“Up and at em you two! We ain’t gonna wait until noon to begin our journey if we’re gonna get to that castle before the sun sets. The Everfree is dangerous enough with Timberwolves, Ursas, and that guardian magicking around, Ah don’t wanna get lost in there at night!” Applejack shouted out from the kitchen while she was cooking breakfast and the other two Apples were setting the table.

Spike groaned loudly as he rolled in a feeble attempt to escape the shouting. “Ugh, noon? The sun is just rising now… I think we have time.” He muttered to himself and shifted a little feeling something fuzzy on his chest. “What the?” He opened an eye slowly and looked down, blinking several times before he jumped back a few feet. Twilight had been much closer than she had been last night, nearly right beside him with a small smile gracing her face. He felt strange heat rising to his cheeks so he just tried to ignore it, but when he laid back down a few feet away from her, he found himself unable to sleep again so he groaned and just got up. He pushed open the doors of the barn and blocked the sun’s rays with his hand.

“Okay, I’m up!” Spike shouted while he stretched his sore muscles thinking that he could get used to something like pillows, better than the rocks back home at least. Applebloom met him at the door and happily welcomed him in. “Umm, you sure about this Bloom? I rather the bruise your sis gave me yesterday to not get a sibling of its own.” Applebloom giggled and pushed Spike into the house.

“Don’t worry after last night where you beat up that other dragon I think she likes you now heh.” Spike gave her a skeptical gaze but the filly seemed to take it in stride so he walked into the kitchen where Applejack just gave him a welcoming smile.

“Mornin Spike! Let me introduce you to my Granny Smi- WAIT GRANNY!” Spike looked around for the other Apple when he felt a broom smash into his stomach making him cough out some flame and bend over. He groaned and looked to the side where a pair of hooves hit his face, not as bad as Applejack’s bucks but it still knocked him on his back.

“Take that ya fire-lizard! No one hurts my grandbabies!”

“Granny! This is Spike! The good dragon Ah told ya about!” Granny frowned at Applejack’s words.

“Ya sure Ah was fully wake Applejack? Ah don’t member nothin like that.” Applejack facehoofed while Applebloom helped Spike back to his feet where his claw was grabbed by Granny Smith who shook it with a strong grip. “Well, if they say ya a good one then I believe em! It’s nice to meet ya Spike.” Spike rubbed his claw and smiled nervously hoping the mare wouldn’t hurt him anymore.

“D-ditto Miss Smith…”

“Call me Granny young un. Miss Smith makes me sound too borin!” Spike chuckled and nodded when the front door opened again. Twilight’s mane looked like a tornado attacked it.

“D-does anypony have a brush?” Spike and Applebloom burst into laughter while Applejack shook her head at them and then trotted over to Twilight.

“Enough of that ya two. Come on Sugarcube, let’s fix ya up a bit. Watch the food AB.” Applebloom saluted as the two left and Spike decided to help her. The filly instructed him on what to do, being his first time really cooking.

“Dragons don’t cook?! Yall never had a tasty apple pie? That sounds like torture!” Spike chuckled and flicked her bow as he flipped the pancake, barely catching it.

“Yeah, dragons aren’t that into creating things. Most of us are much more into fighting or taking things…”

“What about you?”

“Me? I guess… I guess I have always been a strange dragon… my kind only ever liked me for what I could make for them. I don’t think any of them were really my friend except for Ember. Now she’s a dragon, strong, tough, smart, and-” He was cut off in the middle of his sentence when Applejack and Twilight came back with Twilight now wearing some kind of yellow dress. A small blush on her face. “Pretty…” Applebloom yelled at him that the food was burning and he quickly moved it off the stove. He helped Applejack serve the food and all sat around with syrup and apple juice.

“Thanks for the food Applejack and for the dress… who’s going to watch the farm while you’re with us? I don’t want to leave Applebloom alone after the attack last night…” Twilight said as she lifted a fork with her magic, carefully cutting some of the pancakes while Applebloom was staring at Spike in awe as he shoved whole ones into his mouth.

“Don’t worry sugarcube, my cousin Braeburn will be comin to take over the farm work with a few more Apples while Ah’m with you. Usually, they are pretty busy with the war and all but Ah sent some letters out last night tellin em what you and Spike did for me and AB and what yall tryin to do. They want to see this end too.”

“Thank you so much Applejack, we really appreciate this. Isn’t that right Spike?” Twilight turned to see Applebloom laughing at Spike who she dared to shove fifteen pancakes in his mouth and he was at fourteen. “Yeah… we need all the help we can get.”

. . .

Twilight, Spike, and Applejack waved at Granny Smith, Applebloom, and the rest of the Apple family that had arrived. It was nearing noon as the group entered the forest.

“So how did the two of you meet? Ah’ve never met a duo like yall, especially a kind dragon. No offense Spike.”

“None taken. Twilight can explain what happened, the magic of it all kind of hurts my head.”

“Well, it started with a spell and a bit of a dumb plan by Spike and some other dragons…” Twilight explained how the two met and how they became partners with Spike cutting in and making things simpler to understand when she was getting too complicated. It was past noon when they reached the deeper part of the forest.

“So you can’t go home anymore Spike? That must be hard, being stuck in a place where you’re automatically hated no matter what you do…”

“Well you gave me a chance, maybe others will also.”

“Ah only did that because Applebloom and she’s too young to understand really all that dragons have done to us.”

“Don’t forget Ponies did things to us too...” Applejack opened her mouth but then closed it, she didn’t know what ponies did to them. She wasn’t a dragon after all. The group walked when suddenly Applejack felt her mane stand on end, she held out a hoof blocking her companions while she looked around frantically.

“What’s wrong Appleja-”

“Shh!” Twilight covered her mouth with a hoof but nothing happened. There was no noise.

“Applejack it’s quiet there’s nothing here.”

“Yall don’t get it, do you? This is the Everfree, there is always something out there. Why is it so quiet?” At the question, the forest immediately came alive. Giant roots of the trees tore through the ground towards Applejack but Twilight rushed to her side, putting up a magic bubble around them. “What in tarnation?!” The roots bashed against the bubble as Applejack pulled out her lasso. “How long can you hold them Sugarcube?”

“A while, weird it feels like they aren’t really trying…” Spike was prepared to fight but nothing attacked him, looking at the roots attacking the girls he noticed that behind them, more roots were making a wall blocking them from entering any more into the forest.

“A distraction!” Spike ran towards them, scooping Twilight and Applejack in his arms. Both mares struggled out of instinct with Twilight lowering her bubble causing them to nearly be smashed by a root and Applejack punching Spike’s face. He jumped through the last hole that the root wall had, the three safely making it to the other side. “Uggggh my face!” Spike shouted, falling and dropping the mares while holding his sore jaw. Applejack blushed a bit out of embarrassment before helping him up.

“S-sorry bout that Spike… Ah was surprised…”

“W-what happened to the sunlight?” Twilight asked as she got up ignoring them and looked around in shock. The forest was dark as if it were night.

“Like Ah said… this place is unnatural. We can’t go back now, we have to keep goin in and hope we can find a way out.”

“I can blast some fire on the roots.”

“And that could burn the whole forest, like it or not Spike but this place is still important to Equestria’s ecosystem. Applejack’s right we’ll find another way through.” The three trekked through the forest, Spike having lit a stick on fire to use as a torch leading the way.

“So what is up with this place? I know you said it had weird creatures and was unnatural but why?”

“I can’t tell ya, I’ve never been this far from Canterlot. The princess may have let me plan attacks but never let me join on the front lines. Applejack?”

“To be honest, Ah’ve never been in this deep either. Granny says that the Everfree used to be open to all creatures if they were brave enough to enter but a few years ago it happened! A huge battle between Ponies and Dragons left a large part of the forest destroyed. The Battle of the Free was what it was called.” Spike and Twilight flinched a bit at the name. Both had heard the reports of that battle from their respective sides.

“The Battle of the Free… it was before my time but every pony that lived were allowed to leave the front lines due to what they saw leaving them… broken.”

“That battle left nearly no survivors… the dragons that came back recalled a demon coming from the forest that stopped the fighting. Her scream was so heartbreaking that it even made the dragons pause but then something happened. In an instant, the dead littered what used to be the forest.”

“Yeah, Ah also lost a friend that day... well after that the forest seemingly had gained a guardian that was said to have been created by the Everfree to fight for it. My ma and pa were some of the unlucky that had to clean up that battlefield and they said they had never seen anything like it. The bodies were unmarked… scared to death…” The group went silent after that, their minds racing with the thoughts of what creature could scare you to death.

A few hours of walking later, Applejack decided it was time for the group to set up camp. Applejack brought out some apple pie and shared it with them. The group soon had a raging fire and Twilight yawned, having leaned her head against Spike and feeling his warm scales she soon fell asleep. Spike didn’t seem to mind as he just finished off her remaining pie. Applejack stared at the two and wondered how they could be so trusting of each other.

He looked up to see her stare and raised an eyeridge. “What’s up AJ?”

“How… How could you two be such good friends? To trust each other like this? Ah mean you said it yourself Ponies have done awful things to Dragons and vice versa.” Spike thought about it, usually, he would push Twilight away or at least keep her from sleeping on him but since that morning he has felt strange or… was it that he only realized it that morning?

“The spell we mentioned, that one that bonded us, it bonded our souls so we feel each other. If one goes the other follows so I suppose we both understood that we should work together instead of always fighting since we’re stuck together.” Applejack nodded understanding and bit her lip before looking up at him.

“Is that the only reason? You don’t care for her other than that?” Spike looked away from her eyes, finding them suddenly hard to look at.

“...dragons don’t really do feelings… We’re monsters after right?” The two went silent again. Applejack set up two tents and slipped a sleeping bag in one tent each. Spike carefully placed Twilight in one and smiled a bit at her sleeping form before joining Applejack again. She was staring longingly at the sky and Spike looked up also, barely catching sight of two shooting stars passing by. She wiped her eyes but then looked down at the fire before taking a deep breath.

“Spike, Ah’m mighty sorry for the way I treated ya when we met.”

“I know you already apolo-”

“Let me finish sugarcube, it's rude to interrupt. Ah’m sorry for how Ah treated ya and Ah should have known better. My ma and paused to say that the Earth Ponies should be the ones that have the most open minds. They used to say that no matter who or what we are, we all are connected and depend on each other. The same earth, the same sky, the same heart keepin us alive. This world has suffered so much for the greed of both of our races… this has to come to its end. We’ve lost too much...”

“Applejack…”

“They told me once… that no matter the creature, we’re all connected to each other in a circle that never ends. A hoop of life and death it’s what is in between that we control. We decide what kind of life we’ll live, we decide who we become…” Applejack stood and stared at Spike, the fire reflecting her eyes and the moonlight shining down on her making her look like some kind of fierce but gentle goddess. “Ah’ve chosen who Ah’ll become, for my family, for my sister, and for myself. Ah’m gonna help you two until it’s over, until the day Ah can go home and know that my sister is safe. We may have no magic bond but Ah trust ya Spike…”

“I trust you too AJ… thank you. You aren’t the only one who’s lost parents. Mine are gone also and I thought that I had to be strong. Had to prove myself to my race since I never had the chance to prove myself to them… we’ll both get the chance to make them proud.” Spike sighed and stretched. “I’ll keep the first watch, you get some rest.”

“Thanks, Ah just may take you up on that. Good night Spike.” She yawned and waved before heading into her tent. Spike smiled gently and looked up at the night sky, keeping an ear out for danger

“Night Applejack.”

. . .

Hours later, the sky was stormy and Spike was shaken awake by Twilight who had been the last one on watch duty. The three prepared their supplies but as they went to put out the fire, it flared up and Spike grabbed the girls, hugging them and covering them with his fireproof body. The flames settled and the three were shocked to find them take the form of a pony-like creature. It had the overall look of a pony, but it had the ears of a bunny, one of its hooves was a timberwolf paw, the scaly underbelly of a dragon, the wings of a bat, a tail that resembled a snake, and her hindquarters had the fur of a bear.

“W-what is that thing…”

“I am the guardian of the Everfree! You three have gone against my will and pushed forward where your races are not allowed! You bring nothing but destruction and death, turn back now or you will die.” Spike growled a bit at the threat but Twilight walked around him.

“Wait please! We aren’t here to fight! We just want to reach the Castle of the Two Sisters.” The creature stopped and glared at the unicorn, taking several steps towards her.

“What do you hope to gain from the castle?”

“A way to stop this war, a way to bring peace to Equestria.”

“A fool’s errand… you’ll find nothing there.”

“We don’t believe that.” The creature snarled and turned away from the three.

“Push forward… at your own risk.” It walked back in the flames and vanished.

“Well… that was hot.” The mares gave Spike a deadpan stare and he shrugged. “Hey, I thought it was a good one… So are we going to keep going?”

“Of course, no fire monster is gonna scare away an Apple! Ah made you two a promise that Ah’d take ya to the castle and that’s just what Ah’ll do.” Twilight and Spike smiled grateful to have gained a friend like Applejack. The three chose their path and continued forward, above them a being watched with curious and rage-filled eyes.

Author's Note

A bit of a smaller chapter and not much action but I wanted to show Applejack becoming more of a friend to the two, next chapter will really go into depth with the Guardian of the Everfree! I hope you'll be able to make guesses to who it is. It won't take more than maybe a week or two to finish the next chapter! I just need free time since work is killing me. anyway tomorrow will be the introduction of a new story, and then maybe the sequel to one of my more popular stories!