"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.