Umbra gladly picked up Morning from school, and got Anik as a bonus prize. "I wasn't expecting you here!"
Anik tossed his head towards the palace. "My other instructor said it would do good, since I have the bare basics down to not cause... problems.." He tapped his hooves together. "I'm not sure what problems he thought I'd make." He leaned in. "We were very polite, in those last days... How could we not be? It was a funeral, and we were all invited."
Umbra cringed at that wordplay. "That's a funeral I'm just as fine not attending."
"But you did. You attended it and ran off with the guest of honor. I don't think funerals expect that..." He hadn't been to many fancy ones. One imagined that cruel world only allowed the most basic. "But you did it." He rubbed at his cheek. "It is scary."
Morning pricked at that, a feral look overtaking her. "What scared you?" It was, perhaps, a professional curiosity.
Anik walked quietly with the others, his eyes on the other ponies they wandered past. "It's how many... A family, I understand." He reached for Morning , but she danced away. "A family has a meaning. What is this?" He waved over the crowded street. "Too many to be a single passing stranger. Too many to even be a blessed meeting of families. It's... joyous, but still scares me."
Morning flicked her ears and looked to Umbra, who was already closing with Anik. "If it helps, most of them are busy not thinking about you. They have things to do and places to be, and they're rushing to get and do those things. You may as well be a furry tree, for most of them, unless you get in their way." Umbra waved at the filled street. "A lot of trees. They only stop being trees when you talk to them. That's why some of them get surprised. You're a tree that suddenly became not a tree too. Watch."
Umbra left them to instead get in front of another pony, blocking their way. "Hello."
The other pony jumped, clearly surprised. It wasn't like Umbra snuck up on them. "Oh! Umbra, Great and Glorious! How can I help you?"
Umbra tipped her head. "My son is learning his way in the big city." She pointed to Anik. "It would be a nice favor if you could just say hi."
"Of course." A small request. The pony walked right up to Anik, seeing him as soon as Umbra brought attention to them specifically. "Hello there. Welcome to the Crystal Empire."
Anik raised an uncertain hoof. "Happy to be here. I am Anik."
"I am Night Song," replied the stallion with a smile. "I play music. What do you do, Anik?"
Anik dared a little smile. That was one pony, and a friendly one, clearly. "I am still learning that there are things to do besides living, Night Song. It's wonderful, and a little scary."
"That sounds scary," agreed Night. "But your mom is Umbra, Great and Glorious. I bet you'll get it!"
Anik reached hesitantly, but the stallion didn't run, so he finished patting his new... friend? on the shoulder. "Thank you for being supportive. Being as good as mother is a tall order."
"Impossible," added Morning casually.
Night Song brought up his hooves close together. "You don't have to be as good, but along the way, I bet you'll figure it out, Anik." He half-turned. "I have to go though. You have a great day, alright?"
"Yes. You also have a good day." And there went the stallion, Anik returned to being a tree. "I... Hm..."
Umbra gently bumped against his side. "Get it?"
Anik dared a fresh smile. "I feel a little closer... Thank you." He lowered a little, all the hint needed for Morning to scramble up on to her mounted position.
Umbra resumed their hike towards the palace. "You can use that same trick. It's hard thinking of all these ponies all at once." She angled her horn vaguely at all the ponies moving past them. "So don't. Until you have to, they're just cute fuzzy trees. Most of them are returning the favor."
"Hum..." Anik shook his head slowly, walking along. He peeked back at Morning. "Do you do that?"
"All the time." She raised a brow. "I am the daughter of Umbra, of the Shadowhearts. Very few are in need of my immediate attention, so they don't get it." She nodded, a brief motion of confidence. "You would do well to be more careful of who earns this privilege."
"Hm."
Umbra ascended with them, to drop off Anik, but she lifted Morning with her magic. "We have some hunting to do."
Morning accepted her place atop Umbra. "I was once a lost umbrum in this city. There could be others."
"Exactly." Umbra looked instead back to Anik. "If you've finished all your learning today, you're free to relax."
"Is a person ever finished of learning? I should hope not." Anik had not lost his ability to wax philosophic. "I would rather assist you, mother, sister. I've hunted before."
Umbra clucked her tongue softly. "Have you hunted for people before?"
"Only in desperation," he admitted with a sagging. "And never successfully..."
Umbra flinched, unable to finish that slap down. "That is what we're doing... We seek other shadow creatures, nightmares, like Morning, but less likely to be agreeable."
"They may attack us." Why did Morning sound excited about that possibility? "The battle would be fierce. Minds may be lost as flesh is flensed from clean-made bones. Mother would succeed, of course. I pity them."
Umbra laughed awkwardly. "Ha... we'll try to not end our meeting that way. We want to find the umbrum, not finish the genocide." She reached up to gently pat her daughter. "Like we did with you, but with less adoptions."
"Mother, I have gained some understanding of you." Morning sat up atop Umbra. "If the umbrum we find is another foal, like me, you will be tempted."
Umbra wanted to deny that... But it would, perhaps, be a lie...
"I have already considered this. We will battle for that right." Morning crossed her arms. "Only one of us would remain afterwards, and there would be no regrets."
Umbra squeaked at that proposal. "No! No no no! I will not have adorable foals battling to the death for the right for a hug. I have enough for you all, dang it..."
Morning hugged her from above. "Then take them where they can be cared for, aside your skilled hooves."
"Hint received..." She sagged in place. "I have to stop playing fast and loose with the people I love... It's not fair, to them." She clucked her tongue, anger building at herself. "Even if the cutest umbrum shows up, I'll take them to where they can be cared for, which is not here!"
Morning tapped Umbra on the back of the head. "I was wondering if you would catch that hint."
Umbra pivoted an ear back. "Wait... You planned that? Cheeky girl!" She started to chuckle, building into a proper laugh. "I am so proud..."
Anik took a firm step forward. "Mother, I would like the chance to make you proud as well."
Umbra considered Anik anew. That was an impassioned plea. Shrugging him off felt terrible... "This could be dangerous."
"I have already lived a life. I do not fear for the second." He shrugged gently with an equine snort. "Besides, you are here. I have faith in you. You saved me once. I will try not to need it again, but you are still here."
"I am not getting out of this..." That day would be a family day. Good thing she loved her family quite a bit. "Let's go hunting then. Look, they may be upset and attack, could happen, but we're the bigger ponies here. No attacking back. Calm them down and we move from there. Or, we find nothing, but we at least look."
"We at least look," agreed Morning. "Let's go, mother."
"Should I expect you back in time for dinner?" Oh, when did she get there?! She had never left, standing in patient quiet. "Ma'am."
Umbra nodded. "We should be, but if not, don't worry. Two out of three... Actually all three of us are good in the dark." She could remember that dark and cold world.One had to be used to dim lighting, because that was all one had aside from beside a temporary fire. "We'll be alright, and we have each other."
"Yes!" Anik had been perhaps too excited, coloring from his loud outburst. "We will be careful."
"Have a safe trip." She didn't move, just watching them depart. One would imagine she was the one that closed the door behind them with a click of the latch.
They headed out into the large crystal city. "Morning, tell me if you see anything. Time to look for shadows."
"Shadows," she softly whispered, sending her vision to that dark place, where more physical things shone brightly with the force of their life. She inclined her head at Anik. "You are very bright."
"I'm not that bright..." He shuffled a step forward, breaking into a normal walking pace. "Thank you."
"Not your intelligence." she waved that away. "Your life is bright. Was your world so cruel? You shone brightly, or were snuffed out."
"I thought I was the one that spoke like that." Still, he looked happy. "Let's search for your kin."
Following faint dark trails, they wandered deeper into the less reputable parts of town, where ponies who had few bits and less social standing were known to reside. Those who had forsaken any good calling of their cutie mark. Those glared at Umbra's entourage as she passed, but they weren't stopping her.
"This looks like the right kind of place... Are we getting close?"
"I can't be sure." Morning pointed ahead. "I can only say where next."
And it all went dark.
But two of them could see even in the inkest of blacks, blinking their eyes open despite it. Morning raised a hoof, shadowy magic whirling around it just in time to snap into a shield of dark wafting energy to accept the crash of a great warhammer of similar make. Shadow magic. Umbrum magic.
Umbra danced back, inches from having her head slapped with a shadow warhammer. "We're not here to fight."
"I'm not here to lose." A feral grin opened up in the darkness, facing to the left, though the eye they could see leered right at them. "You may have defeated him, but not me."
Umbra's eyes glowed with power as she ducked aside of the next strike, letting the ground explode in the fury of it. "That fight is over. The war is over."
"Mother?" Anik couldn't see very well, clearly, reaching around. Dim nights had nothing on the shadow of an umbrum.
Morning hopped free of Umbra, just to bounce right back up onto Anik. She threw her hooves up, catching a sharp blade of magic that was coming down on his back. "I will not allow you to harm my brother."
"Must be nice." He laughed, a delirious sound. "To have family. Hurts to lose them. Let me show you." With a thunderous blast of darkness, he knocked Umbra back, and she lost sight of the others. Was a building in the way? She couldn't tell. "Just us, umbrum slayer." He closed his mouth and eyes, vanishing from sight entirely. "I'll win the fight you started. The war isn't over until we all surrender."
Anik turned in the direction of the blast, not that he could see much. "Mother?"
"She is fighting," cautioned Morning. "I am protecting you. Stay still."
"But... I want to help."
"Then remain quiet and still." She smiled in the dark. "That is the first lesson of the shadow. I will teach more if you can learn this first."
Though the fight had left them entirely, they remained in the pure black.
And it was there that Anik grew quiet under Morning.