I guess it's good bye

Chapter 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!