"Good lordy, mah back!" Applejack half groaned, half screamed as she attempted to work herself out from the comfort of her bed that early morning. Stubborn and defiant eternally, she made a last struggle to get herself out of her room only to tumble and roll, landing hard on her aching spine with a yelp as it hit the hardwood floor.
 
"Jackie! Ya'll right in there?" The orange mare's older brother uncharacteristically shouted and without waiting for an answer, busted her door to splinters with his massive, crimson frame. He ignored all protests and began to look his beloved sibling over until she finally bucked him in the face, yelping again as her back protested.
 
With a shaking, visibly pained effort as muscles refused to relax or contract, the organ mare stood up and weakly stared down Big Macintosh. "Consarnit, Mac! Ah'm fine!" She insisted, her face red from strain and shame. "What if Ah had been changin'? Puttin' on unmentionables?"
 
Her answer was a dead(pan) silence and a stare that said it all.
 
"Righ', fair enough, but Ah told'ja Ah'm fine!"
 
"Fine ponies don' have trouble gettin' up."
 
"Fine ponies mind their own darn- Ack! Make it stop!" The pain was determined to humiliate Applejack by making her plead such things while actually crying, her strength sapped and she fell back to the floor, just in time for a fearful Applebloom and Granny Smith to appear in the remains of the door frame, and then, lights out.
 
A week later and the apple farmer found herself as incapacitated as the day before, and the day before that, and the day before that, just as Redheart yesterday had predicted. Her breakfast was set on her nightstand, already cold and her vented frustrations having chased off her own sister and several friends, though not enough to keep most of them from leaving 'get well' cards.
 
She felt trapped in a nightmare, trapped in her own body which she had cared for faithfully all these years and now it had chosen to break down on her. According to the nurse, Applejack was in need of some expensive physical therapy and possible surgery her family couldn't afford, but she also knew she would just be a burden to her own family (despite Granny Smith's assurances), laying here, possibly for days, weeks, months, years, all the while her back still ached, it still refused to work.
 
The prospect was making her eyes misty with tears. She was honestly wondering if some force in the universe was punishing her for some unknown transgression, but her conscious mind pushed that aside. Ponies made their own choices, their own decisions, and their own fates. No matter how much she wanted to blame someone else, she was the one who overtaxed herself and now she would endure this pain for her actions.
 
Her wallowing was disrupted when a small knock sounded from behind her broken door, which fell on the floor with a thud revealing a familiar, purple, baby dragon, with a large bag at his side.
 
"Oops. Sorry." Spike apologized.
 
"'s alrigh', come on it, Ah ain' much fun to hang 'round with." The mare brooded while Spike pushed the door back up and into place.
 
"Actually, I'm here about that." The baby dragon was quick to assure. "Twilight's got some business in Canterlot for the next month, so I figured I'd lend a claw around the Apple farm."
 
For all the calm and genuine desire to help in his tone, a shiver went down the mare's back that had nothing to do with her injury. "Look, Spike, Ah appreciate it, but Mac an' Applebloom 'ave got things handled 'round-" another chill went back when she felt something cold, and slimey pour over her back and when she looked at where Spike had been, he was gone. Instead she could feel him on her bed, pouring that strangely euphoric but spicy substance on her back.
 
"They might have the farm handled, but how about your treatment?" She could hear the smile in his voice and a flicker of light and shadows on the wall hinted at Spike breathing his fires onto his claws before pressing them into her aching muscles.
 
"Besides, you seemed to really like my back rubs last time, and Zecora made this special medicine she says should help."
 
His words were lost on the pony, but her reaction was instant, nearly decades worth of tension was being poked, prodded, stroked, rubbed, and eased from heat, a powerful paralytic being worked into her flesh, and Spike's ever dexterous claws, finding and treating knots no pony hoof could hope to reach.
 
"Jeez, you really needed this, Applejack, it feels like your whole back's made from rocks or something."
 
Applejack's response was a blissful gibberish.
 
Some hours, the rest of the Apple family had gathered around Spike as he read off a list given to him by Twilight and Zecora while they marveled at the results of just one session of his work on their kin.
 
Applejack was sleeping well for the first time in days, her food had been eaten so voraciously she left bitemarks on the plate, and most importantly, she was smiling again.
 
"let's see, incenses, medicinal teas, ointments, keeps her from working, try to limit her moving around too much, and... what else?" The dragon recapped while looking over the list. "Huh, guess that's everything. Mind if I come back tomorrow morning?"
 
Granny Smith quickly pulled the dragon closer with a scheming smile. "Well, now, it's a long walk back to the Library, so... Why don't you just stay the night? Big Mac, Applebloom, prepare a room! Uh, how old are you, Spike, dear?"
 
"Well, I guess I could stay, but don't ask about my age again, okay? That's just a headache to work out."
 
"Old enough fer me. Ya know, Applejack's unmarried and I think a bit of dragon in the apple family blood could do won-"
 
The older mare was cut by Big Macintosh to the rescue. "Granny, why don't YOU prepare 'is room?"
 
After a brief staring match the green coated matron walked off with a huff, leaving an exasperated stallion and a slightly nervous dragon.
 
"Sorry 'bout that."
 
"Uh, it's fine."
 
"She's been so worried 'bout seein' us properly wed, she once tried to arrange a marriage for Applebloom."
 
"To who?"
 
The red stallion grinned. "Ya know Diamond Tiara?"
 
The dragon's jaw dropped and he nearly fell over laughing on the stairs. "You're kidding, right? Granny Smith knows she's a girl too, right?"
 
Big Macintosh shook his head. "Ah told 'er an' she jus' said 'yes, an'?'"
 
The two had another good laugh and finally took a seat in the living room where Macintosh grew serious. "Spike. Ah can' even begin ta thank you fer what ya'll 'ave done fer my sister jus' today alone."
 
"Really, I didn't do anything. Twilight and Zecora did all the research and made all the stuff-"
 
"But they ain' here, are they?' Macintosh just smiled and stood up. "Spike, even once yer done here, Ah want'cha to know you'll always be welcomed in this home."
 
"Thanks, Mac. You know, I don't hang out with a lot of other guys, maybe we could grab a few sodas sometimes, hang out in an ally and shoot to the breeze sometime?"
 
"Eeyup."
 
"Mmhm. Anyway though, thanks for letting me crash here, I'm kind of worn out from dragging all the medicines and helping Twilight pack earlier."
 
"Git some rest, boy, you've earned it."
 
Meanwhile, in her smokey, warm, bedroom, Applejack found herself rolling against her bed in bliss, remembering the touch of those warm hands in her dreams, and a deeper part of her eagerly awaiting tomorrow.
 
Applejack's dream of warm hands, oil rubs, and meticulous attention being lavished on her continued well past her awakening. Peeking her eyes open, she realized Spike had already begun his next treatment, and she was already feeling beyond simply good.
 
"Well, morning there, sleepyhead." Spike teased and blew a bit more fire to heat up his hands again, leaving his 'patient' feeling sheepish.
 
"Sorry 'bout not wakin' up, there, whot with you doin' all this fer mE!" Her voice unexpectedly cracked a high note when Spike found a particularly tense point where the muscles anchored to the bones and began to work it back and forward to restart blood circulation.
 
"Hey, it's fine, it means you slept well." Spike then paused and leaned over to meet the cowpony's gaze. "Uh, you did sleep well, right?"
 
"Like a foal in her momma's tummy. Ah don' think Ah ever slept that well."
 
Smiling, Spike resumed his work with a smile, singing a familiar work tune Applejack heard her father sing (Big Mac too when he was much younger). Before she knew it, she was singing along with Spike, her voice strange and uneven as the dragon kept discovering all the aches the blonde had wrought on herself, or simply lightly and rapidly tapping her back until they both broke down laughing.
 
"You know, Applejack, unnecessary high notes aside, you have a really pretty voice."
 
For the briefest of moments, Applejack's heart stopped, and once it started up again, she was confused on where the heck that had come from.
 
"Alright, massage is done, let's get you washed up."
 
Now she was beet red, partially at the suggestion of a boy helping her bathe, partly because someone thought she needed help bathing, and partly because she honestly had not bathed in more than a week now, and the pain of her new current condition left her feverish and sweating regularly, and then there was all the stuff Spike had been rubbing her down in.
 
When she saw Spike break out a rag and a metal pot full of steaming water, her blood ran cold watching him wring out the cloth and by the time her mind was able to give her body commands again, her only recourse was a sharp kick her immediately regretted. Spike was sent flying across the room, his butt getting caught within the boiling pot of water and finally crashing into the wall.
 
"Oh, mah gosh! Spike! Ah'm sorry there partner! Ah didn' mean nothin'! Please tell me yer okay!" She pleaded and hopped out of bed, only to curse herself as the relaxants hadn't worn off just then and she was forced to crawl over to the dragon, who, to her relief, reminded her that dragons were tougher than any ponies.
 
"Want me to get Applebloom in to do this?" He asked with a sheepish look as though he was the one who did something wrong besides offend her enormous pride streak.
 
"Ah don' need anyone's help cleanin' mahself up." The orange mare realized how unconvincing her argument must have sounded when, in her current state she barely could muster the strength the crawl.
 
"Applejack, I've only been treating you for two days, even with Zecora and Twilight's stuff, twice daily massages, we're still looking at maybe six months before you'll be able to be back at work. And even then I'm still going to have to be massaging you twice a day."
 
Applejack was conflicted, on one hand, twice daily back rubs? It was enough to make her consider breaking her own legs to get a hoof massage. But being out of work for six months, she was certain she would go stir crazy well before the the pleasure had fully dulled into the background.
 
"Ain' there any way to make this go faster?"
 
"Not without doing something highly illegal, all of this stuff is just barely this side of over-the-counter as treatments go. I could talk to Twilight about paying for more professional treatment-"
 
The mare shook her head and relented. "Ah don' do handouts, Spike. Ah am not a charity."
 
"Ah kin do this..." Applejack set her hooves down. "Mahself!" And with a herculean effort, she stood up and promptly went splat, back onto the floor.
 
Several seconds passed in silence before the older apple sister relented. "Jus'... Jus' git Applebloom, please. Ah don' wanna be seen like this."
 
Dutifully, Spike retrieved the younger sister who went about giving Applejack (to the orange mare's horror and the yellow filly's enthusiasm.) a sponge bath.
 
A humiliating forty five minutes later, Granny Smith and Big Macintosh came to check in on the most prolific member of their family.
 
"How're ya holdin' up, dearie?" Granny smith cooed while setting down some lunch on the bed stand.
 
"Embarrassed enough Ah wanna die... An' Ah'm supposed ta live like this fer six months at least? Applebloom jus' had ta gimme a sponge bath, an' she put a Cutie Mark Crusader 'seal o' approval' on me! What're ya'll gonna do 'bout tha farm while Ah'm lazin' 'round in mah bed?! It's only been a week o' this an' Ah already can' take anymore!" She replied in her legendary bluntness before she grabbed the lunch meal and took a few bites before all but inhaling the delicious food.
 
Applebloom just glowered and spat the sponge into the pot. "Well next time, maybe Spike can wash ya if ya don' like tha CMC work authentication mark!" And stormed out in a huff.
 
"Ah know it's a mighty big adjustment fer all of us, but Spike's volunteered to help us best 'e can. With house work, with Applebloom's homework-"
 
"Wait, back that up, Big Mac!" The mare blanched with her grandmother and stared in shock. "Did you let Spike clean tha house?"
 
The red stallion nodded a bit perplexed. "He even made ya tha lunch you were jus' eatin'."
 
Granny Smith and Applejack just went deathly still as they waited for the mare to keel over, but after several tense seconds, all that was left was Applejack's stomach begging for more and the aftertaste of her family's favorite fruit.
 
"It's... good." The orange mare confessed with some astonishment and a lot of it reflecting on Granny Smith who looked ready to have a heart attack.
 
"Am Ah missin' somethin'?" Macintosh asked with some trepidation and wondering if this was one of those things he didn't want to know the answer to.
 
The two mares proceeded to tell him the tale of what happened the last time Spike had made himself a servant to the Apples, the whole story juxtaposing harshly in the stallion's mind.
 
"Didn' you once bring back some cookies that boy made an' they tasted jus' fine?"
 
"Yeeeaaah, can we please not talk about that?" Spike's voice startled everyone in the room with his sudden appearance, complete with frilly pink apron and mop and bucket. "I was just having one of those days. Speaking of which, I cleaned up the kitchen and living room, but I need to head back to the library to pick up some things if I'm gonna be staying here while Twilight's gone."
 
The stallion of the household just gave an affirmative nod while Granny Smith and Applejack recovered from a fit of embarrassment over talking so negatively behind the dragon's back. Not that it stopped Granny Smith from rushing down stairs as fast as she could and pray her precious home had not been reduced to a warzone.
 
She was pleasantly surprised to say the least.
 
Walking back up into her granddaughter's room, the matriarch said in a dead serious tone: "Applejack, either you 'r Applebloom better marry that dragon-"
 
"Granny! First off 'e's a baby dragon! Secondly, 'e's mah friend's brother-son, thing. It'd be like forcin' Mac to go out wit' Fluttershy!"
 
The aforementioned stallion spaced out with post traumatic stress disorder flashbacks of Granny Smith's attempts to get him to date Fluttershy, or any other mare unrelated to him. And a few that were.
 
"Lastly, 'e's already in love wit' another mare!"
 
"'nother mare', huh?" The elderly mare echoed in a machinating tone, rubbing a wrinkled hoof along her chin.
 
"Granny Smith, cut that schemin' out! It ain' gonna be like the movies where Rarity turns out ta be evil 'r nothin'! She's a good pony, she owns that fancy boutique, she's stylish, she got magic, she's pretty, she's feminine..." As Applejack's list continued, she felt increasingly depressed and spied her reflection in the mirror. Sponge bath or no, she was an utter wreck, and she honestly doubted she looked better normally either.
 
The eldest Apple moved up next to her granddaughter, a reassuring foreleg around Applejack's shoulders. "What does that prissy 'lil hussy got that you ain' got double?"
 
Big Macintosh, his brotherly instincts stepping into comfort his sister then added. "She ain' got a thing, on tha brightness o' yer smile."
 
Applejack just snorted and disgruntled, turned over to face away from them. "How 'bout a sense o' marehood?"
 
"Overrated by a mile."
 
"Overbarin'."
 
"Overblown."
 
"If that boy only knew tha you that we know."
 
Applejack shook her head and turned back to her family. "Ah appreciate ya'll tryin' ta reassure me, but puttin' down onna mah own friends to try ta convince me ta steal 'nother friend's attention ain' tha way to go about it. Nor 'r spontaneous musical numbers." Sighing, the orange mare just looked forlorn at her reflection in the mirror. "It ain' 'bout any o' that... Ah jus' wish... Others would see there's more ta me than jus' this, but it's hard when Ah sit down an' think 'bout it an' realize there really ain'. Ah'm nakeder than most ponies 'cause Ah don' put up pretenses, Ah can' stand tha idea of tryin' to be anythin' Ah'm not! An' to see everyone pass me over, to see everyone act like Ah'm jus' part o' tha background 'cause Ah don' lie 'bout mahself. It makes a girl feel like no one can love ya fer who ya are. Ah jus'..." She had said too much. "Consarnit... Could Ah jus' git some alone time?"
 
"Applejack-"
 
"Please!" She looked at her brother and grandmother, both looking shocked and slightly hurt. "Ah'm sorry, please, Ah jus' need some alone time."
 
Reluctantly, they respected her wishes and shut the door behind them.
 
This was why she didn't like to think, when Applejack thought too hard, this was where her mind led to: an existential crisis that felt inevitable when one tried to avoid over-complicating life with political games, popularity contests, or a care about looks or style.
 
Was Discord right and maybe ponies just preferred lies to the truth?
 
But all she really wanted was for someone to love her for who she was. Someone to look at her like Spike looked at Rarity.
 
With a shaking hoof she reached for a brush near her bed, staring in the distant mirror she tried to tame her wild mane, but she was weak, tired, and utterly depressed. The slightest tangle overpowered her normally strong hooves, and frustration sent the brush clattering against the wall and too the floor.
 
She fell into a fitful sleep and had a dream both wonderful and painful all at once:
 
She, a pony of grace, a mare of style, a paragon of beauty ran a business of her own. Weaving, sewing, and crafting gorgeous clothing for ponies across Equestria, and at her hooves, her beck and call, a familiar dragon who looked at her and only her with absolute adoration in his eyes.
 
When Applejack woke up, she knew she needed to get out of the house and do something, anything to occupy her mind before her thoughts grew any more desperate and dark.
 
Applejack spent the next few hours trying to scheme a way out of her predicament, unfortunately, she realized that, short of painkillers which would be powerful enough to put her to sleep, she saw no way to convince everyone she wasn't in pain. Despite this attempt at squaring the circle, it at least kept her mind occupied from thinking about how badly she wished to be acknowledged as pretty or even just 'good looking'. But as she thought these thoughts, with her windows curtained, her door shut, and her room kept dark, her sense of time had escaped her and her brooding distracted her too well until she noticed a purple, clawed, hand waving in her face.
 
"-APPLEJACK!" The hatchling shouted and elicited a startled yelp from the mare, which in turn startled the dragon into falling off the bed and onto the floor. "Whoa, and I thought Twilight could get lost in her head."
 
"Sorry 'bout that, just been havin' a lot on mah mind." She confessed and prepared her body for another massage, even trembling in anticipation. (Only two sessions and she was already addicted.) Instead, she noticed Spike opening a new bag and glancing through the pages of anatomical academia.
 
"I know you're really worried about Sweet Apple Acres," His incorrect assumption was both relieving and a bit frustrating. "But it's in good hands- Well, hooves. So just try to relax."
 
She chuckled softly, ignoring the 'inner Applejack' cursing him out for not laying heated hands on her backside. "Well, loverboy, Ah never was tha sort ta relax this way. See Ah'm tha sorta girl whose reward is an honest day's work, not just workin' until Ah kin get a day at tha beach."
 
"I can sort of get that, but then you don't have to organize your entire orchard- oh, wait, crop rotation."
 
"We don' do crop rotation in orchards, Spike."
 
"Huh, ya learn something never everyday."
 
This was when Applejack noticed Spike had gotten almost uncomfortable close.
 
Suddenly, Spike's claws were gently raking through Applejack's golden mane, his fingers becoming natural comb teeth. "Yeesh, I should have just given you the bath myself, Applebloom did nothing with your mane." He paused and peered over. "And did put a Cutie Mark Crusader official sticker on your butt?"
 
The mare suddenly felt very self conscious of herself but laughed anyway. "Yep, she wants tha CMC ta start gettin' their names out an' so they're puttin' 'stickers o' authenticity' on their handy work."
 
"Well that'll make things easier for the cops to track them."
 
Applejack couldn't stop herself from laughing hard.
 
"Sure that migh' not just become their callin' card like onna them fancy cat burglers?"
 
"Nah, then they'd need a specific theme for their crimes. Next thing we know we'd have Cutie Mark Crusader Super Villains, questing for their cutie mark, and their super villainous gimmick."
 
She beat a free forehoof on the bed. "Stahp! Ah can'- Can' breath!"
 
"Well you want really funny? Try to imagine if they went with an 'evil clown' gimmick. I hear they've already raided the Mayor's house."
 
Applejack rolled onto her back, inducing the pain of her aching muscles was all she could do to be able to regain her breath. Once she calmed down, she saw the little purple dragon smiling over her. "Feel better?"
 
"Sorta." The farmer winced a bit. "But Ah can at least breath again."
 
"Thanks, I'm here till next month."
 
Applejack's expression faltered. "An' then what?"
 
"I guess I'd go back to the library and just visit daily like normal. Well, it might be a bit more than daily, still gotta make sure you're okay."
 
After a long pause, Applejack took a gamble. "Spike, would you stay until Ah'm well enough to work again?" She had no idea what possessed her, or why the idea of not having Spike at her beck and call all the time bothered her now, but part of her was becoming scared. Scared of her addiction to this attention. Scared of her addiction not being fed.
 
Spike was dead silent for several seconds, each passing moment Applejack's anxiety multiplied, the sensation of fluttering butterflies in her stomach becoming unbearable till the swarm felt like it was eating her from the inside and out. Her mind then took over and imagined the dragon leaving her then and there without another word, and in the months to follow, Twilight and Rarity disgusted of Applejack's selfishness.
 
"Okay."
 
She could even hear Rarity accuse her of trying to steal her love- Wait.
 
"What did ya'll say?"
 
Spike's hands were gently stroking through her mane, and his lips curled into a smile that quelled the her fears.
 
"I said 'okay'. I mean you've got a long road to recovery, Applejack and will need as much help as you can get." he said in a 'matter-of-fact' tone she was used to hearing from a purple princess.
 
"An' you don' mind, hangin' out with ugly ol' me instead o' Rares 'r Twi?" The farmer winced internally, she hadn't meant to reveal that much but the answer she got made her slip-up worth it.
 
He just gave her a look that asked 'are you crazy?' before running those wonderful little claws through her mane a bit more. "I don't mind at all, Applejack, and you're not ugly. You're one of the most beautiful ponies I've ever known."
 
Wrapping her forelegs around the the assistant in a hug, she couldn't keep herself from nuzzling him.
 
"H-Hey! C'mon, Applejack, can't be a big revelation that you're pretty. C'mon, lemme go, I gotta start your massage."
 
She immediately let go, her body once more bracing for the pleasure of his claws digging into her muscles and something new that made Applejack draw her tail in tighter. She was starting to get aroused.
 
"Oh, heaven's help me..." She thought to herself as that feeling, along with one even more terrifying was being nurtured by the dragon's touch.
 
In a desperate attempt to keep her mind from going into full heat fantasies, the crippled farmer did her best to strike up conversation with her amatuer therapist. "S-So... Ya really think Ah'm beautiful?"
 
Needless to say, she hated how her brain was conspiring against her all the time.
 
"Well, duh. I mean you're not Rarity." That stung. "But no one is. You're Applejack and you're beautiful because you're not. You're pretty in your own way." Okay, the kid is an evil smooth talker determined to get Applejack's heart to flutter around him and it was working.
 
"First off, I think your eyes are gorgeous, they remind me of emeralds." The dragon just continued to list off. "I really like that you're honest, hard working, diligent. You actually inspired me to be a better assistant for Twilight."
 
She was dreaming, she had to be. Was he actually going to compliment her hideous, hulking, muscle wall of a body?
 
"And I really admire how strong and tough you are, not just at heart but physically too. I wish I had muscles have as tough as these." He emphasized by rubbing into those stubbornly locked up sinew masses joining her powerful hindquarters to her back.
 
The mare tried to fire back a and hope to distract Spike while he worked that far back. "You'll get- You're plenty strong yerself, sugarcube, an' you'll only get stronger, Ah mean yer a dragon, afterall."
 
"Thanks, AJ."
 
"You sure Twi an' Rares ain' gonna mind you helpin' like this?"
 
"It'll be fine, Twilight told me to do everything I can to help you and I know Rarity would understand."
 
But as he said this, in the town which the farm created, in a little boutique a frustrated fashionista found herself missing a set of little hands which once aided her or a small voice who used to keep her company. "Just where in the lands of Equestria can Spikey Wikey be?" The white unicorn huffed, and pulling a cloak over her shoulders, she intended to find out.
 
The massage finally over, her belly full from a delicious dinner, and a meeting with her family, Applejack was settling herself into her bed. But despite having laid in it for days now, it felt woefully empty, cold, and uncomfortable.
 
"Hey, Applejack?" A familiar voice broke her from her thoughts. Standing in the doorway was her little helper, healer, savior. "I'm heading to bed, but if there's anything you need during the night, don't be afraid to shout, okay?"
 
Everything seemed to slow down to a crawl, Applejack spent what felt like an eternity battling her growing selfishness.
 
"Well, it'd be a bit hard fer me to holler knowin' Ah woke everyone up." Her selfishness was winning.
 
"So... mind stayin' with me tonight? If ya'll don' mind?" It won.
 
Despite the flimsy excuse, Spike saw her point and crawled into the bed with the orange mare, and any internal conflict vanished in a whiff of happiness.
 
"Spike?"
 
"Yeah, Applejack?"
 
"Ah ain' ever said this to ya in all tha ime ya've done stuff for me, or any o' us. But thank you." She whispered, leaning in and giving Spike a kiss on the head.
 
He just smiled, blushed, and replied "Aw, it's nothing, it's just what I do, I'm the number one assistant, remember?"
 
His mare companion shook her head "That don' make it anymore right. Spike, you done more fer us than we'll ever know, an' what'cha been doin' fer me? Ah don' think if Ah pledged twenty lifetimes o' service would fill tha 'dragon code' honor thing."
 
The baby dragon's soft laughter filled the room as her hugged her, one of many things she was developing an addiction towards. "The Dragon Code's for dragons, Applejack, I don't hold ponies to it. Heck, I don't expect other dragons to hold to it."
 
"Must be somethin' Ah kin do to repay all this."
 
Spike devilishly grinned. "You could bare my children. I'm kidding! I'm kidding! It was a joke. Man, the look on your face!"
 
What the dragon assistant missed in AJ's expression was how ready she was to do just that if it meant letting Spike know how much she appreciated what he's done for her. Instead of revealing that, she put on a grin and teased right back.
 
"Well if it'll git Granny Smith off mah back 'bout havin' foals. Jus' don' mind if Ah keep a few of 'em, how many would ya want from me anyway?"
 
It was Spike's turn to be shocked but he recovered faster. "I dunno... Think you could give me about ten or twelve?"
 
"Sugarcube, 'ave you seen how wide mah hips are? A dozen ain' nothin', let's make it a nice, full twenty."
 
"Whoa! I'm not ready to pay THAT much in child support."
 
"Ya wouldn' hafta if maybe ya didn' go off... If maybe ya'll... Stayed with me?"
 
Another look of shock on wrote itself on the dragon's face, Applejack was quick to reassure him.
 
"Oh, man, you outta seen tha look on yer face, loverboy! C'mon, let's get some shut eye." She kissed him on the head again and they settled under the covers, enjoying their mutual warmth, the younger of the two falling fast asleep. But for Applejack, it was a different story.
 
Each time she closed her eyes, she felt a pang of emptiness in her stomach, like a part of her was missing. It was familiar enough that she grumped and dismissed the biological clock ticking inside. But then when she closed her eyes she'd see glimpses, visions of another self.
 
She saw herself in the throes of passion in a dark room, she would see herself staring down at the positive results of the pregnancy test and crying, she would see herself grow heavier and heavier with child each day, and true to her unromantic self, she even saw the shotgun wedding, her belly enormous, her gown beautiful, and just seeing the groom before waking up again.
 
The last dream she had, before the sun rose, was herself in the family room of her own home, curled up and content with a larger Spike, two draconic ponies curled up with them, and a third on the way.
 
"No, wait!" The distraught mare tackled her blue friend to the ground. "You cannot simply abandon me in my quest! What if Spikey's in danger? We're sisters in arms!"
 
Pushing the unicorn off, the pegasus stood up, took a deep breath, and desperately wanted some hot coffee to either drink, splash on the mare, or both. Either way it was too early for this.
 
"First off, Rares, Twilight's gone, meaning Spike's in charge of the whole library, second, he has a life outside of you, no matter how shocking that might sound, third, maybe he's just helping one of the other girls. Have you thought of asking Fluttershy, or Pinkie, or maybe he's helping Applejack, I mean she was pretty badly hurt recently-"
 
"Oh, Dashie, you are an ANGEL!" Rarity interrupted, pulling the pegasus' face uncomfortably close. "I could kiss you!" And she did, much to Dash's discomfort.
 
"Can I go home now?" The weather captain asked a bit nervously as she stared into the mad glint in Rarity's eyes.
 
"You won't have any time! We must prepare to resume our search, but we must do so in the proper attire!"
 
How Dash wished Spike was there right now, if only to beg him to send a letter to the Princesses to call for a rescue.
 
Later that morning, Applejack's mind had taken a harsh detour from her plans to sort out her budding feelings for the young dragon assistant due to a new routine added to Spike's therapy: her legs. Those powerful, strong legs she was so proud of, according to many of the books the dragon had read, were also proving to be a source of misery for the mare.
 
"See the entire body doesn't work as parts, but it all functions as a whole. If one thing's going wrong, chances are there's something else affected, adding to the problem, or is the real cause. Interesting, huh?" the dragon rambled on while Applejack could only reply in blissful gibberish while her hock was getting the tendons warmed up, rubbed down in oils, and kneaded by a single knuckle.
 
By the time she finally came out of it, the massage was done for now (to her sorrow) and she was eagerly awaiting more, but certain words Spike had said as he prepared to work on the farm in her stead snapped her wide awake. "-should be able to walk for a bit each day."
 
"Whoa! back up, sugarcube, what did you jus' say?" She said with such excitement she almost splattered on the floor in her attempt to lean forward. But instead of hardwood, she fell into those scaly, warm hands that now reeked of oils, incenses, and salves that her body was becoming conditioned to relax to the moment she sniffed them.
 
With a bit of effort (she really did hope she heard right, she apparently was putting on too much weight) the dragon pushed her back into her blanket nest. "I said you're recovering a bit faster than expected, if Twilight, Redheart, and Zecora agree with me, then by tomorrow you should be able to start to walk around a little bit each day?"
 
"How much're we talkin'? Two hours? An hour? thirty minutes-"
 
"It's not much, just maybe five minutes every two hours or so, and you'd still need to avoid anything more than just a stead- Agh!" in a burst of strength, Applejack had swooped up the dragon and began kissing him.
 
"Whoa, cowgirl!" Spike playfully chided as his older companion continue to shower him with adoration. "Easy, girl!" Despite his patronizing words, Applejack did let him go while red up to her ears.
 
"Sorry, jus', you don' know what this means to me."
 
"I think you gave me a pretty good idea." Spike grinned and poked Applejack's growing stomach. "So you weren't kidding when you said you'd bare my children."
 
"Spike, if Ah'm up an' about any faster, Ah'll assassinate that Princesses an' instate yer whole family as tha new royal line."
 
"Careful with that offer, Twilight and Celestia have been denying me a pay raise lately. Speaking of which..." Spike scampered off momentarily only to arrive back with a small selection of books. "I figured it must be pretty boring to just sit around here, so I grabbed some books at the library for you to read to pass the time."
 
"Well, Ah ain' much a reader, sugarcube..." She eyed the Daring Do book for a long moment before accepting it. "But, Ah guess Ah would like ta figure out jus' what tha hay was is that Twiligh' an' Rainbow were talkin' 'bout when we met Darin' 'erself."
 
"Whoa! You guys met Daring Do? And those really lame new characters in the latest book weren'... Oh, sorry." Spike trailed off when he realized one of those 'lame new characters' were sitting in front of him.
 
Applejack just took it in stride and nodded with a grin, the moment ended when Big Macintosh called Spike out into the fields.
 
"I'll be back later!" Perhaps he meant nothing by it, but he had left by giving her a quick kiss on the cheek before rushing out.
 
Suddenly, her dreams felt not-so-ridiculous at this rate.
 
Daring Do tumbled to avoid the volley of poisonous arrows, the darts coming in an endless shower of death, just whizzing past her skin. But if she couldn't find a means of getting close to "Applejack", he would be able to break the protective wards over the valley, leaving it vulnerable to the Searing ritual which would scorch the valley with eight hundred years of "Applejack!"
 
The orange mare jumped and winced, the book dropping to the floor and finding herself face to face with Rainbow Dash and Rarity. The former grinning widely and the latter looking a bit a annoyed at being ignored.
 
"It's great, isn't it? Have you gotten to the part where Caballeron attempts to sacrifice the heart of-" The pegasus was cut off by a pair of groans, Rarity for Rainbow's fangirling, Applejack for the book getting spoiled.
 
"Rainbow Dash, now is not the time nor the place." The unicorn turned to meet her injured friend who regained her friendly smile.
 
"Well, spoiled 'r not, Ah'm glad to see you girls, again, sorry 'bout mah sour mood durin' your last visit-"
 
"Yes, yes, yes, that's all water under the bridge now, the bridge has been burned, the water's carved out a canyon, and I'm now charging tourists twenty bits for admission to take photos." Rarity's rambling metaphor earned a bit of a puzzled look from both of her friends. "What I'm here is to find out just where Spikey Wikey's been. I haven't seen him all day, and I do miss him so much."
 
"You mean you miss having an extra set of hands, a chef, a butler, a janitor, a mobile pin cushion-" The fashionista glared to silence the blunt pegasus who just began to whistle innocently.
 
Seeing no further interruption, she flipped her hair a bit and cleared her throat. "As I was saying, I've just been so worried about him. You haven't seen him at all by any chance, have you?"
 
The earth pony couldn't place it, but she felt as though ice water had filled her veins.
 
"Uhhh..." Rainbow Dash began while staring at several of the new additions to Applejack's room, included a bag with a tag reading 'property of Spike the Dragon of Canterlot/Ponyville', she was silenced by her unicorn companion.
 
It was pointless to lie with what the pegasus had seen so why did she say "No. Ah haven' seen Spike at all. Not once. Uh-uh."
 
Before Rainbow Dash could say anything, Rarity gasped. "If he's not with you, not with me, and not with Rainbow... Do you think? Oh no! I must go to Fluttershy and Pinkie's immediately! He might be lost! Or missing!"
 
"Or he could be- whoa!" The blue pegasus was spun in place with the speed wake of the fashionista's departure. Once she regained her senses, she gave Applejack a hard glare. "You lied to her, Applejack! What the hay's up with that? What's gotten into you?"
 
The orange mare just flushed and felt the shame weigh in on her. "Ah know Ah lied, Ah... I jus'- ... Ah dunno why Ah did it..."
 
Rainbow Dash took a seat next to the bed and sighed. "Alright, look, Rarity's really worried. Or something, she woke me up at about four in the morning to try to organize a search, meanwhile, she does have a point I haven't even seen Spike in the library as of late. Come on, we're friends right?" She tried fora genuinely gentle approach, and finally, Applejack relented and told her friend the gist of what had been going on the past three days, by the end, she was giving her friend a knowing smirk.
 
"-An', even after sayin' all this, Ah still don' know why Ah lied."
 
"Oh... But I think I do..." Rainboew Dash smirked.
 
"Whut?"
 
"Applejack loves Spike! Applejack loves Spike!" The speedster childishly tease in sing-song.
 
"What're ya, five years old?! An' Ah ain' in love with Spike, you been talkin' ta Granny Smith too much!"
 
Rainbow Dash fluttered up into the air, making kissy faces and singing "Applejack and Spike, sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-Gah!"
 
Her song was cut short by a sudden case of 'book to head', sending her to the floor, snickering despite her new black eye. "Sorry, it's just pretty funny from my stand point."
 
"An' what stand point is that?"
 
"Being awake since four in the morning, dragged all over Ponyville, missed work (not that I minded too much), and now find out that Spike's becoming quite the fillies' dragon. The first part probably helps a lot." Rainbow Dash then grew uncharacteristically serious when she saw the glare Applejack was giving her. "Sweet Celestia of Equestria, this is serious..."
 
"Whaddya mean?"
 
"You really love him, don't you?" The earth pony responded by throwing another book at her friend, this time she dodged it.
 
"Whoa, calm down. Look, I can see this is important, so I'll keep quiet about this from Rarity, but eventually you need to talk to her and Spike. All it's going to take Rarity to send word to Twilight or Celestia, and then Twilight's gonna blow the little eloping thing you've got going."
 
"It ain' like that at all, dammit, Rainbow, have you been listenin' at all!"
 
"More than you think. But I'd really hate to be wrong here since it means my one of my best friends just lied to another just so she could have her own personal servant." The pegasus said as she headed for the door and paused. "Oh, and I should also note, that 'personal servant' is someone I consider a friend too, Applejack. So try to figure things out and do your usual honesty thing. Even I can see this is a place where lying won't end well for anyone."
 
And then the door shut behind her, leaving Applejack alone to her thoughts, the books suddenly not as captivating as they had been.
 
"By the way, get well soon." The pegasus said suddenly, sticking her head through a crack in the door before withdrawing once again.
 
Tell him, you need to tell him!
Applejack kept telling herself this when Spike came back into her room to eat lunch and stroke her coat.
But does he feel the same?
She asked herself this as Spike's gentle hands cleaned the sweat and debris from her with a sponge and soft brush before changing her sheets for her.
Do I even feel this way, or is it just because Spike fulfills my every whim and fantasy?
She mulled over this during the evening massage.
And if I did love him, and he loved me, is it right? He's a child and I'm an adult now, but thirty years from, now, won't I be old? Won't he still be young?
This thought haunted her through all dinner.
And what about Rarity, she cares enough to look for him, he's always loved her. What right do I have?
This last one pursued her into her dreams.
 
All of them plagued her throughout the morning, leaving her listless and languid, unfocused, and detached from the world. She didn't come back to reality until she felt those warm hands along her back, kneading her free from tension and pain.
 
As the dragon worked out the knots in her neck, the earth pony mare just smiled and sadly asked "Why're you so good to me, Spike?"
 
"Why shouldn't I? I'd do the same for all of my friends." He just smiled and continued to work, not catching the sadness in her eyes.
 
"You would do this for Fluttershy?"
 
"Sure!"
 
"Rainbow Dash?"
 
"Of course."
 
"Pinkie pie?"
 
"Twilight?"
 
"Absolutely."
 
She hesitated on the final one. "Rarity?"
 
He just laughed blithely. "Who wouldn't? I mean, what a mare."
 
After a long pause, Applejack worked up the courage to ask: "But what would ya'll do fer someone you loved, Spike?"
 
Now it was the dragon's turn to stop and think. For him, it was a good question, Twilight once told him that the best lovers were the best of friends, so what would he do for Rarity that he wouldn't do for anyone else.
 
"I don't like taking out the garbage but I've been doing that plenty." He joked and began to work once again.
 
"To be honest, I guess Twilight's right that I don't know a lot about love. But, and if you'll permit me to get philosophical for a moment, I always thought of love as... A commitment of oneself to another. A mutual commitment." Spike proudly finished for his adroit wording.
 
Applejack found herself frowning in contrast. "Seems to me that you been givin' us an awful lot Spike and we don' really give you terribly much."
 
"Hm? Nah, that's just sort of what I do. I mean I'm an assistant, it's my lot in life and it might not seem like a lot but it is."
 
"No, Spike, you got yer own life you gotta live. It ain' been right we been keepin' you tied down like this." She desperately wanted to hug him, but despite her own assertions, should couldn't muster the willpower to break the spell of his magic fingers. That adds "hypocrite" to her list of things she detests about herself.
 
"Miss Applejack, are you trying to incite me into rebellion?" Spike teased and began to reminisce. "I mean, yesterday Big Mac was telling me about how one day the noble proletariat will cast off the shackles imposed upon us by the bourgeois alicorn class."
 
"Dammit! Ah told him ta stop readin' that Marks-ist Manifesto!" Applejack calmed herself and made a mental note to tell Macintosh to stop trying to bring politics into the work fields or home. He had his chance to protest back in college and he chose fratboy life instead. Taking a breath and rubbing the bridge of her nose she decided it was time to get back on track. "No, Spike, what Ah just mean is that, Ah feel like we've all been takin' advantage of ya, askin' a lot fer not a whole lot in return."
 
"Not a whole lot in return? Applejack, my stainglass window in Canterlot is gold plated and I understand that Shining Armor is worried my popularity with the Crystal Ponies makes me a threat to him and Cadence's rule. Least that's the vox populi I hear. And you know I still have that medal from when I helped defend Canterlot."
 
"And being realistic, Applejack, where would I go? I don't fit in with other dragons, I tried that and it failed. I get along better with ponies, I was raised with ponies, and... I really don't want to leave you guys anyway."
 
The dragon's arms slide around Applejack into a hug, but what really surprised the mare was the tears she felt on her back.
 
"Applejack, please, don't make me leave."
 
She just smiled and settled herself back down. "Don' you worry, Spike, Ah was only worried 'bout'cha. You don' have to go anywhere you don' want to. Ever."
 
She could hear Spike sniff and poke Applejack playfully. "What if the princesses order it?"
 
"Then Ah'll jus' grab mah gun an' join Mac in that glorious revolution 'e keeps talkin' 'bout."
 
"You'd take part in a revolution to overthrow the established government for me?"
 
"Shoot, sugarcube, why wouldn' Ah? Ah'd do the same fer all mah friends?"
 
"Wait... Twilight is a princess though."
 
"Well if she needs a revolution ta help 'er, 'guess it'll just be a straight coup then."
 
"Long live, Eternal President Twilight!" Spike cheered, busting up into laughter.
 
"Fer her friendship is eternal an' 'er books wordy!" Applejack joined in, it took several moments for them to settle down again when the dragon slid off from Applejack's back and extended a clawed hand.
 
"So, wanna try to stand up today?"
 
That got the mare's attention. "Seriously? Ah can?!"
 
"Sure, I mean it's only five minutes but- YOU ALSO HAVE TO BE CAREFUL!" The dragon segued to and rushed over to keep Applejack from trying to jump out of bed. "Easy, Applejack, easy girl!"
 
The farmer's response to this patronizing was a sarcastic whinny, but it worked to calm her down, and with deliberate caution, she set all four hooves down, and stood on her own. After more than a week in bed, she was almost crying.
 
"Hey, you're not done yet, let's try to march those dogs before you get all emotional."
 
Too late.
 
It have been about eight days, but it felt like it had been forever. The fresh air in her lungs, the sweet smell of the apple crop tickling her nose , the grass beneath her hooves, the wind in her mane, and the sun on her hide. It was now, really, too late to avoid getting emotional.
 
As she stood back in her native elements, surrounded by family and the friend who seemed to make it all possible for her to stand, even for these precious few moments again, she felt overwhelmed to the point of tears.
 
"Applejack, 're you okay, sis?" The yellow filly asked with genuine worry, her eyes quivering.
 
"Ah'm jus' fine, Applebloom, jus'... So happy." Suddenly, a smiling dragon became a very confused when when he was swept into Applejack's forelegs and showered with more kisses.
 
"H-Hey! That's not even the best part!" The mare blinked when Spike gave a signal to Granny Smith and Big Mac who both pulled back a sheet revealing very comfortable and very movable, small bed.
 
"The whootin' hay is that?"
 
"It's a mobile seat! Ah made it with Spike an' the other crusaders!" Appleboom introduced proudly and showed off how the contraption could be moved around with the simple push of levers.
 
"It's like a wheelchair but good fer yer back! It was mostly Spike's idea but you kin see our Cutie Mark Crusader Authentic Seal o' Quality!"
 
Applejack wasn't listening anymore, instead to the surprise of everyone, herself included, she was thanking her dragon caretaker with a long, wet, sloppy kiss while holding him down to the ground. She only barely heard a familiar pegasus voice shout:
 
"I'm sorry, I tried to stall her as long as I-"
 
A voice interrupted by a very shrill and angry "WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THIS, APPLEJACK!?" belonging to an irate Rarity who came upon the scene.