Never Ending Happiness

"What? What happened?!" He looked her over and did not see anything peculiar, until he looked at her back legs. The bandages that were previously wrapped around her right back leg...

"They're gone!" He brushed his claw down her leg in amazement and then looked to his wife for an explanation.

"Ah decided I'd go to the doctor's early this mornin'. Figured you needed yer sleep." Applejack began to prance around her husband with a smug look on her face as he stared at her in awe. "Apparently, mah leg's all better!"

"But... how is that possible?"

"Ah don't know! Even he didn't know! He said it was a miracle!"

"I'll say!" Spike hugged his wife firmly, but then pulled her away and looked at her sternly. "But this doesn't mean that you can get back to bucking apples just like that!"

"Oh, ah know, Spike."

He smiled at her response and released his hold on her.

"There's also... another miracle the doctor mentioned..." Applejack trailed off when Spike looked at her again with shock. She blushed softly as the dragon placed his claw on her shoulder and looked her in the eye.

"What miracle?"

THREE MONTHS EARLIER

"Roasted apples! Get 'em here, get 'em hot!" Spike hollered out to the crowd surrounding the Ponyville market. Numerous amounts of stallions and mares were walking through the hot area with bags upon bags of groceries on their backs. One mare in particular was carrying an unusual amount of apples and was straining under the effort.

"That's odd..." Spike muttered.

"I'll give ya 3 bits for that one."

Spike turned to see a young earth pony mare with incredibly crazy hair. She was standing with her friend who had a similar taste in hair style, but they both looked like they were bored out of their minds.

"Sorry, but it's 10 bits for one apple."

Spike picked up one of the tender apples and held it out for them to see.

"These are home roasted by me!"

The two mares looked at one another and then back at Spike.

"Is that supposed to mean something to me?" The other mare asked rudely.

Spike didn't know how to respond to that, so the two mares slowly walked away, bumping into ponies on their way over to the carrot stand. Spike rolled his eyes and put the apple back down on the counter and smiled when a familiar face started to speed towards him.

"Hey, Rainbow Dash!"

The multi-colored pegasus flew quickly to his stand and threw a large back of bits onto the table.

"Give me how ever many that will buy!" She hollered in exhaustion.

"You OK, Rainbow?" Spike slowly opened the bag and dumped out the bits, starting to count them.

"Cider Season isn't for another two months! I've got to have something to munch on while I wait!" She watched with anticipation as Spike scooped the bits into a small chest near the ground.

"So, all in all, I counted 130 bits."

"How many does that get me?"

"13."

"DEAL!"

Rainbow Dash snatched up 13 roasted apples, threw them into her saddlebag, and dashed off with a big smile. Spike rolled his eyes in amusement and counted how many apples he had left to sell.

"Hmm... 1... 5... 9! 9 apples left!"

He glanced around the marketplace and started shouting again.

"Roasted apples! Roa-"

Spike stopped short when an orange pony came hobbling up to the stand. At first, Spike felt frustration build up inside of him when he saw that she wasn't in her wheelchair. But then Spike's stomach turned into knots when he saw that she had a sad look on her face and he could barely greet her when she approached him.

"Hey, h-honey."

"Hey, Spike." Applejack responded with a whisper.

"So...?"

Applejack looked up at the dragon, tears welling up in her eyes, and then slowly shook her head. Spike's heart seemed to sink to his feet and he lowered his head and sighed.

"So it is impossible."

Applejack nodded and felt like she was going to burst out crying. Spike quickly walked around the stand and embraced her in a tight hug, obstructing her from anypony's view. There, she allowed herself to cry for a few brief seconds before sniffling and composing herself once more.

"Ah'm sorry. Ah shouldn't be actin' like this."

She pulled away from her husband's grasp and started to stumble towards home. Spike packed up the remaining apples, closed up his stand, and joined her.

"Spike, ya don't have ta stop workin' 'cause a me." Applejack muttered.

"I think that we should both take the rest of the day off."

Applejack looked up at Spike and smiled.

"Thanks, Spike."

She gave him a quick kiss before she was distracted by a sound of muffled giggling not too far away. Applejack looked to where the sound had come from and saw a light grey pegasus looking underneath a bush.

"Derpy?" Applejack called out to her.

The wall-eyed pegasus glanced up at the couple and gave them a big smile.

"Hey, AJ! Spike!"

"What are you doing?" Spike asked.

Derpy cocked her eyebrow playfully and quickly tilted her head towards the bush. It shivered for a few seconds as more giggles escaped from the leaves. Derpy then got into a low crouch, wiggled her rump in the air, and then jumped into the bush.

"I GOTCHA!" Derpy cried out triumphantly as she held a small unicorn filly in her arms. The filly squealed with glee and wrapped her hooves around Derpy's neck.

"Now it's your turn to hide, momma!" She said, covering her eyes and preparing to count.

"Sorry, AJ. Gotta run! Can't let Dinky down!"

With those words, Derpy galloped out of sight until Dinky had counted to twenty and began to pursue her.

"Cute kid." Spike murmured under his breath.

Applejack nodded and felt a tear slip down her cheek. She sighed once more and lowered her head to the ground as she continued towards home. Spike even felt himself tearing up when he saw filly after colt running through the streets, laughing and playing with their parents.

"Applejack! Spike!"

Both of them were snapped out of their daydreams and looked up to see Fluttershy and Big Macintosh approaching them. They had been going steady for about a month now and Big Mac had recently taken Fluttershy to see the movie "Watership Down". Long story short, it gave her nightmares for a week.

"Hey, Fluttershy." Applejack replied half-heartedly.

Fluttershy noticed Applejack's depression and looked over to Big Mac.

"Mind if we cut this date short?" She whispered to him. "I think I need to have a private talk with Applejack."

"Yeeup. And me with Spike." He responded.

The two of them quickly kissed and Fluttershy approached Applejack.

"Let's go talk somewhere." She wrapped her wing around Applejack's back and started to lead her away, supporting her friend as she hopped on three hooves.

"Spike, you come with me." Big Mac commanded.

Spike watched, unhappily, as Applejack grew further and further from sight. Then the red stallion walked behind Spike and gave him a shove in the back to get him to move.

"Where are we going?"

"Away from the females."

With that, Big Mac continued to nudge Spike away from his wife and further down the path. Fluttershy watched as they continued to walk away, and stopped walking herself when she saw that they were no longer in sight.

Then Fluttershy removed her wing from Applejack's back and coaxed her to sit by sitting herself. Applejack, with effort involved, eventually sat down on the dirt path and refused to look into Fluttershy's eyes.

"I may not be the smartest pony in Ponyville, but I know when something is wrong with my friends!"

Fluttershy placed her hoof on Applejack's shoulder and forced her to look into her eyes. Applejack stared into the turquoise pools and felt her body begin to relax.

"Now," Fluttershy took her hoof off. "What's wrong?"

Applejack sighed and looked away from her.

"Ah can't fool ya, can I, Fluttershy?"

The pegasus shook her head quickly which made Applejack giggle for a moment.

"Well... the truth is..."

"Whatdya mean ya can't have kids?!"

Big Macintosh was towering over Spike in shock and Spike slunk down to the ground in fear.

"We just can't!" Spike yelled.

Big Mac started to calm down and then paced the ground in front of Spike.

"That doesn't make any sense!" He complained.

"You're telling me!"

Spike stood from the ground and watched, pathetically, as Big Mac continued to pace, not diverting his eyes once from the ground. Spike thought that the poor stallion was going to flip out again, but he sighed in relief when Big Mac finally sat down on the path.

"Ahh, shoot." Big Mac muttered.

"What? What is it?"

Spike plopped down beside the stallion and looked into his deep green eyes. Big Mac looked right back at Spike and placed his hoof on his head as if he had a headache.

"AJ's always wanted a filly or a colt. Ever since she an' I started raisin' Apple Bloom, she KNEW that she wanted ta be a mom." Big Mac shuddered as some memories came flooding back to him. "Mah sister loved our mother. Ah loved her too, but not nearly as much as AJ did. AJ looked up to her, respected her, an' wanted ta be as good a mother as she was."

Spike looked away from Big Mac as he continued his story. He felt his eyes begin to well up with tears and he loudly cursed his existence inside his mind.

"The night our mother died, AJ made a vow."

Spike's head shot up in shock and he looked over to Big Mac.

"What vow?"

"AJ might have told ya that she promised ta never be afraid again... and she DID. But she made another one too, sayin' that she would be as good a mother as our mother was."

"But now that can never happen." Spike whispered. "And it's all because of me."

"And it's all because a me."

Fluttershy remained silent when Applejack had finished, knowing that this was not the right time to talk.

When she's ready, she'll speak again. Fluttershy thought.

Applejack kept her eyes on the ground and watched as three tears dripped down and splatter against the dirt. She cursed herself loudly in her mind and exhaled loudly.

"Twilight wants Spike ta be a dad, an' Ah can't give that pleasure to him."

Applejack's chest began to heave and Fluttershy walked over to her. She embraced Applejack tightly and rocked her back and forth when the tears came. Applejack cried for a good five minutes before she heard Spike and Big Mac come walking up the road. She quickly pushed Fluttershy away and wiped the tears away from under her eyes.

"Are mah eyes red?" She whispered urgently to Fluttershy.

"Uh... no."

Spike rushed over to his wife and gave her a quick hug before helping her to her hooves.

"Thanks for the... uh... conversations, guys." Spike said awkwardly as he led Applejack away.

"You're welcome...?"

Fluttershy looked over to Big Mac in confusion as he did the same. They both watched the couple go with heavy hearts and Fluttershy started to shudder with sorrow. Big Mac placed his leg around her shoulders and nuzzled into her mane. He then started to escort her home, but gave one final glance at his sister walking away.

"So... what did you and Fluttershy talk about?" Spike asked Applejack.

"Uh... well... female things. What 'bout you an' Big Mac?"

"Uh... male things...?"

"Fair enough."

The two walked slowly in silence until they reached their house. By then, the sun had already set all the way except for a light blue color near the horizon. Spike opened the front door for Applejack and she hobbled inside, Spike soon following her.

"It's mighty late." Applejack said bluntly. "Think Ah should be gettin' ta bed."

She let out an exaggerated yawn and walked down the hall towards their room. The second floor was reserved for storage only while the first floor had everything else.

Applejack clambered into the bed and slipped into the comforter, making sure that it came up to her neck just the way she liked it. Then she stared out the window as the stars started to sparkle in the sky. It was like Princess Luna took the stars in her hooves and tossed them across the dark blue blanket to make the night seem peaceful. Applejack sighed and closed her eyes tightly.

OH, Lord, She prayed silently. Ah want a foal. So badly Ah want one! Ah can't work the farm or help Spike with anythin', so why can't Ah be a mother?!

She stopped praying for a second as a tear rolled down her cheek. She quickly wiped it away and quickly whispered, "Amen." Then she heard Spike climb into the bed and gently kiss her on her head. She turned over onto her other side and stared at the dragon for the longest time. He seemed so... calm. This made her feel calm, too. She returned the kiss, but on the lips and they melted into each other's warmth.