The Golden Harvest

“Another day, another bit,” Carrot Top mused as she entered her humble abode with little fanfare. The door opened with a creak and she shut it quietly behind her, just as she preferred it to. Back when she lived with her parents, she always had the joy of announcing when she was home, but now that she lived on her own, she saw no need for it.

The gardener’s daily activities had become routine at this point, and by sundown, she was all set to crash on her somewhat comfortable couch and just relax. She had packed up her stand after having sold her entire supply that day, vowing to always find her carrots a good home to feed. Silently, she looked forward to tomorrow, when she’d finally get to harvest the new crop and make them especially fresh for her next trip to the market.

For now, though, the mare rolled over to face her fairly wide living room. Even while making comfortable earnings selling carrots in Ponyville’s healthy food competition, she never felt as if she needed any more furniture than she had. As her tired green eyes roamed around the room, however, she began to think that the room felt...empty.

At first, Carrot Top couldn’t quite put her hoof on it. She had everything she needed, and her house, while only having a few rooms, felt very spacious. After only a few seconds, she jumped to a conclusion that shocked even her.

Maybe the room didn’t feel empty. Maybe she was just lonely.

“No, that can’t be it,” she reassured herself. Carrot Top had plenty of close friends. Derpy Hooves had joined her on picnics a few times, and she often went to the movies with her friends Lyra and Bon Bon. She even had someone helping her at the market recently. It was that dragon assistant of Twilight Sparkle’s that had met her when he was still just a baby.

When she remembered Spike, she couldn’t help but think back to the circumstances that led to the mare getting to know him in the first place. A few months ago, disaster struck her little vegetable stand when her clumsy friend Derpy crashed into it on her way to deliver a package. Her sign that she used to attract ponies to the stand had been ruined! Admittedly, she hadn’t spent that much time or effort on the paint or cheap wood, but it was the problem at hand that mattered.

Derpy called back that she was sorry, but the bubbly pegasus was in such a rush that she had barely gotten out that much. Carrot Top could only look up at the giant hole through her sign and sigh. The things she had to put up with sometimes astounded her. Was she just incredibly unlucky? Or was there some cosmic force that wanted to throw unfortunate circumstances at her just to see how she’d react?

As these bemused thoughts ran through her head, she heard a decidedly masculine voice call to her from nearby.

“Hey. Do you need some help?”

She looked to the source of the voice and found a familiar face staring back at her. Spike, Twilight’s library assistant and errand boy, was standing just a few feet away. He looked as tall and gangly as ever while his forked tongue stuck out and licked a cherry lollipop he held in his clawed hand. A remnant of being bored flashed in his bright green eyes before a look of intrigue at the mare’s plight befell him, which had obviously prompted him to ask if she needed assistance.

The mare offered a nervous smile as she returned her gaze to the still-gaping hole in her sign as a small piece of wood still hanging broke off and fell to the ground. She wanted to be stubborn and decline the teenaged dragon’s offer, but she had to admit that a little bit of help would be much appreciated.

“Umm...yes, I could use some.”

Sucking the lollipop into his mouth, he looked up at the damage for himself. For a few brief moments, he sat there looking it over before, finally, he pulled out his sucker with an audible “pop” and remarked to the mare lying in wait of his response.

“Gimme a sec. I’ll be right back.”

Without a moment to lose, Spike dashed over to a nearby store with an air of determination about him. Carrot Top merely stood, looking over with a blank stare on her face as she waited, just like he said. A slight cough, which she covered with her hoof, escaped her lips before she finally saw the young dragon return, all the while carrying a load of small wooden planks and some tools.

It looked like too much to carry on his own, as she couldn’t see his face past the amount he held in his arms. As he walked by her and placed everything down, she could even see him holding a paintbrush with his tail. Quickly, and without another word, he climbed up the side of her stand and crawled onto the top of her sign, carrying a few planks and nails on his back with a hammer between his teeth.

The sight of him climbing all over her stand immediately frightened the mare. “What about his weight? Is the stand going to fall apart under him!?” she panicked. Watching him work, however, she discovered that he must have been pretty light for his size. She had no idea how his weight would compare to an average stallion, but she was sure if a stallion was as flexible as him and could reach up there, he would have definitely crushed the stand and all of her hard work with it.

After only a few seconds, the sign had been completely re-boarded and looked practically good as new. Carrot Top couldn’t believe her eyes as she saw that he hadn’t even stopped working just yet. Reaching down with his long and thin tail, he tapped and pried open the few paint cans he had down below, one after the other. Every second that passed was a whole new surprise when it came to this dragon, and the gardener had to admit that she was very impressed with his capability.

Her eyes widened as she was finally able to make out what it was he was painting, however. With a slight nod of a job well done, he hopped off the sign and made sure all the tools he used were in order on the ground nearby. A quick mumble reminded him that he still had the hammer between his mouth, which he promptly removed before asking the mare about his work.

“How’s that look?”

It wasn’t perfect, as there was a little bit of paint around the edges, but he still had majorly surprised her. There, sitting atop her stand was a picture of her very own cutie mark, with a bright yellow sun behind it, shining beautifully and attracting even her own eyes. It was absolutely perfect, and even showed a lot of personality for the operator of said stand.

Carrot Top’s smile seemed to widen to twice the size she thought possible, and with a very ecstatic nod, she happily answered the dragon.

“It looks amazing! Thank you so much, Spike!”

The teenage dragon smiled back at her, watching her emerald green eyes shimmer in the sunlight as she took in his handiwork. Then, she suddenly lunged at him and wrapped her hooves around his chest, pulling him into a hug and practically crushing him against her. She was incredibly thankful for his timely and almost professional work, and may have lost herself in the moment.

Spike had honestly never gotten to know the mare known as Carrot Top outside of her occupation as a gardener. At this very moment, however, he felt the soft mane caress his belly and lightly tickle his chin. Outside of Twilight and her friends, he hadn’t exactly hugged many ponies, and he hadn’t hugged any especially recently, either. He didn’t know whether or not to hug her back, and her strong hooves from years of gardening had strengthened her grip to the point of potentially crushing his lungs.

In an instant, however, she realized how hard she was holding the poor dragon and released him with a nervous laugh.

“Oh! I’m sorry, it’s just...thanks.”

She decided she wanted to spare herself the embarrassment by this point, but Spike laughed it off as no big deal, thankfully allowing her to mentally sigh. She couldn’t live with herself if she scared off the only one to help her out so quickly and with such skill. The purple and green dragon leaned over to heft the big supplies back into his arms and remark back to the mare as he started on his way.

“No problem. If you ever need anything at all, I’ll be around!”

Carrot Top considered his offer and nodded, even though she knew he probably couldn’t see it, before gesturing a wave back at him. Taking her place back at the stand, she noticed the small crowd of ponies around her stand, clamoring for her carrots as if they were the most enticing vegetable of all at the market. In no small part to the new and improved sign that Spike had made, she had gotten a lot more customers that day. Probably more than she had ever had before.

The orange-maned pony rolled over on the couch again, this time letting her head rest on the soft pillow next to her. She couldn’t help but recall that hug she gave him, but not just because it was embarrassing for her. The way he felt against her face was...really soft for a dragon. His hairless chest and impressive figure had given her something to think about, even if she hadn’t considered him even remotely attractive before.

She remembered that he began to stop by more often after that first real encounter. At first, it was fairly innocent. He’d pick up a few carrots for Twilight as well as other vegetables from the market, but he’d linger and make conversation with her about pretty much anything. He was an inquisitive dragon, and she hadn’t really foreseen that when she had first gotten to know him.

Soon after, he found himself having a day off and had essentially nothing productive to do. Carrot Top herself absolutely hated that feeling. When he stopped by and awkwardly asked if she needed any help conducting her business, as he worded it, she giggled and accepted happily. The mare didn’t know that it was the start of something entirely new, and still chose to see it as two good friends simply spending more time together.

On the first day, things were relatively tame, with only a few words spoken all day as the mare focused on selling and Spike assisted by gathering groups of carrots and supplying them to the customers. She had to admit, he was a lot better at that than she was, what with his dexterous claws. On the days after, however, she had started to notice his wandering eyes.

When they were simply looking around and making idle conversation, she would occasionally catch his eyes roaming along her body. Down her neck and and along her back; his gaze was kind of intrusive, if more curious than she had assumed. Even if she did catch him looking, however, he had always looked away when she turned to face him. Sometimes, she even caught the dragon with a blush on his cheeks, something she thought he couldn’t even do. There was still a lot she didn’t know about dragons, but this one in particular had surprised her on numerous occasions by now.

Carrot Top had never really stopped to consider the very possible conclusion she had come to as she took the time to analyze his behavior. Was he...interested in her? She couldn’t find any real reason for it, and there was plenty of evidence to prove that this concept was silly to the gardener. Even if he did have eyes for another pony, it would probably be Rarity. Twilight had told her that he had quite a crush on her a while ago.

Not only that, but Carrot Top was certainly not a fashionista, nor did she consider herself particularly attractive. She was plain, and the only care she put into her appearance were her occasional trips to the spa on weekends, where she merely had her mane and coat cleaned from all the dirt she got covered in after the previous harvesting day. How could Spike see something that she herself didn’t see?

At that thought, she moved the pillow over her head and squished it against her mane, sighing lightly as she realized just how little self-confidence she had. “I’m a full-grown mare for crying out loud and the only thing I can take pride in are my crops!” she groaned to herself. She had to to do something about this, and soon if she wanted to clear her mental sky of this dark cloud hanging over her.

What could she do? She couldn’t just talk to her friends about it, they’d just reassure her that she was beautiful and probably tell her to find a nice stallion (however hard that might be for some). Heck, if she told Lyra and Bon Bon, they might get it in their heads that she had been living alone because she hadn’t found a marefriend, which was the absolute furthest from the truth.

No, she needed action on her part, and she quickly threw the pillow off her head and onto the ground beside her. Launching herself from the couch, she galloped up the stairs, having had an idea that just might help her solve two problems at once. When she reached her bedroom, her eyes darted over to her closet and she dashed over to open it and reveal the few pieces of clothing she had for Ponyville’s many celebrations and even her familiar nightgown that she often enjoyed wearing on particularly cold nights.

There was one particular outfit on the far right side of her closet that she had always kept in mind for a special occasion. Her attention was immediately drawn to it, with its multiple leggings, frills, and even hairpins that she never saw fit to wear before. A smile crossed her face as she reached for it and thought to herself “Maybe I can get his attention with this.”

A gleam in her eyes reflected the color of the dress before she laid it across her bed and her face quickly turned to a frown. This was always the hardest part for earth ponies who wanted to look nice. She had to put on this outfit all by herself with her own hooves.

It was going to be a early morning tomorrow.