Chapter 2: Server Found
Blah rolled over, rustling the pile of leaves that constituted his makeshift bed for what had to be the hundredth time that night. He was afraid this might happen. Even after spending most of his energy on chopping down trees, he could not find the ability to sleep. Perhaps it was the primitive bedding, or the occasional distant zombie snarl from outside. Not even keeping the house fully lit with torches and barricading the door with the rest of his wood was enough to put his mind at ease.
He opened his eyes for a brief moment, but flinched as he saw Cody looming over him. "Hey..." muttered the restless Blah. "I built that chair for a reason, you know. Stop watching me sleep."
"Oh, you're awake," Cody observed, casually pulling up the aforementioned chair and seating himself next to the leaf bedding.
"You don't say," Blah grumbled, turning to face the wall.
"You know, you're quite lucky to have a shelter up this early," the guide commented. "It'd be a shame if someone got caught out in the open in the middle of the night."
"I guess it would, yeah, so?" growled Blah, unmoving.
"They probably wouldn't last long. The zombies and demon eyes would make mincemeat out of them."
"Yeah, well, I'm glad that's not me. Now leave me alone." Blah contracted his legs into a ball in an attempt to become more soundproof.
"I bet they're not glad that it's them," replied Cody, oblivious to Blah's body language, and smug as ever.
"Are you trying to tell me something?" burst out Blah, sitting up and glaring daggers at his guide. "Give it to me straight, cause I'm not in the mood for puzzles."
Cody glanced idly over at a nearby window. "Let's just say that you don't need a password or an IP to join this server."
Blah sighed heavily, realizing that he couldn't get that guy to yield just by playing dumb. "Ok, fine, I can take a hint." He stood, stretching his arms and summoning what little energy he recovered so far. "Where's the unlucky sap?"
"Just on the other side of that hill," Cody explained, pointing to a wide slope visible from the eastern window.
"Now was that so hard?" Blah brushed aside the wood from the door, picking a particularly long log to carry with him.
"You're not going to craft a wooden sword?" asked Cody.
"No time," protested Blah as he opened the door, grabbing his backpack and slinging it over his shoulder. "This thing's heavy and solid, it'll do the trick. I never liked swords anyway. Too cliche."
He closed the door behind him, the creak echoing through the night and announcing his presence like a dinner bell. Two zombies stumbled towards his position, emitting hungry wails.
'This is it,' thought Blah with a nervous gulp. 'Real zombies, standing between me and an innocent life.' He gripped his bludgeon tightly. 'I'm going to have to get used to this eventually, and what better incentive for it...'
With a shout, he charged at the nearest zombie, swinging straight at its head. The force caused it to fall over, though it was far from enough to kill it. The other zombie picked up the pace, and Blah readied his club over his head, swinging downward with the compliment of gravity. The walking corpse suffered some serious trauma from the blow, paralyzing it, but Blah doubted the effect was more than temporary.
The first zombie already picked itself up and lunged at him again, managing to scratch him on the shoulder. Wincing, he ignored the pain as best as he could and clubbed his assailant square in the chest, staggering it and giving him the opportunity to aim at the head again. A loud crack indicated that the skull had been fractured, and its body hit the ground again, hopefully for good.
Blah took a moment to catch his breath, but it would have been his last if he didn't notice the second zombie's return out of the corner of his eye. He quickly turned and held out his club just in time to catch the abomination's teeth. He tried to shake it, but the undead's jaws were wrapped tightly around the wood. Eventually, it let go, realizing that there was no taste to the makeshift weapon, but by that time, a few more zombies had been attracted by the commotion.
'This is insane,' thought Blah in a panic. 'Trying to hold them off is pointless. I better make a break for that hill...'
Throwing his club across his uninjured shoulder, Blah broke into a sprint in the direction of the eastern hill. Luckily, the zombies' rotten limbs were unable to carry them with as much speed, and the man was able to outrun them.
He frantically climbed the hill, aiming to use it as a vantage point and get a good look at the surrounding field. As the sky beyond the raised ground became visible, he noticed a flying eyeball headed straight towards him.
"Whoa!" he cried, seeing one of the terrifying eyes for the first time in person. He had never seen an eyeball out of its socket before, and it was just as grotesque as he had imagined. He made it to the top, firmly planting his feet on the ground, and waited for the eye to approach, holding his club like a baseball bat and sweating like the bases were loaded and it was the bottom of the ninth with two outs. It was an especially nerve-wracking image for one who rarely played baseball.
Blah slammed the bat forward as soon as he saw the white of the eye, and it collided with his target, making a satisfying splat and sending it rocketing moonward. The heavy swing caused his shoulder to sting, which made Blah flinch, costing him a bit of the time he earned to scan the horizon for the soul he was risking his life to save.
The darkness was relentless, and it was difficult to make out more than the occasional hint of movement in the distance, but Blah noticed a lot of it was concentrated in a single area, near a small cliff face.
'I'd bet my other shoulder that's where the zombies have them cornered,' Blah deduced, and he carefully descended the hill to confirm his theory. As he neared, he could make out the shapes of several humanoid figures converging near the cliff, slowly closing in.
"Hey, you stupid zombies!" called Blah as he ran at them bravely. "Leave this innocent person alone!"
Most of the zombies either didn't hear him or didn't care enough to change their sights. Blah did get a response nonetheless, in the form of a male voice from the other side. "Someone's there?! Oh, thank Celestia!"
'Celestia?' Blah repeated in his head, but he knew there was no time for questions. He swiftly came up behind one of the zombies, striking it in the back of the head. It stumbled forward, falling flat on its face. Blah went straight for the one next to that and dealt a similar blow. Although it wasn't enough to knock that one off its feet, he did succeed in getting the others' attention.
"I built a shelter on the other side of that hill," Blah hastily explained. "I'll handle the zombies. You just get yourself to safety!"
"R-right, gotcha!" A shaking silhouette galloped on all fours through the path that Blah had created. The clearly inhuman shape caught him off-guard, and he did a double take.
"Was that a horse...?" he questioned, forgetting about his previous commitment not to ask questions. He felt a surge of pain in his back while he was distracted, reminding him that he still had hostiles to deal with.
He twisted around, throwing the weight of the club upwards into the nearest zombie's lower jaw. His target reeled, but the other half dozen zombies closed in on him just as they had done with the strange being he had just rescued. He was surrounded from all sides. "Oh crap," he exclaimed, recognizing that he had just jumped straight into the fire from the center of the frying pan.
'Looks like I'll have to fight my way out of this one,' thought Blah, taking a deep breath.
He took another shot at a zombie, striking it rather uselessly in the arm. The zombie did not falter. He stepped back and aimed a kick at the torso of another nearby corpse, knocking it over and earning some momentum to swing the club at another one. Although it was a successful hit, the other zombies had only gotten closer. They were rapidly overwhelming him, and his stamina was draining just as fast. To make matters worse, a trio of eyeballs had swarmed in and were circling above him.
Blah's only hope at that moment was that he would respawn after death, just like in the video game, but something in the back of his head told him that that was impossible.
"Well, I'm not going down without a fight!" he roared as a final dose of adrenaline coursed through his veins. He twirled his club high over his head and brought it down on the nearest zombie, using his foot to speed up its fall. The eyeballs descended to fill the newly created gap, blocking him from making a mad dash through it. He swung at one eye, but the other two avoided the club and crashed against his ribs. A zombie in back bit down on his already injured shoulder, driving him to slam his weapon behind himself. The zombie released him, leaving nothing but searing pain.
Biting his lip, he targeted another humanoid foe to his left, barely noticing that the eyes were already curving around for another dive. He leaped to the side at the last second, the eyes careening forward. One of them veered straight into something solid, bouncing off of it and coming to rest on the ground. The solid object jumped into the air to strike the other healthy eye with a squelch, sending it back towards Blah, who was sufficiently prepared to swat it away with his club again.
It was at that point that Blah noticed the solid object was in fact the horse he had rescued a moment before. "You came back..." uttered Blah, struggling to his feet.
"I couldn't just let you fight those... those things by yourself," the horse answered, the fear still evident in his voice. "Now let's just hurry back before more show up!"
"Good plan," Blah agreed, following closely behind. His new friend scampered forward, using his speed to trample a newly arrived zombie that stood in their path. Blah checked over his shoulder, noticing another eyeball gaining on them fast. He stopped just long enough to turn around and perform another grand slam.
With both survivors on guard, the two of them made it back to the wooden house with relatively little difficulty. Blah sprinted ahead to open the door, and as soon as his companion entered, he slammed it shut, quickly replacing his wooden blockade.
Blah slumped over, leaning against the logs and catching his breath. He was finally able to get a good glimpse of the sentient quadruped. He was a bit smaller than a conventional horse, standing at about four feet tall before laying down on the wooden floor, also taking a much-needed breather. His coat was an imperfect white, or a very light gray, and his medium sky blue mane and tail had a stripe of cyan running the length of each. He also had two wings, one of them clearly broken, and on his upper thigh was the image of a dark, hailing cloud.
"Oh my God..." Blah panted aloud. The sight of this winged horse brought back a specific memory of a cartoon show he used to watch from time to time. "You're a My Little Pony."
"Excuse me?" the pony replied, somewhat put off. "Just because you rescued me doesn't mean you own me. In fact, if it weren't for me, you'd probably-"
"That's not what I meant," Blah interrupted. "I mean you're... I've never seen a pony before. I didn't even think they were real."
"Well, I've never seen a human before," repeated the pony. "But you don't see me freaking out over it."
Blah wasn't sure how to feel about his sudden discovery. He already knew that he had been transported to another world, but one that apparently had ponies as well? He seemed to recall an entire category of people from his original world who would have killed to be in his position right now, a category that he only vaguely associated himself with.
Ultimately, he decided to roll with it. "Nevermind," he dismissed. "Since we'll probably be sticking together a while on account of our injuries, we should introduce ourselves at least. My name is Blahsadfeguie, or Blah for short." He silently praised himself for remembering the moniker he had chosen. He waited for the pegasus's response, hoping that he didn't have a ridiculously cutesy name.
The pony nodded. "I'm Hailstorm. Or Hail for short." Blah softly sighed with relief; he was quite fine with that name. Hailstorm looked away. "Though I don't know about sticking together. I was kinda planning on heading out in the morning..."
"On a broken... wing?" Blah protested. "No, I can't let you go out in such bad shape. And do you even know where you are?"
"I can walk just fine," snapped Hail, suddenly standing. "And..." He shrunk away again. "Well, no, I'm not too sure where I am." He stood up fully, trying his best to seem confident. "B-but I can find my way. I'm a pegasus, I know the lay of the land like the back of my hoof!"
Blah would have laughed if he didn't feel pity for the poor guy. "So then, what was that about not being sure-"
"Back. Of. My. Hoof." He raised a foreleg for added emphasis. "Now, if you don't mind, I'd like to get at least half of a decent night's sleep..."
Blah had a good feeling that if he left it at that, the pegasus would be gone before he woke up. "Hang on a minute," he urged, to Hail's dismay. Blah dug through his backpack, pulling out a handful of red mushrooms he had gathered while chopping trees. "At least eat some of these. They should speed up the healing process a bit. I think they're magic or something, I dunno."
Hail stared at the pile of fungus apprehensively. "I don't know about you, but when a stranger offers me magic mushrooms to ease my pain, I generally take it as a sign to get as far away from them as possible."
"Look," said Blah, the crankiness from his own lack of sleep starting to kick in, "Would you rather wander through these clearly unfamiliar fields, alone and on foot with a broken wing, surrounded by slimes during the day and zombies at night, or take a chance on some mushrooms?" Hail looked away again, unresponsive. "Here, I'll have some right now. They do nothing but good, see for yourself."
Although he was a bit hesitant to do so, this being the first time he had eaten wild mushrooms, Blah popped a couple of them into his mouth. He chewed on the rubbery, tasteless fungus, letting their juices run down his throat. It was not the most pleasant thing to pass his lips, but much of his lingering pain ceased immediately, allowing Blah to lean back further in comfort.
Hailstorm stared at Blah's arm in shock. "Your shoulder..."
Blah looked down at the wounds exposed through the tears in his shirt. They had closed up almost completely, and the bleeding had stopped. Even he was surprised that the shrooms had worked. "There we go!" he cried. "It's not a complete heal, but it's a start." He handed the remaining mushrooms to the stallion. "What do you say?"
Having seen enough proof, yet still showing signs of uncertainty, Hail wordlessly snatched up the mushrooms in his mouth. His eyes watered slightly as he chewed, swallowing quickly. His broken wing flexed a bit, and he winced as a light crackling noise could be heard. Blah watched inquisitively as the pegasus paused, glancing at his wing. He tried extending it, but a sudden influx of pain forced him to stop, laying it to rest.
"I guess it doesn't do as much on broken bones," Blah said with a shrug. "Understandable. I think we can make some healing potions if we just had some glass to put it in... and I'm sure as heck not going sand-collecting this late at night."
"So in other words," Hail spoke, "you'd be willing to go to the trouble of making me some kind of potion to heal my wing, but only after daybreak?"
Blah paused for a moment, considering his situation. When he first arrived, he was prepared to ensure his own survival, nothing more. However, Hailstorm was proof that there was some other form of civilization somewhere. If he helped the pony out, perhaps he would show him where that was, so he could at least get his bearings and figure out why and how he was abducted, and how to get back to his own world. It was the best lead he had, so he had no choice.
Finally, he nodded. "Sure. You're the first person I've met since I came here, so I have to treat you with some kind of respect." He glared sideways at Cody, who flashed a sarcastic grin in return. "Well, the first real person I've met."
Hail sprawled himself out on the floor in surrender. "Guess I'm staying with you for a while, then."