“Ugh, I can’t believe Miss Cheerilee made us write those stupid essays on the Amareican Revolution right before Thanksgiving break. Just because we’re not gonna have homework for a few days doesn’t mean we need to have a whole ton right beforehand!”

Rainbow Dash was walking down the hallway in Canterlot High towards her locker, her friends—Applejack, Fluttershy, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, Sunset Shimmer, and now Twilight Sparkle—walking closely behind.

“You’re just sore about it because you don’t know how to manage your time, ya goof,” Applejack replied, smirking. “I finished the whole thing last weekend once I’d finished my chores, and then I did the stuff I wanted ta do.”

“To be fair, I though the essay was pretty hard too. I mean, five pages with at least six sources? I knew everybody kept saying senior year was supposed to be hard, but we’re only a few months in…” Fluttershy said quietly; however, her voice was still easily heard by her friends who by that point were used to the girl’s hushed tones.

“Oh, don’t worry about it!” Pinkie Pie exclaimed, patting her yellow friend gently on the back. “I’m sure you did fine! We can’t worry about that now, though—school’s over! You could go to jail for worrying about school when we’re on break!” Pinkie wore a wide grin across her face.

Fluttershy blinked. “Um... can you really? If worrying can get you arrested, well...”

“Don't listen to her—she's full of it,” Twilight said, rolling her eyes.

“I must say, though, I am quite relieved that we have a break from school, if only for five days,” Rarity chimed in. “I’ve got this wonderful idea for a dress and I just have to start working on it before I lose my inspiration.”

“Can’t you just write it down?” Sunset asked, raising an eyebrow. “That’s what we have paper for, right? So we don’t have to just work from memory?” Pinkie and Rainbow giggled at this; Twilight laughed, too, but a little too loudly and a little too long compared to the others. A few of her friends shot her funny looks; Twilight stopped and then blushed.

“Eheh… sorry,” she mumbled.

“Don’t sweat it, Twi!” Pinkie said, smiling. “Everybody loves a good laugh now and then! Hee hee!”

Rarity just rolled her eyes. “Yes, Sunset, I have written down my plans and I intend to work from that blueprint. But a true artiste cannot depend solely on the artificial plans on paper and must channel her creativity fluidly from the mind to the, ah, the magnum opus, if you will.”

“Sure, sure,” Sunset replied, sticking her tongue out. But then everyone stopped at Rainbow’s locker, one of the furthest from the centre of the school. Having already been by their lockers to get their things, the other girls waited there patiently as Rainbow Dash spun her combination into the lock and then pulled the locker open so she could put her books inside and take her rainbow-coloured bike helmet out. She jammed it snugly on her head and tightened the strap around her chin.

Rainbow posed dramatically, legs spread wide apart and finger pointing outwards towards the door like if she were a comic book superhero leading her team into battle. “Alright, girls, let’s go!”

“So what are you doing for Thanksgiving, Fluttershy?” Pinkie asked as they walked down the last stretch of hallway. Fluttershy, who was busy wrapping her pink-and-grey striped scarf around her neck, took a moment to respond.

“Oh, my mom and I are having my grandparents over like always. Nothing exciting… but it’ll be good to see them, of course. My grandpa’s promised he’s going to show me pictures of their new sheep!”

“Oh, that sounds absolutely splenditastic!” Pinkie exclaimed, grinning. “What about you, Dashie?”

“Eheh… my parents and I are going over to my cousins’... it’s probably gonna suck but they have a young daughter so maybe I can pl—uh, try to entertain her, or something.” Rainbow, walking in front, opened the thick metal door that led to outside and stood at the end, holding it open. A gust of cold air rushed in, washing over the girls and sending a shiver down Rainbow’s spine. “How about you, Pinks?”

“Oh, man, where do I even begin? First, my parents and my sisters and I are all going to my grandparents’ house, and all of the Pie cousins are gonna be there, and we’re gonna have so much fun! I’ve gotta get home soon to pack up my stuff—we’re leaving really early tomorrow morning and I wanna go to bed early so I’m not all tired for tomorrow.”

“Sounds mighty similar to what I’ll be doin’, Pinkie Pie… Big Mac and Applebloom and Granny Smith and I are havin’ all the Apple family cousins and grandparents and all them over on the farm for a big ol’ Thanksgiving shindig, classic Apple style. I gotta get home soon too—we still have a lot of settin’ up to do. My cousin Braeburn’s already arrived, and he’s a pain in the, uh, rear end.”

“Ugh, I know what you mean,” Rarity cut in. “My parents have had enough of our cousins being pains in the… um… rear end… that they’ve just decided we’re having Thanksgiving with just the four of us at our house, staying inside and watching that old Charlie Brown special… not as lavish or extravagant as it could be, but at least it’ll give me lots of time to work on my dresses.”

By the time Rarity finished speaking, the seven friends had already made their way down the concrete steps and onto the pavement below. Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie, helmet-clad, were already over at the bike racks, unlocking their bikes. Applejack’s sister was already over at their family truck, waving her over; Fluttershy’s mom was right alongside, deep in conversation with Big Macintosh. Rarity’s own car was in a parking spot right in front of them; arriving early to school every day did have its perks, even if Sweetie Belle hated it.

“Guess this is it, girls,” Rainbow said, holding her bike by her side. “Have a happy Thanksgiving, all of you, and I’ll see you on Monday!” She put her leg over the other side of the frame, pushing herself onto the bike’s seat, and then began to pedal away.

“Wait up, Dashie!” Pinkie called. “We don’t usually split up until Sombra Lane!”

“Last one there is a rotten egg!”

“Oh no! I don’t want to be a rotten egg! Goodbye, everyone!” Pinkie called as she sped after her rainbow-haired friend. “Dashieeeeee!! No fair!” Sunset and Fluttershy giggled at their antics, and even Twilight managed a smile.

“See y’all later,” Applejack said, as she and Fluttershy walked away towards where their rides were waiting.

“Oh, here’s Sweetie Belle,” Rarity said as she saw her sister walk up to her car. “Goodbye, Sunset and Twilight! Happy Thanksgiving to you both!” She pressed a button on her keychain and her car made an electronic beep-beep noise. Sunset and Twilight waved and, as Rarity walked off, they saw Sweetie Belle grin and open the door on the passenger side of the car, disappearing inside.

Once Rarity, the Apples, and Fluttershy and her mom had pulled away, Sunset turned to Twilight. “So, what are you doing for Thanksgiving this year?”

Twilight smiled. “Wow, thank you for asking! Ever since my brother moved out, he’s come back every year to celebrate Thanksgiving with my parents and I. And now he’s married—so he’ll be bringing his wife along too, I expect. Then, next year, he’ll go to her family’s Thanksgiving celebration so it’ll be just us three. Or maybe we’ll go over there too? I dunno yet.”

“Well, that sounds lovely,” Sunset Shimmer said, smiling. As she spoke, she walked over to where her motorbike was parked. “Your parents gonna be by to pick you up soon?”

“Yeah, should be soon.”

“Awesome, I’ll wait here with you then,” Sunset replied. She sat down on the curb by her motorbike and patted the ground next to her. Twilight shot her a funny look before her expression changed to one of realisation and she sat down next to Sunset, where the girl had beckoned. Sunset began twiddling her thumbs and humming, but it wasn’t a tune Twilight knew.

“So,” Twilight started. Sunset stopped humming and looked at her. “Eheh… so, what are you doing for Thanksgiving?”

Immediately Twilight knew that she had said something wrong—asked the wrong question. Sunset’s face fell into a sombre expression and she looked downward at her hands.

“I-I’m sorry,” Twilight stammered, putting a hand on Sunset’s back. “I-I didn’t mean to—”

“No, it’s fine,” Sunset murmured. “You didn’t know. Ahem.” She cleared her throat and wiped her face with her sleeve. “I-I’ve never celebrated Thanksgiving, Twilight. I don’t have any family here in the human world. I didn’t use to care, back when I was… when I was bullying everyone, only caring about myself. But this is the first year where… where I have friends, and I really feel the love between all of us. So it’s, uh, it’s not something I’m very happy about.”

“Oh, Sunset, I’m so sorry,” Twilight started, but Sunset shook her head.

“It’s okay, really.” There was the electric hum of a car pulling up alongside them, and Sunset looked up. “Hey, isn’t that your mom’s car?”

“Yeah, but—” Twilight said.

“Sorry, Twi, but I gotta go. I’ll see you on Monday, ‘kay?” Without waiting for a response, Sunset Shimmer turned away and thrust her motorbike helmet onto her head and then jumped onto the seat. She started the vehicle with a turn of the key and, without another word, backed up and sped off out of the school parking lot. Twilight Sparkle was left there standing on the sidewalk, tears welling in her eyes, as her mom’s green-blue minivan pulled up in the pickup area.

The front window rolled down and Twilight could see her mother leaning over the passenger seat. “Good afternoon, Sparkles!” Twilight Velvet said with a look of concern. “Is something wrong? Why did that other girl leave all of a sudden? Is that one of your new friends?”

Twilight walked up and opened the car door, setting her backpack down on her feet as she sat down in the passenger seat. She shut the door behind her and rolled the window up. “No, I’m gonna be okay, mom. Though, I was wondering… can I ask you a favour?”

Sunset Shimmer pulled her keys out from her pocket as she neared the house and pressed a fat grey one. The garage door began to slide loudly upwards, leaving enough space for the girl to slide underneath on her motorbike and come to a stop in the middle of the garage. She parked the vehicle, pulled the key out of the ignition, and hopped off; then she pressed the button on her keys again, sending the garage door slowly back down to meet the concrete below. She stood there for a moment, looking around at the barren garage, and then walked over to the door on her left. She pulled out her keys, unlocked the door, and then opened it, instinctually flipping on the light switch in the room she was entering.

Sunset Shimmer found herself in the kitchen of her house as she shut the door behind her. First, she slid her boots off of her feet; then, she set her backpack down on her seat at the small wooden dining table in the corner of the room and grabbed an apple from the kitchen counter. She bit into it; it was sweet and crunchy and the juicy flavour filled her mouth. Surely Applejack would approve. Apple in hand, Sunset walked over to the windows in the kitchen and then in the living room and her bedroom, sliding shut the curtains for the sun was already almost gone over the horizon. These winter months were so lonely and harsh, and the cold temperatures and early darkness were an accurate reflection of the feelings that winter invoked.

When she was in the bedroom, Sunset Shimmer checked the clock. Only 4:30, she saw. Plenty of time to sit down and make dinner, and then maybe read afterwards… it was going to be a long weekend. Unlike most of the students in her school, Sunset Shimmer didn’t like weekends. Most of the time, her friends were busy—so she, with nothing else to do, was left all alone in her house. And this weekend was even worse, seeing as it was Thanksgiving. She tossed the apple core into the bathroom rubbish bin as she went by.

Sunset returned to the kitchen, socks sliding on the linoleum. She grabbed a cerulean mug with a little snowman on it out from one of the cupboards and set it on the counter, as well as a small saucepan which she placed one of the stove’s burners which she then turned to medium. One by one, Sunset added the ingredients to the saucepan—cocoa, sugar, water, and milk—and then she whisked them together, whistling as she worked. Finally, she added a dash of vanilla, letting just a few drops fall from the small bottle into the saucepan below. Then, after a few minutes, she flicked off the burner and, using a black pot-holder, removed the saucepan from the stove. She brought the lip of the saucepan up to the edge of the mug and poured all of the steaming brown mixture into it, filling the mug up nearly to the brim. Setting the saucepan aside in the sink for later washing, Sunset picked up the mug in her right hand and blew on it a few times. Then, after feeling it cool ever so slightly, she lifted the mug up to her lips and took a sip.

“Mmm…” she breathed. Even when she felt alone, unwanted, and absolutely terrible, something about hot chocolate warmed her heart, sending a wave of heat throughout her entire body. She walked, mug in hand, over to the living room and sat down in a cushy purple armchair. She set the mug on a side table as she leaned over to her right to flick on the floor lamp and then bent forward to pick up a fuzzy red blanket, which she draped over her shivering form. She couldn’t afford the electric heating bill on top of the minimal electricity and water she used, not until she left school and got a job, and there was no fireplace in the house so she had to make do with jackets and blankets and—sip—hot chocolate. It wasn’t so bad. That's what she kept telling herself, at least.

Sunset sat there, wrapped up in her blanket and taking sips of hot chocolate, for a while. Fifteen minutes? Thirty? She couldn’t tell, as the only clocks were in the kitchen and her bedroom, but it felt like a while. Sunset began to feel warm and she closed her eyes, just for a moment…

THUMP! THUMP!

Sunset Shimmer opened her eyes. She thought she had heard a thumping noise somewhere, maybe outside, but… it was probably nothing. She was about to close her eyes again when—

KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK! KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK!

Yep, they were unmistakably knocks this time. Sunset sighed. She stood up, throwing the blanket off of her, and she walked through the living room and down the front hallway until she reached the front door. She peeked through the peephole and was greeted with a familiar glasses-clad lavender face, albeit distorted by the fisheye lens. Confused, Sunset thrust the door open.

“Hey, Sunset,” Twilight said, smiling. She wore a silver puffy jacket and a dark purple scarf that nearly matched her hair, and her cheeks were tinted red from the cold. As the girl spoke, Sunset could see her breath hang in the air, a soft cloud that took a few seconds to dissipate.

“Um, hi, Twilight,” Sunset managed. “No offense, but, like, what are you doing here? How did you even find this place?”

“Well, eheh… I couldn’t find your phone number, and then I asked Pinkie and she gave me this address. I’m impressed, though—how did you get a house?”

“When I came over from Equestria, I still had a little magic left… so I used it to convince the bank that I already owned this vacant house. Maybe not the most moral thing to do, but I needed somewhere to go.” Sunset paused, leaning against the door frame. “But my question still stands: why’d you come here?” As Sunset was speaking, Twilight had looked down and was cracking her knuckles individually, going finger by finger. Once she had finished, she looked up.

“Sunset, I—you see, um… I felt really bad when you told me that you had nowhere to go. I mean, I’ve spent a lot of my life not really having any friends, until I met you girls. But through that whole time, I always had my family—my parents and brother—who were there to love me and take care of me. B-but… I don’t want you to be alone, Sunset, not tonight and definitely not tomorrow. I asked my mom if—well, only if you want to, of course… you can say no, but—do you want to come sleep over tonight and tomorrow night, and stay for Thanksgiving with my family?”

Sunset Shimmer blinked. Of all the things that Twilight could have randomly showed up at her front door for, this was not what she was expecting. She opened her mouth to speak, to say something, but no words came out. Twilight appeared to have seen this and her face fell.

“Oh, I—I’m sorry for intruding, Sunset, I’m sorry for asking…” Twilight turned around and started to shuffle away down the stairs. “I hope you have a nice night.” Seeing her one chance falling out of her reach snapped Sunset back to attention; she burst forward, careful not to slip on the steps, and enveloped Twilight in a hug from behind, wrapping her arms around her friend.

“Oh my Goddess! Yes, yes, Twilight, thank you so so so much!” Sunset exclaimed, giggling. Twilight turned, a smile plastered across her face.

“Of course! Now, d’you need help getting your stuff?” she asked.

Sunset let go of Twilight. “No, I should be good. I’ll just be a minute to get my things together and turn off the lights and lock up, and then I’ll be right there.”

“Awesome!” Twilight called after Sunset, who already had run back up the stairs. “My mom’s parked down here so just come down to the sidewalk when you’re ready!”

“You girls good down there?” Twilight’s dad Night Light called from up above.

“Yeah, thanks, Dad!” Twilight shouted back. She was lying in her sleeping bag on the beige carpet of the basement; Twilight’s bedroom was up above on the second floor but it was being used by her brother and the basement was much more fun for sleepovers anyway. Having brushed her teeth and put on her pajamas, Twilight was almost ready to go to sleep.

The latch on a door behind her clicked open, and Sunset Shimmer came out of the small basement bathroom, clad in yellow flannel pajamas and, unlike Twilight, still wearing socks—and cutesy pink ones with white snowflakes at that. Upon seeing the lavender girl’s face, Sunset smiled. She walked over to where her sleeping bag lay, next to Twilight’s, and climbed in. “Hey, Twi. Thank you so much for… for this.”

“Of course,” Twilight replied. “I know I’m new to this whole ‘friends’ thing, but… you saved me, Sunset. Back when I turned evil. I just want to make you feel happy, make you feel good.” She closed her eyes. “Thank you so much…”

“Twilight, thank you,” Sunset replied, but it was too late. She already began to hear Twilight’s gentle snores even if she couldn’t see the girl’s closed eyelids in the dark. Sunset let out a quiet laugh before closing her own eyes. She lay there motionless in the fuzzy cocoon for several minutes, feeling a little nervous and excited (or, as Pinkie would say, nervouscited) for the day to come. Finally, happily, she drifted off to sleep with her lips still turned upwards into a soft smile.

Author's Notes:

This is likely not the first take on this and it indubitably will not be the last, but I felt like I had to write this, maybe more for myself than anything else.

Happy Thanksgiving, y'all.