Chasing Shadows

M/M Shipping Contest!77 stories ·164 members

Flash Sentry is used to weird magical mishaps by now. His ex is a horse from another dimension who uses the magic of song to fight off whatever monster's shown up in town this week on the regular, and grows a mane and tail while she does it.

The guy his age sprawled unconscious in his backyard, however, is a new one.

Written for the M/M Shipping Contest 2022. Special thanks to my beta reader Sadie who has grown adept at fighting off my inner critic with a sword. <3

Chapters (4)

I. · 11th Dec 2022 · 6,978 words
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II. · 11th Dec 2022 · 7,800 words
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III. · 11th Dec 2022 · 3,173 words
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IV. · 11th Dec 2022 · 3,383 words
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Bride of Sombra

Bride of Sombra #1 · Dec 12th, 2022 · 2 · 1 · IV. ·

Interesting. A Sombra X Flash Sentry EG ship.

Bicyclette

Bicyclette #2 · Feb 13th, 2023 · · 1 · I. ·

Flash also knows there's probably some weird magic shit involved in this guy's appearance. Like, look, the first time when he saw his ex turn into a demon he'd had an existential crisis for a whole week wondering if that shit was real or not, and if he really had been crushing on a princess from another world. Like, he knows he's got a thing for authority, power, presence, but shit, man, actual royalty? No wonder that never went anywhere, girl was way outta his league.

dang Flash Sentry is so relatable

Flash rests a hand on his hip and sighs internally. Fine. He does sports, and the guy looks kinda skinny in that I don't go outside unless I'm forced way, so he shouldn't be that heavy. He'll carry him inside, put him on the couch, and hopefully this guy doesn't end up being a vampire or whatever shit.

augh, Sombra not being physically imposing at all in his human form is so perfect

Sombra looks at him curiously. "You'd let a stranger with no memory sleep in your own home?"
Flash huffs. "What else am I supposed to do? I'd be a real dick if I left you out there on your own."
He walks over to the couch, offering Sombra a hand. "So come on. Let me show you around."

aww this is so Flash Sentry i love it

In fact, if he took Sombra to anyone, it would probably be… probably Sunset Shimmer. It's been weird interacting with her again on friendship terms, but it's… it's been nice. It reminds him of all the things he loved about her during their relationship, the fire in her eyes, how damn smart she was—but without the constant hanging heavy dread above it, the thought that she might turn on him again for some small perceived mistake, as vicious as a viper. As vicious as the she-demon she really did turn into at the end of that Fall Formal.

and damn, what a beautiful summary of what their relationship was. it really just says it all in only a few sentences! wish i could exposit like this

Obvious dumb jokes aside about how Flash is supposed to be the only one in the closet in this household, the thought of Sombra just hiding from his parents in his house while he's away at school would stress him out too much.

a very oof backstory just casually dropped in that sentence. and also yes, love how this follows the arc of every teenager-meets-visitor-from-another-world story from my childhood haha

Do ponies have guitars? is his first, ridiculous thought; he'd think a pony couldn't strum the strings with their hooves, but then again, he'd thought a pony couldn't do a lot of things before he learned what Equestria was.

i mean one would naturally assume they could not lol. and it’s funny that ponies totally do have electric guitars and Sombra is only unfamiliar because he’s from the past in their world

Sombra brings himself down to sit beside Flash on the bed, feather-light. "May I try?" he asks, extending one hand out towards the neck of the guitar. He's wearing nail polish—black—Flash notices. Kinda goth, or maybe punk.

dang the portal really does a great job at equipping the naked horses with a coherent and human-legible aesthetic

It's nice watching him figure out how to play. There's something elegant about it, surprisingly; Sombra is completely unfamiliar with the instrument, Flash knows that, but he approaches it with a kind of intelligent precision that he likes watching. He's so deliberate about it.

ahaha love how Flash just has an eye for observant calculating villain types now

…it sounds silly, but in those moments he can understand why the girls transform when they sing.

augh love this

"Sure," Sombra says, handing the guitar back to him, and he can't help but smile a little at the shine he sees in his eyes.

uwu

Could he be just another human like him? That's a possibility. It's more possible than the first option, Flash thinks. But then where does that leave him? Why would he have appeared so suddenly in his backyard, of all places?

ooh intriguing possibility for Sombra origins. or maybe he finds it easier to adjust to human anatomy having already been an incorporeal magical entity?

—and the look on Sombra's face when Flash inevitably beats him for the first time and Sombra turns to him and grins threateningly, all sharp and cocky, this kinda I won't let you do that again? It makes his heart skip a beat.

uwu

Also, apparently the guy has fangs. Like, real-ass long, sharp canines that look like they go down far enough to touch his tongue when he has his mouth open, and Flash knows that's probably a warning sign of something but. Wow. He's surprised it took him this long to notice.

LiveJournal OC in the best way fr

It's not like the guy has school at all, actually. He doubts he's registered for any classes—not like that matters, Canterlot High has a history of taking new students without asking too many questions about paperwork. Same line of thought as their free meal policy, anyone who shows up in the cafeteria has the right to two free meals a day even if they don't go to class.

does explain how Sunset managed in her first years in the human world

Sombra's quiet for a long moment. "...it is supposed to be colder, the night. I—I remember snow… crystals."
A sigh so soft Flash nearly misses it. "It is difficult. I believe… whatever I have… the memories come easier when there is something to remind me of them. I have a feeling such things will be in short supply."

so mysterious and brooding i love it

Pinkie Pie alone gives him headaches if he tries to think about her for more than a couple minutes.

i mean he is definitely not alone in this lol

The aurora, though… if he's used to seeing auroras, he's got to be from somewhere up north, right? Some kind of arctic conditions. Which both does and doesn't help narrow things down. He's from somewhere arctic, yes—but where does Flash even start with that? He doesn't know where people live up there.

dang Flash is good at this deductive reasoning thing

A heavy bundle of fabric hits him with a flump, and Flash startles. only barely catching the coat that Sombra has apparently seen fit to dump into his arms.
"Wha—?"
He shuffles the red fabric around in his arms to see Sombra looking at him expectantly.
"You want me to put this on?" Flash huffs. "I'm not that cold—"
Sombra raises his eyebrows at him. "You look like a pathetic little thing left out in the snow."

augh love this, classic shipping moment

"...and, yeah, her band's got great sound and I'm not even a hip-hop kind of guy, but her lyrics are super repetitive. I don't mind the ego, that just comes with a girl like her, but she should—oh, hey, we're here."

Trixie???

At least they don't have actual monsters. Flash is still certain he'd end up captured by some weird mind-control vampire or whatever within five minutes of stepping foot into the other world.

it is ironic that the Canterlot High students face way more magical dangers than the average Equestrian citizen ever does

This is the point where Flash remembers that he is, in fact, still wearing Sombra's jacket. Fuck he hopes he's not blushing.
"Thanks, it's, uh, it's his," Flash says, wrapping it tighter around himself and refusing to acknowledge the way that Sombra's looking down at him with a lopsided smirk, smug about it as seems to be his default emotion for these kinds of things.

ehehe love it

"How about you come to school with the rest of us, since you already know Flash?" Sunset asks. "I can introduce you to the other girls. Maybe talking to Twilight will jog your memory."

oh boy that might not end well!

(She says this in the particular tone of awkward she gets when she's talking about the person she was before the whole Fall Formal incident. Flash doesn't pry.)

almost as if she’s a completely different person now…

The name suddenly clicks in his mind. "This is giving me a headache," Flash declares. Like every time he chooses to ask about Equestria does.

i mean he is definitely not alone in this lol

That's a great idea, because soon after that there's another mystery that falls directly into his hands—
—the day he looks outside on a crisp summer morning and there is snow falling from the sky.

now this is a chapter-ending hook!

Bicyclette

Bicyclette #3 · Feb 13th, 2023 · 1 · 1 · II. ·

"All this snow and they still didn't give us a snow day!" Flash can hear Rainbow Dash complaining as he trudges his way up to Canterlot High.

hehe of course it’s RD that complains about this

He's been on Sunset's motorcycle with her exactly once back when he was still dating her. She'd wanted to show off to him and he hadn't quite clocked how much she was just using him back then—he doesn't hold it against her now, he knows she's changed—and, damn, was he impressed. More impressed now, honestly, now that he knows she'd only had about a year or two to get used to a human body instead of something with four legs and a tail. She drives that thing like a professional.

damn Sunset is so cool

He seems totally in his element in the snow, too, carrying himself with a kind of regal, comfortable confidence even as the snowflakes begin to dot his hair and the back of his coat. It's the first time Flash has actually seen him wearing it, too, and it fits him; the fur collar high around his neck in particular makes him look striking, kingly. In that moment Sombra could ask him to jump and Flash would only ask how high?

honestly Sunset and Sombra on a motorcycle together just might be too much cool in one place!

"Oh, shut up," Flash says, giving him a gentle punch in the arm. "I bet you'd melt in the summer heat."
"Then I'm lucky that summer seems to have ended early."

hehehe classic Sombra

Waiting for the other magical shoe—horseshoe?—to drop feels like holding his breath underwater.

hehe so true it would be a magical horseshoe

They start hanging out more outside of class, too. Sunset manages to acquire Sombra a phone—somehow—and Flash isn't surprised to find that Sombra is the type of person who texts with perfect grammar, punctuation and all. It's kinda funny. He feels like he's texting a professor sometimes, only for said 'professor' to totally break character with blurry photos of stray cats and links to the metal songs he's started getting into.

augh this is so Sombra i love it

And half just an excuse to hang out some more with Sombra. (Yes, that's three halves, but he's got a C in Algebra II so it's not like he cares.)

hehehe

It's to his surprise, then, when Sombra notices a storefront and drags him halfway up an escalator to see it. It's less of a surprise when Flash notices the sign hanging over the storefront and can't help but laugh; Hot Topic in big, bright, bold letters and Flash all but elbows Sombra in the side. "Should've known that would be your thing."
"You should have brought me here sooner, then," Sombra replies, amused. "Shall we?"

amazing that this story is not only doing this but also pulling it off

"Yeah, yeah, like you're showing me this out of the goodness of your heart. My jacket's fine," Flash argues, crossing his arms.
"Certainly. That is why you cling to mine like a lamb to its mother, yes?"
Flash is certain his face must be red by now. "If I get a new jacket, will you shut up about it?"
"Perhaps," Sombra says.

oof Flash Sentry is down bad… and understandably so!

"That is the sound of a snowstorm," Sombra breathes, in that distant I'm-remembering-something voice. "The sound of cutting, cold wind howling against a shield."

ooh love this

"That was how they survived. Their love was a shield against the uncaring frost of the world."

augh so beautiful, all the more for Sombra seeing this from his perspective

It's easy enough to find the girls. Just look for the most technicolor, sparkly thing in the mall—also, the wings and horns help. Hard to miss Rainbow Dash when she's hovering a couple feet over the others grinning like she could fly a marathon with those things.

so true

Sombra tilts his hand so-so. "It's amusing seeing them in-between, even if I don't quite remember why that is. They're little humans playing at being ponies."
Flash snorts softly. "Glad to hear the other side finds it just as crazy."

hehe also so true

He wonders how Sombra looked in the other world. This isn't his natural appearance, right? He can't even tell from just looking at him. Sombra walks in this world like he owns it, regal bearing, chin tilted up, sharp eyes. Flash knows he'd last all of five minutes in the pony world, but he'd risk it just for a glimpse of him.

dang Flash is really down bad but also understandably so!

Sunset, to his surprise, barely acknowledges him—there's a little bit of a lingering glance and then her focus is wholly on Sombra, her expression sharp and serious.
"Princess Twilight wrote back to me," she says by way of explanation. "She wants to see you. Now."

and oof, here comes the revelation!

Sombra regards Twilight with an expression of idle interest, but as soon as Spike shows up, his entire expression shifts.
Spike's eyes snap up to meet Sombra's. "You!" he says, and if anything is weirder than watching a dog speak like it's totally natural it's watching a dog bark out the word you like a challenge, fangs bared.

ahaha okay this is amazing, i love it so much

That's a pretty good thing, he thinks. Because Flash has experience with someone who treated him like a tool to be used, like garbage to be wadded up and tossed in the trash, but he also has experience with that same someone recognizing her mistakes and changing. Sunset Shimmer is his friend, now. Maybe even one of his best friends, 'cause it turns out the things that drew them to each other still stayed the same even after all of that.
The thing is, he knows people can change. And he thinks Sombra's changed, too.

aww so true, Flash really is in the perfect position to understand and defend Sombra here

He sighs. "But I remember all these things like a distant memory. Like I am watching them from the outside; a spectator looking in on another's life. You fought your way through someone else's tower to retrieve someone else's bane. The ponies gathered around while someone else looked on with hateful fear—someone else was destroyed that day, when the Crystal Heart activated."

ooh the parallels to what happened to Sunset are so strong here i love it

"I see," Twilight says. "That has some fascinating implications—the theology alone is…"
She cuts herself off with a laugh, running a hand through her hair. "I'm getting ahead of myself. Thank you for sharing all this, Sombra. I know this must be incredibly personal to you."

my reaction exactly, Twilight

He sighs. "You seem to truly not care about what I was. Perhaps I am not quite the same as the monster who enslaved the Crystal Empire, but I am still… similar. Surely you have seen by now my fangs?"
"Well, yeah," Flash replies. "I think they're neat."

ehehe love it

Sombra is just as warm against him as he was when Flash hid from the storm against him. His hair is soft and he's holding him close and without hesitation, Flash holds him back.
Muffled by the shoulder of his hoodie, he almost misses Sombra whisper quietly to him, "Thank you."
Almost.

auaugh

Bicyclette

Bicyclette #4 · Feb 13th, 2023 · 1 · 1 · III. ·

"But then I've never really gotten to research much about Crystal Prep! The school's been around for more than a century, but they lost a lot of records in a big storm a decade ago."

hehe love the weird way Equestrian geopolitical events are translated into stuff that happens to high schools in the EqG world

Flash whistles when he sees Twilight's house for the first time. It's a two-story manor kind of deal, complete with an elaborate flower garden in the front yard dusted softly with a layer of snow and swirling, ornately wrought iron fencing. "I guess the kind of money that gets you into a private school also gets you some nice things."

yeah the sheer fanciness of EqG Twilight’s house definitely stood out to me! also explains a child having her own mad science lab thing

Flash almost feels awkward not greeting Cadence with nearly the same manners. Then again, he'd be even more awkward if he tried that whole miss-paired-with-a-little-bow thing. Only Sombra could act like he was serving in a royal court and not have it totally stick out like a sore thumb.

so true that is such a great quality

"It's tragic, but her name was struck from the records by the previous Dean," Cadence continues. "I ended up finding her name in the most unexpected place. Shiny and I were going through old family albums together one morning, and there she was. Can you believe it? Me, distantly related to the founder of Crystal Prep Academy?"

hehe love the weird way Equestrian geopolitical events are translated into stuff that happens to high schools in the EqG world

Alright. That's the Heart covered. They'll just need to figure out a way to power it. Flash thinks he'll leave that to the girls—considering his track record in his love life, Flash thinks he's supremely unqualified to wield the power of love anytime soon.

ooh i hope these words become ironic foretelling later

Bicyclette

Bicyclette #5 · Feb 13th, 2023 · 1 · 1 · IV. ·

Flash grabs his phone and scrolls to the group chat the girls made with him and Sombra. (Finally, he managed to get Sunset's number. Shamefully, it wasn't through asking her himself; he just grabbed it off the group list when Sombra invited him to the voice chat.)

ooh love that the mini Sunset’s number arc has a conclusion!

Turns out, he doesn't need to. He opens his bedroom door and makes his way through the snow-drenched rest of the house—ugh, it's in his socks—opening the front door to find a narrow horizontal path to the street cleared completely of snow, parted like red waters.

ooh Biblical!

"Students of Canterlot High!" she says, the microphone taped to her vest picking up her voice loud and clear. (This is the second time now that Vinyl Scratch's impromptu sound systems have saved the day, Flash thinks. He should really get her something.)

aww he should!

Sombra lowers his head to meet his, hands on his shoulders, forehead nearly touching. "Flash. I have something to tell you."
"What is it? What's wrong?"
"I'm sorry."

oh no… Sombra knew the whole time what would happen…

Flash has kissed people before, of course he has. It's not a new sensation. And yet it's completely new the way Sombra does it; pushing insistently into him, warm, warm as he always is, the whisper of his smoke trailing around Flash like just grabbing hard to him with his hands isn't enough. There are fangs at his lips, sharp, and yet though they push smooth at him they don't threaten to pierce once. Sombra is a monstrous thing, most monstrous in this moment, where the magic of the love around them is threatening to tear him apart—but Flash doesn't care about that.
All Flash cares about is him. Always him, from the moment he saw him for the first time and thought—I'm not leaving him alone.

augh i just love this

He thinks about him, and how he loves him, and Flash holds him tight and doesn't let go.
He doesn't let go.

beautiful and perfect

Sunset, who is walking towards the both of them looking like she wants to say hello, puts her head in her hands and sighs. "You turn into a demon one time…"

ehehe so relatable

"I thought it was sweet," Sombra—who is wearing the black lipstick he's stained Flash with—says. "Now they know you're mine."
"You really do have a type, Flash," Sunset says, raising her eyebrows again.

ahaha so true

"You should have brought a coat, then," Sombra says, laughter in his voice, and he leads him inside hand-in-hand.

well that was just wonderful. i am left breathless at how perfectly this fic captures Flash Sentry and the very essence of his being as a background character linked romantically to two beings with world-destroying powers. the complexes that come from that, that unfinished story, is just so beautifully and intricately explored here, and given their proper place and conclusion at the heart and focus of a story. you didn’t need to add a single element to canon Sombra to make this version seem made in a lab specifically to murder Flash Sentry, and augh, all of it is so perfect. thank you so much for it!

astrolatryy

astrolatryy #6 · Feb 15th, 2023 · 1 · 1 · IV. ·

11505087
thank you so much for leaving such a detailed, in-depth review, oh my god! i can't express how much seeing the notifs for these comments made my night; this kind of in-depth review is every author's dream, mine included.

i'm ecstatic that you liked my fic so much, and i can't wait for the next contest!!

Vivid Syntax

Vivid Syntax #7 · Mar 25th, 2023 · 1 · 1 · IV. ·

Fantastic story! I saved this one for last because of how well you did in the contest, and it was a great final read, VERY worthy of the high finish! Amnesia can be a tricky thing to write well, and you threaded the needle nicely without belaboring anything.

The characters felt very true to themselves, and the dynamic between Flash and Sombra was very believable. I like especially how Sombra's growth is subtle, and the two of them maintain their flirty teasing relationship.

My one (very minor) gripe is that I felt like the other characters pulled too much focus in the last couple chapters. A lot of it was necessary for the plot, of course. However, I think having more of Sombra earlier on in chapter 4 would work great, may in place of some of Cadence's speech. That said, the ending was still VERY effective. Great job bringing the emotional climax home. Having Flash's lines be, "I love you. You fucking idiot." in immediate succession really sold me on the flavor of their relationship.

Fantastic work, and congrats again on 2nd place in the contest!

jingjianahan