Chapter 2: Ergate
"So... um, what is your name? You never told me before."
"Come on dad! I want to go too!"
"No, it is too dangerous"
"But daad, it's only scavenging, let me come too!"
"It's too dangerous, no"
"Pleeease!?"
"Come on Tarty, let her come, she will be fine"
"But it is too dangerous."
"It will fine, and I'm coming too"
"What?! no! it is way to-!"
"We are coming with you, don't try arguing Tarty."
"Wha!? but!?... Ugg!!... Sigh, fine... you win Blaze, as always..."
"Good. now come on Flare, we're going with Daddy today."
"Yay! Scavenging with Mom and Dad! Yay!"
"Please don't get into any trouble, or danger..."
Sounds of hooves.
"OK Flare, when we get to this abandoned building, do not touch anything, I want you to stay out of danger."
"OK dad..."
"And no touching, going near, or looking at anything that beeps, bloops, or looks like it could come alive and try to murder you to death!"
"Daaad... I get it. I won't touch anything!"
"Tarty, she will be fine."
"I know, I know, but what if-"
"She will be fine, nothing bad is going to-"
"Well well well, what do we have here?"
"looks like a couple of ponies that wandered too far from there settlement, hehe."
"Raiders..."
"That's right, Raiders, and we're here for you bucking valuables!"
"And your lives."
BANG!
"AHH!"
"BLAZE!!!"
"Brutus, get the filly, Lilly, take care of the other one"
"With pleaser..."
SLASH!
"ARG!!!"
Thud!
"AHHH!!! LET GO OF ME!"
"Quit!"
Punch!
"AH!"
"Good job Brutus. Lilly! let's get the cuss out of here!"
"But this one's still breathing!"
"You cut him good, he's pretty much dead now anyway, leave him for the buzzards and get your sorry flank over here now, we need to get going!"
"Aug! Fine!"
"Daaad! Noo!"
Punch!
"Shut the cuss up you!"
"Sniff, sniff"
"Flare... Blaze... no... no..."
*** *** ***
"no..." I awoke from the nightmare, a nightmare I've had on repeat for far too long then I care to recall. It took me a while to wake up completely, but, something felt, wrong. My body felt, fuzzy? and I could hear strange almost quit sounds, almost like tiny clicking I could barely hear all around me. I looked down at my body.
"Oh, bleep..." Ants, ants covering me from my neck to my tail, covering and crawling all over me. I tried to move my body and attempt to shake the ants off me, but I couldn't. Oh crap. My body felt numb and wouldn't respond to my commands no matter how hard I tried to struggle. I was going to die, eaten alive by a bunch of ants, and there was nothing I could to do to stop it.
The swarm of ants that were all over me were taking me, somewhere, I didn't know what they were gonna do to me other than it would probably end with me dead. The ants had me above ground for a bit while they carried me to wherever it was they were taking me. They eventually brought me to a tunnel that lead underneath the earth, a tunnel most likely made by the ants that captured me, if I had to guess.
The tunnel was a bit larger than I would've expected for small ants to have made, then I saw a much larger ant, half the size of an average pony crawl past me and I stopped questioning the size of the tunnel. The ants took me down deeper into their nest, passing a few more of the bigger ants along the way until I arrived into a much larger chamber of the nest and the ants that were all over my body stopped moving me around.
I tried to struggle free once more but again to no effect against the swarm of ants all over me. Within a tunnelway connected to the chamber I was contained in I noticed a shadow slowly moving towards my direction growing larger, telling me that something was coming, and I was probably gonna die. I am going to die to whatever this shadow belongs to, an Ant? A bigger ant? A raider ant!?
It wasn't long before I got my answer to what was making the shadow when from the connecting tunnel came... a pony? An... ant, pony? What?
The ant pony was a mare with a red, almost exoskeleton-like body, her dark red mane and tail was almost web-like, she had antennas in place of ears and had two bug-like wings on her back, she even had a cutie mark, a dark red face of an ant with three stars surrounding it. As she walked out of the tunnel and into the chamber I was in, she seemed to be in her own world, then she saw me and a surprised expression came on her face.
"Umm... Hi..." she turned her gaze to the pile of ants surrounding me. "What is this pony doing here?! I thought I specifically told all of you to NOT ponynap anyone from the surface!" I could hear strange bug noises coming from the ants all over me. "Yes, I know the colony is dying, but this will not solve anything!" More bug noises then a sigh came from the ant pony before her gaze returned to looking at me. "I'm sorry about all this, I did not tell them to bring you here"
"So, you're not going to eat me?" I ask the ant pony before me.
"Oh, no, we only eat bugs and plants here, um, other bugs"
"Who are you?"
"Oh, I'm Ergate! I'm the, um, queen, of this colony"
"Queen?"
"Only cause the last queen, my mother, died recently."
"Oh, I'm... sorry to hear that"
"Why would you be sorry? Ants die every day, there's nothing to be sorry about. Even if she was the only one to live two hundred years... Don't worry about it!"
"Ok... so... why am I here?"
"Oh! Right, I nearly forgot. Everyone! Get off of him! Now. Right now. All of you get off."
All at once, the ants that were covering my body crawled off, freeing me, but my body was still numb from whatever the ants did to me and I fell to the ground head first, unable to stop myself.
"OW! that, was my face..." I said a bit muffled.
"Ok, how many times did all of you sting him?" I heard more ant noises around me. "Seven?! Well, um, you are going to be unable to feel or move anything for a while."
"Great..."
"It will wear off momentary, but for now, you should probably be taken somewhere a bit better than the center of the nest." She turned to her ants again. "All of you, take him to my chamber."
With that order, the ants picked me up again, this time carrying me instead of surrounding my entire body. Once they had me, once again, the ants took me deeper into the nest's connected tunnelway system.
*** *** ***
Ergate's chamber was a roomy dirt interior connected to the ant nest, the room had a few dirt made bookshelves with books on their shelves, there was a small table also made of dirt, and a dirt bed with hay on top. The ants carrying me placed me onto the bed and left the chamber at Ergate's orders. Ergate then blocked up the entrance of her room with a makeshift door made of deadwood then she walked up to me.
"I'm sorry again about the ants, the colony has been becoming a bit, desperate lately."
"Desperate? For what reason?" I asked Ergate, wanting to know what the ants captured me for.
"As I said earlier, the queen died, she was the only one able to lay eggs for the colony to continue growing, there used to be a lot more ants around here, but now all the ants are slowly dying off, which I say is just nature doing what it does."
"Your ok with your ants dying?"
"Their my mother's ants, I have nothing to do with them, they just think I'm they're queen now because I'm the only female ant mother produced, and I'm not even an ant, not really. I'm sure you noticed."
"Yeah, why do you look like this? Like an ant pony I mean."
"I don't really know, all I know is that mother mated with a random pony from the surface and I popped out of her."
"Ok... I didn't think genetics worked like that between ponies and ants."
"I'm not sure what genetics is, but I don't know how it worked either."
"So, why did your ants, I mean, your mother's ants bring me here?"
"Well, because I'm the closest thing they have to a queen ant, and because breeding with a regular ant did not work with me, we tried... Because that did not work for repopulating the colony, the ants figured they would need to find a pony for me to, breed with."
"Breed with? Repopulate!? NO! If I was brought here to breed with you, the answer is no. N, O, No!" I tried to struggle and escape but I still could barely move and my body felt like jelly.
"No-no, don't worry, I don't want it either, it was all the colony's idea, and I don't even think it would work for repopulating anyway."
"Good, cause I don't want none of that." I stopped struggling and tried to relax.
"But... um, why do you not want to breed with me? I mean, not like I care or anything, I'm just, um... curious."
"Because a stallion should only engage in, sexual activities, with only one special mare in their life, and only after deciding to spend the rest of their lives together."
"I guess that makes cents, I think. Do you already have a special mare?"
"I did... but, she is gone now"
"Gone? where did she go?"
"She is dead." Haunting images and noises appeared in my head just thinking of that day. "I... don't want to say any more about it"
"Oh... I'm sorry."
"It's fine, don't worry about it." Both of us stayed silent for a moment until one of us could think of something to say to break the silence.
"So... um, what is your name? you never told me before."
"Right, I guess I didn't think to before. On the surface, they call me The Raider Slayer."
"Raider, Slayer? That's a weird name."
"It's just a nickname, my real name is Apple Tart."
"Apple Tart? also a weird name."
"Yeah, well, it's the name my parents gave me, so I'm kinda stuck with it." I gazed around the underground room I was in for a moment and turned my head to Ergate once again. "So, Ergate, how exactly do I get out of here? I have important things I need to do on the surface."
"You want to leave? but you just got here."
"Against my will."
"... there is that. but I haven't had anyone to talk to since, well, ever. Anyone that wasn't a bug anyway."
"I'm sorry Ergate, but I really need to get back to the surface."
"OK... but getting away from the colony will not be easy, they will not simply just let you go until you, well, help with repopulation." She stopped for a moment to think. "And if they see you trying to escape with me, they will eat you alive."
"Escape with you?"
"Yes, cause I'm going with you."
"What?!"
"I'm going with you. If you want to escape the colony, you are going to need me."
"Why do you want to go with me? isn't this your home?"
"No, it is a hole in the ground that I have spent my entire life in, it is more of a... what's the word you ponies have? oh yeah, a prison. It is more of a prison than it is a home. I want to leave this place, see the world up above, and leave this colony behind. Besides, the colony is dying anyway, and there's nothing I can really do about that."
"There's really not much of a world up there, but even I will admit it's better than a hole in the ground."
"So, will you help me?"
"Yes, I will help you. But you will need to help me get out of here too, I don't want to find myself getting eaten alive by ants."
"Right, we will need some way to get past mother's ants."
"I got a shotgun." Using my magic, I levitated my heavy shotgun out from under my cloak and let it float in front of me.
"Did... you have that under your blanket this whole time?"
"It's a cloak, and yes."
"But, why?"
"I keep it on me when I sleep, just in case."
"But, isn't that uncomfortable to keep on you for that long?"
"Yes, very uncomfortable, but you can never be too careful out in the Wasteland. Now, I think we should come up with an escape plan now, and then wait for my body to stop feeling like goo, and then try to escape this place."
"OK. So, do you have a plan?"
*** *** ***
It took the rest of the day for the paralysis on my body to wear off completely, in that time, me and Ergate discussed different ideas for getting out of this hole in the ground. We eventually fell asleep in Ergate's chamber and when morning returned, or, I think it was morning. When it became what I think was morning, my body was feeling normal again and we were ready to attempt our escape plan.
Ergate walked out of her room and approached the first worker ant she could find.
"You, I want you to tell everyone in the colony to meet up in the bottom-most egg chamber." I heard some bug sounds from the worker ant. "You don't need to know why, just go pass the order around the colony, now, go do it." The ant scurried off down the tunnel out of sight.
"Do you think that worked?" I asked Ergate.
"It should, or, I hope anyway. the message should get passed down to all the ants in the colony, when they all gather in the lower chambers of the hive, the only ants we need to worry about will be the soldier ants guarding the entrance."
"Those are the big ones right?"
"yes."
"Good, they should be easier targets for my shotgun. Are you sure you're ok with me shooting, and likely killing the ants?"
"They have short lifespans anyway, it doesn't really matter."
"If your really sure, then." I cocked my shotgun getting it ready for shooten. "Let's get out of here."
We waited until we were sure most of the ants were in the lower chambers and left the room. Ergate led the way as we slowly traveled throughout the tunnels so as to not get caught by any ants that felled to get the memo. We only had two close calls during our escape attempt as a few ants were still crawling around the hive, but we somehow managed to not get noticed up to the point that we got to the entrance slash exit where three big ants were guarding. I floated my heavy shotgun with my magic and aimed it at the ants.
BLAM!
I managed to hit one of the ants on its abdomen with some of the shotgun pellets hitting it's antenna as well, as the ant began to frenzy and attacked the other ants near it.
"Ergate, what just happened?"
"I think you hit his antenna, they are very sensitive there."
"Hit them in the antenna and they go crazy, good to know."
I shot the ants a few more times, killing the first ant and made the last two frenzy. one of the last ants managed to kill the other leaving me to take It out with one last shot from my shotgun. The last ant got its head blown off by my gunshot as it's hemolymph, or ant blood as most ponies would call it, oozed out of its now dead body. I may have read a few books about ants when I was younger.
"There, the exit is open"
No sooner than that, both of us started to feel a vibration coming from deeper down in the hive.
"Apple Tart, I think the colony heard your gun, they're coming."
"Oh poop... Ergate, can you cause the tunnel to collapse?"
"I can try."
As fast as we could, we hurried out of the exit tunnel and back to the surface of the wasteland. Using her hooves, Ergate dug at the hive entrance causing it to collapse into itself, filling the tunnel entrance with dirt and small rocks.
"I did it! I don't know how long it will keep them from digging through."
"hopefully long enough. let's get out of here."
Not wanting to wait and see how fast the ants could dig out of the collapsed tunnel, both of us ran as fast as we could into the wasteland until we came to a small hill to rest, the same hill that I slept on the night before.
"I think, we're safe now." I was out of breath from the running, and so was Ergate.
After finally catching her breath, Ergate began to look around at the wasteland surrounding her, she then looked up and lost her balance after seeing the huge open-world above and around her.
"This your first time on the surface?" I asked Ergate after catching my own breath.
"Is it obvious?"
"I've heard it is a bit disorienting the first time a ground-dwelling pony comes to the surface."
"There are other ponies that came from under the ground?"
"Yes, the ponies that came from the Stables littered throughout the wasteland."
"Stables?"
"Underground fallout shelters made to save ponies from the Mega Spells that destroyed Equestria."
"Mega spells? That's something my books never told me about."
"If your books were pre-war, I wouldn't be surprised. Were you expecting tall lush trees? Or fields of green grass to greet you out here?"
"I kind of did."
"Equestria doesn't look like that no more. Welcome to the Wasteland."
"Still looks better than the hive did."
After we both got our energy back, I looked around the hill we were at and found my saddlebags, it was not in the same place I left it before the ants abducted me and appeared to have been tampered with. luckily my photo was still inside, but all my caps and food supplies were all missing.
"Dang It. Well, looks like I need to take a trip back home." I put my now lighter saddlebags back onto my back and under my cloak with my shotgun and was prepared to mossy along. "It was nice meeting you Ergate, but I need to head on out now."
"What? you're leaving without me?"
"You are free from your ants now, you can go wherever you want to go."
"But, I want to go with you."
"I get shot at a lot, it will be dangerous for you to come with me."
"But, I don't know anyone else out here, or know about anything out here."
I don't like having anyone traveling me, I don't want anyone getting shot on my account. But leaving Ergate alone out in the wasteland with no prior knowledge of the dangers out here might be a worse fate to have. After thinking it through for a minute, I made my choice.
"Ok, you can come with me Ergate."
"Really? I can?!"
"Yeah, I got you out of that ant hive, it would be rude of me to not let you tag along. So, you can come with me."
"Yay! So, um, where did you say we are going?"
"Home."
Footnote: Level Up
New Perk: Bane of Arthropods: Escaping a hive of ants with your life has made you stronger against any bugs you find out in the wasteland, you now deal +10 points against insects and other creepy crawlies you may find.
New Memory unlocked: