Fairy Tales of Equestria

by VioletRose13

Spike and the Beanstalk

Once upon a time in a far off kingdom, there lived a baby dragon named Spike. He and his mother Ms. Sparkle were farmers, but during these difficult times, they hardly had enough food or money for themselves. Eventually, they were in terrible debt and they couldn’t afford anything anymore. Times were so hard that the mare and her son only had two things left; a small farmhouse in desperate need of repair and one old white cow that was already out of milk. On the day Ms. Sparkle and Spike finished the last of their food, she turned to look at her son with a concerned expression on her face.

“Spike, can you do me a big favor?” Ms. Sparkle asked.

“Sure, mom. What is it you want me to do?” Spike said, looking up at his mother with a smile.

“I need you to go to the market with our cow and sell her for as much as you can.”

“Sell our cow?!?”

“Yes, we need the money.”

“But… why?”

“Because if we don’t, we’ll have nothing, we’ll be thrown out into the streets, and we’ll be left to starve. Do you understand?”

Spike thought about his mother’s request. He quickly realized the seriousness of the situation and he let out a sigh.

“Yeah, I understand. I’ll try to sell the cow.” Spike said, nodding his head and smirking.

“That’s my boy. Believe me it’s for the best.” Ms. Sparkle said, smiling and giving her son a small peck in the forehead. “Now remember, when you make it to the market, accept no less than ten bits for her. And don’t dawdle or stop for anything on your way there. Get it?”

“Got it. Bye, mom.”

“Bye, Spike. See you later.”

So with the cow in tow, Spike made his way along the trodden path towards the market in town. But after a half an hour of walking, he came across a rather strange surprise.

“Oh, hi there. If I’m not mistaken, you must be… Spike, right?” A mysterious cloaked unicorn mare said with a friendly smile as she approached Spike.

“Uh, yeah. I’m Spike… How do you know my name? Who are you?” Spike asked nervously.

“That’s not important. I was just wondering where you’re going.”

“Oh, I’m just on my way to the market to sell my cow. No less than ten bits.”

“You don’t say. Well, don’t worry. I’ve got something that will magically erase all of your debt. Trust me.” The mare said.

“What are you talking about?” Spike asked, sounding intrigued.

The mare rummaged through the pockets of her ragged cloak and she showed the dragon three beans. Spike winced, confused and angry.

“Beans? That’s it? What kind of idiot do you think I am? I can’t accept these.” Spike ranted, pushing the mare’s hoof away.

“No, no, no; you don’t understand. These beans contain a powerful magic.” She replied.

“Magic? What kind of magic?”

“Magic to its finest, defies all description too. These beans hold power beyond any you could ever imagine. And maybe, just maybe, they might just be able to help you. So what do you say? Do we have a deal?”

“Are you sure you’re telling me the truth? Because if you’re lying…”

“Of course I’m telling the truth. Do I really look like a pony who would lie to you?

“Well…”

Spike looked at the mare’s outstretched hoof, waiting to be shaken. He was very hesitant on taking the beans in exchange for his cow, but he knew how his mother would react if he came back empty-clawed. So he took the pony’s hoof and said with a smile,

“Agreed.”

So, the unicorn mare took the cow and Spike took the here beans. Before another word could be said, the mysterious stranger had already disappeared with the cow leaving poor naïve Spike with three lousy and supposedly ordinary beans. When he returned home and proudly presented the beans to his mother, however, Ms. Sparkle was far less than pleased with her son’s decision.

“Beans!? BEANS?! How could you do this, Spike?!?” She shrieked. “I sent you into town for money, not this! Who in the right mind exchanges a whole cow for three beans?! We can’t live on these, what were you thinking?!”

“But, mom, you don’t understand! They’re magic beans! The unicorn who sold them to me said so!” Spike insisted.

“Magic?! Ugh, worthless!” Ms. Sparkle yelled, taking the beans out of her son’s claw and tossing them out the window and into the yard.

“Look I know you’re really angry right now, but I didn’t know what to do. That pony seemed really nice and she was very persuasive. What would it take for you to believe me?” Spike said.

“I don’t know what else to tell you, Spike.” Ms. Sparkle groaned, putting her hoof over her face. “You’ve been tricked; nothing else to it! There’s no such thing as magic beans, end of story.”

“But mom, please—”

“Not another word, Spike! To bed without supper for you! I’ll have to come up with another plan to get food around here. Oh, what are we going to do…?”

What Ms. Sparkle didn’t know was that the beans she threw into the garden really were magical. That very night when the moon shone brightly in the sky, the beans took root in the soil in the yard and they began to grow and grow long into the night. When the sun rose the next morning, Spike and his mother gazed in astonishment at what they just saw. Standing in front of them was an enormous beanstalk towering over Spike, Ms. Sparkle, and their farmhouse.

“I told you those beans were magic.” Spike proudly announced at last.

Ms. Sparkle said nothing; she was too shocked to speak. Then, a thought popped into the young dragon’s head.

“Hey… maybe I should climb it. Just to see what’s up there.” He said as he curiously scratched his head.

“Wait, what? Are you sure you want to do that, Spike? It doesn’t look very safe. Who knows what might happen up there?” Ms. Sparkle said, shaking in her hooves. “I just don’t want you to get hurt.”

“Don’t worry about me, mom. I climbed stuff like this a million times before. I’ll be right back and I’ll be careful, promise.” Spike said, walking closer to the stalk.

“Well… just please be safe.” Ms. Sparkle said, giving Spike a hug before he began to climb.

Spike climbed and climbed up the beanstalk, letting his imagination run wild with the possibilities of what would be awaiting for him at the top.

“Wow, this thing is pretty big. I can’t even tell how far up it goes from here.” Spike said to himself as he continued to climb.

After a while of climbing, Spike’s head popped out from the fluffy mass of pale clouds above his head. He looked around and discovered an entire world above the clouds that nopony could have ever thought. Then he thought about climbing onto the clouds. But even though he was frightened and skeptical of the possible outcome, Spike took a tiny step onto the cloud in front of him and found much to his surprise that it was as firm as solid ground. He wandered away from the beanstalk and he took note of the strange plants which seemed far larger than those back home. After wandering around for a few minutes, Spike came upon a giant stone building and his eyes grew wide in surprise.

“Whoa! A castle… in the sky?! I gotta know what's in there.” Spike said with excitement in his voice.

He knew that castles had all manner of wonderful things to see and possibly wondrous unimaginable treasures hiding as well and he thought that maybe this could be the answer to all of his problems.

Without a knock, Spike slipped under the castle’s main entrance doors and looked up to see that everything in the foyer was larger than anything inside a normal castle. His eyes were as large as dinner plates and his mouth fell open at the sight.

“Who could live here?” He asked himself as he tried to climb the enormous steps.

With his curiosity kicking in, Spike made his way up to the railing, sat down, and he slid down the railing as if it was a slide at the playground and he landed on the floor with a thud.

“Yep, definitely should’ve thought that through.” He muttered as he got back onto his feet.

Then in the corner of his eye, Spike saw something glowing and shimmering; he turned his head and saw that it looked like the light was coming from the kitchen. Spike ran towards the open door, he looked, and saw shelves upon shelves of wonderful shining and sparkling things. There were gold and silver that almost reached the ceiling and there were jewels of every shape, cut, color, and size. As he gazed at his surroundings for a moment, Spike could hear a faint strumming sound coming from somewhere on the enormous table nearby. He wandered closer, the sound becoming louder and louder as he did so. It reminded him of the sound of a harp mixed with the singing voice of a pony. He was entranced by the sound and decided to follow it.

Spike struggled to climb the leg of the table and once he reached the top, he saw an array of even more treasures. There were golden bricks stacked up as tall as mountains, gilded jewelry boxes as wide as fields, piles of coins as deep as canyons, and all manner of other precious metals and jewels scattered about. He was so overtaken by the stunning sight that he nearly forgot the reason he climbed onto the table in the first place. It wasn’t until he heard another few notes sound that he continued pursuing it to discover the source.

When he turned the corner, Spike was surprised to see a large goose with yellow feathers and teal eyes sitting in a nest that was surrounded by a few eggs of solid gold sitting next to a large column of bronze coins. He gasped in surprise.

“Uh… Excuse me?” Spike started.

“Oh! Don’t scare me like that.” The Goose exclaimed as she saw the small dragon before her.

“Oh, sorry.” Spike stammered.

“That’s okay. No harm done. Just please don’t do it again.” The Goose replied, nodding its head.

“Uh… am I seeing things or are you really a magical talking goose?”

“You’re not seeing things. My name is Fluttergoose.”

“And… are these eggs real gold?”

“Yes, I laid them myself.”

“Whoa! That is so cool!”

“Ahem! I’m afraid these eggs do not belong to you!” Another voice said.

That voice was coming from a golden Harp that was strangely in the shape of a lovely unicorn mare with a light yellowish golden coat, deep blue eyes, deep golden curled hair, three blue gems on its “flank”, and a large fancily decorated golden lyre shaped instrument sitting atop its back. He stared at it for a moment before speaking again.

“And what are you supposed to be?” Spike asked before strumming the golden lyre, causing the creature to laugh at the sensation.

“Stop it! That tickles!” The Harp exclaimed, gently taking the dragon’s claw away from her lyre. “I am Lyrity and you’re not supposed to be here. It isn’t safe for someone like you.”

“Why not?” Spike asked.

“Because of our master. He doesn’t really… enjoy having intruders here. If he catches you, he’ll crush you with one motion.” Lyrity warned. “So, I think it’d be best if you leave right this minute before he discovers you.”

“Why not mind your own business?” Spike said, plucking one of the strings on Lyrity’s lyre.

“Ow! Quit playing me!” Lyrity whined, rubbing her back.

That was when they heard loud, rumbling steps coming towards the door. Spike was very confused, but Lyrity and Fluttergoose were terrified.

“Oh no! It’s him!” Fluttergoose exclaimed, covering her face with her wings.

“Who?” Spike asked.

“Our master, of course!” Lyrity cried. “There’s hardly any time for you to escape NOW! You need to—”

Without missing a beat, the giant door to the kitchen burst open scaring Spike so much that he leapt behind Fluttergoose’s nest to hide. Standing in the doorway with an enraged look on his face was none other than Lord Tirek the Giant.

“Fee Fi Fo Fum! I smell the stench of an Equestrian!” He roared.

Tirek stomped from the door to the table, causing the room to shake and quake as if the castle was moving by itself. Lyrity screamed and quickly jumped into a large silver chalice while Fluttergoose kept her face hidden underneath her wings and Spike struggled to stay unseen as he bounced up and down on the tabletop. The Giant carefully examined each precious item on the table, picking them up one at a time looking for little missing pieces or bits.

Spike frantically poked his head out of Fluttergoose’s nest and looked for a new place to hide from the giant. He saw Lyrity hiding in the chalice; she was giving him a disappointed glare while she slowly shook her head.

“Ah, my prized Goose.” The Giant declared, pulling Fluttergoose’s nest closer to his face.

“W-whoa!” Spike exclaimed, falling from the nest with a shattering crash into a large pile of gemstones. “Ouch!”

“WHAT?! What is the meaning of this!?” Tirek exclaimed in surprise.

Fluttergoose flew away from her nest as the Giant leaned in closer to the gems and squinted his eyes, his face mere inches away from the spot Spike was hiding. Spike popped his head out of the jewels rubbing his head before he met the gaze of the furious Giant centaur. Spike was frozen in place, a look of pure terror on his face.

“I knew it! A THIEF!” Tirek said reaching down with his enormous hand and scooping Spike out of the pile of jewels. Spike tried to climb out of the Giant’s hand, but sadly to no avail.

“Dang it.” Spike muttered.

“Who are you?! What are you doing in my castle?! And what do you want with my treasure?!” Tirek growled, glaring darkly at the tiny dragon in his hand.

“Look Mr. Giant, sir, I didn't know this was your castle. And I didn't know all this was your treasure. Honest! I was just observing it, that’s all!” Spike stammered, a terrified look in his eyes.

“A likely story. You were intending to take my prized possessions for yourself and now you must pay for your crimes!”

“Pay? Wha-wha-what do you mean? What are you gonna do to me? Can’t you just let me go so I won’t bother you ever again? I promise I won’t tell anyone about this, just please let me go!”

“Let you go? Of course not, don’t be ridiculous. I’m just going to eat you and my Goose and afterwards, I’m going to smash my Harp to little pieces for trying to help you escape.”

“Say what now?” Spike asked.

The pit of Spike’s stomach dropped, his eyes widened, and his jaw dropped in shock. Lyrity and Fluttergoose’s eyes widened as they both shook in terror.

“Yes, so be prepared, little dragon. But first… I must fatten you up. You are much too small and scrawny for me to eat, not big, plump, or fat enough just yet.” Tirek said, opening a nearby cabinet and placing Spike on one of the shelves as if he were a toy. “Wait in here until I come back for you.”

As Tirek closed the cupboard door, Spike quickly pushed his vest in the way of the lock. The Giant turned the key and walked away assuming he had successfully locked Spike inside. From the table below, Fluttergoose and Lyrity caught sight of Spike’s trick; they obviously didn’t want to perish so Lyrity intended to use her music to aid in Spike’s escape. She and Fluttergoose turned their attention to Tirek and trotted towards his hand that was resting on the table.

“Excuse me, master?” Fluttergoose quietly asked. “Lyrity and I have something we’d like to offer you.”

“Yes, yes! Might Fluttergoose and I play you a tune before you… do away with us?” Lyrity added meekly.

“What kind of tune are you intending?” Tirek asked, a suspicious look in his eyes.

“Perhaps… something soothing.” Lyrity offered.

“Like a nice, calm lullaby.” Fluttergoose added.

They looked at each other and nodded. Soon, Lyrity began to play a slow melody while she and Fluttergoose were singing a sweet lullaby along with the calm and beautiful strumming she made. Of course, Tirek was helpless to the hypnotic song and he soon rested his head on the table.

After a few minutes of silence, Spike could finally hear Tirek’s loud snores through the wood of the cabinet door. He struggled to get the spoon free from the door’s lock, then he opened it as quietly as he possibly could. Being careful not to make a sound, Spike leapt from the cupboard and onto the countertop. Fluttergoose and Lyrity smiled as Spike made his way from the counter over to the table.

“Spike! You’re okay!” They quietly exclaimed.

“Nice job distracting the Giant, girls. Now let’s get out of here.” Spike said as he led his new friends to the leg of the table and as far from the sleeping Giant as possible.

But as they were tiptoeing away, Fluttergoose and Lyrity each let out a soft cough. Spike gasped in fear and covered their mouths with his claws.

“Guys, careful! We can’t risk letting the Giant hear us and catch us.” Spike quietly exclaimed, watching Tirek fearfully.

“I’m sorry, Spike.” Fluttergoose said.

“Me, too.” Lyrity added.

“It’s okay. Come on.” Spike whispered as he and his friends continued on their way.

As the trio began to sneak away, Spike suddenly felt a tickle in his nose. It grew stronger and stronger and he didn’t know why. He looked around and saw a large dragon sneeze tree sitting nearby; he gulped.

‘Oh no…’ Spike thought as he felt a sneeze coming on.

Lyrity saw the tree and tried to cover Spike nose with her hoof, but it was too late. Spike had already let out a loud, deafening sneeze followed by a huge blaze of green fire; Lyrity and Fluttergoose covered their eyes in fright. Soon after, Spike quickly covered his mouth with his claws at the realization of what just happened. He closed his eyes in shame when he heard the unwelcomed sound of the Giant waking up.

“Nice going.” Lyrity worriedly grumbled; Fluttergoose nodded and covered her face with her wings in fear.

“Uh, excuse me…” Spike muttered.

“What is going on here?! What was that noise?! My Harp! My Goose! My prisoner! Where are they!?” Tirek roared. Then he spotted the trio trying to escape.

“RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!” Spike screamed, holding onto Fluttergoose as she started flapping her large wings.

“Wait for me!” Lyrity objected, pursuing Spike and Fluttergoose.

They safely made it down to the floor and Spike pulled Fluttergoose towards the door with Lyrity following close behind. As Spike and his friends ran closer towards the exit, Tirek listened for the sounds of tiny hurried footsteps until he spotted the trio making their exit. He growled and raced for the open door ahead of them, but Spike was too fast and Tirek couldn’t keep up with him.

Spike, Lyrity, and Fluttergoose made their way outside the castle and closer to the beanstalk. The Giant was now hot on their tail.

“COME BACK HERE, THIEF! TRAITORS! I WILL DESTROY YOU! ALL OF YOU!” Tirek roared.

Spike put Lyrity onto the vine wrapped around the beanstalk beside Fluttergoose and then got behind the two to push them.

“Wait! What are you doing?! Stop!” Lyrity objected.

“Oh my! Please don’t!” Fluttergoose cried worriedly.

“Hang on, girls; it’s gonna get a little bumpy!” Spike said, pushing his friends onto the beanstalk then hopping onto it behind them.

With a loud and excited “YAHOO!” the trio slid down the vine wrapped around the beanstalk, Lyrity and Fluttergoose screaming in terror the entire ride down.

Ms. Sparkle waited half the day for her son to return; she was so worried about him that she paced the ground near the stalk and worn a small rut into the dirt. She soon looked back up at the beanstalk curiously when she heard the strange sound of the shrieking Goose and the screaming Harp. Much to her surprise, Spike and his two new companions jumped off of the beanstalk missing the farmhouse roof and landing in the dead fields right beside the house. Spike ran straight to his mother with his friends close behind and he hugged Ms. Sparkle tightly with several drops of sweat running down his face and body.

“Spike?!? What’s going on?! What happened?!” Ms. Sparkle asked worriedly.

“Mom! Get me the axe, quick! He could get down here any minute!” Spike shouted in distress.

“What? Who?!”

“No time to explain! Just get me the axe!”

Worried and confused by her son’s urgent request, Ms. Sparkle ran into the farmhouse, came back outside with the biggest axe she could find, and reluctantly gave it her son. When he took the axe in his claws, Spike ran back to the beanstalk and he started to chop it with every ounce of his strength. Spike was terrified if he failed to save his new friends and his mother, of course, but he knew he would never let that happen not while he was around, so he continued to chop. Once the axe began chipping away at the beanstalk, Tirek was climbing down as best as he could, trying to reach the ground and Spike and his friends and his mother.

“Spike, what the hay happened up there?!” Ms. Sparkle asked.

“Hurry, Spike! He’s getting closer!” Lyrity cried, keeping her focus in the sky.

“Almost done!” Spike said.

“Oh, I can’t look!” Fluttergoose squeaked, hiding her face again.

Before the Giant could reach the ground however, Spike’s axe had already cut clean into the beanstalk’s thick stem and the entire plant began to topple over. Tirek was so surprised that he accidentally let go of the beanstalk and he fell to the ground with the beanstalk crashing down on top of him; he was never heard from again.

“Wow…” Spike said as he wiped sweat from his brow; he knew he had won.

After the beanstalk and Tirek were gone, Spike and his mother delighted in their new pet, Fluttergoose. They would take many of the golden eggs she laid almost every day and sell them, but some they would keep for themselves. Lyrity would usually spend her free time playing beautiful songs for Spike and Ms. Sparkle as they collected their new crop, which they always loved to hear.

And with the money they earned selling the eggs of gold, Spike and Ms. Sparkle were finally able to pay off all of their debts and from that time on, they all lived happily ever after.

Comments

[Godslittleprincess]

Hmm, a lot of the wording was strangely similar to Magpiepony's Pinkie Tales version. Maybe this story has been told and retold a certain way enough times that certain words and phrases kind of end up becoming memorized with the story?

[Foxhelm]

9258734
yeah, that does happen to stories. I must admit though, while Applejack and the Beanstalk is a better pun, Spike fits the role of 'jack' better than AJ.

[theanonymousbrony]

“Not another word, Spike! To bed without supper for you! I’ll have to come up with another plan to get food around here. Oh, what are we going to do…?”

That's what you get when you send a kid to do a grownups job. I mean, if I needed to pay my rent I wouldn't have my four year old nephew hand deliver the money to my landlord.

“Fee Fi Fo Fum! I smell the stench of an Equestrian!” He roared.

You left out the part where he says, "Be he alive, or he be dead, I'll grind his bones to make my bread!"

They looked at each other and nodded. Soon, Lyrity began to play a slow melody while she and Fluttergoose were singing a sweet lullaby along with the calm and beautiful strumming she made. Of course, Tirek was helpless to the hypnotic song and he soon rested his head on the table

I imagine the song must've went something like this: