A/N: Here's another one! This is also a Harley-centric story, but the next one I publish will be a Sky-centric story. Enjoy!

First Tractor Tip

Harley bit her tongue in concentration, looking back and forth from her paper to her subject. She gripped her crayon firmly in one hand, often switching colors every few seconds. Her rust-colored hair barely brushed past her ear lobes, and freckles dotted her nose and cheeks. She wore denim shorts and her Hudson Hornet themed T-shirt she made a year ago, sitting cross-legged in front of Stanley's statue.

Doc exited the courthouse and noticed his adoptive daughter's position, rolling over to her. "Hey there, sweetheart. What're you doing?"

"Drawing." Harley replied simply, focusing on her task.

Doc looked over and saw Harley attempting to draw the downtown main street, with her vehicular family on the main road and smiling at her. It was rough and very cartoonish, like most eight-year-old drawings, but it looked pretty good for someone Harley's age. "Not bad, kiddo."

"Thanks!" Harley said happily. "I'm gonna hang it up in my room." She continued to color for a moment before nodding in satisfaction. "What do you think?"

"Perfect." Doc nodded. "You're a regular da Vinci."

"What's a 'da Vinci'?" Harley asked.

Doc chuckled. "I'll tell ya later. You stay out of trouble, okay?" He began driving off.

"Oh Daddy!" Harley called, stopping her surrogate father. "Mater invited me to sleepover at his house tonight. Can I go?"

"I don't see why not." Doc agreed. Harley often had sleepovers at the homes of the other residents, Mater included. "But you behave yourself."

"Yes, Daddy." Harley nodded, taking out a new sheet of paper to keep drawing. Doc drove off, briefly wondering if it was a good idea leaving Mater and Harley alone for the night. He soon decided it would be fine; Mater loved Harley more than anything, and he'd do anything to keep her safe.

Harley slept soundly, curled up on a blanket with another blanket cocooned around her. She breathed evenly, the sound of the crickets lulling her off to dreamland. But she soon became aware of someone nudging her constantly, and she moaned sleepily as she rolled over to her back. The brunette tiredly blinked her eyes open to see Mater standing over her.

"Mater?" Harley whispered sleepily, rubbing her eyes. "What's going on?"

"C'mon, git up!" Mater whispered, looking excited. "Ev'ryone else fell asleep!"

"Just like we should have." Harley yawned, rolling over to sleep.

"C'mon, I got somethin' fun planned fer us!" Mater whispered excitedly.

Harley sighed, but pushed herself upright and rubbed the sleepiness from her eyes. She just couldn't say "no" to Mater, and curiosity spiked when she heard he had something fun planned for them. She grabbed her flip flops from nearby and slipped them on, climbing into Mater's flatbed and plopping down as the tow truck began to drive off. She was glad for her long-sleeved pajamas, otherwise the cool desert night air would make her shiver. She looked all around as Mater drove, wondering where he was taking her. He kept his headlights off, but Harley could see they headed straight for the grassy fields where a herd of tractors lived. Harley didn't know much about the tractors; they seemed to provide the town with milk when they needed it, especially after she was born, and they were taken care of by a bull by the name of Frank. But Harley had only ever been to the fields once, when Sheriff brought her out during one of their hikes. She couldn't find Frank, but then again she had no idea what the bull looked like.

"What're we doin' here?" Harley whispered, a bit surprised when Mater snuck into the pasture.

"I'm gonna teach ya tractor tippin'!" Mater whispered excitedly.

"Tractor tipping?" Harley tilted her head to one side in confusion.

"Yeah, it's fun!" Mater snickered.

Harley blinked. "I dunno, Mater."

"Oh come on, you'll love it!" Mater assured. "Climb out an' wait here. I'll show ya how it's done!"

Harley nodded, hopping down to the grass and watching Mater approach one of the tractors. She stared in curiosity, wondering what would be so entertaining about pushing a tractor over. Mater crept up to the tractor, smirking. Then, he blared his horn, making Harley jump at the loud noise. The tractor jumped too, the animal's eyes flying open. The tractor reared up on his hind wheels, mooing as he fell backwards. After a moment of gurgling sounds, the animal backfired and went back to sleep. Mater burst out laughing, and Harley giggled a little.

"That's tractor tipping?" Harley asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Ain't it fun?" Mater laughed, sighing happily.

"I guess so." Harley shrugged, her and Mater moving farther into the field. Mater crept off to another tractor, repeating the process. Harley slapped a hand over her mouth to hide her giggles as Mater made his way back to her.

"See? Fun!" Mater laughed. "Yer turn, Sissy. Jus' go up to 'em and honk."

Harley stared at the tractors. "But I don't have a horn. How do I scare 'em?"

"You'll think of somethin'." Mater assured, gently pushing Harley forward. "Go on."

Great confidence booster. Harley gulped a bit as she walked up to one of the sleeping tractors. She stared at the animal, thinking about how she could make a sound like Mater's horn. She glanced back to her surrogate brother, but he nodded encouragingly. Harley sighed, looking back to the tractor. Then, something clicked in her head, and she took a strong stance in front of the tractor. She cupped her hands around her mouth.

"FIRE!"She shouted. The tractor's eyes flew open, and Harley jumped back as the animal tipped over and backfired. She started laughing, as did Mater.

"Not bad, Sissy!" Mater laughed. "How'd ya know ta do that?"

"Sheriff said the best way to cause panic is to yell 'fire.'" Harley shrugged. She bounced on the balls of her feet. "Let's do that again!"

She and Mater split off, scaring the tractors and laughing when they tipped over. Harley didn't think she'd have so much fun, but she could understand why Mater was so excited to take her to do this. After making another tractor tip over, Harley noticed the wheels of what must've been another tractor in the tall bushes nearby. She smirked, tiptoeing over towards the bushes. Mater laughed as another tractor tipped, and he turned to ask Harley how she was doing. He noticed the young brunette creeping up towards the bushes nearby, and he could see the top of a certain bull peeking out from the foliage.

Mater's eyes widened. "Harley!" He called in a loud whisper, not wanting to wake the bull. "Wait! That's—"

"FIRE!" Harley shouted. She jumped when lights suddenly flicked on from the other side of the bushes, and a deep bellow rang out.

"Frank….." Mater gulped.

Harley's eyes widened when the bushes in front of her were torn to shreds, and a huge threshing machine mooed angrily at her. "Uh oh."

"Time ta go!" Mater shouted as he drove past, his tow hook grabbing Harley's shirt and pulling her into his flatbed. He took off, Frank right behind him. Harley stared in shock, gripping Mater's tow cable. Luckily, the tow truck managed to speed out the pen gate and Harley jumped out to shut the gate. Frank snorted at her, but rolled off and returned to his tractors. Harley scrambled over to Mater, jumping back into his flatbed as he sped off. They never realized Harley didn't shut the gate all the way and the latch came loose. They were too concerned with getting away from Frank. Once they made it a safe distance from the pen, Mater slowed down. After a moment of silence, he and Harley burst out laughing.

"Th-that was so fun!" Harley laughed, tears coming to her eyes.

"I knowed you'd like it!" Mater sighed, driving home.

"Just wait 'till Dad hears!" Harley whooped.

"No, no, no!" Mater said hurriedly. "We can't tell Doc."

"Why not?" Harley asked innocently.

"Well, he don't always like when I go tractor tippin'." Mater explained. "It's gotta be our lil' secret, okay?"

Harley sighed. "Oh all right." She smiled and jumped from Mater's flatbed, hugging the tow truck's fender. "Thanks for taking me tractor tippin'. I love you, Mater."

"Love ya too, Harley." Mater nuzzled the girl, the two of them laughing and talking all the way home.

As promised, Harley didn't tell Doc about the tractor tipping. She told him that she and Mater had a fun time and did some stargazing. Doc seemed skeptical, but didn't push it. So Harley went about her day, helping Guido and Luigi do an inventory on their supplies.

"Grazie for your help, piccolo." Luigi said.

"No problem." Harley waved as she walked off. "See you guys at dinner!" She hummed to herself as she made her way home, looking forward to sitting down with a book she recently started. Or maybe she'd hike up to Willie's Butte or to the old Wheel Well.

"Howdy, Harley!" Sheriff greeted as he came into town.

"Hey Sheriff!" Harley waved.

"Where ya off to?" Sheriff asked, pulling up in front of her.

"Home." Harley said. "Maybe on a hike."

"I'd go with the home plan." Sheriff warned. "Noticed some coyotes while I was out. Best to just stay in town for now."

"What's so bad about coyotes?" Harley asked, trying to say "kai-yotes" like Sheriff did.

"They can be dangerous." Sheriff said. "They don't normally come near people but if they're hungry enough they'll git brave enough to attack."

"Oh okay." Harley nodded.

"Let's just be glad the gate to the tractor pen is locked otherwise the tractors would get spooked and break out." Sheriff said.

"Would that be bad?" Harley asked.

"Might cause a stampede." Sheriff explained.

Harley bobbed her head in understanding. But something caught her eye, and she looked out to see a small dust cloud in the distance. "Uh…Sheriff…what's that?"

Sheriff turned to follow her gaze, the two of them staring in confusion at the small cloud of dust. Sheriff's eyes narrowed a bit, and then widened when he heard a familiar sound. "Watch out!" He yelped, herding Harley aside as the tractor herd rumbled past them.

Harley stared in surprise. "Uh…is that a stampede?"

"Yep." Sheriff growled. "Stay here!" He took off after the tractors. Harley watched, shocked yet amused, as the townsfolk began either chasing the tractors or driving away as they were chased.

"Mater!" Doc shouted.

"I wasn't tractor-tippin'!" Mater yelped, being chased by a tractor.

"Then why are these darned tractors in my town?!" Doc snapped, chasing one of the tractors in hopes of herding it back home.

Harley giggled, but yelped when a tractor came right at her. She took off running, shouting in terror as the tractor unwillingly chased her. "Daddy! Sheriff! Somebody help me!"

Most of the townsfolk tried to help, but either got cut off from another tractor or started getting chased by one. Before Harley was born, tractor stampedes through town were usually dangerous yet humorous. Now that they had a little kid to worry about, it was just flat-out dangerous. The last thing they wanted was a repeat of Harley's first tractor stampede. But it seemed no matter what they did, they couldn't reach Harley to help her. Harley dodged tractors and jumped over obstacles, trying to not get flattened by the stampede. But she looked back behind her and didn't see Luigi's tires until she tripped over them, sending her to the ground. She cowered a bit as a tractor came right at her, ready to unintentionally squash her flat.

"Harley!" Mater's tow hook suddenly grabbed a belt loop on her shorts, yanking her up onto his flatbed just as the tractor sped past. Several of the townsfolk managed to herd the tractors together, Red honking his horn to encourage the animals down the road and towards their home.

"Harley!" Doc called, him and Sheriff driving up. Harley jumped down from Mater's flatbed, looking shaken but unharmed. "Harley! Thank Ford you're alive."

"You all right?" Sheriff asked worriedly. "You ain't hurt, are ya?"

Harley didn't answer for a moment, her eyes wide and her breathing a bit labored. "That….was…" She broke into grins. "Awesome!" She laughed and whooped, jumping around. "That was incredible!"

Sheriff, Doc, and Mater stared. "Huh?"

Harley laughed. "Those tractors were like 'Moooo!' And we were all like 'Aahhhh!' And then Mater was like 'Zoom!' and I was like 'Whoa!' and….and….." She laughed more, unable to continue. "That was the coolest thing ever!" She hugged Mater. "Thank you, Mater. Hey, how about the next time we go tractor tipping, I'll remember to lock the gate?"

"You took her tractor tipping?" Doc snapped.

Mater didn't seem to hear, laughing. "Yeah! Or we could git in through another spot in de fence. Or how about we go look fer the Ghost Light?" Harley nodded excitedly, the two of them chatting away about their next adventure.

Sheriff and Doc shared a look before rolling their eyes. And so Harley's innocence is corrupted. Ford help us all.