I guess it's good bye

Chapter 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.