The Returning Dragon

by Raikiry

Chapter 4: Apples and a Dragon

As the duo wandered down the dirt path to Sweet Apple Acres, Spike heard his stomach let out a thunderous growl.

"Hehehe, guess we should stop and get something to eat?" Spike chuckled as he patted his stomach.

"That doesn't sound like such a bad idea. What did you have in mind?" Rainbow questioned, floating down next to Spike.

"I was thinking that we could-"Spike immediately stopped talking and sniffed the air.

"Wow, that smells like fresh baked apple pie."

"That means Granny Smith must've made a fresh batch!" Rainbow said, immediately taking to the air again.

"I call first slice!" she shouted speeding off towards the red barn, leaving a bright rainbow trail behind her.

"Hey, that's not fair!" Spike said running down the path, then immediately tripped over a stray rock.

"Ow!" Spike got back up, rubbing his head, and noticed a trio of mares walking from the nearby orchard towards the road.

"Applebloom! Sweetie Belle! Scootaloo!" Spike shouted, jumping over the gate and running towards them.

"Spike!" The three shouted in unison and ran up to the dragon and engulfing him in a group hug.

"It's good ta see you again,"Applebloom said, releasing the dragon from their hug.

"It's good to see you too! Babs said something about you girls getting your cutie marks?" Spike said anxious to get more details on the subject.

"Since when have you been talkin' to Babs?" Applebloom said, questioningly raising her eyebrow.

"I have kinda been staying with them over the last few years," Spike said, letting out a chuckle, "I made sure she didn't tell you girls though.

She said something about you getting your cutie marks, but didn't tell me anything more than that so she 'didn't ruin the surprise' for me."

"Well, we did!" Sweetie Belle shouted and showed off the bell with a music note on her flank, "my special talent is music!"

"Mine's for doing stunts on my scooter!" Scootaloo added, doing the same action as Sweetie Belle, but revealing a scooter cutie mark.

"An' my talent is carpentry!" Applebloom said, completing the trio by showing her cutie mark of a wooden looking apple with a hammer.

See! If only they listened to what everyone was telling them before they wouldn't have had to wait as long! Spike thought before his stomach let out another rumble.

"That's awesome! I'd love to hear all about how you got them, but if we don't hurry up Rainbow Dash will eat all the pie!"

The three ponies let out large gasps and sped off towards the barn, and Spike was right behind them. Upon reaching the barn, the group charged through the door and slid into the kitchen.

"Is Rainbow Dash here?" Scootaloo questioned, completely uninterested in the pie.

Scootaloo looked over to see Rainbow Dash gobbling down some pie.

"Heya, squirt!" Rainbow said after swallowing down her mouthful of pie and ruffled Scootaloo's mane.

"Is there any apple pie left?" Sweetie Belle said, turning towards Granny Smith.

"Yeah what bout' the pie?" Applebloom said worriedly.

"Don't you worry none girls, there's plenty a pie for all y'all," Granny Smith said reassuringly turning to see them, along with Spike just entering the kitchen.

"That's great; I can't wait to have a slice," Spike said letting out a sigh of relief.

"And who do we have here?" called a voice from behind Spike.

"Hey Applejack!" Spike said turning and giving her a hug.

"Look at you bein' all grown up. WoooWeee, Looks like you grew some fine lookin' muscles as well," she said hitting Spike in the arm.

Spike started blushing a bit and rubbed his arm.

"Only kiddn' with ya Spike, but seems like somepony got her sights on you." Applejack said throwing Rainbow a wink as soon as she pasted by Spike. Rainbow Dash pretended not to notice and kept eating her pie.

Wait, somepony has their sights on me? Spike thought, turning and following Applejack to the oven, where she began to take out some pie.
"What makes you say that, Applejack?" Spike questioned, taking a plate with some pie from Applejack who began to distribute it to the rest of the group.

"Oh, no reason" she said with a sly smile.

Spike gave Applejack a confused look for a moment before thinking, Whatever, I'm too hungry to think about it right now, and dug into his pie.

"So, care to tell all of us bout' yer trip?" Applejack said, placing some more plates of pie around the table for everyone, including Big Macintosh who just entered the room.

"Yeah! We've been real curious what ya been up to." Applebloom said with a mouthful of pie.

"Eeyup" Big Mac added sitting down at the table.

"Well I will be glad to tell you all about it." Spike said.
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"I call the first slice!" Rainbow said, dashing off toward the barn.

Ha! that first slice is as good as mine! Rainbow Dash thought as she sped closer to the barn.

A few seconds later she landed in front of the home and gave the door a few knocks.

"Rainbow? What you doin' here?" Applejack said after she swung open the door.

"Well, Spike said he smelled pie so I fig-"

"Spike!?!" Applejack said cutting off Rainbow Dash.

"Oh, yeah! He's back in town and we've been going around to everypony and saying hi," Rainbow said waving her hoof dismissively. "Now, about that pie."

"We just took the first one outta tha oven sugarcube. I take it you want a slice?" Applejack said jokingly.

"You bet!" Rainbow said walking past Applejack, and went straight towards the kitchen.

"Hey Granny Smith!"

"Howdy there Rainbow Dash." Granny Smith replied as she was preparing another pie to go in the oven.

"So... Spike grow up some?" Applejack questioned watching Rainbow help herself to the pie on the counter.

"Yeah, he's about as big as we are now, and he doesn't look half-bad either." Rainbow said, more focused on getting to eat her pie than what she was saying.

"Doesn't look 'half-bad'?" Applejack said, raising an eyebrow.

"Wait... I mean he's not some cutesy-wootsey dragon anymore, he's more... you know... cool?" Rainbow said trying to find the right word for it.

"I'm sure he is sugarcube," Applejack said giving Rainbow a snicker.

"You know what I meant!" Rainbow said before digging into her pie.

"I'mma go upstairs a second. I'll be back down in a moment to take out the pie." Applejack said while heading up the stairs.
Just as she finished going up the stairs a trio of ponies burst into the house.
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"So you were with our family all along?" Applejack asked, slightly surprise.

"Yup! The Apple Family sure is friendly, I got to meet a lot of your relatives who visited as well." Spike said, finishing off what remained of his pie, "I would even say I'm part of the family!"

"I'm sure nopony would mind having y'all at the next gatherin'," Applejack began to pick up the plates around the table and bring them into the kitchen.

"Well, it was nice catching up with you! We have to go see Fluttershy before Pinkie's party tonight."
Spike got up off his chair and began to walk towards the door with Rainbow Dash, "And I can't wait to hear about how you girls discovered your cutie marks!" Spike said to the young mares.

"Oohhh!" Sweetie Belle shouted, "How about we tell you on the way to Fluttershy's cottage?"

"Sweetie, we can't! We've got a CMC meeting soon with some our new batch of recruits!" Scootaloo said.

"Ohh... That's right." Sweetie Belle said with a hint of disappointment before perking right back up again, "another time, then!"

"Alright, I hope to see all of you at Pinkie's party tonight!" Spike said before leaving.

"Let's get going!" Rainbow said, beginning to trot towards Fluttershy's.

Spike's thoughts were elsewhere at the moment. What did Applejack mean when she said "Somepony has their eyes on me"?

Author's Note:

Hey, Guys, I hope you're enjoying this story. I'm still looking an editor so they can help me make more chapter without disappointing you guys on my bad grammar. also, I'm going try to finish one fanfiction to go and complete the next one right now I'm still working on the man with six hearts. so if any of you is interested in helping me on my fanfiction and want to see this one being finish PM me and will work on the upcoming chapter. I post the chapter once a week. and I will appreciate the help of you guys.

Comments

[OmniFox]

You did see the recent MLP episode right?

[ShadowSpider]

6528188 My guess is he had this chapter finished before the episode aired. But ya, ouch on the timing.