The Day of the Dead

by Bookpony579

Chapter 4

Twilight and Spike followed Ursa down several streets (after reminding her that they couldn't phase through walls too), they soon arrived at a large old fashioned stone building. The sign out front was decorated with a black bear standing up and read: The Great Bear Inn.

"Woah." Spike said when he saw the building. "Nice place ya got here."

"Thank you." Ursa smiled. "This place has been passed down from mother to daughter for generations. I used to love working here when I was alive."

Twilight put a finger to her chin and squinted at the sign. "Why do I feel like I've heard of this place before?" Finally she just shrugged "Well no time to lose." She walked up to the door. "Now let's see what all the fuss-"

Before she could even open the door, they heard shouting from within

"How could you be so selfish!?"

"Oh, I'M selfish!? This coming from the woman who wants me to quit the job I love and built myself to work at this run down dump!"

"Lyanna!"

"Why don't the nerd run the place like she's always wanted!?"

"Because it is not her duty! As the eldest daughter, it is yours! Are you really just going to throw away your mother's legacy like this?"

"Grandmother!"

There was a *SLAM!* and the sound of someone stomping away, which was soon followed by someone going in the opposite direction.

For a moment, everyone just stared in shock.

"Uhh..." Twilight couldn't seem to find the words to describe what just happened.

"Ohh...it's eve worse than I thought!" Ursa despaired.

"Don't worry, I'll get to the bottom of this." With a deep breath, Twilight gathered her courage and opened the wooden door.

---

The inside of the inn was surprisingly nice. Slightly old yet comfortable sofas surrounded a coffee table with modern magazines. The floor was shiny wood covered by a large square rug with a lovely floral pattern. Various stands were placed around the room, each holding a vase with freshly cut flowers. Various pictures of of woodlands and animals decorated the walls.

Overall, Twilight thought it looked like a quaint place to stay at.

...At least until she noticed one of the vases was broken on the floor with a large book in the middle of it.

At the back of the room was a large sign in desk where a young woman with neat black hair, white skin and thick, dark glasses stood. She looked nervous until she noticed Twilight walking up to her and put on a big smile.

"Hello, welcome to The Great Bear Inn. I'm White Cloud. Is there something I can help you with?" Then, once she got a good look at Twilight, her eyes widened with recognition. "Oh! You're Twilight Sparkle! I-It is an honor to have you here!" With that, she gave a quick curtsey, causing Twilight to blush.

"It's okay, really. And please, just 'Twilight' will do."

"O-of course!" Cloud straightened out her back. "Can I get you anything?" Her smiled faltered when she noticed Twilight glancing at the broken vase. "Please forgive the mess! There was an...accident. I'll have it all cleaned up in a minute."

"Did it have anything to do with all the shouting?"

Cloud's smile fell completely and she began blushing. "Oh...you heard all that?"

"Sweetie, everyone here to Saddle Arabia heard it." Ursa said. Twilight chose to ignore her for the time being.

"Sorry if I'm intruding, but is everything okay here?"

Cloud didn't answer and just glanced at the wall, looking over Twilight saw a portrait she missed earlier: it was of Ursa, but alive, showing off her brown hair and green eyes, the latter of which Cloudy seemed to have inherited. A small table was set up under it, decorated with flowers.

"It's just, thing have been tense around here since my mother....died last year. But please don't worry about that! Did you come here for something?"

Before Twilight could come up with a response, another voice piped up.

"Cloud? What's going on? Who is this?"

They looked over and saw an older woman with a cane enter from one of the doors. Her hair was grey and put up in a bun, but like her daughter and granddaughter, her eyes were green and sharp.

Cloud cleared her throat and gestured to Twilight. "Grandmother, this is Twilight Sparkle, the one in all the newspapers?" She turned back to Twilight. "Twilight, this is my Grandmother Elinor. She.....runs the inn."

Elinor gave a brief nod. "Indeed, at least until my eldest granddaughter comes to her senses."

"Oh really?" said a voice coming from the opposite side of where Elinor entered. Another young woman stood there, a little older than Cloud with longer bright white hair and light blue skin. Like the rest of her family, she had bright green eyes.

'Yes, really." Elinor glared at her other granddaughter.

"Please! Not here!" Cloud begged, throwing her hands up. "Not in front of Twilight Sparkle." She sighed and turned back to Twilight. "Sorry about my sister."

The new woman's eyes widened with excitement. "You're Twilight Sparkle!?" Then, with a speed to rival Rainbow Dash, rushed up to Twilight and began shaking her hand wildly.

"I'm so excited to meet you! I'm Lyanna and I've read about all of your adventures so far! Is it true you faced a dragon? And that sea monster? What was it like with Discord? My Granny nearly lost her head over the chaos here!" Her eyes turned to Spike. "Oh how cute!" She reached down and immediately scratched behind the ears; his favorite spot. "What's his name? What breed is he? Do you have any other cute pets?"

Twilight blinked, trying to process it all. This girl's speech was nearly on par with Pinkie Pie's. Before she could attempt to answer any of them tough, an audible growl originated from Twilight's stomach.

She blushed and realized she hadn't had anything to eat since breakfast. "Sorry, I guess I forgot to grab lunch earlier."

"Please, have lunch here." Elinor offered. "It would be an honor to serve you and the inn is know for it's delicious meals."

"In that case, I'd be more than happy too!"

With that, they went off.

---

The dining room was large, spacious and well decorated. The tables were all clothed and a chandelier hung from the middle of the room. Thankfully, they had some scraps left over from earlier and put them in a bowl for Spike, who happily munched away on it on the floow next to Twilight.

The family quickly got a table set up as Elinor and Lyanna went to get some food.

"This place is beautiful and all, but why is it open? Most other businesses tend to close on Dia de los Muertos." Twilight asked Cloud, who was seated right next to her.

Cloud avoided eye contact and answered hesitantly. "Well, we do actually get a lot of tourists this time of year, though right now they are all at the celebrations. We did used to lock up and go out too...but Grandmother decided it would be best to spend it here this year.

Before Twilight could inquire further Elinor came out with a covered tray. She set it down in front of Twilight and lifted the cover to reveal a still steaming cottage pie.

"It is a traditional family recipe that my own mother taught me. I hope you enjoy it." Elinor said, taking a seat.

"Oh! I loved my mother's cottage pies! They were my favorite thing in the whole world." Ursa sighed, remembering when she was alive.

Twilight took a fork and scooped up some pie and, after blowing on it to cool it down first, plopped it in her mouth.

A smile immediately came to her face. "This is delicious!" she said after swallowed.

"I'm glad you like it. It is the Inn's specialty."

"Well wait 'till she gets a taste of this!" Lyanna said as she entered the dining room carrying a cone filled with various meats.

"It's called a Gyro. I have a truck that specifically makes them to serve." She explained as she handed the meaty treat to Twilight, ignoring her grandmother's glare.

"I've heard about these. They originated from Grace but are now a popular street food in Equestria. My friend Rainbow tried one once and she loved it." With that she took a big bite. "MMMM! This is excellent!"

"Thanks!" Lyanna said with w wide grin. "People line up for miles when I park my truck, no matter what time it is!"

"I always knew she was a talented cook!" Ursa gushed. "She may not have liked working here, but she loved helping out in the kitchen."

"Hmph. Your skills would be of much better use cooking for the inn. It isn't proper for a young woman to be handing food from a truck. Don't you know how dirty those things can get?"

Lyanna glared at her grandmother. "It's the modern world Grandma! I like doing this!"

"What would your mother say if she saw you now?"

Again the hair became tense as the two women glared at each other.

"...I would say I was proud of her. Which I am!" Ursa stated, looking at her mother who couldn't see her.

Twilight and Spike shared a sideways look.

Again. What have I gotten myself into?

Author's Note:

Quiz: Who can guess where I got each of the woman's names from or what I'm referencing?

Comments

[Comickook]

Unfortunately, I only have VAGUE ideas where the names came from. My best guess is something related to Ancient Greek mythology involving bears, but I admit I could very easily be wrong.

But, still, very good job on the latest chapter. The exchanges, characterizations and future chapter set-up references as Twilight met up with Ursa's family were all very well done. Indeed, this will NOT be an easy fix, but I will most certainly be most definitely looking forward to more of this.

[Bookpony579]

8993962
Elinor: Merida's mother from Brave who turns into a black bear.
White Cloud: the meaning of Bai Yun, the first giant panda born in captivity.
Lyanna: from Game of Thrones. The House Mormont one.

It's alright if you don't get them. I had to do a little research to get them too.

[Comickook]

8994050
Thanks immensely for the corrections.