//------------------------------// // Trapped // Story: Crystal Castle // by Skrive Flip //------------------------------// Ember was a patient mare. At least by her own standard. She was not fast to anger, nor was she too hard to calm down again. Her profession had demanded this supposed patience. When a guest had gotten too much to drink, she would clean up after them with no complaint. When the guards felt a little rowdy and hollered at her, she just roll her eyes and let them have their fun. When even the nobility or the newly rich began barking demands at her about an unreachable perfection, neither there did she moan. But this all hinged on one certain factor. That it was her job, she got paid, and she could quit anytime she wanted. Kind of... The last couple of days, had NOT filled any of these criteria. However, she would stomach almost all of her previous troubles for just the chance to get out of this one. She and Caliber was stuck in a castle in the frozen north, locked in with an idiot and some sort of dark sorcerer. How had it come to this? She shook her head in frustration as she knew how silly that question was. She knew exactly how it had come to this, and why… and who was to blame… Herself included. But if this was what she had to stomach to stay away from the Guvnor… Then it'd have to be. Not that she liked that fact, but so far it seemed to be the only viable option. “Ahem.” Her blood froze and she quickly turned around, throwing herself onto the floor at the hooves of her dark host. “Y-Yes, Lord Sombra?” She stammered, quickly mentally going over all of her tasks, trying to think of something that might have caused him to interrupt her. The dark unicorn towered above her with a quite confident smirk. “You are taking an awful long time with cleaning the throne room. And yet I don't see my throne holding its usual shine.” He hummed. Ember raised her face from the floor to look up at Sombra for a second, then turned her head behind her, towards the throne, and then back to him. ‘Well that's because your fat flank keeps sitting in it and smudging up my work’ She thought, grinding her teeth for a second. “Of Course, My Lord. I'll get to that immediately.” She just quickly agreed, rather not wanting to try any sort of banter. “And when you are done with that, make sure to move on to the east wing, the hallway has gathered quite a bit of extra dust after your decision to take up residence.” Sombra spoke, in a darkly satisfied voice. ‘Decision my hoof!’ Ember mentally growled, but simply complied to get it over with. “Of course My Lord.” Sombra´s face twisted into an amused grin. “Good. You do that. I believe I will take my bath now.” He casually added, turning again. The comment made Ember´s tail almost stand on end. “Now?! B-But, Caliber is down there cleaning the place-” “I am fully aware he is.” Sombra cut off his newly acquired servant, his grin changing into an intimidating scowl. “Do you think me an Idiot?” “N-No, Of course not-” “Good. Then get to your work. You are excused.” As Ember watched Sombra disappearing down the descending hall towards the spring, she could feel her hooves trembling with forcibly contained anger. ‘That… Fat flanked…. bastard!’ Down in the Spring: Caliber had a lot of talents. It didn't mean he had a lot of cutie marks but he was pretty good at doing a lot of things, even if he could not do them to perfection he was at the very least competent. It just was more convenient to be adequate at everything rather than perfect one specific task. He never really needed to be too concerned about what was ‘his calling’. His calling was just doing what he felt like, and if that meant switching jobs, then that was what he did. And the merit of trying out all sorts of jobs was that he did get all those skills. It had ended up becoming pretty tedious to mention in job interviews. He´d need to carry a list the length of the average yoyo string. This however, was not like switching a job. He was putting as much grinding effort as he could into grinding down the sharp rocks around the hot spring, making sure to stop occasionally to sweep away the shavings. It was hard work, and putting his light pegasus body into quite the extra exertion. On top of that, the entire spring cave was emanating with the vapors off of the hot waters, making him feel like he was working in a sauna. In a winter coat. With a fever. And he knew whose fault it was. “I told her it was a bad idea… I told her. I told her. I told ‘er. Why didn't she listen? Why does she never listen?” He grumbled aloud to himself. “My ideas aren't bad. They're at least adequate. I mean, I said ‘Let's go south’, but noooouuuu, ‘They´ll look for us there. Lets go north’, and I said, ‘but there is nothing going north’ and then she gets that…. bucking smug smile on her face.” His frustrated rant was only emphasised further as he grit more and more against the third sharp rock on his way around the spring. His file was hissing loudly with each sawing motion pressed against the sediment. Caliber was completely contained within his own ranting sound bubble. “And of course that was aaaaalll part of the plan. Buck right… All part of the plan. Just like it was the part of the plan to get us stuck in some… Dark, nightmare castle, acting as glorified janitorial service under the gaze of a…” he bit his lower lip for a moment, trying in vain to contain his language. “Smug, blackmailing, saber horned, hunky, callous bastard of a fiendish unicorn sorcerer and his vacuous earth pony sidekick.” With the last part of his rant escaping him, the rock before Caliber was now about as smooth as it was going to get, without actually dropping it in acid and running it over with sandpaper. He sighed in frustration, tossing the file aside and reached over with one of his wings, casually flicking the broom he had placed nearby in between the tips of his feathers, and began to sweep away the shavings, taking care not to push them into the water. He was not done ranting however. “Did she not see the way he looked at us? That pointy horn is no better than the guvnor. He's probably worse. I bet he eats ponies…” “If prepared correctly~” Caliber jumped and hovered a meter off of the ground in surprise as he heard the voice behind him. Snapping around to confirm, he came face to face with the smug face of his new ‘provider’. “L-L-Lord Sombra!?” He panicked, instantly putting on a humble and placating tone. “I-I-I didn't hear you come down here!” He stammered with a strained grin. Sombra was smirking, quite enjoying seeing his new servant so frazzled and panicking before him. It was like a little taste of power again. And it was delicious. “You certainly didn't.” he mused. “It was quite lucky then-” He began, taking a step forwards, invading Caliber´s personal space with impunity. “That I didn't catch any sort of, menial slander going on behind my back~.” Caliber swallowed his spit as Sombra continued. “No bad mouthing of the… ‘Smug, blackmailing, saber horned, hunky, callous bastard of a fiendish unicorn sorcerer’.” Sombra hummed. Caliber mentally rewinded back to his previous sentence, realizing that he had indeed used the word 'hunky' to describe the bastard in front of him. One of those moments where your loss for words force the brain to grasp at any adjectives it could. That perfectly reasonable explanation probably would not deter Sombra any though. ”It... it... It was just... I couldn't think of any other word that meant unambiguously big.” Caliber tried to defend himself with, hiding behind a facade of semantics. ”Are you calling me fat?” Sombra glared. ”No!” Caliber quickly defended. Oh goddess this was what he tried to avoid. ”I meant like... Muscley... For a Unicorn i mean!” He tried diplomatically. His dark captor took a second to muse on this, unbeknownst to Caliber, he had already gotten what he wanted out of him and was just roasting him now. ”Alright. That is fair.” Sombra finally said. Caliber breathed a sigh of relief. ”If, you promise to help out Brick with his duties once you are done with the spring.” Sombra flashed his fanged teeth in a sinister grin. 'Bucking typical' Caliber thought, his wings dropping from their usual resting position to a completely limp, position of symbolic surrender. ”O-Of course...” He said, trying his best to mask his frustration. ”Good. Now, don't let me interrupt you. You have a LOT more work to do little colt.” Sombra spoke as he walked towards the edge of the hotspring. Caliber turned to face Sombra, who was just calmly sinking one of his hooves into the steaming water. The pegasus grit his teeth in frustration. He wanted to snap back at the mule for calling him a little colt. Now he was certain he could write 'foal fiddler' on the list of insults/adjectives he could use to describe Sombra. In the end, he decided to use the same tact he gave to normal insufferable nobles. Passive aggressiveness. ”Thank you Very much, Lord Sombra.” A deep chuckle escaped the dark lord before he allowed himself to sink completely in the the warm hot spring with a drawn out sigh. ”Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh that's lovely~”. Behind him, Caliber tried his best just to return to his job, sweeping the pieces of rock together in the neat piles he´d made already. The soft sound of the sweeping broom grated on just the edge of Sombra´s calm. He wanted to relax. But the sound of the broom was still there. And then there was that sound of dripping water from the steam cooling on the ceiling. Sombra felt one of his legs twitch involuntarily. His mind was moving. He didn't like that. He had to reign it in. Perhaps focus it on his new guests. He liked their reactions. An awful idea popped into Sombra´s head. Granted he had done much worse. This was simply teasing. He lit up his horn, focussing on a spot right in front of him, holding out his hoof to support his work. Slowly and carefully, his magic lifted up the shavings off the rocks that was all gathered together in a neat pile. All of them was floated over to this one little central spot, where they seemed to fuse together, even change shape and structure. What before had been sedimental pieces of dust, was slowly forming together to a solid piece of jagged crystal. However as it took form, Sombra's magic shifted, shifting the shape of the crystal itself as well. He did as he had done so many times before, moving his hooves around his creation, letting his gestures and his mind create the shape before him. It was a small replica of a male pegasus. It was stylized, clearly putting less emphasis on being an actual depiction of somepony, rather making its curves smooth out and make it look like a strong but subservient pony. A little extra indentation around the throat made a beautiful little collar around the figure, and with a flourish of his hooves, the statuette was done, suspended in the air by his regular magic. “Caliber. I have a little gift for you. Call it a souvenir.” Sombra said in a darkly smooth voice. He turned his head towards the winged servant, however his original smirk dissipated away as he did not see a distressed or worried little pegasus, but Caliber staring in astonishment. “H-How... How did you do that?” Sombra blinked in confusion, eyes shifting back between Caliber and his little creation. Gathering himself, he floated the statuette over to his new servant. “I used to be a crystal carver.” He explained, watching the blue pegasus stare at the statue. “Wow...” He spoke breathlessly, seemingly completely forgetting his situation. “I never thought your powers could make something... like this.” Caliber spoke, looking all over the statuette, though seemingly not noticing the symbolism that Sombra had hoped to torment him with. 'How disappointing' Sombra thought and sighed in frustration, sinking more into the spring, letting the water reach up under his chin. “So is that why your Cutie mark is Crystals? Your skill at working with Crystals?” Caliber asked, while looking over the Statuette again. “It's really beautiful!”. Sombra opened his mouth to respond, but stopped. He wanted to make some jab at Caliber. Some sort of, comment about him having looked at his flank to perhaps unsettle or unnerve the pegasus, yet the words just... died before they reached freedom. What instead took over, was thoughts. Images. Images of a young foal, joyously jumping up and down in front of his first creation. 'It so beautiful! Oh my little Sombra'. The image quickly disappeared, replaced by another one, of a stallion just reaching adulthood, and placing all that energy into one project... For one harlot. 'Sombra, it's beautiful.' A voice which once had been sounding as melodic as a symphony and as sweet as mead was now spawned nothing but bitterness and anger. Sombra growled audibly and his hooves scratched at the rocky surface of the edge of the pool. No. He refused to think about it. 'I love it!' In a sudden burst of anger, Sombra took a deep breath and let out a roar. He slammed his hooves down into the sedimentary rock and his horn released a sudden burst of shadowy energy, going up into the ceiling above the spring. A sudden large black crystal burst out from the ceiling, but was completely unsupported and immediately dropped straight into the pool. The sudden shift of mass caused a large wave in the water to splash over its edges. Sombra ignored the water, taking the splashes against his face like he would a strong wind. Caliber on the other hand let out what could only be described as a squeak of surprise and took flight in panic. He succeeded in staying un-drenched. He floated above the room, watching as the waters crashed against all corners of the room, only to then drift right back into the pond where Sombra still sat. “Uhm… A-Are you okay?” Caliber asked almost on instinct, though regretted it immediately. Sombra turned to face Caliber, his expression contorted into one of inept fury. Caliber didn't know what Sombra was angry at, but he was afraid of what the dark sorcerer wanted to take said anger out on. “I'm going back to my Sanctuary.” Sombra said with a growl. He stood up out of the pond and marched towards the exit, only stopping to shift his glare onto Caliber. “For YOUR sake, I expect this mess to be cleaned up by the time I wake up again.” The unicorn's horn lit up in a greenish black fog which gathered around Caliber´s neck, pulling him just an inch further down towards the floor. “Understood?” “Y-Y-Yes!!! Completely!... Lord Sombra!” Caliber quickly agreed in panic. Accepting that, Sombra grunted and let go of Caliber to continue his march to his sanctuary. Left bereft in the spring room, Caliber did his best to try and comprehend what just happened. All he could say for sure right now was that he had complimented some statuette that Sombra had given him which, with all due disrespect to the evil sorcerer, was really pretty. “What in the name of Celestia just happened?” He could have contemplated this for the rest of the week and most likely still not have gotten an answer on his own, so he decided to do the best thing he could do. NOT, anger the insane unicorn which currently held him and Ember in a blackmailish thrall, further. An hour after the incident in the spring, Caliber could finally see himself as finished with cleaning the place. It still was a cave filled with rocks, but now it was at least rocks without edges that could sear your wing off on a bad day. Also the worst of the water had been 'swept' back into the pool, allowing the rest of the water to, probably evaporate to... wherever. Caliber didn't know how in tartarus this place was ventilated, but somehow it was. Sombra might have mentioned it on the original tour, he could not remember. And right now, he didn't care. He was too knackered to care. Ember might have been right that he was a pony who could do a lot of trades, but she had not mentioned that he lacked a lot of stamina to back it up. He was just your average pegasus on that front. And a lot of heavy lifting that did not just strain his wings, was not something he was completely used to. So right now he felt like someone had run him over on a mobility scooter, then backed over him in order to run him over one more time. And now he had to go up and help Brick. ”Urrrrrgghhhh...” he groaned loudly as he with heavy steps walked up the crystal illuminated path to the main castle. Reaching the 'grand hall' he noticed Ember, who appeared to be taking a small breather in one of the grand dining chairs. Her eyes shifted to him the second he crossed the boundary to the hall. ”Caliber! What happened? I saw his snootiness come by looking like he was ready to skin someone alive.” She said, standing up and walking over to help support her friend. ”I don't know!” Caliber admitted. ”He came down, took his bath, gave me a statuette and then suddenly he was furious!” Caliber recounted. ”A statuette?” Ember looked upon him in confusion. He then lifted up his wing, pulling forth the little statuette he had stashed under there while the wing was in its regular resting position. Ember accepted the small crystal statuette and examined it. ”Its... Really pretty.” She added. ”That's what i said!” Caliber sighed exasperated. ”Though I think the collar is a little creepy on it.” ”Same here...” He shuddered. ”Then again, I would not put it above the creep. He actually called me 'little colt' in this... creeper voice!” Ember nervously swallowed her spit, thinking about the implications that just seemed to keep mounting. ”What do you suppose he has in store for us?” ”I don't know for sure.” Caliber whined. ”But I have a bad feeling it has something to do with chains and our consent being a second thought.” ”If any thought.” Ember dreaded. The two faded into silence for a few moments, each trying to think of something to say which might alleviate the situation. Yet nothing came to them. ”Oh don't worry about it” ”Eep!” Neither Caliber nor Ember was quite sure who of them had let that sound escape but both of them spun a hundred and eighty degrees and came face to smiling face with Brick. ”Lord Sombra gets a bit cranky at times. When he begins yelling, it's just best to do what he says, and he'll eventually just go in and sleep it off.” Brick explained casually about the dark overlord as if he was describing a really neat new piece of trivia. However, the information did nothing to put their concerns to rest. ”So...” Caliber swallowed his spit. ”He's gonna keep... pressuring us?” He asked in dread, sharing a worried look with Ember. Brick flashed a bright smile. ”Oh of course! That's what he did to me!” Caliber felt a little sick, and Ember gasped lowly. ”H-He did... Oh my goodness...” She whispered in fear, her thoughts immediately twisting around in panic, thinking of all the horrible consequences. ”What's wrong?” Brick asked, tilting his head in confusion. ”He's actually really gentle when you get used to him-” ”Argh I don't want to hear it!” Caliber shouted and covered his ears. Caliber, Unaware of what he had mistakenly implied, decided to continue his original plans and took steps towards the kitchen. He only stopped to turn back to the two newcomers and smile. ”Since you both are kinda done, how about you come into the kitchen and get something to eat?” While the option to wallow in despair did seem very appealing to the two newcomers, practicality won out by the sound of growling stomachs. All three made their way to the kitchen, which had gotten to become a lot more like an actual kitchen now.While the furniture was already there, now that it was actually filled and stocked with everything it needed, it could be properly used. Ember and Caliber each took to a simple but nutritious combination of oats and various vegetables. Each of them mentally exhausted after the ordeals and concerns they had been wrestling with over the last couple of days. Around half way through their dinner, it became apparent that Brick did not join them in eating. But he was still working with some food in the kitchen. Ember, finally unable to leave her curiosity unsated, turned to Brick. “What're you doing?” Brick looked up from his project and blinked in confusion at Ember. “What do you mean?” “What're you doing?!” Ember reiterated, eyes shifting back down to the earth pony's project. “You're making…” She could not believe she was saying this, but she had been in enough kitchens to recognize those ingredients. “Ice cream!” “What!?” Caliber almost shouted in confusion as well, almost dropping his bowl in shock, walking up on the other side of Brick. And true enough, Ember was right. Brick was just about done with making a bucket of vanilla and chocolate ice cream. All it needed was to be appropriately frozen. Brick tilted his head at Ember. “Uhm… I'm making… Ice cream? Like you said?” “I didn't tell you to make ice cream!” Ember said, almost aghast at the notion. Why would she even ask him to make something like that in a castle under a frozen waste? “Yes you did, silly. Just before, remember? You said ‘What're you doing? You're making-” “Yes, Yes… I get it…” She interrupted the witless earth pony, rubbing her temples in frustration. “But Whyyyyy!?” The gray earth pony just casually lifted up the bucket he had decided to use as a mixing bowl as he began to walk towards the exit, talking while walking. “Well, Lord Sombra appeared to be in a grouchy mood when he headed to bed. So I thought I'd make something to cheer him up!” Ember and Caliber both followed along with Brick as they began walking out towards the grand gate. Both had their mouthes open in slight confusion as to what to say. The gesture was nice, but the execution just seemed too… idiotic. “Brick… We're under a mountain of snow.” Caliber said, hoping to steer the inane pony onto the obvious point. Specifically the cold one. “Yea?” Brick said, just keeping on walking, clearly not making the connection. “There is a snow storm out there…” Ember added, tossing more pieces of the deductive puzzle at Brick. “Yes?” Brick simply said, casually taking the time to open the grand gates leading to the tunnels out of the great mountain. Even just outside the gates there was a distinct difference in temperature, feeling like walking straight into a freezer. Caliber and Ember shuddered at the sudden chill, though Brick was not too bothered. “It´s probably negative 30c degrees out there!” Caliber asserted. “Don't you perhaps think that… Lord… Sombra.” He grit his teeth. “Would like something perhaps a little, hotter?” Brick stopped. Blinked for a couple of seconds. Lifted up a hoof to tap at his chin in contemplation. Then after a full ten seconds of thinking, he shook his head. “Nah. I think Sombra will love this!” He said with a bright smile, continuing out through the tunnels. Both Ember and Caliber was slowly beginning to resemble fish with their mouthes agape, trying to comprehend why Brick didn't seem to comprehend what was right before his nose. The rest of the walk out to the end of the tunnels was made in relative silence, as the two decided not to press the issue, for the sake of their own sanity. As the tunnel came to an end, it looked like walking straight into a wall of pure white. Barely three meters outside of the cave entrance, everything was obscured. What before had been a view of huge stretching mountains, going on for kilometers upon kilometers, had been reduced to a wall of white and a brutally howling wind. Brick walsed over to the side, brushing away a large mound of snow and nestled the bucket into the frozen landscape. “There we go!” He announced in a sing song voice. “Just a couple of hours in the snow and it´ll probably be edible!” After a collective meltdown of any contemplation, both Ember and Caliber sighed in defeat. “You´re really something else, Brick. You know that?” The redish mare asked, while the three of them closed the gate behind them again. “Why thank you!” Brick almost barked happily, making Caliber wonder if this was really a very large intelligent husky, and not a dumb earth pony. “So this is the way you manage to keep Sombra from ripping your head off? Work hard, give him ice cream and… favors?” He shuttered at the utterance of the last word. “Oh this is the first time he's gonna get Icecream.” “What!?” Both of them once again flanked Brick when they were back in the kitchen. “This is the first time-” “Then you gotta stop!” Caliber insisted. “I can't imagine that he will like anything that does not taste like broken dreams and misery, so if you just hide the bucket you already filled, he'll never find out that you made it!” The Pegasus's wings splayed open as he was quickly trying to devise a plan to save the idiot from his own terrible plan. Brick however just grinned brightly. “I've already made several batches!” “What!?!?” “You two really like that word.” Brick giggled a bit. “You overreact way too much.” “And you don't appear to have a survival instinct!” Ember insisted, pushing herself forwards, her nose pressing against Brick´s to get his absolute attention as their faces were scrunched together. “How has he not killed you yet?!?” “Uuurrrggghhhh” The two newcomers froze. Their eyes shifted to each other, confirming that none of the three had let out the angry groan. Swallowing their spit, and painfully slowly, they turned their heads around to see a very frustrated Lord Sombra. Two terrified stares and one seemingly oblivious stare shifted back between the shadowy unicorn behind them and each other. His mane was matted and he glared at them from beneath with the fury of a mildly peeved cat. ”You... Are.... Loooouuuud...” He snarled at the three. Ember and Caliber stammered, trying to throw out anything which might stem their possible impending doom. ”well you see-” ”the thing is-” ”We made you Ice-Cream, M'Lord!” There was a pregnant pause as the two other servants turned to look at the castle idiot, each getting the same sinking feeling one would have from witnessing someone throwing a cat into a bin. Just... Why??? ”You what?” Sombra asked. ”We made Ice-cream for you!” Brick happily re-announced, opening a little primitive crystal ice box in the corner, pulling out a tub of vanilla and chocolate ice-cream. He pulled a spoon from a drawer, sticking it in the frozen treat and then presented this before Sombra with all the pride of a child presenting their first school project. Ember and Caliber were mentally writing their wills. Sombra paused his fury to stare at his idiot. ”Ice cream?” ”Yes! Ice cream!” Brick quipped. The dark tyrant looked down into the crystal bowl, tentatively sniffing at its contents. Vanilla and chocolate, but frozen. Did, they have this when he was young? He couldn't remember. It smelt nice, but he didn't want to give his stupid servants the idea that he'd gone soft! His horn lit up, picking up the spoon, dug into the frozen treat and took a tentative taste. His eyes widened in pleasant surprise. He didn't, remember tasting anything like this in… ages. And even then the memory was fuzzy. It was one of… young tentative steps. Meetings with other ponies he could not even recognize now in his magically extended living age. It was soothing. As the ice cold treat was properly swallowed, he took great care to not APPEAR to have enjoyed himself. The dark unicorn gave the spoon a mildly scornful look before turning back towards his personal idiot. “You made this?” Asked Sombra, his voice cold and dismissive. Brick smiled brightly, paying no mind to the pleading looks of Ember and the overly exaggerated gestures of Caliber to ‘cut it out!’ “I did!” The dark unicorn´s gaze returned down into the bowl that had yet only lost a tiny bit of its mass to thawing by now. He scrutinized it… Then, he grasped it in his magic. “Very good.” Sombra said in an even tone. “Bring me more of this.” Turning away, with Icecream and spoon in his magic, leaving behind a pair of VERY confused ‘guests’ and a beaming Brick. He could just barely make out his personal idiot turning to the others and with a pleased sounding ‘See? I knew he'd like it!’ before the black unicorn made his way back into his sanctuary, taking great care to close the door completely behind him again. He had been angry when he had been interrupted. He still was… He was still bubbling. But bubbling anger quickly turned to resentment, and that even faster turned to disgusting despair. Within his Sanctuary, Sombra let out a defeated sigh, before scooping himself one more helping of this new delicious treat. As he laid himself back upon his fainting couch, up close to the small fireplace built into the side of the wall, Sombra felt that gnawing feeling in his heart return as he was once again left with his solace. “At least you're a distraction…” Conceded Sombra as he began working his way to the bottom of the bowl. At least food still granted him some level of peace. However briefly.