Chapter I: Cabbages
The piercing sound of the alarm shattered the serenity of Orion’s sleep, quickly bringing him back into the land of the conscious. Despite being awake, Orion continued to doze, allowing the blaring alarm to continue its wailing for several minutes before a hoof lazily came down atop it, preventing the small hammer from continuing its oscillation. A tremendous yawn cracked open the white stallion’s mouth, and right after came the groan as he took on the laborious task of actually getting out of bed. A single hoof landed on the floor steadily, with the remaining three following moments later, finally allowing Orion to take a look at the clock in a way that allowed him to read it clearly.
A small smile tugged at his lips as he fought the desire to laugh at the lunacy of what he was doing. He always woke up early, there was no denying that. But today he was getting up a full hour earlier than usual, since he had to move two carts of produce, rather than the one that was the norm. The bountiful harvest of the farmers, whose produce he sold, had left him with more stock than he could move in a single trip, thus necessitating a second journey. Still, the bits were worth it, and it wasn’t like he had anything else to do today.
As Orion looked away from the clock he saw that the sun hadn’t even begun turning the sky that lovely shade of pinkish red that was the trademark of the early morning. Instead, it was simply a slightly lighter shade of blue. With only slightly unsteady steps, the stallion progressed from his bedroom into the bathroom. The knobs to turn on the water squeaked loudly as he turned them. Many of his guests had insisted that he get the squeaking fixed, but he turned them all away, insisting that it helped him in getting the water temperature perfect every time. And, much as he suspected, the water was the ideal temperature.
As the water washed away the sleepiness from his body, it also allowed for Orion to begin formulating the best way to take care of the carts, and the rest of his day. With his parents out of town he couldn’t go and help them out as he was wont to do, and the town had just finished the Summer Sun Celebration, so there was nothing to do in that regard. Still, he wanted to have at least an inkling of a plan. Each idea proffered by his mind was quickly cast aside for one reason or another. As he unconsciously turned the water off, he let out a snort.
Nothing. Not even one acceptable idea presented itself. Looks like another lazy day. Although, now that he has settled for a day of laziness, Orion is struck by a small idea. Perhaps he can try to find that small grove outside of Ponyville again. As the stallion finished brushing his mane, he gave it a quick once over with his hoof, messing it up just enough to match his usual look. A final look over in the mirror rewarded Orion with his usual smirking face, and then he turned away from the mirror, ready for the day, if not pleased with the slothfulness that awaited him in the afternoon.
The unicorn quickly made his way to the cart in his backyard, observing with a wan smile the crates of produce stacked up neatly beside it. As he began his count, just to double check everything, he came across a small note from one of the farmers. Something about how his usual yield of cabbages was nearly demolished by some careless colts. Nothing to worry about, really; it just meant that there’d be far less cabbage than usual. And to be fair, that wouldn’t really be much of a problem; a surprisingly small number of ponies actually bought cabbage. Lettuce was far more popular.
As he reached the final stack of crates Orion was mildly surprised to see a new crate atop the stack he had counted last night. It wasn’t particularly large, but it still begged some investigation. A simple spell pulled the top off the crate, and it revealed a mass of green fruit that Orion couldn’t quite recall the name of. They looked really familiar, and yet their name escaped him. Shooting an unneeded glance over his shoulder, Orion grabbed one of the fruits, figuring that it would be best that he know what he’s selling. A quick sniff yielded an unidentifiable smell.
With a shrug, the stallion ate the whole fruit in one go, biting down on it eagerly, hoping to be able to identify the piece of produce based on its taste. As the stallion chewed, a single tear trailed down his cheek as the taste assaulting his tongue was just a bit more than he could handle. He refused to spit it out though. Even with nopony around, he refused to allow his ego to suffer such a blow. The half minute, or less, that it took to eat the pepper seemed to drag out for hours, blessed relief finally coming as the offending fruit slid down the stallions throat.
The stallion put the top of the crate back onto the box before he levitated it onto the cart, along with about half of the other crates. Right before he was about to hitch himself to the cart he glanced around again. A quick spell yielded another of the green fruits, and soon he had the fruit in his mouth, and the hitch for the wagon was secured. As he began pulling it along, he bit down on the fruit, this time expecting the taste, and searching his mind for a match to the interesting palate provided by the innocuous little fruit.
As he savored the taste Orion soon spotted the market place, and he was, unsurprisingly, unsurprised to see that there was not even one other pony setting up this early. There were some stalls still in place, but there weren’t any wares laid out.
