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"What's 'Thanksgiving'?"
I stopped midway through draping a light coat over my shoulders. I hadn't considered that question in a very long time. Thanksgiving was just Thanksgiving.
"Well," I said, "I guess it can be described as a celebration of everything we have to be grateful for. Usually we just sit around, eat a large meal and talk about everything that happened since last year."
"That sounds wonderful!"
"I thought you'd like it," I said, "So I asked around and made sure it's okay for me and Alex to leave early."
"Leave early?" she asked, "Why would you want to do that?"
"To attend a Thanksgiving with a very special friend... you"
At first her face held a look of disbelief. I swear I heard a squeak come from her as she blinked her eyes wide. Her mouth shrank into nothingness, as she processed what I had just said.
"Oh, you didn't really have to do that for me," she said.
"Of course I did, no one should be alone during the holidays. Besides, I would have done the same for Alex."
She looked straight at me, a smile slowly crawling up her face. Not a large smile, but just enough to excuse having her mouth slightly agape. Those large cyan eyes shone with a light of wonder as her pink mane curled down in front of her face.
From the amber hillside I could see out over the golf course that my grandfather had played every day. Next to it was the high school that my sister and I graduated from, my parents knew how much I loved learning, even though I hated going to that school. There they stood, Mom weeping her eyes out, and Dad holding her with that calm demeanor that got him through all of life's challenges. Even Alex and Fluttershy were there. Hiding behind my sister, Flutter was a complete wreck, as she blamed herself for what happened. Alex's expression was more one of bemusement, as she read the epitaph:
Here lies Robert
Dead of an unexpected heart failure
May he rest in peace
Fluttershy's hug brought me back to reality. I squirmed under her hooves and she quickly retreated, apologizing for being too excited. I found it surprising that she didn't seem to notice me completely spacing out.
Alex and I toured the beautiful adobe house, making our presence known to the more than twenty bodies in attendance. We made sure to at least say 'hi' to every one of our aunt's guests. Occasionally one of us would get pulled aside, I to discuss my latest coding project; Alex to talk about her most recent artistic work. Soon enough we finished our rounds, but before we could make it to the door, Mom stopped us.
"So, when do I get to meet this mysterious new friend?"
This was only her latest attempt to get the truth out of us. I had found myself shocked at how easily Alex agreed that, at least for the time being, Mom and Dad didn't need to know about Fluttershy. To further muddy the issue we agreed to not waste any time if we needed to get our story straight. We had withheld information from our parents before like this, and while it did raise suspicions, the truth had always been on our terms.
We turned to each other, and quickly hammered out a story to tell Mom.
"Well, we're not sure how long she's staying," I started.
"She is not fond of large crowds such as this, as well," Alex added.
"But, if she's still around..."
"We may introduce you and Dad in about a week's time."
I could see Mom attempting to count up exactly just how many gallons of manure we had tried to feed her. Instead of calling us on it, however, she made absolute sure we were to hold up the promise we made to her. With a hug, and hasty 'goodbye' we were off and running, to make one pony's Thanksgiving.
I pulled into the driveway, and Sky immediately jumped out of the car, followed by Mike. I climbed out, and looked to see Alex letting Letty out of her station wagon. Everyone was here, and with a tray of food each we were ready to give Fluttershy the best Thanksgiving we could.
We entered to find the guest of honor in front of the Television, watching "Fly Away Home". She was absolutely ecstatic when Mike showed up with a "Button Wand" for her. Such a simple device: a wooden handle, that tapered down to a point just about half the size of a dime, and yet it opened the world to her.
Setting up dinner was easy, as the dishes everyone had brought were still at temperature from the stores they were purchased from. Fluttershy insisted on helping with the place settings, and carefully set plates and utensils for everyone. In the meantime Sky 'helped' by watching the end of the movie.
Dinner was set around a large vegetable pot pie, accompanied by a sourdough and pine nut stuffing, and the traditional can of cranberry sauce. Beyond that we had a green chili tortilla soup and a mixed green salad with apples and carrots. Fluttershy graciously accepted helpings of everything, as plates were passed around and filled from each of the entrees.
She was still shy at first. She sat there, ears folded back, quietly observing, barely touching the food on her plate as the rest of us chatted up a storm. I understood that she was unsure, having never experienced this holiday before. To her benefit, it didn't take her long to get the idea, relax, and join in.
"... And that's when I realized that I really did appreciate Mom," declared Mike.
"So... Wait, she had to mangle a street sign first?" asked Sky.
"Well, maybe the sign had it coming," added Letty, "After all, it could've been a rogue stop sign bent on world domination!"
"Well," said Sky, "It's certainly bent now!"
Alex groaned, as Letty and Mike giggled. Fluttershy looked at me, ready to ask if such a thing really existed. I smiled and shook my head.
"Your imagination is completely out of this world, Letty." I said.
True to form, he turned, raising a fist in jest of one of our favorite comedians and delivered what had become a cliched line, "OF COURSE!"
Alex rolled her eyes, as the four of us burst out laughing. I had to promise Fluttershy that I would explain all this after dinner.
"Hey, Fluttershy, what about Angel?" Asked Mike.
"Oh, ummm... What about him?"
I looked at her, expecting to see her starting to break down in homesickness. To my surprise she was doing fine, a little timid, perhaps, but nothing more. I turned my attention to Letty as he followed up on Mike's question.
"Well, have you ever given Angel the stare?"
"Only when he really needs it, he can be a little spoiled, but its nothing I can't handle. Surely you know someone like that."
Everyone present went silent and looked at Sky. Resting her head on her hand she was in the middle of shoving a bite of vegetable pie in her mouth when she realized all the attention was focused on her. She picked her head up and looked at us.
"What?" she demanded, speaking around the fork still in her mouth.
Whatever one would call it, group mentality or something else, on cue, everyone, including Fluttershy said, "Nothing~"
"I've got a question," Mike announced, looking at me, "Why do you call her 'Flutter'? Isn't her accepted nickname 'Shy'?"
"Well..." I turned to Fluttershy, "Aren't you okay with being called 'Flutter'?"
"Um... I got used to it... I do like it, now."
"Sorry, I didn't know. I just... Y'know, I don't need to call you 'Shy' all the time, it doesn't sit as well with me, personally."
"It's alright... Like I said, I got used to it, and I'm okay with it now."
"You sure?"
She smiled and nodded at me, setting my mind at ease.
"Well," I continued, "I actually don't like calling her 'Shy', it feels like reminding her of that one part of who she is, when she's much more than that. The nickname 'Flutter' is just as unique, and much more... how do I put it? Well... It's not a comment on her personally."
"You're just full of hearts and rainbows... " Sky said sarcastically.
"Have been for a while now," I said, "I'd invite you to check to be sure, but I'm afraid you'd actually take me up on the offer."
"You know me too well."
Fluttershy, who at the time had brought her bowl to her mouth, swallowed a large gulp of the chili laden soup in surprise. It did not take more than an instant before she realized her mistake, and she scrambled for a glass of water.
"Only a dumb little horse would do such a thing," Sky said.
Having chased the soup with water, and a large bite of pie, Fluttershy gasped out a response.
"Only a dumb little girl would confuse me for a horse."
Sky looked completely stunned, but then I imagine I had the same look on my face. I turned to Fluttershy, and she cringed, afraid that she had completely overstepped her bounds. Looking back at Sky, I saw the slightest smirk form. Before Fluttershy had worked up the courage to apologize, Sky spoke.
"Shy, you're alright."
We carried on like that for an hour. Telling stories, making jokes, and making fun of ourselves and each other. Fluttershy played along, working from our own self-depricating humor, and, without being too much of a brute about it, occasionally turned our words against us.
After dinner we lounged around watching "Monty Python and the Holy Grail", and sharing stories of what we had to be grateful for. Mike went first, retelling his story of his mother driving her Volkswagen over a stop sign, and how he's thankful to still be alive, and to have arrived at work on time. Alex was grateful to her publisher, and editor, whom together were doing their best to guarantee her next book was going to be on the market. Letty was grateful for all the donations he received in the way of parts for his favorite PDA.
"My turn?" Sky snipped.
She always made as if she hated taking part in sappy rituals such as this. Everyone knew better, as no matter her protests, she was fully capable of being just as heartwarming as anyone. This night would be no exception.
"Yeah, I'm grateful for all of you, old buds and new. You all put up with me, even when I don't really deserve it. And I NEVER let you know how much I need that."
Perhaps it was her friendship with Dash, but even Fluttershy understood that Sky's last line was more of an order than a statement. I was about to say my piece when the doorbell rang. I slowly rose to my feet, and felt all the eyes in the room settle on me. My head was swimming with scenarios. I pushed them all away, knowing that whatever was on the other side of the door, it was not going to be anything I could predict.
I slowly opened the door, just wide enough to see that I was right. There was no way I would have expected a sixteen year-old boy in khakis and a polo shirt to exist anywhere in this city, let alone be standing on my front porch. He regarded me with the same surprise, a grown man in jeans and a loose-fitting green tee with the triforce on it.
"Um... Is this where the secret fan-club meets?"
"What secret fanclub?"
"Uh... umm..." He stammered, voice as shaky as could be, "M-my ... Little ... P-p-pony?"
I looked over my shoulder, thinking of the pony inside. I was intrigued with the idea that there might be a secret club in the neighborhood. Perhaps, I thought, Bronies weren't as uncommon as this town would lead one to believe.
"Pretty sure you've got the wrong house," I said.
"But... this paper," he pulled out a folded piece of paper, and my heart sank.
"Where did you get that?"
"The cutie mark puzzle downtown... Isn't it for a secret fan-club?"
Again I stopped and looked over my shoulder. I hated myself for what I was about to do, but I didn't know this guy, and my paranoia was starting to get the best of me. I stepped out and closed the door.
"That message wasn't meant for you," I said holding my hand out for the note.
"Then, who was it for?" He asked, handing the paper over.
I looked around for the vehicle that he would've arrived in and caught sight of his mother, waiting to see if her son would be let into this club. I was about to make two people very unhappy with me, but I couldn't conceive of any other way to handle this.
"No one, sorry," I said as I started walking towards the car.
"You left a message for no one?"
"Would you rather believe aliens?"
"Why would aliens be interested in Twilight's cutie mark?"
"Well... Maybe Twi is an alien, maybe they all are... or maybe I'm just a crazy guy who likes to leave directions to his home at places where people make pony graffiti."
By this time we were at the car, and the mom was rolling down her window.
"I'm sorry, ma'am. You were misled here, there is no fan club. I'll tell you what, though, if you decide to start a fan club for Ponies, I'll join yours."
I opened the door to the sounds of laughter, and conversation once more. It seems that Alex and Letty had teamed up and started telling an improvised story. Alex keeping everything on track while Letty added his warped sense of humor for plot twists and comedic relief. Mike and Fluttershy had quickly joined in, adding their imagination to the amazing story of some man from a world in which dragons and wolves walked amongst humans. This man apparently built a robotic version of Rainbow, and called her 'Blade'.
Storytime stopped as soon as I entered the room, and Letty immediately asked me about the person at the door.
"Just a guy and his mom, asking for directions," I answered.
By the time I got back home from dropping Mike and Sky at their respective homes, Fluttershy had already gone to bed. I sat in the living room, in quiet contemplation of the encounter I had. There had to be some way to create a message for Twilight and company without getting random people from the streets showing up at my front door. I thought about it as long as I could, but ultimately sleep overtook me, and for the first time in a long time, I fell asleep on the couch.