A Crafter's Dream Ch. 73: A Family Reunion (Part 2)
Now, without further ado, I present,
“A Crafter’s Dream”
Steve’s heart was racing, though his expression was like stone. He stood tall with his sword in his right hand, pointed straight at the eight shadowy figures in front of him. His gaze shifted to his friend, Rainbow Dash, who stood a short distance away with a terrified look on her face.
He grit his teeth. ‘Onyx?’
‘Yes?’ The Nightmare responded.
‘Be ready.’
‘Steve, there are several of-’
‘Do you think I care how many of them there are?’ Steve interrupted. ‘I’m not going down without a fight, and if we’re going to have any chance of getting out of here alive, I’ll need your help.’
“There isn’t a need to fight.” One of the Nightmares spoke up, garnering the Crafter’s attention. “If you would simply cooperate, then this can be resolved without bloodshed.”
Steve gulped, but steeled his nerves and responded. “That may be, but my gut is telling me that we’re going to fight no matter what, so may as well be prepared.” His eyes trailed over the figures. “So, what do you want?”
“You have something, Steve.” One of the Nightmares spoke.
“Something that doesn’t belong to you.” A different Nightmare spoke this time.
“And we’d like it back.” They all said at once, slowly approaching the Crafter. In response, Steve took a few steps back.
“And what would that be?” He asked them.
“The Nightmare.” Steve froze. “The one that bonded with you when it shouldn’t have. The one that now resides in you.”
Steve grit his teeth and took a breath. “Why do you want him back?” He asked.
“The Nightmother wishes it, so we will have it done.” They all spoke at once. “Simply release the Nightmare to us, and that will be the end of it. Refusal to do so will force us to remove the Nightmare by force.” They stepped closer. “You may not survive if that should happen.”
Steve’s eyebrows furrowed as his mind raced to think of a plan.
‘Onyx, tell me, just how powerful is the Nightmother?’
‘Very powerful. She would make Nightmare Moon look like a toddler throwing a tantrum.’
The Crafter groaned internally. ‘Great. So, do you think I could possibly beat her in a one-on-one fight?’
The Nightmare was silent for a moment. ‘Steve… What are you planning?’
‘I’m still working on that part. Do you think I can beat her?’
‘I… Maybe. But Steve, the chance of you actually beating her is-’
‘Low, yes, I know. But it is possible.’
‘But Steve-’
‘No but’s Onyx. Not unless you have a better plan, of course.’
‘You could let me go.’
Suddenly, everything around Steve went silent. All he could hear was his shallow breaths and the blood pumping in his ears. The Nightmares were still approaching, and Steve, to buy himself some time, continued to move backwards. Dash did the same.
He closed his eyes and took a breath. ‘What?’ He asked.
‘You could let me go. Let me go back to the Nightmother. Because frankly speaking Steve, I’m not worth this. I’m not worth risking your life for. Yes, we did make a good team, but, nothing lasts forever. I will not allow you to put yourself in harm’s way just for my sake.’
‘Alright then, answer me this. If I let you go back to them, what happens to you?’
‘I… I would most likely be destroyed.’ Onyx spoke with a tone of finality.
‘... Then that settles it.’ Steve responded quietly, his tone leaving no room for arguments. He stood straight, holding his sword by his side. He looked at the Nightmares in front of him, who now stood only a short distance away.
“Have you made your decision?” They asked.
“Yes, I have.” Steve responded. “But first.” He pointed at Dash. “Let her go. There’s no reason for her to be here since your beef is with me, so let her go.”
“What-” Dash began to argue, but Steve stopped her with a hard look.
“Dash, while your stubbornness is sometimes something to be admired, now is not one of those times. Please, don’t argue.”
The prismatic mare opened her mouth as if to retort, but was interrupted when one of the Nightmares stepped forward and spoke.
“Very well.” A moment later, a hole appeared in the wall of darkness behind Dash. The mare turned to look at the opening, then back at Steve. The Crafter could see the pained expression on her face. She didn’t want to leave him, and if Steve was being honest, he didn’t want her to leave. However, ignoring his gut, he gave her a smile and a nod.
“It’ll be okay.” He reassured her. “I’ll see you later, Dash.”
She looked at him for a few moments longer before gritting her teeth and running out the opening, which immediately closed up behind her. Steve turned back to the Nightmares.
“Due to your decision to have your friend leave, we suspect you both will not be cooperating, and that you yourself know that not cooperating will most likely result in your death.”
Steve responded by dropping into a fighting stance.
“So be it.” The Nightmares all spoke at once. The darkness surrounding them seemed to intensify.
“Nightmare Form!” Steve called, bringing up his blade. “Come forth!” Slamming his sword into the ground, dark shadows exploded out, covering the Crafter. He felt that familiar cold feeling overtake him as raw power flooded his body. His vision became sharper and his muscles felt like they were on fire.
Nightmare Form: +Sword
X: Jump
X+X: Boost Jump
Square: Slash
Square (Hold): Tornado
Circle: Block or Dodge
Triangle: Kick
Pulling his blade out, he took a moment to look it over. It’s normally purple glow had turned dark and gray.
“Huh.” He muttered. “Never used my sword with my this form before.”
“So you wish to fight then.” The lead Nightmare spoke with a tone of finality.
“Yeah. You scared?” Steve asked with a smirk, ignoring his pounding heart as he dropped into a battle stance.
“Hardly. Given your situation, this should be over quickly.”
Steve smirked. “Couldn’t agree more.”
Bringing back his blade, he charged forward to meet the Nightmares and the fight began.
* * * * *
Dash ran along the path, hooves pounding the dirt beneath her. She ducked under a branch, wincing slightly as the sudden movement caused a small burst of pain to shoot through her wings. Keeping her footing, she silently cursed herself for lying to Steve.
You see, unlike what she’d told the well-meaning Crafter, her wings were not entirely okay. From what Red Heart had told her, while Princess Celestia had in fact healed her wings, the Princess could not fully fix them up. The nurse pony had mentioned something about the Princess’ horn being damaged. Red Heart told her that as long as she didn’t do anything strenuous with them, then Dash’s wings would be okay within a week or so.
‘Though I guess running through a forest as fast as I can to get away from literal Nightmares might count as a bit strenuous.’ The mare thought to herself, teeth grit as she fought against the pain. Soon enough, she was past the tree line and on her way to Ponyville, more specifically, the Ponyville library, where her friend Twilight Sparkle lived.
‘I don’t know jack about Nightmares or any of that kind of stuff. But I’m sure Twilight does. Maybe she can help.’ Rainbow Dash reasoned as she entered town, ignoring any confused looks she received from other ponies as she ran by, moving so fast now that she was kicking up dust.
About a minute or two later, the library finally came into view. Upon seeing it, Dash brought herself to a relatively quick stop, being careful not to worsen the pain in her wings. Rushing over to the front door as fast as she could, she pounded on the front door.
“Twi!! Twi, open up!!”
It took a few moments of Dash slamming her hoof against the wooden door before it finally opened to reveal a confused looking Twilight Sparkle.
“Dash? What in the Equestria is going o-?!”
She was interrupted when the prismatic mare grabbed her muzzle with both hooves, shutting her up. It was only then that Twilight saw the terrified look on her friend’s face.
“Twilight, we got a problem! We got to hurry!’’ Whirling around, Dash was about to take off again when Twilight spoke.
“What? What happened?”
Rainbow Dash turned to look at the mare.
“Nightmares.”
* * * * *
Circle: Block
Circle: Block
Square: Slash
Steve backpedalled, his blade barely blocking a bolt of dark magic. Whirling around, he narrowly blocked an attacking Nightmare from slashing him from behind. In return, he slashed the Nightmare hard in the chest, sending them rolling.
‘Behind you!’ Onyx warned.
Triangle: Kick
Square: Slash
Steve turned and kicked the Nightmare that had been approaching him from behind in the torso, making them stumble away. He quickly followed up with a powerful slash, his sword cutting deep into the Nightmare’s body.
Suddenly, something slammed into Steve's side, sending him flying. He hit the ground hard, rolling a bit before coming to a stop.
Damage Received - 4 damage. 13 health remaining.
Groaning, the Crafter shook off the pain as he got back to his feet, sword at the ready. Letting out a mighty yell, he charged back into battle.
Circle: Block
Square: Slash
Circle: Block
Square: Slash
Square: Slash
Steve raised his blade, blocking a bolt of magic which nearly hit him in the chest. Slamming his blade into the nearest Nightmare, he whirled around to block another Nightmare’s punch. Pushing off of that, he hurriedly slashed his sword twice, catching one Nightmare in the arm, and another across the chest. That Nightmare stumbled back, clutching the spot where the Crafter’s sword had hit. Spotting an opportunity, Steve rushed forward.
Square: Slash
Lifting his blade, he lunged forward.
Slice!
And ran the Nightmare through.
There was a small moment of silence, where the Nightmare looked down in shock at the hilt of the sword that was buried in their chest. Then, it’s glowing white eyes turned to Steve’s hard gaze.
Triangle: Kick
Lifting his leg, Steve kicked the Nightmare off his blade, allowing its body to fall to the floor.
For a moment, a split second, the Crafter looked down at his fallen opponent. But then…
‘Steve, look o-!’
“NOOOOOOO!!!!” Came a shout from his side, just before a bolt of magic slammed into him, making him fly back and hit the ground hard.
Damage Received - 5 damage. 8 health remaining.
“Hold him!! Now!!”
Groaning, Steve pushed himself to his feet. However, before he could ready himself, a Nightmare suddenly latched onto his right arm. Then another one latched onto his other arm. He struggled and fought against them, very nearly winning, but before he could escape, two more Nightmares aided their kin, making escaping next to impossible. Gritting his teeth, Steve continued to struggle, hoping he could maybe weaken their hold.
‘Come on! Come on! Super strength, don’t fail me now!’ He muttered.
Suddenly, he noticed one of the Nightmares approaching him, though this one seemed different from the rest. It’s aura was more powerful, the shadows surrounding it’s form rippling with strength. The Nightmare stopped in front of him.
“You will pay for her death.” The Nightmare spoke in a quiet voice, a stark contrast from the anger Steve felt directed at him through its glowing eyes. “But first, what we came for.” Bringing up, one hand, it pulled it back before plunging it into Steve’s chest, the Crafter grunting from the pain. Then, the Nightmare began to pull.
‘Steve!’ Onyx called. ‘He’s pulling me out! He’s taking me!! Please, fight it! Fight it!’
He did. He fought against it with every ounce of willpower that he had. But it wasn’t enough. Eventually, he stopped hearing Onyx’s desperate cries in his head. The Nightmare jerked his hand free and the Crafter immediately went limp, the pain of having Onyx torn from his body finally getting to him. He panted heavily, though he still found it in him to look up.
There, in the Nightmare’s grasp, was a small dark orb, no bigger than Steve’s palm. The Crafter knew what it was.
Onyx
He tried to move, but his body refused.
“Finally.” The Nightmare spoke. “The Nightmother will be pleased.” With a wave of its hand, the orb disappeared. After that, the Nightmare turned to Steve, who only stood because of the Nightmare’s that still held his arms. “And as for you.”
Steve felt a cold hand grab his chin, lifting his gaze to meet the Nightmare’s.
“You made a grave mistake, Steve. I thought that if you fought back, we could simply take you back to pay for your mistakes, but I see now that there is no reason for that.” Releasing his grip on the Crafter’s chin, the Nightmare took a step back, glancing at the other Nightmares. “I will return home to the Nightmother. Kill him however you see fit.”
“No problem.” One of the Nightmare’s responded with an almost gleeful tone to its voice.
With that, the Nightmare that had Onyx turned away. Muttering a few words in a language Steve didn’t recognize, a swirling pool of darkness suddenly appeared in front of the Nightmare, no doubt a portal leading to wherever it was that the Nightmother was. Just as that happened, the Nightmares holding Steve shifted ever-so-slightly, unknowingly weakening their holds just a tiny bit.
Steve grinned.
With a surge of energy the Nightmares clearly weren’t expecting, Steve tore away from them, rushing towards the Nightmare in front of him, who looked back in confusion.
“Wha-!?”
Before it could react, Steve slammed into it, the impact sending them both tumbling towards the portal.
The next thing Steve knew, everything went black.
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Congratulations on the one year anniversary of this story!
Happy anniversary! And nice work on Steve exploiting that opportunity.
This is an anniversary chapter? Congrats!
happy anniversary of a Crafter's Dream.
Hey dude your on the featured, 3ed from the bottom of the list!
Happy anniversary!
10067695
I remember the 3 at the bottom is for updated ones that have been featured before, so it just means it has been featured and was recently updated.
10067840
This story is in the featured box. It's currently at the bottom of the list there.
Oh fugg!
Havy a happy song for your fics happy happy anniversary!
Yeah boiiiiiiiiiiiiiii
Perfect as usual
I can't wait for more
Nightmares: Does stupid shit and hurts Onyx
Me: You shouldn't have done that. You should not have done that.
Steve: Is now pissed beyond beleif and is about to end their whole career
10069200
Well, you're right about one thing, Steve is pissed. But you have to remember something.
He's hurt, in wherever it was that the portal took him, with limited resources, his weapons, no armor, no potions, no backup, and more importantly, no Onyx. It won't exactly be a cake walk for him.
Happy birthday for your story.
10069399
And he survived a god and literal hell. Not a situation he is in often, but one he has experienced before.
Uhh. According to all the character building you’ve been doing, Steve’s supposed to be a lifelong fighter and veteran of several wars. If he gets distracted that easily in the middle of a fight, he’s one hell of a shitty soldier.
Maybe that could be rephrased in a way that doesn’t make him seem like a complete moron. Just sayin’.
10071092
I know Steve as a character well enough. There is a reason Steve did that, but because it would've interrupted the flow of battle, there wasn't time to explain why. So what that reason could be is left to the reader's imagination.
If you think it was a stupid decision on his part, well, that's your opinion, and your probably right, but first ask yourself this.
Since Steve is a veteran with many years of experience under his belt, why did he stop to look at the fallen Nightmare?
Happy anniversary mate! Also, CLIFFHANGEAAAAAR!
10071459
Well, I think a lot of things, but these are the main two.
-He understands and (a bit unlikely) is shocked that he's gone back to killing fully sentient beings that are just following orders, just like he used to.
-There might be a connection between the female nightmare he killed and Lilly. Maybe he might have felt that she was in a situation just like that when she died.
Yep, still sounds gay. You could have phrased it better. Saying Onyx tethered to him would have been enough.
We could all use a little chaaaaaaaange
You know, I’ve noticed that most of the creatures Steve fights are always so confident they’ll win, like the Ellie in the elite guards, Vask with the changelings, or this nightmare. Most likely, it’s because they are better in relation to the other creatures in the dimension. They don’t know what Steve is capable of, which makes it an extremely unprofessional move to be that confident against an enemy they’ve never faced. But I’m not complaining. It’s much more fun seeing their reaction when they lose.