You had a full and complete day. You'd learned how to maid, which you were fired from, then got to treat a person or two as a nurse, your new job. It didn't come with any pay adjustments just yet. That could come later, maybe?

Still, you're home. A new life pattern emerges, heading out each morning to start an exciting shift of keeping mythological critters from dying, which they were quite capable of doing.

Nick was enjoying his new gig in the candy store. There was a lot less colorful characters involved, but he was getting paid well. Funny thing, but he didn't 'forget' the day. He just thought he'd misremembered it. He had a job interview with someone dressed up like an elf! Isn't that crazy? He was laughing it off, ready to pen it down as his own fault. He'd drunk too much, he was ready to accept.

At least until you confirmed the boss was, indeed, an elf. Confirming enough details of the 'dream' pushed him over the line, but he didn't panic, or tell on them. He went to work like you did, and did his part to earn that paycheck. That they were elves and things was never as 'real' to him, it seemed, but a job was a job.

You've put most the rest aside when he calls you. "It's pony time."

It was pony time a lot of the time. "Pony time?"

"The meeting," reminds Nick. "I'll text the address."

So in comes a time and a place. You call in to work. "Hey, have to call out today."

"You take it easy, hope you feel better." You hadn't said you were sick, but correcting the nice boggan(that's what he was) felt awkward, so you took it and hung up, your duty complete there.

Fae business put aside, you get dressed in something nice and hop into your car. Drawing out smoothly, you're soon on the way. "Hey Google."A chime informs you your car is litening. "Tell Nick I'm on the way," The car replied electronically that it had done exactly that, only after making sure it heard the right thing.

Soon you were in front of a house. You'd never seen that house before. Climbing out, you can see a lot of cars are lined up along the road. You doubt those are all from the neighborhood. You head up to the door and rap on it with the back of your knuckles.

You hear a click of metal on metal, then a thunk of, you guess, is a deadbolt turning. The door opens, revealing an overweight but powerful looking man in his 30s. "Yo. You need something?"

"Just here to shake my tail." The keyword you'd been told to use.

"That sounds so wrong." But he steps out of the side for you to come in. "Especially from an old lady."

Hey! Well, alright, you were kinda that... But you were young at heart! And as a pony. That counted, right? The inside's cramped, at least until you get to a big living room with people, and ponies, scattered about.

A fellow unicorn mare raises a brow, watching you. "Look at the new one. You from out of town?"

"That's her." There's Nick, in pony form.

The unicorn snaps to Nick. "You like them old, huh? She's awful... Might be the oldest I saw someone drop their tail."

You drop to all fours, still dressed despite that. That trick was kinda nice. "Sorry. I didn't decide to be what age I am."

A pegasus whistles sharply, wings flapping. "Damn, nevermind. She's just fine like this."

An earth pony kicked the pegasus in the side idly. "Creep."

Nick moves quickly to your side, taking a defensive stance, or possessive? Both are possible at the same time. "This is her first meeting."

One of the humans there flips his phone around. "Thunderhoof is running late. Everyone else on the list is here."

Another pony, an earth mare shakes her head. "Thunderhoof is always late. I say we get this ball rolling."

If you had to guess, which you do, most of the ponies were in their, what, 20s and 30s? The humans vary a lot more, some inching easily up into their 60s. You're the oldest one there. That... bothers you. "Why am I the oldest?"

The unicorn that had first measured you shook out her mane. "That's easy. It's not easy being a pony. Things happen. You either catch one you can't handle, or you run away. Both have happened." She sat up on her haunches. "That's not even counting the ones that fall off the edge one way or the other. So... yeah, elders, not that common. Thunderhoof is the oldest member, and he's always late. But he's still ticking, so maybe taking it easy is the key we're all missing."

Conversation rippled as people discussed the idea.

"Hi!" You weren't in dreaming mode. How did... Oh, that was a little pony. Very little.

The colt is smiling up at you with a big grin. "Nice to meetcha!"

They are so cute, but also... "Ponies come this small?"

The earth pony that had kicked the sassing pegasus nodded. "Ayup. About seven's the earliest I've ever seen it. What makes someone eligible, or stops them from being that, still a mystery right?"

"Nice to meet you." You offer a hoof along with your name, the real one. "You are?"

"Little Arrow!" He clops his hoof against yours. "Genorisity earth pony." Oh, he sounded so proud of every word of that. "You're a unicorn."

"I am." Hard to argue that. "Kindness unicorn."

He dances in place, hopping from hoof to hoof. "Ooo. Nice!" He starts glowing suddenly. "Hey!"

The other unicorn is lifting up the colt and floating him away to her side. "He's my little cousin. I love him to death, but if he's bothering you, you don't owe him anything."

"He isn't bothering me." You wave a hoof negatively to make it clearer.

"See?!" He pedaled in the air to little avail. "She's a Kindness. She's probably great."

The unicorn raises a brow. "Sorry for just being a boring Laughter."

Little Arrow's struggles stop. "What? No! Laughter's great! You're so good at it too."

She put him down next to herself and ruffled his mane. "I try, now be good. Let's get this meeting going."

The pegasus that had whistled threw his head at Nick. "So are we talking about that attack? We can't just let a vampire attack out of nowhere go unanswered."

The earth pony crossed his arms. "Unless that sucker was working at the word of another sucker, it's just one, and he's dead. Revenge on the dead's hard."

The babysitting unicorn shook her head slowly. "And how do we know? The suckers are always working for each other, and they don't bring their plans in their pocket."

You were being tossed in the deep end... "Is this what we talk about at these meetings." All eyes turn on you. "I mean, it's serious, sure. It's my first one, just checking."

Another pegasus hops up to her hooves. "We talk about whatever's important to us in the moment, like one of ours being attacked in their home. Not sure what you all have in mind--" She glared at the earth pony. "--to do about it. We're ponies. In a world of horrors, we're the softest thing out there."

You raise a hoof. "I'm making friends with another group."

The pegasus blinks at you. "Another group of ponies?"

The unicorn whistles softly. "Wow. Quick."

"No..." Well, you started, may as well press forward. "Another kind of thing. Fae. Changelings."

Nick leans against you. "I saw them." He didn't sound as confident as you did.

The unicorn inclines her head, then rises to all four. "That's nice. I heard about them, but are they going to help? Look, everyone's got their own problems. Even the suckers got their issues, not that I care about them. They going to throw down their problems and come to the rescue?"

That would be nice... "I'm helping them right now."

The unicorn's brows raise together. "We're under attack and you're busy helping them out? No offense or anything, but that's some warped priorities."

Little Arrow prods at her urgently. "Don't be mad at her! She's just being a kindness."

The earth pony sinks to his belly. "You'll get over that. We all start with stars in our eyes, trying to live up to our purpose... This world beats it out of you fast enough."

Nick sits up tall. "She's earning money, and making contacts. That's not a bad way to spend a day."

The second pegasus shrugs. "I can't argue that. You keep on doing your thing if it's working." Mumbles spread, generally agreeing that what you're doing isn't worth being upset about. "No sharing meeting information."

Nick tenses. "Oh, right. The meeting's private. Anything we say here, stays here."

The unicorn rolls her eyes. "Wow, you didn't tell her? Look. I'm Moon Streak." She points at herself. "You need a helping hoof that isn't also in love with you and forgetting half of it."

Names are fired rapidly as every pony there introduces themself. "Little Arrow!" And at least one of them takes the chance to do it again. "Nice to meetcha!"

Moon floats out a phone, tapping at it with her magic. "You got a phone? Give me the number." Which you do. "There, text sent. Now we have each other's contact." She tucks the phone away in a little pocket. Right, she's a unicorn too. She can magic.

Nick huffs. "Alright, here's what we got." He slides a phone forward with a kick. "Only thing on him that looked like it might have something."

Lightning Flash, the first pegasus, snatches the phone with a wing flip and scowls right after. "It's locked."

Nick chuckles at that. "Look, most people do that. I don't know the combo, so I'm not getting anything."

Moon raises a hoof, horn glowing as she takes the phone from Lightning's grip. "Give me some time and I'll get in there. Until we know what's the deal with this guy, let's not jump to anything."

Little Arrow looked so proud. "Unicorns are awesome!" He was not a unicorn. He was a little earth pony. "She'll figure it out."

Big Shot, the heavyset earthpony, nods. "Alright. You get at that. If you find something really interesting, let us know, meeting or not. Nick." He looks to Nick. "Is there a reason you're not going by your name today? Little lady doesn't know that?"

Nick froze a moment. "She's been through a lot recently... Um. She was a guy not that long ago."

That prompts a chorus of gasps and spit takes.

You raise your hooves wardingly. "I am what I am. Right now, that's a kindness unicorn that's trying to figure this out."

Moon cocked a brow. "You are made of steel, or deep in shock and running on auto pilot. One or the other. Christ on a stick, just imagining being that old and set in my ways and then all this? How... Whatever. You got questions, you have my number."

Sunset Splash, the other pegasus, giggles. "Well, now they're not old. That's a pretty good deal."

Big Shot shakes his head with a grunt. "I was getting to a point. She has a house, right?" You nod. "Great, so get out of your house for now." He points to Nick, then you. "You two are a thing anyway, so let him stay over until we're more sure it's safe for him to be at his place."

Nick waves his hooves wildly. "I'm not trying to do that to her!"

But you don't want Nick to be in danger, and hanging out with him isn't a bad thing, right? You both work at the same place. Carpooling would save a few dollars, and make the trip less boring...

Author's Note

A break from changeling shenanigans. The ponies have problems. Welcome to the meeting! Only 5 votes makes me sad. Vote!

New poll! https://forms.gle/sixeJE8vSCGQyZcRA

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