The Golden Harvest

The bright sun shone its light on the town of Ponyville below, and the many ponies who shared its warmth all blissfully went about their days. It seemed like a quiet day, one to enjoy without much commotion, but would be easy to call attention to if one were so inclined. Life in Ponyville may not have been perfect, but it was peaceful, and a certain dragon had gotten used to that fact long ago.

Spike made his way through the market square as he often did on days like these. Gripped in his clawed hand was a cone topped with strawberry ice cream, which he happily licked. He learned to keep it fairly close to his mouth so he wouldn’t have to extend his tongue too far. Remembering what happened last time, Spike rolled his eyes as he recalled the entire scoop of ice cream being tugged and retracted into his mouth when his long appendage accidentally coiled around the cold ice cream.

While the sight of such a tall dragon had occasionally frightened foals and newcomers to Ponyville, he had seamlessly blended in with the ponies that grew up around him. Twilight made sure he got plenty of exercise and often sent him out on errands as he got older, only further increasing the time he spent outside of the library. Honestly, he couldn’t be happier, seeing as he had his eyes on a certain gardening mare for a good while now.

There was something about Carrot Top that just stuck out like a sore hoof when it came to all the farming ponies in the market square. Maybe it was her golden coat, or her carefully curled mane, or maybe it was her heartwarming smile...he couldn’t know for sure. All the teenage dragon knew was that he saw something in her that made him want to spend more and more time with the gardener. It could’ve been how nice she smelled, too. He hadn’t thought of that before, but that definitely could be a factor.

He waved to the many nearby farming ponies, whom he’d all known by heart at this point. Sure they competed for customers at times, but the market was in no danger of holding any sort of contest over whose food was better or something silly like that. When he finally reached the stand where Carrot Top would normally be found, he discovered that there was nopony watching the stand. Had she set it up and left? Maybe she had to use the little filly’s room or something.

Spike took it upon himself to watch the stand for her, making sure that nopony would steal anything and he could sell in her stead. Watching the ponies as they walked by, he finished his ice cream cone and tossed it in a nearby wastebasket, only barely making it in and silently congratulating himself on the small feat. The relaxed dragon took a moment to breathe and take a look around. He thought it was strange of Carrot Top to leave her stand unattended like this.

Just then, his vision went dark as he felt two hooves cover his eyes from behind. He wasn’t as jumpy as he used to be, but it did cause the spines on his neck and head to stand straight up, somewhat frightened by the sudden loss of sight. All worry vanished from his body as he heard a familiar laugh breeze past his ears.

“Guess who?”

Spike hadn’t pegged Carrot Top as much of a jokester, so the mare’s shift in behavior came as an unexpected surprise to the dragon. Seeing fit to chuckle, he calmed his body and relaxed against what he had hoped was her soft fur behind him. Unfortunately, she wasn’t as close as he thought she was, and he ended up bumping his back against the stand. A slight bruise formed on his back as he jerked forward again and pretended like that didn’t just happen.

“Eheh, hey Carrot Top! Uhh, what’s with the trick all of a sudden?”

His voice showed his curiosity, but the gardener wasn’t intending to lift her hooves off of him just yet. She decided that she had to play it cool if she wanted him to react in the right manner.

She leaned forward toward his ear and whispered seductively.

“You really wanna know, big boy? Why don’t you turn around and see for yourself~”

“Wait. No no, that’s way too strong,” Carrot Top hesitated as her mind replayed the possible outcomes in her head. She tried to think of what to say, but every time she drew a blank. “Oh, I’m blowing it already!” she worried as the embarrassing situation consumed her thoughts. A short pep talk was all she needed, but she couldn’t just leave the poor boy hanging. With no option sounding right to her, she simply leaned in and whispered, her voice showing a bit of weakness.

“It’s, umm...It’s a surprise.”

“Huh? A surprise?”

Spike had gotten to know Carrot Top pretty well over the past few months, and if there’s one thing she hated, it was surprises. Well, mostly bad ones, anyway. However, if she had a surprise in store, there was no way for him to guess what it could be.

Across the square, another mare who could easily be identified by her rose-colored mane and pale coat had just finished setting up her portion of the flower shop and could see Spike with his eyes covered from afar. She noticed a familiar orange mane behind him and waved to the pony as she attempted to greet the pair.

“Hey Carrot Top! What’re you doing with- oh my!”

The florist gasped before holding a hoof to her mouth, trying to contain her surprise at what she had just seen. Carrot Top offered a simple “shush” in response as her tail swished happily. The exclamation of surprise had Carrot Top feeling quite flattered, but she tried not to lose focus so easily.

“Was that Rose?”

“Uhh, no! Just...do me a favor and close your eyes, okay? Don’t look yet.”

“Okay, I guess.”

Carrot Top lifted her hooves from his eyes and quickly snuck a peek over his shoulder to make sure he had his eyes shut. True to his word, they were, and the mare quickly stepped back and adjusted her outfit to make sure she had the right look. “Come on, Carrot. You’ve still got plenty of juice left. You just have to make sure he sees it.”

With a final mane adjustment, she knew that she was as ready as she’ll ever be. After managing a long, deep breath, she muttered.

“Okay, you can look now.”

Spike’s natural curiosity got the better of him as he whirled his head around and his eyes flicked open to find the “surprise” that Carrot Top spoke of. In an instant, his eyes widened as a loud gasp left him.

What a surprise it was.

Standing upright behind the counter a few feet away was none other than the gardening pony Carrot Top, but something was different. Actually, a lot was different. His eyes scanned her from top to bottom, trying to take in the sight of her as she was fully dressed in an outfit that he had never seen her wear before.

The mare wore a tight-fitting emerald dress with lacy frills extending out from the hem every which way. The way it looked on her was simply dazzling, so much so that it almost seemed to beg for attention in a mature, but very sensual manner. It led to pairs of silk leggings strapped to each of her legs, accentuating the softness of her coat as well as briefly drawing focus to the cutie mark on her flank. Spike had to do a double take at this, only now paying so much attention to the luscious rear of hers. Bringing his eyes up to meet hers, he saw the eye shadow and cherry red lipstick she was adorned with only further enhancing her beauty.

He could only gawk, mouth agape, at how amazing she looked at that very moment. This, of course, pleased Carrot Top greatly as she blushed deeply at the sight of his stare. His eyes were all over her, and his rapt attention was starting to make her just the tiniest bit embarrassed as the silence went on.

The truth is that Spike would never truly know how much she went through to doll herself up like this. Hours spent struggling with her hooves’ unreliable grip and pulling over clothes with her teeth, all the while thinking about how so worth it seeing that look on his face would be. Exactly as she predicted, the look on his face appeared starstruck with how impressed he was.

The teenaged dragon took one final look along her outfit before realizing that he was staring quite obscenely. He turned away and stammered as he tried to compliment her as best as he could.

“Y- You look really nice, Carrot Top.”

His own blush as well as the compliment itself made Carrot Top’s face significantly warmer. “Yes! Oh, he’s so cute when he’s embarrassed!” the mare congratulated herself with a smile. As she looked at him, she could already see his body language making it more obvious that he was excited. Spike’s tail stuck straight up and clung tightly to his back, where his spines travelling along his head that normally acted like hair seemed to appeared rigid and perfectly vertical.

Its effect was obvious, and she mused to herself that she “still got it,” before her eyes picked up on something else that should have been noticeable around her. From left to right, her outfit had drawn the eye of many stallions, and there must have been at least 10 of them surrounding her simple stand.

The blush on her face deepened as they drew nearer and into a frenzy as she lowered herself onto all fours to address them.

“Err, welcome! Can I interest you all in some delicious and nutritious carrots today?”

One particularly cocky stallion stepped up to bat, so to speak, and placed a bit onto the counter with his hoof. His smug smile and styled mane told her all that she needed to know, and the way he spoke certainly didn’t impress her like he intended.

“I think I’m lookin’ at something a bit juicier than a carrot, heh.”

Carrot Top simply rolled her eyes at the terrible joke and opened her mouth to say something, only to be interrupted by Spike. The dragon slammed his clawed hand onto the counter next to the stallion, startling him and causing him to withdraw with surprise as the teenaged reptile stood menacingly tall to his right. Staring the stallion down with the slits in his narrowed, green eyes, Spike stood firm and defended the mare.

“Hey, Ponyville’s in no shortage of pickup artists, pal. Here’s your carrot.”

His other hand reached behind the counter and tossed the carrot at the stallion, who couldn’t manage to catch it in time, accidentally hitting him square in the face before dropping to the ground. Knowing she was being guarded and that he’d been effectively deflected from courting the mare, the stallion grumbled as he picked up the carrot in his mouth and walked off, leaving the other potential customers behind.

With a nervous laugh, Carrot Top simply pretended to ignore that occurrence, instead facing the group of stallions now looking awkwardly at the stand, as if unsure of whether or not they could approach.

“Anypony else?”

After a long day of selling carrots and a surprising amount of customers, Carrot Top had sold more in that one day than she had in the entire past week! Packing up with a smile on her face and three bags full of bits collected from both stallions and mares alike, she couldn’t help but think to herself that she should have done this sooner if it meant she could have gotten business like this all the time. Wandering eyes draw customers, after all, but that wasn’t normally how Carrot Top preferred to operate.

The day’s events were decidedly more interesting thanks to the leering Spike at her side. He tried so very hard not to appear as if he was gawking, but she saw him sneak peeks many a time, especially when she turned her back to him to reach into her supply. The teenage dragon was totally enthralled by her appearance, and she giggled to herself as she remembered every instance of his staring, knowing full well that she was the object of his attention.

Once Carrot Top had all that she needed for the moment, she strapped her earnings in two light saddle bags to her sides and smiled happily. A footstep caught her attention, however, and she turned to find Spike smiling back at her, blushing mildly as he spoke.

“Looks like you made a lot today, huh? Guess you don’t need me anymore...”

With a dejected sigh, he seemed to accept that Carrot Top was perfectly capable of running her own business, and got to look as beautiful as ever while she did so. Surprisingly, the mare offered a laugh at his saddened revelation, and he looked up to see her covering her mouth with a hoof as multiple giggles escaped her lips. In order to calm him and dispel his worries, the well-dressed mare quickly replied with the utmost honesty and a caring glance.

“Of course I need you, Spike. With all the extra time you’ve spent helping me run my stand, and even scaring off that total jerk earlier...You’re one of the most helpful assistants I know! And certainly the most handsome.”

“Gosh...”

A single hoof reached up to gently caress the dragon’s face and draw his gaze back into the deep eyes of one of the most gorgeous mares he’d ever seen. For a moment, his heart fluttered as he wondered what it was he was feeling. He had crushes before, when he was young and confused, but now he just seemed to...connect with the pony before him. Spike knew It was more than a friendship if it meant he felt this way.

His heart beating in his chest, he thought to himself just how appetizing those lips of hers looked. If only he had the courage, he could lean in and-...no, he couldn’t make a move on her; not after what she’s had to deal with today. Even if he did decide to confess to her how he felt, he couldn’t up and say it when all she asked of him was a helping hand every once in a while.

“Speaking of which, I kind of need a favor, if it’s not too much trouble.”

Carrot Top removed her hoof from the dragon’s quickly heated face, and snapped him out of his thoughts with a simple admittance of needing a bit more help before he could leave. It had since gotten dark, but that didn’t mean he was tired or anything. Years of living with a night owl like Twilight and staying awake had ended up becoming a bad habit for him, as well. He could certainly help the gardening pony with whatever it was she could possibly need.

“Sure, anything. Name it.”

The mare appeared somewhat nervous as she looked down and nervously dug a hoof into the ground, making small circles in the dirt. She knew what she was trying to say, but trying to form the right words was still fairly difficult for her. Instead, she chose to go with an old standby.

“Well...can you walk me home first? It’s a surprise.”

Spike’s eyes widened at her request. He had walked her home many times before, but the nervous air filled with tension surrounding her request changed everything for him. He nodded his acceptance and simply watched as she started off in the direction of her abode. Her flanks looking equally as luscious as her lips, he found himself staring once more before he quickly hopped into a dash to keep up with her.

Whatever it was, he was more than eager to assist a beautiful mare like her in whatever she might need, and that was exactly what Carrot Top had planned on.