//------------------------------// // Chapter 9: Preparing // Story: Spikenautica // by PhysicistBrony //------------------------------// "How in Celestia am I going to teach Fluttershy to swim? We don't even walk the same way, no less swim the same." Spike began pondering this as he started nearing the Kelp Forest. As he got closer, he saw the metal eating fish farther in the forest, so he stayed at the outer edge of the forest. He began to cut parts of the kelp plants off, and pretty soon, he had his claws full of kelp. Spike slowly began to make his way back towards the life pod and started doing small calculations while swimming. "Let's see, I grabbed four kelp samples and I need two kelp samples for one fiber mesh. That means I need to make another trip to the kelp forest and then I will have enough fiber mesh for both of the radiation suits." Spike slowly made his way back to the life pod, grabbing a few fish on his way in. He opened the bottom hatch and climbed inside to see Fluttershy sitting in the seat looking through her PDA. "Hey Fluttershy, what are you looking at?" Spike asked while fabricating the fiber mesh. "Oh, um, I'm looking through the checklist of our supplies. I made a copy for my PDA, if that's ok with you." Fluttershy said, hoping Spike was ok with her copying the list. "It's fine Fluttershy. It's a good thing you did, because with you having a checklist, we both know how much stuff we have." "Ok, so I have to run out for some more kelp, then I will have our radiation suits ready." Spike said, readying to leave again. "Ok. Um, Spike?" "Yeah?" Spike said, turning to face Fluttershy. "Do you think you could grab some silver while you're out too? I might be able to make us portable radios to talk to each other while we are underwater and at great distances from each other." "Fluttershy that's a great idea! I will try to grab some, then we can talk while I'm out, just in case you need anything." Spike said, excited that Fluttershy was going to build a portable radio set so they could talk underwater. "Well, um, you might want to go then. The longer it takes, the longer you have to wait for the portable radio." Fluttershy said. "Ok, I'll be going then." Spike then climbed out of the bottom hatch, hopped into the Seamoth, and started towards the Kelp Forest. Fluttershy used some of the titanium to fabricate a casing for the radio's and some copper to make tiny speakers and microphones. "This is going to be awesome!" Spike said, barely able to contain his excitement, "We will be able to talk to each other underwater and over long distances." Spike was so excited he didn't even realize he had driven almost half a kilometer into the Kelp Forest. He quickly stopped and climbed out to start the process of cutting up the kelp. He soon had all the kelp he needed, but as he started climbing into the Seamoth, he heard a roar behind him. Spike quickly turned the Seamoth around to see the metal eating fish opening its jaws to bite said vehicle. Spike quickly started backing up, but soon ran into a column of rock, allowing the predator to get closer. Spike decided last second to ascend and dodge the fish. As Spike shot up, the fish didn't have time to turn up to give chase, and slammed into the rock, knocking loose a few teeth in the process. Spike quickly broke the surface of the water and after landing back in the water, hightailed it back to the life pod. He slowed down as he neared the life pod, laughing in relief. "Wow, that was close." Spike said, as he stopped the Seamoth and began climbing out. He then climbed back into the life pod, noticing Fluttershy taking a nap in the chair. He tries to be as quiet as possible while using the fabricator, but the fabricator had other plans, and decided to be loud as usual. Fluttershy bolted into an upright position, almost falling out of the chair. "*EEEEEK* P-p-please don't eat m-me!!" Fluttershy yelled, not realizing it was Spike using the fabricator. "Fluttershy, calm down. It's just me. See, I'm not going to eat you." Spike said slowly, trying to get Fluttershy to calm down. "Oh dear, I'm sorry Spike. I was sleeping and then heard a loud noise and got scared thinking a fish was trying to break open the life pod and eat me." "It's ok Fluttershy. I scared you awake by accident, and you freaked out. It's a completely normal reaction." Spike said, reassuring Fluttershy. "So, um, did you grab that silver? I have the casing and the microphones built, but I need the silver to wire it." "Oh sweet Celestia, I totally forgot to grab silver while I was out. I can head out again and go find some of you want, or I can stay for a bit longer and we can have lunch." "Oh, lunch sounds like a good idea. I am a bit peckish myself." Fluttershy said while moving towards the storage container. Fluttershy opened the container and grabbed out two fish and the last bottle of water. "Oh dear… We only have one bottle of water left." Fluttershy said, worry evident in her voice. "Oh, well you can have it Fluttershy. I can go and grab another Bladder fish and make a bottle of water when I get back." "Oh no, I couldn't possibly take it when you have been going and collecting all these different things for building and offering to teach me to swim. I would feel so horrible for making you go without water, so please, just take it." Fluttershy said with a voice showing immense sadness and pleading. "Fluttershy, you don't have to feel bad. I'm letting you have it because I'm able to swim and grab another fish for water. I need to head back out for more supplies anyway, so I'll grab a Bladder fish, come back, and have a drink. Do you think you can accept that?" Spike said, hoping Fluttershy wouldn't dehydrate herself just to make sure he was ok. "Oh, um, fine, I guess I will take this bottle of water, but I won't drink until you bring back that Bladder fish and have a bottle of water to drink too, and that's final." Fluttershy states, leaving no room for arguing. "Fine, I'll be back in a few minutes with some more fish to refill our small stockpile. Then I'm going to start working on those radiation suits." Spike said opening the bottom hatch to leave. "Well stay safe." Fluttershy said, waving a good as he climbed into the water. Spike began looking for as many Bladder fish as he could find. He soon found four Bladder fish, two Peepers, and a Gary fish. Spike made his way back to the life pod and climbed inside. "Ok, I'm back Fluttershy, you can drink your water." Spike said as he started fabricating all the Bladder fish into bottles of water. "How does the fabricator even make the bottles to hold these liquids anyways?" Spike wondered as he finished fabricating the last bottle of water. "Ok Spike, I'll drink my water now that I know you aren't going without water too." Fluttershy said as she opened the bottle and drank the water. Soon they finished their meal and Spike got to work on the radiation suits. Spike started putting the kelp into the fabricator to make the fiber mesh and grabbed the lead from the storage container. He soon made one pegasus radiation suit, one dragon radiation suit, and one pair of pony swimming fins. "Ok Fluttershy, I made everything I needed to. Now we can start on your swimming lessons." Spike said with confidence on the outside, but worry on the inside.