Umbra bounced down the street with a filly walking next to her. She couldn't help it, smiling brightly along the way. "Now, being a responsible mother, I have to ask, schooling. Did you get any?"
"I know many things."Morning was proud of herself, as she usually was. "You should narrow that down."
"Right, basics! What's two plus two?" Umbra wanted to hug her little daughter forever, but resisted that call.
"Four." Morning skewed her head. "Will math help me terrify my enemies?"
"Math can come in handy in the strangest places." And her daughter at least knew a little, that was nice. "Can you read yet?"
"I'm better than the other foals I knew." She turned up her nose, but shrank a moment after. "I miss them a little... But forget them. I loved reading scary stories. Do you have any?"
Umbra's ears perked. "That's adorable... First stop, the library!"
"What's the library?" She followed dutifully alongside her mother.
"It's a place with more books than you could count, which means plenty of scary books." The two cheered together as they headed up the stairs to one of the grand libraries of the Crystal Empire. "Excuse me." Umbra walked up to the front counter. "Do you have a horror section?"
The aged librarian mare adjusted her glasses with one hoof. "You want a scary book?"
Umbra grinned, displaying her sharp teeth. "The scariest you have, please. It's for her." She brought Morning ahead to hug from behind. "She's mine, by the way, so--"
"I see. Hello there, little filly." The librarian got moving at her slow pace. "Most ponies so young don't want to be scared. You're a brave little pony, aren't you?"
"Very brave." Morning trailed behind the librarian curiously, with Umbra a step behind on a procession through those aisles of countless books. "How do you keep track of so many?"
"It's a lot of work." She turned to point at a particular shelf. "And this has our scariest tomes."
"I'll take them." Morning nodded, as if stating simple fact.
The librarian wasn't in agreement. "You can't have all of them, not at once. You can borrow one or two and come back with them to borrow more. Now, why don't you pick which one you want to read first?" She gestured at the line of books in a slow wave.
Umbra nodded quickly. "They have to lend books out to other ponies. What if they want to be scared too?"
Morning put a hoof to her face with a soft gasp. "I would be depriving them of the chance to be terrified. I see..." She walked up to the bookcase and up at the shelf of horror, but it was higher than she could reach, no matter how hard she tried.
Fortunately, Umbra was right there to give her filly a lift, floating Morning up to the horror shelf. "Let me know if you want me to go left or right."
"Thank you, mother." Morning reached out and began to hoof at the books, pushing them left and right as she inspected their spines for the one she most wanted. "The Whisper of Old Hills?"
The librarian shuddered. "Oh, a terrible story about... Are you sure you want to read--"
"--I'll take it." As if the librarian's response was reason enough. Morning grabbed the book into a full body hug. "I will return it when it's done so somepony else can be properly horrified."
Umbra lowered her filly to her own back instead of the ground, where the filly could keep on hugging the book. "You heard her. Do we have to sign anything?"
The librarian shook her head. "Just try to get it back within a moon and we're happy. We know where you live." That was far less scary, being the famous pony Umbra was. "And we trust you. If you need it longer than that, ask."
Morning leaned forward towards her mother's ears. "I look forward to seeing what scares her."
Umbra snarled like a predator ready to attack as she descended the stairs of the library. "Don't tease her too much about it. Now, education, back to that. Do you know anything about pony history?"
"Do you?"
Umbra came up short. Dang... She really didn't... Called out, by her kid! "I'm not school aged! You are. If I had a mother around and she was good, she'd grab my ear and drag me off to class too." She flicked one of those ears back at Umbra. "Which is what I plan to do."
"If you insist." Morning nosed open the book, apparently rating reading it higher than continuing to argue her education. "You must know something."
"Thank you?" Umbra looked over her shoulder. "What makes you say that?"
Morning looked up over the top of her book. "You scare them, all the time. They're scared when they see you, and when you talk. You don't hide the sharp parts, but they still greet you warmly. You must know something to make them greet their fears with open arms. Teach me."
Umbra's horn glowed as she squeezed her daughter gently. "You are frighteningly cute."
"That is a good cute." She nosed to the next page. "Will I be as scary as you one day?"
"If you play your cards right." Umbra looked around as she went down the road. "Which involves getting you some book learning, besides scary stories. " She wasn't having luck just spotting a random school, but then, all the students would be inside, with the teachers, right? There wouldn't be much for her to see walking past.
She had a better idea. She willed her tiara off and tapped at her chest, "Got a minute? Looking for something. Not an emergency."
"What's wrong? -S" came the tap reply.
Aw, Shining. "Hey, Shining. Where is the school around here for a pony Morning's age?"
There was a pause. "What are you doing?" Oh no, Morning had noticed her mother tapping her chest.
"Sending secret messages." The truth worked for that. "And getting them."
Morning applauded. "Amazing! My mother is full of talents. What are you talking about?"
"I said it was a secret." Ah, more taps were coming, thumping against her chest without her hoof doing it.
"Bright Apple's a nice school. I'll have a map waiting in your room."
"I'm glad you two have that worked out, now please stop tapping. -C"
Umbra colored faintly, imagining poor Cadance just getting tapped in for a conversation she wasn't part of. "OK," she tapped out as way of goodbye, returning her attention to the world around her. "My agents say they'll have the information I want ready for me. Expect to go to school soon."
"Is 'school' fun?"
Umbra flicked her ears to the side. "Um... No, but very required. Prove you are better than the other mewling children there. But don't be mean to them. Their cooperation will help you in the future."
Morning clapped slowly. "Very smart, mother. You're always thinking of the future. I will do my best to avoid upsetting them then. But I will do better than them, we both know that."
"I look forward to your tales of academic victory. Let their victories be recorded in the great grades you bring to me like bloody trophies."
Morning cheered at the idea of grisly trophies. "You will be proud of me." She hugged the back of Umbra's neck. "I hope 'school' is ready for me."
Umbra trotted along in a spirited jog. "Your first day!"
"My first of many chances. I will not let you down." Morning looked to the ground passing past them at a brisk pace. "I can walk myself, mother. You don't have to carry me."
"I will be away from you for the first time in a while. Let me enjoy this last moment." But Bright Apple was there, with a big crystal apple over the front gate. Other foals were wandering in past the gate. Umbra lowered, allowing Morning to leap free easily. "Let's meet your teacher."
"Do they know things you don't, mother?"
"They better." Umbra's stern words only seemed to please Morning. She advanced on the school. The door was open, so Umbra went right past it into the schoolhouse. There were young ponies sitting in desks, and one adult crystal pony. To her surprise, the teacher was a stallion. Not that a guy couldn't do the job. She regathered herself. "Hello."
"Well, howdy there." The stallion nodded at the only other adult in the area. "Umbra, right? And this..." His eyes dropped to Morning. "Must be your daughter, Morning Dew. Hello."
Morning nodded at the stallion. "I am here to expand my arsenal of knowledge. Please begin the instruction."
Umbra nudged her with a hoof. "So formal! You don't have to go that far. But, yes, this is her. I thought I'd see the inside of the school this time. I'm sure you don't need parents haunting the place."
Morning perked. "There are ghosts?" She looked around, not scared, but eager to see the ghosts. "Where?"
The teacher laughed merrily at the misunderstanding. "No ghosts, I'm afraid."
"Good."
Umbra leaned in for a hushed whisper, "She will be happy any time you're scared."
"I see." He looked at the little innocent filly curiously. "Well, we'll do our best to give all our little ponies what they need to be happy adults. I'm Morning Star." He buffed his shiny crystal chest. "And I'm ready to teach all kinds of ponies. As you can see, we have crystal ponies, and not. We have unicorns and earth ponies and pegasi." He considered Morning anew. "And you're an earth pony, I see."
"Nope."
The flat denial caught him off guard. "You look like one? What tribe are you?"
Morning smiled sweetly. "That is a secret, but not earth."
Umbra laughed awkwardly, trying to distract. "Foals, right? She's my tribe, and that's good enough. You know how it goes."
"The child of a celebrity. Now, as one of my students, I will treat you like anypony else. Being her foal doesn't get you any special treatment."
"Yes, sir." As flatly as she had denied being an earth pony, she had no argument there. "I will show I can succeed on my own."
"That's the spirit." He pointed to an empty desk. "Why don't you sit there?" When she scampered off, he turned to Umbra. "I trust everything is in order?"
"It's cute." Umbra looked around slowly at what seemed to be a grade school, at least if it was on Earth, which it was not. "Reading, Writing, Arithmetics?"
"As a start." He sat and tapped his hooves as he counted, "Geography, history, biology, basic magic comprehension."
Umbra started. "You'll teach them how to read magic?!"
"Oh, no no no. Parents of unicorns are welcome to do so, but we just teach them about magic in general. It's useful for any pony of any tribe to understand the very basics of what to expect when dealing with it. Besides...." He pointed up at his lack of a horn. "I'm really not equipped to give actual magic lessons." He was a crystal earth pony, as most of them were.
"Sensible." A thought tickled her. "Want a magic tutor for like a week of tutoring? A guest teacher of sorts?"
"That's very kind of you." He swatted at her shoulder. "Thank you! We only have two unicorns. It might be easier if their parents give an alright and they visit you specifically. The whole class getting what only two of them can use will be a lot of bored little ponies. We don't want that."
"True..." But it meant she got to teach two cute little unicorn foals. When did she get so into foals? Damn their cute little faces... "We'll work that out. Not right now anyway. I have to leave town soon."
"Not forever, I hope?"
"As if!" She assured. "Just a little visit to Canterlot." Confident that her child was in good hooves, she moved to leave. "Have fun, Morning!"