From the Everfree Forest, two mares came walking through the trees, their saddlebags filled with herbs, roots, mushrooms and other stuff, one was Twilight Sparkle Princess of Friendship, the other one was a white pegasus, they were chatting and laughing, “so she rhymes all the time?“ the white mare asked.
“Yeah, I know it's a little confusing at the beginning but you get used to it, Izzi.“
“Wow, that's the first time I've met a zebra in, like EVER, do they all rhyme like her?“
“You know what? I don't know, Zecora is the only zebra I know and now it's kinda awkward to ask her that.“
“It's amazing how much she knows about plants, roots and the sort, I learned a lot in this hour we were there.“
“I knew you would like her, you have a lot in common... I mean with the not being from Equestria and the herbs thingy hehe“
Izzi laughed at Twilight apologetic explanation, “don't worry Twilight, I know I'm not in my home but I plan to, um... how do you say it? like 'aprovechar lo mas posible'?“
“Make the most of it?“
“Yeah that, hey do you hear something?“ Izzi directed her ears to the sound and so did Twilight, it sounded like a long scream and it was getting louder as if it was coming directly at them.
Both of them looked up and could see a blue spot that was getting bigger and finally could make out what it was screaming, “WATCH OUT DOWN THERE!!“ Twilight quickly conjured a teleportation spell and moved herself and her friend out of the way of that thing, she also summoned a lot of pillows to break its fall.
The blue thing finally landed on the pillows, scattering them everywhere, lots of white feathers slowly rained and a blue mare came out of the mess, “I knew all this protective junk would make me fall… oh hey Twilight!“ Rainbow Dash removed the googles and the mask from her muzzle, she was wearing a full body armor and helmet that covered her mane, “I was testing some gear for the Wonderbolts but I don't think it will work out... who is your friend?“
Twilight snapped and let go of the Casquillian mare, “this is Izzi, she is a friend from far away,” she said introducing her to Rainbow Dash.
Dash approached the white mare and presented her hoof, “hi I’m Rainbow Dash, the one and only,” Izzi grabbed her hoof and pulled Rainbow closer giving her a kiss on the cheek, the daredevil mare blushed and quickly pulled out, “WOA woa woa, I know I’m awesome but we barely know each other!”
Izzi remembered she wasn’t in Los Casquillos anymore, “Oh I am sorry, I did it out of habit.”
Rainbow rubbed her cheek, “That accent, wait are you from Los Casquillos?” she asked the other pegasus.
Izzi happily clapped her hooves, “yes, I am actually from Los Casquillos, you knew by my accent?”
“Yeah but not just that,” Rainbow said removing her helmet, letting her mane free on the wind.
“That mane, are you part of the Arcoiris family, Miss Dash?”
Rainbow laughed, “yeah you could say that, my abuelita from my dad’s side came from Los Casquillos, in fact she was the first and so far the only pegasus in making the fly by herself all the way to Equestria, her stamina was legendary even if her speed wasn’t.”
“No. Me. Jodas! You are the granddaughter of Mamá Prisma! Is such an honor, I’ve read about her on our history books,” Izzi clapped her hooves in excitement while Rainbow enjoyed the shows of admiration.
Twilight was confused for all this, “Rainbow, how come you never told me about this, and in any case, why I’ve never read about it either?”
“It never came up and you wouldn’t be able to read it, she was really private with her stuff, she refused to let any newspapers write about it, the only ones to document it, were the ponies that returned to Los Casquillos, she liked here so she stayed and met my grandad and the rest is history, so you are from ‘La Madre Patria’ um, Izzi was it? Kinda weird name for a Casquillana.”
The white mare rubbed her head, “yeah, actually is Flor de Izote, but my friends call me Izzi, you know because is easy,” she said winking, but Rainbow just put on a confused expression, ”I know it is a bad joke, but I like saying it.”
“Anyway, what brings you to Equestrian lands?“
Izzi pulled some papers from her saddlebag, “oh I am doing some research on exotic plants from Equestria and their function on daily uses for my thesis, I will begin with some plants here in Ponyville, so I'll stay a couple of weeks.“
Rainbow Dash laughed, “another egghead, must be destiny, how is that phrase you Casquillians say, Faust something and they something join?“
Izzi rolled her eyes, a bit annoyed at the Rainbow friendly insult, “you mean Faust los cria y ellos se juntan? Yeah I can see how that applies here, still rude tho, I am not only a scholar, I also like having fun,“ she rummaged on her saddle bag again, some of it's content falling on the ground and she pulled what appears to be a colored wooden bell, tied with a string to a stick in the middle, “I am my town's capirucho champion, check it out," she grabbed one half of the little stick with her wing letting the bell hang and with a dexterous movement she impulsed the bell impaling it on the stick.
Both Twilight and Rainbow watched how the bell landed perfectly on the stick, “wow... I mean meh, that looks easy, Izzi... oh I get it now, funny,“ Rainbow said pointing at the Casquillian.
“I'm not done yet,“ the white pegasus said moving up and down the wooden toy, the bell was lifted and then landed once again on the stick, and then again and again really fast, “my personal record is four hundred and forty five repetitions,“ Twilight and rainbow stared in awe at the mare skills, she then stopped and presented the toy to Rainbow, “wanna try?“
“Sure gimme that,“ the rainbow maned mare said picking the toy and attempting to do the same, she tried once and failed, tried again and failed, tried a third time and the bell hit her wing, “OUCH, what the hay.“
“Mmm yeah that happens more often than not when you are learning capirucho, want me to teach you?“
“Nope, I can do it alone,“ the stubborn mare replied, trying and failing again and again.
Twilight giggled at Rainbow's failed attempts, “say, since you will be staying I wanted to share with you a project of my own, but you need to keep it secret for the time being.“
“Sure Twilight, let's get to it.“
They walked towards the castle but noticed that Rainbow wasn't following them, “Rainbow are you coming?“
Rainbow Dash kept trying to make the bell fall on the stick with no luck, “mmhmm,“ she said not even paying attention to her friend, Twilight sighed and pushed Rainbow Dash who started walking without stopping trying to impale the bell on the stick.
~♥~♦~♣~♠~
At the castle after some introductions and several cheeks kissed, some welcomed others not so much, Twilight explained Izzi the music box origins and its purpose, the pegasus took notes, showing her scholar side, shared by Twilight.
“No. Way, osea que los aliens exist? Me quiero morir!“
Everypony, except Rainbow that still was trying to play with the capirucho, giggled at the sudden outburst, “and that's not all, see this button here?“ Twilight said and Izzi nodded, “this is where the magic, or I should say the no-magic begins, come and press it.“
The herbalist was flipping out, she approached the music box but slipped and fell on her face, she got up quickly and continued her way to the pedestal where the music box was, she pressed the button and a voice sounded like a presenter.
Izzi got nostalgic with the tone of the song,“wow, my bisabuelo used to be a charcoal seller, actually near my town there is quite a bunch of volcanoes, so the profession of carbonero was pretty common before there was electricity and other technological stuff.”
Rarity was charmed by the lyrics of the song “darling, this song makes, even such a crude job as a charcoal seller seems, so romantic and inspiring.“
Applejack was confused by some of the lyrics, “what in the hay are nacazcol, chaperno an’ copinol, y’all?”
Twilight summoned a book with her magic showing some pictures to AJ, “those are trees, nacazcol can be found in equestria but the other two seem to be originally from Los Casquillos.”
“Also Copinol turns out to be my dad’s name, but everypony calls him Don Copo.”
“It sure sounds lonely but charming, what is a torogoz?“ Fluttershy asked.
Izzi stopped taking notes, “that is a type of bird, I believe you Equestrians call it motmot,“ she said and then continued writing.
Pinkie was enjoying a piece of cake, “so is it a song about a charcoal seller alien... weird,“ she swallowed the pastry when a candy that she didn't bring caught her attention, it was shaped like a long box it was white and had a red dot on the middle, “hey Twilight, what's this?“ she asked.
Izzi stepped up, “I actually got that, that's a candy from my country, it's called conserva de coco, I love it just make sure you don't-“ without letting her finish, the pink party pony grabbed an entire piece and ate it whole, “-eat it too fast... Rosadita are you ok?“ Pinkie was quiet, Izzi got worried, “Twilight, we might need a doctor, Pinkie ate a whole piece of conserva de coco.“
Twilight kept listening to the song, she pointed to Pinkie “don't worry, look at her,“ Izzi looked back and Pinkie's face was in front of her with a smile from ear to ear.
Pinkie grabbed Izzi by the shoulders shaking her, “pleasetellmeyouknowhowtodoitIlovedit“ the pink mare said so fast you couldn't make any word.
“Hey slower, I couldn't understand everything.“
“She's askin' if you know how to make them candies, sugarcube.“
Izzi gently pushed Pinkie, “oooh thanks Chelita, love the hair by the way, sure I'll teach you Pinkie,“ the party pony jumped laughing.
With the song ending, everypony shared their thoughts on it enjoying the food on the table, except for Rainbow Dash who still couldn't manage to land the bell of the capirucho correctly.
Izzi stepped up, cleaning some crumbs of her chest, “anyway, thanks for having me, I will be in Ponyville for a few weeks so we can see each other again.“
“And luckily you'll be able to meet Spike, he is supposed to come back in a few days from Canterlot.“
“I hope so, it will be the first time I meet a dragon too.”
“Y’all don’t have dragons on Los Casquillos, sugarcube?”
“No Chelita, but we have quetzalcoatls, which are similar, they both breath fire but ours are more like a giant snakes with feathery wings, they are all nice even if bit grumpy, they throw amazing parties but make sure to not get close to one that's drunk... they get kinda frisky if you know what I mean.”
Everypony laughed except for Rainbow who was busy destroying her wings with the wooden toy, finally it was time for everypony to leave, Izzi helped with the dishes, in the room only one pony remained, Rainbow Dash still trying to impale the bell on the stick, again and again until finally the toy landed properly, “I made it... I MADE IT! I'M THE BEST!...“ she noticed that she was alone, “where is everypony?“ she flew to the window and noticed it was already dark outside, “Oh maaaan!“ she said flying to her house in the dark.
To be continued