Prologue
Spike, a young dragon with majestic purple and green scales, breathed in deeply, holding it for a few moments before slowly letting it out. The smell of fresh apples was heavy in the air, with the enticing aroma of Granny Smith's famous apple pies, fritters, and the last of the sweet apple cider. Not far off in the distance he could hear Applejack hard at work, bucking trees and carrying away the apples that fell. Further away was the sound of laughter from a group of fillies known around town as the Cutie Mark Crusaders.
Summer was indeed a wonderful time for everypony, the sounds of laughter from the young fillies as they ran around and played was always a wonderful, melodic sound to the ears. The smell of the delectable and sweet treats that were being made at Sugar Cube Corner could always be smelled no matter where you were in town. The best part though were the days like today, when a slight breeze could be felt blowing through the trees of Sweet Apple Acres, rustling the leaves lightly while making the branches rub against one another.
Spike felt utter peace at the wonders of summer that were always right there before him every year, though he felt deep down that this summer was going to be different. Though he knew not what was in store for him, he knew that a big change was going to come around, what it was though, he could not even begin to guess.
***
Celestia's sun was high in the sky when Spike was awoken from his nap after hearing someone screaming and yelling, soon being followed by an answer. He groaned as his eyes, with great reluctance, were forced open upon hearing the sound of shrieking. Leaning to look around the side of the tree, he was not surprised at all to see two young fillies playing about.
The first was a light yellow earth pony with a reddish pink mane and tail, her name was Apple Bloom, the younger sister to his best friend Applejack. The second was a silvery-white unicorn with a pink-and-purple mane and tail, her name was Sweetie Belle, she was the sister of his long time crush, Rarity.
Though he always had a liking for the silvery-white unicorn, he found that as of late he really had never even thought about approaching her like he did before. His feelings for her seemed to have drifted away, to where he could not say.
The snapping of tree branches quickly drew his attention to the young fillies as they ran about the base of an apple tree, unaware of what lie in waiting above. At the sound of another branch snapping, an orange pony dropped from the tree directly before the two fillies. As Spike watched, he was unable to look away from the orange pony, her was entranced by her blonde mane and tail, which was tied-up at the end. From the tree fell her brown cowboy hat, landing directly on her head without needing adjustment.
"I got y'all now little sis." Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle began to laugh before both took off through the orchard, wasting no time in trying to hid from the orange pony, seeing as how she was knew where they would hide.
Spike continued to watch as the orange pony chased the two fillies around a few trees before heading in his direction, none of them taking notice of him due to their fun. When he saw that they were heading for the tree that he was currently lying beneath, Spike rose to his feet and began a mad dash for the safety of another tree. His efforts were for naught, seeing as how almost as soon as he had gotten up the two fillies had easily swerved around him, but Applejack struck him head on.
A few apples fell from the tree, landing in his lap as well as onto Applejack's back. A deep groan escaped his lips as he sat up, his back popping while he did so. He looked down to see Applejack on her stomach, a few apples on her back while her hat was on the ground beside her. Looking into her eyes, he could see that to her, the world seemed to be spinning. A light chuckle escaped his lips while he picked up her hat and helped her to her hooves, a blush forming on his face as he did so.
When she was able to finally make her head stop spinning around the world, Applejack looked towards the tree, only to see Spike standing their with her hat in his hands, holding it out to her. "Sorry about that Applejack, I was just uh, napping here when I heard you guys playing. Probably should have moved before something like this happened."
Now it was Applejack's turn to blush as she looked away from Spike towards her sister. While she was looking away, Spike slipped her hat back onto her head, being careful so as not to make anything awkward. With a slight smile, she turned to look at him and asked, "Aw shucks, thank ya Spike. Say, how would ya like to play with us?"
The blush that was on his cheeks already deepened slightly as he asked, "Are you sure that it's alright?" He now had his hands behind his back, playing with his claws as he nervously awaited her response.
Beautiful laughter filled his ears, originating from none other than the orange pony who was standing before him. "Of course it's alright sugar cube, wouldn't have made the offer otherwise." A faint smile was on his lips as he stared into her green eyes, seeming to see his whole world in the most elegant set of eyes in all of Equestria.
Applejack began to grow a little worried when Spike began to stare at her, not knowing what was running through his mind. For some unknown reason, she found herself looking into his deep green eyes, seeing a reflection of herself within them. Their gaze was forcefully broken by Apple Bloom, who saw her sister and Spike just staring at one another, not seeming to say much. "Come on Applejack, your it remember?"
Applejack turned away from Spike to look at her sister with a smile slowly starting to spread across her lips. "Ya bet ya I am." Upon hearing her speak, Spike was finally broken from his trance, all the while he slowly started to inch away from Applejack until he was to the other side of the tree, where he took off after Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle. Upon seeing this, Applejack took off after the three, shouting as she did so, "I am going to catch y'all."
The sun was starting to set on the distant horizon, painting a marvelous picture of gold with purple clouds, when the four decided that they were worn out. Applejack collapsed near a water barrel, leaning against it while she took deep breaths. Beside her sat Apple Bloom, doing much the same, only she had taken a long drink from the barrel.
With as much energy as they could muster at the moment, they both waved goodbye to Spike and Sweetie Belle as they walked out through the archway and began to head back to Ponyville, and home. Spike never turned away from looking at Applejack until her was out of sight of her, at which point he noticed that Sweetie Belle was walking along side him.
She turned to glance at Spike before asking, "So, when are you going to make my big sister your special somepony?"
Spike was slightly taken aback by her sudden question, for he had really forgotten all about the love that he had for the fashionista. He began to think about, and the more that he did, the more that he found his love was being directed else ware, almost to the point that it had never been there in the first place. "I really don't know Sweetie Belle, I doubt that I will ever ask her that?"
Sweetie Belle stopped dead in her tracks, not even believing the words that she had just heard leave Spike's mouth. Did he, the dragon who had the biggest crush on Rarity, just say that he was not going to ask her to be his special somepony? This had to be a dream, for there was no way in all of Equestria that the real Spike would say something like that. "What do you mean!? Are you even real!?"
Spike looked around to make sure that nopony had heard Sweetie Belle's outburst, thanking Celestia when they were still in Sweet Apple Acres. "Please Sweetie Belle, keep your voice down." He sighed before he walked back to where she was standing, gently nudging her to get her to keep walking. She complied, but she still looked at Spike as though he had just grown three extra heads. "I don't know what to tell you Sweetie Belle, but it seems that I no longer see your sister as anything more than a friend."
Spike remained silent as his head was down cast, trying to figure out why his love for Rarity had suddenly vanished. Before long he was saying goodbye to a still shocked Sweetie Belle and was now heading for his home. As he walked however he let his heart speak to his mind, finding that his usual thoughts of Rarity were replaced with thoughts of Applejack, much to his surprise.
Without even realizing that he was doing it, Spike was walking into his tree home, a giant library that was made out of the interior of a tree. Standing in the center at a desk with a book open before her was a lavender colored alicorn, her wings folded neatly by her side while her dark indigo mane and matching tail were being combed by a brush that she was controlling with her magic. He noticed that her purple and pink streaks seemed to glisten in the light, almost like she had put something from Rarity's wardrobe in it.
The alicorn whirled around to face Spike when she heard the sound of the door closing, making her give him a warm smile as she asked, "So, I take it that you enjoyed your day off?" He only nodded before he walked across their living room to sit on the couch, staring at the floor in thought as he did so. The alicorn saw this and walked over to take a seat beside him, asking, "What's wrong? Didn't you have fun?"
He chuckled before he looked at her, "Of course I had fun, but I am uh, confused right now." She could see a single tear starting to form in his eye, but he quickly wiped it away before it could fall. "I uh, seem to have lost my love for Rarity Twilight. I don't know when or how, but I can no longer see her as anything more than a great and true friend."
Twilight ran a single wing down his back to try and comfort him as she scooted closer to his side, "It is only natural that you feel this way Spike. You are growing up, and your heart is moving on. Don't be saddened by this fact, rather, you should embrace it. As your big sister, all I can tell you is that you need to worry less about the past, and look at what you have before you. Listen to your heart speak, what does it say?"
Spike took a deep breath while closing his eyes, clearing his mind, finding that his heart was indeed talking to him. It flashed into his mind images, places, smells, all were centered around one pony in particular. As he continued to listen the images became more and more clear, slowly melting together to form one big picture that would wrap around his heart. In a single instant it all became clear, the scents, the memories, and even the pony he was in love with, an orange earth pony, who he had just spent the day with.
Taking another deep breath, Spike allowed the thought to float around in his mind for a while, letting his mind take in this new information. With another deep breath, he opened his eyes to see that Twilight was just staring at him while rubbing his back with one of her wings. "Twilight, this is hard to say. In my heart I have accepted it, but in my mind it still does not feel completely right. I-I-I am in l-l-love with Applejack."