Apple-bucking was much harder work than Spike had imagined it’d be. He wiped sweat from his brow as he surveyed the buckets of apples collected and the buckets that remained. It was a good thing he had relented and let Applejack take over his share of the non-strenuous chores, because he wasn’t confident he could do much more work after finishing his tree quota. He was already limping from stiff joints and couldn’t feel his hind legs at all. Almost as if she sensed his flagging resolve, the matriarch of Sweet Apple Acres appeared on the porch of her house, smirking at his limp.

“You sure you don’t want to trade off for a few hours, Spike?” she offered, a little too cheekily for his liking.

“I can manage,” the dragon grunted in response, “and you need to rest.”

“Spike, it’s been two days,” Applejack pointed out, “You’re going to march inside, have some lunch, and let me do what I do best. Got it?”

The dragon glared defiantly at the mare but it was a battle he was destined to lose. Sighing in resignation, he limped towards the house, ignoring the triumphant smirk on his lover’s face. Even several days after the fact, it was still hard to wrap their heads around the sudden shift from lifelong friends to lifelong friends with benefits. Mostly nothing had changed between them – Spike was merely living on the farm to spend time with an old pal and help with the harvest; Applejack was letting him stay for company and free help in saving her family farm. The only real difference – at least, the only visible difference – was the sex.

It wasn’t even that much sex! After the first night, they had silently agreed not to make it a regular thing, no matter how much fun it had been or how it helped fill the void inside they were trying to escape. Naturally that lasted only until the following day. Applejack finished the non-strenuous chores by lunchtime and was forced to sit back and watch Spike work himself ragged on the farm, bucking apples with his lithe, scale-clad muscles. He wasn’t weak, but Applejack found his limbs almost scrawny when comparing them to the stallions she was related to. Still, his resolve to keep working despite clear physical exhaustion was inspiring, though.

And slightly arousing. There was no fur obscuring his figure, and she was able to see the writhe and flow of his muscles just beneath the scales, flexing and releasing, so full of energy. With nothing else to do but watch, the mare had begun fanning herself with her hat, hoping the dragon didn’t question why she’d need cooling down in a chilly autumn. He watched her, however, whenever he felt himself losing strength. She’d smile and he’d perk right up, eager to show his vitality like some silly boy trying to prove something. Not that she minded watching that raw energy at work.

When lunch rolled around the mare swung her hips as she led him inside, looking back with bedroom eyes. The exhausted dragon seemed as if he’d just had a good night’s rest. He mounted her while she was in the middle of preparing a tray of vegetables and apple slices for them, spilling the edibles across the counter as she braced herself. She wanted to scold him, tell him she wasn’t ready, but in truth she had been hoping he’d take the initiative. What a mess she had to clean up while he went back to work, a spring in his buck.

The second day had seen them try and resist their urges. They spent the whole day reminding each other they had work to do whenever they noticed the other one eyeing them. They’d managed to go until dinner without succumbing to lust, but as they sat there in charged silence, eating their salads and waiting for the pie, until they realized that all the work was done and there was no reason to wait any longer. They nearly broke the table with their love-making, unleashing their pent up frustration from the day. Holding off had made their sexual appetite far more potent. Once wasn’t enough. They journeyed to Applejack’s room and continued until the smell of something burning reminded them of the pie. After extinguishing fires and cleaning up, they simply collapsed into sleep and nearly missed waking up.

And here they were on the third day, still trying to figure out a happy balance between work and play. Preferably one that didn’t see them keep cleaning up sex fluids from the places they prepared food and ate. It wouldn’t be too much longer before that conundrum was resolved, of course. The harvest season was almost over and there were few apples left to collect. Applejack imagined it would take a week more at most before they were finished, then she’d be largely free to do whatever she wanted aside from her usual chores – chores that were easier with Spike there. She checked the calendar as they entered her house, pleased to see one of her favorite holidays would come shortly after the harvest.

“Got any plans for Nightmare Night?” she asked the dragon.

“I haven’t been able to celebrate that the last three years…” Spike confessed, smiling, “Why, did you have an idea?”

“It’s a little short notice, but I’ve wanted to do a haunted hay ride for some time, now,” the mare explained, “Y’know, fill a wagon with some hay bale seats and take creatures on a tour of a spooky Sweet Apple Acres.”

“That sounds really fun, actually!” Spike laughed heartily at the prospect, “I think I can drum up some help from my friends at the castle. They’d get a kick out of this.”

They continued to discuss details as they ate their lunch and returned to work, excited about the prospect of wowing the town with their project. Spike finished the rest of the household chores, being the efficient cleaner he was, and returned to the orchard to help Applejack collect more apples. The work went quickly as the pair passed the time with small talk and reminisced on old times and funny stories. By the time the sun was setting, Applejack calculated they only had about three days of work left until all the apples were gathered.

“Do you think any of our friends will show up?” Applejack asked, suddenly.

“I’m not sure,” Spike tapped his chin as he helped her in the kitchen, “Discord and Fluttershy sort of just pop back in Ponyville randomly. Pinkie Pie will almost surely come, even though she’s been distracted trying to get Twilight to take a break.”

“That sounds about right,” the mare chuckled, “I hope they make an appearance. It’d be nice for them to see me now.”

“It wouldn’t be nice before?” Spike asked, handing her the bowls without needing to be asked.

“I don’t like to admit it, but…” Applejack slowed in her work, trying to compose her feelings on the matter, “I haven’t been in a great place, Spike. My siblings moving away was hard, and when Granny Smith left us, well, it hasn’t been easy for me. Everyone else was so busy with their new lives, I just didn’t want to burden them with having them see how my life was falling apart. Honestly, aside from Pinkie Pie, you’ve visited me the most. Even she’s been away for a while.” The farmer chuckled to herself. “She’s been visiting Twilight, you said?”

“Yeah?” the dragon looked up from shredding carrots, confused, “Is that funny?”

“Not funny, but interesting,” the mare didn’t elaborate, deciding to change subjects to something that had been bothering her, “What would we do if, uh… if I was pregnant?”

“You’re pregnant?!” Spike dropped the grater, gaping at the pony.

“No!” Applejack replied quickly, almost as worked up as the dragon was. She calmed herself, feeling embarrassed. “I’m just curious… what would we do if I was?”

Spike looked pensive as he considered it. Rubbing a clawed digit along his chin, he decided to voice his thoughts aloud for her benefit.

“Well, I’d like to be involved in our children’s lives – I think we both agree that it’s important our children know their parents,” he said.

“Children?” Applejack repeated with a grin, “You expecting me to have twins, or did you want to try for more after the first…?”

“W-well, I only meant…” the dragon sputtered, giving a sheepish smile, “Anyway, I was about to say that – with your continued consent – I could still live here and help out around the farm. Or… would that be awkward?”

“I think it’d be more awkward to split up, especially when I said you could stay here as long as you needed,” Applejack pointed out, “I don’t really see a reason for you to move out just because we have kids.”

“Should we…” the dragon rolled a hand in the air, craning his neck around as he awkwardly thought of how to phrase the question. Finally, he decided there was no way to be tactful about it and just went in blunt. “If we have kids, should we get married?”

The farmer nearly dropped the bowl she was carrying to the table on her head but caught it. Taking her seat, she watched as her scaly friend nervously took his seat. Marriage? She shouldn’t be particularly surprised by the subject; she was the one that brought up children. Wasn’t it normal for most ponies to discuss marriage and then kids? Still, they hadn’t even decided on whether or not their relationship was romantic, let alone if they loved each other like that. There wasn’t really a reason to discuss marriage, but since he’d dumped his dragon seen into her womb, there was at least some reason to discuss children – an outlandish and unlikely outcome, but still a possibility.

“Why marry?” she asked, chuckling nervously at the subject. She felt color dusting her cheeks and a smile on her lips, despite herself.

“To help the kids, I guess,” Spike gave a nervous chuckle, too, then closed his eyes, “Kid, I mean. Singular. You know, give them a ‘normal’ experience, with married parents and all that.”

“Sugar, they’re going to have a pony for a mother and a dragon for a father,” Applejack giggled, using the simpler nickname she’d taken to using for Spike, “Never mind the fact her parents will be famous heroes of Equestria and the Crystal Empire.”

“Her?” Spike repeated, amused.

“I can have a preference, can’t I?” Applejack smirked, “The point is, that’s not grounds for marriage. I mean, is that the only reason you can think of?”

The dragon tapped his claws on the table, blushing as he got into a staring contest with his lover. There was a more obvious reason to get married – a good reason, probably the only reason – but he felt silly for even thinking it. After all, he’d thought he was in love before with Rarity, carrying that embarrassing crush on his shoulders for the better part of his life and still having to live it down from time to time. All of this had happened so suddenly, and it wasn’t like she was saying it either. Would she even take him seriously if he said those three simple words, or would she think he was just blinded by their recently-developed sex life? For that matter, maybe she was only blinded by the recently-developed sex life. What if they got married and everything fell apart once the passion went away? Even though he didn’t want to admit it, Spike was already attached to the mare. If they got married and she realized she wasn’t in love, it’d kill him.

“I’ll say it if you say it,” he ended up saying despite all that internal reasoning. He almost facepalmed. What happened to all that anxiety about her love being illusory? Flirting wasn’t the solution!

“Say what, sugar?” Applejack bit her lower lip as she leaned forward on her forelegs, eyeing him from across the table with lowered eyelids.

“Y-you know what,” the dragon blushed, avoiding eye contact as she giggled, “Come on, AJ, cut me some slack.”

“You too manly to tell a mare how you feel?” Applejack asked, a mischievous glint in her eye as she sat up, reaching forward with a hind leg under the table…

“I-it’s not that, I’m just worried-” Spike sighed and tried to explain before he felt her hoof graze his pelvic area, stimulating the region. His face reddened as his breathing became huskier. “I-I’m j-just afraid to say it…”

Applejack straightened, furrowing her brow in thought as Spike felt her hoof retreat. He wanted to scream in agitation as the pleasure ebbed away, but he needed to get this off his chest before they moved any further. The mare fixed him with a studious glare, trying to take the measure of him and see if she had misjudged his character, somehow.

“Explain…” she instructed, cautiously.

“I had a crush on Rarity for a long time,” the dragon obeyed, hoping she could see it from his perspective, “and I thought I was in love. I’m just worried that if we say it to each other so soon after we started, I mean… before we had sex, did you even once consider me as a potential husband?”

Applejack looked away, seeing his point. They sat there for a minute or two in awkward silence, the mood completely derailed by that line of thought. Applejack’s ears perked up as she got to thinking, however, and she looked at the dragon again. The mood was killed – there were no hormones obscuring her thinking, no sexual fantasies egging her on. There were only clear thoughts, and those thoughts were about their first time together. Spike had come to visit her more than any other friend, save Pinkie Pie, while being just as busy as the others. They had a long history together, and she felt comfortable around him. So comfortable, in fact, that she gladly let him sleep in her bed each night. It was that comfort and mutual trust that had allowed her to so easily give herself to him, and him to her. When she imagined any other friend in his place, she felt the situation would have gone far from smoothly, but she trusted him. She felt secure with him, safe with him, as funny as that seemed. She could look away for more than twenty minutes and be completely confident he wouldn’t burn the place down.

Trust, comfort, companionship. That’s what she had with the dragon, and more than that they were kindred spirits – two lonely souls overlooked by their busy friends and families, with few exceptions. There was also that cord binding them, tugging at their hearts. She wasn’t sure if Spike felt it, but she certainly did. Was that love or merely longing? Whatever it was, no one else had ever made her feel like that. She decided to finally break the silence.

“Spike,” she began, grabbing his attention, “I admit, I’m not entirely sure if I love you like some mares love stallions, but I do love you. I care about you. When you’re sad, it hurts me, and I want to do whatever I can to make you happy, but I’m also willing to give you swift kick in the rear when you need it, too. I said a lot of stuff that first night, but just know that I was telling the truth about me trusting you. I would never do that with someone I didn’t care for.”

Spike looked at her, speechless as he tried to compose a response. In his youth he’d always figured he’d be the one to do a heartfelt love confession to a mare, not the other way around. He fidgeted for a moment, trying to think of something to say and panicking when his actions made the mare frown in concern. He was blowing this!

“I love you, too!” he blurted, wincing at how foolish that sounded. He took a calming breath and continued, “I mean, I’ve always cared about you, e-even if I never thought about us like that. I want you to know that I’m not the kind of dragon who would just give himself to any mare, either. What we did that night, I did because I feel comfortable enough around you to be myself, a-and because you said… you said you needed me. These past few months I’ve been so worried about you, staying here all alone. When you let me move in, when you said that I wasn’t just welcome but needed, it just made me feel…”

The dragon looked Applejack straight in the eyes and she felt her heart race.

“…valued,” he finished.

It was Applejack’s turn to stare at him for a moment. Almost immediately she stood up, slamming her hooves on the table and bored into him with her green eyes, dark with hunger that had nothing to do with her tipped over salad bowl.

“Bedroom,” she demanded, “now.”

Faster than either of them thought possible, Spike kicked the door to Applejack’s room open, his arms supporting her weight as she wrapped all her legs around him, their lips locked in passionate kisses that melted into bites and licks and back again. Spike felt himself losing control, his torso growing hotter and hotter, until the mare jumped off of him with a yelp, dancing from hoof to hoof.

“What the hay?!” she exclaimed, blowing on her fore-hooves to cool them, “Sorry sugar, but that was too hot to handle. Literally.”

“Wow, that’s never happened before,” the dragon took a shuddering breath, “What do we do?”

“Well,” Applejack walked over to her closet and began rummaging through her supplies, “I think I’ll pay Zecora a visit tomorrow. I’m sure she’s got some kind of elixir or tonic that can make ponies resistant to heat, at least long enough for a good rut. For now, though… Ah! Here they are!”

The mare pulled out four long, black tubes. Spike tilted his head, confused, until he saw Applejack sliding them over her hooves and onto her legs. His eyes widened as he saw the black, rubberlike substance hug her full limbs, outlining everything in black-lacquered detail. The mare stretched her joints in them, getting a feel for them and blushing.

“They’re, uh… a little tighter than I remember,” she chuckled, embarrassed, “I hope these don’t ruin the mood, Spike. Spike?”

She looked at the dragon who was already fully-aroused and drooling fire while he stared at Applejack. The mare blinked, surprised at his reaction, then smiled slowly. She knew from past experience that things as simple as mane styles and dresses could make the young dragon’s heartrate increase, but she didn’t realize he was into something as simple as fireproof boots. She reached up to remove her hat from her head when the dragon’s attention was broken, eyes drifting up to her hoof hovering near her head. Was he worried?

“Something on your mind, Spike?” she asked.

“Could you keep the hat on?” he asked, clearly embarrassed, “S-since you’re already wearing the boots…”

“You… you like me wearing my hat?” Applejack’s hoof drifted away from her hat. She looked down at her boots, “And the boots? Really?”

“Y-yeah…” the dragon buried his face in his hands.

“Oh, I can keep ‘em on, but…” Applejack stepped forward. She placed a hoof on his exposed member, testing it to make sure it wasn’t painfully hot like his torso had been. It was hot, but thankfully not painful. She smirked as she applied a little more pressure, eliciting a moan of pleasure from Spike. “…I want complete control tonight.”

“Okay…” the dragon relented as she moved away, curious, “What does that mean, exactly? Like… you do all the work?”

“Not exactly, sugar,” Applejack chuckled as she went to her wall and pulled her rope from where it was hanging on the wall. She gave a surprisingly wolfish grin, making the dragon sweat. “You probably don’t know this, Spike, but girls like to talk about their love-making as much as guys.”

“Uh… okay…” Spike said, letting Applejack guide him towards her bed and set about tying the rope around his limbs and core.

“My cousins always go on and on about the things they can get their fellas to do,” the mare elaborated as she tightened the binds, “and more than a few of them talked about rope tricks. I never thought too much on it, but now that I’ve got me a fella of my own, I gotta say, the idea’s getting me hotter than a barbecue in July!”

Spike said nothing as she finished her rope-tying. He was on his back, legs bound to the posts at the foot of her bed while his hands were tied together over his head and fastened to the headboard. The dragon was surprised at how much rope there was, but more surprised by how his anxiety had turned into excitement. He was completely bound. She’d even managed to tie his hands and feet in such a way he couldn’t cut the rope with his claws or even reach it with his fangs. She could do anything to him and he was powerless to stop it. Logically he should be terrified, and yet he knew no harm would come to him.

“Don’t these kinds of things usually involve whips or me calling you ‘mistress’?” Spike asked.

“Don’t really see the fun in a whip, personally,” Applejack confessed, then raised an eyebrow, “Why? Did you want me to whip you?”

“Let’s forget I brought that up…” the dragon blushed.

“As for the name thing, let me think…” the mare tapped her chin, trying to think of something that would make the experience better. She smiled suddenly as it came to her, then grinned mischievously down at the bound dragon. “For tonight, you’re going to call me ‘my love’. Got it?”

“Alright,” Spike chuckled. Applejack looked unamused, raising an eyebrow. “…my love.”

“Great!” the mare beamed, “If you have trouble breathing, just shake around a lot. Or something.”

“Wait, why would I have trouble-” Spike began to ask before Applejack lowered her flank onto his face.

The mare snickered to herself as the dragon mumbled into her marehood, grumbling some kind of protest or curse at her doing this without warning. Fortunately, his head wasn’t any hotter than his dick had been, which was a relief. Honestly she should have checked before plopping down, but she was in a playful mood. Soon enough he slid his tongue into her and her snickering stilled in her throat, face blooming red. She melted quickly enough as the warm, slithering length of forked tongue worked its way deep inside, wriggling further than she expected. Wait until she told her cousins! Mares had no idea what they were missing out on.

As she shuddered and enjoyed a dragon tongue in her cunt, her eyes strayed to her lover’s throbbing meat pole. She chewed on her lower lip, speculating. Sure, the whole point of the ropes and commands was so she could be dominant for the night, but that didn’t mean she wanted to be the only one having fun. It was just in her nature to be fair. Her cheeks heated up more as she stared at the penis before her, still speculating. It wasn’t really fair that Spike was willing to use his mouth on her while she’d never even offered the same, was it? That was dirty, of course! But… well, he seemed to really enjoy her flavor, and it made her feel incredibly weak in the knees. A smile tugged at her lips as she thought about making the dragon equally weak. Oh, she liked him strong and dominant, but sometimes he could get a little bigheaded about things. It was nice to have him be putty in her hooves, even if only once in a while.

She slid forward onto his chest, careful to keep the material of her boots between herself and Spike’s heated core. She heard the dragon licking his lips and shifting behind her, craning his neck forward to return to his work, not even bothering to question why she moved in the first place. Boy, he really liked the taste of her, didn’t he? The realization made the mare smile and blush in equal measure; what a weird thing to be happy about. Resting on her sheathed elbows, Applejack gently gripped Spike’s dick between her fore-hooves, feeling the dragon tense in anticipation behind her. His cunnilingus became more vigorous at the prospect of relief, but still she hesitated, choosing to inhale the scent of him. Unsurprisingly, it was earthy and warm, like heated metal mixed with minerals and brimstone. There was also the curious smell of reptile, but she’d grown used to that from years of knowing him as surely as he’d grown used to the smell of horse. Finally, she stuck out her tongue and took a long lick of his length.

The dragon responded immediately, breaking his oral ministrations long enough to vent a small puff of green flame outside of her, then went back to work with even greater effort than before. Applejack savored the taste of him, finding the blend of flavors curious but not unenjoyable. She continued licking his shaft, moving up to his head and lapping up his pre-cum, tasting a mineral-heavy saltiness. It was strong and a little bitter, but she found herself getting used to these flavors all while the hormones they aroused made her head fuzzy with pleasure. Unable to resist any longer, she took him into her mouth and teased his head with her tongue. The dragon broke to vent more flame, then dug into her anew, this time raking his fangs gently along her sensitive flesh.

Spike felt himself growing close to climax and flexed and strained against his binds. He felt his seed boiling up – quite literally so – and his eyes widened at the temperature. With a mumbled warning, he bucked his hips, thrusting the full length of his member into the unsuspecting mare’s throat. Teary-eyed, Applejack sat up, coughing only a second before he ejaculated into the air.

“W-what the hay was that?!” the farmer coughed out, wiping her mouth and getting off of Spike to glare down at him.

Spike only panted, eye twitching. He had to swallow a gout of green flame or risk setting Applejack’s crotch on fire; the experience was more painful than he anticipated, so he had to take a moment to catch his breath. He merely gestured towards the foot of the bed with his head. Applejack followed his line of sight and saw that where his cum had landed on the sheets had caught fire. Her eyes widened and she rushed to extinguish the green flames, smothering them with her fireproof boots.

“Goodness gracious, Spike!” she exclaimed, frowning at the burnt hole in her sheets, “You were always warm, but I’ve never seen you so hot before!”

“I could say the same about you…” the dragon chuckled, weakly. Despite her frustration, the mare smiled from the compliment. “Sorry about the sheets. I didn’t know I could do that.”

“You could have said something,” Applejack chided, “You nearly broke my muzzle with that thrust!”

“Twilight always taught me it was rude to talk when eating,” Spike grinned, cheekily, “Anyway, can you untie me now?”

“I think I ought to leave you like that for a little bit,” the mare smirked as she circled the bed, “You’re being cockier than a rooster in a henhouse right now; you could use a dose of humility.”

Despite her words, she ended up untying him anyway. He sat up, rubbing at where the rope had chafed his wrists and ankles, eyes scanning the mare’s clothes again. He felt himself becoming aroused, but stopped himself, visibly flustered.

“I’ll never understand how a set of boots or socks can make some fellas’ tongues fall out of their heads,” Applejack chuckled, taking off the protective gear, “I guess we can’t really go any further until we can find out how to keep me from being set on fire.”

“I’ll talk to Smolder tomorrow,” Spike sighed, cheeks flushing in embarrassment, “I usually go to her about advice on dragon physiology.”

“Oh?” Applejack raised an eyebrow, playfully, but felt a strange sense of jealousy, “I hope she’s not one for hands-on teaching.”

The purple-scaled dragon grinned at his lover, tail wagging, slowly.

“Would that make you jealous?” he asked. Applejack looked away, disgruntled at his teasing. He walked over to her, placing his hands on her shoulders and kissing her on the cheek. “Relax, AJ. You’re the only mate for me. Smolder’s just a dragon friend.”

“That sounds dangerously like a filly friend…” Applejack pointed out.

“Good point,” the dragon conceded, “She’s just a friend, AJ. Actually, she’s the closest thing I have to an older sister, teaching me all the stuff about dragons I missed out on. You don’t expect me to get jealous of Big Mac, do you?”

The dragon laughed for a moment at the thought and Applejack joined in, giggling, but then Spike stopped, paling as his blood turned to ice. Big Mac. Applejack’s brother. Here Spike was, sleeping with his best friend’s little sister in the home they grew up in. Thank Celestia he was in Our Town and far away from them, but how would they break the news that they were an item? For that matter, were they an item?

“Hey, AJ?” he asked, cautiously, “Are we together?”

“Well, we’re here, aren’t we?” Applejack gave a nervous laugh.

“Come on, AJ, I’m serious,” the dragon took a step back, turning her to face him. He used a claw to move a strand of blonde hair out of her eyes. “We’ve already made love, and we’ve already said we love each other. I just want to know what we’re calling ourselves. Like… are we together?”

The mare avoided eye contact, freckled cheeks colored red. Why was it so hard to commit to him when they’d already gotten so far? She just felt silly dating at her age, especially to someone so young. Young in pony years, at that; never mind how young he must have been in dragon years! Finally, she looked into his eyes and any argument she’d been forming in her head simply dissolved. How could she deny those pleading eyes? He could melt steel with those emerald orbs alone; no need for his fire breath.

“Alright,” she smiled, giving him a quick kiss on the lips, “together sounds good.”

“R-really?” Spike’s eyebrows shot up, “Uh, sweet. Cool! I-I mean, this is great! I have a filly-friend!”

“Oh boy,” Applejack shook her head, still smiling, “don’t tell me you’re going to brag to every stallion in town, now?”

“Of course not,” Spike stopped his cheering, crossing his arms, “Why would I brag about managing to snag to greatest mare in Equestria as my filly-friend? That’s not something to brag about.”

Applejack giggled and rolled her eyes. They set about cleaning the kitchen, storing the leftovers, and changing the sheets in the bedroom. The mare frowned at the diminishing stack of linens in her closest; investing in fireproof sheets might be a good idea. As they lay down to sleep, the pair discussed their plans for the following day. Both had to resist the urge to cuddle as the dragon was still uncomfortably warm. The plan was simple enough: Spike would go to talk to Smolder about this latest physiological mystery while Applejack would go to Zecora for some kind of fireproofing potion. And of course they would have to go into town and drum up guests and volunteers for the haunted hay ride.

As sleep threatened to overtake the two of them they stared into one another’s faces. The moon and stars outside the window allowed enough light to twinkle in their emerald eyes. It was astounding how a little soft light could make their eyes shine, almost glowing in the dark. Their eyelids became heavier, sliding down, and they smiled at one another. Spike risked wrapping a hand around Applejack’s hoof, unable to completely stay out of contact with her.

“Goodnight, Spike,” Applejack said, voice a little slurred from sleep overtaking her as her eyelids closed.

“Goodnight, Applejack,” the dragon replied, yawning, “I… lowe…”

And just like that, they were out.

Author's Note

Oh hey, I did a title drop without realizing it.

I know it seems like Spike and Applejack have gotten absolutely comfortable in their relationship, but there will be conflict later. I plan on breaking this story into three arcs with three chapters each. The first arc is supposed to go smoothly, but the second arc will explore the fractures in their relationship. If you can hold out that long.