Little Hooves in a Dark World

by David Silver

4 - Herd Meeting

Sandra fidgeted in her seat. Around her, people were chatting animatedly about all kinds of things. Some of them looked human, others were on all four hooves and swishing their tails as they chatted. Most of them were ponies, either way, or a very closely involved human.

The room was a lounge, full of people and ponies relaxing on beanbag chairs or cushions, with water, soda, and other beverages available to drink. "If there are snacks, I'm missing them." Lucky sank to his haunches next to Sandra. "Not dropping your tail?"

"Not everyone is." Sandra looked from human-shape to human-shape. "I'm a little tense."

Lucky settled a hoof on her shoulder. "You can just share the address, and then we'll talk about ways to track him down. It won't be more than that."

"And they're coming from far away just for that." Sandra let out a sigh and sat back. "Sorry, being negative. They're here, and we did call this. Let's have some faith in our fellow ponies, right?"

"They're good ponies, all of them." Lucky stood. "Time to get this started." He turned to face as much of the crowd as he could at once. "Good evening, everypony. Thank you all for coming on such short notice. I know we normally have more warning about these."

He turned and trotted his way to the center of the room, near the projector screen. "Tonight's meeting has a serious topic. We're gathered to help one of our own with an unusual and upsetting issue." He beckoned at Sandra with a curling hoof. "Come on up."

Sandra stepped forward, falling down to all fours on the way and becoming Raspberry. "Hey, my herdmates." It sounded so different, speaking that tagline to other actual ponies instead of her online friends and watchers. "This is kinda scary, kinda creepy, and all messed up." She joined Lucky in the center of the room. "But thank you all for being here to help. And thanks, Lucky."

She cleared her throat. "The quick of it is, some people are harassing me, both online and in the real world." She rubbed a hoof behind her head. "It may be one jerk at the top, don't know. He's been attacking us recently." She dug out a paper and dropped it from her mouth. "But I have an address, where I last set eyes on the guy. We may be ponies, but we don't have to run." She flexed a foreleg. "We can fight back!"

A gentle murmur ran through the crowd. A mare raised her voice to ask, "Shouldn't we involve the police? Are they humans or something more?"

Sandra frowned at that. "More. Humans don't methodically hunt ponies, usually? Ugh, gonna hope not. No, this guy's a step past normal. I saw him, and every alarm I had in me was screaming." She shuddered at that memory. "That wasn't a human."

"How do we stop the creature?" Another pony chimed in.

Raspberry Sunrise tossed a hoof up in a shrug. "Don't know yet, but we're about to find out."

Lucky cleared his throat. "What we need right now is support and solidarity. Together, we can take care of this guy, whatever he is. Besides, we have friendship on our side." He clopped his forehooves firmly. "Ponies aren't built for battle, but we have friends that are."

Eyes glanced from one to another. That ponies made friends with not-ponies was something of an open secret. The creatures of the night didn't like being drawn into the light, so secrecy was always involved. But they had such friends, or at least some ponies did.

"Are they willing to fight for us?" A question hung in the air, unspoken. Could they protect a herd?

A voice broke in, low and rough, almost like the growls of a beast. "It doesn't matter if they're willing or not." A stout unicorn, two words not often placed together, stepped forward. "They are friends. And they probably hate the guy as much as we do. None of them want random murder that can lead humans to their doorstep." He stomped firmly. "It's in their interest too."

There was a general agreement of the notion that this was not a human they would be facing. "What kind of monster?"

The unicorn closed his eyes and rubbed his hooves along his shoulders. "The ponies that have already died, did so in ghastly fashions. Whatever did it, enjoyed doing it. They took their time, nice and slow and didn't stop when they stopped breathing. A sicko, to put it in the kindest terms."

Someone coughed in the air. "Can we fight a monster, though? Even with our friends, that sounds horrible."

Another flashed a smile. "You haven't seen a werewolf in action then. They rip and tear out of habit. This wouldn't even make one flinch." They sat up proudly. "I'll ask my wolf buddy. He was looking for a fight, or so I recall."

The unicorn smiled. "I know a vampire. She loves fighting, and I don't think she'll turn down a request to kick some butt."

Sandra shivered faintly as calls went up, what was sounding like a small but ready cadre of potential allies forming. She had never made such a friend herself. "I have the address." She nudged the paper with a hoof. "Give it to them. If they can take care of this, I'd be, uh, grateful? What's the right word for this? I'd like to know who the hell is going after me."

The unicorn smiled and nudged his muzzle against the paper. "I can help you figure that out. I've worked with one of these." His horn glowed as he picked up the paper and held it in front of his phone for a quick picture. "Sending!" Chimes sounded from other phones as the others received the image. "This thing is our prey now." He rubbed at his neck. "Well, our friends' prey. We're on the case, at least."

Lucky grinned. "It's good to have friends." He trotted over, patting a hand on the unicorn's shoulder. "Any way we can get in on this, Pike?"

Pike twitched up her ears. "Hm?" She inclined her horn at Lucky. "My 'friends' are very slow to act. I can point it out to them, but will they move, and even if they did, would we ever know? I can't predict that." She shrugged with a smile. "Mages, right? Best friends and worst friends sometimes. But, there is another way..." She grinned with a playful look at Lucky. "But that means being careful and not scaring the newbies."

Lucky blinked before smiling back. "Raspberry's not a newbie, and she knows about mages and the supernatural." He reached to draw Raspberry closer. "She lives closer to the 'normal' side of things, but she has a hoof on the other. We all do, being ponies." A few faces soured a moment. "Or pony-adjacent," Lucky hastily added. "All of us are involved, both ways."

Raspberry considered that a moment, leaning into Louis' embrace. "I thought I could avoid this, just sticking to my vtubing and rousing people to have a good day. It was a simple gig." She stood up fully, shaking herself out. "But I got dragged in. At least I'm not alone. I can't say thank you enough to all of you, for standing with me. What a wonderful herd!"

She lit up with a bright smile and a happy prance. "So, um, we know what has to happen." She turned to Lucky. "Are we done?"

"Mostly." He gently pet her right on the end of her nose. "Ponies are welcome to keep gift trading, or enjoying the drinks. That's the official business I had. Anyone else have something they need to raise while we're here?"

Silence ruled. Ponies settled back down. "I have something that could help." Pike leaned back, studying the ceiling a moment. "The monsters we're after, they're called fomori, fomorians when there's more than one." Pike made a face, just thinking about it. "Nasty things, corrupt as a nature. You won't find friends there. This one is one of the old, but still ugly. They have to have something of yours to really pin you down. If you have anything that belonged to the enemy, get rid of it, immediately."

The ponies began to disperse, leaving Raspberry to wonder what thing of hers could have drawn the beast towards her.

Lucky tugged her away to a corner of the room. "You don't have to tell me everything, but do you really have any idea why someone would be targeting you? Nothing comes to mind?"

Raspberry spread her wings with a snap. "That's what I was wondering! I vtube, and deliver people's groceries. I wouldn't think that'd be a fast track to pissing off some elder thing." She folded her wings tight against her back. "I'd say it's not fair, but what is? Pike said I should ditch what I had of his, but would could that even be?"

Lucky frowned, brows furrowing. "She thinks it could be holding him back." He lifted a hand. "But it could also just be the work of some stupid punk kid." He looked out over the room, most of the ponies already gone back to their own lives, perhaps to get some of their friends involved. "I'm just glad you found out and got to us before you got hurt." He pressed his snout against her cheek. "Life is too short."

Raspberry flipped her ears back. "Let's try to keep it as long as we can."

"Too short," he shot back. "Raspberry, will you marry me?"

Raspberry took a step back, eyes wide. "I, uh, thought you weren't even kind of interested?"

Lucky bounced from hoof to hoof in a nervous dance. "Raspberry, you are my best friend, and straight, and I'm straight, and we're fighting for our lives and life is just too—" He turned his head away, eyes scrunched shut. "—too short. I'd rather live it alongside someone I already love. Raspberry, do you love me?"

Raspberry softened at the sentiment, but remained guarded. "Love is a strong word, Lucky."

"I just meant..." He took a breath and blew it back out. "We're best friends, and you mean a lot to me, and..."

Raspberry leaned forward, reaching with her wings to brush against Lucky's sides. "I know I love you, as a friend, but I thought that's where we were. Now you're pushing me out of that comfortable little box."

"We're even then." Lucky smiled awkwardly. "I didn't expect to be punching thugs to get her stuff. Life is full of surprises."

"And too short," added Raspberry with a huff. "I hear. Okay, let's give it a try. We're both already lonely. We can hold each other close, and fill that void." She considered the stallion in front of her. "Yes, Lucky. I will date you." She smooched his cheek gently. "Let's try that before we just jump into marriage, you silly thing. I do care for you, but it's a little soon."

"A bit, I guess." He fidgeted. "But you know we've been together a lot longer than that, just as friends." But, still, she had agreed to date him. He seemed to be lifted by that news alone. "Let's go home. It's our home now."

She inclined her head. "Still yours, but you're lending it to your girlfriend, who appreciates it." Raspberry stood up, becoming Sandra and offering a hand. "Let's head out." She gave the room a look over, eyes landing on the unicorn, Pike, that had suggested getting some of her things back. "But I think I want to see how the fomorian does its tracking."

Lucky rose up to being Louis, hurrying along to get to the car. "I'll drive. You're stressed out enough right now."

"That's actually a point in your favor." Sandra chuckled. "I'm a bad driver. Never gotten a ticket, but I tend to miss stuff."

They were soon cruising back home.

Author's Note:

That meeting went so much more smoothly than the ones before a great alicorn helped get ponies back into shape. Thanks, unnamed former protagonist!

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Comments

[Amethyst Dragonfly]

At least they know what they're up against now. Maybe the Pony neighborhood watch type activity will keep any more Ponies from becoming victims of the fomori.

A nice bit of romance is in the air now with Raspberry and Lucky starting to date.