Friendship is Equal to or Greater than Magic

by Fanon Canon

On Stranger Tides

Spike continued on to Sweet Apple Acres, but couldn't help shake the feelings of hunger and thirst that threatened to completely overwhelm him. As it turns out, the events of the day were starting to take their toll on the little dragon, and right now he needed something refreshing and fulfilling at the same time. But as Spike remembered, there were many juicy apples to be found at Sweet Apple Acres and it wouldn't be so hard for him to get something out of them, though he was unsure what kind of effect his spell would have on its inhabitants.

Though he was on his way there now, it turned out that Sweet Apple Acres would be in fact coming to him, as he suddenly caught a scent of something refreshing that caused Spike to detour slightly from his course. What he found was one slightly familiar giant red stallion, the brother of the pony friend he sought; towering over Spike with two big baskets slung over his back filled to the brim with... strawberries.

"Howdy partner, care to vhet your vhistle with ze leckere Erdberren."

The stallion said in an alien voice though Spike couldn't recall him talking before so maybe this was how he regularly spoke, but that was highly doubtable.

"Big Mac?" Spike was intrepid to ask.

"Ja, I am Big Macintosh." The stallion replied. "Sure I cannot tempt you with one strawberry."

Now Spike had to admit he needed something quite like strawberries right now. But before he could indulge, he had to remind himself that Sweet Apple Acres was an apple farm, not a strawberry farm.

"Strawberries. Not apples?" He asked.

"Nein ve still have apples." Big Mac responded in his strange dialect. "But Äpfel can be so boring sometimes, and ve felt that it was about time to expand, Herr Dragon."

"Right." Spike simply replied. In truth he didn't get the impression that this was how Big Macintosh usually spoke with others, and understanding him proved tricky. But after Pinkie, anypony was frankly a breath of fresh air.

"Well I am kind really hungry." He noted. "But I haven't got any bits."

"Oh don't worry about that little thing, consider this on ze barn for now." Big Mac simply replied, before lowering one of the baskets on his back, almost as tall as Spike, who gratefully picked out the biggest and juiciest one he could find.

Making his selection, Spike did his best to savour the feeling as best he could, and the strawberry proved to be the tastiest thing he had all day.

"Is it not Aphrodite fleischgewordene, Ja?" Big Mac mused to himself.

Spike couldn't find the words to form a proper reply in his mind, as the immense satisfaction he had left over from the strawberry proved too much to bother wondering whatever Big Mac meant by that. At last he managed to find the words to properly show his gratitude.

"Whoa, that was delicious." He exclaimed. "Where did you get these from?"

"Importation, Herr Dragon. I guess you could say ve are branching out." The stallion replied allowing himself a chuckle at his little joke, whilst Spike was too preoccupied with thoughts of more strawberries to pay much attention.

"Well." Now that Spike's stomach had been sated, his mind returned to the task at hand. "How is the old family down at the acres?"

"Oh that." Big Mac said, suddenly with a hint of unpleasantness. "Forgive me again for ze little joke, but it is something of a, how you say… mixed batch."

Of course, now that Spike's stomach was at ease, he had far more time to notice how odd Big Mac was sounding, almost as odd as Pinkie Pie.

"Well, I've seen Apple Bloom." He noted.

"You have seen ze kleine schwester?" The stallion replied with some eagerness. "Well then you have seen what a mouth she has on her, vhat a disgrace, though thankfully not as foul as our sister."

"Yeah I was going to see her." Spike now had time to wonder what kind of effect the spell would have on the pony he would be seeing next.

"Oh well good luck, Herr Dragon. But as for me, I think I will take my chances out here away from that lot." Big Mac replied and Spike guessed that would be the end of their conversation.

"Okay then." He said and before he knew he spoke again. "Ich danke Ihnen für die Erdbeereich."

"Ha Herr Dragon, now you are getting it." Big Mac replied cheerily, whilst Spike couldn't quite remember what he had just said.

But before he could reply in his own tongue, the giant red stallion had already set off in the opposition direction. Spike briefly pondered whether he himself was starting to feel the effects of the spell, but decided to put it out of his mind to concentrate on his task, and so set off again for Sweet Apple Acres before anymore hunger settled in again.

---

Finally, Spike had arrived at Sweet Apple Acres, the last leg of his journey, and a little too sooner than he had imagined. All that he had to do now was to have one little conversation with the middle member of the Apple family that resided here, and then he would hopefully earn himself a rest, and considerable praise from Twilight for his work today. Of course, Spike was starting to realise how adapted he was becoming to the whole ordeal, true it had been quite scary in the initial chats he had, but after Pinkie Pie, the little dragon felt like there was no longer any more sudden surprises in store for him, and whatever signs the pony here would be showing in response to the spell, he felt confident that he could deal with her in no time.

Well he was half right and half wrong…

He didn't need to look far when he arrived on the scene unfolding in front of the entrance to Sweet Apple Acres. A large cluster of ponies were all crowded round, Spike's little form denied him a chance to see what they were all looking at, but it didn't take him long to make his way to the front of the thicket, the many mares and colts more than willing to part to help him get through, no doubt because of the spell. When he got right up close, Spike found the recipient of the many eyes from the crowd.

It was the pony he sought; Applejack, he'd recognise her anywhere, standing at the front of a big stage and addressing the crowd, and allowing Spike to hear what it was she had to say.

"My fellow ponies, wide and far are you spread, and long have your journeys been. As you all know, I am Applejack, chief farmer of the Ponyville clan of the Apple family, and I am here to ask you a question." She announced to the crowd, and Spike could make out that most of the ponies standing around him he recognised from long ago as members of the impossibly gargantuan Apple family. His attention was brought back to the stage as Applejack continued her speech.

"Is it not that everypony is entitled to the fruits of their labour, to sit back after a long day's work on the field and help themselves to a fresh glass of their chosen refreshment?" She asked the crowd, which murmured back in a positive manner.

"Of course it is!" She continued. "But is anypony also entitled to reap the rewards of their toil, to munch on every apple they produce, to suckle on every strawberry their dig from the soil with their bare hooves?"

Another murmur responded to her, similar to the first.

"Well said my kin." She replied. "But it seems not everypony shares our outlook. The colt in the town hall expects to dine on the produce of the colt on the farm, the mare that heads the market can hold hostage the plants of the mare in the floristry. Is this a just system where one holds such sway over the many?"

The crowd barked back in denial, now much more than a murmur, and Spike was starting to worry about where Applejack was taking this newfound idealism.

"I for one choose to break free of the restraints and demands placed upon me by those in power, I chose to reject the claims that the many must have what only one had earned, where one must reply to the many when one's actions only affect one's self, where the many threatens with censorship if one speaks aloud. What does the many do when one keeps to one's self; it destroys one!" She passionately cried to her audience, who passionately cried back in return.

"I propose something different. Where once the many expected, now they must plead, I am transforming Sweet Apple Acres into one self-sufficient community; if the many expect produce, the many will be allowed only what the many had earned. And as for the one, one is free to do as one pleases, for one will never fear repercussions for the fruits of one's labour." And with that the Apple crowd all cheered and applauded Applejack, who immediately sent off on their way and stepped down from the stage, her attention now drawn to Spike, who was feeling very anxious about what he had just heard.

"Greetings Spike, come to wish me well on my endeavour and offer a place as the one?" She addressed the nervous dragon now that the crowd was thinning out.

"Umm, well actually." He stammered to himself. "Twilight kind of sent me to… ask you to err…" He was now shaking to himself, worried about how she might react.

"Come on, spit it out, partner." Applejack simply demanded of him impatiently.

"Well she kind of wants you to attend a meeting to figure out what all these new feelings are." Spike rattled off in a blur, running short of air just as he stopped.

Applejack took a long while of thinking to herself, not uttering a word and leaving Spike in his strange state of bewilderment and nervousness.

"Well, one of the many now requests my humble presence, why this almost feels like a ploy to draw me away from my work allowing the parasites to sabotage what I would achieve here." She at last said cautiously.

Spike found that there was nothing coming out of her mouth so far that he had agreed with, it all sounded really suspicious to him.

"But then again." She continued. "This is my dear friend Twilight we are talking about, and let it be known that Applejack is not one to forsake her many friends, but I can only stay for so long, before I am needed here."

"Oh thanks for that." Spike said relieved that she wasn't completely outlandish to him.

"Give me a moment to attend to get my affairs in order here, and then I will make my way there." Applejack stated.

"Guess I'm walking huh." Spike bleakly uttered to himself.

"Of course, it would be too dangerous for us to travel together; it would give them an opportunity of assassination, and we cannot have that now, can we?" She added vigilantly.

"Sure I guess." Spike said, having no idea what assassination was, and made his farewells to Applejack before he was off once again.

Now the little dragon had the boldness to think to himself that he had truly seen everything today. Twilight would certainly be impressed; he had given her all manner of feelings, if only there wasn't some nagging feeling building in him that somewhere in Ponyville, there was a very special pony that he sought, and what would she be like when under the effects of this particular spell.

---

Spike was finding himself in quite a tired state when he remerged in the village of Ponyville proper, having seen Applejack zoom off for the library as if she was scared of tackled to the ground by an imaginary mob if she stood in the same place for a second. In truth eh was quite worried from their conversation, it was far too full of things Spike couldn't wrap his mind around, and what the dragon couldn't understand he was frightened of. Frankly he wasn't entirely sure if he still wanted to head on back to the library, with all the bizarre personalities under one roof, it could very well drive him mad in confusion. But he had to also remind himself that he couldn't possibly give up now, so bracing himself for what would come, Spike set off home.

He didn't get far before the very familiar feeling of having his attention drawn completely to something else caught up to him. This time it was by a blur of a filly flying past him on a scooter, before coming to what looked like a painful stop courtesy of a fruit stand scaring the pony who occupied it.

Now that the blur had ceased to be just that, Spike had time to figure out the filly now sprawled out amongst the wreckage. She was a small Pegasus pony with a strong hued purple mane and a coat but what did stand out about her was her absence of a Cutie Mark, and suddenly Spike recognised that it was Scootaloo who had interrupted his trial of thought. And then another thought dwelled in his mind; he had seen Scootaloo often alongside her fellow fillies Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle, and remembering his interactions with them, he made a fair guess as to what words would come out of her mouth, when she regained speech.

"Aww darn it! I was doing so darn well!" Scootaloo exclaimed examining her handiwork.

Somehow, her brash and irritable tone didn't surprise Spike in the slightest, in fact it seemed all the more appropriate.

"Hiya Scoots." He announced in an attempt to appear informal.

"Oh darn, I must be dreaming again if I'm seeing darn dragons." The filly said woefully.

"No, I'm really here." Spike clarified to the confused filly, but understanding why she would think otherwise for there were no dragons other than him around Ponyville.

"Whoa, a darn dragon is talking to my darn self, have I done something wrong?" She asked cautiously, while Spike simply reminded her of the mess she had made with her scooter, which put her in an even more worried state of regret as she did her best to help her pony victim reassemble her stand.

"Say what were you trying to do just then?" Spike asked the filly once she had cleaned up her mess.

"What was I trying to do just then?" She parroted back in disbelief. "Well darn dragon, I was only trying to perform the very best and very great scooter marathon ever! All around darn Ponyville it would have taken me, until I darn crashed."

"Neat." Spike said honestly.

"Y'know now that I think about that it, it was only because of darn you that I ended up darn crashing." Scootaloo said with sudden suspicion, eyeing Spike.

"Oh sorry." He replied trying to sound apologetic.

"You bet your darn dragon hide you are." She snapped. "Still, lucky you darn slipped me up just as I was darn starting out. If I was close to the finish line and bumped into you, you would be darn sorry."

"Again sorry." Spike did his best when confronted with the filly's wide greyish purple stare. "Anyway, what's the point of this marathon?" He questioned in an attempt to move the conversation swiftly onwards.

"What's the point?" Scootaloo parroted once again. "The darn point, is that this is going be such a big darn impressive feat that it's going to get me in the darn good books with my darn idol."

"What idol?" the dragon asked in puzzlement.

"What idol? You know who." The filly pleaded.

"Who?"

"Who? Rainbow Dash! That's darn who!" Scootaloo exclaimed in complete bewilderment at Spike's ignorance.

"Oh." He simply uttered taken aback. "Right."

"You're darn right, right!" She continued and was once again eyeing the dragon with suspicion.

Now for once, it was Spike who felt like ending the conversation prematurely.

"Well, good luck with that." He bravely spoke. "If you don't mind, there's stuff I gotta do."

"Well don't let me darn catch you again." Scootaloo warned him, before mounting her scooter again, and using the small wings on her back, zoomed off at an alarming speed, giving Spike more incentive to continue on himself in the direction of the Ponyville library.

Little did Spike know, that waiting around just around the corner, was yet another conversation prospector. And this time, it wasn't because of the spell that they felt so inclined to engage him.

Comments

[RaptorCalloftheShadows]

:| This spell is causing pandemonium.

[Tastethelolz]

Apparently:
= Dumb
= Dang
= Darn
The CMC with the DDD.
hey, that rhymes!
Also, German Big Mac is best Big Mac.

[Frostbite4]

Lol if Big Mac is German that means that garble would have a Russian accent and talk about vodka because that's well what teens talk about in high school now which sucks cause I'm in grade 9 right now