//------------------------------//
// Chapter 8: Spike (A Simple Title is Every Title) 
// Story: Spiked Donuts 
// by TRIBOT 4000 
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I turned the sign to open like any other day.  I cleaned off the counter like any other day.  I checked the stock of food like any other day.  Today was not any other day, I know it as the best day of my life.  That was the morning I met my best friend: Spike.  Now before you start asking questions, let me clarify, me and Spike were friends from the beginning.  Since the day we met we were friends.  When he learned to talk, that only sweetened the deal.  He stopped coming after that day.  Miss Velvet, Nightlight, and Twilight stopped bringing him.  They...forgot about me I guess.

Spike never did.

"So then Twilight bursts through the front door shouting 'I'm hot!  I'm hot!  I'm burning hot!'."  Spike said while laughing, "It was the funniest thing."

"I can only imagine." I replied, laughing with him.  He sat at the booth in what he called his "Cool Seat".  We'd been talking for at least an hour as I would have to leave the conversation to help customers.

"Ya know, we had a fight in here yesterday."

Spike's eyes widened slightly, "Whoa.  Really?"

I nodded and began cleaning the counter, "That's right.  To make matters worse it was two mares."

"Oh sweet Celestia."  Spike groaned and I chuckled, "I can only imagine how bad that must have been."

I told the story, "It was pretty funny actually.  One mare walked in asking for the Pink Powdered Power, a little raised donut with pink frosting, pink sprinkles, and pink food coloring in the batter.  Don't ask.  When she said this I told her that the last one we had was about to be served to another pony to whom I pointed towards.  This mare then tries to flutter her eyelids at me and compliment my 'good strong stature' as she put it.  The pink mare came over right about then asking where her donut was, in a very cheery way I might add.  As I told her it would be ready in a second, the flirty mare shoves her hooves in the pink mares face accusing her of moving the plot too fast.  Then the two start fighting."

Spike chortled, "Huh.  I guess all mares really are crazy."

"I can attest to that." I continued cleaning up the counter and fell into thought.  Why was Spike the only one out of these ponies I liked.  he felt like the only decent creature I'd met so far.  Well, him and that...whatever it was from a few weeks ago.  My mind wondered to what I was told of him afterwards by Celestia.





"You wouldn't believe the day I had Joey mi'lad.  Haha, no sir."  Celestia sat at Pony Joe's counter, a donut in one hoof and a beer in the other, "Paperwork, paperwork, PAPERWORK!!  I can't catch a break!"

Pony Joe sat in silence across from her being wary of the casket of beers floating above their heads in a magical golden glow.

"Well what happened?" he asked, not sure why he decided to question this.

With one chug, Celestia finished a bottle pulled a new one, "So there I was yesterday right?  Happy as I could be when BOOM, it's starts raining!"

"That doesn't sound terrible."

"INDOORS with PINK CLOUDS!"

"Oh." Joe sighed, "Go on."

Celestia chugged another bottle and continued, "Well I know this is Discords work.  He used to..." The Princess of the Sun begins sobbing, "...he used to sniff make cotton candy snacks for me.  Re had the be...best...recipe."  suddenly she was raging again, "But how?!  How could he get past my statue powe...po..powers...powersness.  Yeah!  Powersness."

"Well?  How did he?"  Pony Joe asked in curiosity.  Curiosity may have killed the cat, but he was no feline.

"Deities!  Can you believe!?  Some deities dropped in for a visit and made a DEAL with him!  They said JOE!"

"What?"  Pony Joe asked confused.

"JOE!  JOEY!  JOE...!"





"...Joe!  Hello, are you there?!" I looked up and saw Spike waving a claw in my face.

"What happened?"

"You blanked out there for a second.  You alright?" I nodded my head and continue cleaning the counter getting different spots that had reappeared.

Then Spike asked, "Hey Joey?"

"yes?"

"How do you do that?" I tilted my head and asked what he was referring to which he elaborated, "I talking about the constant use of your magic, it's been bothering me for years.  While you're out here serving customers, you're cooking in the backroom at the same time.  From what Twilight's told me, that some pretty sophisticated magic usage."

I turned around, looking into the kitchen.  He was right, I was cooking another batch in there.  I tuned back to him and replied, "I honestly don't know.  I am aware that I am doing it and I know how to control it, but I don't know how I'm able to do it.  I'm not that good at using my magic."

"Yet here you are, having a full-on conversation with me, while at the same time cleaning the counter, while at the same time cooking a batch of..." he sniffed the air, "Glazed Cake Donuts Supreme."

I didn't really have an explanation for it, and I told him that.  I've never been that good in general with magic.  I can levitate as good as any unicorn, but because I like to use my hooves, I rarely ever use special spells.  I tell Spike this as well.

He smiles, "Well, you try to figure that out.  If I can teach Twilight how to do that, maybe she won't ignore ponies when she's reading.  I actually better get going, she doesn't know I even left."

Spiked jumped off his seat, "See ya Joey."  He waved goodbye and exited the shop.  I stood there for a few minutes in thought.  Spike was different from everypony that came here, besides the scales and tale of course.  he had a completely different personality than most ponies.  He was similar to Celestia in many ways.