“So, uh. What brings you by at such a late hour?” Spike asked while locking the door. Applejack was barely visible in the faint candlelight coming from upstairs, but he could that she was unsteady and nervous.
“Well, y-you know that we've been spending a awful lot of time together and,” she stopped, her body trembling under the weight of her nerves. “And, I… I want to tell ya something,” she took several deep breaths. “This isn't easy for me to say…” she closed her eyes. “Ever since you were no more than a little dragon, I thought you were cool. That cute li’l thing runnin’ around, gettin’ into trouble, always there for everypony. Kinda made me a little jealous cause Twilight had you all to herself,” she chuckled.
Spike sat there. Listening intently, trying to brush off what she said about him earlier. He tried to poke holes in her confession but to no avail. He felt what she was saying was true, and he wanted to hear more. “Are ya still there…?” Applejack asked the dim room.
“Y-yeah, I'm here,”Spike replied.
“Where was I,” she coughed, pushing the forming lumps from her throat. “After, we all Split, ya know. Twilight Staying in her castle, you here, and the others following their lives. I felt, alone… Granny passed, Applebloom was growing up, and Mac wouldn't come home for days…” her voice became heavy and weary. I would work everyday to provide for a family that wasn't there anymore… No one would visit ‘cept for you,” then her tone began to perk up. “You, that cute energetic dragon,” Spike smiled bashfully. “Came just to say hi, or give me a book. I saw you grow into the perfect… uh. What do ya call an adult dragon?”
“I don't know. I think it's just dragon,” Spike answered.
“Well, heh. Yeah, you grew up into this amazing dragon. You grew to be better than any stallion I've ever met… Smart, r-really good lookin’,” she said quietly. “And just, amazing. Then you come and save my life, nurse me back to health, and all I can say is I-” she choked back her words. Everything inside of her screamed to let it out, to tell him that she loved him. But fear held her back. The fear of rejection followed by several tins of apple pie. The fear of putting her heart on the line only to have it stepped on. The fear of-
“You what, Applejack?” Spike sat in front of her. His eyes glowing a soft emerald green that she loved so dearly.
“I-I love-” *clash* A window shattered sending a rush of cold air that extinguished the candles leaving the library dark. Applejack huddled closer to Spike, darting her eyes around, searching for the most miniscule amount of light. The darkness came on so sudden that Spike even had trouble with finding the faintest light. Then a low rumbling growl filled the air around them, followed by a stench more foul than the pits of Tartarus could muster. By the time Spike realized it was too late.
Applejack felt a strong pair of jaws grip her tail and drag her away. “SPIKE!” she shrieked as she was taken away.
“APPLEJACK!” Spike leapt into action, only to be stopped by a two sets of glowing green eyes. “You Timberwolves are going to pay!” he spat with deadly passion. They began to circle him, both snarling and snapping their jaws. Spike stood attentive, making sure that there was no weakness that they could exploit.
As a flash of lightning illuminated the room, the first wolf attacked, lunging for Spike’s wing. He missed and was met with a powerful blunt swipe from Spike’s tail, then the other jumped onto Spike's back and began tearing at his neck. His scales were tough enough to dull a knife blade, but against Timberwolf teeth they were like paper to scissors. Spike roared from the pain ripping down his spine. With a strong beat of his wings he took to the air with the wolf still biting away at his neck. He slammed the creature against the ceiling of the library, releasing its grip. He then grabbed on of its hind paws and held him face to face. Another flash of lightning revealed the true extent of Spike’s fury.
His eyes burned a blazing green, and his chest and mouth were ablaze with scores of fire waiting to be unleashed. “This is where you die!” he coldly scowled before letting loose a torrent of fire, reducing the wolf to nothing but a smoking pile of ashes. He turned his attention to the other wolf. He landed, flared his wings and let go of a bloodcurdling roar that would rock even the most stoic ponies to the core. “Your next!” he growled. He lunged at the remaining Timberwolf and bit its head off, leaving the body to twitch and convulse. He spat the head out, and bolted out of the door. He could smell her, the scent of a pony and a Timberwolf were still fresh. “Hang on Applejack, I'm coming…”
Still caught in the teeth of the strongest wolf, Applejack yelled and screamed for help. She would squirm, kick, and even buck at the wolf, but the more she tried. The more its grip tightened. “So you're the one I ran from…” she sighed in defeat. “You've been waiting for me for nearly a month to take me… Now, you're gonna eat me, and I'll...I'll…” she began to sob. “I'll really die alone…” There it was. The edge of the Everfree forest. Her final resting place, somewhere in the middle of the woods in the belly of a hungry Timberwolf. Just then a loud roar resonated through the stormy night. The wolf stopped, looked in the direction of the roar, then took off into the Everfree.
Applejack had no idea what that was that spooked him, only that she was being thrashed around painfully by her tail. The pain from her hair being pulled to being cut bruised and essentially beaten by dense thorny foliage was almost too much to bear. “Ma… Pa… I'll see y'all soon…” She was finished. There was no fight or hope left. The the acceptance of the reality that these were her final moments sunk in and she felt, at peace.
Then that roar resounded through the woods again, this time much louder and closer. Then with a cacophonous thud she hit the ground released from the Timberwolf’s death grip. She stood unsteadily in the middle of a clearing with a battle taking place. She couldn't make out the shapes in the darkness, only a the wolf who carried her, and something smaller with wings. Then a jet of fire came from the scuffle, revealing Spike clawing and biting at the wolf. The two fought so furiously, the ground shook, and the trees waved and waned. Blow after deafening blow could be heard, ripping and snarling, growling and hissing filled her ears. In midst of the horror, she couldn't tell who had the upper hand, Spike or the wolf.
Then yet another bloodcurdling roar ripped through the air. Spike was thrown back while the Wolf lethargically limped away, with no jaw and a missing eye. Spike lay in the mud motionless. “Spike…?” Applejack questioned with worry. She approached him, and what she saw brought tears to her eyes. His left eye has a gash going down to his snout, his face was laden with multiple cuts and a long open cut started from his chest and ended at his tail.
“Spike, please no…” Applejack cried. “Please don't leave me alone. I love you, please don't go…” she sobbed on him, lamenting the loss of her first love.
“Applejack, p-please get off…” Spike groaned.
“Spike?”
“Please, I think that leg is broken…” He winced.
“Thank sweet mother of Celestia! You're alive!” She hugged him tightly.
“I am, I am, now please get off!” he shouted in pain.
“Oh, I-I’m sorry. I'm just… You're alive…” she cried out of joy.
“Thank Celestia…” Spike sighed. “But, I'm pretty banged up. D-Do you think you can help me…?”
“Of course.” She helped him to his paws, and saw the true extent of the Damage the Timberwolf inflicted. “Oh my goodness,” she gasped.
“I did it for you… I love you too Applejack.”
“R-really?”
“Yes… I don't want to ruin our moment but I need to get to Twilight…”
“Twilight? Why not the hospital?”
“I ah!” he cried as he stepped on his broken leg. “Definitely broken!”
“Can you balance on the other three?” Applejack asked in worry.
“I'll try…” He hobbled like a club hoofed pony but it worked.
“Why do you need to see Twi?”
“I doubt a pony doctor can heal wounds on a dragon. Especially ones that are this bad,” he explained.
“Right, I’ll get you there…”
Three Weeks Later
Another bright day graces the small town of Ponyville. Applejack strolled down the busy streets with a pep in her step, and an upbeat attitude. She was on her way to visit her newfound love as he recovered from his injuries. “Good morning Ms. Applejack,” Twilight’s royal guards greeted.
“Mornin, fellas. Is it alright for me to visit today?”
“Yes, in fact the Princess and the rest of your friends have been waiting for you.”
The pushed the massive crystal door open.
“Thank ya gents,” Applejack trotted on with a cheery smile. She made her way through a few corridors decorated with stained glass mosaics of adventures past. All of the times that her and her friends banded together to defeat a new foe, or some random event. She continued on and made her way to the renovated study that Spike was being treated in.
“So I'm flying overhead, looking for this big ugly Timberwolf that has Applejack. When I find him I go into a dive and tackle him-”
“Releasing me while you fought bravely against the terrible beasty,” Applejack interrupted.
“Applejack,” they all cheered.
“Howdy y'all. How's he doing?”
“He's doing great, didn't you just hear the story of how he eighty sixed three Timberwolves single hoofedly?” Rainbow Dash geeked.
“I know, Rainbow. I was there.”
“This is one crazy bloke though. Three Tims in one sittin’? I couldn't even handle a pup,” Zooey added.
“Yeah, well being crazy costed me thousands of bits on medical supplies and medicine,” Twilight commented. “But he's healing up good. What I don't get is, why they broke into the Library to take Applejack.”
“Yeah, I thought they would have eaten her for sure. Ooh, Applejack, what do you think you taste like?” Pinkie asked.
“I dunno, pony?”
“I bet you taste like a mango. Mmm, mango Applejack, maybe that's why that nasty wolf kidnapped you.”
“Settle down Pinkie Pie. I'm sure that Spike here will find out what she tastes like very soon,” Rarity added. Twilight covered her face with her hooves while Pinkie Rarity, Zooey, and Rainbow Dash giggled and snickered. Applejack and Spike both turned as red as a tomato and Fluttershy sat confused.
“What? I don't get it.” Rainbow whispered into Fluttershy’s ear, telling her the complicated nuances of the joke. “Oh my goodness, why would he do that? What if he actually ate her?” Rainbow and Zooey both fell over with laughter.
“I dunno, I guess she'd still taste like mangoes,” Pinkie added.
“Pinkie Stop, you're killing me,” Rainbow Dash, chortled, gasping for air.
“Well, since we're talking about what should happen behind closed closed doors, Rarity!” Twilight scolded.
“What?” Rarity asked, attempting to come off as innocent.
“How about we give them some privacy.” she shooed everyone out closing the door behind her. Applejack came closer to him.
“Are you sure you're okay darlin’?”
“Yeah, I told you Twilight would be better than a doctor.”
“Yeah,” she traced her hoof along the long vertical scar on his snout. “I'll be honest with you. When that thing carted me off into the Everfree forest I thought I was done for… I even told my Ma and Pa I'll see ‘em soon. Then my angel came and saved my life, almost at the expense of his own…” Spike looked away from her pleading eyes. “Spike, just the thought of losing you, not only as a lover, but as a friend is too much to bear. Please promise me you'll stay with me no matter how dangerous life gets.”
“I shouldn't make a mare a promise I can't keep… But I promise to love you always, no matter who or what tries to tear us apart.”
“I like that promise. I love you Spike…”
“I love you too Applejack.” They shared their first kiss. On the outside Spike was trying to hold it together while on the inside he was jumping for joy at finally having his first kiss. Applejack completely melted into the passion. She was going over how if he wasn't healing, and if they weren't in a castle surrounded by friends, she would take him to heaven.
“Awww, that's so sweet,” Pinkie cooed. Standing in the doorway, all of their friends watched them as if they were a movie being played at the theater.
“Now what in tarnation are y'all doing back in here?” Applejack scolded.
“We were trying to find out why it was so quiet,” Pinkie answered.
“I tried to stop them but-”
“Twilight please,”Rarity interrupted. “You were as curious as the rest of us.”
“Whatever,” Twilight denied.
Friends united, love found and one mare near the end of her rope finds the strength to climb again thanks to the love of her dragon. The apple won't fall anymore. Not with the support of her tree of love holding her firm.
After Word
Okay so I know a lot of you are screaming “Well it's about damn time Mr_Rager,” and I know I've tested your patience long enough. But I have finished one of my trendsetter hallmark stories. And some really good news to go with that, there will be a spinoff clopfic for those who might want to read something a little naughty, and a sequel (pending title) that will be more of a modern family style fic, centered around Spike and AJ. Thank you all for being such loyal readers. I'll see you all in the next story. Bye-Bye!