Sweet Apple Acres
"Are they gone?"
The dragon turned at the unexpected question. The old earth mare lying on the large double bed, almost vanishing beneath the covers, smiled weakly. "You thought I was asleep, didn't you?"
"You know me too well." He returned the smile. "But what do I expect after all these years?"
"How long has it been, Spike?" Apple Bloom's brow creased as she tried to remember.
"Since our first kiss? Eighty-nine years, six months and twelve days."
She raised one eyebrow. "That's oddly precise."
"I grew up with Twilight. 'Precise' is what I do."
Apple Bloom forced her eyes completely open. She'd told Spike more than once that the fatigue was the worst thing about it all - that feeling of exhaustion that no amount of sleep could cure.
He forced himself to look at her and felt a familiar pain in his heart. She was ancient, over a hundred now, yet he could still see the young mare - the filly - he'd fallen in love with. It was a lifetime ago for a pony, yet for him, it was barely a blink of an eye. He had grown over the decades, yet he was still small by dragon standards - which meant that he was about the size of the princesses now, towering over most other ponies.
"It's not looking good, is it?"
"No," he whispered. "They've tried everything, but..."
"They can't cure old age."
"You're not old." He tried to smile again. "You're barely into young adulthood."
"As dragons reckon these things, perhaps," she countered. "Spike, I won't be around for much longer, and I..."
"Don't." The low growl escaped him almost against his will.
"What's the use in lying to yourself?" she asked heatedly, and for a brief moment, the energetic young mare flared up beneath the wrinkles. "I'll be gone soon, Spike. It's good that way. I've had a great life, a wonderful family, and the best husband a mare could wish for."
A slight hiss told Spike that a few tears were making their way down his face, turning into steam upon hitting his teeth. He'd known this day would come. He'd known it even back at the wedding, and before that. Dragon lifespan was measured in centuries, if not millennia. She wouldn't always be around.
He coughed. "Did I ever tell you about the talk I had with Princess Luna, back at our wedding?"
"I don't think so. Why?"
"She told me that time was equal in power to love, and she asked me what I would do once you were..." He cleared his throat. "Once you were gone."
"What did you say?" A glimmer of interest shone in Apple Bloom's eyes.
"Over eighty years ago, and I remember it all. I said I couldn't live with losing you unless I knew I'd made you happy." Spike looked her in the eyes, and he knew how utterly un-dragonlike he had to appear at this moment. He was pleading with her.
"You have." Apple Bloom looked at him with a very familiar frown on her face, as though he were being especially dense. "You really need me to tell you? Look at what we made together, Spike. The little farm filly and the dragon among ponies, and we made it work." She stretched out a hoof, and he carefully closed one of his claws around it. "We saved the world, more than once. Look at the family we built, you and I. Look at what we did for this city, and for Equestria." Her eyes were glistening with tears. "You're my very special somedragon, my Spikey-Wikey, and I love you. Yes, Spike the Dragon. You have made me happy."
"I don't want you to go." He almost choked on those words, knowing even as he said them that he didn't really mean them.
"I have to, Spike. They're waiting for me. I can almost hear them." Her eyes seemed to glaze over slightly. "Big Macintosh, and Applejack, Granny Smith, my parents, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo..." She frowned and looked directly at Spike again. "There's one last thing I need you to do, Spike."
"Anything." He evaded her gaze.
"Live."
That was enough to make him stare at her in wonder. "Live?"
"Yes, Spike. Live. Live a good, draconic life, whatever it is you dragons do when you're over a hundred. I couldn't go if I thought you'd just cry over me for centuries." Beneath her joking tone, Spike perceived an undercurrent of deadly earnestness.
"I won't." He leaned in a little closer. "Don't ask me not to cry over you, because I will. You were mine for almost a century, and if there's one thing we dragons are really bad at, it's letting go. I'll cry rivers, lakes, entire oceans over you. But I said it to Princess Luna back then, and I'll say it again: I can live with it. Not just because I made you happy, but because you made me happy too." He almost choked on the words, but he had to get them out. "I'll need the memories. The good ones, the bad ones, even the really sad ones, but most of all, the happy ones. I'll keep them with me, and as long as I live, Apple Bloom of Sweet Apple Acres, Bearer of the Element of Confidence, a piece of you will live on in my memory."
***
Gavel Peak, Dragonspine Mountains, thirty years later
"Who is she?"
Spike turned at the growled question. "Who's who?"
The light blue dragoness released a puff of smoke from her nostrils. "Don't play coy with me. I've seen the photograph you keep in your hoard. A rare place of honour for something of no intrinsic value."
"It's of great value to me, Lightwing."
"A pony?" She stared at him in wonder. "I've heard of that happening, but it's rare. So, who is she?"
"She was my wife." He reached for the frame and held it up into the light, revealing an old, faded picture of himself and Apple Bloom on their wedding day. She had been so proud to wear her mother's dress for the occasion.
"Your wife?" Lightwing's astonishment seemed close to boiling over into anger. "Don't you think you should have told me you were married before we took the Vows of Power?"
"Lightwing, I said she was my wife." He closed his eyes as old feelings he'd thought long vanished resurfaced.
Her face softened. "Of course. You were barely more than a hatchling when you married her. How long ago was it?"
"Over a hundred and ten years." It seemed surreal - he knew that it was a long time, and yet the memory was as clear as day to him, as if it had happened only yesterday.
"I'm sorry." Lightwing approached him and wrapped a wing around him.
"You don't have to be." Spike smiled through his tears. "I loved her with all my heart, but she didn't want me to pine after her forever, and so I don't."
"Is that what I am?" Again, it wasn't quite anger - yet. "Your proof to yourself that you can still get it on?"
"No!" Spike gritted his teeth. "No, Lightwing, please believe me, you're far more than that. You're special to me."
"And you're special to me. The dragon who grew up among ponies." She chuckled. "I should have guessed, really. Who could resist their wicked charms?"
"Lightwing, I understand if you don't want to deal with all this." He couldn't bring himself to look at her. "I bet most of the young males out there don't have this kind of baggage. Perhaps you should take one of them for yourself."
She whipped her tail across his back, just enough to be a little painful. "I don't want any of those striplings. Have you looked at some of them?" She smiled. "I could tell you were different. I just didn't know how different."
He grinned impishly. "Perhaps I should introduce you to your step-grandchildren."
This time, no anger tainted the pure astonishment on Lightwing's face. "My what now?"
"I was married to a pony for over eighty years. Did you honestly think we didn't...procreate?"
She raised a claw to her temple and slowly started massaging it. "Thank you, Spike. There's a mental image I didn't need to have."
"You're welcome." The grin faded. "Seriously, though, if we continue this, you'll need to get to know them someday. They're a part of my life."
"I..." Lightwing seemed lost in thought for a few seconds. "Actually, I kind of like that thought. How many of them are there?"
"Nineteen." At the surprised look, he added, "Six children, five of them with families. I'm honestly not sure how many great-grandkids I have."
"Fantastic." She slumped to the ground with an exaggerated groan, reminding Spike uncannily of a certain unicorn he once knew. "I'm not just getting with a dragon, I'm getting with a clan."
"You'll enjoy it."
"Of course I will." She grinned. "Can you imagine the looks on their faces when Grandpa Spike shows up with his new wife?"
His heart seemed to stop for a second or two. "Oh Celestia, I haven't even thought of that. What are they gonna think?"
"Your wife knew that when she married you, didn't she? You just told me she didn't want you to pine after her." Lightwing looked at the photo again. "I'm sorry I didn't get to know her. She looks nice."
"She was." Spike took the photo and returned it to its place of honour. "But I shouldn't ruin our first date by talking about my first wife."
"Are you kidding? I want to know all about this. I want to know who this pony was that managed to win a dragon's heart." She looked up to the photo again. "What was her name?"
He hadn't had cause to say it in decades. He was surprised to find it didn't hurt much.
"Apple Bloom."