"As much as I want to play the forward center." Umbra paced back and forth, upright and tense. "I am but one pony, even if that pony is a shadow crystal wizard." She said that last bit with proper flair, sending a hoof in a wide arc. "I can't watch the entire city at the same time. I've tried!"

Shining lifted an ear. "And so you've called me to see...?" His eyes darted to a set of cloth-draped stands. "Something..."

"A great something!" Umbra hopped in front of the first. "To most ponies, the shadow is just a scary force they know nothing of. But what if--" Her horn flared briefly as she yanked off the cloth, revealing a big set of goggles, crystal lenses shining in the light. "--they could see! I present, the Detect Shadow Goggles!" She raised her hooves to either side of the goggles. "To prevent false positives, they will only activate over a certain level of shadow. Somepony's having a bad day, they won't pick up on that. Only creatures that actually are shadow, or a pony that's... in the middle of doing something very naughty or plotting how to do the same. There has to be a lot of darkness! Ponies, so far I've seen, do not usually even kinda qualify, so false positives should be low."

She leaned forward over the goggles. "But low isn't zero! You gotta promise me the guards wearing these will only use them as a start, not an end. A pony glowing may just need a big warm hug and an equally warm cookie. Don't assume the worst." She pushed away from the pedestal, her glowing horn revealing that it was far from alone. She had a dozen goggles on an equal number of stands. "I give this to you, as a gift, to help keep the city safe."

Shining clopped softly. "I know exactly what ponies need to have these." He reached towards one, his glowing horn matching the distance as a set of goggles zipped over towards him. "Starting with me." He slipped them right over his head, only to recoil. "Oh!"

Umbra laughed nervously. "Yeah... I did say shadow creatures, which I am." She turned to the side, showing off her profile with a little smile. "Behold and beware, well, not so much beware. I'm on your side."

"I'm not scared of you," he hurriedly got out, gaping at the half-again as large Umbra. "In fact... you are looking good."

Umbra's cheeks warmed. "Stop that! You're just saying that to make me feel better."

"Is it working?" He leaned in with a smile. "Because it's true."

Umbra burst into airy giggles. "I will accept the compliment as it's given. But I still need that promise." She reached forward, tapping at Steel's new goggles. "It's a start, not an end. Got it?"

"Right, right." He turned away, looking around the room for more shadowy things, but nothing came into view. "If we see something shadowy, we investigate. If they're just a pony, we ask them how things are going, check in with them."

"Yes!" Umbra clapped with joy. "Offer a hoof of friendship. Now, on the other hand, if they're obviously a shadow creature..."

"Then we ask whole other questions..." Shining let out a sigh. "Alright. Thank you. This is incredibly useful." His magic began to gather up the other goggles. "I'll see these get to the hooves of our heads of watch. I don't trust rank and file with something that requires so much consideration."

"Probably a good idea." Umbra bobbed her head, looming over Shining in his view. She was a big pretty shadow mare that looked so happy to see him.

Just his taste. He did his best to swallow that back. "How goes closing your door?"

"Hm? Oh!" Umbra sat up, bringing her hooves together. "Slowly. I have no magic that relates to... that... All I can do is try to make it dark all around me."

"Well, try that?" Shining shrugged with a smile. "That might work."

"Ya think?" Her eyes and horn glowed with shadow magic as darkness spread from her, not very far, like an inch of darkness that grew blacker by the moment. "Not light... Something deeper..." The darkness shifted to a purple hue. "Darkness... on the inside... Darkness like..." Like the darkness she could see with a detect shadow spell. That darkness, around her, all around her...

And she was poked. Shining pressed a hoof into her side and she squeaked with surprise. "Hey."

"I didn't feel that," noted Shining with a smile. "You look... imposing." The way he said that, it wasn't an entirely bad thing. "Is it hard?"

"You are a naughty stallion." Umbra was suddenly upon him, her nose pressing against his, her vision so overwhelming with her toothy fang. "Even if you want to, I'm not part of the group. So don't cheat on Cades." She bonked him lightly with a hoof. "Even up here. Cut it out." She turned away, looking over her shoulder. "Thanks though. Um... it's nice to know I'm pretty in at least one pony's eyes."

He rubbed the mildly sore spot. Despite her greater size, she was the same pony she started as, and the bonk proved that. "Yes, ma'am. Let's get these goggles out."

"Yes!" Umbra pumped a hoof with obvious approval. "If they need any help with them, let me know. I'll gladly help."

"I am happy to report." Shifting played with the goggles on her face. "That I do not look like a shadow creature."

"Because you're not?" Umbra leaned in, tapping nose to nose. "Who said you would be?"

"If you ask the right, or wrong, pony, changelings can be pretty dark and sketchy."

Umbra rolled her eyes at that. "I'm sorry, who am I talking to again? You're a love bug! A love bug is not a shadow. You're a precious thing that need more hugs." A thing Umbra was happy to deliver on the shortage of, squeezing the wriggling Shifting Prism. "And bugs are not shadows, love ones or not."

"Well, sure...." She rolled a hoof in the air. "It's nice to have that confirmed." She looked at that rolling hoof with her google-covered eyes. "No shadow here!" She looked to Umbra. "All the shadow right there. But it feels like a good shadow."

"Good shadow?" Umbra inclined her head at her captive friend. "What do you mean?"

"Like the dark of a comfy cozy bedroom you know you're safe in." Shifting nestled in closer. "Like the dark under your favorite blanket, where you can't wait to snuggle up and rest for the next day. Like the dark behind your own closed eyes. It's dark, but you know that dark. It doesn't scare you."

"You are a flatterer." Not that this stopped Umbra from holding her dear friend. "Well, good. I want to be that kind of shadow." She extended her tongue. "The comfy dark shadow princess, how's that?"

"I'd vote for you." Shifting wriggled away despite that. "Now, your lens work." She tapped at the goggles she worked. "Not bad, but not perfect. I think we could do better! Because you shape with your hooves, smooth curves and straight lines are your enemy. Let's work on that." She fled across the room to grab a brick of crystal. "Right here."

Even as it was thunked down, Umbra chuckled softly. "Not gonna let me go on this, are you?"

"You asked me to help you get better." Shifting tapped at the rectangular brick of a crystal. "And the only way that happens is practice. I wasn't born making this perfectly either, promise!"

"So do it again, then again." Umbra floated the brick over and began working it between her hooves as she shaped and molded it. "I didn't get any complaints."

"Because it was a gift, and what would they compare it to?" Shifting shrugged at that. "How many other shadow goggles did they have to compare to? It's not bad! I said that, but it could be better." She pointed a hoof against her right eye's lens. "I can see some distortions. I know what to look for. Not bad, but not great."

Umbra let out a suffering sigh, but kept on the task. She would get better at crystal work, even if it meant doing some things that were less than fun.

"What do you think?" Cadance was seated across the table, sipping from her tea.

"I think you've gotten Celestia's tea sipping figure down pat." Shining chuckled softly. "But seriously, about what?"

Cadance lobbed a pastry, bouncing it off Shining's forehead just to the right of his horn. "Stop that! I mean about Umbra. She seems... happier, in all the good ways." She smiled gently on thought. "She has friends, I was worried she'd have a problem with that. Her exploration of shadow magic has only intensified her desire to be a good representation of it. Emphasis on good."

Shining smirked at that. "If her picture was in the dictionary beside 'Shadow Wizard', opinions of them would be very different, for sure."

Cadance nibbled another pastry much like the first she had flung. "For not being a pony, she has grown quite comfortable being one. The way she speaks, she had fingers. I can't... imagine losing a limb like that. It would drive me to distraction." She spread her wings behind her. "I don't use them much these days, but I still have them. There's a difference."

Shining cringed at the idea of losing any of his mobile parts. "I'm not volunteering for that... She... seems very comfortable in her skin. I've seen natural born ponies that looked less happy about who they were." He leaned in with a smile. "I get the idea she's more worried about the rest of the world realizing how great she is."

"Don't say it like that." She waved the pastry as if in warning. "She doesn't seem to be full of herself. Putting that aside, we are still connected." She gestured at the strands only she could see. "Brilliant crystal bands leading to the shadow mare who's equally bright, on the inside, but is shrouded in darkness."

"We could still..." He saw Cadance's brows fall. "Is that off the table then?"

"You are many things, dear Shining. Subtle, I must report, is not one of them." Cadance reached across the way to bop him on the nose. "Am I that boring?"

Shining sat up sharply. "What? No! You're my absolute favorite." He clapped his hooves together firmly. "We are still married, happily, and I don't want that to change! I'm sorry, that was rude of me. Forget the--"

Her hoof was on his nose, silencing him. "You're getting defensive, and I'm teasing. We both have to cut that out. She is a pretty mare, if you aren't put off by the shadowy bits. I appreciate her, like a well made statue. I just don't... I'm not attracted, the way you clearly are." As Shining wilted, she moved her hoof to stroke along one of his sagging ears. "I prefer the company of stallions, fairly exclusively. I already picked my favorite, and here he is." She leaned in, touching nose to nose. "A pity his eyes roam. So, tell me, from your view, what do you like about her?"

"That's a trap!" he whined petulantly. "Not fair..."

"I promise." She held up one hoof. "Speak truthfully and I will not be angry, not even a little. Tell me what you see in this mare that's wandered into our life. Honesty is the only way we're moving forward. Active was quite clear on that point... several times." It wasn't the first time they had reached out to Active.

"I'm glad you could make time for me." Active made a little note in a book. "I've been quite looking forward to this. Let's start with what you think of it." She pointed at herself. "Tell me, Umbra. What do you see when you look at me? Who are you talking to?"

Feelings! A lot of good ones, I think. Also shadow goggles! They'll help, right? Umbra sure hopes so. Shifting can see the typos in their creation...

Day 6/28 of the Month of Updates!

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