Preparations were being made to drop the shield but the Queen wanted to be certain that more than one sword could be pulled from this "scabbard" before she took the step that plunged her kingdom into the abyss of war. Though he wasn't prepared to release his findings Sombra was still optimistic in that regard. He had only been with her for twenty-four hours but in a single five minute stretch she was able to show him new depths of his magic he had not yet conceived.

The morning sun was still rising as he sent a servant to the prison to fetch Nurse Clarity. He had spent the previous evening overseeing Treeling's frolicking as a reward for her service to his studies, but today he needed to work alone so that she wouldn't disrupt his research. He was intent on learning yesterday's spells—and more—before the Crystal Queen questioned him again on their progress.

Treeling had intuitively produced tighter crystal lattices which provided denser structures for improved resonance. She demonstrated hybridization of spells that utilized atomized crystals in the brain and blood to cause lingering effects such as delusions or even amplification of his own magic. Sombra had a basic understanding of anatomy from working with Nurse Clarity, and was all to familiar with Treeling's perceptions of magic, so he speculated that her body just "digested" the magic just like anything else she regularly put in her mouth and her method was fascinating to him.

Sombra took a moment to let Treeling soak in the remainder of the sunrise as it was the only time of the day that she held still... eerily still at that. His thoughts turned to the day ahead and how to reintroduce Treeling to the care of Nurse Clarity. A great deal had changed in the last day that a new sitter would be required to catch up on, and he couldn't risk having someone without experience watching over the city's newest weapon.

After a few minutes of quiet contemplation Treeling began to fidget again so Sombra took the opportunity to address the pressing issue. "Treeling," he said, "I need some time to tend to important business today so you will be left in the care of Nurse Clarity."

Apprehension immediately filled the filly's face as she frantically began sketching however Sombra preempted her question with a reassuring smile. "Do not concern yourself. There is nothing more that she can teach you of our language. She's just going to make sure you don't get into trouble while I am away."

Treeling paused, narrowed her eyes, and cocked her head to the side as she tried to discern the implications of his tone as she didn't have a whole lot of context for the word "trouble." Sombra acknowledged the look but otherwise continued unimpeded: "You may find that she has had sufficient time to consider your position and may be more willing to 'hear' you out."

It was several minutes still before Nurse Clarity made her way to Sombra’s room to collect Treeling and, after she arrived, it was a minute more because she wouldn't make the first move. The filly's visible anticipation turned to curiosity as the mare stood before her, avoiding eye contact, while Sombra's disinterest turned to annoyance. Treeling slid out of her chair and walked around C.C. so that she could properly size her up. During her slow and steady orbit Nurse Clarity could be seen looking to the floor and avoiding eye-contact with the filly whenever possible.

Sombra wanted to object but there was a reverent sort of ritualistic way about the interaction. He thought to the child's behavior in the throne-room and found himself in similar inspection of their primal ways. She was quiet then, with an odd sort of patience, and only drank in the scenery before interacting with it. Just as he felt he should do now.

After she was done inspecting the nurse from the outside Treeling pushed her chair closer and climbed upon it to get a closer look into the eyes of her previous educator. Though unsure of her behavior Sombra was impressed at how Treeling totally dominated the interaction.

The filly and the mare took a deep long look into each other’s eyes to inspect the other's soul before Treeling slid her horn into Crystal Clarity's mouth. "What," Sombra said in surprise. It wasn't a question, as he didn't want to interrupt so that an answer could be drawn out, merely a confused objection to what he had seen.

The filly nodded several times and, with the bob of her head, her horn moved up and down as to ratchet open the mare's mouth. Treeling cocked her head to the side and drug her horn across the nurse's teeth into the pocket of her cheek. The uncomfortable scraping of the filly's oddly textured horn on the mare's teeth caused her to wince and squeeze her eyes shut... only her eyes, but not her mouth, while the filly peered deep into her throat.

There were no words inside. The mare was always talking, and so it looked as if Treeling had suspected that words would simply fall out when her mouth was opened, but the inspection revealed that she hadn't said any for a long time.

It wasn't physically possible to see words in a pony's mouth of course but, by the way that Treeling read Crystal Clarity's teeth and gums, Sombra could almost believe that just maybe she could. After many long seconds of literally looking the gift horse in the mouth, that mouth started to dry, and Treeling withdrew her horn from it. A gentle tap on the mare's chin from the filly's horn signified that she may close it without reprisal.

It slowly dawned on Sombra that, while Crystal Clarity had poured the entire language of their kingdom into Treeling's head, she in turn had the entire language of the wild poured into hers. The filly nodded to the mare, who nodded back, before Treeling climbed down from her stoop and the pair walked out of his chambers. After they turned out of sight Sombra was left only to question what exact understanding they had come to. He wondered if there were ponies out there that his magic would not be able to control simply because they were not compatible enough to understand the manipulations.

Whatever the case may be, he certainly didn't think that Crystal Clarity's mind could have been changed so much by magic, it made him uncomfortable as he considered just how fragile the mind actually was... and he was about to go meddling around in his own.