The Prompt: A change in management.
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Thunk! Hooves struck wood, and a rain of apples fell from above into the waiting baskets. Another ordinary day at Sweet Apple Acres.
Applejack groaned as she brought her hooves back down to the ground. Her joints were complaining an awful lot today. Probably the chilly wind that had been blowing all afternoon...
“Nah, I can’t blame the weather for this,” she chuckled aloud, shaking her mane out and then adjusting her hat. “It’s these old bones o’ mine.” Much as she hated to admit it, she wasn’t getting any younger. She just couldn’t quite buck the way she used to as a youth.
Still, pigs would fly before she gave up completely! (Barring Discord’s occasional flight of fancy, of course.) She might have to watch her limits more, but that didn’t mean she was helpless. Applejack made her way to the next tree and smacked it with everything she had. Apples fell from the branches—but too late she saw one coming right for her head—
A streak of black and yellow soared overhead, and the threatening apple vanished with it.
“Huh?” Applejack blinked for a second before it registered, and then she smiled to herself, glancing around for the “intruder”. “Come on, now, where are you? You ain’t fast enough to fool yer old lady’s eyes, you know that.”
“Yeah, Ma, I do,” an amused voice responded. The black-maned pegasus stepped out from behind the tree, tossing the apple up and down with one hoof. “But if you missed this little guy, maybe your eyes aren’t what they used to be! Think ya oughtta start lookin’ at glasses?”
“My eyes’re as sharp as they ever were, Busy Bee.” Applejack gave him a stern glare, trying with little success to hide her own amusement. “Sharp enough to catch you sneakin’ a little extra dessert last night after dinner, f’r instance.”
Busy Bee ducked his head, blushing quickly like he always did, pink on yellow. “W-Well, is it my fault my ma makes the best apple cobbler in Equestria?”
Applejack snorted. “S’pose it ain’t, at that. You get everything done up at the barn?”
“You bet!” Busy Bee saluted. “All my chores are done, so I wanted to give you a lil’ break out here!”
A bit of old pride flared up for an instant, but her hip followed up with a flare of its own, and Applejack found herself uninclined to argue. “I reckon I could use a bit of one. Just until my joints calm down a touch.”
Her son beamed and nodded. “Just until then, Ma. You relax an’ I’ll get these trees all taken care of!”
As Busy Bee flew from tree to tree, knocking apples into the baskets and flying up for the ones that didn’t fall, Applejack rested in the shade and watched him. He might not have had an apple in his cutie mark or in his name, but no one could doubt that he was an Apple through and through. He’d never be as big as his uncle, but he still had the stocky build of an earth stallion, and he was easily as comfortable on land as in the air. He was always buzzing around the farm, taking on every task he could find, and accomplishing them all with a natural sense of time management that even Twilight had once expressed admiration for.
He practically ran Sweet Apple Acres now, and it was clear that he loved every moment of it. Maybe now was as good a time as any to do what she’d been considering for a long time.
“Hey, Bee!” Applejack called, getting back onto her hooves with only minor discomfort.
He dropped down in front of her curiously. “What’s up?”
She reached up to tap the brim of her hat. “Have I ever told you the story of this hat?”
“Gosh, only about a billion times,” Busy Bee snorted, rolling his eyes. “Great-Granddad got it as a wedding present when he married Great-Granny Smith and they took on the duties of runnin’ Sweet Apple Acres.” He recited the tale as if from rote.
“That’s right,” Applejack chuckled. “An’ then he passed it on to my ma when she took over. An’ she left it to me when I was ready to do the same. An’ now...”*
She flipped the hat off her head, twirled it on the end of her hoof, and dropped it onto Busy Bee’s head. “I reckon it’s time I did the same for you.”
Busy Bee’s jaw dropped, and he reached up to touch the hat in disbelief. “You... You mean it, Ma? Do you think I’m...”
“I don’t think it, I know it. You’ve been ready for this for a while now. I just...” Applejack smiled sheepishly. “I never was good at admittin’ my limits. But I am gettin’ old, an’ I think it’s time I stepped back a little and let some youthful energy into the place. So what do you say?”
“What do I say? I say YES!” Busy Bee leapt into the air, wings buzzing excitedly. “This’s gonna be great! I got so many ideas already—I’ll run ‘em all by you an’ everypony else, of course—oh, I can’t wait!” He flew down to wrap Applejack up in a tight hug. “I’ll make you proud, Ma, I promise.”
“You already have, son,” Applejack whispered, patting his head. “You already have.” He released her and flew back, face pink and eyes moist, and she grinned at him. “Now, these trees sure ain’t gonna buck themselves! How ‘bout we get to work, Boss?”
“Right!”