A Dragon's Selection

by CartoonNerd12

Chapter 11

"I'm tellin' ya, Spike that was no accident!" Applejack said to him when they were in the gardens that afternoon.

Spike frowned, "But she was so sincere and she apologized."

"I tell ya, I see Sunset every day and she is sneaky and competitive. Sure she says," she mocked Sunset's voice, "I sure am looking forward to meeting the competition…" then she said in her normal voice, "But then comes the backstabbing! You can't trust that girl! I thought for sure you would have saw right through her at this point and sent her home!"

He gapped as he retorted, "Are you implying that I'm not smart enough to see past someone with ulterior motives?!"

"That's not what I'm sayin'! I believe you to be very smart but sometimes even the smartest pony can be deceived by someone who won't stop at nothing until she gets what she wants!"

"Look, I'm sure to you Sunset is terrible but there's more to her then that."

"That's what she wants you to think!"

"That's enough!"

"No! You need to hear this!"

"No, I don't! You forget, Applejack that I am a prince! For all intents and purposes I am free to make my own choice of choosing who my wife should be!"

She scoffed, "Well that explains why you were on that date with Lightning Dust! I guess that means our original agreement didn't matter to you so much!"

"What?! You thought that I had to go to you and ask you who I can and cannot date?!"

"It sure sounded like it did at the time."

He gnashed his teeth, "Well you were mistaken." he started to go and turned his head to her firmly saying, "You don't have to agree to my decisions, but you will abide by them. We'll talk again when you understand this." and with that he was gone.

Applejack ran back to her room and landed on the bed holding the pillows close to her.

No! You are not going to cry about this! Let him date any mare he wants! Sure he talks about having a soul mate but in the end maybe all he wants is a bedmate! Guess Sunset was right about that… Maybe that's why he kept her as long as he had…

The tears were welling up inside her, but she wouldn't let them out. Eventually she became too tired from bottling her emotions up that she fell asleep.

---

She felt something shaking her and ended up waking up to a dark room. It was the middle of the night and she could hear the panic of her maids' voices.

Sugar Belle said, "Applejack, you have to get up!"

"Uh? Why?"

Night Gilder proclaimed, "The griffons are attacking and have penetrated the castle!"

That woke up Applejack as she got out of bed, "What?!"

Coco whimpered and nodded.

NG pointed, "We have to take you to the safe room!"

"There's a safe room?"

They didn't respond as they quickly got out of the room and led her to a wall where they knock on it three times and a door appeared! The door opened for them and they rushed inside just as Applejack heard a loud crash sound!

The room was huge as it fit Princess Celestia and Princess Ember and all the Selected mares and no doubt their maids, the castle personnel, and Spike as he walked around to calm the girls down.

He briefly looked her way and gave a tiny smile. She wasn't sure what to make of it. He seemed happy she was here but was that because he was glad she was safe? Or that he was simply overjoyed to see her? After their fight, it was really hard to tell. She found Twilight close by and sat by her. The unicorn was looking forlorn at the entrance like there was something out there she was worried about.

"I'm sure everything's going to be okay…" she told her friend.

Twilight replied, "I hope so… I really hope so…"

---

When it seemed the attack was taking forever, a guard came into the room and told them, "They're gone, we managed to get them out of the castle and Canterlot."

There were sighs of relief from the girls as Celestia went to question the guard more then turned to the mares, "Ladies, please return to your rooms as we'll have breakfast serve to you there. Once we're sure everything is alright we'll let you know when you can resume your normal routine."

When the mares all filed out, the princess turned to Spike with a sigh.

"This was the most aggressive attack we've had from the griffons so far and many guards have been injured…"

Spike had big eyes full of sadness, "I'm sorry…"

The alicorn reassured him, "It's not your fault, Spike… but I'm afraid I have to ask a huge favor from you…"

Ember growled, "What kind of favor?"

Celestia closed her eyes, "With our numbers greatly diminished, I'm afraid it's going to be harder to protect the girls with there being so many of them… That's why I must ask you to narrow it down to the Elite… I'm so sorry but I need to make sure my subjects are safe."

Ember shouted, "He shouldn't have to be rushed into this! He's needs to consider his choices!" she kept on ranting that she couldn't hear her brother's words.

"I'll do it…"

But when Ember kept going he shouted, "I'LL DO IT!" The dragon and alicorn looked at him with stun expressions. He said, "Three mares asked me if I would let them go home after this and I agreed to it. I don't want to put anyone else in danger because of me… With the Elite there's a better chance at protecting them. I know it's the top ten that makes it to the Elite, but instead, I'm going to choose six mares."

Ember gaped, "Six?! Why?"

Spike explained, "Those are the number of mares I feel are my closest chance at happiness, I was just going to take it slow with the rest and let them down easy but looks like I can't do that now."

"Who are the six mares you will keep?" Celestia asked.

Ember inquired, "And why are you keeping them?"

He took a deep breath, "Pinkie Pie, because she's fun to be around and makes me laugh. Fluttershy, because she's sweet and very understanding. Twilight, because she's my oldest friend and we still need to discuss some things. Sunset Shimmer, because she and I have a passion for adventure. Rarity, because she's generous, lovely, and talented. And Applejack… we have some unfinished business that must be resolve."

Celestia smiled, "Excellent choices, I'm sure one of them will make a wonderful wife to you."

Ember gave concern look, "You're sure about this? You can easily get out of this before it's too late."

Spike shook his head, "I have made up my mind."

---

It had been the day after the attack, and Spike was nervous about entering the dining room where the nineteen girls remained. He already made his choice now it was a matter of executing it…

It's now or never, Spike… he deeply inhaled as he entered the room.

The girls that had been eating saw him and everyone gave him their attention. He caught Applejack looking at him and saw the confusion in her eyes. Whether that confusion was him entering without warning or that she was confused about where they were in their relationship, he wasn't sure.

He spoke to them, "Ladies, forgive me for interrupting but due to yesterday's attack, I had to reconsider the operation of the Selection. As I will not keep anyone here if it too dangerous." upon saying this he saw the terrified faces of each mare, he quickly added, "When I feel confident that we don't have any sort of future together."

There were slight unhappy murmurs.

He stated, "As such I have decided to narrow the Elite down to six mares instead of ten."

"Six?!" Rarity gasped out.

Spike nodded, "Yes, and since I don't want to draw this out anymore then it has, only the following ladies will be staying: Twilight and Rarity." he saw the two mares sighing happily. "Pinkie Pie and Sunset Shimmer." he saw the mares smiling but Applejack looked dejected no doubt because she thought that he wasn't keeping her given they fought about Sunset. He quickly said, "Fluttershy and…" he saw whole the room was holding it's breath before he said the final name, "Applejack." and the bawling from several other mares started. "I'm sorry. Truly I am." but he said that more to Applejack then the others.

The country mare saw the way the dragon was looking at her and a tiny smile crept on her face.

Comments

[MySisterBroughtMeHere]

Alright, how did they get into the castle?