//------------------------------// // The days that were lost... // Story: Could this be paradise? // by Timemaster //------------------------------// The days that were lost... It has been a few months since my birthday, but due to my odd memory, I forgot most of it! I remember the day that I began to walk though, for my parents were even more happier than the time I talked! Father made some quirky jokes about me being the 'last stallion standing', for he was always sitting. I felt a little embarrassment, but it is all in good fun, so I myself smile. My father, with his newfound voice, has been talking to me much more recently, although he still seems to enjoy silence when we are alone. My father has started to grow a mustache with curly ends, but instead of looking hilarious as my mother predicted, he looked quite dashing. With me able to walk and understand basic speech, I am finally able to communicate with my parents, meaning I can now ask for the one thing I always desired... "Mom, can I have an apple?" I say, straining to remember the correct sounds. My mother, who was busy writting a note, sets down the note and quill and says,"Sure, Sour, but let mommy finish this letter first." she smiled as she said. I just nod and slowly walk away. I am no gracious walker yet, for I fall at the slightest bump! Mother tells me to be careful around stairs, but where are stairs? Our house only has attic stairs, so why is Mother so protective? I guess it is because of her over-reactant attitude, but she might be right... but I feel the urge to prove her wrong. I will find some stairs one day and conquer them, causing my Mother to look at me in awe. I am still walking down the hallway, my room only one door down, when my Father rolls by me and says,"I do not know what I've been told!" 'What were the words?... Oh yeah!' "Only fillies believe what they are told!" I say, causing my father to laugh, rolling into the bathroom beside my room. I never understood why older ponies use restrooms when there are perfectly good diapers around, but I guess I will have to learn too, although I do not want to. But... If it will make Mother and Father happy, I am ready for it. My father pokes my on the head lightly, making me aware of how much of my world I was just ignoring. "Come on kid, it is time for potty-training!" My father said joyously. 'Oh joy....' ... My parents and I are all happy again, although I do not understand why I am happy, for I only pooped. Maybe it is because I am now considered more mature? That must be it. I am more mature than some foals my age, but there is something I have yet to master. The art of trotting fast. So, while my parents are in another room, cleaning my 'mess', I start pumping myself up for the trot. I prepare a Finish line with a piece of string and set off, trotting as fast as my legs could take me. Halfway through, I break out in sweat, fatigue taking over my body, but I want to do it. I need to do it. My vision starts to haze, for I am that weak, but I suddenly feel something. I felt the wall. I felt the wall hit my horn. The pain, being almost unbearable, was also silencing. I could not say anything, I could not think, but I think I saw something... I saw it before I blacked out, its eyes boring holes into my own. I saw... Mrs. Lemon was walking out of the room as she heard a *Thump* against a wall near her. She walk towards the odd sound, wondering what caused it, but as she drew closer she saw things. She saw her child, knocked out on the floor, but she also saw something else. Her child's horn was lit up with a black colored magic, enveloping his bruised forehead. She watched in both horror and awe as her son basically healed himself with his magic, but something seemed off. Her son is not a seriously dark color, so why is his magic pure black? Usually your magic comes from your coat... or.. your personality... Black couldn't be a bad color to have a a personality, could it? Ignoring the color of the magic, she turns her attention back to its healing abilities. Something that could heal that much cannot be evil, so she slowly walk over to her son.. banging into a black force field in the process. "Honey!" Mrs. Lemon shouts to her husband,"Our son it having his first magical anomaly, come roll over here!" She says in an excited tone. Knowing that most foals have an odd magic burst like this, she wanted to actually RECORD her son's, mapping out the magical currents. Mrs. Lemon may not be a unicorn, but if you live near a library like she did as a young filly, you would learn A LOT of things. Although she had no idea what her son's shade of black magic meant, she knew it had the ability to heal, so it had to be pure in some way. No impure being has had the ability to cure him/herself except... No, there can not be a way.. Her son is nothing like that crystal obsessed overlord, for if he was, he would have crystals flying out of his diapers! She laughs a bit at that image, gaining an odd look from her husband, who was not in the light of the small joke. They both stand there, documenting their child's first magic spasm for a full hour... It is still in my vision, clouding my mind. I cannot think straight, my body feels weak, where am I, where is mommy? I hear a muffled voice that sounds like mommy, but I can not see her. It will not allow me to leave its line of sight. It looks very odd to me, for its body looks like a shaven ape, but it seems to have something else... Its eyes. The eyes look just like my own, but older and broken... What is this monster? Why does it have my eyes? W- "What are you?" I strain, my lungs feeling as if I had just burst them. Its eye filled with a small black smoke, clouding its face from me... "I.." It began to say, the smoke dissipating. "am..." I could almost see its face again. Suddenly, a bright light shines through the smoke, blinding me. "I am you." is all it said before I blacked out... 'I do not understand...' Mrs. and Mr. Lemon watch in absolute horror as their child is slammed on the wall behind him, ramming in it so hard he caused a dent in the wall. "Sour!" They both shouted, rushing to their child, happy that the shield was down. Sour lays there, unhurt, but does not seem to be waking up. Mrs. and Mr. Lemon know exactly what they must do... They pick up their child, put him in a saddlebag, and rush off to the hospital, hoping the doctors could help him. It was impossible for either of them to make it to the hospital though, for one had no energy, while the other had no leg, so they call the closest taxi they see. The taxi, knowing that this was important, did not ask for money and drove quickly to the hospital. Nearing Oak Rd. , the quickest route to the hospital, they saw a large tree blocking their way. Knowing they could not make it through there, they ask to go to the second fastest way to the hospital, River Road. River Road is right by a large river and there are many quick turning areas, but they are very easy to navigate in normal weather... Until it began to rain. Thunder strikes a few miles away, showing them how much time they had left till the roads all closed. The taxi driver drives fast, dodging many mud splotches that happen in this city. This city rains like no tomorrow, not because of the pegasi though, for it is something worse. Many years ago, a witch named Death Shine cursed the city and the people trying to fight her, like Mr. Lemon, and caused the Si Addle condition. Si Addle now has automatic weather, but sometimes this happens. A large rainstorm or drought can come out of nowhere, nearly starving all ponies, but NOPONY ever wanted this storm. The taxi driver, who wants to save this child as much as the parents, can barely see a few feet in front of him, which is not that bad, but still. "We are on River Road now, only a few more minutes until your son is safe!" The taxi driver says to the Lemons, earning a smile from Mr. Lemon. ... They are halfway through River Road when a large black rain cloud appeared, covering the whole sky that the taxi driver could see. While he was trying to stop to assess the situation, a lightning bolt strikes the front of the carriage... Incinerating the taxi driver completely. The driver's corpse's hoof slams down onto the gas pedal, launching the carriage forward. The carriage flips, crashing into the protective beam, and slams into the river. The carriage bobs up and down, but is steadily sinking. Mr. Lemon tries to open the metal door, but it is melted shut from the lightning bolt. Mr. and Mrs. Lemon hug their son closely and kiss him on the head, knowing that this might be their end, when Mr. Lemon kicked out one of the small windows and pushes their son out. Before they had done that though, they wrapped him in something that would remind him of them... They watch as their son lands onto a floating piece of the protective beam, happy that he is atleast safe, as a lightning bolt strikes the carriage one last time... I wake up, a warm hand on my head. I look up, but instead of my parents or even my home, I see a monkey, picking me out of something wet. Looking backwards a bit, I see a large, raging river, crushing all in its path. This monkey may have saved my life, but why? The monkey smiles at me and hands me a large leaf. The monkey itself puts a leaf on its torso, seeming to warm it up. But it sees I have something else on. My vest. "Mommy?" I say, tears falling out of my eyes,"Daddy?" I say, the word coming out as a broken sound. The monkey looks at me as if it was sympathetic and slowly and lovingly grabbed me. I then notice that this monkey had no tail, so does that mean this is an ape? Through my tears, I see the ape lovingly pick me up and cradle me. I fall asleep, tired from crying, in its arms. 'Always look on the bright side of life...' plays through my head as I sleep. A smile, albeit small, appears on my crying face. I have spent many years in this ape clan, learning the ways of battle and compassion towards all things. Although we could never truly communicate, I always practiced my equestrian with the Clan Head, who was a large gray ape. The large gray ape, know some equestrian himself, grunted when I did something right, but we could never really talk after that. I have learned that the day I became lost was a day in which a witch ruined the land, but only because I understand the apes written language. I have also learned that the apes are third class citizens who are sometimes imprisoned by ponies, which is absolutely horrendous, but the elder has never done anything in aggression towards the empire. I have lived with the apes for so long, but I have learned only one amazing thing on my own without the group. Magic. For the TEN years I have been here, I have practiced magic, noticing some odd patterns in my magic. My magic does not really need much thought to do anything, for I have plucked a whole TREE on accident. The elder, impressed in my skills, has actually done something I thought was impossible. He spoke to me. "Child of ponee kind, I, Gray Ape the Great, am allowing you to leave, but U must always remember to come visit home." He then hugged me, a hug I returned with joy. "Thank you Gray, I will miss you, but I have something I need to do." I say, leaning into Grays ear. He questionably grunts. "I have chosen what I want in life, and that is to bring the end to all who cause evil in this peaceful land." He hugs me tighter, tearing up, and grunts lovingly. ... I wave back one last time, and move out to my first destination. I take out the map in my vest's pocket... My parent's final gift to me falls out of the pocket though. Bubblepants has his white jacket on, contradicting my black vest, as I start to hug him. I put him back in his new pocket, the left one, and pull out the map correctly. The map is a bit old, but there is no way large cities could just up and move, so I start going North. North to ...