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."