Umbra looked around as she wandered the hallways. Supply closet, no. Bathrooms, nope! Ah, there. She reached for the handle only to stop. There was a warning printed right on that handle. Pushing it would make the alarm go off. Easy access to the roof? Who would allow that...
"It's not locked." One of the students had seen her considering the door. "Just don't be a narc."
Umbra flashed a bright smile at the teen. "Hey, thanks." She had found a student hangout? Neat. "I'll be cool, as someone my age can be."
The student fired a thumbs up in reply. "Keep it easy." And off they went.
Umbra dared to push the bar, and no alarms went off. No sirens ranged or red lights flashed. It was just a door with an alarming sign on it. Victorious over that foe, she pushed ahead into the stairwell that lead up towards the roof. "Let's see how busy this is." It was, perhaps, a little confusing. Why had a kid helped her, an adult, find the kid hiding spot?
She wouldn't betray them, sure, she knew that. But how could he know that? Well, unless they were like doing dangerous drugs or casually enjoying knife fights or something... She opened the heavy metal door at the top of the steps with a soft thunk of metal on metal. Light spilled over her as she emerged into the sun. There were two mildly bored older teens there, seniors?
They noticed her coming, not that she was being that sneaky about it. The male of the two nodded upwardly. "Yo."
Was she accepted among them? "Hey." They couldn't miss that she was older. That was... kinda obvious, right? "What's up?"
The female waved down at the front of the school. "Just unwinding. Watching what goes by. You know. Same reason you're here, right?"
Actually. "Not that far off." Umbra advanced to lean on the same rail they were using. "Sorry if I'm intruding. This is... your space, right?"
"Nah." The guy shrugged. "If you're cool, so are we."
The girl thumbed up. "You're a sub, right? Nice crown." She pointed up at Umbra's tiara. "No real teacher would ever wear that." She laughed at the very idea of it. "You're a rebel. A teacher rebel. Kinda slick. Didn't know teachers had rebels."
The guy swatted at her. "Hey, some of the teaches are cool."
"Yeah yeah." She leaned towards Umbra, still propped by the rail. "But none of them wear that. Hey, did you and the principal shop from the same place?"
That got Umbra's attention quickly. "She has one like it?"
"Sure does." The girl shrugged, pushing off the rail to her feet. "Thinks she can get us real excited about winning it. That's not my style. You're working it though."
Winning it?! "Huh, neat..." How did Celestia end up with it?! Well... If she had it, Umbra might be able to help Twilight even more directly than she dared dream. "Say, you two mind if I do a little meditating?"
The guy's brows went up together. "Huh? No, knock youself out." He pointed to where a mat sat on the roof. "Wouldn't even be the first."
"This really still is Equestria," muttered Umbra on her way to sit on the provided mat. "Let's confuse someone." She reached up and gently plucked free her tiara. "Maybe..." The block was only outgoing, so there was nothing she expected to start feeling.
But would someone else? She set the tiara down next to her, touching her, and closer her eyes. With slow breaths, she did her best to still herself, to feel nothing but her passive self. With crossed arms, she casually pinched one of them, a sharp new sensation. If someone was feeling her, that would be really hard to ignore. Not debilitating, Umbra hoped, but also hard to ignore.
A universe away, Shining and Cadance waited with the others. Shining let out a soft grunt. "Even with her fancy tiara, there were leaks."
Cadance nodded quickly. "I could always know she was there, even if the specifics were quite well covered. This... complete silence is... I didn't even realize until now. There's still a difference in a quiet Umbra versus no Umbra at all."
"Begging your pardons." Rarity was smiling at them both. "But I wanted to say I understand. We're missing Twilight just as much."
Fluttershy was colored brightly. "Is it true... that you three...?"
Shining coughed into a hoof as he darkened. "We are very close friends."
Rainbow burst into laughter at that answer. "Really close friends. Serious-talk though, we're all anxious and stuff." She waved at the portal they were not far from. "We all got things on the other side of that thing we want to get back safe."
Cadance sat up straighter. "You are right. I shouldn't be thinking only of myself. Besides, one of those things is also my step-sister, whom I love very dearly. I want them all back safely."
"All of them," echoed Shining. "But they will. After all, there's Twilight and Umbra. I can't even imagine those two not succeeding in the end."
A chorus of agreement rose. Two champions of Equestria were on the case. It just had to come out right in the end.
Another Cadance, in another place, rubbed at her arm. "Ow." She felt a pinch, but there was no obvious reason for it. She was wearing her formal suit. There were no bugs in sight, and she didn't feel any, aside that pinch. That Shining was also rubbing his arm was only more confusing. "Huh..." But she had work to do, papers to fill, things to acc-- "What?" She felt something brushing her neck and her hand went to it quickly, a thing Shining also did.
"Sorry." He took a step towards the door. "I just wanted to visit my favorite dean anyway."
"No, wait... Did you feel that, the pinch? The... brushing?" Cadance rubbed at her throat, where it had stopped. "Tell me."
"Um... yes. Yes I did." Shining looked left and right. "That isn't normal."
"That is not normal," echoed Cadance with a frown. "Unless we just spontaneously got allergic to each other? Eeee!" She felt like she was bending a leg backwards, but her leg was right there. She was in her seat, not contorting. "What is going on?!"
"I don't know, I swear!" Shining was clearly feeling that as well, a hand on his hip. "But I really wish it'd stop."
But a new sensation was coming, like a tapping, right in the center of her chest. Tap tap tap tap... "What...?"
But Shining seemed to get it, grabbing a pen off Cadance's desk and starting to write busily. "Dot dot, dash, dot..." It just went on and on for an uncomfortably long time, those dots and dashes with spaces in them.
"What's it say?" demanded Cadance, rising to her feet. "Is that Morse Code?"
"I think so...." The tapping stopped. "But I don't have that memorized." He snapped up the paper. "I'll go look this up, be right back." And off went the alumnus, rushing towards the library.
Cadance sank back in her seat. "What in the world...?" She snatched her phone, barely giving it a chance to finish it's first ring. "Dean Cadance. How can I help?"
"Cadie," came a friendly female voice. "It's been too long."
Cadance smiled, her bad mood evaporating. "Celly! Did I forget a call? I don't remember planning one, not that I'm ever sad to hear from you."
"Luna and I are chasing a curious case." A tapping could be heard, a finger on a desk? "Do you know a person named Umbra? They mentioned you."
Umbra? Umbra. Umbra? "No... That doesn't ring a ball, I'm afraid. Are they causing trouble?"
"In a sense."
"She doesn't know them, does she?" came Luna's voice in the background.
The receiver was covered, muting the conversation between the two a moment. "She substituted a class today. The students rated her well. She left good notes for the teacher. She got along with the teachers afterwards. There's just one problem."
Cadance raised a brow high, shifting which hand held the phone. "And that problem is...?"
"The substitute we had on schedule." A paper moving. "Was a Mister Line. We gave him a call, and he claims he had come to the school. But I saw Umbra. The students saw Umbra. The other teachers? Umbra. Can you see how this might strike us as a bit... odd?"
"Odd is not the right word!" groused Luna in the background. "We could get fleeced if they know we let some random person teach their kids!"
The door ahead of Cadance clicked shut. Shining Armor was approaching with two pieces of paper. One had all his dots and dashes, the other the translation that he held out to her. Her eyes swept left and right quickly. "One moment..."
on't even know if this is working. Hello! First, sorry. I don't mean to ruin your day and if this did work, you were probably very surprised. I come in peace, I swear. My name is Umbra. If you get a call about me, please tell them you know me. If it's not too much trouble, can you swing by Equestria High? I will explain everything.
Cadance frowned as she finished reading. "Celestia?"
"Hm?"
"I'm going to swing by. Is that alright?"
"It's always alright," half-sang Celestia. "This will be delightful. But about Umbra?"
"She's harmless, or out your paygrade, one or the other." Cadance tapped the paper Shining was holding. "I suggest doing absolutely nothing right now. In fact, tell her that you talked with me, and I can't wait to see how well she's doing." She moved that hand to her calendar, leafing through it. "You're having that student event soon."
"The formal?" Some papers moved. "Ah, yes. Why?"
"I'll stop by for that, lend a hand. A fine excuse for me to show up. How does that sound?"
"Hm." It was a few days away, she could easily see. "Can this situation wait that long?"
"I have a feeling..." Cadance tapped a pen on the desktop. "Either it will resolve itself, or it will wait for me to show up. Just tell her that."
"I trust you." Celestia hung up gently.
Shining folded both papers and set them on the desk. "I feel like I'm suddenly in some kind of crazy movie."
"You and me both." Cadance set her hands on the desk. "But we'll remain cool, composed, and figure this out. Shining, are you available?" She repeated the date of the formal. "Just in the evening."
"Let me check." He dug out a cellphone and got to tapping to see. "I'm busy until about noon, but after that?"
"Perfect." She offered a hand to him, met and shook. "Thank you. I don't know how you... or me really... got involved in this, but we'll figure it out."
"Did I hear her right?" He was pointing to the hung up phone on the desk. "Some stranger's pretending to be a substitute teacher? That's... crazy."
"Crazier than what we just... had?" She waggled a finger at Shining and herself. "Something is very wrong, and I don't want anyone there getting hurt. "
"So we call the cops?" suggested Shining with a shrug. "Seems like a good time for it."
"They'd definitely arrest her." Not that Cadance seemed ready for that. "But she has some kind of tie with us, and I want to know what it is, and I won't if they just haul her off to jail. Before you say it!" She thrust up a finger at Shining. "I know, I'm being a little selfish. But don't you want to know too? This is not normal, even a tiny little bit. The questions are too large to just ignore and pretend nothing happens. I want answers."
Shining lifted his shoulders a few inches before letting them drop, defeated. "Alright, I'll help. I just hope this works out."