Queen Umbra Strikes Back
Chapter 72: 72 - Mane and Tail care
Previous Chapter Next ChapterWith Shifting's help, a bright red ruby was selected. Set off center on her tiara that already had a few other gems on it, she nodded. "Alright, now to put you--" She pointed at her wafting mane. "--in here." She pointed up at her tiara even as she drew it off in her hooves and set it in font of herself. "I'll make you proud."
"Me?" Shifting burst into fresh giggles. "How are you making me prouder than I already am?"
"You showed me how to enchant things, remember?" She ran her hoof slowly over the gem. "So I'll get to show you how well it stuck, in action. Notice me, senpai."
Shifting blinked slowly. "What is a senpai? Is it me? Did I get a new name?" She pointed at herself. "I like the name I already have, but if it's a nickname, that's kinda cute. What's it mean?"
It was quite clear that Japanese loan words didn't always work in ponyland. Umbra flashed a sharp grin. "It's a word from far away. It means 'person who is above me in station', often used for teachers, seniors in the same organization, and suchlike. I was joking. Still, I want you to be proud of me, so ready to see me work?" She had her hooves on either side of the set gem. "I'm ready."
"I'm ready to watch." Shifting flopped to her belly in front of the gem, eyes locked on it. "Do your stuff!"
And thus she did. It always felt like a shame, forcing a hole into the crystal, but her magic had to get in there somehow. Every adjustment to a crystal reduced its purity somewhat. They were born perfect, but then thinking people had to come along and insist they could be better. Umbra was just another of those ignorant thinkers, in that moment, changing what was already perfect and thinking they could do better.
An entry created, Umbra funneled the magic she had been holding steady from her horn and into it. Her hair fell limply around her, the spell released into the crystal and not active anymore. "Sorry about that, we'll fix this." She waved a hoof over the break in the gem, undoing it. Even 'fixing' the gem degraded it. Any change in its shape or structure did that. There was no way around it that she was aware of, but she did it as smoothly as she could do in one motion. Two motions would mean more friction and loss. "And... there..."
She felt drained, a part of her magic sealed up in that jar, given up to empower the gem. "And my mane is locked up in here."
"Very nice." Shifting clapped eagerly. "You did that nice and fast. How do you feel?"
"Tired?"
"That makes sense." She bounced to her hooves. "You can't enchant things and not get tired. You want it to last forever, so... you have to give up something equal."
Umbra raised a brow. "Am I shortening my life each time I do that?"
"Oh." Shifting crashed back on her haunches. "I never thought of it that way..."
"That isn't a 'no, that's silly!'." Umbra peered at her ensorcelled tiara in a new light, perhaps the holder of her years. "Well... at least alicorns usually have more years to give up..."
Shifting gulped loudly. "I hope not! I've enchanted things before..."
"Well, stop that." Umbra booped Shifting's nose gently. "I want you around as long as possible so we can do things together and have fun."
Shifting smiled around the hoof on her face. "I'd like that. I'll leave the enchanting to you, but I'd rather you didn't... do it unless it was important. There's a reason why we only have so many magic items around if they were that easy to make."
Umbra willed the tiara back onto her head. "So why did you let me do it now?"
"You looked really excited?" Shifting flapped her bat-like wings. "You wanted to show it to me, and I didn't think of a good way of sayin don't... You did a good job though! I think... Cast the spell!"
"Ah, right." Umbra focused her magic on her tiara and the new gem placed within it. "Come to life, Umbralocks!" A clump of hair poked at her. "Don't like that? Shadow mane?" It looped to be able to 'nod' at her. "Shadow mane it is. Welcome back. That didn't hurt, did it?" Her mane shook its 'head' at her. "Good, phew. I was worried a moment... More like a little nap then?" It nodded. "Great! So, when we have to, you can go to sleep a hot moment, without being hurt. Way better. Now I can go to sleep without killing you, so that's a plus."
Shifting waved a hoof excitedly. "Let me try!" Without much resistance, she claimed Umbra's tiara for herself. Umbra's mane went limp, separated from the tiara that was its will. "Now, I don't have a horn..." At the moment, but she left that off. "So..." She put the tiara level with her mouth and squealed into it in a loud bat screech. Her magic given, the entire thing shook and vibrated before starting to glow. She hurriedly plopped it on her head. "And..."
Her mane began to perk up as if sleepily rousing herself. Its tendrils spread and 'looked' around despite having no eyes until it spotted itself and recoiled in surprise. Shifting's mane was not Umbra's mane, and the will within the mane apparently noticed its change of hair. "Don't be upset, it's just me." The mane wrapped around Shifting's snout, feeling over her in broad strokes. "Yep, it's me. You're my mane right now. Don't be upset... It's alright. She's right over there." Shifting pointed the way back to the shadow wizard that created the Shadow Mane.
"Let's call it Shadow," decided Umbra out loud. "Poor thing need a name. Hello, Shadow. You feel alright?" Shadow reached for Umbra, as interested in poking through her soft and lifeless mane as it was in grabbing her head and snout. "Just as curious as ever, I see... Yep, that's you."
"This is so weird!" Shifting was watching Shadow look and explore. "I can feel it, kind of."
"I know that feeling." Umbra took gentle hold of a lock, petting it soothingly. "You can feel where it pulls on you, but not what it touches. It's all very indirect."
"Indirect." Shifting nodded firmly. "That's the word I was hunting for. Well, it's not bad. Nice to wear you, Shadow. You know, with this, you don't have to be attached to Umbra." And Shadow hugged Umbra all the more tightly. "Hey, if you like it, good. Just saying, choices! Choices are good. If you like her so much, wanna go back?" Shadow casually snatched the tiara right off Shifting's head.
Which meant the tiara clattered to the ground and Shifting's mane went limp. "That was a bad idea." Shifting gathered up the tiara and offered it in her hooves towards Umbra. "They made their vote."
"Poor Shadow..." Umbra willed the tiara into its proper place and called on the bright red ruby, her mane springing back to life. "There you are. Silly thing, you turned yourself off. You shouldn't touch the tiara in most situations, unless you want to take a nap."
A few wispy strands looped about the tiara, holding it down as if it could come loose again. "It hasn't fallen off accidentally so far. I think you're safe." Umbra stood up, shaking herself out along the way. "Now... With that emergency out of the way, and a new little wonderful life joining us, I had meant to ask something."
"Yeah?" Shifting danced back a step. "I'm listening."
"So, we're a thing." Umbra waved between herself and Shifting prism. "And considering the next step, right?"
"Right?" Shifting turned an ear. "Did you decide? Share."
"No, more questions. Kids!"
"Foals?"
"Those." Umbra nodded at the correction. "Now, for normal, two ladies getting together, well, they adopt or one of them gets a child with another stallion. But we're not normal, are we?"
Purple inclined her head. "You are very much not normal, ma'am, in a good way."
Shifting nodded at the previously silent maid. "In the best ways. What about it though?"
"Well!" Umbra frowned. "Well... This is awkward... But let's just jump right in."
"Adulting!" cried Shifting. "Lay it on me. If I don't like it, I'll let you know."
"All I can ask." Umbra sat back, mane wandering aimlessly without grabbing anything. "You are female identifying, but functionally hermaphroditic. You could put a child in me if I let you and we wanted a foal, and you were comfortable doing that, which I am not assuming, since you are female identifying. I would have turned colors if anyone had asked me to put a baby anywhere, even back when...I theoretically could... So this is not a suggestion, or a request. This is just me laying out possibilities, which you are welcome to say 'Hell no.' to and I won't be mad, at all, even a little." She held up her hooves close together. "Just something for us to look at and make up our minds about."
Purple Polish averted her gaze with a coloring, but was silent, as befit a maid.
Shifting was less shy about it, even if she colored just as well. "Wow, you really just slapped that right down... Yay adulting." She wasn't cheering that time, instead looking thoughtful. "To start... I'm a changeling."
"Noticed that." Umbra sat up. "Hard to miss at this point. Why?"
"So you're asking... Are you alright having a changeling foal? They... are not pony foals... at all..." She frowned with thought. "Do you know how bugs generally work? I'm a bug! A big smart bug that you like now... but still a bug."
"Yeah... I'm following you, I think? You're a bug. With cute cheeks." Umbra grabbed Shifting by the cheeks, squeezing with a happy giggle. "So?"
Shifting smiled awkwardly. "Because I picked this form. As grubs, we don't get to do that. We're just grubs... You ever see a grub?" Umbra shook her head. "Wow, never? Alright... so I have to show you what a grub is... Either way, wriggly and helpless and kinda slippery..." She pantomimed with her hooves as best she could. "And will look nothing like you, or me. Until they molt into at least larvae, they won't look like anything you're used to, and no shapeshifting into cuter shapes."
"I've seen you in your natural form." Umbra shrugged at the memory. "You were a bug. A cute bug. No complaints. What's wrong with that?"
"Nothing's wrong with that..." Shifting awkwardly shuffled in place. "But grubs are not that... Let me find you some." She snapped out her leathery wings. "Won't be changeling bugs, but even other insect grubs will give you an idea." She took off through the window, pausing only to open it properly, and was gone.
Purple Polish cleared her throat softly. "Ma'am? If I may?"
"You may? What's on your mind?"
"I've seen grubs before, ma'am." Purple did not look very enthusiastic at that recollection. "A mass of wriggling... things... Ma'am... you are very kind to think of your special somecreature, but the idea of... being a mother to grubs... It is your choice, ma'am..." Caught between being polite and expressing her disgust was a delicate balancing act. "I will serve you obediently either way, ma'am, but I cannot foalsit what aren't foals, or at least somewhat like a foal, at the minimum, ma'am."
Were grubs really that awful? Just smaller bugs. Small bugs sounded cute in her mind's eyes. "It wouldn't be all that bad... But putting that aside, you are here because you want to be, doing me favors that I'm sure not paying for. If you don't want to do something, that's it. I'll figure out how to do it on my own."