Dark settled into her room, but she didn't stay long. The thrumming pulse of power through her horn didn't let her rest. She had to know the secret of that place.

She thought to her new landlady. A nice enough... mare? That was a confusing topic, and she got the feeling Tabitha was just as confused about herself. For just a moment, Dark wondered if she had even tried a proper stallion for company, but there were more pressing matters at hoof.

Dark went from floor to floor, feeling where the energy gathered and ebbed. She mapped out the web of energy that made up that cursed place. It was good to have, but knowing the barest lay of the land was just the start, and not much of one in the end.

"You are in the way." Dark looked up to see a monster standing clearly there, dominating much of the hallway.

Monster. She'd seen such creatures before. Usually they were threats to ponykind, but this one seemed tame. It wasn't trying to use those big claws or hands to grab at her. He wasn't even scowling at her properly. As monsters went, it seemed to be missing things. "Mind your manners, beast."

"Do not address me that way," insisted the monster. "You know little, horse."

"Don't call me a horse."

"Return the favor."

They stared at one another in a tense moment. Dark snorted softly. "I am Dark Vision."

It smiled, a display that could be taken as a threat. "I am a guardian, same as you. Well met, Dark Vision."

Dark canted her head faintly. "Without a name then? Or do you consider it a fair trade to get a name and not return it?"

It offered no name. It just watched her.

She grunted softly. There were uses to be had. "Are you a legal tenant?"

"I am, as are you, or things would be different." It stood stock still, unnaturally set in place. "You are in the way."

She was reaching the monster's limits of patience, but that was fine, she would have answers. "Creature, since I have no other name, I would know the secrets of this place."

"You would wither on hearing it, wither or be driven mad in trying to solve it. Save your efforts for what can actually be done. Move."

"Are you the source of Tabitha's curses?"

That smile returned. "The source of those is far more fair. Of clear and naked flesh, tasteful attire, and polite tongue. She is many things I am not. Go and speak with her. I would enjoy that."

Not what she expected, but still... "You know it then?"

"You are in the way."

"I offer a pact." Dark held up a hoof. "Speak your demand."

The creature seemed surprised at that. "A question for a question. Do you care about the Caretaker?"

Caretaker? There was only one person she could put that label on. "I have only just met her. She is a citizen and good of heart, so far I see, so I will do my best." She frowned faintly. "Point me to this other."

"She is above, on the fourth floor. You will know it by the vines across the portal." He advanced to move past Dark Vision, but a hoof shot out in the way. "You try my patience..."

"Another pact." Her voice was low and even.

"You will not pay its price."

"Try me first."

They stared at one another a quiet moment before he nodded. "Very well. For another answer, I would borrow your talent. Magician, promise your skills are mine for a single task."

"On the condition that it harms not the country or those in it, I will grant that." She gave a shallow nod. "By what pact does this other hold sway over the 'Caretaker'?"

That smile returned. "The most insidious. Ties of emotion and propriety ensnare her, only growing worse with time. It would not be surprising to see them bound by your laws if they are allowed to proceed. The Caretaker is truly lamentable. I am leaving now." He stepped past her and moved for the elevator without being opposed again.

Dark Vision watched him go with a scowl. It was upsetting on some level to let such a beast of obvious power just leave unopposed, but he had done nothing wrong. If that was a he? She had no assurance the monster even understood the idea of genders, let alone possessed one. Monsters were curious creatures by nature.

Tabitha soaked. Warm soapy water felt great against her pony form. Fur was good for one thing for sure. It loved soaking up water, which made the experience all the better. She was starting to feel clean, and so many of the knots that had formed in her flesh were easing away a little.

She was whole again.

She rose from the water and pushed the drain, allowing the water to start flowing free. She would take a shower to rinse away the filth that remained and get well and truly clean. Pony, human, man or woman, she would be clean and whole.

Before she could start the shower, the water still flowing, she heard the beep that her computer only made when it got an email. Was the thing that threw her to that strange world trying to reach her? She clambered quickly from the tub and wrapped a towel around herself, then another before she advanced quickly towards it. "One moment. You're such a good damn spy, you should know that was a bad time."

She clip-clopped quickly through her apartment, reaching a dripping hand to quickly swat the mouse and wake up her screen before she pulled up the email.

Good Evening,

I wasn't sure you'd answer that quickly. My, aren't you polite. Had a hard day?

"You could say that." She glanced around, but felt more sure than ever that her words were going where they needed to be.

It's almost unfair, except for the part where it's all your fault.

"That isn't true." She clopped a hoof. "At no point did I ask her to... She raped me!"

That's more like it. You seemed ready to blame yourself and get all pouty. That would have been a shame. Now that we put that behind us, how was it?

"How was it?!" The question baffled her. "Do you normally ask people how it was after they get mugged?"

You weren't exactly mugged. You enjoyed some of it, even if it was against your reasoning consensus. Do you plan to become a man entirely?

"As if that was an option." She rolled her eyes. "No man, or woman, for me." She crossed her arms under her chest. "Just what I have now, really."

You're avoiding the question. Tell me, when's the last time you were drilled. Do you miss it?

"Do you... What are you?"

A fair question. I'm not a half-pony hermaphrodite, so there's that possibility removed. You seem tense. Do you need something sweet and gentle?

She raised a finger as a scathing comment was about to escape when a knock came from her door. She realized she was horribly dressed to receive anyone. "What is it? Don't come in!" She had remembered to lock the door, and felt reasonably safe as she wandered towards her bedroom.

"Is this a bad time?" asked a meek and familiar voice. Coco. "I can come back later..."

Tabitha sighed softly as she got a basic T-shirt on to cover her human nudity and clambered quickly into something to cover the rest in tasteful-looking suit. She really had to get some basic cheap clothes for her horse butt for when she really didn't care, as nice as having nice choices were.

She fiddled with the lock and got the door open to throw it wide. There was Coco, looking worried, but hopeful. "Hello there. I... You've been imposed on a lot, I know." Coco nodded firmly. "If you'd rather not talk right now, well, you just tell me, and off I go."

That was tempting, really tempting. But that wasn't being a good manager or a good friend. "What's up, Coco?"

She smiled at that. "I just want to say I've been thinking about... us, and you, and it isn't fair."

Huh? "Huh?"

"You were a mare, a human mare, for most of your life and I assume you were happy with that, right?" She stepped forward with an unsure step, but she wasn't stopped, so she took another. "And here I am, treating you like a stallion, ignoring the rest of you, just like I treat you like a pony and ignore the rest of you. That... just isn't fair."

That wasn't fair? "I'll tell you what isn't fair!" She had meant to speak normally, but it came out in a stressed yelp. Tabitha couldn't help it, and the words spilled from her. "I'm a... I cheated! I cheated on you and I don't even know what that means."

Coco blinked softly in confusion. "We... haven't actually gone steady, Tabitha, but thank you for being honest." She kicked out and closed the door behind her. "What happened? You're shaking dear. Please, let's just sit down."

They hadn't... Tabitha deflated as she realized she hadn't technically wronged Coco at all. A frantic little laugh bubbled from her, and it bothered her. She was going--

"This way." Coco was nudging her to lay down. "You've been through so much in such a short time. If you'd rather I go, I will, but I really think you need someone who wants nothing but you to be better." She smiled down at the sprawled centaur, tail swaying. "Just relax and I'll get some tea going." She trotted away and got to tea preparing, but she never really stopped talking. "So who was it with? Do you feel up to talking about that?"

She did and didn't at the same time. She tried to be a big girl about it. Sitting up in time for a tray of tea to come back, balanced on Coco's back, Tabitha accepted a glass. "You know Spring, the elf, right?"

"Of course." Coco carefully set the tray down and sat on her haunches before taking her own cup and sipping from it. "What about her?"

"She... has a huge fetish for the idea of a 'beast' pinning her down..." Should she continue?

"Go on, when you're ready." Coco smiled in that gentle way she had.

Tabitha tried to return the gesture, and she did continue. "I'm right where she wants it. I'm enough of a 'beast' to do... that to her, but enough of a human and woman to never really hurt her. She came when I was keyed up and got me in the right mindset, so there I was, doing what she wanted."

Coco was flushed red at the mental image of it. "She's the one that made you this way, was she not?"

"She was." Tabitha looked back on the situation. She had been made into Spring's perfect sexual object for her sick fetish. "I'm everything she wanted, crafted just so at her hands."

Coco took a deep drink of the tea. "So she did that, and it's... terrible and done. You aren't alone though." She smiled. "If... If you aren't completely sick when you see a mirror."

She caught at that. "N-no!" She liked who she was, even if she had a horse butt at the moment.

Coco looked so relieved. "Good... I like you too. Tabitha..." Her words came slower as she strained to reach for something but couldn't quite get a grasp of it. "Do you want a marefriend?"

Author's Notes:

Talking. A lot of talking. All those words. All those typos.