Tabitha went back to her room and fetched her backpack and purse. The latter was a convenient place to stuff her new bag of coins, at least enough that she hoped would secured dinner. Some of the coins had writing on them, numbers. She guessed that meant those coins were worth more than others, so she only had to take a few of the ones that had the biggest number instead of walking around jingling all over the place.

She emerged onto the street, as ready as she felt she ever would be. She was knee-deep in equines, or it was more like belly to chest deep depending on who you compared to and how you did that comparing.

Despite that, none of them attacked her, or even seemed to think she was unusual, or anything but a pegasus, she guessed. What kind of bird-horse would walk around instead of flying? She wondered over that as she walked down the street, eyes scanning for anything that looked like a grocery store.

It came into view easily enough. Like the rest of the cities, it looked old fashioned, but it was clearly a grocers. There were big bins laid out front with watermelon and, what was that, corn? A big pile of corn kernels. Did these horses buy that? She pushed open the swinging doors as she entered, to be assaulted by a variety of plant scents.

She saw basically anything she wanted, so long as that 'anything' wasn't processed, wasn't meat, and... wait.

Tabitha picked up a package wrapped suspiciously in what appeared to be plastic, with loud advertisements as to how delicious and good its contents were. The ponies did have some processed food, just not a lot.

"Can I help you?" asked an elderly female voice. Tabitha spun to see an older horse, er, pony looking at her. "A young thing like yourself shouldn't eat that garbage." She pointed a hoof at the bundle she could see now that Tabitha had turned. "You can cook much tastier yourself, and for less too."

Tabitha was more of a TV dinner gal, honestly. She never got good at cooking and didn't want to spend the time. "Um, thanks." She put down the package rather than argue with a wrinkly old horse.

Did they even have TV dinners? Did they have TV? They had electricity, or her place would be very dark.

"You look a little lost," spoke the old pony, not giving up despite Tabitha putting down the package.

"Uh... Just looking for things."

"Like?"

Tabitha raised a brow. Who was this old bat and why was she prying? She gave an answer she was sure would scare off the old horse, "I'm looking for the burgers and I don't see them."

"Oh, the oat burgers are over here." She pointed even as she reached in and somehow held a package against the flat of her hoof in clear defiance of physics. "I like these quite a bit."

There they were. They were burgers, and yet, not. They were formed like burgers and frozen to preserve them, but Tabitha could see the little seeds and debris that made it wheat instead of meat. What did it even taste like? She became mildly curious. Even she could make a burger if she wanted to.

She reached and accepted the package. "Thanks... So, if you don't mind my asking, why are you being so helpful?"

"I work here," reported the older horse with a smile. "You looked lost, miss. Pardon if my hunch was off the mark. Figured a pegasus wouldn't mind a wing-mare if need be."

She was a little lost... but she wasn't a pegasus. "Well, alright then. Real talk then, do you have any meat?"

She blinked at that. "We've got a little, but you'll want to hit up a griffon deli if you want a selection. Do be mindful, we ponies don't need much meat at all. Shoot, could just as well live a life without it with no harm done."

They had griffons? Of course, why not... Talking horses, griffons... Probably dragons and centaurs and minotaurs too! Little pixies and...

"You alright?" She looked Tabitha over with concern. "Are you new to the city? I know that look. I bet you're from some small town."

Small town? "Actually, I'm from another city." One that wasn't filled with ponies, but she didn't mention that part. She grabbed some veggies to fill a cart they provided. "Show me that meat."

"If you insist..."

She soon had what she figured would do fine for testing and eating. It was time to pay for it all. As she rolled up to the register, that old horse circled around and sat behind the register with that same little smile. "You're getting enough for a little while. Weekly shopping trip?"

Honesty seemed the best call there. "I'm not used to food from here--"

"Manehattan," provided the old horse.

"Right." Manhattan, but horsier and old timier? Why not. "So I'm trying out different things to see what I can stick with."

"Ain't no harm in trying new things." She began counting up all the things there, punching buttons in her old-fashioned register. "If you have the time, I suggest getting around. We have all sorts of exotic food places. A little Saddle Arabian food or Neighponese cuisine might intrigue you." She pushed a final button that seemed too small for her big hoof, but it worked fine, none of the ones around it disturbed for the motion. "That'll be eight bits total."

Tabitha fished one of the coins from her purse and set it down silently, trusting the horse to furnish change or ask for more if needed.

Her eyes widened and she whistled. "Do ya have anything smaller, miss?"

That was too large? She took it back and looked at the number, fifty. She owed eight, right? She jingled through her collection until she found a ten and placed it down.

"That'll do." She scooped up the coin easily and tucked it in her register and replaced it with two smaller coins that had no numbers at all. Single bit coins. Heh, bitcoins. Tabitha smiled at her internal humor as she plucked them up and put them away. At least it looked like she was safe from starvation for a while. "You have a nice day, and if you need anything, you just come back here. Young mare, I may be prying a little, but you look like a lost filly, and I have a weak spot for that. So even if it gets real scary, you come running to Grannie Orange and I'll help ya out."

Tabitha was already stuffing her purchases away in her backpack, making it bulge with food. "Thanks, Miss Orange." She assumed that was a last name, and the horse didn't argue it. She headed out the door, down one cart, and up one backpack full of edibles. Well, mostly edible? She hoped horse food didn't upset her stomach at all.

She quickly made her way back home. Despite being a horse city from the, uh, early 1900s, it worked much the same for basic motions. She scooted across with the crowd when the light was green, and she tried not to bump or jostle anyone. They seemed to carve her a little more space than she actually took. She considered that as she went. Was that the size of the horse they saw? She wasn't that much larger, she figured, just, well, four-legged. If she was moving on all fours, she'd take up about that much space.

There was her building and she sighed with relief as it came into view. She practically danced up the steps, glad to be home.

That feeling of elation faded somewhat as she opened the door to find a line of four ponies just in front of the building office.

They turned, male and female alike, to look at the pegasus they saw. "The owner's not in," reported a stallion that was second in line. "We're waiting for them."

Tabitha clenched her teeth. Shoot, more residents! Wait, that was good. They'd give her more bits. Sure, she was in a scary new world full of things she didn't understand, but her building, that was looking up! "One moment!" She hurried right past them and threw open the office door. "Let me just put this down and I'll be right with you."

They made appreciative noises that the owner had apparently turned up even as they complained at having to wait, but none of them left.

She quickly made her way back to her room and threw her backpack aside, planning to properly put it all away later. She grabbed her set of keys, all of them, and back down she went.

"Sorry to keep you all waiting. Thanks for forming a line, so, you first." She pointed at the mare at the front of the line, and so the interview began.

She went down the basic rules, and the mare didn't seem to mind them or find them unusual. Oddly, she knew what a stereo was. What time was Tabitha in?! She didn't know, but by the end, the mare was eager to move in. "First floor please," asked the earth pony. "If you have rooms left."

Left? That would be the first room she rented on that floor in quite a while. She produced a key and handed it over to the mare, who held it in a hoof despite how ridiculous that looked. Her eyes widened as whatever magic hid Tabitha collapsed for her.

"Don't freak out!" said Tabitha hastily. "I'm just the building owner. I won't hurt you if you don't hurt me."

"R-right..." She raised a brow before shaking her head. "Thank you..."

She checked in the two stallions next, getting much the same reaction. One of them became interested in a different way. The pegasus stallion blinked softly. "I was going... to ask you out. I guess that's off the table?" The way he said it implied he would go right on ahead if allowed.

She gave a wry smile. Males of any species... "It's not a good idea to date your landlord. Things get complicated."

"I guess that's true." He trotted off towards his top-floor apartment. He had asked specifically if he could enter through the roof, being a bird-horse. She would have to unlock that door, but she supposed that wasn't very unusual in a land of bird-horses.

The last pony entered and settled before her, watching her with piercing eyes and a shaggy pair of brows. "Greetings."

"Greetings?" Most of the horses she met didn't speak quite like that. "You're looking for a place?"

"Correct. I require a place of residence exactly twenty feet from the ground." He held up a hoof for emphasis.

"Second floor's the closest you'll get," explained Tabitha as she looked over the unicorn curiously.

"Excellent, is this sufficient?" He levitated over a bag of coins.

A little familiar with the coins and their numbers, she quickly counted up what he had given her. It was a lot, too much. "This covers the first and last month and about four months in the middle." It was also heavy, despite the coins being high-denomination. "Are you paying in advance?"

"That will be optimal," agreed the unicorn. "Do you accept?"

Tabitha set the bag aside. "Right right, here." She fished out some keys to a second floor room and handed them over.

She wasn't the only one that changed.

The unicorn swelled into a beast with huge jaws, clawed hands, but that same set of piercing eyes. "Thank you." He moved to turn as if nothing had happened.

"W-wait!" Tabitha called out, shaking a little. She looked over the bleached white fur her newest tenant. "You, um, I assumed you were a unicorn."

"I presumed you were a pegasus. We have both been educated today. On the fourteenth day of each month, I will be occupied from sunset to sunrise. It will not produce undue noise, but I must not be disturbed. I will pay promptly. Thank you." And off he went, trundling along on his tree-trunk wide legs. He was no horse, but he seemed... harmless?

Tabitha sank back in her office's chair, letting out the breath she didn't know she was holding. Whatever hid her worked both ways. What was going on?

Author's Notes:

Tabitha gets some food, and some new residents. She's pretty sure one of them is nothing but typos!