Jacob suddenly burst into laughter. "I'm being rude. You can't just make demands without offering anything, or people will assume you're trying to rob them, isn't that right?"

Jay smirked at that. "Smart move, Jacob. Don't worry about it. Sandra knows I'm helping her." She spread her hands peacefully. "Want something to drink? No tricks, just drinks."

Jacob reached up and plucked off that hat of unknown properties. "Since you are offering, I will gladly accept. Do you have any Doctor Pepper? My favorite."

Jay winced grandly. "Blasphemy! No, I do not. Can I interest you in some root beer instead?" She flicked her fingers towards the kitchen. "Sandra bought groceries."

Jacob clicked his tongue on his teeth aimlessly for a few seconds before switching tracks. "It's hard to say no to such an offer. Root beer it is."

Sandra gestured nervously at the fridge. "I did get some of that." She glanced away and back at Jay. "How'd you know I got root beer?"

Jay snorted softly at Sandra. "You're in a room with two mages. One of them knowing which brand of cola you picked hardly seems that big of a trick." She waved away from the kitchen. "Get out of there, dear. Get on back to your computer or relax in the living room."

Jacob wagged his hat in Jay's direction. "Awful polite for a pair that just met each other." He cocked his head slightly. "So she's living here? Curious. How did that happen?"

Sandra felt her cheeks warm. "She's protecting me." She sank into the chair at the other computer. "I'm thankful for that."

Jacob strode with purpose to the fridge and got himself that bottle of root beer. In just a moment he was pouring it out, a strangely domestic gesture for a 'mage'.

Jay clicked her tongue gently. "Now, we should have talked about that." She tutted at Jacob as he drank from his root beer. "Jacob, Sandra needs some private time. Get out."

Jacob drained half the bottle in one go. "Privacy? Yes, that is needed." He adjusted his hat. "Curious how a pony wound up with you, Jay." His eyes were on Sandra. "Protecting you is a fine thing, but most don't immediately get this chummy. Ponies are affectionate things, aren't they?"

Sandra didn't look away from her computer as she booted it up. "Um, I'm not that touchy-feely. We're just roomies." She flicked her gaze towards Jay.

Jay shrugged with her own laugh. "Not that I haven't tried, but she's right. No touching really going on here. She has a partner, and I'm not it. But someone tried to hurt her. Protecting is important." She hummed grandly. "Alright, all seriousness aside, how'd you know Sandra was staying with me? The slime trails went cold by the time you probably were tracking them."

Jacob drained the last of his soda and abandoned the glass on the counter. "Mmm. How? Call it luck. I came to visit, and saw this wonderful specimen wandering out of your house. She has the most exquisite pattern, allow me to say." He tipped his hat towards Sandra.

Jay drummed her fingers along her computer desk. "She's under my protection, Jacob. You know how things work. Back off." She huffed grandly. "And don't be that infuriatingly vague around her. You know she has no clue what you're talking about."

Sandra swished the mouse, pulling up her streaming account and checking on activity on the channel. She'd gotten new subscribers, a good number of them. That brought a smile to her face. "Aw, I got more followers!"

Jacob flashed Jay a small grin. "Protecting? Curious indeed." He turned towards Sandra with a flourish of his hat. "Don't mind us, Miss Streamer. I was speaking of, shall we say, your aura. You put out a delightful aura if you know how to look for it. I can't put my finger on it, which is why I've been following you."

Sandra froze for a moment before carefully continuing. "Um, aura?" She flexed her fingers lightly. "You can see that stuff?" She turned away from the computer a bit, focusing on Jacob. "What's it, um, look like?"

"Now that is a challenge. How to phrase." He put a hand to his chin with a delicate frown. "Imagine looking at a brick wall, when suddenly a dazzling portrait of grafitti just dances in front of it. No black markings here, but bright colors, a living fresco in a dreary world. A spot of light amid the darkness." He clasped his hands together. "Your aura is worth following for that alone."

Sandra pursed her lips and scratched at the computer desk idly. "Um, sounds neat?" She tilted her head slightly. "How come Jay doesn't have one?"

Jay snorted at that. "Yeah! What's my aura look like, Jacob? It's pretty too, ain't it?" She sounded like she was amused by the whole thing.

Jacob flashed her a little smirk. "Your aura reeks of your specialty. If we keep that brick wall analogy, Jay feels like a thousand wires burst out of it, promising infinity in its coils. Not warm. Intriguing, certainly, but not colorful in the same way."

Sandra clicked at the computer gently, thinking about that. "Jay saved me from a bad person. Um, Jacob." She poked away at the machine some more, seeing how chat was doing. "I owe her for that."

"And here I thought you were being polite by using my name," Jacob murmured softly, almost too quiet to hear. He clasped his hands together grandly. "Miss Sandra, I will offer you something." He held out that mysterious hat. "You can have this, if I can see a pony."

Jay groaned loudly at that. "Knock it off! Sandra's been through a lot, and isn't going to transform in front of a total stranger like you!" She huffed grandly. "Close your stream, dear."

"I wasn't streaming yet." Sandra drew her hands away from the mouse and keyboard just to be sure. She pivoted her chair to face Jacob. "What do you know about ponies?"

Jacob tapped his hat a moment before putting it on again. "Not a great deal. Curious creatures. They exist, but hide away from us. Do they have mages?" He rubbed his chin gently. "Perhaps so, considering Jay's intervention. I can see one aura, yours. Perhaps that means other ponies are beyond my reach?"

Jay gave him a flat look. "Probably because the majority of them don't actually have anything special to show off, at least not in comparison to mages." She spread her hands. "Look, this is a human world, run by humans. We decide the reality we live in, and mages are the ones messing with that, kinda our thing. Ponies can't say they own much of anything past their cute parts."

Sandra winced at that description. "Cute parts?"

Jay rolled her eyes grandly. "Dude, you're cute. That's just a fact. Jacob wants to see ponies, I want him out of my space, let's do a little deal. You transform, he goes away. Everybody wins." She didn't look terribly hopeful about it. "Well, except Jacob."

"Don't be like that. If I get to see it, then I win too. Everyone is a winner in that case." He tapped at the hat atop his head. "The deal is still offered, Sandra. What a lovely name. I'll trade this hat for a chance to see a pony."

Sandra lifted herself up to stand properly. "Jay says it's okay?" She nibbled her lip, fear welling up inside of her. "It's really not that special." A thought came to her. "Ever see a wolf?"

Jacob cringed. "The angry ones? Not my taste, not by far. Horses though? Different breed of animal entirely. Curious things, fluffy, delightful. Jay, why'd you hide such a delightful creature away?" He rubbed his hands together with a rumbling purr.

Sandra fell forward, hitting the ground on hooves as her tail flicked behind her. She was Raspberry, snorting in a way only an equine could. "There. Look." She circled in place. "Pony."

Jacob admired her for a moment, eyes drinking in her features before he clicked his tongue. "Glorious! Oh, you do live up to your aura!" He swept off his hat and approached her with it outstretched. She flinched, but not so much as to stop him from placing the hat atop her head. "As promised."

Jay snorted at that. "Enough drama." She gripped his wrist tightly. "Time to go."

"Friendly farewell, I trust?" Jacob withdrew his hand from Jay's grip easily. "I look forward to next time, little pony. Thank you for showing me such a pretty sight." He bowed grandly to Sandra before backing towards the door. "Thank you, Jay." He opened it and was gone just like that.

Raspberry exhaled a heavy sigh of relief and flicked the hat off of her head. At least, she tried, but the hat remained atop her head. "What?" She looked up at it as best she could. "Jay? Could you help get this off me?"

Jay whistled gently at that. "Oh, Jacob, that tricky rascal. He put a binding on that hat. It's not coming off until someone breaks it." She squinted at the hat with her power. "And that requires more expertise than I have. You are now a hatted pony." She reached around where the hat met Raspberry's head, getting in some petting and scritching along the way. "Aw, and it looks good on you too."

Raspberry craned her neck to look at Jay, eyes wide with worry. "He put a spell on it?" She closed her eyes, accepting Jay's affection. "Or is it the spell? Mmmf, my fault, accepting a magic hat. Should've known better." She wrinkled her nose gently. "It's comfy, though."

Jay snorted grandly at that. "So don't take it off." She rubbed at Raspberry's cheeks before bringing her hands away. "Don't mean to take advantage of a bad situation."

Raspberry stomped a hoof. "I'm not mad. Um, thanks for defending me from him. Jacob." She sat back on her haunches and exhaled softly. "Did I really have an aura he could see?"

Jay cracked her knuckles with a grunt. "Hats, an interesting fascination of his. To your question, I don't think he was lying. His sort specialize in primal energies, so keeping an eye on it is not very far afield for Jacob to be doing." She pointed at her main computer. "Me? I deal with space. The gap between here and there, lie that it is."

Raspberry glanced at the computer. "So you can teleport stuff around? Jay, that's cool!" She tapped her hooves against the ground with a happy snort. "Um, but why'd he leave then?"

"Because I asked him to enough times." Jay rolled her eyes at that. "Can I teleport things? With enough preparation or desperation, yes. It gets complicated, but it does mean spying on you is pretty easy, and knowing what soda you got was beyond simple." She put a hand on Raspberry's snout, covering her nose gently. "You are too cute."

Raspberry wriggled under the attention before jerking away. "Easy! Um, so your computers are the key?" She was free of the touch for only a moment before Jay cupped her cheeks again, squishing them gently. "Ggkh!"

Jay let go at that with a laugh. "Everything you do is a gift. But, yes, I work through computers. Me without some kind of computer is just a very sad person. Jacob though? He doesn't use computers. Just like that hat binds itself to you, he can bind himself to objects. His specialty is primal energies. Now if you want to know how he does it, I never actually asked him. Asking a mage about the hows and you either get brushed off or they'll yak your ears off for hours about it. There's rarely a middle."

Raspberry snorted and tapped a hoof on the ground. "Sounds complicated. Um, primal energies? Is that a different kind of magic?" She flopped onto her side gently. "Jacob wanted to see a pony. But now he knows for sure I am one. Will he come back?"

"Here?" Jay looked around the room. "Probably not, especially for you. But he knows where you're living, and you have his hat. He'll probably come say hello to you when you're not here. Just be polite and act cute. He's a nerd about magic, like any good mage, so showing off will keep him happy."

Raspberry curled up more, finding it easy to just rest on the floor. "This has been a very hectic week." She started at a feel over her ribs. Opening her just shut eyes, she saw Jay stroking along her side. "Jay?"

"Like I said, ponies are too cute. Jacob had to be chased off, but now I'm feeling up a pony. No offense. If you want me to stop, we're stopping. You're in charge here, pony girl." Jay moved her hand along Raspberry's side slowly, just going with the contours of her body. "Soft, warm. Adorable."

Raspberry considered squirming away, but Jay was being gentle and it did feel nice. "Um, okay, but just a bit. Louis likes this sort of thing." She rested her head down on her front legs. "I'm not yours though."

Jay hummed grandly as she rubbed at Raspberry. "Yours? No. Louis and you already gave yourself to each other, didn't you? And I'm not invited into that snuggly family." She felt around towards Raspberry's neck, running a hand along it firmly. "Easy there. Feels good, right?"

Raspberry tensed for a moment before relaxing into the touch. "Are you lonely?"

"Lonely? Hmm, could be." Jay scratched at the fur around Raspberry's throat. "That's another reason to look after you, little pony. Not the only one, but there's a lot of love in you, isn't there? Love and joy. Those are your specialties, aren't they?"

Raspberry clicked her teeth gently as Jay scratched along her throat. "Actually, um." She swallowed thickly and kicked at the air as she was pet. "My specialty is laughter, actually. Making people smile, see the bright side, warm up?"

Jay's hands stilled a moment before continuing their massage. "Making people laugh? Huh, and you decided to become a streamer. There's no better way to do that than poke at jokes."

Raspberry giggled at that, relaxing at the turn of the conversation. "Exactly! As a streamer, it's my job to make people's days a little brighter. I try really hard to give them something they can come away from with a smile."

Jay rubbed along Raspberry's chest for a moment, considering what was being said. "So you're just a happy pony. Adorable. Thanks for telling me, Raspberry." She snuggled into her neck with a soft hum.

It was only then that Raspberry realized she was being snuggled. Jay was basically hugging her. Raspberry could smell her; a faint dusting of cheetos and lingering coffee. It wasn't bad. It was a strangely cozy combination. The embrace itself was a little weak, but the intent was clear. Raspberry let herself enjoy the hug.

"Thanks for trusting me enough to share," Jay murmured into Raspberry's mane. She drew a little more tightly, hugging Raspberry for real once permission was gained without words. "You are too cute, Raspberry."

Raspberry giggled at that, kicking her hooves playfully. "Don't tell anyone. I have a reputation as a bad pony to maintain!"

"Right." Jay did not look like she believed that for even an instant. "Now, getting up." She pushed off the floor and back to her feet. "It'd be awkward if your boy came in while I was doing that."

Raspberry hopped up on all four hooves. "Um, right, yeah." She switched back to human form in an instant. Her new hat, previously atop her head as a pony, stayed in place as if it had been on her head the whole time. "Um." She reached up to feel along the hat and tried pulling it off, to no avail. "So he did enchant this."

Jay snickered softly. "I don't think it's enchanted, so much as being the enchantment. Subtle difference, but important."

Author's Note

Got carried away, so big chapter for you.

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