"Hey, My Herdmates!" Raspberry waved, her virtual avatar imitating the gesture. "One of my lovely herd members took me in, and I'm visiting them. You can't see my room, but it's not the usual!" She gestured to herself. "I know, right? I couldn't believe it either, but they really like me!" She blinked, raising a hoof. "No, I haven't turned my back on you guys, but this is something that I just kind of need to deal with."
She cleared her throat. "Along those lines, I'm here to promise you all that I'll still be streaming! My little rescuer has a full rig and she just tossed it at me. 'Go,' she commanded, 'go and hang out with your herdmates!' Sure, not those exact words, but how was I gonna say no? So, here I am!"
"But, while we're all together like this, let's get some games going!" She opened up a page for donations, flipping through a few to choose a game that seemed fun enough. "Ooo, we haven't tried this one before, and it's multiplayer! If you're playing on Windows™️ and got this installed, I'll be sharing the invite code shortly!" She offered up a wink. "If you've never heard of this game before, then be prepared to have your minds blown! It's got platforming, puzzles, and magic, as well as a nice clean singleplayer mode!" She laughed at that. "Not that we'll be looking at it. Got way too many eager herdmates that wanna gallop with me!"
She fiddled with the code. "Send that out into the world." She settled down. "Okay, it should be shared. Now, if you guys could throw in a donation or two, that'd really help me get some in-game items to share." Her request was like magic, superchats flowing in, money with each one. "You're all so nice! Thanks for the support." She offered up a beaming smile. "Now, who wants to see me run off cliffs?!"
Raspberry's herdmates echoed back their encouragement. They were less eager to hear her slam her virtual character into walls and fail at puzzles for twenty minutes. She hopped into the multiplayer mode, the lobby already filled with her watchers. "Alright! Let's all fail this, together!" A great cheer echoed across the channel as she began the game.
The stream was a complete success, only ended after a lot of silly gaming fun that had her fans cheering her on through the ups and downs. She waved at them gently. "I'll see you all later, herdmates!" She pressed the final button, ending the stream. Her avatar vanished, the screen fading to black as the machines went to sleep. "That was fun."
A sharp rap sounded on the door. "Entering!" Jay made her presence known, strolling in with a massive box of pizza.
Raspberry swiveled in her chair, nose wriggling at the enticing smells. "Wow, did you put everything on that pizza?" She got up and came over, shifting to human form. "What's the occasion?"
"Because you were just so great." She popped the lid open, offering up the steaming, cheesy treat, overflowing with perhaps too many toppings.
Sandra accepted the slice with an appreciative noise. "I didn't realize how hungry I was. Thanks." She took a bite, almost burning her tongue, but enjoying it nonetheless.
Jay nudged her shoulder against Sandra's. "You're welcome, little pony. Did your stream go well?"
Sandra colored at the contact from what was still mostly a stranger. "They had a blast, and so did I, so, um." She took a second careful bite. "This is great, and you're being really nice, but, seriously, why?"
"You're cute. You're also just trying to live your life." She fluffed a hand through Sandra's hair, fingers gliding down over her ponytail. "Also, you're just the right amount of vanilla. I have taken you as my project. I want to protect you, because I've decided I want to live in a world where you're safe and doing silly streams for people. Nothing more complicated. It's what makes me happy, so it's what I'll do."
Sandra stepped away with a sigh, stuffing her mouth with pizza so she wouldn't have to talk.
Jay gave her space, but watched her with a little smile as she ate a slice of her own. "A pizza with everything is the best kind of pizza, right? This will fill you up good." She leaned back, pausing before taking a bite. "Just, think about letting me protect you. It'd be easier for you, I bet."
"No promises," Sandra grumbled out after swallowing, "but, I'll think about it." She looked to the phone dangling on the wall. "That reminds me, alright if I call my boyfriend, let him know I'm okay?"
"Sure." She leaned in. "I can't have my mare be separated from her stallion. He is a stallion, right?" She waggled her brows. "A stallion?"
Sandra glowered at her, cheeks darkening with color. "Yes, he's a guy, and we're dating. I just need to tell him I'm safe." She took another bite of her pizza slice, most of it gone. "Thank you." She fished out her own phone, calling him up.
The answer came swiftly. "Hey, are you okay?" His voice sounded tired, but brightened a bit when he heard her on the line. "I got your message."
Sandra settled on the sofa, pizza in one hand. "This is going to sound crazy, but one of my viewers extended an invitation. Turns out she's way in the know and she loves ponies and she wants to protect this pony from creepy things. So, I'm crashing at her place."
"Oh, good!" He laughed, relieved. "Um, so, you said in the know. Is she one of us? How did that go?"
Sandra shrugged. "Not sure, I haven't asked, and I don't plan on asking." She propped up her feet. "But she's really nice."
"Is she the kind of nice I can't visit?" His doubt was clear in his voice.
Sandra looked at Jay, checking their email. "I'll check. Jay, Alright if my boyfriend visits?"
Jay waved her off with a roll of her eyes. "He is very welcome to come over." She snorted out a laugh. "But if he wants to enjoy himself, he'll have to get used to seeing ponies around the house."
Sandra snorted gently. "He's my boyfriend. I think he's used to a pony being around." She turned her voice into her phone directly. "You're good to come over. I'll text you the address, okay?"
"Be right over." He hung up.
Jay hopped onto the couch beside Sandra. "Your boyfriend! Can I see?" She took a bite of her pizza, savoring it a moment. "You have a picture of him on that phone, right? Let me see." She plucked at the phone, trying to get a look.
Sandra tucked her phone away. "After he comes over."
Jay prodded at Sandra's cheek. "Fine, only because he's already coming. So, tell me straight, is he also a cute little pony or not?" She half-lid her eyes. "Some fuzzy things like other fuzzy things, and others get really nervous about the idea of 'keeping it in the family,' so to speak."
Sandra winced slightly. "Yeah, but that's not how we work." She swallowed down the rest of her slice and made a face at Jay. "I've seen his human self, and I think he's great as that, okay? That's what's important here. Him."
Jay spread her hands out. "If it helps, I think you're cute either way. A cute lady, and a cute pony. Double prize, in one box." She hopped to her feet. "Now! We really should get to hunting that bastard that's trying to hunt you." She slapped her palms together. "The longer he's alive, the more risk he represents to you, and other people, and other things."
Sandra slunk down on the couch. "Can you do that without me?"
"Probably, but he wants you." Jay nodded firmly. "So, that means you should be there when I find him and give him what he deserves."
Sandra shuddered, raising a hand to block out any more words. She sank into the plush couch, taking a moment to appreciate just how soft it was. Jay seemed to have a very comfortable house. It wasn't all too different from her own little place, save for how many games were installed on the systems there. "What do you mean by what he deserves?"
"Oh, not letting him go, to start." Jay scoffed at that. "No, we have to spread our arms wide before we come in, make sure he has no escape routes. And then we deliver swift justice to his foul little person."
Sandra kept her hands over her face. "Deliver swift justice?" She let her hands fall away. "You're not going to kill him, are you?"
Jay hiked a brow. "What he plans for you involves that, I remind, and worse." She snickered gently. "It can get worse. At least I ask before I get odd, and I take 'no' as an answer." She tapped a few buttons on her phone. "I have some things I need to do to set this up, so if you could just wait here, I'd appreciate it." She strolled off, phone in hand.
Sandra grabbed a second slice and sat down at the computer station that'd been assigned to her. She kept half an eye on Jay as the computer techie seemed to be arguing with someone, though the words were hard to make out and she wasn't even sure they were English. It sounded more like a series of grunts.
Sandra wanted to use the time to check on her own computer setup, but decided against it. She was at the house of a stranger, so maybe it was better to keep some distance between herself and her Internet self. Instead, she fiddled with the equipment, learning how to change between the streaming program and her regular feed. It had a lot of features, but she figured it out without much fuss.
It also let her peruse Jay's very full library of games, not all of them to her taste, but a few were. The sheer quantity of them seemed impressive enough. She had almost everything available in digital format, and had bought most of it too. Even Sandra hadn't splurged that much on games. "What do you do, Jay? I'm pretty sure a girl can't pay for all this with stream donations."
Jay paused her conversation. "I don't stream, girl. That's your thing." She picked up where she had been grunting in that odd way without further pause.
Sandra squinted at her. "Then what do you do?"
"Fix computers." She nodded once, then went back to what she was doing.
Sandra let out a heavy sigh and got back to fiddling with the computer. Well, that computer, at least, was very 'fixed'. A knocking at the door drew her attention and she sprang to her feet to go peek through the peephole. Spotting Louis, she wrenched it open, flinging herself into his arms. "You came!"
Louis' arms came up around her and held her tight. "Of course I did." He gave her a soft squeeze. "Can't let you wander off without me." With equal warmth, they snuggled there in the hallway.
Jay whistled from within her apartment, watching them. "That is sweet, now get in here." She pointed at her feet. "He is welcome to come inside. Just no kissing."
Louis pulled back, startled by that last word. "What?"
Jay sneered at Louis. "I mostly wanted to see that reaction. You two are a thing, check." She made a check motion in the air. "But no hanky panky unless you're inviting me. that's just polite. Otherwise, hold it in until you get out of here."
Sandra reddened and tried to block him from view. "We're not doing that kind of stuff! He's just my boyfriend!" She cleared her throat. "Well, come on inside."