Well, this episode was far better than it had any right to be; I mean, c'mon, we've seen this premise a thousand and one times before. Somepony saves somepony else's life, and the other pony feels the need to repay them, and inevitably conflict ensues, whether because they aren't good at helping, their help gets abused, or the one who saved them doesn't feel comfortable getting their help. But my gosh, was the execution good or what?!?! DHX went and did it again, crafting yet another excellent episode with a good lesson about true friendship. So, let's begin with this review, shall we?

So, what did I like about this episode. Well, first of all, it was excellently balanced between Spike and Applejack. DHX has frequently done episodes focusing on two characters in the past, such as "Sisterhooves Social", and we yet again had that in "Spike at Your Service"; the balance in screen time and episode focus on these two characters was outstanding! It really felt focused on both of them the whole time; even as more and more of the Mane 6 got dragged into the situation, the episode's focus, in both screen time and lesson learned, stayed on Applejack and Spike, and that is just incredibly impressive storytelling right there. Even though Spike needed to learn a lesson A LOT more than AJ (seriously, not actually sure what lesson she learned, and frankly I don't think she even learned one, all of the conflict stemmed from Spike's stubborn attachment to his Dragon Code), the lesson learned by Spike was great, and they both reaffirmed their friendship quite nicely. Still, I'll break down next what I especially liked about both characters in this episode, so let's start with Spike.

First, Spike... well, if this episode reconfirmed anything about him, it's that he's bucking funny!!!!!! Seriously, this guy was hilarious the whole episode, from the time he tried to find something to do at the very beginning. However, the thing's he did did actually point to something a little deeper about his character, that being, he's still a baby dragon, not just physically, but in his mental development as well. He's just not that old yet, and, hey, it shows. I mean, seriously, the short list of thing's he'd been hoping to do, the frantic energy and destructive way in which he tried to help AJ! Even the way he got into the Everfree Forest in the first place stems entirely from his limited capacity for thinking things through; I mean, heck, he basically SAW the hot air balloon and thought "Hey, hot air balloon, that looks fun!!!" Now don't get me wrong, I'm not saying Spike's stupid, that couldn't be further from the truth; what I'm saying is he's still young, and as such has a child's, or rather, baby dragon's mind, and it still shows all the time. As such, he also has to learn frequently more basic lessons about friendship than the Mane 6, such as the one he learned here about how true friends just help each other out of friendship or love for one another, not in the hopes of getting something from each other. For instance, last season he learned about how the Mane 6 are not just his friends, but his family, and the season before that he had to come to realize that he could never be replaced by a pet (although honestly Twilight did latch onto Owlowiscious pretty bucking quickly ). Point is, Spike's still growing up, and it shows all the time, but honestly, I don't mind, because like I said earlier, the results are usually hilarious!!! Gosh dang, when Spike sets out to do something, he sets out to do it!!! I will admit, I was a little surprised at how bad Spike was at helping AJ out, since he is an assistant to Twilight after all. IDK, maybe I'd developed this false notion that Spike is some sort of everyman good at all sorts of things, and so was just a little taken aback at how BAD he was at farm chores! But, in the end, it made sense; Spike's good at simpler, quieter chores, such as cleaning and organizing things in the tree house, not baking or other more laborious and demanding farm work. All in all, though, the little guy's heart is in the right place, and he showed it especially when he was willing to stay behind to try and save AJ from what I can only describe as the Megatron of Timberwolves (yeah, more on them later)!!! Spike, you're a funny little dude, but you're also awesome, and I wouldn't have ya any other way!!!

Oh come on DHX, really, a massage? You're practically BEGGING us to ship those two!!!

Next, Applejack. Well, I posted this earlier, but since it's so true, might as well post it again, this was the first thing I thought after AJ saved Spike from those Timberwolves...

And it's true!!!! By Celestia's mane, it's true!!!!! AJ is bucking Batman!!! Seriously, she did not just save Spike once, but TWICE, from Timberwolves (yeah I'm counting that second time, I don't care if she got stuck immediately afterwards, it still counts). She's courageous, got some sweet moves, and ready to help anypony out at anytime! But ya know my favorite part about Applejack saving Spike? Her reaction about it, meaning, her humility! As we saw later in the episode, some of the Mane 6 (*cough* Rarity *cough* Rainbow Dash *cough*) would be more than happy to have Spike as their own personal assistant after saving his life, and I don't blame them for it, that's consistent with their characters, and I'm sure they'd get sick of him just as AJ did after seeing how, well, BAD he was at helping them out. But what was Applejack's reaction from the very get go? She told him to think nothing of it, that that's what friends do for each other! Yeah, she accepted his help, but that's only because he was soooooo insistent that he help her, and she didn't want to make him feel bad about it, not because she actually wanted to take advantage of him. She even got into trouble later on because she didn't want to hurt his feelings and because he was so persistent, along with the fact that she was busy saving his life, AGAIN!!! Applejack once again showed that she is hands down probably the most mature of the Mane 6, particularly in her humility, which is a wonderful and sorely lacking character trait in far too many people these days. In addition to that, Applejack was pretty uncharacteristically funny, especially later in the episode as she got more and more exasperated with Spike and when she was trying to fake being a damsel in distress (seriously, never thought AJ and damsel would ever be spoken about in the same sentence before this episode!). I thought it was also pretty cute and funny when she tried to get Twilight's attention; the fact that she knew so much as poking something out of place would get her Twi's attention just goes to show how close the Mane 6 were at this point in the show, and how well they know each other. Yeah, she didn't really have to learn much of a lesson compared to Spike, and actually helped teach it more than anything, but she did still need Spike's help in the end, so I guess in some ways she learned a minor lesson about accepting somepony else's help when YOU really need it, since, admirable as it was, she was still insisting when she was stuck that Spike save himself. What else can I say except that AJ's awesome, and she had one heck of a Season 3!!!!!!! Keep being awesome AJ!!!!

Well now, let's talk timberwolves. Once again, we had another very cool magical object, or rather, creature, this season, even if it was introduced last season, and I couldn't be happier. Ever since they were introduced in Season 2, timberwolves had struck me as one of the coolest creatures in the MLP universe, and also one of the most original. Their whole design, and the very concept about them, is very cool and creative, and I was very happy to see DHX delving more into timberwolves and explaining what they are. You got the sense from the get-go that these guys are dangerous, I mean, REALLY dangerous creatures, since they have a very menacing and inhuman, or rather, inpony design, even compared to some of the other creatures we've seen. They're savage, they're brutal, and you got the sense the whole time that they'd like nothing better than to tear you apart. Their magical properties are also very cool as well, if not a little disconcerting. I mean, can they actually die? AJ busted them twice and they put themselves back together both times (yeah, I'm kinda sad now that her kill count is nil), and the second time they put themselves back together into this monstrous, ginormous, Mega-Timberwolf thing (WHICH WAS AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!)!!!!!!!!! In addition to the very concept, let me reiterate that their design in general is AWESOME! The animation on them was spectacular, and different compared to the usual Flash animation, and only served to make them appear even more animalistic. Overall, I'm very pleased that DHX decided to return to the timberwolves, since they're such cool creatures, and hope to see more of them in the future!

Next, the Mane 6! There was a lot of the Mane 6 actually, and let me be the first to say, they were bucking hilarious!!! First of all, in an AJ/Spike episode, I did not expect to see as much of Mane 6 as we did. But boy was I wrong!!! Heck, as the episode kept going, we got more and more and MORE of the Mane 6, and it was awesome!!! They just kept getting funnier and funnier! Twilight was hilarious with her assignment (honestly, I doubt that Celestia told her to read those 12 books in a weekend, I figure that was just Twilight's own personal challenge for herself), and then we got RD and Rarity!!! Holy cow, those two were too funny, especially RD (even her popping into the scene out of nowhere was hilarious!)! I wasn't surprised in the slightest that they'd readily take Spike as an assistant, it was hilarious seeing Rarity trying to humor Spike (yet again!!!), and Rainbow Dash is officially the first fan fiction writer of the MLP universe!!! RD even got in over her head (even by her own admission)!!! But the best, and funniest, part had to be at the end once Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, and Twilight joined the group. First, we hadn't gotten to see the Mane 6 in-depth conducting their usual plans that much in Season 3, so that was nice to see again. But boy howdy, it was bucking funny this time!!! That whole plan to get Spike to drop his Dragon Code had me in stitches the whole time, both in the planning and execution!!! Pinkie Pie was, well, Pinkie Pie (what else do you expect) and that moustache gag, though random, was really funny, Rarity's attempts at teaching AJ how to be a damsel were bucking hilarious, RD's timberwolf roar (and Fluttershy's reaction) were both awesome, hilarious, and frankly not surprising, and the fake timberwolf was too funny in it's whole design! Heck, even Twilight jumping out of the woods once the real timberwolves showed up was bucking hysterical, just her whole reaction and everything!!! Overall, considering the episode stayed so nicely focused on AJ and Spike, the fact that we were able to get so much of the Mane 6 was a surprising but awesome treat, and just goes to show yet again how unbelievably good DHX is at pacing episodes!!!

Well, that about does it for this review. The animation was great once again (still can't get over how awesome looking those timberwolves were!!!), the plot was executed outstandingly, and, as I said at the beginning, far better than it had any right to be, all the characters were funny and awesome as usual, and hey, we got another AJ (+Spike) episode that stayed focused on the main characters of the episode, which is AWESOME!!!! Overall, this episode, considering the retread premise, was a very pleasant surprise; although it shouldn't be that surprising at this point how good DHX is at putting together episodes, they just never cease to find a way to surprise me in some new way, and I LOVE IT!!!!!!! This was also a nice episode to end the year 2012 on, and it's a fun one to return to, believe me, even if Spike's OOC incompetency is a bit annoying at times.