What It Means

by Dustchu


Tunnels n' Shit Arc - The Infection


One Week Later


Clang

Swipe

"Gah!"

Swishy swoosh

Bang

"Rah!"

Ping

Oh what a nice view, was the one single thought that ran through my mind as I flew back through the air, smashing into the ground and sliding through the rough dirt. My back felt like it was on fire once I landed—sharp rocks and hard ground tearing through my shirt and into my skin.

I didn't need to be captain obvious here to tell you that I bled a lot during this bullshit.

My lungs burned and my muscles felt like they were being ripped apart after I came to a stop, my arms ached and my fingers and wrist were in so much pain, it wasn't even funny. Any sort of movement and attempts to get back up was met with plenty of agony.

I was done...

I was beaten to a metaphorical pulp.

Seconds later I felt the cold touch of steel press against my neck, and looking up I saw those bright blue eyes lock on my own.

"Do you yield."

It obviously wasn't a question. The mare could kill me right now if she wanted to, just push the blade down on my neck a bit harder, pierce my throat. I'd be dead in seconds! She didn't even need her sword, she could just pick me up by the neck and break me in half, she certainly looked like she could achieve such a thing. Or just choke me to death, I wasn't really strong to fight off someone of her size.

"I yield... now go fuck yourself, yeah?" I responded with a deep frown, letting my head fall back onto the ground and trying my best to draw in fresh air.

Thankfully this world seemed to have quite a bit.

Dancer just pulled her sword back from me before walking over to where Sakura was on a rock, reading through a book she had picked up somewhere in the last town we had been in. I just laid on the ground, body aching from the training Dancer and I had been undergoing through the past week since leaving the small fishing town of Jainko.

I thought she was betraying me or something for a second when she came at me like she had, but after a brief sparring she explained that my fighting technique was rather...

I sucked ass, basically. Those that I did actually fight and kill, she said in her own terms...


"Luck."

"...I'm sorry, luck?" I asked after we finished up our first sparring session, with me guzzling down a healthy portion of our water. "Whaddya mean?"

She was tough!

"Luck affected your fights," Dancer explained, her eyes boring into my own. "You were outnumbered and incredibly out skilled, and luck intervened, giving you a fighting edge."

I frowned a bit at that, but I still don't understand how I sucked. "I'm a bit... confused by that."

"There's a bit of luck in every fight, I've learned." Dancer leaned back and adjusted her kimono, tightening the sash around her midsection. "But unfortunately for you, it takes more than just luck to win a fight, my young friend."

That last part kind of irked me. "Most friends tell each other stuff." I muttered.

"What was that?"

"Nothing." I sighed and changed the subject, asking, "So more than luck, huh? Seriously, I can't be that bad... I took some self defense classes back where I'm from!" I couldn't be that bad at fighting... could I?

She was really quiet after that.

That didn't help my feelings nor my confidence at all.


So, Dancer suggested training me and helping my skills grow.

I figured, why not? If I sucked so much. And I guess I had to give her some credibility; I've only ever fought a few times, both here and back on my world, the latter of which was primarily fist fights. So it wouldn't hurt to get a bit more experience from someone like Dancer; she was obviously a seasoned fighter, there's no telling what she's seen over the years during her own travels.

It's been a week since we started training, and you'd think that the camaraderie so far would have opened her and Sakura up a bit, maybe help me learn more about who I'm traveling with! But I still didn't know shit about either of them, just their names and some brief history.

I wanted to learn more about these two aside from the fact that Sakura was prime loli waifu material and Dancer had a body that could slay thousands with just the right sway of those child bearing hips of hers.

Unf!

Well shit, my mind just went dirty places, damn you!

My eyes zipped up towards the sky after a tired sigh left me. I spotted a few wayward clouds drifting lazily across the blue expanse, drifting with nothing better to do like me. A week of traveling had gotten us rather far down the road from Jainko, I had no idea where we were headed though, now that I thought about it. I didn't have a map on me and I didn't see any signs on the road during our walks, not that I could read any of the damn language to begin with.

Also made me wonder if this road was actually going anywhere worthwhile.

I held out hope, however, that we were headed somewhere that would help me find a place to hide that stupid orb.

Whew...

Struggling to raise a hand, I brought it to my face and wiped the sweat from it with another groan. This training with Dancer was pretty rough, and wearing me out faster than I can usually recover. The upside to this was that the training was probably really healthy for me. I rarely got out to do much, even with my 'parkour training' back home, so being able to work out and get my body in shape was probably a good thing.

If I didn't end up getting totally swol from this, I will be very disappointed.

Looking over to Blade Dancer, I saw her looking over that katana of hers as she wiped it down with a rag. That thing had to be an enchanted weapon or something, some kind of magic sword she found or bought during her travels. It was a fierce weapon, and just looking at it sent shivers rattling down my spine. There was something strange about it that drew my attention; the solid black blade with its a razor sharp edge, the crescent moon guard above the grip. A inkling of where she got it came to mind.

"Feel up for a bit more?" Dancer asked me, her eyes catching my own.

I gulped.

"Yeeeaaah, no." I groaned upon my attempt to sit up. Fuck, my ass feels like it's been destroyed. And not in the way you were thinking either.

Dancer was a pretty hardcore teacher. When she threw hits, she fucking threw hits, but even so, something told me she was pulling her strikes and taking it easy on me. Every strike sent me stumbling back, but no bones broke, every swing of her blade missing me by a few inches or glanced off my kama, but didn't come at me full on. She could have killed me several times, I know that...

But she didn't, and that's what scared me the most about her.

If she did turn against me, she could easily destroy me with a single swipe of her blade, and that was me being generous to myself.

So far Dancer wasn't showing any signs of doing that.

With a shake of my head and no small amount of effort on my part, I was able to stand up—much to the protest of my legs and lower back, and make my way over to where I set out the rest of my gear before getting into the training.

"So, where to next?" I looked over to Dancer when I flopped down next to my gear, which as of now was inside my backpack.

We had stopped in a town a few days ago to grab some supplies for the journey, luckily for us, this one was caribou free. I had picked up a few helpful stuff with the leftover monies Daring threw my way; medicinal potions and herbs to help with healing, some matches, and a sleeping bag. I didn't pick up a map, I couldn't find one in any of the shops for whatever reason, kinda odd that no town around here sold a friggin' map of the regions.

Maybe in the next town, assuming one was close by.

Sakura was given a little bag to carry some things in, figured she'd need something for the adventure. It was a cute little pink color that matched her kimono, brought out her eyes quite a bit and just made her outfit all the more cuter. Dancer's pack was already full up, but she did pack a few heavier things, mostly food and some other supplies. Basically, Dancer was acting like the pack mule of our little group.

"Mmm," Dancer wiped the sweat from her brow and deposited her sword handle in the folds of her kimono after willing it away. "That mountain in the distance, that is the next landmark we hit before taking the road to the South Celestial Sea."

Mountain? Must have missed that. Looking towards the east I tried spotting the mountain...

Good fucking lord.

When you hear someone say mountain, they usually mean a fairly decent looking mountain, you know? Nothing too hard to spot.

This mountain though? The thing was going up so high it cut through the fucking cloud cover! This was a mountain standing so high and spreading so vast across the horizon north and south with rocky ranges and hills, it cut off any possible access to the other side save for whatever path Dancer knew about. Even from here I couldn't see any sort of way across those mountains.

Hell, I couldn't imagine what sit at the plateau of such a monster.

"Dancer... there is another way around that, right?" Climbing the damn thing was off of the list, even the smallest peaks would take days. The highest I've gone was like...

Actually I have no idea how high I've gone, least on a mountain. Maybe the one Daring and I were on a while back? That was probably as high as I've ever gone on either world.

I didn't do a lotta hiking back on my world.

"Yes, but I only know of three." The mare told me as I continued staring at the mountain, I'm willing to bet my left nut they weren't easy paths to take either. "One sits to the north and south; the Pass of Avia to the south and to the north through the Tyrid Forest. The final passageway is not one I would suggest taking, even in the most dire of situations..."

"Now that's interesting." I finally tore my gaze from the mountain and looked over to Dancer, who was looking towards the road nearby and whatever lay beyond it. "What's the third route, if I may ask?" An inkling of what might be the third path came to mind. The unholy hellspawn of shadow and flame...

Dancer frowned pretty firmly when I asked that, and what she said only cemented the growing idea I had going on in my head. "It is a path through a place many have nearly forgotten about over time." The mare's eyes turned to the mountains, "The Road of Avros," I felt a shiver run down my spine from the name, Avros? "It is a route I hope we do not have to take anytime soon."

A few moments passed and my mind wandered, rolling the name around in my head. What could possibly be down there? Road of Avros? Something resembling a Balrog? "Road of Avros, dare I ask what's down there?" I had a few ideas, chances are there was going to be some shit down there, lots of scary things like the typical monsters from your fantasy bestiary; orcs, goblins, evil fairies, daemons, and so on.

Shit... thinking about it now, pretty much anything and everything in this world could be out to kill me, and it would end up being underground.

Ugh...

"Have you ever heard of a creature called a Khorcling?" Dancer's eyes flicked back toward my own, eyes growing serious.

"A ...Khorcling?" My mind ran through images of the nasty little fucks I've encountered and mostly fought in video games over the years, but a Khorcling didn't immediately come to mind. "The fuck's a Khorcling? Sounds like a... I dunno, actually." I didn't have the slightest idea what the hell that was, I'm sure it was something really nasty that would make me regret ever asking.

Dancer plopped down onto the ground with her back to the rock, and my eyes found themselves zeroing in on Dancer's chest for a brief second to see them bounce a bit within the confines of her kimono.

Unf!

"A Khorcling is similar to one of your kind, in a few aspects," Dancer began to explain as Sakura shoved her book back into her bag. "They stand as high as pony or human and have the intelligence of a muscle bound brute with thrice the mass." We all looked toward the mountains at that, "But what they lack in intelligence, they make up for in raw strength and brutality. They are a vicious threat, but thankfully they keep to their tunnels and holes, and do not bother the surface."

These things don't sound fun. "Khorclings... sound pretty nasty," The name sounded like someone took the name Orc but threw a K and ling on there to make it sound cooler. "How dangerous are they compared to the caribou?"

"Not very much, we can handle a few if we happen to run into any. But..." Oooh there was always a but. "Any more then a few and we may have trouble."

"Okay... no going that way. Not a big fan of going underground anyway, so what about the other one, the Tyrid Forest?" A forest sounded slightly better then a tunnel filled with goblin wannabees.

The mare looked off towards the north this time. "The Tyrid Forest is a stretch of massive woodland lying to the far north, you can almost make out the treeline from here." Dancer pointed vaguely to the north, and sure enough I could almost make out the tree line stretching across the horizon. "The path is one of the more safer passages to take, filled with gentle fairy folk and the like who watch over the trees."

"Fairies? Are they... super friendly?" I knew what fairies were, small little buggers that acted like companions to the main character in stories, games, and movies all around. I looked to the side and found Snowdrop ripping apart a lizard she found, blood oozing out and bones snapping and cracking. Bleagh, nasty, but eh... she's a fine companion.

A hum from Dancer, who tapped her chin a few times. "They are a rather reclusive race... frightened of newcomers to their lands, actually, and they rarely if ever come out of their hovels hidden within the trees." Leaning back, the large thestral added, "It is perhaps the more safest of routes, the most we would have to worry about would be the mischievous nature of the fairies." I was actually going to ask about the other route, but as if sensing my thoughts she continued, "As for the Pass of Avia? It is a simple trade route across the south Maretonian Sea which hooks up to the southeast portion of the Celestial Seas." She scrunched up her snout a bit at that, "Most people lean towards that route, if only to sail the seas."

"H-how would we cross the sea?" Sakura chimed in, tilting her head in a rather curious and cute manner. "Swim?" She questioned in that adorably naive tone.

A hearty chuckle escaped the thestral next to us, "Hahaha, no no no, my young friend, we would barter our way across with gold and the like. Perhaps we'll hire a captain to ferry us across the seas to the next land, it would not be cheap however."

That didn't make me feel any better about the sea route, and I found myself asking, "How much would that cost, exactly? We're not really rolling in money here."

Dancer scrunched up her snout a little, eyes flicking up, she muttered a bit. "The cheapest I recall was somewhere around a thousand gold pieces, and last time I counted our collective coins, we do not have that much."

"Damn." Welp, we don't have anywhere near that much... and we're in the middle of nowhere, so taking the route is a no go. So it's either the forest or the tunnels. "Minus the Pass of Avia, which is the shorter path?"

"That would be the Tyrid Forest as the Tunnels of Avros are all but unmapped, and only a handful of people know the safest route through the dizzying passageways and labyrinths through the mountain." Dancer looked troubled, and I couldn't blame her.

Getting lost down in an unmapped cave system filled with orc knockoffs sounds scary as fuck.

"Okay... no mountain cave, no sea passage," I sighed hard and looked towards the forest in the distance. "I guess... we're heading for the forest then."

Even as we all stood up and gathered out equipment, I couldn't help but feel something was off about the forest. While I truly wanted to believe that we'd get through the forest safely, and without trouble, my gut was acting up.

With a gulp, we set out down the road headed towards the Tyrid Forest.


Tyrid Forest


Well, I was pleasantly surprised for once upon our arrival to the entrance of the forest.

We had gone down a fork in the road headed towards the forest heading north. The forest continued to grow larger and larger the closer we got, and even from how far away we were, I could clearly see the trees were incredibly tall, taller then I'd ever seen before back on Earth. The route that led through it was a wide dirt road covered in prints and tracks from dozens of different sources. An old sign stood out from the trees nearby, covered in ivy and reading; Welcome to Tyrid Forest.

It did seem pretty welcoming.

And so we ventured inside, Sakura on my left and Dancer leading the way.

The silence didn't last long.

"Sir Dee!" Sakura squeaked from my side, making me look down at her.

"Still not a sir."

Sakura giggled lightly and responded, "I apologize, but I wish to ask something of you."

Uh oh, cute waifu asking me for something? This could only mean one thing...

"Where are you from?"

Oh, thank god, I thought she was gonna ask me something else. "Uh, where am I from? Didn't I tell you?" I thought I did, guess I was mistaken, that or she forgot.

"No, I do not think so." Sakura had both her hands behind her back as she peered up at me. "I am curious as to where you hail from, what is your home like?"

Home... just realized it's been a week and some days since I've been on this world. Damn, never thought I'd miss home so much. "Uh, it's vastly different than this place," It really was, then again I don't know what I was really expecting when I arrived here... then again I wasn't expecting to wake up with my room ripped away and thrown into a hot ass desert. "For one thing, we don't have magic there, or thousands of creepy magical critters that want to suck out my soul." I sniffled, oh how different life would be if it were like that. Just waking up one morning to find an Orc outside ripping through your garden stealing all your shit, or seeing a dragon flying overhead on your way to get the mail.

"Truly? No magic?" Sakura sounded oh so genuinely confused by what I just said, I guess a land with no magic is about as likely as a wingless pegasus... wait, wouldn't that make them an earth pony though? "What a strange land! How do you deal with troublesome monsters that invade?"

Images of Abrams tanks and thousands of Marines. Army Rangers and Navy Seals firing en mass on a group of dragons as A-10 Warthogs and F-22's bombarded them from the air came to mind.

Murica' motherfucker!

"Uhm..." I chuckled a tiny bit as the images played out in my mind. Now I truly wondered how the US Armed Forces would hold up against dragons, we had some decent weaponry... I'd like to think we'd hold out, even win! But I don't know. "We have our ways of dealing with monsters, I'm sure we could handle a monster or two if it came down to it." I was somewhat confident in my country's military, I would like to think despite some of the shit I see flying around, we'd take on anything that was a threat to the world.

It was nice to be optimistic.

"But it's peaceful back where I'm from, most of the time anyway. We don't really deal with monsters like the ones here," No, instead we deal with the monsters inside humanity. Like terrorists, corrupt politicians, people who kick puppies. "Hell, this place is a lot different then my home, so much different then you can imagine. And despite all of it's flaws, it can be a beautiful place sometimes, filled with amazing people and sights the likes of which you've never seen before." Damn... I miss my bed, and my fridge, and my gun safe... fuck.

"It sounds like a wonderful place!" I looked down and saw the young mare smiling brightly, "I hope to visit there one day, perhaps we will during our adventure?"

I stayed silent for a few moments, what she said hit me pretty hard, would I get home? "...Doubtful." I muttered quietly.

Would I find a way home? Was such a thing possible? I remembered the mirror Twilight ventured through in the Equestria Girls movie, and how it lead to an entirely different world. But that was to another dimension, a parallel universe that was a mirror image of Equestria where they were all human. The odds of actually fucking with that mirror and linking it up with my universe were no doubt slim.

Goddamn... everyone wishes to leave their home and go on some crazy adventure with their waifu. If it does happen, they'll realize that they've taken everything they had before for granted. It was a sad truth. Lots of people want to leave earth, go into the world of their respective game or TV show or something... but in the end, was it worth it?

I sighed and decided it was my turn to ask some questions, very long overdue questions. "So, Sakura, mind if I ask you some stuff?"

I saw her eyes grow curious, with a hint of something else before she spoke, "L-like what?"

"Well... I only know your name and Dancer's, I don't know much else about you guys except for a few small tidbits, that's barely anything to go on." We stopped near some thick trees next to the road, causing both ponies to look at me. "I mean... jeez, we're a party for crying out loud, shouldn't we at least get to know one another a little bit?" I honestly should have asked them back in Jainko, but I was so caught up with everything going on it slipped my mind.

Sakura fiddled with her kimono, briefly giving me a view of the chest wrapping she wore as Dancer crossed her arms.

"There isn't much to say about myself, to tell the truth," Dancer sighed, rubbing the back of her head as we continued walking down the path. "I'm an adventurer, though I've been at it for far longer then you have I'm sure." We kept moving down the road, the light of the sun disappearing as the canopy grew thicker overhead, effectively blocking it off. "If you must know where I'm from, I hail from the mountain halls of Blackrock." She sniffled, pausing for a moment as if to think of her next words before continuing, "It is a very dark city, hidden away in the far north near the border leading into Equestria proper."

"Mountain Hall?" Wait... wait... did batponies live in a fucking mountain? No way, must be like a city built onto the mountain, like Canterlot. But, just to be sure, "What do you mean Mountain Hall? City on the mountain?"

"You're half right," She turned her head, blue eyes flicking to my own. "We live inside the mountain, not on top of it or on the sides like some ponies do." Well, I guess that means batponies are the dwarves of the ponyverse? "Many thestrals live within mountain halls spread throughout the world, older then most civilizations and filled with the proud people of Thestralfolk." A heavy sigh escapes her and she looked back ahead. "You would find no better home..."

Huh, batponies are dwarves, now that is interesting... very interesting. Now I wonder about their culture, like their music, weapons, food. Damn, I'll have to put that on my list of places to visit, maybe I could score some epic loot or something. Visiting a place like that sounds pretty damn interesting. "Batponies living in mountain halls... that has got to be pretty cool looking, what do your cities look like?" Damn, I had to find out at some point, hopefully we'd run up on one at some point.

Dancer didn't answer me however, instead she kept walking forward in silence. I thought maybe she was thinking about what to say, but we had been walking for a few minutes without actually saying anything.

"Dancer?" I finally spoke up.

"Hmm?" She looked back to me.

"You didn't answer my question," I pointed out, and was expecting an answer shortly.

But then Sakura suddenly gripped my arm, "Wait!"

"Wha-?" I was stopped when I heard a swish noise, and I looked back out ahead and saw Dancer with her blade out. I panicked slightly and pulled out my kama before looking around.

Up ahead, the path was... I don't know how to explain it exactly. The road we had been walking on for a solid two hours had suddenly changed, the area was morphed somehow, changed. The once green grass had wilted and had a sickly bluish tinge to it, and lay in heaps on the ground. The trees were likewise the same, the bark was diseased looking and the canopy was shrouded over with twisted dark limbs, that same dark blue tinge running along the trees and ground like veins. I looked all around, and saw the entire area was like this...

"What the fuck? Sakura, stay behind me." She didn't hesitate before falling in behind me. "Dancer... the fuck's all this?"

Dancer slowly made her way over to one of the trees and peered at it for some time, watching the veins running along the cracked and diseased bark like crackled skin.

I saw a few puddles of that same shimmery blue ooze around, with darker veins running from them across the ground to the trees and rocks. Hell, even the rocks looked affected by whatever this gunk was. I continued to scan the area, whatever this was, it didn't give me a good feeling. I suddenly wished I had some hazmat gear, this shit didn't look like something that I'd wanna touch.

"I do not know." Dancer avoided the tree, backing up a little and looking further down the path. "But do not touch it."

"Pfft! Yeah, wasn't planning on it." I wasn't planning on touching any of this gunk. "Shit, are there any other paths through the forest?"

"No, this is the main road." We continued looking at the road before moving down it, making sure not to touch any of the small pools or the veins of whatever the hell that stuff was. "There is no other way through."

"Great." I muttered as I followed Dancer.

We continued walking down the road to make our way through the forest, doing our very best to avoid stepping in or on any of the veins or pools. Hopefully this shit wasn't contagious or anything, I'd rather not end up with some kind of magical version of lung rot or magic cancer. Chances are that would be my luck and I'd get some hella bad disease from this garbage.

I'm praying that isn't the case.

Dancer stayed ahead of us, sword handle drawn and carefully trekking across the road. Her ears were perked up high, flicking to and fro every now and then as Sakura stayed close behind me, as in close enough to the point that she was practically hugging me. I just held my kama tightly, suddenly feeling a tiny voice in the back of my head yelling at me for not choosing something better then a pair of kama.

I just told the voice to shut the fuck up while I navigated a sea of blue gunk and ooze.

It was treacherous, not only was the path saturated with veins that seeped the ooze and an otherworldly energy, there was some of the gunk falling from the trees and landing on the ground. I can't tell you how many times I was almost hit by the shit.

I was curious about this stuff. What was it exactly? "Dancer... does this happen often with the Tyrid Forest?"

"No." Was her answer, stiff and worried? "I do not know what this is, but I do know that this forest is pure... this reeks of dark magic," That made me worry. "Something dark and evil resides over this forest, but what?"

I think she was talking more to her self rather then me or Sakura.

"I'm frightened." Sakura's tiny voice muttered from behind me.

If I was being honest...

I was scared to.

"Don't worry... just stay close to me, keep moving, and don't touch anything." I twirled one of my kama as we moved past a half rotted sign, the words illegible from the infection overtaking the forest. Not that I could read it to begin with, I seriously needed someone to teach me how to get past this dumbass language barrier.

Gah, there was so much shit I needed to do while I was stuck here.

Anyway.

We continued walking for a long time, taking our sweet time before arriving at a fork in the road, but what was in the fork was something that made us all recoil, and probably would give Sakura nightmares for life.

In the middle of the fork was a destroyed wagon, ruined boxes, and discarded clothing covered in the gunk. But... the worst thing about this situation was what lay near the front of the wagon.

"Shit..." I found myself muttering.

In front of the wagon was a pair of bodies laying on their chests, clothing torn into shreds and a foul smell filling the air. Their bodies were ripped apart by something. Blood and entrails were everywhere around the bodies, and those weird veins of shimmery blue ooze covered their skin and clothing.

"What the fuck..." My eyes were wide and I felt Sakura grip my body hard. My hands gripped my weapons more tightly as Dancer moved forward, and I felt a lead weight suddenly fall down into the pit of my gut. I didn't like this, I didn't like this at all. "Dancer, we should go, now." I felt so panicky right now, something was off and I could feel it all over my body. Something was watching us, or something was. The hairs on my arm and neck stood on end, my heart pounded in my chest.

Something was wrong...

Dancer backed up quick and her sword extended from the guard like a damn lightsaber, minus the oh so satisfying snap-hiss. She looked around quick, and I just continued to inwardly panic

Something was very wrong.

"Where is the Grom...?" Dancer muttered suddenly, looking a bit anxious.

"Grom?" What in the sweet fucks was a Grom?

"A Grom is used to pull these types of carts, a beast of burden..." Dancer gestured to the cart's reigns, currently vacant of any type of creature. "There is no blood, so it must be around here somewhere."

"Is a Grom dangerous?" Great, now some mystery creature was on the loose...

The fuck kinda critter is a Grom!?

Grrrrrrrr

I froze... and I know I wasn't the only one who heard that, because Dancer's ears flicked to the right.

I turned to the left alongside Dancer and Sakura, and there I got to see two things.

One, the Grom... it was large, it's body reminding me of a rhino, but it had a thicker looking horn on its head and four tusks, and thick looking skin.

The second thing?

I now know that whatever was affecting the forest could also affect creatures, the entire Grom was covered in sickly blue veins that oozed gunk. And it's eyes a distressing blue coloration that locked on us as it lumbered through the bushes and trees, every step it made making me wish I had a shotgun right now... preferably one of mine.

Once it exited the trees...

It charged.