Sombra jerked awake, rubbing his forehead as he removed the paper stuck to his face. Glancing to the window, he opened the curtains and hissed as the light hit him. Groaning, he walked over to his kitchen and made himself a drink of hot chocolate, and returned to his seat, turning to look out the window.
“Hey,” saluted Rainbow Dash, hovering outside the window. Sombra sighed, and turned to look in the opposite direction.
“Hiya,” spoke the pink one. Sombra closed his eyes for a moment and rubbed his temple. After a moment, he levitated his drink up, and swallowed it in a single gulp. Pinkie Pie clapped, opening the window for Dash, who flew in and landed. While she could have taken the door, Pinkie had gone to the trouble of opening the window for her.
“What is it.” Sombra glowered at the two, nursing his throbbing head. Glancing to his desk, he quickly skimmed the page that had been stuck to his face. Teleportation, of course it was teleportation.
“See, all five of us have been thinking, and we’d like to ask for your help on some stuff ya know?” Dash tilted her head and glanced to Pinkie, who giggled and nodded enthusiastically, breathing in and remembering to talk slowly.
“We all have different tasks we want help with, but I super dooperabsotively-er- really think you’ll enjoy helping us with them. They’re in your field of expertise.” As if on cue, Pinkie threw down a smoke bomb, and turned into a perfect copy of Sombra.
“Crystallllss,” she moaned, before breaking out into a fit of giggles.
Sombra did not like watching as his body rolled on the floor laughing, and breathed out quietly.
“If you insist.”
“So yeah I was wondering if there was some sorta party decorations that I could just POOF up at a moment’s notice. Sombra shifted, glancing to his saddlebags as he stifled a yawn. Pinkie tilted her head and frowned.
“Come to think of it, you yawn quite a lot, up so late because of a sugar rush? Sugar is nice and all but you really should stay up that late every night. Or maybe it's not enough sugar.” Pinkie pulled a small muffin from behind the desk, and held it out. Sombra took it, depositing it in his saddlebags.
“No, it is not because of sugar.” Sombra glared coldly at the pink one, who took a step back and bowed, simmering down. Sombra blinked, and looked around the room, and breathed out softly.
“It is possible you could use the earth pony variation of the crystal spell to refract light into a multitude of colors and use it to create beam of different lights that will lace around the room in an impossible rhythm.” Sombra lowered his head, and realised the pink pony was nodding thoughtfully.
“Hrm, you mean like this?” Pinkie tapped the ground, and suddenly the room was covered in clear crystals. Closing the curtains, she turned on a single light, and reflected it onto the single crystal that was spinning around where the chandelier was. Pinkie widened her eyes and sat down.
The room began to blaze with color as the beam of light reflected off the crystal, sending single beams of color into crystals, which in turn reflected the color around, splitting it and sending it, forming a laser show that danced in front of her eyes.
“Not bad, however, you misaligned the crystal slightly.” Sombra’s horn lit up, and the spinning crystal paused. Only the most observant would notice the very slight movement of the crystal. The moment the crystal was in place, Sombra removed his magic, and smiled. Pinkie thought she had seen everything.
And then she saw a brand new color, one she had never seen before.
“Yeah, see I like to practice stunts some of the time, and I’d really like to step it up to the next level, if you know what I mean. I don’t want to cheat, but maybe you know a spell or something that can help me out here.” Dash and Sombra were currently walking toward the Everfree, toward a grassy clearing that Sombra remembered well.
“It is possible I can transfigure some runes that will draw on your own magic to power them as you fly, adding a crystalline effect to your tail.” Sombra saw the confused glance from Dash, and sighed.
“Your trail when you fly, not your literal tail crystal brain.” Sombra paused, and Dash came to a stop beside him.
“Open your wing,” he spoke, levitating out a quill with a small amount of ink on it. As Dash opened a wing, Sombra gently grabbed the appendage, and looked to the main feathers, narrowing his eyes. After a moment, a pair of reading glasses emerged from his bag. Leaning down, Sombra began to gently etch a symbol onto the wing.
“How’d you get those glasses?” Dash forced herself to remain still, finding it easy as her curiosity overrode her desire to move. Sombra levitated the quill up, and examined the symbol, before moving onto the other wing.
“I purchased them from a shop, where do you think I got them?” Sombra growled in irritation, before narrowing his eyes and continuing. Dash managed to wait as Sombra worked slowly, and diligently, and then released her wing. Sombra moved to stand behind Dash, and opened his mouth to speak.
“Flap, but do not leave the ground.” Sombra waited as Dash began to flap, but just under the amount that would lift her up. Sombra narrowed his eyes, and watched the sunlight lightly twinkle off flecks that were gone in an instant.
“That’s enough, spread your wings.” Sombra waited as Dash complied, and then closed his eyes, enveloping the left wing in magic. The ink lifted off the feather, staying perfectly drawn as a he opened his eyes once more. Sombra’s eyes stopped narrowing as he raised his head, and breathed out slowly.
“Woah,” Dash exclaimed as the ink suddenly duplicated into many versions, and one was placed on the top of each of her primary feathers. Levitating the remaining under the wing, Sombra paused, and his magic ceased. Stepping forward, Sombra motioned for Dash to begin flapping once more.
“Say, why did you have to do the other wing separately if ya can do that duplicate thing.” Dash couldn’t entirely see what Sombra was looking at from where she was, but she could certainly feel it. It reminded her of the strain of doing a Sonic Rainboom, but greatly reduced. If this was a Rainboom, Dash would be doing it in her sleep.
“Pegasi runes are designed in pairs, one for each wing,” he replied, watching as the sparkles began to become more profound. Behind the wing, each upbeat was forming a small collection of them, and each downbeat was growing them to just a big enough size to reflect color before they shattered.
“You can stop now.” Sombra waited, and then concentrated on the remaining wing, doing the same action. Stepping back, Sombra began to walk toward the clearing, pausing after standing on a familiar hill. Dash felt a buzzing energy, and an eager grin fell upon her face.
“Keep it in the clearing at first. I need to ensure it doesn’t start growing out of control.” Sombra stumbeled as Dash’s slipstream pushed her away as she leapt forward, and she began to fly at a controlled speed around the clearing. After falling into rhythm, she glanced back and widened her eyes.
Crystals, very small ones, were forming just behind her wings and adding a sort of tripling effect to the rainbow trail behind her. Each of her wings was now creating its own trail of rainbow, the ones from her wings forming a wavy pattern that seemed to be see through but also not. Dash felt a slight strain, and noticed it was more than what the flight would normally strain her, but it wasn’t even a challenge for her. Remembering her love of challenge, she glanced to Sombra, who was watching the clearing. After a moment, he nodded, it was safe. Dash smiled, and immediately shot into the sky, attracting the attention of everypony as her three rainbow trails danced.
Dash rocketed around the town at top speed, glancing behind her as the trail seemed to grow another, very light but still noticeable rainbow at each of her wingtips. Feeling sweat start to beat her forehead, she twisted, and dived directly up, gritting her teeth as she reached twice the height required for a Sonic Rainboom, and paused, watching the trail fade.
Slowly, Dash tilted back, and dove.
Gritting her teeth, Dash found it a lot harder to reach the speed she needed compared to before. It was as if the faster she flew, the more the spell drained from her. Concentrating, Dash remembered her very first, and second, times doing it, and knew if she passed this boundary, she would be exactly what she wanted; a whole new level.
The cone wobbled as she strained to shape it with her magic was absorbed by the spell in her wings, and concentrated more. The edges of her vision began to black, and she felt her eyes water as the cone got sharper, and sharper; the ground getting closer and closer. Time slowed down as her hoof finally punctured the cone, and she smiled.
Sombra waited for the Rainboom to clear, before turning to the orange form next to him.