Chapter 3: The Grass is Always Purpler

"Alright, sleepyhead, I think it's time to wake up."

Blah's moment of bliss was interrupted by something solid shaking his body. Reluctantly, he rolled over onto his back, his eyes cracking open and being treated to some natural light, as well as the stern face of Hailstorm.

"So it wasn't a dream..." moaned Blah as he rolled over onto his side. He was in no hurry to get up, as usual.

Hail sighed. "Have you already forgotten about the promise you made last night?"

Blah hadn't, but he didn't think he was on a deadline. "What time is it?" he asked, unmoving.

The pegasus looked out of the window, judging the position of the sun. "I'd say around ten o' clock," he responded. "The sun rose hours ago, Blah. Are all humans this lazy?"

"Are all pegasi this impatient?" countered Blah, yawning and stretching before sitting up and retrieving his glasses from the workbench. With his vision restored, his eyes landed on a rather large fixture in the room - a sizable stone furnace. "Whoa, when did that get there..."

"While you were having your beauty sleep," Hail quipped, "I asked Cody about how to make glass, and he said you needed a furnace. So I asked him how to make a furnace, and he said to get some stone. I borrowed that pickaxe of yours and did just that."

"You actually talked to him?" Blah queried in disbelief, glancing at the guide in his corner. Cody gave a half-wave in acknowledgement.

Hail rolled his eyes. "Ok, I'll admit he is a bit of a pain, but the point is, I got some work done. Found a bit of copper ore while I was at it, too." He indicated a pile of orange-tinted rocks in the corner opposite Cody.

"Oh yeah..." Blah looked at the copper, remembering that it certainly wouldn't hurt to gather some ore for equipment. "Well... thanks!"

"Yeah, don't mention it," Hail said, looking away. "So, are you finally ready to look for that sand?"

Blah stood up, slipping his arms into the straps of his backpack and grabbing his trusty wooden club. "As ready as I'll ever be."

The duo left the house, eager to explore the landscape for the entrance to a cave of any size. All traces of the undead had vanished with the moon, and the only creatures left roaming the surface were peaceful rabbits and squirrels, and the occasional green slime, which Blah was always quick to dispatch with his weapon.

"So, Hailstorm..." Blah addressed as they walked, killing some time. "From where do you... hail?" Blah smirked at his own pun.

"I live in Cloudsdale," the pegasus answered, choosing to ignore Blah's poor attempt at a joke for his own safety. "Though my job usually takes me to Ponyville. I'm a weatherpony, specializing in winter weather."

"I see," said Blah, recognizing both locations from the show that he watched, as well as the common pegasus profession of managing the weather. Hail was somewhat surprised that Blah was able to follow him so far. "What were you doing way out here, then?"

"Well, the forecast called for heavy snow," Hail recalled, "and just about all of the good clouds had been used up in last week's downpour, so I flew out in search of the perfect replacement."

"Uh-huh." Blah looked up to the sky, seeing only very light clouds that could never produce precipitation. The temperature was comfortably warm as well. "Heavy snow, eh? That's odd, cause last I checked, it was about the middle of summer."

"Uh... Oh look, a cave," Hail pointed out, hastily changing the subject. Sure enough, there was a cave in the base of a hill not too far from where they were walking.

Blah chuckled quietly. 'You're off the hook for now, Hailstorm,' he thought to himself. He cleared his throat. "Well, alrighty then! Let's go."

The two of them descended carefully into the gradual downward slope of a tunnel, Blah leading the way with a torch in one hand and his club in the other. Hail took the rear, keeping a close eye on the entrance to clobber any slimes that tried to flank them. Occasionally, Blah would jam a torch into a nearby wall to light up the way from which they came.

Hail stopped, glancing down a small side passage. "Huh, who left these pots here?"

Blah turned and looked into the passage. Several ancient, cracked pots lined the cavern floor. "Eh, who cares," he scoffed. "It's loot!" And without any further warning, he lifted his club and brought it down on the nearest pot, smashing it to pieces.

Hail flinched at the noise, astonished at Blah's sudden urge to wreck. "So your first instinct-" Crash! Hail flinched again. "...when you come across some ancient artifact-" Crash! "...is to smash it?!"

"Oh, these pots are all over the place in Terraria," Blah downplayed, sorting through the pieces and picking up some assorted coins of silver and copper. "There's always lots of neat stuff in them, so there's no reason not to break every one you see!" Among the wreckage was also a length of rope, which Blah greedily bagged.

"If you say so..." Hail wandered ahead, having second thoughts about hanging out with the human.

When Blah had his fill of carnage, he decided to rejoin Hail in exploring the cave. There were a few deposits of copper and iron lining the walls, which Blah went ahead and picked up on the way. Eventually, the two came across a rather deep pit in front of them.

"Well, we tried," Hail gave up, already turning around and heading for the entrance.

"Not so fast," Blah halted. "Did you not see the rope I picked up a minute ago?"

"Do you not see my lack of opposable thumbs?" Hail rhetorically retorted, holding up his hoof. "And it's not like I can fly down there, either."

Blah had already gotten out the rope. "So you'll just have to stay put like a good little colt until I get back." He tied one end around a nearby stalagmite and threw the rest of it into the chasm.

Grumbling, Hail picked a boulder to sit on while Blah mentally prepared himself to slide down the rope.

'Ok, rope climbing,' he thought. 'I know gym wasn't my best class, but this can't be too hard, right?'

Taking a deep breath, Blah crouched down, twisted his body around, and grabbed onto the rope firmly with both hands. He began to slowly slide down, watching closely to make sure he didn't reach the end of the rope before the bottom of the pit.

"Hey, this is no problem at all!" Blah commented excitedly. He looked up momentarily to see how far he'd gotten, and noticed something strange. "Wait, where did this come from?" Instead of the rope, Blah was grabbing an odd, hooked wooden implement that he had never seen before, attached to the rope via a series of gears. The curious winch allowed him to shimmy down safely, quickly, and effortlessly. As an experiment, he tried manipulating the winch so that it would pull him upward instead of downward, and that act was just as easy to perform. While the origins of this winch were a mystery, Blah could not deny that it made rope climbing infinitely more convenient.

As he reached the bottom, he noticed the rope was a few feet shy of hitting the floor of the pit, which was just fine for him. His winch ran the length of rope, and when it ran out, Blah landed on the floor with the grace of a penguin. After righting himself, he managed to get a good look around the chamber, his eyes resting on a wall of yellowish sand, lightly sparkling in the light of the torch. "Bingo!" he announced as he began to harvest it by the armful.

However, no sooner had he packed the first scoop than he heard a shout from the top of the pit. It was indiscernible, but it was definitely frantic.

Blah sighed. "Where's the fire?" he called back. "'Cause you won't believe the amount of sand I found, and would very much like to collect!"

"Forget that! Y-you really need to come up here now!" yelled the pony.

'Now what could possibly have him on edge?' Blah thought as he winched his way up the rope with a collection of what he hoped would be enough sand for one bottle. 'It can't be anywhere near night time, so if he's freaking out over a slime I'll have his head.'

As soon as Blah reached the top, peeking over the cliff, Hail's worries were justified. Flying into the cave was a rotten, purple abomination bearing a single eye and two massive mandibles. It was a bit large for the passage, but that didn't stop it from bouncing against the walls, voraciously traversing what little space it had to reach the cowering Hailstorm.

"Is that an eater of souls?!" Blah exclaimed, equally baffled. Somehow, knowing what it was called did not quell Hail's fear. "I didn't think we were anywhere near the corruption..."

"Whatever it is, just do something!" cried Hail, finding himself backed up against the edge of the cliff.

Blah stared into the eye of the eater of souls, which stared back hungrily as it continued its determined dive towards the travelers. He certainly remembered such a beast from his previous Terrarian exploits, and he knew that it was not to be messed with unprepared. Seeing its grotesque carapace in the flesh was enough to make Blah's hair stand on end. Furthermore, they couldn't run, as their only exit was blocked off.

Blah held out his club, despite knowing that it would do very little against the vicious eater. "Hail," instructed Blah, "as soon as you see an opening for escape, take it and run back to the base."

The pegasus nodded, bending his knees in anticipation. The eater of souls drew ever closer, its attention trained on the fully standing Blah.

'Ok, Blah, you got this. Just wait until the right moment...'

Blah lowered his club. There was only one way to ensure that Hail would have a viable, if brief opening. Other than letting himself get devoured, of course. For it to work, however, he had to wait until the very last moment.

The eater accelerated, its prey mere inches from its salivating mouth. This was the moment. Blah swung suddenly upwards, deflecting the creature into the ceiling using its own momentum. As he had planned, there was a large enough gap for someone of Hail's height to dash past.

The stallion took off, ducking under the eater as it turned around and veered to a halt, ready to charge again. It was then that Hail saw another opportunity. He stopped, planting his front feet into the ground and raising his hind legs, kicking them powerfully backwards into the enemy's jaw. The pained eater of souls lost its focus and fell into the pit behind them.

"Good one," Blah commended, "but that won't keep it down for long. Let's vamoose before we provoke any more of them!"

Hailstorm was eager to do just that, tracing Blah's footsteps with near perfect accuracy.

As they emerged from the cave, Blah slowed down for a moment to seek out where the eater might have come from. He wanted to make a mental note of the corruption's location, mostly so he could avoid it, though Blah knew they would have to go there eventually anyway.

"What are you doing, hurry up!" Hail stopped, waiting for the human to catch up.

Blah's gaze rested on a dark section of forest. The purple grass and faded trees were barely visible, but it was enough to satisfy him. "Aha, check it out," he indicated. "The corruption is right over there..."

"All the more reason to run from it," Hail countered. "Now come on already, let's..." His words trailed off as he noticed a silhouette standing among the sinister purple landscape. It was roughly pony-shaped, and looked somewhat familiar. Slowly, he began to approach.

"Hailstorm...?" Blah called, confused at the stallion's behavior, until he saw it as well. A shadow of a pony, close to Hail's size, and quite dark against the backdrop of the sky. He thought he could even make out a horn. But there was something uncanny about the shadowy equine figure. Its motionless glare was not unlike that of the eater of souls - malicious and foreboding.

However, just before either of them could get close enough to discern any more details, the silhouette disappeared behind the horizon. The two observers shuddered almost simultaneously.

"I think..." Hail uttered, hesitating. "I think Ponyville's in that direction..." He gulped audibly, desperately hoping that he was incorrect.

Blah shared his sentiments. "If so... we're going to need a lot more metal." As he spoke, two more figures emerged from the corruption, both of a shape that he was still not quite accustomed to. Two eaters of souls, springing forth at the smell of fresh meat. "But first," Blah said, turning around, "let's get back to running!"

Beads of sweat dropped from Blahsadfeguie's forehead as he stood next to the furnace, waiting for its heat to treat the sand he had collected. Hailstorm paced back and forth nervously on the wooden floor as the door thumped loudly in its frame. Cody sat in the corner, unnaturally calm as he thumbed through a thin, green book.

"Where did that stuff even come from?" Hail mumbled to himself. "I was only gone for one night... I really hope everypony's okay..."

Hail's utterances caught Blah off-guard. "Wait, did he really just say..." He shook his head. "Nevermind. I need to focus." He pulled the fresh hot glass from the furnace, taking it to the workbench. He glanced at Cody. "Ok, tell us everything you know about the corruption. Stat."

Cody closed the book, keeping his finger inside as a temporary bookmark. "What's there to say?" he remarked with a shrug. "It's evil, dangerous, and contagious."

"How contagious?" Hail demanded, closing in on the guide. "What kinds of things can it do to a pony?"

"Sounds like you've already caught a glimpse of it," answered Cody unhelpfully.

"Of course I have, that's why I'm asking about it," Hail angrily articulated. "What I want to know is, can it... corrupt ponies?"

"The short answer is yes," Cody answered matter-of-factly, his smirk widening. "It's probably already too late for them."

Hail was appalled by Cody's attitude. "How can you say that so calmly? Are you enjoying this?! Are you behind the whole thing?!"

He felt a tap on his shoulder and nearly exploded, but caught himself upon realizing that it was just Blah holding up a thick red concoction. "Sorry to interrupt, but it's done. Drink up."

"Oh... thanks," he said less than enthusiastically as he snatched up the potion in his mouth and drank it. He nearly spit it back out at the taste, but he forced himself to swallow it. "Ugh, what the hail is in this, anyway? Slime?"

"Well, as a matter of fact..." Blah started sheepishly, stopping when he registered what Hail had said. "Hang on, did you seriously just-"

A loud cracking noise interrupted Blah's expression of discomfort. The potion's effects manifested immediately, causing Hail's wing bones to snap back into place. It was painful even to listen to. Blah could only imagine the sort of pain that Hailstorm was feeling, if the pegasus's scrunched-up face was any indication.

The noises ceased quickly, though, and Hail began to relax. He tried stretching his wing again, and, feeling no sudden bursts of pain, flapped them both in tandem. To his excitement, he began to hover off of the ground as easily as if the injury never occurred. "Holy Celestia, I can fly again!" A grin spread across his face, and for a moment he had forgotten completely about the corruption. "That sludge made me sick to my stomach, sure, but a pegasus without flight is like a winter without snow!"

"Great," Blah replied, already getting to work on smelting their reserves of copper and iron. "Now we'll have a much better chance of dealing with that corruption."

"Uh, what do you mean 'we'?" refuted Hail, landing softly. "I got all that I needed from you. So, thanks, but I can handle things from here on my own." He began to make his way for the door.

"You mean like you handled those zombies and eyeballs on your own?" questioned the human, stopping Hail in his tracks. "Neither of us can take on the evils of this world on by ourselves, but we've managed to survive this long by sticking together, haven't we? Face it, we both work much better as a team." The pony bowed his head, knowing that Blah was not wrong. "I bet with the right gear, and both of us taking to the sky, we can conquer just about anything!"

Hail turned around. "Ok, I'm going to have to stop you there. Because it sounds like you're expecting me to give you a ride. And under absolutely no circumstances do I give rides."

"You know, saying that is only going to make it more likely that he'll end up on your back eventually," Cody smugly predicted.

"We'll fly over that bridge when we come to it." Blah retrieved a decent supply of copper and iron bars from the furnace, taking the iron to the workbench. "Until then, I need to know what we should make with this."

"Weapons, obviously," suggested Hail. "Kicking is fine, but I'd rather not get too close to the enemy."

"Oh?" Blah glanced at the pegasus, sizing him up. "Can ponies even use weapons?"

Hail scoffed. "Hooves aren't just thick clubs holding us up, you know. When you have to live with four your whole life, you learn to make do. I can hold and manipulate things perfectly well, especially while airborne when I have two hooves free."

"Ok, ok, I didn't need a biology lesson," Blah retracted. "Sounds to me like you'd be comfortable with a ranged weapon, like a bow. Or..." Blah paused, figuring that bows were probably still somewhat difficult to use for one without fingers. "A crossbow... though I don't know if we can make one of those right now."

Cody popped open his book again, turning to a later page. "Says right here that you can make a crossbow with about 10 bars."

"I'd be happy with a crossbow," agreed Hail.

Blah raised an eyebrow inquisitively. "Since when can we make crossbows? I don't recall seeing any recipes like that..."

"This isn't exactly the same Terraria you're familiar with," Cody responded. "I believe you've already met living proof of that."

Blah sighed. "Ok, we'll make an iron crossbow then." He turned to the anvil.

"When did we get an anvil?" Hail asked.

"I made it during your monologue," Blah replied, setting the iron bars atop it. "Five iron bars at a workbench. It's not rocket science."

The pegasus failed to comprehend his logic. "But how could you possibly make an anvil using a workbench?"

"Shut up and take your crossbow," Blah dismissed, handing him a fully functional iron crossbow. Hail accepted the weapon, now wondering how he managed to finish it that fast, but unable to find the will to ask.

"And now for myself," continued Blah, turning back to his remaining bars. "I'd love to make a hammer, but as far as I know, hammers are really only useful for breaking walls..." He looked at the guide. "I don't suppose you have any recipes for warhammers in there?"

"Iron warhammer, 14 bars," Cody read. "Slightly stronger than a sword, at the cost of speed, but it does also function as a standard hammer."

"Done!" announced Blah, holding up a thick iron bludgeon with both hands. Hail's confusion heightened.

The warhammer was heavy and not all that well balanced, but he felt more powerful simply by holding it. As practice, he drew back and swung at the air in front of him, parting it with a mighty whoosh. The inertia of the mass of metal was so great that it kept going, crashing into the wall and leaving a noticable crack. Blah froze, but after a moment, a mad grin crept across his cheeks. "Awesome!" he interjected, his confidence skyrocketing.

"Remind me never to get on your bad side," commented Hail, backing away.

"Okay, last step is to see if we can make any armor." Blah set the hammer aside and counted his copper bars. "Let me guess, there are recipes for horse armor now as well?"

Cody nodded. "Yep. Though I doubt you have enough bars to fully suit both of you."

Blah finished counting. Forty-seven bars. An impressive number, but as Cody had said, it was not nearly enough for the both of them. Blah considered his options carefully.

"You can have the armor," Hail offered. "I'd rather travel as light as possible."

"Actually..." Blah got to work with the bars. "I'm making it for you. The mount usually takes more hits than the rider, after all."

"For the last time, you're not riding me!" the pony protested, but before he could say anything else, Blah had already put together armor fit for an equine body shape with his impossible speed. "Ugh. Fine, I'll take the armor, but that doesn't mean you'll be on my back..."

"Oh, we'll see about that," Cody chuckled to himself.