//------------------------------// // Chapter 8~ // Story: Sombasi, Brother of Sombra // by Pomp-Neigh //------------------------------// Sombra’s laughter continued to echo throughout the hallway, garnering several questioning looks from passing individuals and a very unamused Sombasi. “It’s not funny!” the tormented brother cried out.  The elder brother simply continued to enjoy his cachinnation. “I-i’m-huaha!” Sombra managed. “I’m sorry, brother,” he brushes a forelimb across his eyes, “but that is funny.” Sombasi snorts, followed by his gaze surrendering to the crystalline floor. A stern look from Radiant Hope caused Sombra to recover rapidly, Snowdrop trotting over to Sombasi. “Well… m-maybe it won’t be so bad,” Snowdrop said, resting a comforting wing on the dark colt. “If anything happens, we’ll always be here for you.” Hope’s hooves clopped against the floor, her eyes resting on Sombasi’s form until she stood alongside Sombra. “Sombra, he’s your brother…” she muttered, glaring at him. “You and I both know this is much more than just him being roommates with Blue.”   Sombra’s eyes widened, his ears folding against his head as he ripped his gaze away, setting it on his brother. He takes in a breath with closed eyes and opens them with determination. “Hope, Snowdrop, you two go on ahead,” he began. “Sombra will help his brother. We will meet up with you later. Perhaps during dinner.” Both Radiant Hope and Snowdrop share a glance as Sombra trots over to the blue cart filled with Sombasi’s belongings. Sombra mildly forced his way onto the left reigns of the cart, allowing him to pull that side with Sombasi heaving the right. “Lead the way, brother.” Sombasi’s ears perked up, having been drawn to his brother’s actions. “Let us talk along the way.” Sombasi nods, hesitation still present on his features. “O-ok…” The brothers began to pull the cart in unison, Sombra waving back to Hope and Snowdrop as they departed, the fillies returning the gesture with waving forelimbs. “Do you think Sombra has a plan?” Snowdrop inquires, lowering her appendage. Hope chuckles. “Plan? He sort of just makes things up as he goes along.” she waved dismissively, finishing with a giggle.  “If you say so…” Snowdrop relents. “It’ll be fine. Ooh!” Hope beamed with a thought. “While those two are occupied, let’s have a filly’s day out together! Maybe grab us a milkshake from the marketplace?”  Snowdrop nods gleefully. “That sounds nice.” The duo began to trot, only for Hope to stop dead in her tracks, sheepish laughter being let loose with a face of embarrassing realization. “Ehehe, um—so I just realized… I’ve got no bits…” Snowdrop tilts her head. “Huh? How? We just got our allowance yesterday.” Hope looked side to side nervously, fidgeting her forehooves together while sitting on her flank. She then drapes a foreleg over the light-blue pegasus’s neck, pulling them closer. “It’s a secret, Snowy,” Hope muttered. “One that could get me in a lot of trouble if Miss. Chestnut finds out.” Snowdrop sighs in amusement, shaking her head with a chuckle. “Alright. Against my better judgment, I’ll trust you. And it looks like I’ll be buying the milkshakes.” “Great!” Hope celebrates with a raised forelimb, gently pulling away from the pegasus. “Then what are we waiting for? Let’s go!” ………. The dark-gray unicorn brothers silently walk down a corridor, save for the turning wheels of the blue cart they pulled along. “Listen, Sombasi,” Sombra began, breaking the silence with worry drenched in his tone. “You know that nothing will ever change between us, right?” Sombasi sighs. “I know, brother. But… that’s not exactly what I’m worried about.” Sombra catches onto his brother’s meaning, silently pondering for a moment. He abruptly chuckles, “Stop for a moment,” he says. With a nod from Sombasi, the brothers stop in unison, the cart they pulled giving in to the domino effect.  “Listen to me, brother,” Sombra began, Sombasi looking up at him with flattened ears due to his slight height advantage. “If anypony were ever to adopt either of us, they would do so expecting a two-for-one package. We are brothers; we are inseparable.”   “B-but what if-” “Then I will run away, track you down, and we’ll return here together,” Sombra interjects. “And vice versa, I hope?” “O-of course!” Sombasi answered unhesitantly. “But what if we can’t come back here?” “Miss. Chestnut would never be so cruel,” Sombra answered, not a sliver of doubt in his voice. “But if that ever were to happen, which I doubt, we’ll just go somewhere else. Together. Of course, that also means we’ll take Snowdrop and Hope with us.” “Where would we even go?” “It’s a big world, Sombasi,” Sombra drapes a foreleg over his brother’s neck, pulling him close, “We can go anywhere,” he drew a line with his hoof, almost as if gesturing at some invisible horizon. “To Equestria, Griffonia, Ferasi—the only limit is our doubts.” “Sombasi doubts two of those options, brother. Sombasi is pretty sure they don’t like ponies…” Sombra gently pulled away, “Then Equestria it is!” he emphasized with an aerial forelimb. “But what about the costs of transportation? And food? A-and water?” “Minor setbacks!” “Brother…” “Look,” Sombra gently interjects. “Sombra’s point is that we’ll always be together, and with Snowdrop and Hope by our side, we shall be unstoppable. Together, we can solve all of those worries,” he offers a forelimb, “Brothers to the end?” Sombasi’s features brighten, raising and meeting his brother’s appendage with his own. “Brothers to the end. Always.” “Then there’s nothing to fear. Yes, sharing a room with… her, will be difficult, but this is simply a bump in the road. We are still brothers, first and foremost. Besides, it’s just moving from one room to another. We’re still living under the same roof.” “I suppose you’re right,” Sombasi agreed with perked-up ears. “Of course, I’m right.” Sombra puffs out his chest. “I am Sombra.” he chuckles. “Now come, let’s continue.”   With nods and beaming smiles, the brothers pull the cart along and continue their trek. ………. The blue cart abruptly stops as the pair of now-shocked brothers stare dumbfoundedly at what unfolds before their eyes. The door to Sombasi’s new residence is opened as several colts and fillies haul possessions in and out of the room, plucking the items off a white cart resting in the hallway, which is double the size of Sombasi’s own. The brothers groan in unison, snorting together before leaving the reigns of their own cart.  “I’ll start to unload your belongings, brother,” Sombra began. “You’d better go in there before Lobellia claims the entire room as her own.” Sombasi sighs. “Remember me well, brother, for Sombasi shall now enter the gates of Tartarus.” Sombra rests on his haunches and raises a forelimb into the air, sniffling while resting his remaining forelimb over his heart. “Oh dear brother of mine,” sniffs, “I knew him well.” Sombasi rolled his eyes, his attention shifting to the room as hesitant steps carried him over to the entrance. And once he peered into that ‘dark abyss,’ she looked back. “Ah, there you are, Sombasi,” Lobellia ‘greets,’ resting on a small red sofa while two fillies fan her on either side. “Make yourself useful and help these fine colts and fillies move my-” her eyes widened from a nearby commotion, “Be careful with that!” she barked. “It’s likely worth more than you two!” “Sorry, Lobellia,” two colts respond in unison, setting down a nightstand alongside an already established bed set.     Sombasi scoffs in annoyance and disgust, having enough of what he’s had to observe. “Why do you all even listen to her?!” he shouts. “All she does is boss you guys around!” he points a forelimb at her, “How about you get off your fat flank and move your own stuff!” “Trying to claim the moral high ground? How cute.” Lobellia dismissively waved a forelimb with laughter. “Please, don’t even try that. I paid them to move my things, not force them to—paid services, you dummy. It’s a simple concept, but, of course, I don’t expect an idiot like you to understand that.” The other orphans began to laugh in mockery of the dark colt, Lobellia most prominent amongst the masses, all of which garnered pure fury to build within Sombasi’s form. He growled and stepped forth, but a dark-gray hoof rested gently upon his right shoulder. “No, brother,” Sombra said, Sombasi turning to his sibling. “Just let it go.” “But, she-they-” “Nice of you to stop by, Sombra,” Lobellia interjects, her mocking tone ever-present as the brothers glare at her. “The freaks are together now. Congratulations are in order. Now, be a good colt and remove yourself and your brother from my sight. I have work to do.” she claps her forelimbs together. “Of course, by that, I mean everypony else here. Back to work, all of you!” The room is again booming with activity as those who paused during the affair and took part in it rapidly return to work. Sombra sharply inhales before escorting his brother away, the duo trotting back to their cart and propping themselves alongside it. There they remained in silence, their backs resting against the cart. “It’s not fair,” Sombasi breaks the silence, tears threatening to escape from his glistening orbs. “Why do they jump at the chance to make fun of us? What makes us so different that they treat us like… like we’re nothing.” Sombra fully absorbs his brother’s words, gazing at his downtrodden brother before staring at a nearby wall. “We’re not crystal ponies,” Sombasi began, Sombra keeping his gaze forward. “But neither is Lobellia, yet the other orphans always take her side over ours. They even call us ‘Blank Flanks’ just because we don’t have our cutie marks, but why should that matter? And even poor Hope and Snowdrop suffer just like we do; I-I just…” Sombasi’s words died in his throat, his gaze shifting forward to join Sombra’s at the nearby wall before letting out a sad, sorrowful sigh of defeat.           “Why is being different a bad thing, brother?” Sombra exhales, closing his eyes in tandem. “It’s not a bad thing…” a smirk crept onto his muzzle, turning his gaze to Sombasi. “But you know what?” Sombasi meets Sombra’s gaze. “What?” “I think the others are just jealous of us. We are different compared to them, everypony is different. But that is the point. Sombra believes it would be boring if we were all exactly the same.”  Sombasi chuckles. “Heh, I guess that’s true. But Sombasi fails to see what they could be jealous of us for.” Sombra laughed gleefully, pulling his brother closer with a forelimb. “Sombra and Sombasi are brothers! That’s what they’re jealous of!” Sombasi cocks his head with a raised eyebrow. “Don’t you see, brother? Haven’t you realized it yet?” “S-Sombasi is ashamed to say that he lacks Sombra’s sight…” “Fear not, for Sombra shall reveal it. Tell me, brother, do you know anypony else who has a sibling in the orphanage?” Sombra finished with a smug grin. Sombasi opened his mouth to answer, only to falter upon true realization. Sombra was right, and of all the orphans residing there, they are the only siblings. A smile grew on Sombasi’s features. “S-Sombasi agrees,” the dark colt laughed lightly before resting his head on Sombra’s chest. “I love you, big brother.” Sombra chuckles. “And I - you, dear brother.” And so, the brothers remained there, content and embracing each other’s company in silence as they waited for Lobellia’s ‘workers’ to unload her cart.  “Three… two… one… go!” A brown-coated crystal earth pony stallion performed a countdown, forelimbs raised in the air, followed by two equine individuals struggling against each other in a hoof-wrestling contest. The combatants stood firm on either side of a barrel upon which their competition had partaken. An audience roared and cheered in the background. A bar can be spotted just beyond the masses as a cream-coated, non-crystal unicorn stallion tentatively cleans glassware with a cloth, chuckling at the nearby phenomenon. “Well, I’ll be. It looks like things are getting exciting over there,” the bartending stallion said, finishing with a chuckle. Suddenly, the double doors to the establishment are parted, several other attendees seated on nearby tables being drawn to the hooded equine now trotting in. “Welcome to the Crystal Tavern!” the bartender greets. However, he inertly recognized the hooded equine making its way toward him, and he looked at the clock etched to a wall on the right side of the tavern. -It’s only a little past noon,- he said internally. -I figured she’d be up at the castle with the princess, what with those Saddle Arabians pay’n a visit.- The hooded mare takes a seat at the bar, one of the excellent assemblies of high chairs with circular, leather, and red cushions. She sheds off her hood, unveiling the golden mane of a light-blue unicorn beauty that could rival Princess Amore herself. “It’s good to see you’re doing well, Ross.” Ross chuckles, setting down a glassware he had been tending to. “Always a pleasure, Arthrodite.”