• Published 3rd Feb 2019
  • 20,192 Views, 3,199 Comments

A Crafter's Dream (Discontinued) - ruthim345



It'd been years. Years since the war. Steve was the only one left. Everyone else was gone. He lived, he fought. Rinse, repeat. All he wants is a second chance. And now, he'll get his chance.

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A Crafter's Dream Ch. 88: A Dog's Day

Now, without further ado, I present,

A Crafter’s Dream

Two Days Later

Clang!

Clang!

Clang!

Clunk!

Steve pulled the diamond pick-axe away from the freshly broken stone, brushing away the stray bits of gray stone to pull out the blue diamond within.

“Ha, another one!” Steve grinned, pocketing the blue gem as he glanced around the cave tunnel he was in, looking for any more resources he could mine. Upon seeing that he’d essentially stripped the tunnel bare, Steve nodded to himself before checking his Inventory to see what he’d gotten.

“Alright, got 14 iron ore, 31 gold ore, a whopping 26 diamonds, a couple emeralds, and some of those blue gems that I probably won’t ever use.”

‘Did Minecraftians not have a use for Sapphires?’ Onyx inquired, to which the Crafter shook his head.

“Not really. Though, to be fair, we didn’t even have anything like sapphires, or rubies or whatever. The only crystals we had were diamonds, emeralds, and technically redstone, and even then, the only one I ever bothered to really use was diamond, since they can be used to make the strongest armor and weapons available. Emeralds were only ever used for trading, and I don’t have the brains to use redstone like the brainiacs at Quiverfall did.” Closing his Inventory, Steve turned and began walking back in the direction he’d come from. “Though, who knows, maybe the sapphires are worth something after all. I’ll probably have to talk to Rarity about it later. She probably knows a thing or two, given that her Cutie Mark is literally three diamonds.”

The Nightmare only responded with a quiet hum of agreement as Steve continued on down the tunnel, eventually coming to a small chamber with three tunnel entrances in front of him.

“Alright, we came out of the middle tunnel, correct?”

‘I believe so.’ Onyx replied.

Nodding, Steve started to walk towards the middle tunnel, but stopped short when he heard something. It sounded like a cry or a wail of some sort, reminiscent of a ghast. His head snapped towards the tunnel to his left, where the shouts seemed to be emanating from.

Armor equipped - Diamond Chestplate (Enchanted). Max Health increased to 28.

Armor equipped - Diamond Leggings (Enchanted). Max Health increased to 34.

Armor equipped - Diamond Boots (Enchanted). Max Health increased to 37.

Protection II Active. Max Health increased to 39.

Protection I Active. Max Health increased to 40.

Protection I Active. Max Health Increased to 41.

Gritting his teeth, Steve quickly slipped on his newly enchanted set of diamond gear, minus the helmet, with barely a sound.

D-Pad Up: Sword

He withdrew his glowing blue blade with a flourish. Letting it fall to his side, Steve quickly took off down the tunnel. As he got closer, he began to make out the sound of different voices accompanying the original voice. Furrowing his brow, he continued to run, eventually making it to what appeared to be an opening, where light poured out from. Coming to a stop, Steve poked his head out to see what was causing the noise. What met his gaze was a very strange sight.

On the far side of the room, was what looked like a small set of jail cell-like cages. In one of the said cell’s was none other than Rarity. The unicorn appeared unharmed, though her white fur was dirty and unkempt. Scattered around the room were a few dozen rather familiar creatures.

‘Diamond Dogs?’ Steve thought in confusion, gaze wandering over the brutish creatures, some of which were lying unconscious on the floor, while many more were shuffling around the room with minecarts full of various types of gems. A rather large Diamond Dog was over in front of the cell, spear in hand. As Steve watched, he banged the iron bars of the cell twice.

“Stop loud noises white pony!!” He roared, though to her credit, Rarity barely flinched. “Stop or Spot do worse than put you in cage!!”

The unicorn’s eyes widened slightly, and she took a step back. After a moment, her gaze narrowed. “You wouldn’t dare put that yoke on me again.”

“Find Diamond dogs gems, and Spot won’t.”

“Let me go, and I will!” Rarity yelled, shaking the bars slightly with her magic. “You can’t keep me here forever!”

The brute shook his head. “No. Spot let white pony go, she run and never come back. And Diamond Dogs keep you here as long as we want.”

‘Oh fuck no.’ Steve thought, reaffirming his grip on his sword as he took a step forward off of the ledge, falling the relatively short distance to the floor and landing with a solid ‘Thud!’ Everyone in the room whipped around at the noise, only to backpedal away at the sight of the heavily armored Crafter.

“Yeah, sorry, but you see, this little slavery thing you got going?” Steve spoke, gesturing to Rarity with his free hand. “Yeah, not going to happen.”

“Steve!?” The mare cried out in happiness and slight confusion.

“I-it you.” Spot spoke, stuttering slightly as he and the rest of the Diamond dogs present retreated away from the Crafter.

“Yeah, it’s me.” Steve replied with a grin. “Man, it’s been a while, haven’t seen you Diamond dogs in, like months. How have you guys been doing? Still can’t find your ass with both hands?”

Spot growled. “What Steve want?”

“Well, funny you should ask. You see, that mare you have in that cell there is actually a friend of mine. Hey Rarity, how are you doing?”

“Um, well, I suppose things are going well.” The mare answered, brows furrowed slightly in confusion. “Of course, excluding the whole being ‘imprisoned and used as a slave’ bit!”

“Yeah, I imagine that would put a bit of a damper on anyone’s mood.” Steve replied, shrugging. “Anyways, Spot, I’ll make you and your pals here a deal. Free Rarity, and swear upon every deity that you worship that you won’t harm or abduct any more free creatures, and I won’t harm any of you in any way, shape or form.” Steve walked up to the Diamond dog and stuck out his hand, grinning all the while. “What do you say?”

For a while, Spot simply stared at the Crafter, brows furrowed in anger, the spear clenched tightly in his fist. He looked ready to fight, but the longer the Diamond dog stared at Steve’s smiling expression, the more the anger he felt faded, morphing into a cold sense of fear. Eventually, he snarled and turned towards Rarity’s cell, pulling out a key that looked like it was made of bone.

‘Where the shit did he get that?’ Steve briefly wondered as Spot swiftly unlocked the door and hastily pulled the unicorn out and haphazardly pushed her towards the Crafter, causing the mare to yelp as she stumbled, but managed to remain upright.

“You alright?” Steve asked, to which Rarity nodded.

“Yes, I’m fine.”

“Good.” Turning his gaze to Spot, Steve glared at him. “You didn’t have to shove her, asshole.”

“Spot let pony mare go. Now go away.” Spot spoke, ignoring the Crafter’s words. Steve narrowed his gaze ever so slightly, but eventually let out a sigh.

“Well, I suppose a deal’s a deal.” He glanced over at Rarity. “Come on, let’s go.” With a small nod of his head at the Diamond dogs gathered at the other end of the room, Steve turned and began walking away. It was only a few moments later that he realized that Rarity wasn’t following him. Steve turned to look behind him, a look of confusion on his face. “Rarity? You coming?”

The mare in question was looking between the Crafter and the group of Diamond dogs on the other side of the room, looking very confused.

“Rarity?” Steve asked, turning to face her. “What’s up?”

“It’s, it’s nothing.” The mare hesitantly responded, shaking her head. “Just, I was expecting some big fight to break out.”

Steve quirked a brow. “Why?”

“Well, it’s just, whenever you’re around and something happens, a fight usually breaks out, which always somehow results in you winning said fight.”

“Oh come on, I don’t get into fights all that often.”

Rarity gave him a deadpan stare.

“...Okay fair, but still, I don’t start most of them. And as for your previous statement, well, I don’t really want to fight, never have. And I doubt they do either.” Steve gestured to the Diamond dogs, causing quite a few of them to hurriedly shake their heads. “Besides, I said that if they let you go and never kidnapped anyone ever again, then I’d leave them alone, and I’m nothing if not a Crafter of my word.”

“That… is true.” Rarity agreed slowly. “Of all the words I could use to describe you, a liar just doesn’t seem to be one of them.”

“Good to know. Anyways,” Steve, eyes wandering over the half-dozen tunnels that dotted the cavern walls. With a sigh, he turned to look at Spot. “Oi, Hunchback, which tunnel leads us out of here?”

It took a second, but eventually Spot answered.

“That one.” The Diamond dog spoke, pointing towards one of the tunnels. “That tunnel lead out.”

Steve nodded. “Thanks.” Turning around, he took a moment to glance at Rarity. “Come on. Let’s get out of here.” He spoke, gesturing towards the tunnel Spot had pointed to. With that, he started off towards the tunnel entrance, Rarity following close behind.

* * * * *

“Be careful.” Steve spoke warrily, hand clenched tightly around the handle of his blade. “Diamond dogs aren’t the only thing to lurk in these caves.”

Rarity’s eyes widened slightly as she quickly looked around, no doubt expecting some horrible creature to jump out and attack them. However, after a moment of nothing but creepy, echoey cave sounds, she took a deep breath and continued on.

“Noted.” She muttered.

The pair traveled along the cold and quiet surface of the tunnel, each foot/hoofstep echoing off the stone walls. The passageway was dimly lit, barely allowing for Steve and Rarity to traverse it without running into anything.

“So, tell me.” Steve began, ducking under a bit of low hanging rock. “How did you end up in the clutches of ‘Slobber Tooth’ down there?”

Rarity chuckled slightly at the name before answering. “Well, I was out looking for gems for a large order of dresses that I need to get done. I know a spell that allows me to detect gems when they are nearby.”

“Really? That’s cool.”

“Indeed. Anyways, it wasn’t long after Spike, who was accompanying me at the time, and I began our search that we were approached by a Diamond dog by the name of Rover. He started talking, which I suppose was to distract Spike and I from the two Diamond dogs that had snuck up on us, one of which was Spot. Spike tried to fight them off, but it was frankly a very unfair fight, three against one. They threw him into a tree and took me underground.”

“Which is where I found you.” Steve finished.

She nodded. “Yes, which is where you found me. Speaking of which, while I’m not ungrateful in the least for your help, truly, I appreciate it, I must ask. What were you doing so far underground?”

“I was doing some mining. I didn’t have much else to do today, so I figured I’d get some resources while I had the spare time. I was actually just about to head out when I heard your cries.” Suddenly, Steve’s brow knit together in concern. “Wait, you’re not hurt are you?” The Crafter asked, stopping for a moment to look the mare over. While she still looked dirty and grimy, she didn’t appear to have any injuries, none that he could see at least.

Rarity shook her head. “No, they never hurt me. Though they did try to put that yoke on me when they had me looking for gems.”

“Then why were you yelling so loud?”

Because Diamond dogs don’t like loud noises, at all. Apparently, their hearing is similar to that of an actual dog’s, which I suppose is both a blessing and a curse.”

“Clearly.”

Suddenly, the sound of a low, distant groan echoed from somewhere. Rarity shot up, letting out a small yelp of surprise. Steve whirled around, sword at the ready. After a few moments of nothing, he let out a sigh as he let the blade drop back to his side.

“Fucking Reavers.” Steve muttered as he continued on.

“What?” Rarity inquired as she followed. “What’s a Reaver?”

“Monsters.” Steve replied, quickly glancing behind him. “They look like ponies, but they have no fur, or mane, and their skin is ashen gray. Their teeth are sharp, like a Timberwolf’s, and they can run very fast, almost as fast as me. As far as I know, their only weakness is the sun. Not sure they just don’t like it, or if sunlight directly kills them, but either way, they don’t generally ever go aboveground, and honestly, I’d like it to stay that way.”

Rarity let out an audible gulp, but nodded. “Agreed.”

After that, the rest of the trip was spent in silence. Steve walked in front, sword at the ready and Onyx on the lookout in case anything less than friendly came close. Rarity trotted close behind, the mare constantly looking around for anything out of the ordinary.

‘Steve, look up ahead.’ Onyx spoke, prompting the Crafter to look up. The tunnel appeared to slope upwards, where light shown through. Steve grinned.

“Looks like we’re almost out Rarity!”

The mare let out a big sigh of relief. “Oh, thank goodness. I thought we would be here forever!”

The pair quickly climbed out of the hole and out into the sun. Steve was forced to squint slightly, as his eyes had gotten used to the dim, near non-existent lighting of the caves. After blinking a few times, his vision returned to normal and he took a look around.

Apparently, they had showed up in the rock fields outside of Ponyville. Steve had been there once, to get some stone for the base and basement of his new house. Shaking his head, Steve took a look at the nearby town, only to blink in surprise when he saw a couple familiar forms quickly approaching.

Letting out a sigh, Steve quickly took off his enchanted armor, piece by piece, before storing it away in his Inventory.

Armor unequipped - Diamond Chestplate (Enchanted). Max Health decreased to 33.

Armor unequipped - Diamond Leggings (Enchanted). Max Health decreased to 27.

Armor unequipped - Diamond Boots (Enchanted). Max Health decreased to 24.

Protection II Inactive. Max Health decreased to 22.

Protection I Inactive. Max Health decreased to 21.

Protection I Inactive. Max Health decreased to 20.

“Looks like your friends are on their way here.” Steve spoke, taking a moment to see who was approaching.

‘There’s Twilight, and Spike. There’s Fluttershy, Applejack and Pinkie Pie.’ Steve squinted, trying and failing to find any trace of the sky blue mare he was looking for. But no matter how hard he looked, she wasn’t there.

‘Dash is still healing, Steve.’ Onyx spoke. ‘It’s only logical that she wouldn’t be with her friends.

‘I know. I know she’s still not completely alright.’ Steve replied. ‘It’s just…’ He let out a sigh, then glanced back at the group of ponies (and a dragon) that were getting closer by the second.

‘I hope she’s doing okay.’

* * * * *

Far away, in the mountain city of Canterlot, stone cracked.

Author's Note:

I don't care anymore, this took way to damn long, and I don't care, see me at the next chapter, because this took forever and I'm tired.

Thanks, and all that shit, comment, or don't, it don't matter.
Next chapter should be up as per schedule.

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