Deep within Whoover Dam, and it looks to be in a dilapidated state. Seems out peaceful time in Manehattan was only temporary and only delays of what’s been truly going on from the other side of Equestria that’s still suffering. And after our hectic battle with the Ponelurks and their King, I’m kind of wondering if there’s even a peace.

If Manehattan was a prime example of a peaceful city, I’m not sure what of it for this… Ponyville, or however you may call it as such. I’m just still skeptical after our tour earlier today. Everything else are nothing more than mere rumors.

Even if I wanted to stay at Tenpony Towers, the rules are too damn steep and basically limits the ability to become fully accommodated inside. Its just not worth it anyway. Personally, I prefer to stay over in Stable Town and Stable 75 than to scrape the bottom of the barrel to even become a residence in the Towers, much less visit. I just have too much problems on my hooves already.

We heard something down below the main level. Who could that be? I glanced at Gale who asked me, “Should we check something out? I think there’s somepony in Whoover Dam.”

I suppose that’s true. No Ponelurks would normally talk like that. I gave her an affirmed nod as we ventured down to the lower levels. At least they’re not as noisy as the pumps we had when we were fending off against the Ponelurks. All we can do now is hope that there aren’t any hostiles waiting to ambush us by surprise. I led my friends down the stairs to find the source of the voice, hoping that we don’t run into any noises within the Whoover Dam.

E.F.S. had soon displayed a green blip on the PipBuck. Seems this one isn’t a hostile, so that’s a plus. I’m eager to see if this one doesn’t stab us in the back.

The noises within the Dam had drowned out the sound of a distress call, but the E.F.S. made sure the green blip had stayed on the radar for us to track down an unknown friendly/neutral. Its not far from us now, but the door ahead is locked. No problem; I’ll have Tootsie Roll pick the lock for me.

“Ooohhh! Yay! I get to pick the big door open!” The filly gleefully floated up the bobby pin and screwdriver and proceeded to pick the door open. What she makes up for her lack of actual combat, makes up for picking even the toughest locks open. And it didn’t took long for her to pick the lock open as she safely floats both objects back in my saddlebags. “Ta-da! One big door now open!”

Let’s see what this area leads us to.

We saw a couple of makeshift holding cells inside the room, all which are locked but nopony inside. (Who’s crazy idea was it to create makeshift holding cells out of crude junk? And why hasn’t the Manehattan residence noticed this?!)

“Zero, do you hear that?” Gale asked as we heard raspy - or ghastly - breathing noises nearby. Okay, I’m starting to feel uneasy and I’m wondering if E.F.S. is telling me the truth or not…

Then, we heard a voice (which was far from normal):

“Hey, is anypony there? I need out of this lock so I can get back to work… or not.”

My eye widened at the shocking sight. Is that… a living ghoul?!

Gale and Bob were shocked at the sight, save for Tootsie Roll who was just freaking out at the sight of a pony ghoul wearing a boilersuit, “AAAAAAAAAHHHHH!!! It talks, and its scary-looking!!!”

It… or he, soon turned his attention to the filly freaking out at a live and not flesh-eating ghoul pony, “I was expecting a bit of a bailout after ponies imprisoned me while maintaining the pipelines, yet all I got was a filly calling me scary-looking. Woo.”

Ooookay, so this one is indeed friendly and doesn’t crave for pony flesh. Of course, as any ghoul would, most of his mane and tail were burnt away, along with his overall burned body that also gets rid of his cutie mark altogether and only has a green, dirt boiler suit to go for that covers up his ghastly appearance.

Tootsie was hiding behind me out of irrational fear as Gale Storm carefully glanced at the pony held inside a cage before turning her attention to me, “Do you think we should release him?”

If he’s not here to devour us, then yes. I gave her a confirmed nod; no point in leaving him inside to fester. As surprising as we were when we first saw him, he expressed no ill-will to attack us. Of course, Tootsie is too terrified to lockpick the cell door so I looked at Bob and pointed a hoof at the lock, as to fire the lock away. Indeed, he fired off a laser shot at the lock, disintegrating it easily and swinging the door wide open for the unnamed pony ghoul to exit the makeshift holding cell. I carefully approached at the ghoul pony with a curious look before writing down a couple of words from the PipBuck, reading as ‘Who are you?’.

“Me? Name’s Bullseye. Used to work in Whoover Dam until I ended up locking myself inside so those pony-crab things wouldn’t come after me.”

We learned now that his name is Bullseye, a lone worker in Whoover Dam… and why the fuck did he had to lock himself in?! Apart from avoiding getting eviscerated by the Ponelurks he mentioned, did he somehow threw away the key inadvertently just to leave himself to suffer afterwards?

As Bullseye exited the cell, he glanced at me (his eyes are totally greyed out and dead!), “Thanks for saving me, boss. Should I call you that?”

I think now I should be having Gale here be the new leader. You oughta be thanking Bob for firing the door open; I’m just sitting at the sidelines, dammit!

Gale of course, wrapped a wing around me and pointed a hoof to me, “Yup! He’s our leader, Zero! He’s not only a scientist, but a brilliant leader as well!”

I feel the need to facehoof really hard right about now…

“So he is, then. Who are you three?” Bullseye politely asked, even with his gravely voice to it. Tootsie hasn’t gotten over her sudden, irrational fear of non-hostile ghouls. “I’m Gale Storm, and this is Bob and umm… Tootsie Roll… rest assured, Bullseye! I’m sure this young filly has never met a friendly ghoul pony like yourself before.”

“I-Is he… a not-scary pony, Gale?” The filly was unsure as she let out a nervous, uneasy gulp. Gale reassured her with a soft, motherly rub onto her mane with a hoof, “Its okay, sweetie. He’s a friendly fellow, even if he’s not what he used to be.”

Her words were enough to quell her irrational fear and little Tootsie slowly trotted next to Gale, tucking herself under her wing. She was still uneasy from the sight of Bullseye, though his reaction seemed rather unfazed and his focus was all on me. While Bob went to comfort her, Bullseye took a slow approach to me. I couldn’t ask him anything because well, I just can’t speak at all. Of course, I wrote down a couple of words from the PipBuck before showing him on the screen ‘Would you like to come with us?’.

Without any objections or having second thoughts, he accepted.

“Well, seeing as how Whoover Dam is in tiptop shape and with the Ponelurks gone, sure. So, where shall we go, or do you just want five minutes of time-wasting conversation?”

You can’t strike a conversation to a pony who obviously can’t talk! And I wasn’t born mute either, thank you very much!

I nudged a hoof to Gale on telling him what to do, like continue to venture further into Whoover Dam or get on back to Stable Town… or maybe take a revisit to Mayne.

“Umm… oh! We were heading back to Stable Town, so if you want, you’re welcome here.” Gale suggested to Bullseye for me. “Of course, we’ll need an alternate route back there; a trek from Manehattan would be too lengthy.”

And don’t say Tenpony Tower, please. Unless if you meant that hotel we went yesterday… same thing!

The ghoul pony gave us a curious look, “You sure you don’t wanna stay in Tenpony Tower?”

Goddess-dammit! We have a new guy and insists that we want to stay over in Tenpony Tower! I call bullshit on that question!

“Well, we don’t have anymore bottle caps for us to stay even for a day. But, we do get a free stay in Stable 75! I’m sure they’ll welcome you to their town!” Gale beamed up after giving him a different suggestion. I’m not sure how their inhabitants will react to a living ghoul pony with freakish looks…

Bullseye then expressed a neutral shrug. “I suppose. I thought you guys were high-class or something, but sure. Let’s go.”

Gee, its not like we’re a bunch of stinking rich and snooty ponies for some reason. Just be thankful that you’re not planning to badger us by making us take a visit to Tenpony Tower. And we’re not gonna go on a second tour neither.

Bullseye had led us into an underground tram system which was still functional after too many years. It was aged, but still functional. “Did you know I’m also a train operator? I was before.”

I thought he was a Dam worker! When did he get multiple jobs at once?!

“Umm.. I didn’t know! Awesome!” As we entered the tram, Gale gave an awkward whisper to me, “He seems rather odd for a ghoul pony, Zero…”

I couldn’t agree more. Can’t believe we had a ghoul pony as our unlikely companion…

As Bullseye slowly pushed the lever forward, the tram had soon lurched along the rail; despite its pristine look, its as if its been left unused for hundreds of years. I’m surprised this thing’s still working! Of course, he did gave us a warning. “Just letting you ponies know that up ahead is where lights no longer work, soooo if you have a flashlight, now’s the time.”

Well, at least I have a PipBuck that has a working flashlight, unlike the 1000 model I previously had. As visibility becomes dark, I turned it on so we don’t have to freak out too much in the darkness. It was bright enough to illuminate the darkness, but as we’re now inside a tunnel, Gale and the other two huddled close to me, even feeling her wing draping around my back. What, are invisible ponies gonna come and attack us? Please… (On a plus side, Gale’s wing feels pretty soft.)

The E.F.S. hasn’t picked up any red blips, though the map on the screen of the PipBuck is becoming rather fuzzy, making it difficult to determine where we are. Hopefully not Manehattan because let’s face it; I got bigger problems to deal with right now and that’s figuring out a plan to eradicate the growing population of the Cazadores. And I have none so far, too dangerous to take them on with just the five of us.

Might as well wait until we reach to whatever our new, ghoul ally takes us there. Whether its Stable Town or otherwise, let’s see what this tram would take us. I’d listen to the radio to pass time, but seeing as how we’re underground is where signal reception is non-existent until we reach land.

“Hehe, don’t ask how, we’re just not used to the pitch black darkness. Thanks for using a flashlight, Zero.”

I felt Gale pressing her muzzle against my cheek as the reddish-ness started to light up on my cheeks. Aww shucks. Just doing my job. Even Tootsie Roll would say the same thing just like her, just without any comment.

I’m just waiting to see what’s up ahead. Hopefully I don’t get to see another Stable for the time being.

Eventually, we were out of the underground rail tunnel and back in Mayne… or in this case, South Mayne. Abandoned, derelict and completely isolated, its lack of civilization only elevates the level of creepiness after our two-hour ride in the tram. “We’re here. South Mayne.” Bullseye notified us as he shuts off the tram. Many buildings were left in ruins, but were not related to a Cazador attack. Pretty obvious that it was the Megaspell that levelled the town.

“South Mayne?” As we stepped off the tram, Gale scanned the area around for a brief moment before gasping at the realization, “There’s nopony there? Zero, does your PipBuck show any signs of life in these ruins?”

I shook my head in response. The E.F.S. doesn’t show any living ponies or other things in here. None at all.

And I really don’t want to recall the events of Mayne where civil unrest and sudden violence in the night. I can already bet those uncivilized ponies had already pushed themselves onto the brink of extinction. Of course, I did mean only Mayne, not Stable Town, not Manehattan either. But New Hampshore? Pretty much in danger because of the ongoing onslaught of Cazadores, but I can’t save it yet. Not when I have very few ponies and with the lack of state-of-the-art weaponry related to Arcane Technology, we won’t be able to stand a chance against them. And if this is really Dr. Scalpel’s wrongdoing, then his ass is mine and so is his ‘creation’.

As much as I like to know about their whereabouts, South Mayne doesn’t seem to be a good place to start. My new ally isn’t very bright at being a navigator, is he? I checked on the map and saw that we’re pretty far away from Stable Town. Great. More trekking to do. And because South Mayne is in total ruin, there’s nothing to scavenge except rubble. That’s about it, really. Of course, my ears picked up faint buzzing sounds at the very distant ahead from us; its certainly not an electrical grid, is it? Electricity is rather abundant in the Wastelands, except from different locations of course.

But where is it coming from? I motioned my team to follow me to find the source of the buzzing noises - they were skeptical at first before Bullseye commented, “Sure, lead the way, boss.”

I’d object, but what’s the use? Even if I correct him, he’ll still refer to me as ‘boss’ anyhow so I’ll just have to roll with it for the time being. As we got closer and deeper within the isolated area of South Mayne, red blips began to flood into the E.F.S. Ten of them, too! And Bloatsprites!

I quickly stopped them by extending a hoof, knowing that any closer and they’ll start to take notice and fire off stingers at us in the worst way possible. At least they haven’t took notice of us yet…

“Gaaahh!! W-What are those giant, gross insect-thingies?!” Tootsie’s frantic yell had already given away our position and soon their attention were directed towards us. Fucking goddess-dammit, Tootsie! Look what you did!

“Uh oh. Get ready ponies! Here they come! Tootsie, get behind me!” As Gale prepped herself for battle, the Bloatsprites had already begun to shoot out miniature stingers at us. Shit!

As I scrambled to position myself for a clear shot with the sniper rifle, Bullseye was quick to react and pull out his revolver (his magic aura has a very dull blue color to it!) and fire off at least six rounds at the attacking Bloatsprites, enough to critically wound them. Damn! Talk about lightning fast reflexes! Of course, he took a couple of hits from the stinger shots as me, Gale and Bob fired off shots at the critically wounded Bloatsprites; we had no place to take cover and even if there is, they’d easily surround us and ignore cover altogether.

Despite our minor injuries (save for Tootsie Roll, who stayed out of combat, and Bob for having his very own impenetrable armor), we managed to single-handedly take down all ten Bloatsprites. That was a short yet unexpected battle we’ve ever faced. Weird…

“Did you know I’m also a gunslinger, too? I was a ten-time gunslinging champion before I worked at a tram and in Whoover Dam.”

Just how many jobs does this ghoul pony have anyway?! Surely at least one job is more than enough, right? Damn, for our new ally that has marksmanship aim, he’s quite an oddity to go for. Nevertheless, let’s just keep going and see if there’s any places of interest that isn’t deemed to be dull or isolated. Or if we could find its inhabitants without the intent of killing us. Let’s hope we don’t run into another Bloatsprite again or their numbers would be enough to cause us even more problems.

Gale scanned the area around before giving Bullseye a small suggestion, “Don’t you think we should be going back to Whoover Dam? I’m sure we could find our way back to Stable Town with you on our side.”

Of course, he rejected her suggestion. “Sorry, but the tram only goes one way. Forward and not back, so South Mayne will have to do for now… by the way, do you have any friends here in South Mayne?”

Okay, now he’s just spewing random questions to us.

“No… but you’re welcome to be friends with us if you wish! Tootsie well… she hasn’t gotten used to seeing a ghoul pony like yourself just yet. The last time we encountered ghoul ponies… they were intent on killing us.” Gale gave a sheepish smile to him, hoping that her brief conversation wasn’t too awkward.

“Well, I suppose new friends are always great. The last friend I made was a mural of Maud Pie next to Pinkie Pie… that’s about it, really.” Bullseye’s reply made me curious about the two; they’re mostly related, but I wanted to know more about this Maud Pie our ghoul companion mentioned about as we traversed throughout the isolated land of South Mayne. I softly whispered to Gale as to ask him regarding Maud Pie.

“Hmm? Oh! Umm… Bullseye? Zero wanted to know more about Maud Pie if you’re interested.” Seems she managed to get the idea from my non-existent voice which could only be heard pretty close.

Bullseye gave a neutral nod, “Alright. I’ll tell you who Maud Pie is along the way.”

As we ventured ourselves out of South Mayne, I began to listen and understand further details regarding this Maud Pie I saw from the terminal weeks ago.

“...Maud Pie worked at the rock farm, deep into the quarries of Ponyville if you ask me. Pinkie Pie offered help, but she was backed by the Ministry of Morale so Maud Pie is unable to be her backup. Same goes for her other sisters, Marble Pie and Limestone Pie, even her obviously-dead parents. Unfortunately for Marble Pie, she received the death penalty by being shoved into the radiation pit and well, she was turned into a mutant mass before they put her out of her misery. Limestone Pie, on the other hoof, became an outcast from the quarry. Never returned to her siblings ever since. As for Maud Pie? Well, she got the killing joke treatment where she was permanently encased in a rock and then crumbled together. Despite her efforts, she was a slave and died like one, too. Her strength were of no match for those damn Slavers.” Bullseye concluded his details regarding Maud Pie and the siblings.

So the fate of this Maud Pie was finalized; she fell the victim of a killing joke by the damn Slavers, turning her into a living rock and became disintegrated into pieces. Marble Pie, well, she had the most gruesome death out of all the Pie clan whereas Limestone’s whereabouts were unknown ever since. Most likely dead, perhaps. Now as for Pinkie Pie, seeing as how she can’t so much as to talk to me inside my head for unknown reasons, I’m starting to wonder what the Ministry of Morale is. Does it consist of a rebellious faction? Or is it something else that’s closely related to that? And another question that brought up to my mind; how did Bullseye knew about the events that happened after the Megaspell went off? Or is it another kind of a Megaspell that included hard labor and eventual death? Turns out he wasn’t like any ghoul before so he must’ve been a survivor unless he’ll wind up telling us that he used to work at the quarries of what location… Ponyville maybe? Or perhaps the outskirts of it?

I just felt a little mixed. I believed what he said until he mentioned Ponyville. Is Ponyville even real? Am I supposed to believe this sort of hootenanny or something? Because even the PipBuck 4000 would mention nothing about Ponyville. I’m really curious about Bullseye’s past motives before he was turned into a living ghoul freak.

“So how did you managed to escape? And how did you end up a ghoul pony?” Even Gale was curious about him and wanted to find out how he barely escaped the quarries or whatever its called.

“I just did. Of course, I had a taste of an irradiation grenade by the damn Slavers. Too bad they didn’t killed me enough; all they did was cause my coat and skin to peel away, my eyes going… well, dead, and my voice sounding shitty afterwards, yet still alive. Too bad I don’t have a mane and tail anymore so fuck if I could remember.” Bullseye further explained on his own previous appearance. Well, at least his original personality is still intact.

At least he got his five minutes of time-wasting conversation. Up ahead are a couple of crude, abandoned shacks that has no inhabitants whatsoever. Then again, even with such an empty area, its not without traps so that’s something we need to watch out for.

We went to search to different shacks to see if there are any items or fresh, uneaten foods that are deemed salvageable while Tootsie Roll stood close to me while her robotic friend went to search for items that are deemed useful. The E.F.S. had picked up nothing besides the Bloatsprites we just killed. And speaking of Pinkie Pie, I had no word from her ever since I first picked up the Statuette of her. Maybe the Pinkie Pie statuette had lost power which nullified my newly-acquired abilities?

No, that’s impossible. My senses are still sharp and my eyesight hasn’t been affected. Now, let’s see… ah! A couple of stimpaks, fresh maize, and bottles of antivenom to collect. And a doctor bag as well. I wonder what the others have found?

Gale Storm had returned with various and useful items to us, “I found a couple of Purified Water and fresh fruits. I also added Stimpaks in my power armor so here, let me heal you up.”

I pulled up the sleeve of my hoof with my teeth and presented it to her as the mechanical needle was soon injected into my hoof. I winced in pain at first, but soon felt the stimpak fluids poured into my hoof and effectively healing the minor injuries I had. Huh… looks like I’m all better! She carefully moved the needle off of my hoof, “There you go. All better now.” Gale emitted her lighthearted giggle and motioned her head to me. “Come on. Let’s keep on moving.”

Now that we’ve managed to stock ourselves up, we continued to venture ourselves into the unknown and out of South Mayne. And this area is even more isolated than South Mayne itself. Fucking hell, this is gonna be a long day…

As we trekked along the unknown within the Wastelands, we saw up ahead on what appears to be a very large, ancient temple. And it looks largely untouched from the Megaspell, so they must have ancient civilization here! (Wait, what?)

Of course, we had to stop by at the nearest campfire for rest up for the night. It was getting awfully dark and to continue on would be suicide. We had a late-night meal in front of a still-lit campfire, seating ourselves onto the rocks. I wrote down a couple of words from the PipBuck before presenting the screen at everypony ‘We need to rest up for now before we could discover the unknown temple, we’ll need plenty of sleep’.

“Sounds like a plan. We’re pretty hungry after scavenging and dealing with those crazy Bloatsprites anyway.” Gale agreed with me. Even she needs to rest up before we can continue ahead.

“So why are we resting up? I’m not a normal pony so I basically don’t need sleep. I’ll just keep a lookout if I could.” Well, Bullseye sure has a way with words. It doesn’t take a genius like myself to know that ghoul ponies require little to no sleep. (I could be wrong, however.)

“That’s fine and all, but… just do your job, okay? We have a long day ahead of us.” Gale spoke out for me as we soon finished our quick meal and begin to rest up on the boulders close to the campfire, ensuring that the pitch-black darkness is kept at bay. Whatever new things we’ll discover, is bound to bring us new and dangerous challenges.

The Temple of Ahuizotl

That’s what the PipBuck deciphered from the ancient writings. Not sure how or why, but we’re not gonna laze around Stable Town and do absolutely nothing. And the stairs… fuching hell is it a long way up! Even Gale wouldn’t hitch all of us at once onto her back; it’ll wear her down in seconds.

Even Gale looked pretty uneasy when she gave a nervous look to us, “Soooo… who wants an extra fifteen-minute trip of all the way up to the temple?”

Well, at least you can fly, per se!

“But its tiriiiiing!” Tootsie whined like a true filly she is, complaining of her refusal for a grueling trek up the stairs to the temple. Of course, Bob skitters up to my back as to show that even he hates climbing up the stairs. Oh great, now he gets to hitch onto me?! I refuse to be the burden of our lengthy, undesirable climb to the temple! I have my saddlebags thank you very much, now please kindly off of my back!

Shaking my body seems to end up triggering his bad side as he threatened me with a laser tail pointed dangerously close to my face, his metallic claws clanging as a saying of ‘carry me or disintegrate into ashes’. I hesitantly gulped and tried to crack a smile as to indicate that I will indeed carry him on my back for us to head to Ahuizotl’s temple.

Note to self: Don’t ever get on the sentient, robotic scorpion’s bad side, especially with a weapon that’s bound to turn me into a pile of pony dust. My own pony thought warned me. This is gonna be a long day, I swear to Celestia…

Gale motioned the filly over as she bends her hooves down a little, “Hop aboard, Tootsie! We’re now boarding The Gale Express!”

I wonder when was the last time I played pretend in this hellhole back in my younger years? Besides staying alive and being a completely nameless pony with pretty much non-existent parents apart from the partially-cybernetic Lightspeed who considered me as her son, even though she could’ve used a little bit of personal space in front of the Powder Gangers! Seriously, I nearly collapsed because of this!

Once the filly got onto her back, Gale’s wings unfurl gracefully and began to ascend in the air and soon flying off to the temple with Tootsie in tow, “Race you there!”

Hey that’s not fair! You just made this race one-sided already, Gale!

Well, fuck. Might as well make a tiring climb up to the temple whilst Gale Storm flew her way up easily. Bullseye informed me, “Don’t worry. A scientist deserves a normal exercise up the temple. Let’s go, boss.”

This isn’t exercise! Its a fucking torture! Of course, with Bob hitched on my back, what choice to do I have? I’d rather get my hooves worn out than to have him disintegrate me altogether. Well, here goes nothing!

I would’ve hitched Gale, but why would I? That’ll weigh her down even more, and only Tootsie Roll was light enough to hitch a ride. Fuck, this is gonna take a while. And all while the clouds are dark and miserable, with a chance to rain really hard. The last thing I would want is to have Bob self-destruct and killing me in the process should even a single drop of water get into his electrical systems. Even his tough, metallic shell isn’t clearly waterproof (and even then, he’ll short out should he drown so either outcome would be horrifying).

Even Bullseye is struggling to not tire out as we made our way up to the temple, “This is gonna take a while… and my teleportation spell is useless so all I could do is carry things around.”

Well you’re obviously not an alicorn, you know.

And half an hour later and we’re nowhere close to reaching the top. Only Gale and Tootsie made it to the top with no effort whatsoever. At the far distance, she yelled out, “Pick up the pace, boys! We wanna see you all fit as a fiddle!”

Oh great, now she’s going drill sergeant on us. Here I am struggling yet Bullseye looks as if he doesn’t even give a damn at all! He’s just neutrally climbing up the stairs like its not a big deal! And Bob? He does nothing other than weighing me down! He’s gonna have functional climbing legs soon, so let’s see who gets the last laugh…

Shit. Muscles constricting… yet I’m almost there… don’t you dare give up on me, dammit! If I look back, I would fall off which is enough to either kill me or paralyze me. Our ghoul ally had already made it to the top while I barely made it before my hooves eventually gave themselves in as I collapsed onto the stone floor whereas Bob skitters carefreely off of my back to join up with the filly. Goddess-dammit, Celestia… why must you do this to a scientist…

“Hooray! You made it! At least I didn’t have to make you do fifty pushups, isn’t that right, Zero?” Gale ruffled my mane a little as I was trying to catch my breath and listen to her authoritative-like comment to me. I’d rather bathe in Hellhound shit than to climb all the way up to this fucking temple. And there’s no way I’m making my way down either. I’d reach for my Stable 13 canteen, but my hooves are too damn exhausted to move right now.

The former Enclave lightheartedly giggled and went to get my saddlebags as to give me something as she buried her muzzle inside, “Here, let me help.”

She retrieved the canteen and flipped the lid open with her teeth as she moved it close to me, “Here, drink up, kiddo.”

I quickly chugged down the water from the canteen before giving her a confirmed nod, letting her know that I finished drinking. She nodded me back and closed the lid of the canteen before putting it back into my saddlebags, “I see you’re satisfied and not dehydrated now. Shall we take a look inside the temple? I bet we could find lots of valuable treasures inside. We could be rich!”

Fancy jewelry won’t make a perfect substitute for caps. In fact, it’ll only make you look… well, better. And either way, no ponykind will accept expensive jewelry as currency so it’ll be a no-go. Either way, there’s no going back now. To climb back down would be like an eternity, so I’m clearly not doing that. I was helped up by her as Bullseye asked me, “So, boss. Can we check out the temple and see if we could find any treasures your friend mentioned?”

Meh. I don’t see why not. Beats having to climb all the way up here, right? Let’s see what The Temple of Ahuizotl has something to offer us.

Footnote: No Level Up.