Now, without further ado, I present,
“A Crafter’s Dream”
Steve sat there on the stone bench, the slight shifting of his boots causing the grass beneath them to crunch softly. He was hunched over slightly, hands in his lap and gazed focused on the ground in front of him. His trusty diamond sword was by his side, leaning against the leg of the bench.
Sighing, he glanced up at the sun, which was just barely beginning to set far in the distance. His mouth was pursed and his eyebrows were furrowed.
‘Hey Nightmare, you there?’ He called in his mind.
‘Of course Steve. What do you need?’
‘Nothing, it’s just, I haven’t been able to really talk to you due to all the crazy stuff that’s been going on. I just wanted to check up with you, see what you think about all of it.’
It took a few moments for the Nightmare to respond.
‘If I’m being honest, I think you need a break.’
The Nightmare’s blunt response caused the Minecraftian to let out a short laugh.
‘Really?’ He asked.
‘Of course.’ Nightmare Steve responded, tone completely serious. ‘In just the last few days, you’ve fought a literal god, fought those elite guards, fought through numerous changelings to save your friend, been interviewed by world leaders, and have found out that the world you now live in is in danger of being taken over by terrible monsters. Anyone would need a break after going through half of those things.’
Steve grinned. ‘Fair. Hopefully, since there’s no more reason for me to be here, I can get going soon. While this place is nice and all, there isn’t any place like home.’
‘That is true.’ Nightmare Steve responded. “Hopefully, you will not have to do anything too dangerous for a little while, so you can take some time to rest.’
The Crafter chuckled and nodded. ‘Yeah, no kidding. Anyways, talk to ya later.’
‘Talk to you later as well.’ The Nightmare spoke, before he went silent.
Sighing, Steve leaned back a bit on the bench. Glancing down at his sword, he reached over and grabbed it before lifting it up in front of him, his gaze wandering over the crystalline blade. Once, it had been a perfectly smooth sword. But now, as he looked at it, he could see that time had not been kind to it. Cracks lightly decorated its blue surface. Due to its constant use and Steve not having the time to repair it, small bits and pieces of the blue crystal had been broken off, leaving small, rough indents in their place. The wooden handle of the blade was old and worn, and the hilt that it connected to was cracked. Frankly, the entire thing was old and scarred.
“Just like me, I suppose.” Steve muttered to himself as he sheathed the blade over his shoulder.
For a while, the Crafter sat there, staring off into the distance at the setting sun, which now was only halfway visible, the rest having disappeared over the horizon. It wasn’t long after that he heard the sound of hooves gently trotting in the grass.
“Hello Steve.” Spoke a voice that he easily recognized.
“Hey Celestia.” The Crafter responded, not turning to look at her. The pale white alicorn trotted over beside him and sat down. “What are you doing here?”
“Nothing much. Just checking on you after you left my quarters so quickly.”
Steve shrugged. “Sorry about that. I just needed to clear my head a bit, I suppose.” He sighed before glancing at the Solar Diarch. “Where’s Abyss and Martha?”
“Abyss left not long after you, saying that she had to return home before nightfall. I’ve given Martha her own personal room for the time being until I can find more permanent accomodations for her.”
“Hmm. And what about that dude, uh, Braeburn?”
“Oh. He is staying in a guest room until the morning, after which he will take the train back to Apploosa. He said that he has to make sure that his cousin hasn’t burned down his house yet, but he promised Martha he’d visit her as soon as he could.”
Steve nodded. “Good. It’s nice to know that she already has a good friend. She’s already had a better start in your world than I did.” At this, the Solar Diarch winced slightly, an action that didn’t go unnoticed by the Crafter. “Sorry.” He muttered.
“There’s nothing to be sorry for.” Celestia responded. “What we did to you, what I did to you was-”
“Not your fault.” Steve cut in. “It was never your fault, not completely. I know you still feel bad about it, and it was wrong for me to bring it up when you’ve already apologized and I’ve already forgiven you for what happened.” He looked at her. I’m sorry.”
The white alicorn stared at the Crafter, mouth open as if to say something, before she eventually simply sighed and looked away. “I accept your apology, just as you accepted mine.”
“Thanks.” Steve responded.
The two sat in silence for a minute or two before Celestia finally spoke.
“Steve?”
“Yeah?”
“I understand if you do not answer, for you have every right not to if you wish, but I must ask.” She looked over at him. “What are the mobs?”
Steve opened his mouth to respond, but closed it after a moment, instead putting a hand to his chin as he thought about how best to answer the Princess’ question.
“The mobs are monsters, put in the most basic of terms. They existed long before the first Minecraftian ever woke up, and now, they will exist far after the last Minecraftian, me, falls. At first, we didn’t have any idea where they came from. We thought that maybe they were creatures born from the Nether, or the End.”
“The what?” Celestia asked, confused.
“Oh. Uh, well, the Nether is an alternate version of my world that can be accessed via a Nether portal. It’s full of fire, and lava, and a whole assortment of flame-related mobs that all want to kill you. The End is the home of the Endermen, as well as the old home of the Ender Dragon.”
“Ender Dragon?”
“Abyss, back when she was all crazy and cursed and stuff.”
“Oh, okay.” Celestia spoke, giving a nod of understanding. However, a moment later, her eyes widened. “Wait, what?”
“Anyways, there are a wide variety of mobs in my world. There’s the basic ones, like zombies and giant spiders, and then there’s the more deadly ones, like creepers and endermen. Each one is armed with its own unique way of killing you.”
“How many different mobs are there?”
“Uh, let me think.” Steve said, scratching his head. “There’s zombies, drowned, husks, skeletons, strays, creepers, spiders, cave spiders, endermen, phantoms, the little assholes. There’s also endermites, shulkers, evokers, ravagers, pillagers, vex’s, vindicators, witches, guardians, slimes, silverfish, blazes, zombie pigmen, ghasts, blazes, wither skeletons, magma cubes, and a couple others I’ve probably forgotten about.”
“That is…. Quite an extensive list. How did you learn to deal with them?”
“I got lucky. First mob I met was a zombie. They’re one of the easier mobs to deal with if their alone. I punched him to death pretty quickly. After that, I started being more careful. I learned how to use a sword and bow, training myself constantly until I was good at it. After that it was just a matter of putting my training to good use. Which I did, for a long time.”
“Hmm. I see.” Celestia spoke, putting a hoof to her chin in thought. Steve looked at her with a raised eyebrow.
“What is it?”
“Nothing.” The alicorn replied after a moment, shaking her head. “Just a passing thought.” She looked over at him. “If I may ask, what were you doing out here?”
‘She’s changing the subject.’ Steve thought. Staring at her for a moment, he sighed and looked back at the horizon as he answered.
“Well, I’ve been thinking too.”
Celestia gave him a questioning look.
“About what?”
“Well, I was thinking that since I’m pretty much done here in Canterlot for the time being, I thought that it was time for me to head on home.”
“Home?”
The Crafter nodded. “Yeah. I haven’t really had the opportunity to really rest and recuperate after everything that’s happened. Besides, there’s a ton of things I need to do down in Ponyville, like checking up on Derpy, and making sure Zecora is okay after what happened. Also, because of what happened to her, Rainbow Dash hasn’t seen me since the final battle in the Mindscape, so I figured I’d drop in once I got back.”
“I see.” Celestia responded. “Well, if that is what you want, then by all means, you may leave whenever you wish. But before you go, there is something I’d like to give you first.” Her horn began to glow.
One of Steve’s eyebrows raised slightly. “What is it?”
Suddenly, a rather official-looking piece of paper suddenly appeared in a flash, held by Celestia’s magical aura. She gave it to him.
“Just a little something to help repay you for everything you’ve been through, and for your services to Equestria as a whole.”
Steve began to read the paper over. After spending a minute or so going over the documents contents, he looked back up.
“Celestia, this is a receipt. For a…wait.” He looked back down for a moment before glancing back up at her. “Is this a-?”
She nodded. “Yes. You said that your dream was to live in peace. I figured that this would help you with that, even if it’s only a little bit.”
“I, uh, I mean, thank you Celestia.” Steve spoke with a grin.
“There’s no need to thank me.” She responded. “In fact, I should be thanking you. After everything you’ve done for Equestria when you had no reason to, and for asking for nothing in return, this is the very least I could do for you.”
“Still, thank you.” Steve replied, looking down at the paper again. “It’d be nice to finally be out of the Everfree Forest. It’s beautiful, but it gets tiring having to gear up before going for a morning walk everyday.” Taking a deep breath, he looked up at her. “But, don’t you think an entire house is a bit much?”
Celestia grinned. “For you, Steve, not at all.”