Hello Niece,
While it is good to hear things are going far better than before, I must raise a single point of concern. Neigh, two perhaps would be wiser. Why am I only now hearing of a new princess? Who guided them through the astral? Are they a good pony? That one is barely a question. Of course they are, or they wouldn't have trotted down that path. Putting that aside, they can't attend the princess summit, not in its entirety.
While they are certainly welcome to announce themselves and meet the others, they may not sit with us at discussion, for they have no position just yet. I've already had this discussion with Twilight. Though perhaps they can keep each other company for the duration? Think they'll get along?
Cadance looked down from the letter with a faint frown. "Hm." The odds that Umbra would like the news were low. But! She would tell her straight. That is what two adult ponies did, and she seemed to appreciate honesty way more than attempts to patch things over. "On the other hoof..."
She did know that Umbra and Twilight did get along. Perhaps they'd even enjoy the time together. A little smile dared to escape. Maybe they'd even have a good time, the two of them, catching up. Swapping magic tricks? Two eager wizards, the both of them. "That would be lovely." She was at Umbra's door shortly. Purple stood before it. "Is she in?"
"She is." Purple dipped her head at the princess of the lands. "I'll see if she's busy." And in she went.
The door burst open just a few minutes later. "Hey." There was Umbra. "What's up, Cades?"
Cadance chuckled warmly at the greetings. "Good afternoon, Umbra. I come bearing... likely poor news. Not the worst news, but not what I was hoping for and I doubt you were either."
Umbra's bright grin dimmed. "Aw man... Well, lay it on me. We can handle this. Shadows back?"
"Nothing that dire." Cadance waved that idea away. "Auntie was quite clear that the summit, the part where we sit and talk, is for 'princesses with positions only'." She rolled her eyes. "Silly pony, she was the only princess with a position for a thousand moons. Now she has more and she's setting rules. She's like that."
Umbra snorted as she sank to her haunches. "Spoilsport... So I miss the whole thing?"
"Not the entire thing." Cadance reached a wing and it wasn't resisted when she brushed Umbra gently with it. "You and Twilight will be presented to us all officially. It's just after that, when we get to business, you and Twilight will be asked to wait elsewhere." She smiled suddenly, hoping it'd work. "You two could catch up."
Umbra's ears perked. "I'm not complaining about some Twilight Time. That nerd's a fun chat, especially about magic. Still, boo, locking me out of those tax code discussions." She folded her arms in a righteous pout. "I want to be a real princess."
"Twilight will be feeling much the same." She went in, gently nuzzling at Umbra, rubbing snouts. "Exactly the same..."
"We'll compare notes on how unfair it is." Umbra suddenly booped Cadance, hoof on her nose. "Thanks for just telling me."
Cadance smiled all the brighter. "I was hoping you'd appreciate just getting the straight facts."
"And I do." Umbra nodded as she turned to the side, offering her profile to Cadance. "It sucks, but I'll get over it, and I know it's coming. Besides, you didn't do this. This is Celestia's... thing? I haven't met her properly."
"That is something that will be fixed there. You will meet her in person, and she will meet you." Cadance clopped her hooves together. "It's still a very important moment. Dress your best. But that's not today."
"Or even this month." Umbra shook herself out, tiara bouncing on her head. "I have things to do in the meanwhile. That arena won't build itself, and Sunburst wants to lecture me, and I'm surprisingly alright with that."
Cadance inclined her head faintly. "Then he must wish to speak of a topic you're interested in."
"Bingo!" Umbra began walking away, leaving her room behind. "Nice chatting with ya, Cades."
Cadance watched her walk away. "That could have been worse." They had just... talked, like adults. Was that all they had been missing? But was it already too late?
Too late for what? Cadance ran a hoof over a blushing cheek, trying to sort out her own feelings. With the door closed, they didn't need to do anything. There was no urgent demand. Anything they did, they'd be doing it because they wanted to, not because they had to. That was liberating and terrifying all at once. "I should talk to Shining..." And off she wandered.
"You must feel quite tired." Sunburst was looking at Umbra critically in his small book-filled home. "Without using this technique, you are investing the wrong 'side' of your magic. Drawing from the active instead of the subconscious, you're left feeling that drain."
Umbra blinked owlishly. "Wait, magic comes in waking and sleeping versions?"
"Sort of." Sunburst rolled a hoof slowly. "Think of it like a bin. If you take from the back of the bin, the front of the bin still looks nice and full. If you take from the front, it looks messy and unfull right away. That is what you're doing, grabbing the first apple on the cart and getting confused when the rest fall out of order and you have a mess to clean up."
"I am like 80% sure 'unfull' isn't a word, but maybe should be?" Umbra shrugged at that. "But the explanation makes sense. So how do I reach for the back?"
"That's where the theorem comes in!" Sunburst slapped a pointer held in his magic against a black board. "Let's begin." For however fair to middling he was at casting magic, or so he claimed, he seemed to have full command over the theories and ideas behind magic. "By the way, how'd that book turn out?"
Umbra started. "Oh! Super useful, super super." She inclined her head. "Did you want it back?"
"I did lend it to you," he noted with a little smirk. "Enjoying it that much?"
"Very much so. Now, let's focus on apple carts." So the lesson proceeded in how to do things more elegantly.
Once Umbra had a grasp on the idea, she hurried off. "Be right back!" And she was, book floating beside her. "Thanks again for lending this. It had all kinds of shadowy tricks."
"Which you used, I hear." The glow about it shifted as he took the book from her and stored it safely on a shelf. "Brave and Gloriously."
Umbra snorted at that. "That title... But yes, day saved, yay!" She brought her hooves together quietly. "Magic princess to the rescue. Who says you can't be shadowy and a hero at the same time? Not me."
Sunburst laughed nervously. "About... that... I was a little worried, when we first met. But everypony was going on and on about how 'The Brave and Glorious' had saved the day. If that hero wanted a book I'd normally keep hidden, well... Who was I to get in the way of that?" He rubbed behind his head. "If we're being honest--"
"Please." Umbra nodded with certainty. "I prefer honest."
"An interesting stance for a shadow wizard to have." He stroked his long beard. "But, um... My thought... I was lonely... if we're, right... I was alone, and there you were, all powerful and happy and you wanted to talk to me... and I didn't want you to go away, so..."
Umbra shoved her face forward, pressing nose to nose. "You dog! You knew where the book was the whole time, didn't you?" He didn't answer, but his miserable expression was answer enough. "Just ask!" she barked at him. "You're cute in a nerdy way. Lucky for you, I'm alright with that kind of look. If you want to hang out, we can, even when we're not playing O&O." She rolled her eyes, but a new idea came to her, features sharpening.
"Actually! You're a smart pony. You know stuff, right?"
"Right?" Uncertainty was thick in his tone. "What kind of stuff?"
"Changelings." Umbra sat up tall. "What do you know about them?"
"O-oh! I was... there when they invaded Canterlot." He rubbed behind his head. "Confusing mess that was..."
"So I heard." She actually hadn't heard much about that invasion. "But, theory time. You like theories, right?"
"Certainly." He took on a thoughtful stance, like some kind of super-thought hero. "Lay it on me."
"Alright, so... in theory..." She rolled her hooves together over one another. "Let's say you ran into a changeling."
"Alright, one changeling." Like a computer almost, accepting the parameters of the thought experiment.
"Right, but this isn't a mean changeling. In fact, they're kinda nice. They'd like to be your friend even! What do you do?"
"Friendly changeling." He frowned a little. "That is hard to imagine... But, alright, theory... Friendly changeling. They aren't hiding what they are, offer a hoof and a fanged smile."
"I have fangs." Umbra was glad to show them off.
"So you do," he laughed out, caught on that one. "Alright, they smile and offer a hoof. What do I do? Well, if they aren't disguised, and they aren't trying to shove me in a pod... I... guess I'd say hello back?"
Umbra squeaked, much like her hidden changeling friend. "And now you have a changeling friend, congratulations. They're nice though, but they got a huge secret. Most ponies don't know they're a changeling. What do you do?"
"Hm." He tapped at the floor and began to pace back and forth. "That would be an interesting situation." Just as suddenly, he nodded at Umbra, glasses bobbing. "What a treat! Thank you for the exercise."
"No problem..." She hadn't meant for it to be an interesting mental puzzle, but there it was. "No answer?"
"Oh no. A problem like this deserves further consideration." He reached up, horn glowing as he plucked a book off the top shelf. "The ethical quandary you've put before me is quite a good one. Hm. On one hoof, I do have an implied loyalty and expectations to my fellow ponies. Hiding this from them would be a betrayal of that." He set the book down and flipped it open. "On the other, I've accepted the friendship of this creature, a potentially incredibly dangerous creature. I now owe it some measure of loyalty. Whatever decision is made, I will have made some ethical stance in opposition to another."
"That's... true. Ah, let's spice this up."
Sunburst recoiled in horror. "It's already very spicy."
Umbra smirked in victorious glory. "The changeling is an outcast from the other changelings. They're just as scared of them as you are. They like ponies though."
"Ooo... Hm." Sunburst tapped at the book he had brought out. "That is another level of spice, as you mentioned. I'm going to be thinking about this for days! Now they are an asylum seeker. They've trusted me to provide safe harbor. To turn against that? I'd feel horrible. But I still owe my fellow ponies the unspoken laws of civility. I can't go making their lives more dangerous just to sate my own needs..."
Umbra tried to place herself in the same philosophic trail. "By what means could the changeling prove that they are not making things more dangerous, at least themselves?"
"Stop it!" He shoved at her, though was grinning goofily. "Sheesh, this is a real mindbender. How can they? They're predators, and we are the prey. How does a wolf convince a sheep that it means no harm and never will? Would the sheep simply be mad for ever accepting any amount of convincing to the otherwise? So long as the sheep is on the wolf's menu, that's a really hard sell."