Umbra set a heavy stone in place.
"To the left."
It hadn't been her that gave the advice, but it was her that followed it, willing the stone to slide just slightly until it was in the right place. "Like that?"
Shifting nodded at the new place. "That's better. It's a good thing they were looking with us."
With crackles of shadowy power, Umbra sealed the rock into place and sealed crystal to crystal. "We do our best, but we're not even technically miners. I just love crystals too much."
"Just the right amount." Shifting clapped softly. "Besides, when you get your eyes on a nice big slab, that's when things will pick right up!" She pointed to the next heavy slab. "You can't get a sniff at the ones already here?"
"Nope." Not that this stopped Umbra from taking hold of the second one and bringing it closer. "The moment it's out of the ground, its scent starts to change." She tapped at her nose. "The wrong word, maybe? But the best term I got for it, so we're stuck with it. I need a good whiff of it fresh out of the ground. I need the smell of one in the dirt, not one sitting around, or I'll find all the ones already here."
Shifting gestured left and right, guiding the slab to its eventual home close to the first one. "So we just have to get lucky?"
"Just have to get lucky." Umbra inclined her head slowly as she eased the slab into its desired spot and got to sealing it in place. "At least I have good company while I work on that. Besides, think of where we'll be afterwards."
"Afterwards?" Shifting bounced in place and pointed to the next slab for the project. "What happens then?"
"We get this done, fast." Umbra drove her hooves together with a resounding clap that was all the louder, with two slabs touching at the same instant for added bass. "As fun as this project is, I'm about ready to start on something else."
Shifting thrust her quivering nose in close to Umbra's cheek. "If you didn't want to work on something a long time, maybe you shouldn't have said 'oh sure, I'll build an arena for you!'" She stuck out her tongue for emphasis with that. "Just saying."
Umbra stuck out her tongue at the taunt. "So I didn't realize just how big the project was." She sealed two slabs together. "But I am getting faster!" She wheeled on Shifting with the slab securely in place. "In fact, once I can get big chunks out of the ground faster, I think I can get this done in weeks, maybe a few months?"
Shifting rubbed behind her head with a soft noise. "You know, pretty sure a building like this — ," She waved at the skeleton of the building that was being assembled. " — pretty sure it takes years. You're already going pretty fast, is all I'm saying."
"And getting faster!" Umbra clopped her hooves with a big grin. "Besides, I'm learning. I was just a level 3 shadow crystal wizard. Got plenty of levels to get, from the way I'm looking at it."
"Speaking of that," sang out Shifting, rocking left and right. "I think I got my character worked out. A soft and nice unicorn kindness. She'll make any day a little brighter when she kisses your booboos."
"Nice!" Umbra reached for the last on tap slab. She hefted it up with her magic and a grunt, getting it on top of the other slabs. Her hooves moved along with the motion as if they helped somehow in getting it just right. "I changed my mind, though."
"Wait, the game's cancelled?!" Shifting threw her hooves wide. "I just made the character! That isn't fair at all!"
"Not the game." Umbra waved off that complaint with a pfft of a noise. "Just my character. I don't want to play a guy, on second thought. As much as I respect the classic 'grizzled stoic guy with a scar' thing, it's not really a 'me' thing?" She shrugged softly. "But I said I'd play a front liner, so I will. So! I was thinking, why not sisters instead?"
Shifting made little guiding motions, eyes on the heavy crystal's movements under Umbra's power. "Sisters? That sounds fun, so sure! Let's do that. You're going to be a unicorn too, then?"
"I am now!" She made that decision at that moment, not that it seemed to bother Umbra. "Good?" A subtle nod was enough to get Umbra to seal the substantial chunk of crystal in place. "And there, all the big boys we have used." She sagged back with a heavy sigh. "That isn't as easy as I make it look."
"You don't make it look that easy." Shifting pounced on Umbra's back and began pressing her hooves into tensed muscles. "But if that's all that enormous crystals, are we done for today?"
"We are done for today." Umbra kissed Shifting on the nose, hugging her briefly before she set off, Shifting not far behind. "Let's get something to eat!"
"I found somepony." Wensley rubbed his hooves together with clear nervousness. "And I don't feel like I'm wasting her time."
Umbra swatted his shoulder. "That's great! Does she understand what you're going through, or just leaving that aside for now?"
He swallowed at that mentioning. "Well, I did, sort of... Mostly keeping it close to my chest." He brought his hooves closer, as if cupping that secret close to himself. "But I feel better about me... Thank you! You did this."
"I did not." She rolled her eyes. "At best, I pointed you towards it. It was your hooves that brought you there. Your hooves dug in the dirt. It was you that did this."
"You're too modest." Wensley was smiling with nervousness still there. "I think she's a little like me."
"She also has thoughts pushing in where they're not wanted? Boo." She crossed her arms, only to pause at Wensley's expression. "Which you're alright with?"
"I don't want anypony to... go through what I do, but it's nice to have somepony I really understand." He burst into sudden giggles. "We say goodbye in the most absurd way."
Umbra's brows raised as one. "I need to hear this now. Please, go on."
Wensley took a sip from his cup of water. "We say the most ghastly thing we hope does not happen to the other. It's... a contest of sorts, to think of the most gruesome possibility for the other. Neither of us want the other to be hurt." He worked his hooves nervously with a glance at Umbra. "But we think it, and we share it, and we feel better for sharing it."
Umbra sat back as she considered that. "Have a nice day. Hope your eyes aren't devoured by hungry worms?"
"Yes!" He sat forward, eyes sparkling, hoping Umbra understood it. "Good luck at the store. The odds of an earthquake swallowing you and the stall are pretty low, and even if you fell, you probably won't get impaled on the way down."
Umbra winced at the description. "I'm going to hope that doesn't happen to anyone."
"Me too!" Wensley downed the rest of his water. "Me too... But the thought is there. The image is there, and she shares it."
"Hate to ask." Umbra leaned in with a smile that implied she was perfectly willing to ask. "But if you're sharing all that with her, what are you keeping close to your chest? It sounds like you're sharing it all."
Wensley went quiet with little fidgets of his hooves. "Well, um.... You see... I didn't... Shoot..."
"You told her everything and didn't realize it, did you?" Umbra burst into soft giggles at the mental image that brought up. "And she didn't take off running. Sounds like you might have a winner, but let's just forget that a moment. How is she besides that? You two get along?"
"So far." He flashed a hopeful smile. "We like the same kind of music. She never complained when I took her out anywhere. She doesn't get that glassy look when I start goin' on about the family. Actually, she's looking forward to meeting them." He clapped his hooves with building excitement. "I want to bring her to them, to show her off. Oh, um, she's a crystal mare. Do you think that'll be a problem?"
"If that's a problem, then you found a relative that you can cut out of your life." Umbra snorted at the idea of such an impolite relation. "They exist. All the others will be super happy to see you with your plus one. Besides... A crystal pony is like an earth pony, the way I see it. Am I wrong?"
"It's complicated." He put a hoof under his chin, resting against it as he set his elbow on the table. "On one hoof, sure, we got four legs and no extra parts, got that. But Crystal ponies ain't tied to the, uh, earth, same way as an earth pony. They're more, uh..." He sat up, tapping at his head. "It's up here. They're more tied to emotions. Ain't a bad thing, not at all! I like her. I like them... I jus' want mah family to like 'em too."
"And I feel they will." She set a hoof on his shoulder. "Applejack is an Apple, right? Kinda in the name." It was hard to miss that. "She seemed really nice, and she liked you. If you show up with a mare you like, she'll like them too, assuming they're a good pony otherwise, which I bet she is."
An idea came to her with a clop of her hooves. "Which is why you should introduce her to me!" She pressed her hooves to her own chest. "Show her off, introduce her. I'll give you honest feedback, and then you can drag her in front of your family to meet."
"Well, sure, but..." He wiggled his hooves in the air. "It felt odd to introduce one lady friend to another like that. I wasn't even sure if I should mention her to you."
Umbra burst into merry laughter at that. "We are not connected that way, Wensley! I am closer to your therapist and a friend." She shoved at Wensley, making him rock. "I have a plus one, thanks. She's a real lovebug! I should introduce you to her sometime, but now--"
"Wait. You're a mare." He peered at the mare that was definitely female from every angle he looked from.
"Wensley! Buddy!" She buried her face in her hooves. "A lady and a lady can decide to partner up, just like two stallions. Is this the first time you heard of that?"
"Yes?" he admitted in a small voice. "Wow." He sat back, one hoof to his head. "Wow..."
"If it helps, most of it works exactly the same way." She leaned in close enough to touch her nose to his cheek. "Minus that one minor part, which we can skip. We hug and kiss and argue and love and all of that. We're two pe--ponies, and we work through that. It doesn't matter that much if we're a mare and a stallion."
"I... suppose. If it works for you, Umbra. Sorry, didn't mean to..." He let his hooves drop to his sides. "Now ya think ah'm clueless. Sorry! Just a country pony. Not some city slicker that knows all that."
"Gonna bet there are country ponies that swing that way." But she wasn't scowling at him. "So you learned today, nothing wrong with that. You learned, and you didn't find a soapbox to climb on and complain about it, so I'll pencil that down as a victory. Every someone's learning something for the first time, even stuff we think is super obvious. Why, I bet you could make my head spin with a few country facts, and I'd giggle. Learning can be fun."