//------------------------------//
// Chapter 5 
// Story: The Mane Six Chronicles Book 5: The Long Vacation 
// by KorvasTerindar 
//------------------------------//

Twilight stood under a great apple tree, staring up into the branches, doing her best to determine which of the apples in it were good to pick. She had only helped with the apple harvest once before and even then her involvement was more along the lines of organizing and tallying the apples as they were gathered. Sure she had used magic to gather them, but had later learned that some of the apples weren't ready when she did, but it was all she had to gather them. 

She used her magic to pick a couple that looked ripe from the tree and deposit them in her basket. As she did so Big Mac came from around a tree, carry two full baskets on his back and shaking his head.
"Twilight, there is a reason for applebucking you know, it shows us which of the apples are ready to be picked."

Twilight looked at him curiously causing Big Mac to give a heavy sigh as he deposited his baskets on the ground. He turned his back to the tree and kicked it with all his might. The tree shook violently and over a dozen apples fell from it to the ground, the remaining apples clinging tight to it. Twilight sighed and used her magic to pick the fallen apples up, placing them in her basket. She'd only been here for a few hours and already she had been corrected four times by AJ, Macintosh, and twice by Fluttershy, when Twilight tried to keep animals away from the harvest. 

Twilight knew that her skills were more adapt to organizing the harvest, but the yield was larger this year and required all of the ponies to help out with this harvest. Twilight turned to another apple tree as Big Mac went off further into the orchard. She thought it silly of him to expect her, as inexperienced as she was, to applebuck as skillfully as Applejack. Twilight turned away from the tree and kicked it as hard as she could. Twilight let out a cry of pain, both of her ankles felt like they had broken as she limped slowly away.

She flopped down under the apple tree that Big Mac had cleared moments before, looking sadly at the underside of the tree she had bucked, noticing that a measly three apples had fallen from it. Sighing pitifully she began to painfully flex her ankles, trying to feel if she had actually damaged them. It certainly felt like she had as her ankles popped painfully while moving.

"Great! Barely three hours in and I already bruised my ankles. How am I supposed to help now?" She laid her head down, tears running down her face as she tried to set her hind legs down on the ground, whimpering in pain as they took but a fraction of her weight. She couldn't, even her desire to help couldn't force her to her feet. She let her hind quarters fall back to the ground and lay there, hoping that Big Mac or somepony would find her and take her to Zecora. The minutes seemed to stretch on forever as the animals of the orchard ran through the trees, chattering cheerfully as the day went on. She suddenly became aware of a new sensation, relief.

She felt a set of claws gently caressing her ankles and knew that it was Spike. She looked back at him and saw the soft glow encircling his claws as he massaged her ankles, the bone and muscle healing under his touch. Spike wore a sympathetic look as he gently ran his claws over the injury, a slight shiver running down her spine at the touch.
"You know, you could just organize the gathered harvest. There's plenty of ponies helping out for you to do that."
Twilight sighed and shook her head, "I don't want to disappoint Mac, I said I'd help with the harvest and I'm going to."
Spike shook his head as he finished healing her ankles, Twilight could be so stubborn at times.
"Twilight you did say you'd help, but your not cut out to harvest the apples like AJ and Big Mac, if he wants the trees bucked, he'll need to find some one else to do it."

Twilight looked at Spike as he moved to pick up the baskets she'd dropped when she'd hurt herself. She didn't know what to say, she knew he was right, but at the same time wanted to do what she'd promised and help gather. She slowly stood back up, her ankles feeling a little tender as they took her weight again. "Well, I hope Mac won't mind if I go a little slower with the harvest after this."
She took a few tentative steps and staggered a little bit, nearly losing her balance, but something caught her. She blinked as she looked into Spike's eyes, now suddenly inches from her own. Her breath quickened suddenly, Spike's green eyes seemed to be looking deep into her very being. "Are you alright Twilight?"

All she could manage was a faint squeak as her face started feeling warm. Spike smiled and moved away from her again carrying her baskets with him. She about fell over again, the loss of his presence seemed to her to make her feel weaker all of a sudden. She mentally shook herself and followed after Spike. She wasn't sure why she had felt like that, not that she minded but it was odd none the less. Before too long they came to the staging area for the harvest and Twilight was surprised to see the number of baskets and bushels scattered everywhere, as well as the huge number of ponies milling around the area, some gathering wheat, some coming from the orchard, and still others coming from the greenhouses of to the east of the wheat fields. 

She watched as they'd deposit their load of vegetables, fruits, and wheat near the staging area before a dozen ponies would sort and check it all. Spike hadn't been kidding when he had said that there were plenty of ponies to help with the actual harvesting. He deposited the two baskets he was carrying down in the pile and turned to look at the gathered harvest, "So, think your up to cataloging this Twilight?"
Twilight smiled and said with obvious cheer, "You have to ask? Okay lets get started!"

So the next 4 hours went, Spike helped to move things around while Twilight counted and tallied everything. Things were relatively uneventful considering, the most interesting thing that happened during the whole session was when a particularly large spider, easily the size of a ponies head, fell from the tree that Rarity had been gathering from and landed on her face. Seeing her tear from the trees, wailing like a possessed banshee had been both nerve wrecking and hilarious. She had run into Spike, over Twilight and headlong into Celestia. Realizing who she'd hit, Rarity seemed to snap immediately from deranged fear to deep regret in half a second. She had apologized profusely and had about run off again, in shame, before Celestia calmed her with magic, accidentally rendering Rarity unconscious. She still lay on the ground near the staging area even now, dozing peacefully.

Spike stretched wearily and moved to sit next to Rarity, taking a break from the long days worth of work. The sun was beginning to set behind the tree line and the harvest was nearly completed, which was good because Spike was beginning to feel the drop in the temperature, shivering slightly as he watched Twilight busily counting out the last of the wheat that had just been brought in. 

It was good to see her doing something she enjoyed, helping others in one of the few ways where she truly excelled above all others. Spike turned to look at Rarity, suddenly becoming keenly aware of her curious stare, he hadn't even noticed her waking up. She looked at him with a quizzical look before asking, "Is the harvest over already? How long was I out?"
Spike smiled wryly and shook his head, feeling an odd sense of relieve as he responded, "About two hours, we figured it'd be best to let you be, considering what happened."

Rarity frowned as she remembered vividly her dramatic reaction to the harmless arachnid. She didn't know whether she'd over reacted or simply been terrified of the creature, but either way, she had embarrassed herself. She sighed heavily and settled back into a comfortable spot while the last ponies deposited the last bits of the harvest. Rarity watched as Twilight moved like a worker bee around the harvest, emptying baskets, counting everything and then replacing it all before moving on to the next one. 

She turned her head to look at Spike and saw that he was idly watching Twilight, as if what she was doing was the most intriguing thing in the world. She smiled as a thought occurred to her and she said, "You know, I just realized something, I'm surprised I never noticed it before. I've had 11 suitors in the past seventeen years and I can't count you among them. When did you lose interest in me?"

Spike had no idea how to answer that. It was true that as the years went on that he had grown to view Rarity as more of a friend than a potential partner, and he now realized that when he looked at her, he felt none of the previous desire that he had in his youth. Spike shrugged and said, "I guess I grew up, moved on." Rarity smiled and nodded wisely before saying, "Yeah, you have your heart set on another girl."
Spike shook his head and said, "No, I don't think that's it."
Rarity laughed and said with a sly smile, "Yeah well, the look in your eyes says something different." 

Spike looked at her curiously before realizing that his face felt warm, despite the chill of the fall air. Spike shrugged halfheartedly as Rarity, giggling, got up and moved towards the large area set up to provide food to those who were helping with the harvest. It wasn't long after she left that the sun finally set beyond the trees, the harvest was finally finished. All the ponies who had assisted were milling around, chatting animatedly with each other, satisfied with the long days work.

Finally Celestia cleared her throat and all fell silent as she said with a smile, "I thank each of you for your efforts today, because of you the harvest is in before the fall chill hit. By your efforts this was possible and for that I again say Thank you. Now Enjoy your meals and have fun!" A great cheer went up from the crowd as music began to play all the ponies everywhere beginning to sing and dance as the evening festivities began. Spike gathered together two plates of food and began searching the crowd for Twilight, eventually finding her in the place he most expected to. 

She sat alone at a table, drinking apple cider while watching the others make merry. He shook his head, he knew she wasn't trying to be antisocial, but it didn't seem right for her to be like this. He sat next to her and slid her food over to her, which she accepted with cheerfully. Twilight sighed as she looked back at the crowd saying, "Today was certainly a good day wasn't it, I can't believe the number of ponies that came out to help."

Spike smiled and reclined a little as he said, "Well, its an important event, the harvest needs to come in, and with it as big as it was, we needed the help, besides, how many ponies do you know would leave others to flounder in something as important as this." Twilight smiled, nodding gently as she took a bite of the food Spike brought her, she wasn't surprised to see that all of the food was things she loved. He knew her better any individual alive. Everything that there was to know about her, from her morning routine to what she liked to eat. 

Even now, he stood resolute beside her, enjoying this evening together with her as only he could. She sighed as she watched Fluttershy dance past, arm in arm with her husband, a thick set and muscular horse with a black and white coat. They seemed so happy together, looking at each other with looks of love, lost together in their own little world, where only they and their children existed.

Twilight felt a slight twinge of disappointment at the thought that she had no one to dance with, looking quite out of place sitting at this table alone...wait, where did Spike go? She looked to her side and confirmed that he wasn't there before she heard someone clear their throat in front of her. She looked to see Spike, standing there in front of her, one claw proffered to her as he asked, "Twilight, would you like to dance?" 

Twilight could have sworn her heart skipped several beats as she stood on her hind legs and took Spike's claw. She couldn't believe that she was about to dance with him, her mind rushing with indecision as they stepped into the dancing couples. She turned to face him as he put a claw on her back and asked, "Ready?" 

She knew she was blushing, whether from embarrassment or joy she didn't know but she nodded none the less. Spike smiled and began dance with her. The slow, easy movements were as graceful as they were precise, her eyes locked onto his own, a curious sensation spreading through her heart as she slowly revolved with him.

Some how, for some reason, she found her head resting on his shoulder, basking in the comfort she felt with him. Her mind was in a gentle haze as other dancers stopped to take notice of the curious new couple dancing among them. Soon, far too soon for Twilight's taste, the music stopped and she took her head from his shoulder and looked at him, a smile playing across her face as her eyes locked with his again. Nothing was said between them as they left the dance floor with the other couples, rejoining the feast before Celestia gave her closing remarks, all of this seemed like an unimportant blur to the two of them as soon they found themselves standing in front of the library again.

Twilight shuffled her feet as she said, 'Spike, I had a wonderful time tonight. Thank you."
Spike smiled and said, "Well, so did I. I'm just glad you enjoyed yourself, and that you weren't silly enough to try and continue applebucking."
She laughed softly and said, "Yeah, I don't know about you but, I'm tired. I think we should head to bed." Spike felt slightly crestfallen as Twilight turned to enter the house, was that all there was? Much to his great surprise and joy it wasn't as she turned abruptly from the door and gave him a firm kiss on the cheek, dangerously close to his lips. She blushed heavily and smiled as she went inside, a dazed and ecstatic Spike following after her.

He felt comfortable in thinking that things had definitely changed between them and that it most certainly was a good thing. Only time would tell what the future had in store for them.