Steel Forest

By Ian

• October 1, 2012




Age: 29

Gender: Male

Species: Pegasus

Appearance: A little taller than Big Macintosh, this powerful dark pegasus may not be the fastest, but he's strong. Often seen tending his peach farm or his Grape Vineyard, he has little care at the way his black and white hair falls, so it always seems messy under his black cowboy hat.

Cutie Mark: A scythe, his favored tool in the world of farming, over a grape bunch. He obtained his cutie mark later than most Western ponies, because he was unable to find his talent in farming until he was able to leave his home.

Personality: Quite calm and normally quiet, this farmer has a vast amount of quiet passion. His age may be young, but he's wise enough to run his farm without much help, nor does he feel the need to ask, as he grew u in a harsh world.

Backstory: Steel grew up in the outskirts of East Marelin, during the time of the Iron Curtain. The main export was potatoes and toys, and fillies of the young age of seven were forced to work in factories, were Steel worked hard, believing the lies Josef Stallion propagandized into the hearts and minds of the youth. Steel was excited to work for his country, even after he watched his parents be punished for trying to escape, shot down in the No Pony's Land between the two sides of the Marelin wall. He worked day and night, tired, sick, or injured, every day. He eventually matured, and started to realize, through reading his mother's diary, that this place called home was a horrible, horrible place for ponies, no pony was treated right. But he understood escape was impossible. His foremen were brutal, their hearts almost as cold as Josef Stallion's himself. When he smashed his hoof in the die cutting machine of the toy factory he was moved to, if he showed any weakness he knew he'd be shot down and replaced. So he worked long and hard still, trying to be the best he could be. <br /><br />Around his 16th birthday, there were rumours and such of a revolt. After the guards hushed them all down, work resumed at a surprisingly quicker pace.<br /><br />Then it happened. Pegasi were flying through the air, shouting the good news that a treaty had been signed. The shouting woke up everyone in the barracks that Steel slept in.<br /><br />With the rapid clacking of hooves, everypony rushed outside to watch as the truck loads of guards and soldiers were removed from Marelin. A bottle was thrown from the rear of the crowd, and exploded in a ball of fire on the truck nearest to Steel. He tackled the two mares who were directly in the explosion's path, and lost a large amount of fur on his back because of it.<br /><br />The first hammer swung. The wall cracked. All over Marelin, and Germarey, ponies were breaking down the walls dividing the families, relationships, and old friends, knowing on the other side was freedom. Steel was the one who found the mobile crane first, and began using it to destroy the wall further. He had one sister he knew of, and she was on the other side of the wall. Being able to meet her would give him hope to start new life, knowing he'd have family to back him up.<br /><br />After most of the Wall was obliterated, Steel wandered through West Marelin in hopes of finding his sister. Meeting her old friends first, they'd give him an address. He followed the address right back in view of the last standing part of the Wall, and he stood at the entrance of the cemetery.<br /><br />If we were to hijack the TARDIS and skip ahead four years, we'd see a young colt (who’s back fur returned to it’s former glory) stepping off the ship from Germarey. All he had were the jewelry and heirlooms of his family. And his hat. He obtained his hat when he first landed in Equestria and stepped onto the gift shop on the harbor. He sold all his heirlooms, which turned out to be a hefty sum, and bought ticket on the train straight to Ponyville.<br /><br />He met a kind newly wed unicorn couple on the train, the mare being nine months pregnant, moving to Ponyville to start a new life and make new friends. They explained their story; they were escaping the memories of the destruction from World War II, as they both lived in Denmare, where the horrors were not spared. At around the Fillydelphia station, the mare realized her stomach was not hurting for the food she ate, but because the young pony inside her began to grow crampt. Obviously, she began to go into labour. Because almost everypony got off at the last station, the only ones left in the car were Steel, the Conductor, the Couple, and an odd pony with a red mane who seemed distant to the world. Steel took charge, told the husband to comfort the wife, and the conductor to find alot of towels. After six grueling hours of labor, a baby unicorn was born. The colt's name would be Shuttle Fire, and his small white horn poked out the grey mane proudly.<br /><br />Suddenly with no reason at all, the odd pony with the red mane stood up, and on his white flank, a gold Hammer and Sickle shone proudly. He screamed, and threw his bag across the car. As the wall seemed to collide with the bag, Steel grabbed the newborn and protected him with his broad wingspan. White, heat, and pain. It rang out, and Steel came to, holding the newborn protectively, safe and sound, now somehow 30 yards from the tracks. He stood shakily, and turned around to face the tracks. Fire and pieces of train littered the area. The rest of the train began to create a more bustercluck and Steel turned and flew further from the scene, instinctively carrying the child to safety. To make the horror worse, the shrieks and screams of a loaded passenger train melted in with a second explosion as the oncoming engine exploded in a ball of fire into the wreckage. Wiping a tear from his eye, he turned, and walked shakily to the nearest alarm switch, and flipped it, alerting all the stations of the horror. He followed the tracks, still holding the newborn colt on his back, in a jury-rigged saddle made from scraps of material. He made his way to the nearest station, which happened to be his destination.<br /><br />Now that he was the lone foster parent of a newborn unicorn, he began to consider his future in life. He begged the Apple family to be a farm hand for a bit, as long as they could watch Shuttle as he worked. They allowed him near total control of a near failing grape vineyard that the family started when they decided to experiment with other fruits. Over the course of two more years, he worked hard, and his love and talent of farming was realized. Apple Bloom was jealous, Steel's cutie mark consisted of a Scythe, his favored tool for both harvest and cutting the weeds for planting, and a bunch of grapes behind it. It symbolized that while he can be a tough and strong pony, he can display enough care and delicacy to harvest and grow grapes. He knew that if he wanted to move on to a higher level of farming, he'd need land, and lot of it. He traded his parent's wedding bands for twenty acres of Sweet Apple Acres, where he started to grow grapes, the Apple's decided that the vineyards were not their thing anyways, and Steel didn't want to become a rival of his friends. He tended the Apple's grapes anyways. But he knew that the amount of work grapes required would be too much for all twenty acres to become a grape vineyard. So he stopped in the local library and researched another productive, profitable crop to grow, and thus, Peachy-Keen Farms was born.<br /><br />Around Shuttle's seventh birthday, he began to play with his natural magical ability of creating and controlling fire. At first, the aging Steel would only let him light candles, but it soon moved on to lighting the fireplace and stove. So on a winter day a week before harvest, Steel needed to talk to the cakes about their order of peaches, and left Shuttle alone on the farm. Shuttle wandered off into the orchard.<br /><br />As Steel closed the deal with the cakes, one of the Apple family members came running to tell Steel some terrible, terrible news. His peach farm is in a blaze. One of the town's unicorns has managed to protect some of the farm, the cottage, and Sweet Apple Acres, but the parts that have been burned are irreplaceable. Knowing he can't fill the Cake's order, he placed the sack of bits on the counter, and they insisted he keep it anyways. He ignored them, and flew as fast as he could to his burning farm to make sure Shuttle was alright. When he landed behind his cottage and looked at the burning trees, Shuttle was sitting in the dirt between Steel and the blaze. His back to Steel, his horn glowed red and the fires went down to a few campfire sized burn pits and Shuttle collapsed on the ground. He picked Shuttle up, and carried him inside where he would be safe. Steel sighed and began sharpening the plow, knowing he'd need to plow again as soon as the ground wasn't hot with ash.<br /><br />It was a new year, Shuttle went off to Canterlot to learn to control his ability, and Steel was left alone, plowing the field and planting the seeds to regrow the destroyed trees. A new page in his life was turned, nay! A chapter! NAY! A new book to the series!<br /><br />((-I'd say insert something related to the backstory to the Roleplay at this point-))