Family Begins With You

by Jmaster49

Arc VI Episode I: Turkey Time

A full week passed and at last, on the week of Thanksgiving, everyone had a break from school.

As fate would have it, Sonata landed a job at the same 1950s-style diner that Pinkie worked at. Meanwhile, Aria had managed to score a job at the local gym. With their combined efforts, they were able to make enough money to purchase all of the Thanksgiving items that Adagio was going to buy initially. After one long, arduous week of working both jobs, they had finally managed it.

On the eve of Thanksgiving--after a rushed trip to the grocery store, Sonata and Aria arrived back at their home right at 3PM.

“Hey, Ari,” Sonata asked as her sister parked the van in their driveway. “Do you think Adagio’s feeling better by now?”

“She should be--hopefully. She’s stayed home the entire week since she got sick so here’s hoping.” Aria exited the vehicle and went around to the trunk, “Alright--you’re on turkey and sweet potato pie duty. Think you can handle it?”

“Pfft,” Sonata scoffed and waved her hand downwards, “I’m so on it.”

“Good. I’ll take care of the stuffing and macaroni and cheese…”

The pair brought all of their items inside and began to sort through everything. Each girl had split off to their respective sides of the kitchen and began to prepare the dishes...to mixed results.

Aria was grating cheese for the macaroni dish, but found herself tired after grating just one block of it to shreds. “Whew...how do the people on those cooking shows do it without getting tired as shit?”

“Hm...hrrk...ghhh!” Sonata was busy trying to pull the gizzards and other giblets out of the turkey but to little effect as she wasn’t strong enough. “I have no idea. Back in Equestria, we could just devour birds whole. But you’re telling me we have to take them apart?! This is wack!”

“Hm….” Aria looked around, then snuck off to Adagio’s room. There, she found her older sister still fast asleep in her bed. Her nose and face didn’t look as puffy as before, but naturally, Aria didn’t want to ask her for help. “She needs her rest. So I suppose I have no choice…”

Their options were limited, but if Aria wanted to make this the best Thanksgiving possible, she needed to ask for help. So she washed her hands and grabbed her phone…

---

About one hour later…

DING-DONG!

The efforts of Aria’s text had borne fruit. As soon as the doorbell rang, the gothic siren quickly arrived at the door and opened it. And who was standing there?

“Hi, Aria! As soon as Sunset got your text, she called me up because I’m the expert on baking and cooking food and--”

Sunset put a finger over Pinkie’s mouth to quiet her for a second. “Chiiiill, Pinkie. But she’s right--as soon as I got your text, I knew exactly who to call.”

“Ugh, great…thank you…” Aria stood aside to allow them entry into their home, bashfully rubbing her left arm behind her back. “I hope I wasn’t interrupting anything. I know this is a time for you to be spending with your families…”

“Nah, don’t worry about it,” Sunset replied with a smile, “It’s cool--I’ve got plenty of time since I’ve already visited my folks back in Equestria.”

Pinkie skipped past her and added, “And my family is doing all the cooking this year! It’s actually Marble and Limestone’s turn. All I gotta do is make sure the guest list for our extended family is all checked off.” She then reached into her puffy pink head of hair and pulled out a clipboard that detailed the names of her cousins, aunts, and other family members. They were all checked off, having been contacted by the pink party girl herself. “See? All good!” she said as she stuffed the clipboard back into her hair and interlocked her fingers to stretch and crack her knuckles, preparing herself. “So what’s the hap, friends? What’re we makin’?”

As Aria shut the front door, she pointed to the kitchen. “Well…”

At her direction, Sunset and Pinkie would round the corner--and grimace while gritting their teeth.

“Oooh…”

“Holy-roly-poly-molies! What happened here?!”

The kitchen was covered in half-cooked pasta that had exploded out of a pot that was on the stove. Meanwhile, Sonata had cut herself on part of the turkey’s bone, resulting in a blood injury that rendered the entire turkey unusable. Her finger was wrapped in a bandage as she threw the contaminated bird away with a disappointed frown on her face.

“This is a disaster,” the blue siren muttered as she held her damaged thumb, “I suck at this…”

That’s when Aria stepped forward and revealed a gauze pad on the back of her hands. She had burned herself with the boiling water from the pot. “Yeah...we need help. Please?”

“You called the right pair of girls, friends. Pinkie and I will help fix this up in no time,” Sunset retorted with a confident expression and snapped her fingers.

In an instant, Pinkie was standing beside Sunset while saluting her. “Ma’am. What are my orders?”

“Find us a new turkey as fast as you can, please. Then help Sonata with it when you get back.”

“Understood,” Pinkie squinted closely at her phone with an overly serious expression as she searched up where to find turkeys at this hour, “Target acquired.” And with a devious grin, she ran out of the house to her car.

Sonata watched with a confused tilt of her head. “Erm...where and how will she be able to find another turkey on Thanksgiving Eve?”

As cool as a cucumber, Sunset waved her hand. “Relax. Pinkie has her ways. You take a break and let your finger heal until she gets back. I’ll help with the pasta.”

“...Thank you,” Aria said as she put her hands together, “I see why you’re so beloved by your friends…”

“I wouldn’t call it that,” the orange girl denied as she walked into the kitchen with a broom, “It’s just a matter of knowing how another person feels so you can help them out as much as possible. Ya feel?” She started to sweep up the various pieces of pasta that were on the floor.

“Understanding how others feel…” Aria mused to herself. “Hmm…”

“Still thinking about the professor, huh?” Sunset guessed with pinpoint accuracy.

“...How did you know?” Aria gave her a suspicious glare as she walked into the kitchen and washed her hands.

“...I’m an Equestrian. You’re Equestrians. He’s an Equestrian also. I can feel your pain as well as his. But…the principals don’t want us getting too close to him. It’s a shame, really. I wonder if he’s all by himself on Thanksgiving…”

That’s when Aria got an idea as she began to grate the cheese again. “Well since we’re on break, I suppose there’s nothing stopping us from taking him some food...after all, I haven’t properly thanked him for saving my sister’s ass.”

“You make a good point,” Sunset said as she dumped the macaroni scraps in the trash from the dustpan. “But we’ll have to be quick. If Goetia’s still out there, she’s probably expecting something like that.”

“Tch--I’d like to see her little punk ass try anything…” Aria swore under her breath, “...Blech. Sorry about that--I’m still working on controlling my temper…”

Sunset put a hand on Aria’s shoulder. “...Guess what? I know that feeling also. Sometimes, I get so ticked off at something that I just wanna take the nearest weighty object and launch it clear across the street.”

“Damn--you really get me, huh?” Aria chuckled, “I’m starting to see it now.”

“Yeah, but you know what I do?”

“What?”

Sunset had walked over to one of the cupboards and grabbed another box of pasta. “Meditation. It’s great for clearing the nerves and helps relieve the tension in the shoulders.”

“Really?” Aria asked in a dubious tone, “Does that breathing mumbo-jumbo actually work?”

“It does. Trust me,” Sunset confirmed as she poured the pasta into a new pot of water. “Try it sometime and you’ll start to feel that rage put to more productive use.”

“Hrm…”

DING-DONG!

“I got it,” Sunset called out as she walked up to the door and opened it. “Woah!”

A disheveled Pinkie was standing there with hardened eyes and her hair had flattened out completely as if she had just been through a warzone with a packaged turkey in one hand and a ham in the other. “Objective: obtained. Last-minute Thanksgiving shoppers: Outmaneuvered. Feast for the Dazzlings: Secured.” She shook her head to puff up her hair, reverting to her usual hyperactive state, “Let’s get this cooking party starteeeed!!”

Comments

[Natedogg2006]

One wonders what Pinkie's body count would have had to have been to get a turkey that close to Thanksgiving, much less that quickly.

[Jmaster49]

11074988
You don't wanna know!

[Snowdrifter]

11074988
I had reinforcements! All I had to do was point out how drab everyones fall coats were, and...

Darling, it was an entire grocery store full of people. Next time, I expect a challenge worthy of my talents!

[Jmaster49]

11199207
That's pretty much how it would go, yup!