//------------------------------//
// Who's the Smartest Pony? - [comedy] 
// Story: The Treasure Trove of One-Shots and Story Prompts 
// by MrPengu1n 
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Twilight skipped merrily through town, her mane and tail a tattered, singed mess. She flicked a dying ember off her head and made her way down the Ponyville thoroughfare, humming to herself.

Passing market stalls on both sides calling out their goods, she hopped her way to the one stall owned and operated by her dear friend. "Hello, Applejack!" she called.

Applejack turned and stepped back a pace or two at the sight of her, "Land sakes," she exclaimed, "What have y' gott'n yerself into now, sugarcube?"

"Hmm?" Twilight asked. "Oh, this," she giggled flicking absentmindedly at her scorched mane, "Just another experiment. Or ten."

"...ri-ight," Applejack responded with a touch of concern, "Can ah help ya?"

"Actually, yes! You can," Twilight said, suddenly putting her hooves on the stall with a scary twinkle in her eye. "I need apples. All the apples you have."

Applejack gulped, fearing for the strange fate that awaited her apples, "W-well, we got some bushels back there," she suggested, pointing behind her at her brother Big Mac, who was busy unloading bushel after bushel from a cart behind the stall and setting them up on displays.

"No, I don't think you heard me," Twilight said with a maniacal smile, "I think you heard me say, 'give me a lot of apples', but what I said was, 'give me all of the apples you have'. Okay?" she giggled.

Applejack looked Twilight in the eyes for a moment, and she stared back, smiling without a care in the world. Applejack blinked, deciding then and there not to ask anymore questions. "Well," she started, "We brought over 'bout twenty three baskets, 'n each basket holds 'round thirty two apples..." she turned around and called over her shoulder, "Hey, Big Mac! What's thirty two apples in twenty three baskets?"

"Oh well that's easy to find," Twilight said, "It's just a multiplication problem: thirty two times twenty three, which-"

"Seven hundred 'n thirty six," Big Mac said matter-of-factly, not stopping his work.

Twilight's jaw dropped.

"Thanks, Big Mac!" Applejack called, turning back to Twilight, "Seven 'n thirty six apples in all. Will that be enough?"

"That was amazing!" Twilight gushed, leaping on top of the table to gawk at Big Mac, "How did you do that in your head so fast? I couldn't even do it that fast!"

Big Mac stopped, wearing a look of confusion, "ah j's...did, ah guess," he said, working at a more subdued pace."

"Big Mac's always been able to do that, didn't y' know?" Applejack asked, slowly taking Twilight's hooves off her stall, "He's almost like a regular genius. So will that be enough apples?"

"Hold on, Applejack," Twilight said, stepping around the stall and not taking her eyes off Big Mac, "This is much more important, and definitely more interesting."

She made her way slowly over to Big Mac, who watched her out of the corner of his eye as he unloaded the last of the bushels of apples. She pulled a scroll and quill out of her pocket and began scrawling on it, "Big Mac," she said, "what's 347 times 26?"

Big Mac halted midstep, still holding a basket inches off the ground as his eyes went out into space. He returned a second later and said, "Nine thousand 'n twenty two," and put the basket down.

Twilight dropped her scroll, covered in mathematical scribbles that somehow arrived at the same answer. "That's incredible!" She squealed, hopping for delight, "Big Mac, you're a genius!"

"No ah ain't," Big Mac rebutted.

Twilight ignored him and spun on her hoof, casting an accusatory stare at Applejack, "Why did you never tell me about this?" she shouted, "This is amazing! I can't believe I've finally found another genius in this rinky-dink farming town!"

"Pardon?" Applejack said, ears swiveling forward and eyebrow raising.

Twilight noticed her choice of words too late and smiled nervously, "I-I mean, heh," she spun around to face Big Mac again and took his foreleg in her hoof, "You're coming with me! I'm going to run some tests! Possibly dangerous tests, but that's a sacrifice I'm willing to make!" She continued to drag Big Mac further and further away.

Big Mac looked down at the disheveled mare dragging at his leg. They hadn't moved an inch. Twilight's hooves skidded against the ground as she tried to move Mac by force. He looked up at Applejack questioningly.

Applejack looked back, saw that all the apple baskets had been unloaded, and shrugged, gesturing that he could go.

Big Mac sighed and began walking. Twilight then realized that her efforts to move Big Mac had been thus far fruitless, and followed him sheepishly.





(The end, hope you liked it!)