Umbra was... annoyed, and yet also happy? It was a conflicted feeling. Her daughter was learning and enjoying herself. This was good! Watching Morning listen closely to her new tutor and progress step by step brought a smile to Umbra's face, pride and contentment rising at the progress of her daughter.
But umbrum magic evaded her. Hiding herself with shadow, that is shapeshifting, was the only trick she 'got'. She was a wizard, dang it. She was a master of magic! Or at least an avid collector of it... Why did umbrum magic elude her?
"Very good." Night nodded at Morning slowly. "At least this isn't a waste of time. I think you are ready to learn one of our Great Tricks." He sounded like he would have smiled, but his tooth-exposed face did not allow for that. "You will seize the mind of others."
Umbra perked at that, memories of Sombra's traps coming to mind. So he had known some Umbrum magic, and made use of it. If she was a less-jerk version of him, why couldn't she figure out umbrum magic?! She sank to her belly, eyes on the lesson intently.
"The first step is here." Night pointed to his pupiless eyes. "Confront them with the infinite depths you possess. Draw them in and sequester their feeble mind within it."
Morning obediently began practicing, her eyes glowing and going pupiless at once as she stared off into space.
Umbra frowned instead. Her eyes had pupils. Even when she was practicing dark magic, they remained, if colored sharply with the magic involved. When Twilight had practiced it, she lost her pupils for that brief time. Was that a nature of shadow magic? Why didn't it happen to her?! Was that why she couldn't grasp umbrum magic?
"You look upset." Night was watching Umbra, leaving Morning to her practice. "Soft umbrum... Slayer of Sombra, but still soft. One hoof on either side, you're as much pony as you are umbrum, if not more pony."
Umbra scowled at that. "I'll have you know I--"
"--Your accomplishments don't interest me," Night cut off. "This isn't about what you did, but what you are. You are not one of us, on the inside." He turned his attention back on Morning. "Acceptable. Your mother can serve a use today. I want you to take her mind and make it yours. When you get her to surrender a treat to you, you win." He glared at Umbra. "You are not to give her a treat, no matter how much she asks for it."
Umbra pinned an ear back. "For her..." As irritated as she felt, helping Morning outweighed it. "I will not give you anything until after the class is over."
Morning Dew sat up, eyes on Umbra's, staring at her. "Look me in the eyes and repeat that."
Umbra raised a brow. A thousand witty retorts came to mind, but lashing out at her daughter wasn't the goal. She was still a child! Humoring her seemed a safe way to go, so she did look at Morning, eye to eye. Besides, she was an umbrum too. Morning's eyes were featureless, save for the energy that poured, a pale white, from either side much as Umbra's did at times.
Where the eyes started and ended were hard to make out, and Umbra found herself focused on that, trying to figure that out, and to find the center properly.
"Hmmph. I said to make her give you the treat." Night looked more amused than outright annoyed.
Morning held up the wrapped candy. "I have the treat. How is that not a success?"
Night snorted softly, turning into a proper dark laugh. "Our little student distracted you and took that candy from you while you were caught in her abyss. She has to practice... She barely swept you off your hooves, a moment of distraction and little more. You did not take her mind and make it your own. That is the ultimate goal." He sat up. "Still... progress. That was progress. I will give you that."
Umbra's ears danced. "If you can do that... Why haven't you just taken my bits?"
"A fine question." Night tapped at his cheek. "There are several good reasons. For one, you are dangerous, slayer of Sombra. You surrendered to your child. You would not be so eager to give me that opportunity. You can defend yourself. I've heard the rumors... If I failed, you could rush me to a thousand unpleasant ends. There are better prey. But, for her, you are perfect. You would not hurt your daughter, hm?"
Umbra grabbed Morning with a glowing horn, drawing her daughter in for a firm hug. "I would never hurt her."
Morning wriggled free. "That is a weakness, mother. What if he disguised himself as me?"
Night snorted despite having no nostrils. "She isn't wrong. That is a weakness. Pony."
Umbra sat up. "To have no weaknesses at all is to be a rock. That's not living. Morning is a weakness I have accepted, and she's worth it."
Morning smiled in her little way, tail swaying left and right across the ground in sweeps. "I will be a strength as well, mother." She turned in place to Night. "Let us continue our lessons."
Night set a hoof on Morning's wafting mane. "Clear your head of that rot a moment. I will show you what it feels like, on the other side."
"What wh--" Her words trailed off, incomplete. She was staring at Night, but not seeing anything. Her eyes regained their pupils and the energy stopped wafting free of them. She was frozen in place. "I am a chicken," she suddenly announced. She reared up and folded her arms in a facsimile of a chicken wing, clucking as she ambled around, pecking the ground with her snout.
Umbra tensed, teeth clenching, but it was part of a lesson, right? She resisted the urge to tackle Night, as powerful as it was.
Night clapped his hooves in one loud strike, starting Morning out of her phase. "You were held. I could have made you do anything... Well, until your mother tore me apart."
Morning smiled at that. "My only regret would have been not witnessing it." She rubbed at the side of her head. "That was a curious sensation..."
"Good, hold onto that feeling. That is what you need to do to others. Draw them in, embrace them, and take them." Night set his hooves down on the cobblestones, dimly lit beneath him. "And don't let go until you have everything you want. If you are hungry, you can squeeze." He made a squeezing motion with his arms, as if hugging the air tight. "Their pain will nourish you."
Umbra inclined her head. "Morning is well fed."
Morning nodded. "I am, but that is a valuable weapon. Do they wake up if you do that?"
Night leaned in towards the small umbrum filly. "I think I like you, little one. That was the right answer... Or question, as the case may be." He raised a hoof to whisper conspirationally, even if Umbra could still hear every word. "They may struggle, but you are now holding them even tighter. Don't let go."
Morning hummed. "I see. That is good information. I will need to practice."
"You will." Night turned away from her, towards Umbra instead. "Today's lesson is complete. Come back tomorrow, with bits."
From what Umbra knew of the value of bits... "You are doing well, as a teacher. Enjoying it?"
Night huffed at that. "It's quite nice to easily have my needs met. And I only have one student, and they are a good one." He stared at Umbra a moment. "Are you expecting a thank you? Your thanks are coins, and my thanks are my instruction."
Umbra sat up with a smile. "I'm offering more. You've been quite good, so far as I've seen it. You don't have to hide in the shadows."
"We are the shadows," Night hissed. "You'd know that, if you were one of us... We do not 'hide' in it."
Umbra raised a hoof. "You have to have noticed it. Even ponies are up and about at night. The dark doesn't scare them as much as it used to. You could join them. This city is yours as much as theirs. You live here. You pay for things here. Why settle for this?" She waved around the alleyway. "You deserve better."
"And you are here to give it to me?" With a swirl of darkness, he became a dark furred pony, face formed and a brow raised. "You are ever the hero, aren't you? Shoving your snout wherever you feel like it. I am not some helpless damsel, or lost child, waiting for some gallant hero to rescue them from their life."
Morning bristled at that. "I didn't ask mother to rescue me."
Umbra took a tense breath. "You're not wrong."
"He isn't?!" Morning peered at her mother with obvious surprise.
"He isn't. This is his life. He gets to decide how to live it. I'm not trying to force myself on you. I just want to offer a hoof. Celestia?" She paused, thinking the umbrum way. "She's soft. She is Pony, personified all in one enormous package. She wants to love and hug everything that will let her. If you walk up to her and tell her you want to be friends, she will bend over backwards to make it happen. Her mistake is your benefit."
Night wrinkled his newly fleshed snout. "As if you don't! You don't fool me that easily... She may be soft, but so are you. Nervous guards that would attack surround her if I tried to 'walk up' to her. That is a foolish plan, fit for a foal."
Umbra held up her hooves. "Not forcing you. Being as soft as I am, I probably couldn't anyway."
"Of course you could." Night smirked viciously. "Do you think I am foolish enough to think 'soft' means 'ineffective'? You could end me in a multitude of ways, if push came to shove. That I am useful to you, and interesting to you, is the only reason we've avoided that."
Morning nodded softly. "This is true."
"Morning!" Umbra colored, called out by her child. "That's not true... I really wanted to know more about umbrum, and, thanks to you, I have, and am. I am one of those." She put a hoof to her chest. "So the offer's open, and you can take it, or not. If you want to go for it, let me know."
"Fool..." He turned back to Morning. "Off with you. The lesson is complete. Find a pony to practice on. Hm. Yes. Bring one back here, slack jawed and helpless."
Umbra flicked an ear back, but it bounced forward. "I know just the pony."
Morning pricked. "You do? Mother, you always have an answer." She smiled with confidence. "I will return with an enslaved pony."
Umbra raised a hoof. "It's not breaking the rules if they volunteer for this, right?"
Night laughed at that, though it sounded different with flesh in the way. "If you can convince one to casually let you master their mind, go ahead. Most object to that sort of thing... But these are different times. Maybe you know a pony that enjoys that manner of treatment." He snorted shadow. "But they had better be fully entrapped. I will know if they're just pretending! Save us both time and don't try to fool me."
"Their mind will be putty in my hooves, or I will not come with them." Morning casually climbed up Umbra without asking permission. "Success, or failure. I will not pretend one."
Night smirked softly. "You don't deserve her."
Umbra returned with a bright smile. "I really don't." She rose up with her filly and started out of the alleyway. "Offer's open, no end date. Have a good one." She accelerated to a trot, heading off to other things aside umbrum lessons.