//------------------------------// // A Crafter's Dream Ch. 70: Extreme Makeover Minecraft Edition (Part 1) // Story: A Crafter's Dream (Discontinued) // by ruthim345 //------------------------------// Now, without further ado, I present, “A Crafter’s Dream” Crack! Crack! Crack! Crack! Crunch! Steve sighed as the wood wall he’d been cutting at finally broke away, revealing the same strange yellow wool that he’d been seeing every time he removed a wall. The stuff was everywhere, stuffed into the walls with wild abandon. Normally, he wouldn’t care, but the strange material both one, made him very itchy whenever he touched it, and two, smelled a hell of a lot like rotten zombie flesh. Grimacing at the sight of the rough yellow wool-like substance, he sighed as he quickly withdrew his shears from his Inventory. With a few clips, it fell free from the wall, and Steve tossed it into the growing pile a short distance away. Closing his eyes, he wiped his brow with one arm as he groaned. “Geez. At this point, it’d be easier just to build my own home rather than dealing with all of this.” He said as he gestured at the house as a whole. ‘Well, why don’t you?’ Nightmare Steve asked. The Crafter sighed. “Because it was a gift from Celestia.” Steve explained as he withdrew his axe, looking up the next spot where he’d begin work. The ceiling. “It’s clear that she spent money on this, and it’d be a bit rude if I just tore this place to the ground and built whatever I wanted in its place.” The Crafter hefted the axe and started swinging upwards, the glowing blade crashing into the ceiling with great force upon each impact. “So instead, I’ll just make some modifications to this place so that it’ll both work for me, and leave the house looking similar to how it was when she bought it.” ‘Do you think she’d really even care?’ “No, but better safe than sorry.” Steve said just as he swung, that final hit being the last before a meter-by-meter square of ceiling broke away. Which caused the pile of yellow wool sitting on top of it to fall, covering the Crafter in it. For a few moments, there was complete silence. Not even Nightmare Steve spoke. Then, the Crafter gave an angry sigh as his teeth grit in frustration. “You know what? Change of plans. Time for plan B.” * * * * * Steel Guard sat alone on his porch, rocking ever-so-slightly in his rocking chair. His normally cheerful grin was muted, however, as the stallion seemed to be deep in thought, hoof pressed to his chin and eyebrows creased. “Hmm.” He murmured quietly. “Hey Dad!” A voice called out from over to the stallion’s right. Steel, having recognized the voice, quickly shook the look of deliberation from his face, instead trading it for a grin. “Hello there Noble! What are you doing today?” He heard hoofsteps approach, stopping a short distance away. “Oh nothing much.” His son answered. “Just heading to work. What about you?” Steel shrugged. “Much like you, nothing really. Just been thinking about what happened last night.” “What happened?” “Well, that’s the thing. I’m still not entirely sure.” Steel responded. “I had a talk with somepony last night, but I’m still not sure if I was just dreaming or not.” “Why’s that?” “Well, after we talked for a bit, he was about to leave when I asked him for his name. He replied that his name was Steve. I thought that was a bit of a strange name for a pony, and I said as much. Then he told me that he wasn’t a pony. Even proved it by grabbing my hoof with, whatever they were that he had.” He shrugged. “After that, he said goodbye and left, just like that. Said he had to find his house, or something like that.” Steel sighed and leaned on one of his hooves. “Honestly, with how late it was, I’m fairly certain I was just dreaming.” “Uh, Dad, I don’t think you were.” Noble spoke, voice suddenly a bit nervous. “Why?” Steel inquired, concerned by the uneasy tone of voice his son now had. “I know you don’t keep up with the news, but you remember the ‘Monkey of the Everfree,’ right?” Steel gave a single nod. “Well, on my way over here, I heard some ponies talking about how that same being had arrived in Ponyville via train. Some mare talked to him, and he said that his name was Steve.” Steel’s unseeing eyes widened. “What?” He asked. However, before Noble could respond, they were interrupted by the sound of explosions. BOOM!!! BOOM!! BOOM!! BOOM!! Silence, and then. BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!!!!!!!!! * * * * * A few moments before Square (Hold): Critical Shot Knocking an arrow to the string of his bow, Steve pulled back, taking a few moments to aim before releasing his hold. The arrow flew from his enchanted bow, flying straight toward the open door of the house in front of him and striking the TNT placed there. Thanks to the Flame II enchantment on it, the arrow ignited the TNT on impact. The explosive burned for a few moments before exploding, blowing up a majority of the house entrance in the process. A second or two later, the TNT Steve had placed nearby also exploded. And after that, the TNT blocks that he had put near that one. And so on, all the TNT that he had placed throughout the home, (minus the basement) went off in a chain of massive explosions. Steve was far enough away that he didn’t have to worry about getting blown up, but just to be sure, he’d built a small cobblestone wall to sit behind while he waited for all of the TNT to explode. Eventually, after about a minute, the explosions stopped, and Steve peered out from behind the wall to survey the damage. Everything was gone. The only reminder that a two-story Ponyville house had once stood on the property was the blackened concrete foundation that was still visible. Everything else had been blown to bits. D-Pad-Right: Bow and Arrow Letting out a sigh, Steve slid the bow over his back, into his Inventory, trading it for a book. Flipping it open, he turned to one particular page, on which was drawn the picture of what his house would look like. It would be tall, easily two stories, with a loft acting as a partial third story. The first story walls would be cobblestone, with 1 x 3 glass windows on the front and back. There was room if he wanted to put a small garden, but he wasn’t too concerned about that at the moment. The rest of the home would be made of wood, preferably oak wood if he would find. There’d be windows on the upper levels as well. And of course, he’d have a balcony, with wood fences and cobblestone pillars that connected to the ground below. It was the building plan for his old home back in Minecraftia. Being a king came with quite a few benefits, some of which being given quite a bit of money, and having access to some of the best builders available in New Ironwood. Here, however, it would take a lot more time, seeing as Steve was only moderately good at building as it was. Besides, it would take a lot of resources, which would only make the building process take longer. Steve sighed and rubbed his temples. “One step at a time, Steve.” He muttered to himself. “One step at a time.” ‘Steve.’ The Nightmare spoke. ‘It appears your demolition has attracted a crowd.’ The Crafter whirled around to see that a small crowd of ponies had, in fact, arrived, staying just outside the iron fence, despite the gate being wide open. He groaned. “Great. Something else to deal with.” Letting out a frustrated sigh, Steve turned and walked over to the crowd, though he didn’t step off the property. “So!” He called out. Every pony eye was on him. “What can I do for you all this fine day?!” For a few moments, the assembled ponies didn’t respond. Then, someone began pushing their way through the crowd. Eventually, the pony was revealed as a light gray pegasus stallion with a dark purple mane. His dark green eyes were narrowed at the Crafter. “Why in Equestria did you blow that house up!?” He yelled angrily. Steve shrugged. “Well, I kinda own it now, so I figured I’d do some renovations.” The pony’s angry gaze faltered slightly at the Crafter’s answer. “You.. what?” Steve sighed as he dug through his inventory, pulling out a single piece of paper. Taking a moment to make sure it was the right one, he slipped the page through the iron fence to the stallion. “Here. See for yourself.” The pony looked over the paper for a few moments. “...By order of the, Crown?” He glanced up at Steve with a confused expression. “The Princesses bought you this house?” “Yeah. But, it wasn’t made with my sort of measurements in mind, so I decided to do some renovations, starting from the ground up.” He said, gesturing to where the house had once stood. “Now that the old house is gone, I can get to work on building the new one.” He sighed. “Which will take a while, probably, but it’ll be worth it in the end.” “Oh.” The stallion spoke, all traces of emotion gone from his voice. “What?” Steve asked. “Not what you were expecting?” He shook his head as he handed the paper back. “No, not really.” “Eh, happens to the best of us.” Steve replied as he grabbed the paper and slipped it back into his inventory. Looking around, he noticed that the crowd was only getting bigger. He cleared his throat. “Attention everypony!!!” He called. “If you are here because of the explosions, not to worry!!! I was given this house, and since it was too small, I had to destroy it to make one big enough for me!!! If anyone doesn’t believe me, talk to, uh…” Steve looked back at the stallion he’d been talking to. “What’s your name?” “Oh. Uh, Noble Deed.” “Thanks. Uh, talk to Noble Deed here!!! He saw the proof, and if you don’t trust me, at least trust him!!! Now, if any of you are wondering why I am here in the first place, well too bad, I don’t care!!! You’ll all find out eventually!!! Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have to get started on building my home for the foreseeable future!!!” With that, Steve turned and began walking to the charred foundation, pick-axe already in hand. After taking another look at the aged building plans, he set to work on modifying the foundation to suit his needs, breaking away the concrete he didn’t need and placing the concrete powder where he did need it. As he worked, he checked every so often to see if the ponies were actually leaving. Much to his surprise, they did, slowly at first, then in much larger numbers until not a single one remained. Steve grinned at the empty street outside his iron fence. “Well, that went a lot better than I expected.” ‘True. With their track record, I expected them to do something rash.’ Steve nodded in agreement. “Me too. Now, we can work in peace.” And, with his trusty diamond pick-axe in hand, he did just that. * * * * * Later Steve, breathing hard, sat down on the ground as he leaned against the crafting table he’d placed nearby. Wiping his brow with one arm, he took a moment to look over his work. He’d restored the foundation and modified it so it would fit the house he was going to build. After that, he’d built a one block wall of cobblestone around the foundation, with holes where the doors in the front and back would be. As much as he hated to admit it, just getting to where he was had taken far more effort than he liked. “Suppose that’s what I get for always practicing my fighting instead of anything else.” He muttered to himself. ‘Well, you seem quite capable when it comes to brewing potions, from what I’ve seen.’ Nightmare Steve spoke. “Yeah, because potions help keep me alive in fights.” Steve replied. “In fact, I had a few friends who fought primarily with potions. All of the potion recipes I know are meant to either help me kill, or to help me keep from getting killed.” Steve thought for a moment. “Well, except for Invisibility. The only reason I know that one is because Beth was always paranoid.” He sighed. “Well, I should probably get back to work. This house ain’t gonna build itself.” The Crafter stood up, dusting himself off as he did so. He moved to grab some cobblestone from his Inventory, but stopped short when he heard someone speak. “Steve?” He turned around. There, standing a short distance away, was Rainbow Dash.