I awoke the following morning, having been returned to my human form. My wife was already awake and in the kitchen making breakfast. I felt a little dazed by everything, my head feeling somewhat dizzy. Brenda called for me.
I put on my house-coat and looked for some clothes to put on. Walking around on two legs again felt strange at first, but came quickly back with a little bit of placing a hand on the walls to help me regain my balance. I got dressed, and went down to the kitchen, holding the handrail to descend the stairs.
"What's for breakfast?" I asked.
"Scrambled eggs, sausage, toast, and juice," she said.
I fixed a plate, and cut a small piece of the cooked sausage. The familiar tang of salt, grease, and processed pork meat told me I had indeed regained my human taste for meat. I decided that I was going to try to eat as little meat as possible from this point on, since the flavor no longer appealed to me. I finished eating, and went outside to check out what I had done to the car yesterday.
Upon seeing the car from a human perspective for the first time since I had "healed" it, I was struck by the change in the paint job. The car was now a dark navy blue instead of black, but shone like new. A pair of racing stripes, one pink, one purple ran from the front bumper to the rear bumper, over the hood, roof, and rear decklid on the driver's side. The rear fenders had Twilight's cutie mark painted on them, behind the fuel door on the driver's side, and near the tail lights on the passenger side. For a finishing touch, the car's engine size and trim level had been slightly changed, so instead of 2.5 S it showed 2.5 TS. I chuckled at this, thinking to myself, "Oh, Twilight, what have you done to this car?"
Using the keyless entry fob, I unlocked the doors. The original cloth seats had been replaced by high quality leather, and into the seatback of the driver's and front passenger's seats had been stitched Twilight's cutie mark. I thought it was a nice touch, and then sat in the driver's seat. I put the key in the ignition, and turned it on.
"Acquiring driver data," came a voice from the speakers. I was stunned. I didn't know I had equipped the car with a voice module. It sounded very familiar.
"Sounds like Twilight's voice," I said, not sure if the car was actually talking or not.
"Driver data acquired. Good morning, Michael!" it said. I opened my mouth, and said nothing. "Where are we going today?" the car asked.
"Did I just seriously hear you ask me where we're going today?" I asked, incredulously.
"Yes."
"Did I really imbue you with that much magic?" I asked.
"Quite a lot, Michael."
"I was just trying to fix all the minor problems, and make a few things better," I said.
"You did quite a bit more than that, Michael."
"What are you capable of doing?" I asked, still stunned, and amused that I was having a conversation with my car.
"Whatever you need."
"I am not going to ask how this is possible, since what happened yesterday also seemed impossible," I said.
"Good." I chuckled at this response.
"Brenda's not going to believe this," I said.
"Who is Brenda?"
"She is my wife, and will be the one who usually sits in the front passenger seat," I said.
"Very well then Michael."
"Please don't talk to her, she's not aware that you have been changed this much. A talking car will terrify her, especially if you ask her questions, or respond to hers."
"As you wish."
I turn off the car and go back into the house. Brenda has gone back into our room to watch a little TV. I went upstairs to join her.
"Do you remember when I was Twilight yesterday?" I asked her.
"How can I forget?"
"Well, I used some magic to fix the car," I said.
"Really? So what's wrong with the car now?"
"Maybe you might want to take a look at it," I said, smiling mischievously.
"Is there something different about it I should know?"
"It has a voice module now."
"Okay, so it talks. Big deal."
"It's an interactive voice module," I said, trying to explain.
"What does that mean? It talks back to you?" she grinned.
"Uh, yeah, it does. Kinda creeped me out at first," I said. "I told it not to talk to you."
She opened her eyes real wide when I said that, and gave me this "Are you crazy?" look. She got up and went outside to check the car out. I followed her outside.
"It looks like it's brand new," she said, smiling. "But that's a really weird paint job."
"Look at the rear fenders," I said. "Look at the seats."
"That's the mark you had on your rear yesterday," she said. "What does it mean?"
"The large purple star represents the primary element of magic with the five smaller white stars representing the other elements of harmony," I said, not sure if I remembered it correctly. She looked at me quizzically.
"No, I'm talking about the car. Did your magic give it some sort of personality?"
"Uh, yeah, I think so. I asked her not to talk to you, or respond to your questions, 'coz I think you might freak out at the car talking to you," I said.
"That's crazy!" she exclaimed. She meant crazy not in a good way, either. The way she looked at me made me reconsider what I had said to her.
"Maybe the only way to show you is to give you a ride somewhere," I said. I unlocked the car doors, and we got in.
"Good morning, Michael," it said after I had started it up. "Acquiring passenger data."
"Mike, what's going on here?" she asked.
"I am scanning your parameters for optimal riding comfort and experience," it said.
"Umm, car? What should I call you?" I asked, hesitantly.
"You may call me TS," came the response. I laughed at the sheer irony of the situation. "May I ask why it is you laugh?"
"I find the irony of a car wanting to carry Twilight's name highly amusing. Sounds like something I would do to appease my ego if I could imbue a car with enough magic to make it come alive," I said, still chuckling.
"I can't believe this!" Brenda exclaimed, her eyes wide with fear.
"Passenger data acquired. Good morning, Brenda!" the car said in Twilight's cheery voice.
"Mike, turn that off! NOW!!"
"TS, would you please remain silent whenever Brenda is in you?" I asked, trying to stifle a giggle.
"Sorry, Brenda. Yes, Michael." The voice sounded somewhat disappointed.
"Mike, I want you to get another car! I don't want to ride in this one if it's going to talk to me!"
"I can assure you, Brenda, that no harm will come to you. My purpose as a car is to transport you as safely as possible to any location you wish. With Michael behind the wheel, you have nothing to fear," came the calm voice. It almost seemed as though Princess Celestia's voice was trying to make it through the speakers.
"Mike!"
"Address the car, Brenda."
"Mike! I refuse to talk to a car!"
"I am not going to buy a different car -- I haven't even finished paying for this one yet," I said. "I see the odometer has been changed to zero, That's interesting."
"When you fixed me with your magic, I became a new car, with no miles elapsed."
"And the gas tank is full, I don't remember filling the tank," I said.
"Fuel economy has been greatly increased as a result of your magic," said TS.
"That was my main concerns," I said. "So I can save money I would otherwise spend on fuel. I was shooting for around 1500 miles per gallon. So, did I succeed?"
"Yes."
"Mike, are you saying this car is going to get 1500 miles per gallon?" Brenda asked in disbelief. Her nervousness around the car's voice module was starting to dissipate. "Now I see why you don't want to get rid of it. How does it drive?"
"Where do you want to go?" I asked Brenda.
"Just drive around, I want to see if this car really is new or not."
"I can assure you, Brenda, that I am now a new car," said TS.
We drove around the neighborhood in relative silence, and I was surprised by the smoothness of the ride. The car had indeed been renewed by my magic, and I was happy about this. I turned on the radio at Brenda's insistence, and listened to an R & B station playing a song from the 90's.
"I do not approve of your music choice," TS said. The radio then changed stations to a classical music station. Strains of a Dvorak violin concerto came through the speakers. "Much better," she said.
"MIKE! I was listening to that!"
"Brenda, TS changed the station. I did not."
"Take me back home! And TS, don't change the station when I'm listening to music in here!"
"My apologies, Brenda," TS said, then changed the station back.
"Huh," Brenda said, not quite believing the car had responded to her request. "Mike, let's go to the store, I need to get some food for dinner," she said. We drove a couple of miles to the nearest grocery store, and got food to prepare tacos. I bought a bag of salad to eat along with it. I figured I could take just a little bit of the taco meat, and put more cheese, lettuce, and tomato on the tortilla chips, topping it off with hot salsa. I still had a craving for taco salad.
"Hey, TS, what else can you do?" I asked.
"GPS, turn-by-turn navigation, mapping, traffic reports, weather, and quite a bit else," she said.
"How about Shreveport? What's the weather like down there?" I asked, facetiously.
"Current temperature, Shreveport, LA. 78 degrees Fahrenheit. Winds Westerly at 14 MPH. Chance of precipitation, 40 per cent. Showers likely tomorrow, high of 83. What else do you want to know?"
"Heh. You're good!" I chuckled.
"Destination acquired. Preparing to teleport, Shreveport, LA."
"Hey, TS, not so fast. Didn't know I programmed that into you!" I said, trying to get the car not to do that.
"Do you want to go there?" TS asked.
"No, I just chose a destination at random. You can teleport? Really?"
"Yes. You gave me a lot of magic yesterday."
"That means no more long road trips back to my kinfolk back home," Brenda said. "I'm starting to like this car now!"
"Thank you, Brenda," TS said, in her cheery voice.
"I prefer the hour long drive to my workplace," I said.
"That's good. It will help me recharge my magic batteries," TS said.
"And where are those?" I asked.
"They're tucked away in various locations inside this car. You are not to touch them, nor is anyone allowed to work on me," she said.
"What about oil changes? What about tires? What if I need to replace the main battery?"
"You no longer need to worry about scheduled maintenance. You imbued me with enough magic to eliminate those necessities. The only thing you need to worry about is occasionally putting gas in the tank. And please make sure it's premium unleaded, I deserve the good stuff if you're going to get max fuel economy from me."
"That's more money in my pocket. Thanks, TS, I appreciate it."
"No, Michael, thank you!" came the cheery voice again.
"Mike, you made this a maintenance-free car?"
"I guess I did, Brenda. I wonder what sort of other tricks TS has up her sleeve," I mused. "Hey TS, can you teleport us to Equestira?" I chuckled, trying not to break out into laughter.
"Yes." came a deadpan response.
I stopped laughing when I heard that. "You've GOT to be kidding!"
"No. When would you like to go there?"
"I don't know. Not right now, of course!" I said, chuckling again.
"Mike, this is starting to worry me," Brenda said.
"I guess it means if we want to say hi to the ponies again, we can go whenever we want. The only problem is, though, I don't know if the car can make it back from there, or what every pony's response will be to seeing a car and two humans in it. I think Twilight might be amused by this sight, but others won't be so understanding."
"As long as you can recharge my magic batteries, I can travel back and forth from there," came TS's cheery voice.
Presently, we made it back home, and I turned off the car, and Brenda and I went back in the house with our food. I still had some other questions, but felt as though I had learned enough. I went into the bedroom reserved for storage, and saw the linen basket with dirty clothes. I then remembered I had to do laundry today, and put a hand to my face thinking about how I could have conjured up a washer and dryer to put in the utility room in the basement. "How could I have forgotten to do that yesterday when I was still in Twilight's body?" I asked myself. I grabbed the basket and took it to the car.
"You going to the washateria?" Brenda asked.
"Yeah, I'll be a couple hours," I said.
"Dinner will be waiting for you," she said. We usually had dinner around 1:00 PM on Sundays.
I had another conversation with the car on the way to the laundromat, and took care of that chore. The trip to the laundromat is just a couple of miles, but I still talked to the car. I realized I was going to have be careful about what I said while driving or riding around in it. I figured it was just the price for having a virtually maintenance-free vehicle.