Luna hurried down to the dining hall, eyes wide with alarm as her silver slippers clicked loudly against the floor. Ponies looked at her and jumped quickly out of the way, lest they be run over. “I’m late, I’m late, I’m late,” she muttered under her breath, berating herself. She never slept in like that usually. Morning breakfast always took place at 7:30, sharp. It was nearly 8:30.

Luna prided herself in very few things; impressive magical talent, a growing sense of humor, and most of all, her punctuality. She was never, ever late. She shook her head and kept running, dodging past servants as best she could. She supposed she would have to take punctual off her resume then.

She kept running until she reached the double doors. She took a few deep breaths, panting. Clearing her throat, she opened them both with her magic and strode in as regally as she could, trying to ignore her ragged breath and messy mane. Maybe nopony would comment?

She looked around. The table was already set. Celestia sat at the head of the table, as always. The food smelled delicious, as always. She felt her mouth tingle with anticipation, as always.

Nopony else was there. That wasn’t as always.

Celestia sipped her tea, smiling without opening her eyes. “Good morning, Luna.”

Luna knew she was blushing from embarrassment. She held her head up high, however. “Good morning, Sister. We trust the meal to be enjoyable?”

“Why yes, it is indeed. Come.” Her horn began to glow, and the chair right next to her was pulled out. “Why not join me?”

Luna gulped lightly. She usually sat on the opposite end of the table. Maybe her sister just wanted to be closer so she didn’t have to shout? She trotted over and sat down. “How has your morning been?”

“Oh, not terribly bad. I woke bright and early, went through my daily routine. I must say, it was quite refreshing to not only rise the sun, but also set the moon this morning.” Luna winced visibly, shrinking down in her seat ever so slightly. Celestia simply chuckled. “Overslept?”

“Er… yes. We were rather… weary from our duties last night.”

Celestia sipped her tea, smiling and looking at her. “It’s perfectly alright, Luna. Everypony has late mornings sometimes.” Celestia smirked lightly, her eyes swimming in nostalgia. “Why, I remember once when I overslept, back when you were away.”

Luna raised an eyebrow, sitting up a bit taller. “Oh?”

“I… slept in quite late. Perhaps until… noon? The time is a little hard to recall at this point.”

Luna was gaping. “Noon? Dear sister, our subjects must have been terrified!”

Celestia put down her glass, laughing. “Surprisingly, nopony questioned it! No panic in the streets, nothing! Evidently, there’s been rumors floating around ever since that I’m something of a prankster, and perhaps a bit lazy. Not that anypony would ever confirm it, of course.”

Luna smiled. “Not at all. After all, nopony wishes to be THAT brutally honest.”

“Hey!”

She levitated over some food, sighing in relief with a few giggles. “We are quite glad you are not angry at us. Being late as we are, you must have had to deal with the nobles yourself. We do not envy thee.”

Celestia chuckled. “Oh, they weren’t too hard to handle.” She speared a bit of pineapple with a toothpick, levitating it over thoughtfully. She ate it quietly and glanced at Luna. “Why are you speaking so formally, dear sister? It is only us.”

Luna felt her ears fold back in embarrassment. “Oh.. er… Sorry, Tia. Force of habit.”

Celestia smiled softly. “Don’t apologize, Lulu. I was only wondering.”

Luna scrunched up her nose lightly. “Why do you insist on that nickname? It doesn’t even make sense - it’s just as long as my normal name.”

“It’s cute.” She ate another piece of pineapple, giggling. “You’ve never minded it before. Why would you mind it now?”

“I’m a grown mare, Sister. Perhaps it’s time to leave these pet names behind?” She levitated over some apples, sprinkling cinnamon sugar on them before taking bites into the slices. She hummed in delight - the juicy apples seemed to suck up the sweet taste of the sugar, bursting in her mouth. It was heavenly.

“Says the mare who just called me Tia not minutes ago.” Celestia rolled her eyes, dabbing her muzzle with a napkin. She glanced curiously at Luna’s concoction. “Hmm. That looks interesting.”

"I got the idea from a very interesting dream last night. You should try some." Luna ate another slice as Celestia prepared one herself. "And calling you Tia is completely different. It actually shortens your name."

Celestia simply rolled her eyes and let the matter drop as she took a bite of her apple. She tilted her head. "Why, that does taste good. What dream did you encounter that lead to this tasty discovery?"

"His name was Macintosh. It was a strange dream filled with green fields and apple trees." She smiled softly. "It was quite the serene setting. I would like to visit it again, some time."

Celestia smiled. "Macintosh? I think I might have seen him in day court recently."

"Oh?"

"Something about a land dispute. It was quickly settled. What I found most memorable was that his sister was there."

"Sister?"

"Yes. You know her, actually. The Element of Honesty."

Luna choked on a bit of apple. She swallowed it quickly. "Oh! I should've seen the family resemblance.” She frowned lightly. “I do hope he didn’t expect me to have recognized him. I am still rather unfamiliar with ponies…”

Celestia chuckled. “I wouldn’t worry about that, Lulu. After all, nopony can expect you to memorize the names of all of our subjects.”

Luna smiled as she ate another apple slice before pouring some syrup on her still warm pancake. “I suppose you’re correct.”

“Dear sister, I am often correct. You simply refuse to listen.”

“Tia!” Both sisters giggled, enjoying their breakfast together. No nobles got in the way today, at least. It was, all in all, a very good morning.

*~*~*~

Macintosh snorted out his nose, huffing as he finally got to town. This was not a good morning.

First, he’d woken up much later than he should’ve. Granny wasn’t the best alarm clock, and she certainly wasn’t kind when she woke ponies up. Then, he had to get ready in a rush, meaning his mane and coat were still a complete mess and he still hadn’t quite woken up yet. That probably meant that today would be a miserable business day.

But if that wasn’t enough, those damned rabbits had snuck into the barn last night and had made off with quite a few apples, meaning they had less to sell today. Not only were they gonna need to fix whatever hole those varmints made, but they would have fewer bits on the table.

He sighed, wearily rubbing his eyes as he yawned. At least the walk here hadn’t been too bad; with fewer apples, the large cart he always walked to town with was at least a bit lighter than usual. With a tired smile, Mac told himself he would have a good day, despite the morning he had been having. No reason to let one rotten apple spoil the harvest, after all.

He set up the stand as he usually did, and just as he usually did, he started his day by kicking back and waiting for the ponies of the morning to start their shopping.

He watched as ponies milled about a bit, chatting idly with others around. It was still early enough that few ponies were wandering about, and most everypony who was up was rubbing the sleep from their eyes. With a tired yet relaxed sigh, Mac sat back and shut his eyes.

It was still a while until somepony came to his stand. “Hello, Big Mac!”

His ears twitched lightly and he smiled, opening his eyes. “Mornin’, Miss Cheerilee.”

She nodded, looking over all of the apples. “I’m going to need some of these for a fun project with the kids later today. Apple cookies!” She giggled, smiling brightly. “How about half a dozen apples? That should be plenty.”

“Eeyup.” Mac pulled six apples from the bunch, putting them on the counter of the stand. He rose his eyebrow as he saw 12 bits on the counter. “This’s too much,” he said softly, his rumbly voice making him sound louder than he really was.

Cheerilee rolled her eyes. “It’s not, Macintosh, and you know it.” She smirked. “It’s 2 bits an apple everywhere else.” She winked. “I know you can put that money to good use.”

He frowned softly. He shook his head and adamantly pushed away some of her bits. “Nope.”

She sighed. “Oh, alright then.” She nudged her bits back into her bag. “I do wish you would let me pay more, Mac. You and your family always charge so little for your apples…”

“Eeyup. We make do, M’am.”

Cheerilee smiled softly. “Yes, I suppose you do. Well, have a good morning, Big Mac.” Humming, she made her way to the schoolhouse with her apples in tow.

Mac sat back down again, thinking. He smiled softly; Cheerilee has always been a good mare. Almost too good for her own good. She was always trying to give far more than she had. He shook his head softly as he thought about her. “Gonna get herself in trouble one day,” he said as he shut his eyes once more. Still, he thought, she’s mighty pretty.

The day began to pass more swiftly after that. Ponies came and ponies went; Pinkie Pie ordered 3 dozen apples, confessing to having set up a cider making contraption in the basement of Sugarcube Corner; Rainbow Dash dropped by and bought one apple as a snack before her noon nap; Time Turner dropped by, but it was mostly to chat. Macintosh strongly suspected that he was hitting on him slightly. With a shrug, he passed it off as friendly chatter.

All in all, it wasn’t too horrible a day. The morning had started miserably but the idle chatter of ponies brightened Mac’s day considerably. He had always loved to listen to the stories ponies brought him.

“Well, the last time I tried to make an apple pie,” Derpy was telling him just now as she bought some Bailey Sweet’s, “I somehow ended up mixing the apples up with my mangos… I didn’t even know I had mangos.”

Mac chuckled and gave her her apples. She nodded and promptly flew away, only to run into a lamppost. “I’m okay!”

He glanced at his store of apples. “Runnin’ low. Might as well close up here soon.”

He started to clear on up, humming softly as he did. His low voice had always been one he had enjoyed, rumbling deep in his chest and shaking his body lightly. He could actually feel the music as he made it. He sighed softly, happily, as he got all cleaned up. He made his way back home, the sun already beginning to set. The day had been a long one, but had went by so fast. That was just the nature of days, he guessed. Some days they were short but felt so terribly long, and some days they just ended so abruptly.

He made his way to the barn with the cart, tucking it away in it’s place. He went inside to find his sister hard at work at the stove. “Ah’m home,” he said with a smile.

“Heard y’come in, Mac,” she said, smiling. “Applebloom’s jus’ finishin’ up her chores. Go wash up for dinner, it’s near done. We’re havin’ some nice soup tonight.”

“Alrigh’.”

The night progressed as it always did. He washed up and the apple family gathered at the table. They ate and talked softly, each about their own days. Applejack had spent the day bucking apples and chasing Dash around the orchard as she stole said apples. Applebloom and her friends had tried to get their cutiemarks in skydiving today (much to Applejack’s horror), but had thankfully been caught in time by a weather team. She was also now doing Applejack’s chores as punishment. Granny had slept in most of the day and worked on cooking up some more apple jam for selling later on in the week.

“What about you, Big Mac,” Applebloom said with a big smile. “Did you have a good day?”

Mac shrugged. “Eeyup.”

Granny chuckled. “Silent as a rabbit, as always Macintosh. Speakin’ of, did anypony think t’fix that consarned hole?”

“Ah did, Granny,” Bloom said. “They won’t be gettin’ in anytime soon.”

“You did a real nice job too, Bloom.” Applejack chuckled. “Y’know, maybe you should go ‘round fixin’ some more stuff. You’re mighty good at it.”

Applebloom tilted her head. “But there’s not all that much t’fix, Sis.”

“Well, you and your little friends sure tear up the town. Why not fix some of that?”

“Hmm… Yeah! Hey, maybe we can be Cutie Mark Crusader Fixer Upers!”

Mac chuckled. “Eeyup.”

It wasn’t long after that that Applebloom began talking about a cute colt in class that she had never really noticed before. Mac smiled as his family bantered and carried on. He sighed happily. This was, all in all, a good day.

Author's Note

FINALLY GOT OUT ANOTHER CHAPTER
*collapses tiredly* I've done the writing thing. Woohoo. Time to sleep.