Cadance nudged her miniature forward, a pony with a sword held high. "I advance into the darkness."
"Bold," chuckled out Umbra, watching with rubbing hooves. "And what are you doing?"
"Keeping up with her, of course." Shining flicked his pony figure forward. "Can't have her getting hurt."
"So tender. You'll survive together, or die as one. Romantic..." Umbra leaned in over the play table. Her magic furled a d20, its meaning unspoken. "You descend down the hallway, the darkness pressing in from all sides." None of their characters were unicorns, so glowing wasn't an option. "But ahead, a dim light in the distance, maybe 40 feet ahead."
Cadance nudged her figure. "But we have our own light."
Umbra twitched an ear. "You do?" One was holding a sword, the other a shield. She didn't see any lights on them. "Care to share with me?"
Cadance giggled as she slid the mini further ahead. "But of course. We have... a date."
Umbra blinked, confusion growing rapidly. "Yes... This is one of those? How does that light things?"
Shining pushed his aside Cadance's. "Wrong kind of date. We found one where the two can become three."
"Two can become..." It clicked. "Oh!" She sat up sharply. "And you waited for just this moment to tell me? Both of you! I swear." She jumped across the gaming table, pouncing them both in a firm hug. Fortunately, ponies were far more impact resistant than humans had been, and it resulted in a lot of shared hugs.
Shining smirked as he sat back. "You don't want to know when it is?"
"Of course I do," grunted out Umbra as she sat up, half on the couple. "When when?"
The dark atmosphere that had been hovering in their play area was quickly replaced by a warm and inviting glow. Instead of darkness, she quickly grabbed a calendar to take over in its place. "Mark it."
Cadance's horn glowed as she drew a circle. "Now, you must realize, a royal wedding has... peculiarities and expectations. Those double outside of Canterlot, which we are not in. Celestia was good at dispelling much of the requirements. The crystal ponies will fully expect every step to be followed."
Umbra's thoughts slid. "How many other royal weddings have there been? Was Celestia hoping to get herself hooked up?"
Shining coughed into a hoof, the other hoof waving between Cadance and himself.
"Right! Here's one couple right here. Silly me... And you two had a normal wedding then?"
Cadance slid to her hooves. "To be completely honest, we don't know what you would call a 'normal' wedding. You are, loved or not, an alien. This is why the wedding isn't for some time yet, so we can go over what must be done, and avoided, and have a lovely time for all involved."
Shining clapped his hooves in an eager clopping noise. "And don't feel bad. Neither of us have been Crystal Empire married before either. It'll be fun for all of us!" He hopped up and struck a dynamic pose. "A learning experience for us all."
"Funny how that's going around." Umbra waved back at the playing table. "So... this is on pause then?"
Cadance quirked an ear flat. "We can continue, if you like, but I also figured you may wish to speak of other things first. I'm ready whichever you prefer."
"Unfair." Umbra let out waves of her shadow magic. "But yes... Now that you put it out there, how can I ignore it?" She swept everything away with an arm and her magic, sending things to rest back on their proper shelves. "Let me start with the biggest point I know, will we have husbands and wives?"
Cadance pointed to Umbra. "Wife." She pointed to herself. "Wife." She pointed last to Shining. "Husband. Seems clear enough. Two princesses, one prince-consort." She turned to Shining with a grin. "We could look into getting you wings properly."
Shining scurried back a few paces. "Woah, hold on there."
"I read a story once... About our esteemed 'jerk', as Umbra put it." She stepped towards Shining with purposeful slowness, eyes locked. "They say, once, he was an alicorn too. He lost them, the wings. One can easily imagine why that might have happened... Just a myth, but... Perhaps a stallion alicorn is possible, if less likely."
Shining waved it right off. "My sister's already one. Two royalty in one family? What are we, Celestia and Luna?" He chuckled at the thought. "I'm happy as I am. Um... Besides, I haven't done anything that grand. You saved an entire town before you made the jump, didn't you?"
"And maybe more," sighed out Cadance, thinking back on it. "Prismia was quite the threat... Fortunately, we took care of that."
"By we, you mean you." Shining poked her in the center of her chest. "You take care of a tremendous threat, as a filly. No wonder they gave you the promotion." He waved over himself. "I don't have that on my resume."
Umbra snorted, drawing the attention with the noise. "You stood up to the umbrum."
"You did that," countered Shining. "You two keep blaming me for the things you did."
"You helped!" Umbra stomped a hoof down, glaring at Shining. "Team effort. You also helped pop the jerk in the face."
"And he's still here... a threat..." Shining went towards a window, peering through to the city outside. "We're going to have to fight him, again."
Umbra hurried to his side. "Then, the way I see it, that'll be your chance. Pop him one, in the nose. Make it stick this time. Or talk him out of being a jerk. Either way works for me. That'll be your Big Thing." She spread her wings wide. "Having wings is fun! I'll help you."
"We will help you," corrected Cadance as she assumed the other side of Shining. "I have them too, to remind." She fidgeted her wings on her back. "I would... like that very much, if you're up for it."
Shining rubbed at his cheek, looking a bit unsure. "Well... Why are you so interested? I'm fine the way I am, aren't I?"
"Of course you are." Cadance pressed her round equine cheek to Shining's. "And I want to keep you, forever, if I can."
Shining recoiled from the two of them. "What do you mean by that?"
Cadance adopted a flat look. "We've talked about this before. We can't be sure created alicorns are unaging, or not. I aged to adulthood." She walked past Shining. "But will I age past adulthood? Will Twilight? We may... We may not..." She turned a hoof on Umbra. "Will she? Do umbrum even do that? Going to guess neither of you know."
Neither did, and shook their heads in agreement with that ignorance. "Precisely," continued Cadance, pacing the room slowly. "We are three different species, lovely species, but different. Who will outlive who, and when? None of us know... Two of us are princesses. If princesshood gives unaging as a quality, then that's two of us covered, and one... not."
Umbra raised a hoof in question. "But what if princess doesn't, but umbrum does?"
"We're out of luck?" She shrugged at the idea. "But that was a luck we ran out of the moment we were born. I can't really bemoan that. But if it's the princess thing, and we just... sit on it until it's late, well... then I'll feel pretty bad about it. What kind of wife am I, to let her husband suffer instead of doing something? For that matter, if it is the umbrum thing, and you figure that out, you'd do what you could, I hope?"
"Of course!" Umbra fluffed up at the casual implication. "But I'm not sure either of you would want to join the Shadowhearts that literally. Do you?"
Shining chuckled, musing the possibilities ahead of him. "That would be an interesting option... But, for the sake of our ponies, let's put that in the back." He went to Cadance's side, stopping her pacing by tossing an arm over her and hugging her close. "I'm in it for the long haul, hon."
"Does... that mean you want to try, or no?" She flashed a half-smirk. "I could take that either way."
Shining clopped a hoof down. "I have to put a hoof down, and I think here's a fine place. I won't be a mom and also a prince. That sounds like a good way to end up a princess, and us being a trio of princesses wasn't the idea, and not what I want. I like being a stallion, thank you."
Cadance smooched him on the nose, nuzzling gently afterwards. "I can live with that... Let Flurry be the child we had, together... Though we could... maybe... another later? That's another conversation for another day."
Umbra burst into laughter. "Cadance! You're insatiable. Finish your job with me before you start thinking about that. I swear..." She circled around Cadance and Shining. "We have a wedding to plan."
"I have a wedding to plan." Swinging in through the window Cadance had been peeking through, Pinkie landed in front of them with a grin. "With a little help." She pointed to the normal door leading out, which swung inwards to reveal Cheese Sandwich. "We're going to make this the best..." She trailed off, spotting the calender. "Is that what I think it is?"
"Mmm." Cheese went up to it with a magnifying glass, looking it over critically. "This has all the marks of an important day."
"The important day?" Pinkie fluttered her lashes at the trio.
Shining laughed at the two party planners. "Good timing. Actually, since you're here, you can help." They both beamed, so ready. "Umbra here has no idea how pony weddings work, let alone a Crystal Empire royal wedding. Are you up to bringing her up to speed?"
Cheese waved a hoof excitedly. "I'm all over it. Pinkie, you get the other two."
Pinkie saluted sharply with a giggle. "You got it! Let's make this party the best." They met, both forehooves clopping together in unity on the idea of a perfect wedding party.
Umbra set down any thought of resuming the game as Cheese approached. "Heya." She looked over the curious earth pony. "So, friend of Pinkie's?"
"We're peers in the party space." He tossed his wide-brimmed hat aside. "Come together to make this one even better! Now, when they say you aren't experienced, do they mean you've never been married before? That's standard... You've at least seen one or two before, right?"
"Nope." Umbra hadn't even been a brony. "Not a single pony wedding. How do ponies tie the knot around here?"
"Well! I'm so glad you asked." He took a deep breath and launched into a musical number, explaining the many different kinds of weddings that existed throughout Equestria, present and past and, somehow, a vision of a future wedding with its alien trappings. "But today!" he sang, the number not over. "We're doing a royal crystal wedding!" He deposited Umbra in the throne room. Nopony was there but a few guards, just as surprised that Cheese and Umbra appeared so suddenly.
Umbra shook herself out, recovering from the bout of heartsong that she had taken part in, without her consent. Still, at least it was largely harmless. Ponies... Did umbrum have heartsongs? "I see... Looks mostly normal." Aside of a lack of extremely specific theist calls. Celestia was the most likely replacement if one needed one. "So tell me how a crystal wedding goes."
"Crystal royal wedding." Cheese pointed at Umbra. "You're a princess, and so's one of the others, so royal. Royal weddings are not the same. The heart will be involved. You know about the crystal heart, right? Big deal around here, I hear."
"Very big deal." The thing that had tied her to the others came clearly to mind. "To the town, and me. It might be why this is happening."