Bright Mac took in a deep breath of fresh air, the smell of apple trees and mud filling his nostrils; by Celestia he loved it, almost as much as he did his own kin.
It hadn’t been easy for him or Pear Butter, her own family essentially disowning her but they had made it work and started a family all their own. About a year after they had gotten married they had birthed their first son, Big Macintosh, a colt with a red coat and a beautiful orange mane just like his mother. Pear Butter had nearly broken down crying when she first looked into his green eyes and Bright Mac couldn’t have been happier at the prospect of being a father, he’d raise that pony right; make him grow up to be a good hardworking stallion like he was, maybe get some grandkids further down the line.
Then two years after the fact came sweet old Applejack, their second child, a filly this time. Blonde hair that seemed to glow like fireflies, an orange coat that reflected the morning sun almost perfectly, she was an angel; well almost. See while Big Macintosh was a fairly quiet foal, well behaved and kept himself out of mischief, Applejack was almost the exact opposite; that foal seemed to attract trouble like a bear to honey, knocking things off shelves, waking up the couple in the middle of the night with her wails, getting into the most darned of places (how did she get onto the roof of the barn?! She didn’t even have wings!), and generally running him and Pear ragged. But she was so utterly adorable, so disarmingly cute that neither of them could ever stay mad at her for long, they could only hope that she would calm down as she got older, catching a foal falling out of an apple tree isn’t good for a pony’s heart.
But enough reminiscing for now, it was harvesting season and he had to get to work, apple trees weren’t gonna buck themselves after all. Bright Mac hooked up the cart full of baskets around his midsection, tugging the wooden contraption out into the middle of the eastern grove; Granny Smith already had the western grove covered despite his protests, it was no secret that his dear old ma was getting on in the years now and couldn’t buck trees like she used to, but that mare was as stubborn as a mule and refused to sit out this season, at least he didn’t need to clear out the entire farm all by himself.
He was looking forward to next week though, they had gotten a big order for apples up in the middle of the southern deserts, something about using the seeds to start a new apple grove for a town they had planned to build up there, something along the lines of Applejuicia or Orangeloosa he didn’t really remember. All he knew that it would have just been him and Pear Butter together, Granny Smith agreed to foalsit Big Macintosh and Applejack while they were gone for the week so they could finally get some alone time on the road for the first time in a few years, Celestia knows a stallion has needs after all.
Sure Pear was a bit nervous about traveling through the everfree forest, with all them timberwolves wandering around but Bright Mac insisted they’d be fine and it would all be worth it in the end. After all it was one of the biggest orders they’d ever had, with the money they’d finally be able to fix up the barn and get Applejack some toys. All they had to do was make it through the week without any shenanigans.
“Just one more week, just one more week and it’ll be nothing but me, buttercup, two carts filled to the brim with apples, and the open road; ah can’t wait” said Bright Mac with a dumb smile, his back hooves impacting with the apple tree behind him, the satisfying sound of apples plopping down into the various baskets placed below the trees.
Soon enough the eldest son of sweet apple acres got into his familiar old rhythm, galloping up to each apple tree and bucking them as hard as he could to knock the sweet fruits loose from the branches. One by one they fell and with each one he knew he was getting one step closer to spending time with his wife.
But suddenly something odd occured that made him stop mid-buck, the last tree he had hit had done something rather strange; he hadn’t seen it of course as he had already trained his sights on his next target, but he had heard it. The familiar sound of apples plopping down into the baskets was broken by an audible thump following a second after, a thump that didn’t sound anything like a falling apple.
Turning around to face the tree, Bright Mac’s eyes nearly bugged out of his skull at the sight he beheld: sitting in a bushel of freshly bucked apples was an egg, not a bird egg that occasionally fell into the baskets when he bucked trees, no this egg was much larger than any bird he had heard off and it was covered with purple polka dots.
Gazing at the egg, Bright Mac mulled over what to do now. He couldn’t just leave it, Pear Butter would never let him hear the end of it but he had no idea what would hatch from it either, it could have been some kind of demon for all he knew.
The farmer pony scooped the egg up into one of his hooves, he’d put it on top of the cart now for safe keeping and then finish up the apple bucking; once he was done he’d take the egg to Granny Smith, she was smart, she’d know what to make of this.
‘So much for some peace and quiet’ thought Bright Mac as he bucked another tree, completely failing to notice the small crack that had started to form on the top of the egg.
*****************************
“So yer saying ya jus found this out in the apple groves?” said Granny Smith.
“Well more like it jus fell outta one of the apple trees granny.” explained Bright Mac.
Granny Smith rubbed a hoof under her chin, she’d seen a lot during the time she’d been alive but for the first time in a while she was utterly stumped.
She had been making one of her famous apple fritters, the secret ingredient was vinegar, when Bright Mac had burst in holding a rather large egg, asking what in the world he should do with the thing. She had taken the egg out of his hoof and placed it on the dining room table where Big Mac was enjoying a small sippy cup of apple cider, homebrewed of course, in an attempt to try and make out what had laid the egg. But between her years of knowledge and three nature books, Granny simply couldn’t figure out who or what this egg had come from nor could she figure out how it had ended up in Sweet Apple Acres of all places.
“Honestly, Mac. Ah’m just as confused as you are. Ah haven’t got a clue where an egg like this could have come from.” said the elder apple
“So what are we gonna do about this?” asked Bright Mac
“About what?”
Bright Mac looked over his shoulder to see pear butter standing in the doorway, a slightly confused expression adorning her face.
“Well buttercup, ah was out bucking the eastern grove like always when this here egg fell out of one of the trees. Ah took it to Granny so she could have a look at it.”
Pear Butter gently nudged past her husband to get a better look at the egg in question and grew intrigued.
“Wait a darn minute here, this is a dragon egg!” said Pear Butter with slight excitement.
“What? How do ya know that?” asked Granny Smith
“When ah was still just a little filly, ah used to love reading about dragons. They were just such interesting critters, big, fire breathing, covered in scales, but of course ah never got the chance to see one and jus thought they were fairy tales.” said Pear Butter “but this egg here, it looks exactly like the ones in my old picture books, no doubt about it this is a dragon egg.”
Granny furrowed her brow. “Well then ah guess we gotta get rid of it.”
“GRANNY!” shouted Bright Mac
“Ya’ll heard Pear, that’s a dragon egg; which means when it hatches were gonna have a fire breathing lizard on our hands, friendly or not it’ll burn down all of Sweet Apple Acres if we let it. Better to nip this in the flank now.”
“But it’s still just an egg” protested Pear Butter “probably lost its own parents, we can’t just abandon it like this!”
“Well what do ya’ll wanna do? It’s gonna hatch eventually and celestia knows we don’t know nothing about taking care of no dragon! They can grow to the size of a silo ya know!” Granny said
“We can take it to somepony, maybe they can take care of it.” replied Bright Mac
“Do ya know somepony who’d be willin ta take care of a dragon bright mac?” Granny sarcastically asked.
“We ain’t gettin rid of it! Ah’ll mah life ah’ve been wanting to see a dragon fer myself and here it is! We’re keeping that egg!” shouted Pear Butter.
Soon enough the apple trio degenerated into an arguing match over what to do with the egg: Granny wanted to toss it, Bright Mac wanted to turn it over to somepony else, and Pear Butter wanted to keep it. They were so enraptured with their dispute that they completely failed to notice what was happening to the egg on the table.
Big Mac wasn’t the average foal, he was actually a lot smarter than anypony would have assumed given his age. He didn’t know a lot of words apart from Ma and Pa but he was fairly aware of his surroundings and knew the difference between right and wrong, something Applejack had yet to grasp. He had abandoned his cider when he saw his three parental figures start to fight over the weird rock that they had placed on the table, but when the rock began to shake and crack he put his full attention on it.
He looked up to Ma and Pa, waiting for them to do something as the rock began to shake more violently but they were still too busy debating whether or not to summon the princess, whoever that was, over this matter. Soon enough the rock was nearly bouncing up and down on the table, and Big Mac was starting to get scared.
“Ma?” he gingerly asked in an attempt to get their attention, to no avail.
The rock began to crack further, creating a spider web like pattern on its surface
“Pa?” he called out, this time with more force, still nothing
The rock was really shaking now, rocking from side to side like his favorite tire swing
“MA? PA?” his voice had began to elevate to shouting, but it wasn’t enough to match the noise of his parents bickering
Now pieces of the rock had begun to fall off, revealing something soft and squishy beneath the surface.
Big Mac decided he had seen enough already, sucking in a large breath he screamed at the top of his lungs “MA! PA!”
The three grown up ponies finally looked in the direction of their son with a resounding “what?!”
Big Mac merely pointed at the shaking rock in response.
Pear gasped “it’s hatching, by Celestia IT’S ALREADY HATCHING!”
“AH GOTTA SAVE THE CIDER!” shouted Granny Smith, running off into the cellar.
Bright Mac quickly jumped in between Pear Butter and the egg, making sure he would shield her from whatever came out of it.
To both of their surprise, when the egg finally broke away it was rather anticlimactic; instead of a bang like they had been expecting, the egg merely fell into pieces like a wet paper bag, leaving behind a chubby little dragon who let out a joyous squeal before sticking his tail in his mouth and sucking on the tip like a pacifier.
Bright Mac waited for the inevitable fire that would have come, any second now that dragon would start tearing up the place. Only it never came, all it did was sit there in the fragments of it’s own egg, calmly sucking on it’s tail.
Seeing that the dragon wasn’t going to do anything, Pear Butter gingerly stepped around Bright Mac and approached the newly hatched lizard.
“Hey there little fella.” said Pear in a hushed tone
The baby dragon looked up at the pony who had strolled up to him and giggled at her, playfully batting at some of the loose strands of her mane that were in reaching distance. His big pupils staring up at her with complete innocence.
With that Pear Butter melted inside, this dragon was utterly harmless, he wasn’t any more dangerous than Applejack was.
“Well aren’t you just the most adorable little thing.” said Pear, her voice sweet and kind as she gently lifted the baby dragon up into her hooves.
Unfortunately that action seemed to have disturbed the baby dragon more than she had intended as he started to wail out, tears coming out of his eyes, his body squirming around in her grip.
“Aw don’t cry! Shhh shhh shhh, it’s okay. Mama Pear’s here for ya.” said Pear Butter, rocking the dragon back and forth in her arms like she does with Applejack.
The motion almost immediately began to soothe the baby dragon, his crying ceasing and his eyelids drooping until he fell asleep in Pear’s arms, gently teething on one of her hooves.
“Well now what?” said Bright Mac, whispering as to not awaken the baby dragon.
Pear looked down at the baby dragon in her arms, the fragility of the creature laying there awaking her mother hen feelings that she felt with Big Mac and Applejack.
“We have ta take care of him.” said Pear Butter.
“Beg yer pardon?”
“Look at him Mac! He’s completely defenseless, wouldn’t last an hour out there on his own, couldn’t hurt a fly. We can’t abandon him!” said Pear Butter.
“But Granny Smith said-”
“Oh forget what Granny said, look at this little guy!” Pear said, forcing the baby dragon into Bright Mac’s hooves.
The motion made the baby dragon stir slightly and his eyes cracked open to look at the stallion currently holding him, letting out the cutest possible yawn possible in the process. Which dried up any sort of reservations Bright Mac may have had about keeping the baby dragon; Pear was right, this dragon was completely harmless.
“Well howdy there.” said Bright Mac, speaking to the dragon in a baby voice “welcome ta Sweet Apple Acres young un’.”
The dragon responded by reaching up to Bright Mac’s nose with one claw and giving it a firm honk, much to Pear Butter’s amusement.
“Well at least he’s got a good sense of humor.” said Bright Mac with a chuckle, handing the baby dragon back over to Pear Butter.
“Well if we’re gonna be his parents, he needs a name.” said Pear Butter.
Bright Mac leaned over Pear Butter’s shoulder and began to run a hoof down the baby dragon’s head fins, eliciting a giggle in response.
“What about Spike? On account of the spikes on his head.” asked Bright Mac.
“Hmm, ah don’t know. What do you think?” Pear Butter said, holding up the baby dragon “do you like the name Spike?”
Spike giggled again, letting out a small raspberry at the two ponies.
“Heh, guess that’s a yes then.” said Pear Butter.
“Spike it is. Ah’d better get to work on a new crib, our family just grew a little bit bigger today.” said Bright Mac with a smile, only to look down when he felt something gently tapping his hoof.
“Pa?” asked Big Mac
“Hey there Macintosh, meet yer new brother Spike.” Bright Mac lowered spike down so that he was eye level with the colt.
The two stared at each other for a moment, never breaking eye contact as they gazed into each others souls. After a few minutes of this stand off, the two gave an approving nod of each other before Big Mac walked off.
“Ah think they like each other other” said Pear Butter.
“Ah guess they do, that was a mite strange though.” replied Bright Mac.
Pear Butter nodded in agreement.
******************************
Night had fallen on the ponyville farm rather quickly, the mare in the moon gazing over the landscape.
It took some convincing on Bright Mac’s part to make sure that Granny didn’t toss Spike out on the curve, luckily the baby dragon did all the talking for him with a few funny faces; Bright Mac was starting to think that Spike may have been too cute for his own good, definitely could give Applejack a run for her bits that’s for sure.
He had cobbled together a simple wooden crib in near record time, adding a nice sheen of green and purple paint to it to match Spike’s scales and placed it across from Applejack’s crib.
The foal in question suddenly popped up from her nap to see what was developing across the room.
She saw her father drag in a new crib similar to her own into the room, only this one was painted green and purple. From where she was sitting, Applejack could tell he was placing something into the crib but she couldn’t see past her father's rather large flank. She stood up on the tips of her hind hooves in an attempt to try and spot what her dad was hiding from her.
Turns out the effort wasn’t needed as her father quickly left the room, revealing a weird looking pony in it’s place. One with scales and weird nubs on the ends of his hooves, his wandering eyes slitted instead of rounded like her parents’.
Eventually the weird pony’s gaze fell onto Applejack, who in turn stared right back at the pony in confusion. Much like Big Mac did earlier she gave a welcoming, but mischievous smile to the pony across from her and the pony returned the favor only much more innocently.
From what little Applejack could gather, her parents had brought her a brand new playmate and she was going to have lots of fun with him one way or another.
*******************************
That day Bright Mac had found a dragon egg in the middle of Sweet Apple Acres and after talking with the rest of his family decided to adopt the creature into their own family. Because they had two infants to look after they were unable to go on the delivery to appleloosa the following week and Granny was forced to make the delivery herself with one of her sisters. Said sister was much more knowledgeable of the various paths through the Everfree Forest and managed to avoid crossing paths with any timberwolves at all. Because they had stayed home, Bright Mac and Pear Butter had never gotten lost in the everfree forest and they had never gotten mauled by a pack of timberwolves in the most tragic of fashions. Which meant they’d be there for their children as they grew up, Spike included. Which also meant that there would be the first dragon to ever join the apple family, a novelty that attracted quite a lot of business to the farm meaning they never had to fall on any sort of financial hardship whatsoever.
All it takes is one day to completely alter the course of history, one event to start the domino effect of events that would soon follow this, one little thing to create a whole new story.
The story of the dragon of Sweet Apple Acres.