"Finished."

Setting down the empty fruit basket, Lemona "Lemon" Meringue Pie let out a sigh of relief. Pulling the pale green bandanna off from around her forehead, the mare wiped her face before putting it around her neck.

The harvesting was done for today. It was not a large crop, after all she only had a small number of trees and wanted to have more to harvest on other days. All the same, even the few that she had done had taken a few hours.

Walking back toward her house, she could not believe how worn out she felt just from that little work. The time she had spent working to get the Little Lemon Heaven built and taking care of the trees until the fruit started to ripen had let her get a little bit out of shape since she had not needed to do any bucking. Hopefully it would not be bad enough to leave her stiff and sore tomorrow. Owning and operating the place on her own, she would have to work through it best she could anyways.

Lemon Pie headed up to her room, tossing the bandanna aside to use again later. Grabbing a brush, she began to run it through her creamy white mane to straighten it out and remove any leaves or twigs that may have fallen. Once finished she moved to check her coat. There were no spots there were noticeably dirty against the yellow of her fur.

Well, almost.

It turned out one of the leaves that went with the lemon and a half that created her cutie mark was an actual leaf from a lemon tree. Not the tastiest thing to eat, but it was well enough to nibble while pulling it from the coat.

Satisfied that she looked presentable for spending time in town, Lemon Pie grabbed a fresh bandanna. Instead of tying it around her forehead to absorb sweat, the mare tied it around her hair line to be fashionable and cover the top of her mane.

"Oh, yes dahling," she said to herself, trying to mimic the voice of an actress she had seen on stage. "You look simply mahvelous." She rapidly blinked the lashes over her big green eyes. Imagining how she looked, she let out a giggle.

After heading down stairs and into the kitchen, the yellow mare went to a desk in the corner. Opening the bottom drawer, she pulled out a small purse. The mare opened the bag and turned it over, dumping out the bits, then let out a sigh.

The last of her bits laid on the table before her. It was just a hoof full. Enough for a meal, maybe two if she was lucky. Hopefully everything would go well and there would be no emergencies that required bits. Lemon put them back into the bag and tucked it away to take with her.

Once she got back to the barn, she went over to the cart and began to attach herself to the trace. This was an exciting new experience to the mare. Bringing the wagon home had been the first time that she had ever pulled one, and this was the first she had pulled with something in it. This was an exciting new experience for her.

Lemon moved forward and felt the weight of the cart resisting. Taking a deep breath and adjusting her stance, she tried again. Her body tensed and strained as she pulled. With a slight groan, the wheels started to turn as the cart began to move forward.

Continuing to move forward became easier as the cart moved. It seemed like once it had started, it wanted to keep going. It became easier to pull, allowing her even pick up the pace. The young mare had managed to make a nice quick trot as she left the farm.

This is going to be easier than I thought, she thought as she reached the slope of the hill.

Lemon Pie started humming to herself gently as she walked. The cart got easier and easier to pull as she headed down the hill. It got so easy that it started to feel like she was not pulling anything at all.

Actually, it started to feel like it was trying to push her. Unsure what to do, the mare started to move faster to keep pace with the cart. Unfortunately, that just made it seem to go faster and push against her more.

Unable to keep up anymore, she tried to stop. The young mare stuck all of her hooves into the ground, trying to dig them into the packed dirt of the road and brace herself to stop herself and the cart. Instead she sent up a trail of dust as she skidded along the road. Green eyes wide and jaw clenched, she kept trying to stab her hooves into the ground and gain purchase, but the ground was to packed down to work. No matter what, she just kept moving forward.

One of the mare's hooves struck a rock in the road. The impact sent her up and off the ground. For a moment, Lemon Pie felt like she was flying. This quickly ended as she landed, mostly face first with her nose and mouth filling with dirt as she continue to be forced forward.

There was a loud thud from behind her. The young mare could only let out a squeal as she was yanked hard and rolled onto her side to dangle from one of the cart's traces. Lemon shifted and squirmed, trying to kick and fight. Instead, she flailed helplessly as she skidded back first on her side toward the side of the road.

Lemon Pie was twisted and tossed again before slamming back first into the ground. She let out a "whuff" as the air was knocked from her lungs.

The mare gasped as she was suddenly able to breathe again. She stared up at clear blue sky above as she tried to catch her breath, and stop shaking from the adrenaline now running through her body. And for the worst of the pain to subside.

After a lost time of minutes, Lemon reached down and unstrapped herself from the cart. Rolling over, she got back onto her hooves. She stretched with a groan, feeling like she had bruised the entire length of her back. A burst of pain shot through her left hide leg when she tried to take a step, putting weight on it. Not broken, but certainly hurting.

Limping, she turned to look at the cart and sighed.

It now laid half in the road and half in the grass upside down. The wheels were still spinning, like the cart was still trying to keep moving. Worse, there were lemons scattered in the road and tossed about in the grass.

Her first crop, and now it was all one big mess.