//------------------------------// // Save Money, Live Better, Then Run For Your Life // Story: Guided Rhythm // by Valshe //------------------------------// Chapter 3: Save Money, Live Better, Run For Your Life _________________         Well, to say the ride to Wal-Mart was uneventful would be an overstatement. I was so bored on the ride there that I fell asleep during the ride. All I remember is being woken up by Luis shaking me awake.         “Hey! We’re here.”         My eyes fluttered open and when I got up, we were already parked in the parking lot at Wal-Mart. It was a busy day today as the lot was packed with cars. When I got down from Luis’s car, I took a look around before I finally set my eyes on the big superstore. It felt weird, knowing that I’d be shopping at the very Wal-Mart I’m supposed to be working in. I worked as a cashier at the very Wal-Mart we arrived at. Though, even though I was scheduled to work today, I didn’t think I would be able to work because of my new form. So, I figured it would be alright to shop here. I mean, no one would be able to recognize me.         We began to walk down the lot to the entrance of the store itself. As we walked down the row of cars, we had gotten some looks directed towards us... Well, to me specifically. I don’t blame them for the weird looks. It isn’t everyday that you see a talking unicorn with a neon blue mane wearing Doctor Who merch. By the time we reached the entrance to the store, the door greeter lady had just stared at me with the most bewildered expression ever. Well, what would you do if you see a talking horse start to shop?         As we walked into the store, we passed by the Subway that was built inside the store. As soon as we walked close enough to it, my stomach began to rumble. I’m pretty sure Luis and Merille heard it because they wound up looking at me. It was kind of embarrassing. Since I was too freaked out over transforming into a pony, I forgot to get something to eat. “So, you didn’t get anything to eat before we left?” asked Luis as he looked to the Subway, “Alright, let’s get a quick bite to eat then.”         When we walked into Subway the smell of freshly cooked food was in the air. It made my mouth water just smelling all of that food. Luckily the line wasn’t long so we headed to the front. When Luis rang the little bell to let employees know that there were customers, an older lady came from the back room. She took a look at Luis and Merille and asked what they would like to order. Since I knew she didn’t see me, I lifted my hoof into the air and said, “I want a footlong meatball marinara on flatbread!” She looked down at me with a face of pure shock and surprise when I made my statement. While she looked at me, I said, “I’m hungry. Hurry on with the food making!”         After getting Luis’s and Merille’s orders, we finally received our sandwiches. I had ordered what I always bought when I go to a Subway, a meatball marinara on flat bread with mozzarella cheese and bacon and tea to finally finish the meal. As we sat down at the table we talked about what we would be needing to get for our roadtrip to New York. My stomach growled again when I finally decided to just shut up and eat. I thought that, even though I transformed into Vinyl, I could still eat the foods that I loved from when I was a human.         Oh how wrong I was...         When I took that first bite, it tasted funny, but I decided to pony up and eat it anyway. After all, I had paid for the damn thing. When I swallowed the piece of sandwich, I immediately began to choke up.  My face scrunched up and I began to feel sick. It didn’t sit well with my stomach at all. I got up from the seat and said, “Gotta go.... bathroom!” before I bolted off, leaving behind a confused Luis and Merille.         I don’t know how many funny looks I got when I galloped for the bathroom. I felt like vomiting and it wasn’t going to wait if I took count of the people. I galloped as fast as I could before stopping in front of the restrooms. I looked up and looked at the signs. Which one would I use!? Would I use the men’s restroom; since that was the one I used all of my life? Or would I use the women’s restroom; since I was now a mare? It was the dilemma of a lifetime, as I sat there, trying to figure out which one to go to. My stomach made the answer for me, as I began to feel that sandwich come back up. I decided that I would just go into one randomly, and worry about that problem later.         I bolted into a random restroom and found the nearest available toilet. I assumed I wound up in the men’s bathroom because I heard the voices of Merille and Luis on the other side of the door. While I was up-chucking the food I just ate, I heard Merille ask, “Hey Gage, you alright in there?” When it finally stopped, I said, “Yeah... Just peachy! I’m in a bathroom stall vomiting! There’s nothing wrong with me!” Though that was the only sentence I got out before I started again.         When I had finally stopped, I walked out of the stall saying, “Alright, two things we need to take note of. Number one, we’re going to need some DayQuil and Pepto-Bismol. Second thing, never again will I eat meat. I’m going to miss bacon so much.”         After we walked out of the restroom, we quickly gathered notes on what we should get. Luis was to head to the grocery section and buy all of the food we needed. Merille was to head to the general merchandise section and buy travel necessities: toiletries, batteries, car chargers for our phones, etc. Finally, I was to head on over to Pharmacy and buy some medicines, deodorants, and stuff of the like. We all agreed to meet back up at the Prius whenever we finished shopping.         As I walked through the aisles of the Pharmacy section, looking through the different things they had for sale, I heard a voice. At first, I assumed that it was just someone making a silly comment about me shopping. As I got closer to the source of the voice, it began to sound a lot more clearer to me. “Gah! This is so hard, trying to pick things up with just hooves or a mouth!”         I paused for a second... Hooves? I was frankly quite surprised. I thought I was the only one in this town who transformed into a pony. I turned my head around the corner to the next aisle and saw that someone else had indeed turned into a pony. This person had transformed into Nurse Redheart. She looked exactly like how she did in the show. She had her pink mane tied up in a bun, and even wore the nurse cap with the red cross on it. The only difference I saw was that she wore green scrubs over her body. Upon seeing this, I had to offer her help.         “Excuse me, Miss Redheart?” I asked in a polite tone.         She jumped a bit at the sudden call of the name Redheart. She turned to me and was surprised to see me, or Vinyl Scratch to be exact. She seemed surprised, then calmed down as she knew that it was happening everywhere. “Please, would it be okay if you didn’t call me Redheart? I don’t like it when someone calls me by that.”         I tilted my head to the side, wondering what I should call her, “Well then Miss.....”         She interrupted me by simply stating, “Serah. Serah Valentine.”         I then continued my statement with a smile on my face, “Serah Valentine, eh? So, how did you did you end up like that and how did you end up here?”         She sighed for a bit then said, “Well. I was working my shift at local hospital. I’m an intern there. I usually get late shifts like that and while I was filling out some simple paperwork, I got so tired I passed out. Next thing I know, I’m woken up by a shout and a look in a mirror showed why someone had shouted.”         “So, you fell asleep on the job!” I said in an accusing tone.         She deadpanned and said, “You try working until five in the morning filling out paperwork.” She returned to her normal tone before continuing her story, “Anyway, after I had my panic attack, I had been told by some of the other employees that it happened all over the nation. Some were told to head to New York, but I can’t go that far. I don’t know anyone who can drive me that far... I walked here for pete’s sake! And I can’t just head home either. It’s way too far for me to walk to. I came here hoping that I could use a phone for a taxi or something while I get a few things I needed.”         I began to sympathize with her. She really had nowhere to go. She had walked from the local hospital to here.  The nearest one was Oschner Hospital. By car, it wasn’t far. That was a ten minute drive. But to walk that distance? That would have taken well over two hours! “Hey, Serah? Well you happen to be in luck. My two friends and I are actually preparing for a long road trip to New York. Knowing them, they’ll let you come along for the ride.”         She glanced at me with a look that I could describe as a mix of sorrow and wonder. “Do you really think so? I mean... I don’t want to impose or anything.”         I gave her a pat on the back and said, “It’ll be no problem at all! Let’s hurry over to the grocery side of the store and meet Luis! He should still be over there.”         Before we trotted off, she stopped me and said, “You know. You still haven’t told me your name yet.”         I had simply turned around and said with a serious tone, “Bond. James Bond,” but then I cracked up and told her, “Nah. My name’s Gage, but if you want to call me Vinyl, then go right ahead.”         We made our way out of the Pharmacy section towards the other side of the store, where the groceries were. As we walked across  the store, we had begun to talk some more. We conversed more about the situation at hand with everyone transforming into ponies and how much longer it would be until people stopped or until the world was dominated by talking horses. I also explained to her how I became Vinyl and what I went through to get here. Before we knew it, we wound up bumping into Luis who was still shopping for groceries. When he first wondered who was it that bumped into him, he looked down and saw me, but then very quickly realized that there was Nurse Redheart now standing there.         Luis looked back and forth between us before finally saying, “So Gage, I guess you weren’t the only one in this town who became a pony.”         I had explained Serah’s situation to Luis in much detail about how she had nowhere to go, and no one to help her out.  When he took one final look at Serah, he said, “All right, she can come along since I have enough room in my car.”         Serah’s eyes just lit up at that statement. She was so happy, she gave Luis a hug so tight, I actually had to pry her loose from his waist.         After her excitement died down, she blushed a bit and said, “Sorry about that. I tend to get excited easily...”         I laughed a bit and then said, “See? I told you he’d let you come along.”         Luis smiled and said, “Well, I’ve always been the ‘Good Guy Greg’ type of person. Well, anyway. I’ve just about wrapped up the grocery shopping. After I check out, I’ll head on over to the car. Why don’t you go help out Merille so we can get done with this faster?”         After we parted ways with Luis, we began to head on over to the general merchandise section of Wal-Mart. It was a pretty silent walk until we passed by the electronics section. We heard some voices being raised, as though there was an argument going on. We took a look to see what was going on.         We saw that there were four guys, all of them seeming to be between eighteen and thirty years of age. Three of them were caucasian, one was hispanic. They all wore clothes that had definitely seen better days. But the most distinguishing piece was that each of them wore matching baseball caps with the acronym “P.A.P.A” written on it. It was then that we were able to hear what they were arguing about.         The one with the beard said, “You told us that one of those things was here!”         The youngest one took a step back and said, “I was positive that I saw it head inside here!”         I had no idea what they were talking about. Who were they looking for? Why did they call this person a thing? Were they looking for The Thing? Though I couldn’t think for long as while we were eavesdropping, one of those people who ride the motor scooters had snuck up behind us and said, “Excuse me. Get out of the way.”         This caught the attention of the hispanic one. He looked up and saw me and Serah’s faces. He then tapped his buddies on the shoulder and pointed in our direction. It was clear to me then that they were looking for ponies like us. When they saw us, they each grinned. Not a grin that displayed kindness, but an evil grin. “That’s the one right there! The white and pink one!” said the youngest.         We took a couple of steps back as they walked closer to us. We soon hit one of the shelves of the aisle behind us and it wasn’t long before they were directly in front of us. As they looked at us, I knew that if we didn’t escape, they were more than likely going to hurt us. I guarded Serah and said, “Come on now. You wouldn’t hit somebody with glasses, would ya?”         It was then that the oldest one, who had been silent, took the glasses off of my face and hit me with them kind of hard. As I tried to stop my head from spinning, I said, “Oh... I get it.... You hit me.... With the glasses... Clever.”         When I finally got my head to stop spinning, I took the glasses back before tripping the old guy. It was then that Serah and I made a run for it. We galloped as fast as we could toward the automotive section, which was close to the electronic section. We heard the sounds of footsteps following us. They really wanted to capture us. As we made a left turn, we were soon greeted by kayaks, billiards sticks, baseball bats, and basketballs. We were now in the sporting goods section, possibly the worst section to be in at this current moment. We took a look behind us and noticed that one of them grabbed a billiards stick.         “Holy crap! Do they want us dead!?” I yelled while still galloping.         “I would assume so! These people are crazy! Just who are they!” exclaimed Serah, who was galloping as fast as she could.         “We need to find Merille, and get the hell out of here!” I yelled while trying to find a way to lose the people chasing us.         The commotion going on had caused a lot of attention to come our way. People started gathering around the area, curious about the cause of all the ruckus going on. It was then that an idea hit me. I told Serah to just follow my lead as I rushed into an aisle full of people. Since we were smaller, we were able to easily maneuver our ways around the people. Those other guys weren’t so lucky. They bumped into everyone in the aisle. One guy got mad enough that he started a fight with the bearded pursuer. So now we only had three people chasing us now. We galloped again, but not for long as we soon crashed into Merille. After getting back to our hooves and feet, Merille asked, “Geez. What the hell?”         It was then that not me, but Serah made the outburst, “No time to talk! Just run!”         I looked at Merille and said, “Just trust her. Run for it.”         It didn’t take any more convincing as the youngest one, who had the pool stick, snuck up behind us and tried to hit us. Luckily he missed, which gave us seconds to run away. As we ran, we heard the speaker call for security. It wasn’t much later that some police officers showed up and grabbed the one with the pool stick. Though we still had two more of those creeps looking for us. We took a look around for the other two. They were nowhere to be seen.         I breathed a sigh of relief and said, “We must have lost them in the confusion.”         Merille looked at us with confused looks and said, “Just who were those guys? And why were they trying to kill you?”         As I sat there, trying to catch my breath, I said, “No idea. They just attacked us...By the way, this is Serah. Serah, this is Merille. Merille, she’s coming with us.”         Merille decided to just not question it and go along with it. We took one final look around and realized that we ended up back in the electronics section. I took a quick glance around and found my glasses on the floor. One of the lens popped out, but nothing was cracked or shattered. I decided to fix them later and put them in my laptop case.         Not wanting to have any more trouble happen, we decided to just ditch the stuff Merille had in his buggy and headed for the exit. We made a beeline straight to Luis’s car. When we met back up with Luis, he was already waiting inside the prius. He saw that we had bought nothing and asked, “Hey! What about the stuff?”         I simply looked at him and deadpanned, “Don’t ask. We’ll just get our stuff from some other store,” before emphasizing, “Far away from here!”         We all hopped in the car, with Luis and Merille in the front while me and Serah sat in the back. As Luis began to drive off, we told him about the people who attacked us. He immediately recognized the acronym and said, “Those people were part of a group called ‘People Against Ponies Association’. They hate all of those little ponies and publicly speak out their hatred of them. Sort of like the KKK, but with ponies.”         Curious, Serah asked, “So, they hunt down and try to attack these people-turned-ponies like it was the fifties?”         Luis, while keeping his eyes locked on the road, said, “From what I heard, some do. But from I’ve seen on the news, most just express it in speech.”         That’s when Merille had piped in and said, “Freedom of Speech can be a bitch at times.”         A we drove down the road, I began to feel myself get very tired again. I was exhausted after running for my life. I took a look to my left and saw that Serah was fast asleep. I don’t blame her; we weren’t used to that kind of adrenaline rush. It wasn’t much longer that I dozed off and soon fell fast asleep.