//------------------------------// // Arc VI Episode II: A Thanksgiving Surprise // Story: Family Begins With You // by Jmaster49 //------------------------------// And what do you know? It was a success. Sunset and Aria made the perfect textbook mac and cheese and had placed it into the oven. While that was baking, they had gotten started on something else for the professor. “I’ve got a mean recipe for snickerdoodles,” Sunset proclaimed as she grabbed baking ingredients from the cupboard. “We’ll make them real quick and then Pinkie and Sonata can get started on the turkey while we take these to the professor’s place. Sound good?” Aria nodded. “Heck yeah. He’s gonna love these.” “Hey, Pinkie,” Sunset looked over in the pink girl’s direction, “Mind sending me the directions to his place?” “One secooooond!” she sing-song’d back to Sunset while taking the turkey’s gizzards apart. One furious baking montage later… The mac and cheese dish was finished and so were the cookies. This left room in the oven for Pinkie and Sonata to work on the turkey. “You guys’ll be alright here, yeah?” Aria asked as she and Sunset put on their jackets to block out the cold air. “Mm-hmm!” Sonata beamed in return, “We aren’t gonna have any accidents here! No sir!” “That’s right!” Pinkie shouted as she put an arm around the siren, “We’ve been working together at the diner for about a week now--so we got this. You two go on ahead!” Sunset had placed the cookies into a container and started walking towards the door. “We’ll be back in about twenty minutes tops. C’mon, Aria.” They both left through the front door, and Aria would ask. “So about how far is his place from here? Can we walk it?” “According to Pinkie’s directions…” Sunset looked at her phone, “Ah. Yeah we’ll be able to get there no problem on foot. Hm…” She squinted as she tapped a pop-up with her thumb. “Breaking news...well that’s weird.” “What’s up?” Aria asked as she walked alongside her. “This is gonna sound insane--because it is,” Sunset stopped and turned her phone screen towards Aria so that she could see as well. “But apparently someone robbed the local blood bank located within the hospital. And they stole...blood.” “...Blood? Yeech…” Aria revolted, nearly gagging from what she heard, “Why would anyone wanna steal blood? That’s just...gross.” “I’m just as confused as you are, Ari. Especially when we have universal healthcare--I don’t see the reasoning behind stealing blood. Unless they plan to sell it...but where and how?” Aria stopped to think about it for a second. Who or what would want to steal actual blood? In Equestria there was only one answer… “Okay--bare with me. This may sound kinda crazy, but think for a sec. Don’t ponies who consume blood exist where we’re from?” “Batponies...and vamponies, yeah,” Sunset nodded. From their perspective, that was the only reasonable explanation, but there was one problem. “But they don’t exist here...do they?” “I wouldn’t rule it out,” Aria said with a shrug, “A professor at our school is a goddamn Shadowpony Demon King from Equestria’s Hell. At this point, anything is plausible.” Sunset had to agree. They had dealt with crazier things in the past so a vampony would be nothing new. “You’re right. I wonder if we’re starting to see more bleedover from Equestria for a reason…” "Hahaaaaa...bleedover. Good one." Sunset stifled her laughter. "That...was not intentional." Meanwhile, back at the Siren’s house… Pinkie was busy showing Sonata how to make the perfect Thanksgiving turkey to...interesting results. “Alrighty-roo,” Pinkie had split the bird down the middle and filled it with vegetables as anyone normally would, then started to explain her process to Sonata. “Ever watch cooking shows and go ‘oh my freakin’ gosh! I knew that turkey was gonna be dry before you served it to the judges!’?” Sonata thought back to the times she had recently watched TV. The contestants on cooking shows would always make turkey dishes wrong to the point where she started to wonder if they were scripted to an extent. “Oh yeah. Like, all the time,” she scoffed while observing Pinkie’s technique, “But I dunno if that’s part of the show or if people just don’t know how to cook.” “Whatever the case, I’mma-bout to show you how to really do a turkey right. The secret?” Pinkie walked over to the fridge and pulled out all of their… “Butter.” “...Butter?” Sonata asked with a tilted of her head. “But-ter.” “...Butter.” “Butter!” “But--” Sonata shook her head and broke the hypnotic chain of repetition, “Okay, the more we say it the less it makes sense. But like, for real?” “Abso-toot-ley!” Pinkie started rubbing the sticks of butter directly onto the bird, “The more better the butter! Er--the more butter the batt--you know what I mean--” She giggled with a snort while slathering the turkey in the fatty liquid gold. The sheer amount of it threw Sonata for a loop. Her eyes nearly bulged out of her head as she stared at the butter-coated bird. “...Woah. Isn’t that a...bit much? Like, isn’t butter super unhealthy?” “It’s juuuuuuust healthy enough to eat once a year,” Pinkie explained while pinching her index finger and thumb together, “That’s why everyone’s New Year’s Resolution always ends up being something along the lines of losing weight!” Sonata couldn’t help but giggle at the thought. “Human traditions are super weird. Who makes a promise that lasts an entire year?” “Everybody does--” Pinkie said while grabbing bottles of seasoning from the cabinet, “And everybody fails at it!” “Hahaha!” Just like that, Sonata was laughing a bit harder, stopping once she wiped a tear from her eye. “...That’s hilarious.” Meanwhile, at Aidon’s house… The professor had put his worries behind him since it was Thanksgiving and he wouldn’t have to think about teaching for a while. He spent his day raking the leaves in his yard and reading from a book. And of course, instead of his usual attire, he was wearing a basic white tee and a pair of shorts. “...I think I’ve become rather accustomed to using my abilities. Don’t think I’ll be having anymore problems from here on.” The use of his dark magic had actually cleared his mind of the stress he had been building ever since he arrived in this world. All he had to do to stay sane was be mindful of his goals and know exactly who and what he was out to protect. Primarily his students of course, followed by his own mental state. One block away… As Sunset and Aria made their way down the sidewalk, another pair of girls came in from the left corner. “Hm?” Sunset looked up to see… “Vinyl? Derpy? What’s up?” Indeed. Both Vinyl Scratch and Derpy were walking down the sidewalk towards the same destination with a similar intent. There was a metallic holiday box in Vinyl’s hands “Yo. Just wanted to make something to thank the prof for saving my girl Tavey. But uh…” She paused and rubbed one of her hands behind her neck. “...I kinda can’t bake for shit.” The cross-eyed girl jumped in with a gleeful chirp. “So I decided to help her!” “Really? That’s pretty awesome,” Sunset replied with a smile, “What did you guys make?” Aria threw in some playful sarcasm. “Lemme guess: Muffins?” “Uch--no!” Derpy insisted as Vinyl opened the container, “It’s pull-apart peach cobbler baked in cupcake liners!” Aria and Sunset took a look. Sure enough, while they were muffin-like in appearance, it was bubbly-hot peach cobbler that was overflowing with cinnamon and brown sugar. “...Damn,” Aria commented as she leaned back, “That smells awesome.” “I know, right?” Vinyl replied as she closed it, “This is actually Great-Gramophone Scratch’s recipe. But--like I said a sec ago, I can’t really bake like she could. These fingers be made for dropping beats--not beating eggs.” “Hey, I feel that,” Aria commented as she resumed walking towards the professor’s home, “All this cooking and baking--you humans have weird ways of celebrating holidays.” Vinyl snickered as she followed. “Pfft. Same. Cooking food is absolutely something I can’t do. But eating it? My ideal Christmas is being passed out on the floor after a long gaming sesh and eating Grandpa-Harmonico’s deep fried bacon cookies.” Aria stopped on a dime--her heart skipping a beat as she tried to process what she had just heard. “...What did you just say?” As the two talked, Sunset and Derpy would follow them from a few paces behind. “Seems like they’re still close, huh?” Sunset noted. “Uh-huh! It’s super cool!” Derpy added, “They really wanted that second chance and we gave it to ‘em. The more friends the better!”