The article traces an unusual chain of influence from a childhood incident witnessed by Stephen King to a deliberately absurd feature in Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain. It argues that King’s experience helped inspire The Body, which became the film Stand by Me, where Kiefer Sutherland played Ace Merrill; Sutherland later voiced Snake in the Metal Gear game and helped shape its horse-related humour.

The key detail is that Sutherland reportedly asked whether the player could make the horse, D-Horse, defecate on command, an idea ultimately included in the game. The article presents this as a playful example of how real events, books, films, actors and games can connect across decades in unexpected ways.