Twilight arrived at Sweet Apple Acres, brown bag still in hand as she knocked on the door.
"Coming.." An inside voice said, which soon revealed herself to be Applejack, who looked at Twilight in surprise. "Twilight? What are you doing here? Ah figured you would be at the cemetery with the rest of yer family."
"Let's just say...something else came up. Can I come in?" With that, Twilight quickly found herself sitting next to AJ on the couch.
"What's in the bag?" AJ asked.
"Pan dulce? Want some?" Twilight asked temptingly.
AJ looked hesitant for a moment. "Well....ah suppose it couldn't hurt."
Twilight handed a piece of bread to AJ and took one for herself before they both took a big bite.
"Mmmmm..." AJ smiled as she enjoyed the warm, baked goodness. "Where'd ya get this Twi? It's almost as good as.....my ma's..." her voice trailed off on a sad note.
"Yeah...it's almost as good as my own Grandpa's." Twilight began reminiscing. "One time, my Grandma accidentally all the bread for the offering and my Grandpa had to make a whole new batch right away!"
This caused both teens to giggle.
"No kidding! One time we were baking cookies fer a bake sale, and Pa and Applebloom each kept sneaking one 'for a quick snack' and by the time we got there, we realized they had eaten all of them!"
The cause both girls to burst into laughter and the funny memory.
"Oh! Granny was right mad! She and ma had been slaving away in the kitchen all morning baking them! We had to apologize to the school and pay for the cookies!"
There was more laughter before they calmed down before Twilight got to the big question.
"Applejack...why don't you like Dia de los Muertos? You're the element of honesty, but I know what you said yesterday wasn't the full truth."
Unlike before, Aj went quiet for a minute before sighing. "The truth is....Ah miss 'em too much. Talking and thinking about them....I get too upset to say much. If I went to the graveyard....ah just don't think I can handle it."
"I understand." Twilight wrapped a comforting arm around her friend. "I miss my Grandparents too. But that's why we have this holiday, so we can talk about and remember all the good times we had together."
AJ looked at her friend, paying attention to every word.
"Because if we remember them, it's like they're never really gone, no matter what time of year it is. And that makes me and so many other people happy."
"Ah...ah guess ah never thought of it that way..." AJ looked up at the clock and back at the stair case. "Ah still got the costume Rarity made me, do ya think we can still make it in time?"
"Don't worry, I got us a ride." Twilight walked up to the door as AJ followed.
"Is...is that a food truck?" AJ asked in confusion.
"Let's just say...I made a few new friends today." Twilight smiled and waved at Lyanna, who waved back.
Thankfully, they made it back to the cemetery before the procession started.
"Thanks for the ride!" Twilight called over her shoulder, followed by a fully costumed AJ. The sun had fully set by now, and the candles shone brightly in the graveyard. Twilight quickly began looking around before finding her target. "Luna! Over here!"
The woman turned, surprised but happy to see them. "Twilight! Applejack! So good to see you here, but I though Granny Smith said you never come?"
"Well..." Before Aj could think of an answer, Twilight spoke up.
"I actually have an important favor to ask!" She went over to the blue woman and whispered in her ear for a minute, much to the cowgirls confusion.
"Are you sure?" Luna asked.
"Definitely! Do you have anything like that?"
Luna put a finger to her chin in though. "Actually...I may have just the thing." She folded her hands together and pulled them apart, revealing a pair of ordinary brown glasses.
"Uh...what are those?" AJ asked.
"Will these work?" Twi asked.
Luna nodded. "Of course. They were design and enchanted to let ordinary people see them too. They are very rare so I will, of course, be expecting them back at school."
"Got it!" Twilight took the glasses with enthusiasm. "Thank you so much!"
"Your very welcome. Have a nice holiday!" Luna waved as she left.
"Err...Twi? What was that all about?"
"It'll make sense, trust me. Now, do you know where your family is?"
AJ and Twilight finally arrived at the Apple part of the cemetery.
"Applejack!" Applebloom cried out in joy before rushing to hug her sister.
"Wy would ya look at that!" Granny smith declared, amazed. "You actually managed to convince her to come here. You really are a miracle worker!"
"I wouldn't go that far..."
"Okay Twi." AJ turned to her. "I'm here, not what in Equestria is going on?"
"These glasses." Twilight held them up. "Allow you to see ghosts."
"What the-"
"....At least that's what Luna said." Carefully, she slid them over Aj's nose. "Now don't panic-I already did earlier-and look." She stepped back.
Aj blinked, adjusting herself to her new eyewear, before looking around and gasping. "What in the-"
"I know it's weird at first." Twilight said. "But Luna said it's perfectly natural for today."
Aj looked around, seeing the spirits visiting their families and ofrenda's.
"They're-they're.."
"I know." Twilight smiled. "It's real."
Finally, AJ turned around to her own family's ofrenda....and saw two vary familiar figures standing beside it, wrapped in each other's arms, and smiling at her.
They're-they're really here..." Aj reached out her hand and it passed through her mother's equally outreached hand.
"I'll just leave you three alone." Twilight turned to leave, only for her friend to turn her back around and hug her.
"...Thank ya Twilight. Thank you." AJ said through her tears.
Twilight hugged her back, trying to keep her own tears in check.
Twilight finally made it back to her Grandparent's Ofrenda to find the rest of her living family waiting for her.
"Twilight! There you are!" Velvet exclaimed.
"Where have you been sweetie? You almost missed the procession!" Night said.
"Sorry! I got a little sidetracked.."Twilight explained. "On the bright side, I got more bread and a new candle!" Twilight put down the rest of the bread before shaking the candle jar and setting it down.
"Oh! How beautiful!" Cadance gasped. "Where did you get it?"
"There's this really nice Inn nearby. I'll tell you more later."
Then they all just stood there, taking in the atmosphere of families enjoying the day together.
"You know." Nigh spoke up. "As silly as it sounds, I feels like they're actually here with us."
Twilight looked up, and blinked in surprise when she noticed an elderly ghost couple standing next to their altar, arms linked through each others, smiling and nodding at Twilight.
They looked exactly like they did in their portraits.
"Trust me dad." Twilight said, smiling, "I know they are."
Up high on a crypt, two figures watched the festivities, unseen and unnoticed by the people below.
"Another year....another Day of the Dead gone by." Mictlan sighed.
"But you have to admit. This year was a little more interesting." La Catrina pointed out.
"Watching her help them was nice...I suppose." Mictlan grunted.
La Catrina giggled at her husband's stubbornness.
"I'll still never understand what goes through that young Goddess's head." Mictlan grumbled.
"Who does?" La Catrina shrugged. "But there's no denying they've done a lot of good."
"In any case, they still have a LOT to learn, especially the purple one!"
"Yes, they do. But tonight we are all free to celebrate and not worry about such things."
"Speaking of celebrating..." Mictlan held his arm out. "Why don't we get out of here and do some 'celebrating' of our own Mi Amor?"
La Catrina giggled, took his arm as they both vanished into the night.