It was morning with a table full of snacks. They had allowed Umbra to bring Shifting with her, the two side by side at the table. "Flurry Heart, huh? What inspired the name?" Umbra was watching the new child that was nursing a bottle. "So cute..."
Shining reached to set a hoof on the edge of the cradle that kept Flurry secure and safe. "I know what you're feeling... I feel it too." He smiled awkwardly at the memory. "I'm the first dad that gave birth to their foal and I... It's like she's... I don't know how to explain this exactly, but it left a mark."
Cadance sipped from her ornate cup with her eyes on Umbra and Shifting. "You went through the same thing, but you were closer to me, in fact..." She flipped a wing, denying Flurry her bottle with obvious fussing at the idea. "I have a theory."
Shining reached to his child with a pitying look, but Flurry was already being lifted away. Cadance casually gave the child instead to Umbra. "Here you are."
"She needs to be fed." Umbra nuzzled the upset child as she offered an arm for Flurry to rest against. The other brought up a milk bottle that the child rapidly drained with pleased noises. "What's wrong with you?!"
Cadance looked far too smug for the situation. "That proves my point."
The stallion, Shining, was watching with wide eyes. "Where did you get that milk from? Only mothers have bottles like that."
Umbra blinked and looked at the bottle that was being ravaged by Flurry. "Um... I just... Flurry needed it, so..."
"Can I do that?" No matter how hard he tried, Shining could not produce even a single bottle of milk. "Aw..."
Cadance gently wrapped a wing around Shining, pulling him closer. "Only female ponies can make milk." She was, perhaps blissfully, unaware of the tricks that some male humans had. "And Umbra clearly qualifies."
Umbra was holding a second bottle, switching for the first the moment Flurry was ready for it. "But why though?!"
"You are new to..." Her eyes glanced to Shifting suddenly. "Does she know about that?"
Umbra scooped up Shifting much as Cadance held Shining. "She knows all there is to know about me."
"Good." Cadance brought her hooves together with a little smile. "Ponies only make milk that one little time, the... other way, I mean. I experienced that, and so did you. Good news, you will never have to experience that again barring having another foal, and even then, you can skip right past that since you are ready to do step 2."
"Step two...?" Umbra jostled the bottle that was about empty. "This?"
"That." Cadance leaned forward. "We ponies traditionally feed our foals that way. You just got in the way of that, so you can make the bottles despite not being an official mother." She turned a hoof on herself. "Just like me, and not like Shining, who is not a mare, or Shifting there, who is not a mother."
Umbra set the fresh bottle aside as she burped the little foal. "She's adorable, and the source of a thousand questions. So, technically, sorta, she has two moms?"
"And one dad." Cadance inclined her head towards Shining. "Who knows exactly how it feels to make a child, so a curious father, and a curious aunt? My daughter has quite a few odd things, but in her favor, I think."
It seemed Shifting was quick to clap in applause. "I can't make those at all." She reached out for the bottle that wasn't there, and wasn't coming, no matter how hard she tried. "Does it feel odd when you do it?"
"I..." Umbra slid to her hooves and set Flurry in her crib to relax off the meal. "It feels a little funny. Making the bottle makes me happy and satisfied, but then it's done, so not the same as the, uh, other way?" Umbra stepped away from the crib with an angry snort. "Not that I need a colossal hit of happy foal juice to make it through the day. Probably best I'm quitting that drug craze before it starts."
Cadance shook her head softly. "It's not a 'drug craze', as you call it. It's the satisfaction of being the personal source of life and nourishment for a life that would be lost without you." She brushed Umbra's side on the way past with her free wing. "You did quite well, and it's good to know I have a backup, just in case anything goes wrong."
Umbra slid up onto her chair. "Well, alright... Still very odd." She raised a brow at Cadance. "Pretty sure this isn't something most humans deal with, of any gender... So I got to experience an entirely new thing, hurrah for me."
With a grin, Shining wagged a hoof at Umbra. "You're not one of those." He smiled brightly. "You're a shadow crystal princess."
"And darn proud of it, too!" Her ire seemed to fade away with that. "Darn proud... Turns out shadow crystal princesses can be wet nurses, too. Who knew?" She leaned against her crystal bat. "Are we hunting changelings today?" She could feel Shifting tense faintly at the question.
Shining shook his head. "There's been no sign of them, and they have caused no trouble. Maybe we were jumping at our own shadows? Either way, we have a much more important thing to handle right now." He sat up proudly. "We have to invite others to a crystalling! It's been quite a while since a royal crystalling. The subjects of the empire are already very excited to be part of it."
Shifting inclined her head. "Oh, um..." She bit back her question.
Umbra picked up on it. "What's a crystalling?"
Shining sat up tall. "It means we have to invite all our relations, and officially inform the ponies of the empire, even if a lot of them already know." He chuckled softly at the thought. "It means we have an event like the crystal heart faire, but designed to celebrate the coming of a new life, especially royal life." He pointed to their new little bundle. "They'll celebrate her and we'll reinforce the heart. Everypony wins."
Umbra clapped at the news. "Sounds fantastic! Oh... Oh... Also sounds very painful." Both of the other royals winced with remembered pain. "But let's not panic! We made it through the last one, so I can make it through this one. You two--" she danced a hoof back and forth between Shining and Cadance. "You'll protect me so I don't fly apart and I'll do my best to not 'cast any shadow' on this merry event."
Cadance abandoned snuggling Shining for resting a hoof on Umbra. "If there's anything we can do, you have but to whisper it and we will do our best."
Shining nodded at that. "Oh! If there are any ponies you want to invite, now is a good time to bring them up."
Umbra clapped eagerly with derailed thoughts. "What about Twilight and her friends? They're always a blast and I enjoy having them around. I bet Pinkie's already planning a party and we just have to tell her what the party's about."
Shining chuckled at the imagined situation of Pinkie. "She probably is, but I plan to send an invitation to them all right now." He slid to his hooves. "I'll send them a traditional snowflake." He trotted off purposefully, a task at hoof that needed taking care of.
Shifting slid to the floor herself. "If the emergency is over, I should head back to my house and get back to work."
Cadance nodded at the crystal bat. "Good idea. You are welcome to return, of course. Umbra seems to enjoy your company." She smiled in that warm way she had. "Speaking of that, I'd like to get to know you better. You know Umbra shares a special relationship with my husband, Shining Armor, and I, do you not? I feel I would not be doing my part if I didn't at least reach a hoof out to get to know you better."
"That's very nice of you." Shifting reached out a hoof she struck against Cadance's. "I'll visit, um, later, and we can chat!" Umbra saw her nervous smile, at least.
Umbra slid down and walked casually between Shifting and Cadance. "Let me walk you home one last time. Once we get there, the emergency is officially over."
The two walked from the room, leaving Cadance alone. Well, alone if one did not count Flurry. Cadance was not willing to do that. She smiled at her little child with a little giggle. "You're looking so adorable..." Were all children that cute to their own parents? Cadance couldn't be entirely sure, but her child was especially cute, and she gently picked them up to carry them towards the nursery.
Escaping the royal dining room, Shifting marched ahead of her friend. "I was so scared they'd see me any moment!"
"They saw you the whole time." Umbra followed behind, not at all as nervous. "Not your fault they can't see what's in front of them."
Shifting turned an ear back. "Why are you alright with it?" She slowed for Umbra to catch up. "My being a changeling, that is. I'm not a pony, or a human. Why are you alright with it?"
"Because I love you?" Umbra's words were not quiet, shared with all the ponies she was walking past, even with their little giggles. "Because I think you're amazing and plan to cuddle you to death as soon as we have the option?"
Shifting blushed into her smile. "That's very nice of you... Does that still count with you being her aunt?"
"Why wouldn't it?" Umbra slid warmly against Shifting. "She doesn't change what we are. Now let's get ready for a party."
Elsewhere, Cadance flinched back at a powerful beam of energy. "Easy there." She did her best to calm down her child, patting them until they quieted. "Little princess... They did not mean for such a small pony to have so much unique power, and yet there she was..." A little child with the flight of a pegasus, the mental power of a unicorn and the strength of an earth pony? She could imagine how that might work poorly.
But would she change her plans for it? "I can't... They'd be so upset." She nuzzled gently with Flurry Heart. "Just control yourself, kindly. We'll both make it through this together. Then we can relax." Cadance did not know what was approaching her and what it would mean. They would repeat that advice to her again later. The importance of the crystalling was hard to calculate, but she would not let down her ponies. "Such a cute little thing." Rubbing noses with Flurry made both smile with joy.
With news of the crystalling being spread through the kingdom officially, all the ponies got cheerfully underway with each part of their respective duties. Decorations went up, and they put smiles on. A royal crystalling had been such a long time coming, over a thousand years by most estimates, the chance to see a new one was greeted with open hooves.