Sorry this took so long. My laptop's hard drive quit on me and I lost everything.

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Spike looked at the pony with an odd expression. He remembered her from somewhere, most likely the last Apple Reunion he had attended. Applejack had introduced so many ponies that day, and with the preparations for the ceremony and the Nightmare Moon incident, most of the names seemed to escape him. It made him feel rather bad. They had all been nice to him every time he'd seen an Apple, and the farming family had some kind of member in nearly every city in Equestria. Given what he now knew, the Apples were a very prominent family, something that their simple demeanors and kind actions seemed at odds with. Granny Smith had been involved with Ponyville's founding as a town, where it had originally just been a small village with farmland and a trading post. Without the Apples, it turned out, there were several cities that wouldn't simply exist, not as they were now. Appleoosa was just the most recent example of the Apple family's hand in shaping Equestria.

It made sense to Spike. While it wasn't as obvious as unicorn magic, or pegasus weather manipulation, earth ponies had the magic to make things grow. Spike had learned a lot about pony magic living with Twilight Sparkle, and if there was one thing he knew, it was that magic didn't always work the way one expected it to. While most people thought that earth ponies only could grow crops, Spike wasn't ready to limit it like that.

Maybe growing magic wasn't just limited to crops. Maybe it grew anything, from smiles and friendships that could withstand any hardship, to business empires and towering cities that changed the courses of history.

Spike broke from his musings. He could think later. This was a party. It had good music, good food, and the Apple Family and his friends. More importantly, it was a chance to relax. He hadn't realized just how tired the last few weeks had made him until his game with Pinkie Pie this morning.

He had literally been able to catch her, and his tired and stiff muscles had protested anytime he tried to increase his speed. Spike had become quite winded from the game of tag while Pinkie Pie seemed to be entirely unfazed. The party pony took pity on the dragon, though, and they relaxed at her home for a little bit while Pinkie got ready for the party. Spike mostly vegetated and read through a cookbook left on Pinkie's kitchen counter. He had never actually read through one before. While his digestive abilities left him an extreme omnivore of sorts, he'd never been too fond of all the vegetables ponies ate. Sweets, however, were amazing to him, and this book was full of them. In fact, Pinkie walked out from her bathroom as soon as his stomach made a loud hungry roar. The party pony had laughed at him and Spike had joined as it had been pretty funny.

Pinkie had offered to cook something for him, but Spike declined the offer. They justified that the Apple family would have enough food at the party to feed an army. As Pinkie Pie was ready for the party, the pair left and began heading to the barn. There had been still another hour or so before the other girls would be done with Applejack's distraction at the spa, so they took their time and helped the Apple family put the finishing touches on the party decorations.

Applejack had been quite surprised to see her entire family and actually very happy. She instantly started going around the crowd made of mostly earth ponies giving out hugs and mingling.

And now Spike was here, talking to a mare whose name he couldn't remember. She had a green mane and a yellow coat and three pie looking things as a cutie mark. Or maybe they were fritters? OH! Apple Fritter! Excitement welled up in the dragon as he remembered the mare. She had been talking about her bakery in Phillydelphia. Spike hadn't been listening very intently, just enough to be able to follow the conversation she was having. The mare seemed to be the type that liked to talk more than to listen, so that was fine. Spike had gotten used to ponies coming up to him to talk. After all, he was a dragon and not a usual sight for most ponies. As the townsfolk had gotten more used to him, the citizens of Ponyville had long since slowed the practice, but the first few months had been very busy, social speaking, for the dragon. Appleoosa had been the same except that the buffalo had been even more interested in him, almost to the point of holding him in reverence. It was weird.

The drake grinned, as a song began to play. It was one of his favorites. Spike enjoyed music. Celestia had always made sure the young dragon had a good appreciation for music, giving him piano lessons and more. Granted, his pianos had to be special made, since he had claws instead of hooves. But given that Celestia was, in fact, a ruler of Equestria, she could afford it. Something else he enjoyed was dancing. Moving to a beat, letting his limbs go freely into different directions… it was a freedom he loved, and given his bipedal nature, he was capable of dancing in ways most ponies could not.

It was awesome.

All his fatigue from the recent weeks slowly faded as his head began to bob to the beat, weight dropping from his shoulders. He almost sighed in relief but was too into the music as he began to dance. He began to spin and jump, bouncing around to the rhythm. He let the music guide him and danced away his cares.

Soon the song ended and he broke from his trance to see the large farming family staring at him. The purple dragon just smiled nervously and shrugged sheepishly. Everypony looked fairly amused, but in a good way. A few of them hollered their approval of his moves, and Spike felt a little more at ease. The stares had made him feel rather hot under his scales. He did his best to fade away from the spotlight into the crowd. Literally. Somepony had actually shined a spotlight on him while he was dancing. While backing up into the large group of ponies, he happened to bumped into a pink mass that was mostly known as Pinkie Pie. She put her left foreleg around Spike's shoulder and grinned as she pulled him close.

"This is a great party, huh?" the mare said happily.

Spike nodded. While he wasn't having the greatest of times, he was still having some fun. Even if he felt awkward about his little dance after the fact, it had been fun and getting to see some of his favorite non-Ponyville resident Apples was nice. The food was nothing short of amazing (as it was Apple family down home-cookin', and naturally delicious) and the party was above all enjoyable, it just felt lacking in something.

"It's pretty nice. You did a great job Pinkie!" the dragon said. It was a good party, as per Pinkie's usual work quality. The pink pony beamed and hugged Spike. She got back down on all fours and nudged her head toward the barn door.

"Come on Spike! The girls and I have a surprise for you!"

Spike raised an eyebrow. Now that… that was interesting. A small part of him, a part he knew to be his dragonic instincts rising up in anticipation for what was possibly a gift. He mercilessly squashed it, not wanting to even risk going into another greed-growth. The purple dragon was more than content to grow naturally, or at least he thought his recent growth was natural. He had no idea. Shaking his head, he followed Pinky outside. Waiting for him were his six friends, all smiling at him. On a table sat a cake with various gems decorating it.

Rarity went over to him and gave him a large hug, and his other friends were quick to follow. Spike flushed slightly from the attention and he shyly chuckled.

"Thanks girls, and not that I'm not grateful for the cake or anything, but… what's the occasion? It's not my birthday or something is it?"

Pinkie Pie spoke up.

"Of course not silly, your birthday isn't for another 177 days!" Spike and the mares looked at Pinkie Pie in silence for a moment, then went on like nothing happened. Rarity spoke up next.

"You see, darling, you've been working so hard to help Twilight, Fluttershy and I out the last few weeks and we've been horribly unappreciative of it…"

Fluttershy smiled at the dragon and continued.

"So we decided to do something nice for you."

Twilight's horn glowed with magic as a camera was levitated towards them.

"Since we don't have any pictures of you being more grown up like you are, I figure now's a good time as any to take a picture. So everyone strike a pose!"

The ponies and dragon huddled together for the picture, and Spike felt warm on the inside. His smile was small, but the look in his eyes would speak volumes of his feelings. His dragonic instincts wanted a gift… well… to him, the gift of his friends was a gift that was unequaled.

His friends meant everything to him, and he'd do anything for them. Anything they would ever need, and he'd be there for them through any kind of weather, though thick or thin, in sickness and in hea-

"So! Let's quit being sentimental and party!" The pink pony said, and she started to dance wildly. Spike smiled.

Oh Pinkie Pie.

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Um, so here it is! Sorry it took so long! But I'm back now! I totally forgot what arc I had planned after this and the information was on my laptop's hard drive, which you guys probably know by now that I fried. So, I'm gonna start work on the wedding chapters now. And unlike this arc, I have a metric crap ton of ideas for the wedding. So expect the first couple of chapters here in the next few weeks. As per usual, if you have ideas, questions or comments leave a review!