She was in the gig economy. She was also a little pony. Her people needed her, inspired to motion and action. That meant her life was getting a lot busier on the pony side of things. Her human life proved to be... understanding, or so she hoped.
She was in the gig economy. She was also a little pony. Her people needed her, inspired to motion and action. That meant her life was getting a lot busier on the pony side of things. Her human life proved to be... understanding, or so she hoped.
Done for a patron, with a planned two updates a month!
"Hey, My Herdmates!" She smiled at the camera, but the camera wasn't capturing her. It was just looking for that smile, the way her head was inclined, and other little things. It translated all that mess onto a virtual avatar of an equally smiling pony that danced along with her. "What a fantastic day we're having! Now, how many of you did the challenge I gave you?" She waved a finger, which made the avatar wave a hoof. "Be honest!"
The chat filled with viewers noting they did, or did not. She had viewers, which was good, but never quite enough to survive on. "More of you than I thought you would. You're so good! Today we're talking..."
She gave her show, even getting a few superchats out of it. "Oh no, look at that time. Raspberry, signing off!" She waved at them as she slid her other hand to her mouse, ending the stream. With a heavy sigh, she sat back. "That is draining... But fun."
She actually was Raspberry. Raspberry Sunrise. But she was also Sandra Tate. She was a little pony in that wide world, and being human was where she spent a good amount of that time. She could have, if she was stupid, just gone on air as her pony-self. But that would get her in trouble, with all her fellow ponies, and maybe other things that decided they were interested in a real pony.
That was far too many things, and too many of them were unsavory. Nope. She would be a human wearing a pony mask, even if she actually was a pony under that. It amused her, in the end. "Time to get to work." Not that vtubing was work free, but she had to make enough to pay bills and things. She left her house with a little whistle.
"Hey, Sandy." Her neighbor was out there, waving at her as they walked their dog.
"Hey, Tom." She returned the wave on her way to the car. Soon she was safely cocooned in that car. "I love this neighborhood. Nice people." She started it up and got the app going as she installed the phone in its traditional place. "Now let's see who's too lazy to go shopping."
There were quite a few, and an order came in quickly. She pulled out and zoomed off towards the first, a grocery stop. "Your... blueberries..." She read off the app as best she could while driving. "Are on the way."
Sandra pulled into the grocery store parking lot and hurried inside, consulting her phone for the customer's list. She grabbed a cart and efficiently checked items off one by one - milk, eggs, bread, peanut butter. As she turned down the fruit aisle, she scanned the shelves intently for those blueberries.
"Aha, there you are," she murmured, selecting a pint of plump ripe berries. She carefully placed them in her cart, along with the other items. At the register, she packed everything neatly into paper bags.
The morning passed swiftly as Sandra continued making her deliveries. She enjoyed glimpsing inside customers' lives during each brief interaction. Most people were friendly, if distracted - except for Mr. Fennel on Elm Street. He complained that she got the wrong type of yogurt. She politely apologized and made a mental note to double check his items next time.
As lunchtime approached, Sandra's stomach rumbled. She decided to treat herself to a quick burger before her 1PM stream. Her phone dinged with another grocery order. "Ugh, more blueberries?" she laughed. She didn't mind really - it was all part of the job. And she took pride in providing good service, even to the fussiest of customers. Sandra couldn't imagine doing anything else. This work perfectly suited her cheery, helpful nature.
But that address. She had never seen it before. Still, it wasn't her job to filter the addresses. She grabbed everything on their list. "I'll turn off the app the moment this is in your hands. Eat time, stream time..." Sandra pulled in front of a lonely little house. She slid from her car, bag in hand, and hurried up to the front step. "No contact, good." She put it down, snapped a picture of it, and turned to flee.
The door opened before she got far. "Thanks." A male voice.
She turned to offer a smile. That was polite, and got tips. "You..." She trailed off. The man had obvious sores on his face and neck and had far too few teeth on top of that. The ones he did have seemed to be dangerously sharp and he had them exposed in a dangerous grin. "Welcome." She backed away with a nervous laugh.
"Don't be like that." He took a step out into the light. "I'll tip you extra if you hang around..."
"Have a nice day!" She hurried to her car and pulled away with a squeaking of her tires. "I am not one of those kind of drivers..." She shook her head violently free of that ickiness. "Food, stream. Let's do it!"
Sandra drove to a nearby diner, eager to put some distance between herself and that unsettling customer. She ordered a BLT with fries and took deep breaths to calm her rattled nerves as she waited for her food.
When her meal arrived, Sandra ate slowly, scrolling through her phone to catch up on social media. She smiled at a silly meme her brother had tagged her in and left cheerful comments on a few posts. By the time she finished eating, Sandra's upbeat mood had returned.
She headed home to start her stream, pondering fun topics to discuss with her viewers. As she pulled into the driveway, Sandra made a mental note to contact the grocery delivery service about that customer's address. She would feel better if they removed it from the system, so other drivers could avoid an uncomfortable situation.
Sandra entered her house ready to immerse herself in the bright, cheerful world of her pony persona. She pushed the strange encounter out of her mind, eager to spread some joy and positivity online. There was still plenty of daylight left for making that day great.
"Hey, My Herdmates!" She had a customary sign on, that usually helped, or so she read somewhere. "I had to gallop so far today, delivering mail to all the good mares and stallions." It was not exactly what she had done, but close enough? "And even one not so good one, but let's not get into that. It's the afternoon, which means today we hit the news, the good news!"
She began playing clips of nice things going on around the world, adding her own commentary as she went, awwing and discussing with her viewers. "Too many people out there focus only on the bad parts. I'm so glad to share some of the nice things with you all." She blew a kiss at her audience. They could hear it, but the pony-avatar couldn't perfectly even try to follow along with that.
Still, it did the job, with hearts and other such emoji popping up. "You're all so good." Her eyes darted to a message, one of so many, but it caught her eye.
Hope you come back soon. That offer for a big tip's open.
Ice cold ran through Sandra's veins. How? "Did you know they're building a replacement for the community center that got knocked down a few years ago? About time! But good! Maybe..." She had been about to say she'd visit it, but with that stalker... She decided against it. "I'll send them a few dollars. Put your money where your values are, right?"
That got her a few superchats, people enthusiastically giving to the cause through her. "Silly ponies! Give them a call if you want to give to them. They'll thank you! I'm not mad. It's so good to see so many open hearts out there."
Another superchat came, from her new stalker. $50, a considerable superchat.
Hugs and kisses.
From any of her other fans, it would have been cute, and a reason to cheer. She forced a smile. "You're all too much! I'll make sure some of today goes right to them."
Inside, her thoughts raced with concern. She resolved to contact the authorities about the harassment. For the rest of the stream, she remained upbeat but avoided directly addressing further inappropriate comments, not wanting to reward such behavior with attention.
The moment the stream ended, Sandra picked up her phone with a shaky hand. She reported the customer's username, super chats and messages to the police. They promised to look into it and send a patrol by her house to check for anything suspicious.
Sandra double-checked all her security precautions, deeply unsettled. But she reminded herself this was likely just an idle threat from one socially awkward person rather than true danger. Still, they didn't even know where she lived. She was the one that had visited them... It was likely alright, or so she hoped.
She just had to rely on the police to get anything done." She buried her face in her hands with a weary sigh. "I thought this wouldn't happen. I'm a virtual horse. Why would someone stalk a virtual horse?" Sure, she was a real one too, but they didn't know that!
Filled with nervous energy, she stiffly went for her car, not for a delivery, but to head to a friend. She hurried over and up to their door, knocking firmly.
The door swung open to reveal a 20-30 year old male with a clean shave and a mild smile. "Sandy! You should have warned me."
"I should have." Sandra colored faintly. "But today's been a day... Can I come in?"
"Sounds serious." He stepped aside for Sandra and soon they were both in the living room, and on all fours. He was a unicorn, with a blue mane and tail, that tail swaying fitfully. "What's wrong? I'm here to help if I can."
Sandra, then Raspberry Sunrise, shook herself out with an equine whinny. "It was awful! This creep creeped all over me when I delivered to him, and he somehow showed up on my stream! How? Seriously... how? That was not natural!"
He closed to touch his snout to her cheek. "I'm sorry. You're safe here."
She snorted gently. "Don't make it a habit to almost-kiss upset ladies." But she hugged him. "Lucky, I know you..." They were quiet in that embrace a moment. "It's.... It just really freaked me out."
"I would be too." He drew back and stood up. "I'm not a Youtuber... But I can imagine, at least... What can I do for you, right now?"
Raspberry considered that. "This will sound odd, maybe... But can I sleep over here tonight?"
He nodded firmly. "Of course! What are friends for?" He turned, tail lashing. "Besides, we're more than that. Ponies of a herd have to stick together. Who else is gonna?"
Raspberry felt a wave of relief wash over her as Lucky readily agreed to her spontaneous request. His calm demeanor and steadfast support was exactly what she needed after the jarring experience.
She gave him a grateful nuzzle. "Thanks, Lucky. I know it's silly...I just don't really want to be alone tonight." She scuffed a hoof against the plush carpet. "I keep replaying that whole weird interaction in my head. The way he looked at me..." She shuddered.
Lucky listened patiently, his ears pricked with concern. "No, not silly at all," he assured. "I totally understand why you'd feel shaken up. And safety first, always." He tilted his head thoughtfully. "We should do a perimeter check outside and make sure everything looks normal around the house while there's still daylight."
Raspberry nodded, appreciating her friend's level-headed protectiveness. The two ponies stepped out into the backyard, peering cautiously around. But all seemed peaceful - chirping birds, a neighbor mowing their lawn, the faint laughter of kids playing in a park a few streets over.
After determining nothing seemed amiss, they headed back inside. Lucky bustled about setting up a cozy nest of blankets and pillows for Raspberry while she browsed his movie collection. "Ooh, how about a comedy?" she suggested, grabbing out a stack of DVDs with an eager hoof. She was still a bit jittery, but snuggled up here with her best friend, she already felt safer.
An hour later, they were cuddled up on the couch together watching a hilarious romp about ponies getting into wacky antics. Raspberry giggled in delight, feeling herself finally beginning to relax. As the end credits rolled, she murmured, "Thank you, Lucky. This has been a perfect distraction." She glanced down at her phone, sighing at the notification that the delivery app had assigned her a new order. "I forgot to turn that off."
She examined the address. It was a nice part of town, and they had ordered normal things. "I should get to this." She rose to her feet and stretched. "Thank you, again."
"No." Lucky was on his feet too, hand on her shoulder. "You have room in your car for one more. Mind a co-pilot today? This doesn't feel like a day for flying solo, you know?"
Raspberry considered that and immediately perked up at the idea. "Actually, that sounds fantastic." She flashed her friend a bright smile. "Come on! Let's go gallop."
Sandra went out to her car with Louis alongside her. "I didn't want to ask."
Louis slid in on the other side. "You didn't have to ask." He pulled out his phone and tapped at it gently. "Lucky for you, they don't need me , not today. We're free to hang out."
Sandra's hands wrapped tighter around the wheel. "There is that. Just hope my... Freak fan doesn't show up." She started the car up. "Here goes nothing!"
They stopped at one house. A woman hurried out. "Sorry!" She grabbed a bag from Louis. "The kids would be fine..." She headed back in with the bag.
Sandra smirked at her partner. "Well, we know what that means." They were on their way again, soon to reach their destination. Each delivery went as planned, nice and smooth. "Maybe he got the hint and buzzed off." She glanced aside at Louis. "I don't want to monopolize your whole day."
"Nope, you get my whole day. Besides, I could use some tips to make my own deliveries better."
"Better?" Sandra laughed. "Yours are amazing. You've got a good eye." She glanced away and back. "And we both know you only do some deliveries because I do them all the time. You don't need extra cash."
"I like knowing what my friends are going through." He put a hand on her thigh, but she somehow knew he meant nothing but support by it. "And you are one of those."
She laughed as the urge struck her. She had been friendzoned by him a long time ago, but his friendzone was a comfortable place to be. "You're too much."
"My mom says so." They parked out front of the house she wanted. Sandra reached into the bag and checked everything. "Good." She grabbed a bag and headed in. "You coming?"
Louis exited and followed along after a moment, just in time for Sandra to put the bag in a somewhat bored looking customer's hands. "Have a nice day." Sandra waved, turning, and almost bumping into Louis. "Oh, there you are. Look, Why don't I actually turn off the app? We could do something, anything, else?"
Louis grinned. "There's an art fair..."
Sandra groaned. "But..." Her phone was buzzing. She pulled it out to stare at the screen. She was being harassed, online, with comments on her videos, a variety of them. "Look at this." She flipped her phone into his view so he could see the peppering of messages across her videos. "He hasn't given up."
Louis pursed his lips. "We can take care of that." He pulled out his own phone and opened it. "One problem..."
Sandra frowned, worried. "What? Anything's better than being harassed!" She paused. "Unless it's illegal?" She nudged him towards her car. "We may be magical little horses, but let's keep our noses clean."
"But you need a big nose, or you'll have trouble sniffing..." Louis ducked under her smacking hand, laughing as they went to the car. "Okay, okay..."
She pointed to the car and soon they were both inside. She flicked off the delivery app and stuffed the phone away with a sigh. "Art fair? I've never actually been. Sounds more fun than worrying about that jerk."
Louis rubbed his hands together. "Right..."
Sandra pulled them out with a hum. "So what kind of art? Painting, sculptures, poetry, performance...?" She trailed off as she gave him a curious look.
He plugged in an address on his phone and set it down, already in navigation mode. "Just follow the instructions and you'll soon find out."
Sandra had to smile. "I can handle that."
The pair arrived at the venue, parking and exiting. As they approached the ticket booth, they noticed it was free and began making their way inside. Louis shrugged as they headed in. "I forgot this was a freebie. I think it's mostly because they're hoping folks actually buy some of the stuff inside."
Sandra hiked a brow at that. "Guessing that means nothing huge."
As it turned out, it was indeed small things, little dolls of all sorts, each cuter than the last. Sandra laughed and pointed at her favorites, her spirits raising as they went. "This was the absolute perfect idea."
"I figured..." Louis shoved his hands into his pockets with a smile. "You work hard. It's nice to get to blow off steam, right?"
"Without blowing out my bank account..."
"Speaking of that." He pointed to a doll she kept going past. "Want it?"
She leaned in to get a peek at the price. She felt her tail explode down her pants leg at the shock of the large number. "What is that made of?!" She drew the tail back in before any passerby may notice, she hoped.
He was already picking it up, feeling it. "Solid metal. Gold and silver, guessing." He offered it to her. "And worth it if it makes you happy."
It was a statue of a fox with one paw raised in the air and it was adorable, and too expensive. "You can't."
"I can, I am." He offered it anew. "You deserve a treat."
She eyed it a moment before accepting it with a soft murmur. "Thanks, Lucky..." She tucked it into a pocket with a shrug. "I'll be taking this home, but..." She spotted another cute one.
He laughed at her wandering eyes. "Pick your favorite, that's the one we'll buy."
A firm hand came down on her shoulder. "Ma'am." It was a security guard, glaring at her. "We ask that people keep the merchandise in view until they pay for them."
Sandra startled at the sudden intrusion. "I was going to buy it, sir." She patted her pocket. "I'm carrying it for ease of access."
He held out a hand, scowl unmoving. "Buy it, hold it out, or put it down. Those are the rules."
Louis slid between Sandra and the security guard. "I'm paying either way, relax."
But the guard didn't look like he was relaxing. "Fine, I'll buy it then." He gently guided Sandra towards the register. "What a piece of work."
Louis put down a card at the register, letting the bored lady there work on cashing them out. "Want to look around some more, or did that burst your bubble?"
Sandra tried to relax her shoulders. "I just want to leave now, if that's okay."
They were heading out shortly, with another item Sandra had seen in the window. "You spoil me."
"Odd." He leaned in a bit, resisting a laugh. "You get fresh with me all the time."
She swatted at him with a wry look. "That was bad." But she was smiling despite the Dad Joke™️.
A soft tone rang from Louis' phone. "Huh." He dug it out and inspected it. "Horse play."
She knew what that meant and they were soon in the car. "Serious horse play?"
"Looks like it. Can we head back to my place?" He pointed the vague way, but knew she could figure out the exact path.
She pulled away from the art display. "What's wrong?" She pulled out onto the main road, going as quickly as allowed. "Someone get hurt?"
"Worse." He held up the phone, just to reconsider it. Sandra was driving and all. "Signs point to something deciding to hunt feral horses."
Feral horses was something of a new term, to describe ponies that refused to join up with the organizing herds. Sandra and Louis were both happy members of theirs, so they weren't wild. Being wild meant they lacked the immediate protection of that social network, but ponies were ponies.
They didn't like hearing their fellow ponies were being picked on or hurt. "Are they being stalked too, or a step worse than that?"
"Two steps worse than that." He stuffed the phone away. "Let's get home and we can go over the details."
It took a bit before Sandra pulled up at his home and they were hurrying back to that living room. "Alright, what's going on?"
He handed over the phone. "Whoever's doing this, it's not human."
Once inside, the door closed, Sandra fell forward to Raspberry, tail lashing with agitation. "We're not human, technically." She turned to Lucky. "But I'm hoping it's not another pony." She cringed at the idea of ponies attacking one another.
He was able to show her the pictures. That pony had not been harassed, at least as an end point. That was a dead horse, flopped over in the woods somewhere. "Christ on a stick," she hissed out, backstepping. "What tore them up like that?"
Lucky shook his head. "I couldn't say. But we can't even take the chance that it's something working on the periphery and working its way towards proper herds." He pointed at Raspberry. "I'd love to not bring this up, but someone I know's been stalked recently, and I hate these two things together."
She shuddered with building dread, wings fidgeting at her side. "I am not feeling the laughter right now."
"Me neither, but that's what ponies do!" Lucky pumped a hoof. "We'll get them to laugh, right? Like when we visit hospitals."
Raspberry wrinkled her nose. "You sure you aren't trying to become a Laughter? This--" She pointed to the picture. "Is not the work of some child in need of a smile. I don't want whatever did this to smile, ever. I know, against my type, but I have limits."
She applied both hooves to her face, breathing into them a moment. "Sorry. This is a bit stressful."
Lucky walked closer, pulling her into a hug. "For all of us."
She pressed against him. "This is silly. Let's do what ponies do." She looked to her own phone and groaned. "But I can't make people laugh and smile if I'm being stalked on that channel."
Lucky poked at her. "Can't you? You just need your stuff. Want me to go get it?" He pointed a hoof at the door. "You can set up a little studio here, and get right back to streaming."
"It's not that easy." But her resolve wavered. "Still..." She ran her hoof through her hair. "I really do enjoy making people smile. If I can still do that..." She gave Lucky a look. "And maybe get some good done at the same time..."
Lucky nodded, stepping back and rising to two legs, Louis returned. "You wait here and try to relax. I'll grab your stuff."
She watched him go and went to settle on the little nest of bedding she had left in the living room. "This sucks."
But it only got worse as time went by. Would he make it there and back? Had she just thrust him into danger? Other such thoughts haunted her, making her lips pull back and heavy snorting fill the air. "This is just." She shook her head, aborting the thought. "He's fine! He'll be back in a moment and then we'll laugh."
Not being there made the wait longer, so she just had to hope.
The sound of the door opening made Raspberry jump in her nest of bedding on the livingroom floor. The steps coming closer didn't help calm her. "Got your stuff." She let out a heavy wheeze that turned into a laugh. It was Louis! Thank every deity one wanted to name. She hopped free of her bedding with a shaking of her body, ending with a flick of her tail, she went to greet him.
"And you brought everything!" She nosed into him, helping with the bags.
"Couldn't forget the fun and games." He sighed, plopping down onto his rear, humanized again. "Need help setting this all up? You have a lot of tech gear."
"Lovingly collected over the years." Sandra, hands returned, used them to start moving her things. "Where do you want me setting things up? You--" She paused, noticing something. "When did you get that?" She was pointing at Louis' right arm, where a bandage was firmly wrapped around some wound.
"I told you you needed to relax." He smirked, waving off her concern with a shake of his hand. "The nurse said it wouldn't scar, if I keep the bandages on tight enough, but it'll hurt for a few days."
"Nurse?!" She shook her head, not feeling very relaxed. "You didn't have that when you left. What happened? My house isn't that dangerous, I thought."
He smiled, though it seemed pained. "I was ambushed."
"Ambushed?!" She gripped his shoulders. "By what?!"
He shrugged her off. "Nothing. No idea."
Sandra glared at him. "You didn't get ambushed by 'nothing' and get a neat new bandage. Why are you being evasive?"
"Because I don't want you freaking out, like you're doing." He grabbed her tower, moving the computer into the living room and finding a spot for it to live. "Let's get your studio going right around here." He indicated an area. "The lighting should work great."
Sandra rolled her eyes. "You know I'm not done asking." But she did let it drop, at least for the moment. Working together, they got a studio set up. "You are too nice."
"Loyal," Louis corrected, hitting the power button to boot up her PC. "And you have people to amuse, and maybe lift your own heart. We're safe here, okay? You're with a friend that'll protect you."
"Lou, you're not that rich that you should just take care of a friend without warning." She sat on the computer chair in front of her new station. "And not nearly immortal enough to laugh at getting cut doing it! Seriously." She pointed to his wounded limb. "Care to explain before I call bullshit on this protective nonsense?"
Louis winced, looking away. "I..."
"Louis!" She scowled, giving him the sternest glare she could muster.
"Some guys were following you. I called it in. But before they could get to you, well...." He scratched his neck and snorted. "There were a lot of them, so I decided to do a thing..."
She threw up her hands. "There were a bunch of them and you dived in!" She barked out a strained laugh. "And you came back with just that one cut? I don't know if I should be hitting you or just being impressed. Both is a pretty fine option from where I'm sitting."
"It's a gift I picked up." He rubbed at one arm with the other hand, avoiding the bandage. "Loyalty. Knowing they were coming for you, I could fight. Knowing they were messing around in your house, looking for you? It was like every Loyalty fiber in me was on fire, and I fought." His grin was proud as he stood taller. "And I won!"
"And took down half a neighborhood at the same time!" Sandra tried not to feel touched by the gesture, but she failed miserably. "I'm just glad you're alright." She adjusted the camera on top of her monitor. "It would not have been worth it to have you hurt for this."
"I will protect you from anything that tries to hurt you, and it was all worth it!" He puffed out his chest. "And now it's time to put on that mask and get to work!"
She snorted at that. "I don't have a mask." She pointed to that camera. "They never see my real face. One of the perks of being a Vtuber." She turned that finger to the pony on the screen. It was a little virtual Raspberry, rendered and reacting to Sandra's movements. "They get to assume I'm just some random perfectly normal human with a pony avatar, and they like it."
Louis moved in to stare at the avatar, blinking his eyes. "But..."
Raspberry gave her friend a sidelong glance. "What, don't like her? We can swap the avatar." With a few clicks, she conjured a hulking ogre, a lurching zombie, and a too-cool-for-school techie before swapping back to Raspberry. "But they're expecting this pony."
"Oh, no. I like Raspberry. It's just... I'm sorry..." He winced and started walking backwards. "I'll be in the kitchen. Call me if you need me, but if not, I'll start dinner. You haven't eaten in a while, right?"
Sandra laughed softly. "Yeah, but I wasn't that hungry, Lou." She smiled a little, amused despite the tension. "I'm still not. This whole day has me on edge. Thank you, again, you crazy nut." She flicked the final button to go live. "Hey, my herdmates! Today's been wild." She clicked the button to make her avatar flip out her wings. "But not too wild to keep me away from all of you!"
Raspberry dove straight into a video about humanized ponies that had a chat about the lore she made up on the fly, about how the ponies became more human, and where the magic had gone, and what was happening in that world. It was all made up, and basically wrong, and that was half the point. "They say, if you're a good person, you might find that pony magic." She smiled, her avatar following the motion. "So I expect some of you to show up next stream with hooves. Lemme know, okay?"
A super chat arrived. She perked, eyes moving to read over it. "I have some hooves right here, still attached to their legs."
Sandra laughed it off. "Attached to you, I assume." She did not actually assume that, a cold sweat overtaking her. "That's all for the stream right now, my colts and fillies! Find that pony magic!" She smacked the end stream button. "Jesus fucking Christ. Why don't I just put myself up in the public eye? Might as well paint a target on my forehead." She shivered violently, before calming herself. "At least that's over. Now, where's my Knight in Shining Armor?"
She rose to her feet and slipped on over to the kitchen. "Did you hear any of that, or should I summarize?"
He was facing the stove, poking at some sort of meat in a pan. "I could only hear you talking, and you were having fun, from the sound of it. What'd I miss?" He flipped dinner over skillfully with a fresh set of hisses and sputters. "Dinner will be ready soon."
"I doubt you could have heard me talking, even if you were listening. You didn't turn off the stovetop fan. As for what you missed?" She collapsed into one of his chairs with a loud sigh. "My stalker is still stalking. And he's being maximum creepy while he's at it. How did he even figure out where I lived? We need to know that, or he'll just keep right on following me."
"Can't you block him?" He shrugged softly. "Not an expert on that site, but pretty sure you can block people."
"You think I didn't?! Each time, I block him, and he shows up with a new account." Sandra folded her arms under her chest. "It isn't hard to make those, and he's willing, just to piss me off."
"So why can't you block them all, then?" He turned, frowning at her. "He doesn't have enough time to make 50 accounts a day, and that would be required to beat your blocks."
"Sure, but each time means I get a nasty little creepy comment from him. Fifty creepy messages a day? Not what I'm looking forward to, even if that meant I was keeping up with the weirdo." She rubbed at her head. "Really putting a damper on my Laughter, you know?"
"Sorry to hear that." He turned back to his cooking. "But that does sound rough. Maybe he'll cool off if you ignore him."
She shot up, pacing back and forth. "He's already way past the 'ignore it and it goes away' zone. I saw him, in the real world." She threw her hands up. "He sent a small gang of goons to rifle through my house! Do you really think I should just ignore that?" She was rubbing at her temples, muttering to herself. "I can't let that go, nope. And you even attacked one of them, didn't you?"
Louis tapped his fingers on his counter. "Technically more than one of them." He started plating the food, creating delicious smelling offerings on two of them that he put on the dining room table. "But they were just punks, random thugs, not even armed."
Sandra trailed after him, sitting in the seat he didn't take with a plate. "And you're just thinking about if they had a weapon or not. Louis, you're nuts. I love you, but, nuts." She bit into her meal, closing her eyes. "Oh, god. This is incredible. Are you secretly a chef?"
Louis grinned. "Maybe. Maybe I also cook for others." He started eating, pleased with the results. "I may not be a Laughter, but a good meal can put a smile on a face."
"It really can." She quieted her concerns for the moment, just enjoying the food and the company. "Thank you, again. You're going so far beyond the call of duty and I'm not even sure how to thank you."
"You can do a shout-out on the next video." He speared a slice of his meat and chewed with a happy look on his face. "That'll be enough for me. Also, just to be clear, you are paying rent. I know you're mobile."
Sandra considered her computer. "So long as I have that and all my stuff, sure, which you got for me." She snorted softly. "But yeah, I'm happy to pull my weight. I'm the one crashing in your house all of a sudden. It's the least I can do. Bloody heck, what do I do with the house I already have? I can't even consider going back to it right now."
Louis started cleaning up. "Pack a few bags, enough for a week, and store them here. We can get the rest of your stuff later."
"Later like the cops catch this guy, or like never?" She twirled a fork at him. "And the cops aren't known for being good at catching people who aren't people, and this guy's putting out all the nasty vibes of something that bumps in dark places."
"Is it time for a herd meeting?"
Sandra frowned with thought a moment. "I'm not sure what I'd be asking them. I don't want them charging blindly at something we don't get."
He reached across the table to rest a hand on her shoulder. "So, we ask. You're the first pony to be approached by this jerk without being attacked as the first move. That means we, all of us, can start looking for him." He paused a moment. "Wait, you have his address, right? You said you saw him."
She brightened at that. "I do. At least, that's where he was." She dug out her phone and the address stored within. "What do you think they can do with it?"
"We're ponies." Louis chomped on some broccoli idly. "We have tricks. You just bring that address to the meeting that I'm going to call the moment dinner's over."
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."
"I can't believe that happened." Sandra leaned back against the sofa, running her hands along the arms as she considered the coffee table. "What a day."
"Not everything went bad." Louis laughed at that, getting up from the floor to slip onto the couch beside her.
"I guess not!" She threw up a hand with a smirk. "Turns out I have a boyfriend now."
"Oh no." He gently pecked her closer cheek. "Hope he's a good one and, you know, not—"
"—Total jerk." She stuck out her tongue. "Picks on me all the time." The two giggled and hugged, the problems of the world feeling farther away for at least a moment. "I may be a little selfish, but I'm glad to be home with you, Lou."
"Selfish?" He paused, then gave a squeeze. "How?"
She pressed against him. "Even if someone tried to hurt me, or worse, at least I'd have you by my side, fighting for me. I think that'd make everything better."
He couldn't resist another kiss. He nuzzled in against her, becoming fuzzier by the moment as he became Lucky. "I hope you won't get mad if I don't shave this."
She snorted with poorly contained laughter. "You'd look very odd if you tried." She tickled him under his pony snout. "You can stay fuzzy in this form, I officially allow. Or become Louis, if you like." Her eyes drifted down. "Either way, I'm very interested in seeing if you have what I'm looking for."
"Wait, what?!" Lucky gave an embarrassed little whinny. "That's not something you ask a pony, you know."
"Fine, if you won't answer, I'll check myself." What followed was a brief wrestling match that left both panting, faintly colored, but still sitting next to each other. He swatted at her and hopped to the ground, becoming Louis shortly after. "You must be feeling better, playing around like that. Good!"
"I'm still concerned over things I don't control, though." She prodded him in the shoulder. "You attacked those guys! I don't want you getting hurt on my behalf."
He marched off into the kitchen, the noises of something being made echoing out into the living room. "Too bad, kind of in the boyfriend manual."
"I'm gonna broadcast," she sang out, hopping to her feet and over to her new workstation. "At least, this is something I can control."
She soon had everything running and was facing the camera, her pony avatar sitting in her own chair. "Hey, my herd mates! It's been a pretty weird day, huh?" She grinned, throwing out a little wave. She kept her smile even as she saw a questionable comment pop up. With a few deft keystrokes, she banished them to the dark side of the Internet. "You all know what that looks like."
Lucky arrived with a pair of cups of juice, handing one over to her. She happily sipped at it. "Weird or not, it's time to start the stream! Today we'll be enjoying a classic that always brings me a smile, so buckle in, we're going in!" She pulled up the movie to play over the stream, so old that it had fallen into the public domain, meaning she was free to use it however she wanted.
She gabbed over the movie, talking with her fans, laughing at parts and generally interacting with them constantly. They were there to see her primarily, and she was determined to provide them with a great experience.
Halfway through, she needed to go to the bathroom. "Back in a minute!" She slapped a pause button, using the interruption to remind everyone to stretch their legs and get a drink. It was a surprise to return to Louis talking at her station.
She stormed over with a huff. "What are you doing?"
He slid up and stepped away, gesturing at the seat. "Your mare has returned. I surrender the seat to her."
She pulled him back. "Nu-uh. Explain. Why are you messing with my equipment?" She stared into his eyes. "And no funny answers!"
Louis brushed off his shirt with a soft huff. "I was just filling in the silence with some idle chat. They didn't seem to mind."
She glanced to verify that. She had as many viewers as she had left with, perhaps a few more. The comments were exploding with why she had suddenly changed voices. Her virtual avatar had just started speaking with Louis' voice when he plopped down and started chatting. They seemed to find it all very funny.
She couldn't disagree. She couldn't let it continue. "I'm glad they were willing to put up with it, but it's time to go back to watching the movie." She slid into the seat, smiling at the camera. "Now where did we leave off?" She hit the play button, getting things going.
Alas, the secret was out, and the chat kept talking as much about the new voice as anything Sandra had to say. They wanted to know who the new person was, and their relationship. Some guessed they were roomies, or siblings, or possibly lovers off the camera. She could only giggle at the whole thing. "Yeah, you caught me. I do have a roommate, and yes he's human, not pony. And I think you all know what that means!" She gave a wink to the camera.
She continued talking and answering questions for a bit, keeping up the persona of being a pony that, now, had a human roomie. It was so close to the truth, but she wasn't going to fill them in on those gaps. Eventually, she wanted the limelight back. "Sorry guys, but I'm still a vtuber and want to keep your focus on me. We'll be happy to chat with all of you another time." She burst into giggles. "Maybe a special roomie stream, stay tuned for that!" She wrestled most of them back into watching the movie and chatting about it, and what she was gabbing about.
She slumped back with a sigh, the stream finally ended. "Hey." She sat up, noticing a number growing. "You jerk! I'm getting subs, from you? How?!" She grabbed for the phone, sending a barrage of playful angry text messages.
He returned them as they came, playing along. "Who said I didn't have a channel?"
Her eyes widened and she bolted upright. "You don't!"
"I don't." He patted her on the shoulder. "But that reaction was worth it."
She punched his shoulder with a huff. "Meanie. Okay, okay." She calmed herself with a deep breath. "I feel better, almost normal." She dusted herself off. "Now, back to serious stuff. Do we have anything that belongs to that creep?"
He led the way into the bedroom. "In here, maybe? I haven't seen a sign of it, but that doesn't mean we can rule it out."
She raised a brow at him. "I've never been in there and you know it. I doubt I brought anything in the room I haven't been in, try harder."
"I'll take a look around, then. Feel free to watch." He snorted softly, but didn't object.
She set up in the corner to keep herself out of the way, but make sure the area stayed clean. She racked her brain with the times she'd interacted with the guy that she knew of. She pulled out her phone and pulled up the delivery app. "Just in case." She casually deleted the delivery she had made to him, erasing them from history. "Won't bring him here."
"I hope this works." Louis had a jacket in one hand. "This is mine. It's not like you ever borrowed my coat. But I wore this when I went to your place and 'played' with the people there."
"I doubt it, but won't hurt to toss it unless you really like it?"
He shrugged, tossing it in a bin. "Not that much. You spot anything else?"
Sandra's eyes wandered to her workstation. "Did you get there before the goon squad showed up?"
"They were there when I got there, why?" He was looking at it too, confusion clear on his face.
She clenched her teeth a moment. "Then they could have left something in it, or on it, and let you take it on purpose." She thumped her head with both fists. "I sound paranoid as all get out, damn it. But this feels like the perfect trick. Using us to lead them right back to where they wanted to be." She flopped back onto the couch with a sigh. "It was right in my home, then I brought it here, into yours."
Louis squinted at his computer. "Nothing seems broken." He kneeled beside the tower and started pulling it apart. "Let's see what's inside and maybe we find something, or not. Won't hurt to look at the thing." He carefully dismantled it, taking off all the parts, laying them out and searching every nook and cranny. "Nothing I can see."
"Figures, or this would be over." She returned to her computer chair, sinking onto it just to bounce off. "What if it's not in the computer?!" She pointed to the chair, then the webcam and the desk.
He gave the chair a cautious poke, but it remained just a chair. "Not a mimic." He turned to look at the rest. The desk had a drawer, so he slid that open, just for a dark little thing to lunge out at him, beeping and blinking lights at him.
He snatched the object, ducking his head down. "Got it!" He dashed out of the room. "Garage! The garage!" He slammed into the door, bouncing out onto the floor of the small concrete chamber.
Sandra squeaked in surprised horror, following him out into the garage. "What now?! Get rid of it!"
"Working on that!" He dropped the thing and stomped down on it with his foot. There was a crunch of metal and the beeping stopped. He kicked the remains aside, putting himself between them and her.
They stared at it together for several long moments, but it seemed well and truly defeated. "The hell was that?!" She dared to approach it, kicking it onto its back for a better look at the strange thing that was as much living as it was mechanical, though all dead and broken.
Louis scooped up the scrap and put it all in a trash bag. "Something we shouldn't poke at anymore. Ponies are just ponies, right?" He sighed loudly and leaned against a wall. "Good thinking. We didn't need that lurking around." He vanished a moment, grabbing the other trashbag. "You're all going out."
He threw them in a neighbor's bin, just to be extra sure. He returned, dusting his hands. "Alright, we should be clear. Girl, you are a trouble magnet." But he hugged her, and she returned it with a defeated sigh.
"I just want things to go back to normal." She thumped her forehead against him. "But thanks, for being here, with me."
He rolled his eyes, brushing fingers against her cheek. "As if I was going anywhere." He slipped behind her, sweeping her up into a bridal carry. "Time for bed. Things'll look brighter in the morning, trust me."
She kicked her feet in the air. "Oh no, now I'm being kidnapped after all that? Can this day get any worse?"
"Stay tuned to find out." He kissed the tip of her nose as he carried her into his bedroom. "Um, we don't have to do anything, you know. Especially right now. I bet you're a little tense."
"A little." She slid from his arms, hitting the ground on all fours. Raspberry hopped up onto the bed and curled there. "Sleep sounds like a great idea right now." She waved her forehooves, inviting him to join her. "Hurry up, we don't have all night."
Louis chuckled at her enthusiasm, or lack thereof. "No, we don't." He reached though, gently ruffling her mane and over her ears. Being a pony, he knew the spots that felt nice to have rubbed and played with. "Goodnight. I'll keep you safe."
"I know you will." She closed her eyes, a soft smile on her lips as she drifted away.
Louis shifted into Lucky, slipping up beside her. He draped an arm over her. Together, they slipped into comfortable dreams, at least sure of the presence of one another.
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."
Sandra found herself on the road, driving. "This is crazy." She tapped at the steering wheel, both hands locked on it as she cruised along. "She's going to lock me up in a dungeon and do strange things to me." And yet, she was going, heading into a far larger city than the suburb she had started in. Traffic slowed around her as she hit rush hour, but she wasn't far from the destination that the strange woman, J202, had indicated for her to meet.
"I wish Louis was here," she sighed, "but he'd never approve of this." And maybe he was right to not do so. Why had she rushed? It felt like something was looming just behind her, moments away from catching up. Something had told her, inside, that she had to move, or face far worse possibilities than even becoming the plaything of some random Internet furry. "Life is too strange right now."
She drove into a parking lot, just to be stared at by a group of very weird people. "Guess I should have changed clothes?" She gave herself a quick glance in the rearview mirror, checking that her dark ponytail and crisp features looked as nice as she could get them. Her clothes had nothing wrong with them, but they weren't super proper. None of her clothes were.
Normally, she didn't need to care about that, being a vtuber and a grocery delivery gig worker. Nobody cared how professional she looked. Most people wouldn't see her anyway. But the people that wanted to talk to her now were unlikely to give a damn about what she wore, until she was wearing fur.
Sandra shivered a little as she got out of her car. The idea of someone being attracted to the idea of what she was, a pony, was a bit off-putting. She wasn't a thing to be fondled or admired. "But I'm also not dumb enough to get mad at people for having a fetish. It's how some of them are wired, I guess."
She marched up to the front door of that apartment building and rang the doorbell there after hitting the room code she'd been given. The answer was almost immediate, "Good little pony. You are good at following directions, just the way I like my ponies. Now, I'll buzz you in." A buzz sounded from the door, loud and piercing. "Come inside. You'll be safe here. The room number tells you the floor."
Sandra held her hand up to the speaker. "Thanks. I'm, uh, Raspberry. Nice to meet you, I think?" She wasn't certain how nice that was going to be, but she took the invitation and hurried inside, looking around warily for trouble. The interior of the building was quieter. Safer? It was an apartment building, meant to keep people safe and cozy. The lobby didn't even have anyone at the desk. She stepped into the elevator and got to the proper floor, hurrying down the hall to the right door.
A sizable door with a pair of new locks on it, all that was needed to make it secure. Some of the doors she'd rushed past, she saw signs of people trying to live good little lives, with signs dangling welcoming visitors, or one warning them away. This one had no signs, just a locked door. She found herself a little comforted by that. No social signals, not wanting to attract anything too friendly, yet inviting only those they wanted to see. It seemed odd to her. "Hey, uh, it's me?" She knocked gently on the door. "J202?"
The door opened inwards to reveal a thin figure, a classic nerd, but of the female variety. She smiled, glasses glinting as she advanced. "Come in, come in! I have some pizza pockets warming up for us inside." She glanced about. "Didn't bring your boy?"
"He'd have talked me out of this." She was led into the apartment and offered a chair. The first thing she noticed was that it had plush leather seats and would have been amazingly comfortable, if not for her sense of caution. Despite how middle of the road the building looked, the interior of that apartment was well-appointed from top to bottom. "And he's at work right now. I sent him a message." She swallowed hard, glancing around at all the interesting things on display.
One of the things that caught her eye was a fairly elaborate rig with several screens that showed her own avatar on one and something else on another. Her host was also a computer person, that seemed obvious, considering how much space it took up.
J202 closed the door behind Sandra and locked it up with several heavy clicks. "Well, welcome to your sanctuary, for now. Little pony." She sang out that last part with dripping affection. "I've heard of ponies, but never met one before." She clapped her hands. "I'm so excited right now. Would you mind if I hugged you?"
Sandra stepped back and considered that. "Sure? Just, don't make it weird, okay?"
"You mean, like, a boyfriend hug?" J202 smiled brightly as she stepped closer. She grabbed Sandra in a warm embrace, but her hands didn't wander anywhere they shouldn't. It was just a hug. "Later, I want one with you on all fours. But, for now, I bet you're freaked out." She started through her apartment as something began beeping. "Pizza wraps are up! Let's get a snack." She popped open a microwave and drew out a plate with two rolled waiting. "Want one?"
"Uh, yeah." Sandra stared at them. "What is that supposed to be?"
J202 shrugged as she put the plate on the table. "An excuse to stuff our faces. You're nervous, so graze a little bit, pony, and relax. As I said, this is a sanctuary."
Sandra picked up one of the wrapped concoctions and pulled it open. The outside was a nice crust that appeared to have something akin to bacon bits inside, giving it a savory flavor. She confirmed this with a bite. "Not bad." She had heard tales that it was impossible to cook those things without it being too hot in the middle, but it seemed right enough by her measure. "Thank you."
"Sit." J202 tapped the table she was already seated at. "Relax. We're friends now! You already know my handle, J202. You can call me Jay if that's too long."
"Jay." Sandra took another bite of the pizza pocket, chewing thoughtfully. "It's so weird to meet people in person that you know from the Internet. But, I guess, I'm kind of like that." She sank onto her seat carefully. "I guess I can't complain too loudly. I gave my handle too just now." She laughed tensely, trying to force herself to relax. "So, um, you like ponies? What does that mean, anyway?"
Jay dabbed at her mouth with a napkin, smiling gently. "It means I have a thing for ponies, yes. But, also, I'm a pretty hard core gamer." She wagged a finger. "Furries and gamers have a big overlap, not so odd there. But let's get real. Can I see you as a pony now? I want to see those twitchy ears and swishy tail." She stood up, coming around the table and leaning over Sandra. "If it's safe, of course. I know some things are secret."
Sandra pushed away from the table, giving herself a little more space. Was it safe to show Jay? She juggled the options in her mind. She found her answer when she realized she'd already changed into a pony. She frowned, feeling annoyed at her subconscious for betraying her like that. "Fine." She lifted a hoof. "If I didn't think it was safe, you wouldn't be seeing this." She stepped from hoof to hoof, doing a little circle in place.
Jay squealed with delight. "Knew it! My own little pony." She reached, only to hesitate, hand hovering so close to Sandra. "May I?" Her fingers flexed, so eager to actually pet Sandra.
"Fine." She had told herself she'd do it, but as Jay's hands brushed over her back, she realized that she'd have preferred a less personal experience. But she kept her complaints to herself, letting the moment happen. It was unfortunately that Jay was figuring out quickly exactly how to handle a pony. Those pets were starting to feel good, instead of just tolerable. She didn't let herself enjoy them, much.
Jay stepped away after a few moments. "And you're really cute. I could see myself enjoying my life with a cute little pony like you. Want another pizza wrap?"
Raspberry pondered the offer, then gave her head a shake. "I'm good." She hadn't even finished the first, though it was mostly gone. She hopped up into the seat, making it wobble under her pony form as she sank on it and leaned in to grab that last morsel and chew it up.
"You sure? I can get more, if you want." Jay made to move, but settled back down when Raspberry waved her hoof.
Raspberry chewed thoughtfully for a moment, then swallowed hard. "Well, here I am, um. I bet it's a letdown, compared to whatever you were dreaming about."
Jay flumped into her seat. "Are. You. Joking? I'm sitting across from a little pony with little adorable wings and she just enjoyed a pizza pocket and she's talking to me and we're already on petting permissions! This is about the best day ever." She adjusted her glasses with a bit of heavy breathing. "Now, about those creeps that are bothering you! I will not tolerate it! Nothing's allowed to chase after my little pony."
Raspberry lowered her ears with a nervous snort. "My friend had an item from one of them, so he called his friends and they took it and sent it back. But they still haven't really said anything to me or him." She tapped her forehooves together gently. "It's a lot of hurry up and wait, you know? I'm sure they're trying their best." She flicked her straw tail behind her. "But it's only getting more nervous."
"Poor thing." Jay reached across the table to take one of Raspberry's hooves, rubbing it and the flesh and fur just beyond it. "You're safe here. I won't let anything bother you while I'm still breathing."
Raspberry squirmed, not wanting to admit that those rubs felt good. "Thanks, but we don't even know each other."
"That doesn't matter to me. You're cute, a little pony, and you're just kind of trying to live your life." She went for booping Raspberry on her cute little snout, bursting into giggles as if she had somehow tickled herself in the process. "So cute. Yeah, not letting you get hurt. Sorry, thems the rules."
Raspberry swallowed hard, trying to figure out what to do with that level of affection. "Thank you?"
"Nope, don't thank me, little pony." Jay's mood sobered up slightly. "I'm just doing the right thing. Of course, 'right' is pretty subjective. But, in my case, right means keeping little ponies from getting hurt. You are to stay here, relax, enjoy all the snacks and drinks you want, and let me handle the bad guys." She thumped a fist into her other hand. "You've got me now, and I will be your shield!"
"Yeah, um." Raspberry drew back. "Thanks, but this isn't really your problem."
Jay snorted out a laugh. "I'm sorry, did I stutter? You're a cute little pony. I like cute little ponies. Something wants to hurt you, the cute little pony. It became my problem."
Raspberry raised a brow. "Cute?" She plucked at her shirt with a hoof, wondering what Jay found cute about her. "Thanks, but I'm just kind of a regular girl."
"Regular girls don't turn into cute little ponies." Jay threw up her hands with a laugh. "Seriously, let me help you. Take the win here."
Raspberry fell back with a sigh, reclining against the back of the chair. "I appreciate it, but can we dial it down just a bit? It's been a really rough day."
"Aw." She looked ready to reach, but fought her first instinct. "Relax. If you want to stream, I have the system set up to swap to your account whenever you want. Want some TV?" She pointed to a big screen waiting to be watched. "Got some radio, snacks, whatever you want. Just chill out. No pressure."
Raspberry pulled herself back to the front of the seat and propped her chin on the table. "Is this going to be some kind of magical girl shenanigans?" She blew out a heavy breath.
"I feel like I'd be lying if I just said no." Jay propped her own head on her palms. "I told you prefer, I want us to be honest with each other. There will be some magical girl stuff. But that's not so bad, is it?" She hopped to her feet. "Now, I'll go busy myself with not-pony stuff. You do whatever you want. Just relax."
Raspberry found herself staring at the ceiling as Jay trotted off to another room. She didn't have the energy to transform back to human just then, but also had nothing else to do.
