Twilight Sparkle felt deeply satisfied as she looked around the room. She sat at the head of a large table in the biggest dining room in the Castle of Friendship, which was thoroughly decked out with delicious-looking food: 12-layer salads, wheat roast, pumpkin pies, cinnamon rolls, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, baked apples, cranberry-apple jellies, apple fritters, spiced apple cider, savory apple tarts (Applejack may have had a hoof in deciding the menu), and many other delectable dishes. But, more importantly, the table was surrounded by her friends. This was going to be perfect!
"Thank you all so much for coming," the Princess of Friendship started, nodding to each of her guests. "I know this is a little unusual."
"Oh, we wouldn't miss it for the world, darling," Rarity assured her, patting her artfully-styled mane. She was bedecked in a festive Fall gown decorated in jewel-studded leaves. "I'm just glad you scheduled this special dinner a few days before the holiday; I hate having to choose between family and friends."
"Yup! No offense, Twalight, but Ah'd have had to say no if you'd double-booked over Granny's big Thanksgiving feast!" Applejack rubbed her stomach, eyes glazing slightly as she stared at some vision of Thanksgivings past.
Twilight laughed. "I wouldn't dream of it. Shining Armor and Cadence are hosting our family feast in the Crystal Empire this year, so I won't see everyone for about a week. I thought this would be a good way to get everyone together before the chaos of the holidays sets in."
"Did someone say chaos?" a disembodied voice said from the ceiling. Everypony looked up... and saw nothing. They looked down again and realized that part of the dinner spread had been rearranged in the shape of Discord. They stared at the shape of Discord expectantly, until a small cough drew their attention to the chair beside Fluttershy (which had turned into a recliner while everypony was distracted – the chair, not Fluttershy) and which now held Discord. Everypony was silently thankful that their food had not turned into Discord, which would have made the whole dinner unbearably weird.
"Wrong kind of chaos, Discord," Twilight sighed. "Also, could you please try to be on time in the future?"
"It's called being fashionably late, my dear." As if to add visual flare to his statement, Discord snapped his fingers and suddenly wore a very fancy bespoke suit in peacock blue (with actual peacock feathers). "As to your other statement, I say nonsense! Every kind of chaos is my kind."
"Well, now I know who to blame the next time I am run down by twenty overstimulated mares fighting for the last roll of discounted fabric," Rarity murmured darkly.
"Ahhh, Black Friday," Discord said with a pleased sigh. "One of my most satisfying legacies."
"Well, we're glad to have you anyway, Discord," said Princess Celestia. The Sun Princess smiled kindly at the Chaos Lord (while discreetly motioning for the guards to stand at ease). "I, for one, am grateful that those who were once enemies can now come together as friends on this special day."
"Hear, hear!" Luna cried and chugged back a mug of cider, which she then smashed loudly against the thick crystal table. Everypony cringed slightly but didn't comment; this was the third mug she'd destroyed. One of the bat pony Night Guard discreetly slipped forward and swept up the shards while another one slipped a fresh mug to Luna's hoof. "Let us begin the Thanksgiving festivities with vigor and joy!" the Moon Princess added, rubbing her hooves together as she eagerly eyed the steaming spread.
"Hey, Twilight," Rainbow Dash said, her magenta eyes squinting at the ceiling in thought. "Real quick, remind me what Thanksgiving celebrates again? The discovery of Equestria, right?"
"No, that's Hearthswarming," Twilight Sparkle corrected.
"I think it's about celebrating our different races coming together in unity and friendship," Fluttershy provided helpfully.
"No, that's also Hearthswarming," Twilight said, although a thoughtful frown crossed her face.
"Huh." Rainbow Dash scratched her rainbow mane. "For some reason I feel like both of those have something to do with Thanksgiving."
Twilight stood up and set her hooves on the table, beaming at her circle of friends. "Well, we certainly have a lot to be thankful for, and that's the most important part of this holiday: giving thanks for the blessings in our lives! I can say without exaggeration that I am extremely thankful for each and every one of you." She met the eyes of each of her guests, determined to make them feel individually welcome. Her smile grew ever-so-slightly strained when it reached Discord, but she pushed forward with enthusiasm. "Before we eat, since Princess Celestia already sort of started the tradition, how about if everypony goes around and says what they're most thankful for this year?" This was her favorite part of Thanksgiving: hearing everypony talk about the people and things in their lives that blessed them most.
There was a mix of agreeing cheers and regretful murmurs (those last ones being mainly from Luna and Pinkie Pie). Spike jumped up in his seat, which almost put him at the same height as the sitting ponies, and waved his claws. "Oo! Oo! I'll go first!"
Twilight smiled at her little assistant. "Great! Go ahead, Spike." She discreetly drew a parchment close under the table, prepared to carefully record everyone's statements of thankfulness for the purpose of heartwarming friendship memories in the future.
"Okay. I'm thankful for awesome friends - like my totally cool buddy Thorax!" He grinned across the table at the exceptionally tall, rather garishly colored Changeling King, who sat ducking his head bashfully because it was still extremely weird to him being taller than almost everypony else in the room. "I mean really, how many people get to say that two of their friends ascended to royalty status?" Spike added, winking at Twilight. She rolled her eyes and laughed.
Thorax straightened and smiled at Spike, his green carapace brightening slightly with pleasure. "Thanks, Spike," he laughed nervously. "I'm, uh, well, this is a new holiday for us Changelings. I guess I'm thankful to have friends and not be constantly starving anymore? Yeah, definitely thankful for the no-starving thing!" he finished brightly. Twilight and Spike exchanged mildly uncomfortable looks but maintained their smiles. Although a few of the ponies who had been mumbling whinily about the delay of dinner began mumbling much more quietly.
Applejack went next. "Ah'm thankful for friends, too – but Ah'd have to say I'm most thankful for mah family. O' course, most o' my friends might as well be family." The mood brightened back up again as the rest of the Elements laughed and cheered their agreement while Applejack reached over and noogied Apple Bloom, who sat next to her with her two best friends.
Apple Bloom, Scootaloo, and Sweetie Belle took this as their cue and chorused together, "We're thankful for our CUTIE MARKS!" The three fillies then tried to shove their flanks up over the lip of the table to show off the shield-shaped markings, but this didn't work out well, and resulted in several tipped cups and a series of scoldings about proper table etiquette involving keeping one's rump in one's chair.
While that was going on, Pinkie Pie spoke up. "Amph hanphl fu gu fuu!"
Twilight raised an eyebrow at the pink earth pony. "I'm glad you're thankful for good food, Pinkie, but could you please wait to eat it until we're done? This is kind of important to me." Pinkie swallowed and smiled guiltily, although her hoof seemed to be straying towards a nearby plate of apple fritters. To her credit, she swatted the offending appendage with her other hoof and then sat on it.
Rarity gave Sweetie Belle one last stern look before brightening as she realized that it was her turn. "Oh, I'm thankful for friends and family, too, of course," she said, because how could you not, that would be terribly uncouth. Then she enthusiastically added, "And I'm extremely thankful for the success of my newest boutique in Manehattan! I can hardly believe the success I'm having. It's as if all my dreams are coming true!" she sighed dreamily.
"And I'm thankful for getting into the Wonderbolts!" Rainbow crowed, pumping her hoof in the air. "Talk about dreams coming true! We are on fire this year, Rarity!" She reached to hoof-bump the unicorn, who stared at the hoof for three seconds before awkwardly returning the bump, caught between irritation at being interrupted and the realization that Rainbow wasn't actually trying to show her up.
This was not going exactly as Twilight had hoped, but she was determined to get around the table. There were only a few people left, after all. "Starlight, how about you go?" Twilight said, turning her smile (which had turned just a smidge pained) towards her pupil. Unfortunately, Starlight noticed, which did not help her with her anxiety levels.
Everypony turned to stare at Starlight. Royalty. Elements of Harmony. Savior of the Crystal Empire. Discord. Oddly, Discord was one of the few who weren't making her nervous – she'd felt something like a friendly connection towards him and Thorax ever since their little adventure. But everypony was staring at her. Starlight took a deep breath. No, no, she had this. "I'm thankful to not be an evil villain anymore!" she blurted, and then buried her face in her hooves.
There were a few awkward murmurs and strained smiles around the table. Discord smirked and leaned over to Starlight's ear (which, since he was sitting five seats away, entailed his neck stretching to ten feet in length). "Excellent, very smooth delivery, O Fearless Leader," he whispered. She swatted him, but oddly felt slightly better. The feeling lasted all of five seconds.
"And I, also, am glad to no longer be an evil villain!" said another voice. And this time, everypony froze. There was a slow turn of heads to the previously empty chair next to Starlight. The previously empty chair that now held a Changeling Queen. Chrysalis smiled brightly around the table at everyone, green-blue eyes wide. "What a joyous occasion! I am very thankful to be here, with all of you, and my new friend, Starlight Glimmer," she said, in a tone just ever-so-slightly off.
"Surprise, everypony!" Starlight said with a nervous chuckle, waving a hoof semi-theatrically at her guest. And carefully avoiding eye contact with Twilight Sparkle. Why didn't she stay upstairs like I told her to?! Starlight thought frantically.
Twilight stared at Chrysalis. Then at Starlight. Then at Chrysalis. Then at Thorax, who was also staring at Chrysalis with an almost hopeful light in his compound eyes. At least he wasn't involved in this. When Twilight stared at Starlight again, it was slightly more of a glare. "Starlight..."
Starlight's eyes darted back and forth. "I, uh, didn't mean to tell you all like this, but... ha ha ha, look, I made friends with Chrysalis! Now she won't, y'know, try and take revenge on us all and leave us constantly looking over our shoulders in case she's an assassin disguised as one of our closest friends," she explained, her voice growing faster and lower throughout the length of the sentence.
Princess Luna smashed another mug against the table, drawing everypony's attention to the fact that she had stood to her hooves in a threatening manner. "Excellent!" the Moon Princess proclaimed, relaxing out of her "I'm going to blast you into the ground" pose. "I, too, am thankful to no longer be evil, and also to no longer be on the Moon! I love my celestial body dearly, but she is very boring to spend a thousand years upon, and there is none of this impeccable cider." She immediately began drinking from the mug one of her bat ponies had snuck onto the table to replace her fourth smashed vessel. Applejack made a mental note to continue vetoing any of her brother's suggestions about them bringing back the old Apple alcoholic ciders; the consequences that might result from her family accidentally getting the cider-loving Diarch of Equestria roaring drunk were not something she wanted to experience.
"Indeed," Chrysalis said, staring straight ahead. "It is very good to no longer be evil. I long only to share love and joy with all of my new friends." Her hole-riddled hoof wrapped rather awkwardly around Starlight, who wore the world's largest guilty grin.
"Starlight!" Twilight stamped a hoof on the table, glaring flat-out at her prodigee and wondering how in Equestria their nice Thanksgiving tradition had devolved this radically. "We talked about this!"
"I, uh, don't know what you mean," Starlight very obviously lied.
Twilight rolled her eyes. "We don't reform villains by performing mind manipulation spells on them any more than we achieve bonding by performing mind manipulation on our friends!"
Applejack suddenly looked less startled and more relaxed. "Ohhh, that explains what's goin' on."
"Just so we're clear, I'm okay with this," Rainbow Dash volunteered, shooting the too-brightly-smiling Chrysalis a dark glare. "After sticking us in those nasty pods, I say let her have a magical migraine."
"Personally, I wouldn't wish that migraine on anypony," Rarity added, although her nose wrinkled in a way that implied she was at least willing to consider it in this case.
"No." Twilight shook her head emphatically. "This is Thanksgiving, a time of family and friends. Real friends. We don't force people to become our friends with magic! Let her go." Starlight sighed deeply and nodded, her horn lighting up with teal magic.
"Ah," Princess Celestia interjected gently, raising a hoof. "Perhaps we should consider, Twilight, the benefits of letting her go mentally, but not necessarily physically." The Sun Princess met the surprised looks of her pony subjects with a raised eyebrow. "I'm really not sure why we let her go in the first place. She is a dangerous criminal who refused all offers of friendship and reconciliation, and she has proven herself capable of defeating even me if she is properly enriched with stolen love. I believe I'd prefer to detain her where we can keep an eye on her."
"You sure kept an eye on me for a thousand years," Discord grumbled. "Just don't forget her in the back garden this time."
"I already apologized for the pigeon droppings, Discord—"
"Um." Everyone turned to look at Starlight, who had raised a hoof guiltily. "Sorry to interrupt, your Highness, but... I may have already deactivated the spell when Twilight said to?"
Everypony froze. And then Chrysalis blinked, stared around her, went even more wide-eyed than before – and shot straight upwards so quickly that she slammed into the roof.
"WHERE AM I?!"
"Why did you do it NOW?!" Twilight yelled, purple magic lighting on her horn as Chrysalis bumped around the crystal room like a drunken firefly, holding her head with both hooves.
"Because you told me to!" Starlight yelled back. "Hang on, I can get her—" And then Chrysalis did a dive-bomb, strafing the banquet table like an out-of-control bomber. Spike got splatted in the face with apple jelly; Luna tried to act, only to slip in a puddle of cider from one of her previously smashed mugs; and Rarity screamed as a salad landed in her hair. Discord was laughing hysterically the whole time, which wasn't exactly helpful. Thorax tried flying after Chrysalis, but she zapped a jolt of magic at him, then morphed into Twilight, then Celestia, then the mailpony, then some sort of sea pony, apparently without being able to control herself (and several of those options, lacking wings, resulting in her ping-ponging off the floor a couple of times). Fluttershy shrieked and accidentally punched Chrysalis in the face, which impressed a number of ponies who thought it was on purpose. The Cutie Mark Crusaders began building a barricade of bread rolls and constructing a catapult with which to launch them.
Twilight stood slowly to her feet, fire in her eyes. She glanced across the table at Celestia, who actually seemed to be enjoying the show. It's the Grand Galloping Gala all over again, she realized resignedly. She added a note to her mental To-Do List: work on getting Princess Celestia a hobby that would dampen her need to 'spice up' celebratory functions. Taking a deep breath, Twilight took her stance, lit her horn, and yelled, "STOP!"
A wave of magic passed over the room, freezing everyone in place. It was an interesting tableau: the table a mess, ponies caught mid-stretch or reach or jump, launched rolls halfway through the air. Twilight blinked when she saw Pinkie Pie frozen in a lunge to rescue a falling 12-layer-salad with her wide-open mouth, but there were bigger issues to deal with right now.
"We. Are going. To have a nice. Thanksgiving. Feast." Each word came out through gritted teeth and an ever-so-slightly manic smile. "Even. You. Chrysalis."
Chrysalis, who had been caught in the upside-down turn of a spiral, groaned and whined, "I have no idea what is happening, or why my head feels as though my brains are being gnawed on by adolescent geese."
"I've never had that image in my head before, but it's probably going to stay there awhile now," Thorax sighed.
Twilight flew up to Chrysalis, giving her a death glare straight in the eye, right-side-up face to upside-down face. "You are at a Thanksgiving party. It is a celebration of family, friendship, and the things we have to be thankful for. It will probably do you good. We are going to eat. Normal food. And have a nice time. You don't have to make cordial conversation, or even eat that much. But you will be civil, and not attack anypony. And if you disagree, you will be locked in the dungeon right now, instead of later." Chrysalis looked about ready to make a spiteful declaration of which option she would prefer, but Twilight leaned forward until they were almost nose-to-nose, eyes narrowing to slits. "And... I will tell everyone in your old hive about Karen."
If Chrysalis hadn't already been immobilized, she would have froze. "You wouldn't dare," she hissed.
"Try me," Twilight said with a triumphant smirk.
The threat to Chrysalis's tough, evil queen image seemed to have more of an effect than the threat of dungeon, as the Changeling finally muttered, "Fine. But this is a complete farce and I will have my revenge on you all someday."
Twilight smiled beatifically. "Great!" She settled back down into her seat, and magically released the spell. A few magical manipulations later, the table had (mostly) been set aright, and everyone was sitting awkwardly back at their seats, some in definite fear of the very forced smile on Twilight's face. "So!" the Princess of Friendship said with threatening cheer, turning to Fluttershy. "Let's finish going around the table so that we can eat. Fluttershy, what are you thankful for?"
Fluttershy was still staring at Chrysalis, with occasional disbelieving glances at her hoof that had accidentally punched the Changeling Queen. "Um... well, I'm thankful for my animal friends... and nice holiday dinners... and the fact that I am friends with several powerful magical figures who can fight bad people so that I don't have to," she said quietly, leaning a little closer to Discord. He put an arm around her and looked smug, which struck Twilight as rather ironic since he hadn't really done anything except laugh at the situation.
"And I," Discord said, with a note of purest glee in his face, standing upright and spreading his arms to take in the whole room, "am thankful for chaos. Beautiful, delicious, wonderful chaos that makes boring events like this so much more fun and memorable." Chrysalis and Twilight scowled at him. Celestia flashed him a quick, agreeing smile. With a wave of his arm, Discord sent a wave of magic over the table, and the dishes that had been knocked askew righted themselves (although some of them turned into entirely different dishes, and one became an anvil with a decorate hat, but it was Rarity's coleslaw, so nopony minded). "Shall we eat, Twilight Sparkle?" he asked innocently.
Somehow, that strangely order-restoring act of Discord's seemed to calm down everyone at the party. Even Chrysalis scrunched down in her chair and scowled. Fluttershy beamed proudly up at her friend, and if Fluttershy was at ease in this crazy situation, well... maybe it would be alright.
Twilight inhaled, then extended her hoof outward in an exhale. She caught the encouraging smile from Celestia across the table, and managed a smile of her own. This was still salvageable. Spike gave her a thumbs-up. Starlight looked apologetic, and Twilight gave her a reassuring nod to let her know she could relax and still enjoy this meal. She was still surrounded by friends, some of them former enemies - and who knew? Maybe a current enemy would learn a little something about the value of friendship today. That's Thanksgiving. You can't always pick who shows up...but you can still be thankful for the blessings in your life.
"Let's say grace and eat!" Twilight declared, settling into her seat before all her friends.
"Hear, hear!" SMASH!!!