//------------------------------// // Bricks // Story: Crystal Castle // by Skrive Flip //------------------------------// There were very few things which could shake Sombra into actual speechlessness. Completely and utter confusion. The kind that defied any kind of immediate logic and seemingly obvious empirical evidence. The kind of situations that could at most warrant a “What?” or a “How?”. And that was what Sombra was forced into. It had been two days since Sombra´s first encounter with Brick, that airheaded idiot who had almost gotten himself killed by Frost Wolves, and instead of running away from the obviously evil dark magic fueled unicorn, he completely flipped out and praised Sombra to the skies. In the meantime after Brick had left, Sombra had been feasting on the newly given supplies, and got himself some more rest, especially now that he had a slightly more comforting position and something to eat that didn't freeze in his stomach. He had also returned to his work on his bedroom, being able to clear out a lot more of the room, and moved most of the surplus debris to a separate cave. This morning was supposed to just be finishing up the work he had set out, but was put to a screeching halt as he had heard a familiar voice yell down the tunnels of his sanctuary. “Mister Dark!! Are you home Mister Dark!?” Sombra groaned in frustration, something he was doing an increasingly amount lately, and turned to call into the tunnels. “I am here…” he reluctantly called back. If he hadn't, he suspected that Brick would just keep shouting. “Oh! Good! Could you come and help me a bit?” Sombra bit his lip in frustration, one of his hooves almost shuddering with anger over being interrupted. He had almost finished the hard part of his first room! ‘Just… Humor him, Maybe he will go away then’ Sombra conceded, and left his work unfinished to walk out the tunnels. These corridors had not received any attention from Sombra and in fact looked a lot worse for wear than before Sombra came, considering all the debris Sombra had dragged out through them. Sombra made a mental note of having to sweep the remaining pebbles up at some point so it doesn’t look like a preschool class had been by armed with pickaxes. Almost reaching the end of the tunnels, Sombra already began to talk. “I swear, Brick, if you interrupted me just because you wanted to say hello, I am going to rip youuuuurrrrrrrrr…” his voice slowly trailed off as the entrance to the tunnels appeared and the outside world dawned. There before him, stood Brick besides a cart filled with what the former monarch now was forced to only describe as implausible. From just what he could see as he slowly walked forwards, was a fainting couch. There was an actual fainting couch in the cart. A fainting couch with several blankets and pillows tied on top of them. Not only that, but beneath it, were bags of all sorts of different foods, along with utensils to cook them. Even a small cauldron for soup making had snuck itself into the cart. Sombra walked up besides the cart and looked into it to gather up all the details. Barely able to believe it, the dark unicorn lifted one of the new objects in disbelief. It was a pickaxe, and actual pickaxe. And beneath that was a shovel as well. “I couldn't actually find a mattress that fit that huge bowl you have in your home, And when I tried to make the Mattress pony make a custom one, he just said the usual ‘Go away Brick’ and wouldn't even give me a price! Rude!” Brick said as his savior began to look over the things he brought. Sombra almost wasn't registering Brick´s long winded explanation until the aforementioned earth pony leaned his head forwards, breaking completely into Sombra´s personal space. “Soooooooo… Did I do good?~” Brick asked just as hopeful as the smile he bore. The former crystal monarch´s attention finally honed itself onto Brick as eye contact was secured and the question waved before him. It was much easier to work with those two. Reluctantly, he responded. “Yes Brick… You did good…” he admitted. Credit goes where credit is due. “But… How?” Sombra asked, turning to the items in the cart again, settling down the pickaxe. “How did you get all of this!?” “I found it!” Brick almost chirped. “You found it?” Sombra asked with a deadpanned expression. “You just happened to Find, A fainting couch, Mining equipment and several weeks worth of food?” “Yup!” “Where?” “At home!” Brick replied. “You… Pilfered this from your home?” Sombra asked cynically. Brick blinked a couple of times in confusion. “I don't know what that word means…” Sombra rolled his eyes, annoyed at having to dumb down his language. He knew what word Brick was referring to, but he was tempted to ask for every other one. “It means to take.”   “Oh! Weeeeellll~” Brick started, his eyes flicking upwards, as if he was a little personal flashback. Sombra would not be surprised if he was actually experiencing something along those lines. “You see, Momma and Papa are at work until late and we have so much food for my brothers and I that I just took some of it. We won’t be missing it. The tools were easy, no one even noticed when I went in to get them! I asked my brothers if they'd help me fill the cart, but they just told me they were busy.” “And the couch?” Sombra asked further. “Well, Nopony seemed to be using it…” Brick answered, his eyes slowly falling to the ground, one hoof prodding vacantly at a pile of snow. “And nopony told me to put it down…” “How… Could they not notice you lifting a couch onto a cart and leaving town?” Sombra expected his question to perhaps be shrugged off, or maybe innocently responded with some quip along the lines of ‘They just did!’ or ‘Because!’, but he got none. Brick´s eyes simply sunk to the ground and stayed there, not answering. Seeing the formerly energetic idiot of Brick suddenly be reduced to silence from asking a simple question intrigued Sombra. There was most certainly something interesting behind this behavior. However, probing him would most likely only result in the pony probing back. “Never mind.” Sombra begrudgingly resigned to saying. “Lets just get this stuff inside.” Jumping the subject, made the gray pony instantly leap into action again, the same dumb bright smile as yesterday smeared all over his face. “Yes, Sir!” While at first there were some issues with Sombra having to explain to Brick why they'd have to carry things separately rather than in the cart. As it simply couldn't fit into the deeper parts of the tunnels. (Not that that stopped Brick from trying though). Sombra and Brick were able to carry all the contents of the cart into the Sanctuary. The food and their utensils got stacked calmly in a corner, the mining equipment in another, and the couch got a prime position. Though as Brick was carrying the last items in, Sombra was looking at where he had placed the Couch. ‘Hmmm… I Think it needs to be raised. Give it a more pride of place feel’. “So!” Brick announced suddenly. “Where do you wanna dig?” “Huh?” Sombra turned around. “You said you wanted to dig out the east wing!” Brick stated brightly, while picking up the tools. “I wanna help!” “You want to help me dig out a mountain?…” Sombra said, staring at Brick, part of him  hoping that the repeated sentence might actually penetrate the thick earth pony skull of the magnitude of the task he was offering a hoof to. “Sure!” ‘Of course it didn't.’  Sombra rolled his eyes. “It is a generous offer, but I would prefer to be left alone-” “But you said-” “I know what I said!” Sombra cut off the Earth pony, who almost visibly shrank as Sombra interrupted him. “But there is a reason why I decided to move into a mountain, and not a neat little house anywhere else.” He said, as he slowly marched forwards to try and get his point across to the dense Brick. “I. Want. To. Be. Alone!” Breathing heavily and looking much more like his usual Dark Self, Sombra was suddenly gobsmacked as Brick just replied: “So You want to dig out a mountain alone?” For a while, there was just a silent staring contest between the two, as each side was at a loss for words. Sombra, because Brick had actually managed to sass him with his own words, and Brick because Mister Dark was really quiet and it was slowly getting unnerving. Returning to his senses, Sombra gave an annoyed sigh. “No… I don't want to dig out a mountain alone. But once that mountain is dug out, I want to be alone in it. This is my home, and I don't want random ponies to be wandering in. Which is why I have to do it alone.” There was an uncomfortable silence between the two again that lasted a few more seconds, before Brick once again got a small smile on his lips. “But… You can just ask me to leave when you want to, Right?” Sombra raised an inquisitive eyebrow. “I mean.” Brick continued. “I don't wanna be a bother. But I still gotta help you! Digging and mining is a lot of hard work, and you look so tired.” He kept reasoning, speaking quickly, slowly beginning to sound almost borderline desperate. “And if I am too annoying, you can just tell me to…” He took a quick breath as he stammered the last words. “To G-G-Go away…” This, peaked Sombra´s interest slightly. Just how desperate was this idiot to help him? And Why? Was it just him? “Why do you want to help me?” Sombra asked seriously. Brick however, suddenly just lit up again and smiled. “You saved my life!” Aaand, back to the standard answer. Sombra could question Brick now. He could throw the idiot against the wall and force him to answer him. Maybe even reduce him to a quivering pile of meat only able to beg forgiveness of his King, Sombra. But the possibility of throwing himself into that loop made Sombra simply groan. Getting free help just usually lead to trouble. Even if this idiot was pushing it. “Whatever…” Sombra said as he began walking towards the tunnels. “You can dig for me… but only where I tell you to. And make sure I can see you at all times.” Brick´s stupid grin lit up again. “As you wish Mister Dark!” “Just don't make me regret this…” “I won't, Mister Dark! You can count on me!” With the discussion out of the way, the two got to work. Sombra sort of aimed Brick in a direction and asked him to dig out a very specific size, making sure to stop him way before the workhorse screwed up his design. Though Sombra´s time was occupied by making proper ventilation inside his home. It took most of the day, especially with having to constantly stop and check that Brick had not smashed the place up beyond recognition, but he was able to finish it, at least for the current amount of rooms. It was a crystal structure, with a little magic infused in it, helping with keeping the temperature, and preventing him from suffocating. So that was always a plus. The issue of creating such a complex (Wall integrated) structure, was that it was incredibly draining. Sombra had barely really been working compared to the past few days, or even compared to Brick´s performance, but he was still left flung back upon his newly acquired fainting couch in a sweaty heap. ‘Well, That’s out of the way’ Sombra thought. As he breathed a sigh of relief, he realized that neither him nor Brick had really held any breaks for the day. They had just been working non stop, Brick a much harder job even.   His aching limbs, and his growling stomach now also sneaking their way into his thoughts, Sombra just decided to take the initiative. He was hungry, and if the idiot ended up malnourished, he would have to dispose of a body, and that would be more trouble than it was worth, compared to just making dinner. With a little extra exertion, Sombra set up a temporary spot for the cauldron and began to heat up some of the newly fallen snow to make the basis for a soup. He didn't think much about what ingredients he added, as he wanted just a fulfilling meal rather than a culinary experience. Setting the soup to simmer a bit over the temporary fireplace he had made earlier, Sombra turned to go in and check on Brick. “Brick! Put down whatever you're carrying! Dinner is getting ready!” Sombra called into the tunnels, less of a helpful information from a friend making food, and more of a command from an assertive union boss. Brick followed the order quite literally, calling back “Okay!” and dropped everything without a care for how loudly they clanked against the floor. With a hop and a skip (Though not a jump), He quickly came back into the sanctuary where Sombra was filling a bowl with soup. “Wow, It smells really good!” Brick added after taking a whiff of the steam coming off the bowl, as Sombra floated it over to him. The former king just took the off handed compliment like a light breeze and took a seat on his couch with his own steaming bowl. He knew it would need a few moment at least to cool down to eating temperature. Brick didn't realize that though, and his first attempt at eating ended with a burnt tongue. Ignoring the idiot´s mess up however, the moments that Sombra knew he needed to use, he used to think over the work they had done today. The progress had actually been astounding, having Brick around seemed to increasingly beneficial, despite having to stand the idiot´s constant antics. Maybe a week with this kind of progress, and he would be able to have an actual sort of main hall before his own sanctuary. Thinking on that, Sombra realized he would need to be making some doors. Which one first though? It would be rather cold if he didn't close off the tunnels, but would also advertise his presence. He would have to come up with some kind of alternative. Lost in these thoughts, Sombra didn't notice that Brick had sat himself on the floor in front of Sombra´s couch. “So… What happened?” Brick asked. The sudden question snapped Sombra back to reality. “What happened?” “Yea! You know… to your home?” Brick asked, occasionally holding a hoof over soup to sense the temperature. “Why do you ask?” ”I'm just… Curious… You know?” Brick reasoned, smiling brightly at Sombra, who was slowly suspecting that the earth pony knew exactly how infective his smile was. “Well Stop being curious about things that doesn’t concern you!” Sombra snapped at Brick, and took a small sip from his soup. He tried to focus on the warmth and comfort he gained from the soup, but it was hard to not get caught by the utter expression of hurt upon the idiot’s face in front of him. He tried to avert his eyes, but Brick was just sticking out like an eyesore. The idiot´s face had fallen completely, looking into his soup like one would when told your cat had died. Sombra groaned at himself. He would most certainly regret this. “How about this, I might answer a question of yours, if you answer a couple of mine, how does that sound?” Brick´s light bulb level smile suddenly reappeared and he nodded nervously. “What about your home? Your village.” Sombra asked. In a second, Brick metaphorically unhinged his jaw and just started blabbering. “Oh! Im from Icedale! It’s in the valley not far from here, and is one of the furthest villages from Equestria! I live with my family in the ‘Is’hall’. My family owns a farm here. We mainly harvest anything that will grow in the north and we also have a large mead making market! We have the largest house in the village!” Sombra actually listened to every word Brick threw at him. Each detail, even if brought by an idiot, was information about the land he found himself in. So for now he realized he was still in Equestria, but then again, Equestria had stretched its borders quite a bit since he was King. Most of his old dominions now swore fealty to his old rivals. Is’hall sounded kind of familiar, but he couldn’t put his hoof on it, maybe he had been stationed there once? No, that would be ridiculous. Leaving his train of thought, Sombra returned to reality with Brick. “So you are from an important family?” Sombra inquired calmly. Brick shrugged. “I Guess? Momma and Pappa keeps saying that I should stop making them look stupid, and there are always mares going heads over heels over my brothers… So I guess we are?” “Aha…” Sombra commented, gesturing for Brick to continue. This was actually quite interesting. If he was the son of somepony important, why would nopony notice him? “Well, each time there had been some kind of, gathering, they asked me to either just, leave or to at least sit still and say nothing… My Brothers agree with it I think… I have tried getting their attention, but they always just have their own thing to do. All five of them. How can all five of them always be busy?... I remember once they got really mad at me because I ended up smacking over some guy´s lamp… It wasn't my fault, I didn’t know it was so flimsy! They should have bought a sturdier one! And one that didn’t cost so many bits!” “So, you´re the black sheep?” Sombra concluded. Brick released a sudden burst of giggles. “Silly Mister Dark, I am not a sheep. I’m not even black!” While Sombra´s eyes did in fact roll, he wasn’t that annoyed. He should have guessed that one would come. “Never mind” He said offhandedly. “How about your Village itself?” “Oh! Icedale is an awesome place! Has all the things you'd want, even out in the snow. There is a hot spring, lots of shopping, frost farming, just so much stuff with so many ponies! Though we don't get so many newcomers…” Brick explained, placing down his bowl and suddenly crossing his hooves. “I say its Abs Ton´s fault.” “Abs Ton?” Sombra raised a questioning eyebrow. “Yea! Abs Ton is such a huge rockhead! He thinks he is sooo cool, and he likes to tell everyone he is, Even if he isn't! I mean, just because he is strong does not mean he can be mean to everypony else!” Sombra took a small sip of his soup as Brick ranted on, clearly not liking this Abs Ton. He clearly sounded like the de facto alpha male of that town, and of course that has created some backlash. “And I mean, he has never done anything himself! He keeps saying he will do all this cool stuff like, beat a bear or break a rock, but he just keeps talking about it, and then when I ask him to show me, he just tells me to ‘Go away Brick, go lay in a wall and be useful somewhere’!” With that, Sombra retracted his earlier thought. Not the alpha male, but the alpha braggart. Sounds like somepony who´d need a couple of broken bones to perhaps get a reality check.   “Why don't you just kick his head in?” Sombra asked. It was the simple solution after all. If a soldier got out of line, you kick them back in. And if you can't kick them back in, well then you didn't deserve the higher rank in the first place. Brick frowned however. “I cant! He's friends with The Guvnor!” “The Guvnor?” “Yeah!” Brick said, first searching for a sign of understanding from Sombra, but as he found none, he himself continued in slight confusion. “You know, the pony who rules the North? Placed by Celestia as ponies began to repopulate the area?” Sombra calmly took some more of his soup before just looking bored back at Brick. “Imagine that I have been under Ice for a Thousand years. What do you mean by repopulate?” Brick tilted his head. “That has got to have been cold…” He first commented before moving on. “The North has always been empty, as far as I have been told at least. And it was only about 60 years ago it really began to get repopulated. Though since ponies suddenly were large enough to need some policing, but the royal guard didn't really have enough at the time, Guvnor suggested that he could do the job.” “Hmm, I see… Thats interesting.” Sombra mused, leaning back and trying to internalize the information. He still didn't completely understand where he was, but he could guess he had gone even further north than his old empire. Maybe even further than the Peaks? Maybe thats where he had heard about Is’hall… “So….” Brick began. “Can I ask my questions now?” He asked with a hopeful smile. Sombra shrugged. “If you must, What do you want to know?” “What happened to your home?” “What happened?” Sombra said rather bemused. “What didn't happen… I had a home. It was taken from me, as much as I fought, I failed. I failed at saving the only thing I had left after…” Sombra closed his eyes and took a deep, shaky breath. “After everything I had done.” “Oh… So…” Brick tried to understand. “What about your family?” That question made Sombra stop. It sent a sting through his chest that reminded him of taking an arrow. The question´s mere presence was enough to send his mind down paths he would rather leave untrodden. Images of days past, and emotions that still hurt sank over his mind like a rock. Or a Brick. “H-Hey… Mister Dark?” Brick asked, suddenly uncertain of his question as Sombra slowly rolled around on the couch, away from Brick. “Are you ok?” “I'm fine…” Sombra almost hissed, making Brick frown. “I… Do you want me to go away?” Brick asked, his voice almost cracking into a worried squeak. “No Brick…  I want to be alone..” The words felt like a slap to the face for Brick. He knew what Mister dark meant by that. And it hurt. His head fell dejectedly and he turned around, still having his bowl. “I'm Sorry Mister Dark… I'll just be-” “Sombra.” “Huh?” Brick stopped and looked back at his dark savior, who had only just looked over his shoulder slightly, just to let Brick know that he was achnowlegning his precense. “My name is Sombra. I was a King once. And I want you to be back here tomorrow at sunrise. There is a lot more to work on…” The former king weakly said, his voice tired and his eyes slowly closing as he rolled over again. He just wanted that solitude now. However, this slight acknowledgment was still enough to make Brick´s beaming smile return, as he instantly saluted. “As You command, Lord Sombra!”  He said before he left Sombra alone now in his slightly more furnished sanctuary. Leaving the former King with only his thoughts, and a slowly cooling dinner. Lord Sombra… A much simpler title than King. One of many titles he once possessed. Now, all of them stripped from him. Leaving him disgraced and worthless. Now only a single Pony speaking his name with any form of conviction behind it. And he was an idiot. “Laugh it up, Sonnet… Laugh it up, you malignant harlot… You got the last laugh after all.”