I guess it's good byeby SnowFireBluesChaptersWhat happened?Day OneThe Darkest NightsSunrise AnewWhat happened?What Happened? With a light head and, a feeling of disorientation, a blinding light forced her eyes open. A distant and fuzzy voice sounded in the distance. While trying to adjust her eyes to the blinding light, she figured out a few moments later that she was in a hospital bed. A sudden feeling of overwhelming fear fell on her. She was startled, by a faceless pony. A few seconds later the faceless figure took off its mask, it was a doctor, who approached the still disoriented mare. The doctor asked the mare if she remembered anything. In her panic she said: "no". The doctor with slight disappointment and a bit of pity, said: "You are safe my dear, take this and when you wake up please tell me what you remember". The mare took the pill a few moments before she fell asleep. She stretched her front hooves to the doctor's face and said: "don't frown, there are others watching" as she pulled on the doctor's mouth as if trying to make a smile out of his worried face. In her sleep, the phrase: "do you remember anything?" echoed through her mind which was in absolute darkness. She tried to remember what had happened before she woke up in the hospital. A few flashbacks came to her mind. She remembered that she bought some tea in new store, and she politely introduced herself as Cerulean Iris. The faint voices in her mind repeated the name. She replied "just Iris". She remembered that the pegasi had a scheduled storm for that same evening. She went home after buying tea before the storm started. As she entered her home the rain began to fall. She sat down in a chair in her living room and gazed in amazement at the drops of rain through the window, seemingly slowing as they fell. She boiled some water for the tea and then her memories became blurry. She felt uneasy as she saw in her own memory a dark silhouette entering her home. The silhouette seemed familiar; still a bad feeling came to this memory. Iris woke in fear, jumping from her bed breathing heavily. Then she realized she was soaked in a cold sweat. She looked at the clock and read out loud "1: 38 a.m.!?" To her surprise, there was a sleeping Pegasus in the corridor of the hospital. She snuck around in order not to awake the sleeping mare. Iris looked for a nurse, but found none. As she searched, she found a map of the hospital, which she used to guide herself to the laundry room in order to get some clean bed sheets. After she got what she was looking for, she snuck back around the sleeping pegasus. This time the pegasus mumbled something in her sleep. "*mumble*... Muffins". Iris froze in position, fearing that she might have woken the pegasus. Yet nothing seemed to happen, so Iris went back to her room, where she changed the sheets and went to bed. When she woke, standing before her was the doctor and the pegasus she had seen last night. The doctor asked her: "Are you feeling better at all?" She nodded in agreement. The doctor then introduced the pegasus: "This mare here is Der- Ditzy Doo, she saved your life" Ditzy looked at Iris with one eye, and the doctor with the other. Iris then asked: "what happened, why did I need saving in the first place?" The Doctor changed his expression, he seemed worried about what to say and how would she react. Then the doctor frowned and dismissed Derpy from the room. The doctor's voice now sounded grim as he spoke: "Iris... I don't know how to put this in gentler terms... We found that you have a brain failure, one that will progressively become worse." The doctor couldn't finish his statement before Iris interrupted. Iris now felt the cold sweat dripping from her body, and her body grew stiff like a mouse, paralyzed by fear in gaze of a snake. She interrupted, trembling in fear and crying relentlessly "NO, this is a LIE! I have never done anything wrong! Why me? I DON'T believe this!...." she froze and gave a cocky smile with tears still dripping from her eyes, now with her psyche shattered, she screamed in her temporary insanity "THIS IS A NIGHTMARE! NOTHING BUT A SILLY NIGHTMARE!" she then looked for something to hit herself with, in an attempt to wake herself up from what seemed to be a horrifying nightmare. She found an empty metal bedpan and with it she hit herself in the face many times before she was strapped to her bed by the nurses, the doctor injected her with a slight sedative in order to calm her down. The drugged mare lying in the bed now looked both at the ceiling and the doctor at the same time. Her left eye now shifted down while her right eye was fixed staring at the doctor. The doctor resumed his statement, "As I was saying, you have approximately 5 days until you... um... die. Thankfully, you will no longer feel pain at all and it shall remain that way due to the brain failure. You will be experience several noticeable occurrences, like seizures, sudden fainting, or in the best case scenario, hallucinations. Oh and regretfully, it is no nightmare my dear." The drugged pony remained in bed now, drooling all over her pillow. The doctor was surprised to see that the young mare was more affected by the sedative that he expected her to be. The doctor felt really cold-hearted about delivering such news and he could understand the reaction the mare in bed had. The doctor, seeing the pony drooling in her bed, felt somewhat guilty and left the room with a simple “sleep well". The mare, still conscious, thought back to those words she just heard. Through the haze of sleepiness, the mare saw a black figure entering her room. This time it was actually there! The dark figure said: "well, well, well... haven't we got ourselves a young lady. 'Tis sad that your fuse was so short, for the length of you next life will depend on these last five days of yours... But first, let me help you with this state you’re in. I can't let your next five days be wasted in a drugged slumber can I?" The startled mare saw the figure now, vividly. It was actually a mare, and it was covered in a black cape, one so dark that no light dared even get near the cape. Iris, in her state of panic called out for the nurse. The nurse quickly appeared beside her, the nurse asked in a rushed tone "what is wrong my dear?" Iris answered with another question, "who is this mare?" The nurse saw nothing... then the nurse spotted a mirror across the room. The nurse then replied "that is you my dear." Iris now infuriated answered back "I know my reflection, I meant the mare in the black cape, who is standing right beside me!” The nurse looked around, and then thought of Iris's present state of mind and replied " dear you are experiencing a hallucination... don't worry it will go away". The mare tried to rest again, but the figure refused to let her sleep. Iris angrily shouted at the black mare "Who are you? And why do you care what I do with these last five days of mine?!" The mare stopped and thought for a second and then asked again: "In fact how did you know all of that? And what was that about my next life?" The figure stood still, and answered: "You don't you know me?, hmm... well it HAS been about 23 years since I last saw you, you were a young filly when you balanced yourself in that chair and fell down. You hit so hard that it cracked your skull. You were alive for 5 seconds before I was called to take your soul and guide it to a new pair of parents who were anxiously waiting for their only daughter to be born." Iris was deeply confused. She thought to herself hmm... but I'm only 22 years old, so that means... Then Iris opened up again with another question "what are you talking about? I'm only 22 years old and I never fell from any chair!" Then the dark figure answered "You really don't listen dear, I'm talking about your past life. For I am death itself!" The dark figure took off her cape and there it was, unbelievable, but true. It was the skeleton of a Pegasus, in its bony wings there was the blade of a scythe. Iris was speechless. Death itself was standing right beside her. Death spoke again "I will come visit you every day until those five days are over. For now, I have no duties with you, so we could have a cup of tea in your house tomorrow ok? Oh, umm... one more thing... try doing something before you leave, ok?” Iris blinked in awe, but the moment she opened her eyes again, Death was gone. After what she just lived through she was dumbfounded. She pondered about the phrases: "do something..." and "we could drink a cup of tea in your house tomorrow". She thought to herself: hold on a second, did death itself try to make friends with me? Then Iris thought again about Death and how she had 5 days remaining. She though out loud "I've got nothing to lose!" So Iris followed death's advice. Iris called for the doctor. He quickly came into her room. Iris asked the doctor if she could leave the hospital and the doctor felt like saying no, but something in him let out a "yes you can my dear... enjoy your days" as Iris left the hospital. Now that she was out. Iris thought about what could she do that differed from her usual self. Then she spoke to herself: "I wonder how that wall eyed Pegasus found me in the middle of a storm. Better hear her side of the story." as she concluded her thoughts. Day OneChapter 2: Day One Knowing she's got 4 days to do what ever she can to make her existance worth the while. Iris struggles with the thought of not being able to do something to make other ponies around her, know she even existed at all. She thought of doing reckless things: like ride a scotter and do a double backflip, or even kiss the first mare she saw in order to cause a scandal. Then she thought it was better to think about this whole thing after tea. "TEA!" she thought out loud, as many surrounding ponies stared at her. Recieving such stares was pretty unsettling for a mare who had little to no sleep in the hospital, and who knew she had to do something before her time ran out. She stood still for a moment to blend in with the usual market crowd in order to avoid any unnecessary attention, when she saw a pegasus flying upside down. This was something Iris had never seen before, and she found it very funny. After staring at the odd flying pattern of the pegasus for a few moments, she found out that it was no other than the mail pony who saved her life. Iris tried to remember her name, but it seemed impossible to recall what her name was. Iris quickly looked at the pegasus's facial exprecion, and called her by the first thing she had in mind, knowing this was her best chance to hear the story of how was she found unconcious in her house. "Hey! Derpy!" Iris called out loud, much to her surprise the pegasus reacted to the name. Derpy stabilized her flight with some struggle, few seconds later the pegasus had already landed on a roof. Iris maybe thought it was a bit rude calling her for a despective name like that, but seeing as nopony (including Derpy) reacted to this she thought that might have been her nickname after all. Derpy suddenly asked why had she called on her. Iris stopped thinking about the nicknames, and gently said "Derpy, um... I'd like to invite you for some tea". Derpy saw no point in objecting to such generous invitation, specially if there was a chance for her to buy some muffins. Derpy landed in the ground, and followed Iris to the nearest tea shop, also it was the newest tea shop in Ponyville. Iris, was in the middle of thinking of a good apology when she was interrupted by the cashier. "Iris, glad to see you again" said the cashier in a friendly way. While Iris tried to recall the name of the cashier she saw Derpy staring at two different types of muffins at the same time. Iris certainly recognised the face, and the pony behind the counter, but no matter how hard she tried she never could remember his name. Iris shyly opened up convesation with the brown stallion behind the counter. "Excuse me, um... I seem to have forgotten your name, kind uh... um...sir? With a silent laugh the cashier answered: "It's because you don't know it, and please stop with the formalities. My name is Ochre Rooibos" with a smile in his face. Iris looked at Ochre, the stalion was of a brown color with a burgundy colored mane, and a (very fitting) cup of tea as a cutie mark. She was certainly intrigued with the second name of this stalion, for it wasn't a common one. With a bit of confidence and, little thought she asked: "Excuse me, um... Ochre, it is not very common to se an earth pony with a second name like Rooibos, is that some sort of nickname? or does it have a family background?". With a slight surprise and a bit of uncomfort, Ochre calmly replied "Our whole family carries that name. It is because our family is famous for growing and brewing, a rare tea that is called by the same name. More than once that rare tea has pulled us out of the hardest financial crises. Try it, it might even help you get over yours". Iris was shocked to hear that somepony else knew about her... "problem", she frowned just thinking about how few time she had left and, how few she had done. Iris asked for a cup of that rare tea Ochre had talked so much about, and she also asked for some green tea, a blueberry muffin and a oat muffin. Iris payed for the amount, and sat down in a table. Derpy quickly noticed one of her favourite muffins, the blueberry muffin, and sat down. Iris opened up a conversation with derpy who aparently was way to buisy with her muffin than drinking her tea or chatting with her new friend. "Derpy, umm... you're ok with that nickname right? Anyhow, I just wanted to thank you for basically saving my life, and I also was curious as, how you found me in the midst of a storm?" Derpy swallowed the remainders of the muffin, and said: " Iris, it is not much trouble. I just saw a chimney with a lot of with smoke coming out of it, so I looked through the window and found you in the floor. So I called the ER ponies to break into your house and rescue you". Iris was stunned in amazement of the short stoy and how the mare talked of her feat as if it were nothing. Still a question was in unanswered. "excuse me, um Derpy? I am curious as, what were you doing in the middle of a storm?". Derpy quickly replied with her motto: "under any circumstance I will make sure the package or letter arrives in time". Iris was a bit ashamed, knowing Derpy took her job so seriously. The time Derpy took to save her, might have caused a package to be late. Iris thought of making it out to the Pegasus, Iris went to the counter, and asked for six blueberry muffins to go (after seeing Derpy devour her muffin she figured out Derpy loved muffins). Ochre gave Iris her muffins in a bag, when suddenly *Blam!* *MEAW!*. Iris froze in place while Ochre suddenly looked right, seeing a cat who got startled by something causing it to crash against a kettle and run away at full speed. Then Ochre turned his head quickly back to where Iris was. Iris let out a very quiet *gasp* as both muzzles almost touched each other. Iris once again froze in position, now looking deep into Ochre's eyes, she noticed a sparkle in his eyes. Iris was absorbed by the beautiful tone of brown found in Ochre's eyes, they were amber colored. She felt warmth all over her body, she felt like her cheeks were burning hot, as she felt the nervous breathing of Ochre hitting her face. Iris had never felt this way before, she felt like she was going to melt. Iris came to. She took two very fast and nervous steps back (almost tripping with a chair), and realised she was sweating and blushing. She saw Ochre in the counter, he was blushing too and, seemed to be locked in position, as if he had turned to stone. Iris thanked Ochre for the tea time meal, and gave the six muffins to Derpy saying: "I couldn't help but notice that you liked muffins very much. So, I um... bought you these so you can snack on them in your workday. Thank you Derpy" She said with a still with a very nervous voice, for the events in the counter had gone off a few seconds ago. Stil she felt them as if they were hours. She said: "goodbye!" to Derpy as she ran away from the tea shop. Ochre was still frozen in position, and even forgot to charge for the muffins. Iris was very nervous and ran into more than one pony and market stand in the way to her home. Iris saw a note in her door, which she ignored and, rushed to her bedroom. Still blushing, Iris couldn't contain her energy and hugged a pillow as she rolled from left to right in her bed. She thought: "what is going on with me? I thought kissing the first mare in the market idea wouldn't work, but instead I almost ended up kissing the cashier from a tea shop". Said the most rational part of her mind with a certain annoyance. Another part of her mind thought: "Why didn't I go for the kiss. DUUH I'm such a coward!". said the more adventurous part of her mind with a mad tone of voice. Many other thoughts ran through her mind like a stampede. As these thoughts cleared up a bit more. Iris thought with more detail, "this doubting feelings, that weird heat wave that struck me at the store..." as she remembered the deep amber colored eyes. Then her mind cleared up. Now kicking the pillow, and saying in a loud voice "Am I in love?!" with both a questioning and angry tone of voice. Then she thought of that phrase again, and said " I am in love..." with a soft and cute tone of voice. She knew she had to do something about her feelings. Then she looked at the clock and said: " 5:13 p.m.! What have I been doing all day!". Iris went to the kitchen. She found out that the fire on the teapot had been turned off before anything was highly damaged while she had fainted during the day of the accident. Her kitchen was very humid, and all her fresh fruits and vegetables had gotten all soggy. She went outside in the beautiful orange and golden rays of light that the setting sun gave off. She bought an arrugula, tomatoes, cucumbers, daisies, and a few other things, as well as some black tea. She vividly remebered the scene in the tea shop, and blushed while buying the tea from a general store. Iris went back to her home, and readied herself a salad and some tea, when she heard a familiar voice coming from the living room: "Having fun? arentcha' my dear?... I hope you haven't forgotten my tea. After all, I told you I was going to come and have tea with you tonight". Iris vaguely remembered that indeed she had made an apointment to have tea with... ... ... DEATH! The Darkest NightsChapter 3: Night one Iris looked upward into a dark yet beautiful, starry sky with a bright and enormous full moon, giving off a silver light. "It must have been a good day for Princess Luna." She thought with a small smile on her face. She was happy with her assumption, of what a joyful day the Princess she admired the most might have had. It seemed like the grimness of her situation and the beautiful day she had, had reflected in the sky. The sky looked like billions of little gems floating in a sea of darkness. The moon looked way bigger than usual and the town square was flooded with a comforting, kind and pure silver light. Iris had always been one of the few earth ponies who actually cared to stare at the beauty of the night sky and feel happy about night’s arrival. She had always stayed up a bit later than most ponies (except Twilight in one of her studying sessions) in order to appreciate the soft coolness of the night's breeze and the safety of home. She drank tea mostly to keep warm and keep her mind in a calm state while she thought deeply of what life was. Nights were the perfect setting for such habit, no noise was heard, the wind blew softly and its cries were like lullabies. Rain and mist were a rare occasion in Ponyville, especially at night. Once again, Iris loved these two, on the contrary to many other ponies (regardless of the type). She loved to see rain. The sound it made. The sound the rain made on her roof and the outside was like every droplet that fell had a note to play in a great orchestra. Sometimes mist happened to appear in the scheduled rains and the mist silenced all noise and muffled the roars of the rain. Mist's humid and chilly nature felt like a soft, white blanket enveloping the air. These occurrences brought the upmost joy to Iris. I hope I can enjoy one of those settings before I leave. Iris thought sadly while looking back to her living room. Death itself was in her house, for no purpose more than sipping tea and having a chat. It was very strange for Iris to have forgotten an appointment to have tea with someone, a tea appointment with someone... more like a tea appointment with something she thought, both grimly and sarcastically as she remembered the skeletal body of Death. *Whistle*. "The water for the tea is ready." Iris said out loud. Death answered "I've heard you brew the best tea in town, and I've just been dying to try a cup of it" Death let out chuckle as she finished both her compliment and her terrible joke. Iris felt both flattered by the comment on her tea brewing skills, and unsettled by the joke Death pulled out. Iris took both steaming cups of black tea to the table, and then returned with her dinner and a box full of "Toppings" for the tea. Iris dressed her salad with vinegar and lemon juice, also she put a pair of mint leafs in to give more flavor to the tea. Death mimicked her choice of toppings. Iris looked at her tea; it seemed to be almost as dark as Death's cloak. Death opened in conversation: "I've seen you've had quite a busy day, my dear. I'm glad you took my advice." Death said. Iris then looked at Death and asked: "I still remember what you told me, that the actions I do in these next five days (well four... now), will affect how long I live in my next life. I still don't understand, what is it that you want me to do!" Death looked at Iris and answered. "What you have to do I can't tell you, but I can tell you this much. Had you done it before THIS, you would have died instantly instead of dragging it out for 5 days". Death seemed to be absolutely serious about her previous statement. Iris then asked another question. "If I manage to do what I'm supposed to, will I die?" Death laughed. "My dear if you do, you won't die on the spot, your time of death has been settled, also if you manage in less than... 4 days? I'll give you those to enjoy what you just recently acquired, I'm not going to take you away when you have found that which makes your remaining life worth living. I might be Death itself, but I'm not a monster my dear. In all this death talk in the night, I forgot to tell you. Your affliction makes it so you require little to no sleep. Oh... I got to go. A bit of a tip: leave no dream unfulfilled." Iris looked down and thought deeply in the words of Death. When she looked up, she saw no one, Death was gone again. Iris looked at the sky through her window. She thought deeply in the words, "that which makes your life worthy." The lack of sleep caught up to her. Iris went to bed. In her dreams she vaguely remembered the faces of those nice fillies and colts that had once been her friends. Most of the images were blurred and she heard muffled noises. There was the faint sound of laughter. Iris tried to remember why the occasion was so merry and why everypony was in one place. She remembered the house, she felt comfortable, warm and safe. Iris tried hard to recall, then like lightning, it struck her. It was the best birthday she had ever had. Still most of the faces were blurred and much of the occasion was missing in her mind. Iris thought: What ever happened to those days? A tar black shadow fell upon her mind, everything got cold. Iris knew better, it was Death, but who's? She knew her death would come in four days now. Why would death be appearing in her mind. Death this time looked differently; it actually had skin, and no scythe wings. Death signaled Iris to follow her. Iris asked "Why are you here?!” Death then answered boldly: “You asked, and I quote *What ever happened to those days?* so I'm taking you to your answer." Iris was astonished to see that death actually helped her. She followed the tar black pony with the pure white eyes, into some sort of a scene. It seemed to be very late at night when she looked at a house on fire. Iris was surprised to see such a scene. She didn't remember herself ever being in such a scene. Then she rushed into the flames to see the actual scene occurring. For a dream, the flames seemed real, the heat was scorching. Iris stood before a very young light blue filly with a yellow mane, and deep blue eyes. She examined the young pony and realized. "IT'S ME!!” In shock she looked at the unconscious filly on the floor. The smoke had knocked her out. The vibrant red and yellow flames kept growing as if they wanted to breach the heavens above. Iris was in a panic, thinking this might have been some sort of trap or joke played by Death. She saw an indigo colored figure with tears in its eyes rush by. Iris could do nothing but watch the horror that lay before her, she cried, as she recognized the indigo stallion. It was her father. Her father, with all his might, took Iris from the floor and put her on his back, then rushed to the door. His eyes still filled with tears, while the flames had turned a nice home into an inferno. The whole house was in a fiery red glow, the flames ate everything in its path, leaving nothing but smoke. The structure crackled and snapped, it was clear it could not hold its own weight anymore. The flaming house started to fall down, as her father took her to the door. Just a few steps before the door a flaming wooden beam fell before her father. The stallion tripped against the beam, launching Iris a few steps away to safety. Her father tried to get up, fighting the smoke he had inhaled and the heat. He managed to get up on his hooves, when another blazing beam fell across his back, crushing every bone in his body delivering a quick death. Iris woke up screaming: "Dad!", then started to hyperventilate. Her heart was rushing and she was sweating. Iris tried to calm down and stared at the dark ceiling of her room. Iris then remembered a very dark patch in her life. She remembered that when she was about 15 she was an orphan. Nopony would ever dare explain how she became one, or what had happened to her parents. They all just stared at her with pity. She hated the constant: "I'm so sorry dear." Spiel, it was like a constant reminder to her of how powerless she was. It's not like they had anything to do with their deaths, what the heck did they apologize for? Iris remembered how aggravating it was to be powerless. Iris then remembered the day she became independent. She took her life into her own hooves and abandoned school and all her friends. Iris looked for a job that would accept her, most of them didn't, but she still found a job as a waitress and with the little she got paid, she rented an apartment from a very generous old mare. Iris lived on her own in that apartment for the longest of time. (That is until she got promoted to assistant manager, and she bought herself a home in ponyville two years ago) Iris woke up again. This time she was a lot calmer. She looked outside the window to see that it was still dark outside. It was all dark now; the moon was lower in the sky and it’s comforting light was no longer visible. Iris turned on the lights and looked at the clock. It was 3:42 a.m. Still, she felt like as she had slept a whole day. Iris realized that she needed to do something today. Iris thought deeply: So I left those old days because of the incident... Iris had an epiphany. "I GOT IT!" she shouted. Then she realized what time it was and lowered herself to a whisper: "I better pack up." Sunrise AnewChapter Four: Sunrise Anew It was 5:45 a.m. and Celestia's sun had already risen. Its early light vanquished the shadows from the previous night and gave off vigorous tones of yellow, red, orange and gold. "If I ever saw a phoenix rise from the ashes, I think it would look like this." Iris said in her awe. She sat down in her living room and stared at the vapor snakes that rose from her tea. She quickly drank her tea and picked up her bits and keys. She looked at her living room and captured a mental image of what would be the last time she saw her home from the inside. She put on her saddlebags and left for Canterlot. *Click*. "Well that's done for. The one thing I'll be missing is this place." Iris thought while letting a sigh escape. She turned her back on her home, and walked away. It was about 9:30 in the morning now and the streets looked empty. It was a weekday. Iris looked at the empty streets and realized she was going to miss work for the first time. “If I'm to travel so far I better get something to eat. Anyways I have around two hours before the train leaves” It was clear in her mind that she HAD to go to CelesTea's one last time. It would be there where she would meet Ocher again. Blushing with the thought, she cleared her mind and tried to act normally. She nervously walked to the store, when a far away voice startled her, making her jump back nearly a meter. "Hey Iris" said the far away voice. Iris turned around to see where the voice came from. She realized it was nopony else than Derpy. The wall eyed mare dashed towards Iris, quickly landing near her. Derpy looked at Iris with one eye, as the other eye stared off into the horizon (or so it would have seemed). Derpy promptly said: "Hey Iris let's go for some tea before work" (Iris had certain policies about tea, one of them being: Never miss a chance of having tea). This kind of social interaction had rarely ever shown up for Iris. In her subconscious she was as excited as a little filly opening her first Hearths Warming eve present. Iris childishly replying with a "YES!" while bouncing in excitement. Upon realizing her ‘inappropriate’ behavior she nervously added "if that's OK with you...” while staring at the floor, gently drawing a small circle in the dirt. Derpy giggled at the scene and replied gently: "Of course it's OK with me silly, I invited you". Iris once again was quite surprised. The wall eyed pegasus didn't react to her behavior, in fact it seemed like she had ignored it on purpose. As if something inside the pegasus was stopping her from making fun of her. Iris and Derpy walked together towards CelesTea's. Iris saw a brown flank with a teacup for a cutie mark. It was no less than Ocher. Derpy nudged Iris with her wing, as she said in a low voice: "I could see you blushing for that stallion from miles away". Startled by the comment and how obvious her feelings appeared, Iris replied cockily: "like you know anything about love" as she rolled her eyes. Derpy stopped on her tracks and frowned. Iris looked back and worriedly asked: "Did... I say something wrong?” Derpy remained silent. Iris worried now more than ever about her friend, still Derpy seemed lost in her thoughts. She came back with a smile and answered "let’s talk about this with some muffins OK?" Iris sighed in relief and agreed to the pegasus's plan. Upon arriving to CelesTea's, both mares took a seat in the shadows. It seemed like a very nice sunny day. Iris still worried about her previous comment towards her only friend and said "Sorry, I didn't mean to hurt your feelings." The grey mare smiled and replied "It's all alright... It's just that my husband is almost never at home... and we both miss him at home." Derpy again seemed lost in her thoughts, as if remembering something. Startled by the facts Iris replied "You... You are married! To who? And who's WE?” Derpy looked at Iris with great doubt, and answered: "Yes I'm married. And it's not Who, it's Whooves. Is being married that weird nowadays?” Questions flooded Iris's mind, she decided to push the subject further and asked "Whooves? Who is WE? And why isn't your husband with you all the time?" Derpy replied with a big smile, "Whooves... Dr. Whooves, I thought you confused his name. It's a common mistake. Also WE, as in my daughter and me. My daughter's name is Dinky in case you wanted to know... Funny though, how you mentioned time..." Derpy chuckled after her last statement. Iris couldn't believe what she was being told, still everything she was being told sounded like the truth. Derpy continued to answer Iris's questions, “Yet my husband's work is so time consuming it would seem it goes beyond time itself. I remember going with him to all sorts of places and ages as his assistant". Giving up on the hope of finding some sense to what Derpy was saying, Iris asked again, regardless of how ridiculous it all sounded. "So, why did you stop being his assistant? It seems to me like you enjoyed all the ... 'traveling' ". Derpy replied in a sadder tone "I wish we could all travel together as a family, but Dinky is too young, and things are dangerous out there. So I'll stay back and take care for her until she's old enough to travel with us." finishing her statement with a hopeful smile. As the two mares discussed the seemingly impossible adventures this 'Dr. Whooves' had, the time seemed to pass quickly. Iris tried to remain rational and asked the mare, "What do you mean statues of alicorns who always seem to cry and why is it that they are so dangerous?" Derpy was starting to get tired of giving explanations to Iris, still she seemed to have fun remembering her adventures. "I already told you they are not statues, they just look like it when something is watching them. I don't quite know why is it that they are so dangerous though, The Dr. and I survived an attack of theirs". Iris sighed in frustration, "I give up and I can't understand anything anymore". Derpy looked at the nearby clock in hopes for a new conversation topic, but then came to the realization, "Oh Dear sweet Celestia! I'm late!” The surprised pegasus stood up and readied herself for flight and left CelesTea's with a "See you around Iris." as she dashed away. Iris checked the time, and realized the train to Canterlot was about to leave. Iris rushed for the train to Canterlot barely reaching the station on time. She paid her ticket, and boarded the train for Canterlot. *screech*, *HOOT*. The train started to move. Iris took a seat and watched the Train drift away from Ponyville. The train was rather empty, still, a fair share of ponies rode the train along Iris. Yet Iris seemed not to care about them. She was lost in her thoughts. As the train moved Iris saw how the scenery seemed to blur and distort due to the speed. Time seemed to pass by slower for her, the noises from the train were muffled, and the ponies who talked in the background seemed to talk slower and deeper. Iris’ existence now seemed to drift away, and her thoughts seemed to out-speed her. Not only her thoughts but everything around her. Even sight seemed to out-speed her. Iris fell into the dark void of the subconscious mind. In here all she thought came true but then faded away. She wondered what had happened. Still she couldn't come up with an answer. Darkness was cold and lonely, yet memories of the impossible seemed warm and friendly. She tried to imagine Derpy living with 'The Doctor.' and it all seemed real now. Everything made sense. The cold was gone. She remembered the smile of the old pony who took her in her time of need. That smile was warm and it reminded her why she was alive. The smile was getting hotter by the second. Other images of recent experiences flooded her mind. She saw Ocher, she remembered how they almost kissed that one time. It now felt like if she was in the sun. "OK ENOUGH! OUCH! TOO HOT! OUCH!" Iris screamed. Colors rushed back to her, the noise of worried ponies overwhelmed her. She finally came to. One of the stallions standing in the crowd said "You sure gave us all a scare there missy. You fainted and fell off the seat. I thought you were a goner... it's a miracle you came to so quickly after that fall." Iris got up rather worried but dismissed her worries, thinking back to what the Dr. had told her about her condition. She looked to her surroundings still everything seemed familiar. Iris asked in her confusion: "Where are we, and what time is it?" A mare answered: "We are at the Canterlot train station and it's about 5 in the afternoon." Iris thanked everypony for worrying about her, and promptly left the station. The great towers of Gold, Ivory and Lavender stood tall and proud in front of her. Celestia's sun gave off its last hour of light before setting and letting the silver light of Luna's moon take over. Iris admired the castle city of Canterlot and its architecture all together. She saw the beautiful apartment towers of Canterlot. One of them in particular, had a small coffee shop in front with an old pony behind its counter. "Rose!" Iris shouted as she rushed inside the coffee shop, dropping her bags in the street. She hugged the pale pink unicorn at the counter. "Iris! It seems like forever since I last saw you. You haven't written to me in a while, I was starting to get worried." The old mare stared at Iris as she wouldn't let go. "OK now you got me worried. What happened?" Iris let go of the old mare and a single tear fell as she said “Thank you Rose, for all you've done for me". The pink unicorn took two steps back in awe, as Iris finished her statement. Dumbfound, Rose asked "what is going on with you dear? You sound like you're going to die in my arms". Iris looked back and said "let's close up shop and talk about this shall we?" as she picked her saddle bags from the street. The old unicorn nodded in agreement. She flipped the 'open' sign to 'closed', and closed the coffee shop.
What happened?What Happened? With a light head and, a feeling of disorientation, a blinding light forced her eyes open. A distant and fuzzy voice sounded in the distance. While trying to adjust her eyes to the blinding light, she figured out a few moments later that she was in a hospital bed. A sudden feeling of overwhelming fear fell on her. She was startled, by a faceless pony. A few seconds later the faceless figure took off its mask, it was a doctor, who approached the still disoriented mare. The doctor asked the mare if she remembered anything. In her panic she said: "no". The doctor with slight disappointment and a bit of pity, said: "You are safe my dear, take this and when you wake up please tell me what you remember". The mare took the pill a few moments before she fell asleep. She stretched her front hooves to the doctor's face and said: "don't frown, there are others watching" as she pulled on the doctor's mouth as if trying to make a smile out of his worried face. In her sleep, the phrase: "do you remember anything?" echoed through her mind which was in absolute darkness. She tried to remember what had happened before she woke up in the hospital. A few flashbacks came to her mind. She remembered that she bought some tea in new store, and she politely introduced herself as Cerulean Iris. The faint voices in her mind repeated the name. She replied "just Iris". She remembered that the pegasi had a scheduled storm for that same evening. She went home after buying tea before the storm started. As she entered her home the rain began to fall. She sat down in a chair in her living room and gazed in amazement at the drops of rain through the window, seemingly slowing as they fell. She boiled some water for the tea and then her memories became blurry. She felt uneasy as she saw in her own memory a dark silhouette entering her home. The silhouette seemed familiar; still a bad feeling came to this memory. Iris woke in fear, jumping from her bed breathing heavily. Then she realized she was soaked in a cold sweat. She looked at the clock and read out loud "1: 38 a.m.!?" To her surprise, there was a sleeping Pegasus in the corridor of the hospital. She snuck around in order not to awake the sleeping mare. Iris looked for a nurse, but found none. As she searched, she found a map of the hospital, which she used to guide herself to the laundry room in order to get some clean bed sheets. After she got what she was looking for, she snuck back around the sleeping pegasus. This time the pegasus mumbled something in her sleep. "*mumble*... Muffins". Iris froze in position, fearing that she might have woken the pegasus. Yet nothing seemed to happen, so Iris went back to her room, where she changed the sheets and went to bed. When she woke, standing before her was the doctor and the pegasus she had seen last night. The doctor asked her: "Are you feeling better at all?" She nodded in agreement. The doctor then introduced the pegasus: "This mare here is Der- Ditzy Doo, she saved your life" Ditzy looked at Iris with one eye, and the doctor with the other. Iris then asked: "what happened, why did I need saving in the first place?" The Doctor changed his expression, he seemed worried about what to say and how would she react. Then the doctor frowned and dismissed Derpy from the room. The doctor's voice now sounded grim as he spoke: "Iris... I don't know how to put this in gentler terms... We found that you have a brain failure, one that will progressively become worse." The doctor couldn't finish his statement before Iris interrupted. Iris now felt the cold sweat dripping from her body, and her body grew stiff like a mouse, paralyzed by fear in gaze of a snake. She interrupted, trembling in fear and crying relentlessly "NO, this is a LIE! I have never done anything wrong! Why me? I DON'T believe this!...." she froze and gave a cocky smile with tears still dripping from her eyes, now with her psyche shattered, she screamed in her temporary insanity "THIS IS A NIGHTMARE! NOTHING BUT A SILLY NIGHTMARE!" she then looked for something to hit herself with, in an attempt to wake herself up from what seemed to be a horrifying nightmare. She found an empty metal bedpan and with it she hit herself in the face many times before she was strapped to her bed by the nurses, the doctor injected her with a slight sedative in order to calm her down. The drugged mare lying in the bed now looked both at the ceiling and the doctor at the same time. Her left eye now shifted down while her right eye was fixed staring at the doctor. The doctor resumed his statement, "As I was saying, you have approximately 5 days until you... um... die. Thankfully, you will no longer feel pain at all and it shall remain that way due to the brain failure. You will be experience several noticeable occurrences, like seizures, sudden fainting, or in the best case scenario, hallucinations. Oh and regretfully, it is no nightmare my dear." The drugged pony remained in bed now, drooling all over her pillow. The doctor was surprised to see that the young mare was more affected by the sedative that he expected her to be. The doctor felt really cold-hearted about delivering such news and he could understand the reaction the mare in bed had. The doctor, seeing the pony drooling in her bed, felt somewhat guilty and left the room with a simple “sleep well". The mare, still conscious, thought back to those words she just heard. Through the haze of sleepiness, the mare saw a black figure entering her room. This time it was actually there! The dark figure said: "well, well, well... haven't we got ourselves a young lady. 'Tis sad that your fuse was so short, for the length of you next life will depend on these last five days of yours... But first, let me help you with this state you’re in. I can't let your next five days be wasted in a drugged slumber can I?" The startled mare saw the figure now, vividly. It was actually a mare, and it was covered in a black cape, one so dark that no light dared even get near the cape. Iris, in her state of panic called out for the nurse. The nurse quickly appeared beside her, the nurse asked in a rushed tone "what is wrong my dear?" Iris answered with another question, "who is this mare?" The nurse saw nothing... then the nurse spotted a mirror across the room. The nurse then replied "that is you my dear." Iris now infuriated answered back "I know my reflection, I meant the mare in the black cape, who is standing right beside me!” The nurse looked around, and then thought of Iris's present state of mind and replied " dear you are experiencing a hallucination... don't worry it will go away". The mare tried to rest again, but the figure refused to let her sleep. Iris angrily shouted at the black mare "Who are you? And why do you care what I do with these last five days of mine?!" The mare stopped and thought for a second and then asked again: "In fact how did you know all of that? And what was that about my next life?" The figure stood still, and answered: "You don't you know me?, hmm... well it HAS been about 23 years since I last saw you, you were a young filly when you balanced yourself in that chair and fell down. You hit so hard that it cracked your skull. You were alive for 5 seconds before I was called to take your soul and guide it to a new pair of parents who were anxiously waiting for their only daughter to be born." Iris was deeply confused. She thought to herself hmm... but I'm only 22 years old, so that means... Then Iris opened up again with another question "what are you talking about? I'm only 22 years old and I never fell from any chair!" Then the dark figure answered "You really don't listen dear, I'm talking about your past life. For I am death itself!" The dark figure took off her cape and there it was, unbelievable, but true. It was the skeleton of a Pegasus, in its bony wings there was the blade of a scythe. Iris was speechless. Death itself was standing right beside her. Death spoke again "I will come visit you every day until those five days are over. For now, I have no duties with you, so we could have a cup of tea in your house tomorrow ok? Oh, umm... one more thing... try doing something before you leave, ok?” Iris blinked in awe, but the moment she opened her eyes again, Death was gone. After what she just lived through she was dumbfounded. She pondered about the phrases: "do something..." and "we could drink a cup of tea in your house tomorrow". She thought to herself: hold on a second, did death itself try to make friends with me? Then Iris thought again about Death and how she had 5 days remaining. She though out loud "I've got nothing to lose!" So Iris followed death's advice. Iris called for the doctor. He quickly came into her room. Iris asked the doctor if she could leave the hospital and the doctor felt like saying no, but something in him let out a "yes you can my dear... enjoy your days" as Iris left the hospital. Now that she was out. Iris thought about what could she do that differed from her usual self. Then she spoke to herself: "I wonder how that wall eyed Pegasus found me in the middle of a storm. Better hear her side of the story." as she concluded her thoughts.
Day OneChapter 2: Day One Knowing she's got 4 days to do what ever she can to make her existance worth the while. Iris struggles with the thought of not being able to do something to make other ponies around her, know she even existed at all. She thought of doing reckless things: like ride a scotter and do a double backflip, or even kiss the first mare she saw in order to cause a scandal. Then she thought it was better to think about this whole thing after tea. "TEA!" she thought out loud, as many surrounding ponies stared at her. Recieving such stares was pretty unsettling for a mare who had little to no sleep in the hospital, and who knew she had to do something before her time ran out. She stood still for a moment to blend in with the usual market crowd in order to avoid any unnecessary attention, when she saw a pegasus flying upside down. This was something Iris had never seen before, and she found it very funny. After staring at the odd flying pattern of the pegasus for a few moments, she found out that it was no other than the mail pony who saved her life. Iris tried to remember her name, but it seemed impossible to recall what her name was. Iris quickly looked at the pegasus's facial exprecion, and called her by the first thing she had in mind, knowing this was her best chance to hear the story of how was she found unconcious in her house. "Hey! Derpy!" Iris called out loud, much to her surprise the pegasus reacted to the name. Derpy stabilized her flight with some struggle, few seconds later the pegasus had already landed on a roof. Iris maybe thought it was a bit rude calling her for a despective name like that, but seeing as nopony (including Derpy) reacted to this she thought that might have been her nickname after all. Derpy suddenly asked why had she called on her. Iris stopped thinking about the nicknames, and gently said "Derpy, um... I'd like to invite you for some tea". Derpy saw no point in objecting to such generous invitation, specially if there was a chance for her to buy some muffins. Derpy landed in the ground, and followed Iris to the nearest tea shop, also it was the newest tea shop in Ponyville. Iris, was in the middle of thinking of a good apology when she was interrupted by the cashier. "Iris, glad to see you again" said the cashier in a friendly way. While Iris tried to recall the name of the cashier she saw Derpy staring at two different types of muffins at the same time. Iris certainly recognised the face, and the pony behind the counter, but no matter how hard she tried she never could remember his name. Iris shyly opened up convesation with the brown stallion behind the counter. "Excuse me, um... I seem to have forgotten your name, kind uh... um...sir? With a silent laugh the cashier answered: "It's because you don't know it, and please stop with the formalities. My name is Ochre Rooibos" with a smile in his face. Iris looked at Ochre, the stalion was of a brown color with a burgundy colored mane, and a (very fitting) cup of tea as a cutie mark. She was certainly intrigued with the second name of this stalion, for it wasn't a common one. With a bit of confidence and, little thought she asked: "Excuse me, um... Ochre, it is not very common to se an earth pony with a second name like Rooibos, is that some sort of nickname? or does it have a family background?". With a slight surprise and a bit of uncomfort, Ochre calmly replied "Our whole family carries that name. It is because our family is famous for growing and brewing, a rare tea that is called by the same name. More than once that rare tea has pulled us out of the hardest financial crises. Try it, it might even help you get over yours". Iris was shocked to hear that somepony else knew about her... "problem", she frowned just thinking about how few time she had left and, how few she had done. Iris asked for a cup of that rare tea Ochre had talked so much about, and she also asked for some green tea, a blueberry muffin and a oat muffin. Iris payed for the amount, and sat down in a table. Derpy quickly noticed one of her favourite muffins, the blueberry muffin, and sat down. Iris opened up a conversation with derpy who aparently was way to buisy with her muffin than drinking her tea or chatting with her new friend. "Derpy, umm... you're ok with that nickname right? Anyhow, I just wanted to thank you for basically saving my life, and I also was curious as, how you found me in the midst of a storm?" Derpy swallowed the remainders of the muffin, and said: " Iris, it is not much trouble. I just saw a chimney with a lot of with smoke coming out of it, so I looked through the window and found you in the floor. So I called the ER ponies to break into your house and rescue you". Iris was stunned in amazement of the short stoy and how the mare talked of her feat as if it were nothing. Still a question was in unanswered. "excuse me, um Derpy? I am curious as, what were you doing in the middle of a storm?". Derpy quickly replied with her motto: "under any circumstance I will make sure the package or letter arrives in time". Iris was a bit ashamed, knowing Derpy took her job so seriously. The time Derpy took to save her, might have caused a package to be late. Iris thought of making it out to the Pegasus, Iris went to the counter, and asked for six blueberry muffins to go (after seeing Derpy devour her muffin she figured out Derpy loved muffins). Ochre gave Iris her muffins in a bag, when suddenly *Blam!* *MEAW!*. Iris froze in place while Ochre suddenly looked right, seeing a cat who got startled by something causing it to crash against a kettle and run away at full speed. Then Ochre turned his head quickly back to where Iris was. Iris let out a very quiet *gasp* as both muzzles almost touched each other. Iris once again froze in position, now looking deep into Ochre's eyes, she noticed a sparkle in his eyes. Iris was absorbed by the beautiful tone of brown found in Ochre's eyes, they were amber colored. She felt warmth all over her body, she felt like her cheeks were burning hot, as she felt the nervous breathing of Ochre hitting her face. Iris had never felt this way before, she felt like she was going to melt. Iris came to. She took two very fast and nervous steps back (almost tripping with a chair), and realised she was sweating and blushing. She saw Ochre in the counter, he was blushing too and, seemed to be locked in position, as if he had turned to stone. Iris thanked Ochre for the tea time meal, and gave the six muffins to Derpy saying: "I couldn't help but notice that you liked muffins very much. So, I um... bought you these so you can snack on them in your workday. Thank you Derpy" She said with a still with a very nervous voice, for the events in the counter had gone off a few seconds ago. Stil she felt them as if they were hours. She said: "goodbye!" to Derpy as she ran away from the tea shop. Ochre was still frozen in position, and even forgot to charge for the muffins. Iris was very nervous and ran into more than one pony and market stand in the way to her home. Iris saw a note in her door, which she ignored and, rushed to her bedroom. Still blushing, Iris couldn't contain her energy and hugged a pillow as she rolled from left to right in her bed. She thought: "what is going on with me? I thought kissing the first mare in the market idea wouldn't work, but instead I almost ended up kissing the cashier from a tea shop". Said the most rational part of her mind with a certain annoyance. Another part of her mind thought: "Why didn't I go for the kiss. DUUH I'm such a coward!". said the more adventurous part of her mind with a mad tone of voice. Many other thoughts ran through her mind like a stampede. As these thoughts cleared up a bit more. Iris thought with more detail, "this doubting feelings, that weird heat wave that struck me at the store..." as she remembered the deep amber colored eyes. Then her mind cleared up. Now kicking the pillow, and saying in a loud voice "Am I in love?!" with both a questioning and angry tone of voice. Then she thought of that phrase again, and said " I am in love..." with a soft and cute tone of voice. She knew she had to do something about her feelings. Then she looked at the clock and said: " 5:13 p.m.! What have I been doing all day!". Iris went to the kitchen. She found out that the fire on the teapot had been turned off before anything was highly damaged while she had fainted during the day of the accident. Her kitchen was very humid, and all her fresh fruits and vegetables had gotten all soggy. She went outside in the beautiful orange and golden rays of light that the setting sun gave off. She bought an arrugula, tomatoes, cucumbers, daisies, and a few other things, as well as some black tea. She vividly remebered the scene in the tea shop, and blushed while buying the tea from a general store. Iris went back to her home, and readied herself a salad and some tea, when she heard a familiar voice coming from the living room: "Having fun? arentcha' my dear?... I hope you haven't forgotten my tea. After all, I told you I was going to come and have tea with you tonight". Iris vaguely remembered that indeed she had made an apointment to have tea with... ... ... DEATH!
The Darkest NightsChapter 3: Night one Iris looked upward into a dark yet beautiful, starry sky with a bright and enormous full moon, giving off a silver light. "It must have been a good day for Princess Luna." She thought with a small smile on her face. She was happy with her assumption, of what a joyful day the Princess she admired the most might have had. It seemed like the grimness of her situation and the beautiful day she had, had reflected in the sky. The sky looked like billions of little gems floating in a sea of darkness. The moon looked way bigger than usual and the town square was flooded with a comforting, kind and pure silver light. Iris had always been one of the few earth ponies who actually cared to stare at the beauty of the night sky and feel happy about night’s arrival. She had always stayed up a bit later than most ponies (except Twilight in one of her studying sessions) in order to appreciate the soft coolness of the night's breeze and the safety of home. She drank tea mostly to keep warm and keep her mind in a calm state while she thought deeply of what life was. Nights were the perfect setting for such habit, no noise was heard, the wind blew softly and its cries were like lullabies. Rain and mist were a rare occasion in Ponyville, especially at night. Once again, Iris loved these two, on the contrary to many other ponies (regardless of the type). She loved to see rain. The sound it made. The sound the rain made on her roof and the outside was like every droplet that fell had a note to play in a great orchestra. Sometimes mist happened to appear in the scheduled rains and the mist silenced all noise and muffled the roars of the rain. Mist's humid and chilly nature felt like a soft, white blanket enveloping the air. These occurrences brought the upmost joy to Iris. I hope I can enjoy one of those settings before I leave. Iris thought sadly while looking back to her living room. Death itself was in her house, for no purpose more than sipping tea and having a chat. It was very strange for Iris to have forgotten an appointment to have tea with someone, a tea appointment with someone... more like a tea appointment with something she thought, both grimly and sarcastically as she remembered the skeletal body of Death. *Whistle*. "The water for the tea is ready." Iris said out loud. Death answered "I've heard you brew the best tea in town, and I've just been dying to try a cup of it" Death let out chuckle as she finished both her compliment and her terrible joke. Iris felt both flattered by the comment on her tea brewing skills, and unsettled by the joke Death pulled out. Iris took both steaming cups of black tea to the table, and then returned with her dinner and a box full of "Toppings" for the tea. Iris dressed her salad with vinegar and lemon juice, also she put a pair of mint leafs in to give more flavor to the tea. Death mimicked her choice of toppings. Iris looked at her tea; it seemed to be almost as dark as Death's cloak. Death opened in conversation: "I've seen you've had quite a busy day, my dear. I'm glad you took my advice." Death said. Iris then looked at Death and asked: "I still remember what you told me, that the actions I do in these next five days (well four... now), will affect how long I live in my next life. I still don't understand, what is it that you want me to do!" Death looked at Iris and answered. "What you have to do I can't tell you, but I can tell you this much. Had you done it before THIS, you would have died instantly instead of dragging it out for 5 days". Death seemed to be absolutely serious about her previous statement. Iris then asked another question. "If I manage to do what I'm supposed to, will I die?" Death laughed. "My dear if you do, you won't die on the spot, your time of death has been settled, also if you manage in less than... 4 days? I'll give you those to enjoy what you just recently acquired, I'm not going to take you away when you have found that which makes your remaining life worth living. I might be Death itself, but I'm not a monster my dear. In all this death talk in the night, I forgot to tell you. Your affliction makes it so you require little to no sleep. Oh... I got to go. A bit of a tip: leave no dream unfulfilled." Iris looked down and thought deeply in the words of Death. When she looked up, she saw no one, Death was gone again. Iris looked at the sky through her window. She thought deeply in the words, "that which makes your life worthy." The lack of sleep caught up to her. Iris went to bed. In her dreams she vaguely remembered the faces of those nice fillies and colts that had once been her friends. Most of the images were blurred and she heard muffled noises. There was the faint sound of laughter. Iris tried to remember why the occasion was so merry and why everypony was in one place. She remembered the house, she felt comfortable, warm and safe. Iris tried hard to recall, then like lightning, it struck her. It was the best birthday she had ever had. Still most of the faces were blurred and much of the occasion was missing in her mind. Iris thought: What ever happened to those days? A tar black shadow fell upon her mind, everything got cold. Iris knew better, it was Death, but who's? She knew her death would come in four days now. Why would death be appearing in her mind. Death this time looked differently; it actually had skin, and no scythe wings. Death signaled Iris to follow her. Iris asked "Why are you here?!” Death then answered boldly: “You asked, and I quote *What ever happened to those days?* so I'm taking you to your answer." Iris was astonished to see that death actually helped her. She followed the tar black pony with the pure white eyes, into some sort of a scene. It seemed to be very late at night when she looked at a house on fire. Iris was surprised to see such a scene. She didn't remember herself ever being in such a scene. Then she rushed into the flames to see the actual scene occurring. For a dream, the flames seemed real, the heat was scorching. Iris stood before a very young light blue filly with a yellow mane, and deep blue eyes. She examined the young pony and realized. "IT'S ME!!” In shock she looked at the unconscious filly on the floor. The smoke had knocked her out. The vibrant red and yellow flames kept growing as if they wanted to breach the heavens above. Iris was in a panic, thinking this might have been some sort of trap or joke played by Death. She saw an indigo colored figure with tears in its eyes rush by. Iris could do nothing but watch the horror that lay before her, she cried, as she recognized the indigo stallion. It was her father. Her father, with all his might, took Iris from the floor and put her on his back, then rushed to the door. His eyes still filled with tears, while the flames had turned a nice home into an inferno. The whole house was in a fiery red glow, the flames ate everything in its path, leaving nothing but smoke. The structure crackled and snapped, it was clear it could not hold its own weight anymore. The flaming house started to fall down, as her father took her to the door. Just a few steps before the door a flaming wooden beam fell before her father. The stallion tripped against the beam, launching Iris a few steps away to safety. Her father tried to get up, fighting the smoke he had inhaled and the heat. He managed to get up on his hooves, when another blazing beam fell across his back, crushing every bone in his body delivering a quick death. Iris woke up screaming: "Dad!", then started to hyperventilate. Her heart was rushing and she was sweating. Iris tried to calm down and stared at the dark ceiling of her room. Iris then remembered a very dark patch in her life. She remembered that when she was about 15 she was an orphan. Nopony would ever dare explain how she became one, or what had happened to her parents. They all just stared at her with pity. She hated the constant: "I'm so sorry dear." Spiel, it was like a constant reminder to her of how powerless she was. It's not like they had anything to do with their deaths, what the heck did they apologize for? Iris remembered how aggravating it was to be powerless. Iris then remembered the day she became independent. She took her life into her own hooves and abandoned school and all her friends. Iris looked for a job that would accept her, most of them didn't, but she still found a job as a waitress and with the little she got paid, she rented an apartment from a very generous old mare. Iris lived on her own in that apartment for the longest of time. (That is until she got promoted to assistant manager, and she bought herself a home in ponyville two years ago) Iris woke up again. This time she was a lot calmer. She looked outside the window to see that it was still dark outside. It was all dark now; the moon was lower in the sky and it’s comforting light was no longer visible. Iris turned on the lights and looked at the clock. It was 3:42 a.m. Still, she felt like as she had slept a whole day. Iris realized that she needed to do something today. Iris thought deeply: So I left those old days because of the incident... Iris had an epiphany. "I GOT IT!" she shouted. Then she realized what time it was and lowered herself to a whisper: "I better pack up."
Sunrise AnewChapter Four: Sunrise Anew It was 5:45 a.m. and Celestia's sun had already risen. Its early light vanquished the shadows from the previous night and gave off vigorous tones of yellow, red, orange and gold. "If I ever saw a phoenix rise from the ashes, I think it would look like this." Iris said in her awe. She sat down in her living room and stared at the vapor snakes that rose from her tea. She quickly drank her tea and picked up her bits and keys. She looked at her living room and captured a mental image of what would be the last time she saw her home from the inside. She put on her saddlebags and left for Canterlot. *Click*. "Well that's done for. The one thing I'll be missing is this place." Iris thought while letting a sigh escape. She turned her back on her home, and walked away. It was about 9:30 in the morning now and the streets looked empty. It was a weekday. Iris looked at the empty streets and realized she was going to miss work for the first time. “If I'm to travel so far I better get something to eat. Anyways I have around two hours before the train leaves” It was clear in her mind that she HAD to go to CelesTea's one last time. It would be there where she would meet Ocher again. Blushing with the thought, she cleared her mind and tried to act normally. She nervously walked to the store, when a far away voice startled her, making her jump back nearly a meter. "Hey Iris" said the far away voice. Iris turned around to see where the voice came from. She realized it was nopony else than Derpy. The wall eyed mare dashed towards Iris, quickly landing near her. Derpy looked at Iris with one eye, as the other eye stared off into the horizon (or so it would have seemed). Derpy promptly said: "Hey Iris let's go for some tea before work" (Iris had certain policies about tea, one of them being: Never miss a chance of having tea). This kind of social interaction had rarely ever shown up for Iris. In her subconscious she was as excited as a little filly opening her first Hearths Warming eve present. Iris childishly replying with a "YES!" while bouncing in excitement. Upon realizing her ‘inappropriate’ behavior she nervously added "if that's OK with you...” while staring at the floor, gently drawing a small circle in the dirt. Derpy giggled at the scene and replied gently: "Of course it's OK with me silly, I invited you". Iris once again was quite surprised. The wall eyed pegasus didn't react to her behavior, in fact it seemed like she had ignored it on purpose. As if something inside the pegasus was stopping her from making fun of her. Iris and Derpy walked together towards CelesTea's. Iris saw a brown flank with a teacup for a cutie mark. It was no less than Ocher. Derpy nudged Iris with her wing, as she said in a low voice: "I could see you blushing for that stallion from miles away". Startled by the comment and how obvious her feelings appeared, Iris replied cockily: "like you know anything about love" as she rolled her eyes. Derpy stopped on her tracks and frowned. Iris looked back and worriedly asked: "Did... I say something wrong?” Derpy remained silent. Iris worried now more than ever about her friend, still Derpy seemed lost in her thoughts. She came back with a smile and answered "let’s talk about this with some muffins OK?" Iris sighed in relief and agreed to the pegasus's plan. Upon arriving to CelesTea's, both mares took a seat in the shadows. It seemed like a very nice sunny day. Iris still worried about her previous comment towards her only friend and said "Sorry, I didn't mean to hurt your feelings." The grey mare smiled and replied "It's all alright... It's just that my husband is almost never at home... and we both miss him at home." Derpy again seemed lost in her thoughts, as if remembering something. Startled by the facts Iris replied "You... You are married! To who? And who's WE?” Derpy looked at Iris with great doubt, and answered: "Yes I'm married. And it's not Who, it's Whooves. Is being married that weird nowadays?” Questions flooded Iris's mind, she decided to push the subject further and asked "Whooves? Who is WE? And why isn't your husband with you all the time?" Derpy replied with a big smile, "Whooves... Dr. Whooves, I thought you confused his name. It's a common mistake. Also WE, as in my daughter and me. My daughter's name is Dinky in case you wanted to know... Funny though, how you mentioned time..." Derpy chuckled after her last statement. Iris couldn't believe what she was being told, still everything she was being told sounded like the truth. Derpy continued to answer Iris's questions, “Yet my husband's work is so time consuming it would seem it goes beyond time itself. I remember going with him to all sorts of places and ages as his assistant". Giving up on the hope of finding some sense to what Derpy was saying, Iris asked again, regardless of how ridiculous it all sounded. "So, why did you stop being his assistant? It seems to me like you enjoyed all the ... 'traveling' ". Derpy replied in a sadder tone "I wish we could all travel together as a family, but Dinky is too young, and things are dangerous out there. So I'll stay back and take care for her until she's old enough to travel with us." finishing her statement with a hopeful smile. As the two mares discussed the seemingly impossible adventures this 'Dr. Whooves' had, the time seemed to pass quickly. Iris tried to remain rational and asked the mare, "What do you mean statues of alicorns who always seem to cry and why is it that they are so dangerous?" Derpy was starting to get tired of giving explanations to Iris, still she seemed to have fun remembering her adventures. "I already told you they are not statues, they just look like it when something is watching them. I don't quite know why is it that they are so dangerous though, The Dr. and I survived an attack of theirs". Iris sighed in frustration, "I give up and I can't understand anything anymore". Derpy looked at the nearby clock in hopes for a new conversation topic, but then came to the realization, "Oh Dear sweet Celestia! I'm late!” The surprised pegasus stood up and readied herself for flight and left CelesTea's with a "See you around Iris." as she dashed away. Iris checked the time, and realized the train to Canterlot was about to leave. Iris rushed for the train to Canterlot barely reaching the station on time. She paid her ticket, and boarded the train for Canterlot. *screech*, *HOOT*. The train started to move. Iris took a seat and watched the Train drift away from Ponyville. The train was rather empty, still, a fair share of ponies rode the train along Iris. Yet Iris seemed not to care about them. She was lost in her thoughts. As the train moved Iris saw how the scenery seemed to blur and distort due to the speed. Time seemed to pass by slower for her, the noises from the train were muffled, and the ponies who talked in the background seemed to talk slower and deeper. Iris’ existence now seemed to drift away, and her thoughts seemed to out-speed her. Not only her thoughts but everything around her. Even sight seemed to out-speed her. Iris fell into the dark void of the subconscious mind. In here all she thought came true but then faded away. She wondered what had happened. Still she couldn't come up with an answer. Darkness was cold and lonely, yet memories of the impossible seemed warm and friendly. She tried to imagine Derpy living with 'The Doctor.' and it all seemed real now. Everything made sense. The cold was gone. She remembered the smile of the old pony who took her in her time of need. That smile was warm and it reminded her why she was alive. The smile was getting hotter by the second. Other images of recent experiences flooded her mind. She saw Ocher, she remembered how they almost kissed that one time. It now felt like if she was in the sun. "OK ENOUGH! OUCH! TOO HOT! OUCH!" Iris screamed. Colors rushed back to her, the noise of worried ponies overwhelmed her. She finally came to. One of the stallions standing in the crowd said "You sure gave us all a scare there missy. You fainted and fell off the seat. I thought you were a goner... it's a miracle you came to so quickly after that fall." Iris got up rather worried but dismissed her worries, thinking back to what the Dr. had told her about her condition. She looked to her surroundings still everything seemed familiar. Iris asked in her confusion: "Where are we, and what time is it?" A mare answered: "We are at the Canterlot train station and it's about 5 in the afternoon." Iris thanked everypony for worrying about her, and promptly left the station. The great towers of Gold, Ivory and Lavender stood tall and proud in front of her. Celestia's sun gave off its last hour of light before setting and letting the silver light of Luna's moon take over. Iris admired the castle city of Canterlot and its architecture all together. She saw the beautiful apartment towers of Canterlot. One of them in particular, had a small coffee shop in front with an old pony behind its counter. "Rose!" Iris shouted as she rushed inside the coffee shop, dropping her bags in the street. She hugged the pale pink unicorn at the counter. "Iris! It seems like forever since I last saw you. You haven't written to me in a while, I was starting to get worried." The old mare stared at Iris as she wouldn't let go. "OK now you got me worried. What happened?" Iris let go of the old mare and a single tear fell as she said “Thank you Rose, for all you've done for me". The pink unicorn took two steps back in awe, as Iris finished her statement. Dumbfound, Rose asked "what is going on with you dear? You sound like you're going to die in my arms". Iris looked back and said "let's close up shop and talk about this shall we?" as she picked her saddle bags from the street. The old unicorn nodded in agreement. She flipped the 'open' sign to 'closed', and closed the coffee shop.
