After Twilight realized that Spike had almost no friends his own age in Ponyville and his life as her assistant might not truly be what he wants, Spike agrees to go to attend a school in Manehatten to find out what it is to find a life of his own. Here, he'll find out who he really is as an individual and what the ponies in his life really mean to him.
Cover art by the talented artist bricu
Made it to the popular box around 2:30 on January 22nd. I would like to sincerely thank all of the readers for their support of my story 
Chapters (1)
Can't wait until the next chapter
3828242
Gotta work on a couple other stories
It will be a little while in the coming
3828248
I shall wait for it
3828255
I look forward to your anticipation
Wait, wait wait...
Babs Seed... and Spike romance? And NON-clop?
derpicdn.net/img/2012/11/2/139438/full.jpg
3828267
I hope I do not disappoint 
I am both surprised and honored, sir
Babs Seed X Spike = Speed Bike! This is the official ship name. Wear it with pride.
3828323
That's hawt. I like it
3828323
3828330
I'm... not entirely sure what to do with that title... Should I equip it? Or is it closer to a temporary tattoo? Maybe I should get my boating license so I can ship properly
Hmm...
First off, as I said above, the very concept of a Spike/Babs ship fic is enough for me to fave.
That said, you do have a few issues. Missing commas, incorrect punctuation and the like are the most prevalent. Nothing deal-breaking, but noticeable. Beyond that, your dialogue is a bit... stilted. Like, everyone sounds the same. Character voice is a hard thing to get right. Spike should be a bit more relaxed in his speech, use more vernacular and contractions.
Anywho, I really did enjoy this. Here's hoping you continue this at some point!
3828392
That I will and that's one of the big issues with a large volume chapter, the fine combing. I've spent many a long night on it and had it proof read, yet still things slip through -.- Did you enjoy the Gramlins reference I managed to sneak in?
worth a fav and a thumbs up.
^_^
3828535
I'm glad you're enjoying it so far
Thank you very much
You did a very good job on your story. I am already hooked and want to see what happens next. I want to see Spike ace the test with a perfect score and get in the culinary club lol. It will be interesting to see him grow out of the small town and come into his own in the city. Can't wait to see all the girls that are going to fall for his scaly charm lol
3828595
I have a few things planned for the next chapter, though I do have some updating I must work on first :b If you're interested in a bit of eccentricity, feel free to check out my story The Pony That Is Never There, I feel that you won't be disappointed for general strangeness and an interesting story
Holy shit word count.
Well better get reading.
3828677
Longest chapter for any of my stories to-date... Give me time though...
3828392 That'd be my fault. I was too lazy to point out every single punctuation error in prereading, so I just left a blanket "you need to watch out for this" for some stuff.
3828855
I'm sure we'll nit pick everything out before too long
You're not entirely at fault either there. It was also a long and late night for me and I may have just... missed a bit as far as everything goes
3828868 Well, in my defense (and yours), this thing is a bitch and a half to proofread.
3828872
This one chapter easily doubles any of my previous chapters in sheer volume
I will agree with you there
I absolutely love it.
when will the next chapter be out. OOHH! I just can't wait!
3830140
I'm glad you're enjoying it so far
Interesting set up and shipping with a plot that I can agree with. It's well written and thought out. You have my attention and respect.
3832026
I thank you greatly and I'm glad you're enjoying it
A Spikecentric fic with Twilight being proactively worried about how she might be abusing his status as her assistant that doesn't immediately dwell upon the drama of Spike apparently being the only dragon living amongst ponies, with everyone discussing things sensibly, making informed decisions and Spike going off to school with nary a hint that he will endure a trial of prejudice and racism (though that last bit's still up in the air as we're still at the starting line). This may very well be one of the most original Spike fics I've seen in a while. Looking forward to the rest.
3832109
I have high hopes for this story 
I figured that Spike needed a real coming of age/slice of life story and this came about
if I may give just one suggestion: try to have shorter chapters... because not everyone has the time to read 20k long chapters in a single sitting
3832147
I'll see what I can do, but sometimes there's no good place to make a clean break. It just kept flowing on and day-by-day chapter would have been way too choppy.
3832154 I can understand that... and I would suggest to chop somewhere between every 2k and 5k words at transitional parts of the story; like when the characters leave to go somewhere, or when an amount of uneeded time passes (like sleeping with unimportant dreams)
like here:
3832159
I normally don't mind slightly smaller chapters, but then again, I do enjoy an invested chapter too. I would call it a tendency of my avid reading hobby. I'll see what I can do though.
3832168 well, like I said, it's just a suggestion and I didn't honestly expect you to even listen to me this long in the first place
3832176
Constructive criticism should always be taken with a grain of salt. If you took the time to offer advice, it's only right that I respectfully reply and consider your advice. Only a fool ignores sound advice, my friend
If Spike passes the trials then where will he stay during his school term? All in favor of staying at Babs' place?
3832030 No problem, I like what I like.
aww I know you got to work on other stuff but this is good well written and fun to read. Leaves me smiling at most of it and laughing at the others.
Wow, long ass chapter. But a good read!
3834085
3836048
I'm glad you're both enjoying it so much
I definitely plan on returning to this story sooner rather than later though 
This is what I call 'Slice of life'.
That can only mean!
Drama!
Love!
Hate!
Heartbreak!
Awesome first chapter, and quite well done from what I can tell. Nice to see that I'm not the only one who likes to put meat into their chapters.
Haven't read it yet but HOT DAMN 20k plus words is what i love to see before i browse a story
great work.
3854581
Always glad to hear I'm doing something right
Thank you
I'm really liking this story, the ship, the plot, and the character interactions are all things that I'm looking forward to seeing develop.
This is looking good so far! Keep up the good work!
Looks good so far! And that was a lot to look it in this chapter.
Keep up the good work!
So sleepy, can't comment like this. Will edit or leave another comment later today when I can think in works longer then three syllables. Shouldn't have waited till I early morning to start this whale of a thing.
3974643
It's cool Captain Ahab. Don't sweat the small stuff lol
3975570 I said I'll be back and I am. The story was brilliant and I'll be happy to see what comes next, in the mean time I think I'll spend the time and read some of your other stories. I see that The Pony That Is Never There is tabbed as comedy, I think I'll start with that.
But more about this story, I'd say I have to agree with Dragonpony and would like to see how Spike deals with the entrance exam and would also like to see him in a Culinary Arts program then again I'm biased like that being a Culinary Major myself. Moguera mentioned something about prejudice and racism in his comment while I'm sure if such things were to happen to Spike at the school it will toned way down compared to some other fics I've read, but personally I am expecting a bit. For one, he will be in a building full of teenagers, whether it's over looks, social status or some other thing someone will be there to antagonize him or his friends. And I see that as a great way to add drama and meaning to this story, it's a story about self discovery and things like this seem to happen to everyone making it a great way for readers to connect to the characters. I'm also very happy with the way you're weaving the relationships together, everyone is in character to the point that I'm able to read their line in their voices. That's not something I do very often, and shows how talented you. So far this story I believe is of good enough quality that I think it would make a great official spin-off of the series.
As for the size of the chapter, I believe that it could have been broken up into a few smaller chapters but that it was a wise decision not to. Maybe a Page Break, or whatever FIMFic uses, when the setting changes would be enough to make an end of a scene without making the story seem choppy as multiple chapters would have. Other than that I can't see anything that stands out that would detract the enjoyment of this story. I'm terrible with spelling and grammar so I never notice things like that unless it's world-breaking, something that makes me stop and reread the paragraph a time or two, and I didn't see not one of those kind of mistakes while reading, kudos to you and everyone who helped.
Final words: keep up the good work, but don't work too hard and burn yourself out, the last thing any of us (the readers, your fans) want is for this project to seem like work rather then be fun way to express yourself.
P.S. In honor of this being the longest chapter of a multi-chapter story I've decided on making this the longest comment I have ever left on this site and probably on the internet as as whole.