Tabitha felt... good. Sure, she was still a freak, but she was a freak that looked damn good. Covering her lower half was a tight dress that bloomed out towards her hooves, leaving them free and clear to carry her around or even break into a jog, or a trot as the ponies called it. The color complimented her fur, as much as she didn't need fur. If she had to have fur... At least she felt good in it.

"That's a very nice dress," complimented Coco at her side. "Your shirt, um, on your upper half. It doesn't quite match it, I confess. Do you have something just a tiny bit more formal?"

She was criticizing, but Tabitha heard only care in it. She glanced down at her almost-rude T-shirt and past it to her lovely dress. It really didn't fit together... "I'll swap out when I get home, right about when I find a spot for all this." She had some saddlebags, and they were filled with all the clothes she ended up loading up on while she was at that clothes store. She wouldn't hurt for a selection, and having new clothes...

Sure, it could be taken as a 'girly' thing, but that didn't make it untrue. She felt better with each outfit she had selected and put down the bits for. She was a new woman... mare... thing... Heck, with the clothing covering her, she was free to pretend she didn't even have the extra parts, and that was just fine by her. "Pity I had to stuff it all in saddlebags."

Coco blinked at that. "Your, um, backpack wasn't nearly big enough for all of that."

"Why do you even call them that?" Coco looked lost. "Saddlebags?" She still looked lost. "You don't give rides often, I imagine?"

She broke into a smile. "Oh! Well, yes. We often give our children rides, especially in very crowded places, like this city. You can't have a yearling getting lost, so a good saddle for them to ride in is just the thing for a mother or father on the go. I could be wrong, but I think those bags were invented for parents first, before everypony else realized how useful they were and everypony ended up wearing one when they wanted to carry a lot of things."

That made as much sense as anything else to Tabitha and she let it lie. She thanked Coco for the time out, then steeled her heart for her next challenge. She had faced the faceless city, but how about a pony that 'knew' her... "I'll be back. I have to see a friend of mine." She quietly added the part about hoping they were still a friend even as she began to trot ahead, leaving the waving Coco behind.

Tabitha made her way speedily towards her favorite grocery. New clothes made so much of a difference! Not just in how she felt, but in how others regarded her. She might have still been a freak, but she was a well-dressed one, and she could only assume the ponies around her figured she was far from a vagrant and gave her just enough deference to make her smile.

She pushed open the door that had handles that only made sense for a species with fingers. Ponies were odd, or so Tabitha decided firmly.

"Welcome!" came a familiar voice as Grannie came closer, only to slide to a stop. "T-tabitha? Dear! What happened to you?! You've... And..."

Tabitha considered her options, and decided to take it directly but downplay it. "Sorry for the confusion. It's still me."

"I can see that, at least, I see most of you." She squinted at the alien human top of her customer. "What happened to the rest of you?! And where's your pretty head?"

"I... was hiding."

"Hiding?" She raised a brow. "What fer?"

"This top half, that's the real me. The spell that hid it away is gone, so here I am... I'm sorry for lying to you."

She sank to her haunches, quiet a moment. "I don't quite get it, but if yer still Tabby, then yer still Tabby. You did eat what you bought, I hope? That wasn't part of the trick?"

"No no! I was completely serious about that." Tabitha stepped forward, tail swaying as she began to pick her favorite bits to cook later.

Seeing her customer get their usual things seemed to settle Grannie quite a bit. "You still like meat? I got a little something, just for you."

The meat in question wasn't labeled by what animal it may have come from, but it seemed like some kind of flank cut and looked like it would be tasty enough when prepared. Tabitha accepted it with a smile. "So, how's the dress?"

Grannie blinked. "Oh my! I was so floored at the top part that I didn't even look." She forced her eyes down and beheld the dress, whistling softly. "That looks like one of the fancy ones from Saddle Row."

"Good eye," complimented Tabitha. "So how's it look?"

"Like a million bits." She rang up the order. "Whatever you are, you're still a customer of mine, and practically one of my little lost foals. You get lost? You come calling, alright?"

Being accepted by the elderly mare put a smile right on Tabitha's face. "I'll be sure to do that, alright? You need a place to stay--"

"I know where to look." She nodded firmly. "Now go on, get. I'm sure you have other things t'be doing."

Tabitha left with a smile, only to practically bounce into a pony.

"Watch it," spat the pony as she raised her horned head to look at Tabitha, then blinked. It was Bubbles. "You?"

Tabitha wasn't sure how to react to the thuggish mare. She went with casual. "Hey." She moved to walk right past them, only to have the mare catching up at her side.

"Hold the phone! What's with the freaky additions, toots?"

"I always had that." She wasn't lying, or so she reasoned, since the unicorn was focused on her human half. "Maybe you should get your eyes checked." That wasn't the nicest thing she could say by far, but it felt good to at least be a little spiteful to the mare.

"Back up there." She squinted at Tabitha. "It's just like Razzy said! You really are... but..."

Of course Razzy had blabbed on her. She'd have to chastise him later, but it was a bit late to worry about that. "Look, I have places to be."

Bubbles glanced off and back at Tabitha. "Razzy doesn't belong to you." She hissed loudly.

"No, he doesn't." agreed Tabitha. "But none of that matters because I don't like you." She couldn't hurt Spring, for fear of supernatural who-knows-what, but that unicorn... She felt ready to test those new hooves of hers.

Bubbles glanced away and back, blowing one of those big gum pops she was in the habit of. "Look, I'm just watching out for him. Don't look at me like that. Sheesh, I'd think you were a ganger too."

Was a sufficiently violent look all it took to be taken for serious stuff? Tabitha huffed at her 'enemy'. "Alright, let's put it this way. He likes you, as a friend. I can't change that." She raised a brow. "I tried. You're there, and you're not going."

"So you admit it!" Her eyes burned with accusation as she pawed the ground with an agitated hoof.

"I admit I was protecting a friend." She crossed her arms under her chest. "But I'm ready to take a new tactic. How about you show me you can be a good friend instead of an occasionally useful thug?"

The unicorn blinked with building confusion. "What?"

"I'm challenging you," stated Tabitha even as Bubbles went on guard. "Be my friend, and be a good one. Spoiler, I don't need material help. My finances are in order."

Bubbles looked baffled at the very idea. "We don't even know each other's name!"

"Sounds like a fine place to start." She offered one of her hands. "Hello. I'm Tabitha. You are?"

The pony peered at the offered hand a moment before slowly extending one of her hooves to rest against the offered palm. They shook. "Bubbles... This is a joke, right?" She snorted derisively. "Ain't no way another mare would care about me for half a second."

"Good thing I'm not just a mare," retorted Tabitha with a raised brow. There were so many ways to take that, starting with her being half not-pony. "I expect you to be a good friend, and I'll be one in return."

Bubbles set her reclaimed hoof on the ground. "Look, there's still... I was protecting him."

"I know." Tabitha turned away and began walking, taking a note from her own mysterious guests. "Let's pretend that's all done with. We'll be friends now."

"Friends..." Bubbles caught up with her easily, walking alongside her. "Hey, since we're friends now and everything, that means you'll hook me up with a place of my own, right?"

Tabitha raised a brow. "I thought you had a place? Besides, Razz pays for his place the honest way like I'd expect from everyone staying there."

"I'm trying!" She lashed out a hoof and kicked Tabitha right in the back of one of her hind legs, making her stumble a step. "I am!"

Tabitha righted her walking with a frown. Part of her didn't want to help that unicorn... But helping her would help Razz, indirectly. "When's the last time you had a job, a real job?"

"What, for the stallion?" Bubbles looked incredulous at the idea. "Pass."

It had worked for one pony... "Would you like an easy job?"

"Hmm?"

"You know about watching things, right?"

"Sure?" She sounded uncertain, but she was still listening.

"You know how to scare people off if you want to?"

"I thought I did." She pointed at Tabitha. "Messed that up at least once."

"Great, so let's try something different." They arrived at Tabitha's place and she held the door open for her guest a moment. "I don't have a guard, but I get the feeling things will pick up enough to warrant having one. How'd you like that?"

She blew a big bubble. "Yer kiddin'."

Bubbles was staring at Tabitha, challenging her to reveal the trick. "Do you accept?"

"How much?" Her expression changed to calculating. "I ain't working fer cheap."

Tabitha raised a finger. "First, no thugging. You work for me, your actions reflect on me, and you won't need to do any of that while you're getting paid well anyway."

"Right..."

She raised another finger. "Two, I'll provide an apartment. You live here, you guard here. You're guarding your own property along with everyone else's."

Bubbles perked her ears, listening without word.

"As for actual pay... Ten bits an hour." Near as she had been able to tell, ten was a step up or so from entry level. She didn't expect arguments.

"Twelve." Bubbles sneered a bit as she hamfistedly... or hamhoovedly, negotiated. "Twelve or I walk."

"You'll get eleven and thank me for it. This way." Tabitha walked off with Bubbles behind her so they could sign contracts and get the fine details out of the way. The way she saw it, she either did really well, or really badly. She hoped the former.

Author's Notes:

And nothing terrible happened! Clearly, a typo of some sort.