After having pulled an exhausted Ribbon out of my shadow, I showed her a little idea I had come up with.

“See?” I said raising my wing. “I just keep a wad of that stuff under here, and shape it as i see fit.”

“Couldn’t you just pull it out of your shadow when you needed it?”

“Its quicker this way.” I quickly shaped it and had a tendril slide from under my wing. “And I just like having something similar to hands again.” The end of the tendril split out like a flower, I grasped at the air with it a few times.

“Again, you can shapeshift, couldn’t you just give yourself hands like a minotaur?”

“Because these things have much better grip. That, and I will admit I like unnerving ponies.” I wrapped the tendril around her barrel, and pulled her over to under my wing, lengthening the tendril till I could use it to coax her limbs against her body, and started carrying the tired changeling Queen. I used the split tip of it to scratch Ribbon behind the ear. She smiled at the sensation, making a cute little cooing noise. “I really tired you out, didn’t I?”

“I would like to go back to sleep. Why don’t you take a bath and go see Princess Luna, I hear night court is boring.”

“Okay. Would you like me to carry you to bed first?”

“Yes, thank you.” As I continued to walk towards the bedroom, I felt her breathing start to level out, and get a bit lighter, signifying she had drifted off to sleep. When I reached the bedroom, I pulled open the door, and went to gently put her down on the bed. retracting the tendril, I drew two orbs of essence out of my shadow, grinning mischievously. Placing them on her back, covering her wings, I shaped them into a pair of draconic wings, that folded against her sides. I then pulled several more orbs forth, shaping them into tendrils, and unfolded her wings, sticking them where Ribbons new wings would fould down, before allowing them to return to that position. Willing up another, larger orb, I shaped it into what looked like a thicker, shorter tendril. Chuckling a bit, I held her tail out, before sticking her new, reptilian tail overtop of it.

I drew forth half a dozen small orbs, and shaped them. Once I had them shaped to my will, I stuck the claws to her forehooves, three to a hoof, and took a little time making them move to my will before moving on from Ribbons ‘manicure’.

Now came the tricky part. Drawing forth what was not so much an orb, as it was a flow, I had it softly wrap around Ribbon, until it was covering her from the neck down, and tried to will it into armor.

It didn't work, but when I touched it, it felt firmer, almost like a hide, yet still ooze like and sticky as all hell. Hopefully I would be back in time to see her wake up and discover her new ‘suit of armor’.

With my job done, I cast a teleportation spell, reappearing in one of the hallways of the Canterlot castle. This place was still a bloody maze to me.

About an hour later, I had finally stumbled across where the night court took place. Entering, I came face to face with Luna, sitting on a throne of silver. She was currently looking through paperwork, sheets floating in her magic as she browsed through them. Peeking up from the papers, she greated me. “Ah, Chitsuki. I was told you might come visit me. I thought you were avoiding my sister and I, so I did not get my hopes up.”

“After our little heart-to-heart in the hospital, I’ve found I can’t really hold the whole ‘immortality’ fiasco against you.”

“Yes, immortality can be a burden to those who have it. Why others seek it out is beyond me.”

“And the worst part is I didn’t wind up with variety where you just don’t die, i got the kind where you die, and get right back up.”

“Resurrection based immortality, tis not unheard of. The comparison between you and a lich is understandable, but there are major differences. For one, your skin is still intact!”

“Oh god, why did you put that image in my head!”

Luna hummed with a soft smile on her face. “Come, let us talk of a better topic than necromancy.” Luna glided down off her throne, headed for a door towards the back of the room. “Come, I’ll have a maid bring us some coffee.”

“Mmmm, coffee.” I followed her, humming a little to myself. “So, did I ever tell you about what I found out I could do with that ‘pocket dimension’ in my shadow?”

“No, all you have told me is that you are able to move around in it.” I followed Luna down the hall until we stopped at a seemingly random door.

“Yeah, I never really bothered to look around inside it until after my talk with you. Found an entire ocean of thick viscose ooze in there. I decided to name it Abyssal Essence. I immediately started playing with it so I could figure out what it was or what it could do.” The inside was not really what I would expect. Most of the furniture was plain wood, but the fireplace warmed the room so it was comfortable.

Luna pulled me from my thought when she spoke. “That is most interesting, perhaps you can tell me what you found out about it? Come, sit.” She gestured to one of the big sitting pillows on the other side of the table where she was. I sat down on the one opposite to her, and it was rather cozy.

“I can do you one better.” I lifted my wing, revealing the thick abyssal essence hiding under my wings, several strands dripped from my wings to my side where they folded.

“This is it? Tis reminiscent of tar.”

“This is what it defaults to, anyway.” I said, before shaping it into a tendril that I slowly uncoiled.

Luna seemed very intrigued by it. “Tis amazing you can manipulate it so easily.”

“I find it’s not that different from my miasma, just thicker. And once I finished shaping this, I stopped manipulating it. Its a functioning limb now. its flexible, strong, and has one heck of a grip.”

“What else are you able to make with it?” Luna touched the tip of the tendril, even just barely touching it, she couldn’t pull away from it.

“Well, I made a golem.” I said as I peeled the tip of the tendril from her hoof. “It pretty much keeps stuff, and ponies, from getting lost in my shadow. Speaking of which, I still need to fix a couple of ‘bugs’ in there.”

“You made a golem? Could I see?”

“Ummm sure, just give me second.” Bringing an already existing construct out was a lot trickier than just pulling out some abyssal essence and creating one, but I managed to get the Keeper to emerge, it used its tendrils like tow cable to haul itself all the way out, where it turned to face me, and bowed.

Luna seemed excited to see the golem I made, at first, now she seemed rather put off by the way it looked.

“Something wrong?”

“N-nothing is wrong, it just reminded me of something. You said you made it to help keep track of things in your shadow?”

“Yes, I did say that. Its really vast in there. A whole ocean with one little island, that I had to put there.”

“It is truly so vast? A whole ocean of… this?” She said, gesturing between the Keeper and the tendril.

“Oh yeah, farther than the eye can see… which isnt very far, considering it's pitch black in there. Only things of interest is the island, the Keeper,” I motioned towards the golem, “And the Wisp.”

“A wisp?” Luna sounded serious.

“You say that like their actually a thing here.”

“If there is a wisp living in your shadow, I would be very cautious about handling it. They are meant to be extinct for a reason.”

“So they were a thing. Good to know. Its only a wisp in appearance though, it's meant to act as a light source and guild… as well as something for Mirage to chase.”

“So it is just another golem? That’s good. We don’t need the tiny spirits coming back into the world.” Luna seemed more relaxed now, especially after I allowed the Keeper to return to my shadow.

“I couldn't agree more.”

“What else have you made, just so I am aware.” Luna cocked an eyebrow at me as the maid brought in the coffee, excusing herself after laying the tray on the table.

“Not much else.” I said as I picked up a cup in my magic. Sweet, sweet caffeine.

“Perhaps a change in topic? The changelings were in a bit of a panic an hour ago, do you know what caused it? once we were calm, I asked what happened and he refused to tell me.”

“Ummm…” I blushed. “Me and Ribbon may have been… intimate, she passed out and didn't immediately remember what happened when she woke up.” Luna shared my blush and coughed into her hoof. “Soooo…” I said in an attempt to break the awkwardness. “Got any dirt on Celestia?”

“By ‘dirt’, you mean embarrassing stories? There are plenty of them to tell.”

“Thats exactly what I meant.”

“Well, there was the one time after my return where my sister managed to arouse a duke during a dinner party. I was still unaware of the change in custom at the time or how the perspective of simply eating a banana has changed. I have avoided the fruits since. Unless you are thinking of something from our past?”

“Oh?”