A Dragon's Selection

by CartoonNerd12

Chapter 14

Spike looked at the stallions around the room as they talked and ate cake. He recognized Shining Armor that was still Captain of the Guard even though he was a prince living in the Crystal Empire with his wife and daughter. And since he was Twilight's brother he remembered how the stallion would check up on her in the library where he and she looked up books. The blue stallion next to Shining was Twilight's father that he remembered only seeing a few times but never had the chance to talk him.

Rarity's father was talking to Pinkie's father who seemed stone face and replied in the old tongue that Spike knew Celestia and Luna used whenever they spoke in the Royal Canterlot voice. It truly baffled him how both Rarity and Pinkie were related to their fathers given Igneous Rock Pie's seriousness and Magnum's fashion sense. Big Mac, Applejack's brother was quiet and just stood by on the side. In truth it felt intimating that he was just standing there. He was a big guy after all and even though they about the same height he bet that if they ever got into a brawl he was sure Big Mac would win hooves down.

As for Fluttershy's father, Mr. Shy, he was true to his name. he hardly socialized with any pony and simply talked to anyone that would come to him. His son on the other hand… Zephyr was bragging to Discord how his sister is the most beautiful of all mares and how every pegasus stallion back in Cloudsdale swoon and fawned over her but he managed to get his sister to stay in the Selection shortly after the choosing because she deserved to live a life of luxury with a prince by her side. To Spike it explains a lot why Fluttershy didn't beg to him to let her go home right after meeting him because if her brother was counting on her to win, and Fluttershy hated to disappoint anyone.

Discord been listening intently to Zephyr and Spike sensed a sort of kinship between the two. Wonderful. Between an egotistic draconequus and a self-centered stallion, what could go wrong?

A lot.

Shining Armor then approached the dragon, "How's going it for you? This Selection, I mean?"

"Confusing." he admitted.

Shining slightly smiled, "I don't blame you. You got quite an assortment of good looking mares. But don't tell my wife I said that." he nudged him playfully.

Spike released a small chuckle, "Your secret is safe with me." then he frowned and said in a whisper, "Can I ask you something?"

Shining's brow lifted in confusion but he replied, "Of course."

"What's it like being a father?"

The unicorn captain certainly didn't expect the dragon to ask him that and questioned, "Why are you asking that?"

Spike took a breath and quickly explained what happened in the last week and how Celestia provided him with the answer but now he was having concerns of how he should go about it.

"I just don't know if I want to be a father, you know?"

Shining gave an understanding smile and said, "It's a scary time. There's so much you have to do to protect, provide, and nurture your little ones. But also there's a sense of how it's all worth it. I can't make this choice for you, but I can tell you that if you do decide to have kids, you won't regret it."

"I asked Twilight if I would make a good father and she said I would…"

"And she's right. In the time I've known you, Spike, you are capable of raising a child better than most parents whose child ends up in an orphanage or foster system all because they were deem unworthy. You on the other hoof are worthy."

Spike felt touched by that and felt a growing certainty in his heart even if he still had some doubt buried within.

"By the way how are you and Twily doing in all this? The only reason I allowed her to participate in the first place was because I knew you."

"It started out good but then Twilight started becoming distant from me and I have no idea why."

Shining lifted his brow again, "Uh… that's odd, even for Twily…"

"Could you find out what's going on with her? I'm starting to get a little concern."

"You know I will."

The two shared a smile.

Discord called out then, "Alright then, every pony! Time to bring some fun into this boring shindig!"

Spike said to him, "Discord! Show them how we play Ogres and Oubliettes!"

"An excellent suggestion, my dear prince!" then he snapped his fingers.

---

The girls' leisure room was crowded with mares and one heir apparent Dragon Lord. Princess Celestia chatted among the mothers being Twilight Velvet, Cadence, Mrs. Shy, and Cloudy Quartz. Twilight was playing with Flurry Heart while Pinkie was talking to her sisters. Fluttershy and Rarity were talking to Ember. Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom became instant friends and were running around. Applejack was in a corner with her Granny Smith, asking how things were going back at the farm.

Granny replied, "Well… it's not bad but without you helping Big Mac bucking apples everyday we've been a might slow with apple sales and have not been able to make as much apple pies as we used to."

Applejack was troubled to hear that. If she went with Spike in her final choice, who's to say Sweet Apple Acres wouldn't get worst without her?! She would end up leaving her family in debt!

"But the money that's been coming from your participation in the Selection has been helping greatly that we been saving it up and I dare say it'll keep us tied over for the rest of the year maybe even the next!"

Applejack gapped at this, "It's been that much?"

Granny nodded, "The longer you stayed in the Selection the bigger the amount got. In fact an official told us that if you won the competition, then we would receive a grant of over a thousand bits!"

Applejack uttered, "So what you're sayin' is… that even if the farm somehow goes under without me there, it wouldn't matter because you'd be set for life if I won the Selection?"

Granny nodded, "Darn tootin'! And every member of the Apple clan is pullin' for you girl!"

Apple Bloom came in on the conversation, "Yeah! Babs wrote to me sayin' that even though Manehatten is pulling for Rarity because it's her hometown, she and Aunt and Uncle Orange are totally rootin' for you!" then she went back to playing with Sweetie Belle.

Applejack was speechless and softly said, "Golly… So every member of the Apple family is really pullin' for me to win this?"

Granny exclaimed, "They sure is!" then she frowned, "But do you want this, child? I ain't going to force you to win this if you really don't love him…"

"I never said that, Granny… Yes, I'm not in love with him yet but I know that he's someone I want to get married to… That is… if he feels the same way about me…"

Granny smiled, "Then if that's the case… I hope he does… Because if your feelins' are that strong to him," she shook her hoof up in the air, "then by golly he better choose ya!"

Applejack smiled bright at her grandmother's words. First Apple Bloom, now Granny. That meant she only had one more relative she needed approval from.

---

Spike felt pleased with himself. Even if the girls' fathers and Zephyr didn't join him, Discord, and Shining Armor into the virtual reality world of Ogres and Oubliettes that Discord created and giving them the chance to be the personas of their choice. Big Mac was all for it! He chose himself to be a unicorn knight and Spike could tell he really enjoyed that. When playing in the semi-real game they worked together to defeat the made-up villain and they manage to connect better because of that.

All this time, Big Mac was a gentle giant but it wouldn't put past him that the stallion could still easily beat him if he wanted to should anything happen to his sister. Now Spike understood why he felt intimidated by the guy in the first place. This stallion might be his future brother-in-law if Applejack agreed to marry him so earning his approval was something he had to get.

He was just passing the gardens when he heard laughter. He turned to see Applejack playing with her sister and Rarity's sister. He quickly hid himself behind a tree as he watched the whole scene. No wonder AJ wanted to be a mother, just the way she handled these fillies with tenderness and playfulness was enough to make your heart melt.

"I really missed playin' with you big sis!" said Apple Bloom.

Applejack confessed, "So I have, AB…"

Sweetie Belle said, "At least you two like to play together in the dirt, Rarity never wants to do that with me."

Applejack chuckled, "I'm not surprise… Rarity always fussy when it comes to her looks."

Spike slightly laughed at that, knowing how true that was.

Applejack heard the tiny chuckle and looked around to see no one there but then spotted a purple dragon's tail before it hid from view behind a tree. A slight mischievous smirk crept on her face as she turned back to the fillies and said in a low voice.

"Okay, girls, we're going to play a different game this time. It's called 'Get the dragon out from hiding behind that tree'." she pointed to the tree Spike was hiding behind.

"Uh?" the fillies said, confused on what Applejack was trying to do.

"I said… get the dragon out from hiding behind that tree." she pointed to the tree again.

The girls' eyes widen, "Oh!" then smiled before rushing over to the tree.

Spike saw them coming and started running but got tackled by the fillies. They landed on top of him and Apple Bloom exclaimed.

"We got him, Applejack! We got him!"

AJ smirked as she came to them and faced the glaring dragon.

"You knew I was there all along…"

"Not all the time…" she kept smirking, "Just when I heard your laugh and saw your tail…"

Sweetie Belle asked, "Will you play with us, Prince Spike? Will you? Will you?!" she gave him big doe eyes.

Apple Bloom begged with big eyes as well, "Pretty please…?"

Spike couldn't help melting at the fillies' eyes, they were just too adorable but he felt unsure about playing with them. "I don't know, girls…"

They both then pouted in a cute and pitiful way that just made his heart drop and finally he gave in, "Alright, I'll play with you."

"Yay!" they cheered and bounced on him causing him to wince before they got off.

Sweetie motioned, "Let's play hide and seek! We'll hide while the prince finds us!" she ran off and so did Apple Bloom.

Applejack giggled and stole a glance at Spike before she went off.

Spike felt a pounding in his heart from the look she gave him and went to a tree to begin counting then when he had finished, he went around the gardens in search of the mare and fillies. He searched behind every bush, shrub, and tree but they weren't there.

Applejack meanwhile had been hiding up in a tree and was holding in her laughter from Spike's fruitless quest. But she didn't realize the tree branch she was sitting on was starting to break and when it did, she let out a yelp and Spike looked up in time to see her falling! He quickly caught her before she fell on the ground.

"You okay?" he asked her.

"Yeah. I'm…" she started to trail off when looking at him, "fine…"

Emerald met emerald as they stared into each other's souls. They stood there for awhile and when it seemed they were about to kiss, they heard giggling, bringing them out of the trance.

Applejack saw a bush moving and pointed it out to Spike. A smirk appeared on his face as he gently set her down and moved in on the bush. There was a rustling of branches before Spike pulled the fillies out who were screaming with joy. AJ laughed as Apple Bloom started to tickle Spike to get out of his grip causing him to fall over, guffawing away. Sweetie Belle tickled him too which made him laugh harder.

Then he shouted, "I give! I give! Uncle!"

The fillies were satisfied and got off of him. Applejack approached him and asked, "You okay?"

He said weakly while pointing to his mouth, "A little mouth-to-mouth resuscitation wouldn't hurt…"

She rolled her eyes, "You're fine… You just got the wind tickled out of ya…"

"Now I understand why you want to be a mother. There's a sense of thrill when playing with kids…"

Applejack smiled, "Yeah… Oh, by the way, Granny Smith approves wholeheartedly about us being together."

He sat up with his own smile on his face, "That's great!"

"How did it go with my brother? I know he doesn't talk much but did you two at least get along in some way?"

"Surprisingly, yeah we did, but I still don't know if he approves of us."

"I'll have a talk with him and find out what he thinks of ya."

"That would be great."

"Well, I better take Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle back inside."

He was about to say something else but left it be as she went over to the fillies and get them together before going inside.

Comments

[Moon Glow]

I'm as ecstatic as Pinkie Pie.

[Silver Topaz]

Great chapters. As always.

[GrimmWolfDragon]

Great chapter. I wonder if the Griffins going to attack again? It will be a good chance take out Spike. LOL

[MySisterBroughtMeHere]

This was a fun and adorable chapter.