"I'm glad you came to me." Witching pointed to a comfy couch there next to her. "Go on."

Umbra glanced around. The room looked reasonably professional, not that Witching had decorated it. They were still learning that. They were learning a lot of things... That she'd see a patient this quickly... It was almost certainly a mistake, but she had promised to help, and that apparently included being a guinea pig.

"Don't be scared." Witching waggled her brows. "I can smell it. But we're here to deal with regrets and shames, not fear. Go on, Umbra. Great and Mighty, I hear. But even the mightiest have things they hate about themselves, and you're no exception. Sit, and talk."

Umbra pulled herself onto the couch, sinking with a little laugh as the air escaped her. "The more I think about it, the more true it seems to be. You and changelings are literally opposites."

"Well, then maybe we'll keep liking you, unlike the changeling." She said it so evenly, a carefully held scalpel that cut right into Umbra.

"Ow... Alright, so, that hurt, and isn't helping me reach any conclusions. What do I take away from that barb other than being miserable?" Umbra was doing her best to keep herself calm. She was there to help Witching hone her craft, not rise to the bait and engage in it.

Witching rolled a hoof. "Maybe. But you're here to deal with it. You messed up." She leaned in with an unsettling grin. "Poor thing. You're here to fix it, maybe not do it again, hm. But you already admitted you think some of us are cute, which makes sense, by the way."

Umbra perked at that. "It does?"

"Of course." Witching turned a hoof on herself. "I'm an umbrum." She turned the hoof on Umbra. "And you are too. You think you're 'bigger' than that, but like draws like. One nightmare to another, of course there's attraction there. It's not even... Look." She sat up tall. "What other creature is going to be 100% not scared of your shadows? What creature will celebrate them, enthusiastically?" She brought her hooves together under her chin. "You're worried about the royal couple, and you should be. Poor Shining is doing his best, but he's a light creature, and you, dark."

Umbra snorted softly. "Nice try, but we both know that if I pinned him down and played the shadow beast with an interest in him..." She waved a hoof through the air. "He'd be turned on, not running away."

Witching burst into horrible laughter at that. "You have a point. Dirty stallion probably would like that..." She leaned in. "But you don't do that, you fearful thing..."

Umbra scrambled up, or tried. Witching gently pressed her back towards a resting position. "I am getting to a point. Make a decision. You either love him, and should be the shadow monster he burns with passion for, or back away."

"Go or get off the pot." Umbra flumped entirely. "Dang..." Witching had just given some solid advice. "Congratulations, you're actually taking this seriously."

"I don't do things in half measures..." Witching sneered maliciously. "Also, this is kind of fun..."

Her therapist was enjoying her torment. Such was the risk of going to an umbrum about it... "May I ask a question?"

"You just did, and it involves your filthy libido... I'm curious now. Go on." She beckoned Umbra with her hooves. "Share your dirty secrets."

"I'm just curious." Umbra sat up, but it wasn't an angry scrambling to her hooves, and they did not try to stop her. "What are you looking for, on that front?"

"Me?" Witching curled a hoof on herself. "My ideal umbrum would love getting in under a creature's skin. We'd exchange barbs and needles as we made passionate love. It'd leave us both feeling filthy on the inside and out." She half lidded her eyes. "You don't qualify, Miss Soft Shadow."

Umbra swerved an ear to the side, cheeks lit faintly. "Wow..." That was sure some picture painted in her head, two umbrum eagerly needling the other in the throes of passion. "Intense. Not my thing, though. I'll hope for you."

"Aw, thanks." Witching fluttered her lashes at Umbra. "But we're here to discuss your shames, not mine. Besides, I have a perfectly valid excuse." Though she said that, her tone was that even she saw it as an excuse. "Somecreature went and wiped out most of us, makes the options slim..."

Thoughts tilted, along with Umbra's head. "Um... can... umbrum and ponies make foals if they try?"

"Ew." Witching wrinkled her snout as if some offensive odor had reached it. "Those little fluff balls? I'd crush their little egos on the first day, and then my potential somepony would run away, crying. No, I don't see any winners there. I'm open to learning how to help them and get some bits, but I don't think I'll look to them for romantic options."

Umbra applied a hoof to her face. "You don't have to bring up every regret you see. Even with the ponies you're helping, knowing when to put the needle in, and where, is what separates a doctor that heals and a butcher that just makes a mess. Refine yourself."

Witching applauded with a laugh, striking her hooves together. "This is fun! Who's helping who?" She pointed to Umbra and herself. "Exchanging needles, hm? How indecent... Tell me you aren't this lewd around Morning. I'll murder you, first by making you wish I'd finish the job, then, maybe, later, finishing the job... If I felt like it..."

Umbra frowned at the naked threat. "I'm glad you care about her."

"She's my niece, to remind you again. Of course I care about her." She huffed out some air, deflating. "She's all I have of my sister... You better be taking care of her! She looks happy enough... But that isn't proof of anything. Foals put on tough faces. It's up to adults to make sure they don't have to."

Actual caring? Weakness? Umbra kept herself from mentioning that moment of vulnerability. "I care about her too. She's a wonderful creature I want to see grow up into an amazing adult, proud and secure in what she is."

"Glad to hear it. Now, about your past." She adjusted glasses she had formed just for the moment from her shadows. "You have a lot of pent up snags regarding your sexuality. Guy, girl, you've been both." A little huff. "So have I. Harder to find an umbrum that hasn't, really. We have preferences." She waved over herself. "I like being a mare. But if you sass me, I will pin you down and show you..." She counted to ten suddenly. A slow breath. "Sorry, getting carried away. You are an umbrum. Gender is a suggestion and a fashion statement. But you have a thousand hangups. I don't understand why. Tell me?"

Umbra blinked with amazement. Was Witching trying to doctor genuinely? "Alright, so... This is sort of a second life." She waved over herself. "I was something else entirely, with hands and no fur, just some hair. Identified as male at birth, but I fought... I fought what was a lifelong battle for the right to be a female... That leaves scars."

Witching whistled, but she didn't sneer or stare. She seemed genuinely impressed. "That would leave a few marks. I'm going to guess whatever you were didn't see genders the same way umbrum do." She spread her legs and just casually displayed an obscenely overly detailed bit of horse flesh, overly done in every meaning of the word. "Like I said, a fashion statement. This isn't my style." And it was gone. "That's the umbrum way. We won't stop you from being a mare, or a stallion, or both, or neither."

Witching leaned in. "But you have scars, from a place we aren't. Focus on that. It isn't here. Those creatures are gone, may as well be dead. Laugh at them! Laugh as they can't stop you from being whatever you want, and what you want can change. Just like putting on a new hat. You are whatever you feel like being right now. Right. Now."

"Y-yeah..." Umbra blinked numbly at Witching. "Yeah... Wow... You.... Thank you." She smiled at that. "It will take more time and effort to make that more than just words, but I feel better just having it said. You could become a great therapist."

"Well, I do have some help." She winked at Umbra with a giggle. "We both have things to work on. Now! The way I see it, this is connected to your Big Mistake."

Umbra pinned her ears back suddenly. "W-what? How?!"

Witching pointed to Umbra. "You are a mare, overall, no arguments. But Starlight was tickling you the right way. You wanted to be her stallion, but you couldn't even face that, coward... You couldn't face that, so you threw yourself at her as a weak mare instead. But you were still being a sub under a female. Classic. Classic! You were playing a soft male. And you had so much fun... No matter how guilty you feel, you had fun. You enjoyed every minute of it. Stop denying it!"

Umbra winced at Witching tore into her. "Stop it!" And it stopped. "Um... Thank you, but that was a little... much."

Witching rolled a hoof. "Got a little carried away myself. I could feel your regrets and shames blossoming as we went over it... Um, I am serious though. Your gender hangups are half the reason you ended up in that situation."

"You... seriously think so?" Umbra thought back to it. She sure wasn't thinking about that, during that event. "I am a mare."

"You are a mare," agreed Witching. "So am I. We both like wearing a hat. But we can still take that hat off." She reached up to take off the imagined hat, setting it aside. "And put it back on afterwards. Umbrum life! We're all functional hermaphrodites. And taking the hat off doesn't make you not a hat wearer suddenly. I like being a mare, and I will put the hat right back on." She pantomimed placing the hat back on her head.

Witching hopped down from her seat. "The big thing is that nocreature around here is going to get mad at you. Literally not a creature. We all know you as Umbra, the Great and Glorious, hm? What a title... You are mother of two, by adoption. You sit on the city like a protective hen, keeping it safe and warm under your 'protective shadow'." She made quotes with her hooves. "That you are a mare is beyond reproach! You have nothing left to prove."

"Except to myself..."

"The hardest to convince sometimes, hm?" Why did Witching have to have that cocky grin at times? "Too bad, you're wrong. Your identity? Nocreature even cares. You are an umbrum, blast it. You're whatever you want to be. Now, I'm not that actor. I can't show off quite as many forms so easily...but I can do a few." With a rush of shadows, she became a shadowy Shining Armor. "But I'm still me," she said, borrowing Shining's voice. "Still a mare, and only because I decided that. I could change my mind tomorrow. Who'll stop me? Nocreature that has a shred of sense." The not-Shining smiled maliciously. "They can try, I'll enjoy tearing them apart without touching them."

Umbra sat back, shaking her head. "You've given me a lot to think about." She hopped down and offered a hoof to not-Shining. "Thank you." When a hoof was returned, she clopped them together and shook in the pony way. "Let's keep up this training. I think you could become a really good therapist, with some more effort."

Witching pointed up at a calendar up on the wall. "I'll expect you in two days, same time. Be ready to be needled."

Did I mention how much I adore Witching Hour? She's kinda great.

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