//------------------------------// // Whole Lot of Apples Going On Pt.4 // Story: Dragon's Mommies // by TAD2 //------------------------------// After the events of Spoiled, Spike and Fluttershy enjoyed a nice couple of hours with Posey and Gentle. But, so Spike could sleep in his room at the farm, the girls agreed that they would always take him back to the farm, right before it was his bed time, 8 pm. But after the day he had, and the fact that Spike missed his nap time, he was already out like a light when Fluttershy dropped him off at 7:30 pm. From there, Pear, who was covered in pink paint, took Spike to his shared room with Apple Bloom and placed him in his little bed with his sun blanket. The next morning was the day that all this preparation was for, today was Zap Apple day. Granny was the first to wake up, she walked to her son and daughter's room, she knocked on the door. "Mac, Buttercup, if you’re not down in the next 5 minutes, I'll drag you out myself. The whole family is going to be here any minute and the Zap Apples are going to be growing in less than 2 hours." Mac and Pear yawned. "Ok Ma." Said Mac. He looked at Pear and kissed her muzzle. "Come on dear, she means every word." Pear nodded. "Ok Mac, I'll go wake up Spike and Bloom, you go deal with the hydra and Macintosh." Said Pear as she kissed Mac. Mac nodded. "Sure." The two of them got out of their bed and walked out of their room to go wake up their kids and grandkid. Mac walked to AJ's room and carefully opened the door. He walked into the room and headed for her bed. "AJ, it’s time to wake up." Said Mac, but it didn't work. He sighed as he got closer to his sleeping daughter. "Come on, AJ, we need all hooves on deck today." Said Mac, AJ started to stir, and she started to flail her legs around. This was why AJ was the Hydra, it took her a few moments to wake up, when it's not on her own accord, and she flails around. Mac sighed at the sight of his daughter as her eyes slowly opened. She yawned and smiled at her father. "Morning Pa." Mac smiled. "Morning AJ, come on, the family will be here any minute and Granny says that the apples will grow in a few hours." AJ shot up as she jumped out of her bed to get ready. Mac chuckled at seeing his daughter running around like any true little apple would, during Zap Apple harvest day. "Just like when Pa let me join in my first year." Said Mac, he walked out of the room and across the hall to his son's room, Mac knocked on the door, and he heard a groan come from inside. "Macintosh, we need to get a move on, the family is going to be here soon, and the apples are going to grow in a matter of hours." Macintosh yawned as he stretched out his legs. "Ok Pa, I'll be down in a minute, have you got Spike and Bloom up yet?" "No, your Ma got them today." "Ok, I'll head downstairs when I get up." "Good." Said Mac as he walked away from his sons’ room and headed down stairs. With Pear it was a lot easier to get Spike and Apple Bloom up. Pear walked into their shared room, and headed for the little toddler bed that Princess Celestia had given Spike, it was painted purple and was completely fire proof. Pear walked up to the snoring dragon and nuzzled his little head. "Spike, it’s time to wake up, today is the day." Said Pear. But Spike had taken after Pinkie in this aspect, granted he doesn't need a drum to wake up, but some days it felt like he did. Thankfully Pear and AJ discovered that there was an easy way to wake him up in the morning, all she needed to say were three little words. She leaned down to Spike's ear frill. "Spike, breakfast is ready." Whispered Pear. Spike shot up the moment he heard this, he looked at Pear. "Can I have an amethyst?" Asked Spike. Pear giggled as she nuzzled Spike's head again. "Sure, we have a few left in the pantry." Said Pear. Spike smiled as he yawned. "Good morning, Grandma." Spike rubbed the gunk from his eyes as he tried to wake up. "Wait isn't today Zap Apple day?" Pear nodded. "Yep, the family will be here any minute, so we need to get ready." Spike nodded as he smiled at Pear. "Is Ma up?" Pear nodded. "Yep, she's getting ready right now, let’s go see her." Spike smiled as Pear picked him up and placed him on her back. She walked over to an old green painted crib with a sleeping Apple Bloom inside. The one reason Spike and Applejack don't share a room was because of his snoring. But after trying every room the only member of the family who could sleep through it was Apple Bloom. Pear nuzzled her little foal to nudge her awake. Apple Bloom yawned awake and looked around at the blurry figures that was her mother. Apple Bloom giggled at seeing her mother and nephew, she smiled and wanted to be picked up. Pear obliged as she picked up Apple Bloom and placed her on her back next to Spike. Spike yawned again but smiled at seeing his aunt. "Good morning, Aunt Bloom." Apple Bloom smiled and gave Spike a little hug, which he returned. Pear smiled at seeing Spike and Apple Bloom being so nice to each other. "Well now that everyone's up, lets head down stairs and get some breakfast." Said Pear as she walked downstairs to get breakfast. When Pear walked into the kitchen she smiled when she saw everyone was up and eating their food. "Morning everypony." Said Pear. Everyone smiled at Pear and the two little bundles of joy on her back. AJ jumped out of her seat to go greet her son and to ask what he wanted for breakfast. "Morning Ma, Sis." AJ then nuzzled her son and moved him to her back. "And a great morning to you Spike. What would you like for breakfast today?" Spike hummed in thought. "Can I have oatmeal, with amethyst bits today?" Asked Spike. AJ smiled. "Sure thing Spike, you want to help me make it?" Asked AJ. Spike gasped and nodded. AJ giggled, Spike loved to help around the house, granted everyone only gave him simple tasks to distract him while they did the real work. When he wanted to help fold laundry, Granny gave Spike a wash rag to fold, while AJ and the rest did the rest of the load. When they needed to feed the animals, Spike was given the task of doing a head count, this helped him learn to count. Lastly when he wanted to help in the kitchen, he oversaw simple stuff like getting stuff on the lower shelves in the pantry, getting a plastic bowl for him, and getting the stove heated up with his fire. AJ placed Spike on the ground and gave him his orders. "Ok, Spike go to the pantry and grab the jar of amethyst shards on the bottom shelf." Said AJ. Not long after Spike started eating harder gems, did Pinkie's family start shipping a few jars of gem shards to the farm, along with a few whole gems. Spike loved to eat his gems, but he also liked pony food as well, so everyday Spike would get a pony breakfast with gem shards, then a whole gem for lunch, a few more shards or small gems for a snack before nap time, and lastly he would eat a pony dinner with whoever had him that day. Spike nodded as he slowly made his way to the pantry to get his gem shard jar, while AJ made everything else like the oatmeal. When Spike got to the pantry door, he opened it and started looking for his jar of amethysts. The bottom part of the pantry was just for Spike's gems so he could help in the kitchen. Spike looked around the little pantry and there he found his jar full of amethysts sitting on the shelf. Spike carefully picked it up, making sure not to drop it on the ground and using his tail to balance. Spike walked back to AJ and gave her the jar. "Here you go Ma." Said Spike. AJ smiled at Spike. "Thanks Sugar Cube." Said AJ as she scooped out a few spoon fulls of amethyst shards and dust and placed it in the oatmeal bowl, she topped it with some brown sugar and cinnamon. AJ picked up the bowl and brought it to the table, she placed it on the surface. She walked back to pick up Spike. "Ok Spike, make sure to eat it all, we got a long day ahead of us and you'll need the energy." Spike nodded as AJ placed Spike in his highchair so he could eat. The moment Spike grabbed the spoon for his meal he started to devour the meal. Pear giggled at Spike, two months and he was still a bottomless pit. 'Between his eating habits and sleeping, he's super kind, loved animals, and always helps others. He is definitely taking after the girls.' Thought Pear. 15 minutes later, breakfast was finished, and all the Apples were waiting for the unmistakable sound of their kin approaching. But the first wave to arrive was not the group they were expecting. It was all the girls with their families that walked into the farm first. "Good morning everypony." Greeted Rarity, she had Spike's little bunny suit on her back. She trotted over to Spike and kissed his cheek. "Good morning Spikey Wickey." Spike smiled at seeing his mother. "Mother, you came!" Cheered Spike. Rarity smiled as she nodded. "Of course, I wouldn't miss this for the world. I also told all the girls and their parents." Pear looked at Spike. "Spike, what did you ask them to do?" Spike smiled. "I asked Mother to join us today, that's ok, right?" Asked Spike. Granny smiled. "Of course, they're all honorary Apples, so they have as much of a right to join in on the reunion and Zap Apple day." Everyone smiled at hearing this. Suddenly the ground started to rumble and shake, signaling the arrival of the whole family. "They're here." Smiled Granny. Quickly, hordes of ponies approached the farm, all of them pulling wagons with even more ponies in them. The first to approach was an orange stallion with a leaf green mane and tail, his cutie mark was an orange. Next to him was his wife, a pale olive mare with a light amber mane done up in a simple bun and her cutie mark were orange wedges. On her back was a little brown foal with a crimson mane. "Aunt Smith, it's so great to see you again." Said the stallion as he walked up to his aunt to hug her. Granny smiled. "Mosely, how's city life been treating you?" Asked Granny. Mosely sighed. "Granny, it's so boring, I can't even find the time to get to the orange farm up north anymore, it's all business dinners and office work." Granny chuckled. "Well, you better be ready to work your flanks today, you don't want to get shown up by your niece and nephew, do you?" Mosely laughed. "Don't make me laugh. I'm still an Apple and I'll pull my weight." Mosely then looked at the little filly that was their house guest a few months ago. "Sorry you didn't feel at home with us AJ, but I'm glad to see you happy again." Then he got a look of what was on her back. "Wait, what's that on your back?" AJ giggled. "Well that's my son, Spike." Mosely laughed. "No, really, what is it?" Asked Mosely, he had heard stories about teenage mares having foals, but a 5-year-old, that was impossible. Pear sighed as she nodded. "Mosely, first off, Spike is her son, along with the rest of these little fillies, they found him in the Everfree a few months ago, on the day she got back. They adopted Spike the next day, so he is an Apple." Pear looked to Spike. "Spike, do you want to say hi to your great uncle Orange?" Spike looked around AJ and saw Mosely. "Ma, is he nice?" Asked Spike. Mosely dropped his jaw at seeing Spike was in fact a dragon baby. AJ smiled. "Yes he is Spike, why don't you introduce yourself?" AJ then placed Spike on the ground so he could introduce himself. Spike looked at Mosely. "Hi, I'm Spike Drake, it's nice to meet you Uncle Orange." Mosely chuckled nervously. "Well, it's nice to meet you Spike." Mosely looked at his cousin Bright Mac. "Mac, what's going on?" "Mo, long story short, he's not like other dragons, he's very kind and smart. He's also a part of the family." Mosely nodded; he knows that if he was part of the family, he was an Apple no matter what. "Well, if he's an Apple, then what's he doing over there, Apples greet each other like family, not like business partners." Said Mosely as he pulled the little drake into an Apple Family hug. "Welcome to the family Spike." Spike smiled as he returned the hug. "Mo, where's Big Apple and Wind Leaf?" Asked Mac, he was looking for Mosely's brother and his wife. Mosely sighed. "They couldn't make it this year; their business is booming in downtown and they can't leave it. But they wanted us to take little Babs." Mosely waved over his wife and niece. "Sweet, come say hello to AJ's son, Spike." "Wait, AJ has a son?" Asked the mare as she ran over to her husband. She looked at Spike and her eyes widened at the sight of him. The moment Sweet saw Spike she snatched him up from Mosely and snuggled him. "He's so adorable, it reminds me of the year I spent on the border of the Dragon lands back when I was in the guard." AJ dropped her jaw. "Wait you were in the guard?" Sweet nodded. "Yeah, for a few years actually, but one day I got transferred to Manehatten, and I met Mosely soon after." Said Sweet as she kept snuggling Spike. Spike looked at Sweet. "Um... who are you?" Asked Spike. Sweet giggled. "Well, I'm your great aunt Orange, sweetie...Wait how old are you, and how can you talk so well?" Spike shrugged. "I don't know, but I'm two months old. It's nice to meet you Aunt Orange." Said Spike as he hugged the mare. Suddenly most of the Apple family was gathering to greet the clan head and her family. "Orange, Spike still needs to meet a lot more of the Family, and Granny thinks the rainbow will appear at noon, so we don't have time for you to snuggle him all day." Said Pear. Sweet giggled as she placed Spike down on the ground. "Right, sorry Buttercup." She looked down at Spike. "Well Spike, are you ready to meet your family?" Spike nodded. "Yes I am." (AN: I'm just going to use this clip from the show to make it past the introductions.) With the introductions done, it was time for the whole Apple clan to get to work. Granny got in front of the group of ponies. "Ok listen up. This year’s reunion is going to be a little different, the Zap Apples are coming in today so were forgoing all the games and fun until tomorrow afternoon when the harvesting time is past. I want all the cooks making food for the family to keep us going, I want all workers in the field harvesting, I want all the young ones helping where they can. Once that Rainbow shows, and not Spike's mom, we will have one day to pick as many Zap Apples as possible. I have yelled at all the jars, the whole of the cooking stations are surrounded in pink polka dots, all the feathers have been soaked for exactly 78 minutes and 9 seconds, the pigs have done their dance this year to perfection, all we need now is the honey, which is where I'm going right after I'm done. Apple Split, we will be having a special guest show up the moment you get the first batch of apple fritters out, go find one of the girls or Spike when you get it out." "Yes Ma'am." Shouted a dark blue stallion with a red mane. Granny nodded. "Good. This is our best chance to finally get all those apples this year, now let’s show them trees the full might of the Apple Family." "YEAH!" Cheered Everyone. Suddenly a massive rainbow aurora illuminated the sky around the farm. The Zap Apples reacted to the aurora and instantly grew larger and gained their iconic rainbow-colored skin. "Ok, there it is, let’s get to harvesting!" Ordered Granny. Everyone nodded and ran off to help with the harvest. Leaving all the older mares and stallions that were too old for the physical labor, and the little ones who were too young to help with the harvesting part. Granny walked over to her cousins, Goldie, Strudel, Rose, and Applesauce . "Ok, I still need to go sweet talk the bees, will you be ok directing the young ones?" "Come on Granny, we maybe too old to buck a tree, but watching a couple little fillies and colts?" Commented Goldie. Granny smiled. "Goldie, why don't you tell all of them our family line, Pinkie is a Pie, maybe she's Great Great Great Great Great Uncle Stone Apple Pie's niece?" Pinkie and AJ looked at each other. "We're related?" Goldie hummed. "Well maybe, but it depends on a lot of things, I should have the scroll in my house, but Charles likes to sleep there, and I hate to move him." Granny sighed. "Goldie, you got to get out of there, and stop taking in cats, I swear you'll bring in a jaguar on of these days." Goldie giggled. "Granny, how would that even work, jaguars are native in the rain forest." Granny sighed. "In the last three months, I've learned that anything is possible." She looked at Spike and Fluttershy. "Spike, Flutters, would you mind coming with me, I need to talk to the bees to make sure their honey is sweeter, and an interpreter would be a great help?" Asked Granny. Fluttershy nodded. "Sure thing Granny, I haven't talked to bees yet." Fluttershy looked at Spike. "Come on Spike, I mean if you want to that is?" Spike looked at Rarity, technically it was her day to spend time with Spike. But Rarity just smiled. "Go on Spikey Wikey, mother will be right here when you get back." Said Rarity as she kissed Spike's forehead. She then used her magic to lift Spike onto Fluttershy's back. Fluttershy smiled as she looked at Spike. "Ok Spike, let’s go talk to some bees."