//------------------------------//
// Apple Family Morning 
// Story: My Little Pony: Generations are Magic 
// by The Doctor's Companion 
//------------------------------//

Chapter 1: Apple Family Morning

Early in the morning at Sweet Apple Acres, a rooster crowed, greeting the rising sun as loudly as his voice allowed. 
As he crowed, a second-story window rolled up at the farm house. A pale-orange Pegasus filly with a messy pale pink mane stuck her head out, an irritated look marring her pretty little face and shining in her sap green eyes.
“SHUT UP!” She bellowed, startling the poor chicken so much he fell off his perch. Quickly, the filly slammed the window shut and flopped back into bed, entangling herself in the sheets.
“Apple Heart!” A country-accented mare called up the stairs. “Time fer breakfast, sugarcube!”
The filly moaned from under her blanket sanctuary. “Comin’ Auntie Applejack.”

Downstairs in the kitchen of the Apple farmhouse, Fluttershy hummed as she began to set the plates out for breakfast. As she did, a large red stallion walked in, yawning slightly. 
“Good morning, dear.” Fluttershy greeted, smiling at her large mate.
Big Macintosh grinned back at her. “Mornin’, hun. Kids up yet?”
“Well, I heard Applejack yelling up the stairs, so they probably are.” Fluttershy replied, delicately placing stacks of pancakes onto plates. The red stallion walked over to his mate, nuzzling her neck slightly.
“… U-Um… G-Good mornin’…” A small voice nearly whispered from across the room.
The eldest of the couple’s two foals, Noteworthy, was, as per usual, the first up of the two up. The pale yellow Earth colt (though he was nearing too old to be called one anymore) took after his mother in both looks (for the most part, blond streaks ran through his pale pink mane and freckles adorned his face) and personality. Like Fluttershy, Noteworthy was a quiet kind of pony, not to mention shy as all get out. 
But he did have one trait that came neither from his dam nor his sire: Just like his Auntie Applejack, when he wanted to be, the colt could be as stubborn as frozen beeswax.
“Mornin’, kiddo.” Big Macintosh said, smiling at his young son. 
“Good morning, sweetie. Apple pancake?” 
“Y-Yes, please, Mama.”  Noteworthy grinned slightly, taking a seat at the table.
This sweet family scene may have gone on, but as usual, Applejack was looking for her own colt (though he really wasn’t a colt at all; her son had just become old enough to be called a stallion).
“ROYAL RED APPLE, WHERE THE HAY ARE YA?!” The country mare hollered, running into the kitchen.
“Probably where he always is, sis: Asleep in the barn.”
The orange mare stamped her feet and groaned in frustration. “Damn it, Ah told that lazy boy that he ain’t allowed tah go back tah bed!”
“Technically, that ain’t his bed, AJ.” 
“Don’t you be gittin’ all technical on me, mister!” The mare sighed. “Guess Ah’d best be wakin’ him up… again.”
The other three chuckled a bit as Applejack stormed off to the barn, fully prepared to give her son one hell of a lecture. In the meantime, the youngest (at least for a few more weeks) member of the Ponyville branch of the Apple family came down the stairs, still half-asleep.
Okay, so technically she flew down them. Same thing, sort of. 
“Good morning, Apple Heart.” Fluttershy greeted her filly. 
In response, the Pegasus mumbled incoherently. As soon as she took a seat at the breakfast table, her head immediately hit the placemat. 
A concerned expression appeared on Noteworthy’s face. Cautiously, he tapped his younger sister on the shoulder.
“U-Um… Sis? Are you oka-?”
The orange filly’s head shot up, her expression what can only be described as “The Stare, Version 2.0.”
Immediately, the yellow colt recoiled, toppling off his chair and hiding under the table in terror.
“Apple Heart! What have I told you about using the stare on your older brother?!”
Meanwhile, in the barn
There were three things that Royal Red (often just called Royal) hated about living on a farm.
#1: Early mornings. 
#2: The fact that he had to do all the labor physically, instead of using his unicorn magic.
#3: Hay. Oh, how he hated hay and all the itchiness it caused. And hay fever. He loathed hay fever. 
But of all those things, he hated early mornings the most. Therefore, he chose to ignore his hate of hay and sneak off to the barn to get around ten more minutes of sleep. 

“ROYAL RED APPLE!”
Until his mother found him like she always did.
Slowly, the young stallion lifted his head from the mound of hay serving as a makeshift bed. “Uh… Howdy, Mama.”
Her expression stern, Applejack dragged her son out of his hay mountain, a bit of an impressive feat considering Royal was now a bit taller than she was, not to mention weighed a good amount more than the orange mare did.
“Don’t you ‘Howdy, Mama’ me, young stallion! How many times do Ah got tah tell ya that ya can’t be shirking work tah go back tah sleep?!”
The red-orange unicorn bowed his head in shame. “Ah’m sorry, Mama, Ah just can’t help it. Ah’m always so tired in the mornings that Ah can’t even do any work, and besides, when Ah try tah help…” Royal sat down, looking despondent as he stared at his flanks, still blank, even though he was already a stallion. “When Ah try to help, Ah always end up breakin’ something.”
Applejack’s expression softened. Her motherly side taking dominance, the mare nuzzled her son’s head affectionately. “Aw, sugarcube, it ain’t yer fault. Yer Uncle Big Macintosh was just as clumsy as you are when he was yer age, and now look at him!”
Royal stood up. “But Ah ain’t my uncle, Mama! Look at me! Ah’m almost full-grown and Ah don’t even got mah Cutie Mark yet!”
“Now, sugarcube, Ah’ve told ya before, these things-”
“Take time, Ah know already! But Ah’m not a little colt anymore, Mama! Let’s just face it, Ah don’t belong at Sweet Apple Acres! Ah don’t belong here. Ah should be… Ah don’t know, somewhere else.”
Applejack sighed. “Ya really are just like yer Daddy, ain’t cha?”
The young stallion perked up at the word, ‘Daddy’. “Really? How am Ah like him, Mama?” 
The orange mare groaned. “Ah told ya, Ah don’t wanna talk about him!”
“But, Mama-”
“No buts, mister. Now, Ah need ya and Noteworthy tah go take Apple Heart over tah school, then Fluttershy needs ya two tah get some things for her at the market. Oh, and remind Braeburn tah send that notice over tah Appleloosa ‘bout the new saplings comin’ in a little late.”
Royal sighed, defeated again. He was so close this time, too. “Yes’m.”
Later
“Bye, Scaredy Pony! Bye, Royal!” Apple Heart told her escorts, hugging the latter before rushing into the schoolhouse.
Noteworthy’s ears fell, sadness marring his features. Royal was quick to notice this.
“Aw, Cuz, don’t think nuthin’ of it. She’s just bein’ tough on ya, that’s all.”
“Yeah… But Ah’m sposed to be her big brother, not you…”
Royal sighed. “There ain’t nuthin’ that can be done ‘bout it. C’mon, we’d better go get tah shoppin’ fer groceries.”
Meanwhile, Outside Rarity’s store
Braeburn sighed, a mix of contentment and melancholy fueling it. It wasn’t that he didn’t like Ponyville, he loved it, and he didn’t regret leaving Appleloosa one bit. He could never regret falling in love with his beautiful mate, or the absolutely perfect filly they had together, or the foal that could come any day now.
It was just that, on a day like today, where the sun was shining and there were no clouds in the sky to be found, he sometimes felt just a twinge of homesickness for the wide open spaces of Appleloosa.
“DAAAAADDY!”
And now the melancholy was gone. “What is it, dumplin’?”
Stardust, his pale yellow unicorn filly with a curly purple mane and big green eyes, looked extremely panicked.
“Mother… the baby… NOW!” Stardust explained breathlessly.
Braeburn stared at his young filly. “Uh, beg pardon?”
Stardust facehoofed. “Mother is in labor, you dolt!”
Normally the yellow stallion would have reprimanded his daughter for calling him that, but right now he was in shock from what his daughter had just told him.
“Huh… buh… whuh…” 
“Daddy? Are you alri-? DADDY THIS IS NO TIME TO BE TAKING A NAP!”
When her sire still didn’t get up, Stardust groaned and stomped her hooves angrily. Using the levitation spell Miss Twilight had taught her, the filly lifted Braeburn up and shook him, effectively waking him up.
“AH! AH’M AWAKE, AH’M AWAKE!”
Gently, Stardust let her sire down. “Good. Now, c’mon! We have got to hurry, or Mother may end up giving birth without us!”
In Rarity’s Shop
Rarity sighed, a mixture of relief and disappointment fueling it. Yet another false alarm, the third one this week alone. Rarity knew that she couldn’t force the baby to come anymore than she could keep it from coming. But she was getting extremely tired of the mood swings, the cravings, the false alarms, and most of all, being fat. No, Rarity did not like pregnancy one little bit. 

But she did love her filly, and she couldn't wait to have another child.

Suddenly, Braeburn and Stardust burst into the shop, him with a bucket full of water and her levitating a large amount of blankets with her magic. Both wore matching panicked expressions.

"Another false alarm, dears."

Braeburn sighed, dropping the bucket. "Darlin', Ah love you tah bits, but Ah don't think mah heart can take another one of these false alarms."

"Oh, don't be dramatic darling; you're not that old yet. Well, I suppose that today just isn't the day."

"I'm starting to think that it'll never be the day, Mother..."

Rarity smiled sadly at her filly and waddled over to her. "Oh, sweetie, don't worry so much. The baby will come, eventually."
"If you say so..."
Just then, someone at the door cleared their throat. “Um… Is this a bad time?”
The small family turned to see two of their younger relatives, Royal and Noteworthy.
“Oh, not at all, darlings! Do you need something?”
“Ah, yes, Auntie Applejack wanted us tah remind Braeburn that he’s sposed to right that letter tah Appleloosa ‘bout the seedlings arriving’ a ‘lil late.”
Braeburn’s eyes widened. “Ah, horseapples, Ah completely forgot about that! Hun, where’s the-?”
“In the study. So are the pens.”
Braeburn raced into the study, grabbing a pen, paper, and an envelope, and then racing out. “And mah-?”
“On your head, like usual, dear.”
Braeburn chuckled sheepishly, and then gave his mate a quick peck on the cheek. “Thanks, hun! Love ya!”
“I love you too, dear.”
“Ugh, gag me.” Stardust muttered. 

Five Minutes Later
After saying goodbye to their relatives, the two males left the shop.
Only to be nearly knocked off their hooves by two strange gusts of wind.
“Huh. Is it time for their daily race already?”
“That’s odd; I thought those were at noon.”
The two looked up into the clouds, hoping they wouldn’t get knocked over by Sonic Boom, the elder, and Astro Dash, the younger son of Equestria’s faster flier, the legendary Rainbow Dash.
Yup, just a typical morning for the Apples.