Do the ponies deserve Spike?

[hironakamura 126]

 

 

Spike is a great character. He's kind and generous and is always willing to go the distance for the ponies. So why is it that the ponies don't seem to treat Spike better?

 

Sometimes, I think the ponies consider Spike like a pet or a slave. They take him for granted and work him to the ground for them. They don't invite him to their parties and their picnics and stuff. And if Twilight's not there, no Spikes allowed. Spike even did the decorations for his OWN birthday.

 

Rarity, the girl Spike likes, takes advantage of his feelings for her. She makes him do stuff like take out the garbage or take things from him like his fire ruby. We don't even know if she likes him back or is just a broken heart waiting to happen.

 

I think Spike should have stayed with the dragons or at least made the ponies prove they really like Spike to make him come back. Spike is a great friend but I think the ponies don't deserve the friendship that he offers.

[FLARE 952]

I have to agree with you, the ponys abuse spike all the time.

Sometimes I feel as if I am being used in a similar fashion to the way spike is by my peers.

[Key Gear 6,663]

Ok, yeah that picture that you included in your post is pretty sad. I winced when I realized what it was when I was rewatching the episode. That was pretty bad.

 

With that said, I don't think that we can read much into it. I get the general impression from the show that all of the mane 6 sort of treat Spike as their younger brother. This means that they probably don't give him quite as much respect as he should get. However, it also means that they all really care about him and his safety.

 

I don't get the impression that they treat him as a pet or a slave. The work that Spike does is literally his job. He works as Twilight's assistant in the Library. The job isn't easy, but it seems as though he really does enjoy his job. As a matter of fact, he panicked when it looked like he was being replaced by Owloysius.

 

Spike has demonstrated that he is self-aware, intelligent, and capable of reasoning things out. If the situation was really as bad as all that, then why would he stay? Why would he be upset when he was being replaced? You know, some folks actually like working. Maybe Spike is one of them?

 

Rarity, the girl Spike likes, takes advantage of his feelings for her. She makes him do stuff like take out the garbage or take things from him like his fire ruby. We don't even know if she likes him back or is just a broken heart waiting to happen.

 

I'm going to be honest with you. I may joke around about alternative interpretations on this forum, but I really do think of Spike's feelings for Rarity as being sort of like when a younger kid has a crush on a teacher or something like that.

 

Besides, in the most recent episode, I really do have to say that Rarity had more of a motherly attitude towards Spike than anything else. She is caring of him and protective but there does not seem to be much "romantic" stuff there from her end of things. (In before SpikexRarity shippers take me to the chopping block.)

 

This is taken from a post that I did a while back.....

 

I would like to present a different way of looking at the whole fire ruby incident. Rarity did not push Spike to give her the gem.

 

She told him (quite clearly) that she thought the gem was fabulous, but Spike gave her the gem of his own free will. To Spike, it was more important for Rarity to be happy than for him to eat the Fire Ruby. He made that decision. Not her.

 

Giving Rarity the gem was a tremendous act of generosity. In fact, it was that single act of generosity that was able to completely undo the transformation that occurred in Spike due to the many acts of greed that he committed afterwards.

 

Think about it. If Spike had not shown generosity to the Rarity then it is possible that nothing would have been able to reverse his transformation. Rarity did not use Spike, she actually saved him.

 

This kind of makes sense though, doesn't it? Rarity is the element of generosity. Generosity can be both given to others and received.

 

Finally, let's all put this into perspective. Spike gets to spend an inordinate amount of time hanging out with 6 of the most awesome ponies in Equestria and they are female. Most guys would kill to take his place. I'm serious here. Look, if Spike is being tortured then I wouldn't mind some of this torture.

 

Edit: I left out some stuff the first time due to sloppy copy-pasting. Also, please note, my last paragraph is intended for humorous purposes and is not to be taken at face value (maybe).

Edited April 4, 2012 by Scootacool

[Gizmo 206]

He really doesn't get the respect he deserves. They do make him do things for him a lot, but when there's something he wants to do he can't because they pull the "You're a baby dragon" card. They rely on him a bit too much.

[SrFrog 927]

Well they cared enough about him to face-off against dragons and in the case of Twilight she did that twice. That's already more than what most people would do. Granted, I don't know they could perhaps show a bit more of appreciation.

[Crazy Misty 653]

I agree so much, Spike is treated horribly.

 

Let's look at winter wrap up, normal episode, nothing happens right? Well what about the end where they leave him on a FUCKING melting ice block, ONTOP OF FREEZING WATER, is that REALLY how you treat a friend, or even a pet?

 

And what about S2 ep 10, Rarity saw how much he loved that diamond but nope she decided to take advantage of him and get it off him, ON HIS OWN FREAKING BIRTHDAY!

[FedoraMemes 582]

Like Scootacool said, it was Spike's decision to give Rarity the gem. She never used him. And at the end of winter wrap up, that was probably something that the animators put in as a little joke.

 

All Spike is doing is his job. He chose to become Twilight's assistant, and even though at times, it appears that Spike isn't getting any respect, you can tell that the Mane 6 care about him very much.

 

I also think that when Spike was taking the trash out for Rarity, he probably chose to do that, as he appears to 'love' her so much, he would supposedly do anything for Rarity to show how much he cared for her.

 

I also think the picture was a little joke put in by the animators.

[Crazy Misty 653]

Like Scootacool said, it was Spike's decision to give Rarity the gem. She never used him.

 

 

But the only reason he did that is because she flirted with him (sort of) he wouldn't have given it to her normally.

[FedoraMemes 582]

But the only reason he did that is because she flirted with him (sort of) he wouldn't have given it to her normally.

 

Suppose...

[Key Gear 6,663]

But the only reason he did that is because she flirted with him (sort of) he wouldn't have given it to her normally.

 

So, she batted her eyes at him a bit. Big deal. That was just asking him for the gem in a feminine way. There is a really huge gap between asking someone for something and taking advantage of someone.

 

Trust me on this. A pretty girl may ask a guy to do something, but the guy still has complete free will and control of his thinking processes. He is not being "taken advantage of" he is trying to make a girl that he cares about a happier person.

 

But besides that, Spike and Rarity were friends. Rarity asked Spike if he would give the gem to her. He said yes. So, this means that she was taking advantage of him? Did you see the way he reacted? Spike almost short-circuited due to sheer happiness overload. To him, the trade was worth it and then some. How was he taken advantage of?

 

<rant>

I have a question. If the roles had been flipped and Spike had been the handsome guy getting stuff from Rarity who was the under-appreciated nice girl, would everyone constantly make such a big deal of this? I doubt it.

 

I keep hearing dudes go on and on about "feminine wiles". I find this to be a bit annoying. Surely everyone realizes that there is a such thing as "masculine wiles" as well. How come no one ever makes such a big deal out of those?

 

How about another hypothetical. What if it had just been two guys and one simply said to the other, "dude, could I have that for my collection". And then the other guy said, "sure". Would that have been been one dude "taking advantage of another"?

 

Have you ever asked someone for something and then received it? Would you consider that you were taking advantage of the person that gave you something?

</rant>

 

Stewie, I really do understand where you are coming from, and I do not really intend for you to think that this rant is directed at you. It isn't really. It is just me standing on top of my soapbox shouting out at the world while pulling out my hair. Don't take it personally. I just wanted to present a different way of looking at things.

 

Edit: I needed to cool this down. I got a bit carried away.

Edited April 4, 2012 by Scootacool

[hironakamura 126]

In my opinion, it doesn't really matter how one thinks Rarity likes Spike. Whether it be friendly or otherwise, it has equal merit.

 

The sad part is, if you think Rarity only likes Spike as a friend/child/pet, then it puts Rarity in the worst possible light. Why doesn't she just tell him instead of stringing him along making it look like she's after more favors from the little guy only for it to escalate later on as a worst possible heart ache for Spike when he figures it out for himself?

 

Spike and Rarity aside, I think the ponies treat Spike as "a" friend but not really "their" friend. They didn't invite him to the picnic in Lesson Zero and they didn't invite him to the first party in Party of One even though he was present o both episodes. They seem to appreciate him in Owls Well that Ends Well for the picnic that he prepared but apparently, the owl got a similar treatment for doing absolutely nothing.

 

I think Spike should have friends of his own instead of hanging out with ponies that don't appreciate that crap that he goes through for them. Maybe a rehashed version of the dragon gang that's a lot less "alpha" would be nice.

[Cloud_Jumper_189 56]

Spike is such a badass, but he chooses to live with the ponies in Ponyville. I don't think he would if he didn't love them- we saw in episode 21 that he can be strong willed- but he stays anyway. So I'm not sympathetic to Spike because it's his choice and he's happy with it.

[hironakamura 126]

Spike is such a badass, but he chooses to live with the ponies in Ponyville. I don't think he would if he didn't love them- we saw in episode 21 that he can be strong willed- but he stays anyway. So I'm not sympathetic to Spike because it's his choice and he's happy with it.

 

Is it really his choice or... maybe he doesn't have any where else to go.

[Demi 545]

Spike IS a slave.

 

Imagine he's like a house elf from Harry Potter. It seems rough how they treat them, but they love it. He lives to serve.

[Cloud_Jumper_189 56]

Is it really his choice or... maybe he doesn't have any where else to go.

Well, he went off with the dragons and proved that he can pretty much survive on his own due to being a dragon, and there're always dragons around for him to go to... wasn't hard for him to find them. He could go pretty much wherever.

[hironakamura 126]

Well, he went off with the dragons and proved that he can pretty much survive on his own due to being a dragon, and there're always dragons around for him to go to... wasn't hard for him to find them. He could go pretty much wherever.

 

He would have stayed with the dragons but he couldn't stomach their ways and part of this is due to his pony upbringing. I don't think he can live with dragons anymore. Its like a bear raised in captivity. They can never be released in the wild because they'll never survive.

[Marcusaralius76 150]

The loyal slave learns to love the lash

[Nate 17]

The ponies don't treat Spike very well at all unless they need him to do something. I mean Twilight didn't even let the little guy sleep in when he needed it. I think they do care about him but they are used to being with other ponies not dragons.

[GrooveBroove 680]

They do treat him like junk pretty often.

Thinking about it now though I would relate it to one of those friends.

I think some of you know what i'm talking about, the friend that's treated a bit differently from the rest of the group.

But in the end if shit went down everyone would be there for them just the same as any of the other friends.

Which is what we saw basically in dragon quest.

[hironakamura 126]

They do treat him like junk pretty often.

Thinking about it now though I would relate it to one of those friends.

I think some of you know what i'm talking about, the friend that's treated a bit differently from the rest of the group.

But in the end if shit went down everyone would be there for them just the same as any of the other friends.

Which is what we saw basically in dragon quest.

 

I would have agreed with this if AJ, PP and FS were there to help Spike in DQ. I guess they just didn't feel as guilty as the three ponies who were there in the episode for driving Spike away.

[Cloud_Jumper_189 56]

He would have stayed with the dragons but he couldn't stomach their ways and part of this is due to his pony upbringing. I don't think he can live with dragons anymore. Its like a bear raised in captivity. They can never be released in the wild because they'll never survive.

We saw him surviving for at least 5 days on his own before he even got to the dragons. It's not a problem with survival, which is why I'm saying he likes living with le ponies.

[hironakamura 126]

We saw him surviving for at least 5 days on his own before he even got to the dragons. It's not a problem with survival, which is why I'm saying he likes living with le ponies.

 

There's no argument he likes living with ponies. But do the ponies have to treat him so servant-like? Do you like it when they treat him unfairly? Spike is one of my fave characters and even though Spike likes to be treated like a slave, the ponies shouldn't be doing that to the little guy.

[Cloud_Jumper_189 56]

There's no argument he likes living with ponies. But do the ponies have to treat him so servant-like? Do you like it when they treat him unfairly? Spike is one of my fave characters and even though Spike likes to be treated like a slave, the ponies shouldn't be doing that to the little guy.

I don't really mind because I know he wouldn't put up with it if he didn't love them and love his conditions. I'm sure he's happier there than he would be anywhere else. And hey, whose life is perfect?

[Nah 3,182]

Spike is baws:

 

 

 

 

[The Alpha Team 51]

I do think the Ponies care and deserve to have Spike as a friend but he needs more respect

I'm hoping season 3 gives him a PROPER growth spurt so he about a Dragon toddler, since he's a baby dragon now

Hoping his post growth spurt look is cooler, maybe a bit more intimidating, but deserving of more respect

I'm also hoping he becomes slightly more dragon like, the positive aspects not the negative ones, and he hopefully spurts wings.

Why the wings? Cuz wings are cool