It was Friday afternoon at Canterlot Junior High, Spike had just exited the building, until Applebloom called out to him, "Spike, wait up!"
"Hey, Applebloom. What's up?" Spike asked.
"Well, Applejack's driving us both back to the farm so we can taste test Granny's pies."
"Cool. I can't wait to sample some of it." Spike said, as he was on the verge of salivating.
"Me too." Applebloom agreed, as they walked down the stairs, only to see Applejack drive up in her truck.
"Come on, you two!" she called to them.
"Let's go." Spike said, as he and Applebloom went over.
They went to the truck and got in, with Applebloom in the passenger seat, and Spike right behind Applejack. When the older girl drove off back to her place, she looked in the rear-view mirror to see Spike, "You doing ok back there, Spike?"
"Couldn't be better." he answered.
"So how was school today, guys, anything good happen?" Applejack asked the two.
"Oh, you should hear what happened at lunch," Applebloom began, while holding in a giggle, "Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon approached Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo, and I as always just to insult us."
"Why those two prissy little..." Applejack grumbled in anger at the same two girls who've been picking on her sister and her friends for so long.
"Tell her the next part." Spike told Applebloom.
"Well, after that they both walked off feeling proud of themselves. But they were so caught up in that they ended up walking by a wet section of the floor and slipped!" she laughed.
A smile started forming on Applejack's face, as Spike finished up, "And their food trays went up into the air and landed on top of them covering them with it!" the three laughed.
"That does sound funny!" Applejack admitted between laughs.
"What was really funny was the way they ran out of the cafeteria in hysterics." Spike chuckled.
Soon enough they pulled up to the the Apple's home on the block where Spike and the other girls lived. Applejack lived on the far end where they had a field loaded with apple trees. Inside their home, Granny Smith was serving up a slice of one of her pies to Applejack, Applebloom, their older brother Big Mac, and Spike.
"Ok, yall. Give this a try." Granny said, as they all took a fork.
"Mm-mm, this sure smells good." Applejack said, while taking a whiff.
"Eeyup." Big Mac agreed with a nod.
"Well, let's try it." Spike said, as the four used their forks to get a piece of the pie and ate it, while analyzing it through their chewing.
When they swallowed, Granny waited to hear their response. Applejack was the first to voice her opinion, "Delicious."
"A perfect ten." Big Mac answered, with a thumb's up.
"Sweet as always." Applebloom stated.
"It's as if I've never tasted an apple before in my life." Spike said with bright eyes.
"Really?" Granny asked hopefully.
"Granny Smith, as always your pies are cooked to perfection." Applejack explained.
"Oh, thanks, Applejack."
"I know this stuff will go like the wind at your bake sale." Spike added.
"Thank you kindly, Spike. Aside from my honest to truth granddaughter here, I can always get a good word from you to boot."
"That's me for you." Spike chuckled.
"And I still got some more tasty apple treats for yall to sample." Granny said as she brought out a tray of more apple based products.
"Bring them on." Spike said, as he rubbed his hands together.
Soon after sampling and approving all of Granny Smith's apple products, Spike and Applejack were out back in the apple field, where Spike was swinging around on a tire swing tied to a tree, while Applejack was leaning against the tree trunk.
Spike stopped swinging and decided to sit in the swing to catch his breath, before Applejack offered him a bottle of their famous apple cider. Spike took it and the two enjoyed their beverage while watching the sun go down, "Beautiful, isn't it?" Spike asked, until Applejack looked at him blushing, until Spike realized he wasn't clear with her, "The sunset I mean!"
Applejack's blush subsided a tad, before answering, "Yeah, it sure is," she stood by his side, "Remember when we used to watch the sunset when we were kids?"
"Yeah. We'd stay up constantly to watch the sun go down, until we all fell asleep." Spike remembered.
"Ah, the good old days." Applejack sighed in nostalgia.
"You got that right." Spike agreed, as they looked at each other while smiling, "Thanks again for inviting me to come here, Applejack.
"My pleasure, sugarcube," she answered, until she checked her watch, "Uh-oh, sure is getting late and I'm sure your parents will be worried about ya."
"Yeah, you're right. Well I'll see you around." he was ready to leave, until Applejack pulled him back.
"Hold up there, partner. How about I walk with you, just in case?" she offered.
"Really? I mean I just live down the block, A.J. You know that." he reminded her.
"I know, but ya never can tell what might happen along the way."
Spike seeing she really wanted to do it, didn't want to reject her, "Well, ok."
"Great! Well, let's go." she took his hand and dragged him along.
As they walked down the block hand in hand, Spike glanced up looking at Applejack seeing the moon shine down on her face giving off a reflective glow. The fourteen year old boy blushed upon seeing how gorgeous she looked in the moonlight, but made sure to keep his face hidden from her eyes.
Meanwhile in Rarity's house up in her bedroom, she spotted Spike and Applejack walking back while hand in hand. She gasped upon seeing them like that, and couldn't help but look jealous of how close they looked, and thought, 'Maybe I shouldn't have tried to help settle things so easily between the girls.'
The next house they passed was Fluttershy's, where the shy girl was in her backyard feeding some rabbits in their habitats. She looked over and spotted Spike and Applejack walk past her house hand in hand. When she saw them, she put a hand to her mouth in shock, "Oh, my. They look so close. Closer than I am with Spike." she said in worry.
Suddenly she felt a kick at her leg, and looked down seeing her bunny; Angel looking impatient, "Oh, sorry, Angel. I was just thinking about how close Spike looks with Applejack. I know I lost the bet fair and square, but I still felt disappointed in my loss. But at least Spike still promised he'd be able to help me feed the animal shelter animals another day. So in a way I haven't lost. I just hope I can bond with Spike the same way Applejack was able to bond with him."
Angel patted her leg in comfort, as the girl leaned down and rubbed his head while smiling.
Across the street in Rainbow Dash's house, Rainbow who was lifting some dumbbells saw Spike and Applejack from her window, and looked irked, "Oh, just wait until tomorrow where I'll get to hang out with Spike." she continued to lift her dumbbells.
Next door to Rainbow Dash's was Pinkie Pie's, where she saw sitting in a chair eating a plate of cookies. She took a gulp of milk and looked out the window seeing Spike and A.J she ended up spewing the milk out in shock, "Hey, how come she gets to hold Spike's hand?" she complained and pouted.
Finally back on the side of the block the two were walking on they passed Twilight's house which was right next door to Spike's place. Twilight who was up in her room reading, gazed out the window and saw them together, "Well, nice to see they had fun. Now all I need to do is wait Sunday for Spike to spend time with me. As long as nothing gets in the way." she said to herself.
When the two walked up to Spike's door, the boy spoke, "Well, here we are. Thanks for walking with me, Applejack.
"No trouble at all, sugarcube."
"So I guess I'll see you around, huh?" Spike asked.
"Ya darn tootin'." A.J nodded.
"Well, goodnight." Spike was about to go inside, until A.J spoke up.
"Spike?"
"Yes?" he turned to look back at Applejack, and to his surprise found himself getting his cheek pecked by Applejack which lasted a full minute.
When she pulled her lips off his cheek, she smiled at him, "Thanks again for coming by today. Goodnight." she headed back down the block to her place.
Spike stood there on his doorstep with a hand on his cheek, "Nice," he said to himself, before thinking, 'Somehow that didn't even feel as much like the friendly gesture she and the other girls used to give me when we were younger. It somehow felt like a lot more. But still nice.' he admitted before going inside knowing tomorrow was going to be fun seeing a movie with Rainbow and baking cakes with Pinkie.