//------------------------------// // Chapter 3 // Story: Calaveras // by Nesfex //------------------------------//         The festival went on into the late hours of the night. Food, games, and tons of music dazzled Twilight Sparkle. She was quickly recognized as a princess much to her chagrin. However she chame to enjoy the attention as the locals made it a point to introduce her to every facet of their celebration⸺treating her more like visiting family, than royalty. Ponies asked her to participate in as many activities as possible. The first a dart shooting contest where she had to use her hooves to shoot darts to balloons placed at a wall. In her nine tries she wasn’t even close to pop one of them, but the ponies cheered with every try.         The crowd then took her to some fair rides that had been set up in a clearing. There was one called the “Corona”, that she was directed to. It was a big circular contraption, with seats around the edge of the ring. She didn’t know what exactly what he ride did, but it seemed vaguly similar to a ferris wheel laid on its side. Sitting in one of the little booths, she strapped herself in. As soon as she and a few other ponies were secure, the great wheel started to spin. First it was soft, strolling the alicorn around, letting her see the festivities around her as she passed. Then it started to speed up. In her head, she knew that the centripetal force was keeping her safely in the seat, but she was still very thankful for the safety belt. The wheel spun faster with every turn. Twilight had never gone so far before, not even when the fate of Equestria depended on her. After a couple of minutes the ride was over, and Twilight was as white as the ghosts in the town. The ponies once again cheered for the princess as she stumbled off the platform, but she didn’t answered back this time. Instead focusing on not throwing up in front of them.         Twilight then was taken to a dance floor where many ponies had gathered. She didn’t know how to dance, let alone the kind of dance these ponies were doing—but she didn’t care how silly she looked trying. No different than at one of Pinkie’s parties, she relaxed and let herself be moved as the rhythm directed. The locals found her style of dance odd, but no one laughed at her. A few brave stallions even joined her in dance for a moment or two.         While Twilight partied with the locals, Rainbow Dash looked for something to eat. There were several large table brimming with all sorts of delicacies. She tried something called tamales; it was good, if not a little spicier than she normally liked.         “Looking for something?” A small filly asked her.         “I was looking for something sweet to eat.” Rainbow responded.         “Here, try this.” The filly gave her a white skull with pink and blue lines decorated with very small flowers.         “Whoa! No offense kid, but I’m not a cannibal.”         The little pony looked at her strange. “Cannibal?” The filly looked back to the candy in her hoofe. “Oh, you mean…” She snickered. “No, no, no, this is a sugar skull. It’s good,” she said before taking a bite out of it. Flecks of the skull crumbled to the ground as the sweet treat crushed between the filly’s teeth.         The filly offered the rest of the skull to Rainbow Dash. She knew it wasn’t a real skull, but the idea of eating something like that still made her hesitate. After a second, she gave in. Taking the skull, she gave it a nibble. Contrary to her anticipation, she actually liked the sugar skull. As it’s name implied, it was mostly made out of sugar and honey, with a intricate floral decoration made out of a kind of hard icing.         “Nice, thanks kid.” Said Rainbow Dash now with a mouthful of candy.         The filly smiled back, then turned to rejoin her friend, who were calling for her. Again alone, Dash looked around for a moment. Flor, and her relatives were all talking amongst themselves, following Twilight as she sampled all the festival’s activities. If there’s something Rainbow Dash hated more than waiting, it was being alone. She taped her hooves as her impatience took over her.         “I guess I can go to the dance floor,” She thought. Turning her head towards the bustling dance floor, she watched them for a moment. She shook her head to clear the image of herself dance from her mind “Nope! What am I thinking? I don’t dance. Ugh, I’m so bored... Screw it, I’m heading back to the hotel.”         Rainbow Dash stood up from her chair, as no pony was paying attention to her she didn’t try to hide her intention to leave. Trotting between the gravestones, she passing several tables and families celebrating the holiday. After meandering through the maze of memorials, she came in to a conclusion: she was lost. She hadn’t notice before, but the graveyard was huge, and the festival made it even harder to tell which way was an exit and which was a maze to another section of the place.         “This is why I love wings.” She said to herself as she spread her pair of wings.         Unfolding her winge, Dash crouched to leap into the air. Taking on last took around, she made sure there was nothing near by that would be a flying hazard. He wings wilted when she noticed a nearby family. A pink coated filly stood next to a grave. The festival lights colored her white mane every shade of the rainbow. Next to her was a dark red stallion; their casual closeness, and similar muzzles, told Rainbow he was her father. They were speaking to the grave as if it would answer back; laughing and talk like they would with a pony. Dash’s stomach lurched. It was all she could do to just sit down. Limp winged, and trembling face, she tried to repress the old memory.         “Miss Dash, are you okay?” A familiar voice asked, snapping her partly from her stupor.         Rainbow wiped the tear from her eye, before looking towards the voice. Spotting Flor next to her, she forced her best smile. “Oh, yeah. I’m fine.”                  “You sure?” Flor asked, noticing the filly and her father.         “Of course. I… I just got something in my eye.”         Flor smiled softly “You know them?”         “Huh? No. I don’t know any pony here. I’ve never been here before,” Rainbow Dash said, unable to look away from the filly and her father. The old memories once again haunted her,  forcing her to speak. “Wh- Who are they?” She asked. “Her name is Paprika, her father there, is Clavo. Her mother’s was Canela.” Flor answered. “What happened to her?” Flor looked towards the family. “She was very sick. A strange illness nopony knew about. Despite the doctor’s efforts, they were unable to find a cure. She passed away the last summer,” she said with a sad smile. Rainbow Dash’s empathy ran deep for the little filly. A part of her want to run over and give her a hug, even though they were total strangers. Then, she focused on the big smile on both her and her father. “But, why are they so… Happy?” She asked. “They moved on. Thankfully, they have left the bitterness of the departure behind, they visit Canela’s grave every now and then, and speak to her.” Dash lowered her head, her eyes went empty, she was lost on millions of thoughts, images of the past, regrets, and wishes. “What is wrong?” Flor asked. “It’s just…” She stopped, lowering her head and closed her eyes. Speaking her mind was normally second nature to Dasb, but her own emotions were another thing.. Flor could feel the weight on Rainbow’s mind. She know there was something she need to talk about. Giving her a little nudge, she guided her over to a quieter corner of the cemetery. “It’s okay. I promise whatever you tell me will stay a secret.”. “You know, I never told anypony about this. Not even my dad.” Dash said. Flor nodded “Sometimes we just need to get off of our baggage,” Flor said resting a hoof on Das’s withers. “What was she like?” “Huh?” Rainbow Dash raised an eyebrow in confusion. “Your mom, what was she like?” “How did you know?” “The way you looked at Paprika and Clavo, kinda gave it away.” Rainbow Dash’s attention turned from the ground, to the sky as memories of her mother returned to her. “She was the best. No matter how bad things were, she always smiled. If I had a bad day at school, or just felt sad, she would took me in her wings and preened me.” Silence fell over them as Rainbow let the tender moment replay in her mind. Flor stood quiet, her hoof still resting on Dash. After a moment, her wistful expression jerked into a half smile, as a another memory came to mind. “She was also the fastest pony I know. You should’ve seen her, the only thing you could see when she flew was a pink and blue flash.” Before she continued, she snorted “I the only thing she couldn’t do was cook; it’s one of the few things we have in common.” The snort rolled into a laugh. “What’s so funny?” Flor asked. “One Mother’s Day, Dad had to leave early for work. I decided to make breakfast for Mom, and bring her to her bed. Waffles and fresh squeezed orange juice; nothing really hard, right? Well, turns out the waffle machine was more complicated than it looked. I ended up burning all the waffles, and the orange juice had seeds in it... and probably some hair too.” Dash stopped, her laughed diminished into a smile. “She still ate them. I told her not to, but she ate them all. Then she cleaned up the mess I left on the kitchen… and she didn’t even get mad.” Flor smiled. “That’s a mom’s job, I guess.” “But then, She… She-” Dash’s happiness disappeared, her smile now sobs, and eyes glistening with tears. “When was the last time you went to see your mother?” Flor interrupted. “Not since right after.” Rainbow said between sobs. “It’s funny actually,” Flor said with a soft chuckle. “Don’t take it wrong, I know letting go is hard… I know by first hoof it is. But sometimes we don’t let go and make ourselves sadder.” “What do you mean?”         “Just a couple of minutes ago you were laughing. You remembered the good times with your mother, and for a brief moment you were happy. Then you remembered her last moments, and that happiness went to nothing. If you keep focusing on those bad aspects, you won’t let yourself be.”         “But…” Rainbow Dash tried to say something, but couldn’t form a thought.         Flor again stroked Rainbow’s withers. “There was an old belief here. Ponies say that the more we cry for those who left, the more we tied them to this world, preventing them from resting in peace.”         “Then what should I do?”         “Do what your mother would want you to do: live your life. Be happy of where you are, and most importantly, who you are.”         Flor’s words echoed in Dash’s head. Images of her mother flashed in her mind: the first time she flew, her mother cleaning her wounds, those cold nights when her parents hugged her in their wings to keep her warm, the look on her mother’s face whenever she was going to fly. She felt a warm feeling in her chest, a feeling she thought it was long forgotten. Taking a deep breath, she wrestled with the wild emotions in her heart and mind. Finally a weak smirk showed in the blue pony’s face “Thanks, Flor,” she said, tackling Flor with her forelegs and wings, embracing the earthpony with hug.                                                         ---         It was the morning of their last day in the city, the equestrian ponies only had a few of days off, and the trip alone had eaten much of it.         The locals were started the labors of cleaning up the town from the celebration in the late morning, when the foreign ponies came down from their room with their luggage. The lobby looked just like it did when they first came, however there was something missing: Flor was nowhere to be seen. Instead there was another earthpony in her place, a brown mare sitting on the front desk. Turning in their keys, and signing the final receipt, curiosity got the better of Twilight..         “Disculpa ¿Donde estar…?” Twilight asked, but she couldn’t try her Spanish any further over the hoof Rainbow Dash put on her mouth.         “We saw how that went,” Dash said to Twilight, before looking to the desk clerk. “Where’s Flor?”         “She left this morning, she went to visit her daughter.” The pony answered.         “Weird, I thought her whole family was yesterday in the graveyard.” Twilight Sparkle muttered.         “Her family is in another town. She spent last night with some friends,” The pony said, before her look of confusion faded to sympathy. “You… You don’t know, do you?” The two friends looked strangely to the pony in front of them until she continued “Her daughter passed away, she is buried in their home town.”         “Why… Why does she work here then?” Twilight asked.         “This hotel was inherited to her, it became her only way of income. However, she wanted her daughter to be buried where all her family is.”         Rainbow Dash shook her head, her heart heavy for her new friend. “Why did she stay? Why didn’t she go to see her daughter last night?”         “I asked her the same thing yesterday,” The pony stated. “She said that some ponies might needed her help, and that she wanted to be there if needed.”                  Flor’s words from last night echoed into the pegasus mind, “That’s a moms job. I guess.”         Rainbow Dash smiled softly “Thanks.” She said, turning around, and heading to the main door.         “Poor Flor.”  Said Twilight, following her friend with her face down.         “Don’t worry, I know she’s fine.” Said Rainbow Dash keeping her head up. “Anyway, we gotta buy some souvenirs before we leave. Pinkie made it clear that we would regret if we didn’t bring her something.“                                                 ---         The long trip back home was, again, a torture for the pegasus, and for Twilight, it was an opportunity to catch up with the books she wanted to read. A day and a half later, they arrived at the Ponyville train station, where a large crowd awaited. When the doors opened, Twilight and Dash stepped out to the embrace of their friends.         “Hey, Twi, Dash, how was the trip?” Asked Applejack.         “Did you see many animals? What were they like?” Fluttershy asked them.         “Did you miss me?” Pinkie Pie jumped from behind the crowd and disappeared. “I missed you.” She appeared again behind Applejack with a swift move disappeared again. “What did you bring me?” She appeared once again, now behind Twilight.         More and more ponies gathered around them asking dozens of questions at once. Twilight was more than happy to answer them, but Rainbow look around very anxiously.         “Sorry guys, catch up would be for later. See ya!” She flew high up to the sky, leaving her friends behind.         “Rainbow Dash! Give me my camera back in this instant!” Rarity yelled from the crowd.         Rainbow Dash flew for a moment until she found her destination, one of the most barren places in all of Ponyville, if not in all of Equestria. Rainbow approached a specific area of the graveyard with a large cloud shape gate. She opened the gate and slowly walked to the right section of it. She was surprised that she remembered the way after so many years. She stopped when she found the stone she was looking for.         She bit her lip for a moment, staring at the stone and the words, “Here lies Firefly. Beloved wife and mother.” She took a deep breath, and in an almost unhearable voice she said.         “Hi mom.”