//------------------------------//
// Whole Lot of Apples Going On Pt.2 
// Story: Dragon's Mommies 
// by TAD2 
//------------------------------//

Spike, Fluttershy and Granny looked at the trees for a few moments, while all of the Apples ran around like crazy, which confused Spike and Fluttershy, they didn't know what was going on. Fluttershy looked at the old mare. "Granny Smith, what are Zap Apples?" Asked Fluttershy. 

Granny smiled. "Well dear take a seat and I'll explain." Said Granny. Fluttershy nodded as she placed Spike on the ground and sat behind him. They nodded ready to hear the story. 

"Well, Zap Apples are actually why we Apples are still here in Ponyville." Started Granny. "You see, long ago, before there was even Ponyville, and when I was just a little filly, no older than you. Me and my family were humble seed traders, that traveled the lands, looking for seeds. One day we were passing by the royal city of Canterlot, and thinking that we could get funds for the next leg of our journey, we decided to stop and set up our trade shop. But after such a long journey, many of us were tired and my father Apple Fritter was starting to show his age. But then something no pony ever expected to happen, did. Princess Celestia decided to appear in the market that day, she had heard from the guards at the gate that a group of traveling seed traders had stopped in the city. She was looking for a few new seeds that she wanted to add to the royal gardens, and woo boy, did we collect some strange seeds. But when she saw the state that my family was in, it was clear that we needed to change from travelers to homesteaders. She offered us the land we are currently standing on as a place we could finally call ours. My Daddy, rest his soul, graciously accepted the offer, and we made our way to the future sight of Sweet Apple Acres." Said Granny, she wiped a tear from her eye, and continued.  

"But it takes time for an orchard to grow, so our first year of living on this land, we were cutting back on food to make sure we made it to the harvest. But I couldn't take it, so with out telling anyone, I went into the closest possible food source I could get to, The Everfree Forest. I knew the dangers, the princess made that point very clear. But we needed the food. So in the dead of night, I snuck out of the house and made my way into the forest. And there, I found a clearing with the most spectacular thing I had ever seen, large rainbow colored apples. I quickly picked as many as I could and after running my flanks away from a Timberwolf, I made my way back to the house. I showed my father the apples I found. He gave me a long talking to about what I did, but he was intrigued by the apples. He asked me to carefully save the seeds and we planted them the next morning. Then the best thing that could have happened, happened, those little seeds, instantly grew into fully grown apple trees. I wasn't prepared for it and wound up stuck in the tree tops, but we didn't care, in a matter of moments we had trees. But they didn't have any fruit to pick. That was ok though, because thanks to my quick picking the night before, we had plenty to last until we could get some more food. So after that, I payed careful attention to the conditions signaling the start of the Zap Apple's special harvesting time. Like, how the crazy weather of the Everfree would cross over to blanket the trees, or how the first sign of the growing period was Timberwolf's howling, and the most important thing of all, the moment harvest time is up, any unpicked fruit will disappear in a flash. But thanks to our hard work, the fruits of our labor was the most delicious thing we ever tasted and soon enough I was making my own version of my grandma's special apple jam, but with Zap Apples. But just like the Zap Apples themselves, making Zap Apple Jam came with it's own set of rules, that when done just so, makes the jam the best tasting thing in the world. I'll show you and the others each step, if you would like?" Asked Granny. "You and the others are part of the family and the recipe is a family secret. I need to make sure it gets to the next generation." Said Granny.   

Fluttershy smiled. "Thank you Granny Smith, I would be honored to learn about it." She looked down at Spike. "Sweetie, do you want to learn it with us?" Asked Fluttershy.

Spike nodded. "I wanna." He looked at Granny. "Granny can I help too?" Asked Spike. 

Granny smiled. "Of course you can Spike, your an Apple and all Apples need to know how to make Zap Apple Jam." 

Spike smiled. "Thanks Granny, but what happened after you figured out how to make it?" Asked Spike. 

"Well as soon as word spread about my jam, ponies from far and wide came looking for it, some decided to stay, like Stinking Rich, Filthy Rich's grandfather. In fact, the first thing he ever sold was my Zap Apple Jam, and like magic, we had ourselves a small little town, and that's how Ponyville was born." Finished Granny.

Granny laughed, she hadn't told that story in a long time. She looked at Spike. "That's our legacy Spike, and all Apples should know about it, but we also learned something important that we live by everyday, what do you think it is?" Asked Granny, she was hoping to see if AJ had been teaching Spike what it means to be an Apple. 

Spike hummed in thought. "Ok, so there's the rule to not call you old, not to let Mrs. Rich's mean words make me upset, always be nice to others, don't chase Angel around the house when its not play time, always stick up for your family and never let them go." Said Spike trying to remember. 

Granny smiled. "Well, all of those are good things to keep in mind, but do you know the Apple family motto yet?" Asked Granny. 

"Oh, yeah, Ma always tells me it right before bed time. 'From the roots to the seed, Apples stick together, because were family forever.' Right Granny?" Asked Spike. 

Granny smiled as she pat Spike's head. "That's exactly right kiddo. My grandfather, Apple Seed came up with that motto when he became a seed trader, and we live by that motto every day. I'm happy to know that you know it as well." 

Suddenly AJ ran back to Granny, with a pile of bunny suits on her back. "Granny, we have a problem?" Cried AJ. 

Granny looked at AJ concerned. "What happened Sweetie?" 

"They didn't have a bunny suit for Spike, they had enough for most of the family but not him. What are we going to do?"

Granny hummed in thought, but then she remembered Rarity was looking into becoming a seamstress. She looked at Fluttershy and Spike. "Fluttershy, could you run Spike over to Rarity and see if she could make a bunny suit for our little dragon?" 

Fluttershy was confused. 'Why would Spike need a bunny suit?' Thought Fluttershy, but she didn't want to argue with Granny, she looked at Spike. "Come on Spike, lets go see Rarity." 

Spike nodded. "Ok Mommy, lets go see Mother." Said Spike. 

Fluttershy placed Spike on her back. "Spike, hold on to Mommy, we're going to fly." 

Spike nodded as he wrapped his arms around Fluttershy's neck. Fluttershy opened her wings and started to fly to Rarity's house, the only problem was, she was only going at a walking pace. Spike sighed, Fluttershy was not like his mom Rainbow Dash, and from the tone in Granny's voice, this sounded important. "Mommy, we're going a little slow." 

Fluttershy shook her head. "No, we're going at just the right speed, I don't want you to get tossed off." 

Spike groaned. He loved all of his mothers very much, but each of them had flaws that the others made up for. Fluttershy was loving and caring, but she was slower than molasses in the middle of winter, that was frozen in a glacier and waiting for a sloth to cross the road. Rainbow was the exact opposite, she was fast, impulsive, loud, and above all else, she was reckless. Her first day with Spike, she decided to show him how fast she could fly, all went well. Then she decided to see how fast she was with a little bit of extra weight on her, so she found some of her dad's wing weights for this, and that went great. 

Then she decided to try and fly with a passenger, that didn't go all to great for her. She was flying around, slower than usual for her, but she knew she needed to apply the brakes for Spike. The only problem was that she forgot to tell Spike he needed to hold onto her. Rainbow did a loop around a cloud and Spike fell off her back and started to free fall. 

Thankfully, Rainbow, without Spike on her back, was able to catch him super quickly, but that didn't make the heart attack she had for the next hour feel any better. She told the others about what happened immediately, and all together, they came up with a speed limit that limited the speed they should fly or run while Spike was riding them, until they agreed he was old enough to deal with faster speeds. Rainbow agreed and so did her parents, and there it was deemed that a trotting pace was fast enough. But Fluttershy couldn't follow this rule, because she couldn't even reach it. 

Spike sighed, he looked down to the ground and noticed that they were in the middle of town, but Fluttershy was going so slow, Spike saw a snail over take them. 'Ok, might as well just relax until we get to Mother's.' Thought Spike as he got cozy on his mommy's back. 





After the slowest possible flight imaginable, Fluttershy was standing right in front of Rarity's house. She knocked on the door, this woke Spike up from his nap. He yawned as he rubbed the sleep out of his eyes. "Mommy are we at Mother's?" Asked Spike. 

Fluttershy nodded. "We are Sweetie, we're just waiting to be let in." 

Just then Rarity opened the door to her home and smiled when she saw her fellow mother and her little Spikey Wikey. "Fluttershy, Spikey, isn't it Wednesday, why are you two here? Wait where are my manners, lets get you two inside first before we talk." Said Rarity as she picked up Spike using her magic and gave him a loving kiss on his forehead. "Hello Spikey." 

Spike smiled at Rarity. "Hi Mother." Rarity smiled and placed Spike onto her back.

Fluttershy walked into the home of Rarity, it was decorated very simply, from the light blue walls to the nice but comfortable furniture. Rarity brought both Spike and Fluttershy to the living room, where Spike saw his other aunt, Sweetie Belle. She was on the ground, playing with a little cat plushy. "Aunt Sweetie!" Cried Spike the moment he saw his aunt. 

Sweetie Belle looked over to who was calling her. "Spik!" Cheered Sweetie. 'Spik', 'Mommy', 'Daddy', 'Rary', and 'hungy' were pretty much the extent of her vocabulary, along with a few words like 'play'. She was no where near as linguistically gifted as Spike, but in her defense, she was still only born 3 months before Apple Bloom, and she was already starting to learn some words from Hondo and Cookie.   

Spike knew he was probably going to get an ear full from his mothers for what he was about to do. But he liked it when he got to play with his aunts. Spike moved so he could jump off his mother's back. But he was stopped by Rarity.  

Rarity, feeling Spike shift position while on her back, used her magic to pick up Spike before he could jump off. She brought him to her face and looked at him. "And what were you planning to do just now, young drake?" Asked Rarity. She knew exactly what he was going to do, but he needed to learn that he can't just run off without permission first, and the best way to teach that, is early on.

Spike looked away and tried to play innocent. "Nothing Mother, I was just going to ask if you could put me down, so I can play with Aunt Sweetie. So can I?" Asked Spike. 

Rarity nodded. "Of course you can Spikey, do you need some help getting over there or do you think you can make it on your own?" Asked Rarity. They were, in reality, only 7 feet away from Sweetie, but she knows that Spike likes to walk on his own.

Spike smiled. "I can make it." Said Spike giving a cocky smirk, it was something he learned from Rainbow last week. 

Rarity giggled at Spike. "Ok Spikey, but remember to keep that ego in check, this family can only handle one Rainbow, the world might end if there were two." 

Fluttershy tried to muffle her giggle, and she was mostly successful. "Rarity, please." Giggled Fluttershy. 

Spike was confused, but he was placed on the ground. He turned around and slowly made his way over to his aunt. Apple Bloom was a strong little foal, and loved to play games like keep away, but Sweetie Belle was more into pretend play time. When Spike made it to Sweetie Belle, she got to her hooves and slowly made her way to Spike, she pulled Spike into a little hug and smiled at him. "Play." Said Sweetie. 

Spike nodded. "Ok, Aunt Sweetie." Said Spike. 

Sweetie smiled at Spike as she gave him her cat plushy, she picked up a little teddy bear and the two started to play together.

Rarity and Fluttershy smiled at the two playing together, but it was time for business to start. Rarity walked over to the couch and motioned for Fluttershy to join her. She did and the two got to talking. "Fluttershy, as much as I love seeing Spike, today is your day with him, did something happen?" Asked Rarity.

Fluttershy nodded. "Yes, we were reading a little picture book together and after we got finished, we had lunch. AJ and her family came home from the market and Spike asked Granny if she heard anything last night. She didn't so she asked Spike to tell her what he heard, then he howled and all of them got super serious, Granny placed me and Spike on her back and the whole group ran over to a group of naked trees. Then suddenly there was a large storm cloud above us and the trees started to buzz loudly. But just as quickly as it appeared, it disappeared, and the trees had large leaves on them. Granny cheered something about Zap Apples and started giving orders to everyone." Fluttershy looked at Rarity, she has been in Ponyville for her whole life, she must've known something that Fluttershy didn't. "So, Granny asked me to run over to you and see if you could make a bunny suit for Spike for some reason." 

Rarity's eyes went wide, she looked at Spike. The Zap Apple harvest was an Apple family tradition, and she knew that Spike had to be a part of it his first year in the family. "I'll have it done, no matter what." Said Rarity. She looked at Spike. "Spikey, you need to say good bye to Sweetie Belle for a moment, we have to go to my room and take your measurements." 

Spike sighed, he was just getting into it. "Ok mother." He looked at Sweetie Belle. "Bye Aunt Sweetie."

Sweetie Belle got upset, she liked playing with Spike. "NO!" Cried Sweetie Belle as she wrapped her legs around Spike. 

Rarity giggled at the display. "Sweetie, why don't you spend some time with aunt Fluttershy, until me and Spikey come back, it will only be a moment." Asked Rarity. 

Fluttershy giggled. "Don't worry Sweetie, I know a great game we can play together." 

Sweetie looked skeptical, and for a foal not even a year old, that was impressive. "Really?" Asked Sweetie. 

Fluttershy nodded. "Yep, but we can't play it without our hooves." Said Fluttershy. It worked, Sweetie released Spike, giving Rarity the perfect opportunity to pick him up and take him to her room to take his measurements.

Fluttershy sat on the ground with Sweetie. "Ok Sweetie, follow what I do. Patty cake, Patty cake, bakers mare, bake me a cake as fast as Pinkie can." Said Fluttershy taking it slow.