Could this be paradise?

by Timemaster

My first birthday!

My first birthday!

Many things have happened in this year, but I have forgotten them all! I cannot remember anything except for my parents and the Apple family, how numerous they were too, for I met all of them a few days after being released from the smelly place.

There was this weird stallion, Braeburn, who talked to me repeatedly, until my mother stopped him. He was talking about some mare he once knew and how they nearly had foals themselves.

All of these ponies seem surprised at the fact that I can remember things well, and it confuses me as well. They say that babies are supposed to forget everything within a day, but I remember the day I was born! Mother calls me a genius, but dad has barely talked to me.

I barely see my dad, for he usually is out bucking the lemon apples or something like my mom said, or he is too tired from work and just sleeps by me.

Even though he doesn't really talk to me, he sits by me and watches me with a smile. The ponies, although I can barely understand them now, keep on saying that my father has a booboo in his throat. I wish I could heal his booboo, but I fear I may make it worse on accident.

'Sour Lemon is almost always happy', my mother always tells people, but I never feel happy. I just smile out of understanding is all, but knowing that my other is happy makes me a bit happy.

Suddenly interrupting my thoughts is mother, who bursts through my door with a small, round thing with a stick coming out of it. Mother places it on the ground, making sure it doesn't fall, and smiles at me, saying,"Happy birthday Sour!"

I smile, for mother is smiling, and watch as mother takes out an odd block object with a liquid in it.

Rolling a round thing on the block, a small spark of fire erupts from the block.

I just sit there, staring at the suddenly ignited fire, mystified at its appearance , and drool a bit.

My mother grabs a small napkin and rubs my neck, now wet with drool, and says,"Come on Sour, ya only gotta blow out this here candle." she said in simple words for me to understand.

I look at the block with fire coming out and watch as it ignites a piece of yarn on top of the stick, setting the stick itself on fire.

Mother told me to blow it out, so I try, but my tries are foiled by just a little bit of spark left on the candle. Mother smiles at me and slowly eliminates the fire for me and says,"Make a wish, Sour!"

Wish? I do not know what to wish for really, but I guess I could wish at anytime right? What is mother doing?

Mother picks up something she never allowed me to have, a knife, and began cutting the circular object after taking out the stick that had the mystifying fire.

"Here you go Sour,"Mother said, giving a piece of it to me,"This is apple cake!"

Apple.... cake? I always wanted an apple, but what is a cake?

Mother gives me a small spoon, which I am used to eating cereal with, and moves her hooves over the cake, symbolizing that I should eat it.

Hearing it had some apples in it, I drive my white, plastic spoon into the cake. The cake, spongy and colorful on the inside, tempted me to eat it, so I scooped up a spoonful of cake and deposited it into my mouth.

The taste was indescribable. Odd feeling on my tongue tickled me from the inside (in a good way) and made me smile.

I smiled larger, devouring more of this sweet/sour goodness. I could taste something moist, maybe it was apple?

Realizing I just had apples, I began to smile wider and happier, seeing my mother do the same.

Mother, in all of her majestic beauty, was eating cake the same way I was, giggling at how happy I was.

Then, interrupting this moment, Dad stumbled in. He was carrying a few boxes, oddly stacked, and laid them on the floor in front of me.

I stared at them for a while, until my mother started unwrapping one that was laid in front of me.

Opening the box, she pulled out a peculiar object, colorful and shiny, and handed it to me.

The object, in my grasp, seemed to have a lot of star-shaped objects in a glass ball on top, and a long stick penetrating out of the back, allowing me to grasp it.

My mother made odd motions, seeming to just wiggle around, and I giggled at her. While giggling, my body usually moves my arms around, causing something amazing.

The object began making noise when I moved, but unlike my rattler, it was noises like *Bonk* and *Plow!*.

Giggling out of awe and happiness, I began playing with the toy of awesome, as it will be called from now on, and stopped listening to my parents for a little bit.

This toy is wonderful! I have been hitting things with it, for it seems that I am super strong, but I am pretty exhausted from flailing my arms around, so I set down my toy in front of me and turn to my parents.

My parents, still smiling, give me another box. They start unwrapping it as they did before, and hand me the toy.

This toy, though, is far better than the rest. This toy was a stuffed thing, full of fuzz, and I couldn't resist hugging it.

The toy looked like me, but instead of my eyes, it had two buttons as eyes. I was hugging the toy when Dad gave me another box, albeit smaller, and started unwrapping that one.

Inside the box was clothing, but it was much to small for me. Tilting my head, I watch as my dad takes my toy and puts the cloths on it.

Oh my Celestia this is the best gift ever! I can cloth him, hug him, play with him, and do anything! I take my toy, hugging it, and think of something.

'I am going to name you...'

"Bubblepants!" I.... said?

My mother drops the box she was holding, looking at me in absolute surprise. My father does the same, except he had no box, and they both stare at me.

"Bubblepants!" I said, surprised at my ability to talk.

My mother rushes over to me and hugs me,"Sour Lemon, you fast learner you, sooner or later you will be using magic!"

My mother, who I have observed as an over reactor, starts to cry happy tears next to my face.

My father, who was happily laughing all the while, says in his deep voice,"Good job *cough* Sour!"

We all were smiling, Bubblepants in my grasp.

We stayed still like that for a few minutes, until mother said,"Open your last box, my little brainiac."

The last box, smaller than all of the others, is opened by my mother. Out came not a toy, but a large article of clothing.

"This vest, made of many different materials, will shift to fit your size, so even if you.. outgrow your mother, you will still have a piece of home." Mother said in a soft tone, still happy.

Mother places the vest on me, but instead of it having to be moved to fit me, it SAID,"What is your name?"

I know how my name is pronounced... so I try to say,"Sour Lemon." I strained myself to say.

My mother and father were clapping as I finished my name,"So my new master's name is Sour Lemon?"

Master? Suddenly, the vest changes color and grows a name on the front.

The vest is now pure black with a red pattern stitched in the front that read,'S R L' and that is all I could understand.

My mother walks up to me, points at the stitched thing, and says,"Sour Lemon."

I look at the stitching again, saying with more ease,"Sour Lemon."

My mother claps and walks away, knowing that she had succeeded.

But something happened...

Father started to cough, shocking mother. Mother looked at Father with eyes of pure terror, but all dad was doing was coughing right?

Dad suddenly fell onto his side, coughing uncontrollably, an odd red liquid was dripping out of his mouth, his body beginning to pale.

Mother puts me and Bubblepants to bed in another room before she went to father again.

Even though I was in another room, I could hear the murmurs of my parents...

Loud banging noises, coughing, and a heart-wrenching scream is all I heard, hugging Bubblepants...

'I wish Dad would stay with me...' I think.

....

Silence. Absolute silence. All I hear now is my own heart beat, thumping hard against my chest, but it begins to slow down.

Dad must be better now, right?

I am so very tired...

....

.....

I felt darkness overtake me...

---

Mrs. Lemon is sprinting to the local hospital, her husband on her back, breathing very lightly.

Seeing the hospital, she bashes through the door, freezing every doctor in the room.

"Its happening again!" She yells, seeing a few doctors scramble to her.

"Take the patient to the E.R.!" A pure white stallion, named Lionheart, said.

Mrs. Lemon looked on in horror as her husband was put into the E.R.

This was not the first time.

Mr. Lemon has a disease which can kill him at any time, but usually the E.R. saves him with their magical surgery...

But Mrs. Lemon fears the worst.

...

After a weary hour of silence, a doctor comes by Mrs. lemon with a smile on his face.

"We did it." He said, smile growing ever-so larger,"We found the cause of his illness."

Mother nearly collapses, for all of this time she had expected the worst.

"there was only one bad thing that happened, but he is still alive."the doctor said, scratching his head.

"What is it?" Mrs. Lemon said, fear still in her voice.

The doctor looked at his chart,"He will not be able to walk without assistance again..." he said, a little pane of sadness in his throat.

Mother looks at the doctor,"That does not matter, for my husband is alive!" she hugs the doctor.

"Would you like to see him?" The doctor said, escaping the happy hug of doom.

Mrs. Lemon nods, following the doctor down to the E.R.

...

Mr. Lemon lays asleep, his leg severed off. His face has a calm demeanor, as if he doesn't know he is missing his leg. His breathing is nicely paced, not even one degree higher.

Mrs. Lemon sits beside her husband, hoping that he would wake soon.

Hours pass, Mrs. Lemon only leaves for food or the bathroom, but when she returns she sees something that makes her happy.

Mr. Lemon has woken up, but instead of saying nothing, like usual, he says,"Good morning..."

Mr. Lemon grabs his own throat, smiling all the while.

"There is no pain! I can speak!" He turns to his wife, who is also smiling.

He is about to get off the bed, as per usual on his visits, but he cannot move his left back leg.

He looks to see what may be holding his leg down...

Only to see that his leg is gone.

"My leg!" He screams, his wife trying to calm him down.

"Honey, your leg was filled with the curse, you are cured now!" Mrs. lemon said.

Mr. Lemon looked a little mad, but his wife calmed him down quite a bit...

Now he only wanted to choke the witch who gave him the curse to death.

"So... Who is going to work on the farm now?" he said, scared his family may become bankrupt or something.

"There is a lot of ponies in the Apple family without jobs, they would graciously accept our offer of one, but enough of that." She said, grabbing a wheel chair for her husband,"It is time we show your son you are alright! You scared us both to death." She said smiling.

Mr. Lemon chuckles,"Yeah, I hope Sour will understand my predicament."

The Lemons chuckle and giggle when leaving the hospital, for there was a motto that all of the Lemon family must follow.

'Always look on the bright side of life!'

---

I wake up from my dream abruptly, my mother rubbing the back of my head.

"Honey, your father has something to say to you." Mother said.

'Dad is safe? Did the wish work?'

I hear the crunching of the carpet of my room as a wheeled object comes through the darkness.

My mother turns on the light, revealing my father without a leg, but smiling.

Worried at his leg, I nearly frown, until my father, in his amazing Old Equestrian accent, said,

"Some things in life are bad

They can really make you mad

Other things just make you swear and curse.

When you're chewing on life's gristle

Don't grumble, give a whistle

And this'll help things turn out for the best...

And...always look on the bright side of life...

Always look on the light side of life...

If life seems jolly rotten

There's something you've forgotten

And that's to laugh and smile and dance and sing.

When you're feeling in the dumps

Don't be silly chumps

Just purse your lips and whistle - that's the thing.

And...always look on the bright side of life...

Always look on the light side of life...

For life is quite absurd

And death's the final word

You must always face the curtain with a bow.

Forget about your sin - give the audience a grin

Enjoy it - it's your last chance anyhow.

So always look on the bright side of death

Just before you draw your terminal breath

Life's a large zit

When you look at it

Life's a laugh and death's a joke, it's true.

You'll see it's all a show

Keep 'em laughing as you go

Just remember that the last laugh is on you.

And always look on the bright side of life...

Always look on the right side of life... "

When my father finished the song, I smiled. I smiled with so much happiness, that I wore myself out.

I fell immediately asleep on my bed, my mother and father leaving the room.

Bubblepants right besides me, my blanket over me, and my parents in the next room, I felt so secure that my sleep was perfect that day.

"Always look on the bright side of life....zZzzzz...."

Comments

[DezzarTac]

awww
Well, like always, I'll be in the shadow waiting for the next chapter!

[Two-HeadedSnake]

Aahh right in the heart went from happy to downright sad you are a true writer

[Timemaster]

1676935>>1673552 I know you guys like my stories, but there is one thing I am trying to improve on.

Ways to end a chapter.

It feels like every time I try, my mind tells me to continue the chapter... even if it might be over my set limit (This story's is about 2K-3K words.)

Oh well, I can only improve !

[Sky Hooves]

Sorry, cant resist:

[doctor_n]

The Lemons chuckle and giggle when leaving the hospital, for there was a motto that all of the Lemon family must follow.
'Always look on the bright side of life!'

Cause. I Mean, "when life gives you lemons." Am I right?

[doctor_n]

Also,
"stay on the sunny side, always on the sunny side! Stay on the sunny side of liiIIIife! You will feel no pain, as we drive you all insane! Sooooo, stay on the sunny side of liiiIIIIife! (Someone tells a joke.)(repeat until everyone at campfire hates you)"
Brought to you from a former scout!

[Death2205]

Too cute