Tabitha explored the halls of the building she knew so well. She didn't need to find her way, she was inspecting. The repair ponies were working well and hard. She'd almost hired them as actual employees instead of contractors, with the constant work she had for them, catching up with unfortunate neglect she had managed to let build up.

She was fully dressed, and had her scent blocking rock on her. She felt... solid, much like that rock. She wanted to believe that it was blocking it from reaching her, but even her basic biology told her the basic hormones of what she was still coursed through her, encouraging her to be fruitful and multiply.

God would be so proud.

As if God were involved.

It wasn't that Tabitha was an atheist, because she wasn't. She felt certain her life was being watched over. It was mildly upsetting that she had met one of those forces and it was a bit of an asshole! She hoped 'the big guy' was a bit nicer than The Text. Then there was Spring...

"I collect overlords." She rolled her eyes as she turned a corner. Things were looking... acceptable. "It needs a fresh paint job, all of it." She made a quick jot in her pad. If she could feel better in new clothes, why couldn't the building benefit from a makeover? Some freshening up would make it look younger and draw in more clients.

"Hey." Bubbles approached from the opposing direction. Though Tabitha was wary, Bubbles didn't look like she was ready to attack. "Um, just... you know, patrolling?"

Tabitha relaxed and nodded. Having Bubbles doing her job was a big sign, small as it might ultimately be. "Speaking of that--" Bubbles tensed. "--It's not a lecture. This is on me. You work for me, and here we are, getting all crossed up. I owe you a huge apology. As your boss, I fucked that right up."

Bubbles raised her head and her horn defiantly. "Lesser ponies would walk out on you and sue you into the ground."

Tabitha offered a hand. "Good thing I only deal with larger ponies than that. Seriously, I know how that went down was a mess."

Bubbles peered at the hand a moment before she offered an uncertain hoof. "What are you gonna do about it?"

What could she do? "I can't control anyone else besides myself. Not even you. You could quit any time and I couldn't stop that. So, what can I do? Try to be a better boss, and a friend."

Bubbles rolled her eyes. "Better friend? You'ze have to be a friend first, you oversexed horndog of a pony." She leaned in a little. "Were you really ready to do what you tried to do?"

Tried to do? It took Tabitha a moment to penetrate the fog of that moment and remember when she was clambering up on Bubbles, ready to make a mate out of her. "O-oh! Let's..."

"Give me a serious answer." Bubbles hiked a brow. "If I hadn't jumped away, and you had your way, then what?"

Tabitha imagined how the tawdry scene may have played out, with a filled and angry Bubbles at the end. Maybe another foal on the way? She really needed to know how that worked with ponies. Could they conceive any time like humans? She'd been told that wasn't how it 'generally' worked but generally and always or never... Those were all different terms. Bloody hell, she was a pony. It mattered.

Tabitha took a little breath, calming herself. "I would try to calm myself after it was done, and handle it responsibly."

Bubbles waved a hoof. "So if I became your pissed off as hell foalmomma, maybe ready to run to the damned cops about you raping me?"

"I would support you, and the child, if that happened. If you ratted me out..." She'd be pissed, but she... "I guess I'd go to jail." Was pony jail like human jail? She preferred to not find out. "I'd deserve it."

"Damn right you would!" She stomped a hoof but that fury ebbed from her gently. "I'm glad ya see it that way. Ya ain't my damn coltfriend. Ya don't get to just have yer way with me!" She snorted, fighting a fierce battle between her anger and being reasonable. "I'd tell you to give my damn coltfriend back, but that'd tick him off something fierce. Nah, he's his own stallion..." Her eyes half-lidded. "It pisses me off so bad."

Tabitha could feel the hurt there in those words. "Hey, do you need the day off?"

"What? Forget that noise. I like the money, and doing my job helps keep my head on straight." She moved to walk past Tabitha. "Ya ain't getting rid of me that damn easy, shoot."

Bubbles was soon gone with an angry lashing of her tail. Tabitha would keep her unicorn guard, and she wasn't upset to have her.

Another thought tickled at Tabitha. Sure, Coco felt safe she wasn't going that way, but what assurances did Tabitha have? She didn't have a clue about it.

She needed a doctor.

Tabitha strode for the elevator and rode downward, only for it to stop on the second floor.

A familiar yeti stepped aboard, nodding at her. "Caretaker."

She had been addressed. Tabitha was certain she could get a single question from the monster. "Say, why do things that come out of the doors never stay around?"

The monster paused a moment. "An excellent question. Without the signing of a contract... without the consent of the Caretaker, they are trespassers and brigands. Thrown free of those walls, they are not free to return easily." He looked her over. "You seem comfortable with this land." It wasn't a question. "May your family be as large as you wish." He stepped free as the doors opened and made his way purposefully to the streets.

Tabitha followed a bit more slowly. Those were kind words, but troubling on another level. She usually saw more than the ponies, but her residents, the 'monsters', they saw more than her. Being in the middle seemed the most awkward place to be.

She stepped out and trotted down the steps to the sidewalk. "Excuse me." A passing pony looked up at her curiously. "Which way to the closest clinic?" No reason to go rushing to the biggest hospital with the biggest bills.

The pony blinked at the question. "Are you hurt, ma'am?" Tabitha shook her head. "Oh, just want a doc?" He relaxed once it seemed there was no emergency. "Doc Remedy's a good pony. I see him for everything and he ain't even that far." He gave the directions that only led a few blocks away. "Good luck!"

Information in hand, she made an off-handed salute. The pony seemed to get it, somehow, and trotted off along his merry way.

Tabitha moved on towards her quarry, watching the city as she went. The building she was pointed to was an office building, and the plaque in the lobby made it clear it was for professionals to meet with people, including a dentist and a general doctor. That was her pony.

She hopped up some stairs and down the hallway before she met a closed door. Unsure, she rapped the back of a hand on it.

"Who's that?" an unfamiliar male voice called. "One moment."

There was a delay before the door glowed and opened, revealing a late-middle aged unicorn. "He-llo?" He tilted his head. "I'm afraid you have me at a loss, miss...?"

"Tabitha. Tabitha Taylor." She offered a hand and it was met with a hoof in kind. "I have a few medical questions."

He seemed surprised pleasantly. "It's rare I see another pony interested in such things besides curing what ails them. You seem fine, Miss Taylor?"

Remedy moved out of the way and waved his new client inside. "Come in, let's have a talk."

That was quite different than how Tabitha remembered approaching doctors in the human world. No setting up an appointment? No insurance questions? She stepped in despite those worries, looking around.

The office itself looked familiar and comforting. There was a degree hanging on the wall, some comfy chairs beside magazines for waiting. It was a doctor's waiting room. He led her beyond it though, into his office. He sat behind his desk on a large comfy chair. "Now then, what's on your mind?"

Tabitha parked herself in front of the desk. While there were chairs, sitting in them tended to make her tower over others doing the same. Sitting on the floor put her just about right, with her human torso jutting up. "I confess, this isn't entirely for curiosity. I have questions regarding the pony, um, reproductive cycle?" She felt awkward asking it.

The doctor looked quite baffled. "Oh! Well..." He glanced left and right. "Should I assume, madame, you know the gross basics?"

Tabitha made a vague gesture. "Tab A, Slot B, Baby happens after a while of growing fat for the mother. I know the basics, but that's about it. Besides that, assume nothing."

Remedy jumped to a conclusion that was dangerously close. "Oh! Are you afraid of... that?" He rolled a hoof. "Unless you were in season, that isn't a strong risk."

Tabitha let out a soft grunt. "Doctor--"

"Oh, just call me Remedy."

"Remedy." She forced a smile. "I don't know if I'm in season, or how assured that would be even if I was or was not."

"I see..." He didn't sound like he saw it. "Well, hop up here." He rose and moved to a flat table. "Let's have a look at you, if you don't mind. You look... like a pony, where it counts? Were your parents ponies?"

If only it was so simple. "I spent most of my life without the pony parts." She hopped up on the table and settled down as best she could. "Have a look." Being shy with a doctor wouldn't help. If he had to poke sensitive bits, that was his job.

"Oh my..." His magic had gripped her tail and lifted it free and he could see her... odd nature. "I should imagine having both like that would render both non-functional and sterile besides."

"Let's assume not." Tabitha shook her head a little. "Assume it all worked... like magic."

"Like magic," echoed the unicorn before he started. "Did magic do this?!"

"That's what I've been getting at, Remedy."

"I didn't realize..." He drew some tools and had her spread open for his analytic eyes. "With the right spell, anything is, in theory, possible. You're right, we should assume nothing. I... Apologies for these prying questions. They're for your benefit, but how much function can you prove at this point?"

This promised to be a long visit. Tabitha tried to ignore the sensation of the tools under her tail as she began to explain just how much she did know about how things functioned with her magically altered form.

Author's Notes:

Doctor, we have typos! We need corrections, stat!