Umbra awoke, but it was earlier than normal. Still dark and quiet, she slid to her hooves and started for the door with an urgent need. Their maids were sleeping, standing. None of them expected the royal family to be moving at that moment. Umbra hadn't expected herself to either, for that matter. Still, nature was calling, and Umbra wasn't hoping for any messages being left.
She made her way swiftly to the little foal's room and let out a relieved sigh, rubbing her head as she did it. A morning headache? That was... new. New and annoying. Still, she was awake, and didn't feel ready to go to sleep again. With a lash of her tail, she turned her attention to her tiara.
She felt over it with her magic. Magic items didn't come with a little battery meter, so figuring out how filled it was took a bit more effort. Feeling it from the inside, the could feel cool shadow magic flowing through the tiara, each enchantment a subtly different eddy. It felt... 30%? 40%? Somewhere around there. It wasn't critically low, but it would take more time, resting on her head, to be anywhere near comfortably full.
Umbra willed it into place, adjusting it on her head with a nod. It satisfied her with that, at least.
A large figure landed in front of her, paws quiet, but its bulk coming to a stop with a thump. "Good shadow!"
Umbra smiled at the large tsuki. "Hello there." She offered an arm, which was all the invitation needed to start a sudden little wrestling match slash hug, meant with all the adoration the tsuki had on tap, and they tended to carry extra for just such emergencies. "Did you need something, or just to say hi?"
The world swirled around Umbra a moment as she came out of the hug, wobbling in place before she could catch herself. She frowned at the whole thing. "I am just..."
The tsuki grabbed her, but didn't hug or wrestle, instead just holding her gently until things calmed down.
"Thanks..." Umbra shook her head, which only made it worse for a moment. "I am not at my best today, it seems. I meant it though, need anything?"
The tsuki sat back on their considerable haunches. "Good shadow up early, wanted say hi." They waved, as if the hello wasn't finished being given. "Help?"
"I can help, what with?"
The tsuki shook their head. "Not help me." They pointed at Umbra. "Help."
"Oh." That made a sense, when she stopped to think about it. "But I'm alright, just a little dizziness. I should get back to work." The two exchanged one last wave and she went on towards the throne room to take a turn with any early risers that might have wanted a royal ear bent towards them.
She settled on the throne and waved for things to begin. She had a job, and she would see it done.
It was a shame she had to call breaks every petitioner or two. But she was seeing them. Every pony she spoke to was one less Cadance had to deal with, so she knew she was helping, even if she felt like she wasn't going as quickly as she normally did.
"Go to bed." Cadance arrived, glaring daggers at Umbra. "Why are you forcing yourself to work?"
Umbra perked her ears at the outcry. "Because I want to help? I'm princess too. You shouldn't have to do all the work."
Cadance closed, expression lightening to a gentle smile. "I appreciate the idea, truly and completely, but you have a very good excuse to not be sitting on that throne right now."
"I do?" Umbra stood as Cadance came, stepping off to make room for the princess that clearly wanted the spot. "What reason is that?"
Cadance applied a hoof to her face. "Do I need to spell it out?" She smooched Umbra's cheek on the way up to her seat. "You are pregnant. You are already experiencing the splendors of morning sickness. You, should be resting. Instead, here you are. Don't get me wrong. I adore that you're so dedicated to me and our country, but I wouldn't be able to forgive myself if I let you keep going. Off with you."
Properly scolded and dismissed, Umbra tried to stride off with her dignity intact. "Wonder whose fault this is," she grumbled on the way. "How did she know?" She felt her tiara with her magic. No, the block was still turned on. She wasn't broadcasting her bodily sensations, and yet... Cadance had known before even entering the room.
"Morning." There was Shining Armor, looking sleepy. It was early yet. "Did Cadance find you?"
"She did, and she threw me off the throne." Umbra snorted softly. "How did she know?"
Shining chuckled at that. "The guards are whispering about you. They told us, and she took off."
Umbra buried her face in both hooves. "Oh..." All her little bathroom breaks and dizzy spells had not been concealed nearly as well as she had hoped. "I want to help..."
"Umbra." He touched noses with her. "You're making an heir. That rates as pretty helpful, last I checked. We're all doing our part. For you, right now, that means taking care of yourself." He chuckled softly. "Actually, that's part of our job every day. If we look awful, it sends bad signals to everypony else."
Umbra flipped an ear back. "Right... Right. Can't go making them all think... Yeah, that's bad." She let out a slow deflating sigh. "And you want to try this? Are you sure? It's really not fun. Ugh! I didn't even realize, and I feel so dumb right now..." Of course it was her pregnancy, she realized looking back on it.
"It isn't?"
Umbra blinked at Shining. "Is that a serious question?"
"Yes?" Shining rubbed at the back of his head. "Sorry? I don't know... I know there's work involved... But, that never scared me away before."
"Precious child." Umbra cupped his cheeks in her hooves. "Cadance must be a superhero, to not show you more of how this feels just by going through it. Didn't you feel it? She was sharing things back then, wasn't she?"
Shining self-consciously shuffled in place.. "Y-yes, but it was different, for her..." He moved in aside Umbra. "Why don't we visit the doctor, just to be sure you're alright."
"Really?" Umbra didn't fight being pointed in the direction of the doctor. She'd been there before a few times. "This is how I heard it usually goes." But that had been human females. Were pony females different? She was one of those! Wait, no... She was an umbrum. How did umbrum females do it? Who could she even ask?
The doctor seemed a fine place to start. The smiling stallion waved the two of them in. "Good morning, Sir, Your Highness. What brings you here today?"
Shining inclined his head at Umbra. "She's pregnant." Right to the point there. "And feeling a bit icky. We're just making sure it's nothing unusual."
"I see." Not that he could literally see any of that. "Ma'am." He waved Umbra forward. "Pardon me for asking, but I've heard gossip, and that's hardly the way to run a medical practice. What is your species?"
Umbra smiled at that. "Thank you for just asking that." She curled a hoof at herself. "I am an umbrum, creature of shadows and nightmares, but I come in peace."
"I don't doubt it." He set a hoof on her shoulder. "You're a hero, ma'am. Living proof that a creature is more than the species they were born as." He leaned a bit to the left. "Pardon me for asking further... But the father. Are they an umbrum as well?"
Umbra colored weakly. Was it alright to say who it was? She didn't want ponies to imagine very improper things of Cadance. Ah ha! She could just jump on that grenade herself. "I used umbrum magic." She whirled her hooves in the air. "I took Cadance's spark and lit the fire that burns in me." There, dramatic, mysterious, and not nearly as lewd as the reality of things. "So a pony would be the 'father'."
Shining looked up and away, speaking nothing on the matter.
The doctor nodded as if this were a simple fact. "I see. Well, then we have one reason this may be more difficult for you. Cross-species children can be... tricky. Carrying them to completion is just one challenge, for the child and the mother."
Umbra paled at the news. "Are they doomed?! Did I..."
The doctor caught her from falling back to her haunches. "Easy there. The odds have fallen from near 100% success to 80%. Uncomfortably low, but still very high. Please, don't lose hope."
Umbra blinked as numbers were put to it. "80% That's... still pretty good actually..." The rules of the pony world were not those of Earth. "You made it sound like it was a lot lower."
"My apologies." He dipped his head low. "But it does explain your state. Your body is working overtime to make your new child comfortable."
Umbra perked her ears up. "What's different than... say a mother pony with theirs?"
He ran a hoof gently along her side. "Each mother of any species has a perfect home for a growing member of their own species. Your womb is an umbrum room. Perfectly dark, brooding with the shadow magic that would keep an umbrum child safe and foster their growth. But, your child isn't a standard umbrum. Their needs are different."
"Different, right?" Umbra curled to look at her own side, where a child was growing. "But I can, and am, adjusting?"
"Exactly. If you weren't, you'd feel fine, but the child wouldn't be... You are suffering because your body is doing what it has to do. You both want this child to grow strong and well."
Umbra felt her tension fading away. "That's... That's really nice, actually." She rubbed the hard-working womb through her side. "You keep that up. We want a happy little foal."
Shining leaned against her, fur rubbing against hers. "So, they're all healthy?"
"Let's actually do the examination." He made a soft shooing motion at Shining. "Mares prefer their privacy for this."
Shining started. "Oh! Sorry... Umbra?"
"He can stay, if he wants." Umbra touched her nose to his cheek. "We are married, and he's curious."
"With your leave." He got to inspecting her. He checked her front and back and top and bottom. "You seem to be heathy, for the most part. Minus the adjustment discomforts. Being a hybrid child, I would keep an eye out for other odd reactions. Your body is, in a way, becoming more pony-like, but it may do so in ways that confuse even other ponies. It shouldn't be of any harm to you, and, presuming you take care of yourself, it will largely revert afterwards."
Umbra chuckled at the thought. "I thought I was already pretty... pony-like." She flicked an ear that was perfectly pony so far as she could tell. "But if it makes them happier, than I'm not arguing it. I surrender to the pony I allowed inside." A thought came to her. "Silly question, but when does a mother pony start being able to make milk bottles?"
The doctor seemed surprised at that. "First time mothers rarely ask about that, and second time mothers already know. Lady Umbra, you are ever the curious one. When the child has arrived, you will be able to feed it."
"That's good." She leaned in at the doctor. "But you avoided the question. When can I start making milk bottles?"
The doctor flipped an ear back. "Oh, um... The literature I've browsed mentioned the earliest a mother did so was a moon after conception. The mother in question had another foal, from a different mother, and stepped up to help feed them. Normally, as I said, the child comes, and the mother produces their first bottle to feed that foal. No... they have not conducted specific studies to tease out exactly how early a mother might force the issue."
Well, that meant Umbra could figure it out herself.