A Crafter's Dream Ch. 16: Winter Amends
Now, without further adieu, I present,
“A Crafter’s Dream”
Steve hated the winter. Not because it was cold, as that one annoying song said, “The cold never bothered him anyways.” No, in fact he really enjoyed snow angels and snowball fights and making forts. No, he hated winter because at night, if it was snowing, it made it hard to see, and it made fighting mobs hard as well, as it threw off his coordination. Steve had questioned at first why snow had just appeared out of nowhere, especially considering how it had been sunny on the days beforehand, but he remembered that pegasi controlled the weather, and could do whatever they damn well pleased with it.
Steve sat upon Town Hall, under the effects of an invisibility potion, a deadpan expression on his face. It was getting the end of the day, and he hadn't seen anything unusual. Not even any guards had tried to harass him. A slight snowfall had made the white powder form a circle around him, but he ignored it.
Leaning back, he sighed. Today had been a really boring day, which caught him off guard, all things considered, with what had happened to Derpy just two days prior. Steve had expected something like an increase in guard presence, but so far, the only guards that had arrived were the ones to replace the guard’s Steve had slaughtered/beat down. He’d made sure not to kill any of them. He knew from his time being a soldier back on his world that only the higher-ups really know what’s going on most of the time. The foot-soldiers were just following orders.
The only exception was that blind, dirt-bag, earth pony. That guard had crossed a line. While Steve was fairly sure he hadn’t killed him, he wasn’t gonna wake up for a while. The rest would probably be up and about within the week, something that made Steve groan a bit, knowing he’d probably only made things harder for himself. Still, Steve had morals and he was sure to follow them, lest he become the very thing he fought to destroy. A monster.
Getting up, Steve patted his behind, knocking off any snow that had stuck. Stretching, he cracked his neck, then popped his shoulder. With that, he leapt across onto a nearby building, and started to make his way out of town. It wasn’t until he made it onto the open path, all pure, unfiltered white, did he get an idea.
After a good half-hour, he eventually came back into town under cover of night, with two items, one in each hand. On one hand, he clutched a diamond shovel. The other held a carved pumpkin, it’s smirk mirroring Steve’s.
“Oh, this is gonna be good!”
* * * * *
The town was in uproar.
Not because there was a monster attack. Not technically. No, the town was in uproar because of all the snow creatures that were shuffling through town.
There were dozens, maybe over a hundred. They were shuffling down the road, in the town square, and even into any homes or buildings that were unlucky enough to have their door open. What was even stranger was how the creatures looked.
They were tall, easily double a small pony’s height. Their body consisted of two square pieces of snow, the second one slightly smaller than the bottom piece, with three black buttons. Two thin sticks stuck out of their body as arms. Their head was a large orange pumpkin, with two empty eyes and a thin mouth.
Usually such an event would end up with something attacking, and something being destroyed, but that was the weirdest part. They weren’t attacking. If anypony approached them, they would simply look at them for a moment, before utterly ignoring the pony altogether.
“What are these things?” Rainbow Dash stated, poking one of the creatures in it’s stomach area. In response, it moved back an inch, but other-wise, did nothing. Turning to Twilight and Fluttershy, she shrugged. “They’re not doing anything. What do we do with them?”
Twilight had a conflicted expression on her muzzle as she thought. Looking up, she saw the towns ponies were all staying wary, making sure not to get too close to the strange beings. Looking at them, she saw the creatures, so far, were peaceful.
“I don’t know. They aren’t harming anypony, but they are still an unknown species. Try and see if they can communicate.” Dash nodded, before turning to the snow creature. Hovering, she got close to its face.
“Hey!! Hey, weirdo! Do you understand me?!” The being simply stared at her for a few moments, before shuffling away. Dash sighed, before landing. “No luck, Twi.”
“This just complicates things. Hold on. Let me try a simple translation spell. Hopefully that will work.” Her horn glowed, then shot a faint, purple bolt at the creature. Instead of the bolt simply being absorbed by the being, like it was supposed to, instead, the creature let out a loud squeak as it flashed red for a split second and was knocked back by the bolt.
“What, that should’ve worked. Excuse me, can you understand me now?”
“Uh,Twilight?” Fluttershy spoke. Twilight turned her head in curiosity.
“What is it, Fluttershy?” In response, Fluttershy pointed behind her. Twilight turned around and gasped in shock. Every snow creature in the town was focused on her. Taking a step back, a nervous expression overtook her features.
All at once, every snow creatures right hand shot up, a snowball materializing in their grip. The next moment, Twilight found herself under a barrage of snow as at least 100 snowballs flew her way, more coming by the second. It was only at the last second that she teleported away in a flash of light. Once their target was gone, the snow creatures lowered their arms, becoming peaceful once more.
Rainbow Dash found her one road down, snow peppered on her mane.
“I think they got a little mad Twi.” Dash chuckled.
“Yeah. I noticed.” Twilight said, looking up at her friend with a deadpan expression. As she did so, she noticed Dash’s gaze drift for a moment, then focus on something which made her eyes narrow. Turning around, she saw nothing. Frowning, she focused on her friend again.
“What is it Rainbow Dash?” Dash shook her head and looked back at Twilight.
“Sorry, just thought I saw something. Anyway, I just remembered I kinda forgot to do something. Sorry, but I’ll have to catch you later. Bye.” Before Twilight could protest, Dash was gone in a few flaps of her powerful wings. She sighed, shook her head to clear the snow from it, then carried on her way.
* * * * *
Steve figuratively patted himself on the back for both the great idea, and the job well done. He figured the naturally peaceful snow golems wouldn’t just attack any residents that didn’t attack them first, as golems were made to fight monsters, not sentient ponies. He’d almost laughed when everyone of them had just focused on Twilight after she’d hit one with her magic bolt. Luckily for her, she reacted in time before she was covered under a blanket of snow and teleported onto an adjacent road. Seeing her appear, snow covering her mane, he had let out a small chuckle, then started making his way towards Derpy’s house.
She’d invited him over for something called “hot chocolate.” He’d told her he’d never heard of such a food. She had stopped, looked at him for a moment, then started laughing. It was only after he’d gotten her to stop did she tell him what hot chocolate was. She’d even offered to make him some right at the time, but he had needed to leave to take care of some things, promising he’d try it next time he came around.
Arriving at her back door, he knocked three times. After a minute or two, and another knocking, she had come to the door, a scarf wrapped around her neck and a pair of earmuffs on her head. She smiled and immediately invited him in. Accepting the invitation, he wiped his boots and walked in, shutting the door behind him.
He was unaware of the pair of narrowed magenta eyes watching from above.
* * * * *
Steve parkoured his way home, leaping from rooftop to rooftop. Bit by bit, he made his way out of town and down the path, walking slow in order to enjoy the cool wind blowing by. He felt the tingle on his skin fade, signaling the invisibility had worn away. But he didn’t care much. He had no ponies to worry about, as they were all in town, trying to find a way to get rid of his golems. If previous experiences had told him anything, they would resort to killing them off soon enough. The golems would fight back, sure, but with their snowballs being able to deal no damage whatsoever, they wouldn’t last long. Steve was surprised Rainbow Dash hadn’t tried to just hit all of them, as she had he when Steve had first arrived in town.
Suddenly, Steve felt a familiar presence behind him, followed by the almost imperceptible sound of beating wings.
X: Jump
Steve leapt forward, whirling around, hand reaching up to his shoulder. Just as he thought, there was Rainbow Dash, in the air. However, what caught him off-guard was the fact that she wasn’t speeding at him like a banshee. Instead, she just hovered a few feet above the ground, staring at him. Steve stared back, feeling a mix of confusion and irritation rise in his gut.
Silence reigned. Eventually, it was broken by Rainbow Dash.
“Why?” Steve quirked an eyebrow. What did she mean?
“The Nether are you talking about?” She sighed and asked again.
“Why? Why didn’t you kill me?” Steve took a step back. Kill her? Before he could inquire further, she landed and started trotting forward, slowly.
“You fought me three times, and as much as it hurts my pride to say, you won every time. I’ve seen the sword you carry, the big blue one. I know you could’ve killed me at any opportunity. So why didn’t you?” Steve thought for a moment, eyes remaining on the mare. After a few minutes, he responded.
“You’re not evil.” She raised an eyebrow and was about to speak, but he continued. “I will only kill people and creatures I deem to be evil. You may be kinda stupid, and your brash and you jump to conclusions, but your not evil. That’s why.”
“Then why did you hurt all those guards a few days ago? What did they do?” She countered.
Steve sighed. “One of my friends was taken by General Trench. Apparently, he figured out she was my friend and wanted as much knowledge about me as he could get. I figured out he was using some unsettling methods to get that info. The guards were trying to stop me, not because they didn’t want me to rescue my friend, but because it was their job.”
“It was Derpy, wasn’t it.” She asked. Steve immediately tensed. How did she..?
“I saw something shimmering and moving over the rooftops this morning. I remember the guards talking about how to look out for a shimmer, as that was the indication that you were nearby. I followed you to Derpy’s house. Anyway’s, what methods did they use?” Steve hesitated, before sighing.
“It’s not my place to say. If you want to know,you gotta ask her. But don’t try and force her to talk. If I hear from her that you pushed her to talk about something she didn’t want to, I will personally rip your wings off.” He growled. She backed up slightly, before steeling herself, then nodding.
“Got it.” She said. Steve nodded in response, before beginning to walk away. He had only walked for a few feet before he heard something from behind.
“I’m sorry.” These words made Steve almost stumble, before turning around, to see Rainbow Dash with a look of guilt on her face.
“I’m sorry. I’m really, really, sorry. I hurt you, and beat you, and I even struck you with bucking lightning! I always called you a monster. But I just realized that you’re not. I’m the monster.” Turning, she flared out her wings, getting ready to fly. “You won’t have to worry about me fighting you or anything anymore. I’ll leave you alone.”
“Hold the fuck on!” Steve cried out in confusion, making Dash turn around with a confused expression on her face.
“What?”
“The fuck do you mean, what?! Correct me if I’m wrong, but you’re the same mare that has fought me and hit me and had me shunned from your town! Now, you’re all guilty and shit! What the Nether happened to you?!” She looked away for a moment, before looking back at Steve.
“My friend, Fluttershy was talking about you yesterday. She talked about how maybe you were just misunderstood and stuff like that. It got me thinking about the day you first came and how, maybe you weren’t the monster I thought you were, especially considering you didn’t hurt AJ, when you had the chance. I thought all that was just, uh, what did Twilight say, “wishful thinking”, until earlier today. I watched you in Derpy’s house, just talking and relaxing and laughing. A monster doesn’t do that. But when I thought that, I was reminded of all of the horrible stuff I did to you. The fights, the lightning. I just… What the buck was I thinking?” She murmured the last part to herself as she sat down in the snow, face downcast. Steve stared at her, wide-eyed. What was he supposed to do? This mare was the very cause of why he was being hunted. But at the same time, she owning up to her mistakes and, kinda trying to solve them. Steve sighed.
“Look, I don’t hate you.” She looked up at him. “I just don’t really like you. You made a lot of mistakes, and I’m expecting you to try and fix them. I can’t forgive you just like that, but maybe, just maybe, if you’re willing to work for it, I can give you a second chance.” Her face lifted slightly and she nodded.
“You got it!” She immediately jumped into the air, wings flapping.
“Just one thing!” She immediately looked down at him, eyebrows creased in confusion.
“Stay away from the guards. If they catch wind of you and I talking at all, they will try to capture you. And yes, you may be fast, and strong, but you can’t take on a whole guard platoon. So keep quiet.” She nodded solemnly.
Steve felt a smirk come to his lips. Without a word, he put up his hand, clenching it into a fist, not in a threatening way, but a casual way. Getting the idea, she flew down and gently brohoofed him.
“Cool.”
Hey, so Dashie finally got a brain. 'Bout time, right? 
Tell me what all y'all think in the comments. But be warned, not everything will be brought to light, just yet.
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Good
Rainbow Dash second-guessing her assumptions? Get outta here with your OOC nonsense!
But seriously, good on her for figuring that out and owning up to it. That Discussion with Derpy ain't gonna be easy, but it'll be the first step to fixing this mess.
Oh yeah, and filling the town with snow golems? Priceless! Especially since, contrary to his assumptions, they will never think of just destroying them all. Just imagine them trying to handle winter wrap-up with scores of snow golems wandering around spreading fresh snow everywhere!
9488141
lololololololol, i tried that on some noobs, they had no idea just what the fuck to do with them!!!
"this just in, winter still on for five more weeks; snow golems keep piling snow everywhere they go. attempts to peacefully remove them have garnered merciless attacks of numerous snowballs"
this is just making me laugh thinking about that happening.
and good on fluttershy breaking through the rainbow pride parade, by making her second guess the times she fought steve.
9488191
It didn't occur to me until now that I may have f@#ked the timeline up a bit just by having Steve do a prank.
9488197
lol.
I like this. I really really really want the corrupt guards to die to Creepers or Skeletons, or Zombies, or Endermen, Or Silverfish, or Ghasts, or Zombiepigmen, Or Zombie Verns. Basically any enemy from Minecraft.
9488204
Welp, guess Winter Wrap Up in Ponyville finishes in... two weeks from next Tuesday after never
'Bout damn time Crash, ain't gonna save your ass from the Consequences, but they will be lowered.
I love the Snow Golems, I used them on a Faction server once to make a Enemy faction think their Northern Colony was about to be attacked. 357 Golem's inside a hand made Raid camp JUST on the edge of View Distance.
9488263
Zombie Verns?
9488315
Tiny Zombies. Sorry. I watch Achievement Hunters a lot and they say Zombie Verns whenever they see them.
We can only hope Rainbow can clear things up with the princesses....
Doom. HaHaHaHaHa!!!
Nice that they're friends. All she needs to do is talk to Derpy and tell her friends about Steve, and have Twilight send a letter to the Princesses that Steve is a nice guy.
I'm calling it rn.
DASHIE'S A TRAITOR!
I don't hate her, but she keeps changing her mind way too quick. I've watched too many Mafia games to not know this 'strategy'.
Ironically, I do believe the ponies might accidentally kill the golems when it rains, (as rain hurts and kills Snow Golems and rather quickly too) it would be hilarious to see there mortifies faces. Except Fluttershy might cry.....
Oh, wait, shit, that's not good....!
That's not good enough Dash, your actions have snowballed.
You initiated violence upon an unknown species, escalated the events due to never coming forward of you, yourself starting everything. Your crimes carry beyond false accusations and assault but the deployment of government troops, wasted resources of their prolonged stay and the rising number of injured that need to be replaced, who will eventually join that number. Now the inquisition is coming, collateral damage and injuries that will follow from then on, are yours to collect.
National hero or not, you shame your country with this political fuck up, that could echo to foreign perception among other races to Equestria.
Boy, can't wait for the reality check in the princess' faces.
Finally everyone is starting to realize in their faults, but I hope the princesses can retract their previous order soon
9498777
I'd agree sadly Celestia is too indecisive about this so I doubt she give Dash a proper reprimand, maybe a hoofslap but nothing bigger than that. Luna while she might think of something, might not help due to her recent return and her needing to integrate with modern-Equestria
I like this, basically your classic human goes to Equestria fic, (which I have made before) except that human is a Minecraft character.
> snow
My stupidity senses are tingling. You may be an invisible fucker, but you're not ephemeral - snow will still land and settle on your dumb ass.
Um, actually that was extremely anticlimactic. I feel cheated. At the very least, there should've been at least three chapters of her reflecting on that day, and slowly coming to realize what a horrible pony she's been.
This sort of quick turn-around only has any right to happen during a fight - at which point she's expected to just stand there and take the coming blow. Y'all know what I'm talking about. ;]
It's not the worst resolution I've read on this site, but by far not great either.
A member of an endangered species walks into town, and Rainbow proceeds to try and beat him to death, as well as turn him into a pariah. She doesn't really understand half the shit she did to him.
Then again, her not understanding a lot of things is kind of par for the course. So yeah, this is as good as it's going to get.
Still think she should go to jail for attempted murder via electrocuting him though.
getting [insert your idea of a good word here] the
*You're
9488141
Crowd: "These snow-thingies, these snow-thingies!"
Flitter: "They're making such a huge mess!"
Crowd: "Snow for bodies and pumpkin heads!"
Cloud Chaser: "Even when we do our best!"
Crowd: "Twilight, will you do something please?"
Mayor Mare: "'Cuz if not then I do fear, Winter will then just stay here!"
THANK. FYAYING. HARMONY.
Sense not to live
Oh NOW she gets a clue! Too late Dash, you've already managed to escalate things to the point where the Princesses are calling Exterminatus on him. Notice how he instantly forgives her? Zero effort required, minimal interaction or dialogue needed to resolve anything. No recriminations, no Steve blwoing up at her when he did so with Luna for far less. It's the other side of the idiot ball style of story conflict maintenance, when the conflict is no loonger needed, it just ends.
Also, single creature, wearing clotthes and showing tool use, comes out of the woods doing nothing particularly hostile - Gets instantaly attacked.
Army of snow monsters tromp out of the woods - try to communicate with them.
Anyone seeing the double standard here? If nothing else, General Ripper and his merry band of rapists should either instantly attack them or drag them off to be sex slaves.
9488422 I'm sorry, have you actually been reading this fic? Based on existing events, Rainbow will probably decide it was Steve who was going to rape her and she's suffering from Stockhorse syndrome.