"One thing." Cadance was standing next to Umbra as the shadow pony moved great crystal slabs into place. "Why?"
"That's a really big question." Not that it stopped Umbra from proceeding, moving her hooves as she lined up the block where it needed to be. "Can you narrow it down a little?"
"Well, from what you've told us, you are an alien creature shoved into the body of a pony. You've been hurt and violated, but here you are, helping us anyway."
"Funny thing about that." She thrust up a hoof, conjured crystals bursting free of the ground around the solid mined one as if it were mortar. "It's all relative. Your world, for all its problems, is still a dreamy ideal place. The worst you have doesn't even come on the scale." Umbra shrugged softly. "Which sounds incredibly cynical, said out loud. Sorry, that isn't the goal. I'm happy to be here, warts and all." She clapped her hooves as two heavy slabs slid towards one another. "And I'll do my part to keep it working."
Cadance inclined her head. "You make it sound... as if you were some ancient thing. This is just an amusing distraction?"
Umbra inclined an ear at Cadance. "That's one way to look at it, but I like what I see, and I want to be a part." She smiled, fangs displayed. "I am a kind goddess of crystals and darkness. Is that a bad thing?"
"It's a little conceited, if you forgive my saying."
"It's a little conceited even if I don't forgive you saying." Umbra thumped to the side against Cadance. "My world loves to put pressure on people on a fairly constant basis. It's pretty rare anyone manages to just 'be'. The ones that do usually inherited success from their parents, and busily squander it on excess, whatever catches their eye."
"Not a happy picture you're presenting." Cadance considered the forming structure in silence a few moments. "But isn't that, in a way, what you're doing?"
"Hm?"
"You were born, in this world, with inherited success." Cadance nodded gently. "And now you spend it on excess. It is a pleasing excess, I have no objection to it... But the basics remain the same, doesn't it?"
Umbra's horn stopped glowing as she turned to Cadance slowly.
"Have I offended?" Cadance couldn't be sure, Umbra wielding an impassive expression.
"Impressed, actually." Umbra let out a little laugh, folding her arms. "You're not wrong entirely. Shoot, here I am, the rich kid. At least I'm using it to make tomorrow better, for everyone else. My life's just fine on its own. I don't need a fancy yacht or blinging jewelry..." She glanced up at her tiara, mostly out of her own field of view. "With some exceptions."
"I'm still wondering what that does."
"You and everyone else." Umbra was not sharing that secret. "But good point." She swatted at Cadance's shoulder as she resumed the movement of the heavy foundational crystals. "One thing! I raced through those houses, but this is not a house. This is several magnitudes more than a house. This will take a while."
"Already you make faster progress than I could otherwise dream of." Cadance nodded gently, watching the work slowly proceed. "I owe you thanks and nothing else for the rate you're going."
"I'm curious, since we're just talking."
"Please, go ahead." Cadance smiled brightly at that. "I owe you a few answers in kind."
"Why don't you refine your 'thing'? You're princess of love, right?" Cadance nodded at that. "So..." Umbra rolled a hoof. "Why aren't you digging into the details on that. You can see connections between people, that's already pretty great, but what can you do with them, besides turn them to max for a little while?"
Cadance flumped down to her haunches. "That's... not a question anypony has ever asked before. Considering what I... did with you, why would you encourage it?"
Umbra raised a brow. "I am suggesting you go to the firing range so I don't get shot again." That reference went right over the confused Cadance's head. "I mean, if you understood what you were doing better, that kind of mistake would be easier to avoid." Umbra gestured, working conjured crystal into shape. "The more you understand the tool you're holding, the more you can do with it. The less likely you'll do something you didn't plan on."
"Hm." Cadance rose to her hooves. "One challenge is that my days are often quite occupied. I penciled in 'observation of construction' today, but--"
"If you can manage that." Umbra lifted her shoulders. "You can pencil in a little time to learn yourself. Be all the princess of love you can be. Starting by learning what that means exactly." She leaned to the left as the crystal went in that direction. "I'm still learning crystal darkness, but I'm better than where I was by quite a bit. Magical pony princess! Worth the species dysphoria." She snickered softly, only to perk. "Another question."
"I will answer as best I can." Cadance sank back down. "I am enjoying this time, together. We should try to do it more often, with nothing dramatic."
"A lack of drama is a big plus." Umbra sucked on her tongue as she got two big blocks to kiss just right. "Shoot, the question, right." As if she had forgotten what she was going to ask. "Marriage!" Cadance's ears pricked up at that word. "Marriage. Are there rules about who a princess gets involved with?"
"Did you find somepony special?" asked Cadance in a lovey dovey voice, her beam one of grand delight. "Please, do share."
"I'm not saying I did." Umbra put up a hoof towards Cadance. "But I want to know the rules, if there are any, before that's a thing. I'm assuming a princess has some rules."
"Actually..." Cadance inclined her head. "Until you have a proper position, which can have rules and traditions, not really. Some princesses never do. They live as any other pony. If you see an alicorn out there, just... existing, that's a princess without a position, just living their best life. Nothing wrong with that. They're a pony, like any other. They can be expected to use their powers to help others, but that's it."
"Huh." Umbra grunted with renewed effort, urging the largest block so far to move, one slow inch at a time. "Huh... So I'm just a person, with... perks... I can do whatever I want."
"Mostly." Cadance shrugged softly. "Another reason I didn't rush to auntie. She'd parade you in front of the world and poof, expectations."
"Thanks for the... save..." The big crystal still required much concentration to keep moving in the right direction, power radiating from her in the effort. "The people here already hero worship me. That has its own expectations. Becoming a princess didn't change that much."
"Speaking of that." Cadance looked beyond Umbra, at a line only she could see. "A friend of yours?"
There was a green-furred earth pony smiling at them from a short distance.
"Wensley! Wens!" She shouted that last part. "Wait a second. I have to get... this..." She went quiet, focused on getting that big block of crystal into place, huffing softly for breath as she did it. "There... oof. Who said this was easy? It isn't."
Cadance patted Umbra's shoulder gently. "Thank you for your help. Go say hello to your friend. I'll stop haunting you."
"It was a nice chat!" Umbra hopped up to her hooves, her work paused for the moment. "And that's all I can do for right now. Mining crystals only goes so fast." And so her rate was limited to how quickly new material was provided. "Wonder if I could help with that..."
"You don't stop!" Cadance turned away though, starting to walk off. "You want to know your abilities from every angle. I'm a little jealous."
Wensley approached as Cadance fled. "Hey there. Didn't want to come between you an' the princess."
"I am a princess," noted Umbra with a quirk of a smile. "She won't bite your head off, promise. What's up?"
"That's a new thin'." He waved a hoof over Umbra as a whole. "How are they treatin' ya?"
"The world, or the wings?" She pointed back at that new anatomy with their mention.
"We can try both? Start with the wings." Wensley nodded. "Can't 'magine what it'd be like suddenly having those."
"It was..." She spread her wings out. "Well, alright, see. I've been on both sides of this. I've gained parts and lost parts. Both can throw you off, no question. But if I had to pick, I'll take getting new parts. They just surprise you... a lot. I'm just reading a book, suddenly my wings decide they just want to be involved without my asking! But that just needs practice."
"Huh..." Clear thought dominated his expression for a quiet moment or two. "Huh, that's a funny way of lookin' at it. Ah mean, ponies sometimes loose parts... Ain't a happy thing, but they do get used to it."
"And I got used to my missing bits." Umbra nodded with sureness. "The brain's an amazing thing." She tapped at her noggin. "There isn't much you can't eventually get used to. Still, the road is bumpier with the missing thing, I vote. This something you ever deal with?"
Wensley's eyes widened. "Thankfully not!" He lifted each hoof in kind. "Yep." He looked over his back, tail flicking. "Yep." He nodded firmly. "All the waggy parts, accounted for."
Umbra laughed at his quick check. "Good to be sure. I like all my waggy parts." She flickered an ear softly, thoughts brought to it. "I lost a few, but I'm like eighty.... six percent over it?"
Wensley looked over Umbra intensely, clearly looking for what was missing. All he could see was extra parts... "What are you talking about? Umbra, you are full of mysteries."
"I am," she agreed with a grin. "I could tell you, but that'd be one less mystery. I'd be shooting down my own quality."
"Perish the thought. Um, so, with the city all in one piece." He made a motion as if patting a bit of clay in place. "I see you went and got a new project." His hoof turned to point at the great unfinished... whatever it was. He couldn't tell by the starting pieces.
"It'll be way more impressive when it's done." She shrugged softly. "Not much to look at yet. But it's going to be huge!" She threw her hooves wide. "So big I don't trust my conjured crystal for the heavy lifting, so we have to actually mine it up."
"Wow." He inclined his head. "I thought the crystals you made were... just crystals? There's a difference?"
"Oh yeah." Umbra nodded firmly. "Took a bit to notice, but crystal I just make from nothing isn't the same, and, of course, negatively. You want quality, you have to go get it. Conjured crystal's fine for some things, a lot of things even... But it won't hold this thing up." She waved a hoof at the eventual megastructure. "I'm getting better."
"That looked like a lot of work." Wensley nodded with appreciation. "The city's right lucky to have you around giving a hoof like that."
"Aw, stop it." Umbra waved it off. "I like the practice. Like I said, getting better. Even my conjured crystal is inching upwards. The more I do it, the better it gets. I doubt I'll ever be a perfect match, but..."
"Hey." He cut her off suddenly. "Ah got a question."
Umbra's ears twitched. "Huh? Yeah, sure. What's on your mind?"
"Yer a shadow wizard, ain'tcha?"
"Sure am." Umbra sat up to her full height. "Shadows and crystals, that's what I do!"
"More the shadow part..." He trailed a hoof through the dirt in front of him, not that there was much, just a bit before the crystal road was reached. "Can we talk someplace private?"