//------------------------------// // He's finally here. // Story: Lemon Pies and Chess: Lemonade // by Lemon Pegasus //------------------------------// Everypony in the room froze right where they stood, bringing silence to the room. They knew this day was coming, all of them! Citronella had her mane styled for it, Maple booked time off school, Lemon was more than excited and yet now, this moment was here! It was to happen now! When that door opened, a pony who had not been seen for almost a month would make his return: Citron, Lemon and Maple's father and wife to Citronella. Being the owner of the company that produces over half of Equestria's lemon supply, lengthy business trips had to be made regularly. Like it or not, Citron would have to leave his family at a moment's notice to make business deals, deliver supplies and a whole host of other things that must be taken into account when being a high-profit businesscolt. As one can imagine, whenever he WAS home, the family would take full advantage of his company. Lemon couldn't get the door. The heat of the moment had frozen him; stood no more than a few feet away, separated only by an inch-thick door, was his father! Maple felt the same way, and he too was frozen. Citronella, of course, was just as excited to see her husband, but she was frozen for just a couple of seconds. Being the only adult in the room (though not for long), she walked towards the door, pretending she was not about to leap for joy. Her hoof touched the handle. She pulled it down. The door swung open without any creaking or disturbance. Citronella took a peek through the door... her heart stopped. Nopony was there. "Oh." She said in a confused voice. Wondering who might have knocked on the door, she took a step outside and looked around: empty. There was nopony in sight. Her muscles relaxed. "Surprise." She immediately froze a second time. The two children froze even stiffer. "You happy to see me?" Citronella stood outside, that voice was familiar. She heard the same happy, confident, aged voice that proposed to her a while back. Lemon and Maple heard that same voice, the voice that would cheer them on when they were struggling as toddlers, and one that could only belong to one pony: Citron. Lemon turned around. He saw him stood there, and felt his heart take off and fly away. Citron stood before the back porch looking ever so glad to see his family again. His yellow fur was more pale that Lemon's, as it had aged more. His grey mane sat short and scruffy; figures that Citron hadn't combed his hair today! He looked strong and tall. After all, he was keeping in good physical condition, as he was still a lemon farmer at heart. His wings housed strong, long feathers, and he carried a pair of black saddlebags. Lemon wasted no time once he got over his moment of shock. The pegasus foal didn't even waste time walking around the sofa, leaping straight over it in one large leapfrog. He fell sharply into the embrace of his father, an embrace he had been missing for long enough now. As his hooves wrapped around the neck of his father, he felt a teardrop run down his face, its cool moist surface quickly being counteracted by the warm, soft hugging of his dad's fur. It took him a moment to realize that he had, full force no less, charged at his dad, and had wrestled him onto his knees with this rugby tackle of a hug! His dad started laughing as Lemon's face was took over by the smile of a lifetime. "Okay, try not to kill me!" He laughed as Citronella finally came back inside, looking as if she was holding back a torrent of joy, ready to flood at any moment. Maple wasn't as full on as his younger brother, he stood to the side and waited to greet his father. "I knew knocking at the front door then coming in the back door would surprise you, but really?" Citron got to his feet. "I leave like this quite often, this shouldn't be anything new to you!" He unzipped his saddlebags and allowed them to fall to the ground, hitting the floorboards with a lazy thud. Lemon hung onto his father for a few seconds after he got to his hooves, dangling from his neck like a pair of key chains before finally letting go and hitting the ground just as the saddlebags did. Upon noticing Maple, Citron approached the maroon-coloured pegasus and, rather than the 'hug of death' he got from Lemon, gave him a quick hug with a single hoof, patting his back and addressing him. "Maple, good to see you!" He left the hug, fully aware that a pony of Maple's age would be less enthusiastic to engage in intimate moments with parents. "College going good for you?" Maple was currently taking college courses in agriculture and economics. "It's goin' great, pa!" Maple gave his dad a smile before the stallion of the house saw his wife. Citronella stood there, for once in her life, blushing! She was usually a very confident and sometimes a bossy pony, but here she was seen nervous! The mare stood with her hooves close together, only looking at her husband out of the corner of her eyes, face bright red. Citron seemed to recognize what was going on here. "You're gonna have to hug me sooner or later, stop holding back!" Citron joked, holding out his hooves for an embrace. Citronella hesitated before realizing that really, she desperately wanted that hug! Even though her kids were no more than a few meters away, she made quick haste for her stallion, pulling him into a massive bear hug of sorts, completely living in the moment! Citron was literally lifted off the ground with the power of this embrace, Citronella beaming genuinely and brightly. Citron managed to get a few words in despite the fact that any air that was once in his body had now been squeezed out of him. "And I thought Lemon's hug was full on!" Citronella didn't care. "Okay seriously, I can't breathe..." Citron's face started to become just as red as Citronella's as the air was stolen from him. Upon realizing what she was doing, she snapped her eyes open and hastily put down her husband, who quickly took advantage and gasped for air, breathing heavily. "Uh, sorry. Good to see ya again!" Citronella was still blushing quite a bit after that ordeal, while Citron was still trying to regain his breath. "I'll get you back for that, young lady!" Citron gave her a look of arousal. Of course the first thing Citron said when he got his breath back was something entertaining, so a cheeky hint at later activities would fit that ship perfectly! At this, Maple giggled shortly as Citronella smirked while the blushing on her cheeks reached a clear cherry colour, but Lemon had no idea what they meant, for he was just a colt. "So, checklist: Lemon, you up to a game of chess?" Citron turning his attention onto Lemon made the young pony beam with joy. "YEAH! I mean, um, sure!" Lemon just then remembered the big news he had for his father. "Ooh, take a look at this!" He turned sideways to his dad so that his whole body was in view. "Aah, no way!" Citron just now noticed an image of a lemon with two lemon slices below it! His son had got his cutie mark! "So, what's your talent?" he asked. "I got this while making lemonade. I'm sure my talent is my brewing ability!" Lemon seemed to be really enthusiastic about discovering his cutie mark, which understandably he was! This simple image upon his rump was one that would spell out a great deal about himself, and not only that, but his brother could no longer call him a blank-flank! The reasoning has been doubled! "Now if you two ladies don't mind," Citron jokingly referring to Maple as a lady, "Lemon and I have a game to undergo!"