Javi hoisted a milkcrate of XLR cables up to Oli inside the back of his van, setting them beside crates of quad power boxes, extension cords, and quarter-inch cables, nestled snuggly behind a few monitors, two guitar amps, and the cases containing his DJ equipment. Stacked atop them was a small folding table and a small electronic drumkit.
“That everything?” Oli asked, peeking his head out.
“You said you wanted to borrow some of your dad’s guitars, right?” Javi asked.
Oli hopped out the back and began making his way back to the front door. “Yeah. Just need to grab those, my laptop, and the po– ladies, and then we can head on our merry–”
“Hold up, you were about to say ponies just now. They– …they’re not coming tonight, are they?”
“Yeah? Didn’t I tell you?”
“First off, no. Second of all, so now that your dad, that girl you babysit, and I know about these ponies, you think you can just show them off to an entire party without causing a scene?”
“Javi–”
“Third of all, why’d you suddenly switch ponies for ladies? What’s even–”
Already inside, Oli spun around and blocked Javi’s path to the kitchen. “Javi, stop! I’ll tell you. That book I use to bring them here has a spell in it that allows me to turn them human. Happy now?”
Oli went back to the direction of the basement stairwell door, leaving Javi behind to ponder the explanation. “I guess that answers those, but…” Javi jogged to catch back up. “Do they have anything to wear? Do are they naked, or is it some Cinderella-type shit where they get clothe–”
“Quiet!” Art suddenly bellowed.
Realizing he was in the basement where Art was carefully examining and sizing up his newly-acquired Rickenbacker, Javi slapped his hands over his mouth. “Ooh, sorry Mr. J, I didn’t–”
“Dad!” Oli hissed from the wall of guitars. “Can I take the SG and the Thunderbird?”
Art didn’t bother looking back. “Just bring them back in one piece or put up whatever money you need to make it one, got it?”
“Thanks!” Oli went to the rack of cases, tracing his fingers for the right cases for the guitars he intended to bring. “Javi, can you go ahead and…”
“Yeah, sure thing.” Javi carefully gripped both instruments at the bases of their necks, watching as Oli slid the second case out from the bunch before pulling both out and sending them on the ground.
Javi leaned against the front inner front door, both guitars and a stuffed messenger back set right beside him. Javi’s eyes were glued to the open Dua Harmonium sitting in the middle of the foyer, counting the seconds until his friend and his “lady” friends would emerge, presumably the same way he saw Javi go in.
“Note to self,” Javi muttered. “Ask who your friends make you carpool with from now on.”
After a few extra moments of uncomfortable silence, Javi reached into his pocket for his phone, only for the burst of magic wind to blow out from the book, jolting him into alertness as he awaited for whomever was going to come out on the other side. Oli emerged first, landing nimbly on his feet before he quickly shuffled into the living room to make room for the others that were yet to emerge.
Arriving first was “Tiffany,” followed by “Serena,” then “Diane,” then “Shiloh,” “Jackie,” and then “Rebecca.” Shiloh and Rebecca were sprawled on the floor, unable to land as agilily as the others had been able to. Javi didn’t even have time to register the ponies’ newly-human appearances as three boxes soon shot out from the book after them.
“Whoa!” Diane held her arms up as she stood underneath the boxes’ landing spot, catching each one with the second and third boxes landing atop the first. “Perfect! Operation Cake Drop is a success!”
“Great.” Oli went to the guitar cases and collected them. “Javi, you don’t mind carrying the cakes in your car, do you?”
Javi was finally able to get a good look at Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie, their hair similarly colored and styled in spite of their human appearances. Rainbow Dash’s Serena was now dressed in snug dark-blue calf-high leggings with yellow stripes running up the sides of each leg, her midsection covered by low-cut lighter-blue tank-top exposing her well-toned midriff. Pinkie Pie’s Diane was dressed in a frilly magenta skirt and a light pink shirt adorned in white lace.
Serena approached Javi, smirking to see his face turning red with bewilderment. “Hey, Javi! Like the new threads?”
Dressed in black jeans and a black My Chemical Romance t-shirt, Javi couldn’t help but feel extremely naked beside her. “D– Dash…”
“Yeah, doofus, it’s me! Just call me Serena tonight, deal?”
“Ser…?”
Oli returned inside, hanging the strap to his computer bag over his shoulder. “Jessie and I gave them human names for when they’re out here mingling with the human folk. In fact, let me introduce you to the rest.”
“You remember me, right?” Diane got close to him, nearly shoving her boxes into his face.
“Yeah…” Javi waved nervously. “Hey, Pinks.”
“Not tonight, silly! I’m Diane while on two hooves– I mean feet!”
“Diane. Great.”
“That being said,” Pinkie mentioned, fluffing her hair with her fingers, “I guess ‘Pinks’ still applies, huh?”
“Whatever you want.”
Tiffany, Jackie, Shiloh, and Rebecca then approached Javi, each dressed in the clothes that Rarity had fashioned for them. Jackie’s snugly-fitted buttoned-up orange flannel, dark blue jeans, and brown boots screamed country music starlet, and Shiloh’s slightly-oversized forest-green sweater, sky-blue leggings, and casual wedges gave her a look of slightly greater confidence, especially considering how nice she finally looked in this form.
Tiffany, dressed in light-grey short shorts, a black-top wrapping her body between the top of her breasts and above her navel, and a lacey mauve cardigan approached Javi to shake his hand. “Hi, Javi, great to finally meet you! I’ve heard nothing but great things about you from Rainbow Da– …I mean–”
“It’s alright, I understand.” Javi gently interrupted, shaking her hand. “What should I call you tonight?”
“Oh!” Twilight, disarmed by his quickly accepting nature, fumbled her reply. “Oh, I, uh… I’m Tiffany. I’ll save my real name for when you meet the, *ahem* real me.”
“Sounds great.”
“Hi there.” Applejack waved to Javi before leaning in to extend her own hand to shake. “My real name is Applejack, but my other name shouldn’t be too hard to remember. It’s Jackie.”
“Jackie, got it.”
Next to Jackie was Shiloh, but as Javi turned to look at her, Rebecca stepped in front of his line of sight, appearing to him in black, wide-legged pants and a white vest with a triangle of a sleeveless purple shirt underneath it. “Pleased to make your acquaintance, darling. My name is Rebecca, glad to see you’ve been admiring my work.”
Javi’s eyes widened as Rarity moved her hand near her friends, showing off what they were all wearing. “Hold up, you made these?”
“But of course! I simply can’t just buy clothing for humans in a world where they don’t exist now, can I?”
“…I mean, I guess not, but still, damn.”
Rarity chuckled, slightly offput by his clearly profane compliment. “Now the last one behind me is… Shiloh. Apologies, getting used to these names myself! She’s a little… wary around strangers, but give her some patience and she’ll worm your way into your heart soon enough!”
“Oh, I see…” Javi keeping his distance, bent his knees to look into her eyes before waving to her. “Hi, Shiloh. Listen, whenever you want to come and say hi back is alright with me.”
“Oh…” Still standing partially behind Jackie, she gave Javi a slight, observant nod. “Thank you.”
Oli looked to his watch. “Yeah, sorry to have to herd you all out of here so quick, pardon the pun, but I need to get there soon to set my gear up and do a short sound check before Ray gets there.”
“Alight then,” Jackie agreed. “Let’s hit the road, ladies!”
“Pink– uh, sorry, Diane, Serena… Shiloh, why don’t you ride with Javi, and I’ll take Tiffany, Jackie, and–”
“Me, in that contraption?” Rebecca pointed to Oli’s vehicle in the driveway. “Oli, darling, I for one like you quite a lot, but I’m not sure I could handle being in that storage closet on wheels for more than ten minutes!”
“Good thing it’s an eight minute drive then!” Oli was out the front door before Rebecca could get a word in.
With Javi’s assigned passengers already making their way out with him, Tiffany and Shiloh came up behind her for her to lead the way. “Oh, for heaven’s sake…”
With Javi waiting on the street, Jay’s driveway dividing his and Oli’s cars, Oli put his van into reverse and swung into the lane closest to the backyard gate. Once his car was parked, he gave a couple of taps on the horn before opening his door and hopping out. Just as Javi came in to park in the opposite lane, Rebecca pushed the left sliding door open and jumped out, the sudden screech of Javi’s car breaks making her hop and squeal in fright.
“Yo, watch it!” Javi shouted.
“Rarity, come on.” Oli sighed over his panic-induced forgetfulness as he pulled Rebecca by her arm towards the garage, giving Javi room to continue parking.
Jackie and Tiffany came out from the other side just as Javi exited his own car with Serena, Diane, and Shiloh.
With everyone out, the Equestrian humans were able to size up Ray’s house, which towered over most of the neighboring homes. Its sand-colored brick allowed it to match the other houses surrounding it, and its dark-wooded fence provided an extra air of security. Even by Ponyville standards, the place appeared like a palace to the ponies-turned-humans.
“That’s where your friend lives?” Rarity gasped.
Oli nodded. “Yep. They’re pretty well off. Alright, let’s get this stuff in the back.”
Kust before Oli could move to the back doors of his van, a medium-length blonde-haired woman opened the backyard gate from the inside and approached the group. From the light summer shirt and fancy sandals she wore, she was already prepared for a celebration.
She slowed her pace, nonplussed over the abundance of people in her driveway. “Oli, Javi so good to see you!” Despite the six new girls, the woman gave both Oli and Javi respectful and platonic hugs. “I’m sorry, I wasn’t aware you two were bringing more guests…”
“Sorry about that, Ms. P,” Oli said. “I met these girls at one of my gigs earlier this week, and they seemed pretty cool and I asked if they wanted to see me perform tonight.”
“OooOOOooh!” The woman’s suggestive squinted was directed at Tiffany in particular. “Oli’s already getting groupies!” After a laugh, she approached her with an open hand. “I kid, of course. Anywho, yes, I’m Kate Powers, Ray’s mom. I’m sure you’ll meet him soon enough.”
“Looking very much forward to it, Ms. Powers,” Tiffany replied. “We were actually going to help Oli take his things to…”
“It’s okay,” Oli said. “I know where we’ll be. Let me just unlock the back and get some stuff.”
“Come on, ladies,” Jackie firmly commanded, “the quicker we help Oli, the sooner we can enjoy ourselves.”
Ms. Powers began to follow the Equestrian humans as they returned to Oli’s van. “I’m… sorry, what time did you imagine the party would begin?”
Tiffany stopped to speak with her, her friends continuing on ahead. “Oli said the party wouldn’t be starting until closer to 3, but still, we don’t mind lending a helping h… and.”
“Plus, I brought dessert!” Diane appeared with her three boxes of cake balanced on the palm of one hand.
“Oh, my I… actually had dessert covered, but… thank you, that’s quite considerate of you. Why don’t you follow me and I’ll show you where you can place those.”
“Phew! I was worried I’d never get to put these cakes down! Lead the way, Ms. P! Oh, my name’s Diane by the way!”
“Diane, how nice. Yes, follow me to the kitchen. Are those cakes you brought?”
“Mmhm! Made them myself!”
“Oh, you didn’t have to go through all that!”
“Of course I did! I figured it’d be a great substitute for an invitation!”
As Diane and Ms. Powers continued chatting, Oli quickly followed them through the now open gate. “Alright, come on, it’s load in time!”
Suddenly realizing their empty handedness, every person in the driveway save for Rebecca shuffled to the back of Oli’s still open van. Rebecca, once she saw her friends were all occupied, slipped into the backyard to follow Oli.
Jackie grunted as she set the last monitor down on the ground beside the others, the rest of Oli’s equipment neatly set about the rear corner of the fence. Rebecca scanned the rest of the backyard, starting with inground pool closest to her, a large utility shed in the other back corner, and a sizable stone deck whose glass tables were already dressed up with party decorations.
“Is that it then?” Rebecca asked. “Are we all set then?”
“I dunno’,” Serena sneered, “why don’t you actually go into the truck and do a check?”
“I didn’t make my outfit just to get it dirty doing physical labor, though I doubt that matters that much to you!”
“Look at it this way, if you had helped carry some things, I’d be that less gross and sweaty!”
“Hey, ho, ladies!” Javi stood between the two. “Let’s not say something we might not be able to take back, eh? As a matter of fact, who’d like to do something fun?”
“I DO!” Diane came running through the back door towards her other friends, Ms. Powers quickly coming out after her, uncertain for her impromptu exit. “I heard fun is about to be had, so what fun is about to be had?”
“Javi?” Oli’s voice conveyed the importance of caution to his friend.
“Hear me out.” He then turned back to the Equestrians. “So, Ray isn’t home right now, obviously. He’s out getting breakfast with some other friends from school, but I was going to call him and ask if he wanted to hang out a bit to keep him occupied before the party. If you don’t want to hang around here while Oli sets his stuff up, I’ve got room for three, maybe four in my car if you want to tag along and… I guess meet him. Pinks, you already called dibs, so you’re in. Da…” Javi quickly glanced sideways, seeing that Ms. Powers was safely far enough away. “Dash, you wanna hang out early?”
Serena was already walking his way. “Pfft, like you needed to ask!”
Javi and Serena clasped hands as she joined his and Diane’s sides. “Alright, I can do one more, two if you don’t mind squeezing together in the back.”
“As neat as it sounds to get a lay of the land, so to speak,” Jackie spoke up, “I think I want to stay back and help Oli finish setting up.”
“It’s alright, Jackie,” Oli said. “Unless you already know what to do, it’d take me longer to teach you than it would to just get it done.”
“Hey, I’m fully capable moving stuff around and opening boxes if I can do that. Shouldn’t need to teach me any of that.”
Oli shrugged. “I suppose that’s fair.”
“I think I’ll just stay here,” Shiloh sighed, unsure of her decision.
Oli smirked. “You know, if I remember right, I think the Powers just got a new Labrador puppy–”
“They have a puppy here?!” Fluttershy’s sudden burst of elation suddenly shifted to anxiety as she saw Ms. Powers still standing there.”
“Well, go on, ask her! I know you’ll treat it right.”
“Oh… okay…” Though her posture still spelled uncertainty, she dutifully made her way to the matron of the house.
Oli could see as Shiloh’s request appeared to be granted, Ms. Powers leading her into the house.
“Rebecca,” Tiffany said to her, “if you’d like to go with Javi and the others, I’ll be fine here. I’d like to get to know some of the other guests as they show up.”
“Oh, why…” Rarity seemed bit flustered to suddenly find herself in a best case scenario. “Thank you, Twilight. I mean–”
“I don’t think Ms. P can hear us anymore.” Javi looked through the window of the sliding glass door, watching as she observed a more-relaxed Shiloh cradling a young straw-gold coated puppy in her arms. “I’m sure little slips like that are alright while we’re alone, but we definitely can’t have any while we’re out, alright?”
Javi and Oli stole a glance, the latter nodding in approval of his handling of these three unique women.
Javi then checked his watch. “Welp, it’s almost 11, and the mall’s about to open, so let’s hurry over so we can group up.”
“Wait, take this.” Oli approached Rebecca, pulling a Discover card from his wallet and handing it to her. “If you want to get something, use that to pay for it. There shouldn’t be a pin, and just memorize the signature on the back in case you have to sign anything.”
“It’s alright, I’ll handle it,” Javi said, plucking the card from his friend’s fingers and slipping it into his pocket. “I can’t imagine Rebecca made y’all working cell phones, so we’re going to have to be together at all times, got it?”
Serena grumbled. “Okay fine, but if there’s someplace I wanna’ go in, I want to check it out.”
“I’m sure Ray will be happy to oblige. Alright, let’s roll!”
“I call front!” Serena shouted, keeping up with Javi’s pace to ensure her spot in his car.
As Diane followed them back out through the gate, Rebecca waved her remaining friends off. “We’ll be back!”
“Have fun!” Jackie waved back. Once the four were out of sight, she turned back to Oli. “I sure hope that card y’all gave her has enough bit… money on it. She might run you dry with whatever she may want to get.”
“Javi’s in charge,” Oli assured her, “I trust him completely, and for that matter, I’m sure the Element of Generosity will be equally as careful with my money.”
Jackie glanced up as she contemplated Oli’s remark, quickly determining that he was completely right for his assumption. “I suppose that’s true.”
“I’m actually going to head inside to see if Ms. Powers needs something,” Tiffany piped in. “Maybe I can get you something to drink while you’re out here.”
“If you could just bring back a couple of waters,” Oli said, “that’d be great.”
“Water. Got it. Alright, I’ll leave you two to it!”
“Thanks, Twi!” With Tiffany coming to join Shiloh, Oli and Jackie were now alone to work. “Hey Oli, what can I start helping ya’ out with?”
“Uh…” He glanced about. “If you can take two of those monitors and put them apart about six feet and then set the table up between them, that’d be a great start.”
“You got it!” Jackie left to complete the task as charged as Oli began pulling out power adapters and bundled cables out from the milkcrates.
Once Jackie had moved both monitors into Oli’s preferred position, Oli suddenly realized how quiet it was with just him and her with no one else. “Hey, Jackie.”
Before she could pick up the table, Jackie looked to him. “You need something else, sugar?”
Oli grinned, knowing that her term of endearment would only fuel what he had to say to her. “I never did say so back at the old castle… when we first met, I mean, but… thank you for sticking up for me back then. I mean, I know you were really helping Twilight, but–”
Applejack’s warm, alto chuckle interrupted him. “You don’t need to worry about a thing. Yeah, I was sticking up for Twilight in that moment, but if it’s all the same to you, I’m still happy I got to help you out too.”
“…Thanks, again.” Jackie was back to picking up the table and carrying it over between the monitors. “And thanks for sticking around to help.”
“Are you kiddin’? I actually like doing this kind of work, especially if it’s to help a friend out.”
“Yeah, I should have figured.” Oli smiled contently to see Applejack already flipping the table over and studying the legs folded into the underside. “Here, let me help with that.”
Oli hopped over some of his equipment to reach her, Jackie standing by as he pulled the legs out from under the surface and locked them in place.
“Anything you need while you’re working on that?” Jackie asked.
“Yeah, if you can get those two large stands where the monitors were, I can show you how to open them and put a monitor on them.”
“Gotcha!” Applejack flicked a salute to him before going to gather the next set of equipment.
Oli could already tell that this set up would be one of his all time-easiest.