Tabitha emerged from Coco's apartment. She felt... She wasn't sure how she felt. She had a friend at least. Coco's measurements had been quick as they could be, seemingly taking into account that Tabitha was sensitive about how she looked and even felt. Pleasant words went back and forth, but they were empty, just like she felt just then.

She moved for her own apartment, feeling the alien interplay of muscles that carried her along. It was a miracle, or magic, that let her stay upright, to be able to just... feel it without collapsing. Her new pony lower half was powerful and sleek. It wasn't... a bad body, it just wasn't hers, damn it.

Her door opened, which was quite odd since she hadn't quite gotten her hand to the knob. It was Razz, exiting with a little frown that turned into shock as he saw who he was coming out towards. "T-tab?"

She cringed. She had hoped to flee to her room and sulk, but instead... "What are you doing in my room?" Indignation was a far safer emotion than anything else.

"O-oh! I was looking for you." He quirked a smile, but it faded. "What happened? I-I, I mean... Wait..." He narrowed his eyes. "Why aren't you at the convention?"

What kind of question was that? "Because I didn't go? I still have the ticket, and gave you the ot--" She cut off as he rushed her and hugged her firmly, a leg across her... back? She had two backs. His leg was around the lower one and drawing her in tight. "What's going on, Razz Berry?!"

He detached and sank to his haunches. "I was just making sure it was you. We were alone when you gave me that ticket, so I figured only you would know about it."

Tabitha mutely nodded. "Well, there. It's me, Tabitha, now I'm going to go inside, alright?"

She hadn't really phrased it as a question, but he didn't move. "What happened? You, um... You..."

"I'm ugly, I know."

"No!" He hopped to his hooves. "You're that pegasus I saw."

"I don't think so." She scowled a little at the stallion. "Not unless you'd still be you if someone came along and ripped your head clean off."

He winced at the image, but didn't retreat. "That's not true. Your brain's right there." He pointed up at Tabitha's head. "Right inside that pretty head."

Did the horses not know the definition of ugly? Tabitha couldn't parse how Razz had spoken those words. "You're out of your feathered brain, Razz."

Razz shook his head firmly. "While, um, part of me is a little sad you're not, you know, bipedal... You're still my friend." He flashed a big grin, about to say something but he thought better of it.

"What were you going to say?"

"Nothing! Just... how do you feel?"

"Awful."

He tilted his head a little. "I'm guessing you... This wasn't on purpose, right?"

"What was the first hint?" She realized she was being more acidic than she intended and heaved a sigh. "Look, Razz... I'm torn up right now."

Razz advanced on her and began to circle. He would soon see... that. Tabitha hadn't wanted that and turned to keep pace with him. "Razz, cut it out."

He did stop, but looked all the more confused. "Is something wrong? Are you hurt? I mean, besides, you know... Tell me!"

"Why should I!?" She had screamed. She hadn't meant to scream, but she had done it.

Razz sank back, stunned a moment before he licked over his lips. "I... am going to assume that's you being hurt."

She quirked a smile. Razz was being more mature than she had given him credit for. "Razz, please. Let me go."

He didn't try to stop her again, and she trotted towards her room, only for him to gasp loudly. Her walking had let him see what she hadn't wanted him to see. Great... The whole city would soon know about it, and her building would be practically empty again. Maybe Coco would stay... She froze where she was, broken and breaking yet more inside.

Razz recovered only for the fact that she hadn't fled and slammed the door shut. "T-tabby!"

She spun on him. "Go ahead, call me a freak! I am one, a hideous and deformed monster. You'd better run, little pony, or I'll tackle you and do terrible things to you!" Her voice was becoming a huge run-on sentence as her emotions ran away from her.

He didn't run. "Does it hurt? Can I help?"

Can he help? She crashed to her new haunches. "Unless you can turn me back to normal... no..."

"What did this?" He slowly approached, his eyes dead on her eyes, not straying to other things.

"Not what, who." She wasn't going to escape Razz. That was becoming more and more firm in her mind. "Come in." She stood up and walked away. He followed right after her and she closed the door behind him. Maybe she did have a second friend. "Do you remember that elf?"

"The one with the big mammaries?" he asked as if that were just a body-part as any other without sexual meaning. "It's hard to forget her and her sour attitude. Did she do this?!"

"She did. She has magic and she used it." Tabitha folded her arms under her chest, both unchanged besides her being a bit smaller to match the rest of her. "Look, Razz. I want an honest opinion. With 1 being: Are her socks matching and 10 being: How did she survive that burn accident, how... messed up am I?"

Razz rose and moved to circle her once more. "Can I look?" She didn't stop him that time, so in he came. He wasn't that different from Coco. The part where pony met human was fascinating to him, and he examined her wings thoroughly. "Good flight feathers, dense coverage. You should be able to fly! Need a lesson?"

She didn't need a lesson! "I..." She wanted to be normal again... But what was normal? As a human, she wasn't very normal for that world. As a centaur, still not normal. Maybe teasingly close. "Keep looking."

He left her wings and went all the way around to the place she'd rather no eyes were cast. He went quiet, and she didn't feel him hoofing around or doing much of anything. "Well?"

"Have... Does it work?"

Does it work?! To be honest, she had no idea. "I didn't try going to the bathroom yet if that's what you mean."

"Well, sure, yeah, there is that, but I..." He stalled out.

"Out with it."

"You'll get mad at me and think I'm the freak!"

Did he? She spun on him. "Are you attracted to that?!"

He was a bright and cheery red. "I'm attracted... to you, Tabby. Whether you have more or none of the parts I expect."

Was he just saying that? Did he even know what love really meant? She wanted to chase him out of her apartment, to scream and yell and fume, but she didn't do any of that... "What do you see when you look at me?"

"I see a big... pretty... exotic lady that needs an even bigger hug right now. I see... my friend. Her name is Tabitha, but I like Tabby. She's my landlady, but more than that."

Tabitha raised a brow at him. "I thought you liked bipeds. I'm not one of those anymore." She clopped a hoof to demonstrate. "See? Four... damn hooves. No feet."

He looked thoughtful with a hoof tapping at his chin and his eyes narrowed just so. "I think... I just like interesting mares. I look at you... Can I be honest?"

"Please." She wanted honesty.

"I look at you and my blood runs hot like before. I still want to be your friend, maybe more... if that works out. If... it doesn't, I still want to be friends, for real friends, even if that means you friend-zone me forever."

She couldn't quite piece it together. "So you... really want to date a mare with a... I'm bigger than you!"

He blushed all the more intensely as his inadequacy was made all the clearer. It wasn't that he was small for his size or a pony. The damn elf had 'gifted' Tabitha well. "I don't care."

The way he said that... There was some petulance in it, like a small child stubbornly refusing to let go of a toy, even if it got smudged and torn. They weren't going to let it go. He wasn't letting her go. She smiled just a little. Being thought of that way both frightened and comforted her at once. "If I figure out how to... turn this all around, and go back to being normal, what then?"

"Then my wonderful friend has her old shape back. They're both nice shapes," he defended. "I'll be proud to be with you either way."

Was he saying that just to score points with her? She wondered that, but then realized that if he was trying to score points... why? "You do know my friends still get to pay full rent, right?"

He looked hurt by the insinuation. "I'm going to just assume that's your hurt talking. I live in your building, I pay my rent, which would be just as true if you were letting me stay in a room in your apartment. Oh!" He clopped his forehooves once before a big wince made him stop.

Why did he do that? "Something wrong?"

He turned a different shade of red a moment before he offered a hoof and turned it around to make the bandage on the underside visible.

"You're hurt!" she exclaimed even as she reached for it and cradled the injured hoof. "What happened?"

Razz giggled. "Now the tables turn! You told me, so I'll tell you, so we can be hurt buddies, even if mine will clear up faster." He told the story of how his friend had tried out a hoof pick and it... mostly worked. He didn't pull the hoof back, and she was still holding it, but she noticed how long she'd had it and let it fall to the ground.

"What was his name again?"

"Trap."

She nodded. "He sounds nicer than your other friend, but you need your hooves. He'll get you fired without breaking any laws."

He shook his head. "Being a friend sometimes means a little hurting. Tabitha, may I be your friend?"

The sharp turn caught Tabitha off-guard and she squinted just a little. "Stupid horse... Yes, yes we can be friends. Stupid horse."

He looked delighted at the response, insults or not. "Takes one to know one."

Author's Notes:

Tabitha runs into the other horse she knows well.

I think that went well. Alright, where's the typo hiding?