The Twilight Spike relationship and Spike at your Service · 9:47pm Dec 29th, 2012
Why does an episode centered around Spike and AJ make me wonder about Spike and Twilight?
Lets begin with what we know about Spike and how this episode changes what we know about the past.
Spike gets a day off and after finding out that his entire to do list encompasses three things he sets off to find something to do. It seems obvious to me that Spike has less of a life outside of the library than even Twilight and that most of his activities involve working with Twilight or at least in her vicinity. We vary rarely see Spike away from Twilight for any length of time. This episode is full of those rare moments and Spike feels different from previous shows. for ex.
Cooking. Spike cooks for Twilight alot. (enough for the fandom to believe that Twilight is incapable of cooking for herself) Yet somehow Spike can not go into a kitchen without destroying everything. multiple times. The best example of this is the baked bad pie he cooked up at the Apple family ranch with Granny Smith. Spike has baked before, he even supplied the food for multiple picnics (and was complimented on how good it was). Why did he fail? What changed?
Cleaning. Spike cleans and maintains order in the library at least as much as Twilight does. He sorts books and cleans messes (usually caused by Twilight or her friends). He is definitely a young drake that knows how to use a mop and bucket. Yet somehow he can not touch a mop without knocking over the bucket. He can not clean without causing an even larger mess. What changed? Why the sudden onset of clumsy?
For almost the entire episode Spike stops being Spike and turns into .. Sweetie Belle? cooking disasters ... cleaning disasters ... Spike might as well be a fourth (he HAS been on the show longer than Babs after all) member of the CMC. Spike changed from his normal calm cool level headed self into ...what .. a Normal ten year old? Like the CMC? (who are closer to his actual age than anyone else on the show)
Thinking bout this show reminds me of older episodes and the Spike Rarity relationship. Many fans were pretty harsh to Rarity for using Spike as a pincushion and cheep gem digging labor. But what if Spike was not capable of doing more? Would Rarity let Sweetie Belle help her make dresses? No. Sweetie simply does not have the capacity to actually help Rarity in her work. (as demonstrated by Sweeties cooking and other CMC adventures) Rarity may have been demonstrating Generosity by letting him help in any way at all (considering the potential for disaster he showed in Spike at your Service).
The difference i think is Twilight. When Spike is around Twilight he acts older (with some exceptions .. Zombie fears for ex.) than a ten year old should. He maintains a level head when many older characters loose theirs. Except for most of this episode... When did the clumsy Spike turn back into Swag Master Spike? After Twilight comes back into the picture (she was hiding in the tree). At the time Spike did not even know that Twilight was there. (he could have guessed but we do not know)
Spike sees through AJ's plan (not difficult i admit) but when things turn real he steps up to help AJ. He uses his Awesome Plot Armor of Awesomeness to throw a rock and take out the Mecha-Timberwolf. This is a far cry from the uber clutz he was earlier in the show. He even got to deliver a lecture to AJ on how it might be better to Not place her life in danger in the first place. Things end with Spike back with Twilight and her telling him that she would not know what to do without him. Spike is back to being Spike. /cue song/
Why does Spike act so differently away from Twilight?
I have a theory...
Twilight hatched Spike (known fact) using her magic awakened by RD's original sonic rainboom. In my theory Spike and Twilight were both changed by the event. They have a magical connection. A link binding the two of them. Spike got access to Twilight's formidable intellect and gained deeper emotions not demonstrated by Any other dragon (i admit a small example pool) in the show. Twilight gained her full body glowing main and tail on fire Twilight (dragon) rage power and much more important a safety valve (Spike). Spike has shown on many occasions to be able to pop incipient Twilight freak outs in the bud (even breaking the fourth wall to do it on one occasion). My favorite example? In the crystal empire Twilight was freaking out over the test that Celestia was going to give her. What did Spike do? He put on his armor (cute pillows count!) and set forth to poke Twilight with a metaphorical stick. The library exploded but do you know what? After that Twilight got better. She was as calm and collected as Twilight is capable of being.
If there is a link is this all it can do? Can it do more? Spike generating unicorn magic? Twilight having dragon immortality?
I do not know but i think i would like to see fics explore the possibilities.... (even though i am not smart enough to write them myself. )
any thoughts? love hate or indifferent?
feel free to agree with me and write the previously mentioned fic (that i can not write 
)
Counter theory: Spike is a member of a highly dangerous and unstudied race as revealed in Dragon Quest. Twilight has presumably been taking care of him since she hatched him (there is no evidence to say she was given Spike later to disprove this). Ponies, especially unicorns, would not trust a filly with a highly dangerous creature unless precautions are taken, so it is much more likely any magic that bonds Spike with Twilight is of a nature fully known by pony kind. Why do you assume it was Rainbow's sonic rainboom? Is it not possible Celestia's magic that calmed Twilight dispelled any major transfer?
Saw this post and couldn't help but reply that, just to get you thinking.
676268
I always thought that the Rainboom was just a loud explosion and had no magic effect on anyone outside of RD.
Twilight hatched Spike with her own magic (and potentially the Element of Magic if the Element had chosen her at a young age).
Celestia sealing Spike (or linking to him and changing him) is a story element i have seen before and in those fixs Spike looses a bit of his power/intelligence when things happen to Celestia.
I am kinda biased. I have always liked story elements that enhanced a Bro/Sis relationship between Spike and Twilight.
A link that makes them magical/spiritual twins? ...
oh .. thank you for taking the time to read my random fic idea / blog post :D
677959
No prob. you had a catchy title so I stopped in and took a look.
Hey Khatre, I came to take a look at your page since I wanted to see how you were liking the story up to now (regarding Granny Smith's hidden personality) and I stumbled upon your excellent blog post. I'm not one for advertising, but I'm going to go ahead and answer your question on any stories regarding a special bond with Spike. I'm working on something like that, a kind of slight AU that only had one event in the timeline alter everything, and that event was her entrance exam.
I don't wan't to sound like a view whore, sorry for the language, but I just thought that having someone that looks so deeply into small details such as the one's shown timberwolf episode critique it would be fantastic.
~Ink Stroke
695886
).
Thanks for reading my ramblings.
I will keep an eye out for that fic, I have a special place in my heart for Twilight and Spike (although i usually do not ship them together
IMHO they are one of the most underrated relationships in the entire fandom. Very few people (and i think you are one) do it any justice.
if you have read defender2222 and Airstream then you will know what i am talking about.
In my head cannon at least ...
They are friends, closer than blood family and their relationship is not classifiable by any normal definition. (possibly because the show leaves so much unknown about their history)
How old was Twilight when Spike hatched? Were they raised together or separately? When did Celestia give Spike's general welfare to Twilight? I would like to know all these things but somehow i get the feeling that the only place i will ever see any answers is here. Written by fans.
...
I think your Spike blog is better than mine. I do plan on incorporating the connection between Spike and Twi in an upcoming story.
705752
).
I saw their relationship in Under a Luminous Sky. I have not seen any writer do their relationship better and only one do it as well.
I can't wait to see your new fic (although i thought it was going to be a Trixie / Bentgrass fic
705790
Oh, the true sequel is Trixie and Bentgrass in Manehatten. This, while not the official sequel, follows the events from Luminous Sky.
Spike at Your Service sucks pony balls. End of story.
1155886
It is not as bad if there was a Reason that Spike suddenly turned into a incompetent ... because at the end he suddenly becomes competent again when he joins back up with Twilight ... Plus add in the fact that the show never does go into the nature of Twilight's and Spike's relationship ...
The only thing i Really Really dont like that came out of Spike at Your Service was all the Applejack/Timberwolf clopfics that it generated ..
i mean ... i read stories about lesbian ponies all day long but that ? ... Ewww!