Lemon Pies and Chess: Lemonade

by Lemon Pegasus

Two ponies in the woods

Lemon looked in the mirror, with a beaming smile spread wide across his face. His first day at school was going to be a great one, he just knew it!

"Alright, today's the day..." he thought to himself eagerly, "recite what you already know," thinking about how much fun school would be. If only he knew the truth... but I'm getting ahead of the story here. He took a look at the learning sheets his dad had put together. Citron had been teaching Lemon basic skills since he was a toddler. "1 x 2 = 2, 2 x 2 = 4..." Lemon believed that if he started school already having a good knowledge, he would learn faster. It might make him look good, as well, which as a result would make him more popular, or at least that was the foal's theory.

Raring to go, Lemon called to his mother. "Mum! I'm ready for school!"

His mum was quick to respond. "Lemon, school doesn't start for two hours..."

The young pegasus snapped back to reality. "Oh... Right."

So, Lemon still had a whole two hours to burn. He made his way downstairs so he could grab his breakfast, walking with a happy spring in every step. Usually, Lemon would eat breakfast alone in the living area while Citronella worked outside. Today, Maple had the whole day off school, Citronella was having the morning off and Citron was here! Even though the pale furred pegasus was here all of last night, it still came as a surprise for Lemon to come downstairs and see his dad.

Citron had four long prongs stood by the small fireplace, outstretched. On the end, slices of bread cooked slowly under the heat of the mild flame that arose from the few pieces of coal. Maple was helping Citronella in the kitchen, preparing a mix of tea leaves and lemon pips that combined to make a wonderfully zesty cup of tea, a recipe exclusive to Sweetest Lemons. These cups, however, were not for sale, they were for the family's enjoyment.

Lemon merrily skipped into the living room, awaiting a greeting that soon came from his brother. "Morning." Maple greeted Lemon while crushing together the special brew in a pestle and mortar, the lemon pips making satisfying crunch sounds upon contact, like a nut being bitten into.

Lemon returned the greeting with his own. "Hey, Maple." Not quite as formal as his elder brother's address, but one would not expect somepony of Lemon's age to be particularly mature, especially when in a personal space such as his own home.

Citron appeared suddenly from behind, and after a rather rough scruffing of Lemon's mane, he politely offered breakfast. "Want some toast, kiddo?" The pegasus took some toast off the flame and served it on a plate in front of where Lemon sat, its surface only slightly charred thanks to Citron's technique of cooking on a small fire.

"Thanks, Dad."
Lemon accepted the offering before leaning back onto a section of the sofa that weirdly seem to house all the pillows. Coincidence, or a particular foal's love of cuddly objects? Devouring two slices of toast and drinking a cup of mildly lemon flavoured tea only burned through 15 minutes of Lemon's time until school. So, the adventurous foal decided to head outside and wander in the fields. He had little else in the name of entertainment, even with his dad home.

Once Lemon had reassured his mother, Citronella, that he was NOT going to wander far for the third time, he opened the front door to the outside world and made his way. The place where Lemon often retreated to was an easy path to follow from the main orchard.

"Go in a straight line from the direction of the Lemon tree," Lemon tread the route as he read it out loud from memory, "then where the orchard begins, go to the small blackberry bush and follow the trail of rocks..." He started walking through the vast expanse of lemon trees. "Until you reach the boulder with the larger bush beside it!" Lemon was caught mid-thought as a faint rustling sound came from said bush, the leaves shaking and twitching slightly as if disturbed.

Curious as to what creature may be hiding in the cloud of leaves, Lemon resisted the urge to move suddenly. Instead, the foal called out with a gentle voice. "Hey! Come on out, little guy..."

"GUY?" Lemon jumped at the high pitched reply! Clearly, this was not some creature, but a pony!

Again, Lemon was caught mid-thought as he was tackled by a flash of pink fur leaping out of the bush, flattening him on the ground. Looking up, he took the opportunity to make out the features of this pony, presumably a filly. She had hot-pink fur which stood out from her shaded surroundings with a humourous contrast. Her mane stood out just as much, if not more! While Lemon's was combed and green, this filly had a very scruffy pastel-rose mane, which looked as if it hadn't been combed or brushed since last Hearth's Warming.

The filly allowed Lemon to get up from lying on his back, moving back so that he could clumsily get to his hooves, still trying to get over the shock of being tackled. Once he did manage to return to his original stable state, the filly introduced herself.

"Hi! I'm Pinkie Pie!" Her voice was amazingly high-pitched, to the point it was probably considered an impersonated voice, although how anypony could speak like THAT if it were not their natural voice was beyond Lemon. Another out of place thing here was her completely oblivious playfulness. She had just tackled Lemon to the ground, and yet she introduced herself like they were meeting in a coffee shop, upon friendly circumstances!

Lemon, shocked by the surprise, had no response.

"Yoo-hoo!" Pinkie Pie waved her hoof in Lemon's face in an attempt to get him working again. "Do I have to tackle you again?"

Lemon suddenly started responding again. "Uh- uh... Right! Uhm... Hi?" Something seemed awkward about this moment to Lemon. Pinkie, on the other hoof, seemed to think no such thoughts, as she smiled at him with her bright teeth exposed, looking as if she was on a permanent sugar rush. The pink filly giggled excitedly.

"Took ya long enough! So, what's your name?" He played along for now.

"I'm... Lemon Zest..." The filly continued beaming and staring at Lemon, who felt himself blush slightly. "So, what exactly are you doing here on the orchard?"

"Oh, just exploring! Why, is this your orchard? You're doing pretty well for a foal!" Only Pinkie could assume a foal was the owner of a lemon orchard half the size of Ponyville. Still, Lemon played along as best he could. It wasn't often he met somepony new, and despite her slight over-enthusiasm, Pinkie seemed like a fun gal!

"No, no, my dad is the owner." Lemon didn't put on any sarcasm, as he didn't want to come off as rude. Besides, he didn't know what sarcasm was.

"Ooooh, that makes more sense!" Not that Lemon didn't want to facehoof at this moment.

Lemon looked up at the position of the sun. Deducing there was still well over an hour before school, Lemon decided he would stay and just chat with Pinkie for a while. Even if it wouldn't burn the whole hour, it would hopefully burn most of it. "So... do you live near here?" Lemon asked, Pinkie shaking her head upon the question.

"Nah, I live a while away on a rock farm!" This pony lived on a rock farm? "Me and my family come here every few weeks to visit our Aunt Pie and so we can sell!" Just to make sure you got that last bit there: THIS PONY LIVED ON A ROCK FARM?!

"You live on... a rock farm?" It was difficult for Lemon to imagine a pony as extroverted as Pinkie Pie working a job as boring as harvesting rocks! Pinkie sighed.

"Yeah... I've always wanted to move here, to Ponyville. Sure, the family are fun, most of the time, but it does get quite dull..." The filly looked like she was building up to some inspirational line."I need a home with more... PIZAZZ!" Pinkie jumped up, looking up to the morning sky, and threw her hooves in the air, almost hitting Lemon. On landing, she looked down at him. "Know what I mean?"

No. No, he did not understand what in the seven circles of Tartarus she meant by the pretentiously foreign term "pizazz", nor was he going to subject himself to the brutal psychological torture of discovering its meaning, or even hazarding an educated guess. He didn't even know what most of those words meant. "Sure! I know what you mean...." It was then that Lemon realised what would be happening around now. "Hey, Pinkie, come duck by this bush..." Lemon returned to the bush Pinkie leaped out from.

"Okay!" The pony hopped over to him, bouncing in the air as if defying gravity instead of... Just walking like a normal pony. "So, what we doing?" Lemon hushed Pinkie, to which she responded by freezing mid-jump somehow... "Why?" She slowly lowered herself to the ground in the way a pegasus might slowly hover down, but she clearly did not have wings or a horn for magic, she was an earth pony. Lemon didn't notice -and a good thing too, he probably would have lost it- instead he had his eyes focused on a nearby tree.

"Keep watching that burrow, there..." He was only peeking slightly above the bush as if he was hiding. Pinkie imitated this, though her mane stood out hopelessly. From the dark mud of the burrow that dug under a lemon tree, a small family of badgers arose! A large fluffy one followed by two smaller, almost bald babies. The larger badger showed a motherly behaviour in the way she walked slightly above the cubs, protecting the tiny, innocent creatures.

Lemon sat quietly and observed, and to his surprise, so did Pinkie! The two enjoyed the adorable sight of the two babies stumbling about, occasionally falling only to have the mother nudge them onto their paws again using her small, furry snout. Lemon just now noticed that Pinkie looked as though she was going to explode or something, she was shaking slightly yet rapidly and remained silent. Lemon spoke up.

"Uhm... Pinkie?" He hoped communicating with her wouldn't make her erupt.
"Yes, Lemon?" She whispered as though ridiculously excited, yet somehow she was fighting back the urge to freak out.
"...the badgers have gone, you can talk..." Not a very wise move from Lemon.

"THEY WERE SO CUTE!!!!" Her shrieking, deafening scream could probably be heard from Canterlot! Lemon tried to cover his ears, but Pinkie pulled him in as dozens of birds fled from the sound. The two were now staring eye to eye, Pinkie holding Lemon in as if he was a captured fish in the claws of a bear! But, more pink.

"Like REALLY! REALLY! CUTE!" she released her grip on Lemon, who for a moment wondered if the shout had made him deaf... The sound of a bird flapping it's wings denied this.

"...yeah..." There wasn't much Lemon could say. He was, once again, sent into a state of shock by Pinkie Pie! "I'm gonna go now... I have school..." It would probably be for the best that he returned home before she did something permanent.

"Okay! See ya!" Pinkie went back to talking in a tone that was at least somewhat accepted by the pony ears without pain. Lemon turned his back to her and waved a hoof before starting to walk back.

"See ya."

...

"Same time tomorrow?" Lemon stopped. He looked back at Pinkie, who was still beaming at him. Her smile made Lemon smile in return. "I'm here all week, after all?"

Lemon couldn't help but chuckle slightly. "Sure, same time tomorrow! In fact, how about tonight? 5 o'clock?"

"Great!" Pinkie happily bounced away, Lemon following her with his eyes.

"... Odd one." He thought to himself, "but friendly!" He walked back home.