After eating Rarity insisted that they bring enough home for everyone. “Those flavors, I can’t even name them all!” She gushed on the way home. “What was that salty sort of tang on the ramen?” She asked.

“You mean soy sauce,” Eric told her.

“Oh yes that was marvelous,” she said. They finally made it home after four hours and Rarity skipped inside with all the bags hanging on her arms impatient to get inside and show her friends.

Eric beat her to the door to unlock and open it for her, “Yoohoo girls we’re back,” Rarity sung loudly to get everyone’s attention. Applejack found her first throwing her arms around Rarity’s neck. “Applejack darling what ever is the matter?” Rarity asked.

“We were so worried seein’ as you were gone so long, we thought maybe somethin’ bad happened,” Applejack said.

“Oh no, on the contrary something amazing happened,” Rarity squealed.

“Oh dear,” Fluttershy said nervously knowing what was next.

“Is that food?” Pinkie Pie asked desperately looking at Eric. He set the bag of five plastic bowls on the table with five forks before stepping back. Pinkie Pie tore the lid off hers and ate furiously happy for the nourishment.

“You know I left some stuff in the fridge for you girls,” Eric said.

“Oh it was all gone by lunch time, sorry,” Rainbow Dash said shrugging her shoulders. Woof they could eat that was for sure, but Eric really should have known that considering Applejack, Pinkie Pie, and Rainbow Dash alone.

“Looks like I’ll need to get more from Costco than I thought,” Eric said. “Rarity can you work a washing machine?” Eric asked.

“Of course darling,” she called fitting Applejack into a simple brown dress of strong fabric. Eric left for Coscto to get Jeans, socks, t shirts, produce, Dairy, and various other things he’d need to live in a house with six adult women. The whole time in the car and store he was thinking about how he should figure something else out for them outside of his care. How even though Rarity was on his lower list of favorite characters from the show he was pressed just to keep his hands to himself today. Of course he didn’t really plan on seeing any of them topless anytime soon, but in his mind they deserved better than being stuck with him.

While Eric was doing all that Rarity was having a field day back at the house. “These are cute where do they go?” Twilight asked holding up a pair of her purple brief panties.

“Oh, haha well let me demonstrate,” Rarity undressed to her panties and everyone did the same. Everyone picked a dress and step by step they slowly but surely got dressed. Once everyone looked good Rarity clapped her hands together happily, “I’ll get your breasts measured now,” she said. After all was said and done Eric returned in time for Rarity to have set the clothes in the washing machine while another was in the drier with the appropriate garments hung to air dry. The living room was filled again with sleeping girls only this time in hair wet in bath robes that Eric’s mother swiped from their past trips to expensive Hotels. She took ten of them in total the thieving witch, though they seemed to come in handy now.

Twilight being the only one awake smiled at Eric and got up to meet him, “Hello, do you need any help?” She asked noticing his arms were full.

“No thank you, I can handle it. In the meantime the six of you can split up into the four bedrooms. Two upstairs, two in room at the end of the hall and one each in the adjacent rooms. I’ll sleep either out here or in the basement like I usually end up doing anyway,” he said passively.

“The basement? We didn’t see a basement when . . . we were exploring today,” she said.

“Well the entrance is a locked door perpendicular to one of the single bedrooms. You wouldn’t notice it unless you knew it was there,” he said. Twilight smiled pursing her lips at Eric. “What?” He asked.

“Nothing, I just like the way you talk. It’s refreshing,” she said. Eric managed to get everything inside putting the food and clothes away before falling into the couch. Twilight was able to sort the girls into their rooms. Rarity and Fluttershy would sleep upstairs, Applejack and Pinkie Pie would sleep in the main bedroom while Twilight and Rainbow Dash took the single rooms.

“Cool my own room, I’ll snag the one on the left then,” Rainbow said stretching out on her way to bed. The girls left and Eric fell back into the couch grabbing his laptop. He checked his account and found that he spend $1,800 that day alone.

“Good thing I took that Restaurant route,” he said outloud. Eric was a Route Sales Rep from Bimbo Bakeries. He basically picked product from depot’s, drove it to the store, stocked the store and wrote orders to sell again the next day. He made $640 a week in salary, but 8% comission on his sales shooting his Net worth to about $2000 a week between selling to Restaurant Depot, Grocery Outlet and three restaurants. He had a little over $20,000 in his checking account and a solid $120,000 in his savings, but eventually he was going to need to budget because housing seven adults would not be cheap.

After the first week of his two week vacation Eric found himself teaching the girls how to do day to day things so they wouldn’t go ballistic. Twilight deduced the the Veritas statue would only open for 24 hours every 30 new moons. Exactly two years and five months, that was a long time to sit around and wait for something to happen. Eric and the girls were able to figure out some times when they could individually get outside. Rainbow Dash went to the El Camino High School stadium to run and keep in excellent shape. Flying was easy, high enough up no one saw more than a cyan dot in the sky. Eric dug up his mom’s old sewing machine and lent it to Rarity followed by her tearing apart of all the old clothes in the house. Turns out sewing as a human isn’t really that different from sewing as a pony. Fluttershy found solace in going to the park next door to communicate with animals which-oddly enough-she was still capable of doing. Twilight started reading all the books in the house and was greeted with new horrors, pleasures, laughs, and sadness she never knew she could feel while reading. After the first day of reading she already knew how human sex worked and that people actually murdered others on a daily basis. Applejack did some gardening out back to quell her restlessness starting with the very unpruned Orange Tree. As for Pinkie Pie they were still trying to figure that one out.

Eric figured maybe he take her to a party, but then how would that work unless it was a my little pony cosplay party? That would be straight up awkward. That’s when it occurred to him that he could essentially take them all to Bronycon. Everyone would think they just had really good costumes on. It might even give Eric a chance to show the girls how much they mean to the world. When he was thinking that Fluttershy burst into the room.

“I can’t find Pinkie Pie!” She shouted. The six of them scrambled everywhere around the neighborhood before Eric checked the basement to see if she had somehow gotten in, but of course she hadn’t.

“Did she say anything to anyone?” Rarity asked.

“The last thing I remember is her sayin’ that her hair was goin’ straight and that she needed to fix it?” Applejack said.

“What the heck does that mean?” Rainbow Dash asked.

“Typically when Pinkie’s hair goes straight it means she’s either losing promise or going crazy,” Eric said.

“Right like the time we threw her a surprise party,” Twilight said.

“Whatever the reason we have to find her, Twilight do you know any tracking spells?” Eric asked.

“Just one, it can only track non moving auras of her like places she’s been for more than a few minutes at a time not exactly where she is. I don’t know if it will work here but it’s worth a shot,” Twilight said. Her horn glowed purple and her eyes opened, “Come on, we have to go. I’ll give you the directions as we go,” she said. Rarity and Twilight threw on horn covering hats while Fluttershy and Rainbow put on wing covering clothing. Their tails were really just long hair with a little extension on the spinal column, but not so much that they were difficult to hide in a braid.

They piled into the van and Twilight gave the directions. Eric sped a little more than he should have, but he put the seats and safety belts back in the van so everyone was more or less safe. They were led to a random street corner, but no Pinkie Pie. They were led again to the Union Pacific Station.

“You don’t think she got on a train?” Rainbow Dash asked.

Eric thought of the possibility of that, “these are freight trains, she would have been spotted in a second,” he said.

“Right, there’s one more place,” Twilight said. They traveled to a supermarket mini mall in Citrus Heights, but still no sign of her.

“Are you sure that spell even works?” Rainbow asked angrily.

“I already said I wasn’t sure, if you have any better ideas I’d love to hear them,” Twilight said.

“Girls, calm down. I’ll tell you what. I’ll circle the places Pinkie Pie left a trail in the van for a few hours. I’ll drop you off at the house so you don’t all go stir crazy in here with me,” Eric said pulling up in front of his house.

“It’s probably for the best, the less of us there are to spot the better I suppose,” Rarity said. The girls got out and Eric drove off. At the stop light from the street he heard rustling in the back, he looked back to find Twilight scoot up and sit in the front passenger seat.

“Twilight?” Eric asked.

“You’re going to need me just in case Pinkie Pie changes her trail, it’s no good chasing a cold path,” she said. Eric smiled at her and drove through the trails. About an hour in Twilight rubbed her neck trying to work out a headache that had been bothering her since the portal closed.

“Are you alright?” Eric asked.

“Hm, yes I’ve got a headache like you wouldn’t believe. I don’t know why, but performing spells in this world is more taxing than in Equestria. The strange thing is I’ve gotten no complaints from Rarity so it might just be the more complicated ones,” she said.

“I have a theory about that and you’re not going to like it,” Eric said.

“What’s that?” She asked.

“Let me answer that with a question: Where are your wings and why are you so short?” Eric asked.

It took her all of a second, “Oh no,” Twilight whispered.

“If Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash have their wings it stands to reason that you should have yours. I don’t know how, but I think somehow your Alicorn magic didn’t make it through the portal with you,” Eric said.

“No wonder everything’s been harder. As an Alicorn I could fly, I was much stronger, and I had magic to spare. As a unicorn I’m above average in magic at best and what good is that here where no one else seems to possess it!?” Twilight shrieked.

“Twilight calm down,” Eric said grabbing her dainty purple hand. Twilight gasped and looked up at him.

She was quiet for a moment before she smiled at him, “I know I know, it’s just a cherry atop the crapazoid sundae supreme,” she said. Eric suppressed a chuckle and failed causing Twilight to giggle. They laughed together for a minute before calming back down.

“It’s nice to see you girls smile again, I have to admit I was worried,” Eric said.

“You know it’s strange having you know almost everything about us, but at the same time if you didn’t . . . well I don’t even know where we’d be right now,” Twilight said. Eric’s thoughts darkened, he had a few ideas where they’d all be and they ranged from bitch breaking to dissection.

Eric rested his hand on Twilight’s, “Sorry sometimes I just need to be reminded that you’re actually here. It helps if I can feel you right next to me, my sister used to sleep in bed with me when I had nightmares and all she needed to do was hold my hand to remind me that I wasn’t alone,” Eric said.

Twilight squeezed her fingers gently into Eric’s palm, “That’s really sweet, my mom used to weave stories with her magic for Shining Armor-my brother-and I, but I always kept my muzzle buried in her mane so I didn’t get too lost in the image,” Twilight said. They smiled at each other warmly before getting back to searching.

They drove silently for an hour or so, “Wait, something changed. Hurry that way!” Twilight insisted. Eric floored the gas and sped in the direction Twilight told him. Eventually they stopped in front of the Party City store in Citrus Heights behind the marketplace marker.

“Party City, That’s definitely the place for Pinkie Pie, but this place looks like it’s been closed for hours,” Eric said.

“There’s no Guarantee that she was just here, she just spent quite a bit of time here recently. This is a good base though,” Twilight said.

“Alright, we’ll come back here tomorrow when they open.”

Author's Note

Pinkie Pie goes on an Adventure!