Spike

Spike is a male, purple and green baby dragon. He is Twilight Sparkle's assistant, and one of the main characters of My Little Pony Friendship is Magic. He is known for his ability to magically deliver scrolls to and from Princess Celestia with his fire-breath. Spike has a massive crush on one of Twilight's friends, Rarity.

Development
Spike's appearance is based on his Generation 1 incarnation rather than his Generation 3 version, with a few modifications done by Lauren Faust. He is also the second member of the main cast who was part of the original My Little Pony series, next to Applejack. Throughout all of his incarnations, he's consistently been a baby dragon with green spikes, and occasionally his body is pink instead of purple.

Personality
Spike is a bit sarcastic and often laughs at others' misfortunes. However, he is very helpful and supportive towards Twilight. Although protective of his masculinity and often dismissive of things he considers 'girly,' he is often seen being just as enthusiastic about them as any of the others. He can be a bit insecure, especially of his role as Twilight's "Number One Assistant" after her acquisition of a new pet owl.

One trait that has grown over the course of the series is Spike's enjoyment of announcing. He first got into it during Fall Weather Friends where he announced the Iron Pony Competition and later got quite disheartened when Pinkie Pie was set up as the announcer for the Running of the Leaves (and was obviously enthusiastic when she asked him to be her co-announcer). He continues this role in Suited For Success, where he emcees Rarity's fashion show.

History
As a filly, Twilight Sparkle was accepted into Celestia's School For Gifted Unicorns. However, she had to pass an entrance exam. For this exam, Twilight was required to crack a dragon egg - one that happened to contain an unborn Spike. At first, she had difficulty drawing magic from her horn; however, the explosion from Rainbow Dash's sonic rainboom managed to unleash Twilight's latent power, not only giving birth to Spike, but enlarging him several times until he resembled a wingless adult dragon. Princess Celestia, impressed by her talent, undid the magic and took her in as her protegé, with Spike by Twilight's side.

Spike comes to live in Ponyville during Friendship is Magic, part 1. He is presented as Twilight's assistant, mainly sending scrolls to and from the Princess, as well as reading them aloud to her. When Celestia orders her to head to Ponyville for the Summer Sun Celebration, Spike attempts to cheer her up, informing bookworm Twilight that the Princess arranged for her to stay in a library. He seems to enjoy the party Pinkie throws at Twilight's house, and Twilight puts him to bed when Night Mare Moon appears. He is also advised to stay in the house during The Return of Harmony, part 2, but for different reasons.

During Owl's Well That Ends Well, Twilight has a new assistant. In actuality, he is harmless and only assists during the night, but insecure Spike is convinced he's jeopardizing his position and is willing to do anything to convince Twilight Sparkle of this, including attempting to frame him using a toy mouse and some ketchup. Twilight, un-fooled, tells Spike she's disappointed in him and his behavior. He takes this as evidence she no longer loves him, and runs away from home; however, Twilight and Owlowiscious are able to track him down and even manage to save his life. That day, in contrast to the friendship report sent in most episodes, Spike writes the letter to show what he's learned.

Skills


Spike has the ability to transport scrolls back and forth between Twilight Sparkle and Princess Celestia. He sends notes by breathing magic fire onto them and blowing them into the breeze. He sends multiple notes all at once in Griffon the Brush Off, and transports tickets to the Gala in The Ticket Master. Twilight finds him curled up on the floor, groaning and clutching his stomach, after Princess Celestia sends him too many scrolls in The Return of Harmony Part 2.

Spike's fire has different effects on objects in different situations. In Griffon the Brush Off, his fiery hiccups cause Princess Celestia to be showered with a large number of scrolls, which he can also do voluntarily. In Owl's Well That Ends Well, he accidentally incinerates a book with a sneeze. He has also used his fire to cook food, like in Over a Barrel and A Bird in the Hoof.

During the episode A Dog and Pony Show, Spike digs up gems for Rarity. He uses several different techniques, including scrabbling at the ground with his claws, using the splay of his tail as a shovel, and bouncing on his tail like a jackhammer. The effort doesn't seem to tire him in the least. Spike's scales are thick enough that Rarity could use him as a pincushion without hurting him in Green Isn't Your Color, though his tail doesn't seem to be as protected as he appeared to be in pain when she was stepping on it.

In Over a Barrel, Spike was shown as very good at playing pianos.

Spike possesses an iron stomach and is omnivorous in the truest sense of the word. Gemstones are his most favorite food, though he has also been seen eating hay, and says that he likes grass just fine, but wished that restaurants would serve gems. He eats doughnuts in The Best Night Ever, and even eats muffins dug up from the trash that had previously poisoned half the town, in Applebuck Season.

Teacher for a Day description
''Spike is a baby dragon with a big job-he is Twilight Sparkle's Number One Assistant! The two have been friends forever since Twilight Sparkle's first day at Princess Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns in Canterlot.''

''When Princess Celestia sent Twilight to Ponyville to learn about the magic of friendship, Spike was right by her side. And when the Princess has a message for Twilight, she sends a letter to Spike.''

''When Spike belches, he isn't being impolite-he is receiving Princess Celestia's letter! When the ponies want to tell the Princess about their adventures. Spike writes letters and sends them off to Canterlot in a puff of dragon fire.''

Relationships
"...Well, I started out as a cute little purple and green egg..."

- Spike, discussing his life to Fluttershy


 * Princess Celestia — Spike has connections with Princess Celestia by sending out and receiving letters, to and from Twilight Sparkle. In the end of Feeling Pinkie Keen, Princess Celestia collected the letter from Spike, rather than him sending it. At the end of The Return of Harmony Part 2, you see him standing right beside Princess Celestia. In Lesson Zero, Spike informed Princess Celestia to help Twilight Sparkle with her worries on not written a letter to her in a week.
 * Twilight Sparkle — Although Spike is ostensibly Twilight Sparkle's assistant, he at times takes on the role of baby brother or adviser. He's never shy about pointing out her failings, often with sarcasm and jokes. However, the two share a sincere affection, and he is always ready to support her when she gets in real trouble. It's also worth noting that the two have known each other since the moment Spike was hatched, as shown in the The Cutie Mark Chronicles. In Lesson Zero, Spike shows that he was worried for Twilight Sparkle, as she got her worries in a twist, so worried that he had to contact Princess Celestia to help deal with her problems.
 * Rarity — Spike develops a crush on Rarity the moment he saw her, and he sometimes goes to great lengths for her attention. In Green Isn't Your Color, he gladly offers his body as a pincushion for Rarity to use, while she designs a dress. In Boast Busters, he tries to impress her with a mustache conjured through Twilight's magic. However, this attempt was met with little success. Spike thinks that maybe the mustache wasn't enough, and he considers adding a beard, too. Because he loves her so much, Spike is also shown to be protective about Rarity. This was especially shown in A Dog and Pony Show, when even though he is all but defeated, Spike still tries to find ways to rescue her, like using the gem Rarity gave him earlier as bait for the Diamond Dogs, and even having fantasies of him rescuing her from the dungeon as a strong and muscular knight. Despite all of this, his utter adoration of Rarity is practically unnoticed by her from what it seems, although this may just be because Spike attempts to hide his feelings.
 * Fluttershy — After an awkward first conversation with Twilight, Fluttershy notices Spike and her timidity vanishes immediately. Due to the fact that she has never seen a talking baby dragon before, she requests to learn everything about him, and Spike proceeds to tell her his whole life story up until the day that they had met. Spike is quite close to Fluttershy, looking after her animals for her in Dragonshy, and he hugs her in relief after thinking she was in danger in Feeling Pinkie Keen. In Owls Well That Ends Well, Fluttershy, as well as Rainbow Dash had shown to be more sensitive to Spike than Twilight Sparkle.
 * Pinkie Pie — Spike is often shown reacting positively to Pinkie Pie, if only because he seems to find Twilight's annoyance with her amusing. During Fall Weather Friends, the two share announcing duties, where Spike obviously struggles to keep up with her rather odd commentary. He also helps her out in Over a Barrel by playing the piano during her song. In Party of One, Pinkie's bizarre nature strikes fear into Spike when the former, under the false impression that her friends are avoiding her, aggressively interrogates Spike to find out why they are seemingly ignoring her. Fortunately for Spike, Pinkie's spirits are uplifted later when it's revealed that her friends are in fact getting ready to throw a surprise party for her, and Spike seems to quickly forget Pinkie's moment of madness as he casually feasts on the gems she promised him to give.
 * Applejack — Spike and Applejack regularly have a dismissive attitude towards each other; this is especially noted by the fact that they don't share much spoken dialogue. But Spike has cheered on Applejack twice (in Applebuck Season and Boast Busters). Although tension is unfelt between them, Applejack appears to be fond of him. She seems to take some of his antics in good humor, though, such as when he nearly kisses her in A Dog and Pony Show because he was daydreaming of Rarity.
 * Rainbow Dash — Spike thinks of Rainbow Dash as an amazing athlete and is impressed by her cloud-clearing skills and overall speed. He and Dash are friendly enough that he takes her pranks on him in good humor. In Owls Well That Ends Well, Rainbow Dash, as well as Fluttershy had shown to be more sensitive to Spike than Twilight Sparkle. In The Return of Harmony Part 2 he is temporarily dubbed the new Rainbow Dash against his objections, and fears her reaction when she finds out about it.
 * Scootaloo — In The Cutie Mark Chronicles, Scootaloo said that Spike told her zip-lining was awesome.

Appearances

 * See also character appearances

Spike appears in most episodes with exception of the episodes Look Before You Sleep, Call of the Cutie, Sonic Rainboom and Stare Master.

Gallery

 * Spike image gallery

Trivia

 * Fluttershy calls Spike a "baby" dragon in Friendship is Magic, part 1, and later in a flashback in The Cutie Mark Chronicles Spike is being hatched from a dragon egg by Twilight. This makes him several years younger than Twilight and her friends. Coupled with the hundred-year nap of the dragon in Dragonshy, it's evident that dragons grow to their full size very slowly and may possibly live for thousands of years.
 * Spike prefers to eat gemstones over pony food, as shown in The Ticket Master and subsequent episodes.
 * In the first episode, while telling Fluttershy his life story, Spike says he was hatched from a purple and green egg. In the episode The Cutie Mark Chronicles, it is seen that his egg was lavender with darker purple spots, assuming the dragon Twilight hatched was Spike.
 * Spike is the only main character who has not performed a solo in a musical number.
 * In the episode Griffon the Brush-Off, Spike mentioned he was fireproof, but in Owl's Well That Ends Well, his spines were slightly burned by the wild dragon.
 * Spike lets every pony know how he feels about what he considers overly-sentimental, heart-warming situations by sticking his tongue out and pointing a finger into his open mouth to show disgust. Towards the end of The Ticket Master when the six leading ponies hug each other, Spike's reaction to the situation coupled with the fact he is about to belch out a message from Princess Celestia delivers a rebuke from Applejack.
 * Spike can be heard humming the opening theme in Griffon the Brush Off.

Spike