//------------------------------// // Chapter 4 // Story: Life of Death // by Fresnor //------------------------------// “Well, I guess this is take-two Ponyville, for the second time. I should at least check out the town before school tomorrow. Ugh, I can't believe he is having me go through that, doesn't he know that it's going to be completely boring for me?” Iris stepped out of her new home and looked down the road towards the town. Now that she knew what town she was in, she was able to recognize a little bit of the area that hadn't changed all that much over the near thousand years she was last there. To one side was Sweet Apple Acres, which she was actually surprised that she hadn't recognized right away even with its larger number of trees. On the other was the vista that was Canterlot sitting atop the mountain in the distance, the castle having changed a bit over time but still being recognizable. She could even see hints of some of the homes of the original residents, especially if they were passed down through the family line. The mansion in the back was new, but she could recognize a small shack the was sitting near a back corner of the property. She decided to wander at random at first as she thought back to her efforts the previous day. Having done an inventory after the incident at school, she had found that someone had gotten into her old collection of souvenirs, much to her annoyance. She was sure it was the pain in her flank that did it, though she wasn't quite sure about how he knew just what to grab, though she suspected she'd have to check the locks on her personal diaries. Still, a thorough job had been done researching the items so she had everything she needed to grow some of the flower seeds she had saved over the many years, many of which had long gone extinct or were nearly so due to the specific conditions needed to grow them. Much of the previous day had then been used to set up the various greenhouses to her liking with even a couple of her old favorites already being planted. She paused as she started to pass one building and slowly turned to stare at it with a raised eyebrow. “Well, this is interesting. Did a witch move into town at some point?” Her words earned her odd looks from the surrounding ponies that heard her, but they just chuckled when they noticed the building she was looking at, though there was some confusion still from those that could see her face and her resemblance to another filly in town. Seeing others go into the building with the gingerbread roof she decided to go inside as well to satisfy her curiosity. With a final glance up at the cupcake on the roof, the filly passed through the portal into the unknown. “Welcome to Sugarcube Corner, how can I... Applebloom? But I thought...? But how...?” The plump, pink-maned blue mare looked between the filly that had just entered and somewhere towards the back of the room. Iris could easily guess what the mare was looking at and brought her hoof up to her face as she heard a voice call out from behind her, confirming her suspicions. “Did you call me for something, Mrs. Cake?” The red-maned yellow filly walked up from the seating area of the store while the mare kept looking between her and the near-identical black-maned filly. The young apple filly looked at the older mare in confusion for a moment before following her looks to see a familiar set of black braids. Glancing around she rolled her eyes at all the other ponies now noticing the two twin-like ponies and having a similar reaction. Shaking her head she turned back to the new pony in town. “Hey, Iris. Are you here for lunch as well? Why not join me and my friends once you get your order?” She points back the way she came from and Iris noticed the other two fillies she had seen at the school sitting at a table against the wall. She considered the offer before she shook her head in denial. “Maybe some other time. I was just exploring Ponyville, seeing what was around, and the design of the building just caught my eye. It looked like there should be a witch or something living here.” Applebloom just gave her a look that screamed 'and yet you still came in here' before she looked thoughtful for a moment. “Actually, that probably would explain Pinkie Pie. But no, no witches here. Well, if you aren't going to stay here then I guess I'll see you tomorrow at school.” She paused in thought for a moment and was about to say more before she blinked and leaned to the side as she noticed something. With a gasp, Applebloom turned and ran off back to her two friends and started gesturing back towards the confused filly she had just left behind. Looking back over her shoulder Iris looked past her blank flank towards where she thought the other filly was looking but saw nothing of interest. With a shrug, she prepared to leave the store when she noticed a particular treat hiding in the back of the display case, one that had easily become her favorite when she had first tried it. “Actually, I think I'll take that one to go, the one in the way back, the middle one of the three.” The mare, Mrs. Cake, on hearing the monotone voice looked down at the filly and shook her head, clearing away some of the confusion. Her gaze went further down to the case of treats before her eyes found what the filly was pointing to, causing them to widen once more. “That one?! Are you sure sweetie, that happens to be-” She was caught off guard when the filly raised a hoof. “The Zap Apple Surprise Muffin? Yes, I know. No other muffins have the variety of flavours that come with every bite, each one different from the last.” Mrs. Cake still looked unsure at the filly, but as she seemed to know what she was getting into she slowly reached into the case. A few of the ponies at tables nearby saw all of this and word had begun to spread about the order and soon most of the room had turned their attention towards the tableau as the blue mare set out a rainbow-colored muffin. The edges of the filly's mouth turned upwards as she took a sniff at the treat before taking a small bite out of it, the rest of the room watching in anticipation. Her only reaction to the bite was a small sigh of enjoyment, a small tongue of flame flickering out of the side of her mouth. “Hmm, spicy banana? That's a new one.” Eyes tracked her as she left the building, commenting on the various flavours she tasted after each bite. It was only after the door had closed that one of the ponies commented. “I never thought I'd see anypony other than Granny Smith handle one of those muffins so effortlessly, especially a spicy flavour.” This statement was greeted with nods as the others agreed with them each wondering just what else would come about with this new filly in town, especially with the eyes of the three greatest troublemakers of Ponyville on her. Outside of Sugarcube Corner Iris quickly polished off the last of the muffin before looking around for her next destination. Not seeing anything she chose a random direction and started walking, letting her instincts guide her around. After another hour of roaming through the town, she felt herself get drawn to a decently sized complex on the edge of Ponyville, not far from a field full of similarly shaped stones. “I guess I should have expected a place like this in town with how long it's been around now. But for me to be drawn here already?” With a shake of her head she pushed open the door of the building and walked inside. Within she found a mare seated behind a desk reading a magazine. Off to the side was a large room filled with a bunch of chairs and tables, with old ponies filling many of said seats. Glancing around she failed to spot what had drawn her to this location so she made her way past the desk to a hallway behind it. The mare at the desk was too absorbed in her book to notice her, though a couple of the old ponies noticed her and smiled at seeing a young filly coming to visit somepony in the building. Iris passed door after door as she walked down the hall, most of them closed, though she could feel ponies behind some of them. The fact that she could sense them just showed how close they were to death, within a couple of decades at the most, but her mind was focused on one that shone like a star in her mind. It was at the last door in the hall that she found what was pulling her as she entered a room inhabited by an ancient-looking mare that was staring out her window from her bed. Without a word, the filly walked over and hopped up into the chair next to the bed. Neither of them said a word as the mare continued to stare out the window towards the setting sun. Eventually, she glanced away towards the door and only then noticed the filly waiting patiently next to her. “Oh my, did you come to visit old Petunia young filly? It has been a long time since anypony has come to see me, such a long time...” The mare looked saddened about this as she brought a hoof up to the silver locket that she was wearing. Opening it she began looking at the photo within of a mare with her pink-colored coat and red mane which no longer matched her gray. Below her were two younger ponies of similar coloration. Iris was able to get a look at them as it was turned slightly towards her. “Haven't they come to visit you at all? Nopony should be alone in their final hours.” The mare just smiled sadly as she reached over and rubbed at the filly's mane with a hoof. “No, they've been gone for a long time now deary. It has just been me for these many years. Someday I hope to see them again though.” The mare zones out again as she focuses on the locket once again, a hoof running over the edge of it. The two sat in silence like that for over an hour until the mare eventually fell asleep while still holding onto the picture. Even then the filly stayed by her side as the sun began to set over the horizon. “Miss Petunia? Are you still awake in here? Oh, what are you doing here little filly? Visiting hours ended a while ago.” Looking towards the door the filly saw a rather nondescript brown stallion looking into the room. She frowned as she saw him as her eyes kept wanting to slip off of him. Not only that, when she tried to focus on him she couldn't sense anything from him which should be an impossibility. Focusing on his cutie mark she managed to get a view of it and her frown deepened as she took in what she saw. At first, it appeared to be a rolled-up scroll, but the skull on the seal of it denoted that it wasn't a scroll, but a treasure map. “Who are you, and how are you still alive while looking so young?” The stallion looked at her in confusion for a moment before glancing at the sleeping mare. “I'm Nopony Special, but shouldn't Petunia have told you that if she mentioned my condition? I've never had a young pony ask me that before, only old ponies that have known me for years. About my curse from the crazy-looking genie all those years ago...” The stallion looked sad as he thought back on his circumstances as the filly frown and glanced at the mare next to her. “So she really does have someone to stay with her, huh? You know she won't last through the night, right?” The stallion jerked as he looked at the filly in the eyes, and almost blanched away at the look in her eyes. A look he found familiar, yet to a far greater extent to what he saw in the mirror every morning. “Who, what are you? You aren't just an ordinary filly, are you?” The filly just flicked her tail to the side as a curved shape emerged from it as she leaped out of the chair. Walking over to the stallion she gently tapped one of his hooves with it before it vanished back into the blackness of her tail. The stallion flinched away as a cold feeling crept up his leg from the point that she touched. “I'm just a filly that moved into town recently to relax and enjoy life for a few years. Somepony that you probably should have met centuries ago. Though before I go you have a choice, two of them actually. If you tire of this life, just stay here with Petunia as her death comes to claim her. If you do you can finally have the rest you've long deserved. If you don't then who knows when you will have the chance again. Choose the former though and you will have one more choice, go to your eternal rest, or join my crew.” The stallion was confused at the filly's words, though as she spoke there was a change in it, one that brought up old memories. Memories of a time of freedom and glory, of adventure and the smell of salt, and a time when he had met one with a similar voice, one that had terrorized the seas. He was so caught up in his memories that he didn't notice as the filly passed him by out of the room. Iris quickly left the building as night began to settle over Ponyville. She looked back one last time as she stepped through the door and shook her head at the odd stallion that she had found. “I am going to need to have a word with that boy next time I see him. I've warned him before about messing with my domain. Well, that's for later, I better get back to that pain in the flank before he does something foolish again.” With that the young pony made her way back to her home, leaving the Ponyville Retirement Home behind, but not to be forgotten as many have done before. The next morning it had become the talk of the town as an old mare had been found dead the next morning, a stallion by her side in a similar state. Some talk of the power of their love to have gone together spread through the town, yet some made note of how the ancient-looking stallion in the room looked a lot like one of the caretakers of the Home, one that could not be found.