Tabitha got dressed and headed downstairs to her office to get to work. As she rode the elevator down, she suddenly felt as if she wasn't alone in that small room. She spun in place on the figure of Spring, smiling in her cocky and sure way.

"Horse Lover..."

"I said to--"

"You said to cease using titles that are not accurate."

Tabitha went red. She'd had a feeling this might happen, but had hoped against hope that it might not. "One time..."

Spring waved a finger. "I've seen a man called such a thing for 'one time' before. You truly are a raunchy beast." Her words were scathing, but the look she gave was far from scornful. There was a hunger in those eyes.

Tabitha clopped the bottom of the moving elevator. "You made me!"

"So I did... But I didn't force your hand. You made that decision." She raised a brow. "Don't look so stricken. You're a beast. It's only natural that you'd feel the urges of that animal's member and act on it. I wonder how long it will be before you begin to attack, claiming random females as your own? Or perhaps you still think of yourself as more woman than man?"

"Where are you going with this?" Tabitha took a step towards her interloper even as the door slid open, revealing the lobby. "I have to get to work."

"Don't allow me to bar the way." She followed even as Tabitha moved towards her office. "I am learning you, Caretaker. I can only hope you are also learning. I did promise to reveal things."

Tabitha fished out the key to the office and had it unlocked swiftly. "I'm learning every word counts with you, and what you say can be very far from what you mean."

"I don't lie." She scowled a bit at the implication.

"Of course not." Tabitha sighed as she moved inside, and her guest moved right along with her. She turned back to the elf. "So admit it. You made me into some kind of sick fantasy for you."

"That is clearly not true." She raised a brow. "You are very real, not a fantasy."

Tabitha was tired of the ambiguity. "You want to be a horse lover."

"Perish the thought." Her face distorted in disgust. "The very thought of being... overpowered by some feral horse, made to serve as its mate despite the obvious differences in anatomy. It would be awful." She waved the notion away.

Tabitha stepped towards Spring. "But you wouldn't stop the horse from doing it." There was no reply, just that glare. Tabitha felt all the more convinced of what she thought. "Spring..." She could take advantage of the elf, or so she thought firmly, but was that a thing she even wanted? Her eyes took in the appealing curves of Spring. Part of her wanted to do just that. A lot of her didn't. "Look, even if I swung th--"

"You already did, Tabitha." Spring rolled a hand. "You don't deny that pleasure. At least, not when it most counted." Her eyes went half-lidded as she looked Tabitha over. "I don't think less of you. It's only natural."

Of course it was natural. It was exactly what Spring fashioned her for. The favor for her had been turned towards Spring's deviant needs. Tabitha let out a little sigh as she circled her desk and settled before it. "I'd like... Actually there's a good question."

"Hmm?"

"What do you do? You didn't come here as a whimsy, I imagine. What's your job?" Tabitha raised a brow. "You have a boss, you obviously do something."

"It was no whimsy that guided me here," agreed Spring, but she didn't answer the question.

Tabitha rolled a hand. "And the reason is...?

Spring scowled. "So direct. It has naught to do with you, Caretaker."

"You live in my home, changed me into a half horse, and I'm pretty sure you're hunting me in the least direct way possible." Spring colored faintly at that accusation. "You've made it my business, Spring. Out with it."

The elf went silent a moment, staring directly at Tabitha. She drew in a soft breath. "Very well. I would see our relationship grow deeper, so I will assent to this request."

Tabitha wasn't sure about relationships and deepening, but information she could agree with. "Go on."

"I have not lied," she began, standing confidently. "I was the student of that wizard, but while he delved into the mystery of life itself, I found such... tiring. All that work, for little to no reward. Even the unaging know when a task has no clear end." She raised a brow. "I performed less... grand but much more immediate things with it."

"Like turning a woman into a half-horse?" Tabitha wasn't sure exactly how pissed she should be. "And half-male while you were in there?"

"You didn't make your request, so you got what I decided you'd like." Spring leaned forward. "I would say I was correct. You enjoy the life of a beast, while performing the duties of those higher. I'm almost envious, being able to draw from those two pleasures so equally."

Tabitha sagged a little. "Let's stay on task. Spring, that's a great history, but how did it result in you being sent here?"

"I would rather not say."

"But you will." Tabitha leaned forward.

"I will not." Spring put her hands on her hips. "Or will you force me?"

Tabitha had a feeling that forcing Spring might be just what the elf desired, especially if rough touching was involved in that forcing... The elf was an alien, but her mysteries were becoming more clear. Tabitha could see the... person. There was a person there. A needy person. Despite Spring's ways, Tabitha actually felt a little pang of regret. Was Spring really that lonely? "Do elves normally have..." She realized elves don't have a word for friend. "Do they have others they associate with on a regular basis?"

"Many," she admitted. "I was tolerated by my parents and did my best to make their investment worthy, then I went to my teacher. He had one other student at the time... I think he stays true to our mentor's vision, all the better. Let him take that task, as I shall not."

Tabitha leaned back a little, drawing a pad from her desk. "And if you were given full leave, what would you do?"

Spring seemed surprised at the phrasing. "You continue to astound, Ca--Tabitha." She took a step towards the desk. "I was right to draw you closer."

Tabitha raised a brow. "Now we're being blunt about it?"

Spring went from surprise to confusion quickly, frowning a little. "I have no idea of what you speak. Our relation is clear. We are 'friends', are we not?"

Tabitha had meant the more personal parts of things, but she didn't see how to approach that directly. "Sorry, you were saying? What would you do?"

"I..." Even the delay there was a large hint to Tabitha. The elf hadn't even thought of what she wanted to do. If she was sent with a purpose, she'd know it.

"You were banished," spoke Tabitha clearly. Spring paled, so Tabitha continued. "You came here with what you had. You're paying me with the treasure you brought with you, which will eventually run out. You took the offer of marriage hoping that it'd erase the need for it." Spring stammered, words denied that skilled tongue. Tabitha couldn't help but feel good about that. "You don't want me to inform your people at home because if they knew you were using your magic like this--" she waved back at her horse half. "--they would punish you severely, and maybe drag you back home, where you don't want to be."

Spring shivered in place. There were no tears in her eyes, but she looked destroyed, quaking and wide-eyed.

Tabitha leaned forward, resting on her elbows. "And if they knew you were hoping to be pinned by your very own creation, a beast of your design... Imagine the scorn."

"No!" Spring slapped a hand down on the desk. "No! You won't tell them that! Please..."

"So I'm doing you a favor?" She raised a brow at the emotionally tipped elf.

"Y-yes... Yes... If you swear silence in this, then it is a favor, to be returned."

Tabitha raised a finger. "When I desire, no sooner."

"Yes, fine! No more speaking of that. Damnable Caretaker! I thought... You are full of surprises and wit where I thought you were slow." Her words were faint praise, but her tone implied she was impressed. "You know the truth of it."

Tabitha couldn't help but feel a little good, swelling with pride at her step. There was still more to know, and the answers she got from Spring were a lot easier to parse and get than the monster on the second floor. "What is a Caretaker?"

She raised a brow. "You. You are a Caretaker."

Tabitha rolled a hand. "I know that. What is expected of a Caretaker?"

"You truly do not know?" She smiled. "I already owe you a favor, Tabitha. I see no reason to give you things for free."

Tabitha grunted softly. "I thought we were 'friends'?"

"Friends do not hold secrets for ransom, Caretaker."

Tabitha flinched. There was a certain truth there... If she was to have Spring as a friend, she couldn't also handle her as a business-dealing alien. "Right... Are you willing to be a friend, a real friend?"

"Am I not already?" She sounded genuinely surprised. "Tabitha, our conversations are so... heavy. Not even a single unguarded word comes from you of late." A smile spread on her plump lips. "You continue to amaze me, even as you disappoint me."

"You taught me!" spat out Tabitha with a frown. "When I talked with you n--"

"You became a beast." She crossed her arms under her chest. "And you make a fine animal, and a Caretaker as well. I would know you better." She backed away with a rush of leaves, gone without a chance to reply.

Tabitha put a hand to the side of her head. She had an elf that wanted to be her 'friend', of its own understanding, with benefits if at all possible. An old thought tickled at her from earlier in the conversation. "Is she running out of money?" It was a very real possibility, that the elf wanted her not just for carnality, but to spare her weak finances.

"Excuse me?" A mare stood at the door, an earth pony with a smile. "Are you the owner?"

The possibility of a new tenant brought a smile to her face and Tabitha greeted her newest customer.

Author's Notes:

Did you forget Spring? She didn't forget you, or your typos, beast.