Life of Death

by Fresnor

Chapter 3

Gamboge eyes stared into gamboge eyes as the class stared on in shock at the appearance of the near twins. The town had been starting to notice a trend when Scootaloo, Apple Bloom, and Sweetie Belle had gotten together, that where they went there often was a huge mess to follow. It didn't take much for the other students to connect those incidents with the appearance of a doppelganger to have them wondering just how much worse things were going to get. The standstill in the room was broken when a yellow hoof came up to boop a yellow nose.

“So, now that this misunderstanding has been resolved, does this mean I can go now?” She turned her head towards the two adults as she asked them in a bored tone, snapping them out of their catatonia. They looked to the other, hoping they had the answer, but were preempted by an orange pegasus butting in between the two earth pony fillies.

“Just hold a minute. Just who are you anyways? How come I've never seen you before, and why do you look so much like Apple Bloom?” The young pegasus was pulled back by the white unicorn, allowing the other filly to see the other faces peering at her, the same questions written on their faces. With a roll of her eyes, the mystery filly sighed and turned back to the glaring pegasus.

“Fine, if you must know, my use name is Iris. You haven't seen me because I haven't come into Ponyville until today, and I have no idea why I look like her.” She did have a suspicion after hearing the other filly's name, but it was still mostly a coincidence that her current form looked like her. Her answers caused the ponies in the room to look at each other, though one figure perked up at the name.

“Oh! You mean you're Iris!? Just a moment, please.” Cheerilee perked up at hearing the name and quickly trotted over to her desk. After digging around through the drawers for a moment she pulled out a small packet.

“Here it is. Your guardian filled out your registration for classes last month. It was odd that he didn't give a specific date, but he mentioned that you would be starting at the start of the first week you were available.” Iris blinked at the teacher in confusion before she slowly raised a hoof up to rub at her temple as she felt a headache coming on. The other colts and fillies grew tenser as they realized that this filly was soon going to be joining them and the terrible trio were already starting to interact with her. They weren't sure if they should warn her about them, or warn her away from them. The decision was taken from them as Apple Bloom stepped forward and placed a hoof on her shoulder.

“Your family has the whole use name, too huh? As this feather-brain mentioned, mine is Apple Bloom. And this is Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle.” As their names were mentioned the pegasus and unicorn fillies stepped forward.

“And together we are...”

“THE CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS!” Iris's ears flattened at the volume of the three yelling fillies, and hers weren't the only ones. Not seeing a reason to react to the display, she instead turned her attention back to the teacher.

“So I guess that means I can go now then? Your class isn't quite done for the day, is it?” Cheerilee blinked at her for a moment before she looked around and noticed the rest of her students standing around the doorway. Clearing her throat she looked to the other adult.

“Yes, thank you for your work Truant Officer Crumb Key, but this has just been a misunderstanding. She will be joining the class at the start of this next week so she wasn't skipping class. As for the rest of you, she is right, class is still in session and there is still much to go over today.” A round of 'awws' came from the class as the truant officer nodded and walked out of the building. Cheerilee then turned to the new filly and gave a nod to her as she proceeded to herd the rest of her students back into the room. The last Iris saw of them was the three Crusaders peering at her through the door before it closed leaving her alone in the hall of the school.

“Well, this has turned out to be a rather annoying day. Just what is that stupid stallion thinking, forcing me to go to school in this town? When I get my hooves on him...” She growled to herself as she walked out of the school, lost in her own thoughts. She was so busy working herself up in her thoughts that she missed the sight of a gray pegasus crashing into the town hall, causing a chain reaction of damage to the building. She even missed all the stares she was getting from the ponies she passed as they whispered to each other at her appearance. None of them came to stop her and she eventually ended up in front of her home.

The building was built out of a dark wood found only in the Hollow Shades, imported just for this building. While it looked like it was a large mansion, the actual living area of the building was rather small, being only sized for two bedrooms. Much of the rest of the building was cleverly disguised to look like a larger home but were actually a various number of greenhouses, each for a specific style of plants. As she had only recently awoken, having been in a coma from her period of regeneration until now, none of them had any plants growing as of yet. As she stared at the black door, she eventually shook her head and pushed her way inside, finding Westleaf waiting for her.

“Back already? How was your walk my little- Yeowch!” The stallion hopped back and clutched at his pastern after being frog punched by the young filly. Iris glared at him with the full force of her annoyance.

“Seriously? Ponyville of all places? When you know that I wanted somewhere peaceful to live a life of new experiences? And school? Really?” While her tone of voice was still bored sounding, her annoyance was starting to bleed through into it. Having stopped his hopping, the stallion smirked as he rubbed at the spot she struck.

“Oh? And you mean you didn't find anything out there to catch your attention? You were gone far longer than if you just went to the town hall and back, especially if you already learned about me signing you up for classes. Something interesting happen while you were out?” His smirk only grew as she didn't respond in the negative right away. Her mind went to the odd experiences she had already encountered, including meeting one of her who-knows-how-many-times-granddaughters. Actually having descendants was a totally new experience for her, and her bored expression faded into a pout as she turned from the stallion.

“S-shut up. You just got lucky, that's all. If you do something like this again you better be ready to be punished.” The stallion's smirk only grew as he walked over to sit behind her and pulled out a brush as he began undoing her braids.

“As you wish. You may be Iris now, but you will always be my little apple of death.” The filly didn't reply verbally, but her tail wagged slightly at his words and the reference to her previous identity that the stallion somehow managed to convince her to use as her secret name.

Author's Note:

Character name finally revealed, or at least the public one. More will be explained on that later, but it's a family thing. Should be enough hints as to what the other name is, especially with one origin of the name Iris, Eiris.

Comments

[Starlight Nova]

Is this story going to go on forever? I won't read it if that's the case.

[Asolem2]

Her mind went to the odd experiences she had already encountered, including meeting one of her who-knows-how-many-times-granddaughters.

Oh, now that's interesting

[Fresnor]

10844600
Nah, I already have an ending planned for it. Won't go much past Tirek if it even gets that far. Won't even be bothering with many of the episodes as most of the focus will be around the CMC and Apple Family... One of everyone's favorite cuties will actually make it in though as well.