The magical flames crackled merrily in the fireplace, casting the room in a bright pink glow. The window shutters and doors were closed, yet the warmth in the room still seemed to seep away about as fast as the fire could provide it; not entirely surprising considering that the floors and walls were made from crystal.

Previous years, Moony and Felix would bundle themselves up in blankets as they stayed up to wait for Hearth’s Warming Day --in secret when they were even younger, with their parents’ begrudging acceptance once they got too old to be feasibly told to go to bed. Ever since last year however, they had all they needed always with them. That is, Felix’ now worked as an excellent blanket, his new thick mane making him prone to overheating if anything.

This time though, his frustration probably kept him warmer than his mane.

“Okay, so maybe it’s... diplomacy? I’m not sure how that’s related to me drawing comics, but...” He snapped his claws, and bent down to scribble on the paper laying on the floor beside them. “What if my cutie mark came later than it should? Not like how it’s later in life, but I mean the, uh, actual magic... surge came first, and then... the mark came... later?”

His voice rose on the last word, and he himself sounded very sceptical of his own idea.

Moony shrugged, jostling Felix slightly. He didn’t notice, just frowning down at the paper full of ideas.

“I don’t know, Felix. How would your magic settle and the mark not appear? The entire point of cutie marks is that they reflect your magic once it has settled.”

“Some ponies get their marks during the night!”

“Well, yeah, but that’s because they’re dreaming. Their magic settles because they’re dreaming of something related to their special talent.”

“I’m not entirely pony though.”

Moony shrugged. “Sure. But if we go by that we can say almost anything. Maybe it’s not a cutie mark at all? Could represent you just enjoying comics and not your inherent magic.”

Felix turned his face away, but his tail was swishing across the floor in wide strokes.

“Sorry --I phrased that badly.” She propped her head on one hoof so she could keep looking back towards him without straining her neck. “Just, if we ignore one theory regarding the formation of cutie marks, there’s no reason we have to base it on any theories. So we’re just stumbling blindly.”

“Uugh, we’re not getting anywhere,” Felix threw his head back and reached down to crumple up the paper. “This is just a bunch of stupid ideas, none of which fits completely!”

He threw the bunched up paper into the fire, making it spark and pop in appreciation. At least, that’s what Moony liked to imagine; fire felt much safer once she pretended it was alive with emotions.

Felix flopped down over her, limp from annoyance. Being part cat, and therefore small part liquid, he really could flop. He felt boneless where he laid over her.

“You’ll figure it out,” she encouraged. “Once Sweetie and Scootaloo come back from vacation, maybe they can help?”

“I don’t see how,” he droned towards the floor. “Applebloom couldn’t make heads or tails of it.”

She frowned. “Because they’re different people with different areas of expertise?” She nudged him with her shoulders. He remained boneless. “Hey, don’t give up now. You’ve asked your moms and mine, Applebloom, Starlight, and .... who else could have some idea of what to do?”

“Dunno.”

“Your doctor? Have you asked them? Or--” She grimaced. “Your therapist? Does she have any idea?”

She felt him sit up slowly, and his ribcage expanded as he sighed, deeply. “I’m actually... gonna stop seeing Mrs. Lightside.”

“Oh! ...Wait, why?”

Moony felt Felix shrug and fidget with his claws a little. “It’s not that I don’t like her or anything. But it’s like... we’re just not getting anywhere, if you know what I mean?”

Moony glanced at him over her shoulder. “Not really. I haven’t been much you know.”

He hmm-ed. “I know Mrs. Softwhinny wasn’t... the best, from what you told me, but you shouldn’t say no to all therapy because of that.”

“Says the one who’s gonna stop.”

“I’m not going to stop going to therapy! ...Not forever at least.” He sighed. “It’s just... Mrs. Lightside has known me since I was a kid, and it’s starting to feel like... I dunno, it’s like she’s not getting who I am now?”

Moonstone nodded. While she hadn’t gone to therapy a lot --except the few times she went as a kid-- she understood older adults not recognizing that she wasn’t a little kid any more. Still, she supposed a therapist was different from parents or aunts and uncles.

“I’m afraid I can’t advice you too much on that; I couldn’t even get it through Mrs. Softwhinny’s head that I wasn’t lying about everything or my moms weren’t secretly horrible. If I can’t convince her of that, I have no idea how to convince them of anything.”

Felix sighed and reached up to flick her ear with one claw. “Therapists aren’t a hive-mind, Moony. Stop acting like one sucking means they’re all tartarus-spawn --the fact that your first impression was crap was just shitty luck.”

She flicked said ear back at him in annoyance. “I knoooow, mom. I was just trying to be funny.” Dropping her hoof, she slumped down to rest her head on the smooth floor. “Badly apparently. But I know that, I do. I mean, Felicity’s planning on being one and they’re awesome so there’s gotta be some good ones out there.”

Moony looked away. She considered ending it there before it got too deep, but decided to continue. “It’s just that... the thought of seeing one again isn’t making me feel all... gross inside? Not fear, really, just... I can’t do it.”

Felix gently patted her side. “I know. But that’s why you should do it, you know? You don’t have to visit to even have a session, you could just go to talk with them and get used to the office and such.”

He said it like it was so easy. Oh, why hadn’t she thought of that before? Just go and do the thing you can’t do! Which was ironic, considering Felix’ own problems --yet he got on her case about this?

Moony snapped her head up to stare at him. “Oh yeah? You do know that if you want to continue with therapy but not see Mrs. Lightside, you’ll have to actually talk to strangers?”

Felix jerked back. His tail started to swish again, and his ears slicked back. “I know I have problems --that’s why I need a new therapist, because Lightside isn’t helping me!” He sniffed, and his teeth clicked together as he spoke. “You don’t have to make fun of me for that!”

She’d known she’d gone too far as soon as the words had left her mouth, and now Moony just felt downright awful. She’d just been so mad; mad that he kept suggesting she should try again when she complained about it, mad that he acted so patronising --or at least, that’s how it felt-- about it, and mostly mad that she couldn’t. She couldn’t, no matter how much she knew that he was right, she just couldn’t.

But that wasn’t his fault. She knew that, so why did she--

“I’m sorry,” she said, helplessly. “I didn’t mean... I know you’re not--”

Felix sniffed again, and stood up to get off of her. “I know.” He rubbed at his eyes, which Moony saw glisten in the firelight. Oh, no.

“Don’t go! I really didn’t mean it, I was just mad at- at myself and--”

“I know.” He cut her off. She quieted, and stared up at him.

The walls were much too dark for her to see, but Felix always had better night-vision than her. So when he glanced towards where she knew the clock was hanging, she assumed he could actually see it. He sighed.

“Sorry. Look, it’s really late.” He reached up to rub at the base of his horn. “Or early, technically. We’re both too tired to do this right now, obviously, so... let’s just go to bed.”

His claws clicked against the floor as he walked around her towards the door. “We’ll talk about all this tomorrow. Please?”

She nodded, mutely. Then said softly, “Yeah, okay.” Once she realised he was still slowly walking away from her.

The door opened silently, and he slinked out into the dark corridor with a soft “..goodnight.” over his shoulder.

“Goodnight.” Moonstone answered, just as softly, right before the door clicked shut again.

For a few seconds, the fire was the only noise in the room.

Then she felt her eyes burn as tears welled up in them, and she buried her face into her hooves to mute the soft sobs which spilled from her chest. Why did she mess this up so badly??

She hated trying to have emotional talks.