A new day, a new hunt. Morning rode on her back as Umbra wove through the city. "I'm curious."
Morning perked an ear. "If I can help, mother?"
"Maybe. Can umbrum work magic?" She twisted her head to look back on her child. "They aren't unicorns."
"We can be if we want to be. You are friends with another shapeshifter. " She clapped her hooves, shadowy dust kicked up and forming the shape of Shifting Prism. "She's not a unicorn, but she can do magic."
"Because sometimes she does," finished Umbra, catching on. "So you can have a horn when you want, and could cast spells with that horn, when you have it?"
"If I learned how?" She sat up. "Nocreature has shown me how to yet. They don't dare. Consider the terrors I could inflict, mother. They are wise to avoid it."
Umbra tapped at her chin. "Well... This won't do. Any child of this wizard has no excuse to not know all the magic they want to. For now, keep your eyes open. We're on the hunt."
It was quiet for several blocks until Morning began to tap at her mother's head from behind. "Hm?"
"A prey on the wind, or a fellow hunter," she whispered to her mother in hushed tones. "I can't tell which, but I feel a nightmare."
Of the tricks she had learned from the book of dreams, nightmare detection was not yet one of them. "Which way?" She turned as Morning directed her, right off the main street and down a darkened alleyway. They were leaving the comfortable main streets of Canterlot. "I didn't even know this city had this kind of space..."
Morning huffed softly. "There is always room for nightmares, mother. The more you try to hide them, the more clever they are at finding spaces."
"You may have a point there." Umbra felt her eyes adjusting to the dim light as things shifted. Seeing in darkness was not the same as in light. She wasn't seeing colors the same way anymore. They still had colors, but they were different colors. "This isn't safe." Not this stopped her from advancing into the dark space. "Be wary."
"Always, mother." She suddenly jumped free of Umbra.
A sword came down on the spot Morning had been, caught an instant later in Umbra's crackling dark grip, eyes streaming with power. "The absolute hell?!" She threw the sword aside and glared at its source. "What was that?!"
A gaunt figure stepped free, equine, glaring. "Shadow magic? Are you one of us?" They had no face, rather, they did, but it was a bare equine skull with no flesh to speak of on it, even if the rest of him appeared mostly normal. "Where did you come from?"
Morning squinted at the new creature. "You dared to attack mother. You are lucky to still draw breath. She is kind in her power."
Umbra snatched her child with a glowing horn. "I am Umbra. And, yes, to be blunt, we are the same thing I think."
Morning crossed her arms as she was placed on Umbra's back. "Of the shadowhearts family."
The strange umbrum hissed with a draw of breath. "You smell of snow and ice.... How did you survive? They died."
Morning perked at that. "You know them? Knew them..." She pointed at herself. "I am the last known survivor."
"That explains some of it." Their eyes, deep black pits, seemed to focus on Umbra. "And you?"
Umbra considered her angles. "An umbrum, like you, trained in shadow magic, and welcomed by the others."
"Welcomed?" He approached on slow steps. "They welcome nightmares to them? They have gone mad."
"It is a trick mother has perfected," reported Morning proudly. "They celebrate her. They have even proclaimed her the prettiest in the land."
The umbrum stallion considered Umbra a moment. "Hm." That he didn't see the attraction seemed clear enough. "A hoof in either direction. Pick a side."
Umbra smirked at the skull-headed one. "We've given you our name. Your turn."
"Your foolishness does not compel me... But there is little harm... Night Tremor. Morning Dew... That is a soft name. Why did your parents give it?"
"My parents are dead," spoke Morning with finality. "My mother is not the one who gave the name to me." She hugged Umbra with one arm. "In the still of the morning is the darkest time, before the sun can come."
"Hm." They regarded Umbra. "Your name is a bit... on the nose."Not that he had a nose to be on.
"Looking back, it really kinda is." Umbra didn't even try to fight that. "But I've heard of worse names."
"There are worse... Why are you here? Want to be rid of that child on another umbrum? Too bad. I'm not even slightly interested." Shadow seeped from Night Tremor in all directions, visible to their night vision. "We have little else to offer."
Umbra flashed her teeth, bright in the dark. "Actually... Umbrum have their own magic. I would like to learn it."
Morning at up quickly. "Mother is a collector of magic foul and vast. If you wish her favor, give her what she desires."
"Good for her. I don't care what 'favors' she offers. She doesn't even smell like she'd give a passable fright." Night hiked a brow at the umbrum mare. "What do you have that I could want?"
Umbra considered that. "While I think... Why did you attack me? That's hardly a way to say hello."
"Stop crying." He pointed to where the blade had last been seen, but nothing was there. "It was fear, and easily turned aside by those I'd even bother to talk to. If you were some passing pony, it would have frightened you... terribly... They would have screamed." Night sighed wistfully. "Such a sweet scream. Then they would have passed out."
"That's one way..." Umbra pointed to her own horn. "I know a good bit of shadow magic. A trade?" It had proven to be entirely worth the trip with how much magic trading she was getting done. The thought of it brought a feral smile to her face. "We both win then."
"Your magic stinks of ponies." Night Terror scowled anew. "Did you forsake the umbrum ways entirely?"
Umbra started at that. "How does Umbrum magic work?"
"I would also like to know this," added Morning. "Instruct us."
"You still have nothing I would want. Don't ask for things out of misplaced kindness, or stupidity. Threaten me if you wish, I'm not scared of you."
Using intimidation on an umbrum felt silly to Umbra, considering on it. "I don't know what you want. Does money mean anything?"
He perked, no ears to lift, but the rest of him managed it. "I may scorn the ponies, but bits makes getting things from them so much easier... How many are we talking?"
Umbra grinned with victory. An avenue of attack had been found. Her horn glowed as she pulled free a heavy bag that jingled with each motion. "The ponies love me, and pay well for the shadow magic I bring."
His shadowed eyes narrowed. "I see... You sell your pride... But you sell it at a good value, at least... I am not immune to that trade. Very well, fifty bits a day. That much and I will instruct you as you please." Their vision dropped to Morning. "Even that one, if you pay for the time. Fifty a day."
The first instinct was to agree swiftly. She could surely afford that! But that might put him on guard. "Fifty? That's a lot of money... Are you even worth that much?"
Night took a step back. "Am I even... The nerve... There is none other in this city who can give you what I offer! Soft Tremble? That weakling? You'll go to them? Ha... A waste of all our times..."
He glared with renewed anger. "Fourty, and that is a discount. Consider it a mark of favor for your... kindness... I would have abandoned her in the snow, were it me."
"But it wasn't you," noted Morning, looking smugly pleased. "Mother?"
"Fourty, hm..." Did she agree, or haggle more? "Well... If today counts, I'm not paying full for today. The day's half over. So twenty for today, and fourty afterwards for full days."
Night howled, shaking the air with a sound more fit for an entire pack of hungry wolves. "You fiend... Very well..." He grinned his exposed teeth. "At least I am working with somebral that is harder than paste."
Sombral? Umbra made note of that address. Wait... "Do you know a Sombra?"
"Traitor!" roughly hissed Night Terror. "Why does that name leave your lips?"
"Well, if we agree that he's a jerk, that's nice, but what did he do to you?" Umbra hiked a brow. "Give me the details."
"You first," he spat. "What did he do to you and yours?"
"He attacked me, like you, but without the 'can't actually hurt you' vibe. He started a fight and he didn't end it until we broke him." Umbra made a snapping motion with her hooves as if breaking something over a knee. "And that was that."
Night's eyes shined. "You killed him? Marvelous! Fantastic! Finally, you bring word I wanted to hear..."
Morning sat up. "Does that get us a discount?"
"No." Flat, final. "But it does please me. Shall we begin?"
Umbra raised a hoof. "You did not answer your side. What's your background with the jerk?"
"He was sent as a secret agent." Night sat and rubbed his hooves together slowly. "But he turned against us. A double agent? He turned back on his umbrum, and now they are dead. I can't be angry at them... being dead... Perhaps that was their way of apologizing... They made the rest of us realize how frail our position was, and we hide. Nightmares are good at hiding when they wish to. The shadows are our home. Now, enough of that." He clopped down a hoof. "Do you wish to learn? I want those bits now."
Umbra popped open her bag with her magic, drawing out the smaller denomination coins to count up to twenty. "Here is today. Now... I'm already learning magic, so." She floated Morning suddenly, setting her between Umbra and Night. "Teach her first. Show her how to use her umbral magic."
"Hm. I never tought a foal before... A challenge." He pocketed the money though, sealing the deal. "Let us begin, but you must be ready to listen, and obey. Are you ready?"
"Absolutely," quickly retorted Morning with steely resolved. "How do we begin?"
"I like that attitude... Listen." And the magic lessons began. He speak not a word of horns. He spoke nothing of runes and magical letters. Umbrum didn't have those. It was all about the nature of being an umbrum, and how to use that. It was closer to how Umbra remembered learning how to fly than any magical tutoring she had recieved.
She did her best to follow along, but the lessons assumed one had a good grasp of being an umbrum, and that was still new to her. Morning seemed to eagerly soak it up, but it mostly washed right over Umbra, lost as quickly as it came. It was a lesson for a foal. At least, it seemed the foal was enjoying it. "I'm glad you at least know this much." He had just confirmed she knew how to shroud herself in shadows, changing form. "But there's more to it."
Morning looked up at the dim day sky. "It is getting late."
Night glanced. "It is. Are we done? Come back here when you want another lesson. Bring bits." He was glaring at Umbra with that. She was the source of money and he seemed to know that. "And bring your burning will to master this."
Umbra tipped her head towards Night. "Thank you. I know you're not feeling warmth, but I'm glad I met you."
"Hmmph, killer of Sombra? Today wasn't a waste." He watched them leave, not emerging from the darkness of his home.