Finding Family

Finding Family: A ponies after people side story

Prologue

Friday, May 22nd, 2015, early afternoon

Eddie sat quietly in the living room with his cat Ruby on his lap purring up as storm on his lap as he read through a few news stories on his phone. It was memorial day weekend and the Chicago Police Department were predicting fewer than average crimes this year due to the cooler temperatures expected during the weekend. Eddie scoffed at the idea. Just because it's cooler doesn't mean the thugs won't shoot each other over some stupid crap. At least with the holiday weekend I can hope for larger crowds, and larger tips at the restaurant.

Just as he was about to start on an article about some sort of presidential press conference, his phone rang. Ruby was stirred from her cat nap at the loud ringing that Eddie had set so that he could hear it over the noise of work. She looked at him indignantly and laid her head back down on his lap.

”Sorry girl, but I gotta take this,” Eddie said to the sassy gray and white cat on his lap who just closed her golden eyes and went back to sleep. Tapping the accept call button on his cell, he answered the call. “Hey what's up?”

“Is that how you answer your phone? Who raised you?” Shannon answered back to her one and only son. “Seriously, sometimes I wonder what your father would say to you if you answered a call from him like that!” If voices on phones could carry actual wrath, this voice could stop an army in its tracks!

After a moment of silence, both Eddie and his mother started laughing. ”You had me fooled there for a moment ma. You and I both know that Dad would probably be laughing a lot harder than both of us combined.” Eddie responded with the lingering thoughts of the police on his mind from earlier.

“You are so right. The only time your dad was serious was when he was Officer Murphy,”  Shannon said over the phone to her son. “Besides, I knew you were gonna answer like that, and I just wanted to channel good ol' Officer Murphy because it is his birthday on sunday.”

The hairs on the back of Eddie's neck stood on end as the feeling of a pit formed in his stomach. Damn it, how could I forget something as important as the old man's birthday! “Oh mom! I completely forgot! I just picked up a double shift at the restaurant because too many people took the weekend off for the holiday, and the tips are too good to pass up!” Eddie said in shame.

Shannon sighed “It's ok. Its completely understandable. Hell you forgot Mother's Day was a week ago and it didn't bother me. I understand that you have been under a lot of stress because of the that whole roommate problem and now you are burdened with the whole of the rent. But never forget that if you need to, you and Ruby are always welcomed back at my place. It's been quiet here.” She said quietly. She missed Eddie living with her more than she thought she would.

        As Eddie stood up to go look at the calendar in the kitchen, Ruby jumped off his lap and glared at him. Sorry girl, I’ll bring you some leftover salmon from work tonight to make up all this waking you up.

        Yep, Mother's Day was the 10th and today was the 22nd, 2 days before his father's birthday. Damn this whole month is just zooming by. It feels like just a few days ago when it was still April!

        Eddie grimaced and went back to his phone “Dang, sorry. How about this, we will go get dinner tonight, my treat?” He said panicked.  He hoped that feeding his mother would make up for the almost two weeks since mother's day that he didn't call his mom.

        Shannon shook her head at what her son was saying. “No no. You are hurting as it is right now. If we’re gonna have lunch then I’m paying.” She knew her son was struggling  financially. “And don't you have work tonight?”

        “Oh yeah. We can grab something to eat tomorrow then.” Eddie responded. “Your shift at the hospital gets out at 8 tomorrow morning right?” Shannon made a noise of agreement. “We can either catch an early or late lunch, it all depends on whether you want to get some sleep when you get home or if you want to stay up a little bit longer!”

        Shannon took some time to think about it. “I suppose I could stay awake a little bit longer tomorrow morning so we can get an early lunch. For now though, I’m gonna need to take a shower and get some rest. It was a messy night in the ER last night.”

        Eddie and Shannon said their goodbyes for the moment. “Love ya ma. See ya tomorrow.”

        Eddie hung up. It's been a few weeks since I had lunch with mom, better shave so she doesn't throw a fit about all the hair on my face.

        Eddie spent the next few hours eating lunch then cleaning his rather small apartment. He loved Ruby, his little fuzzball, so he could put up with her summer shedding. After he was finished with his afternoon cleaning, the only thing that needed cleaning was his body. he jumped into the shower off, then proceeded to shave. A short while later, he was off to serve fancy food to rich people. The whole night, he was thinking about his lunch with his mother and where he wanted to eat, perhaps that new Thai restaurant around the corner from his home.

        Little did Eddie know that that lunch would be postponed for a bit longer than anyone could ever predict…

***

Meanwhile in Equestria, a place far, far from Earth, a strange being was making the last preparations on a project that would save the people on the planet known as Earth from a cosmic wave of thaumic radiation. Princess Luna hung her head. "I hope to the creator that the people of Earth can forgive us for what we are about to do to them. I just wish that we had more time!" She sighed. According to the numbers, a great deal of people were going to be gone for a long time, and the people who are left behind will have a hard time adjusting to their changes, be they transformed into a pony, or one of the many other beings of this world.

The lunar princess turned to her aide. "Night Novel, Get the volunteers ready for their last briefings before they head to Earth.I want them up to date on what we can expect once they have hooves on the ground there."

Night Novel, a deep red pegasus pony with purple mane and tail, turned to her princess, "At once, Your Highness." she said as she took to the air to spread the word to the team leaders of the groups. Luna sighed, not knowing what the future held for both the people of Equestria and Earth, and that terrified her.