Princess Celestia was escorted through the crowd by security. Being the only pony in attendance at a major human function was a bit unnerving, but also incredibly exciting. The people, for their part, were all very friendly and treated her with dignity and respect. She did get some flak from one or two, but she put that aside and allowed the fine folks of the New York Police Department to take care of it. She was led to a review stand high above the street and she found a padded seat there just for her.
She was at the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade due to a brand new partnership between Equestria and The United States. It was something of a shared knowledge endeavor, where ponies and people would exchange things of each world back and forth through the many portals that had been opened. The two species, working in close conjunction with each other, had also found a way to manipulate the magic to ensure that ponies remained ponies and humans remained humans, no matter what.
She sat down and was quickly approached by a member of the human press. She wasn’t frightened, for she knew this was coming. The human looked very friendly, and she smiled down at her. “Hello,” she said, “I’m Princess Celestia of Equestria.”
“And I’m Savannah Guthrie of The Today Show on NBC Television. I’m going to be talking about today’s Macy’s Parade …and, if you have no objections, we’d like to invite you to join us.”
Celestia backed up a bit. She didn’t know that she’d be asked to participate in the festivities. She figured she would give a few interviews, take some pictures, and just generally act as she normally did on these official visits. She never wanted to act like she was above everyone, but she didn’t realize that she’d actually be involved in the proceedings.
“Um…sure, I guess,” she said.
“Wonderful!” Savannah said, “and it’s a good thing, too, because this is our broadcast booth, and we’re going live in five minutes!”
With that, she bowed to Celestia and hurried off to finish preparing. The bright white princess sat there in shock. She was still new to the idea of television and cameras and, although she understood the basic idea, the concept of being broadcast live to millions of viewers made her nervous. Get a grip, Celestia! She told herself, you can do this!
Five minutes later, Celestia found herself staring into a camera with a big smile on her face, even though she didn’t have a clue of what was going on or where everything was headed. The part of her that was scared tried to claw through her confidence, but she was determined to make a good impression. As she heard Savannah and her co-host, Hoda, go through their introductions, she had a moment to think about what she was going to say.
“…and we are delighted to have with us, one of the co-rulers of the magical realm of Equestria, Princess Celestia!” Savannah said, as she and Hoda turned to Celestia.
The white pony froze. She didn’t know why, but addressing a live crowd of thousands of ponies was so much easier and simpler than speaking into a camera. The hole that contained the lens seemed to be burying deep into her soul, and she instinctively widened her smile. She cleared her throat and began speaking. “Thank you, Savannah! It’s really great to be here!” She tried covering her nervousness with her flashy teeth, but she knew that she probably looked incredibly facetious.
“Tell us, do you have Thanksgiving in Equestria?” Hoda asked.
“No, we don’t,” Celestia said, though by this time, she was beginning to sound somewhat robotic, “we have holidays like Hearth’s Warming, where we celebrate the founding of Equestria, and Hearts and Hooves Day, which is similar to your Valentine’s Day.”
“That’s wonderful!” Savannah said in a chipper mood, “and we’re so honored to be able to share one of our great American traditions with you!”
“It’s an honor to be able to participate in it,” Celestia said.
With that, the Broadway entertainment part of the parade began. Celestia was spellbound by the different musical numbers, finding each one to have a similarity to a performance she had seen back in Equestria. Perhaps humans and ponies have more in common than we first thought, she said to herself as yet another number began. When the Broadway performers ended their part of the program, then The Radio City Rockettes performed. Celestia found her eyes bouncing up and down, following the extensively long legs of the glamorous female dancers.
When they ended, the broadcast cut to a commercial and Savannah turned to the pony. “So, Your Highness, did you enjoy that?”
“I loved every second of it!” Celestia said with the first bit of unmanufactured enthusiasm she’d had in a while, “I mean, the singing, the dancing, it was all just wonderful! Those Broadway performers have incredible vocals!”
“I’m glad you liked it,” Hoda said, “because it was all fake.”
“Wha…fake?”
“Yes, Your Majesty,” Savannah said, “unfortunately, the logistics and atmosphere of the parade don’t allow for live performances. We have to have all our performers lip sync along to a backing track. It’s one of the downsides of this event. It’s a lot of fun, but sometimes I do wish that we could have live bands and the same live atmosphere of an actual Broadway musical.”
Celestia’s face fell. Here she had enjoyed all of the wonderful singing, and it had all been a sham! “So…what you’re saying is…this is all a lie?”
“Well, no,” Hoda said, “everybody knows that it’s happening. But the parade’s so much fun that they just don’t care.”
“I really hope we haven’t ruined your experience, Princess,” Savannah said thoughtfully.
“Oh, no,” Celestia said, “this is the most fun I’ve had in months! But…I still wish everything were actually being done live.”
“I think everyone does,” Savannah said before noticing the floor director holding up five fingers. Everyone resumed their positions, and once the director said to begin, they hit the ground running.
Celestia fell into her role as a parade broadcaster rather well. She gave her honest opinions on everything, and answered each question to the best of her ability. She loved all of the colorful floats and the humongous balloons that touched the sky with their whimsy. She even enjoyed seeing Santa Claus at the end of the parade (and made a mental note to invent a character to use for foals at Hearth’s Warming time). But what she loved the most about the parade, and the entire Thanksgiving holiday, was the sense of togetherness and family that it seemed to exhume out of the dirt of life. She had noticed, with some sense of sadness, that humans always seemed to be arguing about something. So having a holiday where the things that were most important in life were celebrated seemed to make perfect sense.
This is a splendid idea! She thought to herself, too often, even us ponies have a difficult time getting along. We’re always rushing around, trying to get things done. Perhaps…if we had our own day of simply being together and giving thanks for what we have, we could slow down and realize just how important we are to each other. The parade is wonderful, but the idea that so many can be brought together for a day of realizing the value of thankfulness is even more amazing. Yes…I will be announcing our very own Equestrian Day of Thanks when I return.
