As it came to five in the afternoon, Zeke's Mom, Diana, finally got back home. She had been out since one O'clock getting all the groceries that would last the whole family at least two weeks worth, thinking it was best to prepare for the worst. Of course, since she had never seen the show for herself, and didn't take them into consideration anyway, all she got was food that a regular young pony would eat. So no juice, no sweets of any kind, and not even any snacks. Just greens, salt licks, and sugar cubes. Those last two things being the main reason she was out for so long.
"Zeke! I'm home!" She announced as she started to get the keys out with her free, right hand. She had only a few bags of the army of groceries in her left arm.
But after opening the screen door and putting the key into the lock, she turned it around absent-mindedly as she went over how this was all going to play out for the next few weeks. Not sure how much of that speech on the news and internet was actually real, or how fast it would work. She had no idea how her son would react to it, so she tried preparing for that too. With the only way she knew how to keep his mind off of it:
By buying three brand new video games and an expensive gift card for Steam. More than enough to keep his mind off New York for at least a week at the most. And if that didn't do it, then she would just agree to play that Call of Duty game. Who knows? With Zeke as a pony now, maybe she had a chance to kill him at least once.
Turning her attention back towards the lock though, she realized that instead of unlocking it she relocked it. Silently cursing herself, she unlocked it again and went through the door. Looking around to try and spot her now small pony son.
However, the only thing she saw was a mess of video game cases and CDs all over the place. Along with an Xbox that was on and wasting electricity. Not even bothering to look into it even more, she just frowned and pressed the touch-sensitive power button of the Xbox 360. Never once paying any mind to what was on the screen.
"Zeke! You know, just because you're a horse now, that doesn't mean you can pretend you were raised in a barn!" She called out with a slightly angered tone. But she couldn't hold that long as she put the groceries she had down in the kitchen and started walking over to her son's room. Only to find the light off, and no pony to be seen.
"Zeke? Are you downstairs?" She called out confusedly, walking over towards the stairs and going down them. It was the bonus room, and that was where the PS3, Wii, and the other, older, 360 was. But instead of finding him, Diana just saw the lights off and no sign of Zeke to be seen.
"Uh...Z-Zeke?" She asked, getting a little nervous. There's not that many other rooms he could be in, except for one that was just a few steps from the top of the staircase. And knocking on the door, she put her ear to the door. "Zeke are you in there? Did-did you fall in or something?"
No answer. Although if what she asked was the case, she doubted that Zeke would say anything anyway. So to try and be sure, she opened the unlocked door and found that the bathroom was empty too.
"Where did...Apollo!" She called out, making a B-line for her bedroom. Where the boxer was still locked up in his cage and resting. With no signs of a pony body laying around somewhere. Oddly enough, Diana wasn't sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing by this point.
"Zeke?!" She yelled out worriedly, opening Apollo's cage in desperation that he would be able to sniff him out or something. Same with Gremlin. Only after running all around the house to see what all was different since being locked up, they just ran back up to her to say hi.
Ten minutes later after checking every inch of the house three times over in hopes of finding him, Diana finally stopped as she went to her phone. Calling to report her missing pony child.
"Okay. You're just fine as far as I can tell."
"Well, there's the first bit of good news I've heard all day..." I muttered to myself as the doctor started packing up all his tools. Keep in mind that this wasn't a normal doctor-duh-but instead a horse veterinarian. The ice cream man originally drove us to the vet, where they told us that they couldn't do anything. But thankfully, they knew someone that took care of horses and gave us the address.
I didn't complain or say anything because their reactions wouldn't have helped anything. So after a smaller drive than the first time, we came to this ranch-like place and he just did some kind of check-up and asked me some questions.
I didn't mind answering any though, because this guy had to be the smartest person I've met all day. That wasn't saying much, but it was still a comforting thought.
"So since you're one of those My Little Ponies, are you able to talk to regular horses?" He asked me, having just a small notepad and pen with him. He already wrote the questions out, so he just wrote the answers I put. It wasn't to a Twilight level of notes as much as it sounded, just 'yes' 'no' 'maybe' 'yes, but only if...' Stuff like that.
"Uh...I dunno." I said with a shrug, looking around me and seeing how a horse was in a stable that we were beside. "Let's see..." I said, getting up and walking over to stand in front of him.
"Hey, what's up?" I asked casually as I nodded my head up. As if I was acknowledging him or something. Of course, the only response I got from him was him blinking towards me. Not saying anything to me at all.
Wow. He's as non-responsive as bad AI...
"Pffft. Tell me about it." I muttered as I turned and walked back towards the doctor. "Sorry Doc, but it looks like he's not in the mood." I told him, only to see him stopping mid-thought from writing something down.
"Wait. Didn't you just talk to her?" He asked, confused about why I said something before.
"No...Why, did he neigh at me or something?" I asked, mentally sighing in relief that I didn't actually 'neigh' when I said the word. It was bad enough when Trixie did it on the show, I didn't want to go around hearing myself make pony noises whenever I was talking.
"Well she didn't say anything to you. But I thought I heard you agree with her about something just now."
"Oh yeah...I guess I did agree to it. But you had a point, that horse was pretty non-responsive."
He just shook his head and furrowed his brow at me. "I didn't say anything. You sure it wasn't Sheila over there? Or, did your Princess use some kind of magic to talk to you?"
"No, it was definitely a guy's v-...Button?...Was that you?" I asked, looking up towards...My head I guess. He said that he was spectating every once in a while. And even though this Doctor wasn't half as interesting as the beginning of Fallout: New Vegas, it was at least more entertaining than a loading screen.
But of course to make me seem even more crazy than before, there was no answer.
"I guess it doesn't matter..." He said, getting up and putting the small notepad in his back pocket. "Besides, I think I got enough info. If anymore ponies like you come through, at least I'll be able to help them out. Funny...I never thought my granddaughter's favorite TV show would actually turn out to become a reality."
"You and me both Doctor." I said, only paying attention halfway by this point. What just happened...It was the same thing with the ice cream chase. And that was the time where Button said he was watching first person. So, was that voice Button Mash?
"Okay, I'm back."
Snapping me out of my thought, however, was the one person I thought I'd never see again. It was the teenager. "Just wanted to tell you that the ice cream guy just left."
"He what?" I asked with a deadpan tone. He cannot be serious right now! The only way of getting back to our neighborhood was that ice cream truck! This Doctor might've been nice enough to give me a free check-up, but I know that he wasn't just going to drive us a good two and a half hour trip back to our home. "Why would he just leave us here?!"
"Oh. I told him it was okay to go." He told me with a smile that just screamed: Help! I'm a brain that hasn't been used in months! It's dark in here!
"You what?!" I half-asked, half-yelled at him. "Why in the name of all things virtual, real, and Equestrian would you do that?! You just left us stranded here!"
"Well, we couldn't expect him to take us to New York, could we? He was being pretty nice driving us this far, you know." He told me with an 'obvious' voice. The kind that just makes them look dumber when they say the wrong answer.
"But we're not going to New York, you....Ugh!" I yelled out, kicking an old stool that was inside the stable with me and the Doctor. Knocking it over, but not much else. "What gave you that idea?!"
"It was all over the news. So I just called my parents and told them what was going on, and they told me to call whenever we reached New York. I have an uncle that lives up there." He told me with a smile.
"What kind of parents..." I started, but didn't finish. Parents were the last thing I had been thinking about, and that wasn't good. It looked as if I had run away from home by this point, and my Mom was gonna kill me.
Dad was out of town. Visiting his parents, my grandparents, about something that came up. They lived in Florida too, but lower towards Miami. We lived towards the middle of Florida, and no not Orlando. And please don't rub that in, there have been many a birthdays that I have begged for Disneyworld.
From what I gathered, the horse veterinarian lived even more north than us. Underneath Georgia by about fifty...seventy-five miles possibly. Too long to walk or something, that's for sure.
"Whatever," I said, shaking that argument out of my head. "I guess your next challenge is this: How do you expect us to reach New York, oh Big and Moronic Teenager?"
"I have a name, you know." He gave me a small frown at what I called him. Probably not focused on the 'moronic' either.
"Actually. No. I don't. Because you never told me...Ever." I reminded him with a frown.
"Oh yeah. Hehehe, oops..." He said awkwardly, scratching the back of his neck in embarrassment. I swear, I think I'm getting dumber just by being near him. "I'm Conner. Nice to meet you in person, Button-"
"The name's Zeke. Not Button Mash." I quickly interrupted him. Wanting to get back on track. "Question still stands. How do you plan on getting to New York now?"
"That's an easy one." He said, turning towards the Doctor. Who was just watching this whole thing play out. "Hey, horse-vet guy? Can we borrow a car or something?"
"Really?!" I yelled out in anger. How is this guy...You remember back at the ice cream truck stop? How there were some young six and four year olds? Yeah, I'd rather ask their ice cream for help than from this guy!
Of course, the Doctor just laughed at Connor. Who just laughed along with him in hopes that it was a 'jolly' laugh instead of one that a dumb clown deserved. "Well, sure! I got a truck you can both use."
"Wait, what?" I asked, now forgetting everything at that moment and looking towards the doctor with pure surprise. "You're just gonna give us something to drive?! Seriously?!"
"Well, I think you two need it more than I do. Besides, it's not like I don't have something else to drive. I have an old stick-shift in the barn I can lend you two for your road-trip."
"Uh, sir..." I said, gesturing him to lean down so I could try and tell him something that the cheering Connor wouldn't be able to hear. So picking me up and putting me on a stool, he bent down to hear me. "I'm not sure if we'll be able to give it back. I'm not even sure if he's got a license..."
"Don't worry, he does. He was waving that piece of plastic around so much when you were walking to the stables, he might as well have been a rookie police officer." He reassured me.
Conner then finally stopped his own personal cheer and turned towards the Doc. "Alright! Let's get going then! Just tell me which way to go to New York, and we'll just gun it there!" ...Okay, maybe reassure isn't the right word.
"Now hold on. It's already starting to get a little dark. By the time you two reach Georgia, you'll have to stop at a hotel and waste away what little money you two probably don't have." He warned us. And he was right, we were flat out broke. I didn't even bring my wallet to show who I was before I turned into Button.
"I think it's best that you two wait until morning to head off on your road trip." He suggested, giving us the choice to stay here. "My wife always makes too much food for just the two of us, so I'm sure you'll both get something. Except, I think the only thing we can give you is the mash potatoes." He told me with a frown.
Meat...One of the things I realized soon after coming here that I had to go without. I told him that ponies in the show were shown drinking punch and alcoholic cider, and eating cupcakes and cotton candy. So I was entitled to most human food as far as I knew. Just not meat of any kind.
"But, I think you can eat the same thing horses can eat, right?" He asked, also reminding me how I could eat stuff like grass and hay if I was hungry enough. Grass didn't taste too bad, and in the show Spike got 'Hay Fries'. So maybe they would taste like McDonald's fries?
"Alright then, I guess we can stay here until tomorrow. Right But-err-Zeke?" Connor asked me. Coming up with a good idea for once. No elderly horse veterinarian would want to rob a brain-dead teenager and a small young pony.
"Yeah, that sounds nice for a change." I agree for the first time of the day as I stayed on the stool. Letting the two of them go inside.
I used this time to think one important thing over. People all over the world were turning into ponies. Luckily, I was in the same country the Princesses are in right now. Because if they were in India or something, I wouldn't even give a second thought about trying to get to them. I'd rather live out the rest of my life as Button Mash than risk travelling across seas without any real help.
Still, if every pony's turning into ponies, then what was going to happen next? I know that all of the world turning into ponies would take a good few months at the very least. And even then, I'm not sure there's even enough Equestrianites in existence to cover Earth. Still, it had to be going on everywhere.
So the two most important questions that I wanted to figure out...Was this:
How were Connor and I supposed to get to New York ourselves?
And why exactly do I get the feeling that it won't be a normal old road trip?