Shining played with his hooves in the air without one actually touching the other. "Insides and outsides."
Cadance peered at her husband. "Sorry? What do you mean?"
"When they don't match up is right where Umbra gets involved." He leveled one of his hooves at her. "And she demands we take a better look at the inside."
"Dang right!" Umbra sat up proud of that description. "So, what do you see?"
"I see a pony." He leaned towards Shifting. "A pony that is more worried about the next game we're in than any great schemes to topple the empire."
Shifting colored and giggled at the same time. "That's true, um... if I'm still invited?"
"I'm not uninviting you." His eyes went to Umbra. "Did you already know?"
Umbra went quiet.
Cadance huffed softly. "Of course she knew. It's written all over her... Is... that why you didn't find it as odd as I expected? You already had a girlfriend that could be a boyfriend when the mood struck."
Umbra darkened swiftly, at least in part with anger. "Hey! We weren't even together at that point." She set her hooves on her temples. "And we aren't here to chat about that anyway. Ugh... Shifting?"
"Yeah?" She was looking at Umbra curiously. "What's wrong?"
"Cadance here has a high libido." Umbra waved at Cadance a bit wildly. "Nothing wrong with that, but she has one, and she will share it with her special someponies, which I became a part of. May I talk about yours?"
"Uh!" Shifting fidgeted in place. "If... it'll help?"
"Shifting has a low libido." Umbra lowered a hoof. "Not zero, but low. Cadance likes to express her physical love at least once a day. Shifting's fine once a week. Both give great nuzzles and both are nice to hug."
Cadance flipped an ear back. "That's perfectly normal!"
Shining coughed into a hoof softly. "Within the normal range, but it's still a range. Not that I'm complaining about it."
Cadance hurled a pillow from an empty chair as her husband. "Stallion!"
Shining caught the pillow and nuzzled it slowly, eyes on Cadance. "Guilty."
Shifting looked between the married royalty. "Not to be rude or anything, but...?"
Cadance deflated with a sigh. "Shifting Prism." Her words were firm as crystal, despite her sagging posture.
"Yes, ma'am?" Shifting lifted a tufted ear. "Are you banishing me?"
"No... No I am not." She was watching Shifting with an intense gaze, body still. "You are close to my nightmare, even more than Thorax. A talented changeling mare that was hiding who they were quite close to me..." She set her hooves together. "I am ready to cry..."
Shifting reached across the table, resting a hoof on one of Cadance's arms. "I'm sorry she hurt you too. I don't like her either."
Cadance smirked a little, but it turned into a more genuine smile as some of the tension fled her. "We agree on that point... You've done nothing to me. I want to give you the chance I think you deserve... Can you understand why I feel this way?"
"No." Shifting inclined her head. "But I can guess. I was worried about just being... ended... No prison, no isolation, just ended... It's not the same. But I get that you're hurt, but you're here, talking, instead of shouting for me to get banished, or worse. So... point..."
"I accept the point given." Cadance sat up properly, gathering herself. "Shifting Prism. You remain a subject of mine. I will do what I can to continue providing a safe place for you to live. Will you do your part?"
"Aye aye!" Shifting raised a wing in a sloppy salute. "As if you have to ask. I will defend the Crystal Empire." The wing came down halfway. "I'm still what I am."
"And that still bothers me... But if I got rid of everything that ever bothered me, Shining's collection would be in danger."
"Hey!" He puffed up indignantly. "I keep that out of the way!"
"And Shifting will keep herself out of the way, busy making jewelry with Umbra, and having a good time." Cadance set her hooves on the table. "All that is left is for me to be a proper princess and keep a happy kingdom for her to live in."
Magic wrapped around her, delivering a firm hug at Umbra's command. "Yay!" Not the most eloquent response, but it was what came to her in that instant. "Thank you for not being mean to my friend." She released Cadance and hopped free of her chair. "C'mon!"
"One second." Shifting sat up a bit taller. "You wanted to see that other me."
"You don't have to do that." Umbra moved between Shifting and Cadance in that narrow space between the chair and the table. "We can go now."
"Thank you." Shifting bapped at her girlfriend. "Cadance, did you want that?"
"I... did and did not. As your girlfriend has said, you don't have to do it."
"I could skip a lot of unpleasant things, but a pony I know taught me taking the adult path is best, in the end." She nuzzled Umbra gently, still nudging her out of the way. "So if you want..." With a rush of green flame, the strangely colored changeling was revealed, with a black plate that was broken up with prismatic streaks, stripes really that covered her form. "I am still Shifting Prism."
Umbra nuzzled the altered cheek. "Still my girl."
Cadance's breathing was tense, but she held herself still. "Nice... to meet you, Shifting. Hm, you must have so much to discuss with Thorax."
"Like how much we dislike Chrysalis? We could go over that." Shifting hopped forward, not to the ground, but to Umbra's back who served as her loyal mount without prompting. "But that's about as far as any connection there goes. I don't know them, and they don't know me."
Shining nudged at Cadance with a floating pastry. "What would you want to talk about with a random pony?"
"Uh, hm... I see..." Cadance snapped at the poking pastry, slicing it in half with her teeth as she chewed on it in quiet thought a moment. "I don't want to be a downer, really. You two have a lovely thing! It's so obvious even without... me being me. " She smiled in a genuine show of brilliance. "Recent developments have shown that two mares can get along that way. Before that, it was all a bit of a mystery to me. Were they settling for less, perhaps out of desperation? I was so wrong." She covered her face with both hooves. "But I learned and grew. Can I have a chance with this?"
Shifting's brows came down together. "I am not offering a chance to be with a changeling. You'll have to use your imagination for that."
Shining suddenly lapsed into a coughing fit. "Wrong pipe! Um... pretty sure she isn't asking for that."
"I am not. You are dedicated to her." She pointed to Shifting and then Umbra beneath her. "As a... polycule? Is that the word for it?" Umbra nodded swiftly. "Good. As a polycule, knowing what our relations are is important. I am connected most deeply to my husband." She leaned to the side and Shining was there quickly to lean back against her. "But we have a bond of intimacy, the two of us, to Umbra."
"And my big connection is the lovely mare on top of me." Umbra turned an ear back but was mostly focused on Cadance. "And you two are the side fling, to me."
"Yes, right.... And Shifting has no connection to us, other than that of friendship, and being a subject, neither of which involve intimacy." Cadance brought her hooves together. "But I'd like that to be a little more. You're part of this... polycule." Still a new word to her. "So... if I can get over myself, are you up to becoming more than acqauintances?"
"You are my princess." Shifting flared green into her usual batty self. "There is that!"
"True... but a princess is a distant object. If you are so close to Umbra, who I am close to..."
Umbra raised a hoof. "It doesn't always work that way. If she wants to, neat. If she doesn't, also fine. Let's be responsible about this, which means being direct and accepting the answers we're given when it involves who someone else wants to be with."
"Yes, of course... Which is what I'm doing." She inclined her head at Shifting. "Consider it, but you're under no pressure. You've caught her heart, which means you must be worth the attention. I would love to learn what that means."
Shifting pinned her tufted ears back. "Does that mean I can stay?"
"Of course it does." Cadance nodded firmly. "You surprised me, but you have also done nothing wrong... Our immigration forms lack a 'are you a changeling?' question." She glanced at Shining. "Get on that."
Shining waved a hoof at Cadance. "It wouldn't have helped. Shifting's been here longer than we have, if I'm remembering correctly."
"Yes." Shifting sat up proudly. "I was here to see the first jerk being a jerk. So you'll have to complain to the first princess, and she isn't around to complain at."
Shining hummed softly. "Never met her... What happened to her?"
"The jerk happened to her." Shifting frumped, thumping Umbra's back. "But that's off topic. Hi, I'm Shifting Prism, and nothing has changed."
Cadance raised a hoof. "That's not true. If a friend of mine revealed they were into some new novel series I never heard of before, that would be a change. I wouldn't stop being their friend, but it would be a change. Let's not just... pretend it didn't happen, but also let's not... freak out about it." She was clearly still having emotions, but doing her best to press past them.
Shifting flopped onto Umbra's back, going flat on it and hugging the shadow mare from above. "Right! Right... I don't know you, really... You're just 'the princess'..." She clucked her tongue and let out a little squeaking ree. "Maybe we could fix that, later. Right now? Gonna ride my girl away. Don't try to stop us." She nudged with her hind legs, directing Umbra to depart.
Shining chuckled at the sight. "You'll give ponies ideas if they see that."
Umbra snatched Shifting off her back just to hug her, rearing up onto two legs and ambling along with her girlfriend cradled. "Then let's be sure we're sending the right idea." She nuzzled into Shifting gently even as they pawed at her. "Because I don't care if they know I love her."
Cadance allowed them to leave with no further arguments. "Our family grows more complex every time I look at it..." She sipped from her fine cup. "Should I... Did I handle that properly?"
"I think you did." He leaned up to smooch her cheek. "But let's leave them alone to decompress. We can try other things later, when they aren't so worked up. As if you're not worked up."
"I am not!" she snapped, proving it worked her up. She put a hoof over her face. "Right... Let's go play. I want to get physical. Maybe some hoofball with your guards?"
Shining's ears danced. "You rarely want to join us for that sort of thing." Still, he followed Cadance. "I'd be glad to have you on my team."
"Nuh uh." She followed him with soft clip-clops. "You'll face me, like a stallion, and accept the loss."
"Bold words!" He leaned against her, the bond between the two firm. "If I lose to you, I can't think of many others I'd rather lose against." His ears danced with a new thought. "Will I have to pay a penalty?"
"One I imagine you'll enjoy." Cadance led the way towards the training guards. They'd get in some good excercize, with a promise of fun to follow afterwards. Nopony would be disappointed.