Missing Pages & Scrawled Footnotes

by Ice Star

Sombra vs. the Sun [Bonus Scene]

Author's Note:

A bit that didn't make it into Enemy of Mine. Here's a short for the story that hasn't seemed to produce that many, unlike Favorable Alignment which has a fair deal of bonus content here. While there's general spoilers for EoM and Arc Two, you'll specifically be spoiled if you haven't read up to Husband of Hers, Part Five.

So here's a lighthearted-ish, more SoL piece during one of Sombra and Celestia's lunches. If you've ever wanted to see Sombra try and manage another god's domain, here's the short for you. It's nothing special, but I hope you like it.

The crisp flavor of cucumber burst in Celestia's mouth. Each lazy munch was that of a content mare, and though she found herself seated normally on a perfectly average day in the castle gardens, a different feeling crossed her mind. She was used to be unlike most of the other divine of the world, lacking real mysticism and an unchangeable sense of otherness held by the others. Was she not more like the marble statues of other gods made by her mortal subjects than the gods themselves?

Yes, certainly. She was well-aware that she was closer to a ponification of civic virtue than holding any ethereal quality, as the others did. Today was still one of the times when she could look upon those around her really feeling like a divine observing what could be dismissed as mortal antics, as hesitant as she was to ever use the term.

After all, it was not every day her position as the solar deity was questioned.

"Lower it."

Celestia swallowed. "When dusk falls, I will."

"In the grand scheme of things, are a few hours absent from the day really going to matter?"

"I'm sure they would."

Sombra scowled and a flicker of telekinesis jerked at the hem of his hood. The attempt to pull it over his face again did nothing, not that he seemed to mind. His eyes were giving the sky a withering look. "You've never thought to make that an experiment?"

"No, I do not wish to interfere with the process of the heavens. Not beyond routine, at least."

"I don't recall there being any reports of harmful anomalies on the summer solstice Luna returned."

"There weren't," Celestia began carefully, "but when Discord returned-"

Sombra waved a forehoof dismissively. "That's more than diminishing daylight."

Celestia bit into her sandwich again and let sunlight prickle against her coat. "I think that is enough about the sun. It shall not be lowered before its scheduled descent."

"And if somepony else lowers it before then?" A pointed look was aimed at her, and Sombra nodded toward the sun. It was the same gesture that somepony made towards a friend, and the way that Sombra was now indicating the heavens themselves came across as so arrogant.

"Luna is not going to lower my sun just because you asked her to."

"I'll do it."

Celestia's eyes widened before she could stop herself, and she ceased chewing. "You?!"

"Yes, me."

"What possibly makes you think you can raise my sun?"

"I've never tried to."

"So has every pony in Equestria!" Her mane let loose one large ripple of emphasis to go with her words.

"None of them are gods," Sombra said. Tone-wise, he was speaking like somepony who merely didn't wish to bring an umbrella out when it rained, not like he was speaking about tampering with the heavens.

Celestia swallowed again. Louder this time. A smile, closed-mouth and hiding everything tightly spread across her muzzle. Twinkles popped in her mane, shining just a touch brighter.

"That is true." And really, none had been able to have their magic so much as touch the sky even before her and Luna claimed the sun and moon. "I'll be watching."

Sombra offered a skeptical look and flicked an ear under his hood. "Very well, then."

Rising from his seat, Sombra sauntered to a more open area in the gardens. Summer breezes tugged at the edges of his cloak, mane, and hood. He tilted his head back to take one long look at the sky, uncaring about how his hood slipped off. What he could be looking for, Celestia didn't know; even after gazing around the gardens multiple times he offered no indication of what he wanted.

A few ear flicks later, and the start of a crimson glow was appearing around the curve of Sombra's horn. The color was what really made it obvious; he hadn't built up enough for the more opaque quality of his aura to show.

Admittedly, she thought that with how aggressive he was that Sombra would just charge his horn up with a blind rush of energy and expect it to last. It certainly seemed like something he would do.

In Celestia's opinion - one fashioned from many lifetimes, mind you - watching a feat of magic live could be in the same field as watching paint dry. She supposed that was a reason both equally solid and superficial for her to not be at the entrance tests of every Faithful Student. (Of course, lessening pressure on the poor young one was also high on the list.)

Magic duels, while having an unsavory element to her regardless of their legality, often slipped into lengthy periods of two unicorns brandishing glowing horns and silently daring the other to do something. This kind of thing was tension to many, whipping up an atmosphere of bated breath that Celestia couldn't feel. It was a feeling she reserved more for bake-offs and antique shows.

Whole celebrations were built upon getting to witness divine magic - was it not every Summer Sun Celebration that ponies from all over the world flocked to the site of celebration and catch a glimpse of the sunrise? Still, Celestia couldn't help but think that without the ritual and ceremony to such actions, they would be boring to watch, from the perspective of one in her position. The festival aspect of things was what really made things memorable.

This was why she didn't think much of Sombra's current display of magic. Plenty of unicorns thought that they could actually do even a fraction of what she could, or in moments of youthful boasts had shot their magic towards the sky, only to learn that their magic wouldn't even grace the clouds. Sunset had been one of those foals, and it took an astonishing amount of time to offer passive, in-circles reminders that she didn't have any ability over the sun, no matter how gifted she was.

Then she saw the peculiar crimson tint spreading through the sky. Sombra's horn glowed on, and spreading outward from that area was something like an odd mist. She could see that if she waved a hoof there, nothing would be felt, but there was a visible discoloration.

"Goodness," Celestia gasped, her feathers ruffling, "what is...?"

Sombra cracked open one eyelid, leaking crimson light. He did not appear all that bemused by the sight, and shut his eyes again.

Reluctantly, Celestia folded her wings and watched, prepared to take action if the need for intervention arose. Already, she could see the hazy effect continue to spread, as water might seep into paper.

The longer she held her breath anxiously, the more prolonged the gradual fade of that very same effect happened. Swallowing, she watched the process that so closely resembled evaporation.

There was an extremely audible, rough scoff in Sombra's throat. Immediately after, the glow on his horn intensified to the level she would expect from a unicorn who got it in their head to try and create their own localized lighthouse beacon werelight.

Slipping her forehooves over her eyes blocked the majority of the aura. She wanted to say something, to exclaim anything about the force of the magic he was able to muster, but a sudden spike in the twinkling sound his magic accumulated made her wince.

"You musn't-!"

The rest of her words didn't come. Shattering her train of thoughts was the abrupt crash of sound and one final flash of light. Red crossed her vision, tinting everything still recognizable through the pigment of magic like the little punch-out glasses for films and comics, only there was no blue lens to go with things. A sweep of crimson aura shot upward, and when she could focus enough to lower her forehooves from her eyes, a strange sight greeted her.

The way Sombra had cast his magic had registered as something similar to a flash-bang spell first, though the only difference she could determine with certainty between them was that nopony tried to move a heavenly body with a flash-bang spell. Now that she could see the aftermath, she gaped at how the odd, translucent patches of his magic shimmered as faint splotches high in the sky. Their patterns were easy to grasp, for they floated about in the same space where an unseen wave of magic would've been applied or a beam shot. Each grew fainter by the second, and the farther up in the sky they were - which did the feat a disservice in a way, because Celestia was looking up, able to see countless discolorations.

"Just how far did your magic reach?"

Sombra sucked in a breath and wiped under his bangs with a sputtering movement of telekinesis. "Far," he managed, exhausted. "Unless you want to fly up and..." He trailed off, drawing another breath.

She was surprised he wasn't in horrific pain, or at the very least completely winded upon the ground.

"I'm a bit tempted too."

Sombra stumbled slightly as he turned around, seating himself on the ground with uncharacteristic clumsiness. "How did I manage?" he asked, rubbing at one of his temples and wincing slightly.

Celestia paused, mulling over possible replies. "Your magic has a reach unlike any singular pony's. Divinity has certainly given you enough range to..." Pursing her lips, Celestia looked to the skies again. "Gosh, Sombra..." Her composure slid, and she bit her lip sheepishly. There wasn't any standard for when others tried to claim her sun, or how to react to it. "You might have touched the mesosphere..."

Watching her try and hide a small gulp, Sombra then looked down at his forehooves in thought. "And nopony has ever managed that before?"

He didn't really sound like he doubted her, so she only offered a shake of her head.

The sun had not been moved inches, the world was not tilted, and overall he hadn't done anything visible on the level that her and Luna did when they reached out with their magics.

"Maybe," she said eventually, "your magic did go farther-"

"There's just no way of knowing," he pointed out. "I could try again another day, and bring some instruments. Or, maybe Luna and I could use an airship-"

"Airships don't go in space."

"I'm well aware of that, but even if I was higher off the ground, there could be a more visible result-"

She dismissed him with a wave of her forehoof. "As I had been saying, your magic might have gone just a bit farther and the potency of it was simply non-existent because of how far you pushed it out."

"I'm not used to casting it at the sky."

She nodded. He had managed to control the Crystal Empire with magics that had a record range, but attempting to reach from a planet surrounded by the sun and moon was so obviously out of his depth.

And yet, that didn't make what he did anything less than a powerful feat rarely seen in this age.

(There could be something worrying about that. A worry-atop-worry sort of thing.)

"Most aren't," Celestia said, offering a smile.

While Sombra tilted his head back to observe the sky, Celestia returned to her sandwiches and the simple enjoyment that came with observing how her sun shone across the gardens.