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// A Dragons Romance  
// Story: A Destiny Of His Own 
// by greener97 
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	“The dragon is indeed the most pure of the beings, so pure that it has never been seen by the eyes of corruption     much less touched”- unknown source


The sun beat down relentlessly, with not a cloud in site over the small town of Ponyville. It was once again time for the days to be long and hot while the nights were short, and humid. Whereas most of the population of the small town found this weather to be extreme and unbearable, a certain farmer pony loved it.

AppleJack found the longer days helpful considering it was applebucking season, and she loved sitting out under the stars after a long day of work and listening to the choir of crickets and other creatures that happened to be conversing.

However this year it seemed there would be no relaxing for the orange earth pony as earlier in the week Big Mac managed to injure himself meaning once again she was left to do the work by herself.

“Ah swear he does this on purpose” AppleJack complained to herself wiping her hoof across her forehead. She hauled back and slammed her hind legs into the tree next to her causing a great many apples to fall into the buckets she and big mac had placed around the trees earlier.

She was panting hard as she made her way towards the next tree. The day was more than half over and she wasn’t even done with a quarter of the trees she was meant to buck by days end.

“Hey!” A.J. snapped her head in the direction of the voice to see a purple and green drake heading her direction.

“I heard you were on your own again this year” Spike called out “Need some help?”

“Ah know you are confident because you’ve grown a lot but there’s no way you could keep up with me. Ah’m better off on my own.” AppleJack smiled as she called out this playful insult. Truth was Spike had grown to larger than Big Mac’s size.

He was no longer the stubby baby dragon she had known before. He had a long snake-like body with hind legs about the size of hers and arms a little bit longer. Most notably about the change though was definitely his neck and face.

His head was thin with an elongated snout and frilled ears, and then his neck was stretched to match his body making him nearly a foot taller than her when she stood on her hind legs.

“Is that a challenge?” Spike questioned now standing right next to A.J. He flexed showing off the incredible muscle that he had grown in the two years since Chrysalis had been banished back to the badlands of the west. A.J. found herself staring as the dragon seemed to have ripped muscle on every part of his body.

“A.J.?” Spike waved his claws in front of her face to snap her out of whatever it was that had made her freeze up. “You there?”

“Oh! Uh yeah.” She stammered trying to recover some sort of composure “Just try not to slow me down too much” she slammed a tree hard not missing a single apple.

“I promise.” Spike laughed as he strode in between three trees still filled with the precious fruit. He took a deep breath tensing all of his body. He then lashed out with his arms punching the two trees in front of him, and lashing the third with his spiked tail, knocking every fruit off of all three trees in less than a second.  

AppleJack stood dumbfounded staring at the large drake. “Well then” she stuttered “let’s get to work.”

Even with the great speed that Spike worked at, the pair still ended up working into the night finally finishing about the time the moon was center in the sky.

“Ah s’pose you should be getting back to the library.” A.J. panted finally resting in a clearing beneath the moon.

The drake lied down next to the exhausted farmer. “Nope, According to Twilight I am yours until the season is over.”

“Really? You sure she will be fine without you?”

“I’m sure” Spike replied “it’s re-shelving week, I’d just get in her way anyway.”

“Ah see” she sighed sprawling out on the ground facing her old friend. “Ya know it’s not too often we are alone together.

“Yeah.” Spike yawned offering his tail as a blanket. “It’s nice”.

“Ah guess it’s time I finally said this Spike” A.J. murmured sounding just a little bit nervous “Ah’m not good at telling people how I feel, but I just think it’s about time I told you that.” She took a short break looking to the ground digging up a little dirt with her hooves “Well I know how you feel about Rarity n’ all but” she sighed and snapped her eyes to the dragon “spike I love you”

She waited for a moment to get a response. The only one she got was a small snort and then a large snore.

A small tear fell from A.J.s eye “you loveable oaf” she sighed “it figures you would fall asleep right when I work up the guts to tell you how ah feel”

She leaned up and kissed his cheek then laid her hoof across his soft white underbelly covering herself in his tail and slowly falling into the best sleep of her life.

The week continued in the same pattern they would work during the day clearing more and more of the orchard. Then at night they would sleep beneath the stars, and though she didn’t try and tell him how she felt anymore, she still slept cuddling to him with his tail over top of her.

“Well it’s finally done.” Spike sighed staring at the sun setting over the rows of trees. “It took six days and I feel like I’m about to die from exhaustion but the job got done.”

“You did great work Spike.” A.J. panted still tired from the last set of bucking. “And don’t think just because there ain’t no more work that you can’t come visit.

“Yeah I’ll be sure to” spike replied “But it might be awhile I have a feeling Twilight will have a mountain of work for me once I get back”

A.J. pulled Spike in close, threw her hooves around his shoulders, and pulled him into a tight hug. “Good luck.” She whispered. Then releasing him, she shoved him away playfully and sent him back to his home.

Spike walked away leaving A.J. alone with a tear in her eye. She watched as the only pony that wasn’t a pony she would ever love walked away.

TO BE CONTINUED……………………