Follow the Wind- Hitting the Highway
If you were me right now, this was not the situation you would want to be in. Shay was right now in the palm of my hand as our plane was beginning to land. I held onto Shay. Not too tightly, but just enough so he wouldn’t fall out onto the floor. My major concern right now was that he wouldn’t know how to use his wings. So, with that in mind, I needed to find a place to keep him safe.
“Shay, how good are you when it comes to balance?”
“Very good. Why do you ask?”
I didn’t reply to the question. Instead, I placed him on top of my head. “Would you be okay if you stayed up here for a while?”
“Sure thing. Besides, your ears here look cozy.”
“Ears?”
“Did you not notice that you have wolf ears?” Shay asked me as he pulled something that felt like it was attached to my skull. I touched the top of my head and then I realized it. I had freaking wolf ears. Great… Marks, tail, ears. What’s next on the random transformation list? Me growing fur and having wolf legs?!
Before I could even think of any possibilities, I felt the plane touch down and then come to a halt. It took five minutes for the plane to pull into the shuttle before anyone could disembark. But once we were allowed out, the two of us were surprised to see that Chloe and Alex weren’t waiting for us when we came out. That’s when my phone vibrated and saw the new text message that I received from my brother.
“Chloe is going to baggage claim. I’m picking up the rental car. Any new changes happen recently?”
Instead of replying, I just locked my phone and began to walk. I put my hood up to hide my ears, apologizing to Shay if I accidently bumped him with my hood. I told him where we were going as we entered an elevator. We were on the third floor and needed to go down to the first floor. But only one thing was on my mind right now as we slowly went down.
“Hey Shay?”
“Yes Raven?”
“Do you have any ideas on how we are going to explain this to your sister?”
“Uhh… Honestly?”
I sighed a little, admiring his enthusiasm. Though, in my head, I knew that this wasn’t going to be that easy. Especially with the fact of me having to tell her that her little brother had now shrunk to the size of my newly formed wolf ears.
The elevator doors opened up and we were greeted by a flood of people going in every direction. I only had a few seconds of free space before I had to bob and weave through people almost every couple of feet. I didn’t want anyone to knock off my hood or bump into me because I feared that Shay might lose his grip and fall on the floor. I soon spotted Chloe by the baggage terminal as I walked my way over. I noticed though that one other girl was by her too before she began skipping over to a nearby starbucks joyfully. She looked like she was around twenty, had a long and curly orange mane & tail and looked very cheerful. She also had hazelnut brown pony ears and blue eyes as well. Strangely though, I thought I saw her from somewhere.
Anyways, I now approached Chloe and she now noticed me despite my hood being up. “Hey there. I guess you got Alex’s text?”
“Yeah, you can say that.”
‘Good job, dumb***. Now she know’s something is wrong based on how depressed that sounds.’
Brain, shut your mouth before I shut it for you!!
“Hey, where’s Shay? I thought he was with you.”
Moment of truth. Now I needed to show her. Taking off my hood, she gasped a little at the sight of my ears.
“Uhh… Are you trying to change the subject? Because showing your ears off like that is not helping.”
I shook my head. “It’s not that. Shay had some changes happen too. Look at my ears again and you’ll see what I mean.” I saw Chloe look a little closer as I felt two small feet crawl around my right ear. Seeing her eyes widen was my visual cue to let me know that she had seen Shay’s new “look”.
“H-hi sis.” I heard him squeak.
“Oh my god… Shay, what happened?!”
“He forgot to mention that his OC was a Breezie. I found him snuggling up inside my jacket earlier as we were touching down.” I told her as I felt Shay sit down on top of my head.
Chloe didn’t get a chance to reply yet because she spotted our suitcases and pulled them off the baggage claim. It seemed like she and Shay had to share one while my brother and I had a separate bag each. It was simple, yet it now posed some other questions. I offered to help Chloe with the bags, but she kindly refused my help. She told me that I was already carrying precious cargo, which must be code for Shay being on my head.
“So, besides my ears and Shay shrinking down to size, did anything else happen?”
“Yeah, but it’s with Alex.” Chloe told me as we crossed the hallway and to the open Starbucks cafe. “He’s starting to gain those electricity powers that Shockwave would have.”
“What? How?!”
“It’s because he’s now starting to have scales grow on his arms.”
Well that explained everything. Shockwave was able to control electricity since the Neuroelectric energy ran through his scales. If my brother was starting to get scales, then that could spell out major problems if left unchecked.
As we sat down at a table, the same girl from before with the orange curly mane decided to come over and take up an open seat that was across from Chloe and I. She reminded me of Pinkie Pie because of how cheerful she was. Seriously, it made me think that she was going to explode on us.
“Hi!” Shay greeted the new arrival from the top of my head.
“Oh my gosh! Oh my gosh! Oh my gosh!! He looks so cute!!” She squeaked.
‘Yep, definitely reminds me of Pinkie Pie.’
I second that, Brain. “Excuse me, Miss. But who are you?”
“You don’t remember me Raven?” Oh boy, she knew me from somewhere. Come on brain, think!!
“You might not recognize me, but it’s me. Tao.”
Now things began to click. “Holy sh*t. Tao!? Is that you?”
“Yeah it is.” I heard Chloe respond as she looked back at her. “She sat by Alex and I on the plane and wanted to come along. Her father chased her out of his apartment when she began to change into her OC and her mother gave her enough money to hop on a flight out of San Diego. When she saw you and the rest of up go through security and check in for our flight, that’s when she caught up with Alex and I.”
We knew Tao as an exchange student from China that came to the US with her parents and worked at the same place my father did. I never thought though that she would be ushered out of her own home by her dad. It just sounded too cruel to be true.
As for who she was turning into, I now started to recognize who it was. Her OC was an Earth Pony mare named Pudding Cup. A very cheerful soul that had similar qualities to Pinkie Pie. But instead of focusing a lot on parties, she focused a lot on being there for other ponies no matter what they’ve been through. Even though her way of having fun has “accidently” led to some ponies getting knocked out. Trust me, role playing with her had taught me that the hard way.
Soon, Alex came back as he sat down. “Alright. Got our rental for when you guys are… Wait, where’s Shay?”
“Check my head.”
He did. “Okay, how the fu-!?”
“Hi Alex!”
Parking Lot,
The four of us (and Shay if you count him snuggling up inside my Jacket Pocket again) soon made it out to the Rental Car that Alex acquired. It was a 2014 Chevrolet Trailblazer in a navy color. Surprising enough, it had a huge amount of legroom and enough space to fit all of us. Chloe volunteered to be driving first since she was worried that Alex’s static electricity would kill the car battery, so he sat in the middle with me while Tao sat in the front.
The first few miles out on the open road and we were seeing grassy fields for miles on end. Alex decided to kill his boredom by putting on his earbuds and began humming to Eminem’s “The Monster” from his recent album; The Marshall Mathers LP 2. As for me, I just paid attention to the open road.
“So, Raven.” I heard Tao speak from the shotgun seat as she looked at both Shay and I. “I never got the chance to ask you. What OC are you turning into?”
“My Wolfpony OC, Rufus.”
“Oh so THAT explains the tail!! I honestly thought you would be turning into a Husky or something when I first saw you.”
‘Is she always like this?’
More than you would think.
“What do you guys think is going to be in Chicago once we get there?” Tao now asked as we passed a road sign that was telling us that we got about around a hundred miles or so before we reach our destination.
“Honestly, I don’t know.” Chloe answered. “Maybe some other ponies… A few dragons… Would be interesting to see some Changelings and Batponies once we get there.”
“What about Sea-ponies?”
‘The hell is a sea-pony?’
I’m not sure if even I would want to know the answer to that question, brain.
“How would you carry a seapony?”
“Easy! You carry them in a fish tank!!” I heard Tao answer cheerfully again. Something tells me that we would probably be seeing a few fish tanks once we make it there. I began to yawn a little as I stretched out my arms.
“I’m going to take a nap guys. Wake me up if we reach a gas station okay?”
“Sure thing.” I heard Chloe told me before I slowly closed my eyes and tried to sleep. Which was hard to do given all the road noise. After a few moment though, I decided to give up. It was a bit pointless because of all the chaos that was going on and how Tao wanted to play some games like “I spy” while out in the middle of nowhere. Me? I just got out my phone and checked my messages. Only to find out I have a new one from mom.
“How’s the trip coming along?”
With a simple smile and looking at everyone else in the car, I began to text back.
“Quite well. I had a pair of wolf ears grow on top of my head, Shay shrunk down to the size of my hand since his character is like a fairy and we ran into Tao while picking up our bags.”
I sent the text to them as Chloe now began to turn on the radio. Ironically, Rascal Flatts Me and My Gang was playing on the radio and made me think about all of us. We were technically a little gang of changing misfits. So the song fit well with the mood, and also made me think of everyone else out there in the world that was affected by this same problem.
That’s when I recieved a text from my mom. What I got though was quite… Shocking.
“Tao is with you? Small world! I ran into her mom shortly after dropping you guys off. Speaking of which, tell Chloe to call her mother. She’s been freaking out ever since finding the note they left for her back at her house. It’s gotten to the point where she thinks they ran away from home or that someone kidnapped them and what she left was actually a ransom note.”
Okay, that was bad. Something tells me though that there's going to be some major bumps in the road on this trip. “Chloe…”
“Yes Raven? I thought you were suppose to be asleep.”
“Couldn’t sleep. My mother texted me. She wanted me to make sure and tell you to call your mom when you’re free. She thinks you guys ran away from home and has been flipping out since she saw your note.”
“See sis, I told you the note was a bad idea.” I heard Shay on top of my head as he adjusted himself again.
“Shay, now isn’t the time for that.”
I sighed a little as the song on the radio finished and it transitioned to the next one. ACDC’s Highway to Hell. For some reason, I thought that the radio was playing roadtrip based songs to rub in the fact about us having to travel all the way to chicago. At this rate, the trip could last hours.
At least we all had some time to kill and friends to keep all of us company. Because I just saw us pass a road sign and we still have about 100 miles or so to go before we even reach Illinois. Let’s just hope I don’t jinx anything.
‘You probably did.’
Oh shut up, brain.
End Chapter 4