Justin stood at the stove with nothing but a towel wrapped around his hips. The smell of batter filled the seemingly empty house, somewhat quiet for the exception of the shower running and sizzling. If pancakes ever smelled so good, he didn't want to be right. His wet hair was matted to his head and hummed a delightful tune. He soon heard the shower shut off.
"You girls ready yet?" Justin yell over his shoulder, flipping a pancake onto a plate with the others.
"Almost!" Derpy's voice rang out from behind the door.
"Good, breakfast's almost ready!"
"It smells good dude!" Vinyl was heard approaching from behind. "What are we havin'?"
"Pancakes, a favorite of mine, with blueberries mind you."
"Well, aren't you special when it comes to cooking?"
"Don't try to make me blush, Vinyl. You even ready?"
"I can be a flatterer man."
"Noted. Derpy, you dried off yet?"
"Mostly. But your towel caught fire."
"What went wrong?"
"I just don't know what went wrong!"
Justin just shook his head with a smile, knowing that sometimes impossible things happen when Derpy is involved. Not that he didn't like her, hell, he loved Derpy to death, but sometimes that girl can get into some sort of trouble she isn't aware of. He flipped the last pancake onto the serving plate and switched the oven top off, then twisted the dial in the center off as well. Putting on a mitt and opening the stove, Justin reached in to pull out a tray containing one of the pegasus' favorite treats. A flutter of wings were his clue that she knew what he had just pulled out.
"Well," Justin started, taking the two items to the table that's now being set by Vinyl and her magic, "time to eat up! Pancakes and muffins for all!"
He heard a squee come from one of the fillies before going to his room to pick out and pack some clothes. After all was said an done, a human fully clothed and breakfast done with, came time to start packing. Time to make use of that old cooler was all Justin thought about as he filled the container of drinks with a layer of ice over them.
A tent was next to collect, and know his parents, that would be somewhere in the garage. Thankfully, Justin located the damn thing on one of the top shelves. After dragging it down from its storage space and placing it in the living room with the cooler and his bag. Vinyl was looking at him funny, or, a different kind of look.
"Problem?" He asked, not bothering to look away.
"Yeah, have you even thought about what I told you last night?"
"I have, and still am. Vinyl, I know we're good friends and I know four months is a long time not to see somebody, but I need some time to get over some things." Justin explained.
"Oh yeah? How do you plan on doing that?"
"With two of the best fillies I've ever met." He looked at the pony with a soft smile.
His words were true up until the opinion stepped in. Vinyl didn't notice though and her cheeks went pink. Justin clapped his hands together, gaining the attention of Derpy, who was nuzzling a leftover muffin. The table was cleaned up a bit, the dishes in the sink, and two fillies in the midst of a camping trip.
"Why are you even taking me camping?"
"I don't see why not to take a city mare on her first camping trip." Justin reasoned, "How long do you gals have anyway?"
"We won't know until Princess Twilight comes fetches for us."
"Long enough.... I guess. Alright, you two in the back seats, can't risk people seeing you."
The human ushered the two into the garage and into the passenger seats in the back of his car. Once that was done, he popped the trunk and put the cooler in first, scooting it all the way back, then proceeding to place the packed tent along with his change of clothes. Securing the trunk's lid, Justin went to occupy the driver's seat, showing the girls how to fasten their seatbelts before going on to his.
"Sooo.. what is this thing?" Vinyl asked, looking at the human.
"This, my fine little filly," Justin started the car, causing it to hum to life, "is a car."
Vinyl sat in a sort of confused silence.
"Think of a carriage that doesn't require ponies to pull it around." He then said plainly.
"Ohhhh... got'cha." Vinyl nodded her head.
"How long is this trip gonna last?" Derpy raised a forehoof as if she was in school.
"Two hours, at least. It's take longer for bathroom breaks." Justin's eye shifted to the rear-view mirror.
"How do you suppose that'll work. You've told us about the dangers of being out in the open in your world for us."
"Simple really, pull over to a wooded area if available, and go there." He grinned, opening the garage door and pulling out. "Or I could have you use cups, which might not be the best option."
Justin soon got the wheels on that car going, a trip he was determined to make and an experience he wanted to make the very best he could. only about thirty minutes have passed by, Vinyl on the verge of falling asleep, Derpy peeking out the window. Most of the drive was in silence, and luckily, very few drivers this time of day.
"What were you two talking about last night?" Derpy asked out of the blue.
"Errm... Stuff?" Justin hoped she would buy into that.
"Didn't sound like stuff." Derpy pointed out.
"Just talked about this trip, no worries." Vinyl swooped in for the save.
"Sounded like more than just the trip." There was a small silence present now. "You told him, didn't you?"
Vinyl got a lump in her throat.
"W-what? Preposterous!" Justin quickly responded.
"Preposterous?" Vinyl was looking at the human in confusion now.
"Expression I like to use..." Justin shrugged.
"Humans are still so weird.." Vinyl said with a shake of her head.
"You guys are trying to change the subject..." Derpy pointed out, still not convinced.
"Well damn, atleast she's keeping track Vinyl!" Justin chuckled
"Fine, I did let him know about how we felt after he was sent back." Vinyl admitted, hanging her head against the back of Justin's seat.
"At first, I did find a bit strange, but then again, I'm not THAT sane of a person just yet. I also happened to have my stomped out yesterday by my girlfirend, which..." Justin sighed at the brought up the thought, "... take some time to get over."
"Ooooh.." Derpy said under her breath.
"Hey, cheer up! We're finally at my little paradise from the city!" Justin got their attention as he pulled into an open plain.
The plain featured a small trail that looked like it was meant for the human's car and continued down a hill. The slope of the hill wasn't too steep, but that didn't stop Justin from slowing his car down while driving down the slope. Both the ponies in the car looked out the windows to the trees that were now starting to engulf the area around, save for the trail.
After a few hours of hiking, the trio had finally reached their intended destination. A clearing where the grass grew shorter but decorated with dozens of flowers. The trees that surrounded this clearing would make one feel as though their location was secluded from the rest of the world.
Justin could feel a certain grey filly rattling against his leg. With a short smile, he knelt down and patted the filly on her golden mane. She looked at him with a sort of fear behind her look, wings ruffling their feathers at her side. His hand was slowly rubbing the top of her head.
"Ar-a-are you sure there aren't any Timberwolves in here?" Derpy asked, her voice visibly shaky.
"Derpy, Wolves made of sticks and logs don't exist in the human world." Justin tried to reassure her fears.
"Promise?" She asked.
"Promise." He simply replied with his smile. "I should get the tent set up for the night, would you care to get some wood for a fire Vinyl?"
"Yeah, sure, I'll just leave the scaredy pony here with you." Vinyl remarked, walking off into the treeline.
A short while after the tent had been set up, a nice warm fire started, some laughs, and some experiences being told over the time they hadn't seen one another, Vinyl was busy poking at the fire with a random stick she found laying around. The fire itself showed no signs of dying out soon, but the sun was no longer able to be seen even through the trees. Justin was judging the time by the moon, seeing how far it was across the sky. Derpy was busy clinging to his side, still scared about something, he couldn't blame her though. Sometimes a forest, depending on location, can seem scary. Although the human world was nothing these two were accustomed to, but he was. All a forest needed to be scary was some sort of tale and certain group of predators, like coyotes, or wolves, or.... velociraptors. "Heh.... velociraptor gentlemen." Justin couldn't help but burst out laughing at the last thought he came up with.
This caught Vinyl's attention. "Dude, what's so funny over there?"
"Oh nothing," Justin tried his best to calm his laughter so he could speak, "just thinking about how one of the most dangerous hunters in recorded history wearing a top hat, monocle, sipping on tea, and being civil."
"You humans are weird...." Vinyl concluded again with a smirk, going back to poking at the fire.
"Yeah... we can be." Justin looked down at Derpy, who at this point was burying her face into his shirt, and started to rub her back. "There ain't anything out here to get you Derpy. Even if there was, you could count on good ol' Justin to fend them off,"
Derpy just nodded, but kept her face buried still.
"Then why are you burying your head into my side?"
"Because you're so soft." She meekly replied, wrapping her hooves around his waist tighter.
"Well, in that case..." the human turned to his bag and dug into it, bringing out a small bag of items, "...s'mores, anypony?" He asked with a smile, Derpy and Vinyl now looking at the bag he held.