Random Brainstorming: Celestia X Sombra Nextgen? · 3:55am Oct 21st, 2023
I'm a sucker for next-gens, plus tragic stories of star-crossed lovers. I recently stumbled across some art that reminded me of an idea that scratched both itches, and I'm curious what you think.
This is the art in question: Sunny, by Orin33. Isn't she adorable?? She's the daughter of Celestia and Good King Sombra from the "Reflections" mirror world, IIRC.
This got me thinking about another nextgen piece I saw years ago (can't remember where, sorry)--after the Reflections arc, Celestia realized she was pregnant with G.K. Sombra's foal. That's the exact kind of screwed-upness that I love 
Anyways, this all got me thinking about a potential story, which would focus on Celestia and her daughter. However, I'm not entirely sure what to do with her; any ideas?
My initial thoughts, with blanks / questions in italics:
- Daughter was born a few years after Luna's banishment, when Celestia first began to visit the Mirror World. She didn't realize she was pregnant until after she stopped visiting (perhaps Starswirl sealed the mirror to keep her from going back?). Should she be born later, perhaps 400 years after Luna's banishment? Perhaps after the "Reflections" arc, when there's no going back to the Mirror World?
- Daughter has her mother's sense of mischief, and would rather play pranks than focus on her diplomatic duties. She's also rather calm--most of the time. However, when her ire is up, she is terrifying, in ways that remind Celestia uncomfortably of Evil King Sombra.
- Though she calls herself Princess, she also claims the (lost) title of Crystal Empress, via her father's blood. Cadance (who, headcanon, is related to Princess Amore) claims the right to rule herself; despite Daughter's long-standing claim, Cadance (correctly) points out that Sombra usurped Amore's rightful throne, thus giving her no right to the title. Moreover, she's an illegitimate child of an alternate-universe Sombra, distancing her even further from an authoritative claim. Should they be rivals, or outright enemies?
- What should be her "domain?" Crystals?
- How much does the public know about her parentage? How much does she know?
I'm sure there's more, but that's all I can think of at the moment 
The thing Celestia doesn't want to recognize is that Sunny gets it from both sides...
Given her unusual parentage, it would be interesting if her domain was portals or other means of travel between worlds. It could also handily explain where she's been/what she's been doing for the past several centuries. (What? No, I have no preexisting biases to suggest a thing at all.
) Though I could definitely see her wanting to put down roots once the Empire returns. Especially if she was out of town (and universe) while Cadence banished Sombra and thus thinks Lovebutt was just keeping the throne warm for her.
Actually, if she comes in just after the first incident with the portal to the human world, she might use that to further cement her claim. Or it could be there as an artifact of the settled dispute, as might the reason for that entire "princess summit."
Yeah, there are a lot of interesting directions one could go in for this.
5751528
Thanks for the reply! Your ideas are always great
My initial thoughts were to focus on Daughter's role in Equestrian history--how do things change during the 1000 years Luna's gone, with another, illegitimate princess floating around, that sort of thing. However, I love the idea of having her swan off for an indeterminate amount of time, remembered in Equestria only as the vaguest of legends... until she shows up, shortly after Cadance claims the Crystal Empire, ready to take the throne. Perhaps she is (or at least appears) fairly young, and is still her relaxed, laid-back self... but secretly has a spine of steel, and the knowledge, skills, and/or resources, built up over centuries of dimension-hopping, to back it up.
I'll need to do some more brainstorming, but that could make for a really cool villain. Thanks for the suggestion!
Main question there would be accounting for where this foal has been in the past thousand-odd years -- either you'd need to find a plausible way to explain how she hasn't been a factor in the show's events so far or rewrite things so that she has.
On the other hand, having her be born after the connection is gone and lost would both sidestep the issue and help maximize the angst.
Ooh, dynastic drama -- fun! Alternate universe counterparts do throw an interesting complication into descent and inheritance claims, do they not?
As for your question, I suppose it depends on how dramatic you want the story to be or what other threads you might want to follow. A full dispute over the throne could make for a fun messy conflict to draw out, especially if you want to bring in the crystal ponies' feelings on the matter -- but if you want a tone more focused on personal drama or have other plot threads in mind, it might be more useful to do something a little less intense.
Options, options... crystal magic could interact in interesting ways with a claim on the Empire's throne, but it might be fun is she starts casting spells that look uncomfortably like dear old dad's old brand of magic (hey, Celestia could do it...)
Let's be honest here, Celestia has a bad habit of keeping people in the dark for their own good. She has the best intentions in the world, but she also does have a tendency of not telling people things. It would be entirely in character for her to choose to gloss over the details of her daughter's parentage to her and others under the assumption that they're never going to be relevant again, so why bring up bad memories and engender distrust?
Of course, one assumes, eventually the do become relevant again...
Ooo, I love ideas like this. And that the Celestia-Sombra relationship is comic-canon makes it all the better. I'd originally thought that Sunset Shimmer was practically Celestia's daughter and she worked better as the power-hungry child of the sun queen.
So much of the show's history is based around stuff happening 1000 years ago, which makes the years between super empty. I'd time Sunny's birth some time in the middle of that golden age of Celestia's reign. To better separate from the drama of that age.
I think Sunny might start out a wastrel, her mother is running everything so she just enjoys being crown princess to an immortal. All the privilege an no responsibility. Always assuming she can wander back to Canterlot and do what she likes.
We've seen that Celestia isn't a perfect mentor, Sunset and Twilight were driven and ambitious. Prone to being very utilitarian with those around them, Sunset using them for her benefit and Twilight seeing them as distractions from academic study. This could be an improvement over how Sunny turned out. Celestia guides them to make up for her daughter's lack of drive.
I am absolutely here for anything Sombra-related and wouldn't mind being roped in.