The morning sun seeped into the windows, bringing with it a cheerful warmth. Sandra groaned with a yawn, sitting up with a stretch. "Lou?" She called out, eyes fluttering open. What she hadn't expected was to wake up as a human and sitting on a man's chest. She slipped off to the side, hoping that hadn't hurt him.
"Ah, I'm up!" The other woke with a start. He sat up, a hairy arm stretched to rub at his eyes. "Well, at least you're human again. Did you sleep okay?"
She turned her back to him, picking at the clothes that were somewhat loose on her frame. "Yeah." Her tone wasn't entirely confident. "I, uh. This will sound stupid as hell, Louis, but I—" She dusted herself off lightly. "I'm not used to sleeping with other people."
"I know, you live alone, or lived alone." He crept up beside her. "If you feel uncomfortable, just say so."
She put on a brave face, but his tone made her waver. "It's, it's fine. Maybe I just need some space?" She shook her head violently, her cheeks heating up. "That came out odd. You've been nothing but kind to me." She hooked an arm around him, just to push him away. "But get dressed. I only want to see you naked when there's actual fur involved."
"But I thought you liked human me!" He teased with a grin. "I have some muscle going."
She did her best to ignore the toned abs that he displayed. "Sure, yeah." She looked away, colored darkly. "You are a handsome enough human male. I'm a pretty enough human female. We all got all the parts." She rubbed at one arm with the other hand. "I'm just a little off-kilter, okay? I'll get over it, give me some time." She covered her eyes. "At least get the rest of your clothes on!"
"Oh, sorry." Louis gave her a bit more room, hunting for the various parts to his outfit. "So, about breakfast?"
She relaxed and lowered her hands. "We were up late, and we didn't go shopping yet." She dropped a hand to her tummy. "I'll just make do with a couple slices of toast."
"This isn't your house." Louis strode confidently into his kitchen and dug out some supplies he knew were there. "Got some toaster pastries right here." He dropped two in the toaster and plunged them down to start cooking. "Orange juice over here." He poured two tall glasses. "Breakfast of champions!"
She quirked up a brow. "Okay, that's better than what I was planning on." She claimed one glass and the first pastry out. "What's on the schedule for today?"
He hiked a thumb. "I have bad news that's bothering me. We squished the icky thing, which is good, but it was there, which means they may already know where you ran off to."
"Great. I thought I was safer than that." She frowned a moment. "But at least you killed it, right?" She flexed a hand idly. "I would have been worried about the damn thing sitting in your garage."
"Right, yeah, squished." He chewed on his pastry thoughtfully. "But it was there, telling them maybe where it was. I can't say this house, much as I love it, is totes secure right now."
She leaned against his chest. "Guess that means we get to go somewhere else, right?"
He patted her head. "We'll hang out here another day or two and let our friends do their work. Just relax for once, okay? That's what you came here to do." He huffed gently. "I do not have a spare house. Not many people do who aren't stupidly rich, which neither of us are."
She smirked, folding her arms. "That's an understatement. But I don't want you to have to worry about me and you know I'll pay you rent for—"
"Rent's not an issue, and you know it." He waved that off. "I paid this place off. It would be nice to not see it be damaged by supernatural whatevers though. The not knowing is legit the worst part." He rubbed at his head a moment to ease a tension headache. "So! Some ponies have supernatural buddies. You have any?"
Sandra considered that. "I've only talked to them, and it was only once, really. I mean, I didn't go out of my way, but I don't think I've had much reason to do that." She went over to her computer, trailing her fingers over the tower. "I talk mostly on this, to a lot of people I'll never meet."
"Vtuber, right. People that will never be more than just a name." He sipped at his drink, then set it aside to make a cup of coffee. "Doesn't that ever make you a little sad?"
"Not until you said it like that." She fixed him with a mighty glare. "I'd ask them, but how do I ask a bunch of strangers for supernatural help without coming off sounding like I'm crazy?" She sighed. "You can't. Even if they know I'm a pony, you don't get those kinds of favors, usually, and you don't go around asking for them."
Louis joined her at the computer desk, setting down a second coffee for her to take. "They don't even know that. Your pony's just a mask."
"Admitting I'm a pony to people would get me in trouble." She took the coffee. "So, yeah, even if one of my fans is some kind of awesome supernatural thing, how would I reach out?" She sipped at the drink, wincing slightly. "You got this wrong."
He rubbed at the back of his head, but his gaze didn't shy away. "I know it's a little weak." He took another pull anyway. "I'm a little distracted by all this. I have a job, I work it. No supernatural anything but myself, so don't look at me."
"And if you hear from our friends?"
"I hope that happens fast." He tapped the table, not entirely pleased with the current situation. "Now I'm wondering if we should reach out to see if they have some kind of safehouse or something?"
Sandra took another sip, humming to herself. "I guess it can't hurt to ask. Maybe they can put us in touch with someone." She waved towards Louis' phone, in his pocket. "Give them a call."
"I will, at work." He shrugged with a little snort. "Some of us have that. Do you need anything before I go?"
Sandra swept up his phone, punching in the code. "Yeah, I can just call them." She plopped onto the couch, perching on the edge.
She jumped as his hand came down, reclaiming his phone. "I need that." He stuffed it in his pant pocket and headed for the door. "Call me if anything comes up."
"Wait, seriously? But I'm not working." Her mouth fell open. "You're serious." She pouted, folding her arms. "Fine. You don't want me to be on your phone, I guess." She crossed her arms, but let him head off. "Have one of my own." She dug out hers, but it didn't have the number to dial up the herd. "I really should have added that contact."
So she was left to wait for him to get home.
But as it got later in the day, that grew less attractive. "I know it's not even noon yet, but I'm bored." She glanced at her computer, considering. "Maybe it's time to stream."
She hopped over, flipping her ponytail over her shoulder. "Is my pony self going to be my coping mechanism right now? It's not the worst idea, is it? At least I can work for a little while." She loaded up her streaming platform and got her virtual avatar ready to go, smiling at her, unaware of the problems her human self faced. "Hello, my herd! Raspberry Sunrise here."
"Looks like you're all ready to get going! I can tell I missed some of you." She waved with a wide smile. "Sorry for going absent on you! Let's make up for it, today!" She blew a kiss, her avatar imitating the motion a bit awkwardly, but her audience seemed to get the idea. "Let's start with some gaming today! Something chill and fun."
She grabbed a game and fired it up, beginning the casual commentary she was known for. "See, here's where the bees all attack as one." She wasn't the best gamer around, by quite some measure, but they were there to watch her fumble, and to listen to her talk about it, not to see her blaze through it all. Those were other streamers.
A message popped up. She usually ignored the ones that came unsolicited, but this one had a big superchat attached. They had tipped her, big. "Woah, thanks J202! You're keeping us going with that big chat!" She clicked the chat to see the contents. "Sent you a special gift, check your email," she read aloud. "How mysterious!" She tensed, worrying about if that was her stalker again. "I'll check that out in a little bit. This next part, you have to be really careful."
She moved on to the next part of the level. It was a puzzle and she was failing it spectacularly. "I should just look up the solution." She laughed a bit, pausing the game, but not her chatter. "This feels like one of those 'you have to think like the guys that made this game,' kind of puzzles, you know?"
She pulled up an image of the level, examining the walls and trying to think her way through the problem. "Oh, it's that one?" She went back to the level, tapping a few buttons to switch to a new angle on it. "So that's how you get over that." She took a deep breath. "I have no clue what I'm doing, but let's get this done!" Her fans cheered her on as she made progress through the game. They weren't there to see her be a master, just for her. She liked that part. "I can get through this with the help of my herd!" The chat exploded with cries of enthusiastic support.
But she did have something she wanted to do. "Just a second. I promised J202 a look at this gift." She pulled her eyes away from the game, clicking over to her email.
Hello, little pony. I've been a fan for ages. You're a good pony, and some very bad things have their eyes on you. I want to help. This carrot isn't poisoned. Little pony, you live in a scary world, so you may not trust me, but I am a friend.
A phone number was attached at the bottom of the message. Raspberry grimaced, but decided against reading the letter out loud. It was clearly meant of her real self. "That was so very nice of you, J202! Now, this next part looks tricky."
Her mood sobered up considerably. She pushed herself through the stream, chatting all the while. She reached the end of a stage and signed off with smiles and waves at her virtual herdmates. "Another day, another stream complete." She sat back heavily in her chair. "And a new mystery to deal with."
Sandra pulled that email up, pondering it. "The numbers look legit, but there's no way it's a good thing." She picked up her phone. "Gonna have to show you, Lucky." She frowned. "Should I have my friend take a look at this?" She trailed her fingers over the phone. "Or maybe this is one bright spot in the cloud?" She took a cooling breath. "Laughter. I am laughter. See the bright side. Smile." She forced herself to smile despite it all. "There you are, Raspberry."
She found herself looking up at the door, then at the clock. "He should be back soon." She wandered into the kitchen, searching the cabinets for something to snack on. There was some junkfood for her to nibble on, but the thoughts of that number kept tumbling about in her mind. "Do I call them?" She sat down on the sofa and sank back, staring up at the ceiling. "I don't know what to do." She spread her arms, groaning loudly.
But answers weren't coming to her, despite how much she wanted it to. She went ahead and dialed the number, teeth clenched as she did so. "Please don't be a creep."
She was greeted by a silky smooth voice. "Thank you for calling, little pony. I was worried that I'd have to come and fetch you myself."
Sandra raised a brow, at once calmed and every nerve on fire. That voice sounded friendly, and female, but also, what? "Come fetch me?"
"You're not safe, little pony. I'd hate for an innocent little thing like you to get hurt." The voice raised in volume, like it was getting closer to the phone. "You wandered in front of the wrong set of eyes. You will be hurt, badly, unless you are rescued, little pony. I don't like the idea of cute little horses getting hurt."
Sandra scrambled to her feet, standing stiffly. "I don't like the idea of getting hurt either, but I don't know who you are." Her heart skipped a beat. "Are you, uh, from the channel?"
"J202," sang the mysterious voice. "And a bonafide furry for over a decade. A fuzzy creature that doesn't also have anger issues a mile wide? Sign me up." She spoke with a teasing lilt. "I'd love to claim my intentions were entirely pure, but that would be a lie, and I want us to be honest with each other."
Sandra froze in place, uncertain what to do. "Honest, eh?"
"Yes!" The voice crackled a little with eagerness. "Honest. Honesty is the best policy, even if it is painful. Little pony, I want to gently scratch behind one of your ears and find the spot that makes it quiver, but I also want to keep you safe from the icky things trailing after you."
Sandra swallowed hard. "That's, that's very direct."
"I want to make my interest in you very clear, little pony." A sigh. "But the reality is that some horrible things are after you, and I don't want to see them snuff the joy in you. I love your streams, big fan." A soft pop could be heard. Bubblegum? "Now, let's get down to business. We're short on time."