Awake

Pain is a weird feeling.

It’s essentially a message from your own corporeal body, that it is getting damaged. Its a sign of your mortality and a reminder that we all in the end march towards the grave.

Yet, this time, things were different.

The pain he felt was not from the warning of his impending death, but rather, a sign that he had cheated it.

He gasped for air, his eyes shooting open and his senses was assaulted by waves upon waves of pain. He could feel everything hurt, all of his legs, his head, his body everything. It was as if his muscles was rebelling against any kind of animation, demanding that all work would be suspended until the pain stopped.

But it wouldnt, It was new.

Hissing in pain, the stallion curled up into himself. The pain was unbearable. That was a new feeling. Why was this all so new? And Cold. Why was everything so cold! He was being assaulted by pain and cold as if someone had shoved ice straight into his veins. He writhed around in pain, which only escalated the same feeling. He didn't want to move his limbs as they hurt, but if he didn't move he was cold.

It was agonizing.

He had no idea how long he was there, breathing through his teeth, his entire body restarting from scratch.

He looked down himself, seeing he was lying down in a heap of snow, and with even more falling down upon him with every passing second. Thankfully due to his writhing, he was only covered in a couple of snowflakes. His black coat completely contrasting the white frozen rain that was gently settling into his fur.

He blinked a couple of times and tried to let his eyes look around.

Everything looked white or gray. Shapes were formed in the horizon, but they didn't have any kind of real consistency for him.

Every sensory input felt new, yet, Old at the same time. He had the nostalgic feeling of having seen this before, but it was not the same. Not with these eyes.

Suddenly a powerful wind sent an equally powerful cold shiver down his spine. Snow began to come down in much harsher quantities, and he could feel his newly beating heart race in panic from the sudden cold.

‘I need to get out of the cold...’ He managed to coherently think.

Grunting and growling in pain, he looked down at his hooves as he slowly began to support his weight onto them. It felt like he was standing on a couple of spikes that was slowly sinking into his own flesh. He really didn't want to stand up, and, even if he did not completely understand the consequence for just staying either, he knew he just couldn't.

He took a deep breath and gathered the energy needed. He pushed himself onto his hooves with a small scream from the sudden extra shot of pain through his system.

Stumbling on his newly formed limbs, he limped forwards, Awkwardly stumbling several times, but he was proceeding.

But to where?

His head felt scrambled, but he knew to proceed towards the shapes. It was… Mountains, that he knew. He could remember one of those.

He had no idea how long this took. He just knew the journey was agonizing. The snow was smashing against his face, and half of his vision had also gotten blocked by an even blacker mane than his coat fall down in front of his eyes.

But he just pressed forwards. He knew he needed… that… before… Something else.

It actually took so much of his mind, that he didn't even look forwards anymore, he just continuously staggered forwards like a, Carrot was hanging in front of him.

Carrot, C again.

The only diversion from his internal rewiring, ended up being the end of the wind. He was no longer feeling as cold. He finally took some sense of his surroundings. It was a cave, or more a cave system, as it continued deeper into the mountain of itself. He didn't know why he continued. He had found somewhere that wasn't cold anymore. But he was still pressing forwards, and his brain was still continuing to look for Continuity. Another C.

The tunnel opened up into a large cave, which was almost pitch black, yet, he could still see in it. Why could he see in darkness? Something was telling him that that was Contradictory. Urgh, those Cs were now really starting to gnaw at his Concentration. He just knew something with a C was important, essential, something he needed… something he needed to remember.

Finally he stopped, in the middle of the Cave, his legs gave in. They had an all new feeling of pain over them, exhaustion.

His head flopped to the stone ground, but the flop caused him to knock the side of his horn into the harsh stone, which only backlashed into another sting, forcing him to raise his head. He yelped in pain and rubbed the aforementioned horn gently as to ease the pain.

Wait, A Horn?

It was only then he realized he had a horn. He could feel it, completely smooth and sharp at the tip, almost like a Cutlas.

He growled in frustration. His brain was giving up. What was what it was trying to get together? He was away from the major cold now, even if this cave wasn't that warm. What was it he needed? What was it he wanted?

He felt his horn again. Another thought struck him. He seemed to have a feeling that he could Conjure something with this. Conjure, another C.

It was worth a shot at least. Nothing else was working. His brain was still scrambled, and it was a miracle that the words even were coming to his brain, and that he even could remember that they all had something to do with C.

He tried to… Concentrate, he remembered the word, focusing the energy he had, Siphoning the pain he felt, that exhaustion, and everything into a centre point around his horn. And then released.

Something happened. He could feel the energy leave his horn, and a black magical beam shot down into the stone floor in front of him, and in an instant, The floor cracked, summoning a few small black structures.

The stallion´s eyes transfixed on the things in front of him.

They was spiked, sharp, Curious, and Crystalic…

That’s when it clicked.

“Crystals”

A roaring pain trampled over him, stumbling him to the side before barely catching his balance.

It all came back to him in that instant.

He had the world at the tip of his hooves, ripe in the making of his own image. He was on a pedestal of power no mortal had experienced before.

Only to crash pathetically and humiliatingly down the rocky cliffs of defeat along with his crumbling kingdom. No mortal wound could rival the gaping pit where his pride was ripped from him.

Oh, he should have been dead, he knew that for sure. The stinging light that engulfed his very form should have claimed whatever remains he had of a soul. It was obvious now by the way his hooves clicked against the stone floor of the cave and breathed the icy air that he had somehow found a way out of it. He had cheated death.

It all made sense now, how every sensation going through his very being was like he was experiencing them for the first time again. The light of the Crystal Heart had destroyed him, he was literally feeling it for the first time, with this body. He had somehow, retained life.

Though this gift of life was not all it was cut out to be. Life came with the considerable amounts of pain and the humiliation of defeat. His heart was empty and he was stranded in this barren treacherous wasteland -wasn’t death what he needed now?

He caught sight of himself in the reflection of the crystal. Crimson eyes glowing with strain, his mane a disheveled mess, his breath puffing out in clouds, yet he looked daringly at his reflection as if posing a challenge.

‘I still have strength’ he told himself. He approached the crystal; ‘I, King Sombra, can--’

A stinging sensation ran through his forehead.

‘King…’

He leapt forward in anger and smashed the crystal with his front hooves. The black shards scattered across the stone floor.

‘King of WHAT?!’

Even his title was an insult to himself! His name used to strike fear into ponies, give him the utmost confidence and honor. It was a name he had claimed with his own strength. The same strength which had been his very foundation. Now…now it was a scarring memory of his past following him like the shadows he used to control.

He paced the cave, crushing the black shards of crystal beneath his hooves. He needed a place to be alone, to brood over his defeat. Oh yes, he had to have been King of being defeated by a baby dragon and a reincarnation of… That mare. He swiftly kicked another crystal, shattering it’s remnants like glass against the stone wall. He was so mad he could spit.

He raised his head. All he could see ahead of him was the darkness of the cave that sheltered him from the unforgiving snowstorm. He needed to refocus his mind elsewhere, the pain in his chest was becoming nearly unbearable.

But where?

Where would he take his hollow corpse now?

He looked behind him. He could go out into the snow again. That could make short work of him. Just keep walking until the cold would literally freeze his hooves off of his legs.

The cold could perhaps freeze his heart up, stopping it from stinging in his chest as the words ‘Failure’ and ‘death’ kept circling him like a pair of hungry crows.

So the other alternative was walking further into the mountain.

With heavy steps, Sombra slowly carried himself forwards, not sure where he would find himself, but he knew he needed to find somewhere to gather his thoughts. Somewhere that was not here.

This was where a Normal pony would have stepped away, shying away from the complete darkness of the underground, and settling for the semi safety of the cavern. But it was not enough for Sombra. He was not scared of the darkness beneath. He was the darkness, -- no-- he was worse than darkness, he was what ponies feared would be hidden in the dark. The sadistic power he gained from their distress comforted him as he walked the uneven rocky surface deeper into the mountain. He knew there was nothing in here that could be more scary than him. Walking into the depths of the mountain was more comforting to him. Not that he needed the comfort, he told himself, but his jumbled mind seemed ever more and more concerning with each piece of the puzzle that set itself together in his mind as he was walking.

Defeat crippled him like an arrow to the flank. Constantly there, jutting out of him as a reminder of his mistake, and the scar that came with it would be no minor one; and definitely no badge of honor. Weakness, he told himself, such weakness would not be tolerated. Perhaps being shattered like glass and left stranded in a frozen wasteland was a suitable punishment for his show of impotence.

Each passing thought was like a new weight hanging by his throat, forcing his head to lower, and his thoughts to take even more presence over the physical reality.

As he mused over the large stalactites in the ceiling, He thought back upon his defeat. He hadn't actually thought it possible until seconds before the deed was done. He had defeated the pathetic Prince, pinning him down like a dragon would pin a mouse under his claws. He had been able to break the spirits of those traitorous crystal ponies by his mere presence. The darkness that was him was going to return to its rightful place to rule. Not even those pathetic ponies sent by Princess Celestia were able to do anything against his power. Everything came down to the stubbornness of a baby dragon, as it fell with the Crystal heart ready to fall straight into his lap, he could take the last thing that was keeping him from regaining his empire.

And then she had to take what was his again.

Anger boiled inside of him with the intensity of Celestia's sun as he thought back on her. Even beyond death she continued to hinder him, to pester him, to ruin everything!

To try and release the sudden influx of anger and rage that had built within him, Sombra reared back on his hind hooves before smashing his front hooves into the floor with a massive roar.

Though, this roar ended up trailing off into a confused yell as the moment his hooves met with the floor, the rock beneath him cracked, giving in to the sudden increase in pressure and letting gravity take a hold of the weakened Unicorn.

Within seconds of falling through the air, his body was enveloped the unforgiving cold of a water surface.

He squirmed in pain and panic as his lungs were suddenly filling with water. His actions returned to pure survival instinct, desperately flailing his limbs to try and reach for what he could feel to be the surface. Quickly throwing himself out of the water and gasping for breath didn't help him much as his lungs were still filled with water. He clambered around for a few more seconds before grasping the rocky side of the pool he had fallen into. He dragged himself out of the pool, coughing to empty out his lungs of fluids. His body was fighting against itself through the horribly painful process of emptying his lungs, for he needed to get air, but he could not while there was fluids in his lungs, but he could not empty his lungs without a bit of air. The hacking coughing were accompanied by pained wheezes and desperate gasps.

As the wheezing and gasps began to take more dominance, his forelegs gave in, and he rolled onto his back, staring wide eyed up at the hole in the ceiling that he had just fallen from. Now, with the immediate threat of drowning removed, he could finally see where he had fallen to.

It was of course another cave, though it was rather roomy, with many stalactites hanging from the ceiling, and plenty of stalagmites on the floor. There were lots of space surrounding the pond he had just fallen into. Though pond might have been a generous word. Raising his head slightly, while still drawing sharply for air, he could see the thing was extremely deep. At least half of it was.

Finally, confident that his surroundings were not about to leap onto him and crush him instantly, though that would have been a welcome alternative to listening to his own thoughts, Sombra laid back onto the floor, flattening out, his wild and now wet mane clinging to his face and the floor.

He sighed in relief. He was still alive, as little comfort as that fact was. He knew that he couldn't stay here though. This was not a good enough place… he had to keep moving.

With that in Mind, Sombra looked around for anything resembling an exit. He didn't find any.

“Of Course… Of Course… Its never that easy now is it…” He mumbled for himself, before slowly forcing himself back onto his hooves. He staggered at first, ending up supporting himself against one of the stalagmites. He raised his head towards the hole above him.

A small confident smirk formed upon his lips. A normal weak pony would have been trapped here forever. But not him. Not for somepony of Sombra´s might.

He focussed his magic, closing his eyes and letting the darkness that already had domination over the room flow into him, centering every piece of magic into his horn as to make a spell he was so very fond of…

That was until the entire magical mass of energy slingshot straight back from his horn and into his body, all passing straight through his head and causing a very infamous headache. It was as if someone had just smashed a hammer straight onto his horn and nailed it through his skull. He screamed loudly as he clung himself to the stalagmite.

Sombra gasped for breath after the initial strike. “M...M...Magical Whiplash?” He asked, completely confounded. “H-H-How…?”

He tried a second time to focus his magic, only to get the same agonizing result, this time throwing him to the floor from the shock.

Sombra was shaking, his body not willing to give in to any more plans of his mind, while his mind completely baffled by the situation he had fallen into. “Magical Whiplash… I… I haven't had a magical whiplash since I was a Teenager…” he stated aloud.The walls echoed back his voice, but the statement didn’t come back any less true. Anger pulsed in his already throbbing temples. “How far have I fallen!?” He growled, his blood already slowly beginning to boil. “I am Sombra! I will not be defeated by a mere child’s mistake!” He roared, smacking one of his hooves into the Stalagmite standing next to him. Though the stalagmite didn't seem to agree with him, as the sudden slam of Sombra´s hoof sent ripples up through the little rock structure, cracking off the tip, and sending it down to hit Sombra over the head with an audible ‘Bonk’.

“Argh! Son of a… Urrrghh…” Sombra exclaimed in frustration, holding his hooves on his head to ease the pain. While still holding his head, he glared at the offending stalagmite. “Is this all some kind of conspiracy on your part?! Huh?! Does everything Inanimate or previously dead want to torture me!?”

His voice bounced around the cave, but he received no answer of course. The stalagmite stood silently.

But sometimes reality just isn't something an angry stallion would be connected to. Why should he follow the rules of reality anymore? He was living and breathing -and angry- proof of a reality slip-up.

“Answer me!” Sombra roared and for a second time, but this time with much more force, slammed his hoof into the stalagmite. The already compromised structure shook from the strike and cracked underneath his mighty hoof.

But the cracked pieces had to go somewhere, and sadly, physics decided that where Sombra was sitting, was an adequate place.

The he foundation to the stalagmite was lost, gravity grabbed ahold of the and let the aforementioned stone structure fall like a tree down towards a wide eyed Sombra, who only too late realized the error of his strike.

In an attempt to not be squished, Sombra threw himself aside, hoping to get out of range.

He almost did, except for one part of him. One of his hindquarters were still just within range.

Sombra roared in pain as the stalagmite caught his hindquarter.

Nothing had broken he could feel, thankfully, but the stalagmite was rather heavy, and no matter how much the former monarch tugged and pulled, the limb was still stuck.

“Come on!” Sombra growled, still trying to pull at his leg. However it was a precarious position he had found himself in, lying on his stomach and the stuck hindquarter preventing him from rolling onto his back.

Anger was growing within Sombra like wildfire, and with each tug of his leg it was adding more fuel.

“Let go of me you dumb piece of rock!” He growled, of course receiving no reply. “I am King Sombra! And I Will not be defeated by mere minerals!”

But despite his best exertions of strength, the most he could do was lift the offending stalagmite about a centimetre above the ground, and not for long enough to pull out his leg.

Sombra grunted as he fell back onto his stomach, the realization that he was stuck was slowly sinking in.

“Ok…” he thought aloud, the solitude sort of removing his inner monologue. “I'm stuck… Thats just… Fantastic…” He grumbled. “I can't waste time here… I have to get home… Have to get back my empire!”

‘Its not your empire. Not anymore’.

Sombra twitched as the thought struck him. He immediately began to tug some more at his leg, as if the thought was a predator he had to physically get away from.

“Its fine… I'm fine… I can do this…” he mumbled, yet his reassurances failed to distract from the fact that the thought was still there. He could feel its very presence in his head, and its weight upon his heart.

‘You can't get it back. You have failed. It's impossible’.

“It's not impossible! Nothing is impossible! I have done the impossible before! This is just going to be another of those times!” He spoke aloud, fueled by his stubbornness and determination. But while they had seemed infinite, they slipped up much quicker than he had ever imagined.

‘You should have died. You have no place anymore. It's all over. You've failed them.’

Sombra´s tugging became desperate. He wanted to physically run, try to get away from those thoughts, flee over the hills and perhaps hide away somewhere half a continent away from them. They were terrifying.

And that realization made him stop.

He was scared? Why was he scared of his own thoughts? His own considerations? Why was he even fighting with his own head, instead of proving that the thoughts were wrong?

Because he couldn't. Because they were true.

The admission felt like pushing a knife into his own chest, with each sinking feeling and thought becoming confirmed as truths, the blade slid further and further into his chest.

He had failed. He had almost been killed and was now in the middle of nowhere, stuck under a piece of rock. He had been the master of nightmares and fears, but he could not prevent his own fear from coming true around him.

The sting of fear and defeat had now almost completely settled in him, the emotions figuratively encircling his heart like murderous crows.

Only one bastion of defense left.

Rage.

“No… No… No No no no no NO NO NO!” Sombra yelled in defiance.

“I am King!”

He kicked his spare leg into the stalagmite, the rock barely shaking.

“I am Darkness!” He repeated the kick, but somehow had been able to summon more force, the stalagmite shaking a bit further.

“I am Fear!” His horn suddenly began to light again, the darkness of the room itself channeling itself through the broken horn, and flickering wildly. He fired a concentrated beam of the magic and the darkness from the room at the stalagmite. The piece of minerals began to shake and slowly cracks were showing up, but just as quickly as they appeared, Sombra was thrown down by another magical whiplash. Grinding his teeth and seemingly ignoring the pain in rage, he raised his voice again.

“I am the most powerful!” He roared, as he did the very thing every magic teacher told every unicorn to never do. Continue channeling magic, straight after a whiplash. His own horn almost seemed to be tearing at the seems, but in his blind rage, Sombra did not care. He fired off another beam of darkness at the stalagmite, which this time cracked completely, and exploded into hundreds of fragmented pieces of mineral rock. The pieces flew everywhere, many of them scraping Sombra all over. He didn't care. He was on a high of rage and momentary success as he raised himself back upon his hooves.

“I am the Savior!” Sombra´s horn lit up again and he fired his beams wildly about. Despite how much the magic was tearing at his nerves, despite how much pain was searing through his head, how many tiny cracks were forming in his horn, he kept on firing. Each stalagmite, and stalactite he stuck, exploded into hundreds of smaller pieces, some larger than the others. He was creating sedimentary mayhem around him.

“I. am. a. Hero!” He roared every single word with enough force to echo throughout the entire mountain, and into the outside world. The rocks and the rock formations were shaking around him, almost as if cowering beneath the might of Sombra´s rage.

Yet no matter how he tried to destroy, crush or shape the world around him as proof of his own words… They failed to retract from the words he had hoped he never again would think.

‘No, You're not.’

And with that, the last bastion fell and the crows settled in.

Sombra shivered. He tried to breathe but the air died in his throat. His eyes closed in desperation of trying to contain everything. The pain from within his head of the whiplashes forced him to the ground, the dark stallion curling up in a fetal position.

And thats when Sombra did something he had not done in a millenia.

He cried.

Rich and muddled tears formed in his eyes, forcing themselves out despite his best efforts to control what little rule he had over his own functions.

He could do nothing else. Everything else had fallen, he had no more defences. He had effectively crushed himself by simply looking upon reality. Slowly, his senses of the reality outside his head faded away. The unforgiving cold of the stone floor and prickings of the pebbles evaporated like droplets on a summers day, leaving only his fallen bastion to battle with the tearing pain from within his skull and now seeded within his heart.

He had nothing. No home, No empire, No rule. He didn't control. He did not empower. He didn't overpower. He didn't, Belong.

He had no idea for how long he was just lying there, his eyes leaking the fluid of depression that he had not shed for ages. Minutes passed, hours, he knew not. He only knew the dark blanket of the cave enveloped him in a futile attempt to console his tears away.

His senses were muddled and his mind felt like he was swimming on in a stormy sea of boiling water. He couldn't concentrate.

After a while, his limbs were slowly trying to make some sort of activity, to prevent his body from cooling down to dangerous temperatures.

The sound of a slight clicking sound, caught what little attention he had. Slowly opening his eyes, still soaked in tears he saw one of his hooves gently resting over a piece of rock. Though as he wiped away some of his tears, he could see that it was in fact two pieces, but it was two pieces that had fit together before. So his absent minded movement of a hoof had found two pieces that belonged together, almost like a puzzle.

“Well… You two don't belong anymore either…” he mumbled. “Except maybe together…”

Staring at the rocks with weak interest, he pushed at them a bit, seeing their determination to stick together, despite the force that had shattered them just earlier.

Had Sombra not been under his emotional strain, he might have gotten mad at the rocks again. But, he already spent his rage in the last bastions of his heart. All he had now was weakness.

“Heh… You're like a brick…” he mumbled into nothing, staring at the rocks. His mind, while under the strain of the magical whiplashes, slowly dawned a small idea. And, out of weak resignation, Sombra didn't think, but just did.

Slowly, he moved his other hoof over to find another piece of rock to add to the brick of the two. This one was big enough to almost seem like a second brick. And then a third one. And that was slowly how he continued.

He kept gathering together pieces of rocks and stacking them together. Laying the more symmetrical pieces together like one would when building a brick house. Several times the rocks simply collapsed on their own weight, but Sombra just placed them back up. He was not thinking, he was acting.

Sombra focussed his magic, the pain having lessened, and didn’t act as much up as the spell was much more low level this time, and cast the spell. Dark crystals slowly grew up from the base of the stone miniature, enveloping and absorbing the structure, taking now the perfect shape.

It was the Crystal Castle, the place he had once called home.

Simply looking upon this model structure was like the gentle embrace of a friend long gone.

And giving him the slow but gentle realization that he needed.

“I need it…” he whispered, before laying himself gently down besides the tiny structure for some well needed rest.

He had plans now. Plans that would keep off the crows circling his mind and heart. But he needed sleep.

Despite the protest of his stomach and aching muscles, the fallen king slid into a dreamless sleep. Food would have to wait. He had lots of work ahead of him.

Space

View Online

To say that Sombra felt recharged after a much needed night´s sleep, would not be completely accurate. He could still feel his limbs ache and protest against any sort of activity, but it was at least softened.

Still feeling the hard surface of the crystal model structure against his side, Sombra slowly pushed himself up into a seating position, his eyes gently keeping focus on the structure, as it was the catalyst and the centre of his ideas.

He stared a few moments, taking in the feeling of seeing the spire his old, No, his new castle. This structure was the plans he had. But in a full size.

Now, he needed to somehow find a place to actually build this thing, a place that was inconspicuous. If he could just get out of the mountain, he would be able get an overlook and then pick a much better place to stay. Somewhere remote where his failures at least would be isolated, contained so to say. Though thinking about it, Subterranean would probably be the best option. The sudden appearance of a tower on top of a mountain would no doubt send unwanted attention his way.

‘Would also be nice to have some place… much quieter’ he thought.

A small sting from his horn, reminded him that it also would need to be a place where he would not have to produce all the raw materials with his own crystals. With his weakened magic, they wouldn't be strong enough on their own to hold up any sort of structure. But looking upon his little miniature, he could see that at least they could be used in the construction process.

As to where, he looked around himself, considering the cave he had fallen into the earlier day. Sombra scratched his chin slightly. It did look like an alright place, but couldn't exactly take to such a mountainous task, without really knowing the dimensions of the place. For all he knew, the entrance was at the foot of a mountain, and the most obvious place you'd ever go looking for, well, anything.

“That won't do…” Sombra said to himself. “It needs to be… remote…” He mused, as he slowly walked just below the hole in the ceiling. He needed to find a better place, that much was obvious. But to find any place other than here, he'd need to get out of the hole first.

He looked up at the gap on the ceiling . It wasn't that high up, but much higher than he could jump.

“Shadow form would make this so much easier…” he mumbled, before sighing, remembering the pain and humiliation of the numerous whiplashes yesterday. “I'll have to think of something else.” He concluded.

After about a minute of judging the wall and the height, Sombra came up with an idea.
He focussed just a small amount of his magic, and sent several dark beams of his energy, periodically up the wall. At each spot it hit dawned a sturdy black crystal, hanging out vertically.

Confident with his makeshift ladder, Sombra took to crawling up the wall. With a minimum amount of shaky crystals, Sombra reached the top of the hole and was able to crawl out.

Breathing a sigh of relief, Sombra gave only a fleeting glimpse behind him towards the hole before continuing on his path.

It took a bit to find his way out of the mountain again, as the tunnels twisted in all sort of directions. Luckily, Sombra knew much about being in the field. Being born in an Empire already cold was helping quite a bit as well. Plus, if he had to count how many caves he had been in throughout his life, he'd starve to death before he finished.

Sombra shook his head lightly. He didn't want to think about that. If his situation now felt bad, it would be even worse if he started to think about the past.

“Let the dead… stay dead…” he mumbled, knowing the irony of the statement.

The tunnels were rather twisted and confusing to the average pony, but finally Sombra reached the end of one of the corridors and stepped out into the immense white of the snow covered landscape.

Sombra actually had to shield his eyes at first to slowly allow them to adapt to the difference between the pitch darkness of the caves, to the sudden stark white contrast.

As he slowly regained his sight, Sombra could see more of the outlines of the actual landscape. The mountain ranges were all over the horizon, in all directions. He could also see from the way they were placed though that there were lots of valleys in between the many mountains.

Yes Valleys, the cradle of civilization, as some historians called it.

“So lets not go in that direction.” He concluded, before looking back at the mountain he had just exited. He was completely at the foot of the natural wonder that seemed to simply stretch on and on and on.

A slight growl of his stomach, reminded Sombra of how he, in theory, was starving since he had never actually eaten with this newly formed body. So food would have to demand a higher amount of attention rather than finding a foundation. However, remembering some of his training, he thought of the possibility of finding both.

Scanning the mountain with his red eyes, he saw a couple of places that would be easy to crawl up and picked one at random. From nature, Ponies had been granted hooves, making them excellent at walking up steep slopes, making it no problem for Sombra.

The cold wasn't that harsh either. The winds were surprisingly calm, and it was a bright sunny day for once, making the top snow very crisp and crunchy.

While Sombra still could feel the stinging of his newly formed muscles, it was severely reduced compared to the day prior. The trek across the mountain was not the harshest condition he had ever found himself in. Even though it was from more than a millennia ago, small thoughts from his boot camp days in the Crystal Empire came rushing back. He'd have to use some of the tricks he learned from back then to make it through this.

Sombra sighed, not wanting to think about that at all. Everything about his past was a painful memory he did not want to recall. .

“Urgh… Just… Keep… walking…” He told himself, forcing his own focus into reality.

He couldn't be sure how long he had been trekking up the mountain through its tricky sides and slopes, and deeper inside the centre of the entire mountain range.

Sombra stopped to catch his breath and get his bearings. The mountain peaks were now all around him, even now as he was sitting on the side of one of the greatest of the mountains. Of those he had seen at least.

“So… There should be something… Right… around… Here.”

Sombra looked over, seeing a slight flattened out piece of the mountain. It had a nice little niche on its side, being the perfect cover from the wind. Had great angles for sunlight and most likely also a good access to water in the ground. Everything was flawless for the small bushes that dotted most of the small plateau, the plants Sombra had been looking for.

“Ice Berries.” He said with a small sense of relief, increasing his pace slightly to get to their location.

Just as he had seen, the small, darkly barked and gray leaved bushes were standing proudly against the elements; most of their branches carried icy blue berries.

Picking up a dozen or so from the branches with a simple levitation spell, Sombra could not help but smile a bit. He had managed to find at least a good amount of food that could supply him for a few days at least. Now all that was left was to find a foundation for his new home.

His hunger took priority however, as he almost instinctively was quick to clear a couple of bushes of berries with animalistic joy from just getting sustenance.

Ice berries mostly consisted of water in the form of ice, as the reason for the name, but what little nutrition they had was critical for his survival.

They were crunchy, like chewing through a delicate ice cube, yet still having enough flesh to feel, even the tiniest bit nourishing.

The downside of this of course was the sudden drop in his body temperature.

In his rush to gain sustenance, he had completely forgotten the side effect of these peculiar berries…

“Brrrr” He shuddered, focussing his magic into his being, artificially returning magical heat to his organs and joints.

“I´ll need to get out of this weather…” He realized. Once again, his short term wish for gratification had ended up biting him in the flank.

Though at least he still made some kind of progress. He had this grove now, and he would be able to survive starvation for a time. All he needed now was to find a place to start his sanctuary.

Another brush of cold wind down his spine urged him along to search for a place to stay.

It didn't actually take that long, as the grove had several animal paths leading out of it, allowing Sombra to move quickly amongst the mountain peaks, spikes, and generally rocky terrain.

Within the hour, Sombra found himself in the opening of a discrete little cave.

The entrance was small enough to sort of fall into the background of the mountain, at least when looked upon from a distance, and inside, there was a long enough tunnel with just enough twists in order to make the cave network warmer than the outside.

It looked adequate. With enough effort, Sombra could clear away the stalagmites and stalactites, and at the same time get a small pile of resources he could use at a later time. The cave was just large enough to have an intimate feeling and comforting atmosphere of a real bedroom, if only he could make it so.

Looking back at the tunnel he had used to enter, Sombra was confident in the length of the corridor and the remoteness of its nature. It would be highly unlikely that any animals or interlopers would find his sanctuary.

“Well then. Best get to it.” He mused, turning back to the room. “Time to break some rocks.”

With the little energy he had gained from the ice berries, Sombra began to clear away the offending pieces of rock. He took great care to moderate his use of magic today however, as he didn't want to hit his peak like he had so stupidly done yesterday. This meant that the process would take time.

A lot, Of time.

The large amount of whiplashes yesterday had set Sombra´s magic peak very low. Even lower when considering that his body was still pretty new. Had he been the average unicorn, he might not have even been able to handle a levitation spell. But Sombra not only was a talented magic user, he also fueled his magic differently than most. Instead of the stubborn focus of the simple magical energies found within the body of every Unicorn, he empowered it with his emotions. His low bubbling anger that still was warmed by the weighted feeling of defeat and failure. With each spell he shot out, his eyes shone a bright green and he growled loudly.

Sombra started with simply cracking the Stalagmites at the base, and rolling them aside, as so they would be easier to store for when he needed them. However, the extra effort needed, and the long time stretch for Sombra, really was grating at his nerves.

“Urgh, This is taking forever…” he groaned in frustration, as he was focusing his magic into slowly cutting another stalagmite.

As much as he didn't want to feel the magic forcefully push through his skull and back into his system, this was just taking way too long for his liking.

When the stalagmite finally gave in to gravity, Sombra did so as well, flopping onto his back with a tired sigh.

“This is ridiculous…” he said, wiping sweat away from his forehead. He leaned his head back, enough so that his horn clicked against the floor, and looked at the pile of Stalagmites he had already cut down.

He had a neat pile in the corner, though there were still just about half the stalagmites left. And that meant that he was only finished with barely a quarter of the room.

“Oh, I was wrong… This is going to take forever…” He sighed, rolling around on his stomach and planting his face into the floor. He gently rubbed his temples, trying to alleviate the frustration of realizing how much more work there was to do. He didn't want to keep cutting down rock, it was so hard… So much more frustrating rather than working with Crystal. That he could mold as he desired, make it hard, fragile, thin, long, the possibilities were endless!

With that in mind, Sombra looked up at the Quarter of the room he had cleared. He had started in the deepest end, mainly on a whim, and now there was actually a good little area open and ready.

For about a minute, Sombra looked at the open area, taking it into his mind and began to imagine what it could be.

A large bed in the corner there. A circular one, with space for lots of soft sheets and pillows and anything else he'd want in it. Maybe a dresser to its left, with a mirror for personal items and more superficial needs to the right of the bed.

His eyes then drifted gently on from the corner, taking in the entirety of the room.

‘Maybe a large crystal chandelier there? No, that should more be for a courtroom, or like, a large entrance hall… How about a large carpet in the middle then. Yes, That would be much more fitting, and preferably more snug to be on.’ Sombra thought, slowly getting more engrossed into his own little planning fantasy. And he could not help but smile slightly.

‘Yes, Then, A couple of large doors there, as to give me my privacy. Oh and a large fireplace over there! Something that could really make the room feel warm and cozy, Oh I cannot remember last when I felt real heat that wasn't magically formed. Wait, wouldn't a Fireplace more fit for a library maybe? Something with a large fainting couch? Oh No matter! I'll have two of both. Or maybe I could just have two Fireplaces and one fainting couch I could move around when i´d want to…’

“Yes…” Sombra said to no one in particular, his smile still clinging to his face. “That would be… wonderful…”

With newfound determination occupying his thoughts, Sombra rose up to his hooves again.

“Best get to it then!” He declared with great determination.

The following hours were filled with hard work. Sombra exerted every part of him to start to give his vision the tiniest bit of life. He cleared out a quarter of the ceiling, letting the stalactites simply fall and crash to the floor, granting him the materials he needed for the first thing he wanted.

He piled up the smaller pieces of rocks in small piles, making sure they were balanced, before he magically coated them in black crystal. It was a long and very tiring process, but Sombra could not help but have a little smile on his face as he continued to work. He was actually progressing at something! He was actually doing something that couldn't possibly go wrong. And what if it did? He would just start over!

He didn't need to start over however. He was actually very precise with every placement of rocks and every spell flowing over them.

Finally, after hours of precise stacking, focussed spells and a determination which could rival any soldier before him, It was finished. The frame for his bed.

Inspired by the same kind of crystal beddings he had once laid himself on back in the day, it was almost like a bowl, lifting its edges up to around his knees, granting the hollow area in the middle lots of space for sheets and pillows.

Now he´d just need some of those. Though where he´d find those were much more of an issue.

“Oh Who cares, Its a start.” Sombra commented brightly to himself. He could not help but feel a bit proud in his progress. He was barely a day out of his escape from death and he was slowly getting back into form. Only a matter of time before he'd return to his real height of power again.

“Maybe then I could expand this even further. After all, this is just a bedroom, but if I expand even further, I could get myself a study… And A Cellar, And a large entrance hall. The mountain certainly has enough space for all of this. And if I just build in more floors, rather than expanding on the same one constantly-” Sombra was cut off by the sound of his own growling stomach. He smiled softly still though. He was hungry again. Understandable considering the hard work and the only small amount of food he had gotten earlier. But the difference now was, He actually had a source of food nearby!

“Well, Best get to gathering some of it. Now I know where I can store it as well.”

Sombra left his sanctuary in process, and headed out onto the mountain again.

Much to his dismay, the nicer weather from earlier had been replaced by a much grayer sky and a howling wind which sent shivers down his spine.

It reminded him that he'd need some extra heat inside his new sanctuary. Perhaps some heated crystals could work, but they might be too hard to create, considering his condition.

It was thoughts like these that occupied Sombra´s mind as she trekked across the mountain, following his own personal path towards the clearing he had found earlier. He was so distracted that he couldn't really feel the wind against him, even as it was settling small icicles in his fur and cooling his body towards more dangerous levels.

It took a howl to pull him out of his thoughts.

Sombra´s focus was returned to reality as the howl hit his ears. It was sharp even through the wind, and it did not take him long to connect the sound to its owner.

The creature he looked at, didn't come close though. But some others did.

As the Wolf howled, more shapes began to emerge from behind the peak. Most of them went past the howling leader, and went down the side of the mountain, in a direction away from Sombra, but there were exactly three of them who noticed Sombra. Slowly, and menacingly, the Wolves descended down the hill towards Sombra, bringing their true forms into sight, and confirming his first thought.

They were Frost Wolves.

Unlike the Timber Wolves of much warmer climates, These did not consist of Magically gathered Timber, but they were completely composed of Ice, snow and frost. Their teeth were sawlike and jagged, formed to grind flesh from its still living body, and a pair of long canines were protruding from their snouts, sharper than scimitars and shaped similarly, they were their most dangerous weapon. Since they consisted of ice, they could sink their canines into their victims, and simply grow new ones within minutes.

As they were closing in to Sombra, he could see their icy breath, freezing the snow together beneath them for each step they took. Their hallowed black eyes narrowing in Sombra´s direction as they were closing in.

Now, A normal pony would most likely run away, get as far away as quickly as possible from the dangerous menace who was ready to tear into their flesh and eat them. But this was not Sombra´s first time meeting with these creatures. And he held his ground, staring at the wolves defiantly.

“I am only going to say this once…” He calmly spoke, as the three wolves now began to circle around Sombra, still walking slowly and carefully, observing every move of their prey. “You leave now, and I won't crush you into tiny ice cubes… I'm sure you have some pups to take care of?”

The Frost wolves simply growled in return. It was easy to see that they were eying him up, trying to find a weakness in the Pony´s posture and preparing to pounce.

“Well then, I guess your pups will have to starve…” he said nonchalantly.

With that comment, Sombra suddenly charged forwards towards one of the wolves circling him. The Frost beast was quick to back off, knowing their own pack tactics, protecting itself from being trampled, while allowing its two packmates to charge for the flanks of the charging prey. But they couldn't calculate for Sombra.

Sombra had charged for the one wolf, but barely a metre away from it, he stopped, spinning around and in a smooth move, charged up his horn with the same magic that had crushed rock earlier and fired it straight into the face of one the Frost wolves.

The magic met ice, and with an almost ear piercing death howl, the wolf exploded into hundreds of tiny pieces of ice, flying to all sides like small projectiles. The sudden explosion staggered the second wolf, and gave Sombra time to focus on the one behind him.

Before it could take the opportunity to take a bite of him, he sank into his forehooves and bucked the wolf straight in the face, knocking the head clean off.

The Ice wolf body fell limp on the snow, needing time to reform its head.

Now Sombra´s eyes returned to the last remaining active wolf, who was slowly realizing it had no more packmates to attack with. It´s paws skitted a the ground and tried to flee the scene.

It was too late.

Sombra charged his horn once again, being careful to not overfuel the spell as he knew there were more wolves in the area, and blew the last wolf into little cubes of ice, scattered all over the mountainside.

Now, Sombra was alone on his side of the Mountain. He sighed in relief, letting his magic settle itself back in.

“Stupid Wolves…” He grumbled, turning to return on his path to his berries, but was stopped as he noticed the body of the one wolf he had only bucked. The body was twitching slightly. It was trying to reform the head out of the snow and icy winds that already was there. Maybe if he just left it there, it might be able to survive. Maybe get back to its pack and take care of its pups.

“Can't have that…” Sombra concluded, rearing back on his hind hooves before stomping down and cracking up the remaining of the body. He kept on stomping and stomping, spreading every single piece of the Ice wolf´s body as far from the other as was possible.

With a last grunt, Sombra kicked the last block of ice far over the side of the mountain.

“And stay dead…” He growled. He'd had enough of things returning from the land of the dead.

All he just wanted now, was to get to his berries, get some food and…

That was when a thought struck Sombra. He looked up where he had first seen the wolves, then looked in the direction most of the pack had headed.

“Wait… If they're going that way…” He said aloud, only then realizing the implications. “Oh no…” He said.

Sombra set off in a gallop. He hoped with every part of him that he was wrong. That somehow, logic and reality decided to slip up again, and that the metaphorical die would roll in his favour today.

But today, it seemed fate played with loaded dice.

Reaching the small peak, Sombra looked out upon his food source, the just perfect ice berry grove he had found merely hours ago.

And now it was being ravaged.

From the top of the hill, he could see the rest of the Frost Wolf pack, circling around the grove, stepping on the berry bushes indiscriminately, trampling weeks worth of food, all the while circling around one thing.

In the middle of the grove, and encircled by the pack of wolves, stood a gray Earth Pony.

It was clearly a Stallion, far too big and bulky for it to be any mare Sombra had ever met. He was also covered up in actual warm clothes, A Scarf wrapped around his face, extra coats as to add to his inherent fur, and a pair of saddlebags over his back.

Too bad warm clothes weren't that helpful against a bunch of aggressive predators.

The Pony was doing his best to try and ward off the beasts. He was yelling at them, trying to look dangerous, and each time any of them lunged, he kicked them in return. It certainly seemed that he was strong though, as the few kicks Sombra saw him give, was enough to shatter half of the attacking wolf.

That was all Sombra was able to see from where he was standing, and that was all he was interested in. His grove was being continuously trampled by a bunch of ravenous frost wolves and a desperate for survival earth pony. He could just let the wolves kill the pony and hope that they'd only eat him, and leave some of the clothes behind. But that would mean sacrificing most, if not all of his food.

There was no argument here. He wouldn't survive if he didn't intervene now. That pony would just have to be an, unfortunate side effect.

Sombra leapt off of the peak he was standing on, and galloped down towards the grove.

It looked almost like divine intervention. One moment, the pony was standing alone against a huge amount of Frost wolves, and the next moment, a black unicorn had leapt from the skies, and into the circle to aid him.

Sombra slid about a metre before turning to face one of the wolves. He growled in anger at the beasts who were destroying his food supply, and charged up his horn.

“LEAVE!” Sombra bellowed at the Wolves, his Horn pulsing with dark light and his eyes burst into bright green flames.

The wolves hesitated, but stayed in their circle, defying any command given by the sudden new appearance.

Sombra didn't give them a second chance.

Sombra´s beam struck up into the clouds above, parting them quickly from each other, as if the clouds were running for their own metaphorical lives and revealed the Sun above.

Just as Sombra knew they would, the moment the clouds parted, and sunlight struck the grove, the Wolves demeanor changed from determined to panicked. They whimpered and howled in retreat, turning tail and running for the hills. Away from the bright ball of fire in the sky that would reduce them to a puddle.

Relief washed over Sombra as his plan had worked, if with a few side effects.

Like for example, he was slowly losing feeling in his hooves.

The other pony however, stared at Sombra for a few moments with an incredulous look plastered on his face behind the scarf. Then in an instant he burst.

“That was totally AMAZING!” The pony yelled with glee, running up so close that any sense of personal space had vanished. “You save my life! With your... With your...” he hesitated a moment as his eyes glanced up at Sombra´s horn.

His train of thought was halted completely however as Sombra´s hooves collapsed underneath him.

“Woa there! Are you alright!?” The gray pony asked, leaning his head down to eyes high of the now downed Sombra.

Sombra was still awake, though he really couldn't feel his hooves. The sudden magic whiplash must have cut through his nerves this time. He was being stupid, having strained his completely new body enough for a couple of lifetimes within only two days.

He rolled his eyes. “I'm perfectly fine… I just felt like collapsing.” He replied snarkily.

The gray stallion looked around the grove in confusion. “But, there is snow on the ground… You shouldn't be collapsing around here… Its cold.” he said.

Sombra looked up at the pony, trying to search for any sign that he was being snarky or sarcastic. But found none.

Sombra sighed. “Never Mind…” he said, now taking a moment to look around the grove, trying to take in the damages the wolves had caused. Almost all of the ripe berries had been squashed, and several of the bushes had been trampled to pieces. “Damn Wolves…” He grumbled.

“Yea they're kind of Annoying aren't they?” The gray pony commented. He pulled down the scarf from his muzzle, as to show his entire face. He had a pair of soft green eyes, and now much closer, Sombra actually noticed his mane, or what little there was of it. It looked almost militarily cut, but he saw no sign of this pony being any sort of rank of anything. If so, Then military standards had certainly dropped this last millenium.

The gray pony then also looked at the grove. His face fell slightly as he saw the destruction. “Aww, They squashed all the Ice Berries…”

Sombra rolled his eyes, still stuck on the ground. “You dont say…”

“But I just did.” The pony said without a hint of joking.

“Never mind.” Sombra groaned.

“You really like saying that!” The pony said with a small chuckle. Though then lifting a hoof to his chin contemplatingly. “Come to think of it, a Lot of ponies like saying that around me… Hmm…” he mused aloud, trying to crack the enigma of the information he had just gathered.

Sombra wished he could facehoof right now… But all he was doing was making his legs twitch. They were very slowly returning, but not at the speed he wanted.

The Pony then stopped thinking on the subject and smiled down at Sombra again. “Anyways! That was amazing! Thank you so much for Saving me!”

“I wasn't trying to.” Sombra mumbled, trying to get back onto his hooves, by now having just enough feel to make them slowly move.

“Of course you weren't! You just did it!” The pony declared with a smile that was bright enough to make a lightbulb jealous.

“Right…” Sombra said through his teeth, trying to raise himself, his hooves shaking heavily under his relatively lean body.

The gray pony finally noticed how shaky Sombra seemed, and leaned his head down, looking upon him with concern. “Uhm, Do you need some help Mister… What is your name?” He asked, not yet having a name to go from. Neither did Sombra. But there was a major difference between the two. Sombra didn't care.

“I'm fine! And that doesn't concern you!” Sombra snapped back at him.

”It doesn't? But how else am I going to talk to you without just calling you, Mister Dark Unicorn?” The gray pony asked in concern.

Sombra refused to look at the idiot any further. He wished he had the strength to run, because then he'd already be over the hills. Or maybe just had something sharp around him. Then he could easily dispose of the gray furred nuisance.

The pony however kept on looking at Sombra. It was rather weird he didn’t get a response, and the nice Unicorn just tried to constantly stand… why didn’t he just do it?

And then the connection clicked together. “Ooooooohhh, are you tired Mister Dark? Let me help you!”

“I don’t need any heeeeeeeeiiiiiii!!” Sombra started out protesting ended up in an awkward squeal as he was suddenly just picked up and flung over the back of the gray pony. “Unhoof me you damned rockhead!”

“I'm not Rockhead! I’m Brick! Gray Brick to be precise!” The gray pony said with a bright smile. “It´s very nice to meet you Mister Dark!”

“Well You certainly are as Thick as one! You could have been eaten back there! And stop calling me Mister Dark!” Sombra complained as he was trying to hold his balance on top of Brick´s back. It was a bit awkward considering the pair of saddlebags that also was draped over the Pony's back.

“Then what should I call you?” Brick asked, looking back over his shoulder at Sombra.

“Just don't call me anything!” Sombra borderline yelled back in his face.

Brick just tilted his head in confusion. “But I didn't call you ‘Anything’, I called you Mister Dark.” Brick said, then turned his head, a thought suddenly distracting him.

“That’s the same damn thing-.... Urgh! Never mind!” Sombra groaned. “Just put me down!”

“But you're tired! I can't just leave you to die here in the snow! You saved my life!” Brick said, starting to walk in a brisk jog, shaking up both saddlebacks and Sombra who could do nothing but hold on for dear life.

“Where do you think you're going!?” Sombra asked, as Brick was walking them in a direction away from the grove.

“Home!” Brick announced. “You need to get some rest, and the snow is no place to sleep!”

“What!? No! We are not going to your home!” Sombra cut in, immediately grasping a bit tighter around Brick´s throat, though it was much more for emphasis and to not fall off the Pony´s back. “I am not going anywhere!”

“But I have to bring you home.” Brick rationalized, looking confused.

“I don't have a home!!!” Sombra almost screamed into the Pony´s face.

Brick´s jog came to a complete halt. It was as if Sombra´s words had directly stunned him. He just stared back at Sombra in worried disbelief.

“You don't have a home, Mister?” Brick asked, the look in his eyes much reminiscent of a foal being told Santa Hooves wasn't real.

Sombra then turned his face away and cleared his throat. “ I had one… But, Not Anymore… I am building a new one…” Sombra admitted lowly. “Somewhere far off, Somewhere nopony knows.” Sombra conceded, not completely sure if it was a good idea to even be saying this. But considering his weakly disposition, he was at the mercy of this, random Pony.

“So…” Brick started asking in confirmation. “You wanna be alone?”

“Yes.” Sombra answered without hesitation. That was what he wanted. He wanted to be back in his little cave, and work on its transformation. Work on what could become his Sanctuary, his isolated haven from anything and everyone. “I want to be alone…”

“Is it because ponies make fun of you because of your horn?” Brick asked innocently.

This was the first time in a while Sombra actually felt very self conscious, as he lifted a hoof up to feel his curved horn. “No! It's not my horn! It's…” Sombra snapped at Brick, but then stopped. He wasn't sure what to say. He didn't want to say anything… This pony’s interrogation was affecting him...somehow. Urgh this was infuriating. He should just crawl off his back, try to drag himself home maybe. Hopefully lose him. The thought made him internally facehoof. Try to lose him at crawling speed? Way to come up with a plan there.

“It's Ok.” Brick said, forcing Sombra´s focus back to the pony that was carrying him. “You don't have to tell me. I get it.” he said in a sickeningly sweet voice. Why did he have to sound so sympathetic? It was always the biggest Idiots that sounded so sickeningly cute when they were sincere. Sombra was tempted to groan, but kept himself contained.

“So… Where do you want me to bring you?” Brick offered, turning around and looking back at the mountains again. “You live here in the mountains, Right? How about you just point and I´ll carry?”

“Urgh, if it will stop your incessant questioning!” Sombra conceded with much frustration.

“Awesome! Don't you worry! I'll have you back in a Jiffy!” Brick announced with borderline glee as he set off in a brisk jog, with both saddlebags and Sombra on his back.

While at first reluctant, Sombra had to concede to the fact that he'd need some help to get back home. He really had used too much magic to fail at saving his food source.

And now that Brick was carrying him, he had the time to think about it and it began to weigh him down.

He couldn't even save a bunch of plants that was essential to his own survival. He had once been one of the most powerful magical beings in the entire world. And now he failed to protect his own food from random wildlife? How much more did he have to fall? How much more could he fail?

Sombra´s direction giving was reduced to an occasional glance and a bit of pointing. He didn't want to look at the world right now. He didn't want to be reminded how much he had screwed up, and how even his new plans had failed. He didn't want anypony to find his new sanctuary, and here he was, guiding somepony directly there because he was too weak to walk there on his own.

‘I bet that bitch is laughing right now… Enjoying the thought of me either dead or dying somewhere. Enjoying her palace surrounded by those ponies I worked so hard for...’

“Wow, So this is where you live?”

Brick´s voice forced Sombra to return to his sad reality, which was only seeming grimmer than before, even with this hapless idiot helping him. He hadn’t realized how much time had passed lying limply on Brick’s back, but he was immediately put back into perspective seeing his workspace cluttered with unfinished work The unfinished work in front of him was still there, waiting for the architect´s return.

Sombra didn't answer Brick´s question, He just flopped off of the pony´s back. He had a bit more strength in his limbs, but his landing still ended in an awkward stumble.

Brick looked in slight confusion upon Sombra as his savior just awkwardly dragged himself towards the strange bowl shape in the corner.

“Uhm, Are you going to be Ok?” Brick asked, seeing the downed Sombra.

“I'm fine.” Sombra responded weakly, as he just rolled himself into his hard crystal bed frame, taking in what little comfort the replacement for home would grant him yet. He didn't bother looking at Brick. He didn't want him there anymore. He just wanted to stay with his own thoughts, and hopefully make that stinging feeling in his heart go away.

Brick looked awkwardly away for a moment, before clearing his throat. “I guess, I´ll be going then… Oh! And Don't worry, I won't tell anypony about this place!” He assured, smiling brightly to try and show his honesty, even if Sombra wasnt looking at him.

‘Good, then I don't have to hunt you down later’ the dark unicorn thought, but up responding with a: “Thank you…” He felt tired, both physically and mentally. He didn't want to give too much thought to that damned pony.

“Uhm, Goodbye then?” Brick asked.

Sombra did not respond to that. He wanted solace. He knew things looked grim. He would have to somehow find some new food tomorrow. And tonight he would starve again. Everything just seemed to have it out for him. Perhaps it was justice? This was punishment from beyond that he should suffer for those times he had defied Princess Sonnet?

“Oh! Another thing!” Brick suddenly quipped.

Sombra was not happy about the Pony staying. He growled loudly, having been interrupted mid brooding. “Oh what Now!?” He asked as he turned around to see… Brick handing him a pair of saddlebags and his scarf.

“You must be cold out here… And I did kinda squish your food…” Brick said with a sheepish smile. “So I thought, Maybe this could help you until I can you some more food?”

“More food?” Sombra asked in confusion.

“Yea! I mean, I ended up messing up your food, And you saved my life. So I guess its only fair I return the favour, Right?”

Sombra searched once again for any sign of irony or hint of a joke, but found absolutely none in the gray stallion. He was actually offering him to give him more food. Sombra could barely believe it. How big an idiot had he saved?

Carefully he accepted the saddlebags and the scarf, settling the items down on the side of the bed frame before scoffing slightly.

“Sure…” Sombra started, turning away from Brick again, and settling himself down in his hard bed frame. “You bring me enough food so I can survive out here on my own… Oh and while you are on it, Why not bring me some cooking utensils as well, A fainting Couch and a mattress. And some mining Equipment, I plan on digging out the east wing this week, that would be wonderful.” Sombra snarkily finished, as he rested his head back on the hard bed frame, hoping that perhaps the idiot would get the hint.

“Okay! I´ll see what I can do!”

Sombra´s jaw dropped and he turned around again, seeing Brick on his way out of the cave, waving at him.

“And Thanks again for saving my life!” He called back with a bright smile, before disappearing into the tunnel, and out into the real world.

Leaving alone an almost completely dumbfounded Sombra and with only a few words that came to mind.

“What… an idiot…” He said to himself, before settling back down. He sighed in relief, finally getting the peace he had wanted.

Although, now there was the question of the offending items he had just received. He first picked up the Scarf, bringing it into view.

It was actually rather long, and slightly damp due to the combination of body heat and snowflakes from earlier, but it was so soft to the touch. It wasn't fancy, it was just regular wool, most likely created in cooperation with some sheep. But still it just felt… Comforting.

Rolling his eyes slightly at the admission of its comfort, Sombra wrapped the scarf around his throat and moved on to checking out the contents of the saddlebag.

There was an almost instinctual excitement that just leapt inside of him as he opened the bag and found actual food. There were crackers and different types small containers for addition. There were packets of nuts, small parcels of hay and even rye based bread!

“Oh… My… Sweet… I am going to feast tonight.” Sombra realized.

“Maybe saving that idiot wasn't such a bad idea…”

Bricks

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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.”

Gems and Springs

View Online

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.

All By Myself

View Online

Sombra was not sure how he had reached this point. How he had fallen so low. He seemed to keep finding new ways to dig himself deeper and deeper into this idiotic situation.

And it had all started by something so stupid!

“Hey, Lord Sombra?”

“Yes, Brick?” The dark lord acknowledged the idiot´s presence, but didn't turn to look at him. He was in the middle of carving out a very fragile piece of crystal, wanting to turn it into the correct shape of a hinge before hardening it.

“Can I get some time off?”

While still not looking at the idiot, Sombra considered the question for a second.

“How long exactly?” He asked, now just carefully floating two essential pieces together. He just needed to be extra careful-

“Two Weeks.”

Crash.

For yet another time, Brick had caused Sombra to break something very precarious by simply saying the wrong things.

“Why?” Sombra demanded in a low hum.

Brick was a little uncomfortable by the dark Lord´s sudden change of tone.

“Well, My family is going to be harvesting the Icicles soon, and I usually do the heavy lifting. I think they would notice I am gone If I wasn't there.”

For what felt to Brick uncomfortably long, Sombra didn't answer. He thought about the situation. It was surely going to be troublesome if some of Brick´s (supposedly) extended family to begin poking their noses in Sombra´s castle before it was even finished, but considering that the idiot had been coming every day the last two weeks, He certainly didn't think highly of the inhabitants of that village, the family included.

“Out of the Question.” Sombra calmly stated, his horn relighting as he picked up the broken pieces of crystal, slowly mending them back to order. “While we have made progress, We are still far from done. I cannot have you run around doing trivial things while my home still stands unfinished.”

Brick accepted the explanation reluctantly.

“Right. Of course. Sorry for asking Lord Sombra. I didn't know you needed me that much…”

Crash.

For the second time, Sombra ended up cracking the crystal hinge. In almost an instant, he turned with a hard glare directly onto Brick, his eyes lighting up in a gentle green.

“Excuse me?” He asked, his voice colder than a frozen corpse.

Brick stepped back nervously as Sombra had completely flipped again. Over the short time he had helped him, he had gotten used to the occasional emotional flip from his savior, but this one was the first that was actually terrifying.

“Let me make one thing Clear, my little Idiot! You are here because you are useful to me! I don't Need you. I don't Need Anyone!” Sombra snarled.

“O-Of cours-” Brick tried to reply, but he never got the chance.

“You think I am helpless!? You think I can't handle myself without you?”

“No! I-”

“If you're that convinced! Then Why don't you just go back to that family of yours. That which has not even noticed that you're gone! Just go!”

“B-But-”

“GO!! And Don't come back till you're done with your little, ‘Family trip’. I’ll be right here when you’ll be back!”

Sombra was doing his best to keep his mind on the positives. It had now been a full three and a half weeks since he had cheated death, and he already had incredible progress on his new home!

He used the morning to assure himself that the new doors were functional, and didn’t get stuck. He had made three for now. One for his bedroom, One for the tunnel down to the hot spring, and one large and imposing as the gate to his home.

Other than that, he had dug out two more rooms, one just as a side room to the throne room, making it an effective placing for a kitchen, and one which was the size of a moderate bedroom. He had also moved all the food and the kitchen utensils to their appropriate places, and given it a bit of extra love, as to make things easier access.

As a final touch, he had equipped the Throne room with a very long crystal table, and several almost throne sized chairs. He had originally tried simply a smaller table set, but then there was so much extra space just wasted. So he settled on using the space constructively. Besides, he liked long tables, He reasoned for himself.

All of this should give him lots of reasons to be happy, to be joyous, or at least not to sulk as much. But he wasn’t. He sulked even harder, and was even more gloomy than usual. (If by usual, he meant the short time he had been returned to physical form).

For a while he had made great progress. He had not given himself time to relax at all. He had worked, and worked and worked. He had only focused on that stupid idea.

‘I'll show him… I was a King… I don't need his help… I don't need anypony!’.

Those words, ‘I don't need anypony’ had kept circling in his mind like an enforced mantra. And while it was driving his progress. It was also driving him up the wall.

He was at a loss of breath after having just dragged even more rocks out of his home. He was clenching his hooves around the hilt of the pickaxe while panting for breath.

“Just… A little break… and then… back to work…”

This pattern had repeated over and over again the past week and a half since Brick had left for his home, and Sombra had not let go of anything since then. Even if he knew how stupid it was to cling to a single sentence like this. He was only ruining himself.

But he was too stubborn to give up. He had set himself up for this, now he better follow through!

‘Wouldn't be the hardest thing I had done before...’

A sharp and cool breeze snapped Sombra´s attention back to his surroundings. The caves which he used as a dumping ground was further away from the main site, so it was exposed to the elements.

With that in mind, the exhausted monarch decided to head back. He would use the last of his energy to just trudge back to his castle and take a nap.

Having taken this path quite a few times this week, the surroundings just blurred together, only really reaching back into his mind as he reached his newly created door.

He was quite proud of that door. It looked imposing, and unless he had locked it, was easy to open. He had taken great pride and extra time in making the design say one clear message:

‘Stay out’.

Of course the words weren't literally carved in the crystal, but the imposing flames and skulls carved in, might actually penetrate the skulls of even the thickest idiots.

‘Except maybe Brick… If he was here, he'd probably be like, ‘Hey Lord Sombra, I think somepony might have died on the door’.

A groan escaped the former monarch as he just slammed the door shut behind him. He didn't want to think of the idiot. That idiot would come back at some point, and then he would take up waaay too much of his visual space, so he better keep his stupid mug out of his mental space as well.

Continuing his slow and lifeless trudging, Sombra passed by his grand throne room, ignoring all the extra details he had added for the space, and just settled for going into his sanctuary and closing the door. The door here was very similar to the outside gate, but still had room for improvement.

Once inside, Sombra immediately lit up his horn. The magic was quick and sent itself directly into Sombra´s newest addition to the room; A fireplace.

There was a couple of logs there, and they caught fire quite easily with the burst from Sombra´s inner anger and dark magic.

With a content sigh, feeling the room slowly beginning to get warmer, Sombra threw himself upon his fainting couch.

“Finally…” He mumbled.

Allowing himself to finally relax a bit more, Sombra let that gentle buzzing settle over his muscles. His breathing slowly began to resemble that of a sleeping bear as he just gave up all control over his own functions. Now was the time for relaxation, and absolute laziness. It had been quite a while since he had actually considered himself lazy… But perhaps it was time for another round.

He let the gentle sound of the crackling fireplace and the otherwise quiet sanctuary room lull him into a completely relaxed state.

His peaceful state, however, was ruined by a sudden loud growl.

He was hungry.

“Urgh… Brick! Make me some food! I am hungry!” Sombra lazily called out into the sanctuary.

No response.

Opening his eyes again, Sombra stared tiredly back up into the ceiling, the realization gently dawning on him.

“Right… He´s not here… Damnit…” Sombra groaned in annoyance.

He really didn't want to get up. He was just perfectly comfortable, and then he just had to be hungry.

“Best just get to it…”

With a heavy thud, Sombra rolled off of his couch, and smacked onto the stone flooring.

“Right… Legs…”

Grumbling and groaning, Sombra got back up and sludged out of his sanctuary and back into his newly made kitchen.

He almost didn't feel that he was moving anymore, going through what little of his castle he had and getting inside the newest kitchenary addition to his home. He just lazily began to look through several cupboards, searching for anything that might be fittingly able to sustain him.

In the end, he settled on some odd mixture of oats and carrots. He simply stuffed them into a bowl and shook them about a bit, settling on the idea that that would have to do.
He didn't even bother leaving the kitchen, as he just began to munch down his food in a very undignified manner. He didn't care anymore. Nopony was here. He was truly alone in his great frozen sanctuary.

‘You look like a Norpony.’

Sombra snapped his head around, searching for the source of the sound, but found nothing. He was still alone, gorging on his food like a barbarian.

“Great…” he grumbled. Not even during his dinner could there be times of solace, could it?

Sinking into his meal, Sombra tried to eject any and all thought from his mind, just letting the gentle gratification of getting sustenance speak for itself.

Once he had reached the bottom of the bowl, he threw it nonchalantly over his shoulder, knowing it would hit the counter somewhere. The wooden bowl clattered around and made quite a ruckus, but Sombra didn't care; he just sat there and sighed, trying to feel content.

‘You're just going to leave it there?’

“Okay!” Sombra suddenly announced loudly, getting back onto his hooves again, sighing in frustration. “I need a bath…” He concluded, not even thinking, as his magic picked up the bowl and placed it neatly by the counter, before he left the room completely devoid of life.

With an almost lifeless slugging, Sombra headed past the main chamber and down the deeper section halls. It was quite the incredible stroke of luck that they had struck the cave network, and the deeper hotspring inside was just perfect for Sombra to relax in. In the time Brick had been away, Sombra had also given the tunnel to the spring a bit more attention. Now there were some actual steps and he had placed a couple of crystal torches at key locations, as to light the path. All it needed, was for somepony to get near the crystal, and it would illuminate itself, and the next two. A simple magical system, really.

Though Sombra didn’t allow himself to stop and reflect on his own good work. He just walked past it.

It was quite a relief as the spring cave dawned itself before Sombra. Its dim crystal lighting combined with the gentle warmth of the vapor over the heated waters created a rather cozy atmosphere.

Sombra didn't waste any time. He sat himself down on the side of the pool and gently let himself be enveloped by the heated waters.

The feeling of the warm water, the relaxation of his muscles, almost felt Alien to him. It was as if he hadn't truly relaxed in ages. And thinking of it, Sombra was gradually having a hard time to remember when he last relaxed properly and felt at bliss.

There was one moment that slowly came to mind though. The image of him at that lake…

“No.” Sombra sharply cut off his own train of thought and shook his head. “I refuse to think about that… Harlot any further…” He asserted to himself.

Despite his stubbornness, much like a zebrican buzzard, his mind gently glazed over the times.

“Let's Jump in!”

Sombra slammed a hoof roughly into the cold stone floor, hoping to shock the thoughts clean from his mind.
“Just Don't….”

“I dont think thats a good idea, you don't know how deep it is…”

As if holding on for dear life, he clamped his hooves over his ears and shook his head. “Stop thinking… This is my sanctuary… This is my home… My Home… My…”

“Oh really? Only one way to find out~”

Sombra´s roar echoed through the entire mountain as he threw his head backwards. He wasn't thinking himself. It was the thoughts making themselves. It was the memories, suddenly returning to trump recent victories. They began circling his consciousness like a pair of murderous crows.

‘Got to clear my thoughts. Clear them fully.’ Sombra thought, and in a panic, threw himself into the pool.

The sudden and almost burning hot embrace of the pool encased him and cut off every harrowing thought. All that existed was here and now. His thoughts were contained. Everything had been reduced down to the serenity of the water. He could not feel anything else, but relief.

‘Now… On the count of Three, Get back out of the water. And the past will be past. The Harlot will be gone, and the dead will… stay dead…

One…

Two…

Three!’

Sombra broke with the water in a majestic fashion. He shook his head and his long mane free of excess water, laughing all the while as Sonnet was just standing there.

“You're insane, you know that Sombra?” She asked, trying to suppress a giggle.

“You aren't joining me?” The dark crystal unicorn asked with a mock hurt frown.

“Not in a thousand years. The water is freezing.”

“Its just perfect!”

“I can see you shaking from here!”

Sombra pouted and gave an audible tut. “Is the Princess too afraid of getting a little wet?”

“No, The Princess however is not dumb enough to just jump into freezing water.” She stated and sat herself down on the edge of the pool. “There is no way, You, are getting me in that water.”

“Oh Well.” Sombra commented with a Shrug. “Good thing I don't work alone~”

“Huh?”

“Incoming!”

Before Princess Sonnet could react, she was roughly shoved from her perfectly dry seat directly into the pool with a panicked squeal. She tried taking flight, but just ended up making a much broader splash as she struck the pool.

The waves splashed over everyone, drenching Sombra anew, and even the pushing perpetrator at the edge of the water had gotten a taste of watery justice.

Suddenly breaking with the water again, Princess Sonnet gasped for breath and coughed a bit of offending water free of her throat.

“W-W-What the-” She coughed a couple more times. “How even?-” She asked in confusion until she turned away from the heartily laughing Sombra, and turning to the guilty pusher.

She was just a little unicorn filly, not even showing a cutie mark yet; the purple furred youngster was rolling on her back laughing, her much darker mane clinging to her head.

Sonnet however, was not laughing. She was getting rather puffy and pouted.

“Et tu Nightfall!?”

The little filly was doing her best to contain her laughter. “Sorry!” She snorted. “It was Sombra´s idea.”

“You little Snitch!” Sombra playfully snapped at the little filly. “You would sell out your partner in crime that easily?”

“Yea! What are you going to do about it?” Nightfall stuck out her tongue playfully.

Sombra turned to face Sonnet, catching eye contact, and the two of them sharing a silent plan, only communicated through an almost mirrored smirk. Both of their horns then lit up in their respectively coloured glows, and they collectively picked up the little Nightfall, floating her over the pond.

“No! Wait! No Fair-”

Splash.

Unanimously, the two had dropped the snitch in the water, leaving the little filly completely drenched as she broke with the water as well, her perfectly cut mane clinging to her skull as if someone had stuffed a cardboard box over her face.

And Sombra thought it was hysterical.

While he was already bursting with laughter, Sonnet was doing her best to contain her mirth, though failing, and resulting in a few undignified snorts.

Nightfall in the middle was not amused. “Thats not fair!”

“Oh really?” Sombra said, between smaller fits of laughter. “You conspired against a Princess, and afterwards, betrayed your brother. Be thankful, Nighty, that a dunk in the water is all you get!” He smirked.

“No Fair!” The little filly pouted, turning to Sonnet. “Princess, Tell him!”

She wasn't telling anything. She was just laughing. She could not hold it in anymore. She was laying flat on her back in the water, holding her sides and laughing at the sibling squabble.

Sombra just looked on as he saw his little Nightfall take to leap onto Sonnet, playfully ‘fighting’ with the Princess.

Everything was so idyllic that he was convinced it could last forever.

He felt that well known fluttering in his heart as he viewed the scene. He never thought he would ever be happier.

The waters splayed everywhere as Sombra violently threw himself onto the side of the pool, slamming his body down into the stone and roaring in anger. The sound reverberated through the entire mountain, shaking it to its core. He was clasping his hooves to his temples and slamming his head into the stone floor, still roaring.

“STOP IT! GET OUT! GET OUT, GET OUT, GET OUT!” he repeated for each slam of his head against the granite flooring. Everything needed to leave his head, with force. He could not take it. It would only become worse from here.

He only stopped when the pain from hammering his head against the rock had ceased to be, and was replaced by the simple sensation of occasional sudden pressure. And by that point, Sombra was slowly loosing all other sensations as well.

He flopped onto his back, his eyes rolling back in his skull, his vision going completely blurry, and a weird scent of blood was beginning to coat the atmosphere.

He had physically shaken his mind to the point where his thoughts were less than coherent. And all he could think of was the momentary bliss of this condition. Only the sharp ringing sound of his ears, the dull throbbing from his bleeding head, and the deep embrace of his own slowing breathing.

And yet even here… he was not left alone…

“P-Please… Live for me… Sombra… P-Please… Live…” The voice spoke. The message from so long ago.

‘Sorry… Nighty… I can't… I can't…’ Sombra whispered back in the cave.

The deep sting that was sinking into his heart forced Sombra to give up any remaining pretence of control of anything anymore. His eyes filled with tears and he broke into a deep set of bloody sobs. He was on the edge of oblivion again. Everything was over. He was all alone, and he could do nothing anymore. All had been for nothing. Nothing mattered anymore. He wanted the shadows he controlled to swallow him up, pull him into the earth and drag him beyond this mortal coil.

He wanted to join her so badly…

“S-S-Sombra!?”

The dark unicorn was shivering, his body trying in panic to salvage everything, even as the mind had despaired. Yet now, that little voice, was like a gentle jolt of magic through his entire cerebral cortex.

Sombra forced his eyes to squint open, trying to make sense of the image he was receiving, blurred by tears and shock from several cases of blunt force trauma.

It was a large gray fuzzy mass standing above him. A pinch of deep blonde atop of the mess, and two slightly green orbs in the center gave Sombra a hypothesis, immediately confirmed as the mass spoke again.

“A-A-Are you Alright!?” Brick asked in deep-seeded concern.

Sombra stared at the gray mass for a few seconds. He was laying here beneath this pony. Exposed, Weak, Pathetic, Ruined, Crying Mess.

With a strange sudden feeling of clarity, even with his head swimming, Sombra wiped his eyes.

“What does it look like, you idiot!?” He growled at Brick, who almost stepped back from the sudden bout of aggression. “And where in the name of Hel were you!?” Sombra hissed as he slowly, and very groggily, shifted himself around on his hooves again, shakily trying to stand up again.

Brick stammered in confusion. “B-B-But… I told you i'd be back in t-two weeks, B-but I came back earlier-”

“You are not early, You are late!” Sombra scolded at his recently returned assistiot. “I made it clear for you to come back within a Week!”

“B-B-But…” Brick tried to reason, knowing that he had heard correctly. “You told me not to come back until i was don-”

“No! I told you to be back within the week!” Sombra finally was able to stand again, but his limbs were shaky, and blood gently trickled down the side of his head. “You failed to do something so incredibly simple!” Sombra continued to rant as he slowly stumbled towards, only just being prevented from falling to the ground again by Brick supporting him.

“S-Sombra you´re bleeding!”

The former monarch turned to face Brick with an almost literal death glare. “You don't Say!” He said, his voice thick with sarcasm. “So what are you waiting for?” He asked, leaning in closer to Brick. “Get me to my couch, and get me some bandages… NOW!”

Brick had no comeback. All he could do was comply. He threw Sombra onto his back again and brought him to the sanctuary chamber.

He was incredibly quick afterwards to administer amature first aid, and stop the bleeding with a bandage from some of the boxes he had brought Sombra a couple of weeks earlier. That, Of course, didn't stop Sombra from correcting and jabbing at Brick all the steps along the way.

“And now that you are back!-” Sombra growled, even while Brick was helping laying him back down, after bandaging the unicorn´s head. “There are lots of your chores you left behind in your absence! The place will need to be cleaned up, and the room down the third hall needs to be cleared out!”

“B-But Sombra, You´re hurt-”

“Surprise! I didn't know that! Now just GET TO WORK!” Sombra snapped loudly at Brick, almost pushing the earth pony back.

Forced to concede, Brick complied with his head hung low, only just stopping in the doorway to sneak another glance at Sombra, before he went on as demanded of him.

Now, alone in his sanctuary again, Sombra leaned back and, unbeknownst to him, smiled. “Finally… Back to normal.” He mused, as now everything he had to focus on, was still within shouting distance.

Now This…

Was peace.

Shopping

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It was about a week since Brick had returned to Sombra, and things had slowly settled back into the relatively new routine.

Despite his original protests, Sombra had been working a lot less this week and let Brick take… Responsibility… Over the continued maintenance of the gradually expanding castle. It was actually very close to reaching the point that Sombra felt he could properly call it a castle. It had a Throne room, a Sanctuary, A kitchen, A ‘bath house’ and several extra rooms for future use.

While Sombra stubbornly tried to keep Brick at a arms length away from him, the idiot had insisted, or for a more precise word, pestered, that he needed to help Sombra with resting.

Even if it was annoying, It had allowed Sombra to relax a bit more, and granted him time to figure out where to store the gems found in the walls of the new excavations. Sombra had almost begun to feel like things were getting tolerable again.

Almost…

“Brick, You have exactly four words to explain why you didn't say this sooner…”

The gray workhorse opened and closed his mouth a couple of times, trying to think of the best way to phrase his response.

“Uhm, You were Injured?” Brick offered.

The dark, former monarch let Brick have another of his virtually trademarked glares.

“So a little blood stopped you from telling me that there is a Snowstorm coming Tomorrow!?”

“Uhm… I guess?”

An incredibly frustrated groan escaped Sombra as he dragged a hoof down his face. “Well, We will just have to survive with what we've got,” The dark unicorn grumbled, taking a moment to take a mental inventory.

“But, can't I just take the cart into town and-”

“No.” Sombra cut off.

“But-”

“I said No. You are not leaving!” Sombra snapped at Brick, almost sounding like a fuzzy mother at this point.

“But why not!?”

“I ne-... I Want, you to keep working on the Castle.” The gloomy unicorn said with a sharp huff, turning his head.

Brick, while not wanting to get into another argument with Sombra, Brick insisted despite his best judgement. They really didn't have enough supplies to last through a possible snowstorm.

“Then what are we going to do, My Lord?” Brick asked, making sure to stroke the ego correctly. “We don't have enough-”

“We’ll make do!” Sombra interrupted, thinking that would put a lid on the conversation.

“We can't make do!” Brick insisted. “Listen, I know you want to be alone, but I can just quickly-”

“You’re not going anywhere alone again! You’d just end up being late again!” The dark unicorn growled, jerking around to stare down Brick.

“Then what are we going to do!?”

An hour later, Out in the mountains:

“I… Did not see that coming.”

“Shut up…” Sombra grumbled.

Brick really still was having a hard time getting the situation to add up. He was pulling the cart now, making his way through the path he had walked so many times now since he had met Lord Sombra. And now the dark unicorn was lying on his back in the cart, a large black cloak draped over the former monarch.

“I’m sorry.” Brick said, keeping his eyes on the road. “I just… I thought you didn’t want to be bothered by the world? Why’re you leaving the castle?” He asked curiously.

Sombra groaned for the hundred thousandth time, off handedly knocking a hoof against the gem basket they had brought along. They would need a lot of supplies, so a lot of gems would be needed to pay for them. He then rolled his head backwards, looking upon Brick upside down.

“Because Somepony has to make sure you don’t get lost in a hedge or something.”

“B-But, we don’t have any hedges at this time-“

“I Said ‘Or Something’. That includes anything you could get your tiny little head stuck in.” Sombra explained to the idiot. “I will not be back at the castle, starving to death, just because you got your head stuck in a bucket or something…”

The gray idiot turned his head to Sombra with that sickeningly innocent smile of his. “Silly, You don’t wear buckets on your heads. Why would my head get stuck there?”

“Urrrgh, Are we there yet!?”

“Almost, You should be able to see Icedale once we reach the top of this hill!” Brick responded, pointing up towards the hill for reference.

Now knowing that, Sombra rolled around and sat up in the cart. As the two just reached the top of the hill, Sombra finally got a much clearer view of renowned Icedale.

One thing that immediately sprung to mind, was that this village had not originally been built by Equestrians. The architecture was a strange mish mash of several styles he could recognize, though it did not quite make sense in his head. Some of the buildings looked like it had Crystal influence, with jagged roves and the traditional more spire like designs. The much newer buildings of course had the usual Equestrian influence of square, yet somehow squiggly walls. It was built both with the mind of comfort and function.

However the third design especially stuck out like a sore hoof.

It was longer wooden structures, its design reminding him of… Stories… And Memories...

“Lord Sombra? Are you okay?”

The dark unicorn snapped back to reality, glaring down at Brick.

“Of course I am okay. I was thinking. Don't try it, you might hurt yourself.” Sombra said snarkily, before jumping off of the cart, and walked up besides Brick, as to follow along. “Now, let’s just get in and get those supplies. The sooner we’re back in the castle, the better.”

Brick gave a little mock serious salute at the dark unicorn, however also made a mental note of maybe asking about this later.

With that out of the way, the two headed into Icedale.

Beyond the architecture, nothing particularly offending stuck out to Sombra. It seemed like a normal frontier village. Ponies were going around, doing their business, talking about their days, and even in the frozen weather, lovers were out to enjoy the fresh cool valley air.

Sombra did his best to keep his cloak tightly wrapped around himself, and to lower his stature slightly as to make himself less conspicuous. However, he quickly realized that it was turning out to be a foolish endeavor if he were to continue walking alongside Brick, as eyes seemed to be homing in on them.

‘Great. Nopony in this village notices Brick when he's alone, but the moment somepony new is in town, suddenly it’s interesting! This is bad.’ Sombra grumbled in his own thoughts.

He turned to stick a hoof up into the cart, and picked out a good hoofful of gems and stuffed them in his cloak.

“What are you doing, My L-“ Brick was not allowed to finish his question before Sombra shoved a hoof over his mouth.

“Listen to me carefully Brick. I want you to be as inconspicuous as always. However, That seems to be impossible as long as I am walking besides you. I am like a beacon for attention, and I would rather not begin to cause a scene.”

“Cwse a swene? (Cause a scene?)” Brick mumbled through the hoof.

“Cause a Scene, as in invoke the deepest fears of any snoopers to the point of breaking them into sobbing messes on the floor.” Sombra explained in a deadpanned voice. “While I would love to let out some aggression, my desire for discretion is higher. So…” Sombra leaned closer, looking Brick dead in the eyes. “Can you be inconspicuous?”

Brick, with a look of powerful determination, gave a firm nod.

“Good. Then make sure to gather together enough food, general supplies and anything else you think we might need. I will meet you back at the hilltop. Do not be Late.”

With that, the two quietly parted ways. And much like Sombra expected, the collective attention span was not large enough to handle the idea of two things to follow, so most settled on keeping eyes peeled for this new pony. Too bad for them, that Sombra was very good at being discrete.

A momentary image of him surrounding the entire Crystal Empire in a dome of darkness, did though force Sombra to reevaluate his previous thought to ‘mostly’ good, at being discrete. But that was a special case after all.

So, with a couple of dashes down the occasional alleyway, space between houses and darting behind boxes, Sombra had lost most of the intrigued eyes upon him. The rest would be a margin he would have to accept.

Now, finally alone with his own thoughts, but still with the content knowledge of this only being a very temporary state, Sombra stopped to consider what he should do in town.

Anything to keep the voices away came to mind, but that was a very cynical statement. He thought that maybe he should try something different for once. What would be optimistic to do right now?

His eyes immediately settled on one of the Crystal inspired buildings, seeing the sign called ‘Fabulous Ness´s Beauty shop’, and another thought came to mind.

He didn’t have a vanity corner in his Castle yet.

‘How could I have forgotten that?’ He almost chastised himself and decided to take a stroll into the shop.

Pushing the door open, a small bell rang, announcing his presence to the seller, who immediately sprung to life.

He was a white coated stallion with quite the bleached blonde mane, and a comb as a Cutie Mark.

“Why! Welcome to Fabulous Ness´s esteemed shop, What can I…” he paused, seeing that his customer were completely draped in a ghastly blanket, obscuring his sight of the customer´s features. “Sweet Celestia Sir! What awful piece of cloth is that!?” He almost shrieked.

Now, some ponies might feel a bit intimidated by the sudden friendliness and professional panic of fashion minded ponies.

But some ponies had not once been royalty.

“It is a piece of cloth with which I use to keep my confidentiality, as certain, Uncivilized businesses, has refused to respect my privacy.” Sombra said in an almost dull hum. “Am I to be disappointed by yet another uncivilized brute who cannot respect the wishes of the customer?” His voice caught in an overly gentle sigh as he almost turned around.

The business stallion however, gasped almost in panic.

“Why no no! My sincerest apology, most esteemed customer, I did not mean to disrespect your wishes, I just wished to comment on…” He started, though the explanation died in his throat, forcing his head to drop in defeat. “My deepest apologies, Sir. I welcome you again to my shop, Tell me what Fabulous can do for you?”

A small smirk snuck upon Sombra´s lips for a moment, before he continued.

“Well Mr. Ness.” Sombra said beneath the cloak, choosing the surname overtly. “I wish to buy supplies for the maintenance of my beautiful persona.”

An Hour of Shopping Later:

It had been quite a while since Sombra could say he was positively delighted. He had wrapped that sales ponies around his hoof like a piece of string. Just a few compliments, a well placed double entendre treat and a couple of shiny gems placed in their direction and he had everything he wanted. With the different array of items purchased, he had even been lucky to retrieve himself a helpful carry on box, for convenience.

Sombra almost felt like humming.

Things were finally going-

He stopped his own train of thought there, deciding not to tempt fate, that horrid shrew, and continue on his little shopping trip through the village.

There were quite a few shops that peaked Sombra´s interests, which did amaze him to a certain degree.

The village was on the frontier after all, so most of this, must necessarily have had to have been imported. So that meant that somehow, there was a market either large enough, or small but lucrative enough, to support this kind of business.

Thinking on that, Sombra remembered that Brick had mentioned his family was the largest. Could that perhaps also mean that they were rich?

The idea stuck to him, and refused to go away as he trotted carefully down the smaller side paths inside the village, keeping his head down and keeping himself to the shadows.

His curiosity got the better of him, and Sombra decided to set off for the outskirts of town. If they were mead manufacturers, then it would make sense to keep their production seat near the raw materials.

The thing with mead produced in the North, Sombra knew, was that it was made from the honey of extremely hardened bees, considering there wasn't much vegetation in the most northern regions of the world. Some claimed it was tempered with magic as well, making the bees incredibly versatile.

‘The gods granted the bees their determination’

For once, Sombra was not immediately shaking his head or emptying his mind to abandon the voice reaching him. For this one was not something he wanted to forget…

Though he was certain that if the owner was alive… She'd want to forget him…

Now that thought he wanted to let go. He stopped for a moment and sighed deeply.

‘Let’s… just continue...’ He thought.

No such luck for the dark Unicorn however. He turned around a corner, only to immediately have somepony hammer, snout first, directly into his chest.

Now, Sombra was not THAT much taller than most ponies. He was no way near alicorn level, but he did have a couple of extra centimeters that certainly put him in the taller department.

This, thankfully, meant that he also had a much better balance than pony who had walked into him.

The sudden shock had stunned all members of the pedestrian collision for a moment though.

Sombra was quick to check himself and see if his cloak had fallen off. Luckily for him, it hadn't, though his box of shopping had fallen off of his back and gone into the snow.

“Are you blind!?” Sombra growled, despite not even having taken a look at the pony he had knocked into.

“Uhm, Sorry, I didn't see you there-” A stallion´s voice quipped before getting immediately interrupted by Sombra.

“No, kidding, If only I had commented on that earlier. Now if you’ll excuse me” The former monarch snarked, casually picking up his box again and setting on his path to walk past whoever he had walked into, only to almost walk into a mare.

Forced to stop only for a second, Sombra only gave the maroon coloured mare a first glance which told him gender and colour before he stomped around the obstacle, and off on his way.

Leaving behind a pair of ponies, both also lifting up their cloaks to try and cover themselves up.

“What was his problem?” The mare´s voice asked, just before Sombra got out of earshot.

The stallion, an azure blue one, shrugged at the question at first. “I don't know… But he looks like somepony who might want to hide…”

The two looked at each other in silent thought, until the mare gave a small grin.

“Perfect.”

Back with Sombra:

Deciding to ignore the momentary interruption, Sombra continued onwards on his path.

Said path lead him to the outskirts of what clearly was a farm, even now covered in the snow. He presumed that when the snow melted the ponies might use the area for, whatever could be profitable to sell. Though there was one thing slightly different compared to the few farms he had seen before. This one was a bit more lavished. It was designed for show, rather than strict practicality.

At least the most recent part of it. Which was a thing that really piqued Sombra´s interest.

The building was large, almost to the point that one could call it a Manor, but it was also clearly built in two halves. The old foundation, and the newer, Equestrian inspired upper floor.

It was getting ridiculous how much this simple detail was bothering him. He was a king, not an architect, why was he looking at a stupid building that was most likely the result of an architect drinking too much?

What was it… That bothered him so much about this building?

What was it Brick had called it again? ‘Is’hall’?

Was it the name? It certainly sounded familiar, but the reason escaped him. But he had the feeling it was important.

“Urgh!” he groaned once again in aggression, slamming a hoof into a small wooden fence, marking the edge of the family property. “I feel like, I should remember this…” No answer came immediately to mind, though it felt like it was right on the tip of his tongue.

‘Something about… the war...’

“Excuse me Sir.”

Sombra turned his focus away from his thoughts and onto the source of the noise.

It was a ash grey earth pony with coal black mane and a small goatee.

“Are you that new pony? The one who arrived with Brick?” He asked innocently.

Though an innocent question was enough to infuriate Sombra. So clearly somepony had noticed him. Though he did take a moment to just make sure the pony was alone. Relieved by that fact, he knew he could handle this.

“That doesn’t concern you. That is actually something you should stay your muzzle out of it.” Sombra simply stated, as he turned around to walk past the pony, and back into town. Leaving behind the intrusive stranger.

“Oh I should, stay my muzzle, you say?” The stranger asked, his voice initially gentle and confused like any polite stranger. Though then it twisted into a confident humm, mirroring the almost sadistic smirk. “Just like you should have, Sombra, Son of Thora.”

Sombra´s blood froze to ice and he turned to face the stranger, but found nothing in its space.

He was alone again.

“I need to find Brick again.” He urged himself, and headed off into town with more than a brisk trot.

While he would like to think himself in complete control, and fully serene, the momentary scene had shaken Sombra enough to make him abandon any further projects. Now every objective had been stricken down to only find Brick and get home.

‘Because I need to make sure he didn't screw up’ He told himself, forcing the thoughts of the disappearing pony out of his mind. He would have nothing more. Nothing more. No more voices, no more illusions.

No more tears.

He did make sure to carry his items in the box on his back as he weaved in between the buildings, taking any sort of side road to change the path, and force his mind on the now.

It didn't take that long to find Brick again, considering the fact that, to Sombra, any other Pony in the town might as well be curious wildlife. Something absolutely beneath him. The idiot had parked himself in a small alley, not too far away from the center of town, most likely for a moment to check the stock of what he had gathered so far.

Much to Sombra´s disappointment however, as he rounded a corner to see Brick, he found him failing at the one task he had asked him for, as the Pony was currently being confronted by another.

The former monarch was preemptively preparing himself for a facehoof, when he finally got a better look at the situation.

Brick was on the back hoof.

“- around. I asked myself ‘Why is nothing broken?’ and then I realized I hadn't seen you in a while, Brickster.” The pony standing right in front of Brick said. He was a rather bulky teal coloured pegasus, his cutie mark an image of a rock cracking down the middle.

“Aha. Ha. Ha. Thats. Really. clever… Abs… You certainly got me there…” Brick spoke in a tone that could not be dripping with more sarcasm if it had been doused with a snarky hose.

‘So that is the infamous Abs Ton.’ Sombra thought, giving the pegasus an extra moment of observation. He certainly seemed like he had some physical strength behind him, as his name might suggest. His posture was with an air of arrogance, but an arrogance seemingly grounded in a grain of truth. In short, he was a potential threat.

Keyword being potential.

“Whatcha got in the carriage there, Brickster?” the bulky pegasus asked, seemingly ignoring Brick´s attempt at a comeback.

“Food and stuff…” Brick tried to push the subject. “For the family.” he lied without any trouble.

“Really?” Abs Ton asked, as he tried to walk past Brick, only to be blocked by the same earth pony. The large pegasus smirked in self confidence. “Then why can't I look in it?”

“Because its none of your buisness, Abs.” Brick rumbled, making a not so subtle suggestion that Abs should perhaps leave.

The pegasus would have none of that however. He laughed.

“None of my business? You must have hit your little head, Brickster. I am Abs Ton! Everything is my business!” The bulky pegasus announced, pushing against Brick who was holding his ground steadily. “All I need to do is tell on the Guvnor that you're causing trouble in icedale. Then he is going to need someone to take care of it, after all.” Abs threatened casually. “And then he would turn to his good old friend to fix things.” He glared directly at Brick.

Sombra had been observing this all go down from much further down the alleyway, hidden. He didn't interrupt. This pony clearly had connections. If he were to jump in now, he would be as good as revealed. And if any information about his survival were to return to Equestria, or even the empire, he had no doubt he would not have his castle for long.

Back at the cart, Brick returned the glare, not willing to back off a single step further. The cart was behind him, and it had to be defended.

“Maybe I should tell Mama and Papa that you're stopping me from delivering their stuff.” Brick tried to take the advantage with a threat.

However, Abs simply smirked.

“Who do you think they’ll believe, Brick? Everypony knows you´re the runt. The unwanted. You’re just always the one to stir up trouble.” Abs Ton butted his head lightly against Brick´s, the two pushing back and forth in tests of strength. “Maybe it was in reality you harassing me?”

Brick was now sneering. His hooves were itching to just punch Abs right there square in the jaw. But he knew the consequences of that.

And Abs knew that…

The pegasus chuckled to himself. “Do I need to explain to the town that you had a fit again?” He asked condescendingly. “I wonder how long your parents will ground you this time… An adult, grounded as if he was a foal.”

Brick´s face fell, and his eyes descended towards the ground. He grid his teeth in hope of containing himself and shutting out the harrowing voice of the pony before him.

Abs however, decided that perhaps now was the time for the gut punch.

“Tell me… How does it feel to be so insignificant?”

“Why don't you try it out?”

Abs blinked in confusion as he heard another voice, and turned to face it. He was met with a set of shining green eyes, a malicious purple mist steaming off of them, and a sudden flash of purple magic, sending him flopping limply onto the floor.

Brick had also heard the voice and raised his head, only to almost drop his jaw to the ground at the sight.

On the ground, Abs Ton was lying, shivering. His eyes were glowing a bright green and were quickly beginning to well up with fresh tears as his face was frozen in a horror. Above him, his savior stood, looking as grumpy and menacing as ever, only his horn was gently dulling the purple light, and his eyes returned from shining green to its usual redly hue.

“Hmph” Sombra scoffed. “Pathetic…” He mumbled as he nonchalantly stepped over the horrified stallion, and walked over to place his box of shopping into the back of the cart. “Let us head back home.” The former monarch hummed, before turning to see that Brick was still stock frozen from surprise.

“Brick!” He snapped.

“Wh-wha...buh… wha?” Brick babbled, still unsure of what he had completely just witnessed.

“Let us go home.” Sombra repeated, gesturing for the pony to get to the cart.

“Oh! Right!” Brick said, snapping out of his confusion and hooking himself up to the cart.

Calmly, but with still a brisk pace, the two simply left Abs Ton there, frozen in the alley, and headed out of Icedale, heading back towards the mountains and the castle.

New Faces

View Online

The trip out of the village was first made in absolute silence. Nothing beyond the snow creaking beneath their hooves and the occasional squeaking of the cart was heard. It was only once the village was completely out of sight, that Brick was able to gather his confidence enough to turn and look back upon Sombra.

“Why did you do that?”

“Hm?” Sombra hummed, lying on his back just on the edge of the cart. He had found a little indentation he could laze in and let one hoof dangle along.

“Why did you do that? Back in the alley?”

Sombra didn't look back at Brick. “Does it really matter?” He asked, offhandedly wiping a snowflake off of his nose.

“To me it does… If… If I am allowed to know?” Brick´s head sank slightly, turning away as he was certain his lord would simply dismiss the question as he had with every other.

“He deserved it.”

Brick´s ears went stiff and his head snapped around to Sombra, as he had answered his question.

“I…” Brick started, not sure what to say. Sure, He felt that Abs had deserved whatever Sombra had done to him, but, Sombra kept confusing him. “Yes… He did… But… Didn't you want to be alone?”

“What does that have to do with it?” The dark Unicorn asked, finally tilting his head towards Brick and raising one of his equally black eyebrows.

“Abs is friends with the Guvnor, so if you used magic against him, he might report you, or maybe-”

“He´s not going to do anything.” Sombra cut off.

“How do you know?”

The dark unicorn rolled his head back up towards the darkening skies. “The pony is a Coward. I made him see his worst fears. Trust me, he is going to be too distracted with those rather than worry about who did that to him.” Sombra said, closing his eyes and releasing a gentle sigh.

“Ah… Okay…” Brick said at first, continuing to pull the heavy cart of supplies, plus lord, along the narrow mountain paths, though quickly, one question forced itself into reality. “What is his worst fear?”

“Is that really important?” Sombra grumbled.

“Well… No…” Brick had to concede. “But I woul-”

“Then there is no reason talking about it then!”

Snapping his eyes back to the road, Brick frowned slightly. He really wanted to know what Abs was afraid of. Perhaps then he could get him off of his back.

Disappointed that the conversation had just taken such a hatchet, Brick tried to revive it with another question.

“But, Why go so far? I mean, you didn't have to step in-”

“Of course I had to step in.” Sombra cut in.

“Why?” Brick asked, looking back over his shoulder again, hoping to get some kind of straight answer from Sombra. “Why did you need to save me again?”

Sombra turned his head and let his eyes meet with the workhorse in his servitude.

For just a second, Brick felt as if Sombra looked, hurt, weakened, before he then instantly rebound back into a determined, and almost gruesome scowl.

“The only one who gets to abuse my Staff is, Is Me.”

That message sent a shiver down Brick´s spine. It was frightening, but, somehow comforting. Sombra had done nothing really evil against him up to this point, and his sense of ownership seemed to be playing to his favour. It… Was just weird to place the true feeling about that. So, Brick conceded to giving a small smile.

“Of course, Lord Sombra.” He affirmed.

The last of the journey castlewards settled back into silence, with only the winds and snowfall picking up. Occasionally Sombra would question if Brick could keep pulling the cart, though he never actually got off of it to ease the burden. Even when they had to get up the makeshift path that was the last kilometre up until the cave entrance leading up to Sombra´s large gate.

They parked the large carriage outside the entrance, as it couldn't get inside the caverns, even without the extra supplies on top of it.

As Sombra casually hopped off of the cart, and checked to see if everything was there, Brick unhooked himself and dropped himself face first into the snow.

“Urrrrrghhh…” He groaned. The journey had been long and quite tiring.

“Don't tell me you tore a muscle?” Sombra asked in a slightly annoyed tone.

“No… I'm just tired…” Brick said with a muzzle full of snow.

“Urgh.” Sombra groaned. “Rest for a bit. Don't take too long though! I will be wanting your assistance pretty soon.” The former monarch mused, as he picked out a single specific box from the cart and made his way inside.

Left outside in the snow, Brick allowed himself to relax for once. Even if he was in a pail of snow and feeling quite a heavy chill factor from the winds, it felt rather comfortable and the knowledge that they were home, and in time before the snowstorm really picked up, was a great relief.

Although he was frozen to the bone, and had essentially dumped himself in a pilel of snow, he still felt a gentle bubbling warmth inside of him. His eyes slid gently over towards the tunnels which Sombra had just left down, and he smiled softly.

This place. Despite all its hardships… Felt… Good.

Suddenly however, Brick´s ears sprung upwards and he sat up straight, looking in the direction of the sound. Due to the howling winds and the heavy snowfall, he had not noticed it earlier, but there were two cloaked ponies approaching.

One, the slightly larger one, was walking in front, and held a posture marred by exhaustion, yet trying to come off as confident.

Bricks´s original thoughts of running inside and closing the door was immediately dismissed since they still had the food in the cart.

If these were somepony he knew… He'd have to distract them for Sombra.

Finally getting close enough to be in the windy cover of the mountain, the ponies pulled their hoods back, revealing them to be a mare and a stallion.

“Hellou!” The stallion in front announced, his voice sounding almost happy go lucky.

Brick blinked in confusion. The mare was an earth pony and had maroon coloured fur, while her mane and tail was average lengthed and a gentle brown colour. The stallion was a pegasus with an azure blue coat, with a rather long black mane for a stallion. He couldn't see either of their cutie marks properly.

But more importantly, he didn't know them.

Receiving no real response from Brick, the stallion kept on speaking.

“My name is Caliber, this is my friend, Ember.” He said gesturing back at the mare behind him. “We are a pair of travelers who got lost here in the mountains as the snow storm set in!” The pegasus summed up, as if it was a textbook explanation. Or more appropriately, he was slowing himself down as to try and get the point across to Brick. “We noticed your cart in the distance, and thought that the best hope for survival in horrid situation.” He spoke smoothly, making eye contact with Brick, letting green meet green. “Would you perhaps be so kind as to give us food and shelter for the duration of the storm?”

Brick blinked again. Staring at the stallion who was just smiling confidently, and the mare behind him seeming quite confident in him as well, despite the situation.

Brick saw no other choice, he opened his mouth, took a deep breath, and uttered:

Inside with Sombra:

Perfect. That was the only way Sombra could describe it.

Within an incredibly small time-span, and with an only half exhausting amount of energy, Sombra had been able to shape himself a full sized perfect body Crystal mirror. Oh and that was not the only thing. It had a pair of smaller mirrors on the side, which gave plenty of space for a couple of cupboards for his vanity items.

And he had made all of this with sheer determination and shaping magic. This was wonderful.

A thought struck him, perhaps for the flair, he should add a little crystal symbol up on the top of the main mirror? That could really top off the aesthetic. And considering much of the castle was still bare bones, he was needing to soon do SOMETHING to beautify the place.

The dark unicorn focused his magic for just a few seconds, centering it all on a point on the ground. Almost instantly, a dark crystal grew out of the ground, standing upright as a single spike. With a couple of waves of his hoof, and shifts of focus with his magic, he twisted the crystal almost like putty, shifting its form into a star.

Satisfied with the shape, Sombra lifted up the newly made ornament and hovered it up to the top of the mirror, just to get into its right place.

Seeing it almost on its spot, Sombra thought:

lMaybe things will actually turn out for the better now?'

“SSSSSSSSOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMMMMBRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!”

In an instant, Sombra lost control over the ornament in his magic out of surprise, and the thing crashed the the floor, shattering into a million tiny crystalline pieces. Not only that, but the sudden, ringing and echoing shout had been such a surprise that the former monarch actually jumped forwards, ending up knocking his head against his newly created mirror, setting a huge crack into it.

Shaking his head, and realizing the situation around himself, Sombra felt nothing… For about two seconds.

Then anger returned with the intensity of a forest fire.

“Grrrrrrr…” Sombra´s growling grew as he snapped around on his hooves, turning towards the door, and shouting back with a voice that belonged in nightmares.

“WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT!?” His voice boomed and rang throughout the halls and bowels of the castle.

“There. Are. A. Pair. Of. Ponies. Here!” Echoed back to Sombra.

The dark unicorn gave a small uncontrollable twitch in anger.

“WHAT!?”

“I said-”

“I HEARD WHAT YOU SAID YOU BLOODY BAMPOT!” Sombra roared in return as he ran off through his Castle, quickly making his way towards the entrance way. “What I meant was, WHAT IN THE BUMBLING BREEZIES IS GOING ON!?"

Sombra stamped out of the cave opening, each step almost cracking the ground beneath his hooves, and looked upon the scene before him.

Brick stood next to the cart, turned to face Sombra as he came, not too affected by Sombra shouting. He was used to it after all. The traveling pair however, did look slightly surprised by the sudden roar of aggression that had now personified itself in the form of the dark Unicorn.

The stallion, Caliber, however, took on a calm smile.

“Hello Sir, I am Caliber, this is my Friend Ember-”

“What are you doing here?” Sombra demanded coldly.

Trying not to let the Unicorn get the best of him, Caliber continued.

“Well you see sir, We are a pair of Travelers, and we planned on a bit of a hike through the mountains, however we got caught off guard by the snowstorm, so we were hoping that perhaps you could grant us shelter?” He asked with a voice gently pleading, using a much more eloquent explanation than needed, to really play at the generosity of their possible host. And with the biggest smile possible.

All of which was crushed within a second.

“No.” Sombra said.

Caliber blinked a couple of times in confusion.

“Come again?”

“I Said No.” Growled Sombra.

”B-B-but…” Caliber tried to comprehend the situation. “You can't just-”

“I can and I did. And I said No.”

“But you need to let us in!” The mare, Ember, stepped forwards and asserted, her blue eyes trying to cut their way through Sombra´s resistance. “We don’t have anywhere else to go!”

“Yes you do.” Sombra stated cynically, in no way phased by the optical attack. “Anywhere but here.” He said, pointing out at the snow covered landscape.

“But there is a snowstorm!” Caliber added.

“So?” Sombra asked, rolling his eyes disinterestedly.

“We wouldn’t be able to survive it!” Ember pleaded.

“Let me get this straight…” Sombra returned his focus to the two interlopers. “You decided, to go out into the mountains, right before a snowstorm, then instead of heading back to where you know there is a village, you decided to follow a random pair of ponies, hoping that they would grant you food and shelter?”

Ember and Caliber looked at each other for a second or two, before returning to Sombra. “Uhm, I guess?”

For a few seconds, Sombra just stared cynically at the two interlopers. Then turning his head to Brick, who had been standing at the sidelines. “Brick… I take back everything I have said. You're a genius compared to these idiots.”

Taking his victories where he could find them, Brick beamed brightly. “Thanks!... I guess?”

Afterwards, Sombra returned his disapproving gaze back to the interlopers.

“Now as for you two Idiots. Be off with you.”

“B-But-” Caliber tried to interject but was immediately cut off.

“But nothing! Get off of my land!” Sombra growled menacingly, though keeping his magic in check still.

“But we'll freeze to death!” Ember added, almost running straight up to Sombra. “You need to help us!”

“I don't need to do anything.” Sombra simply stated, before his glare returned. “But the two of you need to leave if you want to live.” He snarled, beginning to consider perhaps a magical solution to this!

“Uhm, My Lord.” Brick´s voice quipped lowly at the side, taking away Sombra´s focus. “May I say something?”

“What?” Sombra asked gruffily.

“Maybe… They could be useful?” Brick offered cautiously.

For a few moments, Sombra glared skeptically at Brick, though he thought perhaps he might humor the idiot. He had been helpful after all. “Elaborate…” He said, though as he saw the confused look upon Brick´s face, he rolled his eyes and conceded to “Continue explaining.”

“Oh, right!” Brick quipped. “Well, The Castle is expanding very well, but if you are going to keep it warm and clean, then it needs to be maintained… And I think, it would take… Two ponies to keep things nice.”

Quick as a whip, Ember added just out of Sombra´s vision: “And we are Two ponies!”

Sombra rolled his eyes yet listened to Brick.

“But… Do you really want to keep going around and cleaning the castle?” Brick asked, tilting his head to the side.

As much as Sombra didn't want to admit it… The idiot had a point. If he wanted to continue expanding his castle, and keep it from decaying into a mess of dust and debris, he would need somepony to sweep up after him.

And it had been at least a thousand years since he had owned any good slaves.

His eyes shifted back to the two ponies, eyeing them contemplatively.

Ember caught his gaze, and recognized it as an opportunity. She instantly leapt at it.

“I used to work as a maid! I know how to clean and maintain a castle!” She announced to the intrigued menacing Unicorn. She then quickly hopped behind Caliber and bumped him forwards.

“And Caliber!” She added, as the stallion stumbled forwards in surprise. “He is a Stallion of a thousand talents. Need a guard? Got it! Need a heavy lifter? Got it! Need a piece of Eye-candy? Got it!”

While Sombra raised an eyebrow slightly at the last notion, the biggest reaction was out of Caliber, who instantly flushed in momentary panic. He turned back to Ember and almost hissingly whispered.

“Embeeeer, This sounds like you're whoring me ouuuutt…” He whispered through his teeth at the mare.

She returned the whisper with a look which was both pleading and threatening.

“Do you have any better idea!?”

“N-No… But Why do I have to be the one to be the Eye-Candy?!”

“Don’t you want to look good?” Ember asked in a low deadpanned voice.

“I… Yes, but thats beside the point!” Caliber hissed back.

While the two were having their supposed secret bickering session, Sombra walked just a bit closer to get a better look at the two.

They looked like they had been walking for a very long time. Their cloaks, while clearly made by some good materials, had already been worn quite a bit for most of its worth. A gentle shift of his eyes also saw both of them had saddlebags along, but they appeared to be almost empty. A couple of thoughts came to Sombra´s mind here. These two had obviously been going for a long time, and this had been their best plans. Why would anypony simply walk without a plan?

Somepony like himself… Somepony who wouldn't want to be found.

And that thought brought a smirk to his face.

“Okay, Brick has convinced me.” He announced.

This snapped the attention of the two interlopers away from each other and onto their new possible host.

“You'll let us stay?” Ember asked with a hopeful grin.

Sombra´s face was, eerily pleasant, and he gave a small smile in return.

“Yes, the two of you can stay here during the Snowstorm. However I do not accept freeloaders, as we do not have enough supplies to be generous about them.” Sombra calmly clarified. He then turned to Brick who was rather stunned off on the side that he had somehow convinced Sombra. “Brick, please begin to carry in the food and supplies, while I see our guests to their rooms.”

Brick, while still confused, saluted awkwardly. “Yes, Lord Sombra!”

Allowing Brick go get on with his task, Sombra gestured at the two newcomers. “If you would follow me.”

Settling in

View Online

Sombra walked in front, holding a reasonable pace for the tired ‘guests’ to follow him through the tunnels and past his open gate. As Sombra had stormed out of the castle, he had opened the gate completely, making the carvings harder to see in the dim crystal lights on the walls.

In fact, only one of the guests took notice the imagery, the one in the back, Caliber.

Now, there were few things that Caliber would say directly unnerved him. Things such as ponies hanging in the shadows, the anti-social, a rather large spider deciding to make its home just that little too close to your bed, none of them really got to him too much. He took all these kinds of things in his stride.

However, passing the gates into what their new host had deemed his ‘castle’ was most certainly the new exception to that rule.

The thing looked like the entrance to Tartarus itself, and had enough skulls engraved into it to make even the most jaded goth say ‘dude, that’s impressive’.

This had actually frozen him to the spot, nothing moving except a nervous flick of his tail, only snapping out of it as he heard Ember´s voice call him from further down the tunnel.

“Caliber! Come on!”

Returning to reality, he hurried down the tunnel, catching up with Ember and Sombra.

“You can stare at the wall later.” Ember said playfully before returning her eyes forwards.

“Very funny Ember…” Caliber said, dismissing the quip at him while looking at Sombra. The dark unicorn´s eyes were forward, and seemed to be focussed on the path, so Caliber dared to lean in to whisper to Ember. “This is a bad idea”

“What?” Ember whispered back in slight frustration. “You're going to be pessimistic already?!”

“I think this guy is bad news…”

“Oh right, just because he is a bit of an aggressive hermit doesn't mean he is bad.”

“I know! But You didn't see what was carved into his door.” Caliber emphasised, occasionally shifting a glance to Sombra, hoping he didn’t hear them.

Ember however, stared at him cynically. “Really? You're going to judge him by his door?”

“...” hesitant at first to answer that, Caliber dragged out the answer a bit too long. “Aaaas much as I don't want tooo…… Woah…”

Caliber didn't get to whisper any further, as they finally reached the second open door, and the crystal castle throne room was revealed to them.

Sombra walked inside with a confident smirk, while Caliber and Ember had stopped for a moment. While they had both certainly seen more impressive castles before, none of them had assumed that there was going to be an actual castle inside the mountain. Even if it was very bare bones at the moment, everything was lit by either crystal torches or actually glowing crystal. Everything had this slightly greenish blue luminescence, giving this slightly sinister sense nibble at the back of their minds. Just seeing that long crystal table with the high chairs down through the middle and the large, yet simple throne at the end,really showed itself as both the first and most imposing room.

Sombra was rather pleased with himself, seeing this reaction on the faces of the two ‘guests’, but, knew he had to break them out of their stupor and cleared his throat.

“Yes, my castle is quite magnificent, you will get plenty of time to see it. The snowstorm is supposed to last for a week.” He calmly announced, letting the two snap back to attention and catch up to him. “Now, this is the main room, down by that hall you will find the kitchen. Facilities down that hall, hot spring past that door and down the-”

“You have a hot spring!?” Caliber suddenly squealed in excitement.

“Indeed I do.”

“Yeeess!” Caliber squeaked happily. For about a second, before realizing that Ember was giving him that ‘Well-Well-Well’ smirk he knew quite well. The pegasus cleared his throat slightly. “I just… got a lot of stuff in my wings i´d like to clean out.”

“You´ll get time for that. Right now i believe it best to for you to settle into your quarters.”

Making their way inside the newest added tunnels, Sombra opened the door to reveal the bare bones of what essentially was a guest room. It was devoid of furniture and illuminated only by a single crystalline torch, but it had just the space needed for two ponies to make themselves, marginally comfortable.

”I apologize for the lack of furnishing, but you understand with the distance between my castle and the rest of civilization, transporting furniture can be quite tedious.” Sombra explained in his most gracious hostly voice. “So for now, you will have to settle with what you have brought along.”

Ember was the first to hop inside, with Caliber quick in tow, she gave the newly cut out room a quick perusal before smiling softly back at their host.

“Thank you, we really are just glad we got some place to stay!” She announced brightly. “Aren't we, Caliber?” She turned to the pegasus.

He in the meanwhile was less enthused.

“I had hoped for at least some stra- Ow!” he yelped as Ember quickly thumped him. “I mean yes! We are very excited...” he said, though said excitement was quick to die out even by the last syllable.

Sombra just kept his smile. “Why don't you two settle in for a bit? I will have to see that Brick does not trip over something.” The dark unicorn said with a slightly melancholic tone, pulling the door almost to a close. “Do give me a call, if you need anything~”

“Thank you! We will!” Ember replied brightly.

With the pleasantries out of the way, Sombra brought the door to a close. Now alone in the hallway, his pleasant smile turned into a slightly malicious grin. He took a few heavy steps backwards away from the door, announcing his intent to leave the hallway completely, but stayed. His horn lit up in a gentle but silent purple and suddenly it sounded like he was walking away down the hall, even as he was still looking at the door.

His charade was loud but fittingly so, and he was careful to wait for just a moment, before he silently snuck up to the door again.

Now, Sombra might not have been on his peak, since his untimely personal dance with death, but he certainly still had lots of magic left in him, and he had loads of spells he had either learned himself, or from back in the day.

And one of those spells, could enhance his senses.

The dark unicorn´s horn lift up again in its gentle purple, while his eyes flashed green for a moment as the magic poured into his surroundings, and silently and invisibly, carried the sounds along to his ears. And he could hear everything beyond the door.

“-e gone?” Caliber asked carefully.

“Sounds like it.” Ember replied lowly, pressing her ear against the door.

“Oh goodness.” the pegasus sighed in relief. “He gives me the creeps.” Caliber dropped his bags nonchalantly, his tail flicking back and forth nervously.

“Now don't go around saying that to his face. He did seem a bit cranky at the door.” Ember said, stepping away from the door.

“He essentially told us to go die in the snow.” Caliber retorted cynically.

“I...” Ember hesitated. “... Well it worked didn't it!?”

“Yes, but WHAT worked? We are now in the bowels of a castle under the mountains, as far away from civilization as possible!” Caliber complained.

“Exactly!” Ember declared happily. “They will never think to look for us here!”

“No one... Will think to look for us here! We'll end up being some story, parents tell their foals to give them nightmares!”

“Don't be such a negative nancy! Everything has turned out great so far!”

“Yes... So far...”

Ember sighed in frustration. “You're too worried.”

“And you're too relaxed!” Caliber threw back.

“I am not relaxed. At all.” Ember replied in a tone which was suddenly more serious. “I simply try to stay optimistic, maybe you should try it!”

The two stared at each other defiantly, each waiting for the other to break. Which turned out to be Ember, who sighed weakly.

“Sorry, Caliber…”

“You don't have to apologize.” The pegasus responded weakly, pulling Ember into a gentle hug, which she returned. “I just can't help but be worried…” He admitted.

“It´s going to be alright. We're safe from the Guvnor here...” Ember assured. “I promise.”

Sombra smirked confidently as he retracted the tendrils of his magic. He turned down the hall and silently snuck away from the door, containing both sound and his internal excitement. Oh that had been quite, interesting. And perfect for him to use. Reaching into the throne room and settling back into a normal walk, Sombra could feel his mind teeming with ideas, desires and impulses, old as well as new ones. These two could actually turn out to be more useful than their expenses in food, and entertaining as well.

Pulling him from his mental revelling, was the sight of a tired Brick however. He was carrying a rather large and heavy box, judging from the sweat dripping from his forehead and the heavy puffing breath.

Sombra felt an almost warm and rather sinister smile sneak back upon his lips as he walked over to the gray workhorse.

Brick turned his head to address his lord as he heard him approach.

“I´m sorry, my lord. I will get the stuff inside…” He assured with a heavy breathing. “I just… Need, a moment to breathe.”

“Oh Brick.” Sombra said, his voice sweet enough to make Brick´s ears perk up in surprise. “A break, is what you need.” The dark unicorn said, casually lifting the heavy box off of the work horse´s back with his magic, placing it back on the ground. “Go take a rest, I´ll take care of the supplies, and will call when dinner is ready.”

Brick tilted his head slightly. “Uhm… Okay?” The gray pony said, not completely sure about it, but thought it best to just do as his master said. So he turned to walk down the hall to his room.

But was then stopped by Sombra again.

“Where are you going?”

Brick turned back to see Sombra´s disappointed gaze.

“Uhm…” He started. “Back to my sleeping bag?” He asked cautiously.

“Oh no-no-no-no!” Sombra asserted. “I cannot have you rest in your bag after doing so well lately!” The dark lord praised, reaching a hoof up to gently pat the workhorse on the head. “You go back into my sanctuary and take the couch.”

The gray workhorse stared at Sombra for a moment as if he had grown an extra head. “R-Really?”

“Are you questioning my decision?” Sombra asked, his voice very pleasant, despite the essential threat of his words.

“N-No! Of course not! I… Uhm… Just…”

“Just what?”

Completely catching Sombra off guard, Brick just suddenly pushed in and embraced the dark lord in a bone crushing hug.

“Thank you!!” Brick almost squealed happily.

While Sombra was at first just trying to overcome the surprise and keep his composure, he eventually gave a small satisfied smile. “You are welcome, Brick. Now off with you. I will call you when I need you.” -

Nodding frantically for a moment, Brick then skipped off to complete the commanded nap, leaving his lord behind in the throne room.

Sombra could not help but chuckle slightly, seeing the happy look upon the idiot´s face.

“What a wonderful little idiot. I wish I had him a thousand years ago…”

------- Half an hour later ------

Sombra was proud of what skills he possessed. No matter what the skill, if he had it, he would take pride in it. This had gotten him some odd looks back in the day, but those who would truly dismiss a certain activity as 'unworthy' yet at the same time, possessed a talent of it, were just idiots in the dark unicorns mind.

So one could not call the meal Sombra prepared for his 'guests' and his servant in any way meager.

He had gone for fried dish as the main course, but decided to add a good bit of spice. Thankful that Brick had been creative with his shopping, Sombra was able to add things like sliced carrots, potatoes, rye and loads of other ingredients to his dish, which filled the throne room with a warm and welcoming scent.

Looking over the table he had prepared, with crystal tableware and the food he had made, Sombra took a moment to savour his accomplishment, however small it was.

He took a deep breath, and gave a gentle, content sigh.

“Brick!” He shouted back into the castle, his voice echoing through the halls. “Bring the guests! Dinner is served!”

“Okay!” Brick called back, before a loud thump announced he had rolled off of the couch straight onto the floor. “I am okay!” He called back, causing only a mild roll of the eyes from Sombra.

The dark host sat himself down in the largest chair at the high end of the table, signifying his status as host and lord over the table as well as the castle. He took a moment to relax, adjust himself and leaned his head nonchalantly against his hoof.

It didn't take more than a minute before Brick arrived back into the throne room, with Ember and Caliber in tow.

Sombra would have to lie, if he said he didn't enjoy the surprised look on their faces as they were met with the feast before them.

“Wow...” Ember and Caliber said in unison, as their jaws dropped.

“Awesome!” Brick announced happily.

Waving a hoof vaguely at the table, Sombra regarded the guests. “Feel free to take a seat anywhere you like. See this as a... Gesture of goodwill.” He said in a smooth and warm voice.

“Uhm... Thanks!” Ember announced being the first to walk forwards and claim a seat, Caliber, while hesitant, not too far behind.

The two picked the two seats to the left of Sombra, while Brick chose the one to his right.

“Feel free to start.” Sombra said casually.

With the permission of the lord of the castle, Brick dug in like a hound. He grasped for a plate and began taking samples from all of the different bowls and began to chow down.

Ember, while a little more reserved after seeing Brick assault the table, smiled warmly and said “Thank you.” and got some food for herself as well.

The one who was most resistant, was Caliber. He eyed the different food slightly suspiciously, though seeing nothing out of the ordinary, and considering both Brick and Ember seemed fine, nothing popped out at him. He still however had this niggling doubt or concern in the back of his head, and his tail wouldn't stop flicking back and forth, even as he was seated.

As the meal progressed, Caliber had taken only a token amount on his plate. His focus shifted onto Sombra.

“So... Mister, Sombra, was it?” The pegasus asked cautiously.

“Lord Sombra Thorasen.” Sombra clarified with a soft, yet oddly self satisfied smile. “Though feel free to call me, Lord Sombra.”

A few moments passed, as Caliber was trying to process the name. He knew he had heard part of it before, but he couldn't tell exactly where.

“Lord Sombra...” Caliber began slowly. “It is... quite a remote location for a... Castle, I must say...” he awkwardly began.

Sombra nodded in return. “Yes, very remote. Exactly what I desired when I began the construction.”

“You have built this yourself?” Caliber asked skeptically.

The dark host shrugged. “Mostly myself, though Brick here has certainly been quite a helping hoof.” He told quite honestly, making the gray workhorse beam with pride before continuing with his food. Sombra continued. “Without him, I would most likely only be half as far as I am now.”

“Half?” Ember asked, halfway chewing on a carrot. Though as focus shifted to her, she cleared her throat slightly and covered her face in slight embarrassment as she finished chewing on her food. “Sorry.”

Sombra didn't really care about the momentary lack of manners and just continued. “Indeed. Though with Brick´s help, I have been able to expand my castle to a, quasi adequate degree. There is much to work on however.”

“And that is what you want us to do?” Caliber questioned.

“Among other things.” Sombra admitted casually.

Finally feeling she had gotten her table manners back, Ember decided to get into the conversation. “So you need someone to clean up around the place?”

“Not just clean up.” Sombra clarified, his eyes shifting around the large throne room. “More rooms will be added soon, so I will need some extra strong hooves for several tasks.”

“Aha” Ember acknowledged with a warm smile. “So i'm guessing you will have Caliber help Brick with the digging?” She added before taking a sip from the crystal cup of water. Caliber gave a sideways glance in annoyance at her.

Sombra smirked. “Why no, considering your previous offer of having him be eye-candy, I thought perhaps I would have you dig, while he would prance around in the skimpiest outfit I could obtain.”

Caliber´s tail snapped stiff in attention. “What!?”

Suddenly Caliber´s attention was snapped back to Sombra, his own face suddenly heating from embarrassment and the mental image he just got.

Ember was no better off, as she mis-swallowed her water, ending up coughing loudly to desperately clear her throat.

“S-S-Sombra.” she squeaked, coughing a couple more times to clear her throat. “I was mainly joking when-”

“I jest.”

Both Ember and Caliber´s demeanors relaxed just slightly as Sombra spoke up again.

“Twas quite amusing to see your reactions however.” The dark unicorn chuckled.

“Ah-ha-ha, yes... I am sure it was.” Caliber added, awkwardly stroking his wings and fur down again, to try and calm himself after the, surprising idea.

Ember for a moment said nothing, before a snicker forced itself forth. “You'd look good in a maids outfit.” She joked at Caliber.

“Shut up.” Caliber quipped.

“Maybe with a little bow to top it off.” Sombra added, essentially pinning Caliber between two ponies now, imagining him in something skimpy.

“S-Sh...” He contained himself from telling Sombra to shut up.

“Do not take it too dearly, Mister Caliber.” Sombra said with a soft smile. “I find eye-candy to be quite wasteful. Tis like a toy you would not be allowed to touch.”

That comment made Caliber and Ember freeze for a moment. Their focus shifted back to Sombra to look for any sign of him joking, yet found none. And Sombra just moved on as if he had said nothing.

“So, I would like you both to help Brick with the maintenance of the castle here the first week. Considering the snowstorm, expanding would turn too troublesome. Then perhaps once the snow storm is over, I would like you help expanding the east wing. There are quite a few rooms for now, but I still don't feel like it is enough.” Sombra calmly mused.

Ember and Caliber looked at each other for a moment, one really hoping the other would speak up, and in the end it seemed like it had to be Ember.

“Ahem.” She cleared her throat. “Not that we want to ruin your plans, at all... Lord Sombra...” She hesitated slightly. “But we will just be here till the snow storm settles.”

Sombra knew this. He already knew this was going to be their response. He smirked. “Really? You mean to come, eat my food and sleep in my castle, and just leave the second you can?”

Caliber didn't like this. Sombra´s accusations, while true, was suspicious. The tone begged the question that he had in mind.

Ember frowned slightly, thinking it sounded rude, but she held firm. “We have places to be. We can´t be here for too long.” She tried to explain.

“Ahh Yes.” Sombra´s words now drilling directly into the two guests. “You need to get away from the Guvnor.”

Sombra could not describe the satisfaction he felt from saying that. The effect of his words could be felt like ripples through the air. He could smell it. Fear.

“What makes you say that?” Caliber asked accusatory, going on the defensive, but clearly doing his best to seem unphased.

“I have my sources~” Sombra lied casually. “What is important is that, you are here. In my castle. Under my observation. And you are on the run from the law.” The dark host summed up slowly, revelling in the control he was getting from this. “Now, what would a good, law abiding citizen do, when faced with two criminals?”

“We aren't criminals!” Ember cracked, glaring harshly at Sombra.

“The state would seem to say otherwise.” Sombra replied, holding on to the offensive and letting his instincts carry him. For his instincts drove him to pursue that sensation again. That feeling of their fear. “And the way I see it, the two of you are here on my good graces.”

Ember and Caliber could both feel the strain on their social constraints, both wanting to stay as calm as possible, but Sombra was pushing them.

“So I would suggest that you don't anger me, and begin to consider, what you can do, for me.”

“We don't need to do anything for you.”

Ember glared defiantly at Sombra, who returned the look with a bemused smirk.

“And tell me, Ember, why not?”

“You don't want to be discovered either. So if you rat us out! We rat you out!”

Sombra was pleasantly surprised. Quite the bluff that the maroon mare had to offer. The spite these two were showing was positively delicious. He was afraid it would be over too quickly, but it seemed that he would get the joy of snapping their wills, audibly.

“So, we thank you. Sombra.” Ember spat at the dark unicorn, and rose up to her hooves again, Caliber right in tow. “But we have decided to refuse your patronage. We wouldn't be under the same roof as a pony of your...”

“Sit. Down.” Sombra growled, and his horn lit up in its dark purple and green magic, which suddenly caused several crystal spikes to emerge out of the floors, rising up like the bars of a cell and cutting off the direction that Caliber and Ember had tried to walk.

The two ponies snapped back in surprise, and looked back between Sombra and the crystals in shock.

Brick in the meanwhile had stopped eating and was also staring at the scene jaw slacked, but otherwise unmoving.

The dark lord´s eyes were glowing and black smoke was plooming from the edges of the black unicorn´s eyes.

“Now, unless you are considering of changing your jobs to crystal pin cushions, I would suggest, you Sit, Down.”.

Snapping back to the very terrifying reality of their situation, Caliber and Ember slowly went back to their seats, and focussed all their frightful attention to their 'host'.

“Thank you~” Sombra´s voice strangely sweet. “Now that I have your attention again, let this be very clear. If you tell anypony of my home here, I will be inconvenienced... But tis an inconvenience I can manage. However, if you do... What I will do to you...” his horn was for a moment consumed in blackness, as it seemed the shadows created by any sort of nook or cranny in the entire room slithered its way towards the dark unicorn´s throne. All of them obeyed the will of their master, and mashed together, becoming large, slick, tendril like masses, which rose up and towered above the table menacingly. “I will let you draw your own conclusions.” Sombra finished.

Ember and Caliber both stared in horror upon the dark lord of the castle. The pegasus even involuntarily let a small squeak escape.

He could feel the fear seeping off of them, it tasted like the sweetest honeyed mead you could imagine, and he wanted it all. He wanted it, he desired it. The level of satisfaction Sombra was getting out of the reaction was exhilarating, yet he contained his composure.

“Am I making myself clear?” Sombra asked darkly.

Both ponies nodded frantically, in almost perfect unison.

Sombra´s menacing look settled into a soft smile. “Good. Now, if you have finished your meal, then I suggest you head for your quarters. We will begin your, repayment from tomorrow onwards. So it would serve you best, to be well rested. Am I making myself clear?”

“Y-Y-Yes, Lord Sombra.”

Despite the words suggested, the newest arrivals took it as an order. Considering the display of dark magic they had seen before, they dared not to test fate. And soon, Sombra and Brick were the only two left at the table.

The dark unicorn took a deep breath, and let out a long and satisfied sigh.

“Delicious.” He murmured for himself, and finally partook in his own feast, letting his magic levitate a couple of the bowls over to him so he could fill his plate. He started with a good bit of carrots while he casually tore a bite out of a piece of rye bread. Feasting after a success was the best time to feast.

There was one thing which was disturbing his mood however.

Brick.

The gray earth pony besides him had quite the frown stuck on his face and his eyes was almost fixed onto his not yet finished dinner.

Sombra tilted his head slightly and reached over to gently prod at his little idiot with a hoof.

“Brick, what's wrong? Is my feast not good enough for you?” He asked, though the question kind of loaded, his tone was weighted with a curious concern.

The gray pony´s attention snapped back up to Sombra and shook his hooves slightly defensively. “No! I mean yes! I mean… Your food is good my lord!” He quickly assured.

The dark lord simply stared at his personal idiot, waiting for him to answer the unspoken question.

And despite being designated an idiot, Brick knew what that question was. “It´s just…” He started, but could not bring himself to finish any kind of excuse. His head slumped and he sighed in defeat. “Are you mad at me, Lord Sombra?”

Sombra blinked a couple of times in confusion. “Why do you ask that, Brick?”

“Because I was the one who convinced you to bring them here… And… Now they're being unruly, and-”

Further did Brick not get before he was interrupted. By a gentle chuckle. The gray idiot raised his head in slight confusion, looking upon the dark lord of the castle, who was actually smiling and sounding rather delighted.

“Oh Brick.” Sombra said with a small sigh, rising up from his seat and walking right next to Brick. He reached up a hoof to gently stroke the idiot by his mane for a second. “Oh my sweet little idiot. You have done nothing wrong. You have done so much good lately.”

“R-Really?” Brick asked, his eyes growing as wide as dinner plates in surprise.

“When I say you have, you have, my little idiot. So don't be so hard on yourself.” The dark lord said, before casually sitting back into his seat, throwing his hind legs over the side rests. “Enjoy the feast.” He almost ordered, while his magic poured a pair of crystal glasses up with water. He then levitated one glass up to himself, and another over to Brick.

“Brick…” Sombra said in a very relaxed tone with a sinister smile on his face. “This is going to be, quite an interesting week.”

Trapped

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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.