• Published 3rd Feb 2019
  • 20,192 Views, 3,199 Comments

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. 23: Just Roll With It

Now, without further adieu, I present,

A Crafter’s Dream

Steve groaned at the phantom pain that traveled along his body as he ran and parkoured over homes and buildings. He had drank one of his Healing potions while saving one for later, which had healed his injuries, but had only slightly relieved his soreness. He was currently invisible, using his last remaining potion as he made his way to the meeting place, Sugarcube Corner.

Landing on the balcony of one of the town's houses, he stopped to check were he was. Looking across the way, he saw the water fountain in the main square.

“Okay, if that’s there, then Sugarcube corner should be just down, that way.” Steve muttered to himself, turning to face the street on the ground below

Using the fence lining the balcony as a step up, he ran and jumped off the edge, expecting to land on the hard ground, not bothering to check. Instead, he was surprisingly met with a rather soft landing, making him give an “Ooph!” as he was suddenly enclosed in what felt like grass.

Shaking his confusion off, he clambered, standing up, looking around with a quirked eyebrow.

He was on a rather large, wooden cart. Said cart was filled to the brim with soft, yellow hay. As he looked around in confusion, he felt the cart slowly move forward from the sudden movement. Looking toward the front, his eyes widened as he saw it coming closer and closer to the edge of the hill.

“No, don’t you dare go over the hill.” Steve threatened the non-sentient cart as it’s wheels steadily came closer to the edge. Steve gripped the handle of his fishing rod, not quite drawing it, but making sure he was ready to use it if need be. He didn’t dare move, as any movement would surely send the cart plummeting down the hill.

The cart came closer and closer, and Steve held his breath as the wheels turned once more. And stopped.

After a few moments of no movement, Steve sighed in relief, then let his hand fall. Which unknowingly jarred the cart a tiny, miniscule bit.

And the cart rolled down the hill.

* * * * *

Big Mac slowly trotted up the road, a piece of grass chomped between his teeth. He had just finished fixing up Miss Cheerilee's fence and was heading back to get some his chores done.

He appreciated the touch of normality the day had brought, considering the crazy things that had happened since the return of Nightmare Moon. The guards, the mercenaries, the creature they were all chasing, frankly, it was getting to be a bit much for him. But just getting some work done without some crazy event happening was well-welcomed with the red stallion.

All in all, just a normal day.

“FUUUUUUUUUUUUUU!!!!!!!” A hay-filled cart with no-pony pulling sped by, screaming at the top of it’s lungs.

“And, there it goes.” Mac said with a sigh, as he swiftly turned around and followed the cart down the hill.

* * * * *

Steve gripped the edge of the cart as it really got going. By the time the hill had leveled off, the cart was already going very fast. It rumbled and wiggled, but by some miracle, or perhaps good craftsmanship, it didn’t fall apart.

Another bump sent him stumbling. Upon righting himself, he saw, much to his horror, a small of group of fillies, three of them, were just exiting a street shop, completely oblivious to their impending doom by wooden cart. Steve quickly estimated he had about 7 seconds before impact.

6 seconds.

Steve realized that trying to latch any stationary object to try and stop the cart with his fishing rod wouldn’t be fast enough.

4 seconds.

“Shit!” Steve thought, as he realized the only option he had was gonna hurt quite a bit.

3 seconds.

Just as he heard the high-pitched, terrified screams of the fillies, he leapt over the backside of the cart, gripping it. As soon as his feet touched the dirt, he dug into the ground, his boots actually making a cartoon-ish “Screech!!!” as they completely halted the cart. He gritted his teeth as his feet burned with the action. The cart pulled away him, but his iron-like grip held.

Eventually, the cart stopped, and Steve relented his grip, giving a sigh. Slowly walking around the cart, he checked on the fillies.

As his gaze landed on the trio, he recognized them. One was named Applebloom, a small yellow filly with a red mane, younger sister to Applejack. The second was Scootaloo, an orange filly sporting a fuchsia mane. The third filly was white, with a pink and light-purple mane. She, if he remembered correctly, was the younger sister of the local clothes maker, Rarity. Said filly was also unconscious. He wasn’t sure if that was his doing or not.

They were all staring at the cart in amazement and confusion.

“Hey, you guys alright?” At his question, Applebloom and Scootaloo both snapped their heads in his direction. They backed up fearfully.

“Wh-who are you?” Applebloom asked, voice quivering. Steve sighed.

“Y’know, just your resident Crafter, helping others and being feared for it. What about you guys?” This statement just seemed to confuse the pair. “What happened to your friend?” He asked.

“She, passed out. From being scared, I guess.” Scootaloo responded.

“Ah. She’ll be alright?” They only nodded in response. The four of them stood in silence for a few moments, before Steve decided to take his leave.

“Um, so, stay safe, I guess. See ya around.” And with that, he ran off, leaving the trio sitting in front of the cart.

They would still be there a minute or two later when Mac found them. His questions on what had happened was only met with confusion from the fillies, as they weren’t sure themselves what had happened.

* * * * *

Steve pulled himself onto the roof of Sugarcube corner. Looking around, he checked his surroundings for a second, before making his way to a nearby window. Gently pushing on it, he found, to his fortune, it was unlocked.

Just as he climbed inside, his skin tingled. Looking at his arm, he saw it flicker, then fully come back into view. He sighed, silently grumbling at the potion running out. He hopefully didn’t need it any further, but it would be nice to have. As he looked around, he saw the room was something straight out of a young girl’s dream.

Confetti covered the floor. Balloons littered the ceiling. Spare cakes were placed randomly around the room. There was a single bed, which had pink bed sheets, from what he could see. In short, it was a complete mess.

Looking around in awe, Steve sighed, rubbing a hand to his face, before making his way to the door that lead out of the room.

GLOMP!

Steve stopped as something slimy suddenly attached itself to his leg. Slowly looking down, he was utterly shocked to find a small lizard, with seemingly no teeth, chomping down on his leg. It’s soulless purple eyes stared up at him as he stared back down.

“AGGHH!! What the fuck is that?!!” Steve yelled. Kicking his leg out, he attempted to shake the creature off. However, it’s bite, while toothless, was tough, letting it hang on to Steve. Seeing his fruitless efforts, he grabbed the lizard, then tried pulling it off. However, despite Steve’s superior strength, he found he was unable to pull it off.

“What the Nether are you made of, dammit!!?” Steve yelled as he backed up against the door of the room while trying not to slip on any of the spare cakes or confetti, making a loud “BANG!!”. He tried to shake it off again, but just as before, the damn thing refused to come off.

Eventually, it’s gums loosened slightly, which was all he needed to fling the fucker off his leg and across the room, having it land on the bed, bouncing. Unfortunately, he used a little too much force on the swing, which threw him off balance. Failing to save himself, he landed flat on his back with a “Thud!

Letting out a small groan, Steve propped himself up his elbows and looked to see where the thing was.

GLOMP!

Only for his vision to be obscured by darkness as the piece of shit bit around his head, covering his eyes.

“FUCK!! Get off my face, you little demon!!” Steve yell as he grabbed it, trying and failing to pull the thing off his face. Stumbling around the room, he managed to find the door. Searching around with his hand, he found the doorknob. Twisting, he threw the door open, then stepped out.

Only for his footing to miss completely as he was unprepared for the stairs on the other side. Still wrestling with the lizard on his face, he rolled down the stairs, groaning with each harsh impact. Eventually, he hit the bottom.

Damage Received - 4 damage. 16 health remaining.

By some luck, the sudden, jarring movement of hitting the floor had knocked the damn thing loose, letting it roll away from him. Steve wiped his eyes of the slobber that had accumulated on his face, blinking his eyes a few times to clear them. What met his gaze caused him to freeze.

The room was mostly empty, chairs and tables scattered around the room, abandoned. To his right, a mare and stallion he knew as Mr. and Mrs. Cake were behind the counter, staring at him. In front of him, six mares sat around a table, all staring at him in shock. They were all mares he knew, one way or another.

The first was Dash, his friend. The second, third and fourth were ponies he’d only really met with once, Applejack, Rarity and Ms. Sparkle. The fifth was a very shy mare that lived on the edge of the Everfree forest, Fluttershy. The last was the strangest, and most confusing to Steve, Ms. Pinkamena. They all looked at him, unmoving. Unsure of what to do, he did the first thing that came to mind.

Steve pointed to the lizard that lay on the ground, staring at him.

“That thing, is a demon. Just wanted to let you know.”

* * * * *

“I’ve told you guys time and again, I don’t remember. You can ask the doctor, Tartarus, you can ask the Princesses! My memories of the incident are completely gone!” Trench said in frustration, tired of their constant inquiring. He was already angry he didn’t remember a thing, they sure weren’t helping.

Thorn sat back in his chair in Trench’s office, groaning as he held an ice-bag against his shoulder. “Yeah, we got that you don’t remember squat about that night. But the creature, ‘Steve’, knows something about that night. Something happened that night that made, or forced it to attack the barracks. If we find that reason, we can maybe get a reason or explanation on why this has all happened.”

“Perhaps,” Nog spoke from the other side of the tent, “we talk to creature himself.” This drew the surprised looks of both pony and dragon to him.

“You mean, just go up and talk to i, uh, him? Why in the world would that work?” General Trench asked, majorly confused.

“Creature is smart. Morals. Wouldn’t attack us, even when he could win easily. Something very wrong about this situation.” Thorn quirked an eyebrow at his ally’s statement.

“Why?”

“When we got mission, Princess asked me to kill creature in moment of weakness. Said it too dangerous to keep alive.” This made the others gasp slightly in shock.

“The Princess actually asked you that?” Thorn asked, not quite believing what he was hearing. At his nod, he put a claw to his chin in thought.

“Your right. Something doesn’t seem right.” Trench gave a silent nod in agreement.

“I agree with you, Sir Nog. Something it definitely up. So, I propose a peaceful meeting with the creature. We take arms, but they are strictly to be used in self-defense. Maybe, if that works, we can get some answers. If you both see fit, I want to go as soon as you are all healed.”

Nog and Thorn both consented with the plan, before leaving to head back to the medical tent. Trench laid back in his seat, giving a sigh, rubbing a hoof to his face.

“What happened that night?” He muttered to himself, trying to think back to that night. However, just as before, nothing came.

Author's Note:

Hey, thanks to you all for reading. Tell me what you all think in the comments.:pinkiehappy:

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