(If you see some errors, they will be fixed, had alot of trouble with Microsoft word, and transfers between editors, we just said nuts to this after like 30 minutes of mistakes)
Applejack pulled her hat over her head as she exited her room and closed the door behind her. She looked up at the farm house decorated clock in the hallway upstairs that perched itself to the right of Applebloom's room, 'Still a might early, guess ah'm just happy.' She took her time as she went down the stairs into the Apple family home and was met with the familiar faint scent of apples and grass. At the bottom of the stairs she exhaled deeply, taking in the fresh oxygen that flowed in through their open windows, and outside the windows the sun began to shine its rays over the landscape of Equestria.
Applejack quickly stretched out her joints, after hearing a light popping sound from her shoulders she regained her composure and walked into the dining room where Applebloom was wide awake, coloring something on a piece of paper. Big Macintosh was asleep in a chair, his head laid back as he snored loudly with a book in his lap.
Applejack tried to read the title of the book, but it was covered by the tablecloth and she could only read a few of the letters, William Sha-, the rest were beneath the white doily cloth.
Applejack messed up the top of her sister's hair, "Mornin' Applebloom!"
Upon hearing a voice, Big Macintosh woke up. His head lurched forward, and his eyes were half-open with drool trailing from the side of his lips, "Ah'm awake!"
Applejack looked over at her brother, "You bin readin' all night again, Big Mac?"
He looked at this lap, his book upside down on the page he was on where he left off, "Eeyup."
Applebloom fixed her hair with a grumble and returned to coloring her picture she had drawn.
Applejack picked an apple up out of a bowl that sat on the dining room table and quickly ate it, before making her way out of the dining room.
"Hope ya have a nice day with Spike , Applejack," Applebloom sarcastically said right before her big sister left the room.
"Thank ya, Bloom," She replied cheerfully, not catching the hint of sarcasm in her younger sisters voice.
Applejack left the house, and closed the door behind her and took another long exhale of fresh morning air and leaving a refreshing, "Ahh..." She began to trot down the path to her barn to retrieve an apple cart to begin working in the orchard. She was expecting someone to come soon and help her as well so she checked her mane with a tilt of her neck and the corner of her eye to make sure the tie in her hair hadn't come undone. After she saw that her mane was fine she chuckled lightly to herself, "Outa all th stallions 'n Ponyville, ah fall for a dragon... an' hes the kindest, most polite guy ah ever met..."
She opened her barn door and trotted inside, and looked at her apple cart. She wasn't in a hurry to start work soon, as she still awaited her helper.
Spike was right outside the gates of Sweet Apple Acres and he took a deep breath to relax himself, he was taller now, only slightly taller than Applejack. Today was the day he was going to spend the day with Applejack, starting with her morning farm work, Are my spines straight? He thought to himself as he used his claws to rake the spines on his head upwards to make himself more presentable.
Spike heard a loud, but oddly familiar, roar behind him on the road. He slowly turned and saw the familiar machine approaching with dread. He took a step back in freight as the machine slowed to a stop in front of him, No...
The door of the machine opened up, and a familiar pink head popped out of it, "Spike! Get in!"
"Pinkie?!" Spike took another step back in horror, remembering the antics from before.
Pinkie Pie gestured Spike to get in the dalorean, "Spike! We don't have much time!"
"No Pinkie! Not again!" Spike said loudly as he pointed a claw at her, "Never again!"
"But Spike your son, F-" She tried to reason with him.
"No!" Spike yelled finally before running through the farm gates, flailing his arms in panic to get away from the mare and her strange machine.
The door to the passenger seat of the machine opened up, a Stallion wearing red robes appeared, "He didn't go for it, did he?"
She frowned and replied, "Nope..." But then she lit up in excitement, "Hey, Ximmy! Lets go play with a stegosaurus!"
Cardinal Ximerez pointed forward into the sky, "Onward, my dear!"
The two disappeared into the machine and the engine started and sped back the way it came, and ending with a flash.
Applejack and hooked herself up to the apple cart and was exiting the barn, in the distance she saw a purple dragon running towards her with his arms flailing in the wind as he ran.
Spike slowed to a stop in front of Applejack, panting with his arms resting on his knees and spoke through his breathing, "Alright...Aj...I'm here...whew..."
"Whoa there, wheres th' fire sugar cube?" Applejack asked worriedly at the panting drake.
"Uh... everything is fine Aj... I just uh... wanted to get here sooner." Spike quickly replied, not wanting to tell her about Pinkie and her machine.
"Well... Ya' didn't ave ta run. You jus helpin' at all makes today alot easier." Applejack said, leaning down to give Spike a quick peck on his cheek, "Thanks fer carin' so much though." She began to walk towards the orchard with her cart in tow.
Spike stood still for a moment, dazed by the sudden kiss, but then noticed that Aj was heading towards the orchard and quickly caught up with her.
Applejack had to harvest the early yield of apples but little did she know Spike had a surprise for her. They reached the western orchard and she studied the trees for a moment, to give herself an idea of how long this was going to take. She trotted over to the first tree and bucked it in her normal fashion and all the apples fell into their respective baskets.
Spike had always admired her strength,but since his growth spurt he wanted to truly test out his new strength. He looked at the tree next in line to be bucked as Applejack loaded the apples that fell into her cart. He dug his index claw into the bark and made an 'X' on the face of the tree.
Applejack heard a claw scrape and looked up to see Spike facing the next tree over.
The dragon cranked his arm back and threw all his weight behind a single punch. The sound of bark cracking could be heard as his fist made contact. As if someone had ripped the tree out of the grounds and shook the fruit loose, apples rained into their respective baskets at the base of the tree.
Applejack fell to her haunches with a dumbfounded expression on her face, "What th' hay..." She remembered when spike had to climb up the trees in order to retrieve the fruit from the branches because he was too weak to buck them down, but now his strength was uncanny.
"Heh...I think I got all the apples off the tree." Spike said with a cocky attitude that would rival Rainbow Dash. He may have been with his lover a lot on Sweet Apple Acres, but the one thing Spike didn't pick up was a sense of humility. Even with his morals and positive emotions guiding his growth he still had that trait found in all dragons. The same trait that makes a dragon somewhat smug.
"Whoa nelly, ah aint ever seen ya do anything like that before." Applejack said, only fueling her boyfriend's ego.
Spike sprouted an idea to spice things up, "Hey, Aj wanna have a race to see who can harvest the most apples from the west field? Winner picks the prize." He challenged her with a smirk and a tipped brow, awaiting her response.
Applejack shot a smirk back at Spike, being one to never pass up a challenge accepted Spike's harmless game.
It was Applejack's bucking versus Spike's punching techniques to see who could produce the greater yield of apples. To keep things fair they asked Mac to referee the contest before he started his shift on the farm.
Spike and Applejack both took a few moments to stretch, both putting on their game faces, both confident in their strength and stamina. Big Mac watched them, twirling his wheat stalk in his mouth as they finished and entered the ready position, he divided the west orchard in half for each to use, and then he gave the signal to start.
The contest began, both hooves and fists producing full baskets and empty trees with the sounds of crackling bark and heavy thumps filling the air.
Spike had the advantage when it came to the efficiency of his technique, but it was Applejack who had the home field advantage and she knew these trees like the back of her hoof. It was a tense race, it was 20 bushels, then 30 bushels and then it 50 bushels apiece with neither of them gaining or loosing ground. They both began to grow tired and sweaty as they reached the end of their edges of the orchard. The contest lasted for half an hour before they finally came to a stop, both knocking loose the apples from the final two trees simultaneously, and then both shouting, "I win!"
They looked at each other, both curious to who won.
Big Macintosh saw the end of the competition, seeing that they both finished at the same time but quickly observed the trees, "Well it's a tie... but ah noticed ya only got half a tree bucked over ther Spike." He pointed to a tree that was around the mid-way point of their competition path.
"Ha! Looks like ah win, Spike." Aj tipped her hat to her competitor with her signature smirk of victory. It was tiring but they both had a lot of fun.
Spike looked at the tree but then admitted defeat, "Alright, you got me Aj...Name your prize." He hoped that she wanted the same thing he wanted if he had won.
Applejack trotted over to Spike to collect her prize, "Come along sugar cube let's git ta washing th' house..." She leaned in to whisper in his ear, " an ya can clean th' top floor."
Spike was dumbfounded by what just happened, Did she just tease me? Well, that's a first. He thought as he watched Applejack trot away to fetch her cart to load the apples.
They went back to the barn and Applejack unhooked her cart before they went to the house to start cleaning.
They cleaned the house together, washing windows, clearing gutters and sweeping the porch, making good time in the day with their teamwork.
Spike was hosing down a dirty window on the backside of the house and the water had stopped flowing, unbeknownst to him Applejack had just stepped on it while she sweeping the front of the house. He looked down the hose and just as he did Applejack stepped off the water hose sending a rush of water into Spike's face and up his muzzle. He quickly veered away from the assault of water, coughing and sputtering.
Applejack had finished sweeping and walked to the back of the house where she saw Spike soaked with water and coughing, "What happened to ya? Did ya git into a fight with th' hose?"
"Ha ha, very funny." Spike said sarcastically as he shook himself dry.
Spike and Applejack retreated into the barn to finish their job for today, ending with some easy arrangement in the barn, Spike was shifting extra hay from the bottom floor into the loft on the right hand side of the barn.
Spike jumped down from the loft, his job storing hay completed, and he landed on his feet. He stood for a moment, admiring his own new found draconic strength that came with his size. He recalled the morning when he first woke up to his growth spurt a month ago.
(Flashback)
Spike woke up in his new bed that was in his own room downstairs that he lived in ever since Soarin' moved in. He stretched out, and knocked over his bedside table that he used to store his personal books. He paused from confusion and looked at his hand, it had grown. He looked down at his body, throwing the covers off, showing that he had grown double his size. Spike screamed out in surprise, his voice now in a more raspy tone, "AHH!"
Soarin' and Twilight were asleep upstairs, they both abruptly woke up to Spike's yell.
Soarin' quickly hopped out of bed, worried for his good friend Spike, "Spike, I'm coming!" He ran down the stairs and burst through Spike's door. He stared at the new Spike, mouth agape, "S-Spike?"
Spike took a moment to observe his new form, and then stood up, becoming dizzy because of the new height, but quickly overcame it.
Twilight trotted in through the door, "Whats wron- ... Dear Celestia Spike! What happened to you?"
"I-I have no idea... is it a...growth spurt?" Spike asked as he looked at his claws, clenching them.
Twilight tried to talk, but she was speechless, completely taken aback by the new Spike. She turned and trotted into the library to retrieve a book, and read it as she walked back to the room. "Well...Your a Terra Dragon Spike, and in my book it says that if you suddenly change its because of either greed, or rage." she looked up from her book, "Your not angry are you?"
"No... I'm not angry at all..." Spike replied, still looking over his new body.
"Have you been stealing anything?" Soarin' asked, hopeful that he didn't.
"What? No way! I haven't stolen anything!" Spike retorted, offended at the question.
Soarin' looked at the book as it floated into the air, and spotted a note at the end of the page of Terra Dragons. "Look there, it says continued on page 54," He said as he pointed a hoof at the small words.
Twilight flipped through the pages and read out loud, "Virtue dragon... A rare occasion when a dragon chooses emotional ties over wealth of coin. A virtue dragon only grows once in its lifetime, the amount is said to vary, and it does not grow wings, but grows tremendous strength in order to protect its ties..." She read further to an interesting passage, "Virtue Dragons have the lifespan of the being it ties itself to, "Twilight levitated the book away from her face, "Applejack?"
Spike stopped looking at his new form, and looked over across the room on his wall where he had hung a picture of Applejack and whispered to himself, "...Applejack..."
Spike lingered on the thought of his tie to Applejack, he hadn't told her that he was a virtue dragon, he just told her he went through a growth spurt.
Applejack had unhooked her apple cart in the barn, and saw that Spike had jumped down from the loft, "Tha's all th' work fer today... Thanks fer yer help Spike, ah really appreciate it." She trotted over to Spike, grinning with appreciation.
"No problem Aj, I'm always happy to help..." Spike looked down, shy at the next words he said, "Especially for you Aj, anytime you need me, I'll be there."
Applejack lifted up Spike's lowered head with a hoof, "Oh you an' yer smooth talk..." she leaned forward and began to kiss Spike.
Spike's eyes rolled to the back of his head as he met Applejack's tongue, and snaked his out to meet her.
After a time neither of them could measure, they pulled away from each other to welcome oxygen back into their lungs.
Applejack was blushing and she rubbed the back of her head, "You sure do mean alot ta me Spike..."
Spike grinned in appreciation at his girlfriend.
"Ah want ta give ya somethin' Spike..." Applejack led Spike to the other side of the barn, and began to climb the ladder into the loft.
Spike followed her, and as they reached the loft, Applejack lead him to another ladder that had to be pulled down by a rope. They climbed the second set of ladder into a small attic at the top of the barn. The sun shone through the blinds of a nearby window and the dust particals danced in the sunlight.
Applejack walked over to a chest in the corner, the chest was covered with dust and she blew over it and watched the dust move to the other side of the room and settle. She opened the chest and pulled out a hat, a dusty black stetson. She blew the dust off of the stetson and looked at it, almost tearing up at the sight, "This was ma dad's, ah kept his hat up here in this old chest..." She turned to face Spike, "Ah was wonderin... if you wanted it."
Spike looked at the hat, then back to Applejack, "I would be honored to have it..."
Applejack hoofed over the hat, and Spike grabbed it carefully and looked at it from the front brim, to the back. He placed the hat on his head, and then adjusted it in the fashion that Applejack wore hers, "How do I look?"
Applejack blushed as she replied, "Ya look sharp, Spike..."
Big Macintosh walked into the barn, readying himself for his shift out in the orchard, but he couldn't help but notice some noises coming from above the loft. In the attic? He climbed up the ladder and saw that the second ladder was brought down and began to climb it.
He could hear voices in the attic, "Oh Spike..." and stopped climbing, but he could also hear Applebloom playing with her friends, almost as if they were heading for the barn. He sighed, better me than them... He poked his head in the attic where he saw Spike and Applejack on the cold ground in a tight embrace. "Uhh... Aj."
Applejack and Spike froze, and turned their heads towards the ladder they forgot to pull up.
"H-how long have ya bin there..." Applejack asked through a flushed face, embarrassed that her brother almost caught her in the act.
"Aj, ah'm not gunna say anythin' but Applebloom an' er friends are playin' and they are gettin' mighty close to the barn." Big Macintosh warned, before he climbed back down the ladder, but then called back up, "Ah'm taking Bloom an' er friends to Fluttershy's later, an Granny ain't gunna be home till next week. She called an' said that the train broke at th' station." After he said that he climbed back down to the barn floor to get back to his work.
Big Macintosh left the barn, with his apple cart in tow.
After he left Applejack and Spike exited the attic, and left the barn themselves to go spend the rest of their day together.
The library was in view as they walked through Ponyville, they had planned to go on a picnic after all of the days work on the farm had been finished.
Yesterday Spike had thought ahead and already prepared it, now that he had plenty of free time while Twilight and Soarin' were on their trip.
They didn't spend much time at the library, Spike quickly went inside to grab his prepared basket while Applejack stood outside. He grabbed his basket which contained a few of the normal picnic foods, some fruit, sandwiches, and a thermos with some Apple juice inside of it. He was about to exit the kitchen when he saw he left out a plate of some of his muffins that he made for himself the other day. The muffins were the same baked bads that some of the town had eaten when Applejack helped Pinkie Pie bake that one year she didn't sleep during apple bucking season. He quickly grabbed a few, covered them with some protective wrapping, 'I'll eat some of these later,' he thought as he stuck them in the basket.
Spike exited the library and locked the door behind him, greeting Applejack, "All set?"
"You betcha sugar cube," She replied to Spike as she took her place next to him as they began to walk to the picnic grounds in Ponyville.
The two made their way to the park and found a nice shady spot under a tree, noticing a few families had decided to come out as well. It was a nice day, after all.
Spike laid down the blanket at the base of the tree, and then set the basket in the center as they both sat down on it. Spike pulled some plates out from the basket, and took off the protective wrapping, making sure to keep his muffins in the basket and away from the normal food.
They both ate away at the pile of sandwiches Spike had made, neither of them had ate since this morning, and it was now about midway through the afternoon.
"So how is Big Macintosh and Fluttershy, Aj?" Spike asked after he swallowed his food.
"Their alrigh' they jus are a bit to shy around each other. Whats it like with Soarin' livin in the Library now?" Applejack asked, setting down her sandwich to talk.
"I really like Soarin'... He told me a secret right before he left for their trip to the coast."
"Really? What was it?" Applejack asked, leaning forward with curiosity.
"Well..." He leaned in a bit closer to whisper to her, "Soarin' is proposing to Twilight on their vacation."
Applejack grew wide-eyed and whispered back, "Really? Thas great, him bein a dad now an' all it seems right." She began to think about her and Spike, the thought of him proposing made her heart soar.
Spike leaned back on his arms and looked up into the sky, "Today looks perfect."
Applejack continued to sit on her haunches, hooves in her lap, taking a page from Rarity's book of being 'ladylike'. She looked up into the blue skies, "Yep, it sure is n-" She was cut off by a ball lightly bouncing off of her back.
A little filly was walking up hesitantly to them, and squeaked out, "S-sorry ma'am... I didn't catch it and it soared right over me..."
Applejack smiled as she saw the filly, and tossed the ball back to her, "It's no problem, you go have fun now."
"Thank you!" The filly said as she went back to her family's blanket and began to laugh with her parents.
Applejack couldn't tear her eyes away as she watched the parents play with their child, with a sense of longing building up inside of her... she had always wanted a family of her own.
"Applejack?"
She heard Spike's voice call to her and she turned around, "S-sorry bout' that Spike."
"Applejack, are you alright?" Spike asked, noticing her eyes had watered up a little.
She quickly dried her eyes, "Yeah, ah'm fine..."
Spike felt a rush in his lower body, and he knew one thing. He had to go, "Hey uh... Aj, I'll be right back okay?" He said as he got up.
"Oh, uh, sure thing Spike." Applejack said, as Spike began to walk away, appearing as if he was straining.
Applejack looked down at her plate, she finished her sandwich and looked into the basket for another one, but saw a small wrapping of muffins. She unwrapped them and picked one up, thinking it looks alright, and took a bite out of it.
A few moments later, Spike returned, feeling refreshed, "Alright, I'm back Aj...Applejack?!" Spike saw that she was lying on the ground and clenching her stomach with a pained expression on her face. He quickly went to her side, "What happened?"
Applejack groaned an inaudible response, and placed a hoof over her mouth to stop the flow of the quickly coming up fluid.
Spike looked around, and saw a half-eaten muffin on the ground and then he turned pale. "I need to get you home Applejack..." He started quickly packing everything up as quickly as he could and stuck the basket handle on a spine on the back of his head. He went over to Applejack and put his arms around her.
Applejack, in her stubbornness, tried to protest, "N-no ah can walk..." She said weakly.
Spike looked determined, and sorry, "You can barely talk, Aj, don't worry." He hefted her up with his draconic strength and carried her with ease in his arms. He quickly made his way out of the park and made a beeline for the farm. He got there within half the normal walking time, paying no attention to anything around him, focused on getting his girlfriend comfort. Right now he hated himself for not warning her about the muffins, and now shes becoming ill, her face turning green from her orange coat color.
He held Applejack in one arm as he used the other to open the door to her home, and she began to hallucinate.
"These bells sound so pretty Spike..." Applejack said as she smiled and swayed her head.
Spike quickly carried her up the stairs and down the hallway to her room, the door was open already and he rushed to her bed and gently laid her down, making sure her head was centered on the pillow.
She began to roll over, continuing to hallucinate, "Look at all this snow Spike..." She said while putting a hoof over her head, as if to shield herself from the pelting snow.
Spike had his claws digging into the scales on his forehead, "I'm such an idiot!" He started to think about Applejack, worried for her health, No time to call yourself an idiot Spike, you need to help Applejack! He ran out of the room to get supplies to help her. Downstairs he filled up a small bucket of cold water, grabbed a folded cloth and quickly ran back up the stairs, almost tripping and the basket he had forgotten fell and rolled down the stairs. When he got back to her bedside she had become green down to her neck, and became more still and sweaty, "It's okay Aj, I'm here..." He reassured her as he wet the folded cloth in the ice cold water. He placed the cold cloth on her forehead as a cold compress and held her hoof, "I'll make this up to you Aj, I promise..."
She finally snapped out of her hallucination, "S-spike?" She said weakly.
"This is all my fault, I'm so sorry..." Spike told her through gritted teeth and looking down, still hating himself.
"It was't yer fault...musta bin somethin' ah ate..." She tried to say with a smile, but quickly brought a hoof to her mouth to surpress her sickness.
Spike let go of her hoof and ran down stairs again as quick as he could, almost jumping the stairs down and went into the kitchen to get an old pail he saw in the corner and brought it back upstairs for her. "Here Aj..." He held the bucket and caught her compress so she could unleash what she had in her stomach into the pail.
She laid back in her bed and groaned as Spike placed the cloth back on her head.
"It is my fault Aj, I should have warned you about those muffins, they were the same you made that one year during applebuck season when you didn't sleep... the baked bads." He looked down in shame, but his head was brought back up by a weak orange hoof.
"It's alrigh Spike... Ah'll b-" She had to bring her hoof up again to force her sickness back in, but Spike already had the pail up for her, and she spewed in the pail.
"Don't talk Aj... You're too sick." Spike grabbed her hoof again and began to lightly stroke it to comfort her.
She nodded and laid back in her pillow.
Spike held the routine of holding the bucket when she needed it, and comforting her in any way he could. He brought a cot from the next room over from Big Mac's room and set it next to Aj's bedside, he wasn't about to just leave her. Regardless of the cot calling his name to sleeps embrace, he ignored it and spent most of the night checking up on Applejack. He made sure that the compress stayed cold, and that she was free of sweat on her face with a dry rag.
When Applejack began to lose some of her green hue, Spike went downstairs to make her some tea. He helped her sit up as she drank from the cup.
The tea did it's job, and soothed her stomach, also sending warm waves through her body and sent her hurling into the comfort of rested sleep.
Spike remained at her side, exhaustion bearing down on him, he kneeled at her bedside, but unwilling to sleep until he was certain she was comfortable.
Applejack woke up, with a tinge of headache, but she felt as if she could clear the roof of her barn at that waking moment. She looked over at the edge of her bed and saw Spike haunched over. She tried to remember what she could last night, Spike's effort in aiding her in her sickness. She looked at the sleeping drake and couldn't help but grin at the thought of how much she meant to him, and how much he meant to her, she never felt so important when Spike was there. He was always there for her, and it felt like magic. "...Spike?"
Spike's eyes fluttered open, his normal morning laziness was about to kick in and close his eyes again, but seeing Applejack sitting up and looking well made his eyes shoot open. "Applejack!" He jumped up and hugged her, "Are you feeling alright?"
She chuckled a response, "Ah'm doing fine Spike, thanks to you..."
"I'm so sorry..." Spike tried to apologize, but she looked at him in the face.
"There's nothin' ta be sorry fer Spike, it wa' jus an accident, they happen."
They both smiled at each other and Spike spoke up, "Are you hungry Aj? I can make us some breakfast if you think you can eat." Spike offered as he held her hooves.
"Tha' sounds good Spike." She kissed Spike on his cheek, ever grateful for his attention to her.
They both went downstairs, Spike with his arm around Applejack, and her head resting on his shoulder.