A Crafter's Dream Ch. 56: Bugging Out
Now, without further ado, I present,
“A Crafter’s Dream”
Steve ran along the worn and beaten path, kicking up small plumes of dust with each step. Up ahead, he saw the spot where two paths converged and turned to the left. One, obviously, lead to his home. Steve wasn’t sure where the other path went, he’d never explored it. Upon getting close to the bend, he twisted his lower body and planted his feet, the sudden movement causing him to slide into the turn.
Kicking off the ground, he continued on his way, finding himself at the edge of the forest only a few minutes later. Breaking through the tree line, he maintained his pace, running along the road back to Ponyville.
Upon entering the small town, Steve noticed a shadow pass over him. He looked up to see a squad of pegasi guards flying overhead. One of them glanced down and, upon seeing him, spoke to his comrades, who all looked down at him as well. Circling back around, four guards landed close by.
“You are Steve, correct?” One guard asked as the group slowly approached. The Crafter looked cautiously at the four guards for a moment before giving a single nod. “Good. Princess Celestia has requested that you see her as soon as possible.”
“Why?” Steve asked, eyebrows furrowed slightly in worry. “What happened?”
“We don’t know.” A different guard answered, shrugging. “Haven’t been debriefed yet. After she arrived, she sent us out to look for you almost immediately.”
“Damn it.” Steve groaned in exasperation, rubbing a hand against his face. Sighing, he looked back at the guards. “Alright, where will I find her?”
“Last I checked, she’s still at the barracks talking to the Captain.” The same guard answered, motioning behind them. “If you’ll follow us, we’ll take you to her.”
Steve nodded. “That’d be great, thanks.”
With that, the guards turned and began their walk back to the barracks, Steve following close behind. As they walked, Steve took the time to look around.
‘There were a lot more guards around.’ He thought, glancing up as another squad of pegasi guards flew overhead. Looking to his right, he saw two unicorn guards and an earth pony guard sitting outside a building, talking to a white unicorn mare with light blue hair. She wore these big pink glasses that mostly hid her expression, though from what Steve could tell, she didn’t like what she was hearing. To his left he saw two earth pony guards talking to each other while looking over a paper with some writing on it.
‘Indeed.’ Nightmare Steve spoke, tone confused. ‘But why?’
‘Don’t know.’ Steve responded, continuing to look around. ‘Hey Nightmare, warn me if you notice anything strange, okay?’
‘You got it.’
Continuing to follow the guards, Steve pointedly ignored the stares he was getting from both civilian and guard alike. After all, he figured that it would take a while for them to get used to his presence considering the events of the last few months. At least now, he wasn’t being attacked.
Eventually, the four guards and Steve made it to the other side of town, getting close to the barracks. As they approached, Steve could see that the place was absolutely packed. There was no less than three hundred guards, much more than Steve had ever seen at one time, even back when he’d been a wanted Crafter.
‘What the hell happened that warranted this many guards?’ Steve thought to himself, the worry in his gut only worsening.
‘I don’t know.’ Nightmare Steve responded.
‘Hopefully Celestia will be able to tell us.’
“Steve!” A familiar voice called out. The Crafter’s gaze snapped to the side to see Trench running towards him.
“Hey Trench, how are you doing?” Steve asked, before gesturing with his thumb at the numerous guards that stood nearby. “Also, what’s up with all the guards?”
“I’m doing fine, thanks. As for the guards, well, I‘ll get to that, but first I need to ask you something.”
Steve raised an eyebrow. “What is it?”
Trench took a moment to look around before leaning in close and speaking in a low voice. “Did you ever activate your Nightmare Form at any time last night?”
Steve, though confused, nodded and whispering back. “Yeah, I did.” Trench gave a sigh of relief. “Why?”
“Come on, follow me. I’ll explain once we find Celestia.” With that, the gray stallion walked off, Steve hastily following after him. After squeezing by a contingent of guards, which was more awkward than Steve could care to mention, they started off towards a wooden building, one that was rather larger than the rest.
“What’s that?” Steve asked, gesturing to the structure.
“That’s the Captain’s quarters. Basically, it’s where the pony that’s furthest up the ‘Royal Guard’ totem pole stays whenever they're in Ponyville. Right now, it’s where Captain Armor is staying.”
“Captain Armor?” Steve inquired, eyebrows furrowing in thought.
Trench nodded. “Yeah. The Captain is basically the guy in charge of the Royal Guard, second only to the Princesses.” They arrived at the front of the wooden building. Trench lifted a hoof and gave two sharp knocks on the door.
Silence for a few moments. Trench and Steve glanced at each other for a moment before Trench lifted his hoof and knocked again.
Nothing.
Sighing, Trench went to knock once again...
Triangle: Kick
...only for Steve’s foot to kick the door in with little effort, resulting in a loud crash as the door fell to the floor.
“Whoa!” Trench cried out as he jumped back. He scowled up at Steve. “Dude, what the hay!?”
“I’ll fix it later.” Steve responded as he stepped inside, stepping over the now-cracked door. “Come on.”
Trench sighed, then followed. “Fine. But if anypony complains about the door, I’m blaming you.”
“Fair enough.”
“What in Equestria is going on here!?” A voice, decidedly female, cried out. Both Crafter and stallion whirled around to see a white earth pony mare, with a dark brown mane and hazel eyes, staring at the pair in shock. Clutched in one hoof was a notepad with something written on it.
Trench let out a nervous grin. “O-oh, hey Raven.” The mare glared at Trench.
“That’s Ms. Inkwell to you, General.” The stallion flinched slightly at her harsh tone, but nodded.
“Yeah, sorry. Forgot.”
Inkwell’s expression didn’t change. “Hmph.”
Steve decided to cut in, moving to stand beside the stallion. He’d ask Trench about what had just happened later.
“Hello?” She glanced at him. “Yeah, hi there. So, I’m not sure what your problem is, but Trench here is my friend, so if you could cut the attitude, that’d be great.”
She stared at the Crafter, flabbergasted. “E-excuse me?”
“You’re excused. Now, Celestia is expecting me, so if you could tell us where she is, that’d be great.”
She scowled. “You will refer to her Majesty using her title, you oaf!”
“Really? And if I don’t?”
“Then you’ll have Princess Celestia to answer to!”
Steve looked at her with a deadpan expression. “Celestia was the one that wanted me to call her by her first name. If she didn’t, I’d probably just call her Princess.”
“No you wouldn’t.” Trench spoke, rolling his eyes. Steve looked at the gray stallion for a moment before shrugging.
“Eh, you’re right.”
Raven sighed, frustrated. “Absolutely no respect.” She muttered, before turning to Trench with a frown on her face. “Though if you two are friends, I can see the resemblance.”
Steve glared at the mare. “Now hold the fuck on. What the Nether is your problem?”
“That’s none of your bucking business.” She retorted sharply.
“I beg to differ, you little-”
“Steve.” Trench cut in, putting a hoof on his side. Steve looked down at him with a confused expression. “Please, let it go.”
“Wha-?”
“Hmph.” Raven huffed, before turning away and leaving the room, the door slamming shut behind her. Trench simply sighed and rubbed a hoof against his face while Steve stared at the stallion in confusion.
“Dude, what was that?”
Trench hesitated for a moment, with a conflicted expression on his face. Finally, he sighed again before answering. “We used to date, me and Raven. Safe to say, our relationship didn’t end on the best of terms.”
“What happened?”
“Steve?” A familiar voice asked, prompting them both to whirl around.
The pony to meet their gaze was none other than the Solar Diarch herself, coming out of a nearby room. However, she wasn’t alone. Standing on her right was her slightly-disgruntled looking sister, Luna. On her left was a stallion Steve had only met once, a white unicorn with a two-toned blue mane.
“Oh it’s you.” Steve spoke, with obvious disdain in his voice, deadpanning at Shining Armor. The white unicorn glared at him, teeth grit. “What the Nether are you doing here, White Power?”
“What did you just call me!?” The unicorn snarled. “My name is Shining Armor, you hairless ape!!”
“Oh wow, real original!” Steve drawled sarcastically. “Where’d you get that one, ‘Good clean jokes to tell your parents?!’”
“Enough!!” Celestia shouted, immediately silencing the pair. Huffing, she turned to Shining. “Captain, please inform Commander Ebony of what we discussed.” The unicorn, though he looked ready to argue, swallowed and nodded before turning to leave, only stopping for a moment to glare at Steve before leaving, the door slamming shut behind him.
“We will leave as well, Sister. We require rest for the long night ahead.” Luna spoke, already walking to the door. She glanced at Steve for a moment, but when the Crafter returned the gaze, she quickly left, the door slowly swinging closed.
‘What was that about?’ Steve thought to himself.
‘I’m unsure. I may be wrong, but I sensed a feeling of shame from the Lunar Diarch.’ Nightmare Steve responded. Steve’s eyes widened.
‘What?’
“And as for you.” Celestia interrupted, turning to look at the Crafter. Shaking his head to clear his thoughts, Steve looked at her with a confused expression.
“What?”
“Steve, I understand that you have many bad experiences with my guards, but I would appreciate it if you didn’t antagonize Captain Armor.”
“Wait, that fucker is the captain?!” Steve cried out in surprise. Celestia blinked in surprise.
“Have you met the captain before?”
Steve nodded. “Yeah, one time, right before I threw myself and Trench out a window.”
The Solar Diarch stared at the Crafter with a deadpan expression. “...You, threw yourself, out a window?”
“Yeah. Me and Trench.”
“...Why?”
Steve shrugged. “Your Captain, Shining Armor, and some pink alicorn chick-”
“Princess Cadence.” Trench chimed in.
Steve rolled his eyes with a smirk. “Right. Anyway, those two saw us while we were trying to escape the castle and tried to capture us. Turns out Miss ‘Pretty in Pink’ was pretty pissed at me because she has a few friends in the Guard that I fought at one point or another. I mean, I get why she was mad and all, but still.”
Celestia sighed, pressing a gold-clad hoof to her face. “I will speak to her about this when I return to Canterlot. In the meantime, there is something I need to talk to you about.”
“It’s about the Nightmare, right?”
Celestia blinked in shock. “How did you-?”
“The first thing Trench asked me when I got here was if I’d activated my Nightmare Form at all last night, which I had, so I put two and two together.” He shrugged. “Figured that was most likely it.”
“Your what form?” The Solar Princess inquired, extremely confused.
“My Nightmare Form.” Steve reiterated. When Celestia’s befuddled expression didn’t change, he explained. “Remember that Nightmare that had infected me?” She nodded. “Well, turns out he wasn’t bad. In fact, he helped me take down Herobrine in the Mindscape. And then again, last night, he helped me take on those changelings and rescue Zecora.”
“What?!” Celestia cried out, causing both Steve and Trench to jump slightly from her outburst.
“What is it? What’s wrong?” Steve asked in a worried voice.
“Steve.” The Solar Diarch spoke, her voice serious. She placed a hoof on his shoulder. “I need you to tell me everything that happened last night. Leave nothing out.”
Steve stared at her, eyebrows furrowed in worry at how panicked she seemed. Taking a deep breath, Steve cooled his nerves and began his tale.
* * * * *
They were already long-gone.
After Steve had recounted what had happened, Celestia had demanded that he take them to the cave. It’d taken less than an hour to get Celestia and the 24 guards she brought along to the cave where Steve had fought the changelings, but by the time they’d arrived, it was too late. Not a single changeling could be found.
Steve sat outside the cave, electing to stay outside while the guards worked. He lay with his back pressed up against the stone wall and his sword held loosely in one hand, the diamond blade glistening slightly in the late morning sun. He was alone, with Celestia and the guards all inside, looking around or whatever it was they were doing. Celestia herself had seemed more, well, keen on finding any changelings that may have remained in the cave.
‘Now that I think about it, she seemed really freaked out on the way over here.’ He thought, putting a hand to his chin as he pondered. ‘You think maybe she’s fought changelings before, Nightmare?’
‘Princess Celestia has lived for many years, Steve. It’s more than possible.’ The Nightmare responded.
‘Yeah, true.’ Steve agreed. ‘I’ll ask her about it when she gets out.’ He decided, taking a deep breath as he leaned back against the rock wall.
“Ow.” An expressly male voice spoke.
The Crafter’s eyes snapped open before he looked to his right, where the voice had come from. As he watched, a changeling slowly stood up from a nearby bush, rubbing his head with a black-cloven hoof, his eyes squinted in pain. Steve’s eyes widened when he remembered the three changelings he knocked out and hidden there the night before. The changeling shook his head for a second before looking around.
His blue eyes widened in horror the moment he spotted Steve, who in turn looked at the changeling in shock. The two stared at each other for a few moments before the Crafter finally spoke.
“Yo.”
The changeling continued to stare for a few moments before his eyes rolled into the back of his head and he passed out, collapsing back into the bush he’d risen from.
Steve sighed, before settling back against the wall. He’d deal with that later. It wasn’t like the changeling was going anywhere, after all.
Why did Steve feel like he was forgetting something?
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does steve still have access to resources that he had like say, ender pearls
9871776
That's actually a good question. Despite him never showing it it's possible he might have entire chests full of loot and materials in his inventory. Then again he did stop Herobrine when he was still in Minecraft so Notch might have compensated him by giving him access to Creative Mode. If this is true then he is probably going to be pissed that he forgot he even had such power, imagine how easy his rematch with Herobrine would be if he possessed such power.
Or he forgot about his plan to get Derpy and Trench to make up with each other.
it's either Derpy, or he has forgotten his death promise when he left.
this is going to be interesting to see play out. and i have a feeling Steve has a few new friends.
This is a fun story to read and nice pun in the chapter title *giggles* and hope to see more later into next time.
Reeeeeeeeeeeeeeee love the the story keep it up
9885098
Litty
Well, the thing you could be forgetting Steve is either Derpy or Zecora... or something else.
White Power what the FUCK
About yours? That's the
I know Shining Armor is a prince and all but I’m pretty sure General outranks captain in the Army. The royal guard honestly has some messed up ranks.
This is the most effective cliffhanger yet