It was dark, but this didn't bother two of the miners who were laboring side by side. "Look at this one." Umbra hefted up a considerable bit of crystal. "Not large enough for a pillar or a wall, but still!"
Shifting leaned closer for a look. "Good gloss, good purity..." She felt over the stone carefully. "It'll need some polishing up, but still, good, a good find!" They met, hoof to hoof in a clop of shared joy. The crystal was set aside to be hauled back up later. "But we need more big ones for that arena."
"Yeah..." Umbra took a slow breath, listening perhaps to the distant sounds of picks meeting stone. "Not much we can do for that, just keep looking." They shared a nod of agreement and got back to doing just that, digging in the stone in search for larger slabs of crystal.
"One thing." Shifting tapped at the ground in a feeble dig, distracted as she was. "You're a crystal wizard."
"Guilty," sang Umbra, working with significantly more focus. "What about it?"
"Well." Shifting rubbed her hooves together, not mining. "Then you have a feeling for crystal. Why not use that feel?"
"What do you mean?" She set her arcane-grabbed pick to the side and turned to Shifting. "You have an idea?"
"An idea for an idea?" Shifting flashed a fanged batty smile, wings flittering behind her. "Digging is fun and all." It didn't seem that fun to Shifting. "But what if you didn't do that and instead used this." She pointed up to where a horn wasn't was. "And just feel out the crystal, through the rocks?"
"Huh..." She crashed to her haunches.
"Dumb idea?" Shifting backed a step worriedly.
"No, brilliant idea." Umbra inclined her head. "Just dumb I didn't think of it earlier, so feeling that, but also happy someone went and thought of it."
"Yay!" Shifting's smile was back in a rush. "Do it!"
"On it, on it." Umbra closed her eyes and felt out. She could find the jewel she only recently found easily. She knew where it was and what it was, but that was a hint, feeling over it with her magic to get a feel for what a crystal should be. "Yes, a crystal, like that..."
"Good girl." Shifting was bouncing in place a little. "Get a good sniff. Get 'em!"
"I am not above bopping you." Umbra's attention was not directed at Shifting and their teasing words. She reached out into the stone, a pulse of her dark crystal magic pouring out in a tiring wave as if she were the center point of some radar. And there were replies, some closer, some coming later, further, weaker. "I don't know if they are the big ones, but that way." She pointed down and towards a wall. "The closest one."
"You sound out of breath." Shifting rushed off to come back with a crystal juice box, straw poking free of it. "Here. Was it that hard?"
Umbra snapped her lips around the straw, sucking down a nice big swallow of the sour crystal berry juice. "Mmm... Yeah, not easy, but easier than digging in random directions." She pointed in the same direction. "That way, let's dig!"
Shifting grabbed her mattock in her jaws. "Let's dig!" And the two got to drilling towards what would hopefully be a nice big crystal.
"You look sour." Shining Armor was walking alongside her towards the game. "Bad day at the mines? It's a bit of a crapshoot at the best of times."
"It's not like that." Umbra waved it away. "I can detect nice... small crystals. I have to find a nice fresh big crystal to get a lock on them and stop wasting time." She groaned softly with the imagined effort. "Arenas are not easy to build! On the other hand, hoof, whatever, if I wanted crystals to just play around with... The ones I can find are pretty great!"
"Huh..." Things grew quiet as they clip-clopped along. "Still sounds like you're making progress."
"I am," sighed Umbra. "Maybe I'm being silly. Progress, just not fast enough. Like I want the arena done yesterday, which isn't happening."
"Nope." Shining leaned in closer. "You're already doing it faster than we'd dare to dream of. It's happening nice and fast."
"I am willing to accept it's me being silly." She stopped arguing it, accelerating instead towards game night. There were funny dice to roll and narratives to create!
"There you are." There was their storyteller, looking at Umbra pointedly. "Got a moment to talk?" The crystal stallion gestured with a toss of his head, leading the confused Umbra away. "It's about your character."
"What about my character?" Umbra inclined her head. "I'm playing the element properly, right?"
"Totally! 100%. I was just wondering..." He worried his hooves together. "If you could play something more... conventional? Like a pony?" He smiled a bit nervously perhaps. "Please?"
Umbra skewed her ear off to the side. "What? But... She's part of the story." She threw her hooves wide. "And she isn't disrupting the game, is she?"
"No! No..." He coughed into a raised hoof. "It's just... Unusual, is all... If you're alright with it, we could even just... make her a pony?"
Umbra's brows came down in a heavy frown. "I will not casually swap her race. She's a good kitty, my good kitty! She didn't--"
"--Something wrong?" There was Shining, poking his nose into the back room they had retreated in.
The storyteller smiled at Shining, perhaps seeing an ally? "Tell her. Non-pony races are super optional, and it just... I was hoping she could switch to a pony. She could even be one of the 'lost' tribes."
Shining looked between nervous storyteller and furious Umbra. "Well... her cat isn't causing troubles, is she?" He shrugged softly. "Never thought it was bad having her in the team."
"Thank you!" Umbra sat up tall, buoyed by a little backup. "She's a dear muffin that only wants to help. Why are you hating on her?"
"I'm not hating on anything!" he hissed in reply. "You can keep her, just, you know, more pony, please? All of us are ponies."
Umbra raised a brow. "None of us are pegasi, but there's one being played, how is that fair?"
"That isn't the same." The storyteller sank in misery. "--and you know it!"
Shining set a hoof in front of the storyteller, his eyes on Umbra. "He's right."
"I am? I mean, of course I am." The storyteller looked happy to have someone in his corner.
"It's his game." Shining inclined his head at the game runner. "If he doesn't want a cat, that's fine."
"But..." Umbra shuffled with welling misery.
Shining set a hoof on her shoulder. "We can find another game that allows cats."
"Okay, I think?!" She allowed herself to be led out, pausing only long enough to wave at Sunburst. "We're making a new game, with cats!"
Sunburst blinked with wide eyes. "O-oh?" And he followed in the exodus, confused, but more loyal to Shining and Umbra. "Are we not playing today?"
Shining threw a leg over Sunburst, walking with him. "We'll need to get a new pony to run things. The last decided to draw a line in the snow where one didn't need to be there."
"With cats?" ventured Sunburst in mild confusion.
"Well, that depends on who runs it." Shining rolled his shoulders. "Speaking of, one of us has to do it." He looked between Sunburst and Umbra.
Sunburst raised a hoof. "I have a collection of stories, if you don't mind playing some pre-written adventures?"
Umbra clapped excitedly. "That sounds like fun to me! Ooo, I'll play an earth pony this time."
Shining blinked at that. "Not keeping your cat? I... thought that was half the argument."
"Being told I can't play her is just wrong." Umbra crossed her arms. "But if I have a choice, I'd rather try something new. She had a good run. Maybe a big, powerful stallion this time. Stout and stoic!" She put on her best stoic face. "I'll take the front," she grunted out a bit overly dramatically.
Shining laughed at that. "Well, if you're going new, I'll go new too." He looked to Sunburst. "Permission to try a diamond dog?"
Sunburst blinked. "Oh! What an interesting choice. You still have to pick an element." He wagged a hoof at Shining. It was a rule that not-ponies could also not have an element, driven by their own alien needs. "You alright with that?"
Shining nodded quickly. "Diamond Dog driven towards... loyalty!"
Sunburst clapped his hooves. "We have a party! Oh, um... Since this is new, if you... want to invite others, this is a good time? Just bring them by my place before next week?" He rubbed behind an ear. "A shame we're skipping this week though."
Umbra kicked a stone on the road's side, "That part is a bummer, but I'll have a level 1 character ready, and I think I know just who I'd want to invite." She giggled as she raced off.
Sunburst watched her flee, looking to Shining. "Should I be... worried?"
"Probably a little." He patted Sunburst on the shoulder gently. "But she is a good pony, and an excellent player. It should be fun."
Sunburst cleared his throat. "Well, yes, on both points." He turned in place, nervously shuffling from hoof to hoof. "I should get to reading. I can't run that adventure without reviewing it first."
"You'll do great." He swatted Sunburst forward. "Thank you, for coming to the rescue."
"Wait, I did??" Sunburst's flee was interrupted by his confusion. "What did I rescue?"
Shining pointed where Umbra had fled. "The last stallion was trying to get all 'pure' about things and make Umbra switch characters."
"Oh." Sunburst shook his head slowly. "Well, we're here to have a good time. I'll pick an adventure that it'd make--"
Shining's hoof landed on his snout, quieting him. "Any adventure could have a not-pony in it, if you let them."
Sunburst inclined his head. "Ah? Ah... You're not... wrong, I suppose. I admit, my experience with not-ponies is... limited." He pointed at Shining to reverse things. "Have you done that a lot?"
"My sister has, a lot. She's dealing with creatures all the time," he laughed out. "Usually with great stories to come out of it. They're not ponies, but they are creatures. Just let them be what they are."
"Alright... I'll do that then." Sunburst played with his long beard. "You can play what you want and I'll trust you to do them justice."
"I'll do my best." Shining saluted properly. "See you next week." The two stallions shared a kind wave and they separated, both off to prepare for the next week in different ways.
"I invited you," sang Umbra, her victim trapped. "I hope you have some dice ready. If not, I will provide some."
"What... am I invited to?" Shifting backed away from the manic smile of her newfound paramour. "And why do you look like that?"
"Because I thought there was no room to share this with you." She leaned in, nose twitching. "And now there is. Prepare for Ogres and Oubliettes! I'm going to play a big strong earth pony stallion." She drew an imagined line down her eye. "Maybe a cool scar right here? You know the kind."
Shifting burst into giggles. "How daring! Well..." She worked her hooves nervously. "I never played that. Am I going to get in the way?"
"Never!" Umbra fluffed up Shifting's sides. "I'll gladly show you the ropes. So long as you want to be there, I'll gladly get you up on your hooves."
"You're sure?"
"100%" Umbra smooched Shifting's cheek and went in for a hug that wasn't resisted. "Now what are you planning?"
"Oh gosh... Um... Oh!" She burst into giggles. "What about your girlfriend?"
"A bit on the nose?" Umbra squinted a little.
"But you'll be my boyfriend." Shifting burst into fresh giggles. "It'll be fun!"