• Published 3rd Feb 2019
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A Crafter's Dream (Discontinued) - ruthim345



It'd been years. Years since the war. Steve was the only one left. Everyone else was gone. He lived, he fought. Rinse, repeat. All he wants is a second chance. And now, he'll get his chance.

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A Crafter's Dream Ch. 11: Just Checking In

Now, without further adieu, I present,

A Crafter’s Dream

Here he was, sitting on his bed. He looked at the striped pony that sat a few feet away from him. She introduced herself as Zecora shortly after she’d entered his home. Granted, he hadn't invited her in, he had actually slammed the door shut. She had just opened his door and walked in, rhyming about how he owed it to her for stealing the Fire Ruby Dust, which Steve had begrudgingly agreed with.

“I only wish to discuss your intention, if only for my comprehension.” She spoke. Steve sighed, then responded.

“Look, miss Zecora, I’m gonna level with you here. The main reason I’ve avoided you for the time I’ve been in this world is because of the whole rhyming thing you do when you talk.” At this, her eyebrows formed into a glare and she opened her mouth to retort, before Steve continued.

“It’s nothing personal, trust me. Just that, back home, there was a guy I fought that wasn’t very nice, that did the whole rhyming jig. He, well, he hurt a lot of people before I could stop him. I’m not asking you to stop, just, do you think you could refrain from doing so? At least when your talking to me? It brings back bad memories.”

Her glare fell as Steve explained himself. After he finished, she didn’t respond for moment, before a small grin came across her lips and she nodded.

“I do believe I can do that. My rhyming is part of my Zebrican culture, but you have a very valid reason. I know we haven’t known each other long, but I don’t wish for our talk to make you uncomfortable.” Steve smirked and nodded.

“Thank you. What do you want to talk about?”

“I simply wish to know more about my fellow Forest-dweller. You choose what you wish to tell me.” At this, Steve pondered for a moment what to tell her. Nothing too deep, obviously, he had just met her. Making his decision, he looked up and began to tell his story, starting from waking up in this world’s Everfree forest.

* * * * *

“...And that just about leads up to where we are now, so now that… Miss Zecora, are you alright?” Looking up, he saw, to his surprise, Zecora had a look of absolute fury present of her features. Her teeth were grit tightly. Her normally calm dark blue eyes were filled with a fiery rage Steve had only seen accompanied with a few people in his lifetime. A dark red color had filled her face and Steve thought he saw steam coming out her ears.

A few moments later, the anger faded, the steam stopped and the red color faded from her face. She took a few deep breaths and she finally spoke.

“Excuse me, Steve, just calming myself down.” Steve quirked in a clear, ‘Really? I couldn’t tell’ expression.

“Clearly. You looked ready to beat down the next person you saw. What happened? You were so calm at the start.” She dodged his gaze in shame.

“I know what it is like to be falsely accused. It just angers me that somepony else is treated like that as well, in the land of Equestria, no less.” Steve nodded in agreement, before something caught his attention.

“Wait, you’ve been in the same situation as me?” Zecora nodded.

“Yes, that is the main reason why I am living in Equestria now. I never wanted to be living in such a dangerous place such as this, but it is my lot. I have gotten used to it over time.” Steve frowned in thought, pondering for a moment before speaking.

“What about the ponies? What have your experiences with them been like?” At this, Zecora let out a humorless chuckle.

“I have not yet spoken with any of the town residents for the years I’ve lived here. They are seemingly terrified of me, even that dingbat, Rainbow Dash. Why she is scared of me, and not you, is unknown to me.” Zecora spoke, while turning her head to look out the door, to see it was getting dark.

“I must depart, before it gets too dark. I look forward to any further meetings we have.” Zecora told Steve, getting up to leave. Steve stood from his bed and followed her out.

“Can’t believe I’m saying this, but I enjoyed our conversation. It felt good to finally be able to tell someone about this. Hard to do that if everyone is more interested on killing you rather than talking about it.” Zecora simply smirked at his words and began walking home. Just before she disappeared into the foliage, she turned and waved. Smirking, Steve waved back, before walking back inside.

* * * * *

Steve gazed around, looking at the destruction that was currently being wrecked on the town of Ponyville. His invisible jaw was wide open in awe at the chaos. Those little creatures were eating almost everything that should’ve been non-edible. But for whatever reason, probably by some spell by the way Twilight was freaking out, they were eating houses, carts, books, all of it. They were even eating the guards armor if they got close enough.

Speaking of the guards, they were pretty much useless in this situation. The pegasi and earth ponies were barely able to combat the ever-growing Parasprite storm and the unicorns couldn’t wipe them out fast enough. Many of them were wearing little to none of their armor, revealing something Steve didn’t previously know. They weren’t all white.

Steve had thought they had white or gray fur coats, but when their helmets were removed, (or eaten in this case) it revealed their natural colors. Their armor must’ve been enchanted to do so.

Regardless, Steve was standing by, watching the chaos as ponies ran around. The only pony who seemed to know what they were doing, weirdly enough, was Miss Pinkamena. She was looking for instruments. She had talked with him for a minute or two during her search and he learned that Parasprites were attracted to music. The little demons loved it. She had asked him if he could help her search, but he quickly declined, stating that she was the only one in town who knew about him (Lie) so he wouldn’t be of much help.

Not much longer, it seemed Miss Pinkamena had finally acquired enough instruments, as she was somehow playing all of them, the Parasprites soon following. It was kinda funny, her playing the instruments with a deadpan expression on her face as she swiftly lead them through town, back to the Everfree Forest.

“Great, with my luck, I’ll be dealing with those things at some point.” Steve muttered to himself as he walked through town towards Miss Derpy’s home. He hadn’t seen her amidst the chaos, so he decided to check on his new and upcoming friends. Ugh, the words tasted strange on his tongue.

Moving through the square, he was careful to avoid making contact with any ponies, wanting to stay undetected. He had no worries about the guards, seeing as they were so busy with clean up. Besides, they were all focused on some special somebody making an appearance at the celebration, which was clearly not gonna happen, seeing as half the town had been eaten.

Arriving at her home, Steve was gladdened to see her house had sustained little damage, just a few chomps here and there, nothing that would take very long to fix. In fact…

Pulling out a few spare planks, he swiftly knocked away some of the excess debris, before placing the planks in the holes with a quick and practiced hand. Stepping back to inspect his handiwork, he nodded at the freshly repaired home, before walking towards the door. Giving a few knocks, he waited for moment. Not long later, the door opened, revealing a concerned Derpy. Upon spotting the shimmer, she gave a smile.

“Oh, hello Steve, it’s good to see you. Haha.” She chuckled, putting a little emphasis of the word “see.” Steve rolled his eyes.

“Oh ha, ha, ha. You’re a comedian, Derpy. Anyway, can I come in? I wanted to see how you and Dinky were doing after all that’s happened today.” Steve laughed.

“Of course! C’mon in, Dinky and I were huddled down in here while all that was going on. Figured it was safer in here, than out there.” Derpy spoke, stepping back inside. Following her, he passed the threshold and closed the door behind him.

* * * * *

“Thank you for accompanying me to Phillydelphia, General Trench. I’m glad we have this opportunity to talk about your assignment.” Celestia spoke. Her companion, General Trench, still dressed in his armor, looked up at his ruler.

“Of course, your highness. Would you like to hear the report?” At her nod, he began.

“Since our deployment, all efforts to capture the creature have ended in failure. There have been a total of 17 different injuries on several guards. Two have lead to hospitalization.” At this Celestia gasped.

“Oh my. This creature is more formidable than I thought. Perhaps my sister was right.”

“Maybe. Anyways, the creature has been proven sentient. On multiple occasions guards have reported it speaking in complex sentences and insulting ponies, showing it has a similar intelligence level to a standard pony.”

“What about it’s combat effectiveness?”

“High, your highness. It is a very strong being, capable of delivering blows that would make an earth pony whistle in awe. It has a high pain resistance and has taken blows that would cripple a normal pony. In terms of rating, it’s a definite Tier 4.” This tidbit made Celestia tense. When it came to rating threats, there was 5 Tiers. This being was just below a “Catastrophic.”

“Have there been any more attacks?”

“None your majesty.” She breathed a sigh of relief.

“That’s good. Hopefully your efforts will prove fruitful before things take a turn for the worse.” General Trench simply nodded in response as the pair flew the rest of the way in silence.

Author's Note:

Sorry for the short chapter, I just wanted to get this out to help progress the storyline a little and fill out a few things before I go full freak-out on studying.:twilightoops:
Anyway, let me know what you all think in the comments. Nothing lifts me up more than knowing you guys like the story and want to see more:pinkiehappy:

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