Now, without further ado, I present,
“A Crafter’s Dream”
“The fuck do you mean I was unconscious for three freaking hours!!?” Steve asked loudly, extremely worried. Abyss shrugged her shoulders.
“That’s just it. When we came through the door, you were laying on the ground asleep. I thought you would have some idea as to why.” The Crafter shook his head in response.
“I don’t know either. The last thing I remember is going through, then waking up to you guys yelling your heads off.” He sighed. “Was I really unconscious for that long?” They all nodded, causing him to rub his face with his hand.
“If I may.” Celestia spoke up. Steve’s hand dropped as he looked at her questioningly. “I may know a spell that will let me figure out what is wrong, if you will let me try.”
He looked at her with a squinted gaze for a few moments, before sighing. “Alright. I’ll let you do your magic thing. While it may be a mistake, I’ll trust you.” She smiled a small bit, before nodding her head.
“Thank you. If you will, please lay on the floor.” He did so. “Now close your eyes.” Begrudgingly, he did so as well. He heard a gentle hum as her horn came to life and felt a strange feeling come over him. Moments later, he heard a few startled gasps.
“What is it?” He asked, eyes remaining shut. There was silence for a few moments.
“Steve, please open your eyes.”
Upon opening them, he beheld a strange sight. His entire body was glowing bright white. However, in the middle of his chest, a swirling mass of black vapor resided, making his stomach drop.
“What the Nether is that?!” He asked, staring at the dark orb with wide eyes.
“It is as I feared.” Celestia spoke, tone grave. “It seems you are slowly turning into a Nightmare.” Steve looked up at the Solar Princess.
“A Nightmare? What the heck is that?”
She sighed. “A Nightmare is a creature born of darkness. They corrupt other beings and use them to their will. Usually, they manifest at sources of anger and hate, then grow from those same emotions. The stronger the emotion, the stronger the Nightmare.”
“But that doesn’t make any sense.” Said Steve, utterly confused. “I don’t really have that much anger or hate in me. Though I should, all things considered.”
Celestia continued to scan the black mass, contemplating. After a few moments, she spoke.
“From what I can tell, the Nightmare is relatively fresh. However, likely due to your jumping from one nightmare to another, it has significantly grown in size. What would normally take a two weeks for it to grow has occurred in only a day or two.” She cut the magic flow and the glow on his chest disappeared. He sat up.
“But that doesn’t explain why it’s there in the first place.” He said, rubbing his chin.
“Have you fought any Nightmare monsters? It is possible for one of them to transfer the Nightmare to another being.” Celestia inquired.
Steve shook his head. “I don’t think…”
“Yeah we have.” Trench interrupted. Everyone looked at him. “In my nightmare. Steve fought off a horde of these black, mist-wolves that tried to kill us. He got pretty hurt during the fight.”
Steve’s eyes widened as he remembered the battle. “Oh yeah. Trench was way out of it and I was unarmed. I had to fight them on my own for a bit before he pulled himself together and helped me.” Sighing, he got to his feet. “We eventually killed them all, but by that time, I was already really hurt.”
The Solar Princess nodded. “That may be the cause. These mist-wolves sound like Nightmares.” She turned to Trench with a raised eyebrow. “Your nightmare was being attacked by those monsters?”
The stallion shook his head. “No, it wasn’t. That’s what I’m wondering. If the mist-wolves weren’t originally part of my nightmare, then why did they appear?”
“Well, from what I know, Nightmares are born from the negative realm known as the Shadow-Plane and are attracted to beings who have undergone great suffering, since they feed off of anger and sadness. Perhaps they were attracted to Steve.” Celestia turned to the Crafter. “You said you are the, uh,” She hesitated. “last of your kind, correct? I imagine that doesn’t weigh easy on one’s soul.”
Steve gave her a deadpan look. “Oh really? How did ya figure that one out?” He threw his hands in the air. “Yes I’ve suffered! I’ve fought in wars, I’ve ended hundreds of lives! For fuck’s sake, I’ve personally watched my species as a whole go extinct!” Taking a deep breath, he rubbed a hand against his face. “Look, it doesn’t matter how it got in me. It’s in me now. What I want to know is, can you get it out of me?”
Celestia gave him an uncertain look. “I, don’t know.”
The Crafter’s eyebrows furrowed. “Princess, from what it sounds like, this thing in my chest will kill me. I kinda need something better than an I-don’t-know.”
“It’s not as easy as a simple spell, Steve. Actually purifying Nightmares from their hosts is a new topic. It doesn’t help that our knowledge on them is lacking.”
“How new is it?” Aura asked.
“Only a few months, ever since the Nightmare Moon incident. And last time I asked Ms. Dawn, progress was slow.” Trench responded.
“The only way we know to purify a Nightmare is with the Elements of Harmony, and for that, we would need to escape this place.”
“The Elements of what?” Steve asked in disbelief. “The heck are those?”
Celestia answered. “The Elements of Harmony are powerful artifacts that can only be wielded by the Bearers, ponies who represent the six essential parts of friendship, Honesty, Laughter, Generosity, Loyalty, Kindness and Magic. When used, they are capable of doing incredible feats, such as purging my sister Luna of Nightmare Moon.”
Steve stared at her with wide eyes for a few moments before responding.
“If that wasn’t the most flowery, make-peace, hippie pile of garbage I have ever heard in my entire life.” This garnered a glare from the alicorn. “Alright, look. If they get the job done, then kudos for you. But you said it yourself, we would have to leave in order to use them. So first things first, we gotta rescue everyone.” He walked over to the three remaining doors. “So which one should we go through?”
“Uh, what do you think you’re doing?” Steve turned around to see Abyss walking towards him with an angry expression on her face. He raised an eyebrow.
“I’m trying to figure out what door to go through. Sooner we get this done, the…”
“Oh, you want to go through another door? Okay, that’s fine. Except for the part where Miss Sunbutt here said that because of your excessive mind-traveling, the Nightmare is growing faster than normal! If you keep this up, you may not survive!”
“And I’m alright with that.” The blunt statement caused Abyss’ jaw to drop open. “If it costs my life to rescue everyone, than I can die knowing someone else is alive because of me. I made a promise long ago that I wouldn’t run, that I would rescue everyone I can, as long as I can. That I would use the powers given to me for good. And I intend to do just that. It’ll probably kill me, I’m aware of that.” He sighed. “But there’s three other beings trapped here, and I intend to help them as I’ve helped you guys.” He looked at them all. “Because, like what someone once said. ‘If you can do the things I can do, but you don’t, and then the bad things happen. They happen because of you.’ And, trust me, I really don’t need that on my conscience.”
“Steve.” Abyss spoke. “I took an oath to protect you. To do everything in my power to keep you alive. I can’t just let you go and risk your life, especially not for these ponies!”
Celestia glared at her. “What exactly do you mean by that?”
Abyss readily returned the expression. “I’m talking about the ponies who have attacked him, shot at him and hurt him! I’m talking about the ponies who hunted him down like an animal! I’m talking about you, Princess, who put a death warrant out for him! So forgive me if I can’t understand why he wants to help you!”
“For the same reason I brought you back all those years ago.” Steve spoke softly, making Abyss stop in her tracks. “I believed you deserved a second chance at life. So I gave you one.” He walked up to the dragoness. “Look, there’s no mistaking they’ve made some mistakes. But let’s be honest, who hasn’t? It’s okay to make mistakes as long as you realize what you did wrong and learn from it. And I’m willing to give them the benefit of the doubt.”
“But why?” Trench inquired. “Don’t get me wrong, I’m glad you are, but why?”
Steve shrugged. “Because I have a feeling the attacks aren’t your fault. The guy who put us in here is a master manipulator and has some powerful magic at his disposal. It wouldn’t surprise me if he was behind all this.”
“You have faced this villain before?” Celestia asked.
Steve nodded. “Yeah. Killed him too. Turns out death isn’t as permanent for him as it is for everyone else.” He turned to the doors. “But we’re wasting time sitting around talking. What door should we go through?”
“I’m thinking the one on the far left.” Aura spoke up, gesturing with a hoof. Nodding in agreement, Steve walked over and opened the appointed door. Just as he was about to step through, Celestia’s voice made him pause.
“Steve. Just so you are aware, at the rate the Nightmare is growing, there is a miniscule chance you will live through this. You are a powerful being as you are now. If you were to go full Nightmare, I dread to think what horrors you will be capable of.” Her gaze softened. “And I truly am sorry for the wrongs we have committed against you. But if you turn into a Nightmare, then I will have no choice but to end you. I cannot put my citizens into danger.
Steve sighed. “Yeah, yeah, I get it. Majority rules and all that shit. You have to take care of your people. I get that.” He turned to look at the Solar Princess. “Honestly speaking, if that does happen, I hope you can defeat me. I don't want anyone hurt because of me.” And with that, he stepped through the portal.
* * * * *
Pain. That was the first thing that registered through his brain when he appeared on the sandy beaches of whoever-the-fuck's nightmare this was. Burning, blistering pain.
Damage Received - 5 damage. 32 health remaining.
Falling to one knee, Steve gurgled indistinctly, severely caught off-guard. Putting a hand to his chest, he struggled to get back the breathe he'd lost. After a few moments, the liquid fire in his veins began to disappear. Taking a few deep breaths, he struggled back to his feet, coughing and spitting out a wad of red saliva, evidently mixed with blood.
Not a few seconds after he did that, the sound of feet landing in the sand behind him registered in his ears. Turning around, he saw everyone else had arrived, looking around at the new scenery. Well, everyone except Abyss. She stared straight out at him with a narrowed gaze, eyes looking over him as if searching for something. Thankfully, a few moments later, Trench broke her concentration.
“Where the hay are we?” He asked.
Steve looked around. “From what it looks like, we're on an empty beach. Be on the lookout for anything strange. Usually, the danger finds us sooner or…”
“HELP!!! HELP!!! I'M DROWNING!!!” A new voice shouted, causing everyone's head to snap in that direction.
“And there it is.” Steve sighed. “Let's move!”