//------------------------------// // September // Story: Not\e/worthy // by YarnWeaver //------------------------------// Not\e/worthy Part of the PonyEarthVerse By: YarnWeaver Chapter 8: September Sunday, P.E.08 - 10:16 A.M. Santa Fe, TX - Someone's Mother Cheesy omelets with a diced onion and pepper medley is the order of the day. My husband may be our family's best cook, but that certainly doesn't mean that I can't whip something up myself when he's in a bind. We are married after all; we're not living for ourselves anymore. It was actually Bartholomew who suggested something with eggs in the first place. I thought we'd need to vegan for this now that my husband's...a pony. That is still a very weird thought to think. After a great reminder that Damon was still my Damon even after what happened to him, Jimmy brought him over to the Dining room table, where I'd already set places for the...four of us. There on the leaf-expanded table's floral print cover were five sets of table settings. I've put out one extra set by mistake. Oh, Danny...where are you? I feel Damon put his fuzzy arms around me. Oh, Father, I want my Son back. You know I miss him so much, and I'm worried about him. Please guide him in his steps; lead him back to us, Father. In your Son, Jesus's Name: Amen. I only realize I've been crying once my husband and I break our hug. I love you, my Daniel, please come home. Damon helps me recover enough to serve us all up. By this time, Bartholomew's come back from the Office. However, when we were all seated and about to ask God to bless our breakfast, we're cut off... -KNOCK!KNOCK!KNOCK!KNOCK!- ...by someone at the door. "I got it!" Barty blurts before he bolts for the door. -Click!--Click!--Creak.- "Oh! Hey, Jack!" "Mind if I come in?" Well, this was a surprise! After we got his call last night, letting us know that there was a good possibility that Daniel had been kidnapped, he told us he'd be staying at Walmart to cover his shift. He also promised he'd do a bit of digging while he was there. I wonder what he found. Somepony's Guest I'll admit it. I was pretty surprised to see a pony at the table when I went into the Michaels's house. I was even more surprised after I made a mental head count. "Mr. Michaels?" The orange pony nodded. "In the..." Mr. Michaels cast an inquiring glance at Barty, "...ponified?" Barty nodded. "In the ponified flesh, Jack." Danny's father; the man who went out of his way to challenge everything I knew; the man who held a firmer stance on the Bible as truth than any college professor I knew had on the Theory of Evolution as fact; the man who was just about as politically incorrect as Michael Moore, but in the opposite direction; is now a pony. "Wow. Uh, how're you taking it?" Of course I'm worried about him. He may be a nut, but he's still my best friend's dad. "Well...better than I thought I'd be, honestly. I've got a lot more energy now than I used to have. This pony is apparently some strange brand of ultra-comedian, because I just slayed my firstborn for slapping me across the face with a rubber chicken a few minutes ago. The fact that I can see a thoroughly shocked Jimmy staring at him from his spot right behind him at the table makes the play on words work so well despite how bad it sounds that I just can't help it! I just bust out laughing right there! "WHA-HA-HOO-HOO-HOO-WHAT?!" "Damon!" "DAD!!" "Heheh! Priceless!" "Yep! But enough about me. Come on! Jenny made omelets, and we were just about to say grace. Come join us at the table, Jack!" The rest of the Michaels Family proceeded to pick themselves up and congregate at the table in their Dining Room. I notice that there's enough place settings here for all of us already. Wait a minute... "Hey, Mrs. Michaels, were you expecting me? I was originally going to just call y'all with what I found, but-" "No...I wasn't..." She caught a sharp inhale before continuing. "...but I'm glad it's out. I was originally just preparing breakfast for all five of us like I used to when we all still lived under one roof, but you're welcome to it, Jack." "Yeah, about that. You see, I found out that-" "Hoooold your horses there, Jack!" Barty starts cracking up again and Jimmy just shakes his head and groans. He just doesn't stop, does he? "As I said before, we were about to say the prayer for our meal, so please can whatever bomb you're about to drop on us wait until afterwards?" Now, I'm not a religious person by a long shot, but I've known them for long enough to know that here in their house, same as anywhere else, this is an important tradition for them. I may not agree with everything that Damon preaches to me, but at a time like this? Who am I to object? "Yeah, whatever." "Thank you. Now, would you please have a seat so we can begin?" I oblige. Someone's Older Brother Everyone's got their own rituals for a family meal together. For us, it's sitting down at the table together with the food already served and if front of us, and praying for God's Blessing over the meal, Will for our lives and anything else that comes to mind before we begin. Barty and I usually occupy the same side, Mom and Dad sit across from each other, and that always left two seats left on the side adjacent to the china cabinet, one of which Danny always took. It was always the one across from Barty. Am I jealous of that fact? Maybe a little. The two shared a room for most of our collective childhood. They were almost always together, being just a year apart in school. I, however, started school at the right age whereas Danny was started a year late, so I was usually by myself growing up. It was the same case in school or out unless we were playing video games together. In retrospect, that was probably a bad thing. Anyway, Jack soon took the seat opposite me, the usual one for guests, and we all joined hands. Well, we would have all joined hands if Dad still had hands... ...or if Danny were still here. Still, I grab hold of Dad's right...hoof as Jack grabs the other one. Mom and Barty join hands, and Barty and I make the clasp as well. Then Dad leads us all in prayer. "Father we come before you today to bless this meal before us, and to ask for your guidance for this day." "Yes, Father." Mom added. "Please help me to understand what my son is going through, and give us Your Wisdom in how we're to move forward in this situation. In Your Holy Name we pray. Amen. So let it be." Then we all dug into our omelets. Well...not all of us. Dad looked to be having a hard time figuring out how he was going to hold his fork and knife with hooves. "Hey, Dad, do you want some help with that?" "Hm? Oh, yes please, Jimmy. I'd like that." He needed some help, and I offered my service. He's my Dad; I know he'd do the same for me. So I used his fork to cut off a piece of omelet for him, spear it, and hold it up for him to eat. After he bit down and after I pulled the fork out, his eyes took on a faraway gaze. He chewed with an almost absent looking, mechanical motion. He sat stock still as he swallowed his bite. He was silent for a bit longer before he suddenly blurted out. "That. Was. AMAZING!" Then he did something unbelievable. As he eyed the rest of his omelet, some, for lack of a better word, instinct seemed to take control of his actions. He lowered his head a bit, and then he opened his mouth and wedged his tongue under the remainder of his breakfast before tossing it into the air and catching it perfectly in his mouth. Thankfully, he kept his lips closed while he chewed, though he probably would've gotten away with it if he hadn't; the rest of us were all too stunned to speak. I wonder what else he's capable of now. Someone's Younger Brother After Dad's sudden impromptu Pinkie Pie impersonation attempt, I quickly regained my senses and decided to change the subject before anyone else started dwelling on what Dad just did for too long. "So, Jack! You said you found something?" That seemed to snap him out of it. "Whoa...I mean, yeah. I...after you phoned me back and let me know about that whole deal with someone in the Break Room apparently texting in the order, I did some digging while I was at Walmart, trying to find out who was behind it. Just telling you right now, that was our Store Manager Gina who was with you in the Security Office." Apparently Dad was done chewing his omelet around that time, because we all heard him audibly gulp it down. "You enjoying yourself there, Dad?" He shot a big, goofy grin over to Mom. "Darling, that was the most delicious meal I've ever had. Excellent work!" "Aww, thank you, Honey!" "Getting back on track," I interrupt, "You said that was your Store Manager with us, Jack?" "Yeah. I saw her go into the back hall of the store later, and I decided to tail her. I won't bore you with all of the details. The important part is this: after chewing out the Department Manager who apparently outed Danny's transformation to whomever it was that sent those goons in to take him, Gina closed herself up in the Ad Office and was calling someone from the office telephone." "Suspicious!" Jack nodded. "You got it. I went over to the Personnel Office and picked up the office phone in that room and listened in as quietly as I could. She was talking to a woman called 'Greed'." Somepony Determined I listened as closely as I could to Jack's story. According to him, this Gina was in league with some strange organization that wanted to round up anyone who'd been turned into one of these ponies and imprison them somewhere northeast from here. He said he heard her mention something about the group that took my son probably being in Texarkana by then. That was close to twelve hours ago now, by his count. Texarkana was one of the towns we'd stayed in on our trip moving down here from Michigan. This is all so wrong. He continued to say that he'd barely missed being discovered by Gina afterward. He was hiding out in the Personnel Office, as he called it, and faked using one of the computers there to look something up in order to cover his presence there in the first place. She chewed him out for being there instead of doing his job, but she apparently failed to suspect him of eavesdropping. Thank the Lord. At hearing of how close he came to being discovered, Jenny got up and offered him a hug. He was stunned for a bit, but he accepted. "Thank you, Jack, for looking out for Danny. Thank you for being such a good friend to him." "Uh...you're welcome, Mrs. Michaels." After that, Bartholomew said he had something to report as well. There was apparently a new political party that was starting to make some waves online and in the news lately. We resolved to look into it further after breakfast. Don't worry, Daniel. We'll get to the bottom of this.