//------------------------------// // Gems and Springs // Story: Crystal Castle // by Skrive Flip //------------------------------// Brick followed Sombra´s instruction to the letter, arriving just at the break of dawn the next day and standing at attention. Though the latter part was more an interpretation of Sombra´s order rather than a direct one, Brick was pretty proud of himself. Sombra was less so. “Why are you saluting me?” He asked deadpanned, staring at the Idiot standing in the unfinished hall. “You said you were a King once, Right? Don’t you salute Kings? I don’t know, I know you bow to Princesses…” “Urgh, Never mind. Just get back in there. We have lots of more to dig out… And No more questions today.” “Yes Lord Sombra!” Brick saluted a second time. Despite the fact that this was the most comfortable night´s sleep he had gotten in a millennia thanks to the couch, Sombra had been brooding most of the night. Brick´s questions had just been pushing his buttons. And you don’t touch Sombra´s buttons without at least buying him a drink first. Lord felt wrong. He didn’t have the power, or the demesne to be called Lord anymore. At most he was Sombra, the disgraced. This day´s work was much more focused on the hollowing out of the grand hall. It was not as grand as the name would suggest, barely the size of a living room yet, but with enough of a proportion as so it would be easy to expand. It was hard work cracking the rocks and hauling them aside. While Sombra did have enough smaller storage caves for them for now, he knew this couldn’t continue. All of this had happened in relative silence, as no words was being exchanged between the two. Sombra liked that. But as everything he liked, something had to come in and stamp all over it. In this case, by Brick opening his mouth. “Hey, Lord Sombra? I got a Question”. Sombra swung his pickaxe straight through a rock the size of a moderate dinner table in full frustration. “Brick, I thought I told you, No more questions today.” “Yea I know but-“ “But What!?” Sombra hissed as he turned around. And promptly got assaulted by a clear image of Brick sitting with a ruby the size of a tennis ball in his hoof. “I don’t know where to put these…” Sombra thought he was through getting surprised by the gray buffoon of a pony´s antics by now. That perhaps the ordeals and sudden surprises granted by the gray ball of idiocy could not be topped further. And again, the world seemed to mock him, as now the Pony was sitting with a gemstone. “Where did you just get that?” “I-” “Don't answer that!” Sombra quickly cut him off as he walked over to look at the wall brick had just been excavating. He gave the wall a thorough and determined search, seeing the pocket in the rock that the uncut gemstone had just been in. “Uhm Lord Sombra-” “Shush!” Sombra silenced Brick quickly. Taking a deep breath, he then focused his magic and lifted up the ruby. Getting a feel for how it was built, what it consisted of and of any defining attributes, Sombra set his sights to scan for more. His horn lit up in a gentle purple and suddenly several spots in the walls shone just as brightly, revealing images of many different gemstones. “Woooaaa…” Brick said in amazement. “Yes…” Sombra mused. “I think we need a basket to store these.” He then turned his spell to a different patch of the wall, finding just as many gems there, a pattern slowly forming in a clear direction forwards, but also a small path lead upwards. “Or a Chest…” Sombra commented as he saw more and more gems in the walls, his head following the trail all the way to a center point that seemed to shine brighter than the moon on a cloudless night. “Actually, Scratch that… We are going to need a Vault.” “Incredible…” “Quite. I had no idea that these mountains were so rich in gems-“ “Your eyes aren’t going green!” Brick just suddenly announced. Sombra turned back to Brick with a deadpanned expression. “Really… You're reacting to that, and not that we found enough gems to coat a moderately sized house?” “I’m not a Dragon, Lord Sombra, I don’t eat Gems.” “Never mind…” “And besides, I don’t think dragons like to eat houses. I think they'd get a tummy ache.” Brick continued, actually rather engrossed in the concept of a dragon eating a gem encrusted house. That was until Sombra came and forcibly pulled Brick into a rather annoyed eye contact. “I Said: Never Mind. Stop thinking in things that might hurt your tiny head.” Sombra commanded of his personal assist-iot, giving him a condescending pat on the head. He then let roughly go of Brick, allowing the Earth pony to fall flat on his face rather comically as Sombra just walked back towards his bedroom. “Come.” “H-Huh?” Brick blurted in confusion. “What are we doing?” He asked, quickly hopping after Sombra while still rubbing his sore face. “We are going back to Planning. We are going to need a lot more tools and a lot more work if we suddenly have a mountain full of gems. We can't just hack away without a care.” Brick quickly skidded to his hooves and followed after Sombra. Back inside the center room, Sombra had gone back onto his fainting couch, lazily gnawing on a dried slice of apple. Brick, not wanting to be rude and interrupt Sombra´s planning, just sat down in the middle of the room, awkwardly casting a couple of glances around. The dark unicorn was calmly considering the new information of his slowly forming home as he finished up his apple slice. Wiping his mouth clean, and weighting the ruby in his other hoof, He  then cleared his voice. “Right. Brick! You´re going Shopping!” “What?” Brick blinked in confusion. “You´re going shopping. Take the Ruby you found with you and go back to Icedale.” Sombra spoke as he held a hoof to his chin, and lazing back on the couch. “Buy some more tools. Some for Mining and some for Gem cutting.” He continued as his eyes slowly looked upon his room, thinking of what could be added. “Then get back here immediately. We will need to dig out the gems as so we can buy more things to spiff this place up a bit.” Brick listened intently to Sombra´s commands, nodding as he added the details along the way. He then lifted a hoof like a school foal requesting to speak. “Yes?” Sombra said, granting his request. “But, Couldn't I just take some stuff from back home?” Brick asked innocently. “You could.” Sombra calmly started. “But If you were to steal enough of what I want, then you'd end up stealing half the village, and as much as I pull their intelligence into question, I don't believe they are that dumb that they will miss this much stuff disappearing. Buying things tends to make ponies more complacent.” “Oh…” Brick let escape, the realization slowly dawning on him. “Then what if I have some bits to spare?” “I highly doubt it, but if you do, bring them back. I might be tempted to let you keep some of them if you are good on this one.” Sombra mused nonchalantly. He was actually considering it. Giving a willing slave a bit extra leash could prove to be useful. “Do you think you can do that properly?” There was almost a twang sound as Brick did the silly salute once again, grinning brightly as he nodded to the metaphorical sounds of head bells ringing. “Then hop to it. Now!” Much like making the last turn on a Jack-in-a-box, Brick sprung to action. Sombra was glad he had actually removed the stalactites from the ceiling, else he suspected Brick might have hit them. Then with a salute Brick smiled brightly. “As you Wish Lord Sombra!” he announced and just bolted out of the sanctuary room. Leaving back Sombra to sigh and roll his eyes. The dark unicorn still held the Ruby and was casually tossing it upwards in his hoof and catching it again. Just waiting for the inevitable return of the idiot. Precise like clockwork, Brick bolted back inside the room, seeing the Ruby and ran over to Sombra. “Sorry Lord Sombra!” He quickly said, then picked up the ruby in between his teeth. “I´ll hhe ‘ight ack ord Sombra!” He forced out, the Ruby mumbling the message, and then burst out the room again. Sombra breathed a sigh of relief and relaxed. For about two seconds, as he then heard metallic crashing. “I'M OKAY!” Brick shouted back into the tunnels. “You won't be if you don't HOP TO IT!” “SORRY!” After that, Sombra simply laid back, waiting for the echoing sound of hooves clopping against the stone floor to fade away completely. “Right then… Best get to work.” About Six hours of digging, moving and yelling at mistakes later: Brick was lying flat on his back inside the central chamber. He had been doing most of the heavy mining, and it had really taken a toll on him, as he for the first time in ages actually felt tired. He was sweating quite a bit, despite the cool atmosphere of the mountain. In the meantime however, Sombra was sitting calmly by a little table set he had created out of crystal, and carefully carving the rough gems that Brick had dug out. “Phewie, That was a lot of rocks!” Brick commented with a heavy breath. “Indeed.” Sombra stated without looking at Brick, being much more absorbed into the work of refining the gems. He was very careful and thorough, but worked with quite a pace still. He combined his magic and his base knowledge of Crystals as the base for his work. The result was some slightly unorthodox shapes of gems, by modern standards.   “Why do you even need this many gems?” Brick asked, not even lifting his head from the floor. “I don’t need them.” Sombra replied, while giving a sapphire a little extra care. “But I need them not to be in the walls as we expand my... Home…” He said carefully. “It would ruin the integrity of the walls if we were to simply leave them there.” “Oh… Right!” Brick replied in understanding. They still had lots of more to dig out, but if they were ruining the wall, then it made sense. For a while Sombra continued simply working on the gem cutting, but while his hooves had gone back on automatic, his mind had floated off somewhere else. This was quite the riches he had found. While he once had at least hundreds of times this amount, this was still significant, and what a strange feeling it was. He had just himself, an assistiot and a damn lot of determination. “Weird how things turns out…” He mused lowly. “I know right!” Brick´s voice was much louder than Sombra had anticipated, and the fact that it had positioned itself right behind his ear, rather than in a safe, fitting, distance to the former monarch, did make Sombra jump. In fact it made him lose focus of his hooves, and one of his tools ended up directly into the crystal table. With a loud crack and a slam, the table went from a perfect workbench, into several pieces of broken Crystal. For a moment,Sombra just stared at his ruined table. Then he shook, and turned to glare directly into the eyes of a now, rather nervous looking idiot. “Uhm… oops?” ”Oops Indeed…” Sombra growled while still looking at the broken pieces of crystal in front of him. “Well, since you are so keen on breaking things, You can just as well go back and keep on digging.” “B-But” Brick stammered. “I am tired-“ “Apparently not tired enough!” Sombra snapped around and shouted directly into his poor idiot´s face. “Get back to digging!” Only taking time to swallow his spit and nervously flash a quick salute, Brick bolted out of the sanctuary chamber, stumbling and tripping a couple of times on the way. Sombra just rolled his eyes as the idiot got out of his sight. He wasn’t completely sure how to feel about the idiot´s presence. He was like a little dedicated ball of stupidity and destruction. Most useful, but oh so incredibly frustrating at times.   “Oh well… As long as he is useful…” Sombra mused, as he casually reassembled the crystal table he had just accidentally destroyed. It was not a complex structure, nor actually that sturdy, as the previous example had shown, so it didn’t take much effort. Thinking on that, Sombra was actually feeling a bit better. As he was keeping himself fed and well rested, with the balance of the heavy work of digging, these last few days had actually been quite beneficial for him. He was still no way near his peak condition, but still. A war is won by many petty victories, as well as a couple of big ones. Focusing back on reality, Sombra lifted up the unfinished gem he had previously been working on. Carefully focusing, he lifted the gem in his magic along with the gem chisel. “Now… Where was I?” As if those had been the magic words, the instant they had been uttered he heard the sound of a pickaxe crashing with rock… And then rock suddenly crashing back with almost thundering roars that echoed throughout Sombra´s Castle-In-The-Making. This loud rumbling of falling and collapsing rock was followed by a surprised yelp, belonging to Brick. Sombra closed his eyes. Stopping for just a second. He took a deep breath. “Three… Two… One-“ “Heeeyy! Lord Sombraaa!! I Think I found something!” Releasing his breath in a drawn out sigh, bordering on a groan, Sombra dropped the items in his magic and followed out to see whatever the idiot had done. ‘Couldn’t leave him alone for a minute…  Maybe I should get him a collar before he hurts himself further?’ Walking inside the roughly excavated (Soon to be) throne room, Sombra was greeted with the sight of a load rubble, kind of covering over half of a large fissure in the wall. Most likely created by Brick himself. Though he didn’t actually see the gray furred oddball. “What did you find?”  Sombra called out, walking over to the fissure in the wall, leaning over the rocky debris, and peering inside. Inside he could see a slight drop, leading down into a further deeper cave, only slightly illuminated by his own crystals behind him, though being part of the darkness, he didn’t have much of an issue with the darkness. Brick had though.  And he could see the earth pony in a slightly compromising position, as he seemed to be trying to untangle his own limbs. He wasn’t hurt though, to Sombra´s begrudging relief. “I found a hole!” “I can see that.” Sombra replied, unamused, as he calmly vaulted the debris and jumped down into the new cave. “The Question is.” He lit up his horn in a dull green glow, granting a bit more illumination. “What is inside the hole?” “Room I think!” Brick quipped before grunting and getting back on his hooves. “Thank you for that incredible insight Brick. I don't know what I would do without you.” Sombra snarked in a semi disinterested tone. He then proceeded to descend into the cave, with Brick quickly skitting after him. It did go down, but not with huge drops. At most there were small knee level step like levels of the cave, going further and further down. Sombra´s light also revealed that it wasn’t really that big. It was much more like a tunnel than anything else. However, there was one thing that certainly caught Sombra´s attention. Barely half a minute through the exploration of this tunnel, the two found a dim light at the end of the tunnel. ‘Oh yes, just rub it in, won't you?’ However, walking into the opening, Sombra did not find some destiny created joke, but instead a rather roomy opening, and the strange feeling of heated air. And he realized why as they finally got fully inside. The sound of trickling water and the vapours now gently coaxing their furr and skin made it undeniable. “A Spring…” Sombra spoke aloud in genuine disbelief. “You found… A hot Spring…” Truly spoken, The tunnel opened up into an underground spring. The gentle vapours hovering around the room was an easy indicator of the temperature, but Sombra still had to know for certain. They both stepped inside, Brick beginning to go “Ooooooo” and “Ahhh” in curiosity. “Its like the bathhouse at home!” Brick announced. Sombra however was dumbstruck. This… Was a wonderful thing. Amazing even! Almost too good to be true. But here they were. Standing by the steaming warmth of hot bathing water. “How… is this even…” Sombra finally managed to whisper. “Well~ According to a book I once read, Its something to do with water and molten stone-” “Thank You Brick.” Sombra interrupted in an annoyed tone. “If I ever need insight into geological endeavours I will ask you.” He then proceeded to walk towards the edge of the pool. Cautiously he tested the temperature of the water with a hoof. It was just perfect. Just the sensation of having something just warmer than his body was so incredibly satisfying. He could not help but want more. And more he´d get. “Cannon Ball!” “Huh?” Sombra was completely broken out of his thoughts of the gentle waters, and barely had time to register the gray ball of chaos leap off of a slightly elevated piece of rock and splash directly into the centre of the spring. Before Sombra even knew what was truly going on, a torrent of water splashed all over his formerly regal body, drenching him from head to hoof. Now, Brick thought his idea had been fun! And the Spring water was just an awesome temperature once you've gotten used to it. So he was just laughing and enjoying this new discovery. That was until he turned to see Lord Sombra. The now drenched dark Unicorn looked… Ridiculous to put it mildly. While he had always looked a little dirty and scruffy due to the lack of any bathing facilities, now he looked like someone had dunked a cat into a bowl of water at least six or seven times. His black flowing mane was now clinging directly to his face, obscuring all but the former monarch´s scowl. “Thank You Brick… Again. For Warning me…” Sombra said with a venomous voice. But Brick didn't back off on this one. “Come on, Lord Sombra. Enjoy the water!” While Sombra was tempted to shove a crystal spike down the throat of his personal idiot, the consequences sadly outweighed the possibility of momentary gratification. With a huff, he sank himself into the water just on the edge of the spring. And in an instant, every sliver of anger he held for the idiot vapourized as the gentle warmth fully enveloped him. It had actually been more than a millennia since he had felt this relaxed. Since he had truly been able to lean back into the loving embrace of heated water, and let his worried gently float away on the vapours coming off of his bath. Though one little thing did creep onto Sombra´s mind as he finally relaxed. “By Faust…” He mumbled. “I must smell horrible.” “Soooo~” Brick began, however, he was not allowed to finish the sentence Sombra had heard before. “Yes Brick. You did Good Again. Now Shut up and enjoy this momentary break.” Sombra commanded of his assistiot and laid back to relax. Brick complied, giving a content sigh and floated back. And with that, Sombra relaxed as well. Letting his thoughts gently float onwards. Another step had been taken in the process of his Castle. He had food. He had water. He had a bath. Things were actually beginning to take shape.