Dark glanced between the two surprised-looking mares. "Perhaps this hallway isn't the best place for this conversation, but you two are the only residents of this floor."

That much was true. Tabitha forced a slow breath. "Right, so... What do you mean?"

"I mean you are not Easy Glider, and yet... you are." She raised a brow. "You are in clear defiance of a few laws I'm sure you are unaware of, magical laws. You're breaking so many rules, just existing..." She raised a hoof to point at Tabitha. "While researching, I've learned more of this 'Easy Glider'."

Coco, despite her obvious fear, slid in front of Tabitha. "She's not trying to--"

"I am not accusing her." Dark tilted her head. "When one breaks a law of how things work, then things do not function that way. They need redefining, not to get angry at the one responsible."

Tabitha nudged her good friend aside. "Dark, you're being mysterious here. I have enough on my plate. Out with it."

"As you wish." Dark dipped her head. "I will cut to the quick. Easy Glider passed on."

Tabitha blinked slowly. "So... I'm not her... him, whatever?"

Dark raised a hoof. "She died right beside her father, on a trip. It was all tragic, and mostly unnoticed. It wasn't even properly reported, at least, not her. His death was noted. Then you came, as her. His will activated and his property was passed right on to the daughter that wasn't alive anymore. Normally, this would be about the time the mistake would be noticed, but there she is, running the building as if nothing had happened."

Tabitha tried to get ahead of things, to not just be a passive viewer of the mystery unfolding around her. "Spring."

"Precisely." Dark smiled. "I had wondered if you would suspect her."

Coco tilted her head with mounting confusion. "What does Spring have to do with this?"

Tabitha put a hand on her chest, her body trembling faintly. "She did her magic using them, or what was left of them. I don't know... how."

Dark nodded. "You're on the right path. You were a link. You were tied to her, and Spring made it full and strong, and you became part pony. She was linked just as firmly to her father, and she pulled at the wispy remnants of those cords. That's when you became partly male."

"Wait." Tabitha stood tall, even as worried gnawed at her. "Why don't you suspect me?"

"Very good." Dark flashed a smile. "You've profited from this quite a great deal. What reason is there for me to not think you stole that dead mare's property? Perhaps you even planned her death, and his as well. Here you are, taking the place of a citizen in good standing." She tapped at her chin. "All very tra--"

Coco stormed forward. She didn't strike Dark, that wasn't in her, but she thrust her face in the unicorn's own. "You stop saying things like that! She's a victim!"

Tabitha reached with a hand and pulled Coco back gently. "I don't think she went through all this conversation just to arrest me, and if she wanted to zap me with magic, there isn't much I could do about it."

Dark inclined her head. "It's good to have sure allies, even if there would be little she could do if things fell to proper blows. I would hope, however, that it never descends that far." She offered out her hoof. "I believe what you have reported to me. You are a victim, and not of Spring, at least, not only."

Tabitha stroked Coco's mane once before she took the hoof Dark offered. "If you don't mind my asking, why do you sound so confident?"

"Is it not obvious?" Dark looked up to the light of the hallway. "Your building has too many things that do not fit. They support your claim more loudly than any scream or plea that came from you. You are from a place that is not our own, and both you and this building struggle to comply with Equestria's rules. I spoke to your repair ponies, and the stories they told... Yes, your building is infested with otherworldly things far beyond their understanding, and they've been there long before Easy Glider left us."

Coco thrust a hoof back at her friend. "So what do you want her to do about it? And me?!" She thumped that hoof on the ground. "This isn't fair!"

Dark shook her head at Coco. "Be still. I'm not asking you to cease the path you've chosen. You two seem good for each other, even if filly fooling strikes me as odd." Even as Coco moved to object, Dark waved it away. "I understand this doesn't... quite fit that definition. It's just another way our friend here breaks rules. This reminds me, we do need to do something about that unwanted signaling." She raised a brow. "There once was a mare that couldn't help but signal every stallion she saw. It caused quite a bit of ruckus and embarrassment. Perfectly good stallions would think she had a genuine interest in them. They'd follow her somewhere private..."

Tabitha cringed, imagining how that played out. "I imagine, at the least, her reputation turned to shit."

"Crude, but yes." Dark glanced at Coco. "How much of your 'love' is genuine?"

Coco went red with fury and shame together. "I'm not swept away by it, not like some ponies!"

Dark flashed a smile that seemed somehow sinister. "If that helps you sleep at night, but we are all animals. We must obey our senses, or we wouldn't be who we are. You would be better being honest with yourself." She turned her head to Tabitha. "Be that as it may, there remain mysteries to unravel, regarding this place, its importance, you, and that elf."

Tabitha clenched a fist even as she tried to puzzle through it. "Even if you... say that, aren't you? I mean, you're an animal, right?"

"As are you." Dark nodded. "What of it?"

Coco thrust a hoof at Dark. "Why aren't you affected then?"

"Who said I'm not?" Dark raised a brow even as she shook her head. "If I were to forget my duties and surrender, I would make full use of the 'beast' Spring has formed. As it is, I love Princess Luna more. Breeding would make me ineligible to continue her work. I understand there is temptation. Of course there is. Even as part of me quails with disgust, another wants to do unseemly things. I accept them all as myself. Why shouldn't I?"

Tabitha half turned away, towards Coco's apartment. "Bring me those papers. For now, I don't think there's much I can do."

"To a degree." Dark turned back towards the elevators. "Continue your task. This place needs a manager, and you've accomplished that nicely. Mare or stallion, human or pony, that matters little." She trotted away. With the soft jingle of the bell, she stepped aboard the elevator and was soon gone.

Coco was watching her friend shake faintly. "It's alright..."

"What about that is alright?!" Tabitha hadn't meant to say it so loudly, but it had been done. She tried to control herself, lowering her voice. "This is thirteen flavors of fucked up."

Coco reached out and gently ran a hoof over Tabitha's pony chest. "Well... fine! I'll admit it. I really like it. When I'm close enough to be in that scent, I get happy and relaxed. I feel like nothing can hurt me. I feel... like I have the best stallion ever, and then I remember who it is." She smiled a little wider. "I remember, and I know even that feeling pales. I don't have the best stallion ever." She put a hoof over her own chest. "I have the best pony, mare or stallion. Both or neither. Now... would you like to see those clothes?"

Seeing some clothes sounded like a great idea. "Right now, that sounds great." She followed after Coco. "Stupid question though."

"Hmm?"

"What about as... a mare?" Tabitha raised a brow. "I am both, aren't I?"

Coco flushed faintly. "You are... I... I really don't know. I'm so sorry. I don't know what a mare should smell like, besides myself, and I don't... feel anything specific to that."

Both of her would-be lovers were attracted to her male scent, which bothered Tabitha the more she thought about it. She was a woman! She had been a woman for a lot longer than she'd had the stallion parts grafted onto her along with the horse butt. Why, if anything, was that not drawing anything?

Coco could see thoughts storming through Tabitha's head. "There is one pony that was certainly attracted to you, um, as a mare." She nudged open the door to her place. "Razz Berry wanted to be your stallion for sure. He... liked you before you were even part pony, and I don't think that decreased at all." She slipped inside.

Tabitha followed after Coco, closing the door behind. "He did..." But he was gone, at least romantically. He had a mare and he was trying so hard to be a good boy, er, coltfriend. Watching him try was amusing at times, but it was also sincere, and she had to smile on it. She wanted him to succeed, even as part of her lamented the loss of the one person that cared she was female. "So, about that dr--" She trailed off as the ponyquin came into view, clumsily altered as it was. It was a ponyquin with a bad modification to be a centaur, just like Tabitha.

It wore soft pink from shoulders down to its tail. Pinks and blues, slightly ruffled, but mostly made for someone who wanted to be able to move. It was all made to work together, and Tabitha thought it did. The pink and blue crashing together also reminded her of herself. Male and female, together, just the same. She reached for the fabric and brushed gently along it. The blues were especially captivating.

"Rarity let me keep some of her fabric." Coco was smiling brightly. "That's the blue you've noticed. Isn't it lovely?"

Tabitha enjoyed the feel of that fabric against her skin, and she found the slits where wings could slip right through before folding down over it, or so she imagined. It wasn't just a special outfit, it was specifically hers. She smiled. "How much do I owe you?"

Coco tried to demure a bit, looking guilty, but Tabitha would have none of it. There were some strong words shared, and a hug or two, but a price was reached to be fair to the seamstress' time and materials. "I don't care if we do become tied. You did work, real work, and this..." She gestured at the outfit. "This is your work. I'm paying for it."

With some assistance, Tabitha got out of her old clothes and tried out her new outfit. The material felt even better against her when she was wearing it. Against her fur, it was muted. It wasn't bad, but she could feel it so much more strongly against her belly, chest, and shoulders. It almost emphasized to her as her tail lashed that she was still at least partially human, and proud of the fact.

Author's Notes:

The cure to bad moods? New outfits! Typos may help too..