in.” She hurried back inside, closing the door behind Rainbow Dash as she followed.
Twilight locked it again, then turned to look at Rainbow Dash, “Tecker’s the one that attacked the town?”
“The castle ruins actually,” Rainbow Dash corrected,
“What? Why?”
“Something about distracting the guard, then he made his way to the town hall.”
“He was in Ponyville?!” Twilight exclaimed,
“Yeah…” Rainbow Dash said slowly, “What’s so shocking about that?”
“Well…” Twilight thought for a moment, “I can think of a couple reasons. Can you tell me exactly what happened?” She pulled out a scroll and quill, “If you were involved then I’m probably going to have to write a report anyway.”
“To the princesses?” Rainbow Dash asked,
Twilight just nodded,
“Uh… Sure I guess.” Rainbow Dashed paused to think, “I mean, it all started when I was just going about my day, doing my job with the weather and whatnot. When all of a sudden! Boom! Bang! Pow! Something’s going down in the Everfree!”
There was a small eye roll from behind the parchment, but Twilight kept writing.
“I rush over to go check it out, only to see one of the castle ruins’ towers fall, and the flying guy, Tecker, hightailing it out of there! I tried to go after him, but he disappeared at the edge of the forest, and I couldn’t find him. I then went back to the Royal Guard camp to see if there was anything I could do to help, and they just told me to go home and that they would handle it. How could they say that to me? Rainbow Dash!”
“Well they are the Royal Guard, civilian assistance isn’t really common.” Twilight explained,
Rainbow Dash just shrugged, “Anyway, I was like ‘fine, whatever, they had already lost their guy anyway.’ So I just went back to Ponyville to keep hanging out, just in time to see the guy break into town hall!”
This time Twilight looked up, “He broke in?”
“Well he did something to the door, I don’t know if it was actually locked or not.” Rainbow Dash answered,
“Huh… What happened next?”
“I decided not to go in after him, rather wait outside and get him when he came out. If he just blew up a tower, I did not want town hall to get wrecked, again.”
“Smart.” Twilight commented,
“So then he came out like ten minutes later, and by then ponies were coming back out.”
“Uh oh, did he…?” Twilight began,
“No, they just screamed and ran, and he didn’t stick around much longer either. He started flying away, and I followed. He’s pretty fast, but I caught up to him before he crossed the forest again.”
“And you drove him off?” Twilight asked, “How?”
“We actually just talked,”
Twilight blinked, her quill falling still in her magic.
“He asked me if there were any casualties, and when I told him ‘no, I don’t think so,’ he shook me off and tried to escape again. When that didn’t work, we stopped on the other side of the Everfree forest and… talked for a bit.”
“What… What did he say?” Twilight asked,
“I asked him why he blew up the tower, and he said he did it so the guard wouldn’t have gotten in the way.”
Twilight grimaced, “Gotten in the way of what?”
“He wanted to talk to…” Rainbow Dash trailed off as she remembered, “Oh my gosh! Did you know Zecora was the one arrested?! They have her locked up in town hall!”
All she got was a blank stare, “I mean yeah.”
“You knew?!”
Twilight nodded, “She’s the only one that lives in the Everfree forest, and when the Royal Guard secured it, they would’ve captured her.”
“But why?”
“Rainbow Dash, she’s wanted for questioning about Tecker himself. In fact, Rarity and I were just helping the guard with those diamond dogs we encountered the other day.”
“Them too?!”
Twilight just shrugged, “They all have information about Tecker and Tecka.”
“But why is Tecker wanted? I mean he did just blow up a ruined tower, but what did he do before that?”
“Tecka attacked the princesses, Rainbow Dash, and has lied to us about almost everything.”
“Right,” Rainbow Dash nodded, “But it was just Tecka that did that, and wasn’t she already-” She gasped, “No wait! She died!”
“What?!”
“Yeah, Tecker said she was destroyed, and that he was getting her affairs in order!”
“That’s not what happened!” Twilight argued, “Tecka was detained in Canterlot after attacking the princesses! Princess Celestia said so.”
“That’s not what Tecker said,” Rainbow Dash continued,
“And you believe him? How do you know he wasn’t lying?”
“I-'' Rainbow Dash paused, “Don’t, but we can check.”
Twilight nodded, pulling up a second piece of parchment, “I’ll send a letter to Princess Celestia.”
“Not just that.” Rainbow Dash said, “Tecker didn’t just want to talk to Zecora.”
“Oh?” Twilight switched back to her report,
“He wanted to talk to you as well.”
“Me? Why would he want to talk to me?”
“He said you knew Tecka, and wants to know what happened to her before she was… destroyed,”
“But she wasn’t destroyed,” Twilight reiterated through clenched teeth,
“He certainly seems to think so. Maybe you can ask him about that.”
Twilight furrowed her brow, “How? Do you know where he went?”
Rainbow Dash shook her head, “He said to meet him on the other side of the Everfree forest in two weeks.”
Twilight stared at her for a moment, “That’s not exactly the safest place. Why not somewhere closer to Ponyville?”
“I think he’s worried about the guard.”
“That… makes sense, and it’s not some sort of trap?”
“There was nothing I could see in the area, and he seemed adamant about not hurting others.”
“I’ll… make a note…” Twilight trailed off, scribbling on both scrolls,
Rainbow Dash just watched for a few moments, “What is the princess going to do with them?”
Twilight didn’t look up from her writing, “Well, since they’re from another country, I can only assume they would be put on trial and either face jail time or be deported.”
“And if Tecka actually was destroyed?”
“She wasn’t.” Twilight affirmed, gritting her teeth, “Tecker is lying just like Tecka, but when we do meet, we should still try to convince him to turn himself in peacefully. Every moment he spends evading the Royal Guard will only make things worse in the long run.”
“But what if-”
“I don’t know!” Twilight interrupted, her quill scratching the parchment. She took a deep breath and sighed, “I don’t know. We’ll ask the princess, and she’ll tell us what happened. From there, we can look into talking to Tecker and getting this whole thing resolved,”
Rainbow Dash stared at her, “Are you okay, Twilight?”
She took in a much shakier breath, “No, not really.”
“Oh… Why?”
Twilight stopped writing and carefully set both scrolls on a nearby desk, “Tecka was a friend, Rainbow Dash, and if she lied to the princesses, then how much did she lie to me?”
Rainbow Dash put a hoof across Twilight’s shoulder, “I’m sure you’ll be able to ask her when this is all over.”
“I hope you’re right.”
My dearest, faithful student Twilight,
Thank you for your report on the transgressions that occurred earlier today, I must commend Rainbow Dash on her bravery for confronting the entity known as Tecker. While I lament the further destruction of my sister and I’s old castle, I am glad that there were no serious injuries from the incident, and that there was only minor damage to public property. I hope this highlights the danger that these beings present.
It is good that they wish to talk, doing so could be an excellent opportunity to resolve this peacefully. I recommend following through with the meeting, but I must warn you. Tecka was an excellent liar, and there is no reason to believe that the same will not be for Tecker. I doubt even your friend Applejack could detect such a lie. They are not to be trusted.
Do NOT go alone.
If I understand your report correctly, the entity known as Tecker wishes to speak with you directly. I assume the secluded location is an attempt to avoid interaction with the Royal Guard, but tread carefully, as there can be any number of ulterior motives behind this reasoning. Bring protection, and plan an escape, but try to do so in a manner that will not scare off Tecker, as we might never get a chance to discuss with them like this again. If you wish for any further aid in this endeavor, I will be happy to provide.
In response to your letter. Unfortunately, Tecker is telling the truth, the entity known as Tecka was destroyed. While it is true that they were initially detained after assaulting my sister and I, they managed an escape not long after, and resisted recapture. The resulting conflict ended with their destruction, but not without due reason.
Before their demise, Tecka revealed their true intentions. They are prospectors, looking to scour Equestrian lands for any and all resources to sell back to their Federation for a profit. Their plea of being marooned was merely a ploy to get us to disclose the locations of more profitable resources, and as a result, there is now a permanent encampment on the moon, stealing more Cobalt than a single pony can possibly use in their lifetime.
Keep this in mind when speaking with Tecker. Do not let them manipulate you in any way.
Rock and stone. That was my life for the next few days.
As expected, the Oleite drill finished first, and around the same time the Plumbite line had been cleared enough to the point where I could also begin clearing the offshoot. I had begun laying tracks as well, but with little Erudite to spare, I had to do it all manually. Thankfully, now that one of the drills was free, I could begin looking for a place to dump all the extra material.
I wanted it to be close, but remote enough that it wouldn’t be easily spotted. Preferably it would be someplace to actually put the material instead of just piling it on the ground, but if it was far enough away then it wouldn’t matter. Really the only constraint was time, as this needed to be done before anything else, and the longer it took, the longer it would take to get everything running at peak efficiency.
I hadn’t managed to find any good places for a dumping ground in my previous expeditions, and while there were a few holes and a couple ravines that could be filled, they were all too close to pony settlements, meaning I had to find someplace else. There weren’t many better options among the resource locations either. This led me to searching further West, as all previous expeditions only reached the very plateau I was based on. Of course I had gone past it a few times, I needed to know if there was anything in the immediate vicinity before basing, and with the same arid landscape stretching far into the horizon in all directions, it was in the clear.
Of course, that meant there weren’t any good places immediately nearby, so I would have to continue further. My first few outward findings held similar results, with the same shrubland remaining uninterrupted for miles on end, with only the occasional tree to break up the flat monotony. This continued Westward, with only a few minor divots or trenches that would immediately be filled to capacity with only a single trainload.
Eventually, I reached a coastline, and with no more land in the distance, I was forced to stop. I would’ve stopped here anyway, as I was nearing the limit of reasonable tunneling distance, and any further just wouldn’t be worth it. A quick trip North and South revealed a bit more, with a decently sized peninsula extending out South, and some more favorable land to the North.
I would’ve gone straight to the rocky landscape up North, the terrain was incredibly uneven, and there were countless places to simply start putting rubble. However, there was a coastal city nearby. It resided a bit further up the coastline, but it was well within view of my future dump, which meant I probably couldn’t use it as a dump. The South wasn’t looking much better, it was barren and flat, and while I’m sure it could hold a decent amount of material, it would be more noticeable once things reached a certain height, it certainly didn't help that it was more in line with the rest of my base as well..
This was pretty much the end of the line too, with no other good places behind me, so I had to choose one.
I needed someplace to actually put all the excess material so that it wouldn’t be too visible in the future, but I also didn’t want to risk putting it too close to a settlement. Sure it wasn’t going to a very valuable site, but once the military showed up it would be difficult to actually unload a bunch of stone without complications, especially if I dug a tunnel straight here.
Why not just compromise and pick the middle option? I could just dump straight into the ocean. It would be far enough away from the city, and hidden enough to not be easily discovered. The waves would certainly help with breaking it up and carrying it away, and it wasn’t like I was going to be dumping anything toxic either, just rock and stone, so not much environmental impact is to be expected.
That would work. I placed the beacon, and the drill started a moment later.
271 km : 1 km
Now all that was left to do was wait. In the meantime, I could work on the trainline, seeing as I pretty much had to do it all myself anyway, or at least until one of the other A.I. cabins became available.
Thankfully, it wasn’t as boring as just holding down the throttle on a plane or drill, but that didn’t mean it was very fun to begin with. I was clicking together sections of tracks one by one, each one about the size of four standard blocks in a two by two fashion.
I had to do this for miles, and the worst part was I could only carry so much with me, so every time I ran out, I would have to go back an increasingly long distance just to restock. At least I could do it in a train, I could carry a decent amount, but the repeated trips were quickly becoming annoying.
Head out, lay tracks, come back, resupply. Head out, lay tracks, come back, resupply. Head out, lay tracks, come back, resupply.
But enough complaining. Like I said before, this is something that comes with the job, and I was used to it. So with or without a radio station to listen to, I was going to get it done.
Progress was steady, if not increasingly slow. Each section of track was about two meters long, a train car could hold about fifty sections of track, and with the resources and space restrictions I had I could only use five cars at a time. Doing the math, each trip would end up placing five hundred meters of track. On a line of about five hundred kilometers, I would need to make one thousand trips.
My trains were fast, very fast, I even made a speedometer to check. At top speed, a train could travel the entire Plumbite line in a little over an hour. Of course that doesn’t account for cargo limitations, and with the reduced speed, it took even longer just to go back and forth to resupply on tracks.
All that time allowed me to think. Automating this process would be easy, as opposed to going back and forth repeatedly, there would be two techs working in unison. One placing tracks and moving forward, and the other taking that time to resupply it regularly, reducing total construction time. It would go even faster for the second track, and if I really squeezed, I could probably fit a third track into the tunnel as well. That would require an alteration of the train cars though, and two tracks would work well enough as different one ways.
Head out, lay tracks, come back, resupply.
There came a point where I caught up with the cleaner tech, which was fine by me. I was running out of Plumbite anyway, and would need to restock if I wanted to go further. Checking my progress, I was about a third of the way done. After many hours of work, I wasn’t even halfway, and it would only get longer from here on out.
Ding
The Rodite drill had stopped. I didn’t know where, but if it had taken this long, there was a good chance it didn’t get flooded. Switching over, I was elated to see the beacon directly above, meaning it had made it all the way to the resource location. There was hardly a trace of Rodite in the ground however, but I knew that most of it was in the mountain itself, I was just underneath it. It was still a little disappointing to see it didn’t go that far down though.
Still, I was here, and I could begin work on planning a mine by surveying the area a little more closely. The drill turned upwards, chewing through the stone and ascending at a decent pace. Based on the beacon’s location, I could tell I was more or less digging through the center of the mountain, meaning it would take a bit for me to actually breach the surface. The veins of Rodite only increased as I went up, but it was still nowhere near the saturation of the Plumbite zone.
It never got to that point either, as not long after the stone gave way to much looser material. I stopped, and backed up a bit, only for it to follow me down, collapsing in on itself as sunlight began to bleed through. I had reached the surface.
I exited the tunnel and took a look at my surroundings. I was about halfway up the mountain, adjacent to one of the many green tinted runoff channels. There was plenty of Rodite in and around the ground, up and down the mountain, and to the left and right of me. It was less saturated and more spread out, but it would last, at least for the immediate future.
The main issue came from it being on a mountain, it was pretty much guaranteed that I would be working on the surface downwards, and if I wasn’t careful, any number of avalanches could be created. Those things tend to be pretty visible, and while this area was remote enough on its own, it was a risk I wasn’t too keen on taking.
This was the only major Rodite seam I could find in the greater area though, so it was either this or try to find some somewhere else, without the support of the local inhabitants while also trying not to be detected by them either.
I reversed the drill back into the hole, packing up the beacon and taking it with me. This place would suffice for now, but I couldn’t just leave unattended machinery out in the open. That just left the problem of the massive hole I had just dug in the side of a mountain. I couldn’t exactly patch it up, however it was with the terrain, making it partially obscured by the slopes around it. You could definitely see it from the other peaks, but not from the ground.
And so I was left with another free drill, with three different options on what to do with it. One, take it further up North in an attempt to harvest some Celestite. Two, bring it back down to begin work on another resource tunnel, one that would reach both Carbite and Cuprite. Three, break it down for parts to partially complete an automated track layer.
Celestite would require some additional setup. Despite being this far North already, it would take weeks, if not months for the drill to reach the frozen wastes. Not to mention the time and resources it would take to clear the tunnel, then lay tracks. In my mind, it still wasn’t worth it. However, there was another option, if I could just get the drill up there, I could modify it to harvest Celestite without having to worry about an avalanche. If it was tough enough to take a hit, it could just keep mining, though it would have to become self-sufficient in order to last up there. Then I could just fly up every once and a while, collect the spoils, and head home.
Or I could work on some other resources that I need. Bringing the drill back down would mean traversing the tunnels again, breaking up the stone further, and adding that much more work in order to clear them. It would then have to go over already laid tracks, and I was unsure if they could survive such a beating, nor did I want to move that many out of the way. Unfortunately, I had effectively prevented the drill from coming back on its own, but that didn’t mean I couldn’t bring it back at all.
Salvaging it would allow me to create part of an automated construction team, emphasis on part. The drill only had the one A.I. cabin, and I knew for a fact that I needed two. With only one Erudite left at base, there just wasn’t enough to make a second. At the very least, I could create a supplier tech that would regularly supply me with rails to lay. Or, I could use the A.I. elsewhere, like another cleaner tech to help speed up tunnel clearing. All of that would be invalidated once I got my next shipment of Erudite of course, but I was still giving the dogs some downtime before trading again.
All three options required additional work, none of which I could do from the drill. So I just left it in the tunnel, it wouldn’t be going anywhere anytime soon.
Back at base, things were looking pretty good. The construction techs had gotten to the point where they were almost level with the plateau, they only needed a few more rounds to complete the base expansion. From there I would have them construct some simple defenses, then turn them inwards so that my base didn’t just have a big hole in the center. Those things shouldn’t take as long, meaning their A.I.s could be repurposed soon, and it would finish off the stockpile of stone that was still inside my base.
Yes, things were certainly looking up, and I only had about a week and a half before I met with Twilight.
All of the repair and shield bubbles around my base shut down in unison.
I was out of power, simple as that. Let it be known that I still only had the one solar panel on the planet’s surface, with all other sources of power being purely combustion. I had a decent enough supply of batteries, so back when I had ample fuel for my generators, they all got fully charged. Upon bringing them out here, where there wasn’t nearly enough input, they slowly started to drain.
Until now, when they finally ran out.
At the moment, it wasn’t much of a problem, but it definitely would be in the future. Without the continuous function of the repair bubbles or the constant protection of the shield bubbles, my blocks could get damaged, and then they would stay damaged. That was a downward spiral waiting to happen, if I couldn’t repair, then I would have to replace, and that would cost time and resources, when the alternative was to simply generate more power.
Problem, considering the lack of trees in my area, and the necessity of other fuels elsewhere, combustion was pretty much off the table. That really only left two options, solar, and thanks to Geocorp, geothermal as well. Since I wasn’t in an active volcanic zone however, geothermal would be less ideal unless I could find someplace hot to put it. I knew for a fact that there wasn’t anything like that nearby, which meant solar was the way to go.
Unfortunately, both required Ignite.
So the time has finally come, I would have to venture into the desert and tussle with the insectoids again. If I had a better option, I would immediately choose it. I didn’t want to stir the hive even more, but with my meeting with Twilight on the horizon, and the uncertainty of the future, I would rather take the risk now and be prepared for a greater one in the future.
I still didn’t have the firepower to take out the whole hive… Yet, but I should have enough to harvest more Ignite crystals without getting destroyed. I had left a few outcroppings last time when things had gotten dicey, especially because they were trapped. I was unsure as to what would actually happen if I triggered them, but given they were made by insectoids underneath the sand, it was probably some sort of sinkhole or pitfall.
All that really meant was that I couldn’t mine the crystals with a drill, but that wouldn’t matter when I could just gun them down in the first place. Sure it might yield less overall, but unless the Ignite wasn’t trapped, I wasn’t going anywhere near the outcroppings. The collection radius of my collectors should be enough to avoid the issue entirely, but that was only part of the problem, once I started, I would be under fire the entire time.
I needed to prepare.
Disconnecting the solar panel from the base, I hooked up a few batteries to it so that they would actually charge. In the meantime, I gathered all of my extra flight parts and began assembling a war plane. I had encountered these things twice, and I knew how they fought, so I would plan around that.
Swarm tactics.
The insectoids would attack with obscene numbers, attempting to overrun any defenses and outlast any offense. When fighting them head on, there were only two ways to counteract this tactic, either bring a swarm of your own, or create a juggernaut so powerful it could survive the entirety of their onslaught.
I didn’t have the resources for either, but I could adapt an already effective method into an even better one. I escaped from the insectoids’ grasp last time because my plane was fast and agile, able to avoid the majority of the swarm while harvesting Ignite. That didn’t last for long, but luckily it was well equipped enough to make an escape when things got bad.
I couldn’t count on the same outcome with the same plane a second time. I would have to be faster, tougher, and stronger. Those were things I did have the resources for. I started with a larger frame, able to fully encase the cabin with a layer of blocks. The next section included the batteries as well as a couple of fuel tanks, each also protected by blocks. All of my explosives were kept in one place, which would be devastating if hit, but it was better than a chain reaction, I would rather go down with some of my tech still functional rather than none of it.
Next up was a bunch of collectors, able to hold thirty resource chunks total. I doubted I would be able to collect that much, but as long as I got some I would be happy. The end is where the tail wings went, but it was also outfitted with an upgraded radar as well, giving me a wide range of advanced detection. Combining GSO Aerofoils with Venture Rudder Tipped wings allowed an extra wide wingspan with plenty of attachment points, able to hold both wheels and a few repair bubbles.
I placed a single shield bubble in the center so that it would encompass all my vitals. Depending on how it reacted to the acid-fire, it might actually be worse to block it entirely instead of just repairing the damage it caused. I placed a repair bubble right next to it in case. With that done, the plane was enveloped in a bright green aura, and all that was left was the weapons.
Two things worked well in the past. High rate of fire, and flames. Explosives were simply too heavy and lasers were too slow. Thankfully, I could achieve both with Venture’s fine selection of weapons. Though they required a lot of Fibrewood for their structure, they were fast and still decently tough, and it certainly helped that they were lightweight, perfect for a hit and run.
And so it was done, a warplane with high defense, power, and speed. Plenty of repair bubbles with a long battery life, an array of flamethrowers and SMGs, and an odd selection of propellers. I didn’t really have the resources to make more higher tier propulsion, so I was forced to compensate with a few Pinwheel Propellers, not to mention the rocket boosters I had strapped to the side. It looked like a fusion of my previous glider mixed with a plane, albeit a lot bigger.
It was ready, and so was I.
Taking control of the warplane, I started up all the engines. It lurched forwards, slowly picking up speed as I angled it towards the South. That was until I activated the rocket boosters, sending it soaring into the air in only a second.
Those insectoids won’t know what hit them.
Flying above the desert, it was once again suspiciously empty. Not to say that I was expecting there to be a bunch of insectoids out in the open, but once I passed a certain point, there was nothing but Ignite among the sand. I had theorized before that the reason why none of it was harvested was because of the insectoids, and now the valuable crystals acted as a warning sign to any travelling the area.
If nothing else it was a great indication for when I entered the danger zone. Based on the size of the crystals though, there were still probably some attempts at mining them, though that would probably be reserved for the bravest and best equipped of the land. I was going much further, where the crystals were much larger, and where the danger was the greatest.
It didn’t take long for my upgraded radar to start blinking, and several icons appeared in its radius. Yet there was nothing visible down below. If they were the insectoids, then that meant they really did have a method of camouflaging themselves, and not just against purely visual means. A GSO radar by itself had trouble detecting those things, and I doubted any of the other companies’ I had access to would fare much better. I took a moment to find a similarity between each detected entity, then assigned the group a custom icon, making it so anything else with that similarity would be designated as the same. If they really were what I think they were, I now had a way to differentiate insectoids from non-insectoids.
They had sentries. So that’s how they found me out so fast before, if I haven’t tripped the alarm already, then I would have to be careful to avoid them in the future. I would have to be quick too if I didn’t want them mounting a proper defense.
The edge of the desert came into view, the dull flatness of the wasteland taking over the horizon. This was my stop, and I could already see a multitude of Ignite crystals dotting the sand. There were no signs of a previous battle though, nor were any of the outcroppings obviously harvested, I wasn’t where I first fought the insectoids.
I didn’t know if that was a good or a bad thing. More resources, but new and unfamiliar terrain, which may or may not be trapped. Spying one of the larger crystals among the dunes, there was a slight green hue to the sand around it.
Trapped.
It was odd though, at that scale, they should have to be maintained regularly once they were set in order to prevent a premature collapse. Yet there was hardly any evidence of activity in the surrounding area, the insectoids were good, but I doubted they were that good. Unless there was other insectoid trickery at work. Unless it wasn’t actually a pitfall. Unless it wasn’t even a trap. I didn’t know, but it wouldn’t help by just watching it from above.
As soon as I landed though, the sentries would immediately spot me. They may have already, I couldn’t actually fly high enough to guarantee not being detected, but at least my radar worked at this height. I would need to be on the move the entire time if I didn’t want to get caught up in the swarm, and every second spent surveying the area would be more time for them to muster their forces. I already knew the area was trapped, and I already knew how they were going to attack me once I started.
I just needed to start.
Diving downwards, I lined the warplane up with the most efficient route I could find. I would be breaking crystals, picking up the chunks, and skirting off the dunes to the next one. I actually did bring a drill this time, but I only knew it would work on the untrapped outcroppings, which the first one was.
The crystal broke, and the usable chunks were quickly caught in my collectors, and I was off to the next one. This one I knew was trapped, but there was an issue, I could only actually see the trap from above, meaning once I was done with these first few, I would either have to gun every single crystal down or go back up to check.
Just shooting everything would allow me to harvest the Ignite faster, although with less overall profit, but going into the air would give me more maneuverability and a more efficient process at the cost of time. I wanted to avoid the swarm as much as possible, so the more time I spent in the air the better. Things were still clear though, and oddly enough the sentries nearby hadn’t moved at all.
That probably wasn’t a good sign, if I accidentally marked something that wasn’t a threat, and the real threat was still undetected, and could be coming up on me at any moment…
I realized I hadn’t done much besides harvest a single outcropping of Ignite. I was attacked for doing just that before, but things were different now. There were traps, and I have yet to actually trigger one. I kind of wanted to see what would happen.
Shooting the crystal first, I collected the Ignite and promptly fired directly into the sand around it. The ground shifted and collapsed, the sand falling away as bright green liquid bubbled up from below. It sizzled and sputtered for a few seconds before falling back down, revealing a sticky looking hole in the ground, lined with some darker green sludge.
Wow. These were spicy pitfalls.
Immediately there was movement on my radar. The sentries were moving, each one in the same direction. I certainly had their attention now, and the rest of the swarm won’t be far behind. There were too many to silence as well, and due to how spread out they were, if I hunted down one, it would just alert any others that were watching. It was time to get moving.
I continued down the line. The next crystal wasn’t trapped, the fourth was, then the fifth, and so was the sixth. It seemed like the majority were indeed trapped, but not all of them. Taking off into the air, I spotted a small cluster of mostly untrapped outcroppings, and headed over there. That was when a bunch of icons appeared at the edge of my radar. Designation: Insectoids.
They were fast, I’ll give them that, I guess I was really close to the hive. Looking back, the ones that were on my radar were camouflaged to the sand, though their movement gave them away. Further behind though, there was a lot more, most opting to remain visible against the backdrop of the wasteland.
They were angry alright, but I didn’t even have half of my collectors full yet, even after harvesting the last of the crystals in the immediate area. My hope of getting in and out without a fight was quickly dwindling.
The approaching swarm spread out, its two sides stretching forwards to try and close in around me as some raised up into the air. I quickly moved over to the next few crystals, only to come under fire. Checking my radar, the hidden units were doing a similar maneuver, only on a much smaller scale and much faster, I was already almost completely surrounded.
That amount couldn’t stop me, but it could definitely slow me down, and with the rest of the swarm getting closer every second, I couldn’t even let them do that. I sped forward, activating some of my boosters for some extra speed. The forward units moved to intercept, but they weren’t fast enough, and I arrived at the next outcropping.
I didn’t know if it was trapped or not, and I didn’t have time to check, so I just gunned it down and moved on. Gaining altitude this time, I spotted another small cluster, most trapped except for the furthest one. A hail of fire came from around me, with more and more insectoids getting closer to my tech. Not too close however, it seems they learned what happens when I fire back.
The volume of acid-fire in the air was quickly increasing, and it was starting to get annoying. Soon enough, some started to hit, grazing my wings or striking the fuselage, my repair bubbles kicked into action, preventing the damage from getting too bad. As a result, the charge in my batteries began to deplete little by little. Then a stray shot hit the shield bubble, and was immediately vaporized, causing a sudden spike in power usage.
I didn’t have an accurate gauge as to which bubble cost more power, but I did know that the shield was immediate and total protection, while the repair bubble was more gradual. I would have to do more testing later, but for the moment, as long as my shield wasn’t focused down, then my charge should last.
The last crystal in the cluster fell to my drill, completely filling my fourth collector. I now had twenty Ignite chunks, and the swarm still hasn’t completely surrounded me. The camouflaged ones were getting braver though, tailing my plane and firing whenever they could. I began to retaliate, sending bursts of flame at any that dared to get too close while peppering the majority with constant SMG fire.
They backed off slightly, and I headed for the next few crystals. I knew that no matter how much I collected this trip, it wouldn’t last long, so it would be better to get as much as possible before going back. Things would only get harder the longer I lingered, but it would be even worse the next time I came back.
More Ignite was harvested, and more insectoids were popping up around my tech. I had a decent amount trailing now, creating a constant buzzing that droned out almost everything else. More of their acid-fire filled the air, and I started taking even more hits, dropping my total charge to almost half. My fifth collector was almost full, and a few more clusters would finish off my sixth, then I could finally leave.
It was at this point that the edges of the swarm met, surrounding me completely. They then began to close in, the living walls shifting and reacting to my movements, clustering together in the direction I was heading, but spreading back out once I got too close. It was a pretty effective strategy actually, they were slowly boxing me in while preventing me from causing serious damage.
The swarm was still a fair distance away though, and there were still a few outcroppings of Ignite that I could harvest. The acid-fire was almost constant now, my batteries were down to a quarter charge, and no matter how much I fired back the insectoids would not let up.
It was probably time to go, but I was so close to filling my last collector, and the last few chunks of Ignite were right there, ripe for the harvesting. Except they were now guarded by a bunch of insectoids. It looked like some had given up on the offense and were now focusing on the defense.
Too bad there was nowhere near enough to stop me. Flames spewed forth as I landed, scorching the first few insectoids. The attack was immediately followed by a hail of bullets, pummeling the rest while breaking down the crystals. The chunks floated upwards, and snapped into my last collector, filling it to the brim.
That’s all six, I was done here, time to leave.
However, the swarm was really getting close, to the point where it didn’t matter which direction I fired, I was going to hit regardless. The incessant buzzing affected the wind, kicking up a bunch of sand and dust in a small sandstorm. It would be harder to fly out of here, not to mention they still surrounded me on all sides.
Except for up.
Angling upwards, all my rocket boosters fired in unison, sending the warplane rocketing upwards. A few unlucky insectoids were in the way, but they were quickly eliminated from my sheer speed alone. I actually had to be careful not to go too fast, otherwise some of the Ignite might drop out of my collectors.
Thankfully, I ran out of fuel before then, and my plane levelled out as the propellers spun into action. The top of the swarm struggled to keep up, and even with the warplane’s reduced height they couldn’t reach me.
I send a few spurts of bullets down as a parting gift.
A few acid-fire bolts came up to hit my underside in response, but my repair bubbles quickly nullified them. They then flickered out a moment later, and the warplane was peppered with acid-fire. That’s what I get for being cocky I guess, at least I had some physical armor, and though some of my blocks were melted away, nothing vital was too damaged.
Except for my wheels.
It was going to be a rough landing when I got home.
Arriving back at base, it was not a smooth landing, but that was a given. Seeing as I had no more land based locomotion, it made the most sense to land directly on top of my base. Coming to a stop from that speed with a rough underside was not pretty. I got a lot of traction sure, but maybe a bit too much, as almost immediately my plane caught on the ground and flipped, scattering my precious Ignite everywhere.
One cleanup session later, and everything was back in order. The warplane was broken back down for parts, all the heavily damaged blocks were put into a pile off to the side, and every piece of Ignite was recovered, with one being completely shattered in the process. It was annoying, but at least I had a bunch of other chunks to decide what to do with.
First things first, power. Since I had one solar panel already, it would make sense to use nine Ignite to make another nine for an even ten. Then my base would get a steady influx of power during the day, with enough battery storage to last the night.
Anything past that though, was a little off limits. The Ignite in itself was useful, very much so, but without Erudite and Celestite to compliment it, I couldn’t go much further than grade one blocks.
It was always the crystals. They were pretty much every major roadblock I’ve encountered so far, except for Titanite of course. First it was Luxite, then Ignite and Celestite, and now Erudite. I was glad enough to figure out how to start producing Luxite on my own, but the other crystals were…
Hold on a second. What’s stopping me from growing the other crystals as well?
Well, for one, I don’t know what they needed to grow. Replicating their environment would be the first step, but sustaining rapid growth would be the next. Ignite was similar to Luxite, or at least it looked similar enough. They both breached the surface, and they both actively grew over time, meaning something was causing them to grow. For Luxite, it was light or some sort of solar radiation. Growing it was as simple as increasing the total light intake and keeping the soil saturated. I didn’t know exactly what minerals it needed, but for now I could just move the growing chambers to more ‘fertile’ areas once the previous ones dried up.
Given where Ignite usually grows, the catalyst for its reaction was pretty obvious. Something about the intense heat of the desert allowed the crystal to grow, and the mineral content of the sand was what supplied it. The sand was easy enough to get, especially once the tunnel reached the desert. The only problem was heat, the area around me was on the higher end of that spectrum, but it definitely wasn’t enough to get any worthwhile results. Putting it back in the desert would help, but that would leave the crystals unmonitored, and more importantly unguarded for the immediate future.
I still had to speed the process up as well, and there were two ways I could do that at the moment. One, heat it up electrically, either by using heating coils or just putting the whole setup in a furnace. It would require a lot of power, but shouldn’t need a lot of maintenance to grow a lot of crystals. The other method was a lot more crude, just surround the Ignite chunk with flammable materials and light it up.
Of course I wouldn’t leave it as just that, it would be much too inefficient. By insulating it, I could create a kiln of sorts, and with proper fuel management, I could reduce the total amount needed to grow another chunk.
At least in theory, as I still needed to test everything.
To start, I needed sand. The only issue was how I was going to bring that much from the desert to my base with only a plane. Sand wasn’t an easy material to work with, it’s coarse and rough and irritating and it gets everywhere, and I would need a great deal of it to get started. Unlike Luxite, which grew upwards, Ignite grew in both directions, though it tended to lean in the downwards direction, most of the time you would actually find more Ignite below the initial outcropping than the outcropping itself. Of course it was harder to access, but an Autominer could usually get the job done.
There was absolutely no way I was going to set one up in the desert, it would be destroyed before I even finished anchoring it to the ground. No, I was going to get more Ignite at my base instead, so I needed enough sand to create a suitable environment for active crystal growth, with enough space for a couple of chunks worth of Ignite to fit. Going off the size of the Luxite Growing Chambers, filling one to the brim would be…
A lot of sand. Too much for the plane or even the warplane to get in a single trip. It was a similar situation to getting water earlier, I just couldn’t ferry enough efficiently with what I had. Thankfully a drill would reach the desert soon enough, but even then the tunnels will still have to be cleared.
The tunnels! They needed to be cleared, and one cleaner tech was nowhere near enough to finish the job. While I had already devised a partial solution to this, I had yet to actually enact it, and the drill in the North was still sitting where it stopped, untouched.
I hastily reconstructed the plane, hightailing it Northwards so I could recover the A.I. cabin stuck up there. There wasn’t anything new on the flight over or back, but it did give me time to think.
If collectors wouldn’t suffice for gathering sand, then I would have to use something more physical. Weight would certainly become an issue, but I wasn’t too worried about it when I had already fabricated the thrust needed for the warplane, and now with a bunch of extra Ignite, I could tack on even more. The real problem came with carrying the sand, as simply piling it into a recess in my tech wouldn’t work. With the amount of time I would spend flying, there wouldn’t be any left by the time I got back to base. Covering it wouldn’t help either, because although connected blocks were solid, they were not airtight.
I would need to create a special storage compartment to gather a Luxite Growing Chamber’s worth of sand.
Why not just use a Luxite Growing Chamber?
They weren’t exactly airtight either, but they could be if I entered their design into the fabricator. I could also add a few attachment points, allowing me to easily mass produce and transport them in the future. The only problem was that the fabricator couldn’t polish the interior, making it just a Plumbite tube with a lens on one end. It would actually be better to forgo the lens entirely in that regard, and instead have it as a secondary accessory, that way I didn’t have to worry about finding a proper silicate for it yet.
I would still have to find a way to sand the interior though if I wanted to make more Luxite Growing Chambers.
Wait a minute…
Sand…
I had access to sand, water, decent rotational power, and a cylinder in need of polishing. I had an idea, but that was for later, right now I just needed the sand, and I had the storage for it.
With another trip down South, I had scooped up a good amount of it. Instead of getting it all from one place though, I decided to do a small test; taking samples from both the upper and lower regions of the desert. If the Ignite grew better in one area over the other, and it wasn’t just due to overharvesting, I needed to know.
So with everything in place, I began work on designing an Ignite Growing Chamber. Starting with a sand-filled cylinder, I built up a kiln around it, using a selection of stone blocks and concrete for better insulation. Once that was done, I hooked up a small pipeline around the base for the fuel. Since I didn’t have access to any flammable gases, Oleite was the next best thing, especially compared to Carbite.
Still, it wasn’t the best, and the refined version was more useful as a material than a fuel. There were other methods of refinement that could yield better alternatives, but regular refineries weren’t calibrated with that in mind, so I would have to construct my own from the ground up.
That was a project for later though, as I placed a couple chunks of Ignite in the sand at the top of the cylinders, then lit the burners below. It didn’t take long for the Plumbite casing to turn orange, but it didn’t go much further than that, and I knew it would never get hot enough for the sand to turn to glass.
Only time would tell if the Ignite grew at all, and as faint wisps of smoke began to trail out of the vents, I began looking towards another project of mine.
Getting another unpolished cylinder, I filled it up partially with some sand and water, then capped it off. Attaching it to a motor, I set it to start spinning slowly. This would also take some time, but if it worked then I might be able to grow Luxite even faster in the future.
Time passed, progress was made. In the time before my meeting with Twilight, several things were finished, and others had sizable chunks completed.
The topside of my base was completed, with physical fortifications almost completely surrounding the top. In an effort to make it more inconspicuous, it was mostly flat, with slight recesses in order to fit plenty of armaments. It looked quite a bit like a castle, and because the stone was the same color as the rest of the plateau, it wasn’t immediately obvious from a distance. Unless you were coming from the entrance of course, but even then it was disguised as best as possible, and it was facing West, away from Canterlot. As were the rest of my surface constructions.
Speaking of armaments. I had harvested a load more Titanite, to the point where it started to overflow my storages down on the ground, my total gun count was now at least a couple hundred. Most were situated along the walls, which were all controlled by a defense A.I. with special instructions not to fire into the base. I cannot tell you how many things I’ve had to replace because my turrets couldn’t understand that the guns on the far side could not reach an enemy at the front.
So, with the first part of the base done, I assembled all the extra A.I.s together and deployed a tunnel clearing team. Most were just cleaners, as I needed a larger supply of Plumbite if I was going to finish the tracks, but there was a ‘manager’ of sorts. Since there were so many techs doing the same task in a small space, it was there to fix any mishaps or mistakes that might happen during the process. When working all together, they managed to move quite fast, and it would only be a one or two more days before the Plumbite tunnel was cleared enough for the first track.
The Ignite was growing well, the crystals weren’t quite big enough to harvest yet, but they were definitely getting there. Thankfully there was no discernable difference between the sands, which meant I could gather more without having to risk an interaction with the insectoids. Fuel cost though, was rather high, going off of two weeks per usable chunk, each kiln burned through about two units of Oleite per day. I had to exchange about thirty units of Oleite for one chunk of Ignite, which wasn’t the best trade in the world, but was useful to know for the future. When I had the resources and power to run it all electrically I would grow Ignite constantly, but until then I would only use the kilns if I absolutely needed it.
The side project that stemmed from growing Ignite went a lot better. Upon setting the cylinder to sand itself, it came out incredibly well polished after a day of constant turning, and I set up a few more immediately afterwards. With a quick trip to gather the materials for more lenses, I had doubled my Luxite production.
Which brings me to today, when the first batch was ready to harvest. The same day I was going to meet with Twilight.
This was a rare opportunity, even if I was kind of obligated to do it. If I could convince Twilight to vouch for me, then I may be able to go back to operating like I had before, without having to worry about fighting a war every time I encountered the ponies.
Of course that’s what I was hoping for, but not what I was expecting. I knew to keep my expectations low, and that this meeting was probably not going to go anywhere. Worst case scenario, it sours my relationships with the ponies, meaning I would have to take extra care not to reveal myself to them. Best case scenario, I get an in on the inner workings of their government, my own little spy to help me avoid getting into conflicts and possibly patch up relations in the future.
I was expecting it to go in between. We would talk, I may get a little information, they may get a little information, and then we go our separate ways. It was essentially a trade, just in a less physical sense. Ideally I would like to make this a semi-regular thing, where I could meet up with the ponies and try to settle things as best as possible. It all depended on this first meeting, which meant I needed to have everything I would ask, answer, and talk about in order.
I wanted to pry for information while making it sound like I knew nothing. I should be relatively open to talk, but I need to be careful with what I divulge, and try to steer the conversation in a way that would benefit me the most.
Classic business practices was all it was. Negotiating deals, convincing shareholders, and retaining a public image. It was a form of manipulation, which made me less inclined to use it on a more or less innocent party, especially one that considered me a friend, but this was important, and I needed to bring my A-game.
Just before noon, I was flying towards the meeting spot. In an attempt to misdirect, I had taken the precaution of approaching from a different angle as to my base, and I would be leaving in a different direction as well. Since I was out here, I stashed some Luxite nearby to trade for more Erudite later.
Appearances were important. I would be conversing through an alias: Tecker. He was in the form of a plane, and had an established personality, that being very brunt. To better help the meeting go along though, I may have to push past that and change how I talk. To avoid suspicion, I would need to come up with an excuse for why.
A desperate sibling trying to piece together the events leading to their sister’s death? That may work, but the voice in itself was an issue. It was a mimicry of the voice I had when I could only use baseline speakers, and as such was basic itself. It would be grating to listen to, and difficult to understand in some situations. I had a way to alleviate that, but not an explanation. Either attempt to force my way through the conversation, or reveal one of my tricks.
It was a trade after all, I’ll just have to see when I get there.
I was bringing weapons too, visible ones. Nevermind the fact that it was nearly impossible to hide something in the thin frame of the plane, it would be better to show that I was armed. It might dissuade any attempts to trap me, and I wasn’t going to use them unless things went South.
Speaking of South, it was the direction I was approaching from. The forest I had lived in before was in view, and so was the field where we were supposed to meet. Even from a distance, I could tell there was already something there, several figures were situated around a square on the ground, it was pinkish red and seemingly flush with the terrain. Upon closer inspection I could tell exactly what it was.
They were having a picnic. Twilight and five- no six others were gathered around a checkered blanket on one of the small hills. They all looked up as I passed overhead, and I took a moment to circle the area a few times. Nothing more than what was visible appeared on my radar, even as I neared the edge of the forest. Nothing would be in eavesdropping range, and nothing in the immediate vicinity either, Twilight’s group was more or less alone.
I came in for a landing close to their picnic, with some of them meeting me halfway there.
“See? I told you he would be here.” Rainbow Dash began, “You had nothing to worry about.”
“I was more worried he’d show up than not…” Rarity whispered back,
I guess they forgot about my keen hearing, though it definitely helped to place my view right between them.
“HELLO. ALL.” I announced, “TWILIGHT. SPARKLE.” I greeted as she stepped forward.
“Hello, Tecker.” She said after a moment, “How are you today?”
Honestly? Pretty good, things were progressing at a steady rate, and I was ready to start work on production. Dishonestly? “DISPLEASED.”
Twilight looked down, “I’m sorry to hear that, and I’m… sorry for your loss.”
“THANK. YOU.” I began, “THERE. HAVE. BEEN. MANY. THINGS. TO. TAKE. CARE. OF.”
They all looked down at that. I guess the information had finally come around. I would imagine so did the rest, so it wasn’t likely that I could rely solely on their pity.
Eventually Twilight cleared her throat, “What did you want to talk about?”
“ALLOW. ME. TO. MAKE. THIS. EASIER. FIRST.” With that, I made a show of plugging a circuit board into the speaker, “There are several things I wish to talk about.”
They all stepped back in shock to the change in my voice. It wasn’t all too different from before, being as close to the same voice as I could reasonably achieve, but now that I was actually using the upgraded speakers, it came out smoother, and allowed me to use tone and inflections. I had gone from a monotone robot to essentially someone speaking through a speaker.
“Where did that come from?!” Twilight asked,
“I figured it would be easier to communicate this way.” I explained,
“Oh yeah? Then why didn’t ya speak like this before?” Another from the group asked, the orange one.
I recognized her too, in fact, pretty much all of the ponies here I had seen before at the top of the dragon’s mountain. I only knew the names of Twilight, Rarity, and Rainbow Dash, as the other three have yet to be introduced. To see them all together like this again meant they were close, a team or friend group of sorts. They had the capabilities to face dragons, so it wasn’t much of a surprise to see them all out here alone.
There was another however, and it wasn’t a pony. Standing close to Twilight was a… reptile of sorts. Purple and green scales, bipedal, and comparatively small, it was strange to see among ponies, but I couldn’t exactly ask about it now, I would have to wait until it came up in conversation.
Speaking of conversation, I was being asked a question.
“Communication through this method was not always available, nor is it very cheap. Considering the circumstances, it’s worth it.”
“Fascinating…” Twilight muttered, turning her attention to a piece of paper in her manipulation field. She scribbled a few notes, then looked up, “Oh! Um… I hope you don’t mind if I record this.”
That was a good point actually, recording this would allow for future review. I set my display to capture both audio and video and started recording as well.
“I cannot stop you from transcribing our conversations, but that limits what I am willing to say.” I would need to be extra careful with what I say now.
“Oh…” Twilight trailed off, she passed the paper to the reptile, “What um… What are you willing to say?”
Let’s get right into it, “To start, I would like to know what happened to Tecka.” Now how should I frame this? “She left to speak with your head of government, then sent an SOS not long after. The last transmission received before permanent silence was ‘evacuate.’ What happened?”
Twilight flinched at that, but otherwise nodded, “She was,” she cleared her throat, “destroyed during a scuffle with the Royal Guard. She resisted arrest the second time, and was… you know…”
Now this was interesting, “Second time?” I asked,
“She was captured and interrogated first, but then she escaped.”
This was all new to me, especially considering I was there. “Why was she arrested?”
“Didn’t she attack the princesses?” Rarity piped up,
Twilight nodded, “As soon as the meeting began, I didn’t even know she had a weapon on her.”
Okay, so both sides were lying. The only problem was I didn’t know how deep the lie was on the other side. How many others knew that I fired second? That I was the one who was attacked? These ponies might not know about it, but they might be lying about not knowing as well. Exposing such a lie could be useful, a way of undermining the princesses, but until I could find out for sure, I would have to play the role I chose.
I knew the truth, but I couldn’t disprove the princesses without giving up secrets of my own. I wasn’t willing to part with them just yet, especially for only minimal results, I would have to find the right time and place to divulge such information, and right now was not it.
“Tecka? My sister? She attacked the princesses?” I asked, enunciating disbelief.
“Yeah…” Twilight muttered, “It’s hard to believe.”
“Why?”
“I don’t know. Apparently she didn’t even say anything about it during the interrogation.”
Let’s push a little harder.
“That doesn’t sound like her.”
“It’s what happened though, and nopony knows why except Tecka, and she’s…” Twilight pursed her lips,
Blind trust to the government I see. It made sense though, Twilight was a personal student to one of the princesses, so maybe there was a good amount of faith mixed in there.
“Unless you know something.” She continued,
I do, but technically I shouldn’t, so I’ll have to go with another as to why I don’t believe the lie. “I know my sister, Tecka was never one to attack unprovoked. She was always the more talkative of the two of us. Something must have happened.”
That certainly gave the group pause, and they all took a few moments to think over my words.
“But she lied,” Rainbow Dash began, “Like, a lot.”
“She did,” Time to come clean, or at least cleaner. “I won’t deny it. In fact, I was in on a few of them.”
“So how do you know she wasn’t lying to you?”
“Because I knew her, she didn’t lie out of spite or compulsiveness, it was a defense due to the situation we were in.”
“What situation would require one to lie so much?” Rarity asked,
“We were in unknown lands with barely enough to keep ourselves alive and no knowledge of its inhabitants. Our first few encounters with local life went less than spectacularly, especially intelligent life. I believe the first pony Tecka met went by the name Nightmare Moon. Nothing good came from that exchange.”
Several of them nodded in understanding, but Twilight just frowned, “That doesn’t excuse why she lied to me, her friend.”
“You were not friends in the beginning.” I said, “We had no reason to trust you.”
“But we became friends!” Twilight argued, “So why didn’t she tell me then?”
Wow, she was really hung up on this friends thing. I guess she was one of the few I was on good terms with, and I would prefer to keep it that way, even if it was through a third party.
“She did speak fondly of you, but there were things we agreed to keep secret.”
“Oh? Like what? What else did you lie about?” Twilight demanded,
I intentionally let out a sigh, “We agreed to keep our occupations, methods, and goals secret for the time being.”
“Because you’re prospectors?”
Oh? So some of my meeting with the princesses did make it out, but based on their story, there was hardly a meeting at all. Tecka was supposedly interrogated afterwards however, so there wasn’t much to pick at there.
“This is true, we are prospectors.”
“And that’s what you came here to do? Prospect?”
“In part,” I didn’t come here to prospect, but being able to has certainly been helpful in this scenario. “We truly did arrive here by accident, and before, our main objective was to simply return home. Now? My main objective is to figure out the circumstances of my sister’s death.”
“And is harvesting a ton of Cobalt from the moon a part of your ‘main objective’?”
So that was revealed too, that made it a little harder to verify my claims, but it acts as a great segue for my true intentions. “Long range transportation is expensive, there was enough for our means, but now things have changed. In more ways than one.”
“That’s right!” Rainbow Dash exclaimed, “You put something on the moon! How did you do that?!”
The orange one stepped forward, “And just how ‘long range’ are yall talking?”
“I cannot say.”
“Because you’re unwilling to?” Twilight glanced at the reptile hastily writing down what was just said,
“Unable to.” I corrected, “We prospectors are legally bound; there is a standard protocol when communicating with alien entities.”
“And the Federation dictates that?” Twilight asked,
“Indeed.”
“So where is the Federation?”
“Can’t say.”
Twilight pouted, but otherwise didn’t continue.
This was getting rather tense, if information from my meeting was getting out, then they should know I wasn’t from this world. If it was being kept secret though, then I could maybe use that to my advantage. Since this entire meeting was being recorded, then it was probably safe to assume that Twilight would attempt to verify everything I’ve said. Whatever lies from this can and probably will be used against me by the princesses, so I would have to get them to admit their own knowledge first before I try anything.
“What if we swear not to tell anypony?” The pink one joined in, “Pinkie swear even, can you break protocol then?”
They were pleading for my secrets now, one of the lowest forms of negotiation.
“You have not given me a reason to.” I said,
“What if we told you about Tecka in exchange?” Twilight brought up,
“You’re asking me to commit a crime for information on my dead sister?”
She immediately backed down, “No! I- That’s… I didn’t…” She sighed, “Let’s just move on.”
“Let’s.” So maybe they weren’t totally aware of my origin, but even if they weren’t told directly, there was probably enough information floating around for them to figure it out on their own.
“So why do you need so much Cobalt?” Rarity asked, “I hope it’s not all for your sister.”
“It’s not, I need it for” sustainability, manufacturing, development, and “protection.”
“You know, if you turned yourself in everything would be resolved much faster, you wouldn’t have to deal with the guard.” Twilight said,
“I doubt you’ll get much for blowing up some ruins.” Rainbow Dash tacked on, “But disturbing the peace? That can land you in some hot water, I should know.”
“You’ll have to forgive me for not trusting your government anymore, and by extension, your law. Until I can guarantee my own safety and freedom, I see no reason to work with your princesses.”
“Well, I don’t know the exacts, but if you’re taking Cobalt straight from the moon, then that seems a bit excessive for the Royal Guard. Not to say that they’re incompetent or anything.” Rarity said, ending it with a glance towards Twilight and the reptile.
“It is not just the government I need protection from.”
“Like that dragon we drove off?”
“That too, but that is still not everything.”
“Then what else do yall need protection from?” The orange one demanded, sounding a bit exasperated.
Finally, I could get into something I want to tell them. “My own kind.”
Cue a multitude of shocked and confused looks.
I continued, “Although we were not assigned to these lands, they hold a great deal of resources, and as prospectors, it is easy to recognize the great wealth that lies here. I will eventually have to leave, I have to return to the Federation at some point, and that will draw the attention of other prospectors back to here. Tecka and I had devised a plan to safeguard these resources from them, and in order to do that we need to use some of the resources ourselves.”
“That’s… really greedy.” Twilight said after a moment,
“Call it what you want, but that same plan of protection applies to you as well. We may have been the first to encounter these lands, but we will not be the last, and we are far from the worst. Tecka wanted to protect you ponies as well, and that plan remains unchanged. For now.”
“Then…” The yellow one finally spoke up, “What do you want?”
“I, want to know what happened to my sister, I want to know how and why she was killed, and I want to see all that’s left, anything and everything that can help bring closure.” That’s one way to snuff out a lie, just force it open with an all encompassing investigation.
“And after that?” Twilight asked worriedly,
“I will proceed as planned,” I added some strain to my voice, “It makes little difference to me whether ponies are included or not. Just know this, protection from others does not guarantee protection from me.”
They all took a step back.
“I will do what I must, whether you’re with me or against me.” I moved forward,
Intimidation may not have been the best tactic to use, but it was certainly effective when warranted. It matched my role well enough, though it looked like it was starting to hinder my progress.
Twilight stopped, then stood straight, “Is that what Tecka would’ve wanted?”
That was a good chance to dial it back. “Why do you think I’m here to begin with?” I began, dropping my previous tone slightly, “I am willing to work together for the time being, but I do not plan on stopping what we’ve already started. I owe Tecka that much.”
The group relaxed slightly. “What exactly have you started doing?” Twilight continued,
“I am unwilling to say.”
“Right, protocol or whatever.” Rainbow Dash grumbled,
“No,” Twilight said, she held a hoof in front of the reptile, and it stopped writing to look up, “What if we don’t record your answer?”
That wasn’t exactly the most tempting offer. “I do not trust you enough to not simply fill in the blanks later.”
“Pinkie promise?” The pink one suggested again,
“Is there anything we can do to get you to tell us?” Twilight pleaded,
“You want my trust? Then help me get the answers I need, then we can talk about cooperation, but until then, stay out of our way.”
Her ears perked at that, “‘Our?’ Are there more of you?”
“There will always be more.” That was a little insurance in case any of my automated techs were discovered or I was in anything other than the plane.
I turned to leave. This meeting had gone about as well as I’d expected, there were a few things I still wanted to ask, but with the tone I had set, it would make more sense to just leave it there for now. I had gotten enough information on their part anyway; no matter how nice it may seem, you can never trust the government.
“Wait!” Twilight called out,
I stopped, that was what I was waiting for.
“I want to know what happened to Tecka too, but information is sparse, and none of it is supposed to be public yet.”
Wouldn’t being a ‘friend’ of Tecka and the personal student of the head of government mean she wasn’t a part of the public? No matter, I could still use this opportunity.
“You want to help?”
Twilight nodded, and with a gesture to the rest of the group, so did they, “Despite all the lies, Tecka was still a friend, and she was family to you. You deserve to know.”
I sighed, “Then find out what you can, and leave a message if you wish to speak again.” I turned to leave again, “I will monitor this area regularly, if I find anything out of the ordinary, I will come to you, understand?”
I got a blank stare for a moment, then Twilight blinked and nodded again, “Y-Yes.”
“Goodbye then, and…” I trailed off for a moment, “Thank you.”
And with that, I started my engines and took off, heading East. I didn’t want to linger, otherwise the others might’ve realized that the reptile hadn’t resumed writing after being stopped.
The flight back was long and disappointing. I had made a sizable detour of course, but there was still some Luxite in my collectors when I arrived back at base. The dogs were not as productive as I once thought, and with the agreed upon price of three Erudite for one Luxite, I was only able to make the trade twice before they were out.
That wasn’t all either, we discussed where to actually find Erudite, and for the most part it was simply luck of the draw. There was hardly any surface indication for it unless there was incredibly high saturation or some major geological event managed to unearth part of it. It was a similar situation to some of the other resources, since it formed deep underground, there was no one environment to pin it down to, you just simply had to stumble upon some.
As described earlier, it wasn’t very valuable either, despite being so rare. The dogs didn’t settle in their area because of the Erudite, it just happened to be there along with all the other gems. Luckily that meant I wouldn’t have a lot of competition when searching for it or harvesting any, but first I would have to actually find some. Thankfully with the proper incentive the dogs were more than willing to pick up the pace for my next visit.
That just left me to deal with the results of my meeting with Twilight.
I had essentially asked her to start investigating classified information, which was an incredibly risky thing to do. She seemed ready to accept that risk however, just like I had accepted the risk of actually meeting them. I was fully prepared for my destruction upon arriving, whether it be via a trap or somehow the meeting going sour. There were several spare cabins back at base, and several were a part of combat techs on standby.
Of course, none of that actually happened, the meeting went fine and there was no trap. I still would’ve landed if there was though, as it still would’ve provided some useful information.
Now that it was over, there was going to be some time before I checked back on them, and I could focus on more pressing matters, considering two more tunnels were in need of maintenance. The dump tunnel was completed without any incident, and now just needed to be cleared. I set up a smaller team of cleaners to begin work on it as getting the stone out was a high priority.
On the other side of things, the Titanite drill had reached the desert. As expected, it encountered much softer rock and stopped as per instructed, only for it to let out a distress signal immediately afterwards. Switching over revealed nothing, my view was obstructed on all sides, and the drill was seemingly locked in place.
It had been caught in a collapse. That wasn’t as much of a problem for the drill as it was for the tunnel as a whole. The drill could dig itself out easily enough, but if the surrounding area already suffered a collapse, there was a significant risk of causing another one. Without anything to hold up the material, the damage would quickly reach the surface.
Flying over to the drill’s location in the plane, there was already a rather large fissure breaking up the sandy earth. Even worse, there was what looked like a pathway nearby. Thankfully there were no settlements close, but I would still prefer not to make my things anymore visible. I would have to be careful not to cause any more surface disturbances.
Unfortunately, there wasn’t much I could actually do about it yet, as I had yet to even begin work on clearing the Titanite tunnel, and moving the drill in any direction would cause the rock it was now holding up to fall further. That brought the number of drills stranded up to three, literally all of them.
I didn’t think this through very well.
At least two of them could reach the surface, which improved their situations marginally. With access I could at least slowly disassemble them, but since the tunnels were pretty much off limits now, I didn’t have any way to move them any time soon. I didn’t want to wait that long just to free up a single drill, there were more tunnels to be dug, and any number of additional projects that might appear in the future.
Taking a drill apart piece by piece would take a ridiculous number of trips in the plane, but at least the bigger the plane, the bigger the pieces.
…
How big of a plane would I need to move an entire drill?
I had the rough size and weight measurements for the drill, so I could figure out what I needed to build something able to lift it. The drill was essentially just a big, heavy cylinder, which is already the perfect shape for a plane to begin with. I could just build the plane around it, using it as the main body. The only issue was weight, seeing as the drill was built to plow through stone and operate underground, it was naturally quite dense, meaning I really had to give it some lift in order to get it off the ground.
That brought the total wingspan from massive to ridiculously big. I didn’t exactly have the materials for it either, but at least it didn’t take anything locked away like Plumbite, I could just go harvest what I needed when I was finished with the design.
It also needed quite a bit of thrust, too much for an abundance of Pinwheel Propellers to handle. Thankfully I had just gotten some more Erudite, which meant I could fabricate some better propellers. Since I was focusing more on power over defense, I decided to go with Venture’s Seraphim Nose Propeller.
It all started with combining the Erudite with some Ignite in the Component Factory, forming a Heat Coil. Then, by combining some Carbite and Rodite to make Blast Caps, then adding some more Carbite, you get Z4 Explosives, which can then be combined with the Heat Coil to make Dervish Gel, the main driving component of the propeller. With the addition of a Cyclone Jet made of a bunch of Oleite and some Carbite, along with all the Fibrewood and Rubber structure, you get yourself a single propeller.
Thankfully the Component Factory and Fabricator make quick work of the actual assembly process, but it does little to diminish the amount of steps. Just fabricating one propeller with my modified fabrication station took a little under an hour, nevermind the time it took to acquire all the resources necessary. I cannot imagine the amount of time it would take to fabricate just the ordnance portion of an interceptor satellite, let alone the rest of it, then the rocket to get it up into orbit in the first place. Hopefully when I upgraded my production that issue will be resolved, everything should be working in tandem and as efficiently as possible, putting together a still indeterminate amount of satellites and rockets.
I was working my way to that point at this very moment. By chaining together wings along a large frame, then connecting the propellers at regular intervals, I had myself a gigantic plane. Given an actual body, it could become quite the cargo plane, able to transport plenty of materials from almost any distance in a good amount of time. It was the type of thing I would normally use if I could, but it was huge, and extremely eye catching as well, meaning there was simply no way for me to use it regularly.
I took off in record time. Without an actual body, it was basically just a stick with giant wings and immense thrust, which naturally made it fast, but also incredibly hard to control. The same definitely could not be said for the return trip.
Going over to the ocean first, I pulled the drill out of the ground, taking care to partially fill the hole with rubble. I could always clear it later, and it would stop any would-be spelunkers from getting in. With that out of the way, I hooked up the drill to the plane, making sure all the connections were secure. Then I went about trying to take off.
Emphasis on trying.
I couldn’t get enough speed to reliably leave the ground. I had the thrust and the lift, but now that the drill was acting as the body of the plane, it was creating a lot of drag and friction. The heavy duty tracks were not meant to travel at high speeds, and as such they literally couldn’t, dragging in the dirt and slowing down the plane as a whole.
It wasn’t very aerodynamic either. Contrary to what you might think, large drill heads are not cone shaped, they don’t actually pierce the earth, rather they carve through it with a flatter, cylindrical head. It’s why there’s so much stone to clean up afterwards, as it would take too much energy and cause too much damage to try and force the earth out of the way. Bottomline, it doesn’t help with airflow.
Thankfully, with a bit of ingenuity and cannibalism, I fashioned a makeshift nose for the plane, and by using a few small hills, I could get the treads off the ground for long enough to gain enough speed to stay in the air. With the added weight, the plane was much slower, but it flew much steadier, and I successfully brought the drill back to base, taking care to avoid any known settlements, as I couldn’t fly very high either.
It had worked, but it was still unreliable, and it would not work for the drill stuck up in the mountains. There was no stretch of land long enough, nor an upward facing slope shallow enough to take off. I wasn’t stupid enough to attempt a downwards facing launch with such a heavy plane, and there was no way I could get enough speed going upwards to take off from the peak. I would need to change the design.
For one, I gave the plane an actual nose, one that was more streamlined and lightweight. Then I extended the frame below, adding a place for the drill to rest on, whilst giving the plane its own set of wheels to use. Finally, to help with the runway issues, I simply added a bunch of rocket boosters.
With these additions, I could probably retrieve the Rodite drill, but there were some preparations I wanted to make first. Instead, I brought the first drill back underground and headed East with another beacon.
The Carbite line was already well underway, and in that time the cleaner team had finished partially clearing the Plumbite line.
I could finally get some more Plumbite! I was starting to get a bit starved for it after all.
First things first, I had to mine it. Sending a little drill tech over was easy enough, the real problem came with dictating where it would mine. There was Plumbite everywhere, but if I just started harvesting it all willy-nilly then there were sure to be some complications. For that reason I brought plenty of supports along with me.
For now, I would simply harvest it manually, until I could spare another A.I. cabin at least. As much as I wanted to clean up the cleaner team, they were desperately needed elsewhere, and I was once again out of Erudite. I really needed to find a place to get some of my own.
Most of the cleaners were split between the dump tunnel and the Titanite tunnel, while in the meantime I reserved a spare A.I. cabin to begin work on completing the track. There was only one, so there couldn’t be an automated team, I was its teammate. Since it couldn’t do extremely complicated tasks, it mostly hung around the end of the track. In the meantime, I would be the one supplying it, I would harvest as much Plumbite as I could, refine it and fabricate with it at my own little station prepared at the end of the track, then venture out and deliver the completed tracks to the builder, which it would then use.
This way the travel times were getting progressively shorter, and at the same time I was carving out a space for a proper mine. It was unfortunate that I could only use this method for the Plumbite tunnel, it being the only one that could supply rails on both ends after all, but by the time the others were ready for work, I would probably have the resources to automate the entire process.
Head out, supply, come back, mine.
This continued for pretty much an entire day, and with the increased efficiency of construction, the track was more or less completed by the end of it. At the moment it was nothing more than a rail between two points, and as such I relinquished the A.I. of its train, placing it in the miner I was previously using. Without the intricacies of signals and stops, I couldn’t trust the A.I. to work the track effectively, so for now whenever I needed more Plumbite, I would take the train myself and go pick some up.
Plumbite wasn’t the only material I was getting either. While I was clearing out the future mine, I managed to dig out a small tunnel leading to the surface. I breached right where I had first found the seam, nestled in between a couple hills with a forest off to the side.
I didn’t spend a lot of time on the surface, but I did make sure to harvest plenty of Fibrewood and Rubber Jelly for future use, making sure to map out the area for a proper logging installation.
With this new influx of material, I was able to flesh out the interior of my base a little more. As opposed to a bunch of manufacturing equipment sitting at the bottom of a pit, I could give it some verticality with some actual frames and supports. Of course the limited conveyor belts couldn’t traverse the distance easily, but it allowed more space for production.
Speaking of production, now that I had a supply of Plumbite, I could begin work on the first leg. Since Plumbite would be one of, if not the most commonly used material in the entire factory, it needed to be properly processed and distributed accordingly. A typical made-to-order system wouldn’t be enough, so instead there was going to be some specialization.
The Plumbite would enter the system at a single point when it was unloaded from the train. It would then be split off into several branches, refined if needed, then shaped or combined with something else to make the next product. Each line would have its own set of fabricators and storages, each making a specific part to be used in the whole process.
Considering the complexity of the interceptor satellite and rocket though, I sincerely doubted that there was enough space to fit the entire assembly line underground. At least for the moment, I could always expand later. Though now that I’ve already built up so much, I would have to be careful where and how I did it.
Right now my main gripe was where to actually begin. Not all recipes called for the refined version of Plumbite, and while they might not need it to be a chunk of raw ore, it reduced efficiency. I semi-had to conserve space too, so I had to decide whether to refine the Plumbite on site, or at the mine where it was harvested.
Refining on site would allow for better distribution, able to send the right amount of Plumbite to the right place in the right form at the right time to fabricate the items needed. That kind of setup would require space though, and probably a bunch of trial and error. The speed it could operate at was the main attraction, but if it required too much work to complete then it wouldn’t be worth it.
On the other side of things, refining the Plumbite at the mine would allow me to craft resource blocks, which could be used as bulk storage, and would dramatically increase the amount of resources my trains could carry. Albeit at the cost of time. It would take time for the Plumbite to be refined, then fabricated into blocks, then loaded onto the train, and I’m not even going to mention unloading when the alternative was just to load raw ore.
Or loose ingots I suppose. That would cut down on time, and with a uniform shape I might be able to fit more on the train.
The bulk storage was so appealing though, it would increase the efficiency of my trains despite the time loss, and that would allow for faster production back at base. If I had an obscene amount of Plumbite flowing in, then I wouldn’t need to focus as much on proper ratios and timing. The whole thing would be fully saturated, and all the machines would be running at max capacity, but only if the transport could keep up with the production, and only if the mining could keep up with the transport.
Until I had the actual numbers, there wasn’t much I could do to experiment, but I did have some ideas. Since I didn’t exactly have the resources though, I couldn’t even make them a reality either, but I could start work on the actual assembly lines.
With Plumbite and Luxite, and maybe Titanite being my only ‘constant’ resources right now, I could only delve into one or two component trees: Gears, Greebles, and Alloys. Those didn’t allow me to make many complicated blocks, but it did allow me to create a bunch of structure, armor, and simple weapons. All welcome additions to my arsenal.
I actually wasn’t too fond of armoring my techs. It was like putting a shell over everything, it was protective for sure, but with the loss of attachment points you lose a lot of your adaptability. Armor was heavy too, it slowed down techs and left them in the line of fire for longer, because of that, it was actually worse to pair armor with shield bubbles, but I was lacking bubble projectors to begin with, so there might be some merit to fabricating some.
All of these components were necessary for the final product as well, so anything I made wouldn’t be a waste of space unless it was inefficient.
It would be, but that was standard for all first iterations. Things would be refined when more things became available.
For now, I began work on routing conveyor belts from the refineries to the component factories and fabricators. One line took Plumbite and fashioned it into gears, with some splitting off to combine with Luxite to form Plubonic Greebles and eventually Plubonic Alloy. Each ended with its own storage, slowly amassing more and more components with every load of Plumbite.
With Titanite, it was hardened with Luxite to form… you guessed it, Hardened Titanic, then Titanic Alloy. Despite the amount of Titanite I had stored, I wasn’t putting it all into the factory, as it was currently more useful on its own. The simplest of armor was just a combination of pure Plumbite and Titanite, with a little Luxite to hold it all together.
I could probably fit the plane with some, and definitely the drills, but mainly they would be a precaution for any automated techs that I sent to the surface.
I started automated production of small armor plates.
Having to use armor brought up a glaring issue. I didn’t have a lot of shield bubbles, or more specifically, I didn’t have a lot of Celestite. That was going to be a problem.
Not having shield bubbles worked fine for now, but it would be impossible to continue forward without them in the future. They were required for the design of the satellites, along with any other Celestite derived tech needed. Since I already knew I could find Celestite on this world, I saw no reason to look for an alternative, doubly so because I was under a time limit.
It would also be incredibly helpful on the ground, maybe even necessary if things went poorly with the ponies. Physical armor was notoriously weak against energy based attacks, something I knew the ponies were capable of. Once they realize that standard projectiles won’t do much, they would quickly switch to more effective means.
Celestite was also required for advanced A.I.s, something I would definitely be making more of.
The point being, I needed more of it, a lot more. But it was really far away and difficult to mine. A regular trip in the plane would never be worth it due to the limited amount I could carry and the risk that came with mining it. Anything larger would not be suited for repeated trips, and drilling that distance would take way too long. I needed a way to get proper mining equipment up North and then develop a proper transport system to shuttle the Celestite back to base.
Thankfully I’ve recently developed a method of moving gigantic drills large distances.
A drill on its own wouldn’t be enough though, the North was cold, slippery, and avalanche prone, each dangerous in their own rights, but with possible solutions. The drill was heavy, operated on tracks, and spent most of its time sub-surface, slipping wasn’t going to be much of an issue. Avalanches though, would be, even if I had shield bubbles to spare, they weren’t going to stop a large chunk of ice from hitting the drill, I would need to protect it from large impacts.
GeoCorp’s Shock Plating would do wonders, and with an array of repair bubbles to fix any damage, it would be nigh indestructible. That led to the next issue, the temperature and power usage. The drill would need power to operate, and simply outfitting it with a bunch of batteries would only last so long, it needed to have its own source of power to remain in the North. The solution to that was simply enough, just stick some solar panels on top, and anchors underneath. That way when it was done mining, it could plant itself in the ground and start generating power, provided it was at the right time and the weather was clear.
The last step would be to fortify it against the environment. It could repair damage well enough, but there would be nothing stopping it from getting bogged down by a bunch of ice buildup. Sealing gaps and bringing its own supply of heating coils should alleviate that, and giving it its own set of manufacturing equipment should allow it to process all the harvested Celestite and store it in compact blocks, ready for pickup.
All this planning may seem excessive, but I had to pull out all the stops for this, it was one of the few things I couldn’t afford to waste time with trial and error on. For that reason, I would also be outfitting the drill with a wide array of weapons suited for the cold, mainly lasers. I doubt there would be many ponies up there, but there was definitely a chance of encountering some other local fauna.
The presence of Celestite significantly lowered that chance, but considering the situation, I could never be too careful. Creatures in the cold tended to get big too, and based on that dragon in the past, if anything did wander the frozen wastes, then I would not want to meet it.
So I had the materials, I had the transport, and I had the plan, there was only one issue.
Time.
My previous expeditions up North took time, a lot of time. Even with the higher tier propellers it took well over three days just to get there with a small plane. I would be flying in the big, heavy drill plane this time, which could easily turn those three days into an entire week.
A week to fly up there with the drill, and a bit less than a week to fly back without it, maybe taking the time to mine up some Celestite while I’m there.
I couldn’t spend that long away from base, but I couldn’t just set the plane to fly without going up there first to place a beacon, not to mention the fact that it wouldn’t be able to steer clear of any danger on the way. At the very least I could switch back to base once I arrived, cutting that time into just a week, and if there was an emergency I could always just land wherever.
Still, there would be so many things that would require my attention during that time. Mainly tunnels, but it would also overlap with another meeting with the dogs, and if Twilight responded while I was away… Well it would make me look bad if I was late.
I really needed that Celestite though, and waiting any further will just continue to delay all my plans. As much trouble as it would be, it was simply higher priority.
I started by gathering the materials needed to upgrade the drill. The most expensive part was of course the armor, requiring a bunch of Plumbite, Titanite, Rubber, and even Luxite in some cases. In order to cover most of the drill, I burned through almost my entire storage of Titanite. Next up was power, and by sacrificing a little more, I had a couple GeoCorp Battery Packs to use along with some GeoCorp brand solar panels, which would be plenty for the amount of repair bubbles coming with as well. Then came the finer details, such as an array of lasers and plenty of smaller blocks to help patch holes. Finally, with the simple addition of a refinery and fabricator, along with a load more collectors, everything was ready.
Loading it all up into the plane, it weighed a lot, too much in fact. The armor alone was about half the weight of the drill itself, and simply combining them together would make it too heavy for the plane to fly.
There were three things I could do to resolve this. One, beef up the plane even more so that it could lift the modified drill. Two, create a secondary plane to follow the first in a sort of aerial convoy. Three, make two trips.
I’m not spending upwards of four weeks just to get a drill up North, and I barely had enough Erudite and Ignite to make the upgrades for the drill. However, I did have other planes I could break down for parts, and the drill wasn’t going to need its A.I. cabin whilst in the air.
And so I boxed up all the armor, weapons, and accessories into a slightly smaller plane, plugged in the A.I. cabin, told it to follow me, and took off in the direction of the Rodite drill.
It was going to be a long trip to the frozen wastes.
