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."