Chapter 15: Achievement: Monster Hunter
Chapter 15: Achievement: Monster Hunter
The missive Captain Barricade received from Major Stormcloud had thrown whatever good mood she acquired from meeting her daughter right into the gutter. Canterlot herself attacked by some suicidal monster, several confirmed casualties, and a breach in the castle walls; while she, one of the leading figures of the Equestrian military, had been planning the capture of some escaped monsters, the very heart of the country had been attacked under her nose.
“We are recalling excess patrols, along with Princess Celestia’s Honor Guard and the Princess herself, and returning to Canterlot at once. Princess Luna will stay in Ponyville to resume the search for the creatures,” Major Stormcloud sighed exasperatedly. “These past few days... they will be the death of me. You would think, given what has occurred ever since the Mare on the Moon that I would be used to this by now. Perhaps I’m getting a little too old for this job...”
The Major ran a hoof through his iron-gray mane. Regaining his composure, he continued his report for the Captain. “You are still in charge of Base Site Command. More recent events have just complicated matters, is all.”
“Thank you for the notice, Major.” Barricade saluted and left the command tent.
Barricade was fuming all the way to her post, caring only enough to throw on a black rain coat to ward off the moisture and cold. Rain poured and poured and poured, never stopping and never showing any signs of intending to do so in the foreseeable future. The unfavorable weather, along with the poor line-of-sight, abundance of hiding places, and the obfuscation of the night itself made a battle on the cobble Ponyville streets even more detering. Those were the conditions Captain Barricade chose to fight in when she decided to engage the escaping creature on her own.
She barely caught it herself, even though the street she was gliding over was well lit in the dull, yellow glow of street lamps. The creature, right in front of her, was running across alleyways as if he was being chased by Discord himself. Here the creature was, right in front of her! How did it get there!?
Barricade shoved those thought to the side. Capturing or, if necessary, killing the creature should be top priority. How it had entered Ponyville without detection would be an issue for another time. Lieutenant Chaser’s report was thorough enough on the creature’s behavior, given the details the night Guard had attained during her fight. Without even a psychological profile to work with, Barricade’s best bet was to wing it, pardon the pun.
‘Is it worth it?’ Barricade thought to herself.
Barricade understood that he could summon objects seemingly out of nowhere; that alone made the monster a force to be reckoned with. He had already thwarted one full on frontal assault by the Lieutenant, so would an attack under identical circumstances produce a more beneficial outcome?
‘No, not identical.’ Lieutenant Chaser was a formidable fighter; she needed to be to be appointed to Princess Luna’s personal guard. However, the Lieutenant entered the fray completely blind to the creature’s abilities. They knew them now. They knew the creature was strong, but prefered to run if confronted. That implied he was a survivalist, not a fighter.
Barricade was both. Equipped with the knowledge of the creature and the capability of defending herself, the odds were in her favor.
‘If you can learn, so can he.’ Against her wishes, a little nagging voice in the back of her mind warned her of the flaw in her thinking. It was not an unreasonable argument, but –
“No.”
Barricade nosedived the creature and thrust her full weight into it as she passed. He was flung off his feet and tumbled to a stop. Barricade, not willing to get too close just yet, glided a safe distance away. The creature scrambled to his feet.
Barricade glared at the creature, which was proving to be a problem in the weather at the time. Ponyville streetlights were fair, given the limited resources of such a rural hamlet. Of course, due to the blanket of night and the massive thunderstorm drenching the land as far as the eye could see, such illumination proved insufficient for Barricade; she could barely see more than twenty feet in front of her. Reluctantly, the Captain removed her helmet; the hunk of iron would protect her from attack, but that protection would be a moot point if she couldn’t see in the rain. The instant she removed her helm, her long, pink locks became instantly saturated in the downpour. Barricade made a mental note to cuss out Rainbow Dash for the inconvenience.
‘Well... now what...? Of course!’ Barricade held a hoof to her mouth and whistled as loud and shrill as possible. The Major spoke of returning patrols. Maybe, just maybe, she could catch the attention of one of them, if neutralizing the creature proved too difficult. She also made a mental note to buck herself in the head when the fight was over; this exact circumstance had happened with both Sergeant Jetstream and Lieutenant Chaser, and it didn’t work out well for either of them.
The creature had taken a moment to don armor with its unique powers, but that split-second was just enough time for Barricade. She blitzed the creature, fanning her wings at the last moment to give her a burst of speed.
The trick worked; the creature, anticipating a slower attack, could do nothing to prevent Barricade tackling him in a bear hug. She pumped her wings for all they were worth, gritting her teeth as she propelled herself and her biggest burden to date.
The pair crashed into one of Ponyville’s many building. Barricade felt the wooden structure creak under her attack and the creature ribs cracking under the abuse. Barricade quickly removed herself from the creature’s range. It’s face was a contorted mask of pain and rage.
‘Good. Anger makes it easy to beat you. Anger makes you sloppy, and being sloppy makes you predictable.’
The creature, its sword lost to its grip on the collision, stepped forward and conjured a pickaxe with an turquoise, angular gleam. Diamond? Odd.
The creature’s wounds were taking their toll, and that was to Barricade’s advantage. The creature swung, but the strike was easily televised to the experienced soldier’s eyes. Intake of breath, constricted pupils, tightened muscles, all easy tells for a trained warrior. Using one of her legs as a fulcrum, Barricade sunk low and shifted her weight in a circle, leaving plenty of room to dodge the attack and shift her weight around. Rearing up on her front hooves, she bucked for all she was worth, putting every ounce of pent-up frustration into the attack.
The wooden wall smashed in an explosion of fury and wooden splinters. The fight hadn’t even lasted a minute, and already it was getting the better of her.
‘Calm down. Think.’ She didn’t want to end up wounded and alone like Ms. Chaser, or do something incredibly stupid like Sergeant Jetstream. Granted, she had the excuse of confirmed visual contact, but that was no reason to go off charging into danger.
‘Think.’ She hopped up through the hole, staring down the dazed creature.
Reports said it could conjure items at will, and most of them, that could harm her, anyway, were melee weapons. That just meant to stay out of close quarters combat whenever necessary, except when it drew out its bow. Why did the Lieutenant have so much more trouble than her?
‘Because you’re not learning like her, you’re only blitzing him until you win.’
Speed. That’s it. The Lieutenant was learning about his strategies and powers during her fight, but Barricade had the combined knowledge and ingenuity of an entire garrison to work with. But that would only work if the creature had not learned from the battle nearly as much as the Night Guard.
‘Than that means he’s not a soldier, and that’s to my advantage.’
Barricade did not give the creature time to recover. Keeping up her battle momentum, she lifted the discombobulated biped and threw him out a sliding glass door.
‘Keep it going!’ Barricade shouted to herself. She exited the building, glass crunching under her boots. The building she had busted open had provided a temporary respite from the downpour, but now that she had left the domicile, the weather was in full force. She hated being soaked to the pinfeathers.
The creature stumbled to its feet. Its movements, once calculated and practiced, had lost their luster due to exhaustion and pain. Still on the defensive, it conjured a solid cube of stone between the dueling pair. Before he could do any more, Barricade ripped up a fence post and tomahawked it at his head. The creature swung its sword to deflect the projectile away, but Barricade had already made her move. Charging at full speed, Barricade leapt onto the cobblestone cube to deliver a finishing blow, but, through sheer force of will, the creature mustered the strength to swing again.
Barricade dove under the swing. A flash of stinging pain seared across her flank. What the hell was that sword made of? It sliced through her armor like it wasn’t even there.
Barricade tucked and rolled across the cobblestone street and took a moment to examine the wound. Luckily, the cut was superficial; nothing to worry about, but the sword certainly was if it ripped through folded steel blessed by the Council of Magic.
The creature, realizing it could not continue the melee and survive, had thought it best to retreat. Using its peculiar magic, it absorbed a cube of the cobblestone street. Barricade bolted once again, spreading her wings wide and plunged headfirst into the torrential rain. Her cheeks lost warmth and soon feeling, but the pair were already too close to end their next encounter prematurely.
However, Barricade, the easy superior in the foray, had run out of luck at last. Spotting the impending clash between the pair, the creature substituted its tool for a bow. The lighting was nearly nonexistent, the rain was in their eyes, and he had only the scantest line-of-sight. The twang of the bow was lost to the void of the night. Despite the dozens of variables affecting its aim, Barricade could not help but release a gasp of surprise and pain as the arrow dug into her abdomen under her wing.
Barricade’s full weight, armor and all, came crashing down on the creature. His body immediately slackened, crumpling into the shallow hole he had dug. Barricade splayed her wings open, cushioning her rapid descent on a pillow of air.
The creature twitched and fidgeted, either stunned or bordering unconsciousness due to her strike to its cranium. Barricade kicked away its bow. She did not fully understand its abilities, but she did not wish to provide the creature with a weapon upon his exodus of the land of dreams.
She needed backup, so she prepared to whistle for aid once more. As her lungs expanded, she winced in pain. She put it in a temporary holding place and whistled as loud and sharp as she could, ignoring the burst of agony screaming through her abdomen. The creature stirred and began to open his eyes and Barricade used that time to examine her wounds.
Under her left wing, angling very close to her spine, the fletching and wooden shaft of an arrow protruded from her body. For pegasi, a narrow and very small slit in the armor was left clear to allow room for their wings. The arrow missed her wing and armor entirely, but still managed to lodge itself in one of its few weak points.
“Lucky shot,” Barricade spat. That arrow needed to come out and her wounds needed mending, but now was definitely not the time. She was a soldier; she could handle pain.
Barricade spotted a squad of Night Guards flying low to avoid the rampant lightning strikes. Whether they heard her calls or not, she didn’t know, but she put a hoof to her mouth one more time and called.
Barricade backed away as the creature began to rise. He was wounded, as was she, but on the hope that she reinforcements would arrive –
The squad leader banked right towards her position. Barricade couldn’t help but smile. Using the cobblestone road as a crude runway, a group of roughly ten Night Guards circled the the dueling pair.
“Take that side!” one called out, likely the squad leader.
One by one, the Night Guards landed in a circle around the pair. The creature, still shaken from the fight, had only managed to get to his knees and magic a sword into existence. Being so close, yet wisely out of striking range, she could see the creature’s increased respiration and dilated pupils. He was panicking. After three days of evasion games of cat and mouse, at long last, he was caught with nowhere else to run.
One of Night Guards slowly approached Barricade, making special attention to watch the intruder for any signs of danger. “Corporal Shade, Captain. What’s the situation?”
“One contained creature. Keep a safe perimeter of 10 feet at all times unless absolutely necessary. Do not get within arms reach, even under the worst circumstances. He appears to only be able to conjure items from his right hand, so if another fight becomes inevitable, attack from his flank or his left. But for now, let’s just try to keep this thing contained.”
Corporal Shade nodded, and gasped; he had spotted the fletched shaft protruding through Barricade’s feathers and rain cloak. Trickles of red, diluted by rain, streamed down the shaft and stained the white feathers.
“Captain! You – ”
“Not now.”
“But – ”
Barricade wrapped a leg around the Corporal’s neck and yanked him up to her, so that they were staring eye-to-eye. Given Barricade’s considerable bulk, the Corporal’s front legs dangled a foot above the ground.
“Not. Now.”
Barricade dropped the Corporal and resumed staring down the creature. He had stumbled to his feet, but he was still in no condition to continue fighting. He was slouching in pain and barely keeping a grip on his sword. Barricade’s adrenaline was wearing off, but the creature was still wide-eyed and scared. Being scared meant being desperate, and being desperate meant making stupid mistakes that cost lives.
The creature whirled around, flourishing his sword in the process. The guards tensed, all twelve plus the Captain preparing to spring. He pointed his sword towards the rear Night Guard. The Guard spread his legs, preparing to counterattack if need be. The creature turned again, examining each and every Guard in turn. Every time, the Guard tensed for an attack, but neither the soldiers nor the creature made any moves. The soldiers knew better than to attack unprovoked, but the creature’s behavior was inconsistent with reports. He should have run or attacked already. Unless...
“You are surrounded. Surrender yourself and you have my word that no harm shall come to you,” Barricade announced. The creature turned on Barricade, sword ready.
Corporal Shade, however, had other ideas. “Captain! This thing has already proved itself violent enough to attack civilians without cause.”
“All the more reason to take him in alive and find out why. Something’s not been right ever since that second portal appeared. Nothing’s added up, and I want to know why.” Barricade straightened her posture and meet the creature’s gaze. Even though he towered over her, she could see the thoughts running across his eyes. Panic, fear, anger, desperation; he knew he was caught and was looking for a way out. He knew that the Guard would win in a straight fight and he could not use his powers to run away fast enough. Why not blindly strike out, like Lieutenant Chaser predicted?
‘What am I missing here?’ she thought.
“What is your response? Let yourself be detained peacefully, and we can sort this out together.”
The creature stared her down, his blue eyes boring into hers. ‘You are a threat,’ they said. ‘You defeated me.’
‘What do you want? What am I missing?’ She repeated to herself. His eyes glared into hers as if he was trying to worm ihi way into her mind and discover her secrets.
“What’s your answer!?” Barricade boomed. Her deep voice echoed in the confined street, but was quickly swallowed by the maelstrom raging above. “Why won’t you talk?”
He started grinding his teeth from both fear and anger; two emotions that were never good to see in a trapped creature. He showed no signs of responding to Barricade, instead he glared at Barricade and waited for her to make a move. Why was he just standing there?
“Or maybe... you can’t talk...”
The creature still did not respond.
“If you could talk, what would you say?”
‘I don’t want to die,’ drifted across her mind.
Of course. A trapped mouse would fight if cornered by the cat. The mouse fights not to win, but to escape.
And Barricade knew just how to provide one.
Barricade slowly walked towards the creature. She would be walking in breathing funny after this was over; that’s for sure. ‘No.’ Barricade commanded to herself. ‘Stop thinking about the pain.’ She put the resurgence out of her mind and made another, slow step towards the biped.
“Captain...”
“Not now, Corporal.”
The creature backed up a half step. He stepped into an inch-deep puddle, but did not mind; his full attention was placed solely on her. As she paced forward, he backed up, always keeping the distance the same. However, even he knew that his path would lead him right into the hooves of another Night Guard.
He turned around, glaring at the Night Guard through the rain. It would have been an impressive display of fortitude if he wasn’t shaking from cold, fear, and panic.
Barricade walked right up to the creature and stared into his eyes. His sword was only a foot from her head, very easily within striking distance. Of course, her gauntlets were enchanted by the brightest minds in the Council of Magic, but moving her legs fast enough to counter the strike would be tricky. The wound in her side threatened to overtake her mental block, but the same mantra kept the pain at bay. There was work to be done. There was a creature to secure. Pain could wait.
Her concentration broke as she felt a trickle of warm liquid slid down her abdomen within the confines of her armor.
‘Stop.’ She commanded herself. ‘Not now. Don’t focus on that.”
Resisting the urge to flutter her wings and labor her breathing, she glared right back at the creature. Rain fell and lightning flashed, illuminating both faces for their accompanying viewers. Neither paid any attention to the crowd or their jitters at seeing their superior enter such close quarters with a hostile. Together, they were in their own little world, a storm of wills inside the discordant malestrom racing across the blackened skies.
Blue eyes and scruffy beard, green eyes and bubblegum mane. Two creatures that couldn’t be more different meeting to match wits with one another. Neither knew what would happen if the other buckled first, or even if they themselves succumbed to the weight of each other’s gaze.
If only Barricade knew that nothing had ever dominated the Crafter quite like the ponies of this wide, wide world. Such a strong race, willing and able to overcome the idiosyncratic and omnipotent at a moment’s notice. To simply stand up for what one believed in, even if the idea was unpopular or uncouth, was a testament to the drive of their spirit. If only Barricade knew the thoughts racing across the creature’s mind, the eons of loneliness garnered.
Barricade could only watch as the creature’s will snapped.
His sword fell lower.. and lower... until finally it scratched the cobblestone road. His shoulders were slumped, his posture relaxed.
He had surrendered.
Minecraft/MLP:FIM crossover.
Chapter Commentary:
For chapter updates and my ramblings, visit my page on Fimfiction HERE.
Barricade is a character by KnightMysterio that I have been graciously allowed to use. Click the link to check out his stuff.
Edited by: Material Defender, Cor Thunder, Wolfmaster1337
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No offense, but it feels like there's only a few 'real' chapters in this story, because just repeat the circumstances from a different viewpoint. It's getting kind of old to see an update and basically read the last chapter over again.
I think Steve should of fought some more, He has fought creepers that not only stalk you as their faces are in a terrifying stare, But also Blow up! Endermen who will steal blocks from the land and will chase you down and murder you if you look at them, and skeleton's who will snipe you from a distance or from point-blank range. He should of fought some more! Those ponies are pretty much other players! They can still die!
Oh, and he punches trees and stone for a living, Or obsidian if you're me.
UPDATE!!!
I agree with Lightning strike123
Steve has gone to the END the NETHER
fought ghast's that throw flaming explosive balls at you!
Killed an immortal ENDER DRAGON!
Why is he a wimp?!
and he has diamond armor! DIAMOND!
Yay! An update! It was really interesting to see this fight from the other sides POV. Though I'm hoping that you will post the next chapter soon. Also, I'm wondering if Twilight or Celestia might be able to cast a spell that will allow the crafter to understand them. Their reaction to his telling them just how old he is and how long he has been alone would be quite interesting and funny. Anyways keep up the awesome work!
I think if steve was stronger than he was now he would end up killing the ponies
and i don't think the author wants that
so he's portraying him as a survivor/crafter not an adventurer that goes around slaying everything
also i think the reason why we like the crafter chapters better is because that's why we picked up this story. To read about the crafter surviving equstria
Alt. Title: (Another) My Little Minecraft: At Wit's End
crafter= stronger soon!
but can I just say this is a repeat don't mean i don't like it but I'm kinda hoping next time you do this you add a little on like maybe 500 words at least
I think the Miner didn't get a fair fight. I think the miner should do more than a scratch and an arrow to the side
to barricade. Diamond sword and armor, DIAMOND GOD DAMMIT.
1776266>>1776459
No offense taken. And honestly, I don't like this chapter that much either. That's the why the AN note at the end of the chapter says I don't. I let my fans decide how chapters are delivered, and that seriously fucked up the recovery process if i realize something's wrong. I knew this ended at a bad point, but deadlines forced my hand. I'm starting to regret having deadlines.
If I ever make another lengthy story, I'm not making that mistake again.
1776487
Yeah, only use chapters staring Mr. Miner guy, and the ones that do not center around him, have him not in them, or noticed. No repeats.
And he does need to be a tad tougher.
I honestly like this chapter above all the others. It shows that even though "Steve" has the advantage, he can still be beaten by observing his action and flushing out his weak points. When he gives up, it shows that he isn't some overpowered, equipped to the teeth character, but a being whom merely wishes to get back to where he came from.
MOAR...plz
1688403
I CALLED IT.
1688432
And this was Journeyman's response. So I don't have to say anything about it, other than because of the style of this story, this chapter was necessary.
I agree it would make more sense to keep the two points of view separate instead of switching between them every chapter. Reading about the same event twice in a row does get repetitive.
I wonder if Spike can eat minecraft diamonds? I can only imagine Crafter's reaction if Spike was to take a bite out of his sword or armor.
Another great chapter. Consensus seems to be that the Crafter is now a wimp because he got beat by one of the most badass ponies since Captain Storm Wing (screw him), and that chapters that show events from other chapters are a waste of time.
Personally, I like getting the other side of the fight. It's something that few people do for their stories (even professional authors), and the added perspective makes the whole thing more believable.
Also, I think so many people prefer the Crafter chapters because they're something fresh and new. We've already read so much about our little ponies, but, as far as I know, no-one's ever given us a glimpse into the mind of that lonely, hardened fighter from the land of cubes.
...
Also, the ponies had better keep him on a cloud, or he will tunnel right out of whatever they try to hold him in.
I like how you give us the same happenings from different perspectives.
I believe The Crafter does need to be a bit tougher and diamond armor a bit better, unless your using mods then The Crafter needs
to be a lot stronger, faster and tougher and the diamond armor is good when you consider Barricade is high level.
What happened to auto heal? Pretty disappointed in the steve right now...
The only thing I don't like about the Crafter is the fact that he's a wimp but you already said that in the story he's a survivor and not a badass warrior/adventurer but now it seems he'll have to improve his fighting skill to survive right? I feel that him surrending like that was (although still slightly agitated that he didn't kick Barricades ass) believeable if I were in his situation I would surrender too.
So now that he's caught he can learn from the ponies, their fighting style and plan his epic escape, right? Him being stuck in a cell doesn't excactly sound exciting. Now the whole talking problem, I'm hoping there won't be any of that mind entering crap so they can get info out of him if I'm honest I feel that communication through words and symbols feels better than going the easy way around and just do mind reading. It's still too early to tell which way you're going to solve the whole talking issue my fingers are crossed for no 'mind entering'.
He still has his diamond picks and shovels, correct? With the potion of Swiftness he can pick and dig his way out of his cell faster making his great escape without anyone noticing imagine the look on Barricades face when she finds out he escaped right under her nose. Wait, the ponies don't know he has an inventory, they think he can just conjure those items out of nowhere, right? That means they can't take away his stuff and my solution for his escape is viable. That would mean finaly a victory for our protagonist....... right?
He has a diamond pickaxe.
WASN'T HE DIGGING A HOLE?
WHY THE
(That and vanilla is underpowered compared to Technic)
Personally I don't mind the Crafter being 'weak'. Yours comes from a world where the only things he has ever fought are pretty much animals, and he's going up against trained soldiers. Without the game's power to respawn it seems that avoiding tough fights is what has kept the Crafter alive up to this point.
Interesting... The crafter has been apprehended... now what?
1776316 He fought retarded creatures that follow a simple pattern with no variance. In his fights all he has to do is shove till they're dead. Armored soldiers who can change strategy, run away, or show sympathy are an entirely different thing. Also starving in the cold rainy night, with a bakers' dozen of intelligent armed soldiers surrounding him.
1777545 Didn't he try and get knocked out?
This was better than i expected. i do have a slight gripe, however. i'm not one of the ones protesting the 'wimpy' crafter. While i question how much impact being in danger would have upon him after being alive as long as he has, i can certainly see fear of the unknown being a very strong factor with him. No, my problem lies in that at times, your descriptions of entities can get a bit confusing. Until you actually name the entities in a situation, i often found myself wondering exactly what was going on? Was this monster an enderman? No, wait, an eldritch horror thing that wasn't already in minecraft? No, it was the big pegasus from earlier? Honestly, interactions between the non-named were usually halfway finished before i figured out who was fighting/running from what.
I for one definitely have to protest the wimpy crafter, if he has a reliable supply of potions then he's pretty much conquered the nether, which combined with diamond equipment should mean Barricade's strikes should do nearly nothing and he should be kicking all their asses.
Woah, that's a lot of comments. Okay, here it goes for responses.
1776316
As stated in Chapter 2, our hero has never entered the End, let alone fought and/or killed the Enderdragon. The two have never met. As for the rest of your objections...
1776297>>1776474>>1777493>>1779339
A common objection with this chapter is that the Crafter was defeated too easily. That's a fair argument, given the game as parameters, but he is no longer in the game. He's in the 'real' world now, stripped of the crude Overworld's restrictions and limitations. There aren't any alchemy stands to make potions, and no enchantment tables to bless his weapons; he's starting from practically square one.
That's not to say he wasn't poorly equipped; diamond armor is a great boon, but recall from Lieutenant Chaser's preliminary report, the ponies have a general idea how his powers work. They deduced his 'inventory' is limited and he's not a skilled warrior. He's trapped on all sides, with no known safe haven, and his opponents are learning about him much faster than he is learning about them. It's not that they are after his blood, it's that they know what they are doing. They know how to fight. They know how to strategize and learn.
The Crafter has been locked in the Overworld for eons. Even by our time standards, he is incredibly old, and that age induced a critical flaw in his defensive strategy. As he said, he fights monsters in the Nether and Overworld exclusively. Zombie Pigmen attack in Zerg rushes, creepers use flanking tactics, zombies are morons that groan with every other step. The creatures he fights are predictable in their attacks and, thus, easily defeated. The Crafter, who can't 'respawn,' doesn't seek out fights for fights sake. He learns what he can and that's it. He's gotten so good at subduing Minecraft monsters that it induced a false sense of security. Over and over again, he fought the same, stupid monsters ad nauseum. Repeating the same skill without change diminishes that skill. When he was, without warning, thrust into a world filled with monsters and magic that could fight him on an even playing field at the top of his game, he was massively underprepared for the threat. All you need to do to kill a Minecraft zombie is stand still and shake a sword when it gets too close. These ponies learn. They adapt and survive. If they are overwhelmed, they retreat and analyze. They are his equals, and he was not ready for that.
But the defining factor was not the weapons or armor. It was the bread. For those familiar with the game, the hungrier you are, the greater the drawbacks: no regeneration of health after a while(Which is why it didn't recover. I already covered that fact in the last chapter.1777306), no sprint capability in the later stages, etc. Those two loaves are all he has, and if he uses them too soon, he's screwed.
You may ask, 'Why didn't he use it in the fight?' Because it would have gotten him killed(And it's why he didn't dig a hole>>1777545). Well, not killed, but he didn't know that. Think of it this way: you and a bunch of Ruskies are holed up in Pavlov's house in the Battle of Stalingrad and are facing the Nazis. Your lot are basically holding back the Germans on your own. The Nazis come with the numerical advantage of a zombie horde and one lucky shot wounds you in the shoulder. Do you stop what you are doing, leave your post, and tend your wound. No, because you would be dead in less than a minute. There are no timeouts in real life. If he took a moment to run or heal himself, the fight would have ended a whole lot faster, and not in his favor. The Crafter knew this, but when, in a fit of panic, he took the initiative and tried to put on his armor, he got thrashed by Barricade. The same thing happened when he tried to dig his way out; Barricade beat the stuffing out of him. He simply had no time to heal, escape, or better shield himself from danger; Barricade knew his tactics, via Lt. Chaser, and deduced a blitz attack had the best chance of beating him. She was right.
Now I'm not trying to be mean to you all, but it is simply not how he would react, given the circumstances. True, he's fought monsters, but they never got this close to killing him. It's also why he didn't attack Barricade at the end of the chapter; there would be absolutely nothing stopping the squad from tearing him to pieces to avenge their comrade. If he attacked, he'd prove he was a menace and needed to be destroyed for public safety. Weakened as he was, he'd get slaughtered. His weakened state was also why he didn't use the Pearl: it would likely kill him and the exhaustive running incurred by the Potion of Swiftness would run his 'hunger' dry, thus weakening him further.
All roads that lead to him dealing a finishing or decisive blow to Barricade have only one end result: the Crafter dies. When police officers are confronted with a hostile carrying a weapon, they are instructed to shoot center mass. Without guns, that means the ponies will subdue him by any means necessary, even if it kills him. Like 1776426 pointed out, that's the simple, defining fact for why this ended the way it did: any other alternative would have him hunted or killed.
The story would end, and I could not continue it. There is only so much I can rationalize, but there is a point that I have to draw in the sand and cannot cross. This is one of them, for if I did, the story would cease to be.
If you don't like this turn of events, that's perfectly fine. I'm not holding that against you in any way, shape or form. In fact, if you want to do your own spinoff or 'What If?' scenario somewhere down the line based on different turns of events, feel free to do so; you have my support and permission. I'm not trying to discourage argument either; I honestly have no idea what I am doing and have made plenty of mistakes already. If I make them, point them out. I want to make this story as best as I can.
1777493
Honestly, would Vulcan mind melding with a creature that breaks the laws of physics be a good idea? No. Not one bit.
1778009
I believe you are referring to the entities in Chapter 13. The Shadow pony and Fluttershy's pursuer to be more specific (If I'm wrong, feel free to tell me). That chapter was in third-person limited perspective, centered around Fluttershy. Now the exact reason as to why those two were there will be explained later (very soon, in fact), but their identity's were left a mystery for a reason: Fluttershy didn't know them. Flutters has never scene an Endermen or the Eldritch abomination's I've written into the story, thus the reason they weren't named. It's a story-telling device to help readers better identify with the character's situation; if Flutters doesn't know, why should the readers? It builds suspense and fear, the same emotions she was feeling. Now the entity following Fluttershy was me just being a dick; I deliberately wrote it like that to trick readers into thinking it was an Endermen, until I disproved that with Chapter 14.
...I think his survivalist depicture makes sense....
But, y'know...whatever works for you...
1779857
i actually didn't have a specific instance in mind, though to be honest it i never thought an Enderman was chasing Fluttershy. First guess on that was that you were making up a new entity.
1776487
Kind sir you are being to hard on yourself. Also you havent neccesarily revealed that the Crafter has gone to the end and defeated the Ender Dragon. The Nether sure and defeating Ghasts happens to be how I spend my mincraft days. I still think you explained it well enough with the Survivalist and Warrior seperation. So just know that you have a good story here and its continuity is great.
1776487
I'd honestly prefer longer well thought out chapters, to a forced deadline, but that might just be my opinion. As for why your readers like Crafter so much, is must likely due to the fact that it is an interesting concept compared to other minecraft crossovers. He retained all his abilities from the overworld, and yet it still works within the laws of Equestria. I'm also going to say that I believe you did a fairly good job of portraying Crafter in the fight scene. As you stated he is NOT a fighter, but a survivor. If you look at his experience from the overworld he has always simply fought for survival or supplies. I'm mostly just parroting the story, although I figured someone should repeat the facts to calm all the people crying about Crafter being underpowered... So yeah, I said nothing new and basically just quoted your story, go me
I have to say, this story portrays the Crafter very much how I play in Minecraft: I'm incredibly over-cautious, and I usually play a two-person version of a single player map. I'm used to having a friend to back me up, though that's only because I tend to wander off. And because I've basically started saying that my minimum play requirement is Hardcore, I understand the 'I don't want to fight, I could die' feelings.
That said, I also play with the Better Than Wolves mods, minus the hardcore buckets and beds, simply because it ups the challenge, a LOT. While many new utilities are available, the entire game is much more difficult. I've only ever found a Stronghold once on my own, and I ended up building my entire base over and then into it, covering and using the spawners to carefully collect EXP over time, eventually making enough to start enchanting.
I take (RL) days, and when I finally feel safe enough, I start building out, branching into and adding to nearby villages, until I have a massively populated city. At one point, I had enough villagers in the city to make it spawn something like 5 or 6 Iron Golems at a time. That said, I ended up paying out a bunch of iron to make more, but still.
And then the industry starts, and everything gets better.
That said, I'm again, used to playing two-players, and that changes things drastically, because my friend is a risk-taker, and much more skilled at combat than I, while I'm much better at maintaining fortifications and providing farms and the like (one of the reasons I stopped online play was because my farms are good enough people eventually try to take them over.
Anyways, I guess what I'm saying is that I understand the Crafter's point of view, and that I wish him well.
1779857
Well I am very glad you aren't going to go with the whole as you put it 'mind meld' thing. And like you said he didn't learn from the ponies as much as they did from him so now he can learn even if he is their captive. And now that I think about it if the ponies enchant his cell to be 'unbreakable' then he couldn't escape if I'm not mistaken, seems like a logical thing to do if you know he can break through rock so easy. I'm hoping you'll give him a better chance of escaping.
Also I'm assuming from how you did chapter 14 that Lyra might try and defend and trust him? If you're going to go the whole ''they're going to become best friends'' thing fine it's your story after all you can write what you want although trust is the key word here if I were in the Crafters place (and if I didn't know about MLP of course) I wouldn't trust them for shit, something so cute and deadly can't just be trusted so I'd rather escape then make 'friends' with them.
But I'm just viewing this from a logical stand point though the Crafter might not even know what ''cute'' means (cause you know there isn't anything ''cute'' per say in the Craftworld) and so far the Crafter pretty much has two options, either he trusts the ponies or he tries escaping their captivity.
This is just me but the escape option sounds more interesting and also him escaping succesfuly sounds even better but it's still your story so if you feel that the Crafter should escape then it's your call.
1779857 Bravo, bravo. Nice work telling of those neigh sayers. What your crafter(Steve) do and how he reacts is what makes him believable as a character. I know that about 99% of all humans would get slighly crazy if they knew they would just "respawn" somewhere. "Paintball whats that? Here we play with real guns." A "sane" person would not run infront of a speeding car just to save 4 seconds. A "sane person would not walk balance on the rooftop for the only reason that they where bored. A "sane" person would most defenatly not shoot themselves in the head just to find out what getting shot in the brain feels like.
Anyway great chapter, can't wait for more. *thumbs crossed that next one is Steve based.*
Oh yea there where one thing, he managed to don his diamond armor and yet his ribs broke? That don't make much sense. Clearly his armor is just a chunk of hollowed out diamond, and should thus protect him from kinetic forces better. While its true it was only his chestpeice and his legs arms and head was unprotected you described it as the main mass taking the blunt not any extremities. What I am saying is, that armor should have protected him almost compleetly, and if any damage should have been aplied it would probably be some bruises on his back. I'll be back telling you about and why In another comment, b
Edit: Was gonna write more to this but sent it by accident and my cellphone's battery died about 1 minute later.
If we Bronies keep using Barricade as the name for Fluttershy's mum it may be turned into cannon.
1781081 Anyway, as I was saying. He should have been much more protected from those blows. The armor would take up almost all of that kinetic force, and send it through to the next object, not Steve himself, he would however gotten a small backlash from the wall impact, thous hurting his back a little.(yes his back, not his front) Here I will try to explain.
As his armor comes in place tailored to perfectly fit his chest, only leaving enough room to breathe properly, which should not be more than about 8-12 millimeters depending on his chest size and musculature. and this number being halved as he is placed pretty snugly in the middle. Lets just say the space is 8 millimeters as it is easy to halve in 2. That will leave 4 Millimeters in front of him and 4 behind him.
Lets just say we put a huge impact on the front armor lets say a Haymaker buck for an example. The kinetic force would push the armor towards him, but 4 millimeters is not enough space to allow the armor to gain enough kinetic force to deal significant damage to him, especially not since it gets spread out by the armor to the entire chest area evenly, and as soon as that the armor hits him the force would spread out evenly between him and the armor. If he was not standing against anything his body would just start to follow the armor, send him flying(not super far, just a couple of meters) and the kinetic force would lower a bit as it fights against gravity and wind resistance. What would hurt him the most would be the landing, not the buck itself. Simply because during the landing as the armor gives away its energy a slight moment before he does.
Another example would be, when pinned down against something. Lets say Steve have his armor backed up against a wall, and a certain pink maned warrior punched him with a hoof, there is two possible things that could happen, 1: The wall breaks under her relentlessly powerful punch. 2: Her hoof breaks against the sturdiness of the wall. See how the armor is not even taken into equation here? It is made of diamond, the hardest material known. A punch like this would leave Steve perfectly unharmed, because the force would not be applied to him, but to the wall instead. He would probably not even feel it. This is because like I said before, the armor is just a 1 piece chunk of diamond. it will transfer its kinetic force to whatever is the closest(along the force(s) path(s)), and if the armor is already touching the wall, then it would be closer than Steve hypothetically.
Note: This is only true because his armor is a one piece chunk, if it was multiple pieces these examples would not fit.
And this is why his diamond chest plate would have protected him more. Excuse me if my nerd rage came of a bit to aggressive.
Also, if you do not really understand what I mean, I could draw you a quick little comic thingy about what I mean. Kinda like one of those you find in your science textbooks in school.
1781230
Oh, I understand alright, and it was the price I played for blending two wolds together. When judging damage output, I was using Overworld rules. When fighting monsters, he can still be hurt with his armor on, even through particularly weak attacks. This was only compounded by his 'hungry' status. But I see where you're coming from and I have a way of dealing with it in the next chapter.
1781470 Good that we are on understanding terms.
I understand how hard it can be to combine the two worlds. But keep in mind, he is in their word thus "most" rules should be theirs. BTW Last episode showed us that Dashie defenatly must play MineCraft after what she did with the trees.
1776487 insted of making steve surrender he should pretent to sit down making him look down get has shouvle and dig down thus ending is problem with the ponies for another day either that somewhat i lose respect for this story no offence
1781847
Sadly, I've only seen the season premier and nothing else. The internet has exploded and I haven't even seen why.
1783641
He tried, and it didn't work. Barricade used the fraction of a second needed to dig out a cube and blitzed him. She may not know the finer details, but she, due to Lt. Chaser's report, has already deduced what items do what. She knows exactly what that shovel does, and that's why she took preventative measures and hit him hard enough to punch out his soul. Bad metaphor, but you get the idea. She beat him into submission first, because she doesn't know the full extent of his inventory. Perhaps he has another Ender Pearl and can teleport away? She doesn't know that he has only one, but she blitzed him anyway because she figured out he couldn't defend against the onslaught. He's not a warrior, and that's why he got caught and lost the fight. I answer this in more detail in this epically long post ----> 1779857
The crafter is the best I love how you made his character just like hes seen a lot, but just doesn't know how to work with the new things around him. Good work!
1783705 thank you for that very London disscousion
either way we're talking about Fucking Steve here (sorry for use of language) but still dis guy didn't Fri kin stop when he defeated the goddamed enderdragon(that other enderdragon is just respawn right ) but still the person builds crap for a living every day eons of life doesn't go away of three days a fighting 
but either way the ponies are UNTRUSTABLE come on man you have to be live me. Ppl just don't give up that easily just to help let him use the damned enderpearl you're making his live a living hell for notches sake !!!
1785230
I already went through this, both in story and in the comments. He hasn't entered the End. He was weak enough that the Pearl or the Potion would have killed him.
Barricade forced his hand. He could either fight or submit. Against an entire squad, he'd lose a fight, so he picked the latter. It's not because he trusted Barricade, it's because he was completely out of options. There was literally no other path to take.
Barricade would not let him dig his way out. The Potion of Swiftness and Ender Pearl would kill him. He had no time to replenish his health. Fighting any longer would only end in his death. Even if he managed to stop a few of them, that would remove any and all suspicions that this was a misunderstanding; he would be deemed too dangerous to live and killed on sight.
It's not a pleasant choice, but it's the only one where he knows he's not going to die. He doesn't care about 'winning,' only living. Please listen, I already covered these facts.
1785324 fine gotta suck life out of me this fined night don't ya
We like that crafter's POV because Steve has no canon personality, and we think that you chose one that describes well the persona attributed subconsciously to players of minecraft. Also, far to many fanfictions do not dwell deep enough into the characters minds, and so they lack the roundness that you have talentfully attributed to your characters. we choose to cling to the crafter because we as reader have become disinterested in characters who are ponies. Don't allow yourself to forget that you write in a genre dominated by readers whose thirst is for characters imported from other narratives, so naturally, your readers will certainly gravitate towards the crafter. Lastly, there aren't any other cross-overs for minecraft in existence that are near as good as this one is, so you get everyone, and they want Steve. There is my analysis. frankly, I am surprised you could not find it out yourself just by thinking about it, as you writing speaks of an author who's of a higher caliber than most others.
1807483
You flatter me.
The reason I ask is, of course, being as I am the author, I am not the most impartial person here.