Bottle caps.

Ponies had enough gems that they used it as ammo for magic energy weapons, but they use bottle caps as currency. What the fuck!?

‘What’s funnier is that just some hours ago you found a pile of what, seventy, ninety? And threw it away like trash!’ Her hysterical laughter has been following me for minutes.

‘Ancestors, I know! Let’s set up shop and we’ll be good.’

Inside the city, old military establishments like armory and supply depot were turned into shops and houses. The marketplace was a big open hangar with booths made out of scrap for the shopkeepers to settle in.

‘Well, where shall we stay?’ Ishwa asked, looking around with a pair of binoculars.

Spotting a guard, I asked him where I could sell my wares.

“Just pick an empty space and set up there. There are no fixed places here, so if you want to come back tomorrow, you’ll have to find a new spot to settle,” The guard explained with a dismissive tone.

“Thank you.”

Five minutes later, I found a good spot. Getting some small wooden planks from my saddlebag, I used them to turn my saddlebag into a makeshift table where I displayed various potions and trinkets from Zebrica.

Wearing a smile, I waited for customers. The market wasn’t empty but wasn't packed either. The few customers that showed some interest in my wares walked away as soon as they paid attention to me.

‘Looks like zebras aren’t liked around here after all.’

‘So, this is pretty cool and all, but I got work to do. See you later!’ With that, Ishwa teleported somewhere else.

Two hours have passed in relative peace, save from the occasional sigh of frustration from other merchants as their stuff suddenly broke or malfunctioned. Courtesy of Ishwa of course.

‘Have mercy on their stuff please.’

‘You should see the look on their faces as they try to demonstrate a device to a customer, only for it to burst into sparks!’ She seemed entertained like never before.

A couple of minutes later, an earth pony mare approached my shop. She had a navy blue coat. A gray mane hid her light blue eyes. Putting a smile on my face, I beckoned her.

“Hello! Welcome to my shop!”

“Look mom! It’s pretty!” I heard a tiny voice say from behind the mare. Searching for the source, I found a little white earth pony filly with yellow mane and tail. She was hiding behind her mom’s gray tail.

She approached the stand to inspect a necklace. Her eyes were blue just like her mother's, but hers still gleamed with the joy of a child, while her mother's seemed tainted by the horrors of the wastes.

“Leave it there sweetie, we don’t have much money and can’t afford it.” Her mother told her. I could feel a certain weight in her words, she must be having a hard time.

“Do you have any rifle ammo?” She asked me when she didn’t find it in my stand.

“I do not have, sorry.”

“What about revolver ammo?”

“Sorry but I don’t sell weapons or ammunition, but maybe to your inventory, my potions can be a nice addition” I gestured to the various flasks and bottles on display.

My rhyming Incited a few giggles from the filly and a raised eyebrow from the mother, but she seemed to understand what I was saying.

“Ok… do you have any healing potions?”

“That I do!” Showing her the flask with pink fluid, she looked a bit unsure. Maybe she expected the mass produced potions from the old world, not a freshly homemade brew.

“How much?” she inquired, examining the potion.

That was a good question. I had no idea how many bottle caps would cost a healing potion.

“How much would you pay?”

Considering the item, “I’m willing to pay fifty caps.”

“Deal”. With these fifty caps, I could afford a bed tonight.

Handing me the caps, she thanked me and was about to leave when I called her.

“Wait. You can have this.”

I handed her the concentrated apple juice.

“And you can have this.”

I took the necklace and gave it to the filly. She grabbed the necklace hesitantly, looking to her mother for permission.

“Why’re you giving us free items?” The mother asked with a bit of suspicion.

“A gift, for first customers.”

“Ok, thanks. Bye.” As they were leaving, the filly waved an enthusiastic goodbye before following behind her mother.

Some hours passed by. No more customers. As I watched other merchants, I realized that business was generally slow.

‘Not a single customer…’

‘Maybe you should try selling your necklace! With that huge pink gem and gold chains, it would grab interest for sure!’ Ishwa joked.

‘Don’t even think about it ever again, you heard me?’ I asked, with a dangerous tone. She went too far with that joke.

‘...’ She was silent. I was too harsh on her.

‘Sorry Ishwa, but you know how this necklace is important to me.'

‘... Yeah, I know. I’m sorry too but, why don’t you keep it locked inside your chest with your other “treasure”. Since it's so precious?’

‘Having it close makes me feel safe. I don’t want it locked away, I only have my “treasure” locked because it's safer that way.'

‘Ok then. So, what’re you gonna do now?’

‘Maybe I should look for work instead of selling my wares.’

‘I think a saw a notice board somewhere nearby.’

‘Ok, I’ll close shop. Search for the notice board please.’

‘Sure thing, boss.’

Putting everything back inside the saddlebag and striping it to my back, I went to the notice board. Ishwa was already waiting for me, inspecting the job offers with a giant magnifying glass.

‘Found anything interesting?’

‘Well, there seems to be a LOT of “Escort caravan” kind of jobs around here.’

‘I just arrived, I’m not planning on going to another city so soon. Any other kind of jobs?’

‘Oh, I found one. “Get rid of insect infestation.” Looks simple enough.'

I took the papers from the board, reading the details about the job.

‘Fuck me…’

‘What?’

‘Look who’s the employer.’

‘“Head of security, Steady Aim.” That mare at the gate?’

‘Yup.’

‘Maybe I should mess with her gun so we can see how steady her aim would be when it blows in her face.’ Ishwa suggested with a malicious grin. She can be really dark sometimes.

‘I’ll just get over it. Maybe she’s in a good mood now.’

I headed to the security office. Sure enough, it was built in an old armory. There I found Steady Aim giving orders to some guards. It seemed like something happened to a trading caravan nearby and she wanted to double the patrol, to the dismay of the guards. She armed the guards and sent them on their way before turning around and noticing me.

“What do you want? I’m busy right now,” she said in a hurry.

“I came for the job,” I replied, showing her the papers.

She stopped to inspect the papers. “Forget it, I have other important things that need my attention.”

“Another reason to give me this job, if the insects persist you might have to face an angry mob.”

She glared at me, pondering for a moment.

“Ok, there are some giant Weaver ants southeast of here. If they get to our food supply, it'll be a disaster. If you can handle them, I’ll pay you two hundred and fifty caps for the job.”

‘Now we’re talking.’

“Got it, I leave now.”

*** *** ***

Following the trail back into the wild, I entered a denser part of the forest. It was hard to maneuver between the trees, they still looked sick, but had more green leaves than the ones I encountered near the zebra encampment.

‘According to Steady Aim, These Weaver Ants can shoot a really sticky “silk” to trap their prey. And they like to eat meat, cool’ Ishwa noted, reading a magazine about arthropods and other creepy crawlers.

‘Looks like the ones we have in Zebrica. Now I know why Steady Aim doesn't like us, Zebrica being cursed as it is, all sort of dangers cross the borders and end up near the city. Being the head of security in a place like this must be very stressful, she’s responsible for the lives of many ponies.’

‘And looks like there are internal conflicts as well. Trading caravans being attacked, I’m sure that wasn’t a random animal.’

‘Yeah. Looks like ponies have their own version of the Hunters Tribe to worry about…’

Distracted by the chatter, I entered an eerie part of the forest, the air felt chiller. Leaves glued together cast a long shadow in the forest, making it difficult to see far ahead.

‘Well, if this creepy place isn’t their nest, I don’t know what is,’ Said Ishwa, putting the magazine away. The feathers in her ostrich wings were standing on end.

‘Stay alert, eyes open and ears up.’

That was the problem, it was completely silent. No wind, no birds, nothing. Suddenly I heard crackles in the leaves. Diving to the side a little too late, a string of silk got my left hind leg, pulling me to the top of the trees.

‘Ishwa get my dagger!’ I unstrapped my saddlebag, which Ishwa caught, hid near the base of a tree and threw me my dagger.

‘I’ll head up and see what got you!’

I tried to cut the silk, but my dagger wasn’t really designed to saw things…

‘WOW, that’s an ant alright. And she’s not alone!’

‘How close is she?’

‘Swing back and forth in three, two, one… Now!’

I did as she instructed. Putting all my weight in the swing, I barely dodged a pair of giant scissor-like mandibles that cut the silk string holding me. My momentum launched me high up, from there I saw that all the trees had a thick layer of silk binding them together like a platform. There were about five ants up there and they were HUGE! Almost one and a half my size.

As I landed on the silk, I made a little bounce and tripped, getting my mane and tail tangled in the silk. The ants were getting closer.

‘Fuck! I’m stuck! Ishwa, grab something from my bag!’

‘What?’

‘Anything!’

Ishwa went to my bag and searched for anything useful frantically.

‘You don’t have anything that can cut this silk, only your potions!’

The potions! ‘Try finding the concentrated Punga fruit juice! Throw it at the ant in the back!'

The ant in the front tried to chop my head off with its mandibles. Waving my dagger desperately in its direction bought me enough time for Ishwa to find the potion and throw it at the farther ant.

‘Please work…’

Their antennae were twitching like crazy. Ants respond to pheromone trains, and the punga fruit has a strong scent that breaks these pheromone trails. Punga trees were common sight near zebra villages in Zebrica to chase away insects like these.

The ants started to attack the one hit by the potion ferociously, like an intruder near the hive. Their hard exoskeleton was tough to break, even for their powerful mandibles.

I freed myself, but now that the marked ant was killed, I was the target again. The ants charged me. I cut the branches beneath me, hoping that the ground would give me an advantage. I rolled when I landed, almost impaling myself on a branch that was stuck in the ground like a deadly spike.

One of the ants followed me, dropping through the hole. Unlucky for her, she landed on top of the spike, puncturing her through the vulnerable joint between her head and thorax killing her. Her sisters were smarter, they were descending through the trees, spitting silk at me.

‘Do we still have any punga juice?’

‘One flask.’

‘Keep it at the ready.’

One silk shot got my front right leg, shackling me to the ground. I was getting sick of those annoying ants, and it was about to get worse. The ant that bounded me, raised her thorax and pointed her abdomen at me. What was she doing?

White smoke escaped the tip of her abdomen as she ejected boiling acid at me! It hit my bound leg, melting the silk and my flesh! The pain was excruciating, my vision was getting blurry and the thing kept melting! I threw some dirt over it in hopes of stopping its advance before it gets to my nerves or bones. At some level, it succeeded.

The third ant tried to bite me. I took the opportunity to stab her exposed mouth, killing her. By reflex, her mandibles snapped shut with full force, puncturing my shoulders and dislocating my left front leg.

I was getting weak, couldn’t stand up and my vision was almost pitch black. I crept away from the other two ants.

‘Healing… powder… leg…. and potion… hurry…’ I pleaded.

Ishwa quickly got what I asked, applied the powder and gave me the potion to drink. Feeling a bit better just in time to avoid another acid spray, I hid behind a tree and hit my shoulder with force against it, popping my leg back into its joint.

‘Ah! Ancestors that hurt!’ I cried.

‘Jump right on three.’ Ishwa warned.

Counting to three, I jumped to my right, landing on top of an ant which went crazy trying to knock me off. I held her for dear life, as the other ant tried to get me off of her sister.

Losing its patience, it tried to bite me but I jumped off, making her bite her sister’s thorax. I rolled down the second ant and impaled her in the joint between her thorax and abdomen. Four down, one to go.

It sprayed acid at me, missing by a centimeter. I threw my dagger, aiming for her eye. I missed, of course I missed! It head butted me, knocking the air out of my lungs as I hit the ground.

Rolling back up, the ant was trying to bind me with its silk. I kept dodging, looking for the nearest weapon. I ran for the ant impaled in the branch, bucked her mandible off and grabbed it with my mouth. Charging against the last ant, she tried to headbutt me again but this time I was able to dodge and plunge the mandible in her eye, killing her.

‘I hope the payment is good after all this.’ Ishwa commented as I was lying on the ground to recover my breath.

‘It’s not over yet.’ I said over a ragged breath.

‘Come again?’

‘Where are ants, there’s a queen nearby. If I don’t get rid of her, the ants will come back.’

‘Thats not part of the job Zhau…’ Ishwa crossed her paws.

‘But it’s the responsibility I have as a capable zebra. Besides, it’ll be fun!’ I laughed, it wouldn’t be fun at all.

‘You’re crazy, you know that?’

‘Yeah, a friend told me that once. Now let’s get back up the trees and look for stuff that might be useful.’

After searching for some time, we found the melted remains of gears that probably belonged to a pony, long dead. There were four assault rifles fully loaded! The guns themselves were melted beyond repairs but ammo was still intact.

I unloaded the guns, took the gunpowder out of the bullets and used some coconut flasks I had to make three makeshift bombs, using the silken strands as a wick.

The ant that Ishwa marked with the punga fruit had her exoskeleton almost torn off. It was enough for me to carve out huge chunks of it and make an acid resistant shell that I strapped to my hide armor.I also had the mandibles wrapped in hide stripes and silk to use as a knife in case my dagger gets melted.

With everything ready, a good rest and stocked full of acid and silk glands to sell, I began walking deeper into ant territory.

*** *** ***

The walk was uneventful, thank the Ancestors. But the sweet peace of nature was cut short as soon as I found the nest. It was composed of various trees bound together by even thicker silk, covered by foliage and sticks to make it tougher. The queen was sure to be inside.

‘What's the plan?’

‘There should be around ten or twenty ants down there. If it’s the former, I can lure them out and blow them up with the three bombs we have.’

‘And if it's the latter?’

‘I can use the skull to ask a Spirit of Rage for aid and really blow this place up. Can you scout ahead and confirm their numbers?’

‘Covert ops operation engaged,’ Ishwa said over a radio, wearing a skin tight black suit and disappearing into the forest.

I hid my saddlebag nearby as I waited for her return.

‘It's a young queen. She has about thirteen ants with her, we’re in luck! Oh, that's weird…’ She shivered at the prospect of being lucky.

‘Perfect, in that case, I have a plan,’ I said as I mixed some acid glands with the punga fruit juice, almost doubling its amount.

‘What you need me to do?’

‘I’ll go down there and lure them out. I need you to keep a look out on the ants and warn me when all of them are after me so I can detonate the explosives.’

‘Got it.’

Like I said, I went to the nest entrance and started to cause mayhem all over the place. The ants were furious! I got too close to their queen and they wanted my head for that.

With my ant carapace shell protecting me from the acid sprays, dodging their silk was easy enough. But the ants were starting to catch up to me, and I was getting tired.

‘The queen is alone! They’re all after you!’ Ishwa signaled me. Time to blow these ants.

Lighting the bombs up with a small enchanted gem that I had, I threw them behind me. One by one the bombs killed huge portions of the ant's army until all that was left were smoking carapaces. My plan was working accordingly!

There was a big tremble on the ground, the queen was pissed. She broke out of her foliage hive and was after my life, opting to just melt me with huge sprays of acid instead of using her silk.

The queen’s acid was much stronger than the worker ants, but the shell was holding up. Sort of. I needed to get closer. I grabbed the punga mixture and charged the queen head on!

She sprayed acid in front of me. My shell didn’t protect me as well on my front, so I had to duck. That was what she wanted because as soon as I ducked she got me with a string of silk and pulled me to her mouth. I was about to get eaten alive!

Praying for all the spirits I could remember I threw the mixture down her throat. After a few seconds, the queen began to slow down. Not wanting to waste any opportunity I jumped off of her mouth, unfortunately losing my ant shell in the process.

‘Did it work?’ Ishwa asked, apprehensive.

The queen was idle like she was on a heavy trance. I approached her and pushed her head back with my hooves. She went a step back and stood still again.

‘It worked!’

The same way punga messed up with their pheromones on the outside, it messes them up from the inside. If ingested with their own acid gland, the punga would work as a hallucinogenic plant that completely shut the ant off, turning it into a harmless animal that could be used to harvest silk, for the duration of the punga fruit effects.

That was a common trick used in Zebrica by villages in the wilds, the presence of the queen would scare off predators, and provide silk for the village to build their houses. The only thing needed, was a constant source of punga fruit, to keep the effects going.

‘What will you do with her now?’

‘I think I'll leave her here, for now, she’ll stay like that for at least a month, which is half the time she can go on without food. Until then, we have a good amount of silk to use!’ I cheered.

*** *** ***

I moved all the corpses of the ants near the queen so she could feed, gathered all the silk and acid glands I could and began my walk back into the city.

Fifteen minutes into the walk, dusk was approaching. I was drinking my last apple juice when a loud explosion went out nearby, scaring my life away and making me drop my juice.

‘What was that.’ I asked while the blood returned to my pale face.

‘It Wasn’t me, unfortunately… I think it was from the south.’

Looking around, I could see a small cloud o smoke coming from the south.

Ishwa looked at my expression and said, ‘Please don’t tell me you plan on investigating it.’

I smirked. She knew me well.

‘Oh god why?!’

‘It isn’t easy being bound to me is it?’ I joked. Smiling even more.

‘Sometimes I wonder if it was worth it…’ she whined.

*** *** ***

Getting closer, it was possible to hear a crazy gunfight going on. I climbed a cliff nearby to get a better look. A Stable was under attack! There were five assailants and one of them was in full power armor.

‘Take a look at the Stable please, I don’t want to take action before knowing who is the bad pony here.’

Some seconds later. ‘The Stable is full of civilians and is lightly armed, there are some wounded there, no deaths.’

‘Thanks. I think it’s time to bring a new friend to the party.’

Looking around my back, I took a zebra skull and wore it like a mask. Feeling my connection with the spirits strengthening, I took a plain wooden board the size of my head and wrapped it with silk. I hid my saddlebag and descended the hill, surprising the attackers.

“Leave the Stable in peace or the wrath of the spirits I will release!” I ordered.

They decided to open fire instead, obviously.

I dove for cover behind a nearby rock. Their Energy weaponry was terrifying! But now, they are the ones that should be terrified.
I threw the wooden board at their hooves. After a few seconds, it began carving itself into a mask, from which eight giant legs rose from the ground to reveal a giant spider using it. It was a Spirit of Lies

‘Chase them off.’ I commanded the spirit.

The attackers spread out in fear, fleeing from the spider. The heavy armored one stood ground and shot the spider with its Gatling energy gun.

The spider flinched at the attack but did not falter. It weaved a web around the armored pony, locking it in place. The others tried to provide cover fire, only to have their weapons jammed by the precisely aimed silk shot of the spider.

The pony in power armor ejected from it, and ran away, followed by the others soon after. With the threat gone, the spider came close to me. I petted her and thanked for the good job. She soon disappeared out of nowhere, leaving only the mask behind.

‘I can feel its power coursing through me…’ Ishwa said, looking at the mask.

I collected the mask and said, ‘The spirit accepted to serve me and doing so, it’ll lend part of its powers to you.’

‘But won’t it make the deal more expensive?’

‘It did, but I'm willing to pay it.’ I smiled.

‘T-thank you…’ she stammered, blushing a little.

‘Well, Let’s make some new friends!’

Footnote: Level up! (3)

Skills Raised:
Melee Weapons: 24
Speech: 27
Survival: 41

New Perk:
Wild Hunter: In combat, you do 75% more critical damage against animals and mutated animals.

Quest Perk:
Spirit of Lies: Ishwa has absorbed a fraction of the power from the Spirit of Lies! She can detect lies in dialogues.

Author's Note

Chapter 2!

Zhau using a little trick from his homeland. I wonder what he has planned for that queen?

I hope you liked it!

Please let me know of anything you think I should improve in, so I can make better stories for your enjoyment!

bye!

-T.M.W.D.

Chapter edited by: EverfreePony