Spikenautica

by PhysicistBrony


Chapter 20-2: The Drive Core

"Viola, we can now continue onward." Spike said. Everypony peered through the doorway, only to be met with a terrible sight. Most of the crates in the Cargo Bay were smashed or broken, and the ones still intact were permanently broken shut. The area leading into the lower parts of the ship were accessible by lift, but the lift was currently at the lower end of the ramp.

On the other side of the door was a set of stairs they could take down to the floor. The stairs went straight left, hit a small platform, and turned back to the right. It had some fire burning on it, but nothing they couldn't walk past. The stairs did appear to have some rails missing, but they would be able to walk all the way to the floor with no problems.

The group began to walk down the stairs, being extra careful to avoid the flames they passed. Once they reached the ground, Spike told them to fan out and look for any openable crates or other valuable resources. Speedy split off to go look at some of the crates under the stairs, only to find a small crate with a water bottle and a big cargo crate with a broken Cyclops engine inside. She pulled out her scanner with excitement and began scanning the engine. Once she was done, she quickly pulled out her PDA to see what they would need for the engine, only for all the excitement to drain away when it said she had to scan two more parts.

Swift split off to investigate next to the stairs on the left side. He only found empty crates and a single openable crate with a battery inside. Spike had split off to look at the lift to see if it could be activated. He was quickly disappointed that the terminal to use it was broken. As he looked down the slanted shaft, he was even more upset when he looked past the lifts location to see water covering the lower level. There wasn't enough water to hinder walking once they passed the pit the lift sat inside, but it would still be annoying to trudge through. He looked back up to call everypony over, but saw that Fluttershy had followed him while Swift and Speedy were already on their way to the lift.

"So, we won't be able to use the lift to get up and down, but we should be able to walk down there. Be wary of electrical wires and fish, we don't know if they eat meat or not." Spike told everypony once they got close enough. They then began a slow descent down the ramp, stopping when they reached the lift. "We should rest here for a bit and eat. We don't know when we'll be able to stop again." With that, Swift and Spike began pulling out some rations and water, just enough for everypony to not be hungry. They decided they would leave enough rations that if they had to spend the night, they would be able to eat in the morning.

As everypony started digging in, Fluttershy looked over the side of the lift to watch the fish. They seemed to be about 5-6 inches long and had four tentacles, but without sucker cups; a small opaque sac at the end of its body; no visible eyes; and a couple of teeth. Fluttershy slowly started to reach over the side of the lift to give the creature some food. "Come on little guy, you can have it." Fluttershy saw one of the creatures turn and start swimming at her. She got excited, thinking maybe some of these creatures understood her.

When the creature reached Fluttershy, it shot its tentacles out and wrapped around her leg. Fluttershy then felt a sharp stabbing pain in her arm and let out a yelp, attracting the attention of the others. The creature appeared to be sucking her blood and putting it into the small sack at the end of its body. Fluttershy screamed and tried tugging it off to no avail. Spike quickly ran up and grabbed the creature, digging his claws into its side, causing it to release Fluttershy. He then tossed the fish back into the water, where four more of those fish swarmed it, slowly draining it's blood.

Fluttershy stared at the fish in shock and horror. She couldn't believe that she almost got all her blood drained from her body just because she was trying to be nice. If it weren't for Spike, she might not have known what to do and the creature would just keep sucking up blood until it was full or she died. She then turned to Spike, giving him a huge hug while crying and incoherently thanking him. Spike accepted the hug, still shocked from the fish he saw.

After about 10 minutes, Fluttershy finally calmed down and thanked Spike again, but vowed to never go near that water again. Spike perfectly understood her concern, but he knew they still needed to get to the Drive Core to fix it. He announced that he would be going alone from this point on. "Are you crazy!? Those fish are gonna drain every last drop of you until you're just a husk!" Swift yelled at him, concerned that Spike was going to die.

"Well, um, as much as I don't want you to go alone, it's our best option." Fluttershy said, with Swift and Speedy looking at her in shock. She looked at them to explain her reasoning. "Well, you see, those fish latch on and pierce the skin. Spike should be fine because he has scales that are really hard to pierce. He also has his claws that he can use to fight them off if they swarm him."

"Hold on everypony. I have an idea that might just work." Spike announced to the group. He then turned towards the water and began spewing fire just at the surface, one of the creatures ended up getting burnt by the flames and swam off, alerting the other that the area was officially deadly. Spike saw that the water almost instantly cleared out, allowing them to get into the water without worrying about getting sucked dry. He turned back to the group and announced his success.

"Now that was impressive. I'm just hoping they'll stay away." Swift said, actually impressed by Spike clearing out the fish. Even though the water was cleared of the blood-sucking fish, Fluttershy was still adamant about staying out of the water. The party was unsure of what lay ahead of them, but they knew they would have to be careful.

"Ok, so Fluttershy wants to stay here, but we all know that we have to repair the Drive Core, otherwise the water will become too contaminated with radiation. I still plan on forging ahead, but I would like it if Speedy came with me. Swift, would you be ok with staying here with Fluttershy?" Spike said, hoping what damage had been done wouldn't be permanent. Swift nodded and answered Spike with a yes while Speedy began mentally preparing herself for the trek ahead. Once everypony was situated and tools were swapped around, Spike and Speedy hopped into the water.

Spike quickly led the way towards the more shallow water where they would be able to stand, but we're still in view of Fluttershy and Speedy. As they reached the shallow area, Spike noticed a door to their right labelled Seamoth Bay. Spike motioned for Speedy to follow him towards the door. The floor slanted down as they moved, forcing them to slow down as the water went from shin height to thigh height.

Once they reached the door, Spike tried to pull open the door for a few minutes before he heard a sparking noise coming from his right. He turned to see Speedy working on a panel next to the door that was obviously broken. Once she finished fixing it, the door opened seamlessly. She turned to Spike with a grin and said, "Sometimes when a door doesn't open, you need to do a little bit more than tug harder." Spike grinned sheepishly back at her, embarrassed that he hadn't noticed the broken panel. Or the fact that the door opened inwards.

Once all that was dealt with they wadded into the Seamoth Bay, where there was an abandoned PDA, lots of water, a broken Seamoth being held up by some mechanical arms, and a wall of rock at the back which reduced the size of room to about 10 meters long. Spike moved towards the PDA while Speedy went to the broken Seamoth. Spike picked up the PDA and looked at the recorded message. It appeared to be the log book for a VR game. From what Spike remembered, they were often used to simulate survival scenarios. This one seemed to take place on a small island, but there weren't any details besides what the characters did. Suddenly he heard Speedy squeal and quickly turned his body to see her holding a small cylinder in her magical grip.

When Spike had moved to the PDA, Speedy had moved towards the broken Seamoth. She immediately started scanning the pieces, hoping to get some titanium for later. After she was done, she had four pieces of titanium added to her load. She looked around for anything useful and saw a console-like machine that had been connected to the mechanical arms.

As she moved towards it, she saw a familiar sight. It was an upgrade module for the Seamoth. These things were usually very helpful, easy to produce, and allowed the vehicle they were put in to be better than normal. This particular upgrade module allowed the Seamoth to dive even deeper than before. She quickly pulled it out with her magic and let out a squeal of joy, causing Spike to whip his body in her direction. "Speedy, what did you find that caused you to squeal like that?" Spike asked, curious about this cylindrical object.

"Only the best thing I could have found! This here is a pristine condition Seamoth Depth Module Mk 1! The fact it's in such good condition is a great surprise! This will allow us to dive even deeper in the ocean! Imagine how many more resources have just become available to us! We can dive further into caves and ravines now without the worry of being crushed under pressure!" Swift ranted. Spike now understood just how important that module was.

"Hey, this means we can explore that one mushroomy cave I found. When I started entering, my PDA told me there was a pony-made structure down there. Well, enough on this topic, is there anything else here of value?" Spike said, peaking Speedy's curiosity. He promised to explain the cave later, but they needed to focus on their mission. They then left the Seamoth Bay and made their way down the hallway to their right.

As they moved down the hallway, it tilted even more than the last one, causing them to have to swim to the other side. As they reached the other side, they noticed how close some of the fire was to blocking off their path. Speedy managed to pick up some of the water in her magic and dump it onto the fire, allowing them safe passage through the rest of the hallway.

Spike and Speedy moved through the hallway and found themselves before a doorway leading into a huge room. Spike had thought the Cargo Bay was big by having it's size spread horizontally, this room was about twice as big with most of the room being submerged in water. Though the main attraction, the Drive Core, was actually four big, sleek pillars of machinery arranged in a box-like shape where the pillars were the corners without walls connecting them, only broken catwalks between them. What Spike did notice was the multiple breaches in the surface metal of the Drive Core.

"Well, here we are, the Drive Core." Speedy said, a twinge of pride in her voice. "And to think, when I helped build it, I was told we would never have to worry about it breaking. How ironic I'm also the one repairing it." Spike also thought it was ironic, but also was astounded by his luck that he was repairing the Drive Core with one of its builders. Just then, a small beep came from Speedy's PDA holster.

"The drive core shielding sustained internal damage during collision.
Do not attempt repair without appropriate qualifications." Speedy's PDA stated. "Warning: local radiation at maximum tolerable level." With those messages out of the way, Spike and Swift knew that they had to get to work. They decided that Spike would repair the Drive Core from in the water while Speedy would repair the top parts. They parted ways and Spike dove into the water and then pulled out his repair tool.

Spike quickly noticed the blood-sucking fish swimming in the water with him, and almost immediately regretted jumping straight into the water. The fish seemed to ignore him for now, so he swam to the front left pillar and began inspecting it for breaches. He only found two, and patched them up when he found them. He then swam to the back left pillar and began inspecting it.

All of a sudden, a huge piece of molten metal plunged into the water mere inches away from his position. Spike turned in shock and saw not only a cloud of bubbles from the metal cooling, but he also saw one of the blood-sucking fish coming towards him. He drew in a breath to use his fire when he remembered he was underwater and wearing a mask. He settled for grabbing it when it got close enough, surfacing, and tossing it away from him. Using that strategy, he was able to get the fish away from him, get more oxygen, and check on Speedy.

When he was done tossing the fish away, he looked over and noticed that she was already working on the back right pillar. "How many more breaches do you think there are?" Spike called over, hoping there wouldn't be many more.

"I don't know, I've only fixed four breaches so far, so I think most of them are underwater. This is the last pillar I'm working on, and there is no way this much radiation is leaking from four breaches up here." Spike nodded and dove back under while Speedy got back to repairing the breach. Spike dove back down and finished his fifth breach and moved onto the pillar that Speedy had been working on.

The rest of the process of repairing the breaches was monotonous and boring. Spike just kept moving between pillars while avoiding the fish and using the repair tool. After every last breach was repaired, Spike and Speedy met back up at the entrance of the room and looked back at the Drive Core. They both felt a twinge of pride knowing they were helping save the planet and the fish, but most importantly, they were increasing their own odds of survival.

They started to head back to the other when Speedy remembered something she had found. "Oh, before I forget, I found another one of those upgrade modules! This one is for increasing the energy efficiency of a Cyclops! Now if we build a Cyclops, we won't have to worry about how often the Power Cells need recharging."

"That's great! Although that leaves one question. If we are planning on building a Cyclops, where are we gonna get the blueprint for one? I didn't even have the Seaglide blueprint when I first checked the Life Pods fabricator. Are supposed to find a bunch of wrecks with Cyclops'?" Spike said, still confused on the details of acquiring the Cyclops blueprint.

"I'll explain the specifics of obtaining the blueprint later. For now, let's get back to the others and start heading back to base." Speedy said, starting to walk back down the hallway. Spike followed for most of the trip, but stopped once they got to the intersection.

"Do you think we should go down that hallway?" Spike asked, pointing down the one hallway they hadn't been down. Down the hall was a closed door with a sign next to it reading “LOCKER ROOM”. Spike was pretty sure there might be something worthwhile in there. He started walking that way before he heard Swift and Fluttershy talking.

"Hold on, you're telling me that Spike saved the Crystal Empire? No way. No offense to him, but didn't Princess Cadence have a hard enough time just keeping Sombra out of the city? How did Spike manage to save the Crystal Empire?" Swift was asking Fluttershy, both of them unaware that Spike could hear them.

"Well you see-" Fluttershy and Swift gasp, "Twilight and I went up a huge staircase and found the Crystal Heart. When Twilight went to grab it, Twilight got trapped and dropped the heart just outside the cage. She had me take it and return it to its rightful place, but I fell while escaping Sombra's magic. I wouldn't have survived if Princess Cadence hadn't flown to my rescue. Then we flew back down to the ground and activated the Crystal Heart. After that, the Crystal Ponies built a statue of me and made me the hero of the Crystal Empire."

Swift was blown away by the fact that this small dragon, not even a teenager yet, managed to play such a big role in the saving of the Crystal Empire. Fluttershy was worried that Spike would be mad that they were talking about him without him knowing. Speedy was just as surprised as her brother to learn what the dragon had done. Spike was patiently waiting for somepony to move so he could try talking them into going to the Locker Room.