A Crafter's Dream Ch. 89: Talking it Out (Part 1)
Now, without further ado, I present,
“A Crafter’s Dream”
“So how have you been Steve?” Derpy inquired. “You haven’t been over in a while.”
“Yeah, sorry about that.” Steve replied, rubbing the back of his neck. “I’ve just been really busy with stuff, you know?”
The pair were walking down the main road on their way to Sugarcube Corner. There was a special brunch going on, with Princess Celestia in attendance. The whole town had been invited, and although Steve had originally not been planning on going, both Derpy’s prompting and the fact that going would provide him the chance to talk with Celestia again had convinced the Crafter to attend.
“What kind of stuff?” She asked, expression morphing into one of slight confusion.
“Uh, that’s, a bit of a long story.” Steve spoke, averting his gaze for a moment as memories of recent events flashed through his mind. Shaking his head, he focused back on Derpy. “Safe to say, everything’s fine now.”
The mare stopped, causing Steve to stop as well. She looked up at him with a concerned look on her face. “Steve, what happened?”
The Crafter opened his mouth to answer, but eventually closed it. Letting out a sigh, he shook his head. “I… I’ll tell you later.” He answered.
“Steve-”
“Look, it’s, it’s not that I don’t want to tell you. Well, I mean, I don’t, but that’s not the point.” Steve sighed again, trying to find the right words to say to the concerned mare. “I’ll tell you later, after this whole brunch thing, okay?”
Though she looked unsure, Derpy eventually nodded, albeit hesitantly. With that, the pair continued on their way to Sugarcube Corner, though neither said a word. It wasn’t until their destination was in sight that Steve spoke.
“I don’t want you to worry, Derpy.”
She glanced at the Crafter. “Huh?”
Steve sighed. “I don’t want to worry you. That’s why I don’t want to tell you. You shouldn’t have to be worried about me because some BBEG is trying to kill me for the third time in a week.”
“BBEG?”
Steve waved a hand. “Big Bad Evil Guy, but that doesn’t ma-. Look, my point is, I don’t want to worry you and burden you with my problems. And honestly speaking, that’s the last thing I want either. Besides, you got enough to deal with as it is, what with you working two jobs, and having to raise Dinky, the last thing you need is to worry about some dude who’s always getting into trouble.”
Derpy let out a sigh of resignation. “Steve, what exactly happened?”
The Crafter glanced at her for a moment, considering whether or not to inform her of what had happened in the last few weeks. Eventually, he sighed. “...Dash hasn’t spoken to me ever since we both nearly died in Cloudsdale. Also, I revealed a lot about myself to some foreign rulers, who see me as some sort of super soldier now. And I may have garnered the wrath of some magical queen from another dimension.” Steve thought for a moment. “Also, I have a Nightmare living inside me, don’t know if I ever mentioned that bit.”
Derpy stared at him with wide eyes, mouth hanging open slightly.
“Oh, and Zecora was captured by these creatures called changelings, and I had to free her by myself. And someone from my world came through a portal by accident, and had been living in Canterlot with the Princesses for the last couple of weeks.” Steve put a hand to his chin in thought. “And, I think that’s about it. Granted, I’m probably forgetting a few things, but that’s the jist of it.”
Steve glanced down at the mare beside him, who stared back up at him with an open jaw.
The two stared at each other for a short time, neither speaking, at least until Derpy broke the silence.
“Steve, what the buck have you been doing?”
The Crafter blinked in surprise, having never heard Derpy curse before. Shaking his head, he hesitated for a moment before responding.
“Uh, well, that’s a bit difficult to answer. I really haven’t been doing anything out of the ordinary. It’s life that seems determined to try and kill me. All I’ve been trying to do is live my life. Everything else just kinda happened.”
Derpy continued to stare at Steve for a few seconds before she shook her head. “I’m sorry, but what? When did this all happen? It’s only been three weeks since you came back from Canterlot.”
“Zecora’s capture, and subsequent rescue, happened the night I got back from Canterlot, you know, after the whole ‘Mindscape Incident.’ The summit with the foreign leaders happened the day after that. It wasn’t long after that I found out a Testificate from my world, a girl named Martha, had accidentally arrived in this world. Some stuff happened, after which, I went back to Ponyville. I was collecting wood from the Everfree with Dash when these Nightmares showed up to take Onyx away.”
“Onyx?” Derpy asked. “Who’s Onyx?”
“Oh, he’s the Nightmare that helped us defeat Herobrine in the Mindscape. He’s been living inside me ever since. I’ll introduce you two later. Anyways, I followed after the other Nightmares through this portal to a place called ‘The Hollow,’ or something like that that’s ruled by this lady named the Nightmother. We fought, then Celestia, Luna, Notch, Abyss and Aura showed up, we destroyed her army, after which I made a deal with the Nightmother where if she let us go, then we would leave and never come back. She agreed, and made a portal back here. It was a few days later that Dash came by my house and asked me to accompany her and her friends to Cloudsdale to cheer her on for the competition.”
“You mean the Best Young Flyers Competition?” Derpy asked, to which Steve nodded.
“Yeah, that one. Anyways, we were watching Dash perform, when all of the sudden, I saw her wing seize up. Before anyone can do anything, she’s falling, and I’m jumping after her.”
“You what?!” Derpy cried out. Steve held up his hands, doing his best to quell her worry.
“Don’t worry, I had a plan. I had this potion, a potion of Slow Fall. My plan was to grab Dash, then drink the potion, which would allow us both to fall gently to the ground.”
The mare let out a sigh of relief. “Oh, thank Celestia. So you both managed to float safely to the ground?”
“Uh, no, not really.” Steve replied, rubbing the back of his neck. “I’ll keep it short, as we should probably get a move on, but after a bunch of bullcrap that shouldn’t have happened did happen, Dash performed a Sonic Rainboom, rescued me, and dropped the both of us outside of the stadium. I guess she was pretty mad at me because of what I did, because she decided to yell at me for a minute before she passed out. Apparently, not only was her wing still damaged, but performing the Sonic Rainboom actually depleted her magic reserves, to the point of making her pass out. When she woke up in the hospital, she seemed, well, she seemed angry. I-I mean, a different type of angry.” Steve explained. “Like, the hurt type of angry.” His brows knitted together for a moment, before he shook his head with a sigh. “I wanted to talk to her, but I got kicked out of the hospital room before I had the chance. And, since she’s been resting in her house, and the fact that just getting to her house is a trip and a half, I haven’t seen her since.” Steve sighed, shaking his head. “I feel like I’m missing something, but no matter how long I think about it, I can’t figure out what I did to make her so damn angry at me.”
“Well, what did she say?” Derpy inquired. “Before she passed out, I mean.”
Steve put a hand to his chin as he recalled what the mare had said not long after she’d rescued him.
“I’m not mad Steve.” She spoke. The Crafter blinked in surprise.
“You’re not?”
“No, because mad doesn’t begin to describe how I feel!!!” She cried out, whirling around to glare furiously at the Crafter. “I don’t think there’s a word in all of Equestria that could properly say what I’m feeling, and if there is, I sure as hay have never heard of it!!!” She stalked forward, poking her hoof into Steve’s chest. “Do you have any idea what it felt like, watching you fall!!? And even worse, knowing that it was you who made Thunderlane let go of you!?!?”
“Well, she started off by saying she wasn’t mad, only that she was feeling a feeling she didn’t know the word for. Then she asked me if I had any idea what it was like, watching me fall. Which, the answer is yes, of course. I kind of do know what that feels like.”
“You do?” Derpy hesitantly asked. Steve nodded.
“Yeah. Back during the first Mob War. Me and a group of, uh, something like 20 or so others were in a Flying Machine, battling against another Flying Machine, which was being piloted by a group of Proditors, these psychotic assholes who fought alongside mobs against other Minecraftians. During the battle, I saw at least half of my men get thrown or blown off the Machine, straight to their deaths.” The Crafter let out a sigh, pushing back the images that appeared in his mind’s eye. “I did my best to save them, but in the end, I couldn’t. I could only try my best to make sure the rest of my men didn’t suffer the same fate.”
“How did you feel?” Derpy suddenly asked.
“Hmm?” Steve grunted, giving her a confused look.
“When, well, when that happened, how did you feel? Or, sorry, what were you feeling?”
“I, well, I guess felt angry, for one. At both myself, and at the Proditors.”
“Well, why were you angry at yourself?”
“Because I couldn’t do anything. Because all I could do was stand there, and watch as they fell. Because I felt…” Steve stopped suddenly as he realized what it was Derpy must’ve been getting at. “Wait.” Steve put a hand to his chin, deep in thought. After a moment, his eyes widened in realization.
“Derpy, go on ahead to the brunch.” He spoke suddenly. “There’s something I’ve got to do.”
Derpy looked confused for a moment, but a second later, her expression morphed into one of understanding. She nodded.
“No problem Steve. I’ll see you after, okay?”
The Crafter gave a single nod before turning and running off. Derpy looked after his gradually fading form with a small grin before she turned to continue on her way to Sugar Cube Corner. However, she hadn’t been walking long when she heard somepony call out her name.
“Ms. Hooves?”
She froze when she heard the words, spoken by a vaguely familiar voice. Slowly, Derpy turned around to find a dark gray, almost black stallion standing only a short distance away. Her eyes widened, and her heart began to quicken.
Bump bump.
Suddenly, the scene around her changed. One second, she’d been standing in the middle of the street, the next, she found herself in a dimly lit tent, with the same stallion standing over her, a furious frown on his face. His hoof was raised, poised to strike.
Bump bump.
The scene shifted to a dark alley, but now, the pony before her held a spear in his hoof, the point aimed straight at her heart.
Derpy’s breathing sped up, heart hammering in her chest as she slowly backed away from the stallion, who continued to advance towards her. Her gaze was locked on him, and she couldn’t think, couldn’t think, couldn’t move, run, run, can’t think, runrunrunru-
Suddenly, Trench shouted as he leapt towards her. With a shriek, Derpy lunged backwards.
She felt a sharp pain in the back of her head, then everything went black.
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Jesus H, seems Steve still has a bad case of Expositional Bombshell. Can't tell if he gets kicks out of seeing the jaw drop every time he talks to someone or if he's denser than obsidian. (And if Onyx inherited that trait, hence why he didn't try to shut him up mid-recap lol)
Also DERPY NOOOOOOOOO
You cliffhanging bas--soon!
Ah, shit. On multiple counts.
“I’ll keep this short” he said, before building the Great Wall of Text.
Derpy did one of two things had a panic attack causing her to pass out or she accidentally fell backwards and knocked herself out. Since Derpy does have a tendentious to be clumsy she most likely knocked herself out while having the panic attack.
random thought: Has steve removed his dirt-pillar to cloudsdale yet?
Is it still just sitting there, baffling ponies as to how it exists?
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now imagen them digging the bottom block away and it jest keeps floating
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Ponyville will have a new tourist attraction
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From the way it was worded? I think she panicked, tripped And as she was going down Trench leaped to catch her but couldn’t.
Oh yeah, that massive pillar up to Cloudsdale.
Trying to live a peaceful life but the universe just love giving him the short stick and watching him suffer.
Cliffhangers died in hell fire, beautiful hell fire.
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Other common sights that shouldn't exist?
Nearly every forest near a minecraft house has floating tree tops... Just a large enough chunk of wood there to keep the leaves from falling.
Maximum efficiency farms like 30 animals crammed into the same glass-walled space with a hopper and chest under them to collect whatever is being farmed. Bonus points for something mildly horrific to ponies like a "chicken cooker" using a lava blade.
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Oh man, you're behind a bit if you're just reading that part. Not that I mind. I'm just glad people are still reading this story
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Well, from what I've seen from the show, while AJ isn't adverse to talking, she isn't exactly one to deal out her life story on the spot. (e.g. Pinkie Pie)
This seems like the kind of thing you confide in someone over a drink. Or seven. Instead of on the street.
Good read.
Is gold, only shooting stars break
What about that time she called Dash a, and I quote, “bucking crip”?