Chapter 89 – The Recipe for Success
"Wha…I…I wouldn't know where to get the parts!" Pilit began as the panic set in, "Getting the tubing alone would be a trick, then there's the alloy, the pump, we have the clamps and joints, but…"
"Calm down." Twilight said with a chuckle and a gentle touch to the panicking Treeopon's arm, "Remember, you're surrounded by friends." the alicorn used her wing to gesture to the crowd, not just the friends that were there when she received the magic of the elements, but the pilots and others, mechanics and scroungers that smiled to her as they waited for her decision, "Sometimes there are things you just can't do alone. But with friends, sometimes all you need to do is ask for help, and they'll be right there. So go ahead, ask."
Pilit took a short time to look around at everyone, each a familiar face that she remembered, calming smiles and one gruff frown the tended to speak not of true distrust, but rather hope. She took in a deep breath, calming her nerves and prayed inside her mind, "Ok, if I can find the parts I need, then we'll make each of you a Spell Burst Engine." she said.
The group at the door whooped and cheered, "What do yah need from us?" Tri-Tiner asked.
"I'm gonna need silicon tubing, not just any kind either." she said as her nerves calmed, "I need dense silicon nano-lined piping, preferably 3-inches in diameter."
"Are you kidding!" Syls said, "I got plenty of that, that exact size as well." Everyone turned to her, and she could feel the unasked question, "A Dryskian that I grew up with was an explorer and found the formula for making it, the guy is rich now." she explained.
Pilit sighed in relief, "I'm also going to need a sludge pump, one that is small and works in steady intervals that can increase or decrease in speed at any given moment."
"Does a pump like that actually exist?" Honor asked.
"It does in fact." Twilight said, "It's called the P.E.P. Actuating Fluid Pump, it's designed to adjust to pressure build up and can be programed for this exact purpose."
"What does the P.E.P. stand for?" Spike asked, to which Twilight simply shrugged.
"P.E.P. pumps like that are typically used for fluid control." Hulon said, "I'm sure my dad sent a few over with some of the more surgical machines that he's sent over as overkill for me."
"Why would he send over a machine meant for fluid control?" Chivalry asked.
"Just in case we needed to draw out blood for any reason, I tried telling him that I wouldn't need it but he sent it and some replacement parts anyway." she explained, and then rushed off, appearing only after a few moments. "It's like this but you'd need one that fits a 3-inch tube instead of a 3-millimeter tube."
She handed the small device to Honor who looked to the device with awe, "Fascinating." he said, "I may have someone in my garage that can reverse engineer this device and build one in the appropriate size." he turned It over in hie had, "Just give me e few days, that's all I ask."
She simply nodded, "Then I'll need the casing."
"Yah can just leave that te us Hok-Sai." Tri-Tiner said, "All we need are teh design specs."
"You can't just make it out of anything you have lying around." she interrupted him, "It has to be made from an alloy containing a specific amount of aluminum, steel and titanium."
"Give me teh alloy recipe and I can have teh thing made in a few days." Al-Ken said, his usual gruff nature giving way to curiosity.
"Wait…you have the metals?" she asked.
"Kid, we're Hok-Sai." he announced, "If we're not making stuff out of metal, we're figuring out how te melt it down." Then he gave a rare smile, his facial hair bending in a way no one had ever seen from him, "Just leave it te me!"
"I can affirm that statement." Honor said, "Hok-Sai and Meltackians have shared the same planet for millennia. This has always been the constant."
"Guess I'm gonna have to keep practicing." Rainbow said with a grin on her face.
"Oh, that's an understatement." Syls said with the same grin.
"This might actually work." Pilit said to herself. "Thank you all." she said "I'll make sure you all get compensated for this."
"Compensate nothing!" Syls said, "We're the ones getting the engines that YOU build, we're the ones who planning on paying you!"
Pilit froze, "What?" she asked, "No, that's not necessary."
"Oh hush!" Tris said as she wrapped her arms around the smaller Treeopon, "Your team has done so much, the worlds are a much better place just for having you."
"What my partner is trying to say is that we ow you." Syls continued, "And I'm not taking NO for an answer. You're getting compensated kid, you've earned it."
The conversation ended after that, the others agreeing with Syls' statement, and each team separating to their separate garages. It was only a few hours until the silicon tubes arrived, and Pilit quickly got to work on assembly. Writch was the one to deliver the alloy recipe to the Hok-Sai, while Pilit worked, the shorter builders grinning from ear to ear as they looked it over. A promise made for delivery and a gusto that Writch had never seen was saturating the air as she turned to leave for her own garage. Besides that, the rest of the time they spent was somewhat unremarkable. Twilight tested her magic in the space, using levitation was fine but when she tried using teleportation, she found that she could only move through out the empty space, no matter how hard she concentrated she could not teleport back to the previous racetrack. Still, she used her magic well, becoming the one to deliver other things once parts were complete. And in the end, Pilit and the gang were able to put the engines together relatively quickly. Only a day after she received the last part in fact. Each of the other teams thanked her team generously and once the last of the engines were delivered, Twilight placed the medallion into the wall, teleporting them to the next garage. Once they looked outside, they found a desert, a hot summer desert whose sun scorched everything on the ground, "Where are we?" Twilight asked.
"Not sure." Tusks replied.
Suddenly the screen turned on, the familiar face of the large Sunik, Sselekk, appeared, "Welcome to Sunik, ponies." he announced with glee, "Hope you brought your sunscreen." and with that taunt, he let the screen go dark.
Rainbow smiled and rolled her eyes as she realized the teasing from the Sunik general, "What a way to welcome friends to your home planet." she said sarcastically.
In the back of the group, both Spike and Image stood, the colors on Image's body froze a bit, the light blues and whites with yellows just stood still for a few seconds, "We're here." Spike whispered.
"This is our moment." Image said only to Spike, "Just you wait dear sister." The colors once again began to move, the blues dominating as they mixed with the yellows and new greens.
"We'll save her, I promise." he said and so the two of them could disappear from view. Twiggs kept his eye on them as they did, a smile on his face as he knew just what was happening.
"How do I look?" Spike asked as he stood there. His scales had been painted by Image, a grey belly with a sandy color for the rest of him, and on top of his head sat a short haired wig that sported wild red hair.
"Horrid." Image said as he glared at the concoction of a disguise, "But…convincing."
"So now we just infiltrate the base?" the baby dragon asked.
"Where is the base?" Image asked, and the two of them quickly realized that they had no idea where on Sunik the base was.
"I thought you knew." Spike admitted.
"If I knew, then I wouldn't need to ask." the Meltackian nearly scolded, "All I knew was that it was on Sunik."
"Well, do you think Sselekk could help?" the dragon asked.
"I…" Image said in hesitation, "I was hoping to avoid him."
"I did notice that you tend to avoid him…why is that?" Spike asked, "Is it because he was the one giving you your orders?"
Image sighed, once again audibly, "Yes, he was also the one I was assigned to report to."
"But that was before he became our friend." Spike said, "Maybe he'll be willing to help now?"
"I don't know." he said.
"Then…" Spike said, thinking fast, "We'll ask Rainbow Dash."
"Oh, no!" Image said, "This is a delicate mission. Rainbow Dash would rush on in and demand that they had over my sister. That could easily get her and me killed."
"Twilight?" he asked.
"I'm afraid we'd spend more time planning than rescuing." he said, and turned to Spike, "No offense to her of course."
"Well, what about…" Spike thought, and Image lifted his hand.
"Alright." he said to the baby dragon, "I get it. We need help. But Pinkie would make too much of a ruckus, Applejack would be just as brash as Rainbow Dash and…" he stopped and thought, "…I'm not sure what Rarity would do." to which Spike simply shrugged his shoulders. "Fluttershy would ask nicely, though I'm not sure that would be effective at all." Image continued, "But…" he then placed a hand to his chin, "No, nopony here would know where it is. Perhaps you are correct, Sselekk is the only one to help us."
"Then, we'll tell him our plan?" Spike asked.
"I'm just not sure how much help he will truly be." Image said in worry.
