//------------------------------// // Sapphires Don't Grunt // Story: Sombra Dislikes Crystals // by The Apologetic Pony //------------------------------// When he got back from somewhere, Tinker’s father pointed out the wealth of empty cans in his son’s room. Tinker grunted. ‘How was Sombra? Did he get to the meeting alright?’ Tinker’s father asked, sliding onto Tinker’s sofa. Tinker edged away. ‘He was well, and he got to the meeting fine. He sounded keen to learn under Luna.’ ‘Oh I see. She hadn’t told me she was going to offer the colt tutorage—or young stallion rather.’ Tinker left the room for a minute, and returned with a sixpack on his back. ‘Haven’t you had enough poison for today, Tinker?’ On another day, Tinker would have objected. ‘I had a fun time.’ Tinker’s father said. ‘Did you now?’ ‘I went to that dragon’s comedic-thingy’ ‘You mean that tourning comedic dwarf dragon guy?’ ‘Yeah, that’s the one.’ ‘Amusing I take it.’ Tinker said. ‘Hilariously funny!’ Tinker started to tap his hoof on the sofa chair. ‘You don’t appear to be in the brightest of spirits though.’ Tinker’s father said. Tinker grunted again. ‘Ah, that’s a sure sign!’ ‘What me grunting?’ ‘The unusually large number of cans, your lack of a challenge when I told you to stop drinking them, and the grunting.’ Tinker grunted. ‘What’s wrong, son? You’re not grunting your way out of this one!’ ‘What if I do it again?’ Tinker’s father grunted, and that was enough to get a laugh out of his son. ‘It’s lots of things, Dad. I basically called Sombra something not very nice and mocked him for his achievement of getting recognised by Luna.’ ‘And then what?’ ‘Then nothing. He walked out.’ ‘Sounds like it could have gone worse.’ ‘He’s too smart for it to have gone worse.’ ‘And what else?’ Tinker’s father asked. ‘You know you could have told me that it was Luna.’ ‘I thought you’d prefer to hear it from your friend.’ ‘No way! ‘Course I wanna know if my friends going to be meeting Luna.’ ‘Then that was my mistake. Sorry.’ Tinker’s father asked if he could grab a can from the sixpack, and Tinker just nodded. ‘Do you know why you did it?’ ‘What?’ ‘Calling Sombra whatever and all that.’ ‘I dunno. Felt like it.’ ‘You felt like drinking a few moments ago.’ That prompted a vicious glare from Tinker, and any chance Tinker’s father had of hearing his son’s feelings evaporated. Tinker’s father wished Tinker goodnight several silent minutes later. Sombra had only recently returned to his home. Getting to and fro Tinker’s house was a real hassle if he didn’t splash out on a taxi. He’d have to get on a bus, then walk a while, then get on another bus, and then walk a while more. It was dusk by the time he got back. His house was well lit and considerably tidier than Tinker’s, though the dark carpet Sombra now walked on would have been good at hiding stains. From the door lead a hallway, branching off to all the rooms on the first floor and a set of stairs at the end of it. Upstairs was mostly Sombra’s domain, except for a cupboard his parents kept spare towels in. ‘Welcome home, Sombra.’ Alex said as he heard the door open. ‘Hello.’ ‘Did Tinker’s go well?’ ‘Sort of. Fun game of solitaire you’re having over there?’ ‘I’ve just lost it.’ Sombra was about to head on up to his room, as he usually did, when Alex said, ‘Can we talk, stallion to stallion? I’m feeling lonely.’ Sombra was surprised by that. While often informal, Alex rarely showed weakness to him. ‘Er, sure.’ ‘I’m not sure how else I can put it but, this may understandably be delicate matter for you... and me.’ ‘Delicate was not a word to be associated with my father,’ Sombra thought as he sat down next to Alex on the sofa. But there is ‘A first time for everything.’ ‘I want to apologise for what I did to you when you were just a colt. I took advantage of my power over you and I thought it’d make you into a better stallion. I was wrong, though your character speaks otherwise.’ ‘That was a long time ago, it’s okay, Dad.’ Sombra said as he caught his Dad in a warm embrace. ‘It’s not okay, and it won’t ever be okay. I just wanted to acknowledge it.’ Sombra felt patches of his nape getting wet. ‘Getting sappy on me?’ Sombra asked, his own voice much higher pitched than it was meant to be. ‘I ought to be this time.’ Once Alex had composed himself, he fetched the two some water and told Sombra there was still something else. ‘What’s with acting like who I want to be?’ With that, Alex took on an odd expression, somewhere between hangdog and sheepish. ‘What?’ Sombra asked. ‘No matter, it can wait.’ Sombra was tired, too tired to pursue whatever Alex was hiding. They engaged in nothing but small talk from then on, until Sombra retreated upstairs. He was surprised by at how he’d kept his own tears in from Alex – he’d felt vulnerable ever since he’d returned from Tinker’s place. But as he lay in his bed, he found himself crying for longer than he’d like to admit. Fortunately, hushing the weeping wasn’t particularly difficult; only the occasional muffled sobs escaped him. Though he believed himself innocent, Sombra couldn’t couldn't face putting all the blame on Tinker. That was too cruel. Two days after, Sombra delivered a letter to the post office, with the recipient address labeled as: Equestria Canterlot Main District Canterlot Royal palace Lunar Court He wondered for a moment, how many letters does she receive, approximately? He didn’t mean official, Royal correspondence, but letters from ordinary ponies. Kiddie’s drawings were well known as being sent to only Celestia and so was just about everything else. Maybe she’s the one that gets the romantic poetry of bored fellows. As they’d expected, Sombra and Tinker avoided each other (as much as they could) over the next week. They even went out of their way to ask ponies on desks miles away for spare stationery, when they were sitting beside one another. Eventually the ice did thaw, when Tinker cautiously offered to share lunch with his friend. Tinker apologised profusely and Sombra offered to bring some beer around to Tinker’s, amusing them both. The sweet make up talk concluded with an abrupt hug from Tinker. And though it was a friendly gesture, Tinker held on longer than he should have, far too long... probably my imagination.