A thought, a memory. It was almost as if she were remembering something, but it wasn't a memory she had ever had before. North of the arena, in a gap between buildings. "Got it." She flowed through the stuff of shadows, rapidly zipping through the eerily quiet city. How had that jerk taken it over so quickly? Was he really that much more powerful? Were all her victories just the result of how weakened he had become?
It wasn't as if there weren't ponies to see. They weren't hiding. But they were marching in lockstep, most wearing those garish masks that the jerk favored. They were slaves, walking only because he had asked them to. They didn't speak, for their was no need for words aside his. The city was a mockery of its former self.
Umbra emerged from the shadows, but she was still in one. They had shown her an alleyway. In it, Shining, Cadance, and a large tsuki. Cadance was cradling and rocking Flurry Heart close to her body. She and Shining brightened as Umbra emerged and Cadance rushed to greet her. "Thank goodness you got the message, and you're alright."
The tsuki clapped their large paws. "Good! Protector shadow. Fight bad shadow?"
"Tried that" Umbra nosed against Cadance, then Shining. "Sorry... I can't even beleive how much stronger he is this time... It was like I was basically nothing... What do we do?"
Shining forced a smile. "Look... I'm just glad we're all together. This crashed on us all at once... If... Cadance had been on duty..."
Umbra flipped her ears back. Cadance had far fewer escape routes than Umbra did... "That coulda gotten ugly very fast..." Her tail lashed with her agitation as she looked around the gloom of the small alley. "We can't just hide in here... We have to do something!"
"I'm not sure what that would be." Cadance sank, nuzzling into the small warmth of her daughter. "This isn't like anything we had planned for... We could, no, no..."
"Yes?" Umbra took a step in closer. "What are you thinking about?"
"Barely a thought." She waved it away. "The blast of love we did on Chrysalis came without our active... thought, which is to say we have no idea how to do it. Would it work on him? If we could do it, maybe? He's shackled the heart, which may interfere, or may not. We did the first blast before we even got here... And our connection seems to still work."
Shining inclined his head in a toss towards Umbra. "I agree with her. Cowering in an alley isn't going to get us anywhere. What about with the tsuki?"
Umbra crossed her arms before even the tsuki could jump in. "Bad idea. He knows they're there. I bet he's already plotting to casually roll over them. We'd just be putting you two in his path for bad things to happen." She inflated with a deep breath, releasing it in a dry whooshing sigh. "I think we need to admit we're over our heads and get help."
The tsuki looked over the saddened ponies. "Um..." they looked up at him. "Have friends?"
Umbra perked her ears at that. "Friends... Yes. Yes I do." She flashed a dangerous smile. "But... Before we even consider that, where's the rest of my family? Did he capture them too?"
Shining and Cadance shook their heads. They didn't know.
"Ugh." Umbra clopped the side of her head. "Once you get used to the convenience of this necklace, you start missing it. I'm not tied to them that way. School!"
Cadance perked at the sudden shout. "School?"
"My daughter would have been at school, and I know where that is. I'll go check it. Maybe, if I'm lucky, Anik's there too. " Umbra fell back into nothingness, flowing rapidly away.
She peeked out from darkened places, spying when the guards stomped past. The school was quiet, as was most of the city. Would she be there? "Morning," Umbra whispered into the dark, lunging forward when the guards were gone. She reformed inside the building, just to find there was already a pony on top of her. They were a small pony, and a familiar one.
"Mother," spoke Morning in a commanding tone. "You are the princess of this city. I wish to submit a formal complaint."
Umbra grabbed Morning and squeezed her in her magic. "I will gladly hear it, but first, we're leaving."
"What about them, mother?" Morning gestured to the other little foals there, oh, and Anik too. He wasn't hiding in such a cower. He even cast a gentle light across the room, bringing some measure of comfort to the rest.
Umbra's smile grew. "Anik! Get over here." She let her view slide to the small foals. "I... Hm. We don't have a place to bring them. I scarcely have a place for either of you..." Truthfully, she didn't have a place to bring them. Risking her own children was one thing. Risking someone else's? That felt bad... "This is the safest place, staying out of sight."
"Ma'am." Ah, their teacher was there, peeking out from behind their desk. "Are you here to rescue us?"
"Love to... but not yet." Umbra spread her shadow over her family, light and dark. "Please, watch over the rest. I will be back." She fell into the shades, carrying Anik and Morning along with her. She carried her cargo away to the alley... No. A new memory, a flash. They had moved. She pivoted in her shadow swimming, emerging in an abandoned-smelling home. "I didn't know we had extra houses."
Cadance smiled at the Shadowheart family. "Good, you found your children. I would be beside myself if I wasn't sure where Flurry Heart was."
Shining drew back from a window. "Not many... But I remembered this one, just because it's so odd." He huffed softly. "You got your family, good... Now, you were talking about friends?"
The tsuki bobbed his head. "Yes. Good time friends."
"We have friends, close and far." Umbra clapped her hooves together in one firm stroke. "I thought of some just now, actually. Starlight will want to be involved in this, if we can get to her, but, closer... We have other umbrum. They already hate Sombra."
Morning perked, still atop Umbra. "Excellent idea, mother. Their dislike of you pales before their hatred of Sombra. The enemy of our enemies may be of some use."
Cadance seemed to glow at the idea. "Your work in repairing ancient hurts may come through for us. You try to reach them. We--" She waved to Shining and herself. "Will leave. We'll try to get word to Equestria, to warn them, and to request aid." She sighed with a little smile. "This is something my sister-in-law could probably deal with."
"If you're headed that way." She set Morning down on her own hooves. "Look for Starlight. She's been itching for a fight, and this is one of those. She can really let loose on this jerk if she gets up here."
Shining saluted. "You got it. Let's go." He waved Cadance over towards the back and they slipped as carefully as they could out. Umbra only just noticed that the tsuki was gone.
"How did we misplace that?!" She waved at the spot the tsuki had been. "They're huge!"
Anik pointed the way the royal couple had gone. "I saw them leave shortly ahead of the others. They looked like they were trying to be sneaky."
Tsuki would look specifically sneaky when sneaking. Umbra chuckled softly, imagining the expression. "Then they have something in..." She trailed off, a new vision. The two were on the tsuki, bouncing. The vision wasn't clear enough to see where exactly, just the rushing sensation of bouncing up and down on the powerfully leaping rabbit. "They're fine. Let's focus on our own business. Morning."
"Mother?" She looked up at Umbra, stoic and still.
"You get along with the umbrum even better than me. Do you know where they'd be?"
"Aunt is with the tsuki. You sent her."
Umbra clopped a hoof to her face. She had! "Forgot about that. Any still in the city?"
"I can think of a few places to check, mother." She fell away into shadows, proving she could do that too. "Follow me, bring brother."
Umbra gave him a gentle nuzzle as she swept over him, a small wave of shadow that swept him away, the two falling to the same inky depths to follow after Morning through the city. As much as Umbra had tried, many of the umbrum still lived in the less reputable portions of the town.
There were fewer guards in sight there. The quiet was less complete, but even there, it was hushed. Morning headed to what could have been mistaken for a subway entrance, if the Crystal Empire had any subways. They descended to a basement and reformed just in front of a door, heavy and metal. "Here." Morning pointed at it. "The umbrum who resides here prefers solitude. They do not like Sombra, to put it mildly."
Anik went for the door. "Then we'll offer them what they want."
A slit in the door slid open with a dull metal thump. "What do I want?" demanded a dark voice from the shadows beyond. "What do we have here...?" Eyes came into view, scowling. "A little son. Ugh, Sombra's cousin... Morning. Hello, Morning. I told you not to come around."
"You did." Morning turned to face the stairs heading up. "Sombra has arrived."
"What?!"
Umbra dared a step forward. "It's true. The jerk has returned, and he's worse than ever before."
"There goes the neighborhood..." The slit shut with a clang.
The three watched the door, sharing uncertain looks. The slit opened a few moments later. "Why are you still here?"
Morning pointed up the stairs. "It is time to show Sombra the true nightmare of umbrum. He betrayed us, it's long past time for some revenge when he least expects it."
A low dark chuckle came from that concealed figure. "I like the way you put that... But I'm not dumb. He isn't alone. Just like last time, he's surrounded himself with an army of controlled ponies. Those helmets, you saw them, right?" The family nodded. "Good, and bad. The helmets don't leave room for nightmares. How do we fight what isn't thinking?"
Umbra raised a hoof. "Violence?"
The slit closed.
The door opened a crack. "Come in."
They stepped inside, but a hoof was on Anik's shoulder as he stepped across the barrier. "No light!" hissed that voice. "I won't have you glowing in my space..." He shoved the door shut behind them. "Violence... I didn't think you had it in you. Yes, yes... I know you killed a great number of us, but only because we pressed the issue. We made it hardly a choice. It was kill, or be killed..."
Umbra hiked a brow in the gloom. "So, not mad about that?"
"Furious!" His eyes flashed with nightmare shades. "But... it is understandable. What was the other option, roll over and die? You didn't take that, and you had the strength to fight back... And you did, and you won. Congratulations." He flowed around Morning. "Then you took pity on us. You've really let the ponies get to you. But now you would hurt Sombra? I... I don't hate that." His tone implied that not hating something was pretty close to maybe considering liking it.
Umbra nodded as she stood at her full height. "You seem to get the picture. It's time to move, not talk about moving."
"Impatient... The others will need to be informed, little shadow. We can't stomp through the streets, especially not right now. The ponies call you a hero, why did you let this happen to start?"
Umbra sagged back half a step. "I tried fighting. I wasn't strong enough. But I'm not giving up."
"So you turn to us? Hm... delicious."