Justin blinked a few times before jumping to his feet and shutting off a few switches on the machine, thus closing the portal. His face brightened at the sight of the colorful bundle on the arrival platform.
“Hello to you all!” he said with a happy, joyful voice, operating the platform controls to lower them down to the main ground level. “Welcome to Earth, and welcome to my home.”
“Hi, darling!” Rarity replied with enthusiasm, immediately sauntering over to Justin and standing up on her hind legs to give him a hug. Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash soon followed suit, leaving Justin in tears as they jumped on him and wrapped their hooves around his chest in a warm hug. How he missed the times when his friends and him would welcome his mother home from her hard days at work with all the love and affection they could muster. Good old times…
“I’m Justin Davis, but you can call me Justin.” He pointed to the princess. “And you are?”
“Twilight Sparkle,” Twilight replied, and then pointed a hoof to each of her friends. “This is Applejack, this is Rarity, this is Pinkie Pie, this is Rainbow Dash, and this is my assistant, Spike the dragon. And the little white fluffball is of course Angel Bunny, Fluttershy’s pet.”
Justin shook hands with each one of them and gave each one a loving compliment and a stroke on the back. “It’s good to meet you all. I’ve got a lot to show you all. We’re gonna be the best of friends, me and you all!”
Fluttershy picked up her saddlebag, slid her documents and license card into it, strapped it on, and joined her friends as they formed a line behind Justin.
“Wow, this place is rather complicated!” Twilight Sparkle said with surprise, gazing around at the metal and concrete walls and control cubicle.
Justin chuckled. “It certainly is, for a basement. But the real sweet cake is upstairs. Let’s go!”
Pausing to give Fluttershy a welcome back hug, Justin led the way up the stone steps to a locked door. Fishing in his pocket, he pulled out a key, pushed it into the lock, and turned it.
The door opened up onto the small sheltered area of the large deck, and everyone burst out in eagerness.
“Stay close and follow Justin!” Twilight Sparkle firmly reminded her friends.
Justin smiled. “Just don’t break or dirty anything.” He led them along the deck beside the pool. Rarity cringed at the worry of her mane getting all wet by falling in, while Starlight Glimmer was content and fascinated by the architecture and layout of the property.
“Please, make yourselves comfortable,” Justin said as he pushed open the glass patio doors, ushering Twilight and her friends inside. They were starstruck as the place seemed so quiet, serene, and spotlessly clean. There were couches to sit on, a large built-in TV, a big grand dining table, and a huge fit-for-a-chef kitchen.
“So this is home,” Rainbow Dash said flatly.
“It’s really neat and well-placed,” Applejack commented. “Even more well-placed than my sister’s room, to be honest.”
Without a word, Pinkie Pie dashed straight into the kitchen.
“Can I bake? Please?” she asked Justin excitedly.
“Sure, but not at the moment,” Justin replied, feeling rejoiced at Pinkie’s eagerness. “In the evening when we all have—”
“—a party!” Pinkie cut in with a happy jump of joy.
Justin’s mouth twisted for a second before snapping back into a pleasurable smile. “Actually that’s not a bad idea. Besides, I enjoy cooking and baking too.” He turned to the others who had found themselves comfy and relaxed on the family room couches. “What do you say? Party tonight?”
“Sure!” Twilight replied with a smile.
“I already ate breakfast, so…I’m not sure about you all,” Justin said, pouring himself a glass of juice and glancing at his silver bezel Ulysse-Nardin watch. “It’s almost 10:00 a.m., and I need to attend another meeting as well as monitor important parts of the stock levels for D & J Industries for the day. Will you all be okay?”
The seven pony friends nodded, and so did Spike. Angel Bunny had no comment (as usual).
“Any activities you got out here?” Starlight Glimmer asked politely.
“You can use the TV over there,” Justin replied, already heading for his bedroom to get dressed. “Fluttershy can show you her car if she wishes so. Keys are on a labeled hook in the garage and Fluttershy’s stuff is in a labeled box in the other room.”
“What other room? Darling, this house is huge!” Rarity remarked with a shrug.
Justin sighed. Introducing his home to them all would be a lot harder than he originally thought. “Starlight, come here, I’ll show you.”
Starlight Glimmer walked over to the hallway, where Justin showed her his bedroom and the bedroom next to it. He also showed her the sports room and the living room, as well as a few other rooms.
“Okay…” Starlight said with a doubtful chuckle. “Looks like I could get used to this place. Thanks for showing me, I’ll gladly pass it on to the others.”
With that, Justin packed up his briefcase, buttoned up his suit, straightened his tie, slipped on his black leather shoes, and walked out to the garage. Even from the living room, the sound of the Huracan’s V10 was unmistakably loud.
“What in the hay is that noise?” Applejack asked.
“Um, that’s the engine of Justin’s other car,” Fluttershy replied with a proud grin. “I’ll tell you more about it later.”
With Justin gone for the day, the ponies were left to fend for themselves.
“Let’s see what this does,” Twilight Sparkle said with a smirk, using her telekinesis to lift up the remote control. With some effort, she pressed the red ON button.
The screen showed a brief commercial of a new McDonald’s salad, which made Fluttershy’s eyes bulge with eagerness. She loved salads, especially Caesar.
“Wow,” Rarity gasped. “These companies sure know how to grasp attention. I can’t stop thinking about that salad now!”
Immediately after the commercial came a quick fast-paced intro sequence, which thereafter showed a man standing in front of a chart with some symbols and numbers on it, talking about the clouds and weather patterns for the next few days.
“How does he know about the weather so well?” Rainbow Dash blurted out. “It’s like he reads the future before it arrives!”
Starlight Glimmer laughed, leaning back in her seat. “That’s because he studies everything about the weather very closely and looks up to what will happen next based on the current events right up to when the next day’s weather events will happen.”
After some time the news got boring, so Twilight shut off the TV.
“Anyone hungry?” Applejack asked, as everyone got off the couches.
“I am!” Spike said excitedly, running into the kitchen.
“What about you, Angel Bunny?” Fluttershy asked her pet bunny kindly.
Angel Bunny threw his usual fit that spelled “I WANT A CARROT RIGHT NOW!”
Fluttershy sighed and entered the kitchen.
“Let’s see what we got,” Starlight said, using her telekinesis to open the fridge door. Spike opened up the cupboards and scanned the m for any food. Boy, did they find a lot!
Starlight found some pineapple juice, Fluttershy found a few carrots, Pinkie Pie found a small box of Oreos, Rarity found some bread and peanut butter, Applejack found a banana in the fruit bowl, Twilight Sparkle found a slice of leftover pizza, and Rainbow Dash found some sweet buns. Spike didn’t find any gems, so he simply slumped down in one of the chairs. With their meals found, everypony sat down at the table to enjoy their food.
“This is so awesomely sweet!” Rainbow Dash hollered, taking a big bite of her bun.
Rarity looked so relaxed and joyful as she spread a thick layer of peanut butter on her three slices of bread and stacked them together, forming a club sandwich. “Mmm, this is pretty sweet and creamy!”
“Have some pizza, Spike,” Twilight offered, handing out a piece to her dear dragon. “You’ll like it.”
Spike reluctantly took the piece of pizza and gave a few bites, smiling as the mixture of flavors from the toppings blended together on his tongue. “I like this, Twilight! It tastes so good!”
Pinkie Pie finished the Oreos – all forty of them – in a matter of minutes. She wasn’t exactly a respectful pony when it came to table manners.
“Never tasted tropical fruit before, but I’m already in love with it,” Applejack admitted as she took a big bite of her banana. “This is one of the best fruits I’ve tasted besides apples.”
“Talk about relaxing and soothing,” Starlight commented as she sipped her pineapple juice. “This is too good to be true.”
Fluttershy quietly enjoyed her washed carrot with Angel Bunny, who was looking pretty plump after eating half of the whole carrot. Fluttershy ate the other half whole-heartedly.
“Um, pretty delicious,” she said with a smile. “Shall we go for a walk now, girls?”