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."