Steel shaper's pain

Steel shaper woke up in a cold sweat, breathing heavily, he rolled to look out the window. The sky was starting to fade from the dark of night, to the warm golden color of early morning.

"I love you too, MystShade, and you alone." Still shivering from the nightmare that came to him, every time he managed to sleep. Getting out of bed caused a cascade of cracks and pops throughout his body. This was nothing new to him, but was getting progressively worse with each passing dream.

Judging by the amount of light in the sky, he estimated he had about an hour until sunrise, maybe an hour and a half.
"Damn it," he muttered to nopony in particular, "that hour of sleep took more out of me than I had hoped.." he sighed, and began his normal morning routine. Brushed teeth, made his bed, and a breakfast of oats, with a touch of honey, Myst's favorite... He remembered all of her favorite things, couldn't forget them, it seemed. The last part of this ritual was no simple task. It's what kept him from going off the deep-end for so long. About half an hour remained before he had to make his way to work at the ponyville smithy. this time, he spent alone, confiding with the picture of himself and his beloved.

"It came to me again, last night. You did.. but, it wasn't you, but the memory of you. Clear as water, I'm not sure why its always the same, unrelenting, dream. i don't know how long I will be able to keep it together, it is distracting me from my work, Causing flaws, I cant have flaws in my work..." Followed by a long time of silence.

As the sun crests over the rolling hills Steel Shaper slowly makes his way to the smithy. down the dirt roads kicking up small puffs of dust as he walks forward, his head held down. As usual, the trip is uneventful, however today, something in the air puts him off.. Pushing these thoughts into the back of his mind, there was no time for them now, for what he saw at the door to his shop, was not normal.