From Grass to Bedrock

by Animatorsnake

Chapter 4 Rewrite - Exploring The Everfree

Equestria; Ponyville, Ponyville Train Station; Late Afternoon

The train began to slow down, coming to a halt before the station’s platform, the doors opening as passengers exited the train. Steve exited alongside the girls and Spike, some of them carried some items they got from Canterlot, Rarity bringing a lot of items which doubled the original number of cases she had brought with her when they left Ponyville.

Everypony departed from one another, heading back home or do their jobs in town, Steve followed Twilight and Spike back to the library. Once the trio got inside, Steve took his time to quickly examine his inventory, until heading back outside when he was stopped by Twilight.

“Uhm, Steve? Where are you going?” asked Twilight.

“I’m planning to explore that forest near town, while I was there when I first popped into this world, I never got the chance to fully explore the place, so I thought I spend the rest of the day doing that.”

Steve noticed the look of apprehension in Twilight’s eyes, but she tried her best to keep a calm look. “Steve, I don’t know how forests are like in your world, but the Everfree is no ordinary forest, its full of deadly fauna, creatures that will either eat you, turn you to stone, or worse, and the weather within the forest is unnatural, chaotic even. While I’m certain you can handle yourself… wouldn’t it be better for you to handle going there in the morning, it’s almost evening soon.”

Thinking about Twilight’s suggestion to postpone his exploring, he knew there were heavy risks to traveling at night, especially when he’s this ill equipped, that and he was exploring very unknown territory.

Nodding in agreement, Steve stepped away from the library’s door, making Twilight sigh in relaxation.

“Okay, I suppose waiting until tomorrow is better than nothing.”

“Thank you Steve, this actually gives me the chance to come with you, I’ll invite the girls if you need our help and to guide you through the Everfree,” said Twilight. “Spike, could you write some quick messages to the girls to prepare tomorrow morning to head to the Everfree and to meet up near Fluttershy’s.”

Spike saluted, pulling out quill and parchment, heading upstairs to do what he was asked to do. Seeing that he now had a free schedule again, Steve thought what he could do to occupy his time.

Heading downstairs to his space, he placed down his crafting table in a corner and began making a chest to put most of his stuff away, a furnace, and then he opened his journal. Steve began writing down things he may need in the future.

Need iron for armor and equipment, wool to make a bed – the one Twilight gave me is nice, but it doesn’t give that same feeling I’m familiar with the beds I make – and at some point I’m going have to leave Twilight’s home… maybe I should ask if there’s any free land I can use to make my home away from home.

With that, Steve had a clear picture of what he plans to do after his exploration of the Everfree; taking his equipment, some torches, journal, potions, and amulet, Steve headed upstairs to speak to Twilight.

Twilight was organizing some of the books when she spotted Steve coming from the basement, Steve approached her, waving to get her attention first. “Yes Steve, need something?” asked Twilight.

“I was hoping to ask you where I can find some items I need, I’m looking where to look for some iron and wool. Also, while I’m thankful for you letting me live here, I was hoping to find some free land I can use to make my own home.”

Steve saw Twilight showing a deep look of thought, until she smiled in remembering something.

“Well, I’m not certain about iron, only the mining and guard handle all forms of metal, you either have to have connections with either two or find, mine, and smelt it yourself.”

“I prefer doing the work myself and I don’t exactly have anything worth trading to buy metal off anyone.”

I could ask Princess Celestia to get the metal for Steve… but I don’t think he’s the kind of being who want someone to do something for him, he definitely enjoys the moment rather than the goal.

“Then I suppose you should ask Spike, he goes with Rarity sometimes to this area to look for gems, I’m certain you can find some metals there too. As for the wool, ask Fluttershy, I’m certain she can her sheep friends for the wool, however you’re going need to ask a specialist to cut the wool since Fluttershy either lets their wool shed or only shaves enough so their comfortable.”

“Where does the wool she shaves and gathers go?”

Opening her snout to answer, she swiftly closed as she placed a hoof on her snout in thought. “Huh, I have no idea, you should ask her, maybe she might have enough leftover wool for you to use.”

Steve nodded, now having to ask Spike and Fluttershy for the items he needs, this left one final thing to be answered. “As for free land… I need to talk to Mayor Mare about this, I’ll also handle any payments to buy the land, but what about materials?”

“Don’t worry, I’ll handle that, but I’ll ask you where I can find any items I need for construction.”

With that done, Twilight and Steve decided to talk some more – their respective worlds, Ponyville, Twilight herself, Steve’s hobbies, and so on. Time went by quicker than both realized, until it was already dark outside, with few ponies meandering in the night. Deciding to take an early night, Steve said good night to Twilight, heading downstairs, slipping into the bed’s sheets, falling in deep sleep once more.

---

Dream Realm, Steve’s Dream; Timeless

Steve opened his eyes once more and found himself back into what he clearly knew was his dream, he stood on the same hill with the single tree. This was the second time he became – what Luna called – lucid within his dream, though didn’t faze him at the slightest.

“Hello again, Steve, how is the gift that my sister and I gave to you?” asked Luna, smiling.

“Hey Luna and the gift is awesome, I got used to it pretty quickly. Say, I’m planning to go to the Everfree Forest, you got any advice you can give when I go there?”

“The Everfree, well, deep within those woods is the old home of my sister and I, other than that, you should be careful of the local timberwolves and a particular flower called Poison Joke, very nasty thing.”

Steve listened to Luna personal experience and history of the Everfree, afterwards, the two decided to talk a little bit more and Steve showing Luna some things from his world. Luna witnessed some memories from Steve, seeing him explore the depths of the ocean with the help of some water-breathing enchantments. She saw Steve explore underground systems, abandoned mining shafts, crevices, and much more.

Looking through the memories, Luna noticed a particular memory which was sealed behind a strange rectangular portal. The portal itself was made of obsidian, but wasn’t active, curious Luna approached the portal when Steve stopped her from approaching.

“That’s… somewhere you don’t want to go too…” Luna would question what’s beyond that portal, but she could feel the unease coming from Steve, understanding his worry, she stepped away.

“Thank you for letting me speak to Steve, sadly I have to depart, I have other responsibilities I must take care. Rest easy, Steve, sweet dreams.” Watching her leave beyond white portal, Steve found himself alone once more, facing an empty stretch of land, Steve summoned some Everfree planks.

“Now then, let’s see how my future home should look like, should it be two or three stories tall?”

---

Equestria; Ponyville, Golden Oaks Library; Morning

Waking up once more, the only light visible was the soft glow from the torch Steve placed just above himself. Just like back home, the torch didn’t leave behind any embers which scorched or burned the wooden surface of the basement. Getting out of bed, Steve opened his chest to see what items he should bring with him today, once done with his morning rituals he headed upstairs.

Opening the basement door to the main room, he found Twilight speaking to Spike who head some sort of scroll. “Is that everything on the list Spike?” asked Twilight, carrying some saddle-bags.

“Yep and don’t worry Twilight I checked the list three times to be certain, we’re ready to go.”

“Alright, now we just need to- Oh, Steve, you’re up!”

Steve waved toward both Twilight and Spike, after quickly grabbing a sandwich Spike prepped earlier, the three headed off. Making their way through town, past the park and beyond a bridge, they soon approached a quaint cottage surrounded by various birdhouses. Just some distance from the cottage near a path that leads to the Everfree, is Twilight’s friends.

While Applejack and Rainbow Dash wore nothing with Applejack wearing her signature stetson, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, and Rarity each wore some saddlebags. While Fluttershy was a simple one, Pinkie’s looked something she would definitely wear, that and the fact she kept pulling various objects that couldn’t fit in such a small space gave Twilight a migraine, as for Rarity, hers were… flamboyant.

They gave a slight sparkle to them under the sunlight, alongside her saddlebags she wore a hat worn when traveling the jungles and an outfit also matching said hat.

“Is everypony ready?”

All the girls gave their own affirmations and nods, till Twilight turned to face Steve who raised his appendage with a slight pump of his arm pointed upward. With that, the group made their way through the Everfree; since the path of the Everfree was designed for quadrupedal creatures in mind, there wasn’t enough space for everyone to fit through.

To solve this problem, everyone was put into pairs then two columns, Twilight and Rarity were in the lead, followed by Steve and Spike, then Applejack and Pinkie, finally in the back is Rainbow and Fluttershy. There are various paths to take when entering the Everfree, there’s the one at Sweet Apple Acres, the one near Fluttershy’s cottage, another just some distance from Ponyville, and so on across other parts of Equestria.

The reason they took the path near Fluttershy’s was because its the one many of them are familiar with, as it led past Zecora’s hut and straight-forward path to the Castle of Two Sisters. Along the way, they encountered many obstacles, one involved having to cross a river, which was solved as Steve showed his excellent building skills – that and he managed to make a bridge in less than two minutes.

Twilight was baffled at seeing this while, Applejack was pretty impressed how fast he built it out of simple wooden planks as the Apple family are pretty known to quickly building something in an instant.

Another incident was them facing some timberwolves that were easily scared off by Steve and Rainbow, simply pulling out a torch and waving said torch was enough to show them not to mess with him.

The group encountered various plants which Steve took the time to gather, he also chopped down some trees that either grew near the path or fell down on top of it. Some blackberries, poisonous mushrooms, glowing moss, half a stack of Everfree logs, and some Everfree saplings.

At some point, they managed to reach Zecora’s hut, but this also meant that they had faced the Poison Joke patch too… and that’s when something interesting occurred.

The group took a break near Zecora’s hut, just some distance, enough for Zecora to feel safe and as a good deterrent against the more aggressive wildlife that wanders within the Everfree, a patch of Poison Joke was located.

Twilight and the zebra talked to one another, nobody paying attention to Steve who took a closer examination of the flowers, now Steve has encountered some deadly flora, he’s faced cacti, accidentally ate a wither flower, and stepped on some thorny bushes from a particular berry bush. However, each of these encounters share one common trait, after single punch or couple more, they were easy picking to grab the leftover goodies.

This will be no different.

Steve knelt down and with a swift quick punch, popped the flower from the ground as it levitated just inches off the ground, spinning calmly in place. Picking up the flower, Steve examined the colors and design up close when a loud gasp from Pinkie got the attention of everyone, which they soon had their gazes from her to Steve.

“STEVE! DROP THE POISON JOKE!” shouted Twilight.

While spooked Steve’s grip on the flower was still firm as he looked at everyone with a perplexed look, quickly Twilight and Zecora approached but kept their distance from Steve. After convincing him to calmly place the flower down, which he did, but not planting it, leaving it levitating, Twilight did a magical scan to see what sort of effects the flower will have on Steve… only to find nothing.

Zecora grabbed a particular brew, asking Steve to drink it then opened his mouth wide open, following her orders, Zecora did her own examinations when some slight awes and hmmms came from the mare.

“It may appears your friend is immune to the flower’s joke, but a fright instead,” said Zecora.

“What, but… how?” It was then Twilight remembered how Steve explained his abilities, when she came up her own theory. “Maybe… maybe Steve has some sort of magical barrier that surrounds him that protects him from any adverse effects, but this barrier is thin enough to allow him to feel and sense anything around him, something as a gentle pat is enough for the barrier to allow Steve to feel it. Only touching, consuming, or getting struck is enough for the barrier to allow anything to go through.”

“Would explain, how Steve can punch them trees without breaking his hands, but when somebody pats him on the back, he can feel it,” said Applejack.

“That’s neat, but the dude just went up and grabbed some Poison Joke, without it effecting him!”

“Not true Rainbow, if he were to step on it rather than use his internal abilities, I’m certain he would be effected… but as to what will happen…” Many of the girls shudder at the thought, rather than explore that thought, the group prepped to leave when Steve asked Zecora something.

“Say, you make potions, do you have a potion-making set and some books I can borrow, I want to try recreating the potions from my world.”

“Hmmm, of course, you may use an old set I used as a young filly, with a book for beginners will help indeed. Come back a later day and I shall prep said tools, in time.”

“Thanks, I’ll share any recipes I find when I get the chance to.”

After that short yet exciting incident, the group headed off once more, until they finally reached their destination.

---

Equestria; Everfree Forest, Castle of the Two Sisters; Mid-Afternoon

The group crossed the suspension bridge, after managing to convince Steve to cross and hearing him grumble at the terrible state both the bridge and castle are at. “I think I can fix most of the disrepair of this place, can’t replace anything as intricate like the carpets and paintings, just fill some holes, remove rubble, clean up the garden, and replace that awful excuse for a bridge. I mean, who in their right mind would make and use a bridge like that cross over!”

“The way he talks about bridges reminds me of a certain, you know who,” said Applejack, whispering toward Rainbow. The two looked at Twilight, both chuckling, Twilight noticed but didn’t catch what they were talking about.

Soon the group entered the dilapidated castle, they went on their own ways, with Rarity going to a room she remembers holding some still intact art and various other things of interest. Fluttershy headed off to the gardens in the back, to speak to the local animals who live in the castle; Pinkie made it her mission to raid the kitchens and then explore other parts of the castle.

Rainbow and Applejack decided to explore around and find anything that may catch their interest, this left Steve, Twilight, and Spike to head to the library.

“Okay girls, we return as the sun about to set, meet up here in the foyer, alright?”

After a quick affirmative, they all went on their separate paths, with Twilight, Steve, and Spike heading up the stairs to the castle’s library. Entering inside, the smell of old paper and mold lingered in the air, once finding a spot to set up, the trio began searching through the many shelves filled with books.

While Spike helped Twilight, Steve decided to do his own searching, looking through the books on the shelves, many didn’t had any title and opening them revealed nothing much of interest. Some books were so old, they were practically unreadable, while others barely held together.

Continuing his search, Steve found a particular book that seemed to glow and emanate some sort of unknown power, it was the same feeling he get from enchanting books from his world, only slightly different. Pulling the book from the shelf it was on, Steve stared at the title with great interest.

Magical Elements, huh.

Having found a book of interest, Steve placed in his inventory for later reading, soon he found other books while not as magical as the one he found were just as interesting. A book on maps of Equestria, one about Equestrian history, and another about the three pony tribes. While these books were definitely outdated, information is information regardless of what point in time they were written.

At some point, Steve decided to explore on his own, leaving Twilight and Spike in the library. “Remember, return to the foyer when the sun begins to set, don’t forget this!”

“Gotcha, see yeah later!”

With his farewell, Steve explored the ancient halls of the castle, at some point Steve made a crafting table and chest, placing them both by the foyer entrance. As he stated earlier, Steve began to fix what damage to the castle there was to find; he began to dig whatever rubble he found, from it he got some cobblestone and a new item – Blackstone.

Apparently the castle was made from this blackstone material, it was very hard, definitely iron-level hardness, so far he could only dig the rubble but when encountered a wall of blackstone or a fallen pillar made of the material, he could only climb over rather than through it.

Any holes he found he would use the Everfree logs, make some planks and fill in the holes, he would plan to find this blackstone material, but he would need to get iron to mine the stuff most likely. Any vegetation he found, he cleared, though he didn’t get any seeds from any. After heading down a hall, he found a staircase that led up, heading up, he found himself in sort of hall with windows and pillars parallel from each other.

Their various signs to show something occurred here, but rather than investigate Steve focused on fixing the damage, he left the windows alone until he got the necessary glass. While cleaning up, he found something interesting, on the ground was this strange black metallic object, picking it up, he went to see what it was.

???

All Steve received is three question marks the glowed a dark blue color, he also noticed a strange miasma seemed to seep out, but so far it didn’t do anything damage or statue effects, so Steve was alright with holding on it.

Deciding he was done cleaning this area, he decided to explore other parts, though some areas he couldn’t fix due to not having the right tools or some wild animals living there. Steve made several trips back to the chest, until at some point it was reaching sunset and soon the group met up back in the foyer.

“I noticed when I cam back, there was some holes filled in what appears to be planks, was that you Steve dear?” asked Rarity.

“Yep, spent the day fixing what I can around the castle.”

“Cool! It feels less drafty in here now!”

“That’s nice of you to fix the castle Steve, I could ask Celestia and Luna if they can give you the required materials to repair the castle, I feel like this sort of place needs a renovation after being left abandoned for so long.”

“Well, could you ask them where I can find something called blackstone, apparently this castle is made of the stuff is too hard for my stone pickaxe to break it. Need iron for me to be able to both gather and clear any debris made of the stuff.”

After that, the group made their way out, with Steve once more having to cross the suspension bridge with a deep grumble. Their way out of the Everfree was much quicker, especially since Steve clear the path enough for the group to make their way through without much issue.

When they got back to town through the entrance near Ponyville, they began to hear and notice some sort of commotion happening in town.

“What in the world is going on over there?” asked Applejack.

The group came upon what appeared to be a mob of ponies holding picket signs with various sayings about a certain Crafter. The ponies were all locals of the town, but one pony in particular who appeared to be the ringleader was riling them all up, though none of the girls recognized him.

“Hey, that pony isn’t anypony I know of!” shouted Pinkie. “Why he’s trying to be so mean to Steve!?”

Steve was simply perplexed, due to his living alone having little interaction, with the only interaction he ever had was with his animals and the villagers, he had no idea what was going on nor the implications of the situation.

One of the mob members saw Steve and soon they all approached like a tidal wave, each one saying something negative about Steve… except the accusations went from absurd to just outright false.

“DOWN WITH THE MONSTER! HE’LL DESTROY OUR HOMES!”

“I HEARD HE’S DISCORD’S MINION AND WILL BRING CHAOS UPON US ALL!”

“HE’LL SNATCH AWAY FOALS AND FILLIES, THEN TAKE THEM AWAY TO SOMEWHERE HORRIBLE!”

“HE SHOOT LASERS FROM HIS EYES AND SUMMON LIGHTNING!”

At this point, Twilight had enough, enhancing her voice with magic and speaking. “WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THIS!? YOU ALL SAY SUCH FALSE THINGS ABOUT STEVE, EVEN THOUGH HE’S ONLY BEEN HERE FOR A FEW DAYS! HE’S BARELY EVEN MET ANYPONY YET AND YOU ALREADY ARE THIS JUDGMENTAL OF HIM! LET’S NOT FORGET WHAT HAPPENED WHEN ZECORA TRIED TO COME TO TOWN, DO WE WANT A SIMILAR INCIDENT!”

Twilight panted after having to use her voice and magic, for awhile the mob calmed down a lowered their signs soon dispersing. The stallion who led the group barely said a word, but soon left without a single word, making his way to the train station, back to who knows where.

“Who do you think that stallion was and why he was inciting the crowd like that?” asked Rarity.

“Whoever he was, if I see him again, I’ll pummel his face for making Steve look bad!” shouted Rainbow.

“Please don’t hurt anypony Rainbow, we don’t want to cause anymore trouble now.”

Soon the group, decided to do some investigating, after Rarity, Fluttershy, and Pinkie quickly headed home to drop off some things, Twilight gave Spike her saddlebags. “Spike, can you and Steve head back to the library for now, I need to see what happened while we were away with the mayor.”

Afterwards, Twilight, Applejack, and Rainbow made their way to town hall, leaving both the dragon and Crafter to their own devices. Heading back to the library, Spike carried Twilight saddlebags upstairs, yawning to himself. “I’m going to put this away and take a nap, you go do what you want for the rest of the day Steve, see yeah,” said Spike.

Watching the drake go up the stairs, Steve headed back downstairs, after putting away some the items he brought along with him – Steve left he blackstone he got from the rubble in the chest back at the castle – Steve pulled out his journal and began writing.

Day 2 – Yesterday, I went to a city called Canterlot with Twilight Sparkle and her friends, the city has buildings made of marble, similar to nether quartz when shaped into blocks. We met two princesses, Princess Celestia and Princess Luna, they asked me some questions and gave me something to speak with, I can’t fully understand how it works, but it uses my thoughts so others can hear me. Today I decided to explore the forest nearby called the Everfree Forest, I found various things that caught my interest and then, we explored an abandoned castle that once belonged to Luna and her sister; there was some interesting books and I find some strange metallic shard, I might ask Luna about what it is when I go to sleep.

After done writing down, what he done yesterday and today down, Steve began to think what he should do next, after some thinking, Steve pulled out some items from his chest, made a few pickaxes just in case and headed back upstairs.

Time to go mining.

Author's Note:

New items, new places, and new experiences, Steve sure is getting quite the plethora of things to do, however, it appears something is amiss. While Steve heads off to mine, what will the girls find about their mysterious conspirator?

Thoughts/Narration/Written Messages:
Steve
Twilight Sparkle

(I'm pretty satisfied with this version of Ch4, I'll still keep the original for those curious what the story would had played out like.)

Comments

[davidgumazon]

Making potions, I'm excited for that! Also I have mod in mind, Firefly mod where you lure fire flies and kill them for firefly juice and turn them into potions. And thus fireflies went on the brink of extinction. Zecora's mind would go insane.