Umbra inclined her head at her crystal bat of a friend who was also a royal lovebug. "Time to throw that question back at you. What's your name?"
"Uh..." A squeak escaped her as Shifting danced in place. "Well! You said both was an option. That's me." She curled a hoof at herself. "Don't be grossed out."
Umbra blinked slowly. "I thought bugs were one or the other."
"Most of them are!" She flopped to her side, hooves kicking impotently at the air. "But I'm not most of them. If it helps, I can be one or the other."
Umbra laughed at that. "'Course you can. You are the ultimate genderfluid. But that isn't what you are, is what I'm hearing."
"Well, I mean..." Shifting fidgeted on her way back up to sitting upright. "I am that! But also both. Being a changeling means having a lot of names." She was colored faintly. "Under it all, both. At any moment, whatever I feel like that second."
"Alright, I get that." Umbra didn't seem too alarmed by this revelation. "But you didn't say the other half. What are you looking for? I can't say same or other, since you already broke that chart." She chopped the air, slaying the gender binary once and for all. "You looking for a lady friend, a guy friend, or maybe hoping for someone else who's both?"
"I wasn't looking!" Shifting colored, taking a step back. "I'm scared to."
"Scared to?" Umbra hiked a brow. "You worried you'll feed on them?"
"No!" Shifting waved her hooves negatively. "I feed on friendship anyway."
"Oh right. I must be a tasty friend then." Umbra grinned at the idea. "But if you're not scared of that, then what?"
Shifting sank, burying her face under her hooves. "It's embarrassing."
"If this is a 'I'm drawing a line in the sand' thing, alright." Umbra set a hoof on Shifting's back. "But if you're scared of me getting grossed out, forget that. I'm ready to learn more about you."
"Stop being so gosh darn understanding." Shifting sat up, tongue extended. "It's really hard to hide around you."
"The sweet irony." Umbra folded her arms. "You thought you could hide in the shadow, but this shadow keeps asking questions and trying to be encouraging. Where does one have to go to find a quiet dark place around here?"
Shifting burst into giggles that grew in volume. "Stop it!" She pounced, being caught in arms even as the two flopped over in a brief wrestling session. "You are the best worst friend!"
"I'll take that title." Her horn began to glow as she lifted Shifting up and set them down gently, sitting up herself. "Now, do you want to share or not? I won't force you."
Shifting considered with little fidgets. "Alright... So... How much do you know about... that kinda stuff?"
Umbra hiked a brow. "Do you mean what people do in privacy? I'm an adult." She shrugged. "I know where babies come from. I know what people do when they're bored and alone if they want to. I know what people do together in the same situation. Man that sounds awkward." She rubbed behind her head. "Either way, been around the block a few times. Do you explode, like a bee?"
Shifting's eyes went wide. "No! That'd be horrible. But it could be worse in a way." She flopped to her side. "I'm afraid if I did that, I'd have... too much fun... and then, pow... back to changeling, and they'd freak out, and I'd be in trouble and..."
Umbra set a hoof on the prone Shifting's snout. "Which just means you should consider that kind of thing only with people who already know, since if that happens with them, what's the big deal?"
Shifting's mouth worked without noise for a moment. Was it really that simple? "Oh," she finally got out, tufted ears twitching. "Yeah... But that's... one pony." She pointed up at Umbra, hopping up to all fours quickly thereafter. "And I don't want to do that to you."
"Do... what?" Her brows went down together. "Is changeling sex even stranger than I'm busy imagining?"
"Not like that." Shifting waved that away frantically. "I mean... then... You're the only one that works for, but we're not that kinda friends... And asking you, when you know that? It's not fair, not even a little fair. Be my special friend or it's your fault that I'm alone. No! That's... not even kinda fair." She brought her fore hooves together. "I don't want to do that to you."
"Fortunately, we're already friends." Umbra touched noses with Shifting. "Just not that kind of friend. That would be awkward, I admit..." Her attachment to Shining and Cadance still being an issue and all. "Maybe it could happen in the future? Not a no, but not a yes. The least satisfying answer!"
"The worst." Shifting stuck out her tongue in defiance of that non-committal reply. "But thanks, for being a friend, and not being grossed out. By the way, what'd you put in there." Her eyes were on Umbra's tiara and the big gem on it. "Is that one of the ones Rarity got for you? It looks like a really nice gem."
"It is!" Umbra bobbed her head, tension fleeing with the change of topics. "But that's a secret, shhh."
"Ooo, secrets! I'm good at secrets." She nodded with complete confidence. "No secrets will escape these lips."
"Tempting." And yet, no secrets were given. "Today, I vote we not work on gems or houses. Today, I decree, which is a thing I can do now." She sat up tall and proud. "Today we will just hang out and enjoy ourselves."
"As it is commanded." Shifting gave a sharp salute with a wing. And it was just as it was royally decreed.
"We did it." Shining was beaming at Cadance. "All the houses are occupied. The freed up houses are being repaired and redone as needed." Many were taken up by ponies moving from other houses, some of which became empty. "The station is fully within the safe zone."
"Lovely." Cadance clapped once before standing up. "That should make things easier for all involved. I imagine the ponies in new homes are also enjoying themselves?"
"Quite so." Shining pointed off to the left. "In fact, when they're told they're living in something built by the Umbra, they get even happier about it."
Cadance laughed at that. "Of course. It's nice being famous at times."
"Not that you'd know," joked Shining, as if Cadance weren't quite famous on her own. "That situation is under control, happy to say. No other disasters in the city. Everything is going well."
"Lovely." Cadance leaned forward. "Which is why I think it's time to set our eyes on something good, to draw the right kind of attention."
Shining leaned in, matching her. "I'm listening."
"Good." Cadance smirked faintly. "A coliseum. Vast, huge." She spread her hooves wide. "The kind of thing big events can take place in. The kind of thing half of Equestria could gather around."
Shining's eyes began to twinkle. "Oooo, that sounds exciting... but expensive."
"Not as expensive, or difficult, as it could be." Cadance sat up with a smug smile. "We happen to have a very talented builder as a friend. Her rate is reasonable for the quality and time taken."
"Ah! Ah, yes..." He tapped his chin, thoughts going towards Umbra. "She has proven quite adept at slapping up buildings, but never that size before."
"She won't ever be able to prove that." Cadance wagged a hoof at Shining. "At least until we give her the task. Then she will prove her ability quite nicely. I think she will like it. A place for ponies to perform, a place of... light, sprung from the shadows. Yes, I think that fits her poetic little heart quite nicely."
Shining chuckled at the thought. "It likely would. I'll ask her about it."
"Let me." Cadance stepped down from her fine throne. "I have a different task for you." They met, nose to nose. "Ask around. I'm sure some crystal ponies, and others who live here, are competitive sorts. Give them some organization. I have a feeling you can do that, hm?"
"On the case." Shining marched off with a new task in hoof.
"How big?!" Umbra was looking down at a plan that showed exactly how large the plan was. "This is huge!"
"It is." Cadance didn't even try to argue that. "But is it beyond your abilities? Now, to be fair, I will pay for your services." She smirked faintly. "Though you are a princess. Princesses do not typically charge fellow princesses for their aid."
Umbra colored at that. Called out! "You know I gave almost half the pay you gave before away to the builder guild, and I'll be employing them again." She pointed down at the plan. "There's no way I can get this to 100%, but 75%? Easy. Um, relatively easy... I can do it, that's the point. I'll have to pay them--"
Cadance nodded firmly. "Have them invoice me instead. I collect taxes. I will gladly pay them for what they do. Between us, we are princesses, doing what we can to make the lives of other ponies better." She smiled that bright smile of hers. "It's what makes us princesses. Now... I don't want you to think I am assuming I can claim your time. You are free to decline, especially if you have other projects before you."
Which was a thing Umbra didn't have, other than the ongoing want to improve her magic and craft, and play O&O with her friends, which wouldn't be interrupted in any huge way... "Alright! Sure... I need practical experience, and making something this big? That's a lot of practice. I can't be a crystal wizard without doing more crystals." She huffed, thinking of it. "How tall again?"
Cadance flipped the sheet with her magic, pointing to a different drawing that showed a pony standing beside the theoretical arena, providing a height comparison. "This tall."
"That is tall..." The pony looked small indeed beside the great structure of crystal beside them. "One thing." She tapped at it firmly. "This, you want it to last, and it's huge, which we've mentioned. Point is, conjuring all this crystal? I don't think that's the tactic to take for something made to last. We want this to be passed on to our grandkids, we want real crystals, from real mines. Do you even have that much crystal?"
Cadance frowned at that thought. "A compromise... If we build the structural supports out of--"
"Oh, and conjured crystals for the tops and outsides? Clever." Umbra began to clap approvingly. "Clever. You'll have to repair those once in a while, but that sounds like less of a game over than if the core support gave out. I'll still need a lot of real crystal."
"And you will have it," decreed Cadance with much more experience at giving official decrees. "I'll keep you posted. As the crystal is made ready, then you can begin?"
"Yep!" Umbra leaned towards Cadance. "Pleasure working with you."
"One thing." Cadance drew out a brightly wrapped package. "This is yours."
Umbra accepted the gift curiously. Her magic pulled the wrapping paper off in two big chunks. "A blanket?" She was holding a glittering crystal blanket.
"That is the one you enchanted. I heard it was damaged? I had it repaired and polished."
Its magic was still broken. Whoever touched it up only did the physical parts. They were not an enchanter, which were pretty rare, so far Umbra could tell. "That's really sweet of you." Despite that, she felt happy to hold her blanket. She could try to breathe new life into it. A safe shadow blanket for those in need. "Thank you."
"Thank you for coming to the aid of others. My people, but also your friends and countryponies. We are happy to have you with us." She touched her nose to Umbra's ear, making it flicker.