1 - Fight Fire With Fire

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Shining Armor circled in front of his wife, his horn glowing brightly. "How did...?" His magic was still working. The bubble that encased the returned empire was still there, he could see it beyond a window, shimmering. He hadn't yet passed it on to Cadance, for the Mane Six had not yet arrived in need of picking up. Shielding was his specialty, what his cutie mark was!

"I don't know." Cadance pawed at the ground restlessly as the dark magic gathered into the rough shape of a pony. "But we will stand against it."

"Together."

Clad in armor, the dreaded lord Sombra took full form, one hoof clopping against the ground, other hoof raised as they looked around. "Where am I?" he... she? asked, dark magic spilling from her eyes as they darted about the area in a quick scan of her surroundings.

Some strange new form of trickery? Shining withdrew his magic from the shield, preparing for more offensive tactics. The enemy had already breached that defense. "The Crystal Empire will not fall to you today!"

Lightning arced across the sky. Ponies began to scream and panic. Something was approaching.

Cadance's eyes were on the window facing it. "This isn't over."

"Of course it isn't," agreed Shining with some confusion. "Sombra is right here."

Cadance turned his head with two hooves to see what she was seeing. Beyond the immediate threat, great pillars of jagged black crystals were erupting from the ground high enough to be visible through the windows. Combined with the screams, it became quite clear, and yet also befuddling.

"Crystals..." As if repeating itself, a swirl of dark energy rushed into the room, taking the form of the dead lord Sombra, scowling at the other form. A sneer on his lips, crackles of power promising pain to any that witnessed it.

"Oh," got out the she-Sombra. "Gah, I look like that?"

This answer did not please the male version who lunged at her with a swinging hoof that connected with her snout and sent her tumbling backwards. She faded into mist as she flipped, reforming upright and scowling. "Hey, Jerk! Nobody asked for your opinion!" She stomped a hoof down, jagged crystals exploding in a line erupting upwards towards the male Sombra.

But this was not a trick beyond him. He sidestepped, whisping into a cloud for just a precious moment long enough for the oncoming line of jagged minerals to miss him entirely. He had no words, just fury unending. He peered into her eyes, attempting to burrow into her mind and soul and win another way.

But her eyes were just as tainted with the strange magic that made them up. He found no vulnerable shaking spirit, but one like his own, scowling back at him. He would find no easy victory there. The she-Sombra suddenly reared up, wobbling on two legs. "Get the heck out of here!" She made a hurling motion, though she held nothing.

Her magic obliged her, grabbing a crystal chair and hurling it in a rough spin at the he-Sombra. But he had just as much magic, grabbing it with his horn and with a toss of his head, sending it crashing and shattering against the floor.

"Do we... fight one of them?" asked Cadance in a hushed whisper of her husband.

"I don't know what's happening... But there is no room for King Sombra here." That much, at least, seemed clear. Not that this propelled him into action, watching the doubles battle it out.

Perhaps if Sombra were fully recovered from his torpor, things would have been playing differently, but he and his nemesis seemed evenly matched as they darted about the room, taking swats and lashes with hoof and magic as the opportunity seemed to come up. "Up here!" called the she-Sombra as her shadowy horn glowed purples and greens, magic flashing down at him.

But he caught it in his own magic, throwing it aside to scorch a wall beside them. "Crystal..." He suddenly darted away, abandoning the fight.

"I'm not done!" She charged after him, stumbling a little in the process. "Bloody hell." She rose to her hind legs and ran that way, a most unusual way for a pony to run, but she was doing it, arms pumping as she fled the castle after he-Sombra.

Shining Armor glanced to the side and back at Cadance. "We can't just... let them do what they want. Stay here, I'll go after them." He burst into a gallop after the two ponies of dark magic, bursting out onto the street to see the two of them hurling power at one another as they slowly ascended along the side of the castle, both in shadowy and indistinct forms. Only their eyes were clearly visible, glaring at one another with an equal irritation.

Sadly, he was not a pegasus, nor were any in sight. The vast majority of crystal ponies were earth ponies. "Whatever you are going for..." He didn't want them reaching. Just as one of them was about to reach a distant window above, he conjured a shimmering field of force across it, barring the way.

He-Sombra slapped against the unplanned for barrier, glaring at Shining Armor with a roar of defiance. Shining fell to his belly, hooves at his horn as jagged crystals erupted from it in a painful display of his power. The shield flickered out of his way.

But his doppelganger had not, rising up in a shadow between him and that open window. "Stupid son of a..." Magic gathered about her horn, dark and terrible. "Gonna--" She didn't get to finish, his quick burst of magic forcing her to use what she had been gathering to deflect it in a great splash of fell colors. "Dang it, stay still!" She chased him, hitting the ground inside with the clop of her hooves.

There in the center of that crystal chamber was a heart, also made of crystal, floating there patiently. He was going for it directly, hoof reaching out for it.

"Nuh uh!" With a great outwards thrust of her forehooves, crystals exploded around the heart, barring the way towards it as they curled around, encasing the heart away from him. "That's not happening!"

With an angered hiss, he turned the same tactic on her, but the crystals raised immediately around her to capture the female mirror that was vexing him so badly. For just a moment, things became quiet. "Finally," he sighed out, his first word besides crystal. He turned in place back to the trapped crystal and grumbled, starting the arduous task of liberating the heart from the mass of crystals the mare had trapped it in.

With the sound of shattering crystals, she-Sombra emerged from her prison, horn glowing with renewed power. "Now I'm angry." The battle between them had not finished.

Cadance emerged, hurrying to Shining's side. "Are you alright?!"

"I'm fine," he got out through his grit teeth, the crystals embedded in his horn painful and debilitating at once.. "They're up there." He pointed up at the window he had lost them through. "Only you can stop them. Sorry..."

"You don't owe me any apologies." She pecked his cheek and rose to her full height, wings unfurling on her back. "I accepted this responsibility. Let's end this."

She soared up along the castle, galloping along the smooth crystal as her wings flapped to keep her passage on track and upwards. Hopping up around the last lip, she stood in the window frame to see the two locked in battle. Their sharp teeth having found a home in one another with marks of the battle showing that they had not spent it idly. Two Sombras...

She couldn't fight them both. If they turned on her, it would get ugly. She instead turned inwards, focusing on her own special magic. Little hearts began to emerge from her horn and danced in the air above her. One descended before her eyes and she beheld He-Sombra through it. She gasped with shock at what she saw. There was no love there, not even a hint. The heart exploded into flames, ashes blowing away on the breeze.

He-Sombra threw his head to the left, crystals exploding with the motion, nicking his enemy. The ground beneath him lurched upwards beneath him, but he was shadow too quickly for it to harm him. Laughing with malicious triumph, he calmly reformed in front of the new pillar, glaring at her in challenge.

Cadance peeked at the She-Sombra and saw a heart that was not kind and loving. Torn, savaged, and ugly at a glance. But it was not entirely without love. The heart she peeked through withered, but did not fall to ash. "Not a big step up..." But still, a step up. "If I have to target one..." She angled her horn at He-Sombra.

She-Sombra could see her and returned He-Sombra's triumphant smirk, which only bothered him.

"Die," he intoned as he began to gather power, horn swirling with fell magic.

But he did not see Cadance, and know nothing of her magic until it was already piercing him in a bright beam through his middle. He might have recovered from that, continued the fight, but his frustrating doppelganger was on him, pummeling wildly in what was more of a wild scream than what was any articulated battle cry.

He fell to shadow and fled, injured and beaten.

The she-Sombra sank to her haunches, breathing heavily. The room faded to quiet.

Cadance broke that silence with the sound of her hooves striking the ground on landing. "Stay right there," she ordered, horn glowing in threat. "I don't know who... or what you are..." Sombra was a stallion, that much was simple historical fact. He was pretty famously known as King Sombra. Kings did not come in mare editions.

She-Sombra pointed into the crystalline mess. "There was a heart in there."

Cadance blinked softly. "A heart?"

"Of crystal. I... think that thing wanted it. I wanted it just to spite him." She smiled a little. "Wow, that took a lot out of me. I sound odd."

Cadance inclined her head at the strange mare. "How do you usually sound? You... sound normal to me." As normal as any shadow mare could sound. Female, a bit raspy, intimidating.

"Light, high." She raised a hoof to her throat, but paused in that, the moment her hoof touched herself. "The hell?" She turned the hoof into view and began gaping at the metal clad hoof as if it were something new and alien. "The... hell?" She twisted in place, taking in her form as she went left and right, trying to view herself from every angle she could. "What...? What?! What is this?!"

Cadance raised a brow, confusion building. "You are injured..." She drew a hiss of a breath. "If you agree to let us take you prisoner, we'll treat you."

"Prisoner?" She-Sombra turned on Cadance. "What for? I didn't do anything wrong." She pointed at the crystal mess. "I protected your heart! I fought mister gloom and doom, whatever he was on about."

Cadance raised a hoof flat with the potential threat. "Be calm. I'm not saying you did anything wrong. We don't know. Consider it...a formality. You will be treated kindly, this I promise, so long as you don't give us a reason not to."

"Look... I was... cold, and--" She-Sombra looked around. "It's warmer here, nice, but what's up with this?" She put forward a hoof at Cadance. "And I sound like a girl."

"You are a girl," noted Cadance flatly. "A mare, I should specify."

"That matches the hoof." She waggled that hoof at Cadance. "I don't mind the girl part, really... Really really... Really..." A single tear ran down her face despite her expression remaining determined. "But can you explain the rest of this?" It was at this point that it hit her. "You are also a pony."

"Yes I am...?" Cadance inclined her head at the confused would-be terror of the kingdom. "Please come with me. You can... fly right?"

"I did it before." Without the adrenaline of combat, it took her a moment to sort that out, bits of her puffing into smoke in sporadic patterns before she managed to get the whole thing to come along. "Better." The glare her eyes gave did not comfort Cadance as she lifted up and floated right to the window they had come through.

Cadance followed on her feathery wings. She could hear a gasp of astonishment and relief. "I'm alright!" she shouted, waving at the ponies gathered below that had seen the she-Sombra emerge first. Had they thought she lost the battle? Perhaps... "Everything is alright!" She hoped, though was not 100% certain of.

She landed on the steps near Shining Armor, who was standing. "Are you alright?"

"I would ask the same." He closed with her, the two nuzzling and giving a brief hug. "I'm fine. This will... go away hopefully." He swatted at the crystals stuck in his horn. "Why is that Sombra not running away?"

That other Sombra landed near them and faded back into a living pony instead of a creature of shadow. "I remembered my name."

Cadance raised an ear. "Oh? Lovely. What is it?" Surely a name would help sort them out in part.

"I am Queen Sombra." She struck an imposing stance. "But I'm not sure what I'm queen of. Is it this place?" She began to circle in place. "This is a nice place. I'll try to queen it up even better."

Shining Armor stepped forward, a little ahead of Cadance. "She is Princess, ruler of--"

"I have a princess?!" Queen Sombra approached Cadance with a grin. "I never had a daughter before."

Cadance scowled at her would-be usurper. "Queen Sombra, I'm afraid your title is ornamental only at best. I am the ruler of this kingdom, the Crystal Empire."

A roar echoed from above them. "Crystal..."

Shining Armor scowled anew. "I thought he was gone."

"Me too," grumbled Queen Sombra. "Some people just don't know when to quit." She faded into shadow, raising back towards the holding place of the heart. "He's back up here!"

"He did sound like it..." She lowered herself. "Quickly, up!"

Shining scrambled atop his larger wife, blushing a bit at the reminder of how much he was not the big man of that union. Unlike most couples, they were about the same size. He had maybe an inch on her. "What are they even after up there?"

"A heart, made of Crystal." With a powerful flap, she took flight, ascending towards that lofty tower. "I have no idea why."

"Like your cutie mark?" He glanced back at her rump where it was displayed for the world to see, an image of the crystal heart. "Must be important."

"It must be," she agreed, landing on the window sill.

Inside, the two Sombras had resumed their battle. It seemed King Sombra had regained some faint bit of himself, his power stronger, lashing out at Queen Sombra with a new intensity. Was it desperation, or something else? Hard to tell, but he was forcing her back slowly but surely. With a sizzling bolt of dark magic, Queen Sombra was sent skidding back with a yelp of pain.

Cadance pointed. "Queen Sombra can be reasoned with, we must defeat King Sombra."

"But how?" He had no magic to use, but was a warrior. He did what came to mind, and he charged into the frey. Dancing over sharp bits of crystals on the way, he lowered his horn as if he could crash it into King Sombra's side.

Cadance's horn began to glow with the promise of magic. "You will not win!"

"You won't," agreed Queen Sombra, clapping her hooves together with a bright nimbus of contrastingly dark magic. "We have you surrounded."

But he ducked back, fading into shadow just long enough for Shining to get between him and the Queen. He snapped back into physicality even as his hooves crashed into Shining's side, propelling him against the Queen, the two going down in an uneven heap of flailing limbs.

"Shining!" She fired rapid rays of piercing magic, forcing King Sombra to back away, but not inflicting any real damage on the shadow menace.

Shining scrambled back to his hooves with an annoyed grunt. Before he could charge again, King Sombra was on him. The two met, horn to horn, hooves kicking and flailing with painful thuds, though it seemed to bother Shining more than Sombra, his malicious face more enjoying the pain he inflicted than whatever he was receiving.

But magic reached him, from two directions. Dark magic and vibrant love magic crashed in that center point, and the world seemed to pause a moment.

The three defenders felt like they were somewhere else. They could all see the crystal heart, spinning slowly, pulsing with strange warm power that washed over them. A thin silvery line ran from Cadance out towards Queen Sombra and Shining Armor, then from those two to each other, binding them all together. The crystal flared brightly, and the world resumed, the crystal no longer in sight, buried in crystal as it had been.

Queen Sombra kicked at an itch, her rump shining brightly with a new cutie mark, almost identical to Cadance's own, a crystal heart bold and big. "You're going down."

Cadance's own cutie mark had joined in the glow, brilliant and majestic. "There is no room in the Crystal Empire for you."

Shining's horn was smooth and unharmed by the crystals that had been in it moments ago. His own cutie mark, pulsing with the same power. "Begone!"

Their powers combined from three horns on the startled King Sombra. With a fleeing roar, he was forced back into the dark crevice he had emerged from, sealing it behind him.

"Woo!" called out Queen Sombra, dancing in place. "Did you see that? We kicked his butt!"

Shining Armor reached up to rub at his renewed horn. "Where are we again?"

"The central tower." Cadance moved towards the crystals that were falling off in sheets to dust, revealing the crystal heart to her eyes. "Where this was hidden." Her magic gently lifted it up to float next to her. "We need to learn what this is and what it's importance is."

"Good idea." Queen Sombra nodded at the curious heart artifact. "If he wanted it so bad, must be important."

Shining chuckled softly. "Well, Twilight's on the way. I can't think of a better pony to research a magical artifact. But..." He turned slowly towards Queen Sombra. "We still have a problem."

"I am not under arrest," she denied flatly. "I saved you guys. Twice!"

Cadance gently set a wing on her husband's back. "You did... but we still don't know who you are, exactly..."

Shining grunted softly. "For the safety and comfort of the ponies of the Crystal Empire, please allow us to arrest you." He inclined an ear towards Queen Sombra. "Your cell will be a comfortable room, with a proper bed, pleasant meals, and--"

Queen Sombra huffed softly, eyes flaring. "That sounds better than what I had before..." She turned for the window. "Let's show off the heart. Maybe they know what it is?" She pointed out and beyond, where the ponies lurked.

Cadance smiled. "We will do that. But, as my husband said, we do need to do this. You look very much like King Sombra, and they are very afraid of him. Allow us to get you somewhere safe, and out of sight, as we sort this out." She angled herself a little. "Did you always have that?"

Shining's armor took hold of the queen's cloak, lifting it to make the cutie mark more easily visible. "Like yours... I don't see two ponies with the same mark... basically ever. Is that even possible?"

Cadance smirked at that. "Asking if something in front of us is possible is silly, Shining. Clearly it is. When did you earn your mark, and how?"

Queen Sombra looked back at her new mark. "Never saw it before. Looks like the heart." She pointed at the floating crystal heart. "Huh, and yours." She noticed Cadance's mark for the first time, peering at it curiously. "You earn them? Did we both earn it by protecting the heart? That's kinda cool."

Cadance smiled, but it was a fleeting gesture. She was still quite unsure how to feel about the not-Sombra before her. "Perhaps, but I already had mine. Will you come with us?"

A sudden rumble issued from Queen Sombra's midsection. "You mentioned food?"

And so it was that Queen Sombra was brought down with a rope tied about her midsection. It didn't stop her legs from moving. It didn't stop her from using magic. It didn't do anything but show that she was under arrest, and that was enough to prevent panic. A theatre of security, if she had wanted to attack, she could have as she was walked into the castle by Shining Armor.

Cadance pointed up at the heart as she faced the crowd. "We found this up above. Does anypony know what it is?" Some ponies fled from its sight and the headaches that came with it. Most just looked baffled. They would not give her the answer. "I see... All is safe for now. Go on about your days."

Shining Armor nodded to a guard. "See her to her room. She is to be housed in a guest room and treated well."

"Sir." That pony was an Equestrian pony, not a crystal one, and didn't even flinch as he led Queen Sombra along towards a plush room. "Ma'am." He gestured inside. "If you need anything, I will be right here." And he sat beside the door to wait.

Queen Sombra walked inside, kicking the door shut behind her. "Ma'am... like it." She turned to a mirror she spotted and trotted up to it. "Who's a pretty pony? You are!" She giggled and made kissy faces at herself. "Who's a pretty pony? It's still you," she half sang, raising her hooves to cradle her chin and flash her great fangs at the reflection. Pretty was likely not the first word most ponies would use for her.

She hissed, remembering aches and pains that came from the battle. "Welcome to it," she grumbled as she went to a water bowl and got to washing herself.

Cadance twitched an ear. "What?" It felt like a damp cloth was running over her, but she saw no cloth. She saw no water, but she could feel it running across her. She raised a leg at a time to get different angles of views, but the unseen cloth kept right on working over her. She colored as it reached more sensitive places. "Shining!"

Shining Armor burst through the door, sending it clapping against the far wall. "You too?!"

"Me too?" Cadance raised a brow at that even as the strange sensations continued. "Are you feeling this?"

"Y-Yes!" He wriggled in place. "And it's very strange. Is this a Sombra trick?"

"It may well be." But she did not look for King Sombra, but the Sombra far closer to them. "Poor Shining." At least she was a mare. Nothing about it was new, for a mare, just confusing. "Be brave."

"I want it to stop," he grunted out, marching with purpose. They reached Queen Sombra's room in short order. "Is she in there?!"

The guard nodded quickly. "I haven't seen anyone leave or enter this room, Sir."

"We're going in." Shining's horn glowed as he willed the door open. "Whatever you're doing, stop it right now!"

The rag, tinged faintly with the marks of the battle that it had become home to, fell into the bowl of stained water. "What?" There was Queen Sombra, caught mid self-shower, or was it more of a bath? "A lady can't clean herself these days?"

Cadance hurried past Shining, looking between him and the mysterious shadowy mare. There were questions to be answered.

2 - Purpose United

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Sombra willed the bowl away a few inches. "Where do you actually get rid of things like that?"

Shining looked less stressed. The cause had paused. "I'll call a maid to come gather that."

Less off balance, Cadance was looking at Sombra directly with a singular focus. "First, thank you. You obviously worked very hard, for us." The stained bowl as a physical marker of evidence of that. "But we don't know why, and something strange is happening that needs to be addressed, now."

"Strange?" Sombra waved her still metal clad hoof at Cadance. "Besides being a pony? Besides having yellow eyes? I didn't think that was possible, but here they are." She gestured at her eyes, no longer green and purple as she wasn't actively using dark magic. "I have a horn! That makes me a unicorn, right?"

"That would be correct," noted the pink pony that also had a horn. "You don't seem to know much about ponies."

"I don't." Sombra curled a hoof under her chin, fluttering her lashes at Cadance. "Am I a pretty pony?"

Cadance blinked, clearly caught by surprise by that line of questioning. "A little intimidating, but fine enough, I suppose... Sombr-- No, let's visit that first. You are not Sombra."

"I'm not?" Not-Sombra squinted at Cadance. "That was the name that came to me. What am I then? Are you being mean because I look like that jerk?"

"That other jerk is named Sombra," calmly explained Cadance.

Shining returned with a maid, unleashing her to gather up the bowl and flee, but he stayed. "Everything alright?"

Cadance gestured her head at their guest. "She's not Sombra. This much is obvious. Sombra is a King, to start, and a cruel and wicked pony. Are you either of those things?"

"I am a pony, but I try not to be cruel or wicked. Ugh, dealt with plenty of those." She rubbed the side of her head as if a headache were coming on. "So this Sombra was a Grade A jerk, not just bargain bin?"

Shining Armor took a step forward. "He ruled over this kingdom in a reign of terror, so far we know."

"Jerk," she repeated as if the word just encapsulated the entire situation. Her eyes went to Cadance, a wispy train of purple leaking free a moment. "So I'm not that guy."

"I should hope not. But you do seem to... share his love of shadow magic." Cadance looked from not-Sombra's eyes down across the rest of her. "Though you've used it, so far, pleasantly enough." As pleasant as shadow magic could be.

"Well, fine." Not-Sombra flashed a sharp grin, sharper than most ponies. "Sombra is like some other language shadow. I'll go with shadow in our language, but subtle. Exotic, shadowy." She waggled her hooves in waves up and down. "I do have that going on. Queen... Shade? No, that's dumb. Baroness Penumbra? Too many syllables."

Shining quirked an ear at their guest. "Does it have to have a royal title?"

"It feels right." Not-Sombra stood up. "Right! Queen Umbra! That sounds right. Behold." She struck a firm stance, tail wafting through a breeze that wasn't really there as lines of purple wafted from her eyes. "Yes, Queen Umbra. That's better, right?"

Cadance nodded at Umbra. "Nice to meet you, Umbra. I do remind you, you're not actually queen of anything.

Umbra shrugged at the reminder. "So? I knew a king, wasn't a king of anything. Just gives me something to aim for, right?"

Cadance clopped a hoof. "That would involve replacing me."

"Well, just can't do that." It seemed Cadance wasn't expecting that answer, disarmed a moment. "What? You seem nice, and I love the pink."

Shining stepped up towards Umbra. "I want to test something, mind?"

"Will it hurt? Had enough hurting today." Umbra looked at Shining with fresh suspicion.

"No, I just want to touch you." He extended a hoof. "Nothing painful, just a touch."

"Aren't you two a thing?" She wasn't 100% on that, but they seemed to act involved. "You alright with this?"

Cadance colored faintly with a laugh. "I feel certain he is not trying to do anything that will give me reason to chew his ear later."

"N-no!" he squeaked with the proper fear of his mare. "Just a touch."

"Well, alright?" Umbra seemed to relax, setting on her haunches. "By the way, ponies sit odd, but this is the only way that feels natural."

Shining reached for Umbra, gently booping her right on the nose, but the squeak came from Cadance, not Umbra.

"I felt that." She rubbed where her nose felt poked. "Can you feel where I'm rubbing?"

"No." Shining drew his hoof back. "This needs more testing. Umbra, go ahead and return the favor."

Umbra snickered softly. "You are all acting funny." But permission was given, so she booped Shining right on his nose.

Which got a fresh gasp from Cadance. "Alright, I felt that. What's the difference? And since when could I feel what you felt, Shining?"

Shining smiled around the hoof parked on his snout. "I think I have it. Something besides yourself has to be doing the touching. Like the wash rag, or it being another pony."

"And it doesn't echo," completed Umbra. "Or I'd feel me touching you? Seriously, you felt that before?!" She began to color at the thought. "God... I wasn't trying... Oh wow." She sank back. "You must think I'm some kinda pervert."

Cadance raised her forehooves quickly, even with Umbra. "No no. You are clearly just as startled. I felt something, during that fight, like we were being... bound, connected. I thought it was the rush of the moment, but this... seems very literal."

"Wait." Umbra cocked a brow. "Wait wait. What happens if you two touch each other with parts that can feel good? Like, I don't know. You." She pointed at Shining. "Nuzzle your girl." She pointed at Cadance.

Cadance burst into laughter at the suggestion. "You heard the queen. Nuzzle your mare."

Shining colored with a soft chuckle. "I suppose I can oblige that request." He went over to gently press his nose to her cheek and nuzzled the soft fur there, the two looking pleased at the contact and intimacy. Neither felt the echo of the other's touching.

But Umbra was coloring. "Oh wow..." She rubbed at the cheek that would have been being nuzzled were she Cadance. "I can feel both sides of that."

Shining pulled back his snout sharply as if he had been in contact with something hot. "Sorry!"

Cadance rolled her eyes at her husband. "We just established this isn't on purpose. This... will be awkward." She shook her head. "But it does explain things... Shining, you should get ready."

"Hm?"

"It's about time to get Twilight," reminded Cadance. "And her friends. They won't have to battle Sombra, but her intellect and researching skills may be exactly what we need regardless."

"Yeah, good thought." And off he trotted to get that under way.

Alone with the other mare, Cadance nodded at Umbra. The door clicked shut, knob glowing with Cadance's magic. "Now, if you don't mind, I'd like to have a little mare talk, just us mares."

"Just us mares." Umbra was smiling a bit goofishly. "What's up?"

"The way you talk... The way you think, so far as I've seen... What were you, before you were here? You don't act like a shadowy mare, to be blunt. You act like a... something that was not a pony, and possibly not a mare."

Umbra scowled at that. "I was a girl!" But she deflated, anger puffing. "On the inside."

"On the inside?" Cadance inclined her head with clear confusion, but it clicked over. "Oh! Oh! Oh... You poor thing. I've heard of that, but never... actually met one before, at least that I spotted." She rubbed at her own cheek. "If they were crossdressing well enough, I might not have. Not like I was searching for it, but, um, alright. Sorry, that was mean of me."

"I didn't crossdress." Umbra fidgeted from hoof to hoof. "You get caught doing that, you get beat up." Her ears pinned against her head. "And I didn't have freaky shadow powers back then, so..."

Cadance reached, tapping one of Umbra's hooves lightly, ringing against the metal show garbing it. "You've expressed surprise at your hooves a few times now. I can only assume you didn't used to have them?"

"Fingers. Hands." Umbra rose her right hoof into view, shaking it limply. "Hooves are definitely lower tier. No offense. On the other hand, I have magic now." Her horn began to glow as she thought of it. "I like that. Fair trade?"

Cadance smiled gently at that. "I was curious about that. You seem to use magic surprisingly well if this is your first time having it. I was quite helpless in the magic department when I first got my horn."

Umbra hopped to her hooves. "Wait? Got yours? Were you a human too?!"

"Human? No. I was a pegasus." She spread her wings out in either direction. "I grew up with these, but I earned the horn, and had to learn how to use it. You're just... doing it."

Umbra peeked, but she had no wings to call her own. "It came to me, like the first name. I had to get used to it, but it was... more like remembering how to ride a bicycle rather than learning how to do it in the first place?" She shrugged emphatically, hooves upturned in either direction. "I really don't know why."

"I believe you... But let's move on... to a mare topic." She smirked a bit. "In the future, kindly ask for a maid to wash you. They know how to do it well and properly and without.... unrequired wandering."

Umbra colored savagely. "I'm really sorry about that!"

"You didn't know." Cadance seemed devoid of anger that that incident, already putting it behind them. "I'm more worried for you. You've gone and connected... somehow... to two married ponies. That carries... issues, for you." She set a hoof on her chin. "Whatever inconvenience you gave us today is going to be a petty little thing compared to what we have to offer in return."

Married people kissed and hugged and possibly more. Umbra's blush was not abating. "Can we... turn it off?"

"We still don't know how we 'turned it on', so to speak. My sister in law is coming. She's a very smart pony." Cadance turned for the exit. "Come, let's get something to eat."

"You are speaking my language!" Umbra gladly trailed after Cadance, looking quite ready to satisfy her rumbling belly.

"Twilight!" Garbed in thick winter clothing, Shining waved at the girls. "This way!"

"Shiny!" Twilight hurried up to her brother with a big smile. "We came as quickly as we could."

"Glad to have you here." He turned and began to lead the girls back towards the Crystal Empire. "I left Cadance keeping the weather at bay around the city. Sorry it doesn't reach out to the train station. That'd be nice."

"Without a doubt," chimed Rarity, trundling through the snow. Like Shining Armor, she was dressed for the occasion. Her odds of frostbite were low. "So what is it we're here to fix, exactly dear?"

"Things... changed." He licked over his lips. It had been a most of a day since he had last spoken to them, but they were eating. He could taste it like he was eating it. Distracting, that. Also tasty. "King Sombra is defeated."

Twilight's ears danced atop her head. "Wait, what? Isn't that what we're here to help with?"

"You were." He looked over at the mares following along. "And we are very grateful you're here. We still need you."

Pinkie sprang high into the air, coming down with a crunch of snow. "Well, that's great! We're here to help. Need a party planned? A new fashion line? Local animals confused about a sudden new city?" She nodded at the appropriate pony as she went down the list of possible conundrums. "Library all out of order after a thousand years in limbo?"

Shining smiled a little quirk at Pinkie's enthusiasm. "More that last one."

Twilight's eyes began to shine. "Really? I thought this would be a whole new thing, but if you need books sorted, I'm your mare!"

Rainbow landed, on Twilight's back to be precise. "You did not make us ride all the way up here and through the snow just so Twilight can geek out over some books. Aren't there ponies way, you know, closer that coulda done that?"

"It's more complicated than that." Things grew quieter, save for some idle banter between the mares. "Twi?" He leaned in, whispering to her. "Something happened."

Before she could reply, Rainbow was between them. "Ah ha! I knew it! Lay it on us. We can handle it!"

Shining snorted at the interruption. "Yes... Sombra attacked, but we won, so that's good... But in the process, we ended up with a new pony."

"A new friend's never bad," sang Pinkie she bounced along. "They are a friend, right?"

"I think they are... They're also very odd."

Applejack adjusted her hat. "We've had experience with an odd pony or two. If they're anythin' like Zecora, ya just have to learn 'em and they'll stop being so scary-like."

"I will hope that is the case. But there are... complexities."

Rarity hiked a brow. "Now you're just playing with us, dear. Go on and share it with us. We know how to be discreet."

"I don't!" sang Pinkie, bouncing further away. "Alright, go ahead!" she shouted, still bouncing along, but not so close.

"There it is." The city of the Crystal Empire was coming into view. "It'll be easier to show than to explain, but I'll try." He could already see that excuse was not going over well. "A mystery mare helped us fight Sombra."

Twilight nodded softly with a hm. "That's nice of them."

"But they look like Sombra."

Fluttershy adopted a fresh look of confusion. "Sombra is a stallion?"

"He is." Shining sighed as he stepped past the snow to the warmer grass of the shielded part of the city. "Ah, that's better. She's Queen Umbra, not actually a queen. She seems nice, but, as we fought Sombra, something happened."

Rainbow soared in circles through the warmer air. "Did you kick flank?!"

"That we did." He nodded in agreement. "But that wasn't what I meant. We got... connected... somehow? I can feel what they feel, both of them, and they can feel what the other two are feeling. Not emotions, thankfully, just physical touches, which is still very awkward."

All the mares paused, struck by the statement. Even Pinkie, who was, in theory, too far away to easily hear.

Twilight set a hoof on Shining's side. "How can we help?"

Shining smiled at his sister. "I knew you'd be there for us. We found this crystal, a heart made of crystal. Like Cadance's cutie mark? But in real life! We're pretty sure it's important, but have no idea how. Also pretty sure it was involved in the connection thing. We were hoping you could--"

"I'm on the case." Twilight moved to march off, only to be gently grabbed in magic. "Hm?"

Shining was holding her securely. "Let's report back. I'll take the shield duty back from Cadance and she'll be really happy to see you all."

With a chorus of agreement, they all set out to the castle.

At the castle, Cadance knocked on a door a moment before opening it. "They're back, I think."

Umbra looked up from what she had been reading. "How can you tell?"

"It's warmer." She brushed at the fur of her side. "It was cold, but then it became warm. Don't you feel it?"

Umbra was quiet, concentrating on that sensation. "You're right. I was filtering it out. That's nice." She rose to her hooves. "So he has a sister? That's kinda neat, having a sister. I never had one of those."

"You... mentioned not having a daughter... Did you have any family?"

Umbra's ears pinned back against her head in a fearful look that did not suit her intimidating appearance. "None I'd want to call that... Thank you, again!" She hurried forward. Cadance didn't shy back, and was hugged for her foolish decision. "For just... accepting all this. I know it's a lot."

Cadance smiled at the admission. "Who's life isn't a lot? Come on, we should greet Shining and the others."

Together, they descended to the entry hall just in time to spot Shining Armor and the others ascending the stairs into view. "Shining!" Cadance called, accelerating into a lively trot towards him. "So good to see you again."

They met, nose to nose, gently rubbing them against one another. "Good to be back." He pointed back. "Twilight and the others are here. Twilight was about ready to run off and start searching."

"That's my sister." She looped around him, approaching Twilight. Without word or prompt, the two began their ladybug summoning ritual.

"Thank you all for coming." Shining was facing the girls. But not all of them were returning the attention.

Pinkie landed before Umbra. "Hi there! Wow you're neat lookin'." She leaned left and right, taking in Umbra from all the angles. "Are your eyes dry? My eyes change color when they get dry too. Watch!" And so a staring contest nopony had asked for began.

Umbra inclined her head at the chipper earth pony. "Uh... hi?"

Rarity gently brushed Pinkie aside. "Don't mind her. This is just Pinkie being Pinkie. Welcome. I hear you've already lent a hoof to our friends."

"I did my best." Umbra smiled as the conversation slid to something she knew better. "I'm sure you'd have chipped in if you were here."

"Without a doubt." Rarity nodded firmly. "Shining, this is the mare you spoke of, correct?"

"That's her." He turned his gaze to match theirs in observing Umbra. "And what we're hoping a little research can shed some light on."

"I will remind, I am Umbra." She pointed at herself. "Don't shine too much light or I might vanish."

Pinkie began to giggle uncontrollably. "I get it!" She wailed, flopping over. "Can we keep her?"

Fluttershy kept trying to look Umbra over, but seemed to just as often glance away, hiding behind her mane.

Rainbow noticed. "What's up, Flutters? They don't bite, I think? Do you bite?"

Umbra snorted at the question. "Only if you ask me to nicely."

Rainbow threw a hoof at Umbra. "See, they... wait..."

Pinkie burst into a new set of giggles. "We're gonna get along great!" She threw a leg over Umbra, hugging. "Now I need to know your details. Favorite dessert, favorite cake flavor, why is it chocolate, and do you like big parties or huge parties?"

Umbra laughed, a deep sound, the contrails of shadow magic becoming brighter with her emotional outpouring. "You are something else. I once had a friend like you... A long time ago. Yes... We will get along. Now, uh, ice-cream, ice-cream, chocolate ice cream's alright! And uh... I'm not actually super used to parties?"

Applejack licked her lips. "Ain't nothin' wrong with some of that, but have ya tried apple ice-cream? Ya wouldn't think it'd work, but, trust me, it's good." She nodded with confidence in the power of the apple.

Twilight finished her greeting with Cadance. "Let me get started on that project. I can't imagine that's... comfortable. The sooner I can cure you, the better."

"You are a treasure." They touched noses once, and Twilight was allowed to hurry off in search of books. "Now, the rest of you." Cadance turned towards the girls. "You are welcome, here, in the Crystal Empire. The ponies, I should warn, are a bit shell shocked. To them, enslavement by Sombra was practically yesterday. They're scared and confused, so treat them gently."

Umbra frowned sharply. "He was a slave owner too? What a jerk!" Her favorite word to describe Sombra by far. "If I see him again, he's getting kicked."

"Only if I don't get to him first." Rainbow winked at the combative shadow mare. "So, you like getting physical?"

"I like protecting what's important to me." Umbra rubbed at one leg with the metal-clad hoof of the other. "He isn't allowed to try to scare me, or my friends. Um, what was your name again?"

"Rainbow Dash." She punched a hoof through the air as if socking something unseen.

"Rarity." Rarity fluttered her long lashes at Umbra. "Darling, you look like you could use a hoof. We should talk."

"Fluttershy, um, nice to meet you."

"Pinkie. Pinkie Pie. Pikamena Diane Pie if I did something naughty and you're totally calling me out." She bobbed in confidence at her name delivery.

"Applejack, right nice to make yer acquaintance." She took her hat off a moment to hold it before her before putting it back on her head.

Cadance smiled at the group. "It's good to see everypony's getting along. Now, since you seem to be--"

"What did you mean I could use a hoof?" Umbra presented both of hers in the front. "I have four already."

Rarity tittered at that response. "I meant lending you one of mine. Your lines, bold, strong, but screaming for a wardrobe change. I'll make you the belle of the ball! Aside from me, of course."

Applejack smirked softly. "She's offerin' to get all fancy with you. Now's yer last chance to run."

But Umbra didn't run, instead looking shocked. "I..." A tear escaped her right eye, trailing down in clear view. "I... I would like that... a lot..."

Rarity was soon in close with Umbra. "No need for tears, darling. This is a joyous occasion."

"You can have happy tears," snapped Umbra, sniffling a little. "Which these are... Why are you being so nice? You don't even know me."

Rainbow gave a hearty pfft at the whole thing. "If a pony lets her, Rarity will make anypony look fancy and frilly. Do you like frilly? 'Cause she's gonna give you frilly."

Cadance watched the interaction with a pleased expression. "Well, I suppose I don't need to ask then. While Twilight searches, help Umbra settle in."

Twilight's eye swept over the spines of many books. "You look..." She snatched it free. It had interesting facts, but they didn't get her closer. "How about..." She grabbed another. 101 interesting facts about crystal berries? No no... Ah ha! She grabbed for a third book. "The Crystal Faire?" With a little giggle of scholastic joy, she began eagerly devouring it. It had a picture of the crystal empire right on the book, a good sign it would provide a hint!

It outlined many events and attractions the crystal ponies would look forward to enjoying at such an event and she began musing on how to unleash them on the still shocked population of the city. "The girls can help with this." She folded the book shut. "Do I need a library card?" She went off in search of the librarian to confirm that one way or the other. She would not be known as a book thief!

Princess Celestia had trusted in her to put things to right, and, by golly, she was going to do it. "Still, a three way sensory connection. I've never heard of such a thing before... Surely somepony somewhere wrote something about it..." But first, she'd figure out the mysteries of that crystal heart and how it worked into things. "If I can help the ponies of the city, that will be a great first step."

Soon she was jogging out of the library, book secured against her side, a due-back card poking free of it. She would be sure to get it back on time. Wouldn't do to be the library's first tardy return in over a thousand years.

3 - We Can Save the Crystal Ponies With Their History

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"Now, the armored look..." Rarity waved a hoof over Umbra's plated chest and clad hooves. "They speak a loud message, but I'm not sure it's the one you want to be saying, dear."

Umbra looked down over herself. "It's... what I came with?" It had all come with the pony package. She hadn't even really considered what to try replacing it with. "What about this?" She pointed up at her tiara.

"Better... But... no. If you allow." Her horn began to glow as she advanced in a circle, plucking bits and pieces off Umbra. "I feel certain that, with a wardrobe change, the ponies will not see you and think, 'Oh no, it's that--"

"--Jerk," finished Umbra.

"Yes, that." Rarity soon had a pile of metal, Umbra's cape sprawled over it. "Now, don't get me wrong, some of this is quite lovely, fetching even. But the color scheme, combined with yours, no no no. That will set ponies right off. We want them to know you are your own pony."

"I am..." She trailed off with a frown, turning to face the pacing Rarity fully. "Am I a pretty pony?"

Rarity burst into titters. "I'm working on making you an even prettier pony, darling. In fact, before we get down to clothes, why don't we tackle the basics, hm?" Several brushes floated into view, glowing with Rarity's magic. "Your mane and tail will thank me, along with the rest of your fur."

Elsewhere, Shining kicked out a leg mid-walk. He could feel sudden aggressive grooming going on. It wasn't even a bad thing, but still a surprising thing, to feel like one's mane and tail were being brushed without an obvious source. Was that Cadance, or Umbra? Impossible to know. The sensations didn't come with labels.

But he put that aside. "Twili!" He hurried towards the entering unicorn with a bright smile. "Find anything?"

"I think I did." She brought around a book in her magic. "But I'm going to need help to make this happen." She pointed at the same book. "This may get the ponies of the city up on their hooves again."

Shining looped around to get a look at the floating and open tome. "Huh." He reached out, but it was his magic that did the flipping for him. "Jousting? Sounds fun."

"Jousting?" Rainbow darted in, looking about before she focused on the source. "What do you mean, jousting?"

Shining pointed past the pegasus suddenly flying in his face. "Twilight found a book."

"She does that," half-laughed Rainbow. "But you said jousting? Like the old-fashioned kind? Galloping with a lance?"

Twilight tapped at the book she held in her magic. "I found an entire book of festivities and events. I was hoping you and the rest of the girls could help me perform it for the ponies of the city and help them get some cheer back in their step."

Shining tapped at his chest. "I'll help with the jousting. Martial combat is right up my alley."

Rainbow thumped against him. "You're not getting rid of me that easily! Besides, takes two ponies to joust."

The two argued it even as Twilight dutifully copied out the section they were discussing. "Here you are. Follow these directions and we'll make this Crystal Fair special. Fluttershy!" She spotted the demure pegasus sneaking past. "I have just the thing for you."

"You do?" Fluttershy veered towards Twilight curiously. "What could I help with?"

"A petting zoo." Twilight tapped at a new page. "Sounds like it was made for you."

Fluttershy's nervousness faded rapidly to one of joy. "That does sound lovely!" Soon she had her own collection of papers and an assignment to get a petting zoo going. "Oh, little baby ewes. They're so cute." And off she went with a happy smile.

Applejack approached, inclining her hat. "Heard all the commotion. Yer not gonna leave me out, are ya? How can ah help?"

"Well." Twilight flipped through the book rapidly back and forth before she found what she was searching for. "Here we are. You're good with fruit preparation, right?" Twilight twirled the book so Applejack could see it.

"Crystal berries? Huh." She rubbed at her chin. "Gonna assume they ain't as hard as crystal. But ah guess we're about to find out." And soon she was marching off with her own set of papers, a job to do.

"Ooo!" Pinkie was behind Twilight. When she got there was anypony's guess. "Look at that thing!" Displayed was quite a strange instrument indeed. "Says it's a Flugelhorn. I wanna play one of those!" And she bounced off without asking, or needing a copy from the book. She was a mare on a mission.

Twilight's lips moved with words she was reading. "Did you... know they had an anthem? Hm..." She produced multiple copies of that, for everypony to learn. "Their culture was quite interesting. Anypony see Rarity? I have a task that is right up her alley."

But Rarity was not there. She was busy trying different dresses on Umbra. "Good of Cadance to let us borrow these." She donned Umbra in a sunny yellow number. "I love that contrast!" She brought up a mirror for inspection. "What do you think?"

"Not bad..." She turned left and right to get better angles. "This feels so strange."

"Strange?" Rarity looked over her test subject, er, fashion client. "You don't look uncomfortable." Not like other shy ponies she had dealt with.

"But I am!" Her eyes flared with her shadowy power, but that faded as she did a full turn in place. "I'm not used to just... showing off." She ended her turn back at Rarity. "I... Maybe I should work... up to it?"

"If you have it, show it off," countered Rarity with a little smile. That was a shyness she was used to enough. "I swear, darling. You should talk to Fluttershy. She knows precisely how you feel, I think. Still, if you're not feeling it...?"

Umbra danced from hood to hoof, gazing at the mare in the reflection of the floating mirror. "So, silly question. I can't help but notice that most ponies just don't... wear... anything. I mean, sure, the guards wear armor, that makes sense. Shining was a guard, I heard? But he's pretty nude too."

Rarity skewed an ear. "Well, yes, dear. Ponies wear clothes to send a message." She gestured at herself. "Like mine. It says 'I am fashionable and to be admired! A mare in command of her presence.'" She stood upright and proud. "But, no, it's not technically required. We are ponies, after all. We have a nice thick pelt that wards away the chill and the wind... to a point."

Umbra willed the dress off, wriggling to help it slip free. "So, maybe I should get used to... this... first." She gestured over herself.

Rarity studied Umbra with fresh eyes. "Darling, why are you... getting used to... That?" It was Rarity's turn to wave at the whole of Umbra. "You are a grown mare. Aren't you used to that?"

Umbra darkened, taking a half-step back. "I wasn't always a mare, or even a pony. I'm pretty happy about the first part, but it's still... all new." She took the step back forward. "I'm grateful! Seriously, this is... great, awesome! I'm just, well..." She rolled a hoof in the air, searching for the word. "In awe?"

"That does match an awesome event," agreed Rarity with a little smile. "What were you, dear, before now?"

"I got it!" Spike was entering the room, pulling a rack behind himself. "They were hidden, but I found them!"

Rarity clopped her hooves. "Spike, you are a champion. Oh, Umbra. This is Spike." She gestured at the small dragon. "Spike, this is Umbra. Now, unfortunately, we may not be able to use those as I had planned."

Despite those words, Umbra walked up to the rack and began looking at the various dresses, her magic shuffling them left or right to get them into view without removing them from the rack.

"Nice to meetcha." Spike offered a hand.

Which Umbra returned with a hoof. "Hey." It was only a moment later that she really clicked what she was shaking hoof to claw with. "Woah, you really are a dragon! A little cute dragon! Aw!"

Spike colored at that. "I'm not cute..."

"Oh yes you are." Rarity was upon him, pinching his cheeks between her hooves. "My Spike-Wikey is the most adorable dragon I know!"

"I'm the only dragon you know," dryly countered Spike. "Um, but hi. Rarity sent me to find where they were hiding their wardrobe. I thought she was crazy, but nope. Rarity intuition won again."

"It always does, dear." Rarity looked smugly satisfied. "I saw your curious eyes. Do any of these catch your interest?"

Umbra pushed the clothes with her hoof from right to left. "Oh." She leaned in and snatched a tiara in her teeth. "This is pretty." A crystal tiara, as crystal ponies were known to favor. It had a bright bold red gem in the center.

Rarity's magic took hold of it and placed it neatly on Umbra's head, parked right beside her ears, using them to stay in place. "It does look lovely on you. Spike?"

Spike rubbed his chin as he considered the mare and her new tiara. "Not bad. The red really pops against your grey tones." His finger lowered from her tiara to her eyes. "And matches your eyes."

She did have bright red eyes, which blinked as she blushed faintly. "Thank you. You are a nice little dragon. Spike, right? Like your horns."

"Spines," corrected Spike as he turned and reached back, plucking at his spines in demonstrating those ornaments of his.

Umbra leaned in towards him, studying him quite up close. "Huh, you're like me."

Spike backed up a bit from the imposing mare. "Like you? Uh... I'm not a pony." He extended a finger. "My eyes don't go all... trailing like that?"

"We both have fangs." Umbra flashed a smile to show hers off. "We both have slit eyes." Her eyes widened a moment before focusing back sharply. "We're very alike by my measure, and you seem nice, so I'm leaning into that. Is that alright?"

Rarity nudged Spike softly. "Let us celebrate where we are similar, and differ. I love the gradient in your horn. I never saw a unicorn with a gradient in their horn, but, darling, it works for you. Almost makes me jealous!"

Spike chuckled softly. "Yeah, alright, we got that." He fired a thumbs up. "But I have fingers and you don't. I have scales, and I don't see any of those."

"Nope, fur." Umbra leaned right back in, rubbing the end of her snout into those scales, fur and scales brushing gently. "Which is still a new thing, but not a bad thing."

Spike pushed her back an inch. "New thing?"

"I will agree with that question. Do tell us what you mean, dear." Rarity nodded in solidarity with that line of questioning. "We really would like to know."

Umbra sank to her haunches. "Do any of you even know what a human is?" No hands raised. "Alright, so... Imagine a creature that stood up, like Spike. No scales though. Just skin." She raised a hoof to her mane. "They have hair though. Like your mane, right on their head. Most of the rest, just skin."

The image in Spike's head was not a flattering one. "Huh, odd... And now... pony?"

"Now pony," agreed Umbra. "Still getting used to it, but I'm not mad at it." She wagged a hoof at Spike. "I miss fingers though."

"Fingers are awesome." He presented a balled fist and they met, hoof to fist in a moment of solidarity behind how great fingers were. "Sorry you lost yours. I hope I never lose mine." He felt one hand with the others, not knowing that, in the future, this fear would come to be.

"Well forget that thought." Rarity leveled a hoof at Umbra. "You have hooves now. Lovely hooves, if you don't mind my saying. We could do so much more with them! You've never had a hooficure, clearly."

"That would be odd." Having not had hooves before. "I've seen... Heard about that... I..." She turned her hoof to look on it. "Do they let you pick a color?"

"Darling, a single color is just the start." Rarity leaned forward with a grin. "Your hooves are a part of your identity, like that tiara that called out to you. We will make your hooves agree with you."

The giggle that Umbra made very poorly fit her imposing appearance. "That sounds super fun. Spike, wanna come with us?"

"Huh?" He flashed out his fingers. "No hooves."

Rarity pfft'ed at that objection. "You have claws, dear. They can be cared for in much the same way. Now, Umbra is inviting, so, would you care to come along with us or not? I know that may not be a... stallion-like thing."

Spike detected his opportunity. "What? Nah. I'll keep you two company." A big smile, knowing he'd get to hang out with Rarity, and also that strange new pony, but mostly Rarity. "Sign me up."

Umbra clopped her hooves together. "How--"

"--There you are." The door was already swinging with Twilight's magic as she came into view. "Rarity, we need your expertise."

Rarity turned to Twilight. "Sounds serious. Whatever is the matter?"

Twilight held up a book, hovering there. "See this?" She pointed at a picture there on the opened page. "I need you to make it."

"Huh." Rarity leaned forward. "It's a lovely pattern... But what is it?"

"It's a flag." Twilight bobbed her head twice. "And we need it, a lot of it, to remind the crystal ponies of their history."

"Hm." She curled a hoof to her chin. "I can see why you came to me. I am on the case!" She pointed at the rack of old dresses. "I will have to recycle thread. Unless you have spare spools laying about for me to use?"

Umbra inclined her head. "Oh, you're busy." She looked past Rarity to Twilight. "How can I help? They've been giving me everything. I want to give something back."

Twilight copied the pattern of the flag out to a new paper to leave with Rarity. "That's a nice thought." She smiled at the new mare, considering them. "What are your specialties?"

"Oh, well, hm... I... I'm pretty good at sticking it out through hard times?" Umbra shrugged softly. "I can put up a decent fight, apparently. I have shadow magic!" Her horn glowed and eyes trailed as she pointed that out, though both faded quickly.

Twilight frowned softly. "I see... The problem is that crystal ponies are a bit afraid of shadow magic." She wobbled a hoof in the air. "Speaking of that, I have about a thousand questions for you on that topic, but let's stay focused... How are you at crafts?"

Umbra blinked softly. "I'm alright. I've had to fix things for myself. I can cook decently? I've sewn, but only to fix things." She raised a hoof into view. "I had fingers back then, but I could imagine it now." Her horn began to glow faintly. "So I could, I think, still do it?"

Twilight nodded firmly. "Great. How do you feel about basket weaving?" Her magic flipped the pages quickly, showing off the crystal empire baskets. "It was traditional to offer this activity during the fair. If you can take care of that, that'd be wonderful!"

"Hm." Umbra considered the floating picture. "Do we have the straw to make baskets with?"

"That would be the first step of this project, securing the materials. Are you up for it?" Already her magic was making a copy of the relevant pages.

Umbra accepted the paper. "I'll do my best." She waved the paper suddenly at Rarity. "Where'd yours go?"

"Hm?" It was true, she was no longer holding a paper in her magic. "My what?"

"The paper." Umbra waved hers emphatically. "Where'd you put it?"

"In my pocket?" Like magic, she plucked it free of her side like that was just a normal thing to do. "Is everything alright, darling?"

Umbra willed her paper against her side and began rubbing it up and down and all around, trying to find the concealed entrance to that pouch. "Where?"

Spike hopped up, grabbing the paper free of her arcane grasp. "Right here." And he just... shoved it in there.

This was a curious sensation, like someone reaching into her pocket, as if she wore pants, and Spike just reached down into their pocket and put something there. She could feel his fingers there, close to her, too close. Closer than her fur should have allowed for. She danced away from him with a startled yelp.

"Spike, really. Ask a mare before you go getting quite that intimate." She rolled her eyes. "Still, now you know, I hope? Twilight's already run off to the next box on her list. Let's make sure we do our part to make this 'crystal fair' thing a success, hm?"

"Yeah! Yeah..." Umbra was looking back at the concealed pocket. She could feel the paper in it. She reached a hoof, casually working the paper back out, then putting it in again with her magic. "Got it... Alright, baskets..." She wandered away from Rarity, on the hunt for basket material.

And she ran right into Shining Armor. "You alright?"

She blinked at the stallion. "I'm alright. You look more upset than I do. What's up?"

"I felt something." He rubbed at his cheek softly. "Like somepony was shoving something in my pocket."

"Spike," answered Umbra, her brows falling as one. "Don't think he was trying to be rude, but I was not expecting it."

"Oh... I see... Did he... You sure it didn't hurt?" He circled around Umbra as if checking for damage.

"It was just surprising." She turned with him, keeping him ahead of herself. "I'm not hurt, promise."

"Huh... something new then. How you feel about something matters. You were surprised, and I felt... that, without the context. I was scared something happened." He sank to his haunches. "But everything's alright?"

"Promise." She smiled at Shining, Umbra's estimation of him raising a little. "Thanks, for caring, and... Well, just for caring. That's nice." She laughed, almost a giggle, but her low voice made it not quite that. "You ponies are so nice. I can't even handle it." Not that she seemed bothered. "Oh! Baskets! I need basket supplies."

"Baskets?" But soon the paper was being floated in front of him. "Baskets. I'm with Rainbow on the jousting tournament, but..." And he began to lead her, trotting in an energetic jog down the hallway. "In here." He pointed a hoof at a closed door. "Pretty sure I saw some things that could work."

Umbra tossed her head, her magic translating that into throwing open the door. Inside, piles and piles of... stuff... Among them, she could see what she needed. "I have to sort this out, but it's perfect. Thanks!" She almost went in for a hug, but shied back, ears folding against her head. Awkwardly, she headed into the room. "Thanks," she repeated more quietly.

Shining angled an ear at the departing mare. "Good luck. Hopefully we'll get to enjoy the fair besides running our little portions of it." And off he went to resume the jousting preparation.

"I love what you're doing." Cadance nodded at Twilight. "I think it'll help raise their spirits, and that's important. They're so subdued." She tapped at her chin with a little frown. "But it doesn't explain--" Twilight held up what was becoming one of her favorite books. Cadance peered at the picture, which looked like her cutie mark, and the heart they had found. "What does it say?"

"The crowning moment of the fair." She tapped at it. "The crystal heart is placed right there." She tapped all the more firmly. "And the love and joy of the ponies of the crystal empire are focused on it. Then... well, it gets a bit fuzzy on what happened after that, but it seems something good."

Cadance frowned, but it flowed easily into a smile. "I'm not sure that'll shed light on this mystery, but it does explain why that crystal is so important. I'm glad we found it."

"I can only imagine how hard it'd be to do the crystal fair without it." Twilight snorted, imagining trying to create a look-alike and hoping for the best. "Speaking of that, the mystery. Umbra is helping with the fair. For however much she resembles Sombra, the similarities really do seem to only be skin deep."

"Not a thing I am sorry about." Cadance reached out, closing the hovering book. "She seems to be friendly. Confused, yes, but friendly. And--" She hissed suddenly, looping her hoof about to nurse at the bottom of it. "And she just got a splinter, I think. What is she doing? Or was that Shining?" The feelings still came with no return address. "One of the two of them stuck their hoof on a splinter." She winced softly. "And it just came out... That's... better."

Twilight considered the two. "In theory, that could have been either. The odds are better with Umbra. She's gearing up to weave baskets, which could, I suppose, produce that unfortunate sensation... That must be... difficult. All three of you wincing whenever any one of you gets into trouble."

Cadance's ears flickered. "Twilight, you are an innocent little filly."

Twilight's ears joined in the dance. "I am a grown mare, even if you used to foalsit me. What brings up my maturity suddenly?"

Cadance shook her head. "As unpleasant as that little poke was, me and Shining have... avoided quite a bit, knowing Umbra will be right there with us. We... might as well be in front of her. There is no subtle way of doing that in this situation. She's in a delicate place, and I'm doing my best to be accommodating, but if we could remove that level of intimacy?"

Twilight sat there, unmoving, barely blinking. But her brain did eventually process it. "Oh! Oh..." She began to go a vibrant shade from her neck spreading up over her entire face. "Oh!" Her brows came down together. "Oh! Cadie! I do not want to think of my brother that way even slightly!" She pawed at Cadance with her hooves in feeble protest at the mental assault delivered onto her.

Cadance could but laugh gently as she warded Twilight's half-hearted attack away. "I am sorry, but it is true. This has placed us in quite the awkward position. It's not her fault, near as I can tell. None of us meant for it to happen. I'm not mad at her, but the situation itself. None of us want to be in it. We are..." She rolled a hoof slowly. "We're all victims, together. But this heart, it seems powerful, and old. It didn't just... do it randomly, did it?"

Twilight inclined her head. "I would hope not. I will continue to research into the matter. In the meanwhile, if we are to welcome Umbra properly, we should give her a welcome that the crystal ponies understand."

Cadance rose to her hooves fully. "I have an idea on that front. She isn't Sombra, thankfully. She is Umbra, defeater of Sombra, reclaimer of the Crystal Heart, and a champion of the realm. They will celebrate her instead of fearing her." She did not know that, in another realm, Spike had earned that title. "We'll make sure she's close by as we finish things with the crystal, so everypony can know she helped make that day happen."

"Great idea!" Twilight clopped twice before starting to walk off. "The preparations are coming along nicely. Look forward to a crystal fair to bring back the spirit of the empire!"

4 - The Pulse of a Crystal Heart

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The city was full of a new life. Banners flew high from many rooves. Voices were raised to join them as crystal ponies sang their anthem, smiles on their faces. A cloud over the populace was drawing back, allowing a peek at the vibrant people underneath.

"It's been so long." An older mare was busy trying her best to assemble a basket. "I used to be a fair hoof at this when I was a young thing. I could use a replacement basket. Poor thing from back then's showing about as much wear as the rest of me." She laughed at her humor, clearly in good cheer.

Not debilitated, Shining Armor clashed wildly with Rainbow Dash to the roaring cheers and stomps of the watching crowd. That crowd was a blend of crystal and normal ponies as many visiting guards were in attendance to watch one of their bosses engage in the duel. Both of the fighters were in great spirit, and soon others wanted to join in the fun. Surely running at one another couldn't be that hard, right?

Applejack proudly offered up steaming treats. "Step right up!" The part that confused her was there no bits were exchanging hooves. It was all just for fun, all of it. Which meant she was trying to sell, for nothing. "Tease yer tastebuds. Just take a smell." The crystal berries did smell quite nice, baked into treats. She snagged a cookie herself and chomped into it with an appreciative mmm. Which was enough to draw a curious pony over to join her.

Pinkie danced and pronked down the roads, playing her flugelhorn proudly. By proudly, of course, we mean loudly, but the noise of it was mostly consumed by the noise of the crowd. It was just the thing to fit into the festival, and few ultimately complained about it.

Fluttershy, not caught up in jousting matches she didn't want to be in, gladly served as the interface between the shy ponies and the uncertain ewes, bringing them together to enjoy one another's fluffiness.

A filly squealed with joy as a ewe grabbed her and the two began to wrestle and play to the delight of both parties. Soon other ponies began to play along, petting and admiring the little lambs as Fluttershy provided commentary about their habits and how to care for them properly.

But that was all a warmup. Cadance set the crystal heart with her magic right on its spot on the podium even as flashes in the audience came and went. The ponies were having such a good time, they were awakening to their true selves, even if only a moment. Whatever they were doing, it was working. "And this should be the final touch." She patted the recovered crystal.

"Ooo." A crowd of crystal ponies jostled and peeked at the heart, now displayed. Several more began to shine brilliantly, the mere sight of the artifact enough to stir their own hearts to wild activity.

Cadance suddenly winced. A strange new pain flared up, and she couldn't even tell where from. It was... like her entire body was suddenly too close to a fire. But neither Shining nor Umbra should have been playing with fire. "Hm..."

Shining flinched mid-charge, which got him thumped with Rainbow's lance. He lost that round, but his mind was more on why it felt like he was burning. "Uh, time out." He tapped a leg against the opposing hoof in the traditional signal and dashed off to try to find an answer.

Elsewhere, a pony was not overseeing the basketweaving station she had set up. She hissed softly, but didn't cry or call out. She was enduring the burning pain, waiting for it to pass, like many other discomforts she had experienced before. She was also hiding in a small utility shed. "They're having fun..." She could hear the festivities and joy through the door. She didn't want to be in the middle of that, looking sour. It was her job to help people be exactly that cheerful. It was working. She just wasn't... part of it.

"Umbra?" Shining was wandering past. "Where are you? Are you alright?"

He wouldn't find her. He was going the wrong way. But his call told her that he was feeling it too. He'd be confused and worried. If she just hid, it wouldn't help...

She nudged the door open and peeked out. "Over here." Her voice was even more gravely than usual and she blushed at it, withdrawing into her safe dark place.

"Umbra?" Shining was at the door of the shed in almost no time at all. "What's going on?" His snoot poked in through the door. "It's dark in here. Want me to... fix that?"

"No." Umbra shook herself out a little. "The dark helps, I think."

He slipped inside, knocking the door shut with a parting kick. "Then dark it is." With the door closed, things did become darker. Not pitch dark by any measure, but gloomier. "I don't feel better."

"I do..." Umbra sank to her belly. "Must just be a... you know... mental thing." A safe little dark place, where she wouldn't be attacked. It felt nicer, which made her feel better about the pain she was enduring.

"Then it counts." He sank to his haunches next to her. "Now what happened? Did you get burned?"

"No... I... don't really know." She sat up, though her eyes were closed. "It feels... Well, you can feel it. It just started happening. The louder the crowd got, the worse it got."

Shining set a hoof on Umbra's back, petting her gently. "You're not alone."

A single little sniffle escaped the darkness. She was used to dealing with pain, but it was rare that someone just... accepted they were part of it. "Thank you."

He leaned in and thumped the side of his head against hers. "Part of that is literal. Cadance and I are with you. This isn't fun."

"Oh." Her ears pinned. "I'm really sorry." Sharing her pain was something she had long ago learned was not something one did. Nobody wanted to know another's pain, not really. Talking about it was a good way to turn them away. "How do I stop it?"

"Mystery of the month." He gently stroked her closer side. "But, for now, relax. It feels a little better now that you're calming down." His presence was soothing her, and with it, the shared pain was ebbing a little. "How'd the basket weaving go?"

Umbra let out a choked laugh at that. "It was fun, really." Well, until the pain got too much, but she didn't mention that part. "They were so happy, putting them together... I made one." She drew out a small basket, barely larger than her hoof in diameter. "Isn't it cute?"

In the gloom, Shining couldn't really make out what color it was. "Nice." It was well put together, he could see that at least. He saw worse examples of it while looking for Umbra. "I want to sit here until you feel better, but Cadance is going to need me soon."

"Huh? Yeah, no, go." Umbra shoved against him. "Don't make her wait." Not for Umbra's sake, so far she saw it. "I'll be alright."

"I'll come back." Shining rose to his hooves. "She'll be happy to know I found you." And he was gone, galloping off to head to Cadance's side.

Which left Umbra alone, which is what she wanted at that moment. "Barely here and already messing things up," she groaned, holding her head between her hooves. "Get it together!" She forced herself upright. "I'm supposed to be there too."

She willed the door open and emerged into the bright light of day, even if it made her squint against it. She could see the festival had only grown in intensity since her ducking out of it. Ponies were smiling and playing and they were... shiny? A lot of them were shinier than they had been. Their colors were brighter, their gemstone like eyes were glittering. It was a glorious day.

And she wasn't feeling it. But she forced a smile anyway and did her best to fit in as she started a brisk trot towards where the crystal was waiting. She wouldn't keep them waiting if she could help it.

Umbra began to run into an increasingly dense crowd. They were all gathering for something, probably what she needed to be there for. As the density grew and grew and her progress slowed, she grumbled softly and tried to fade to shadow. Surely that would be faster to get--Oh. The smoldering flames inside her flared to a brilliant life and all she knew was pain for the moment it took for her to fade back into flesh. Shadow was not an option.

Cadance grimaced behind a smile that she kept up thanks to coaching from her aunt, Celestia. "Thank you all for coming. Today is a wondrous day, full of joy and remembrance." She gestured at the heart that sat calmly on the pedastal. "It is almost time. But I wanted to, oh, there they are." She pointed to the figure of Umbra trying to get through the crowd. "Please, let them through." The crowd parted at her command. "This is Umbra, the defeater of Sombra. Reclaimer of the Crystal Heart." She gestured back at the heart.

The crowd began to give collective Ooos and Ahhs, their eyes following as Umbra strode past them to join Cadance. She turned around and nodded at the crowd, but didn't say anything.

Cadance gently nudged against Umbra. "Go on. Say hello to the ponies of the Crystal Empire."

"Oh," she grumbled quietly, gathering her courage. "Hey!" Umbra waved, trying for a slow aristocratic wave, like a queen would do it. "Nice to meet you all."

Despite her discomfort, the crowd reacted well to her greeting, cheering and stomping eagerly. "But now it is time." Cadance gestured at the heart. "For you all to focus your love and joy on the crystal heart." They had learned it should amplify and echo those feelings. It was how the Crystal Empire was a beacon of such joy for the world.

The ponies began to drop to their knees, heads lowering, the ground glittering in powerful lines that wove out in complex patterns. The crystal lifted into the air, an inert thing no more. It began to spin slowly in place, but that pace accelerated by the moment.

And Umbra's world was pain. Her teeth had set, and she tried her best to keep a passive expression. It would pass. It would... pass. She wouldn't ruin that precious moment. It was far more important than her moment of discomfort. Something bumped into her. Cadance set a leg over Umbra, holding her firmly. Without word, she had come. Of course, the princess did feel that pain too, but Umbra had forgotten that, distracted as she was.

A wave of power thrust out, but none of the three linked ponies could observe it. They were elsewhere, in a strange crystalline nothing. They stood there, somehow in a perfectly even triangle that had no real dimensions. With a loud gasp, Cadance became brilliant crystals, transparent in part, shining brilliantly with a power she did not have, but did, just never manifested so directly. The line that connected them began to glow, working towards Shining Armor and Umbra, the dark black line becoming shining crystal, working towards them.

Shining Armor had no fear of the approaching power from Cadance, but his eyes were on the other line, the one approaching Umbra, who quaked with a terror she could not hide. He thrust a hoof towards the mare, his own line towards her starting to glow brightly, building from him and working towards her, racing Cadance's power. One was crystalline doom, the other, the light rose of his shielding magic, racing towards the trembling Umbra.

But time was subjective there. Despite what felt like a delay in their start, they all reached their point at the exact same instant. Shining flared to brilliant light, form becoming engulfed in the crystalline power of the heart.

Umbra roared. She wasn't trying to, but there was little other word that matched the great noise that came from her, roaring with force to shake the non-land around them.

But they weren't there anymore. Umbra stood before a crowd of ponies that had managed to become even more crystalline than they began, transparent and joyous. The burning had stopped, and everything was pink? She reached out and ran a hoof over the bubble that surrounded both her and Cadance. "What the?"

Shining's horn stopped glowing as the bubble came down with a sigh of relief. "You two alright?" He was striding towards the two mares with a happy smile. "I wasn't sure if I would make it."

The crowd was abuzz with chatter, admiring their crystal forms, returned, or newly given. Cadance backed to the side, looking at Umbra. "Look at you."

"Hm?" But then a mirror floated in front of Umbra. "Oh." She was crystal, like the others, but also not. Her crystalline form was filled with smoke that roiled and flowed within her form, as if the crystal skin was the only thing holding her in place. As if... she would fly apart if not for that skin. "Oh..." She shuddered softly, imagining that, just... coming apart. "Oh..."

Cadance shook her head softly. "These things do not happen randomly. I refuse to accept that." She set a hoof on her crystal chest. "The heart gave you both things you need."

Umbra's vision focused on Shining. "You are... this skin. You held me together. Thank you. Thank you! Oh man, not good at this." She danced in place. "But thank you, seriously. We are so even." She turned towards Cadance. "And I'm not even trying to be... salty, but what is your part of this? The heart was ready to blast me apart, he held me together, I... get that." She cringed at the vision. "What did you do?"

Cadance didn't look terribly affronted, that gentle smile of hers not fading. "For one, without me, there would be no Shining Armor, nor a crystal heart to begin with. We are a unit." That got her a Shining, their noses meeting in a warm nuzzle of unmistakable love. "For two... he may have shaped it, talented stallion he is, but I like to think the crystal itself?" She reached out and tapped in soft tinks against Umbra's crystalline form. "That was me."

Umbra colored softly, a thing she could do even as a smoke crystal, swirls and eddy of her blush flowing through her body. "I am just gonna admit it." The two looked at her. "What? Super jealous. You two are the real deal. I never saw... two people this tight if it wasn't like the honeymoon rush or whatever they call it."

Shining laughed at that, turning towards the crowd. "I feel that way every day I first see my Cadie."

"I'll gladly ditto that." She moved to his side, facing the crowd. "I declare this crystal fair a complete success," she boomed with the royal Canterlot voice. "Thank you all." Some began to disperse, to get to their business, or to enjoy the festival while it was there. Either way, the great collective power given to the heart was done, with it spinning brilliantly without them.

Hooves struck the crystal, stone to stone. "What's with the smoked look?" Rainbow inclined her head at Umbra. "Kinda cool, but also kinda creepy."

The others of the Mane 6 arrived to join in fascination at what had happened to their new friend. Twilight advanced to the fore, nose to nose with Umbra. "Now that this situation is complete, I declare you to be my next project." Her eyes were wandering over Umbra, taking her all in. "I have so many questions, and I think you do too."

"Yeah..." Umbra took a half step back. "But I'm not a test subject."

Twilight inclined her head. "Isn't that exactly what you are?"

That got her a ribbing from Rarity. "Darling! Don't be gauche about it. You are a pony. We will respect that, won't we?" She was facing Twilight in a challenging way.

"Hm? Oh!" Twilight bobbed her head. "Of course." She rubbed her chin thoughtfully. "This crystal state should fade in time. I am curious to see if you also revert."

"What's the alternative?" Umbra's slit eyes contracted. "Just the crystal goes away?"

"Well, yes, a possibility." Twilight nodded along as if that wasn't an existential situation. "We don't know. Watching and monitoring is the only way to be sure."

Cadance suddenly brushed Twilight back. "Which is why Umbra will stay with us, in sight, until that happens."

Shining took up the space next to Cadance with a nod. "Yeah, sorry Twili, but you're stuck with us for now. We're not leaving Umbra alone until we're sure she's safe."

Twilight nodded, not looking upset at the news. "That shouldn't get in the way of things." A scroll and quill appeared with her magic, using one to make marks on the other. "What we can learn from this." She sat down, facing all three of them as she doodled her thoughts busily.

Umbra reached out and poked Twilight, just to do it again, harder. "Huh..."

"Something wrong?" Shining watched Umbra's outstretched hoof. "Don't be mad at Twili, she's just excited."

"Not that." Umbra pointed back at her side. "Go on, poke me. Cadance, tell me if you can feel it."

Cadance raised a brow. "You heard her. Poke." Not that she had any idea why this request was being made.

Shining was not one to deny, chuckling as he reached out to boop the side of Umbra's crystal form. "I didn't feel anything." Which was normal. Feelings didn't echo back on the source. It was perhaps for the best.

Cadance's raised brow fell, joining the other in a frown. "I could feel your hoof doing the poke, but I felt nothing being poked. Umbra, are you alright?"

"I really don't know." Umbra was fidgeting on her hooves. "I can't feel anything. It's... Well, I am in a crystal bubble, aren't I? How am I even talking?!" But she was talking. She could see and hear. But she couldn't touch. Well, aside from the echoes of touches that Cadance or Shining Armor did. She could feel those. "This is super messed up."

Applejack inclined her head. "Jus' a little. Uh, gonna leave this right to Twilight to puzzle out. This is well outside mah specialty, ya know? Ya need a pony to talk to though, ah'm here."

The other girls joined in similar statements of support but also helplessness. Nobody there really knew what was going on. Twilight was eager to document and maybe learn something in the process.

Fluttershy started away. "I should get the ewes back to their parents. They're so eager to see their little ones." And she was gone to get the crystal animals back together.

Pinkie jumped forward. "I saw something that was kinda funny and I think Twilight would wanna hear, and maybe you?"

Umbra inclined an ear at the bubbly crystal pony. "But maybe not? Uh... thanks for not just blurting it, I guess, but go ahead?"

"Okey!" She looked much happier with permission given. "Just before the crystal did its fwoosh thing, I was watching you." She was pointing at Umbra. "And you were glowing from the inside out like you were, um... Like a balloon full of confetti and the confetti was coming out." She paused a moment. "Except the confetti was light."

Umbra cringed at the mental image. She had literally been coming apart. "That explains the... sensation..."

Shining joined in that wince. "Glad we stopped you from... exploding?"

"Exploding is the worst," agreed Pinkie as if exploding was a thing she had much experience with. "Good thing you didn't do that, huh?" She inclined her head left and right. "Because I still need to throw a party for you, and it's hard to enjoy parties when you're all kersploded. You said small parties? You sure you don't want a big party? The ponies are gonna want to be there now!"

Umbra chuckled nervously. "Fluttershy, back me up." But Fluttershy was already gone, off to handle ewes.

Fortunately, Applejack was there to throw herself in the way. "Pinkie, small. Ah bet she'd like a little shindig with us, an' them." She pointed at Cadance and Shining. "That sound alright, sugar cube?"

"Yes... Thank you... Hold... those thoughts though." She extended her smoke filled but crystalline tongue. "Can I even taste right now? Not sure..."

Pinkie's eyes went wide. "You won't taste my cake? This is an emergency." She grabbed Twilight with her hooves, shaking her. "Fix her, now!"

Twilight shoved Pinkie back to her haunches. "I will do the best I can, but that isn't likely to happen today." She turned to Cadance. "Do you have a laboratory at hoof?" Cadance's blank blink was answer enough. "Didn't hurt to ask. I'll have to improvise... And I know exactly the pony that can help." All of the other mares looked to her as she pointed to Pinkie. "How do you feel about helping advance science?"

"With honor!" She saluted, dusting off the labcoat she hadn't been wearing before, but sure was at that point. "Lab assistant Pie, reporting for duty."

"Excellent, let's begin." She started to lead Pinkie away, only to pause. "That includes you."

Umbra saw Twilight was looking at her. "Oh! Uh, sure?" She glanced aside at the royal couple. "You two coming along?"

Shining started forward. "Of course we are."

"If anypony can figure this out." Cadance was moving to join the line. "Twilight would be the one. I have confidence in her."

"We're behind you, Twili." Shining chuckled softly. "Literally. Go on."

And so it was that Twilight led the procession to begin trying to get to the bottom of things.

Rarity watched them go. "Well, I suppose that means the rest of us are on break until they're done. I have my talents, but science is not really one of them, dears."

"Ain't gonna argue that none." She pulled out a plate with a slice of pie on it. "Ya get to try a bit of the crystal cherry pie? It really is pretty darn good."

"If you tempt me."

Rainbow snorted as Rarity got to sampling. "Yeah, not gonna sit here. The weather around here's a bit nuts. Gonna beat it into shape while we're here." And she was gone in a streak of rainbows.

Spike was enjoying just watching Rarity be, well, Rarity, but... "I should help Twilight. Pinkie may have a few tricks, but she doesn't know how to be a #1 assistant." And off he dashed, vanishing into the castle to catch up with the others.

Rarity chuckled at the sight. "What a dear thing. For Twilight, he'd move the world."

Applejack snorted as she tucked the pie away. "Like he wouldn't fer you?"

"It's different." Rarity waved the idea away. "They are siblings, and it really shows. I should know."

"Ah got a sister too," defended Applejack. "And ah brother too!"

"A fine brother you have, dear." Rarity nodded in agreement. "Your mother--" She cut herself right off, pivoting right on that word. "That pie really was scrumptious! You outdid yourself."

"Thanks." Applejack accepted the swerve away from the painful topic. She glanced away and back. "Rare? Can we talk?"

"Hm? Whatever about?"

"They're gonna be a while." she angled her head at the castle they were beside. "Jus' got me thinkin'... What's it like, being a grown pony, with yer parents right there? Jus'... thought I'd ask, ya know?"

"I don't know," admitted Rarity. "But that certainly sounds like something worth finding out. I would be honored to discuss it with you." She offered a hoof, and the two moved off to have a chat in privacy.

5 - A Momentary Shine

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Twilight moved her hooves slowly left and right, her horn glowing softly, her eyes closed. "Hm. Hm..."

"This feels funny," piped Pinkie, her eyes also closed and her hooves moving as if with sympathy with Twilight's. "What are we doing again?"

"I'm dousing, for lack of better word." She turned in place and put out a hoof, feeling the magic pulls and tugs that came with each motion. "And I have news."

Pinkie's eyes popped open. "Great! What is it?"

Shining, who sat a bit to the right, nodded. "Please, do share."

"Quite eager to learn." Cadance reached to pat the still mildly distressed Umbra. "Does it help the situation?"

"In part." Twilight let out a soft breath. "So, you three are connected, you know that, but it's not just you three." She went for a window and pointed out of it. "The Crystal Heart is in that network. You three are connected... to it."

Umbra raised a brow, though it was only of crystal, her form still that of formless smoke. "That makes sense enough, thinking about it. So can we use that to... make sure I don't evaporate?"

With a freshly glowing horn, Shining set a hoof on the opposite side of Umbra. "We won't let you do that."

"That we will not," joined Cadance, the couple united in their willingness to protect the pony between them.

"I think I have good news on that front." She turned, hoof rolling. "As the energy that overwhelmed you fades, you should be able to become solid again. This should happen before your crystal shell fades. And if that timing is a little off." Twilight waved at the two ponies already in position. "I think they can keep things steady."

Spike hurried into the room, setting a book down, saluting, and backing off without a word. Twilight lifted the book in her magic, flipping it open. "There is much more for us to figure out. But at least this specific emergency should pass without anyone exploding."

"Phew!" Pinkie wiped her brow clear of the sweat formed of worry. "Good! That means we can get to planning that par-tay!"

Shining chuckled softly. "Give us at least a few days, Pinkie."

"Aw."

Spike produced a sizable instrument. "Saved this."

Pinkie's eyes widened. "Spike, you really are a #1 assistant!" She grabbed the flugelhorn and began to bounce away, playing it wildly without the need for a festival to enjoy doing so.

Umbra watched the pink one's departure. "You didn't need her for anything, I hope?"

"Too late to ask that." Twilight was chuckling softly as she came in closer. "How do you feel?"

"I'm not on fire anymore. In fact... It feels cool. A good cool. Like... Um... Like someone pouring cold water over a burn? Yeah, that fits it."

Shining inclined his head. "I don't feel that."

"Nor I." Cadance set a hoof to her chin. "Perhaps you being forcably... disjointed like that is limiting our sharing. You can clearly feel us. I mean, you can't, but you can feel us feeling things."

"Yes. That. Like those." Umbra looked between the two hooves on her, each to a side. "I know they're there. I can feel them, from their perspective. But I feel nothing from my side. Might as well be stone, which I am?"

Spike reached over to rap on the stoney smoke pony, though he was also crystalline as a result of the crystal heart. "Yep, hard as rock. Oh, try this." He fished out a cookie. "One of the crystal berry cookies Applejack whipped up."

"Uh." With a glowing horn, Umbra took the cookie. Her eyes gave off their energy, but it was all internal to her crystal shell, creating odd streaks that ran down her face. "It... shouldn't hurt anything." Her eyes focused on Twilight. "Right?"

"I don't predict so." Twilight bobbed her head. "Go on."

With a loud crunch, Umbra sank their crystal teeth into the snack. With a swallow, bits of the cookie could be seen floating in her smoky interior. "That feels odd."

"But you can taste it," noted Cadance with a smile. "And I felt you... swallow it?"

"That was not like any swallow I ever did before." Shining looked perhaps a bit unnerved by the sensation of encompassing something instead of the usual process. "Tasted good at least."

"It did." Umbra sat up a little. "Which... I'm going to be alright." Her tension seemed to be ebbing quickly. "I'll be alright. You two don't have to babysit me."

"Too bad." Cadance slipped her leg over Umbra. "You're stuck with us."

"Not leaving until you're normal." Shining slid in without specific prompt, matching Cadance's position. "Glad you're feeling better."

"I am, really." Umbra was looking to Twilight. "Thanks for looking into it. Super appreciate it."

"A pleasure." Twilight sat up tall, proud. "But I still have questions. They... can wait until you're solid, but you will hopefully be alright with a few?" She smiled hopefully. "You represent a unique opportunity for learning."

Spike rolled a hand in the air. "Say yes. She just has some questions and it'll be easier if you let her."

Umbra chuckled, a dark noise suitable to a shadow creature she was. "As soon as I'm all here."

Things were calm for the time. "One thing." Eyes turned to Shining. "If we're all tied to the heart, I don't think it wanted to hurt you."

"Still hurt," noted Umbra dryly.

Cadance nodded gently. "It did... we all felt that." She pointed out the same window Twilight had opened. It was still open, but they couldn't see the heart from that angle. "And, you know what? I think it felt that too, if it's connected the same way."

"Good point." Shining leaned over Umbra to nuzzle the side of Cadance's cheek. "Maybe it knew things weren't going right before the big event."

"Which is why we were in the right position to play our part," continued Cadance.

"And you saved me," almost whispered Umbra, imagining that terrible moment. "But it didn't just... not explode at me?"

Shining shook his head. "It couldn't. The safety and health of the entire city, and, indirectly, the rest of Equestria relied on that happening."

"I'm really sorry." Cadance leaned in against Umbra, sharing her warmth. "We asked a lot from you without even realizing it. You don't technically owe us a thing. You're not Equestrian. You're not... even a pony, on the inside."

Shining blinked, thoughts taking a turn. "That's right. You came from... nowhere, and you're going through a lot... for us." He raised a hoof to his chest as he got to that. "That's a lot to ask of anycreature. I'd be annoyed too!"

Twilight suddenly clopped her hooves. "It's happening."

"What is?" Pinkie was back. When she got there, nopony could be certain, but she was emerging from behind Twilight. "Ooo, oh it is!" She was watching Umbra intently.

Umbra could feel herself contracting, a pressure against the crystal shell abating that she hadn't noticed. Her fur pressed against it from the inside, mashing it against her fur. She was not the crystal, she was trapped inside it. With a loud crack, it split right down the middle and fell away from her to the left and right, leaving her grey pelted form behind, whole and intact. "Wow."

Cadance and Shining brushed the crystal shell away, having fallen against either of them. Cadance captured Umbra's cheeks in her hooves. "I don't feel any pain. Are you alright?"

"I can feel you." Which was a nice change of pace. "And no, it doesn't hurt. I'm all... here." She swayed her tail with building energy. "All here and not exploding."

"Not exploding is one of my favorite things to do," agreed Pinkie with a solemn nod. "I try to do it at least once a day."

Spike hiked a brow at that. "Are there days when you don't not explode?"

Pinkie shrugged expansively. "We all have our off days, Spike. Glad you're feeling better!"

Even as Umbra stood up, Twilight was coming straight for her. "Now, speaking of the previous topic, where are you from?"

Umbra's eyes followed Twilight without her head moving to go along, limiting how long she could keep Twilight in view with her circling. "A charming little planet with the creative name of Earth."

"Earth? Curious." Twilight sat on her haunches before Umbra, a floating quill taking notes. "Is that the name of a kingdom, a duchy, a nation? Maybe something else?"

"I said, a planet. The country was The United States." Umbra nodded in easy confidence of those answers. "And don't ask me to point at it, because I haven't the slightest idea what direction that would be. And now I'm here, with you." Her eyes drifted to the other ponies, and a dragon, in her company. "And I'm a pretty pony. I'm not opposed to that part, really..."

"Could you describe what you were before being a pretty pony?" The quill was working busily to capture the information. "What species were you previously?"

"A human."

"Hue man," repeated Twilight slowly and methodically. "What taxonomic classification did they fall under? Are they also equine?!" Her fuzzy ears danced and her eyes sparkled with curiosity that only built with each answer given.

"Nope." Umbra waved a hoof at Twilight. "I had fingers. They are... what was it... apes? Ever see an ape?" Was it apes? Umbra struggled to remember. "Some kinda monkey-like... thing." She cycled her hooves wildly. "No tail, fingers. Two forward facing eyes. Omnivores!"

Spike flashed his sharp teeth. "Do the ponies look tasty?"

"Spike!" Twilight flashed him a scowl, only to look back at Umbra. "Do they?"

Umbra shook her head rapidly at that. "Nothing that can ask me if they're tasty is very tasty. That is where I draw that line." She slashed the air with a straight cut of her hoof. "That cookie was great." She extended her tongue. "But I have a pony tongue now?"

"About that cookie." Pinkie was bouncing in place. "Where is it?"

"Where..." Umbra trailed off, her eyes going wide. The cookie had been floating in her smoke body. She had... "Oh god... Pretty sure the cookie is me now."

Spike shrugged softly. "Well, doesn't that happen anytime anypony eats a cookie?"

Shining nodded at Spike. "He has a point. That last cookie is a part of me I'll treasure forever."

Cadance rolled her eyes. "I'll give your cookies a hug later. Umbra, just making sure, that cookie isn't stuck anywhere uncomfortable, I hope?"

"Not that I can tell?" Umbra was looking down at herself, as if she could spot the bits of cookie floating inside her physical body, which she could not. "That answer your question?"

Twilight shook her head. "Yes, but I have so many more. Were hue-mans familiar with other creatures? You don't seem alarmed being a pony, and seemed familiar with the idea of a dragon." She waved a hoof at Spike. "This implies--"

"--Nope."

"Nope?" Twilight tilted her head faintly. "No what?"

"Hue-mans were the only talking species on the planet, besides some copy-cat birds who didn't actually talk." Umbra floated up the cookie she had taken a bite out of before, enjoying a fresh crunch and swallowing it the normal way. "But we have lively imaginations. We imagined talking horses. We imagined dragons. We imagined... a lot of things really. Humans are about equally terrified of the idea of being alone and the idea of not being alone."

Spike leveled a clawed finger at Umbra. "You don't seem scared."

"I was scared of being blasted into bits." Umbra offered a scowl at the open window. "But I'm not scared of any of you. You--" She was looking at Twilight. "Are a dork. And I mean that in a positive way. You--" She looked at Spike. "Are a little kid of a dragon and I want to protect you, not get scared of you."

Spike looked quite unsure how to react to that.

Shining pointed at himself. "What about me?"

"Brave, guy, married." Umbra tapped her forehooves with each named point. "Seems like they'd be an alright buddy." She looked to Cadance. "And--"

"What about me?!" Pinkie thrust her head in the way, grinning a bit too widely.

"You are super charged and a lot of... everything." Umbra reached to pat Pinkie, who allowed it. "I am not scared of you, mostly, but you do confuse me."

Cadance gently nudged Pinkie aside. "I see a confused pony that needs a helping hoof."

Shining rubbed at a cheek. "While we're on the topic, were you a boy human or a girl human?"

Umbra glanced away. "That's a complicated question."

Twilight leaned in, mind awhirl with possibilities. "Does your original species have more or less sexes than we do? Are you aware of pony anatomy?!"

"You have boys and girls."

"Stallions and mares," offered Spike, raising a finger with each option. "You are a mare."

"Yes I am." Umbra rose to her hooves properly. "Shoot... I'm not an expert here... But, alright..." She began to fidget from hoof to hoof in a struggle for the right words. "You ever have a stallion that wants to be a mare? That is a mare, if you ask them?"

"So... gay?" proposed Spike with a shrug.

Pinkie huffed at the notion. "Spike's just a kid, forgive him. " She twirled back to Umbra. "A stallion that likes another stallion doesn't have to wanna be a mare. Those are two way different things." She threw her arms wide to try and encompass the big idea. "Just like a mare might like a mare and they don't have to be a stallion. Now, me, I like any pony that's fun to--"

"Pinkie," cut in Twilight, colored. "That's quite enough, thank you."

That Pinkie was bi was ultimately not that huge of a surprise, Umbra decided silently. "Spike, you are... a super little kid. Why do you even know that term?" Her eyes flashed with her confusion, also confirming her returned ability to do so.

Which is what Twilight stuck on. "Does it hurt when you do that?"

"Do what?" Umbra recoiled at the sudden pivot towards herself in the conversation. "Nothing hurts right now. All good."

Twilight casually reached out to paw with her hoof at Umbra's face just beside her eye. "When you get excited, or use magic, you seem to... Let me show you." She drew her hoof back. "Celestia showed this to me just before we came here." With some effort, she displayed her ability to use shadow magic, her horn bubbling up with the same purple and greens, though her closed eyes did not leak it as she grunted with effort.

With an explosive sigh, she let it go, the magic fading. "Did you see that?"

"Sombra had that going on." It seemed to tick into place with a sharp recoil. "Oh god, my eyes do that creepy thing his did? Super creepy." She willed a mirror over so quickly, her eyes flared, which let her see the reflection. "Oh man, they do. Look at that." Even if the glow was fading just holding the mirror there and no other magic being used.

She glanced at Cadance sheepishly. "Does this rule me out of the pretty pony club?"

Cadance considered with all due gravity. "No, I don't think it does. I feel certain that some ponies think it increases your comeliness."

"Even with my eyes going from white to green?" Umbra pointed at the affected peepers, though they were white with red irises at that instant. "No wonder they were scared of me. I'd be scared too."

Shining raised a hoof. "If you were scared, why did you fight Sombra. You attacked him without much delay, if there was any, I couldn't see it."

"You never heard that?" His expression implied he had no idea what Umbra spoke of. "Courage isn't not being scared. It's about acting even when you are. Sombra scared me, but I didn't want to be bullied, so I fought back. He wasn't the first jerk I ever ran into." She began to fuss over her mane with sweeps of her hooves. "Some of them hurt me pretty bad. This time I could fight back properly... But just... Just not fighting doesn't help like they say it does."

Shining clapped his hooves together. "We teach that sort of thing to training soldiers." He laughed in memory. "Had it beat into me back in the day. You fought to protect what's worth protecting, even if you're scared." He advanced on Umbra. "I'm not afraid to admit I was scared. He zapped my horn." He pointed up to the thankfully unharmed horn. "I had no magic, but Cadance was in danger, and the rest of the Crystal Empire. I had to fight."

"Yeah..." Umbra offered a hoof, soon met with one of his. "I understand. You understand." They were on the same page and she smiled lightly at that moment of bonding. "It's not because either of us want to throw down. Today was way more fun than fighting, minus the ouchie parts and maybe almost dying. Oh, did you see my basket?" She drew it out of her pocket that she was getting a handle on. "Ta da!"

Cadance and Pinkie both clapped politely, hooves clopping with smiles. Pinkie tilted her head. "As Rarity would say--" She shook her mane into a copy of Rarity's style. "I absolutely love the color, darling." The bright orange little basket sat neatly on Umbra's hoof. "Why so small? Kinda cute! But why?"

Umbra set the basket down in easy view. "I didn't want a big basket." Perhaps detecting that wasn't much of a reason, she rumbled with thought. "I wanted a decoration, rather than something you put lots of things in." She gestured at the basket. "Ta da?"

Cadance tapped at her chin. "Well, you should find just the right place in your room for it to sit then. Your very first decoration, isn't it? That's special."

Umbra reached for it, only to hesitate. "But... I'm just borrowing that room." She tucked the basket into her pocket. "I'll hold onto it."

Shining rose, making Umbra flinch back. "I'm not mad," he assured. "But that just isn't true. It's your room until you decide to move somewhere else." He chuckled softly. "With the way things are, I feel confident Cadance agrees with me that we'd rather you were close at hoof."

Cadance nodded in easy agreement, proving his hypothesis. "Yes. Poo... No. You are not just an unfortunate we are taking pity on." She pointed at Umbra. "You are a grown pony. I'm sure you have your own goals and wants. We would like to help, if we can, as we try to pick at this... issue. In either event, that room is yours until you leave it."

Pinkie tilted her head sharply to the left. "Unless you do something really bad. Then you get a new room! Probably a less nice room. Don't do that."

Spike chuckled at Pinkie's advice. "Probably a good idea. So... Shadow magic, huh? You can do stuff besides make things dark, right?"

Umbra brightened at Spike's question. "I can make me dark." She faded into shadow, just her baleful eyes glaring at Spike, snapping back to physicality a moment later. "Like that. While I'm all shadowy, I can fly, which is nice. I can make crystals." She waved, crystals flowing upwards from the equally crystalline floor, at first just a wave, but as she waved and gestured her hooves, she began to shape them into flowers, crude but genuine as her smile grew with the simple pleasure of creation. "See?"

Spike watched the hoof gestures shaping the crystal. "That's pretty cool. Huh... Oh!" He slapped a fist against the opposing open palm. "No wonder the heart likes you!" All the ponies looked at him. "What? She's a crystal wizard, and she isn't a big--"

"--Jerk," cut in Umbra.

"That." Spike nodded. "So a nice crystal wizard. Of course the Crystal Heart got interested."

Cadance turned to present her rump. "I was already stamped with it before we ever saw it."

Shining Armor tapped at his cheek. "I think it's my turn to be involved by marriage. I was trying to defend the crystal heart? That counts for something." He looked between Cadance and Umbra. "But no crystal connection here."

Umbra's dress lifted, revealing her cutie mark, which Twilight was peering at, her magic allowing better view. "It looks just like Cadance's. Two ponies with the same precise cutie mark is quite rare, especially in the same generation."

Shining shook his shield with a smile. "I can protect both of these crystal hearts."

Cadance squinted at him, laughter bubbling from her. "A mare could get jealous to hear her husband declaring he will safeguard the rump of another mare." Even as he colored, she turned her attention to Umbra. "Putting that aside, it's good to see you're safe and whole. I suggest you explore your magic. You seem to enjoy it. If you can develop your crystal crafting ability, you could be of immense use. Ponies would line up around the block if you could lend a hoof. Building houses, furniture... So much. We have the crystals, but shaping them takes time and expertise, which you shortcut nicely."

Umbra's eyes sparkled for a moment, just a moment. They dulled as she shrank a little with some unspoken fear. "Oh."

Pinkie hopped in, nose to nose without asking or being asked. "What're you sad about? That sounds super neat!"

"In... the past..." Umbra waved a hoof vaguely. "I've been helpful, and it was nice, for a while, but people get used to it, and start to expect it. It stops being a special treat, and starts being assumed. You're not a nice person, you're a machine people expect they can press the button and get the thing, and bah on whatever you were thinking of doing. Their thing is more important."

Twilight reached out of the window, grabbing the edge against a hoof and drawing it closed. With it closed, the noises of the street below faded. "Now, Umbra, that's a very real concern." She put a hoof to her chest as she sank to her haunches. "Spike? I think you are exactly the right creature to ask about this."

"Huh?" Spike looked to her and back to Umbra. "Me? Oh!" He slapped his hands together. "Yeah! I'm Twilight's #1 assistant." He pointed at her almost accusingly. "I help her because she's my sister. Fingers are also handy." He wriggled them at Umbra, getting a giggle out of her. "I get what you're saying. Sometimes... it does feel like some parts of how I help are... assumed... But I'm still her brother, and she's still my sister. We care about each other."

Twilight set a leg over Spike, hugging him close. "Very very much. Spike, if I'm ignoring your needs--"

"Say something." The two nodded at one another with understanding. Twilight left, looking confident in the lesson she dispensed. Spike watched her go. Once he was sure she was gone, he looked back to Umbra. "Hey, I get it, really... Sometimes Twilight really does get sucked up into something, and reminding her casually does not cut it." He sliced across his neck with a few fingers.

Umbra offered a hoof, and soon had a Spike to hold gently. "So how do you avoid getting taken advantage of, without making people hate you in the process?"

"Tough call." Spike leaned back against her, his spines poking lightly at her. "Sometimes I am taken advantage of a bit." He inclined his head a little. "But sometimes I do the same. If you're really friends, is it really 'taking advantage'? I feel pretty sure if I asked you for something, you'd do it if you could, but I'd try to return the favor." He flashed a smarmy grin. "Even if you're the one who's hero of the empire."

6 - Dear Princess Celestia

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Spike let out a belch and flopped to the ground in an ungainly display. Twilight caught the resulting scroll in her magic. "From the princess?" She had it open quickly, eyes sweeping back and forth. "I am overjoyed to hear that Sombra has been put to rest and the Crystal Empire restored. However, your report of 'Queen Umbra' does cause some amount of concern. If you could keep an eye on her and give a more detailed report, I would appreciate it."

Umbra leaned in and to the right over Twilight's shoulder. "Should I not have heard that?"

Spike laughed even as he sat up. "Probably not."

Twilight colored at her error. "That just means I don't have to keep it a secret. Besides, I was studying you anyway, so this changes nothing." She nodded with rebounding confidence. "Now..." She resumed reading, "A wielder of shadow magic can be very dangerous. If they have a dark temperament, pardon the pun, they can not only manipulate light and shadow and crystals, but also the shadow of a pony's mind. Dream manipulation, thought control, and other potentially hazardous things could result. Sombra was feared because he wielded his populace as a weapon that obeyed him without a choice in the matter."

Umbra squirmed as the list of potential problems were raised. "I'm not like that!" she assured, even if her voice conflicted with her nervousness, a dark mistress that didn't want to be judged harshly. "But... I can do that?"

"I would like to find out." Twilight nodded. "But only if they are used by a good pony." She reached out, placing a hoof on Umbra's chest. "Which, so far, you have shown yourself to be. Any magic is a tool, not evil or good until used in an evil or good way."

"Yeah!" Spike had regained his footing. "You're pretty nice. You remind me of a worryingly powerful wizard Fluttershy really." He rubbed behind his head. "I mean that in a good way."

Twilight raised a hoof to her chin. "You're no wizard just yet. You're only using your magic instinctively, not with practice or knowledge. Do you want to change that?"

"Yes. Si. Oui! Hai?" Umbra was bobbing her head furiously as she ran through all the yesses she could think of. "That sounds super fun. I'll be responsible, promise. But, really, shadow in people's heads?" She tapped at her own head. "Sure it's kinda dark in there?"

"These are the powers." Twilight tapped at the floating scroll. "At least the ones that Sombra knew and displayed. You are... like him. You've shown you have a similar kind of magic. You even wore his armor when you first appeared. If we imagined a female Sombra, that's you." She shrugged softly at that. "Though far nicer."

Umbra clopped with giddy enthusiasm. "Well, I'm not a jerk, so show me how I can do good things with it." She leaned forward suddenly. "She said dreams, right? Can I help someone get good sleep? Can I help myself get good sleep? That's a super power I will take!"

Spike patted Umbra on the side. "You sound eager to start."

"Because I am!" Umbra turned on Spike in a sharp spin, lifting off all but one hoof to spin in place a moment. "Before... all this, I was just a... person with no magic and barely any hope for the future. Now I'm a super mare! What's not to be excited about?" She began to dance in place. "I want to be a good pony."

Pinkie popped out from behind a column. "Ya know, it never stops being odd hearing that voice being that happy, but I like it!" She pronked towards Umbra with a joyful grin. "By the way, the party's on for tomorrow."

"Tomorrow?!" Umbra's joy deflated. "That soon?"

Pinkie inclined her head. "Why the frown? It'll just be us." She waved a hoof in a circle. "The girls, Cadance, and Shiny! Oh, and you, duh." Her tail casually poked her in the side. When she glanced at it, it pointed at Spike. "Oh, right! And Spike! You two are buddies now, right?"

Umbra threw an arm around Spike. "Yes."

Spike colored at the sudden embrace. "I'd better get a gift." He tried to squirm away, but Umbra held him.

"Spike, you being there is a gift. Seriously, I'm drowning in blessings right now." She released him then if only to throw her hooves wide. "I'm a magic pretty pony!" Her nervousness forgotten, she resumed dancing in place. "Twilight, teach me. I am ready to learn!"

Pinkie clapped with approval. "That's great. Good to hear you're happy about things. Some ponies are gonna be super nervous with you flinging shadow magic around, but you'll handle it great!"

That vote of encouragement did little to help keep Umbra's mood high. "Oh..." She sank back to her haunches. "I'm gonna look creepy whenever I do it, aren't I?"

"Probably," admitted Twilight with a shrug. "That seems to be part of the package. Still, if you gain a reputation for being a good pony..."

"Then... they'll get past it, eventually," hoped Umbra out loud, not sounding entirely sure. "At least the ponies right here are alright with it."

"Totally fine." Pinkie threw an arm over Umbra, squeezing. "Now, there are last touches to do. See you tomorrow!" And she vanished in a puff of pink smoke off to do her party-related magic.

Umbra rubbed a cheek with the flat of a hoof. "On one... hoof... I'd almost want party magic, on the other, look what it's done to Pinkie."

Spike smirked at the proposed theory. "Poor Pinkie, if only she hadn't gotten into that foul party magic." He made a few lucky symbols of a gesture, chuckling. "You'll do better with yours."

"With my help," announced Twilight proudly. "Speaking of that, let's stick to the basics, which you have not mastered. For instance, you can make yourself into a shadow, but you haven't exerted any control over shadows that aren't you, so far."

Umbra raised a brow. "Well... I am shadow." She rose and shook herself out. "Umbra, shadow. I just... have to read in there." She trembled as she concentrated, wafts of shadow magic leaking from her eyes without much other visible effect. "Just..."

Twilight inclined her head. "You need to learn how to use one of these, I think." She pointed up at her horn. "You have good instinctual use of it. You can light it and grab things, but no finesse past that. A fine start, but just a start."

Spike bobbed his head. "Twilight had her horn working when she got into magic school, and she had way more to learn." He turned to Twilight. "Going to take her to Magic Kindergarten?"

Twilight shuddered. "I wouldn't be so cruel. But there is a lot to go over. Do you want to start now, or after your party?"

Umbra leaned in, tapping her horn to Twilight's. "Pretty sure I answered that, nerd horse."

"Nerd horse?!" Twilight looked appropriately affronted. "I expect that sort of nonsense from Rainbow Dash."

Umbra went red. "Sorry! I didn't mean to offend."

Twilight looked confused at the whiplash. "I'm not that offended... Um, either way, as your teacher, you should address me with respect." She nodded with rebounding confidence. She knew how teacher student relationships were supposed to be. "Under my tutelage, we'll advance your understandings, but you have to listen and do as I say, even the parts that aren't very fun."

Spike hiked a thumb at his nerd of a big sister. "She's gonna channel Celestia now."

"Spike!" Twilight's cheeks puffed in defiance. "I am not... I've had other teachers besides her." She turned up her nose and refocused on Umbra, only to blink. "You alright?"

Umbra was fidgeting nervously. "School was not my favorite place, but this isn't school. This... You're a friend, I get that. You're a friend just showing me how to do something. Not school at all." She laughed tensely, trying to convince herself. "No desks, no blackboards."

Twilight mentally threw out the desk and blackboard she had planned. "No, none of that," she promised with a smile, her original plan dashed. "Just two ponies talking about how to do magic. But I do need you to listen and follow my directions. Is that alright?"

"Yes!" For whatever nervousness Umbra had a moment before, it was thrown aside. "Show me. School, not my fave, but just shutting up and listening to someone I trust, that's different." She sat on her haunches to clop her forehooves. "Learn me some magic!"

"You have to do the learning," corrected Twilight officiously. "I will do the teaching. Now, let's start with some basic horn principles. That thing isn't there for decoration." She pointed at her own horn, less spectacular than the gradient-wielding model that Umbra had. "Let us begin."

Shining looked across the table at his wife. They were in a small room, almost cramped. There were no guards, just the two of them, granted privacy. "Twily's off in her own world."

"As usual." Cadance nodded gently. "But I don't entirely disagree with her."

"You don't?" He quirked an ear at her. "We're dealing with a wielder of potentially horrific magic."

"We're dealing with a vulnerable mare that desperately wants to fit in." Cadance reached across the table, setting her hoof on his shoulder. "Not a dark overlord."

"Now, this is just a theory." Shining set his hooves together. "But is it possible she attached herself to us on purpose? It makes attacking her basically impossible."

Cadance drew her hoof back. "For the sake of argument, alright. Let's say she did exactly that. I'd almost be relieved, since it would likely mean she could undo it as soon as we convinced her she was safe to do so. But let's not hop to that. She did it, she wove a spell of intense power that hooked all three of us to the Crystal Heart."

"And now she can monitor us." Shining tapped the table for emphasis. "And is using us as a shield."

Cadance raised a brow. "You volunteered for shield status, Shiny. 'I will protect these hearts', was it? I don't think she forced those words out of you."

Shining deflated in place. "Just... What if? We're arming what could be our own worst enemy. We're training them, giving them a nice place to live and grow in strength. We'll look pretty bad if she turns out to be Sombra 2.0, which she already looks like."

"Counter proposal." Cadance set her own hooves together at the center of her chest. "Let's say she is doing everything you said. She made the link, and she's hoping to gain an advantage over us for nefarious ends. This is our chance to head off a problem before it becomes a crisis. We can turn her away from such thoughts. By surrounding her with genuine care, she'll become increasingly less likely to want to hurt anything."

Shining quirked a little smile. "You do look for the better side." A pause. "Unless it's a changeling."

That got him a scowl. "Hardly a fair comparison. But there are no changelings." She huffed at the idea. "With any luck, there never will be a single one in the city."

"Hopefully not." It was his turn to offer her pats. "And now she's probably wondering what we're doing."

Cadance burst into a snicker. "We're married. Touching each other is part of the package. A little poke and pat is hardly on the radar. Now, really. Umbra is scared, not plotting mischief." Her eyes rolled softly. "On the other hoof, she is learning from Twilight. I will be honestly shocked if they don't cause some amount of mischief without trying. But that's Twily's fault, and we're not getting rid of her, hm?"

"No! 'Course not." He huffed and fidgeted at the idea of kicking his precious little sister to any metaphorical curb. "You're right. We have Twilight, right there, keeping an eye on her. She takes orders from Princess Celestia very seriously, so I imagine she's working extra hard to figure Umbra out."

Twilight gestured to a strange machine with a cap. "I learned a lot from my... prior mistakes. Besides, your magic is well documented." She clopped her hooves. "We're not proving something, we're measuring it, and it should be much easier all around. If you would put that on?"

Umbra held up the helmet in her magic, eyeing it as she turned it left and right as far as she could without tangling the many cords attached to it. "Are you doing a brain scan?"

Twilight's ears pricked. "Yes, actually. I'm impressed you figured that out just by looking at it."

Umbra poked lightly. "Looks like the kind of thing you'd measure impulses with." She stepped forward as she brought the helmet in, slipping it snugly over her head, ears poking through available holes. Her tiara was not on, having been warned it would get in the way. "Alright." She looked up at her horn as best she could, thrust up through a third hole. "Now what?"

"Now we get a baseline." Twilight's horn was glowing as she got the machine humming and glowing, papers spilling out onto the floor. "So just relax and don't think about anything that strongly."

Umbra burst into giggles. "Whatever you do, do not think of a pink elephant."

"Yes." She paused. "Oh." The pink pachyderm had clearly visited her. "Ha ha." She looked over the line being produced. "This looks good though. Now, go ahead and lift this." She floated over a small ball and set it in front of Umbra. "Just pick it up." When Umbra reached for it, Twilight thrust out a hoof. "With your magic."

"Oh." Umbra's horn began to glow, the ball lifting, wrapped in her shadowy magic as it began to hover in the air at her eye level. "Like that?"

"Perfect." A quill floated over, making marks on the charts where Umbra began to use her magic for later review. "Now put it down." When the ball was set down, Twilight went right on, "Let's try a spell."

"Skipping crystal sculpting?" Umbra wobbled a hoof over the ground, imagining the work but not actually messing with the crystal floor.

"For now. Go ahead, the one we went over." Twilight rolled a hoof to continue, watching intently.

It wasn't as if Umbra had a lot of spells to pick from, just the one that she had learned at Twilight's hooves. "Alright." She focused on the spell that came naturally to her, the very same that Twilight had to struggle to do. Sensible enough, considering its nature. She began emitting a line of pure shadow magic in a line to the floor. "Should I aim this anywhere?"

"Hold it steady." Twilight made new marks, a few question marks to join in other places. "Hm... Curious."

"That's a funny party hat." Pinkie had appeared, as was her wont. "Not sure it'll catch on."

"Pinkie!" Umbra looked at her, also blasting her with shadow magic for an instant, her squeak coming even as she ended the spell. "Are you alright?!"

Pinkie coughed, her face blackened with the blast. "Not the first time I got a kaboom in the face for coming in when Twilight was busy doing science." She did not seem bothered at all, pointing instead. "But you're gonna be late for your own party and that is not something I can tolerate, young lady!"

"Interesting." Twilight made a final note, her magic drawing the helmet free of Umbra. "Alright, Pinkie planned this before I did, so let's go have some fun."

Umbra brought over a rag floating in her magic, quickly trying to wipe Pinkie clean of the soot. "I'm so sorry. Does it hurt? You sure you're alright?"

Pinkie grabbed the rag with a hoof, wiping away the mess in one grand swipe that left her good as new. "Ta da! Now is party time." She bonked her head against Umbra's. "PS: I'm not mad. I'm the one that came in all of a sudden." She nodded firmly. "These are the prices a party pony must face, if they are to bring joy to the world!" She turned in place for the exit. "A price I will gladly pay! Now c'mon! It's hardly a party without the pony of honor."

So the science of magic was set aside in favor of festivities. The girls were there, as well as the royal couple. Decorations hung from the ceiling. Party favors were scattered almost haphazardly. Games were setup on the wall, on the floor, and even the ceiling in the form of a piñata swaying lightly with a bat nearby, waiting to be bashed open.

A table, longer than wide, but plenty of both, had a fine cloth draped over it. On that, a variety of snacks and drinks. Spike was sipping from a cup beside that, watching the party.

Applejack closed with Umbra as she arrived. "There ya are! Twilight not messin' wit' ya too badly, ah hope?"

Rarity floated a pastry over into Umbra's range, close to her snout. "Pish posh. Umbra is a very willing subject, from what I can gather, darling."

Umbra accepted the unspoken offer, taking a big chomp of the floating sweet. "Mmm! Nice. Thanks for coming, both of you." Soon she had an arm around either mare, hugging with a sharp smile. "Twilight's been great. I'm starting to learn how do be... me." She paused a moment, frowning. "Even if that may be a little scary? I'll use it for good! Not sure what that shadow beam's good for though."

Twilight took up position next to Umbra. "You can blame that on me. It was the only shadow spell I had on hoof, and I had a hunch you'd be able to pick it up quickly."

"You weren't wrong." Umbra had been able to pick up and gallop off with the spell in hardly any time. "Just wish it did something useful." She turned in place. "Say... If Sombra had this spell..." Her horn began to glow, eyes trailing with power as they colored a vibrant green. Shadow magic gathered in purples and greens. "Something might react." She turned in place, taking in the throne room, the nervous guards, the curious mares, the royal couple... She began zapping things largely at random, non-living things that didn't seem to care.

Twilight waved a hoof at the idea. "Even if there is something, the odds of finding it randomly are--" Umbra struck the right crystal, a large one behind the throne. Shadow spread out through the center of the room, sending ponies scurrying out of the way. It gave way to a hole, stairs leading downwards.

With a great crash, the table with the food slammed to the side, falling right off the ledge that had been created under one of its legs. The food on it began to slide quickly towards the hole. Spike threw himself in the way with a heroic battle cry, almost sliding in himself, but he managed to brake himself, barely clinging to the edge of the table.

Applejack got in on one side of the table, Rainbow Dash the other, the two working to heft the table upright and back onto solid ground. Rainbow was laughing at the whole thing. "Well! Guess that spell does something."

Twilight inclined her head at the new gaping tunnel created. "So it did..." She glanced at Pinkie. "Now... I want to see what's down there, but..."

Pinkie nodded with all due gravity. "Party paused on account of sudden mystery! We're restarting the moment we figure it out though." That settled, she got to hopping down the stairs. "Think of this like a party game. A shadow party game, ooo, that's a first for me."

Unlike some other timeline, the entire crew began down after her. Shining Armor advanced to the fore, horn glowing in preparation. "Umbra, you really shouldn't just play with shadow magic like that."

"Who knows what's down here." Cadance was just behind Shining. "It may be nothing, or something terrible. Hardly the way we want to end your party."

Umbra's expression was torn between the giddiness of having found something and the shame of causing trouble. "I'll be more careful," she promised, looking aside at Twilight. "You wanna see, right?"

"Very much yes," agreed Twilight without hesitation. "This is... a foreboding place. Glad we're all here." She smiled at all her gathered friends, her peers and older siblings all. "We can handle this, together."

"Yeah..." Spike stepped down carefully. "Glad we're not scouting this alone."

"End of the line." Shining had reached the bottom at long last, where a door sat forebodingly. "Not sure we should touch that."

"Dear." Cadance went around him onto the level plane before the door. "We came this far. To stop at the first hint of a challenge?"

"I volunteer." Umbra advanced towards the door without fear. "If there's some wacky shadow trap, well, I am that, so what'll it do? Oh no, my fur may go grey." She snorted at the idea. "Don't worry, I got this!" She reached for the doorknob, horn glowing as she took arcane grip of it.

She wasn't a pretty pony. She wasn't even a pony. She wasn't even a she, by some views. An angry view. "You need to snap out of it," bellowed an angry male voice. "This is why you can't get any god damned thing done," boomed the towering figure of wrath. "Stop it with the girly stuff. You aren't that. You never will be that. Face reality." She was struck across the face, sent in an uneven heap on the dirty carpet of a home she had lost so long ago.

"I'm sorry," she sniffled, getting back to her feet. "I'm not the little boy you wanted."

"Yes you are," angrily asserted the figure. "Even if I have to beat that bullshit out of your hea--"

Umbra was pulled back from the door, tears streaking her face, body shivering with emotions. "Oh... Oh god..."

Twilight let out a slow breath. "Just because you are a shadow creature doesn't mean shadow magic can't affect you. Are you alright?"

Cadance was the one drawing Umbra way from the cursed portal. "Your eyes began to glow, like you were doing magic, but you didn't seem to hear us, just whatever was in your head. It must have been awful."

"Awful... but true." Umbra frowned at the memory she tried to shove aside. "I'm alright... Really..." She shook herself vigorously, her tiara bouncing. "Did you get past the door?"

They had not. Twilight's eyes rose to the crystal at the top of the door. "If the crystal behind the throne reacted to the shadow spell, there's a good chance this one will as well. I can do it, if you're feeling bad."

"I am, but I'm doing it anyway." Her horn and eyes began to glow with the easily conjured shadow magic, perhaps all the fiercer for the dark emotions conjured within her. "Gonna zap that thing real good."

With an angry zap, they could proceed to the stairs that led upwards seemingly into the infinite. Cadance spread her wings. "Perhaps those of us with the option would be better off checking this out on our own?"

"I'm with ya!" Rainbow snapped out her wings and soon the two of them vanished straight upwards like two loosed arrows.

Spike peered at Fluttershy. "Not going?"

"Um... no." She edged closer to the center of the group. "I'm happy right here."

Applejack looped back to the door. "This can't be all that bad." She closed the door and made to re-open it, just to face her worst nightmares.

When Umbra drew her away, Applejack's tears were flowing just as thickly as Umbra's had. "It's alright."

"No, it ain't." Applejack buried her face into Umbra's neck. "Sorry ah thought you were bein' silly."

7 - Master of Crystals

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"Crystals..." Umbra was shaping crystal into a vaguely heart shape, creating a cheap imitation of the real Crystal Heart. "Ta da," she announced as much to herself as anything else. "Not awful."

With the sound of hooves on crystals, Cadance and Rainbow rejoined the group. Rainbow pointed upwards. "Just a little room."

"Not just any room." Cadance was frowning faintly. "The room the Crystal Heart was stored in." She spotted Umbra's imitation thereof. "Oh, did you make that?" Her frown eased into a gentle smile. "How lovely."

Shining gestured at the copy. "She seems to be able to make crystal grow and shape it with effort."

"I've seen her do this before," agreed Twilight with a nod. "Besides spells, you really should practice that. It seems to come naturally to you, and you enjoy doing it."

Umbra lifted the heart, balanced between her forehooves. "I do... I like making something pretty." She angled the heart so it sprayed dazzling beams of light over the area. "Look at it."

"It's very nice." Cadance gently nudged Umbra up to her hooves. "And the mystery is solved for now. Getting up there from the front of the castle is easier than this back entrance."

The group largely agreed. The mystery was solved, and so a party could resume!

"One question, dear." Rarity was looking to Twilight, sipping something from a teacup. "How long is our little trip to last? I don't mean to complain, but we do have business at home waiting for us." She gestured at the others, all of their friends having lives to lead, as happy as they were to support Twilight. "Just checking."

Twilight frowned with thought. "I'll leave Umbra with a few educational books. Cadance?" Cadance looked up from where she had been speaking to other ponies. "Can I leave tutoring Umbra in your hooves?"

"Not my specialty," Cadance admitted. "But I'm glad to lend a hoof as I'm able."

Umbra flipped her ears back, only to force them upright about as quickly. "You've all given a lot already. Thank you." She glanced away furtively. "Does Cadance know how to read magic?"

"I do." Shining nudged against Umbra from the side. "We're a team. Sure, we're not the wizards that Twilight is, but we have more than enough between us."

Umbra dared a brief look of hope. "I want to learn more, to not be a leech. What's the point of being a magic pony princess if you're just laying around taking?"

Pinkie burst up beside Umbra. "Good attitude! Unless you have lots of fun laying around. Some ponies are like that." She shrugged. "Not my thing though. I'd way rather be doing something. Like throwing this party!" She threw her hooves wide to encompass the magnitude of the celebration. "Speaking of that, it isn't over." She grabbed Umbra by the scruff of the neck in her teeth, dragging the squeaking dark mistress away to enjoy some games.

The party was considered a success by all attendees. Low key compared to most of Pinkie's raucous romps, but that was at request.

It felt like all too soon that Twilight and her friends had departed. "I will be informing Princess Celestia that you appear to be a Good Pony." Twilight set a sticker on Umbra's chest with all due gravity. "I look forward to hearing of your progress. You will write me?"

"Sure." Umbra inclined her head. "But how? You have Spike, I do not."

Spike puffed proudly at this. "Unfortunately, most creatures do not."

Twilight rolled her eyes at that. "Postal services are resuming soon. Just write it and... Do you know how to mail letters?"

Umbra sat up. "Wow, it's... I know the idea, but I never really had to do it myself. Back where I'm from, there are a lot of other ways of getting a message to someone."

So a break was required as Twilight showed how to address an envelope to arrive where it is desired it go. "Then you bring it to a post office and they get it to me, or whatever other pony you want to talk to."

Umbra swiftly bobbed her head at that. "I get that part." She tapped at Twilight's scrawled address and name. "This is the part I was missing. We have a post office?"

Spike shrugged. "They're making one."

"And when they do." Twilight was mid-turn. "You can be one of its first customers. I look forward to reading your letter. Expect a reply!"

"I never had a pen pal before." Umbra began to smile a little. "I'd rather the personal kind, but you need to get home, I get that." She made a dismissive shooing wave. "So away! I'll write as soon as I can."

"Looking forward to it." With one parting hug for the road, Twilight and Spike departed. The Crystal Empire would have to make do without that set of mares.

As much as Cadance had promised to lend a hoof with magical studies, she also had a kingdom to run, one on the path to recovery. In some ways, a joyful time, but also a very busy time. She was rarely not in the middle of overseeing something. She was a good ruler, beloved by her people more with each passing day, but she had little time to sit down with Umbra.

"I know the feeling." Shining patted her on the back. "I don't get enough Cadie time myself. Looking forward to being past the start of all this."

But there was hope. "Didn't she say you could read magic?"

Shining sat up proudly. "Twilight is not the only member of our family that can read a few arcane runes. I'm pretty good at my magic." He tapped just to the side of his horn. "Even if I have a specialty, but so do you."

"Shadow, yep." Not much arguing that. "Wanna help me get better at it?"

"I'd love to." And their lessons began. He took a more... wide spread approach than Twilight. "You should know your alphabet." Not one that required a quill. He ran through the basic magical notes that comprised the music of magic.

"You didn't cover a few." Umbra's horn glowed with dark power, displaying the unique notes of shadow magic that were not typically included in the normal unicorn's vocabulary.

"Huh..." Shining inclined his head faintly. "Remember how hard it was for Twilight to do those? That's why."

"That makes sense..." She put a hoof on a book of shadow spells. "Means I'm mostly on my own here."

"In a sense." He set a hoof right next to hers. "Knowing all the other pieces will help you here. Even shadow spells use a lot of not-shadow parts. You have the shadow parts down pat." He nodded as he slid closer. "And that's good, sure, but it's not the end."

"Barely the start," Umbra agreed. "Alright. Teach me, Senpai!"

"You read comics too?!" Shining's grin was triumphant. "What's your favorite series?!"

Umbra recoiled faintly. "I have no idea what comics exist in this world," she admitted with a little strained laugh. "You have some?"

"Do I?!" And off he galloped, returning swiftly with a floating box he set carefully before Umbra. "Do you have a favorite genre? Action? Romance? Sports?"

Umbra's wide eyes beheld the treasure of literature. Her magic began picking through the collection. Peeking, she saw many of them looked a bit ragged and dog-eared. They had been read, possibly many times, or just stored? "Your older stash?"

"Before I learned how to store them correctly." Shining bobbed his head, gesturing at the box. "But it makes a great box to share with others. Even if you damaged one, they're already pretty beat up. See any you like?"

Umbra stood up to lean over the box for a different vantage, humming as she plucked and picked. "Ooo." One comic popped free, lifted up even with their eyes. "She's a magic pony too."

"Two of a kind," laughed out Shining. "That one's written more for fillies. Light-hearted action with a slice of life lessons. It's fun though, and the drawings are nice." He nudged the floating book towards Umbra. "Wanna read?"

"Yeee--" She trailed off, looking unsure. "If it's for fillies, why do you have it?"

Shining began to color. "I can like what I want."

"Of course you can!" It was Umbra's turn to color. "Sorry, I wasn't trying to accuse. I was curious."

"I love this kind of action." He waved at the floating comic, hoof brushing it. "Fan of the media, you could say. Besides, she's cute and endearing, so I like rooting for her." He suddenly booped Umbra on the snoot. "She's like you, trying to do right with powers she didn't have before."

Umbra darkened, bursting into merry little giggles. "I hope you can cheer me on too then." She set the book aside just next to herself. "I'll check that out later."

Soon two other comics landed on top of it. "Nopony wants to read the first issue by itself." He tapped the new pile. "Now you have the first five." A pause. "Oh, Issues 1 and 2 and 3 and 4 are combined. 5 is on its own."

"You dork," taunted Umbra with a sharp smile. "I love it. Thank you for sharing your passion with me." She set both hooves on the increased pile. "I'll let you know what I think. Um, but for now." Her magic brushed the box aside gently, drawing over the book of basic runes. "We should get back to this. I'll be an awful magic pony if I can't magic."

"Let's fix that!" And they proceeded.

"I hear you're making progress." Cadance was looking across the dining table at Umbra. "Shining can't stop talking about it."

Shining laughed with a little color. "I'm the one teaching her, of course I'm interested."

"And he's doing a great job." Umbra nodded at her teacher. "I'm up to three spells now." She began to clop her hooves. "And I can do what shoulda been, really, the first spell."

Cadance raised a brow. "Now I'm curious." She took a nip of what was breakfast. "What 'should' have been the first spell?"

"I am shadow." Her horn began to glow its strange hues as the area around her began to darken and dim, spreading rapidly as she plunged the entire room into a twilight gloom. "If you add a shadow rune right in with the basic light spell, kapow."

"Kapow..." Cadance raised an ear at the dimness, not that it was making noise to hear. "I admit, I'm uncertain of many situations where you'd want it to be dark."

"Sleep," countered Umbra without delay. "Being able to make a room nice and dark could help ponies get some quality Zs."

Cadance sat up. "That... is an entirely reasonable idea. Good thinking. Any others?"

"Spotting glowing stuff." She brought her forehooves together. "Some animals glow but only an eency bit, so getting rid of the extra light might help."

Cadance inclined her head. "What a curious notion. You seem to know a lot about a lot." She wobbled a hoof in the air. "Where you come from, do they teach foals a little of everything instead of specializing?"

"That is... not far off." Umbra released the magic, allowing the ambient light to swiftly return, her eyes constricting against the sudden light. "Darkness would also be great for film. Do you have film? We were getting past it, but..." Both royal ponies were looking at her blankly. "Do you know what a camera is?"

Shining raised a hoof quickly. "Oh, yeah. We have cameras."

Umbra cycled her hooves over one another. "When you take a picture with a camera, how do you get the picture off the film?"

Cadance inclined her head. "Doesn't the picture come right out of the camera?"

Shining nodded with Cadance's words. "Some of them don't make the images until later when you press a button." He worked a button, imagined in the air. "Boop."

Equestrian technology was not American, clearly. Umbra nodded. "Alright, so you don't need it for that. It's still nice for peace and still. Sleep, headaches, that sort of thing."

Cadance raised a glass of juice. "No arguments there. Now, I know you've been working hard on your magic, but I think you should expand."

"Expand?" She looked down over herself. Umbra was already a fair sized pony, no slender thing. "How do you mean?"

"I mean a hobby or two, something to expand your interests."

"Oh!" Umbra brought out a comic from her pocket. "Shining shared this with me. I'm on issue 3, it's so good!" She wagged it at Cadance, the cover showing a magical pony girl showing off against a huge beast. "That counts, right?"

"It does," gently agreed Cadance, her magic nudging the comic down so her eyes could meet with Umbras. "But I meant something you do rather than consume passively." She sat up suddenly. "You like making things, do you not?"

"Sure." Umbra quickly nodded at that. "Making the basket was fun. Shaping crystals is fun."

"More the second." Cadance waved a hoof towards the latter idea. "Let me put out a few feelers. We'll get something going." She stood up suddenly. "But, right now, I have a meeting I will soon be late for." With a quick smooch with Shining, she bustled off to see to her queenly duties.

"Have fun with that," encouraged Shining with a smile. "I play O&O with my buds."

"O&O?" Umbra inclined her head. "Oh, do you need to be anywhere? I'm not trying to hog you."

Shining's eyes wandered towards a clock. "I have a few more minutes." He pushed his finished plate away. "O&O is a roleplaying game."

"Oh! Like D&D!"

That got a blink out of Shining. "If you know what a roleplaying game is?"

"Yup." Umbra slipped to her hooves. "But I don't want to do that right now. I'm already living it. And I want to gain levels as a magic pony girl."

"Good attitude." He laughed as he got up himself. "I have work to get to. Those soldiers won't train themselves." He trotted off with a mission.

Umbra tilted her head at the odd pony before her. She had the same slit eyes that Umbra had. She was made of crystal, as the locals were, but she had wings, as most of them did not. Those wings were not feathery and fluffy. They were, instead, leathery. Well, as leathery as wings made of crystal could be. "Hiya!" chimed the curious crystal bat pony. "I hear you like working with crystal."

The crystal bat had a vibrant mane of many colors, like Rainbow Dash. She sent it fluttering with a toss of her head. "I'm Shifting Prism. Princess Cadance said you could use a hoof with it, and I'm here." She offered a hoof towards Umbra. "You're Umbra, right?"

"Queen Umbra," allowed Umbra with uncertain tones. "But Umbra's fine. Hello... So... you work with crystals too?"

"Oh, yes." Shifting clopped her hooves with joy. "I love working with crystals, making all kinds of pretty things. Useful things sometimes, but always pretty." She leaned in, head angling as she peered at Umbra with undisguised curiosity. "You look like that guy."

Umbra winced. "Yeah... Sorry..." She cleared her throat. "At least the gravel is going away. I'm nothing like that jerk though. Watch!" She set a hoof flat with the ground in the air and her magic darkly swirled, beckoning the crystal to rise towards her and began to take a shape as she fashioned it with little gestured of her hooves as if she had fingers on the crystal. "And... point..."

"Oooo!" Shifting's applause increased in volume. "Not bad!" She suddenly swiped, knocking the creation off its little attaching point. "A very nice star." She held aloft the created crystal star, twirling it and letting it send light spraying. "Love it! But it's simple. I see why the princess called me. You could be making so much better things, if you wanted." She inclined an ear. "Do you want to?"

Umbra waved over the star. "It's all the star you could want. What am I missing?"

"Stars are only one choice." Shifting bounced to her hooves, wings fluttering. "But there are so many other shapes. Like..." She hurried over and grabbed a chair with her wings, bringing it back over to Umbra. "Can you make one of these?"

"A chair?" Deceptively simple, but when she tried, she ended up with a lump of crystal with a bit poking up the back. A chair, it was not. More like a crystal beanbag, and it wasn't very good at being that. "Hm..."

"Yeah, trickier than it looks." Shifting patted Umbra's shoulder. "Don't be upset. Nobody can make a chair on the first try. Before you make a chair, you need a leg. Four of them." Shifting sat back, still grinning at Umbra. "Your magic's pretty great though! I have to use a chisel and stuff. You just... wave at it." She wobbled a hoof. "Jealous! That's really neat."

"Show me how to make a leg then." And the lesson began in earnest, with Umbra fashioning chair legs. Soon there was a mighty pile of legs where there had been a lumpy pile of not-chair. "Alright, that isn't complicated."

"But it can be," noted Shifting Prism with a grin. "You can get so fancy with legs. Any kind of leg. You can put swirls and patterns and divots to get the look you're aiming for." She grabbed a leg with a wing. "These are good, they'll work, but simple. Now if..." She produced a chisel and got to work, chipping away at the stone.

Soon the leg had a smooth groove down each of its four sides, creating a more complex shape. "See? Now this is a pretty leg. Make the others match and you're on the way to a pretty chair."

"Oh! Oh, I get it." Umbra began to clop with building joy, understanding what Shifting was getting at. "Just making a leg is like drawing a circle in art. You have to, it's the start, but it's not the end."

"Not the end," Shifting cried in agreement. "But a good start. Now, when I make a leg, I put a peg at the end." She pointed to the smooth end of the legs Umbra had made. "You don't have to. You can make crystal flow and combine and stuff, so we'll take advantage of that, you big pretty cheater!"

Umbra colored. "Am I pretty?"

Shifting inclined her head. "Yes?" She sounded baffled at the idea that it could even be a question. "A little intimidating, but still pretty. You like working with crystals and you're nice, so, yep, pretty." She grabbed a fresh leg. "Look at this." She got to chipping away, showing another way to decorate a leg. "Depending on the style you're aiming for..."

"Ooo!" Umbra lifted a leg in her magic, purples and greens swirling as she cajoled the crystal into new shapes. The leg remained a leg, but new patterns appeared along it in geometric designs. "Like this?"

"Woah, yes!" Shifting applauded the effort wildly. "You just have to be sure the patterns you make don't weaken the leg. It still has to be a leg, and hold a pony up."

So it was, with great pride, that Umbra met with the others later. "I have a present."

Cadance lifted an ear at the smiling Umbra. "Please, don't leave us waiting. What present?"

"Behold!" Her horn flashed as something hidden in shadow came into view, showing her increased aptitude for that as well as an ornate chair. It had a curved and flowing back. Its legs were finely ornamented. It looked like a pegasus was offering itself as a chair, its wings offering luxurious back support. "Fit for a princess."

Shining gasped audibly. Cadance was approaching the chair on swift hooves. "What detail." She leaned in, examining the individual feathers that made up the crystal pegasus. "Is it?" She placed a hoof on its seat.

"Go ahead." Umbra waved for Cadance to proceed. "It's a lousy chair if you can't sit on it."

Cadance pulled herself up and sank her haunches down onto the crystal. "It will want a cushion, right here." Under her rump. "But it looks amazing, and feels solid. A commendable effort. Don't take this the wrong way, because I am very impressed, but I can see where you have room to improve." She pointed a hoof at the small blemishes that gave away it as made by a new artisan. "But, despite that, it is amazing. If you keep this up, you will be making masterpieces."

Shining was soon at Cadance's side, joining in the inspection. "You do have a knack, but a knack isn't the end, just the start." He directed a hoof at his shield of a mark. "Shields are my specialty. First spell I got down, but I still practice it. I can still get better at it." He patted the chair lightly. "But enough of that. This is a great work! Don't... suppose you could go for two? So we can match." He wobbled a hoof between himself and Cadance.

Umbra burst into laughter at that. "Silly of me, leaving you to be jealous of Cadance. We can't have that."

Cadance hopped free of the chair suddenly. "Shinie, you can have this one. I'll wait for the second."

Shining squinted at Cadance. "You don't fool me. You want the next, better, one!"

Cadance sighed with a gentle smile. "You saw right through me. Umbra, why don't you take this one?" She pointed at the new chair. "And bring them both back. Don't tell us which is the newer one, and they'll both be ours."

"Alright, but I'm not doing it right away." A comic floated free of her. "I'm going to finish this next. After that, maybe another chair." She trotted away at a lively jog, the chair floating a bit above and to her right.

Cadance looked aside at her husband. "Still think she's a threat?"

Shining deflated with a chuckle. "So far, no. She seems pretty harmless."

"Good that you could admit that." She touched noses with Shining. "Now... Things seem to be well in hoof. I know I've been busy. Tomorrow, I've scheduled nothing. At least, nothing in any official capacity. Shining Armor--" He tensed, his full name used. "--would you care to spend a day simply being my husband?"

"With pleasure." He rose to soon their noses met in a warm nuzzling. A day together sounded quite lovely to both of them.

A bit of a pity they had forgotten the situation they were in. Umbra flipped to the next page of her comic, enjoying a moment of chill when it felt like something had licked her on the rump. "What?" Nuzzles here, nips there. It was like some unseen presence was... No... She could also feel herself nipping. She could feel herself nuzzling.

She began to color, realizing what was happening. But what could she do about it? They had done so much for her. They had worked so hard for the kingdom. Umbra didn't want to get in the -- "Eeek!" She felt a presence pressing on her back, and something under her belly, both of their sensations coming through to her. "Oh no..." On one hoof, married ponies doing that was hardly... uncalled for.

But she was caught in what was the literal middle of it. She could feel herself reacting as both a stallion and a mare in a confusing blend. "Shining!" she shouted, not in passion but annoyance. It wasn't his fault. He wasn't trying to broadcast stallion feelings at her, but he was, like it or not.

Not that Cadance's mare sensations were that much more welcome, seeing as Umbra did not ask for them.

One thing was clear, Umbra would not get a lot of reading done that day.

8 - Discussed Like Adults

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"You had a good time." It was not a question. For Umbra, there was no way for it to be a question. "You deserved it, with all the work you two have been doing."

Cadance's face began to color. She had remembered. Shining wasn't far behind her, both of them aware of what they had done, but Cadance responded first, "We are so sorry. Are you alright?"

"No..." Umbra rubbed at her right cheek, hoof brushing against the fur. "I have..."

Shining interrupted Umbra's uncertain talking with a hoof on her side. "We didn't mean--"

"--Of course!" Umbra scootched back a bit, almost tripping over herself. "You're married and you love each other a ton. Of course you'd do that. That's normal." She cleared her throat. "I'm jealous a little... You... Can I talk about it?"

Cadance nodded at that. "After what we did, you've earned that right, surely. Please, talk."

"I know what sex is." Umbra just went ahead and stopped dancing around that unspoken word. "I've done it before... But it was never... that... Furtive things, always unsure and never that... Never like that. I was never in love the way you two are." She began to smile a little. "I could feel it, from both sides. Not the, uh, emotion, but the responses. It... It colored it, giving and receiving, all done out of love."

The two rulers were only darkening as Umbra explained her side of things. "Back then," she went right on. "Back then... I had the wrong body. I didn't like it, so... sex was never right either, how could it be?" She suddenly laughed. "And now I'm a pony, which isn't the... right body? But it's a girl pony, and that makes up for it, a lot. A lot lot." She stood up. "For however much I felt like things were wrong before, I can get used to the pony parts. I have hooves that clop clop." She stepped in place in march to nowhere. "I have a cute little snoot, even if it keeps surprising me." Thinking of it, her eyes went cross, looking at her own snout. "A soft long tail that likes to wag and twitch. Be careful when sitting!" She laughed at the mental image she made for herself.

Cadance cleared her throat suddenly. "To turn this back to the topic at hoof... This is not acceptable. You shouldn't... have to be in this situation."

Umbra fidgeted. "It's not all bad."

Shining coughed at that admission. "Uh, really?"

Umbra glanced at the few guards standing there stoically. "Do you want them hearing this?"

Cadance quickly motioned for them to depart. "This is likely already well outside their range of comfort." They saluted and left, showing no sign of distress in a rare opportunity to be competent. "Now, really. Let's be fair. Umbra, when you... did things, neither of us found much comfortable about it."

Shining laughed nervously. "I was not expecting to suddenly feel... mare parts, being touched." A new shocked expression returned to him. "Thank Celestia this connection doesn't echo. I'm not sure what I would have done if what I was doing... came right back at me."

Umbra inclined her head at that. "But it does." She reached out and touched Shining on the nose, booping him. "Oh wait, no." She did not feel Shining's nose being touched, just her hoof touching it. "Alright, so one emergency avoided. You two didn't feel each other while you were... enjoying yourselves."

Cadance wobbled a hoof at Umbra. "But you got both. I can feel both right now." She angled her horn at the hoof touching a nose. "The hoof touching, the nose being touched. Umbra, you are in a very... intimate place, with us. Ponies can only dream of knowing what another pony is feeling."

"I don't want it to be a nightmare." Umbra drew her hoof away from Shining. "I like you, both of you. You're such nice people."

Shining wriggled his snout back into proper alignment. "You are too. We weren't sure what to make of you, but you've been unflinchingly positive about things. You just want to be helpful and productive while exploring yourself and your place in the kingdom."

Cadance nodded at that, her expression easing. "You exceeded our expectations, in a good way. But this. We don't want to attack you, and this is obviously something I would consider an attack."

"It's not that bad," weakly argued Umbra, ears going limp. "It's the surprise that bothers. It's that I didn't ask for it, or expect it. I was just at a good part in the comic and suddenly, oops, it's sex time, attendance mandatory..." She squinted, eyes flaring with shadowy power. "And let me note how difficult it is to try to read in the middle of that."

Shining shrank a bit, but rebounded to Umbra's side. "I am so sorry. Comic time is a sacred time."

That got a burst of giggles out of Umbra, still unfitting her appearance, though less of a contrast with her recovered voice, the gravel gone entirely. "Right?! Um... We're all adult ponies here." The other two nodded. "We know what's up... We know the situation we're in, and none of us asked for it. I won't be mad about it." She set a hoof on Shining's chest. "Cadance is lucky to have a stallion that loves her so much."

Cadance coughed suddenly. "This... reminds me of a question I kept nudging to the side. Umbra, you were a stallion, at least on the outside, and now you are a mare." She waved a hoof over the whole package that was Umbra. "What sort of pony would you prefer? Are you considering another mare, or a stallion?" It was Umbra's turn to start coloring. "Don't be like that. They call me the princess of love." She leaned in, lashes fluttering. "Matchmaking is one of my dirty little habits."

Shining angled an ear at his love-seeking wife. "Cadie, nice thought, but if Umbra finds a special plus-one, than we get a taste of what we've been giving."

It was only at that moment that it occurred to Cadance. "Oh... right..." She tapped her hooves together. "That does make it... awkward... but my question remains. We found each other." She gestured between herself and Shining. "What sort of pony are you hoping for?"

"I'm going to be honest here..."

"Please do." Shining nodded at Umbra. "No secrets."

Umbra giggled at that. "Not sure we're good at secrets, us three. Um... You're both... I don't want to say pretty. I bet Shining doesn't want to be called pretty. You're handsome." She moved a hoof to point at Cadance. "You're pretty. You're both super nice, which is a big plus in my book. And... You care, about me." She fidgeted a bit. "Which also counts, a lot."

Cadance's ears quivered softly. "But we are also taken."

Shining nodded at that. "By each other."

"Yeah..." Umbra deflated at that reminder. "But you asked what I wanted, not what I could have."

Cadance cycled her forehooves over one another. "So you like mares and stallions?"

Umbra's cheeks lit up as she was called out. "Y-yeah... I don't mind much which it is. It just changes how you... play with them." The blush was only getting worse. "I never... I never played with a woman as a woman."

Both ponies looked confused, inclining their heads in opposing directions. Shining's ears went up. "Is that a human thing?"

"Mare!" Umbra squeaked. "I never played with a mare, as a mare. I'm not against the idea, just inexperienced. Technically... Anything as a mare, I'm a virgin." She burst into laughter. "Hey, get to be a virgin all over again."

Cadance smirked softly. "Shining, you could be a virgin again."

Shining lit up furiously. "You said that was a secret!"

Despite that, Cadance leaned in towards Umbra. "My little Shiny has a dream, a fancy, of experiencing things as a mare, just once. He'd like me to be the stallion, in that case, and treat him gently, but lovingly." The way her eyebrows waggled as she said that left nothing to the imagination of what the loving would entail.

Shining collapsed with a miserable groan, his fantasy shared. "Cadie..."

What he did not expect was Umbra moving in over him so quickly, cradling his cheeks in her hooves. "Poor thing. You unhatched little egg... I'm so sorry."

Shining sat up, Umbra's hooves moving right along with him, keeping his face held. "Um... egg? I'm a pony. Ponies do not come from eggs. Do they on your world?"

Umbra giggled at the idea of an egg popping open to reveal a smiling little pony. "No! It's a term trans people use. If someone is an unhatched egg, they are considering being trans, right on the fence. When it hatches, they've made the actual step. You are an unhatched egg."

Cadance inclined her head faintly. "You, then, are hatched?"

"It doesn't get much more hatched than this." She wagged her tail. "Behold this hatched egg. I am like a bird, spreading my wings to catch the wind, and quite happy with it. But you." She touched noses with Shining, looking into his confused eyes. "If you want to be a mare, I want to help however I can help."

Shining scrambled backwards suddenly. "N-no! I mean... No offense to the mares of the room, but I am a stallion." He thumped himself on the chest. "I like being Cadance's stallion. I... um... I enjoy stallion'ing for Cadance..." He suddenly laughed. "I had a friend that was more curious, an old O&O pal. Good guy, um... but I am Shining Armor, a stallion, really."

Umbra inclined her head, sitting. "But you still dream of being a mare, of being topped even while you do it." Her cheeks darkened. "I used to dream of being pretty, of wearing soft frilly things... Sex wasn't really where I was focused, but other parts of being a wo--mare. Shining... you're a treat as a pony either way, but I just want it super clear. If you want that, I want to help, however I can."

"Do I get a vote in this?" Cadance was smirking softly at the exchange. "I rather like Shining as he is, but... As a thing of play, I'm not opposed to a little roleplay." She rubbed her forehooves together, pink magic seen between them. "Love magic is a specialty of mine. When he's ready, I am prepared to give him the chance to live that dream."

Umbra looked to Cadance with fire in her eyes, resolute in a way she was normally not. "And if you do that, and he decides he... likes being a she. Will you stop her from staying there?"

Cadance frowned, but a response didn't come right away. Those were heavy words and equally severe thoughts. "A lot would have to change. I... I prefer stallions, I'll admit that." She gestured at Umbra. "You're pretty, as a mare, and I can appreciate that, as one would a lovely statue or painting. But I feel no desire for you, as a mare. But you do, for me?"

Umbra clopped a hoof down. "A lot less if you'd stop Shining from being their true self." A point of personal investment, Umbra didn't seem ready to back down on that idea.

"I would not stop them," stated Cadance with rock-firm resolution. "But... That does not mean I could walk alongside them... Should that happen, we would need to re-examine things... They would, in either event, remain a close and cherished friend, but perhaps not as my husband, who need be a stallion by the very definition." She reached suddenly, booping Umbra firmly. "Speaking of that, even if Shining wasn't involved, I couldn't accept you as a potential suitor, as I do want a husband, not another wife. I have that covered."

Umbra shrank back, shot down. "Sorry. Um... We've gotten off topic a bit." She swirled a hoof between the three of them. "The connection?"

Shining nodded firmly, regaining his lost balance as they turned topics. "If you're..." He went quiet a moment. "How does this affect you, aside from being extremely distracting?"

Umbra's turn to color. "I feel things I didn't ask for, and I imagine the two of you... doing the things that would make those feelings. It's... surprisingly easy to imagine that when you're busy feeling it go on. I don't..." Her eyes fell towards Shining's rump, or something in the general area. "I could do without some parts of it... but you two are so intense... I forget about that."

She bit at her lip lightly. "Part of me wanted to... do things... but then you'd feel that, and I'd ruin your special time. Not fair... But it is what it is."

Cadance sat up. "How do humans do that?" Both of the others looked at her confusedly. "Masturbate," she provided flatly. "From your description, they are very much not ponies."

"N-no!" squeaked out Umbra. "They are not. Um... Fingers, mostly." She raised a hoof that had no fingers. In a moment of species dysphoria, she tried to stretch and contract those fingers she did not have, but the hoof did not respond to her desires. "Our fingers are very sensitive. Combine that with other erogenous zones and you're ready for a good time."

Strangely perhaps, Cadance seemed to grasp that. "We are not that different then." She raised a hoof to point at her snout. "Our noses are quite sensitive, so..."

Umbra put two and two together, bursting into manic little giggles. "Oh! Oh... Oh!" Visions of ponies burying their sensitive snouts against sensitive parts came to her. "I was wondering..." She had been ready to use her hooves, as ill-suited as they were. "Wow... I am a grown person, but you're basically talking to a gangly and awkward teen when it comes to pony specifics like that."

Shining turned an ear back. "That would be... distracting."

"Right in the middle of things," agreed Cadance. "And yet, not unfair. Just as we'd ask you to forgive us for doing what we want and need to do, we would be hypocrites if we didn't extend the same courtesy." She took a slow cycle of a breath. "It would be in all our interests to learn more about how the crystal heart operates. If we could detach ourselves, we'd all be happier."

Shining thumped to the side against Cadance. "I wouldn't mind staying connected to you, hon."

"Aw." She nipped at his closer ear. "Even between us, there are things we experience that don't need to be shared. It is less unwelcome, to be sure, but still, we need to fix it."

Shifting Prism cantered around the room with a big smile. "Today I want to try something new. You got the idea of a chair down pretty good. Great! But there's more to life than places to park our rumps."

Umbra watched the energetic crystal bat pony. "What did you have in mind?"

"One thing crystals do." She looped around towards Umbra. "They store magic, hold it nice and tight. Me? Not a lot of magic." She waved it off. "But that doesn't stop me, watch!" She plucked out a slender wand of crystal from her pocket. "Looks harmless enough, right?"

"It's a wand." Umbra inclined her head. "Nicely made." It had a cloth grip and fine etches. It was pretty, as wands went. "But it does magic?"

"A very specific magic." Shifting waggled the wand and it began to scream a specific high pitch in a prolonged 'Eeeeeee' that echoed across the room. "Behold! And it's not entirely for show, even if I love that part." Her tufted ears twitched atop her head. "I can 'see' the entire room, even in the dark. Your shadow magic can't blindside me!"

Umbra blinked her equally slit eyes. "Amazing. Can I see?" When a nod was given, she began radiating darkness, plunging the room into a sudden midnight. She could see, her eyes glowing with the purples and greens of her magic. "Go ahead."

"I'm already going." Wagging her squeaking stick, Shifting walked around the room without bumping into things. She grabbed a ball on the way and bounced it up and down against the end of her nose, giggling as she went around obstacles without difficulty.

Light returned with an applause of clopping hooves. "That's quite the trick. Like a bat."

"Which I half am," Shifting stuck out her tongue at Umbra, setting the ball aside. "But there, see?" She lifted the wand back into easy view, but didn't prompt more squeaks. "Crystals can lock up magic, so you can use them later. Very cool."

Umbra willed crystal to rise towards her circling hooves, fashioning a quick staff that was little more than a perfectly straight projection of crystal she could hold. "Alright, so how do I do that, and what, just put shadow inside?"

"You skipped a step." Shifting tapped at the staff. "One, that's a little plain, but you can fancy it up later. Two, the magic has to be on the inside, and you didn't leave open a spot to get it in there."

A critical error for some, but Umbra soon had a hole in the side, brushing the crystal like firm clay instead of the stone it was. "Alright, then?"

"Then you put the magic in." Shifting Prism pointed at the created hole. "If it was me, I'd scree with all my might right there. But you're not me, and that's alright." She burst into merry giggles. "So put the magic you want in there. Do it as hard and as long as you can, then seal it up tight. Do it proper and the crystal will hold it."

Umbra considered with a little frown. "Hum... Oh!" She angled her horn towards the hole, focusing her strange shadow magic at it. "I know what I want... I hope they like it."

Shifting perked at that. "Planning on a gift? That's nice! Keep it up." The tutoring crystal bat pony was watching Umbra pour her magic into the staff. "Keep a good lock on what you want it to do, your magic. When you start to feel tired, seal it up so it doesn't get away."

Umbra washed the hole over, causing it to become smooth crystal in a flash, only a little puff of dark escaping from the instant provided. "There," she gusted out, heaving for breath from the effort. "Alright? Did I do it right?"

Shifting grabbed the staff, wings coming in to grab it near the top and bottom and lift it up over her head. "Look inside." She shook it vigorously, letting the captured smoke inside swirl from the motion. "You've made your first magic item. Be proud, a lot of ponies never do."

"Wow..." For a moment, Umbra just watched that smoke shift around inside the staff. "But... How do I make it do things?"

Shifting set the staff back down where Umbra could snatch it up. "Hold it and imagine it doing the magic you put in there. Not you though." She pointed at Umbra's curled horn. "Not there. There." She moved the hoof to point at the staff instead. "Like that was your horn. When I do it, I imagine screaming through my staff. I don't have a horn." She tapped at where a horn was not. "But I got a pretty good screamer." She squealed in the same high pitched eeee that had escaped the staff earlier.

Which only got a new question from Umbra, frowning. "Could I use your wand? Could you use my staff?"

"I think so?" Shifting shrugged as if not really sure. "Should work. Wanna try?" She offered out her screaming wand. "Doubt you'll be able to hear the echoes properly though without a lot of practice. Comes natural to bats."

Umbra floated the wand around, held in her telekinesis. "Alright, let's try..." She did her best to imagine the wand was another horn, one she could push magic through. A little squeak sounded from the wand.

"Almost." Shifting Prism applauded wildly. "More!"

Umbra's eyes began to waft power as she concentrated, the screaming changing in pitch as she slowly aligned herself with it, getting a nice steady Eeeee of a sound to fill the air. She got no navigational data from it, that far beyond her, but she could hear it squeaking under her power. "Neat!" She gave up the wand back to Shifting, the sound fading away.

"I should be able to 'scream' through your staff." But she didn't reach for it. "Go ahead, show off what you made."

Umbra lifted the staff in her magic, twirling it for no particular reason. "Alright. It's big..."

"You made it big." Shifting inclined her head. "That was your choice."

"I wanted it to hold a lot of magic." Umbra closed her eyes, focusing on the staff much as she had the wand. Bits of her power wafted from her, even with her eyes closed. "Is it working?"

She couldn't see it with her eyes closed. Shifting could. "Eee! Yes. Stop that."

Umbra opened her eyes as she released the magic, allowing light to swiftly return to the room. "They're going to love it!"

Shifting blinked with wide eyes. "Why would somepony want that?"

"It's like a nightlight, but reverse." Umbra tapped the floating staff. "If they want dark, here it is."

"Ohhhh." Shifting bobbed her head. "Clever. Now let's make it look nice."

And so they got to work making the staff far more decorative than a perfectly smooth stick of shadows.

And it was with great pride that Umbra offered the revised staff. It had been shaped into what seemed to be a branch with an owl perched on the end of it. "I call it the sleep-time staff." She planted it straight up, the owl peering lifelessly at Shining and Cadance. "Just imagine doing magic with the staff as your horn and it'll work."

Shining gave a thoughtful hum of a noise. "What does it do?" Despite asking that, his horn was glowing as he reached to try and do as instructed. The shadow in the staff began to swirl more visibly, pooling in the owl's eyes. Darkness wafted free of it, teasing into the air. "Oh!"

Cadance recoiled as the darkness spread faster. "A dark staff?"

"Exactly that." Umbra bobbed her head with a big proud smile. "Whenever you want some dark, just use this. Fill it with enough of your own power and it'll keep putting out dark for hours. Take it back and it'll light up again." She clapped her hooves with a big grin. "Ta da!"

Shining lifted the staff, changing the angle the dark came from, but it kept coming, imbued with his activating power. "How curious. But... Actually... Hon?" He looked to Cadance. "This could be quite useful in the medical wing."

Cadance's features brightened. "A lovely idea! Ponies sometimes need to get some rest even in the middle of the day. Being able to turn off the lights would be quite useful." She reached for the owl staff, the color shifting from Shining's magic to her own as she took hold of it. "This is a very thoughtful gift, Umbra. Thank you."

"One thing." Shining inclined his head at the staff. "How does an earth pony turn it on? They don't have horns."

Nor could they screech like a bat. Umbra frowned at that. "They have to use their magic through it. What's earth pony magic?"

Cadance frowned, joining the thought. "Now that is a large question... For now, they may need to gather one of us." She gestured between the three of them. "--to turn it on. But, even then, still a useful device."

Shining chuckled softly. "Well, we could give it to the doctors and let them play with it. If they get it to go dark, we have an answer."

9 - Do You Really Know Me?

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Cadance walked through the door to be plunged into darkness. "Hello?" Her horn began to glow almost instinctively, repelling enough darkness to see just in front of her easily. "Did something happen?"

"Princess?" Hoofsteps on crystal as a crystal mare stepped into view. "Sorry about that. We have a delicate pony trying to get some rest."

Cadance inclined her head a moment, but it did click, she started with a startled gasp. "Oh! You got the daydark working then?"

"Like a charm," reported the mare with a proud smile. "And it's a wonderful thing. I just wish we had a separate room to put it in."

Cadance glanced around the dark-enshrouded room. "This is more of a triage..." It had but a few caretaking ponies, and no private rooms. "Not ideal. How do you manage to get anything done while that's on?"

"With difficulty." She leaned forward. "How can I help you, Your Highness?"

"It's surprisingly related." Cadance straightened herself, getting her composure back in order. "The health of my people is more important than this closet of a room suggests. I want you to move to a larger wing of the castle, and I wanted somepony along to help pick the most ideal place."

"How exciting!" She began to clap her hooves together. "Alright." She glanced off into the dark a moment. "He's fast asleep, I could come along?"

"Let's be off then." Cadance looped back on herself and trotted briskly back into the lighted hallway. The medical mare popped out a moment behind her. "There you are." She could finally see who she was addressing properly, wearing a nurse's cap and a kind smile. "Will your patient be alright while we're away?"

"He's just taking a needed nap," assured the nurse. "Besides, I'm not the only one on shift today, just the first to come see you, Your Highness." She dipped her head. "Let's be off. This is quite the thrill."

"That's a good attitude." Cadance resumed leading the way. "Having a larger space is also a larger responsibility, for you all. It also means we can have a larger medical staff occupying it."

The two chatted amiably as they went off in search of the perfect place.

Umbra inclined her head down at herself, examining herself, her new self. She lacked the curves that a human woman would have, but she was not a woman. She was not a man. She was a mare, with a mare's lines instead. She reached up, placing both hooves on her short snout. To a pony, the short curved snout of a mare was one of the most obvious marks of being a female, and she had that!

She had heard, and seen, some ponies had that mixed up. Some mares had a more stalliony box of a snout, and some stallions had the curved snoot of a mare. Just like humans, people varied, but it was still a very good predictor, and one ponies used at first seeing someone. That she... matched was a point of pride. But it wasn't the only place. Umbra patted herself down lightly, feeling the muscles beneath the fur. Mares were smaller creatures, built with different lines than a stallion. She had those lines. Those lines were far less variable, overall. They were also fairly easy to spot at a distance, making them about equal and on par with the snout's shape for pegging a random new pony as male or female. She was shaped like a mare. She was a bit large, but that part was within normal boundaries.

Cadance... now she was large! Apparently an alicorn thing? Alicorns tended to drift into giants. Cadance, Luna, and Celestia were all large figures, three for three! Umbra was not an alicorn, she was just a mildly large unicorn mare.

It was still a thing that was hard to grasp. She was a mare. A real mare, a female, completely. She had each and every part one would expect such a creature to have. She moved her hooves to her chest and down under the front of her barrel, but there was nothing there but smooth muscle that flexed lightly under her probing. Ponies did not have boobs, at least not there.

Umbra was a four legged animal. She had four hooves to prove it! On a four legged animal, at least all the ones she knew of, that was more... She sent her forehooves down along her belly, curling in on herself to the point that she flopped over. There, She nudged against the right part, and its twin just across the way. She had two breasts, each a subtle little thing, crowned with a nipple.

Were they nipples? Functionally, sure, but... technically? Umbra scrunched her face, digging through the past. Horses were like cows, and cows did not have nipples, or breasts. She had two udders, with a teat each. There was some mechanical difference too, but she didn't know what they were. She never owned a horse, or a cow, so learning that difference wasn't that high on her todo list. They did, however, enjoy her clumsy exploration of them.

"Are you alright?" A knock came with the voice. Shining had arrived at her room. Of course he had, seeing as he could feel everything she was doing.

Umbra grunted with frustration. She wanted to know herself, but... Oh sheesh. She began to color vividly, realizing she was playing with parts Shining just did not have, at all. It wasn't like a human guy. A human guy would at least know what a nipple was, they had them. They knew what one being poked felt like. Poor Shining was enduring completely alien sensations, being given to him by an unthoughtful house guest.

The door exploded inwards, grabbed by her magic as she scrambled into position. "I'm so sorry!"

Shining inclined his head. "Forgive us for the last time?"

Umbra forced an awkward smile. "Forgiven! Really, sorry..."

Shining reached forward and placed a hoof right on the same spot of her snout she had placed her left hoof not long before. "It's alright. We're all in an awkward spot right now."

Umbra could see her vision go blurry a moment. Why was she crying? "You're both so... nice."

"We try to be," he laughed out. "And you're just... curious, about yourself. I would be too!"

Umbra twitched her ears curiously. "You would?"

"Sure I would." He nodded firmly. "If I woke up as something other than what I already was, I'd want to know all about it." He angled his hoof to get Umbra more under her chin, cradling her as he brought in his other hoof. "What you're doing is perfectly natural. It's just the sharing part that's awkward."

"You know... Cadance can feel this." Not that Umbra minded his touch. It was kind of nice, being held like that.

"Then it's like I can hold her from a distance." He kept his hooves right on Umbra, gently rubbing. "I hope she can feel how much I love her."

Umbra began to color all the deeper. "But it's my face your hooves are on!"

"You do have a point." He drew his hooves back. "Sorry. I wasn't trying to bother you."

"No... no..." She turned in place, just to come back to facing him. "I don't want to be why you two get into a huge fight. You two are such a perfect couple!" She skewed one ear to the side. "One thing. Just to be sure I have it right, stallions have no udders, right?"

It was Shining's turn to begin to color. "No, no we do not. That's a mare thing."

"Funny thing... What I was before, both the males and the females had them." Umbra laughed awkwardly in memory. "The female ones were larger, sure, but we both had them."

Shining squinted at the idea. "Why? Did your stallions... Why?" An alien idea, clearly rattling about in his head.

"Just how it worked out." Umbra shrugged gently. "Not everything has a 'why'. Just how the dice tumbled along the way. When you're... a little thing." She raised her hooves close together. "At least for us, you start as a girl, all of us. Then the switch is hit to turn into a guy, for half of us, but by the time someone reaches that button, the teats are already there, and it'd take effort to get rid of them, so, eh, whatever. No harm!"

"Huh." Things became quiet then, both looking at one another. "It doesn't work that way for ponies."

"Clearly now." She leaned to the left to get a peek under Shining.

Which made him turn to avoid that. "Hey. Nothing for you to see, promise."

"But you felt that... Someone touching something you never had. That must have been so weird. Sorry again!" Umbra rubbed behind her head with a little strained laugh.

"Not your first time," he noted with a less strained laugh. "The first part, you were... further back."

That got Umbra to go as red as her cheeks allowed. "Sorry!"

"We should talk." He turned as if to leave. "All three of us, when we get the chance."

"Sure, any time!" Umbra took a step as if to follow him, but he put up a hoof quickly to stop her. "But not now?"

"She's busy right now, making changes to the castle's layout or something like that. I have to get back to training the guards. You have something to do too, don't you?"

A quiet moment, but it came. "Oh! Yes. In an hour, more crystal lessons."

"Have fun with that." He was smiling, a real smile. "You're really making progress with that."

"I think it's my talent." She waved her crystal heart-clad bottom. "See, marked and everything."

"We still have to explore that a little. Good luck with your lesson." And he left her where he had found her, the door closing with a soft click.

Umbra calmed herself and instead got to practicing her crystal craft. "Gonna work on shadow later." She was no crystal wizard, and no darkness wizard. She was a crystal darkness wizard! She would practice both, and be the best magical pony girl she could be!

Shifting Prism arrived with a cheerful knocking pattern. "Good afternoon," she called. "Is my new favorite crystal crafter in?"

"Sure am!" Umbra set aside the crystal piece she had been working on. "Good to see you."

"And you!" Shifting closed the door behind her with a kick and trotted in at an energetic jog. "How are you doing?"

"Just got better." Umbra touched noses with her teacher. "They're using my daydark!"

"Daydark?" Shifting tilted head to the right.

"The staff I made." Umbra gestured in the air. "Makes things dark?"

"Oh! Right! That's great!" She began to clap with approval. "You'll have to practice other ways of holding spells, but crystals are great at it."

"What's in that?" Umbra pointed at the dangling crystal pendant around Shifting's neck. "Some amazing spell? You never showed it to me before." It had been there, dangling on Shifting prism, but so far, not used.

Of course, it could also just be bright and colorful jewelry. Not every crystal was a magic artifact. "It's personal," Shifting mumbled, half-turning away.

"Don't be nervous." Umbra circled with her, staying in front of her. "If you made it, I'm sure it's super great." She leaned in, examining the star. It had ten points. It seemed each of its points was made of a slightly different colored crystal, making the whole thing dazzling and interesting to her eyes. "It's really well made. You're so good at this!"

Shifting laughed tensely, one hoof on the ten point star, perhaps defensively. "It's not that big of a deal."

"You say that." Umbra's eyes were locked on the bauble. "But that's eleven different crystals you got to come together perfectly, and you don't have crystal shaping magic. I can just force them together, practically cheating. That you do it so well..." She leaned in closer, staring. "I can't even see the seams. It's like it's just one crystal!"

Shifting's arm folded in front of it, hiding the star partially. "It's really not..." But Umbra kept on looking at it. "Alright... I made it."

"I knew you did," giggled out Umbra. "Unless it was your teacher? Do you have a teacher with even crazier crystal skills?" She turned an ear off to the side. "I'd want to meet them some day."

Shifting giggled softly at that, setting her hooves on the ground and standing properly. "No, silly. I made it so I could..." She glanced left and right. "It's a secret. I'm not good at secrets."

"But I am." Umbra leaned in, lashes fluttering. "So any secret you tell me will be even safer, because I am a pro at them. Not a soul will hear it from me!" She crossed her heart with a hoof along with a firm nod, sure of her expert status in secrecy.

Shifting rocked left and right with thoughtful hums. "Well, yeah..."

"And we're friends," continued Umbra. "I'd trust you to keep my secrets."

"We are friends," allowed Shifting, reaching up to bat at the star lightly. "But what if it's a bad secret? Even if you're a good friend, your other friends might not like it. What then?"

Umbra's ears quivered. "I have had secrets like that... I lived that... If you tell me something in confidence, I will die with it before I talk about it with anyone you didn't tell me I can talk about it with."

Shifting jerked back at the sudden change in Umbra's tone, shifting from playful teasing to rock-firm seriousness. "Really?"

"I am not joking." Umbra crossed her hooves, seated up on her haunches. "Where I'm from, sharing secrets gets people hurt, possibly worse. You just don't do that. People hear you like telling secrets, that's your butt on the line too. Nobody wants to be around a snitch." She said the last word with a great sneer. "We have a saying, 'snitches get stiches'. You ever hear that one?"

"No." Shifting frowned in new thought. "Stitches? For their clothes?"

"For their cuts, which they're gonna get for snitching," explained Umbra. "So don't be a snitch."

Shifting shrank back at that. "Wow, you take your secrets really serious." When Umbra nodded gravely, Shifting Prism smiled. "Alright, but I'm holding you to it. It's a big secret, and you have to promise not to hate me."

Umbra blinked at that catch. "You are a pretty innocent little thing." She reached for Shifting's cheeks, smooshing them gently with a laugh. "I can't imagine what secret you have that'd make me not like you."

A rush of green flames tickled at Umbra's hooves and forelegs, and she was no longer holding a crystal bat pony, but a black insect pony with the same hopeful smile. Umbra inclined her head softly. "You have shape changing magic? Neat!"

That got Shifting to look just as confused. "Neat? I... Yeah, it is kind of neat..." She wriggled in Umbra's grip. "But ponies don't trust changelings."

"What's a changeling?"

That got a fresh giggle out of Shifting. "Oh, am I your first? Gosh, I better make a good impression then. Hi! I'm a changeling." She pointed at herself. "I was hiding as a bat pony so they didn't throw me out. This is what I really am. Ugly, huh?"

"Ugly?" Well, she wasn't as soft and fuzzy, but... "No... Different. Different, but still nice." She ran a hoof down along Shifting's back, giving her a petting. "And still my friend. It's still you, right? Shifting Prism?"

"That's me! I had another name, before... But I took this name." She thumped herself on the chest. "And I like it."

"Then it's yours." Umbra nodded with gravity. "Only you get to decide what name you want to be called. I'd be such a mega hypocrite if I complained about that. Easy for me anyway, I never knew another name to call you by." A new thought came. "Oh, how long have you been Shifting Prism? You don't technically have to tell me that."

"Years." Shifting set her hooves on Umbra, nudging her back, but keeping that contact as she returned with a rush of flames to being her crystal batpony self. "Thanks for, um... not being upset?"

"It isn't that bad." Umbra pointed to the dangling 10 point star. "What's it got to do with that though? That's pretty, but... Oh! Does it do it? Is that what lets you change shapes?" She leaned in to nose at it. "Could I change shapes with it? Lemme try!"

Shifting laughed as she danced away from the curious shadow pony. "It doesn't work that way. I can change shapes because of what I am, which is the secret, so no telling." She held up a hoof and made a loud 'shh' of a noise. "Changelings live on love... That's why ponies don't like us."

"You're a love bug?" Rather than being appalled or scared away, Umbra only seemed more amused at her friend. "Well, I must be giving you a good meal then."

Shifting licked over her lips lightly. "More of a little snack. The love we're talking about is... more like Cadance and Shining Armor, deep love, complete love, or at least..." Her cheeks began to darken. "Really hot lust, but that tastes different." She grasped her star in both her hooves, raising it. "This holds love."

"Like a battery?" That got a blink out of Shifting. Umbra tilted her head. "Nevermind, so you filled it up with love?"

"Yes!" Shifting bobbed her head rapidly. "So I don't have to hunt, or hurt anypony. So long as I have this..." She hugged her star close. "I can just be a normal pony that people aren't afraid of."

Umbra leaned in, touching noses. "I'm not afraid of you. Why would anyone be afraid of that?"

"Well..." Shifting rubbed at the side of her head. "Imagine you had a boyfriend." Umbra nodded. "You loved him very much." Umbra nodded all the harder. "But, surprise, he was one of us. We replaced him a week ago without telling you to feed on your love. Your real boyfriend was foalnapped!"

Umbra gasped with proper alarm. "That would be awful... and also something I can't imagine you doing."

"I wouldn't!" wailed Shifting. "I don't want to do that..." Only to be suddenly hugged, Umbra's arms around her in a firm grip of solidarity. "You really aren't worried?"

"You can't help what you were born as." Umbra nuzzled the tufted ear of the batpony. "I wasn't born the way I wanted to be either, and if being a batpony feels like home, then you are a batpony, end of story. What you were before, doesn't even matter."

"Crystal batpony," noted Shifting with a titter, her smile returning. "Alright, no more glum faces. Next lesson!"

With a squeal of excitement, Umbra released Shifting, and the class could begin properly.

Cadance brought down a hoof, bonking Shining on the head. "I know what you two were doing. It'd be very hard not to, seeing as I could feel your hooves pressing, and her cheeks being pressed against. Care to explain in what circumstance that would be appropriate?"

Shining rubbed the sore spot. "I was actually hoping you'd feel it."

Cadance blinked at that. "I don't want to imagine my husband staring lovingly at another mare."

"But I knew you were feeling it, it was like being able to hug you from afar."

Cadance burst into laughter. "Shiny, if you want to give me a hug, come do that. Unless I'm in the middle of a meeting, in which case I don't want to be hugged, from afar or not. Now, I know... what she was doing, hard to miss that either, which made it all the more awkward. She was... exploring herself, then you touch her like that... It makes a mare think, Shiny."

Shining pressed his hooves together. "I'm really sorry. I wasn't trying to hurt your feelings. I love you from the bottom of my heart to the top. I was trying to console her. She was feeling out of sorts, especially being caught... in that... and being reminded not to."

Cadance flipped her ears back. "I can imagine that." She huffed a loud sigh. "There is no privacy here. This is not sustainable. The status quo is... just not working." She clucked her tongue against her front teeth in a sharp clack. "Which is why, I called for help."

"Twily's back?" A big smile spread on Shining's face. "She can sort this out."

"She has other things to do," denied Cadance. "And she already helped us quite a bit. Besides, noble customs is not her specialty. I reached out to Auntie, and she sent her best." She gestured to a door just in time for it to open, permitting a unicorn mare with a light grey coat to enter with an officious look on her face. "I present, Raven Inkwell." The mare nodded. "She will solve this."

Shining scrambled to full height. "A pleasure to meet you, again, Miss Inkwell." It was far from the first time he had ever seen that mare around Celestia. "But how is she going to help? Her specialty isn't ancient artifacts."

"I told you." Cadance flicked her husband's nose with a wing. "She will tell us what we can and can not do, while remaining the proper married royal couple we are. Isn't that right?"

"Without a doubt, ma'am." Raven approached at a casual rate, no urge to trot there. "I've been reviewing what you've informed me of, cross-indexing with the customs of the area. You are both in luck and out of it, since the ponies of the Crystal Empire are wildly out of date with the customs of the rest of the world." She inclined her head at a floating clipboard. "This presents unique opportunities to address this problem."

Shining rolled a hoof a bit limply. "But if we do--"

"--Others will think oddly of it, that would be the poor luck I was referring to." Raven nodded slightly. "However, their opinion also matters significantly less if the matter is not rubbed in their faces. Most global leaders have very little interest in the goings-on of your marital life, save where they have to."

Cadance sat even as she nodded. "Auntie was right, you are exactly the right pony for this. Tell us then, what do you recommend?"

"Have you considered exiling this 'Umbra'? Distance may diminish or even eliminate the problem." Raven suggested it with a straight face, no emotion displayed.

Cadance blanched at the idea. "No! We are at least partially responsible for her. Simply sending her away would--"

"--I imagined not, but I needed to eliminate the most expedient solution first." Raven crossed one line off her list. "Do you enjoy her company?" She looked to Cadance specifically.

"Hm? She seems nice." Cadance smiled gently. "A perfectly lovely mare. She's like a filly in some ways, trying to find her place. It's endearing how authentic she is."

Raven looked to Shining, not repeating the question, out loud. Shining coughed softly. "Ah! Well... Sure! She's nice, and a good pony, despite her, um, dark origins. She really seems to want to be friends with us, and she isn't bad at all."

Raven pointed her quill at Cadance. "Being the empress of the Crystal Empire, it is entirely within your abilities to take a consort. If she is your consort, then the problem is destroyed. Simple as that." She flipped pages on her clipboard. "Throughout the history of the Crystal Empire, more then ten separate leaders have taken a consort, some while married, some while not. Concubines, they're called, usually of the opposing gender of that leader, but not always." She reached up, pulling her glasses down. "Being a concubine, her position would be inferior to you, or yours." She pointed to Cadance and Shining's equally shocked faces. "But she would thenceforth be expected to be involved in the ways you currently fear. The problem would be resolved."

10 - Decisions of Love

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Cadance and Shining sat before Umbra, each with an unsure smile. Umbra didn't like it. "Did something happen?" She flicked an ear off to the side. "Did the daydark break? I can make another if that happened." She lifted her hooves. "Don't feel bad."

Shining perked at that. "Actually." Both of the others looked to him. "I wouldn't be so cavalier about that. I read in a book once that enchanting is investing literal bits of your magic... self. You can't make things forever."

Umbra shrank at that. "Oh! That's... That's bad! Which means..." She worried her hooves in the air against one another. "Each thing I make, I get weaker?"

Cadance recoiled, teeth clenched a brief moment. "Shiny! Why would you scare her like that?" She looked back to Umbra. "What he's describing is true, but also not the full story Talented item crafters spaced out their creations, to give themselves the chance to recover. That part of you is alive, like the rest. It can heal."

Umbra stood up. "It didn't hurt. How can I tell when it's healed?"

Cadance stood with her. "Be calm. Just don't go headlong into covering the castle in trinkets, is all I would advise. I would tell a pony making them by hoof the same thing. You'll hurt yourself if you don't take reasonable breaks."

"That's... true." Umbra nodded a little stiffly. "Alright... Alright... Take a chill pill, got it." She nodded once more with more determination. "Thanks for letting me know." She glanced between Cadance and Shining. "Is that what you came here to tell me? You didn't have to be so nervous about that."

"Actually..." Shining rubbed behind his head, still seated on his haunches. "I wanted to ask--"

"--We wanted to ask, hypothetically."

"Just in theory," emphasized Shining. "No pressure, no wrong answers."

Umbra's eyes flared with dark magic. "Are you telling me to go?" Her voice was firm, body tensed.

"No!" they both assured, hooves waving.

"Almost the opposite of that, actually." Cadance reached for Umbra, drawing the confused unicorn closer. "We didn't ask for this to happen to us, but we refuse to let that be how we continue."

Shining bobbed his head. "Exactly, which is why we wanted to talk to you and get your thoughts. We should make a decision, together."

"Alright... with you so far... But what are we deciding?" Umbra waved between herself and the royal couple before her cheeks darkened suddenly. "If this is about... I'm really sorry. I'll keep my hooves to myself. Shoot, you know, um, not myself? Seriously, won't do it again!"

Cadance wobbled a hoof. "A bit related, but no, this isn't about that specifically. Umbra, what would you say if we offered to bring you in?"

"To our family," continued Shining, leaping into what could have been an awkward pause. "We've been mashed up against each other, without asking. So we're asking this time."

"And 'no' is a perfectly valid answer." Cadance nodded with confidence in that. "No pressure. This is... a strange situation. I wouldn't even be surprised if you didn't--"

"--To your family?" blurted Umbra, unable or unwilling to let Cadance finish. "Like... what... part of your family?" The trails of power from her eyes only grew more pronounced in her emotional confusion.

Shining let out a little breath. "Have you ever heard of a consort?"

Umbra flopped backwards, only to crash to the side, knocked dizzy at the revelation given to her. "Oh dear god above!" She peeked up from where she had fallen at the two. "Are you serious?" But she could see they were. There was little room for that. "Wow. Oh... sheesh... That's... Quite a question! Look, first..." She got up on her haunches, the trails fading to mostly transparent. "This body, it's not the one I started with, but it is mine. I'm not giving it up, and I'm not a slave, no matter how nice you two seem to be."

The two shared a look before Cadance took a half-step forward. "Why would you think you'd become a slave?"

"That's not our style," assured Shining. "Or we wouldn't be having this conversation."

Umbra curled a hoof on herself. "A not-super-private consort, to married people? Married noble people? I'm not... an expert, by any stretch of the imagination." She tapped at her own head. "But pretty sure, in that kinda situation, you two are in charge, and I'm not."

Cadance reached a hoof just under Umbra's chin, lifting it so their eyes met. "In the bedroom, titles are set aside," she assured gently. "Unless we want to role-play a little."

Shining coughed into a hoof at that. "Not that I've ever done that!" he blurted, admitting that he had done that before. "We are serious. If that sounds like... something you're... alright with? You would become her consort." He pointed at Cadance.

Umbra blinked at Cadance. She thrust a hoof at Shining. "He likes mares!" she blurted as if that was some secret she was revealing to the world.

Cadance looked over just a moment. "I can confirm this fact." Her expression was a smile, almost amused. "But why are you telling me that?"

"I am a mare." She put both hooves at her chest to direct attention to herself. "Why would you--" One of the hooves turned to Cadance. "--want me as a consort?" Umbra began to darken. "Are you into that kind of thing? That's..." The blush only grew worse. The idea of the prettiest of the ponies having any interest in her was flattering, actually. "Wow," is all she got out instead, any more advanced thought dead on her tongue.

Shining cleared his throat, getting both their attentions. "We want your opinions, Umbra. You are not her subject. You owe us nothing." He smiled gently. "In fact, by my count, we owe you a few things. So, speak honestly. That's all we're asking."

Cadance nodded along with that. "But putting that aside, even if you did agree, I would not suddenly 'own' you, Umbra. You are a pony, with thoughts and dreams." She leaned in, towering a bit, but that came naturally to alicorns. "I happen to like the ones I've seen. I would like to see you grow and learn. But this isn't about that, precisely. It's about... privacy, and expectations thereof."

"We have none," sighed out Shining. "The doors between us are wide open. In fact, I think somepony just tore them off, leaving only open door frames behind."

Cadance rolled her eyes. "Quite the image you're making, but not entirely incorrect either. So... If we can already see through those not doors, we're inviting you to just call the three rooms." She looked between the other two. "Into one suite. We are already... poorly equipped to hide physical things."

"I'd still be your--" Umbra was looking at Cadance directly. "--consort. Fuck, err, sorry, language." She covered her mouth as her ears flipped back in a clear embarrassed gesture. The land of ponies had such mild language compared to the human one she had come from. "Seriously though, you're taking another lady as a mistress. You're alright with that?"

Cadance set a hoof on umbra's nose. "We would have to set rules, all of us, but I am not appalled, since it doesn't mean we have to do anything, either of us. It just means we can, if we want." She leaned in, tapping her horn against Umbra's. "Truth told, I am largely... hetero. You seem nice enough, nice enough I want to protect you, and I value you, as a friend. I feel no carnal attraction, and that's not the end of the world."

Umbra looked over to Shining. "That actually makes it more awkward, not less. Shining is also hetero, and how will you feel if he tried to be hetero at me? Setting you two up to feel betrayed is really not my goal."

Shining gave a soft little hum of a noise. "What are you?"

"Me?" Umbra pointed at herself.

"Are you attracted to stallions." He pointed to himself. "Or mares." He pointed to Cadance, the two most obvious examples available at that moment.

Cadance turned an ear aside. "That is a good question, but it misses the point, because it, in the end, doesn't actually matter. Even if you say yes, you will only be involved with the ponies you want to be." She waggled a hoof. "We would ask that you remain loyal to us, in that fashion, but that doesn't mean you have to like either of us, that way."

"Just nobody else," concluded Umbra as she wandered to a window. Her horn glowing, she willed it open a crack to allow the crisp wind to blow in, perhaps hoping it'd clear her own thoughts. "Shining, be honest. Do you want me or not?"

That Cadance was also looking at him didn't help, seeing as Shining began to color darkly. "Well, you see!" But there was a reaction that could not be hidden, but could be felt by both mares.

Cadance thumped Shining across the head. "I swear, you are attracted to monsters. That is your fetish."

Shining squeaked at the assault, dancing away from his irate partner. "Hey!"

But their horseplay did little for Umbra, who sank to her haunches. "I'm a monster?"

Both looked to her instantly. "No!" Both were rapid in their assurances that it wasn't that. "No no!"

Cadance took a strong step forward. "I take responsibility for my words. That was very uncaring of me. Sorry. You are not a monster. You are, however... a pony steeped in mysterious magic with an appearance that... could trigger that sort of reaction." She glared aside at Shining. "You could play the part, and I think somepony here wouldn't mind that."

Umbra looked to Shining, her fur wafting gently in the breeze of the cracked window. "What sort of monster is she?" She directed one hoof at Cadance.

Shining squirmed and stuttered, caught without any words.

Cadance let out a slow sigh. "I am a great and terrible seductress." She rose to her full height. "Like a siren with a tiara." She angled that same tiara at Umbra. "With a coy smile and a confident walk, I can turn a pony's heart to mush and command them to love."

Umbra's ears began to dance. "What?!"

Shining let out a strained laugh. "It's, um, true. She is the princess of love. She can play with the love of ponies."

Cadance rubbed her hooves together with an evil expression. "Is that enough monster for you, my little shadow creature?"

"If you can do that..." Umbra trailed a hoof slowly along the ground. "Couldn't you just make me love you?"

Cadance's evil look faded away. She wasn't all that good at it. "Because that would be terrible. Now, if we're just playing... That's different, but I will not compel you. Besides, my magic works best when I'm amplifying or cutting off existing relationships. You don't--" But Umbra did, and Cadance could see it as she looked away, darkening in her cheeks. "Oh."

"You are everything I wanted to be," confessed Umbra. "Minus the love magic. You are the magic and pretty pony princess. You always look so good, but you're nice, and everyone else loves you! I'm super jealous, but not in a bad way. Um..."

Cadance set a hoof on Umbra's shoulder. "Well, that changes things, a little... Then, do you want to be closer to me? No remains a valid answer."

Umbra swatted the hoof away. "But you two keep avoiding the real problem! Damn it... You're asking me if I want a fairy tale ending, yes. Yes I want that! Sign me right up! Literally prince charming--" She looked at Shining. "--and princess perfect--" She returned her view to Cadance. "--wants to take me as their no-strings attached mistress? Sure, yes, who'd say no to that? Crazy people! But you're ignoring the real problem!"

Cadance ran a hoof along her chin and neck in a quiet moment. "Which... is? We came here today because we wanted to be sure we were respecting you, as a pony."

"And you did that." Umbra nodded firmly. "Thank you... For doing that, I mean. Thanks, really... But you two." She waggled a hoof between them. "You're married. You have feelings for each other. Throwing me into the works like it's nothing? I don't want to see you two get into any huge fights. That's not worth it."

Shining smiled gently. "That's very thoughtful of you. Exactly what I'd want to hear from any pony I was letting in that close."

Cadance sighed softly. "Alright, time to talk like adults." Her horn glowed, the door slapping shut and the window sliding closed, sealing them away from all other eyes, well, except that one guard standing there. "Give us a moment, please."

The guard saluted and departed, saying not a word despite what was spoken in front of him. In this way, Equestrian guards were quite well trained. Cadance looked back to Shining. "My husband is a dork."

Shining fluffed up at that. "Hey!"

"It's one of the things I like about him," continued Cadance with a smile. "He collects comics and plays silly games with his friends with their funny dice. And he loves me." She nodded with each fact said. "I adore these parts about him. But... he's also turned on by monsters, me included." She frowned at Umbra softly. "That required some amount of therapy."

Umbra blinked wildly. "Therapy?!"

"Why not that?" Cadance pointed at the sheepish Shining. "He loved me to pieces, but he turned a blind eye when a changeling queen--" She scowled at the mention of that race. "--came knocking, shaking her plot in my skin, but acting not at all like me. That hurt... To put it simply... It took quite some effort for us both to work through that."

"You're the only monster for me," assured Shining, going in for a hug just to be held back at arm's length by Cadance.

"And you." She pointed with her other hoof. "You tick those boxes. When he was with you the other day, I could feel it. It's my specialty, and why I was so angry at him."

"See?!" burst Umbra. "See? This is exactly what I'm talking about!" She clapped her hooves to her cheeks. "I will not be what tears you two apart!" A tiny part of her thought of the changeling she knew, but it was far from the time to linger on that.

Shining took a step back. "You're exagerating! I meant it, you're the only monster for me. Umbra is nice and all, but that's it. We're not special someponies."

Cadance's horn began to glow a soft blue with very unsoft threat. "Shall we test?" She angled her horn between Shining and Umbra. "Umbra, you already said you're attracted, would you be... May I see how attracted he is? I'll stop him before it gets too far, if you'd rather."

Umbra recoiled. "What? Seriously, what in the hell? Are you... going to..." Visions danced in her mind, compared to what she had felt when Cadance and Shining had spent time together. "Oh god..."

Cadance's horn ceased to glow as she nodded. "It seems at least Umbra understands exactly what I see."

"Go ahead." Shining crossed his arms petulantly. "Hit me with your worst!"

"This may sting," warned Cadance. "Because I will stop you." Hearts began to spring from her newly re-ignited horn. "Umbra, you will feel this too. I'll be gentle with you."

It was then that two halves of a heart came together between Shining and Umbra. Their feelings were casually turned up to 11, amplified in every way. Umbra squeaked as she broke into a gallop away, instead of towards, Shining. "I don't want to hurt him, that stupidly cute stud!"

Cadance raised a brow, taking note of the language used quietly.

Shining's eyes were lost, replaced with two pulsing hearts as he walked towards Umbra. "You don't have to run away. Just join us and we can play whenever we want. Have you ever tried O&O? I bet you'd be really good at it." He licked over his lips with a tongue a little too wet for normal. "Did I ever mention..." He tried to bite back his words, but his thoughts refused to be concealed. "Why don't you wear your cape anymore? It was really suiting on you. I really liked it."

Umbra blinked, turning towards Shining. "The cape? The red one, with the frills on the edges?"

"That one." He nodded barely as he approached on slow hooves. "It really accentuates your figure. I loved it."

Umbra's ears folded back. "Sombra wore that! You want me to look like him?"

"My sexy little Sombra." He reached for her, and she didn't run away as he rubbed gently over her cheek. "Just as powerful, but ten thousand times as sweet. You could seal away my magic any time."

Umbra suddenly burst into laughter loud and abrupt enough to even startle the love-struck Shining. "That hurt you, a lot. Why would you want anyone to do that again?"

"Because I trust you?" He inclined his head. "Without my magic, I'm mostly defenseless, but I'd feel safe, with ponies like you around." He nuzzled into her neck, burying his face in her fur, snuffling deeply as her scent. "Mmm..."

That he was also extremely aroused, a fact neither mare could miss. That she was also turned on, about as hard to deny even if it came with less obvious external signals. "I love... that you and Cadance are such a perfect couple. I love her! I love her and you and it hurts because if I... I don't want to hurt you..."

But she hadn't moved, and Shining was still buried against her, hugging her tightly. It was at once both something she wanted, badly, and wanted to avoid with her every fibre. "Cadance!" The magic suddenly faded, her thoughts returning to clarity. With an angry flare of dark magic, crystals exploded up around her, sending Shining tumbling away.

"Deserved it," huffed Cadance. "Sorry about that, Umbra."

"That wasn't nice." She shook her head clear of the lingering touches of the magic, or tried to. "I don't want to hurt either of you. Seriously... Seriously Cadance! Has nopony ever told you Shining is, you know, handsome?"

Cadance smirked at that. "Funny story. When we were younger, he was an awkward twig of a colt, right before we were adults. The others picked on him for being a nerd. Fortunately, I liked that... He still is, but he filled out in the guard and became a strapping stallion on top of that. A win-win in my book."

Shining sat up, head wobbling in dizziness from his sudden traip. "Ow... Cadance!" He bit his lip, remembering he had asked for it. "Um... See, we didn't do anything."

Cadance rolled her eyes. "Only because Umbra has a heart of gold and values her relationship to me enough to make her tuck her tail and run. If that tail had gone the other way..."

Umbra was busy pushing her hastily sprouted crystal circle back into the floor, laboring to undo the damage she had caused. "Cadie, uncool. You just walked over a line." She looked up from the mostly-smoothed floor. "That's my head. The last person that tried to tell me what to do up there, I stopped talking to ever again. I don't want you in that corner. You're not like that other person." She bared her sharp teeth, growling. "But that, never, ever again."

Cadance wilted a little. "I deserve that, in part. I owe you one, Umbra. Let me know how I can make it up to you."

Umbra suddenly stormed up to Cadance to poke her dead in the chest. "Sit down with your boy and talk this out without me! You two have issues. You're cute and wonderful, both of you, but you got issues! There's no room for me to get all snuggled up in there."

"Now." She pointed to the door. "I want some alone time. We can't separate physically, but right now, just me and my thoughts."

Shining started for the door hesitantly. "I didn't mean to--"

"Later," cut off Umbra. "Right now is quiet time."

Cadance set a wing over Shining, the two departing without further words. When the door shut behind them, glowing with the dark magic of Umbra, Cadance sighed. "That could have gone better."

Shining looked back at the closed door. "I wasn't trying to hurt her."

"And you did. And so did I." Cadance applied a hoof to her face. "Today we remain chaste."

Shining's ears danced. "Oh, uh, yeah. That makes sense."

Cadance rolled her eyes. "Shining, you should know by now that a mare has needs and wants too. Which is the problem, hm? She can't even approach hers. Forget her alone time. She can't even think about approaching anypony else! She is the isolated one here, and we're just trying to make it better, for us."

"Yeah..." He shook himself our from top to back. "But she liked the idea. She, to... She likes us both."

Cadance smiled gently at that. "If we don't ruin it. Look, Shining. I think it's time we restarted our sessions." When Shining perked, she frowned. "Not those sessions. The ones that involve feelings."

"Oh." He sank. Marriage counseling was a thing he thought he'd won past. "Do we have to?"

"Yes." Cadance nodded firmly. "Likely both before and after this, no matter how it turns out. We've been trying to have brave faces, but this is challenging, to all of us." She leaned in, touching her nose to the top of his head. "I love you, now let's be responsible adults, even when it involves us."

"Alright, alright..." He was quiet a moment. "Do you think Active Listening would come out here?"

"Quite a distance," agreed Cadance. "But if we make the offer sweet enough, perhaps she would. She did quite the remarkable job last we spoke." The two nodded in agreement to reach out to their last group counselor. "But even if she isn't, we're going."

"Yes, ma'am," sighed out Shining, but a smile formed shortly thereafter. "You're still my favorite monster."

She swatted him with a wing. "If you know I'm one of those, stop inviting me to sink my teeth into your side and crying when it hurts. I swear..."

"When you stop being such a lovely monster," he whispered adoringly. "Huh, I'm the only not-monster."

Cadance narrowed her eyes at him. "Just the way you like it, my knight in shining armor, caught between two great and terrible beasts that he keeps at bay through his cunning charms, hm? Is that the idea?"

"Is it working?" Shining flashed a smile as bright as it was goofy.

Cadance put a hoof on his side, shoving him away a foot easily as he slid along the crystal floor. "Even if we weren't on a time out, I'd send you to the couch for that one and you'd deserve it and you know it." She stuck out her tongue just barely, assuming a more dignified expression as she began to walk. "For now, back to business. There are things to be done."

This left Umbra to her thoughts. "Dang them both." Why did they have to be so pretty and annoying at the same time?! She stormed in place in a brief tantrum. "Get your stuff together!" It wasn't fair. She wanted to shout and scream, but... "Oh." She did have at least one non-involved friend. With a smile, she slipped from her room.

Surely a love bug would be just the one to ask for advice on such situations. "And maybe she can help with... the floor." Despite her best efforts, the floor still had marks from her explosive display. Fixing that would be nice...

11 - Respect

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"It was... icky as hell." Umbra shook her head. "Don't go gossip-mongering, but I sent them both off to figure themselves out."

"Wow." Shifting circled her friend. "I don't mean to be rude, but..."

"But?" Umbra turned her head to keep Shifting in view. "But what? They were nuts."

"It was pretty wild," agreed Shifting. "Not good. But not that part." She gestured to the left wildly. "Rewind, um. See, Shining?"

"Yeah?" Umbra nodded as she flicked up a hind hoof, scratching herself as a dog or cat might. "What about him?"

"He's a consort too already. That word doesn't mean what you think it means." Her cheeks darkened, but she was giggling. "Your way of using it is very naughty."

Umbra started at that. "Wait, what?! Seriously?" She leaned in closer to the changeling that was also a crystal bat pony. "Then what does it mean in this pony world?"

"Anyone married to royalty who isn't royalty." Shifting nodded along with that. "Shining Armor isn't royalty. Cadance is." She lifted a hoof with each pony named, Cadance higher. "So Shining Armor is a princess consort." A hoof turned to point at Shifting. "They weren't taking you as, a... mistress. They were saying 'Congrats, you're married too!"

Umbra sank back. "Oh!" That certainly had different connotations. "That doesn't make the messing with my head better." She tapped the side of her head for emphasis. "That isn't cool!"

"No..." Shifting squirmed left and right a moment. "The... The old queen could do that."

"Old queen?" Umbra reached out to poke at Shifting. "What old queen? Cadance is a replacement?"

"No! No, sorry." Shifting laughed with some strain. "My old queen, Chrysalis. Don't bring her up! Cadance and Shining have... bad blood with her. She's the queen of the changelings, like me, except not me. I left." She bobbed her head vigorously. "I have no queen now."

"And you're doing fine." Umbra patted Shifting gently on the head, which wasn't fought against. "Though, technically, if you live here, isn't Cadance your queen?"

"Technically," agreed Shifting, drawing big quotes in the air with her hooves. "I never voted for her."

This got merry laughter out of Umbra. "You just made a cross-dimensional joke, and I love it. Tell me you meant that, though not meaning it might be even better."

Shifting rubbed at a cheek. "Which part?" She did not know the joke she had made, nor the reference. "So... what was it like?"

"Which?"

Shifting tapped at her head. "Being zapped by the love princess. Outside the... not asking for it part."

"That's a big part!" Umbra began pacing instead, leaving Shifting sitting in one spot. "But, alright, fair question." She let out her breath as she hopped onto a chair. "It was like all I could think about was Shining Armor. Like my relationship to him was... everything." She waved a hoof a bit wildly, trying to encompass those feelings. "Not that I needed to... It's hard to phrase this, but it was like I was super focused on that, not that I had to love him. Because I don't! He did me dirty."

This seemed to confuse Shifting. "He made you dirty? You didn't mention that part." She inclined her head slowly. "I thought you didn't... do anything?"

Umbra stared at Shifting a moment before she brought her hooves together with a sharp clap. "Oh! Figure of speech. When someone 'does you dirty', it means they did something wrong to you on purpose. Usually a lie, or they left you in a tight spot."

"Never heard of that one," admitted Shifting Prism without hesitation. "But did he?" Umbra squinted at that. "Hear me out! He challenged Cadance to zap him, didn't he?"

"He did?" she allowed, thinking back to that instant. "Yeah, he did that."

"He did not ask Cadance to zap you." Shifting pointed at Umbra. "Which means he didn't do it. Still kinda dumb of him, but..."

Umbra pounced at Shifting, fading to shadow, across Shifting and reforming on the other side of them. "That was cool." A new application of the powers she had. She giggled with mirth at pulling it off properly. "That didn't hurt you, did it?"

Shifting turned in place, sliding on the crystal. "Surprised me, but I'm alright. Way to change the topic!"

"Did it work?" Umbra stuck out her tongue in a gesture unbefitting one of Sombra's ilk. "You're not entirely wrong. He didn't ask for that part, just got us both into it without thinking it through." She flopped to the side. "Which means, technically, he didn't 'do me dirty'. He was just an idiot."

"Toldja." Shifting looked way too pleased about that. "Still kinda dumb though, yeah. But that's on Cadance for doing it. She could have just zapped him. I think?" She tapped a forehoof on the floor. "I think she can? Now I'm not sure. I never saw her do that trick before. I don't know those rules!"

"Hey, count me in on the 'no idea' camp." She moved to sit down next to Shifting. "Look, I just needed to vent. That was a lot to get sprung on me all of a sudden."

"I bet!" Shifting leaned over onto Umbra. "I'm sorry that happened. Are you alright?"

"I am now." She leaned back against Shifting. "But I could be better. I want to make something big! Now tell me why I shouldn't just make a mess of crystals and shape it into a house?"

Shifting whistled at the idea. "You really are a crystal wizard... If I wanted to make one of those crystal houses, I'd need a lot of work before I even started... Alright, so..." Shifting pranced to a window and pointed down. "First, we can't do that inside. That'd be a huge mess and then they'd be angry at us, and for good reason. I will not participate in revenge schemes." She stuck out her tongue. "And you're too good for that."

"Tempting! But yeah, I don't want to hurt their castle for funsies. Let's go build, outside."

"Outside!" sang out Shifting, the two heading outside for a lesson on crystal forging when creating structures.

The train drew to a calm stop in the middle of nowhere. The city had not yet reached the end of the tracks, though was expanding that way. That was of little comfort to the pony that stepped free into the snow, each step she took sinking dangerously deep. "The things I'm called to do," she grumbled to herself.

"Active?" Shining was there, dressed more appropriately for the snow. "Thanks for coming!" He rushed towards her with a big happy smile.

Active smiled in kind. However cold it was, she remembered what a lovable doof Shining tended to be. "The one and only." She bowed with a sweep of a hoof. "Now, kindly tell me it's warmer in there." She pointed to the bubble that was the city not too far ahead.

"Way warmer." He began to walk alongside her. "Really, thanks. We know you had to come a long way."

"Just a little out of the way," joked Active Listening. "But if you called me, it's because you need me. Did Cadance catch you staring at something scary in not quite a scared way?"

Shining began to color at that. "No! Um, a little? It's more complicated than that, really."

"It always is." The counselor nodded slowly. "So start at the start, run me through it. Also congratulations."

"On?"

"You're the highest ranking pony for miles around, outside Cadance herself. That's something, hm?" Active nodded. "But I'm here to listen, so go on, tell me."

"You're nice, but first, warmth." He guided her to the edge of the bubble. "It's a lot toastier on the other side." He stepped beyond it, already taking off his hat and scarf, no longer required.

Active had no winter clothes to begin with, rushing across the barrier. "Oh, thank Celestia." The unicorn shook the snow from her fur. "That's a fair bit better. Now, as you were saying?"

"Are you sure you want to get right into that?" Shining pointed ahead at the palace in the distance. "We have a room ready for you."

"You two are the only reason I'm here." She walked as Shining did, but didn't seem to be letting up. "So, no. I want to hear. Tell me. I can't listen if you don't talk."

"That's true..." A trick of having a counselor, they wanted you to say things. "Well, it starts with the Crystal Heart, which I'll show you when we get to it." He went quiet, walking through the Crystal Empire alongside Active Listening.

"Crystal Heart? Is--" she clucked her tongue. "Like Cadance's mark?!"

"Exactly like Cadance's mark." The two were nodding together. "We found it, and a new complication."

"Now we're getting somewhere. Was it guarded by something alluring?" She could see Shining getting embarrassed. "Don't bother hiding it, just keep talking. I'm not who you need to hide from."

"First of all, no. It was guarded by a very angry and not even remotely attractive King Sombra. You ever hear of him?" Active shook her head, but was clearly still listening. It was her job. "Angry, shadowy, and extremely violent," ran down Shining. "Said one word at a time when not in the middle of hurting a pony. Not a nice pony to be around."

"You're leaving something out."

Shining frowned even as he laughed. "You are too good at that. So, uh, while we were fighting with him, there was another shadow pony, Umbra. She was on our side. She helped us fight Sombra, and we did it."

"There she is." Active leaned closer from the side. "I had a feeling. She a looker?"

Shining redirected by pointing at the Crystal Heart that had come into view. "That's what we found, and what keeps things nice and warm in here."

"It really is just like her mark. But continue. We're just getting at the important part."

"Right... So as we fought, the heart--" He pointed at it all the more emphatically. "It tied us together. Cadie, Umbra, and me. Once all unified, we won the day, but we didn't separate after that. We're still connected."

"Like the Elements of Harmony?" She quirked a brow up. "I don't see any tiara or necklaces on you."

"That would have been easier," groaned out Shining. "It bridged our, um, senses. If you poke me, both of them would feel it."

Active came to a sudden halt. "Oh."

"Yeah... oh..." Shining sighed as he turned to face Active. "It's been a big 'oh' since then."

"Does it have a start and an end?" Active turned to him, looking at him evenly. "Are there things you don't feel, or is it like you're three ponies right now?"

"That..." Shining flicked an ear. "I never thought of it that way, but yes. It's like I'm three ponies right now. Cadance is talking to somepony." He rubbed his throat which felt like it was busy talking. "Umbra is doing magic. Talking, but not as much. She's probably taking a magic lesson."

Active hissed at the thought. "That can not be helping anything. You can tell them apart?"

"I'm getting better at that." Shining quirked a smile as he resumed the trek towards the palace. "If I focus, I can feel them, as a whole, and that gives me a clue which is which. Only one of them has wings, to start."

"What is this Umbra?" Active kept up with Shining easily. "Not a pegasus, clearly. Earth? Unicorn? Not a pony?"

That she had to ask if they weren't a pony was more a mark of her understanding of the situation, really. Shining sighed softly. "Unicorn mostly. Also shadowy. Shadow unicorn? She's very cheerful for being a shadow pony. You'll meet her, I bet." He started, recoiling his head up. "Oh! This is touch only. I can't see what they see, or hear what they hear."

"Thank the fates for small mercies." She set a hoof on his shoulder. "If you had all the senses, I can't imagine any of you even functioning. It's honestly a little surprising you're doing as well as you are. But if it were that, you wouldn't have called me. Is this about... this?" She gestured at Shining's totality. "Or is there more? Keep talking."

"You are merciless." They began to ascend the stairs into the palace. "So we tried to just 'deal with it', but that was... not working well. I will stay away from specifics on that while we're strolling through a public space."

"That bad?" she asked with a sympathetic tone. "If you want to show me a nice private place, we can get to that."

"You just got here. Don't you want some time?" He peered at the hardworking unicorn.

Active shook her head. "I am here for you and Cadance, not much else. Think of it this way, the sooner I get a grasp on this and set you two back on a good path, the sooner I can head home. Now, let me ask a question; you two. You're still a thing? You're not considering changing that?"

"I hope not!" squeaked Shining, just to color at how loudly he had said it. "We're fine... We just messed up, both of us. This way." Since Active was not taking no for an answer, he led her to a small dining room. "I have this room under control," he advised a guard on the way in, securing them true privacy. "Have a seat, have a snack. We can talk here."

Active's horn began to glow as she lifted a fluffy biscuit up to take a nip from, but her eyes were on Shining in clear active listening mode. "Go on."

"Alright, so Raven Inkwell, remember her?" Active nodded. "She mentioned we could take Umbra as a princess consort. The ponies around here wouldn't think it's even a big deal."

"Here we go." Active leaned forward, bringing her hooves together. "Did you?"

"I didn't! Um, actually, we were both alright with the idea."

Active burst into soft laughter. "That is progress. But if that just worked out, I wouldn't be here, so tell me how it didn't."

Shining let out a miserable sigh. "We went to her to put the idea out there. We're not going to make a pony do that."

"That would be bad," gently agreed Active, rolling a hoof for Shining to continue.

"And she liked the idea, kinda sorta... She thought bringing her in would make her a wedge between Cadance and me."

Active's brows fell, a smirk growing with it. "Sounds like a mature pony."

Shining put a hoof to his face. "Who we scared and hurt."

"Go on. What did you do?" She was watching him like a hawk.

Shining sighed with fresh suffering. "Cadance might have mentioned Umbra was a monstrous mare, which she is, but also really nice, which she might have hinted was exactly the kind of thing I liked."

Active nodded softly. "And what is it you like?"

Trick with active listeners, they loved to make the other person explain and expand on what they said. "You know what I like, um, besides Cadance." He rubbed his hooves awkwardly. "She's wildly dangerous, but she also likes us, a lot. She's also fragile and needs our help. She... really does hit all the checkmarks. Did I mention she's nice?"

"A few times," allowed Active with a smile. "So you have this mare that you like, at least on a surface level, and Cadance is aware of this and is teasing you about it. Do I have that right?"

Summarizing, another active listening skill. "Right, right. So... I do something dumb and get annoyed and bristly... Sorry... but I defended myself against what wasn't an attack in the first place." He buried his face in both hooves. "And it only got worse."

"We've talked about that. You two love to tease each other." She poked Shining lightly in the side. "But when the other doesn't see a tease as a tease, hurt feelings happen, don't they?"

"Yes," he admitted with a groan. "So I told her, Cadie, to zap me."

Active narrowed her eyes. "You... You really lost control of yourself, didn't you?"

Shining thumped, flopping against the table bonelessly. "Yes... So there was poor Umbra, zapped too, running away from me."

"And what happened?" prompted Active. "Did you do anything?"

"Other than making a total foal of myself... Thankfully not." He sat up with a grunt. "She's angry, and she has every right to be angry right now... Cadance feels bad. I feel bad. We botched that right up!"

"You mentioned she's nice?"

"Hm? Yeah." Shining bobbed his head, recovering from the low point of the story. "Look, let's be honest."

"I like honest." She turned a hoof on herself. "I can't help you three without you being honest with me. So what do you want to share? I'm listening."

That she was listening was a safe bet one could make. "Alright." Shining adjusted the shirt he wasn't wearing. "I like her. She's nice and chipper. In normal situations, that'd be enough to want to be her friend, and that would be the end of that. She's like a less... Pinkie kind of Pinkie Pie?" That got a brow raise from Active. "A friend of Twilight's. She's... extra... and that's not even an insult."

"Sounds interesting, but she's not here. Tell me more about this Umbra. You say she's 'nice' but 'nice' can mean a lot of things. Tell me about the nice of this Umbra."

"Right to the point..." It was one of Active's skills. "Umbra cares about the ponies around her. She's keenly aware of identity." He tapped at his head. "If she thinks a pony is hiding who they really are, she'll encourage them to open up and share that part of themselves and celebrate whatever she found. I can appreciate that."

Active smiled gently at that. "It sounds like I may have competition. Should I be worried?"

Shining laughed at that. "I doubt it. Related, but shifting topic a little... I think she's not entirely... comfortable..." He rubbed his hooves, struggling to find the right word. "When it comes to sex. We've had some very heavy conversations about that."

"Comes with the territory." Active Listening inclined her head. "Do you think a marriage counselor that avoided talking about sex could do their job very well?"

"That could be tricky..." Shining sat up. "Just to be clear, we haven't done anything with Umbra."

"But the way you said that, and that you said it at all... What did happen between you?"

Shining grunted, caught in a lie he wasn't even trying to do. "We can feel everything. She... noticed when we tried to do what married ponies do."

Active shook her head at that. "That must have been... Did you finish?" Shining stared at her with wide eyes. "Did you finish?" she repeated. "Or did you stop?"

"We finished," he barely got out in a half-mumble. "We forgot she was part of it. She told us later."

"How do you think she felt about that?"

Shining's cheeks lit up. "Embarrassed? Violated?" He shrank in place. "I don't really know. I can only imagine. I... She touched herself before, twice. Before we knew we were connected, and afterwards once. The first time was mostly relieved pain. She was hurt, cut up, and she was washing herself. The... intimate stuff... was a side effect at best."

Active quirked an ear. "So you know what a mare feels like then? That is a skill very few stallions can claim to have. How do you feel, having it?"

"Odd." Shining laughed awkwardly. "Knowing those feels for parts I never had. The different bumps, the... wet?"

"The wet?" Active quirked a brow. "I'll remember that one. When you were with Cadance, could you feel what she was feeling as you were... doing things?"

Shining's blush only grew worse rapidly. "Yes! It was one of our best sessions. We knew what the other was feeling, so we just... without asking, did what made it best, since it made us feel good too, so..." He rolled a hoof. "If it was just the two of us, we'd probably be happy about it in the end, even with the awkward bits."

"Color me curious." She rested her head against an upturned set of hooves. "But that doesn't seem to be something you can control, so it won't be something I'll be experiencing. Just as well, the hubby's at home." She lifted an ear. "And feeling what he was up to from here sounds like it could be bothersome. So you had a nice time, then...?"

"Then we found out we put Umbra in a... bad spot. There she was, doing her own thing, and suddenly she was right in the middle of that. She could feel us both."

Active colored just a little at that. "That must have been interesting. What did she say?"

"She was mostly annoyed, but Cadance was the one that put her hoof down. She wanted to fix it, so she called Princess Celestia."

"Who called Inkwell," concluded Active. "Right?"

"Right," sighed out Shining. "Who brought up just bringing Umbra into the family."

"If my husband, right now." She sat up. "If he decided, in the privacy of his own home, with me away, to... relieve himself. Would that be improper of him?"

Shining proved he could color far better than the trained counselor. "N-no, I wouldn't... think so?"

"Nor would I," Active agreed. "But if I could feel him doing it, that would change things, don't you think? He's not just enjoying himself in quiet privacy. He's having a shared moment with me." She leveled a hoof at Shining. "Which sounds like it may be the real culprit here. None of you have private moments. Being married would make the loss of privacy less of... If a family member arrives at an awkward time, you deal with it, hm?"

"Yeah." Shining nodded at that. "It happens."

"It happens, but..." She rolled a hoof slowly. "Usually they leave, eventually, and you can be private. What if they never left. Your family, loved and loving, stayed forever. I don't care how tight your family is, that will eventually drive a pony mad, I think."

"I'd put them in their own--"

"--Nope," cut in Active. "There are no other rooms to put them. They will always be just over your shoulder. Even smiling and encouraging, that isn't a situation you can accept forever, is it?"

Shining imagined his own father leaning over his shoulder as Shining tried to have quality time with Cadance. "That's the way." He would consult a spreadsheet. "You're overdue for--"

Shining started and shuddered, ending that imagination. "No! No... No... That would be awful."

"But that is where you are." Active tapped the ends of her hooves together. "The three of you are warm and friendly, but you're also mashed together, always looking over each other's shoulders. And there are no other rooms to put each other. Getting married solves the external problem, which is what Inkwell was likely focused on. That is like her. She sees royal problems, and she makes them not royal problems. You three married? No more royal problems."

"But we'd still have problems," sighed out Shining, finishing the thought. "What do we do?!" He put his hooves on Active's shoulders. "It's not her fault. It's not our fault. It's not anypony's fault, which means there's nopony to yell at."

Active pantomimed closing a door with a slow sweep of a hoof. "You've been shown a wondrous gift, a door thrown open. But just because a door is opened doesn't mean it can't be closed. It's not a door we usually even think about, seeing as it's normally more of a wall than a door, so it's hanging there, ajar."

12 - Broken Peace

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Umbra sat up sharply in her bed, heaving for breath. "Wha... what?"

Two sets of hooves rapidly approached. Her door began to glow, magic gripping it, but the knob didn't turn, nor did the door open. "Are you alright?" came Cadance's voice, the two clearly resisting barging in.

Umbra slipped from the bed, staggering to her hooves. "I just had the wildest dream. Come in." The moment permission was given, the door swung open and the two hurried inside. "I'm really sorry. I didn't mean that."

Shining approached first. "I don't know many ponies outside of Princess Luna that have perfect control of their own dreams. Nightmares happen."

"It felt worse than a normal one." Umbra scowled in remembrance. "It was dark, really dark. Forms brushed past me, angry. I couldn't see them, but I knew they were angry. They were scratching at a wall that felt... thin... I..." She tapped her hooves. "I think something's coming."

Cadance set a hoof on Umbra's side. "Deep breaths. I can feel you still very stressed out. For good reason, I understand, but deep breath. Slow breath." She began to display her breathing technique she would share with Twilight later. "In... out..."

"In..." Umbra followed as best she could. "Seriously, I'm so sorry." You two don't deserve this. To be woken up because some pony--"

"None of us asked for this." Cadance shook her head firmly. "And that dream sounds bad. Do you usually have nightmares?"

"Me? Never." She waved her hooves in a strong negative. "Even after a really bad day. I sleep like the dead, usually. That's another thing that has me really on edge right now."

Cadance nodded lightly. "Then I am on edge too. Dreams are important, especially these kinds of dreams." A little smile spread. "Princes Celestia, Auntie, she knows no peace from them, but they are true more often than not by quite a margin."

"Does she really?" Shining had not heard of that before.

Cadance rolled her eyes. "And that is a secret, so don't go sharing it. I only did it because Umbra is experiencing what I can only imagine is the same thing. It leaves aunty fatigued and rattled when it happens."

"That's me!" squeaked out Umbra. "Oh... am I going to do that again? I don't want to."

Cadance draw the other mare in, hugging her warmly and closely. "I'm not sure you get a choice in that matter, but we will not abandon you. I'm so very sorry." She pushed Umbra back a precious inch. "But one thing we will not do is pretend this is nothing. I'd rather be prepared for nothing then not prepared for something."

"That was my line." Shining pouted at his line theft. "Still true though. You came back so late, we didn't talk, but things were happening."

Umbra examine Shining a moment. "Well I'm not going back to sleep this instant, so lay it on me."

Shining looked to Cadance. "This involves you too. As you know, Active arrived."

"She is not a subtle mare." Cadance smiled in easy acceptance. "I was surprised she didn't attack me with questions."

" I fell on that bomb for you, sweetie." Their noses met, the two giggling at their inside joke. "But she's basically caught up on the... situation."

Umbra darkened. "She knows it all?! Shrinks... Um.. Sorry." She waved it away. "Not your fault, just met a lot of not-so-good therapist and counselers and things."

"She's a pretty good pony, so far as I can tell."

"She truly is." Cadance inclined her head at Umbra. "She gets right to the heart of issues, and doesnt hold back on either of us."

"Interesting... But can she help with creepy dreams?"

Both ponies glanced at one another. Shining shrugged lightly. "I doubt that. She could try to figure out the symbols, but that's not her specialty."

"So." Umbra tapped her hooves. "I love that you two are seeing a therapist, good on you. That doesn't solve the 'impending doom' thing though. The way you reacted--" She looked to Cadance. "Dreams that mean things is a possibility. I don't like that possibility."

Cadance set a wing across Umbra. "I would not be happy either, with a dream like that. But we also can't do much with it, other than try to be ready."

Shining walked to the nearest window, peeking outside at something in the darkness. "I'll get the guards on high alert."

There wasn't too much more to be said about it. Umbra shifted topics. "While you're here. Cadance, why did you zap me when Shining asked you to zap him?"

Cadance flipped an ear back. She wouldn't get away with escaping that topic. "In part, because of how my talent works. Your talent lies in shadows and crystals. You can make either grow and direct them, but you can't make crystals in the middle of the air, can you?"

Umbra blinked at that. She hadn't even thought of it! "Only because I haven't tried." She raised her hooves off the ground and tried to imagine crystals appearing from nothing, her horn glowing and eyes wafting with her shadowy magic.

But no crystals came. It was a limit of her power. "Huh... Good eye, Cades. But that doesn't finish the explanation."

"If I focus, I can see the ties between ponies." She reached out as if to pluck on some unseen strand. "The ones between us have become like a brilliant crystal, but normally it is like a colored string. The color and quality of the string can tell me a lot about the relationship that ties two ponies together."

Umbra inclined her head slowly, considering that. "So if two ponies have, say, a ratty and tattered string, they're not really talking much at all and it could break any moment?"

"Exactly." Cadance smiled. "Now, my magic targets those strings, not a pony."

"Oh!" Umbra clapped once firmly. "So you zapped the connection between Shining and me and... that actually makes a lot of sense. That's what it sorta felt like, as if that connection was all I could think about for a bit." She set a hoof on Cadance's chest. "Now please don't do that again without asking, thanks."

Cadance touched her snout to Umbra's. "Deal. Now, since we're all awake, I motion we get some breakfast in us and we greet the day."

Shining turned away from the window. "Seconded."

"Thirded," laughed out Umbra. "Motion carried."

Cadance clopped the floor as if her hoof were a gavel. "Meeting is adjourned then." She led the way towards breakfast. Horrors could wait their turn.

"Um." Shifting paced back and forth. "What made you ask me?"

"You're my teacher?" Umbra turned her head back and forth to match her pacing teacher. "You've been great with the crystal work."

"Thanks. Oh, you're welcome." She turned to Umbra, her pacing stopping. "But, you realize, for ponies, no horn means no magic." She pointed up at her forehead, where no horn resided. "Behold my mighty horn!"

"Oh." Umbra frowned at that clear evidence. "But! You're not a pony."

"No," she allowed with a suffering sigh. "I know a few spells... I'm not super good at it. And the rule is still there. I just get to choose when I have a horn or not." She waved a hoof in a wide arc. "But we are in a big city! I bet you could find a wizard if you looked hard enough."

"Crystal ponies are usually earth ponies," noted Umbra. "Which... actually makes this simpler. Most of them are ruled out before I even walk up to them. Find the unicorns, ask them nice-like and hope one of them is up to showing me more about magic. Twilight gave..." Umbra trailed off with a frown. "Actually."

"Actually? Did my student get an idea?" Shifting began to bounce in place, clearly excited at the idea, of an idea. "Do share."

"Twilight showed me how to read magic. I can cast a spell, with practice, if I have the spell to cast. So, maybe I'm looking at this the wrong way." Umbra threw open the nearest window with a flare of her horn. "The library may have what I'm looking for!"

"Now you're on to something." Shifting nodded with approval at the idea. "So, no crystal lesson today?"

They had met up for that, in theory. "Um... I guess not. Please don't be mad."

"Mad? Why would I be?" Shifting hopped up, pecking Umbra on the cheek. "You go get your reading on. Let me know when you want to pick up on crystal work again and we'll get right back into it." She waved a hoof scoldingly. "And you'd better keep practicing. I'll be sore if you let that go rusty."

"Rusty crystals? The worst." Umbra snorted softly as she reached for Shifting, hugging the crystal bat close. "Thanks for being great."

"I try," sang Shifting, bouncing away to break into a trot out of the room. "Good luck! I want to see what cool spells you learn." And she was gone.

Umbra set off, after she closed the window she had opened. "Why did I do that?" It seemed like a cool idea at the time. "Whatever." She descended the steps of the palace and started down the main road of the city, only to veer off shortly. The library wasn't on the main road.

There it was, the library Twilight had mentioned. Umbra hastened towards it, accelerating from a walk to a trot as she avoided the more leisurely crystal ponies in the area. The doors were open, so her motion was unimpeded, just slowing back to a walk as she got to the threshold.

Books. There were a lot of books. This was not surprising, in itself. It's what made a library. That didn't make it less intimidating to consider finding anything in the mess. Did ponies have the Dewey system?

Umbra saw something even better than any decimal system! A librarian behind a counter was sorting through books.

Target in sight, Umbra approached with a close-mouthed smile. "Morning."

"Morning." The librarian only looked up after that. "Oh! Umbra the Great, what brings you here?"

Umbra skewed an ear off to the side. Umbra the Great? "I was hoping to get some magic books, spells. Shadow spells ideally."

She recoiled at the question, the librarian's ears pinning to her head. "Oh, um. It was very forbidden by... him... to have any books on shadow magic."

That jerk! "Even defeated, he's still in the way." Umbra huffed angrily, taking a moment to stomp in place before she regathered herself. "Not your fault. Thank you."

"It is said..." The librarian rubbed at her chin with a hoof. "He kept all such things in a secure place, far away from the rest of us."

"Huh..." Umbra was already turning for the door. "Maybe I can find it. Thank you!" She emerged from the library, a bit too quickly from when she had entered it. "That was, mostly, a bust," she grumbled to herself. She could probably find other spells, but her specialties were shadows and crystals. She wanted to improve on that, not go off in some new direction. So she went off in a new direction.

Annoyed at the roadblock set before her, she didn't go straight back to the castle, turning the other way and wandering the streets instead as if the answer would be--"Woah!" She ducked to the side, almost being run into by a floating book.

"Hm? Sorry." The book raised up, allowing her to see the face of a unicorn, a stallion with a goatee and a scraggly mane that was was begging for attention. He also had a set of glasses perched on his snout. "I need to watch where I'm going." He folded the book shut in his magic and tucked it away.

Umbra was without words a moment. A unicorn! Could it really work out? "Do you do magic?" she asked bluntly. "Please say yes."

He glanced left and right quickly. "Not that well..."

Umbra sighed, but was smiling despite that. That would have been too convenient. "Shoot, well, had to ask. I'm trying to find a magic tutor."

That got his ears to perk. "A tutor? That's different. What topic?"

Umbra leaned forward, eyes flaring with her dark magic. "Shadow magic. Do you know any?"

He shied back a step. "Oh! Oh. Um, I may... I have some books." He circled around her, just to walk right past her. "This way." And so he led Umbra back towards his house. "I'm Sunburst. What's your name?"

"Umbra." She leaned to the side a bit as they walked. "Thanks. I appreciate this. I know how to read magic, but that doesn't help if I don't have magic to read, you know?"

"I can imagine." He looked over his shoulder at her. "Is that your specialty then? Or are you... just curious?"

"Both." Umbra nodded with confidence at that. "Shadow magic is my magic. But I want to use it for good things. Shadow gets such a bad rap."

"Hm." He pointed at the house they were coming up on. "Here it is. Now, um, excuse me, but... we'll have to do some digging. I'm... You'll see." He opened the door with a glowing horn, revealing an interior that had books, everywhere. Unlike the library, not all of them were neatly on a shelf. It was as if an earthquake had recently knocked a good portion of them to the ground.

"Wow." She stepped in after him, looking around curiously.

"Sorry," he got out weakly, making his way to the back. "I'll get some tea going."

"Don't be sorry. This is like a flash from the past." She circled in place. "I've had a room like this before, worse if you can believe it. I've been better lately though."

"Really?" The sound of pouring water came briefly, then a small fire. "All the books here are about magic, or magic related things. Artifacts, magical history, that sort of thing."

Umbra clapped her hooves with merry clops. "Then I'd say my odds are looking better! Did you know that Sombra jerk didn't let them have any shadow magic books? So the library was a big bust."

"That is unfortunate." He poked his head back out. "But I'm not a crystal pony, so he couldn't stop me."

"Yeah! Fight the power!" She pumped a hoof with a loud laugh. "Should I start looking around?" She hadn't touched a book yet. They weren't hers, and that wasn't a library! Just touching other people's things was usually considered impolite where she came from.

"If you know what you're looking for." Clearly it wasn't as big a deal to Sunburst. "Do you already know shadow magic then?"

With a glowing horn, Umbra showed off with the most basic application. Shadow. She snuffed the light around her, expanding out into the room Sunburst was in quickly. He squeaked in surprise. "That's a yes!" Umbra laughed as she ended the spell.

"Shadow magic is not a very popular sort of magic," he continued. "Oh, and the tea's ready."

Umbra advanced past the books to see a little table with two cups of tea, one before Sunburst. "Thank you." She parked herself on the other end of the round table. "What is a popular kind? Fire?"

His eyes widened. "No! I mean, more popular than shadow, sure, but still... no." He lifted his cup in his magic, sipping lightly. "Transformative magic is popular. Refining materials, repairing things, species alteration. Defensive magic has a storied history, but is less 'main stream' these days. Sensory magic is quite popular, usually for entertainment purposes."

"Shadow magic is sensory magic," reasoned Umbra. "Check and mate."

"It's a lack of sensory magic, which is what makes it difficult for most to approach. You clearly have some ability with it, but that difference is key." He nodded firmly. "You are taking away, instead of adding. That's not to say you can't do good things with it, but it is a difference that's hard to ignore."

"Huh." She took a sip from her own cup. Bitter. A glance around revealed no sugary options. She'd have to deal with it. "If you remove what you don't want, you end up with something better."

"That would be the idea, hopefully." He set his glass down and reached out a hoof, his magic grabbing the book he was reaching towards and it flew the rest of the way to hover before him. "Mmm, no, thought that..." He let it fall flat and went for another. "Was it you?" It seemed he was starting his search.

Taking the hint, Umbra got to looking at books. She quickly set aside the ones that seemed like historical works. Those wouldn't be tomes of spells, she reasoned. "You said you weren't that good at magic, but you're buried in magic books. How does that work?"

Sunburst coughed, fidgeting awkwardly. "I love magic... But loving something and being good at it are not the same thing..."

Umbra flipped her ears back. "I just shoved a hoof right in there, didn't I? Sorry. If it helps, I'm really glad... um... That you have this collection, I mean."

Sunburst chuckled as he reached for the next book. "I really should keep them in... ah ha! Here we are." He turned the book so she could see the cover. 'Dark Arts: Shadow Magic Collected,' it read in a dark font that almost vanished into the dark covering it was on.

Umbra launched into excited clops. "That looks like exactly what I want!"

Sunburst floated the book closer to her. "Then borrow it."

Umbra hooked a foreleg around the book, taking it from the air. "Can I? This must be valuable."

"How valuable is a book nopony is reading?" Sunburst adjusted his glasses. "I say not very."

"Wise words." She hugged the book. "Ooo, this is gonna be good!"

Sunburst smiled at the joyous display. "It's not often I see a pony quite that excited to find a magic book."

"I need to..." She aborted the sentence. She didn't need to spook out the pony she just met with dire dreams of some uncertain future. "I'm just excited! Shadow magic is my magic, as I said, so this lets me be... me, and that's great." She moved the book to her pocket. "I'll return it when I'm done, promise."

"I'm sure you will." He nudged a book. "And I promise to have a proper place for it when you do. That is my project now, get this place cleaned up."

"Right on!" Umbra nodded firmly. "Good for you. I'd offer a hand, but--"

Sunburst flicked his ears. "Hand? Why would you offer one of those?"

Umbra applied a hoof to her face. "Sorry! Figure of speech, it means to help. I meant I'd help, but I'm not any good at sorting books."

"That's quite alright." He rose to his hooves. "I know where things should be. It's just a matter of actually getting them there."

"I can still wish you luck, at least." She started for the door. "But, for now, I have dark magic to read about." She laughed evilly, which was apparently something she was good at doing in that new body of hers.

"Should I be worried?"

"I'm going to show shadow magic is more than just 'dark' magic, promise." Umbra turned around, outside the house. "Thank you again, seriously, huge thanks. I have a lot to do."

"Good luck to you too then." Having turned the good luck around, Sunburst closed the door gently with a glowing horn.

"And now!" Umbra set off at a brisk trot. "It's readin' time!" Not that reading had been, like, the top of her things to do before. Getting cozy with a novel, sure, that was fun. Magic was not a novel. But, it was magic. Literally magic. Magic she could do! She smiled more and more as the thought about it.

"Sir." A guard standing at the stairs nodded at her as she was coming closer.

"Hey, ma'am." She walked past him, just to pause. "Say, have people been talking about me?"

"Hm? Only good things, sir."

"Well that's good, but stop calling me that." She nodded at that. "Seriously, what are they saying?"

"Apologies, I call everyone that, ma'am." He rubbed behind his head, looking sheepish as the other guard snickered. "The tales of your heroism have spread far and wide." The guard did his best to return to careful neutrality.

"Have they been... nicknaming me?" Umbra tried to prompt, rolling a hoof in the air.

"The agreed upon title is: Great and Honorable, Umbra the Brave and Glorious."

Umbra blanched at the obscenely long title. "That's a bit much, isn't it?!"

"You did save the empire, ma'am."

"I helped, sure..." She awkwardly fidgeted from hoof to hoof. "Better than being scared of, for sure, but still... Sheesh, well alright, thanks." He had told her exactly what she asked. She couldn't hold that against him. "Oh, if you see Shining or Cades around, tell them I'm in my room, reading and performing dark magic. As you do."

"As you do." It was not an agreement. He wasn't a unicorn. He would be performing no dark magic.

It was, Umbra realized, the closest to a joke the guard had said. They did have a sense of humor in there! Happy in that knowledge, she ascended the stairs.

A mare was smiling, but also right in her way. She was a crystal pony, her eyes that interesting faceted way that gem ponies had. She bowed at Umbra. "I am to be your servant from this moment forward, Brave and Glorious one."

Umbra cringed. It had been spreading! "Um! Don't you... have a job?"

"I work here." She waved at the palace as a whole. "And you live here, so seeing to your needs is well within that scope."

"Do you have a name?" Clearly she knew Umbra's. Likely the whole title to go with it.

"Purple Polish." That checked out. She was purple. Her mane and tail was a thick white with dark towards the end. "I clean and tend things, which I will continue to do when you have no need of me. But that is now a secondary concern to seeing to your every request."

Umbra let out a quiet 'eh' of uncertainty. "Thanks... But I'm pretty used to taking care of myself. There's not a lot I do that needs a second set of ha--hooves."

"It is not always about 'need'." She circled Umbra, coming up on her side. "Allow me to tend to things so you can focus on being amazing. Why waste time worrying about silly little things I can take of? Now, what is it you were going to do? I am certain I can assist."

Umbra raised an uncertain brow. "I was going to study magic in my room."

"How exciting!" She clapped twice and started in the right direction. "I will ensure your room is ready for you."

Umbra was pretty sure her room was already ready for that... Still, she went. Her plans had not changed.

She discovered her room had not been ready. Incense burnt in a small holder, spreading a peppermint like aroma in the air. The window was open, allowing the bright light into the room. The bed was made expertly and things tidied as well as they could be in that moment of manic effort before Umbra had gotten there. "Huh. Why that?" She pointed at the incense.

"The proper smell can help a pony at a task." Polish nodded. "That one is good for studying. Take a deep breath and enjoy your reading. I am but a call away. I will bring tea in fifteen minutes. Have you had lunch?" When Umbra shook her head, Polish hmmed. "Forget the tea. I will drop by the kitchen and bring back the lunch they make for you. Studying on an empty belly? I won't stand for it." She marched off, determined to do her part.

Umbra drew her book free and set it on the neatly made bed. "This has been an odd day." And it wasn't even over!

She got to reading.

13 - Today I Learned

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Umbra kept giggling. She couldn't help it. Little breathless things that rose up to the top of her chest and bubbled free as her eyes swept over the pages. She was just so excited! The book had spells! They were nicely organized by general purpose and in order of increasing complexity.

"Level 1 spells." She tapped a page, her horn flipping several pages along. "Then level 2, and so on. It's like D&D, without having to 'memorize' a spell every day." She rolled her eyes. "Which was dumb. If you know it, you know it." She flopped back, fresh giggles escaping her. "But where to start."

Well, since they were in order of difficulty, logic nudged her to start at the, well, start.

But She never called herself a perfectly rational creature. "Angry shadow creatures." She nosed through the book. "If there were hundreds of angry shadow creatures, how do I help with that? Besides summoning pretty chairs in their way..."

Wall of Shadow. "Wall of Shadow," she repeated out loud. "Shadow can make walls?!" The spell, as she read over the details eagerly, would create darkness, as she had done, but the spell would give it a specific shape. It would not stop things from passing through it.

At least not entirely. In terms of strength, it was like a strong wind, but one could press through it, and the dark, to get to the other side. It, being darkness, would block sight. "That's still pretty cool..." She had decided what her first spell would be, and she got to reading the actual magic part of it, practicing it with her horn and eyes glowing as she mouthed along with the spell as she read it.

"Lunch!" There was Purple Shine with a smile, a tray balanced on her back carefully. "Is now a good time?"

"Sure." She had only gotten about halfway through, but it was a big complicated thing. A little food might help! "Thanks."

She grabbed the tray in her magic off Puple's back and drew it in close to pop the top off. "Mmm." Lunch smelled great. "Thanks again."

Purple dipped her head. "Of course. If you've any other need, I am right outside." She pointed just past the door. "Do you want your door open or closed?"

"Um, closed." Umbra scratched behind her head. That wasn't normally a thing she considered. "I'm going to be studying a while. Why don't you relax?"

"Because I am on duty," easily countered Purple, closing the door from the outside. "Have fun," she called through it.

Umbra was still unsure how she felt about it, but Purple hadn't been annoying so far. Also the food was good! She eagerly devoured it with great chomps of her imposing shadow pony teeth, making short work of it. Hunger abated, she floated the tray off to flop on the ground, forgotten. "Now..." She went back to studying that spell.

She didn't even notice when Purple snuck in and made off with the tray. This was a surprise later when Umbra looked over where it had been to see a clean floor. "What the?" The tray, gone, likely off to be cleaned. "She's... good. Huh, thought shadows were supposed to be the tops for stealth."

But Umbra worked through the spell. "Not gonna get better without trying it." She parked the book where she could see it, but it wouldn't be in the way. "Shadow..." Her horn and eyes began to flare with bright darkness, a contradictory statement, but a true one. "--Wall!" She thrust a hoof out as a plane emerged from her horn, vertical and bisecting the room in front of her.

She swept a hoof to the left, trying to redirect it, but it slapped against the far wall, coming to a stop. "Progress!" she cried despite that. She had made the shadow wall. That was a big deal! She began to canter from hoof to hoof in place, giggling all the louder. "Progress!"

"Somepony's sounding pretty happy," came Shining's voice through the door.

With a squeak, the wall vanished. "Oh, hey Shining. Come on in." She turned to the door just as it opened. "I found a book of shadow magic. I'm working on getting better at it." Umbra pointed up at her horn. "What's the point of having this thing if I don't use it?"

"I'm with you there." He closed with Umbra. "The moment I knew what my purpose was, I wasn't happy until I learned all about defensive magics. So... what does shadow magic... do exactly? We've seen it hide things." He counted in the air, wobbling his hoof with each. "We've seen it dive into pony's pasts, their memories I mean. It's dark, that's a given. "

"I'm still reading," half-whined Umbra. "But the first spell I learned was Shadow Wall."

"Shadow Wall?" He leaned in with a smirk. "Are you muscling in on my turf?"

"Stop that." She shoved him, but she was smiling. "Look." Casting it again was not nearly as difficult. Like playing a song, was the second time ever as hard as the first? She saw the dark wall forming and threw her imagination at it along with her sweep of a hoof. It turned! Not a sharp ninety degree she had wanted, but it veered and kept veering as she focused on it. Fresh giggles escaped her as she got it to circle around Shining and herself, making a nice circle of darkness. They could still see, light coming from over the top of the wall. "Ta da!"

"Huh..." Shining approached the wall curiously. With an uncertain hoof, he tapped at it, not giving at first, at least until he actually tried, then he could move through it like an especially heavy cloth, walking through the wall. "That's an interesting trick." He turned to face her. "And I can't see through it."

But Umbra could see him, looking at her. Sure, he was darker, with the shadow in the way, but her glowing eyes were not fooled by the dark. Another advantage! Though that would be lessened if they were fighting other shadow beasts that could likely also see through darkness. "Hm! Cool though, right?"

"Very." Shining nodded approvingly. "Look, Umbra." He pushed back through to reach her. "This is been... odd... and we, Cadance and I, have been real butts about it. We've attacked you, twice. Once without realizing it, once without any excuse. I want to say sorry."

"Now you don't."

Shining blinked dumbly at that.

"Because you already said it. You don't want to say it again, do you?" Umbra stuck out her tongue, pleased with her own humor.

Shining chuckled awkwardly. "I will, if it helps. Looking back, I see what a huge foal I was being. I mean, you barely know us, and we're proposing to you? Who would even consider?! Just asking is a huge... We were wrong, just completely."

"Don't sell yourself short." Umbra fluttered her lashes. "You got an athlete's body and a nerd's brain. There are things I like about what you were shoving in my direction. It was the shoving part that I was upset about." She suddenly raised a hoof. "Which is not my way of saying 'it's on!' Consider it more of a 'Let's be friends first?' thing. Sheesh."

Shining looked around in the dark circle. "How long does this last? Are you holding it up?"

"I am." She released that hold and the wall began to crumble away, allowing light to spill through its many slits and breaks. "Only way it works, unless I made a new crystal toy with it, but that's not my goal right now."

"What is your goal right now?" he asked as he circled her, examining her.

"To learn." Umbra pointed at her book, then clearly visible. "Your sister gave me the tools to make use of that. A new friend, Sunburst, lent me that book. I want to learn all the shadow magic I can so I can help around here. As much as you complain, you two, the whole kingdom, has been super nice to me. I don't plan to just sit on that."

Shining walked briskly across the room, almost a trot, but the distance was too short to work up into one. "Huh." He leaned in for a better look at the shadow wall spell. "I recognize... parts... but most of this is... I'm not Twilight." He sat. "I bet she'd understand it, but there's a lot of not-defensive magic there."

"It's shadow magic." Umbra trotted into a leap, landing on the bed with a thump, the book bouncing from the impact, but caught in her magic and set right back in place. "My magic. Which reminds me of a question. If Sombra was 'the' shadow wizard, how did this book ever happen?" She pointed at the blessed book of knowledge.

"That... is a fine question." Shining set, hoof to his chin. "Just because Sombra was the most infamous, doesn't mean he was the only pony ever to use shadow magic. That book is proof that wasn't the case."

"Well, yeah..." She nudged the book weakly with the edge of a hoof. "So what was it used for? Twilight said she had a hard time with it. The magic is super rare."

"But it's your thing." He set a hoof on her back. "And you, I'm happy to say, are a pretty good pony. If anypony could bring out the light side of shadow, I'm already putting my bits on you." Her perked suddenly. "Oh yeah. You're new to magic, right?"

"Mostly? Why?" She skewed an ear, looking at him curiously.

"Because your walls started at you."

She blinked at that. "Where else would it start?" She pointed up at her horn. "This is what's doing it."

"Sure, but magic doesn't have to work that way. For instance..." He pointed at a spot and a bubble sprang being being there, protecting... nothing. "Ta da. Magic is all around us, and once you have a spell down, you can push away where it starts."

Umbra clapped with renewed joy. "That is great! Gonna try it." And she got right to casting a fresh shadow wall, imagining it in the hall outside. The room became dark instantly. She could see through it, but Shining was feeling around, slowly. "Oops!" She drew the spell back, returning his vision.

Shining gasped loudly. "Oh! It was like I was stuck inside your wall. Um, I mean, nice try... but more practice is for sure needed."

Umbra hopped over him suddenly, landing on the floor on the other side. "Sorry about that, but I feel like I'm really getting somewhere. I'm going to have to practice, more. A lot more." She pointed out the door she was next to. "Which means you have to go, Shiny."

He began to walk past her, but her arm went out in his way. "Hm?"

"When's your next D&D game?" she asked with a bright smile.

"D&D?" Shining tilted his head.

"O&O! When's the next one?"

Shining sat, a smile forming. "I didn't know you played. Um, let me throw that past the story master. It'd be rude to just spring you on them without any warning."

Shining then was able to flee without further attempts to stop him. "Good luck with your magic."

"I don't need luck." She closed the door with a feral grin. "I need practice." She clapped her hooves as a new shadow wall formed in her horn. It would not be the last shadow spell she'd try from that book. Each new trick, greeted with giddy giggles. She was a superhero mare. A superhero shadow mare! Batmare? A warrior of justice, of the dark, sure, yeah, that worked.

The thought of becoming an avatar of goodness, with low illumination settings, pleased Umbra, driving her onwards to dive headlong into the reaches of shadowy magic.

"Miss." Purple was poking her head in. "It is supper time." Umbra had completely lost track of time. She was starting to come around to the idea of Purple, who pulled her down from the clouds, keeping her healthy and ready. All good heroes needed a quality butler, right? Batmare!

14 - Umbra Has Joined the Party

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Umbra held a book close. No, it wasn't that book. Why would you even think that? A book of shadow magic would avail her not at all. No! She held a book of dense knowledge of an entirely different sort, but no less magical and wondrous. It was a book of adventure and excitement. It held the rules for a game both familiar and strange to her.

Its cover had a big mean ogre with a club raised high. It was still adorable. It couldn't help it, being a creature of the same universe that housed ponies. The ogre stood guard before a trap door. Beneath the trap door could be seen an, appropriately, trapped pony looking quite pitiable.

Adventurers stood ready to do battle with the ogre, to rescue the trapped one. They were tastefully obscured, making it hard to make out exactly what they were, just that they were there. It was up to you, dear player, to decide who they were! Umbra giggled with naked joy. She had feared it would be way different than D&D, but it had more similar than not. She was ready. "Thank you for inviting me!"

"You're actually not the only new player this week," noted the Story Master. Like Umbra and Shining, he was not a crystal pony. "But how could I say no to Umbra the Brave and Glorious? If you want to heed the call to adventure, I will not stand in the way." He pointed to her book. "Have you played before?"

Umbra's dark magic wrapped the book as she lifted it over to sit on the game table. "I played a game like it, so call me out when I get the rules confused. I'm going to play Tonia Stargazer, imbued with the virtue of kindness, she wishes to explore the world, meet new creatures, and right all the wrongs she can find!"

"Ah, kindness." The Storymaster nodded knowingly. "The party could use one of those." The others at the table made confirming noises. "A pony?"

"Well." In her magic, the book flipped rapidly to the chapter on races. There were a number of them, even if it was noted the chapter was optional. "Is that required?"

The Storymaster steepled his hooves, a sly grin appearing. "The new player already has things in mind. Do share."

Shining cleared his throat. "Pony is the default. Other races can get complicated. You sure?"

"I want to play something with hands." She tapped at the picture of an Abyssinian cat on the page. "So, if I may, Tonia will be a kitty cat. Meow!" She said the last with a feline meow of a noise, giggling.

"I love it." The Story Master's approval obtained, Umbra pumped a hoof. He was looking at their other new player. "How about you?"

Sunburst adjusted his glasses. "Oh, I've played before. I have my character sheet." A paper drew free in his magic, floating over to the Story Master for inspection. "Thanks, um, for inviting me."

The Story Master's eyes swept left and right quickly. "Hm. Hm! Hm... Looks like a fairly standard Magic. No problems here." He looked up at the whole of the table. "Last we left off..."

"Complete honesty." Active nodded lightly at the two before her. "Cadance, I'd hear your side first today."

"If we're being completely honest--"

"--We are," assured Active without room for doubt.

"Then... I miss our alone time." She reached towards Shining without making contact. "I miss being able to hug my stallion whenever I wanted to, or more, if that's where the mood leads. I am a physical pony, but knowing each and every contact is being shared ruins it. It makes me... well, sad, and mad..."

Shining's blushing ears danced. "I didn't know."

Active smiled at Shining. "Were you busy thinking only you had those wants?" At his worsening blush, Active nodded. "It's not uncommon for a pony of either sex to think the other side can't be like them. However... You two are in a unique position. You've felt what the other side is like. Different, surely, but... Also a little of the same, hm?"

They looked across at one another, then back at Active. Both nodded slowly. "But, even knowing that, you both know you're sharing with Umbra, who I still haven't met. Why is that?"

Shining sat up straight at that. "She's been throwing herself full heartedly into a few projects and I didn't want to distract her. Um, sorry."

Cadance inclined her head faintly at that. "What projects?"

Active nodded with that question. "Do share, if it's not confidential."

"Not a secret," Shining rushed to assure. "First, she found a book of magic, shadow magic. She is a shadowy pony, so she's super excited to get better at it." He smiled gently. "I think she fancies herself as a shadow wizard, and she wants to use it to help ponies."

Cadance burst into soft giggles. "That sounds lovely. I'm not sure how one throws shadow at most problems constructively, but I'll let her figure that one out."

"Shadow magic?" Active made a note on that. "That's a very rare form of magic, prone to misuse. You seem to be untroubled by her being involved with it?"

"You haven't met her yet." Shining smiled at that, thinking of Umbra. "She is a terrible shadow pony, really. Her smile is like a rising sun in its brightness, and her attitude usually matches. Her teeth may be a... tad sharp, and her horn is intimidating, but her eyes are full of affection for any pony she knows, and she likes to meet new ones.

Cadance nodded along. "I will agree with my hubby on this. She's a cream puff with fake fangs, in terms of how actually intimidating she is once you've gotten to know her at all. She doesn't seem to have a mean bone in her body. I'm very curious to see how she bends shadow magic around to make good with it. Did you know she already made a few helpful magic items for the hospital ward?"

Active pricked up at that. "Magic items? Do tell."

Shining clopped his hooves. "The daydarks?! Oh, they're very useful." He made a gesture, a long straight one. "They look like staves, but if you put your magic in them, they make the room dimmer and dimmer. They use them for patients who are trying to get peace and sleep."

"Huh." Active took new notes. "That is darkness. That is literally just dark, but it is being used in a constructive way." She fixed Shining with a look. "Does it make you jealous that this new magic user made a magic item long before you ever did?"

"I never made any," noted Shining.

"My question remains." Active tapped her hooves together.

"I am my sister's brother," countered Shining with a grin. "Being around ponies that are way more focused on magic isn't new to me. She's way into that, and good for her. Umbra will make a fine wizard. Me? Not my thing." He pointed at Cadance. "Like Cadie! She knows magic, but she isn't into magic."

"That I am not," agreed Cadance. "I mostly stick with the 'built in' magic. You know, my talent."

Active nodded once at each of them. "So you two are comfortable with a blossoming shadow wizard, knowing their personality is as kind as their magic has a reputation for not being." It wasn't a question, rather a summary of the situation. "It goes without saying, but you should keep an eye on her, as much for her sake as anything else. She's playing with fire, even with the best of intentions. She could burn herself, and in the dark, nopony may notice."

Cadance lifted an ear at that. "Well, in our current state, if she were to burn herself, physically, we both would be aware, whether she wanted us to be or not."

Shining cringed at that mental image. "I'd hope not, but, yes. We can feel when she's practicing. She... giggles a lot when she gets it right, so if I pay attention, I can even tell pretty well how she's doing. She's... kinetic."

"The sort that'll stomp when she's angry and cheer and dance when it goes right?" proposed Active.

"Exactly." Shining bobbed his head at their therapist. "So she tells us how she's feeling without a word if we pay attention."

Cadance smiled gently at that. "That part, I don't mind. It's nice, being that close to a pony; both her and Shining. It's the lack of privacy..."

"Which is why we're going to advance on my idea." Active pointed one hoof at either of them. "You two. Your doors are opened, as I've mentioned." Her horn began to glow, forming the image of a door between them, swinging open wide. "Through this open door, you can see each other, always. There is no privacy. The door used to be a wall, or maybe it was always a door, just locked and barred." She pointed at herself. "I could have a door up in front of me, but, again, stuck and locked, so we don't need to worry about it."

Cadance's eyes suddenly widened. "You don't mean!" She let her vision slide to that of the connections between ponies. She could see the thick pretty ribbon that connected Shining and Cadance to Active. A bold yellow shade of happiness, though yellow had other meanings.

The connection between herself and Shining was brilliant crystal. Cadance had done nothing with that crystal tether, other than note it was there. "The connection." She reached out with both hooves, feeling the crystal line carefully. "Is this the open door?"

Shining inclined his head, unable to see the crystal thread. "You see it?"

"How do I close it?" Cadance was clearly asking Active, ignoring Shining's question for the moment.

"Try just... doing it." Active made a closing motion with her hooves. "Nice and gently."

"Just do it. Easily said," laughed out Cadance. It was a crystal string, not an obviously open doorway one could brush close. She reached out, putting her hoof against the thread flat, as if to cut it off with the frog of her hoof. "How's that?"

Active rose to her hooves and moved to give Cadance a poke in the side. "Shining?"

"I... Felt that, but quieter?" He couldn't even be entirely certain.

Cadance's smile grew two sizes that day, changing the angle of her hoof. "Again!"

Active obliged, poking the princess in the same place with the same force.

"Definitely softer that time." Shining inclined his head. "What are you doing?"

Cadance brought up her other hoof, doing her best to block the line. "Once more!" She was swiftly tapped. "Did you feel that?!"

"N... No?" Shining collapsed back. "What'd you do?!"

Cadance lowered her hooves. "I was ph--" She was suddenly poked. "I didn't ask for another."

Shining rubbed the spot on his side that matched. "Felt that one."

Active nodded along. "Good, so the door can be closed, but it can also be opened again. It is not a wall. Now... I'm going to leave. The situation has changed, and I think you two need space to think about it."

Shining thrust out a hoof. "You're going back to Canterlot?!"

"I'm going to my room," she got out mid-chuckle. "This situation is not entirely resolved, but we have made a firm step forward today, I think." She nodded at Shining, then Cadance. "Keep practicing. When you can close the door whenever you want, then normalcy will return. At least mostly."

Cadance let Active Listening depart, her eyes instead on Shining. "I've told you about the connections before, haven't I?" He nodded quickly. "That is what is... That's the door! I blocked it, physically, with my hooves, but... Now that I know for sure that's what's going on, we can try other things, like magic." A relieved smile spread. "Now that I've felt the door, closing it doesn't seem like such an impossible task."

Shining pointed at himself. "I can't see connections like you can, babe. How do I shut my door?"

15 - Melody Unleashed

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Umbra stood atop the castle. The wind blow through her mane and tail, making both waft gently, flicking to and fro in eddies as she faced against it, her eyes on the horizon. "I'm doing it..." Her magic was coming along, and she had made friends, and even joined their game.

Her new world was very different from her old one. But different didn't have to mean worse! She was the right gender, surrounded by people that cared about her, even if some unknown presence might be coming to attack. "Almost wish they'd hurry up..." On the other... hoof, it gave her time to try out fancy new shadow spells. Every day was more opportunity to refine her skills and broaden them.

Her pleasure was palpable and it wanted to come out.

But how?

"There's a pony with a song in her chest." Cadance sat quietly. When had she gotten there?!

"A song?" Umbra twisted to look at Cadance. "Also hi!"

"Hello to you too." Cadance leaned forward a little from where she was sitting. "Go on, let the song out. You'll feel better."

Were spontaneous songs that much of a common 'thing'? "I only sing in the shower," meekly deflected Umbra with a timid smile.

"I promise I won't laugh." Cadance inclined her head faintly. "I may even join. Ah." She just remembered she was speaking to a pony that had once not been a pony. "This is very normal for us ponies. A song that wants to come out can feel like, well... gas." She thumped her chest. "Best to let it out."

Umbra burst into laughter at the image of being bloated with musical gas. "Well, now that's just unseemly, but if you want to see me get out my music burps..." Cadance just nodded. "Then who am I to argue?"

She took a breath and tried to just sing what she was feeling. "I once was a little human, but now I'm a little pony. Still small, so small, in a world that feels very large." Her voice came out rich and melodic, surprising her, but not enough to stop. She wasn't rhyming, but she was still sing-songing as if there was a beat playing out with it.

"I tried to be the bright spot in a storm, but now I am the safe dark in the blinding light. Come, hide beneath me and I will guard your rest." Her tail gave a firm lash. "Tied to two amazing ponies, I hope I don't ruin their connection." She colored brightly, saying more than she really meant to, but, having given up to the song magic, she couldn't easily ask for backsies. The words were coming.

"Their love like confection, give this confession--" The tone and beat had changed, more of a rap than anything else as she stomped forward.

"You'll be there for the next session," joined Cadance without prompt or warning.

"This song is possession." Umbra turned to Cadance. "I've made such transgression. Singing on the roof in uncontrollable self-expression."

"Let it out," cut in Cadance. "Give it a shout. That hesitancy's just doubt." She was rapping as Umbra had been, flowing with the new beat without delay. "You're not being cast out, I've found a new route."

"Look at me, shadow wizard! Bringing my hooves together, clap! Shadow blizzard!" Flecks of darkness began to rain down around them. Each drop of nothing could be felt, raining down much like rain would, obscuring vision and soon the ground as it covered in darkness in a display of a new spell. "Can you trust a creature like that to join his herd?"

But Cadance knew no fear. It was singing time, not thinking time. Singing and thinking could flow together, and often did, but it meant she wasn't stopping to ponder, the next bar required her. "Shadow inside, and surrounded by softest goo." She flashed a bright smile. "Do you think I fear your coup? Mare, sit down! Darkness, it's true, but you're brand-new. Your magic is not going to cut into." She stood tall and confident. "Little shadow wizard, more like a small bright-scaled lizard."

Umbra could continue no further, collapsing to her belly, laughing and rolling about. Cadance sat, smiling. "You look better."

The new shadow wizard sat up. "I feel better. Rap battle with a love princess, I get to check that off my list." She made a checking motion with a hoof. "Um, just to be clear, I'd never want--"

Cadance set a hoof over Umbra's mouth. "I am not scared of you."

Umbra gently brushed the hoof back. "There's a difference between not being scared because you can handle something and not being scared of something because you trust it."

"True..." She leaned in, touching nose to nose. "What if it's both? Now, Umbra, your magic gives us an advantage."

"Advantage?!" Umbra perked at that. "Tell me more."

Cadance pointed down. "Beneath the castle, remember Sombra's trap, the one that forced images on you?"

Umbra winced at that memory. "Ooof, yeah, not a fun one."

"But proof that his magic can examine connections." She turned a hoof on herself. "Like me. Used with care, you should be able to see, then interact with the connection between us. Instead of focusing on fear and terror in them, you could--"

Umbra arrived, gasping. "Just turn down the lights!"

"Just like one of your daydarks," agreed Cadance with a kindly smile. "I knew you'd jump on it. You're becoming quite the wizard."

"Say..." Umbra tapped her hooves together slowly. "What technically qualifies for that title? Am I one or not?"

"There are different kinds." Cadance nodded firmly. "The most common and easily spotted is the generic wizard. The fact that they learn a great few spells of different types is the proof of their being. Twilight, for instance, or the mythical Star Swirl the Bearded. I know a little magic, but it's all related to my specialty, and not even very many of them, so I'm not a wizard."

"And not Shiny, right, I got that." Umbra waved a hoof at herself. "But what about me? I'm learning more than a 'few' spells, but they're all shadow. Is shadow wizard a thing?" She cycled her hooves over one another. "I mean, if not, alright. I just wanna know."

Cadance considered quietly a moment. "You are devouring a book of shadow spells, last I heard?" Umbra swiftly nodded. "And if I found another book of shadow magic, you would..."

"Ask to see?" Umbra fluttered her lashes, hooves together in a pleading fashion.

Cadance booped Umbra on the nose gently. "Sounds like a shadow wizard to me. Now, wizard, you must turn your attention to the idea I pointed you towards. Find out how to reach out and touch that connection and throw a little darkness over it, so you can have some privacy."

Umbra began to clop excitedly. "Oooo, I'm so on that! Um, not that I mind sharing, sometimes, just not... every hour of every day forever."

"You haven't noticed?" Umbra looked at Cadance with clear confusion. "Let me demonstrate." She raised a hoof and began tapping herself on the cheek, softly, then harder and harder.

Umbra's eyes grew wide. "I don't feel it!"

"I'm using my own magic." She pointed up at her glowing horn. "When I want privacy, I can have it. Shining will be the greatest challenge, I think. His magic has the least to do with this."

"Why?" Umbra giggled, hopping forward towards Cadance. "He does shields, right?" Cadance nodded at that, an unsure expression worn. "So shield that! Protect his feelings. It's just another shield."

Cadance gave the slowest blink. "Huh... from the mouth of foals." A smile spread brilliantly. "We were just looking at it the wrong way. I'll bring it up with him." She winked dramatically. "And I'll be sure to let him know it was your idea, shadow wizard."

Umbra turned to face the wind directly. "While I have you here, how's my wind-blown portfolio." She struck the best heroic pose she could, one hoof raised, determination etched on her features.

"Ooo." Cadance clapped in applause. "Very nice. I feel safer, knowing we have such a hero standing over us."

Umbra burst into fresh giggles. "Yes! Exactly the effect I was going for. Um, Cadance... You're a pro at it."

"Pro at wind-swept looks?"

"No!" laughed out Umbra. "At being a pretty mare. I'm pretty new at it. Any tips?"

"Pretty and hero are not often the same thing," warned Cadance. "I imagine only Rarity could, or even would, try for both at the same instant."

"Even a hero can try to be presentable." Her rump wriggled as if she were about to pounce. "Please?"

"Well..." Cadance brushed a hoof through her mane, allowing the flowing locks to rain back down into position. "Let's start here, with your mane. A mare's mane is the centerpiece of her appearance. Without proper mane care, the rest is a fantasy at best." She rose and started for the stairs off the roof. "I'll introduce you to my favorite mane stylist, and they can give quite a few tips along the way."

Umbra scampered after. "And tail?" She looked over her shoulder at her tail. "It's practically the same as my mane. Can't make one all fancy without the other."

"Hm." Cadance held open the door for Umbra. "That is a truth I don't expect ... You're not a filly, but you are new to being a mare. There really isn't a term for that. Still, good eye, and entirely correct. The two are extremely related."

"Wow." Shifting leaned left and right, beholding the transformed Umbra. "Wow! I thought there was only one shapeshifter in the room."

Umbra laughed at that. "Getting my hair done isn't quite that dramatic." She fluffed up her newly given curls that framed her face. "Seriously though, do you like it?" She batted her lashes at Shifting Prism, equally curled tail sinuously flicking.

"It's great!" Shifting bobbed her head quickly. "I usually just let my mane do its own thing."

Umbra leaned in at that. "Liar! Your mane does what you tell it to. You made it! Cheater." She stuck out her tongue at the doppelganger that was a crystal bat pony. "I can't just tell my mane to be whatever."

"True..." Shifting bounced in place. "But enough staring at manes! I wanna see your magic. Show me all you've been spending time on."

Umbra flipped through the book in her mind, considering which spell. "Want something... No, not that one."

"Not what one?" Shifting huffed softly. "Now you are just being a tease."

"You don't want that one... Useful, but not here, not now."

"You're just teasing more." Shifting began to dance from hoof to hoof, thrashing in irritation that built by the moment. "Now I gotta see it! It doesn't make things explode, right?"

"No, no explosions, promise." Umbra looked around. They were alone, as they tended to be. "Promise you won't freak out." When Shifting nodded, she began her work. Horn and eyes flaring with power, she trapped Shifting in a cube of shadow. "In darkness, lies cannot hide," she spoke in foreboding terms.

Her magic stripped the false image away, revealing a changeling, but different. Shifting had concealed herself, even in showing she was a changeling. Instead, she looked like a standard changeling drone, except with a prismatic backplate and belly lines, instead of solid black belly lines. Her eyes eyes were a pearl color, blinking with clear shock.

"What did you do?!" Shifting half-shouted.

"Pretty." Umbra inclined her head. "Why were you hiding that? You're pretty and colorful."

Shifting began to blush at that. "Pretty freaky..."

Umbra suddenly pounced, hugging her friend tightly. "You're in good company. Pretty freaks, that's us." Under an avalanche of warm hugs and soft nuzzles, Shifting's tension began to fade.

"Um, that doesn't..." With a rush of flames, she retook her crystal bat form. "Oh, good... It doesn't stop me from changing again."

16 - Meaning of Darkness

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"One thing." Shifting was angling a hoof slowly. "The words you said. 'In darkness, lies can't hide' or something like that? But darkness is... the perfect place for a lie to hide. How does that work?"

Umbra blushed, grey cheeks coloring. "The words are not actually part of the spell... The words in the book, that described it, was more that I was stripping away the different colors that a lie would 'hide in'. Strip away the false colors, in dark, and you're left with the real deal." She gestured at the bat pony that wasn't always a bat crystal pony. "Get it?"

Shifting clopped with understanding. "Got it! Why do you say words at all?"

"Because it's cool?" weakly defended Umbra. "Wasn't it dramatic?"

Shifting burst into a new set of giggles. "It really was! If you like it, then we do it. What else can you do?"

"Shadow walls, that was the first I learned, from the book." Umbra was pointing at the book as she went over that. "But shadow is really good at... negation? Cancelling. Turning things off. I learned a spell to make other spells turn off, and that felt super handy to have around. Bad magic coming at us? I can help! One thing it doesn't have a ton of are the mind whammies."

"Mind whammies?" Shifting inclined her head sharply. "What's that?"

"Sombra, the jerk, was renown for his ability to wrap people's minds around his hoof like it was nothing. He was a slave driver, not just physical-like, but he could get you running in step, on the inside." She tapped at her own head firmly. "Which is part of what made him so scary, because he was not shy about it, at all."

Shifting turned one ear away. "Well, um... good? You don't want to be a jerk like Sombra."

"You're stealing my word." Umbra touched noses with Shifting. "I'm the one that calls him a jerk."

"If he's a jerk, I get to call him a jerk," hotly defended Shifting. "A jerk's a jerk!"

"Alright, alright." Umbra softly nuzzled her friend and mentor. "But that means I have learned very little upstairs, so far. Which is annoying! Cadance just told me how to fix my other problem, but I don't have a spell for that, so I'm trying to muddle through it on my own with limited success."

"Aw." Shifting sagged sympathetically before bouncing up and away. "But you're getting lots of other tricks. What's your flashiest one?"

"Flashy is... not shadow." She curled a hoof to her chin, considering which could be considered flashiest. "Hm... Oh!" Her horn lit with dark magic, eyes flaring brightly with the same as she grappled great shadowy magic with the skill given in part by the body she was in. The room went dark, but only for a moment, the objects in it returning but their colors distorted. "Behold, negative space!"

Shifting reached out to a chair, only to find it wasn't there. "What?" The desk in the room, however, was. She could pat it down and examine it easily. "What is this?"

"Negative space lets us see what has had the most 'impact' on the area. Like that chair? Guessing it was replaced not long ago, so it hasn't built up weight." Umbra glowed with her power, keeping the spell going. "Unlike the desk. People are visible, we have a lot of weight just by being... us."

"Oooo." Shifting was looking at Umbra, who seemed about half again as large, her glowing magic all the more brilliant. In the plane of shadows, a shadow wizard appeared quite large and imposing indeed. "I don't mean this as an insult, but you look very heavy."

That got new laughter from Umbra. "I see how it is, attacking a mare for her weight." She pointed at Umbra. "You're about the same size."

The same size as she had started. Shifting was still Shifting, just with opposite colors in that shadow zone. "Well, this quite flashy, just like I asked. "But what... is that?" She turned to look at a painting on the wall. It showed Sombra, seated on a throne with a cocky smile, looking quite regal.

"That must have been there forever. It's still leaving an imprint even though it's not there anymore. Like the old chair did."

Shifting did her best to grab the painting, but it wasn't there. A shadowy remnant of the past. "Huh... Shadow magic!"

"Shadow magic," sang Umbra in agreement, the room suddenly returning to normal. "Still learning, but I got enough down that I want to not abandon crystal work. Making crystals is fun."

"I knew there was a reason you called me. Not that I would have complained if it was just to show off." Shifting clapped gladly. "It was fun stuff. Except that first spell. Don't cast that on me again please."

"I still think you're just as pretty either way." Umbra perked an ear forward at Shifting. "But I will respect that. Nobody should be forced to be what they don't want to be."

"Thank you," let out Shifting with a relieved sigh. "So, today, let's work on small things." She flashed a big smile. "I hear you're playing O&O. That means you need dice. Dice, you know, actually takes a lot of work to get right. If you want one that rolls fairly and well, at least. If you want a basic blob that sorta looks right, easy. But we're not gonna settle with that, now are we?"

"No!" Umbra sat up tall. "Show me how to make my own magic math rocks."

Shifting burst into fresh laughter. "Math rocks? That's a funny name for dice."

And so the lesson on crafting dice began. From the basic cube onwards to the mighty icosahedron.

Eyes turned to the smugly grinning Umbra as she set down her dice bag. Tumbling free of the bag came a fresh new set of dice, dark purples with bright green stripes. They were her shadow magic dice! Made with shadow magic, well, her magic. But her magic was shadow magic, so it still counted! "I am prepared."

The Story Master laughed softly. "A new set? They look well made. Where'd you get them? I didn't think a store around here offered customs. That is custom, right?" He pointed up at Umbra's horn. "Looks like you."

"I made them," reported Umbra with such satisfaction. "I am a shadow crystal wizard."

"Ooo!" A crystal stallion was waving a hoof wildly. "Can you make me a set? Please!"

Umbra looked to the dice he had. Perfectly serviceable, but also pretty plain. They were a blue color, which fit his pelt well enough. "Do you want it to match you?" She pointed at him. "Or your character?"

His eyes widened like saucers, but before he could answer, the Story Master clopped the table. "That can come after the game. Now, last we left off, there was a bit of trouble. I seem to remember somepony dangling off the edge of a cliff."

Sunburst swallowed audibly, giving away which character was in trouble. The story and game would continue, and hopefully their companion would be rescued.

Umbra looked in the mirror at the dark mare looking back at her. She fluttered her lashes and fluffed up her mane. She was... Pretty, yes. She was a darkly pretty mare. Imposing, with that curved horn and those sharp teeth, but also pretty. A shadow princess! Well, not princess. Princess had a specific meaning in pony land. She had no wings, so she could not be a princess.

She could be a hero! And she was. "Umbra, the Brave and Glorious," she laughed out to herself. "And that's only half the title," she reminded herself out loud.

"Is everything to your liking?" There was Purple, often present, but not always noticed. "I can brush and groom you, honored ma'am. It would be a pleasure."

Umbra angled an ear at her new... servant? Assistant? "You are probably the wrong person to ask, but I'm feeling very... pretty today. I like the pony in the mirror." She pointed at said mirror. "I feel sexy and I like it. What do you see?"

"I see a national hero." She nodded firmly at that. "Worthy of care and maximum diligence. I also see a talented crystal crafter and shadow magic user." Her crystal ears pinned on her head. "If we are being honest, that last part makes me slightly nervous, madame."

"Why?" Even as she said it, it hit her. "Oh!" Umbra turned swiftly to Purple. "I'm so sorry. Um... You are super free to tell me no, but... I do have questions, about that jerk."

"What jerk, madame?" Purple inclined her head faintly. "Has somepony been bothering you? I will gladly report them to the authorities."

"I am the authorities, um... part of them." Umbra worried her hooves together with a strained chuckle. "I meant Sombra." That got a powerful wince out of Purple Polish. "Sorry! It's just... I want to know about him. I want to know what he did right, and wrong, so I can avoid making the same mistakes."

"That is respectable, madame." Purple closed her eyes, breathing softly a moment before they blinked open. "If you can tolerate my slowness, madame, I will try to be of assistance. Let us begin with why the mention of his name brings such a reaction to most crystal ponies." She walked slowly across the room as she spoke. "He was a tyrant in the truest meaning of the word." She looked over her shoulder as she passed Umbra. "You bow your head to Cadance without hesitation. She is your princess, and that is very reassuring. To... him... there was no other pony above him. He was the start and the end. All else, beneath him."

Purple stopped beside a picture that showed the crystal heart, with Umbra smiling in front of it, flanked with both Cadance and Shining Armor. "I am not expressing it well enough. He was not 'above' other ponies. In his eyes, he was the only pony. All others were simply... chess pieces, either for his hooves to move around a board, or being moved by annoyances mounted against him." She turned to Umbra. "Yes, pieces. Like pieces, he cared not a wit to hear of their thoughts. A sacrificial play with a pawn? Standard practice for any chess player, but his pieces were living ponies. And he showed them just as much care."

"Jerk!" hissed out Umbra with even more feeling than usual. "Just... jerk!" She stomped the ground with obvious anger. "I'm so sorry you had to live with that!"

Purple smiled gently. "It is good to see you react that way. One day, I imagine, you will learn his tricks. You will be able to plunge a pony's mind into... into darkness..." Tears began to peek free of her eyes, but she was looking at Umbra directly, forcing herself to continue. "I can only hope you will show greater care for the lives you hold in your hooves."

Umbra suddenly hurried forward, capturing Purple's cheeks in her hooves. "This!" She rubbed those fuzzy cheeks. "This is a living pony. A living creature! She has a name, a nice one." That got an awkward smile. "She has wishes and dreams and she has friends and likes and dislikes. Those are all wonderful parts of being a living thing, which she is." Her hooves slipped past those cheeks to instead hug Purple, embracing her tightly. "We may not always agree, and that's alright. She's alive, and I love her for being just what she is."

Umbra got out a squeak of her own. She was being hugged in return. Purple's trembling arms were around her, drawing her tight. She had a crystal mare, sobbing against her. Umbra gently petted and held the explosively expressing crystal mare. "Shadow can be kind too, not that the jerk ever showed it. I will be shelter, not a master."

17 - Scouting Force

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As she had grown into a habit of when she wasn't otherwise occupied, Umbra sat atop the castle, looking out over her domain. Well, it wasn't her domain. Cadance had dibs! Umbra was an assistant guardian, yes. She had no interest in its governance, really, so long as it was being done fairly. So far she could see, Cadance was a pretty nice ruler to have.

No, Umbra was quite fine with the pretty pink princess. It was up to her, the shadowy guardian, to keep an eye on what would threaten her and the other innocents of the city. Her eyes flashed darkly as she pressed her perceptions. "Darkness of the heart, become plain to me." Words were still not required, but she still found them cool, and that was reason enough, right? The spell she was using had a... troubled past.

It revealed lingering malice, the sort someone may be about to enact. A mugger creeping up on someone would be bright with it. Someone planning a crime, especially a violent one that may hurt someone, or something if it was vast enough. Or they could just be someone who enjoyed those kinds of things. The glow didn't prove any given person was guilty of a darn thing.

Which is where the problems came from. Darker ponies used it to look for fellows to plot dark things with. Sometimes it worked, which was bad. And sometimes it didn't, which could be just as bad, depending on how the interaction went. Bright ponies would take a shadowed heart as a reason to cast doubt and even harm on a suspected bad person. It was a big ethical mess that a lot of prior shadow users ignored in favor of their own point of view.

Umbra just wanted a fancy magic radar. It would point her at potential problems. She could stop in and say hi! No arrests for having a bad day. She'd had her own shadowed heart plenty of times, being upset because someone else did seemed silly and a bit petty. Fortunately, the ponies of the crystal empire, or maybe ponies in general, were not a shadowy sort. Most of them were invisible to her shadow-vision.

Well, that and also tucked in and sleeping. It was the night. The city was not known for its thumping night life. It was quiet, and she scanned, feeling perhaps a little more like an equine batman. She had donned her red cape, the one she came within. It flapped in the breeze just so. "I am the dark terror that guards the good people of the empire!"

There, a snatch of light. Well, light was the wrong word for it. Color? A sensation of movement. Her eyes trained on the area, leaning forward. There, another faint swirl, a rush of shadowed movement. "There you are..." She flashed a great fanged smile. "Time to say hello." There weren't a lot of good reasons she could figure for a pony to be darting from cover to cover like that, avoiding the main roads in the middle of the night, creeping around.

Maybe they did! She'd find out. First step, say hi.

She released her grasp on the physical, becoming little more than two shadowy eyes. Unlike Sombra, locked in a perpetual scowl, Umbra's eyes were more of a kind and curious expression as they drifted through the night sky, darting on the breeze she cut through. Being able to go shadow was the best! And it wasn't, technically, a spell. It was... just something she could do. There was no horn-magic involved. Like crystal work, it was just something that was a part of her. How did it work? Heck if she knew! But she liked it.

The darting figure surged out to cross a street, but found an Umbra in the way. "Good evening," she called as she returned to her fluffy default state. "Everything alright?"

The creature was not a pony. Its features were... It was hard to place, crooked and emphasizing all the sharp bits, eyes hallow pits with no pupils. It screeched at her, a howl as it darted back where it had come from.

"Wait!" She felt silly the instant she said it. How often did asking something or someone to wait when they were running work? Not often! What even was that thing? She broke into a gallop after it, but it was fast, flowing from dark to dark. It had given up all pretense of stealth, and proved it could be quite the rapid thing, lost to her sight uncomfortably fast. "What even..." Umbra sank to her haunches, frowning at where it had been. "Better report...." And she returned to the castle with new news to share.

The next morning, Shining scowled, hooves steepled. "That sounds like trouble. It wasn't a pony then?"

"Pretty sure not." Umbra shrugged softly. "I mean, sorta pony shaped? It had cute little ears and a snoot." She pointed at her own proud pony snoot. "But it was all off. Really creepy. Like if you asked a kid to draw a pony monster that bumped in the night, you'd probably get this."

Cadance gave a thoughtful hum. "I see... I'm glad you spotted it. Did it do anything?"

"It was skulking around. I thought I'd stop in, say hi, figure out what it was up to, but the moment it saw me, it hightailed it out of there." Umbra swished one hoof in an impression of speed. "Bam, like that. It was a shadow creature, that much I'm pretty sure of. Which just makes me feel bad. I mean... I'm a shadow creature too." She rubbed at her cheek. "But it seemed like the not-nice kind. Oh!" She pulled off her red cloak. "Don't need this when I'm not on patrol."

Cadance's expression lifted into a kind smile. "Why were you wearing that? I thought you didn't like it."

Umbra hugged the removed clothing. "The right clothes for the job. The cloak looked pretty good for a watcher of the night." She burst into little giggles. "Which I was! I'm glad to report the city was pretty peaceful, minus that shadow critter."

"Thank Celestia for that." Shining nodded softly. "But that leaves us with a problem. You may not be able to answer this, but did it feel strong?"

Perhaps surprisingly, Umbra shook her head without doubt. "Oh no. The shadow it was putting out was kinda small." She raised two hooves close together. "I don't think it was that strong at all."

Cadance crossed her arms. "I think we found your creatures, scratching at the wall, and they've broken through. The ones in your dream felt like a massive threat. This one must..."

"--be a scout," cut in Shining. "Trouble will soon be on our doorstep." His eyes fixed on Umbra. "Do you have any idea what it wanted?"

"I woulda said!" she cried, folding the cloak carefully. "It was searching for something. I want to say... from above... it woulda run into the crystal heart."

Both of the rulers' brows came down in a mutual frown. Cadance clopped lightly at the ground. "Then we must secure the heart as best we can. Shining?"

"Already drafting up new shifts." Mentally, clearly. No pad was in sight to take notes on. "That is valuable intel. Thank you, Umbra."

Umbra beamed at the thanks. "Just doing my part. They show up to detect shadow spells, which... makes sense."

Cadance raised a brow at that. "Detect shadow is a spell?"

Umbra quickly bobbed her head. "Oh yeah, here let me try." Her eyes began to trail shadow as her vision slid. Shining was free of shadow. Cadance, on the other hoof, was not just free of shadow. She was a brilliant anti-shadow that hurt to look at, but was dazzling all the same. It was like looking into the sun, leaving Umbra slack jawed at the multi-colored brilliance of it that washed over her in waves she could feel with the spell active. "Wow..."

Suddenly she could see nothing. Cadance had put a hoof over her face, allowing the stinging to die down, tears still flowing. Not emotional tears, but cleansing tears, her eyes desperately trying to mitigate the stinging of gazing into the sun. "Are you alright?"

"Cadance, you are so pretty."

Shining chuckled at that. "Umbra has you pegged there."

Cadance smiled a little. "Thank you, but you looked like you were... in pain. Is everything alright?"

"If shadow is one thing." She raised a hoof to her left. "You are about the opposite." She raised her other hoof as far to the right as she could go. "I could see shadow, and you were so not that I could see it too. Like rainbow waves..." She sagged a little. "I want to be a pretty magic pony, not a shadow monster."

Shining set a hoof on Umbra's shoulders. "You are not a monster. Shadow, sure, but you're a very nice shadow pony that plays a mean game of O&O."

Umbra burst into giggles at that. "Are you still holding that nat 20 against me?"

"Always." Still, he nipped her closer ear. "Oh! Your idea, top notch. A shield can do the trick."

Umbra threw up her hooves. "It was my idea and now I'm the last one to get it right?!" She rose up to her hooves, blinking her wet eyes open, the spell no longer being held. "I'm sorry. I'm working on it, promise. You'll stop feeling what I feel soon."

Cadance inclined her head. "Another reason I acted so quickly. That did sting." She rubbed her head just beside her eyes. "Now that Shining and I can 'close that door', we can... resume our private functions."

Umbra suddenly burst into giggles. "You show Cadance what a pretty mare she is!"

That only got a more furious blush out of Shining. "Um..."

"Our resident master of shadows has spoken." Cadance nodded with all due gravity. "We can't deny that, now can we?"

Shining adjusted the collar he wasn't wearing. "I suppose we can't. But that's beside the point. What you saw may well be what will attack us. Shortly? We can't tell, but we have a face." An idea sprang to being. "Can you make a statue of it?"

Umbra blinked at that. "A statue?"

"So we know what it looks like." Shining nodded firmly. "You know how to make crystal statues more than you know how to draw, right?"

Umbra considered that. "Yeah... That makes sense! I'll make a statue, as good as I can. They're kinda ugly, but that isn't very fair. Not like we decide what we're born as."

Cadance smiled gently at Umbra's defense. "If they come in peace, I will gladly give them a chance. You have proven to us that shadow doesn't have to be malign of intent. Still..."

"Yeah..." Umbra sagged a little. "They didn't strike me as super friendly... A bad example for my case."

Shining rubbed at his left cheek. "If they are like you, shadow, then activating the heart may be enough to turn them back if it came to it. We'd just want to keep you safe if we did it."

Cadance grabbed Umbra, dragging the squeaking mare over. "Our connection remains, even if we can close the door. I would gladly shield you again, Umbra. I don't think the heart would want to hurt its defender."

"No... But it will. It can't help it. Even if the fire really likes the matchstick, both are going to be upset if they come in for a hug." Umbra quirked a smile at her imagined situation. "And all the tears the fire can manage won't bring the match back again."

Shining set a hoof on Umbra's other side that wasn't already pressed to Cadance. "That's what we're here for. The heart will do as the heart does, but we aren't crystal hearts."

"We won't let you get hurt." Cadance squeezed Umbra gently. "Thank you, for helping. Let's keep this city safe."

18 - Defensive Tools

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"As much as I want to play the forward center." Umbra paced back and forth, upright and tense. "I am but one pony, even if that pony is a shadow crystal wizard." She said that last bit with proper flair, sending a hoof in a wide arc. "I can't watch the entire city at the same time. I've tried!"

Shining lifted an ear. "And so you've called me to see...?" His eyes darted to a set of cloth-draped stands. "Something..."

"A great something!" Umbra hopped in front of the first. "To most ponies, the shadow is just a scary force they know nothing of. But what if--" Her horn flared briefly as she yanked off the cloth, revealing a big set of goggles, crystal lenses shining in the light. "--they could see! I present, the Detect Shadow Goggles!" She raised her hooves to either side of the goggles. "To prevent false positives, they will only activate over a certain level of shadow. Somepony's having a bad day, they won't pick up on that. Only creatures that actually are shadow, or a pony that's... in the middle of doing something very naughty or plotting how to do the same. There has to be a lot of darkness! Ponies, so far I've seen, do not usually even kinda qualify, so false positives should be low."

She leaned forward over the goggles. "But low isn't zero! You gotta promise me the guards wearing these will only use them as a start, not an end. A pony glowing may just need a big warm hug and an equally warm cookie. Don't assume the worst." She pushed away from the pedestal, her glowing horn revealing that it was far from alone. She had a dozen goggles on an equal number of stands. "I give this to you, as a gift, to help keep the city safe."

Shining clopped softly. "I know exactly what ponies need to have these." He reached towards one, his glowing horn matching the distance as a set of goggles zipped over towards him. "Starting with me." He slipped them right over his head, only to recoil. "Oh!"

Umbra laughed nervously. "Yeah... I did say shadow creatures, which I am." She turned to the side, showing off her profile with a little smile. "Behold and beware, well, not so much beware. I'm on your side."

"I'm not scared of you," he hurriedly got out, gaping at the half-again as large Umbra. "In fact... you are looking good."

Umbra's cheeks warmed. "Stop that! You're just saying that to make me feel better."

"Is it working?" He leaned in with a smile. "Because it's true."

Umbra burst into airy giggles. "I will accept the compliment as it's given. But I still need that promise." She reached forward, tapping at Steel's new goggles. "It's a start, not an end. Got it?"

"Right, right." He turned away, looking around the room for more shadowy things, but nothing came into view. "If we see something shadowy, we investigate. If they're just a pony, we ask them how things are going, check in with them."

"Yes!" Umbra clapped with joy. "Offer a hoof of friendship. Now, on the other hand, if they're obviously a shadow creature..."

"Then we ask whole other questions..." Shining let out a sigh. "Alright. Thank you. This is incredibly useful." His magic began to gather up the other goggles. "I'll see these get to the hooves of our heads of watch. I don't trust rank and file with something that requires so much consideration."

"Probably a good idea." Umbra bobbed her head, looming over Shining in his view. She was a big pretty shadow mare that looked so happy to see him.

Just his taste. He did his best to swallow that back. "How goes closing your door?"

"Hm? Oh!" Umbra sat up, bringing her hooves together. "Slowly. I have no magic that relates to... that... All I can do is try to make it dark all around me."

"Well, try that?" Shining shrugged with a smile. "That might work."

"Ya think?" Her eyes and horn glowed with shadow magic as darkness spread from her, not very far, like an inch of darkness that grew blacker by the moment. "Not light... Something deeper..." The darkness shifted to a purple hue. "Darkness... on the inside... Darkness like..." Like the darkness she could see with a detect shadow spell. That darkness, around her, all around her...

And she was poked. Shining pressed a hoof into her side and she squeaked with surprise. "Hey."

"I didn't feel that," noted Shining with a smile. "You look... imposing." The way he said that, it wasn't an entirely bad thing. "Is it hard?"

"You are a naughty stallion." Umbra was suddenly upon him, her nose pressing against his, her vision so overwhelming with her toothy fang. "Even if you want to, I'm not part of the group. So don't cheat on Cades." She bonked him lightly with a hoof. "Even up here. Cut it out." She turned away, looking over her shoulder. "Thanks though. Um... it's nice to know I'm pretty in at least one pony's eyes."

He rubbed the mildly sore spot. Despite her greater size, she was the same pony she started as, and the bonk proved that. "Yes, ma'am. Let's get these goggles out."

"Yes!" Umbra pumped a hoof with obvious approval. "If they need any help with them, let me know. I'll gladly help."

"I am happy to report." Shifting played with the goggles on her face. "That I do not look like a shadow creature."

"Because you're not?" Umbra leaned in, tapping nose to nose. "Who said you would be?"

"If you ask the right, or wrong, pony, changelings can be pretty dark and sketchy."

Umbra rolled her eyes at that. "I'm sorry, who am I talking to again? You're a love bug! A love bug is not a shadow. You're a precious thing that need more hugs." A thing Umbra was happy to deliver on the shortage of, squeezing the wriggling Shifting Prism. "And bugs are not shadows, love ones or not."

"Well, sure...." She rolled a hoof in the air. "It's nice to have that confirmed." She looked at that rolling hoof with her google-covered eyes. "No shadow here!" She looked to Umbra. "All the shadow right there. But it feels like a good shadow."

"Good shadow?" Umbra inclined her head at her captive friend. "What do you mean?"

"Like the dark of a comfy cozy bedroom you know you're safe in." Shifting nestled in closer. "Like the dark under your favorite blanket, where you can't wait to snuggle up and rest for the next day. Like the dark behind your own closed eyes. It's dark, but you know that dark. It doesn't scare you."

"You are a flatterer." Not that this stopped Umbra from holding her dear friend. "Well, good. I want to be that kind of shadow." She extended her tongue. "The comfy dark shadow princess, how's that?"

"I'd vote for you." Shifting wriggled away despite that. "Now, your lens work." She tapped at the goggles she worked. "Not bad, but not perfect. I think we could do better! Because you shape with your hooves, smooth curves and straight lines are your enemy. Let's work on that." She fled across the room to grab a brick of crystal. "Right here."

Even as it was thunked down, Umbra chuckled softly. "Not gonna let me go on this, are you?"

"You asked me to help you get better." Shifting tapped at the rectangular brick of a crystal. "And the only way that happens is practice. I wasn't born making this perfectly either, promise!"

"So do it again, then again." Umbra floated the brick over and began working it between her hooves as she shaped and molded it. "I didn't get any complaints."

"Because it was a gift, and what would they compare it to?" Shifting shrugged at that. "How many other shadow goggles did they have to compare to? It's not bad! I said that, but it could be better." She pointed a hoof against her right eye's lens. "I can see some distortions. I know what to look for. Not bad, but not great."

Umbra let out a suffering sigh, but kept on the task. She would get better at crystal work, even if it meant doing some things that were less than fun.

"What do you think?" Cadance was seated across the table, sipping from her tea.

"I think you've gotten Celestia's tea sipping figure down pat." Shining chuckled softly. "But seriously, about what?"

Cadance lobbed a pastry, bouncing it off Shining's forehead just to the right of his horn. "Stop that! I mean about Umbra. She seems... happier, in all the good ways." She smiled gently on thought. "She has friends, I was worried she'd have a problem with that. Her exploration of shadow magic has only intensified her desire to be a good representation of it. Emphasis on good."

Shining smirked at that. "If her picture was in the dictionary beside 'Shadow Wizard', opinions of them would be very different, for sure."

Cadance nibbled another pastry much like the first she had flung. "For not being a pony, she has grown quite comfortable being one. The way she speaks, she had fingers. I can't... imagine losing a limb like that. It would drive me to distraction." She spread her wings behind her. "I don't use them much these days, but I still have them. There's a difference."

Shining cringed at the idea of losing any of his mobile parts. "I'm not volunteering for that... She... seems very comfortable in her skin. I've seen natural born ponies that looked less happy about who they were." He leaned in with a smile. "I get the idea she's more worried about the rest of the world realizing how great she is."

"Don't say it like that." She waved the pastry as if in warning. "She doesn't seem to be full of herself. Putting that aside, we are still connected." She gestured at the strands only she could see. "Brilliant crystal bands leading to the shadow mare who's equally bright, on the inside, but is shrouded in darkness."

"We could still..." He saw Cadance's brows fall. "Is that off the table then?"

"You are many things, dear Shining. Subtle, I must report, is not one of them." Cadance reached across the way to bop him on the nose. "Am I that boring?"

Shining sat up sharply. "What? No! You're my absolute favorite." He clapped his hooves together firmly. "We are still married, happily, and I don't want that to change! I'm sorry, that was rude of me. Forget the--"

Her hoof was on his nose, silencing him. "You're getting defensive, and I'm teasing. We both have to cut that out. She is a pretty mare, if you aren't put off by the shadowy bits. I appreciate her, like a well made statue. I just don't... I'm not attracted, the way you clearly are." As Shining wilted, she moved her hoof to stroke along one of his sagging ears. "I prefer the company of stallions, fairly exclusively. I already picked my favorite, and here he is." She leaned in, touching nose to nose. "A pity his eyes roam. So, tell me, from your view, what do you like about her?"

"That's a trap!" he whined petulantly. "Not fair..."

"I promise." She held up one hoof. "Speak truthfully and I will not be angry, not even a little. Tell me what you see in this mare that's wandered into our life. Honesty is the only way we're moving forward. Active was quite clear on that point... several times." It wasn't the first time they had reached out to Active.

"I'm glad you could make time for me." Active made a little note in a book. "I've been quite looking forward to this. Let's start with what you think of it." She pointed at herself. "Tell me, Umbra. What do you see when you look at me? Who are you talking to?"

19 - Face to Face

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"I..." Umbra trailed awkwardly, considering the fuzzy counselor. They were a pony, unicorn variety. Surely, being a pony had to count for some amount of negation of the negative parts of counselor, right? "I see someone who probably thinks they know me better than I do."

"That was quite defensive. Did I say something to offend?" Active sat up in her chair. "We've only just met."

"Yeah..." Umbra rubbed her cheek, eyes wandering the clean little room. "Hi."

"This isn't the Umbra I was told of."

Umbra perked at that. "What Umbra were you told about?"

Active smiled gently. "Exuberant, friendly, socially aggressive." She waved a hoof over Umbra as a whole. "A practicing shadow wizard and crystal craftspony, which is not a combination I would immediately put together. A good roleplayer of an abyssian kindness support character that gladly helps her team through tough straights."

Umbra frowned suddenly. "How do you know all that?!"

Active held up a hoof flat with Umbra. "I'm not spying on you, if that's what you're worried about. One of your fellow players is also a client of mine, and he speaks of you. Fondly, I will add." She brought up her hooves to bring them together quietly. "And that isn't a secret."

"Shining?!" Umbra colored as she said his name. "Fondly?"

"Quite so. But we're not here to discuss him. I hope we can have a session with the two of you, later, but that's not today."

Umbra deflated a little. "Right... Well, what you hear from me is a secret." She thrust a hoof at Active. "Just so we're clear."

"As crystal." She paused a brief moment. "I didn't mean that pun, but it works." Umbra's quirk of a smile agreed with that. "I hear you weren't a pony, to start."

"No..." Umbra worried her hooves together. "I was a human. Male, physically." She tapped herself on the chest. "Female, on the inside, and now the outside."

"You look happy about that." Active nodded, taking in Umbra's expression. "Being a mare is a lovely thing." She took another note. "There are perks to being a stallion too."

"Sure yeah..." Umbra sent a hoof rolling in the air. "But I don't miss them much."

"I've heard you want to be a pretty pony."

Umbra's ears jerked upright, pointing their radar dishes at Active directly. "Shouldn't a mare want to be presentable?"

"Certainly so," easily agreed Active, turning a hoof on herself. "I do my best to be presentable, but... that is not my specialty, nor especially my concern. How do I look?"

Umbra considered the mare, humming to herself. "Professional?"

"That's a great word." Active nodded with a smile. "Exactly what I go for. Neat, tidy, clean, but not 'pretty'. There is a difference."

"Is... pretty a bad thing?" Umbra fluffed at her mane. The curls were fading back to their natural straight curtain, the curls it had far more subdued than what the stylist had managed to tease out.

"Nothing wrong with being pretty." Active reached out slowly. When not stopped, she made contact with that hair, brushing a hoof along Umbra's mane. "You have nice hair. Now, if you would, explain how you do want to look?"

"I want to be pretty," admitted Umbra, failing to find better words for it. "I want people that--" She paused, noting Active taking more notes. "--What? Did I say something?"

Active inclined her head. "I'm listening, which means taking notes so I remember it all, and I know what to ask about later. You haven't done anything wrong."

Umbra pointed at the floating pad accusingly. "Yeah? What did you just write?"

"I don't normally share that." Her eyes darted to the pad. "But, since you're asking directly." She cleared her throat and began to read directly from it, "Self-Image is a powerful consideration. Internal or External? Ask later."

Umbra thumped down on the cushion of the sofa she was on. "Internal or external what?"

"This is why I don't usually share." Active smiled though, not at all bothered. "Just means we skip to this question. By that, I meant, are you more worried about how others see you, or are you trying to make yourself match some internal ideal. Both is possible, even common, but the way the two compete changes the dynamic quite a bit with which is taking dominance."

Umbra's teeth clenched a moment. She was being analyzed! That was, in theory, the point in part... "Being a woman means you can be pretty," she sighed out. "Now that I am entirely female, I want to be pretty. I want... to appeal."

"Are you trying to attract somepony?"

Umbra recoiled. "No! I mean... I'm not looking for a date..."

"But you want to appeal?"

"Yeah..." Her response felt flat. Umbra fidgeted in place. "You're making me doubt myself."

"That isn't the goal. Sorry. I want to learn more about this intriguing pony in front of me." Active's pen busily kept right on scribbling. "The others around you are just as interested. That's a good word, interesting. You have that down."

Umbra's ears flicked, no longer quite as dead locked. "Interesting?" A little smile appeared slowly. "That's not a bad thing."

"I would say it isn't." She inclined her head. "Far better than the opposite. Few want to be around boring ponies, I find."

"Yeah!" Umbra seemed to brighten. "Nobody wants to hang out with someone who's boring."

"You say 'someone' and 'anyone'. That's a 'human' thing, I assume?"

Umbra was caught there. "Um, yeah? Right... you guys say 'anypony' and stuff. What about not ponies? Isn't very fair to them."

"It isn't," agreed Active. "So you call them 'one' instead. Pony, dragon, or griffon, there's still only 'one' of them either way."

"Yeah! Exactly." She wobbled a hoof at Active. "What do ponies say to not-ponies anyway?"

"Creature. Anycreature, somecreature, that sort of thing."

Umbra hiked a brow at that. "What does creature mean around here?"

"Are you turning my techniques against me?" Active was smiling though. "A good question. A creature is any animal that talks." She pointed at Umbra. "You are one, and so am I." She curled the hoof on herself. "All ponies are creatures, but not every creature is a pony. What does creature mean where you're from?"

The tables turned! But Umbra could think of no good way to deny the very question she had just asked. "A 'creature' is usually a non-sapient animal. The kind that does not talk. Where I'm from, there's only one animal that talks."

"How lonely, but comforting." She tapped her hooves lightly. "It must be easier to be peaceful if you're all--"

Active didn't get to finish with Umbra's gales of laughter. The shadow wizard flopped off the couch entirely, beating the floor as she howled. "No! Nooooooo. No... That... wow..." She flopped over to her side, then her back. "Wow, no."

"So what were they fighting about?" prompted Active gently.

"Oh... Jesus... We were pretty good at coming up with reasons." She climbed back up onto her couch. "You have something I want being a really popular one. If the next kingdom over has something you want badly enough, time to fight! If you want money badly enough, take it from someone. You don't like how someone's dressed? You could beat them up!"

"That is a very hostile fashion environment."

Umbra smirked at that. "That's barely the start. Look, here." She waved a hoof in a wide circle. "You hear about a stallion that wants to be a mare, and the response has been, fairly universally, 'Aw, sorry about that, how can we help?' That is not the response you get back where I'm from."

Active considered briefly. "Is violence the answer?"

"Violence was almost always the answer," sighed out Umbra, hoof over her face. "Violent words if you weren't up to physical violence. We're pretty good at... You know what, no. No!" She sliced the air flat with a hoof. "I need to stop doing that!"

"Stop doing what?" Active leaned forward a little. "What do you see?"

"I see me identifying with my past too much." Umbra tapped her chest. "I am a pony. A nice shadow pony. I don't want to hurt anything. I'm not a human anymore, and that's fine. They can suck an egg, if they don't smash it before they get the chance."

"Your past is part of you, Umbra." Active smiled gently. "I wasn't always a counselor, you know. The name, you think I was born to this, don't you?"

Umbra blinked with fresh confusion. "Wait, you weren't?! What were you before?"

Active smiled gently. "You are looking at Active Listening, an audio equipment engineer. I decided I wanted to listen to ponies, live, instead of letting the equipment be in the way. But I don't begrudge my past. I was that, and became something else, but I still was that. It's a part of me. If you need help putting together a stereo system, I'm your mare."

Umbra opened her mouth, just to close it again. "Get out!" she suddenly yelped. "That's awesome! Also, stereos are a thing here?"

"More commonly seen in more metropolitan cities, like Manehattan, but yes, they exist. Your response tells me they do too where you're from. It's nice to meet somepony else who knows what they are. I don't even bother to bring it up around my other clients."

Umbra hopped down to get over to Active, setting a hoof on her. "Hey, that's awesome. I'd love to have a stereo. Is there even a plug around here to get it going?"

"I don't think there is." Active glanced around, but no plugs were in sight. "This palace is thousands of moons old... However, where electricity is lacking, magic can make up the difference, for a price." She nudged Umbra back. "We can talk about that, later. Right now, I am a counselor, and I want to get your wires connected properly. But I can't do it without your help and cooperation. Let a mare in? I promise I'll be careful."

Umbra giggled at the mental imagery summoned. "What if I like my wires where they are?"

"Then let me have a look? I promise, won't move a single one without your permission. As a fan, I love seeing a quality set's configuration." New notes were made. "If you're happy with how they're set up, then I am too."

Umbra squinted with obvious suspicion, seated on her haunches on the ground, having not returned to her couch. "If that was true, we wouldn't have much to talk about. Why bother me if you don't want to play with the wires?"

"Because I want to know them." Active nodded softly. "There are others who are considering how well theirs can match yours. Now, correct me if I'm wrong, but you find both Shining Armor and Cadance to be attractive ponies."

Umbra colored deeply. "W-what? I didn't say that!"

"They did. Cadance, specifically, if you want somepony to blame. She cast that spell on you."

Umbra hopped to her hooves. "That was very uncool!"

"How did it make you feel?"

"In that second?" asked Umbra, brows raising together. "Or afterwards?"

"Start from the start."

"Ugh..." Umbra shared what she felt, that moment of intense obsession of her link to Shining. "He hits the right marks, sure, but he was also an idiot."

"That's our Shining," agreed Active without resistance. "What about Cadance?"

Umbra's ears twitched. "She's a big pretty pink princess. She's also super straight."

Active inclined her head. "She seems about as curved as one expects of a pony."

"Not that kind of straight," laughed Umbra at the idea. "She's a girl who wants a boy. Not another girl. She has no interest in me."

"Ah, yes." New notes were made. "But what about you?"

Umbra tried her best to stop being so colored, with very limited success. "If she was up for it... They're a great couple. I don't want to ruin that!"

"I'm only asking for your feelings, not theirs."

20 - Civil Engineering

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"I have a formal request." Cadance was seated at a large table. It was breakfast time. The three of them often met for breakfast before the day properly began. "If you would hear it."

Umbra quirked an ear at Cadance. "From you, Cades? Fire away! I kinda owe you a lot, and I doubt you'd ask for anything too out there."

Cadance smiled gently. "You are the only pony to refer to me as 'Cades'. Not a complaint. Now... I'm told your crystal artisanship has advanced to large constructs." She angled her head. "And you are to thank for the new crystal hut we have not far away."

Umbra colored swiftly. "Oops! Should I have gotten rid of that?"

"It's already occupied." Cadance brought her hooves together. "Which is exactly where I want to employ you, Umbra. The city is growing, with ponies of all sorts. Freed of their opressor... the crystal population will likely soon experience quite a boom. We would like to be ahead of that, to say nothing of immigrants, of which there are already quite a number. One of them is in your O&O game I hear?" She looked between Shining and Umbra.

Shining bobbed his head quickly at that. "Do you mean Sunburst? He knows the rules pretty well. Good stallion."

"He lent me the book of shadow magic," noted Umbra with a pleased smile. "Alright, so you want me to build houses?"

"Many of them." She danced a hoof in the air. "I have plans drafted for where they should be. The city has a pattern to it, and we don't want to deviate from that too much. Is this something you can do, and would want to do?" Cadance leaned forward with a smile. "It is a paid position."

Umbra sat up straight. "Oh, wow, my first real J O B job. Exciting! Um... I hate to ask... but how much for how many?"

"One hundred bits per house." She tapped at the table between them. "Twice that if it's two stories and can house three times as many ponies. More bedrooms, less kitchens, the space should work out."

"Ah, so... two stories, but for one family, larger, rather than a bunch of smaller apartments?" Umbra reasoned through it, hooves cycling.

"Exactly." Cadance nodded with a bright expression. "I knew you'd understand. Will you do it then?"

A hundred bits was not a small sum! On one hoof... "It'd cost more than that to get a normal construction crew to do it, I imagine?"

"Yes." Cadance reached across, tapping at Umbra. "But you will get it done far faster. You will make more a day than ever they would." But would also produce even more, getting less per house. "I will have them working too. This is not a single pony job, even for you."

Shining let out a little sigh. "Normal construction ponies are paid by the day, with the knowledge that one day will never be enough to get the job done. You're being paid by the result, because measuring by the day with you would be silly."

Umbra couldn't help but smile. She had another super power! She was a super builder. "Can I do it? Yes I can." Sure, she was the only person on the entire planet that would get that reference, but it was enough to get a giggle out of herself, and surely that was good enough. "One thing. I can make stuff out of crystal just fine, but the softer stuff..."

Cadance curled a hoof at herself. "If you can get a house ready for furnishing with all else complete, I would consider that a task well done. Soft bedding and seats are far less a concern compared to the rest of the structure. Does that mean you'll take the job?"

Umbra clopped her hooves before thrusting one at Cadance. "You got yourself a builder."

Cadance met the hoof with one of her own in a clop of confirmation. "Excellent. Here's the map." Her horn glowed as she floated up a rolled scroll to hover over to Umbra. "Review when you're ready and I look forward to seeing the results."

Umbra forgot the breakfast she had mostly had her fill of already. "I'm all over this." She unfurled the scroll in her magic, looking it over. "Looks like we're expanding to the station?"

"Exactly the idea." Shining pointed to where the station was on the map. "More crystal ponies in the area will help bring the heart's influence with it, which means the station will stop being snowed in all the time. That'll help a lot of other things."

"Too many to count." Cadance inclined her head faintly. "I did not imagine one day I would rule over a people that were, themselves, an asset just by being there. Each crystal pony is a little beacon for that protective power."

Umbra whistled at the idea. "You'd think everyone would want some crystal ponies then!"

"Not so." Cadance pointed to where the heart floated. "Too far away from the heart and the connection fizzles. Unless we had an unbroken line of crystal ponies, we can't 'bring' that magic anywhere."

"Works for the Crystal Empire, but not much elsewhere." Shining nodded firmly. "For now, let's get the trains rolling smoothly."

Umbra imagined such a great line stretching across the snowy wastes, over the mountains and down into the rest of Equestria, crystal ponies lined up for days and days to finish the magic circuit. "That would be a lot of work... And a lot of crystal ponies living out in the middle of nowhere."

Shining shook his head. "Not practical. And those ponies would have to work very hard to get back in time for the next crystal fair, which could mean it'd fail, and the whole thing shuts down anyway."

Cadance tapped her hooves together. "That's enough of that. Today, we build, not send ponies off to live in the wilderness."

Umbra snapped a salute she'd seen the guards do. "I'm on the case!" And off she trotted at a brisk pace, but not directly to the work site.

Cadance nudged Shining with a hoof. "Told you she'd take it."

"Glad she did." He rubbed behind his head. "If she works as fast as we hope, that'll cut the time down a lot, and get us a station running a lot more smoothly. Ponies can come and go without trekking through the snow."

"I want that." Cadance hmmed. "The Crystal Empire can become a beacon again, a grand place to visit and marvel. It has some of the oldest surviving structures in Equestria, thanks to a little time skip."

"Shifting!" She knocked on a door to a small house. "You home?"

Shifting peeked out of a window. "Is that an Umbra I hear?"

"It is!" sang Umbra. "I got a huge new job!"

"You sound excited about it, sec." She vanished for a moment. The door swung open and she cantered out. "Here I am! What kind of job?"

"I'm building houses," proudly reported Umbra. "A whole block of them for ponies to be comfy in."

"Wow!" Shifting clapped her hooves with naked pride. "You only made the one before."

"Exactly why I'm here." She leaned in, touching nose to nose with Shifting. "Will you help? I'm getting a clean hundred bits per house. I'll share with you, forty each, if you help me out. Review my work, keep me on track. You know?"

"Huh!" Shifting frowned with thought on that. "Huh... That's a lot of bits for not actually building anything."

"You built the builder." Umbra extended her tongue. "Without you, there'd be no buildings at all!"

"That's not how that usually works." Shifting backed up a little. "Besides, if you bring me along, I'll point out all your mistakes."

"Good!" Umbra did a little dance in place. "Exactly why I want you there. A bunch of ponies are gonna move in, and I want them to have nice houses. They're paying good bits for quality, not a cheap rush job."

"Hm." Shifting said nothing else, instead looking around slowly. "Hm. When you make crystals... how strong are they? We haven't really measured. I think we need to do that, if ponies are gonna be living in them. The nicest looking house isn't much if it falls on your head."

"That'd be awful!" cried Umbra at the image summoned. "Let's do that, now." She turned away. "Come along, supervisor."

"Ooo." Shifting broke into a walk at Umbra's side. "I've never been a supervisor before."

"It's a day of new starts!" The two cheered as one as they set off to get on the task of building a new city block for the crystal empire.

Cadance bit him on the ear, a gentle nip and a tug. They were in a warm glow, having enjoyed time together. They did it in private. "It... worked."

"Quite well." Shining was panting for breath, not resisting the hold on his ear. "So... we can choose which door we close."

"And which we leave open." Cadance nuzzled into Shining's cheek. "And when."

Shining laughed gently. "This curse has become a blessing."

"But it still ties the three of us together." Cadance sat up atop her hubby. "I've been talking to Active. She likes us, both of us." Shining nodded at that, but Cadance kept right on, "But she's a good pony, and refuses to even think about taking action if it might hurt us and our connection." Cadance set a hoof on Shining's nose. "Which is why I want to send you to action."

"To action?" he asked, muffled by the hoof on his snoot. "What do you mean?"

"I mean... I want you to invite her out, have fun, and be close. I want you to woo her. No forcing. No seduction. I just want you to become good friends." She closed her forehooves. "With my blessing. I... am still not... She is more like a lovable niece to me than a potential partner, but what works for me is not what works for you." She set her hooves on the top of Shining's belly, a chest if he were human shaped. "Which makes this feel odd, siccing my husband sexually on my niece. That isn't normally called for, but this is not the usual situation. And she is, thankfully, not tied to us by blood and is an adult capable of making her own decisions."

She raised a hoof sharply. "Which is why I feel I must repeat, no forcing. No means no."

Shining flipped his ears back. "I'd never! Besides, she could probably force me a lot easier than I could force her."

"And that turns you on." Cadance rolled her eyes with a wry smirk. "I swear... Are you hoping she figures out how to throw her shadow across minds, hm?" She leaned in as he blushed. "Would you submit to her, if she cast her shadow across your heart, demanding your obedience?"

Suddenly she sat up. "Too bad! I cast my spell on you first." She curled a hoof, a great heart throbbing over it, her horn glowing brightly. "Your heart is mine, and I call dibs."

"Oh no," cried Shining with a complete lack of horror. "Whatever will I do?" He grabbed her at the hips and began to show what came to mind. With shared giggles, they got to expressing their physical affection for one another, secure in the fact that they weren't attacking Umbra with it.

Shining nuzzled against her available tummy. "I'll talk to her, promise. Now that we aren't tripping over each other, this could work out a lot better."

"That's, mmm, my hope." She smooched the end of his snout. "So invite her in, gently. You stud, gathering a herd around yourself."

"Technically... we're your herd." He poked her on the nose in a reversal. "We're both your consorts. I hope you'll treat us gently."

"That depends." Cadance licked his cheek and nuzzled into the same spot. "Be a good boy."

21 - Who Is the Monster?

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Shining sighed softly. They stood a house away from their usual gaming place. "Thanks for--"

"We haven't done anything." Umbra raised a brow. "What's going on?"

Shining pointed at Umbra. "I think Cadance is avoiding the truth."

Umbra flopped to her haunches. "What?! I... Huh... She seemed the most level headed of the bunch, outside throwing a love spell without asking." She raised a hoof to her chin. "What's the truth she's avoiding? Is this even something I can help with? I... am not exactly Active Listening, if you were wanting a counselor."

Shining smiled at that. "Active wouldn't be able to help with this... the same way." He tapped Umbra on the chest. "Let me start by saying that I think you are a pretty mare."

Umbra colored brightly. "Shining! That was out of nowhere... Um, thanks?"

"I am only telling the truth." He nodded firmly. "The more I get to know you, the more I am convinced you are a lovely pony. Outside and inside. Now, the complication. I think Cadance agrees."

Umbra raised a brow at that. "I'm glad she likes me."

"I think she likes likes you. She's using me as a shield."

"That is your specialty," joked Umbra with a smirk. "But do explain." She rolled a hoof. "Oh! Did you see the houses I made?"

"You're off to a great start." Shining patted Umbra's shoulder gently. "You and your friend. Shifting Prism wasn't it?"

"She's the best." Umbra began to clap gladly. "Keeping me focused on the task. We're gonna burn through the order."

Shining's smile was genuine. "I knew you'd take to that job well. But this isn't about that. I think Cadance is attracted to you, but doesn't want to admit it, to herself. She's a fairly proper pony in most regards. The idea of it is not one she's comfortable with." He rubbed at his own cheek. "To be honest, I'd be just as awkward if you were a stallion, so I'm not... I'm not trying to..."

"I get it." Umbra gave a firm nod. "You two are two cis normies, lovely cis normies, but that." That just got a blank look from Shining. "Don't worry about it, but I get it. You two have a nice image of a boy and a girl come together and make a family."

"Yes!" That he could agree with easily. "A mare and a stallion is a family, with a foal or few ideally. And I think this is part of what makes her so awkward about it. It's embarrassing." He worried his hooves together. "Mares and mares is a thing. It happens. Saying she's specifically not comfortable with it is a bad look for a ruler."

"But she's not comfortable with it," concluded Umbra slowly. "But she sees me and I'm tickling her just a little?"

"Yes!" explosively gusted Shining. "Exactly that." He smiled, leaning closer. "You do the same thing to me, dark mare. But I'll be more honest about it. I'm just fine having you as a good friend and quality O&O pal, to say nothing of defending champion. Those are all very good things, and more than enough really. I have a mare, let's be clear. I have one, and she's, to be super blunt, quite the looker, to say nothing of being a great pony on the inside too. What I mean! Is I'm pretty happy right now. I really am. I am living the dream."

Umbra slowly tilted her head. "So 'That sure is a pretty lady that is my friend. I sure am lucky to be a guy with two pretty lady friends, one of whom I am married to. Score!'"

"Yep." A short nod. "That sums it up. But back to Cadance. I think she wants to be closer to you, but she wants me to sweep you off your hooves. If you're pulled in by me, well, then you two are already close, and she--"

"Can pretend she's just doing 'what has to be done'." Umbra crossed her arms. "Cadance needs to be more honest with herself. Are you sure Active Listening isn't the one you should be talking to about this?"

"We're all involved." He pointed at himself, Umbra, and theoretically Cadance in the distance. "Whatever we decide, we're at least partially stuck to each other. I'm glad we're not making so much mess these days... That's good! I'm still really sorry about how badly that worked at first."

"Forget that." Umbra waved it away. "We all have that under control now, which is good! So I can share, or not." She tapped herself, allowing Shining to feel it, only to tap again without the sensation being passed. "But... The connection is there. Didn't Cadance say she could see it?"

"Brilliant Crystal, yeah." Shining turned in place. "We should get moving, or the others will wonder what happened to us. I just wanted to bring this up, to think about."

"A gift before the game?" she laughed out, getting back on her hooves. "You're the best." With light laughter, she got to a spirited trot to the game. The dice would not roll themselves.

A heavy bag jingled as it was passed to her. The officious pony that had pushed them across the counter nodded. "As agreed upon. Ten houses equates to one thousand royal bits."

Umbra blinked. "Wait, 'royal' bit?" She jingled the massive bag, held firmly in her magic. "Is that different than a normal bit?"

"Oh, very much so." The official bobbed her head. "A royal bit is worth a thousand standard bits."

Umbra flopped weakly to the side, almost crashing over entirely. "W-wha?!" Her hoof danced as she did mental math as quickly as she could. "Wha?!"

"That was the agreed upon sum. My apologies, Umbra the Brave and Glorious, but I do have to pay the other ponies behind you." She pointed past Umbra to the line of waiting imperial employees awaiting their turn at payday.

"Right! Sorry." Umbra scampered away with her treasure, fleeing until she was in front of Shifting's door. "Shifting!"

"Huh?" The crystal bat pony poked her head out of her window, looking to the right over at Umbra. "Umbra! Hey. Is it time to build more houses?"

"No, it's payday." She jingled the bag held in her magic vigorously, creating a chorus of jingles and clinks. "And I just learned something."

The window closed.

Silence grew.

The door popped open and Shifting hopped free. "Here I am! You sound upset. Whatfor?" She reached out to poke the bag. "That's a lot of bits, but they promised it, right?"

"They're not bits." Umbra set the bag down and reached inside with her magic, plucking one free. "Look at it."

It was like a bit, mostly... The symbol and numbers on it were different. "Fancy."

"Ultra fancy. Did you know they had 'royal' bits?"

Shifting frowned at the idea. "I'm, uh... still... kinda new around here?" She laughed awkwardly. "You know?"

"Well I'm even newer." Umbra danced in place anxiously. "Royal bits are a thousand normal bits. One, Zero, Zero, Zero!"

"That's a lot of zeros." Shifting angled her ears off in different directions. "Wait..."

Umbra nodded. "Yeah... I promised you 40%"

"No!" Shifting suddenly thumped Umbra with a hoof. "You promised me forty bits. I will not take forty thousand bits, per house! That's too much for just... I was helping, and not even doing any work!" She stomped a hoof down with a little bat-like squeak. "No!"

"That's how I feel!" Umbra threw up her hooves wide. "If we finish this job, we're rich!"

"You still want to share 40% of that?!" Shifting waved wildly at the set down bag of royal bits. "Why?! You understand how much money you're trying to give me, right?"

"Less than what was just shoved at me?" Umbra sank to her haunches. "Yelling at each other isn't going to fix this." She took a slow breath. "We're friends, right? Let's work through this, as friends."

"As friends, right." Shifting smiled timidly. "You know... most..." She glanced around nervously. "Most changelings feed on love, but I actually don't even like 'love' that much. Not the kind they like." She wobbled a hoof before it turned on herself. "I prefer friendship."

"Well, good. Here's lunch." Umbra pounced Shifting, hugging her tight. "Now I want to pay you fairly. What amount is fair? Say what you really think, not what you think I'll be alright with, since I'll be alright with anything for the most part, since I know you're a good little lovebug."

"Crystal bat," shifting argued with a giggle, not fighting being hugged. "Um... Um..." She reached from the hug to nudge the heavy bag of coins. "I was ready for forty. Can we keep it at forty?"

"That makes me feel awful. At least one." Umbra held up a hoof. "One royal bit per house. I'll figure out what to do with the other 99, but at least one."

Shifting sighed dramatically. "Fine... At least one."

"I got ninety nine problems, but that ain't one," sang out Umbra, pleased with the references she'd only get. "It's settled then. So..." She began counting coins, setting out ten royal bits. "Your share."

Shifting leaned in at the coins, peering at them like exotic, and potentially toxic, minerals. "Huh..."

"It means you can get the crystals you were talking about." Umbra rolled a hoof. "You can make that jewelry."

"Huh... Yeah! Yeah. Good idea." Shifting began to clap, clearly liking that notion. "I wanted to make you something special, so be ready for that."

"It'll be even more special." Umbra nodded confidently. "My crystal is nice and all, but it's magic. When you make something, you do it with your own hooves. There's a difference. I will treasure whatever you make forever."

"That's a long time," noted Shifting, tucking the coins away. "Alright, that's settled. We should get to work?"

"Gotta earn the rest of the bits, right." She shoved away her much larger bag, her side bulging from the amount of it, her pocket unable to conceal it all. "Wow... I didn't know there was a storage max on that."

"We're learning all kinds of things." Shifting began to pronk forward with new giggles, the tension gone. "Let's stuff you to exploding!"

"Halt!" The crystal guard frowned from behind the lenses of the goggles he had recently been given. "State your name and purpose."

"My name is Dry Fear," stated the strange creature approaching at a casual walk. "And my purpose is utter terror."

"T-that...." The guard took a shaking step back as the creature shifted before him, becoming even more grossly misplaced and aberrant of organs and limbs. The strange screeching it began to make didn't help things. That it exploded with darkness in his eyes, all the more reason for fear. "Stop right there!"

"Mmm, tempting offer," The nightmare proceeded towards the guard at a slow methodical pace. "But I decline. Tell me, if I were to leave one of your legs attached, which would you prefer?"

The guard stumbled back, tripping over himself in abject terror. "I would want all of them!" He grabbed for his sword, clenching it as firmly as he could in his clattering teeth. "Not a single step further."

The thing laughed, deep and haunting. It had already come too close. In what felt like an instant, it was upon the guard, washing over him in darkness and dread. It felt like a thousand set of teeth were biting and gnawing, tugging and pulling as if to tear him apart. "Die in the misery you were born into," whispered the dread thing on him. "Pain is all you need know now."

The pony's screams did not summon help, at least not nearly quickly enough. When he was found later, he was collapsed on his side, drool flowing free from his mouth and hooves curled and stiff. He didn't respond to being poked at, despite seemingly otherwise alive.

The Crystal Empire had been attacked.

22 - Nighttime Glare

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Umbra paced back and forth in front of the desk that concealed two important ponies. Neither were royalty. Both were crystal. "Glad you could make time for me."

The female of the two nodded. "Of course, Umbra the Brave and Glorious. But we do have quite the project ahead of us. We should be monitoring it."

The male nodded in kind. "What's on your mind, so we can both get back to it?"

"About that." Umbra turned to them both. "How many ponies work for you two?" She pointed between the two leaders.

They looked to one another. The female had the answer. "Sixty in total, if you include us. Why?"

Umbra's horn glowed, drawing out a lonely coin. But it was no normal bit. She set it on the counter and both their eyes went to it, clearly recognizing it. "I am being overpaid, and I imagine your workers are not. This is between us. No royalty involved. I want to tilt the scales."

The male sat up, gazing at both the coin and Umbra at once. "How many of these are you getting?"

The female thrust a hoof out in front of him, a call for quiet. "Wrong question. What are you offering? How much you keep isn't our business."

The male grumbled, but nodded anyway. "Sure, yeah. This is yours." He pointed to the bit. "We don't have claim to it."

"Unless I give it to you." Umbra sighed softly. "Now I'm going to ask a question and I know you don't owe me an answer, but how much is each pony getting, on average? I want to up that, without the shock that I got when I got my cut. Say... Up it by... Wait, no!" She leaned in with a big sharp smile. "I have a better idea. What would they have gotten if I wasn't there?"

Both leaders set their hooves together. "Now that... is a number I have," noted the male. "I wouldn't be doing my job if I didn't take note of your involvement and what it meant to the bottom line."

The female gestured grandly to him. "Well, don't keep us waiting. What is the missing number between what we have gotten and could have gotten, were Umbra, glorious in even building, not part of it?"

"Each house would have been sixty royal bits, easy." The male sat back. "So each house you do, we lose that much, and you are quite the builder, Umbra. Not gonna lie, it's something else the way you go, and you only seem to be picking up speed."

Umbra's left ear quivered as she did a bit of consideration. "So I was being paid extra, for speed I can only imagine."

Both of them sat forward. "You're getting more than that?!" they blurted in unison, but composure came back to them quickly with clearings of their throats.

The male cleared his throat. "Speed is something to pay for."

"Speed, Quality, or affordability." The female tapped her hooves together. "You can have, at best, two of those. We can see which two they went with in your case." She leaned in. "So what are you offering?"

Umbra tapped her hooves together. "Now, that sixty is for all sixty ponies. I doubt every pony gets an even cut." She looked over the two ponies that likely got most of it, being the leaders. "But still, that's for sixty. You make it work, and I bet you're happy with it."

"Quite so," noted the male. "It's good work."

"Good work," echoed the female. "And a solid living."

"And we'll need more built, I'm sure! I'm not doing it all." Umbra rolled her eyes. "And I can't be everywhere at once. I don't want to replace ponies who do it with their own hooves. So, my proposal, your pay just got doubled." She paused, frowning. "No, that won't work, um... Alright! Every day that I'm out there working, I'll give forty bits per house to you two to give to the others." She waved a hoof. "If it's too much to give to them all at once, your judgment, I suggest you put it aside as a rainy day fund so you're ready for the good days and the bad."

The two coughed, not a clearing of throats, but clear surprise each. The male thumped a hoof down on the desk. "That's a lot to give for nothing in return."

"You truly are brave and glorious," sang the female with a bright smile. "But I have a counter proposal."

"You do?" The male peered at her oddly.

"I do." She nodded curtly. "The ponies will feel awkward if they get money for nothing. I propose we make a detachment to follow you around, to give inspections and touchups. Your houses are fine, quite acceptable, but if we're being paid that much for so few hours, we can afford to go all out. Besides, if we're following you, we can get right to furnishing. Houses will hit the market all the faster. Everypony wins."

Umbra broke into a fresh grin. "That sounds great. Yes, help me and Shifting make each house perfect and I'll gladly share my cut. Forty a house. Deal?"

Both male and female crystal pony presented a hoof, and they were met with a loud clop each.

A deal was struck.

Cadance and Shining Armor both frowned at the crystal pony with poor news. Cadance took a slow breath. "They have broken through the wall."

"And are on our doorstep. Should we send a letter to Celestia?" Shining inclined his head. "This is an outright attack now, not just a theory."

Cadance brought her hooves together. "Hm." It was an option. It was always an option. "We should, though I fear whatever ponies she sends may not get here in time if our attackers are serious. Dispatch the letter at least. I won't risk my ponies out of pride."

Shining Armor saluted and trotted off to get that done.

"In the mean time..." She looked to one of many ponies looking back at her with fearful hope. "Summon Umbra. We have need of her expertise."

The pony saluted sharply. Unlike Shining who strode away, he broke into a full gallop, rushing past Shining in their hurry.

Umbra entered shortly thereafter, trailing behind the rushing pony that had been sent to get her. "What's going on?" She saw Cadance and started for her instead of following the pony. "Something wrong?"

"Unfortunately, yes." She slowly breathed a moment. "A pony was attacked, a guard. We have reason to suspect it was a shadow creature of some variety. Being our resident expert on that..."

"You called me." Umbra pointed at herself. "Well... Guess that rules out them being here to say hello... Darn it. Where'd it happen?"

Cadance pointed the way. "Towards the edge of the heart's influence on the southeast side of town. But before you go rushing off there, I was hoping you could look at the victim. He's catatonic, paralyzed as if... I can't be sure, but, again... you are the closest we have to a shadow expert. Perhaps you can help him?"

"I can try?" There was little confidence in her words. "Where is he?"

"In the medical wing. Just ask for the hurt guard and they'll see you to him directly. If there's any change there, or you find anything, let me know immediately."

"Of course." Umbra dipped her head to the princess of the land. "I'm on the case." She turned in place, lifting three of her hooves and pivoting on the last before she got to walking out of the throne room.

"If someone could tell the builders I'll probably be busy today?!" she called out to no particular person on her way out.

"This way." The nurse led the way to a room. It wasn't darkened, though a daydark sat in the corner.

Umbra took note of it. "If he's resting, why is it so bright in here?"

"He doesn't react well when we tried." The nurse leaned over the bed. "Hello there. You have a visitor."

But the pony didn't response. Face locked in an expression of terror, he wasn't moving at all. Arranged as comfortably as they could manage, blanket pulled up over him, he could have been mistaken for dead if not for the steady up and down motion of breathing, too fast for something so seemingly still and peaceful.

It was the manic breathing of a pony still terrified.

"Eesh..." Umbra circled the bed left and right, considering it. "Hm..." If only she had learned any shadow mind magic, but that had been denied her! Sombra kept his mind magics squirreled away. "Ah!" A bright smile appeared, an idea with it. "Maybe..." Her horn began to glow, eyes wafting as she wove the spell of negation. Perhaps it was a spell, still lingering. She could try to cancel it.

She could see her magic reach out in its purple and greens, grasping at what seemed like a shadow clinging to the pony. She saw the problem straight away. Normally, her negation drew away the color and vibrance from a spell. But that dread miasma had no vibrance to start. It didn't react to her attempt other than faint quiver.

The moment she stopped trying, she lost sight of it. "Detect Shadow!" she called, despite having no need to do so. The miasma returned to her vision, a cocoon around the pony. Nightmares made manifest. "That is... so not good... On the bright side, pun intended, I can confirm this is shadow magic." She reached out, poking the cocoon. It had no physical presence, but she could still prod at the boundary of it.

On the other hand... "This is shadow magic," she repeated to herself. She was looking at a new kind of shadow magic, spread before her, waiting to be examined. "Tell Cadance I'm going to try to work backwards on this." She clapped her hooves. "No promises, but if I can get it, maybe I can help him."

Even as the nurse scurried away, Umbra was leaning in closer, trying desperately to figure out the magic from the wrong way. She didn't normally learn spells by looking at the result and trying to step backwards, but it was all she had to go with.

Like trying to learn how to fashion and glaze a pottery by looking at an already formed pot with no other hints, this was far easier said than done. Umbra grumbled to herself, hooves working around one another as she tried to imagine how the weaves of shadow magic could have come together the way they did, to make the connection they did, and perform what they were doing.

"Nnnnng!" But there was so much there, and doing so much, with no real... "Ugh!" She threw a hoof out wide. "This is nuts!" Looking at the tail end of the spell would not work...

"Oh!" An idea came to her. "I can't free you, but..." She set a hoof on the chest of the pony. "Maybe a little peace." She extended her deep shadow, the kind she used to cut herself off from the link she had with the royal couple. The breathing caught, had he stopped breathing?

No, there it was, slowing. Slower... slower... His expression relaxed. He was sleeping. A thin layer of the new shadow was keeping the nightmares at bay. "This is not really an answer..." The moment Umbra left, or even stopped concentrating, it would resume. To say nothing of whatever shadow did it in the first place, who could do it again and again, likely, even as Umbra gave a single pony peace. "Damn it all!" She wanted to rescue the world, but she wasn't even sure she could rescue the one pony in front of her.

Thoughts warred in her. She could fashion a crystal charm to leave behind with the pony, a stopgap.

But what was the better idea?

23 - Shades of Darkness

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Crystal crystal. She needed some. She could just conjure some, that did work, sure. It was fine, really. She'd made magic items out of self-made crystal before! But... there was a difference. If she wanted the best, she needed crystal that wasn't literally just made.

Umbra listed to the side against the bed with a sigh and it rustled and jingled back at her.

Jingled? She jerked upright and reached a hoof, feeling over the blanket. It had crystals woven into it, through it, giving it the shiny sparkle she had thought was just a 'crystal pony' thing. Everything of theirs seemed to shine!

Perhaps because most of their things had literal crystals in it?

There wasn't time to belabor that thought. She turned her deep shadow away from the guard and instead into the crystal mesh that was worked into the blanket. The poor stallion began to whimper, breathing picking up sharply. The nightmares had returned without delay. "Wait for me, wait!"

He began to relax after only a tense moment. The shadow was soaking into the blanket, which surrounded him. Umbra thought back to what she had been told. Each magic item was a little bit of onself, given up to make a permanent mark on the world. She couldn't make shadow blankets for the entire city.

But she could protect that one pony. She brought her hooves down, sealing the magic within. "Rest..."

"Ma'am?" The nurse was peeking in from the hallway. "Is he better? Did you save him?"

"No." Umbra turned away from the stallion towards the nurse. "I bought him some time, and a moment of respite. Keep that blanket nice and comfy on him." She walked briskly past the nurse, short of a trot. "I need to fix this."

"It's only the first day," grumped the male leader of the guild.

The female smiled confidently. "You underestimate the glory of Umbra. We can still make good on the agreement."

"How?!" He threw a hoof wide. "If she is not building, we cannot follow her and earn our share. Even were she to take a week away, she will still swoop in and take the rest in the blink of an eye."

The mare leaned forward, head on her cupped hooves. "This is Umbra, brave and glorious. If we start with the houses she has already fashioned..."

"Would she?" He raised an ear. "I am certain she meant new houses."

"I feel confident she will pay for every house we work on." She nodded with complete, perhaps smug, assurance. "Let's make them shine, and finish their furnishings. We will make them ready for the crown's use. That will please her, and Umbra. Umbra will pay." She raised a hoof. "If she does not, I will."

His eyes widened. "Do you not realize how many bits you are promising?!"

"That is just how confident I am. She will pay." She slid to her hooves. "So long as we do our part."

Ignorant of the threat upon them, the builder's guild would continue the project to complete the requested housing.

"Sir!" The pony pointed out. "I saw something." He waved a hoof. "Shadow, I think, sir."

Shining scowled, looking over with his own goggles, but there was nothing there. "Already gone?"

"It dashed, sir." The stallion scowled as he paced in place as if to get a better view. "Between buildings. I saw it!"

"I trust you." Shining considered a moment, then smiled. "I'm on the case."

With a shining shield shimmering around him, Shining Armor stepped from the palace, headed towards the spotting. "This has to stop." And he'd do it... somehow...

"You look important." The voice came in almost a whisper from around the corner. "Are you lost?"

Shining fueled his shield all the more as he advanced. "Who goes there?"

"Your fear is... delicious." As Shining reached the corner, he could see the pale, ghostly, pony smirking at him. "And we've only just met, and already you are terrified of me. How... delightful."

"I'm not scared of what I don't know," firmly barked out Shining.

"Now you're lying. A brave lie." The pony began to approach him at a walk. "Such a sparkling shield. Do you feel... safe?"

"If you know so much." Shining stood tall and straight. "Then you know I do."

"Oh, I do... It's... hmm, so prideful." He took another step, sunken eyes on Shining's. "What will they think, when they find you, broken."

A new voice came from above, descending rapidly, "They'll never know!" Umbra connected with the shadow pony, hoof crashing into his cheek as she came down, thumping heavily to the ground. "Ow." The landing hadn't exactly been as she has envisioned it. "I'm here!" she announced to them both. "And you're going down, unless you want to chill out and talk maybe?"

The shadow pony rubbed at his sore cheek, where a hoof had been thumped into it. "You attack, then offer peace? How curious." His eyes wandered over Umbra. "Though not as foolish... Show strength, yes, I understand that." He licked over his lips even as they stretched and distorted, his nightmarish form beginning to be revealed. "Show strength first."

Umbra stood as tall before Shining as Shining had alone. "Get out of here! He can't hurt me!"

The shadow laughed at the idea. "Confident! Such confidence. I will enjoy scrubbing it off your pouting lips, replacing it with an eternal grimace of agony." He smiled with far too many teeth, his snout more like a carnivore, no cheeks, just more teeth. "Oh yes."

"I can't leave you, Umbra."

"Umbra?" The shadow pony took a step towards Umbra. "Your name offends me." Another step, and he was on her, washing over her in a crashing of shadow.

But Umbra was shadow too. They met and crashed, but she was not swept away. Umbra could feel her darkest moments and thoughts coming to her. Her past, filled with painful trials, threatened to return. "No!" She waved imperiously, the shadow forced away from her by her will alone. "No!"

"Interesting..." The shadow pony flowed away at the speed of light, or dark, appearing in a shadowed alley a short distance away. "Very... We will dance again, little shadow witch. I will make you regret standing against me."

"You and what army?" challenged Umbra, taking a firm step forward.

But he was laughing. "That was the perfect question to ask. I could not have asked for more. Oh, yes. Me and what army? Hm. I'll show you." And he was gone.

Shining Armor's hoof was felt on her shoulder. "Thank you. How did you show up at just the right time?"

Umbra turned to him with a big goofy smile. "The same way you knew I was coming."

Shining chuckled at that. "I could feel you running so hard. I... had to guess you were coming towards me. You could have been rushing to get the last treat on a table."

"I could feel you... being scared." She raised a hoof to her chest. "And it scared me. I didn't want you getting hurt. Lucky you, that guy's a big shadowy target, so I could find him, which meant finding you."

Shining let out an explosive sigh. "We are under attack, and it will only get worse." He glanced in the direction the shadow pony had fled. "And I have an idea it will do that quickly."

Umbra waved in the same direction. "Pfft. If it's just that one, I can handle him. His main attack barely even works on me." She pumped the same hoof. "Go shadow powers!"

Shining patted her on the back. "I appreciate the confidence, and the backup, but you can't be everywhere. Wherever you are, he'll probably try not to be." His eyes narrowed. "And I doubt he'll be alone. You saw one other, didn't you? The scout? He wasn't the scout, was he?"

"Oh! No..." She worried her hooves together. "That was a different one, way less talkative." She pointed back to the castle even as she turned to head that way herself. "Let's get you back inside."

"I'd love to, but the palace is best protected already." He shook his head. "We need all the eyes we can spare on the streets." A little smile appeared. "At least I know I'm not alone. If you're headed that way, tell Cades we're alright."

"Speaking of that!" She twirled about towards Shining. "Finding you was half luck! I could tell you were in trouble, but the direction is harder. The door was open, but you weren't exactly sending directions through it."

"Can... we?" He severed the connection, a shield slipping over it a moment before fading away. "I thought only sensations go across it."

"The instant it comes back." Umbra was waggling a hoof at Shining. "If you're listening, um, hearing? Feeling. Feeling's probably the word." She bobbed her head, puzzling through it. "The instant it comes back, you feel a teeny tiny thing, like a pull or a poke. That has a direction. That's the direction I went running off in."

Shining clopped his hooves. "Ah ha! So if we're in trouble, any of us, just bang the door. Open and close it quickly, a few times, so the others know you're trying to get their attention and what direction."

"Yeah!" Umbra jumped in the air in a joyful expression, a big grin on her face. "Exactly. Next time, do that and I'll get over that much faster."

He nodded firmly. "Got it. Thanks, Umbra. You've been a real soldier about the entire thing." He marched off on patrol, clear determination to protect in his eyes.

"Living your dream," sighed out Umbra with a smirk. She couldn't complain. She liked using her own purpose. She was a shadow crystal pony, and it felt good to express that and make the world better through it. "Keep it up." But instead of going to the palace, she went to the scheduled first building of the day.

There was Shifting! But there was also a loose crowd of a dozen other ponies. Shifting spotted Umbra down the road and began to wave at her excitedly. "Hey!"

"Hey hey." Umbra smiled as they met. "Um, I didn't tell you about them, did I?" She angled her head at the other ponies. "They're with the building guild. I put up a house, they polish and furnish it, so it'll be ready the same day."

Shifting's eyes widened. "Oh! Um, not to write myself out, but do you need me if they're here?"

Umbra thumped Shifting gently. "You stay right there. They're going to make it look nice, but you are the crystal expert. I want your eyes on that." She leaned in, voice dropping to a whisper, "Also I get to pay them, so less pressure there."

"Oh!" Shifting began to clap. "I'm with you! Alright, let's get started."

Umbra got to the work of fashioning dwellings. The day had a rough start. She only got four done for the day. That would have been a crushing blow, if not for the builder ponies following along with wide eyes. They got the houses ready, barely. Four houses was not a speed they were accustomed to, at all.

But they did their job. When they were done, the houses had beds, couches, pots and pans. They had numbers posted in front to give them an address. They had window draperies and they looked like homes instead of just empty houses. The crystal was carved into with little touches that Umbra let out a little 'huh' over. The third house, she began doing them herself, but there was still plenty to be done inside the house to make it a ready home.

The pony that seemed in charge of the group nodded to Umbra. "A pleasure working with you, Umbra, Brave and Glorious. You truly live up to your name. We've never gotten so many houses done in a day before. You're lighting a fire under us."

"And we love it," cried a mare, hopping just so her legs could cycle wildly a moment before she got back to the ground. "See you tomorrow, ma'am!"

24 - Battle in the Shade

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"Such a freak," boomed an overwhelming male voice. "Pissing me off more every day."

"Shut up," screamed Umbra, but it wasn't Umbra. It was an earlier time, an earlier place. "Stop it!"

"What is this?" A new figure descended, silvery light banishing the nightmare elements away casually as Luna landed gently, looming over Umbra. "And who are you?"

Umbra fell back to all four hooves, heaving for breath she didn't even really have, not in a dream. "W-what?"

"That is what I asked." Luna smiled gently. "You were dreaming poorly, but your mind felt dark. I almost skipped over it, but thought better of it. Was I mistaken?"

"I... thanks?" She sank to her haunches, looking Luna over curiously. "I'm Umbra. Who are you?"

"Umbra." A little smile appeared on Luna's snout. "With Cadance? Crystal Empire?" When Umbra nodded, Luna clapped her hooves once. "Yes, I've heard of you. No wonder you seemed so dark. You are a shadow-magic user." She leaned in, still looming. "Traditionally quite vile and dangerous."

Umbra frowned at that. "That's not what I am."

"So I have heard." Luna nodded firmly. "Hero of the Crystal Empire. Friend of Cadance." She tapped her hooves with each fact. "Arcane artisan with a smile despite her dark origins. A curious pony you are, and clearly troubled with worrying dreams."

"I don't normally have dreams," grumped Umbra. "Maybe that nightmare attack hit me more than I wanted to admit."

Luna hiked a brow at that. "Nightmare attack?"

"A shadow creature." She put her hooves on her own chest. "Not me! A real jerk... He tried to attack me with nightmares, but I forced him back."

"Well fought." Luna's eyes wandered over Umbra. "Your self image is interesting."

Umbra looked down at herself, raising her legs one by one for an even better look. "I'm a pony?"

"You are, but more than that." Luna reached out, batting at the wafting bits of shadow magic that trailed from Umbra. "You are quite intimate with your shadowy nature, to start."

Umbra was quick to bat at Luna's shadowy tail, full of infinite stars and unknowable darkness. "As are you."

Luna's eyes constricted a fleeting moment. "We share... a little something. I watch over the night. I ensure the safe sleep of my subjects."

Umbra's ears perked. "I'd love to do that." From her memory, the bed appeared, the slumbering guard on it, shielded from nightmares with her blanket. "I'm letting him sleep!" she proudly claimed with a smile to go with it. Suddenly Umbra sat up. "Oh! Do you know sleeping shadow magic then? Show me!"

Luna curled a leg, pointing a hoof at Umbra. "I have heard tales, but not enough that I would surrender my secrets. The dream world is mine and mine alone at this time. To ask to walk them with me is quite the large request, little shadow pony." Despite her harsh words, a smile was forming. "But that you would eagerly rush to the defense of slumber is noted positively."

Umbra grinned up at the larger alicorn. "Thanks for the points at least. You feel... familiar. You sure you aren't shadow too?"

Luna flinched back. "The shadow has touched me, but in no kind way. I once let it take over, take root in jealousy. I almost... hurt a great deal, but mine sister took action before it went that far, and another, one you have met, held my hoof at bay until sense could return to me."

"No, I mean right now." Umbra hopped to her hooves. "I can feel it on you. You are a shadowy pony."

"I am the princess of the night."

"Sounds shadowy."

"It is not the same." Luna crossed her arms. "I am a guardian of slumber and rest."

Umbra stuck out her tongue in defiance. "That's just how you shadow. You're still shadowy. It's not like shadow has to be bad." She wobbled a hoof between herself and Luna. "We're both shadowy and good people."

Luna allowed a soft hum of thought. "Your words are not without some sense." She snuffled at Umbra. "Still, I would rather keep shadow distant from me, where I can. You, on the other hoof, stink of it."

"I am it." Umbra nodded with confidence. "And so are you, even if you don't like it. W--" She was cut off, a large silver-clad hoof on her snout.

"I feel certain you are trying to be encouraging." Luna leaned in, replacing the hoof with her own nose. "But we are not that familiar by far. I should continue my patrols. Other ponies have need of me. Be there any else you wish to discuss?" She spread her wings wide, ready to launch.

"Just one thing," Umbra hurried to get out. "We're being attacked, by shadows."

Luna smiled. "They are not all dangerous, I am told."

"Not funny." Umbra's ears pinned on her head. "These are very much not the nice kind. They locked someone in eternal nightmares." She pointed at the bed that was still in her dream. "And I get the feeling we'll... Can you help?"

Luna explosively snorted. "I will patrol the dreaming and do my best to banish the nightmares they may cause. But it will not be I who intercedes physically. Celestia has already dispatched her champions to assist you. Be ready for them. For now, fare well." She brought down her wings, lifting rapidly into the night sky. "I will be watching you." And Luna was gone.

"Not as helpful as I was hoping..."

Cadance could see the scowl on Umbra's face. "Have an unpleasant sleep?"

"Sure yeah... then Luna showed up."

Shining pricked his ears. "Did she have any news?"

Cadance thumped him for even asking. "She was there because of the poor sleep, I imagine."

"Mostly, yeah." Umbra poked at the food before her. "She did mention the 'champions' were coming. We have champions?"

Shining pointed across the table at Umbra. "Found one. "

"Ha Ha." Umbra speared the toast that seemed slathered in some kind of veggie spread, glistening with butter and... a mild dusting of cinnamon. "Besides me?"

Cadance nodded firmly. "Well, the last time we had major trouble, Auntie sent Twilight and her friends. Perhaps they're referring to them?"

Umbra imagined the collection of helpful mares. "Well... Sure, any help is good help, but how good are they at shadow creatures?"

Cadance sipped from her morning juice. "Well, their first claim to fame was handling the same one you ran into, when she was in a much more foul mood."

"She... what? She was a baddy?" Umbra struggled to imagine that gentle warden of the night being a threat. "She got a little grumpy when I tried to share her turf, but..."

Shining chuckled at the confusion. "She has come a long way since then. If you'd prefer, she started the work to prove that shadow doesn't have to be menacing."

"Well good!" Umbra pumped a hoof even as that toast floated into range of her teeth, allowing her to snap off a hunk to grind happily. "Mmm. So, are we going on the offense, or waiting for them to charge us?"

"We are safest here." Shining shrugged softly. "The heart's influence remains. You are protected by our connection." He waved vaguely, unable to see the link directly, but his glowing horn put a shield over both and took it away just as quickly, causing that faint prick of a sensation for both of the others. "Away from the heart, I can only imagine his attacks would be more worrying."

"That was him with a disadvantage!?" Umbra thumped the table with both hooves, which didn't stop her from getting another bite, that fork held in her magic. "He's toying with us."

"Umbra." Cadance had fixed her gaze on her shadowy friend. "I ask now that you not charge out there. I know that look. Shining's given it a few times. If you're alone, and something happens, nopony can help you."

"Yeah yeah." Umbra sank a bit in a pouty defeat. "Playing defense though..." She hopped down from her chair, the fork dropping with a clatter on the plate. "Gonna get back to building. Our patient alright?"

Shining quickly nodded. "I heard word he's sleeping peacefully, thanks to a certain somepony."

"Maybe he'll wake up..." But she was moving, away. She had work to do.

Four homes was about the right pace. Umbra and Shifting worked together to ensure they were physically sound, and the guild-ponies labored to bring it from 80% to 100%. Umbra watched them work with a smirk. "Even in a fantasy world, that last 20% always takes the longest..."

But it was a pace that the guild ponies kept up with. Each day had a different crew, rotating through the guild? Shifting nudged Umbra from the side. "You look distracted."

"I am super distracted," admitted Umbra without delay. She leaned in and down. "Don't tell anyone else," she insisted in a quieter tone. "But the city is under attack."

Shifting squeaked, a bat-like squeal, her wings flapping erratically without moving the rest of her. "Are you serious?" she asked in a harsh whisper. "I don't see anything." She looked around wildly for the enemy.

Umbra curled a hoof back at herself. "They're shadowy, like me, but, so far, way less nice about it. And they're, nng, dang it."

Shifting was quiet a moment before pawing at Umbra with a hoof. "Can I help?"

Umbra blinked at her friend. "My--" Her voice dipped to barely a whisper. "--love bug? I appreciate the thought, but I don't want you to just get hurt."

Shifting buffed her chest with a hoof. "Don't underestimate me! I'm a master spy." She glanced left and right. "I am living right in a city that'd want me... not here, if they knew..."

"These things..." Umbra shuffled, digging at the ground. "They are not normal."

"Neither are we." Shifting extended her pointed tongue. "Show me what they look like, um, later." She resumed her bright smile, watching the guild ponies work. "For now, we build!"

"We build," echoed Umbra, her own smile returning.

"Did you kiss yet?" Cadance fluttered her lashes. "Did you hide it?"

"No," grunted Shining with undisguised annoyance. "We're focused on a little problem, if you forgot."

Cadance let out a little sigh. "Yeah... I was trying... I can't do anything about that. I'd rather think about silly ponies making kissy faces." Her wings fidgeted on her back. "Why, do you have an idea of what can be done? It's a miracle they haven't attacked any civilians so far."

"Worrying, more like." Shining looked to the nearest window, though that was across the room. "They clearly have access to do so, if they wanted."

"If the heart repels them, perhaps I could help." Cadance tapped at her own chest. "I am tied to it."

"So am I." Shining shrugged softly. "How does that help?"

"Not in the same way." Cadance skewed an ear. "I am it." She pointed back at her cutie mark. "I can echo it, to a degree. You, my lovely stallion, are a protector. Umbra... is confusing."

Shining burst into laughter at that. "True statement, but if you could stop bothering her."

"I am not bothering her!" She brought her wings back in tight. "She's off building, isn't she?"

"You just asked me if I kissed her." Shining rolled a hoof. "She has the crystal heart on her rump too. Why couldn't she 'echo' it?"

Cadance's brows raised as one. "That, dear hubby, is actually a very good question. My instinctive answer being 'she never tried'. Perhaps it's time to change that." She stood up. "And I can think of no other pony better equipped." She marched from the room, determined to do her part.

Shining looked less confident. "At least she's facing you directly." He renewed his promise not to bother the brave pony that was helping them. "Back to work." He went to rejoin the patrols.

25 - A Real Heart to Heart

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"Mail, ma'am." Purple dipped her head, holding a letter in her teeth. "Good morning."

"Good morning." With a glowing horn, Umbra took the letter from Purple. "Who from?" The from had nothing in it. The to was written crisply, 'Great and Honorable, Umbra the Brave and Glorious.' "Huh..."

Umbra slid to her hooves as her magic ripped the top off. "A fan?" She pulled out the letter and got the reading.

Glorious One,
It is an honor to write you, but more than that, it is... a passion. Umbra, I have seen you striding through town, the epitome of confidence

Umbra burst into giggles. "Oh no! Do I have an ultra fan?" She kept reading.

and grace. Like a sleek predator on the prowl, but with only kindness in your heart. I was intimidated! But this ends today, with this letter. Hello, Great one. I am an admirer that would wish to present myself to you, to perhaps win your favor. If you have time for a little pony like me, be here at noon. I will be there every day this following week, starting the day I sent this letter.
Hoping for the best.

Umbra shook her head slowly. "Oh... no... I have an admirer, and they want to meet me."

Purple reached for the letter. "Do you want me to dismiss them, ma'am? You have important matters to attend to. It is well within my job to free you of such distractions."

Umbra brought her hooves together quietly. "I am really warming up to you, but I don't want to just shut them down. That'd hurt their feelings." She could imagine some random dork of a pony getting all sad and dejected as they were told to buzz off by Purple. "I'll meet them. Talking to them won't hurt anything."

"You are as honorable as your title implies, ma'am." Purple dipped her head. "Good luck in your work. I'll have the room ready for your return."

"One thing I don't have to worry about." Umbra strode forth, ready to tackle the day. It was only a few steps down the hallway that she realized something. She brought out a mirror to inspect herself, but her mane and fur was brushed nicely. "Did... Purple!" Her voice raised. "You don't have to brush me when I'm asleep!" She hurried off with a little huff, more amazed than anything else.

When she arrived at her first house, she was greeted with cheers from guild ponies and Shifting alike. They got right to it. The second house, no problem. While the guild ponies worked on it though, Umbra slid away. "Gotta meet someone right quick. Wait for me at the third house if I'm not already there." And off she went, trotting briskly towards the address given.

"We're back." Rainbow pumped a hoof even as she darted off the train. "Huh. I remember having to go way further through the snow."

The other ponies disembarked, joining in the wonder of how much less snowed in things seemed to be. Perfect, no, there was plenty of snow around, but it wasn't as deep, nor the wind blowing as savagely. The city could be seen, closer, pushing back the line of chill somehow. Twilight let out an appreciative hum. "They're really working hard, but that's not what we're here for."

"About that." Rarity stepped up at Twilight's side. "You've been awfully quiet, dear, about why exactly we are here." She leaned in, lashes fluttering. "Is this just an excuse to visit your brother?"

Pinkie giggled at the idea, pronking towards the city proper. "Twilight wouldn't do that."

"I wouldn't," hastily agreed Twilight, raising her head tall. "Princess Celestia asked us to come here to help the Crystal Empire."

"Again?" asked Fluttershy, looking about timidly. "I thought we saved it?"

Rainbow darted in just in front of Twilight. "Yeah! What gives?"

Applejack caught Rainbow's tail and tugged her down. "Turns out, some thin's need savin' more than once. Fancy that. What's botherin' the ponies up here?" She looked to Twilight for that answer.

"Apparently shadow ponies." Twilight shrugged, not having all the information. "Vicious shadow ponies."

Rarity laughed at the idea. "The last shadow pony we met didn't seem so awful. The dear was a little confused, but friendly enough."

Twilight broke into a bright smile. "I look forward to checking on her progress, but that doesn't stop the current issue. Come on, girls. Let's get to the palace. They can tell us more there." With a communal cheer, they set off.

Umbra looked around the intersection she had been led to. "Hello?"

A crystal pony looked over at her question. "Honorable one." He dipped his head at Umbra. "How can I help you?"

Umbra smiled awkwardly. "Actually, I'm supposed to meet a pony here, but I don't know their name. Or what they look like, or... much of anything."

"That is hard." The crystal pony slipped a hoof behind his head a moment, looking around. "Everypony around here knows you, Umbra. Surely if anypony wanted to meet you, they'd be able to find you."

"Yeah." She glanced about. "I'll just relax, by this pond." She went over to what was not a pond. It was a fountain, burbling gently. "Least I can get a sip." She leaned in and drew in some cool water. A new reflection joined hers. A stallion, not a crystal pony. "Oh, sorry." Umbra hopped to the side away from the new pony.

"I should be sorry." The stallion was smiling brightly. He had soft greenish fur and bright brown eyes. "Umbra, I didn't think you'd come on the first day. You are as honorable as they say. Brave and Glorious one, thank you."

Umbra perked at that. "You're--"

"I sent the letter," he cut in. "I thought, for sure, you'd ignore it."

Umbra waved that way. "Nah. So, what's your name?"

"Wensley." He dipped his head and coiled to present his cutie mark of two apples and a block of cheese. "Of the Apples."

"Of the... Um, hi!" Umbra looked over the stallion curiously. Not a local, clearly. "What brings you all the way up north?" She flashed a toothy grin. "Not just me, right?"

"You're a good reason," Wensley laughed. "But no, I have business up here that just happens to include you." He put out a hoof towards her. "Right nice to meet you in person."

Umbra met the hoof with one of her own. "Sure thing! You're... a little less overwhelmed than I thought you might be."

"It's an act." He leaned in, brows falling. "I am a huge fan, but gushing all over a pony you like is a good way to make them run."

Umbra's ears danced. "Huh! That isn't a lie. Good on you for keeping control of yourself then. One point for you." She smiled, happiness building. A normal not-worrying fan? Nothing wrong with that. "So how can I help?"

"I wasn't lying." He crossed an arm across his front. "I wanted to meet you. Word is, you're a shadow wizard, but a nice one."

"That is my thing," agreed Umbra in a humble bragging tone. "Don't forget the crystal part."

"Crystal part?"

She turned in place, pointing back towards the new houses in the distance. "Crystal part! I'm helping build new houses right now! Well, I built the house. The guild ponies are making it livable right now. After this, I have to get back to it. Two more houses for the day at least, maybe three at the pace we're going."

Wensley clopped in applause. "Very good. You have that kind of power and you take time to build houses for ponies?"

"If you can, do," reasoned Umbra out loud. "I like helping, and I love my powers, so put the two together." She sat to bring her hooves together. "And you got me out here building houses!"

"Very nice of you." Wensley inclined his head. "You don't do that all day, every day?"

"Nah." She waved that right off. "I only got this project a little ago, and I'll be done soonish. Then it's back to studying!"

"Studying what, if I may ask?" He leaned in with a big smile.

"Magic, duh." She rolled her eyes. "You just finished saying that. I like being a shadow wizard, so I need to know more shadow magic." She raised one hoof and lowered the other. "With me?"

"Makes perfect sense. I shouldn't keep you up." He nodded firmly and began to turn away. "Let's meet again, compare notes. You're pretty approachable for one of those 'super stars'."

"I don't.... Being a 'super star' was a thing they decided." Umbra waved a hoof wildly at the city as a whole. "Not my call. I'm just Umbra, and I'm here to help if I can."

"Well, Just Umbra, nice to meet you." Wensley splayed his ears out as he dipped his head. "I'll send another letter."

"You do that." And off she trotted with a pleased smile. She had made a friend, a perfectly normal friend.

Umbra was walking home, Shifting at her side. "Five total."

"Better than the four of your off day." Shifting nodded. "But not close to the ten you've done before. Not feeling well?"

"I could do ten, probably more now." Umbra lifted a hoof just to wobble it. "But making more empty houses? Why? I'm going just fast enough to keep the others busy. They have to make them into homes that ponies can hop right into."

"Huh... sure." Shifting leaned in from the side as they walked. "Don't gotta tell me, but I am curious. How much are you giving them?"

Not a secret in Umbra's eyes. "Forty a house."

Shifting whistled. "Wow! That's... a lot more than I'm getting."

"Did you want more?" Umbra thumped to the side against Shifting. "You just have to ask. I had to talk you into even taking one."

"N-no! I'm... Sorry." She slumped a moment before perking right up. "Not fair, there are more of them, and they're working. I'm still just overseeing. And I'm still making way more bits than I used to." She shook herself out from nose to tail, a little squeak escaping her. "Put that right away. Sorry." She closed in, rubbing her side against Umbra's. "Whatcha gonna do with your share? 59 thousand bits per house! That's not a small amount of bits."

"Ugh." Reminded of it, Umbra sagged a little. "Well, if a pony showed up with a shadow book, I'd be able to pay for it."

"True." The two ascended the stairs of the crystal palace to find the entry foyer had ponies. Familiar ponies.

"Umbra!" Twilight approached with a bright smile. "You're looking chipper. How are your magic studies going."

"Twilight!" Umbra sat, just to raise her hooves and clap Twilight on the shoulders. "Hey, teach! I've been putting those basics you showed me right to work. You're looking at the premiere shadow wizard and enchanter in the empire!"

Twilight raised a brow at that. "I imagine the only one of either, but still, congratulations." She noticed Shifting. "Hello. Friend?"

Umbra grabbed Shifting, looping an arm around her neck to draw her close. "This is Shifting Prism, crystal expert. She's been helping me up my crystal-crafting game, and she showed me how to enchant things."

Twilight perked an ear. "You are an enchanter? How curious. I've met so few."

"Darlings!" Rarity was suddenly present on the scene. "Umbra, dear, you are looking fabulous. You've really gotten into the swing of things. Your mane--" She reached out, brushing a hoof through Umbra's locks. "To die for! Loving it! You're not looking especially fancy today, wardrobe wise."

Shifting took that prompt. "She's a working pony." She bobbed her head. "Five houses today, all ready to be moved into. She takes her work seriously."

"Exactly." Umbra squeezed her friend closer. "But it's great to see you." She released Shifting to instead touch noses with Rarity. "When did you all get here?!"

26 - Friendship Unite

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Rainbow casually landed on Umbra's back. "This is all nice and whatever, but I hear there are shadow ponies running around. You know about that?" She leaned in over the top of Umbra. "Huh?"

"Ugh, yes." Umbra sagged a little, but still held up Rainbow. "You are not light, by the way."

"I'm not heavy," huffed Rainbow, hopping free of Umbra to the ground. "So, have you seen them?"

"I fought one." Umbra quickly explained the two encounters. "The second one made it sound like a lot more was coming with him soonish."

Cadance let out a weary sigh at that, a little further back than the other mares. "It would be nice to have peace. It's not as if this city didn't have concerns aside from this. An entire city of ponies out of time, can you even imagine it? With the train station getting more traffic and use, they are starting to explore Equestria." A smile formed as happiness returned to her. "They come back with such wondrous tales for their friends, which only encourages them to want to have a look."

Spike shot double finger-guns at Cadance. "They starting to want to read comics and play games?"

Cadance burst into laughter. "Actually, yes. I had a pony here just yesterday asking permission to start a comic store. But let's put that aside for now. That store will be short lived if we allow these shadow ponies to have their way."

Twilight sat, a quill noting on a floating bit of parchment. "Alright, so we know they favor fear and nightmares as attacks."

Rainbow rolled her eyes grandly. "Just like that Sombra guy?"

Twilight made a quick note, horn glowing. "That's a good point. Sombra, he was a shadow pony himself, was he not?"

Umbra bobbed her head. "Sure was, until I happened." She stood tall and proud, doing her best Rainbow Dash impression. "Still a jerk, just to remind."

Rarity tossed her mane. "But he isn't the problem, I gather. Just these copyponies. Well, we have a shadow pony of our own." She gestured at Umbra. "So there."

Umbra pumped a hoof, grinning brightly and sharply. "Yeah! But there's only one of me." She pointed at herself, grin turning to an awkward smile. "And more than one of them." A thought came, and with it, she perked. "Twilight! I need your help. Um, someone else needs your help. Follow me!" She scampered off without delay.

Thankfully, she could hear the girls trailing after her. "He's in here." Umbra scooted into the medical wing, nodding to the nurse she saw at the front desk. There was no resistance given to her just walking right on past and into the comatose stallion's room. "There you are."

Rainbow was next in, flashing in on her speedy wings. "Woah, hey." She inclined her head at the sleeping pony. "Should... we be here?"

The others flowed into the room, huffing for breath. Twilight accelerated to Umbra's side. "Why did you bring us here?" She looked at the sleeping one. "And why are we bothering them?"

"Yeah, they're not bothered." Umbra waved a hoof over the sleeping pony's face to no reaction. "He was the first victim and is stuck in a nightmare. I tried to dispel it, that's a shadowy thing, but shadow dispels work really bad at shadowy magic." She tapped at the grey field only she could see. "I was thinking, you being a clever magic pony, maybe you could break it?"

Umbra lowered her hoof to the blanket. "This is keeping the nightmares from reaching him, but the spell's right there, trying its best to bother him."

Twilight leaned in an inch. "Huh... Shadow magic is not my specialty."

"Good!" Umbra waved at the sleeping stallion. "We don't want shadow magic, doesn't work, remember? Bust this with your magic. Show us your moves!"

Twilight's horn began to glow, but not with any specific spell as she tried to decide her approach. "Alright... I... prefer to know what I'm doing, not just--"

"Just do it," groaned Rainbow. "It can't hurt."

"Yes it can," barked Twilight with a huff. "Wild magic can hurt a lot of things, and we have an already incapacitated pony right here." She looked to Umbra. "You can see it, right?" Umbra nodded quickly. "Is that a spell? Is that a spell you can share?"

"Even better!" Umbra produced one of her shadow goggles and floated it over towards Twilight. "Put this on and see the shades."

The color around the goggles shifted as Twilight took hold of it, wriggling it onto her head as she wriggled up into the band, getting it into position. "Alright, and--" She looked at the stallion, just to recoil. "Oh my Celestia!" She could see the cocoon of angry dark shadows creeping and prying at the protective layer of darkness beneath. "It's... the top layer, I assume?"

Umbra bobbed her head. "The quiet layer is me, protecting him. Can you bust up the angry part?" She rolled a hoof. "Pretty sure he'll be grateful!"

"Right..." Twilight frowned at the problem she could at least see. "Right, hm." She tapped her hooves on the ground in a nervous pacing. "Hm... Alright." She looked around nervously. "I just need a plan." Out came a blackboard, and some chalk, writing furiously with three bits at a time. "If I... then..." Many marks in different colors began to decorate the board as she worked with an intense mania. "But I can't..."

Rarity set a hoof on Umbra's shoulder. "She may be at this a while. It's a thing of hers."

Applejack smirked softly. "Well, while she's busy, ah'll just say, nice to see ya again. Good to see yer fittin' in just fine."

"Oh!" Umbra beamed at Applejack, turning to her fully. "You're Applejack Apple, right?"

Applejack blinked softly. "Ain't nopony that calls me that, but that's my technical name sure. Applejack Apple, or just go with Applejack, of the Apples. Like that one better." She nodded with building confidence. "Why?"

"Ah--" Umbra drawled out the I on purpose, imitating Applejack. "done met a relative of yours."

Applejack leaned forward. "Did you now?! Which one? Ah got a lot of relatives." She looked quite proud of that fact. "Didn't figure any of 'em would come out this far without a real specific reason though."

Umbra waved a hoof away, towards a wall but meaning beyond it. "Out in town. Wesley? Wensley? His butt icon--"

"Cutie mark, dear." Rarity was hiding a little chortle at the mistake. "Butt icon sounds far too... improper."

Pinkie didn't hide her giggles. "I like my butt icon." She waggled that butt, her laughter only growing.

"But if you apply the..." Twilight was still working feverishly at the arcane issue, the marks becoming a dense tangle.

"Yeah..." Umbra trailed off before refocusing. "The cutie mark was two different kinds of apples and a thing of cheese? That help?"

"Wensley!" Applejack nodded firmly. "Green coat?" Umbra nodded back. "Yeah, know him. Good pony. He ain't causin' you no trouble, ah hope?"

"No! No no no." Umbra waggled a hoof left and right rapidly. "Seems like a nice guy. He came to me, said he heard nice things. Just chatted a little. Nothing more than that.

"That sounds harmless 'nough." Applejack poked Umbra lightly. "Thought a moment you were gonna say he made a pass at you. That woulda been somethin' else!" She laughed at the very idea of it. "No insult on you or nothin', but ya'd make a funny Apple."

Umbra colored, but was mostly joining Applejack in laughter. "We only met that one time! I'm not that easy to win over, AJ."

Fluttershy started for the door. "I wouldn't even know what to do." She fled rather than consider further the idea of somepony making a move on her suddenly.

Rarity waved it off. "Don't mind her. She lives up to her name, our dear Fluttershy. Now, if a stallion walked up to me, well, that depends on which one." Her brows lowered with a sultry flutter of her lashes. "If I liked the look of them..."

Rainbow elbowed Rarity firmly. "Really? There's more to a pony than how they look, Rares. Any pony chasing me's gonna have to keep up!" She darted around the room with streaks of rainbows, showing off just how fast any stallion would have to be.

"But it could work!" Twilight brought all three chalks down together. "Alright! I'm ready to try." She turned back to the bed, mane frizzled and breathing a bit hard. "Shall we begin?"

Umbra brought her hooves almost together but they didn't quite meet. "You look a bit..."

"I'm ready." Twilight's horn began to glow. "Let's begin."

"Detect Shadows." Umbra sent her vision into the view of darkness to see what was going on. Twilight's magic exploded from her horn in a fine laser that rapidly grew, seeming to sear a bright scorch across the blackness. "Yeah! Keep that up!" It was the opposite of her attack, literal light burning away the shade. "Yeah!"

Rarity watched the light effects, ignorant of the play against shadow. "You are very excited about this. Considering your trade, isn't she doing the opposite of you?"

Umbra rolled her eyes at that. "I wouldn't put a pony in nightmares, so she's free to bust that up all she wants." She poked Rarity with a grin. "What's your talent?"

"Me?" Rarity brought both of her hooves to her chest. "I make things splendid, to share with the world."

"She finds gems," noted Spike with a grin. "Which she uses to do that other thing."

"Right, so if someone was using a big sparkly gem to make a doom laser, would you be that upset when someone smashed it and stopped people from getting hurt."

Rarity rolled a hoof. "Are we sure we can't just... take away the gem?"

Applejack pulled the hat over her eyes. "Rarity, yer a classic."

Rainbow laughed, clapping her hooves together. "I'd smash that gem and save the day! I've already passed this test." She suddenly offered a hoof towards Umbra. "Good job joining the loyalty club!"

Umbra met the hoof with one of her own, a little smirk on her face. "Is that what I did?" Her eyes went back to the stallion. "More down." She waved lower along him. "Go towards his tail."

Twilight's dazzling beam sliced downwards as she huffed for air. "Just... Oof." She slumped, magic fizzling. "That's not easy," she groaned out, laboring to catch up with herself.

Umbra grabbed for the tatters of shadow. "You're mine!" With it broken free and peeling, she was able to get a grip on it, tearing it away from the stallion with a wild laugh. "Get out of here!" She threw it to the ground and began stomping on it as it broke apart, shadow puffing away to nothing. "Yeah! Yeah! Woo!" She was performing quite the happy dance of victory.

"Huh?" The stallion was sitting up with bleary eyes. "Woah." He noticed his company. "Um... Did I miss something?"

Applejack patted the side of the recovering pony. "Jus' relax. Twilight an' Umbra worked together and got you out of a nasty spell, from what ah can figure."

"Ugh." He put a hoof to the side of his head. "It felt like I was trapped in a really dark place. Things kept trying to get me..."

"No more of that," assured Umbra with a big grin. "Only good shadows allowed around here. Now... do you want a nap, a nice normal peaceful nap?"

The stallion slumped back with a strained laugh. "That actually sounds nice."

Umbra fired a thin beam of purple at the daydark in the corner, causing the room to dim. "Sleep well then. Welcome back. I'll let Shining Armor know you're feeling a little better."

He said something that could have been mistaken for a thanks, but he was already passed out, off to the first true and proper sleep in too long.

27 - Haste Makes Waste

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"Aw." The joy of victory was abated. Umbra could see that Twilight's sparkling attack was quite effective, so effective it had cut into the magic of the blanket. It was the first magic item of hers she'd ever had destroyed. "Aw..." It bothered her. More than it should? She disliked the feeling, but it refused to go away. "Let's let him rest..."

"Darling." Rarity was at Umbra's side as they wove through the castle. "Why are you looking beside yourself? Shouldn't we be happy right now?"

Twilight looked pleased, if tired. "We rescued somepony today. Let's be happy about that."

"I am," she assured with more of a pout in her tone than she had intended. "Look, Twilight, you did the right thing. Shoot, you did what I told you to do, so I'm not even mad... But you broke my dark blanket."

Twilight raised a brow. "Dark blanket?" She perked up. "The second layer?"

"Yeah, the not-angry dark." Umbra nodded firmly. "You cut right through both. Again! Not angry at you. You did what I asked."

"But I broke your artifact. Apologies." Twilight dipped her head, ears sagging a moment. "Can it be repaired? Magical items are not my specialty."

"Uh hm. I can try, later." Umbra waved it off. "The blanket is right now on a sleeping pony. That'd be kinda rude."

Rainbow thumped against Umbra roughly. "Good attitude about it. We won! Now, we take the fight back to those shadow things." She punched at the air, hopping on her hind legs. "Show them their mistakes."

"About that." Spike leaned forward from his perch atop Twilight. "What do we know about these things, other than 'darkness' and 'nightmares'? I mean, what, are we going to put out some big spotlights?"

Twilight snorted, one ear turned back to Spike. "That would be amusing, but likely of limited effect."

"I have a different idea." A pony approached them as they entered the main hall. Cadance's wings were spread wide. "Umbra, if you have a moment?"

Umbra's ears perked up, just to wilt a little. "Um, sure? Did I do something wrong?"

"Not that I'm aware of." Cadance smiled gently. "Anything you want to share with me? Back on topic." She pointed at Umbra directly. "You are tied to the crystal heart. It's right there, the same as me." She twisted to present her rump, adorned with the crystal heart.

Umbra peeked back. She had much the same heart, minus the golden marks at the bottom, instead a few shadowy wisps. "That's me, crystal shadow wizard." She nodded, looking back to Cadance. "What about it?"

Cadance raised her head as high as it'd go, horn angled just a little forward as she took a slow breath. A brilliant light pulsed from her, causing the ponies touched to become crystalline, if only for a fleeting moment. "I can't replicate the wonder of the entire kingdom finishing the crystal fair... But I can 'echo' the heart. When I do, I feel my connection to the heart tingle. You have that same connection. Do you see where I'm going with this?"

Umbra took an unsure step back. "Yeah... but I'm still shadow. Shadow's nice and all, still working on making it cool, but shadow and light don't mix super well, and the last time the crystal did one of those... things, I almost flew apart."

The mares gasped collectively in horror at the image summoned.

Rainbow stepped in front of Umbra. "No exploding Miss Dark Horse. She's cool."

"And we're not cleaning it up." Spike clicked his tongue on his teeth, firing finger guns with a smarmy grin.

Pinkie gigglesnorted at Spike's words. "'Course we would." She waved it off like that was just obvious. "But why would you want that?"

Cadance waved the hoof already directed at Umbra. "That didn't hurt."

Umbra went still, but a nod came. "Oh, hey." The wave of crystal heart energy hadn't hurt when it washed over her. "How did you know that?! Was I just experimented on?"

"A little," admitted Cadance. "But I felt certain. You were not given that mark to hide from the very thing on you forever. Destiny is not that cruel. You didn't become crystal, even for an instant, but neither did it hurt you."

Umbra had remained the grey-furred mare she had started. She ran a hoof through her soft mane. "I'm still me."

"So, be you, with the crystal." Cadance nodded with satisfaction. "Let it in, and share it with the world. I have a feeling your echo will not be exactly the same as mine, but will be just as genuine."

Even as Umbra fidgeted, Rarity stepped up. "Darling, we've only known each other a small while." She held up two hooves close. "But I feel I've learned some matter of you. Don't be afraid to shine, whatever light that may be. Dark? Fine, make us bask in your night then, dear. I have a feeling it'll be quite the show."

Umbra smiled at Rarity's words. "Wow... That's actually kind of touching..." She looked to the others who were all beaming at her encouragingly. "I'm... willing to try, but Cades, you have to make sure I don't literally explode."

"I'm already prepared." She angled her head faintly. "I was a little worried my echo might do something."

"That is not confidence building!" Umbra stomped a hoof and circled in place until she faced where she imagined the crystal was in. "How do I even do it?"

"That will require a little practice." Cadance began a slow walk. "I'll gladly show you what I've picked up. This doesn't have to be right now." She led Umbra away to show her a magic trick that had no proper spellcraft to it.

Spike scratched at the side of his head. "Alright, so what are we doing?"

Rainbow lifted in the air. "Well I'm gonna scout the city for baddies." And she was off without further delay.

Applejack smirked softly in the direction of the fled one. "Well, ah'm thinkin' we go an' ask around. Quiet like. Ah know this ain't public news, so we keep a hush." She started for the stairs. "Comin', Pinkie?"

Pinkie was right at her side in an instant. "I thought you'd never ask." The two departed, a team.

Rarity gave a soft hum of thought. "Ah ha! If Umbra dear likes to make things into magic things, and she likes crystals to do it with..."

Spike hopped down from Twilight. "We're going crystal mining?"

"Exactly." She booped Spike gently on the nose. "My wonderful Spikey-Wikey. We'll find some marvelous stones for Umbra to consider later. She'll like that, hm?"

"Yeah, good idea." Spike brandished his basket, ready to hold the found gems. "Lead the way, Rarity."

Twilight gave a thoughtful hum. She was alone. The only girl left was... "Actually." She went off to Fluttershy's room and knocked lightly. "Fluttershy, are you home?"

The door cracked open, one large eye peeking out. "Yes?"

"Fluttershy." Twilight leaned forward with what she hoped was a winning smile. "You're good with animals."

"I am," she agreed with what hadn't been a question. "Why?"

"I was hoping you could talk to them." Twilight nodded. "I bet these shadow ponies aren't thinking of the animals, so they may have seen things, possibly a lot of things, and we'd never know if you didn't ask them. You liked the crystal ewes, didn't you? They--"

"--Oh, yes." Fluttershy was nodding briskly. "Visiting them sounds lovely." She stepped free of her room, a big smile only growing by the moment. "What a great idea. I'll go over and see how they're doing now."

"Mind if I tag along?" Everypony else had fled. Twilight didn't want to be alone in the palace.

"I don't have a problem with that." Fluttershy began on her journey. "But they don't talk Ponish, so it may be hard for you to follow."

"I'll do my best." And off they went together to interrogate some crystal ewes.

Shining Armor squinted through a pair of binoculars that shone with his magic. "Hm... Don't like that." He passed them to another pony on the wall who held them in their hooves, only to squeak and quickly pass them back. "Alright, not just me. We're going on red alert."

He raised the binocs back into view. "And I think we're going public soon. There's no hiding that."

"Shadow."

Umbra quirked up her ears, looking around in the darkness of the dream. It was a dream, she knew that for sure. "Who's asking?"

"Like attracts like," whispered the voice dryly. "We got off on the wrong hoof. We want the same thing."

Umbra scowled, placing the voice. "You're in my dream, already a point against you. What do you think I 'want'?"

"Shadow, I said that. To plunge this land into shadow, eternal and deep, from which no creature can hope to escape, but some of us would never want to. Doesn't that sound lovely?"

Umbra frowned at the formless voice. "I like shadow, but I like light too. A little balance is nice, you know? Now--"

"Don't dismiss me so quickly," cut in the voice. "We are on the way now. Me and my army, just as you requested. You could march at the head of that army... or you can be crushed by it. We will not be stopped."

"Blah blah, evil monologue. Don't suppose you could share this spell?" Umbra wobbled a hoof. "You're the second shadow person to show off dream magic and it's really ticking me off to be the only shadow wizard without it!"

"Join us and we would share such things." The voice flowed past her, as if something were talking past. "Such shadowy arts the world has long since forgot. You will know fear. You will know the sleeping mind. You will hold it in your hooves and--"

"Yeah yeah, seriously. I get it. Can you share the dream spell or not?" Umbra snorted in the direction of the voice. "Just that one, and no, I'm not joining your baddy club. I'm a nice shadow wizard. So show me how to give people nice dreams!"

"Repugnant... This was a waste of time. I look forward to crushing your little shadow tricks to dust beneath my hooves." And the presence was gone. Umbra would not learn dream magic that night.

"Dang it."

Umbra sat up in bed sharply. The door opened immediately. "Is that you, Purple?"

"I heard you awaken." Purple came in, kicking the door shut and hurrying forward with a brush in her mouth. "You're early today."

Umbra huffed, but let Purple get to the task of grooming. "Bad dream, and one given on purpose. I have news I need to get to Cades and Shining."

"Then don't let me keep you." Purple hurried to the side, smiling at her handiwork. Umbra already looked decent for having just awoken.

"I don't know how you do it..." Umbra made for the door. "But this is important."

Purple moved to close the door behind Umbra. "Not as important as this room." She tapped her hooves together and got to it. The room wouldn't clean itself, no matter how nicely it was asked. It required the touch of a trained cleaner!

"The attack is coming." But no one pony had said that. Shining Armor and Umbra peered at one another.

Shining Armor pointed upwards. "I can see them on the horizon, an army of darkness."

Umbra flipped an ear back. "Their leader whispered it to me. They offered me a chance to defect and join them. I declined."

Cadance nodded. "Glad to hear that, not that I feared for your loyalty. Umbra, Shining, we approach a serious time. I can't imagine this will be easy."

Shining heaved a sigh. "Did the girls ever get back with what they found? On one hoof, they can help. On the other, they're going to be here for this..."

"I'll try to protect them." Umbra sat up in her chair. "Time for everyone to ante up."

28 - Darken my Doorstep

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Ponies filled the palace, and they were still coming. They were directed along as quickly as they could be, ever upwards to occupy every room the palace had. The city was becoming empty, save that one jagged crystal point that stood in defiance to the creeping shadow that approached.

"Head up the stairs." Shining pointed the way. "Just follow the direction of the guards. You're all safe here." He hoped, but didn't say that part out loud.

Twilight nodded at the other mares. "They don't like the crystal heart."

Fluttershy was quick to add, "Oh, no. The animals could see when it twinkled, and every time it did, they'd look like they were uncomfortable."

Rainbow clapped her hooves together. "That's good intel. They're coming from that away." She pointed the way. "But there are a lot of them. Like a lot lot."

Cadance sighed gently. "Shining can confirm that."

Shining approached rapidly. "No stragglers, thankfully. Just about everypony is accounted for, inside or at least in the line to get inside."

"That is good." Cadance met him, nose to nose. "I wanted this to be a happy event."

"An invasion?" He quirked an ear. "Hard to make that--"

She put a hoof on his lips. "Shining, we are expecting a foal."

He went stock still. The mares began to clap wildly and stomp the floor, which spread outwards, others on the same floor soon joining in the cheer.

"I mean..." Shining awkwardly shuffled. "Yay... Uh, let's do our part to make sure we can enjoy that."

"Let's." She nudged him away. "Let's protect our ponies, and our foals."

Umbra had a huge smile on her face. "Congratulations!" she joined as many others had already blurted. "This is big, wow!" And then it clicked. "Oh... Oh! Oh.... I'm going to feel that." Cadance and Shining looked at her oddly. "What? You expect a lady giving birth to have the mental bandwidth to block that?" She poked Shining. "That goes for you too. Congratulations, you're gonna feel it too."

Shining paled at his snout. "Oh!" he blurted out, much as Umbra had, joining in that realization. "That... Well, I'm now fully invested in making sure this goes as smoothly as possible." He laughed awkwardly, stepping away to see to other things.

Cadance rubbed her cheek gently. "Poor stallion. That is not something they should have to worry about." Her eyes turned to Rarity. "Did you find anything?"

Rarity put a leg around Spike and drew him in closer. "With my #1 mining assistant at my side, we got all kinds of lovely gems."

Spike held up the basket overflowing with gems. "We thought Umbra might use them."

Umbra leaned in, distracted by them. "Crystals... Yeah! Nice." She sniffed softly. They smelled... Good? Good in a way conjured crystals didn't. She licked over her lips, considering them.

Spike blinked softly. "You look like I do when I see a really nice ruby. Do you eat crystals?"

Umbra started at that. "Huh? No! I like using crystals, not eating them. I like shaping them, and enchanting them." She began to clap with thoughts of what she could do with them. "And these just seem like really good quality ones."

Applejack raised a hoof. "Me an' Pinkie Pie poked around the town."

"Pinkie Pokes!" cried Pinkie, poking at the air. "Ponies are nervous, but they trust us." She waved a hoof at all the gathered guardians, including the Mane Six, Cadance, Umbra, and the departed Shining. "If we don't act all scared, I think it'll help a lot."

Cadance nodded at that. "Sensible. We are the face of the empire. Let's be brave in front of peril. Now is not the time to panic." She turned her attention on Umbra. "We may be the last line of defense. Speaking of that--" She thrust a hoof at the stairs. "Fetch the crystal heart!"

A guard saluted and charged past the moving line to get the artifact. "We can't have that falling into enemy hooves." Cadance nodded with certainty. "They will be on us soon. Be ready."

The Crystal Empire didn't have a wall around it. That let them grow as they pleased, but meant there was nothing to hope to hide behind in the case of an attack. The palace was the best they had. Full of worried ponies, the guards stood at the ready, some on each floor, as much to convince the non-combatants that they were watched and protected as anything else.

Glass shattered in the distance, but it was coming closer. Rainbow vanished in a streak, only to loop back down quickly. "They're coming! All directions." She waved wildly. "The windows are busting as they do. They aren't even touching them!" The sound of shattered glass was coming closer and closer. The low roar of countless hoofsteps echoed up the stairs.

The guards lowered their spears, directed at the stairs that any creature would have to climb to come inside.

The outside world dimmed, as if it had become night outside, washing up and over the crystal palace as a guard scrambled up, heaving and bloodied. "Here!" He threw the crystal as he flopped. Another guard caught it in their mouth and hurried behind the defensive line.

Alarmed cries and helpless yelps came from the line that hadn't made it into the palace. Those that were close broke into a panicked gallop away from those stairs and the shadow that was engulfing their less-fortunate neighbors.

"Stand strong," barked Shining Armor, bringing down a hoof with a loud clop of metal against crystal. With a glowing horn, he threw down a shield over the stairs. There were no other ponies past it, at least any that had made it far enough to have a hope. "Get the civilians upstairs." Wailing and crying, they were rushed away by several guards as Shining advanced. "We cannot give up these stairs. This is our last line." It had been their only line. The idea of defending the entire city against such a large army, unthinkable. "For the princess!"

"For the princess," echoed the other guards, spears returning to ready positions, where they had strayed and wavered at the frightful meeting of the enemy.

"For the empire," shouted Shining, encouraging them to shout and yell instead of cower in terror. His magic faded from the stairs. He'd need it later, but that moment of reprieve was enough to get the ponies moving towards the upstairs and get the guards back in position.

Umbra took a slow breath. "Alright... Alright, time to get serious."

"You could say that again, dear." Rarity perked an ear. "How do you propose that, exactly?"

"Twilight." Umbra turned to the arcane-gifted one. "You know how to zap things, right?"

"Yes." Twilight inclined her head. "I plan to if I have to, why?"

"If I could borrow your zaps." She reached over to the basket of crystals. "We could have two zappers instead of one."

Twilight blinked with wide eyes. "You're going to make a magic item, right now?! Doesn't that take time?"

"Ideally? But this isn't ideal." She took a big bright blue gem in her hoof. "So, if you would." She willed an opening into the gem, diminishing it faintly. The more she magically altered it, the more damage was done. Natural gems were only natural once. But it remained an unideal situation. "I need all the zaps, right here." She pointed at the hole created.

"This is incredibly reckless." Despite that, she lowered her horn to be on level with the opening and with a bright glow, began firing wildly into it, the gem rattling and shaking. She was blasting hard enough to shatter the poor thing. It was only Umbra's own magic working on it, making the crystal absorb the magic into itself, to become one with it instead of being overwhelmed that prevented the destruction.

"Not fast enough." Pinkie grabbed Twilight by the tail.

"No, Pinkie!"

But Pinkie was not one to be stopped. She began pumping the tail up and down wildly, forcing a blast out of Twilight with each downward pump. It was all Umbra could do but to struggle to keep up with the outpouring of bright arcane magic and avoid the gem exploding into bits. "Okay okay! That's enough! Stop! Stop!"

Pinkie released Twilight, who flopped to the side, heaving for breath. "All ready?" She leaned in closer to Umbra, grinning widely.

"Seal it up." She willed the break closed, damaging the gem a second time, but she was sure with only those two touches, the gem was still quite a nice rock, able to hold the magic placed in it. "And invest..." She began focusing her own power on it, shadow pouring from her eyes, horn and even mouth as she grit her teeth, trying to get it done all the faster. "Invest..."

Even as Umbra worked to sacrifice the small part of herself needed to make a magic item truly complete, the shadowy assailants did not wait. The stairs began to thunder. Spears met shadowy forms and battlecalls went out. The fight had begun in earnest. There was no more waiting.

"AJ, time to mix it up." Rainbow pointed at the action even as she took off, zipping towards it an intense speed that was only paused when she slammed hoof-first into the face of one of the shadowy ponies. She could feel the thump of hoof against flesh, something breaking, but it was rearing back, parting with teeth, too many teeth as it made to snap at Rainbow Dash with nothing but a great mouth.

The fight was on, against the force of nightmares. "On it!" Applejack charged in as she ran her hoof down, brushing a pendant that had been hidden before into sight, her element of harmony. She met the first shadowy thing with a great uppercut, only for her hoof to pass through shadowy nothing. The pony was behind her, lashing out its hooves in a powerful buck. "Hey now!" she grunted, spinning to face even as her side ached from impact. "Only one pony 'round here allowed to buck things."

"You would say that to your mother." It was as if another pony was stepping free of the shadowy pony, a familiar pony, gazing at Applejack with disgust. "I thought I raised you better than that."

"M-mom?!" Applejack scrambled back. "It can't be! Yer... Yer!" Her mother slugged her across the face with a mean hook of a hoof, sending Applejack spinning back.

"So disappointing." Pear Butter approached, a flash of darkness at her eyes. "I should have listened to mom. What a worthless pony... If I had, maybe that wouldn't have happened. It's your fault, you know. Entirely your fault. And now it's time to pay for what you did."

Shining landed with a crash on a shadowling that had been menacing one of his guards. "We are the guardians of Equestria," he boomed loud enough to be heard over the chaos. "We will not falter!" He lashed out his hind legs, catching another combatant about to rush behind him. "Watch for each other!"

Which is when it suddenly became quiet. There were no shadows, save for the darkness just down the stairs. Just guards.

Too many guards. With a startled gurgle, one guard slumped to the side, a royal spear jutting from his side. "He did it, I saw him!" One guard pointed at another. That guard protested his innocence even as he was tackled by others. None of them were ready when the next attack came, another guard slumping to the ground, their breath little more than rattles.

"Even your friends are being let down," scolded Pear Butter, approaching Applejack at a slow and steady pace. "Ya really messed it all up, from the top to th' bottom. Are ya even an Apple?"

Pinkie looked side to side at all the chaos unfolding before her. "Uh..." A musical number didn't come immediately to mind to fix it all. "This is bad."

29 - The Siege, Part 2

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Cadance took a firm step forward, focusing on the crystal lines that ran from her. "No further!" Brilliance burst free of her in all directions. Unlike the last time, she wasn't going for a simple demonstration. She put her all into it, the light brighter, sharper and stronger.

Guards touched by it became brilliant crystal. False guards shrieked in pain, becoming shadow once more. That their formation was riddled with them became all too obvious. The fighting resumed with a feverish pitch, but at least they could tell friend from foe.

Rainbow threw herself against the nearest shadow, darting around it in streaks of rainbows as she laughed and hooted, seemingly having quite the grand time in the great brawl. "You came to the wrong kingdom!"

"Invested," wearily announced Umbra, licking her lips and heaving to regain her balance. "Rarity, here."

Rarity took the gem in her own magic. "Darling, zaps are not really my 'thing'."

"It is now!" Umbra pointed at the gem. "Just put your magic in there and point it at what you want zapped. You are the zapper, born to zap!"

"I should hope not..." Still, she directed the gem at the closest nightmarish thing with too many eyes and far too many teeth. "Take that!" She focused her magic on the gem, trusting it to do... whatever it did.

It did not disappoint her, converting the given magic into the very specific spell imbued in it. Rarity could fire zaps as well as Twilight had been. "I say, this is... more fun than I thought it'd be." She began zapping shadowy figures with reckless abandon. "And you, and you. And especially you. That will never be in fashion, dear."

"Look out!" Umbra threw herself over Rarity just as a wave crashed against them, several shadow beings taking offense at being attacked. They were lost in darkness, but darkness was not as lonely a place for one of them. Umbra held Rarity tight even as she spun her about in her grip.

Rarity didn't need to be told, which was good since neither of them could hear anything. She might have said something, but it was lost. The gem heard it though, or felt her magic. Bright scorching energy began to slice through the bag of shadow around them, freeing them with a brilliant laser cut. "Ask a mare before you go doing that, really darling."

Umbra slid off Rarity, still panting for breath. "You alright?"

"Not only alright, but--" She zapped a shadowling scurrying past. "--having quite the time of it." She grinned with predator's teeth. "Let's turn this little fight around, shall we dears?"

Applejack took a firm step forward, glaring at what had been pretending to be her mom. Bits of shadow hung from the false mare's face, hooves looking like they were slipping from their legs through bursting seams. "Yer payin' fer that."

"I already did," taunted the haunting vision of the departed. "Thanks to you."

Applejack screamed in furious frustration, slamming a forehoof with all her weight behind it against the chest of the thing, sending it toppling backwards. "Don't put words in her mouth!"

She was back in the fight. Which Fluttershy had never joined, shying away from the conflict as best she could.

"A bystander?" asked an almost normal looking pony, save for it being devoid of colors as it approached her with a smarmy grin. "Aren't you in the wrong place?"

"Yes," squeaked out Fluttershy, face concealed by a curled leg. "Please leave me alone."

"Tempting..." The pony inclined his head. "I mean, you're tempting, not the leaving you alone part. No, no temptation there. But I'm not entirely unreasonable... What are you scared of most? I'll avoid that."

His confidence turned to startled pain as he was crashed into by brilliant magic. It wasn't Rarity. Twilight stood back on her hooves, wielder of the original zaps. "Leave Fluttershy alone!" She ran a hoof quickly through her frazzled mane. "Come on, girls. We got this! We have to have this. Celestia would--"

Three Celestias approached, disappointment etched on their faces.

Twilight zapped one without delay. "There's only one Celestia!" She shouted in defiance. There was but one sun in her world. Even the idea of multiple was alien to her mindset.

"Save terror for later," came a new voice, their leader ascending the stairs with a purposeful slowness. "Maim. Kill. Destroy their fight. We can torture what's left later."

Umbra scowled freshly at the new pony. She knew that one. "You!"

"Hm? Oh." Dry Fear rolled his eyes as if spotting a bratty younger sister. "I gave you a chance, several even. Sit down and die like a good little shadow witch."

"Hnng." Shining staggered back, several bleeding wounds where shadowy teeth and claws had found him. "Don't give up!"

Dry glanced over. "On the contrary, giving up is an excellent idea. Are you their le--"

Umbra jumped forward between them. "You'll have to get through me first!"

"With pleasure." He smiled, but it didn't become fangs. The rest of him did, his entire form becoming countless gnashing teeth. "Let's dance."

Cadance clenched her teeth, trying to project more crystal energy, but the heart wasn't in the right place, nor were the people of the empire especially cheerful. Bright light was in short supply with howling darkness just outside the door and upon them, attacking. She could not radiate the hope of the crystal heart.

"And that!" Rarity directed her beams at shadow ponies that were coming towards her. "And that!" Each blast seemed to blast a hole through them, but they kept coming anyway. "Stop right there!" No matter how quickly she fired, they were coming closer, grinning. So many grins. So many teeth. Dirty teeth. "Stop!"

Applejack twisted as she jumped, landing an uppercut into the malformed jaw of one her own attackers. "Get back!" She didn't have time to enjoy the little victory, planting her fore legs as she lashed out her hooves, catching another just about to leap on her with a satisfying thump. "Ain't gettin' me so easy!"

Pinkie drew in her canon. "Desperate times." With a great bang of confetti, several dark figures were blown away from her, but there were so many more rushing in to take their place. Her cannon was many things; rapid firing not being one of them. Combat was like a party, sorta... Not a fun kind of party. She ducked back and away, to spring out across the room, splattering the 'face' of an attacker with a cream pie she hadn't been holding before.

Umbra's eyes flared with shadowy power as she clashed with Dry, the two sparring in their own way. She kept trying to punch and kick, and he to get his teeth into her delicate flesh. Neither was having an easy time of it. His teeth scraped, but the instant they began to cut, she became nothing but shadow it passed through, allowing her to materialize behind him and slam her hooves down on him, but he was just as capable of flowing away in shadow.

Small injuries, but never a telling blow for either of them. "I will give you the slightest credit. You are shadow. A pity you waste it." He was upon her, teeth and hooves vying for dominance.

Her fighting was slowed. She could feel the pain and fatigue of Shining Armor, doing his best to fight on despite the crumbling nature of things. Cadance was alright, no pain from there, just exertion. What was she doing? Umbra couldn't tell, her attention on Dry.

"Stop!" Twilight tried a new spell, power rushing away from her, trying to halt everything. She was not yet nearly trained enough at that point. There was a pause, but it was only for a brief moment before her grip slipped. Ponies stumbled, shadow or not, from the jerk, but the tide of the battle was not swayed.

"Umbra."

Umbra perked an ear. That was a familiar voice. A good one! "Umbra," repeated what sounded like Cadance. "We're in a bad spot. I think it's your turn."

"I'm already fighting." She ducked under a wave of teeth, scurrying to the other side of Dry. "Doing my best!"

"I know you are, I know you are! I reflect hope, which we are not feeling right now. Umbra, time to show what I taught you." The voice faded. Umbra could feel Cadance listing to the side against something. Whatever she had done took a lot out of her.

What was the dark shadow of hope, that could lead them to victory?

"In the darkest hour," she shouted. "In the dimmest time, the most desperate beating of your hearts. You are not alone. When hope betrays you... It is time to call upon something deeper. Something primal!" With the last word, the power burst from her horn and eyes, new vigor rushing into her, and from her. "I present to you, grim determination!" Darkness pulsed from her, purple with green marbling washing from the room in a powerful crash.

Unlike Cadance, who had to work against the darkness overwhelming them from all ends, Umbra was powered by it. Her form was wreathed in crackling shadow as she grew, becoming in reality what could before only be seen in shadow sight. "We will fight," she roared at Dry, looming over him. "And we will not surrender."

Ponies it touched were not made into brilliant crystal. Their eyes hardened and their hooves erupted in jagged crystals, sharing the colors of shadow magic. Tears did not stop, if they were falling, making for a contrast as faces filled with that dread determination still shed them as they faced their enemies with renewed spirit. Lips peeled back, baring flat horse teeth in a communal equine display.

"You call on shadow?" boomed Dry in defiance, swelling to match her quickly. "You dip your hooves in. We are shadow. Pale mockery. We will rip you all asunder. You will beg for the end." The two clashed, leaders of the battle. Shadowy magic met gnashing teeth and beating wings. He had those, strange bulbous wings that could crush bones with their heavy movements. Were Umbra not fully empowered, at least. As she was, they were solid but bearable thumps that she returned in kind, driving her horn into dark flesh as they screamed at one another.

The hallway was a riot of renewed battle. Guards found their crystal-clad hooves could reliably land blows on the shadowlings, even when they tried to flow past them. The determination did nothing to abate the pain of their injuries, many they were, but they pressed on despite them. They did not feel elated, they felt coolly stubborn. They would not give in. They would not yield.

That did not mean the forces of shadow were surrendering. Attempts at intimidation were set aside. Fear was proving an ineffective weapon, so violence was called for. To cut, to pierce, to break and batter. These were tools just as fresh in their employ as to taunt and belittle. Not that this stopped them from doing exactly that when a defender succumbed, legs simply unable to hold them up.

"The first," called one.

"But not the last," finished another.

Pinkie threw her mane. It was not fluffy. It did not bounce. There was no smile on her face. A straight carpet that ran down on all sides. "You have picked on the wrong pony," promised Pinkamena Diane Pie. Her eyes flashed, bits of crystal erupting from the corners with her snarl. "You ruined it." She jumped upon the nearest shadow ponies with a fury quite unlike the typical Pinkie. The shadow gift had matched with the dark speck already within her, the fear of losing her friendship, of being outcast and alone. She could survive, but if she was the only one, would that even be better?

She crushed two of their heads together with a wordless howl of rage, furious sorrow welling up in her as never it had before.

30 - The Siege, Part 3

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Fluttershy had been forgotten. It wasn't hard to do in a battle. She had been hiding and avoiding it, and the shadowlings were perfectly happy to let her, with so many more important targets around. She had watched and whimpered, but was not helping, and she hated it.

She hated being there. She hated being useless as her friends struggled without her. She hated herself for wanting to get away from it. She had a lot of negative emotions to go around in that specific moment as tears stung at her eyes.

Then the dark energy came. With a startled gasp, her fury and frustrations came to the fore, but the hesitations and weaknesses sloughed away. Her mane became jagged with crystals of dark red and purple as she gave her head a toss, seemingly alive of its own malign will. "Leave my friends alone!" Fluttershy growled out, joining the battle.

Rarity laughed. She had so much to laugh about. The crystal she had been turning from target to target was gone. Instead her face was festooned with crystals of the same color. The blasts came directly from her eyes. Wherever she cast her terrible gaze, she could bring arcane destruction. She would fix the terrible mess the shadows had brought, and she would do it with style. Oh yes, a quality day indeed.

Just as Umbra had resisted the other wave, Cadance was unaffected by the dark pulse. Tired, she did her best to keep the crystal heart away from the battle. She brooded over it like a fussy chicken over its egg. But that didn't make her any better at the job, tired and worn.

"Take it," hissed out Dry, specifying not who should take, or what should be taken.

Despite that, several shadows sprang up into the unsettling forms of the shadow ponies, teeth bared, hollow eyes trained on Cadance. She was removed from the battle, behind their lines. She was, one could be forgiven for thinking, safe, until she was suddenly not. The battle lines were firm, but they were not shadowproof. "Get away." She flared her wings out wide. "I will--"

The shadows cared little for her threats. Two jumped for her, wrenching her away with too many teeth as the third snapped up the crystal heart and ran away with it. "No," came a firm male voice just an instant before Shining's hoof came down, crushing the shadow. The crystal flew forward with the momentum, to be caught by another that was already running away.

"Shadow Wall," called out Umbra, waving the wall in a snake-like bending the barred the two sides of the battlefield off from one another, the shadow glowering with her enhanced power despite the crystal heart being taken.

"You don't have time for that." Dry was on her, slashing her with hooves that proved far more jagged than they appeared. "Priorities."

A sudden wail caught both of them. Fluttershy dove from the relatively safer side of the battle into the active fray, plunging through the wall of shadow without care for her own well being. Battered from where the hostile energies had tried to stop her, her face was that of a crying rage. "You're going to pay." She was not asking permission, leaping at the nearest knot of battle to join in. Wherever her gem-studded mane touched, shadows howled in pain, and she was all too happy to whip her mane to and fro.

"Your minions are drunk on darkness," laughed Dry. "They will soon be overwhelmed, and the battle will be ov--"

Umbra caught him, hoof to his throat. "They'll give up when you're all gone."

But his laughter returned, as if his throat were an optional requirement for that. "So you hope! So. You. Hope. Already your doom approaches me, just a matter of time."

Umbra did her best to knock that smarmy grin off his malformed face, but he could still flow despite her shadow crystals, denying her an easy win. Their fight would continue.

"I have more friends than you can even see," taunted Umbra in kind, even if she wasn't sure where that missing friend was at that moment. "They'll come through, when they're most needed."

That only brought laughter from dry. "Are you hoping? Praying perhaps? How delicious. A meek admission of failure." The room echoed with other laughs. All could hear the two of them, looming over the battlefield as they were in their clashes. "You can't handle this."

"I can't, but we can." Umbra crashed into him head first, jabbing her horn into his shadowed flesh, not that it seemed to be a telling blow. "The hell are your vitals?!"

"Now now, that's just getting... personal. We don't have that kind of relationship." Dry split in half, either half ringed with fresh teeth as he lunged for Umbra.

Bolts of arcane fury were not coming from just one. The two unicorns had found each other. Twilight and Rarity were back to back, blasting any shadow that dared to approach them. "You're a natural at this," huffed out Twilight. Her crystals had formed on her horn. Unlike when Sombra had attacked Shining, Twilight's crystals seemed to enhance and focus her powers, letting her push on despite her fatigue. "I got your back."

"Fantastic, darling." Rarity cackled as she sliced down the middle of a shadow, sending its two halves fleeing in the horror it had hoped to inspire in others. "We have this under control, hmm. Let's show them what we're made of."

Darkness came, flowing up the steps at last and rushing over the room, plunging it into the abyss. The defenders couldn't see what they were fighting. The tempo of battle stalled, then began to flow the other way as nightmarish visions and cutting hooves and teeth descended on the defenders from all sides. Those on the far side, separated by the wall of darkness, were spared.

It only allowed its own darkness. The external dark couldn't press past it, leaving that area dimly lit, which was quite the difference from complete midnight.

Umbra and Dry were unaffected. Both could see perfectly well in the darkest of nights and the deepest of caves. Their glowering eyes stared challengingly at they met with great thuds and slashes, undeterred by the whipping and howling winds that tore at them from all sides.

"Sir!" A shadowling held the crystal heart in their hooves.

Dry's smile was wide, too wide by about thrice. "Give it here and we will end this."

"Of course." They stepped forward.

"No!" Umbra dove for them, only for Dry to crash into her in the middle, denying her. "Give it!" She couldn't reach the shadowling with the heart.

"Well... since you asked." The shadowling casually tossed it to Umbra. Green flames rushed up, revealing a grinning crystal bat, giggling with joy.

Umbra thrust out a hoof and the crystal heart met it, just to pass into her. A strange dark flash threatened to pulse from her. The heart was reacting with her. "Nnng." And it wasn't pleasant. An echo of emotion and pathos, it was seeking out her feelings and they were a knot. "We will... not surrender." She took a strong step forward. "We will win over the night!"

The battle-weary defenders cried out in unison with the idea. They would fight on.

They would win on to happier days. Lines of light broke across Umbra's form in jagged patterns, the pain only growing. "We... will..."

Dry laughed, deep and booming. "You fool That crystal is the antithesis of us. It will destroy you before I have the pleasure of doing it myself."

"If it... keeps you from having it." She took a swing, but her hoof was far off the mark as the lines crawled across her, bulging with light so bright it cast aside the darkness that had pressed in around it. "If it keeps them safe!"

Fluttershy fixed a large shadow creature with a withering stare. Even as tears flowed silently, her glare seemed to pierce it to the core. It wasn't an animal, but in her condition, she didn't care.

"Then die for them." Dry was caught in cackles, watching Umbra suffer. "Die and end this charade. I will build a statue to your stupidity, so others can learn from your mistakes."

Umbra had a witty comeback in mind. She struggled to get it out, but she couldn't. She was too busy exploding. Light burst free of her in all directions. The darkness, banished. The shadowlings were wiped clean, as all shadows must when someone turns on the nearest lamp.

The battle was just... over. There was no fanfare. Cadance thrust a hoof against her head, suddenly pounding with a new agony. Shining listed over, grimacing in much the same pain. The rest were collapsing of fatigue, the determination that kept them going failing without Umbra there to deliver it.

Cadance flopped over to her side and seemed to just pass out, her eyes closing and her breath slowing to peace.

But she was not idle. She opened her eyes to a starry field and gasped with fresh surprise. It had been so long since last she had beheld that place. "W-what?!" But a form was coming, a wispy energy that gathered into the shape of a pony. "Umbra?!" She hurried towards them. "What did you do?!"

Umbra opened her eyes, beholding the same infinite stars that Cadance had seen. "I... Am I dead? Am I dead dead?"

"Worse." Cadance smiled gently. "You have proven to the forces of harmony that you are ready for the next step." She booped Umbra on the nose. "And proven that you are a brave fool. I went through this once before. Celestia was here to guide me. It is, perhaps, fitting that I am the one to take your hoof, if you will trust me?"

"I'm dead!" Umbra waved a hoof wildly. "Or close enough to it. Yeah, I'll follow you." She turned her wave at the stars in general. "The other option is walking off into that good night, which, no thanks."

"I wouldn't recommend it either." Cadance began to walk down the pathway that revealed itself in the starry place. "We must walk your deeds, both good and bad. It is they that explain how we got to this point. Come along."

It was then that Cadance sung a song for Umbra. It was a pity that it can't be properly translated in text, but it can be assured to have been heartfelt.

Shining rubbed at his head. He was quite conscious. "Get the injured to the medical wing. If you're not busy doing that, patrol the city. Make sure we're done with them. Somepony get the crystal heart back where it should be." It was hovering and spinning over the floor, held up by its own power. "What even happened?" None of them had seen Shifting passing the heart to Umbra, it had been too dark. The only ones that could see it were Shifting herself, Umbra, and Dry, unless a random shadowling were feeling talkative suddenly.

Despite his orders, few were moving. The defenders had won, but most were completely tapped of endurance.

Applejack was hefting a pony up. "C'mon." She still had strength, and was doing her part to get ponies to safety. "Is it over?"

Twilight and Rarity were leaning against one another. Rarity's zappy gem sat between her legs as both heaved for breath that had eluded them entirely.

Fluttershy was collapsed on the floor on her belly, hiding her face with her forelegs as she sniffled quietly.

Pinkie looked up at her straight mane. She brought up a hoof and blew into it, returning to springiness instantly. "I'll help!" She pronked to the first injured pony she could find and got them moving towards the doctors and nurses. "Wow, that was something else!"

Rainbow landed in front of shining. "Hey. Umbra just exploded. Aren't you upset at all?"

Shining smiled gently. "She's in good hooves. It'll be alright."

31 - Behold

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"Though you came from the dark, your heart always held that spark. So let us walk forward today," sang Cadance, finishing her ballad as she bade Umbra raise with a glowing horn, drawing that vital spark free. Her own had been a bright pink, to no particular surprise.

Umbra caught her by surprise, though she realized almost immediately that it shouldn't have. A ball of purples and greens with flecks of darkest black, her spark was as shadowy as the rest of her. Instead of darting around her questing freedom, it encompassed her entirely, then exploded, ending the vision in darkness.

Shadow cast from nothing stretched across the floor of the entry hall, just to congeal into a darker circle that tightened further still as Umbra stepped free of it, new wings spreading out to either side. "Holy wow!" were her first words. So let it be written.

Rainbow was upon her first. "Welcome back, but also... how?" She waved a hoof in a slow circle at all of Umbra; larger and winged. "Seriously, you alright?"

Rarity smiled, but didn't approach. Walking was too much effort at that point and time. "A princess, how lovely!"

Twilight flopped over, wanting to get closer, but also failing completely at the task. "So many questions..."

"Wow!" Spike approached at a spirited jog. "Look at you."

Confusion and cheer were about equal as ponies beheld what had happened to Umbra.

"Nng." Cadance was recovering, Shining already at her side. "Is..." She looked around as she sat up, seeing things were, relatively, in order. "Good... good... Hm, Umbra? You must be so confused right now."

"A little." She flapped her new wings projecting in two entirely new limbs on her back. "My entire wardrobe is wrecked."

Rarity gave a tired laugh. "I knew that pony was made of good stuff."

Cadance drew herself up to her hooves. "I know that feeling, however distant it is. Umbra, you are a princess. You have proven to harmony itself that you are worthy of the title." She curled a hoof to her chin. "Though the how of it eludes me in its entirety."

"Yay." Umbra sounded only mildly pleased. She folded her new wings in tight. "Does this mean I'm being kicked out? There can't be two princesses in the same place, right?"

Shining started towards her. "Perish the thought! You're a hero, um, again."

Umbra sat down, but was upright and tall. "I refuse to take credit, especially all of it. Refuse! If it was just me there, woulda lost, super hard. All those shadow things and Dry? No no no! Totally dead." She angled an ear. "But I wasn't alone. I had a bunch of really brave ponies that didn't accept defeat. I tooted the horn, but you didn't have to rise to it. This is not my victory, damn it, so don't go saying it is."

She spotted a particular pony and extended a hoof towards them. Soon Shifting was within range of hugs, extracting squeaks from the crystal bat. "I won because of all of you." Maybe extra credit to the tricky changeling, but she didn't say that, at least out loud. Hugs were good enough for that subtle message, yes?

Applejack removed her hat to place at her chest. "Whoever did the winnin', yer the one that's a princess."

"You know what this means?!" Pinkie was vibrating with excitement. "It's so party time." And off she charged to get those preparations underway.

Rainbow elbowed at Umbra. "Do you even know how to use those?" She tossed her snout in the direction of the new wings.

"Not even the faintest clue," Umbra admitted without reservation. "They make passable fans." She gave them a new flap, kicking up a mild breeze in the area.

Cadance's smile only grew. "Well, you have a talented flyer right here. Rainbow, would you?"

"I was working on it." Rainbow huffed. "Whattaya say? I'll have you using those bad boys like you were born with 'em!"

"Sure, yeah, but something's bothering me." Umbra was looking at Cadance directly. "How did you do that telepathy thing? I didn't know that was a thing you could do."

Cadance allowed a weary smile. "Neither did I... But we are bound." She gestured at the crystal line that only she could see. "And I was desperate. It took a lot out of me, but I managed a few whispers."

"See?!" Umbra waved dramatically at Cadance. "This wasn't my win, Christ on a stick. If Cadance hadn't done that, I wouldn't have even tried the first thing, and we woulda lost even faster. This is a group win. A group win." She glared at the ponies in view, daring them to argue with her.

Rainbow laughed instead. "You are really eager to not take the credit for a win. Why is that?" She lifted into the air with nary effort. "I'd be soaking in the praise if I pulled off something so awesome."

Umbra booped Rainbow's floating snoot. "Then we are different, and that's alright, my chromatic friend. Where I'm from, it's knowledge that history is often written to be about 'Great Persons', ignoring everything that actually got them where they got. Very few historic moments were the single work of any single person."

Cadance smiled at that. "Wise words. We are here because other ponies supported us." She leaned against Shining a bit more in emphasis. "Even Celestia is not who she is entirely alone. Still... Let us admire you, just for a little while."

Umbra snorted at that, but she was smiling. "Hey, where are the others? Did everyone go home already? Everyone alright?"

"Yeah, no." Spike shook his head quickly as his hands waved negatively. "The hurt ponies are in the medical wing." He pointed the way. "The not-hurt ones though, they're home. We couldn't find any lurking shadows in the city, so the emergency's over."

"Oh, yay." Umbra smiled, though it grew into a sharp grin. "Seriously, yay!"

The crowd echoed the yay, hooves clopped in celebration, however tired it was, and short it lasted. "That's better... We did it. And seriously, how does that work?"

Cadance twitched an ear at Umbra. "First, you are not a princess 'of' anything yet, just a princess. What you will become princess of will become clear to--"

"--Shadow." Umbra leaned forward. "Duh?"

Cadance snorted softly. "What seems obvious at first isn't always what it ends up being. I earned mine by reversing a spell." She smiled gently. "But did I become princess of spells or magic or arcane items?"

Umbra waggled a hoof at Cadance. "Was it a love spell?"

Cadance colored at that, caught. "Putting that aside, for now, you are a princess without a specific title. That will become clear to us as you learn your new self. That aside, I lived with Auntie Celestia for quite a few years even after my status as 'Princess of Love' became clear. We princesses of Equestria are not a jealous tribe, overall."

"Well, good!" Umbra hopped once, trying to go higher on her new wings, but barely managing to slow her descent by a precious moment. "I feel... like I should be more tired than I am. Is that normal?"

Cadance rolled a hoof. "Auntie explained it once. I was drawn in full form. I was very tired afterwards. However, sometimes a pony can be recognized during a more... explosive transition. In that case, an entirely new body is made." She nodded at Princess Umbra. "Which means you're not tired because, your mind aside, that entire body is new."

"Awesome."

"Took the words out of my mouth." Rainbow elbowed at Umbra. "You look up for it. Let's get flying!"

The two departed, Rainbow half dragging Umbra along to begin her flying lessons.

Shifting stood up, no longer being hugged. "Um, glad things are better now."

Shining considered the bat. "While I am glad to see a friend of Umbra, you are her crystal mentor, are you not?" Shifting bobbed her head. "But why are you here, right now? You weren't in the battle, thankfully. There was little room there for a crystal artisan."

Shifting laughed awkwardly. "Yep, not a place for a crystal worker. But I was worried, for Umbra." Shifting wriggled from her bottom to her tufted ears. "She sees herself as a superhero! And I'm scared it'll get her hurt."

"That... I can see." Shining turned away from Shifting, seemingly satisfied with her place in it all. "I somehow doubt becoming a princess will cure her of that."

Rarity scoffed. "Very much the opposite, I should imagine."

"Why is she so far away?" Twilight was still unable to make any real progress towards the new princess, until everything went down. She was being hefted up, by Applejack. "What?"

"Time fer good little fillies to get some shut eye." Applejack trotted off with a wailing Twilight, denied her chance to study the exciting new thing.

Rarity took up the gem from before. "This little bauble is quite the thing." She looked around. "Does Umbra want it back? She didn't say I could keep it." Nor did she say it was supposed to be returned. Rarity looked of two minds.

Fluttershy shook her head quickly. "Put that d-down... Hopefully we will never even want something like that, ever again!"

Rarity did put it down, instead moving to sit next to Fluttershy's prone form. "Dear, that took a lot out of you, didn't it?"

"Yes!" Fluttershy wailed out, face covered with her hooves. "I'm just... glad it's... over... I don't think I'm ready to be that brave..."

Rarity leaned in. "But you were, darling. Remember what Umbra said. She just opened the door. You are the one that walked through it. You were so very brave, and helped save us all."

"It was terrible!" Fluttershy grabbed Rarity, burying her face into the warm softness of her friend. "It was like I was a whole other pony!"

"I know, I know..." It didn't seem that Rarity was nearly as upset about her 'battle face'. "It's all done now." She gently stroked and patted at Fluttershy's back. "You're safe now."

Spike smiled at Rarity adoringly. "You were quite the vision, Rarity, um, fighting like that."

"Wasn't I?" Rarity gladly accepted the praise. "I felt like a little pony god, raining judgment on those foul shadow things." She laughed low but meaningfully. "Oh, that was an experience. Spike! Whatever happened to you? I didn't see you during all that chaos. Were you hurt?"

"Nah! I was guarding the stairs." He pointed the way. "Those shadow creeps wanted to get up and terrorize the ponies hiding up there, but I didn't let them past." He puffed out his chest proudly. "When Umbra did her... whatever that was, it was... actually kind of amazing."

Rarity clopped her hooves together just past Fluttershy. "Well! Now I'm curious. What did it do to you, Spikey dear?"

Spike grabbed at his snout. "Crystals all around my mouth! And down over my throat." He trailed in two lines with his claws. "I felt like I had fire for days! The shadows didn't have a chance. Besides fire being, um, hot, it was also bright. They couldn't get past me, not one single step."

"Oh! I wish I could have seen it. You sound so very dashing, Spike. I suppose we were all heroes today. That includes you." She hugged Fluttershy carefully, still a bit of a mess. "We came together and protected the Crystal Empire against all odds. Now, really, gonna hope we're done with that sort of drama for quite a while now."

"Really." Spike bobbed his head quickly. "This place has been rescued enough times. Oh, are we heading home?"

"Of course not." Rarity smirked at that. "Pinkie is planning a celebratory bash, and can you even imagine trying to avoid that?"

Spike shuddered, knowing the futility of even trying such a thing. "Fair point... Alright, party first, then we go home!"

"Yay," weakly got out Fluttershy, liking that last idea.

32 - To Be a Princess

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Merry streamers dangled from glittering crystals. Festive music played as ponies smiled and enjoyed games and snacks in equal abundance. The fear of before was set aside. It was time to celebrate.

"After this." Cadance nodded at the party. "We have to show you off to the city. I'm sure Auntie would show you to all of Equestria, had she her way, but we're keeping you to ourselves, so there."

"Jealous much?" Umbra extended her tongue at that. "Alright, you said I'm not princess 'of' anything yet, but what does 'princess' mean? Where I'm from, that's the daughter of a king or queen, which you don't have either of..."

"A fair question." Cadance waggled a hoof at Umbra. "A king or queen is a tyrant, be they kind or not. Their word is the final one, and woe unto those who object. Auntie didn't want that title, so she took a lesser one." Cadance brought both hooves close together. "Princess, as a title, to us ponies, just means a pony who is good and shares their talents with those around them. The penultimate in living up to your cutie mark."

Umbra thrust a hoof at Shining Armor, then at Twilight. "You have two ponies right there who are both good and share their talents without even batting their lashes. Why aren't they princesses?! Um, besides one of them being a guy." A brow went up sharply. "You can do this as a guy too, right?" Her question was full of doubt.

Cadance did not seem taken aback. "They are, both of those things." She raised a hoof, flat with the ground. "But to become a princess requires taking it to the next level. Only harmony itself can decide when that level is reached. It is not up to us when that is." She turned that hoof back on herself. "I didn't choose that you become a princess. But here you are. The fact is impossible to deny. We're a little off track." She set her hoof back on the ground. "What I meant to say though is that 'princess' is not a ruling title. It's a title of prestige, certainly, but you could remain princess while ruling over no ponies at all. And there'd be nothing wrong with that, I add."

"It was a group effort," grumped Umbra.

"Take it up with Harmony." Cadance went in, touching her nose to Umbra's cheek. "Because only one of us become a princess that day. Long may she reign."

"Stop that!" Umbra pushed Cadance back with a smile, her wings flapping in a nervous fidget. "Oh, I realized something else." Cadance's ears perked. "Our thing." Umbra waved between herself, Cadance, and Shining. "It's way different now. Me and you are princesses. You can't boss me around anymore." Her eyes half-lid. "And you can't send Shining after me either. If you want this hoof, you'll have to ask for it, like you should have done in the first place."

Cadance's cheeks lit up. "I wasn't... aware I was--"

"--Can it." Umbra rolled her eyes. "You are hetero, bi-curious, but so deep in the closet you're tripping just trying to see out of it. I bet you've felt a thing looking at another mare or two, but you shoved that right aside. That isn't proper! You probably told yourself." That Cadance was looking increasingly awkward just egged Umbra on. "Well, if I'm princess of anything, besides shadow, it's being true to yourself, so! If you want to even have a chance with me, you're going to have to come out of that dark safe little nook. It'll be bright and scary at first, but..."

"I'm not a mare chaser," huffed out Cadance, crossing her arms. "I have a husband."

"Funny thing about that." Umbra raised her hooves. "It's not a binary, no matter how much people wish it was." She moved her hooves far apart. "If this--" She waggled her left hoof. "Was the desire for someone of the other sex. And this--" She waggled her right hoof. "Was the desire for the same sex, a lot of people are somewhere in here." She thrust her head in the space between two hooves. "Where in here can vary." She moved her head left and right closer to each hoof. "Some aren't even on this scale at all, aces represent!"

Cadance hiked a brow at the call. "Aces? There are experts in this sort of thing?"

Umbra burst into laughter. "Not that kind of ace."

"Did you say ace?" Pinkie popped up from nowhere, which was her habit. "Umbra! You having fun? This party is for you!" She thrust both her fore hooves at Umbra emphatically. "I even got your favorite cake!"

"And I plan to eat a slice... or three." Umbra licked her lips with clear future gluttony in mind. "Thanks, Pinkie. This is great. A+ party."

Pinkie gasped. "Wow. So few ponies give me a grade, and such a high one." She vibrated with joy. "But you aren't playing the games. C'mon! It's half the fun. Let's go for an A++!"

Umbra allowed herself to be led away. "We can talk later, Cades!"

The party was a rousing success. Pinkie obtained her A++, to her delight.

"You. Are. A. Hero." Umbra tapped at Shifting with each word. "And I'm only sorry you don't get a big party. I'd say you deserve wings too, but you got those."

"Yep!" Shifting spread their bat-like wings wide, giggling. "All the wings I could ever want."

"And a horn, when you want one." Umbra touched her nose to Shifting's. "You still deserve way more credit."

"Stop that!" Shifting was blushing at the praise. "I didn't even know what to do! I saw the heart flying so I caught it... It was half luck..."

"The luck." Umbra resumed prodding Shifting. "And that psyche-out, oh man! The look on his ugly face when you passed it to me instead of him? Priceless. I will treasure it forever."

Shifting grinned, fangs on display. "That was a pretty fun part. He was so sure I'd give it to him. But he didn't know one shadow from the next, did he?"

Umbra laughed wildly. "Oh, good one, love it. Now... with the city not in mortal peril... How about we do something fun?"

"Fun?"

"I was thinking, just for the funsies... We finish building the entire block. The builders can scramble after us. I just want to prove, to myself, how fast I can do without letting up the quality."

Shifting began to clap. "Now that sounds way more fun than that whole attack thing. Count me in!"

They went out on the attack. The builder guild's que would become quite larger after that busy day.

A train rolled in to the station, hissing with steam as it stopped. Ponies came and left from it. The station wasn't covered in snow, making the process far easier. It would even become warm, given a little more time.

Besides the ponies, four ponies came out balancing something between them. Guards marched ahead and behind them, implying it was something of importance. Hanging on the tarp that hid whatever it could be was a label.

To: Cadance
From: Celestia
Keep this safe.

They took it diligently to the palace and brought it up the stairs. Cadance was there, peering at it curiously. "Huh, the trains are rolling better. Auntie had only just mentioned this was coming." She pointed down a hallway. "Tuck it in there for now." Which they did obediently. "And let's have a look." She went in, grabbing the tarp in her teeth and yanking it off, revealing a large mirror.

It was decorated finely, but it was, ultimately, just a big mirror. "I don't see what the big deal is..."

Elsewhere, Twilight struggled to close the gap in her understanding. A little experiment on the book Celestia had sent her would surely help! Or at least take her mind off of it. Perhaps she should not have had the elements so close at hoof when she was doing it.

Everything would turn out alright, one hoped.

All of Equestria would hear of that event. As quietly as Umbra had been welcomed, relatively, Twilight would be seen by the country entire. A pony could be forgiven for not even hearing about the coming of a shadow princess.

"I use a point of harmony." Umbra slid a coin forward. It wasn't a bit, bright purple and feeling more of plastic. It was made for the game. "And I give Sunburst a reroll. You can do it, Sunny!"

Sunburst nodded firmly. "With your support, I can't fail!" He lifted the die in his magic and sent it flying. All eyes were on it as it tumbled and rolled.

1. The table exploded in gasps and cries.

The GM shook his head sadly. "Friendship cannot win every battle, it seems. Even with the enthusiastic call of your feline friend, your aim is not true. The little gremlin laughs wickedly as they dive into a hole, vanishing from sight."

Groans echoed. Shining laughed softly. "I thought we had that thing. Dang recurring baddies."

Shining reached over to pat Umbra on the shoulder. "Thanks for the second change, but the dice were against us."

"They do that," laughed Umbra, taking it in good spirit. "RNGesus gives and RNGesus takes." Many eyes were on her. "What? Oh. Right. RNG, Random Number Generator." She pointed at the die still on a 1. "In this case, that."

Soft ohs came, not that they understood the reference in that references, but enough that the saying made some kind of sense. The GM nodded. "The dice show no favor." He clapped his hooves together. "Or you need a new die."

The game continued. "Hey." Umbra was looking to the GM. "Question. Are we full up?"

The GM looked over the table. "Kinda yeah. We have a lot here." He spread his hooves to encompass the table full of ponies. "It already takes a bit to get back to your turn, doesn't it?"

"True." Umbra frowned faintly. "Oh well, thanks."

The guild masters were looking at a map attached to the wall. "She got it done," noted the female.

"She got it done," echoed the male, turning to her. "And left them for us to get our share."

"Which is now our #1 priority. No building, all furnishing." She nodded firmly. "I want those completed."

"Are you commanding me?" laughed out the male. "I'm on the same page. Let's get this project done, and those bits in our hooves."

They met, hoof to hoof, and got to the project. All the guild members would be on the task.

It was the mare that showed up at Umbra's door, knocking.

"Yes?" Purple Polish cracked the door open, peeking out.

"Hello." The guild leader looked over what she could see of the maid. "We are here to collect our payment."

There was no we, physically. The mare was alone. Purple seemed to gather the meaning. "One moment." She closed the door.

Purple moved towards the crystal crafting Umbra. "I believe those are the building ponies. They say they wish to be paid? Should I send them away?"

"No!" Umbra set down her trinket for later working at. "No, I owe them." She slid up to her hooves and trotted over to the door. "Hey!" She threw open the door. "How's the block turning out?"

"Magnificently." The mare nodded with sureness. "All built, thanks to you, and finished, thanks to us. Each is ready for an occupant, crystal or not." She tapped a crystal hoof against an equally crystal floor. "As promised. It was a pleasure working with you, Princess Umbra." A quirk of a smile. "I didn't expect your title to change mid-project."

"Don't even think about that." Umbra rolled her eyes. "Alright, pay time!" Her horn glowed as she grabbed a bag she had ready, wrenching it across the room. "You all worked hard for this." She pushed it against the mare, almost knocking her over with its bulk. "Share it with the others, and save the rest, really."

"Thank you, ma'am." The mare managed to get the bag balanced on her back. "Perhaps we'll work together on something in the future, hm?"

33 - What Are You?

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Umbra turned the crown around in her hooves. More of a tiara really. "Alright..." It looked much like the one she had started with, so long ago, but this one was different! For one, she had made it. For two, she had elevated it. She plunked it down on her head. "I do officially crown me, Princess Umbra." She giggled as she turned to face the mirror. "Can't be a princess without headware. That's a rule somewhere."

"Very fetching." Purple was watching this all calmly. "Forgive the assuming, ma'am, but the gem." She pointed the large grey one held in two red claw-like metal protrusions in the center of the tiara. "Did you enchant that?"

"You know me too well." Umbra raised her hooves to either side of the central gem. "But what if that's a secret?"

"Then I won't ask further." Purple leaned in a little. "Ma'am?"

"Yeah?" Umbra turned way from the mirror, smiling happily. "What's up?"

"Sorry to trouble you." Purple was fidgeting a bit. "But when we first met, you were unsure if you wanted me around."

"Because I was a doof." Umbra went right up to Purple. "You've been a treat. You're never in my way." She raised a hoof to her chin. "Which is what I think I was worried about. That and what was I, a princess?" She burst into laughter at that, which had turned out the way it did. "I just did it all backwards."

"Backwards?"

Umbra angled a hoof at Purple. "I got the good ma--ponyservant and then I grew to match it. I got bits and a title." She sat up tall. "It worked out perfectly, even if I wasn't aiming for that." She wheeled on Purple suddenly. "New topic, you. What do you do for fun? I only see you at work."

Purple let out an unsure um of a noise. "I... try not to talk about that while I'm here, ma'am."

Umbra perked an ear at that uncertainty. "I'm just curious. You won't make me mad."

"Ma'am."

Umbra frowned a little. Purple was shutting down and closing up. But why? "We're friends, aren't we?"

"I am employed by the princess." She gestured off at that other princess. "And stand ready to serve you, ma'am."

"So... it's all business then?" No answer was immediately forthcoming. "I... see." Umbra shook herself out, fur fluffing out in the process. "Well, alright. You're making a boundary. I'll respect that."

Purple sagged with perhaps relief. "Thank you, ma'am." She cleared her throat, hoof at it. "If I may, you seem like a nice pony, ma'am. It is a privilege to play my part." She raised her hooves. "But I keep work life and play life separate."

Umbra's eyes widened. "Oh! Oh! That's... entirely alright." She nodded firmly. "Shoot, I was being the jerk. Work hard, play hard. I'm so with you on that. Seriously, sorry. You go have fun somewhere where I can't see you and you don't have to worry about me." She sprang in a hop towards the window. "I'm gonna test these out again and visit a friend."

"Have a safe trip." Purple watched as Umbra threw herself out the window. Not a thing most ponies she knew would want to do, but Umbra had wings, and could see her flying off with soft flaps. "Let's be ready." She closed the window and got to cleaning the room so it'd be there when Umbra returned.

Umbra came in for a landing half a block away from her target, hitting the ground at a light trot that slowed to a walk. "6/10." She still had to practice those smooth landings, but she was on the ground and she was upright, which meant she was doing alright! A passing grade, barely. Not that this did much to diminish the smile on her face as she approached a house to knock on it.

"Who is it?" A crystal bat's face poked free of her window. "Umbra!" And she was gone.

Umbra giggled, waiting patiently the short moment before the door swung open. "Hey there."

"Hey yourself." Shifting waved from the doorway, just to hop aside. "Come in." She brushed the door closed with a wing the moment Umbra was past it. "The houses are done. How are the wings?"

"Flappy!" Umbra gave them a flap for demonstration. "But they get me around. No complaints other than when they get in the way." She glared at her left one, as if it was especially prone to the problem. "I'll get used to it." She raised her hooves up. "Got used to these, and that was a way bigger adjustment." Thinking about it, the thought of the fingers she once had, but no attempt to wriggle them had any result. Hooves didn't have any digits to move, other than the one that angled the hoof this way and that.

Shifting peered curiously. "Those are hooves."

"Yep."

Shifting angled her head slowly. "You... always had those... right?"

"Nope." Umbra perked up an ear. "Shoot, did I never tell you about that?"

"No!" Shifting burst into giggles. "Thank you for thinking we're so close you've already told me all your secrets. When did you not have hooves? You're not a shapeshifter, except the one time." She pointed at Umbra's wings.

"Two times," corrected Umbra. "The me you met was not the first me."

"And not the last." Shifting waved at Umbra's new alicorn self. "So tell me about the first you. I want to meet them, if you want to share." She clasps her hooves together. "We can trade. I haven't told you all that much about the first me."

"That's a very fair offer." Umbra reached for her friend, patting the almost-purring crystal bat on the head. "Alright, let's swap stories of our first selves. Though, if you're like me, you're pretty happy with your now-self and probably put past-self behind you."

"Right in the trash," agreed Shifting without hesitation. "But it's still there," she sighed out. "And I bet yours is too."

"You got that right." Umbra booped Shifting gently on the snout. "Did my trans-dar find another trans without even trying? Damn, I'm good."

"Uh?" Shifting angled her head. "I don't know what that is, but, so... I told you about the changelings, with our mean queen." She nodded just faintly, thinking back on it. "Queen Chrysalis... Trick is, changelings are not supposed to have bad queens. Um... Not... to say 'nice', but 'effective'." She worried her hooves. "We changelings are supposed to fix that. If the hive is hungry for too long, the queen is not doing her job. That happens, new queens happen."

Umbra's eyes widen. "Was she killing the new queens?!" she practically shouted in question, leaning in at Shifting. "Awful!"

"Y-Yeah... That happened, a few times... A few too many times..." Shifting folded her arms, hoof tapping rapidly at her arm. "She got a reputation for it... It's hard for that to be a forever secret, but she was loud, and mean, and the biggest, so... She's still queen."

"Did you run away from the queen killer?" Umbra waved away the idea. "I wouldn't want to be anywhere near a stone cold killer!"

"Yes... but also no... I didn't run away because 'ew murderer.'" Her ears folded back. "I was a changeling. We kill things... That wasn't the part that made me run..." She took a slow breath, trying to marshal herself. "It was a lot more selfish than that."

"You! No!" Umbra threw her hooves wide. "You're a queen lovebug?!"

"Way to steal my thunder." But there was no force behind Shifting's words, sounding instead small and perhaps a little scared. "I ran away before I could be the next one Chrysalis visited..." She hopped up and turned northwards. "I ran away. We lived in the south, so I figured, hey, run to the north, and keep running..."

But then she was hugged. Umbra cradled her close, saying nothing. Shifting looked ready to object, but those words didn't get out, instead a soft sniffle. She nuzzled into the larger form of her suddenly royal friend, and they were quiet for a while. "S-so." Shifting sat up, shuffling just out of reach. "So I kept going... Imagine my surprise when this place just... There it was.. full of depressed ponies, looking all sad and lost, like I was feeling. I fit right in... So I... stopped running."

"Well, you're doing pretty well, I say." Umbra hopped up to all fours. "My turn?"

"Your turn." Shifting nodded firmly. "Tell me of past you."

"Alright... We start with an alien species." Shifting peered at her oddly. "Bipedal, way less hair, fingers." She waggled her right fore hoof at Shifting. "No tail. Could talk, only thing that could on the whole planet, so we took over the joint. Who was gonna stop us?"

"Wow." Shifting blinked at the very idea. "You must have... Um, keep going." She cut herself off from throwing out wild ideas. "So lots of these things?"

"Humans." Umbra pointed at herself. "I'm still one of those, up here." Her hoof moved to point at her head. "And in that mess, there was me. I was a... bland example, mostly, except one big thing." She threw her hooves wide. "Which shouldn't have been a big thing, but it was. I was born with boy parts, but I was a girl on the inside." She thumped herself on the chest. "And that didn't make me happy."

"Oh no!" Shifting inclined her head. "Why didn't you sh-- Nevermind." Not everyone was a changeling. That was not always an option for most species of Equestria. "Get the help of a talented wizard?"

"Oh, I wanted to, a lot." Umbra began rolling a hoof. "Which got me in trouble with my parents. They didn't know how to accept a son that wanted to be a daughter. I got yelled at, a lot. It was, to be mild, a huge pain. It wasn't until I got away from them that I could really start being me."

"Wow." Shifting leaned forward. "We're not that far apart. I had to get away from my mom before I could be me either."

"Parents!" Umbra threw her hooves up. "If I ever become one, I'm not going to repeat those mistakes. My daughter and/or son will get support and love. They'll grow up to be the best whatever they are, and I'll be in their corner."

"Yeah!" Shifting bounced in place, wings flapping. "Yeah, that'd be great!" She sat back down. "And/or?"

Umbra lifted her shoulders. "I'm not judging them. They could be either, or both, or neither. That's their decision to make, not mine. My job, as a parent, is to give them the tools to find themselves and to cheer them on when they reach for it, whatever it is."

Shifting colored softly. "Do humans do that?"

"Do what?"

"Both. I thought most creatures didn't."

"Not literally, usually." Umbra frowned, deciding not to get into the specifics of the trans experience. "But they can be genderfluid, meaning sometimes they want to be a girl and sometimes a boy. Like changelings, minus the shapeshifting. Sometimes someone just doesn't want to be any of that, they/thems, non-binary." Umbra nodded along with her explanation. "And some people are whatever but don't want to be involved with anyone that way, asexual, or aces."

"What are you?" Shifting snuffled at Umbra softly. "You have so many names for things. What's your name?"

"Me?" Umbra pointed at herself. "Only fair. I am a female. Mare. I am bisexual. Which means I can be attracted to a stallion or a mare." She put up a hoof with each sex named. "I'm not specifically pan?" She shrugged softly. "But I haven't run into too much that isn't one or the other that I wanted to be friends with."

Shifting rubbed behind her head softly. "Um... Yes you have... At least one of them."

34 - Pan Galactic

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Umbra inclined her head at her crystal bat of a friend who was also a royal lovebug. "Time to throw that question back at you. What's your name?"

"Uh..." A squeak escaped her as Shifting danced in place. "Well! You said both was an option. That's me." She curled a hoof at herself. "Don't be grossed out."

Umbra blinked slowly. "I thought bugs were one or the other."

"Most of them are!" She flopped to her side, hooves kicking impotently at the air. "But I'm not most of them. If it helps, I can be one or the other."

Umbra laughed at that. "'Course you can. You are the ultimate genderfluid. But that isn't what you are, is what I'm hearing."

"Well, I mean..." Shifting fidgeted on her way back up to sitting upright. "I am that! But also both. Being a changeling means having a lot of names." She was colored faintly. "Under it all, both. At any moment, whatever I feel like that second."

"Alright, I get that." Umbra didn't seem too alarmed by this revelation. "But you didn't say the other half. What are you looking for? I can't say same or other, since you already broke that chart." She chopped the air, slaying the gender binary once and for all. "You looking for a lady friend, a guy friend, or maybe hoping for someone else who's both?"

"I wasn't looking!" Shifting colored, taking a step back. "I'm scared to."

"Scared to?" Umbra hiked a brow. "You worried you'll feed on them?"

"No!" Shifting waved her hooves negatively. "I feed on friendship anyway."

"Oh right. I must be a tasty friend then." Umbra grinned at the idea. "But if you're not scared of that, then what?"

Shifting sank, burying her face under her hooves. "It's embarrassing."

"If this is a 'I'm drawing a line in the sand' thing, alright." Umbra set a hoof on Shifting's back. "But if you're scared of me getting grossed out, forget that. I'm ready to learn more about you."

"Stop being so gosh darn understanding." Shifting sat up, tongue extended. "It's really hard to hide around you."

"The sweet irony." Umbra folded her arms. "You thought you could hide in the shadow, but this shadow keeps asking questions and trying to be encouraging. Where does one have to go to find a quiet dark place around here?"

Shifting burst into giggles that grew in volume. "Stop it!" She pounced, being caught in arms even as the two flopped over in a brief wrestling session. "You are the best worst friend!"

"I'll take that title." Her horn began to glow as she lifted Shifting up and set them down gently, sitting up herself. "Now, do you want to share or not? I won't force you."

Shifting considered with little fidgets. "Alright... So... How much do you know about... that kinda stuff?"

Umbra hiked a brow. "Do you mean what people do in privacy? I'm an adult." She shrugged. "I know where babies come from. I know what people do when they're bored and alone if they want to. I know what people do together in the same situation. Man that sounds awkward." She rubbed behind her head. "Either way, been around the block a few times. Do you explode, like a bee?"

Shifting's eyes went wide. "No! That'd be horrible. But it could be worse in a way." She flopped to her side. "I'm afraid if I did that, I'd have... too much fun... and then, pow... back to changeling, and they'd freak out, and I'd be in trouble and..."

Umbra set a hoof on the prone Shifting's snout. "Which just means you should consider that kind of thing only with people who already know, since if that happens with them, what's the big deal?"

Shifting's mouth worked without noise for a moment. Was it really that simple? "Oh," she finally got out, tufted ears twitching. "Yeah... But that's... one pony." She pointed up at Umbra, hopping up to all fours quickly thereafter. "And I don't want to do that to you."

"Do... what?" Her brows went down together. "Is changeling sex even stranger than I'm busy imagining?"

"Not like that." Shifting waved that away frantically. "I mean... then... You're the only one that works for, but we're not that kinda friends... And asking you, when you know that? It's not fair, not even a little fair. Be my special friend or it's your fault that I'm alone. No! That's... not even kinda fair." She brought her fore hooves together. "I don't want to do that to you."

"Fortunately, we're already friends." Umbra touched noses with Shifting. "Just not that kind of friend. That would be awkward, I admit..." Her attachment to Shining and Cadance still being an issue and all. "Maybe it could happen in the future? Not a no, but not a yes. The least satisfying answer!"

"The worst." Shifting stuck out her tongue in defiance of that non-committal reply. "But thanks, for being a friend, and not being grossed out. By the way, what'd you put in there." Her eyes were on Umbra's tiara and the big gem on it. "Is that one of the ones Rarity got for you? It looks like a really nice gem."

"It is!" Umbra bobbed her head, tension fleeing with the change of topics. "But that's a secret, shhh."

"Ooo, secrets! I'm good at secrets." She nodded with complete confidence. "No secrets will escape these lips."

"Tempting." And yet, no secrets were given. "Today, I vote we not work on gems or houses. Today, I decree, which is a thing I can do now." She sat up tall and proud. "Today we will just hang out and enjoy ourselves."

"As it is commanded." Shifting gave a sharp salute with a wing. And it was just as it was royally decreed.

"We did it." Shining was beaming at Cadance. "All the houses are occupied. The freed up houses are being repaired and redone as needed." Many were taken up by ponies moving from other houses, some of which became empty. "The station is fully within the safe zone."

"Lovely." Cadance clapped once before standing up. "That should make things easier for all involved. I imagine the ponies in new homes are also enjoying themselves?"

"Quite so." Shining pointed off to the left. "In fact, when they're told they're living in something built by the Umbra, they get even happier about it."

Cadance laughed at that. "Of course. It's nice being famous at times."

"Not that you'd know," joked Shining, as if Cadance weren't quite famous on her own. "That situation is under control, happy to say. No other disasters in the city. Everything is going well."

"Lovely." Cadance leaned forward. "Which is why I think it's time to set our eyes on something good, to draw the right kind of attention."

Shining leaned in, matching her. "I'm listening."

"Good." Cadance smirked faintly. "A coliseum. Vast, huge." She spread her hooves wide. "The kind of thing big events can take place in. The kind of thing half of Equestria could gather around."

Shining's eyes began to twinkle. "Oooo, that sounds exciting... but expensive."

"Not as expensive, or difficult, as it could be." Cadance sat up with a smug smile. "We happen to have a very talented builder as a friend. Her rate is reasonable for the quality and time taken."

"Ah! Ah, yes..." He tapped his chin, thoughts going towards Umbra. "She has proven quite adept at slapping up buildings, but never that size before."

"She won't ever be able to prove that." Cadance wagged a hoof at Shining. "At least until we give her the task. Then she will prove her ability quite nicely. I think she will like it. A place for ponies to perform, a place of... light, sprung from the shadows. Yes, I think that fits her poetic little heart quite nicely."

Shining chuckled at the thought. "It likely would. I'll ask her about it."

"Let me." Cadance stepped down from her fine throne. "I have a different task for you." They met, nose to nose. "Ask around. I'm sure some crystal ponies, and others who live here, are competitive sorts. Give them some organization. I have a feeling you can do that, hm?"

"On the case." Shining marched off with a new task in hoof.

"How big?!" Umbra was looking down at a plan that showed exactly how large the plan was. "This is huge!"

"It is." Cadance didn't even try to argue that. "But is it beyond your abilities? Now, to be fair, I will pay for your services." She smirked faintly. "Though you are a princess. Princesses do not typically charge fellow princesses for their aid."

Umbra colored at that. Called out! "You know I gave almost half the pay you gave before away to the builder guild, and I'll be employing them again." She pointed down at the plan. "There's no way I can get this to 100%, but 75%? Easy. Um, relatively easy... I can do it, that's the point. I'll have to pay them--"

Cadance nodded firmly. "Have them invoice me instead. I collect taxes. I will gladly pay them for what they do. Between us, we are princesses, doing what we can to make the lives of other ponies better." She smiled that bright smile of hers. "It's what makes us princesses. Now... I don't want you to think I am assuming I can claim your time. You are free to decline, especially if you have other projects before you."

Which was a thing Umbra didn't have, other than the ongoing want to improve her magic and craft, and play O&O with her friends, which wouldn't be interrupted in any huge way... "Alright! Sure... I need practical experience, and making something this big? That's a lot of practice. I can't be a crystal wizard without doing more crystals." She huffed, thinking of it. "How tall again?"

Cadance flipped the sheet with her magic, pointing to a different drawing that showed a pony standing beside the theoretical arena, providing a height comparison. "This tall."

"That is tall..." The pony looked small indeed beside the great structure of crystal beside them. "One thing." She tapped at it firmly. "This, you want it to last, and it's huge, which we've mentioned. Point is, conjuring all this crystal? I don't think that's the tactic to take for something made to last. We want this to be passed on to our grandkids, we want real crystals, from real mines. Do you even have that much crystal?"

Cadance frowned at that thought. "A compromise... If we build the structural supports out of--"

"Oh, and conjured crystals for the tops and outsides? Clever." Umbra began to clap approvingly. "Clever. You'll have to repair those once in a while, but that sounds like less of a game over than if the core support gave out. I'll still need a lot of real crystal."

"And you will have it," decreed Cadance with much more experience at giving official decrees. "I'll keep you posted. As the crystal is made ready, then you can begin?"

"Yep!" Umbra leaned towards Cadance. "Pleasure working with you."

"One thing." Cadance drew out a brightly wrapped package. "This is yours."

Umbra accepted the gift curiously. Her magic pulled the wrapping paper off in two big chunks. "A blanket?" She was holding a glittering crystal blanket.

"That is the one you enchanted. I heard it was damaged? I had it repaired and polished."

Its magic was still broken. Whoever touched it up only did the physical parts. They were not an enchanter, which were pretty rare, so far Umbra could tell. "That's really sweet of you." Despite that, she felt happy to hold her blanket. She could try to breathe new life into it. A safe shadow blanket for those in need. "Thank you."

"Thank you for coming to the aid of others. My people, but also your friends and countryponies. We are happy to have you with us." She touched her nose to Umbra's ear, making it flicker.

35 - A Better Future

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"One thing." Cadance was standing next to Umbra as the shadow pony moved great crystal slabs into place. "Why?"

"That's a really big question." Not that it stopped Umbra from proceeding, moving her hooves as she lined up the block where it needed to be. "Can you narrow it down a little?"

"Well, from what you've told us, you are an alien creature shoved into the body of a pony. You've been hurt and violated, but here you are, helping us anyway."

"Funny thing about that." She thrust up a hoof, conjured crystals bursting free of the ground around the solid mined one as if it were mortar. "It's all relative. Your world, for all its problems, is still a dreamy ideal place. The worst you have doesn't even come on the scale." Umbra shrugged softly. "Which sounds incredibly cynical, said out loud. Sorry, that isn't the goal. I'm happy to be here, warts and all." She clapped her hooves as two heavy slabs slid towards one another. "And I'll do my part to keep it working."

Cadance inclined her head. "You make it sound... as if you were some ancient thing. This is just an amusing distraction?"

Umbra inclined an ear at Cadance. "That's one way to look at it, but I like what I see, and I want to be a part." She smiled, fangs displayed. "I am a kind goddess of crystals and darkness. Is that a bad thing?"

"It's a little conceited, if you forgive my saying."

"It's a little conceited even if I don't forgive you saying." Umbra thumped to the side against Cadance. "My world loves to put pressure on people on a fairly constant basis. It's pretty rare anyone manages to just 'be'. The ones that do usually inherited success from their parents, and busily squander it on excess, whatever catches their eye."

"Not a happy picture you're presenting." Cadance considered the forming structure in silence a few moments. "But isn't that, in a way, what you're doing?"

"Hm?"

"You were born, in this world, with inherited success." Cadance nodded gently. "And now you spend it on excess. It is a pleasing excess, I have no objection to it... But the basics remain the same, doesn't it?"

Umbra's horn stopped glowing as she turned to Cadance slowly.

"Have I offended?" Cadance couldn't be sure, Umbra wielding an impassive expression.

"Impressed, actually." Umbra let out a little laugh, folding her arms. "You're not wrong entirely. Shoot, here I am, the rich kid. At least I'm using it to make tomorrow better, for everyone else. My life's just fine on its own. I don't need a fancy yacht or blinging jewelry..." She glanced up at her tiara, mostly out of her own field of view. "With some exceptions."

"I'm still wondering what that does."

"You and everyone else." Umbra was not sharing that secret. "But good point." She swatted at Cadance's shoulder as she resumed the movement of the heavy foundational crystals. "One thing! I raced through those houses, but this is not a house. This is several magnitudes more than a house. This will take a while."

"Already you make faster progress than I could otherwise dream of." Cadance nodded gently, watching the work slowly proceed. "I owe you thanks and nothing else for the rate you're going."

"I'm curious, since we're just talking."

"Please, go ahead." Cadance smiled brightly at that. "I owe you a few answers in kind."

"Why don't you refine your 'thing'? You're princess of love, right?" Cadance nodded at that. "So..." Umbra rolled a hoof. "Why aren't you digging into the details on that. You can see connections between people, that's already pretty great, but what can you do with them, besides turn them to max for a little while?"

Cadance flumped down to her haunches. "That's... not a question anypony has ever asked before. Considering what I... did with you, why would you encourage it?"

Umbra raised a brow. "I am suggesting you go to the firing range so I don't get shot again." That reference went right over the confused Cadance's head. "I mean, if you understood what you were doing better, that kind of mistake would be easier to avoid." Umbra gestured, working conjured crystal into shape. "The more you understand the tool you're holding, the more you can do with it. The less likely you'll do something you didn't plan on."

"Hm." Cadance rose to her hooves. "One challenge is that my days are often quite occupied. I penciled in 'observation of construction' today, but--"

"If you can manage that." Umbra lifted her shoulders. "You can pencil in a little time to learn yourself. Be all the princess of love you can be. Starting by learning what that means exactly." She leaned to the left as the crystal went in that direction. "I'm still learning crystal darkness, but I'm better than where I was by quite a bit. Magical pony princess! Worth the species dysphoria." She snickered softly, only to perk. "Another question."

"I will answer as best I can." Cadance sank back down. "I am enjoying this time, together. We should try to do it more often, with nothing dramatic."

"A lack of drama is a big plus." Umbra sucked on her tongue as she got two big blocks to kiss just right. "Shoot, the question, right." As if she had forgotten what she was going to ask. "Marriage!" Cadance's ears pricked up at that word. "Marriage. Are there rules about who a princess gets involved with?"

"Did you find somepony special?" asked Cadance in a lovey dovey voice, her beam one of grand delight. "Please, do share."

"I'm not saying I did." Umbra put up a hoof towards Cadance. "But I want to know the rules, if there are any, before that's a thing. I'm assuming a princess has some rules."

"Actually..." Cadance inclined her head. "Until you have a proper position, which can have rules and traditions, not really. Some princesses never do. They live as any other pony. If you see an alicorn out there, just... existing, that's a princess without a position, just living their best life. Nothing wrong with that. They're a pony, like any other. They can be expected to use their powers to help others, but that's it."

"Huh." Umbra grunted with renewed effort, urging the largest block so far to move, one slow inch at a time. "Huh... So I'm just a person, with... perks... I can do whatever I want."

"Mostly." Cadance shrugged softly. "Another reason I didn't rush to auntie. She'd parade you in front of the world and poof, expectations."

"Thanks for the... save..." The big crystal still required much concentration to keep moving in the right direction, power radiating from her in the effort. "The people here already hero worship me. That has its own expectations. Becoming a princess didn't change that much."

"Speaking of that." Cadance looked beyond Umbra, at a line only she could see. "A friend of yours?"

There was a green-furred earth pony smiling at them from a short distance.

"Wensley! Wens!" She shouted that last part. "Wait a second. I have to get... this..." She went quiet, focused on getting that big block of crystal into place, huffing softly for breath as she did it. "There... oof. Who said this was easy? It isn't."

Cadance patted Umbra's shoulder gently. "Thank you for your help. Go say hello to your friend. I'll stop haunting you."

"It was a nice chat!" Umbra hopped up to her hooves, her work paused for the moment. "And that's all I can do for right now. Mining crystals only goes so fast." And so her rate was limited to how quickly new material was provided. "Wonder if I could help with that..."

"You don't stop!" Cadance turned away though, starting to walk off. "You want to know your abilities from every angle. I'm a little jealous."

Wensley approached as Cadance fled. "Hey there. Didn't want to come between you an' the princess."

"I am a princess," noted Umbra with a quirk of a smile. "She won't bite your head off, promise. What's up?"

"That's a new thin'." He waved a hoof over Umbra as a whole. "How are they treatin' ya?"

"The world, or the wings?" She pointed back at that new anatomy with their mention.

"We can try both? Start with the wings." Wensley nodded. "Can't 'magine what it'd be like suddenly having those."

"It was..." She spread her wings out. "Well, alright, see. I've been on both sides of this. I've gained parts and lost parts. Both can throw you off, no question. But if I had to pick, I'll take getting new parts. They just surprise you... a lot. I'm just reading a book, suddenly my wings decide they just want to be involved without my asking! But that just needs practice."

"Huh..." Clear thought dominated his expression for a quiet moment or two. "Huh, that's a funny way of lookin' at it. Ah mean, ponies sometimes loose parts... Ain't a happy thing, but they do get used to it."

"And I got used to my missing bits." Umbra nodded with sureness. "The brain's an amazing thing." She tapped at her noggin. "There isn't much you can't eventually get used to. Still, the road is bumpier with the missing thing, I vote. This something you ever deal with?"

Wensley's eyes widened. "Thankfully not!" He lifted each hoof in kind. "Yep." He looked over his back, tail flicking. "Yep." He nodded firmly. "All the waggy parts, accounted for."

Umbra laughed at his quick check. "Good to be sure. I like all my waggy parts." She flickered an ear softly, thoughts brought to it. "I lost a few, but I'm like eighty.... six percent over it?"

Wensley looked over Umbra intensely, clearly looking for what was missing. All he could see was extra parts... "What are you talking about? Umbra, you are full of mysteries."

"I am," she agreed with a grin. "I could tell you, but that'd be one less mystery. I'd be shooting down my own quality."

"Perish the thought. Um, so, with the city all in one piece." He made a motion as if patting a bit of clay in place. "I see you went and got a new project." His hoof turned to point at the great unfinished... whatever it was. He couldn't tell by the starting pieces.

"It'll be way more impressive when it's done." She shrugged softly. "Not much to look at yet. But it's going to be huge!" She threw her hooves wide. "So big I don't trust my conjured crystal for the heavy lifting, so we have to actually mine it up."

"Wow." He inclined his head. "I thought the crystals you made were... just crystals? There's a difference?"

"Oh yeah." Umbra nodded firmly. "Took a bit to notice, but crystal I just make from nothing isn't the same, and, of course, negatively. You want quality, you have to go get it. Conjured crystal's fine for some things, a lot of things even... But it won't hold this thing up." She waved a hoof at the eventual megastructure. "I'm getting better."

"That looked like a lot of work." Wensley nodded with appreciation. "The city's right lucky to have you around giving a hoof like that."

"Aw, stop it." Umbra waved it off. "I like the practice. Like I said, getting better. Even my conjured crystal is inching upwards. The more I do it, the better it gets. I doubt I'll ever be a perfect match, but..."

"Hey." He cut her off suddenly. "Ah got a question."

Umbra's ears twitched. "Huh? Yeah, sure. What's on your mind?"

"Yer a shadow wizard, ain'tcha?"

"Sure am." Umbra sat up to her full height. "Shadows and crystals, that's what I do!"

"More the shadow part..." He trailed a hoof through the dirt in front of him, not that there was much, just a bit before the crystal road was reached. "Can we talk someplace private?"

36 - Between Us

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Wensley glanced over. They were not along. It was Umbra's own chamber, and yet they were not. A purple gem pony sat calmly, watching them as if she were just another fixture of the place. "Um..."

"Go on." Umbra seemed to not even have noticed the other pony. "You wanted to talk?"

"It's... private, ya see?" He tossed his head towards the intruder.

Purple got the hint, rising to her hooves. "I'll be outside, ma'am. Call if you have need of me." And she moved to depart, only to have a wall of darkness spring in front of her.

"I didn't introduce you two, dumb of me." Umbra waved at Purple. "That's Purple Polish, and she's my maid and super great." She turned the wave on Wensley. "Wensley, a nice fan that's fun to just chat with."

"Howdy, ma'am." Wensley dipped his head at the maid, at least understanding her place in the world.

Purple returned the gesture. "A pleasure. While you are in her company, I am also at your service." With the shadow wall gone, she departed, granting privacy to the room.

Umbra nodded with simple pleasure. "Alright. Now, we're alone. What's the question? Also: No, I won't marry you."

Wensley burst into laughter. "That ain't what ah was gonna ask. We don't know each other that well." He rubbed a little behind his head. "Though I am gonna ask fer somethin' private. Just not that."

Umbra angled an ear off. "Alright. Private, but not a whirlwind romance. I'm listening."

"It's... hard to explain." He pressed his forehooves together. "The problem's up here." He directed a hoof at his head. "The most private place we got, ah figure."

Umbra leaned in, mirth fading from her expression. "Yeah."

"An'... Ah got problems, um, up there. Problems I'd... like you to take a look at." He smiled awkwardly.

Umbra sat up. "Now, see, I know this world has therapists. They're surprisingly good! I thought the relationship I had going on would just get more toxic by the day, but we had some talk, real talk, all the ponies involved, and it's gotten so much better." She nodded firmly. "Have you tried that?"

Wensley let out a nervous laugh. "Y-yeah... But it didn't work out none. They keep telling me to do what ah already try to do. It ain't helpin'. Look, ah know a pony can talk to you, but they're outside." He pointed just in front of himself. "I want a pony to look from the inside." He directed both hooves at himself. "Can ya help?"

"Mmm." Umbra grumbled softly, wings fidgeting. "I'd actually love to." Oh, his bright smile, radiant with hope. "But I don't know that magic." And there went the smile. "Shadow is my thing, no doubt there. That doesn't mean I got a guidebook for free with all the tricks. I know mental stuff is a thing connected to shadow." She leaned in. "Shoot, I met a shadow pony of dreams, another princess! She wouldn't teach me dream magic either." She grunted with remembrance of that denial.

"So... What can you do, um, shadow wise?" Wensley sat up himself. "We can start there."

"Sure." Umbra waved, painting a shadow wall casually. "I can make shadows, to start. Balls, walls, cubes. Want shadow, I got it! I can drain the vibrance from magic, which makes most magic fizzle, unless it's also shadow magic. Oh! I can tap into the crystal heart, but that's probably for emergencies only. It makes ponies drop their hangups and march on, if they're up for it."

Wensley's ears danced atop his head. "Can ya do that? Just zap all the hangups right out of me?"

Umbra reached for him and wasn't stopped from setting a hoof on his shoulder. "That is a very temporary fix. I don't even want to imagine what addiction to it would be like, if it is that. I only used it once, when we super needed it."

Wensley sagged with a sigh, as if air was escaping, causing him to deflate. "But if you had the spells?"

"Then I'd use them." Umbra smiled brightly at that, not as down as Wensley by far. "I like doing that, learning to be the best me. Speaking of that, you're still being evasive. What's bothering you? You sure we can't fix this the old fashioned way? I'm an open ear. Go on, tell me."

Wensley worked his hooves together. "You'll think ah'm odd."

"I am odd," noted Umbra with a raised brow. "In ways you don't even know. I doubt you'll top those charts, and if you do, I will be impressed, not scared off." She spread her wings. "I mean, c'mon. I got six limbs and a horn! That isn't natural."

Wensley laughed at the biological plea. "Seems natural 'nough... Alright... alright... If ya promise?" Umbra nodded swiftly. "Then... ah'll try, but ah'm holdin' ya to it."

"Of course, now, start from the start." She made a rewinding swirl with her right hoof. "How'd this happen?"

"Even as a little foal." He raised a hoof up, but not far. "Ah'd see things. Not like ghosts or nothin', more like ideas. Bad ideas. I never did none of hem! But they're always there."

"If you can, an example please?" Umbra rolled a hoof, bidding Wensley to continue.

Wensley went quiet.

"Are they that bad?" Umbra leaned in, breath washing over Wensley's face in proximity. "I already promised. Hit me with your worst."

"Worst. Um... So, alright... This is when you start lookin' at me odd." He directed up at her horn. "When I see that horn, all long and curved and red, a little part keeps wondering: Hey, what would that be like if I sat on that. Would I bleed? Is that why it's red? Bet you could kill a pony that way. What a way to go. Bet you could use it like a handle. Rip her head clear off with it." The more he described the morbid thoughts, the more he shrank back. "I don't do none of them, 'course. You'd notice, um... but they're there..."

Umbra was not, despite being a lot of things, a psychologist, or a therapist. She was unqualified in any professional level. Still, what she heard painted a pony that could use a hoof, er, hand. "What are your dreams like, if I can ask?"

"Huh?" Wensley shrugged softly. "Normal?" He smiled a little. "Never really thought about that before, the two together. Mah dreams are pretty peaceful, overall, thinkin' about it. Ya don't... think the same way, asleep."

And so he was never visited by Luna. No bad dreams, no signal for her to act. Well, if one shadow pony had passed him over, the next wouldn't! "So, first of all, thinking a naughty thing once in a while? Normal. We all do it." She sat back a bit, almost toppling. "Like me. I've been propositioned no few times since I got here, and that gets me thinking. Part of me actually wants to... think about that kind of thing. I fantasize the strangest situations at times."

Wensley's cheeks darkened. "Uh... about me?"

"Sure about you. No offense, these are just thoughts. Which... I think is the dividing line." She sliced the air, shadow trailing behind her hoof a moment. "I'm not hurting you, or anyone else, with a dirty thought. You're not hurting me with your violent ones."

She raised a hoof to tap at her head. "Remember what we were talking about? This thing is amazing, and complicated."

"But what if I want to? Maybe that's the real me... Maybe the nice quiet me is just me... in denial." Wensley hiccupped, his emotions gearing up as his eyes darted about the room. "What if there's a monster just waiting for its chance to break free and hurt ponies?"

"You're not alone." Umbra said each firmly, eyes locked on Wensley. "We all feel that way, once in a while. When they first told me what shadow magic was for, I wondered, huh, am I supposed to be a shadow monster, terrorizing the kingdom?! I decided no. I will be a lovely shadow princess." She grinned brightly, sharp teeth on display. "And I think I'm rocking it."

"You are," laughed Wensley, but it was a strained noise. "But yer a wizard, and a princess. Of course yer better at handling that kinda thing..."

"Stop that." Umbra prodded Wensley in the center of his chest. "It's your head, your brain. Now... what did those therapists tell you, that turned you off that idea?"

Wensley sighed slowly, but was sitting up as he did so. "Most of them said a little of what you said. 'It's just a thought, don't even worry about it.' But ah am worried! I'm scared."

"Yeah.... Yeah... Wow... I feel you."

"You... What happened?" His attention slid from himself to Umbra.

"I've been to therapists before. They told me a lot of things like that before." She pointed at herself. "This may be hard to imagine, but I was a stallion before, physically anyway." That got him by surprise, gaping at her. "Yeah, don't look it much these days."

"Um... But...?"

"But I knew what I was, on the inside, and I kept telling them that, just fer them to prattle on as if they knew me better than me. They'd go on and on about how I'd get over it..." She snorted in an explosive equine fashion. "It took a while to find one that took me seriously."

"Are... you taking me seriously?" Wensley pointed at himself. "I see a monster, waiting for their chance."

On one hoof, she wanted to deny that. On the other, she had painted herself into a corner. To deny it would be making herself exactly what she said she hated and didn't trust. Umbra fidgeted instead, considering her course. "What you are feeling is very real. You are doubting yourself, and that's just not fun, having been there myself... When you look in the mirror and you're not sure who's looking back? That's... awful."

"Yeah!" He perked up. "Yeah... That's what... What bothers me. Ah don't know..."

"Why don't we learn?" She extended a fluffy wing towards Wensley. "Because I already like the pony in front of me, even if he's really upset. Even if he's not sure. Even if he thinks his shadow is deeper and bigger than mine." She flashed a toothy grin. "We could compete."

"Yer really not upset? Ah mean... all those nasty things I thought about you? Yer not scared?"

Umbra considered her odds. If it actually came down to violence, she felt fairly confident in her ability to win. "I'm not scared of you, Wensley. I can't reach in there." She tapped Wensley on the top of the head. "So if you want a quick fix, I'm not that. But if you want to approach this slowly?"

Wensley smiled, a gentle thing. "Yer already so busy... It ain't even fair... Can ah help? Take somethin' off yer plate since I'm so busy puttin' somethin' else on it?"

"We're just going to be talking." Umbra hopped down from her bed and began stretching out. "If you just come hang out with me, we can chat while I get things done. I get to talk to a nice pony I know, and you get to work things out with someone you trust."

"Huh." He hopped down next to her. "That does sound like a win-win. That easy?"

"Nah, that's just the first step." Umbra waved that away. "You have to actually face yourself, and make changes in how you see the world, and yourself. That's not easy. That's not even 'kinda' easy. You have a lot of work ahead of you. I'm just lending a hand."

"You don't have no hands." He was smiling despite that oddness. "Can ya do that, lend hands? That a shadow thing?"

Umbra raised a hoof, horn glowing as shadow formed into a great umbral hand that began patting Wensley on the head. "See, you had a point already."

37 - Warm Hearths

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"Thanks for coming over." Shifting adjusted a few trinkets on the top of her fireplace. "I know your schedule is packed these days."

"Too packed, for you? Hardly." Umbra watched, seated on her haunches. "Besides, today's a holiday."

"And you want to spend it with me?" Shifting looked over her shoulder. "You could be with the princess. I hear they do a big thing at the palace each year."

"You just explained exactly why I skipped out." A wry smile was on Umbra's face. "No, Christmas with a single good friend easily wins out over a big holiday bash."

Shifting expressed her feelings with a pouncing hug and a joyful squeak. "Um, sorry if you don't want to talk about work, but what are you building?"

"It isn't a secret." Umbra squeezed Shifting gently until another squeak was produced. "I'm making a big arena, for events and sports and things. It's going to be huge! Still working on the foundation of the darn thing." She waved her hooves as if to encompass the big project. "It'll be great, eventually."

"Sounds great." She bobbed her head with a bright smile. "Don't need an inspector?"

"I was... challenging myself a little. I can't get better if I keep relying on my sempai!"

"You use such funny words!" Shifting stuck out her tongue at her odd friend. "Christmas? Sempai? Did you used to talk another language before you came here?

"In a way?" Umbra raised a hoof to her chin. "Funny thing about that. You're all talking English, which you guys call Ponish, so far I can tell. Sempai is another language. Christmas is still English, you guys just call it 'Hearth's Warming'. Still the same basic idea, winter festival with lots of lights and pageantry and family fun."

Shifting clapped her hooves. "Yeah, all of that. Um... But you're not with family."

"I'm not?" Umbra leaned forward. "Sure looks like I am. Family you make is the best kind of family if you ask me."

Shifting's ears folded on her head. "Oh..." The idea of it, a great weight on her. A new idea entirely. "Oh!" Her cheeks began to darken, spreading across her cheeks and down her neck. "You... I'm really your family?"

"Duh." Umbra smooched that dark nose. "A dear and cherished friend that I'm spending the holiday with. Sounds like the kind of family I'm talking about."

Shifting burst into giggles, though her smile had returned, agreeing with the idea. "Yeah! Do you have other friends?"

Umbra recoiled a bit at that. "That's a funny question."

"Is it?" She poked at Umbra lightly. "My door's open. If any of them want to hang out with friends today, well, a friend of yours is probably a good pony."

Umbra nipped Shifting's left ear in revenge. "I escaped a party and you want to make a new one? What if I'm perfectly happy with my royal lovebug?"

Shifting's ears twitched, perhaps in part at being nipped at, but other feelings were at play. "I'm still... impressed? Confused? I don't know the word." She worried her hooves together. "That you know what I am, but also don't care. You know changelings have hurt a lot of creatures in the world, right?"

"So I hear." Umbra leaned forward. "But you haven't hurt me, or anyone else I know. Last I checked, you aren't given a choice what you're born as. Shoot, been through it twice! Neither time was I asked what I wanted to be. The second time though, they got it pretty right." She thumped herself on the chest. "Magic pony princess! I'm pretty alright with that choice."

Shifting giggled at that. "Magic... changeling princess?" She tried to emulate Umbra's proud stance. "It doesn't have the same ring to it..."

"You have a lot of baggage on that word." Umbra trotted suddenly across the room. "So what are classic Hearth's Warming things? Hit me with classic treats and games."

"Oh!" Shifting was off in a flash, and flaps, wings carrying her swiftly into the next room over. An oven could be heard being opened. "Phew, just in time."

Umbra poked her head into the kitchen to see Shifting pulling out a tray with mittens that fit on her wings in what, she decided, was an adorable way. The smell of the cookies reached her. "Mmm. Christmas cookies, fresh baked? Now you're talking."

"I'm not a super great cook." Shifting set the tray down. "But I hope you like it."

As it turned out, Umbra did like it, and the company she had while she nibbled away at it.

Umbra's tongue poked free as she worked conjured crystal delicately between two real-crystal slabs, unifying them tightly.

"Ma'am." A crystal pony in a postal uniform stood at her side. "Letter for you."

Umbra flashed a great smile. "For me?! Thank you." She took the letter with her magic and flipped it right open.

Hello, Umbra,
I swear I didn't do it to imitate you! You've likely heard by now, though I didn't see you at the coronation. We're both princesses now. Rainbow gave me much the same treatment as she gave you. Wings are not easy to use! I have them mostly under control now. How are yours working out? We're both recognized by harmony for our advances in the field of magic, I feel.

"Huh." Well, she was a shadow wizard! That was magic! She looked back at her wings as they spread themselves wide. "I'm... alright with you two." One came in and she smooched the feathers. An urge came over her and she spent a few quiet moments preening them before she realized what she was doing. "Except when you pull that on me!" Her eyes went back to the letter.

A tangent, I realize, but also a good part of why I wanted to reach out. To explain, I was given my crown for discovering the magic of friendship itself. I'm still learning how that works precisely, but I've seen it enough times. For that matter, so have you! Without the magic of friendship, things would have gone poorly for you.

"Two magical pony princesses for the price of one!" She thrust a hoof in the air. "Um, hm. There's Celestia." She tapped hoof to hoof. "Not much 'magic', but also kinda magic? Moving the sun is magic, but she doesn't do the arcane thingmuch." Umbra frowned in thought. "Luna's a shadow pony. She has spells, and uses them, but is stingy about sharing them!" Twilight was the best princess around for asking for magic advice, so far Umbra could figure.

Your arcane advancements and achievements should not be ignored. You are using shadow constructively, a feat quite rare, and to defend against other shadows? Speaking of that, I've been dying to know, any new discoveries? I want to hear all about your findings, if you care to reply to this letter. We can be pen pals! I'd be happy to share what I learn in kind.

"Sure thing." A pen pal? Why not?! A perfectly fine place to pester Twilight about any shadow magic she might have tripped over!

Oh. I should be visiting in a month or two. Already looking forward to seeing you and Cadance, not to mention my brother. It'll be nice to do it without any great calamity falling on us. Just a little princess summit. My first princess summit. Your first princess summit. You will be there, right? You are a princess! I'm getting off track. Of course you'll be there. I look forward to being there with you.

"Princess Summit?!" She had not been informed of any such thing. On the other hand... "I get to poke Luna directly." She could flee easily in the dreamworld, but in reality, yes, she could ask without being brushed off. Maybe she could learn dream magic! Maybe Luna knew other shadow spells that she'd share? The options swirled and Umbra began to laugh, which turned into an evil cackle.

"Bad time?" Wensley had arrived, watching her cackle with a little smile. "I can come back later."

Umbra cleared her throat. "No no... Shadow princess, cackling comes with the territory." She tapped at her chest as if to clear it. "But all done with that." She folded the letter and tucked it away. "Just learned something I have to bother Cadance about later. What's up, W?"

"W?" Wensley inclined his head. "Never called that before. Good day, Shady."

Umbra stuck out her tongue. "One nickname for another? Fair trade." She turned back to the great arena-to-be and resumed her work. "How are you feeling?"

"Doin' alright." He parked beside her, watching her shadowy magic do its work on those big blocks. "Those look heavy. Ain't they heavy?"

"Very." But she proceeded, pulling and pushing as needed. "Oh! Tomorrow I won't be here." She pointed downwards. "Gonna go with the mining crew and see what I can learn about that process, maybe lend a hand while I'm there. If we can get the crystals coming faster, this project will be done faster, and everyone involved wins."

"That sounds excitin'." Wensley took a deep breath. "Bet you could squash a pony with one of those."

"Bet I could," calmly agreed Umbra. "But I wouldn't, and neither would you."

"It'd be wrong," quickly agreed Wensley, glancing around. "But the thought came anyway."

"I'll let you in on a secret." She brought two heavy blocks together with a deep thump of heavy stone meeting. "I thought about that. I think about that every time I get that big thump. Ha Ha, take that, random pony that annoyed me for a second yesterday! But I wouldn't ever do that. I don't think you would either."

"You do?" He lifted an ear. "But you seem so nice. Everything you do is nice."

"One, I'm still a shadow princess." She leaned in to the side towards Wensley. "I got some dark in here. But I'm also nice. Nice shadow, that's me." She nodded firmly, agreeing with the idea. "Still, I bet if you asked another pony, you could get them to admit their dirty thoughts if you came at them the right way. You're not alone, I swear."

"I feel like it..."

"Which is why you came to me." She raised an ear. "And I'm telling you that. Tell you what. I'll do it, but you have to believe me. I'll make a sheet of pony's dirtiest thoughts. They'll tell me." She curled a hoof on herself. "I'm Umbra! Great and Glorious!"

"Great and glorious," echoed a passing crystal pony. "Thanks for helping!" She waved eagerly on her way by.

"Hold up there." Umbra smiled at the located fan. They weren't hard to find. "I have a question for you."

She would be the first, but not the last, to reveal her dirty little secrets to.

"Princess summit?!" Umbra waved at the floating letter, peering at Cadance. "Why wasn't I told about this?"

"I've been trying to let you just be yourself." Cadance nodded softly. "You've been through so much, much at our own fault. I didn't want to drag you into some official thing you didn't want to be at."

"Hum, well, yeah. I can see that." Umbra rolled a hoof slowly. "But, next time, ask. I may say no, I may say yes, but asking will probably not annoy me. So what's a princess summit?"

Cadance sat up. "It's really not that big of a deal. It's an excuse for those princesses with a station, or involved in that process, to meet and discuss current events and plans for the future. Auntie and Luna should be there, as well as little Twily." The smile on her face was that of a proud aunt, which she was. "And maybe you? I thought you wanted to avoid--"

"Nuh uh." Umbra shook her head quickly. "I'm a magic princess. I want to do my princess duties, which means meeting the other princesses and talking princess stuff." She flashed a toothy smile, sharp and dangerous. "Let's discuss tax policies."

38 - Saving Throw

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"Ma'am." Purple dipped her head at Umbra, a habit she had. "I need to bring this up, if you've a moment?"

"Of course." Umbra's left wing extended halfway. "What's on your mind?"

Purple brought up her hooves. "That pony, the non-crystal one. Wensley."

"What about him?" She wanted, for a moment, to chastise the lack of a verb, but that felt rude.

"He is not good for your reputation, nor safety." Purple nodded with proper confidence. "Such unclean notions in his head. And he is suspicious for reasons besides that."

"What reasons would those be?" Umbra hiked a brow. "He's been nice so far."

"Ma'am! He..." Her hooves began to work as if to pick through the knot in her thoughts. "He described sitting on your horn, ma'am. That is not 'nice', nor proper! He seeks your private counsel to debase you with these perverse whimsies."

"He's a scared pony." Umbra sighed softly. "He's not 'debasing me'. He's throwing himself at my feet, er, hooves, and hoping I can fix him." She started to poke Purple, but aborted without making contact. "You're... wait, how did you even know about that?"

Purple blinked with wide eyes. "Ma'am? I was just outside the door." She pointed towards said door. "Listening for your next command. I could hear him."

"Ah..." So much for privacy. "Either way, he's not a bad pony, just a confused one. He had those thoughts and he went to find help, not do them. That's sign enough to me that he wants to be good."

"I will defer to your judgment." Purple dipped her head low before her Brave and Glorious patron. "Apologies, ma'am. I just worry for you."

"I get that, really." She brushed that left wing over Purple on the way past. "Time for some O&O. Wensley's an alright pony, promise. I'm lending a... hoof, and he's doing his part." Purple didn't argue it further as Umbra departed.

"Hey." Shining was coming up alongside her, moving in the same direction. "Headed to the game?"

"You know it." She flashed a sharp smile. "Think we'll rescue those foals today?"

"That'd be nice." He nodded, mind on the last session. "Say, just wanted to put out there, it's nice, having you there."

"Right back at you." She thumped against him with a laugh. "The whole group's great. It's a funny thing though, let me say. I'm a magic pony princess. I'm already living a fantasy. Playing a fantasy game just... feels odd sometimes."

"You're not alone." He raised a hoof at himself, ambling along with the other three. "I'm a princess consort, head of the guard, and generally second most powerful pony around these parts. But we don't play O&O to escape. We both like what we have, right?"

"Yep!" Umbra was bobbing her head quickly. "Not a complaint."

"Exactly. But sometimes just looking is nice, even if you're happy where you are." He inclined his head. "So not 'escaping', more 'touring'." A little smirk spread on his lips. "Rich ponies do like going on vacations to exotic places."

"Oh no," gasped out Umbra as if dreadfully alarmed. "I've become a snooty pony, taking fancy tours to remember what it was like when I was, gasp, a normal commoner." She paused to clap her hooves to her cheeks. "I have become what I hate. What do I do?!"

"Make a saving throw against existential dread?" Shining was smiling at the theatrics on display. "Or just accept the effects."

Umbra threw a hoof as if there were a die on it, her eyes locked on the fictional die's motions. "Natural 1? Noooo!" She fell to her knees, hooves high. "I'm doomed."

"C'mon." He nudged her with his entire body. "We'll be late, then we'll have to deal with an angry storyteller."

"Oh, well, yeah, that outranks my personal angst." She bounced back up to her hooves and resumed her march with Shining. "Oh, been meaning to say, but thanks."

"You're welcome? But for what?" He angled an ear at her. "I didn't get you a gift or anything."

"Sure you have." She elbowed him lightly. "You got me the 'gift' of having a nice relationship. You and Cades both. All it took was a proper wall and some boundaries and you both backed off without making it weird. I saw it, and I wanted to say thanks. You're actually pretty fun to be around when we're just being two ponies, instead of... all that other stuff."

"Oh... yeah." He rubbed behind his head awkwardly. "Sorry about that... Um, if it helps, that goes both ways. You're a lot easier to be around when we're not trying to horseshoe in all that... stuff."

"That must be rough."

Shining blinked. "What must be?"

"Keeping the door closed when you're doing things with your lovely lady friend." Umbra wagged her brows with impure intent. "You must be good at it." She hadn't been bothered in quite some time.

"Um..." He colored darkly at the topic. "I suppose I have... Shoot... We... have a little one coming."

Umbra blinked. "I spaced on that!" She clopped a hoof to her forehead. "Dumb me. That's right! How long are ponies for that? 9 months?"

"Eleven." He inclined just a little. "Is nine what your old people did? That's fast."

"Yeah... but they're not even done cooking. We have to take super careful close care of our foals for a while." Umbra shrugged softly. "How helpless are foals?"

"Cute little fuzzy things." Shining smiled, his blush lessening as thoughts went to adorable things. "They start moving around almost as much as you let them, but they get tired fast. We keep them bundled up and safe for about a month, then let them out to play."

"They start fuzzy and cute? Yep, you win that contest." Umbra nodded firmly. "Human kids sometimes didn't even look like humans when they first popped out, but you'd take care of them anyway, and eventually they'd grow out of it."

"Score one for ponies." Shining pumped a hoof with the pride of the species on the line. "Humanity zero."

"Hey, don't be like that." Umbra extended her tongue defiantly. "We had issues, but we were managing it anyway. Have you flown a ship to the moon or sent stuff flying off into space just to see what's out there?"

Shining blinked softly. "You had time for that? We're still sorting out things right here on the planet." He pointed downwards as he walked. "Is you world all settled and peaceful then?"

Oh, the wince Umbra gave. "Not... exactly."

"Huh." Things were quiet for a moment, just the clip-clops of their hooves as they went. "Maybe they should focus on that before going out to visit the stars?"

"If I was in charge, I'd consider that. I wasn't. Just a random person along for the ride." Umbra snorted in an equine way. "Fie on the whole thing. Hope they get their stuff sorted out, but not my problem anymore. Now I get to wrestle with shadow demons and build huge things." She began to giggle perhaps a little wildly. "Which I'm alright with."

"You do realize." He leaned a little closer. "Most ponies don't look forward to that first part."

"I'm not most ponies." Umbra raised her head up high. "And I'm going to bet you aren't either."

"No... But that doesn't make me want to fight with shadow demons. But I will, to keep the city safe." He thumped himself on the chest with a hoof. "But not look forward to it. I'd rather be reading a comic or playing some O&O, but if you don't wrestle a shadow when they need wrestling..."

"Then you don't get to do the other stuff, right." Umbra's chortle was short lived. "Really. Work hard, then play hard. Won't get any arguments out of me. So... question."

"Go ahead. Only fair." He perked an ear at her. "What's on your mind?"

"Changelings." She saw him tense immediately. "What happened with them, exactly?"

"Long story..."

Umbra bumped against him lightly. "I'm a good listener. Tell me this dark and mysterious story."

"Ugh... Well... Their queen, Chrysalis, went and foalnapped Cadance not long before our wedding, and I didn't notice, like a real dummy." He clopped a hoof to the side of his head. "She was hiding as Cadance, and draining me of love, which left me all kinds of messed up." He deflated, though still walking. "It was thanks to Twily, in the end. She saved Cadance, and once we were back together, we could beat Chrysalis."

Umbra hiked a brow. "Alright, you two are tight, but not seeing how 'Shining+Cadance=Defeated Changeling Queen', so let's rewind a little?"

Shining began to color. "Our, um, love was powerful enough to send them flying. They are love powered. It made sort of sense they could be affected by it, and Cadance is a master of that. If you want more specific than that, you'd have to ask her. I bet she did something, as romantic as it'd be to imagine it was just us and nothing else."

"Ah ha." Umbra clopped firmly, dancing mid-step. "I knew it. She does know more than just 'I see them' and 'Let's turn them up'. But maybe she's in denial... Poor magic princess. Don't deny your magic!" She huffed with annoyance. "She's the princess of love. I'm the princess of shadow. What you see me do with shadow? She should be just as good with love! Celestia should be able to fling fire around everywhere! Luna... Well she already patrols dreams and does her thing all the time, so good on her!"

Shining reached over, tapping Umbra on the back. "Just to remind, technically you are not the princess of shadows. You don't have an official title yet. You're a princess, who likes shadows and crystals a lot."

"Technicalities," howled out Umbra, refusing to be denied on account of a trifling matter like facts.

Shining laughed warmly at Umbra's antics. "I did warn you it was one of those."

"You should be more annoyed." She began prodding him in the side as they ambled down the road. "Why are there no guy princesses?"

"There are."

That caught Umbra off guard. "There are?"

"If you mean ponies who are unicorns and pegasi at once, yep." He nodded firmly. "They just aren't also in the business of government. Governing, I mean. They're out there. Go to any of the big cities like Baltimare and you'll spot them if you look for them."

"Huh... So why not? Why don't the princes want to have a fancy crown and help lead things?"

"It's a big pain?" Shining shrugged softly. "You'd have to ask them. I'm not one of them." He smiled in a quirk. "Guess I never quite made the cut."

"Still unfair!" She danced in place. "You work really hard, and you share your talent. Unfair..."

"Not up to me, or you." He leaned over and nipped her closer ear. "But it's time to play, not discuss metaphysics, unless they're in world metaphysics."

They had arrived at the play site, the house of the storyteller, where adventure would happen. With a happy cry of joy, Umbra sprang inside, Shining following afterwards. How they would do, only their wit and the whimsies of the dice could say for sure.

"Shining, Umbra." Sunburst was already there, waving at the two of them as they came in. "Let's make some history."

Shining nodded at Sunburst, taking in what other players had arrived. "I'm ready to do that. Oh, check this out." He pulled out a bag with his magic and emptied it, revealing a bunch of dice that had his cutie mark in them, floating in the center. As they dice tumbled, the shield always pointed upwards, easily seen whatever the result. "Thanks, Umbra. They look so good."

Sunburst began to clap excitedly. "Wow, nice." He leaned in. "Hm. Interesting enchantment work... Why aren't you using Star Swirl's second theorum of arcanement?" That got a blank look from Umbra. "Uh... You're enchanting without knowing that? We have magic to go over." He brought his hooves together. "After the game."

39 - Matter of Princesses

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Hello Niece,
While it is good to hear things are going far better than before, I must raise a single point of concern. Neigh, two perhaps would be wiser. Why am I only now hearing of a new princess? Who guided them through the astral? Are they a good pony? That one is barely a question. Of course they are, or they wouldn't have trotted down that path. Putting that aside, they can't attend the princess summit, not in its entirety.
While they are certainly welcome to announce themselves and meet the others, they may not sit with us at discussion, for they have no position just yet. I've already had this discussion with Twilight. Though perhaps they can keep each other company for the duration? Think they'll get along?

Cadance looked down from the letter with a faint frown. "Hm." The odds that Umbra would like the news were low. But! She would tell her straight. That is what two adult ponies did, and she seemed to appreciate honesty way more than attempts to patch things over. "On the other hoof..."

She did know that Umbra and Twilight did get along. Perhaps they'd even enjoy the time together. A little smile dared to escape. Maybe they'd even have a good time, the two of them, catching up. Swapping magic tricks? Two eager wizards, the both of them. "That would be lovely." She was at Umbra's door shortly. Purple stood before it. "Is she in?"

"She is." Purple dipped her head at the princess of the lands. "I'll see if she's busy." And in she went.

The door burst open just a few minutes later. "Hey." There was Umbra. "What's up, Cades?"

Cadance chuckled warmly at the greetings. "Good afternoon, Umbra. I come bearing... likely poor news. Not the worst news, but not what I was hoping for and I doubt you were either."

Umbra's bright grin dimmed. "Aw man... Well, lay it on me. We can handle this. Shadows back?"

"Nothing that dire." Cadance waved that idea away. "Auntie was quite clear that the summit, the part where we sit and talk, is for 'princesses with positions only'." She rolled her eyes. "Silly pony, she was the only princess with a position for a thousand moons. Now she has more and she's setting rules. She's like that."

Umbra snorted as she sank to her haunches. "Spoilsport... So I miss the whole thing?"

"Not the entire thing." Cadance reached a wing and it wasn't resisted when she brushed Umbra gently with it. "You and Twilight will be presented to us all officially. It's just after that, when we get to business, you and Twilight will be asked to wait elsewhere." She smiled suddenly, hoping it'd work. "You two could catch up."

Umbra's ears perked. "I'm not complaining about some Twilight Time. That nerd's a fun chat, especially about magic. Still, boo, locking me out of those tax code discussions." She folded her arms in a righteous pout. "I want to be a real princess."

"Twilight will be feeling much the same." She went in, gently nuzzling at Umbra, rubbing snouts. "Exactly the same..."

"We'll compare notes on how unfair it is." Umbra suddenly booped Cadance, hoof on her nose. "Thanks for just telling me."

Cadance smiled all the brighter. "I was hoping you'd appreciate just getting the straight facts."

"And I do." Umbra nodded as she turned to the side, offering her profile to Cadance. "It sucks, but I'll get over it, and I know it's coming. Besides, you didn't do this. This is Celestia's... thing? I haven't met her properly."

"That is something that will be fixed there. You will meet her in person, and she will meet you." Cadance clopped her hooves together. "It's still a very important moment. Dress your best. But that's not today."

"Or even this month." Umbra shook herself out, tiara bouncing on her head. "I have things to do in the meanwhile. That arena won't build itself, and Sunburst wants to lecture me, and I'm surprisingly alright with that."

Cadance inclined her head faintly. "Then he must wish to speak of a topic you're interested in."

"Bingo!" Umbra began walking away, leaving her room behind. "Nice chatting with ya, Cades."

Cadance watched her walk away. "That could have been worse." They had just... talked, like adults. Was that all they had been missing? But was it already too late?

Too late for what? Cadance ran a hoof over a blushing cheek, trying to sort out her own feelings. With the door closed, they didn't need to do anything. There was no urgent demand. Anything they did, they'd be doing it because they wanted to, not because they had to. That was liberating and terrifying all at once. "I should talk to Shining..." And off she wandered.

"You must feel quite tired." Sunburst was looking at Umbra critically in his small book-filled home. "Without using this technique, you are investing the wrong 'side' of your magic. Drawing from the active instead of the subconscious, you're left feeling that drain."

Umbra blinked owlishly. "Wait, magic comes in waking and sleeping versions?"

"Sort of." Sunburst rolled a hoof slowly. "Think of it like a bin. If you take from the back of the bin, the front of the bin still looks nice and full. If you take from the front, it looks messy and unfull right away. That is what you're doing, grabbing the first apple on the cart and getting confused when the rest fall out of order and you have a mess to clean up."

"I am like 80% sure 'unfull' isn't a word, but maybe should be?" Umbra shrugged at that. "But the explanation makes sense. So how do I reach for the back?"

"That's where the theorem comes in!" Sunburst slapped a pointer held in his magic against a black board. "Let's begin." For however fair to middling he was at casting magic, or so he claimed, he seemed to have full command over the theories and ideas behind magic. "By the way, how'd that book turn out?"

Umbra started. "Oh! Super useful, super super." She inclined her head. "Did you want it back?"

"I did lend it to you," he noted with a little smirk. "Enjoying it that much?"

"Very much so. Now, let's focus on apple carts." So the lesson proceeded in how to do things more elegantly.

Once Umbra had a grasp on the idea, she hurried off. "Be right back!" And she was, book floating beside her. "Thanks again for lending this. It had all kinds of shadowy tricks."

"Which you used, I hear." The glow about it shifted as he took the book from her and stored it safely on a shelf. "Brave and Gloriously."

Umbra snorted at that. "That title... But yes, day saved, yay!" She brought her hooves together quietly. "Magic princess to the rescue. Who says you can't be shadowy and a hero at the same time? Not me."

Sunburst laughed nervously. "About... that... I was a little worried, when we first met. But everypony was going on and on about how 'The Brave and Glorious' had saved the day. If that hero wanted a book I'd normally keep hidden, well... Who was I to get in the way of that?" He rubbed behind his head. "If we're being honest--"

"Please." Umbra nodded with certainty. "I prefer honest."

"An interesting stance for a shadow wizard to have." He stroked his long beard. "But, um... My thought... I was lonely... if we're, right... I was alone, and there you were, all powerful and happy and you wanted to talk to me... and I didn't want you to go away, so..."

Umbra shoved her face forward, pressing nose to nose. "You dog! You knew where the book was the whole time, didn't you?" He didn't answer, but his miserable expression was answer enough. "Just ask!" she barked at him. "You're cute in a nerdy way. Lucky for you, I'm alright with that kind of look. If you want to hang out, we can, even when we're not playing O&O." She rolled her eyes, but a new idea came to her, features sharpening.

"Actually! You're a smart pony. You know stuff, right?"

"Right?" Uncertainty was thick in his tone. "What kind of stuff?"

"Changelings." Umbra sat up tall. "What do you know about them?"

"O-oh! I was... there when they invaded Canterlot." He rubbed behind his head. "Confusing mess that was..."

"So I heard." She actually hadn't heard much about that invasion. "But, theory time. You like theories, right?"

"Certainly." He took on a thoughtful stance, like some kind of super-thought hero. "Lay it on me."

"Alright, so... in theory..." She rolled her hooves together over one another. "Let's say you ran into a changeling."

"Alright, one changeling." Like a computer almost, accepting the parameters of the thought experiment.

"Right, but this isn't a mean changeling. In fact, they're kinda nice. They'd like to be your friend even! What do you do?"

"Friendly changeling." He frowned a little. "That is hard to imagine... But, alright, theory... Friendly changeling. They aren't hiding what they are, offer a hoof and a fanged smile."

"I have fangs." Umbra was glad to show them off.

"So you do," he laughed out, caught on that one. "Alright, they smile and offer a hoof. What do I do? Well, if they aren't disguised, and they aren't trying to shove me in a pod... I... guess I'd say hello back?"

Umbra squeaked, much like her hidden changeling friend. "And now you have a changeling friend, congratulations. They're nice though, but they got a huge secret. Most ponies don't know they're a changeling. What do you do?"

"Hm." He tapped at the floor and began to pace back and forth. "That would be an interesting situation." Just as suddenly, he nodded at Umbra, glasses bobbing. "What a treat! Thank you for the exercise."

"No problem..." She hadn't meant for it to be an interesting mental puzzle, but there it was. "No answer?"

"Oh no. A problem like this deserves further consideration." He reached up, horn glowing as he plucked a book off the top shelf. "The ethical quandary you've put before me is quite a good one. Hm. On one hoof, I do have an implied loyalty and expectations to my fellow ponies. Hiding this from them would be a betrayal of that." He set the book down and flipped it open. "On the other, I've accepted the friendship of this creature, a potentially incredibly dangerous creature. I now owe it some measure of loyalty. Whatever decision is made, I will have made some ethical stance in opposition to another."

"That's... true. Ah, let's spice this up."

Sunburst recoiled in horror. "It's already very spicy."

Umbra smirked in victorious glory. "The changeling is an outcast from the other changelings. They're just as scared of them as you are. They like ponies though."

"Ooo... Hm." Sunburst tapped at the book he had brought out. "That is another level of spice, as you mentioned. I'm going to be thinking about this for days! Now they are an asylum seeker. They've trusted me to provide safe harbor. To turn against that? I'd feel horrible. But I still owe my fellow ponies the unspoken laws of civility. I can't go making their lives more dangerous just to sate my own needs..."

Umbra tried to place herself in the same philosophic trail. "By what means could the changeling prove that they are not making things more dangerous, at least themselves?"

"Stop it!" He shoved at her, though was grinning goofily. "Sheesh, this is a real mindbender. How can they? They're predators, and we are the prey. How does a wolf convince a sheep that it means no harm and never will? Would the sheep simply be mad for ever accepting any amount of convincing to the otherwise? So long as the sheep is on the wolf's menu, that's a really hard sell."

40 - Prettiest Pony

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"What?" Umbra blinked at Purple. "Seriously?"

"Right here." Purple lifted a paper attached to her right hoof. "They're having a beauty pageant. Cadance will be the judge. The princess is one of the prettiest mares around." She burst into little giggles. "Cadance and her consort. Judged by royalty!" She wagged the paper. "And you're invited to compete."

Umbra's cheeks began to darken swiftly. "Those guys! Ugh..." Still... The idea of being in such a contest? That was a thing for distant people to do, not something she ever thought she would be doing... "Who's going to be in it?"

"Locals." Her eyes swept over the paper. "Only ponies who live in the empire are invited. You qualify."

"I do live here." It was hard to argue that. "Uh... hm... Alright... Sure! That sounds fun and stupid. Stupidly fun?"

Purple began to applaud. "I am certain the crowd will cheer for you, ma'am. Myself included."

Umbra went for the mirror. "But I've never done this before..."

"That is why you have a servant." Purple was upon Umbra in a hurry. "I'll have you looking your absolute best! Simply let me take care of it."

Umbra was caught in a tornado of care. Her mane was fluffed, her tail brushed, her eyelashes extended to a magnificent flutter. Her shoes were replaced with jeweled ones that sparkled with each step. She wore a flowing dress of shadow-magic colors, greens and purples with dark bands. She was a shadow wizard, and Purple did not deny that part of her look as she glamorized things up.

It felt like just later that day that she was parked in the waiting room with the other contestants. Most of them were crystal ponies, which made sense to her. Most were also mares. Few were the stallions that wanted to be crowned 'prettiest', but there were three that rose to the call. "I love it." Umbra nodded firmly. "It's so nice that Equestria just rolls with that, and you three are looking pretty!" She clapped for all three of them, getting bashful smiles in return.

One of the stallions struck a pose, blowing a kiss and fluttering lashes that were a bit long on a stallion. "The competition is fierce, but I will stay in the fight to the end. Good luck."

"You too." Umbra hesitated a moment. "You open for a hug?" The answer was the hug itself, the two competitors wishing each other well in a warm embrace.

"I tell you." She looked over the many others. "I expected more cutthroat grumpy faces in here." That was how it worked in the movies, right? "I am not complaining. May the prettiest win, and let everyone have a good time." That got the room to stomp in approval. They would do their best, together.

"Miss." A crystal mare was looking over at Umbra. "I just want to say, it is an honor to compete at your side. I know I can't beat you, but I will do my best."

Umbra blushed at that. "You look pretty fine to me, girl. Don't write yourself off." She waved a hoof at the crystal mare. "I love how your dress really works off your general shininess. It's great! Compliments to whoever designed it, and you for wearing it."

But then it was time to do the walk. Umbra had never strutted for a crowd. The only strut she knew required being a biped, which was a thing she wasn't anymore. She wasn't the first called, thankfully, so she watched how the others showed off their stuff. "Just like... that."

"The next contestant, Great and Honorable, Umbra the Brave and Glorious!" The crowd began to cheer and stomp and clap wildly before she had even shown herself. She tried to fight it, but her cheeks lit up brightly despite her commands. She was a star, like it or not. She emerged from behind the curtain, smiling as best she could. Slow walk, show off those hips. She swayed her tail in time with each step. Be a sexy mare! She wasn't sure if she was doing it right, aping, er, horsing? the style she'd seen the others use.

All the eyes were on her. The place was bright, lights reflecting brilliantly off crystal chandeliers. The cheers of the sizable crowd washed over her as she worked her way down the walkway. Something yanked her to the side and she began to list. Even as she tumbled, she realized what it was. She had stepped on her own dress and tripped. Her eyes flared brightly as her magic took a firm grip of her own body, righting herself and avoiding a tumble. The crowd roared. Did they even know she'd almost toppled over?

Play it cool. She did her best to look like that was all part of the show. Flutter the lashes, keep going, right... She made it back to the curtains and ducked into the comforting darkness, heaving for breath. "Umbra, walking with shadow in her steps, proving the dark can be so alluring," spoke the announcer, unseen. "Next up..."

"Are you alright?" It was the crystal mare from before. "That looked tense for a moment there."

She had been spotted! "Yes! Oh... so yes." Umbra began to laugh, some of the tension burst with knowing her secret was out. "Did I recover?"

"Magnificently." The crystal mare applauded. "Many will not even know what happened. That was a good save, and you should be proud...er than you already are, for keeping the walk going."

"Now time for the talent show! What's the point of a pretty pony that doesn't do anything? We have enough statues already. Let's let these ponies show off what makes them shine!"

The shows were delightfully varied. The stallion she had hugged played music on crystal glasses, running his hooves over their rims in an enchantingly complex song for such an odd instrument. The crowd cheered the demonstration.

A mare hopped through flaming hoops. Another went up on her forelegs, doing a handstand walk right down the runway with just as much of a strut and looking calm and collected as she did it.

"I'd like to give a speech." Another mare spoke on the challenges of crystal ponies, coming from such a long time ago in a lyrical rhyming stance that had the crowd stomping along with the beat.

But it was Umbra's turn. She cantered out onto the middle of the stage with a bright sharp smile. "Alright everyone! I hope you're ready to bask in my shine." Even as she said the last word, purplesh darkness exploded from her. It didn't rob senses, instead plunging the room into strange anti-colors. Umbra grew in power, or at least she appeared to, giving the audience shadow vision. "Because I have such sights to share." Her hooves flared with shadow magic as she laughed, launching into a full demonstration of her shadowy tricks.

She strode off the stage with a confident smile. The crowd was cheering wildly behind her. It was, she realized, maybe a little unfair. She had too much of an advantage, being the local hero. She went to her fellow competitors. "Whoever gets second place, they are the real winner in my eyes. I'll make a special prize."

The stallion with the glass-show inclined his head. "You are so confident! What if you are the one getting second place?"

Umbra burst into a new blush, and laughter. "Well, then I guess I'll owe myself a reward. You are all such great sports I'm dying over here." She threw her hooves open. "Win or lose, this was so much fun with great people."

New voices came in from the front, "We have such a delightful collection of talented ponies." Cadance. "To judge them is difficult, but it is our job."

"And one we're going to do." And there was Shining. "But, we're not the only ones. Cast your eyes on the front stage. Images of the contestants will appear. Applaud for them and the winner by popular request will be crowned. Will it be the same as the one we pick? Let's find out."

Cheering and stomps rose and fell, presumably as pictures of the contestants were shown. "That's neat." Umbra nodded firmly. "Two chances to win!"

"This way please." A prim and proper crystal mare was waving at them. "We're about to announce the winners." That got them moving, shuffling up to the front.

"Third place, with a smile for days and hooves that capture music." A great image of the stallion appeared and he trotted out, blowing kisses and looking quite pleased. Cadance leaned forward over her mic. "I dare say he'd be a shoe-in for most handsome, but he manages to balance handsome and beauty in one package." The crowd cheered for the first winner.

Shining put a hoof over the mic, but it heard him anyway, a fact he seemed to know, the wink he gave. "Honey, keep your eyes forward."

She stuck out her tongue in defiance. "Second place, our local hero of shadows. Rated 'the thing I hope is hiding under my bed.' Umbra!" Cadance waved as Umbra emerged, looking surprised. She had gotten second place. Still, um, second place! That was still really good!

#1 went to the crystal mare, shining with all the lights directed at her with dazzling brilliance where her dress didn't mute it to lend vibrant splashes of colors as she waved and thanked the crowd.

"But that's not all. You chose your favorite." Shining stood up, waving to the front. "And there she is." Umbra was suddenly pushed out past the curtain into the light. "Great and Honorable, Umbra the Brave and Glorious!" The cheering was loud, arguably too loud as hooves stomped and voices called. "Brave defender, home builder, smoking hot dress wearer, and proving that magic is in the hooves of the wielder." He and Cadance applauded, allowing the crowd to do the wild part of things.

"T-thanks." Umbra was lit up, bright under her dark fur. "You're all too much! It's been nothing but a delight joining you all here in the Crystal Empire. Let's make more great memories together." She blew a kiss, only making the cheering get louder. "Thank you!"

That didn't stop the smug look they were all giving her as she returned to the waiting room. "Yeah yeah." She turned to the stallion. "I'm giving that prize over to you. Boy, you were rocking it and not afraid to let the world see it. You get my vote! Let me know what sort of thing you'd like."

The stallion dipped his head. "You are too kind. It was an honor to compete against you. So close! But I lost to two visions of enchantment, so I can't be all that angry." He set a hoof over his chest. "Keep watch over us and I will consider my prize received in full. Your kind words mean more than any crystal bauble you would waste time on when you could be doing more important work."

The other crystal ponies applauded his decisision. The one other not-crystal pony snorted. "He's being shy. Make him something nice and he'll treasure it forever."

Umbra softly giggled. "I had a feeling that might be what was going on. Prepare yourself, because I'm going to waste some time." Her tongue slipped free. "Not that making gifts for a new friend is ever a waste of time."

The contest was over with not a single hard feeling to be had. It likely helped that the entire idea was entirely alien to the crystal ponies. Just being a part of it was novel and amazing all on its own. With luck, the traditions set on that first one would carry forward, and the contestants would remain ever bright and warm to one another each year they came together to shine as brightly as they could on the eager audience.

At least, Umbra hoped so.

41 - Feeling You

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"Umbra, a few things." Shining was looking at her over the breakfast table. "When you first came here, you called yourself queen. Why was that? And are you upset, being a princess instead?"

Umbra's ears flickered. "Oh, right. I did do that... It felt right, at the time." She lifted her shoulders. "But in pony land, princess is queen, so whatever. I just got the terms mixed up." She looked to Cadance, stuffing her snout with a sweet pastry. "I'm still alright with you being in charge. Not sure I want to lead an entire city. I'll handle shadows, and crystals. Oh! Oh, good news!" She began to clap excitedly. "Crystal mining? Both fun and productive. My magic causes barely any damage when I mine it directly, as opposed to shaping it, or creating it out of nothing. Push up the schedule on the arena."

Cadance nodded softly. "That is good news. It still amazes me how enthusiastic you are. That is not a complaint. But Shining did have another question, which I share. I have felt nothing from you, Umbra. Are you alright? It must be quite tiring to keep the door closed at all hours of the day and night. How do you even manage it?"

Umbra pointed up at her bejeweled tiara. "Congratulations! You discovered one of the spells I have locked in here. It flips the lock on the door. So long as I wear this, I'd have to spend energy to crack it open, instead of having to focus on closing it. Outgoing only. I don't want to miss a signal from you two in case you need to get something across to me."

Shining smiled warmly at that. "Aw, thanks. That's really thoughtful of you. I didn't know you could do that, but... I guess that makes sense. You've learned how to lock up any spell you can cast, basically, right?"

"Right!" Umbra nodded firmly before snapping up some fried oats. "Mmm, compliments to the chef, really good today!"

Shining rubbed behind his head. "Does that mean you don't mind feeling us?"

"Hm? You bottle up before you do... really private things." She shrugged at the idea. "The rest isn't so bad."

Cadance coughed into a hoof gently. "Not to dissuade you... but we are living creatures. We do things that would be... uncouth to share, and I don't always remember to shut the door beforehoof..."

Umbra burst into fresh laughter. "I am happy to report that both of your excretion systems work properly, as an outside observer. It was creepy, at first. I'm pretty used to it, but it also prompts me to think about my own needs. One of you goes, and I'm off to the little filly's room a second after more often than not."

Both of the royal couple were blushing at that. "Stop that." Umbra waved at them. "It was so much worse when I had to share bedroom times."

Shining pointed at the tiara. "If you could make that, and lock it out, why not give us each one of those?" Cadance nodded quickly, the same question twinkling in her eyes.

"I could..." Umbra worried her hooves together softly. "But I like... it a little... Ugh. It's a closeness, an intimacy. We're tight, literally. I... Look, if you want, I'll get to enchanting. Now I'm the one being a creep." She planted a hoof on her face. "Forgive me?"

Shining set a hoof on his chest. "I'm not opposed to it, at this point." His tail flicked behind him. "I was just confused. You seemed like you wanted to get away from us."

Cadance leaned in a little. "I am glad that wasn't the case... But our relationship remains a little... uncertain."

"We're friends, really good friends." Umbra nodded as she mused through it. "Super tight. They say a friend would help you move a couch, and a true friend would help you move a body. We're in that second category."

Cadance blanched at the image presented. "Wicked shadow pony! What a terrible idea... Let us hope such a need never arises between us."

"Now my turn." Umbra pointed at Cadance. "You voted me #2 pretty. Am I pretty or not?"

Cadance smiled, her cheeks warm and colored. "You are a pretty pony, Umbra. You didn't need me to confirm that."

"You are a mare." Umbra rolled her eyes. "You know having that confirmed is a nice thing."

"I can't argue that..." Cadance sipped from her morning juice. "You are #1 rated by popular request. You could have just about any pony in the empire."

"I could..." Umbra trailed a hoof on the table. "But I'm still... Alright, I have a decent grasp on me now, which is good! Great! I'm a mare, and I like it." She waggled her tail with a sudden burst of enthusiasm. "Even the parts I thought were kind of odd before are warming up to me."

Cadance raised a brow. "What parts were those, if I can ask?"

"Ugh... It's going to sound really odd, since they all have to do with the other body I had, which doesn't matter anymore. I like having a tail that wags. It's weird that I don't have a butt. It's attached to my legs in a way I can't even describe... I like these ears." She wagged them for show. "You can talk through them, and they love talking, even if you're not trying. Even these big round cheeks!" She plonked her hooves on her round equine cheeks. "So big! I've learned to like them. I am a mare, and that's pretty grand."

Shining clopped softly. "I also have... learned to enjoy being a mare." That got odd looks from both of the mares actually there. "What? I've felt... everything you two have felt, at least before you put on that tiara." His cheeks darkened swiftly. "All of it. It's different from a stallion, but not a bad different. Just different. I feel... like I got a new perspective on things, and that's a blessing, isn't it?"

Cadance clapped down on his closer shoulder. "It is, and I'm very proud of you for seeing it that way. I... have felt what it is to be a stallion in the same way." Her cheeks, like Shining, began to darken. "And it was not displeasing. I understand my stallion so much better now, and I'm happy for that. That he understands me only makes me happier." She leaned in and soon they were gently nuzzling one another in joy.

Umbra got a sappy smile, feeling the nuzzle from both ends. "Aw, you two are such loveys!" She didn't sound displeased about it. "Serious side-step, but you two seem pretty happy with each other." She turned both hooves at herself. "Why were you even considering throwing me in on that?"

Shining flicked an ear back. "I was being foalish. I already stopped."

"Yeah..." Umbra hadn't gotten a strange look, or comment, from Shining in a while. "You have, and you're fun to play O&O with, so there's that." Her eyes went to Cadance.

Cadance worried her hooves together softly. "I've been asking myself that question. I've been challenging myself to answer, truthfully... I.... think I may have an answer, even if it makes me look quite silly... During my lowest point, I was placed in isolation and misery. My husband was... not. Tortured in a different way, isolation was very much not the issue..." She tapped her hooves slowly. "He had company, the wrong sort, but company... He was with a monster, and some little part of me can't get over that."

She could see Shining's hurt expression. "I know! I know I said I forgive... I'm not mad at you... but the situation. There is a difference. The... little foal in me has a big ole pout. 'When do I get to be with a monster?' she asks. 'Is that a stallion only thing? That's not fair...'" Cadance raised a hoof over her face. "Even saying that out loud makes me feel stupider by the moment. It was dumb, I was dumb! That you can forgive me this far is, itself, a miracle. One I scarcely deserve."

Umbra leaned forward, head on her touching hooves. "So you wanted to experience something. Shining wasn't really involved, other than maybe an excuse to make it easier." The miserable appearance on Cadance's face was more than enough answer to her. "God, we're adults in this room." She tapped a hoof on the table. "You could just ask? Asking is great. It's how adults get what they want." A sudden lack of confidence swept over her. There was a thing she hadn't dared to ask. A secret she was hiding. "But... I get it. Sometimes the right words are hard to find... I get that... As an adult..."

Umbra extended a hoof towards Cadance. "As an adult, if you want this hoof, you have to ask for it. I said it before, and it's still true."

Cadance's ears pricked up. "You aren't saying no."

"Nor have I said yes. You still haven't asked." Umbra's eyes went to Shining. "And you don't count. Blame Cades for that. She threw your vote out a while ago."

"Thanks." He smirked at Cadance, arms folding in indignity. "I see how it is."

"Don't be like that..." But her eyes were on Umbra, thought on her face. "Umbra."

"Yes?"

"I would like... to spend an evening with you. I would like to explore you, as a pony. In return, you can do the same to me." A little smile spread. "We are bound together through the crystal on our rumps. Perhaps something more can come of it, or not. I would like to see. Umbra, will you give me an evening?"

Umbra's eyes slid towards Shining. "This is your wife, man. I can't say yes to that without your alright, which is not a vote, it's a veto. You can shut this down, hard, right now. I am not here to bust up your thing. You got a nice thing! I love it. I want it to last."

Shining reached for her, setting his hoof on her arm just past her hoof. "Thank you, for respecting that, and me. Thank you." He took a slow breath. "I won't lie. I'll be jealous." He smiled softly. "Even as I realize you two may do nothing but compare notes and ideas. But jealousy isn't reason enough to make me step back from something that'd make my Cadey happy." He raised a hoof suddenly. "My opinion would be different if you were a stallion."

Cadance's brows waggled suddenly. "About that."

Shining's eyes went wide. "I do not like the way you said that! Umbra, do you have a secret I'm not aware of?"

Umbra thrust up her hooves wardingly. "Woah woah woah... I... used to have those parts, but not for a while now, and I'm not rushing to get them back. Mare, me, that's what I am." She nodded, quite sure of that fact and that she was perfectly happy with that fact.

"You've inspired me." Cadance was looking at Umbra intensely. "Examining the facets of my power. I am a pony of ties and connections, what draws ponies together. That is physical and mental, the ties." She played her hooves together. "Physical." She said that word slowly and purposefully. "And I think I almost have that... working. Since you are attracted to stallions... I could try to strengthen that tie between us, to draw us closer through it."

Umbra recoiled. "But I'm attracted to you as a lovely lady mare." She pointed at Shining. "He's the guydude stallion! The sexy between you two is very different."

"True, but that remains a dangling thread from you, waiting for that right stallion." Cadance reached for the thing only she could see. "I can draw it out, I think, or use it to pull myself closer... But first, an evening. Princess Umbra, may I have that?"

42 - An Evening

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"One thing." Cadance set down a crystal glass before Umbra, swirling subtly with the dark red crystal berry wine within it. "Take off that tiara."

Umbra blinked, hooves going up to it defensively. "Why?"

Cadance leaned in, breath teasing at Umbra's furry face. "Because Shining knows what we're doing, and he can feel me, but not you. If he can't be in the room, he can at least be in the room."

"Oh..." That sorta kinda made sense... Umbra lifted up her tiara, held between her hooves, and set it on a small table nearby. "Cades, I will just say it flat, but you're making me a little nervous. Curious, sure, but nervous too. I've seen enough anime to know where this could be headed." Cadance did not see enough anime. She looked quite confused at the words spoken. "The way you were talking, either you're going to grow boy bits, or I am. If it's the latter, hard no."

Cadance skewed an ear to the side as she circled Umbra at a slow pace. "But the former, you're alright with?"

"With informed consent, sure." Umbra nudged the glass away. "Which is why I'm not drinking that." She folded her arms. "Besides, I prefer remembering things like this anyway."

"What makes consent 'informed'?"

Umbra threw up her hooves. "That you can ask that tells me so much about this world." Despite that, she flopped over onto her back, hooves curled above her and a smile on her face. "Consent is 'informed' when the per--pony you are asking understands exactly what you are asking permission for and isn't pressured, subtly or not, into saying yes. This makes getting informed consent tricky for you." She wagged a hoof at Cadance. "At least with most."

Cadance sat down and up at once, rising her head fully. "Why is that? So long as I don't zap them, I'm not forcing them. That isn't hard to do."

Umbra wagged her left forehoof at Cadance. "See, that? I bet the other princesses would get it. You're a princess. That carries a huge load of baggage. If you ask a pony to do something, they'll want to do it. They don't want an upset princess. That is pressure, even if you say nothing about it. Now, Shining's alright. You were married to him before you assumed the throne. He loves you to death. No consent issues there."

Cadance cringed at the idea being painted for her. "So... I can't even ask you, or anypony else, then?"

"It's tricky," sang Umbra. "But, in your favor, our power dynamic has shifted." She changed the balance between her dangling hooves. "I'm a princess too. No position, sure, but, princess. Our levels got way closer, and I've already thrown off your yoke, and you didn't stop me."

Cadance blinked softly. "Didn't stop you?"

Umbra rolled up to sitting on her haunches. "This world is adorable! In mine, if you told a King or Queen that you were on even footing with them, they'd at best, inform you that you are super wrong. Let's not discuss the worse options."

Cadance was still a moment. "You did say that. I didn't argue it." She wagged a hoof between herself and Umbra. "I want us on equal standing."

"Good!" Umbra hopped up to all fours. "Then that means I can say no, and you'll accept that as an answer I could give, right?"

"Right?" She inclined her head. "Though I am hoping you don't say that. I am allowed to hope that?"

"Of course." Umbra advanced, touching nose to nose. "It'd be a dark and terrible world where hopes are regulated. Not this one, I think."

Cadance smiled, keeping her nose in contact. "I'm glad to hear that. Now, Umbra, you noticed something about me before. Something even Shining never noticed."

"I did?!" Her ears went up, but she resisted recoiling, to keep the noses together, their breath shared in proximity. "What'd I see?"

"You saw I wanted excitement." Cadance gently cupped Umbra's round equine cheeks. "You saw I wanted a thrill. You are that thrill, on many levels. I want to soar with you. I want to explore dark places. I want to adventure." She sighed into that shared air between them. "I want to do things with you that don't fit the image I've built up for myself."

Umbra slapped a fetlock over her snout, backing away as she giggled a little. "Oh! Oh, yeah, alright, yeah... I get that." She started to waggle a hoof, but the motion was aborted, instead turning downwards to point directly at Cadance's haunches, or rather, her groin. "And you know what a stallion feels like, but you don't know what it's like to be the driver of that car. So, plowing the dark princess sounds really exciting right now."

Cadance's blush went from nothing to full intensity fast enough to make her look a little dizzy for a moment. "Shining is a straight shot. He doesn't want... me to do that to him. Perhaps the day we try him as a mare, but that's practically a running joke. He has yet to agree to that, so..."

"So there I am." Umbra pointed at herself. "An available mare you know, who Shining will let you even consider that with." Umbra nodded, understanding cemented. "I get it. This is the adult time, which means we be honest, with each other, and ourself." She thumped herself on the chest. "Part of me is curious what that'd be like... to be a mare under a stallion."

"With the right stallion." Cadance got a dreamy smile, her blush spreading but becoming less intense. "It can feel wonderful."

"Shining is good at sex, roger." Umbra smirked viciously. "But are you? You've never done it, as a stallion, gonna guess really easily."

"Are you?" Cadance pointed accusingly. "You've done it as a mare exactly zero times."

Umbra recoiled, but broke into laughter in the motion. "Ouch! Nailed me in one there. Alright, we're both clueless virgins then. We have experience, but... tangential."

Cadance leaned forward. "That you're talking about this... Does it mean you're interested?"

"I'd be lying if I said no." Umbra hiked a brow at the larger princess. "This is some straight fetish fuel right here. But I want to know something."

"Anything." Cadance set her hooves together with a bright smile. "I am an open book."

"Do you want to be a stallion?" She cycled her hooves in the air. "Just between you and me, but is this... a long term want, or a short term want?"

Cadance began to darken anew. "Short term! I am a mare, and quite happy with that. But just because... I want to try it, to put on different shoes for a time, but not as a fashion shift."

"Challenge." Umbra pointed at Cadance with a rigidly straight leg. "If you want me as a stallion, you're going to have to admit you're alright with mares, and that means you'll have to get kissy and snuggly with me as a mare first. Stallion can come after that." She rolled her eyes suddenly. "I refuse to have that relation be 'I only like her when I'm wearing this specific hat.'"

Cadance went still, just breathing and gazing at Umbra for a time. She set her forehooves out, drawing herself up to all fours. "I see..." She took two steps forward, enough to erase the distance between them. "I will note, I have no experience with what two mares... do."

"I can help with that." Umbra watched Cadance come closer, not moving away or towards, just watching her. "The intent is more important. Besides, lovers should support one another, not rate them. That's kinda mean."

Cadance smirked softly at that. "I just rated Shining, didn't I?"

Umbra snorted softly at that. "That's different! You were singing his praises. You're always allowed to do tha--" She didn't get to finish. Cadance was on her, mashing lips together. Cadance's head was angled to the side, allowing their lips to meet properly. Umbra could feel equine lips easily meeting her own, skilled things they were. Her own reacted in kind, wanting to join and feel at the pony that was kissing her.

Her heart thundered in her chest. It was a kiss, a real kiss. A romantic kiss. The first she'd had as a pony, and... it was nice. Cadance smelled so nice. Feminine, but she was a girly girl, all pink and round. Umbra pressed back against it, reaching a hoof to run along Cadance's sides, inviting her in closer.

An invitation that was accepted, hooves coming back at her, drawing Umbra closer. Cadance's eyes were closed, her nose flaring, taking in her own scent as they flopped over to the side, lost in one another's arms. Their legs kicked gently, brushing against the other in a way that Umbra didn't expect to feel so exciting. She was making love, as a pony.

It was not human love. The points of contact that sent thrills through her were not what she was used to, but she was loving every second of it. Finding them became a focus, letting her hooves wander slowly, seeking out what made Cadance tense and shiver. Cadance drew free of the kiss, only to start nipping and licking across her snout, exploring her face in a way that only felt good.

In another room, Shining sat, looking out a window, and coloring in whole new ways. He could feel himself being caressed and licked and loved, twice. They were doing things, and he was a part. He didn't even know how to stop it. He could plug up the outgoing, but not the incoming. He'd never even tried, and it was a bit late to worry about that... Their relationship had changed, in a way it would likely never recover from, only, one hoped, adapt to.

Part of him wanted to do something, anything! But if he did, he'd be intruding on them. Well, he could block off his part first? Though the idea of holding that barrier up while being bombarded with their feelings and also whatever he did himself? That was basically asking for something to go wrong. No... He'd sit and experience... And maybe like it.

"Eek!" Cadance drew her face away. "Watch your horn." She set a hoof on Umbra's horn, guiding it away as she came back in to nuzzle and groom at Umbra's head. "Hazard of being a unicorn."

"Sorry." They were virgins, mistakes would happen! But that brought up a thought. "You ever just... start chewing on your feathers?"

"Preening?"

"Yes! I forg--" Her words failed. Cadance snapped her mouth shut around Umbra's closer wing and she began to preen gently, setting the feathers in the right order. Preening herself had felt satisfying and calming. Having someone else do it? That felt intimate! "Oh..." Umbra lunged forward, grabbing Cadance's wing in revenge.

The two stopped looking for erogenous zones. They had a nice big target in front of them, grooming the other's wings. It was an evolutionary advantage, to be distracted a moment, that two pegasi would feel good when they groomed each other, helping both be at their best when they took flight. It brought wingmates closer together and built connections.

It was that evolution that led to their intimacy. They were making love through their twitching wings. Nothing else mattered in that moment, just the slow and methodic process of setting each feather in its precise proper place, layering them with a thin film that came from their lips as they worked, waterproofing them. But that was secondary, a side effect. The main point was that satisfied little sighs and gasps that came from their partner. To be preened by someone you liked felt great, and to do it felt almost as good.

"T-thank you," got out Cadance as she worked. "For not letting me rush ahead."

"A little girl time." Umbra nuzzled into the fluffy wing. "No rush."

43 - Royal Consort

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It was with a fanged smile that Umbra trotted along. She was emerging from the castle, her eyes set towards the mines. Already her mind was filled with the visions of what glorious hauls of crystals she'd dredge up alongside the other workers. They'd get that arena done! She was ready! She felt great! That the previous evening had turned out... well... had only bolstered her feelings.

Could she be blamed? She got laid in the first time in, um... a while... and it was good! She felt like a fire had been kindled in her that she had forgotten all about. She had been so focused on finding herself and her place in the world that she had set it entirely aside, only for it to find her.

"Excuse me." She ducked around Shining, but he moved with her. "Hm?"

"Umbra." He dipped his head at her. "I've been thinking."

Oh no. Not those words, from him, at that moment. She could feel a dread chill down her spine, and it wasn't a work of shadow magic. "You alright?"

"I am a princess consort." He did quite the ornate bow towards Umbra.

"Yep. That's you." Umbra inclined her head, unsure where Shining was going with that.

"You are a princess."

She blinked with wide eyes. "What?! I mean, yes, but..." She glanced around hurriedly, but most ponies were moving past them, ignoring them intentionally. "Where are you going with this?"

"You and Cadance have found a new relationship, and I don't plan to object to it." He leaned in close. "But being on the side... I can't say I'm a huge fan. There was a plan, before. You could take it up now."

Umbra smiled awkwardly. "You are a handsome stallion." She reached out to poke him on his plated chest. He was wearing full and proper armor, all shining and proper. "And a fine O&O player. Blame me for being slow, but put aside the courtly double-speak and just say it plain. We're both adults."

"Both adults, right." He turned at last, starting to walk the same way she had been, allowing her progress along the way. "Right, of course. I... forget how refreshingly direct you are at times. For being an harbinger of shadows, you are not very subtle."

Umbra flashed a grin. "Well, shadows aren't very subtle half the time. You aren't confused when night falls. Someone closes the door, the shadow that comes doesn't do it stealthily. I am a fast shadow, and just as hard to turn back." She pumped a hoof along the way. "But this isn't about me, obviously. So, talk."

"Right." His favorite word of the day, clearly. "I am offering up my... consort'ness to you. Assuming you two can share, which I think you can, there shouldn't be a problem." He dipped to the side to walk along with her instead of ahead of her. "I want to be a part of things."

"One problem." She raised a hoof up. "But first, I have no problem with you, Shiny! But back to the problem." She pounced forward, landing on the rim of a fountain she hurriedly trailed along, just to hop free the instant she needed to be past it. "What Cadance did was a one time thing. She at least claims she's really happy being a lady-pony, which means she can't go plowing me on the regular."

Shining began to darken swiftly, another unsubtle shadow rushing upon him, difficult to turn away. Had Umbra spoken true?! "Cadance... She loves seeing ponies brought together. She loves being together. That meant me, before, at least... like that. Now it's me, and you."

"Yeah, I get that. But, in theory, a one time thing?"

"Is it?" He leaned in from the side. "Gonna bet she'll share some wing time." His blush only grew worse. "What was that? I... don't have wings, but I could feel that. I had wings, and they were very happy wings." If he had them, they'd be fluttering, but he didn't, so a full-body shiver would have to do. "That was something only two ponies with wings could do, and we have very few pegasi in this city."

"On the way to work?" There was Wensley, waving with a big smile. It was then that he saw Shining walking with Umbra. "O-oh, bad time? Sorry."

But Umbra accelerated towards him. "Actually, Shining, this is Wensley. Wensley, Shining Armor." The two nodded at one another, both looking awkward. "And you are both thinking of things you wouldn't want the world to know." Both stallions paled, called out! "And neither of you should be so embarrassed. Different sins lurk beneath your adorable faces, but you're both great people. Wrath in one, Lust in the other."

Shining suddenly nudged Umbra aside, taking a defensive stance between her and Wensley. "Wrath?"

Wensley wilted straight away. "Uhm... You're... married, sir. Lustful thoughts are quite improper, aren't they?"

It was Shining's turn to wilt, called out in time. Umbra nodded to either of them. "You both have a similar problem. But he hasn't hurt anyone." She waved at Wensley. "And you aren't cheating on anyone." She waved at Shining in kind. "Just thoughts, getting in your way."

Umbra kept up her walk, forcing the stallions to match her pace or be left behind, and both were doing that. "Now, just out of curiosity. Wensley? Do you know what preening is?"

Wensley blinked at that. "That thing birds do? When they look like they're nibbling their feathers?"

"That!" Umbra nodded firmly. "But instead of a bird, how about a pegasus?"

Wensley darkened all the more. "I'm not a pegasus, ma'am. Never saw one doing that. It's a private thing, I think."

Umbra flared her wings wide in either direction. "Wow. I didn't know it was that unusual. Makes sense though..." Only a third of ponies had wings that needed preening, at best, and that was skewed further in the crystal empire, where most were earth ponies who were made of gems. "Well, I have wings, which apparently need that, which I've only recently learned."

As happy as she was to learn more about herself, the two males with her were busy looking awkward in different ways. Neither wanted to talk to her with the other there. "Stop being like that. You two have more in common than you give credit for." She thumped sidelong into Shining, just to give Wensley a turn. "Besides, here we are." She gestured with a toss of her head at what was ultimately a hole in the ground, framed with supporting stone and crystal. "I have to get mining. So unless you want to mine too?" She looked to each of them.

Neither of them took her up on that offer, and she vanished into darkness, off into the depths to get some crystals.

Shining turned to Wensley. "She did that on purpose."

"Guess she didn't really want to talk to either of us right now." Wensley rubbed behind his head. "Shoot."

"Yeah... I feel bad too." He suddenly smiled. "Wanna go get something to eat? My treat."

"Really?" Wensley's gloomy expression brightened. "You want to?"

"You're a friend of hers. She doesn't usually make bad friends, so it's just up to me to figure it out. C'mon. I think we could both use something tasty right now." He lead the way off to get some lunch.

"Ma'am."

Cadance nodded at the guard. "Is something the matter?"

"Nothing severe. I think somepony was poking around the mirror." He pointed the way. "The cloth over it was disturbed."

Cadance snorted softly. "There are ponies cleaning the area. One of them could have even taken it off."

The guard nodded at the idea. "Possible, ma'am. I just wanted to let you know."

"And you have." She was smiling gently. "Thank you. Perhaps a sign would be best, to inform ponies to not disturb it?"

"Right away." He marched away to see it done.

"Aunty..." Why she was given that big ornate mirror to watch was still something of a mystery. At least it wasn't a very difficult task, overall.

"A letter arrived for you." Purple had an envelope in her lips. "While you were occupied, ma'am."

"Oh? Wonder who--"

"--It's from Shining Armor," cut in Purple, answering before the question was finished.

"Oh." Umbra waved it over, her magic taking hold and floating it before her eyes. Yep, there was his name. The back had his seal on it, which she broke with a swish of a hoof and some dark magic. "Why is he mailing me? We live in the same place."

Hello Umbra,
Our conversation was cut short before. I know you are a very busy mare. Wensley's an alright pony, by the way. But that's off topic. My instincts are very sure that you have not seen the last of Cadance. I just want to be a part of that. Is that such an unusual request for her husband?

Umbra cringed at the words. "No..." She was sleeping with the guy's wife! She was the one being a jerk. She read on.

But I get it! I do. You're worried about upsetting her, and being a bad pony. That's why you pointed me at Wensley. We all have our naughty thoughts, and you're not an exception. You're trying to be good too, and you know what? You have a point! It wasn't a point you said, but one you implied. This is a conversation all three of us should have. Trying to do it quietly between us was wrong. Cadance got my permission before she had that evening. I owe her at least that courtesy.
Besides, I want her involved too. I love her, dearly. I want her to be happy. I just don't want to be left behind.
Sorry About Earlier,
Shining Armor, princess consort

Umbra sank back on her haunches. "Huh..." She began to tap at the floating paper. "Good! Good..."

"You don't look like it's good," noted Purple. "Is it something I can assist with?"

"No... Oh, actually..." She fixed her eyes on her loyal servant. "If two princesses shared a consort, what would you think of that?"

Purple colored, a disease that was making the rounds. "O-oh! I... That would be between the princesses. It isn't up to me to decide the policies of the ruling class, ma'am. If they can share without fighting, that's a good thing, I suppose?" She rubbed at her cheek awkwardly. "Poor consort."

Umbra blinked, not imagining that response. "Why is the consort put out by this?"

"They have to be at both their sides." Purple flashed a renewed smile. "Have to dress in coordination with them both. That'd be quite the task, matching schedules and outfits and... It's hard enough for any pony to get that right with any one pony, let alone two."

"Huh..." Umbra raised a hoof to her chin. "You have a point. That would be work. What if only one of the princesses was a specifically 'royal function' sort?"

"That'd make it easier." Purple nodded slowly, thinking of it. "Avoids having to be beside two ponies at the same function. Can you imagine that? Glad I'm not their servant. They'd need some good ones to keep them up for such a thing." She leaned forward, smiling at Umbra. "You're much easier. Your needs are straight forward, and I fulfill them well, I do hope?"

Umbra clapped down a hoof on either of Purple's shoulders. "You are a treat from start to end." Her magic crumpled up the paper as dark magic spilled from her, causing it to fall to dust, withering under her assault. "And that's private."

Purple watched the bits of paper fall to nothing. "I could have thrown that out, ma'am."

"I don't need any other eyes on that besides my own." She turned towards her books. "But I will be responding. You can deliver a letter to Shining, yeah?"

"Without delay." Purple saluted sharply, ready to be a mail courier for her lady.

44 - Meeting Poly

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"I'm glad you could both make it." Umbra smiled at the two that she had felt small before. That day, she felt like the one in charge. A good feeling, but it came with responsibilities. "So I'm here to school you both. You want to open your relationship, but not bungle the one you have." She waved a hoof between the bashful Shining and the mildly uncertain Cadance. "A fine goal! And I'm glad to help."

Cadance leaned forward. "You're not a therapist. Not to offend, but why are you an authority in this?"

"While I am not any kind of licensed therapist or whatever." Umbra waved that idea away. "I've been around enough people over the years that had poly relationships, but this isn't poly." She raised a brow at Cadance. "Unless you plan on adding to you collection?"

Cadance blanched mid recoil. "No! It is not my intention to seek out any others."

"Great." Umbra didn't seem at all bothered by the topic. "Then what you two have is a lovely relationship, but you're still changing the boundaries. As caring adults that want their +1s to be happy, that means you have to lay the lines down clearly." She made a painting gesture, as if a brush were attached to her right hoof. "Because the ones you had don't quite apply anymore. Now, you did that to start, which is good! Very good. If this was a matter of cheating, we'd be having a whole other conversation."

Shining shrank as if he were being called out, to Cadance's clear confusion. "I was the one that... did things, Shining. Why do you look guilty?"

Shining cleared his throat. "Well... I was considering it, and... even approached Umbra about it."

"And I turned him down," finished Umbra without delay. "And he realized his mistake and here we are. Nobody actually did anything wrong, so far. We're here right now to avoid that. So." She stood up fully and coiled to direct her nose at her cutie mark. "We are bound by this thing. The crystal, not my ass, lovely as it is. We tried to just pretend it was a temporary 'thing', but it sure looks like we're making it more than that."

Cadance pricked up her ears. "Does that upset you? I don't want to impose on you. I know you didn't ask for this."

"I didn't. I didn't ask to be a magical pony princess either, but I'm also alright with that." She struck a pose and a smirk. "More than alright, really. So let's get to drawing those lines. First." She sank to her haunches to point a hoof at either of the other ponies there. "You two are the primaries. There can be no doubt here. I'm not even jealous. Shoot, you have a foal on the way, and they get to inherit your kingdom, um, if that's how Pony Politics works?"

Cadance blushed softly. "Well... In the old days, yes. These days, it is more often an active choice of a pony who they wish to cede their things when they wish to. In the lack of a clear statement, the child, or children, of that pony is still the default. Or the spouse, if that works out." She suddenly smiled at Shining. "Want to rule a kingdom?"

"Not if it meant you weren't in it." Shining clopped a hoof down. "That sounds like a nightmare."

"Aw." Umbra clapped her hooves together with an endeared smile. "You two are so pure! This is why I'm not even jealous. You two, primary, done deal." She turned one hoof on herself. "Me? I'm the third wheel, but one you happen to like. You both have an interest in me, very different interests."

Shining cleared his throat, sitting up tall. "I just want to be a part of things. I'm glad Cady found something she likes."

Cadance leaned over, pressing her nose to his cheek. "Thank you for that, but it was a one time thing."

Umbra rolled her eyes at that. "So you never want to be preened again?" That got a nice big blush out of Cadance. "Thought so. And Shining felt that, between us. Poor guy never had any wings, but suddenly he had two singing the praises of a good session of love and care." Her own wings fidgeted as if to remind her that they were entirely up to another session like that. "Now, just to address this, we could just stop sharing our feelings." She pointed up at her tiara, blocking her outgoing sensations already.

That got Shining darkening. "But... I like it."

"I do too," admitted Cadance, sharing in Shining's embarrassment, but the two slid closer together as if the shared admission drew them tighter. "Alright. Umbra, thank you. You are being so accommodating in this. I don't even have the proper words to describe it. Are you really alright just being 'the plus one' like that? Don't you want a pony to share a special bond with, like Shining and I?"

"I may," sang out Umbra. "But not yet. If I approach a pony, or some other fantastical creature--" She wasn't willing to write that off just yet. She already knew one that was lovely! "--then I'll start by telling them the situation I'm in. If they can't handle that, well, I'm barking up the wrong tree, as they say where I come from. Better keep looking, but I won't lie to them."

Shining rubbed at his cheek. "Just like that, huh? 'I'll Adult the situation.'"

"Yep!" Umbra nodded firmly. "Exactly that. And if they can't handle that, again, I'm obviously in the wrong place. Now, back to us." She spread her hooves towards both of them. "Let's cover the basics. Do ponies have STIs?"

Both looked quite baffled. Cadance dared to ask, "STIs?"

"Sexually Transmitted Infections," explained Umbra in clear precise syllables. "It means any sickness that a person has that another person can get by getting intimate with them. Is that a problem around here?"

Cadance cringed at the idea. "That sounds horrible! I am happy to report that I know of no such thing, and hope we never learn of them. The very idea, that love could bring illness... Like a curse..."

"Great!" Umbra was not at all put off. "That's one thing we don't have to worry about then." She made a slashing motion in the air left to right as if slicing that off an imagined list. "Time! There are fewer things that can get a poly relationship sour than one of them coming home to bed and, oops, there are people already there, using it, and they don't really want company right now."

Shining pointed at Umbra. "We could avoid that by always using your room. At least when you're involved. If you're part of it, you wouldn't be put out, and then that just can't happen."

Umbra blinked softly. "Point! That's a good point. But there's an extra thing." She nodded at either of them. "If we start doing things, the other will feel it. And that's your choice so don't even give any looks. I could block it all off but you don't wanna. Are you alright with having an important talk with someone and suddenly sexy feelings?"

Cadance sat up tall. "I respect that those were feelings you were both unprepared for and unasked for." She was looking at Umbra. "But I will not complain. I know... what that feels like."

Umbra wondered a moment if that qualified as a kink, that both of them were perfectly alright with that. "About that... I would prefer you two not spill over on me if I'm not there. Any objections to keeping that going?"

Shining raised a hoof swiftly. "You got it." A sharp salute. "I've gotten used to it."

"I'm so relieved." Cadance spread her wings wide, bringing them down on either of the two ponies she was talking to. "This is far less troublesome than I feared it would be."

And so those boundaries were set.

"And that's what I did." Umbra nodded at Shifting. "I'm officially in a polycule."

Shifting inclined her head slowly. "You have a word for that?"

"The one I just said." She poked her crystal bat of a friend. "But I promised I'd tell anyone about it before anything happened, so they'd know."

Shifting's tufted ears were atwitter. "You're going to... tell everycreature? See a pony on the street, tell them?"

Umbra laughed at the idea. "Not that far." She put an arm around Shifting, drawing them closer. "Just the ones that I'm interested in, or that seem interested in me."

That got Shifting to darken in her fuzzy cheeks. "O-oh! Oh..." Shifting looked away and back. "You knew?"

Umbra's brows came down together. "This was a secret?!" She thumped her head against Shifting, avoiding poking Shifting with her horn. "This world is so adorable at times, I can't even."

"And you're not grossed out?" Shifting's nose twitched, sniffing gently. "That I am both?"

"Right now?!" Umbra glanced down, but didn't look hard or long, eyes going back to Shifting's eyes where they belonged. "I thought that was... I don't entirely understand how you work, Shifting. You're going to have to explain it. But I'm not grossed out, more impressed." She raised a hoof to her chin, rubbing lightly. "Seriously, a functional hermaphrodite? Is that a changeling thing?"

"It's a changeling queen thing... sometimes. Uh... So, imagine it like this... A changeling queen must be female. Not debatable. In a hive, they're the one making the eggs. So... if a changeling queen grows the boy parts first before things 'click' and queen-dom is decided, they need girl parts, and they will happen, no questions asked. And, bonus, they keep the parts they already grew." She waggled her hooves weakly in the air. "Yay."

"But, being a changeling, you can be whatever. Which means, right now, gonna bet, you're all female?"

"That is my disguise," agreed Shifting, turning to display her profile. "Just a crystal bat mare! I can be whatever I want, or nothing at all. I could be a rock."

Umbra blinked rapidly at that idea. "Huh. That must feel weird, being... not alive."

"Of course I'm alive." She bopped Umbra right on the snoot. "It's just hard to move. Rocks aren't very fast... Anyway!" She sat up and back. "You're really not grossed out?"

"I'm really not." Umbra shrugged softly. "New topic!"

"New topic!" joined Shifting in a joyful cry. "How goes the arena?"

"Great!" Umbra began to box the air, bouncing on her hind legs in her playfight. "I've gotten a good grip on mining, so I'm helping get the crystal there faster, so I can put it together faster, which means we'll get an arena sometime this year instead of..." She faltered in her boxing to roll one hoof slowly. "Like five years from now."

Shifting applauded with stomps of the ground and enthusiastic hoots. "Nice, great! You make me so jealous sometimes." She crossed her arms petulantly. "You can work with crystals so easily! I have to do it all the slow way."

"Magic isn't the best way, just a speedy way," noted Umbra in a serious tone. "If you want the highest quality, you need actual work. Speaking of that." She leaned in, almost touching noses. "I'd love your help when we get to finishing bits. A little you-art on the outside would make it look so much nicer than the big slabs I'm throwing around."

"You know I'm ready!" She pounced at Umbra, the two flopping to the ground in affectionate hugs. "Just tell me when and where and I'll bring my A game."

"As if you have any other." Umbra nibbled at Shifting's furry chin, working towards her neck. "You're not one to half-ass things that I've seen."

"You have such funny words." Shifting pulled away to sit up. "Do creatures just talk like that where you're from? I could listen to it forever."

45 - Bacon Streaks

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Umbra yawned as she slowly plodded through the hallways. It was dark and quiet, neither of which bothered her much. Her glowing eyes could pierce the gloom, and she just wanted to make use of the little filly's room, so chatting wasn't a high priority.

Now, funny thing there. In any modern setup, there'd be one right there, in her room. But the palace was over a thousand years old. It lacked modern luxuries like that. It wasn't perfect. So she proceeded through the darkness. The silence was not complete. Clip-clops! And not even her own.

A guard? Guards did not walk like that. They were so reliable. They walked at a nice steady pace from one point to another. You could set a clock by their clippy clops. Umbra smirked at that idea, playing a piano with a marching guard for a metronome.

These hoof steps were more... erratic, as if someone were dashing, but then stopping. Quiet, then another dash! Umbra perked an ear towards is, trying to figure it out despite being tired, and also full and in need of a good leak. She was too tired to immediately swerve off in search of the not-guard pony. But her curiosity demanded she at least note its presence.

The fact that it was down a hallway she was coming closer to didn't help. "Oh what?!" The pony came into view, only to dash past. They had a brown cape, or was that a cloak? The difference between the two jostled in Umbra's sleepy brain. By the time she was satisfied, the figure was gone, dashing right past her. "Huh..."

She responded with all due urgency. Umbra went to the bathroom and took care of that urgency. "Ah..." Properly drained of that, she was able to go back to bed without further interruptions. Sleep came for her quickly. Was that a shadow thing? If she wanted to sleep, she just... did. Boy, if she had a super power, that had to be it. Forget throwing around crystal blocks big enough to crush a person. Shadow powers? Pfft. She could go to sleep whenever she wanted to! Now that's a super power.

There was no time to worry about that! Friends were coming! Umbra walked along with a big smile on her face, fangs on display as she imagined the girls. "Nope." She shook her head. "Not gonna get any work done. I'm headed to the train station." And, her decree thus given, she spread her wings and soared out the nearest window without further delay.

"My little pony," she sang as she flew through the air. "I used to wonder what friendship could be." Was that the right line? She had no phone to try to quickly Google that up. So she had to just assume she had it right. "My little pony!" Not that she was even much of a fan. Her anemic knowledge of the land was proof enough of that. Any real fan would have laughed at her, right in the face. Jerk.

But, they say, seeing is believing. She landed into a trot that slowed to a walk, right on the platform of the train station. The station was warm! Well, as warm as the rest of the city, which was pretty warm compared to the frigid frozen waste that was beyond that. She trotted up to the ticket line, joining it. Other ponies glanced at her nervously. Not the kind of nervous that came with 'oh no, this scary shadow creature is upon us!'. Oh no, it was way more 'Oh my god, it's that famous person!'. Or pony. Yeah, they'd probably say pony. Umbra was not signing up for that.

"Hey." She reached the front of the line. "When is the train from Ponyville going to be here?"

The attendant peeked at a schedule and checked a pocketwatch. "Looks like ten minutes." He nodded with a satisfied noise. "You want to ride it? Five bits."

"Nah." She was already turning away. "I'm here to greet folks getting off of it." She parked on her haunches, peering down the tracks that would deliver her a nice big package of friendship! "Been too long!" She fidgeted with an excitement she couldn't entirely fight. When the train came into view, she squealed, which made her blush. She hadn't meant to sound that excited. But she was!

When the train slid to a halt, Umbra was greeting it with an eager clapping. Then the ponies came out. Her eyes jumped from one furry form to the next. So many, but where... There! A pink form she couldn't miss. "Pinkie!"

"Umbra!" returned Pinkie with equal zest. The two rushed together and began to circle. "Hey wow. You feel... Better." She leaned in, eyeing Umbra critically. "Why do I feel like I'm talking to the prettiest pony in the city?"

Umbra laughed at that, a deep and potentially menacing sound that fit her status of shadow pony. "How does that even work? I'm #2, but I won popular demand, so that's pretty great, right?"

"Right!" Pinkie bounced in agreement with that idea. "Congratulations! Can't wait to tell the others." She waved at where the other girls were departing the train.

Umbra and Pinkie returned to the others, who seemed just as happy to see Umbra. Rarity's eyes went up to Umbra's tiara. "I love it. You know, when I'm not working on dresses, jewelry is another little hobby of mine. We should compare notes. Darling, you seem radiant today. Things going well?"

"Yes," declared Umbra. One syllable, zero doubts. "My life is pretty good right now, and it just got better, because you're all here." She went in for a hug and wasn't denied, sharing one with Rarity, with a Pinkie joining in without being asked, not that she was unwanted. Umbra turned suddenly to Twilight. "Princess summit!"

"Princess summit," echoed Twilight with a lot more nervousness. "Which we don't get to attend, at least fully." She sighed out at that. "Doesn't it bother you?"

"A little?" Umbra shrugged softly. "I want to hear secret princess things. I have opinions on civil reform!" She struck an imperious stance. "But I guess that can wait." She returned to her usual standing, a big smile on her face. "I get to chat with my favorite nerd's nerdy sister, who I like a lot."

Twilight blinked softly, parsing that. "I am glad to hear you and Shiny are getting along." She smiled a bit lopsidedly. "It's hard to keep being the same kind of nervous with this... energy." She waved at Umbra and Pinkie. "I swear, it's like it just became an environment."

"Stereo?" offered Umbra. But that only got a confused look. "Never mind. Welcome! All of you. Let's head to the castle." She spread her wings, but didn't take off. Several of the ponies she was leading couldn't fly, so walking was the order of the day.

Rainbow casually landed on her back. "Hey. You practicing these?" She prodded a still spread wing.

"Yes." Umbra looked back over her shoulder at Rainbow as she walked. "Why didn't you tell me about preening?"

Rainbow sank to her haunches, still on Umbra's back. "Huh, oops." And that was all she offered on that front. "You figured it out?"

"Yeah." Umbra tilted to the side, causing Rainbow to take flight briefly before coming to the ground. "And I learned that pegasi can preen each other."

Rainbow blinked, cheeks going a dark red. "Woah! Hey, hold your horses there. That's for, um, very close pegasi." Her wings fidgeted with the thought. "I take care of my own wings, thanks."

Twilight advanced into the conversation. "Oh, communal grooming techniques? That has such a storied history. Why, pegasi history has been--"

Rainbow grunted softly. "There ya go, you set her off."

Twilight frowned. "I was not 'set off'. Excuse me for finding any interest in your history!"

"You're excused." Rainbow gently booped Twilight even as they walked. "Don't let it happen again."

Applejack snorted at the exchange. "Glad yer doin' alright, Umbra. We came ta support Twi here."

"Which I appreciate." Twilight moved around to get to Applejack's side. "Having my friends around is quite a... Thank you."

Umbra smiled coyly. "So... don't suppose you found any cool shadow spells you want to share, hm?"

Twilight burst into a little giggle. "I forgot how insatiable you are. Reminds me a little of me." She curled a hoof to her chin. "But let's save comparing spells until later. Now's not a good time for reading."

Applejack drew her hat down a little. "Ya know it's serious if Twilight don't got time fer readin'."

The group laughed, but accelerated all the same, making good time to the castle.

A large alicorn sat before Umbra, looking her over with an intensity that was somehow expressed without any specific threat. It was a force of personality perhaps? Umbra was meeting Celestia, and that she was the true queen of the land seemed impossible to deny. "Queen Umbra, I am told?"

Umbra darkened at that. "I've mostly dropped the queen part. It was the name that felt right, at the time, but I didn't know any better. I do now." She waved a hoof at Celestia, the big pony before her. "You're the queen here, not me."

Celestia smiled gently. "I am no queen. A queen is a tyrant, she must be. Most of my little ponies never hear my command, and that is the way I prefer it. Tell me, Umbra, were you queen, in all its meaning, what would you do?"

Umbra sat up, ears twitching. "Well, hm." She frowned with thought. "To be honest, the first thing I'd do is learn what I should do. I don't know this kingdom way at all good enough to give good ruling advice. The people in it seem happy. They have food and shelter. You have quality help." She pointed to where Cadance was eagerly greeting Twilight. "So I'd say you're going a pretty good job, from this angle, and I wouldn't rush to mess that up."

"How humble, for one that once called herself queen." Celestia leaned in, neck reaching what seemed like quite a distance. She was shaped more like a swan then a horse, in that way. "I have heard so much about you, little princess of darkness. That harmony has seen fit to..." She reached out a hoof, tapping at Umbra's left wing. "It's hard to argue with what's in front of us."

"Agreed!" squeaked out Umbra. Celestia seemed to be nice, but she was still... "You're a little, a lot... You're a lot to take in, ma'am."

"Celestia will do." Celestia leaned back upright. "We are both princesses. No need for formalities beyond that, between us. You care for my little ponies, so I have no reason to look unkindly on you, even if your presence does raise so many questions. Ah, did Cadance mention the mirror?"

Umbra jerked upright. "Mirror?"

"I will take responsibility for that." It was clear she had not been told of it. "Cadance mentioned your origin, which was just one more reason among many I had sent it. You see, certain mirrors, enchanted a certain way, allow us to peer into realities outside our own, to worlds that are ours, save for some small, or sometimes large, difference in their past that makes each one unique."

Umbra's eyes sparkled. "Multiverse mirrors?! Awesome!" she looked excited, rather than the confused or amazed that Celestia had been expecting. "You sent one here?"

"I did." Celestia nodded gently. "It leads to a world more widely separated than many. What if this world were filled with bipeds? With hands." She reached out a hoof that was very much not a hand. "Does that world sound familiar?"

Umbra's eyes widened as she sank back, reeling. "That mirror may lead back?" Part of her wanted to say 'home', but it wasn't home, not anymore. She was the shadow princess of the Crystal Empire. That was home! "Thanks, but I'm pretty happy here."

46 - Princess Summit

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"It is good we can all meet." Celestia looked to Twilight, who had finished her greeting ritual with Cadance, who was also coming closer. "We are all princesses of Equestria. It gladdens me to know you all take that seriously."

Twilight bobbed her head. "Of course, Princess Celestia." She had been told to stop with that first part, but habits were slow to die. "How can I help?"

Umbra dipped her head at who was queen, even if she refused the title. "With great powers come great responsibilities." Tired? Cliché? Maybe in human land! To the ponies, fresh and clever. "Do we get to be part of the meeting?"

"You do not." Another alicorn joined them, dark of pelt, mane like that of flowing stars. "But, as sister said, it is good to meet you all. It is indeed comforting to know there are other princesses ready to assume that mantle."

Umbra gasped suddenly, drawing eyes. "Luna!"

"That is me." Luna quirked a little smile. "Ah, this is the first time in person, is it not?"

"It is." She prowled forward, circling Luna. "Hello, fellow princess of darkness. Don't suppose you're ready to share with me?"

"I prefer princess of peace, and inspiration." Luna set a hoof on her chest as she wove less worrying titles. "Introspection, a fine word for it."

"That all comes in the dark," countered Umbra. "Speaking of, dreams are part of my domain too, but I can't find that spell. Please help?"

She was suddenly pushed, magic sliding her back and away as Celestia moved between her and Luna. Luna wandered off to other business. Celestia was watching Umbra intently. As soon as Luna was far enough away, Celestia began to speak, "I would thank you not to press on this matter. I gave the task of dream walking to Luna. She holds it very dearly to her heart." She leaned in closer. "Why do you want it?"

Umbra crossed her arms. "I'm not trying to step on any toes. I just want to help people, and if I can give them nice dreams, that would be doing it. Besides, she lives... what, a million miles south." Umbra pointed in the direction the tracks had gone. "Can she help the ponies up here?"

"Physical distance is a... It doesn't work the same in the dream realm." Celestia took a slow breath, a faint hiss. "I haven't walked it myself often. I am a creature of light. Of day. Dreams do not come intuitively to me, as a magic I control. They are instead thrust upon me, sometimes with dread import." She seemed to consider Umbra freshly. "But you are a shadow creature. The night is your home."

"No arguments." She waggled a hoof at the large Celestia. "But I don't do the night schedule, or I wouldn't be here."

Celestia booped Umbra on the nose. "Luna does keep a night schedule, yet she is here. Sacrifices need be made at times."

Umbra winced at that. "No wonder she was cranky... I stay up late once in a while, but not as a habit."

"So be gentle with her."

"Right, right... Except." She leaned in closer to Celestia. "You said you gave her dream magic. That means you know it, so...." She curled her hooves on herself. "Hook a sister up?"

"You are not my sister." Though a smile was worn, looking more amused by Umbra than offended. "We should begin the summit. Keep Twilight company, if you would. I am glad she'll have the company of at least one princess."

Before then, a public appearance. All the princesses went up to a balcony to wave properly at the gathering crowd below, cheering at their sight. They called and hooted and stomped in obvious joy at the sight of their protectors, rulers, and just generally pretty in most cases ponies.

As they went back inside, Umbra was grinning. "I feel so... Important."

Twilight hiked a brow. "All we did was wave. That's not important."

Umbra zipped around to be in front of Twilight. "You take that back. If it wasn't important, they wouldn't be cheering so loudly. We made their day." Even as they argued, the 'real' princesses went on without them, vanishing into a room with heavy doors. Closed doors.

"But is that all there is to being a princess?" sighed out Twilight. "Smiling and waving? I thought... There'd be more to it."

"There is! But that's also part of it." Umbra moved two hooves like tips of a scale. "A princess that doesn't make appearances is doing a disservice. But you do other things beside that. I've heard about you, Twilight."

Twilight blinked softly at that. "What did you hear?"

Umbra leaned in with a big grin. "You're a hero. Like, over and over. If trouble comes along, you're on it." She burst into a cackle suddenly. "Like me, come to think. You see trouble, and you just can't let that stand. Now... we're done with princess duty, for the moment."

Twilight peered back at the balcony they had left. "That was princess duty?"

"What else would it be?" Umbra shrugged softly. "So, wanna trade arcane secrets?"

Twilight was quiet a moment, but a nod came. "Alright. Better than moping around waiting for them." She gave the closed doors a glare, but was soon walking alongside Umbra. "Have you only studied shadow magic?"

"Shadow all day every day." Umbra nodded firmly. "I am a shadow wizard, right? Why?"

"I'm just curious." Twilight shrugged softly. "If you like learning magic, why not try something else? There's a lot of magic out there that isn't shadow related."

Umbra came in, pressing side to side with Twilight. "Well, seems to me a teacher just dropped in on me out of nowhere. Maybe if I ask her really really nicely, she'll show me something neat."

"We can't be sure." Twilight inclined her head with a smirk. "Suppose you'll just have to try and see what happens."

"I'll share a secret for a secret." Umbra willed her door open. "Rainbow Dash is embarassed to bring it up, so I'm going to guess she didn't go too heavy about preening."

"This came up earlier." Twilight nodded firmly. "I am aware of the practice, yes, why?"

"Why?" Umbra kicked the door shut behind them. "Because it feels nice. Doing it to yourself is a calming thing, like brushing your own hair or taking a nice bath. Self care!" She backed a step from Twilight and pointed at her. "But preening someone else? A whole different game."

Twilight's eyes half closed in a suspicious squint. "Communal grooming techniques are often used as a social bonding tech--" She stopped. Her wing had been grabbed in magic and Umbra was gently working over her feathers in slow motions. "Techniques!" she squeaked, trying to talk despite that distracting touch. "Oh..."

"Yeah, feels good." Umbra released Twilight, laughing gently. "But that's all you get. Preening every pegasus I see will get me looked at oddly."

Twilight's wings fidgeted on her back. "I... see... I'm still getting used to them." She spread those wings out. "I didn't ask for them."

"Me neither." Umbra looked over her shoulder. "But also not complaining. Wings are fun. Now, magic!"

"Alright, alright." Twilight's horn began to glow, plucking a book out of nothing. "Shadow magic has a lot in common with transmutation magic, so..." She tapped at a displayed spell. "Let's give this one a try, hm?"

And so it was that they practiced the fine art of turning things into oranges. Apparently a classic in Equestria. "I will never want for vitamin C in a hurry!" The magic didn't come quickly. The rhythm of that spell felt... odd. More accurately, perhaps, it was shadow magic that had an odd sound to it, and she was used to that.

But she was learning it, and turning things into oranges, which amused her greatly. "You are the best, Twi." She grabbed Twilight in a hug that wasn't resisted, but also wasn't returning, the smaller princess looking more surprised than affectionate. "But it's getting late. We should both get some sleep."

Twilight peeked her head out of the room. "Are they still in there?" The doors, closed. "What could they even be discussing...?"

"Secret princess things." Umbra rubbed her hooves together. "One day I will earn the right to discuss property ownership mandates!"

Twilight hiked a brow at that. "What?"

"Just joking around. Sleep well, Twi."

"You too." Twilight retreated at a casual walk. "Good job. That wasn't your specialty, clearly, but you stuck to it and you have it working, which is more than most unicorns could claim."

A new voice spoke up, "Did you enjoy yourself?"

Umbra jumped in place with a squeak, coming down facing Purple Polish. "How long were you there?!"

"The entire day, ma'am." She dipped her head. "One talent one learns in this position is to fade into the background."

Umbra colored with realization. "So you were watching me..."

"Groom Princess Twilight's wing?" Umbra sagged, but Purple seemed unphased. "You made good progress with that spell, ma'am."

"Thank you." Umbra rubbed behind her head. "But I really should get some sleep."

"Not before you eat, ma'am." And off Purple went to make that happen.

Umbra shook her head at where Purple had been. "I need to be more aware of my surroundings..." For being a prey species, ponies were not that hard to sneak up on. How did they survive predators? She hopped up onto her bed and divested herself of her clothes, minus her tiara. That stayed on! She had everything neatly folded by the time Purple returned with a tray on her back. "What sort of tasty treats have you got for me?"

"Your favorite." Purple approached as Umbra applauded. It was good to be appreciated.

Twilight sat up with confusion. "Wha? Hey!" She ran off after the intruder that had taken her tiara, not knowing what adventure she was rushing towards.

Darkness plunged the hallway ahead out of sight, but the pony fleeing her didn't slow, going through it as Umbra emerged from her room, the darkness fading along with it. "That didn't stop them."

"Good try." Twilight hadn't paused, still running. "They stole my tiara!"

Umbra looked up to be sure hers was still there, yep! Phew. "I won't stand for jewel thieves on my watch!"

They arrived in the mirror room just in time for the figure to vanish through it out of sight. "What?" Twilight slowed her approach, confused at the mirror. "What is this?"

"Don't!" Umbra hurried to get between Twilight and the mirror. "That leads to a whole other world. I got a peek though."

"I did too." Twilight nodded, regaining her breath with soft puffs. "Yellow and red." She ran a hoof through her own mane. "With a sun for a cutie mark."

"Oh dear." Celestia arrived in the room, along with the girls and Spike. "She returned." Her voice was not certain, as if she wasn't entirely sure how to feel.

Umbra pointed at the mirror. "And she stole Twi's tiara. Does the mirror work both ways?"

Celestia perked her ears at Umbra. "The portal is two ways, yes."

Twilight took a firm step forward. "Then I'm going in."

"And us!" The girls clearly didn't want to be left behind.

"No." Celestia put out a hoof. "Too many things out of place can create... problems. In this, Twilight will have to go alone."

"Leave it to me." Twilight saluted sharply before advancing up to the mirror. "I can handle this..." She took a slow breath before pressing through into the shimmering surface of the mirror. Spike raced in after her, even if told not to. Kids...

Umbra hiked a thumb, which she didn't have, so the motion with a hoof would have to do. "I'm going too. I know that world. She doesn't. Someone with local knowledge will get this done, faster."

Celestia raised a brow at Umbra. "You are less likely to cause issues."

Applejack frowned. "Wait a moment. That ain't fair. Why is Umbra alright but we ain't?"

Celestia set a hoof on Umbra's nose. "Because she may be from there. And even if not, there will not be another Umbra there. The imbalance of her presence is smaller as a result. Go, but be careful."

47 - Canterlot High

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Umbra stepped up to the threshold of the mirror. "If this turns me back, I will be so mad." But the idea of it wasn't enough to hold her back. "Twi would do it for me." Come to think of it... "She already has." And in she went, plunging into the strange warping tunnel between realities. Her body felt like it was being stretched and compressed at the same time, forced to comply with the rules of the world she was entering.

That place had no room for alicorns. She suddenly felt something hard and flat as she flopped out on her belly on cold concrete. "Ow." It hadn't hurt that much, more surprise really. "I'm alive!" She had made it, still breathing. That was a victory, right?

She pushed to her feet, wobbling. Her balance was off, but she had been a human before, so the biped life wasn't entirely foreign to her. "Twilight?" There was no Twilight around. She looked down to see two human breasts, but also arms that felt too long, and legs too. Her proportions were... not right. Her skin was a deep grey, like her fur had been. That was also not a natural color for a human. Were they human?

That world had also casually given her clothes. Nice of it. She was wearing a business suit with her cutie mark sewn in at the hip. "That's just adorable." She patted herself down with a smile. "I feel super professional." She was also an adult. She was an adult human(?) female. "And I've gone to school."

More accurately, she seemed to be in front of a school. "Huh." Well, random adults didn't belong at a school, so, cover story! "This may not work, but..." She strolled towards the front door purposefully. "I'm not going back yet." She grabbed the door's bar in her hands, which was a thing she hadn't had in a while. "So wriggly." She spent a moment just enjoying the feel of flexing fingers, but she had things to do! She pushed the door open to slip inside.

"Can I help you?" There was another person.

"Celestia?!" burst Umbra before she could think better of it.

"That's me," allowed the almost alarmingly tall lady with the same color hair and a skin tone that matched the pelt of the original. "I'm afraid I don't know your name, miss...?"

"Umbra." Umbra put out a hand towards the fellow adult. "I was told about you, all good things, I promise."

"That's good to hear." Their hands met in a friendly shake. "Are you the substitute?"

Well, that was a fine excuse. "Yep! I was going to go looking for you, but you found me. I was amazed at the luck."

Celestia's expression became more kind. "That explains that. No need to head to the office." She drew out a pen for pointing. "The class is third period, so you aren't late. Let's go review what the class was in the middle of learning."

"Great idea." She followed after Celestia. Yes, things were going well. She'd have things figured out. "Say, is there a student here with really bright yellow and orange hair?"

"That is not a lot of information to go off of," laughed Celestia. "Especially these days with hair dyes. My students love their colors, and I'm not discouraging them."

Stuffing her hands into her pockets, Umbra discovered she had a compact. A gift from that new world? Her tiara was also still on her head. "I can't throw rocks from this house," she joked. "I love a little extra color."

"Something that brings us together." She opened a door but didn't step through it, instead pointing at that tiara. "That...--" Umbra tensed with worry. "is gorgeous." Celestia clapped her hands together with a bright smile. "I don't know many that'd wear such a delightful bit of jewelry out just... for work. Aren't you a little overdressed for the situation?"

"Dress for the job you want." Umbra fired a finger gun at the principal. "One day, queen."

Celestia laughed at the idea. "You have a long road ahead of you then, but keep at it. For today, we will help shape young minds." She headed inside into the empty classroom. "They were just going over trigonometry."

Oh no. Math?! Of all the classes... "Soh Coh Toa!" blurted Umbra, the first thing that came to mind. "Let's learn. Well, let's help them learn."

"Good attitude." Celestia showed where the lesson plan had been. "You don't have to follow it exactly. You're not the teacher, but if you can help keep these things fresh for when the teacher returns, that would be ideal."

"I am on the case." Umbra clapped her hands together and settled at the teacher's desk. "I'll review this before they show up."

"Love the work ethic." And off she went. Celestia had other things to do, and that substitute seemed well in hand.

A pity the actual substitute showed up not long after.

He looked quite confused. "Huh? Oh, another class?" It wasn't that period yet.

This could have been a problem. Umbra waved gently. "Hey, am I in the way?"

"Not yet." He crossed his arms. "I'm replacing the teacher in third period."

That confirmed who he was. Would it work? She glanced up at her tiara, then back at the man. "You look a little tired."

"Nothing a little--" He paused to let out a big yawn into a raised hand. "coffee wouldn't fix." He would not make it to that coffee, at least not right away. Slumping against the door frame, he was busy passing out right there, sliding to the floor.

"Magic items, still work," gladly reported Umbra, to herself. Her magic didn't. She didn't have a horn, so that made sense. "You will feel like a thousand bucks, later." Her magic was not a cruel magic. She had put him in a deep and restorative slumber. It just wasn't an asked for naptime. "Shadow powers." She wriggled her fingers as she crept up on the sleeping man. "Time to..." She moved the snoozing man out of sight so she could teach that class without interruptions from people who were actually supposed to be there.

"Twilight!" She saw her moving past down the hallway.

Twilight stopped at being called, looking around. "Over here." Umbra waved a hand without the rest of the arm.

Twilight came up to the door to peer inside at Umbra, eyes going to her tiara with a gasp. "Umbra?"

"The one and only. Aw, you're so young and cute." She clasped her hands together on the desk she was seated behind. "Any luck finding your tiara?"

"Why are you so much older?" Twilight stepped in, eyeing Umbra with so much confusion. "I was an adult, but now..."

"Now you're a teen," completed Umbra. "You didn't know before? I was older than you back in pony land."

"This might be rude to ask." Twilight rubbed behind her own head. "But how much older? I'm a lousy judge of that."

Umbra considered as she steepled her fingers. "Well, I was already well into adulthood before I arrived in Equestria. This is why Equestria, as a whole, seems adorable. It's like living in a child's world, and I'm not complaining really. Minus the horrifying nightmare attacks, but even that isn't entirely off brand. Kids can dream up the nastiest things, given half a chance."

"I... see..." That Twilight saw seemed dubious at best. "That thief's name is Sunset Shimmer, by the way. Are you here to help?"

"Of course." Umbra fired a thumbs up. "Sunset Shimmer. A name helps a lot. I'll ask about her after I teach this class."

"You can teach? Your talents are more than I knew. I only knew you as a student." Twilight rubbed at her chin softly. "And now you're an adult, and I'm a child."

"An adorable child that I want to protect," firmly stated Umbra. "But if you mean professionally? No, but I'll wing it as best I can to keep up the disguise, then go chat with the other teachers, maybe learn more about this Miss Shimmer." A finger raised. "That is a super Equestrian name, but then, the principal is Celestia, so they probably all have Equestrian names. This is not Earth."

Twilight sent a brow up. "Earth?"

"Where I'm from. You should get moving. Third period is coming up and unless you want to go over trigonometry, you don't need to be here for that."

"Ooo, math?" Twilight looked a little too excited about that. "No, I should stay focused. We have to get that tiara back!" And off she went on her mission.

"Wait." Twilight looked back. "Where's Spike?"

Twilight's backpack suddenly jumped, the zipper undoing on its own and a canine head poking free. "Hey."

Umbra's eyes widened. "Oh, my, god... Oh! Wow..." She got up to her feet and came closer to the new Spike. "You are too adorable for words!" And soon she was scritching the good dog behind the ear. "Look at you!"

Spike looked conflicted, but the pets were too nice, winning out over any opposition to the treatment. "I'm helping Twilight."

"I bet you are." The scratching turned to gentle petting. "She's lucky to have you around. But why are you a dog?"

Twilight poked her elder. "Why are you an adult and I'm a filly?"

"Girl," corrected Umbra. "Huh, guess we all have different reflections through that mirror. Look, if you're worried, this changes nothing. We're on the same team. Think of me like an older sister, not some bossy adult."

Twilight suddenly went in for a hug. "Thank you. I really should get back to it though."

"Of course, both of you." Umbra started back for her desk. "Just be careful. I don't want either of you getting hurt."

Umbra grabbed some chalk and started making marks on the board in preparation. "Huh..." Clearly Twilight was seeing a very different side of the school they were in. "Wonder what her adventure is like." Hers was pretty calm, mostly, so far.

The bell rang through the school, many of them going off at the same time to announce one period ending. "Show time." Well, almost. Students would be coming. Umbra turned, placing her hands on the desk with her eyes on the door to see who would be the first through it.

"No way." The very first was a teen with bright yellow and red hair and a cocky smile. Sunset settled in a seat in the second row as other students poured in.

"Sub. Easy day." Sunset shrugged softly, clearly not expecting much. "What happened to Miss Angle?" She was not the only one with the question, other students muttering their own versions of it, more eyes upon Umbra.

Not that she shied from them. "Miss Angle couldn't make it today, so, lucky you, you get me!" She tapped the blackboard with the chalk she still had. "And we're going to go over just that, angles! I promise it won't be obtuse." One student chuckled, just one. Her joke was not a smash success, but she wasn't there to entertain them. "Let's begin."

Funny thing, as much as she had mentally groaned at the idea of doing a math class, it came back to her pretty quickly. She felt like she was actually reaching them, and teaching a little something.

One student raised her hand though. "Teach?"

"Umbra works fine," assured Umbra. "What's up?"

The student wriggled her fingers at Umbra. "Hi and stuff, but, don't most subs just give us busywork? You're... not."

It was true! Umbra was breaking the sacred compact of substitutes by actually giving a lesson. "Just because your teacher's not here doesn't mean you can't learn something. Besides, she left really good notes, so I could pick up where you left off. Good on her for doing that, or maybe I would have had to."

The reaction was a mix of understanding and groans at a break period that had been dashed by a well prepared teacher and a substitute willing to put in the work.

48 - The Secret Place

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Umbra was finishing up the report of the period when a soft knocking made her look up to see a new person. A teacher? She had a moon on her collar. Ah ha. "Luna?"

"You've heard of us both then?" Luna was smiling and coming closer. "How'd the class go?"

"I'm just finishing that report." With a final swish, she set down the pen atop the paper. "And ready for when Miss Angle gets back." Luna looked like the other Luna, kinda. Neither of the 'royal' humans had magical flowing hair, but they were humans. That was to be expected. At least, of mostly-humans.

"Any trouble students?" She leaned over for a peek at what Umbra had been writing. "Lesson notes?"

"What we went over." Umbra tapped at the paper. "And who seemed to get it, and who may need a little extra help."

And not a single trouble student gone on about. Luna let out a little surprised huh. "Well... Very good. Very... good. Umbra, was it?"

"That's me." She slid to her feet, standing properly. "Nice to meet you."

"Likewise." Their hands met in a firm but friendly shake. "I'd like to invite you to the teacher's lounge. I understand if you have other plans; your work day is technically over."

Umbra's eyes shone. "I'd love to." Perfect, a reason to stick around. "Please, lead the way. I know I'm just a temporary figure, but going over notes, together, might help us all."

"Marvelous." Luna led the way through the mostly empty halls. It was mid-period. Students were expected to be in their classes. "Tell me, are you wanting to remain a substitute, or are you hoping to become a full time teacher some day?"

Umbra tensed. That was a tricky question. How to answer... "Teachers are such a precious thing," she started, getting a nod from Luna. "But I don't have all the qualifications." There, truth! Vague, but true!

"This isn't an offer, or a promise." Luna slid her back just next to a door that read 'Teacher's Lounge' right on it. "But you wouldn't be the first time we've sponsored the education of promising teachers, if you wanted to pursue that, full time. Something to consider, nothing more." She wagged a finger at Umbra. "I still have to review things before I can even formally offer that, but it is something to have in mind, hm?"

"That's so kind of you to even bring up." Umbra felt a bit of fluttering inside her. She couldn't take any offer of a long term gig in a world she didn't belong in. She was a shadow crystal princess! They needed her back in pony land. "That is... I'm a little overwhelmed, not gonna lie."

"It's not a promise," repeated Luna, patting Umbra on the shoulder as she moved to leave. "But go inside, make some friends."

Umbra let Luna depart to other things and cracked the door open. A few teachers were drinking coffee and chatting. A female teacher noticed her at the door. "Don't be shy." She waved Umbra further inside. "Besides, can't have the students getting a look in here."

A portly male teacher laughed at the idea. "They think there's some kind of wonderland of videogames and free soda." He tipped his coffee. "But all we get are some doughnuts and coffee. Good enough, right?" He and the woman struck their mugs together with a clink of the ceramic. "What's your name?"

Umbra slipped inside fully, leaning back to close the door behind her. "I'm Umbra, a substitute." It just struck her in that moment that she hadn't done anything with the actual sub. Shoot... Hopefully he'd wake up and wander home, confused, but unharmed. "Luna said I should say hello." She raised a hand to wriggle a few fingers. "Hello."

"Hello," half-laughed the female of the two. "If you got the vice principal's eye, you must have been on your game. Come, join us." She pointed to another seat near them. "The teacher's lounge is, mostly, where we decompress a little between classes. You probably already know that."

"She loves to tell everyone that the first time she sees them in here," warned the guy with a wink. "Teacher instinct."

"Guilty as charged."

Umbra slid into the offered chair, smiling at the two teachers. She hadn't had a super great relationship with most of the teachers in her life, but those two seemed alright. Of course, she was approaching them from a peer angle instead of as a student. That was perhaps the difference? "Silly question." Both were looking at her intently. "You know a student called Sunset Shimmer?"

The guy let out a whoof. "Firecracker, that one."

"Just as warm as her hair," agreed the woman. "Not a dull student, but it's like she's always up to something."

Umbra steepled her fingers. She was getting somewhere. "Oh, do tell?"

The guy shook his head. "Mostly student drama."

"The worst," laughed out the woman in agreement. "She, thankfully, leaves most of that outside of the classroom."

"Unlike some." The two nodded at one another as if on some inside joke. "What about her? Was she in your class?"

Actually... "Yeah, she was." Thinking back on it... "She was alright. She didn't raise her hand very often, but she didn't look lost or anything."

The man nodded. "That sounds like her. Smart student, but detached."

"Like she's heard it all before or something." The woman shrugged softly. "Once in a while, you get a student like that. 'Old Soul,' I think they call it."

Umbra tensed faintly. Old soul? She qualified as one of those, in the pony lands. Curiously, less so in the human ones. Er, the almost-human ones. She looked far closer to her proper age, and people treated her like it. Wait... Umbra frowned with fresh thoughts tumbling through her mind. "Maybe that's the problem." Both teachers looked at her anew. "Maybe she's ahead, in learning. Maybe she's just bored going over things she already understands."

The man slapped his free hand down on a knee. "Damnit. That's so obvious, looking back on it."

"How did I not even consider that?" The woman placed a few fingers on her forehead. "Sometimes you need an outside set of eyes to see the obvious." She took a deep drink of her near-black coffee. "And that's why Luna sent you in here. She's a clever person, let me tell you."

"Subtly so," agreed the man. "Always acting behind the scenes to keep the school running straight. We're lucky to have that dynamic duo in charge of things."

"They seem nice." Pony land or human land, it seemed Celly and Lulu were beloved figures. "Say, new topic! Ever hear of someone named Cadance?"

"From CP?" asked the woman. "I see her once a year for when our schools butt heads."

The man laughed at that. "Oh wow, those are always such a show. What brings her up?"

"CP?" asked Umbra instead of answering the question.

The man's brows went up together. "Crystal Prep? Really snooty school. I'm glad I don't work there."

"Their dress code is super strict, and the teachers have to follow it," warned the female, shaking her head. "No thanks. I'll keep Celestia and Luna. Our students are so much nicer."

The two began talking about how uptight Crystal Prep was compared to Equestrian High. "Hey, what does 'Equestrian' mean, exactly?"

The lady perked at the question. "Someone who rides a horse, or deals with horses." She shrugged softly. "But that's being technical. In the name of the school, it's more about the 'spirit' of a horse. Being as strong as a horse. About coming together as part of the herd. About being ready to charge ahead and make some noise!" She let out an excited false neigh of a sound, laughing at the absurd noise she had just made. "Get it?"

The man leaned forward, cradling his mug between his hands. "That or our founders are secretly furries."

"Stop that!" The woman swatted at him as both laughed, clearly neither taking offense to the joke in poor taste. "Why did you ask about Cadance? She's the dean over at Crystal Prep, not here."

"Oh, uh..." Quick, quick! "She's the one that pointed me at the sub opening."

Both seemed to accept that excuse, the man nodding. "That makes it come together even more. Friends of friends."

Which only confused Umbra. "But Cadance doesn't work here, right?"

He shrugged. "She doesn't, but she's good friends with Principal Celestia, who's good friends with Luna. If Cadance pointed you this way, they probably both know you."

Umbra paled faintly. She'd messed up. If word got around of what she said, it would take one little phone call to make it all come apart. "I should go... Thank you both, you were so nice to meet." She shook hands with each of them in kind. "Maybe another time?" And she was out of the lounge in a hurry.

The lady teacher raised a brow, looking at her male peer. "Curious woman. I think she'd fit in just fine."

He laughed at that. "Another weirdo for the pile, yeah. Think she'll sign up?"

Umbra hurried back to the class she had started in. No new set of students nor a new teacher greeted her through the opening in the door. "Thank goodness." She pressed in and went straight for the closet. "Now--" She threw it open and... nothing. "Crap." The original sub had left already. Would he be the first thing to rat on her, or the cheerful teachers she had told the wrong thing to?

Her plan was falling apart! "Crap!" She threw a hand across her front as if punching at something that wasn't there. "Crap... Alright, calm down. Calm..." She pressed a finger to either temple. "You can handle this. Adult this. Adult power!"

Okay, so. She reflected on her situation. She was a substitute teacher, except not actually one of those. She had no credentials, and she had replaced whoever was supposed to do the job. She'd given enough evidence to point out that she'd told at least one lie already, if they did any amount of homework.

"Will that guy even get paid?" Poor guy. He hadn't done anything wrong. Umbra didn't plan to steal his lunch. "Crap," she got out, wobbling a bit. "This is a big mess." She emerged from the empty classroom and slumped against the wall as the bell rang. Students began swarming in all directions, mostly ignoring the adult that stood there, looking like they were thinking about something.

"Keep it cool..."

"Um..." Umbra looked up to see a student, female. The mark on her skirt and the color of her skin and hair gave it away in a hurry. Fluttershy had found her. "Are you alright?"

Umbra smiled gently. Even as a not-quite-human, Fluttershy was a dear creature that cared. "I'm alright, but thanks for checking in on me. That was very thoughtful of you."

"Oh, of course." Fluttershy smiled so nervously. "Have a good day then." She hurried off as if she was regretting sticking out her neck.

"Good ponies make good girls," chuckled Umbra to herself, feeling less devastated. "Alright, one step at a time..." She hadn't been kicked out of the school. Her plan hadn't completely fallen apart. Why assume it was ahead of time? "Twilight's counting on me to help!" She pumped a fist and started down the hallway. "And I'm going to do my best." As best as a grown adult could do in a high school they didn't technically work at.

She'd have to get extra clever.

Adulting would solve the problem! It had to. What was her second option? She glanced up at the tiara on her head. No, trying to put the entire school to sleep would definitely not help. Hiding her sensations would also not help, seeing as she wasn't tied to anyone in that world that she knew of?

Right?

49 - Bridging Views

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Umbra looked around as she wandered the hallways. Supply closet, no. Bathrooms, nope! Ah, there. She reached for the handle only to stop. There was a warning printed right on that handle. Pushing it would make the alarm go off. Easy access to the roof? Who would allow that...

"It's not locked." One of the students had seen her considering the door. "Just don't be a narc."

Umbra flashed a bright smile at the teen. "Hey, thanks." She had found a student hangout? Neat. "I'll be cool, as someone my age can be."

The student fired a thumbs up in reply. "Keep it easy." And off they went.

Umbra dared to push the bar, and no alarms went off. No sirens ranged or red lights flashed. It was just a door with an alarming sign on it. Victorious over that foe, she pushed ahead into the stairwell that lead up towards the roof. "Let's see how busy this is." It was, perhaps, a little confusing. Why had a kid helped her, an adult, find the kid hiding spot?

She wouldn't betray them, sure, she knew that. But how could he know that? Well, unless they were like doing dangerous drugs or casually enjoying knife fights or something... She opened the heavy metal door at the top of the steps with a soft thunk of metal on metal. Light spilled over her as she emerged into the sun. There were two mildly bored older teens there, seniors?

They noticed her coming, not that she was being that sneaky about it. The male of the two nodded upwardly. "Yo."

Was she accepted among them? "Hey." They couldn't miss that she was older. That was... kinda obvious, right? "What's up?"

The female waved down at the front of the school. "Just unwinding. Watching what goes by. You know. Same reason you're here, right?"

Actually. "Not that far off." Umbra advanced to lean on the same rail they were using. "Sorry if I'm intruding. This is... your space, right?"

"Nah." The guy shrugged. "If you're cool, so are we."

The girl thumbed up. "You're a sub, right? Nice crown." She pointed up at Umbra's tiara. "No real teacher would ever wear that." She laughed at the very idea of it. "You're a rebel. A teacher rebel. Kinda slick. Didn't know teachers had rebels."

The guy swatted at her. "Hey, some of the teaches are cool."

"Yeah yeah." She leaned towards Umbra, still propped by the rail. "But none of them wear that. Hey, did you and the principal shop from the same place?"

That got Umbra's attention quickly. "She has one like it?"

"Sure does." The girl shrugged, pushing off the rail to her feet. "Thinks she can get us real excited about winning it. That's not my style. You're working it though."

Winning it?! "Huh, neat..." How did Celestia end up with it?! Well... If she had it, Umbra might be able to help Twilight even more directly than she dared dream. "Say, you two mind if I do a little meditating?"

The guy's brows went up together. "Huh? No, knock youself out." He pointed to where a mat sat on the roof. "Wouldn't even be the first."

"This really still is Equestria," muttered Umbra on her way to sit on the provided mat. "Let's confuse someone." She reached up and gently plucked free her tiara. "Maybe..." The block was only outgoing, so there was nothing she expected to start feeling.

But would someone else? She set the tiara down next to her, touching her, and closer her eyes. With slow breaths, she did her best to still herself, to feel nothing but her passive self. With crossed arms, she casually pinched one of them, a sharp new sensation. If someone was feeling her, that would be really hard to ignore. Not debilitating, Umbra hoped, but also hard to ignore.

A universe away, Shining and Cadance waited with the others. Shining let out a soft grunt. "Even with her fancy tiara, there were leaks."

Cadance nodded quickly. "I could always know she was there, even if the specifics were quite well covered. This... complete silence is... I didn't even realize until now. There's still a difference in a quiet Umbra versus no Umbra at all."

"Begging your pardons." Rarity was smiling at them both. "But I wanted to say I understand. We're missing Twilight just as much."

Fluttershy was colored brightly. "Is it true... that you three...?"

Shining coughed into a hoof as he darkened. "We are very close friends."

Rainbow burst into laughter at that answer. "Really close friends. Serious-talk though, we're all anxious and stuff." She waved at the portal they were not far from. "We all got things on the other side of that thing we want to get back safe."

Cadance sat up straighter. "You are right. I shouldn't be thinking only of myself. Besides, one of those things is also my step-sister, whom I love very dearly. I want them all back safely."

"All of them," echoed Shining. "But they will. After all, there's Twilight and Umbra. I can't even imagine those two not succeeding in the end."

A chorus of agreement rose. Two champions of Equestria were on the case. It just had to come out right in the end.

Another Cadance, in another place, rubbed at her arm. "Ow." She felt a pinch, but there was no obvious reason for it. She was wearing her formal suit. There were no bugs in sight, and she didn't feel any, aside that pinch. That Shining was also rubbing his arm was only more confusing. "Huh..." But she had work to do, papers to fill, things to acc-- "What?" She felt something brushing her neck and her hand went to it quickly, a thing Shining also did.

"Sorry." He took a step towards the door. "I just wanted to visit my favorite dean anyway."

"No, wait... Did you feel that, the pinch? The... brushing?" Cadance rubbed at her throat, where it had stopped. "Tell me."

"Um... yes. Yes I did." Shining looked left and right. "That isn't normal."

"That is not normal," echoed Cadance with a frown. "Unless we just spontaneously got allergic to each other? Eeee!" She felt like she was bending a leg backwards, but her leg was right there. She was in her seat, not contorting. "What is going on?!"

"I don't know, I swear!" Shining was clearly feeling that as well, a hand on his hip. "But I really wish it'd stop."

But a new sensation was coming, like a tapping, right in the center of her chest. Tap tap tap tap... "What...?"

But Shining seemed to get it, grabbing a pen off Cadance's desk and starting to write busily. "Dot dot, dash, dot..." It just went on and on for an uncomfortably long time, those dots and dashes with spaces in them.

"What's it say?" demanded Cadance, rising to her feet. "Is that Morse Code?"

"I think so...." The tapping stopped. "But I don't have that memorized." He snapped up the paper. "I'll go look this up, be right back." And off went the alumnus, rushing towards the library.

Cadance sank back in her seat. "What in the world...?" She snatched her phone, barely giving it a chance to finish it's first ring. "Dean Cadance. How can I help?"

"Cadie," came a friendly female voice. "It's been too long."

Cadance smiled, her bad mood evaporating. "Celly! Did I forget a call? I don't remember planning one, not that I'm ever sad to hear from you."

"Luna and I are chasing a curious case." A tapping could be heard, a finger on a desk? "Do you know a person named Umbra? They mentioned you."

Umbra? Umbra. Umbra? "No... That doesn't ring a ball, I'm afraid. Are they causing trouble?"

"In a sense."

"She doesn't know them, does she?" came Luna's voice in the background.

The receiver was covered, muting the conversation between the two a moment. "She substituted a class today. The students rated her well. She left good notes for the teacher. She got along with the teachers afterwards. There's just one problem."

Cadance raised a brow high, shifting which hand held the phone. "And that problem is...?"

"The substitute we had on schedule." A paper moving. "Was a Mister Line. We gave him a call, and he claims he had come to the school. But I saw Umbra. The students saw Umbra. The other teachers? Umbra. Can you see how this might strike us as a bit... odd?"

"Odd is not the right word!" groused Luna in the background. "We could get fleeced if they know we let some random person teach their kids!"

The door ahead of Cadance clicked shut. Shining Armor was approaching with two pieces of paper. One had all his dots and dashes, the other the translation that he held out to her. Her eyes swept left and right quickly. "One moment..."

on't even know if this is working. Hello! First, sorry. I don't mean to ruin your day and if this did work, you were probably very surprised. I come in peace, I swear. My name is Umbra. If you get a call about me, please tell them you know me. If it's not too much trouble, can you swing by Equestria High? I will explain everything.

Cadance frowned as she finished reading. "Celestia?"

"Hm?"

"I'm going to swing by. Is that alright?"

"It's always alright," half-sang Celestia. "This will be delightful. But about Umbra?"

"She's harmless, or out your paygrade, one or the other." Cadance tapped the paper Shining was holding. "I suggest doing absolutely nothing right now. In fact, tell her that you talked with me, and I can't wait to see how well she's doing." She moved that hand to her calendar, leafing through it. "You're having that student event soon."

"The formal?" Some papers moved. "Ah, yes. Why?"

"I'll stop by for that, lend a hand. A fine excuse for me to show up. How does that sound?"

"Hm." It was a few days away, she could easily see. "Can this situation wait that long?"

"I have a feeling..." Cadance tapped a pen on the desktop. "Either it will resolve itself, or it will wait for me to show up. Just tell her that."

"I trust you." Celestia hung up gently.

Shining folded both papers and set them on the desk. "I feel like I'm suddenly in some kind of crazy movie."

"You and me both." Cadance set her hands on the desk. "But we'll remain cool, composed, and figure this out. Shining, are you available?" She repeated the date of the formal. "Just in the evening."

"Let me check." He dug out a cellphone and got to tapping to see. "I'm busy until about noon, but after that?"

"Perfect." She offered a hand to him, met and shook. "Thank you. I don't know how you... or me really... got involved in this, but we'll figure it out."

"Did I hear her right?" He was pointing to the hung up phone on the desk. "Some stranger's pretending to be a substitute teacher? That's... crazy."

"Crazier than what we just... had?" She waggled a finger at Shining and herself. "Something is very wrong, and I don't want anyone there getting hurt. "

"So we call the cops?" suggested Shining with a shrug. "Seems like a good time for it."

"They'd definitely arrest her." Not that Cadance seemed ready for that. "But she has some kind of tie with us, and I want to know what it is, and I won't if they just haul her off to jail. Before you say it!" She thrust up a finger at Shining. "I know, I'm being a little selfish. But don't you want to know too? This is not normal, even a tiny little bit. The questions are too large to just ignore and pretend nothing happens. I want answers."

Shining lifted his shoulders a few inches before letting them drop, defeated. "Alright, I'll help. I just hope this works out."

50 - Walking Ghost

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So it was that Umbra walked the halls unchallenged. She was just supposed to be there, calmly existing. One more teacher-like object without a specific task. The actual teachers nodded, some even said hi or waved. The students mostly ignored her, having other things on their mind that rated higher to them than what a random new adult was doing. None of them called her out. None of them asked her to leave the school.

It was growing late in the day, with so many periods having come and gone. Surely it was near the end? Umbra wasn't certain, and the hours weren't posted anywhere she could find. So she did what nerdy people not in class did; she sat down in the library in front of a computer. "It's been so long." She stretched out her fingers and put them to work.

Sure, her typing skill had rusted a little, resulting in far more typos than usual, but she was doing it. Like riding a bicycle, it was hard to completely forget it. "Is there a Google?" There was not a Google. The sites she expected just weren't there. That world was not Earth. But the browser's homepage had a search, and from that search, she could find other sites to bounce off of. She was getting a feel for this strange new Internet.

She found a video site with silly near-humans doing silly near-human things. Some of them looked very serious as they did it, going over whatever bit of news was important to them, or their viewers? The numbers were lower than Umbra would have expected, on Earth, but that wasn't Earth. Those weren't humans. Just mostly? She browsed on. "I missed you." Fingers, they really were nice to have. Sure, a unicorn horn was also great, but fingers were, by definition, tactile. Clickity-clack-clack they went against the keys of the computer, and that was a feeling she had missed more than she would have expected.

One thing though, Umbra noticed as she hammered away. Female human bodies were different than pony female bodies. Sure, she had been female before, but not female female... cis female! She was one of those! A little giggle escaped her. They said she'd never be a 'true woman'. Ha, take that, people a few dimensions away. That'll show them! Her cheeks suddenly went a dark red. She was a cis female. That came with certain... "I'll be back before I do that." She hoped...

"Umbra?" There was Twilight, looking around nervously. "You plan on hiding in here too?"

Umbra twirled her chair about to face the human Twilight, er, new-human at least. "Twi! I've learned some things."

"So have I." Twilight was edging away. Where to? Hard to say. "I know where the crown is."

Well, shoot... "Celestia has it."

"And will give it to whoever wins this popularity contest," sighed out Twilight. Spike jumped free of her backpack as she got to stacking books.

"What are you doing?" Umbra wagged a finger over the proceedings.

"Making a bed?" It was a bed, sort of... Of books... "I don't have a lot of other options right now."

"Huh." Did Umbra have better? Not... really... "Well shoot... I'm going to check something. You hold down the fort... the book fort." She giggled a bit as she fled.

She strode through the quiet hallways with a purpose. Alas, her target spotted her long before she spotted them. "You're still here." Luna emerged from a side passage as if the darkness were a natural place for her to be. Pony or human, some habits remained. "I don't understand who or what you are, exactly, but if you mean harm for my students..."

"I don't, I swear!" Umbra put up her hands as if to deflect Luna away. "I'm actually trying to help them." A magical artifact probably didn't belong in the human not-magic world, Umbra was fairly sure.

"Help them?" She had a brow raised in scornful doubt. "There isn't much you can do 'for' them right now. They're going home."

"About that." Umbra worked her fingers together. "I was looking for a place to crash. Any ideas?"

Luna threw up a hand, the arm remaining level. "Seriously? This is a school, not a motel."

"Yeah, yeah, I get that." Umbra rubbed at her other arm. "I'm really sorry for haunting the place. I'll gladly sub another class tomorrow if you need it?"

"How delightful!" Without a single shoe being heard, Celestia had arrived. "I'd be delighted if you could."

Umbra and Luna looked to her with equal surprise. "What? You did quite well today. How are you with social studies?"

Oh no! Umbra cringed. "Uh, going to just admit that's probably a bad fit." The thousands of tiny ways the not-human not-ponies history could be so very different from what little she remembered... That would be a nightmare. "I don't want to give a bad lesson."

"I appreciate you admitting that." Celestia nodded and nudged Luna. "See?"

Luna rolled her eyes at that. "This is ridiculous. If you like climbing so much, why not help with PE?"

Umbra blinked softly. "Oh, uh, wait, climbing?"

Celestia pointed upwards. "We saw you on the roof."

Oh! "Oh... Well, sure. Let's get them moving." She clapped her hands together. That sounded potentially even fun. "I'm up for that."

"Fantastic. Second and fourth periods then," explained Celestia. "For tonight." She pointed in a familiar direction. "You can visit the teacher's lounge if you have nowhere else to go."

Luna grabbed Celestia's shoulder. "Are you really having this uncredentialed layabout sleeping in the teacher's lounge?!"

"I am." Celestia set a hand gently on Umbra's shoulder. "I have a feeling... Besides, Cadance spoke well of you."

Umbra's expression brightened suddenly. Her tactic had worked?! "That's great! Good old Cadie. She knows what's up."

"She really does." Celestia was turning back towards Luna. "So leave her alone. She's helping us."

"Our teachers have their own homes," grumbled Luna, but she was moving on. The principal had spoken.

"Don't mind her. She prefers things be done by the book." Celestia wagged a finger at Umbra as she finished her turning back around. "But I've never been quite that constrained. Tell me, Umbra, what is it? Why are you here? Be honest."

Did she dare? "Actually... There's a tiara, like this?" She reached up for her own. "I hear you found it?"

Celestia's eyes darted up, if briefly, at Umbra's jewelry. "I did, actually, but that was before you came to visit."

Well, shoot. She couldn't say it was hers if it was there before she was... "It's not mine." Truth, start with truth. "It belongs to a friend of mine." Still truth! "I was hoping to get it back for her."

"You pretended to be a substitute for that, instead of just asking?" It was Celestia's turn to have a brow raised. "That's a curious course of action, isn't it?"

Umbra sagged, called out! That hadn''t been an adult decision. She was paying the price for failing to adult! "That was kinda dumb..."

"I'm glad you see that." She patted Umbra gently. "Now, you look tired. I'll see you tomorrow?"

"Yes'm." The will to keep up the battle with the soft spoken principal was entirely drained. She hadn't said a darn thing wrong. What kind of adult would do what Umbra did? Pesky ponies! They were a corrupting influence... "I'll be ready to do some quality gym, tomorrow."

"I'm glad to hear it. If you need it, there are still snacks in there." And off Celestia went, calm and pleased with life in general. It was infuriating, but also a little impressive.

"Tricky pony." Umbra found the door to the lounge was open. Inside was coffee. With a click, she got it back to warming up. Also a box. She popped open the paper box to reveal a random assortment of sugary snacks. "Apex of health, this is not." But it was a snack, and coffee. She could be doing so much worse. The night that Twilight slumbered on books, she napped in the teacher's lounge.

"Are ya sure we can't help? Jus' a little." Applejack was looking at the swirling portal. She had no idea what was beyond it. How could she? "The waitin's the worst part, and it's been a while now."

"And there's nothing to do," complained Pinkie in solidarity. "I'm not in the mood to party."

Rarity gasped loudly. "Pinkie, not in the mood to party? Darling, that's when you know things have gone awry."

Celestia raised a hoof gently. "We must be patient. They are doing their absolute best, I feel certain."

Cadance got out a little hm at her aunt. "How can you be so sure? What if they're in trouble? When do we begin to worry, properly?"

"Not now." Celestia nodded to each worried face directed at her. "She's fine, and trying so very hard right now. A little faith, a little longer. For now, you should sleep. Even if she did require help, you won't be able to give it if you're exhausted."

A communal grumbling was the reply, but they started off to where they'd rest. On either side of the portal, the next day would come, and staying up to see it wouldn't help anycreature involved.

Except one. She looked left and right with furtive glances. A guard was approaching, clip clopping steadily. When he came on where she was, he only saw a coatrack, and he moved on. With a green puff of flames, the crystal bat was returned, breathing a little hard. She hadn't been caught. The way was clear... She hurried towards the mirror.

Only for a leg to descend in front of her. "Where are you going?" demanded Luna with a scowl.

Shifting Prism ran right into that leg with a squeak. "Oh, uh, hey!" She scrambled back a step, waving at the large alicorn. "How's it going, Luna?"

Luna leaned in close. "I was not informed one of mine was in the area."

One of hers? Shifting froze stiff, unsure what to say.

"Good timing." Luna sat up with a nod. "You will obey your princess, will you not?"

"O-of course!" Shifting snapped her best salute, standing up properly. "How can I help, ma'am?"

Shifting's deference seemed to relax Luna. "Good. I know my sister's hunches are correct far more often than not, but I want my own eyes on the situation." She pointed at Shifting, hoof close to Shifting's snout. "Go through that." She pointed to the portal. "And make sure they are alright; Umbra and Twilight Sparkle. Help them, if you can do so subtly, and get back here. Can you do that?"

That had been exactly what she was planning on doing in the first place. But saying that felt like the wrong answer... "As you command," is what came out of her instead, bowing before her princess. Well, her pretend princess. She had no princess! Except maybe Umbra. Umbra could be her princess, yeah, that'd be fine. "I'm on the case."

"Be wary of another you," cautioned Luna. "Sister made it clear that could happen. Do not interact with them if you see them. Just let them do what they plan to do as if you had never seen them."

"Got it!" Shifting scooted around Luna. "I'm going in now." Luna watched her in a stare until she was gone through the portal, popping out on two legs. "Wha?" She curled her new hands one way and the other. It was dark out, just like it had been back in Equestria. "Here I come!" Shifting had no idea where she was, but she had a goal! Two goals, three! Three goals! "Find those two, get back." Four! "Help them!" She was counting on her new fingers, the least dazzled by the change of any of the creatures that had come through the portal. She was, in the end, a changeling. A change of forms was not that strange.

51 - Coming to a Head

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Teaching gym was surprisingly fun. It was her chance to be mostly-human, female, and moving around. Her new body did it pretty well. It was a bit of a shame that, as the teacher, she wasn't moving full tilt. It was her job to get the students moving about. Also she was not wearing proper gym shoes at all. That portal had assumed she was a business lady of some kind, and her footwear reflected that.

The students laughed a little at it, but she was able to direct the class despite that. One game of volleyball for one period, and some soccer in the second. Gym sports, prepare for balls! Either way, she was a substitute teacher, and it was working out fine. A pity she was getting not a step closer to getting that tiara.

Even if she did get her eyes on it. Called to Celestia's office after the second gym period, she could see it, under a glass box. "That's rather fancy."

"I thought--" Celestia uncurled a few fingers towards it, seated at her desk. "--being able to see the prize would motivate students that happened to come in. I think it's working, perhaps too well." She depressed a button and twirled her monitor for Umbra to see. It was the cafeteria, where the students were singing and dancing. The words were lost, no sound, but they were having a grand time of it. Soon they were all wearing pony ears and some even pony tails. "Community spirit is up, and so is the competition."

"Wow," let out Umbra as the monitor was turned back ground. "I've never had my school burst out into spontaneous musical numbers." She quietly blamed Equestria's influence on that. "Still, is that bad?"

"Not by itself. I just hope they don't get carried away. This is supposed to be a fun--" She steepled her fingers. "--event. If they keep it to reasons to dance and sing, no harm there. Now, about you. You may have been unexpected, but you are getting the job done. I have a question for you."

"Which is?" That had the potential to be dire, but the tone and way it was said implied she wasn't in any trouble, despite the words saying she was super spotted. "I'm happy to help."

"I know you are that." Celestia smiled in that gentle way she had. "First, union. By default, all teaching staff pays a portion of their wages towards it, but you are entitled to opt out. Which would you prefer?"

Oh! "I'll pay." She was not going to take part in any union busting in her brief time in another world. She held up a finger. "Actually, about that... I feel kinda bad taking any money... I'm pretty sure you've figured out I'm not a licensed teacher at this point."

"A while back," assured Celestia, still wielding that knowing smile like the deadly weapon it was. "And yet, you keep doing it. Your students speak well of you. If, after Cadance stops by and we put this mystery to rest, you feel up for it, I wouldn't mind sending you back to school to get that accreditation."

Umbra's cheeks were on fire. "That is such a nice thought!" Aw, that human not-Celestia was being so nice! "But I can't take that in good conscious." She didn't plan to stay in their world and all. "Luna was mentioning it before she knew more and got all... prickly."

"By the book," reminded Celestia, not seeming upset or surprised. "She'd come around if you began the process of doing it right. But, back to the matter at hand." She reached into her desk and came out with a folded envelope. "This is your pay. You earned it. Accredited or not, you worked for this school. The first day, I could have blamed you. After that, I knew what you were doing, and you were still allowed here, so it is my responsibility to see that all staff here gets paid." She set the envelope on the desk. "Minus union fees."

Umbra hiked a brow even as she reached for it. It reminded her of how a japanese person would give cash, which felt odd, but then, why should it? Equestria High wasn't American, or anything else earth-related. She shook that thought away. "Did you guess I'd--"

"--I did," cut in Celestia. "And I was, fortunately, correct. You are much like that crown." Her eyes were on it, sealed in its cube. "Both of you came to me without warning, but right when I wanted them. Ah, before you ask, your first day is not included. That went to the substitute whose hours you so casually... stole."

Umbra smiled awkwardly at that. "I'm so completely fine with the poor guy getting his money for that. I don't want to steal his cash!"

"I had hoped you'd say that." Celestia set her hands flat on the desk. "Now, you're done with today. I'll be arranging a schedule for you tomorrow. No objections?" None came. "Then enjoy the rest of the day to yourself."

Umbra was dismissed, with money, and a job... "Man... Earth was never this easy." She felt the folded paper in her pocket that hid the cash. "If I was staying, a bank account would be the next step..." Walking around with paper money? Who even did that?! Well, their technology level being what it seemed to be, maybe they did do exactly that... It was hard to say... "Sorry!" She almost crashed into a student. "I was spacing out."

"Umbra?"

Umbra blinked. "That's me." The student didn't look like one of the ones she had taught. They had dark grey, almost black skin, like her, though a bit darker. Their shirt, however, was bright colors, like an explosion of rainbows.

"Umbra!" The student girl grabbed at Umbra's right hand. "I found you."

That voice... "Shifting?" Umbra glanced around nervously. "Is that you?"

"It's me." Shifting squeezed Umbra's hand all the firmer. "You are hard to find!"

Umbra scooped up her friend in a hug. "Are you alright? I knew Twilight was here. Also..." She stepped back from Shifting, looking her over. "Am I the oldest person in my peer group? Because that's uncanny now."

Shifting looked up and down at her friend who had become significantly larger, and mature. "Huh. Um... I can't fix that."

"Can't fi.. oh! Right, you're a human." Umbra pointed at her. "Not a changeling, right now, so no shapeshifting for you. Ah! Did you bring any magical items with you? They still work." She pointed instead up at her tiara. "Already tested." A thought tickled her. "Aren't you... either a boy or a both, by default?"

Shifting began to color. She already had plenty of color to go around, but more red flooded into her cheeks. "Both," she muttered in barely a whisper. "Don't hate me."

"You didn't pick it." Umbra poked at her bashful friend. "And I'm going to introduce you now."

"Wha?" But no time for questions, Shifting was being drawn by Umbra through the hallways. "Is this good?"

"Completely." Umbra rapped a knuckle on the door. "Celly, sorry to bother you."

The door swung open. "Umbra? I didn't expect... Who's this?" She looked past Umbra to Shifting. "A new student?"

"In part." Umbra wobbled a hand. "This is a cousin of mine, Shifting Prism. Shifting, say hello to Principal Celestia."

"Hi!" squeaked out Shifting, looking like a deer caught in headlights.

"Aw, don't be scared," assured Celestia. "It's nice to meet them, but what do they have to do with me?"

"Family stuff," sighed out Umbra. "I wanted to be sure it's alright if she hangs out with me for now. She won't get in the way, and hopefully she'll learn a few things while I teach classes."

"I appreciate you asking first." That could have been a lot of shenanigans with a hidden Shifting. "So long as they don't disrupt the classes, I have nothing against that. Why aren't they are their own school?"

Shifting raised a hand with an awkward smile. "I came a long way. I can't go to my school right now." All honest! Umbra smiled with pride at the speed at which Shifting got into role. "Sorry for the trouble, ma'am."

"It's no trouble at all." She patted Shifting gently on the shoulder. "Stay near your cousin and do as she asks. She works here, you know. Don't make her look bad."

Umbra snagged Shifting, one arm around her. "I'll keep her safe and out of the way. You're the best, Celestia."

"You're too much." But the door closed. Celestia had other things to tend to.

Confident, Umbra strolled from the office with a cocky grin. "And, just like that, you belong here."

"Wow." Shifting looked around with new eyes. "I was just getting used to being sneaky."

"Why be sneaky when you can be an adult?" reasoned Umbra. "Speaking of adult privs." She hiked a thumb at the teacher lounge. "This is where we adults go to get away from kids. You get a pass, being mine." She opened the door and headed inside.

The guy teacher she had seen was there, with some other teachers she didn't know. "Hey." she waved at the one she did know. "This is my cousin. Celestia knows about him." A few noises of assent. If the boss knew, well, clearly it was alright then. "What flavors do we have today?" She went over to the doughnut box.

"You're just in time." A thinner male teacher was looking at Shifting. "Is she going to bring you to the formal? It almost got cancelled."

"Ugh." A female rolled her eyes. "That would have been a mess. Luna, love you, but that... would not have ended well."

The portly male teacher Umbra had met first nodded. "Thankfully that's past, so we can throw a little party for our hardworking students. They deserve it. Besides, these memories are the sort of thing they'll never forget."

"For good or bad," noted the female with a smirk. "Well, coming?" Her eyes went to Shifting.

Who was looking to Umbra. Who was busy picking out the best nut-covered douhnut, mmm... She only just noticed then the attention was on her. "Huh? Oh! Yeah, sure. Shifting, that sound fun to you?" Umbra nodded subtly, hoping she'd get the hint.

"Yeah!" Shifting clapped her hands together, meshing her fingers. "I'd love to. thanks. You're the best cousin I could ask for."

"Aw." The female teacher giggled at their apparent closeness. "What a cutie. You keep an eye on her. You want a snack too?" She pointed to the doughnut box Umbra had just plundered. "Plenty to go around. Any guest of a teacher gets to enjoy."

"Do they drink coffee?" asked the portly male teacher, cradling his ceramic container of wake-up juice. "Bad habit." He drew a heavy gulp. "Best to quit it early."

Umbra grabbed a Styrofoam cup to avail herself of the coffee offerings. "Thankfully, she hasn't picked up the habit to quit it." Technically, Umbra had quit it cold turkey since going to the pony world, but taking it back up again was so very not hard. "You stay away from this stuff."

Shifting looked from cup to cup. There were so many teachers with a cup of coffee. "Um... If it's bad, why are so many of you drinking it?" That only got a laugh out of the room. "What?"

The man leaned forward, still sitting. "It helps us get through the day. It's a bad habit, but none of us are quitting it any time soon. You're doing just fine not getting into it."

"A dirty adult habit," agreed Umbra with a shrug. "Enjoy not needing it, hopefully ever."

"I'll drink to that." Several cups met with squeaks of Styrofoam and tinks of ceramic before the entire room, minus Shifting Prism, drank some coffee to the idea of Shifting Prism never trying her first cup.

52 - Trivial Formalities

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It was a big day! Or a big night, if one wanted to me more accurate. The students were arriving. Some in their own cars, some in rented cars, some even in limousines secured for just the occasion. The energy was thick with the young need to make a mark at the school event.

Umbra was in the auditorium, where the dance was officially happening. Shifting was chatting with some of the students, which was fine by her. It was likely more fun than standing with her as she peered at the proceedings suspiciously.

"Celly!" And there was Dean Cadance, approaching with a warm smile. "It's been too long."

"Too long indeed." They met in a warm, if brief, hug. "The formal is just starting, and the students are clearly ready for it." Celestia waved out over the excited crowd. "But I'll admit, part of me is more interested in you right now."

"I'm not that interesting," she warded gently, eyes drifting to Umbra. "Is this her?"

"I kept her safe for you." Celestia nodded at their guest of honor. "Now, will the two of you tell me exactly what's going on?"

"A fine question." Cadance was looking over Umbra, eyes lingering a moment on that fancy tiara that had no business on a teacher. "That was quite some trick you pulled."

Dang it... They were in far too public a space for that conversation. "Wasn't it? Sorry if it bothered you. I was running low on ideas, and time."

"Is that..." Cadance's question died without being finished. "This isn't the place. How has she been." Her attention was back on Celestia. "Causing trouble?"

"Her?" Celestia shook her head. "A model substitute. Not a complaint, other than how she got here to start." Her voice lowered a bit, though the noise of the formal did much to keep her words from traveling. "Most of our subs come thoroughly vetted beforehand."

Luna crossed her arms, fingers tapping at the opposing arm. "Are we still pretending that isn't a big deal?"

But they weren't paying that much attention to Luna at that moment. Cadance casually looped an arm through Umbra's, guiding her away. "We have so much to catch up on!"

Umbra tried to think of an excuse, any, but not many ways sprang to mind that'd get her away from Cadance without completely blowing her cover. She'd have to adult through it! Just explain things calmly and hope it worked out. Yeah! "So much. How long has it been?"

Human Cadance was still Cadance... like? She put out the airs of someone in charge, but didn't seem immediately stuffy. She was pretty, Umbra was fairly sure. Her gauge for almost-humans was far from perfect, but she seemed to fit the pretty model she'd seen so far. "How'd you do that?" Umbra was startled out of her musings by the question. "The tapping thing." Cadance was subtly tapping herself where it had happened as they slipped free of the auditorium. "And it happened to one of my alumni too, but only him. Why?"

"Right to the point!" Umbra slipped her arm free, putting at least a foot or three between them. "If I told you straight out, it'd sound crazy."

"You already did it," noted Cadance. "And it was, in fact, crazy. So tell me how, please."

Adulting! "I can appreciate that. First." Umbra reached up to remove her tiara. "A demonstration." With it removed, she could easily tap the wrist of her left arm with her right hand. The jump from Cadance was hint enough that it had worked. "Now the crazy. In another world, me and another you and the other guy, Shining Armor, right?"

"Y-yes?" stuttered out Cadance, perhaps surprised that Umbra even knew the name.

"You two are married there, and I got connected, so whatever one of us feels, the others do too." Umbra took a slow breath. "Turns out, I'm still broadcasting, and it can still reach you two, here. You're not, obviously, as I can't feel anything from you."

"Another world?" Oh how her brow went up. "You weren't lying, that sounds a bit crazy." And yet, proof that Umbra wasn't just making things up was right there. "This is all a bit crazy... Let's assume, for the moment, that you are telling 100% of the truth. If you came from another world, why?" She leaned forward with a smirk. "Have you come to conquer us by taking over our educational facilities? That is certainly playing the long game."

"That would be insidious," agreed Umbra with a chuckle as she plopped her tiara back on. "But no. We're just here to get the other tiara like this back." She pointed up at the tiara she just put on. "It's being given away at the formal going on right now. With luck, our other agent will win it, and we can all go home and stop bothering you."

"How..." Another question died on the vine. Cadance shook her head. "Alright... Your crown clearly does... things. I could imagine why you'd want the other, and I don't want to imagine something like that in the hands of any student of ours. If that's your goal, I'd say we're in complete agreement."

Umbra flashed a great smile. "You mean?"

"I'll help. Who's your 'other agent'?" Cadance turned a hand about. "I'm not the principal here, but I can put in a good word in the right ear, increase the odds of them winning, if it means this comes to a nice orderly stop."

Umbra couldn't shake her smile. Good news! She would be able to actually help in the plan to get the tiara back! "Twilight Sparkle." She began to describe the Twilight she had seen. "She's here, for sure."

"Hm. I'll tell Celestia then. If this works, you go home, and I don't get poked in the middle of nowhere again, right?"

"That's the theory." Umbra blushed faintly. "I really am sorry. I didn't mean to ruin your day, but options were limited."

"You seem nice enough... Though it is... bothersome to imagine another 'me'... We're not that close." She stomped off, blushing brightly at the thought of what her other-worldly self was up to.

She went right up to Celestia, whispering in her ear, "Have you heard of a Twilight Sparkle?"

"Hm? One of the contenders for the big prize," whispered Celestia back. "I was considering her, why?"

"This is my vote for her then." Cadance nodded faintly. "Go ahead."

"Well." Celestia had not asked for votes from the teachers, let alone one from another school. Still... "That's quite the vote." Her eyes went to the dance floor where the students were enjoying themselves. "How can I refuse?" It was a decision made for her. It didn't ultimately matter that much.

Celestia took the stage, congratulating all the students on their hard work, both in making the formal happen at all despite obstacles, and for doing their best, but there could only be one true winner. She looked to Twilight Sparkle as she said her name, to the clapping and cheering of the crowd. No upset calls. Cadance had chosen well. Celestia set the tiara on the student's head.

Then things got odd. A call for help. Twilight went running out the back of the auditorium, fleeing out a door where two others had just run through. Noises of confusion rose up among the crowd. "This was not planned..." The crowd began to mobilize, drifting out to see what all the fuss was about.

It was time for the climax of that adventure, but we're not here for that, are we? Cadance slid up next to Umbra as people rushed to head outside. "Was that supposed to happen?"

"No... No I don't think it was..." Umbra rubbed behind her head. "Have you seen Shifting?"

"Who?"

"Her!" Umbra spotted them in the crowd and waved them over. "We should probably get going, assuming that works out, we are going to be needed on the right side of the dimensions, and I made you a promise."

Shifting came jogging up. "What'd you promise her? What's going on?" She waved a hand at the mostly empty auditorium. "It was all fun until... poof, everypony's gone."

Cadance considered Shifting a moment. "Is she from your world?"

Shifting squeaked in horror, hiding behind Umbra. Umbra stood in solid defense. "She is. I'll take her with me, no worried about that."

"Does... she also have magic?" Cadance hiked a brow up. "Which I'm not 100%..." Her jaw went slack. Outside the window of the auditorium, she could see Sunset busily becoming and gloating as a literal demon. "Nevermind..."

"Aw, dang it..." Umbra put a hand to her head, wincing at the sight. "Keep it cool. Twilight's a super hero, like you. She can figure this out. Heroes like us always figure it out! Maybe she'll even surprise you how she does it." Little did Umbra expect friendship lasers. "Huh... That... That counts."

"Is this how you live your day to day life?" Cadance waved wildly at the crazy magic show that had just played for them. "How?!"

"With effort." Umbra nodded firmly, wrapping one arm around Shifting to draw them close. "Seriously, I'm so sorry for all the trouble."

Shifting was examining Cadance curiously. "You... look kinda like Cadance."

Cadance blinked at that observation. "Because I am Cadance?"

"No, oh! Yeah, of course, ha ha." Shifting looked away, lest she say anything else troubling.

Umbra squeezed her not-a-changeling-at-the-moment friend. "She can still feel what I feel, crazy huh?"

"Really?!" Shifting's eyes went wide a moment. "That must have been so confusing."

"To start." Cadance rotated one arm upwards. "Things seem to be calming out there. Your friend, Twilight was it? She..." A thought hit her, for later. She knew a Twilight... Sparkle was it? Yes, that was her name. "I hope you have a safe trip, but next time." She dug out a card and pretended it towards Umbra. "Call me instead of sending a telegram, if you would."

Umbra took the business card in a snatch. "Will do. Thank you, for not freaking out. I gave you plenty to freak out over, and you didn't. You're a real champ."

"Does she?" asked Cadance, returning to a previous question, looking at Shifting pointedly.

"Um." She dug out a wand. "This can...?" She looked to Umbra for permission, given in a nod. "Make squeaky noises." She waved it about as it began to squeak in a batty-like way. That it also gave her a radar-like vision of the area she didn't mention.

"That is... something." Cadance reached to grab the wand just firmly enough to stop it from waving wildly. It had no holes to explain the squeaks, and still squeaked despite being still. It wasn't a grand magic, but, not seeing any electronics involved, it was still magic. "Huh."

"Yeah, crazy..." Umbra shrugged greatly. "But let's get all this magic off your nice little world. You're doing just fine without magic messing it up."

"One thing." Cadance had a lone finger raised, releasing the wand back to Shifting's control. "How can you say that with a straight face?"

Umbra broke into laughter at being called out. "Point! Can't even argue that. Still, you want demon students to add to your list of problems?" She hiked a thumb outside. "Pretty sure you do not."

"I... do not." She folded her arms. "Then I will wish you both safe travels."

Shifting flashed a bright smile at the princess who wasn't. "Are we headed back now? I didn't get to help much."

"Unfair, I know." Umbra started off, Shifting at her side. "But you can help me celebrate getting home. In fact, I bet Pinkie's gonna go nuts when she sees Twilight, and you are invited before we even get there, how's that for speed?"

Umbra leaned in. "Find anyone you liked while you were here?"

"No!" blurted Shifting, blushing. "Was I supposed to be looking?"

53 - Movie's Conclusion

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Twilight had done her part. Tiara secured, there was no reason for Umbra to stay, but before she went back, she had someone to face. "Thanks, for giving a hand... But I'm with her." Umbra hiked a thumb at where Twilight had already fled. "We'll keep our strange stuff to ourself, promise. Don't be mad for the whole 'not really a--"

Celestia placed a lone finger on Umbra's lips. "You were a fine teacher, but you don't belong here."

"No... That's true. I just wanted to say thanks." Umbra lifted her shoulders in a helpless motion. "So we'll get out of your hair."

"Confusing, perhaps, but you didn't hurt anyone." Celestia gently shooed Umbra. "Go on. I'm sure you have friends waiting for you."

"I do." She pulled Shifting closer. "One right here. Let's go!" With that set aside, they returned to the right side of the mirror. Twilight was eagerly in the welcoming hooves of friends and family.

Luna was watching them. "There you are." Oh, no, she was looking at Shifting. "I will want your report, immediately." She strode off with a purpose.

Umbra raised a brow, her restored tail flickering behind her. "Did you make her mad?"

"The opposite, I think, mostly?" Shifting hurried off, back to being a crystal bat pony.

Which left Umbra by herself, but only briefly. Celestia calmly walked over, sitting in front of her. "I'm glad you're back."

Umbra burst into giggles. "You're not going to get this, I think, but I met the other you, in there." She pointed to the mirror back and to the side of herself. "And I think I get you better now."

"In a good way?" Celestia leaned in, craning her long neck with a gentle smile.

"I think so." Umbra considered a moment. "It's... You're doing your best to keep an eye on a chaotic situation, but you care, a lot, even at their worst."

"That sounds... accurate." Celestia angled her ears at Umbra. "Are you something I should be mindful of, or something I should protect?"

"I'm on your side, promise." Umbra raised a hoof as if giving an oath. "I may look... odd... but I promise."

"And why should I?" The question, bold, perhaps even rude, but her tone was gentle as if inviting Umbra to put her at ease.

"Because I love this world?" ventured Umbra. "I may be from another place, another mirror like that one." She angled her head towards the named mirror. "But this world is my home, and the people in it are my people. I want them to be happy and safe." She smirked suddenly. "And you've already heard half of this I bet."

"I have, but hearing you say it was something else. Something I needed to hear." She offered the side of her cheek, and it was met with another, the two touching gently. Any past misgivings were gently set aside between the two princesses. "Was the... No, I shouldn't pry." Celestia turned away.

"Why not?" Umbra scooted right around the larger princess. "I'd want to know about another version of me."

Celestia raised a brow, but her smile came back. "Since you're so eager to share..."

So Umbra told Celestia about Celestia, if she were a principal of a high school instead of an unaging princess of an entire nation.

"So Twilight got her tiara back." Shifting inclined her head. "I wasn't that helpful, um, ma'am."

"I see..." Luna spun in place, from away from Shifting to towards her directly. "And what did Umbra do? Were they assistant or hindering?"

"Helping, so far I could see... She was older than I was... I wonder how old she is..." Shifting frowned with thought, but Luna's hoof clop on the ground stirred her back to attention. "Sorry! She was helping."

"How old Umbra happens to be is outside your mission," huffed Luna. "Tell me exactly what she did."

So Shifting did, at least the parts she had seen.

"She, hm, quite a talent... The ponies of that other world simply accepted her as one of theirs, even one of ranking, without question?" Luna fluttered her wings with obvious irritation. "Why did the princess summit have to already be over...?"

"You're all here." Shifting waved a bit vaguely. "Couldn't you just call a quick extra meeting?"

"Tradition." Luna looked over her shoulder at her small servant. "Besides, they are all distracted with Twilight's successful return. They will have little desire to speak... No... You've done your part. Thank you." She rose and began to march towards the door leading out of the room. "Good work."

Shifting had survived! She hurriedly scampered from the room with a giggle of triumph, only to run into Umbra a few turns later. "I thought you'd be celebrating, with Twilight?"

Umbra reached to pat the head of her favorite changeling-bat. "Tempting, but this is more their thing than mine. Like you, I didn't help all that much. Oh, wow... Pony!" She stretched her restored body with all its different muscles. "Species dysphoria, take 2! It's still a nice body, even getting used to it."

"Now that we're back... Can you tell me about coffee?"

Umbra hiked a brow at that. "I refuse to believe ponies never heard of coffee, so I choose to accept this is a changeling thing."

"Maybe?" Shifting let out a squeak. "Gonna tell me?"

"So, you take this bean." She gestured in the air at a small thing. "And you boil it, like tea, but a bean instead of some leaves. You drink what happens and it gives you energy, a real pick-me-up. Addictive as all heck, so, really, skip it."

"An... energy drink, that you get addicted to." Shifting at least had some idea what it was then. "You got used to the energy it gave?"

"Exactly!" Umbra flashed a big fanged smile. "Exactly. You get used to that energy, then you need it. That's bad."

"Sounds bad." Shifting squinted at Umbra. "I have another question."

"I have all the answers you want, Shifting." She brushed against her friend and resumed walking. "I was heading back to my room."

"How old are you?" Shifting crashed into Umbra, who had stopped there in the hallway. "Bad question?"

"Awkward one, and bold." Umbra turned back to Shifting. "And hard. I was like one of those things through the mirror, then I was a pony." She gestured over her equine form. "So how physically old am I? Over there, I think I was in my 30s or late 20s. Is an Equestrian year even the same as where I'm from? I have no clue! I swear, not trying to be obtuse about this."

Shifting let out a little oh of a noise. "That is complicated..." They resumed their walk. "Am I too young?"

Umbra swerved an ear, but didn't slow. "To be a friend? No. Super mega duper no."

"You keep sending confusing signals." Shifting accelerated in front of Umbra. "So I'm stealing your power."

Umbra hiked a brow. "If you mean friendship, I already gave that up. Drain away."

"Even more powerful!" Shifting grinned at her, little bat fangs on display. "Adulting."

Umbra gasped with alarm. "Oh no. I didn't think anyone in Equestria had that power."

"I learned from the best." Shifting buffed at her chest, looking so very proud. "Umbra, do you like me, romantically, or not?"

Umbra huhed. "Wow, that... was an adult question, asked in an adult way. Laying it all flat on the table. I am... super proud of you." She went in to smooch the top of Shifting's head, but the crystal bat danced away.

"You're avoiding the question," accused Shifting, crossing her arms. "If not, that's alright, but I want it to be clear one way or the other."

"No pressure..." There was a lot of pressure. "Alright..." She looked Shifting over with a different set of eyes, a different perspective. "You are a pretty bat." She leaned in, voice lowering, "You're a mysterious changeling." She righted herself. "You're nice, and thoughtful, both big positive points in my book. You're adulting! Which is also a big point." She wobbled a hoof at Shifting. "The question, in my head, is do you really want to get involved with this mess?"

Shifting resumed the walk at Umbra's side. "You're not a mess! You're a very neat pony. So adult. So mature! The opposite of a mess."

"Who's involved with the ruling princess." Umbra threw her head in the direction she thought Cadance to be. "And her boy, er, stallion. Who happens to be the hero of the city, and known defender against what bumps in the dark, because she is the dark, so who better?" She snorted at her own humor, a smile returning to her. "Saying I'm a straight forward thing would be a bad lie."

"We're good at lying." Shifting came in closer, brushing her side against Umbra's. "So, am I too young or not? That was the question."

"Right." That was the question, which she just didn't answer at all really, shoot... "You're an adult, right?"

"Yep!"

"I figured you were..." Shifting lived by herself and minded her own business. There were no caretakers, there were no adults in her life, besides Shifting. Well, and Umbra... "Well... Alright... If you're an adult and you like me, then I will put aside my... first instinct and say that's good enough." She leaned over and bit Shifting's nearer ear, not being dodged that time. "I'm still hella complicated."

"I look forward to studying this puzzle." Shifting pounced, easily held up by the larger Umbra as they went down the hallway. "If she lets me."

Umbra swiveled an ear back. "So... to be clear, we need to have, like, a dozen Serious Conversations."

"Ready!"

"Starting with the fact that I'm in an open relationship, which makes thing complicated all on its own."

"Ready!" Shifting would not be dissuaded, hugging Umbra from above. "They're not mean... I won't ask you to...stop... But I won't join. That's alright?"

Umbra blurted into laughter. "Wow!" She looked over her shoulder at Shifting grinning at her. "Bold! I'm not really looking for a fun time with more than one pony at a time anyway, truth told. One is fine. And if you want them, feel free to talk to them, like an adult."

"Adulting is quite a weapon." They were quiet a moment, but Umbra's door was coming closer. "I'll let you get to your things. See you tomorrow?"

Umbra's red horn began to glow as she plucked up Shifting and set them down gently. "One thing first." She opened her door and peeked her head in. "You in here?"

"Ma'am?" Purple Polish was there, waiting. "Good to see you back, ma'am."

"Did you just wait here the entire time I was gone?" Umbra peered at her servant with a mix of awe and horror.

"Most of it, ma'am. That is my job." She peeked past Umbra to Shifting. "Should I get snacks for two?"

"It does involve her." Umbra's horn glowed, sliding the hesitant crystal bat into the room. "She's courting me." She pointed to Shifting if that wasn't obvious enough. "So treat them properly if they show up. I want to be bothered if they want me, even if I'm sleeping or something. Do not filter them." It was like adding a friend on a cellphone, except it was old timey, so telling your maid was the next best thing.

"Of course, ma'am." She looked over Shifting with new eyes. "Are they... qualified?"

That got her a little boop on the nose by Umbra. "You will not filter her. Besides, she helped defeat the shadow creatures and she was a big help in the mirror I just came out of." Okay, the second part was a bit of a lie, but the first was all true! "So we're both heroes, and a hero and a hero isn't a bad match at all."

"Oh, no. That's a fortunate pairing." Polish seemed entirely pleased with it laid out like that. She went off to get the heroes a snack.

54 - Serious Conversations

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"So I wanted you to know." That little habit hadn't changed. They were gathered for breakfast around the same table, enjoying food prepared by the palace staff. They had been doing it before they became a thing, Umbra realized. That was fine, she enjoyed the breakfast routine. "She's very nice, but she isn't trying to be involved with you, unless she approaches, but I want to handle this maturely, which means letting you know what's going on instead of you tripping over it."

Shining sipped from some dark stuff. Coffee? Tea? "Are you... Sorry. This is a little awkward."

Cadance set a hoof over one of his. "I think what he's trying to ask is if you're taking fully to polyamory. Should we expect other ponies to appear?"

Umbra's brows came down together in quite the scowl. Her breath caught, rage burning a hot moment. She was not a slut! But the more reasoning parts came online a moment later. She already was in a poly relationship. One that involved them even! It was... Not an unfair question. She let that tension out with a slow exhale. "I have no urge and no desire to be involved with more than one person, really. You two are the extra." She waggled a hoof between the. "And while I imagine you'll both be fun, neither of you can give me a proper romance. You two got each other for romance."

Shining burst into a sudden laugh. "Harsh. We're the extras."

"That does hurt a little." But Cadance was smiling. "But you're not entirely wrong. As romantic partners... we have lacked. You spend more time with Shining than I, with your game, but that isn't really 'romantic', is it..." She sat back with a soft hm. "Do you want a little more romance? You deserve to be loved."

Umbra squeaked. She didn't mean to, but that's what came out. "I just got a romantic partner to try out!"

"Try out?" Shining took a fresh sip and his magic brought over a slice of toast to nibble on. "That's a curious phrase."

Umbra rolled he eyes at that. "We're not married. We've only just opened to the idea of dating. What is dating if not a trial period, to see if you want to take that next step, or not?" She leaned in over the table, snapping a sweet thing that tempted her on the way. "If it helps, we have done nothing untoward, and I plan on wearing this." She thrust a hoof up to her sensation-blocking tiara. "So I won't be bothering either of you."

Cadance reached for the thread only she could see, plucking at it with a hoof in little motions. "Our connection is crystal. Unique, and striking, but also very hard to read compared to others... I can't tell at a glance what you want, Umbra. It's disconcerting in a way, and now I learn that I have not been providing."

Umbra wagged a hoof at Cadance. "Funny thing about that, most people have no clue what other people want. You couldn't use your cheat, but that just means you have to do what everyone else would do. Ask. Adult." That was a trick her little bat got right! Just out and asked her. What a good bat-that-was-also-a-changeling. "Side note, huge not a fan of the 'people should know me well enough to read my mind' camp of relationships. Ask."

"Then I will ask." Cadance set her hooves on the table, her food lowering to rest where they started, her horn ceasing its glow. "I had... assumptions, but they were just that. What is it you want, Umbra, exactly?"

"That's a big question!" Umbra gulped up the second half of the sweet treat, swallowing it down with a smile. "Mmm, good. What do I want from what? From you? I want you to keep right on being the princess the, uh, kingdom? Empire? You know this isn't much of an empire, right?"

Shining blinked at that. "What? It's a perfectly good empire." He crossed his arms, looking a bit put out at the Crystal Empire's empire status being questioned. "How is it not?"

Umbra snickered at that response, sitting back. "Empires are empires because they own things." She brought her hooves together. "The Crystal Empire owns itself, and nothing else. There are no other countries or lands under its control. Equestria is technically more of an empire, having the Crystal Empire under it." She locked eyes on Shining's drink. "Is that coffee?"

Cadance was just smiling as the two argued that. As soon as Umbra finished her statement of her case, Cadance leaned forward. "There is a reason it's called that." Both looked towards her. "And it's not a kind reason. The Crystal kingdom became the crystal empire when a certain jerk--"

"Sombra!" blurted Umbra instantly.

"--That one." Cadance nodded to Umbra. "He had empire dreams, so he renamed it as he started mobilizing for war. The citizens got used to that name... And forcing the issue on them feels... cruel, so it remains." She hiked a brow at Umbra. "Is that sufficient reason?"

Umbra let out a little huh. "Wow, that's actually a good reason... Re-traumatizing an entire nation of ponies sounds like a bad tradeoff for having a more accurate name. Jerk!" She punched the air in front of her. "Even gone, he's still a jerk and ruining the good times."

Shining rubbed at his cheek softly. "This is coffee," he noted a bit quietly. Perhaps that had been news for him too. "Why?"

"Gimmie!" She quickly poured herself a cup. "I didn't know you had any!" And soon she was sipping away at it. "Oh! Oh... Oh..." Coffee, yes, but a different bean. From a different world. That made sense. But it was good. Full bodied, like a punch, but given with love. "Mmm...."

Cadance snickered at Umbra's reaction. "I don't need to see your lines to know you're having a good time with that. I had no idea you were a coffee drinker."

"Me neither. We have a few blends to choose from." He waved to the pot Umbra had just attacked. "That one's from Saddle Arabia, good stuff, but there are others that are just as good in their own ways." A smile began to return to him. "Seriously though, even if you aren't married to us, you are involved. We care about you, Umbra."

"We do," quickly joined Cadance. "You want us to ask, but I posit that we will not be upset if you tell us either. We don't always know what to ask. I'd tell you to ask, but..."

"--You're pretty good at asking." Shining brought forward his floating cup, it met with Umbra's in a union of coffee. "Still, uh, sorry. I feel I've been a little jealous today."

"Me too," admitted Cadance with a little deflating.

"Wow, welcome to poly 101 right there." Umbra waved a hoof at the two. "I told you this gets complicated. This is why I rushed here and told you right away. No secrets. Secrets ruins a relationship, poly or not. You felt jealous, fine. That's hu---normal! It's what you do with it. Don't feel bad just 'cause you had the emotion." She leaned forward, hooves clasped under her chin. "Now imagine if the first you heard of it was seeing me in a heated kiss with her?"

Both colored at the mental image. Cadance raised a hoof slowly. "That would have been quite a bit worse."

Shining coughed into a hoof softly. "Thank you for sparing us that possibility. So... tell us about her?"

"Yes." Cadance was suddenly grinning. "I would know of this pony that stole your heart right from under us. She's your crystal-crafting tutor, isn't she?" She giggled softly. "How romantic, when a teacher and a student realize their connection is deeper than they thought." It was little surprise that the consent problems with that didn't register in her mind. "What do you two like in common, besides crystals?"

"Hm." A fair question... "I feel relaxed around her. We can talk about all kinds of things, big and small. She's a good listener. She trusts me, a lot." Umbra thought of Shifting's secret. That was quite a thing to trust her with! "She bakes really good cookies."

Shining burst into laughter. "Outdone by cookies. If it helps, a really good cookie might win me over too."

"Shining!" Cadance swatted at her husband, the both laughing at the joke. "Anything else?"

"Well..." Umbra considered with a frown. "It's not fair to entirely cut out crystals, because that's involved... When I shape crystals, I feel... alive, and she's super involved in that. She isn't just a teacher, she's my partner! She helps make what I make even better, and she does it with passion. I can appreciate that, and I like her even more because of it."

Cadance nodded quickly. "Mmhmm, that makes sense. A common passion can be just the thing to get things started." She burst into little giggles. "How delightful! Me and Shining were about the opposite to start."

Shining laughed awkwardly. "We were on complete opposites..."

"But we found a way. It's nice to hear you don't even have to go through that step." Cadance leaned in closer to Umbra. "Well, how does it feel?"

"To...?"

"Find somepony special, of course." Cadance nodded just a little. "You were a stranger here. You must have felt so isolated. You weren't even a pony, if I understood correctly, and now you're comfortable enough to consider welcoming one into a relationship with you. That's quite a step, and I am both proud and happy for you."

Oh, right... "That was a thing..." Umbra inclined her head slowly with thought. "You're all aliens." Reminded, the differences came to the front. Their twitchy noses, their flicking ears. the way their eyes... They were not human, but then, neither was she. "So... Wow, that's odd to think about." But a smile came. "And I'm willing to get cozy with an alien. Call me a xenophile if you have to."

Shining pointed at Umbra accusingly. "Xenophile, whatever that is. Seriously, what is that? Phile means to like, right?"

"Xeno, other, outsider? Alien, in this case." Umbra pointed to herself. "I was born on two legs, with a flat face, and now I'm involved with four-legged snouted people, with tails! That's pretty xeno, and I'm alright with it."

"Ah!" Cadance looked suddenly relieved. "Some ponies are having similar experiences. Our world is slowly becoming more... connected, and exposure to other races means a chance for love to blossom across those lines." She trailed a hoof across the imagined line on the table. "Which leaves everyone involved a little awkward, but, I hope, still satisfied." She seemed to look past Umbra. "Is it still new, having a tail? I would imagine not having one being more distracting..."

"That's assuming." But it was Shining, not Umbra, that noted that, wagging a hoof at his wife. "Not like some ponies don't have a tail, and they survive somehow." He finished his coffee, setting the cup down in his magic. "Now, I should get back to work. The guards won't watch themselves, no matter how hard I try to get them in the habit."

Cadance snickered softly. "One of these days you'll get that trick down. Best of luck." The two met for a gently nuzzling departure.

Shining circled around to Umbra. "I'm sorry for assuming so much. May I get a kiss before I go?"

Umbra's ears danced atop her head. "Oh! Well... Since you're asking nicely." She leaned in and they nuzzled. It wasn't a kiss at all, and she was happy with that. "If anything scary shows up, you know I'm there to spook them back."

"At any time," agreed Shining. With a final salute, he got to trotting off.

They all had work to do, but at least their relationship was a touch more clear between them, and no feelings had been hurt, in the end.

Adulting!

55 - Digging for Treasure

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It was dark, but this didn't bother two of the miners who were laboring side by side. "Look at this one." Umbra hefted up a considerable bit of crystal. "Not large enough for a pillar or a wall, but still!"

Shifting leaned closer for a look. "Good gloss, good purity..." She felt over the stone carefully. "It'll need some polishing up, but still, good, a good find!" They met, hoof to hoof in a clop of shared joy. The crystal was set aside to be hauled back up later. "But we need more big ones for that arena."

"Yeah..." Umbra took a slow breath, listening perhaps to the distant sounds of picks meeting stone. "Not much we can do for that, just keep looking." They shared a nod of agreement and got back to doing just that, digging in the stone in search for larger slabs of crystal.

"One thing." Shifting tapped at the ground in a feeble dig, distracted as she was. "You're a crystal wizard."

"Guilty," sang Umbra, working with significantly more focus. "What about it?"

"Well." Shifting rubbed her hooves together, not mining. "Then you have a feeling for crystal. Why not use that feel?"

"What do you mean?" She set her arcane-grabbed pick to the side and turned to Shifting. "You have an idea?"

"An idea for an idea?" Shifting flashed a fanged batty smile, wings flittering behind her. "Digging is fun and all." It didn't seem that fun to Shifting. "But what if you didn't do that and instead used this." She pointed up to where a horn wasn't was. "And just feel out the crystal, through the rocks?"

"Huh..." She crashed to her haunches.

"Dumb idea?" Shifting backed a step worriedly.

"No, brilliant idea." Umbra inclined her head. "Just dumb I didn't think of it earlier, so feeling that, but also happy someone went and thought of it."

"Yay!" Shifting's smile was back in a rush. "Do it!"

"On it, on it." Umbra closed her eyes and felt out. She could find the jewel she only recently found easily. She knew where it was and what it was, but that was a hint, feeling over it with her magic to get a feel for what a crystal should be. "Yes, a crystal, like that..."

"Good girl." Shifting was bouncing in place a little. "Get a good sniff. Get 'em!"

"I am not above bopping you." Umbra's attention was not directed at Shifting and their teasing words. She reached out into the stone, a pulse of her dark crystal magic pouring out in a tiring wave as if she were the center point of some radar. And there were replies, some closer, some coming later, further, weaker. "I don't know if they are the big ones, but that way." She pointed down and towards a wall. "The closest one."

"You sound out of breath." Shifting rushed off to come back with a crystal juice box, straw poking free of it. "Here. Was it that hard?"

Umbra snapped her lips around the straw, sucking down a nice big swallow of the sour crystal berry juice. "Mmm... Yeah, not easy, but easier than digging in random directions." She pointed in the same direction. "That way, let's dig!"

Shifting grabbed her mattock in her jaws. "Let's dig!" And the two got to drilling towards what would hopefully be a nice big crystal.

"You look sour." Shining Armor was walking alongside her towards the game. "Bad day at the mines? It's a bit of a crapshoot at the best of times."

"It's not like that." Umbra waved it away. "I can detect nice... small crystals. I have to find a nice fresh big crystal to get a lock on them and stop wasting time." She groaned softly with the imagined effort. "Arenas are not easy to build! On the other hand, hoof, whatever, if I wanted crystals to just play around with... The ones I can find are pretty great!"

"Huh..." Things grew quiet as they clip-clopped along. "Still sounds like you're making progress."

"I am," sighed Umbra. "Maybe I'm being silly. Progress, just not fast enough. Like I want the arena done yesterday, which isn't happening."

"Nope." Shining leaned in closer. "You're already doing it faster than we'd dare to dream of. It's happening nice and fast."

"I am willing to accept it's me being silly." She stopped arguing it, accelerating instead towards game night. There were funny dice to roll and narratives to create!

"There you are." There was their storyteller, looking at Umbra pointedly. "Got a moment to talk?" The crystal stallion gestured with a toss of his head, leading the confused Umbra away. "It's about your character."

"What about my character?" Umbra inclined her head. "I'm playing the element properly, right?"

"Totally! 100%. I was just wondering..." He worried his hooves together. "If you could play something more... conventional? Like a pony?" He smiled a bit nervously perhaps. "Please?"

Umbra skewed her ear off to the side. "What? But... She's part of the story." She threw her hooves wide. "And she isn't disrupting the game, is she?"

"No! No..." He coughed into a raised hoof. "It's just... Unusual, is all... If you're alright with it, we could even just... make her a pony?"

Umbra's brows came down in a heavy frown. "I will not casually swap her race. She's a good kitty, my good kitty! She didn't--"

"--Something wrong?" There was Shining, poking his nose into the back room they had retreated in.

The storyteller smiled at Shining, perhaps seeing an ally? "Tell her. Non-pony races are super optional, and it just... I was hoping she could switch to a pony. She could even be one of the 'lost' tribes."

Shining looked between nervous storyteller and furious Umbra. "Well... her cat isn't causing troubles, is she?" He shrugged softly. "Never thought it was bad having her in the team."

"Thank you!" Umbra sat up tall, buoyed by a little backup. "She's a dear muffin that only wants to help. Why are you hating on her?"

"I'm not hating on anything!" he hissed in reply. "You can keep her, just, you know, more pony, please? All of us are ponies."

Umbra raised a brow. "None of us are pegasi, but there's one being played, how is that fair?"

"That isn't the same." The storyteller sank in misery. "--and you know it!"

Shining set a hoof in front of the storyteller, his eyes on Umbra. "He's right."

"I am? I mean, of course I am." The storyteller looked happy to have someone in his corner.

"It's his game." Shining inclined his head at the game runner. "If he doesn't want a cat, that's fine."

"But..." Umbra shuffled with welling misery.

Shining set a hoof on her shoulder. "We can find another game that allows cats."

"Okay, I think?!" She allowed herself to be led out, pausing only long enough to wave at Sunburst. "We're making a new game, with cats!"

Sunburst blinked with wide eyes. "O-oh?" And he followed in the exodus, confused, but more loyal to Shining and Umbra. "Are we not playing today?"

Shining threw a leg over Sunburst, walking with him. "We'll need to get a new pony to run things. The last decided to draw a line in the snow where one didn't need to be there."

"With cats?" ventured Sunburst in mild confusion.

"Well, that depends on who runs it." Shining rolled his shoulders. "Speaking of, one of us has to do it." He looked between Sunburst and Umbra.

Sunburst raised a hoof. "I have a collection of stories, if you don't mind playing some pre-written adventures?"

Umbra clapped excitedly. "That sounds like fun to me! Ooo, I'll play an earth pony this time."

Shining blinked at that. "Not keeping your cat? I... thought that was half the argument."

"Being told I can't play her is just wrong." Umbra crossed her arms. "But if I have a choice, I'd rather try something new. She had a good run. Maybe a big, powerful stallion this time. Stout and stoic!" She put on her best stoic face. "I'll take the front," she grunted out a bit overly dramatically.

Shining laughed at that. "Well, if you're going new, I'll go new too." He looked to Sunburst. "Permission to try a diamond dog?"

Sunburst blinked. "Oh! What an interesting choice. You still have to pick an element." He wagged a hoof at Shining. It was a rule that not-ponies could also not have an element, driven by their own alien needs. "You alright with that?"

Shining nodded quickly. "Diamond Dog driven towards... loyalty!"

Sunburst clapped his hooves. "We have a party! Oh, um... Since this is new, if you... want to invite others, this is a good time? Just bring them by my place before next week?" He rubbed behind an ear. "A shame we're skipping this week though."

Umbra kicked a stone on the road's side, "That part is a bummer, but I'll have a level 1 character ready, and I think I know just who I'd want to invite." She giggled as she raced off.

Sunburst watched her flee, looking to Shining. "Should I be... worried?"

"Probably a little." He patted Sunburst on the shoulder gently. "But she is a good pony, and an excellent player. It should be fun."

Sunburst cleared his throat. "Well, yes, on both points." He turned in place, nervously shuffling from hoof to hoof. "I should get to reading. I can't run that adventure without reviewing it first."

"You'll do great." He swatted Sunburst forward. "Thank you, for coming to the rescue."

"Wait, I did??" Sunburst's flee was interrupted by his confusion. "What did I rescue?"

Shining pointed where Umbra had fled. "The last stallion was trying to get all 'pure' about things and make Umbra switch characters."

"Oh." Sunburst shook his head slowly. "Well, we're here to have a good time. I'll pick an adventure that it'd make--"

Shining's hoof landed on his snout, quieting him. "Any adventure could have a not-pony in it, if you let them."

Sunburst inclined his head. "Ah? Ah... You're not... wrong, I suppose. I admit, my experience with not-ponies is... limited." He pointed at Shining to reverse things. "Have you done that a lot?"

"My sister has, a lot. She's dealing with creatures all the time," he laughed out. "Usually with great stories to come out of it. They're not ponies, but they are creatures. Just let them be what they are."

"Alright... I'll do that then." Sunburst played with his long beard. "You can play what you want and I'll trust you to do them justice."

"I'll do my best." Shining saluted properly. "See you next week." The two stallions shared a kind wave and they separated, both off to prepare for the next week in different ways.

"I invited you," sang Umbra, her victim trapped. "I hope you have some dice ready. If not, I will provide some."

"What... am I invited to?" Shifting backed away from the manic smile of her newfound paramour. "And why do you look like that?"

"Because I thought there was no room to share this with you." She leaned in, nose twitching. "And now there is. Prepare for Ogres and Oubliettes! I'm going to play a big strong earth pony stallion." She drew an imagined line down her eye. "Maybe a cool scar right here? You know the kind."

Shifting burst into giggles. "How daring! Well..." She worked her hooves nervously. "I never played that. Am I going to get in the way?"

"Never!" Umbra fluffed up Shifting's sides. "I'll gladly show you the ropes. So long as you want to be there, I'll gladly get you up on your hooves."

"You're sure?"

"100%" Umbra smooched Shifting's cheek and went in for a hug that wasn't resisted. "Now what are you planning?"

"Oh gosh... Um... Oh!" She burst into giggles. "What about your girlfriend?"

"A bit on the nose?" Umbra squinted a little.

"But you'll be my boyfriend." Shifting burst into fresh giggles. "It'll be fun!"

56 - Building High

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Umbra set a heavy stone in place.

"To the left."

It hadn't been her that gave the advice, but it was her that followed it, willing the stone to slide just slightly until it was in the right place. "Like that?"

Shifting nodded at the new place. "That's better. It's a good thing they were looking with us."

With crackles of shadowy power, Umbra sealed the rock into place and sealed crystal to crystal. "We do our best, but we're not even technically miners. I just love crystals too much."

"Just the right amount." Shifting clapped softly. "Besides, when you get your eyes on a nice big slab, that's when things will pick right up!" She pointed to the next heavy slab. "You can't get a sniff at the ones already here?"

"Nope." Not that this stopped Umbra from taking hold of the second one and bringing it closer. "The moment it's out of the ground, its scent starts to change." She tapped at her nose. "The wrong word, maybe? But the best term I got for it, so we're stuck with it. I need a good whiff of it fresh out of the ground. I need the smell of one in the dirt, not one sitting around, or I'll find all the ones already here."

Shifting gestured left and right, guiding the slab to its eventual home close to the first one. "So we just have to get lucky?"

"Just have to get lucky." Umbra inclined her head slowly as she eased the slab into its desired spot and got to sealing it in place. "At least I have good company while I work on that. Besides, think of where we'll be afterwards."

"Afterwards?" Shifting bounced in place and pointed to the next slab for the project. "What happens then?"

"We get this done, fast." Umbra drove her hooves together with a resounding clap that was all the louder, with two slabs touching at the same instant for added bass. "As fun as this project is, I'm about ready to start on something else."

Shifting thrust her quivering nose in close to Umbra's cheek. "If you didn't want to work on something a long time, maybe you shouldn't have said 'oh sure, I'll build an arena for you!'" She stuck out her tongue for emphasis with that. "Just saying."

Umbra stuck out her tongue at the taunt. "So I didn't realize just how big the project was." She sealed two slabs together. "But I am getting faster!" She wheeled on Shifting with the slab securely in place. "In fact, once I can get big chunks out of the ground faster, I think I can get this done in weeks, maybe a few months?"

Shifting rubbed behind her head with a soft noise. "You know, pretty sure a building like this — ," She waved at the skeleton of the building that was being assembled. " — pretty sure it takes years. You're already going pretty fast, is all I'm saying."

"And getting faster!" Umbra clopped her hooves with a big grin. "Besides, I'm learning. I was just a level 3 shadow crystal wizard. Got plenty of levels to get, from the way I'm looking at it."

"Speaking of that," sang out Shifting, rocking left and right. "I think I got my character worked out. A soft and nice unicorn kindness. She'll make any day a little brighter when she kisses your booboos."

"Nice!" Umbra reached for the last on tap slab. She hefted it up with her magic and a grunt, getting it on top of the other slabs. Her hooves moved along with the motion as if they helped somehow in getting it just right. "I changed my mind, though."

"Wait, the game's cancelled?!" Shifting threw her hooves wide. "I just made the character! That isn't fair at all!"

"Not the game." Umbra waved off that complaint with a pfft of a noise. "Just my character. I don't want to play a guy, on second thought. As much as I respect the classic 'grizzled stoic guy with a scar' thing, it's not really a 'me' thing?" She shrugged softly. "But I said I'd play a front liner, so I will. So! I was thinking, why not sisters instead?"

Shifting made little guiding motions, eyes on the heavy crystal's movements under Umbra's power. "Sisters? That sounds fun, so sure! Let's do that. You're going to be a unicorn too, then?"

"I am now!" She made that decision at that moment, not that it seemed to bother Umbra. "Good?" A subtle nod was enough to get Umbra to seal the substantial chunk of crystal in place. "And there, all the big boys we have used." She sagged back with a heavy sigh. "That isn't as easy as I make it look."

"You don't make it look that easy." Shifting pounced on Umbra's back and began pressing her hooves into tensed muscles. "But if that's all that enormous crystals, are we done for today?"

"We are done for today." Umbra kissed Shifting on the nose, hugging her briefly before she set off, Shifting not far behind. "Let's get something to eat!"

"I found somepony." Wensley rubbed his hooves together with clear nervousness. "And I don't feel like I'm wasting her time."

Umbra swatted his shoulder. "That's great! Does she understand what you're going through, or just leaving that aside for now?"

He swallowed at that mentioning. "Well, I did, sort of... Mostly keeping it close to my chest." He brought his hooves closer, as if cupping that secret close to himself. "But I feel better about me... Thank you! You did this."

"I did not." She rolled her eyes. "At best, I pointed you towards it. It was your hooves that brought you there. Your hooves dug in the dirt. It was you that did this."

"You're too modest." Wensley was smiling with nervousness still there. "I think she's a little like me."

"She also has thoughts pushing in where they're not wanted? Boo." She crossed her arms, only to pause at Wensley's expression. "Which you're alright with?"

"I don't want anypony to... go through what I do, but it's nice to have somepony I really understand." He burst into sudden giggles. "We say goodbye in the most absurd way."

Umbra's brows raised as one. "I need to hear this now. Please, go on."

Wensley took a sip from his cup of water. "We say the most ghastly thing we hope does not happen to the other. It's... a contest of sorts, to think of the most gruesome possibility for the other. Neither of us want the other to be hurt." He worked his hooves nervously with a glance at Umbra. "But we think it, and we share it, and we feel better for sharing it."

Umbra sat back as she considered that. "Have a nice day. Hope your eyes aren't devoured by hungry worms?"

"Yes!" He sat forward, eyes sparkling, hoping Umbra understood it. "Good luck at the store. The odds of an earthquake swallowing you and the stall are pretty low, and even if you fell, you probably won't get impaled on the way down."

Umbra winced at the description. "I'm going to hope that doesn't happen to anyone."

"Me too!" Wensley downed the rest of his water. "Me too... But the thought is there. The image is there, and she shares it."

"Hate to ask." Umbra leaned in with a smile that implied she was perfectly willing to ask. "But if you're sharing all that with her, what are you keeping close to your chest? It sounds like you're sharing it all."

Wensley went quiet with little fidgets of his hooves. "Well, um.... You see... I didn't... Shoot..."

"You told her everything and didn't realize it, did you?" Umbra burst into soft giggles at the mental image that brought up. "And she didn't take off running. Sounds like you might have a winner, but let's just forget that a moment. How is she besides that? You two get along?"

"So far." He flashed a hopeful smile. "We like the same kind of music. She never complained when I took her out anywhere. She doesn't get that glassy look when I start goin' on about the family. Actually, she's looking forward to meeting them." He clapped his hooves with building excitement. "I want to bring her to them, to show her off. Oh, um, she's a crystal mare. Do you think that'll be a problem?"

"If that's a problem, then you found a relative that you can cut out of your life." Umbra snorted at the idea of such an impolite relation. "They exist. All the others will be super happy to see you with your plus one. Besides... A crystal pony is like an earth pony, the way I see it. Am I wrong?"

"It's complicated." He put a hoof under his chin, resting against it as he set his elbow on the table. "On one hoof, sure, we got four legs and no extra parts, got that. But Crystal ponies ain't tied to the, uh, earth, same way as an earth pony. They're more, uh..." He sat up, tapping at his head. "It's up here. They're more tied to emotions. Ain't a bad thing, not at all! I like her. I like them... I jus' want mah family to like 'em too."

"And I feel they will." She set a hoof on his shoulder. "Applejack is an Apple, right? Kinda in the name." It was hard to miss that. "She seemed really nice, and she liked you. If you show up with a mare you like, she'll like them too, assuming they're a good pony otherwise, which I bet she is."

An idea came to her with a clop of her hooves. "Which is why you should introduce her to me!" She pressed her hooves to her own chest. "Show her off, introduce her. I'll give you honest feedback, and then you can drag her in front of your family to meet."

"Well, sure, but..." He wiggled his hooves in the air. "It felt odd to introduce one lady friend to another like that. I wasn't even sure if I should mention her to you."

Umbra burst into merry laughter at that. "We are not connected that way, Wensley! I am closer to your therapist and a friend." She shoved at Wensley, making him rock. "I have a plus one, thanks. She's a real lovebug! I should introduce you to her sometime, but now--"

"Wait. You're a mare." He peered at the mare that was definitely female from every angle he looked from.

"Wensley! Buddy!" She buried her face in her hooves. "A lady and a lady can decide to partner up, just like two stallions. Is this the first time you heard of that?"

"Yes?" he admitted in a small voice. "Wow." He sat back, one hoof to his head. "Wow..."

"If it helps, most of it works exactly the same way." She leaned in close enough to touch her nose to his cheek. "Minus that one minor part, which we can skip. We hug and kiss and argue and love and all of that. We're two pe--ponies, and we work through that. It doesn't matter that much if we're a mare and a stallion."

"I... suppose. If it works for you, Umbra. Sorry, didn't mean to..." He let his hooves drop to his sides. "Now ya think ah'm clueless. Sorry! Just a country pony. Not some city slicker that knows all that."

"Gonna bet there are country ponies that swing that way." But she wasn't scowling at him. "So you learned today, nothing wrong with that. You learned, and you didn't find a soapbox to climb on and complain about it, so I'll pencil that down as a victory. Every someone's learning something for the first time, even stuff we think is super obvious. Why, I bet you could make my head spin with a few country facts, and I'd giggle. Learning can be fun."

57 - Enchanting Blue

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Umbra raised her brows as a bright blue crystal pony came in at Wensley's side. She looked demure and shy, only affording brief glances at Umbra.

Wensley wasn't nearly as worried. "Go on. We're allowed to be here." He hopped up onto a seat across from Umbra with a big smile. "If she didn't want us here, she could have scared us away with little effort."

"I suppose." She sank down on the seat next to him. "Good... afternoon, your lord... I'm not used to meeting famous ponies!"

Umbra gently waved downwards. "Relax, relax. I won't bite your head off, I promise. I just wanted to meet the darling mare that captured his heart."

The blue pony looked to Wensley as if for help, fidgeting in place without a word.

Wensley waved at her. "This is Cobalt Dreams." Just as blue as her name. "And she's thrilled to see you." She did not look happy at all to be there. "Or she's busy imagining what would happen if she got too close to your horn."

Cobalt's eyes grew wide. "I-I'm sure you could avoid..." she trailed off into an uneasy quiet.

"If it helps." Umbra floated over a glass of juice. "I've already heard of Wensley's problems, and I'm still here. It's alright if you think terrible things about me, so long as you don't actually do it." She inclined her head faintly. "Though that's the second time he's brought up my horn. Is my horn that fascinating?"

"It's so sharp." Her eyes locked on that horn in intense staring. "I can't help but to think about it. And so red... If you made somepony bleed, would you even notice?"

"That's exactly what I first thought." Wensley slapped her on the back. "We ain't far apart. She has those thoughts, too. We both don't want to hurt nopony, but we still think 'em."

Cobalt blushed a bright red against the blue tint of her crystal pelt. "You must think I'm awful. I don't want you to be hurt!"

"Nah." Umbra sloshed the cup. "Thirsty?" It was only after Cobalt took the cup between her forelegs that she casually snapped up something sweet and crunchy. "I knew what I was getting into before and I'm just tickled you two found each other. That's really special, and sweet!"

Cold brought her hooves to her cheeks. "You're just saying that! There's no way a pony as together as you is that happy for us."

"Alright." Umbra considered the two. "You look cold. I wonder if he gets frozen when he kisses you."

She gasped with obvious alarm, but he went with it, "I hear you're putting together something with such large pillars, one could fall on you and, splat, no more hero."

Cobalt glanced between the two nervously for a moment, but they were looking at her so cheerfully. "You are a wielder of strange emotion magic. I wondered at times what would happen if you zapped me. Would I get louder?"

"Probably." Umbra didn't look at all put out at the idea. "But you'd also put more attention on the things that matter." She pointed at Wensley. "Which I hear includes this pony."

"It does." She sighed with a little smile. "You're really alright?" Umbra nodded swiftly. "Then... hello! Hello, Umbra, great and powerful." She put a hoof on her own chest. "I hope you make it through the day without poking someone in the eye with that horn."

"Again with the horn!" Umbra was laughing instead of looking offended. "Should I wear a big cushion over it just to relax people?"

Wensley casually reached over and grabbed a pillow off the next chair. With a lob, he stuck it onto the end of Umbra's sharp horn. "There, now yer safe."

Umbra scowled at him, even if laughter was escaping from the seams. "Alright, are you two comfortable now?"

She had met a new pony, and all was well.

"I'm scared." The crystal bat that was actually a changeling worked her hooves together. "There are rumors about a changeling."

"Just rumors." Umbra waved it away. "If it was real, they'd call me."

"Unless they don't want to bother you." Shifting poked at Umbra's front. "Or they're waiting until they have more to work with."

"Huh, would they?" Umbra's brows went up together. "You know, Shining's gonna be at the game tonight. We could just ask him what he knows."

"That'll just make him defensive." Shifting paced from hoof to hoof without actually moving. "What if it's me?! What if they found me and they're just waiting to snatch me?!"

"I doubt that." Umbra smooched the top of Shifting's snout. "There's no way they'd go after you while I was dating you without telling me something."

"Unless they thought you were under the sway of changeling trickery!" Shifting swooned in worry, wriggling on the bed.

"Well, I am. 100% victim of changeling trickery." Umbra touched nose to nose with an affectionate rub. "Oh no. Won't somepony save me? If they don't act quickly, I may spend the rest of my days being happy! Noooo!"

Shifting burst into giggles as she shoved Umbra back. "Ha Ha! But it's serious. They're looking for a changeling." She glanced around to be sure they were alone and private. "Which I am!"

"I didn't tell them." Umbra crossed her heart for extra emphasis. "The crystal ponies get nervous easily, but hang around me. They'll find whoever it is and get on—"

"Umbra?" came a muffled voice. Shining? "Can we talk?"

"It's about me!" Shifting dove to the ground and darted under the bed, out of sight.

"Come in." Umbra slid to her hooves in time for Shining to enter. "Hey, are you ready for the game?"

"Game's cancelled." He directed a hoof at Umbra. "The entire city's going on high alert. We've detected a changeling in the city."

Umbra assumed only she heard the faint squeak from the bed, gauging from Shining's lack of response. "How awful. What did they do?" She was doing a poor job of sounding alarmed.

"Nothing, yet." Shining scowled at her. "But they could be anywhere, replacing anypony.... In fact..." He pointed to the tiara on Umbra's head. "Could you take that off a moment?"

Umbra raised a brow. "That's a little offensive, not gonna lie."

"It's just a matter of security." Shining reached up to his own face and casually poked himself, which Umbra could feel. "You know it's me."

"You are getting good at blocking that." Her eyes widened a bit. "I know youcan, but I stopped thinking about it. You keep it blocked all day?! That has to be draining."

"You get used to it, and now I know you're you." He went in for a little nose touch, getting it. "Only you could have felt me."

"Duh." She inclined her head. "By the way, my girlfriend is likely to be around more often. The whole changeling thing is scaring them."

"I don't blame them." Shining stomped in place. "And good idea. If you two can monitor each other, that's one less pony to keep track of. Great! Now, I need to head out with the guards and look for that changeling." He saluted and headed back out the way he came.

But he wasn't gone for long, or at least the door wasn't empty. Purple Polish was right there. "Sorry, ma'am. He was very insistent and I can't say no to him."

"It's alright. I'll be here with Shifting. Get us a snack, kindly, and knock when you get back. No barging in for now until I say so."

"Yes, ma'am." She trotted off in search of food.

Umbra nudged the door shut with her glowing horn. "The coast is clear."

Shifting popped into view with a loud gasp, as if holding her breath were a part of her hiding. "Do you think he's on to me?!"

"No." Umbra trotted over and offered a hoof, getting Shifting upright. "He thinks you're another scared victim, which works out nicely, I think. They think there's a changeling, but it's not you."

"That's good, and bad..." She tapped where she was sitting a moment. "Maybe you should help?"

Umbra reached out and placed a hoof on Shifting's chest. "I found the changeling."

Shifting burst into laughter, her miasma destroyed. "You know doesn't count! And I mean the other changeling. I bet you could find them, or help confirm there isn't another changeling."

"I can volunteer?" Umbra leaned in. "But that would leave you alone."

"Purple will be watching me." Shifting pointed to the door. "So she can vet for me, and we can share dinner while you search."

"Right right. Go off and do the dangerous thing while I sit back and eat tasty things at home. I see how it is." Umbra rose to her hooves with an angry flick of her tail. "You're lucky I signed up for the hero business."

"Good luck." Shifting went in for a press of lips, hugging Umbra close for a moment.

"Paid in full." Umbra became little more than a shadow, seeping through the room quickly.

But they didn't find the changeling that day. Instead, a more dire message came to them. It didn't come with a letter or a pony desperately galloping towards them. Umbra and Shining received it clearly. The sensations were impossible to deny. "Oh no," breathed out Umbra, sinking to her haunches.

"What is going on?!" Shining wasn't far away. He was looking to Umbra for answers. "You know! What... What is that?!"

"You are about to become a... father." She lowered a hoof to her belly where the feelings were coming from. "Wow... Is that what it's like? Ooh! Oh! Wow..."

"Stole the words out of me." Shining sank down next to Umbra, only to spring up instantly. "I have to get back to her!" He took off at a desperate gallop towards his wife. Changeling or not, it was time for him to be there, at her side.

"Part of me just wants to close my eyes." Just to lie down and experience what was happening and not do a thing at all. Yes, that was a fine idea... But not one she could take. She was not Cadance's husband or wife, but feeling what she did, she couldn't ignore it. "Time to get moving."

She faded into dark fog and drifted quickly towards the source of pain and growth within her. She had never experienced what a woman went through that way. It was a learning experience of sorts. It was also amazing. She could feel the emotions with the sensations. She was opening and preparing for motherhood, and something wonderful was about to happen to her. To Cadance! But it felt like it was happening to her.

Dark shadow and desperate hooves brought both partners of Cadance to the waiting room where a nurse-capped crystal pony turned towards them. "Oh, I thought she'd be alone."

Umbra flopped against a couch with heavy breathing. "She's not done yet!"

"No, she isn't, but she's doing it remarkably. She'll have a little foal to hold in no time at all." The nurse was smiling brightly, not understanding the experience the two ponies in front of her were going through. "Did you run all the way here? You are so devoted! I will be sure to inform Cadance of just how loved she is."

Laughter shook Shining’s tense body as he staggered forward. "Can I help? In any way?"

"You can offer a hoof, and just be there." The nurse nodded primly. "Those two things are enough for a stallion. Go make amends for what you've done."

He laughed even as he nudged the door open. "I'll... do my best to apologize..." And he was gone, the door closing behind him.

The nurse nodded at Umbra. "Not much else for us to do, but wait. Hopefully, we'll have good news to spread around the kingdom!"

"That would be... nice." Umbra closed her eyes as waves of tension and strange new sensations built in her. She would get to learn what being a mother was like, along with two other ponies.

58 - Hello Mother, Hello Father

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Umbra grunted into the cushion of the sofa. She could see the nurse watching on with a confused expression. Why shouldn't she be confused?! The pony she was monitoring was giving birth was busy not producing a child and just made odd noises.

"Nnng." Umbra pinned her ears back. There was a time the tiara working both ways would have been handy. Trick! There was no way to go both ways. The emotions would come unless she slapped a tiara on Cadance's head, which she didn't have permission to do.

That was all a ploy to distract herself from what was going on. It was all very magical and wonderful and a little mystical. Nobody said it was natural for her to experience childbirth on her own. They weren’t even her child! A little further. She could feel the child moving. Poor Shining.

He wasn't even female, and he could feel it too, and hear her. Cadance was making stranger noises than Umbra, she felt certain. Poor stallion was probably making his own noises. Sounds connected them together! Umbra burst into laughter at the idea even as her midsection went taught. "Alright, alright." She felt like she should focus on pushing, despite having no child.

Problem with that, she had the parts. She could feel herself flutter and tense. She gave a silent thanks to her tiara. "As if Cadance needs to feel that." Phantom labor pangs were the last thing she imagined needed to be given over to an actually delivering woman.

She yelped with wide eyes as the discomfort grew. It wasn't a pain exactly. Nothing was tearing. Nothing was breaking. She was just stretching in a new way and more than she had before. The widest part of the child, perhaps? She sank back against the couch, huffing as the sensations ebbed away. Did she do it? Did Cadance do it, to be more precise about it?

"Are they done?" Umbra looked over at the confused nurse.

"Do you mean the princess?" She caught herself with a squeak. "Cadance! The other princess."

"Her." Umbra flashed a sharp smile. "She's done?" It felt like she was done. Oh! An unfamiliar sensation came to her as a foal, being allowed to do what foals did. "I have those..." She was nursing a foal, or at least feeling it. Then again, so was poor Shining. He only dimly knew what it was to have those parts from when Umbra was cleaning up ages ago.

"She's done." Umbra sat up with a smile. "She's all done." And she, dear Umbra, made a little mess. The sensation of giving birth and being nursed was too powerful a combination. Though unasked for, it spurred her into action. It was a little motion, but her body did not turn a blind eye to it. She was leaking. It wasn't enough to satisfy anyone, just make a little mess in her fur. "Damn it..."

Umbra had just experienced the entire glorious spread of childbirth. Would she ever want to do it for herself?

The nurse returned from where she had fled. "They are done! How did you guess?"

"Everyone involved alright?" Umbra smiled at the nurse as shadows hid her lower half entirely from sight.

"Just fine." The nurse sighed happily with clasped hooves. "I can't wait for the crystalling!"

That was not a word Umbra knew off the top of her head, not that she was waiting to find out. "I'm headed in," she said on the way past the nurse with agitated flicks of her tail.

She found the married couple leaning against each other with equally harried faces, as if they had both gone through the process together. This was not untrue so far as Umbra could determine. "Where--" The bundle she came into view of cut off her approach with a loud gasp at seeing it next to Cadance's lower belly. "There you are, little troublemaker!" She had a big smile on her face despite the discomfort that it had produced for her enjoyment.

Unknown to her, she was ready to deliver some loving on a creature, and there was a creature ready for it. Umbra trotted up to the little unicorn and leaned in to nuzzle at their swaddled form. "Aren't you just the cutest pain in my flank ever?"

A hoof landed on her arm. She looked over to see a tired Shining Armor looking at her with concern. "What? I will not hurt her, promise." She smooched the new unicorn on the nub of her new horn. "Aren't you a precious thing?"

With a sigh, Shining pulled himself up with Umbra's arm for a brace. "I'm not scared of you, Umbra. If you want to keep an eye on us, that'd be great. How are you... still mobile?"

Cadance shook her head. "I'm worn out, and I know Shining just had his world flipped upside down."

Umbra inclined her head, ears flicking with some confusion. "I went through the same thing you did." She glanced around to see just one guard standing there stoically. "I felt this child come into being and it was... quite an experience, but I made it and I want to just do this." She blew a raspberry into the foal's cheek, getting aloud squealing giggle in reply.

Pony children came with their fur pelts! Plus one point for them compared to human children, and she was, well, she was a pony, through and through. Humans came out looking like aliens sometimes. "Such a cute little..." Her words failed as extra body parts brushed the covering off. That was no unicorn. They were spreading feathery wings wide in either direction with a fresh set of giggles in obvious pleasure at Umbra.

Umbra's eyes widened slowly as she thought through the ramifications of that. "Alright, you are not attending the princess summit if I'm not allowed to go!" She crossed her arms in a mighty petulant display at the idea. "But seriously, just born? How did you qualify for Eee!" The infant proved she was capable of movement by grabbing Umbra's right wing, hanging from it, as Umbra flinched in surprise.

It took her a moment to get her surprised wits back under control, and Umbra swung the new child into range to hug away from the wing gently. Cuddling the child felt a lot safer than letting her have her way with that unexpecting wing. "What's her name?"

Cadance smiled at the two at play. "That is Flurry Heart, and she is clearly happy to see you. I admit, it scared me a little that you'd be far less happy to have her around, considering how she entered your life, and... She isn't related to you at all."

Umbra quirked an ear. "Not her fault, either of those things." She rubbed her nose against Flurry's with a shared smile between the two of them. "Right now, she is a perfect little creature, minus one point for the wing grabbing."

Flurry was giggling nonsensically as children did when they were that young. She felt little nuzzles and snuggles as she got comfortable with Umbra, though that turned into too comfortable. "Hey!" Umbra suddenly had a child attached to her, discovering she was also a ready source of nutrition. She wasn't nearly as good as Cadance. They had kicked her into action, but this didn't seem to stop Flurry from trying her best. "S-stop..." Why did they have teeth?

Umbra squirmed at the attention even as her internal hormones shifted in reaction. She would make more for the monster. "Y-you..." But it felt... close. As uncomfortable as it all was, she felt closer and closer to the little imp. She hugged them closer instead of shoving them away, even as Flurry did her best to draw more milk than Umbra had to supply, yet. Nature had done its job, and it had created a new wet nurse without her informed consent.

Flurry was full before long and wandered against the pelt of her forced caretaker. Shining scooped her up in his hooves. "Come here. Your mommy wants you with her." He brought Flurry over to set gently against Cadance as the three snuggled with the same smile that Umbra was still feeling despite the distance.

Cadance was holding Flurry with one hoof, but her eyes went to Umbra. "You are a clear and undeniable part of this family."

"It's hard to argue that." Shining had one hoof around Cadance and the other around Flurry. "Flurry gave you her seal of approval."

Umbra smiled at that as she looked at the little foal the approval came from. "Well, I can't argue with that." She rolled upright and stretched slowly. "I am exhausted! No changeling searching for the rest of the day. I'm headed back to my room and you can't stop me or I'll... I don't know, nightmares or something..." Not that she had learned nightmare magic, and they both knew her threat was missing teeth.

There was no resistance to her hasty departure. She didn't become a shadow even if it was faster. It also required more focus and energy than just walking slowly did, so she stuck to moving her hooves. She saw her door up ahead and smiled at the comfortable familiarity. "Home sweet home." She willed the crystal door to swing open.

Inside, Purple Polish had Shifting Prism pinned to the ground as she worked clothes onto Shifting with their squealing dissatisfaction. "You will look better for Umbra. Calm down and let me do my work."

Umbra entered with a brow raising. Her magic sealed the door behind her with a quiet click. "Is there a good reason you two are wrestling right now?" The match of wills came to a sudden stop. "Good, then you, scoot." She pointed at Purple with a noise between a snort and a yawn. "You, get on the bed." She pointed at Shifting for that. "Me, go to sleep."

Purple scurried from the room, with the door open just long enough to permit her crystalline form past it. Shifting hopped up on the bed, leaving her clothes behind in the motion. "You look awful. What happened?"

"I don't feel awful, just exhausted." Umbra hopped up onto her bed next to Shifting and collapsed onto it bonelessly. "Sleep sounds great. Oh, I know what giving birth feels like now, so there's that."

With widening eyes, Shifting let out a loud gasp. "Cadance had her child?! Congratulations!" She clapped excitedly despite any amount of fatigue that Umbra was feeling. "What's their name, are they healthy, are you alright, and is she alright?"

"Too many questions." Umbra pulled a pillow up over her head. "I felt it too, you know. I was there, really there. I... I'm a mom now." A delirious laugh escaped her as she rolled over with the pillow still on top of her. "I met the kid. She's named Flurry Heart and I love her a lot and if anything hurts her, I will murder them terribly."

"So she's okay." With a soft thump, Shifting flopped right next to Umbra and snuggling up with her. "And you're alright. Everycreature is doing fine, just a little tired from... everything."

"She nursed me!" Sure, Umbra hadn't technically been asked, but she couldn't hold back that information a moment longer. "With hell's own teeth, she attacked me and it felt awful but also kinda good and..." She wandered a hoof down to the sore bit of her body. "Is this what all wo--mares feel like? I should... You didn't?"

"I didn't." Shifting gently kissed Umbra's cheek as she drew the blanket over the both of them. "We can ask about it after you've had a little sleep, my brave warrior."

"I did not fight today!" Umbra nipped at Shifting in revenge for the comment. "But thank you anyway..." She willed the lights off and nestled in tight with her crystal bat that may have alwso been a changeling they charged her with finding. She'd get back to them.

Some day, maybe.

59 - Aunt Umbra

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It was morning with a table full of snacks. They had allowed Umbra to bring Shifting with her, the two side by side at the table. "Flurry Heart, huh? What inspired the name?" Umbra was watching the new child that was nursing a bottle. "So cute..."

Shining reached to set a hoof on the edge of the cradle that kept Flurry secure and safe. "I know what you're feeling... I feel it too." He smiled awkwardly at the memory. "I'm the first dad that gave birth to their foal and I... It's like she's... I don't know how to explain this exactly, but it left a mark."

Cadance sipped from her ornate cup with her eyes on Umbra and Shifting. "You went through the same thing, but you were closer to me, in fact..." She flipped a wing, denying Flurry her bottle with obvious fussing at the idea. "I have a theory."

Shining reached to his child with a pitying look, but Flurry was already being lifted away. Cadance casually gave the child instead to Umbra. "Here you are."

"She needs to be fed." Umbra nuzzled the upset child as she offered an arm for Flurry to rest against. The other brought up a milk bottle that the child rapidly drained with pleased noises. "What's wrong with you?!"

Cadance looked far too smug for the situation. "That proves my point."

The stallion, Shining, was watching with wide eyes. "Where did you get that milk from? Only mothers have bottles like that."

Umbra blinked and looked at the bottle that was being ravaged by Flurry. "Um... I just... Flurry needed it, so..."

"Can I do that?" No matter how hard he tried, Shining could not produce even a single bottle of milk. "Aw..."

Cadance gently wrapped a wing around Shining, pulling him closer. "Only female ponies can make milk." She was, perhaps blissfully, unaware of the tricks that some male humans had. "And Umbra clearly qualifies."

Umbra was holding a second bottle, switching for the first the moment Flurry was ready for it. "But why though?!"

"You are new to..." Her eyes glanced to Shifting suddenly. "Does she know about that?"

Umbra scooped up Shifting much as Cadance held Shining. "She knows all there is to know about me."

"Good." Cadance brought her hooves together with a little smile. "Ponies only make milk that one little time, the... other way, I mean. I experienced that, and so did you. Good news, you will never have to experience that again barring having another foal, and even then, you can skip right past that since you are ready to do step 2."

"Step two...?" Umbra jostled the bottle that was about empty. "This?"

"That." Cadance leaned forward. "We ponies traditionally feed our foals that way. You just got in the way of that, so you can make the bottles despite not being an official mother." She turned a hoof on herself. "Just like me, and not like Shining, who is not a mare, or Shifting there, who is not a mother."

Umbra set the fresh bottle aside as she burped the little foal. "She's adorable, and the source of a thousand questions. So, technically, sorta, she has two moms?"

"And one dad." Cadance inclined her head towards Shining. "Who knows exactly how it feels to make a child, so a curious father, and a curious aunt? My daughter has quite a few odd things, but in her favor, I think."

It seemed Shifting was quick to clap in applause. "I can't make those at all." She reached out for the bottle that wasn't there, and wasn't coming, no matter how hard she tried. "Does it feel odd when you do it?"

"I..." Umbra slid to her hooves and set Flurry in her crib to relax off the meal. "It feels a little funny. Making the bottle makes me happy and satisfied, but then it's done, so not the same as the, uh, other way?" Umbra stepped away from the crib with an angry snort. "Not that I need a colossal hit of happy foal juice to make it through the day. Probably best I'm quitting that drug craze before it starts."

Cadance shook her head softly. "It's not a 'drug craze', as you call it. It's the satisfaction of being the personal source of life and nourishment for a life that would be lost without you." She brushed Umbra's side on the way past with her free wing. "You did quite well, and it's good to know I have a backup, just in case anything goes wrong."

Umbra slid up onto her chair. "Well, alright... Still very odd." She raised a brow at Cadance. "Pretty sure this isn't something most humans deal with, of any gender... So I got to experience an entirely new thing, hurrah for me."

With a grin, Shining wagged a hoof at Umbra. "You're not one of those." He smiled brightly. "You're a shadow crystal princess."

"And darn proud of it, too!" Her ire seemed to fade away with that. "Darn proud... Turns out shadow crystal princesses can be wet nurses, too. Who knew?" She leaned against her crystal bat. "Are we hunting changelings today?" She could feel Shifting tense faintly at the question.

Shining shook his head. "There's been no sign of them, and they have caused no trouble. Maybe we were jumping at our own shadows? Either way, we have a much more important thing to handle right now." He sat up proudly. "We have to invite others to a crystalling! It's been quite a while since a royal crystalling. The subjects of the empire are already very excited to be part of it."

Shifting inclined her head. "Oh, um..." She bit back her question.

Umbra picked up on it. "What's a crystalling?"

Shining sat up tall. "It means we have to invite all our relations, and officially inform the ponies of the empire, even if a lot of them already know." He chuckled softly at the thought. "It means we have an event like the crystal heart faire, but designed to celebrate the coming of a new life, especially royal life." He pointed to their new little bundle. "They'll celebrate her and we'll reinforce the heart. Everypony wins."

Umbra clapped at the news. "Sounds fantastic! Oh... Oh... Also sounds very painful." Both of the other royals winced with remembered pain. "But let's not panic! We made it through the last one, so I can make it through this one. You two--" she danced a hoof back and forth between Shining and Cadance. "You'll protect me so I don't fly apart and I'll do my best to not 'cast any shadow' on this merry event."

Cadance abandoned snuggling Shining for resting a hoof on Umbra. "If there's anything we can do, you have but to whisper it and we will do our best."

Shining nodded at that. "Oh! If there are any ponies you want to invite, now is a good time to bring them up."

Umbra clapped eagerly with derailed thoughts. "What about Twilight and her friends? They're always a blast and I enjoy having them around. I bet Pinkie's already planning a party and we just have to tell her what the party's about."

Shining chuckled at the imagined situation of Pinkie. "She probably is, but I plan to send an invitation to them all right now." He slid to his hooves. "I'll send them a traditional snowflake." He trotted off purposefully, a task at hoof that needed taking care of.

Shifting slid to the floor herself. "If the emergency is over, I should head back to my house and get back to work."

Cadance nodded at the crystal bat. "Good idea. You are welcome to return, of course. Umbra seems to enjoy your company." She smiled in that warm way she had. "Speaking of that, I'd like to get to know you better. You know Umbra shares a special relationship with my husband, Shining Armor, and I, do you not? I feel I would not be doing my part if I didn't at least reach a hoof out to get to know you better."

"That's very nice of you." Shifting reached out a hoof she struck against Cadance's. "I'll visit, um, later, and we can chat!" Umbra saw her nervous smile, at least.

Umbra slid down and walked casually between Shifting and Cadance. "Let me walk you home one last time. Once we get there, the emergency is officially over."

The two walked from the room, leaving Cadance alone. Well, alone if one did not count Flurry. Cadance was not willing to do that. She smiled at her little child with a little giggle. "You're looking so adorable..." Were all children that cute to their own parents? Cadance couldn't be entirely sure, but her child was especially cute, and she gently picked them up to carry them towards the nursery.

Escaping the royal dining room, Shifting marched ahead of her friend. "I was so scared they'd see me any moment!"

"They saw you the whole time." Umbra followed behind, not at all as nervous. "Not your fault they can't see what's in front of them."

Shifting turned an ear back. "Why are you alright with it?" She slowed for Umbra to catch up. "My being a changeling, that is. I'm not a pony, or a human. Why are you alright with it?"

"Because I love you?" Umbra's words were not quiet, shared with all the ponies she was walking past, even with their little giggles. "Because I think you're amazing and plan to cuddle you to death as soon as we have the option?"

Shifting blushed into her smile. "That's very nice of you... Does that still count with you being her aunt?"

"Why wouldn't it?" Umbra slid warmly against Shifting. "She doesn't change what we are. Now let's get ready for a party."

Elsewhere, Cadance flinched back at a powerful beam of energy. "Easy there." She did her best to calm down her child, patting them until they quieted. "Little princess... They did not mean for such a small pony to have so much unique power, and yet there she was..." A little child with the flight of a pegasus, the mental power of a unicorn and the strength of an earth pony? She could imagine how that might work poorly.

But would she change her plans for it? "I can't... They'd be so upset." She nuzzled gently with Flurry Heart. "Just control yourself, kindly. We'll both make it through this together. Then we can relax." Cadance did not know what was approaching her and what it would mean. They would repeat that advice to her again later. The importance of the crystalling was hard to calculate, but she would not let down her ponies. "Such a cute little thing." Rubbing noses with Flurry made both smile with joy.

With news of the crystalling being spread through the kingdom officially, all the ponies got cheerfully underway with each part of their respective duties. Decorations went up, and they put smiles on. A royal crystalling had been such a long time coming, over a thousand years by most estimates, the chance to see a new one was greeted with open hooves.

60 - They Arrive

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Umbra got her hug in after Shining, both wanting a turn at Twilight. "Welcome!" Umbra swept a hoof over the houses she had helped build. "And behold the block my hooves, or horn, helped make."

Rarity inclined her head as she studied the craftsponyship critically. "Hm. You're growing more talented at it, and the ponies inside certainly seem pleased, darling."

"Aren't they!" Umbra clapped her hooves in a quick beat, but didn't get far before a rainbow horse landed casually on her back. "Hey, Rainbow."

"Hey to you too." Rainbow leaned over the front of Umbra for a good look at her. "Have you been doing the wing exercises or not?"

Umbra wilted under Rainbow, caught. "Sometimes? I don't fly all that often, truth told."

Starlight laughed as she wandered past with Spike in tow. "We have to go check something else out." She didn't sound that confident.

Rainbow tapped at Umbra's spine from above. "You're just like Twilight." She snorted softly and smiled. "I shouldn't have expected any different. Two magic princesses, of course they're gonna flake on wing day."

Shining led the way towards the castle. "Progress has slowed a little on our side project, but that's understandable." He peeked over his shoulder. "We're all distracted with our happy little surprise."

Pinkie sprang up in front of Shining. "Speaking of that! When do we get to see this new bundle of joy?" She clasped her hooves under her chin with a huge smile. "I'm gonna throw such a party."

Shining gently pushed her back. "Calm down. We already have a party planned."

"The Crystalling!" Twilight nodded with her study. "I can't wait to see it."

"Speaking of that, there are more than three princesses--" Cadance's appearance threw that off as she rushed to start the introductory ritual with Twilight. Umbra shook free her pegasus rider. "Brought them."

Celestia nodded. "So I see. Good job." She inclined her head faintly. "I hear you have become the aunt of the child we have come to see. A surprise, I will admit. I imagined you would be more... distant." She leaned in closer to Umbra. "But I am not displeased."

Luna peered at the crystal shadow wizard. "I will join in that thought..." She looked up to see Cadance was finishing up. "Let's see this child for ourselves."

Joined by Cadance and Shining Armor, they headed to the nursery. The Main six were quick to gather around it, making funny sounds at the foal as she reached for them. The blanket brushed free, allowing her wings free and proving she wasn't a unicorn foal.

Twilight recoiled in surprise. "Is... What?"

Celestia hiked a brow. "Equestria has never seen something like that before."

Umbra slid in front of the child as if to protect her from the confused looks of the others. "She's fine the way she is." She hiked a brow. "Even if alicorn at birth is a bit new."

Cadance set a hoof on Umbra's back gently. "She is full of love, and beloved in kind. The only thing I am worried about are her power surges, which already--" She winced and recoiled as Flurry let loose a great bolt of magic that punched a hole in the ceiling. "That already making a mess..."

Umbra twirled at the exploding noise. "When did that start? Why didn't you tell me?! How... did you not tell me?" She picked up the foal and rocked them gently back and forth.

Cadance smiled at the interaction. "When she's in your arms, she's usually calm enough. I didn't see a reason to get in the middle of that."

Celestia shook her head. "We have to continue, regardless. The ponies are expecting a crystalling. Let's get that over with as quickly as possible and see about calming your daughter."

Cadance nodded quickly. "That is the plan. While I get ready, can you keep an eye on her? I have to look a very specific way."

Twilight snorted softly. "Princess duties?"

"Princess duties." Cadance marched off in pursuit of that.

Twilight bowed to the two head princesses remaining. "Can we—" She had to dodge a bolt of power landing by her.

"Calm down!" Umbra was chasing the princess, who was not nearly as calm the moment Cadance was out of sight. "You know I'm your friend." Friend or not, there was so much to see and do, and she set her eyes on doing both of those things. She vanished with a puff of magic. "Hey! I haven't even learned how to teleport yet..."

Twilight hurried to Umbra's side. "While a foal is power surging, they may do all kinds of things they don't understand and may never understand as adults. C'mon, girls, we have to fetch a foal!" The others let out a cheer and charged out with Twilight and Umbra on a Flurry hunt.

With the foal back in hoof, the others scattered about to help prepare for the crystalling. Only Pinkie remained with Umbra to watch the child. "I'm surprised." Umbra hiked a brow at Pinkie. "I'd think you, of all ponies, would hurry to help prepare for a party."

"It's not that kinda party." Pinkie waved it off with a big grin. "I hear you went to that place Twilight was. Tell me about it!" She clapped excitedly as she bounced in place. "I heard Twilight's side, but what about yours?"

"You really want to know?" She popped a bottle she hadn't been holding into Flurry's waiting hooves. "I don't mind sharing, but it involves a lot of adults adulting all over the place."

"Ew." Pinkie stuck out her tongue. "Disgusting. Tell me more." She leaned in, lashes batting at Umbra.

So it was that Umbra explained what happened, going over a few chapters that you've already perused. "And that's how I got back a little after Twilight, but you were already celebrating her, so I snuck out."

Pinkie stuck out her tongue at that. "Shoulda said hi! I have room for two incredible friends." She threw a leg around Umbra in a tight hug. "I actually have room for a lot of friends. It's what I do." She gigglesnorted as she stood up properly. "I think they're almost ready."

Umbra walked out with her as Cadance was finishing the last words to a built crowd. "Wow," she whispered softly to Pinkie. "They gath—"

They drowned her words out with sudden new cheering. She was as much a celebrity as anything else on that stage, and she was holding the new princess, which just made her at least twice the target for the wild stomps and cheers. "Thank you... Thank you..." Umbra quickly took her spot, handing Flurry over to Cadance. She took her spot by Pinkie instead and tried to not let them pay so much attention to her.

They were presenting Flurry, who was looking upset with her gaze on Pinkie and Umbra. That upset turned into a wail. That wail emerged as a terrific cry was no normal screech. They held their ears as the surrounding air shuddered and the crystal heart exploded violently into pieces.

Umbra fell to a knee with a gasp. Whatever connected her to the others, she felt it breaking. At a glance, she could see they felt the same way in a rough, disjointed tearing that left them reeling. "Bad girl..."

She could hear talking but not what it was about exactly except that a weather front of some kind was moving in and something had to be done about it. Most of the Mane Six fled off in various directions to do... whatever they were doing. Shining sank next to Umbra. "I feel the same way, but we can't stop here. There are too many ponies relying on us." He got up and moved on, leaving Umbra to suffer alone.

Part of Umbra felt angry at that instant. Who was Shining to just abandon her in her time of need?! Did he know it was coming and didn't bother to warn her of impending doom? Why was he mobile and she felt like she was ready to die at any moment? But that was impossible. He was just shrugging it off. So was Cadance a bit slower. They were ready to stand even when Umbra's head wanted to split in two. "Crystal Princess of Determination."

Umbra forced herself to her hooves and got a look around. One of Twilight's friends, that she never got much of a chance to talk to, was speaking to Twilight and Pinkie animatedly. "What are you two doing?" Umbra came closer. "Let me help."

Twilight waved it off. "You look terrible. You relax while I try to find the relic reconstruction spell." Twilight raced off in search of that, leaving Umbra behind in her pain. Umbra frowned with a wince. "Not fair. Who are you again?"

"Starlight." The new unicorn pointed to herself with a smile. "Twilight's mentioned you, so, hey. I'm Twilight's other magical student but also maybe friendship student? It's a long story, but we're both magic students and that has to count for something." She offered a hoof firmly, met with Umbra's less sure clop. "Things are out of control a bit here, but Twilight is sure she can handle it."

"Nice to meet you, really. Sorry for being so completely out of the loop, but the heart shattering to a bajillion pieces knocked it right out of me." With one hoof to her head, she could meet Starlight with other. "Don't take this as a bad thing for you. I want to talk to you!" Starlight perked in surprise. "Don't look that way." Umbra smiled despite the pain. "After this is over, I want to compare magic notes. We can compare spells."

"Deal." Starlight started trotting anyway. "I should see what Twilight is up to." She was gone seemingly instantly, leaving Umbra to her misery.

Umbra wobbled her head left and right as the agony rose and fell within her with little of her control. "I can't sit here." She rose and staggered towards the broken shards of the crystal heart to get a better look at it. "Wow..." That child, beloved as she was, had completely ruined the heart into little pieces. "But why isn't it getting better?"

Not that the heart would restore itself with no outside force, but her connection to it had no reason to feel the way it did, or so she figured. She reached up and popped her tiara free so she could feel and it seemed to become obvious quickly. The crystal heart wasn't destroyed. It was shattered. One might think the two were synonyms. but Umbra could feel her magic going towards it in a scattershot that matched the pieces. The heart still connected her to them despite all the damage done to the heart. "Huh... Alright then!"

"It's not okay!" Starlight raced past in the other direction towards the town itself in quite a hurry. "Be right back!" And she was gone just as quickly. Umbra wanted to stop her, but by the time she felt up for the task, Starlight was gone.

It was just at that moment that Umbra realized the full and terrible weight of pony names. "Flurry Heart." That little adorable demon had reduced the heart to little flurries of crystals. Umbra barked out a laugh as she forced herself upright. She could see Shining barking orders. Celestia and Luna were battling the inclement weather that was pressing on from all sides. "I want to help..."

But what was there for Umbra to do, other than feel bad? Her partners seemed to have gotten their act together! Cadance and Shining Armor were hard at work. But what could she actually do? Organizing the ponies was done. What had gone wrong inside? She started up the stairs to find out. "Twilight?"

Umbra scaled the stairs and began wandering the palace in search of Twilight. "Magical unicorn, there are only a few of you in the entire empire, so no hiding!"

61 - Lending a Hoof

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"Twilight!" Umbra hurried to Twilight, who seemed to hold a burned something. "Is that gonna help?" It was a book with a hole in it.

Twilight surrendered the book without a fight. "Not like this, it won't." She huffed with a frown. "I need to assemble the spell that was in it. I was... thinking I'd do it from memory."

Umbra flipped through a few singed pages. The book would not be of much use. "But did you get a good look at it?"

"Barely." Twilight sighed as a new scroll appeared next to her. "But I have to try my best!"

"Well, forget that. Prepare for shadow magic!" She waggled her hooves in the air as bits of green and purple gathered around them with the promise of her power. "Permission to try my best?"

Twilight nervously shuffled, but a glance outside at her mentor and sister failing the battle against winter was hint enough. "Please be careful."

"On it!" Umbra lacked dream magic, despite her soft pleads and her best bat eyelashes. The best she could do was wash Twilight's mind in shadow and hope for the best. She plunged Twilight into a self-reflective purple. "The book." Which was floating in Umbra's power. "It was whole, and you had it."

"I had it." Twilight sounded a bit spaced out in that state, gazing off into the distance. "It had the answer. I just had to cast it."

"To cast it." Umbra smiled proudly. "To do that, you need a copy."

"A copy, yes..." She started working her stylus over the free scroll by her, jotting out a copy of the spell bit by bit. "A copy is always a good idea."

"Such a good idea." Umbra couldn't dive into memories or peer at thoughts. She had never learned those tricks, but getting Twilight to think the right way seemed to do the job. "You're going great."

"I'm happy to hear that." Despite the numbing rays washing over her, Twilight smiled at the praise. "A copy." She held up the copy of the destroyed spell. "Now I can... Wait... It's broken."

Umbra broke the field of magic. "It is broken, but look, a copy!"

"A copy! Woah... I feel like I'm caught in a rut there." Twilight shook herself out, but her eyes were on that spell. "With this, we should be able to put the heart back together. Are you feeling better?"

"Not even slightly." Umbra waved it off. "But if we don't fix it, we all lose, so here I am."

Twilight bounded off with her new spell and a plan in her eyes. Umbra sank to her haunches with a hoof against her head. "I helped..." She staggered after Twilight after a moment of just existing. "Huh." The thought tickled her. She could try to put the heart back herself. Crystals! She loved crystals! But she could imagine all the ways it could go wrong if she tried. Putting out a field of 'think about this' shadow magic was one thing. Actually making a bunch of crystals into a heart shape with complete precision? Eh...

Twilight was with Cadance. They were trying to put the crystal together. Manipulating it felt like bits of sharp glass were moving around. She could see Cadance flinching but doing her best. The heart fell, still broken. The spell just wasn't working. "Anything I can do?" Umbra hurried on the scene as best she could. "I know magic."

"We may need you." Twilight raised a hoof to her chin. "But I don't think we can do this like—"

Starlight hurried on to the scene with Spike and Sunburst. "Here he is!"

Sunburst hurried on to the broken artifact, speaking without words for a moment. "Hmm, well, if we..." He looked over the spell Twilight and Cadance had tried. "Ah, hum... but then..." He turned in place with a frown. "Of course!"

Umbra walked up to Twilight and Starlight's sides. "He's an expert on this? I knew he had a few books."

Starlight threw a hoof with a loud pfft. "He's totally an expert. He went to Celestia's school."

"And failed," noted Sunburst in the middle of his frantic calculations. "But we can... Yes, of course." He waved at the mash of crystal bits. "We need more power, and we have it right here. Hold it together." The ponies seemed confused. "Literally, hold the heart together. Perform the crystalling. At its apex, we finish the spell and fix the heart."

Sunburst moved to Umbra's side. "They'll have to fetch the crystal ponies. I hear we took them towards the train."

Umbra's eyes widened. "Wow... They must... What's going on?" She rubbed at the throbbing ache in her head. "I want to help, but my accuracy isn't top notch. What can I do?"

"We can use your magic. When they grab the crystal." He waved at the many bits. "Just do your best to hold it. Let them use your magic."

"Use my magic, got it!" Umbra snapped a salute. "Also, you know Starlight? Awesome! The note sharing just got better."

Sunburst inclined his head. "Huh? Um, yes, I know Starlight. I didn't know that was important to you."

"She's Twilight's student." Umbra poked at Sunburst as if that was an obvious thing to know. "I want all her spells. I'll share! It's fair that way, right? I want to share spell tips!"

Sunburst smiled awkwardly. "I'd be glad to give some 'spell tips' as soon as this emergency is over."

Umbra shook herself out with an angry growl with too many sharp teeth. "I feel... better, a little." Sure, her head still felt like it wanted to come flying apart, but she was in one piece for the moment. "Ready..."

Cadance lifted the crystal first, with Shining and Twilight adding their magic to hold it steady. Umbra reached out but didn't attempt pressing her magic to mash it together. "Just lend some power." Umbra made contact and let her magic spread over the broken crystal. She could feel Twilight's magic pulling it into place. She just had to push and trust that Twilight would set it properly. "Just push..."

For all the drama and chaos, the crystal ponies were happy to give their life to the new princess. They bowed in reverence and the magic flowed powerfully into the crystal. As the crystalling reached some point only Sunburst seemed to notice, he clapped the last sliver into place. The heart pulsed, and the world cracked in a new way.

Umbra reached up to click her head into place as the ponies clapped and cheered. The clouds were drawing back. When had the clouds gotten there? Umbra had managed to sleep walk past most of that, but she could see them withdrawing and it all made sense looking back. "Are the sisters alright?"

"We are fine." Celestia and Luna were there. Celestia was the one that spoke, reaching out a wing to brush Umbra in a greeting of sorts. "You look better."

"I feel better." Umbra danced from hoof to hoof, feeling like a renewed pony. "Cadance, Shining?" The two were busy facing the crowd of admirers and had no time to deal with Umbra. "Right, silly me." She shook her head with a soft snort. "Emergency over! I barely got to help, boo... Next one! I'll help a lot more with the next horror that comes knocking." She did not know what she was singing up for.

Not that this stopped her from smiling at Sunburst and Starlight. "I hear you two know each other?" She thrust a hoof at Sunburst. "He gave me my first shadow spell book. Twilight taught me how to read magic, but without that book, I woulda been so lost." She threw a hoof wide. "Do you have any idea how hard it is to find shadow spells?"

Starlight laughed slowly in a strained sort of way. "Easier or harder than a spell to snatch a bunch of ponies' cutie marks?"

Umbra blinked at that explanation. "Wait what?" She leaned in closer to Starlight. "Do we have a shared dark background? Tell me more!"

Sunburst laughed with a single joyful noise. "Starlight, meet Umbra. Umbra is a shadow crystal wizard that looks a lot like a pony that terrorized the entire countryside before she made it a point to show us that shadows can be nice, too."

Umbra stroke a dynamic pose. "That's me, the local shadow wizard." She waggled her brows. "So what's this about stealing cutie marks? Is that shadow magic?"

Starlight waved that away with her cheeks on fire. "No! No... Thankfully not." She cleared her throat into a raised hoof. "I enjoy taking spells and tinkering with them. I was a... There I was confused, and did some not nice things... Things nopony should celebrate at all." She listed to the side. "Sorry."

"Don't be sorry." Umbra set a hoof on Starlight's shoulder. "It sounds like you've gotten better, which is good. So now it's in the past, where it belongs. So about spells! I hear you like them. I like them." She curled her hooves at herself. "I hear you play with them which has like 120% of my attention. Tell me you know anything about shadows!"

"There you are." Twilight joined them with a bright smile of a disaster avoided, Spike atop her back. "Starlight, say goodbye to your friends. We should try to get back as soon as possible."

Umbra twirled fast enough to catch Twilight by the shoulder with a hoof, basically punching her. "You are going nowhere with the other wizard! You were ready to run away with another wizard?! we haven't even caught up yet." She waved wildly between herself and Twilight. "And that's already unacceptable! You're gonna take her too?!"

Twilight recoiled, rubbing where Umbra had thumped Twilight so firmly. "Umbra, calm yourself."

"This isn't the time for calm." Umbra sank to her haunches. "But I am sorry for hitting you. That's wrong... But you tweaked me out." Her energy had clearly returned to her. "I have two wizards in front of me, tantalizingly close, and you want to run away? Why? Do I stink that badly?"

Spike leaned forward from atop Twilight, sniffing. "Don't smell bad to me."

Starlight applied a hoof to her face. "Twilight just likes plans, and it was her plan to head home as soon as the crystalling was over."

"Which it is." Twilight angled her head at where the crystalling was clearly a success. "Oh." She went quiet.

Princess Celestia was approaching alongside Luna and Cadance. Cadance was in the lead, heading towards Sunburst directly. "Since we couldn't have finished this without you, we wanted to name you the official crystaller of Flurry Heart."

Sunburst's ears danced. "Oh, um... if any royal foals appear, I'll be glad to help. Hopefully, next time, there will be less excitement involved."

Cadance inclined her head at him. "I would hope for that too." She held out her little foal for him. "Say hello."

The two met with cheerful noises. "Now what's this I hear?"

Twilight shied back. "I was getting ready to go. We've already been in your mane too long and past schedule."

Cadance raised a brow. "Our parents haven't even arrived yet. You're going nowhere."

"But..."

Umbra grinned with triumph as she threw a leg over Twilight and pulled her closer. "Sounds like we have time to go over some magic." With her other arm, she snagged the foal-laden crystaller. "So much magic to go over!" She casually offered Flurry Heart a fresh bottle with a wing. She smiled as Flurry accepted it eagerly. "That might be a bad habit."

Starlight inclined her head. "Huh... Sounds like you have just as many tales to share with me as I have with you. Twilight, since you're stuck here a little while, I'm going to study with some friends. Old—" She hugged Sunburst warmly with one hoof. "—And new." She hugged her new, maybe friend closer with the other hoof, the three linked.

62 - Magic Notes

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Umbra was clapping with naked joy, regardless of the snacks being set. Umbra focused her eyes on Sunburst and Starlight. "So you two know each other? That's great! So, you heard, I'm the local shadow wizard." She willed her book of magic to appear and slapped it down. "Here are the spells I've figured out!"

Starlight raised a brow at the eager wizard. "Well, aren't you excited?" She reached for the book and casually flipped it open with a spark of her horn. "Let's see what you, wow!" The sight cut her words off as she flipped through. "You are very much into darkness..." The exact focus and level reached was clearly a surprise to Starlight. "Mind if I... read this?" She flopped over with the book, ready to just devour the magic right there and then.

Sunburst poked at his friend gently. "That is Umbra's book. Besides, I think she wants something in return."

"Guilty!" Umbra grinned, with too many sharp teeth on display. "I want to learn magic, too. I'm glad shadow magic doesn't spook you. So share!"

Sunburst pointed at himself. "Well, you got the book those spells came from." He tapped himself on the chest. "From me, so you aren't showing me anything I haven't seen before. Besides... I'm not that much of a wizard... I just know how to look, not cast that well."

Starlight batted at Sunburst. "Don't be like that. He's a great wizard." They had not yet exposed her to the fullest might of Starlight's direct magic. "Alright, so you have magic I want to see." She reached up as a book popped into being at her hoof. "I'm not a huge hoarder of spells. That's more Twilight's thing?" She set the book down gently.

"Spell book!" Umbra resisted pouncing it, barely. "May I see?"

Starlight inclined her head. "Um, sure... but those are mostly not-fun spells I used in the past. Blasty spells and controlling spells and... Nopony wants... that?" She couldn't finish with Umbra already eagerly reading through the book. "Huh... Well, deal's a deal." She willled Umbra's book up for a looking at. "Magic trading is the best trading."

Sunburst slid in behind Starlight for a peek. "Huh... These are subtly different... That one's new." He pointed at a spell before Starlight could flip past it. "I don't remember it in the original at all."

Umbra glanced up from where she was reading. "Hm? Oh! Duh. The book you gave focused on the dour and secretive. I'm not much either of those." She waved the idea away. "So I put my own spin on them. I also had to figure out my power. Me magic! Maybe that jerk could get it easily, but he's not here. Jerk."

Sunburst squinted as the page turned without his say so. Starlight had control of how fast it went. "You've made good progress... Um..."

"I'll say." Starlight was eagerly chewing it up. "Ooo...gonna use that one." She tapped at a spell as she flipped forward. "So many neat little things in this shadow magic. Why don't all ponies use it?"

"Most ponies use no magic?" Umbra shrugged as she nosed to the next page. "The ones that do, think shadow spells are all icky and scary, so there aren't a lot of candidates around." She perked an ear. "That reminds. I heard shadow letters are hard for a lot of ponies to read. You're doing alright?"

"All good here." Starlight flipped to the next page. "Who said that? They weren't me, clearly."

Sunburst laughed nervously as he looked away from the strange book of shadow arts. "So, you've really come into your own, I hear. You're working on the arena?"

"Step by step." Umbra's attention was more on new magic as she flipped slowly. "Ooo..." She willed over a blank set of paper to scrawl on, taking notes. "I see a shadow letter or two in here. Did you not even know you were using shadow?"

Starlight quirked an ear at the accusation. "Was I?" She flipped to the next page. "I just used what worked." She tapped at Umbra's book. "And this works, obviously."

"And you liked shadow magic."

"Why do you say that?" Starlight raised a brow at her new spell casting friend.

"This." She flipped the book to show the mind control spell. "Shadow runes. Not even the only one. Also, I'm taking it. Mind control?" She copied it diligently to her scrap of paper. "Mind if I test that?"

"Not it," sang out Starlight as she went to the next spell, not at all really bothered, but also not submitting to it.

Sunburst swallowed thickly. "That... leaves me and your maid, and I bet she doesn't count."

"She doesn't." Umbra set her book aside. "She'd already do whatever I said, because she's a great maid and I love her."

"Thank you, ma'am."

Sunburst took a step back. "So..."

"You haven't said no." Umbra crossed her arms. "But I take pride in adulting."

Sunburst raised an ear at the shadow wizard. "Is that... a good thing?"

"I like to think so." Umbra stood up. "It means I just ask. Can I try a spell on you? If not, your call, your body, your head." She tapped at her skull lightly. "Not my decision to make. I respect you as a person, which means you get to decide."

"O-oh." The tension in Sunburst eased quickly. "Oh, well, that doesn't seem so bad then... You seem very trustworthy, and wouldn't hurt me, right?"

"Not if I can help it." She advanced on Sunburst with a smile. "Bonus, even if it works, I wouldn't make you do anything too out of character and I'd put you back where you started."

"Okay..." He took a slow breath. "Alright. Somepony has to test these things." He gestured at himself in a light wave. "May as well be me, if nopony gets hurt in the end."

Starlight cheered without looking up. "Go Sunburst! But, seriously, don't hurt him. I will be very cross with you."

"And that is why I'm not really considering her." Umbra looked away from Starlight and towards Sunburst. "She's very strong willed. Like it! Probably not best for testing this spell out." Her eyes were streaming her dark magic, horn glowing with the promise of her magic. "So sit back and let Umbra take over a moment."

"Just... a..." His eyes glazed, and he sank in place, the fight beaten out of him with barely a delay.

"Wow..." Umbra tilted her head. "He was even more pliable than I thought. You're here, so you know I'm not doing anything funny."

"Do and I'll snap your horn off." Starlight snorted softly in her threat, flipping to the next page. "Don't make me change my mind about you."

"Easy." Umbra reached out and stroked the unmoving cheek of Sunburst. "He's kind of cute, waiting like that... Sunburst, you in there?"

"Mmm?"

"That's a yes. Sunburst, hop on your left legs for me." Sunburst did just that without a moment of delay, bouncing on his left side as best he could. "Enough of that. Ha... wow... Is this what the Jerk expected? I can see why he'd get hooked."

"He's mine." Starlight raised a brow, but seemed focused on the book.

"I have a girlfriend." Umbra snorted softly. "With extra, I'm told."

"Pardon?"

Umbra chuckled softly at Starlight's confusion. "I'll tell you when you're grown up." That got a nasty glare, but no more prying. "Sunburst, I want you to glow as brightly as you can." The unicorn obeyed without delay, glowing brightly. "That looks shiny enough. Can you go brighter?" And brighter happened. "Brighter." But it got no brighter. "Huh, that the top? Alright, back to off." And off it went. "Huh, that was brighter than I expected from 'I can't cast spells' over here."

Starlight hiked a brow. "Can you go brighter than that? The skill at casting spells is not the same as glowing. One's learned, one's innate, and the learned one has innate parts but not the same parts, and it gets complicated really quickly."

"Huh..." Umbra had learned something new. "Alright. Just to test how far this goes, Sunburst, kiss your favorite mare in the room." She did not expect to be the one being smooched. "Hey! Why did you kiss me?"

Starlight burst into fresh laughter. "I was expecting him to pick me, but good thing he didn't. This is me, busy with reading, not smooching. I am going to tell him you did that, though."

"Fiend." Umbra stuck out her tongue at Starlight. "Seriously, Sunburst. Why did you pick me for that kiss?"

"You are the mare I am paying the most attention to. I want you to be happy."

"Huh." Umbra scratched at her chin. "I guess that makes me your favorite right now, but that doesn't even count. And... free!" Her eyes flared, and she clapped loudly, dismissing the spell on Sunburst.

He started in place, blinking rapidly. "What, huh? Oh, you can cast the spell now."

Starlight snickered as her magic made a note dutifully in a lack of actual pause from her scribing work. "Wow... You were already under her whims. She made you kiss her, by the way. A real smooch, Pervert."

Umbra’s cheeks darkened rapidly as she sputtered a moment. "It's not how she's putting it. I just asked you to peck your favorite mare."

"And I picked you?!" Sunburst sounded perhaps a little too surprised by that, blushing as badly as Umbra was.

"I was just as surprised... Hey! What's wrong with me?" Umbra crossed her arms over her front with an angrily bobbing hoof in the motion. "I am a tall slice of imposing lady pony that anyone should be happy they get even a shred of."

"Weird." Their eyes went to Starlight in silent agreed interest. "What? That was a direct control spell. The warnings I've read—" She added a bit more in a hushed tone, "—and ignored, all said to expect a headache, but Sunburst looks and sounds alright to me."

Sunburst blinked softly. "And you didn't warn me about that?!"

"I only thought of it just now." Starlight waved the objection away as if it were of no real importance to her. "You look fine. How do you feel?"

Umbra rubbed at her cheek as she sat down. "Huh, must be a shadow wizard thing." She leaned in, eyes flaring with the promise of her shadowy magic. "I held you in the gentle grasp of a friendly shadow wizard, so no aftereffects."

Starlight snorted softly, nose buried in her book as she eagerly devoured the fresh magic. "Lucky. But you have a specialty. Read all of mine you want, but you'll never be as good at the not-shadowy bits. You're a shadow wizard, and crystal wizard? Those two do not go together!"

Sunburst looked a little unsure of himself with little noises of that uncertainty. "Um... It bothers me that some of your spells were shadow spells without you noticing."

That got Starlight to go dark in her cheeks in a silent admission of her guilt. "I have a dark background, I admitted that! Stop judging me." She raised the book like a shield from the judging looks of her old friend.

Umbra lowered the book casually with a sweep of her hoof. "So you don't have a specialty?"

Starlight turned with the force of the sweep and read from a new direction. "Nope! I like all magic. You met Twilight, right? Like her. We eat magic up for breakfast. Wow, imagine watching the two of us sparring." She snorted softly, but did not pause her reading.

Umbra's eyes sparkled. "Spar?! Magic spars? I wanna spar!" She leaned in further with each exclamation, tail wagging wildly behind her. "Can we spar? Not to hurt anyone, of course."

"Pfft." Starlight threw a hoof at the very idea. "Good luck hurting me." She set Umbra's book aside. "Now, we can only hold Twilight’s need for keeping her schedules back for so long. You sure you want to spar instead of devouring magic?"

Sunburst could see the indecision weighing heavily on Umbra. "Let me help." He grabbed another paper and sat beside her and got right to dutifully helping in scribbling down Starlight's spells. The ones he was doing, Umbra could skip and work on others. Twice the progress! Technically, it was more than that. For all Sunburst complained about magic use, he was a pro at copying and remembering. He was working significantly faster than Umbra at copying those spells.

Perhaps there would be time to Spar?

63 - Time to Duel

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Umbra pawed at the ground, her horn glimmering with shadowy threats. "Until someone gives up, or the old-fashioned knock out."

"Not the first spar I've been in." Starlight waved it off without looking very worked up about it. "You can take the first move."

Umbra could see she wasn't being given much credit. "Well, alright then..." She brought darkness to bear in a great wave of purple and black that enveloped Starlight from all sides. "Let's see you fight what you can't — Ow!"

Starlight had zapped her easily, apparently aiming at where Umbra had been, and hadn't moved. "You should try moving when you do that." From her voice, she was already on the move in the darkness. "Don't spar much, huh?"

Crystal erupted from the ground where Starlight was already jumping, missing her by inches, though Starlight's next blast missed by a wide margin with a sidestep more easily than that first blast. "Not so simple when I move, is it?"

Sunburst and Twilight watched the two attack and counterattack in sprays of arcane fury, crystal, and darkness magic. "Huh, do we look like that?" Twilight inclined her head slowly. "Learn something new every day."

Sunburst raised an ear at Twilight. "Hello, um, princess. How does this relate to you?"

"She is my student, to start." Twilight kept her eyes set on the exchange. "And we have fought like this many times. I don't use so much shadowy magic, of course. I don't like shadow magic. Not... as a preference to others, but wrapping my head around the shadow runes is harder than it appears."

Sunburst watched as Starlight returned with a wall of shadow. She clearly got that spell from the book she had been allowed to read. "Starlight doesn't have that problem, it seems. Is she... really that good at magic?"

"Quite good." Twilight seemed proud of that fact. "We spar because she enjoys practicing. I'm not her magic teacher, though she learns some things from me in that regard."

"What do you teach her then?" Sunburst peered at Twilight with some confusion. "I thought magic was your 'thing', from what I've been told."

"It is, but Friendship is Magic, as my thesis goes. Because of that..." She rolled a hoof through the air. "I take both seriously, and I'm teaching Starlight about one of those while practicing the other. That makes sense, right?"

"Huh..." That Friendship equated to Magic was a new concept to him. "I thought magic was one part learning and study, one part practice, and one part talent." He sank in place. "Two out of three isn't bad, right?"

"Three out of four." Twilight set a hoof on Sunburst's shoulder. "You're gaining friends quite easily and they would gladly help you, or just hang out. Seems to me you've got friendship mostly locked down, which is good, and may help with the thing you feel you're missing."

With a burst of light, Starlight dismissed the shadow in a wave of power that sent Umbra flying back in a rolling tumble. "Battle wizard is one title of many I could take." Starlight was coming closer with a victorious smirk. "Nice try."

Umbra melted against the floor, darting out at Starlight with uncanny speed. With a roar, she burst back into being in a spray of crystals that forced Starlight back with an array of small nicks and cuts. "I'm not done yet!"

Twilight blew a whistle sharply, getting both combatants' attention. "The train is coming soon. I declare Starlight the winner of this exchange, but it was a good match. I hope you both learned something from it."

The two met with firm hoof clops. Umbra was chuckling darkly. "That was new and interesting. I'll be better next time, promise."

"Don't threaten me with a good time." Starlight began heading towards Twilight. "Did you see that?" For all her seriousness in battle, they still rated the approval of her mentor highly. "I used her shadow magic against her. Ha, that was good!"

Twilight led her carefree student away, back in the direction of Ponyville. "I saw her surprise you a few times. It was not a one sided battle."

Twilight's delay did not come without a price. The train that arrived carried her parents. They gushed and cooed at their new grandfoal, but did not let Twilight go away. "Did you see your daughter-in-law?" Velvet grinned at her daughter a bit too wide. "Really makes you think."

Night Light adjusted his glasses, not that he wore any, and not that this stopped him from making the motion anyway. "Time is ticking, young lady. Though the alicorn process may have some impact on the — "

He didn't get to finish as Velvet drove an elbow into his side. "You are not going to end up like Princess Celestia. Think more of being like your sister-in-law!" Yes, surely that was a more fecund princess to take after. "Any stallions catch your eye? Do tell!"

"Mom!" All her attempts to flee had failed. Twilight tried to power past the clingy parents, but they weren't letting her go easily. "I'm busy with other affairs."

Starlight suddenly threw herself between the two mares with a smile. "I'll be sure to keep her on track."

Velvet backed up a step in surprise. "Oh... Who are you?"

"This is my dear student." Twilight threw a hoof over Starlight as the two retreated away. "Who I am taking back to Ponyville. Ta ta!"

Night Light inclined his head slowly. "Huh... Do you think she swings that way?"

Velvet colored. "I wish she'd just tell me if so! I'd stop asking about that." She crashed to her haunches. "I'm not trying to be a terrible mother!"

"And you aren't, dear." Night Light was there to cradle her and rock with her a moment. "Oh, Flurry looks like she wants your attention."

"She does?!" Velvet forgot about all the other problems in favor of playing and making silly faces at her grandfoal. That took highest priority easily.

"It's back." Shifting worried her hooves. "I can tell."

Umbra hiked a brow at her worried girlfriend. "What's back so I can punch it until it stops bothering you?"

"They're searching." Shifting glanced about and moved to close the window blinds. "And trying to be subtle about it. They musta saw a changeling, somewhere."

Umbra went to touch nose to cheek, but Shifting danced away. "Wow, you must be really upset if you turn that down."

"Sorry!" Shifting sank to her belly. "Not trying to bring things down. I know you're not the problem."

"Glad to hear that." Umbra sank next to Shifting. "So want me to go ask around, get the details?"

"Would you?!" Shifting smiled brightly in hope. "Please."

"Already on the case." Umbra pulled herself to her hooves and got walking out of her room. She didn't have a hard time finding Shining out barking commands at a group of soldiers. She let him finish before finishing her approach.

"Umbra." He was turning to her at the same time. "Your timing is amazing. You helped us before so I was hoping you could do it again."

Umbra clapped once. "Is this about changelings?"

"You knew?" He reached up and tapped his nose. That Umbra flinched as if booped was proof enough. "Your intuition is spot on. You're the hero of the empire, so we were hoping you could rejoin us."

"Always happy to help." Umbra wagged her tail and danced in place. "Which way first? Last time, we didn't find many changelings." Just one, and Umbra had kept quiet about it. "You sure it'll be better this time?"

"I think so." He pointed off with one hoof as the other gestured for guards to come closer. "Take this unit and head that way. Hopefully, we can find something. If you see anything, let us know."

"On it." Umbra saluted sharply and began leading the group out in the direction Shining had pointed. "Huh..."

An idea came to her. She willed her tiara free just long enough to tap at her chest in morse code. It was three letters, characters really. 'Hi.' Either they knew it, or they did not.

'Is... tha..t.. you?' came the reply with flutters in her chest from tapping that wasn't hers. Umbra grinned with newfound triumph at the line of communication.

"Yes. Not g...ood a...t... it. Hi." She nodded to the guards she was hiking alongside and refocused on the search as her tiara landed back in place. Talking was possible! That was the important part by far.

A rustle, a movement? Umbra wasn't entirely sure. She was sure if it was an actual changeling, she didn't want the guards to tackle them to the ground first. "Check over there." She casually pointed in the wrong direction. "I'll make sure here's safe." She trundled through the snow, sniffing for trouble.

Did changelings have a smell? Her girlfriend did, but that was Shifting's smell, not every changeling ever's scent. "Hello? Wanna talk?" She slid down a small embankment. "I'm not here to start any fights, promise."

She skewed an ear as she walked past a large rock. Changelings could become rocks, right? But she'd be there forever if she poked every rock suspiciously. "You must be scared..." Umbra sat down and stopped looking. That spot had a bit less snow than the rest. "You must be alone." A single changeling by itself? "Is Chrysalis chasing you?"

"I-I hope not!"

Umbra skewed her right ear towards the voice but resisted turning towards it. "I hear she's a real jerk. I have experience with those, so I know that's a bummer."

"She's really mad..." The voice was small, as if scared, and wasn't coming any closer. "You know her?"

"Her specifically, a little." She brought up two hooves close together. "I know someone who knows her, and not in a good way. If she doesn't like you, then I can give you a point already."

Silence returned. Had they left? Was she alone? Umbra sat still and patiently, hoping that wasn't the case.

"You're an odd-looking pony."

Umbra smiled at the clear sign that she still had company. "I get that more often than I'd want to, really. My name is Umbra and it's nice to meet you, really. Even if you are a little lost lovebug."

"Lovebug?!" A hiss, and the crunches were coming closer. "That's not a very nice name to call me."

Umbra peeked over her shoulder without turning. She couldn't quite see what she was talking to. A guy, by the sound of it. "Give me a better name and I'll use that. I gave you mine, so it's only fair."

"Um." The mystery figure sat behind her from the flumping crunch of snow. "Not sure I should."

"I get that." They were talking. Progress! "Let's just chat then. I'm friends with a changeling. Shhh, don't tell anyone."

"You say that funny." She could hear the smile in his voice. "Why do you say it like that? Anycreature is what they use."

"Where I'm from, creature has some negative meanings." Umbra flicked her ears forward. "So anyone it is. You are one, right? Just one, any one. I'm one. They're one. One one. Prefer not to be a creature."

"Huh..." Quiet settled around them. "You know you have a changeling behind you, right? Aren't you... scared?"

"Not to frighten you back." Umbra smirked with a bit too many fangs. "But you're talking to the shadow crystal princess of the empire, who may have a changeling for a girlfriend, shh. Seriously, keep that to yourself if you care about changelings being happy."

"You've mentioned that." Quiet... "You keep telling me a secret. I could tell every...one... that. Aren't you worried?"

"Why would you do that?" Umbra wanted to turn, but resisted the urge. "You're a lost changeling too. I'm guessing. I could be wrong. If you're an infiltrator, oops, sucks to be me." She laughed despite the dire nature of that sitution. "Guess I just messed myself up in that case. Gonna hope you're not one of those."

64 - Private Words

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"Thanks, for talking." Umbra could turn an ear back at him without turning the rest of her. "You must be really scared."

"Kinda..." She could hear hooves rubbing. "I don't quite get why you're not, really, um... So... I don't want to hurt the ponies, really."

"Good, me neither." Umbra considered a moment. "Can I turn around?"

"Huh, sure." Umbra turned to see a nervous black bug pony sitting in the snow. "Uh, hi? You must think I'm hideous now..."

"Girlfriend, changeling?" Umbra rolled her hoof with the reminder. "Sure, she's a bit more colorful in a stripe, but mostly the same. You remind me of her, but less of a girl bug, which is still mostly bug, if we're being honest."

The new changeling pointed at himself. "I'm Thorax, um, nice to meet you, miss..."

"Umbra." Umbra managed a smile. "And it is nice to meet you. Glad we're past that awkward first part. So, if you could have anything, what is it you're hoping for?"

Thorax leaned to the left and the right. "I didn't think that far! I just... I was hoping I could... I was running! Away from her!"

Soft tapping coud be felt. Even if her tiara was busy blocking any outgoing messages, they came just fine. Tap tap... Umbra went still, her mouth moving as she labored to translate it as it came. "Twilight is... here. Oooo, did she bring Starlight? Spike? He's alright..." He was not a wizard and would give Umbra no rematch.

Thorax watched Umbra with undisguised confusion. "Are you alright?"

"Hm? Oh!" Umbra perked up with a smile. "Just a message from Shining or Cadance." It was quite impossible to tell which was which. Umbra hadn't learned what each of their taps felt like to try to tell them apart. "A friend just showed up back at the Crystal Empire. You know, my other friend, the changeling, was also running away from her."

"She was?!" Thorax's wings buzzed on his back as he fretted. "Did they catch her?"

Umbra hiked a brow. "She's still my girlfriend, so gonna go with a no on that. Now, you. I say we Adult the heck out of this and just walk right in there. No more sneaking."

"Does your friend not hide?" Thorax peered at Umbra suspiciously. "I didn't hear of any changelings, besides me."

Dang it, called out. "She's still hiding... But I'm not going to shake you both today, so I'll start with you." She leveled a hoof at Thorax. "Let's go and I'll vouch for you. You seem like a nice changeling to me."

"Well, more brave when they're not, um, related to you." He laughed nervously as he rubbed one hoof against the other leg. "You sure that's a good idea? I'll know if you're lying!"

Umbra had no idea if Thorax had any lie detecting ability, still... "I'm telling the truth. If they get prickly, they'll have to go through me to get to you." She started back towards the Crystal Empire. "You seem nice to me, which deserves at least a chance. I want a more up to date review on Miss Jerk anyway, so if you want to share, not arguing."

"Miss Jerk?" Thorax quickly caught up with her, confusion in his eyes. "Who's that? Wait! Do you mean..." He glanced left and right as they hiked. "Her?"

"The one you're running from. Oh, let me tell them." She took a deep breath and blew it out in a whistle that pierced the snowy wastes. It wasn't long before ponies began to appear, dressed in armor. They noticed the changeling with Umbra quickly, undisguised as it was.

The leader of the unit was looking between Umbra and Thorax. "Uh, ma'am... there's a changeling right next to you... Do you need us to help?"

"Point for asking." Umbra inclined her head at Thorax. "This is a lost changeling, not part of any hive. He needs help, not chasing. He is under my protection until after he and Cadance have a nice chat. If she still doesn't want him around, I will walk him out of the city, like civilized people."

Thorax paced in place. "You'd really do that? Even if she was... super mega angry to see me?"

"Especially then." Umbra booped the nervous changeling. "I'm not letting you get hurt or in trouble until you've gotten your chance. If she says no, the chance only ends when you're kicked out, not before then." She glared at the guards. "And you aren't officially kicked out until you actually leave. So you're safe, promise."

"That's... really kind of nice of you." Thorax allowed a bit of relief to peek free of in a little smile. Maybe a pony would give him a chance?

The guard raised a brow. "That's against orders, ma'am."

Umbra curled a hoof at herself. "I don't pull rank often, but one of us is involved with the princess, and it isn't you. She -- " Oops! "He's under my care until I say otherwise, either with their blessing, or without it and seen to the border of the empire."

The guards were not willing to elevate things into a proper brawl with the shadow crystal princess they had recently learned liked a good sparring match and was a local hero. "Shining Armor will hear of this." If all else failed, trusting in their superior to know the answer seemed like a safe bet.

The group marched towards the city with the guards close around Umbra. Their eyes kept wandering back to the changeling they were supposed to capture and subdue, not walk along with. But there he was, just... being there. "Excuse me." One of the guards came in closer to Thorax. "But you are a changeling, aren't you?"

"Um, yes." Thorax grinned with a fang on display at the pony that asked. "Why?"

"Just making sure... Don't changelings eat ponies?" He raised a brow at Thorax.

"Oh no!" Thorax covered his mouth in horror. "Ponies are not hamburgers, um... We eat love, not ponies." He began to wilt, but was keeping up. "It's, uh... different?"

The guard shuddered softly. "You eat burgers of ham?"

"What's wrong with that?" Umbra scowled at the guard. "So long as what you're eating didn't ask not to be eaten before, it's a valid target." She extended a wing suddenly, thumping against Thorax. "Want a ride?"

"Huh?" He looked at the wing with new confusion. "A ride? My legs work..."

"I can protect you easier up here." She tossed her head back towards her top. "Some ponies are on edge and I want you safe. Promises are promises."

"I appreciate that." But he kept right on hiking alongside her. "I'm alright... Are you being nice to me becau--" He didn't get to finish with the wing that had been offered instead covering his mouth. "Mmmf!"

"In part." She didn't need to hear the rest, nor did the guards. "But I think everyone deserves a fair shot. Besides, what's the big deal?" That got a lot of strange looks from the guards. "What? So he nibbles on love. Big deal. Does that actually hurt anyone involved, or just creep people right out?"

The head guard frowned softly. "I'm... I don't know, ma'am. I heard from Shining Armor that it hurt him. It's my job to ensure that no ponies are hurt under my watch." He stood tall, even if still walking. "If he begins hurting you or anypony else, I will have to act, with or without your leave, ma'am."

Thorax's ears sagged at the admission. "That's fair, I guess... I don't want to hurt anypony though, really..."

"There you go." Umbra thumped against him from the side. "I'm right here, promise. Let's go!"

Thorax smiled timidly. "You're really nice..." It didn't help that he felt a trickle of love coming from her, sustaining him with adoration. How had he earned that? He was still a changeling. Ponies were not known to adore insects... She had a girlfriend, a secret one. Was that the difference? Oh no! He gaped with dawning realization. He had found a pony with a changeling fetish! He was literally getting a snack from her impure thoughts regarding insects. That was... refreshing and also horrifying.

"You alright?" Umbra was peeking at him from the side. "You look like you might not be." He looked horrified. Creatures of Equestria were pretty bad at hiding their emotions more often than not. "The offer for a ride is still open."

She would like to give him a ride! Thorax blushed at the awkward thought. "I-I'm fine!"

As a unit, they marched into the city. The guards closed even tighter to keep any other pony from seeing exactly what they were escorting hastily down the roads. They made it up the stairs to the palace before Shining Armor came into view.

The head guard saluted sharply. "Sir! We have located the spy, sir."

Umbra rolled her eyes. "He is not a spy." She turned to Thorax. "This is Thorax. He's a lost changeling that needs a helping hoof."

Shining frowned in quite the scrunch. "Umbra, you are... new to this world. You don't know how changelings are. Please step away from 'him'."

"Nah." She lowered a wing over the top of Thorax protectively. "I know he's running from a jerk and he deserves to be heard out before we decide how good or not he is just because he's a changeling."

Thorax smiled with growing hope. Even with somepony in charge, Umbra was standing up for him. "Hello, um, sir! Are you... Shining Armor, sir?"

"I am." Shining examined Thorax without coming closer. "And you are Thorax?"

"That's me." Thorax dared a little smile. "Sorry for the surprise, um, sir... I wasn't sure how to say hello without freaking everypony out..."

Shining applied a hoof over his face. "That mission was failed. Umbra, are you certain?"

"Umbra!" Twilight as approaching the scene with Spike at her side. "--and a changeling?!" Her horn began to glow with the promise of power. "Stand back!"

"Hey." Spike put out an arm in front of Twilight. "She doesn't look like she's being attacked... right?"

"Right!" Umbra made a mental note that Spike was an alright person. "This is Thorax." She pulled him in closer with her curled wing. "And he needs our help, not random magic lasers."

Thorax retreated into the safety of that folded wing, perhaps frightened of the war unicorn on display. "I'm not hurting anyone, promise!"

Twilight and Shining shared a look that was speaking words silently. Twilight took a step forward. "Far be it for me to... speak against friendship, but do you actually know this changeling? They're pretty good at matters of deception."

Umbra squeezed her temporary ward. "He could have attacked me. He could have tried a spell. He could have done a lot of things, but he didn't. We had a nice chat, and nobody got hurt. I'd like to keep that trend going if I can, hm?" She flashed her sharp teeth at the two of them. "Hey, where's Cadie anyway? I promised he could make his case with her before any final decisions were made."

Twilight raised a hoof. "If she says he has to go, will you stand in the way?"

"I will be super upset." Umbra sat with a huff. "But! This is her empire. I'll pout with him all the way to the edge of it and let him go off and be a bug somewhere else. He will not be hurt. I promised he'd be safe." She reached a hoof to draw Thorax ahead of herself instead of to the side. "And I keep my promises. Cadance will understand that, and that isn't a big ask, I don't think. He didn't hurt anyone, so he has no crimes to answer for, other than you not liking what he is, and he didn't get a lot of choice in that."

Few did, in the end. Umbra would not let anyone suffer for what they were born with.

65 - Having His Chance

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The throne room had Cadance in it, but she was far from alone. Just ahead of her, within reach, was a cradle with the new princess in it. Next to the cradle was the royal crystaler, Sunburst. Even in a throne room, his mane and beard were a bit scraggly. That was just his style, Umbra supposed as she marched into the guard-filled room with Thorax just in front of her. "Cadance! I'm back, and I have a guest."

Cadance leaned forward, one hoof on her child, perhaps protectively. "So I see... Is there a reason you're walking around with a... changeling?" She smiled with obvious tension, but she hadn't immediately demanded they both be removed. Progress!

"So glad you asked." Umbra brought in both of her wings on Thorax's sides. "He may be a changeling, but he does not work with that jerk, Chrysalis. He doesn't like her any more than you do, in fact."

"Is that so...?" Cadance smiled gently. "Where were you then?"

Thorax blinked with wide eyes. "Where was I?"

"During the invasion of Canterlot." Cadance rolled her free hoof. "Where were you?"

"Oh, um..." He tapped his hooves together nervously. "I'm not very good at the, uh... soldiering thing... She left me behind... Said I'd just get in the way..." He sagged in place. Even if she was a complete jerk, admitting one's failings clearly has an impact on Thorax. Silently, Umbra drew him back in a bit of a hug. "Um, thank you." Thorax was still facing the ruler of the land. "But I wasn't part of... that... Sorry for the trouble they caused."

Cadance looked past both of them to Shining, Twilight, and Spike. "They all let you in?"

Thorax peeked back at them. "Umbra said I should get a chance to talk to you. Um... she's very persuasive, and nice. Is she always like that?"

Cadance smiled then. "She typically is, if she feels the need present. Umbra, you have brought forward a confused and lost little soul. It's hard to be entirely upset with him... What are your intentions?"

Umbra nudged her temporary ward forward. "He was lost in the snow, cold and alone, just because of something he had no say over. Not like any of us get a lot of vote in what we're born as. He seems pretty nice." She reached around Thorax and, without much of a fight, pulled his lips up in a smile. "How can you be angry at this face?"

Cadance peered at the display. It was fairly hard to take seriously, which was, perhaps, the point. "Thorax." He stood up at attention. "Can you eat things besides love? Even if I were to rule favorable, we can't have a creature about that has to hurt others to survive."

Thorax looked around wildly a moment before he spotted a roll seated on a tray as if somepony would push around a single roll. Maybe they would? Either way, he hurried up to it and pointed at it. "Go ahead," came Cadance's allowance. He leaned in over it and snapped up the roll. The taste seemed to agree with him as he chomped it up and swallowed it down with a smile.

"Love is, um... ideal... but not technically required." Besides, he was getting some in a drip feed from that fetishistic shadow pony. "Ma'am!"

Cadance let out her breath in a gust. "Alright... if Umbra is speaking up for you, and you're not giving me much reason to deny it... We can at least give you a chance."

Umbra clopped in applause. "Great! I knew being adults about this was the right way to go." She went right past Thorax to the bundled up Flurry Heart. "And there's my little niece, who I can't ignore." Was that a hormonal thing, or did she just love that child? Maybe yes? Either way, she got to nuzzling the little foal to their delight and offered up a fresh bottle of milk. "You're the only reason I have that trick."

Flurry had no words. Words was not a thing she was good at just yet, but she could hold the bottle and drink from it happily.

"Aw." Thorax was coming up from behind her. "You really like... her..." He went rigid, ears pinning back, then going forward as a great hiss escaped him. He bared his fangs and looked like the predator he was.

And he got bopped on the head, Umbra frowning at him. "Why are you doing that?"

Thorax shrank back with a yelp. "S-sorry! I can't... I couldn't help it!" He moved to flee, only to thump into a shadowy wall that slowed his motions down as if swimming through thick jelly. "W-what?!"

Umbra waved him closer, her magic doing the deed for her. "Use your words. What couldn't you help? We can't understand if you don't talk to us."

Thorax wiggled about from his vantage point, floating in front of Umbra as he was. "Well... She's... She's very loved. I could feel all that love and I... It was an instinct! I'm sorry! I don't want to hurt her, really."

Umbra set a hoof on his nose gently. "You're not that different from Cadance."

Both of them blinked at that. "What? You both see connections between people. Sure, he thinks those connections are tastier than you do, but it's still pretty related."

Cadance came up and sat besides Umbra. She waved between herself and Umbra. "What connection do we have?"

Thorax looked at Cadance, then Umbra, and back again with a frown. "There is... some love there. It's not as strong as the love going towards that filly. That's a lot of love." He licked over his lips. "Sorry, I can't say much more than that."

Cadance inclined her head. "Not as precise." She was still the queen of connections. "Now, to be clear, if you hurt my filly, I will be very cross with you. My filly is not your snack. And if I find you're pretending to be her... I will be even more than cross could even hope to encompass. Are we clear?"

"Crystal!" Thorax flashed his fanged smile. "Thank you, um, ma'am... For your safety, and mine, I would like to head outside." He pointed away from Flurry Heart, magnet of love that she was. "Is that alright?"

Umbra set him down from her magic. "Sorry, there you go. No hurting her, to repeat that. I'm her aunt and I will hunt you down if it came to that. I'd rather be your friend, so let's do that, hm?"

"T-thank you! You're very nice to changelings." He turned and started trotting away. "No wonder your girlfriend gets along so well."

Cadance watched him go before she turned back to Umbra. "I'm not an idiot."

Umbra blinked owlishly. "What? It's all solved now. Everyone can stop freaking out and say hi to the new neighbor instead of hiding in their homes."

"I am glad about that." Cadance nodded only slightly. "But, for a shapeshifting deceiver, he isn't good at holding secrets."

"Whatever could you mean?" Umbra smiled so innocently, or so she hoped. "Is something else wrong? I can help!"

Cadance poked Umbra on the chest. "Why would your girlfriend get along better?"

"Um...." Crap. How to phrase that... She didn't want to lie to Cadance, but promises had been made! "I'm not allowed to go into detail on that." Adulting! Yes, the ultimate answer. "But know that she is super harmless and is helping me help the city. She helped save you from those shadow creatures. Please don't chase her now."

Cadance repeated the poking all the more firmly. "I didn't think you had those tastes... No wonder you said yes to me."

Umbra was still a moment as she pondered that and its meanings. "Oh..." Her cheeks began to glow brightly. "That isn't why! I already liked her before anything else came up." She pressed her hooves together. "I love you, Cadie. Let's not make this any more awkward than it already is."

Cadance rose to her full height. "It's already about as awkward as it's going to get, I imagine... Bring your girlfriend to me. We have things to discuss."

No! "She's going to think I told on her, and even if she doesn't, having me deliver her to you? She's going to be very upset to be grilled after that... Can't you let it be?" Umbra shied back a few steps. "Nothing's in danger from her, unless cute little bat squeaks bother you."

"Your protection of her is commendable... But I deserve the chance to know who I'm ruling over."

"Um." Sunburst had been quiet up to then. "Are we talking about the same Prism? Why are we upset about her? She's pretty nice."

"Super nice!" Umbra grinned in solidarity with Sunburst's report. "You've met her before, Cadance. Don't make this strange." And then she was poked with a small claw in the side. "What?!" Oh, it was Spike. "Hey, sorry, not trying to yell at you."

"You look busy, but I wanted to give a thumbs up." Which he did, two of them. "Good on you, for standing up for yourself, and somecreature else. He seems nice."

"Right?" She smiled awkwardly at the little dragon. "Glad we got that nice and handled." She leaned in at the baby dragon. "Did anyone ever mention you're actually kind of cute?" Was it the blossoming aunt's instincts in her? She wanted to grab up Spike and protect him from the world, not that he appeared to need much protection.

He went a bright red. "Only one pony, um, and I'm a one pony kind of dragon."

"One pony? Oh shoot!" She realized how she had been taken. "Not like that. Like an adorable child, which you are. If you need anything, just hit up Auntie Umbra and I'll do my best."

Cadance giggled softly. "That's adorable. I'm glad to see you two are getting along. Still, I do need to speak to your girlfriend. Could you at least tell her that? If not, I'll have to send somepony over to collect her."

That was a threat. Not an unreasonable one, ultimately, but still a threat. Umbra pawed at the ground, dark magic pouring from her eyes in her building distress. Why wasn't Adulting fixing that?! "Don't do that! I'll... tell her myself." Better to hear from her than from some random stranger. "Please don't be mad at her. She's harmless, I swear!"

"It is only because of her history that I am as calm as I currently am." Cadance nudged the stroller towards Sunburst to handle. "But I do need to know the truth. I will admit, I am a little hurt that you kept this secret from me for so long. Did you not trust me? I thought we had a stronger relationship than that."

"Liar revealed!" Umbra flopped to her belly. "I hate that part..."

That got Cadance to raise a brow. "Pardon?"

"It's a trope." Umbra sat up slowly. "Look, she made me promise to keep her secret, and I keep my promises. Ugh, still my fault. I told him about her, thinking it'd get him to relax, which it did... and then he blabbed!" She threw up both her forehooves. "Is it too late to say he can't be trusted?"

Cadance smirked at that. "A few steps too far, I'm afraid. If you were bound by a promise... I can at least somewhat understand that. She has not harmed anypony I'm aware of... I'm willing to set that aside, but I really do need to speak to her. She is not who I thought she was, and I'd rather know who I'm the princess of."

"Right..." Umbra sagged, but stood up. "Right! My bad... I'll go tell her then... Um, any specific time she should swing by?"

Cadance went in for a nose bump. "Why don't you bring her by tomorrow, for our usual breakfast meetup? You both know the place."

66 - Facing the Piper

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"If you want to run, I'm with you." Umbra inclined her head. "If you want to go and leave me behind, I understand that. Whatever you want, I'm there for that."

Shifting shuffled from hoof to hoof. "Why did you tell him? Why did you tell anycreature?!"

Umbra flopped to her belly. “There are no excuses! I thought... another changeling was alright? I was wrong! Just completely and totally wrong! I messed up! I will take whatever punishment you want to give." She covered her snout and eyes with her hooves. “I messed up! I'm serious though! Until you tell me to leave you alone, I'm not leaving you.”

Shifting's teeth clenched powerfully, perhaps with that temptation. "She's going to interrogate me... Pry into my secrets... And only after she's happy learning all the things she didn't need to know, she'll kick me out. That's what you did. That's what you're asking right now."

"I'll walk with you out of here and never come back." Umbra perked an ear. "Won't even write a letter if you'd rather I didn't."

"But you... just asked if I would go." Shifting thumped Umbra suddenly, bopping her on the forehead beside her horn. "You hurt me!"

"I hurt you!" wailed Umbra. "I messed up, completely. If this is the end... I did it... I'll take that blame... I... don't want it to be... but it's my fault. I will do whatever you want."

"Can we go back to yesterday?" Shifting made a sort of rewinding motion with her hooves, tears stinging at her eyes. "Can this just never happen?"

"That would be so nice..." But dark crystal magic didn't have that trick, so far she knew. Umbra sat up slowly. "I'm your big stupid girlfriend. Tell me what to do."

Shifting beat at Umbra's front to little avail. "I want to trust you! Our secret should stay our secret... I thought you understood that..."

Umbra cringed, the words hurting far more than the buffeting hooves. "Ow... Gah... I deserve all of that and then some. I'm so sorry! I will not toss you to the lions and walk away! I'm right here." She tapped herself on the chest. "One mistake is already too much."

"Way too much." Shifting stomped in place, throwing a fit with choked sobs and flying tears. "It'll never be the same! I will never just be the silly bat to them, ever! I... won't be Shifting Prism..." She flopped miserably to her side. "It's over... My whole life..."

"I won't let that happen." Umbra offered a hoof, and they did not resist it as she gathered Shifting into a hug that deepened into a proper embrace. "I'm with you every step, and they better realize how amazing you are and continue to be, or we're both walking out of there and not stopping."

"You have a life too!" Shifting waved at Umbra's everything. "You're a hero here. The ponies are... so excited when they see you. Why would you come with me?"

"Because it's my fault?" Umbra inclined her head. "Because I like you a ton? I want to do it. Besides, you didn't tell me not to. I'm responsible for it." Sure, she had repeated that last one, even louder, but she felt it. "So are we going, or running? We could fly. We have wings in either direction."

"T-true..." Shifting wiped at her eyes with her arm. "Why does she need to know?"

"Because she's dumb, and I'm dumb for letting her know." Umbra sagged in place. "We can still run. It's an option. On hooves or wings, your choice."

"Stop that." Shifting gathered herself up with a slow inhale. "It's... Alright... Alright! Here's how it'll go."

Umbra leaned in sharply. "Listening!"

"Good." Shifting set a hoof on Umbra's snout, booping her. "We'll talk to her, and if I walk out, you help me walk out if they try to stop me. If they say hurtful things, you speak up the truth as you know it. You won't... watch quietly, alright?"

Umbra opened her mouth wide with a creaking sound she made up. "I'm ready!"

"Fine! Fine... Let's get this over with." Shifting began walking to the door. "Now, if that's alright?"

Umbra scrambled to keep up with her. "You're calling the shots."

As they walked down the small street towards the major thoroughfare, Umbra scooted up beside her agitated girlfriend. "I'm so sorry..."

"Prove it." Shifting peeked to the side at Umbra. "Prove you can." She hurried ahead without room to talk, marching for the castle at a brisk pace. She ascended the stairs without argument from the guards. It was hardly her first time there, of course. That Umbra was scurrying behind may have helped.

"Cadance!" Shifting looked left and right. "Where are you hiding?"

"Calm down." Umbra hurried to Shifting's side. "This isn't a fight."

"Isn't it?" Shifting turned away from Umbra down a new hall. "Cadance!"

"Even if it was, shouting for her isn't helping." Umbra matched Shifting's pace. "She called you. Just tell a guard and you could have a friendly chat without all the screaming."

"I'm not screaming." Shifting sounded tense in her words, teeth clenched as she went for a new door. "Are you in here?!" She threw it open to the surprised gasp of a pony inside. "Sorry." She closed the door and turned in a new direction. "Just a maid."

"This is why this is bad. What if I told you I could reach her silently?"

"That a shadow spell?" She looked over her shoulder at Umbra. "You didn't mention that."

"It's the shared sensation thing... which I did mention." Umbra reached up for her tiara with both hooves. "I can reach them nice and quickly. Shall I?" With no call to pause coming, Umbra popped off her tiara and set it just to her side. She began tapping at her chest.

"What does this do?" Shifting was holding the tiara, turning it around in her hooves. "You blabbed my secret. The least you can do is give me one of yours."

Umbra came to a screeching halt in her tapping in the distraction. "H-hey! Most of what's in there is me-flavored."

"Which is theoretically mine right now." Shifting hugged the tiara close. "So tell me?"

"You know that's not how that works." Umbra fell to all fours and came up on Shifting, nose to nose. "Even married people can have secrets if they don't hurt each other. And we're not even that. If that was your proposal..." Her cheeks darkened a little. "I'm not used to that style, but still..."

Shifting shoved her face back a few inches with a great push of a hoof. "No! Um... Please? I won't tell anycreature... unlike some others I know."

Umbra glanced around. "We're standing in a hallway, so that isn't happening. Maybe later, in private."

"Hmm... fine." Shifting set down the tiara to be grabbed instantly by her larger girlfriend. "You owe me!"

"I do owe you." Umbra cradled it under an arm and resumed her tapping message.

"Umbra?" Shining was trotting towards them briskly, head held high. "You wanted to talk to me?"

This is what Umbra got for using 'you' in the message instead of a name, but 'you' was shorter! "I meant Cadance actually, but hi!" She waved at him. "Do you know... oh, being dumb." She clopped her forehead. "She said to meet her at the breakfast spot."

"Oh, I know where that is." Shifting started down a new hallway, with the others right behind her. "Why are you coming, Shining? Aren't you busy?"

Shining perked an ear at that. "Umbra doesn't use that unless it's important, and she's doing it again."

Caught! She was rapping out a message to them both, 'Going to breakfast. Be there.'

All three marched into the room with its appointed table. It wasn't breakfast time, proven by how lunch foods were set out instead. Each took their usual spot at the table, with Umbra casually chomping. Her tiara was back on her head, granting her privacy. "You already hear about what we're here for?"

Shining glanced at Shifting briefly. "Only the basics." He folded his arms over his chest. "To be honest, it's hard to imagine. You've been a good friend of ours and hers." He wagged a hoof at Umbra. "If you were a nefarious changeling, you were playing the long game."

"Which they do." Cadance had arrived, closing the door behind her with a sparkling horn. "Thank you all for coming." She moved to her usual seat next to Shining. Flurry was not in sight. "We have things to discuss."

Umbra clopped the tabletop. "Don't start this with racist insults. Shifting Prism is proof that changelings can be delightfully loving people like any other race." She spread a wing to rest over Shifting in support.

Shifting smiled at the touch, but her guard was clearly still up. "I didn't choose that, but I chose a lot of other things. I've been a faithful subject of yours for a long time now... What changed?"

Cadance set her hooves in a steeple against one another. "Nothing, and everything. Let's be frank and honest. Changelings have, before, stolen everything from me. They locked me in a dark cavern away from everypony and expected me to languish there and die... That leaves a mark or two." She brought those hooves closer to just under her chin. "So forgive me if I still have feelings about that."

Shifting swallowed audible. "I'm sorry... I wasn't part of that, promise!" She wriggled in place, twitching her batty nose. "I just want to make pretty jewelry with Umbra..."

Umbra beamed suddenly. Her girlfriend still wanted to be with her. "She's already saved your butts before." Both of the others across the table perked at her with confusion. "In the dark, when the shadow creatures were attacking, she used her trickiness to save all of you." She tapped at her own chest. "And didn't even take credit. I could see it though. Darkness isn't much a hiding place from me."

Shining nodded slowly. "I should imagine not... Why didn't you tell us?"

Umbra rolled a hoof at him. "Because this conversation? Because you hate changelings, which she is. Not like anyone asked her if she wanted to be one before she was one." She tightened her wing's grip on Shifting. "She is a darling and wonderful person! Stop bullying her."

"I am not bullying her." Cadance brought down a hoof of her own. "My feelings matter too."

Shifting raised both hooves quickly. "They do! I'm sorry, really... That sounds horrible..."

"It was!" she screamed perhaps too loudly. "I thought... I thought I'd never see my Shining again, or anypony for that matter." She sagged against the table. "It was the most miserable time of my life, thanks to Chrysalis and her changelings."

"Well, I don't like her either." Shifting stuck out her tongue. "She's a real--"

"Jerk!" finished Umbra without delay. The two of them nodded in agreement. That was a pony that deserved the title. "She ran away from that jerk, and now she's in a better place where she can get hugs instead of that." She squeezed her girlfriend gently.

Cadance's eyes went off-focus a moment. "You two really like each other..." She sat up with a little smile. "So bright..." Her vision went to something else between herself and Umbra. "So ugly..." She sighed, falling with her face into her waiting hooves. "I don't want to be ugly. We're here because I want to get better, Shifting. This still hurts. It hurts badly... Even inviting you here was a matter of willpower."

"That's no excuse!" Umbra's hackles were raised in angry defiance. "Stop picking on her."

"Wait." Shifting gently pushed Umbra's wing back. "I think she's being honest... I'm sorry, even if I wasn't the 'ling that did that to you... That... That must have hurt."

Cadance smiled at the bat. "May I see your actual form?"

Shifting recoiled. "This is my authentic form! Even if I... am that... This is what I want ponies to see. This is what I want to be..."

Shining inclined his head. "Ah ha."

67 - What's Bugging You?

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Shining played with his hooves in the air without one actually touching the other. "Insides and outsides."

Cadance peered at her husband. "Sorry? What do you mean?"

"When they don't match up is right where Umbra gets involved." He leveled one of his hooves at her. "And she demands we take a better look at the inside."

"Dang right!" Umbra sat up proud of that description. "So, what do you see?"

"I see a pony." He leaned towards Shifting. "A pony that is more worried about the next game we're in than any great schemes to topple the empire."

Shifting colored and giggled at the same time. "That's true, um... if I'm still invited?"

"I'm not uninviting you." His eyes went to Umbra. "Did you already know?"

Umbra went quiet.

Cadance huffed softly. "Of course she knew. It's written all over her... Is... that why you didn't find it as odd as I expected? You already had a girlfriend that could be a boyfriend when the mood struck."

Umbra darkened swiftly, at least in part with anger. "Hey! We weren't even together at that point." She set her hooves on her temples. "And we aren't here to chat about that anyway. Ugh... Shifting?"

"Yeah?" She was looking at Umbra curiously. "What's wrong?"

"Cadance here has a high libido." Umbra waved at Cadance a bit wildly. "Nothing wrong with that, but she has one, and she will share it with her special someponies, which I became a part of. May I talk about yours?"

"Uh!" Shifting fidgeted in place. "If... it'll help?"

"Shifting has a low libido." Umbra lowered a hoof. "Not zero, but low. Cadance likes to express her physical love at least once a day. Shifting's fine once a week. Both give great nuzzles and both are nice to hug."

Cadance flipped an ear back. "That's perfectly normal!"

Shining coughed into a hoof softly. "Within the normal range, but it's still a range. Not that I'm complaining about it."

Cadance hurled a pillow from an empty chair as her husband. "Stallion!"

Shining caught the pillow and nuzzled it slowly, eyes on Cadance. "Guilty."

Shifting looked between the married royalty. "Not to be rude or anything, but...?"

Cadance deflated with a sigh. "Shifting Prism." Her words were firm as crystal, despite her sagging posture.

"Yes, ma'am?" Shifting lifted a tufted ear. "Are you banishing me?"

"No... No I am not." She was watching Shifting with an intense gaze, body still. "You are close to my nightmare, even more than Thorax. A talented changeling mare that was hiding who they were quite close to me..." She set her hooves together. "I am ready to cry..."

Shifting reached across the table, resting a hoof on one of Cadance's arms. "I'm sorry she hurt you too. I don't like her either."

Cadance smirked a little, but it turned into a more genuine smile as some of the tension fled her. "We agree on that point... You've done nothing to me. I want to give you the chance I think you deserve... Can you understand why I feel this way?"

"No." Shifting inclined her head. "But I can guess. I was worried about just being... ended... No prison, no isolation, just ended... It's not the same. But I get that you're hurt, but you're here, talking, instead of shouting for me to get banished, or worse. So... point..."

"I accept the point given." Cadance sat up properly, gathering herself. "Shifting Prism. You remain a subject of mine. I will do what I can to continue providing a safe place for you to live. Will you do your part?"

"Aye aye!" Shifting raised a wing in a sloppy salute. "As if you have to ask. I will defend the Crystal Empire." The wing came down halfway. "I'm still what I am."

"And that still bothers me... But if I got rid of everything that ever bothered me, Shining's collection would be in danger."

"Hey!" He puffed up indignantly. "I keep that out of the way!"

"And Shifting will keep herself out of the way, busy making jewelry with Umbra, and having a good time." Cadance set her hooves on the table. "All that is left is for me to be a proper princess and keep a happy kingdom for her to live in."

Magic wrapped around her, delivering a firm hug at Umbra's command. "Yay!" Not the most eloquent response, but it was what came to her in that instant. "Thank you for not being mean to my friend." She released Cadance and hopped free of her chair. "C'mon!"

"One second." Shifting sat up a bit taller. "You wanted to see that other me."

"You don't have to do that." Umbra moved between Shifting and Cadance in that narrow space between the chair and the table. "We can go now."

"Thank you." Shifting bapped at her girlfriend. "Cadance, did you want that?"

"I... did and did not. As your girlfriend has said, you don't have to do it."

"I could skip a lot of unpleasant things, but a pony I know taught me taking the adult path is best, in the end." She nuzzled Umbra gently, still nudging her out of the way. "So if you want..." With a rush of green flame, the strangely colored changeling was revealed, with a black plate that was broken up with prismatic streaks, stripes really that covered her form. "I am still Shifting Prism."

Umbra nuzzled the altered cheek. "Still my girl."

Cadance's breathing was tense, but she held herself still. "Nice... to meet you, Shifting. Hm, you must have so much to discuss with Thorax."

"Like how much we dislike Chrysalis? We could go over that." Shifting hopped forward, not to the ground, but to Umbra's back who served as her loyal mount without prompting. "But that's about as far as any connection there goes. I don't know them, and they don't know me."

Shining nudged at Cadance with a floating pastry. "What would you want to talk about with a random pony?"

"Uh, hm... I see..." Cadance snapped at the poking pastry, slicing it in half with her teeth as she chewed on it in quiet thought a moment. "I don't want to be a downer, really. You two have a lovely thing! It's so obvious even without... me being me. " She smiled in a genuine show of brilliance. "Recent developments have shown that two mares can get along that way. Before that, it was all a bit of a mystery to me. Were they settling for less, perhaps out of desperation? I was so wrong." She covered her face with both hooves. "But I learned and grew. Can I have a chance with this?"

Shifting's brows came down together. "I am not offering a chance to be with a changeling. You'll have to use your imagination for that."

Shining suddenly lapsed into a coughing fit. "Wrong pipe! Um... pretty sure she isn't asking for that."

"I am not. You are dedicated to her." She pointed to Shifting and then Umbra beneath her. "As a... polycule? Is that the word for it?" Umbra nodded swiftly. "Good. As a polycule, knowing what our relations are is important. I am connected most deeply to my husband." She leaned to the side and Shining was there quickly to lean back against her. "But we have a bond of intimacy, the two of us, to Umbra."

"And my big connection is the lovely mare on top of me." Umbra turned an ear back but was mostly focused on Cadance. "And you two are the side fling, to me."

"Yes, right.... And Shifting has no connection to us, other than that of friendship, and being a subject, neither of which involve intimacy." Cadance brought her hooves together. "But I'd like that to be a little more. You're part of this... polycule." Still a new word to her. "So... if I can get over myself, are you up to becoming more than acqauintances?"

"You are my princess." Shifting flared green into her usual batty self. "There is that!"

"True... but a princess is a distant object. If you are so close to Umbra, who I am close to..."

Umbra raised a hoof. "It doesn't always work that way. If she wants to, neat. If she doesn't, also fine. Let's be responsible about this, which means being direct and accepting the answers we're given when it involves who someone else wants to be with."

"Yes, of course... Which is what I'm doing." She inclined her head at Shifting. "Consider it, but you're under no pressure. You've caught her heart, which means you must be worth the attention. I would love to learn what that means."

Shifting pinned her tufted ears back. "Does that mean I can stay?"

"Of course it does." Cadance nodded firmly. "You surprised me, but you have also done nothing wrong... Our immigration forms lack a 'are you a changeling?' question." She glanced at Shining. "Get on that."

Shining waved a hoof at Cadance. "It wouldn't have helped. Shifting's been here longer than we have, if I'm remembering correctly."

"Yes." Shifting sat up proudly. "I was here to see the first jerk being a jerk. So you'll have to complain to the first princess, and she isn't around to complain at."

Shining hummed softly. "Never met her... What happened to her?"

"The jerk happened to her." Shifting frumped, thumping Umbra's back. "But that's off topic. Hi, I'm Shifting Prism, and nothing has changed."

Cadance raised a hoof. "That's not true. If a friend of mine revealed they were into some new novel series I never heard of before, that would be a change. I wouldn't stop being their friend, but it would be a change. Let's not just... pretend it didn't happen, but also let's not... freak out about it." She was clearly still having emotions, but doing her best to press past them.

Shifting flopped onto Umbra's back, going flat on it and hugging the shadow mare from above. "Right! Right... I don't know you, really... You're just 'the princess'..." She clucked her tongue and let out a little squeaking ree. "Maybe we could fix that, later. Right now? Gonna ride my girl away. Don't try to stop us." She nudged with her hind legs, directing Umbra to depart.

Shining chuckled at the sight. "You'll give ponies ideas if they see that."

Umbra snatched Shifting off her back just to hug her, rearing up onto two legs and ambling along with her girlfriend cradled. "Then let's be sure we're sending the right idea." She nuzzled into Shifting gently even as they pawed at her. "Because I don't care if they know I love her."

Cadance allowed them to leave with no further arguments. "Our family grows more complex every time I look at it..." She sipped from her fine cup. "Should I... Did I handle that properly?"

"I think you did." He leaned up to smooch her cheek. "But let's leave them alone to decompress. We can try other things later, when they aren't so worked up. As if you're not worked up."

"I am not!" she snapped, proving it worked her up. She put a hoof over her face. "Right... Let's go play. I want to get physical. Maybe some hoofball with your guards?"

Shining's ears danced. "You rarely want to join us for that sort of thing." Still, he followed Cadance. "I'd be glad to have you on my team."

"Nuh uh." She followed him with soft clip-clops. "You'll face me, like a stallion, and accept the loss."

"Bold words!" He leaned against her, the bond between the two firm. "If I lose to you, I can't think of many others I'd rather lose against." His ears danced with a new thought. "Will I have to pay a penalty?"

"One I imagine you'll enjoy." Cadance led the way towards the training guards. They'd get in some good excercize, with a promise of fun to follow afterwards. Nopony would be disappointed.

68 - Construction Complete

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Umbra grunted as crystal touched crystal in a heavy meeting that caused the ground beneath them to shudder with the impact. Other builders were on it, chiseling and mortaring it even as she grabbed another. "Almost."

"You're doing it!" cried out Shifting, dancing with joy in a dance from hoof to hoof. "One more!"

Umbra grabbed the next, and final, piece. It wasn't the largest one she'd grabbed that day, but it was significant as she lifted it slowly. The final bit of the dome that'd cover it all. "Ready?" She looked from crystal pony to pegasus and back among those helping her. "This is coming in hot!"

The pegasi gave a hoof up and flew out of the way, a sign for her to finish things. She brought the roof in and lowered it slowly. She could feel the pegasi flying in and lending their help to guide it to the right place. Sure, she had magic, and was using it, but the help if someone actually there, actually touching it, was still a big help! With a crunching thump, the roof settled into place. The ponies were swarming to finish it up.

"Let me help!" Shifting took flight on eager wings to assist in the finishing.

The arena was complete and ready to serve as a stadium for big games, and one was already planned.

Umbra sank to her belly and flopped over with a wheeze. "That is harder than it looks!" No part of being a crystal wizard was as easy as she made it look at times. But she had done all the heavy lifting. It was just up to the others to apply the loving finishing touches. She closed her eyes and faded off with a content smile on her face. A job completed. "Yes." She weakly pumped a hoof before she slumped to the ground with her waking energy entirely expended.

The girls visited! A pity they had little time to spend with Umbra. "We have to be ready." Twilight inclined her head at the others. "We have to win and get the Crystal Empire chosen."

"To host the Olympics, ri--" The ponies were staring at her like she had said something odd. "Right, that's not what you call it. It's..."

Rainbow Dash hopped up, wings beating as she came back down. "Only the Equestria Games. You should... Oh wait, nevermind."

Umbra raised a brow at that. "What should I not do?"

Rainbow waved it off. "Princesses are not allowed to play, sorry. Didn't mean to tease you like that, just forgot. With Twilight helping to qualify, it slipped my mind!"

Umbra peered at Twilight. "Why are you and Cadance so excited about it then?"

Twilight looked up from where she had been reading the scroll in her magic. "Hm? Oh, yes. I won't participate, directly, but I can help my sister-in-law win this honor, and it's very important to her because it would be a huge economic boon for the Crystal Empire to host the game. So that's why we're involved." She leaned in a little closer to Umbra. "I hear you and Cadance are fast friends. Don't you want to see her happy?"

Umbra colored at the accusation. "Of course I do! Um... How can I help?"

"Well, we already have a routine." Twilight waved at the others and herself. "I can't just insert you into it or we'd have to practice from the start and there's no time for that. Hm..."

Pinkie burst into giggles as she pointed at Umbra. "You could always help make the city shine. We want it to be extra crystall-y, to impress the pony they send to inspect it. I can't think of a better pony."

"Now that, I can do." Umbra's horn glowed with fell magic as visions of sparkly buildings danced in her mind. "I will make the empire so shiny, the inspector's eyes will go blind!"

Rarity chuckled softly. "Maybe not that shiny, darling, but spotless and glittering will do just fine."

"Shiny enough." Umbra stormed off, but only made it about three steps before she paused. "Hey, where's Starlight?"

"She couldn't come." Twilight shook her head slowly. "Sorry. If it makes you feel better, we can do a little study after we clinch this."

"Deal!" Umbra charged off, her promise of magic secured. She whisked away dirt that marred her crystals, whether or not she was the one that put the crystal down in the first place. Until she could see her reflection in every surface, she was not satisfied.

Her magic washed from her in pulses that bade the buildings nearest her to spring into vitality, their dirt and grime banished into a fine cloud that settled quickly to the ground, where she could sweep it off the sidewalks quickly. She began to hum and sing as she went, having a fine time of it. "This is a nice change of pace to building that." She glared at the completed arena a moment before she resumed her cleaning efforts.

As Umbra worked through the city, she passed one window of many. This window had Cadance in it. She veered off her course and soon entered the spa. "When did we get this?" She hadn't constructed the spa... But she wasn't the only builder around. Some things happened without her say so, to her surprise. "Cadance!" She hurried up to the princess with a big smile. "What are you doing?"

"Waiting to get my mane done." She waved a hoof up at her undone mane. "My mane stylist should have already been here." She looked past Umbra with worry. "I thought I had this all planned out."

Umbra turned to ask, but a pony was already hurrying past her to Cadance. "Sorry, Your Highness, but your stylist is down with the flu..."

Cadance sagged with defeat. "Of all the timing... The traditional headdress is very important! I won't look the part without it."

"Twilight's here, did you see?" Umbra hopped in place. "And she brought Rarity. She's a fashion expert. Maybe she could do it?"

"That's a lovely idea." Cadance's dourness broke at the suggestion. "Please, go and tell them and see if they'll do it. The sooner, the better."

Umbra snapped a sharp salute even as she melted into the ground, becoming little more than shadow. She flowed out at a breakneck speed. They say light is the fastest thing around, but darkness could be just as swift when it wanted to be! "Rarity?!" She quickly explained the situation to the fashionista.

"Oh my... I'm on the case." Rarity marched past Umbra towards the entrance of the castle. "Thank you for fetching me."

She was soon on the case, doing her best to get Cadance looking the part. It was a shame she got news on arrival. "The inspector is about to get here?!"

Twilight froze with wide eyes, locked for a moment before movement returned to her.

Rainbow Dash threw a hoof. "She's trying to trick us, coming early to catch us off our game!"

"Right, right." Twilight performed the breathing technique just shown to her by her sister in law. "We're looking for a pony with a floral print on their bag. Rarity, bring Cadance to the castle the moment you finish."

Rarity saluted even as she fluffed up Cadance's mane with her other hoof and nudges of her magic. "I'm on the case!"

The Mane 6-1 rushed to the train station to pick up the wrong mare and begin their tour. Umbra was not with them. She had come to the train, but saw no reason to get involved in the tour. The others seemed to have that well in hoof, and a new pony would just get in the way of that.

She was getting ready to leave and find something else to do when another pony with a floral print bag stepped off the train. "Huh?" She stepped closer to the older pony, perhaps middle aged? "Welcome to the Crystal Empire." Umbra couldn't be sure which was the right pony, but she bowed anyway. Could she ask? She considered. Then again, that was the adult thing to do. "You look like the inspector. Can I give you a tour?"

Harshwhinny raised a brow at Umbra. "You are a curious looking greeter. Is there a story behind it?"

Umbra flashed a too-sharp grin. "There is! I'm a local hero. I keep things safe, and helped construct the arena." She pointed off to the colliseum, easy enough to see even at a distance. "But we're not here to talk about me. You are the inspector, right?"

"I am..." Harshwhinny lifted her bag into view in her mouth. "Very well, let's get this train moving." The train behind her tooted and began to pull out. "Not that train."

Umbra wrapped her magic around the bag. "Allow me." She took the bag away and began leading the way through the city. "Now, I feel I am uniquely situated to the job. I'm an outsider too, welcomed warmly against the chest of this grand country! And it's ready to do that. Ponies that come for the big event will be treated well." She was, at least by half, making everything up.

She had not planned to give any tours, but that didn't stop her from doing it anyway. They were relying on her to do it, and none of the others were around. She tapped a message on her chest as subtly as she could as they made their way through the city. 'Got the ladymare. Giving tour.' Her morse code was getting better steadily, as giving out those messages, and receiving them, had proven quite a valuable connection to the others.

Who was Twilight and company giving a tour to? She had no idea, and there was no way for her to ask without leaving the inspector alone, which she would not do. "Long trips can really take it out of you. How about we stop by one of my favorite little stands?" She directed Harshwhinny towards a smiling gem pony at a stand. "Have you tried a crystal berry smoothie? Prepare to listen to your tastebuds sing!"

Harshwhinny advanced on the stand and its friendly operator. "How would you deal with hundreds of ponies in a line at your stand?" There was no humor in her voice. She was completely serious, and awaiting an answer as if it were due to her.

The crystal mare looked around nervously. "Hello!" That was not an answer. "Well... I'd be excited! So many eager ponies that all want my smoothies?" She laughed at the idea. "I'd be over the moon! But first, I'd have to get them what they want. Let's start with you, ma'am. What can I get you?" She waved at a menu of three different berry smoothies available. "Pick a flavor and a size." She brought up her other hoof to point at three cups sitting there for example's sake.

Umbra leaned in from the side. "And before you worry, this is on me. Go ahead, get what you want."

"Hm, thank you." She pointed to the lemon flavor. "I'll take that. In that." She pointed at the medium cup.

"Right away, miss." She began to whistle as she hastily got the smoothie ready for tasting. "And here you are." She set the cup down on the little counter. "I'll send something up to the castle, don't worry about it!" Being the hero of the town meant having a tab, everywhere, without asking.

"I have the coins on me." Umbra floated some free and set them down in a pile to cover the drink. "But thank you, that's very nice." She added a single extra coin, but it wasn't the smallest denomination of them. "And for showing us such great service."

"Ma'am." She dipped towards Umbra with a proud smile, perhaps a little bashful. "Enjoy!"

"Let's see." Harshwhinny grabbed the cup with a sticky hoof and slurped from the straw. "Hm... Not bad." She started down the street. "Show me where you'd host this."

69 - Shadowy Tours

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Umbra led Miss Harshwhinny into the stadium. "Built with my hooves, in part. A lot of ponies came together to make this happen. If it was just me, well, I'd still be slowly working on it, so don't let me take all the credit." She waved over the lush green grass and the collection of ponies already making use of it. "Oh, there's Shining Armor. He's the prince of the empire."

"I see?" Harshwhinny advanced past Umbra, right over to Shining Armor. "Excuse me." When he looked towards her, she nodded. "Very good. I see you're already making use of this stadium."

"Of course, miss...? It's a nice open field waiting to be worked out on. Me and the guards and the athletes are all welcome to make use of it when it's not in any official capacity." He looked past her to see Umbra inclining her head urgently, tapping at her chest with a message. That she was the inspector was made clear. "The stadium is brand new, but our desire to play fair and hard isn't! We're ready to host a lot of ponies." He waved at the many empty seats, awaiting pony bottoms to set themselves in them, even if only the edge would get the maximum usage.

"I see." Harshwhinny was examining the stadium critically. "What is the maximum amount of ponies that can be safely and comfortably housed, and compete, as two different numbers. Do you have sufficient housing available for that number of competitors?"

Umbra let them go over the specific numbers, but there was one thing she could help with. "If you need more houses, Shining, let me know and I'll get right on that."

Shining nodded, but most of his attention was on Harshwhinny. "Plenty enough to host the event, hm?"

Miss Harshwhinny turned an ear at Umbra but was facing the many seats in a slow turning. "They expect this year will be the busiest yet. Fair times lead to filled bleachers. I hope your city can handle it." Without saying goodbye, she started for the exit at a measured walk.

Umbra waved at Shining briefly and chased after Harshwhinny. Was that a good ending? She wasn't sure. It didn't sound like a good ending... "There's so much more to see."

"I have seen enough." Her tone left no room for arguments. "You can go now." Miss Harshwhinny left Umbra there on the road without a further word.

Umbra sank to her haunches, letting out the breath she'd been holding. "Did I do alright?" Nobody was there to answer her question. "Shoot..." She had done her best, but she couldn't force Harshwhinney to go with her. Sure, she had more places to wander past and talk about.... But she had not prepared a trip. She had no itinerary, plan, or even much of a notion. She had been wandering and hoping to make a good impression. "Messed that right up." She flopped to her belly as ponies wandered past her, unaware of how badly she'd flubbed their chances. "Oh man..." That was another term lost on them.

"You look down." There was Prism, watching her with a tilted head. "Anything I can help with?"

Umbra sat up slowly. "Well, if my girlfriend wanted a hug I--" She was grabbed in a fierce embrace with a squeak of surprise, but soon was returning it. Hugging Shifting Prism felt great and, just for a moment, she could forget the worries of the day. The tension abated a little. "Thanks... Needed that."

Shifting nestled in close with Umbra. "Wanna tell me what has you so down?"

"Ugh!" Umbra wrinkled her nose. "So there's this mare, Miss Harshwhinney. What a name! And she lives right up to it. She's 110% business!" Umbra got to her hooves to start pacing about in front of Shifting. "She was looking at everything like it personally insulted her! I kept trying to show her the nice parts of things, but she barely noticed. She kept bringing up the problems too! She'd spot something, each time! It was amazing...ly awful."

"Sounds like it." Shifting looked left and right. "Where is she now? All done?"

"All done!" Umbra wailed out. "She stormed off to do... whatever she wanted to do. I don't even know for sure what she thought, but it's probably no good." A hoof landed on her nose. "Excuse me?"

"You don't know that yet." Shifting smiled as she rubbed Umbra's nose in slow motions of her hoof over the sensitive nose of her girlfriend. "So let's not panic until we know."

"Adulting is my job." Umbra crossed her arms with a pout, but it broke into a laugh shortly after. "Fine, alright. You're not wrong. We don't know yet. Maybe she had a great time! Maybe I'm freaking out for no reason." She sat in front of Shifting. "I'm just stressed... Apparently half the reason that stadium was built was to hopefully host this thing, I learned, and I built it, so I want it to be used!"

"I was there. I want it to be used too, and for lots of ponies to Oooo and Aaaa at it." Shifting burst into little giggles. "But that'll happen no matter what, just a matter of when. No point getting bent out of shape about it right now."

"I am perfectly in shape." Umbra nudged at Shifting. "C'mon. I could use a snack about now."

"You stress eat." That didn't stop Shifting from hopping up to readiness. "Lead the way."

"Only for special occasions." The inspector qualified, she had decided. She would stress eat a little... "You in the mood for pasta or salad?"

"Those are the choices? Well..."

"Miss Cadenza!" Harshwhinney was facing the princess, done up in traditional headdress, though still at the spa. "I didn't think I'd find you here."

"Miss." Cadance sat forward with a smile. "I trust you've been enjoying your trip?"

"It was given by a lost foal." Harshwhinny frowned at the monarch. "Who was filled with the tallest tales. They did not impress me."

Cadance did her best to keep her face neutral. "I see..."

"No, you do not." Harshwhinny pointed off. "While I was being given the second-rate tour, that mare got the premium treatment from. She's bedazzled and can't wait to visit the Crystal Empire again."

Miss Peachbottom waved exitedly from where she was being tended to. "They were just so nice!"

Cadance forced a smile. "I see..."

"You still do not. Fortunately, her review was beyond glowing. If that's how you treat random ponies... Well, perhaps there's something to be said for the Crystal Empire." She fished out a pad and scribbled on it. "You'll have to prepare yourself. I've made a list of things to touch up in the meantime." Cadance accepted the letter in her numb magic. "See that it's done. That incompetent claimed to know more about building, maybe get her on the case. You don't want her doing the tours."

"Yes, right?" Cadance sat up taller. "Does this mean?"

"It means exactly that." She closed her board with a snap. "The Crystal Empire will host the next Equestria Games." The room exploded in cheers and stomps at the news, but Miss Harshwhinny was already turning away. "There's a lot riding on this. We have high expectations." She walked off, comported and dignified.

"Yes!" Rainbow landed where the inspector had been a moment before. "I knew we could do it!" The girls got together in celebratory hugs and cheers. Their work had paid off, and the Equestrian Games would be coming.

Umbra was chewing on her salad softly with good company. One thing about ponies. They ate salads more often, so those salads could get quite... ornate. She was not bored as she worked through the collection of leafy greens and nuts and sauces that stood in firm rejection of the idea that one needed meat to make a full meal.

Shifting leaned off to the side. "What's that?" They both looked in time to see a pony charging down the street with a big sign. 'We're hosting the Equestrian Games!' it read in big and bold letters, making it quite clear what that pony was advertising. Cheering followed along with it as ponies came out into the streets to hollar and call out in jubilant celebration.

Umbra sagged. "Oh thank... Wow..." She took a new chomp of her salad. "Now I can really enjoy this. Thanks for calming me down."

"Any time." Shifting angled the fork attached to her hoof and got back to shoveling the food into her eager mouth. "Um, I had an awkward question, and this seems like a good time for maybe good news."

"Good news is... good?" Umbra leaned in at her shrinking girlfriend. "Go on. I'm here."

"Yes, right..." She wriggled the fork free of her hoof. "About that! I... I want to step onto the next, um, step." Not the most grand of statements. "Can we go steady?"

"We weren't steady already?" Umbra perked up an ear at her girlfriend that was also a changeling. "I thought we were."

Shifting rubbed at her hooves that warmed at the same moment. "I mean... I want to start thinking about being together... forever like... You don't have to say yes to that, not yet... But I want it on the table, as something we both think about."

"You really are taking after me, stealing my adult cred." Umbra flashed half her sharp teeth on the right side. "You really want to be with this dangerous shadow crystal wizard?"

"You want to be with a..." She glanced around to be sure nopony was too close. "Changeling?"

Umbra bopped her on the nose. "They know about Thorax. Why are you still hiding it? Ma'am?" A waiter turned towards her. "My girlfriend, a lovely changeling, would like a delicate glass of wine, please."

"Right away." The pony trotted off briskly.

"Humph! Then we're even for today." Shifting crossed her arms. "Is this how it'll go, calling each other out whenever we don't adult properly?"

"Forever and ever." Umbra waggled her brows. "You sure you want that? I'm probably not gonna change it, so... Really, this is a fine time to back out of it."

"I'm willing to consider, which is all I'm asking." She pushed at the table lightly. "I want us both to think about it, and what life would be like, and if we both like what we see... Then maybe, later..."

"...We can do that?" Umbra snorted gently. "I swear... When did I get such an adult partner?" She touched noses with a slow rubbing of sensitive nose to sensitive nose. "I love it. Let's keep being honest with each other, and ourselves. Speaking of that, if you feel super called out by what I did with that waiter, tell me and I'll never do it again."

The two enjoyed their dinner as the city celebrated in a far louder way. It was a good day on multiple fronts. "Oh!" Umbra sat up, feeling a tapping message coming. "Cadance wants to talk to me, has projects." Umbra rolled her eyes. "I thought I was done with those, but being a princess is a long-term gig. Look at Celestia. I hear she's been doing it for over a thousand years. That's dedication!"

"Do you want to do it that long? That's a very long time..."

"If you're not with me, I'll be sad... How long do... changelings hang around for? Gosh, that's an awkward question, but super valid to the topic right now... Tell me."

"Um..." Shifting leaned back in her chair. "Royalty lasts longer than normal drones...."

"Great! I get Shifting for longer, but since I don't know how long a drone lasts, or how much longer you are from them... That only tells me so much, and not much at that. I'd rather you hang around until I'm done with things... Can we do that?"

"That'd be nice." Shifting suddenly lunged forward to press her nose to Umbra's cheeks. "Really nice."

70 - Hearts as Strong as Horses

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Dear Umbra,
Hey mare! Starlight here, doing the magic thing. You are too, I hear? Good on you! Did you hear? The Cutie Mark Crusaders are going to represent Ponyville, ha, little devils. Oh, do you not know about them? I'll fix that!

They dedicated the next segment to a catch up on what made each of the crusaders great in Starlight's eyes.

Anyway, they got picked to wave the flags for Ponyville, good on them. I didn't write you just about them though. How's it going? You should have noticed a second scroll. If you didn't, let me know! Somepony messed up! I will assume you got it. It's a spell! Your favorite gift, I'm told. This one's a fun one. Zap a pony with it and their mane will become vines. Harmless, but surprising, unless you pick a poisonous kind of vine. Don't do that! That'd be so rude...
No, I never did that!!!! I swear!
Ahem!
This isn't a huge spell. It probably won't save the day, but it's fun and silly and I had a feeling you'd get a kick out of it.

Umbra rubbed her snout against the curled scroll. "I will enjoy studying you..." She owed Starlight a spell in kind. fair was fair.

I'll keep an eye out for the scroll you send back to me.

Umbra frowned at the scroll. "Stop reading my mind, you witch of a pony." She was smiling despite that. Starlight's future seeing and keen observation didn't bother her too much. She set the spell scroll on a shelf for later enjoyment with a small tink of its metal sides against the crystal of the shelf.

Oh, important thing, but those vines aren't forever. Pony manes are surprisingly resistant to permanent tampering. Of all the bodyparts, right? I hear Cadance is coming by my way. Should I pass anything to her for you? Let me know! I'd rather you were there to say hi to, but we can at least have that much.

"Aw." Umbra giggled at the friendly words that built warmth in her chest. It was good to have such close ponies, even if they were half a world away.

She set that scroll on a different shelf, where she kept all the lovely letters she had received and wanted to keep a hoof on. "Hmmm..." To write back to Starlight... or look at that spell scroll... Options... Both needed to be done, without argument, but which to do first...?

"Ma'am." Umbra looked up at Purple who had been perfectly quiet and still. "Are you constructing today, ma'am?"

Oh, right! She still had that chore. A nice bevy of house shells to be finished up by the fine guild she had worked with before to help house the visitors who came for the Equestrian Games. "Right. Right... Okay, reply, work, then fun." The order firmly decided, Umbra floated over a quill and started the reply letter.

Salutations,
Starlight! Your letter put a big smile on my face. I haven't read your spell scroll yet. I will! But not yet. They have me slapping together some houses for visiting ponies for those games you were talking about. Seems like all either of us are thinking about lately. Speaking of that, are you going to visit? You can watch the games, and we can catch up. Win win! I'm sure Twilight's coming, and if she's coming, she'll probably drag friends with her.
She can't help it. Just be one of those friends and you probably won't even have to pay for the trip. Triple win! Speaking of that, how long does it take to get here, from where you are? A few hours? A few days? I really don't know. Also, about the manes, weird. We're magical creatures, but our manes are where we draw the line? Who decided that?

Umbra snickered, imagining some great overgod penciling in an actual line. "Though Shalt Not Pass," they would declare in a booming voice for all the cosmos to hear, and so it was.

Oh! Me and Shifting, you remember her, right? First, she's a changeling. Second, she's still an adorable bat pony. Third, we're going steady. And if you give me one word about two mares... That might be unfair. I don't know, do you care about that? Maybe you're a rebel! Maybe you actually prefer that. What do I know? Not much when it comes to that. I want to know you better though, so tell me!
Work, then studying!
Queen Umbra(Not actually a queen!)

Umbra folded up the return letter and with a big stamp, sealed it shut with her own personal seal. It was hard to replicate that specific shape of the horseshoe of crystals growing out of the paper. Good luck copying that! Closed, she flipped it over and jotted down who to deliver it to. "Purple?" Her maid looked up. "Could you drop this off at the post office?"

"Right away, ma'am." Purple hurried over to snap up the letter in her lips and dash to the door. "I will return promptly." And she was gone, off on the task.

It was nice having help... "I should get to it." Umbra hopped to the ground and strode off on her own mission. Those houses wouldn't build themselves!

"Another done." The pony clapped their hooves together as if dusting them off. "Thanks for the help!" Others chimed up in a chorus as they emerged from the last house of the day. With the guild declaring it done, the workday was officially over. "We'll have this done in about a week at this rate. I couldn't even imagine this a year or two ago."

A mare snickered at the stallion. "Things change. A year or two ago and there was no Crystal Empire here! Imagine how confused the animals must be if you're feeling a little off balance."

"Wow." The stallion shook his head free of those big thoughts. "Well, we did it! Um, Umbra, you alright? You look distracted."

"Hm? Oh! A friend sent me something." Umbra's horn glowed with the promise of dark magic. "It involves magic! A curse, most terrible."

The stallion recoiled at that. "You're joking, um, right?"

"Only a little." Umbra ran a hoof through her own mane. "It messes with a pony's mane, so that's like a curse, right?"

Their features went through emotions as they imagined what sort of horrible mane curse it could be. The mare swallowed audibly. "You wouldn't use it on us, right? We've worked together!"

Umbra scoffed as she turned way, turning into a dark chortle. "I would only use it on the enemies of the empire... or a friend I wanted to play a prank on." Still, the work was done! She spread her wings wide. "See you tomorrow!" She launched back towards the palace to get to studying that mane spell.

The stallion inclined his head at the retreating form of Umbra. "She's a little scary at times."

"She's a little scary all the time." The mare was smiling despite that. "But she's our scary shadow wizard. Alright, ponies, get your tools and let's head home!" A loud cry of celebration rose up as the guild got into motion.

"Umbra!" There was Shining Armor, standing in her way of getting back to her room. "Good to see you. I was hoping we could ask you to foalsit for us?"

Umbra's brows came together in a heavy frown. She had just finished her work! "Today?"

"Oh, not today. It's not an emergency or anything." He remained quite in her way. "We were hoping to set a date, um, for a date... I want to take Cadance away, to relax. Just an evening of no drama."

"Aw." Umbra could appreciate Shining doing his best to be a good hubby. "That's nice of you. When do you have in mind then, and for how long?"

"I was thinking in a week or two?" He gestured to the right. "But I wanted your permission before I went and set anything in stone, or crystal as the case may be. Should just be a few hours... five at the most? You alright watching Flurry that long?"

"I can do that!" It was only after she had already said it that she realized she had said it a bit quickly. Dang it, she liked her god-child, and caring for her. "A few hours with Flurry Heart doesn't sound too unreasonable... Say, you have a crystallier now, so is this his job?"

"Hm? He's in the pool of ponies we'd ask." Shining nodded slowly. "But only a member. You rate a little higher, being able to feed her without any trouble."

Umbra colored quickly. She was Flurry's wet nurse. She hadn't asked for that assignment, but it was hers. Being able to make milk bottles was a trick only mother mares had, usually. "Just to be nosy, but let's pretend a moment I'm not here, poof!" Shadow burst from her, hiding her form for a moment. "How would Sunburst handle it? He's not equipped for bottle making."

"Oh." It was a reminder. "You don't know pony things... Easy to forget... We'd have to leave him with a supply to give to Flurry Heart. We'd probably put some in an ice box for him to heat up when he needed it."

Umbra scowled at the idea. "Yuck, then you have cooled, then warmed up milk at best. Better if it's nice and fresh." And the right temperature right from the start! "I'm on the case. Just tell me when that is. Hopefully after we're done with the houses, because if I have to spend a day building and then come home to foalsitting, that's not fair. Speaking of that! My day is over, and I have terrible spells to study." She had one terrible spell to study, but she felt no urge to be that specific. "Lemme know!" She scooted around Shining to get to her room.

Shining caught her on the way past. "Nothing I need to be worried about, right?"

"Yes, daddy law keeper." Umbra stole a peck from his cheek. There were perks to being in a romantic relationship with him, even if they only did things once in a rare while. "Starlight just sent me a wicked little spell that looks suited for very silly pranks. I won't hurt anyone that doesn't deserve what's coming."

Shining let her escape then. "Hm." He shook his head and advanced in his own direction. There were things to get done!

"Mind if I test this on you?" Even as she asked, she realized. "You're going to let me, and that isn't fair..." Umbra sat up on her bed. "Let me put it out there, if it works, your mane will become vines for a little while. Nothing painful or anything, just maybe a bit odd until it wears off. You are allowed, and encouraged, to say no if you'd rather I didn't."

"You are a wizard." Purple shook out her shining pelt. "If I can help you practice your magic, then I am ready to do so. You said it doesn't hurt, and it will wear off, so why wouldn't I?"

Umbra couldn't be sure how much of that was hero worship or loyalty to a job well done, but she decided to accept it. "If it does hurt in any way, you tell me, right away. Don't be brave." Her horn glowed with dark magic, even if the spell wasn't shadowy. She was a shadow wizard. Everything she touched got that. Purple's mane thickened then exploded into a vine of dangerous looking shadow tendrils that grasped about, searching for something.

Purple squeaked in surprise, trying to scramble away from them, but they were attached to her. "It... worked ma'am?!"

"You want them to go away," noted Umbra flatly, that much seeming obvious. "I didn't mean for it to be so scary looking." She willed the vines away, returning Purple's usual mane. "Practice is required... Thank you for helping!"

71 - Mane Attraction

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It had occurred to her later in the day. She didn't need to ask any pony to submit to her whims. She had a mane! It was a very nice mane. She ran her hoof back through her soft locks. "A very nice mane." All black and flowing... Very nice, she decided, and she could use it for practice as surely as any other pony's mane.

"Oh!" An idea leaped to her and she began scrolling through the, uh, scroll. "Yeah, there..." She was fairly part those letters comprised the 'nature' of the vines she was making. She could... But she shouldn't... She never tweaked a spell like that... But it was her own mane that'd pay the price, not someone else, so...

Umbra grabbed another paper with a glowing horn and got to copying the spell, soon making a second copy with a few minor differences. She slipped in shadowy sigils in the place of 'normal' magic, chuckling darkly as she did it, her sharp teeth on display. "If this works..."

Would the spell even work? According to Starlight, it could be that easy to crudely hack a spell. She was a pro at it! She could kitbash two spells together or warp one into one that barely looked like itself. It was a talent, and one Umbra did not share, but maybe throwing shadow at a spell wasn't past her? She lifted the modified spell up. "Let's try you, on this." She ran a hoof slowly along her mane. "I should take more time to appreciate you." She had nice hair! Er, a mane. Whatever! It was nice.

Hopefully that would continue to be the case.

She cast her spell, shadow leaking from her eyes and horn as she wove arcane runes of shadow together with an excited thrill. It was always... something else when she worked actual shadow magic. She was a shadow wizard. Shadows were her specialty. That made sense, she figured, refocusing on the work she was doing. It was her first time casting that changed spell, so she was taking it nice and slow.

Someone tapped her shoulder. "Eee!" Umbra wheeled around to find a wall. "What?" Something tapped her again. She looked over her shoulder to see a dark tendril of her mane shrinking back as if bashfully hiding. "I see you!" The hair nubbin shook itself as if to say 'oh no you didn't.' "Oh yes I did." She reached for the rebellious lock and nuzzled it. "It worked!"

"Ma'am?" Purple was watching her with apparent confusion. "What worked?"

"This!" She spread her hooves as her mane spread on its own, reaching around the room. With the secret blown, it began to explore and poke at things, wrapped in its veil of shadow. Umbra couldn't feel what it was doing, not directly. When it tugged on her head, that was certainly noticeable, but she could only watch her hair 'sniff' around and explore things with a mind of its own. "Shadow mane! I... think it's alive, kinda... I'm not telling it to do that."

Purple stood stoically still, even as a few strands wafted over her. "Not to question you, ma'am, but what use do you see this being?"

"Well, for one..." Umbra waved back at her new scroll. "It's the first time I modified a spell, and I didn't die, so that's a big plus right there!" She grinned at Purple with sharp teeth on display. "Coulda been way worse."

Purple blinked softly. "We wouldn't want you to be hurt, ma'am. Are you being safe? I could look for another magician to work with you, ma'am."

There were no other magic users about that Umbra had run into... "I'm not calling for some unicorn to schlep up here from Equestria proper just to watch me geek out. No..." She held out a hoof, and they soon wrapped her hoof tightly in her mane. "Hey there... I'll give you some extra shampooing love, just be good for me, alright?"

A glance up revealed her horn was still glowing dimly, holding the spell up. She could cut it off, likely robbing the hair of drive. It wouldn't turn back though... That took a specific other spell she knew. "Hm..." What would happen? Would it go wild and feral like it had been on Purple's head? Her mane was being curious, but not wild. "Hm! Perhaps... it's time for a new jewel." She reached up for her tiara, feeling over it. She had left spots where a jewel could be slotted without making it look odd. She was pretty sure she'd want to expand on it in time. "A nice jewel of shadow mane... Yes... Shadows...." She licked over her lips with a feral satisfaction. "That would be lovely."

Purple cleared her throat softly. "Ma'am, does that mean you desire the company of Shifting Prism?"

"Hm? Oh!" Umbra abandoned her tiara. "Great idea! She's perfect when it comes to picking out these kinds of jewels."

"I will retrieve her, ma'am." And away Purple went, closing the door behind her.

Umbra rubbed her hooves together, only to pause. Around her, several bunches of hair were rubbing against one another in an identical motion. "Are you copying me?" The mane pointed towards itself as if asking 'who, me?' "Yes you!" Umbra chuckled with growing amusement. "I like you, so silly."

She copied her new spell just to wrap it up nice and tight and shove it in a tube. "Starlight will be proud of me. Baby's first magical tinkering." She addressed it with Starlight's face and cutie mark and set it aside for later mailing.

A knocking made her look up. "Hm?"

"It's me." It was Cadance. "Might I come in?"

"Sure!" Umbra grabbed the door in her magic, pulling it free smoothly.

"I just wanted to..." She trailed off, eyes locked on the waving and exploring hair that filled the room. "Is this a bad time?"

"Cadance, meet Umbra-Locks! Umbra-Locks, say hello to the nice pony there." As if listening to her, they came in from all angles, briefly hugging her horn and her neck and her barrel, each time quick, squeezing and exploring the alicorn eagerly. "Isn't it great?!"

"Very... nice..." That she had other thoughts was not well hidden. "Why is your mane doing that? I feel certain I didn't read a story about Sombra's mane doing that."

"Sombra was pretty focused on the whole 'take over the world' thing." Umbra rolled her eyes. "So he didn't do fun things." She reached a hoof out to a hovering lock, petting it gently. "Like a mane with a mind of its own. It's actually shadow-mane. So I guess it had my secret desires."

Cadance colored, but inclined her head slowly. "If it has your secret desires, why is it not... doing anything particularly secret? So far it's been more of a curious dog than anything that might have a secret at all."

Umbra looked left and right, watching her mane play with jars, working them open and closed. They poked and tugged gently at Cadance's mane as if inviting them to play. They pulled open drawers and 'peeked' inside despite having no eyes. It was...

"Oh... Oh no!" Umba began to laugh at herself. "My 'secret' side is my inner child, just soaking in the wonders of the world. Isn't that right?" She made a kissy face at her exploring mane. "You just wanna look around and have fun! If Cadance would play with you, that'd make you so happy, wouldn't it?"

A lock bobbed its 'head' at Umbra. "I had a feeling." She touched her nose to the mane. "Well, up for it?"

Cadance began to smile, some of that mirth rubbing off on her. "That sounds delightful, but isn't what I came for."

"What did you come for?" Umbra sat up straight and her mane went straight behind her, slicked back as if it was always that way.

Cadance recoiled with surprise at the mane so suddenly pulling back to where a mane should be. "Oh, well... To start, I wanted to say thank you. Shining mentioned you'd be watching Flurry for us and I appreciate that so very much. I just couldn't live with myself if I didn't come thank you for that personally."

She took a step forward. "Also... it's not fair that we get a day off having fun and you don't. So after that, we owe you one. You name the time, and we'll cover your duties. That's a fair trade, I hope?"

"How would that work?" Umbra hiked a brow as several locks imitated the gesture as if they were brows. "You're a princess, Cadance. You're busy basically always. Not a mark against you, really, but it is fact."

"Being princess has its privileges... For instance, I know another shadow wizard who would not object to a request for a lent hoof while you relax."

Umbra blinked softly. There was only one shadow wizard she knew of! "Who?!"

"You know her. One Starlight Glimmer. She could take over for a day and let you do as you please."

Umbra squealed softly, hooves shaking in the air as her mane copied the motion. "If she visited, she wouldn't be able to do that, as I'd spend the day with her! Oh, you're visiting Ponyville, right?" She willed the scroll tube into the air and thrust it at Cadance. "Take this with you, please. Give it to Starlight, with my love."

Cadance wrapped a wing around it, holding it close. "I will do just that, and while I'm there, I'll ask about visiting. That sounds like it'd be fun either way, and you deserve it." With that settled, Cadance left. "Excuse me." She went around some other ponies there.

With a squeak, a familiar bat pony rushed into the room. "You needed me?" Purple advanced to silently take her place, ready to leap into action at a request. "She was saying something about a jewel, but she didn't have the specifics. Hit me."

"This day is getting better and better." But her mane was moving on its own, wrapping around a startled Shifting from all angles and squeezing gently. "That's my mane, by the way. Harmless, but very affectionate, curious, and playful. It's all the stuff I usually keep bottled up, unleashed! Behold, my shadow mane."

The mane formed many bulbs of folded hair to 'nod' at Shifting. They were the shadow mane, a title it seemed... proud of?

Shifting giggled, but couldn't move much. More and more hair was ensnaring her. "Is it this friendly with everypony else?"

"No..." Umbra tried to shoo her hair away with limited success. "Hm, maybe it knows we're a thing, and since you're dating me, that means the hair gets to be all personal too."

"I don't..." Shifting considered a moment as her cheeks went red. "If it's you, I don't mind too much..."

"Oh!" Umbra stumbled, tripping right over that kink she happened on. "Um... The hair is not really under my control right now. It has its own brain and that brain is saying, 'yay, let's play! Ooo, look at this funny bat-shaped thing. It looks fun! Hug!'"

Shifting giggled as she tried to wriggle, doing so in the air. The mane had her firmly in its grasp. "It sure is... friendly. Oh, so what jewel did you want?"

"It's related!" Umbra pointed up to her still glowing horn. "I think what makes up the 'mind' of this lovely hair is right now up there. I want to seal that in a jewel where it can keep on living even if I'm, say, asleep or something. And so I keep the same personality. I don't need it to be really angry the next time I cast the spell."

"That would be bad!" Shifting was getting tendrils of hair around her neck. "Very bad... Alright. I can help with that. Now, please, good hair, put me down so I can help."

72 - Mane and Tail care

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With Shifting's help, a bright red ruby was selected. Set off center on her tiara that already had a few other gems on it, she nodded. "Alright, now to put you--" She pointed at her wafting mane. "--in here." She pointed up at her tiara even as she drew it off in her hooves and set it in font of herself. "I'll make you proud."

"Me?" Shifting burst into fresh giggles. "How are you making me prouder than I already am?"

"You showed me how to enchant things, remember?" She ran her hoof slowly over the gem. "So I'll get to show you how well it stuck, in action. Notice me, senpai."

Shifting blinked slowly. "What is a senpai? Is it me? Did I get a new name?" She pointed at herself. "I like the name I already have, but if it's a nickname, that's kinda cute. What's it mean?"

It was quite clear that Japanese loan words didn't always work in ponyland. Umbra flashed a sharp grin. "It's a word from far away. It means 'person who is above me in station', often used for teachers, seniors in the same organization, and suchlike. I was joking. Still, I want you to be proud of me, so ready to see me work?" She had her hooves on either side of the set gem. "I'm ready."

"I'm ready to watch." Shifting flopped to her belly in front of the gem, eyes locked on it. "Do your stuff!"

And thus she did. It always felt like a shame, forcing a hole into the crystal, but her magic had to get in there somehow. Every adjustment to a crystal reduced its purity somewhat. They were born perfect, but then thinking people had to come along and insist they could be better. Umbra was just another of those ignorant thinkers, in that moment, changing what was already perfect and thinking they could do better.

An entry created, Umbra funneled the magic she had been holding steady from her horn and into it. Her hair fell limply around her, the spell released into the crystal and not active anymore. "Sorry about that, we'll fix this." She waved a hoof over the break in the gem, undoing it. Even 'fixing' the gem degraded it. Any change in its shape or structure did that. There was no way around it that she was aware of, but she did it as smoothly as she could do in one motion. Two motions would mean more friction and loss. "And... there..."

She felt drained, a part of her magic sealed up in that jar, given up to empower the gem. "And my mane is locked up in here."

"Very nice." Shifting clapped eagerly. "You did that nice and fast. How do you feel?"

"Tired?"

"That makes sense." She bounced to her hooves. "You can't enchant things and not get tired. You want it to last forever, so... you have to give up something equal."

Umbra raised a brow. "Am I shortening my life each time I do that?"

"Oh." Shifting crashed back on her haunches. "I never thought of it that way..."

"That isn't a 'no, that's silly!'." Umbra peered at her ensorcelled tiara in a new light, perhaps the holder of her years. "Well... at least alicorns usually have more years to give up..."

Shifting gulped loudly. "I hope not! I've enchanted things before..."

"Well, stop that." Umbra booped Shifting's nose gently. "I want you around as long as possible so we can do things together and have fun."

Shifting smiled around the hoof on her face. "I'd like that. I'll leave the enchanting to you, but I'd rather you didn't... do it unless it was important. There's a reason why we only have so many magic items around if they were that easy to make."

Umbra willed the tiara back onto her head. "So why did you let me do it now?"

"You looked really excited?" Shifting flapped her bat-like wings. "You wanted to show it to me, and I didn't think of a good way of sayin don't... You did a good job though! I think... Cast the spell!"

"Ah, right." Umbra focused her magic on her tiara and the new gem placed within it. "Come to life, Umbralocks!" A clump of hair poked at her. "Don't like that? Shadow mane?" It looped to be able to 'nod' at her. "Shadow mane it is. Welcome back. That didn't hurt, did it?" Her mane shook its 'head' at her. "Good, phew. I was worried a moment... More like a little nap then?" It nodded. "Great! So, when we have to, you can go to sleep a hot moment, without being hurt. Way better. Now I can go to sleep without killing you, so that's a plus."

Shifting waved a hoof excitedly. "Let me try!" Without much resistance, she claimed Umbra's tiara for herself. Umbra's mane went limp, separated from the tiara that was its will. "Now, I don't have a horn..." At the moment, but she left that off. "So..." She put the tiara level with her mouth and squealed into it in a loud bat screech. Her magic given, the entire thing shook and vibrated before starting to glow. She hurriedly plopped it on her head. "And..."

Her mane began to perk up as if sleepily rousing herself. Its tendrils spread and 'looked' around despite having no eyes until it spotted itself and recoiled in surprise. Shifting's mane was not Umbra's mane, and the will within the mane apparently noticed its change of hair. "Don't be upset, it's just me." The mane wrapped around Shifting's snout, feeling over her in broad strokes. "Yep, it's me. You're my mane right now. Don't be upset... It's alright. She's right over there." Shifting pointed the way back to the shadow wizard that created the Shadow Mane.

"Let's call it Shadow," decided Umbra out loud. "Poor thing need a name. Hello, Shadow. You feel alright?" Shadow reached for Umbra, as interested in poking through her soft and lifeless mane as it was in grabbing her head and snout. "Just as curious as ever, I see... Yep, that's you."

"This is so weird!" Shifting was watching Shadow look and explore. "I can feel it, kind of."

"I know that feeling." Umbra took gentle hold of a lock, petting it soothingly. "You can feel where it pulls on you, but not what it touches. It's all very indirect."

"Indirect." Shifting nodded firmly. "That's the word I was hunting for. Well, it's not bad. Nice to wear you, Shadow. You know, with this, you don't have to be attached to Umbra." And Shadow hugged Umbra all the more tightly. "Hey, if you like it, good. Just saying, choices! Choices are good. If you like her so much, wanna go back?" Shadow casually snatched the tiara right off Shifting's head.

Which meant the tiara clattered to the ground and Shifting's mane went limp. "That was a bad idea." Shifting gathered up the tiara and offered it in her hooves towards Umbra. "They made their vote."

"Poor Shadow..." Umbra willed the tiara into its proper place and called on the bright red ruby, her mane springing back to life. "There you are. Silly thing, you turned yourself off. You shouldn't touch the tiara in most situations, unless you want to take a nap."

A few wispy strands looped about the tiara, holding it down as if it could come loose again. "It hasn't fallen off accidentally so far. I think you're safe." Umbra stood up, shaking herself out along the way. "Now... With that emergency out of the way, and a new little wonderful life joining us, I had meant to ask something."

"Yeah?" Shifting danced back a step. "I'm listening."

"So, we're a thing." Umbra waved between herself and Shifting prism. "And considering the next step, right?"

"Right?" Shifting turned an ear. "Did you decide? Share."

"No, more questions. Kids!"

"Foals?"

"Those." Umbra nodded at the correction. "Now, for normal, two ladies getting together, well, they adopt or one of them gets a child with another stallion. But we're not normal, are we?"

Purple inclined her head. "You are very much not normal, ma'am, in a good way."

Shifting nodded at the previously silent maid. "In the best ways. What about it though?"

"Well!" Umbra frowned. "Well... This is awkward... But let's just jump right in."

"Adulting!" cried Shifting. "Lay it on me. If I don't like it, I'll let you know."

"All I can ask." Umbra sat back, mane wandering aimlessly without grabbing anything. "You are female identifying, but functionally hermaphroditic. You could put a child in me if I let you and we wanted a foal, and you were comfortable doing that, which I am not assuming, since you are female identifying. I would have turned colors if anyone had asked me to put a baby anywhere, even back when...I theoretically could... So this is not a suggestion, or a request. This is just me laying out possibilities, which you are welcome to say 'Hell no.' to and I won't be mad, at all, even a little." She held up her hooves close together. "Just something for us to look at and make up our minds about."

Purple Polish averted her gaze with a coloring, but was silent, as befit a maid.

Shifting was less shy about it, even if she colored just as well. "Wow, you really just slapped that right down... Yay adulting." She wasn't cheering that time, instead looking thoughtful. "To start... I'm a changeling."

"Noticed that." Umbra sat up. "Hard to miss at this point. Why?"

"So you're asking... Are you alright having a changeling foal? They... are not pony foals... at all..." She frowned with thought. "Do you know how bugs generally work? I'm a bug! A big smart bug that you like now... but still a bug."

"Yeah... I'm following you, I think? You're a bug. With cute cheeks." Umbra grabbed Shifting by the cheeks, squeezing with a happy giggle. "So?"

Shifting smiled awkwardly. "Because I picked this form. As grubs, we don't get to do that. We're just grubs... You ever see a grub?" Umbra shook her head. "Wow, never? Alright... so I have to show you what a grub is... Either way, wriggly and helpless and kinda slippery..." She pantomimed with her hooves as best she could. "And will look nothing like you, or me. Until they molt into at least larvae, they won't look like anything you're used to, and no shapeshifting into cuter shapes."

"I've seen you in your natural form." Umbra shrugged at the memory. "You were a bug. A cute bug. No complaints. What's wrong with that?"

"Nothing's wrong with that..." Shifting awkwardly shuffled in place. "But grubs are not that... Let me find you some." She snapped out her leathery wings. "Won't be changeling bugs, but even other insect grubs will give you an idea." She took off through the window, pausing only to open it properly, and was gone.

Purple Polish cleared her throat softly. "Ma'am? If I may?"

"You may? What's on your mind?"

"I've seen grubs before, ma'am." Purple did not look very enthusiastic at that recollection. "A mass of wriggling... things... Ma'am... you are very kind to think of your special somecreature, but the idea of... being a mother to grubs... It is your choice, ma'am..." Caught between being polite and expressing her disgust was a delicate balancing act. "I will serve you obediently either way, ma'am, but I cannot foalsit what aren't foals, or at least somewhat like a foal, at the minimum, ma'am."

Were grubs really that awful? Just smaller bugs. Small bugs sounded cute in her mind's eyes. "It wouldn't be all that bad... But putting that aside, you are here because you want to be, doing me favors that I'm sure not paying for. If you don't want to do something, that's it. I'll figure out how to do it on my own."

73 - Quality Grub

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"Here!" Shifting landed on the windowsill, opening her hooves to reveal a wriggling mass that partially dropped onto Umbra's bed, and her. She squeaked in surprise, falling off the bed and swatting at herself wildly a moment before she could even grasp what was going on. "Sorry..."

"Don't just... drop things on people to say hi." Umbra regarded the grubs that were scattered on her bed. "And these are... grubs." She leaned in at them. "They aren't that... small, are they?"

"Changeling grubs? No. Well, to start, first eggs!" Shifting pantomimed the egg shape. "About this big."

"That's about... infant sized... Alright, that part's normal..."

Shifting peered at Umbra doubtfully. "Can ponies even lay eggs?"

"One way to find out." She did not seem dissuaded. "But a few questions. Let's start with what grubs are these? Pretty sure they don't belong on my bed..."

"Should I clean them, ma'am?" Purple Polish hadn't left, but also wasn't moving. It was up to Umbra if she acted.

Shifting casually released what she held outside to rain to the ground. "Sorry... Um, pretty sure those... I don't know... Do you know any baby mammal that you see?"

"Actually... a lot of them..." Umbra never thought about that before, striking. "Huh... Must be an education thing... But a baby kitten and a newborn puppy would be easy to spot! A little newborn horse--" She paused there, realizing that could be an odd thing to bring up. "Most little baby mammals are easy to spot, to me."

Shifting sat on her haunches on the sill she hadn't left. "You went to a school, like Equestria High?"

"Yep!"

"And they taught you to identify baby animals? That's a curious skill." She hopped down, bouncing off the bed on the way to the ground. "Does it come up a lot?"

"Well... Oh. Purple, yes, please. Try not to hurt them though. Not like they asked to be used as an example here."

"Of course, ma'am." Purple advanced in the wrong direction, returning with a a large glass jar she began collecting the little grubs into. "I'll take them back outside."

"Thank you, but, back to the topic at hand, er hoof." She waggled one of those hooves at Shifting. "I will be laying an egg, if anything. A nice smooth egg that we'll get to take care of until, pop, a grub, larger than what you brought me. But this is... outside the point. None of that matters if you don't want to."

"Do you?" Shifting flicked her tail in a sudden agitated swish. "I appreciate you asking me, but what's your opinion? You'd be the mother, so your opinion counts, a lot actually. Like if you don't want it, then we're done."

"An egg sounds a lot easier than the alternative." Visions of birth in media haunted Umbra in a shuddering moment. It was rarely depicted in a kind way. "But that's not what you're asking."

"Nope! Related, but no." Shifting booped Umbra, setting a hoof on her nose. "Do you want to start a family like that? Do you want a child? We aren't even married yet!" She clopped her hooves to her colored cheeks. "And already you're asking about that?"

Umbra huffed softly. "If we were in disagreement on this, it could be a real drag on how things play out. Like if one of us wanted a natural birth and the other didn't want to be involved in that at all... That would be awkward, and kind of awful to find out after marrying. Adoption's also a thing, as is not having one at all."

Which brought a question to Umbra. "Purple, are there foals in need of adoption around here?" Humans, they needed adopting.

"I don't know, ma'am." She put a lid on her collecting jar. "Princess Cadance would, however. I recommend asking her. I'll be right back, without these, and to clean the space." She walked from the room with purpose, but no hurry.

Shifting worried her hooves a moment. "I'm overthinking this... But I do want your opinion."

"Right right... This may come off as silly." Umbra formed a curved shape with her body, not coiling on herself, but far from straight, more an S shape with her spine from side to side. "Before... I was trapped in a male body. The idea of being mother was a fantasy, a distant one, impossible... Now, here it is, in front of me. I have a potential partner, and a body that can do it... and I won't lie, a big part of me is giggling like a fool, wanting to... just do it... but that isn't all mature, and I know that."

What she did not expect was to be tackled suddenly and hugged fiercely. Shifting grasped at her, hooves pressing and pulling frantically, as if Umbra might slip away at any moment. "I'm so sorry."

"Why are you sorry?" Umbra slipped away, though only a foot. She became a shadow to do it, reforming that short distance away. "You didn't do anything."

"I... know... what that's like, to want something so bad, but it feels like it's so far away..." Shifting shuffled in place. "When I was in the hive, that was being happy, or even surviving. I wasn't... I thought I couldn't do either... When I got away, I was... I was so happy." She suddenly smiled with a little squeak. "I still can't stop smiling like an idiot. Here I am, alive, and happy... Surrounded by creatures that like me... even with the truth out! I can be... me... It's... I get it!"

"Which is why we're having this chat." Umbra sat back slowly. "Because if you're not feeling it, we're done. This is not a make or break for me. You are. I'd rather skip it if it meant my favorite little crystal bat that is also a changeling got upset."

Shifting came in close, touching her nose to Umbra's cheek. "It scares me... But a lot of things we've done scare me, and we made it... With you... I'm pretty sure we can figure it out, like adults."

"Like adults!" cried Umbra, the two sharing a loud high-hoof together. "We'll talk about our problems, reasonably and honestly."

"We'll come to understandings with patience and listening." Shifting nodded, the giggling getting worse. "Adulting is awesome. Why did they keep telling the young people that it sucks?"

"Well! To be fair, it also comes with responsibilities and counting your bits and all that."

"Pfft!" Shifting waved that away. "A small price for this super power we share. Besides, we like our job."

Actually... "I think most ponies like their job. It's a pony thing. Welcome to the herd!"

"I did not agree to a herd." Shifting raised a brow at Umbra. "I'm a shapeshifter. Aren't I enough all on my own?"

"Um... true... I didn't mean it that way. I more meant the herd of all the ponies." She waved a hoof broadly. "That herd, the big one."

"Oh! Okay." The momentary concern was released with a return of her smile. "Now, about little ones... If you want it, and you're ready for that... I'll get ready. I'll be scared and confused... But you'll be there, right?"

"As if I won't be both of those things sometimes?" She snorted, a bit of shadow magic escaping her lips. "We'll be confused, together. At least Cadance is marching ahead of us, so we can pester her with questions, and we'll adult through this mess!"

"Adulting!" Shifting scooted out of the way as Purple came through to clean the bed. "Sorry about that..."

"Please try not to leave a mess where it will bother her." Purple dutifully set to repairing the mess left on Umbra's bed.

Umbra didn't look so upset. "Well, that's settled, mostly. You skipped a part, a big part." She spread her hooves wide. "Huge part really... Is this something you even physically want to do?"

"Huh?" Shifting looked confused a moment, but it dawned. "Oh. I'm... I'm not against that... I just didn't have somepony to do that with, so that's new..." She coughed, colored darkly at the thought. "I'm more surprised you don't mind that... from me... Most people don't want to think about their mare of a friend climbing on top of them like that."

Umbra howled in blushing laughter. "You're a shapeshifter, we just went over that. Even not-queens could, in theory, be whatever gender they felt like, couldn't they?"

"Well... technically... Most changelings have a favorite, and mostly stick to that, unless they gotta for spying." She started as something brushed her snout. Umbra's mane decided it needed to be part of things. "Hello there. I don't think hair has a strong opinion on foals."

Umbra gently brushed her mane aside. "We're having adult conversations, and you are specifically my not-adult side, so relax. We'll play later." She moved in past her tamed mane. "Chrysalis is a lady, right?"

"It's complicated." Shifting rubbed at her cheek. "But in the end, what she is, yes. She likes being a queen, and she is a queen. She also lays, like, most of the eggs, so... female, that's her. You call her 'King Chrysalis' and you will get bitten. I don't suggest a friendly chat with her at any time, misgendering her or not."

"Well, I don't want to do that." Umbra looked back to her bed, cleaned and straightened. "Good job. Sorry we made that for you to clean in the first place."

"No trouble at all, ma'am." Purple pointed to the door. "You two seem engrossed in... private matters. Would you prefer I wait outside until called?"

"That's an option?!" Of course it was. It was just one that hadn't occurred to Umbra. "I mean, um... Yes, please. No offense, but this is kinda private stuff."

Purple made herself scarce without another word, the door clicking shut behind her. Shifting nodded at the closed door. "She's good at her job. Alright, so... we're clear. I'm a lady." She pointed at herself. "But I have no problem with the idea of being a guy long enough to give my favorite other lady the child, or children, she is dreaming of. Um... Relatedly... changelings and ponies..." She brought her hooves together. "They could end up being not changelings or ponies. Are you... alright with that?"

Umbra pondered that option. "Huh... changeling ponies? That could be... interesting, and maybe horrifying, or just amazing. We'll find out." She put a hoof under her chin, glaring with deadly intent. "But if we made them, they're our responsibility. They didn't ask us to go do that. I will shower them in care whatever they end up being, because I refuse to be that kind of parent!"

"I'm sorry."

Umbra blinked at that soft phrase. "What are you sorry for?"

"You had a bad parent... Been there... Not fun." Shifting did her best to push the concept back literally. "Let's not be those. But we won't smother them either. Those can be bad too!"

"Oh, wow, yes... Helicopter parents."

"What?"

Another human term, lost on a random pony, or changeling. "They hover over their children, ready to pounce on any perceived trouble." Umbra hopped forward in a demonstration. "The worst of them can be almost as bad as the ones not paying attention. Let's try to find a happy middle ground, where our spawn can discover themselves, but always feel like they have a nice safe nest waiting for them, where they will be safe and loved, and can retreat to when life gets rough."

Shifting sighed gently. "That sounds wonderful... You... seem ready for this. More ready than me, that's for sure! Have you been a parent before? Besides a wet nurse, know you're doing that."

"Sort of? I've played parent to friends I met that really needed one... Where I came from, in the situation I was in, found families were big... Your family sucks? Get a new mom! Get a new dad! I did that a few times, for other people, being the mom to hold them and tell them it'll be alright..."

74 - Equestria Games

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It was the day! It was time for that great structure she built to be fully used. It was also time for security, to her surprise. "Ma'am." A crystal guard stood stoically in her way. "To prevent cheating."

"As if I ever would," she hissed out. "I built this! Are you implying The Great and honorable Umbra would stoop so low as to cheat?"

The guard looked around with building anxiety. "The other princesses are submitting to it in a show of solidarity, ma'am. To set a good example."

"So all the princesses are together." The guard nodded. "In one place." He nodded. "And none of them have magic." He kept right on nodding. "And you see no problem with this?" Umbra scowled with a skill only a shadow wizard could have. "I will keep mine to ward off any attacks by those foolish enough to think this is a moment of weakness. If they are heartless enough to attack when we are having our games, they will regret it for what little time they have left." She struck the ground with a firm clop. "Now, good day." She melted into shadow and flowed up along the wall and over the magic deactivator without ever going through it properly.

She sprang back up into physicality next to Twilight, to her surprised yelp. "Hey!"

"Hey yourself." Twilight calmed herself with a little sigh. "You can come out of anywhere."

Celestia seemed less pleased. "Umbra... Why does your horn lack its glow?"

Umbra peeked up at Celestia's horn, then Twilight's. They both had a new glow that wasn't their magic. "I did not consent to having my magic sealed away, which is likely the issue."

Celestia raised a brow. "It is tradition that all unicorns, including princesses, have their magic sealed away for the duration of the games."

"It's tradition that I not be here," Umbra scoffed softly. "And yet, here I am. I'm on guard duty. If something happens, I'll be ready to act. I won't be interfering with the games, promise, other than protecting them." She tapped at the side of her head. "Bonus, it's really easy to see when I'm doing magic. Shadowy wafting? Magic. For all my magic can be subtle, that isn't one of them."

Cadance shook her head. "You waft when you get emotionally invested, which you may if you get enthralled in the games. It's not a very good indicator. Still, I do trust you. You've been, at large, a responsible pony. If she wants to guard us, let her."

Luna snuffed softly at the air. "We don't want to make it seem like princesses are above the laws we set."

Cadance sat up a bit taller. "And we aren't. She's not getting an exception as a princess. She's getting one as a hero of the ponies of the empire. None of them will find it odd that she, of anyone, is ready to act."

Umbra flashed a feral grin, tail wagging behind her. "Darn right! I'll protect these ponies, and you all, if need be. Now, what kind of games should I look forward to happening? I've only seen these kinds of games an entire world away, and I doubt they're the same."

Twilight set a hoof on Umbra's back, the other drawing Spike in close. He hadn't ever been asked to perform duties and had come with Twilight. "I'll gladly go over them. One of the popular events is Pegasi relay."

Umbra wafted shadow with the imagination. "Like relay, but with flying? That sounds fun!"

"Exactly! Then there's the archery, always a crowd pleasure. They fire arrows of ice at targets." Twilight pointed down to where the targets were already gathered, but not arranged in a line just yet.

"How...?"

"How what?" Twilight inclined her head.

"How do ponies, with no hands, use bows?" She waggled her hoof. "That's stretching even with sticky hooves."

"Oh, you are not incorrect." Twilight tapped the space in front of her. "The bows are rooted to the ground, allowing us to draw and fire with our mouths, without any sticky hooves involved."

"I want to see that..." Umbra clapped once. "By the way, why did you get to bring your +1 with you? They told me this is a spot for princesses only. Shifting is out there, without me."

Spike hiked both of his thumbs at himself. "You're not related to her, um, yet? If you two were married or something, but they woulda let ya."

Twilight gently pushed him back into his seat. "Basically, yes. As my adopted little brother, I could get him in. The girls, though friends of mine, quite close, have to sit in the regular seats. Your girlfriend counts the same until she's actually family." She colored faintly. "I have so many questions about that."

Umbra leered at Twilight. "Which part?"

"All of the parts!" Twilight threw up her hooves. "You've chosen a changeling as a special somepony? Aren't you worried about your love being siphoned off, even accidentally? She's a mare, like you. How does that... work?"

Umbra chuckled softly at the shown confusion. "I can tell you right now that two ladies can be a thing just fine. Besides..." She did not have permission to go spouting Shifting's secrets, so she aborted that statement. "Love finds a way."

Cadance sighed with a smile. "There's a true statement. Twilight, they are an adorable couple, don't harass them."

"I'm not harassing! I'm just curious, is all... I was raised with the basic idea that a mare and a stallion--" She danced two hooves close together, likely one of either gender. "get together, and pop, a family, maybe with foals in their future."

"Cute." Cishet ponies, they were a thing. "But not the only way it works. I'm going to bet there are other ponies out there, in this very crowd, that aren't one mare and one stallion. Two mares, two stallions, maybe sometimes three or more ponies if they're all up for it. So long as they are happy and respect each other, they're doing it right."

Spike blinked owlishly on the lesson of alternative sexualities. "Woah..."

Twilight slapped a wing over his face, as if to shield his eyes from the topic. "Ahem! You certainly are knowledgable on this topic... I would like to discuss it, after the games?" Out of the earshot of her brother was unspoken.

"Ahem." Miss Harshwhinny was there, close to the exclusive box without actually entering it. "Umbra, may we speak?"

"Hm?" Umbra hopped to her hooves and rushed over. "What's up?"

"It's more 'down' from here." She pointed to the great, unlit, torch. "I am given to understand you are very popular around here. It would look good if you lit the torch. Are you up for that task?"

"Sure! That sounds fun." Umbra hopped free of the box. "Show me the process."

"Delightful." Harshwhinny led the way away from the others, with Umbra behind her. "You still have your magic. Good in this case if you can make sparks or fire with it."

"Not my usual specialty, but sure." Umbra trailed after her with a little smile. It all seemed so exciting! "I'm ready to light this candle!"

"Torch," corrected Harshwhinny. She showed the way to the torch's base. "Go up there and light it when the flag presenting demonstrations are completed and the opening words are stated. Then come back down. That's it. Got it?"

"All over it." Umbra spread her wings, flapping up to the top of the torch and landing on the platform that sorrounded where the fire would be. The crowd cheered for her, which is when she saw them. Standing right in front of them, it hit her how many ponies were watching her, cheering for her. So many cute fuzzy faces! It was intimidating, but also adorable. It was difficult to be entirely scared of ponies. She waved at them gently as she walked to the edge of the center, gazing into the pit that would soon be lit.

Shining Armor was giving a little speech on the games, some of the attention slid off Umbra towards him and their applause was for Shining for a time. That was fine. Oh, the flags. Were those the crusaders? Aw, such cute little foals! Umbra wanted to grab them all and hug them forever! Alas, they were not her foals, and even if they were, foals, like kids of any species, would grow up and want to do adult things. Such was the cycle of life. Umbra sighed with wistful sadness as she watched the foals perform their best. "Go little ponies..." Still, it was time! Her shadowy aura flared as she called on not-shadow magic, sparking the fire with a dramatic sweep of her hooves. "Let the games begin!" She didn't have to shout that, but she did, and the crowd ate it up with cheers.

She slid down the ladder she hadn't used to ascend, hitting the ground with a soft thud. "Acceptable." Harshwhinny was there. "You may return to your seat."

"Sure thing." That didn't stop Umbra from giving that dour mare a side eye on the way. She was not allowed to go tromping through the middle of the arena, having to detour around the outside of it to get back at things. Out there, she ran into the others, congratuating the crusaders on their performance. Opportunity!

Umbra trotted up to the little ponies. "Hey. Nice show."

The three fillies blinked as one at the new pony. Sweetie put it together first. "Oh! Umbra, right?"

Umbra's toothy smile only got wider. "That's me. And you are the crusaders. I saw your flag presentation. Very nice. You must have practiced forever getting it right."

Apple Bloom laughed at that. "Woo, yeah! But it was worth it!" She thrust out a hoof and two other filly hooves met it with a clop of solidarity. "Showin' Equestria what Ponyville's made of! Now let's see how many golds we get to take home!" The three cheered as one, charging inside.

Rarity tittered softly. "Don't hold it against them. I know they didn't say bye properly, but they're very excited right now, darling."

Rainbow nodded. "Me too. I have to get ready for my part. Cheer for us, alright?" And she was gone in a streak of rainbows.

Twilight inclined her head inside. "Let's get going. Walk with me back to the box?" She led the way back inside. She went through the magical blocker again. Umbra skipped it without even speaking to the guard.

"Ma'am." A second guard stepped in her way just after she reformed. "All magic is to be disabled." He pointed back at the security station.

"I'm security," huffed Umbra. "The local hero is staying ready to protect everyone if anything goes wrong. Any problem with that?"

The guard stood, unmoving. "Hm. Is Miss Harshwhinny aware of this?"

"Actually, yes. I just lit the torch, as she requested, with my magic." Umbra pointed up at her horn. "So I'll be going now. And promise, no magic on the games. May the best ponies win, without outside help."

"Agreed." But he did step out of the way. "The integrity of the games is very important, ma'am."

She caught up with Twilight, the both of them retaking their seats. "They are too cute."

Twilight blinked softly. "Who?"

"The crusaders!" Umbra chuckled darkly, the only chuckle she had. "Sweet enough to give cavities. What do they crusade about?" Religious crusades seemed unlikely, but not entirely impossible? Unlikely...

"Well, that's a few steps..."

Spike leaned in past Twilight. "They were crusading to find their mark, and now they crusade to help everypony else figure out their marks."

"Cute!" Umbra clapped her cheeks with her hooves. "I want to talk to them later... But, right now, let's watch the games."

Spike smirked softly. "They're cute until you have their attention, then that cute gets smaller."

"Please." Umbra waved that away. "I'm an aunt to a little baby. You think I've never dealt with that before? Show me their worst!" She clopped her hooves together with a fierce look of determination.

75 - Mistakes Were Made

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"Aw..." Umbra shook her head slowly. "It's not even fair, having a paramilitary force as a competing unit." The Wonderbolts had defeated Ponyville, leaving them with the silver in the aerial relay. "That was as cool as I hoped though."

Celestia cleared her throat. "They are ponies, like any other. They practice, like any other. Why wouldn't they be permitted to join? They aren't given any artificial aids."

Umbra quirked an ear, having forgotten Celestia was right there. "Oh! Um... Well, since you're here. They get to practice all day every day, I bet. Does anyone else get that?"

Celestia inclined her head. "The star player of the Ponyville teams, Rainbow Dash, practices near constantly, I'm informed. Ponies who have a calling in racing will do exactly that, as a member of the Wonderbolts or not."

Part of that did not make sense. "If they're racing all day, how do they pay for their house and food and stuff?"

Celestia's guarded expression lifted into a gentle smile. "I forget at times how new you are to our ways. What would your nation do, if someone were called to race with all their heart?"

"That... depends..." She envisioned a racing human, dashing back and forth with all their will. "First step, they'd probably try to join a team, which can pay them. They'd get sponsors, hmmm..." She tapped at her head in thought. "I wasn't an athlete..."

"How interesting." Celestia did not seem ruffled. "Here, in Equestria, if a pony is eagerly pursuing their ambitions, then we will ensure they have a place to rest, and food to eat. If they want much more than that, they earn it. As you have." She inclined her head softly at Umbra. "I hear you made quite a few bits in construction work, including this very arena we sit in currently."

Cadance clapped at another game going on, eyes on it, but her ears were trained on the conversation. "She did good work, as you can see. Worth every bit."

"But... You also could just stop working. We wouldn't cast you onto the street. You could hole up in a small house and study shadow magic all day, every day. We wouldn't stop you." Celestia hummed gently. "But that isn't what you want."

"No!" Umbra barked before she blushed at her outburst. "No... I like being more active than that... But don't some... just sit and take advantage?"

"Some do." Celestia nodded placidly. "Most don't. I think it's worth the price. Of all the worries my little ponies may have, starvation and shelter are not among them."

"Wait!" Umbra clopped her hooves. "What about the food makers? How do they get paid if everyone's eating free?"

"I pay them, of course. They submit a tally of how many meals they served, and Equestria, as a whole, renders payment. The free meals, of course. If somepony were to get a fancy meal, or more food than we allow, they have to pay for that on their own. It is a matter of prestige to go to an eatery that only accepts bits. Many ponies will gladly pay for what is otherwise free, if they think it's fancy enough. Exclusivity is a draw."

Umbra sank back away from Celestia. She made a low explosive sound, spreading her hooves as she did it. "Mind. Blown. So Equestria is a big ole socialist state... Neat... Hey... I have more bits than I know what to do with right now, can I contribute to keeping cute pony faces full of food and their stables nice and clean?"

Celestia's smile grew. "A kind and wonderful thought. You already pay taxes, I remind. They go towards such initiatives without any action on your part. Do you wish to give beyond that? I would not take a single bit without you understanding the circumstances."

"If I can? No hungry ponies." Umbra clopped a hoof down. "Not a single one!"

"Not if I can help it," gently agreed Celestia. "I will send an accountant over, after the games, to hash out exactly how much you are giving and to accept the payment. I must warn, there will be no reward for this. You are doing so entirely out of your own kindness."

"That's how a donation works." Umbra rolled a hoof, face going flat. "If you paid me, it wouldn't be a donation anymore."

"I can't argue that." Celestia pointed past Umbra to the playing field. "Now let us enjoy the efforts of our ponies."

Twilight suddenly clapped. "Oh, here comes the archery. You wanted to see how that works, right?"

"Ooo." Umbra fixed her attention on the line of ponies of all types, pulling back bows and letting the ice arrows fly to crash and stick to the target in an icey sheet at the point of contact. "Neat..."

One pony tripped, loosing their arrow into the air instead of at the targets. "Woops." Umbra watched it soar upwards, more out of curiosity than anything else, but that changed as it struck the cloud above and the ice formed, and formed, and kept right on forming in a great sheet. The entire cloud was freezing rapidly and becoming cold, sinking under its new weight. "That is not how physics worked..." Not that she was any expert on the subject, but she felt reasonably sure on that point. Still, it was coming down on a bunch of ponies, and there was screaming. Action was required.

All the other princesses were without magic, locked away to secure the games. "Time for... shadow decay!"

Twilight blinked at the call. "What is that? Is it quick?!"

"We'll find out." Umbra fired a thin purple ray into the great cloud. It wasn't hard to hit. The dark magic spread over it rapidly, to no effect other than coloring it it seemed. "And then..." She grabbed at nothing with her hooves and twisted them sharply counterclockwise. "We destroy what holds it together!" she shouted, shadow magic wafting from her eyes and fangs on display. She was a vicious shadow wizard and, in that moment, she was loving it.

Weakened, the crystal matrix that made ice ice in the first place began to unwravel under its own weight. It broke and cracked with great screams of tortured material. Bits of it began to fall in what was more like uneven chunks of hail instead of an entire sheet. That still meant hail was raining down on the panicking ponies. "Damn it..."

Other ponies were involved. The Wonderbolts were zipping about, catching larger bits of hail with a practiced harmony they had trained long and hard to gain. "Yeah! Backup!" Umbra pumped a hoof, her horn glowing wildly as she broke the ice up harder, trying to reduce the size of the dangerous falling debris. "We got this, together!" The Wonderbolts weren't the only ones to get involved.

Though they had jumped to action first, other pegasi caught on to what they were doing and many of them surged to join in the rescue effort. Larger earth ponies stepped over smaller ponies to serve as shields. Unicorns were out of luck mostly, with their magic turned off. But the ice rain was getting closer, and still falling. Her efforts had only reduced the damage of each specific bit of it, though she struggled to at least keep that up.

But there was another hero there. Spike bounced off Twilight's head, to her squawk. He took a great breath and proved that dragon magic has also not been shackled as he unleashed a great torrent of flames on the underside of the cloud, turning the hail to water. What had been dangerous turned into a refreshing shower, and cheers erupted.

The day had been saved, not by any one creature, but by so many of them stepping up when things went badly. Celestia and Shining shared a nod, stepping up to speak to the worried ponies. "Everything is under control now," assured Shining Armor. "And it's thanks to many of you. Let's stomp our hooves for our brave ponies, and dragon, that stood up to the plate when we needed their help." The arena became a deafening roar of stomping hooves and whooping cheers. Shining let the applause go on for a little while.

"And now, let the games resume!" With a blast of horns, the archery competition was allowed to be completed. There were many other games waiting to be played, to show off the skills of the ponies taking part in them.

"Hey." Umbra was sitting properly. "Nice save, Spike."

"Aw, I just did what I could." He waved it away. "You helped a lot."

"We can call it a team effort?" Umbra offered a hoof.

He met it with a firm slap of a palm against the bottom of the hoof. "Team effort!" In that, they were united. "Ponyville's giving a good showing."

"Yeah." Umbra considered the sports being played. "I'll be honest, my only attachment to Ponyville are the friends I have from there, like you, and the crusaders I still want to meet."

"Still thinking about that?" He gestured as if to throw the discus being hurled, even if he wasn't doing it himself. "After the games are done, they'll meet up with us. Applejack wouldn't go anywhere without Apple Bloom, family thing, and you got Rarity and Sweetie Belle, both of them are sisters." He held up four fingers though. "Then you got Scootaloo and Rainbow Dash, who aren't officially sisters, but they see each other that way, and what's wrong with that?"

"Nothing!" Umbra nodded firmly. "Found family can be best family. Aw, now I want to chat with Rainbow. I didn't think she had it in her."

"Hm?" Twilight turned an ear off the competition towards the other two. "Who had what?"

Umbra rolled a hoof slowly. "Rainbow. She seemed pretty cool and I liked that, but she didn't hit me as a caring sort, so that's nice that she took another pegasus under wing... literally, come to think."

"Are we talking about Scootaloo?" Twilight wasn't looking away from the action below. "Nice filly. Seems to get along with Rainbow Dash very well."

Spike rolled his eyes. "We just went over that." He waved Twilight off. "Nevermind her."

"She's absorbed on the game." Umbra chuckled softly, a waft of shadowy magic escaping her mouth. "Which I'm glad is continuing. So what's the most horse-like game they have?"

"Horse-like?" Spike frowned in thought. "Um... Hm."

"That's easy." Twilight was apparently paying at least mild attention. "The ground races. Any pony of any tribe can move their legs. It's a natural activity that all ponies share."

"Most." Umbra smirked softly. "I'm sure there are some ponies, poor things, that can't. They're still ponies, so most, not all."

Twilight flipped an ear back. "Valid... Most ponies. The races of varying lengths are very popular. Rainbow was upset she couldn't take part in them, since she was on the flying team. But, as you know, speed is something she takes pride in."

"She did good in the relay." Umbra nodded to Spike, who returned the gesture. "Second place isn't bad... I'm sure she wanted first."

"Absolutely, but she didn't look too upset." Twilight did some counting, her lips moving without speaking. "The fifty meter dash is coming up in two events. Be sure to pay attention, since you were curious. You... were a human, were you not? Like Equestria High?"

Umbra's ears perked right up. "I forgot you'd been there! Yes, one of those." She wriggled a hoof, but it had no fingers to finish the wriggle. "Fingers and all. We came in less colors where I'm from, but mostly that. Those were pony-humans, which made them better."

Twilight smiled at that description. "Most creatures don't like ponies more than their own race."

Umbra raised a brow at Spike, who turned colors and looked away, not daring to join that conversation. "Ponies have a lot to like, Twilight."

76 - Hello Little Ones

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The games had finished. Umbra had gotten to see all the little ponies trying their darndest in a host of physical sports and cheer them on. She had also got to see her arena be used, and that was nice too in a different way. The structures had held, with zero ponies flopped to the ground under faulty crystals, so score there.

Yes, she was pretty happy as ponies filtered out of the event, discussing the games as they went. "So." She slid in next to Twilight. "Going to meet up with your friends?"

Twilight nodded as she lowered a little for Spike to take advantage of. With him atop her, she resumed her walk in no special hurry. "That was the idea. Did you want to come with?" Umbra was already nodding rapidly. "Then come along. I don't imagine any of them would be sad to see you."

Umbra came up short. "I'm being rude. Let me say hi to my girlfriend real quick." She fell to shadow and sped away. She reformed just next to a walking Prism. "Hey!"

"Eek!" The crystal bat hopped away from the sudden pony. "We have to put a bell on you."

"A shadow bell? Would that even work?" Umbra went in and they touched noses with gentle rubbing. "Had fun?"

"As much fun as I could have without my scary shadow." Prism threw her head vaugely at the royal seating. "So did you chat about snooty royal stuff with the other big wigs?"

"There was some of that..." Umbra pointed in the same direction. "Speaking of that, I want to meet with the flag bearers of Ponyville, and my friends from there. That alright?"

"As if I could stop you." Shifting was smiling despite the somewhat defeated words. "As if I'd want to. I'm not that good with little foals though." She brought her hooves close together to emphasize that smallness. "So you have fun with them. They seemed, um, well trained?" Spoken in the tone of a small dog performing at a show admirably.

Umbra pushed at Shifting with a laugh. "I'll tell them they looked amazing. They're people, not pets. 'Well trained,' would not go over well. Meet you later!"

Shifting waved at the spot that had an Umbra just a moment before. "Shadow bell... Definitely a thing to look into..."

Umbra sprang from the shadows and trotted the short remaining distance to where all the ponies she wanted were chatting, including the little ones. "Hey!"

Rarity raised a hoof. "Hey yourself. Did--"

"We won the medal count!" Rainbow was right up in Umbra's face. "Didn't get the relay, but we won the medal count, that's a big deal." She clapped with clear excitement. "Oh, yeah!"

Umbra pointed past Rainbow. "In part thanks to your amazing flag wavers, obviously."

The fillies giggled as one. One with a big bow approached Umbra curiously. "Hi there! I'm Apple Bloom."

"And you are adorable." Umbra felt no need to be subtle about that. "And Applejack's sister, right?"

"Yep!" Even her similar country accent tickled Umbra just right. "Ya liked how we did?"

Umbra nodded at her and the other fillies. "From the way they were cheering, pretty sure every single pony there thought you did great."

The little unicorn pointed at herself. "Nice to meet you. I'm Umbra." She frowned. "I'm Sweetie Belle, nice to meet you, Umbra."

Umbra recoiled. "You know me? Neat. Nice to meet you too."

The last, a little pegasus, shook her head. "They were talking about you, especially when you were saving the day. It's hard to not know your name at this point, jus' saying. Oh, I'm Scootaloo."

"And you're another I wanted to talk to." Umbra leaned in and down, face equal to Scootaloo. "I hear you found yourself a great big sister."

Scootaloo took half a step back. "Huh?" She had blushed with a little shrinking, eyes darting. "What do you mean?"

Rainbow was there in a flash, hugging Scootaloo with one arm. "You heard correctly! She has the best sister around; me!"

Scootaloo's nervousness faded into a happy laugh. "Rainbow is the best. Can't even argue that..."

"Tell me." Umbra sat in front of both of them. "What was going on? How did you find her? Please."

Rainbow sat up with a squint. "You're getting awful personal there. Why the sudden interest?"

Applejack inclined her hat forward. "Now, ah may be talkin' out the wrong end, but ah think she just likes seein' ponies support each other. So sisters that chose to be are special."

Umbra blinked at Applejack. She had ignored the farmer, compared to the others. "Huh... That was... amazingly spot on." She started. "Not that biological sisters that get along are bad at all! You two are so cute together!" She put up her hooves and brought them together, mashing Apple Bloom and Applejack together, at least in her imagination. "So adorable!"

Apple Bloom laughed at the show. "We're jus' sisters. But we're also Apples, and Apples stick together!" The two met, one arm around the other with a big smile and obvious family pride. "Hey, uh, you got any family?"

Umbra flipped an ear back. "Huh... wow... You just reminded me... I had Found Family, back home... and then I left, and came here to magical pony land." She sank to her belly. "I hope they're alright... Shoot..."

"Perhaps we could visit them." The voice was not any of the mares there, or fillies. Umbra sat up to look around and spot a large pony approaching them. Celestia had joined the conversation without warning. "Or at least look in on them?"

Umbra's ears went off at odd angles. "My first instinct is to tell you not joke around, but you are literally the head horse of magical pony land... So I'll ask 'how' instead."

"Magical pony... land?" Celestia quirked a little smile. "I like the sound of that. As magical as our ponies are, our items are something else entirely. They can do things and hold magic better than any living pony could dream, even Twilight." That got a little pout from the named mare. "You do remember the mirror you used?"

Umbra inclined her head a moment. "Mirror? Oh, Equestria High?" Umbra nodded. "I remember that. You have one that goes to my world?"

"I have one for many worlds... but which is yours, I couldn't say. You know it far better than I do, I should imagine. Now... I should warn a few things first."

"The catch. Lay it on me." Umbra folded her arms over her chest with a little equine snort. "What are we talking?"

"We're talking that there are countless worlds out there... We may find one like yours, almost exactly like yours... but it may not be yours. A tiny difference, for instance, you may still exist in it. Finding your specific world is... very difficult." Celestia reached for Umbra. "I don't say this to be discouraging. I'm only offering because you have served my ponies well, and if this could bring happiness, I want to do it."

"Ooo... Multiverse..." Not a concept she was entirely ignorant of. "That is a tricky wicket... Still, if I don't look, then my odds go to 0%. Now, the mirror we used, that was ponies. Are most of your mirrors ponies?"

Celestia pricked her ears. "Yes, but how did you know? That mirror led to a world that had no ponies in it, from Twilight's report."

Twilight raised a hoof quickly. "They were humans. Still, Umbra called them 'pony humans'."

Celestia raised a refined brow at Umbra. "Explain?"

"Right, sure... Normal humans, my humans, come in varieties of brown, and their proportions are a little different. They didn't each have a unique badge." Umbra pointed to Celestia's sun of a cutie mark. "To me, it was pretty obviously 'What if the ponies were humans', the world. They were pony humans, not human humans. Cute, in their own way, but not quite right."

Celestia hummed gently. "Another case of close... but not quite. Still, you are correct. Most mirrors show ponies. Does that help?"

"Sorta... I think your mirrors are reaching to 'close' world, or realities, or universes. Whatever you want to call them." Umbra waved that argument away. "So, from a pony world, you get more pony worlds. Finding a human world, a human human world, may be hard. Not that I object to more ponies, but that isn't the goal." She curled a hoof to her chin. "Hm, this will take work, and I need--"

"--You need to return to your friends." She waved at the mares and fillies. "I apologize for interrupting. Since you are interested, consider this a formal invitation to stop by Canterlot when you have the desire and opportunity." The group waved at her as she made her way, only to replaced with the other large pony.

"You have subverted mine... my... expectations." Luna peered at Umbra. "You are still a shadow wizard, of some ability, dangerous and wild... But you make it work, I must confess..."

Twilight bowed to the new princess present. "I did my best to instill in her the value of friendship!"

"Not to belittle her, because she's a great pony, but I knew friends were great already." Umbra danced in place. "Which may be part of why I'm 'subverting expectations'. Like the games?"

"I enjoyed them." Luna nodded, eyes turning to the mares. "I will not intrude for long. When you visit, I have a surprise for you. One I think you will very much enjoy."

Rarity grabbed Umbra the moment Luna was away. "Darling!"

"Um?"

"Don't you see? She may be prepared to share some dream magic with you. Wasn't that a fond wish of yours?" Rarity waved wildly at where Luna had been. "All the more reason to visit Canterlot!"

"Huh!" Umbra perked at the idea. "That would be awesome... Still, she is pretty guarded about that. It could be something else." She dampened her enthusiasm a few steps. "Still! Story time! Rainbow, don't hide it."

Rainbow waved that away. "As if I have much to hide. Story time. Sit down, prick those ears, and listen close." So Rainbow told the story of how she and Scootaloo got together. "And now I watch over her like a big sister. Couldn't ask for a better little sister."

Scootaloo colored at the praise. "Stop... Um, but yeah... She's... She's also an adult that knows what it means to fly, and... to do it really well... but she never looked at me like I was... less..." She worried her hooves together. "She keeps saying I'm awesome."

"Because you are?" Rainbow had a brow hiked up, as if arguing that the sky was indeed blue and fire was warm by most measures. "Anywho, does that answer your question?"

"Oh no!" Umbra was gaping at Scootaloo, having learned she was a cripple, in pegasus view. But it arrived on her that focusing on that would be super uncool for anyone with a disability. "I'm glad you have such a great big sister. I'm jealous."

Rainbow laughed at that. "Sorry, taken." She drew Scootaloo closer. "Only one little sister for me, and she's right here."

Sweetie Belle grabbed Rarity firmly by the hind leg. "My big sister's pretty cool!"

Apple Bloom leaned against Applejack. "As if she don't have competition." The fillies seemed united in thinking their own sister was the best, but there was no ill will between them.

They met with a three way clop of hooves and dashed off without a word, as if they just knew which way to go without saying it.

Umbra peered at the fleeing fillies. "They gonna be alright?"

"Dear, of course." Rarity set a hoof at her chest. "We raised them right. Besides, the Crystal Empire's a safe place, thanks in part to your efforts, hm?"

Rainbow laughed at the idea. "Scootaloo would save them all if something happened." The sisters began a light hearted squabble about which sister would do the saving.

77 - The Penumbrum

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Sweetie paused at an alleyway as the other girls charged past it. She perked an ear, looking about curiously a moment. "Hm." She sniffed the air and turned to it fully. "Hm."

Scootaloo slowed in her charge. "What's wrong? You're going to be left behind if you stop like that."

"Sweetie see somethin'?" Apple Bloom had turned to face the pause in their charge. "What d'ya see?"

"A... filly?" Sweetie pointed to a small and huddled form in the gloom. They didn't look like a normal pony, not exactly. They were a pegasus? Their wings were rounded and translucent with no feathers, like bug wings. Her mane and tail looked unusual too, not like just hair, but as if it was made of some kind of energy, though Sweetie was helpless to name what energy it was.

Despite all that, Sweetie approached the unconscious little filly, as strange as she was. "You alright? This is a funny place for a filly to be." Try as she might, she couldn't think of many good reasons for a filly to be asleep in an alleyway. "Are you alright?"

The filly cracked open a bright eye, the iris grey in color. "O-oh."

"Hiya!"

Scootaloo joined Sweetie. "Heya. What're you doing there?"

"I don't have a better place." She sat up, her alien wings flapping on her back. "Everypony was ignoring me."

Sweetie tilted her head at the filly. "The ponies here are usually nice..."

Apple Bloom nodded firmly. "Yeah! Did you try talkin' to them?"

"No," admitted the filly in a tiny voice. "I'm scared..."

"There you are!" Swooping in from above, Umbra joined them, landing with a clip-clop. "You ran off so suddenly." That was when she noticed the new filly. "Oh, hello there..." There was something about the new filly that tickled at her, but Umbra couldn't place the feeling exactly. "Who are you?"

The filly shrank back from the large alicorn. "Um..."

Sweetie moved between them. "You're scaring her! Don't worry. Umbra is really nice." She wheeled on the new filly. "But knowing your name would be really nice."

The unsure pony gave her wings a single flap. "Morning Dew."

Apple Bloom nodded. "That's a right nice name. Pleased to meetcha. Ah'm Apple Bloom."

"Scootaloo."

"Sweetie Belle!" She bounced as she declared it. "And she's Umbra."

Umbra nodded at the new filly. "Nice to meet you, Morning Dew. What are you doing in there?" She didn't see the filly sleeping in the alleyway, but she was still standing in it.

"Um..."

Sweetie was happy to be the spokespony. "She's hiding."

"Yes." Morning nodded.

"Right." Umbra hiked a brow. "Why are you hiding? Is something bothering you? I'll take care of them."

Morning blinked with wide eyes. "Why? You just met me. You... don't owe me anything."

"No..." Umbra rolled a single hoof in the air. "Doesn't mean I wouldn't help a filly in trouble, or most any other pony come to think. Are you new in town? I'm Umbra, local shadow wizard! I am the comforting dark that snuggles you gently from all sides and keeps you safe from what lurks in the night."

Scootaloo squinted at that description. "That is both reassuring and terrifying at the same time. Neat."

Morning stepped carefully to the edge of the alleyway, peering at Umbra. "You... seem familiar."

"I do?" Umbra inclined her head. "We never met." She was pretty sure she'd remember a little filly with uncolored butterfly wings. "But that doesn't mean we can't be friends. Now, what's sc--" She didn't get to finish. Morning touched her. Umbra didn't mind a little filly doing that. It was kinda cute, really.

What she wasn't expecting was that to have consequences. Her form unraveled, great teeth, projecting and terrible, her facial bones becoming visible in a grim display of an equine skull. All her color was gone. She was not just a wizard of chaos. Umbra had become a creature of darkness, fierce and angry with hollow eyes of static that looked threateningly about.

The CMC scampered back with mutual shrieks of surprised fear, but Morning couldn't look happier. "Yay!"

Umbra tried to blink, but her strange nightmarish form was incapable of the action. "Trying to stay calm..." She patted the little happy pixie filly. "Can you tell me what's going on?"

"You're an Umbrum," cried out Morning Dew. "I'm one too. I thought I was alone... I'm so happy..." She recoiled suddenly. "You're not a mean umbrum, are you?"

"Me?" Umbra tried for a winning smile, but it only came off as threatening. "I'm the nice kind of shadow, I just said that. Wait." She fished around in herself and found a mirror to peer at herself. "Oh... Oh no..."

Sweetie peered suspiciously at the revealed umbrum. "Uh, so... What do you see?"

"Besides ugly." Scootaloo was not afraid to say it as it was.

"Don't be mean." Apple Bloom swatted at Scootaloo. "Yer still Umbra in there, right?"

"Still me, on the inside." Umbra turned the mirror in her magic slowly to get to other angles of her ghastly new form. "Wait... You said you're one too." She lowered the mirror to look at Morning Dew. "You don't look like this."

"I'm hiding," noted Morning as if it was very obvious. "I thought you were hiding, too. You were hiding so well, you hid from yourself. That's good hiding..." She rubbed her chin, looking quite impressed at that level of hiding skill.

Umbra tucked her mirror away. "Not that good... How do I 'hide'?" She peered at the little filly. "Can you show me?"

"You were doing it." Morning peered at Umbra like she was speaking nonsense. "Just imagine a form that's less scary and wrap up tight in it."

"Less scary. Hm... No wonder I ended up with a changeling." She was a shapeshifter too, turned out. Umbra held the vision of her old self. "And... wrap..." She slowly waved her hooves over herself, bidding that form to return to her. Her form stopped dangerously wafting with barely formed shadow, becoming the equally dangerous but perhaps less mysterious shadow wizard she had started as. "That's..." Umbra took out her mirror to check. "Better..."

Scootaloo leaned forward. "You're with a changeling?"

Apple Bloom rolled her eyes. "They mentioned that, remember? 'Our brave and glorious hero, tamer of changelings', etc. etc."

Sweetie was the closest to Morning and dared to come closer. "That means you can also look like that? What is that?"

"You're worst nightmare." Morning stood proudly instead of cowering, with Umbra behind her as she faced Sweetie. "Are you scared? Good!"

Umbra set a hoof on the little pixy-filly. "Calm down. Sweetie is a friend. We don't need to scare friends."

"Aw...." Morning shrunk at the chastising. "But her fear is tasty..."

"I've run into them before, but I didn't know what they were called." Umbra held the little filly, not scared of her. "They fought me, and the entire city... It was a big fight."

Morning perked at the description. "You were there?! Why weren't you on our side then? We're both umbrum. Why would you protect... them?" She waved wildly at the crusaders.

"Because nocreature deserves to be scared by me that isn't trying to hurt me or what's precious to me." Umbra leaned in at the little filly. "And these are friends, little wonderful friends. They should be celebrated, not spooked." She paused. "Did I say nocreature? Ponyisms are rubbing off on me."

"They're corrupting you!" wailed Morning Dew. "Let's defeat them and run away while we can."

Sweetie shook her head. "Too late, she's a friend of ours."

Scootaloo nodded in solidarity. "Yep. Umbra, shadow wizard and local hero. And, uh, umbrum?" All three girls inclined their head in shared confusion at that last part.

"It confuses me too." Umbra picked up Morning gently. "But you."

Morning pinned her ears back. "Oh no... You're going to destroy me, aren't you? You're a traitor and... I'm gonna be ripped apart..." Big tears welled in her eyes. "Oh no..."

"Shh." Without thinking it through all the way, Umbra floated over a bottle that hadn't been there before, popping it into the pouting face of the distraught filly. "Shh..."

Morning fought against the sudden bottle shoved in her face, but she got a sip of it and the fight died down slowly until she was cradled by Umbra and nursing with little suckling noises on the bottle, holding it herself between her forehooves.

Sweetie burst into giggles. "She's a filly, not a baby. She doesn't need a bottle."

Scootaloo thrust a hoof in front of Sweetie. "Hey, didn't she say something about 'fear is tasty'? Maybe she is hungry. Let her drink."

Apple Bloom tapped at her own head. "That's some smart thinkin' right there."

Umbra was happy to whisper sweet nothings to her little nightmare pony. It was only when all seemed calm that she asked, "Feel better?"

Morning licked over her lips. "I didn't know anything could be as tasty as fear..."

"You're still a pony, even if you're a scary one sometimes. Food works!" She set Morning carefully down, the bottle vanished back to the ether it had come from. "Now, to set some basic rules; So long as you're a nice pony, I won't let anyone hurt you. I won't let you starve either. Now, when I got here, these fillies were trying to make friends with you. Apologize for trying to scare them."

"I'm not sorry." Morning stood in brave defiance. "Hey!" Sweetie was poking at her. "What are you doing?"

"You feel like a normal pony to me." Sweetie inclined her head. "Hi!"

"I am nightmare incarnate!" Morning revealed the terror, her innocent pixie form melting away into the unformed flesh of shadowy nightmares. "And you should fear me, little pony!" She gnashed with exposed teeth at Sweetie with a grin that was entirely unnatural. "Because you are delicious, and your fear, twice as much."

"Nah." Sweetie casually pushed Morning back. "I'm not scared of you anymore. Umbra is bigger and scarier. She knows magic and could probably turn is inside out."

Scootaloo raised a hoof. "Or turn us into lawn furniture."

Apple Bloom hiked a brow. "Maybe both at once, but she wouldn't, because she's nice." All three nodded in agreement, no fear to be had among the three.

Umbra flashed a less boney smile. "Aw! That means a lot." She placed the crusaders mentally in the 'so adorable it hurts' category, again. "And I try to be, even to little fillies that are being naughty." She tapped at Morning's nightmarish side. "You're not scaring anyone here, so go on back."

"Ugh... fine..." Morning became her pixy-pony self. "But you know the nightmare is hiding just under the surface." Her threat had little impact on the three. "I still don't get it... If... If you're against umbrum, why are you showing me mercy? Why are you being nice? Why did you feed me?!"

"Because I'm a nice pony." Umbra leaned in, touching nose to nose with the little nightmare pony. "And I'm not scared of nightmares. I am nightmares, and scare them away. I'd rather not scare you away. I think you need love, not scares."

"I love to scare?" Morning ventured, as if that'd make things click and make sense again.

"A good scare can be a lot of fun." Umbra nodded. "But..."

Sweetie got the hint. "In the right place."

"At the right time," continued Apple Bloom.

Scootaloo flashed a cocky grin. "Which isn't here or now. You can scare us when we aren't expecting it."

Morning brightened at that. "I can? You promise?"

Sweetie considered that a moment. "Hm... alright, promise. You get one scare, when we aren't expecting it, so make it good."

Apple Bloom waved her hooves as if she were an apple-themed ghost. "Really spooky!"

"Knock us dead with fright." Scootaloo clutched her poor heart, thumping over in feigned weakness. "Show us your best scare, but not right now."

78 - Little Bundle of Joy

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Umbra walked down the road with a filly on her back. "Umbrum... The name implies they are shadow-related?"

"We are shadow." Morning buffed at her chest with a small hoof. "We are the terror of the night! Nightmare incarnate, feeding from and growing powerful from the trembling fear of lesser creatures." She let out a wild cackling laugh that wasn't nearly as scary as it could have been, coming from her tiny form.

"Now, there's something we have to cover." Umbra began up the stairs towards the palace. "I am entirely willing to feed you, but you shouldn't have to rely on me at your age."

"So I'm allowed to scare ponies?" She smiled a little too wide, tail wagging eagerly.

"Not quite that." Umbra walked past the guards that watched her curiously. "If you could enjoy some milk, I bet other food would work." She grabbed Morning Dew in her horn's magic, setting the little filly at a table in the small dining hall they had entered. "They make a lot of tasty things here, take a sniff."

"A sniff?" Morning stared at Umbra like she was crazy. "That's an odd thing to do." Still, she did sniff, little nose wriggling with little tests of the air. "Hm. Something does smell good." She looked around, sliding right over all the food arrayed before her. "What smells good?"

Umbra sat next to Morning. With the chair Morning was perched on, they were closer to equal height, but Umbra was still taller. "It's right here." She selected a cookie to start, floating it over. "Try this."

Morning peered at the cookie. "Try what?"

"Eat it." Umbra nudged the cookie against Morning's snout. "Smells good, doesn't it?"

Morning could smell it, sugary and buttery. But it was also being rubbed against her. She grabbed it between her hooves to stop that from continuing. "What do you want me to do with it?"

"This." Umbra snagged another of the same kind of cookie and made a nice slow demonstration of her taking a bite out of it and chewing it with purposeful slowness. "Mmmm...."

Morning suddenly smiled brightly. "They're good smelling victims? Great!" She snapped a bit off, laughing wildly. "Take that!" She began chewing on the bit she removed as Umbra had done. "Mmm, wow! Your flesh is... Mmmm." She took a second bite, eating quite messily, as perhaps fit a creature that was new to the idea of devouring food. The cookie was soon gone. "I have defeated it!"

Umbra clapped her hooves slowly. "Vanquished thoroughly." She hovered a napkin over and began cleaning Morning up with only mild complaining. "You have to work on your table manners, but you're learning. Notice how I don't have crumbs all over." She waved at her clean chest and snout. "You strike more fear into the other cookies if they know you can perform a clean kill."

Morning's eyes widened. "Oh!" That apparently was an angle that made sense to her. "I will be the precise assassin of their nightmares then." She rubbed her hooves with a dark chuckle. "One bite, one kill."

She grabbed another cookie herself and considered the angles a moment before sinking her teeth into it, covering any escaping crumbs with closed lips.

"You're such a fast learner!" Umbra smooched the filly on the top of her head. That was a reminder that Morning's mane was oddly motive, wafting with unseen winds and forces. "Your mane's alive. Mine is too."

Morning looks up from her cookie. "It is?"

Umbra tapped at her mane. "Say hello." Her mane reached out several tendrils to poke at Morning. "This is Shadow Mane. Shadow Mane, this is Morning Dew."

Morning batted at the curious mane. "It doesn't smell as good."

Umbra wriggled her nose. "Hey, um... not that you should eat it, or me. We're not food." She waved a hoof over the table. "Everything here that isn't metal or ceramic--" She tinked a fork against a plate as a demonstration of those things. "Or glass--" She tapped the same fork against a glass. "Is something you can eat or drink."

"Umbra!" Cadance was wandering through. "I was going to grab a snack, and didn't expect you here." She noticed the little filly and nodded at them. "Well, hello there. Who are you, little one?"

"Morning Dew." She hopped up on her chair. "Slayer of these." She pointed at the half-eaten cookie she hadn't yet finished.

Cadance smiled a little. "A fearsome hunter you are, Morning Dew." She seemed to take it in good fun without prompting. "Where are your parents?"

Morning shrank, sinking to her haunches and looking ready to implode as to not be seen.

Umbra gently pet Morning's side. "I don't think she has one anymore... I think we took care of that."

Cadance's ears danced atop her head. "Took care of that?! I am not in the habit of 'taking care' of any pony's parents in any way that would leave a foal behind. Explain?"

Umbra curled the petting hoof at herself. "If it helps, I was involved. That big fight, all the shadow monsters?"

Cadance frowned at the memory, but also confusion. "That filly is not a shadow monster."

"Am too!" hotly defended Morning. "Fearsome, you admitted it already."

Umbra suddenly hugged Morning close. "She is, and so am I... She's just a foal, like you said. I can't just abandon her..."

Cadance flopped in place, taking a biscuit to chew on. "So... Are you taking care of her? That's a big responsibility."

Umbra tensed. Crap. "Um..." She turned Morning to face her. "Hey... Just checking, but if I did offer to take you in, what would you say?"

Morning blinked with wide eyes. "I thought you had already. Do you want me to go?" Her ears wilted. "I can if you want."

Umbra imagined Morning back in a new alleyway, fearfully hiding from a world she didn't comprehend and didn't like her. "N-no! But... I have a girlfriend, and I should talk to her before I make these kinds of decisions. I was just making sure you wanted it."

Umbra willed Morning up to her back as she stood. "In fact, now's a fine time. Want to meet someone else that can shapeshift and is awesome?"

"Oooo." That caught Morning's attention solidly. "Yes."

Cadance waved at the departing two. "Best of luck." She squinted a little, peering at the connection between them, so very thin, but new, and brightly colored. Perhaps it would grow, given time. Was that the best case? She wasn't going to stop a mare from caring for a foal... "Good luck," she repeated, quietly, the others already gone.

Umbra descended the steps. "Now, I should note, you should eat about three times a day. Your stomach will probably start growling when you get hungry." She flicked an ear back to her new filly friend. "Ever feel that?"

"Yes. The monsters inside me are angry I haven't been enough of a monster on the outside to feed them."

Umbra considered that. "That isn't an awful summary, but eating things like in that room will also make them calm down. And they're helpless and can't complain as you torment them."

Morning clapped eagerly at that idea. "Helpless victims! Poor things." She chuckled darkly, but was still smiling with bright and young cheerfulness. "Let's meet your friend."

"Let's." Umbra walked along at a bounce, Morning bouncing on her with little giggles. "This is where she lives." Umbra waved at the cozy little house, made of crystal as most houses were in that city. "Shifting!"

A window popped open outwards and Shifting Prism poked her head free. "Yeah? Oh, hey!" She waved excitedly at Umbra. "You have a little something..." She waved that hoof at the top of her own head.

Umbra glanced back. "Oh no, how did that get stuck up there? Can you help me out?"

"On it." Shifting closed the window and things were quiet just a moment before she burst out of her door, hurrying over to Umbra. "Hmm..." She reached with her bat wings, plucking up the little filly. "There... we go. All free." She set Morning down gently. "Who are you?"

"Morning Dew." Morning stood proudly. "And you're mom's girlfriend."

Umbra colored swiftly. "Hey! We're here to discuss if that's a thing. Don't just assume. Um... Not how I planned to get into that..."

Shifting inclined her head at the little filly. "We... didn't do the thing that makes foals... so... how?"

Umbra laughed hysterically. "Kids, right? They say the darndest things." She drew Morning close, hugging them from behind in her lap, or what passed for a lap in any creature that sat on their haunches. "Morning here is a shadow critter, an umbrum. She's also a shapeshifter, who taught me to shapeshift... So there's that."

Shifting blinked dumbly. "No!"

"Yep."

Shifting hiked a brow. "I don't meant to doubt you, but prove it."

Umbra considered how to do that. "Morning, how much control do I have over what I 'hide' as?"

"You can hide as anything nice and innocent looking." She cupped her face in her hooves, giving the biggest, most innocent, eyes. "All the better to fool our victims."

Shifting peered at the filly. "So we're both shapeshifting predators... wow... I still want to see this."

Umbra sifted through her imagination. That? No. That? Oh hell no... That? She held the image in her mind, imagining stepping into it like a suit, covering her entirely.

Shifting gasped. "Wow!" She raced up to Umbra, circling her rapidly. "What... are you?"

"A bear, smarter than the average." She, er, he? adjusted the tie he hadn't been wearing before. The tie was made of the same wafting energy that made up Morning's mane and tail. He was an umbrum cartoonish bear. "Adorable?"

"So adorable." Shifting grabbed Umbra in a firm hug. "I'm so happy! We're so much closer now. I thought you'd never know what it was like to be... this..." She waved at herself.

Morning peered at Shifting. "Are you hiding?"

Shifting Prism perked her ears. "Hiding? Um, yes, actually. I don't need to anymore... I bet you don't either. Umbra wouldn't let anything bad happen to you. She's awesome like that. I'm a changeling, ever hear of that?"

Morning shook her head quickly. "I'm an umbrum. Ever hear of that?"

Shifting returned the shaking. "We have a lot to learn about each other then. Are you alright being both our child? If you become hers, then you become mine, because we're a thing." She wagged a hoof between herself and Umbra meaningfully. "And I don't plan to give that up."

Umbra sagged with a sigh of relief. "You're alright with it then?"

Shifting leaned in at the little filly. "I'm actually pretty excited. A child that's already... past all the super awkward parts? That's pretty neat in my book. Way better than the other way."

Umbra casually placed a milk bottle in Morning's reach. "Well, it's partly my fault she doesn't have her original parents... I don't regret... how that went down, but she doesn't deserve to be caught in that backlash."

"Did you kill them?" Morning turned to gaze on her potential future mother in her silly disguise. "How did it happen?"

Umbra cringed. "So direct..." He returned to being a she, a pony. "They came and attacked, wave after wave of horror that brought the city to its knees." The little filly was smiling, perhaps proud of that image. "We had to fight with all of our might... But we won, and they lost, in the end... I don't want war, but losing it is even worse, so we didn't take that option."

Morning skewed an ear to the side. "At least they died in a very scary way..." As if that made up for it somehow. "Were you frightened?"

"I was very frightened." Umbra nodded slowly. "Wasn't even sure I'd live to see another day... But I had a lot of ponies counting on me. I couldn't give up."

79 - Family Life

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Umbra bounced down the street with a filly walking next to her. She couldn't help it, smiling brightly along the way. "Now, being a responsible mother, I have to ask, schooling. Did you get any?"

"I know many things."Morning was proud of herself, as she usually was. "You should narrow that down."

"Right, basics! What's two plus two?" Umbra wanted to hug her little daughter forever, but resisted that call.

"Four." Morning skewed her head. "Will math help me terrify my enemies?"

"Math can come in handy in the strangest places." And her daughter at least knew a little, that was nice. "Can you read yet?"

"I'm better than the other foals I knew." She turned up her nose, but shrank a moment after. "I miss them a little... But forget them. I loved reading scary stories. Do you have any?"

Umbra's ears perked. "That's adorable... First stop, the library!"

"What's the library?" She followed dutifully alongside her mother.

"It's a place with more books than you could count, which means plenty of scary books." The two cheered together as they headed up the stairs to one of the grand libraries of the Crystal Empire. "Excuse me." Umbra walked up to the front counter. "Do you have a horror section?"

The aged librarian mare adjusted her glasses with one hoof. "You want a scary book?"

Umbra grinned, displaying her sharp teeth. "The scariest you have, please. It's for her." She brought Morning ahead to hug from behind. "She's mine, by the way, so--"

"I see. Hello there, little filly." The librarian got moving at her slow pace. "Most ponies so young don't want to be scared. You're a brave little pony, aren't you?"

"Very brave." Morning trailed behind the librarian curiously, with Umbra a step behind on a procession through those aisles of countless books. "How do you keep track of so many?"

"It's a lot of work." She turned to point at a particular shelf. "And this has our scariest tomes."

"I'll take them." Morning nodded, as if stating simple fact.

The librarian wasn't in agreement. "You can't have all of them, not at once. You can borrow one or two and come back with them to borrow more. Now, why don't you pick which one you want to read first?" She gestured at the line of books in a slow wave.

Umbra nodded quickly. "They have to lend books out to other ponies. What if they want to be scared too?"

Morning put a hoof to her face with a soft gasp. "I would be depriving them of the chance to be terrified. I see..." She walked up to the bookcase and up at the shelf of horror, but it was higher than she could reach, no matter how hard she tried.

Fortunately, Umbra was right there to give her filly a lift, floating Morning up to the horror shelf. "Let me know if you want me to go left or right."

"Thank you, mother." Morning reached out and began to hoof at the books, pushing them left and right as she inspected their spines for the one she most wanted. "The Whisper of Old Hills?"

The librarian shuddered. "Oh, a terrible story about... Are you sure you want to read--"

"--I'll take it." As if the librarian's response was reason enough. Morning grabbed the book into a full body hug. "I will return it when it's done so somepony else can be properly horrified."

Umbra lowered her filly to her own back instead of the ground, where the filly could keep on hugging the book. "You heard her. Do we have to sign anything?"

The librarian shook her head. "Just try to get it back within a moon and we're happy. We know where you live." That was far less scary, being the famous pony Umbra was. "And we trust you. If you need it longer than that, ask."

Morning leaned forward towards her mother's ears. "I look forward to seeing what scares her."

Umbra snarled like a predator ready to attack as she descended the stairs of the library. "Don't tease her too much about it. Now, education, back to that. Do you know anything about pony history?"

"Do you?"

Umbra came up short. Dang... She really didn't... Called out, by her kid! "I'm not school aged! You are. If I had a mother around and she was good, she'd grab my ear and drag me off to class too." She flicked one of those ears back at Umbra. "Which is what I plan to do."

"If you insist." Morning nosed open the book, apparently rating reading it higher than continuing to argue her education. "You must know something."

"Thank you?" Umbra looked over her shoulder. "What makes you say that?"

Morning looked up over the top of her book. "You scare them, all the time. They're scared when they see you, and when you talk. You don't hide the sharp parts, but they still greet you warmly. You must know something to make them greet their fears with open arms. Teach me."

Umbra's horn glowed as she squeezed her daughter gently. "You are frighteningly cute."

"That is a good cute." She nosed to the next page. "Will I be as scary as you one day?"

"If you play your cards right." Umbra looked around as she went down the road. "Which involves getting you some book learning, besides scary stories. " She wasn't having luck just spotting a random school, but then, all the students would be inside, with the teachers, right? There wouldn't be much for her to see walking past.

She had a better idea. She willed her tiara off and tapped at her chest, "Got a minute? Looking for something. Not an emergency."

"What's wrong? -S" came the tap reply.

Aw, Shining. "Hey, Shining. Where is the school around here for a pony Morning's age?"

There was a pause. "What are you doing?" Oh no, Morning had noticed her mother tapping her chest.

"Sending secret messages." The truth worked for that. "And getting them."

Morning applauded. "Amazing! My mother is full of talents. What are you talking about?"

"I said it was a secret." Ah, more taps were coming, thumping against her chest without her hoof doing it.

"Bright Apple's a nice school. I'll have a map waiting in your room."

"I'm glad you two have that worked out, now please stop tapping. -C"

Umbra colored faintly, imagining poor Cadance just getting tapped in for a conversation she wasn't part of. "OK," she tapped out as way of goodbye, returning her attention to the world around her. "My agents say they'll have the information I want ready for me. Expect to go to school soon."

"Is 'school' fun?"

Umbra flicked her ears to the side. "Um... No, but very required. Prove you are better than the other mewling children there. But don't be mean to them. Their cooperation will help you in the future."

Morning clapped slowly. "Very smart, mother. You're always thinking of the future. I will do my best to avoid upsetting them then. But I will do better than them, we both know that."

"I look forward to your tales of academic victory. Let their victories be recorded in the great grades you bring to me like bloody trophies."

Morning cheered at the idea of grisly trophies. "You will be proud of me." She hugged the back of Umbra's neck. "I hope 'school' is ready for me."

Umbra trotted along in a spirited jog. "Your first day!"

"My first of many chances. I will not let you down." Morning looked to the ground passing past them at a brisk pace. "I can walk myself, mother. You don't have to carry me."

"I will be away from you for the first time in a while. Let me enjoy this last moment." But Bright Apple was there, with a big crystal apple over the front gate. Other foals were wandering in past the gate. Umbra lowered, allowing Morning to leap free easily. "Let's meet your teacher."

"Do they know things you don't, mother?"

"They better." Umbra's stern words only seemed to please Morning. She advanced on the school. The door was open, so Umbra went right past it into the schoolhouse. There were young ponies sitting in desks, and one adult crystal pony. To her surprise, the teacher was a stallion. Not that a guy couldn't do the job. She regathered herself. "Hello."

"Well, howdy there." The stallion nodded at the only other adult in the area. "Umbra, right? And this..." His eyes dropped to Morning. "Must be your daughter, Morning Dew. Hello."

Morning nodded at the stallion. "I am here to expand my arsenal of knowledge. Please begin the instruction."

Umbra nudged her with a hoof. "So formal! You don't have to go that far. But, yes, this is her. I thought I'd see the inside of the school this time. I'm sure you don't need parents haunting the place."

Morning perked. "There are ghosts?" She looked around, not scared, but eager to see the ghosts. "Where?"

The teacher laughed merrily at the misunderstanding. "No ghosts, I'm afraid."

"Good."

Umbra leaned in for a hushed whisper, "She will be happy any time you're scared."

"I see." He looked at the little innocent filly curiously. "Well, we'll do our best to give all our little ponies what they need to be happy adults. I'm Morning Star." He buffed his shiny crystal chest. "And I'm ready to teach all kinds of ponies. As you can see, we have crystal ponies, and not. We have unicorns and earth ponies and pegasi." He considered Morning anew. "And you're an earth pony, I see."

"Nope."

The flat denial caught him off guard. "You look like one? What tribe are you?"

Morning smiled sweetly. "That is a secret, but not earth."

Umbra laughed awkwardly, trying to distract. "Foals, right? She's my tribe, and that's good enough. You know how it goes."

"The child of a celebrity. Now, as one of my students, I will treat you like anypony else. Being her foal doesn't get you any special treatment."

"Yes, sir." As flatly as she had denied being an earth pony, she had no argument there. "I will show I can succeed on my own."

"That's the spirit." He pointed to an empty desk. "Why don't you sit there?" When she scampered off, he turned to Umbra. "I trust everything is in order?"

"It's cute." Umbra looked around slowly at what seemed to be a grade school, at least if it was on Earth, which it was not. "Reading, Writing, Arithmetics?"

"As a start." He sat and tapped his hooves as he counted, "Geography, history, biology, basic magic comprehension."

Umbra started. "You'll teach them how to read magic?!"

"Oh, no no no. Parents of unicorns are welcome to do so, but we just teach them about magic in general. It's useful for any pony of any tribe to understand the very basics of what to expect when dealing with it. Besides...." He pointed up at his lack of a horn. "I'm really not equipped to give actual magic lessons." He was a crystal earth pony, as most of them were.

"Sensible." A thought tickled her. "Want a magic tutor for like a week of tutoring? A guest teacher of sorts?"

"That's very kind of you." He swatted at her shoulder. "Thank you! We only have two unicorns. It might be easier if their parents give an alright and they visit you specifically. The whole class getting what only two of them can use will be a lot of bored little ponies. We don't want that."

"True..." But it meant she got to teach two cute little unicorn foals. When did she get so into foals? Damn their cute little faces... "We'll work that out. Not right now anyway. I have to leave town soon."

"Not forever, I hope?"

"As if!" She assured. "Just a little visit to Canterlot." Confident that her child was in good hooves, she moved to leave. "Have fun, Morning!"

80 - Let's Go Fly to the Castle

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Umbra could have taken a train. They wouldn't have even charged her. Still, she did not. She flowed instead swiftly through the darkened evening, rushing at the speed of dark through the frozen countryside, towards Equestria proper. She wondered what she'd see there. Fun things? They made it sound fun...

Morning was in good hooves, being taught and cared for while Umbra was away. She had a princess to meet! And maybe dream magic? That would be so cool! She chuckled darkly, a nightmarish laugh that echoed from her shadowy form as she darted and zipped through the mostly empty territories that seperated the Crystal Empire from Equestria.

The snow was cold, she could feel that, but she was in her shadow form. It knew not heat, or chill. She just knew it was cold, without actually feeling the snow beneath her as she hurried. Perhaps, as a pony, it would be bothersome. Did Umbrum care about cold? She wasn't sure, and she felt no reason to doublecheck that. Perhaps she'd ask Morning later?

She had travel, boring travel. She could have ridden a comfortable train, but that'd also be boring, and longer. A terrible combination.

"Nothing to report." A golden-clad guard saluted to another and marched past them, relieved of their duty. The one they reported to stepped into their place. There usually wasn't a lot that happened, watching the gate of the castle, but they were ready! Ready for anything.

"Hello." Rising from the shadows, Umbra took shape in front of the two guards with a sharp grin. "Luna is expecting me."

The guards recoiled in a mutual yelp of fear, lowering their spears into shaking readiness.

Umbra swatted one out of the way, crystals erupting with the motion to knock the weapon aside. "Really, just ask her. Tell her Umbra is here."

There was a moment of uneasy silence, the two glaring at her and furtively glancing at one another, but, at last, one stepped back. "I will check." And off he dashed to find Luna.

Umbra sat in front of the remaining guard, watching him shake in fear. "You know... I'm a hero up there."

"Up where?" He glanced upwards, as if she could be claiming to be hero of the night sky.

"The Crystal Empire," Umbra explained, amused. "Stop being so scared. I'm on your side."

"This way!" The first guard was hurrying back. "Please, this way." He led the way into the castle, leaving the other guard behind with his dubious expression. He came upon a door several hallways inside. Knocking once firmly, he shouted, "Your Highness, your guest is here."

"Send them in," came muffedly through the wood.

The guard stepped out of the way and gestured to the door.

Umbra's cue! She stepped up, willing the door open as she stepped through the opening. "Luna?" She had to look left to spot her seated at a table with snacks. It was a reminder of the breakfast and meal nook back home. A pony habit? "There you are."

"Here I am." Luna gestured at several other cushioned seats, wide for a pony to lay on or sit on their haunches. "You failed to warn me you were on the way. Pray tell, did you take a train?"

"Nah." Umbra waved the idea away, her horn glowing as she snatched a pastry to take a chomp on. Woah. It was even tastier than up north, and Cadance was a princess, right? "Distraction, but why are these so good?!"

Luna rolled her eyes. "Sister dear says, 'One does not rule for thousands of moons without a quality chef or ten.' Seeing as she has managed it, I can't rightly argue with her, and the results are here to be witnessed."

"A winning philosophy, clearly." Umbra laughed at the notion of a dessert powered monarch. "Good to see you, and without any emergency or fancy event happening."

"Truly. Just you and I. Now... You have struck me as a creature that would prefer to get to the heart of things, rather than dance around what you came for." That Umbra was nodding eagerly confirmed that. "You covet the magic that I have."

"Don't say it like that." Umbra snorted softly. "You could never tell me, and I won't be angry at you, just a bit bummed. It's your magic, and you get to share it, or not. I'm an open book sort of wizard." With a pop and a puff of smoke, her book appeared from nowhere, landing on the desk with a dull thud. "Now if you want to see some of my magic, happy to share. I've touched on some dreaming adjacent spells."

"Dreaming adjacent?" She leaned in for a better view of the book, but it was upside down to her. Upside down magic was a bit hard to pick out from across the table. "Do explain."

"Already on the case." Umbra tapped at the open page. "Nightmare relief. Extremely temporary, as in only as long as the spell is actively kept going. For emergency use, and not a real fix. If a poor pony has issues to work through, they'll still need working through, unless you're going to sit next to them every single night."

Luna arched a brow. "Hardly a solution, that... Still, a useful spell, and one I know. I administer it just as I come upon a troubled pony, to calm things enough so that we can begin the proper treatment." She gestured between herself and that theoretical pony. "A start, but hardly the end. I am pleased you realized this without being told."

"I know I look it." Umbra leaned forward on cupped hooves. "But I'm not a power mad tyrant, evil laughs or not. I like the idea of helping ponies, which is why the dream magic perked my interest." She flipped an ear back with a sudden shudder. "Actually gonna bet most of their dreams are things you'd rather not see, and a lot of noise."

"Noise... That is a good description," Luna allowed slowly. "To be a dream walker is to swim through that 'noise' and find the meaningful bits, to arrive in the important dreams and leave all the others aside. In a sea of threads of bright colors, pick out the one out of place... It's not easy, I warn."

But Umbra was looking excited, not intimidated by the description. "And it is a shadow magic, isn't it? Dreams are literally the stuff of darkness. A comfortable darkness."

Luna sat up tall. "I am the princess of the night."

"Which is a time of darkness and shadows, yes." As if that just proved her point. "I'm not trying to steal your job, promise. You have a lot more ponies to watch over anyway. I just want to help way up north. Oh! Consider me backup!" She began to clap with a giddy smile. "I'll be an apprentice dreamwalker, under you."

Luna reached across to tap Umbra on the nose. "The world you came from doesn't even have magic, if I understand correctly."

Umbra came up in a recoil. "Oh!... no..." That was some pivot. "Why do you bring that up?"

"I am curious." Luna floated a cup of coffee to her lips for a soft sip. "What would they think of such a power?"

"They'd think you were silly for thinking it could exist, but, moving past that..." Umbra rolled a hoof in the air. "A trained therapist or psychologist could make consenting use of it to really help people out. But consent would be very important. Just popping into people's heads would be super frowned on, I bet, and get someone thrown in jail, if they ever figured it out, which they may never do. How would a bunch of people without magic figure that out? Poor things."

"The same remains true in this world." Luna brought her forehooves together. "To walk in dreams is a very... covert act. Unless one announces one self, it is perhaps too easy to move without detection. Will you argue with me that the potential for trouble is quite high?"

"Nope! That'd be a lie." Umbra willed her book to flip forward. "Speaking of that, I think I have a nightmare spell. I mean, it should be? But how do I test that? I'm not zapping a random pony and seeing if they have nightmares later. That'd be ghoulish at best."

Luna arched a brow at that. "Can you make a pony sleep or not?"

"Not a spell I know. You?" Umbra looked to Luna curiously and perhaps admiringly.

"It is, though not one I use often... If I were to want to test that spell--" She waved at the open spell on display, upside down to her. "I would find a pony I trust and is willing to assist, set them to slumber, and use it on them immediately. We would find the answer, and I can banish the result. Still... It would involve harm, however temporary. It... actually gladdens me that you found it, but decided it was for the best to not experiment with it."

She sat up slowly. "You have used that term before, 'the comforting darkness'. The still embrace of night, where all is quiet, but you are safe. A time for rest and rejuvenation. But you are a creature of the other kind of darkness, and we are both aware of it. The haunting darkness. Darkness that is not safe. Danger lurks within that darkness, and to rest in it is to invite harm. There are ponies who can't tell the difference between the two." She waved between Umbra and herself. "But we are thinking creatures... We do not surrender to our first instinct, hm?"

Umbra flipped an ear back, realizing... "Is... that why you've been so guarded about me? It has nothing to do with Sombra at all."

Luna's brows went up together. Her magic wielded a large knife that she cut out a slice of cake, depositing one slice in front of Umbra and bringing another to herself. "You labor under a mistake there. What makes you think Sombra is not the same thing..."

Umbra perked at that. "Oh! Oh... That actually makes a lot of sense, now that you bring it up... I'm a mare Sombra, with a better attitude, so if I'm one... yeah, guess he'd be too."

"And you know what I mean, so you are aware." Luna took a slow bite of the pie, teeth slicing through the sweetness cleanly. "You are a creature of nightmares, asking me for the key to the realm of dreams. Do you understand why I am hesitant?"

"Not to toot my own horn." She gestured as if holding a horn and doing just that with a fake toot. "But I am not a troublemaker. I've saved the day! I hope to do it again." Her tail wagged behind her. "I want to do it more... To be honest, being a hero is fun."

Luna quirked a smile. "You are quite a disappointment to your people. Other Umbrum must look at you with such confusion. You even did battle with them... eyes blinded. What changed? When did you notice your true nature? I thought that revelation would be the first gift I gave to you on coming, but it seems that will not be required."

It was starting to click. "Sorry... I became a mother."

Luna started at that. "A mother?" She rubbed a cheek slowly. "Do I know the father?"

"Doubt it, since I don't either. A lost umbrum foal... We found her, starving and alone. I took her in under a wing." Umbra spread her right wing slowly. "And she's mine now. But she also taught me what an umbrum is, and that I'm one of them. My choice of name feels ultra... ironic now, looking back... Either way, she is my daughter and I love her! But she opened my eyes to the whole umbrum thing, and that I am one."

81 - Dream to Dream

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"Leave." A small voice, female, and spoken with the firmness of steel. Morning Dew stepped in the same door that Umbra had, moving as if she owned the space.

Luna hiked a brow at the small filly of curious appearance. "Who are you?"

Umbra's horn glowed as she plucked up her foal and drew them right to her lap for proper hugs from behind. "This is Morning Dew, my child. Who... I left back in the Crystal Empire." The logical inconsistency put a crack right through everything. There was no tearing sound, just a sudden silent crack through reality that she didn't seem to notice right away. "What are you doing here?"

"You are having a nightmare." Morning smiled faintly. "And it isn't one I gave you." A clear crime, that. "She did it." Morning met Luna's eyes with no fear. "Release her and leave and we may show mercy."

Luna crossed her arms with a scowl. "You aren't even a unicorn. How are you here?"

"I am the stuff of nightmares," she stated calmly. "And she is mine." She leaned back against Umbra. "As if I wouldn't notice a new nightmare visiting her."

Luna squinted at the little filly. "Is visiting the dreams of others a trick all... All umbrum have then?"

"Only special ones." Morning brought her hooves together. "Like my mother. Now that you understand the situation, will you withdraw, or do we need to fight?"

"Morning, this is Luna." Umbra waved a wing at the spiderweb-fractured vision of Luna, the dream collapsing around her. "She isn't an enemy. Don't be mad at her, she's protective." Umbra squeezed her beloved nightmare filly gently.

Luna suddenly clapped. The breaks were gone, but so was the room at Canterlot. She never went to Canterlot. That was a long way away. Why would she just... go there without warning? That's a silly idea! She was resting in her bed. Morning was snuggled up in her arms. She hadn't been there before. When did that little filly sneak in? Was that how she snuck into the dream with Luna?

And Umbra was still asleep. She knew that, which was an odd thing to know. She was not a lucid dreamer. "Luna?"

"I am still here." Luna emerged from a shadowed corner of the night room, with plenty of options there to select from. "But I have ended my own interference, at the request of your foal."

Umbra sat up, holding Morning, who was still watching Luna with an icy intensity. "Can you explain what's actually going on then? I went to sleep, then I visited Canterlot, which doesn't make a lot of sense, looking back on it."

"I imagine not." Luna smiled at the little nightmare filly. "I would not have thought a being of nightmares would stand in the way."

"Her terror is mine to decide," declared Morning with unwavering conviction. "Why are you bothering her?"

Umbra squeezed Morning from behind. "No need to get hostile with Luna. She's a princess, like me. We're on the same team, even if I'm wondering why I'm dreaming about the two of you." She pointed at Luna. "You have dream magic, so assuming you did that." She nuzzled the top of Morning's wafting mane. "That doesn't explain you."

"Mother, I just said that." Morning did not turn away from Luna, who was being stared at. "Your dreams were being interfered with, and--"

"--And you only knew that because you snuck in." Umbra poked Morning gently. "And you were sleeping right next to me, naughty filly."

Morning colored faintly. "I was standing guard over you."

"With your eyes closed." Umbra was smiling though, not at all upset at the idea of her daughter sneaking in. "Adorable."

"Fearsome," contended Morning, still not facing her. She had a Luna to glare at. "Stalwart."

"Those too." Umbra sat up tall. "Alright, I think I understand now."

"As do I." Luna inclined her head. "I couldn't see who you were sleeping with, nor knew of her talents. I wanted to speak to you alone, Umbra."

Umbra gently pet over the top of her child. "Well, here we are. If you wanted to talk, why not just make me dream I was in front of you to start with?"

"It was... a test. How you traveled. How you reacted to the guards with their suspicions. How you reacted to the food and seeing me in a place of my power. It was all a part of taking proper measure of you." She smiled down at the brave defender. "Until a little somepony interfered."

"I am not sorry." A simple statement of fact and nothing else, Morning sat upright and ready to defend her mother if need be.

"Ah... Well, that's messed up. Did you get what you wanted to learn out of it?" Umbra shrugged softly. "Are we swapping spells or not? I don't know if dream books work properly for that."

"They do not." Luna perked an ear. "Unless you were already in the habit of perfectly recalling spells in your sleep. All I could see were remembered fragments and glimpses. Tantalizing, but not helpful. Neigh, we will have to meet in person to properly exchange spells."

Umbra sat up with a smile. "That means you want to swap spells?"

"I do... You have learned a few I would gladly add to my collection, and I have a few you would care for. It is in the interest of our ponies that we do this. When next can you make time to visit... for real?" Luna had her eyes on Umbra, ignoring Morning, or at least not meeting her eyes. "I will not trouble your dreams again. You clearly have capable guardians of your own."

Umbra began to clap with undisguised joy. "I'll have to get someone to watch over Morning."

"Why?" Morning finally looked away from Luna. "I can accompany you, mother. Besides, I wish to meet this other nightmare bringer. She isn't one of us..."

"No... She is a pony, but a nice pony." Umbra touched her nose to Morning's. "And that wasn't a nightmare, even if she was messing with my dreams a little. She's an anti-nightmare, as a rule."

"I am a mare of the night, if that helps." Luna looked more amused than much else. "If you want a daymare, you will have to seek mine sister."

Morning twisted back to give Luna the glare she clearly deserved. "You will not bother her dreams again." That Luna did not seem properly scared didn't change her convictions.

Umbra stood up over her daughter. "Alright then. I'll make arrangements, and you can consider yourself warned. I may come with Morning Dew, or not, still undecided on that."

Luna dipped her head. "Then I will leave you to rest." She lifted on her large wings and vanished out the window that hadn't been open a moment before. "Sleep well." And she was gone, back to the realm of dreams to visit other dreams, one imagined.

"Now you." Umbra poked her brave defender of a daughter. "Thank you for being ready to protect me, but is this even the first time you snuck in?"

Morning flipped her ears back, shrinking from Umbra's accusation. "Well..."

Answer enough. Umbra poked Morning anew. "Stop that! If you want to sleep with me, ask. I'll say yes or no, but no sneaking in. The only exception is if you have a bad nightmare, but I doubt you'd ever have one of those. As if anything could out nightmare you."

Morning flashed a predatory smile at that. "As if." She rubbed behind her head. "My apologies, mother... Once we were asleep, I could feel Luna's presence. I became worried for you, and began... I snuck in again, this time to your dreams."

"I didn't even know you could do that." Umbra leaned in, almost touching noses with her child. "What a talented filly you are. Can all umbrum do that? Wait." She skewed an ear off. "Can I do that?!"

Morning turned her ears away. "I could try to show you, mother. When we're awake. The nightmare is past. I should let you sleep."

"You just want to get away." But Umbra let Morning escape from her grip. "See you in the morning."

"Sleep well, mother." Morning bowed low and vanished like someone made an editing error in the universe, just gone in one moment where she was the moment before.

"That was creepy." But Umbra knew that would only please Morning to know. "I have such a talented child." She threw herself back onto her bed and snuggled in. "Now... to go to sleep, in sleep..." How did that work?! Fortunately, with no other presences and just relaxing, her natural dream cycles returned on their own, and she casually slipped into the next dream without even noticing.

Shifting mussed the head of their child. "I can keep an eye on her."

"I wish to accompany you." Morning had not changed that desire, not one bit. "I can protect you, and it will be 'educational'. Do you not want that?"

Umbra chuckled softly, looking between her two beloved. "I'd rather take you both along..."

Shifting perked her ears. "So why not that? I don't have a day job that'll miss me."

Morning nodded. "And she can assist with foal watching." Not that she appeared to think she needed much watching. "And we can both help you, mother."

Umbra clopped a hoof to her face. Betrayed! "You two! I swear. It's a good thing I'm stupidly in love or this would annoy me." She delivered a kiss to either of their noses. "You two really want to come with me so bad?"

Shifting flapped her leathery wings. "Yes! Besides, you'll need somepony to test your new magic on." She patted herself on the chest. "And who else would that be?"

Morning rubbed her hooves with a slightly worrying smile. "I would like to see that. Besides, I hear Canterlot is very different from the Crystal Empire. I would like to see it as well. Besides even that, I also want to meet this 'Luna' face to face."

Umbra frowned at her daughter. "You will not start a fight with her! She's coruler of the lands, and a nice pony so far I can tell. Be nice."

"Only after she apologizes." Morning crossed her arms. "Entering my mother's dreams is very rude, especially on an information gathering mission."

Shifting looked between the two. "Did I miss something?"

"Ugh!" Umbra threw her hooves wide. "She came to visit me one night. Nothing bad happened. In fact, it's because of that that we have an immediate invitation to go swap spells. I want to meet her."

Morning's guarded expression lifted into a clever smile. "Oh. You wish to exploit her. Mother, I misunderstood. I will not interfere with your espionage."

That wasn't exactly what Umbra had in mind, but... "Alright. Good. We have an understanding."

Shifting pranced away with a merry whistle. "I'll pack! When do we go?"

Umbra realized she had been trapped in the flow of things. "Let me talk to the royal couple so they know what I'm doing. Won't do to have their shadow guardian vanishing on them." She started for the door and rapid clip-clops told her there was a Morning right after her. "Oh, right."

"Yes, mother?"

"I will get your schoolwork." Umbra peeked to the side at Morning. "We can't have you falling behind, even if it's an educational trip."

Morning wrinkled her nose. "Yes, mother." She assented even if she looked a bit put out by the news. "I will defeat the home schooling thoroughly if it thinks it can stop me from reaching my goals."

Umbra ruffled the top of Morning's head. "That's the spirit. I knew I could count on you to win this battle."

"Are there any umbrum in Canterlot?"

Umbra came to a halt with a frown. "Not that I know... of? You're probably better at spotting them than I would be."

"With pleasure, mother." Morning dipped her head, a little smile on her face.

82 - Canterlot, Take 2

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They stepped off the train, one big happy family. "Hm. It's not that different from the dream." She could actually make out people's faces properly, a fact she had just not even really noticed in the dream. "Here we are!" Umbra waved up at the big obvious castle. "Let's get going."

Shifting adjusted the bag hanging from her shoulder. "Is she awake? Luna's a night owl, right?"

Morning smiled in a pleased fashion. "We know when to strike. Mother, you have good timing."

"We're here to exploit her, not attack her." Umbra tut tutted at Morning with a wagging hoof. "Don't forget."

"Ah... Apologies. I was excited." Not that she was emoting her excitement very well. "What do we do then?"

Umbra led her family up to the gate she remembered from her dream. There were two guards, just like then, and they looked at her oddly, just like then. Well, she was a shadow princess of darkness. There was something to be nervous about... "Good day. I'm here to visit Luna, at her request, but I imagine she's sleeping."

The one on the left nodded. "That is correct. One moment, please." And they marched off swiftly.

The one on the right stared straight forward, unmoving.

The other returned on steady hooves. "Princess Celestia extends her warm welcomes. Please, this way." He guided the family inside. "Your suite is... here." He waved to a door inside the many halls of the castle. "If you need anything, the maids and butlers are always available."

Shifting threw open the door with a flick of a wing. "Woah! Fancy." She scurried inside and did the most important thing, bouncing on a bed to test it. "Nice..."

Umbra nodded at the guard. "Thank you." She stepped inside with Morning, the guard already marching off. For the front gate? It felt likely. "Morning, this is our room for now." As promised a moment before, it was a full suite. It had more than one bedroom, a kitchen, and everything else one would need. An apartment, really. "Mmm, two bedrooms. One for foals and one for adults?"

Morning scrunched her nose. "I will use my room for schoolwork, mother, but for little else."

That was a warning that she'd be sleeping with Umbra. Umbra chuckled softly. "You are a loving, and fearsome, creature."

Shifting bounced down from the bed, hurrying over to rejoin the meeting. "No special hugs on this trip." She didn't sound all that upset. "Sounds warm though." She went in for a nuzzle on the filly, and Morning did not resist. "How much schoolwork do you have?"

Morning set her backpack down and rooted through it, producing several books. "Two weeks, assuming I spend approximately an hour a day on them. But if I attack specifically, I can have it done in a day or two and be free to do as I wish."

Umbra tapped her daughter on the nose. "An hour a day. Rushing means you won't remember half of it. Besides, that's 23 hours to do anything else."

"Hm." Morning moved to put her books down on a table there. "I will consider that."

Shifting giggled at the exchange. "Well, I plan to do fun things tomorrow. If you want to come along, you'll have to take a break from your schoolwork." She tapped at her chin. "Did you know the ponies around here celebrate their victories in stained glass? Every battle and trial, put up for all to see."

Morning's eyes widened faintly, even if they sank back into place. "How grotesque. I love it. I would like to see that."

Shifting bounced towards the kitchen. "Then get your hour for today and after you finish your hour for tomorrow, tomorrow, I will gladly take you to see them."

Umbra grabbed both of them, one under each arm. "I love you both so much." A smooch for each cheek. "You be good and I'll get you a treat, hm? Luna has many tricks related to nightmares. I may share one..."

Morning nodded firmly. "I will earn that." She slipped away back to her work table. "First, this." She got to her schoolwork diligently.

Shifting glanced at Morning. "Can Umbrum learn unicorn spells? I could, in theory, but I also have a horn, sometimes. She doesn't have one of those."

Umbra frowned in thought. "She has a thing for nightmare magic... I'll show her that and she'll either get it or not. She likes a challenge."

"I do." Oops, that Morning could hear them was made clear. "Especially with a prize I covet."

Umbra nodded at her daughter. "As she said. What's for dinner?"

Something knocked on the door, interrupting the question. "Hm?" Umbra trotted over to it. "Hello?"

"Pardon the interruption." Celestia, from the sound of it. "I heard you had arrived."

Umbra willed the door open smoothly. "Celly! Good to see you."

"And I you." Celestia stepped in, guards moving in to flank her. "I trust your trip here went without trouble?"

"As if any could stand in my mother's way." She was facing her schoolwork, but had no problems speaking her part.

Umbra let out a strained laugh. "Foals! Oh! Did you meet her?" Umbra waved at Morning. "This is Morning Dew, my daughter. She's doing some schoolwork right now."

"Charmed." Morning didn't look up.

Celestia inclined her head, but unlike some others, she put together what was going on without asking more questions. "I see. Very kind of you. You know, I have adopted foals myself. Never in name, I will admit, but in about every other way. It is a rewarding task, but challenging. You never know what they will become, in the end, and can only try to direct them in the right path."

"Welcome to good parenting!" Umbra clapped her forehooves once. "Glad to hear it, really. Considering you're basically mother of the country, you having an odd look on motherhood would be a bit worrying, truth told. Who was your latest?"

Celestia skewed an ear back. "Do not inform her, she would die of embarrassment... But Twilight Sparkle is like a daughter to me, and one I intend to leave a mighty inheritance to. She is a curious example, having loving parents in addition. They could think me of just as well as a doting grandparent, but her progress is of quite the interest to me."

Umbra snorted softly. "Really?! Hm... That makes some things make more sense..." She turned to Morning. "Not sure if she'd even want my job though."

"I will consider it." She scratched with her pencil at her paper. "I would like to know more about it, mother."

Celestia smiled gently. "That is a step. Now, I did not come here only to greet you, as much as that is worth doing. I have work to return to, but, later, we could share dinner? Luna should awaken and join us about that time. It is breakfast for her, poor thing."

Shifting emerged from the kitchen. "Well, forget that then! It must be hard, being sisters and co-rulers on opposite schedules like that."

Celestia nodded at Shifting. "It presents challenges. But, like many things on this world, things that are worth it, usually are."

Umbra laughed, throwing a hoof across her front. "You can say that twice. Now, don't take this the wrong way, but curious, why Twilight? Is it magic? Starlight seems good at magic too."

Celestia smirked faintly. "There's more to it then magical ability, or you would also be on the list."

Umbra sat down. "I didn't even think of that. Shoot... you probably think I'm eyeing the throne now."

"Actually not." She reached to set a metal-clad hoof on Umbra's shoulder."I have earned some measure of understanding. Even if I offered it, I doubt you would take it."

"That is a really big responsibility... and would mean I would have to stop all my other responsibilities, and I like those... so nah. You keep that throne. You're doing a dang fine job of it."

"Thank you." Celestia tipped her head forward. "You are a curious one. Few would so openly speak to a monarch of their inheritence without being quite close to them, but here you are, without fear. That appears to be an umbrum trait."

"We don't know fear," agreed Morning, turning to the next page. "We make fear."

Umbra considered that with a soft hum. "She may have a point. I only won... against them because I marshalled the defenders to throw away their fear. The fear of the invaders, of death, of everything. Grim determination I had called it."

Morning closed her book and looked at her mother with a new light. "You mastered fear enough to pass on bravery to others? I am proud. I have an exceptionally terrifying mother." Being terrifying was, clearly, a good thing in her book. "If the umbrum had to lose, at least it was to a master of terror."

Celestia regarded the filly a quiet moment. "Is she...?"

Umbra nodded swiftly. "She is, maybe one of the last two. We're not sure... By the way, we'll have our eyes open, hers especially, for others in the area."

"You will not extract that information from me." Morning sat up proudly. "Bring out your best torture implements."

"I would not." Celestia returned her gaze to Umbra. "You know this, I hope?"

"I know you would fail if you tried to torture it out of her." She winked at Celestia. "But we are curious if there are any others out there."

Celestia relaxed, catching Umbra's meaning. "I will send a guard to escort you to the dining hall when the time is right. Please, enjoy your stay. The castle is open to you, save for the forbidden wing of the library."

Oh, how Umbra pouted. "You have one of those? And you won't let me peek? I bet you have all the fun spells in there!"

"For certain definitions of... fun." Celestia hrmed, shaking her head. "You have no need for those spells, and do quite well for yourself. In fact, some of your spells may end up in there, in time."

This only pleased Morning. "You will require a new wing just for the terrible magical creations of my mother. Ponies will die of fright gazing on the covers of those dread tomes, and whispers of their true nature will be whispered in hushed fear."

"I look forward to her contributions." Celestia turned in place for the door. "But I have contributed spells of my own, I will remind."

Morning perked at that. "You have? I thought you were scared."

"I am concerned about the results... But desperate times... I am the princess of the sun. The sun is a figure of great and terrible power, older than any we know, and will be there when we are all gone. It screams into the void, and, with the right magic, its power can be drawn, if you have that bravery and skill..."

Morning clapped her forehooves. "My estimation of you has changed entirely. I would like to see you call upon this power. Can this be arranged?"

"We shall see." Celestia left, her guards leaving with only the jingle of their armor to announce it.

Shifting grabbed the filly as soon as the door was closed, shaking her about with a laugh. "You're going to scare your mom to death."

"Good." Morning inclined her head at Shifting, still held. "What did I do that was that terrifying?"

"Celestia is about the most powerful pony around, and she wants to make a good impression, which means she's trying to not be scary around her."

Morning's ears twitched, but sagged shortly. "Oh... I am getting in the way of your ruse, mother. I apologize."

Umbra wrapped her wings about both of her family members. "You were fine. She loves you, even if she's a little curious what makes you tick. But, hm, so am I? That she teased you was a good sign."

83 - Sister Exchange

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A maid dipped herself in a formal way, reminding Umbra of Purple Polish so far away. "The sisters await you at meal. Please follow me."

They walked alongside her, at least until Morning spotted something. "There's one of them." They were passing a stained window of some ancient event. "Is that a dragon?" It seemed Celestia was keeping it at bay with some sort of magic. It was hard to tell the specifics, with stained glass, but the ponies around her were shielded by her presence.

The maid paused as those she led did. "Celestia wards the dragon lord," she read of the plaque at the bottom of the glass. "She is a fine and noble ruler. We're lucky to have her."

Shifting nudged against her daughter-in-law. "We'll visit others like this, tomorrow. I hear they come in all kinds of varities."

Umbra considered it, but was slowly moving past it all the same. "Are they all of Celestia?"

"Goodness no." The maid propelled herself down the finely carpeted hallway. "Any important event, involving Princess Celestia or not, gets recorded for us all to see. Princess Twilight adorns quite a few, often with her friends."

Morning sped up to be at the side of her family. "These are more than one thing at once."

"Clever." Umbra smiled with pride at her daughter. "Pretty sure they are. Historical markers, fond memories, and a bit of national pride, all rolled up into one big stained glass."

"Right here." The maid knocked once with a firm clop. "Umbra and her family," she called through the wood, then stepped away. "Have a pleasant time."

Shifting stuck out her tongue at nothing specific. "Disadvantage of famous relations, you become 'and friends'." She waved Umbra towards the door. "You first, Princess."

"You're my princess." Umbra nipped at Shifting's ear on the way by, to both's smiling approval. She opened the door to find a much larger dining room than the one she had visited in the dream. Perhaps that made sense, with both royal sisters in attendance, one at either side of the long table. A test?

She couldn't sit near either of them without sitting far away from the other. Or did she pick a spot near the middle with moderate distance to both sisters? Hm.

Morning made a decision without a hint of a pause. She hopped up next to Luna. "We're here, as you requested. Thank you for not repeating that offense."

Celestia blinked at that start. "Offense? Sister, did I miss something?"

Luna let out a strained laugh. "Foals... I visited Umbra's dream. That is where I repeated her invitation and shook her free of the north for us."

Umbra sat next to Morning, and Shifting next to her. Shifting looked over the selection of food curiously. "Breakfast and dinner?"

Celestia smiled at that. "It is a different time for us both. For me, the last of the day. For my sister, the first. You are welcome to either as you please. Now, it sounds like you may have forgotten that I had also invited you, Umbra. If you still wish to investigate the mirrors?"

Umbra started. She had forgotten! "I have a lot to do... Thank you for the reminder." She willed a heavy tome from her pocket, hovering over to settle in front of Luna. "Spells, as promised. Exploring my dark magic has become something of a hobby of mine, and turning them to productive ends wherever I can manage it."

Luna willed the book to open before her. "A treasure trove of shadow magic, good and terrible."

Morning grinned with pride. "Mostly terrible, I imagine."

Shifting reached a wing over Umbra to give Morning a poke. "Your mother enjoys being nice."

"Why?"

Umbra blinked at that blunt question. "Because it makes me happy to make others happy."

"Ah." And that was apparently good enough. "Reveal your magic." She was looking to Luna with that.

Luna barked out a laugh at the firm request. "Your foal is full of spirit, and malice."

"Thank you." Umbra colored at that 'compliment' as Morning looked proud. "We are trading though, right?"

"We are." A new book popped into being. "This tome was given to me by my sister." Luna met eyes with Celestia. "When I returned from my... time-out... I was weak, small, and confused. This book showed me how I could be close to others even when I was awake in the night."

Umbra started. "Woah! You're letting me see the whole thing?" She hadn't expected that.

Celestia inclined her head faintly. "Umbra is correct, this is a large step. Are you certain?"

Luna turned a hoof back on herself. "Time. You don't have it. You have occupied your days with a thousand concerns. Even with this knowledge, you will not take my duty away from me. I realized I was being petty about it, snarling at anypony that looked curious... As a creature of nightmare and darkness, this magic is as much belonging to you as I. That you are gentle of temperance and loving of other ponies seals the deal, as it is said."

Celestia clapped her forehooves in one firm strike of metal on metal. "I am so proud of you, sister. Then a fair trade." She poined at the two books. "Shadow for shadow. I hope you both enjoy what you learn from each other."

Morning was watching Celestia. "You're not curious? Shadow is a frighteningly powerful force."

"It is," Celestia allowed. "But so is light. I am a princess of the sun. Studying shadow magic runs counter to me in large part. I do know a tiny bit." She winked at the filly. "The brighter the light, the deeper the shadows it can cast."

Morning applauded in slow steady clops. "I like that. Do you have any magic to trade? My mother is an eager collector."

Celestia considered that with a soft hum. "Well, she will likely be quite busy learning what Luna has provided, to speak nothing of offering assistance where Luna may need it. It would be rude to get in the middle of that with both ponies in such eager exchange. Perhaps afterwards?"

Luna nudged Umbra's book. "Does this mean you have lost all real desire to find your way home? You have a choice right now to seek it, or learn more magic, and that choice seems clearly made."

"It's complicated?" Umbra tucked the book she had been given away out of sight. "I've started a life here, and I like it. The life I left behind is... Taking it up now would be hard, and returning to a place that hates me. The pony world side eyes me sometimes, but it celebrates me in the end."

Morning looked between her mother and Luna. "What world do they speak of?"

Shifting chomped some of the breakfast fair that was close to her, on merit of the family being closer to Luna. "That's a secret! Up to your mom if she wants to talk about that."

Celestia raised a hoof. "My apologies. I had assumed, incorrectly, that you were all informed."

Umbra looked divided. "I wasn't specifically trying to keep it from Morning."

"Please share then, mother."

"But it's also complicated and weird." Umbra shrugged softly. "And mostly irrelevant when it comes to her."

"If it involves you, mother, then it can't be irrelevant." A simple statement of fact, spoken as if reminding that Tuesday follows Monday.

Celestia smiled brightly at the exchange. "I do not have my neice's eyes, but the love between you doesn't need magic to see. It warms my heart to see."

Umbra's horn glowed as she squeezed her daughter gently. "What did I do to get such a perfect family? And you wonder why I'm not rushing to leave it... Alright, since you're curious... Mother is not from this world."

"What world are you from?" As if that fact was simply accepted. "Is it one of light, or shadow?"

Umbra frowned with thought. "I never thought of it that way before... It had its bright points, but plenty of shadow to go around. Twilight? Let's go with twilight. Compared to this world, dim, but that may be unfair. This world seems especially bright." She pointed to Celestia. "It has a sun princess that may be part of that."

"I do what I can." Celestia dipped her head, ears spread to either side. "But darkness yet remains. I appear to be enjoying supper with two examples as we speak."

Morning set a hoof on her chest. "We are good examples of the darkness."

Umbra nipped her daughter's closer ear. "Fearsome, but approachable. In that world, there was only one speaking species. All the others were below them. They didn't have to learn to get along."

Morning crossed her arms. "Is that how you became such a fierce fighter, mother?"

Umbra was about to snap a quick reply, but was caught short. "Hm... You may have a point... I prefer to make friends, but I will defend those friends from anything that threatens them."

"They will learn the folly of angering the darkness." Morning seemed sedately pleased with her mother's words.

Shifting offered a sweet pastry held with her wing thumb towards Umbra. "She took that all well."

"As if I expected less from my daughter." Umbra grinned, getting a chance to turn Morning's words on her. She chomped the offered pastry. "Mm. But not as good as the dream?"

Luna lifted an ear. "In the dream, you simply tasted 'something especially good, the best you ever had'. There were no specifics. You didn't actually taste anything." She smiled at her sister from across the table. "Still, I imagine she would like to know. How does it compare to what they serve up north?"

Umbra looked between the royal sisters she had become a small machination of. "Cadance has good chefs, and so do you. They taste different, but that's a matter of local supplies and taste, not quality. You just don't eat northen food without crystal berries, for instance."

"How very... diplomatic." Celestia was smiling despite any unspoken complaint there. "I am happy to hear my niece is being properly fed. She oversees less ponies than me, but the job can be just as stressful."

Morning perked her small ears. "That's what tasted different. I'm used to crystal berries."

Shifting pointed at Morning with a wing. "Did you know she only recently started eating regular food?"

Morning colored just faintly. "That is a personal matter."

Umbra squeezed with her magic. "She's a trooper. We've expanded her diet quite a bit and now she destroys any food stupid enough to give her a chance."

"Their first mistake was being there." Morning sat up with pride. "Their second is their lacking defense."

Celestia laughed gently. "I should imagine mealtime would be far more complicated if our food tried to defend itself against us."

Luna stood with Umbra's book hovering over her. "I should get to work, then study this. Umbra, are you staying in town? If so, I will consult you if required, and you may do the same. I will instruct my guards to see you to me." She paused suddenly. "I'm being foalish. That book isn't to leave Canterlot. For as much good as I have worked with it, it remains forbidden magic. If it is not held by an authorized pony, the only other place it would reside is with the other forbidden tomes."

"All the good spells!" wailed Umbra, imagining the amazing spells that lurked within that forbidden hall for her to study, were she not denied... Still, that meant she had at least one forbidden book. "I will treat it carefully, and return it when I'm done, promise."

Morning inclined her head slowly. "You can practice it on me, mother. Then you can witness me."

Umbra blinked at that invitation. "I witness you all the time, usually proudly."

Morning waved a hoof and shook her head in counterpoint. "You have not seen my nightmares."

84 - Into Fog Most Dim

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"Is this working?" Umbra pressed forward, though forward felt an uncertain term. She was moving her hooves in a way that should propel her forward, she thought, but she felt nothing under them. She was moving, she thought. The fog swirling about her seemed to undulate slightly.

That it was actually gloomy and dark was, itself, confusing. She was a creature of the night! Seeing through the dark was part of the package. How could it be actually dark for her? And did her spell work? There was little evidence to seal the deal in either direction.

She could press forward, or try to call the whole thing off.

She was small. A foal's body, but no pony's. She was a monster, among monsters. They were gazing up at a larger monster, all of them umbrum.

"Children," barked the larger. "Our time approaches. When we win this battle, we will reclaim the surface as our own, and have to hide in darkness no longer. We will be gone a while, but not too long. Wait for us."

The children cheered and clapped eagerly, some stomping in place with wild cries. That was good news, a good thing. They would taste freedom.

Some advanced on the larger, pleading to join and help the effort. They were the larger and fiercest of the 'class' of small umbrum.

The larger considered them with a scowl. "This will be dangerous." That did not deter them. Oh! Umbra spotted Morning among them, standing proudly. "You do us proud." The larger led the smaller away, and the fog returned, thick and complete.

There was a note of finality there. Umbra could feel it. Her child would never again return to that nursery. Though the alternative was hardly better.

Darkness, a new kind. The sky, there was a sky, crackled with dark lightning strokes that failed to bring light to a dark pitched scene. There was calls and desperate cries. The defenders were locked in battle against the umbrum. It was a fight that would determine the fate of two entire species at once.

But there were two umbrum foals, not taking part. "We should be there," argued the male of them.

Umbra could recognize the other, Morning. "I feel something not right..."

"Make them feel something not right," roared the colt. "They need us, now." The moment of hesitation was enough to convince him. "Stay then, whatever." They stormed off, lifting on their dread wings to rejoin the battle.

Morning peered out into the shadow. "Darkness..." She could feel something... darker. Something that competed with the umbrum for supremacy of the shadows. It was vast and terrible, and she didn't know what it was or what to do about it, so she did little but listen.

She could hear ponies fighting and hurting. She could hear umbrum fighting and hurting. She could hear creatures dying, felled low by violent clashes. She smiled at that, hoping it was the enemies of her people, but she couldn't confirm that.

An explosion of power and light. Great darkness was banished. She could feel... a loss, a great and terrible loss as light spilled in all directions from their little palace. Morning was left alone on the street she had started in, spared only for having stayed away. "No..." She had failed her people.

Perhaps, had she not been dumb, she could have turned the tide of the battle, but she hadn't. Even then, she fled, finding a relatively safe little dark place to hide away from the world, at least until...

"It's alright." Umbra tapped at the fallen form of her child, there in the alleyway they had first met. "It's alright."

Morning sat up, tears streaming down her face. "Mother... How can you even say that? It is not alright. It is far from alright. My people died in misery, however terrible the nightmares they inflicted on the way... My friends, gone, some not even in the battle." She worried her hooves in fidgets. "Did they starve to death in the caves with none there to even care? That was not a fitting end..."

"I'm sorry."

"Do not say that," spat Morning in icy tones. "You are a creature of darkness! Your will was stronger than ours... That is the way it should be..." She flopped to her belly. "I am saddened... But it is the way it should be. Do not apologize, mother... You spit on their lives and their ways. Do you think they want to meet their end to somecreature whose lip trembles in sorrow for them?"

Umbra sat there in silence for a time. "I want to help you, but I'll just admit I'm not sure what to do right now."

Morning stood up slowly, shaking herself out. "You are helping."

Umbra sat up, waking suddenly. She looked around wildly until she spotted Morning sitting on her bed, watching her. "You're awake?"

"I roused moments before you, mother." Morning inclined her head. "You saw my nightmare. One of them. I was a coward that day. It meant I lived, but it meant they died. Maybe it could have been the other way around. Maybe we would have all died in misery together..."

The urge to grab up her daughter of nightmares was intense, but Umbra held back against it. "Well... I am glad you did not. You are mine, and are not allowed to damage yourself."

Cold words, but they seemed to resonate well with Morning, judging from her mild smile. "Of course, mother." She dipped her head slowly. "I am a prize of war, held by the victor."

Umbra flipped an ear back. "I don't like thinking about it that way."

"I am teasing, mother." Morning jumped to the floor with a light clop. "You are a creature of darkness, but your heart is light, under that exterior." Her smile deepened lightly. "I don't understand it entirely, but you are my mother, mother."

That was permission as she saw it. She reached for Morning, drawing the umbrum foal up for proper rocking hugs. "Tomorrow, we search for other umbrum, hm? And you do an hour of schoolwork."

"That was only one."

Umbra perked. "Only one what?"

"Only one nightmare." Morning crossed her arms. "You have only seen one, the most obvious. You have siezed this magic, once held from you, and laid mastery over it, as I was certain you would." Morning looked wickedly pleased in the skill of her mother. "Now is the time to take advantage of it."

Umbra slowly ruffled the flowing mane of her child, her own wafting a little, as if jealous. "Doesn't it bother you a little, having me there?"

"Why should it?" Morning raised a brow at Umbra. "I have already given you permission to see them. And they scare you." This fact seemed to be a positive in her mind. "And disturb you. What more could I want from them?"

Umbra sorted through that. "Doesn't it scare and disturb you?"

"When I lived through them," flatly denied Morning. "Now they are a part of my shadow. That my darkness is enough to make you hesitate is... exciting." She didn't sound excited. "You've made me happier." She wasn't smiling either. "I would share others, so you can know the true measure of your daughter. That was the last darkness before we met, but not the first." She curled a hoof on herself. "I am nightmares."

"Nightmares have a purpose," noted Umbra with a little smile of her own, one fang displayed. "They startle and disturb, but they do that to draw our attention where it needs to be." She tapped Morning on the nose as she spoke. "Not just to startle."

"Startling is easy." Morning huffed at the idea. "Even a foal can surprise with a sudden movement or sound." As if she wasn't one of those. "True nightmares work harder."

"Very true." Umbra released Morning to spring free to the floor. "Your nightmare, the one I saw, wasn't about horror, not one for me... I could feel your pain. No matter what you say, you clearly still feel some responsibility for what I, ultimately, did, and your people choose to take part in. A lot of creatures made up their minds and did their part..."

"Including me," noted Morning as if obvious.

"Yes... But also no." Umbra wriggled her nose. "If I had just let them win, or even joined them, well, then that wouldn't have happened. Should I mourn them? They wouldn't even want that. You said so." Umbra curled a hoof in place, the end directed at Morning. "What makes you think they want your tears more?"

Morning was quiet, pacing instead from one hoof to the next with a little frown. "This is why I respect you, mother... Your heart is not of darkness, but you come into it, to look me in the eyes and not whisper, but shout at me to stand up tall... You call me on my weakness, as a shadow, instead of trying to lure me into the light."

She smiled wickedly. "I do not deserve such a fine mother."

Umbra smiled like a predator at her daughter. "And you are a fine shadow. You are just learning it, as any foal your age would." How old was Morning? Umbra wasn't really sure. Pony ages were not well defined... "And it is my job, as your mother, to help you."

Morning threw her mane back with a flick as she stood tall. "A job you perform admirably, mother. I will do my best to shake loose the grasp of that nightmare on me, but I will hold it close. It is precious, and a part of my shadow. Still, there are others I would share with you, mother, if you have the time and desire."

Umbra felt a little crack there. Did Morning fear Umbra would send Morning away, flinch from those nightmares, and the darkness that made up her child? "I will witness all you have to share." She leaned in, nose almost touching nose. "I love you, which means I love those nightmares too, even if there is more to understand about them... and you."

Morning leaned forward, bringing the noses together in a soft bump. "Then I am still available to test, mother. Banish wakefulness from me and practice your new arts. We will learn, together."

A knocking came from the door. "Everything alright in there?" called Shifting from outside.

Umbra laughed at the interruption. "We're doing sleep magic, silly. Knocking and asking is a good way to interrupt that. Fortunately, we're awake, so you can come in."

"I thought I heard talking." Shifting slipped into the room with a smile. "I was just being sure."

Morning considered Shifting. "You are a creature entirely of light. Answer me this. Why do you court darkness?" She pointed at Umbra. "Does it not terrify you?"

Shifting came to a halt, squinting at Morning instead. "Why should it? Because of what she is? Pfft! I'm way scarier." With a rush of green flames, Shifting took on her changeling appearance, wings buzzing on her back. "A thing of nightmares, here to feast on your love!"

Morning did not seem impressed. "We are nightmare. You are just a predator. So long as your belly is full, you are no threat."

Shifting crashed to her haunches, returning to her crystal bat form. "That's a bit of a crushing reply. Sheesh... At any rate! I way prefer making friends and sparkly jewels to the whole changeling thing, anyway."

Umbra moved beside Shifting. "We're alike that way. Creatures of darkness and terror that would rather build and make friends, given the choice."

Morning tapped at her chin, but it seemed to click. "I see... You are both creatures of light wearing darkness." She perked up an ear. "Were you there, when she defeated my people?"

"I was a big reason she succeeded." Shifting stuck out her tongue. "Tricked that jerk."

Umbra inclined her head. "Changelings are creatures of deception, for good or bad, and she turned that mastery on them."

Morning let out a slow breath. "I see... I will become a true nightmare. Mother is helping me to be the best I can be. I will rise above you, and you will shudder in terror."

Shifting grinned toothily, her sharp bat teeth on display. "Looking forward to it."

85 - Taking a Look

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"I say." An upperclass pony looked upon Umbra with undisguised surprise. "They will allow anypony in these days, won't they?"

Shifting scowled at the new pony. "Excuse you?"

"I require no excusing." He raised a brow at Shifting. "And what are you? Lunar ponies and crystal ponies haven't even had the time to consider creating a hybrid pony just yet."

Umbra took a step forward. "Wait... That's awfully clever of you."

"Thank you." He buffed his chest with a hoof and a smug smile. "It pays to be knowledgeable of family trees in my business, Miss..."

"Umbra."

He started. "Oh! Well, now I look rather foolish. My apologies, Umbra, hero of the Crystal Empire, if I recall correctly?"

Umbra smiled, maybe that pony wasn't all trouble? "That's me. Just visiting. And you are?"

"Blueblood, Prince Blueblood." He stood tall and proudly. "A pleasure for the both of us, hm? I haven't met a royal consort before, unless you wish to count Shining Armor, and neither he nor Cadance prefer that line of thinking." He rolled his eyes. "A bit daft if you ask me. Changing the name doesn't change the truth of it." He laughed nobly, amused with his own words.

Umbra considered him. "That's one of many titles I have. I seem to collect them."

"Oh! Do tell." Blueblood leaned in curiously. "Vanquisher of shadows, Prettiest by public demand. I heard those." His eyes wandered up and down Umbra. "Curious taste, the public..."

Shifting bristled instantly. "Are you insulting her?!"

Umbra put an arm over her bottle-brushed girlfriend, gently petting down the fluffed up fur. "Easy. I'm an interesting pony by most cases, hm?"

"Quite," agreed Blueblood. "Consider me interested. Dark sorceress of determination? Are you a wizard?" He sighed with a wistful smile. "A thing to be jealous of, I was never all that good at magic play."

Umbra flashed a sharp smile as they pivoted into more comfortable territory. "Blame the determination. I wanted it, so I had it. Darkness magic is mine, to wield for the protection and comfort of ponies around me."

Blueblood recoiled. "Shadow spells? Why, whatever spells would those even be? You can turn off the lights?" He waved to a close candelabra, its many candles glowing in flickering light.

Umbra threw her head as her mane moved in the wrong direction as if sharing her momentary agitation. "That and so much more." She waved at the light, banishing the warmth and light away with a sudden emission of grey and greens, eyes flashing with her dread power. "I am still learning ever more depths to it, but shadow is nothing if not eternally deep. I doubt I will reach the bottom, but trying is fun."

Shifting merrily giggled at that. "You should see her whenever she gets a new spell. It's Hearth's Warming instantly!"

"I imagine." Blueblood was side-eying Umbra, taking her measure. "A dreadful magic, but you only use it kindly? No wonder auntie allows you around then. You're exactly the sort of monster she prefers."

Umbra sank back. "Auntie?" Knowing who that was would help put the rest in context, she hoped.

"Hm? Dreadfully sorry. Have you not heard of Princess Celestia? She's a bit of a mover around here." He looked confident, perhaps amused at the seeming lack of knowledge.

Shifting huffed at that. "We know who she is. I didn't know she had any nephews... Her parents have siblings? Who are they?"

Blueblood adjusted the collar of his vest. "That was quite some time ago.. I'm not her first nephew..." He stroked at his chin with a hum. "Or second... or third..." He waved it away suddenly. "But I am her nephew!" He didn't try to explain how distantly that was true. "You aren't of noble blood, am I right?"

Umbra stopped Shifting from getting out a quick retort. "I'm the start of a noble line."

Blueblood's eyes widened. "I see! How exciting." He clapped with a genuine smile, impressed at the idea of starting a new noble line. "Do you have a crest designed then? I know a delightful heraldric master of a pony. If you'd like, I'll put you two in contact. But you must show it to me afterwards."

Soft steps and armored hooves revealed that Celestia was coming before she arrived, but she was smiling at them all. "Nephew, Umbra. A pleasure to see you both."

Blueblood dipped his head in deference to his larger relation. "Auntie! The pleasure is all mine. You didn't tell me we had a new noble! I've been quite rude. Auntie, you put me in such situations!"

Celestia showed no sign of distress. "How unkind of me. Blueblood, this is Umbra, champion of the Crystal Empire. She helped save the day at the games, do you not recall?"

Blueblood thought back on that, and it clicked. "Ah, yes! Jolly good showing. Shadows turned to good... Such a delightfully queer idea! Your taste remains impeccable, auntie."

Celestia leaned in to whisper to Umbra, "He isn't bothering you, I hope?"

Umbra swallowed thickly. "N-no... Sorry... I know I wasn't..."

Celestia shook her head. "What are you stammering for? Ah, I hadn't mentioned it publically yet." Her voice was loud enough to be heard in the area easily. "Blueblood, you're the first, but not last. Umbra is the start of a noble family. I'm still working out the details with Cadance about it. She has so few nobles up there, it'll be good to expand that network of loyal aristocrats."

"Marvelous idea!" gushed Blueblood, looking quite pleased. "The frozen north could use a few more upperclass ponies to help guide it forward. You are ever the forward thinker." He wagged a hoof at Celestia, nodding approvingly. "We were just discussing designing her family crest."

"Very important," Celestia agreed. "I will entrust her in your care. Prince Blueblood knows what is required of nobility."

Blueblood saluted as Celestia wandered on to whatever royal duties she had. "Oh, how exciting! I have an official task." He clasped his hooves together and rocked in place, looking perhaps too pleased at being given an official mandate. "Let's get you a family crest worthy of your imposing stature. Something that echoes your impressive presence."

Umbra chuckled softly at the stallion's antics. "You look more excited than me about it, but you know what you're doing. Celestia hasn't steered me wrong so far." She nudged against Shifting. "Want to go crest shopping?"

"I have no idea what that looks like." But she was smiling. "Let's go!"

"Excellent." Blueblood turned down the hallway. "Right this way. Hallmark is her name, by the way. Truly a quality pony. Not a noble, but works with them constantly. She is 'in' the circle, trust me on this. And once she's done, we'll have a proper shield commissioned to bear it back to Princess Cadance. She will be so surprised!"

Shifting leaned in for a whisper, "I thought he was just gonna be annoying."

"Shows us to judge on first appearances." Umbra marched at Blueblood's side as they went off in search of a crest.

"Majestic." Morning clapped gently as she beheld the family seal that had been made. "I enjoy the counterplay of shadow and light. It's very true to the source. Fierce, but loving. Terrible, but comforting. You are a sweet nightmare, mother. One will wake with panting breath, perhaps to wish they hadn't roused so quickly."

Umbra squeezed her child with a glowing horn. "You are flattering." Not that she said to stop. "It'll be engraved on a shield shortly. But while that's going on... How did your home schooling come along?"

"My hour is complete," Morning reported with a mild nod. "As if it stood a chance, mother. Are we scouting today?"

"We are scouting today." Umbra snatched up Morning with her magic, walking off with her filly atop her back. "You have more experience with this than me, so I will wander, and you will be the real eyes of this operation. If you see anything, let me know."

"I was not informed of other umbrum presences." But she was already looking around. "They wouldn't tell me that. I was still training... I was, to be honest, surprised when they let us come at all." She leaned in from atop Umbra. "The ponies here." They were navigating through the streets of Canterlot. "They have no idea what we really are," she whispered softly. "How terrified would they be to see the real us?"

It didn't take long to consider that. "Horrified, which is why we won't do that. They haven't bothered us. I bet most of them are pretty nice." She looked around before spotting a pony with a bright smile. "Hey, you!"

The pony started and pointed at herself. "Me? Hi. What's up?" The cheerful unicorn came up at a jogging trot.

Umbra pointed to her rider. "Can you tell her who you are and what you do, please?"

"Gosh! I love to sing and smile." She forced her lips up in an even bigger grin. "But I'm Minuette, local busybody, time wizard, and hopefully nice pony to be around. What's your name? Wait..." She squinted at Umbra with sudden intensity. "Weren't you... Didn't you help at the games? I remember that, and you lit the torch!" She began clapping eagerly. "Wow! This is a lucky day."

Morning smiled with less delight and more calculating pride. "My mother is renown for her fearsome acts."

"I'm not sure I'd count lighting a torch as 'fearsome', but she did cut up that big ice block!" Minuette nodded firmly. "Nice to meetcha!" She offered a hoof towards Umbra. "Putter there."

Umbra met the hoof with a loud clop. "Did you say wizard? I'd offer to trade books right now, but Luna is reading through my book right now."

Minuette's eyes only grew. "Luna? The Luna is reading your magic book? That's awesome!" With a sparkling horn, a new book was conjured. "Here's mine. Not at all Luna-approved."

Umbra fixed her eyes on the book with the big hourglass on it. Magic...

Morning pointed at the hovering book. "Surrender that to my mother and we will be merciful."

Umbra squeaked. "Foals! They say the darnest things." She laughed nervously, blushing and hoping that wouldn't be taken the wrong way.

Minuette blinked at the little filly atop Umbra. "Well, hello there! How rude of me. What's your name?" She offered up a hoof to the little pony, seeming to take no umbrage to the threat.

"I am Morning Dew." Morning met the hoof, but it was a sedate meeting, barely a clop created. "Child of Umbra, of the Shadowheart house."

Umbra's ears danced. "That is a name I just got..."

Minuette burst into airy giggles. "You have a house? Neat! Does that mean you're Lady Umbra?"

Umbra smiled awkwardly, backpedaling a step. "Technically, but Umbra works fine."

"That means we're friends, and I'm alright with that. Hello there, Lady Morning Dew." She waved at Morning eagerly. "I hope I have earned the favor of the esteemed Shadowheart house."

Morning pointed at the still floating book. "You could earn our favor by allowing mother to study that tome. She is an avid collector of the arcane."

Umbra laughed, trying to make it sound natural, and failing entirely. "If you want to share, cool, but also cool if not. I'm a wizard too! A shadow wizard. I'll gladly trade when I get my book back."

"Shadow wizard, cool" Minuette inclined her head slowly. "Why would a shadow wizard want time magic?"

"Angles." Umbra raised a hoof. "You see, the more blocks you have, the more ways you can put them together. I'll find shadowy angles of time, but I need the time blocks to do that with. That's where you come in."

Minuette clopped her hooves to her cheeks. "Wow! My mind, pchoo." She spread her hooves in simulation of the explosion she was emulating with a bad sound effect. "Sure." She gave up her book without further todo. "Bring it back when you're done with it. I live right there." She turned and pointed down a street. "Really obvious, that one that looks like my cutie mark."

It was hard to miss a house that looked like an hourglass.

86 - Dimly Seeking Shadows

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A new day, a new hunt. Morning rode on her back as Umbra wove through the city. "I'm curious."

Morning perked an ear. "If I can help, mother?"

"Maybe. Can umbrum work magic?" She twisted her head to look back on her child. "They aren't unicorns."

"We can be if we want to be. You are friends with another shapeshifter. " She clapped her hooves, shadowy dust kicked up and forming the shape of Shifting Prism. "She's not a unicorn, but she can do magic."

"Because sometimes she does," finished Umbra, catching on. "So you can have a horn when you want, and could cast spells with that horn, when you have it?"

"If I learned how?" She sat up. "Nocreature has shown me how to yet. They don't dare. Consider the terrors I could inflict, mother. They are wise to avoid it."

Umbra tapped at her chin. "Well... This won't do. Any child of this wizard has no excuse to not know all the magic they want to. For now, keep your eyes open. We're on the hunt."

It was quiet for several blocks until Morning began to tap at her mother's head from behind. "Hm?"

"A prey on the wind, or a fellow hunter," she whispered to her mother in hushed tones. "I can't tell which, but I feel a nightmare."

Of the tricks she had learned from the book of dreams, nightmare detection was not yet one of them. "Which way?" She turned as Morning directed her, right off the main street and down a darkened alleyway. They were leaving the comfortable main streets of Canterlot. "I didn't even know this city had this kind of space..."

Morning huffed softly. "There is always room for nightmares, mother. The more you try to hide them, the more clever they are at finding spaces."

"You may have a point there." Umbra felt her eyes adjusting to the dim light as things shifted. Seeing in darkness was not the same as in light. She wasn't seeing colors the same way anymore. They still had colors, but they were different colors. "This isn't safe." Not this stopped her from advancing into the dark space. "Be wary."

"Always, mother." She suddenly jumped free of Umbra.

A sword came down on the spot Morning had been, caught an instant later in Umbra's crackling dark grip, eyes streaming with power. "The absolute hell?!" She threw the sword aside and glared at its source. "What was that?!"

A gaunt figure stepped free, equine, glaring. "Shadow magic? Are you one of us?" They had no face, rather, they did, but it was a bare equine skull with no flesh to speak of on it, even if the rest of him appeared mostly normal. "Where did you come from?"

Morning squinted at the new creature. "You dared to attack mother. You are lucky to still draw breath. She is kind in her power."

Umbra snatched her child with a glowing horn. "I am Umbra. And, yes, to be blunt, we are the same thing I think."

Morning crossed her arms as she was placed on Umbra's back. "Of the shadowhearts family."

The strange umbrum hissed with a draw of breath. "You smell of snow and ice.... How did you survive? They died."

Morning perked at that. "You know them? Knew them..." She pointed at herself. "I am the last known survivor."

"That explains some of it." Their eyes, deep black pits, seemed to focus on Umbra. "And you?"

Umbra considered her angles. "An umbrum, like you, trained in shadow magic, and welcomed by the others."

"Welcomed?" He approached on slow steps. "They welcome nightmares to them? They have gone mad."

"It is a trick mother has perfected," reported Morning proudly. "They celebrate her. They have even proclaimed her the prettiest in the land."

The umbrum stallion considered Umbra a moment. "Hm." That he didn't see the attraction seemed clear enough. "A hoof in either direction. Pick a side."

Umbra smirked at the skull-headed one. "We've given you our name. Your turn."

"Your foolishness does not compel me... But there is little harm... Night Tremor. Morning Dew... That is a soft name. Why did your parents give it?"

"My parents are dead," spoke Morning with finality. "My mother is not the one who gave the name to me." She hugged Umbra with one arm. "In the still of the morning is the darkest time, before the sun can come."

"Hm." They regarded Umbra. "Your name is a bit... on the nose."Not that he had a nose to be on.

"Looking back, it really kinda is." Umbra didn't even try to fight that. "But I've heard of worse names."

"There are worse... Why are you here? Want to be rid of that child on another umbrum? Too bad. I'm not even slightly interested." Shadow seeped from Night Tremor in all directions, visible to their night vision. "We have little else to offer."

Umbra flashed her teeth, bright in the dark. "Actually... Umbrum have their own magic. I would like to learn it."

Morning at up quickly. "Mother is a collector of magic foul and vast. If you wish her favor, give her what she desires."

"Good for her. I don't care what 'favors' she offers. She doesn't even smell like she'd give a passable fright." Night hiked a brow at the umbrum mare. "What do you have that I could want?"

Umbra considered that. "While I think... Why did you attack me? That's hardly a way to say hello."

"Stop crying." He pointed to where the blade had last been seen, but nothing was there. "It was fear, and easily turned aside by those I'd even bother to talk to. If you were some passing pony, it would have frightened you... terribly... They would have screamed." Night sighed wistfully. "Such a sweet scream. Then they would have passed out."

"That's one way..." Umbra pointed to her own horn. "I know a good bit of shadow magic. A trade?" It had proven to be entirely worth the trip with how much magic trading she was getting done. The thought of it brought a feral smile to her face. "We both win then."

"Your magic stinks of ponies." Night Terror scowled anew. "Did you forsake the umbrum ways entirely?"

Umbra started at that. "How does Umbrum magic work?"

"I would also like to know this," added Morning. "Instruct us."

"You still have nothing I would want. Don't ask for things out of misplaced kindness, or stupidity. Threaten me if you wish, I'm not scared of you."

Using intimidation on an umbrum felt silly to Umbra, considering on it. "I don't know what you want. Does money mean anything?"

He perked, no ears to lift, but the rest of him managed it. "I may scorn the ponies, but bits makes getting things from them so much easier... How many are we talking?"

Umbra grinned with victory. An avenue of attack had been found. Her horn glowed as she pulled free a heavy bag that jingled with each motion. "The ponies love me, and pay well for the shadow magic I bring."

His shadowed eyes narrowed. "I see... You sell your pride... But you sell it at a good value, at least... I am not immune to that trade. Very well, fifty bits a day. That much and I will instruct you as you please." Their vision dropped to Morning. "Even that one, if you pay for the time. Fifty a day."

The first instinct was to agree swiftly. She could surely afford that! But that might put him on guard. "Fifty? That's a lot of money... Are you even worth that much?"

Night took a step back. "Am I even... The nerve... There is none other in this city who can give you what I offer! Soft Tremble? That weakling? You'll go to them? Ha... A waste of all our times..."

He glared with renewed anger. "Fourty, and that is a discount. Consider it a mark of favor for your... kindness... I would have abandoned her in the snow, were it me."

"But it wasn't you," noted Morning, looking smugly pleased. "Mother?"

"Fourty, hm..." Did she agree, or haggle more? "Well... If today counts, I'm not paying full for today. The day's half over. So twenty for today, and fourty afterwards for full days."

Night howled, shaking the air with a sound more fit for an entire pack of hungry wolves. "You fiend... Very well..." He grinned his exposed teeth. "At least I am working with somebral that is harder than paste."

Sombral? Umbra made note of that address. Wait... "Do you know a Sombra?"

"Traitor!" roughly hissed Night Terror. "Why does that name leave your lips?"

"Well, if we agree that he's a jerk, that's nice, but what did he do to you?" Umbra hiked a brow. "Give me the details."

"You first," he spat. "What did he do to you and yours?"

"He attacked me, like you, but without the 'can't actually hurt you' vibe. He started a fight and he didn't end it until we broke him." Umbra made a snapping motion with her hooves as if breaking something over a knee. "And that was that."

Night's eyes shined. "You killed him? Marvelous! Fantastic! Finally, you bring word I wanted to hear..."

Morning sat up. "Does that get us a discount?"

"No." Flat, final. "But it does please me. Shall we begin?"

Umbra raised a hoof. "You did not answer your side. What's your background with the jerk?"

"He was sent as a secret agent." Night sat and rubbed his hooves together slowly. "But he turned against us. A double agent? He turned back on his umbrum, and now they are dead. I can't be angry at them... being dead... Perhaps that was their way of apologizing... They made the rest of us realize how frail our position was, and we hide. Nightmares are good at hiding when they wish to. The shadows are our home. Now, enough of that." He clopped down a hoof. "Do you wish to learn? I want those bits now."

Umbra popped open her bag with her magic, drawing out the smaller denomination coins to count up to twenty. "Here is today. Now... I'm already learning magic, so." She floated Morning suddenly, setting her between Umbra and Night. "Teach her first. Show her how to use her umbral magic."

"Hm. I never tought a foal before... A challenge." He pocketed the money though, sealing the deal. "Let us begin, but you must be ready to listen, and obey. Are you ready?"

"Absolutely," quickly retorted Morning with steely resolved. "How do we begin?"

"I like that attitude... Listen." And the magic lessons began. He speak not a word of horns. He spoke nothing of runes and magical letters. Umbrum didn't have those. It was all about the nature of being an umbrum, and how to use that. It was closer to how Umbra remembered learning how to fly than any magical tutoring she had recieved.

She did her best to follow along, but the lessons assumed one had a good grasp of being an umbrum, and that was still new to her. Morning seemed to eagerly soak it up, but it mostly washed right over Umbra, lost as quickly as it came. It was a lesson for a foal. At least, it seemed the foal was enjoying it. "I'm glad you at least know this much." He had just confirmed she knew how to shroud herself in shadows, changing form. "But there's more to it."

Morning looked up at the dim day sky. "It is getting late."

Night glanced. "It is. Are we done? Come back here when you want another lesson. Bring bits." He was glaring at Umbra with that. She was the source of money and he seemed to know that. "And bring your burning will to master this."

Umbra tipped her head towards Night. "Thank you. I know you're not feeling warmth, but I'm glad I met you."

"Hmmph, killer of Sombra? Today wasn't a waste." He watched them leave, not emerging from the darkness of his home.

87 - Do It Our Way

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Umbra was... annoyed, and yet also happy? It was a conflicted feeling. Her daughter was learning and enjoying herself. This was good! Watching Morning listen closely to her new tutor and progress step by step brought a smile to Umbra's face, pride and contentment rising at the progress of her daughter.

But umbrum magic evaded her. Hiding herself with shadow, that is shapeshifting, was the only trick she 'got'. She was a wizard, dang it. She was a master of magic! Or at least an avid collector of it... Why did umbrum magic elude her?

"Very good." Night nodded at Morning slowly. "At least this isn't a waste of time. I think you are ready to learn one of our Great Tricks." He sounded like he would have smiled, but his tooth-exposed face did not allow for that. "You will seize the mind of others."

Umbra perked at that, memories of Sombra's traps coming to mind. So he had known some Umbrum magic, and made use of it. If she was a less-jerk version of him, why couldn't she figure out umbrum magic?! She sank to her belly, eyes on the lesson intently.

"The first step is here." Night pointed to his pupiless eyes. "Confront them with the infinite depths you possess. Draw them in and sequester their feeble mind within it."

Morning obediently began practicing, her eyes glowing and going pupiless at once as she stared off into space.

Umbra frowned instead. Her eyes had pupils. Even when she was practicing dark magic, they remained, if colored sharply with the magic involved. When Twilight had practiced it, she lost her pupils for that brief time. Was that a nature of shadow magic? Why didn't it happen to her?! Was that why she couldn't grasp umbrum magic?

"You look upset." Night was watching Umbra, leaving Morning to her practice. "Soft umbrum... Slayer of Sombra, but still soft. One hoof on either side, you're as much pony as you are umbrum, if not more pony."

Umbra scowled at that. "I'll have you know I--"

"--Your accomplishments don't interest me," Night cut off. "This isn't about what you did, but what you are. You are not one of us, on the inside." He turned his attention back on Morning. "Acceptable. Your mother can serve a use today. I want you to take her mind and make it yours. When you get her to surrender a treat to you, you win." He glared at Umbra. "You are not to give her a treat, no matter how much she asks for it."

Umbra pinned an ear back. "For her..." As irritated as she felt, helping Morning outweighed it. "I will not give you anything until after the class is over."

Morning Dew sat up, eyes on Umbra's, staring at her. "Look me in the eyes and repeat that."

Umbra raised a brow. A thousand witty retorts came to mind, but lashing out at her daughter wasn't the goal. She was still a child! Humoring her seemed a safe way to go, so she did look at Morning, eye to eye. Besides, she was an umbrum too. Morning's eyes were featureless, save for the energy that poured, a pale white, from either side much as Umbra's did at times.

Where the eyes started and ended were hard to make out, and Umbra found herself focused on that, trying to figure that out, and to find the center properly.

"Hmmph. I said to make her give you the treat." Night looked more amused than outright annoyed.

Morning held up the wrapped candy. "I have the treat. How is that not a success?"

Night snorted softly, turning into a proper dark laugh. "Our little student distracted you and took that candy from you while you were caught in her abyss. She has to practice... She barely swept you off your hooves, a moment of distraction and little more. You did not take her mind and make it your own. That is the ultimate goal." He sat up. "Still... progress. That was progress. I will give you that."

Umbra's ears danced. "If you can do that... Why haven't you just taken my bits?"

"A fine question." Night tapped at his cheek. "There are several good reasons. For one, you are dangerous, slayer of Sombra. You surrendered to your child. You would not be so eager to give me that opportunity. You can defend yourself. I've heard the rumors... If I failed, you could rush me to a thousand unpleasant ends. There are better prey. But, for her, you are perfect. You would not hurt your daughter, hm?"

Umbra grabbed Morning with a glowing horn, drawing her daughter in for a firm hug. "I would never hurt her."

Morning wriggled free. "That is a weakness, mother. What if he disguised himself as me?"

Night snorted despite having no nostrils. "She isn't wrong. That is a weakness. Pony."

Umbra sat up. "To have no weaknesses at all is to be a rock. That's not living. Morning is a weakness I have accepted, and she's worth it."

Morning smiled in her little way, tail swaying left and right across the ground in sweeps. "I will be a strength as well, mother." She turned in place to Night. "Let us continue our lessons."

Night set a hoof on Morning's wafting mane. "Clear your head of that rot a moment. I will show you what it feels like, on the other side."

"What wh--" Her words trailed off, incomplete. She was staring at Night, but not seeing anything. Her eyes regained their pupils and the energy stopped wafting free of them. She was frozen in place. "I am a chicken," she suddenly announced. She reared up and folded her arms in a facsimile of a chicken wing, clucking as she ambled around, pecking the ground with her snout.

Umbra tensed, teeth clenching, but it was part of a lesson, right? She resisted the urge to tackle Night, as powerful as it was.

Night clapped his hooves in one loud strike, starting Morning out of her phase. "You were held. I could have made you do anything... Well, until your mother tore me apart."

Morning smiled at that. "My only regret would have been not witnessing it." She rubbed at the side of her head. "That was a curious sensation..."

"Good, hold onto that feeling. That is what you need to do to others. Draw them in, embrace them, and take them." Night set his hooves down on the cobblestones, dimly lit beneath him. "And don't let go until you have everything you want. If you are hungry, you can squeeze." He made a squeezing motion with his arms, as if hugging the air tight. "Their pain will nourish you."

Umbra inclined her head. "Morning is well fed."

Morning nodded. "I am, but that is a valuable weapon. Do they wake up if you do that?"

Night leaned in towards the small umbrum filly. "I think I like you, little one. That was the right answer... Or question, as the case may be." He raised a hoof to whisper conspirationally, even if Umbra could still hear every word. "They may struggle, but you are now holding them even tighter. Don't let go."

Morning hummed. "I see. That is good information. I will need to practice."

"You will." Night turned away from her, towards Umbra instead. "Today's lesson is complete. Come back tomorrow, with bits."

From what Umbra knew of the value of bits... "You are doing well, as a teacher. Enjoying it?"

Night huffed at that. "It's quite nice to easily have my needs met. And I only have one student, and they are a good one." He stared at Umbra a moment. "Are you expecting a thank you? Your thanks are coins, and my thanks are my instruction."

Umbra sat up with a smile. "I'm offering more. You've been quite good, so far as I've seen it. You don't have to hide in the shadows."

"We are the shadows," Night hissed. "You'd know that, if you were one of us... We do not 'hide' in it."

Umbra raised a hoof. "You have to have noticed it. Even ponies are up and about at night. The dark doesn't scare them as much as it used to. You could join them. This city is yours as much as theirs. You live here. You pay for things here. Why settle for this?" She waved around the alleyway. "You deserve better."

"And you are here to give it to me?" With a swirl of darkness, he became a dark furred pony, face formed and a brow raised. "You are ever the hero, aren't you? Shoving your snout wherever you feel like it. I am not some helpless damsel, or lost child, waiting for some gallant hero to rescue them from their life."

Morning bristled at that. "I didn't ask mother to rescue me."

Umbra took a tense breath. "You're not wrong."

"He isn't?!" Morning peered at her mother with obvious surprise.

"He isn't. This is his life. He gets to decide how to live it. I'm not trying to force myself on you. I just want to offer a hoof. Celestia?" She paused, thinking the umbrum way. "She's soft. She is Pony, personified all in one enormous package. She wants to love and hug everything that will let her. If you walk up to her and tell her you want to be friends, she will bend over backwards to make it happen. Her mistake is your benefit."

Night wrinkled his newly fleshed snout. "As if you don't! You don't fool me that easily... She may be soft, but so are you. Nervous guards that would attack surround her if I tried to 'walk up' to her. That is a foolish plan, fit for a foal."

Umbra held up her hooves. "Not forcing you. Being as soft as I am, I probably couldn't anyway."

"Of course you could." Night smirked viciously. "Do you think I am foolish enough to think 'soft' means 'ineffective'? You could end me in a multitude of ways, if push came to shove. That I am useful to you, and interesting to you, is the only reason we've avoided that."

Morning nodded softly. "This is true."

"Morning!" Umbra colored, called out by her child. "That's not true... I really wanted to know more about umbrum, and, thanks to you, I have, and am. I am one of those." She put a hoof to her chest. "So the offer's open, and you can take it, or not. If you want to go for it, let me know."

"Fool..." He turned back to Morning. "Off with you. The lesson is complete. Find a pony to practice on. Hm. Yes. Bring one back here, slack jawed and helpless."

Umbra flicked an ear back, but it bounced forward. "I know just the pony."

Morning pricked. "You do? Mother, you always have an answer." She smiled with confidence. "I will return with an enslaved pony."

Umbra raised a hoof. "It's not breaking the rules if they volunteer for this, right?"

Night laughed at that, though it sounded different with flesh in the way. "If you can convince one to casually let you master their mind, go ahead. Most object to that sort of thing... But these are different times. Maybe you know a pony that enjoys that manner of treatment." He snorted shadow. "But they had better be fully entrapped. I will know if they're just pretending! Save us both time and don't try to fool me."

"Their mind will be putty in my hooves, or I will not come with them." Morning casually climbed up Umbra without asking permission. "Success, or failure. I will not pretend one."

Night smirked softly. "You don't deserve her."

Umbra returned with a bright smile. "I really don't." She rose up with her filly and started out of the alleyway. "Offer's open, no end date. Have a good one." She accelerated to a trot, heading off to other things aside umbrum lessons.

88 - Me, Me, Pick Me!

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Shifting bobbed in place. "You can try on me! I won't get mad, promise."

But Umbra looked doubtful. "I appreciate the offer, but you're not a pony."

Shifting wrinkled her nose. "I see how it is..."

"I don't know if umbrum magic works the same on a changeling as a pony. The first should be a normal pony." Umbra nodded slowly with a noise of consideration. "I appreciate the offer."

"Thank you," added Morning sedately. "Once I have mastered the technique, I will enfold your mind next."

Shifting burst into giggles. "Is that a good thing or not?"

Morning considered Shifting with her impassive eyes. "It could be either. Which would you prefer?"

Shifting pawed at the filly. "Naughty thing! Don't talk that way to ponies more than double your age. Sheesh... So what pony do you have in mind?"

Umbra took a step towards the door. "I can enter dreams, which means I can consider time magic. This has been a valuable trip for learning, and not just for me. I was thinking we could visit the time magic pony. She seemed very cheerful, so I think she'd probably work with us without even any resistance."

Morning clopped her hooves lightly. "An excellent idea, mother. Minuette seemed like a willing pawn." She hopped up to her hooves and trotted after her mother, tail swaying with each step.

Shifting waved as they departed. "Have fun controlling the minds of the public."

Umbra swiveled an ear at that. "I'm not in the broadcast business." That got a look of mild confusion from the other two. "Nevermind, bad joke. Onwards!"

She emerged into the hallway with her daughter following along. "We should ask nicely, to remind. We may be nobles, but our house isn't based around here. She doesn't owe us anything."

"That's where you're wrong." Blueblood was coming the other way on the same hallway. "Nobles command respect wherever they happen to be."

Umbra started, ears flickering. "You'll catch more flies with honey, ever hear of that?"

Blueblood blinked slowly. "Why would you ever want to catch a fly?" An appalled face flashed briefly. "I will gladly forget that idea, really. Now what is it you're trying to get done with a commoner?"

Morning looked up at Blueblood camly. "I am practicing my magic. I need a pony volunteer."

Blueblood pricked up his ears. "Oh? How delightful! What sort of magic is it? Is it exciting?!"

Umbra glanced between the two. "Actually... Maybe you could help more than a commoner could."

Blueblood buffed at his chest with a hoof. "It would be an honor to assist a fellow noble. What is it you need of me? I will outperform some random commoner, I promise that."

That sounded like permission to Morning. "Look at me." Her eyes became blank slates, a window into the bottomless depths of her soul. "And tell me what you see."

Blueblood leaned in to examine the filly. The white energy pouring from her eyes drew attention. "I say. That's a curiou--" His words slurred and petered out, falling into the pit created just for him.

Morning made a hugging motion, gently wrapping up Blueblood in her influence. "You are my servant."

"I am your servant," Blueblood echoed. "When do I get to see this magic?"

Umbra hiked a brow. "Is he... mind controlled or not?"

"I am her servant," Blueblood repeated, pointing at Morning. "But I'd still like to see that magic. Will you show it to me?"

Morning considered her ensnared victim. "I will demonstrate it if you are good. Pick me up."

"Of course." His horn glowed as he lifted Morning up onto his back. "Are we going somewhere?"

"We are," joined Umbra. "To see her teacher. He'll be so happy to see you."

"Jolly good." Blueblood followed alongside Umbra. "Is he a pony I know?"

"I doubt that..." Umbra imagined Blueblood wandering the dark alleyways. That seemed... unlikely. "But he knows a lot about Morning's magic, and has been a talented tutor for her."

"Very good, very good. The education of our foals is a high priority, especially this one." Perhaps a side effect of being her servant, but he seemed to have elevated her in priority in a ripple effect. "I'm glad to hear they're doing it properly."

Umbra led the way, smiling at how proud her daughter looked with her new carriage. Not that she wasn't ready to play the part herself, but she didn't fight Blueblood taking over for a little bit. "One thing, Blueblood. You have to promise not to be mad, later."

"Whyever would I be upset?" He looked around a bit nervously. "We are going a fair distance from the castle. I say... some ruffian might think I'm a good source of bits."

Umbra noticed that, despite his words, he was still moving right along. "You're safe with us. As if a random thug could challenge the shadow slayer of the crystal empire?"

"Too true!" he crooned, his smile returning. "I was being silly. I'm in the company of a tested and true hero of the lands. You wouldn't allow harm to come to me, obviously."

"Obviously," echoed Morning. "You are entirely safe. Nothing can scare you."

"Nothing can scare me." Blueblood nodded with building confidence. He had been ordered to not be scared, so he wasn't. "Are we almost there?"

"We are." Umbra poked her nose in around the corner. "Night? We have a present for you."

"A present, for me?" Night was there, in the darkness. His eyes were somehow darker pits in the dim. "You owed me no such thing, but let me see."

Morning pointed the way, guiding her ride into the alleyway towards Night. "Blueblood, this is Night. Say hello."

"Hello." He twitched an ear back. "Are you the tutor they were speaking of?"

Night considered Blueblood for a quiet moment. "They are awfully talkative for one who's mind is grappled."

"I am holding gently, but they are mine."

"I am her servant," agreed Blueblood. "Thank you for teaching her."

Night snorted. "A hold that weak... Make him do something he wouldn't want to do." He waved over Blueblood with the command. "Prove you can."

Blueblood looked over his shoulder at his rider. "You wouldn't do that, would you?"

Morning inclined her head slowly. "I would." No hesitation there. "Tell us your most embarrassing secret."

Blueblood colored, but also spoke, "Well, there was that one time, as a little colt, I snuck into the kitchen. Now, to remind, foals are strictly forbidden from the kitchen, even noble ones like myself at the time. They were lax in their security, and my eyes were far larger than any good sense... When they found me, I was in terrible pain, having eaten myself to a stupor. That was a mistake I did not repeat, I'm glad to report." He wiped his sweating brow. "Dreadful time, really."

Night laughed at the tale. "Tricky... Your hold is weak, but unbreaking. Your mother is a bad influence, but one doesn't argue results. If you don't mind your victims being so... chatty... then this works."

Morning casually pet the top of Blueblood's head. "I like him, and his words. He is free to speak if he wishes."

"I say... I do have words." Blueblood considered Night critically. "Your fashion is sorely begging to be improved on. The 'natural' look is out. This is Canterlot! You should be wearing something presentable." He reared up just enough to clop his hooves. "Come with me and we'll get that sorted right out."

Night stepped into a shaft of life, allowing his skull of a face to come into view. "My natural is not yours," he sneered at the pony. "Don't lecture me on your fashion."

Blueblood recoiled at the sudden visage. "I say!" But he didn't flee. "You will need some specific choices to accent... your features."

Morning wasn't allowing that, hoof firm on his back. "Umbrum can adjust their fashions on their own. This is the fashion he wants."

"Really?" Blueblood considered Night in a new light. "A bold choice. Quite bold. It does make a rather strong statement. If that was the intention, you've done a bangup job." He nodded with approval of it. "Do tell, what is the statement you're making?"

Night snarled at the question. "What statement? Really? It says you should quiver in your hooves. It says fear has arrived, and will not be denied!"

"Then it says that admirably." He looked over his shoulder. "May I run away in terror now?"

"Do you want to?" Morning gently pet the head of her minion.

"Very much. This entire meeting has been quite troublesome." Blueblood reconsidered Night. "I know Umbra Shadowheart would avenge me swiftly, if not prevent harm to begin with, but I'm still quite a bit scared. May I?"

Morning ruffled the side of her worried stallion. "There there. He would not harm any possession of mine, and you are mine. You are safe."

"I am safe," agreed Blueblood with a tired sigh. "Safe..." His smile returned. "Stunningly on point then. Your fashion says exactly what you aimed it to. I can't complain, but is that the message you truly desire?"

Night stared at the pony and her mistress. "Hm. Today, I learned something..."

Morning leaned forward from atop Blueblood. "What's that?"

Umbra jumped in, "I think that you're getting a lot of mileage by not holding so tight. Blueblood knows you care about him, and he can argue his case, which makes him a lot more relaxed than he'd otherwise be, if not an unthinking automaton you had to order step by step."

Night scoffed. "Basically that. You put a nice soft glove over your iron hoof and your victims are thanking you."

Blueblood perked an ear. "Victim? Where?" He looked around aimlessly. "Mistress, whatever does he mean?"

Morning tapped at her chin. "I will release you, but you have to promise that you won't run away, or throw me to the ground. Can I get that promise?"

"Why would I do either of those things?" scoffed Blueblood. "Unless you asked, of course. Please, do share. I'm eager to hear."

Morning spread her hooves, releasing the hug, and allowing Blueblood free of her grasp. His pupils pulled into tight pricks as he drew a sharp breath. "Oh my!" He began to dance in place. "This place is far too dark!" He turned and saw the skull of Night. "Oh! That... That fashion really does say what you aimed it to..."

Night watched impassively a moment. "You're not running?"

"I very much wish to." But he wasn't, instead shivering with fear under Morning. "You won't hurt me... right?"

"If I hurt you, I anger her." He pointed up to Morning. "If I anger her, I anger her." He turned the hoof on Umbra. "Then I pay the price, and it's not a small one. Speaking of considerable fees, you haven't paid for today! Fix that!"

"Right right." Scary shadow wizard of the north or not, Umbra paid her dues, floating out the coins for Night to claim. "We're already learning things. Blueblood, Prince Blueblood. This is Night Terror. Do be nice to one another, hm?"

"A... pleasure to meet you..." Blueblood offered a quaking hoof forward. "Why did I come here?!"

Night inclined his head upwards at Morning. "She told you to come here, and you did what she asked."

Blueblood frowned with thought. "She did... and I did... What was I thinking!?" He coughed against a hoof. "I'm being terribly rude. You are her tutor, are you not?

"So long as the bits keep flowing. Now... She passed her test. Unless you want to watch her dip her hooves deeper into dark and terrible magic, you should leave." His words were flat and sharp, a barely hidden threat.

Blueblood instead lowered to the ground, allowing Morning to hop free easily. "It's been a true pleasure, if frightening, to meet your instructor. I can think of a thousand uses for that trick. But, for now, I will be off." To his credit, he made it a few steps with his composure before bursting into an outright gallop back towards the safety of the light.

Morning nodded in Blueblood's direction. "I think he wanted to be held. A willing minion."

89 - Just in Time

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"It's me time!" Umbra had seen to her daughter's education, but it was finally time to spend a day to herself. "Thank you, lovely waifu." Or was that a husbando? Being a changeling, Shifting was both and neither. Preferring the female pronouns... "Waifu," decided Umbra with a nod.

It wasn't a long walk to get to the hourglass of a house. "Ponies live so on the nose." She went up to the door on the hourglass and rapped on it lightly. "Minuette?"

"Just a minuette," came a call from within. Minuette popped out of the window a floor up. "Hello! Oh, Umbra! Hey there!" She waved eagerly down at her shadowy friend. "How's it going?"

Umbra willed Minuette's book out to wag gently. "I'm ready to study your magic, and if you're open for it, having you around would be a help."

Minuette clapped excitedly, then vanished, darting into her house. Umbra could hear steps descending stairs and the door burst open in front of her. "Come on in!" Minuette waved into her home with a giggle. "I haven't had a guest over in a little bit, so pardon the mess."

Umbra stepped inside and saw... not a lot of mess. Minuette was a clean pony by habit? "Thank you for having me. I took a peek, and the way you have things laid out is both fascinating and confusing."

"Just like time itself." Minuette nodded firmly. "How it goes. Now, to preface, time only goes in one direction." She thrust a hoof forward. "Thataway! Trying to push it backwards is not easy! Things get odd. I can give you a few rules for that, or you can just swear that off and save a headache."

Umbra hiked a brow. "I didn't plan to do heavy time traveling, but now I'm curious. What are the rules?"

"Shoot, there I go again." Minuette threw a hoof across her front. "Oh well, my fault. Rule #1! If you were going to do it, you already did it. We only have one timeline, unless you really break something, so whatever changes you make are already made. Go back a week to pass yourself a note? You should already have that note, or you did not, in fact, go back a week and pass yourself a note. Can't find the note? You didn't go back a week." She seemed excited even as she went over the rules she said she would prefer not to. With a glowing horn, she willed her door shut. "Get it?"

"Huh..." Umbra sat beside a dining room table. "But what if you don't have the note and that's why you want to go back a week to give yourself the note?"

"Well, you'd better pass it somewhere you haven't already checked, because it's not in those places. You confirmed that. If you try to get it there, it won't work. More importantly, it already didn't work. Don't do something doomed to fail, silly." Minuette waved the idea away as her magic prepared some tea for them both. "But we're way ahead of ourselves. You don't know any time magic yet! We should fix that."

She grabbed her book back from Umbra's magic and slapped it down on the table between them. "Now, I said time moves forward, right? You can take advantage of that. Time loves moving forward. Pushing it that way is easy! The trick is that you don't have to push it all at once. In fact, it's rarely a good idea. Living life in fast forward? Nah, why?"

Minuette leaned in at Umbra. "Life is for enjoying, which is harder if you keep rushing through it. But for smaller things, it works pretty well. For instance... You can fast forward just yourself if you're pressed for, dare I say it, time. Get cleaning done in a jiff because you have forever to do it, and the rest of the world only saw a second or two." She clopped her hooves in a firm strike. "Just like that! It works for magic too. Work in some time magic and your spells can get a lot more done, faster, because the magic has more time, as far as it can tell, to get things done."

Umbra's eyes flashed with the dark pulse of shadowy magic. "You have captured my attention. How do I do that?"

"First step, enjoy some tea." Minuette shoved a teacup at Umbra with a giggle. "All good magic is done properly hydrated! Now, how are you at modifying spells? That's a personal thing, I've found. Some ponies love modifying spells, and it scares a lot of other ponies to even consider. Where are you on that scale?" She spread and brought together her hooves to the left and right in a simulated spectrum.

Umbra considered the spectrum and pointed a little to the right of center. "I've modified some spells, mostly to take the 'this is kinda evil' vibes out of shadow spells. They're good for nice things too!"

"Glad to hear it." Minuette inclined her head. "I bet time magic could be used for gross icky things. Magic is just a way to get something done. Up to the pony using it to decide if that's a nice thing or not. Now, since you've modified spells before, great!" She flipped through her book, willing it forward rapidly until she slapped down a hoof on the desired page. "Here."

"You strike me as a pony that'd only use it for good things."

"Aw!" Minuette sipped from her tea. "I try! I've heard good things about you. I looked you up." She wagged a hoof at Umbra. "I had to! You want to know about time magic and I just said that can be tricky, for you and the rest of the world, so I had to be sure I just loaned my book to a nice pony and not like, gonna regret it later."

"I'm bringing shadow back," laughed Umbra, sharp teeth on display. "And everyone will enjoy a nice sleep, at night. I'll scare away the nightmares, or make friends with them. Both have proven to be a possibility of late." She leaned in to look at what Minuette opened to. "It's a teeny tiny spell?"

"It sure is." Minuette waved over what was basically a little paragraph of magic. "This is made to work with other spells. It makes their time run faster. The rest of the world, unaffected, but for the magic, faster! The trick is learning how to work it into a spell. Showing is easier. Brought your book?"

With a puff of shadow, Umbra's book appeared. "Luna finally gave it back. I think she really liked it." She set the book next to the time book, flipping it open. "Looking for a specific spell?"

"Not a specific one... Hm... Find one that takes a while to get done, if you have one?"

Umbra considered that as she flipped forwards and back in her book. "Most of my spells are upheld ones. They keep doing something. Hm. Ah, the first." She turned to the shadow wall spell. "This one takes a moment to spring up, especially if you want a larger wall."

"Wall?" Minuette slipped around next to Umbra to view the spell the right way. "Ooo, creepy." She was looking at the shadowy runes, notably different from the other runes. Time runes had their own look, strange and hard to pin down. "Alright, so..." With a twinkle of magic, she produced her little modifying spell in the air over her, floating runes.

She reached up with a hoof and slapped the runes down on the existing spells. "You need the first part here... And the second..." She dutifully showed what the spell would look like, modified. "Once you've used this a few times, you'll get the hang of how to put it on other spells."

"One thing." Umbra pointed to the new spell. "If it's going faster, I bet it takes more energy to do."

"Very true." Minuette tapped at the resulting spell. "Can you cast this?"

"I cannot," admitted Umbra. "Your magic has some new runes in it. Is time magic forbidden like shadow magic?"

"Yep!" Minuette bounced in place a little. "You can cause a lot of headaches if you do it wrong, or a bad pony were to start messing with it. So they don't teach the time runes by default. You can't use it bad if you don't even have it."

Umbra raised a brow. "Who taught you?"

Minuette pointed to the hourglass on her rump. "I taught me. It's how I got my cutie mark." She beamed with a joyful pride. "And why Celestia took me into her school. Fun place, met a lot of good ponies there."

Umbra crossed her arms. "Jealous. No fancy magic schools for me, but I did have some nice tutors, like Twilight."

"Twilight! She's a princess now, you know? And! And! She was a classmate of mine. Gosh, I feel better about this." There was a blink, a shudder? "I copied the spell for you, for later." Her magic was gone, no longer glowing with the edits. "It's on page 64. For now, we have to learn some time runes."

Umbra blinked slowly. Was that? "Nice... You just time magiced."

"You noticed? Clever pony." Minuette seemed only amused. "I sped up me-time and did the copy and brought it back down afterwards. I'm glad you didn't get sick."

Umbra squinted at that. "Time magic is... Why would a pony get sick?"

"It's like being on a cart." She wobbled a hoof. "You have built in senses for time, and when it's thrown off, that can make you queasy. You noticed it, but you didn't get queasy, which is good! But some ponies may get queasy, or even make... a bit of a mess... Don't get mad at them, they didn't ask for it."

Umbra grunted at that mental image. "Uck... Time has its dangers." Even if it was just tossing cookies. "Is that the worst?"

"I wish." She threw that idea with a toss of a hoof. "And that is why you shouldn't time-zap other ponies willy nilly. Different ponies can react different ways. I'm alright with it, so using it on me? Not worried." She pointed back to that hourglass. "It's my destiny! Cutie marks are great like that." She then studied Umbra's mark. "And yours is a heart... made of crystal? Oh! The crystal heart, adoy! From the Crystal Empire... What can you do with that?"

Umbra peeked back at her rump. "I can work with crystals really well... But I'm not... Oh!" She stood up with a smile. "I can affect pony's hearts."

Minuette whistled sharply. "Like Cadance?"

"No... Not like that. I can help them be strong." Umbra thumped her own chest. "Determination and grit in the face of overwhelming odds."

Minuette's eyes widened. "Wow, neat!" She danced in place. "Wish you were around when that whole changeling attack happened. Ponies were kinda super scared... Um, me included."

Umbra set a hoof on Minuette's shoulder. "I haven't really heard that story. I think that's from before I showed up. So, time rune?"

"Time rune!" Her horn glowed as she conjured the first time rune over her head. "Here's one. It's about seeing time. Seeing time is easy, you're seeing it right now, passing by at a nice steady one second every single second. Magic! Work this rune into a spell to get a better perception of it, or to let a spell see and react to the flow of time."

The magic lesson began in earnest, showing Umbra how to form each rune in turn. "It's so nice to have a student. Most ponies get overwhelmed when I start talking about how time works, and then they wander off." She pouted a little, but it turned to a bright smile. "But not you, so listen up!"

Umbra was all too happy to pay attention and learn a thing. The wizard part of her was delighted to add to her arsenal the power of time itself.

And she made a friend. That was a nice bonus!

90 - Gloves Off

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"I'm glad you visited today." Starlight brought her hooves together, a calculating smile on her face. "I admit, I'm surprised. No +1? No kid? I thought you were kinda attached to both of those."

"I let them have fun in Canterlot." Umbra's horn glowed as she summoned her book. "She's still learning stuff... and I learned stuff. You meet a Minuette?"

"Friend of Twilight's?" ventured Starlight. "About all I know about her. I see her around town once in a while..."

"That's the one." Umbra set the book down. "Now, I think we have business that's been waiting a while."

"Oh, I love where this is headed." Starlight rubbed her hooves together, smile turning malicious. "Rules, first to give up or pass out loses. Let's try not to lower the population of Equestria Wizards today, hm? Just some fun between peers."

"Those sound like reasonable rules." Umbra vanished, sinking into the darkness beneath her and popping free about fifteen feet away. "Shall we begin?"

"With pleasure." Starlight sent a beam of searing light, her sparkles dancing around the beam as it struck the ground Umbra had been a moment before, already leaping away.

The rocks it hit burst into flames and began to pop like popcorn in a cascade of puffs, but neither was paying attention, there was a battle to participate in.

"So..." Shifting considered her roomie. "I'm the mom right now."

"You are in charge," allowed Morning. "But you are not mom. You are mom's girlfriend, and maybe wife, later."

Shifting frowned at the idea. "And if we marry, doesn't that make me your mom?"

"No." No argument given, just a flat denial. "Are you strong?"

Shifting inclined her head. "In what way? I could pick up big heavy things."

"That's something, but not something that impresses me." Morning crossed her arms. "Mother is a creature of magic and shadow. I am a creature of shadow and nightmare." She flashed a smile with a predator's intent. "Impress me."

Shifting raised a hoof to her chin in a moment of quiet thought. "I tought your mother how to make magic things, so she could--"

"--Thank you." Morning inclined her head. "Are you offering to teach me?"

"You're in the middle of learning something," huffed Shifting. "You don't need more lessons with your lessons. How's your schoolwork going, by the way?"

"Almost done." Morning reached over to pat her book. "And at the requested pace. Time flies when you're enjoying yourself, and the nightmare lessons are quite enjoyable."

"Good. Good...." Shifting considered and perked suddenly. "How long did she say she was going to be gone?"

"Approximately 5 days." Morning perked an ear at Shifting. "Why?"

"Because I hear her." Shifting threw open the door and trotted out without a delay.

Morning blinked in shock. "Mother?!" She hopped to her hooves and scampered after Shifting. "You're home?!"

There was Umbra, coming in the hallway. Her face turned to a scowl on seeing Morning. "Didn't I tell you to stay with Shifting Prism? Where is she?"

Morning came to an abrupt halt, almost tripping. "She was just ahead of me, mother."

Umbra glanced over her shoulder, where no Shifting was. "I don't see her. Are you lying to me? I thought we had gotten past that..."

"N-no, of course not." Morning took an unsure step back. "I would never defy you, mother."

"Why am I wasting all these bits on this," grumbled Umbra, stomping right over Morning into the room. "I only have so many, you realize. You better be enjoying this."

"I am, mother." Morning hurried to catch up with her. "I am quite grateful. How did your visit go? Did you teach that pretender what true terror is?"

Umbra smirked maliciously. "As if you know."

"Mother?"

"As if you know," repeated Umbra, each word slow and precise. "You think you know, but all your terrors are up here." She tapped at her head. "You wouldn't even know what to do if they came out in person."

Morning trembled in place. What had she done to upset her mother? "I fear no terror." Her mother, perhaps, especially at that moment. "I will face the worst you have to test me with."

"What you fear most..." Umbra leaned forward, hooves clapped under her chin. "Is being shown you're wrong." With a rush of green flames, Shifting took the spot, smiling in the same predatory way. "Gotcha."

Morning blinked softly, unmoving, frozen. "Oh..." She crashed to her haunches. "I feel very stupid..."

"You're not. This is what changelings do." Shifting stepped down to stand. "I'm not mad at you. I hope you're not too mad at me."

"Why would I be mad at you?" Morning smiled sedately. "You have shown me a new fear, a novel horror. I will hold it preciously." She made as if to hug that ephemeral thing close. "This is a gift I will value."

Shifting considered the umbrum filly. "I'm still learning you." She reached out and wasn't resisted as she gently pet the filly. "But I'll keep trying. I know I feel like... extra, but I am a part of this family too, and I want to do my part."

Morning considered that with a curled hoof. "I understand that. Wanting to do my part is how I... I understand." The two met in a soft hug, though it was one that Morning broke first. "You want to be my mother? You have more to prove." She stood up and walked away at a relaxed rate. "But I will allow you to try."

"That's all I'm asking." Shifting moved instead for the kitchen. "Now what fearsome dinner are you looking forward to?"

The world slowed dramatically. Umbra flowed around the sparkling beam of pain, moving far faster than she usually did. The spell wore off an instant later. She wasn't Minuette, such tricks were draining, but it had worked. A second blast scorched her hoof, proving that Starlight was frighteningly good at sparring. "Blast it." She ducked under the third and sprang up in a twirling punch that cleaved through the space Starlight had been in.

"Woah ha," called out Starlight, looking way too happy about things. "Back off" She lashed out a hoof, catching Umbra and sending her flying in a twirl feet away. "You're going down." A sphere of power erupted up in time to catch and deflect Umbra's dark blast. "I practice this all the time."

Umbra scowled at her sparring partner. A pity she had nocreature to spar with. All her friends, aside Starlight, didn't want to do battle. "Dark has downsides." Her horn flashed brightly, that glow inverting, sucking light away from around and plunging the entire battlefield into darkness. She abandoned her physical form, becoming the lurking formless horror of the dark.

"Cheap trick." Starlight looked around wildly, her horn glowing to throw off light, but it was suffocatingly dark in all directions. "This isn't going to get you a win..." She fired wildly where she saw some movement, but no sound of pain came. Did she miss, or just see things?

"Why did you leave us?" Double Diamond emerged from the dark. "We wanted you, Starlight. Only you knew how to run things."

Starlight cringed back with a yelp. "Back off!" She zapped the pony, causing them to evaporate into mist. "This isn't fair..."

"We were surprised." Sugar Belle emerged with a haunted smile. "It happened so suddenly, but it wore off. Come on back. Nopony else is as ready as you are, Starlight Glimmer. Guide--"

She evaporated, magic slicing her in half. "This stopped being funny!" But she was breathing hard and scowling. "You won't shake me. Besides, this isn't magic."

"You just had to tell me the truth." Twilight appeared, wings flared. "If you enjoy controlling ponies... who am I to hold you back?!"

Starlight screamed and blasted the fake Twilight, but she didn't evaporate, instead blocking the bolt and turning it aside. "They clearly want you. Why were you hiding it from me?"

"That's sick!" practically shouted out Starlight. "I was wrong... They were wrong. Everypony involved was wrong." She sagged back, her fighting spirit having fled her. "I don't want that...Normal ponies don't want that."

Twilight advanced on silent and sedate hooves. "It's alright..." She put a hoof on Starlight's shoulder, eyes flaring with shadow magic. "It's okay..."

Shadowy chains wrapped around Starlight with unnerving speed, suddenly binding her so tightly she fell over. Twilight, returning with Umbra's visage, put a hoof on Starlight's nose. "I win."

"That wasn't even a little fair! We were supposed to match magics, not mind games." Starlight sniffed, eyes still stinging. "Not fair..."

"Shadow magic is mind games at least by half." Umbra waved away and the darkness fled, leaving them in a sunny field. "I've learned a lot of nice spells, but the not-nice ones are still there. Oh! You know I'm an umbrum, right?"

Starlight slowly rolled around, trying to get upright with limited success. "Don't quite know what that is... Still dirty pool."

"I am a creature of nightmares." She flashed a too-wide smile of sharpened fangs. "I can protect you from the night, or make you scream."

Starlight huffed. "Right... When do you let me go?"

"When you admit that you lost." Umbra nodded simply. "Then we're done for the moment."

"Ha...No." She burst with brilliant light, melting the shadowy chains away and letting her bounce to her hooves. "I'm going to tan your hide for what you did!"

Umbra squeaked and fled the incensed unicorn. Her plans had turned against her. Suddenly, everything was solid. She trapped her in a crystal block. Starlight sauntered up with a cocky smile. "What you get for thinking the fight's over before it is." She tapped at the crystal. "That was a real jerk move."

Umbra could not reply, encased as she was, just get out a muffled noise. "What was that?" Starlight raised a hoof to her ear dramatically. "I give up to Starlight who's way better at duels than me?"

Umbra rolled her eyes, but nodded, just faintly.

"Good." Starlight banished the crystal, freeing Umbra. "How did you even know about that stuff? I didn't tell you!"

"I didn't." Umbra stretched one limb at a time. "I let the nightmares in you out to play. I just played along, but I had no idea until it already happened."

Starlight hiked a brow. "Huh... Fine. I still won." She buffed at her chest. "But that was a good match, even if I still have to think a proper revenge for what you did! Um... So did you see that?" She began to color with shame. "Tell me you didn't."

But Umbra didn't lie. "I couldn't have predicted it, but I did see it..."

Starlight sagged. "You must think I'm a degenerate freak..."

"No!" Umbra pawed at Starlight's side. "You're an awesome unicorn, and still are. Seems, to me, that Equestria has no language to explain domsub relationships and how to approach them safely."

Starlight blinked owlishly. "Come again?"

"Domsub," repeated Umbra. "It's when you play at being the dominate or submissive part of a relationship. It can be entirely healthy, if done correctly. There are rules and ways to do it, and the one being dominated, the sub, is the one ultimately in control."

Starlight peered at Umbra skeptically. "If they're the one being controlled, how can they be in charge?"

"Because you care about them." Umbra tapped her hooves. "So you listen, closely. If they say the magic word, which you set ahead of time, or are otherwise not having fun, you stop. They call the shots, not you, the dom." She prodded at Starlight. "Which is what you are, little miss controller."

Starlight colored rapidly. "I'm getting better! No controlling ponies..."

"Hey, stop that." Umbra crossed her arms. "A little dom play is just fine, so long as you set the rules and obey the limits of your sub. The idea is to have fun."

"Fun?" Starlight shook her head slowly. "You need to explain this, all of this."

91 - (Clop) Taking Charge

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"You're sure about this?" Starlight sat up tall. "You're not exactly what I'd call a 'passive' pony. You really want to do this?"

"It's just for fun," Umbra lifted up her tiara with both hooves. "And... now they can feel it too."

"They can feel what?" Starlight took the tiara in her own magic and set it aside carefully. "You said we should make a magic word."

"Go on," encouraged Umbra. "What will the magic word be?"

"Mmm... Dawn Rising. If you say Dawn Rising, then we stop. I won't use any magic that'd stop you from saying that, so..."

"So, if I feel scared, or just not having fun, I'll say it." Umbra pawed at her armor lightly. "Now, mistress, do you want your battle prize to be so well armored?"

Starlight colored gently, not used to such words in such a fashion. "It looks good on you..." A little smile formed. "But it could look even better off of you."

Umbra snickered, but didn't push the armor off. "Should I take it off myself, mistress, or will you strip me?"

Starlight circled her suddenly new pet. "Why don't you? Slowly... I want to watch every inch." She giggled into a hoof. "This is so naughty."

"Our private little naughty time," assured Umbra, slowly pushing the armor up over her own head, revealing her chest little by little. "And now I am exposing myself, in a way I wouldn't for many others. Just as you commanded, mistress. I am yours to control."

Starlight went in and tried something new, biting at Umbra's ear. "You look as delicious as you taste, morsel..."

Umbra wriggled at the bite, tail lashing behind her. "Mistress!"

"Did I do something wrong?" Starlight recoiled with worry, but didn't get far, Umbra's magic holding her gently.

"I didn't say the magic word, mistress." Umbra was calm and patient with new new dom, a little smile on her face. "What do you wish next?"

Starlight let out the breath she had been holding. "Right! Right... Sorry." She stepped over Umbra, but not all the way, settling atop her. "You are surprisingly warm... and soft. For being such a bold and dark warrior, you make a passable pillow." She settled entirely atop Umbra. "Which pleases your mistress."

Umbra let out a feline purr. "I can think of fewer better places to be than beneath you, mistress. Renowned wizard, you defeated me in combat, but my spirit burns."

"Mmm, maybe we should fix that." Starlight pawed at Umbra's back lightly with her hooves. "Though your petty struggles amuse me... Pet, I have an itch on my back, take care of it."

"May I use my magic, mistress? I can serve you better with it." Umbra flopped to her side, looking the rest of the way up at Starlight.

"As if I'm scared of your magic. Go ahead." Starlight fuffed at her mane gently. "Show me what you can do."

"As you command." Umbra reached with her magic, tickling and stroking along Starlight's mane in a casual exploration. She thought of her magic mane, but she had taken off her tiara, denying that trick. Ah well. She stroked along the soft hair and gently scratched at the flesh beneath. "You have such a lovely mane, mistress."

"It feels better with a little care." Starlight leaned in, pressing her nose to the side of Umbra's. "Keep going... Speaking of that, yours looks so much different without your tiara." She nosed along Umbra's head, reaching her mane and nuzzling into it. "Naughty creature, I forbid you from wearing it tomorrow."

"Mistress!" But a command was a command. "You must enjoy their watching."

"That's it! I command you tell me who 'they' are." Starlight crossed her arms. "That's an order."

Umbra pushed up at Starlight's chin. "Of course, mistress. Haven't I mentioned? I am bound to Cadance and Shining Armor. Without my tiara, they can feel everything I feel. They know there's a pony on top of me. They know I like it. Oh, how curious they must be, trying to figure out why I'm feeling the way I feel..."

Starlight recoiled a few inches. "Wow... You are a dirty little mare. Sharing this with them." She wagged a hoof down at Umbra. "And here I was, feeling guilty. The real villain in this room isn't me."

Half a world away, Cadance blushed. She could feel the pressure, and the press of a mare. It wasn't Shining, she had just seen him, out, training the guards. He took that very seriously, so he'd be busy for a while. That he'd also be feeling this only made her blush worse. What was Umbra doing?

Umbra curled up to kiss Starlight's chest. "A villain caught in the hold of your gentle hooves."

"Right where you want to be." Starlight gently rubbed at Umbra's front, gazing fondly at her. Her tail lifted, tip swishing. "Maybe next time you'll win, hm? Then you can be the mistress."

"As if I could win against you." Plans were already being formed to secure that. "You are obviously the superior wizard."

"And you know it." Starlight cupped Umbra's cheeks. "Now... I want to do something... more...but I admit I'm really not sure what the next step is."

Umbra hiked a brow at that. Ponies were so innocent! "Since you're asking, mistress, there's a few things we could do. You could order me to satisfy your depraved desires. I'll make you sing with delight."

Starlight's face burned, just thinking of what Umbra just said. "Y-you'd do... Right, yes, of course, pet." She gently slid off Umbra, standing up. "Your mistress is... amused at this idea. Your mouth was annoying earlier, so let's put it to better use! I don't want to hear any more words from you."

"As you command." Umbra got the hints. Where she was going, there would be no room for words. She sat up, horn glowing as she took form hold of Starlight's rump and pulled her right over. "You have a delightfully round bottom, mistress."

"H-hey..." But Starlight didn't try to flee. "I'm not a lazy pony."

"I wasn't complaining, mistress." Umbra nuzzled that bottom, to discover that Starlight wasn't lying. She was firmer than she appeared. The fur was soft, but Starlight was an active pony and had a toned rump, concealed under that fluffy fur. "I'm impressed." She nipped, working her way towards the main event.

"You better be!" She jumped with a squeak as she felt attention where she hadn't before. "You're actually doing it." There were no words in reply. That had been forbidden. "Wow... Just... Keep doing that..." She curled an ear back as she felt a questing tongue exploring her thick equine nethers. "Is... this what I've been skipping on?" She lifted her tail high to give more room for things.

Umbra found the little button of a pony mare's delight. She didn't attack it, that was rude, and wouldn't get the response she wanted. She teased around it, and nuzzled gently, working up Starlight a little at a time. When her tongue strayed over it, only briefly at a time, each brought a sharp gasp, but didn't overwhelm the situation as she played her mistress like the fine instrument she was.

"I had no idea," admitted Starlight breathlessly, relaxing and tensing in a contrary way as her tongue began to hang faintly. "Yes... like that... You're making your mistress so very happy with you... Dirty pony, bury that snout..."

Well, she had been asked. Umbra pressed a little more firmly, getting her snoot just past the firm ring and exploring into the depths of the wizard. Her tongue began to lap and taste at the increasingly warm and wet confines of the gasping unicorn. It was a pity, she thought, that Starlight didn't play a little more often. She was clearly enjoying it. Umbra raised her hooves to keep those rump cheeks spread for her.

"By Celestia..." She curled her back downwards, rump held high. "You don't quit... do you, mmm, don't!" She pawed at the ground, digging with her hooves in jittering little convulsions of her pleased body. "With this kind of... reward, mmm, not sure I'll ever let you win."

Umbra snorted gently, an action that got a fresh jump as the air washed through Starlight. She would not lose so easily! But she had, and she would pay the price. She opened her eyes, taking her attention off the exploration of her tongue a moment to realize she was staring right into the tight back entrance of the mare. Ponies, she swiftly discovered, didn't stink. All of Starlight smelled... of Starlight, a specific scent.

She drew back and free of Starlight's mildly leaking nethers, licking her snout clean. "W-what?" Starlight looked over her shoulder. "You're done?"

Umbra was not, but didn't say that. Her actions would speak louder, and she was told not to speak. She drew Starlight back as she went in, planting a smooch right on that thick ring of muscles, like a face to face exchange, but on the wrong end, or maybe the right one?

Starlight tensed. "Oh! Oh... Is... Is that even?" She was watching over her shoulder with obvious amazement, but she wasn't stopping Umbra's slow exploring of her sensitive ring. "You are full of surprises I couldn't have guessed in a thousand moons... Dirty mare... so dirty..." And yet, she was allowing it to happen, warming with pleasure.

Umbra's horn glowed as she reached with her magic, teasing Starlight's vulva below as she teased the mare without mercy. It was too much, all too much. Starlight let out a squealing cry, a fresh wave of warm lubricant matching the arrival, but it would not be the last, oh no. Umbra redoubled her efforts, keeping Starlight singing and moaning.

"Bright dawn!"

Umbra sat back with clear confusion. "It's not usually the dom that uses that. What's wrong?"

Starlight flopped forward, tail laying flat on the ground. "That... was intense." She rolled onto her back. "Not complaining... but I needed a pause..." She heaved for breath, chest rising and falling in her effort to regain herself. "Wow..."

"Mistress, we can continue, or not. You called the magic word, we stop until you say otherwise." Umbra smiled at her vanquished rival. "That goes for either of us, which you figured out without me even making that clear."

"I'm not a foal." Starlight sat up with a final sigh. "Wow... I'm having all the fun, and you're doing all the work."

Umbra raised a brow. "You're assuming I'm not enjoying making you scream. Every part of you is fascinating, Starlight. Every. Part." She tapped at Starlight as she slowed her words. "So it's up to you, do I keep exploring the depths of the Starlight mines, or are we done for today? Or we could pivot here and start a new scenario, hm? You called the word, you're in charge."

Starlight rubbed her cheek softly. "This is all so new to me... Look, before you came along, I was a virgin. I wasn't even all that worked up about it! I didn't care! I was just living my life, and here you come, just... throwing me off the deep end."

Umbra's brows fell together in a sly grin. "You poked a shadow and found it surprisingly deep, is what I'm hearing. Again, your choice, your call. If you're done, we're done. It's your decision. I won't complain, that's how this works. You'd do the same if I said the magic word. That's respect, and how to domsub properly, because we care about each other and, ultimately, both want the other to be happy."

"I... I'm done for today." Her tail gave a lash. "But that's not because I'm mad. You were... great, and a bit overwhelming. I'm the one that can't take it... Rain check?"

Umbra tapped Starlight on her quivering nose. "You'll have to win again, or I'll be in charge next time. those are the rules we set."

"You're going down," confidently sneered Starlight, so much more confident when speaking of sparring.

"You are hoping I will." Umbra saw her joke sailed over Starlight's head, and that was fine. "Let's talk magic!"

92 - Mistress

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Umbra gently nuzzled at her magic partner. "I had a lot of fun, so much... but I really should go."

"Aw." Starlight willed her book shut, floating it towards a shelf. "Do you have to?"

"We both have our responsibilities." Umbra stretched languidly. "And we both have something to look forward to. Top or bottom, our next match will be... interesting, hm?"

"One word for it." Starlight raised a hoof to her chin. "Oh... should I... not with other ponies?"

"Why not?" Umbra snorted softly. "We're not officially 'a thing'. I can't claim you like that. I already have a thing! A lot of things! They have more right to be angry at me right now." She looked off into the distance. "I bet some of them are trying to figure out exactly what I've been up to, but I also guess they can take a few guesses..."

Starlight darkened at the thought. "I don't want to get you in trouble..."

"Me and Cadance and Shining are officially open. They're closed with each other." She gestured in the air, explaining the facets of the polycule. "But share access to me. That's where I left that, so if they want to take umbrage now, they'd better start from the understanding that we are not a closed thing, but maybe could be?"

She went stiff suddenly. "Dirty p-pool..." She spread her wings, but her muscles were twitching lightly. "Mmmf, not... fair."

"Are you alright?" Starlight bounced to her hooves. "Can I help!?"

"They are exacting their terrible revenge." Umbra forced a smile. "And I deserve it."

Starlight gave a soft huh. "You look like you're enjoying that as much as you're not. Maybe this is exactly your kind of game... Either way... thank you for sharing." She offered a hoof, meeting in a firm clop. "I will tan your hide next time, so bring your A game."

"You know it." With all her things gathered, Umbra saw no more point in delay. "They must be missing me. Take care." She melded into the dark of the ground and was gone, zipping back towards her family.

Sure, the happy couple were happy coupling at her, and not even trying to hide their broadcasts, but she had literally just done that to them, so she couldn't rouse the will to even be angry at them. Let them enjoy their little revenge. She had more immediate things to get back to.

"Mother." Morning nodded lightly at Umbra. "It is good to see you back."

"Umbra!" Shifting was far less reserved about it, tackle-hugging Umbra tightly. "Did Starlight give you a run for your money?" Shifting was Starlight, grinning at Umbra. Her mischief turned suddenly to surprise. With a new green rush of flames, she returned to her crystal bat self. "We... should talk."

Umbra hmmed? "Is something wrong?" She went past Shifting to smooch the top of Morning's head. "Have you been good for your mom?"

"You weren't here." Morning inclined her head. "How can I be good for you? My homework is complete."

"That's good, very good. I meant her, silly." She pointed to Shifting. "She's your mom too."

"She's on probation." Morning turned half away. "We're working that out. I will keep you updated, mother."

Shifting laughed tensely. "That's between her and me. Work in progress... But we do need to talk."

Umbra dropped her saddlebag off and came back to Shifting. "I always have time for you. What's up?"

"This way." Shifting led Umbra outside the house, waiting for the door to close before she sighed. "I thought we were a thing. You know... fiances?"

Umbra sat down, still a moment before it clicked. "Shoot... We didn't set that boundary, and it's at least as much my fault if not more. I'm sorry. You can be angry at me now... But I am curious, what set you off?"

Shifting raised a brow. "I was Starlight and you felt something besides just friendship at her... It's hard to sneak cheat on a changeling!" She stomped a hoof. "And I don't even like that kind of love! Ew..."

Umbra raised her hooves protectively. "Not sneak cheating, taking that blame right up front. You have all the right to be angry with me, but I'd like to fix it so it doesn't happen again."

"And how do you do that? I thought I could trust you." She crossed her arms with a mighty pout.

Umbra curled her hooves back on herself. "By actually setting those boundaries. I do not break a promise that's made. Now, you know I'm already part of a thing, right?"

"Starlight is not Cadance or Shining Armor," huffed out Shifting. "And still..."

"And still we didn't set the rules. So let's set them, nice and clear." Umbra drew a line in the dirt. "I did bad, no arguments. Let's never repeat that."

"Stop being reasonable!" shouted Shifting perhaps louder than she intended. "Let me be angry... You did something worth being angry about. It's not fair you're trying to adult-smother it..."

Umbra closed her mouth and flopped over. "I am ready for my punishment."

Shifting nudged at the prone Umbra, the contact not qualifying as a strike on any level, barely rocking her. "Ugh... Being reasonable can be a pain too... So...." Her cheeks began to warm. "Why were you doing things with Starlight, and not me? Did you think I... wasn't available?" She glanced away. "I know I'm not that eager..."

"That was part of it." Umbra gently pawed at Shifting's hooves, playing footsies with her, still sprawled on the ground. "The other was wild happenstance. I realized ponies just didn't understand a kink, so I showed it to her... and we both had a good time, and I hurt your feelings and ugh I am the worst."

"Let me say that," huffed out Shifting, tail lashing agitatedly. "You gave a lesson on naughty play?!"

"Yep."

"Is..." Shifting rolled a hoof in the air, pawing at nothing. "Do I know this lesson?"

"I don't know, but I doubt it." Umbra rolled up to upright. "I think I just invented a kink for the world, which is something to be proud of... but not worth the price if you're mad at me."

"I am mad at you!" She swatted at Umbra, a light thwap. "So... boundaries. We are a couple. No playing with other ponies!"

"What about Shining and Cadance?" Umbra waved off towards the North. "No them?"

"Nnng... I already knew about them." Shifting perked her ears. "But you don't play with them.... much? Do you? I don't... Do you?!"

"I got real busy..." Umbra considered a moment. "I want to make it up... What can I do? Not a gift, unless you really want something, but something I do for you. What do you really want? I owe that and a lot more."

"Is she still my maybe mother?" Morning was peeking out the door to the house. "Or should I eject her?"

"You will do no such thing!" Umbra circled to be in the way between the two. "I was the bad one. If anyone was being kicked out, it'd be me."

"I doubt that." Morning was unwaving in her faith. "Very well. Shifting was preparing dinner, but you arrived... Shall I fetch you something, mother? I can let you have mine."

"You will enjoy your portion. That's an order." Umbra turned back to Shifting. "I'll order something. My fault for showing up as late as I did. Besides, I don't deserve Shifting treats right now."

"Stop being reasonable." Shifting nipped at Umbra on the way past. "And dramatic. I'll have a portion ready..." She slipped inside to make that happen.

Umbra gently patted the top of Morning. "I don't deserve her."

"Of course you do." Morning headed inside. "One day, I will vanquish and conquer a pony of my own. They'll make me dinner."

Umbra followed after with a soft huff. "We're going to have to go over that... In the meanwhile, your homework is done, good. Are you done with your umbrum lessons?"

Morning smiled a victorious predator smile. "He said that I had a warrior's heart. Charmed, but I'd remember if I had a valuable heart. I'd ask you to seal it in crystal as a keepsake." She hopped up at the dining room table to have herself a seat. "We have accomplished our goals."

"We have!" Umbra stepped up to sit across from her child. "Which means it's about time to head home with our prizes."

Shifting came in, setting down a few platters with her wings, giving a final little fluttering flap with the last settled in place. "You never said how Luna did with your book. Is she a shadow wizard too now?"

Umbra softly hummed at that. "Now that you put it that way... She was a wizard before I got there, for over a thousand years, even if most of those were spent in timeout. And she is princess of the night. It shouldn't be a surprise that shadow magic came easily for her. As difficult as it was to grapple for her sister, she eagerly devoured it. 'Shadow spells that do good things? How novel!' she had said, and ate it all up."

Morning frowned a little. "You are emboldening your rivals, mother. Why?"

Umbra waved a hoof at Morning in a little wag. "A favor given today is received tomorrow. Besides, we're more likely to be on the same side than not, and I'd rather have my shadow magic used for me."

Morning's concern faded into a smile, rubbing her hooves together. "Brilliant, mother. You are arming your servant. I see the wisdom in that. That will free you to use your magic to other ends at the same time."

Shifting reached with a wing, gently patting the foal. "You are amazing to listen to at times, now, everypony eat up and enjoy."

Umbra took a cheesy bite of dinner. "Mmm, this is new, and good..."

Shifting took her own toothsome chomp. "Canterlot has different things in its market, and while you two were learning all kinds of magic, I was picking up some local recipes. I'm casting my own spell on you both, and you're helpless to resist it."

Umbra licked some of the cheese clear of her snout. "I surrender to your culinary skills, which I didn't know you had a lot of, but you've gained a skill while I wasn't looking. Sneaky thing."

Shifting's tufted ears wagged. "I can learn a thing or two. Not just you two are expanding their horizons."

Morning didn't respond, too busy viciously tearing into her food. She approved of it, at least was clear, ripping it to shreds between her sharp teeth and voracious appetite.

Shifting watched her with a little smile. "It's not hard to see when you got it right with her. So, when are we heading back?"

"I'm done." Umbra clapped her hooves, but was still nibbling at floating food. "We go back when you can say the same. You waited patiently for me, and put up with me being a dingus. This trip is now yours. We go back when you want to go back and not a moment sooner."

"What power." Shifting leaned in, licking a cheesy spot off her girlfriend. "It'll go straight to my head... Alright. I'll have a plan ready for tomorrow. For tonight, we just enjoy being a family."

"I'll drink to that." Umbra willed a bottle over to pour two glasses.

Morning was watching intently.

"Something wrong?"

"You forgot a glass, mother." Morning pointed at the two glasses, clearly missing the third.

Umbra popped the cork back in place. "This drink isn't for foals, which you are. I care about you, so no."

"What could you be drinking that I would not tolerate?" Morning frowned with thought. "I'm tough."

"I'm certain you are..." She tapped the glass. "This is a poison. Adults drink it as a sort of game." She wasn't even lying! "Finish growing up before we sabotage things."

"A curious game." Morning was looking at the bottle of poison. "I don't need to prove myself that way. The broken bodies of my enemies works better than harming my own."

93 - I Can't.

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The next day came. Umbra shook herself out, inspecting her mane and patting down the fur of her pelt. She was ready to hit the town. "Shifting!" She emerged from the bedroom, looking around. "Prism?" Oh, there she was, Umbra accelerated to her side in the living room. "There you are. Where are we headed first today?"

"Nowhere..." The tone sent a chill down Umbra's back. "Together."

Umbra came to a complete halt. "What's wrong?"

"You're being rational, and reasonable, and that doesn't make... my feelings just go away. The more I think about it, the more it hurts, and you left me no room." She crossed her arms firmly. "And it's not normal! Monogamy is, what... the default? You shoulda asked before you went and did something else. Besides... Besides... I was caring for your child, and don't even start. She's yours. I was working on changing that, but it isn't changed."

Umbra raised a hoof and opened her mouth, but her argument wasn't coming out very well. She didn't want to argue with Shifting. "I was wrong..."

"I'm glad you see that." Shifting stood up slowly. "But I'm still hurt. And it won't be the last time. You are very reasonable... when you get your way. You're not... a mean person, but a little self-centered." She smiled lopsidedly. "That confidence is part of why I was attracted... I was dumb! I was dumb..."

Umbra's eyes flared with her power, though she was doing nothing with it. "Are you saying--"

"--We're done." Shifting turned away. "I'm...not angry, just... done. You broke a rule that shouldn't ever be broken. I hope, if you find another special... If you do, you'll learn from this."

The dark energy flared brighter, sizzling darkly at the tears that fell. "No," she barely whispered. She had no right to complain. She had no right to stand in Shifting's way. "Please... I'll..." She stopped. She had been about to say she'll get better. But she could remember way too many friends who had been hurt way too many times by people who said exactly the same thing, their abusers sweet talking them into docility.

Maybe she could do that to Shifting.

But then she'd be just as bad... "Can we be friends, at least?" Umbra forced a smile. "O&O won't be the same without you."

Shifting wheeled on her and swatted at her front. "Dummy... I thought you wouldn't want... that. Having your ex partner around... Do you want that?" She scowled. "And it better not be an excuse to try to win me back."

"No no..." Umbra raised her hooves. "This is... my mistake... I... just want to limit the damage. You're fun to be around, even if we're not +1s. I would be very happy to have you as my jeweling buddy and an O&O player."

Shifting leveled a hoof at Umbra. "We can never be... I need to have complete trust, and you broke that, and it wasn't a small thing. Faith... It's delicate... And you smashed it." She hugged herself, hooves pressing into her sides in the squeeze. "It hurts, and you can't fix it..."

Umbra's ears fell back. Momentary thoughts of dark magic rose. She could fix it. She could fix it all with the right terrible bits of magic. But then she would be outright admitting she was a monster. A terrible thing worthy of scorn. "I'm so sorry..."

"Me too," barely got out Shifting. "Me... too..." She turned for the door. "Have a safe trip, Umbra. See you at the next session." She fled before she could second guess herself. She was doing the right thing, Umbra decided, standing up for herself and setting the firmest of boundaries. Would that her old friends had that strength.

It made Umbra all the sadder that this wonderful lady was leaving her, and she deserved it. Umbra slammed a hoof down with a grunt, alone in the living room. "Damn it..."

"Mother." There was Morning, peeking out from a hallway. "Are today's plans..."

"Aborted," grunted Umbra, offering a hoof. Thankfully, it soon had a Morning in reach of it. She drew her little monster of a filly in close, hugging them. "Your mother did something very stupid... and got what she deserves."

"What did you do, Mother? Did you lose a battle?" She curled in with Umbra, a warm little nightmare. "I can fight if you like?"

"I did lose a battle, though foolishness. It is entirely... I did this to myself." She curled in, touching nose to nose with Morning, gazing into her eyes. "If you find a creature worthy of your heart, do not lie to them. Do not skirt the rules with them. If they are that wonderful... they don't deserve that, and you deserve a special someone you never have to hide secrets from."

"That is a lot of faith, Mother." She sat up, still a moment. "I'm not sure I could trust that much."

"You trust me, don't you?" Umbra sat up properly, letting Morning sit on her own.

"Yes, mother. If you wished for my destruction, you would have it." She glanced towards the door. "Why don't you destroy her? She is clearly not going to give you what you want."

Umbra winced at the idea. "Because only a weak person hurts because they didn't get what they want. My plans will adjust, without her as my special someone, but I made the mistake. I deserve to be hurt way more than she does."

"Hm." Morning didn't sound convinced. "Just tell me when, mother. I can make her regret her decisions."

"You will do no such thing." Umbra wriggled her nose. "It was my mistake..." She considered where to go and what to do. She had little further... "Oh, we should visit Celestia."

"The sun princess?" Morning rose to her hooves. "She is not... like us."

"She's about the opposite, but she's also the loving sister of Luna. We can get along." She gently nipped her daughter's ear. "Yes, let's talk with Celestia."

They left together. The guard at the castle nodded at them. "Umbra Shadowheart." He did not bar the way. "I was not informed of your visit."

"Celestia left an open invitation." Umbra advanced past the guard, the way open. As she advanced into the castle, she could think of the family name. Shadowheart. Her heart felt that way... She hadn't selected the name for that, a bit of poor irony? Was that using irony correctly? She shook her head as she went through the richly appointed halls. "Equestria architecture is not Crystal Empire."

"Far less crystals," agreed Morning gently. "More stone. Solid. More painted windows, flimsy. A contradiction. Are they trying to be more or less fortified?"

"I think Celestia loves having her cake and eating it, if she can get away with it." Umbra sped up with a little smile. A chat with Celestia sounded like maybe fun, even if they would likely talk about some unfun things.

They found Celestia where she spent much time, in her courtroom. She sat on her tall throne, speaking to various supplicants that advanced in front of her. "We have heard your plea," she assured one pony. "Your permit will be granted, assuming approval of the city mayor." She raised a hoof, a stamp could be heard thumping down. "Take this to their office for final approval."

The pony walked off with a big happy smile, clearly getting what they wanted.

Celestia saw Umbra, hard to miss that large shadow mare. "Guard, see Umbra to the late spring room. I'll be there after we adjourn." And swiftly did she banish Umbra to continue her affairs.

Umbra didn't fight that, following the guard along. "She looked quite busy."

"She usually is, ma'am," crisply replied the guard. "Here we are." He willed the door open, a unicorn. "If you require anything, please let a maid know."

Umbra made sure Morning was with her and headed inside. "I heard rumors..." And they weren't wrong. Sweet treats were already arranged, including little cakes and cookies. Celestia had a sweet tooth. "In the mood to teach sweet things a lesson?"

"Gladly." Morning hopped up into a seat and held out a hoof patiently for Umbra to float a cookie into it. She reduced it to a sad crumb pile that was full of nothing but regret. "Well made, mother."

"I would hope so." Umbra sat next to her, floating a cookie to join her daughter, though she ate less voraciously. "Mmm..." It didn't distract her from what had happened that day. How she could have acted better played in her mind, starting with the most obvious point. She could have just not played with Starlight... Why did she think that was alright?! It wasn't alright... It was so not alright...

"Mother?"

Umbra quirked an ear and a wing. "Hm? Sorry, thoughts wandered off."

"You should keep better control of them," gently counseled Morning. "Umbrum do not tolerate wandering thoughts. We control them."

Umbra gently rubbed the top of Morning's head. "You do an excellent job of that. I'm not sure if I mentioned this, but I wasn't always an umbrum. That may be why it doesn't click... But then I wasn't a wizard either, and that's working fine." She shrugged at that. "We all have our talents. I look forward to seeing how your mastery awes us all. You won't let anything hurt our ponies, right?"

"Correct." Morning nodded in easy agreement. "I will not let them damage our property. I can't scare them if something else does it, mother." She perked an ear. "Something large is coming."

The door opened an instant after that, allowing Celestia to step into the room. "Good afternoon." She nodded to each of them with a soft smile. "You should have warned me, or I wouldn't have made you wait."

Umbra raised a hoof swiftly. "My fault." She had a lot of those recently... "But you said to visit you, about the mirrors?"

"Ah, yes..." Celestia sank at the table, sitting. "There are countless mirrors, and they defy easy explanation... Even counting them has proven impossible. Whenever we think we have arrived at a number, we find a new mirror, or one goes missing. Portals to other possibilities, there may be no definite answer to how many of those there could be."

Umbra perked at that, interest growing. "That makes sense. You made countless new worlds just walking into here."

"Did I?" Celestia glanced back at the door she entered through. "I wasn't trying to."

"But you did anyway." Umbra pointed at that same door. "Let's start with that door. You could have come in a different way." She pointed to the door she had come in through. "You could have walked through the door. You could have ripped the door off its hinges and tossed it aside. Left? Right? More worlds. More possibilities. Maybe you got 3 brushes this morning, maybe 2, or none, the horror. Maybe you have a maid with you, still brushing even as you walk in. Infinite possibilities."

Celestia's eyes shone with wonder at this concept. "I feel like a foal, even trying to count them then... Why are you so educated on this matter? I'm not complaining... but quite curious." She sank her teeth into a slice of cake. "Mm, Vanilla, but, I suppose, it could have been carrot, or strawberry, or... Infinite indeed. What if I had started with a cookie, or some tea?"

Umbra clapped with a smile. "You got it! There's a reason you're a princess, clever thing." It was always nice when the ponies were quick on the uptake.

Celestia smiled gently. "I do appreciate the compliment, but my question remains."

"Ah, right. In my world... My original world... There was a lot of thought about this. I didn't make it up, just learned it from others that had thought about it long and hard and passed it along. And now I've passed it to you. I think they'd be happy to know their knowledge has passed on so far."

"So you have mirrors too?" pressed Celestia with curiosity shown.

"Oh, no! No no... Only in theory, but we can spend a lot of time thinking about theories, so..." Umbra took some of that mentioned tea. "Idle brains can make for interesting thoughts."

94 - Reflections

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Celestia peeked over her shoulder as she went down the hallway. "Where's the last of your party?"

"Hm?"

"I remember there being three of you." She paused and turned to point at the two remaining. "Where did that interesting crystal pony go? I never heard of that tribe before..." There was no such thing as crystal bat ponies.

Morning scoffed. "Mother's conquests too intimidated her and fled for her safety."

Celestia cocked a brow at that. "Is that so? I should be careful then. Conquests make me nervous at times as well." But she turned back around. "This is the room." She willed a door open, a guard standing at either side of it. "We keep ponies out, for their safety. It could be very easy for them to become lost, or hurt."

But she was Celestia, and they did not try to stop her, or her guests, from entering. There were countless cloth bumps decorating the room. "I hid the mirrors under these." She nudged at a tarp. "Each leading to one of those worlds I spoke of. Perhaps one to yours?"

Umbra wrapped her magic around Morning, squeezing gently. "Now is the time for you to stay close."

"Yes, mother," she promised obediently. "Is there a mirror where my people are still alive?"

Umbra flinched at that, but... "Probably... But they wouldn't be yours, exactly. They had to be a little different. Before the attack? Or they never launched it? Or they won?"

"Hm." Morning inclined her head left and right, considering that. "Then there would be another Morning there. Were I to see myself, there would be violence. We would both know there can only be one of us."

Celestia shook her head. "We should not visit violence on these other worlds. Why... imagine if they returned the favor? No violence, kindly. We are guests." She pressed on through the room. "The ones we pass now are the... basic ones, the ones that seem familiar, or at least recognizable. The ones that peer yet further, we have hidden away." She willed a new door open, starting down some stairs. "It can be confusing, even jarring, to look at these. At worlds so distant, they can boggle the mind."

Umbra's ears perked. "The possibilities are endless." But she looked interested, drawn, not scared. "Thank you for inviting me here, Celestia."

"You've earned this much." They reached the bottom and Celestia turned a knob, entering a combination that allowed the last door to open into a dusty room of lumps. "The Forbidden Mirrors. Considering they're all forbidden, this is a step beyond. Now, from what little I've gathered..." She turned slowly and veered to the left. "Your people are furless, like where Sunset fled..." She sighed gently at that. "Those mirrors..." She pointed at some lumps of cloth. "I had them gathered here."

Umbra sped up towards the mirrors that promised views of human-occupied worlds. "May I?" When Celestia nodded, Umbra flipped the tarp off the first one and let it fall aside. "Let's have a look."

Inside was an office. People huddled in their cubicles, typing busily with defeated eyes. There was no joy, only misery, accepted with each stroke of their fingers. Celestia cringed and stepped back slowly. "I hope not that one... As I said, this room has more... disturbing visions."

Umbra inclined her head. "This is a bit over the top." She leaned in though, looking from one person to the next. "But right species, I think..." Two legs, two arms, fingers, right number of them. The ratios were about right. One stood up to go to the bathroom, no tail! They were humans? So far as Umbra could-- One sneezed, but the sound came from the wrong end. "Oh..." She put the tarp back over the mirror.

That didn't stop her. There were more tarps with more possibilities. "Now, you said you couldn't count them." She bobbed a hoof from one tarp to the next in the human section. "Does that count this smaller section? There doesn't seem to be many here."

Celestia's horn glowed as she yanked one tarp free, revealing two mirrors close to one another. "They can be tricky."

Umbra blinked. That lump sure looked like one mirror! "Well! Fine... Actually, that's good. That means even if it looks like there's only a few, we still have a smaller infinity. Still infinity."

Morning blinked gently. "Mother, if it's infinity, how can it be small, or large?"

"Infinities are funny like that," half laughed out Umbra. "For example... Do you know what an integer is?" That got a blank look. "A number, with no fancy extra bits. One, two, one hundred, one million and four. Those are integers. With me?" Morning nodded, watching her mother. "Alright, so, that's infinity. You can always add one, forever, and get a new integer. There is no end."

"Alright... How is that large or small? It's infinity." She spread her hooves. "It's always very big."

"Right, but now... Let's say I only count even numbers. Two, Four, Twelve, One Hundred... They never end. You can always add two and get another. Infinity!"

"Infinity," agreed Morning. "When do we get a small or large infinity?"

"We already did," smugly concluded Umbra. "Even right from the start. two, four. But in the same space, you could fit one, two, three, and four. These infinities are clearly not the same. One is bigger than the other. One contains the other, and then more stuff. We can't hope to measure either, but we know, for sure, that one is bigger than the other." She threw her hooves wildly as she talked, trying to explain that math concept to her child. "Get it?"

Celestia was watching with wide eyes. "What? When did you become a mathematician? There are... ponies struggling to put words to these concepts right now."

Umbra colored at that. "I cannot take credit for that!" she wailed. "Don't ruin their days... I'm a cheat sheet from another universe." She waved at the covered mirrors. "Not remotely fair, and not a mark of me being super clever. You understood what I said? Then you're just as clever as I am."

Celestia smiled gently. "You are modest... How did you end up taking his... Nevermind. We should not question such things." She inclined her horn at the two exposed mirrors. "Did you want a peek?"

"Yes." Umbra willed one mirror aside. "One at a time." With a clear view, she peeked inside to see what was a strange place. They were humans, but their heads were wrong. Each wore a big mascot helmet, a goofy animal face thereon, but the animal face could smile, frown, blink, and otherwise react. That was their head. "Trippy..." That was clearly not her home. She slipped the tarp over it. "Now... even if I did find mine... pretty sure I wouldn't go into it."

Celestia hummed at that. "You mentioned this before. If true, why are you so curious to look? You don't have to, I remind."

"Don't have to..." Umbra slid in front of the next mirror. "But it's there and this is, to be blunt, fascinating."

The next mirror was not a scene. She was not watching people living their lives, oh no. With a sharp movement, a hand collided with the mirror from the other side, fangs exposed in a snarl. Some human-like figure was snarling at her with menace in its blood red eyes. Was that a vampire? Ghoul? Something of the sort... "Is there a reason it didn't just spill out into this room?"

Morning had her hackles raised, looking like a little cat ready to battle. "It doesn't dare!"

Celestia willed the tarp over the mirror. "Small blessings. When one looks into a world that is actively hostile, a barrier stops anypony from going in either direction. Now... if you insisted, you can push past it, then all bets are off. I don't recommend that." She nudged the mirror back with the others. "That is clearly not a safe place."

Umbra considered from one lump to the next. Each was equally likely to hold something interesting, or horrible, or both. "To think... I fell between that space." She wobbled a hoof between the mirrors. "From one world to another. Fortunately, this seems like a nice one." She pantomimed throwing off a tarp, her magic wrenching it free of a mirror. "And what do we have here?" Snow. A lot of snow. "I don't... see anyone, furry or not..." She leaned in to look about closer. "You sure these are all the furless ones?"

"At least at the time we arranged them," assured Celestia. "But with infinite mirrors... a mistake could have been made." She watched from behind Umbra. "That is curious... I don't see.... anything but snow."

Umbra shivered. "I'm getting cold just looking at it." But, there, in the distance. Umbra squinted for a better view. There was a fire, a tiny, distant, fire. Next to it, a single person. Male? Female? She couldn't tell, not at that distance. Besides, they were wearing thick clothing, as one would have to for that kind of inclement weather. It was a single person surviving in the middle of the arctic wasteland... "Wow..." The end of a world? A brave explorer? Part of her wanted to go and ask... "What happens if I go through?" She pointed at the mirror.

"That isn't your home, is it?" Celestia inclined her head at what was just a wintery hellscape from her angle. "Why would you want to visit that one?"

Umbra pointed at the long away person. "There's a person in there... I want to ask them what happened, or if they're just... exploring, or... I don't know... Curiosity is burning. Can I go ask?"

Morning lifted an ear, gazing on Celestia with new respect. "You must wield a terrible power, to make mother ask you before doing things."

"Vast and mighty," agreed Celestia gently. "But we are friends. I don't wish to stop you... but these portals can be... spotty. It may be fine, or it may close in a minute, or an hour... One can never be certain of their timing unless a given mirror is closely studied, which this one hasn't." She ducked down to look at something near the base. "No... not studied yet. We put plaques on the ones we figure out, for future reference. So... It is a risk... you may be stuck there for some time."

Umbra clapped once. "Ah! Is that how you knew how the other one worked? You'd already studied it... But why did you study it?" She looked between Celestia and the mirror. "It was just a random mirror, wasn't it?"

"It... was not," admitted Celestia, sagging. "Sunset Shimmer was my student... prized and so talented. Like Twilight, in a way... but Twilight came out of her shell and spread her wings, literally. Sunset instead ran away... One of my great failings." She sighed slowly. "I knew which mirror she fled through, so we studied it, and we knew it. That is also why we gathered all the furless mirrors together."

Umbra hummed gently. "That person..." She really wanted to know. "If it's as desolate as it looks, they may be the last... It wouldn't be... against any rules to offer them a different ending? If they are the last, the story of their people in their world is already over, just waiting for the last page to fold shut." She brought her hooves together with that finality. "It would be a mercy to offer that very last one a chance for some happiness, and wouldn't change the story of that world."

Celestia frowned with thought. "We do not want to unbalance the worlds... But if they are truly the last, a doomed last breath... then we wouldn't change much..." She took a slow breath. "Is it fair? There are countless worlds by your own logic, just like this one. Why rescue this one?"

Umbra smiled gently. "Because this is the one I saw."

95 - Company in Cold

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Celestia laughed in gentle melodious noise. "What an answer... Very well. I would suggest you move quickly, before the mirror decides to close itself." She brought down a hoof in front of Morning. "I will keep watch over her."

Morning frowned at the large ruler. "I can watch myself. I will wait until she returns."

Celestia inclined her head at the monstrous filly. "I hope this is the case, but if she becomes stuck for a time, you will need a caretaker, at least for a little while."

Umbra took a step towards the mirror. "That sounds like I'm allowed. Morning, be good. If things go wrong, I'll owe you a special something when I get back."

"I will hold you to that," calmly assured Morning, watching as Umbra slipped through the mirror, stepping into it. The entire thing became a swirling mass, facilitating the transfer? But it remained there. They would not be able to watch Umbra's journey.

Celestia sighed gently. "This is how we learned that imbalances are made. So long as she is there, it will remain like this, a demonstration that the delicate balance is skewed. Like a tapped pond of water, it becomes impossible to see through."

They would have to wait to see if things worked out.

Umbra fell between worlds. She was far more aware than the first time she had done it. Colors beyond her knowing flashed before her eyes, but it felt like her eyes weren't quite there, detached from her body as she plumetted. Screaming felt like a good option, but she held that back.

Forever, or an instant, she couldn't say which, but she landed in cold snow with a crunch. She scrambled up to all fours and discovered quickly that felt odd and wrong. She raised a gloved hand into view. "Oh." She had become a human, like the last time she visited a human world.

Like riding a bicycle, she got herself to two legs with just a little wobble. "Right, right..." The wind blew harsh and cold, making her hoodie flutter in its attempt to shield her. "This is too damn cold..." But she could see that distant fire and started towards it at a light jog. A jog would help her make more heat, right? Maybe? She tried it.

On the plus side, no sweat! On the negative, she was breathing in more frigid air, and that hurt. Okay, maybe less running... She slowed to a power walk, putting her breathing on manual to slow it down as well.

"Who?" came a voice from the fire. A male? They stood up, snow crunching under their feet. "How?" They gaped at Umbra coming in out of the storm into the relative peace of the fire. "This is... impossible."

"Hi." She waved as she hurried to sit next to that warm blaze. "It is very cold."

"It is very cold," he agreed, sitting with her next to the fire. "And you shouldn't be here..."

"Nope." She didn't argue that. "Are you alright?"

"Am I alright?" He waved at himself. "Me? I was raised here. What's your excuse?"

Umbra inclined her head at him slowly. "So... are you the last?"

"Last what?" He seemed to have accepted her being there, huddling in with the fire.

"Human." Umbra pointed at him. "Two hands, two legs, you know..."

He took a ragged breath, steam misting out with the release. "Can't be." He looked at her, staring. "Either you're one too, or there won't be any shortly."

Umbra flinched faintly, hearing the cold resignation in that voice. "Wow... What happened? Up to sharing?"

"You should know, either way." He swung his backpack around and dug in it. "If this is a last dinner, want something?" He dug out a tin, not sealed, apparently just used as storage as he set out the food within. A meaty mixture? He was fishing out a pan to cook it on, too.

Umbra wanted to flip an ear back, but human ears generally were not built for that, and hers remained where it started. "This is going to sound impossible, but I am a visitor from another place, or possibility, couldn't say for sure which. Maybe time? Kinda hope not that. Either way, outsider."

He emptied out the container onto the pan, soft sizzles greeting the approach of cooked food. "That so? You picked a strange place to visit... You want the story? Fine. Maybe something will remember it." He slackened with resignation. "They have stories where you come from? I heard they used to be real good at them. So good they made things to share them with people they'd never meet."

"Like Television?" proposed Umbra, sniffing gently at the rising scent of the food. It smelled nice, whatever it was. Subdued meat eating parts of her perked, wanting some of that, whatever it was.

"You know of that? I thought my grandparents were just making up words." He spilled the contents of the pan back into the tin. That was not sanitary, but he didn't have a lot of other options. "Come closer. Eat."

They were friends? They were friends. At least, Umbra decided that was a sign of that. She slid in closer to the strange man. He was light skinned, but not caucasian. Inuit? What some people called Eskimo. There was no fork, or second plate. Nope, they were doing it the old way. She buried a few fingers in there and took a scoop. "Mmm!" It was as good as her nose had been reporting. "Did you make this?"

"No... That's the last." He sat back, clearly not filling himself. "They came with a gentle promise. They didn't come to conquer us... Why would they? Gods. They could have erased us with a thought, and the planet with us. They didn't need the planet. They didn't need us. But they were lonely. They wanted more gods. They asked if we wanted to join them, and we replied in the most human way possible."

A few possibilities flitted through Umbra's mind, none of them good. She was tempted to blurt out a guess, but she waited for him to continue instead.

"You're a good listener." He pushed the tin into her hands, surrendering it to her entirely. "We plotted and schemed, but they were gods, and we were caught. They threw us to the ground, cast out of heaven. We weren't fit to be gods, so they left us to die, and we're doing that. Cruel... They could have just ended it, but instead they took our hope, and let us consider our mistakes as we passed."

Umbra winced, not feeling hungry for the warm food in the tin she held in her gloved hands. "What'd they do? You make it sound like they didn't just zap anyone."

"Zap? No... Not a person anyway." He pointed up into the sky. "The sun once bathed us in heat, so much that we were inviting it to scorch even brighter and hotter. It may have cooked us in time. It was maybe a joke. A sad joke with a lethal punchline... They solved that problem by stealing the power of the sun. It barely glows, just hot enough to survive, a while, a little while."

Umbra looked around the frozen hellscape, the wind howling past them. "We aren't in the arctic, are we?"

"Only a mad person would try to reach the poles. Father made that clear." He patted the snow beside him. "Only the middle of the world has some heat to live by."

Umbra clenched her teeth. It was cold! The poles had to be lethal, even in winter clothes. Cold enough for even the gas in the air to rain to the ground, perhaps? Cold. They hadn't blasted away the people or their planet, they just casually turned down the sun and left. What a godly thing to do... "I wonder."

"Hm?" He looked at her with curiosity. "What?"

"They could have ended it. I wonder if they were still... hoping you'd come around." She made circles in the air with a free hand, the other still holding the tin. "A last little hope kind of thing."

He smiled at that, lips chapped with the cold he dwelled in. "And how would we do that? We apologize? How?!" He rose up, shivering. "How?! Do we just shout at the sky?" He looked up into the dark howling winds. "We're sorry! We're... sorry." He crashed to his knees, catching himself on his hands, heaving for breath with painful cold air in his lungs. "We're sorry..."

Umbra reached for the man timidly, but he didn't flinch back, so she touched his back and gently rubbed. "I'm sorry..." She realized how that sounded. "For a different reason, but still..."

"If I'm the last." He pushed off the ground, taking a more natural seating position instead of hands and knees. "Then that's it, all of humanity has apologized. That's the best I can do."

"It's all you can do... But you did it. Feel better?" She set the tin aside, hunger entirely gone.

"It's a strange thing... but I do a little." He slapped her on the knee. "Thanks. So... what are you? Are you a god? Am I dead?"

"You wouldn't even believe me..."

"Try me." He smiled then, a true smile. "I spent years sure I was alone, now a pretty lady wanders up to share my last meal with me. I'm dead, or about to be. A story for a story. That's fair, right?"

Did those humans have religions? They surely believed in the idea of godlike beings, but then, so did ponies. That didn't mean they were active theists. The ponies worshipped Celestia, who was alive and could be poked, with permission. "That's a fair trade." She crossed her arms, inching closer to the fire. "I'm a magical horse from another world. A pony, to be specific. Coming here made me what lives on this world, so I'm a human now. When I go back, pony time!"

He scrunched his face at that idea. "When you go back? You can go back then?" A few fingers flexed in the air. "Can... I go with you? Is it warmer than here?"

Umbra lifted her shoulders. "You'd be living with ponies. Do you know what a pony is?"

"No," he admitted without guile. "Tell me? Are they nice? You seem kind so far."

Umbra smiled at that. She was being a good represenative of ponykind. That was a nice feeling. "You have two legs." She pointed to them to be sure of that. "They have four. Those legs end in flat hooves." She clenched her hand and tapped her two balled fists together. "Like this. Ever seen one?"

"I heard stories... I thought they were made up. They say they didn't survive the cold well." The cold didn't treat any of the animals well, clearly, being the last human around. "They talk?"

"Just like I'm doing." Umbra got up to her feet. "Come on. If you're ready, let's start hiking. It took a bit to get here, and it'll close... sometime... Maybe it already closed, don't know, but really hoping that didn't happen."

He scrambled to his feet. "You should have said that before." He threw things into his backpack in a hurry, just abandoning the fire as he started back the way she came. "You don't want to be stuck here, and neither do I."

Together, they started the journey back. "There's this pony, Celestia. She's in charge, and the biggest one, but very very nice. Just be polite and she'll be happy to see you."

"Celestia?" He laughed low at that. "I am saved from the darkened world, brought to a god with the name of the sun? Perhaps you are the mercy of the gods we spurned."

"I'll take that." She had emerged from a rock in the ground. Among the many snow dunes, it stuck out, the one bit of not-white.

But neither of them knew what was coming.

96 - Dawn

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It came silently. It had to, happening 91 million miles away, with the silently screaming void between them and its source. Despite this, that it happened was beyond denial. They were approaching the rock that barely peeked from the snow, already half buried in snow. It had taken them about ten minutes to get there, cold and miserable, as that world would have it.

A brightening, the world around them slowly becoming more visible through the snow as the sun pressed through the cloud cover above. He paused, looking up at the injured sun. "What? Did..." He shoved Umbra harder than was needed. "What's going on?"

"I know as well as you do," Which clearly wasn't much. That it was brighter seemed hard to argue. "Um... Here we are." She started brushing snow off her ticket home, clearing the way with great tossed of the fluffy powder that had stacked on it but hadn't had time to get too heavy.

"The gods are cruel... and we are foolish." He sighed heavily. "They had such a simple request, and we were stubborn, until the last..."

Umbra paused in her digging. "You think the sun's fixed?"

"I think it is, but the gods are wiser than we would be." He waved around at the lit snow. "It won't be fast. That would destroy the world. It will return as slowly as it left. I will be dead before it finishes becoming warm. This planet will be restored, and live without humans to bother it." He laughed at the bitter irony of the whole thing. "Perhaps what we deserved."

"Look." Umbra set her hands on her hips. "From what you've said, you weren't here when that happened. Don't take responsibility because some ancestors were dumb. You put it right, take pride in that." She hoisted a thumb to the sky. "Even if we're not here, this planet will be put back right, and you did that."

"So..." He came closer, sweeping away snow as she had been doing. "This will go to your world, somehow?" All he could see was the stone they were digging up. The portal was invisible from that side.

"You're alright with this?" Umbra resumed throwing snow aside, clearing the way. "You still want to go?"

"Why wouldn't I?" He shrugged with a misted sigh. "This world will be fine without me, but I'm out of food. I go with you, or I die. It's a miserable choice, but it doesn't sound that bad." He gasped, drawing in chilly air as his hand vanished into the stone itself. He yanked it free with a hiss. "Is this it?"

Umbra shuffled in next to him, brushing snow along the way. "Good job. One last thing, to be sure you understand. You will come out of this with hooves and a tail."

"Better than dead." He vanished, diving into the stone. Umbra shrugged to the empty world in recovery and slid in after him.

She hit the ground on all four hooves, flicking her returned tail. "I'm back!"

But attention was on something else than her. Celestia and Morning were peering at the new pony. They were snow white in appearance, with tinges of soft cyan blue around their unshorn fetlocks. The signs of cold weathering flecked over their form, and they were looking around with wide eyes.

Celestia's horn glowed as she placed a tarp over the mirror, closing it. "Welcome... Do you have a name?"

"Anik," offered the new pony, looking around in a slow circling. "And you are... Celestia?"

Celestia smiled brightly at that. "Did Umbra tell you that?"

"Umbra." He turned back to her. "That's your name?"

Umbra scooted over to Morning, scooping her up into a hug. "It is, and this is Morning, my daughter."

"Charmed." Morning was watching intently, as if ready for Anik to do something strange.

Anik rubbed his cheek softly, more interesting than usual as he used the hoof he never had before. "It's..." Hot? It wasn't hot, but it was a lot warmer than he was used to. "Is this what life used to be?"

Umbra extended a wing towards Anik. "It was just like it looked like. Humans in that world messed up really bad and got punished. He was the last one serving the sentence."

Celestia flinched back at those unyielding terms. "What was the sentence?"

"Death, or change. Either option being... painful." She shook herself out, but no snow had come with her. "A very cold and slow one at that."

Anik reached for Morning, just to be snapped at, enough to make him reconsider that option. "If she is a child, and you... And me? I am like an older brother." He laughed at that, a deep and true sound. "My name has a meaning, you know."

Celestia nodded. "You will find that most pony names have literal meanings. While other races use words they have long forgotten the meaning of, the pony language has only changed in written form, its spoken form remaining largely stable." She gestured in the air as she explained this. "So, Celestia." She gestured at herself. "And Umbra." She turned that hoof on Umbra. "And Morning." To the small filly. "We are named as we are. So, please, what does your name mean?"

Anik's mood had turned to the positive, unable to hold his vision on any one thing for long. "It means brother to a woman." He looked to Umbra. "I had thought you a lady, but you are more than that." His eyes went up along her. "You are large enough to be my mother easily, and you, my savior, have a daughter."

Umbra blinked softly, putting that together. "Meaning... you are a brother to Morning."

Celestia inclined her head. "I do not want to abandon you. You have my support in this, but it was your decision that brought him here."

Umbra shook her head slowly. "No! No, that's fine. I have... I can take care of him, and he deserves someone to do that." She floated Morning up to her back to ride her as was proper. "Warning, you are too large for me to want to give casual rides to. Learn to use those new legs of yours."

"I wouldn't dream." One could see that Anik was indeed dreaming that. "I owe you everything, as a son should their mother. What do people do in this world?"

Umbra considered her new son. "What did people do in your world?"

"Survive." He sank to his haunches, mood punctured a moment. "But that... What do you do here? I have died, and this is heaven. Do people eat? Do they drink? Are we... past these things?"

Celestia wriggled her nose. "I should imagine not. Eating and drinking are two pleasures most ponies share. If you don't do either, you will not be long for this world.

Anik suddenly hopped to his hooves. "What does your name mean?" he asked of Umbra. "You said they were words, like mine. What is an 'Umbra'?"

"Shadow," she replied, shadowy magic billowing from her in a threat of darkness that abated after a moment, her eyes glowering with that dread energy.

"Too poetic." Anik leaned back. "In the darkest day, the very last, a shadow came to me. She wrapped me in comforting darkness, delivering me... And with her passing, light returned to the world."

"You are wise to understand mother's generosity." Morning looked on from atop Umbra. "I never had a brother... I had expected them to be an umbrum." But she didn't deny it. She was adopted as well. "I may be smaller than you, but I have seniority."

"What is that?" he asked guilelessly. "I had a mother once... She was all the family I knew. She told me many stories, but..." He shook his head violently. "I will not carry her ghost here. Mother Umbra, what do people do here?"

Umbra patted her new son on the shoulder. "We live. We don't have to struggle so much to get food and water. If a pony does their best, they can expect the others to provide enough to survive. Do you have any idea what 'money' is?" His clueless stare was hint enough. "It's what we trade with."

"Oh!" He threw his backpack to the ground and... discovered that hooves were not hands, frantically trying to search the bag with them and an absence of any progress.

Celestia's golden glow encompassed the bag. "May I?" When he nodded, she gently turned it upside down, letting the things inside tumble to the ground. She didn't lift the bag, not letting anything fall far before resting on the ground. She set the bag aside, mostly empty.

"Thank you." He was able to hoof around, pushing things aside until he found a necklace. "To trade with." He hung it off a fetlock, lifting it into view. "Mother said they used to trade a lot... when there were more people. Give something, get something."

Umbra nodded at that. "Exactly. Bits are just a specific thing we trade." She floated out a bit into the air. "They're nice because everyone wants them, so you can trade them with someone you may have nothing else they want."

Celestia cleared her throat softly. "As Umbra suggested, we do offer a stipend to anypony who is doing as their cutie mark demands of them." That got another blank look. "You have no idea what that is, my apologies." She turned to present her rump, her magic forming an arrow to point at the sun symbol that adorned it. "My cutie mark. Most ponies have one by the time they are an adult. It is a reflection of your true calling. Mine is the sun. I rise and set it every day."

Umbra displayed hers. "I'm tied to this--"

"You are a... rock? A shiny rock." He was trying so hard to figure it out, but with little luck.

"It's a heart, a crystal heart." Umbra turned back to facing him directly. "Morning doesn't have one. She isn't a pony."

Morning tapped at Umbra from above. "You aren't a pony either, mother."

Umbra blinked softly. "Wait..." Oh... "I'm an umbrum too..." She looked back at her rump. "What is that then?!"

Morning looked back to that crystal heart. "It's what you decided to have, mother. We can look however we want to."

Umbra sagged with a little laugh. "Wow... Um, well, I like it, so I'm keeping it."

"I don't have one of those." It was true. Anik's rump was with no marks. "Am I an 'Umbrum'? What is that, a kind of pony?"

Morning huffed at that. "Don't be insulting. Umbrum are a different species. Predators." She flashed her dangerous teeth. "We feed on fear and terror. We are creatures of nightmares."

Anik flinched back at that description. "Oh... So...."

"You are not an umbrum," assured Umbra with a smile. "You don't have one yet because you haven't figured yourself out. It will come to you if you explore this world and learn more about it. Until then, you are my son and I will care for you, so don't feel bad about it."

"Yes, mother." Anik pranced in place in a moment of giddiness. "This has been the best day in a very... very long time." He turned to Celestia, dipping his head at her. "Thank you for tending to the sun."

Celestia pricked her ears. "You're quite welcome... Hm, it's been some time since somepony said that so directly. Anik, you must be confused, being in a new form."

"I had accepted death." Anik raised his head. "This is better than that. Every breath that doesn't burn with the fire of ice is a gift. Every unburdened beat of my heart, to be cherished." He raised a hoof to his chest, feeling that soft thumping. "Every word, an impossibility. It thought I was alone, forever..." A tear escaped him. "My entire life is a blessing. A new life, a new self... I will learn it."

97 - Back Home

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Celestia extended a wing to gesture at the remaining human mirrors, smaller than the others, but still uncountable. "Do you wish to continue exploring?"

Umbra shook her head slowly. "I could look for years and be no closer to spotting one even like mine. Did I mention the one Twilight and I went to wasn't even entirely human?"

Celestia inclined her head. "Pardon? From description, they sounded similar."

Umbra stood up. "They were more like ponies standing up. They had cutie marks. They were brightly colored. Their world didn't explode in contact with magic. Not human. Human-shaped ponies." She fell back to all fours with a clop. "Cute, but not humans. No offense to them, got no beef with them. They seem neat even, but not human. Thank you, for letting me see these. I don't regret coming here."

She paused, feeling tapping. She missed the first few letters, switching on her internal morse code. "And the royal couple's wondering... when I come home I think." She turned to Anik. "Your family is extended."

"Extended?" He snorted in an equine way. New horse or not, he had a pony body, and it came with pony mannerisms. "What do you mean by that, mother?"

Umbra quirked up her ears. "So formal! It's nice in a way, but this just happened. Why are you so eager to--"

"--Because it is." Anik looked back over his shoulder at his new form. "I died. My last scrap of food given to a lady I barely knew. There are worse ways to go. This is a new being, a new world, with new rules! I'm excited to see it all."

Morning had her eyes on him, a little less suspicious, that turning somewhat to amusement. "He's eager, but has so much to learn. Better than an actual foal, if you consider it."

Umber snorted at that. "You're an actual foal."

"I'm a young adult!" she huffed, being no such thing. "I can take care of myself, mother."

Celestia gently fanned them all back towards the entrance of the mirror room. "This has worked out quite well. Equestria has gained another little pony."

Anik quirked an ear at Celestia. Was he small? This only became fuzzier as they left and he could see he was about on par with the guards they were passing. He wasn't small... She was large. Mother was also large. Still... "A giant sees small people all around it. A kind giant, stepping carefully."

Celestia perked an ear towards Anik. "You are full of elegant words and sayings. Wasted in that dreary place. I hope you find contentment here. There are ponies who will eagerly accept such offerings if you wish to share them."

Anik came up short. "I wouldn't want to bore them with random words... I should really think in my head a little more... I'm just very excited today, and it comes out."

Umbra set a hoof on his shoulder. "No, no, don't bottle that up. Money, remember that? Pretty words is another way to earn them." It clicked. "Wait... Survivor, born in blighted lands. Do you have any idea how to write?"

"Write? Not left?" He extended his right hoof. "Right."

"No no, the verb." He looked clueless. "You need to go to school, son. Your education was very good at keeping you alive, but that's a lot easier now. Time to learn other things."

"School?"

Morning smirked at the ignorance on display. "Is he going to join my school? He'll be the largest pony there."

Umbra carried one child and nudged the other along. "You have a lot to learn, but you have family ready to help with that. Are you ready?"

"Yes!" He colored faintly, perhaps embarrassed of how excitedly he had said that. "I'm... not used to so many people, mother... I was alone a long time."

Umbra flipped her ears back. "Ah, right... that makes sense."

Celestia tapped Umbra gently. When she was faced, she nodded at the smaller but far closer to her size princess. "You have quite a task ahead of yourself. One you gave yourself. I trust you will not regret it."

Umbra flinched back. "He's not some puppy you have to worry about me getting tired of. He's a person, with all the rights that comes with it. If he gets tired of being around me, I'll make sure he has a comfortable place to call his own. But I won't abandon him. Shoot... I'm literally the reason he exists... That's a big responsibility, and I knew that... option was there when I stepped in."

Celestia nodded gently. "I'm glad to hear you say it like that. One danger of many of those mirrors are the things we cause to be that create very real consequences that don't fade when the adventure is over."

Umbra flicked her head towards Anik. "What are you talking about? The adventure's barely started. Umbra Shadowheart, mother of two. Who knew? At least I felt it before." She willed a bottle into being... but no bottle appeared. "What?" She looked to where a bottle should have appeared. "Why can't I make milk?"

Celestia stared cluelessly a moment. "Oh." She shook her head slowly. "A mother pony only makes milk when they have a foal in need of it. Your daughter is old enough to enjoy solid foods."

"With pleasure," added Morning. "And to their dismay."

Celestia nodded at the foal. "When a mother has no child in need of it, that magic fades until the next one. It's a 'use it or lose it' situation. You weren't using it, so it went away. I do hope this isn't... bad news? Why did you want to make a milk bottle?"

Umbra hummed. "But what about Flurry Heart. I helped feed her."

Celestia nodded to the last guards of the mirror rooms on their way out. "But how long has that been? And has she been feeding on solids? I imagine that need has been waning..."

Umbra had worked herself out of that job. "Aw... They grow up so quickly..."

"I was very confused when you gave me one," added Morning. "It was the first milk I had in a long time."

Anik was listening, and likely thinking... "I am born to this world already fully formed. I will never know that simple pleasure."

Umbra swatted at him lightly. "Stop being so poetic! You weren't this poetic when I first met you."

Anik shrank back. "Sorry. I didn't meant to offend, mother."

"You're not offending." Her ears sagged, not meaning to get that reaction. "You're fine, more than fine. Thank you, Celestia. This was a great visit. Not sure if I'll want to dip my hooves in the infinite of infinites again soon, but glad I did this time."

"Have a safe trip." Celestia nodded and went on to other princess duties.

Umbra was left with her family, and some lessons learned. It was hard to say if the entire trip was good thing or not, but good things had come of it... "Like life."

"Hm?" Anik perked an ear at her, an unthought of reflex. "What was that, mother?"

"You're rubbing off on me." She thumped against hin on the way out of the castle. "Thinking poetry."

"Do you want to share it?"

Umbra considered that. "If you really want to hear?" Both her children were nodding. "This trip has been like a slice of life, with some good, and some bad. But, taken as a whole... it is a wondrous thing. I made mistakes, and found wonderful things. Like life, you take both. Learn from the mistakes, but don't wallow in them."

Morning nodded stoically. "Well said, mother. Mistakes are an opportunity to learn, if they didn't result in death."

Anik peered sidelong at Morning. "Is that a common problem? I thought I'd be more familiar with that than you."

"I watched my entire family, all umbrum I know, dozens, hundreds, die in front of me," calmly retorted Morning. "Unable to do anything about it. What do you know of death?"

But Anik did not shrink at that. "Death has ever been a steady companion. When I spilled from my mother into the cold snow, there he was, holding my hand and whispering gently. He would come, in time, for me and all the others, just over our shoulder. At first, there were some, a few families, together... But cold claimed some, accidents others. It was no single event, always over the shoulder, whispering gently. The end was just right there, where we could see it, but we marched on."

Umbra blinked at the picture presented. "Wow... And how do you feel about death now?"

"It's harder to hear him." He cocked his head, ear raised. "Still there, but feels so far away. He'll come, he always does, but it feels like he isn't just over my shoulders, and that is a relief... but it means I can't see him, and he may come all at once. He can do that."

Umbra shivered faintly, as if to shake that imagery away. "This is a land that isn't that cozy with the idea of it. I'm not even sure how long a pony is expected to live. They don't talk about it. It's just not really part of things." She considered that a moment. "That doesn't mean they don't get scared."

"Often," added Morning. "Especially if I have a say."

"They don't like being hurt, and know there is such a thing as being hurt too much and don't want that." Umbra wobbled a hoof, trying to get it in words. "Like that death you were talking about is far away, until it's not, and a pony gets very scared."

"This is a different world," he admitted a little breathlessly. "Mother, I want to know more. Why were you so... alright? You seem to know death. You seem to know humans. You know a lot, mother."

"She is powerful," noted Morning. "Worthy of respect."

"And I was that... A human that is. We're still not sure..." She shrugged at that, her body twitching with muscles under the skin, useful for shaking off flies. "How I got here, I mean. We know exactly how you got here. You had a say in it. I didn't. I don't regret it."

"You were human?" He inclined his head at the new idea. "Did you look like what I met you as?"

"Amusingly, no... I think coming here let me be what I was, on the inside." She put a hoof on her chest. "I was... It's... complicated... In those last days, I bet there wasn't a lot of talk of trans anything?"

"Trans?" Not a word he had to deal with. "Crossing something?"

"Yes." Umbra smiled. "But a specific thing. Trans people are people who are born one thing, but see themselves as another thing. We could call you transracial. You were human, now you are a pony. I was declared a boy." She frowned in memory. "But I fought long to be a girl, and then when I came here, I was one, entirely, inside and out. Good and bad."

"Huh..." He circled Umbra without much subtelty about it. "You are a girl." He could verify that. Not like Umbra was hiding it. Many ponies didn't bother with that, barring special occasions. "But you were something else?"

Umbra flinched at that. "You're entering dodgy territory..."

"Sorry, mother." Anik dipped his head. "I don't mean to insult or anything. I want to understand."

Umbra turned to put him ahead of herself. "I get that... Alright, so... If you took a look, you'd see a male, a guy. But I wasn't that, inside." She tapped at her chest. "Thankfully, now both match. Girl inside and out. You are a boy on the outside." That much was clear. "Are you one on the inside?"

"I never considered it could not be the same," he admitted, a bit baffled at the idea. "I'm a boy, mother."

"Good. But know your mother will understand if you ever start to wonder about your identity, which goes past that, to other things. Only you get to identify you."

98 - Choo Choo

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Anik was gawking at the world passing outside. To say it was a bit overwhelming would be an understatement. "You have... delivered me..."

Morning hopped up next to him on the soft bench. "This is Equestria, land of ponies. There are other countries in this world."

"That isn't the name of the world?" He looked away from the wondrous window to consider Morning. "I thought everything was a pony."

Morning wrinkled her little snout. "I'm not a pony," she flatly reminded. "There are many creatures, that's what we call all talking things. If you might share breakfast with it, it's a creature. If it has nightmares to plague... probably a creature."

The two chatted, Morning giving bits of information that Anik soaked up eagerly and thankfully. Umbra watched it with a smile. It was like they were actually siblings, an older sister putting up with her ignorant brother. That was unfair, she realized. They were siblings. That they didn't share blood, or even species, didn't matter. They were a family, and had accepted the responsibilities and love of being brother and sister.

She huffed, reminded of the family she had lost, and it was her own dang fault. "Dummy," she grumbled lowly to herself, eyes flaring with power as she ruminated the thousand things she could have done different, right back to the one key thing that would have made all the others unrequired. She looked out the window. It was easier to enjoy the scenery than dwell on those things.

They arrived in the Crystal Empire. The buildings of jutting crystal rising in short one and two story affairs. Umbra stepped off the train, her children trailing behind her. "Anik, not to brag too much, but I built these." She waved over the many houses that were close to the station. "And that." She pointed off to the distant arena. "Oh, don't be--"

As if conjured, a crystal pony hurried up to Umbra. "Welcome back, Great and Glorious Umbra! We missed you." He bowed to her. "Is that a delegate of some far land?" He was looking at Anik curiously.

"Um..." Did he even know what a 'delegate' was? "Hello."

"Hi," cheerfully shot back the pony. "Don't let me get in your way. I'm sure Cadance and Shining Armor will be so happy to see you, Great and Glorious Umbra." He scooted out of the way to allow that to happen.

Umbra took the exit made available. "Have a good day." She looked over her shoulder. "Those two he mentioned are the extended family I was talking about."

Anik accelerated to her side. "He seemed... He was very happy to see you." Perhaps he lacked the proper frame to even approach what he had saw. "Are you his mother as well?"

Umbra blinked, coming up short a moment. "N-no! I have two lovely children." She pointed to Anik and the Morning riding on her back. "I have saved the day once or twice... and they let it go straight to their heads. Don't worry about that." She accelerated with a smile. "This is the Crystal Empire. Home! You look like you belong here, minus the crystal part."

"I do?" He looked down over himself. "How?"

"Very snowy," assured Umbra. "You look like a snow pony, in a good way." She ascended the stairs to the palace. "Now let's see who's available today."

"Great and Glorious Umbra." A guard saluted sharply. "Good to see you back."

"Good to be back." She nodded at him. "Either of the couple available?"

"Umbra!" Oops, that answered it. Shining was trotting up in a spirited jog. "Welcome back!" He threw out an arm and soon had her in a light hug. "Your party... it changed?"

Umbra laughed nervously at that. "Yeah... that happened." She huffed. "I will gladly share details when we're not standing in the middle of the foyer. Now, this is Anik." She turned to wave at him. "He is a human, like that world Twilight and I ran off to? But now he's a pony, and he's been adopted, by me. He may be an adult, well capable of survival in the middle of nowhere, but he's a bit behind on how to live in a society, which we're working on."

"Hello," added Anik, looking Shining over curiously. "I was starting to think all the ponies here were shiny, like fallen snow in this colder place."

Shining perked his ears at Anik. "Hello there. I'm Shining Armor." He waved over himself. "I'm a unicorn, not a crystal pony. I came here with Cadance to operate the land." He looked Anik over for hints of 'humanity', whatever that would look like. Ah. "You have no cutie mark."

Anik turned to point at Umbra's rump. "That thing?"

"That thing," agreed Shining. "It's unusual for an adult to not have one, but that's why she adopted you, I imagine. Still, you probably feel like an adult, so treating you like a foal would be rude. I don't want to do that."

Anik smiled gently, not looking upset. "In this world, I am a child, freshly fallen in the snow. I gaze with unknowing eyes, but I want to know. Please show me."

Shining laughed, a sharp bark. "What humility!" He threw an arm around Anik's neck, hugging him closer. "Looks like I get a nephew."

Umbra clucked her tongue. "Right! This, Shining, is a partner to me. It's complicated... Not husband, and he has a wife... who's also connected to me. It's complicated... And now he's your uncle, sounds like. If you're alright with that?"

"Uncle?" One could almost see the gears turning in Anik's head. "Brother to my mother, but not by blood... There's a term for that. There's a term... Ah! You are my uncle-in-law. I never saw one of those before, but I heard a story or two."

"That'll do." He swatted Anik gently, but his attention was sliding back to Umbra. "Where's your batty friend? I thought you were were becoming practically attached."

Umbra flinched, ears spinning back flat. "Yeah... I messed that up real good... Also something to discuss not-here."

"Oh... Um, welcome!" He turned to the inside of the palace. "As a child of Umbra, you are welcome here. I'll have them get you a room arranged."

Anik blinked at that. "A room? It's better to be closer."

"Closer?" Shining finished his turn right back around to Anik. "What do you mean?"

"For warmth?" He moved in closer to Umbra and leaned against her. "We can't share heat if we're not in the same room."

Umbra colored and laughed at that, even if she could see he meant nothing by it. A literal survival strategy, she quickly gathered. "Sweetie, what if mom wants to do naughty things?"

"Naughty things?"

The way he said it. He had no clue what she was alking about. "Um... You know how you were made... right?"

"My mother grew, with me in her belly." He nodded softly as if recounting a story he'd been told. "And then I joined her."

"Good good... but before that. Why did she grow?" Umbra circled her hoof in the air. "It didn't just... happen... right?"

"It didn't?" Oh no. "I'm sorry, mother, but I'm a boy. Boys don't do that." But then his eyes lit up. "But you're a lady, mother. Could you tell me? You know, right?"

Morning broke into peals of laughter from atop Umbra. "You are older than me, and staggeringly clueless in some ways."

He dipped his head at Morning. "That is why you're the big sister." Despite her being very much smaller, and younger. "Do you know? Will you tell me?"

Morning did not blush. That would look weak. She frowned instead. "I do know, in fact. You could earn the telling." She hopped to the floor. "Pick me up. I'll show you to our room."

He did just that, placing Morning on his back carefully and walking off where she pointed.

Umbra sagged with a relieved smile. "Saved by the daughter... It'll be less awkward for those two to bed together than him and I. So, how are things?"

"We're just fine," he assured, waving that away. "Better now that you're here." He walked off, tossing his head to get Umbra to come along. "Let's tell Cadance the good news."

It was a short distance to the court. Only a few ponies were ahead of them, waiting for Cadance's attention. Being polite and not in a hurry, Shining took a spot in the line instead of just marching up to claim his wife's attention.

"I see." Cadance was speaking to a fretting crystal mare. "That does sound dreadful, but I think it was a misunderstanding."

The mare brightened. "You think so? Can it be salvaged?"

"I think it can be." She raised a hoof to her snout. "But it will require some clever work. Stallions can be slow on the uptake." She winked at Shining, who she had seen come in. "So be patient with him." She began to whisper her relationship advice to the mare that nodded breathlessly at the advice being given.

"Thank you!" burst the mare. "I will try this right away."

"Easy steps." Cadance walked her hooves upwards in the air. "Don't rush it."

"Right, yes. Thank you." She dipped her head low. With a delighted squeal, she galloped off.

Cadance saw her petitioners, most with needs that weren't relationship related, and got to Shining, who she greeted with a warm hug and nuzzle. "Shinie! Umbra!" She went in for a hug there too and got it, the two embracing briefly. "Good to see you back."

Umbra smiled in kind, feeling her funk evaporating for the moment. "I was an idiot. Looking forward to telling you both about it so you can go over my idiocy with me."

"Oh dear." Cadance patted Umbra's shoulder gently. "I have princess things to do right now, but, just to check in... how did things go... besides the mistake I get a feeling I'll hear more about later?"

"Other than that... I'd say it went well." Her spell book appeared with a pop beside her head. "Beware, for now I wield time magic! A little." She held up her hooves close together. "I'm not a natural, like Minuette, but she walked me through the basics, and there's so much you can do when you slip bits of them into a spell properly."

Cadance considered that with a raised hoof. "You are a jack of all trades, magically, aren't you? That seems to be your specialty, besides shadow, is bringing things together to be more than the sum of their parts. Now, off with you both." She made a gentle shooing motion. "I have a court to run, but love you, and looking forward to a full catching up later."

Shining walked with her, leaving room for the next supplicant to approach. "Alright, tell me."

"Tell you what?"

"It's so obvious." Shining was grinning like he knew a secret. "You didn't tell Cadance everything. Out with it! I wanna know!"

"Um, well..." She sorted through the busy trip. "Little Morning learned how to be an umbrum properly, which I suck at, it seems." She shrugged softly. "Umbrum magic is not unicorn magic. Not my thing. But she's taking to it like a natural."

"Aw, that's nice... I think? Should..." He glanced around nervously. "I be worried?"

"Only if you're a bad uncle to her." Umbra waggled a hoof warningly. "Oh! Oh! Shoot, almost forgot." She flipped through her floating spellbook and thrust it right in Shining's face. "Here!"

"Um..." He pushed the book back a few inches so he could actually read it. "Um... a spell?" About all he could determine with a quick look. A wizard, he was not.

"Dreeeam spell." Umbra tapped it excitedly. "Luna gave the official alright to visit the dream realm. I'm basically a deputy of night patrols, under her, of course. She has experience, that's fine." She cantered in place, excitement building. "I can't beleive I forgot that with all that's been going on, sheesh!"

99 - Breakfast Meeting

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It had been so long. Umbra settled in her chair comfortably at the breakfast table. "This is so nice..." She stretched her arms above her head and came back down. "The breakfast ritual!"

Shining nodded in less excited agreement. "It wasn't the same without you." He floated over a cup to his lips, sipping some morning coffee. "Now, you've kept us in suspense. What went wrong?"

Cadance nodded quickly. "Your children are away, so there's no excuse left. Just us." She waved between them. "So what happened?"

"Speaking of that." Umbra frowned faintly. "Did you know you can lose the bottle magic? I'm not a wet nurse anymore..."

Cadance inclined her head. "I hear ponies that truly wish to keep that practice making bottles as a daily routine. I hadn't thought of it, or that you especially wanted to keep it. Apologies."

Shining waggled a hoof. "I know you liked that, but that isn't what you were hiding."

Dang it, her clever distraction, failed. "Right... It's about the bat I let walk away." She sagged in place. "I cheated on her... It's my fault. It's 100% my fault. There was no grand seducer. There were no spells involved that I didn't cast. It was, start to end, my dumb fault."

Cadance half-lidded her eyes, leaning forward onto a curled leg. "Well, now you have to tell us the ghastly details. This isn't a joking matter, but what did you do? You always struck me as a straight laced mare, and suddenly this?"

Shining rubbed behind his head. "I've been there."

Umbra started at that. "You?! You practically worship her hooves and the ground they touch. I can't even imagine it."

Shining colored. "Well, um... Chrysalis was pretending to be Cadance, remember? I might have... done... things..." He reached for some French Toast, or was that Prench Toast? Whatever it was called, he stuffed it in his mouth, silencing himself in sweet distraction.

Cadance nodded towards him anyway. "He's not wrong... It took us quite some time and words to recover from that horrible event... Many relationships don't survive that kind of infedility, or they are a sign that they shouldn't survive in the first place." She consided Umbra critically. "This is not me saying you should run after her. This is her decision, but I do want to ask, if she did give the opportunity...?"

"I would do whatever it took." Umbra slapped the table, energy flaring angrily in a moment of frustration. "Whatever it took... If it meant we're seeing a couple's therapist forever, fine... I was such an idiot." She clasped her head between her hooves. "And I have nobody to blame. Um... Small tiny bit of good news." She slowly lowered her hooves to the table. "She said alright to not vanishing on the O&O group. At least we can be friends..."

Cadance smiled gently at that. "I am glad to hear that. Often, the breaking of romantic bonds can lead to them all being severed. Many ponies are hesitant to be involved with their ex, however the breakup came about, but especially so when infidelity pokes its ugly head... Now, what pony distracted you? Who would you do that with?"

Shining thrust his hooves out. "You don't have to tell us."

"Yes you do," countered Cadance with no remorse. "We were there, in part. Assuming that broadcast you shared was with the pony you were--"

"--Yes!" Umbra hid her face with shame. "I lost it... I was having so much fun and I just threw all caution to the wind. I took off my tiara to share. Why did I do that?! That wasn't very nice... Moron." She sighed out in self-defeat. "Sorry... So... remember Starlight?" The two nodded. "She is a serious dominant pony that had no idea how to be dominant in a consentual way between freinds and lovers. When I found out, I went right on to show her. And ruined everything."

Umbra sat up. "And I can't blame her. I was the teacher. I was the one calling the shots."

Cadance pinkened faintly. "I mean no offense... You two were quite fond and close... but maybe they weren't the right pony for you?"

Umbra's ears skewed in different directions. "Come again? I loved her! I still love her... She was... Ugh. While I was busy ruining it all, she was trying to get close to my daughter, to be a good step-mom..." She flopped, chin banging on the table, knocking over a glass of juice with the impact. "I didn't deserve her."

Shining gulped down his food and patted Umbra gently on the shoulder. "You seem insistent on making sure I know how a mare feels."

Umbra colored with emberassment, which was different than her self critical shame. "Sorry... Are you mad?"

Shining rolled his shoulders and coughed softly. "Well... Every time I'm with that lovely mare, she does share..."

Cadance giggled at that. "We are all quite experienced at this point, hm? None of us are unaware of how 'the other side' feels." She reached to set a metal clad hoof on Umbra's arm. "Now... No, we're not angry, though it did catch us by surprise. You know how to talk to us, so send a message first, in the future, hm?"

Umbra flipped her ears back. "Promise." She reached for some eggs and hash with her magic, resuming breakfast proper. "So! Anything new with you two?"

Cadance leered at Shining silently.

Shining shrank at that. "Fine! Fine... Um, so... as we were discussing, we all know what the other side feels at this point..." He tapped his hooves softly. "Everything... But what you feel, um, echoed, isn't the same as being there in person."

"And we've decided to take that last step," finished Cadance. "We're going to swap our pronouns for a year."

Umbra blinked at that. "An entire year?! Why so long?"

Shining colored. "Well... That's about how long it takes... to do the whole... thing..."

Cadance leaned in at Umbra. "What he's trying to say is that he's going to lift that tail and let me climb up, and then we're going to give Flurry Heart a brother or sister."

Umbra blinked softly. "Oh! Oh... Oh... I... would join you... but... Look, it was a struggle, a fight, day in and day out, to get where I am." She waved over herself. "You were born like this. Nobody questioned that you were a mare, just the default really. It wasn't like that for me, so the idea of giving it up? Scary, if we're being blunt..."

Cadance inclined her head. "Well, it's harder for two stallions to share a mare in quite that way... But a stallion could share two mares fairly easily." She waggled her brows with a clear meaning behind her smoldering look.

Umbra laughed, a somewhat strained noise. "Ah ha. I picked it up from you." She pawed at Cadance. "Sorry, bad joke... But speaking of that." She placed her hooves neatly on the table. "We really should set extremely clear boundaries. I don't want to make that mistake again."

Shining pointed at Cadance and Umbra. "The only two ponies I would even consider are sitting here."

"Ditto," echoed Cadance. "Quite clear. Me and Shining are married, but you are welcome at any time." She turned up her hooves and lifted her shoulders in a shrug. "The crystal heart bound us together. I can't really call that much anything else but fate itself speaking on the matter. Good thing we like you."

Umbra relaxed a little at Cadance's words. "Well, I like you two too... I just thought I'd get my own thing going..." If she hadn't messed it up, she didn't bother to say. "Alright, my turn." She pointed to the two of them, one hoof at either at the same time. "You two are open season. If I decide I really really like a pony, I will stop and chat with you two before I do anything more untoward than a friendship hug."

Shining waggled a laden fork at Umbra. "Deal. And no 'sharing' without some kind of warning."

"R-right." Umbra colored faintly at that reminder. "Sorry about that."

They finished their breakfast, the atmosphere becoming lighter as they talked about little nothings, the heavy topics behind them for the moment. Cadance pushed away from the table. "Princess duties call. You know how it is." She paused, looking at Umbra. "Actually. Now that your daughter understands her nature better, could you take her around and look for any other survivors? The war is over, and Morning has proven that Umbrum don't have to be enemies."

Shining tensed at the idea. "Carefully! Um... Don't want either of you getting hurt."

Umbra slid to her own hooves. "I'm not scared of the average umbrum, and pretty sure their leader is quite gone, washed away in the light of that crystal."

Cadance started away. "Let me know if you find anything."

Shining waved at his departing wife. "That goes for me too. If I can help, let me know. I know you just got back..."

"No rest for the wicked." Her eyes flared with her dark power. "Morning will probably be happy to do something official, and if we do find one of her family, probably happy about that." She raised a hoof to her chin. "Actually, not sure what emotions would come up if that happens. I should... approach this carefully. I don't want to get her hurt."

"Of course not. Umbrum or not, she is a filly. Your filly! We want her safe." He nodded with firm agreement on that point. "So, if I can help?"

"I will reach out and poke you." Which is what she did, prodding him in his chest. "You're really going to do that?! You... felt what birth is like." That was a thing they experienced together. "Liked it enough to rush for an encore?"

Shining went red, shuffling in place. "It was... intense, but not awful at all... I am a father... I want to... try?"

Umbra leaned in to touch noses. "My lovely gender-fluid stallion. Brave! I... Well, I can lend a hoof." She joined him in coloring, though hers was far more mild. "It's a funny thing, but realizing I lost that trick made me sad. I'll look forward to picking up that job again." A thought hit her. "Hey! If you go back to being a guy before your bottle trick fades out, will you be able to make bottles as a stallion?"

Shining sank to his haunches. "I am entirely unsure how that works... I wouldn't want to do it until the new foal doesn't need me." His awkward shufflings increased. "That would be being a bad mom."

"Which you aren't. You are a proud parent." She thumped herself on the chest. "I am a joyous and proud aunt. I'm here to help! So, when you feel tired, you throw that foal into my arms and I'll take care of them for a bit while you recharge and recover."

"I'll keep you to that." He touched nose to her cheek and started off. "Time to get to work."

"Time to get to work," she agreed, but first she went home.

"Ma'am." It was like her maid hadn't moved the entire time Umbra had been gone. "Your mail." She gestured to several neat piles. "Sorted in intent from bills to personal correspondence and other matters. I've taken the liberty of paying legitimate invoices." She pointed to another stack. "Please inform me if I made any errors." She turned the hoof to another. "I replied to your personal correspondence to inform the writer of your unavailable state and an estimated time of your return, along with an assurance that you would receive their letter at earliest convenience."

Umbra blinked, caught off guard. "You... are a precious treat." She tapped with her magic at the letters. "Did you read them?"

"Only the barest minimum to get a name and address, ma'am. Welcome back." Purple Polish bowed low, clearly ready to resume her task.

100 - Family Meeting

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Cadance looked with a pensive face to the quiet night street outside. The city was settling to sleep, but she was awake.

"Hon?" Shining was laying on their bed. "Everything alright?"

Her horn glowed as she tickled Shining the way she knew he liked. "Not entirely."

"What's wrong?" He sat up, concern shown in his features. "Can I help?"

"Not sure you can." Cadance tapped at the windowsill. "I lied. It was a lie of omission, but still, a lie."

Shining slid to his hooves, thoughts of sleep or cuddling banished. "What lie? You aren't the sort of pony to lie about much." He paused on the way towards her, gently nosing their sleepy daughter with a shared happy coo, but he went on towards Cadance, the one that needed him in that moment.

Cadance huffed as she turned. "Which is part of what bothers me..." She sank to her haunches. "Umbra."

"Umbra?" He sat in front of her. "What about her?"

"She was a very naughty pony... to put it mildly." Cadance crossed her arms. "And I could see a lingering thread. This wasn't a single act of passion... She wasn't there, but I'd put it... most likely? Most likely... Umbra has lingering feelings for that mare, Starlight. Maybe she's denying herself, now... Maybe I'm a monster for even looking..." She worked her hooves together. "She broke her promise..."

"She did do that." Shining reached to put an arm around Cadance, only to be rebuffed, pushed away. "Sorry?"

"It's not you..." Cadance sagged. "It's a betrayal. It was to us too... She even rubbed our faces in it... I know she says she is sorry. I know how sad she looked! I know... I know... But I have feelings too..."

Shining rocked in place a moment. "It was not a good... She messed up... Um..." He quirked an ear at her. "If you're so upset, no offense, I promise, but why didn't you say something then, when she was there?"

"How do I?!" she almost screamed, getting a surprised yelp from Flurry Heart. "Sorry, dear. Mommy's alright..." She sank back, closing her eyes against the unfair world."As I told Umbra, we're tied together... The crystal heart has spoken! How do I... argue that? But she betrayed us. That link didn't stop that."

Shining fidgeted in place. "Um, well... I'm on your side, hon. I want what you want." He rose up. "You know that. You are my #1. Nothing else matters compares to you."

Cadance's inhale was interrupted by a chocked sob. "You broke that same promise... I thought... I thought..."

Shining went rigid, realizing what had been brought up. "I'm so sorry."

"And so is she," stated Cadance with a finality. "You are both sorry... and I'm left to accept that and walk forward." She took a shaking breath. "Again..."

Shining wanted so desperately to make it all better... but how? "Even if we are tied... It doesn't have to be physical, at all. We could... end that. Cut Umbra free, romantically."

"You know that would destroy her." Cadance folded her arms. "It would outright ruin her. She is already haunted by the damage she's done... to redouble it? To tell her she's alone? You don't hate her that much... and neither do I... Why do the ponies I adore keep hurting me?"

Shining took a slow and long breath. "Well... first? I say we tell the truth. Umbra's a big pony, literally and otherwise. We tell her what she's done, even if that makes her sadder. Good. That'll teach her to not stray again." He raised a hoof. "Truth. What is a relationship without at least that?"

Cadance smiled at that. "You have a point... As sad as I am, I'm not giving her at least that. Before even loyalty, there is truth... She came to us and confessed her mistakes. She cried over breakfast, and... She told the truth. We didn't have to shake it out of her, or even ask... She did that. I will... admit that. The least I can do is return the favor."

Shining winked. "Don't let Rainbow hear that Honesty comes before Loyalty."

Cadance snorted, it turning into a little laugh. "Shining! Flurry has corrupted you. The Dad jokes begin in earnest."

Shining went in, nestling with her and hugging her without being pushed away. "What can we do?"

Cadance perked her ears. "My inner filly just wants to be held tight and loved a lot... Can I have that?"

"Gladly." Shining leaned against her, and things went quiet, just a couple in a room. "Gladly."

Umbra strolled in for breakfast, a little lighter than the day before. At least everything was out on... the table? The energy of the room was off. The two were looking at her oddly.

Even Morning picked up on it. "Did some calamity happen without us noticing?"

Cadance forced a smile at the little filly. "Nothing that concerns you. We just need to tell Umbra something."

Shining cleared his throat softly. "Does she know about this?"

Umbra sank into her chair, wide enough to support her haunches as a whole. "This?" She hissed softly. "She know why... we came home alone."

"Not alone," corrected Morning. "I have a brother."

Cadance's ears pricked. "Ah, where is he, since you bring him up?"

Umbra willed a biscuit over to chew on. "He needs a lot of, what, remedial training? He knows a lot of some things, and nothing of others that he really needs to know to get along in any actual society..." She could see them looking at her with some confusion. "He's from a dying world where he was basically the last person standing, if not that last one."

Cadance blinked slowly. "How... terrible. They must be haunted..."

"Actually..." Umbra rolled a hoof in the air. "He's pretty cheerful. He's taking this whole thing like a second chance on life, and he wants to do it right. When I found him, he was ready to die."

Shining flinched back, ears pinning. "That's..." He took a slow breath. "I'm glad for him. But we wanted to talk about you, not him, Umbra."

Umbra curled a hoof at herself. "What about?"

Shining sighed, but Cadance was pushing ahead. "What you did was wrong."

"Y-yes... Yes it was." There was no argument for that. "I was a complete idiot, but that's not even the right word..." But what was? "I was a villain. I was a villain without even trying." She tapped her hooves together. "After all that, I went and Sombra'd up a good thing..."

Cadance smirked at that. "Did you just make Sombra a verb?"

"It works," noted Shining. "Though I'm not sure if Lust was one of his big failings."

"More of a greed and control sort of pony." Cadance shook her head slowly. "Back to point... You hurt her, yes... But you hurt us too. You hurt a lot of ponies all at once."

"It did not hurt me." Morning was just there, not being hurt. "Who mother deigns to spend time with doesn't involve me unless they are particularly unworthy of the Shadowhearts name."

Cadance recoiled faintly. "Shadowhearts?"

Right! Umbra dug out a crest from her saddlebag and floated it towards them. "While I was there, Celestia gave me this, with a title." The crest lifted in the air. "Not that I feel super worthy of it right now." She let it thunk to the table. "But there it is."

Cadance wrinkled her nose. "Aunty! Warn a mare before you casually give her a new noble family... At least I know this one... Even if she has been... troubling." She brought her hooves together. "You know, when you were doing that, I thought you were with Shifting. I thought you two had decided to commit... I thought, at the time, it was a celebration."

Shining rubbed along his neck. "It was a nicer thought, thinking that's why you shared..."

"But it wasn't," flatly cut Cadance. "You were betraying her, and letting us see it... That hurts, Umbra..."

Umbra deflated, called out. "I was the worst..."

"The worst," agreed Cadance, frowning. "And now here you are, being reasonable... You always were good at that."

Umbra flipped her ears back. Adulting was not saving her. "I'll do anything... The time magic doesn't let me go back and slap myself until she sees reason... I would, if that was an option. I'd deserve it..."

Cadance seemed to consider that option. "No... You can't undo a mistake, Umbra." She sat up. "The damage is done. But I know you want to... That means something."

Morning frowned faintly at the adult conversation going on. "Can I assist, Mother?"

"I don't think you can." She reached for Morning, but the filly was already jumping to the ground.

"I'll go to school then." She trotted from the room in a light jog, leaving the adults to deal with their adult matters.

Shining watched her go. "She's a mature filly. So, um, we wanted you to know that."

"That I messed up in even more ways?" Umbra flumped with a grunt.

Cadance reached across the table, patting Umbra on the shoulder. "Basically... Truth. I was just going over this last night. If we have nothing else, we can at least have that."

"What comes after?" Umbra had stopped eating or drinking. There was no appetite left for that. "What's next?"

"I don't know." Cadance slid to her hooves. "I need to get to work. You have tasks of your own, both of you." She strode off, the conversation ended.

Shining slid to his own hooves. "Yeah... Sorry." He glanced off and back. "I've been there... You want to fix it... but this isn't something you just... fix..." He huffed out a sigh. "It took a while for things to recover bet--"

"You cheated?" Umbra raised a brow at that. "I don't see you doing that."

"I didn't see you doing that," he fired back, but grunting limply afterwards. "A bad creature was hiding as Cadance... We did things, and I didn't notice the swap... I was a real... I know how you feel, is what I'm saying."

"Yeah..." Umbra joined the rest in standing on the floor. "Today, gonna search for some umbrum, after school... In the meanwhile..." What else did she have to do? She had to do something! Sitting around and thinking sure seemed like a good way to just be miserable. "How's the supply of daydarks?"

"Quite a hit, once ponies understood the appeal. A way to turn the lights out when you want, knowing you can turn them back on afterwards. Oh!" he dashed off suddenly, returning in a trot with a darklight with something attached to it, giving it two heads instead of one. "Ta da. A talented jewelsmith cobbled this together."

Umbra blinked at the strange thing. "I recognize the daydark part. What's the other part do?"

"It's a nightlight. So..." He waved a hoof at it, lightning the room. Moving it the other direction, the light dimmed, then the darkness came in the replace it, able to bounce between the two. "Genius, right? So a pony can have exactly the right amount of light they want."

Umbra clapped softly. "Genius! Are they also an enchanter?" She had no enchanter buds other than Shifting... and that was awkward for the moment... And it was her fault...

"No, both of these were made by somepony else." Shining tapped at the daydark. "One by somepony you probably know."

"Shady character," she jested. "But alright, still, clever! They worked with the tools they had and made something even better. Nothing but applause from me."

Shining tucked the daydark/nightlight away. "Seriously... I get it... Cadance just needs love and care right now."

"Love and care..." Umbra shook herself out violently. "I can do that... And you both deserve that. Ugh! That was so stupid." She kicked at the ground in a futile gesture.

"Been there." Shining saluted and marched off to greet the day.

101 - Shadow Hunting

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Umbra gladly picked up Morning from school, and got Anik as a bonus prize. "I wasn't expecting you here!"

Anik tossed his head towards the palace. "My other instructor said it would do good, since I have the bare basics down to not cause... problems.." He tapped his hooves together. "I'm not sure what problems he thought I'd make." He leaned in. "We were very polite, in those last days... How could we not be? It was a funeral, and we were all invited."

Umbra cringed at that wordplay. "That's a funeral I'm just as fine not attending."

"But you did. You attended it and ran off with the guest of honor. I don't think funerals expect that..." He hadn't been to many fancy ones. One imagined that cruel world only allowed the most basic. "But you did it." He rubbed at his cheek. "It is scary."

Morning pricked at that, a feral look overtaking her. "What scared you?" It was, perhaps, a professional curiosity.

Anik walked quietly with the others, his eyes on the other ponies they wandered past. "It's how many... A family, I understand." He reached for Morning , but she danced away. "A family has a meaning. What is this?" He waved over the crowded street. "Too many to be a single passing stranger. Too many to even be a blessed meeting of families. It's... joyous, but still scares me."

Morning flicked her ears and looked to Umbra, who was already closing with Anik. "If it helps, most of them are busy not thinking about you. They have things to do and places to be, and they're rushing to get and do those things. You may as well be a furry tree, for most of them, unless you get in their way." Umbra waved at the filled street. "A lot of trees. They only stop being trees when you talk to them. That's why some of them get surprised. You're a tree that suddenly became not a tree too. Watch."

Umbra left them to instead get in front of another pony, blocking their way. "Hello."

The other pony jumped, clearly surprised. It wasn't like Umbra snuck up on them. "Oh! Umbra, Great and Glorious! How can I help you?"

Umbra tipped her head. "My son is learning his way in the big city." She pointed to Anik. "It would be a nice favor if you could just say hi."

"Of course." A small request. The pony walked right up to Anik, seeing him as soon as Umbra brought attention to them specifically. "Hello there. Welcome to the Crystal Empire."

Anik raised an uncertain hoof. "Happy to be here. I am Anik."

"I am Night Song," replied the stallion with a smile. "I play music. What do you do, Anik?"

Anik dared a little smile. That was one pony, and a friendly one, clearly. "I am still learning that there are things to do besides living, Night Song. It's wonderful, and a little scary."

"That sounds scary," agreed Night. "But your mom is Umbra, Great and Glorious. I bet you'll get it!"

Anik reached hesitantly, but the stallion didn't run, so he finished patting his new... friend? on the shoulder. "Thank you for being supportive. Being as good as mother is a tall order."

"Impossible," added Morning casually.

Night Song brought up his hooves close together. "You don't have to be as good, but along the way, I bet you'll figure it out, Anik." He half-turned. "I have to go though. You have a great day, alright?"

"Yes. You also have a good day." And there went the stallion, Anik returned to being a tree. "I... Hm..."

Umbra gently bumped against his side. "Get it?"

Anik dared a fresh smile. "I feel a little closer... Thank you." He lowered a little, all the hint needed for Morning to scramble up on to her mounted position.

Umbra resumed their hike towards the palace. "You can use that same trick. It's hard thinking of all these ponies all at once." She angled her horn vaguely at all the ponies moving past them. "So don't. Until you have to, they're just cute fuzzy trees. Most of them are returning the favor."

"Hum..." Anik shook his head slowly, walking along. He peeked back at Morning. "Do you do that?"

"All the time." She raised a brow. "I am the daughter of Umbra, of the Shadowhearts. Very few are in need of my immediate attention, so they don't get it." She nodded, a brief motion of confidence. "You would do well to be more careful of who earns this privilege."

"Hm."

Umbra ascended with them, to drop off Anik, but she lifted Morning with her magic. "We have some hunting to do."

Morning accepted her place atop Umbra. "I was once a lost umbrum in this city. There could be others."

"Exactly." Umbra looked instead back to Anik. "If you've finished all your learning today, you're free to relax."

"Is a person ever finished of learning? I should hope not." Anik had not lost his ability to wax philosophic. "I would rather assist you, mother, sister. I've hunted before."

Umbra clucked her tongue softly. "Have you hunted for people before?"

"Only in desperation," he admitted with a sagging. "And never successfully..."

Umbra flinched, unable to finish that slap down. "That is what we're doing... We seek other shadow creatures, nightmares, like Morning, but less likely to be agreeable."

"They may attack us." Why did Morning sound excited about that possibility? "The battle would be fierce. Minds may be lost as flesh is flensed from clean-made bones. Mother would succeed, of course. I pity them."

Umbra laughed awkwardly. "Ha... we'll try to not end our meeting that way. We want to find the umbrum, not finish the genocide." She reached up to gently pat her daughter. "Like we did with you, but with less adoptions."

"Mother, I have gained some understanding of you." Morning sat up atop Umbra. "If the umbrum we find is another foal, like me, you will be tempted."

Umbra wanted to deny that... But it would, perhaps, be a lie...

"I have already considered this. We will battle for that right." Morning crossed her arms. "Only one of us would remain afterwards, and there would be no regrets."

Umbra squeaked at that proposal. "No! No no no! I will not have adorable foals battling to the death for the right for a hug. I have enough for you all, dang it..."

Morning hugged her from above. "Then take them where they can be cared for, aside your skilled hooves."

"Hint received..." She sagged in place. "I have to stop playing fast and loose with the people I love... It's not fair, to them." She clucked her tongue, anger building at herself. "Even if the cutest umbrum shows up, I'll take them to where they can be cared for, which is not here!"

Morning tapped Umbra on the back of the head. "I was wondering if you would catch that hint."

Umbra pivoted an ear back. "Wait... You planned that? Cheeky girl!" She started to chuckle, building into a proper laugh. "I am so proud..."

Anik took a firm step forward. "Mother, I would like the chance to make you proud as well."

Umbra considered Anik anew. That was an impassioned plea. Shrugging him off felt terrible... "This could be dangerous."

"I have already lived a life. I do not fear for the second." He shrugged gently with an equine snort. "Besides, you are here. I have faith in you. You saved me once. I will try not to need it again, but you are still here."

"I am not getting out of this..." That day would be a family day. Good thing she loved her family quite a bit. "Let's go hunting then. Look, they may be upset and attack, could happen, but we're the bigger ponies here. No attacking back. Calm them down and we move from there. Or, we find nothing, but we at least look."

"We at least look," agreed Morning. "Let's go, mother."

"Should I expect you back in time for dinner?" Oh, when did she get there?! She had never left, standing in patient quiet. "Ma'am."

Umbra nodded. "We should be, but if not, don't worry. Two out of three... Actually all three of us are good in the dark." She could remember that dark and cold world.One had to be used to dim lighting, because that was all one had aside from beside a temporary fire. "We'll be alright, and we have each other."

"Yes!" Anik had been perhaps too excited, coloring from his loud outburst. "We will be careful."

"Have a safe trip." She didn't move, just watching them depart. One would imagine she was the one that closed the door behind them with a click of the latch.

They headed out into the large crystal city. "Morning, tell me if you see anything. Time to look for shadows."

"Shadows," she softly whispered, sending her vision to that dark place, where more physical things shone brightly with the force of their life. She inclined her head at Anik. "You are very bright."

"I'm not that bright..." He shuffled a step forward, breaking into a normal walking pace. "Thank you."

"Not your intelligence." she waved that away. "Your life is bright. Was your world so cruel? You shone brightly, or were snuffed out."

"I thought I was the one that spoke like that." Still, he looked happy. "Let's search for your kin."

Following faint dark trails, they wandered deeper into the less reputable parts of town, where ponies who had few bits and less social standing were known to reside. Those who had forsaken any good calling of their cutie mark. Those glared at Umbra's entourage as she passed, but they weren't stopping her.

"This looks like the right kind of place... Are we getting close?"

"I can't be sure." Morning pointed ahead. "I can only say where next."

And it all went dark.

But two of them could see even in the inkest of blacks, blinking their eyes open despite it. Morning raised a hoof, shadowy magic whirling around it just in time to snap into a shield of dark wafting energy to accept the crash of a great warhammer of similar make. Shadow magic. Umbrum magic.

Umbra danced back, inches from having her head slapped with a shadow warhammer. "We're not here to fight."

"I'm not here to lose." A feral grin opened up in the darkness, facing to the left, though the eye they could see leered right at them. "You may have defeated him, but not me."

Umbra's eyes glowed with power as she ducked aside of the next strike, letting the ground explode in the fury of it. "That fight is over. The war is over."

"Mother?" Anik couldn't see very well, clearly, reaching around. Dim nights had nothing on the shadow of an umbrum.

Morning hopped free of Umbra, just to bounce right back up onto Anik. She threw her hooves up, catching a sharp blade of magic that was coming down on his back. "I will not allow you to harm my brother."

"Must be nice." He laughed, a delirious sound. "To have family. Hurts to lose them. Let me show you." With a thunderous blast of darkness, he knocked Umbra back, and she lost sight of the others. Was a building in the way? She couldn't tell. "Just us, umbrum slayer." He closed his mouth and eyes, vanishing from sight entirely. "I'll win the fight you started. The war isn't over until we all surrender."

Anik turned in the direction of the blast, not that he could see much. "Mother?"

"She is fighting," cautioned Morning. "I am protecting you. Stay still."

"But... I want to help."

"Then remain quiet and still." She smiled in the dark. "That is the first lesson of the shadow. I will teach more if you can learn this first."

Though the fight had left them entirely, they remained in the pure black.

And it was there that Anik grew quiet under Morning.

102 - Open Wounds

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Umbra glared at the dark. She could see the street and what was around herself. No ponies. Had they left when things got violent? Good. But she didn't see the umbrum.

"Whore." She wheeled around to find a figure approaching her with a scowl and bristling wings. Shifting Prism snorted angrily at her. "Slut."

Umbra flipped one ear back. Those were not words Shifting had used, or felt right for Shifting to use. Still, it did hurt to hear them said. "I am here to offer amnesty, not fight."

"Are you trying to 'be reasonable' again?" Shifting stomped in place. "Stop trying to explain your way out of everything!"

Alright, that hurt... How did that umbrum know so much about how to get at her? "This isn't about me."

"Everything is about you. Star of your story, of all our stories." She circled Umbra in a predator's stance. "What a pathetic lead role. What did I ever see in you?"

Did that umbrum know that all, or just enough to pry under her skin? "I'm just another creature, and another umbrum."

"Lies!" Shifting waved that away with a scowl. "Spouting nonsense at me won't get you your way. That's just like you, using your tongue to solve your problems." She smirked maliciously. "Or using it to get you in trouble."

Umbra colored brightly. They had pried that out?! Why couldn't she pick up on umbrum magic more? Still, at least, they were with her, which meant Morning and Anik were likely safe. "That isn't a lie." She concentrated on undoing that internal clasp, allowing her rarely seen umbrum nature to rise to the surface.

Instead of a friendly, if potentially concerning, shadowy pony wizard face, she had the skull of a horse, shadow becoming a roiling fog around her, ready to perform umbrum magic she wasn't any good at.

Shifting, or whatever that was, crashed into her in that moment of distraction, knocking her down with a feral hiss. "Then why did you fight for them?" Her form exploded in fresh shadow, unable to hold her shape in her fury, becoming a scowling umbrum atop Umbra. "Traitor!"

Umbra kicked them off, falling back into the shdow just to reform, standing up. Without thinking about it, she had resumed her usual appearance. "I swore no allegiance to later break."

They waved a wing they didn't have a moment before. Shifting's face was revealed with its passing. "You broke at least one."

Umbra flinched. Why did they have to be right?!

The umbrum laughed, having Shifting's face and wings and little else. "Your fears and wounds are plain to see. Miserable and weak."

"And still strong enough to win," Umbra hissed out in an angry lashing.

The umbrum took a step back. "Damn... You have a point there. To think we were crushed by... this... Either a sad testament to us, or a proud moment for you... Both? Maybe." They sank to their haunches, becoming an umbrum mare. They had the face of a pony, eyes downcast. "Shadow take it all..."

Umbra blinked at her suddenly deflated enemy, but it was still dark all around them. The fight wasn't over officially. "I didn't come here to finish the job. That battle is over, the victory declared. I want to put together what's left. You don't deserve extinction."

"The luxury of the victor," the umbrum sighed. "Setting the terms..." She fixed Umbra with a fresh glare. "What do you want with us? Do you need a slave force for your dirty whims? Your tongue may be used to that, but I refuse."

Umbra colored faintly at the implications. "No! No... Christ no." The plea to an otherworly religious figure only confused the umbrum. "Stop bringing up my botched romantic relationships. I don't want any more. I have enough ponies I love a lot."

"I'll stop when it stops working so well," teased the umbrum mare with a smirk. "I love the taste of your loathing."

Umbra grunted with a pawing of the ground. Why did umbrum have to be so trying?! Well, she was one... It took one to know one, they say... "I'm not here to offer romance, forced or not. But a hoof of friendship?" She extended a hoof with that. "I can offer that."

She swatted at the hoof, but the shadow broke, light of the evening sky returning to the area. "Damn you to the deepest pit they can find," the umbrum hissed, but even the tone of that sounded defeated. "What do you want?"

With rapid hoofsteps, Anik was hurrying over with Morning on his back. "I want you to meet me and my family." She waved at the two incoming. "The larger one is Anik, an earth pony. Above him, Morning, also an umbrum."

Morning nodded from atop her mount. "Nice form, but you let your emotions cloud things. That is the only reason I avoided a painful end." Why did she sound almost regretful of that? "Excellent obfuscation."

The new umbrum squinted at Morning. "You parried that?! You!" Their form bled shadow, revealing her umbrum form. "Morning Dawn, darkest before the light! You little imp!"

"Morning Dew," corrected Morning, but it lacked some of its usual bite. "It's on the tip of my tongue..."

"Ugh." The new umbrum curled her snout, which she reformed quickly. "Witching Hour?"

"Witchie!" cried Morning, a bright smile overtaking her features. "You survived? I thought you had taken a forward... One of the first to go."

Witching offered a hoof and the two met in a brief hug before she shoved Morning back. "Why are you with her?" She threw her head at Umbra. "Of all the umbrum..."

"Better alive and plotting," reasoned Morning. "I have continued my education sufficiently to block your rage-addled strike."

Witching huffed, stomping in place. "You're taking after her, throwing 'logic' at me like that! Hmmph." Her eyes slid towards Anik. "And you are? Umbrum, clearly not." She flashed a feral smile. "Did you bring me a snack to appease me?"

Umbra quirked an ear. Not all of her secrets had been revealed, clearly. "This is Anik, my son."

"Hello." Anik looked over the new grey mare curiously. The ponies of that world came in many bright colors, but not Umbra and those near her. All dark. "Did you... do all that?"

Witching snorted with a victorious smirk at that question. "Every bit of it. You were terrified, admit it."

"I was," admitted Anik with no deception in him. "It was suddenly dark. If Morning had not come, I may have gotten hurt. I would have felt terrible, after all that work to come along, just to get hurt... That's a very childish thing to do."

"Foalish, yes." She nodded sagely. "Back to you." She turned to Umbra. "Seriously, what do you want?"

"What I said." Umbra pointed to the tall palace in the middle distance. "Come with me, say hello to the princess, and let's get you in a more comfortable place."

Witching hissed low and soft. "I don't know what side you're on... You see yourself more as a pony." She waved around. "But you leave all these ponies in their misery without even a thought to instead help an umbrum that would watch with a smile while you suffered and died. Where is the logic in that?"

Umbra raised a hoof. "I have an answer for that."

Witching narrowed her eyes. "You usually do."

Umbra stomped. "Stop that! How do you know so much about me, anyway?"

Witching put a hoof on her own chest. "I am Witching Hour, the truth seen in the deepest of night, when you lay still in bed and face your worst nightmare, yourself. There exists none that can save you from that beast, and I wear its dress and bare its teeth." She flashed a too-sharp grin with that. "With great pleasure..."

Morning applauded, clapping her hooves in a rapid clop clop.

Anik inclined his head. "I am not my enemy. I'm the only one I can be absolutely certain is on my side."

"Ugh." She waved him away. "This is why I avoided you, though a little direct slice could have taken care of it... Where did you find him? His head isn't put together like most."

Umbra smiled at the riled shadow mare. "I don't mean this in any romantic way, but you are a little adorable."

Witching blinked softly at Umbra. "Really? Really!" She stormed up to Umbra. "You need to stop thinking everything is cute! It's insulting, really. I am a terrifying creature of existential dread! Not cute! Not adorable! Not huggable!"

Umbra pointed to Morning. "You hugged her."

"She's my niece!" hissed Witching. "Nieces get hugs." She crossed her arms, looking awfully pouty about that, which did little to make her less cute.

"So, that answer." Umbra waved a hoof around the area. "This is a systemic problem. I'm not going to fix it by choosing a random pony and treating them nicely. I need to talk with Cadance and make a systemic solution that fixes this for all the ponies here. The way to fix a slum is to fix the things that made the slum, no amount of being nice to one person."

Witching blinked softly. "Huh..." She turned a hoof on herself. "So why treat me nicely?"

"You're not a systemic problem. You're a natural disaster survivor." She flipped her ears back. "And I was the disaster, so I feel guilty about that... Survivors of a sudden disaster? They need help, personally and directly often."

"You have this all worked out." She smirked softly. "No wonder you pissed her off so badly."

Umbra snorted. "Stop stealing things about Shifting."

"I will not." Witching instead addressed Morning. "Did she say she was your mother? You know she isn't your mother, right?"

Morning shrank back a step, facing the sister of her biological mother. "Not by blood, but by action. She has cared for me like a foal, while respecting my umbrum nature, even celebrating it."

"You are a foal," noted Witching flatly. "Celebrating it? I doubt that... She can't even celebrate her own umbrum nature."

Morning shook her head. "She celebrates mine. She celebrates every time I learn a new trick, and encourages me to become the most frightening thing." She pointed off. "She took me to be trained."

"Trained?" Witching hiked a brow. "By who?"

"Another umbrum, in Canterlot." Morning inclined her head. "I am happy to see you, Aunt."

Witching's face twitched faintly, but she managed a smile, an unnatural expression for her. "I thought you were gone..."

"As did I." She turned to Umbra. "She is not lying. It may be foalish, but she means well and isn't lying."

"She only lies about relationships." Witching looked pleased at Umbra's discomfort there. "Don't take after her there."

"I will not. But she does know shadow magic. Not umbrum. Pony shadow magic."

Witching scowled at the idea. "Ponies have shadow magic? I doubt it's any good... They are creatures of light, even at their darkest." She glanced about. "This is a dark place, with dark hearted ponies, but even they remain light creatures. They can't help it. It's what they are."

Anik perked his ears at the new pony. "I became a pony only recently. Am I a creature of light?"

"Yes," she hissed, averting her gaze. "Very yes..."

Anik seemed only pleased at this. "I came from a very dark world, dying and dim. That I was the final bright ember... I think that makes me happy..."

"Good for you." Witching waved away the bright earth pony. "Almost as bad as a crystal pony having an especially nice day."

"Ponies fear shadow magic," cut in Umbra. "Only a few, like me, use it. Maybe you're not wrong, too light." She turned to the palace. "Come on. Let's get you settled in."

"I am not being adopted," huffed out Witching Hour, but she was following after Umbra.

"I wouldn't allow it," assured Morning, hopping up on Anik for the ride there.

103 - With a Wide Net

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Shining Armor whistled softly. "Huh..." He looked along the line of about a dozen dark-pelted ponies. "So, you're all umbrum then?"

One of them, the largest female, who apparently took leadership just by being the largest female, stepped forward. "Does that terrify you? I can taste a little..."

"It's a little worrying," he admitted. "But not terrifying. You're sure this is all that remains?"

Witching scowled. "Gathered us all together to finish things then?"

"I-I would never!" Shining coughed softly into a hoof. "As Umbra said, that battle is over, for good preferably."

A small umbrum, a colt about Morning's age, sneered at Shining, licking over his lips. "So what do you plan?"

"Glad you asked." Umbra popped out of a nearby shadow, stepping free as if she'd been standing there the entire time. Perhaps she had been? "Creatures of dark nightmares. I understand you." A chorus of doubting noises rose up. "I am you." She reached deep for that door, allowing her umbrum state to be revealed.

It was as if she gave permission. Soon the others were gazing back at her with their skulls, no flesh there.

"Good. We're being honest." She waved at the group of them. "I know one of you, a little, but, overall, you're all strangers to me, just umbrum I gathered here."

Shining threw a hoof towards Umbra. "We have given her permission to oversee this. She speaks with our authority." He smiled with a little chuckle. "I'll say if that stops being true."

Umbra nodded in turn to Shining. "Thank you. Now, you're all umbrum, we know that, but there's more to it than that." She curled a hoof on herself. "Take me. Umbrum, but also eager wizard. Specialties include crystals, darkness, enchantment, and a dreamwalker." She turned the hoof on Witching Hour. "Umbrum, but you have specialties, and interesting ones at that. You can strip a pony bare and lay out their fears and insecurities."

Witching buffed her chest with quite the proud expression. "That is my specialty. What about it?"

Umbra turned the hoof back on herself. "But that specialty is a limit. You could see what I was insecure about, clear as if I had notes plastered on my forehead. You could see nothing about Anik, because I have no insecurities there."

"Yes, yes, thank you for going over how awesome I am." Witching rolled her eyes. "And your point?"

"You can turn--" She levered the hoof from left to right. "--that worrying talent into a productive skill. Ponies would pay you to do that to them."

Witching blinked softly. "What? Have ponies gone mad during our time away?"

Shining perked up. "We pay a pony to do that to us... It's not fun, but we grow from it... Somepony has to lay out the cards truthfully and help us walk through them. Um, from what I heard, your bedside manner could use... a little work."

Witching wrinkled her returned snout. "They want me to point out what repulses them... nicely?"

The young one waved a hoof wildly. "What about me?"

Umbra sank to be closer to their level. "What's your specialty? I admit, I didn't quite catch it."

"I'm still learning," he admitted with a frown on his returned face. "I'm really good at jump scares!" The other umbrum looked ashamed for him, grumbling. "What?!"

Umbra set a hoof on his little head. "You're still learning, as you said. You I would not want to get a job anyway. You need to learn. If you'll let me, I'll send you to school. Two schools, in fact."

He scowled at that. "Two of 'em? That sounds horrible! You monster!" But he smiled. "Guess you really are an umbrum."

"Thank you." Accepting that praise felt right. "But I'm serious." She sat and raised two hooves. "One to learn the world you live in. You'll go with other ponies and learn as they know." She switched which hoof was higher. "The other, my daughter."

"You called?" Morning came walking out of the same shadow, a calculating look on her face. "Hm. Show me the best you have. Terrify me. To death, if you're able."

Umbra left Morning and the colt to work out umbrum education. "The rest of you; you're adults, so you already have specialties. I'm taking on the job of turning them to positives."

A stallion snorted softly. "My 'specialty' is deception. I can take on other forms." And so he was a zebra mare. "And convince a pony of anything I want." And so he was a dragon. "And get what I want, for the rest of us." And so he returned to his first form. "How are you going to make that 'positive'?"

Umbra thumped the stallion dead center on his chest. "You are an actor. A good one, in fact. That is a position ponies will gladly pay you for. If you accept this idea, you can live alongside the ponies, instead of hoping to feed on them. Morning is proof, just having good meals is enough. You don't have to feast on their negative emotions. Just be happy you're not a changeling, they have to feed on love." So far she knew?

Morning paused in her chat with the colt. "Pony food can be quite delicious, and deserves to be punished." She flashed her bright teeth. "And it's fun to do."

New murmurs rose among the crowd, shyly positive.

The lead female stepped up towards Umbra. "You are not our boss... Even if you are... large." Umbra was the only one there that could compete with her for stature. "Who do you think you are, just telling us what to do?"

Umbra dipped her head. "I'm not." A startled noise from a few of them. "I'm offering. You can take it, or don't. But I'm offering a lot for a little. Take advantage of my weak little feelings. I killed countless umbrum, and now I feel bad."

She snorted softly. "They would feel bad to know it... They fought with all their might. They would want to be remembered for their fierceness, not as a regretted action." She leaned in. "You didn't kill every umbrum you blasted that day... I was there." And clearly, still alive.

"Also there," added Witching Hour.

A few other noises of agreement, but many of them weren't there at that moment.

Umbra tapped at her own chest. "Then you know I can fight too. I can stand behind my words."

The umbrum matriarch grumbled softly. "I can't argue that..." She turned a hoof slowly around. "And you built them the largest headstone I've ever seen. Why? More guilty feelings?"

"Nope." Witching peered at Umbra intently. "I don't feel any regrets there."

"This is the coliseum!" Umbra threw her hooves wide. "Where ponies come to compete and show off their physical skills. It's not a headstone."

"Hum." She hiked a brow. "Good. I thought it was another regret made physical... You are stained with sin..." Why did that sound like almost a compliment? "Walk proudly. I loathe you. I hate you. Every breath you take is a breath countless I know will never have." She smiled despite that. "If you could kindly die, I would appreciate that... But doing it myself would be even better."

Umbra inclined her ears forward at the equally large mare. "I'll have to deny you that option."

"Figures." She raised a hoof up, right under Umbra's chin. "But you think we're idiots, and I can at least enjoy dispelling that. We are aware of food, physical food. We would have to be idiots not to." A few of them looked guilty. "We do not teach foals of it for some time after weaning. This sharpens their hunting spirit and better equips them for a rough world ahead. Afterwards, we let them in on the secret.

"Clever." Morning had heard that. "I require no such help."

"I'm actually glad to hear that." She looked over the line of umbrum. "And that's how you all survived, I assume?"

The colt waved a hoof excitedly. "I scared ponies, like you're supposed to!"

Morning patted the shoulder of her 'peer'. "Your survival is your reward. Still, well done."

"Look who has a big head." The colt wrinkled his snout at Morning. "I remember when you were way not the best filly in class."

Morning stared at him, unblinking and unmoving for a silent moment. "Tough times cause one to grow, or die. I didn't die."

The head mare tossed her head at the rest of the line. "I'm sure most of them ate what they could get their hooves on, like any other living creature, which we are. You may be an umbrum, but you have no idea what that means."

Another stallion raised a hoof silently. The headmare nodded at him, giving permission to speak. "We can eat, but the taste of a properly gained hunt leaves that in the dust. That is why many of us specialize."

Witching grinned at that. "The taste of raw regrets is... delicious." She poked at Umbra gently. "Yours are still so raw and spicy, mmm... slut." She only smiled wider when Umbra flinched against her will. "Yeah, that's the taste I like..."

Shining cringed at the display of dark emotional feeding. "Well, the idea is to cut back on that part."

"Yes." Umbra regained her posture. "That doesn't mean you can't feed and help a pony at once. A pony that went to you, for example." She waved at Witching. "They will confess to their regrets, and you will drag out others. Their dismay will be there to enjoy, but you'll guide them towards doing something about it, instead of just baking in those regrets."

Witching hiked a brow. "You want me to go out of my way to have less to feed on? Get rid of my own regrets? That doesn't sound like a bright idea."

The headmare nodded firmly. "Foolish ideas from a stalwart, but foolish, umbrum. You advise hunters to remove their own food? Why?"

Umbra turned to Witching entirely. "Have you ever run into a pony without regrets?"

Witching chuckled darkly at the thought. "Never." She turned on Shining. "You have some old regrets, but they feel like they've been stirred recently... Oh... pervert... Are you hoping I trap you in a world of nightmare and have my way with you?" He began to color brightly as she laughed at his discomfort. "Mmm, tasty..."

Umbra waved to the uncomfortable Shining. "He has been to someone who offers similar services, a lot, for a long time. To be alive is to regret something. You all--" She waved at all the umbrum. "You may help them deal with those emotions, but they'll still be there." She nodded at the actor. "Ponies will want good actors even if they're feeling great. It's a distraction, and a welcome one. Putting on a good performance won't make that go away."

The headmare inclined her head. "Hm. Well, I don't have a scaring specialization."

Umbra perked he ears curious. "What do you do, normally?"

She pointed at the two foals chatting. "I watch over them, and smaller. I watch over the larger foals too." She glared at the other umbrum, who had the good sense to look ashamed. "Somebrum has to... That is my specialty. Grand architect, what future do you see for me?"

Umbra inclined her head slowly. "I... You're good just the way you are."

The headmare recoiled at that. "You're giving up?"

"No." She raised a hoof to the headmare's chin, just to slide along to her cheek. "I can't fix what isn't broken."

"Good of you to admit that... But I don't see how this gets you what you want." She frowned at Umbra. "Speak."

"You're a foal sitter and community leader... and that's great!" She turned to Shining. "The city would support that, right?"

"Gladly." He nodded firmly at that. "You wouldn't be the first pony, er, creature that felt the need to do that. And it's good. Somecreature has to mind the next generation. Perhaps you could help at one of the schools?"

Umbra rolled a hoof. "So, yeah, you just keep doing what you love to do. Good job. All I can offer is pointing you at the place you can do more of that, and be paid for it. Oh! And you'll get ponies to watch too. Is that alright?"

The headmare blinked slowly. "To terrify?" Umbra's look was answer enough. "Ugh... This will... require getting used to..."

104 - Rough Treatment.

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"I'm glad you came to me." Witching pointed to a comfy couch there next to her. "Go on."

Umbra glanced around. The room looked reasonably professional, not that Witching had decorated it. They were still learning that. They were learning a lot of things... That she'd see a patient this quickly... It was almost certainly a mistake, but she had promised to help, and that apparently included being a guinea pig.

"Don't be scared." Witching waggled her brows. "I can smell it. But we're here to deal with regrets and shames, not fear. Go on, Umbra. Great and Mighty, I hear. But even the mightiest have things they hate about themselves, and you're no exception. Sit, and talk."

Umbra pulled herself onto the couch, sinking with a little laugh as the air escaped her. "The more I think about it, the more true it seems to be. You and changelings are literally opposites."

"Well, then maybe we'll keep liking you, unlike the changeling." She said it so evenly, a carefully held scalpel that cut right into Umbra.

"Ow... Alright, so, that hurt, and isn't helping me reach any conclusions. What do I take away from that barb other than being miserable?" Umbra was doing her best to keep herself calm. She was there to help Witching hone her craft, not rise to the bait and engage in it.

Witching rolled a hoof. "Maybe. But you're here to deal with it. You messed up." She leaned in with an unsettling grin. "Poor thing. You're here to fix it, maybe not do it again, hm. But you already admitted you think some of us are cute, which makes sense, by the way."

Umbra perked at that. "It does?"

"Of course." Witching turned a hoof on herself. "I'm an umbrum." She turned the hoof on Umbra. "And you are too. You think you're 'bigger' than that, but like draws like. One nightmare to another, of course there's attraction there. It's not even... Look." She sat up tall. "What other creature is going to be 100% not scared of your shadows? What creature will celebrate them, enthusiastically?" She brought her hooves together under her chin. "You're worried about the royal couple, and you should be. Poor Shining is doing his best, but he's a light creature, and you, dark."

Umbra snorted softly. "Nice try, but we both know that if I pinned him down and played the shadow beast with an interest in him..." She waved a hoof through the air. "He'd be turned on, not running away."

Witching burst into horrible laughter at that. "You have a point. Dirty stallion probably would like that..." She leaned in. "But you don't do that, you fearful thing..."

Umbra scrambled up, or tried. Witching gently pressed her back towards a resting position. "I am getting to a point. Make a decision. You either love him, and should be the shadow monster he burns with passion for, or back away."

"Go or get off the pot." Umbra flumped entirely. "Dang..." Witching had just given some solid advice. "Congratulations, you're actually taking this seriously."

"I don't do things in half measures..." Witching sneered maliciously. "Also, this is kind of fun..."

Her therapist was enjoying her torment. Such was the risk of going to an umbrum about it... "May I ask a question?"

"You just did, and it involves your filthy libido... I'm curious now. Go on." She beckoned Umbra with her hooves. "Share your dirty secrets."

"I'm just curious." Umbra sat up, but it wasn't an angry scrambling to her hooves, and they did not try to stop her. "What are you looking for, on that front?"

"Me?" Witching curled a hoof on herself. "My ideal umbrum would love getting in under a creature's skin. We'd exchange barbs and needles as we made passionate love. It'd leave us both feeling filthy on the inside and out." She half lidded her eyes. "You don't qualify, Miss Soft Shadow."

Umbra swerved an ear to the side, cheeks lit faintly. "Wow..." That was sure some picture painted in her head, two umbrum eagerly needling the other in the throes of passion. "Intense. Not my thing, though. I'll hope for you."

"Aw, thanks." Witching fluttered her lashes at Umbra. "But we're here to discuss your shames, not mine. Besides, I have a perfectly valid excuse." Though she said that, her tone was that even she saw it as an excuse. "Somecreature went and wiped out most of us, makes the options slim..."

Thoughts tilted, along with Umbra's head. "Um... can... umbrum and ponies make foals if they try?"

"Ew." Witching wrinkled her snout as if some offensive odor had reached it. "Those little fluff balls? I'd crush their little egos on the first day, and then my potential somepony would run away, crying. No, I don't see any winners there. I'm open to learning how to help them and get some bits, but I don't think I'll look to them for romantic options."

Umbra applied a hoof to her face. "You don't have to bring up every regret you see. Even with the ponies you're helping, knowing when to put the needle in, and where, is what separates a doctor that heals and a butcher that just makes a mess. Refine yourself."

Witching applauded with a laugh, striking her hooves together. "This is fun! Who's helping who?" She pointed to Umbra and herself. "Exchanging needles, hm? How indecent... Tell me you aren't this lewd around Morning. I'll murder you, first by making you wish I'd finish the job, then, maybe, later, finishing the job... If I felt like it..."

Umbra frowned at the naked threat. "I'm glad you care about her."

"She's my niece, to remind you again. Of course I care about her." She huffed out some air, deflating. "She's all I have of my sister... You better be taking care of her! She looks happy enough... But that isn't proof of anything. Foals put on tough faces. It's up to adults to make sure they don't have to."

Actual caring? Weakness? Umbra kept herself from mentioning that moment of vulnerability. "I care about her too. She's a wonderful creature I want to see grow up into an amazing adult, proud and secure in what she is."

"Glad to hear it. Now, about your past." She adjusted glasses she had formed just for the moment from her shadows. "You have a lot of pent up snags regarding your sexuality. Guy, girl, you've been both." A little huff. "So have I. Harder to find an umbrum that hasn't, really. We have preferences." She waved over herself. "I like being a mare. But if you sass me, I will pin you down and show you..." She counted to ten suddenly. A slow breath. "Sorry, getting carried away. You are an umbrum. Gender is a suggestion and a fashion statement. But you have a thousand hangups. I don't understand why. Tell me?"

Umbra blinked with amazement. Was Witching trying to doctor genuinely? "Alright, so... This is sort of a second life." She waved over herself. "I was something else entirely, with hands and no fur, just some hair. Identified as male at birth, but I fought... I fought what was a lifelong battle for the right to be a female... That leaves scars."

Witching whistled, but she didn't sneer or stare. She seemed genuinely impressed. "That would leave a few marks. I'm going to guess whatever you were didn't see genders the same way umbrum do." She spread her legs and just casually displayed an obscenely overly detailed bit of horse flesh, overly done in every meaning of the word. "Like I said, a fashion statement. This isn't my style." And it was gone. "That's the umbrum way. We won't stop you from being a mare, or a stallion, or both, or neither."

Witching leaned in. "But you have scars, from a place we aren't. Focus on that. It isn't here. Those creatures are gone, may as well be dead. Laugh at them! Laugh as they can't stop you from being whatever you want, and what you want can change. Just like putting on a new hat. You are whatever you feel like being right now. Right. Now."

"Y-yeah..." Umbra blinked numbly at Witching. "Yeah... Wow... You.... Thank you." She smiled at that. "It will take more time and effort to make that more than just words, but I feel better just having it said. You could become a great therapist."

"Well, I do have some help." She winked at Umbra with a giggle. "We both have things to work on. Now! The way I see it, this is connected to your Big Mistake."

Umbra pinned her ears back suddenly. "W-what? How?!"

Witching pointed to Umbra. "You are a mare, overall, no arguments. But Starlight was tickling you the right way. You wanted to be her stallion, but you couldn't even face that, coward... You couldn't face that, so you threw yourself at her as a weak mare instead. But you were still being a sub under a female. Classic. Classic! You were playing a soft male. And you had so much fun... No matter how guilty you feel, you had fun. You enjoyed every minute of it. Stop denying it!"

Umbra winced at Witching tore into her. "Stop it!" And it stopped. "Um... Thank you, but that was a little... much."

Witching rolled a hoof. "Got a little carried away myself. I could feel your regrets and shames blossoming as we went over it... Um, I am serious though. Your gender hangups are half the reason you ended up in that situation."

"You... seriously think so?" Umbra thought back to it. She sure wasn't thinking about that, during that event. "I am a mare."

"You are a mare," agreed Witching. "So am I. We both like wearing a hat. But we can still take that hat off." She reached up to take off the imagined hat, setting it aside. "And put it back on afterwards. Umbrum life! We're all functional hermaphrodites. And taking the hat off doesn't make you not a hat wearer suddenly. I like being a mare, and I will put the hat right back on." She pantomimed placing the hat back on her head.

Witching hopped down from her seat. "The big thing is that nocreature around here is going to get mad at you. Literally not a creature. We all know you as Umbra, the Great and Glorious, hm? What a title... You are mother of two, by adoption. You sit on the city like a protective hen, keeping it safe and warm under your 'protective shadow'." She made quotes with her hooves. "That you are a mare is beyond reproach! You have nothing left to prove."

"Except to myself..."

"The hardest to convince sometimes, hm?" Why did Witching have to have that cocky grin at times? "Too bad, you're wrong. Your identity? Nocreature even cares. You are an umbrum, blast it. You're whatever you want to be. Now, I'm not that actor. I can't show off quite as many forms so easily...but I can do a few." With a rush of shadows, she became a shadowy Shining Armor. "But I'm still me," she said, borrowing Shining's voice. "Still a mare, and only because I decided that. I could change my mind tomorrow. Who'll stop me? Nocreature that has a shred of sense." The not-Shining smiled maliciously. "They can try, I'll enjoy tearing them apart without touching them."

Umbra sat back, shaking her head. "You've given me a lot to think about." She hopped down and offered a hoof to not-Shining. "Thank you." When a hoof was returned, she clopped them together and shook in the pony way. "Let's keep up this training. I think you could become a really good therapist, with some more effort."

Witching pointed up at a calendar up on the wall. "I'll expect you in two days, same time. Be ready to be needled."

105 - Even Shadows Have Families

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"Look at you." Midnight tossed the filly into the air with both hooves, catching them as they came back down. "Everything gets wiped out, and you're looking better than ever."

"I am your sister's child," reminded Morning flatly, only a little half-smile showing that she enjoyed the attention. "My new mother is acceptable."

Midnight stuck out her tongue at Umbra, who had been trying to lounge on a couch nearby and not be in the way. "Did you hear that? Acceptable! Praise, coming from Morning." She booped her niece, but it turned into a fond nuzzling. "I missed you so much, you little jerk."

Umbra snorted softly as she rose to her hooves. "You two are having fun."

Morning hugged Midnight from above. "I thought my family had perished in the flames of war. It was romantic... But I am alright being incorrect in this specific case."

Midnight laughed at that, her darkly dangerous one. "You underestimated me... I overestimated my sister... It was a day that caught us both off guard." She deflated, finding a shame in herself, and she hated it. "Enough of that. Your aunt is back, and she's a therapist!" She pointed to Umbra. "She's my first client. Tell her how good I am!"

Umbra hummed softly.

"Don't take so long to think about that!" Midnight clopped a hoof down. "She said it herself. I give her plenty of things to think about. I see what others didn't."

"She did that," allowed Umbra easily. "She's still working on her bedside manner, and the difference between cutting to heal, and cutting because the blood's so nice and warm on the hoof."

"It is," agreed Midnight.

"It is," agreed Morning.

Umbra clopped a hoof to her face. She had umbrum for family. "A therapist is a sort of doctor. They cut to heal, and knowing that is their primary, dare I say only goal when they reach for a scalpel is the only reason they're trusted. And it is a trust, a deep one. Betray it, even once, and you can lose it forever."

Midnight set Morning down on her back for a ride. "You see this? My sister-by-proxy is such a meanie!"

"By proxy?" Morning considered that. "She is not bound to you by blood or vow."

Midnight took a few energetic steps around the room, enjoying the feel of Morning atop her. "She's your mother. You're my neice. Neither of us are giving up that connection, so, the mother of my niece? Pretty sure that's a sister. Can't say in-law or half. By proxy's the best term I got for it, but it's still a sister."

Umbra inclined her head, considering the two. "Huh... If you're serious, I'll take that."

Midnight cantered up to Umbra. "Of course you would, you social sponge. You love collecting ties." She raised a hoof towards Umbra. "Fortunately, I don't hate that. Also, owe you one, maybe two... So this works off one of those. Win win." She turned away, energetically bouncing Morning on her back. "Three, if we think about it. Thank you for watching my niece while I was... busy."

Umbra turned for the door. "Good thing about family, we stop counting the favors and just know they'll be given and taken. You two have fun, time for other conversations."

"Lewd ones," grunted Midnight.

Morning inclined her head. "How can you be sure?"

"She's embarrassed, I can feel it." This much seemed like fact, to Midnight. "That it has to do with something lewd is my guess. Go on, sister. Take care of your depravities. I'll keep a pure eye on our foal."

Umbra strode from the room, getting a final, "Good day, ma'am," from her maid that was so good at vanishing into the background when not needed.

"I have a nice family." Sure, two of them were shadowy psychopaths of sorts, but she loved all of them, in their various ways of shining, even in their dark ways. She hurried out onto the training fields. There were many soldiers practicing their arts, swinging stuffed bats at one another, practicing take downs, and generally being busy and physical.

There was Shining, overseeing it all. He had been the captain to start, and being married to a princess didn't really change that, in the end. It's where he liked to be. Umbra could appreciate that. Good to know what one liked.

"Shining!"

Shining waved at her as she came. "Umbra!" He had been pretty lively, even during the explosion. "What brings you out here?"

"Is visiting you not a reason enough?" They met in a little hug. "I wanted to talk to you."

"Is it about the umbrum?" He waved at some guards. "No no!" He was distracted, yelling at them on their form and technique. Fortunately, he did come back. "Is it?"

"They're doing alright, I think... No complaints so far..." She smirked faintly. "They just want to live and thrive, like any creature else... They just... were doing it the way they knew how. Which was not good, let's be clear."

"Not at all." Shining was there, in that battle. "But they're alright, doing other things?"

"Most of them." Umbra sank to her haunches. "They want to live. Who doesn't? Most of them are pretty happy to hear their talents can be not only tolerated, but rewarded, and even paid for? Exciting stuff."

"I can't even imagine." It was such an alien concept for a pony of his background. "But, good! Really good. I'd so much rather they be happy creatures. Oh, uh, do you need any financing for this? This can't be all free."

"Pfft." UImbra rolled her eyes at that. "Really? You paid me, remember? A lot. I didn't have a lot to spend that on, and you don't see me living the obscenely wealthy live. I have the money."

"Good... Good!" He turned back to his practicing soldiers. "Sounds like a happy ending to me."

"But it isn't. It's barely a start, a new chapter?" Umbra shrugged softly. "But I'm happy to see it, and so are they. Speaking of..." She glanced aside at Shining. "A question... Cadance is looking forward to topping you."

Shining colored darkly. "So blunt!"

"And the truth." Pulling from the umbrum side of things was...fun at times. "She is, and you're alright with that. So... Is she less a mare, in your view?"

Shining blinked dumbly. That had not been a direction he was expecting. "Uh..."

"Stop thinking, start talking. I want to know how you feel, not think." Umbra gave him a firm thud with a hoof to make that clear. "Out with it."

"Hey!" He swatted at her hoof. "She's still the mare of my dreams... I'll still be her stallion, um, even after we've swapped the pants a moment... I mean, seriously.... Think about her. She is... the mare. This won't change that."

Umbra hummed softly. "What about me?"

"We're not married."

Such a blunt and simple statement. He wasn't... wrong...

"True... But putting that aside, again, asking for feelings, not thoughts. Even thought wise, we are connected." She waved between herself and Shining. "I'm the only pony aside Cadance you have allowance on."

Shining's blush made its return. "Ah... yes... You are a monster." That had not been said as an insult. He had his tastes, and Umbra fit nicely in them.

"A lady monster, or a guy monster?" She leaned in from the eye, eyes half-lidding.

"A, uh... lady monster, I'd say." He flipped his ears back. "If we're being honest, which we are, I don't much like guy monsters." He turned to Umbra fully. "You and Cadance, my lovely lady monsters, mare with teeth." He flashed his own. "Do the wrong thing, or the right thing, and you'll get bit. You may like it."

Umbra broke into laughter at how that was described. "Wow! Love it. You know, Midnight is entirely aware of your shameful fetish, because you are ashamed of it. If a pony's embarrassed about it, she can smell it. Shoot, she can see it, crystal clear." She raised a hoof to her chin. "Part of what makes her a deadly good therapist. She has teeth, but that lady monster is too eager to rip and shred. Working on toning that part down."

Shining shank back with a nervous laugh. "Will you think less of me if some part of me wants to try her out as a therapist?"

Umbra swatted at him. "Shining! Don't repeat my mistake, sheesh... Besides, being turned on by your therapist isn't really a good thing."

Shining waved it off. "Alright, alright. Just curious... I'll leave that monster in your capable hooves."

Umbra waggled her brows. "Besides, if you tickle her right, she'll do horribly shameful things to you. That's how she likes it. Her plus one would return fire. She wants to end a session with both creatures heaving for breath, red in the face, angry as all hell, mortified, and unsure if they love or despise the creature they were just with."

Shining couldn't keep the flush from his cheeks. "Wow... Intense."

"Right?!" Umbra skipped in place. "Exact words I used, I swear. A bit much for me, but I do hope she finds that special someone, who can take that kind of abuse, and return it."

Shining took a break to chastise his soldiers, getting them back in order. "Are you sure you found them all?"

"I think I have... Morning's pretty good at that." Her darling daughter, such a talented filly. "Oh! Anik's learning how to school, and how to get to and from it without a little panic attack."

"Panic attack?" Shining inclined his head. "Why are they scared?"

"Not scared. Anxiety isn't always about that." Umbra considered how to phrase it. "Imagine walking through the streets of the city."

"Sure?"

"Lots of ponies all around, as usual."

"Sure." Shining nodded firmly. "Normal so far."

"Now imagine they are all looking at you. They're all thinking about you. They say nothing, but you know they are."

Shining cringed at the scenario. "Did I put something on backwards?"

"You did nothing wrong, but Anik had to learn how to not think about other ponies, and that most of them are busy doing the same to him."

"Huh, alright." Shining nodded thoughtfully. "One thing. Is Midnight helping with Anik?"

"Oh, no." Umbra flatly waved that off. "She hates him. Hates. him. According to her, he has only one regret, and it's not even something she can do much about, since it's one she shares."

Shining slowly let his head flop to the side. "Um... Wouldn't that make her better at dealing with it... in theory?"

"In theory," allowed Umbra. "But not if she doesn't want to deal with it at all. I can understand that. Being a therapist is all about learning boundaries, and your own are super important. A shame she doesn't want to face? Not sure what it is, but it is her right to declare it out of bounds."

"When did you get to know therapists?" Shining prodded at her gently. "Were you one?"

"Talked to a few in my time," she confessed. "Played the part for friends, with mixed results... Anyway... I did ask that for a reason."

"Which is?" He leaned in, curiosity in his eyes. "Safe to discuss, um, out here?"

"Probably not... But it involves making up with Cadance, and making us--" She waved between herself and Shining. "--closer in the end. All of us, really... if It's not too dumb an idea..."

Shining quirked an ear. "That both fascinated me and terrified me... I want to hear more, but when I'm not doing drills. Tomorrow morning, Breakfast?"

"Breakfast," Umbra firmly agreed. "I'll send Anik and Morning off to handle that on their own. They're mature enough to handle it one day. Time for a chat."

"With pleasure. Now..." He went back to giving his full attention to his guard ponies. They deserved that.

106 - Indecent Proposals

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Umbra nodded to the other two there. Morning wasn't there, and neither was Midnight or Anik. It was her and the royal duo. "This is a big deal for me. This is about facing a lot of things, all at once."

Cadance set down her magically held fork. "That sounds serious... What do you have in mind?"

Shining smiled. Supportively? "You mentioned you had something to go over, go ahead. Thank you for talking about it ahead of time."

"Oh, yes." Cadance nodded swiftly. "This is so much better than hearing about it afterwards. Thank you."

Umbra cringed, yeah, she'd done that... "I want to cement us." She waved between all three ponies there. "You." A guard perked up at being addressed. "Buzz off. We need privacy."

"Ma'am?"

Cadance nodded at the guard. "Go ahead. I'll call when we're done."

"Ma'am." And off he went, looking less worried with the princess' command.

Shining lifted an ear at Umbra. "Cement us?"

"Together," added Umbra, tapping her hooves lightly. "I've been dancing around, aimlessly... It's time we seal this deal, permanently. No more joking around. No more messing around."

Cadance smiled gently at this admission. "I'm flattered, but I do have to ask... if you're willing to settle, why haven't you tried with your last paramor? You... Forgive me for pointing this out, but I can see that line." There was still a connection draping off Umbra, leading towards the one that got away. "Mostly one way... But there."

"Ugh, you and Midnight?" So many ponies that could poke her where it hurt! "I won't do that. She made a decision, and for good reason. I won't stop her from taking care of the most important person in her life, herself. I am... sad... but proud. So proud... that she was able to make that decision, and stand up for herself. Love can be a bit blinding... Better she set a simple line in the sand."

Shining nodded lightly. "Alright, but this is about us." He waved between Umbra, Cadance, and himself. "What were you thinking?"

"I am thinking... I want to top a pony." Both of them lit up at that, Shining spitting out his coffee. "And I want to be topped... I want to let go of my hangups in the most dramatic way possible, with ponies I can trust entirely. I will surrender."

Cadance raised a hoof to a glowing cheek. "I... I would say I see, but I don't. Who is it you want to top... and to top you?" She curled a hoof at herself. "I am available, if you're looking for an evening of... an evening... You knew that. We agreed on it."

Umbra took a slow breath, quiet and still a moment. "I want to top them." She pointed at Shining. "I want that to top me." She pointed at Cadance. "We will repeat this as often as is required." A bit dry and technical of an explanation. "Sorry... This is a lot for me to face, but I'm sure. We will be a family, properly. No more faking this is not the case."

Cadance sputtered softly. "I..." That certainly wasn't what she woke up expecting to talk about! "You want me... on you?" She pointed at herself and Umbra with each part of that. "I will... remind... I am using rather advanced love magic to make it possible for Shining and I to... try the other way."

Umbra smiled at that, shadow billowing free of her, obscuring her form, before he was revealed. Lord Sombra, a cruel smirk on his face. "As I was reminded recently... I'm not human. I'm not even a pony. I... am an umbrum." He pointed at himself. "I am male. I am female. Both? Neither. Whatever I decide I want to be." With a release of tension, he became Umbra once more. "Just have to get over my mental... hangups... and I can't think of two ponies I trust more right now to help with that."

Cadance stared in silence a moment. She looked aside at Shining, who was returning the look. There was an understanding there. "Umbra..."

"If this is dumb, just tell me." She deflated a little. "I'll understand. It's a big ask. A huge--" She stopped, cut off by a hoof on her snout.

Cadance was leaning in closer. "Umbra. This is a big ask, as you put it... but I'm more... flattered than appalled." She swatted gently at Umbra. "You fiend, stealing Shining's foal from me...But offering a replacement in the same breath. This is... a lot." She sat back in her own chair. "I want some time, to think about this."

"Of course!" Umbra blushed at how loudly she had barked that out. "Of course... Take all the time you want." She looked to Shining with a nervous smile. "Your thoughts?"

Shining cleared his throat softly, thumping his chest. "Well, um... I..." He sat up. "I didn't know you had that kind of interest in me."

That was neither a firm confirming nor denial. It was, on some levels, a clear answer despite that. Cadance picked up on that, ears dancing. "When... When Flurry Heart entered our lives, we were all there. We all felt that..." She took a slow breath, expanding with the woosh of air. "We were connected. We were all her mother, for that moment. She had a father, before then, but in that moment... we were all her mother." She reached out, and nothing happened, but Umbra could feel, somehow, the desire to produce a milk bottle, but Cadance had become as dry as Umbra had, and no bottle manifested. "Two of us were her wet nurse, and all three of us showered her with love and care... We are yet her parent, back to our usual genders... But for that time... For that moment... we were all mothers."

Umbra squirmed with the memory of that intense moment. It had pain, sure, but mostly... "It was like my... Like... Do ponies believe in souls?" Both ponies looked at her oddly.

Shining raised a hoof. "You mean like a ghost?"

"Sorta? The ghost that's inside a living person." She tapped at herself. They did not seem to be grasping the concept. Sweet, athiest, ponies... "Well, fine, but it felt like all of me, beyond even the body, was opening up, like the entire world was ready to explode free of me..."

Cadance smiled at that. "But the world did explode free of us."

Shining nodded along with his wife. "And nothing else mattered more than her... Um..." He coughed into a hoof. "Speaking of that! Regardless of... today... I'm a little hesitant to bring that many foals at once. They each deserve a lot of attention, and we only have so much to give."

Umbra raised a hoof quickly. "I can wait for either part. I can wait for even an answer... I'm the one asking big--"

"Stop that." Cadance drew her hoof back from Umbra's face. "You asked, that is done. Stop beating yourself up for asking your special someponies a question." She slid to her hooves and started for the door. "I have a lot to consider, and I think you two do too. This is not an answer, I just need to think about this."

Neither stopped her from walking out.

Shining rubbed behind his head. "I am in a confused place..."

"In a good or bad way?" She considered the stallion. "I'll take either."

"A bit of both?" he got out with a nervous little laugh. "I just told you I prefer my monsters to be ladies."

"Bad defense," flatly noted Umbra. "You're already willing to let Cadance climb up, and she's still a lady, you said so."

"True... True..." Shining grabbed a scone in his magic and ripped it in half in his teeth. "I thought you were... pretty sure about who you were."

"And Cadance isn't?" Umbra folded her arms over her chest. "If that girly girl of a mare can do this and still be a girly girl... then I was the one being hung up." Color crept over her face. "Besides... We haven't done... things... And I kinda like you..."

"Only kinda?" He reached across the table. "What you're asking for is way more than 'kinda' if you want to raise a foal together afterwards."

"True..." Umbra smiled, too wide of a smile, teeth becoming sharp razors that promised pain to any she applied them to. "I can be a monster."

"You already are one," he countered with a kind smile. "One I like."

"Good. That's settled." She tapped at the table. "I am a lady monster, whatever ghastly form I wear at the moment. That's just part of my wicked talent set. Now... back to you. You were ready to be topped, but if it's only by Cadance, I... get that... It's your body, and your choice. I'm not that much of a monster." Even monsters had limits, hmmph!

"Can I be honest?"

Umbra perked. "Of course. Aren't we being that?"

"Not entirely." He deflated slightly with the admission. "To be honest... I like your idea... I'd rather not be with Cadance, that way. I... would rather she sit in the mare box entirely, my lovely perfect 'girly' mare. But I don't want to hurt her. She... She deserves happiness, and it's... I would do it, for her."

"Aw..." Umbra rubbed his shoulder. "That's sweet... Look, I understand I'm being a bit selfish here, using you two as... what, props? Props to deal with my own baggage... I promise that I'm in for the whole thing, forever... This is... me... proposing." She drew her hooves back. "Whether or not we do that part... Shining Armor... Will you marry me?"

Shining recoiled. "Woah, hey, hold your horses." He wasn't expecting a hug to be the result. "Um?"

"I'm holding my horse. I'd hold Cadance too if she were here..." Umbra nestled in close with him, closing her eyes and forgetting the rest of the world.

Shining put an arm around Umbra, holding her gently in that moment of quiet. "So..."

Umbra drew herself back with a sigh. "So! So, I'm serious. Of course, Cadance has to answer too. I can't do that to just one of you. That would be... super awkward, at best."

"Super awkward... That is a kind way of putting it." He chuckled as he pushed up to his own hooves. "Well, you know my vote. You knew it before you even came in here today, but I am loyal to Cadance. I will not go behind her back. I will not betray her."

That ball was entirely in her court.

Umbra and Shining emerged, going their seperate ways. "Mother." Anik stood not far away, watching her.

"Anik." Umbra veered towards him. "Doing alright? Where's Morning?"

"She said she had things to do." And he was not one to stand in her way. "You look like you're... thinking about something... Is something wrong?"

"Perceptive." She offered an arm and soon had an Anik nestled against her. "I... Hm. You may not get this, but I'm dealing a lot with how I see myself, and how others see me, and how I fit into the larger picture."

"How I fit into that cold picture was very clear, and hostile." He leaned against Umbra, sharing warmth as they walked. "But I am not there. This warmer place, less unkind, but so much more confusing, mother. Here, I have time to worry about that, and I do... I think I understand, at least a little. What am I doing, and how do I fit? I used to know, but now it's not so clear. I turned away from that crystal window, to find the rest of the room cluttered and neglected. It hadn't mattered before... but it does now. Mother, perhaps... We should clean. Will you help? I'll help as I can."

Umbra squeezed him in a firm drawing. "You... Of course. What a lovely son you are, brother of a sister."

107 - Masculinity in Pink

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"Thank you for coming." Cadance's courtroom was empty of the usual bustle. It was her, and Umbra, and but one lone guard. She trusted that guard, both to stand watch, but to be the right level of gossiping. What they were going to say would spread. What they were discussing couldn't remain a secret. "I apologize if this sounds severe, but we must make it clear before we can continue."

Umbra nodded, a simple gesture, but stiff. Nervousness she wanted to go away, but refused to entirely. "What's on your mind?"

"What is on all of our minds." She pointed a hoof at Umbra. "You know I can see our connections. There is an adoration there, but also a timid little... desire. A fearful desire. What you want from me, I think, you are also terrified of. This connection, it's complicated. Complex enough that I couldn't predict what would happen, where I to enhance it. With Shining, I can predict fairly well what enhancing any given connection would prompt."

"And... that makes you nervous?" proposed Umbra, one hoof up. "That makes sense."

Cadance smiled gently. "I can always count on you to have a... Hm. I don't want to say 'mature'... You have a wholesome view of things. Hollistic, there's the word I was searching for. Now, if you don't mind my asking, why? Any interaction you have with me doesn't require you step into forbidden places."

"This is true, but also not." Umbra touched her hooves together, flat on flat. "You and Shining are an item. I'm trying to become part of the set, but I'm not quite there, yet. This is just me being honest. So! Anything I do with one of you, I'm doing with the other."

"Not wrong..." Cadance sat up tall on her throne. "But let me ask a very direct question. If Shining were not involved, how would you feel if I were to play my part?"

Umbra colored faintly in her already dark cheeks. "I..." She glance at that one remaining guard. "I would submit."

"No. No no." Cadance shook a hoof vigorously. "No partner of mine will 'submit'. Not happening. You are an eager participant, or we can find something else to do. I have no interest in reluctant ponies, not in that arena."

Umbra rose up, a tall pony, like Cadance. Sure, Cadance was still higher on her throne, but she was not cowering. "Forgive me. It would still be my first time. You'd be gentle?"

"As gentle as we need to be," assured Cadance swiftly. "A good stallion moves exactly as swiftly as their partner wishes and is prepared for."

"You're not a stallion." Umbra smiled despite that. "But you're ready to play the part."

"Good enough for all intents and purposes." She looked to the coloring guard. "Just for an evening. Then back to being a princess." She raised her hooves to place her chin on them. "I have no interest in any longer than that. I am rather proud and pleased with myself, as a mare, princess, and mother. Any foal that should result will gain another mother. Shining will have to be the father, the only stallion, long term, of this group."

"No arguments there." Umbra flicked an ear back. "You're diriving a point."

"Hm?"

"Sitting up there, making me address you here." Umbra waved slowly across the throneroom. "Very intentional. You are the one in charge of this. I may be a fierce shadow warrior, but who holds my leash, you are not making a thing to question."

Cadance smiled so innocently. "Me? Hmm... could I deal with such a terrific wizard warrior? Why, I've heard you've come out on top against quite a few horrible monsters in your day." She raised her brows. "That sounds like a challenge."

"Please." Umbra waved that away. "Fortunately for all involved, this isn't a battle. I know shadow--" A dark blot of purple-black appeared over her head. "I know time--" Bits of the shadow went in reverse direction. "And I've learned dreams." It all vanished in a puff. "But if we're being honest, which I hope we are, you leave me in the dust in just knowing what you want and going for it, without making a mess."

"That last part can be tricky." Cadance shook her head. "Very tricky indeed.. Now, I think we're on the same page. I have a clever little idea..."

Umbra perked. "You have my attention. What idea?"

Cadance leaned forward. "Well, you have dream magic, you just said so. That certainly seems a safer way to experiment with this before we commit, hm? A little visit, and we can see what could work, or not."

"Oh!" Umbra colored. "Technically valid... But you'll feel what you imagine. You haven't ever actually done that. Dreams can't give you whole new sensations. Not really how that works."

"You know how it feels." Cadance pointed at Umbra. "Which is why we begin with us. You are the one who is uncertain, and the one who knows what it feels like."

"Oh... dang it." Umbra listed to the side with her whole body. "Curse you and making some kinda sense."

"I do try." Cadance raised a brow. "What do you think?"

"Before I answer that, there are more pressing questions." Umbra strode up to the steps of Cadance's throne, bowing at them. "Princess Cadenza, will you marry me?"

Cadance started at that. "Oh! There you are." She reached to boop Umbra's downturned nose. "You are just as good at going for what you want. It's the mess part you're still working on."

"Is... that a no?" Umbra looked up into the hoof covering her face.

"It's not a no. It's not a yes." She sighed gently. "Do you mean it? Even just once... Loyalty can only be sworn like this once. I know you slipped, but, fortunately for you, it wasn't with me. A pony can change... But this isn't a mistake you get to do twice with me. Do you understand that?"

"Not even one." Umbra set a hoof over her own chest. "The straight and narrow... Um, as straight and narrow as our little polycule is."

Cadance narrowed her eyes faintly. "This 'polycule' is having very strict rules. No coming, no going. Until the very last day in us. Can you commit to that?"

Umbra nodded firmly. "That is the least I can offer, not just to you, and Shining, but any children that come between us." She folded an ear back. "I wasn't... why she happened, but Flurry already has this promise of loyalty. I will be hers even if you say no."

"That you are a loving aunt is not even in question." She settled, chin on hooves. "But how are you at being a mother? There is no time out for that task."

"No... No... Look, I promise. You two are it. Done." She crossed her arms in an X. "That's it. Even when I was being a ninny, you two put up with me and chased me back onto the reasonable path. Let's keep walking on it, together, alright?"

"And a father, apparently." Cadance glanced at the poor darkening guard. "Do you accept us, the good and the bad? The good? It will get better. The bad, it will get worse. That's how... That's the way of things. If you're thinking, 'I can fix it!' Well, then you're in the wrong head space. Do you accept us, turned up to 11/10?"

Umbra considered the two, their quirks, somehow magnified. "Are we going to do something exciting together? That sounds... actually kind of fun. I'm up for that."

Cadance had her turn blushing briefly. "What? I never--"

"I'm not blind." Umbra poked her tongue out. "Miss Perfect Princess. We'll sneak you away for a fun adventure."

Cadance lowered her hooves to her chair. "Awful temptress... Very well." She turned to the guard. "Let it be known; Princess Umbra of the Shadowhearts seeks the hooves of Princess Cadance." She half-lidded her eyes. "Assuming all goes well, she will become wed with her, and the prince consort Shining Armor. Only the future can determine that."

"Yes, ma'am!" He saluted sharply. "Um, Your Highness?"

"Hm?" Cadance cocked a brow at the guard.

"Ma'am... Were you... joking or are you actually going to--"

Cadance raised a hoof for quiet. "I may jest about many things, but this is about family, and love, and foals. There's very little room for joking here. Do you understand?"

"Crystal clear!" He saluted anew. "Ma'am. Sorry for the question, ma'am!"

"You are forgiven. Go." She made a little shooing motion, sending him off to spread the news. "And it is done. I expect most of the city to be aware by tomorrow."

Umbra almost flopped over. "So that's a yes?"

"If it wasn't, I have a lot of confused ponies to correct late." She huffed softly. "Don't make me regret this. Your heart, I've seen it. Bruised, battered, scarred... But I think something wonderful hides under it. No more hiding. No more deceits. Between us, there is none of that. The crystal heart said as much." She tapped herself on her chest, not hiding it, letting it echo to the other two. "There is no room for anything but the truth."

Umbra reached up for her tiara. "Should I get rid of this?"

"No! No... It does more than that, and even the most intimate of partners may want a moment alone. That isn't what I meant." Cadance stepped down from her throne, stretching as she went. "I think you know what I mean."

"Yes! Yes, I get that." Umbra brought her hooves down without moving her tiara. "Alright. So... This is awkward... but I want to get closer. I want to learn you." She tapped at her own head. "I want to get in here. I want you to visit mine. Let's do stuff!"

Cadance stepped up towards Umbra. "I appreciate the thought, but you know most of what I do. I'm a princess. That occupies... quite a bit of the average day."

"Great, but there's time when you're not doing that." Umbra's eyes flashed with dread power. "Let me in there a little. I'll be the best playmate I can be."

"No." Cadance raised a hoof. "First... you will visit during that bigger portion." She brought the hoof down in a slow wave with a twitch of her tail. "You're a princess. Time to start acting like it. A princess married to a princess that doesn't know how to princess? No. That just won't work. I hope you're ready to fill the horseshoes you're courting."

Umbra went still a moment, but a smile returned viciously. "Clever... I become your break."

"I would never," sang out Cadance, not sounding convincing. "Seriously, if we're of equal rank, we should do equal effort. That's just fair."

"I can't really argue that," figured Umbra, wagging a hoof with each word. "Alright. You'll have to show me the ropes." Her ears were perked and alert. "Then I'll show this town what it means to be under a shadow princess!"

"How intimidating." Cadance didn't look intimidated, touching noses with Umbra. "Be gentle."

"Gentle as the sunset," assured Umbra, rubbing those noses in contact. "Peaceful as the night that follows. This is good! The umbrum won't feel as awkward, knowing there's a princess they can petition for things."

"Good idea!" Cadance sat to clap her hooves. "Now you're thinking. But you have many fans, umbrum or not. Some umbrum don't like you much. Two choices, they can pick whichever princess works best for them. However... If one of us makes a decree, we can't have the other overriding them. That will mess everything up."

"I can imagine..." Umbra nuzzled right past the nose, across Cadance's face, nipping at her whiskers, a thing ponies and horses had, on to her rounded cheek. "I am so looking forward to learning you."

"You sound like Twilight considering a spell," laughed out Cadance. "Am I your new obsession?"

"Is that bad?"

108 - In Your Dreams

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"It is time." Umbra stretched out atop her bed, willing the lights in the room to go out, one of her daydarks shining briefly in its shadowy way, making the darkness absolute. "Good night."

"Good night," came a chorus, both her daughter and her maid. Trying to shoo that maid out was a battle long since lost. She'd just sneak back in and be ready for any call. Some ponies took their job seriously. Her son would have liked to sleep there. It took some time to explain that huddling for warmth was not required, and even seen as a bit unseemly once a given pony was past being a foal, which he certainly was, learning or not.

Softer times meant less hugging? Strangely true in that specific instance. So he had his own room.

She closed her eyes and went right to sleep. It helped that the magic of sleep included such a spell. She didn't have to wait for sleep to find her. She grabbed it instead and drew it over, plunging immediately into the dream world.

She 'awoke' in a treasure vault. Every scrap of gold, gem, and other shining value, she could feel it was a pony's precious dream. She picked up a pearl necklace and could see each and every pearl had a different pony's slumber. They were tied together for a reason. A family? They were peaceful, so she simply set it right back down without disturbing it. "Is this what Luna sees?" Unlikely. Every watcher had different ways of seeing it, and even that could vary over time.

Like the dreams themselves, they were loose fragments of the watcher's mind, so there was so much to seed different views of the same thing. "There you are." A large tiara, and one she knew well. It was Cadance's royal regalia, atop a small pile of others, making it one of the tallest set things in that room. "Come here, you."

Umbra willed the tiara free to float towards her. "You're just as pretty as you usually are." Pony, tiara of dreams, still pretty, so far as she saw it. Umbra held the tiara gently, turning it left and right. "Now how to get inside..." A pool of water was simple, just jump in. How did one 'enter' a tiara?

"Oh." She reached up and knocked her own Tiara free and replaced it with Cadance's.

Cadance sat atop her throne, making decrees for a long line of ponies. Yes, no, yes, let me consider... yes, no... She was quite busy, and the line stretched out into infinity.

Umbra scowled at the infinite line. "A dream is the time to relax." She extended a wing at the line, forcing it down to just two ponies remaining.

Cadance's posture relaxed, as if she could see that the line had gone from unfathomable to manageable, without knowing why. "Next." And she saw to the next pony without pause or hesitation. "I see..."

Umbra slid herself in as pony #3. Cutting in line wasn't fair.

Forever and a moment later, it was Umbra's turn. "It's time."

"It's time?" She skewed an ear to the side. "Oh, yes. Of course." She rose to her hooves. "Seeing as you're the last, court is dismissed for the day." She stepped down and they were in her bedroom. That didn't make any sense, but dreams were like that. "Thank you for coming. I was worried you'd get scared. I thought you'd prefer to do this in a dream."

That was a good reminder that Cadance didn't know she was dreaming. Umbra twisted the threads of the dream world around them as she spoke the fact, "Cadance, this is your dream. I am visiting."

"Hm? Oh..." She sank to her haunches. "Oh..." She looked around a moment, focusing slowly on Umbra. "Now that you bring it up, yes. This is like when Auntie Luna visits. So you have gained her ability? I thought she'd guard it quite jealously."

"I had to promise to use it only for good, and only for ponies far away from her." Umbra closed with her for gentle nuzzles. "Good night. Nice to see you."

Cadance returned them, standing up as she did so. "Well, you didn't come here for small talk." And so she was he, but no big bruiser of a stallion. He was a soft and effimate stallion, but still undoubtedly a stallion. Even as a stallion, Cadance was Cadance, pink and gentle. "This being a dream... are we skipping the wining and dining phase of things?"

"Probably for the best." Umbra inclined her head at the transformed Cadance. "May I note you manage to be pretty, even now? It's a curious clash, but not one I've never seen before. I had a fair few guy friends that were adorable or even pretty. It happens."

"Glad I have your approval." Cadance walked past Umbra towards the heart-shaped bed. "But I'm coming out on top today."

"Phrasing!" Umbra blushed faintly. "Did you even mean half the innuendo you just fired at me?"

"In this dream, it's not really innuendo." He flicked his tail, watching Umbra with smoldering eyes. "Nobody here but us two, and we know what we're here for."

Umbra laughed awkwardly. "Soften up a little... This is my first time."

"You've mentioned that. You're a virgin? You were with Starlight, hardly virgin." He raised a doubting brow. "Are our definitions askew?"

"It's complicated, trademark." Umbra stepped up onto the bed, willing her tiara (when had she put that back on?) off and starting to remove her other clothes. "I have never, as a proper biological female horse, had a male horse for sexual company, to put that as bluntly as possible. I... want this, but I'm also scared, because change is scary. It always is. That doesn't mean I'm running from it, but I am a bit tense. Help me relax?"

[naughty stuff now]

"Thank you." Cadance nuzzled gently along Umbra's side, nipping at her quivering flesh. "For trusting me, and for telling the truth." In a fit of dream logic, Cadance was behind Umbra without actually circling her. "But you are a lady pony, a mare." He kissed Umbra, nuzzling her delicate petals. "The proof of that is right here, though there are others, which you pass."

Umbra arched her back with a shivering whicker. "Oh... hearing you say that... I feel like I could cry, and feel silly for it."

"Then cry," invited that male Cadance. "This is your night, to do whatever you want." He nipped at her left leg. "I'm just here to try to make it more fun."

Umbra widened her stance, letting out her breath in a slow woosh. "Alright! I feel ready to try the next part." It being a dream, she was exactly as wet as she wanted to be, and she wanted to be ready. "Let's see what it's like to have a horse on me."

"You keep saying that." He flicked her tongue across her nethers in a slow drag. "Kinky... We're not horses. Are you trying to invite me to be a savage?"

"No!" Umbra squeaked. "No... Sorry." The connection became clear, like inviting a male human to go 'ape'. That had particular meanings in bed. "I'm still, relatively anyway, new to pony life, especially when we do new biological things. I want you to be a gentle and loving pony."

"Wish granted." He grabbed her from behind, but didn't hop up. Instead, he was nudging her down to lay on her side, then on her back. "We're not animals, silly dear. We don't have to do it that way."

Umbra was stunned a moment before laughter came to her. "Duh... Right." She reached with her arms and hooves towards Cadance. "Come here and hug me."

This Cadance did with pleasure, nestling right in above Umbra, hugging tightly. A new presence pushed against Umbra, throbbing stallion urgency nudging at her as they cuddled. Cadance wasn't trying to put it anywhere not invited, but it was there, making its presence known. "Many ponies do it this way, or side to side. We're sapient creatures, silly. We can do it from most any angle we get in mind."

"Sure..." Umbra curled up a hoof to nudge at Cadance's throbbing sheath and its occupant. "But you have this. Doesn't this limit your options a little?"

"Not nearly as much as you're thinking." Cadance winked. "Trust me... I've tested Shining no few times... Take it easy and you can get a stallion's magic wand pointed in all kinds of directions. Advantage of being a thinking pony." He nuzzled at Umbra's chest. Being a pony, there was little immediately sensitive there, but being lovingly cuddled was delightful on its own. In such situations, the entire body could become an erogenous zone.

Umbra curled both arms and legs about Cadance. "You are a treat... I trust you."

Cadance could hear the import of those words. "Thank you. What do you want to do next?" He was willing to wait, do what she wanted, when she wanted it.

Umbra squeezed at her lover. "I think I'm ready to try. Nice and easy."

"Nice and easy," echoed Cadance, backing up a little to line up the show. His horn glowed. Unicorns didn't need to reach down to align things, or wiggle about, no. He directed his male pillar into position with his mind, kissing her lips with it and nudging forward just barely past the surface. "This is funny."

"What's funny?" Umbra shivered at the sensations, her own mind stiching it together in a blend of things she did know. They were all good things. "Funny isn't the word I'd use."

"Too bad, used it." He kissed Umbra's snout. "I never did this, as a stallion. I can feel me guessing what it should feel like. It's a strange thing... Further?"

Umbra answered by angling her hips and driving upwards, sinking that stiffness into herself. Her eyes widened with a shuddering gasp. "Ooo, mmm... I think... we can start now."

"As if we haven't already." Still, permission was given, and Cadance began to slowly rock deeper and deeper, exploring into the depths of Umbra with little pushes deeper each time. "Lovely mare, my mare... You are as wonderful inside as out. Thank, mmm, you for sharing it with me..."

Umbra moved against him with increasing eagerness. "Oh, fucking hell... I forgot how... nice it is... to just rub these parts together." She rolled suddenly, putting Cadance under her and riding him with wet squelches of their forms coming together, faster and faster with each drive of the love engine between them. "My pretty pink stallion, harder! Fill me with your sparkling filling."

Cadance broke into laughter even as he drove, perhaps a bit slower due to the laughter he couldn't entirely stop. "Unicorns don't glitter down there." He winked. "I checked."

Umbra leaned in over Cadance, touching noses. "Maybe not normally, but this is a dream, and you are magical. You could make it sparkle if you wanted to."

Cadance inclined his head. "You have a point. My love power, filling them..." It took a moment, it happening with each push, but she was inflating her heavy stallion orbs, starting to sparkle and send rays of light across the room. "I hope you're ready to be filled with my unending love."

"To the very top," growled out Umbra, fluttering about Cadance's shaft in an eager milking twitch.

[naughty stuff ends]

Umbra sat up in the black room. She threw off the bed cover to confirm, yep... Mares could have wet dreams. Blushing, she got to cleaning up, thankful that her maid appeared to be gone, for the moment. She didn't need help cleaning certain things...

"Morning?"

"Yes, mother." The filly was there, watching her.

"Ready for breakfast?" Umbra tossed the last bits in the hamper. "I have a monster of an appetite."

"The best kind." Morning flashed a deadly smile. "Let's take care of that, mother. It's earlier than your usual time."

"Just feel like it." She had a feeling Cadance would be there, awake for much the same reason.

109 - Smiles for Breakfast

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Shining looked between Umbra and Cadance. They were smiling. That wasn't a bad thing... but they were more smiley then usual... Morning wasn't smiling, but that wasn't an expression she did often. Anik was smiling, but it was his usual joy for being alive. A pleasant smile. "So... How's everypony feeling?"

"Great," got out Umbra quickly.

Anik curled a hoof downwards at Morning. "We're going to practice today."

Shining perked at that. "Practice what?"

Morning smiled her calculating smile. "All creatures of this world have magic. He doesn't know what he should have, or should not have. Ideal clay to tease out what magic he actually has."

Umbra's horn glowed as she squeezed her daughter. "What a lovely trick you have there. Thank you, Anik, for playing along. Maybe, at the end, we can all enjoy something new."

Shining applauded gently. "I'll just ask." He looked between his two mares. "You two look really happy. Did I miss something?"

Cadance burst into giggles. "I'm sorry! I shouldn't play like this. Umbra visited me, in my dreams. We had a lovely time. And, I think, made significant progress on some hangups."

Shining blinked, putting that together quickly. "Oh! So, it works then?" He was looking at Umbra. "You can dream walk, like Luna?"

Umbra nodded firmly. "I don't see it how she sees it, but it's lovely in its different way." A thought came to her. "Shoot! Actually, maybe it's doing it here in the Crystal Empire influencing it too. I saw everyone as a different jewel or gem or other thing. To enter them, I just had to wear them." She pointed at Cadance. "You were your tiara."

Cadance peeked up as best she could at her own tiara. "I'm more than a pretty tiara."

"Of course you are." Umbra lowered her hooves from their warding position. "But I had to visualize all the dreams around me. Luna saw them more as pools and puddles and mirrors she stepped into. A treasure vault for the ponies of the Crystal Empire? Works for me, and just as worthy of protection and value."

Shining pointed at himself. "When do I get a visit?"

Umbra could hear the sad little foal in that request and its tone. "I'll be sure to stop by. But what we have in line is a lot more physical." That got Shining coloring. "We'll get to that, hm? Oh!" She looked to her children. "I'm not sure if I made this clear or not." She pointed to Shining, then Cadance. "But we're a thing, for real."

Morning squinted with suspicion. "You were already a thing, mother."

Anik inclined his head. "What manner of thing?"

"Good question." She booped her son, who seemed to enjoy those moments of contact. "We were a thing." She waved between all three members of that union. "But we're becoming even more. We will get married."

Cadance sat up firmly. "I... admit I wasn't entirely convinced you were serious... but my opinion has shifted. I present this as your last opportunity. If you walk past this threshold, it's for keeps. We alicorns can persist a long time, sometimes. At least Auntie Celestia and Luna certainly have. We have no other alicorn to compare against... But you may be signing on for a long time. Are you alright with that?"

Shining looked between the two. "Uh... I'm not an alicorn," he noted weakly. "I don't like the way this is headed."

Umbra thumped him on the shoulder, smiling. "If it comes down to it, I will drag you into the alicorn club. I've seen what you might look like as a mare anyway. You'd still have it."

That struck Shining into a blushing quiet.

Cadance burst into merry laughter. "I will hope it does not come to that. I love my Shining completely, but I would prefer he remains a he for the rest of days, if we have the option. Now." Her eyes settled on Umbra's children. "I'm not sure this came up before, but if we do marry... You two become my stepchildren."

Anik perked at that. "Oh! ... What is that? I would be honored to be your child." He bowed his head. "But what is a 'step' child?"

"A child connected by marriage." She pointed to Umbra, then to Anik. "Still my child, to be loved, fostered, and cared for. One hopes the feelings would be reciprocated, for you to love, support, and honor."

Morning hummed softly. "We'll see if you earn it."

Cadance's eyes widened at that. "How direct... I appreciate that in a way. Better that these things be clear." She looked to Anik. "What are your thoughts?"

"I am honored." He dipped his head at Cadance and then at Shining. "I had a family... And lost it, only to be given a new one that grows in this new life. This world is full of bounty I could not have dared consider before. Like a starving man placed before a great meal, I feel overwhelmed, but tearful with appreciation."

Umbra hugged him with a wing. "Still a poet. So, yes. I am signing that line for the long haul. Trying to halfass things is how I got into trouble before... I don't want that. Trying to grab whatever was in view is how I lost things. I'll miss my 'wild' days, but it's for the better, by far."

Cadance inclined her head. "Before you cement this." She reached out for a thread only she could see. "You should speak to her. To cast her aside without a word? You'll hurt her feelings, and your own. Neither of you deserve that."

Umbra's teeth came together with enough force that, at least, she could hear the thump of enamel. How could she not think of that?! "I am an idiot..."

Morning hummed. "The one you cheated with?" Umbra's startled look of aghast horror only made her smile lightly. "Mother, I'm not a foal," argued the foal. "I know what you did. If you care about this pony, you should tell them."

Umbra brought a hoof to her own forehead, tiara jostling with the impact. "So did everyone figure this out but me? Fine! I'll se--... No. I will not dump her by a letter. That would be so bad..." She slumped in place. "She did nothing wrong. I didn't tell her what mistake I was busy making."

"Why I asked." Cadance nodded softly. "You have a choice to make. Break it up, properly, or maybe you'd prefer her company? We're both just ponies, but that choice has to be made. She isn't part of us." Cadance waved at Shining and herself. "And that invitation isn't open. So it's one or the other, and it needs to be clear."

Umbra caught her head, hoof at either temple. "I still want her as a study buddy. Nothing wrong with that, right? We're both wizards and I want to learn magic with her. No more kissy stuff."

Shining drew some juice to sip. "We'll hold you to that. No more kissy stuff, with her anyway."

Anik pointed at Morning. "You are allowed to kiss her."

"I'm allowed to kiss you too." Umbra leaned over to smooch the top of Anik's head. "Children are great like that. Alright, alright... Alright. I'll do this properly." She hopped down to her hooves and strode off purposefully.

Cadance steepled her hooves. "Now... I want to ask." Her eyes settled on Anik. "What is your view on this? You come from another world, with very different rules."

Anik perked, the spotlight turned on him. "It was simpler. If a man... stallion. If a stallion and a wo--mare like each other and are in the mood, they would... do that. Only members of the same tribe would really consider it. The others were too far away, lost in dark, to think about. There was no 'marriage'. The idea is scary, but... kind of nice? But scary. Promises are important, very important. That mother broke her promise is bad... I can see why she was left. It is hard to trust one who breaks their promises. If you can't accept their word, how can you accept other things?"

Cadance leaned over the table. "What an astute viewing of it. Though it saddens me to think of a world so... stark. I'm glad you don't live there anymore. Though, I say that... Do you miss it?"

Anik was quick to shake his head. "It died, and I died. This is a new life. Too late to 'miss' the old one, and little to miss, in this case. I was ready to surrender to those final moment." He smiled radiantly. "It is my role to savor and celebrate this new chance."

Cadance settled, chin on hooves. "And that is why you still trust her, despite her lie. You see yourself in her, don't you?"

Anik flinched, but it turned into a hesitant nod. "She is also reborn. The past still haunts her, hunting her in darkness, but she is reborn, like me. We will find a better way forward in this new life. Together? I'd like that."

Shining sat up. "So, let's put this somber note to the side. Anik, you seem physically capable. Ever consider joining me and the guards for some training?"

Morning hopped up onto the table to scowl at Shining. "I already claimed possession of Anik for the day. Do you wish to battle for it?"

Shining put up warding hooves at Morning. "Easy... It doesn't have to be today. Whenever you want to and are available."

Anik reached for his sister, but didn't actually grab her. "I am yours today."

"Good." She hopped not to her chair, but atop Anik's head to perch there. "Have you eaten? We're wasting time."

He stood up, sliding from his chair as she slid in stance to back onto the more flat surface of his spine. "Thank you for breakfast, mom, dad." He left the two with bulging eyes as he left the room onto Morning's plans.

Shining shook his head at the empty other side of the table. "At least she's motivated."

"She is at that." Cadance lowered her hooves. "And so am I. I'm glad she, Umbra that is, responded the way she did. She does need to put a bow on... that. Better it be done before we consider what may follow. Now... just to be entirely upfront on this." She rested her hoof on one of his. "We shared a dirty little dream."

Shining pinkened just a little. "Well, we did agree that was alright..."

"And I can still see it means something, which is why I bring it up." She rubbed the top of his hoof gently. "Because I love you quite a bit."

Shining flipped his hoof about, raising hers up to his lips to kiss. "I call dibs on the next one. Not fair, you only getting the dreamtime."

Cadance burst into renewed laughter. "Well, catch me by surprise!" She smooched his nose gently. "Thank you for the reminder of one of many reasons I love you so much. I do hereby officially give permission. I hope you and her have a lovely time, whenever that is. So, silly question... She feels like she might be into that... You try introducing her to your comics?"

"My comics?" An ear skewed, thinking of them. "I didn't think that was super relevant, really."

"They're as relevant as you let them be."

He hummed softly. "You have a point... Maybe she'll really like them. That'd be nice to connect on." He hopped to his hooves. "But we should both get to work too."

"Yes we should." She slid down to be the last to stand properly. "I will admit I'm kind of looking forward to Umbra taking up some of the day to day rulership duties. We need to go over that way more in detail..."

"She knows shadows and magic, not that. I'll be a learning moment." He brushed against Cadance's side. "Let's get to it."

They marched off to face the day.

110 - Growth in the Dark

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"You are a creature of day and light," noted Morning, voice even as she circled Anik. "Most creatures are, so don't feel alone. They develop powers to keep that light, to turn back the nightmares that haunt them." She hopped up on a low rock. "The dragons produce bright flames and sharp claws. Nothing can burn them. The earth ponies master the plant world, always fed and full, ready to fight for survival." She considered Anik. "You resemble one, but also don't. I can feel where they touch, but seperate..."

Anik watched her motions, ears swiveling to keep her trained. "What about the crystal ponies?"

"Hm? Oh. They foster a brightness in here." She tapped at her own chest. "They hold light so preciously, they become it. They can also become the most crushed when it is snatched from them." She flashed a feral grin, teeth too sharp. "Their weakness, their strength. It's not yours."

"I see." Anik did not see. "How will we find my strength? Where I am from, there is no 'magic'. If you can't put a hand on it and make it your own, then it just isn't there." He extended an arm, gazing at the hoof at the end. "I can't even do that these days... But the ponies have built grand cities, filled with more of them than I could even hope to count."

"That sounds like a magic to me." Morning sat in place. "Mother told me of your world. Your people should have died, long ago. Light was denied you, light creature. Your people were light creatures, most are, but, somehow, you survived."

Anik leaned towards his small sister. "What would your people do, in that dark world?"

"Rejoice!" she barked with an almost laugh. "Until we noticed there were no light creatures to torment... We have a need for the light. We feast on it, destroying it, and living."

Anik tapped a hoof in place. "Then we all need light. That is the common point." He turned in place to gaze on the sun, indirectly, out of the corner of his vision. "That is the source of this 'magic'. Of life."

"Mother was right, you like poetry." But she didn't sound condenscending. "Fine. If sun is the source of magic, take your share."

Anik jerked back, looking at her, then at himself and his icy colors and earth pony lines. "Hm... There was so little of it where I was from. My life, defined by its lack and the struggle that brought." He closed his eyes. "I never knew what it was like to have it."

"Then have it." Morning smiled just a little, feeling a posssibility. "Gorge on it."

"Have it." He faced the sun, eyes closed. "Invite it. Light, sun, shining too brightly... You are a fire without end. You are heat without pause. You cast your endless brilliance on this frozen heart. Can you pierce it?"

Morning sat up, but said nothing. She could see the icey lines of Anik starting to glow. Something was happening, but she said nothing to disrupt that. She instead rolled a hoof, as if to encourage him to continue, not that he could see her with his eyes closed.

"I lived without you, because I had to. You are here now, I invite you." He reared up, hooves wide to let the sun shine across his form, glittering where the icy lines crossed it. "I could live without, show me what I can do with."

"Stop."

Anik fell to all fours, opening his eyes just in time to see the last of the heat haze fading from around himself. "What happened?"

"You were... getting hot." Morning frowned in thought. "Like you were getting ready to explode."

Anik turned his ears back. "I don't want to do that."

"Oh, but maybe you do." Morning rubbed her chin thoughtfully. "It may not hurt you. If it doesn't, you have a potent weapon. If you can control it, you have a powerful magic that can do more than hurt things."

Anik hummed softly. "I can turn aside the light, gather and release it, for I don't need so much. Yes, that makes sense." Though he was new to magic, the logic of it seemed to be solid to him and he accepted it as it was. "This new life is wondrous... And now I am too."

Morning angled an ear at him. "It bothers me how quickly you're accepting this, but fine, it's for the best. If your magic feels right to you, all the better." She pointed at Anik's chest firmly. "Do it, with your eyes open this time. Gather the light. Make fire."

"Make fire?!" Anik flopped to his haunches. "Fire was such a precious thing, hard to tease out, resister of the dark. I huddled by it, the last on that dark world. That is how I met mother, carrying a little light of her own, hope against the midnight I thought I had reached."

"You don't need all that light," countered Morning, hoof raised to the sun. "It's warm enough to light a fire, isn't it? Make a fire, with that light."

"With that light." He raised his hooves towards the sun, as if he could just grasp that light, but his hooves were not well designed for that. "With that light." He shook himself out, bringing his icy streaks to a shine. "All that light." He reached for that sensation, what he had felt before being told to stop.

He could feel the sun's warmth, enveloping him in heating radiance. It let the grass grow and from there, larger things, plants he could, before, only imagine. From there, larger and larger animals, all from the sun. The sun was the fuel of it all. He would borrow it, a tiny bit. A litle shard for a little fire.

His pale blue streaks began to shimmer, gathering and focusing the light through him, towards his curled arms, to the hooves he held before him. The air shimmered, not with magic, but the haze of building heat.

"Keep that up." Morning hopped down and scampered away, just to return with a stick held in her mouth. She angled the stick and thrust it up into the glowing spot between Anik's hooves. "Keep going, focus on the stick. Make it hot, where it's touching."

Where it was touching? Anik could see where it pierced the sphere of heat, warming. He would make it warmer still, warmer and warmer. The wood began to peel slightly, recoiling from the light. All things had the right amount of light, and Anik was pressing past it. More. More... His sister was proud of him, and he wanted that to continue. More light.

The end of the stick snapped loudly and he recoiled in surprise, but it was too late. The stick had caught fire, the end burning softly as Morning waved it around, cackling.

"You did it." She waved the flaming stick end a bit close to him. "Look. You did this, with your magic." She regained her composure with a cough around the stick in her mouth. "Very good. You have fire magic. You also have a cutie mark."

Anik blinked. He did? He coiled to peer at his rump, and there it was, a bonfire. He was the bringer of flames, holder of light! He danced in place with a happy nicker of rapturous joy. "I have one! I am the bringer of light. This is amazing! Such responsibility." He uncoiled to face Morning. "Oh, sorry. You will get one too."

Morning tossed the burning stick aside to smolder on some cement. "Moron," she flatly uttered. "I'm not a pony. I won't get one unless I decide I want one, and only for that long. I don't need a cutie mark." She shrugged lightly. "I know my purpose, so don't worry about me. You, on the other hoof, are a pony. Ponies get cutie marks." She clapped slowly. "Congratulations."

"Thank you, beloved sister." But he did not say the title in Ponish.

"What?" Morning poked him with a hoof, barely reaching his chest. "What are you calling me?"

Anik hesitated. "Oh, sorry. It means 'Beloved sister', in the language of my mother."

Morning frowned faintly."If your mother has a language, why didn't you use it?"

"Because it is special." He nodded as if that was obvious. "I was taught to use it for special things. For special people and places and times. The birth of a child, the finding of food, the meeting of new friends... Things like that. Today is a day worth it, for I have found the purpose of my new life." He pointed back at his mark. "I am a bringer of light and heat."

"About that." She circled for a different angle on the mark. "You have a lot to learn. It took a long time to build up to that. With proper training, I want you to be able to make fire as quickly as you can start running. Nothing to fire, immediately. It will be of limited use until you reach that."

"Do you think that is possible? Oh, we should inform mother." He circled as if he could find Umbra, but she was not there to find. "She will want to hear the good news."

"Of course." Morning shook her head slowly. "They will probably want to have a party. That can wait until later. We're getting back to training. You promised your clay is mine today, and today is not finished."

"Yes, sister." He took on a far more ready stance, his serious face returning. "Sorry. I was overwhelmed with the moment. You have my complete attention."

Morning ventured a mild smile. "Good. Hm... Depth of heat, or speed... No, speed, definitely speed. You can always reach deeper, but if it takes that long each time." Morning grabbed the stick and waved it at Anik, beckoning. "We should do this on pavement, not grass, or we could set everything on fire. As amusing as that'd be, that isn't the goal." She set the stick down there on the dry cement. "Make it burn, faster. Nothing else matters but getting it on fire as quickly as possible."

Anik practiced doing just that. It went well, except that time he set his leg on fire instead of the stick. Nothing a quick bucket of water thrown at him didn't fix. Still, with practice came some results. Not quite as fast as Morning would have liked it, but each hour of work seemed to shave a minute or two off the time, so they were getting closer. "You had best not stop practicing after today. If you sit on your talent, I will be very dissapointed in you."

She also fetched a stick each time the last was too burned to keep using. She served at the timer, wielding a stopwatch and an unblinking gaze on the activiy as he tried again and again to master his magic.

"I will make you proud," he got out between deep heaving grunts. "But I am getting tired. Can we... I know I promised."

Morning waved that away. "You did well. Time for lunch." She took the charred stick and threw it onto a pile of others that had suffered a similar fate. "You may not be a wizard, like mother, but your specialty could become something great, if you keep working at it. Hm, little light bringer, you are at odds with our family."

Anik cringed at that. "I want to be part of the family, not against it."

Morning raised a hoof. "You are what you are. Mother choose to adopt a creature of light, you did not choose to be one. If I were to blame, she would be the one getting it. You keep practicing, and be the brightest light you can be." She started towards the exit of the arena. "I'm hungry too. Let's show some food the mistake they made, presenting themselves to us, their defenses lowered. Fools."

She would enjoy tormenting her lunch.

111 - Date

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"What?" Umbra's food fell to the plate, her magic faltering in her surprise.

Cadance inclined her head left and right. "We're going on a date. I refuse to marry anypony I haven't been on some quality dates with. Are you available this evening?"

"So fast!"

"This entire engagement is fast," countered Cadance. "Consider it revenge, if you prefer. Now, do you have any other commitments this evening or not?"

Umbra considered her plans for the day. "There's Anik's cutie mark cenera, but that's in the afternoon. Nothing planned for the evening time."

"Wonderful." Cadance brought her hooves together quietly. "Then I will expect you to be in the front room at around six. I'll pick you up and we'll have a lovely time. Any food allergies I should know about?"

"The few I knew I had..." Umbra thought back to a life ago. "They seem to have been blasted away with a new body. A whole new immune system to get it right this time." That did not get much of an understanding look from Cadance. "Complicated stuff, but no, no allergies."

"Then I don't need to plan for that." This seemed to please her. "Anik got his cutie mark? How delightful. I'd love to attend, but I'll be busy performing royal duties this afternoon, and I can't... quite justify making a break for that. Still, be sure to tell him congratulations for me. What is it, if I may pry?"

"A cheerful little camping fire." Umbra clapped, thinking of it. "And he's so proud! My little fire wizard son. Way more focused than I am, and that's fine, but he's eager to master fire magic, and he and Morning are so cute working on it together!"

Cadance skewed an ear off. "That sounds violent. He seemed so nice."

"Don't be like that." Umbra pawed at Cadance. "I'm a shadow wizard of nightmares!" She flashed her best smile. "But I'm not violent, and neither is he. He'd rather chase away a wintry day or cook something tasty. Think of him like a friendly little sun. You wouldn't call Celestia violent, would you?"

Cadance sat up tall. "Hm, you have a point there. If he takes after auntie, calling him violent is a disservice. I hope he can bring some light and warmth to all the ponies he deals with then. Is fire his only specialty?"

"Yes... but no? His real specialty is light." Umbra pantomimed in the air as best she could. "Turning light to heat, and fire, is just where he started. He's not a wizard like me though. He hasn't shown any interest in learning proper unicorn magic. Anik's also not a unicorn, so there is that."

"There is that." Cadance slid to her hooves. "Still, congratulations to him. See you, and just you, this evening." She strolled off towards other business.

Umbra had her own business, and a party, to attend. She got off to start handling that.

That evening, Umbra showed up and waited in the entry of the palace, waiting patiently for what felt like forever. But then she came, but she wasn't alone.

There was Cadance, dressed exquisitely, with Shining Armor next to her, also dressed to the nines, both looking like proper state figures ready to hit the town. Shining waved as they came closer. "Hope you're ready to have some fun."

Umbra took an unsure step back. "I didn't know this was that kind of dinner! I feel naked." She had her cape and tiara and such, but she was not dressed for a fancy dinner.

Cadance reached up to tap at Umbra's plated chest. "You, my dear, look like a dashing shadow monster, and that's exactly who we want tonight. You're dressed just fine."

Shining whispered from the other side, "She wouldn't let me give you a heads up, sorry."

Umbra patted him as she turned, enough so he knew she wasn't cross at him. "If you're sure. So, where are we headed?"

Cadance strode for the door, head held high. "We could have dinner here in the palace, but that lacks that special touch. We're here most of the day." She started down the steps towards the street. "So, first step." She raised a hoof at an ornate carriage that waited for them. "We ride."

They all piled into the carriage, Shining and Umbra across from the smiling Cadance. "This place is one of the best in the city. I would know, I patronize it. I may have also bribed them into carrying some real feel good classics from Equestria proper."

Shining nodded from aside Umbra. "We've been there more than a few times. Great food! Good atmosphere too. Upperclass without being stuffy, you know?"

Umbra let out a releived sigh. "You have no idea how much pressure you just took off."

They arrived in front of a glittering eatery with a small lit fountain in front. A smiling stallion dressed as a proper servant greeted them, there even as the carriage slowed. "Excellent to see you today, Your Highnesses." He spotted Umbra. "And you, Great and Glorious!" He dipped his head at each of them in turn, each equal in depth. "Please, come right in."

Cadance pointed behind her as she emerged. "You can refer to her as 'Your Highness' as well. Hm, no, that may get confusing... Do you have a preference?"

Umbra twitched up her ears. "I hadn't given it a lot of thought... Umbra's nice." But that felt improper for the situation. "Mmm, Wizard then. You'll never offend me calling me that."

"Wizard!" agreed their greeter. "I've heard tales of your magic. Is it true, are you watching over our sleep now?"

Umbra started. She hadn't really tried to spread that rumor around... "Oh, um, yes... I am a creature of nightmares, so I know them well, and do my best to keep everyone safe."

"How curious!" If he had any opinion other than that, he didn't reveal it, leading them inside and getting them to a table. Soft music played, not by any magic or recording device. A band was actually playing the pleasing jazz-like tune for the enjoyment of the diners. "I'll be your waiter today." Just like that, the greeter became a waiter, offering menus and filling glasses. He was their one stop contact for all their needs. "If you want for anything at all, I will circle back around, or you can ring the bell. Cadie knows the one."

Cadance nodded at him. "Of course I do. Always nice to see you." She waved the waiter away and looked to the others. "Now, today's on me, so order whatever you want."

Umbra examined the menu curiously. There were numbers next to them. She wasn't sure what... Oh. Right.

Those were prices. Very high prices. It wasn't that Umbra couldn't afford it, she could, and Cadance had just said she was treating, still... "A little pricey?"

Shining swatted at the air in Umbra's direction. "They are importing half of it from outside the empire. This is the only place you can get most of this. That, unfortunately, has a price."

Cadance set her menu down, her mind made. "If I could just be anywhere I want, I'd skip over to Canterlot or Baltimare and get them at the source. This is the next best option other than just not having it. I've done my job, I deserve a little treat." She pointed at Umbra. "That goes for you too. Pick what you want."

There was a strong lack of crystal-themed options. Not a single crystal berry was harmed in the making of that menu. "What do you suggest?"

Poor fool, she had summoned Shining. He slid in next to her and began eagerly pointing out various options. "If you like fish--" He tapped one. "This really can't be beat. If pasta's more your thing..." He had an opinion on basically everything on the menu. "But it's all good! Ask the waiter for what he suggests you drink with it, he knows."

Umbra set her hoof on an option and pressed with the same to pin the menu down. "Now! Cadance, lovely thing, you invited me here for a reason, I feel sure. What is that reason?"

"If we are to wed." Cadance leaned forward towards Umbra. "Then we will do domestic things. That is what married ponies do. This--" She twirled a hoof in a small circle, indicating the room. "This is a domestic thing. It is also a thing I enjoy. I hope you enjoy it as well, and enjoy the time with me. Being married is a lot more than the time spent in the bedroom, as fun as that time can be."

Umbra flipped her ears back. "Well, just shoved a hoof right in my mouth there, sorry. I shouldn't be looking for gatchas... I'm happy to be here, with both of you." She tapped the item she had picked. "And thank you, Shining, for helping me settle on this."

Shining clapped his hooves with a big, goofy really, smile. "You're going to love it." He raised those same hooves to clop over his head.

"Dear." Cadance reached back and pulled a rope, causing a bell to jingle. "No need to make a scene."

Their waiter was on them in an instant. "Hey! You're looking ready to get the food moving." He gathered up their orders swiftly. "Can I get any drinks while we're waiting?"

"Lemondrop float, if you will." Cadance hummed with appreciation of the future treat.

Shining giddilly rubbed his hooves together. "Rootbeer fizzy!"

"Alright alright!" chimed the waited cheerfully, noting the order with his mouth-held quill. "And for you?" He was looking at Umbra.

Umbra folded her arms. "I'm not sure. Have any suggestions to go with what I ordered?"

"Of course! Now, I do have to ask, are you looking for something sweet, spicy, or something we shouldn't let the foals near?"

Ah, pony world, where booze wasn't the default assumption. Umbra smiled at the innocence of it. Though that reminded her that she had been without for a while... "Let's go with the 'adult option'." She waggled her brows. "Tonight is a fine night for libations to celebrate domestic life."

"To domestic life." Shining had no drink yet, but he joined the proposed toast.

Cadance nodded. "To domestic life. Thank you." She gently shooed the waiter away to fetch their orders. "Now, tonight, I want to hear what you like. The next domestic evening is on you." She pointed at Umbra. "Then Shining gets to plan one. We have a thing going, and you wanted to join us, so you get to take part. Being part of our union is more than who will make children with who."

Umbra sat up, considering that. "Huh... That's actually... I like it." She sank back into her cushioned seat. "I like it a lot. Alright. Let's act like a family outside of sharing breakfast. I've been focusing on magic, you know that. It's my 'thing'... Would you be mad if I showed off a little? I would be super happy to share some tips while I'm at it. You two could let me rub my magic all over you."

Shining laughed at that. "It's been a while since I sat down to learn some magic that way. Shield magic's the only one I reach for, um, on the day to day."

"You and my son! Branch out a little... Give it a try. If you don't like it, promise I won't try again."

Cadance dropped her head onto her hooves, knocked together as they were. "Oh, no, none of that. If you're doing this, commit. We're learning magic, even if we complain a lot. Learning to appreciate each other's little hobbies and fascinations is half the point. Now, just to warn, eating out is not my only hobby, or I'd be a lot rounder... Expect my nights to be spent enjoying this city we protect, and it has so many wonders to share with us."

Umbra giggled, hooves quivering in the air. "I'm getting even more excited. Shining, what do you like to do?"

"I'm really... eclectic."

Cadance smirked at that. "He dragged me to an art museum so fancy, even he had no idea what the art was trying to say. The time after that was a sports event at the arena." She angled her head in that direction. "Before that, comic convention. I know I won't be bored when Shining's turn comes around. Never the same thing twice." She fixed him with a fond look. "Just 100% Shining being a total dork."

112 - Night Tremors

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"Mother." Morning was facing Umbra's bed. "Explain something to me."

Umbra sat up where she had been preparing for bed. "For you, any time. What's up?"

"You are a creature of nightmares and darkness." She pointed at Umbra, quite sure on that point. "Why do you sleep through it, and work during the day?"

"Well." Umbra frowned, considering that. "Good question. To start, a lot of the other people I like talking to also sleep at night and work in the day, so I followed. Also--" She pointed at herself. "---I used to be a 'day creature', as you call it. So combine being used to it with wanting to hang out with other 'day creatures', and it was such an easy question, I never even asked it."

"Perhaps you should ask it, mother." She started for the door. "You have the respect and admiration of others. You wouldn't lose it having a more natural pattern."

Umbra slid to the floor. "Hold on. Even if I agreed, this isn't something you do with a pivot in place." She twirled around on one hoof in a display of what it wasn't like. "I'd have to adjust to night life, and be grouchy while I did it. What would I get for doing that?"

Morning smiled thinly. "For one, your daughter is a night creature." She was looking over her shoulder at Umbra. "My schedule is a mess, attempting to meet my mother's needs and my own."

"My son is a day creature..." Umbra rubbed at her cheek. "Dang it..."

"There are consequences for our decisions, mother." Morning sat, facing her. "You are tired. Go to sleep."

"My kid shouldn't be saying that!" She swatted at Morning, but was far too far away to hope to reach her with the halfhearted swing. "Dang it. What hours do you keep, on your own? Pretend I wasn't here."

"Sundown." She lowered a hoof. "To sunup, generally."

Umbra flashed a brilliant smile. "Great. I'm usually awake around both of those times. We wouldn't be entirely separated if you just did what was healthy and natural for you."

"Are you suggesting I separate my sleeping time from you, mother?"

Umbra walked towards Morning at an even pace. "I am. This isn't a dangerous place. If you want to live in the Crystal Empire night life, I don't see any harm in that. Some of them like the night too, and there are other umbrum. They like you too."

"Most of them." Morning shrugged at the report. "My aunt will appreciate my availability. Very well, mother. If you are certain." She didn't give enough time to think about a change of heart. She scurried out of the room, lost to a night of whatever Morning's did.

"Should I report her activity." Oh! The maid, watching as always.

"How will you do that?" Umbra turned to her. "You have a day schedule, like me."

"If you order me, ma'am, I'll keep an eye on her."

That seemed like a fine idea until the meanings of it sank in. "I will not order you to destroy your sleep schedule! You can watch her when you're normally awake, but sleep calls to all ponies. Even umbrum need to sleep. Just at different times."

"As you wish, ma'am. Are you retiring?"

Umbra rubbed at her cheek. "I should... but I'm also worked up now... Dang it." Her favorite phrase of that evening. "Going on a walk to calm down." She emerged from her room at a firm walk, not a proper trot.

She descended the stairs and headed out into the town proper. The clip-clop of her hooves on the ground was... comforting. The steady pace of it let her relax. She was in a safe place, doing her best for those around her. Nothing was wrong, right?

"Howdy."

Umbra slid to a stop, spotting a familiar stallion. "Wensley Apple! It's been a while!" She closed with him with a smile. "Where's Cobalt?"

"Eh..." He wobbled a hoof. "Sorry, didn't work out... Still, thank ya! That was... It was a magic time."

Umbra patted Wensley gently. "Aw, sorry to hear that. I know the feeling, um... Did you do anything wrong? I blew mine up. Nobody to blame but me for that one."

"That sounds like a story... but ah ain't gonna drag that outtaya." He shook his head firmly at that. "We just didn't click, past the surface. A thousand tiny things we did different that set the other on edge... It's hard to put to words... Weren't no hard feelin's, promise! We're still friends even!"

Umbra clapped at that. "I'm so happy to hear that! So what's a day pony like you doing wandering the street at night?"

"The night's comfy." He nodded with certainty. "Peaceful-like... Me an' my thoughts don't bother nopony out here. Um... You?"

"Got worked up," huffed Umbra. "Talking a hike to cool down. I already feel better." A thought came to her. "I know a mare, if you're up for it, that would love to hear the ghastly things you imagine about her. Word of warning, she fires back, and she will pry up every little shame you have on the way. If you can handle that, she will love hating you with every fiber of her being."

Wensley sank to his haunches with wide eyes. "Wow! That sounds..."

"Intense?"

"That's the word ah was goin' fer!" He swatted at Umbra with a smile. "Don't mind meeting her, if yer suggestin' it. Maybe it'll work out, and maybe not."

Umbra waved Wensley back. "Now, I'm not trying to rebound you."

"Huh?" It took a moment to parse that. "Oh! No... We, um... That's set and said. All done. Shoot, wasn't even really thinkin' 'bout it till you came up an' asked. Don't regret it none, happy days. Made me feel better too... Ah knew ah wasn't alone... But just 'cause we shared that didn't mean everythin' else works out, ya know? Hopin' the best fer her, really am!"

Umbra advanced to touch her nose to Wensley's. "Aw! That is so mature! I'm so proud right now!"

Wensley burst into laughter. "Thanks, but yer makin' me feel awkward. We're both, um, grown ponies. Anyway! Sure, I'll meet this mare of yours."

"One thing." Umbra raised a hoof up. "Technically, not a mare, as in a female pony." She curled the hoof at herself. "She's an umbrum, like me. A creature of nightmares. Like me, she's turning those talents to good things, but she's still an umbrum, and so am I. We're not ponies, but that--"

"--ain't not the end of it," finished Wensley. "If she was a dragon, I'd say say howdy and meet her. Maybe'll work out, or mayhaps not. Only one way to know, right?" He shrugged with a quirked smile. "Don't even know her yet. We're puttin' things out of order, ah reckon."

Umbra clapped gently. "You are being such a good pony about this. Alright. Let's make it a date."

Wensley poked her on the side. "Ya ain't asked yer friend. Figure she should get some kindova vote on it, yeah?"

Umbra slapped a hoof to her face. "You are entirely correct. I'll go ask her, then, if she's up for it, we'll make it a date."

"Deal." He put out a hoof, quickly met with Umbra's in a firm clop. "Right nice seein' you 'gain, date or not."

"Ditto. Now, I'm going to tuck me into bed." She continued her walk, looping around to head towards the castle.

"Still guilty about that?" Midnight emerged from the shadows, a trick umbrum shared. "I thought you'd be getting over it a little. Still, thanks for the treat."

Umbra jumped back. "Hey! Just the umbrum I was hoping to talk to."

Midnight inclined her head. "Me? You sure you aren't confused. You tolerate me, you don't like me. There's a difference. Oh, points on setting Morning free. Poor thing shouldn't be stuck inside at night."

"I want what's best for her." Umbra inclined her head. "You mentioned you had very specific tastes in a potential lover."

Midnight colored faintly, but was laughing through it. "Seriously? I have to hear this. What are you thinking? You're not ashamed of it, or I'd already know. Shameless... Tell me."

Umbra pointed where she had come from. "His name is Wensley, earth pony, with a particular 'quirk'."

Midnight cocked a brow at that. "It better be one hell of a quirk. Why should I care about some random earth pony?"

Umbra tapped at her head. "It's up here, and it haunts him."

Midnight licked her lips. "Mmm, sounds like tasty shame to me... I'm listening..."

"Worse, in some ways." Umbra pointed at Midnight. "He always visualizes the worst. He's not a pessimist, but images of the worst come to him. Any pony he sees, he imagines terrible things happening to them, or doing terrible things to them, or even having terrible things done to him by the creature he's facing."

Midnight blinked softly. "Intense."

Umbra frowned at that. "As if you aren't! Does that sound fun or not? He'll share his visions with you, if you're up for it."

Midnight clapped her hooves together in one firm strike. "Does he know I'm not an earth pony, or even a pony? Does he even know I am a creature of nightmares? Does the sick little pony not care?"

"Not even a little," confirmed Umbra. "But he does know. He did say he'd get to know you even if you were a dragon before making any decisions.

"Bold... I like that." She smiled slyly, rubbing her hooves together. "Wonder how long it'll take to break him... Still, he's volunteering, and I don't say no to free food. Sure. Just make it clear I don't kiss on the first date, pervert."

"I don't think that's the issue. Hm..." She should have gone to bed, but she was so close to sweet sweet resolution. "I saw him this way." She led Midnight back towards where she had spotted Wensley. He was still there, nursing from a cup of something she couldn't tell what. "Good, there you are. Here she is?"

Wensley scrambled to his hooves. "Her?" He looked over Midnight curiously. "She looks dangerous."

Midnight flashed a dangerous smile. "Oh, you're right. Sicko, already imagining what it'd be like to have these teeth on your neck, sinking into the flesh and the spray of blood..."

Wensley flipped an ear back. "Y-yes... Sorry... Did... Umbra explain that?"

Midnight waved Umbra way. "She gave me the basics, and I don't care. A pony that envisions terrible ends around me? That's just intelligent, really... Now, sit." She pointed to the ground firmly enough to make him flop to his haunches immediately. "Good boy. Now let's see what horrors lurk in you." She stared at him evenly a moment. "Besides your shameful visions... Hmm..." She dug and burrowed without motion, performing her mental intrusion. "You're... Wait." She leaned back, laughing. "Are you the actor now? Am I seeing that right?"

Wensley went darker still. "Um... Yes, sorry. I was..."

"Don't hold it back. I want to hear this." So she forced him to admit the depraved and debauched things Wensley envisioned himself doing to Wensley. "Filthy... But, for fun... Let's say I let you do some of that. Would you? Do you have the guts, or should I just spill yours and spare us both the trouble?"

Wensley flipped his ears back, thoughts going back to Midnight as the actor, doing awful things to him. "I don't want to hurt anycreature, ma'am."

"Even if the creature likes being hurt in good fun?" She raised a brow. "What about then?"

Wensley blinked dumbly at that. "I never met such a creature before."

"Hi." She leaned in closer, the aura of nightmares flaring around her. "I am made of terror itself. I enjoy visiting it, and wallowing in it. A little pain? That can be fun, delivered properly. Scare you? Good. You are free to run away, go on. I'm not holding you here."

Wensley forced himself to stand, but didn't run, staring at her. "I may scare you sometimes, ma'am."

"Oh, do try. I look forward to it." Midnight chuckled at the thought. "Please... Now, shall we go somewhere more private, or should I let you run away? Pick, either's fine, but commit."

Umbra watched the two wander off together. "Hope that works out..." She went back to the palace to get her sleep. "'Least I got something nice done, I think..."

113 - Forgotten Problems

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Umbra was in a place she didn't visit very often. It was Cadance's court, and that wasn't the unusual part. No, she visited that once in a while, but not while they were wearing very serious faces. They just didn't have to do that a lot. They arranged guards about in strict formations, as if an attack could come at any moment.

Shining Armor was there, facing one of those guards, the one out of formation for sake of speaking to him. "Where did this happen?"

The guard pointed off. "To the east, sir. The snow collapsed beneath our hooves and we barely got out of the hole."

Cadance hummed from her throne. "But you saw more than a hole. You didn't announce an emergency due to some geological annoyances, I hope?"

"N-no, ma'am! There were monsters inside, sealed by the snow, but free now, ma'am, sir." He nodded to both of his superiors. "We barely got away in time!"

Shining nodded in slow contemplation. "Did you get a look at these monsters? What sort of capabilities should we be preparing for?"

The guard backed a step, crystal fur glistening in a combination of sweat and the bright lights of the room. "It was dark, sir. Once we were outside, we ran as quickly as we could. They were a step behind us! They sounded huge, and they were coming straight for us, sir!"

Cadance looked to Umbra. "Your thoughts?"

Umbra perked. "Well... We already have the shadow monsters figured out. Some of them are even turning out to be nice, sorta." She imagined calling Midnight 'nice', and her mocking laugh at the result. "Still, how many different shadow creatures can we have in one place?! Besides that, this is sounding more like 'we got spooked' than anything else. I'm not hearing any proof that these things, whatever they are, are even dangerous, just unexpected."

Cadance nodded gently. "We are in agreement then. The dread shadow lord and his kin are both pacified." Umbra thought of how little the umbrum would appreciate Sombra being called 'their' shadow lord, but Cadance was plowing forward. "This is worth investigation, but not kingdom mobilization. For all we know, these are creatures, not monsters. If they are, we should greet them, not attack them."

Shining gestured for the guard to step back. "Get to the map room and work with the attendants there to place as closely as you can where this happened. We'll need to know that before we can do much of anything else."

"Sir!" The crystal guard rushed off to get that done, perhaps happy to get out of the questioning position.

Shining turned to the other two of the forming triumvirate of rulership. "While that's happening, I nominate Umbra."

"Seconded." There was no hesitation, Cadance just tossing Umbra under the metaphorical bus.

Umbra blinked at this. "What am I being nominated for?"

Shining rolled a hoof. "To go investigate. You can travel the snowy wastes with the least amount of risk or discomfort. You haven't taken on the tasks of rulership just yet, so your absence won't throw too many things off kilter. You are also our local wizard of considerable combat ability, if it comes to that, which I hope it doesn't."

Cadance raised a hoof. "But! You are one of us." She waved between Shining, Umbra, and herself. "So if diplomacy is on the table, you can speak with authority. Any agreement you come to, we will abide. So, for good or bad, you are our most capable, least at risk, diplomat that we can hurriedly get to the scene."

Shining nudged Umbra with an elbow. "Just be reasonable, which we know you can be."

Umbra curled a hoof to her chin as she rocked left and right. "Hum, well, when you put it that way... That does make sense... Alright. As soon we have that map, I'll zip over there and have a look." Her eyes and horn radiated with dread shadow magic. "I'll settle this, hopefully with some new friends, or maybe just some critters worth admiring."

Cadance nodded at that. "A new local animal species wouldn't be the worst result."

"Let that be the worst case scenario." Shining turned to the others. "Resume your normal positions!" They scattered to do that. "And let's get back to business." He moved to stand to the side and a little ahead of Cadance.

Umbra quirked up an ear. "Am I still on baby queen duty?"

Cadance snickered softly. "We don't have any queens. Equestria doesn't do those. You'll have to settle with princess duties, I'm afraid."

Umbra swung an arm as if she were snapping her fingers, but she had none. "Drat. Oh well, if that's the best I can do... I guess..."

Cadance made a patting motion without contact. "There there. Now, since they're busy with that map, let's resume for now."

And the court picked up, ponies allowed in to plead their cases and desires. Some were small, some were large, but Cadance listened to each as if they were the only thing for that moment. It was the main thing she could offer, her time. That Umbra could listen, watch, and learn was a nice side benefit.

After the court sessions of the morning were seen, a guard slipped in to whisper to Shining Armor. He, in turn, looked to Cadance. "The map is ready." He looked to Umbra. "When you're ready. Good luck, and come back safely, alright?"

"I'll do my best." Umbra sank into the nearest shadow and darted from the room with the speed one might expect from such a creature, reforming just aside the table that seemed to have maps all over it. "Alright."

A mare squealed in surprise, the poor crystal pony jumping with fright. "Oh! Oh... Great and Golorious... You surprised me, ma'am..." She took a shaking breath, regathering herself. "You're here for the map?"

"Sure am." Umbra extended a hoof. "I'm heading out to see what the trouble's about."

"So brave..." The mare grabbed the rolled map in her teeth and dropped it onto the waiting hoof. "Travel well and safely. Oh, um... sorry... but since you're here." She glanced about. "I love your daydark! I get so much better sleep now! I hear you watch our dreams now. You must be doing a good job. So peaceful!" She clapped her hooves with a beaming smile. "Thank you for all your work."

Umbra tucked the map away for later browsing. "You just made my day. I love hearing the daydarks are helping out. I can't take too much credit for cleverness, it's literally 'my magic in a bottle', really. Shadow, where you want it."

The mare laughed at that. "Toast is pretty simple when you get down to it, but I wouldn't trade it away. You brought a simple thing when nopony else had thought of it for, um, a long time. Ever, petty sure... So you get that credit." She shrank. "No offense, but you deserve it, ma'am."

Umbra snapped her wings wide as she willed a window open. "Time to get moving. No amount of daydarks is going to resolve this."

"Thank you, ma'am." The mare waved as Umbra took flight.

"Mother!" came a male voice from below.

Umbra craned her neck to see the source, spotting Anik and swooping in to land in front of him. "I'm on an assignment. Is something wrong?"

"Mother. I just wanted to help." He dipped his head at her. "It sounds like it's a dark place."

"Very, from the sound of it." Umbra smiled gently at her thoughtful child. "But I am a creature of the dark, don't forget. I'll be alright." She tapped at the side of her head. "And I can see in the dark, so let mother handle this. You take care of yourself." She went in for a hug, getting on in return. "See you when I get back."

"Be safe, mother." He released her. "If you need light, call me."

"You'll be on the top of the list." Instead of lifting, she fell into the ground, becoming little more than a shadow that rapidly flitted away from Anik, and the city. She only had to pause to review the map she hadn't actually examined yet. "So... there?" She tapped at the map lightly. "Shouldn't be a problem..." And her adventure continued.

The snow was dazzling white and never as smooth as one might imagine it. It had countless bumps and ridges that Umbra could feel as she flowed over it as a shadow. But she could feel the presence of something nice and comforting. More shadow, less light. Yes, there it was. She circled around the great yawning hole. "Right where they marked it." She made a mental note to commend the soldier on such good track of where it had been.

Umbra reformed into physical shape, looking around. "That was... about..." By her calculations, a normal pony at a normal walk would have had to go for most of a day to get to that point. It was evening even by her speedier shadow flying. Fortunately, she wasn't worried about the creeping night. Least of her problems if one thought about it.

"Hello in there," she called into the deep pit, getting nothing but a faint echo of her voice back at herself. "Hm..." She jumped down, wings catching her as she started a slow descent into the cavernous pit. "I'm going to hope whoever's down here is not only friendly, but super cute." She clapped her hooves. "Yep, that's an order. You hear me, universe? Super cute friendly things. That's an order!"

The further she went, the darker it became, both with passing time and light having a hard time piercing so deeply into the ground. Umbra could feel her vision shift from the light of day to the strange hues of darkness without any input form her. Then again, did any normal person get a vote when their eyes went into low-light mode? It was just a thing that happened.

"Hello?" But nothing replied her new call, just silence outside that echo, and the occasional bit of snow falling past her from above, or landing on her head. "Hey." She brushed the snow away, just for another to plop down on her back. She squeaked and shook it free. "Worst part of snowy holes, I hope..."

The hole ended at a rocky platform of sorts, a dais on a larger smooth flat place, like someone had gone and made an altar at the bottom of the hole, but she saw no immediate hint as to who or what the altar was dedicated to, if it was dedicated to anything. It was just a smooth flat place for her to land, so she landed on it with a clop of her hooves making contact. "I come in peace," she called out, in the hopes that something might hear her. "I have cookies."

Shining ate a bit timidly, distracted by what was going on. "You think she's alright?"

Cadance smiled gently at her husband. "This is Umbra. She's far more likely to come back with a new child under her wings than to actually be hurt."

Shining laughed at that. "You have a point... But what child would that be? It can't be a pony."

"The odds are against that." Cadance tapped at her chin in thought on the matter. "Maybe she found a tunnel to the yaks? That would be something."

Shining blinked. "Unlikely, and that would be a challenging diplomacy. They're difficult to deal with on the best of days."

Cadance shrugged with an eh. "Wrong direction anyway. The yaks are further north, not east. Do we know any creatures to the east?"

Shining shook his head and his hooves at the same time. "Not that I know of... Still, I won't be upset if she makes a friend or two, or just finds a lot of nothing."

"A lot of nothing would be fine." Cadance sipped from her tea. "There are far worse options."

114 - Wrestling With Problems

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Umbra was pressing into the dark, in that curious vision that let her see despite the complete lack of light. "I come in peace," she called out, wings fidgeting on her back. "Someone has to be here..."

An idea! A wonderful idea, she hopped. She sat on her haunches in the middle of the cave tunnel and spread her will and reach. She ceased to see the world, throwing herself into another place entirely. It wasn't a treasure vault, it was a system of caves, much like the one she'd just been exploring.

Tucked in the corners and safely stashed away were some vegetables. Not many? But some... Some was enough. "Are you all taking a nap?" She willed what looked like a big radish up into view. "Let's take a peek." But how did she 'enter' a radish?

Only one thing to do with a radish came to mind. She sank her teeth into it, and entered a third world.

"I love you."

The words were not being spoken at Umbra, but from one creature to another. They were big, fluffy, and... "Rabbit?" she said to herself, only realizing a moment later that she, too, was a rabbit, at least in that dream. That was a fine time to inspect herself, and the creature by proxy. She had horns on her head, and big floppy ears that hung down. She had a big cotton tail that she could wiggle about. Her legs were full of power, as befit any rabbit-like creature.

She was a horned rabbit. A big adorable horned rabbit. She turned her eyes to the dreamer, trying to woo another rabbit off her feet with mixed success. The two crashed together in a great hug that turned into a wrestling match. Their teeth were bared with grunts and heaves, but neither seemed upset about it. She threw him back to the ground. "Nice hug, need practice." She crossed her arms and turned away from the male. "Try harder."

"I..." The male sank, defeated. "Try harder..."

Umbra started awake. Something had poked her on the side. Twisting to see it, a surprised squeak reached her as the owner of the poking paw scrambled backwards.

"Hello there." Umbra turned slowly to face the presence in the dark. It was one of the rabbits, watching her and looking frightened. "My name is Umbra. May I know yours?"

The rabbit inclined their head. "Not attacking?" A female from the sound of it. "Umbra?" She curled a paw on herself. "Petri." She hopped forward, landing next to Umbra, sniffing at her. "Umbra."

"Petri." Umbra reached out to pat the rabbit. They were just as soft as they looked, and since there was no objection, she stroked the rabbit a little. "Nice to meet you, Petri."

"Yes! Nice." She grabbed Umbra then, squeezing her firmly in a great hug that drove the air right out of her. Petri let Umbra go to catch her breath. "Not good at hugs?"

"I wasn't ready," huffed out Umbra, sitting up to face the creature that was easily her match, alicorn or not. "Try again?"

"Try again," joyfully allowed Petri, moving in for a fresh hug. Umbra caught her, returning the hug with her own arms and pressing hooves. Since the rabbit clearly wanted a nice firm hug, she did her best to give just that.

Petri's joyful giggles filled the area, which was a summoning spell of sorts. Other rabbits emerged with twitching noses and soft slaps of their feet with each little hop from all sides to check out the great hugging going on.

One, older? With great brows and whiskers, but sounding female, approached carefully. "Why are you here?" she asked with better diction than Petri was managing.

Umbra perked with a smile. A leader! "Nice to meet you. I'm Umbra," she repeated to get the basics out of the way. "I came to see what was here. There were other ponies, like me, that got scared away."

"Ponies, yes." The elder nodded her head. "Come from above in a great crash." She swung her arms down in imitation of the act. "They were scared and so were we. They ran away. You... have not run." She considered Umbra carefully. "Are you a pony warrior?"

"Yes." There didn't seem a reason to deny that. "But I'm not here to make trouble, I promise."

Petri hopped in place, just shy of the roof. "She has a good hug."

The elder nodded, as if that fact was very important. "Then I welcome you. There is danger."

Umbra turned an ear aside. "Where?" Surely not the rabbits... right?

The elder pointed down one of many tunnels. "A creature of darkness. It hunts tsuki." She paused. "Oh. Tsuki." She pointed at herself, then the other rabbits. "Tsuki."

"You are a tsuki," put together Umbra. "I am a pony."

"Hello, pony Umbra," greeted another tsuki, coming in close for fresh sniffs.

"Hello," chimed several others. She was being buried in inquisitive snouts that sniffed and nosed and soon were petting her even more enthusiastically than she had petted Petri. It was like she was some stray dog that they decided was a good dog and in need of some good petting.

It was... charming, in a way. "Well, I know how to face shadows," she interrupted. "Maybe I can help?"

The elder shook out her head, ears flopping about. "You can fight shadows?"

"I am a shadow," argued Umbra. "Oh, most ponies aren't, but I am. I am a friendly shadow."

The elder clapped her hands in a dry slow applause. "A friendly shadow? I have never heard of that... But if a kind shadow would battle the hungry ones..."

"Kind shadow," piped a male tsuki, going in for a hug.

"Nice shadow," agreed a female, hugging her from the other end and burying her in their shared floof.

Umbra giggled between the two furry huggers. "You are all too great... Alright, where are these mean shadows? I won't let them pick on my new tsuki friends."

The elder tapped Petri, who nodded with understanding without words. "Follow." The other tsuki backed away from Umbra. "Here." Petri took a little hop and looked back.

Umbra started off at a trot, which got Petri moving. As a pair, they went deeper into the tunnels. "I hope you'll lead me back out when we're done..." Umbra was pretty sure she was already pretty lost. That Petri didn't answer that wasn't assuring. "So, shadow this way?" But still no answer, just the steady hippety hop towards theoretical danger. Umbra abandoned trying to question the tsuki.

"Imposter." The word came cold and firm all around them. Petri fled, bolting where they had come from.

"Imposter of what?" asked Umbra with far less running involved. "Who are you?"

"My question..."

Umbra hiked a brow at that. "So we share one. I'll go first." She curled a hoof at herself. "I'm Umbra."

"Pathetic." The voice seemed to come from another angle, but there was no body and no substance to it. "A shallow imitation."

"That's the part where you give your name," prompted Umbra, rolling her eyes. "Unless you think you're scaring me, which you aren't."

"You should be." With the emphasized word, two glaring eyes opened in front of her, ebbing with the shadow powers that Umbra knew too well.

"The jerk!" she spat out with an almost laugh. "I thought you exploded."

"Defeated, but not gone... Why were you not... Why are you standing?"

Umbra hiked a brow at what, she assumed, was Sombra. "Why are you picking on those rabbits? The tsuki seem pretty nice to me, leave them alone!"

"Mine."

"Yeah... no." Umbra's horn glowed with her shadow magic. "And one of us is intact, and the other really isn't. You want to start this fight?"

The sound of a heavy thump drew Umbra's vision to Petri returning, her eyes distant, but her stance hard to get wrong. She was focused on Umbra, flexing her claws in the air. They weren't sharp things, but their intent was as dangerous as they had been friendly before.

"Dirty pool!" Umbra had read the book of shadow magic. She hadn't learned how to rip into minds, but she knew they existed, and Sombra was a master of such deviant arts. "Take a breather." She locked eyes with Petri's as her own eyes and horn flared with shadow, submerging the rabbit in overpowering sleep.

Petri sagged back and flopped over, eyes closed. "That wasn't even funny, trying to get her to attack me."

"Barely the start."

Thuds and clicks echoed from all around as tsuki emerged from all around, all their gazes distant. On the positive, the elder didn't seem to be among them. "Crud."

"Crud, indeed," chortled the voice of Sombra. "You can't put them all to sleep."

No, the sleep spell really was made for one on one, not an entire crowd... "They can't fight shadows." She fell into the plentiful dark of the tunnel, becoming nothing but shadow itself.

And there he was, also a shadow. He lunged for her, teeth bared in a savage bite before she could even fully realize he was there. She kicked him away with a squawk, her essence spilling from the sound. With her will and a sharp throw of a hoof that wasn't even really there, she threw jagged spikes of shadowed crystal after him, but he darted and swirled around it.

He knew how to deal with shadow, and crystals. She had learned his tricks on that... But she had learned other tricks. She wove her magic and her next volley of spikes slowed and stopped in strange patterns, time flowing about them curiously. She released the time grip just as he passed in front of one, causing it to jab into him in a return for the bite he had delivered.

He howled with fury, the crystal shattering in the force of it as he surged for her with blinding fury in his shadowed eyes.

A pity time magic worked both ways. He hadn't expected the shards that had already missed him to come flying backwards, following their trail backwards until they slammed into him, decorating his immaterial back with shadow crystal shards with meaty thumps that implied they were far more physical than they actually were.

"Jerk." She lashed around and kicked out her hooves, sending him crashing back. But he wasn't down for long, flowing with the impact to come crashing on her, or at least where she had been a moment before.

It took a lot of magic, she was no Minuette, but she warped her personal time to sidestep out of the way at the last moment and pounce just after.

"Enough!" he roared, zipping away from her. "I'll be back, have no... fear." He didn't stop his fleeing.

But Umbra didn't chase him either, instead reforming into physicality to see all the tsuki looking dizzy and confused, except one that was still asleep. "Good news." They looked to her. "The mean shadow was taught a lesson. If he poked his head in here, you let me know."

The tsuki let out a cautious noise of approval, but seemed far more confused than overjoyed.

Petri blinked her eyes open, stirring, perhaps from the noise. She sat up with a horrified look. "Did I hurt?"

Umbra shook her head at the tsuki. "No, I'm fine. The mean shadow was chased away."

"Good!" She flipped over to all fours and hopped at Umbra, pouncing her in a big hug that was soon joined by another, and another. It seemed she had gained many friends that day, or night? It was evening when she arrived... "While we're here," she asked in the midst of the bunny pile. "Do you all work during the day, or the night?"

Petri considered that a moment. "When the sun is heavy, or the moon is light. Not too bright. Not too dark. That is our favorite time." Other tsuki were nodding in easy agreement.

Umbra wriggled free of the pile as gently as she could. "There's a term for that... that I don't remember... But neat!" She clopped her hooves. "Where'd your boss tsuki go? We have things to discuss."

115 - Strength in Age

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"I here." The elder emerged from a tunnel, only then joining the others. "Destroy? Will come back?"

Umbra shook her head. "No, but also hopefully not, since I've made my claim."

"Talk funny," noted a smaller tsuki, poking at her. "Why?"

Umbra skewed an ear at that. She was talking perfectly normal! Well, from her perspective. But her perspective... maybe wasn't the only one. "Sorry, how I was taught. Most ponies talk like I do. Is it annoying?"

The elder reached Umbra, traveling in smaller, slower hops than the youthful ones. "Different. Different not bad. Different different. Fight bad shadow. Win. Good." She patted Umbra gently on the chest with both paws. "Good."

Simple words, but clear enough. Umbra nodded with a smile. "Good," she echoed. "Now... A choice, a few choices, really... I don't want to tell you all what to do, this is your home. So... You could join the Crystal Empire from here, which means ponies will protect you, including me."

The elder rubbed at one of her horns, considering Umbra. "What pay?"

"Smart," admitted Umbra. "A trade. You share what you make, and the good will of your people. We share protection."

"Make?" The elder turned in place with the stiffness of age. "Beads!"

A tsuki, a young one, perked up, so young their ears could lift. "Beads!" The little boy tsuki dashed off in a series of rapid hops, returning with their arms burdened with many jangling beads. "Beads."

The elder took one of the strands from him with a nod and shoved it right around Umbra's head, hanging it from here. "Make."

"You make beads?" Umbra turned the beads around in her magic, examining them. "Pretty." They were made with local rocks, but also local gems. Of course Sombra would...

"Pretty..." She pressed further, examining their insides. They were of superior quality, almost as pure as stones still resting in the earth. They would make... wonderful enchanting materials. "Perfect... Yes. If you traded us some of these, we would gladly protect you." She inclined her head. "I will be honest, we'd protect you if you just asked, even if you never traded with us. Ponies are nice, overall."

The elder clapped her paws, the toebeans allowing for a firm slap. "Good good. Keep safe. No bad shadows."

Umbra turned a hoof on herself. "Only good ones."

"Good shadow, good." She touched noses with Umbra, which was a prompt for a lot of other noses to close in communal agreement that the good shadow was good, and welcome among them.

Umbra grabbed one of their horns in her magic, which prompted that tsuki buck to jump back in an awkward scramble. "Sorry, was curious. Can you do magic?" She pointed up at her own horn, glowing with a sign of its power. "Like I do?"

The buck shook his head quickly. "Horns not that. Your horn... different." Since it had been brought up, he went in to feel at Umbra's horn, returning the favor. If one was was alright, surely the other.

Umbra didn't fight it, letting her horn be examined. "Have you ever tried?"

The elder reached up, but didn't touch, instead snatching the halo of magic away from Umbra's horn, leaving it without a glow as she played with the magic like clay.

Umbra blinked in amazement. "Did you... just take my magic?" She tried to light her horn again, and it did so without a problem. The glow that the elder was playing with, still there. "You took... what I had, but not what I could make. That's so interesting."

The elder inclined her horns at Umbra. "Horn for magic. Not make. Change. Different. Different not bad. Different not good. Different different."

"Different," echoes Umbra with a smile of appreciation. "I like it a lot... You say it isn't good, but I think it's very good."

"Good?" The elder stepped forward, causing the others to make room without asking. "Why?"

Umbra patted herself down, finding a daydark she brought out and planted in the ground. "I make magic things, but to make magic things, I need good gems. I don't know how you mine, but you mine really well. Good good." Sure, she was trying to imitate them a little. "Very good. My magic." She pointed up at her horn. "And your gems--" She pointed to the beads. "Means I can make more, easily, and better."

"Magic?" The elder pawed at the stick, but it was, so far she could see, a stick. "What magic?"

Umbra pushed her magic into the daydark, gently, causing the light around them to dim, but that was a strange showing, as the only light had been her horn. "It makes dark," she tried to explain, brightening her horn enough to make the contrast more obvious. "You bunnies have good night sight."

Petri grabbed the staff, closing her hand around it firmly. "Why make dark? Lot dark." She waved behind herself, where there was all the dark one could ever need.

"For you," allowed Umbra with a gentle smile. "But for ponies, up above--" She pointed upwards with a hoof. "They sometimes have too much light. We have nightlights too, to make light when there's too much dark."

Petri clapped, releasing the staff. "Want. Share?"

"Share," gladly agreed Umbra. "Nightlights for you, daydarks for us. Share dark."

The elder fell to all fours, an easier stance to hold. "Share. Good shadow. We join nice ponies. Visit?" She turned to wave over her fellows. "Come see ponies. Ponies come see tsuki?"

"Tourism?" Oh, the blank looks she got. "Yes, that sounds wonderful!" They began to cheer and clap, crashing in hugs in celebration of the news. The cheer was infectious, Umbra dancing from hoof to hoof with a smile that refused to go away. "I should tell the other ponies what I found, and the good news."

Petri slapped herself on the chest and waved out at Umbra. "We friend. Take friend? See ponies." She sure looked excited about the idea.

The elder nodded. "If want. Good friends. Not force."

Petri shrank at that, called out. "Not force." She fell to all fours. "I want. Please?"

Umbra could easily see the competing eagerness to go and to not be rude. Other tsuki looked eager, but they seemed to accept that Petri had the best chance. "How... fast are you?"

Petri pointed at Umbra. "How fast? Race?"

Umbra rubbed behind her head. Well... it wasn't like she had a spedometer, and neither did that eager rabbit. "Race. Now, show me how to get out." She had no idea which way to go in those tunnels. "A little lost." She willed her daydark up and tucked it away.

"Here." She began to do just that, bouncing down the tunnel for Umbra to follow. She wasn't alone, with many tsuki coming right along with rapt curiosity.

When they got to the large hole, somewhere between ten and sixty minutes later, the tsuki were less present. Most seemed to find other things to do along the way. Umbra waved a hoof at the lack of tsuki. "I thought they wanted to see?"

"Scared." Petri kept right on for the center of where the hole was above. "New. New is scary."

"New can be scary..." Umbra joined Petri there in the center of thing, on that raised platform. "How will you--" She didn't get to finish that question, Petri vanishing in a sudden leap that carried her up and out of sight instantly. "Oh..." Fortunately, she had wings, and began to flap her way upwards. "See you all later." The remaining tsuki waved at her and called out their fare wells. The visit was officially over.

Umbra emerged into the dark of night, to find Petri standing there in the moon-lit snow. She was a tsuki, a moon rabbit, and the way the moon reflected off her fur was an enchanting reminder of that. "There is." She waved excitedly as Umbra emerged. "Faster than you." She sounded so proud of that.

"That was pretty fast." Racing Petri in shadow form was tempting, but the poor thing didn't know where to go. "This way." She could fly forward faster than up, and began leading the way back towards the Crystal Empire. "It'll take some--"

Petri grabbed Umbra mid-air, snatching her and dropping the unicorn on her back. With her passenger secured, Petri bounced forward with all her might, proving tsuki could get to impressive speeds when they were focused on it. Umbra clenched her teeth as the world sped past her at a whistling speed. The landings were surprisingly gentle, the rabbit's thick toe beans allowing her to absorb the impact and even rebound with her coiled muscles, conserving most of the energy to use on the very next hop, like a well-tuned spring.

"Pretty?" Petri asked as she bounced. "I pretty?"

"Pretty fast," corrected Umbra, catching the meaning a moment later. "I... have someone already." Multiple someones, but why complicate that? "Thank you."

"Oh." A moment of quiet save for rushing wind. "You nice. Give good hug. Would say yes."

Umbra quirked an ear. Was she being propositioned? "You want more than... a good hug, I hope?"

"Yes." Petri looked over her shoulder. "You nice. You brave. You strong. What more want?"

Umbra pointed a hoof at herself. "We can start with... we're both ladies. Do you prefer ladies? I mean, no shame in that."

"Lady?"

Umbra clopped a hoof to her face. "Ladies, the ones who carry the children. Men, the one who put them in the ladies. To make that simple."

"Oh. Lady." She nodded with growing confidence. "Lady." She pointed at herself briefly, keeping her paws ready for bouncing a moment after. "Oh! Oh. No kits. You right. Not think. Good shadow. Good good. But no kits." Just like that, she put aside the idea, not for lack of liking Umbra, but it was true, two ladies didn't make kits. "Sorry."

"Don't be." She gently patted the back of Petri's neck. "Thank you for thinking it through, now. Friends?"

"Friends!" That was an easy thing to secure. "Friends?" She pointed up ahead at a gathering of lights. They were approaching the kingdom. "Bright. Bright for night." Understanding dawned on her. "Why daydark! Understand. Make sense. Understand. Bright..."

The excitement of her mount was hard to miss. "And full of ponies. They'll be surprised to see you, a good surprise. With me here, they shouldn't be upset."

That theory was put to the test quickly when they came down in a smooth landing among many ponies trying to go about their night life.

Several came to a sudden and complete stop, gawking at their hero mounted atop a giant horned rabbit.

Umbra slid to the ground. "Hello! I've brought a friend." She waved at Petri. "Her name is Petri. She's a tsuki, and I think she already likes you."

This was not a hard guess to make, as she was snuffling curiously at a crystal pony. "Hello?" squeaked out the crystal pony. The moment they raised an arm, it was taken as an invitation for a hug, a contest they swiftly lost, buried under warm tsuki fur in aggressive cuddling. "Help!"

Umbra pulled the two apart with her magic. "Easy there. Tsuki love wrestling, as you can see. She doesn't mean anything bad by it."

"Mmm, not good hug," decided Petri. "Not bad. Petri." She pointed at herself. "You?"

"O-oh, hello." The stallion got himself properly upright. "I'm Glaze Finish. Nice to meet you."

"Nice." She turned back to Umbra. "Where den?"

Umbra pointed to the palace ahead. "There. Come on. I have to show you to our leaders."

Petri gasped. "Oh! Elder?"

"Not elder." She imagined Cadance didn't want to be called that. "But the one in charge. She's very nice." Umbra paused. "But warn her before you hug. If she's ready, you'll get a better hug."

"Ooo... Good. Good good." Equipped with the tip for superior hugs, Petri went with Umbra towards the palace to officially introduce the tsuki.

116 - Presenting Hugs

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Umbra emerged from the stairs, her bunny friend a step behind her. "I'm home!" she called out, getting salutes from many guards. One stallion wasn't having it, rushing in at her and crashing in a gentle hug. "Shinie!" She was glad to embrace her future husband, rubbing her cheek against his. "I am happy to report I had a successful and brief trip."

"I can see the brief part." He stepped back to look at Petri. "Who's you're new friend?"

"Petri." She waved at herself and leaned in, sniffing at him eagerly. "Who?"

"Shining Armor," he gave in kind. "Nice to meet you."

"Hug?" She offered her arms out.

"Oh, su--" He had said yes, well, he was in the middle of saying yes.

She grabbed him right off the ground and squeezed tightly. He was surprised at the sudden nature of it, but his magic winked into being, forcing her arms back. He got his arms into place and the shield popped, allowing the two to hug properly.

Umbra clapped with a smile at the sight. "And now you've made a friend for life."

Petri released the pony to the ground. "Good hug. Good meet. Leader? No. Leader lady. You not lady." The tsuki could apparently figure that out, new to ponies or not. "Where?"

"Our leader is my wife." He turned to direct towards the throne room. "And she will be very happy to meet you, Petri. If you don't mind my asking, what are you?"

"Tsuki." She pointed up at her horns as if that explained everything. "Come see ponies." She pointed at Umbra with a big smile. "Good shadow. Friend?"

"Friend," echoed Shining, catching onto the rhythm of tsuki talk. "Very good friend. Umbra is a local hero. She fights bad things and protects us."

Petri clapped eagerly in place. "She did that! She protect. She fight. Good shadow. Hero?" A new word? "What that?"

Umbra left Petri and Shining to chat, the two seeming to be getting along. She went instead into the throneroom to see Cadance making a declaration that send a stallion off a bit sadly. "Not what he wanted to hear?" There weren't others in line, so Umbra approached her future-wife directly.

Cadance brightened at Umbra's entry. "Ah, welcome back." She offered an arm and soon had a shadow to hug gently. "Ooo." She spotted where Umbra had been bitten easily. "That looks painful... But you're not acting like it's a very big deal. As your princess and future wife, I command you to get that looked at."

Umbra huffed softly. "I'm a princess too, I remind."

"All well and good." Cadance pointed back the way Umbra came. "But you're in my domain, last I checked, and because I love you, you're getting that looked at."

Umbra darted in to touch noses. "Fine! But before I go, there's a big horned rabbit out there. Her name is Petri, and she loves a big strong hug, so be ready for that. 100% friendly, but will wrestle a pony to the ground if you give her even kinda a chance. They're called tsuki and they want to be protected by us and love us very much."

Cadance blinked softly. "You did not adopt a creature... You went and adopted--" Her wings flared wide "--an entire community! I will have to talk to Shining about how to... manage that. But you, triage." She pointed all the more firmly. "Now."

"Right right." Dismissed, Umbra fell away to shadows and flowed quickly away as she was ordered to do.

Petri came in shortly after, stepping past the door and bouncing eagerly across the room to land right in front of Cadance. "Oh!" She inclined her head left and right, sniffing at Cadance. "Lady."

"I am that." Cadance smiled at her large guest. "Petri?"

"Cadance!" Petri reared up, tall and imposing, arms spread. "Hug?"

Cadance gently motioned downwards. "No hug. I would like to say hello a different way."

Petri sank, confusion on her features. "What? Different?" But her elder had spoken on that. "Different different. Good different? Show."

"Gladly." Cadance stepped around the tsuki curiously. "You are... significant." That word didn't seem to really click, but that she had said it praisingly brought a smile. "I think..." She came in even closer and gently tested her weight, sinking against Petri and soon curled with her. "You make an excellent pillow."

Petri burst into sudden giggles as she curled supportively, petting Cadance's colorful mane in slow strokes. "And you good pillow sitter."

"I do try." Cadance gently snuggled against the tsuki. "Now, I hear you want to be involved with the ponies?"

"Protect." Petri nodded firmly at that. "Good shadow want pretty rocks." She dug out a necklace from the depths of her fluff, showing it to Cadance. "Pretty rocks."

"Pretty," agreed Cadance, her horn glowing as she took control of the beads and turned them about for better examination. "These could be made even prettier..." She imagined gemsmiths working them to a brilliant shine. "We would gladly trade for these from such friendly creatures. What lovely neighbors you already are."

"Yes!" She nipped at cadance's closer ear. "Good nei... Neigh... Friends. Good friends."

Cadance flicked the attacked ear and stood up carefully. "You are a guest of the city and my realm. If anypony asks, direct them towards me for bits for your stay and enjoyment."

Oh, but little of that made it to Petri. She inclined her head as if it was heavy with the words she didn't grasp. "What?"

Cadance sat on her haunches. "Have fun, play nice. If you want something--" She pantomimed each part as best she could. "--Tell the pony that Cadance said to ask her about it and she will make it good."

"Good!" Understanding dawned along with her smile. "Nice pony. Nice lady." She pointed at herself. "Lady."

"I had determined." Sure, Petri's was deeper than most lady ponies, in part due to size, it was still hard to miss. "There are lady tsuki and guy tsuki, right?"

"Yes. Not guy. Lady." She pointed at herself, to make that point very clear. "Want meet guy tsuki? I send. Go home, send."

Cadance shook her head quickly. "Enjoy yourself first. Send more friends later, after that."

"Good pony." She grabbed Cadance, but didn't wrestle her, just squeezing gently. "Have fun!" She jumped straight for a window, throwing it open and vanishing outside with a wiggle of her tail. The Crystal Empire was under her fluffy mercy.

A guard moved to close the window. "Ma'am."

"Very good. Send in the next supplicant." Her work for the day hadn't ended, and she got right back to it.

"This will sting." And it did as the pony doctor did his best to stitch Umbra as smoothly as he could. "I'm glad you're not seriously hurt."

"Me too," got out Umbra between clenched teeth. "Do... we really need those?"

"It would be best." He kept right on, a testament to pony ingenuity that he was doing it with his mouth. "You're being held together by determination and scabs. Let's give your poor body a break."

She calmed down and he soon finished, patting her gently. "It'll fall out on its own, so you don't even have to worry about it. Just keep it clean and you'll be fine. Avoid drying it out and use this--" He offered a vial of something. "--ointment to keep the scarring down. We can't have the prettiest mare in the city getting marked, now can we?"

Umbra chuckled darkly at that, though dark was one of her defaults. "Very funny." She took the vial in her magic. "And thank you." She touched a hoof near her injury. "Jerk... Sombra did this, so you know. He isn't dead."

The doctor flicked his ears up, then back. "He isn't?!" he squeaked with obvious terror. "You'll protect us... right?"

"Of course." Umbra slid down to her hooves. "I beat him twice, I'll do it twice more if I have to. He thinks he can boss ponies, or bunnies, around? Not on my watch!" She thumped her chest. This was a mistake. She immediately winced, realizing she had bashed her newly stitched wound. "Ow..."

"Bunnies?" He was cleaning up the used tools and mess of the procedure. "Ma'am?"

"The tsuki." She pointed back where she had left one. "Large, fluffy, horned, and super cute. If you see one, know they think you're just as cute. But don't challenge them to hugs. They will wrestle, and you will lose."

"Oh, of course." He gently shooed at Umbra. "Off with you now, ma'am. I should see other ponies."

"Right." Umbra flapped her wings, but melted into the floor rather than taking flight, sliding from the room rapidly.

She sped quickly back to the court to see Cadance speaking with some new pony, and no Petri in sight. She popped from the shadows and trotted out into the main room. "Shining?"

A guard pointed outside. "He's at the arena, ma'am, conducting drills."

"That sounds like him." Umbra nodded at the guard and fell to shadows, popping free a moment later into the bright lights of the arena. Guard ponies were busily training themselves, and Shining was chasing after them to keep them on it. Seeing her, he diverted off and raced towards her.

Umbra held out an arm on her less injured side, soon hugging gently. "All patched up, as Cadance demanded."

"She will do that," he laughed out. "Wanted to join us?"

"I was more curious where Petri went. You see her?"

"Not here." He shrugged. "Cadie said she bounced out the window."

"Out the window?" Umbra frowned with that image. "Those rabbits do like bouncing... Still, we can't have her getting lost in the city. I'll look for her."

"Good luck." With that settled, he returned to haunting his poor guards.

She took flight, in the sky instead of the shadows. "Just one good bounce..." It didn't take long for her new lapine friend to launch into the air with a squealing giggle. "You're having fun." With a smile of her own, Umbra banked to come in for a landing where Petri was coming down. "There you are."

"Good shadow!" Petri closed with Umbra. "Fun. All is fun." She waved a hand excitedly about. "Fun fun. Fun together?" She pulled Umbra along, but Umbra resisted. "No?"

"It's late." Umbra gently patted Petri. "We should come back when it's bright. More fun. Even more."

"More?" This looked like it was an impossible idea. "More fun?"

"Way more fun." As interesting as exploring the half-sleeping city could be. "You wanted to see my den, didn't you?"

"Yes!" Distracted entirely, Petri followed after Umbra with slow but powerful bounces to keep up with her. "Show."

Which is exactly what Umbra did, leading the way towards her room. "What did you find?"

"Food." She put out a finger as she went. "Drink. Toys. Fun."

"Sounds like a good time." Umbra raised a hoof. "Hold a moment." She slipped inside. "We have a guest." Both daughter and maid perked at that. "She's a tsuki and she's new to ponies."

"I'm not a pony," reminded Morning.

"I'll treat them as your honored guest."

Umbra nodded at either of them. "Be nice." She turned, willing the door open as she did so. "Welcome to my--" Petri jumped right past and over her. "--room?" She turned back around. "This is Petri. She is a tsuki."

"What do you fear?" asked Morning without a bit of delay.

Petri considered with a frown. "Hm. Hm! Hm... Bad shadows." She pointed at Umbra. "Good shadow."

Morning joined the look at her mother. "She is a nice shadow. I am a bad shadow."

Umbra slid in front of Morning. "She's a good shadow! This is my daughter, Morning."

Petri blinked dumbly. "If daughter of good shadow, good shadow." There, reasoned out, she relaxed. "Why she say bad shadow?"

"Because I am very frightening."

Petri looked over the little pony that claimed she was scary. "Hm..."

117 - Bad Shadow

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Petri reared up. "Can win this shadow."

Morning considered her sizable foe. "Can you? Very well. First, dark." She flared with the power of darkness, plunging the room into pitch black nothingness. Her eyes opened in that umbral shade. "Next--"

But Petri wasn't hesitating. She was grabbing for Morning. She could only see eyes, so she grabbed an eye, to Morning's surprised squeal. Both eyes closed against the pain, vanishing from sight, and Petri's grip.

Petri looked between her hands where she should have been hugging, but nothing was there. "Give up?"

"No." Morning appeared behind her. "I just didn't expect that... I'm not done."

Petri twirled and jumped at where Morning had been a moment before, left only tackling darkness to the ground. "Where?"

Morning snapped her teeth around Petri's tail, giving a cruel yank in the instant before she vanished, leaving Petri squeaking and dancing, trying to soothe the ouchies with midling success. "Mmmf, fine. You win."

"I win?" she asked without revealing herself.

"You win." Petri crossed her arms with a mighty pout. "You bad shadow."

The darkness faded, leaving Morning with a smug grin. "I did tell you that."

Umbra slid between them. "Quite enough of that. I want you two to be friends."

Petri huffed, but flopped in place. "Fine... Still bad shadow. Oh. Where den?"

"Here den?" Umbra waved a hoof about. "This is my room."

"Where my room?" Petri waved at herself wildly, fur ruffling with the energetic motions.

"Oh! Right. I'll get--"

"Ma'am." Her maid stepped forward with a light nod. "Please follow me." She led Petri out to get her situated without any further prompting.

Morning willed the door shut with a puff of darkness. "Mother, are you adopting her? She is no Shadowheart. I motion in disagreement."

Umbra cupped her daughter by the chins. "I'm not. She's a diplomat, for the tsukis. Treat her with respect and kindness, but she's not part of the family."

"Good." Morning pushed Umbra's hands away, brushing them off. "Somecreature has to keep an eye on you, mother."

"Cold." Not that this was that surprising, from that filly. "I already promised myself."

"You've broken promises before, mother." Morning stood up, eyes on Umbra. "I will not let you stray again."

Umbra sagged at that. "Yeah... Speaking of that, I really should say hi to her. Just because we aren't a thing doesn't mean I should toss her out of my life."

"That would be kind." Morning inclined her head. "You like doing kind things."

"Guilty. Tomorrow." She hopped up onto her bed and flopped over. "Bed. Let's do that."

"No, thank you." Morning headed out on other business, predator of the night as she was.

Umbra surrendered to sleep. She didn't have to wait for it, drawing herself into its embrace with a glowing horn that faded rapidly. She roused in the dreamworld, in her treasure vault. All around her were the lustrous jewels that were the dreams of the creatures that lived near her. "Which one..." She began sifting through rocks, pearls, crowns, and pendants. Each held a dream, infinitely complex and shifting. Each held a soul to be protected.

Only one had the one she wanted. She ran her hooves across the piles, sending them clacking and tumbling. "You." A lonely gem, but it was the one she had used to make the original daydark. "Definitely you." She cradled it close, hugging it. "I owe you everything, and you, nothing to me... I am so sorry. I ruined that." She ceased to exist, there at least.

She appeared in a familiar workshop. Shifting Prism was working with her wings, grinding a stone against a rough sander to get it even shinier. The bat-changeling was whistling a merry little tune to herself. It was, as dreams went, remarkably domestic and simple.

Like its owner. Umbra winced. Like the one she scared away... "Hello," she announced. "I'm not here to spy on you."

Shifting squeaked, bouncing up and coming down facing Umbra. The gem was forgotten, and thus lost to the dream. "What are you doing here?" A moment later, she realized. "I'm dreaming. I didn't say you could do that."

"You didn't" admitted Umbra. "And you're not having a nightmare, so not using that excuse. I'm here to ask a little thing, then I'll get out of your mane. I'd like to visit tomorrow, just a friendly visit, nothing more or less."

Shifting peered at Umbra skeptically. "Just to talk?"

"Just to talk," assured Umbra with a little smile. "I'm so sorry, but this isn't about that. I... would like to still have a friend, if I can..."

"Silly..." She stepped up to the dream wizard and casually booped her on the nose. "You're not nearly as imposing as Luna would be."

"I guess not." Umbra smiled at that. "You know me. I know you... I don't want to hurt you..."

"But you did." Shifting angled an ear back. "Still hurts..."

"I'm sorry... Can we talk? Oh! Oh! I found something you probably want. It's yours, me or not. This isn't a bribe."

"What'd you find?" Her ears quivered with curiosity. "Sounds big. Is it... as big as you're hinting? Bigger?" She spread her wings to measure the theoretical thing. "Well, shoot. Now I need to know... Come tell me. Now let me sleep."

"Sleep well." Umbra offered an arm.

Shifting didn't take that offer, peering at Umbra skeptically. "Not fair... I want that hug so bad... but I shouldn't."

"Probably not..." Umbra sagged with defeat. "I'm sorry. Let me get out of your way." She awoke in the treasure vault, surrounded by sleepers that were jewels. "One check for nightmares... Then some real sleep for me."

The Crystal Empire was filled with wonderful jewels, most unblemished, but she did find one little opal that swirled with dark thoughts. She held it between hooves and entered that dream.

"I'm just a physician!" cried the pony, galloping away as fast as they could. What they were fleeing form, even they couldn't know exactly. "You won't catch me!"

Umbra landed on his back with a thump, hugging the doctor tightly. "It's alright..."

The doctor screamed with horror, but no bites came. No terrible claws... "Umbra? Is that you?"

"It's me." She gently stepped off the doctor. "Didn't think I'd see you again so quickly. What's wrong?"

He sat up, blushing faintly. "I'm sorry to disturb you... It's just... Sombra, still alive? He could... He could do so much harm... What if I can't... I feel so small."

Umbra leaned in, nose twitching. "I'm not going anywhere. I will do my best to show that jerk how unwelcome he is around here."

"Of course... of course. I'm being a foal, worrying about it." He laughed nervously, stepping from one hoof to the next with clops against the undefined ground. "Thank you for visiting me."

"You're welcome." She booped him on the nose. "And that's my job. Don't feel bad. You're safe, and surrounded by ponies ready to protect you, me included."

"O-of course." He flopped suddenly backwards in a motion most horses didn't take. "I know that, up here, but... ma'am... I lived with him as a ruler. I know how terrible he is. I'm... glad you didn't. I hope you never do... But I did, and that's hard to just... forget."

Umbra sat beside him silently, wings partially spread. "You're not wrong to feel nervous. Don't feel bad for that."

"B-but... you have no fear." He sat up, unsure and shaking. "I must be so trying, ma'am..."

"You're a precious pony to protect." She thumped her forehead against the doctor's. "Also, nice patch job, very well stitched. I'll be looking for you when I get hurt, and I will again, trust me there. I'll rely on you, you rely on me, alright?"

"Of course.... Of course, yes." He stood up, still shivering. "Thank you."

Umbra awoke in the vaults, holding that opal that wasn't so cloudy anymore. "Better..." She placed it gently with the others. "Any others?" There was one dark onyx that refused her entry. "Mmm, let me in..." She turned it one way and the other, trying to find a way inside, but it refused. It was only after she stopped trying and focused more on the examination that it became clear. The owner of that gem was awake. "I thought waking creatures didn't have gems..." And yet, there it was. "Who are you?" But it had no label, nor could she peek inside the mind of a waking creature so easily. "Maybe another time." She put the onyx down gently. "I can feel... I'd love to visit." Still, a waking mind wasn't hers to play with. That way led to being a jerk. Sombra had that well and covered.

Umbra trotted through the city. It was a sunny day, sun warming her back just the right amount. "A lovely day," she sighed out to herself as she came towards her target, a small cozy house. "Perfect day..." She went up to the door and knocked once. "Shifting?"

"Umbra?" A window popped open, allowing her former lover to peek out. "So it wasn't... I guess it was, really." She popped back inside. Umbra could hear the hoofsteps approaching the door form the inside and it opened. "Hey..."

"Hey..." Umbra rubbed behind her head. "Let me get to the good stuff first. Then you can tell me to buzz off, no hard feelings." Shifting inclined her head but was silent. "I met some new friends, tsukis, big rabbits. They are good at mining. The jewels they dig up have almost the same energy as a stone still resting in the ground. I was amazed!" She threw her hooves wide. "and I happen to know a fellow enchanter that I thought, hey, she'd love some super high purity gems. This is not a sales off. You'll have to deal with the tsuki, but they're friendly. They will gladly trade."

Umbra pantomimed each step, from hopping motions to simulated horns on her head. It only hit her afterwards that she had a trick. "Right!" She worked up her shadow and fashioned it, becoming a faux-tsuki, formed of shadows. "They look like this!"

"Cute." Shifting clapped with approval of the new species. "Well, I do like good gems, so thank you for that... But you didn't come here for just that, I bet... You know this isn't... a second chances kind of thing."

"I know!" Umbra swung at the air in front of her. "I know... not asking. I'm getting hitched, no more... anything else. I still want a friend though... and you were that, before... I'd still like to have that..."

"Hitched?" Shifting stepped out, closing the door with a lash of her tail on the knob along the way. "To who? Starlight?"

"Oh! No... Wow... That would be..." Umbra cringed at the thought. "I couldn't even face you if I did that... cheating on you and... marrying the pony I did it with? Gah... I'd hand you a sword to stab into me until you felt like stopping. No! No... Cadance and Shining. I was already involved with them, and got a mighty cold shoulder for what I did... They agree, me bad... But I promised... Promised! I swore I would never again... and they're taking that."

"They're stronger than me," Shifting barely whispered out. "Good." She swallowed thickly, as if her tongue were far too large and dry. "Good... Um... So... Friends huh?"

"I said that before, and I still mean it." Umbra offered a hoof. "Our characters will have to stop being, um, in a relationship, but other than that, I'd love to geek out about gems and play some fun games with funny dice... No other expectations."

"I can't forgive you so easily." But she advanced, touching noses. "But I can try... It will take time. Will you wait for me?"

"Forever and a day, if I have to." Umbra returned the rub, almost going for more but hauling herself back. Nothing further, just a friendship. And that was more than she deserved, really.

118 - Hop to It

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Petri nodded rapidly at Cadance. "Yes. Go." She pointed off. "I will tell them. They will hear. More tsuki come. Good?"

"Good," gently echoed Cadance. "You were a fine guest. If the others are just as charming, our friendship will be long and good for all of us."

"Good friends." Petri clapped her paws in a rapid applause. "Go." And she waited not a moment longer, bouncing high into the sky towards the other tsuki.

Shining looked between Cadance and Umbra. "That went well. However, you did promise them something considerable."

Cadance hummed softly. "We'll need a branch of the guard dedicated to them. Rotating staff in and out of that assignment would be awkward. They probably wouldn't be interested, but if they moved closer..."

Umbra clopped a metal-clad hoof to her face. "I should have thought of this before I opened my mouth. Speaking of problems caused by my mouth, I've started gently repairing things with Shifting."

Shining perked at that. "Oh, nice! Is she coming back to the game? I miss her energy."

Cadance shooed the both of them. "Off with you. Why am I the only one not playing your silly game?"

"You keep saying no?" Shining shrugged. "Offer's still open."

"Tempting." And yet, she banished them from her courtroom to continue the day's work.

Shining strode alongside Umbra. "Are you two..."

"A thing? No." Umbra shook her head quickly. "Never again, unfortunately. My fault entirely... I am yours and Cadance's. Thank you for accepting a naughty shadow pony."

"Very naughty." He closed, only to veer off. "On duty..." It was more a thing he was reminding himself. "Plans for today?"

"Idea!" Umbra flashed a deadly smirk. "The tsuki can reach me if they're in trouble. I've been getting in the habit of dream patrolling before bed. Thankfully, I don't have nearly the spread of Luna. Poor thing... Glad I can take a little off her plate."

"I can only imagine... and even that barely." Shining was marching down the steps from the palace. "What's it like? Patrolling dreams, I mean."

"Personal." Umbra considered that a moment. "I don't mean 'that's a secret' personal. I mean, so far I can tell, each walker of dreams sees it differently. It may also vary depending on which set of dreams you're looking at." She turned in place there in front of the castle. "Here, in the Crystal Empire, all the ponies are jewels. From naked gemstones to brilliant crowns, tiaras, pendants, and things... Some people are close enough that they link together, becoming one of those bigger pieces I was mentioning. I see them all as jewels, and I look for the ones that are cloudy or cracked or otherwise bothered."

Shining pointed off in the direction Petri had already vanished in. "What about them? Are they jewels too?"

"I only saw them once... They were..." She frowned, pulling up the memory. "Right, veggies. Comfy veggies tucked in the ground. Easy enough to see if one was looking wilted or otherwise not living its best little veggie life."

"That is very rabbit-like." He looked a bit too amused by that. "I can't complain, this place being a collection of jewels and all. We're both a bit on the nose." He tapped the end of his own snout. "Um, a request."

"An answer?" Umbra slid in a little closer, curiosity building.

"Can you visit me?"

Umbra inclined her head. "I'm doing that right now."

"When I'm asleep!" He threw his head towards the arena. "I should get to drills, but... tonight, maybe? I'd like to meet Umbra, dream walker."

"If you want." Umbra touched her nose to his without objection. "I usually avoid the gems that look fine, and I've yet to run into you so far, so you have to look fine from the outside."

"Not, um, professionally." He pulled at the collar he wasn't wearing. "As a friend, and a future spouse."

"How do I say no to that?" She rubbed her nose against his. "I will be there, as a friend, and a spouse. Silly stallion, go torture your guards."

"Yes, ma'am!" He saluted and marched off to get to work.

Umbra considered the warm day. "Thanks." She turned to the crystal heart. "All your fault, isn't it?" She went up to it with a steady clop of her metal-clad hooves on the crystal floor. "A lot of this is... You called me, didn't you?" The crystal had no words for her, spinning slowly in place. "You brought me here, tied me to them... You've been busy." And still, not a whisper. It was a rock, in the end. It was not a great conversationalist.

"Thank you." Umbra curled a hoof at herself. "I like this world. I like me, in this world, even if I did mess up real bad there..." She reared up and reached to touch the heart. "So, thanks." Her hoof made contact, and she stopped seeing anything.

"You were not in my plans."

Umbra still didn't see anything. She didn't hear anything either, but the words were clear, as if she just knew they had been said. She tried to reply, but she had no throat and no voice and no body. She barely qualified as existing.

"You ruined those."

Who was speaking? Were they male or female? Umbra couldn't tell, just meanings in the void. A void that could only barely be said to even hold herself.

"Things are out of order. Things are happening that shouldn't have ever happened. You act... You may be good."

Who was speaking, or thinking? Which was it? Umbra wished she could know.

"You may be bad."

Umbra tried to reach for the voice, but she had no arms and no hooves to make contact. She wasn't there.

"Other agents have accepted you. I will entrust them. Bow. Accept the order you have put into dissarray. Let Equestria be mended with your helping hoof."

Umbra tried to reply, to question, to do anything!

"Bow."

Umbra could feel the warm sun above her. She could see. She was staring up at the crystal heart, confused, but intact. "What..." She could hear! She could speak! The crystal heart was twirling idly, unbothered by that whole... whatever it was.

"Was that you?" She peered at the crystal, but it had nothing to say. It was still a stone, however much magic it may also have had. "That felt very strange, just so we're clear... If you want to talk... talk."

Cadance stepped from around the dias that held the crystal heart, but her vision was wrong. She wasn't looking at any specific thing, instead a hundred meters away. "We can talk."

That wasn't Cadance, Umbra felt certain. What was it? "Hello. I'm--"

"--I am aware of you." The not-Cadance circled to be in front of Umbra, standing about equal in height to the usually taller princess, compared to most ponies. "You do not know me."

"I don't..." Umbra inclined her head. "Should I be worried?"

"It is my task to see the story of ponies is told properly." Not-Cadance sank to her haunches. "A tale once of struggle, then growth, now harmony..." She curled a hoof at herself. "That is now my name, but I have had others."

"Harmony?"

"Harmony," agreed the far-sighted Cadance. "Cadance is a distant agent. I can do little through her. My connection to others is far stronger, but I am connected to all ponies, however dimly." She raised a hoof at Umbra. "I am connected to you."

"You made that happen." Umbra pointed up at the crystal heart. "You tied me up with Cadance and Shining."

"I did," admitted Harmony with a flattish voice. "Sombra was to be destroyed, for a time. If I didn't, you would have shared that fate, worse likely. Perhaps I should not have. You have caused ripples. Each action, consequences."

"Yeah... It does work like that." Umbra waved a hoof over the city. "I've protected this place."

"From attacks that should not have happened." Harmony didn't sound immediately impressed. "Your presence caused them. The umbrum should yet slumber. Sombra's time has not yet come. But already you have encountered them. What comes next? I should know, but I do not. A stone cast into a pond, the ripples travel far and wide."

Umbra considered the... "What are you? No offense, but you're not Cadance."

"I am not." No argument there, a flat fact stated. "I am Harmony. I am not a pony."

"Not a pony... That's a start." Umbra rose to her hooves, shaking them out one by one. "Now, what are you?"

"I am Harmony," casually repeated not-Cadance. "That is what I am. Unless ponies move to another state of being. I was Struggle, Growth, now Harmony. They have grown, but still they are children." Harmony leaned closer. "You are not a child. You are an adult playing among children. You hurt one, but they are not a pony. I will forgive you."

"Th-thanks?" Umbra considered the... What was it? "Is there a more generic name for things like you?" She curled a hoof at herself. "I'm Umbra, an umbrum. If you called me a pony, I wouldn't be upset, but technically not that. I am a princess. What are you?"

"You are neither umbrum, nor pony. You have been declared a princess." At least one of the three she passed measure on. "You are--"

"You called me here." Umbra stomped. "You made me come here. Stop acting like I did this! I didn't pick to come here."

"I didn't..." Harmony trailed off with thought. "You arrived..." She turned to the crystal heart. "This was sleeping. That wasn't me." She turned back to Umbra. "What called you?"

"I'd love to know. Not you?"

"Not me," agreed Harmony gently. "Not you?"

"Not me," laughed out Umbra, finishing that loop. "I swear."

"I think you are speaking the truth. That changes things. You are a victim, a large victim." She raised a hoof at Umbra. "That does not excuse you. An adult should be careful and gentle with children."

Umbra sagged in place. "I said I'm sorry! I really am... I messed up! Even adults can do that... That was dumb. I was dumb."

"That was not dumb. That was selfish."

Umbra glared at Harmony. "So, more general title?"

"A spirit works. You know what that is."

"A spirit?" Umbra waved her hooves in a poor attempt to imitate a cloud. "You're not alive?"

"I'm not alive." Harmony inclined her head. "I was never born, simply a result of things. I will persist until those things end. So long as any feel this, I will continue." She angled an ear at Umbra. "You are not so rooted, nor is Sombra, or any umbrum else. You will expire."

"Thanks for the reminder." Umbra casually prodded the strange new being. "But, being an adult, the idea of 'you will die eventually' doesn't send me running like some others."

"I thought not. The test was worth performing." Harmony curled a hoof to her chin. "Dreamwatcher. May I employ your services?"

Umbra sat up. "That's a quick change of pace."

"I command children." Harmony's nose twitched with a faint sniff. "You are not a child. Will you assist?"

"I... If it helps them, I want to do that, but what are--"

"--Excellent." Not-Cadance clopped her hooves in one firm strike. "I will send those in need before your dreamwatching eyes. Tend to them."

"I would have done that on my own," grunted out Umbra. "Why'd you ask? You know that, right?"

"More." Harmony turned a hoof around, palmside up. "You find some, but there are many more you miss. Since you have agreed, I will place them where you can find them."

Umbra scowled. "Wait.... You were hiding them."

"I protect my children." No shame there. "You are a strange adult. Now we have an agreement. Tend to them, gently. You guided one towards an uncertain warmth. But he is pleased. I will show faith. Tend them." She stepped around the dias, and never came out the other end, simply gone.

119 - Treasure Guard

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Umbra walked through the grand vault of all the dreams of the empire. Just outside that room, there was a garden. In that garden, little cute plants, a bountiful harvest of little rabbit dreams. She had taken the vault and its garden as her territory, to be guarded and protected. "At least I don't have to water them..."

They weren't real plants, so they needed no water, nor fertilizer, just a watchful eye for... "Hm." She saw a big radish like plant poking free of the ground, its bright green stem wilted and sad. "What's troubling you, little one?" The tsuki were not little, by habit, but still, children. Adorable children, by her estimation. Umbra flowed through the shadows, popping up next to the sad plant and gently petting it. "Let's see what's bothering you..."

She was in the caves, many and vast. It was dark, but that didn't bother her generally, and certainly didn't in the dreamworld. She heard talking and sped towards it, emerging from a tunnel into a cavern where three tsuki were conversing heatedly. "We not know them," sternly warned a female, arms crossed.

"They nice." A male huffed. "Heard Petri. Nice. Good. Want be friend."

The third, a smaller female, backed away. "They have shadows. Shadows hurt." The other two fell away, just unimportant for the dream, leaving the small female. "Hurting shadows..." She hopped down a tunnel, forgetting she was ever in a conversation, as dreams went sometimes.

Umbra flinched. She was a shadow, unfortunately. But... It was a dream. She could be anything she cared to be. She was also an umbrum, which meant she had a double claim on that power. She reached up and ran an arm over her face, leaving the cutest tsuki she could envision behind with its passing. Wrapped in the pleasant image, she bounded out on new rabbit legs. "Hello!"

"Hello." The dreamer turned to her. "Is good?" She didn't ask who Umbra was. That just didn't even occur to her as a question to ask.

"Is good," agreed Umbra. "Bad shadow bad."

"Bad shadow bad!" agreed the little female, looking happy to find sometsuki that agreed with her. "All shadow bad."

"Some shadow good," gently countered Umbra. "Some shadow bad. Bad shadow bad."

The tsuki scratched at her cheek fitfully. "How know? If bad shadow bad, how know if shadow bad?"

Umbra perked at that question, though her ears didn't want to move, too heavy and large for that. That was a good question. "How know if tsuki bad?"

"Most tsuki good." The little female wriggled in place, tail giving a jitter only a rabbit could really give.

"Not all. How tell tsuki bad?" Speaking like a tsuki was an interesting experiment, but flowing with the dream made it easier. It was a rabbit dream, their speech was natural there. "Give chance, find good tsuki. Give chance, find good shadow."

"But..." The little tsuki bounced back and forth as if unsure where to go. "If hurt. What then?"

"Then friends." She hadn't summoned them, but her words caused countless other smiling tsuki to appear. The scared one's friends. "Friends protect."

The friend smiled at all the friendly faces. "Friends... Yes. Yes, friends." She tackled one, just to get tackled in kind. The dream became a storm of hugs and wrestling.

Umbra wrenched her head out of the dirt, coughing up bits of dirt and dust. Emerging from tsuki dreams could be an experience.The plant-dream was looking a little brighter. It was healing. "Mission complete." The garden looked fine, other than that, so she went back into the vault, stalking for troubled gems. Oh, that one. That dark and troubled gem.

She picked it up gently and turned it around. "Will you let me in tonight?" Umbra added it to her tiara, placing it in a niche that waited for it. Such was the nature of dreams. She was not there anymore.

"Waste of oxygen," sneered a feral pony of shadows and bile. "Why do I even put up with your excuses?"

Morning glared down at the dreamer. "I can feel the shame in you, imagining shoving parts of you into me, of becoming smeared with my various fluids as if they belonged to you."

Wensley trembled, ears folded back in his dream, his nightmare. "I thought..."

"That I liked it? I hate it. I love hating it." Morning thudded a hoof against Wensley's chest. "Now wake up." That was a request coming from outside, and Wensley woke up, being shaken awake.

Umbra opened her eyes, sitting back in the vault, the troubled gem in front of her. "I messed up... again..." An adult among children. She sure was bad at times at safeguarding them. Part of her wanted to awaken properly and zip off to Wensley's side, but storming in there, likely with the two mid-conversation... That felt bad... Ugh. "She's keeping you up, isn't she?" Umbra picked up the dark and shadowed gem. "Poor thing..." A pony lost in shadow. Of course shadowy ponies were alright with that, but they were bad caretakers.

She should know, being exactly one of those. "Damn it..." She had to fix it, somehow... Ideally without making an enemy and upsetting her daughter while she was at it. They just had to be related, to complicate things...

The answer wasn't leaping at her, just a lot of dream jewels. "Let's sleep on this." A dreamwalking pun, one could argue. She set the disturbed gem carefully aside. "You asked me to visit..."

She found the shield of Shining Armor, bejewled and lustrous. It did not show immediate signs of being disturbed, resting just in front of the tiara that was Cadance, of course. Even in dreams, they were connected and... "Aren't I connected?" As if conjured by the thought, she felt a necklace of pearls land on her shoulders. The beads went out, connecting to the shield and another strand to the tiara, binding them together. "There we go." Dream logic was a funny thing.

She sometimes only saw what she thought to look for. She grasped the shield in her magic, holding it firmly in front of herself as if to deflect a blow that wasn't coming. It was enough to slip inside.

She appeared in the throne room of the Crystal Palace, but Cadance wasn't seated on the throne. She was wearing a knight's attire and standing guard. Shining was on the throne, talking to a pony about sometime of some importance. So important no words came with it. But it was important. The pony ran off, having heard those important words.

"You dream of power?" Umbra strode up directly. "I'm surprised."

Shining looked confused a moment, but the fog cleared. "Umbrie!" He hopped from the throne, it vanishing as he forgot about it. "You came!"

Umbra got a hoof out barely in time to catch the eager stallion in a hug. "Hey! I said I would." She put him down carefully. "Seriously though, didn't expect this?"

"Hm?" He looked back at the throne that had returned, his thoughts going back to it. "Oh, we roleplay a little, switching roles. It's fun." He ribbed at Umbra. "Maybe some day you'll let me patrol your dreams, huh?"

"If you can manage it." Umbra sat on her haunches. "Why'd you call me? Had something private you wanted to chat about?"

"That, but also, here, we can talk without pressures. It's just me and you." He nuzzled under her snout, burying his nose in her chin. "That's enough of a reason, right?"

"Adorable!" She squeezed him extra hard for that. "Well, here I am! Your shadow princess. I was just tending to some dreams before I stopped in here."

"How are they?" He went to a window to peek out at dream-empire, but it was quite undetailed, that dream. He wasn't focused on the whole empire. "Mostly good?"

"A tsuki with worries of bad shadows." Umbra was next to him, skipping the whole actually moving in closer part. "And an earth pony I may have given bad relationship advice to... I have to fix that."

Shining's ears went up at that. "Bad advice? Not the sort of advice I'm used to hearing you make. What kind of bad advice?"

"Mmmf, I don't want to betray his confidence... But he has a thing... He's always imagining a specific sort of thing. I hooked him up with a pony that's alright with that... but now I'm worried she's taking advantage of him, and it's my fault." Umbra rubbed her head with the flat of a hoof. "But you didn't call me to hear me complain about my job."

"On the contrary." He casually rubbed her other cheek with a hoof. "I want to hear about you, and what you're doing. I want to hear the ups and the downs. If we're getting married, this is all of our business. That goes the other way too. We're a team! Wanna hear about how my things are going?"

She imagined a lot of guards and their drills were involved... "Actually, yes." She hopped up onto a comfy chair that was there because it was convenient. "Tell me."

Shining joined her on another chair next to her's. "Most of them know the process, but I have this new one." A guard came rushing in to stand in front of them, a gem pony with a quiver. "A mess. He really wants to be a guard, but he has no stamina, no strength, and he's nervous about everything."

"S-sorry, sir." The dreamed pony looked around fretfully. "I'm getting better!"

"He is," agreed Shining without delay. "I'm training him, and I don't give up on ponies!" He clapped a hoof on his chest. "But it's a lot of work. Thankfully, the other guards are pitching in." The slight guard was suddenly set upon by others who rushed him away with enthusiastic grunts of brotherhood. "Good ponies, the lot of 'em."

Umbra watched the guards retreat into obscurity. "Problem solved, or at least being solved. Good! Glad to hear that has a happy ending. Reminds me... of a time I tried to get in on something I wasn't prepared for... Took some gentle friends to make it work." She swatted at Shining. "And you are that gentle friend."

"I try to be," he laughed out, cheeks colored lightly. "Oh. I meant to bring up but kept forgetting, thought about our problem." He waved between Umbra and himself. "And I decided to let you go first. My thing is... almost for fun. I just want to do it just... to do it... You are a mare. It's not right to make you wait for that, when I have the whole stallion thing worked out already."

Umbra pawed at him gently. "You are such a sweetie! No wonder you've captured the heart of such fair mares. A pity ponies don't do the whole 'harem' thing really, seeing as you have one... kinda."

"Kinda..." Shining inclined his head. "Does it still count when your 'harem' could easily take charge back the moment you annoyed them?"

"Where I'm from, that is a specific genre, so, yes."

Shining frowned, trying to imagine it, but he had no concept of human entertainment. "Really? I need to visit your dreams, so you can show me these things. You could do that there, right?"

"Technically..." Umbra rubbed her cheek. "But... Only a dreamwalker could visit my dreams like that. If I showed you here, you'd forget most of it by the time you woke up, only remembering the important bits."

"Poo." His dream, punctured. "Well, fine! Can you show me how to dreamwalk?"

"I'd love to... but..."

"But?" Shining looked like he could feel the rejection coming.

"But, Luna made me triple swear that I wouldn't. It's her magic. You'd have to ask her for it. That goes for husbands and wives too." She crossed her arms, firm on that point. "I will not dissapoint her."

"I wouldn't want you to. Mmm... Maybe I should ask..."

Umbra leaned out of her chair, nose to nose with Shining. "Protect our days, let me handle the nights."

120 - Umbra's Turn

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"Thank you both for coming." Umbra nodded at either royal figure. "I will aim to excite and please."

"So formal." Cadance patted Umbra on the shoulder. "Relax. We're just three friends, really. Friends who want to have fun doing what the others' like doing."

Shining was grinning like a foal, excited. "What do you have in mind for today? You haven't told us!"

"Because I'm offering a choice." With a flare of dark magic, three papers appeared in the air. "I can show you some new magic." One paper hovered in closer. "We can check out this umbrum eatery that's been doing well for itself." Another came in to be inspected. "Or, I take you to the tsuki and we get hugged a lot." The third paper literally just had a picture of a big happy tsuki on it, arms spread with a smile.

Shining tapped his chin as his eyes darted from one option to the next. "All good picks... Would you be mad if I suggested one?"

Cadance pawed at him. "Stop that! It's her evening to pick one."

"Just a suggestion! I think she might like it." Shining waved his hooves defensively. "No pressure, honest."

Umbra's eyes flared with her dark power. "Well, now I'm way too curious. What's your idea? These three not cutting it?" She waved a hoof over the three floating papers.

"I was just thinking... One of your interesting quirks is your unique point of view." He went in to touch noses with her cheek. "You have pop references and things we don't even get. So..." He slid in against her. "I was thinking, if you could run an O&O game, we could get a taste of it, with you at the helm."

Umbra erupted into a menacing howl of a laughter. "Really? You want to take a visit to my human world through the lens of adventure?" She banished all three papers in puffs of dark flame that fell to so much ash. "Interesting."

"More than that." Shining clapped his hooves with growing giddiness. "You can show us your monsters. Even things you're pretty sure didn't exist." He twirled towards Cadance. "Doesn't that sound fun? You wanted to join our games."

Cadance put a hoof on his chest and pushed him back several inches. "Calm down. I'm no expert, but this is a lot to put on a pony at the last minute. I suggest we take one of the offers she already has ready. Next time, if she wants, we can try the game."

Umbra willed the papers back in new flashes. "So then, which'll it be? I'm ready for any of these, and it'll be fun! Different fun, but all fun."

Shining waved off the tsuki. "That looks adorable, but perhaps slightly painful. I have to be at work tomorrow."

"Death by hug," gently agreed Cadance with a little smile. "There are worse ways to go. That leaves us with dining out, a reliable option, safe, comfortable... Except there's an umbrum involved that I don't know yet. It may be exciting..." She was musing each thing she said as she thought of it, slowly and considering. "Or, it's magic time. Twilight would be so proud."

Shining's horn glowed in sympathy. "Is that something we can do in one evening?"

"Depends on the spell." Umbra tapped her hooves together. "I can show you the basics. You all know how magic works, right?" Her eyes darted from Shining to Cadance. "I know he's a shield expert. What about you?"

"So, funny thing about that." She reached up to tap at her horn. "This is actually an additional part of me. I have a decent throughput." She bid her horn to glow softly. "But my knowledge of the arcane alphabet could use... work. I barely have time to practice with all the princessing I have to do."

Shining tapped his horn against Cadance's. "Is that something you want to fix? We have a wizard in the family these days."

Cadance smiled gently. "If she wants, but I doubt I'll learn the whole alphabet in one evening. It may not be the fun she was looking for."

Umbra huffed. "No." She threw a hoof wide, darkness exploding over them. Her eyes opened in the darkness, visible despite it. "It would be a pleasure. Come and we will explore a bit of darkness, together." The darkness vanished, leaving Umbra glowering with the smoldering embers of her power. "The least I can do. I know you're putting up with a--"

Cadance popped a hoof right into Umbra's snout. "Put a stop to that right now. You're not a charity case. There may have been a few mistakes, but this isn't about charity. You're here because we like you, end."

Shining drew Cadance's hoof free with his magic. "Be a good shadow pony and we'll make a great family. I think we already do. Speaking of which..." He looked to the side where Flurry was crawling into the room with excited little baby noises. "I think somepony else wants to get their input on this."

Umbra darted towards the little filly. "Look who's being a cute little button." She crouched down and scooped up Flurry Heart in her hooves. "It's my darling little niece!" Great shadow lord or not, she had become so much putty before the big eyes of her 'niece'. "Ooo, you're getting so large!" She buried her face against Flurry, the two giggling with shared joy.

Cadance smiled at the exchange. "That reminds me... We did settle on you going first. Shining's turn, as important as it is, remains a matter of deep curiosity and empathy. Yours, on the other hoof, involves what you are, and have been denied." She curled a hoof to her chin. "I only feel guilty for being a mother, then a father all together, but that unfairness would remain whichever of us went next."

Shining colored at the topic matter. "Y-yeah... Either you'd get to do both first, or I would. Um... Technically... We both already did both."

Cadance blinked at that. "Huh... You're not wrong. But there is a difference, even with our shared feelings, between that and what is happening directly to you."

"Don't worry about them." Umbra balanced Flurry on her snout. "They're just talking about boring adult things."

Flurry squealed in agreement, climbing up along Umbra's nose.

"Boring, right?" She pet at Flurry with her magic carefully. "Don't worry, Aunt Umbra is here."

Cadance chuckled gently. "I love how well they get along. Oh! We didn't decide what we're doing today."

Shining nudged against her. "Yes, we did. We're getting some magic lessons, at least tonight. Next time, maybe some O&O."

"Are you ready?!" Umbra whirled on them, wearing a hat composed of wispy shadows. Flurry poked free of the flimsy construct, giggling. "Because I'm bringing the magic tonight! We're going to start right where most pony teachers avoid. You're learning shadow runes first." She carefully set Flurry into Cadance's ready hooves. "Now, shadow magic gets a lot of reputation for being all about dark and terrible things, which is just mean phrasing to start with."

Shining rubbed at his cheek. "I don't know any shadow runes..."

"Glad you asked!" Not that anything had been asked yet. She painted an image with her magic, but the colors were wrong, inverted exactly. "For every up, there is a down. For every light, a shadow. That's just natural. Down isn't evil, or you couldn't get to your basement. Dark isn't evil, you can get a lot done in the dark that's harder in the light, sleep being the most obvious." The image was glimmering with dark pulses, a rune. "This is shadow, the purest, simplest, most direct rune of shadow. It looks like this." She glowed with the dark power, snuffing light around herself in a bubble. "If you focus on it, as you can see, you put out shadow. Makes sense, right? Fire makes heat. Same deal."

Cadance stuck out her tongue, grunting with concentration. Her horn shimmered and sparked, but no darkness came. "I'm not... doing it right."

"Drop your shield." Umbra reached up and took off her tiara. "Let's all feel what the others are feeling."

Cadance and Shining both dropped their guard, able to feel what the others were feeling then. Shining pawed at the air towards Umbra. "How does this help?"

"Because this!" Umbra focused on that rune, playing it over the flute that was her horn. "Feel it."

Cadance grabbed for her horn sympathetically. "Oh! Clever thing... I can... I can feel you doing the magic." She focused on that part of her, the part that was Umbra. "Interesting... I didn't really consider this talent being used this way, but it makes a lot of sense now that I've seen, and felt, it."

Shining's magic shifted from his natural colors to the dark purples and greens of the shadow magic as light dimmed around him, sucked dry by his expression of the new rune. "Woah... That feels... really strange. Not sure I like it."

Umbra pointed up at her own glowing horn. "That's alright. As has been brought to my attention, ponies are creatures of light. That doesn't mean you can't use shadow, but it's not your default." With a bright flash, Umbra flipped from shadow to light magic, bathing the area in brilliance. "I'm a shadow creature, but here I am, lighting up the place. If I can do this." She pointed all the harder. "You can do shadow. It's not the default, but it won't kill either of us. Like a pony speaking backwards, it's just odd, not harmful."

Flurry did her best to speak backwards, not that she could speak frontwards, mostly just babbling along and reaching towards the magic all her caregivers were putting out. She squealed, her horn glowing with its own magic, though it was light, not shadow.

"Such a talented little wizard you are." Umbra took a break to squish the cheeks of Flurry. "You'll be so good at this! I can't wait to start your lessons."

Cadance clenched her teeth with concentration, her glow inverting slowly to shadow as she dimmed the area around herself. "Like... that?" With a pop, the lights went out entirely, neither dark nor bright. "Oops."

Umbra nodded at Cadance. "Don't be discouraged! You had it. The only step missing is practice. Trust me when I say this, practice is, basically, the whole part of it. Listen, read, then practice a lot." She clapped with a big smile. "You two should be super proud. You both managed it. You made shadow. Practice is all that keeps you from doing it whenever you want to do it."

Shining put out a field of darkness, horn glowing invertedly. "But this is just the first rune, right?"

"The first, not the last." Umbra slid from one shadow rune to the next, showing them all off. "But don't worry about that right now. One at a time. I won't even show you the other ones until--"

"--You just did." Cadance tried to make the second rune, to no avail. "You showed us."

Umbra clopped a hoof on her forehead beside her horn. "Stop that! Clever students. Work on the first one. When you got that down, we can move on. Learn the letters, then we get to the fun part! I want to get to the fun part, promise. I'm not that kind of teacher."

Shining leaned in. "What kind of teacher are you?"

"The kind that will swat your bottom if you're bad... or maybe if you're good and you ask nicely." Umbra winked at Shining. "Perv." She looked back to Cadance. "Seriously, just practice the first one, get used to it, and the others will come so much more easily. I had to do the same thing for light runes."

Cadance focused on getting the shadow magic flowing anew. "I will... do my best. Shining?"

"Working!" He was holding up his hooves, a bubble between them, his specialty. Inside the bubble, darkness with flashes of purple and green shadow magic.

Umbra swatted at him. "Is this what teaching me is like? Get the basics down before you get fancy!"

121 - Second Letter

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An inverted shadow rune hovered above Umbra's head, emitting a mysterious and ethereal luminescence. "This is to weaken, draw, and defray. Applied directly, it saps at the power of whatever you're aiming it at. The stronger the thing you're trying to sap, the more effort's needed." With pops of magic, she summoned blocks of crystal. "We'll target these. Because they are rocks, we won't hurt them, nor will we make them complain."

Taking into consideration the crystal target and the rune she could sense Umbra was casting, Cadance thought carefully. "First, how could this have a positive end? That feels fairly... straightforwardly 'bad'."

"Fine question. First, defense." Umbra pointed at Shining. "As nice as hiding behind a shield is, if you can weaken what's battering against it, that's a bonus, yeah? Less effort into keeping the shield up. Imagine how much easier it would have been if every time the jerk came knocking, you gave him a zap with this." A feral joy spread across her face as her head filled with the images of the scene unfolding. "That would be great."

Shining thoughtfully considered the idea, emitting a soft hum as he did. "Yeah... Alright, I can see that. If I could weaken that mass of changelings that one time, that would have been pretty great... if I was thinking straight." The recollection of that memory caused him to furrow his brow in displeasure. "Let's not get too far into that. Alright, so, using it in a fight, I get that... But if you're not fighting?"

Umbra met shining with a teasing smile as she said, "Sometimes, even the lightest of ponies... Even they need to get through something. Stubborn vines, tough rocks, or anything else you need to get out of the way. Setting it on fire is an option, or trying to make it vanish, but both have their own issues. With this, you can weaken it, then give it a good pull and it'll tear free."

Busy in her endeavor to recreate the rune that Umbra had already showed to her, Cadance was working hard. "Like... that?" She pointed up at her darkly glowing horn. "Is that right?"

Umbra shook her head. "Close." She focused on the rune, emphasizing the internal muscles that held the rune in shape. "Like that."

"Like this." She copied the feeling, and the rune, glowing above her head. "There... we go... Now, aim!" She glared at a crystal, eyes flaring with the shadow power Umbra had by default. The crystal trembled and shook as if struck by the magic. "How do I know if it worked?"

Umbra brought up her hooves towards the crystal. "First, you have that whole dark field around it. That's a clue." It shone with the dread power of darkness. "Second, fun part, you just try to tear it. Attack it. Go on, vent your fury on it."

Cadance let her tongue peek free a little, concentration on her face. "This... Shining, you go ahead."

"Alright." And he began working on the rune, only to be swatted on the back. "What?"

Cadance indicated the crystal with her hoof. "Break it."

"Oh!" Shining scrambled to the crystal with a clatter of his hooves. "And chop!" He brought down a hoof on it to discover rapidly that it was still a rock. "Ow..." He held the hoof close, nursing his bump.

"Very good." Umbra patted the badly bruised stone. "Shining could not, normally, do that so easily. This is also why crystal works pretty well as a test, since you'd have to get great at this to have people just tearing it in half."

Cadance abandoned her magic to help comfort Shining. "I didn't realize..."

"It's alright... You get the next one." The magical swirl caught both their attentions. The untouched crystal was glimmering with dark warnings of foul magic. Tracing it back, Flurry was glaring at it with all her immature potency, surging wildly in a fit of shadow magic.

"Look at you!" Umbra applauded at the sight. "My lovely niece, already showing we're related. What a field... I bet that crystal's as soft as clay." She went to test that, stepping on the block and pushing down. Instead of the stone being hard and firm, it was as if her hoof was sinking into chilled butter as she placed pressure on it. "Look who's a talented little shadow wizard!"

Without any announcement, Flurry decided that Cadance's hoof was far more entertaining than what she was previously doing, and so she stopped to play with it instead. This did not prevent Umbra from taking her in her arms and giving her a loving squeeze. "I am so proud of you I don't even have words!"

Cadance smiled at the exchange. "I don't think I'll tire of that. You have a deep and genuine love for her... This may be the romantic in me, but it's a lot easier to love ponies who love my child."

Shining let out a gentle, yet amused chuckle. "That's pretty normal, Cadie. Most ponies don't get along with other ponies who don't like their kids. Now... I don't want to be shown up. I'll get this." He looked at the unharmed crystal, focusing on the new rune. "Give me a moment..."

She swatted at him, though she didn't make contact, or really try. "Besides that. Whatever Umbra has done wrong before, she's never failed as an aunt, or a mother, for that matter... That counts. Your daughter, son, and niece are fortunate to have you there, supporting them with all of your heart. Shadow or light, you are ready to embrace them tightly and be there for their triumphs and troubles. That... means a lot to me."

Shining's frown grew slowly with time as he concentrated on the rock. "Speaking... of that, how are they?"

Cadance clapped. "Oh yes. Your son is a darling pony. I hear his talent is the sun? How marvelous! Like Celestia? You must be amazed."

"Not like her." Umbra glanced up at the evening sky. "The sun will remain in its place regardless of his efforts to move it. I hear that's very hard to do for many besides Celestia. But! He can focus its light, gather it, and move it around. He puts the light in pony. You're all light aligned, but he takes that to the next level. Very proud of him." A smile spread across her face as her thoughts wandered to Anik and the amazing and bright magic he possessed. "Fitting of an earth pony. He could make things grow, or set fires."

Shining flipped an ear back. "Glad he's not focused on—Oh! Here!" He pointed to where the dark shadow had formed around the crystal. He was doing it, throwing out that weakening field. "Try."

Umbra stepped up onto the crystal, placing all her weight on it. It sagged, not as easily or quickly as when Flurry had done the same, but that it had weakened was clear as she sank into it. "Nice, nice! One thing, little thing. If you were an enchanter, which neither of you are, this sort of thing? It ruins a crystal's enchantability. Forceful deforming like this? Nope! They hate it."

Shining slowed his magic to a stop. "That sounds... bad. Why are you having us do this, then?"

Umbra kicked the unfeeling slab of crystal. "This was already low quality. You're lowering it from junk to junk. If you do want to work a crystal you plan to enchant, you have to be way more careful than this. This is a brute force method. On the other hand..." She rolled a hoof she had instead of a hand. "If you just need to break through something or tear something down, this'll get you there.

Cadance smiled radiantly. "I get it. These are still just single letters. We can't expect too much."

"True..." Shining tapped at his chin. "Alright, we got two letters. I'm going to guess the next step is to practice them."

"A lot." Umbra nodded firmly with a soft snort. "Until you're tired of it, and can make the letter without thinking about it. You, Shining, already know a lot of letters. Just as good as the rest. While you're doing that..." She grabbed Flurry in her magic and levitated the wriggly filly up onto her head. "I'm going to steal your child and love her, maybe to death. Her death or mine? We'll find out. Better act fast."

Cadance crossed her arms in front of her chest. "I will learn to enchant if I have to and stuff your ghost in something to torment you forever if you go and die in front of Flurry Heart."

"Ooo, nice warning." Laughing, Umbra trotted off with her victim, er, niece, the two sharing a smile with one another with radiant joy between them.

Shining rubbed at his cheek. "Huh, well... First night out with Umbra. That wasn't bad, and we learned something."

"We did." Cadance inclined her head at Shining Armor. "But you sound disappointed. Is something wrong?"

"Fun time rarely comes with homework." He showed his disapproval of the current state of affairs by extending his tongue in dismay. "Not sure I like that part."

Cadance brushed against him, walking past. "Let's get these put away, maybe somewhere to practice later." Her horn glowed, dimming the area around herself. "We can practice the shadow one easily enough anywhere. We have a shadow wizard for a fiancé, the least we can do is show some interest in her passion."

Shining willed the slabs up with his magic, hovering them there in the air. "This is easier for you to say. She'll be helping take the pressure off you."

"You know, if you asked, she'd jump on your guards and show them a thing or two." Cadance was filled with amusement when she pictured the situation in her mind, bringing a smirk to her face. "She can be a tough leader when she wants to be. You two were quite the formidable pair when the umbrum attacked, don't forget."

"Probably, but that isn't fair either." Shining started for the palace with his two big presents. "She has a life too. I can handle the guards."

"You do a great job with it." The glow around one of the slabs shifted as Cadance took mental control of it with her own glowing horn. "Now, if we're being honest, I'm curious what kind of O&O game she'll run... and I want to learn the rest of her 'wicked' magic."

Shining hesitated briefly. "Really? I didn't think you'd be that interested."

Cadance rolled her eyes. "This is why I know so few letters. Umbra wants to teach me, and I want to learn. What's the point of having this thing." She pointed up at her horn firmly. "Without even knowing how to use it?! Float things around, and do my cutie mark's magic? Talk about bare basics... I can do better! I'm Twilight's sister! I can't go embarrassing her like this."

"In--"

Cadance struck him over the head with a dull thunk of her hoof meeting him. "Don't even finish that. Is it any better that my old foalsitted foal is showing me up like this? No! I will get better, and Umbra wants to help. I may never be a proper wizard, but I will learn to read and cast a spell properly."

Shining rubbed the sore spot. "Alright alright! I just didn't think you... cared much about that, is all."

"Then maybe you don't know everything about me." She sped up into a proper trot, vanishing into the throne room. The door closed without obvious source a moment later.

Shining stood there for a moment, looking at the closed door in contemplation. "Huh... Then I should fix that."

122 - Shine a Light

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Anik examined the plaque located at the entrance of the building to verify that he had the correct address. Taking a deep breath, he walked up to the door and rapped upon it in a determined fashion. "Hello?"

"Sleeping!" came an angry female voice from somewhere inside.

Anik stared at the door and remained there calmly, as if a brief pause could resolve the situation. As it turned out, it could. The door opened, and a pony peeked free. A male. "Hello?"

Anik smiled at the new pony. "If I'm not mistaken, you are Wensley, correct?" He carefully examined the features of the pony. Earth pony, and tired. Tired was much too inadequate of a term to accurately describe how he was feeling. Despite feeling physically and mentally exhausted, there was also a feeling of weariness that had settled in. "I'm here to help."

"Help?" Wensley slipped free of the house and closed it with great care behind him, barely a sound made as the latch caught. "Help with what? Do I... know you?"

"I'm Umbra's son, by adoption." He chuckled with the idea. "Come to think of it, all her children are by adoption. I wonder why that is, but that's another topic for another day. She told me, about you that is."

Wensley colored, but even his blush seemed tired, barely darkening his face as he wobbled faintly in place. "She did? That was... a secret."

"Sorry, but it was for your own safety, sir. Please forgive her." Anik stepped closer and wrapped an arm around Wensley, as much offering support as giving a little squeeze. "I hear you're plagued by night visions."

"Night visions?" He quirked an ear weakly. "I never heard that afore. What's that?"

Anik brought up his other hoof in a slow pan across the horizon. "Where I came from, it was dark, very dark. A per--pony's not made to live in the dark. Sometimes, it'd get to you. You'd see things. Things you didn't want to see. They come from in here." He tapped at his head. "But it felt just as real in that moment. Night visions."

Wensley shrank back, but could only go so far with Anik holding him. "I can't blame any, um... It's not dark here, ya see..."

Anik was patient with Wensley's slow words, nodding along gently. "The dark's inside you, and doing a nasty job. Fortunately, my specialty is light."

Wensley blinked at that. "Light?"

Anik reflected the sun in a diffuse scattering, causing the area around him to be illuminated with a bright light. The borrowed sunlight from the field made Wensley look almost as if he was glowing as he stood there. "And I've been practicing. If you'll let me, I'll try to bring some light to you."

Wensley suddenly fell. He might have been aiming for his haunches, but he outright collapsed to his belly in an ungainly collapse. "I... It doesn't work that way, ah don't think..."

Anik rested a hoof gently on Wensley's collapsed head, rubbing quietly. "May I try?"

"Ugh. Fine... Do what yer doin'. Then ah'm headed back inside." Wensley didn't move much, perhaps too tired for that.

The glow shifted, the brightness around Anik remaining, but the area cooled to normal as he rearranged that power to his brighter hooves. He cupped Wensley's head with them. "Just relax." And things changed.

Wensley experienced a light that seemed to penetrate deep within himself, penetrating a place that he didn't even know existed within him. His spirit, or whatever it could be called, was taken aback in surprise and he squeaked out of shock, but the light didn't cause any harm. It just surprised him. "W-wha'?" That wasn't a literal light. His brain wasn't solar powered. But the magic of ponies sometimes stopped being literal.

Anik focused on the warmth of the light, bathing Wensley's internal place in its brilliance. "Mom cares about you, and she's not alone. I know we just met, but I want you to get better too, Wensley. You can just relax, let me work. If you're too tired to move, don't move." He kneaded at the sides of Wensley's head with slow circles of his hooves, massaging along with the strange internal light. "You are safe."

Wensley couldn't see, and his eyes hurt, somehow more than they had been already. He weakly got a fetlock over to rub at the problem, drawing away tears. "You don't want something back?"

"I want you to get better." Anik had no other desire. He was a simple pony, from a simple world. "Relax..." Time became slippery. Wensley lost track if he was there for a moment, a minute, or maybe an hour or three, but he finally did. He had relaxed, and fallen asleep there under Anik's gentle attention. "Not done." Anik stood up from Wensley, leaving him to sleep for his first bit of true slumber in some time. "We have other problems."

He did not knock that time, instead carefully opening the door and slipping inside. He carried his glow with him, but only allowed it out in a hazy piercing of the gloom, barely enough to see by. On quiet hooves, he pressed into the house. It looked... almost abandoned, and had that feel to it, but he could hear snoring coming from further within.

Despite the outer walls being made of crystal, it was dark. He had to imagine that was done on purpose. There. Emerging from around a corner, he saw the slumbering mare half-sprawled in her bed, half-fallen from it, half of her slumped and spread across the ground as if it was just as fine a bed as anything else. "You too," he whispered to himself as he slunk up on her. "Too much dark."

"No such thing." She jumped to her hooves, eyes flashing dangerously. "You! That little brat I wanted to murder before. What are you doing in my house?!"

Anik stopped holding his glow back, bursting free in all directions and drawing a pained hiss from the umbrum. "I am here to help you."

"Some damn help that is." Witching threw her blanket over her head to muffle the light. "Stop that! How does that help me of all the things you could have done!"

"Mother told me." Anik stepped closer. "About her sister. She is a creature of darkness too. But even a light creature needs darkness. Even a dark creature needs a little light."

"Ugh! You have no darkness." She glared as best she could through her blanket, which was a middling effort at best. "So take your own advice!"

"You can't see my darkness, because the light is in the way. But I have darkness."

Witching perked at that. "You do?! I doubt that... Fine, fine! Name your shame. Reveal that you have one. I don't smell it on you."

Anik drew back his glow to a more companionable shimmer. "I have a shame I will never be rid of."

Witching sat up properly. "I love the sound of that... Do go on."

"Of all the people of my world, such bright souls with dreams and ambitions, why am I the one chosen to survive, when the rest died?" Anik leaned forward. "How is that fair? Was I better? I don't think I was. I could name a few I know I would have picked, if they asked me... They would have loved this bright world. They never will know it. They are dead, and I am alive."

"Survivor's guilt, nasty." Witching was smiling despite it, drawing pleasure from the shame. "But you still don't reek of that shame. Why?"

"Because the best thing I can do is to live." Anik reached out a hoof towards her, but didn't step closer. "I honor them and their memories by making sure their sacrifice was never in vain. I will rejoice, and be happy, because they can't. I will double and redouble my smile, so I can do it for them. I would want them to do the same thing, if we swapped places. Let their smile stretch from sky to sky, if my death was the price to gain it. Compared to that dark world, at least now there is light, and a reason to smile."

"Wow."

Anik inclined his head at that short reply. "You understand?"

"I understand you are a poster pony of emotional stability. I'm... impressed. Disgusted, but also impressed." She drew down her blanket, the light down to tolerable levels. "So what do you actually want?" She darted her eyes around. "Where's Wensley? Did you do something to him?!" She fluffed up in anger, scowling at Anik. "If you hurt him, I swear..."

"You care for him. Good." Anik pointed back at the front door. "He's sleeping. He's very... very tired."

"Hm? He could nap whenever he wants." Witching shrugged expansively at that. "He shouldn't be tired."

"He needed light. So do you. May I help you?"

"No, thanks." She hopped up onto her bed, as if the elevation helped the situation and any battle to come.

"You are hurting Wensley." Anik took a single step forward. "You are hurting yourself."

"I'm saving him," she hissed out, trying to take a more fearsome form, but the light drove away her shadows before they could finish forming, leaving her skeletal. Fearsome enough? She'd have to make do with it. "I hate you."

"Sorry." Not that he stopped glowing. "What are you saving him from?"

"Himself, obviously." She let out an exasperated huff as she rolled her eyes. "He hates himself, and thought he'd be alone forever. I give him company. I even love hating him. We both win."

"He takes hate because he doesn't think he deserves love," reasoned Anik as if doing so while he said it. "He deserves love. You deserve love."

"Please." She sat back. "Umbrum don't need love, thanks."

"Your neice, my sister, my namesake. She is loved, and she grows stronger. Even a creature of darkness can use that little light."

"You'd use her against me!? Foul ball..." She glared at Anik with freshened fury. "I'm impressed, a little... Let's just... pretend... Who would 'love' me?"

Anik turned to the door. "Wensley loves you, but it is a desperate love. Still, love. That's why you like him. You like that little light."

"Hmmph, not you?"

Anik twirled towards her. "Huh?"

"Nothing." Witching took on her usual pony form, able to manage that at least. "Nothing. What if I don't want to love him. Not the way you'd do it, or Umbra for that matter." She made a face of disgust just at the idea of it. "I'm not the 'hug gently and enjoy a sunset' kind of mare, if you didn't notice!"

"Because you're scared."

Witching hopped from the bed with a renewed glare. "What did you just say?"

"You're sca--" The unfortunate event of being crashed into prevented him from being able to finish.

With a powerful throw fueled by her anger, she used her magic to send him flying to the ground and roughly pin him there. "I am a master of fear! I am its lord and liege! Nothing scares me! I scare everything else!"

Anik watched her calmy despite being pinned. It was almost a stare, but there was no malice there, just an even watching.

"Say something!" But he didn't She shook him with a low growl. "Don't just look at me!"

No words came from him. "Stop it!" She slammed a hoof just beside his head. "The next one is going in your face!"

"Scared?"

She hesitated, surprised. "What? You. You're scared. You don't want to be stepped on, and ripped apart, do you?"

"No." There was no fear in that word. "You are scared. All creatures are scared, sometimes."

She willed him aside, but he didn't move, her magic weak with her sudden lack of motivation. "I hate you... so much..."

Anik sat up to his haunches. "He loves you. Will you love him back?"

123 - Step Into the Light

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"All fixed?" Umbra was walking down a hallway, Anik at her side.

"I can't say that." He brushed against her, his fondness shown without hesitation. "But they're getting better. Having a name for it helps, I feel. Wensley isn't so trapped, thinking he's the only one to ever suffer night visions."

"Names are powerful." She stepped out into the main foyer. "Soon, I will be a princess."

"You already are a princess, mother." He hurried past her to circle around and face her. "What is changing?"

Umbra pointed past him towards the throne room with a metal-clad hoof. "Me and the royal couple are getting along famously. I'll be helping her rule, managing shifts with her. We'll be diarchs, like Celestia and Luna."

Anik clapped gently. "The dance between sun and moon, always in harmony, but rarely touching. I hope you will be closer to her than that."

"I forgot how poetic you get at times." She touched noses in a brief nuzzle. "I'd like that too. I don't think I want to go to a night shift... I know Morning Dew would rather I did that, and... I know she's happier at night." She frowned with the thought. "What I get for making a family with ponies all over the spectrum there."

Anik directed a hoof at himself. "I am day." He turned the hoof at Morning, not in any certain direction as she wasn't actually there. "She is night." The hoof turned to Umbra. "You guard the space between, where we can meet. What is day and night without twilight?"

"Nice pony." Her thoughts went off to that other princess she hadn't gotten to hang out with too often. "And Cadance's sister-in-law... who will become my sister-in-law. Shoot, I hadn't even thought of that."

"So I'm planning the wedding, right?"

"Sur... What?" Umbra turned to behold the bright pink pony that hadn't been there before. "Pinkie, right?"

"That's me!" Pinkie bounced in place with a big smile. "And you're planning a wedding, which means you need my help! Ask Cadance, I helped with hers! Party planning is my thing, yo. You just put it in my hooves and I'll have it ready to go. All you have to do then is sit back and enjoy a perfect party!" It was as if her emotions had reached their peak and she could no longer contain them, and instead exploded in confetti across the area.

"That's all... good." Umbra considered the cheerful pony. "But don't you live in Ponyville? How did you get all the way up here to the Crystal Empire like that?"

"The train, duh." Pinkie rolled her eyes as if that was beyond obvious. "So, am I hired?" She hopped up, hooves pedalling wildly while she was in the air. "You even get the relation-of-a-friend discount!"

"No discounts." Her tone left little room for arguments. "I get paid just fine for my own work. I won't argue for little bits off from other hard-working ponies."

Pinkie clapped her hooves to her face. "Nice! Alright." She twirled on Anik. "Hiya! What's your name?"

"I'm Anik." He gestured towards Umbra. "Her son, by adoption."

"You don't have to say that every time." Umbra moved next to him. "He is my son, period."

"Hey sun period! Is that like when the clouds go away for a moment?" Pinkie giggled at her pun, finding her own humor quite satisfying.

Anik quirked up an ear in consideration of those words. "Hm. That isn't a bad way of thinking about it. You are a party... Where I'm from, there were few times we had parties."

"What?!" Pinkie leaned in towards Anik. "How awful. Well! I'll throw it extra good, so you can make up for lost time."

Umbra patted Pinkie on the back. "You're hired, just clear it with Cadance and Shining. It's their big day too. They also need to set the date. Share that with me when you get it."

Pinkie inclined her head left and right. "Wait, even you don't know? Wow! I'll be the first!" She dashed away in a puff of pink smoke to secure that information.

"She seems excited." Anik considered a moment. "She has no need of my light. She's already bright enough."

"Here's to that." They tapped a hoof to one another's in a gentle bump. "Thank you for tackling the whole Wensley thing. I know it's a big project I just threw at you."

"No." Anik shook his head quickly. "It's been... I've grown. Thank you, mother. I've become even more of a light bringer, and I like this new me. I like what I can do. It is a perfect harmony, for someone from such a dark place to come to such a bright place, and make it a little brighter. Mother. You're not from here, right?"

"I am not." She skewed an ear off. "Why?"

"Do you miss others you knew, where you're from? Do you regret their lack?"

"Sometimes," allowed Umbra in an almost sing-song. "Once in a while, I think of someone in particular... But I'd do that even if I was still there. People move, or pass, or a thousand other things that may take them out of your life..."

"True." Anik sat back. "I would prefer that did not happen between us, mother, for as long as possible."

Umbra exhaled the words, "For as long as possible," with a deep breath. "Which... may be a long time, come to think of it." She curled a hoof to her chin in renewed thought. "Jury's out, but princesses may live forever, barring a violent end. I'm one of those. I may one day be... standing at your bedside when you're old and wrinkled."

"Hm." Anik rubbed at his cheek gently. "That would be older than most people of my world could even hope to reach. I met one person, once, who was so old... If I reach that point, mother, I will be quite content." Any existential horror seemed to be absent. He walked off, just as happy as he'd been a moment before considering his end days. "Good luck, mother."

"Later." She waved at his departing form, but saw no reason to try to stop him. "Now..."

"You look thoughtful." Shining Armor was taking a brisk trot towards the stairs that would bring him to the outside. "Everything alright?"

"Everything's fine." She fell in with him, descending the crystal stairs. "I was thinking to ask Cadance if I can help with the princess thing."

"Oh, well, then you're going the wrong way." He pointed over his shoulder back. "She's in the throne room. I saw Pinkie waiting in line though." He chuckled at the thought. "Pretty sure that means something is about to go down."

"That makes sense." Umbra slowed, but was still moving with. "Don't want company?"

"We're all adults." He did stop, turning to smile at Umbra. "We have things to do. Wanna meet up afterwards though? Family nights out don't have to be the only time, you know."

Umbra felt a smile creeping on her. "That sounds great." They bumped, nose to nose, and bounced off in different directions. She headed up the stairs and into the throne room without further delay. Pinkie had become the third pony in line, vibrating with excitement. "Good luck," she whispered on the way past the pink pony, moving to sit next to Cadance.

Cadance reached out a wing, enfolding Umbra. "Since she's here, let me announce formally. Umbra, mistress of the Shadowhearts family, hero of the Crystal Empire, will be ascending to rule alongside me. We will put our heads together to make things even better than they already are." The room filled with clops and stomps of applause. "She is still learning the fine points of statecraft, but she will sit in this very throne." She wobbled a hoof at the throne she was already comfy in. "And speak with full authority. Now, before you get ideas, we will be comparing notes. We will speak with one voice."

"So no double dipping," added Umbra. "If one of us says no, or yes, that stands for the other." She coughed into a hoof. "But... before we get to that, there are a few steps in the way."

Cadance had her eyes on Pinkie. "I can see one of them approaching... Next!" Next wasn't Pinkie, but Cadance didn't skip. Each pony got their turn, one by one.

Umbra spotted something out of the corner of her eye. A cradle, with a little pony in it. A pony she couldn't ignore. She quietly slipped away from Cadance to lean in over the edge of the cradle. "Who's being a good little filly?" The filly squealed at her and Umbra went in for nuzzles, getting her snout grabbed in the process, not that she seemed to mind. "The cutest little filly in all the land!"

Playing with Flurry Heart occupied her entirely. She only noticed the rest of the room when Pinkie's name was called.

"Hiya!" Pinkie bounced up towards Cadance's throne. "So! I hear a certain special somepony or two... or three... is getting married!" She pulled out a wedding cake from nowhere in particular and slapped it down. "And a wedding needs a wedding planner. Lucky for you, the best in Equestria is right here!"

"Did somepony call for the best party planner?!" A second pony emerged from outside, a big smile on his face. He had curly hair, like Pinkie, but he was brown, instead of pink. He had a shirt, unlike her, and a cutie mark of a melty cheese sandwich. "I'm here and ready to help!"

Pinkie swatted at him. "Hey! I got here first!"

"They did say the best." He waggled his brows at her with unspoken meanings.

Pinkie plonked her pink hooves on her hips. "Let's not do that again." She threw an arm around Cheese's neck. "So, lucky you. Looks like you can get two of the best party planners. This party will be off every hook we can possibly find! Whattaya say!?"

Cadance hummed gently. "I see... You are putting the cart in front of the pony in this case, Pinkie."

"I am?" She angled her head sharply. "How? I asked permission this time!"

"You did that," Cadance allowed with a gentle smile. "But we haven't formally proposed. We have plans... but there can't be a wedding without an accepted proposal, can there?"

Cheese tapped at his chin. "She has a point there." His gaze wandered between Cadance and Umbra. "But, we could fix that."

"We could," sang out Pinkie as she snuck off in a circle, Cheese going the other way.

Umbra got Cheese, pushing her gently towards the throne. Pinkie got to Cadance to push her towards Umbra, the two giggling at their attempt to play matchmaker. Umbra roared with sudden laughter, Flurry bouncing on her head in the motions. "You two are so eager to throw a wedding, you're ready to insist we set a date?"

"Yes?" Pinkie leaned in from around Cadance.

"Of course." Cheese leaned in from around Umbra. "What else would we do?"

Cadance brought down a hoof gently on the middle of Pinkie's head. "I appreciate the effort, truly. But this is a matter to be discussed with the entire family, and Shining isn't even here. I'm afraid we can't finish this without him. He would be involved, don't you think?"

Umbra reached up to bring down her niece and hug Flurry Heart gladly. "We should. But..." She looked between Pinkie and Cheese. "I don't want to send them away with nothing but a shooing away. Cadance, think we could set a time to have that chat, for good or bad?"

Cadance sighed but with a smile, seemingly entertained by the silliness on display. "Very well... But I have a demand in kind."

Pinkie perked up at that. "What's that? I already offered the family discount, but shady-mare there said she didn't want that."

"Not that." Cadance turned to Pinkie. "When you get married, I will plan that one. No mare should have to plan their own, I say."

Cheese shrugged. "But... I'm right here."

"What if you two got married then?" challenged Cadance with a smirk.

The two glanced at one another with a doubting look. What were even the odds of that?

124 - Shadow Bunny

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Morning Dew scowled at the largish creature. It was large compared to her, but small compared to adult ponies. Sadly, she wasn't an adult, or a pony, for that matter. "You are intruding on my territory," she warned in dire, but flattened tones. "What do you have to say for yourself?"

The young tsuki sniffed at her instead of answering. "You smell different."

Morning took half a step back. "Different than what?!"

"Then other ponies."

Morning hiked a brow. "Then the other ponies."

The young rabbit perked his ears, young enough that they hadn't permanently flopped over just yet. "You're smart too. Ponies use lots of words. Lots of words between words." He mashed the words in his paws. "Way more than adults do at home. Learning."

Morning pointed a hoof at his head. "Can you do magic?"

He tried to look up as best as he could. "Huh?"

"You have a horn." Morning smirked as she leaned in. "Ponies use horns to do magic. Umbruum don't need horns. Do you use your horns for magic?"

"I don't think so." He managed to get a hold of his horns, one to each paw. "Should I be?"

"Maybe?" Morning considered properly a moment. "You don't want shadow magic."

"What's shadow magic?" He hopped up to all fours and bounced past Morning, twirling about to face her. "Is it fun?"

"Mmm... No, but yes? But..." She mused on how to explain that. "It's very enjoyable to the one doing it. To the ones you're using it on, sometimes..."

"Show me fun shadow!" He bounced in place. "Wanna see."

A willing victim, test subject? Minion? She wasn't sure which box to place the eager little rabbit in. "What's your name?"

"Tomtom!" He bounced with each syllable, as if his name brought him joy. "What your name?"

"What's your name," she repeated in a slow and careful way.

"That."

She frowned at him, but he was just waiting for the answer. "I am Morning Dew."

"Who are you talking to?" Anik walked in from outside. "Oh." He could see the little tsuki. "You've made a new friend. Hello."

"Hi!" Tomtom waved up at Anik with a big smile. "You look nice."

"I try to be nice." He looked to Morning. "Everything alright?"

Morning waved at Tomtom with a huff. "He's intruding. He has offered to make up for it by being a willing target for my shadow magic. What spell should I use?"

Anik considered that with a hum. "You could make him sleep?"

"A start." Shadow burst from her, the energy quickly rushing towards Tomtom, wrapping him firmly in her grasp. "Slumber," she commanded.

"Not... tir..." He flopped over limply, passing out into restful sleep.

Anik turned back for the door. "Be nice. He came to play with you."

"I am playing." Morning drew out a marker. "We're having fun."

TomTom stirred with an almost mewl as he stretched and yawned widely. "How...? Sorry!" He scrambled up to his haunches. "I slept! In your place! Sorry!"

"I forgive you." Morning patted the poor rabbit, festooned with all manner of her doodles. "You have experienced shadow magic. Do you feel better?"

Tom smiled brightly at the forgiveness. "Good. We friends now?"

"We are friends now," she casually corrected.

"Yay!" He crashed on her, pouncing her to the ground and squeezing her like the favored doll she was for the time being.

She rebuffed him in a burst of darkness, forcing him back several inches as she fell back to her hooves. "Stop that. There are rules concerning when one can and cannot touch a Shadowheart."

"Whassa Shadowheart?"

Morning pointed at herself. "Me, and my family. We are shadowhearts. That pony that came in is one too. You are not. There are rules."

"Oh... How I shadowheart?" He bounced left and right, claws tacking on the ground. "I be good one!"

Morning buried her face in a hoof. "How do I become a Shadowheart, and you likely won't, unless mother adopted you, which I forbid ahead of time. Now, don't look so sad." He was looking awfully sad about the news. "You can still be a friend and ally of the shadowhearts. You're well on your way to doing that."

"Am I?!" He reared up, hands out to both sides.

Morning didn't grasp what that gesture was. "What are you doing?"

"Challenge! Fun challenge." He took a slow step forward, his gait slow and awkward in his wrestling pose. "See who wins, see who's better."

Morning reared up into a fighting stance. "You're challenging me?!"

"Yes," he replied, lacking all the agitation that Morning had. "Fight. Fun!"

Morning's eyes flared with her power. "You will regret this."

That was, apparently, permission to begin. He came in at her like an eager sumo wrestler, grabbing for her arms. She flowed like shadow free of his arms, but he was on her an instant later, grabbing her even as she reformed and pinning her arms to her torso. "Got you!"

"You can't hold the dark." She exploded in shadow in all directions, his surprise enough to let her slip away in a scramble. "But the dark can--" He was on her without a pause. What he lacked in style, he made up for in intensity and persistence. She backpedaled, but he lunged. "Sleep!" she ordered as he made contact with her, both crashing to the ground under the momentum. "Blast it..."

The maid, silent until then, inclined her head. "I beleive that makes him the winner."

"But he's asleep." She wriggled under his slumbering form, pinned despite his sleeping status. "This isn't fair..."

"It isn't." Polish rose to her full height, approaching the two young creatures. "Putting your sparring partner to sleep is hardly sporting, ma'am."

"I warned him! Shadow doesn't fight in straight... lines." She tried to pull herself free of TomTom's bulk with limited success. "Get him off--Hey!"

Tomtom casually rolled over in place, grabbing Morning up in a gentle hug like she was a cute little doll instead of a fierce shadow wizard.

Polish sat beside them. "I think you've made a new friend. Be aware, ma'am. He will surely request a rematch when he realizes how this one ended. I doubt that was a satisfactory ending for him."

"I'm not... feeling satisfied either." She punched him, flat of her hoof against his chin. "Wake up!"

That was enough of a wake up call, Tom blinking away the forced slumber. "Huh? Oh!" He hopped up onto her, pinning her. "I win."

"Not fair!" She was punching, slapping, and beating him from underneath, but it was having very little effect.

With gentle motions, Polish encouraged Tomtom to go. "A wonderful victory. Would you two care for a snack?"

Tom's eyes widened. "Yes! Thank you." He twirled towards Morning. "Who is that? Shadowheart?"

"Not a Shadowheart. But she is loyal to them. She's a trusted servant. Technically, she's employed by the castle." Morning considered that. "Hm, where do your loyalties lie?"

Polish considered that with a proper little hum. "An excellent question, ma'am. Were Cadance to change my assignment, I would accept the new one given. I am employed by her, ma'am. I may regret it, but she's the pony that hired me."

"I appreciate the honesty..." Morning clucked her tongue against her teeth. "But what if she asked for our secrets? What then?"

"I would decline. I am trusted because I would decline. Making an exception, even for her, would make me less valuable, even to her. I would hope she understood that." Polish nodded firmly at the end of that. "Now, about that snack. Do you want one too?"

Morning poked at the bouncing Tomtom. "I will accept one. I suggest speed. He looks ready to burst."

"Playing makes me hungry." He hopped right over Morning, landing on Umbra's soft bed. "Soft!" He bounced on it with little giggles.

"That is for sleeping, not bouncing." Morning approached but did not climb onto the bed. "It's also not yours."

Polish vanished quietly, with all the ninja skills of a maid.

"Not true." Tom bounced off the bed to the ground. "Everything bounce. Some bounce better." He pointed to the bed. "Bounce better."

"That is for rest and recovery." She turned to keep him in front. "Not play."

"Try?" He waved at the bed with a grin. "Try. Then say."

Morning rolled her eyes. "Impertinent... Fine. I will try, then you'll leave mother's bedding alone." She climbed up onto the bed, each step squishing into the soft material. "A fine place for sleeping."

"Bounce! You said you try."

"You said you would try." Despite her words, Morning gave a little bounce, and the bed bounced back against her in a display of the rules of motion still being in effect. She came down and thrust her hooves, propelling herself into the air all the higher. "There. I have bounced." She hit the bed, just to slid from it to the ground. "Happy?"

"Good bounce, right? Admit."

Morning set a hoof on Tom's nose. "We are going to have to work on your grammar. It was... acceptable." She prodded the side of the bed. "But it's not mine, or yours. It belongs to Umbra, my mother. If you trifle with her, she will destroy you. She will visit such horrors you wish she had simply erased you."

And yet, Tomtom didn't look scared. "She's the good shadow! Silly. So long as we are nice..." He spoke a bit slower, trying to get his words perfect. "Then she will be nice. She protects us."

"Better." She trotted past him. "Where is--" She hadn't have asked, Polish returning with a generous closed tray. "There you are."

"As requested." She set the tray between the two younglings. "Eat up. You have growing to do." She pulled away the metal lid to reveal a tray of finger sammiches, small sweet treats and some drinks to go with it. "I hope it is to your satisfaction."

"Thanks!" Tom grabbed a sandwich in his furry fingers and stuffed it into his mouth, but no great chomp happened. He worked at it like an eager rabbit, nibbling fiercely from the edges inwards. It was rapid, but surely a big bite would be faster.

Morning watched him a moment. "Behold." She lifted one and took a slow and precise bite out of it, filly-jaws large in a display of what a big bite could be. "Can you do that?"

Tom was still nibbling at his food when hers vanished into her mouth and her teeth came down. "Woah! Careful. Not choke. Choke is bad." He reached for her food to draw it back a precious inch, to stop her from taking such a big bite again.

"That was entirely intentional." She drew the sandwich back in, or tried, truggling with her hoof against tom's firm grip. "Let me go!" But he wasn't letting go. "I'm not choking!" She tugged and heaved.

And he let go.

Her food was speeding at her under her own power, too much of it, splatting against her face. She scowled with renewed vigor. "Tomtom..."

Tomtom had the sense to look very guilty. "Accident..."

"You..." She slapped the remnants down and sloppily put them back together. "Finish this." She pointed to the mostly-ruined food. "That's the least you can do."

"Oh..." Tom put his nibbled offering aside and reached for Morning's. "Okay!" Without a word of complaint, the nibbling resumed, working at the edges inwards of the sandwich of ultimate shame. "Sorry."

Polish inclined her head. "It's so nice to see you getting along with another foal your age."

"Don't inform mother."

"Inform me of what?" Rising from the shadows, Umbra took form. "Morning... Someone new?"

"Hello!" Tom abandoned his food for the moment to smile at Umbra instead. "Nice meet. Name Tomtom. Playing with Morning." He pointed at her. "Friend!"

"Working on that," miserably allowed Morning. "Welcome back, mother. I have been instructing him on the proper place of shadowhearts."

"Have you now?" Umbra sank next to the two little ones. "Shadowhearts know the value of true allies and friends. I'm so proud to see you're already getting one."

"... yes... That is precisely what is happening." With that smooth pass given, Morning reached for a sweet candy wafer to chew on, nibbling like a rabbit.

125 - Wensley Smiles

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For the ponies that walked past, he was just another pony, clearly not a crystal one, but a perfectly normal earth pony with a little smile and a nice hat on his head.

"Paper?" offered a crystal one going past. "A good way to pass the day and be in the know of what's going on."

Wensley reached a hoof. "Huh, been a while since ah read one of these." He accepted the paper and surrendered a bit for it. "Thank ya kindly."

He flipped it open on the ground and swept his eyes over the current events. "Huh... Big bunnies." It was apparently current news that the tsuki had arrived and crashed into the ponies with open arms on either side. Tsuki-sourced gems were appearing in jewelry stores, apparently with a quality that ponies had a hard time matching for intricate work.

Not a one-sided relationship, tsuki were quite eager to spend their earned bits on almost anything ponies had to offer them. They needed for little, but seemed to adore collecting and sharing pony things. It made everycreature involved a bit richer and happier for the relationship. "Wonder if ah'll see one?" He looked around, but the street seemed clear of any bunnies, just a lot of ponies.

"There you are." Anik emerged from the crowd with a growing smile. "It's good to see you outside, in the sun. Doesn't it feel better?"

Wensley swerved an ear to the side. "Suppose it does... Um..." He looked over the snow and ice-colored pony that had come to his rescue. "Never had a chance to say, but thanks..."

"You're welcome." Anik closed the distance to sit in front of Wensley. "Do you feel better?"

"Ah think ah do." Wensley closed the paper and folded it neatly for later. "Ah was... really fallin' in.... Sorry ya had to go through all that trouble."

"I did it because I wanted to do it." Anik pawed at the air with a hoof. "So apologizing is silly. You can say thank you. That's enough. Are the night visions troubling you?"

"They don't really stop." He rubbed the side of his head. "Do you have a fix for that?"

"Sorta." Anik inclined his head. "A few things I know for sure. To start, they aren't you. Just because you imagine something bad doesn't mean you want something bad." His tail lashed as he tapped at his head. "Up here, a lot goes on. We just remember the big things, like imagining something bad. Let it come, and let it go. Oh, a question."

"Yeah?" Wensley tucked the paper away into his side. "Go ahead an' shoot."

"Have you ever done anything you saw, that bothered you?"

Wensley thought back on things. He had a lot to dig through. "No... can't reckon ah ever did. Not sure who would want to do that. Ain't me!"

"Then you have done nothing wrong," concluded Anik. "A bad thought is just a thought. A thought is not a crime. Let it come and let it go."

"What about..." Wensley waved at Anik. "The things with you?"

"You haven't done anything." Anik set a hoof on either of Wensley's shoulders. "You don't want to do anything. Have your thoughts, let them go. Don't fight them, just let them come and go and new thoughts will take their place."

"Yer really not upset?" Wensley peered at Anik suspiciously, head turned so only one eye could focus on Anik easily. "Not even a little?"

"Not even a little. If I worried what people thought, I'd be worried a lot." He dropped his hooves to the ground. "How is your girlfriend doing?"

"Oh!" Wensley perked. "She's fine. Better, I think... She don't like you none, but you did us a favor, the way ah see it. We're still, um, together... But thin's changed. They kinda had to, ya know?"

"I can only imagine, unless you tell me. I can weave a thousand poems about things I see, but what they say back to me will cast a clearer light than I could hope for." He waxed poetic about the whole thing, a habit of his. "Will you do me that favor?"

Wensley chuckled, taking off his hat to press against his own chest with worrying hooves. "Well, since ya asked... She eased up on, uh... She was showin' her love kinda funny, but ah was pretty sure ah deserved it, and it was a love, funny or not... so ah took it. She was awake at night, so that's when I tried to be... Ah was a mess," he weakly finished, sagging in place a moment. "An' ah was way too tired to even know there was a problem."

"But now?" prompted Anik with a cautious smile. "I will not judge. I am here to cast my light. The sun cares little for who its rays are cast on, just that they are cast."

"Ya got a powerful interestin' way ah talkin' at times." Not that is seemed to bother Wensley much. "Now she calls me her 'biggest guilt'. A 'proper umbruum' shouldn't be like that, or so she says. Then she gives me a hello kiss, and a hug. And ah give it back." He was coloring as he described the horribly lewd acts of child-safe affection. "An' ah love her too, so ah say that, and we're gettin' alon' so much better now... Maybe you were right. She needed a little light too. Ah ain't as bright as you, but now that ah'm smilin' 'gain, maybe it'll be enough light to keep her happy?"

Anik patted Wensley's shoulder with audible paffs. "That sounds good. Great! I hope, one day, to find a special person like that. Right now, I have my mother." As if realizing how that could sound, he pivoted his words. "As a dear friend. Not a romantic partner."

"She ain't yer... That ain't nice t'say..." Wensley reconsidered his own words. "Jus' sayin', don't think ya two got any blood 'tween the two."

"No." Anik curled a hoof at himself. "But I accepted her as my mother, with all the privaledges and rules that come with that. Picking from them selectively is not being a good sport. Besides, she's taken. She's setting a date for her wedding right now. I am her son."

"Right right. Sorry. That was a powerful shameful thought on mah part." Wensley waved the whole thing away with sweeps of both of his hooves. "Just another--"

"Let it go." Anik showed the breathing technique he had picked up from Cadance. "In... Out..." He swept away with a hoof. "Just let that tension go. I'm not upset."

"Yer a work." Wensley rose to his hooves. "Powerful glad ah made a friend like ya."

"Are we friends?" Anik was smiling brightly, showing his pleasure at the idea. "I'm glad to hear that. As friends, we should do things. Ponies of this world have... time. Time they don't use to survive. They fill that time with other things. What do you fill your time with?"

Wensley looked confused a moment. "Don't use? Ah like to think ah use all mah time. If you ain't survivin', what are ya doin'?"

"Thriving." Anik put a hoof on his chest, then out towards Wensley's. "Making friends, getting past problems. Learning. Loving. There are many things besides surviving when surviving is done. What do you do?"

"Huh... Well, ya put it that way..." Wensley pointed back at where the newspaper vanished. "Like catchin' up on what's goin' on. Love me a good rodeo. If a friend that likes it happens to be 'bout, a good race or competition can be loads ah fun. How 'bout you?"

"I would like to try those." Anik shook himself out as if he had been covered in snow, but there was nothing to shake loose. "I am still learning this world. Will you help me?"

"Ya done helped me. Ah'd just be bein' rude if ah didn't offer a hoof back." He perked an ear at Anik. "But whattaya mean 'world'. Ya said that a few times."

"I am not from here." Anik waved at the street, the buildings, the ponies, and everything else he could wave at. "Where I'm from, survival was all you had time for. Now I am here, a happier place. Show me some ways to fill that time."

"Don't sound very good." Wensley stretched out, forehoof ahead and hind far behind so much he popped a few things. "But if yer ready to move, let's move. Let's check if the arena's open today. Nice open spot to run 'round in if we can use it."

"Lead the way." Anik chased after Wensley, the two starting their run with a sprint over to the arena to see how it was looking on that fine day.

"As my minion--"

"--friend," corrected Tomtom, looking so happy to be the one correcting for a change.

"Friend," allowed Morning with a suffering sigh. "It is your responsibility to learn my practices."

"As my friend." He slapped at the ground with his soft paws. "You need to do same."

"Do the same." Morning huffed at her rabbit friend. "Perhaps we both have things to learn... Very well, let's trade. I will tell you one thing I enjoy doing."

"I say one thing I like," countered Tomtom in a joyful bounce in place. "Go. You first."

Morning raised her hooves as they and her eyes wreathed in dark magic. "I enjoy practicing shadow magic."

"I like jumping really far and fast." He bounced around the room, rebounding off walls, a cupboard, and even Polish, who accepted it without a sound as Tomtom bounced off to land right in front of Morning. "You can see a lot. You're smaller than me."

Morning blinked at the sudden pivot. "You're larger than me... What of it?"

Tomtom turned in place and waved back at his back. "So you can ride. I give ride. Then we bounce. Together! We bounce far and wide and see things. Fun!"

Morning considered that living chariot being offered to her. "Do I get to decide where we 'bounce'?"

"Tell me." Tomtom leaned in, cotton tail twitching. "Tell me, then bounce that way. Come, fun!" He hopped up and came down facing away from her. "Up!"

Polish smiled at the children. "I will inform your mother that you stepped out, and who with."

"Thank you..." At least Polish was a reliable part of her day. Morning climbed up on Tomtom, not sure where to put her hooves. He grabbed her, sliding each into the proper place to straddle him securely. "Thank you?" She wasn't as sure about that one, but she was mounted. "Let's go around the city."

"Round city. Yes." But first, one had to not be in the room. He jumped to the window and threw it open. "Let's go!" He wriggled out of the window with his cargo and fell to the ground, wind whistling around them in the plummet. He knew no fear of falling, catching the force of the impact in the tight coiling of his legs. Just as quickly, he released that power in a great leap, propelling them up into the sky above the city, headed towards the edge as had been asked. "Around! Look look!" He waved, but not at any one thing. It was all wonderful from his view.

It was the first time that Morning could see all of the city from that angle. "Wow..." Even she had to be awed for a moment, beholding the glittering jewel that was the Crystal Empire. "Our empire..." At least her mother's? But, being her daughter, it was hers too, right? Morning was pretty sure that was how that worked. "What's that?" She couldn't quite see it, but it was colorful, and there was more than one. Round? It was too far away.

Tomtom didn't have this problem. Creatures that bounced so high and so fast needed to be able to see far away, or they'd crash into things. "Where?" He fixed his eyes on where Morning was pointing. "Balloons!"

126 - Balloons in the Distance

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Tom soared through the air, leaping in smooth arcs towards the bright balloons he could see. "What for?"

"Let's find out." Morning sat up on Tom, assuming more of a confident riding position as she got used to the bouncing motions. "Onwards, I command it."

"I was already going," huffed Tomtom, but he didn't stop to argue the idea. He came in for a landing in front of a strange cart with dozens of balloons attached to it, as if it might float away at any moment. "What this?"

A crystal stallion leaned over his cart, smiling at Tomtom and Morning. "Hey there, you two. I heard the rabbits like to bounce, but that was something else."

Morning slid to the ground. "Greetings. Explain what this is." She waved at the balloons and the cart they were attached to.

"Please," added Tomtom with his biggest smile.

"Since you asked." He twirled a leg around one of the strands that held the balloon, attaching it to the leg and allowing him to draw it free. "One balloon for one bit. Three for just one more. Also got some tasty treats!"

"Wow," allowed Tom breathlessly, amazed at the whole thing.

Morning shoved a hoof in front of him, stopping the eager tsuki from claiming that offered balloon. "Not so fast. What are your intentions?"

"Intentions?" The cart owner recoiled with obvious confusion. "To sell crystal berry cotton candy, balloons, and other things to put a smile on some faces, of course!"

Morning rolled a hoof in the air. "All nice, but why are you selling them here? We're in the middle of nowhere." She turned in place. "If not for us being in the air at the time, we never would have located you. Why are you hiding yourself? Are you feeling guilty?" She smiled in the predatory way umbrum were good at. "Is there more we should know?"

The cart owner laughed nervously. "It's... not easy to get a spot on the main roads." He slumped forward with a sigh. "And I was late in even asking, so this was the best spot I could get. I'm not guilty of anything but not being on time, little lady."

Morning considered the cart, and what was basically an alleyway they were in. "This will not do... You are equipped for a fair ground or some manner of celebration. This location is neither."

"No..." Tom hopped up, not to grab a balloon, but to land on the cart instead. "I like it, but this... not good spot. Show better spot!"

The stallion gave a noise of uncertainty. "Really? How would you know, little thing?"

Tom pointed his snout up at the sky. "Bounce high."

Morning seemed to get it. "He can get a bird's eye view and discern what the best place might be."

"What said," huffed Tom, hopping down next to her. "Help?"

"That is what I said," corrected Morning. "Work in progress. Question remains. Do you want our assistance?"

The stallion looked between the two children, neither a pony, technically. One at least looked the part. "I don't want you getting into any trouble." He lowered a balloon towards Tomtom. "You seem nice, but your parents'll get upset with me, and I'll get in trouble if I let you go off and things go wrong."

Tomtom reached for the balloon, just for Morning to swat his eager paw. "I am the child of Umbra, great and glorious. She trusts me to watch out for myself."

"O-oh..." He did new calculations, taking in Morning's parentage into account. "If you're sure? For the record, I said not to, but it looks like you plan to anyway. I won't, and can't, stop you, um, ma'am."

"Good of you to recognise." Morning turned towards the mildly sulking Tomtom. "We have a mission."

That brightened him right back up. "Let's find a good spot." He grabbed her, plucking her up like the pony doll he saw her as and placing her on his back. "Ready?"

"I was given little choice," she huffed, but she did grasp him from above, legs squeezing. "Let's go."

Tomtom released the powerful springs of his legs, bounding up into the air with a great rush of wind around them. "What is good place?" He twirled in the air, looking about even as they arced high in the sky. "Help look."

But Umbrum didn't have that keen far sight. They were a creature that did most of their business close and personal. They had no predators, and their prey didn't need far vision to locate. Other senses were so superior, for their sort of prey. "Hm..." But she had a Tomtom. He would serve as an acceptable alternative. "Somewhere with good foot-traffic, where there aren't other carts already. Where he can situate himself without being in the way, but close enough to the way that ponies walking past will be tempted to visit him." It was all a wonderfully glittering jewel to her. She couldn't really help...

She could see the ground, at least for that instant before they bounced off of it with a soft thud of his large paws slapping against it, propelling them into the air. "Good traffic," he muttered, looking over the city with his sharp vision. "Many ponies..." He trailed some of them with sweeps of his fingers. "No carts... Close, not in way...." They bounced off the ground, it requiring several trips to get the time he needed to properly survey the entire city for the best spot.

"Did you find one?" She leaned in, grabbing his horns like a sort of handle, not that her hooves were all that good at getting grips.

"Yes. Yes. Three. Help pick." He fell, just to bounce off in the direction of the first. They were beside a small pond. Ponies went up and down a small street nearby. There were no carts. "First."

Morning twisted her head about to get a look all around. "Mmm... These ponies look upper-class. They may not be the best customers. They have refined tastes."

"What mean?"

"What does that mean," corrected Morning, quite set on getting Tomtom to speak with better grammar. "It means they don't want balloons, or cotton candy, even if they are tasty. Let's see the second."

"Okay!" Tomtom lifted them back into the sky without a moment of delay, coming down on a side street. "Second."

Morning frowned as she looked around. "Where are the ponies?" She only saw a few. They were fine, as customers went... "Not nearly enough. Why did you pick this one?"

"There were more before," Tomtom defended. "Sorry... Third?"

"Traffic changes. Third." She tensed, holding him as he hopped up into the sky. "I hope this one is better."

"Me too." He came in for a landing just outside the library. Plenty of ponies were coming and going. "Third!"

Morning slid to the ground. "Good traffic... But this is a library. Hm. We should secure their permission before we suggest this spot."

"Why?" He followed after her as she wandered.

"Because ponies with sticky cotton candy or wet drinks in a library may be... frowned on." Morning rubbed her chin. "But we won't know until we ask. Perhaps we can come to some manner of agreeable terms."

"Yes!" He might not have understood some of those words, but enough of them. "Ask."

Morning ascended the stairs with a clip-clop. "There's only one way." She pressed inside with many others into the interior of the library. She spotted a familiar librarian and went for them. "Good afternoon."

"Morning Dew!" The librarian smiled down at the serious filly. "Are you here for a new horror? We just got one. I was hoping you'd be by."

Morning hesitated as if tempted. "Mmm... I do want to see that, but I'm here for another reason. We've spoken with a vendor of balloons and carnival faire. They need a place to situate themselves." She pointed outside. "Just outside the library would be an ideal place, but I wanted to check with you before I suggested it."

The librarian frowned at the thought. "That would be a lot of mess on a lot of books. And who'd have to clean it all? Me. I'm not sure I like that idea."

While they chatted, Tom was watching the ponies. And he noticed a pattern. "Why... Why ponies only come there, and go there." He pointed to the two lines, coming and going.

The librarian smiled at the curious tsuki. "You're just as cute as they said you were. I thought ponies had that bottled up. Now, there are a lot of ponies that need to go in and out. So they keep to one side, so everypony has room."

Even as Tomtom let out an appreciative 'ah' of understanding, Morning jumped on it. "What if he placed himself at the exit, for those leaving the library? We can even place a warning sign that you can't bring any food into the library."

The librarian's expression eased. "Well, that sounds a lot less troublesome. If ponies want to get a little treat on their way home, I have nothing against that. Tell him he can set up his cart, but it has to be out of the way of the--"

"--traffic," cut in Tomtom, looking so proud to know the proper word. "Yes. Will tell."

"We will tell him," corrected Morning. "Thank you." She patted Tomtom on the way past. "Let's go. This is a good spot."

"Yes!" But he didn't go right way, gazing at the near infinite books instead. "So many... What for?" He could see some ponies picking them up, or putting them down. Some unfolded them. What mystery was happening?

Morning didn't notice right away, getting almost outside before the abscence of Tomtom hit her. "What?" She weaved around the crowd, fighting her way back to his side. "What are you doing?"

"What this?" He waved a handpaw at the many books and the ponies enjoying them.

"What is this," she corrected, moving past him. "This is a library. They store books, tomes, magazines, comics, and even newspapers here. Creatures come to read them. Some for entertainment, others for education."

Tomtom trailed after her. "Read?"

"Read." She willed a book off the shelf and it flew with a brief flash of shadowy magic, landing on her ready hoof. She turned and displayed it, unfolded to reveal all the letters within, and a picture of a bright ball of some unknown purpose. "Read."

"What...?" He leaned in to peer at the many squiggles and marks. "What mean?"

"Oh." It became clear to Morning what was going on. "Let's give the good news to our new associate, then we'll come back here. You should learn to read. Then you can use the magic of all these books." She willed the book she had back where it belonged and waved at the so many others. "That sounds... fun... doesn't it?"

"Yes," he joyfully agreed, clapping giddily. "Let's go." He grabbed her right off the ground and hurried outside, with her tucked under his arm like more of a carryon bag than a pony. He dropped her onto his back and was up in the air before even asking if she was ready, propelling them towards where they had left the cart and its salespony.

"Give a warning next time," she huffed, bonking the back of his head, not that it seemed to bother him too much.

The pony jumped when they landed in front of his cart. "Oh, welcome back!" He took quiet measure of the fact they didn't seem harmed. "Did you happen to find something?"

Morning pointed the way. "The library. They agreed to your presence near the exit line. You must post that food is not permitted in the library, but--"

"--good!" burst out Tomtom, interrupting. "Do that and good. Better." He waved at the empty alleyway. "Better."

The salespony nodded, already preparing to move his cart. "Thank you both. Oh, here." He got the balloon to Tomtom and wasn't stopped. "For helping me. You two have a good one."

Tomtom hugged his balloon with a big smile. "Now read." This left the poor pony confused as Tom bounced away to start a new adventure.

127 - A Real Date

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Cadance nudged her miniature forward, a pony with a sword held high. "I advance into the darkness."

"Bold," chuckled out Umbra, watching with rubbing hooves. "And what are you doing?"

"Keeping up with her, of course." Shining flicked his pony figure forward. "Can't have her getting hurt."

"So tender. You'll survive together, or die as one. Romantic..." Umbra leaned in over the play table. Her magic furled a d20, its meaning unspoken. "You descend down the hallway, the darkness pressing in from all sides." None of their characters were unicorns, so glowing wasn't an option. "But ahead, a dim light in the distance, maybe 40 feet ahead."

Cadance nudged her figure. "But we have our own light."

Umbra twitched an ear. "You do?" One was holding a sword, the other a shield. She didn't see any lights on them. "Care to share with me?"

Cadance giggled as she slid the mini further ahead. "But of course. We have... a date."

Umbra blinked, confusion growing rapidly. "Yes... This is one of those? How does that light things?"

Shining pushed his aside Cadance's. "Wrong kind of date. We found one where the two can become three."

"Two can become..." It clicked. "Oh!" She sat up sharply. "And you waited for just this moment to tell me? Both of you! I swear." She jumped across the gaming table, pouncing them both in a firm hug. Fortunately, ponies were far more impact resistant than humans had been, and it resulted in a lot of shared hugs.

Shining smirked as he sat back. "You don't want to know when it is?"

"Of course I do," grunted out Umbra as she sat up, half on the couple. "When when?"
The dark atmosphere that had been hovering in their play area was quickly replaced by a warm and inviting glow. Instead of darkness, she quickly grabbed a calendar to take over in its place. "Mark it."

Cadance's horn glowed as she drew a circle. "Now, you must realize, a royal wedding has... peculiarities and expectations. Those double outside of Canterlot, which we are not in. Celestia was good at dispelling much of the requirements. The crystal ponies will fully expect every step to be followed."

Umbra's thoughts slid. "How many other royal weddings have there been? Was Celestia hoping to get herself hooked up?"

Shining coughed into a hoof, the other hoof waving between Cadance and himself.

"Right! Here's one couple right here. Silly me... And you two had a normal wedding then?"

Cadance slid to her hooves. "To be completely honest, we don't know what you would call a 'normal' wedding. You are, loved or not, an alien. This is why the wedding isn't for some time yet, so we can go over what must be done, and avoided, and have a lovely time for all involved."

Shining clapped his hooves in an eager clopping noise. "And don't feel bad. Neither of us have been Crystal Empire married before either. It'll be fun for all of us!" He hopped up and struck a dynamic pose. "A learning experience for us all."

"Funny how that's going around." Umbra waved back at the playing table. "So... this is on pause then?"

Cadance quirked an ear flat. "We can continue, if you like, but I also figured you may wish to speak of other things first. I'm ready whichever you prefer."

"Unfair." Umbra let out waves of her shadow magic. "But yes... Now that you put it out there, how can I ignore it?" She swept everything away with an arm and her magic, sending things to rest back on their proper shelves. "Let me start with the biggest point I know, will we have husbands and wives?"

Cadance pointed to Umbra. "Wife." She pointed to herself. "Wife." She pointed last to Shining. "Husband. Seems clear enough. Two princesses, one prince-consort." She turned to Shining with a grin. "We could look into getting you wings properly."

Shining scurried back a few paces. "Woah, hold on there."

"I read a story once... About our esteemed 'jerk', as Umbra put it." She stepped towards Shining with purposeful slowness, eyes locked. "They say, once, he was an alicorn too. He lost them, the wings. One can easily imagine why that might have happened... Just a myth, but... Perhaps a stallion alicorn is possible, if less likely."

Shining waved it right off. "My sister's already one. Two royalty in one family? What are we, Celestia and Luna?" He chuckled at the thought. "I'm happy as I am. Um... Besides, I haven't done anything that grand. You saved an entire town before you made the jump, didn't you?"

"And maybe more," sighed out Cadance, thinking back on it. "Prismia was quite the threat... Fortunately, we took care of that."

"By we, you mean you." Shining poked her in the center of her chest. "You take care of a tremendous threat, as a filly. No wonder they gave you the promotion." He waved over himself. "I don't have that on my resume."

Umbra snorted, drawing the attention with the noise. "You stood up to the umbrum."

"You did that," countered Shining. "You two keep blaming me for the things you did."

"You helped!" Umbra stomped a hoof down, glaring at Shining. "Team effort. You also helped pop the jerk in the face."

"And he's still here... a threat..." Shining went towards a window, peering through to the city outside. "We're going to have to fight him, again."

Umbra hurried to his side. "Then, the way I see it, that'll be your chance. Pop him one, in the nose. Make it stick this time. Or talk him out of being a jerk. Either way works for me. That'll be your Big Thing." She spread her wings wide. "Having wings is fun! I'll help you."

"We will help you," corrected Cadance as she assumed the other side of Shining. "I have them too, to remind." She fidgeted her wings on her back. "I would... like that very much, if you're up for it."

Shining rubbed at his cheek, looking a bit unsure. "Well... Why are you so interested? I'm fine the way I am, aren't I?"

"Of course you are." Cadance pressed her round equine cheek to Shining's. "And I want to keep you, forever, if I can."

Shining recoiled from the two of them. "What do you mean by that?"

Cadance adopted a flat look. "We've talked about this before. We can't be sure created alicorns are unaging, or not. I aged to adulthood." She walked past Shining. "But will I age past adulthood? Will Twilight? We may... We may not..." She turned a hoof on Umbra. "Will she? Do umbrum even do that? Going to guess neither of you know."

Neither did, and shook their heads in agreement with that ignorance. "Precisely," continued Cadance, pacing the room slowly. "We are three different species, lovely species, but different. Who will outlive who, and when? None of us know... Two of us are princesses. If princesshood gives unaging as a quality, then that's two of us covered, and one... not."

Umbra raised a hoof in question. "But what if princess doesn't, but umbrum does?"

"We're out of luck?" She shrugged at the idea. "But that was a luck we ran out of the moment we were born. I can't really bemoan that. But if it's the princess thing, and we just... sit on it until it's late, well... then I'll feel pretty bad about it. What kind of wife am I, to let her husband suffer instead of doing something? For that matter, if it is the umbrum thing, and you figure that out, you'd do what you could, I hope?"

"Of course!" Umbra fluffed up at the casual implication. "But I'm not sure either of you would want to join the Shadowhearts that literally. Do you?"

Shining chuckled, musing the possibilities ahead of him. "That would be an interesting option... But, for the sake of our ponies, let's put that in the back." He went to Cadance's side, stopping her pacing by tossing an arm over her and hugging her close. "I'm in it for the long haul, hon."

"Does... that mean you want to try, or no?" She flashed a half-smirk. "I could take that either way."

Shining clopped a hoof down. "I have to put a hoof down, and I think here's a fine place. I won't be a mom and also a prince. That sounds like a good way to end up a princess, and us being a trio of princesses wasn't the idea, and not what I want. I like being a stallion, thank you."

Cadance smooched him on the nose, nuzzling gently afterwards. "I can live with that... Let Flurry be the child we had, together... Though we could... maybe... another later? That's another conversation for another day."

Umbra burst into laughter. "Cadance! You're insatiable. Finish your job with me before you start thinking about that. I swear..." She circled around Cadance and Shining. "We have a wedding to plan."

"I have a wedding to plan." Swinging in through the window Cadance had been peeking through, Pinkie landed in front of them with a grin. "With a little help." She pointed to the normal door leading out, which swung inwards to reveal Cheese Sandwich. "We're going to make this the best..." She trailed off, spotting the calender. "Is that what I think it is?"

"Mmm." Cheese went up to it with a magnifying glass, looking it over critically. "This has all the marks of an important day."

"The important day?" Pinkie fluttered her lashes at the trio.

Shining laughed at the two party planners. "Good timing. Actually, since you're here, you can help." They both beamed, so ready. "Umbra here has no idea how pony weddings work, let alone a Crystal Empire royal wedding. Are you up to bringing her up to speed?"

Cheese waved a hoof excitedly. "I'm all over it. Pinkie, you get the other two."

Pinkie saluted sharply with a giggle. "You got it! Let's make this party the best." They met, both forehooves clopping together in unity on the idea of a perfect wedding party.

Umbra set down any thought of resuming the game as Cheese approached. "Heya." She looked over the curious earth pony. "So, friend of Pinkie's?"

"We're peers in the party space." He tossed his wide-brimmed hat aside. "Come together to make this one even better! Now, when they say you aren't experienced, do they mean you've never been married before? That's standard... You've at least seen one or two before, right?"

"Nope." Umbra hadn't even been a brony. "Not a single pony wedding. How do ponies tie the knot around here?"

"Well! I'm so glad you asked." He took a deep breath and launched into a musical number, explaining the many different kinds of weddings that existed throughout Equestria, present and past and, somehow, a vision of a future wedding with its alien trappings. "But today!" he sang, the number not over. "We're doing a royal crystal wedding!" He deposited Umbra in the throne room. Nopony was there but a few guards, just as surprised that Cheese and Umbra appeared so suddenly.

Umbra shook herself out, recovering from the bout of heartsong that she had taken part in, without her consent. Still, at least it was largely harmless. Ponies... Did umbrum have heartsongs? "I see... Looks mostly normal." Aside of a lack of extremely specific theist calls. Celestia was the most likely replacement if one needed one. "So tell me how a crystal wedding goes."

"Crystal royal wedding." Cheese pointed at Umbra. "You're a princess, and so's one of the others, so royal. Royal weddings are not the same. The heart will be involved. You know about the crystal heart, right? Big deal around here, I hear."

"Very big deal." The thing that had tied her to the others came clearly to mind. "To the town, and me. It might be why this is happening."

128 - Ceremonial Headdress

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It had been quite a while since Umbra had sat in that manner since they had transported her to the vibrant and cheery country of ponies. They perched her more as a two-legged creature with her legs dangling and her back resting against the comfortable chair behind her. The gem stallion had his hooves deep in her mane and was producing a great deal of tinkling and shaking. "What is even going on up there?"

"I'm not the expert," admitted the stallion. "But this is just a trial run, and the more practice I get, the closer I get to doing it. You get to learn what it's like, and how long it takes." He resumed working busily in Umbra's mane. "You will look fantastic! The royal headdress is a sight to see! A living symbol of the royal's sway over the crystal empire itself." He sighed with fond memories of it even as he worked to bring it into life. "Unfortunately, it isn't a quick thing. Even our most trained ponies can't do it quickly, just dazzlingly."

"Uh huh..." Umbra raised her eyes and felt silly. Like most salons, there were mirrors, a lot of them. An entire wall of them, meaning she just has to look into it to see all the jewels being woven into her mane. "Woah..." She wasn't just wearing jewelry, she was basically becoming the jewel, with each one woven in one at a time into her mane under the busy work of that stallion. "That looks... like a lot of work."

"It is." With a bustle, he got the next gem into place and wove it carefully. "Worth it, for our special ponies to look right. Especially... compared to our last... leader... That..."

"Jerk?"

"Good word for it. That jerk didn't even know romance." He moved to get a jewel in from a new angle. "I thought I'd never get to help a royal wedding happen... And with two princesses! What luck! And not even just royal princesses, but proper alicorns on top of that. My mind feels like a storm." Which was reason enough for him to hasten his efforts. "This time won't count. You're not being married today, of course... But we both need the practice, ma'am."

"Right..." She reached up to one of the lower baubles in reach, tapping it. "But my part is mostly just... sitting here."

"And being still." He went right on to the next one. "And, I think you'll already say that this is a skill, and not one a pony is born with, ma'am. If you'd like something to read, I'll call somepony over to fetch something for you."

That was a chastisement, and Umbra got it with a sigh. "Right right... Hm... Send them over, please." She could get a magazine at least, to pass the time with.

"I have a few questions." Pinkie pronked around Umbra with unlimited energy. "Just a few, promise."

"Don't make promises you can't keep." Umbra smiled at Pinkie's antics, more amused than irritated at the pink earth pony. "What's the first one?"

"Okay!" She landed next to Umbra. "I heard you weren't always a pony, which is kinda cool... What were you?"

Umbra angled an ear. "I didn't... expect that to be the question. Will that help you plan the wedding?"

"Duh! I want it to be great for all of you." She giggled and pranced in place, even as she walked. "Which means I'd love to get something from your home if I can. So, tell me about it!"

Umbra thought back there, to her past life. "It had its ups and its downs... I miss some of it, but I like this world a lot." She was thinking it through even as she said it. "When you take 'the big things' into view, it's hardly a contest. I'm allowed to be me here."

"Allowed to be me." Pinkie wrote this down with a pencil held in her mane on a notepad she hadn't been wielding a moment before. "Got it. So what's 'me' and why couldn't you be that before?"

"I'm a lady." Umbra shook herself out. "But they didn't agree, and were really grumpy about it."

"The worst." Pinkie made a new note diligently. "So, girly stuff, you got it! But what speaks of home, besides girly stuff, or just girly stuff? Nothing wrong with girly stuff. I'm not a super girly girl myself, but I have my moments." She giggled, thinking back on her past and her girlier moments. "I don't think anypony is all girl or all guy all the time, except maybe Rarity? But even she's had a time or two..."

Umbra had met the fancy mare before. "She is pretty girly... Girlier than me," admitted Umbra, thinking on it. "But I did spend like almost all day the other day just having my mane done."

"Wow, you're in the running," barely got out Pinkie between the giggles. "Seriously though, she does that for fun. You aren't outgirling Rarity. It's her thing." She hopped over Umbra to the other side. "Back to home! Tell me some good parts about it."

"We had a lot of... gadgets. I'm not even sure if ponies have those." She struggled to describe it, but realized she had magic. She fashioned a cellphone with her shadow magic, twirling it in the air as it went from app to app, showing off its powers, ending with a Youtube™️ video playing showing a pony bonking another pony with a cheap laugh track playing behind it. "We had a gizmo for almost every use. Cooking, cleaning, being bored, trying to relax." She shaped an air fryer and a portable dishwasher. She showed a human playing a video-game intentently and another laying on a bed with a music playing nearby from another phone.

Pinkie clapped wildly at the whole thing. "Neatarooni! We have some of those, but not all of those. You're like.... at least a generation ahead of us." She rubbed her chin with her eyes cast forward past the normal line of things. "Yep, a generation. I can't make all of that... But I can get the best gizmos ponies got! Cadance gave me a budget." She leaned in, brows wagging with meaning. "And I can use it."

Umbra threw one arm around Pinkie, squeezing her. "You are a lovely pony, just so you know."

"Aw! I do my best." She bounced within the grip of Umbra, as if that arm couldn't entirely still her. "Okay! Gizmos. Anything else, or will girly gizmos be enough?"

"That's already more than I planned for..." Umbra clucked her tongue against her teeth. "Nothing else immediately comes to mind. I'm here, in the pony world, and I plan to do things the pony way. I'm still learning how to do my part in this wedding. Speaking of that, where's--" Oh, there he was, Cheese right in front of them, smiling widely. "--crazy timing." She released Pinkie. "Time for more lessons?"

"You know it!" He nodded to Pinkie. "I got it from here. Good luck with the shopping."

"All over it!" Pinkie bounced away to get started on her supply gathering.

Umbra flopped against her bed. "Today was... very busy."

"Would you like a snack, ma'am?" Her maid stood stoically, ready to serve. "You look fatigued."

"Very." Umbra rolled onto her side. "I think I want a fizzy drink."

"Right away, ma'am." She trotted out and returned at the same light jog to bring the bubbling bottle to Umbra's reach. "Still preparing for the wedding, ma'am?"

"That reminds me." Umbra took the bottle in her magic and her hooves, capturing it between both hooves. "When the wedding's done, you'll be mine too, right?"

"That is correct, ma'am." She smiled, a mild gesture. "I already know we get along, ma'am. There should be little day to day change." But, like that, she was reminded of things. "Unless you move in with Shining Armor and Cadance. In that case, I am likely to be reassigned. They have enough personal waitstaff to see to your needs, ma'am. I would be extra."

Umbra sipped at the fizzing soda, enjoying the tingling sting of the sweet beverage. "But I like you." She thought over things. "But it'd... be a little odd to be married and living in seperate rooms. Hm." Umbra tapped at her soft bedding. "Mmm... Well, let's start here; do you like working for me?"

"You are a most agreeable assignment, ma'am." She dipped her head low. "But I suppose that's not fair. If I could even consider saying otherwise, I'd be a low quality maid."

"True..." It was her job to be pleasant. "Still... you're not being fired from the castle either way. We're just discussing assignments inside the castle." She waved a hoof at the wide castle before returning to cradle her bottle. "So where do you want to work, in the castle?"

"The palace is a large place." Purple leaned forward. "But, where one to ask me..." Which one had done. "I enjoy working for the Shadowheart family. Forgive me, ma'am, but watching your... endeavors has..." She struggled for words. "I am being improper."

"Go on," Umbra noisily drew a good bit of her drink. "Mmm, you have good taste... Go on, really."

"You allow for too much, ma'am." Purple sat down slowly. "Ma'am... You have become something... of a serial novel for me. Watching your life unfold as a passive audience? It is captivating for me. I want to see where it leads. I am rooting for you, ma'am. I hope this hasn't insulted you."

Umbra inclined her head. "I'm... learning a lot recently... What is it you're wishing me hope against?"

"There are many, ma'am. I wish you hope with the tsuki. I wish you hope with your adopted daughter." She tapped with each thing as she went over them. "I wish you hope against the dread lord, Sombra--"

"--Jerk."

"--That one, ma'am. I wish you luck in your marriage, that you all have a wonderful and enduring connection. I have spoken enough... I hope that answers it all?"

"I have a fan... And one that doesn't gush about me on sight." Umbra floated the emptied bottle down. "Yep, I like you. I'll talk to Cadance. She probably hasn't developed a parasocial attachment to all her maids and butlers. She can send one of them off to somewhere in the castle."

"Parasubtle?" Purple Polish inclined her head. "What is that?"

"Fancy term from where I come from." Umbra frowned with thought. "Not even appropriate. You know people who see something in the newspaper or play and they act like they're a friend, but they're not? That person never met, and wouldn't even know who they were."

"Ah, yes... That can happen." Purple waved at Umbra. "But I do know you, ma'am. You know me. We have a connection aside of my admiration."

"Exactly why I changed my mind." She flopped on the bed. "Still, tired... I'll talk with Cadie and Shinie tomorrow." She rolled over onto her side and pulled up the blanket with her magic. "Thanks for being great."

Purple didn't reply, instead just being quiet until she was sure Umbra had faded away to sleep. She approached on quiet hooves, taking the discarded bottle in her mouth and walking from the room. She dropped it in the trash and clapped her hooves, pleased with her work. "She's far too distracted..."

Umbra had so much on her plate. Being another on that crowded list of things to do felt wrong, so Purple went to handle that herself. She went to the courtroom, but it was largely empty. Cadance had retired for the day, much as Umbra had done. "Hm." So Purple got a paper and a quill and wrote a letter instead. She informed Shining Armor of Umbra's wishes. "But we don't mean to impose. If this would be burdensome, I stand ready to serve wherever you wish me to be." She stamped a hoof and her mark on the paper and folded it neatly.

"This will have to do." She dropped it in a mailbox for Shining the following day.

129 - Correspondence

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Umbra drew the letter close and sniffed. It wasn't that she made it a habit of sniffing every letter, but that one had a scent she could smell right away. It was a sweet aroma, a girly aroma. "Who would..." She flipped the letter over, revealing a mark. It was Starlight Glimmer's cutie mark. "Oh... Oh no..."

She usually kept her cool in dangerous situations, but at that moment, her heart raced with panic. She ran off with the letter, the paper billowing in the breeze as if it was chasing her. Umbra could hear the clink of cutlery and the sound of laughter as she approached Shining Armor and Cadance's breakfast.

Shining cocked a brow, spotting the distressed pony joining them. "Something wrong, Umbri?"

Umbra slapped down the letter. "After all that, and all the promises I made, I never sat her down and explained it. She probably thinks I'm a friend, with benefits, and this is probably a super friendly letter. And she isn't even doing anything wrong! She did nothing wrong! I did it wrong and now it's exploding, again!" The words spilled from her with barely any pauses, her breath uneven and catching.

Cadance made the slow motion of even breath, hoof to chest and away. "Calm down... Has anything actually happened?"

"Huh? No." Umbra hopped back from the letter as if it may explode at any moment. "I swear! She just sent me a letter... And probably wants me to visit, and do some magic battling, and then probably get hot and heavy..."

Shining coughed into a hoof, colored at the thought. "I see... Well, um, time to tell her what the deal is then?"

Cadance nodded. "Exactly. Starlight is a reasonable pony. You can write, exactly if you want, I'm getting married! You can invite her, which she may accept or not. Then if she wants to duel, without the extra parts, you can do that, guilt free."

Umbra crashed to her haunches bonelessly. "Oh... yeah. Wow... Adulting failure." She laughed a little hysterically, calming herself bit by bit. "I just have to tell the truth. No drama here..." She reached for the paper with her magic. "I didn't even read it yet... Maybe it's not even so bad."

She flipped the letter over to read properly, eyes sweeping left and right as she went, her tail still behind her.

Hiya,
It's been so long! Twilight duels are great and all, but you really take it to the next level. I want to have magical competitions with a pony that knows the meaning of a real battle, and you got that spark. Ahem, I wouldn't say no to one of us being the pony in charge afterwards either. Double fun, if you ask me.
I should warn, that will be me. I won't lose! But I look forward to seeing your best attempt.
Friendship may be magic, but passion is sorcery,
Starlight Glimmer

"Nope." Umbra set the letter down in her magic. "It was exactly what I thought it'd be. I feel awful... She did nothing wrong, and now I have to shoot her down."

Shining casually took the letter, abandoned as it had been. "It can't be..." He actually read the words. "Oh. So... This is what got you and--"

Cadance slapped him from across the table. "Shining! Rubbing salt in the wound isn't the goal. I say you tell the truth. She won't like it... But she may look forward to taking it out on the battlefield, and you two can be wizard peers, minus all the... extra."

"Yeah..." Umbra's magic won over the letter as she tucked it away. "I'll write her back. Just to be super clear, we're a thing now. 100% No others are allowed in."

Cadance patted Umbra far more gently than her swat had been. "Glad to hear it. I didn't doubt you. Now, go on. Let her down gently. This doesn't have to be an end of a friendship, just... a romance."

Shining rubbed the warm spot where he had been hit. "Easy there... But yeah. Just tell the truth. For what it helps, we're not mad about this. You didn't do, um, anything new. So write."

"Write..." Umbra clucked her tongue softly. "Just a few letters." She rose to her hooves. "Right. Sorry to interrupt breakfast." She set off without further delay.

Cadance sipped from her cup of coffee. "She may need our help."

"We're here for her." He sipped from his own. "But let's trust her to decide when that is."

The two were in agreement, tapping their cups together.

"Oh." Starlight let the letter fall from her magic with a frowning pout. "Shoot..."

"What is it?" Spike peeked in at her from the hallway. "Bad mail?"

"You could say that." She turned away from it, towards Spike. "Somepony I thought... I was getting ahead of myself." She coughed into a hoof. "She still wants to practice magic! That's good...." She tapped her hooves fitfully. "I was being dumb."

Spike knew that feeling, and those mannerisms. "Oh, ow, sorry." He scampered into her room and hopped up to give her a big hug around her neck. "It'll be alright."

Starlight curled one arm around him, holding him close. "Thanks..." She wiped a few tears away with her other arm. "So... When are you going to talk to Rarity?"

Spike fell to the ground stiffly. "Mean! Um... We're working on it." He fiddled his fingers fitfully. "Um... so... who was the other pony? They have to be special if they got your attention."

"Yeah..." Starlight threw a hoof. "Yeah... A wizard, like me and Twilight. But she loves some battle magic, more like me, less like Twilight. Um, no offense to her. She's been a great teacher, and a sparring partner..."

"But she isn't big on fighting, right." Spike put that together, nodding. "Also, she isn't super romantic."

"No..." Starlight leaned in. "This is between you and me, but part of me wonders if that isn't part of why Celestia picked her. A proper pony princess of Equestria can't be distracted by another pony catching their eye."

Spike raised a claw dubiously. "What about Cadance?"

"What about her?" Starlight let out her breath. "Sorry! Sorry... Not her fault... Either way, she's not a princess of Equestria, just the crystal empire. Different rules. Also, tinfoil hat time, but she had her +1 nice and early, making her getting distracted with somepony new kind of unlikely."

"Tricky." Spike wagged a finger at Starlight. "Well, um, sorry. That stinks..." He fidgeted in place. "I know what it's like, when... that kinda thing doesn't go your way..."

"You are too nice." She hugged him once more and pushed him away just as quickly. "I have to sort myself out. Just a grown pony with a grown pony problem." She hiked a brow. "Unless you know way more magic than I've been told. In which case, me, you, duel, now. You're going down."

Spike squeaked, holding up his hands as he backpedeled. "Woah! No, sorry! No magic here, other than, uh, dragon stuff?"

"Dragon stuff, right." And yet, she appeared to be considering that. "Could be fun, but limited..." She shrugged with a quirk of a smile. "If you ever want to try that, lemme know."

"You'll be the first to know." He fled before he could get voluntold into that duty.

Starlight turned back to that abandoned letter. "Not fair..." She brushed the letter aside. "All the ponies I like are taken or unhinged. Sometimes both. Ugh... And she invited me... Ugh!"

"Those aren't happy sounds." Twilight, the other half of that coin. "Everything alright?"

"No!" Starlight shoved the letter the rest of the way to the trash. "A pony I like liked went and got married, and not to me.. so..." She flopped to her haunches. "I'm having a friendship failure right now."

"Ow..." But she did come closer. "Sorry to hear that. Is..." She abandoned that thought with awkward hoof motions. "Can I help?"

"Yes." Starlight captured Twilight's round cheeks and mooshed them together. "You can let me abuse you a moment, or you can fight me. Either will make me feel better."

Twilight burst with magic, forcing Starlight's hooves away. "Calm down. Hurting other ponies isn't--" She jumped back, avoiding a force blast. "You're not listening..."

It was a fine time for a duel, and Starlight was getting one, whether Twilight wanted one or not.

"I think you have it." Cheese tipped his wide-brimmed hat at Umbra. "All the steps to make the crystal ponies proud and to have a fantastic special day for yourself." He cocked his head. "What's that?" There were no sounds. "Boneless says to remember one important thing."

Umbra peered at the rubber chicken that had not said anything. "What does Boneless say?"

"He says the whole crystal thing is for show." He leaned in dangerously close. "The real deal is between you and the others. That's where the love really is." He clapped with a big smile. "So don't get distracted. You're just showing off for the Crystal Empire."

"That... is encouraging, actually." She nodded at the chipper earth pony and his friend. "Boneless is a wise chicken."

"The wisest I know. Now, I should get back to wedding planning. Pinkie said the others were ready, so we just have to work our magic." He threw sparkles in the air and was gone by the time they had settled.

Umbra shook her head at where Cheese had been. "If only human wedding planners were more like that..." She went off in search of family, not the ones she was gaining. "There you are." She found Morning and Tomtom drawing on the ground of her bedroom. "You two are beyond adorable. What are you drawing?"

Tomtom proudly held up his parchment. "Drawing city, high. Look down. I..." He slowed, trying to speak properly. "I want to... draw what Morning doesn't... see."

Umbra quirked an ear at that. "How thoughtful... You can see what she doesn't?"

Morning huffed at that. "He has exceptional distance vision, mother. Umbrum have little need for that." She sat up, her paper floating along with her magic, no horn required. "I am drawing the family crest."

Umbra clapped at the reasonable copy of that solid crest. "Very nice. I'm proud of both of you. You see different things, but that doesn't make either vision less important, or impressive." She thought back to what she had read long ago. How to encourage children to keep drawing... "What's your favorite part?"

Morning tapped at the bulbous bits of the crest. "I enjoy the flowing parts, mother."

"It looks like a jewel." Tomtom bounced in place, joyful in his drawing. "See?" He held it up to make that more clear.

"Very jewel like..." She looked to the crest. "And I do like that part too... What does it make you think of?"

Morning huffed gently. "Our family is complex, but it comes together, mother. It is that conflicting unity that gives us strength." She nodded at Tomtom's drawing. "His is bright and colorful... It's strange, seeing what I saw... more detailed... A kind of magic."

Tomtom couldn't look much happier if he tried, and he was trying so very hard. "You like it?! I drew it for you." He presented the paper towards her to claim. "I like yours. Good shadow. It makes me think of the good shadow. Scary, but the scary that... is good. Good scary."

Umbra was less jubilantly pleased, but it felt like she had said the right things, getting the two to discuss their drawings, but not in a 'this is good' or 'this is bad' sort of way, at least as a focus. "Tom." He looked to her. "I like that you're showing a different perspective. Showing what you see... hear... The way you experience the world? That's a big part of art."

She could see Morning ready to launch a defensive volley. "You're doing it too, more subtly. I don't think most ponies would pay that much attention to the fine work. You're leaning in." She pointed to Tom. "You're leaning back. Share your experience, as you're doing. I couldn't be prouder."

They began to debate the merits of closer vs further, but they were both invested in the creation, and Umbra felt sure she had succeeded at that parental challenge.

130 - The Big Day

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The two princesses waved in a stately slow wave as they were pulled along in a great cart, their manes glittering as much as the decorated chariot they were on top of. The crowd of ponies, many crystal, some not, cheered wildly as they went past. Shining Armor wasn't there. It was traditional there that the royal members of the ceremony would come first, held high for all to see and celebrate.

It was also a time to be examined. Their headdresses sent light scattering, each a perfect example of the traditional weaving that left their manes a work of art. The sun seemed to be on their side that day, shining at just the right angles to cast them in dazzling rays on all the ponies that had come to see it. Umbra owed Anik some extra thank yous for his effort.

She spotted a pony in the crowd. It was quite a crowd, but this pony she spotted was a unique specimen. How many other crystal bat ponies were there? Just one... so far she knew. They were watching and waving back at her. They were smiling, good. Good! Umbra tried to send a wave specifically towards her, but she couldn't focus on any one person. They were there for the entire crowd.

When they arrived at the palace, they waited for guards to come and offer hooves for them to step down, using upturned hooves as platforms, not to the ground, but to walk across an entire field of ready guards to reach the steps leading up into the palace. It was a show of successs and power in a way. To have enough guards and for them to be loyal and ready enough to pull off the stunt was a mark of successful statecraft. That there were two of them doing it at once had the crowd reaching a new level of revelry. Truly the crystal empire was doing well.

With a series of thumps, new arrivals came. Tsuki landed on either side of the cart, watching the curious ceremony with eagerly clapping hands. They didn't know the why of it at all, but it was a spectacle, and they were on board for it. All they knew was that the day was special, and special things would happen. And there it was.

"The kind shadow," one of them shouted.

"Protecting shadow," another one joined, prompting so many other variations of titles, which spread to the crystal ponies to shout their many given titles for Umbra. Brave, glorious, steadfast.

"Sorry," Umbra whispered to Cadance as they arrived at the steps. "Not trying to steal the spotlight."

"You soak it up, hero, and you wave at them." Cadance dipped her head at the audience. "See you all inside." And she left, not a bit ruffled. With their ascension up the steps, the guards began letting people in at a slow trickle, avoiding any sudden stampedes.

There was Shining Armor, dressed properly for a Prince Consort. He dipped his crown of crystals, a single solid piece rather than the intricate mesh of his wives-to-be. He had arrived first, but would be the last to be seen by the crowd. That was how it was done. "Good to see you both," he got out quickly. There would be little time for exchanging pleasantries as ponies and tsuki filled the throne room and lobby with eager eyes.

A Royal Crystal Wedding came in parts. An old crystal pony half-sang, half-droned out the history of the event, speaking of the first such wedding, and the ones that followed. "The political needs have come first for the rulers of the crystal empire, though love always found a home in their hearts. Still, those needs have created strange bedfellows." She went over the many strange families that have resulted besides the usual one stallion and one mare. Two of the same gender? Three or more? Sometimes not even a pony. "But love. Love always finds a home, and the heart binds them together."

Carried along carefully between two guards, they brought the crystal heart to the center of things. "The heart binds them together," repeated the guards, loud enough for the crowd to hear as they backed away, leaving it hovering there in readiness.

Shining Armor bowed to the heart, as did most of the others, even if it took the tsukis a moment to realize what was going on. Umbra and Cadance stepped forward instead, eyes on the heart until they were almost touching it, then they bowed as the others. The heart swirled and scintillated with new colors, revealing fine threads that wove from pony to pony and tsuki to tsuki. It was a single moment where all could see as Cadance saw, the connections of all bared and exposed. It was, perhaps, for the best that none save Cadance had learned what the colors and textures of those threads actually meant.

Or even what the threads were, ultimately.

But the ones that bound Shining, Cadance, and Umbra were impossible to miss. They were bright crystal tunnels that reflected the light of the heart perfectly, drawing eyes along with surprised gasps. More and more were looking up at them, amazed and bewildered at what they were seeing. Was the heart connecting them?

They didn't know that work had been done long before, and it faded, leaving them without the sight of the connections.

A mare with an exceptionally enormous hat approached. "Royal family; we would be doing a disservice not to introduce your kin and blood, for they will be part of this union." She said it like it was some kind of new, spontaneous, idea. They had gone over it several times. "Will the Shadowhearts step forward?"

Anik and Morning emerged from the crowd as if they'd just been a part of it, rather than picking their spot quite purposefully. Morning turned to face most of them. "I am Morning Dew of the Shadowhearts, daughter by adoption of Umbra Shadowheart. I will do my best to protect these lands, as my mother before me." She bowed to the crowd as they clapped, clopped, and stomped.

Anik stood tall, even if he muttered to himself, 'just trees, just trees...' He was not used to such crowds of living, thinking, people. Just trees... "I am Anik Shadowheart. I came from a dark place to bring light to the nation. Child by adoption to Umbra Shadowheart." He took a breath and let it out with a soft washing of light, flowing from himself in all directions. That it caught the crystal heart and made it sparkle was planned and distracting, allowing him and Morning to back out of the way.

With a glowing horn, Cadance pulled a stroller across the smooth floor to her side. "She is still young to introduce herself." She drew out the little filly inside. "But most of you have met her before." Collective awws sounded as they showed Flurry Heart to them. "Flurry Heart, child of mine and Shining Armor." Shining Armor stood beside her, the two sharing the pride of their precious child. "We will raise her with love." They would speak no vows on her behalf. When she grew up enough to understand the concept, she could make her own vows.

She did not put the filly back in the stroller, instead holding Flurry out, feigning spontaneity.

Anik hurried up and accepted the filly, hugging them close and retreating with them. A symbol, that the two families welcomed one another with open arms and kindness.

A guard quietly rolled the stroller away, for it to make the circuit towards Anik eventually.

"Hold on!" A stallion and a mare pushed through the crowd. "We're so sorry to be late, but..."

There was one more family, who hadn't been trained properly. All three of the to-be-weds cringed as Shining's parents hurried into view. Cadance recovered her stately smile first. "Always a delight to see you two." She waved them forward, but kept talking. "Twilight Velvet and Night Light, parents of Shining Armor." She gestured with her wings at each pony referenced. She was taking care of their words, silently hoping they'd just accept that.

Night Light nodded at the crowd, not properly bowing low. "Howdy!"

Velvet was grinning at the whole thing, clearly enraptured. "I never thought I'd get three weddings... out of two foals!"

"This way." Shining gently nudged them along with a chuckle, getting them out of the center in as smooth a hurry as he could.

Cadance spotted a third pony that had come with them, but hadn't barged out into things. "And..." She waved for that one to emerge.

Twilight Sparkle moved with proper formality, nodding as she went, but she turned to the crowd as a whole. "I am Princess Twilight Sparkle, sister of Shining Armor." She bowed before them. "As your princess, I am already beholden to make this nation, the crystal empire and greater Equestria, a better place." They had not instructed her, but they also didn't need to. One could be sure she read up more than she had to. "May they reign for as long as the heart glimmers." That hadn't happened so far... But one could hope. The crowd erupted into fresh cheers as she removed herself quietly to the edge of the circle.

She put herself by Anik, Flurry, and Morning, sitting with them with a gentle smile. They hadn't planned with her, but Cadance's expression relaxed at that subtle hint of the strength of their bonds. All of their families were getting along, where ponies could see it.

"It is time," declared the big-hatted pony. "Place your love in the heart, and the heart will shine with their love, binding them."

Crystal ponies ducked quickly, formally, channeling their love towards it. The tsuki were slower on the uptake, having never witnesses it before. Still, they joined, trying their best to think of nice things at the heart. The heart pulsed and turned in place with the power invested in it, the threads between Shining, Cadance, and Umbra flaring into visibility, just to curl around their necks, falling in the transfigured form of a glittering necklace around each of them.

The big-hatted pony nodded with satisfaction. "The heart has spoken, and welcomes the union. Welcome our rulers and caretakers." Hooves and paws slapped together eagerly as the three smiled brightly at the crowd cheering them on.

With a sudden explosion, a party cannon went off. Pinkie was rapidly setting up refreshments and games for everycreature to enjoy, with Cheese doing his part to get it done quickly. With the stuffy parts complete, there was a party to be had, and both were ready to see that happened.

Cadance let out her held breath, chuckling with the release of the tension. "We did it..."

Shining threw an arm over each mare he was then married to. "We did it."

"We did!" Umbra curled a wing on either of them, hugging firmly. "I am so happy right now. Um... if I do something wrong, tell me."

Cadance gently hoofed at the new necklace dangling from her. "I can think of one thing you can do, Miss Enchanter, Wizard of many things."

"What's that?" asked Twilight, closing with them. "If you need a wizard, I'm right here."

Cadance went for a gentle nuzzle with Twilight. The two perked, and the song began. The ladybugs were awake. They giggled in their shared inside joke. "You are a very talented wizard, there can be no doubt... But I don't think we want to take these off... Umbra, can you examine them? Perhaps figure out what they are?"

"On the case." Umbra lifted the far end of it with her magic to have a peek at it. "After the party." She let it drop back against her chest. "Pretty sure they'll riot if we spend it just whispering and hiding."

Shining nudged both his wives forward. "Then let's greet them!"

Twilight jumped. Something had poked her. Looking over, she saw Morning. "Yes?"

"You are now my aunt-in-law." Morning inclined her head. "Nice to meet you."

"I'll just call you a niece. The in-law part isn't really required." She ruffled the top of Morning's head, even if the filly wasn't looking especially cuddly. "Nice to meet you."

131 - So... Nice Party

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Umbra shook hooves with ponies that came and went. It was less of a 'party' and more of a 'function', if one thought about it. Sure, there were streamers and tasty snacks, but Umbra was on-duty, greeting all of the crystal ponies that had one more reason to hero worship her. "Don't let that get to your head," she reminded herself. She was still Umbra. Umbra was still a creature, like any of them. Umbra made mistakes.

"Hey."

There was one right then. Wait, no, that was mean. Umbra smiled at the unicorn that had emerged from the crowd. "Starlight! It's so good to see you."

"Yeah..." Starlight rubbed one leg with the other hoof, awkwardly shuffling. "That was... a nice wedding. So... That knot is tied, huh?"

"Tied." Umbra nodded, a shallow motion. "But that isn't to keep you out... Or to say... you did anything wrong. That... Hm." She frowned. "I'm being awkward, sorry. Our time together? It was great, but I was being a huge asshole in having it. I didn't deserve it, and you never deserved to be played like that... I don't... deserve it, but I don't want to push you away. I'd love a wizard friend."

Starlight thumped Umbra, punching her in the chest, then the shoulder. She was looking ready to begin beating the new royal princess, to the point that the guards were starting to move towards them. "Jerk..."

Umbra flinched with a step back. "I deserve that."

"And more." Starlight took a slow breath. "Prepare to have it delivered. Tomorrow, morning, you, me." She pointed towards the grand arena. "You're going down."

"I will take what you have to offer." Her eyes flashed with dread shadow magic. "But don't expect me to stand meekly by."

Starlight barked out a laugh. "Good! As fun as beating you silly would be, a proper fight is closer to what I want." Her eyes dropped to Umbra's new dangling necklace. "Twilight mentioned that. You want a second pair of eyes? Maybe after our spar?"

They met with hoof to hoof, promising without further words that neither was banishing the other from their lives. Umbra smiled, feeling like a weight had been taken from her. "Hey." Starlight perked. "Are any of the others here?"

"They wanted to be, really... But only Twi's parents, me, and Spike."

"Hey." Spike popped free of the crowd to join them. "Are you talking about me?"

"A little." Umbra grabbed the dragon in her magic. "It's hard not to talk about the cute dragon friend we have."

Spike snickered, almost a giggle. "Hey... I'm a fierce dragon..."

"Fierce, cute..." Umbra shrugged. "When you're a nightmare princess, things can be both of those at the same time, and I'm alright with that."

Morning peered up at Spike. "Hm."

Umbra set Spike down in front of Morning. "You two are related now. He's your uncle. By adoption, technically."

Spike raised a hand in a little wave. "Hiya! Huh, I have a niece? Cool."

"Hello." She tilted off to the side. "How are you fierce?"

Spike consider that duly. "Hm, well, I have these." He flexed his claws. "I can breathe fire... You know, the dragon stuff."

"Even dragons have nightmares." Morning's smile was too confident. "Even dragons know fear."

Spike waved Morning off. "Yeah, right. It sure isn't you." He crossed his arms. "You should respect your uncle."

"My uncle should know better." Dread intent flared in her eyes.

Umbra left the two to establish their social hierarchy.

"Having fun?" Pinkie dropped just in front of Umbra. "Pick the Shadow's coming up in ten minutes!"

"I have no idea what that is..." Umbra cracked a smile. "But it sounds fun."

"Best answer!" Pinkie pumped an arm with a triumphant grin. "Hey, who are the bunnies? Not complaining, they're bringing the right vibes, as they say, but I'm still curious..."

"Tsuki." Umbra reached and grabbed a passing Tsuki, intercepting it just as it was about to bounce. "Say hello to Pinkie."

"Hello, Pinkie," greeted the boy-tsuki. "Are you friend of shadow?"

"Shadow?" It clicked. "Oh! Umbra! Yep! I helped her plan this party!" She threw her hooves wide. "Having fun?!"

"Have lot fun." The tsuki nodded quickly and leaned in to sniff at Pinkie curiously. "Huh..."

"What?"

"Smell funny."

Pinkie inclined her head. "I do?" She sniffed herself. "Smells normal..."

"Normal smell funny?" offered the tsuki.

Pinkie giggled at that. "That actually makes sense. Funny is one of the things I do." She hopped forward and crashed with the tsuki in a big hug. The rabbit was happy to return the embrace and that got the two getting into a mild wrestling match that had both pleased with the exchange.

"Have fun." With the contest over, the tsuki bounced away.

Pinkie dusted herself off. "That was fun! Is that how they say hi? I'm gonna go say hi!" She casually tackled another tsuki, the two tumbling over one another as the contest began in earnest. Though the motions were in complete earnestness from both sides, trying to gain wrestling supremecy, both were smiling and happy about it.

"Umbra." Her attention was drawn to a smiling Cadance. "I am told you are their 'protector shadow.'"

Umbra worked through the crowd in the way to get to Cadance and the elderly tsuki matron. "Oh, we met before." They met in a firm hug, but the elderly tsuki made no attempt to wrestle. Umbra had the etiquette to not expect a senior tsuki to do such. "Are you enjoying yourself?"

"Very good." The elder nodded slowly, holding a bubbling glass in her hand. "Good taste. Sting. Good sting?" She took a fresh sip. "Good sting... Surprise. Good shadow." She gestured at Umbra. "Surprise. New things, good? Sometimes." She nodded, confident in her philosophic sharing. "Good?"

It took Umbra a moment to parse through those words, sincere, but disjointed. "Good! Yes." She pressed in close to Cadance. "I'm married now. Do Tsuki do marriage?"

"Marriage?" Not an answer, but also a perfect one.

Cadance waved a hoof between herself and Umbra. "We are..." She reached for a baser word. "Mates. Three of us. Umbra, Shining, and me. We are a family."

"Family!" That word she clearly knew. "Good good good! Understand now... Not know why, but know why now. Ponies strange, but learn. Worth learn." She tossed up her glass, hugged the two of them together, and managed to catch the glass on the way down in a feat of athletics her age implied she didn't have. "Good. Happy family. Strong kits." She considered Umbra anew. "Strong shadows? Protector shadows? Good Shadows?"

Umbra worked through that, lips moving without sound. "Oh, I already have at least one good shadow. Morning!" With a burst of shadow, an umbrum filly emerged beside her. "There you are." She gently hugged Morning Dew close. "This is my daughter, Morning Dew. She's already a good shadow. Will she protect? Up to her. She's a bit young for that."

Morning examined the elder and perked suddenly. "You are Tomtom's grandmother."

The elder tsuki brightened at the name. "Tomtom! You know?"

"He is a... friend." And so she was grabbed, hugged firmly by the grandmother in a show that she could still give a good one of those with the right inspiration.

"Thank. Good Tomtom friend. Good shadow!" She released the dizzy Morning to the ground. "Stay friend."

"I will... attempt." Morning turned back to her mother. "Was that all?"

To ruffle her mane, a temptation, but one Umbra fought off. "What are you in the middle of?"

"Playing." She said it with a flat tone. "With Spike, and Tomtom. The two have much to learn."

"Go on then." Umbra turned back to the adults in the area, seeing the elder tsuki had been replaced with a representative of some far off pony place, where they came... large. They were as large as she was, but they were no princess. They also had a bit in their mouth, like a horse, but they weren't a horse. "Hello?"

"Hello," greeted the large stallion. "You were speaking with your foal, and I didn't want to get in the way of that."

"Thank you for waiting." Umbra touched hoof to hoof. "And a pleasure to meet you. Are you... Sorry... Where are you from?"

"Saddle Arabia." He smiled brightly around his bit. "Before you ask, we're all this sized. This is not a marker of nobility. I am not a noble, just a diplomat, carrying their good word and wishes to the newlyweds, you included."

"How lovely." Umbra dipped her head in kind for his dip. "I'm Umbra Shadowheart." That he had likely heard of her, a given, but it felt polite to say anyway. "Welcome to the Crystal Empire. If you need anything at all, don't hesitate to let Cadance or I know."

"Lovely," he echoed, sounding sincere in the thought. "That you two are already working in tandem. How long have you two known each other?"

Time... Time was a hard topic. There was no easy calender with an easy number... "It feels like forever... Not long after she became princess of the city. Right when Sombra dared to show his face."

"Ah. I heard of that event." He looked Umbra over. "That is where you earned the first of many titles."

"With more to come," sighed out Umbra with a soft snort. "But worth it, to keep things safe. Tell me about your land, if you don't mind?"

The diplomat was happy to do that, spinning tales of that warm, sandy place and its people. They had many stories, worth telling, but not in the middle of this one.

"Excuse me." Shining had slid right up next to Umbra. "It's time for the cake."

The diplomat backed away. "I won't stand in the way of that. Please."

"I will." Umbra turned with Shining. "I didn't get your name?"

"My name means little, as I have no voice of my own." He dipped towards her. "But I know ponies are rarely satisfied with that answer. You may call me Hamza."

Umbra hesitated. "That... is not a pony name."

"I am not a pony. At least, not an Equestrian one." He pointed past her. "They are waiting for you."

Umbra hastened to catch up to Shining. All three of them took up position to slice into the cake with a knife held in their shared magic, all their colors of magic swirling around it. To cut the cake like that took coordination. That they could let the walls down and cheat a little, they didn't mention. Working with shared sensations, they sliced evenly into the sweet treat and served it up as they put the walls back up, without a word or a prompt.

Umbra nipped at Shining's ear. "We have that down to a science."

"Science?" He was facing the crowd, smiling as they served up cake one by one. "What do you mean?"

"I'm feeling very in sync today... It's a good feeling." She passed another slice on, the line dwindling as they efficiently got out three slices at a time. "Like we were meant to be together, and now we are."

Cadance smooched Umbra's cheek loudly, getting a cheer from the crowd. "Because we were, and we are. The heart has spoken, and what are we but to obey it." She didn't sound as deferential as her words, hand out another slice. "Glad to hear you're feeling good about it. Let's make this a success."

Cheese emerged from the crowd. "It's your turn!" He served up the last slices, officially dismissing the newlyweds from the task as he put a plate in each of their magic grasps. "Great job! I'll get this cleaned up, then..."

"Horseshoes!" finished Pinkie, tapdancing in place. "The fun never has to end!"

Cheese consider that with a frown. "Well, as fun as that'd be... The party has a schedule."

"I know." She sagged with the reminder. "But it's fun pretending. I'll get the shoes!" She vanished off to see to festivities.

132 - Long Live the Princess

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The party was a pleasant memory, gone and done. She sat upon the throne, smiling at the pony before her. They were eagerly explaining a plan they had, to start a new farm on the outskirts of the city. "Just think of the bits," she bade. "Ponies from all across Equestria will line up to get some! All I need is a yes."

Umbra was taking her turn as a princess, giving Cadance some time off. "You didn't come here just to start a farm. You don't need royal approval for that. Skip to the part you really need permission for."

The mare shuffled in place. "Such a sharp eye you have... These specific fruits have a very specific fertilizer."

Umbra hiked a brow at that. "The blood of the innocent?"

The mare paled, stepping back. "Nothing that horrible, ma'am! The city already has it. The little ewes drop it all the time. I'll need permission to have some, the extra, and I can get going."

"Oh, literal fertilizer." Umbra thought of how that could go awry. "What is..." She looked to one of the guards. "Find out what the current use of that is. I need a full report." The guard saluted and galloped away to see it done. "I can't answer your request until I have that."

"Of course." The mare dipped her head. "I will return tomorrow." With the matter settled, for the moment, she strode off.

"Witching?" The next pony stepping up was an umbrum, and one Umbra knew well. "How can I help?"

"I see romance is getting everycreature these days." She rolled her eyes. "And yours comes with chores. Sounds like a losing trade."

"You did not come here just to needle me." Her words were flat, as was her expression. "What are you looking for?"

"Spoilsport." She glanced about at the guards, watching her suspiciously. "You've carved out a little hole for us, but it's still a little hole. Ponies don't exactly look forward to their incarnate nightmares living next to them, getting along or not."

"That." She lifted a hoof at Witching Hour. "Is at least a shared issue. It isn't just ponies having... needing time to adjust. Time will let that change, time and persistance. Your niece is very good at it."

"You dare to bring her up?!" Witching sank to her haunches. "I hate most that you're not entirely wrong... I swear, she finds acceptance without even trying... My point stands! We're not all her! What should the rest of us be doing?"

"Making friends?" Umbra tried her best smile. "Learning the local culture and making yourself a small part of it? You have a lot of talents, as a people, I mean. They don't have to be used to harass ponies, or much anything else. Shoot... even if you do want to do that, there are ways to do that without also making people regret having you around."

Witching hiked a brow at that. "How? My specialty, you know it. In what setting will a pony march up to me and ask me to dig up their worst, most guarded, secrets?"

Umbra touched her hooves together. "What happened to the psychiatric angle? You were doing well with me."

Witching flipped an ear back. "Most others don't like it when I grill them like that. It makes them uncomfortable... Which makes that whole job a little hard..."

"I don't want to be rude." Umbra sat up. "But I'm doing audiences. I'll dig into that when I'm not parked in this chair. Do you have a specific question for right now?"

Witching stood up, pacing before the throne. "Specific? I guess not." She strode away without another word, the meeting concluded without further fanfare.

With a soft thump, a tsuki landed in place to be the next up. "Protector shadow!"

That was a respectful greeting, coming from a tsuki.

"Tsuki have little want." He held up his paws close together. "Little. Can see in dark. Can see better with some light. Make little light? Can shadow make shadow go away? Please."

Umbra smiled at the hopeful tsuki. "Torches are out." She remembered those vast tunnels. She could imagine them filling with smoke dangerously quickly. "But magic should be safe. Clever ponies make things that glow. Use those, put them around in the darkest places to chase the shadows away."

The tsuki clapped with quick joy. "Oh! Oh. Yes. Will buy. Didn't know could buy light. Yes." He turned and hopped as one, as many hopping creatures do when turning. "Good shadow! Hope never chase protector shadow away."

Umbra nodded quickly. "I won't be chased away by a little light, promise."

"Good!" He bounded away, his matter handled to his clear satisfaction.

Umbra stepped down from her throne, not seeing another creature behind the tsuki. "Are we out of supplicants?"

A guard hurried to take a peek outside. "There are none waiting, Your Highness."

Umbra hummed softly. "I wonder how much of that is me being new..." Were ponies nervous about coming to her with princess problems? "We'll give it half an hour. If it's still empty, we'll call it a day." Guards saluted around the room in confirmation.

At least they didn't seem to have an issue adjusting to having Umbra on the throne once in a while.

"Thank you." Cadance hugged Umbra gently for a fleeting moment. "You have no idea how nice that was, getting a day to myself. Anything big happen?"

Umbra shook her head. "I think they're still getting used to me sitting up there. Handled a few things, got one thing to chase on my own time, and expect a report on little ewe manure use."

Cadance raised a brow at that. "Not what I expected, but I'll be sure to give that a look. Why?"

"A mare wants to have some of it for her own project. I didn't want to just..." Umbra cycled a hoof. "Say yes without knowing what it's already being used for, if anything. That seemed like a good way to mess it up."

"Good thinking." She touched noses with Umbra. "Glad to hear you're thinking this through. I'll be sure to read it. If she comes back while I'm on duty, I'll be sure to be ready for her. So, how did it feel? A good thing, or a bad thing?"

"Sitting up there?" Umbra pointed vaguely at where the throne rested a few rooms away. "We practiced. I was ready! The questions were mostly harmless things. The most complicated one was about umbrum, and that's personal. I'll chase it starting tomorrow."

"Need any help?"

Umbra started. "Hey, I'm trying to take a burden off your shoulders. Besides, Umbrum problems. They need a shadowy point of view."

"I'm sure that's true." Cadance smirked faintly. "But only to a point. We're a team, don't forget. We both want the umbrum to be happy members of the great family that is the Crystal Empire." Her eyes lit with an earlier idea. "Figure out what these are?" She hoofed at the new necklace hanging against her chest. "It's not awful, but I'm dying to know what it actually is."

"Starlight was a big help." Umbra sat and brought up both hooves to cradle her necklace. "We could tell it's attached to the heart, which you could probably guess. It's also attached to us, all three of us. Positive." She lifted the necklace up with her magic and tossed it away, but it never hit the far wall, instead appearing back ground her neck. "The odds of losing it are very low."

Cadance recoiled an inch at the sudden jump. "Remarkable... Does it do anything besides hang around?"

"This." Umbra took it off but didn't toss it, instead placing it on the ground next to herself, and put her tiara next to it. She poked herself in the cheek quite bluntly.

It took Cadance a moment. "Wait..." She rubbed the same spot. "I didn't feel that."

Umbra put the necklace back on and repeated the demonstration, the sensation of being poked echoing to Cadance with a fresh jump. "Wear the necklace, have the bond. Take it off, put it on pause. Can't just toss it away. That should make it easier when we do want to pause it."

"That is easier." She ruffled her wings. "But I don't want to keep you away. We're a thing now."

"But being able to close a door is a good thing." Umbra stepped past Cadance, rubbing along the way. "Boundaries."

"Boundaries," echoed Cadance with a smile. "Do they do anything else? I don't mean to sound ungrateful, but we'd already worked out ways to muffle the connection when we needed to."

Umbra slipped her tiara back into place, her mane resuming its living state. "We have a theory, but not one we could test without all three of us, the newlyweds, working together. That ties back into your magic lessons."

"I've been reading, promise." She played several magical notes across her horn, not a spell at all, just showing she knew the notes. "See?"

Umbra clapped gently at the display. "Progress! So, the thing is, we're pretty sure us all wearing this puts us at a deeper sync. You know how Twilight and her girls are in super sync at times, to banish darkness and blast rainbows?"

Cadance's eyes widened at the idea. "We have that? Truly?"

"Maybe... Not the same." Umbra wobbled a hoof with the uncertainty. "We're not bound by Epic Friendship. We're bound by the heart. And as much as I'd love to say that it's True Love eternal... I'm a mess. I won't even argue it. I can't participate in True Love blasting. Working on it... Want to, but not there yet. Wait for me?"

"As long as I need to... But you sound like you have an idea." Cadance coiled around Umbra. "So, share. What's this wicked idea on your mind?"

"Magic." Her hooves glimmered with dark magic, eyes doing the same in sympathy. "Shining knows it, and I know it. We just need to get you up to speed. I think we can sync up with magic. Friendship and love may be magic... But, turns out, magic is also magic." She pointed up at her horn. "We can skip the preamble and get right to it."

Cadance tapped her chin softly. "I like the idea of love and magic... But you're working on that." She touched her horn to Umbra's. "I did that once, with Shining... But I'm not a wizard. And neither is he. Neither of us made it a proper magic. It just... happened..."

Umbra thought back over what she had been told. "That... got her the tiara in the first place. That's a big ask..." She shuffled with a little smile. "I'd love to do it... But not yet. I don't feel ready. Magic is Magic. We already know that. And we do love each other, and we're bonded. We can use what we have." She pawed at the dangling necklace. "And maybe do some amazing things."

"That sounds interesting." But Cadance was walking away. "Let's look into it. Tomorrow, me, throne, back to it. You... are chasing umbrum things. Good luck."

Umbra waved at her fellow princess. "You too. Tell me what happens with that farm." She set off herself, considering her future plans. There was plenty to be done. "Tomorrow..."

133 - Shadowbinding

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"Something for them all to do..." Umbra strode down the street with a faint frown and heavy thoughts on her mind. "There has to be something..."

She almost crashed into a landing tsuki. "You alright?"

The tsuki smiled bright at her. "Shadow protector! Is good see. Want ask."

Umbra nodded slowly. "Is this about the lights? I thought we fixed that."

"No." The tsuki pointed at her with a fuzzy finger. "Want protector shadow. Know busy. Have other protector shadows? Send spare. Have spare?"

Umbra's scowl faded into confusion. "Oh..." But, she didn't have a spare shadow laying around. Did her mane count? No, it was attached to her, and not even a shadow, really... "I know some shadows... But I'd need to talk to them to know if they're up to protecting."

The tsuki clapped his hands with building joy. "Yes! Please. Go ask. Tell." He grabbed for Umbra, squeezing her with the great hugging strength his sort were known for. "You great!"

Even as the air was forced from her, Umbra laughed. "I... try my best. I'll find you, or another tsuki, when I know for sure."

"Yes." He bounded away, looking entirely confident that everything was under control.

Umbra went instead to visit one of her known umbrum. "Midnight!"

A set of eyes glared at her from a darkened window. "It's the middle of the night for sane umbrum, which you are not."

"No... But an idea came and slapped me across the face and I'm hoping you like it." Umbra tried her best smile. "You'll get to go to where it's never bright and sunny, and people will celebrate you for being a shadow."

"You're messing with me." The curtains drew a bit closer to shut. "Why do you tease me? Sure, I tease you, but you have it coming. I am a law abiding nightmare of your darkest memories. I am doing what I was made to do. You? You are not. What's your excuse?"

Umbra snorted at the gloomy window. "Witching, I'm here to offer something nice. Doing nice things is a habit of mine."

"A bad one," came the melodic notes of the shy shadow.

"Awful." Umbra smiled a little. "But a reliable one. I'm not here to just jerk your chain and you know it."

"There's going to be a catch." Witching let the curtain fall closed, but her hoofsteps could be heard as she came to and cracked open the door. "Get on with it. What's the catch?"

Umbra tried to approach the door, but it clicked shut with even one step towards it. "Witching!"

"You don't need to be in here," came the muffled reply. "What's the catch?"

Umbra put a hoof to her face and counted to ten to regain her composure. "Do you know the tsuki? The rabbits?"

"Big, bouncy. Have almost no regrets. What about them?"

"Those." Umbra sat before the door. "They want some protector shadows. They want some powerful shadows to scare away even scarier things."

"You're joking." The cracked open the door a tiny bit. "You want me to make them feel safe?"

"Safe, knowing a fierce shadow is there, that can mess anything up that intrudes on her territory." Umbra flashed a feral grin at the door. "They will worship you."

"You're exaggerating." Witching emerging, scowling at the bright sky. "Where do they live?"

Umbra pointed the way. "A good hike, but nothing an umbrum can't handle. Slip in under cover of night, then never have to worry about the day again."

"Get out." Witching thumped Umbra in the chest. "Get out!" She meant it, pushing Umbra back as she advanced. "Those fluffy buns need sun, don't they?"

"They like it." Umbra shrugged mildly. "But they live in the dark. They picked up some lights for the darkest corners of their caves, but they're caves, and they like it that way."

"Yeah?" Witching shuffled her hooves on the ground. "You're playing favorites."

"How?"

"Duh?" Witching leaned in with a sneer. "I'm not the only umbrum around that could use a dark hole. How dare you come here and just offer it to me."

Umbra twitched an ear at her in-law. "I was hoping you'd help with that. You know the other umbrum better than me, and they trust you more than they trust me. The ones that want to get away are the ones that don't want to have a nice chat with me."

"You have a point." She turned for her house. "Now go away. I'll bother them at a reasonable hour. I swear..." She stormed inside and slammed the door shut. "Learn to sleep like an umbrum," she shouted from inside, and things went quiet.

Umbra turned with a little skip of her hooves on the cobblestone. "Great." One matter, solved. She conjured some paper and scrawled on it a map of how to reach the tsukis. She tucked it under the door for Witching to find later. "Have fun." No reply came, but she wasn't expecting one. She set off with a smile and a purpose.

"We need to talk."

Umbra jumped back, not on the street of the Crystal Empire. She was on a little island in the middle of nothing, and everything. There was a house on it, and a strange creature watching her.

"Hi there." He waved at himself. "I'm Discord, have we met? Doesn't matter. We need to talk."

Umbra considered the strangeness that was Discord. "Hello. Are you a good guy or a bad guy?"

"Now that depends on who you ask." He clapped his hands together in one firm stroke. "But I like to think I'm an alright guy. If it helps, I'm friends with Twilight and the girls. Even Starlight knows me, and we only mildly hate each other, sometimes. We mostly get along."

"Alright..." That didn't sound immediately horrifying. "So, hello, Discord. I'm--"

"--Umbra," he cut in. "Once human, now pony. Once a male, physically, then a female, then a female again." He counted on his fingers the various steps along that process. "Look, I don't appreciate it."

"Appreciate what?" Umbra hiked a brow at him. "And where are we?"

"Not even slightly important." He shooed that topic away. "There was a plan. I hate plans, but we had one. You coming threw them out of order pretty badly. Now, if I had done that, I'd be congratulating myself, but no, it was you." He loomed over her. "And you aren't the spirit of chaos, now are you?"

"And you waited this long... why?" Umbra rolled a hoof. "I've been here forever at this point."

"True! Dreadfully slow of me... I was panicking, if we're being honest." He tapped Umbra with a pointer. "I had plans! I don't normally do those, but I had one. It involved Sombra, who you ruined. I reached for that playing piece and, pop, he's not there. A lot of things aren't there, moved around. I don't appreciate another player just shuffling the pieces around without even knowing what they're playing."

"So you're going to tell me?" She swatted at her mane, but it would not be calmed so easily. It grasped and hugged at Discord like a new plush toy.

He giggled and pawed at it. "Cut that out. Look. You are a human." With a sudden sharp snap, Umbra was a human, her old self. "You have two arms and everything. Why are you playing pony?"

Umbra flexed her returned hands. It felt... unnatural. She had stopped being that so long ago. "Because life is... change. I was a human. I am a pony. I love them, and I am one."

"That's a laugh." Discord tapped her on the nose. "Your mistakes aren't ones a pony would make. You won't ever magically stop being a human, it's baked in." He snapped his fingers, conjuring Starlight from nowhere.

"Discord!" She glared at him sternly. "You put me back..." She trailed off, seeing the odd human thing there. "What is that?"

"You don't recognize her? How cruel!" Discord fluttered his lashes, looking far too amused about the whole thing.

Starlight looked over the human Umbra curiously. "Did he drag you here too? Um, hi?"

"Hi." Ugh, even her voice was off. Her entire body wasn't her own, not anymore. Umbra hated it. "Starlight, I'm so sorry he pulled you into this. He's being a real jerk."

"That's his specialty." Starlight rolled her eyes. "You look like... some kind of deformed human."

Umbra started. "You know what a human is?!"

"Mirror, remember that? Twilight told me all about it." Starlight nodded with understanding. "You look like one, but not shaped quite like she said? Um, anyway, nice meeting you." She twirled on Discord. "Put us back."

"No." He brought down a hand on either of them. "Starlight, meet Umbra. You two are close friends, are you not?"

"Umbra?"

Umbra flinched at Starlight's baffled expression. "It's me..."

"What... Discord! Put them back! Right now!" She stomped in place. "I don't care what else you do."

Umbra thought of a few magic answers, but she had no horn. She had nothing. She was just a human. "What did you want?"

"Good question." Celebration music blared as confetti rained around Umbra. "You ruined the little thing I had in mind, so I want you to help me put it back together."

Starlight looked between the two. "What thing is that?"

"I was going to arrange a final test for Twilight. Something to really knock her horseshoes off." He rubbed his hands together with plotting in his eyes. "I can still do 2/3rdsof it, but I'm missing a properly restored Sombra. You're almost Sombra. How about you play the part?"

"Pass?" Umbra hiked a brow at the idea. "I don't want to pretend to be that jerk in any way. What'd you have him do?"

"Mostly get destroyed to show the others what acting without friendship could do." He shrugged lightly. "A character lesson only he could provide so well."

Starlight cringed, ears down. "You are not suggesting Umbra get destroyed for your crazy plan! I may be kinda pissed at her, but I don't want her exploded." She glared at Discord with renewing ire. "Put her back, since we're on the topic. Umbra is a pony, or umbrum, or whatever. Not a human."

"Yeah!" That much she could agree with easily. "Please."

"Thank you for being polite." He clapped his hands, the shockwave blowing Umbra's humanity away, leaving her falling back to all four hooves. "If you won't be my Sombra... How will you get Twilight ready? She needs something to kick her furry rump over the finish line. She has to be in charge. Celestia is retiring."

"She is?" Starlight inclined her head. "Since when?"

"If you talked to her, you'd know." Discord dismissed that as a silly idea. "Anyway! She is, and I need Twilight ready to step it up. You're busy playing family in the Crystal Empire, which isn't helping. How's that going to make the difference?"

Umbra raised a hoof. "Calm down. Alright, Twilight, I know her. Why isn't she ready right now?"

Starlight inclined her head at Umbra. "Ditto. Twilight's awesome."

Discord folded his arms across his chest. "You aren't even supposed to be here yet."

Starlight blinked at that. "Uh?"

"Long story." He straightened out. "Remember that tortured hellscape you helped make and unmake?"

Starlight paled at the memory. "That was an accident, and we unmade it, so... All good?" She laughed nervously.

"Ha ha, yes." Discord waggled his brows. "Think of the here and now just like that, another maybe. Really, they all are if you think about it. None of them have more of a right to be than any of the others. Either way, in this maybe, she showed up." He pointed at Umbra accusingly. "And things went crazy. You didn't think messing with the girls would cause so much to change, did you? But it did."

Starlight swallowed heavily. "Can we..." She licked her lips. "Wait... What is it if we undo it?"

"We're way too far for that." Discord rolled his eyes. "I summoned you for a reason. You know what this is like. Explain it to her."

"But..." Starlight didn't get to finish, both her and Umbra being banished to a street in the Crystal Empire.

134 - Houseguests

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Starlight looked around with a hanging jawline. "Is... We're..." She twirled on Umbra. "Did you plan this?!"

"I didn't!" Umbra held up her hooves. "I'll pay for a ticket home, or you can hang out. Whichever you'd like. This was all Discord, that was his name, right? This was his idea."

"Discord..." Starlight glowered a moment before she brightened. "Well, forget him. He won't ruin my day. At least I get to hang out with my Wizard from the north."

Umbra smiled hopefully. "Sure, yeah... Sudden vacation." She circled in place. "Sorry you had to see that."

"See what?" She walked alongside Umbra, deeper into the city.

"My... old self?" Umbra shrugged, her mane shrugging with her. "It feels so creepy now. Four hooves and zero fingers for me!"

"Impressive." Starlight hiked a brow. "You were a human for how long?"

"Um..." Umbra thought back to a lifetime ago. "Years and years, decades... Since I was born? Arguably before then."

Starlight prodded Umbra, but kept walking. "Then that's kinda there. You'll always be a little human. Still, if you like being a pony, far be it from me to badtalk it. I like pony life too, so there ya go."

"Hmmph. No outrunning the past, huh?" She thumped sidelong into Starlight. "What sort of magical things should we get up to today, hm?"

"This." Starlight flicked the necklace dangling around Umbra's neck. "I want to know more about it, and I think you do too."

"I am curious." Umbra willed the necklace up by the end of it to see it floating partly in front of herself. "But also surprised. I figured you'd want way more duels and way less study time, given the choice."

"Eh." Starlight shrugged as she looked about the city. "I got bored. We can come back to that. For now, let's figure out the heart artifact and what it does. Oh, I should probably say hi to the rest of your fam."

Fam? "You mean Shining and Cadance?"

"Who else? You got another family tucked in there?" She reached up to poke around Umbra's writhing mane, but did not find another family of ponies hiding in it. "Let's say hi. Don't want to surprise them too badly with me just... being here. Oh! I have fam to say hi to too! Sunburst is going to be so surprised."

That brought up a question, and one of Umbra's hooves. "Please don't get mad, but are you... lesbian, or bi, or...?"

Starlight inclined her head with obvious confusion. "Can you... tell me what any of those are?"

"Ugh... Human words? Human preconceptions, I realize, saying it out loud." She listed her head against a waiting hoof. "And there I was, complaining about not being one of those... Alright, so, a boy pony and a girl pony love each other very much. That's the default, since it makes more ponies, right? Am I off?"

"Sure?" Starlight shook her head with some confusion. "I know where baby ponies, that's foal by the way, come from. Most adults do. Now where are you going with that?"

Umbra cycled her hooves, walking on her hinds a moment. "Do ponies have a name for when two ponies who are both ladies or both fellas fall for each other?"

"A couple?" Starlight shook her head slowly. "Do... humans? You're losing me. Anyway, if you're trying to ask what kinds of ponies I like... Well! One of the ones I like went and got married." She swatted at Umbra with a dull thump. "I hope she's happy forever, but that's that, hm?"

Umbra let out a little laugh, setting aside any attempt to explain silly human lingo. "Feel free to tell me to stop asking, but what about stallions? You alright with those?"

"I'm not in love with any of those." Starlight shrugged. "I wasn't in love with any mares either until one came along... Who knows what the future will bring, but I did not get foalnapped to the frozen north to talk about that. First stop, Royal Family!" She charged up the stairs with a mild frown.

"Hoof, meet mouth." Umbra hurried after her, not prodding further.

They ran into Shining Armor first. "Starlight?" He looked at her with naked surprise. "What are you doing here? Um, not that I'm upset, just surprised, is all..."

Starlight waved back at Umbra. "Her and Discord. Things happened, I'm the prize. Anyway, just saying hi, also, we'll be checking these out." She flicked Shining's dangling necklace. "That's alright, yeah?"

"Sure?" Shining tossed his head towards Umbra. "She has one, but if you need mine, let me know. Welcome to the Crystal Empire. Should I get a room for you, or...?"

"If you could." Starlight smiled at Shining. "I'd appreciate that. This wasn't a planned trip."

"Sure thing." He nodded to Umbra. "I'll let Cadie know what's going on."

"I have an idea." Umbra sat and brought up her hooves, cradling one of the segments of her necklace. She focused on Starlight's presence, the visit, the wondering of the necklace, the maybe magic duels later?

Shining's ears flickered. "Woah... That was... odd. What did you just do?"

Umbra let the necklace fall against her chest. "Ah ha, did it work? I had a feeling, since the necklace is our tie, physical, we could shove more through it if we tried."

Shining lifted up a bit of his own necklace, peering curiously at it.

Umbra felt... a remembrance of a thing she never knew before. A comic maybe? Two superhero ponies, talking to one another with the power of their thoughts. "Yes, like that! Wow, this is strange." They were memories, but they weren't her memories, but they surfaced the same exact way. "Let's not use that too often. That'll get disorienting."

"Agreed." He let the necklace fall. "But, still pretty neat! As an option, I'll take it." He went in for a nuzzle and they shared a moment of affection, snout to snout. "I should get back to work. Have fun, Starlight!"

Starlight waved as he marched off to guard business. "As husbands go, he's pretty nice at least. If you'd picked a lousy pony, I would have dragged you out back and pummeled you until you saw sense."

"Good thing I avoided that. Anyway, pretty sure Cadance knows what's going on, and even why she knows, thanks to Shining. We can add that to what this thing is." She set off around Starlight. "This way. Let's visit my room and get to serious study."

"Let's get down to magic," half-sang Starlight. "Not a bad way to spend a day. How far can you get from it, by the way?"

Umbra reached for her doorknob, her magic actually doing the gripping. "About, what, six feet or so? Further than that, it pops back around my neck."

Starlight grabbed it with a sudden arcane yank. She launched it down the hallway, and it popped back around Umbra's neck as if it had never left it. "That's still fascinating to see."

Umbra snorted as she opened the door. "We're back."

"We?" But Polish saw the guest a moment after. "Ah, would either of you like a refreshment?" She pressed an envelope against Umbra without a word on it.

Umbra blinked at the... it was more of a folded paper, with a proper seal. It was Shining's seal. "I was just talking to him..." She cracked it with a swipe of a hoof and a flash of dark magic. "He could have just told me." She unfolded the paper to look over it. "Huh... Oh!" They had agreed to let her keep Polish. "I never even got to asking..." She put the letter aside. "Good news, you get to stay with me, even when I move in with Shining and Cadance."

Polish smiled gently. "Very good, ma'am. Would either of you like a refreshment?"

Umbra swatted at her servant. "You're allowed to be happy. This is good news."

"I'm very happy, ma'am. But I'm also on duty." She dipped her head at Umbra. "My adherence to such things is one reason you want me around, ma'am."

"Not entirely wrong..." Umbra turned to Starlight. "Want anything? She's serious."

"Um... Sure?" She shook her head as Polish walked off. "But we're here for that." She pointed at the dangling necklace. "So let's get to it."

They put the necklace where both could see and touch it and got to work. They ran various magic fields over it and tried dipping it in a few strange substances. They sang to it and rubbed it. They squinted at its wickedly complicated internal networks, which promised no easy answers. This was no pony artifact. It hadn't been made by one. Its exact workings proved to be beyond them. The heart had made it.

"So only the heart knows," sighed out Starlight. "So unfair... And Cadance already said no to trying to rip that apart. I asked."

Umbra snorted at that. "Somehow, that makes sense for you. What's a shattered artifact or two? Not like you wouldn't put it back together."

"Exactly!" Starlight threw up her hooves. "But she said no... And I'm guessing you won't go around her."

"Nope."

"Good." Starlight rolled her eyes. "I hate it, but good. You would not be a very helpful co-ruler if you said yes. About that! Celestia's retiring!"

"So I hear?" Umbra thought of that large alicorn. "She seemed to have everything under control..."

"To be fair, she does, and she has, for basically forever... If anypony deserved a vacation, she'd be at the top of that list." Starlight raised a hoof to those lofty heights of Celestia's earning of some time off. "So... I get that... If she wants to retire, she's earned it over a dozen times over. It's still a surprise, you know?"

"Celestia..." Umbra looked to the window, light spilling in through it. "As steady as the sun in the sky. "

"Exactly." Starlight nodded firmly. "Nothing against Twilight. I love her! Um, not that way, before you ask. I'm not sure she has any drive for that. She is literally the princess of platonic relationships and all. And she takes that very seriously... I'll be surprised if she ever finds a special somepony." She snickered with a new thought. "I heard, she made eyes with one pony, once. He even works here!"

"W-wait? Seriously?" Dozens of ponies came and went in Umbra's mind, stallions and mares. "Which... one? If you know."

"Some local guard. Never really met him myself. What was his name...? On the tip of my tongue... Sentry? That's just another word for guard... But we like to have names like that. Fast Sentry, Fast... no... Flash! Right, Flash Sentry."

That narrowed down the list of ponies down to one. "I've met him before. Nice enough. Don't know him that well though." Still, they were a guypony, narrowing down the choices of Twilight's alignment a little. Not that it mattered much for ponies, apparently. They just didn't sweat out little details like that. Umbra smirked with a fresh thought. "Want to fix that? Since you're here... We could go say hello and get to know Twilight's maybe paramour."

Starlight burst into giggles. "Naughty! I approve." She clapped joyfully. "And more productive than staring at the necklace. We can come back to that with fresh eyes. For now, Flash Sentry harassment hour."

"Ma'am." Polish was still there. "If I may be so bold. Flash is on-duty."

Umbra twirled on Polish. "How do you know that?!"

"We both serve the same castle." Polish waved a hoof about slowly. "I saw the schedule earlier, ma'am. He will be off-duty in precisely three hours and ten minutes, ma'am."

Starlight waggled her brows at the helpful maid. "You have some quality help. Alright, we know what we're doing in three hours and ten minutes then. Sounds like enough time for a quick duel to shake off the dust." She started for the door. "I'll even let you get the first swing in."

135 - Flashed

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Umbra almost had it that time. She had Starlight pinned, for a single moment, but the unicorn wrenched away with her magic, freeing herself of the grasping crystals. Almost didn't count for much against the eager combatant. She turned things around with a sharp twist and sealed Umbra in a block of crystal, perhaps in irony. "You're not the only one that can use crystals." She wagged her brows at the captive shadow wizard. "You got closer that time. Have you been practicing? Good."

With a dark flash, Umbra threw off the binding crystal with a snort. "How do you react so quickly?"

"Practice?" Starlight inclined her head. "Necessity, at a time... I led an interesting life, alright? So, I can't take the prize we agreed on before, so what's the next one you have in mind, oh dark sorcerer?"

"Sorceress," corrected Umbra. "Hm..." What she could and wanted to give Starlight came and went in a flipping through the rolodex of her mind. "Well... Let's start with me saying that you're pretty good at this. Going to keep practicing though. You will go down eventually."

"Sounds good to me." She came up and threw an arm over Umbra, hugging. "Let's keep honing ourselves. But, for now... There's a pony to bother."

The two advanced with shared smiles of not entirely benevolent nature. They found their victim walking down the road towards some unknown target. Umbra casually walked in front of him. "Flash."

"Umbra." He saluted sharply. "Nice to see you, ma'am." He jumped, detecting something behind him. He twirled to spot Starlight marching on him. "Um, and you too?"

Starlight flashed a bright smile. "Flash, hey... We had a few questions for you, if you have a moment."

"Um... sure?" He looked between the two nervously. "How can I help?"

Umbra patted the poor guard. "Relax, we don't bite, usually. Word is on the street you and Twilight maybe have a little something..."

Flash colored brightly. "Um..."

Starlight nudged against his side. "We're all friends here, Twilight included. Be honest. You like her?"

"Well..." He stepped from hoof to hoof in slow nervousness. "This is sudden..."

Umbra sat on her haunches, towering thanks to her alicorn nature. "If you really don't want to say, say that. I'm not punishing someone for not sharing."

Flash Sentry took a step back. "Well... She... is a very... There's a lot to like about her... ma'am."

Starlight rolled a hoof. "Please, do go on. What do you like?"

"The way... She overcame so many things." He let out a little sigh, perhaps relaxed thinking about Twilight's positive qualities. "Her bookish nature... She's far more, um... erudite? Is that the word?"

Umbra blinked at that. "That's a big word to throw out there. Were you told to use it?"

Flash smiled dreamily. "She used it, once, and I never forgot it. It, uh, means to know a lot, right?"

"Basically." Umbra didn't argue the fine points of the definition. "Aw... You really do like her."

Starlight clopped her hooves with a giggle. "Aw," she joined. "That's so nice. How did you meet her?"

"When she came back through the mirror?" He pantomimed a mirror as best as he could. "I helped her up... It was a silly thing, but I... we started sharing letters. She's very... eloquent, especially when she's writing..." He let out a sigh. "Say... since you two are her friends?" They both perked. "Do you know if she likes me? She can be hard to get a read on sometimes."

Umbra looked to Starlight. Starlight shrugged. "You're not lying. She can be hard to get a read on sometimes, when she isn't being really obvious about it. Still, if she's writing you back, I think you two are doing just fine. But, before that..." She crossed her arms. "We haven't finished judging you."

Flash swallowed audibly. "Judging?" He looked from Starlight to Umbra. "I am your guard, ma'am. I suppose your judgment is one of the few that really counts, aside of Shining or Princess Cadance."

Umbra took quiet note of the lack of honorific in front of shining. Were they friends, or was that a lesser respect? It was hard to tell with ponies. "True. But this isn't judgment about you as a guard." Umbra waved that off. "You're fine as a guard. This is about two mares making sure their ladyfriend isn't involved in a mistake."

"Right." He took a fresh step back, keeping both mares in view. The wide field of view afforded to ponies helped with that. "We... haven't done anything, promise... I wrote her a few letters, and she wrote some back, that's all."

Starlight snickered at that. "Yeah, see... Twilight doesn't do that for anypony. You're not Princess Celestia. You're not related to her. She isn't ordering something... You aren't a scholar with some interesting lore..." She counted off each with a tap of her hooves. "So that really only leaves one possibility. So, tell us about you."

"I'm a guard." He got that out a little hurriedly. "I fought with Princess Umbra, during the umbrum assault! Um..."

"You did." Umbra nodded, recalling the event. "You were very brave. Full points on that. But I'm way more curious about what you do when you aren't busy being a guard."

"Well..." He sank to his haunches. "I like helping. It's why I became a guard in the first place." He pointed back at his rump. His cutie mark was a shield with a lightning bolt over it. "I'm there to protect and support, and I like doing it. But... Um... Just for fun. Just... for fun." He tapped at his chin thoughtfully. "I like music."

Starlight perked at that. "Now we're getting somewhere. What kind of music?"

"Complicated." He waved his hooves over one another. "The more going on, the better. A full orchestra's the best. I love it when it feels like they're telling a whole story. I can hear the parts... It's magic."

Umbra gave a gentle smile at that. "Really good music is like that, yeah... Alright! Let's pretend, just to pretend... You asked Twilight on a date." He colored vividly. "And, best part, she said yes. Where are you taking her? It was your idea, so you're the one naming the spot."

Starlight nodded along. "Good stuff. Alright." She reached to poke one of Flash's wings. "Pegasus, obviously. What do you think about her being a unicorn?"

"Um." He turned to face Starlight fully. "She isn't."

Starlight blinked at that. "Pardon?"

"She isn't." He shrugged. "She's an alicorn."

Umbra raised a hoof. "Point, but also avoiding. She's not a pegasus. Any thoughts on that? Also waiting on my question."

"She distracted me." He gave Starlight a glare for that. "Her being an alicorn doesn't make me, uh... specifically like, or not like her... It's a bit intimidating. She's a princess!" His eyes went to Umbra. "Um, like you, ma'am..."

Umbra shrugged. "Can't argue that... But the ponies that are worth it, don't care." She wagged a hoof. "So point to you. Now, about that question?"

"A date..." He sighed with the happy thoughts of such a thing. "I'd want her to have fun! Maybe find out when the next book she's looking forward to is coming out and go to get it and get it signed? I bet she'd like that..."

Starlight burst into laughter. "Nerd! Yes... Yes, she'd like that quite a bit..." She pointed up to her glowing horn. "She can weave magic, you know. Bend the rules of the universe you think you know so well. Does that intimidate you?"

"She'd never hurt me... or anypony, on purpose... She's really nice." He nodded with certainty at that. "If I got hurt, it was an accident, or I did something to deserve it. I hope not that. May as well be scared a pegasus might crash into you." He made a swooping motion with a hoof, ending with an explosive noise. "Could happen, but it'd be a mistake."

Umbra glanced back at her own wings. "It was quite a time learning how not to crash into things..."

"It's a trick." Flash nodded, perhaps thinking on his own learning. "Worth it. I love flying." He gave his wings a little flap. "Um... That everything?"

Umbra leveled a hoof at him. "If you two ever hit it off, and not promising either way, but if you did... would you move to her? She's not coming here. She has a very busy royal life, last I hear."

"You heard right." Starlight rolled a hoof with a smirk. "She has a school, and I hear she may have a country to run soon... so... You either go to her, or you give up. Which feels more likely?"

"That's a big question." Flash tapped his hooves fretfully. "We haven't gotten that far... We maybe never will. We're not even dating!"

"But you'd like to," taunted Umbra with a brow waggle. "So pretend. It's serious. Do you go to her or not?"

"I'd be... so happy." Flash slumped though. "And so sad. I'd tell Cadance, and you, of course. I doubt she'd stop me... She is a princess of love, and Twilight's her little sister. Can you even imagine she'd stop somepony from rushing to be her special somepony?"

Starlight shrugged at that. "That would be a stretch... Cadance would buy you the ticket and shove you on the train if that was what you were going for." She snickered at the thought. "You ready to live in Ponyville, or wherever she ends up?"

"If it comes to that." He raised a hoof. "Which hasn't happened. Let's not get too far ahead... She owes me nothing, not even a chance. That she's giving me even that is... I'm very happy... I'll keep writing letters and we're friends... Maybe more later?"

Umbra suddenly brought a hoof down on either of his shoulders. "You just said the right thing. Innocent little pony. Lovely, innocent pony... Why do some human males have such a hard time grasping that."

Flash blinked dumbly. "Ma'am?"

Starlight gently pushed Umbra back with her magic, moving to take her spot. "Excuse her. She's just saying that's a fine attitude to have. Thanks for putting up with us." She waved Flash forward. "Have a nice day."

"Sure, yeah." He dipped his head at Starlight and took his chance to flee in a bit of a trot down the road.

Umbra sank to her haunches with a nervous laugh. "Sorry about that... Just a bit of a flashback. Easy to forget sometimes that ponies are just... nicer."

Starlight hiked a brow. "I don't even want to know the specifics. I've had my share of... issues, but the way you just went off makes me feel like you'd just laugh at me if I told them."

"I wouldn't!" She hoofed at Starlight lightly. "Have some faith in me."

"Says the mare that ran off." Starlight huffed at Umbra. "Sorry, that wasn't fair. We weren't a thing..." She could see that her blow has struck, with Umbra wilting. "Um, seriously..." But the wilting only got worse. "Did I miss something?"

Umbra clopped both hooves to her head. "When we were doing... our thing... I was busy being a huge jerk to another pony... Um, creature. Someone else! I was a thing, just not with you... or Cadance. I messed it up. I messed it all up. I was so stupid, and selfish, and I hurt her."

"Oh..." Starlight raised a brow slowly. "So you were ruining my time and theirs, at the same time? Efficient..."

"I'm sorry," Umbra wailed. "It's 100% my fault. 200% Can we just go with infinite?"

"That barely covers it." Starlight huffed slowly. "I don't like the idea... that I was just a way a pony was acting out... Did you even feel anything?"

"W-what?" Umbra sat up sharply. "Of course! Um..." She worried her hooves. "You are a lovely pony that I want to keep. I am also married, and will not screw that up again. Is... that alright?"

136 - Dark Plotting

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"Supposed to be dead..." Grogar conjured Sombra into being anyway, joining the others. "We'll try anyway. You!"

Sombra scowled at the goat. "What am I doing here?"

"You're getting your things together. I've been watching you." He waved to the others, Chrysalis, Tirek, and Cozy Glow. "The lot of you. None of you are closer to your goals. Twilight and her friends... You can't get past them. Not alone. It's time to take things in a new direction..."

"So, friends." Starlight huffed at Umbra. "That's fine... Sheesh, what I expect from most ponies. You just got my hopes up."

"Sorry." Umbra took a slow breath. "You are, of course, super welcome around here." Umbra smiled at Starlight, the two standing out of the way of other ponies moving along the road. "But if you need to get back, I'll get that ticket. Sorry for getting yanked like that."

"Discord..." She rolled her eyes. "Hard to predict anything with that guy. But you didn't do that, so I'm not blaming you for that. Say..." She gestured up at Umbra's sizable horn. "You any good at long range teleportation? Say using shadows or something?"

Shadow teleportation? "I never thought to try that angle... Shadows can get really long, especially at the right time of day... Clever..." One could almost see the wheels turning in Umbra's head, considering it.

Starlight laughed good-naturedly at the reaction. "Well! Glad to help, but that means you haven't right now, so teleporting home's not an option. I'll have to use that train. I can't teleport that far, and doing it repeatedly to make up the distance sounds exhausting."

"I can imagine..." If only she could share her shadow-walking powers, but that was an umbrum thing. "Want to be a shadow pony? We can get around pretty well."

Starlight thumped Umbra in the chest. "Thanks, but no. I'm happy being a unicorn." She hiked a brow. "Besides, can you even do that?"

"Not yet." Umbra leaned in with a sharp smile. "But I'd be willing to work on that if you wanted it."

"Ever consider being a unicorn?" Starlight brought her brow down just to waggle them both. "Lots of perks, less light sensitivity."

Umbra huffed at that. "Alright, alright, I get the idea... I was just curious."

"You often are." Starlight lifted into the air, glowing with her magic. "I'll grab that train now."

"Wait." Umbra lifted on her wings, far less magic. "I won't make you pay for your ticket."

"Suit yourself." They launched together in a quick zip to the train station. Soon, Starlight was on her way home.

Umbra shook her head, walking back through the city. "That was dumb of me... Starlight didn't deserve any of that."

She returned to her room to find the door closed, and locked. "What?" There was a small sign posted just next to the door. It said to head to Cadance's room. "What is going on?" She fell into the shadows and rapidly swam towards the royal suite, emerging with a scowl. "Where is my stuff?"

A guard stood before the room. "They're expecting you, ma'am." They stepped out of the way and gestured inside.

"Good." Umbra stomped into the room to find Cadance on her bed, watching her with a knowing smirk on her face. "What are you looking so smug about?"

Cadance waved Umbra closer. "You are a stubborn little thing at times. I took it into my own hooves."

"Took all my things?!" Umbra glared at her new wife. "What's going on? Where's Polish, for that matter?"

"Right here, ma'am." Stepping out from behind a divider, Polish bowed her head at Umbra. "You look like you could use a drink, ma'am."

"After... this conversation." Umbra relaxed, only to tense anew. "What's going on?"

"We--" She gestured at Umbra and herself. "We're married."

"Yes..."

"Married ponies live together." Cadance rose to her hooves on her bed. "Especially royal ones, or ponies begin whispering about how well they're getting along."

"What? Oh." Umbra slackened, the idea sinking in. "Oh. Wait..."

"Yes, you're moving in." Cadance hopped to the ground. "Welcome to your room. Our room, to be more accurate. Your things are safely tucked away." She pointed to a wardrobe. "Moved with care, I assure."

"Oh... Now I feel silly." She applied a hoof to her face for emphasis. "Why didn't you ask me to move my own things?!"

"Because you kept putting it off," flatly countered Cadance. "I love you, but you have priorities, and that wasn't high on the list. So I took care of it myself. Now... Now, we're together." She went up to Umbra, eye to eye, as so few ponies were. "We are a loving couple, sharing a bed. Though... I suppose 'couple' isn't entirely accurate, and triplet sounds odd to me."

Umbra touched noses with Cadance. "You surprised me." The room had a scent. Cadance liked floral notes, and the room had that, as opposed to the wooden scents that were common in Umbra's room. "This will take getting used to... But I shouldn't have agreed if I wasn't ready." She brushed alongside Cadance. "So... Here I am. I just sent Starlight on her way back to Ponyville."

"I do hope she enjoyed her visit." Cadance waved Polish from the room. "We have other things to discuss. Promises were made, and you are now married. Nothing stands in our way."

What had getting married allowed? "Well, we'll..." But it reached her. What else could getting married allow? Umbra twirled to find there was nothing else in the room, not a pony in sight other than Cadance. "Now?!"

"As amusing as that'd be... Actually no." Cadance wrinkled her nose. "To be perfectly clear, I have a libido. It's quite healthy. But, it can wait long enough for Shining to get off-duty. I know he wants to be here for this. From what I recall of our little planning chats, the first up is you." She pointed firmly at Umbra, then to the ground. "Under me. We will do as loving ponies do."

Umbra darkened at the blunt phrasing of the event to come. "Wow..."

"We're married," Cadance sang out. "Which means you get to hear me talk dirty in private. I'm going to cover you. Does that sound fun?"

"Yes?" Umbra squeaked out, at least as nervous as excited. "Be gentle?"

"As gentle as you'd like." Cadance kissed Umbra's cheek, circling to get the other. "I am a mare. I know how... unkind it can be when your partner isn't gentle. But then, I also know sometimes you don't want gentle. Different times. Today, tonight... gentle. We will meet and become one, as a single loving creature."

Umbra shuddered from front to back. "You are talking dirty... and I'm not sure how I feel..." Turned on? Scared? Both? "Actually, it just hit me." She pointed to Cadance's horn. "Your magic."

"What about it? I haven't used it, promise." She crossed her chest for emphasis.

"What if I want you to?" Umbra closed, touching her cheek to Cadance's. "Find our thread and make it nice and fat, so we can be as close together as possible."

"Warning about that..." Cadance returned the cheek rubs, close and nestled with Umbra. "That will enhance the feelings we have, for good or ill. I make the thread larger, not change its nature."

"Well, I really do love you." Umbra turned to face her fully. "And I want this... Any doubts I'm having are about me, not you. So if I can think about nothing but you, That'd be a good thing."

"Mature of you." She flared out her wings. "If you'd like, then alright. Tonight, we will think only of each other, and in that tizzy, perhaps, I'll become a parent again. You mentioned you missed being able to make milk. We'll fix that."

Umbra colored at that. "Stop making milk sound so dirty! I... like..." She danced on her hooves. "The idea of being a mother is just really nice... I enjoy being a source of comfort, of growth for a little thing..." She sank back onto her haunches. "And I feel silly just saying that."

"You shouldn't." Cadance pointed off to a crib, where a little pony rested quietly. "You're talking about the joy of being a mother, and I'd be a strange mother myself if I thought that was a bad thing to be. You were my willing wet nurse the first time... I feel certain you will be a grand mother this time."

"Thank you..." Umbra took a slow breath. "When does Shining Armor get done? What's he doing, leading drills?"

"One of his favorite things to do," assured Cadance with a smirk. "He'll be done at sundown. We both have our duties to help make the empire work, you included. Speaking of that, you're on duty tomorrow, just to remind."

Umbra's reddish hints grew quickly. "So don't make me walk oddly. I know you just said you wouldn't... I'm nervous, that's all! I... Hm." She rubbed at her cheek with a hoof. "But I'm in your care, and I trust that."

"Aw." She coiled, getting nose to nose. "I will be sure to keep that trust. Speaking of that, not to dampen the mood... But how did Starlight take it all? I assume the topic came up."

"It did," groaned Umbra. "It did... She's still mad, but... we're still friends, so it coulda gone worse. Ugh, I really wish I hadn't done that. I was so stupid..."

"You don't need to apologize to me again." Cadance went to the door and cracked it open. "No interruptions until Shining Armor is here, and none after that either. We'll let you know when you can bother us." She closed the door, thing settled with the guards. "I should be clear, and I think you already know this... But it deserves to be said..."

"Well, I'm scared now." But Umbra remained where she was, watching Cadance. "What do I know?"

"A lot of things." Cadance paced in a slow circle. "But what I mean is that, if things go well, you will owe your fealty to one other, one least able to defend themselves, who will rely on you more than any other creature even possibly could... One to whom I dare say, should it come to it, you owe them more faith than even the vows we swore to one another."

Umbra's ears perked as one. "That's a tall order..."

"But deserved." Cadance closed, raising a hoof to Umbra's belly from the side. "And when life quickens in there, you will feel it. You will know it. Once you become a mother, nothing else can take that #1 spot, and I won't dream of trying to compete with it, nor would I want to." She drew her hoof away to turn it on herself. "What is love? Is this not the final purpose of it? We are... drawn together, to clash in passionate fury, to create life... to then nourish it, forever. To want it to be its best. Even our partner... I should stop saying that." She shook herself out. "My point is that..." She trailed off, humming. "I got distracted. You will be a mother, and we--" She waved to the Shining not yet there and herself. "We will be fathers."

"You will not." Umbra thumped Cadance. "Maybe for the first hour or so... But then you'll be a mother alongside me. Our child will have two mothers and a father and you know it."

"I'm phrasing things poorly today. I don't have a word for 'parent who is not the mother but is still female.'" But it clicked. "Ah! I will be an aunt, just as you are an aunt to Flurry Heart. And don't tell me you don't love her with all your being. Anypony that lacks faith in the unwavering love of an aunt is truly a foal."

"Here's to that." Umbra headbutted Cadance, thumping their foreheads together, horns missing thankfully. "To Uncles and Aunts, our second parents we love so much."

137 - Shadow Love

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With a light clop, Shining poked his head into the room. "The guards are looking edgy." He slipped inside properly, knocking the door shut with a sway of his hips. "Do they have a good reason to be?"

Cadance glowed brightly, her magic tying her to Umbra. There was no time for delays, only action. Their link grew fatter by the moment, their thoughts turning towards one another, but Cadance was working other magic through that crystal thread. "I will be what you need, tonight," she intoned dangerously.

Shining blinked. "O-oh... Um, how can I... help?"

"You are married to us, silly thing." She sounded distracted, working powerful magic.

[start clop]

She surrendered her very form to the needs and wants of Umbra. Her lines melted, becoming stouter, stronger, and a bit pointier in places. She let out a shout as she thrust her hips forward, a great equine member jutted out, newly formed and pulsing with new vitality.

Shining blushed at the sight. "My little monsters," he sang in the tune of the show he didn't know about. With a smile, he went to Umbra, gently nuzzling with her. "How are you feeling?"

"Excited." Umbra shivered softly. She couldn't take her eyes off Cadance and all she was promising without further words required. "Distracted? Excited..." A new scent was in the air. She was putting out all the signals that she was ready for what Cadance was offering. All her doubts, forgotten. There was only room for Cadance, with a teeny tiny slice being given to Shining.

Cadance sauntered closer, just as fixated on Umbra as Umbra was in kind. "I'm going to show you just how loved you are. Our love will be so complete, it'll become a living thing, a pony for us both to adore, forever."

Umbra suddenly went in to touch her nose to Shining's cheek. "I love you."

Shining blinked in clear surprise. "I thought..."

"I don't care." Umbra shook her rump in Cadance's direction. "We know what we want... But you don't." She took a moment, just panting heavily. "Damn her magic..." Love was washing over her overwhelmingly. "I love it, and you, and her... Don't go."

"That's my Umbra." Cadance nuzzled slowly over Umbra's rump, feeling those powerful leg muscles on either side. "Thinking of you even right now... When her mind's on something else entirely. This is Umbra at her best." She nipped at one taught slab of muscles, making them twitch with an excited neigh. "Staring down impossible odds with grim determination."

That Cadance still sounded like the female she still was, despite the other changes, only seemed to turn on Umbra more. She licked those fluttering lips, winking as they were in clear sign that Umbra was quite ready. "Shining, I will want your help. You know how stallions... work. Make sure I do this properly."

"Huh? Sure!" He circled around Umbra, blushing at the thought of what was to come. "You've, uh, been part of this... You know half of it at least."

"At least half." Cadance reared up, her magic pulling Umbra back even as she slid forward. "But not the other half."

Shining could see the first problem. Cadance would be thrusting for some time before finding the mark, being quite new at having that particular part. He hesitated a moment. He'd never touched another stallion there... But it wasn't a stallion. It was his Cadance. He shook away that hesitation and grabbed her, guiding her to her target.

Cadance tensed with a shiver. "Oooo! That... feels nice. Is that what it's like when you're grabbed there? You... never told me... Someone's getting held there more often." Cadance pressed against the grasp of her husband. "Ready?"

"Ready," he called, sure she was aimed for the task. "Go on."

Cadance didn't shove in, instead working gently forward, letting their parts kiss together and only slowly pierce past those fluttering lips that grasped and pulled at her. "Who's a good girl?" she purred at Umbra beneath her, hugging her firmly from above. "Best part, hm... If it doesn't stick, we'll have to keep..." She pressed an inch. "On..." She drew back but thrust further, working her way inside. "Trying..."

That sounded like the most wonderful problem to have. She was a mare! She was being the most mare one could be, pinned beneath a loved stallion, the two with thoughts of quickened life within her. It was, at the primordial, the most basic essence of being a mare. No slight on the poor mares that couldn't, or maybe just didn't want to do that, but she did, and she was ready!

Cadance pulled Umbra with her hooves, coming in as close as she could and sinking to completion, the two as firmly together as they could be. "You are just as lovely inside as you are on the outside." She nuzzled into the wafting mane of her mare, just to be held in kind by it. "I forget that part." She drew a few inches back to smoothly saw forward. "So... eager to join Luna and Celestia, were you? The animate mane club..."

Shining ran his arcane grasp over the two in their mating dance, petting and stroking them gently. "You two are doing great," he encouraged, perhaps sounding more like an eager coach. "Um, one little thing."

Umbra twitched an ear towards him, so much of her distracted by the wonderful motions being made against her. "What's... that?"

"After this." He worried his hooves together. "No reason we can't do this for fun."

Umbra siezed, just to burst into laughter. "Oh, my... god..." She shook her head firmly. "Silly horse. Yes, of course. I'll torment you after Cadance finishes ravishing a foal into me."

"Wait your turn," gently sang Cadance between her firm pushes. "It's coming, promise... We both happen to like what you have. You won't be bored for long, I assure." She grit her teeth against the building tension. "I feel... close... Mmm, damn new... parts..." She tried to hold it back, to keep it going, but those were entirely foreign sensations, at least for her to experience firsthoof. She was losing grip quickly. "It's coming."

"No, you are," chuckled out Umbra before a moan drove her joke from her. But then, she felt it. She'd felt it before, and yet, it seemed new. Warmth spreading through her insides, but it wasn't just that. She could imagine Cadance atop her, completed in some new way, hear their gasping moan, their desperate clutching. Umbra could imagine that spark, the fire that would catch inside her and start a new thing. The fantasy rolled over her, twitching and squeaking as she fell headfirst into female completion.

But it wasn't the end of their session, soft kisses and nuzzles making her twitch at the new sensations. "W-wha..." She craked open an eye to see Shining nuzzling against her, working deeper into her pelt. "Lovely boy."

"He is," Cadance sighed out, sliding back to her hooves. "But he isn't wrong. This isn't over." She bit at Umbra's rump. "You are more than a place to plant a seed! I won't let you start thinking that."

Umbra started with a jerk. "What?" But the question came quickly as the two diarchs pressed against her front front and back, soft kisses and gentle nuzzles drawing the warmth from her. "This... This is..." Kinda great? That felt lame. There had to be a better way to phrase that. She stepped from hoof to hoof slowly as they explored her. "I..."

Shining stood up to kiss her under the chin. "I love you."

So flat, so direct. Umbra felt as if she had been slapped with it. "I..." She grabbed him, hoof to either of his cheeks. "I'm a mess, but I'm learning to like this, a lot..." She pressed her nose to his, hooves falling. "How can I return the favor?"

"You can stop thinking about that." Cadance nipped at the base of Umbra's tail, at her dock. "You can enjoy what we're doing and make little sounds. Each gasp we get from you tells us we're doing it right."

Umbra delivered a shallow gasp as if demanded. "Unfair!" But she was caught between two loving ponies. "Un... fair." She half-lid her eyes, tail swaying just over Cadance's snout, to jump as a wet tongue pressed against her sensitive doughnut. "Ee," she squeaked, blushing anew. "I want a turn!" Her horn glowed as she took firm hold of Shining across his form.

"A turn at what, exactly?" He didn't resist the grasp, calming to let her speak. "This is about all of us, so go ahead."

"Now... Not entirely true." She reached up a hind hoof to poke at Cadance. "This one here has dibs on where the foals come from until we know it stuck. But there is more than one way to make a male happy."

Shining flipped an ear back. "Is that... so? What sort of ways?"

"As if you don't know." Umbra tugged him closer, biting into his shoulder with her sharp umbrum teeth. "Like it or not, besides being close to the ones you like, males have this big stick that they love playing with."

Cadance burst into giggles. "One of their favorite things." She moved up along Umbra, rubbing against her. "We don't want him to think we don't like it too."

"Love it." Umbra licked over her lips. "Willing to prove it."

"Prove it... how?" Shining was tense with eagerness, but still, other than his swaying tail behind him.

Umbra's horn glowed all the brighter as she forced him to kneel and slowly roll over. "You are mine, right now. Little sun defender. You can't keep the princess of shadows at bay." She loomed over him. "Just a matter of whose tongue is going where, really..."

Shining grew brighter as the naughty speak became more blunt. "I thought it was my turn."

"I did say that," sighed Umbra in defeat. "Promises are promises." She sank, not putting her honeypot near him, instead where she could coil down and nudge in, nuzzling the side of his boated sheath and its heavy staff. "I never really had time to just... enjoy this. Only what cadance shared, and that isn't the same thing."

Shining ran his hooves across Umbra's undercarriage, shivering at the touches. "No... no it isn't... Um, speaking of... Mmm, that..." His member twitched hard, a lone spurt of building fluid emerging. "You will be a mom for the first time."

"Thanks for the reminder." She nipped his staff carefully, engulfing it between her lips and drawing it in. There wasn't time for more words, nursing as she was with little lewd noises of suction. It was at that time that Umbra learned what it was to have an equine member across her tongue, flat ended and just faintly swollen towards the end with its excitement. It wasn't like a human tool, but it was a fine one, and it belong to a pony she liked. She purred into it, making its owner squirm as she worked deeper into it, using the space her snout provided to take it in easily as her tongue curled and teased at the sensitive length.

"I like what I see..." Cadance petted across the two with softly applied hooves. "Such love..." Her horn glowed as she focused on the thread between them, growing it rapidly until the two had little room for her, but she had done it on purpose, not being upset or surprised by it. "Drink it in..."

The pleasure she was bringing was, itself, becoming a point of delight. Just knowing what wonders she was bringing to the pony that meant so much made it rebound on her and it was her everything. She grasped with her magic, playing with his heavy seed-filled orbs. Just playing with them made her think of his masculine traits, so strong, defensive, stout... He was also a nerd, but she liked that part too. She worked them in time with her slow rocking motions, sinking him in and across her tongue. There was no room for words, just the adoring motions.

Umbra jumped in surprise at a new sensation. Shining couldn't quite reach her, all the way back there, but he found another spot that only mares hade. Stallions, unlike humans, had no teats. Mares did, and he gently licked and pulled at hers, making her squirm with louder groans with each motion. Their pleasure had formed a full loop, feeding into one another.

Free of her own distractions, Cadance focused on them, keeping their attentions turned on one another. "What is your favorite part of Shining Armor?"

Umbra's reply was muffled by the turgid length in her mouth, if it even was words. Few could hope to say. But she did know that Shining was tripping over the finish line. His shaft was swelling against her, preparing for that final moment. Umbra sealed her lips and pulled with her tongue, roughly emulating the loving embrace of a mare's passage as it reached its peak stiffness and exploded, each surge of fluid flowing up the pole to splash across her waiting tongue.

She swallowed as quickly as she could, gulping it down like the protein shake it was. Just as she thought she was reaching her limit, it petered to a stop, leaving her with the softening example of his passion. She smooched it, nuzzling back away from it. "Damned stallion... Thank you."

"You're welcome," he got out between gulps for air. "Um..." He looked over at the smiling Cadance, trying to return the gesture with only middling success. "You alright?"

"Watching that was fun." She rose to her hooves. "I just feel a little awkward."

[end clop]

Cadance colored in a subtly different way, not of fatigue or working herself up. "I... didn't expect that to end so swiftly."

Shining snorted at that. "Easy to say, not to do." He grabbed a towel and got to wiping down both of them. "How do you feel, Umbra? Too short?"

"N-no?" The whole focus on Cadance had faded entirely. It was fading during the act, with the distraction the act itself provided. "No. I feel... pretty damned fine..." Umbra shook herself to the limit allowed in that stance. "Um... Let's clean up, then we can talk and maybe sleep and do other things married people do at night?"

"That sounds lovely." Cadance smooched Umbra on the back of the head and slipped to the floor carefully. "Congratulations."

Umbra perked an ear. "What am I being congratulated for?"

"I could be wrong." Cadance waved a hoof over Umbra's form, her own returned to its usual female lines. "But you couldn't be before. Now you are one. You are a pony that is making other ponies. Congratulations."

"I'm a breeder," laughed out Umbra, realizing what Cadance was getting at. "Oh no..." She accepted a glass Shining was offering and swigged half of it in a hurry. "Oh, thank you." She went for a kiss and got one, sharing with Shining. "You were very polite and helpful. I know that didn't have a lot for you, which makes it even better."

"Hey." Shining tapped his horn against Umbra's. "Two ponies I happen to like a lot were sharing a special moment. There was plenty for me." He sat and crossed his arms. "Besides, for one, you did give me something, and we just went over it. Not like there won't be other things later. Playing support one time won't kill me." He threw the towel into the waiting hamper. "Bath?"

Cadance pricked at that. "Excellent idea. Umbra, you haven't experienced the joy of having a bath attached to your bedroom. Come along, time to cleanse ourselves." She led the short way to the waiting bath. "Just hop in and enjoy yourself. No awkward steps down a hallway or three."

Umbra sank into the water, placing her tiara aside. Her mane went limp without that. With soft splashes, two others joined her. "Oh, thought." She turned in the water, enjoying its warmth. "Was the rest of my family told about this move?"

Shining thrust a hoof out of the water. "I made sure they knew." His horn glowed as he grabbed a bottle of shampoo. "Now, how about we get to the lather." Both mares giggled, but didn't fight the offer for a good, clean, time.

The next day, Umbra sat in the throneroom. She nodded or shook her head at each request that came to her. She did her best to be an impartial judge, to the limit of such things, to render fair rulings on each that came before her. It seemed to be going well, and it got Cadance a day to herself. Wins all around.

It was also kinda nice, being a queen. Er, princess. Ponies and their queenly aversions... "Next!"

The room grew darker as a familiar figure strode in with a smirk. "We meet again."

Umbra's eyes narrowed as she hopped to her hooves. "Jerk!"

It was the jerk. He had a name, Sombra, if one forgot. "This kingdom was mine, and shall be again. I've been restored to my full power, and your pathetic imitation is no match for it."

Umbra flipped an ear back, wishing a moment she hadn't sent Starlight on home. A helper to blast the jerk woulda been really nice. "I'm not going to just let you do that."

"I wasn't asking." With a toss of his horn, the eyes of several guards went from wary to blank, their will to fight beaten from them in a snap. "I'm taking them, and you. Where's that pink one?"

"You won't need to see her." That was a reminder. Umbra focused on the image of Sombra in all his malicious glory. She shared it across her link, trying to broadcast it as hard as she could. Where he stood, how he stood, and the words he was saying. They needed to know that. "You won't make it past this room." With a great stomp, she summoned a wall of crystals behind him. "You didn't come here to conquer me, you just surrendered to me."

"I think not." He waved at the crystals as they dissolved and shattered. "I was playing with crystals before you even existed. You had me at a disadvantage, wounded and weak as I was. No longer! Feeble shade, bow to your superior and I may allow you to breathe for another day."

Umbra squared her shoulders. "No." A shadow bolt few at her and she dodged Sombra's attack, melting into the ground a moment to re-emerge a few feet away. "No."

"Not a question," sang Sombra as he slid heavy helmets onto the subdued guards. "I am informing you of the reality of things. Capture her." They weren't the only ones, other ponies marching in from outside, all wearing the same ghastly helmets with glowing eyes as they headed straight for Umbra.

"Flash..." She recognized one of them right away. Fighting her former friends and allies felt... "I'll be back." She sent the image of her departing to the others, but did just that, fleeing the scene rather than press the fight.

138 - Gathering Forces

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A thought, a memory. It was almost as if she were remembering something, but it wasn't a memory she had ever had before. North of the arena, in a gap between buildings. "Got it." She flowed through the stuff of shadows, rapidly zipping through the eerily quiet city. How had that jerk taken it over so quickly? Was he really that much more powerful? Were all her victories just the result of how weakened he had become?

It wasn't as if there weren't ponies to see. They weren't hiding. But they were marching in lockstep, most wearing those garish masks that the jerk favored. They were slaves, walking only because he had asked them to. They didn't speak, for their was no need for words aside his. The city was a mockery of its former self.

Umbra emerged from the shadows, but she was still in one. They had shown her an alleyway. In it, Shining, Cadance, and a large tsuki. Cadance was cradling and rocking Flurry Heart close to her body. She and Shining brightened as Umbra emerged and Cadance rushed to greet her. "Thank goodness you got the message, and you're alright."

The tsuki clapped their large paws. "Good! Protector shadow. Fight bad shadow?"

"Tried that" Umbra nosed against Cadance, then Shining. "Sorry... I can't even beleive how much stronger he is this time... It was like I was basically nothing... What do we do?"

Shining forced a smile. "Look... I'm just glad we're all together. This crashed on us all at once... If... Cadance had been on duty..."

Umbra flipped her ears back. Cadance had far fewer escape routes than Umbra did... "That coulda gotten ugly very fast..." Her tail lashed with her agitation as she looked around the gloom of the small alley. "We can't just hide in here... We have to do something!"

"I'm not sure what that would be." Cadance sank, nuzzling into the small warmth of her daughter. "This isn't like anything we had planned for... We could, no, no..."

"Yes?" Umbra took a step in closer. "What are you thinking about?"

"Barely a thought." She waved it away. "The blast of love we did on Chrysalis came without our active... thought, which is to say we have no idea how to do it. Would it work on him? If we could do it, maybe? He's shackled the heart, which may interfere, or may not. We did the first blast before we even got here... And our connection seems to still work."

Shining inclined his head in a toss towards Umbra. "I agree with her. Cowering in an alley isn't going to get us anywhere. What about with the tsuki?"

Umbra crossed her arms before even the tsuki could jump in. "Bad idea. He knows they're there. I bet he's already plotting to casually roll over them. We'd just be putting you two in his path for bad things to happen." She inflated with a deep breath, releasing it in a dry whooshing sigh. "I think we need to admit we're over our heads and get help."

The tsuki looked over the saddened ponies. "Um..." they looked up at him. "Have friends?"

Umbra perked her ears at that. "Friends... Yes. Yes I do." She flashed a dangerous smile. "But... Before we even consider that, where's the rest of my family? Did he capture them too?"

Shining and Cadance shook their heads. They didn't know.

"Ugh." Umbra clopped the side of her head. "Once you get used to the convenience of this necklace, you start missing it. I'm not tied to them that way. School!"

Cadance perked at the sudden shout. "School?"

"My daughter would have been at school, and I know where that is. I'll go check it. Maybe, if I'm lucky, Anik's there too. " Umbra fell back into nothingness, flowing rapidly away.

She peeked out from darkened places, spying when the guards stomped past. The school was quiet, as was most of the city. Would she be there? "Morning," Umbra whispered into the dark, lunging forward when the guards were gone. She reformed inside the building, just to find there was already a pony on top of her. They were a small pony, and a familiar one.

"Mother," spoke Morning in a commanding tone. "You are the princess of this city. I wish to submit a formal complaint."

Umbra grabbed Morning and squeezed her in her magic. "I will gladly hear it, but first, we're leaving."

"What about them, mother?" Morning gestured to the other little foals there, oh, and Anik too. He wasn't hiding in such a cower. He even cast a gentle light across the room, bringing some measure of comfort to the rest.

Umbra's smile grew. "Anik! Get over here." She let her view slide to the small foals. "I... Hm. We don't have a place to bring them. I scarcely have a place for either of you..." Truthfully, she didn't have a place to bring them. Risking her own children was one thing. Risking someone else's? That felt bad... "This is the safest place, staying out of sight."

"Ma'am." Ah, their teacher was there, peeking out from behind their desk. "Are you here to rescue us?"

"Love to... but not yet." Umbra spread her shadow over her family, light and dark. "Please, watch over the rest. I will be back." She fell into the shades, carrying Anik and Morning along with her. She carried her cargo away to the alley... No. A new memory, a flash. They had moved. She pivoted in her shadow swimming, emerging in an abandoned-smelling home. "I didn't know we had extra houses."

Cadance smiled at the Shadowheart family. "Good, you found your children. I would be beside myself if I wasn't sure where Flurry Heart was."

Shining drew back from a window. "Not many... But I remembered this one, just because it's so odd." He huffed softly. "You got your family, good... Now, you were talking about friends?"

The tsuki bobbed his head. "Yes. Good time friends."

"We have friends, close and far." Umbra clapped her hooves together in one firm stroke. "I thought of some just now, actually. Starlight will want to be involved in this, if we can get to her, but, closer... We have other umbrum. They already hate Sombra."

Morning perked, still atop Umbra. "Excellent idea, mother. Their dislike of you pales before their hatred of Sombra. The enemy of our enemies may be of some use."

Cadance seemed to glow at the idea. "Your work in repairing ancient hurts may come through for us. You try to reach them. We--" She waved to Shining and herself. "Will leave. We'll try to get word to Equestria, to warn them, and to request aid." She sighed with a little smile. "This is something my sister-in-law could probably deal with."

"If you're headed that way." She set Morning down on her own hooves. "Look for Starlight. She's been itching for a fight, and this is one of those. She can really let loose on this jerk if she gets up here."

Shining saluted. "You got it. Let's go." He waved Cadance over towards the back and they slipped as carefully as they could out. Umbra only just noticed that the tsuki was gone.

"How did we misplace that?!" She waved at the spot the tsuki had been. "They're huge!"

Anik pointed the way the royal couple had gone. "I saw them leave shortly ahead of the others. They looked like they were trying to be sneaky."

Tsuki would look specifically sneaky when sneaking. Umbra chuckled softly, imagining the expression. "Then they have something in..." She trailed off, a new vision. The two were on the tsuki, bouncing. The vision wasn't clear enough to see where exactly, just the rushing sensation of bouncing up and down on the powerfully leaping rabbit. "They're fine. Let's focus on our own business. Morning."

"Mother?" She looked up at Umbra, stoic and still.

"You get along with the umbrum even better than me. Do you know where they'd be?"

"Aunt is with the tsuki. You sent her."

Umbra clopped a hoof to her face. She had! "Forgot about that. Any still in the city?"

"I can think of a few places to check, mother." She fell away into shadows, proving she could do that too. "Follow me, bring brother."

Umbra gave him a gentle nuzzle as she swept over him, a small wave of shadow that swept him away, the two falling to the same inky depths to follow after Morning through the city. As much as Umbra had tried, many of the umbrum still lived in the less reputable portions of the town.

There were fewer guards in sight there. The quiet was less complete, but even there, it was hushed. Morning headed to what could have been mistaken for a subway entrance, if the Crystal Empire had any subways. They descended to a basement and reformed just in front of a door, heavy and metal. "Here." Morning pointed at it. "The umbrum who resides here prefers solitude. They do not like Sombra, to put it mildly."

Anik went for the door. "Then we'll offer them what they want."

A slit in the door slid open with a dull metal thump. "What do I want?" demanded a dark voice from the shadows beyond. "What do we have here...?" Eyes came into view, scowling. "A little son. Ugh, Sombra's cousin... Morning. Hello, Morning. I told you not to come around."

"You did." Morning turned to face the stairs heading up. "Sombra has arrived."

"What?!"

Umbra dared a step forward. "It's true. The jerk has returned, and he's worse than ever before."

"There goes the neighborhood..." The slit shut with a clang.

The three watched the door, sharing uncertain looks. The slit opened a few moments later. "Why are you still here?"

Morning pointed up the stairs. "It is time to show Sombra the true nightmare of umbrum. He betrayed us, it's long past time for some revenge when he least expects it."

A low dark chuckle came from that concealed figure. "I like the way you put that... But I'm not dumb. He isn't alone. Just like last time, he's surrounded himself with an army of controlled ponies. Those helmets, you saw them, right?" The family nodded. "Good, and bad. The helmets don't leave room for nightmares. How do we fight what isn't thinking?"

Umbra raised a hoof. "Violence?"

The slit closed.

The door opened a crack. "Come in."

They stepped inside, but a hoof was on Anik's shoulder as he stepped across the barrier. "No light!" hissed that voice. "I won't have you glowing in my space..." He shoved the door shut behind them. "Violence... I didn't think you had it in you. Yes, yes... I know you killed a great number of us, but only because we pressed the issue. We made it hardly a choice. It was kill, or be killed..."

Umbra hiked a brow in the gloom. "So, not mad about that?"

"Furious!" His eyes flashed with nightmare shades. "But... it is understandable. What was the other option, roll over and die? You didn't take that, and you had the strength to fight back... And you did, and you won. Congratulations." He flowed around Morning. "Then you took pity on us. You've really let the ponies get to you. But now you would hurt Sombra? I... I don't hate that." His tone implied that not hating something was pretty close to maybe considering liking it.

Umbra nodded as she stood at her full height. "You seem to get the picture. It's time to move, not talk about moving."

"Impatient... The others will need to be informed, little shadow. We can't stomp through the streets, especially not right now. The ponies call you a hero, why did you let this happen to start?"

Umbra sagged back half a step. "I tried fighting. I wasn't strong enough. But I'm not giving up."

"So you turn to us? Hm... delicious."

139 - Dark Federation

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Word was spreading across the city. It wasn't about some grand saving the day, but a chance to exact terrible vengeance on someone who sorely deserved to experience it. Ponies weren't informed, they couldn't help. A shadow had settled over the city. Only shadows were fit for that party. That, or a really big light, and one wasn't volunteering for the job.

Speaking of that, Anik stood beside Umbra. "How can I help? I don't want to do nothing."

Umbra considered her brightest child. "I want you... to gather all the light you can. Just stock it up and have it ready, just in case. Can you do that safely?"

"It's what I normally do." With a smile, he worked on drawing in a bit more over time, increasing that rate. However dark things had become, the sun still cast its light, and Anik would greet the rays with that content expression. "I'm not sure how this will help."

"It's never obvious until it happens." She patted him lightly and gave a furtive look around. The city was falling under His sway. It was quieter by the hour, save the sound of marching soldiers, and even they didn't make sounds besides what they had to, hooves on the ground.

Umbra spotted one pony that was clearly controlled, eyes shining green, but they didn't have a mask, and they weren't marching. They were a mare, foal resting on one arm, other three hooves on the ground. The foal was equally controlled, their expressions blank. But neither were part of the armed forces.

"Twisted..." At least, perhaps, Sombra wasn't ready to use children in his army, or their mothers. That didn't mean he wouldn't control them anyway, just a tool he wouldn't draw out. Until he needed them, or so Umbra reasoned. "The dark power of shadow, right here..." It was everything she had written off, made manifest. It was all the literal reason ponies didn't really like shadow magic.

A hoof settled on her. She jumped, but quickly realized it was Anik. "Mother." He drew her back. "I'm sorry."

"No, sorry." She went with him, back into the shadows. "It just bothers me, a lot... All that work I've been doing, trying to show the kind side of shadow magic."

Anik drew her in for a firm hug. "He is the cruel one, not your magic, mother. The people will still smile, as soon as we let them smile. They won't hate you."

"From your mouth to God's ears." Despite his confusion, she sped up. "We have allies to meet with."

The umbrum of the city were not a vast number. Meeting in what had been a warehouse at some point, now darkened and abandoned, save for the umbrum forms that milled in it. They weren't enough to fight the army on a one to one basic, but that wasn't the way umbrum did their best work anyway. "Fool," muttered Umbra as she reformed on the main stage. "Fellow umbrum. The one I defeated, a fool. He could have won. He could have crushed this city." Dozens of glaring eyes were greeting her. "He called on his umbrum to betray themselves."

One umbrum thrust a hoof at Umbra. "What are you getting on about? We know you won, stop rubbing it in!"

"I only won because the loser forgot himself." Umbra paced slowly across the stage. "He thought he had the numbers, and with it, could win from the front. But we... are umbrum. We are nightmares, given form." She turned to them with a sharpened grin. "Why attack from the front? We know. We know his soldiers don't dream. They lack fear. So ignore them. Sombra isn't immune. For all his soldiers, he's given us exactly one target."

Morning Dew rose from the shadows, materializing next to Umbra. "If he falls, it all falls," she shouted out to the crowd. "He has no second in command, his hubris doesn't even allow for the idea. Let's grind his folly in his face and lick his salty tears."

The crowd was growing more interested, grumbling and shouting counter ideas for how they'd make Sombra suffer. Hurting him was an easy motivation for all of them.

"How?" asked one voice of the many. "How will we do it? It's easy to say to do it."

Umbra strode to the front of the stage. "Even Sombra needs his rest. Even we, umbrum, close our eyes from time to time. Our agents--" She paused to incline her head at a grinning umbrum near the front of the crowd. "Have found his resting place. He thinks he's secure, and he is... from ponies. We'll remind him that we aren't those, but we won't give him much chance to change his mind or his tactics, will we?" The crowd roared in the negative. "We will flow as shadows, past his defenses. We will throw aside his paltry nightmares, for what is one tremor against the mighty wave? We will attack him, alone, unguarded."

For all their rough edges, the lines had been drawn. They didn't speak of what could go wrong. they wanted to know what needed to be done. They swarmed the stage, leering grins and scowling eyes as they looked over the plans and maps. The time to leave was passing. Those who didn't plan to take part were free to leave, and be known as cowards.

Few took that option.

"How do I help?" Anik was still there, the shadows fleeing the warehouse in all directions. "Can I get past?"

Umbra imagined them, all designed to stop and stymie a pony, which Anik was... "Not easily..."

"Mother."

Umbra coiled her head to Morning. "Hm?"

"He can walk through most of them." She pointed at Anik. "He has no darkness."

Umbra blinked slowly. "Oh... Right! Right..." She remembered her own time with it, the dark corners of her mind, turned against her. "Anik, you lovely bright thing you." She went in to smooch his cheek. "Most of his traps expect some speck of dirt to cling to and enhance. You, lovely thing, are spotless."

Anik smiled at the praise, even if some confusion was there. "I try to be clean, mother. Um... So I can come with you?"

"You can." She spread her wings. "But let us go ahead. Stay a step behind us." She fell to shadow, drawing Anik along. Morning dived after her and they swam away.

Filled with confidence, the umbrum swarmed on Sombra's resting place, when the palace was at its maximum stillness. That took some doing, figuring out when that was. But he had one weakness, he was, himself, a loud thing. He loved to boast and command and generally make a fuss. They waited until the echoes of his various shouts died down, and made their move.

There were doors, easily slid under and past. There were gates, even easier. But there was also an enchanted gate. Umbra had seen the like, its enchanted jewel embedded above. "Nightmare lock." She directed a hoof at it. "Open the door, welcome to nightmare town. I bet it also tells him someone opened the thing."

Morning shoved against Anik. "Your turn."

Anik looked to the many umbrum that looked at him impatiently. Not the most supportive of crowds. "If I can help..." He went for the door and grabbed the handle in his teeth. The gem flared with dark shades, reaching for the darkest recesses of his mind.

Anik was trudging through the endless gloom of his world. He would survive, until he failed that. It was cold and he was alone. But he wasn't alone. There was one other creature there. He sat down at a miserable fire, preparing to cook his final meal, and she emerged from the shade to sit next to him. They talked, and he smiled.

He might die... But he wouldn't be alone.

Anik started in place, roused from his nightmare to throw open the door. Umbrum swarmed past him in a tide of shadows, not waiting even a moment.

Umbra closed with him, not rushing past. "That looked like it hurt... You alright?"

"You saved me." He touched noses with her. "Then and now. I am fine, mother. Hm, but did that mean an alarm happened?"

"Maybe." She curled her wings around Anik and Morning, falling to shadow. "No time to run away."

"You dare?!" bellowed the dark overlord, swatting at the swarming umbrum that swirled in his chamber. "This is my kingdom! Mine!"

Umbra and her family popped free of the shadows. "You could have won this." She gestured at the door as it closed and sealed itself over with layers of crystals. "Easily."

Sombra clopped his forehooves down, sending a wave of shadow in all directions powerfully enough to slam the umbrum, Umbra and Morning included, against the nearest wall. "As if you've won. Little fools, you've just made it easier for me to find you. I will enjoy this."

But the wave was a singular event. The umbrum were quickly recovering. Sombra stomped one flat, dispersing the shadow to nothing. Another umbrum howled in fury, melting over Sombra's form.

"Pleased." Sombra peeled the shadow away and hurled it across the room. "As if my mind were open to such paltry tricks."

"I expected better of you." A pony, female, jeweled as a monarch. "Sombra... Is this what you've fallen to?"

"Amo...re..." Umbra scowled at the vision before him. "Trickery! Begone." He fired dark and terrible magic through her, but she was behind him, reaching to rest a hoof on his side.

"You were such a gentle foal," she whispered. "I saw such a bright future ahead of you."

"Lies!" He trembled with gathering power. "She is dead, and the last scrap of light with it. This world will know nothing but the pitchest of darkness, under my hooves!"

Umbra plunged the room into darkness, even the glow of her horn submerged in the inkiness.

"What is this?" Sombra glowered, a thing he had practice with. "I am a creature of the darkness. Do you think this frightens me?"

"Yes." Amore stepped from the gloom, shining gently in all directions. The darkness couldn't touch her and her pervasive glow. "Sombra... It's not too late."

Sombra directed a bolt of deadly energy at the mare. "Begone, false creature!" But the bolt couldn't quite pierce that light and it only got brighter by the moment. "What trickery is this?!"

An umbrum grabbed him at the shoulder. "Fool! There's a reason we sent you, little foal, to take care of this. None of us were stupid enough to face that mare."

Sombra took an unsure step back as Amore approached. "You died..."

"There is light ahead of you, if you accept it." Amore took a step forward, a little smile on her snout. "This cycle of pain doesn't have to continue." The umbrum swirled away from Amore, as if not daring to approach her.

Umbra's horn glowed, but she remained still, watching.

"You started this," Sombra hissed, scowling at her, but not backing away or approaching. "You could have saved me..."

"I died for it." Amore rose a hoof to her chest. "You died for your mistakes. We have paid the final price. Let it be done."

"I will not surrender!" he roared, tense as she arrived within a foot of him. "Soft mare, I am the ruler. Me! I have taken your empire, and soon, the world entire." He threw a hoof wide, laughing wildly. "None will escape me! You." He took a strong step forward. "We'll start with you. If you refuse to die, you will be mine. All good kings need a queen, and you are right there... Step aside, let me clear the room, then we can speak of our wedding." Laughing maniacally, he turned his attention on the circling umbrum. "Time to take out the trash."

140 - Come Towards the Light

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Sombra cut across the room with brilliantly malignant magic. An umbrum would have been caught if not for the sudden pane of shadow that absorbed the fury for just an instant, long enough for the target to move past. Umbra snorted with the exertion, scowling at the other shadow wizard that seemed so powerful. All her training felt petty in comparison.

"You are better than this." Amore moved to stand at his side. "I know you are. The cycle of hurting and being hurt must draw to a close, Sombra."

Sombra threw a hoof over her, bringing down his leg and with it, her, tightly to his side. "Be quiet and watch as I put this battle to rest." He fixed his eyes on Umbra. "But, first, we take care of their little 'leader'. Little pretender..."

He directed his horn at her, unleashing a nightmare of power, more than he had at any other single umbrum. His lethal intent was naked for all the room to see. It raced and streaked across that chamber, just to fade impotently away with a spreading sphere of light that expanded at a speed that could match shadow, light. The mare he had taken hold of burned like holding the sun itself.

Her fur melted away, the umbrum disguise unable to hold itself together as Anik allowed all the light he had stored free in a titanic explosive rush of light in all directions. Dawn had arrived, and none could stop it. Sombra wailed in agony, awkwardly stepping away from the suddenly agonizing mare. "B-Betrayer!"

"You had your chance, like the last lights of the day," spoke Anik gently, speaking his sing-song poem. "You could have held it, and been held, loved. You threw it aside, and know only pain. A choice, made by you, suffered by you." He took a step towards the reeling Sombra, focusing the light towards him with that passive look of almost pity. "You could have lived with us. Instead, you will die with us."

The umbrum howled with jeering delight at his pain, even if the light was far from comfortable for them. Even Umbra, who was already a day-liver by habit, squinted and held up an arm to ward some of the light away. Still, she could feel it. Anik was putting his all into it, but his all was running low rapidly. She willed her tiara free and zipped it over to him, settling it between his fuzzy ears.

The glow regained its flagging intensity as his mane wafted and waved with a life of its own. Anik fell to a knee, the glow petering out sharply. "All... out..."

But there wasn't a Sombra left to rejoice at this, only a shadow left behind as if where he stood he faced a nuclear explosion.

The room exploded in cheers and cries of victory. They had won over the dread lord.

"Dang it." Stepping out of nowhere, Discord scowled at the lot of them. "Ruined the whole thing."

Umbra raised a brow at the strange creature that was Discord. "Pardon me? We just saved the Crystal Empire."

"Not how that was supposed to happen. Ugh. This is what I get for having plans... At least the next part is far away from you." He jabbed Umbra on the snout with a finger. "So you can just stay out of it. It would have been nice for you, you know. Could have re-united with Starlight, been brainwashed together. Real memories..."

He waved at the swirling Umbrum and the exhausted Anik. "But you get them instead, hope it was worth it. I swear." He vanished with a puff of annoyed smoke.

Umbra shook her head at where the chaos spirit had been. She raised a hoof to her necklace and focused on the vision of Sombra's defeat. "I've told the others, so they can come home. Anik, are you alright?"

"He's fine," assured Morning, patting her tired brother. "He will require rest. Nice job, I hated it."

Anik chuckled softly at that contradicting report. "Did we win?"

"We won." She directed a hoof at the burn mark left of Sombra. "There is nothing remaining of him." She walked towards her mother with a cocked brow. "What was that about? Who was that? Should we be planning their destruction?"

"Tempting... But I don't know them? I don't make it a habit of destructing people I don't even know, at least basically. Everyone, thank you." She dipped her head at the umbrum as her tiara slid into place under her magic's influence. "I have to recharge this... But worth it."

"You owe us," demanded one umbrum, lowering just in front of her. "We lost some good umbrum today. That wasn't an easy battle."

"But we won," howled another, thumping their chest and looking triumphant. "Take that, traitor."

Umbra nodded at the irate umbrum. "I do owe you one. The entire city owes you one, and I'll let them know. You're all heroes today."

"Ew." One umbrum stuck out her tongue. "Do we have to be?"

Morning shook her head languidly. "I'm afraid that's already been done. Mother, may I return to class?"

Umbra blinked. "Oh, yes, of course... You want to, after all that, today?"

"Why wouldn't I?" Showing no emotional baggage from the battle, Morning melted into shadow and fled towards some education.

"I... Hm." Umbra shook her head slowly. "Not sure the rest of her class will be as eager to pick up where they left off. Anik?" She went to his side. "How are you feeling?"

"Tired." He sat up, but didn't stand. "Very tired, but satisfied, mother. We won." He smirked softly. "I lied, but it was the right kind of lie at the right time, I think. I meant what I said. If he had seen sense, I would have defended him, with my life if needed."

Umbra kissed him on his forehead. "I believe that. I would have stood next to you, if that happened. Even that Jerk deserves that much, if he managed to see sense."

"I can't even believe it." An umbrum fled the sappy feelings, back to their dark hiding place.

Umbra snickered at the disgusted shadowling. "Nice job, by the way. I didn't know you were such an actor."

"I don't think I am." Anik rose slowly to his hooves. "I could feel her, Amore, in the shadows that hid me. It was like she was all around, hugging me as I spoke."

Umbra blinked with obvious surprise. "Wow, intense. Did... it feel funny? You alright?"

"Very odd." He went for a nuzzle. "But I feel fine. Just tired, really... I could use a nice, long, sunbath."

Umbra made gentle shooing motions with her hooves. "Then you do that. Go spread out somewhere nice and sunny and don't move until you feel like it. You earned the rest of the day off at least." She started for the door. "I'm going to check how the city's doing."

Umbra emerged into the castle proper to find guards looking dizzy and confused. They had taken off their helmets, the ones given by Sombra. Umbra casually collected them on the way past, creating a pile of the things to be disposed of later. "Ma'am!" One guard rushed her. "Apologies, ma'am, but where are the other? Where is Shining Armor and Princess Cadance? I'm glad to see you, ma'am, but do you know where the others are?"

She put a hoof on the worried guard's shoulder. "Deep breath. They're safe. They were going to get help, but things are resolved. Expect them to return soonish. They're safe."

"Safe..." The guard let out a releived sigh, deflating with the force of it. "Thank harmony... You're in charge, ma'am." There was not a single other pony that could take the job. "Shall I see you to the throne room, ma'am?"

Umbra frowned at the thought. "The city... Fine..." She had to be a source of stability. A lot of ponies were confused. "But my first order is coming before we get there. All guards are to scout the city and look for anyone, pony or not--"

"Creature?"

"Yes, um, anycreature. Find any that need help and give them that help. There are a lot of traumatized people out there that need an understanding presence right now. Be that. If a guard feels they are that, say so. No working in suffering silence."

"Ma'am!" He saluted sharply and strode off to see her will done.

Umbra strode into the throne room and sank onto the comfy chair of dominion. "The odds are low, but are there any petitioners? I am ready to see them."

A guard at the door shook her head. "It's late, ma'am. There are no petitioners, ma'am." She rubbed a cheek. "Permission to speak, ma'am?"

"You're already speaking." Umbra smiled at the guard. "What's on your mind?"

"Ma'am." She dipped her head at Umbra. "Thank you for being here. Do you know what happened? I feel like I... lost a few days..." A few mumbles of other guards rose, that feeling far from unique to her. "Did we do something wrong, ma'am?"

Umbra snorted. "That jerk... Sombra returned." Gasps rose. "But was defeated... He is now destroyed, for real this time." She clopped a hoof down. "The umbrum pressed him into a corner, and Anik finished him off. It was a brave display all around. A few umbrum paid the final price to see it done, but they did it without hesitation."

A hush settled, glances shared. The mare guard raised a hoof. "Ma'am... I have so many questions." The rippled of noise echoed that others felt the same way.

"Shadow." Umbra rose to her hooves, standing on the throne. "It has no feelings. It just is what it is. Those that use it, or even come from it, can turn it to good ends, or bad ones. Anik, a pony of light, can use his light for good, or for bad. Today, shadow and light came together. They unified, to banish evil, and welcome good back to the empire. " She sat with a thump. "One shadow chased another, and the coming of the dawn saw the more wicked of the two melt away." She flashed a smile. "Anik is rubbing off on me. The day is safe, and our homes are safe." A cheer exploded through the throne room with claps and stomps.

"Sorry." One guard stepped forward, his head low. "I only remember it a little... But I saw your face, and you looked... I wasn't helping. What did I do?"

Umbra flicked her ears back at Flash Sentry. "It wasn't your fault. All of you. Every single one of you." She pointed at the base of her throne. "If you feel guilty, come here." Soon she had six guards looking equally miserable. "You did nothing wrong." She stepped down from the throne. "It was my fault. I promised to guard you from shadows, but I couldn't do it alone."

"Ma'am!" squeaked one of the six, a mare guard. "You're not a guard."

Umbra raised a brow. "I'm sorry, when did that ever stop me from entering battle? For that matter, Shining Armor, or Cadance! Sorry for being such a huge pain, but the royal family around these parts can and will get hip-deep in trouble." She smiled gently at the six. "And that's why we're glad we have you around." She spread her wings. "You did nothing wrong."

She spread her wings and stepped in, wrapping those wings around her worried guards. "This fight was beyond you. It was beyond me too. We needed help. That's why Shining and Cadance aren't here. They ran to get more help. Shadow and Light came together to put Sombra down for good." She stepped back. "And we, all of us, won."

Things grew quiet, guards awkwardly accepting the embrace. Things calmed with slow shared breathing.

The battle had ended, and they'd won. "For that matter... Who's the local party planner?" Alas, Pinkie wasn't there to put the job on.

141 - Good Morning

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Umbra awoke, but it was earlier than normal. Still dark and quiet, she slid to her hooves and started for the door with an urgent need. Their maids were sleeping, standing. None of them expected the royal family to be moving at that moment. Umbra hadn't expected herself to either, for that matter. Still, nature was calling, and Umbra wasn't hoping for any messages being left.

She made her way swiftly to the little foal's room and let out a relieved sigh, rubbing her head as she did it. A morning headache? That was... new. New and annoying. Still, she was awake, and didn't feel ready to go to sleep again. With a lash of her tail, she turned her attention to her tiara.

She felt over it with her magic. Magic items didn't come with a little battery meter, so figuring out how filled it was took a bit more effort. Feeling it from the inside, the could feel cool shadow magic flowing through the tiara, each enchantment a subtly different eddy. It felt... 30%? 40%? Somewhere around there. It wasn't critically low, but it would take more time, resting on her head, to be anywhere near comfortably full.

Umbra willed it into place, adjusting it on her head with a nod. It satisfied her with that, at least.

A large figure landed in front of her, paws quiet, but its bulk coming to a stop with a thump. "Good shadow!"

Umbra smiled at the large tsuki. "Hello there." She offered an arm, which was all the invitation needed to start a sudden little wrestling match slash hug, meant with all the adoration the tsuki had on tap, and they tended to carry extra for just such emergencies. "Did you need something, or just to say hi?"

The world swirled around Umbra a moment as she came out of the hug, wobbling in place before she could catch herself. She frowned at the whole thing. "I am just..."

The tsuki grabbed her, but didn't hug or wrestle, instead just holding her gently until things calmed down.

"Thanks..." Umbra shook her head, which only made it worse for a moment. "I am not at my best today, it seems. I meant it though, need anything?"

The tsuki sat back on their considerable haunches. "Good shadow up early, wanted say hi." They waved, as if the hello wasn't finished being given. "Help?"

"I can help, what with?"

The tsuki shook their head. "Not help me." They pointed at Umbra. "Help."

"Oh." That made a sense, when she stopped to think about it. "But I'm alright, just a little dizziness. I should get back to work." The two exchanged one last wave and she went on towards the throne room to take a turn with any early risers that might have wanted a royal ear bent towards them.

She settled on the throne and waved for things to begin. She had a job, and she would see it done.

It was a shame she had to call breaks every petitioner or two. But she was seeing them. Every pony she spoke to was one less Cadance had to deal with, so she knew she was helping, even if she felt like she wasn't going as quickly as she normally did.

"Go to bed." Cadance arrived, glaring daggers at Umbra. "Why are you forcing yourself to work?"

Umbra perked her ears at the outcry. "Because I want to help? I'm princess too. You shouldn't have to do all the work."

Cadance closed, expression lightening to a gentle smile. "I appreciate the idea, truly and completely, but you have a very good excuse to not be sitting on that throne right now."

"I do?" Umbra stood as Cadance came, stepping off to make room for the princess that clearly wanted the spot. "What reason is that?"

Cadance applied a hoof to her face. "Do I need to spell it out?" She smooched Umbra's cheek on the way up to her seat. "You are pregnant. You are already experiencing the splendors of morning sickness. You, should be resting. Instead, here you are. Don't get me wrong. I adore that you're so dedicated to me and our country, but I wouldn't be able to forgive myself if I let you keep going. Off with you."

Properly scolded and dismissed, Umbra tried to stride off with her dignity intact. "Wonder whose fault this is," she grumbled on the way. "How did she know?" She felt her tiara with her magic. No, the block was still turned on. She wasn't broadcasting her bodily sensations, and yet... Cadance had known before even entering the room.

"Morning." There was Shining Armor, looking sleepy. It was early yet. "Did Cadance find you?"

"She did, and she threw me off the throne." Umbra snorted softly. "How did she know?"

Shining chuckled at that. "The guards are whispering about you. They told us, and she took off."

Umbra buried her face in both hooves. "Oh..." All her little bathroom breaks and dizzy spells had not been concealed nearly as well as she had hoped. "I want to help..."

"Umbra." He touched noses with her. "You're making an heir. That rates as pretty helpful, last I checked. We're all doing our part. For you, right now, that means taking care of yourself." He chuckled softly. "Actually, that's part of our job every day. If we look awful, it sends bad signals to everypony else."

Umbra flipped an ear back. "Right... Right. Can't go making them all think... Yeah, that's bad." She let out a slow deflating sigh. "And you want to try this? Are you sure? It's really not fun. Ugh! I didn't even realize, and I feel so dumb right now..." Of course it was her pregnancy, she realized looking back on it.

"It isn't?"

Umbra blinked at Shining. "Is that a serious question?"

"Yes?" Shining rubbed at the back of his head. "Sorry? I don't know... I know there's work involved... But, that never scared me away before."

"Precious child." Umbra cupped his cheeks in her hooves. "Cadance must be a superhero, to not show you more of how this feels just by going through it. Didn't you feel it? She was sharing things back then, wasn't she?"

Shining self-consciously shuffled in place.. "Y-yes, but it was different, for her..." He moved in aside Umbra. "Why don't we visit the doctor, just to be sure you're alright."

"Really?" Umbra didn't fight being pointed in the direction of the doctor. She'd been there before a few times. "This is how I heard it usually goes." But that had been human females. Were pony females different? She was one of those! Wait, no... She was an umbrum. How did umbrum females do it? Who could she even ask?

The doctor seemed a fine place to start. The smiling stallion waved the two of them in. "Good morning, Sir, Your Highness. What brings you here today?"

Shining inclined his head at Umbra. "She's pregnant." Right to the point there. "And feeling a bit icky. We're just making sure it's nothing unusual."

"I see." Not that he could literally see any of that. "Ma'am." He waved Umbra forward. "Pardon me for asking, but I've heard gossip, and that's hardly the way to run a medical practice. What is your species?"

Umbra smiled at that. "Thank you for just asking that." She curled a hoof at herself. "I am an umbrum, creature of shadows and nightmares, but I come in peace."

"I don't doubt it." He set a hoof on her shoulder. "You're a hero, ma'am. Living proof that a creature is more than the species they were born as." He leaned a bit to the left. "Pardon me for asking further... But the father. Are they an umbrum as well?"

Umbra colored weakly. Was it alright to say who it was? She didn't want ponies to imagine very improper things of Cadance. Ah ha! She could just jump on that grenade herself. "I used umbrum magic." She whirled her hooves in the air. "I took Cadance's spark and lit the fire that burns in me." There, dramatic, mysterious, and not nearly as lewd as the reality of things. "So a pony would be the 'father'."

Shining looked up and away, speaking nothing on the matter.

The doctor nodded as if this were a simple fact. "I see. Well, then we have one reason this may be more difficult for you. Cross-species children can be... tricky. Carrying them to completion is just one challenge, for the child and the mother."

Umbra paled at the news. "Are they doomed?! Did I..."

The doctor caught her from falling back to her haunches. "Easy there. The odds have fallen from near 100% success to 80%. Uncomfortably low, but still very high. Please, don't lose hope."

Umbra blinked as numbers were put to it. "80% That's... still pretty good actually..." The rules of the pony world were not those of Earth. "You made it sound like it was a lot lower."

"My apologies." He dipped his head low. "But it does explain your state. Your body is working overtime to make your new child comfortable."

Umbra perked her ears up. "What's different than... say a mother pony with theirs?"

He ran a hoof gently along her side. "Each mother of any species has a perfect home for a growing member of their own species. Your womb is an umbrum room. Perfectly dark, brooding with the shadow magic that would keep an umbrum child safe and foster their growth. But, your child isn't a standard umbrum. Their needs are different."

"Different, right?" Umbra curled to look at her own side, where a child was growing. "But I can, and am, adjusting?"

"Exactly. If you weren't, you'd feel fine, but the child wouldn't be... You are suffering because your body is doing what it has to do. You both want this child to grow strong and well."

Umbra felt her tension fading away. "That's... That's really nice, actually." She rubbed the hard-working womb through her side. "You keep that up. We want a happy little foal."

Shining leaned against her, fur rubbing against hers. "So, they're all healthy?"

"Let's actually do the examination." He made a soft shooing motion at Shining. "Mares prefer their privacy for this."

Shining started. "Oh! Sorry... Umbra?"

"He can stay, if he wants." Umbra touched her nose to his cheek. "We are married, and he's curious."

"With your leave." He got to inspecting her. He checked her front and back and top and bottom. "You seem to be heathy, for the most part. Minus the adjustment discomforts. Being a hybrid child, I would keep an eye out for other odd reactions. Your body is, in a way, becoming more pony-like, but it may do so in ways that confuse even other ponies. It shouldn't be of any harm to you, and, presuming you take care of yourself, it will largely revert afterwards."

Umbra chuckled at the thought. "I thought I was already pretty... pony-like." She flicked an ear that was perfectly pony so far as she could tell. "But if it makes them happier, than I'm not arguing it. I surrender to the pony I allowed inside." A thought came to her. "Silly question, but when does a mother pony start being able to make milk bottles?"

The doctor seemed surprised at that. "First time mothers rarely ask about that, and second time mothers already know. Lady Umbra, you are ever the curious one. When the child has arrived, you will be able to feed it."

"That's good." She leaned in at the doctor. "But you avoided the question. When can I start making milk bottles?"

The doctor flipped an ear back. "Oh, um... The literature I've browsed mentioned the earliest a mother did so was a moon after conception. The mother in question had another foal, from a different mother, and stepped up to help feed them. Normally, as I said, the child comes, and the mother produces their first bottle to feed that foal. No... they have not conducted specific studies to tease out exactly how early a mother might force the issue."

Well, that meant Umbra could figure it out herself.

142 - Nourishment

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"Like this." She swiped the air with a hoof, trying to envision how it felt the first time. No bottle appeared. Was it too early, or did she do it wrong? Ponies didn't talk about it. Ponies didn't write about it. It was just a thing that happened and they all seemed happy with that. They didn't harass any mother pony about it. It wasn't even embarrassing. It was just... assumed. Like... a beating heart.

Nobody thinks about how their hearts beat. It's safely assumed everyone has one of those for as long as they need one. It's only really considered when something goes off. Another automatic organ, doing its part to keep someone alive and well.

Umbra reached back for her midsection, rubbing where she imagined the magic was starting. "Ponies don't get large." Cadance had shown not a single hint until suddenly Flurry was there. Did Umbrum? Did umbrum with a pony hybrid? There were so many questions... And no answers. "This isn't your fault," she whispered to her new child. "I love you, however hard, or not, it is to bring you here." Visions swam in her mind of various half-umbrum, half-pony possibilities awaiting her. Or maybe they'd be mostly one or the other?

"I want to hug them." She hugged herself instead. It was as close as she could get. Whatever was growing in her was, what, just some cells at that point. She remembered the literature on that she had read, so long ago. It was doubling and redoubling, rapidly assembling itself into what could be proper life. "You're working hard too..." She rubbed gently. "I know you are. This isn't just me." She was working. The child was working. They were racing to meet each other.

"Mother?" Anik closed from across the hallway. "Are you alright?"

"No." Umbra nuzzled his cheek. "But I will be. Being a mother is work. I'm not sad, it's just work." She curled her tail to give it a proper flick. "One day, maybe, if you feel like it, you'll go through this with a mare of your own."

Anik inclined an ear. "Oh, that is possible..." It was like he hadn't even considered that option until that moment. "An escaped shadow of a darkened realm, could it be the spark of new light?" Anik wandered off, musing along the way.

Umbra snickered at her child's thoughts, but left him to it. "I hate being off-duty..." She couldn't distract herself with statecraft. She had no big building project to toss herself at either. Her job? Relax and play baby factory. It wasn't as if she didn't want that baby, because she did! It was just the waiting part. Some small part of her wondered at using magic to hurry it along.

"No." That was an awful idea. What if something went wrong? She would be gambling with a life that had barely begun, and for what, her convenience? The price was too high to let her wizardly ways win that argument. She'd have to get way better at magic on living things and processes before she'd feel anywhere near confident enough to try that...

"Umbry!" Shining was waving as he was walking past. "Want to come with me? Going to do some drills."

Umbra hesitated a moment, but she thought it through again. "Actually... Sure." She launched into a trot to join him at his side, slowing to a power walk to match his pace. "What are you torturing them with today?"

"It's not torture," he laughed out. "Just some basic drills. A few laps, a few practices." He nudged against her. "Feeling better? You didn't go to bed."

"I don't want to." She sounded as much like a petulant child as anything else. "I'm already off-duty, on everything... But that doesn't mean I need to lay in bed and do nothing."

"You know yourself better than I do." He sped up, leading the way towards a green lawn of an area where guards were already doing some warmups. "Alright, looks like everypony is here! Let's get started!" He got them into motion, chasing them around the field with almost joyous cries.

"Still a nerd." Umbra sank to her haunches, watching the lot of them go around. Shining was perfectly fit, but remained a nerd. He was living proof that one could be a jock and a nerd a the same time. "Which will you be?" She put a hoof to her belly. "Or neither?" Visions swam of her potential new child. There were infinite possibilities. "Will you get along with Morning?" A new baby sibling could be a trying time... "I should talk to her. Cut that off before it becomes a big issue.

She let out a little sigh, smiling. "I still love you."

"Good." Morning sat beside her, casually having emerged from Umbra's shadow. "Your responsibilities as my parent have not ended."

Umbra perked an ear at Morning. "Were you following me?"

"I was safeguarding you, mother. Your defenses are low due to your current condition." Morning leveled an accusing hoof at Umbra's belly. "This is your fault."

"Are you blaming the child?"

"No." Morning looked up at Umbra. "I'm blaming you. It was through your actions that we are here, mother. You already had an heir. Why did you feel the need to reproduce further?"

Umbra blinked, quiet a moment. "I did?!" she blurt out, breaking the quiet. "Who?"

Morning frowned at her clearly slow mother. "I am your child, am I not? I practice the family craft of shadow magic. Who else would be a suitable heir?"

Umbra leaned in at Morning, trying to touch noses, but Morning stepped back to avoid that. "You're still first in line. New children don't change that. But, ultimately, it is my choice who gets that."

"A choice you should actually make, mother." Morning pointed at herself. "Being first in line means little until you make it official. In writing, preferably, though a public announcement does hold weight."

Umbra lifted her ears up. "You've really thought about this. Most children your age aren't thinking about their parents being dead."

"I am not most children." Morning looked smugly proud of that fact. "Somecreature has to carry the name of the Shadow Hearts forward, some day, or it will be forgotten. Unacceptable."

Umbra got a hoof on Morning's head, ruffling lightly. "I'm happy you're serious about that. That's one thing for me to not worry about. Mmm, you have a point. I should make that clear. Tell you what." She rose to her hooves. "Let's do that now. Writing something is easy enough."

With a pleased, but not smiling, Morning in tow, Umbra set off to the palace, leaving Shining and the guards behind. Umbra went to her room first. "Purple?"

Her maid looked up. "Ma'am? What can I get for you?"

"Who would I go to for official royal paperwork?"

Purple considered that a moment before it seemed to reach her. "Ah, this way." And so she became the leader of their herd, showing them to a room Umbra hadn't visited terribly often. Purple knocked on it. "Umbra Shadowheart here to see you," she called through the crystal door.

"Coming," came the muffled reply. The door swung open, a crystal hoof attached. "Ma'am." The crystal pony one could find at the end of that hoof bowed to Umbra. "How can I be of service, Your Highness?"

Umbra nodded to Purple, then the new pony. "Nice to meet you. I was hoping to get just a little paperwork done. I want to name a line of succession for my house."

Morning pointed at herself. "It's me."

Purple took a step back and pivoted away. "If you need anything else, ma'am. I remain ever available." She got to walking away without a pause.

The new crystal stallion looked quite surprised. "Oh, well, come in." He waved them in and closed the door behind them. "Wow... I haven't had to fill out succession paperwork in so long. I know I have them." He hurried to his desk and began searching cabinets busily. "Should be... Here." He tossed a dusty pile of parchment down and sorted through. "And... No... No.... Yes!" He plucked one out and slapped it down anew. "Let's begin." He grabbed a quill in his mouth and got to scribbling busily. "For one Umbra Shadowheart, co-ruler of the Crystal Empire..."

Umbra raised a hoof. "This doesn't involve the succession of the empire, just the family."

"Yes, yes, of course." He didn't go backwards, just more words. "But properly identifying who we're speaking of is quite critical. A real noble house... And one that cares about succession rights. This is so exciting." He twirled the paper towards Umbra. "If you could place your seal here?"

Seal? Did she have one of those? Umbra's horn flared darkly as a strange pattern of shadows appeared on the parchment. "Will that do?"

"Quite fine." He twirled the paper back to himself, writing busily. "Is this a 100%, or are there conditions I should be made aware of, Your Highness?"

Umbra frowned with thought. "I think..." Morning was gazing at her, full of expectations, but speaking none of them. "The only stipulation I'll put is that while she becomes the head of the house should I pass, any existing members must be cared for with all the power of the house, barring extraordinary circumstances."

Morning huffed softly, but didn't object as the crystal pony noted that down.

"Were you hoping to kick someone out?"

Morning flicked an ear back. "I was more considering the future, mother. You are eager to adopt when you run into anycreature that fits your fancy."

"I've been better about that..." She pointed down to her belly. "They get in by default."

"They do." Morning considered that belly. "But they won't inherit the family." She smiled at that.

"Wicked girl." But Umbra knew that ahead of time. "Need any other signatures?"

"Only one more, possibly." He turned it towards Morning. "Would you like her to sign as a witness and that they are accepting the responsibilities?"

Morning hopped up onto the desk and stomped a hoof down on the line, leaving her mark. "Accepted."

The pony curled up the paper and moved to tuck it away. "I'll keep that safe. We'll hope to not need it for countless moons, but, if we do, it's here, Your Highness. Can I help you with any other administrative tasks?"

Umbra considered that a moment. "I don't think there is... but thank you very much." She smiled down at Morning. "Feeling good?"

"Yes." Morning considered her mother. "Did you know the umbrum have a low fertility rate?"

Umbra's ears jerked upright. "What? Do you mean they... do things less often, or it works out less often, or...? You can't tease me like that!"

Morning started for the door. "Most don't marry, even those that do don't have children often. On the plus-side, child survival rates are very high." She pointed at herself. "Even when all was lost, her child survived."

Umbra thought of that un-seen and unknown umbrum mother, who had produced Morning. "Her child survived... That's kind of deep. I'm going to hope I get to watch my child grow tall and well." They walked along through the halls of the palace. "Is that why there aren't umbrum everywhere, disregarding their lost war. Ponies lost wars too. I think every race on this planet has at least a few times."

Morning hopped up onto Umbra's back. "Since you are making my little sister." She sat atop her mother. "I am available to assist."

Umbra swerved an ear back to her passenger. "In what way are you imagining you'll help?"

She felt a thump, then another. Morning was stomping on her back. "Are you... Trying, mmf, to massage me?"

"Am I not?" She thumped her mother anew. "It's very relaxing, I'm told."

Umbra smiled despite the discomfort. Her daughter was trying to help. That counted...

143 - A Friend in Need

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While Umbra was laid up being an expecting mother, life moved on without her.

Pleased with getting things handled, Morning strode through the halls of the castle with a faintly smug expression. Yes, she was one of the most responsible people in her house, at least if you asked her. A thump beside her announced an arrival. When she turned around to look at Tomtom, she immediately noticed that something was not right. "You're leaking."

Tomtom sniffled miserably, drawing his snot right back into his nose in a loud reverse trumpet. "Sorry." He rubbed at his wet nose with an arm, making a new mess. "Sorry."

Morning Dew recoiled a step from the sniffling, dripping mess that was Tomtom. "What happened to you?" She tried to keep the disgust from her voice.

"Don't feel good," Tomtom mumbled, wiping his nose yet again on his furry arm. His ears were drooping even more than usual and his eyes looked glazed and tired. "Everything hurts."

Morning considered the situation. Her first instinct was to get as far away from the messy tsuki as possible. But something made her pause. She thought back to how nice it had felt when her mother took care of her, even when she wasn't feeling very well.

"Come with me," she said decisively, gently guiding the sniffling Tomtom along. "We need to get you cleaned up."

Morning brought him back to her room and directed him to sit on a stool. She wet a washcloth and began gently dabbing at his nose and face, cleaning away the mess. Tomtom sat there sullenly, too miserable to bounce around like usual.

"What hurts?" Morning asked, trying to channel her mother's compassionate bedside manner.

"Everything," Tomtom repeated with a whimper. "And cold but hot. And nose won't stop." He rubbed at it pathetically.

Morning frowned. She didn't know any healing magic that could help with this. But maybe some tea and rest would help. She tucked Tomtom into her bed, bringing him some tissues and a warm drink. He blew his nose loudly before sipping the tea.

"Try to rest," Morning said, channeling her inner Umbra. "I'll...take care of you." The words felt odd on her tongue, but also satisfying, in their own way.

Tomtom offered her a tiny smile. "Thank you," he said, before dissolving into a fit of wet, hacking coughs. Morning dutifully held the wastebin for him to spit into, trying not to cringe too visibly.

It was going to be a long day. But Morning found herself feeling strangely protective of her miserable friend. Perhaps caring for others wasn't so bad, now and then. She shook her head at that thought. Was she becoming soft? No. She was a true and proper nightmare. Tomtom was a.... useful tool. One should take care of their tools, right? Yes. Yes! She felt confidence rebound in her, sure that she was just being pragmatic.

Of course she'd care for Tomtom. He couldn't assist her in any ventures looking like that. It was just the smart thing to do.

With that sorted out, she visited the kitchen. It was bustling with crystal ponies hurrying from place to place. They ignored her, at least at first. She bounded atop one of the counters and cleared her throat. They were still ignoring her. She scowled at them. Didn't they know who she was. "Excuse me," she barked out, eyes flaring with the trademark shadows of her house.

One chef passing by her paused. "Did you need something, little filly?"

"I'm not a filly..." She wasn't a pony at all, though she looked the part. "I require a bowl of soup. Something good for somecreature that's feeling bad."

The chef blinked in surprise at the imperious filly demanding soup from atop his counter. But once he got past her brusque tone, he recognized Morning Dew as Umbra's daughter.

"Of course, right away miss," he said politely, stepping around her to gather ingredients. Morning watched critically as he chopped vegetables, added broth and spices, and simmered it all into a steaming pot.

"This should help your friend feel better," the chef said, pouring a bowlful and placing it on a tray for her. Morning grudgingly added a "thank you" before exiting the kitchen, not wanting to appear too soft.

She brought the tray back to her room, where Tomtom was still miserably bundled in blankets. At the smell of soup, he managed to sit up with interest. Morning set the tray in front of him, wondering if he was too sick to feed himself. But Tomtom immediately grabbed the spoon in his shaky paw and began slurping down the soup.

"Good?" Morning asked after he'd inhaled half the bowl.

Tomtom nodded, his nose still dripping. "Thank you," he said sincerely before dissolving into more wet coughs. Morning pretended not to notice the fleck of soup that landed on her coat.

She busied herself tidying up while Tomtom finished eating. She still felt strange being so openly caring, but the warm feeling persisted. Perhaps she could get used to this friendship thing after all. Ugh, being raised by a pony-simping umbrum was rubbing off on her! She huffed, but she tended to Tomtom and the space around him. "I have been informed that warm soup freshly made with proper diligence can cure a creature of sickness."

She circled around in front of Tomtom. "Did it work?"

Tomtom inclined his head slowly. "Feel... better, little?" A bowl of soup wouldn't cure him, but being cared for and loved was certainly helping. "Glad have you. Good friend. Best friend." He reached a paw for her, but she danced out of the way.

He was her minion and sometimes mount! Not a friend... Nightmares didn't need friends. "Do you require anything else to aid in your recovery?"

Tomtom considered the question, his nose scrunched in thought. "Story?" he finally said. "Like hearing you talk."

Morning hesitated. She didn't usually tell stories for the sake of it. But if it would help Tomtom rest and recover...

"Alright," she conceded. "I will tell you a story." She thought for a moment before beginning.

"Once upon a time there was a fearsome umbrum sorceress who lived in a dark cavern underground. She was greatly feared by all for her powerful shadow magic and wrathful nature."

Morning gestured dramatically as she wove the tale, shadows swirling around her. Tomtom watched with wide eyes, enraptured.

"But the sorceress was lonely in her cave of darkness. She longed for a friend, but everyone was too afraid of her. One day, a brave young explorer wandered into her lair. He saw through her fearsome appearance and approached her kindly. At first she pushed him away, for she did not understand his friendship. But the explorer persisted, and slowly taught the sorceress that light and kindness can exist even in the darkest places."

Morning's shadows receded as she finished the tale. She peeked at Tomtom, who gave a little clap despite his tiredness. "Good story," he said through a yawn.

Morning felt an odd glimmer of pride. Perhaps there was value in a tale well spun, just as her mother had said. And seeing it lift Tomtom's spirits gave her a surprising feeling of warmth. There were still many things she had to learn about friendship, it seemed.

One thing bothered her. Why did she invent that story of all things? An umbrum sorceress, that was fine. Yes, more tales should be told of such fearsome things! But one that was lonely?! Nightmares didn't get lonely! And getting friends? What was she thinking?

Morning clopped her hooves to the sides of her head, grunting with self-aimed annoyance. What drivel! It had tumbled out of her without thought, and she made a mess of her reputation in the process.

Fortunately, Tomtom was unlikely to spread tales of... Wait... No... He probably would. He would tell other tsuki, and then... No. The reputation of the Shadowhearts was on the line! How did she silence Tomtom? She glared at him, but he had fallen asleep, so comfortable in the nest and care Morning had provided.

Her anger fizzled at the sight of the big rabbit creature sleeping. Her... revenge could wait...

Morning's anger dissipated entirely as she watched Tomtom sleep. He looked so peaceful and content, it was hard to stay upset. With a sigh, she realized she didn't actually want to silence her friend. Even if the story she'd told was embarrassingly sappy.

She supposed there were worse things than having others think she was capable of kindness and friendship. Her mother certainly wouldn't mind. And wasn't part of having a friend trusting them? She would just have to trust that Tomtom wouldn't go around sharing her tale.

Feeling resolved, Morning turned her attention back to caring for her patient. She gently wiped Tomtom's still-drippy nose with a tissue and rewet the cloth on his head to keep him cool. His fever seemed to have gone down a bit thanks to the soup and rest.

Morning found herself smiling faintly as she tended to him. It was actually rather nice, knowing her actions were making him feel better. She was still Morning Dew, umbrum sorceress in training - but perhaps with a bit more heart than she realized. Having Tomtom as a friend was changing her, one small kindness at a time.

"Just don't tell anypony," she whispered to the sleeping tsuki. Her reputation was safe with him, she knew. And the story would make a good reminder that even nightmares could find friendship, now and then.

Ugh, it was still... a bit revolting, but she was Morning Dew, the final dew before the dawn, the darkest time. The coldest touch of an unfeeling grass, brushing with a dire chill on desperate legs. Yes, her name was perfect for her nightmarish self. She was a nightmare! But... who said nightmares couldn't play favorites? Tomtom was hers. She would keep him safe, and woe unto anything that dared to get in the way.

That included nasty colds. Morning nodded with complete confidence. "Nothing can stand in my way." Yes, that was the shadowheart way. Even a sudden army couldn't make them quit!

A pony entered without knocking. It was Anik, her brother, and roommate. He spotted the slumbering Tomtom. "Is he alright?" He could see the snoozing tsuki's nose was running.

Morning tensed sharply. Anik was about to figure out what she was doing! Blasted sun brother... "He is... ill." The truth, naked and exposed. "He is resting here."

"That's nice." He went right up and began fluffing up the blanket, making sure it covered TomTom just right. "Should I get something for him?"

Morning tensed, waiting for Anik's judgment or teasing. But it didn't come. He simply accepted that she was caring for her sick friend without making a big deal out of it.

Morning allowed herself to relax slightly. Perhaps she had misjudged her sunny brother. "I gave him some soup earlier," she said. "It seems to have helped some. But more fluids would likely aid the recovery process." She tried to sound nonchalant.

"On it!" Anik said brightly. He trotted out of the room without another word, returning shortly with a pitcher of water and some juice. He placed them gently on the bedside table within Tomtom's reach.

"There, in case he gets thirsty." He paused, then surprised Morning by pulling her into a quick hug. "You're a good friend," he whispered.

Morning stiffened, then awkwardly patted Anik's back, still not used to such shows of affection. "Well, he's not completely useless," she muttered. For her, that was practically a glowing compliment.

Anik just smiled knowingly as he left. "Let me know if you need anything else!"

Morning watched him go, thoughtful. Perhaps she had been hasty to assume the worst of her sibling. Clearly Anik understood the importance of maintaining one's image and reputation. He hadn't embarrassed her by making a big deal about her nurturing behavior. It seemed she could trust him after all.

Feeling oddly lighter, Morning turned her attention back to her patient. She would never admit it out loud, but having a friend - and a supportive brother - felt pretty nice.

144 - Minor Characters

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Wensley walked down the road of the Crystal Empire. It was a lovely day. The sun was shining, only a few clouds in the sky, and he was fed and rested. He was only missing one thing. It wasn't even a big thing, really, if one got down to thinking about it.

He had lousy luck with the ladies. He rubbed the side of his head. Was that fair to say it like that? He'd just struck out with the two he had come into contact with. One... just kinda fizzled and they went their own ways. The other was abusive and almost killed him. Was it wrong that he still kinda missed 'em both?

"Sorry." He had been spacing out and almost crashed into somepony. "I should pay more attention to what's in fronta me."

The mare he had almost bumped in, but didn't actually crash into seemed far more amused than annoyed. "Got something big on your mind?"

"Huh, uh..." Well, yes, but not something he was sure he should share with a mare he just ran into... Wait? "Haven't we met before?"

Shifting Prism considered Wensley a moment before she clopped a hoof down. "Wensley? Wow, it's been a minute!"

"Shifting... Prism was it?" He smiled at the curious crystal bat before him. He'd never seen a crystal bat pony anywhere else. Shoot, he'd never even seen a not-crysal bat pony anywhere else. She was one of a kind. "Mighty nice runnin' into ya. How are things treatin' ya?"

Shifting Prism smiled at Wensley, pleased he remembered her name. "Things have been pretty good! Busy with my art projects and such. What about you? Staying out of trouble I hope?" She gave him a playful wink.

Wensley chuckled, rubbing the back of his neck. "Well, I try my best. Can't say it's been the smoothest ride lately." His expression turned more serious.

Shifting tilted her head, her ears perking up with concern. She could tell something was bothering him. "Hey, want to take a walk? You can tell me about it."

Wensley nodded and soon they were strolling through the crystal gardens together as he unloaded about his dating woes. Shifting listened intently, offering sympathy and perspective whenever she could.

"But hey, don't lose hope," she said gently. "There's lots of mares out there. Just gotta find the right one who likes you for you."

Wensley smiled, feeling a bit better. "Think yer right. Sure is nice to talk it out." He glanced at his companion. "What about you? Any fellas catch your eye?"

Shifting blushed under her crystalline fur. "Oh, not really." She avoided his gaze. Wensley suddenly wondered if he should've kept his big mouth shut. But it was too late now.

"Well hey, ya never know," he offered awkwardly. "Could be there's someone out there ya just haven't met yet."

Shifting smiled softly. "Maybe." They walked in amiable silence for a while, simply enjoying the day together.

Wensley couldn't keep it entirely to himself. The burning need to know was simply too great. "So... Didn't work out, with--"

She slapped a hoof over his mouth, glaring death at him a moment before it broke. "Sorry, sorry... You didn't do anything wrong... No..." She sighed softly and turned to resume their walk. "I don't want to badmouth her, but she gave me a fine reason to."

Wensley sped up to be at her side. "Hey... Um, Ah know your problems ain't mine. Each pony's got their own... Um, but been in a similar place... Um... If it helps, one of mine was doin' their best to kill me, and ah ain't even lyin'."

Shifting gasped with alarm, circling in front of him. "Are you okay?! What'd she do, grab a knife?!" Her wings were spread wide to either side. "Are you okay?!"

Wensley patted himself down, as if he'd find something that had gone wrong that he'd just missed. "Seem to be alright. She didn't try ta attack me straight like that. It was... complicated. Ah'm sure it was complicated fer you too."

"Yeah..." Shifting squirmed in place. "Yeah. Um... Do you still talk with her, or is she out of your life?"

"We still talk, once in a while." He gestured ahead, prompting the walk to continue. "We weren't good for each other, so we broke up. No hard feelin's."

"Yeah." She shook her head. Had to use more words than that. "It was like that, in a way." She frowned sharply. "Even if mine was all her fault!"

Wensley dared to brush against her side. "Wanna talk about it?"

"If I start, I won't be able to stop." Shifting skewed a tufted ear. "You sure you want to open that bottle?"

"If it makes ya feel better, sure." He considered a moment. "Ah'll tell ya about mine afterwards. Fair trade."

"It's a short story, really..." Despite her former words to the otherwise. Shifting led the way towards a vendor offering snowcones and casually bought one for either of them. She held hers in a wing, chomping the sweet frozen bliss. "Mmm, okay, if you really want to know... We were getting along, really well... We were even talking about gru--Foals." She colored, not with shame, but building anger.

"Then... what happened?" Wensley held his attached to a hoof, but wasn't really eating it. His attention was on Shifting. "Did she forget somethin'?"

"Yes." Shifting chomped and her snowcone was gone, eaten in one massive bite. "She forgot she had a steady girlfriend! She cheated... Found another mare that caught her eye and just went to town... I didn't ask for the specifics." She shuddered lightly. "That isn't my business, just that it happened."

"No!" Wensley recoiled in shocked horror. "Umbra? Really? Wow..." He clopped a hoof to his cheek, snowcone falling to the ground. "I wouldn't guessed it in a thousand moons, uh, not that ah'm doubtin' ya. Ya got no reason to do that."

Shifting kicked a pebble, her ears flattening with remembered hurt. "After everything we'd been through, I never thought she'd do that. But I guess I didn't really know her after all."

Wensley gave her a comforting pat on the back. "Aw, I'm real sorry to hear that. Ain't right, what she did. I know it probably don't help much, but she made a real bad mistake there."

Shifting nodded, taking a deep breath. "You're right, it doesn't change anything. But thanks for listening. I try not to badmouth her too much, but it's hard sometimes."

She managed a little smile. "I do appreciate you being a friend right now. And you're right - the future's looking brighter every day. Especially without her in it!"

Wensley tipped his hat supportively as they continued on. "Now how's about you tell me about those new art pieces? I could go for some nicer topics after all that."

Shifting quirked a little smile. "You're not a gem pony."

"Sure ain't?" He lifted a hoof into view. Nope, he wasn't made of crystals. "But ah can 'ppreciate a pretty one."

She burst into laughter. "Are you trying to be slick? You'll make a mare think things."

He darkened at the accusation. "Um... Not that you aren't a right pretty mare, but ah meant ah can enjoy a well cut gem. How's it goin'?"

Shifting reached back with a wing, drawing out a glittering purple crystal to show off. "Here's one I'm nursing to life."

Wensley paused to clap appreciatively, clopping his hooves together. "That looks right nice." It wasn't done though, even he could see that. "Bet it'll be even better when yer done."

Shifting smiled, though she tucked the crystal away. "It'll become part of a larger piece, when it's ready. Um... You like art?"

"Ah like pretty things. Why shouldn't a pony?" He coughed into a hoof gently. "Now, ah got a question, an' please don't take this the wrong way, ma'am."

Shifting raised a doubting brow high. "Well, now I have to hear. Tell me your question, and if it's dumb, you're getting a wing to the head." It didn't sound like a very serious threat as threats went.

Wensley waved over Shifting's form. "Ain't never seen a crystal bat pony anywhere else afore. Are ya really the only one or am ah jus' really bad at findin'--" He recoiled as Shifting bopped him on the head with a wing, as she had promised. "Sorry!"

"Rude!" She stuck out her tongue at him, but her smile returned with a little giggle. "Silly. Um..." She curled a hoof to her chin. "Um... I'm the only one, I think..."

Shifting shuffled her hooves a bit, looking introspective. "I guess I am pretty unique, being the only crystal bat pony around," she mused.

Wensley nodded, rubbing his head where she had whapped him. "Sure seems that way! Ain't never seen another like ya." He paused, considering his words carefully. "If ya don't mind me askin'...how'd that happen exactly? Were ya just born special or...?"

He trailed off awkwardly, not wanting to pry too much if it was sensitive. But Shifting didn't seem offended by his curiosity.

"To be honest, I'm not really sure," she admitted. "My parents were just normal crystal ponies. The doctors were surprised when I came out looking like this." She flexed her wings.

"They said it was some kind of spontaneous mutation. One-in-a-million chance kinda thing. So I've just always been the odd one out." She shrugged. "I don't mind though. It makes me unique!" She glanced away, knowing it was all a lie.

Wensley smiled warmly. "I'd say so! Ain't nothin' wrong with standin' out from the crowd. And ya seem right at home here in the Crystal Empire, if ya ask me."

Shifting smiled back gratefully. "Yeah, everypony here has been really nice. I do feel at home." She gave him a playful nudge. "And it's nice to have a new friend who doesn't think I'm too weird."

"Not at all!" Wensley said seriously. "Yer special, no doubt about it. But in a good way!" He jumped forward. "If ah had pretty wings like that, ah'd wanna show 'em off, maybe too much. Probably fer the best ah ain't got 'em."

Shifting snickered at the earth pony's feeble attempt at flight. "They're not that pretty." She spread them at the prompting. "What's so great about them?"

"What ain't great about them?" He slowed until he could nose at one of her wings easily. "All soft here." He advanced to get at the bones of her wings. "And fuzzy here. They're great! An' they let ya fly, right? What about 'em ain't kinda great?"

Shifting wriggled her wings, folding them the moment Wensley's face wasn't buried in one of them. "Cut that out! Each kind of pony is special." She tossed her head at Wensley. "That includes earth ponies."

Wensley perked his ears at that. "Really? What's so special 'bout an earth pony that any other pony can't do?"

"For one..." She rolled a hoof in the air, stopping her forward motion. "They're tough." She thumped Wensley in the chest. "You sound like you were being attacked, literally, and here you are, laughing it off. That mighta... It might have ended another pony."

Wensley cringed back at the idea. "Shoot! Um... I'd hope not. Almost glad it went to me in that case..." He glanced around. "But most crystal ponies are earth ponies too, so... Odds are good?"

"Maybe." Shifting prodded him. "But I told you what happened to me. It's your turn. I want to hear as many details as you're alright sharing. What did this mystery pony do, exactly?"

"They weren't a pony, 'xactly..." Wensley awkwardly rubbed a leg with a hoof at the admission. "Don't think less ah me fer it..."

Shifting's ears danced. "Not a pony? You're alright with not-ponies?"

"If they're nice. Um, but this one wasn't even nice, not really... Ah was in a dark place, and she was all too happy to welcome me into the darkness with her."

So he told her of his nightmarish time with an umbrum for a girlfriend.

145 - First Flow

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Umbra chuckled softly. She didn't know the focus had returned to her, she wasn't that meta of a person. What she knew was even more important, from her point of view. There, attached to her right hoof, was her goal. A shiny bottle of milk, conjured wholly from the magic of what made a mother work in that enchanted land. "Finally!"

She brought up the bottle to sniff. It smelled like plastic and milk, neither that shocking an aroma to come from a milk bottle. But it was her bottle. Both the plastic and the milk came from her, conjured wholeclothe by her desire to feed. The trick being she didn't have a foal just yet to offer the bottle to. That left her with a bottle and no destination. "I should have considered that part..."

Wasting the bottle felt, well, wasteful.

She was in her room, which was also Cadance's and Shining's room. The other two were off being busy rulers of the empire. They had sent and almost confined her there. All duties had been cancelled, leaving her with little to do but wait for the big day. "I'm not handicapped..."

Ponies, and apparently umbrum too, just didn't get very wide during the whole process. She could feel pressure, from the inside. A foal was growing, but that pressure just never seemed to reach her sides. She didn't look increasingly pregnant, just felt it.

That didn't help her figure out what to do with that bottle of milk...

Umbra looked at the bottle of milk in her hoof, contemplating her next move. She knew Cadance and Shining Armor wanted her to rest, but she was feeling restless stuck in her room.

"I'll just take a quick walk around the palace," she decided. "Maybe I'll run into somepony who could use this." She tucked the bottle into her mane for safekeeping and slipped out the door.

The palace halls were quiet, with most of the staff busy attending to their daily duties. As Umbra wandered, she peeked into various rooms, hoping to find a foal who might want her freshly-made milk.

Rounding a corner, she spotted a familiar blue-maned pegasus guard chatting with one of his crystal pony comrades. Umbra smiled and trotted over.

"Flash Sentry!" she called brightly. "Fancy running into you."

Flash turned and bowed respectfully. "Princess Umbra! What brings you out and about today?"

Umbra patted her belly. "Oh, just getting some exercise. Being cooped up gets boring. I don't suppose you know of any foals around who might be hungry?" She levitated out her bottle of milk.

Flash's eyes lit up. "As a matter of fact, I do!" He beckoned for Umbra to follow. "One of the maids just had a new foal. I bet they'd appreciate a treat from the princess herself."

Umbra eagerly followed Flash to the servants' quarters, where he introduced her to the new mother. She was overjoyed that the princess had come to visit her little colt, who happily slurped down Umbra's offering, drinking thirstily from the bottle. Umbra's eyes glowed with joy. She was a wet nurse, again... And she kinda liked that position. "Sorry." She nodded at the mother. "I'm sure you have plenty of your own... Are you just putting up with me?"

The mare colored. "N-no... actually..." She worried her hooves nervously. "Actually... I have to buy milk."

Umbra blinked, stunned a moment. "Buy milk?"

The mare threw out a hoof. Magic formed, but fizzled impotently. No bottle appeared. "It doesn't work for me... You are a walking miracle, Princess Umbra. You keep saving us... Thank you."

Umbra sat there, stunned. Was that even possible? "Is this your first foal?"

"Yes, ma'am." She nuzzled her colt gently. "Why?"

Umbra smiled, fanged teeth on display without the ill-intent. "Equestria needs to stop assuming ponies know how to do this. Would you like some training? Maybe we can get that milk flowing."

And so Umbra found a delightful distraction, coaching the maid on how to summon her own bottles of milk. Unlike other ponies, she was all too pleased to discuss the topic, from gathering the magic internally to bringing it out into a bottle for her child. "It's simple, once you have it, but everyone assumes a mother just has it automatically. That's great, when it works... Don't feel bad needing a helping hoof."

"Thank you." The maid bowed low, feeding the foal with her own milk. Umbra had destroyed her opportunity to be a wet nurse to that foal, but doing a good deed was nice also, or so she decided. At least there was a healthy, happy foal made out of it. It made her want her own little foal that much more...

After saying her goodbyes, Umbra continued her walk with a spring in her step. She decided that as long as she was up, she may as well enjoy the fresh air and exercise. The foal would let her know when it was time to rest, she figured.

Humming softly, she made her way to the palace gardens, thinking some time among the flowers would be just the thing...

Umbra smiled to herself as she ambled through the fragrant palace gardens. Helping that new mother learn to nurse her foal had left her feeling warm and fulfilled. It reminded her of the joy she'd felt supporting Cadance when Flurry Heart was born.

There was something profoundly satisfying about using her unique abilities to aid another mother. Though she wished such knowledge was more widespread in Equestria. Perhaps she could suggest some kind of class on the subject, though broaching the topic made her cheeks flush. Ponies could be so oddly shy about certain things.

Lost in thought, Umbra wandered toward a peaceful pond ringed with graceful willow trees. As she drew nearer, she spotted a familiar figure seated beneath one of the drooping branches. His white coat shone brightly in the dappled sunlight.

"Fancy seeing you out here, Anik," Umbra greeted warmly as she approached her adopted son.

Anik turned, his expression brightening. "Mother! What a pleasant surprise." He patted the grass beside him in invitation.

Umbra settled down, enjoying the shade. "Getting some fresh air?"

Anik nodded serenely. "Yes, I find time in nature restores me." He regarded her belly. "And you?"

"Just stretching my legs. I get restless cooped up inside." Umbra smiled wryly. "Though Cadance and Shining mean well trying to make me rest."

"The waiting can be difficult," Anik agreed. He tilted his head thoughtfully. "But the foal will arrive precisely when it is ready. All in due time."

Umbra chuckled. "Spoken like one who has never been pregnant." Still, his calm perspective was reassuring.

They sat awhile in comfortable silence, simply enjoying the garden's tranquility. Umbra felt tension she hadn't realized she was carrying melt away.

Whatever challenges lay ahead on her journey to motherhood, she took comfort knowing she wouldn't have to face them alone. She had a family - of choice - ready to support her.

With that thought warming her heart, she rose to continue her leisurely stroll, giving Anik's shoulder an affectionate pat before heading off once more down the garden path.

Anik would not let her simply walk off. He rose and walked alongside her. "How are you feeling, mother? May I help?"

But how could Anik help? "I'm just happy the morning sickness faded... Why do they call it that, anyway? I felt pretty sick all around the clock..." She reached back to pat her belly. "But at least it passed... My insides adjusted to grow this wonderful child... They must not be entirely umbrum, or that wouldn't have happened."

Anik considered her belly. "The father is Cadance, is it not? With a father being a pony, how could it be all umbrum? Shadow and light, brought together." He gestured at Umbra, then himself. "Shadow and light. You're making it less poetic and more literal."

"And you're being logical about it." Umbra huffed, but she was still smiling. "You're not wrong. My child will be half pony and half umbrum... I hope... they come out well. I've signed them up for an interesting life." She tapped at her chin. "Will they be teased for being halfway like that?" The pony world seemed kinder than the human one she had long left behind. Perhaps she was worrying over nothing? She considered Anik, who also came from another world. He wouldn't know... "I should ask a few locals... Have you seen Morning?"

Anik hummed softly. "She's playing."

Umbra perked at that. "Playing? Are we talking about the same Morning Dew?"

Anik laughed at the surprise. "She is still a child, even if she can be dour. Tomtom is a good influence, I think. When he invites her to play, he often succeeds. She may pretend she's 'peforming royal duties', but she is playing. It's nice to see."

Umbra shook her head, chuckling low. "I'll bother her later. Let her play. I'm being silly. If Morning can find a friend and have a good time, a hybrid child shouldn't be out of luck."

Anik suddenly veered away without a word, leaving Umbra confused until she spotted what may have caused it. Shining was walking towards her on the same path. "Shining!"

"Umbrie!" He closed and they met in a gentle embrace, one arm around the other. "How are you feeling?"

"Pregnant." Umbra sat on her haunches. "Which involves a lot of different feelings, but most of them are good." She rubbed at her belly with a little smile. "So, not complaining. I feel like I'm already past the worst of it."

"Yeah..." Shining cocked a brow. "Don't forget the explosive finish." They both made a face. They had felt what Cadance went through, when Flurry Heart had come. "So I wouldn't say 'past the worst' exactly..."

"Look." Umbra prodded him in the chest. "That isn't comfortable, but it's wonderful too... It's like..." She searched for proper words on it. "Like being a flower... Spreading in the morning. Wider, wider, and wider still, until a foal can pop out. It's scary, but it's wonderful... It didn't hurt that much. You were there..."

"I was there..." A stallion didn't normally have that experience, but Shining had felt it, all of it. "Ugh... Let's not talk about that." He shook himself out with a lash of the tail. "Look, I'm ready to support you. Um, though, are you wearing your tiara or not?"

She reached up for that tiara. If she wore it, her mane would be alive, and she wouldn't broadcast her sensations to Shining and Cadance. "I was thinking... not? Would you prefer I did? I don't want to creep you out."

Umbra considered the Shining question thoughtfully. On one hoof, keeping her tiara off meant he would experience her pregnancy symptoms and labor pains through their empathic link. She didn't want to make him uncomfortable or distract him from his duties.

But on the other hoof, she valued the closeness the link provided between them, especially now as she prepared to bring new life into their family. She wanted him to be as involved and connected to their foal as possible.

"I think I'll leave it off for now," Umbra finally decided. "As long as you're alright with that. I know it's not a typical stallion experience." She smiled wryly. "But then, we're hardly a typical trio."

Shining chuckled. "No arguments there. And that's just fine with me." He nudged her affectionately. "Like I said, I'm here to support you however I can. If that means getting a sneak peek at pregnancy mare-style, I can roll with it."

His expression became more serious. "Just promise you'll put the tiara back on if it can help. I know labor can be not very easy. Don't feel like you have to tough it out alone for my sake."

Umbra bumped her forehead against his gratefully. "It's a deal. With you and Cadance by my side, I know I'll have all the support I need when the big day comes." A flutter in her belly made her gasp softly. "Oh! I think somepony is happy you're here."

Shining's eyes widened. "Can I...?" At Umbra's nod, he gently placed a hoof on her rounded belly. His face lit up as he felt the foal squirm and kick against his hoof.

"Active little pony you've got there," he murmured in awe. He met Umbra's gaze, crystal blue eyes shimmering. "I can't wait to meet them."

Umbra had to blink back sudden tears. Hormones, probably, but still. She placed her hoof over Shining's, holding it there.

"Me either," she whispered. "Our family just keeps growing." She leaned into him, taking comfort in his solid strength. Together they stood, connected by touch and anticipation of the new life to come.

146 - My Turn

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Umbra woke up. That she did so wasn't the unusual part. Most ponies did that at least once a day if something wasn't wrong. The trick was that it wasn't the morning. It was deep at night, but the tension in her did not permit her to even think of returning to slumber. She slid from the bed, but a hoof found her shoulder.

"You alright?" It was Shining. "That feels odd."

Umbra wasn't wearing her tiara, so her feelings were being broadcast. That usually didn't matter for when they were sleeping. Shining and Cadance could feel everything her body felt, which included that strange, oh! It suddenly grew more intense and Umbra writhed, trying to figure... "Oh..."

"Oh?" Shining sat up, awake entirely. "You figured it out?"

Umbra laughed darkly, her usual laugh. "My child is coming. They decided to greet the world under cover of darkness, perhaps fitting."

Cadance suddenly sat up. "I'll get the nurse." She hopped to her hooves and strode away, radiating that she was entirely in business mode.

Umbra took a deep breath, trying to stay calm as the contractions started coming more frequently. This was it - after months of waiting and preparing, her foal was finally ready to make their entrance into the world.

Shining helped her up and they slowly made their way down the hall, stopping every few steps for Umbra to breathe through a contraction. "You've got this," he murmured encouragingly. "I know it hurts, but we're almost there."

They arrived at the prepared birthing room where Cadance and the nurses were waiting. Umbra settled onto the soft bed, gritting her teeth as the next contraction hit. Cadance stroked her mane soothingly. "I know it's not easy, but you're so strong," she said. "We're right here for you."

This was, in a way, a given. All three of them were feeling what the other was feeling. Umbra had felt Cadance giving birth. It was time for them to experience Umbra's. Umbra was, perhaps, strangely curious about the whole thing. She was not a human woman. She was experiencing it as a pony, and pony bodies were not humans, especially in such... intimate ways. To say nothing of the fact that, technically, she wasn't even a pony. An umbrum. Her portal to darkness was spreading wider and wider for the child within her, touched by darkness and light both.

The contractions were coming fast and furious then, Umbra's body working to push the foal out. She cried out, gripping Shining and Cadance's hooves tightly in her magic. "It's coming!" She could feel it, inside her, moving, descending. Birth was not a process done entirely by the mother. That was an easy lie, told by squeamish people.

The child within her wanted to come out as much as she wanted to push it out. They were working together, and they'd both get what they wanted. She was doing it. She was becoming a mother, truly and completely. She flagged her tail and shuddered as things moved within her. It was happening.

"Push!" the nurse instructed. Umbra bore down with all her strength, breathing hard.

"The head is out!" came the nurse's voice. "Just a little more!"

Shining went for a peek. "Aw... Almost out..." That he was smiling and looking a bit googly-eyed was a comfort to Umbra. Her child couldn't be entirely hideous from the way he was gazing fondly at them even as they came into being.

"You have this." Cadance nuzzled gently at Umbra's shoulder. "Keep breathing, let it happen..."

With a final cry, Umbra gave one last push. A moment later the sound of a newborn's cries filled the room. The cries were not normal. The child howled like the pits of hell itself had yawned open and the creature within was not happy.

"It's a colt!" the nurse announced, cleaning him off before placing him in Umbra's waiting hooves, trying so hard to hide the cringe on her face, and not entirely succeeding.

Umbra gazed at the squirming foal in awe, tears of joy filling her eyes. "Hello little one," she whispered. Though exhausted, her heart swelled with love for this new life she and her partners had created. Their family was now a little bit bigger. She willed a bottle into being and offered it to the newborn. "First of many. Let's get you grown."

The colt eagerly nuzzled the bottle nipple and was soon gorging themself on that lifegiving milk. The cries, at least, were silenced. He was happy and content, feeding from Umbra's bottle.

Cadance sat up with a little smile. "Half umbrum... I can imagine. They look entirely like a pony, but that cry..."

Umbra gazed tenderly at her newborn son, still in awe that she was now a mother. The umbrum blood in him was undeniable, evidenced by his chilling cry. Yet as she held him close, his fuzzy warmth and need for comfort were pony-like. He was a bridge between their two peoples.

Cadance and Shining peered over her shoulders, admiring the foal. "He's perfect," Cadance murmured.

"Half-pony, half-umbrum, and all ours," Shining said, nuzzling Umbra.

Exhausted but filled with joy, Umbra knew their family would face challenges raising a child of two worlds. But with love and patience, she had faith he would find belonging.

"We'll guide you every step of the way," she whispered to him as he drifted to sleep, tiny belly full of milk. For now, he was content, safe in her embrace. And Umbra knew she would move heaven and earth to nurture this precious foal who then held her heart.

She chuckled suddenly, holding the child in her magic towards Cadance. "Congratulations, father...."

Cadance colored. "Technically correct... But I don't plan on assuming the male mantle again anytime soon. That was... a one time thing."

Umbra swatted tiredly at Cadance. "Stud. It only took you one time to knock me sky high."

Cadance's blush only grew worse. "I could argue that says as much about your fertility as mine. Making a foal is a team effort. I... am glad we were both ready to make this little one." She touched noses to the sleeping foal's cheek. "Did you hear his name?"

Umbra perked. "Hear it? Did he say it?"

"No." Cadance laughed at that. "It comes in a dream, for most mothers. Did you have a naming dream?"

Umbra thought back to the dreams she'd had, but dreams were wispy things at times. She was supposed to be paying attention?! Nobody had informed her, and she searched frantically through her memory.

Umbra's brow furrowed as she tried to recall any naming dream. The last few months had been a blur of preparations - setting up the foal's room, stockpiling diapers, debating names with Cadance and Shining. Sleep had come fitfully between bouts of insomnia and heartburn. Any dreams were forgotten come morning.

"I'm sorry, I don't remember a naming dream," Umbra admitted worriedly. Had she failed her child already by not paying close enough attention? "What should we do?"

Cadance gave her a reassuring nuzzle. "No need to fret. The name will come when the time is right." She smiled down at the sleeping foal. "For now, he looks like a little Storm Cloud to me, with that dark coat."

Shining chuckled. "With lungs like that, maybe Hurricane is more fitting."

The foal's eyes blinked open and he squirmed in Umbra's embrace, mouth rooting for more milk. Umbra gently prepared another bottle, her heart melting as his tiny hooves kneaded against her in his eagerness.

"Easy there, little shadow," she crooned. "Plenty of milk for you, my dark prince."

The endearment fell naturally from her lips. As the foal suckled noisily, Umbra knew in her heart his true name.

"Midnight," she whispered. For though he was born of both shadow and light, the deep umbrum part of him resonated most strongly. He was Midnight Shadowheart, a child of two worlds.

Umbra met Cadance and Shining's eyes. "His name is Midnight." Saying it aloud filled her with certainty. The long wait was over. Their son was here.

"Mother." One of her other children had arrived. "May I enter?"

Umbra turned an ear towards the door. "Come in and say hello to your little brother."

"That was the plan." Morning strode across the room with the little clip-clops of her small hooves. "Did everything proceed well, mother?"

"Very." Umbra grabbed Morning as soon as she could, lifting the filly and drawing her over to rest atop herself. "Not even a bit of trouble..."

"I'm glad to hear that." Morning sat up atop Umbra, eyes locked on the new one. "Hello. As the heir to the Shadowheart name, I welcome you to the family."

Shining burst into snickers at the little filly giving that formal welcoming. "His name's Midnight."

Morning's ears perked. "I like it." She nodded to Umbra beneath her. "Midnight, Umbra, Morning. Our family has a pleasing theme." She let out a suffering sigh. "We even have noon-time with Anik... Less directly named, but what other time of day would he represent?"

Morning's eyes narrowed as she scrutinized her new baby brother. Though only a foal, she carried herself with an air of grave importance.

"I shall help educate him in the shadow arts, so he may one day serve the family with distinction," she declared.

Umbra hid a smile. "That's very thoughtful of you, but let's let Midnight enjoy his childhood first."

Morning blinked as if this never occurred to her. "Oh. Yes, of course. Childhood." Her face softened slightly as she watched the sleepy foal. "They are oddly...cute in this form. But worry not, I will teach him to be a proper umbrum when the time comes."

Cadance and Shining exchanged amused looks. "We have no doubt you'll set a fine example," Cadance said diplomatically.

"Can I hold him?" Morning asked. At Umbra's nod, she carefully took Midnight into her small hooves. Her touch was gentle, all her earlier sternness gone.

"Hello little brother," she murmured. "I've waited a long time to meet you."

Midnight yawned, unfurling a tiny hoof to wrap around Morning's leg. She made a small sound that on another pony would be called a coo.

"Yes, I shall teach you many things," she whispered to him. "But perhaps playtime shall come first."

Umbra's heart swelled watching them. However gruffly she acted, Morning would be a wonderful big sister.

"Welcome to the family, my little midnight colt," Umbra said softly. "We're so happy you're finally here. Speaking of that!" She looked to Cadance and Shining. "Give me a day to put things together, then this butt is going on that throne. My vacation is over."

Cadance set a hoof on Umbra, half to hold her there. "Easy... I know that high. Your child is here, you feel like you could wrestle the world if you had to, but you just finished a lot of work. They call it labor for a reason, to say nothing of the entire workup towards it. Your 'vacation' is not over just yet."

Shining smooched Umbra atop that pinned head. "We can hold things down a few more days. Spend them with Midnight, introduce them to everypony you want. You've both been through a lot." He raised an ear. "Is now an alright time for me to mention what I felt?"

Cadance sat back, hoof removed from Umbra. "Is it safe for little foal ears?" She inclined her head at Morning, playing with Midnight quietly. "Perhaps that should wait."

"Aw..." Shining pouted a little. He'd have to wait to tell his side of the story. "Um, but we're here for you, Umbra. You have two eager mates that'd bend over backwards to help you and Midnight. Don't ever forget that."

Umbra sighed, a noise of satisfaction, of relief. "Yes... Thank you, both of you." She kicked out a leg lightly. "I want to do so much right now... But it's late, um, early... Maybe we should all get back to bed..."

There would be time to greet the new family when the sun had risen.

147 - Expectations

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Umbra was glued to her new foal. Not literally, thankfully, but she hovered in his presence, when not directly holding the foal and bouncing them gently in her glowing magical grip. "I'm a mother," she reminded herself for the tenth time in the hour.

"You were already a mother." Morning regarded Umbra with a flat expression. "Why do you keep saying it as if it's new, mother?"

Umbra went still, considering Morning and how to phrase that... Without being mean. "It's the first time I did all the parts of mothering." Umbra waved Morning closer.

Morning stepped in without delay. "Yes?"

Umbra gently ruffled the top of Morning's head. "I just want you to know that I have, do, and will continue to love you." A devious smile played over her face. "Also, you're the heir."

"I am." The reminder seemed to help though, Morning relaxing. "As the heir--" She pointed to Midnight, looking around as they were in Umbra's grasp. "It falls on me to make sure the family values extend to the new generation."

Morning eyed the squirming newborn foal critically. Though only a child herself, the young umbrum filly carried herself with solemn duty.

"I shall begin your education soon, little brother," she informed Midnight. "Our family has a proud lineage in the shadow arts which you must learn to uphold."

Midnight blew a spit bubble and giggled, blissfully oblivious to Morning's intensity.

Umbra hid a smile. "Let's let him get a bit bigger first before starting magic lessons, hmm?"

Morning nodded reluctantly. "Very well. In the meantime..." She leaned closer to Midnight, who grabbed onto her ponytail with his tiny hooves. "I will teach you more basic skills. Communication and mobility shall be our first lessons."

She allowed Midnight to play with her hair, her expression softening. "I suppose I have much to learn about being a sister as well. But do not worry, little brother. I shall guide you until you are ready to take your place in our family."

Midnight burbled happily in response. Umbra's heart swelled watching them bond, two children of shadow finding light in each other.

"When do we start his combat training?" Morning asked eagerly. At Umbra's sharp look, she shrank back. "Too soon?"

Umbra chuckled and drew Morning close. "It seems we all have much to learn about balancing old traditions and new opportunities. But we'll figure it out together."

Morning crossed her arms, but didn't move away from Umbra's touch. "What can I do to help, mother? Right now."

Umbra started, considering Midnight, then Morning. What could Morning do? "Hm. You could be my hooves. I don't want to leave the room right now, until Midnight gets a little bigger. He's doing his best, but it still takes some time. No hurrying that."

"Gladly, mother." Morning bowed properly, back on all fours. "Where can I extend your reach?"

Umbra sent Morning about the palace, fetching things and delivering messages. They were things she wanted to get done, and it made Morning happy. A complete victory in Umbra's eyes.

"May I help?" Anik walked in from the hallway. "I see Morning darting about quite purposefully. It makes me feel lazy."

Umbra held up Midnight, cradled between her hooves. "Look, your brother."

Midnight let out a loud squeak, reaching as best they could for Anik with a bright smile. Did they even know what they were happy about? It wasn't always clear with such a young one.

Anik accepted it as it seemed, approaching with a glow of his sun-like warmth. "Brother. Midnight. I am Anik." He pointed to himself. "And I will do my best, as your brother. I am named for being a brother to a sister, but I can be a brother to a brother at the same time." He leaned in.

Which was hint enough for Midnight to grab Anik with all four hooves, attaching to Anik's snout firmly. Anik laughed cheerfully, standing up with the little foal attached. "I think he likes me."

Anik's laughter rang out bright and clear as Midnight clung firmly to his snout. The young foal seemed utterly delighted, peering at Anik with large inquisitive eyes.

"It appears I must now go about my day with a foal accessory," Anik remarked amusedly. He turned his head this way and that, Midnight giggling as he swung gently.

Umbra watched them fondly. "He'll tire himself out soon enough. But let him play - it's how they learn about the world."

She tilted her head thoughtfully. "In fact, maybe you can take him to explore the palace gardens. Get some fresh air and give me a small break."

Anik's face lit up. "It would be an honor! I shall take good care of our little brother."

Gently, he pried Midnight off his nose and situated the foal securely on his back. Midnight immediately snuggled into Anik's soft fur.

"We shall have a wonderful time," Anik said softly. "I will show you all the beauty that grows under sun and sky."

Umbra blinked back sudden tears as she watched them go, the brightness of Anik's spirit a perfect foil to Midnight's tiny dark form.

Once they had left, she let out a long breath. As much as she loved her son, even umbrum mothers needed a moment's rest! She settled comfortably on the bed, ready to savor a short nap before the next round of foal care began. For now, Midnight was in good hooves.

Anik walked along with Midnight atop him. "I was worried." Midnight didn't reply. "You are dark, like Morning. I love her, I do... But sometimes she shies from my light." He stepped out onto the soft grass of the garden, pressing into it. "You don't seem to mind."

Midnight nestled in all the closer to his sunny brother, unbothered by that.

Anik smiled at the unspoken agreement they seemed to have. "If you get hungry, tell me... I didn't bring any milk. We can go back to mother."

"Goo?" It was a word, at least. Sure, it wasn't intelligible, but Midnight had tried.

And that counted. Anik reached a hoof back to pat Midnight. "What a lovely brother I have."

"Sir."

Anik perked at the sharp, but polite, word spouted by a guard hurrying towards him. "Yes?"

"Her Royal Majesty has requested you." The guard pointed off towards the throne room.

"Of course?" Anik veered to head that way. "I wonder what Cadance needs. We'll find out." He carried Midnight along, his easy smile returning. It was hard to be upset about much with his new little brother there.

Anik made his way to the throne room, Midnight still contentedly perched on his back. The guard at the entrance gave them an odd look but said nothing as Anik trotted inside.

Cadance was seated regally atop her crystal throne. But when she saw Anik and his passenger, her serious expression dissolved into a grin.

"Well, this is certainly an unexpected surprise," she remarked, rising to approach them. Midnight craned his neck to peer curiously at the glittering alicorn.

"Forgive my bringing him along unannounced," Anik said. "Mother needed a small rest, so I offered to take him for some air."

Cadance waved a hoof. "No need to apologize. This makes my day brighter." She tickled Midnight under the chin, eliciting a happy squeal. "I'm guessing my urgent summons did not convey the levity of the situation."

Anik's eyes widened. "Was it not an emergency?"

"On the contrary, today has been blessedly uneventful - minor disputes at most." Cadance gave Midnight's downy head an affectionate nuzzle. "I simply wished to provide Umbra a respite, though I see you had the same idea."

She smiled at Anik warmly. "You are already proving yourself an exemplary big brother. Now, how about we take Midnight to the royal kitchens for a snack? He must be getting hungry after all that fresh air."

Anik brightened. "That is a marvelous plan!" As they walked, he gazed at Cadance with new admiration. In ensuring Umbra's chance to rest, she too was being an exemplary mother.

Anik wondered if perhaps he could learn the delicate balance required from them both. For now, though, he would settle for fetching his little brother a... "Cadance, ma'am?"

Cadance perked an ear. "Yes? You sound nervous."

"I am, a little." He inclined his head towards little Midnight. "Can you make milk?"

Cadance colored, but that turned to laughter. "It's only fair. Umbra was quite the eager wet nurse for mine, perhaps I can return this favor." She gentle gathered Midnight up in her arms and glowing magic. "First, proper introductions."

Anik inclined his head slowly. "Ma'am? Haven't you met Midnight already?"

"Not personally..." She nuzzled into Midnight, inhaling his scent. "Not this slowly. I was spending time with Umbra, even if Midnight was there. Hello, Midnight."

Midnight giggled with the joy of all the attention being paid to him. He grabbed and ran his hooves over Cadance's snout, eagerly exploring her in return.

Cadance let out a slow breath. "This is the foal I want to feed. So..." She reached out a hoof, willing for milk, and thus did a bottle appear at the end of her hoof. She smiled at it brightly. "I wasn't certain if that would work. Umbra was a bit odd... Making milk for a foal that wasn't hers. Hm, now I am too, though less odd."

Anik smiled at the bottle's appearance. His brother wouldn't go without. "How does this make you less odd, ma'am?"

"Anik."

Anik went rigid at the firm way Cadance had said it. "Did I say something wrong?"

"You are Umbra's child."

"Yes?" Anik inclined his head.

"I am Umbra's wife." Cadance pointed at herself. "By all legal rights at least, that makes you a son of mine. Do you not want that? If not, I certainly won't force a grown pony to accept it..."

Anik blinked, caught dumbfounded a moment. "Oh! Yes... Yes, sorry..." He rubbed his warm cheek. "I wasn't trying to offend, ma--mother." He smiled, tension ebbing. "I would be delighted to have such a wonderful alicorn for a mother."

"And I would be quite pleased to have such a wonderful stallion for a son, both meanings of that spoken word." She offered the bottle to Midnight, feeding the foal. "Thank you, for asking."

"Asking?" Anik smiled at the two, watching Cadance feed little Midnight.

"This." Cadance tossed her head at the bottle and Midnight drinking it. "I forgot the little delight in feeding a hungry foal. Flurry has weaned herself to solid foods, so no need for this. But... Midnight has plenty of room for milk in that belly." She patted him until Midnight belched loudly, letting out the gas that had built up.

Cadance laughed brightly at Midnight's impressive belch. "Oh my, such excellent lung capacity! You must take after your mother."

She nuzzled the foal affectionately before lifting her gaze to Anik. "In all seriousness, thank you for giving me the chance to connect with Midnight this way. It was...presumptuous to assume a motherly role without first asking if you and Umbra were comfortable with that."

Anik smiled warmly. "Of course we are. You're as much his parent as..." He trailed off, remembering. "You have even more right, technically..." He colored, coughing into a hoof. "Our family simply grew in an unexpected way." He shrugged. "As you said, the law sees it plainly, though the heart must sometimes play catch-up."

Cadance nodded, touched by his sincerity. "I will endeavor to earn that role, if you'll have me." She tickled Midnight's round belly. "Now, I believe your little brother requires a fresh diaper before we resume our palace explorations."

She conjured the necessary supplies with her magic. Anik watched in awe as Cadance expertly changed the soiled diaper, cooing reassurances to Midnight all the while. It was a simple act, yet profound in its tenderness.

Anik committed every detail to memory. There was still so much for him to learn about caretaking. But whether it was magic, integrity or nurturing, he knew Cadance would be an exemplary teacher. It was but a pity he didn't have a horn, or the magic that came with it. He'd have to figure out how to do that without.

"Shall we proceed?" Cadance gently returned Midnight to Anik's back. As they stepped, Midnight grabbed a tiny hoofful of Anik's mane. Anik let out a happy laugh, ear turning back. He would strive to be worthy of his little brother's trust, and wise enough to accept guidance from his new mother.

Together they wandered the sunlit halls, the laughter of foal and prince ringing melodiously. Anik smiled to himself, thankful fate had granted him both brother and family.

148 - Distant Rumbles

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"They not like hugs." The tsuki shrank with miserable defeat. "Not like."

Umbra considered the large rabbit-like visitor. "And they... attacked?"

The tsuki bobbed his head. "Try hug. Hit with horn. Hit with head. Say angry things..."

Umbra brought Midnight around for a hug. "I knew the yaks were testy, but turning down a tsuki hug? Violently?"

The tsuki approached, spreading her arms wide. It was an invitation for battle, or a big hug. Possibly both? Umbra felt certain which it was and she offered one arm out, soon gently hugging the upset tsuki. "Maybe it was just a misunderstanding. You're very physical, and so are they, I hear... But in different ways."

"Bun!"

Umbra recoiled, ears flicking madly. "What?"

Midnight pointed at the tsuki. "Bun."

"It's..." She sniffled, but she was smiling. "Your first word." She touched noses with her child.

The tsuki clapped her large paws in celebration of the moment. "Proud be first."

Umbra chuckled softly. "As lovely as that is, let's not get too distracted. I'll confer with the others. We don't want this escalating..."

So Umbra went on to other supplicants, seeing to their requests and questions. She was proud to be back on the throne, doing her part in the running of the empire.

She went to their favorite sitting room, where they gathered for dinners. Dinners weren't as sure a thing as breakfasts, but they were both there. "Good, glad you're here." Umbra sank onto her seat, placing Midnight on a foal-safe chair to join them. "The yaks and the tsuki have had a bit of a diplomatic snag."

Cadance and Shining looked up from their meal, concern creasing their brows.

"Oh dear, that is troubling news." Cadance rolled a hoof at Umbra, one ear raised. "What seems to be the issue between them?"

Umbra recounted the tsuki's report of the failed hugging attempt. "Sounds like a simple cultural misunderstanding, but emotions are running high." She sighed softly. "I don't want it to escalate."

Shining shook his head. "Leave it to the yaks to start slamming horns over a hug."

"We must act swiftly to soothe tensions before this grows into something worse." Cadance turned to Umbra. "Perhaps you could lead a diplomatic envoy to their village and open a dialogue?"

Umbra bit her lip. As much as duty called, the thought of leaving her infant son at this tender age...

Sensing her hesitation, Cadance touched her hoof gently. "You have the closest bond with the tsuki. I cannot imagine a better representative to broker peace."

"We'll mind Midnight while you're away." Shining thumped his chest with a firm expression. "You know he'll be safe in our care."

Umbra sighed but nodded. "You're both right, of course. I'll leave first thing." She smiled sadly at Midnight, who babbled obliviously from his highchair. "Be good for your father and auntie, little shadow. Mommy will be back before you know it."

Umbra exploded into snickering unexpectedly. "Good thing a pony's joined me in the happy wet nurse club."

Cadance had the humility to color at that. "I will see that Midnight gets his fill. But hurry back. No foal wants to be away from their mother for long, even if other loving relations are close at hoof."

"Can I help?"

Umbra blinked at Shining's expression. It was like a child asking to do something to help the adults in the room, something they likely couldn't do. And neither could he. "Shining, you're a stallion."

She pinned an ear back. "So you can't make milk." Unlike human males, he didn't even have the start of that plumbing. "But, you can take a bottle from Cadance and offer love and time to Midnight for her."

Cadance laughed at the exchange. "I'll keep that in mind. That sounds helpful, Shinie, but Umbra is right. It's not that we don't want you to join, but you can't anymore than you could spread the wings you don't have and go for a lap around the city."

Shining's ears drooped at the gentle reminders. "Right, of course." He laughed nervously, glancing about. "A stallion can't make milk." He managed a rueful smile. "But you're absolutely right - just because I can't provide milk doesn't mean I can't provide love and care. I may have to get creative, but it will be my honor to watch over and nurture our son."

Umbra nuzzled him fondly. "I have no doubt you will be an amazing father in your own unique way." She turned her gaze to Cadance. "And I cannot thank you enough for taking up wet nurse duties. It means the world knowing Midnight will be well-fed while I'm away."

Cadance waved a dismissive hoof. "I'm happy to assist. We're family now - all of us." Her horn glowed as she summoned a quill and parchment. "Now then, shall we outline the key negotiation points to establish with the yaks?"

Together they hammered out goals for freedom of movement between territories, cultural sensitivity education, and designated hugging areas. Umbra snickered as the wrote the last part. "Only with the tsuki would you have a need for a specific hugging area..." By the time they finished, Umbra felt confident she could represent the tsuki's interests fairly.

"The tsuki are fortunate to have you advocating for them." Cadance showed Umbra out with a gentle smile. "You can take care of this, easily, I bet... Go on."

Umbra turned to nuzzle Midnight, who grasped at her mane. "Be back soon, my little prince." With a heavy but determined heart, she set off for the northlands. Well, the even more Northerly lands. It wasn't like the Crystal Empire wasn't already in the north.

She didn't quite escape the castle, running into a sternly glaring filly. "Morning?"

"Mother." Morning nodded at her. "As your heir, it is time I begin accepting missions alongside you. I won't learn if I don't. You would not be replaced with an incompetent, would you?"

Umbra skewed an ear to the side. "Logical... And I won't say no to a little company." With a glowing horn, she snatched up Morning and... realized Morning was growing larger. She could still carry Morning, but the burden was growing. "My little girl is becoming less little by the day."

Morning hugged Umbra from above. "I'm not too large to ride." She slid up, a leg down either of Umbra's sides as she took on a proper riding stance. "Let's take care of this." She spotted the paper tucked in against Umbra. "Is this the plan? I'll review it."

"W-- Oh." Her complaint died, Morning already reading it quickly. "Well, yes. Let's go." She fell into the floor, becoming shadow. Fortunately, Morning was also shadow and they passed into it together without a problem. Not quite as fast as light, they zipped across the frozen lands towards Yakyakistan.

Umbra and Morning flowed swiftly as shadows across the tundra toward the distant yak village. As the wooden palisade came into view, they re-formed just outside the entrance. Morning took a moment to smooth her windswept mane before adopting a dignified pose.

"I shall follow your lead during negotiations." Morning adopted a stern expression, not unusual for her. "But if talks break down, I am prepared to employ more...direct measures."

Umbra chuckled and drew her daughter close. "Let's hope it doesn't come to open warfare. But I appreciate your enthusiasm."

Drawing herself up, Umbra approached the gates and announced their presence. Moments later, a massive yak emerged grumbling. He squinted down at the ponies suspiciously.

"Why puny ponies come to yak lands?"

Umbra dipped her horn respectfully. "Greetings, honored yak. I am Princess Umbra, representing the Crystal Empire. We come to discuss the recent meeting with the tsuki.."

The yak harrumphed. "Yaks show stupid rabbits who is stronger."

Before Umbra could respond, Morning stepped forward, eyes glinting. "Oh really? That's not what we heard. Word is you took issue with friendship offerings from our allies."

The yak scowled, pawing the ground. "Overly fuzzy rabbits invade yak space! We defend with righteous horn! No law against!"

Umbra quickly interposed herself between Morning and the bristling yak. "Peace, friends! There is no need for further conflict. Let us discuss this amicably."

The yak raised a shaggy brow at Umbra. "No." He turned around and started back inside. "Need talk with prince."

Umbra's ears skewed forward. "That sounds great. Rutherford, right?"

"Yes." The yak vanished inside, closing the heavy gate behind himself.

Morning crossed her arms, looking at the gate that couldn't be intimidated. "Do we go inside, mother? It would be trivial to bypass such a crude barrier."

"We could." Umbra put a hoof out in front of Morning. "But we won't, unless invited. We're here to settle things down, not ratchet them up."

"As you say." Morning put her hooves down and stood up. "How long must we wait?"

"The darkness can wait forever, if it must."

Morning grew a subtle smile. "True..." She stopped complaining. She would be as patient as the shadows themselves.

The gate creaked, swinging outwards at the horns of a great yak. Prince Rutherford stomped out with a scowl. "What want?! Already we take care of stupid rabbits."

Umbra nodded at her fellow royalty. "Pleasure to see you. Those 'stupid rabbits' are friends of ours, and they wanted to be your friends too."

Rutherford hiked a doubting brow at that. "They attack! We win." He buffed a hoof on his chest. "As if yaks lose fight. We drove them away!"

Shouts filtered from behind him, other yaks cheering on their prince's words.

Umbra's eyes narrowed, but she kept her tone diplomatic. "I'm certain the tsuki meant no harm with their...enthusiastic greeting. They are simply a very affectionate people."

She paused as more jeers sounded from within the village. This would be delicate. "Perhaps this was a simple misunderstanding between two noble tribes unaccustomed to each other's ways. I come only to make peace between friends."

Rutherford grunted noncommittally. "Yaks make peace on own terms. Ponies have no say."

Before Umbra could respond, Morning spoke up, eyes flashing. "You would do well to watch your tone with royalty."

Umbra shot her a quelling look. Antagonizing the volatile prince would not help matters. "What my daughter means is we have all suffered from misjudgments in the past. Do not let one bad encounter close your hearts forever."

Rutherford looked thoughtful, which Umbra took as a good sign. But any progress was shattered as a loud voice shouted from inside.

"Don't listen to those puny ponies! Yaks crush all enemies under hoof!"

A chorus of agreement followed. Rutherford drew himself up, puffing out his chest. "Yaks have spoken. Rabbit invasion crushed under mighty hooves! Talks done."

He turned to leave. Desperate, Umbra blurted the first thing she could think of: "Perhaps a demonstration of strength is required!"

Rutherford paused, intrigued. Morning shot her a startled look.

Umbra hurried on. "To prove ourselves worthy allies. A contest between champions, without bloodshed. If we prevail, you must parley further."

The prince considered, then grinned. "Very well. But when yaks win, puny ponies leave and never return!" He strode off, thumping his chest. "I shall enjoy this!"

Umbra slumped weakly as he disappeared inside. What had she just gotten them into? But with tensions high, it was their only chance for peace. She could only pray her gambit hadn't just doomed them all.

"One thing," came shouted from inside. "Ponies not enemies. Send stupid rabbit." A chorus of cheers erupted. "We win fair fight. Show them who stronger! Then they learn."

The town was a riot of calls and jeers. That they approved of the idea of a proper battle was clear.

Umbra dared a little smile. "As you wish. I will get a tsuki champion." She reached for Morning, nudging her away from the gate. "This might be handled... after all. If they both love a good friendly fight, maybe they're closer than we gave them credit for. Come, we go."

"We go." Morning fell to shadows and soon were speeding towards the tsuki warrens.

149 - Champions of the Deep

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The warm, earthy scent of loam and mushrooms filled Umbra's nostrils as she and Morning materialized in the shadowy tsuki warren. The dark tunnels stretched before them, curving out of sight. Tiny mushrooms and luminous crystals clung to the earthen walls, providing a soft glow to combat the subterranean gloom.

Somewhere ahead, the echoes of dripping water played a hypnotic rhythm. The very air felt densly humid, almost furry against Umbra's coat. This was a living, breathing place that had been shaped from the earth over generations by the tsuki's tireless hands and feet.

The tsuki who greeted them was a picture of vitality, her velvety fur and cotton tail vibrant and well-groomed. Laugh lines creased the corners of her eyes as she went in for a hug. Umbra sank into the embrace, the tsuki's warmth and affection a balm after the chill tundra winds outside.

"I need your strongest warriors," she said gravely. "Ones who love the thrill of the wrestling ring. Can you gather them?"

The tsuki's nose wrinkled. "Warriors? Why want fight?"

Umbra patted her velvety fur. "The yaks have challenged us. If we refuse, they will think us cowardly. But if we fight with honor, we gain their respect and if you see Witching Hour, tell her I'm here."

Understanding lit the tsuki's eyes. "Yes, show strength! Find warriors." She thumped off into the shadows.

Morning shifted her hooves, scanning the shadowy tunnels impatiently. The sooner their champion was found, the better. She was eager to be off this diplomatic mission and back home in the Crystal Empire, shadows familiar and cast just so.

But Umbra simply waited, letting the heavy air seep into her lungs. She had faith the right tsuki would come; these caverns held a steady, enduring power. For now, she listened to their soft breath and the warren's primeval rhythms. Help was coming, borne on the wings of patience.

Morning nodded at where the tsuki had been. "They are good servants."

Umbra gently clopped her on the head. "They are good friends. We don't own them."

"Hmmph." Her thoughts went to the smaller tsuki she did call dibs on. "Hm, wonder if I should have invited him... No, he's no good at delicate diplomacy."

Umbra hiked a brow at that, knowing Morning wasn't terribly good at the art either. "You won't know until you give him a chance to learn and get better." She drew Morning close. "Like I am doing with you."

The wait was not long before a familiar figure emerged from the gloom - Witching Hour, Umbra's sister-in-law. Her disposition was as dour as the shadows she commanded, but Umbra greeted her with a smile.

"Thank you for coming on such short notice," Umbra said. "I have need of your...particular skills."

Witching Hour's eyes narrowed. "Why should I help you?"

Before Umbra could respond, Morning stepped forward eagerly. "The yaks require a demonstration of strength from our champion. You can represent the umbrum in glorious battle!"

Witching considered this, intrigued but still wary. "And what do I get if I succeed in this contest of yours?"

Umbra met her gaze steadily. "The chance to show all of Equestria that umbrum are more than whispered nightmares. We can build honor and reputation through deeds, not fear."

For a moment Witching said nothing, the sound of dripping water filling the heavy silence. Then she smiled, fangs glinting. "Well, when you put it that way...perhaps I'm interested after all."

She elbowed Umbra. "Good job kicking that pathetic excuse to the ground. Sombra will darken our doorsteps no longer."

At that moment, thudding footsteps heralded the arrival of several burly tsuki warriors, ears twitching eagerly for contest. They surrounded Witching, sniffing curiously with nostrils flaring.

Witching drew herself up with haughty umbrum pride. "Yes, I shall be your champion, rabbits." She tossed her mane of shadow, smiling dangerously. "Let us go and remind these yaks why they should respect the shadows."

Umbra chuckled softly. "That isn't technically correct."

Tsuki and umbrum alike looked to her curiously.

"The tsuki will champion themselves as themselves." Umbra pointed the way, beyond the earthen walls. "The yaks are ready for a fight, a real one, yak to tsuki, to show who is stronger."

One of the tsuki inclined his head, ears dangling with the angle. "Yaks mean."

"Yaks can be mean." Umbra took a step towards that proud rabbit warrior. "But they will fight, fair."

She reared up and spread her arms in a traditional tsuki greeting for a hug, or a battle. The two were easily confused. One could end up receiving both in short order. "Are you ready to fight?"

The warriors went rigid. It was an instinct to answer that call. They spread their arms with, somehow, friendly scowls. They all looked ready to hug Umbra into submission. "Ready!" chimed one of them.

Umbra and Morning fell into step behind Witching as the tsuki warriors escorted them out, thumping their feet excitedly. Together, their unlikely delegation strode off to issue the yaks' challenge. For better or worse, the die was cast. Now victory relied on Witching's dark talents. Umbra could only hope they had chosen the right champion for this crucial task.

"Speaking of that." Not that anyone had spoken on their quiet trip. "Why am I here if the tsuki are the ones doing the fighting?" Witching looked over her shoulder at Umbra. "Are you playing a cruel game on me? Points for bravery... But I want answers."

Umbra shook her head firmly with a soft huff. "Sister, I wouldn't do that."

"Yes, you would." Witching fell back to Umbra's side. "We are sisters only connected by your adopted one." She smiled at Morning, the care there sincere. "Which I hear you've finally gone and made one of your own instead of snatching them from the dead hooves of your enemies."

Umbra sighed at that phrasing. "I have had a child. You should come see them before you head home. But that's not why you're here. The yaks will wrestle and fight with the tsuki, but they don't know, and don't respect, umbrum. It hasn't come to a fight there, but why wait? They should learn to fear us with a friendly match..."

Midnight snarled a smile out at that. "I love the idea, but 'sister' why don't you fight them yourself? You're capable of that, aren't you?"

Umbra lifted an ear at that. "I am, but I'm also princess of the Crystal Empire. Pony, umbrum, it gets all tangled when you bring me into it. They need to fight an umbrum. No qualifiers, no confusion. Just umbrum."

Morning clucked her tongue. "Clever, mother. You are thinking steps ahead. I love it."

Witching Hour considered Umbra's words, pride and pragmatism warring within her. She lived for contests that allowed her umbrum abilities to shine. Yet Umbra made a valid point - as princess, her involvement would muddy the waters.

"Very well, I shall be your champion," Witching finally conceded. She smirked, baring sharp fangs. "After all, any chance to put yaks in their place is fine by me."

The tsuki warriors thumped their feet eagerly, no doubt envisioning the impending battles. Umbra hoped their confidence was not misplaced. Yaks were formidable, stubborn opponents. Diplomacy remained the ideal solution, though she had doubts on that front.

Before long they arrived at the yaks' village, the scent of wood smoke and roasted food permeating the icy air. Yaks stirred from their lodges, shaggy heads swiveling toward the strange delegation.

Their chieftain, Rutherford, soon emerged, shoulders hunched beneath his horned helm. His gaze swept over the newcomers, lingering on Witching's umbrum features with a scowl.

"Why ponies bring creepy shadows here?" he rumbled. "Yaks smash bad dreams, not talk to them."

Witching bristled, but Umbra stepped forward calmly. "Greetings, honored chieftain. We come in peace, seeking cultural exchange." She gestured to the tsuki. "Wrestling contests foster strength and unity between tribes."

The chieftain grunted, stroking his braided beard. "Hmm...yaks always ready to crush weaklings in fight. Why not? We show you puny outsiders meaning of strength!"

He stomped the ground, rallying the other yaks with guttural shouts. Soon the contests were prepared - makeshift rings scratched into the snowy earth as yaks limbered up with practiced moves.

Witching wasted no time stepping into the first ring, sable coat stark against the white ground. Her opponent lumbered forward, horns lowered menacingly. Yet Witching showed no fear, only a razor smile of anticipation...

The contests raged fiercely as yak battled tsuki and umbrum alike beneath the cold arctic sun. Umbra watched it all unfold with bated breath, silently praying her gambit would pay off. Witching more than held her own, employing agility and sly tricks to counter the yaks' brute force.

No amount of yak strength could properly counter shadow trickery and agility. She laughed at each graceless charge and never did their horns catch her. "Is that the best you can do?"

"No!" thundered the yak warrior, trying all the harder as the gathered crowd of yaks and the one tsuki not already in a battle cheered them on.

"Not win." The yak pawed at the ground with great tosses of the earth with their scuffing shoes. "Only not lose. Win!"

"Fine," sighed out Witching as if it was all a chore. She darted in, swerving around his eager horns to drive a hoof into his thick cheek.

But it had little effect. She was an umbrum, not known for their physical strength.

The battle took a turn, with Witching trying harder and harder to actually land a telling blow on the stubborn yak. But the yak was... happy, cheering on her attempts even as he pressed in, trying to put her down in kind. The fight had become real in his eyes, and he was pleased.

Umbra shook her head, turning to see how the tsuki were doing.

Prince Rutherford had crashed into their largest, sharp horns going against grasping hands as the two trembled with intense strength. Each was trying to knock the other over, and neither was making good progress save the grunts of their effort.

Umbra clapped at the sight with a smile. They were battling, each on their own terms. "You can do it!" She wasn't cheering either side on specifically. A good battle needed two warriors at least.

Morning skewed an ear off. "I don't understand, mother. Do you want our tsuki to win or not?"

Umbra turned to Morning, keeping one eye on the fierce contests unfolding before them.

"It's not about anyone winning or losing," she explained patiently. "The goal is fostering mutual respect between our peoples. If the yaks see the tsuki and umbrum can match them in combat, they will start to regard us as equals."

She gestured to where Witching was darting around her burly yak opponent, the shadows writhing in her wake. "Our friend is showing them umbrum are more than whispered nightmares - we have honor and skill worthy of allies."

Meanwhile, the tsuki grappler had managed to topple Prince Rutherford onto his back, eliciting roars of approval from the yak spectators. Umbra clapped along with them. She wanted all sides to acquit themselves well.

"Do you understand, Morning?" she asked gently. "This isn't a contest to crown supremacy. It is the start of building trust between former strangers. With time and patience, that trust can become lasting friendship."

Morning wrinkled her nose doubtfully. "I still think we should crush them completely and claim victory over these beasts." At Umbra's stern look, she huffed. "But...I suppose giving friendship a chance could be acceptable too."

Umbra hid a smile. It seemed her daughter still had some lessons to learn about diplomacy. But the fact that Morning was willing to try warmed her heart.

She turned her gaze back to the makeshift arena. Witching was panting now but grinning fiercely, while her yak opponent sported several dark bruises. Yet he too seemed to be enjoying the contest, laughter booming across the icy tundra.

Win or lose, Umbra sensed these competitions marked a turning point. Watching former enemies spar with camaraderie gave her hope. Perhaps one day yaks, tsuki and umbrum alike could stand together as allies.

150 - You Can Go

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Cadance nodded. "Yes, I understood the first time." She forced a smile. "I will move things around as quickly as I can."

From the top of her head came an unholy shriek that sent the petitioner scrambling.

She reached up, stroking Midnight gently. The foal quieted almost instantly. "You are quite the effective dismissal signal, aren't you?"

The foal giggled with joy, any annoyance already forgotten.

Cadance brought her umbrum child down to cuddle. "My little nightmare..." She slid a bottle in and Midnight took it eagerly.

"Next." She nodded towards the next supplicant. "How can the crown assist today?"

Wensley bowed to Cadance. "Howdy! Um, ah ain't one ah yers... but ah wanted to change that..."

Cadance perked her ears. "You are an Equestrian, aren't you?" She gently bounced Midnight, attention somewhat split.

"'Course, ma'am!" Wensley nodded briskly. "Is that a problem?"

"I dare say it's the opposite of one." Cadance smiled at the hopeful stallion. "All citizens of Equestria are free to come and go as they please. The Crystal Empire is, itself, part of Equestria. You don't need to fill special paperwork if you wanted to move to Baltimare."

"N-no... Reckon not..." The look on his face implied he hadn't really thought about it before, brows creased with consideration. "But Ah wanna stay, not jus' visit, is all."

Cadance regarded the earnest earth pony thoughtfully as she gently rocked a contented Midnight. "Well, becoming an official resident of the Crystal Empire is not difficult," she reassured him. "Simply declare your intention before a magistrate to make this your permanent home, and you shall be granted the full rights and protections afforded to our ponies."

She tilted her head curiously. "Might I ask what draws you to settle here specifically? As much as we love welcoming new citizens, the arctic climate does not suit everypony."

Wensley scuffed a hoof, looking mildly abashed. "Well ya see, there's this here mare ah've gotten ta know...She's real nice and ah wanna be near her to see if, ah, maybe we hit it off, ya know?"

He glanced around wistfully. "Plus y'all got lots a' sparklin' crystals...prettiest place ah ever did see! Figure it's worth a shot tryin' ta make a life here, if yer Highness'll have me."

Cadance had to suppress a knowing smile at the thinly-veiled romantic motivations underlying his request. Young love oft went hand in hand with dramatic relocations.

"Of course we shall welcome you gladly," she proclaimed. "The empire thrives on the diverse skills and dreams new citizens bring. Settle your affairs, make your declaration at the eastern magistrate's office, and you may call these glittering streets home."

Midnight cooed softly, as if giving his own seal of approval.

Wensley's face lit up, tension dissolving from his posture. "Aw shucks, thank ya kindly, Yer Highness! Lookin' forward ta becomin' a real crystal pony." He spun on his hooves eagerly but paused at the doorway. "Say uh, what's it take ta get one a' them shiny coats anyhow...?"

Cadance chuckled. "You will not become a crystal pony." She curled a hoof at herself. "I haven't either, you can see." Despite being the princess of them, she was still entirely of flesh and fur, not crystal. "Only during special events will we feel that way of being. You'll be just as welcome, crystal or not."

She turned her child towards Wensley. "This is an umbrum. This is also my lovely colt. They aren't even a pony, and they are a beloved citizen of the empire. I imagine you, a pony, will have an even easier time."

Wensley smiled at the colt. "Aw, ain't they cute... Oh! Right, that there's Umbra's little one, ain't it?" He took an unsure step forward. "Can ah come see?"

Cadance relaxed, allowing her vision to slide into seeing the relationship threads dangling off ponies. Wensley had quite a few. She could see a thin and warm one leading towards the colt. It wasn't finished, trailing from him but not coming back from the foal.

He wanted to like the foal, but the foal had no idea who Wensley was. "Approach. You are a friend of Umbra's?"

"Sure am." With permission given, he trotted up to Midnight, there resting against Cadance, and fell right into the little babbles one saved just for little foals. "Look at you! Just a little sinister, but mostly cute. Just like yer mom!"

Cadance watched, intrigued, as Wensley cooed over little Midnight. The earth pony seemed utterly enchanted by the foal, grinning from ear to ear. Yet she could also sense his sincerity - he was truly at ease around Umbra's unusual child.

"My, he seems quite taken with you," she chuckled as Midnight curiously batted at Wensley's mane. "And I understand you are already dear friends with his mother."

Wensley nodded eagerly as he tickled Midnight's round belly, eliciting bubbly giggles. "You bet! She's real special ta me - gave me a whole new chance at life." His voice softened wistfully. "Figure maybe that's why ah wanna stay here so bad...ta be near her an' her sweet little family. Um, on top of... what ah hope to make..."

Cadance tilted her head knowingly. "I am sure Umbra will be absolutely thrilled you are settling in the empire for good." From the threads between this earnest stallion and her beloved wife, she suspected his fondness ran deeper than mere friendship. Thankfully, it was the rich connection of a true friendship. There was no spice of passion there.

"Well, you shall have to come to the palace for dinner once you are fully moved," she declared smoothly. "It is high time we properly welcome you into our unlikely little family, ragged edges and all."

She lifted Midnight in her glittering aura as proof of that statement. For though they came from disparate worlds, the bonds tying their patchwork herd together ran true and bright as crystal.

Wensley's face lit up. "Aw, supper sounds mighty fine! Always happy ta spend time with my pals." He shook his mane bashfully. "Ah ain't gonna intrude though if yer majesty's just sayin' that ta be polite..."

Cadance softened, sensing his insecurities lurking under that disarming rural drawl. "My invitation comes from the heart's honesty, not hollow courtesy," she pledged gently. "Any friend of Umbra's will find warm welcome here for good."

Midnight gurgled his own baby babble of agreement, one tiny hoof raised. Wensley's nervous smile blossomed fully once more. "Oh! Um... would it be alright if I brought that ladyfriend of mine?"

Cadance blinked. "Of course! Who is this mare that has caught your attention?"

"Shifting Prism." He reached up to play with Midnight, tickling at the squealing colt.

Cadance flicked her ears back a moment, forcing them right back up. "Oh.... Oh. I... hate to do this... But may I take back that invitation?"

Wensley shrank back, eyes wide with surprise. "Did ah do somethin' wrong?"

"No! No... You are still invited." She reached to set a hoof on his chest. "But Shifting and Umbra have a complicated background... Forcing them to have dinner together could upset them both. We'd need to consult each, privately, and delicately, before we did that."

Cadance gave Wensley an apologetic look as the earth pony seemed to deflate before her eyes. "Please believe me, I am not rescinding my invitation lightly," she said gently. "Any friend of yours is still most welcome here."

She chewed her lower lip, debating just how much to reveal of Shifting and Umbra's tender history. The truth could wound hearts anew. Yet neither did she wish Wensley entering this courtship blindly. He deserved to know what he stepped between.

"The complications between them are...personal in nature," Cadance began delicately. "I shan't break their confidence with details. But there was once something deeply special kindled there...something that has left scars in its extinguished ashes."

She met Wensley's eyes gravely. "My concern is only for all parties involved. Were Shifting to visit the castle presently, before matters are settled...it could reopen still-healing wounds."

Midnight burbled softly as if echoing her somber mood. Cadance gently bounced him, considering her next words carefully.

"I tell you this not to discourage your courtship," she continued. "Love often blooms unexpectedly! But also tread mindfully. The seeds of affection sometimes take root in the cracks of old fractures. One must gently tend the delicate shoots before they grow strong."

She offered Wensley a bittersweet smile. "My hope is someday we can all share fellowship again. But the heart must have time to mend...and prepare. Please know I shall support you however I can through this."

She couldn't know that Umbra and Shifting had already worked towards mending the rift between them. "I just want to be careful. You, to be clear, are still invited."

"Thank ya kindly." Wensley nodded as he stepped back with a clop of his hooves on the crystal floor. "Ah won't take up more of yer time."

Cadance gently shooed him away with a wave of her own hoof. "Go then, and know you're welcome here."

Wensley fled the palace, just to go right to Shifting. He barely had time to knock before a smiling bat pony appeared at the window of her house.

"Wens!" She rushed to the door and threw it open. "Why do you look stressed?" She nuzzled him without delay. "Come in here and tell me about it."

Wensley felt himself already relaxing. How could one stay tense with Shifting giving love and unfiltered joy? "Jus' comin' back from the palace." He kicked the door shut as he came in. "They invited me to dinner."

"Nice!" She clapped her hooves with a smile. "But... Are you nervous? Cadance is so sweet. Just be yourself and everything will be fine."

Wensley pawed the ground, still looking mildly distressed despite Shifting's encouragement. "Aw, I ain't worried 'bout fancy manners or nothin'," he admitted. "Her Radiance was real nice ta me."

He took a deep breath. "It's jus'...she told me you an' Umbra might not want to hang out."

Shifting stiffened, eyes clouding at the reminder. Wensley hurried on gently. "And it sounds like maybe things ended kinda messy between ya two. Her Highness seemed to think it best we not all go socializin' together right off the bat."

He watched Shifting anxiously. "Ah hope it ain't upsettin' ya, me accident'ly stirring up old ghosts." A shy sort of hope kindled behind the concern in his deep brown eyes. "Maybe we could still go, jus' us two...if ya wanted..."

Shifting let out a tense fit of laughter. "She's out of date."

"She is?" He hugged her gently, urging away her tension just as she had done for him. "Tell me 'bout it?"

"Umbra." Shifting rolled her eyes. "She doesn't like leaving things hanging. She already came to me, begged for forgiveness, and rolled on her back."

Wensley perked a brow. "Um... Not sure how to take that..."

Shifting waved his concern away. "We aren't together if that's what has you worried." She snickered softly at the idea. "That isn't happening ever again."

She touched Wensley gently, brushing down an arm. "Trust is a delicate thing... It's hard to put together again after you break it."

"Yeah... Yeah, ya mentioned that." He nipped at one of her tufted ears. "Ah won't do that to ya!"

"Good." She smooched his cheek and the two fell into warm hugs, flopping over on the floor with delighted snuggling. "I'm holding you to that."

"For the rest of days," he sighed out.

She inclined her head slowly. "Um... Not an expert... But did you just propose to me?"

Wensley went still, the room silent around them. Every second felt like forever. "Um... sorta... ah guess... What do--"

He didn't get to finish the question, being pressed to his back on the ground, Shifting straddling him from above. "I do! Um, acccept your proposal. We have to do a marriage, right? That's... how things work." She seemed quite eager.

Even if she didn't really know how some of that worked.

151 - Yak Smash

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With a great grunt, Prince Rutherford threw his tsuki opponent to the ground with a toss of his heavy horns. He was on them in a moment, pinning them. "I win."

"You win," admitted the tsuki, sad a moment before he perked. "Good fight."

"Good fight." Rutherford sat up, letting the tsuki rise. "Question."

"Yes?"

Rutherford directed a hoof at the tsuki. "Why cheat? Why rabbit start fight unfair. Rabbit have strength fight fair!"

As accusing as it was, the tsuki seemed to grasp the compliment hidden there. They were strong enought to fight fair. "Not try fight." He spread his arms. "Want say hello."

"Hello?" Rutherford frowned, but reached out an arm. "Hello?"

"Hello!" The tsuki grabbed the prince of all yaks, joyfully embracing them despite the aches of the fight they had just finished. "Is good meet. Friends now?"

The prince staggered back a step. "Um... Sure? Tsuki and yaks friends!" Tsuki and yaks on either side cheered the announcement.

But he wasn't done, stomping up to Umbra. "Still one thing."

"Yeah?" Umbra hiked a brow at Rutherford and his scowl. "Is something wrong?"

"Yes!" He stomped a hoof, then turned it to where Witching and her yak opponent were slumped against each other, panting for breath. "No winner, only losers. She not fight fair." He curled a hoof to his chin. "Start fighting fair, give credit, but too late."

He pointed at Umbra. "Fight fair, from the start. Fight fair and then we know!"

Umbra glanced to where Witching was gingerly extracting herself from the tangle of limbs. The umbrum pony was battered and exhausted, but her eyes still held that daring gleam.

"It would seem I have little choice but to accept your challenge," Umbra sighed, turning back to Rutherford. "What contest do you propose to settle this grudge fairly?"

The prince stroked his beard contemplatively. "Yaks have traditional sport - Fireball Fling. See who toss flaming rock farthest across sky. Test of might and courage!"

Umbra suppressed a shudder, visions of wayward meteors bombarding the tundra flashing through her mind. "I...appreciate the offer, but perhaps a non-combative display would be safest for all." She gestured to the celebrating tsuki and yaks who were now enthusiastically hug-wrestling one another into the snowdrifts.

"We are allies now - let our contest be one of skill and trust rather than force." She leveled stern eyes at the skeptical prince. "I swear on my authority as a princess that any challenge you set forth shall be accepted without resistance or trickery. Does that satisfy your honor?"

Rutherford grunted begrudgingly. "Very well, pony princess. But challenge will still show true might! Yak judges never fooled!"

He gestured brusquely for Umbra to follow him towards the village forum where both tribes were now intermingled. "Come! We prepare greatest contest in yak history!"

Umbra smiled in relief and let the burly prince lead on. Peace had been brokered, the first fragile bridge laid between their peoples. Now to seal the hopeful union with an act of courage from the heart, not sword or fist. She prayed her magic would be enough.

The village square swelled with furry and shaggy onlookers as yaks hastily assembled a rather ramshackle platform in its center. Umbra was reminded of the Crystal Empire's faire grounds, though with a rougher, more primitive edge. Still, anticipation charged the icy air as surely as it did those summer festivals of home.

At last Rutherford ascended the platform, commanding immediate silence with a bellow. All eyes turned expectantly as Umbra took her place with far less bluster.

The prince met her gaze levelly. "The gauntlet is thrown, princess of puny ponies. Now we see if you can walk the walk!"

Umbra couldn't resist, hiking in place as if to show her walking ability. "Bring it."

Rutherford laughed sharply. "Good, have spirit. You'll need it." He swiveled to three elderly yaks in a line. "What contest chosen?"

Umbra inclined her head a little. "You aren't picking?"

"Not fair." The prince stomped the snow. "Elders pick. Elders judge. They will see through all trickery. You want not-fight, they pick. You don't like, we fight!"

Umbra cringed at how quickly things seemed to be swinging. "I'll accept the contest they're offering. Elders, what contest do you propose?"

The elder yaks huddled in low whispers, ancient eyes creased with thought. Umbra waited quietly as they deliberated, her gaze drifting to where Witching had settled, watching with eager anticipation.

Having made peace, part of Umbra felt guilty at the idea of potentially making the yaks look foolish with her magical prowess. Yet neither could she kneel meekly before their taunting bluster. If only she knew what test these weathered elders deemed worthy...

At last, the trio turned back, one of them raising a frail hoof. "The contest be thus:

A feat of trust, showing spirit bound not by force but freely given. Let the princess and Prince Rutherford each construct one end of a bridge with their own hooves and skill. In the center shall hang suspended a gem, offered by us unworthy ones. To claim the stone would prove selfish might; but to leave it untouched proves goodwill between tribes. This is the contest."

Umbra released a slow breath. Her eyebrows raised in surprise at their wisdom which cut far deeper than any wrestling contest. Rutherford, likewise, shuffled his hooves almost abashedly, some of his boastful wind taken out of its sails.

Yet in the sparkling emerald the eldest brandished, Umbra saw the promise of harmony far outweighing any small treasure's temptation.

"I accept this challenge in the spirit of fellowship offered." Umbra swept low in deference to the elders. "And pray our bridge shall stand long and bright with hope."

The gathered masses stomped and cheered approval. Umbra and Rutherford moved to opposite sides of the square with tools granted them. Soon the contest would commence....but already Umbra felt victory shining not through strength of arms, but of compassion unfurled at last between former foes.

The prince moved to gather a few tools. "You'll see. The yak side will be strongest!"

"So long as the bridge we make stands forever and maybe a few days after that, I'll be happy." Umbra was smiling, entirely pleased as she moved to take her position on the other side of the selected ravine. "I like this contest..."

"You would." Witching Hour settled near Umbra to watch her work. "You're going to use crystals, and you know how to mine those. This contest is made for you."

"It's more than that." Even if Umbra was already sending her senses out into the ground, searching for the sweet scent of good building crystals. "It's a cooperative game. We both win, or we both lose. I say we win."

Witching rolled her eyes. "There's no show of strength."

"Aunt's right." Morning nodded towards Witching. "There are zero feats of combat. Any two creatures could do this, and we'd have no idea which is superior."

"That isn't the goal." Umbra's horn glowed with her dark magic as she wrenched a massive crystal slab from the ground. "Mmm... It'll do..." Crystals had so many more qualities than a random person could determine, but Umbra had experience. "Enough to start."

Morning rolled a hoof. "What is the goal, mother? How will this get what we came here to do?"

Umbra levitated her first gleaming crystal into place, fusing it seamlessly to the rocky outcropping beside her to form an anchor point. As she worked, she addressed Morning over her shoulder, not breaking focus.

"This contest was never about crowning supremacy, but forging bonds," she explained. "The tsuki and yaks were strangers who collided painfully because neither understood the other."

She wrenched another massive crystal from the hard earth, careful not to rupture its intricate lattices that would hold their fanciful bridge aloft.

"My 'goal' has always been building trust where mistrust festered." She nodded toward where Rutherford was sweatily hauling stone slabs much more crudely to assemble his end of the bridge. "That prince is obstinate, but his heart is true enough. Each structure we raise shall stand testament that though our tribes walk different lands, the way before us joins under one sky."

Umbra shaped translucent stairs leading up into open air where their halves would someday meet. She then carved twin parapets and high towers to frame a walkway between, like outstretched hands awaiting a friendly grasp.

Glancing over, she saw Rutherford's progress remained squat and unadorned. Yet the yak builders peered at her creation with admiration instead of envy.

Her own daughter, likewise, watched the graceful spires rise with grudging appreciation. Perhaps Morning, too, was starting to comprehend that contests came in many forms, conquest but one.

"This is our strength unveiled," Umbra finished softly, crafting a last few filigrees before stepping back. "Not to oppress, but uplift. Consider what hands joined can build, my dears...if only given the chance."

"Prince." She climbed her side of the bridge, looking down on Rutherford. "I would like our bridge to be strong. May I build the foundation towards where you've started?"

"Strong good!" Rutherford raised a doubting, shaggy brow at Umbra. "Why make our side stronger? Lose contest! Yak win!"

Umbra clapped softly. "The rules say so long as the bridge stands strong and holds the crystal up, we both win. I like the sound of that. May I help?"

Rutherford snorted disdainfully. "Probably trying steal crystal... Fine, build!"

Permission secured, Umbra began working down towards the prince's construction. She fused her crystals into and around his work, slowly creating a single arch of stone. "There we... go. But, I can't finish this."

Rutherford started at that announcement. "Give up? Yak win?"

"Yaks win in this case." She waved a hoof slowly along the bridge. "You don't want a delicate-looking crystal bridge. We need your strong and powerful stonework. I just made a foundation to build on. You'll make it strong." Strong wasn't exactly what she thought of, but appealing to yak aesthetics felt wise. "I trust you."

Prince Rutherford eyed Umbra's pristine crystal framework dubiously, then glanced back at his own crude pillars with a scowl. Clearly he had hoped for an easy victory requiring no real effort on his part. Yet the clever pony had flipped the script, ceding the true test of skill to him.

He stomped a hoof, barking for his laborers to approach the glimmering equine-built overpass. They shuffled reluctantly, wary of potential tricks. But Umbra only smiled encouragingly and beckoned them forth.

With a frustrated snort, Rutherford gestured brusquely to start hauling more stones. If this strange princess wished to forfeit and make the yaks do extra work, so be it! He would craft a bridge to humble all of Equestria's silly glitter palaces.

Yet...as heavier slabs were lugged into place, melding seamlessly with the existing crystal spans...Rutherford had to admit the foundations this "Umbra" had conjured supported their increasing architecture remarkably well. Her towers formed connected anchors allowing his team to bridge the wide gap with stability and grace previously impossible for yak designs alone.

Much as the notion galled his pride, the pony princess had birthed a structure blending their disparate skills to a strength surpassing each tribe independently. Eyeing the progress, no obvious weak point revealed itself - merely unified potential shining clearer with each slab locked into the magical matrix Umbra somehow principle within the very earth below.

At last, as his sweating team laid the last keystone, Rutherford stepped back, gazing up at this impossible sight. Not yak architecture alone, nor pony wizardry alone...but built by both, named by none, for benefit of all peoples.

The bridge stood breathlessly complete as the village cheered. Elders strode forward, reverently placing the mammoth emerald within its centermost arch - a vibrant heart for this woven dream.

None stepped forth to claim the glittering prize. And gazing upon its graceful span, Rutherford pondered perhaps some treasures worth far more than any a single set of hands might grasp alone.

152 - Day and Night

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He had been placed there and given no instructions. That was just as well, as he was very unlikely to understand them. He was even less likely to follow them.

But he could see somepony else there. She was brightly colored, in dazzling pinks and other soft shades. She had wings and a horn and a swishy tail as she crawled about on her own tasks.

He did not know those tasks, but he wanted to, so he crawled towards her, even if he wasn't as fast as her. So young, just a little time made a lot of difference in their abilities.

Their parents watched with smiles as Midnight and Flurry came closer on their own. None of them interrupted, hoping things would go well without prodding.

Flurry noticed the dark little colt approaching her. As dim as their pelt was, their eyes were bright and keen on her. She sat on her haunches and babbled a few non-words.

He replied with a few of his own, reaching her. He swatted at her with a hoof, and she snuffled along his side. The explorations had begun, and neither was crying.

Flurry Heart chirped curiously as she circled the smaller dark foal, sniffing him from ears to tail. Midnight gazed back with wide crimson eyes, entranced by her rainbow mane and the way it seemed to float with a life of its own.

When she paused to tweak his ear experimentally, he responded by grabbing a tiny fistful of her colorful locks. Flurry squealed in surprise, then delight, as Midnight clung on tightly when she tried shuffling away. Soon they were embroiled in an impromptu game of tug-and-war, both giggling madly.

Watching from the sidelines, Umbra, Cadance and Shining exchanged relieved smiles. "They seem to be hitting it off splendidly," Cadance murmured, leaning into Shining's sturdy frame. Though the tykes came from vastly different worlds, perhaps childhood's language could build a bridge beyond words.

As the minutes passed in happy play, any lingering tension melted away. When at last the foals separated, panting from their rambunctious antics, Cadance extended a glittering wing to draw them close once more.

"I think little Midnight needs a diaper change," she pronounced after gently sniffing his bottom. "Why don't you both come with Auntie Cadance and we'll get you all nice and clean?"

She swept up the pair of foals and, with a playful flutter of feathers to tickle their bellies, carried them off towards the nursery. Their musical laughter trailed behind like a blessing.

"They really are something, aren't they?" Shining murmured, pride and hope shining in his blue eyes equally.

Umbra simply leaned into his sturdy side, too overwhelmed for words. Somehow in the innocent play of children too young to grasp prejudice, she could envision the bright future they all had sacrificed so much to cultivate. A realm for all creatures, where darkened pasts melted away before friendship's dawning light.

"Hm. I feel like I channeled a little Anik in my head." Umbra shook hers, as if to clear it. "Getting poetic."

Shining kept an ear on Umbra. "Where is he?"

"Eagerly pursuing this new life of his." Umbra considered with a frown. "He's just as new to pony life as I'd been, but he hit it like a dolphin to water. I'm almost jealous, almost..."

Shining gently pushed against her on the way past. "Don't be. He loves you a lot, and you know it. I should get back to work, family funtime has limits."

Umbra sighed. "Too true... I'll keep an eye on them."

"Roger that." Shining trotted from the room, running into a guard that then accompanied them off to other business.

Umbra watched Shining depart with his dutiful guardspony, a small wistful part of her wishing she could join him. How long had it been since they had patrolled the glittering streets side-by-side? Those had been trying times, come to think, but, danger long past, she felt nostalgic for them.

She could hardly begrudge his capable leadership keeping their empire safe, any more than she regretted their family growing to encompass all creatures drawn to their light. This was simply life's flow - the changing of seasons that saw relationships and roles transform as new buds bloomed.

She turned her gaze back to the foals where Cadance was expertly changing Midnight's diaper, her nurturing aura radiating. With a smile Umbra stepped forward to gently run a hoof over Flurry Heart's gossamer mane. The filly trilled happily, reminding Umbra of bygone days when she was holding another infant, a world away.

"They grow up so fast," Cadance murmured wistfully, as if sensing Umbra's thoughts. "So we must cherish each moment while we can." Love and longing shone equally in her violet eyes.

On impulse, Umbra drew the surprised princess into a fierce nuzzle. Cadance stiffened, then relaxed, returning the sudden embrace.

No further words were needed. For as surely as the sun must set with each cycle, they all orbited around the same bright purpose - nurturing the innocent hearts placed in their care, that one day they might cultivate gardens of their own making.

"You look poetic."

Umbra flinched back and burst into rough laughter, the sort she usually had. "How did you know?! I just feel poetic today..."

Cadance set Midnight down, so their games with Flurry could resume. "Good job, by the way. I hear the yaks are now friends with both the tsuki and the umbrum, and we hadn't even planned on that second one."

Umbra snickered as she sank to her haunches, watching the foals. "The tsuki and the yaks are pretty similar. As soon as we got them focused on that, they loved each other. Both are ready to smash in their different ways."

Cadance winced even as she laughed. "Don't put it that way. I don't need a smashing competition breaking out, even if they're smiling while they do it."

Flurry knocked Midnight over, rolling them onto their back and pinning them down like a wrestling move, though it was more like she flopped on him. It was just as certain, considering his wriggles were not powerful enough to get her off.

Umbra was about to intercede when Midnight defended themself, a ball of dark with streaks of light exploding from them for several inches, shoving a surprised Flurry back.

Midnight sat up and cooed. Was he happy, or hadn't even noticed what happened? Either way, the play resumed.

"Well, that's...something," she managed, shaking off her surprise. Of course Midnight would inherit umbrum talents from his mother's bloodline. Still, witnessing such innate power manifest so early was startling.

She studied Umbra's face for her reaction. But the princess appeared more proudly fascinated than concerned. Trust this family to take such arcane abilities in gleeful stride!

"I suppose we shall have to foal-proof the palace against wayward shadow bolts once Midnight starts tottering about," Cadance chuckled. Then her expression grew thoughtful.

"Although...perhaps in time he could be nurtured as a unifier of sorts - a bridge between creatures of darkness and those accustomed only to light." She nodded toward the playing infants where Flurry was now attempting to grab Midnight's swishing tail.

"It seems our children's complementary gifts could one day see them reign side-by-side just as we have done," Cadance mused.

Umbra snorted softly. "You're acting like little Flurry there never made trouble with her magic. Last I hear, her magic surges are the things of legend."

Cadance darkened, called out like that. "True... True... That is one crystal house perhaps I shouldn't be throwing rocks from." She snorted as she settled beside the foals. "I'm happy, not complaining, promise. These two are just so adorable..."

"Agreed." Umbra's horn glowed as she picked up Flurry, bringing the little bright child towards her to nuzzle in a quiet moment. "Now... little Midnight is your child too, don't forget... Literally... Will he inherit any love magic? Will Flurry?"

Cadance shook her head. "I don't think it works that way exactly. They could... but there's no promise of that. They'll learn what magic feels right to them. They are a light pony, like most ponies, so something light is very likely."

Umbra swapped foals, putting Flurry down and snatching Midnight up for nuzzles. "And this one is at least half dark, so they could end up drawn to almost anything, and I'm here for that. Will you be a wizard, like me? I'd really like that... Show me up some day with all kinds of magic..."

Cadance smiled tenderly as Umbra doted on little Midnight, imagining all the magical milestones that likely awaited them. Though his heritage was a tapestry of shadow and light, destiny had a way of weaving one's passions to purpose in unexpected yet beautiful ways.

"I have a hunch Midnight may take after you more than you realize," Cadance replied thoughtfully. "Not just following your hoofprints into advanced magic...but also walking the precarious line between darkness and light as a bridge between mismatched souls."

She reached out a gentle hoof to stroke Midnight's downy cheek. "One who stands with a foot planted firmly in each world can speak the language of both...and translate it into understanding where once lay only fear or mistrust on either side."

Her gaze shimmered with memory and hope as it took in mother and child. "Just as you opened my eyes to the depths behind the umbrum's frightening facade...perhaps our little prince shall one day help enlighten creatures about the wonders coiled within his shadowed heart."

She gave Midnight's round belly an affectionate tickle, eliciting a bubbly giggle. "Not to mention teaching his Crystal Empire family a thing or two about umbrum culture so we stop putting our hooves in our mouths!"

Cadance laughed brightly. "Can you picture me trying to make small talk with Witching Hour over tea and scones? 'Why yes, do tell me more about the finer points of harvesting pony nightmares! Fascinating...'"

She shook her head, still chuckling. "We have much to discover from each other...and I have faith Midnight will light our way, darkness and all."

Umbra broke into a laugh from deep in her belly. "Oh, that would be rich... Knowing Midnight, she'd give you a sermon about how to find out what a pony regrets most. There's an art to it, I'm sure..." She sat up. "Good news, related to her. she's getting along with the tsuki nicely. I think she loves them loving her. Even if she's not much for 'soft stuff', I think she's liking being buried in adoring rabbit."

Cadance hummed thoughtfully. "She came with you, I was told? To the yaks?"

"She fought in the big battle... She availed herself to the yaks and the tsuki. Everyone was happy." Umbra tapped at her chin. "A good day, if you ask me."

"I should imagine." Cadance rose to her hooves, stepping out of the play area. "But maybe she's happy, a little, because she's learned the tsuki can fight, and they learned she can too. Maybe they're even wrestling, right now."

Umbra pictured the stern-faced Witching rolling around enthusiastically with a gaggle of overly-affectionate tsuki. She almost snorted at the absurdity...until she recalled witnessing that very sight at the peace celebrations in Yakyakistan. Apparently even fearsome umbrum weren't immune to the tsukis' fluffy charms for long.

"I do believe you've hit the nail on the head," Umbra chuckled. "Under all that prickly posturing, I suspect my dear sister-in-law quite enjoys feeling like the popular guest of honor for once instead of a lurking nuisance barely tolerated."

Her smile softened. "We all crave feeling wanted, darkness-dwellers perhaps most of all. Knowing someone delights in your company even forearmed with your worst self...that is soul magic more potent than any spell."

Glancing back at Midnight sending Flurry Heart into fits of giggles with his silly faces, her heart swelled anew. "Even better when the welcoming arms that find value in you belong to kin - whether tied by blood or choice."

Perhaps she owed the tsuki yet greater thanks for so guilelessly embracing the outcasts of her kind. But seeing Witching and even Morning slowly thaw day by day was the greatest gift of all.

"If only Sombra too had found a light gentle enough to illuminate rather than burn when he gazed within." Umbra sighed heavily. "Instead, he chose to see affection's offered hand as armed against him. I almost pity one who cannot distinguish overture from attack."

Cadance gazed out the window where a new spring's golden sun shone down equally on crystal towers, tight-knit cottages and shadowed umbral enclaves alike. "Change takes time...but seasons progress ever forward. Hearts once winter's desolate victims bloom the brightest when kissed by long-awaited warmth."

Umbra snorted a puff of shadow. "I see the poetry is spreading. You'd best get back to your throne before it becomes terminal."

153 - Epilogues

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Though Discord plotted his trouble elsewhere, Umbra safeguarded the North alongside her family. Ruling the Crystal Empire with Cadance and Shining Armor, their love warmed and powered their people with unending devotion.

Wensley and Shifting got married. Things got interesting when changelings came out into the lime light and Shifting quickly began showing her true colors.

Those colors were still a crystal bat pony. It was just a crystal bat pony that could shapeshift without fear.

Wensley proved entirely alright with his talented wife, and their relationship only grew stronger as they raised a family of their own together.

Witching Hour tried to be an intimidating and aloof guardian of the tsuki. It even worked, at first.

At least until the young tsuki decided she was a fine sleeping surface. She awoke every day for several weeks under a pile of fluffy love, and she couldn't work up the will to chase them away after the first dozen times.

It only got worse when they grew up and all considered her to be a best friend. Her scary shadow card was in tatters.

On the positive, she had a lot of friends.

It was, perhaps, worth the trade.

Morning and Tomtom were inseperable. Though she viewed him at first as a relationship of convenience, time wore away at that. He never said anything about it, even as his vocabulary grew.

He couldn't spend so much time with Morning without picking up on the words she used, and even how she used them.

They say imitation is the most sincere form of flattery, and he loved Morning quite a bit.

It surprised few when he dropped to a knee one day and asked if he could stay with Morning forever.

It surprised more when she actually agreed.

They married shortly afterwards, both young adults at that point. Tomtom had only grown larger, so he gladly served as her mount through the skies, but he never used his strength on her.

Unless she wanted to wrestle.

These were rare, but treasured, opportunities.

Speaking of wrestling, the tsuki and the yaks grew closer swiftly when their conflict ended. The yaks loved to crash into things, and the tsuki loved wrestling with things. It was a natural match. Heavy yaks would crash into ready tsuki arms.

If the yak wasn't ready in turn, they'd be thrown to the ground.

It became an ongoing contest, to see if the tsuki could be knocked over, or the yak. Whichever side won any great crash, both were left laughing and happy about it.

The two large species found kin in one another that few other species could hope to provide.

Their bridge stood tall and proud for many, many moons.

"Like this?" Midnight's darkly glowing horn formed spears of screaming nightmare energy, hovering there in the air.

Flurry Heart clapped her bright hooves together. "Yes! That's how mom does it."

Midnight let the shadows fall a few inches. "She's my mom."

Flurry rolled her eyes at that. "She's our mom. We have two. Two moms, one dad. No arguing about which is which."

Midnight decided to prove their point by hurling the shadow spears at Flurry. It was a shame, perhaps, that she was used to such game, parrying several with bursts of shields as she hopped over another. "You won't get me that easily!"

He huffed out a puff of dark energy. "No fair..."

"I am your older sister." She folded her arms over her chest. "Expect me to act like it."

"Lucky..." He was a few years younger, but he was learning. "Let's practice some more?"

"Gladly." She shimmered with the crystal heart power that made up a lot of her magic. "If you're ready."

He was only rarely not ready to vie with her, the two laughing despite their eager clashes.

Morning Dew swept into the royal planning session fifteen minutes late, TomTom hopping faithfully behind her. "Apologies for my tardiness," she declared, not sounding apologetic at all. "Those incompetent miners kept trying to argue safety regulations until I set them straight."

She flung herself into a crystal chair with little Midnight perched eagerly on her back, clinging to her dark mane. Though only a young colt, the family resemblance was already uncanny, from their matching icy blue eyes to imperious frowns.

"Now then, have we covered anything of import since the last gathering?" Morning continued briskly. "Or simply more dull budget reports?"

Cadance hid a knowing smile. "Nothing to bore my brilliant niece, I assure you. Although..." She nodded toward a delicate pastry tray. "I believe Cook made umbrumberry tarts today if you'd care to sample."

"Oh, don't pretend every decision of state aims solely to coddle my tastes," Morning huffed, even as TomTom was already enthusiastically hopping toward the treats.

Yet Cadance caught the tiny upturned quirk at the corner of Morning's mouth. Some shadows had surely softened over time, woven into the empire's radiant tapestry by patient strands of affection.

Though crystal towers now knew umbral nights more intimately, kindness yet glimmered...one tart at a time.

When the call went out, when Equestria needed them, the forces of the Crystal Empire rode down on the train to assist. They would not face The Great Three without them. Only when Chrysalis, Cozy Glow, and Tirek were set in stone would true peace be known.

Umbra took the time to visit one of her pony pals. "Starlight!"

"Umbrie!" The two crashed in a great hugging mass of arms. "Not how I would have invited you, but..."

"But here I am." Umbra bounced back. "And I'm ready."

"Oh, I doubt that..." Starlight's horn glowed with threats of arcane violence. "You haven't won so far, but I love it when you try."

Umbra seeped shadow in all directions. "Shadows are ever patient."

"You have to be." She fired a brilliant beam of power that cut through where Umbra had been a moment ago. "If you plan to wait me out."

Their competition did their best to outshadow the Equestria-shaking battle that had just finished. The braver ponies sat some distance away, watching the two battle through binoculars.

With an unzippering sound, Discord stepped from nowhere, to somewhere. That somewhere was the middle of the Crystal Empire throne room.

Umbra hiked a brow. "Here? Now? A little busy." she waved at the pony supplicant that had been interrupted. "Wait in line like everycreature else."

Discord rolled his eyes and fixed the pony with a smile. "I'm taking your place."

The pony backed away with a nervous laugh. "Of course..." Few were the ponies that wanted to argue with the spirit of chaos.

"Now." Discord took the spot the pony had been in. "Congratulations! You have a happy ending firmly in hoof."

"No thanks to you," spat Umbra with a scowl. "I heard what you did back there. You almost ruined it all."

"With the best of intentions." Discord fluttered his lashes in an appeal for being adorable. "I learned my mistake... You handedly smashed what I sent up here before that. That Sombra character didn't have a chance."

Umbra flared with dark power. "I did not enjoy having to face him!"

"I did."

Discord blinked at a new voice, twirling to face Anik. "Oh, hello there."

"Hello." Anik nodded at Discord. "Thank you... That battle brought out the full light within me... And connected me with a departed pony that needed a place to shine and finish their business."

Discord clapped his hands with such a grin. "See, I helped!" He smacked Anik on the back. "Glad to be of service. So, glowing it up even brighter these days?"

"Each day." Anik seemed pleased, unbothered by Discord's antics. "Would you like to talk about it?"

Umbra didn't fight as Anik led Discord out of the throne room, allowing business to resume.

The tsuki grew closer to their pony friends and allies. Unlike the yaks, it wasn't one of energetic clashes, but one of the warmest hugs and joy.

Their language deepened, with each generation speaking more elegantly than the last with the ponies to learn from. But they were tsuki, and they would bounce high and hug tightly.

Fortunately, the ponies seemed to enjoy both features, so their friendship only grew as the two nations became one, functionally. Neither could imagine doing too much without the other.

When threats came, and they did, they faced them together. Anything that threatened even one pony or tsuki, was considered a problem for them all to solve.

In that first generation, the crystal ponies gained a valuable place of safety. Within the warmly holding grasp of a tsuki, they could shed the past traumas of Sombra, even for just a little while. They were safe with their large rabbit friends.

The tsuki were just as pleased to give those hugs and cradle a crystal pony until they were ready to face the day again.

All sides grew stronger for their friendships.

The future would hold challenges. Even if it wasn't going to on its own, they still had Discord for a frenemy. But, even putting him aside, the world was hardly one made entirely of peaceful intentions.

Umbra felt she could face them, and she was sure she had helped form a city just as ready.