//------------------------------// // Friends and Neighbors // Story: Bigger Than Mac // by DraconequusMaximus //------------------------------// Spike awoke as soon as the sun filtered in through the barn's windows. He loved his mother dearly, but he was not a morning person. He looked to his side and saw Big Macintosh still nestled underneath one of his new bat-like wings. He nudged the sleeping stallion with his snout to no avail. "Rise and Shine Mac, I promised your sister I'd help out today, and I intend to earn my keep." He said before lifting the wing leaving Big Macintosh exposed to the cool morning air. "Ah don' wanna get up yet, yer so warm." The stallion said placing his foreleg over his eyes to block the sun. "Yeah, yeah, runs in the family I guess." Spike said jokingly. Mac chuckled at this as he stood and rubbed the sleep from his eyes. The pair slowly made their way out of the barn, Applejack was already feeding the pigs when they got out. The pair silently walked towards her, she somehow didn't notice their presence. The pigs took one look in Spike's direction and fled to the other side of the pen with loud squeals. "What in tarnation?" Applejack said as she turned to see Spike directly behind her. "BWAH!" She yelled, jumping into the pen for safety. Spike felt terrible, but it was pretty funny. "Morning Applejack." Spike said trying to contain his laughter. Applejack regained her senses, realizing it had only been Spike. She was fairly angry, but was doing her best to remain calm. Spike snaked his tail over the pen and lifted Applejack out of the muck and back to their side. "Ah'd appreciate if ya didn't do that Spike, almost scared the apples off mah flank." She said shaking some of the muck from her. "Actually, I'm pretty surprised I can sneak up on anypony. Sorry though." Spike said less guiltily than he should have sounded. "Right, well ah'd like ya t' go over there an' pull those stumps outta the ground. Last big storm we had wrecked some a' our trees somethin' fierce, stumps are all that's left." Applejack said pointing to an area near the fence that went around the property. Another, smaller farm lay beyond the fence. "You know, I've never asked, but who owns the other farm over there?" Spike said looking at the property curiously. "That's the Harvest family farm, they grow all sorts a' veggies." Big Mac answered. "Hmm, not sure if I know any of the Harvest Family. Anyway, I'll take care of those stumps and I'll find you guys when I'm done." Spike said to the Apple siblings who nodded their agreement. Spike walked off as they discussed other chores. He was worried about his new size at first, but he was enjoying it so far. He had always been the little guy all his life, and now he towered over most. Plus his tail had never been as useful as it was now. It was almost like having another arm at his disposal. He arrived at the area with the stumps within mere moments, his limbs being much longer was also a nice bonus. He looked the first stump over and decided it wasn't a challenge, after all he had accidentally murdered a tree yesterday without using his full strength. He dug his claws under the stump, being meant to cut diamonds they glided through dirt effortlessly. With a good tug, the stump was freed from the earth. "Huh, seems like I'm gonna be done pretty quickly." Spike said as he dropped the stump out of the way. Spike turned to uproot the next one, when he saw a familiar mare tending to the fields behind the fence. She was yellow with a memorable orange mane and tail. She was currently facing away from Spike, who decided to say hello. "Hey there Carrot Top! How's it going?" Spike yelled at the mare, a claw cupped to the side of his muzzle hoping to amplify his voice. The mare visibly sagged at the much hated nickname. "My name is Golden Harvest, you-" Golden cut herself off as soon as she saw the enormous purple reptile smiling at her. "Oh yeah, sorry Golden. Haven't seen you in ages." Spike said waking up to the fence. The mare took a moment to process everything she was faced with. Dragon, purple, pleasant conversation... "Spike? You... look different, do something different with your... um, spines?" She said nervously. "Heh, yeah I get it, I'm kinda off-putting now huh? Don't worry though, the growth's natural this time. No rampages, just pulling stumps for Applejack." Spike said motioning to the uprooted remains of what was once a tree. The mare let out a sigh of relief at the much welcomed news. "Oh, well I must admit that's good to hear. Awful nice of you to help the Apples too, they have an awful lot of land to look after." Golden said looking much more at ease. "Eh, just earning my keep. I'm living here at the acres now, can't fit in the library anymore." Spike said looking himself over sadly. Golden nodded her agreement, Spike certainly looked too big to fit anywhere in Ponyville. "Oh, that must be hard. Living away from your mother for the first time." Golden said with no small amount of sympathy. "Huh? Oh, no Twilight's more like my sister, she was just a foal herself when she hatched me. I was raised by a government official in Canterlot." Spike said not technically lying. "Oh, I see. Well at least the Apples were nice enough to put you up." Golden said as she went back to tending to some vegetables. "Well, actually there's a little more to it. Me and Mac are together." Spike said sheepishly. Golden looked up from her work in surprise. Her jaw hung open for more than a minute as her brain tried to handle what she had just heard. "Oh my, that is a little more than I had thought. I didn't even know Mac was gay." Golden said imagining the pair together. A light blush spread across her face as she did so. "Well, you know Mac. The strong silent type." Spike said with a hint of a smile, careful of displaying his teeth. "You know, I'm not sure if I've actually heard him speak now that you mention it." Golden said placing a hoof on her chin in thought. Spike chuckled a little at that, but decided it would be best to get back to work. "Well, good talking to you, but I'd better finish up these stumps. Mac and AJ are probably waiting. Lemme know if you need any help with something heavy." Spike said turning back to his stumps. "Will do, see ya round neighbor." Golden said with a wave. However what she was thinking was: Ha, Berry and Colgate are gonna flip! Oh! This is perfect, I can finally top Roseluck's gossip for once! Spike took the next half hour to remove the rest of the stumps, placing them in a pile, as Applejack had neglected to tell him what to do with them. He walked off to find the oldest Apple siblings, but instead found all four members of the now teenaged Cutie Mark Crusaders staring at him with eyes as small as pinpricks. He realized he hadn't seen any of them since his growth spurt, and that they were probably frightened to death of him. "Girls, I know I look scary, but-" Spike was interrupted by Scootaloo, who had reached into her saddlebag and thrown a large wrench at his face. It didn't actually hurt, but it was mildly annoying. "Girls, really I-" Apple Bloom hit him with a souvenir snow globe from Manehattan. "Seriously, can we-" Sweetie with a dictionary. "Hit me." Babs complied with what seemed to be a sock full of bits. "Why would you even have that?" Spike said looking at the unorthodox weapon. "A girls gotta be able to protect herself on the streets." Babs said smugly slinging the sock over her shoulder. "You girls out of stuff to throw at me?" Spike said looking at them, obviously annoyed. "I still got the sock wit' me." Babs said holding it in front of her for him to see. Spike promptly spat a small green fireball at it, incinerating the lower half and scattering bits everywhere. "How bout now?" He asked smugly. "We're spent." Scootaloo said in defeat. "Good, that was starting to get annoying. You four need to let ponies and dragons talk before you assault them from now on, alright?" Spike said looking at them sternly. "Yes sir." The crusaders said guiltily in unison. "Ugh, don't call me sir. I only turned eighteen two days ago. Technically I'm not going to be an adult for like two thousand years." Spike said handing the girls their belongings. "Spike? Is that you?" Sweetie Belle asked in disbelief. "Eeyup. Had a growth spurt while you were away. Hurt like crazy, but I can rip trees outta the ground without breaking a sweat now." Spike said flexing his bicep that was thicker than a pony's midsection. "Dang, son. Last time I was in town I was taller than you." Babs said looking the dragon over. "Wow, maybe Rarity will pay more attention to you now." Scootaloo said poking him with a hoof experimentally. "Heh, actually I've been over Rarity for a couple years now. I've sort of moved on." Spike said not meeting the mare's eyes. "Hah, pay up y'all!" Apple Bloom said to Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo who reluctantly hoofed over a few bits each. "Were you betting on my love life?" Spike said sounding somewhat offended. "Eh, we bet on a lot of things. We've still got a pool going on whether or not there's gonna be another princess in the next ten years." Scoots said as she tucked her wallet away again. "I'd take a piece of that, but I've got an in with the royal family, wouldn't be fair." Spike said as he helped gather Babs's bits. "So what are you doing on the farm anyway?" Sweetie asked as she levitated the rest of the bits back to Babs. "Uh, I'm sort of living here now. The library's too small for me." Spike said avoiding looking at Apple Bloom. "That's pretty neat, an' you an' Mac can spend more time together now. Ah know y'all have been friends fer a while now." Apple Bloom said innocently. Spike was internally freaking out, he hadn't prepared for this. I'm going to ruin his youngest sister's innocence, I just know it. He thought trying to suppress his panic. Regardless of the consequences he thought it would be better to come forward with it right now. "Actually... me and Mac are... uh. Together now, it's a recent development." Spike said fearing Apple Bloom's shattered worldview. "Bout time. I knew Mac liked ya." Apple Bloom said before playfully punching him in the arm. "Wait, what? You knew Mac liked me? Why didn't you tell me? We've been shying away from asking each other out for like a year!" Spike said literally fuming. Smoke was leaking up from his mouth due to his distress. "Cuz I don' mess with that sorta thing since the whole love poison thing." Apple Bloom answered without even taking the time to think about it. "Yeah, okay. I can understand that." Spike said, instantly beginning to cool off. "So, does everypony but us know about this already?" Sweetie asked, unsure of what to think. "The girls do, nopony else does really, but it's not a secret." Spike said explaining the situation. "Where is he anyway? Shouldn't he be like, with you?" Scootaloo asked. "Jus' cause they're datin' don't mean they're joined at the hip." Babs said in an annoyed tone. Luckily it kicked Spike's memory back into gear. "Oh horseapples, I was supposed to find Mac and AJ when I was finished. You girls hop on, we can go find them together." Spike said dropping a wing low like a ramp for them to climb up. None refused, as the idea of riding a dragon seemed like a rare opportunity. As soon as they were seated Spike started moving while looking around for the older Apples. The girls did the same, trying to see large spots of red or orange through the thicket of trees. Everything was calm on the acres. The only real sounds that could be heard were those of faint screeching coming from the vampire fruit bat sanctuary. It was odd, usually everywhere in the vicinity of Ponyville was bustling with activity or being besieged by random disasters. The peace while nice, was unfortunately short. "So who's the bottom?" Scootaloo asked casually, causing Spike to stop abruptly, causing the girls to nearly fall off. "No, no, no, we aren't getting in to that. EVER." Spike said seriously, "I'm already going to get tons of weird questions about this as is." "It was just a question, not like I wanna watch or anything." Scootaloo said defensively. Before she knew what was happening Spike's tail looped around her and plopped her back onto the ground. "You need to spend less time with Rainbow Dash, and you can walk the rest of the way, maybe you'll learn not to ask people things that make them uncomfortable." Spike said as he began walking again. "It's not like we're babies or anything, we went through health class and everything." Scootaloo said in a huff. "Pfft, you have no idea how easy you had it. Twilight home schooled me, I had to hear everything from her. She was so embarrassed when I had to remind her that her books didn't cover dragon biology." Spike said remembering the most awkward moments of his life. "Are dragons that different?" Sweetie Belle asked curiously. "Well yeah, ponies are mammals and I'm a reptile. I came from an egg and I breathe fire, eat treasure and stuff, and I have clawed hands and feet instead of hooves." Spike said raising a hand and wiggling his razor sharp digits. "Eat this bit." Babs said skeptically. Having not known Spike very well, she was unaware of his eating habits. He took the small gold coin and chewed it to a pulp and swallowed. "Yikes, glad you're a vegetarian." Babs said as she pulled her hoof back. "Yeah, I have to take a lot of supplements and stuff to keep up with my nutritional requirements, but it's worth it. Nopony would wanna be around me if I ate meat all the time." Spike said hating the fact that his species ate creatures that were as good as defenseless against them. "So, is mah brother okay with ya bein' so much bigger now? Ah don't think he's ever had to look up t' meet somepony's eyes before." Apple Bloom inquired. "You'd be surprised, he met the princesses and Discord yesterday. Even Luna's a little bigger than he is." Spike said thinking about his talk with his mother and Mac the previous night. He wouldn't leave Mac for all the gems in the world, but he knew he was in for some major sadness down the road. "Why'd my cousin need to meet the princesses? Ain't he just an apple farmer?" Babs said rightfully confused. Spike realized that the crusaders didn't know about his connection to the princesses at this point. He decided that they were probably mature enough to know by now. "He is an apple farmer, but he's MY apple farmer. I was raised by Princess Celestia, so she wanted to meet him." Spike said as they continued their trek through the maze of apple trees. "Wait, your mom is the princess? Does that make you a prince?" Sweetie Belle asked excitedly, momentarily regaining the squeak she often had as a filly. "Technically yes, if anything happened to Mom and Luna I could step in since Cadence is only her niece and Twilight doesn't have a definite role yet. But I wouldn't do that, everypony would freak out if a dragon was in control and I can't move the sun or moon anyway. Twilight could probably do it, or I guess Discord if all else fails." Spike said explaining the secret hierarchy of Equestria. "So, are you rich or anything?" Scootaloo asked curiously. "Not very, I get a stipend from the government every year like all the royals, but I've got it in a high interest account at the bank. Mom controlled it until now since I was a minor. I'm saving it for emergencies, I can't hold onto it personally or I'd end up hoarding it forever. But I think I'm gonna use some of it to turn the barn into a dragon-sized house." Spike said looking into the distance at his new home. "Neat, so ah'm guessing you don' want us t' go around tellin' everypony bout you bein royalty?" Apple Bloom asked. "I'd rather you didn't." Spike nodded. "Okay, but remember us come Hearth's Warming." Scootaloo said in a way that Spike couldn't tell if she was kidding. "Deal." Spike said lifting Scootaloo back onto himself with his tail. The group chatted as they looked for the older Apples. Spike felt good knowing that he had friends he could count on, even if they had accosted him with random objects. He felt things were looking up. He was so happy, he didn't even notice an excited yellow mare trotting away from her hiding place behind a nearby tree.