Characters / Friendship Is Magic: Spike

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Main Index The Main Cast: Twilight Sparkle, Fluttershy, Rarity, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, Spike, Starlight Glimmer, the Cutie Mark Crusaders Supporting Cast: The Princesses (Princess Celestia, Princess Luna), Mane Family Members, the School of Friendship, Ponyville, Other Locations, Animal Companions Antagonists: Major Villains (Queen Chrysalis, King Sombra, Lord Tirek, Cozy Glow), Dangerous Creatures, Jerks and Bullies, Redeemed Antagonists (Discord) World of Equestria: Races, Historical Figures, The 2017 Movie, Expanded Universe, Toyline Exclusive, Miscellaneous Minor Characters: One-Shots, Other Characters, Background Ponies (Common Background Ponies, Special Background Ponies, Other Background Ponies) Equestria Girls: Heroines (Sunset Shimmer), Villains, Supporting Cast

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Fillies love him, bronies want to be him.

^{Click here to see him from Season 8 onwards (spoiler warning)} 

"You really should lighten up, Twilight. It's a party!"

Debut: "Friendship is Magic, part 1" ("Mare in the Moon")

Voiced by: Cathy Weseluck^{Foreign VAs} Cecilia Gómez (Latin American Spanish); Motoko Kumai [Seasons 1-2], Rena Koba [Season 3-onwards] (Japanese), Domika Kluźniak (Polish)

A baby dragon and Twilight Sparkle's "#1 Assistant", before she moved to Ponyville, Spike was her closest companion, the two sharing a relationship that has been an amorphous combination of mother-son, older sister-little brother, and boss-employee. As Twilight's assistant, Spike is her main point of contact with Princess Celestia, able to breathe dragonfire on her letters to magically send them to Canterlot, and then belching out Celestia's response letter a short time later (fortunately, Twilight's outgoing mail arrives at Celestia in a much more dignified manner).

As the series continues and Spike matures, he gets his own ongoing storylines and arcs, which have resulted in him becoming a famed hero on-par with the Mane Six. The Crystal Empire reveres him as "Spike the Brave and Glorious" for his role in defeating King Sombra, and the leaders of the dragons and the changelings consider him a personal friend. But of course, he's still primarily Twilight's friend and aide, ready to help her with anything she may need, be it an academic test, saving Equestria from destruction, or just keeping Twilight's neurotic mind focused on the task at hoof.

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Tropes A–C

• Abandoned Catchphrase: Attempts to give Spike a Character Catchphrase ("Holy Guacamole!") in "Feeling Pinkie Keen" have mysteriously vanished.
• Abdicate the Throne: Spike passes the Bloodstone Scepter to Ember, as she is more capable of being Dragon Lord than he is and he has no desire to stay in the dragon lands. Spike only participated in the first place because he wanted to make sure Torch's successor wouldn't wage war on pony kind for petty reasons, which he is sure Ember won't do, and he was only able to obtain the scepter in the first place because she held off Garble for him.
• Achilles in His Tent: After Spike butchers the Cloudsdale anthem, he spends the remainder of the Games sulking in his room pretending to pack for the train ride home. He completes this trope with his Big Damn Heroes moment of melting the cloud iceberg.
• Acrofatic: Downplayed. Spike is pudgy for a dragon his size, but he's also strong and athletic when the situation calls for it.
• Acting Unnatural: In the Cold Open of "Molt Down", Spike hides his first stone scale by putting his claw over his cheek. Rarity quickly realizes something is off.
• Adaptational Badass:
  • In the cartoon, Spike tends to be weak, childish, and clumsy, usually limited to emotional and mental support for the ponies. His comic book counterpart is noticeably more competent and brave. So far he's helped fight off a Changeling invasion, infiltrated the palace of the Nightmare Forces by himself (and then escaped capture), helped Luna solve a series of arson attacks in Fillydelphia, helped Zecora cure Ponyville of a disease (and figured out the cause of it by himself, to boot), and went on an adventure with Celestia to the Crystal Mountains. Additionally, in a throwaway joke, it's implied he and Celestia defended Canterlot against an invasion of giant, mutant, magic-infused cockatrices, riding the Princess herself into battle while wielding a trident. However, with it being revealed Spike wrote the comics in-universe and a Straw Fan calling the cockatrice invasion a fabricated event and it not being the only one, it's debatable just how true any of these accounts are.
  • Compared to previous Spikes, as he's managed huge blasts of fire on more than one occasion and is the first Spike to be capable of flight.

• Aesop Amnesia:
  • Played with in "Just For Sidekicks". Despite how awful he felt at the time, Spike seems to have forgotten the disastrous events resulting from his greed on his first birthday in Ponyville (offering to watch the Mane Six's pets just so he can get some jewels that he intends to make part of a cake for himself), until Zecora pointedly reminds him. It's possible that Spike doesn't feel he's being too greedy himself since he's not getting the jewels by force but as payment for a service he's offering.
  • "Dragon Quest" examined Spike's conflict of identity between being a dragon and being a pony by having him join the dragon migration to learn how to be a "real" dragon. The episode ended with him realizing that who is he and what he is are not incompatible ideas, so he rejects the dragons he met because they were a bunch of Jerkasses, embraces the Mane Six as the only family he needs, and is proud of the good virtues and values he's learned by living with ponies. In "Father Knows Beast", Spike has the exact same conflict and resolution, although he already starts with the knowledge that the ponies are his family. It is only when Sludge is starting to question Spike's "dragonish-ness" while presenting himself as his father that Spike starts to think he needs to change.
• Ain't Too Proud to Beg: When The Mane-iac uses her hairspray to paralyze and capture the Power Ponies, Spike begs her not to use it on him when she briefly holds it up to him, shouting "Don't spray!" in terror. Fortunately, she doesn't use it on him, but unfortunately it is just to laugh at him and tell him he isn't worth using it on.
• All for Nothing: Throughout the episode Just for Sidekicks, Spike is forced to give away all but one of the gems the Mane 6 gave him for watching the pets and then he eats the last one before he can bake it into his cake, making everything he went through in the episode completely fruitless.
• All Love Is Unrequited: He has a major crush on Rarity who seems to either not notice this or not care. She never shows any indication that she could imagine getting together with him but isn't really bothered by the notion. This status quo is demolished at the climax of "Secret of My Excess" when Spike finally confesses his feelings to Rarity. Not only did she know all along, but she was also deeply moved.
• All There in the Manual: According to out-of-show material (including some Word of God), it was Princess Celestia who raised Spike and taught him how to magically send messages. However, this was just a concept that was never actually added to the show and was later abandoned. In "Dragon Quest", Twilight says that Spike was given to her as an egg while "Cutie Mark Chronicles" shows that Twilight earned her cutie mark by hatching Spike. Issue #40 of the comics reveal that Celestia took care of Spike for a few months, until Twilight began attending Princess Celestia's School For Gifted Unicorns and from there, Twilight raised Spike more or less on her own. Finally, Spike himself has confirmed twice that he was raised by Twilight in "Father Knows Beast".
• Always Save the Girl: One of the main reasons he's so protective of Rarity, particularly against the Diamond Dogs.
• Always Second Best: Initially had this thought about Owlowiscious, because the owl kept one-upping him.
• Anguished Declaration of Love: Spike tries to confess his crush to Rarity while both are plummeting to their deaths.
• Appropriated Appellation: Played With. One of the dragons insults Spike, saying he looks more like a "Peewee". Spike gives the baby phoenix that name.
• Armor-Piercing Response: When Twilight expresses how worried she is about Sludge taking advantage of the young dragon, Spike delivers one to her so strong that an X-ray of Twilight shows her heart breaking.
  Spike: Maybe you just don't like that I have a real parent now.
• "Ass" in Ambassador: Spike tries to keep Thorax and Ember happy by pawning them off on his friends and ends up ditching them several times, making matters worse. His breakdown that interrupts Thorax and Ember about to come to blows says it all:
  Spike: My title of Equestria's Friendship Ambassador is a lie!
• Attack of the 50-Foot Whatever: Spike after maturing to full size and going on a thieving rampage comes off as this, though he isn't really attacking Ponyville and its citizens intentionally so much as he's just greedily stealing stuff and leaving mass destruction behind in the process.
• Attention Deficit... Ooh, Shiny!: In "Secret Of My Excess", he runs toward every single object he sees that doesn't belong to him. Plus, his vision shows everything to be sparkly.
• Attention Whore: Played with; Ms. Harshwhinny assumes Spike is one for wanting to do "something really worthy of the Crystal Empire's admiration," when he's just attempting to make up for what he sees as a failure in the torch lighting ceremony.
• Audience Surrogate: He's sometimes pulled into the girls' adventures against his will and then ends up enjoying it all in spite of himself. Clearly some of us are meant to relate. "I don't want any of that girly, frilly, frou-frou nonsense," he says and then walks out giggling after receiving his ticket to the Grand Galloping Gala. To drive the point home, he plays with the miniatures of Shining Armor and Cadance in the Season 2 finale.
  Applejack: Spike! That goes on the cake.
  Spike: [stops playing nervously}] I... uh... ha ha ha.
• Awesome Moment of Crowning: When Spike retrieves the Bloodstone Scepter, it emits a mighty blast and he gains a big booming voice.
• Badass Adorable: He can fight back pretty well if a friend is in danger.
• Badass Normal: Spike as Humdrum, despite Lampshading in excess his physical uselessness, manages to use an elaborate deception to take out half of Mane-iac's Mooks and save the ponies.
• Balloon Belly: Spike gets one after finding another dragon's cave and pigging out on a stash of gems.
• Beleaguered Assistant: He is front and center for Twilight's Obsessively Organized tendencies and tries to keep her on track when she has a meltdown.
• Berserk Button:
  • Never come between him and Twilight.
  • Never disrespect Rarity.
• Beware My Stinger Tail: The end of his tail can function as a jackhammer. It's mostly used for digging, but he's used it as an effective weapon as well.
• Beware the Nice Ones: In the movie, he kills a Storm Guard with his fire.
• Big Ball of Violence: Spike gets in a fight with a chicken. Spike winds up hitting himself as the chicken just walks away.
• Big Eater: Spike will eat anything. He's got a lot of growing to do after all.
• Big "SHUT UP!": Spike lets out one when many pony delegates crowd the stairway to Twilight's bedroom and all talk at the same time.
  Spike: By order of Princess Twilight, BE QUIET! [echoes off]
• Bindle Stick: Spike uses one when he leaves Ponyville's Library.
• Blatant Lies: During the Cold Opening of Dragon Dropped, when Spike finally notices Rarity and she says it is like he hasn't been listening to her, Spike assures her he was... but asks her to repeat everything she just said anyway.
• Blessed with Suck: Dragons are amongst the most powerful creatures in Equestria, but that power comes with the risk of losing control of their materialism and becoming a mindless beast, as seen in "Secret of My Excess".
• A Bloody Mess: Spike invokes this with ketchup in order to frame Owlowiscious. Twilight catches him in the act.
• Blush Sticker: Spike gets these when he asks Gabby if he can join her on her rounds again.
• Bratty Half-Pint: Spike is helpful and obedient to Twilight. However, he can be incredibly obnoxious and childish at times, not to mention has a very dry wit.
• Breaking the Fourth Wall: In "Lesson Zero" he ends Twilight's imagine spots by physically moving them out of frame.
• Breath Weapon:
  • Like all dragons, he can breathe fire, though he rarely uses it as a weapon. Due to his young age, however, his fire is still very weak compared to the adult members of his species. Indeed, an accidental blast only gave Twilight a new hairstyle. However, his fire power seems to vary greatly depending on the situation. In one episode, he was able to completely melt an iron lock in a couple of seconds, something that would normally take several hours with regular fire, which suggests that he might simply know how to regulate the intensity of his fire to avoid hurting ponies around him by accident.
  • His fire breath also has the unusual ability to serve as a post system of sorts — if he burns a scroll, he can cause the smoke to fly off to a desired location and reform into the original scroll. Replies can be sent back the same way — it's not shown how this process is triggered, but on the receiving end Spike burps up a small plume of fire, whose smoke solidifies into the reply letter.
  • By Season 4, his fire power has increased notably. This is best seen in "Equestria Games", where he saves everypony at the Crystal Empire's stadium by quickly melting a huge ice block (pretty much a falling iceberg) with a massive flame attack, disproportionally huge for his tiny body.
  • After his molt in Season 8, his fire breath is enough to finally make the Roc back down after a direct burst to the face. Up to this point, the giant bird was quite the Super-Persistent Predator.
  • In "The Ending of the End - Part 2", he even gets into a Beam-O-War with his breath weapon against a powered-up Chrysalis's magic blast, and fight her to a standstill with Rarity's help.
• Brutal Honesty: Unless he's worried about hurting Rarity's feelings, he's prone to saying exactly what he thinks without any regard to tact. Some of this can be attributed to being a child and the other due to being raised by someone like Twilight.
• Bunny-Ears Lawyer: As good as he is at his job, Spike can frequently be hindered by his childishness and can be an obnoxious goofball. Twilight has to keep him in line just as often as vice versa.
• Butt-Monkey: Shares this role with Twilight Sparkle; like her he faces a lot of comedic trouble.
• Calling Parents by Their Name: Spike twice acknowledges that Twilight reared him and implies he sees her as his parent, yet he always calls her by her name.
• Cape Snag: Addressed when Spike attempts to quietly steal the Orb from the Mane-iac and sneak away... only to trip on his cape and fall. It also gets him sucked into Rainbow Dash's tornado.
• Category Traitor: The other dragons consider Spike, who is biologically a dragon but culturally a pony, to be this. It becomes internalized by the end of the episode, as he self identifies as a pony and has a rather low opinion of dragon culture.
• Catlike Dragons: Averted. His Equestria Girls counterpart is a dog.
• Character Development:
  • In episode 3 of Season 1, he claims he doesn't want to be associated with any of that "Girly Gala Gunk" (though he initially looks excited at first and his glee at the end suggests he was just faking it, presumably because he was hurt by Twilight not even considering him). 45 episodes later he's seen wearing a pink apron out in the open and is not embarrassed to be seen in it (until Rainbow Dash starts teasing him). A few episodes later Spike is seen enjoying the spa with the other girls. Even Rainbow Dash wouldn't be caught dead getting a hooficure! Although in Spike's case, the right sort of a manicure might qualify under "proper maintenance of natural weapons for maximum effectiveness" (or "don't scratch up the floor").
  • It's repeatedly shown in the early seasons that Spike is worried that Twilight will send him away if she finds a better assistant or doesn't need one anymore, and "The Crystal Empire" has Sombra's illusion show him this as his worst fear. While it's not focused on or drawn attention to very often, in later seasons he definitely doesn't fear this any longer and is more secure and comfortable as a true part of Twilight's family, reaching its head in "Sparkle's Seven" where Twilight and Shining Armor affirm he's their sibling.
• Cheerful Child: Normally kind, friendly, and happy.
  • Spike's personal growth happens through the series. In early episodes Twilight has to take care of him, including putting him to bed and bathing him, and his overall behavior is that of a young child. As the show continues, references to Twilight caring for Spike fade entirely (if anything, he starts to take care of her) and he takes on more responsibilities alone. While he can still be prone to bouts of immaturity and childishness, by the end of the show he's more like a teenager than a child.
• The Chessmaster: Manages to become this in "Twilight's Seven." He gets Luna to help him exploit Twilight and Shining Armor's own Gambit Pileup, to take the Sibling Supreme crown for himself. End result? Dark Horse Victory for Spike.
• Child of Two Worlds: Spike is a dragon who was raised by ponies. Though he still has some draconic instincts, notably Greed, he's culturally an upper-class pony, treats Twilight Sparkle as kin, and has a serious and long-lasting romantic attraction to Rarity.
• Chronic Hero Syndrome: Exploited by Garble, who begs Spike for help in removing a boulder that has him pinned, knowing Spike is too noble to refuse.
• Cincinnatus: Spike was briefly the Dragon Lord, ruler of all dragonkind. He immediately decided that his friend Ember would make a better Dragon Lord, and ceded power to her instead.
• Cloudcuckoolander's Minder: To Twilight, as her right-hoof assistant. Whenever Twilight is distracted, behind schedule, and especially when she's stressed, it falls to Spike to ground her and set her straight.
• Code of Honour: According to Spike, and with Twilight to back him up, it is the sworn duty of every dragon to follow the Dragon Code and serve the one who saves their life until the end of their days. Seeing how dragons tend to have a long lifespan…
• Commonality Connection: This is the basis for his friendship with Gabby the griffon in "Dragon Dropped". They are both in the "mail delivering business", and both come from species that don't have the friendliest of reputations.
• Compressed Hair: The question of where his spikes, which when uncovered stick out around twice as high as any hat he happens to be wearing, go when his head is covered is never addressed.
• Conspicuous Trenchcoat: Spike pulls out his old trenchcoat-and-fedora ensemble to hide his stone scales at the School of Friendship. Rarity comment on it, finding it "very noiresque". The disguise doesn't survive an ill-timed fire burp, though.
• Cowardly Sidekick: Depending on the Writer, Spike can be either (with thanks to Monty Python) suicidally brave, hilariously cowardly or a coward who truly is brave.
• Crazy Jealous Guy: Spike is so jealous of Owlowiscious that it temporarily makes him a villain.
• Credits Gag: While listed as just "Spike" in all episode and movie credits, the credits of Friendship Games list him as "Spike the Dog", because only his dog counterpart is present.
• Curtains Match the Window: For particularly scaly definitions of "curtains", but his eyes and his scales on the top of his head are both green.
• Cute Little Fangs: Don't be fooled by their tiny size, since they can chomp through diamonds as if they were cookies.

Tropes D–G

• Dastardly Whiplash: Spike carries out his plan to set up Owlowiscious dressed as one of these. He even twirls his mustache.
• David vs. Goliath: The way Spike defeats the King Timberwolf is a literal version of this trope.; all it takes is one rock in the right place.
• Deadly Upgrade: In adulthood Spike gains immense size and power, but at the cost of becoming a greedy, mindless rampaging beast.
• Deadpan Snarker: Not quite as much so as Twilight Sparkle but still noticeably so. (Perhaps it's a result of being raised by Twilight?)
  Spike: That nest needs to be condemned!
  Rarity: Spike, it's not that bad; perhaps the birds can use it as...
  Spike: ...an outhouse?
• Demoted to Extra: Although he plays a key role as Twilight's source of motivation in Equestria Girls, he is completely unimportant to the plot of Rainbow Rocks. In Friendship Games, his human-world counterpart is pretty much a Satellite Character who doesn't even get lines until a little more than halfway through the movie, while Equestria's Spike never returns to the human world and only appears again during Spring Breakdown, as a dragon in Equestria.
• Depending on the Artist: In the comic books from IDW, the inside of his mouth is green.
• Desperately Needs Orders: Downplayed in "Spike at Your Service"; When a huge study session means that Twilight doesn't need Spike's assistance for a long time, Spike, after going through an Amusingly Short List of things he's always wanted to do, is left unsure of what to do with himself. Later in the same episode, he pledges to assist Applejack after she saves his life. After his attempts to help backfire, Applejack tries to act like she has nothing for him to do. This causes Spike to panic, since not helping Applejack means he's not living up to his pledge.
• Determinator:
  • He is determined to win Rarity's heart and won't give up no matter what.
    Spike: There is no pain that would keep me from assisting the most beautiful creature in the world!
  • If he's bent on assisting someone, he'll try his best to complete any task he's assigned to, no matter how difficult or tedious.
• Disembodied Eyebrows: Unlike with ponies, under certain angles his eyebrows can be seen moving past his head.
• Disproportionate Reward: Spike goes overboard in fulfilling his Dragon Code; a life debt is serious but eternal servitude is extreme and especially when the savior doesn't want a reward.
• Distressed Dude: The main pivot of the plot in Spike at Your Service, is Spike acting as one when the timberwolves first appear at the start of the episode. He also ends up as one for real in Equestria Girls when the human versions of Snips and Snails abduct him during the Fall Formal, though he's quickly released as his captors were solely using him as bait for Twilight and had no further designs on him.
• Does Not Like Spam: If this Hub commercial is to be believed, he thinks green beans are nasty.
• The Dog Bites Back: Unintentionally, Spike does this. After all the times Rarity flirted with other ponies (and non-ponies) and triggered Spike's jealousy, for once it's Rarity who gets jealous of Spike hanging out with another Gabby.
• Dogged Nice Guy: To Rarity, who he never stops trying to woo despite his lack of progress. After the events of "Secret of My Excess", it's shown that she does know about his crush, but sees him as the sweet little kid he is. Although one must wonder who made that Rarity shirt from "Green Isn't Your Color" in the first place.
• Dog Walks You: Spike bringing the Mane Six's pets along on leashes is a strange sight. Naturally, Winona is the one plowing ahead while the others keep up (and Opal being dragged along). As seen in the page image, Tank and Owlowiscious are keeping Spike hovering slightly above the ground, meaning Winona gets total control over where Spike and the other pets go.
• Don't Think, Feel: Spike becomes unable to light the Equestria Games torch because he's too focused on the pressure of the event. When he saves the crowd from the giant ice-cloud, he admits to the others he basically acted on instinct.
• The Door Slams You: Happens to Spike when Cadance bursts into Twilight's room looking for him.
• Dragon Hoard: In "Secret of My Excess" Spike starts with coveting gems, but soon collects anything and everything. Apparently a dragon's size is determined by the size of its hoard.
• Dramatically Missing the Point: Spike doesn't notice that Twilight's too absorbed in her studies to listen to how he plans to stop being her assistant and serve Applejack, and takes her absentminded "mm-hm's" to mean she's cool with it.
• Dude, Where's My Respect?: Zigzagged. He does A LOT of work for the girls, with not too many thanks from them and is mysteriously absent at many of their parties or adventures. In other episodes, ("Owl's Well That Ends Well", "Secret of My Excess") he gets love and praise from Twilight, a cheek kiss from Rarity and otherwise recognition for his accomplishments. As of Season 3, he shows both extremes. He gets a stained glass window in Canterlot's palace all to himself because he delivered the Crystal Heart to Cadance and thereby saved the Crystal Empire from King Sombra, but he was explicitly not invited to welcome the inspector for the Equestria Games nor is he mentioned by Cadance herself. Strangely enough, "Just for Sidekicks" has an inversion; Twilight is positive that Spike is doing a "terrific" job watching their pets when the episode had demonstrated that he was doing a horrible job.
  • In a somewhat unique case of Dramatic Irony, "Games Ponies Play" evidently shows Cadance's reasons for not inviting Spike to help welcome the inspector for the Equestria Games to be more understandable, even if Cadance didn't even bring him up.
  • The trope is often justified given Twilight's character, who is generally kind and well-meaning, but occasionally inconsiderate and prone to attention span issues when distracted. As such Twilight can often obliviously ignore Spike's troubles from helping her, when her head is out of the clouds, however, expect an evident Jerkass Realization and doting affection.
  • This is eventually subverted in "Equestria Games", which shows that he's a national hero in the Crystal Empire, and in "Twilight's Kingdom", where he gets his own throne next to the Mane Six's in Twilight's new castle.
• Dumbass Has a Point: The spell book in "Inspiration Manifestation" was left unguarded and defended only by a single lock, rather than, say, being moved to the secure archives in Canterlot, or at least having a barrier that could stand up to more than Spike's fire breath. By then, one would expect the dangerous artifacts to have been moved to a secure location. Spike was correct in saying that the book was basically unguarded.
• Early-Installment Weirdness: The first episode includes a joke about Spike not understanding certain words as Twilight dictates a letter to him. It's never come up again and he seems to have no trouble understanding her in later episodes.
• Easily Forgiven: Played for Laughs in "Secret of My Excess", where Rarity praises Spike for saving Ponyville... from himself.
• Eat Dirt, Cheap: Like other dragons, his favorite food is gemstones. More than once, he's had to resist the temptation to get a gem Macguffin.
• Eat the Evidence: Spike does this when he finally gets a hold of the book in "Inspiration Manifestation", hoping it'll break the spell. It doesn't.
• Equippable Ally:
  • In "Apple Family Reunion", Applejack lights the woodfires beneath a row of cooking pots by grabbing Spike and flicking his mouth open and closed like a Zippo lighter, complete with sparks, making him shoot out a gout of flame and lighting the fires all at once.
  • At one point during the battle for Canterlot in the 2017 movie, Capper grabs Spike and uses his fire breath as a makeshift flamethrower against the Storm King's soldiers.
• Era-Specific Personality: G1 Spike was less sarcastic (and in the original pilot was on the side of the antagonists before receiving a Heel–Face Turn) while G3 Spike was a 1,000-year-old Stuffy Brit.
• Evil Laugh: Spike gets one, complete with a Dastardly Whiplash getup.
• Evil Sounds Deep: Spike's voice deepens significantly the more he grows into a full dragon. Justified in that he's maturing, so it's more like a boy's voice breaking when he hits puberty.
• Everybody Knew Already:
  • In "Green Isn't Your Color", Spike "reveals" to Twilight and Pinkie Pie that he has a crush on Rarity. Twilight of course already knows (and suggests it's already widely known) but Pinkie Pie is surprised and forces Twilight into keeping it secret.
  • As "Secret of My Excess" shows, even Rarity herself is aware of his crush.
• Everyone's Baby Brother: The Mane Six tend to jump to take action the instant they find out Spike is threatened.

• Exploited Immunity: As stated by Spike, dragons are fireproof. Whenever Spike or other dragons have been exposed to fire, they just end up covered in soot, but aren't burned and feel no pain whatsoever. This immunity seems to extend to extreme heat in general. As shown in "Dragon Quest", dragons can swim in boiling lava as easily as they do in water.
• Extreme Omnivore: He'll eat grass, fruit, gemstones (his favorite), worm-filled muffins he scooped from the trash (which he actually says are pretty good), and even an entire Tome of Eldritch Lore.
• Familiar: Spike seems to be this for Twilight, though Owlowiscious may be a better fit.
• Fantastic Racism: Spike's perceived fear is the existence of animosity between dragons and changelings that is strong enough to result in violent confrontations between the two species. Somewhat justified by Spike's unpleasant experiences with Garble's anti-pony attitude.
• Fatal Flaw: Gluttony ends up being this for Spike in the episode "Just for Sidekicks". His inability to control himself from eating all his gems in the first place is what causes the entire episode's plot to kick off, and it's what robs him of the small compensation he gets at the end as well.
• Fat and Proud: He usually cradles or pats his stomach after eating gems. Also, one of the things he does on a day off is play bongos on his belly.
• Fire-Forged Friends: Spike and Princess Ember, even with Spike being naturally friendly.
• Fish out of Water: Compared to his usual Only Sane Man role in Ponyville, Spike understandably acts like a kid the first time he meets other dragons.
• Food as Bribe: Rarity, Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy have each offered him gems to eat in exchange for a favor.
• Forgot About His Powers: Spike is a fire-breathing dragon. The timberwolves are made of wood and many animals are scared of fire. Even if the former aspect wouldn't work because they're not dry wood, the latter should have at least been considered.
• Formerly Fat: In "The Last Problem", Spike grows up to be muscular.
• Four-Fingered Hands: His claws are drawn with four fingers.
• Flight: Starting with Season 8's "Molt Down", he acquires wings through a molting process, and immediately tries them out. After a bit of a rocky start, he's proving to be quite a fast flyer, on par with Twilight. This notably makes him the first version of Spike to be able to fly.
• Flying Firepower: As of season 8's "Molt Down". Combining his breath weapon with his brand-new flying ability makes him significantly more efficient than before, enough to scare off a giant flying predator like a Roc. Notably, this makes him the first Spike to be capable of flight.
• Fun Size:
  • He's tiny compared to an adult dragon. He could fit in its palm and bring several friends. "The Cutie Mark Chronicles", "Secret of My Excess" and "Dragon Quest" all very strongly indicate that Spike will eventually grow to a massive size.
    Pinkie Pie: Little Spikey-wikey! Who knew that big ferocious dragons started out so cutesy-wootsey?
  • In "Gauntlet of Fire", Spike is only about half as tall as Ember, who is implied to be a teenager, and he's so small compared to Dragon Lord Torch that one of the elder dragon's teeth is bigger than he is.
• Gene Hunting: What Spike hopes to do. He never accomplishes this. The first time he meets other teenage dragons they don't know any dragon like him — and they know one that looks like the ponies' bad dragon costume. While one of them does have similar coloring and fire color to him and another one is wingless like him, it's never implied they're related.
• Genre Blind: Spike lives in a world where magic is studied as a science, yet he fails to understand that a comic book from "The House of Enchanted Comics" is probably literally enchanted, although to be fair, not everything in Equestria has a literal name.
• Genre Savvy: Spike knows he's the Plucky Comic Relief sidekick in the story and frequently lampshades the fact. Also, he clearly knows his comics and helps the Mane Six figure out their abilities as the Power Ponies.
• Germans Love David Hasselhoff: In-Universe. In Ponyville, Spike is treated with affection but not so much with respect. In the Crystal Empire, he's a national hero who everyone fawns over.
• The Good Chancellor: In the series finale, he takes up a post as Twilight's Royal Adviser.
• Got Volunteered: A variation, since Spike is already singled out by Torch when he tries to walk out of the meeting. However, the other dragons surrounding him are very prompt in moving out of the way and forming two lines, leaving a completely free path for the giant Dragon Lord to focus on Spike (and his "rock").
• Grapes of Luxury: While Cadance and Twilight are explaining to Spike why he's being treated as a Living Legend, a crystal mare feeds him gemstones from a chalice while he lounges on a couch, and a crystal stallion fans him with a palm leaf.
• Greater Need Than Mine: He gives Rarity his Fire Ruby that he's been saving for months for his birthday dinner so she can be happy.
• Greed: Dragons have an innate predisposition to this fault. Spike doesn't normally show it but excessive gifts can trigger this in him.
• Green-Eyed Monster: Spike suffers from this when he thinks the owl will replace him. (For bonus Stealth Pun points, he's literally a green-eyed monster!)
• Growing Up Sucks: For Spike and dragons in general to grow up they have to give in to their greed.
• Growing Wings: In "Molt Down", he acquires wings after going through the molt, an uncomfortable magical process that serves as essentially dragon puberty. It culminates in him growing a rocky cocoon and emerging from it with a new pair of wings.
• Growling Gut: Spike's stomach is noisy when he's hungry.

Tropes H–L

• Handy Feet: His feet aren't particularly hand-like, but he's able to lay back and hold a comic up between his legs with his toes in "Power Ponies", implying he can use them as such when he wants to.
• Happily Adopted: As of "The Cutie Mark Chronicles", it looks like he was reared by Twilight and it's obvious in "Owl's Well That Ends Well" that he sees her as a surrogate big sister (probably NOT mother given what he says when Twilight wakes him up in "Winter Wrap-Up"), which makes sense, since she was responsible for hatching him.
  • "Dragon Quest" confirms that he always saw Twilight as family, and overtime saw the Mane Six as a part of his family too.
  • The IDW comics #40 shows that Celestia has asked Twilight to care of Spike.
  • "Father Knows Beast" finally confirms on three different occasions that Spike was reared by Twilight.
  • "Sparkle's Seven" shows him growing up with Twilight and Shining Armor, specifically stating he wanted to be their little brother — which both later confirm he is.
• Harmless Villain: Spike stoops pretty low when he tries to make it look like Owlowiscious killed the mouse, but he gets caught way too quickly to cause any harm. (Except to himself, indirectly.)
• Heavy Sleeper: Justified, since he is a baby dragon and needs his sleep.
• Heroic BSoD: The revelation that Twilight needed to help Spike light the Equestria Games torch sends him into a depression for a majority of the episode.
• Heroic Self-Deprecation: Spike's reaction to praise from the Mane Six and Princess Cadance for saving everypony from the iceberg cloud.
  Spike: I just saw what needed to be done and reacted. Just so happens I can breathe fire, and if any of you could do that, you'd have done the same.
• Hidden Depths: It's been shown in some episodes he's not as happy about always being shoved to the sidelines as he claims, and may have a few self-esteem issues at this point. See Dude, Where's My Respect?.
• Honor Before Reason: Spike throughout the entirety of "Spike at Your Service"; everything he's doing is because of his Dragon Code.
• House Husband: A non-romantic example. Spike stays at home to do the chores while Twilight and the girls go out to work.
• How Do I Shot Web?: In "Molt Down", after growing his wings, Spike struggles for a while to figure out how to fly, crashing into a tree and flying upside-down. Even when he starts getting the hang of it, at first he overshoots the target, and then he tumbles in the air while bragging about his new wings. Compared to how Twilight fared, however, he learns quite fast, hinting that flying is probably instinctual for dragons.
• Hulking Out: Suffered this in "Secret of My Excess", thanks to his greed on presents during his birthday. He gets better at the end. Later identified as "Greed-Induced Bigness", an affliction separate from the normal maturing process of a dragon.
• Human Pack Mule: He ends up doing this for Rarity's Lots of Luggage a few times, like in "The Crystal Empire - Part 1" or "Rarity Takes Manehattan", and also in the comics. Of course, even when shaking under the weight, he'll pretend he doesn't mind since it's for Rarity.
• Hyper-Competent Sidekick: Spike is very skilled at cleaning, cooking, categorizing, taking notes, sending and receiving messages, etc. He can also fight, quickly spots mistakes in Twilight's plans, takes care of diplomatic business on his own and has connections with important people such as the famous Hoity Toity. On top of that, he absolutely loves his job. If his fulfillment of this trope wasn't apparent before, it comes out in full force in the second part of "The Crystal Empire".
  
  Oddly, in the very first episode, a brief scene gives Spike a less-than-average understanding of certain words. This has been averted in the series since. Inverted in "Spike at Your Service", where many of his attempts to help Applejack only make things worse. Even then he remains dedicated to his job and is undeterred by laborious work.
• Hypocritical Humor: Not as prominent as Rarity, but he sometimes backsteps his poorer advice, and like many a Deadpan Snarker, is sulky and defensive about getting his dry wit dished back (though he is very good-natured about pranks).
• I Got Bigger: He grows up to be huge in the series finale, complete with a Lantern Jaw of Justice.
• Implausible Deniability: Twilight suggests that Spike's stone scales are caused by stress, pointing out he spent the day with Rarity. Spike awkwardly asks "What could possibly be stressful about that?"
• Ineffectual Sympathetic Villain: Spike's obviously in the wrong in "Owl's Well That Ends Well", but you can't help but feel pity for him.
• Innocently Insensitive:
  • In "Party of One", he falsely confesses to Pinkie Pie that the rest of the Mane Six no longer like her just to get her off his back, and then chows down on the gems she promised him earlier as a bribe, failing to notice how badly she's taken the "news". In his defense, however, he didn't even know what she was talking about.
  • "Hurricane Fluttershy" is an example; his statements made on Fluttershy's poor flying ability breaks her spirit. He has no idea why Twilight keeps giving him angry glares.
• Insane Troll Logic: Spike believing that should Ember and Thorax meet, this will lead to a war between dragons and changelings with Equestria caught in the middle, all because Ember and Thorax are different and he fears they wouldn't get along. He even has an Imagine Spot where they and their armies clash and apparently destroy the planet.
• In-Series Nickname: "Spikey-Wikey", used by Pinkie Pie in "Owl's Well That Ends Well" and by Rarity in "Secret of My Excess", "Dragon Quest" and "The Crystal Empire - Part 2".
• Instantly Proven Wrong: Spike is afraid that Ember and Thorax probably never want to see him again after they storm off in anger. As soon as he says this, they both land in front of him to talk about what he did and give him a good What the Hell, Hero? talking-to.
• Intentional Mess Making: The episode "Owl's Well That Ends Well" involves Spike being jealous of Twilight's pet owl Owlowicious. He brings a toy mouse in and pretends it's a real, dead mouse, hoping Twilight will scold Owlowiscious for bringing his kills into the house, but she doesn't.
• Interspecies Romance: He wants to pursue this with Rarity, a unicorn.
• Interrupted by the End: Spike being handed a bouquet of dragonsneeze flowers right after the Citizens of Equestria Statue had just been reassembled. Just as he is about to sneeze, it cuts right to black.
• Interrupted Declaration of Love: Subverted. Rarity interrupts Spike's, but only because she knew all along.
• Iron Butt Monkey: The cartoon explains his resilience by explaining that (unlike Twilight), Spike's natural body armor allows him to shrug off a lot of damage. He says this while being used as a literal pincushion for Rarity, and later shown to be exceptionally sturdy even by dragons' standards. From the size difference between adult and baby dragons, it could be theorized that his toughness is an evolutionary necessity. Were baby dragons not so extraordinarily tough, the chance of their parent accidentally killing them could be uncomfortably large. As well as the chance of adult dragons purposefully killing them.
• Jekyll & Hyde: Will turn into a hulked-out evil dragon if given too many things as presents.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Spike can seem awfully rude at times, like when making fun of his friends' Poison Joke afflictions in "Bridle Gossip" (which is later deconstructed at the end when it turns out these afflictions are just harmless, even if ironic, jokes played on them) or his machinations against the owl in "Owl's Well That Ends Well". Despite all this, he still can be incredibly loyal and thoughtful when he has to be.
• Jumping Off the Slippery Slope: Spike originally started acting as if he had Twilight's authority to help her sleep and fix a problem, but it then went to his head.
• Keet: He has his moments of being excitable and hyper.
• Kids Prefer Boxes: Spike is playing in one of the boxes his presents came in when he thanks Applejack (for the sixteenth time) for his new blanket.
• Kill It with Fire: Inverted. Spike's fire presumably saves some lives near the end of the Equestria Games.
• "King Kong" Climb: Giant Spike climbs the tallest mountain next to Ponyville in this manner, with Rarity as his hostage, and the Wonderbolts swooping around like biplanes.
• The Kingmaker: By the end of Season 6, due to his friendship, both Ember and Thorax became ruler of their respective species. Admittedly, Spike's help for Thorax was only indirectly responsible for his rise, as Starlight Glimmer was the one that gave him the final push, but it wouldn't have been possible without Spike befriending him in the first place.
• Kissed Keepsake: Spike refuses to wash his cheek after the first time Rarity kisses him. The second time he frames her kiss.
• The Klutz: If he's being a bit over-eager to help, it can lead to this.
• Lady and Knight: In "A Dog And Pony Show", he literally views Rarity and himself as this complete with himself in plate mail and her in a princess dress.
• Large Ham: Sometimes he has his moments of chewing the scenery, such as when he schemes to get Owloyscious in trouble.
• Large-Ham Announcer:
  • In "Fall Weather Friends", he enjoys announcing the Iron Pony Competition so much that Pinkie Pie makes him co-announcer for the Running of the Leaves.
  • In "Suited for Success", he gives a ridiculously pretentious intro for Rarity's first fashion show...which is par for the course as far as fashion shows go.
  • He also takes on this role as the narrator of the Hearth's Warming Eve pageant.
  • In the comic book series, he provides To Be Continued and Previously on… exposition while wearing a carnival barker's outfit.
• Laser-Guided Karma: Spike gets yelled at by Ember and Thorax together, for causing the conflict of the episode by trying to keep them apart because of his unfounded assumptions about their personalities, and not addressing the issues they came to Spike for, culminating in them almost fighting each other.
• Lava Is Boiling Kool-Aid: Done by Spike; when he belly-flops into a lava pool, he makes a solid impact on its surface before slowly sinking in. Played straight by the other dragons, who are presumably heavy enough to displace it like it was water.
• Lazy Bum: After fending off the roc, Spike has Twilight carry him back home, despite his new wings.

Twilight Sparkle: Uh, I don't need to carry you anymore, do I? You have wings.Spike: They are new, and I don't want to overdo it.

• Leaning on the Fourth Wall: In "Griffon the Brush Off" he can be heard humming the show's theme song.
• Like Brother and Sister: With Twilight. They're extremely close and treat each other largely as equals, often balancing out each other's bad traits. This is reinforced in "Once Upon a Zeppelin": when Spike insists for Twilight to go on a family vacation her parents won and let him worry about her royal duties, so that she can have a chance at a relaxing vacation, she argues he's as much a part of her family as anyone else and has the right to come too. "Father Knows Beast" shifts this relationship slightly more towards parent-child one. Twilight has been shown as the one responsible for his upbringing and gets heartbroken when Spike suggests she doesn't like him having a "real parent now". He confirms he was reared by her and later declares her his real family. Still, they remain a family of equals most of the time.
• Likes Older Women: Rarity is undoubtedly older than Spike, though it's unknown by how much. She's also, naturally, bigger than him.
• Line-of-Sight Alias: Spike looks at sand on the beach and rocks to combine into Sandy Rockbeach, a cover name for Princess Ember.
• Living Emotional Crutch: His life revolves around Twilight, although this is justified due to his youth.
  • In "Owls Well That Ends Well" fear that he would lose his status as her Number 1 Assistant temporarily made him a villain.
  • In "The Crystal Empire - Part 2" his greatest fear is revealed to be her revoking this status and casting him out of Ponyville because she doesn't need him anymore.
  • In "Spike At Your Service" Twilight gave him the weekend off and he couldn't think of anything better to do than smell his feet.
• Living Legend: Spike is seen as this by the crystal ponies for the part he played in saving the Crystal Empire.
• The Load:
  • When things get gritty. Spike is a highly competent assistant to Twilight and proves useful outside the action, but in terms of actual physical involvement, he's mostly useless; either staying on the sidelines or needing the ponies to protect him.
  • This is averted in "The Crystal Empire - Part 2". He's ultimately the one who saves the day (alongside Cadance), if still in a rather blundering fashion.
  • Lampshaded and Deconstructed in "Power Ponies". Thanks to the Mane-iac's decision on what to do to him, he indirectly saved the day, despite his awareness of being physically weak.
  • This is downplayed in later seasons in which his fire breath is shown to have become stronger and he later gains the ability to fly, allowing him to partake in more action sequences.
• Loophole Abuse: When Spike hands the Bloodstone Scepter — and with it the title of Dragon Lord — to Ember, he claims that the Dragon Lord is whoever brings the scepter back to her father, rather than simply whoever got it first, to justify doing this. While Torch never said exactly thatnote , none of the witnessing dragons argue.
• Loud Gulp: Spike does this repeatedly in "Dragon Quest", as the bigger dragons keep bullying him and encouraging him to try their games, for which he is obviously too small.
• Love at First Sight: Automatically falls in love with Rarity after he first meets her.
• Love Makes You Dumb: Spike's desire to help Rarity in Inspiration Manifistation cause him to overlook the obvious signs of how dangerous the spellbook is. He then doesn't tell Rarity or anyone else she's gone mad with power because he's afraid that Rarity won't consider him a friend anymore.
• Lying Finger Cross: When Spike tells Cadance that he's using Twilight's authority to improve the summit, he crosses his claws behind his back.

Tropes M–R

• Magikarp Power: So far we've seen that Dragons are obscenely powerful beings but since Spike's a baby, he's still relatively easy to thwart. This becomes all the more apparent when he temporarily stops being a baby and becomes a tremendous threat to everyone nearby, to the point where even the best Wonderbolt Squad are nothing but pests for him.
• Manly Tears: Played with. Spike is upset to tears about not knowing anything about his dragon heritage, and then wipes them away because he has the idea dragons are too tough to cry.
• Meaningful Name: He's called Spike because he has spikes.
• Medium Awareness: Though nowhere near as much as Pinkie Pie, Spike does get most of the fourth wall jokes that don't come from her. This is particularly strong in "Lesson Zero" when he disperses the nightmarish visions Twilight experiences by popping them with his claw, moving them off-screen like a set backdrop, etc. He also gets the occasional Aside Glance.
• Meta Guy: He seems to be the only character thus far to canonically be aware of the audience (and possibly even the creators of the show) despite Fanon about Pinkie Pie.
• Metamorphosis: In "Molt Down", the final molt stage involves Spike being covered in a rocky chrysalis, before emerging with his new wings grown and ready to carry him in flight. Downplayed appearance-wise, though, as the wings are pretty much all that's changed about him..
• Miracle-Gro Monster: Spike has this happen to him the greedier he gets.
• Mr. Exposition: In a change from the formula, Spike takes this role in the episode Power Ponies as he explains the abilities of the Power Ponies and helps them defeat the Mane-iac with his knowledge of the comic.
• Mundane Utility:
  • He uses his magic fire to send and receive letters which makes him a living fax machine.
  • He's also used as an impromptu lighter to start cooking fires in "Over a Barrel" and "A Bird in the Hoof".
  • At the end of "Molt Down", Rarity takes advantage of Spike's new wings by having him model one of her dresses, using his newfound Flight to keep it aloft while she makes adjustments to it. And in the short "Rarity's Biggest Fan", she has him constantly flap his wings near her, creating a gust that makes it seem like her mane is always flowing (like Princess Celestia's mane).
• My Friends... and Zoidberg: He's on the receiving end of this both in-universe and out. Not being a pony and not bearing an Element of Harmony means that, when a crisis hits, Spike is liable to be left on the sidelines. The comics take this to the point of a Running Gag; often when a character expresses gratitude that "the six" heroes are there to help, Spike has to chime in to correct "seven!" A similar Running Gag occurs in "School Raze".
• My God, What Have I Done?: Spike doesn't come right out and say it, but the emotion is conveyed by his reaction to seeing Ponyville devastated, and his own giant footprints.
• My Species Doth Protest Too Much: Considers himself to fall under this trope after "Dragon Quest" when he encounters teenage dragon jerks. In the Broad Strokes of the comic, he gets over it when he goes to Fillydelphia and meets several perfectly normal, nice dragons, one of which points out that disowning his whole species based on a couple of teenage jerks isn't fair to anyone. In the show itself, his encounter with Ember serves to show him that not all dragons are as bad as those he first met (even if their friendship did get off to a rocky start).
• Mysterious Past: The origins of Spike's egg are currently completely unknown, and given that he was either abducted as an egg or his parents died or abandoned him, that's unlikely to be explored. The episode "Father Knows Beast" at least confirms he was found as an "orphaned egg", or at least the ponies assumed his egg was orphaned, with nopony knowing how his egg ended up in Equestria and ended up all alone. There's also the question of just how he was raised, as ponies explicitly don't know how to raise a dragon.
• Narcissist: Downplayed, but some episodes depict him as being a little vain.
  • In "Party of One", he admits to Pinkie Pie that when nopony else is around, he flexes in front of a mirror and says "Lookin' good, Spike. Lookin' real good!"
  • In "Equestria Games", he calls the giant statue the Crystal Ponies built in his honor "gorgeous".
• Natural Weapon:
  • Firebreath. Due to still being a baby dragon, his fire is normally shown as small and usually harmless bursts. However, on a few occasions, he is able to unleash an incredibly large and powerful fireblast, implying a great untapped potential despite his young age.
  • His fangs count for this as well. Despite their tiny size, Spike is capable of biting through even diamonds like candy. Dragons have a terrifying biting power if even their infants can do this.
  • His thick hide, on a more defensive note. Being covered in dragon scales has proven several times to make him immune (or at least extremely resistant) to situations that would send ponies directly to the ER.
• Never Accepted in His Hometown: Spike's a Butt-Monkey in Ponyville, but in the Crystal Empire, he's the most admired and respected hero.
• Never My Fault: When Twilight discovers the burnt book, Spike tries to pin the blame on Owlowiscious who discovers the ashes.
• Nice Guy: He helps Twilight, Rarity, and others when asked. Usually, he doesn't ask for anything in return.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero:
  • Spike gets himself and his friends sucked into the comic world by reading the small writing at the end of his comic.
  • Spike nearly manages to successfully steal the Electro-Orb from The Mane-iac and sneak away with it. But he ends up tripping on his own cape and drop it, allowing Mane-iac to take it back. She makes sure to rub this in his face by "thanking" him for his help.
  • Spike's attempts to keep Ember and Thorax separated and still spend time with both of them has them feel like they are being ignored and later angers them when they discover that Spike wanted to keep them from meeting because he thought so little of them. As Starlight points out, the friendship problem that Spike had to fix was caused by him in the first place because of his efforts to keep Ember and Thorax separated.
• The Nicknamer: Takes this role in "Bridle Gossip" when he comes up with clever nicknames for the girls after they've been affected by the poison joke.
• Non-Human Sidekick: The dragon "number 1 assistant" to Twilight Sparkle.
• No Ontological Inertia: As soon as Spike remembers he can be generous and how happy it made Rarity, his uncontrolled dragon growth spurt and personality change reverse instantly. This leads to the new problem of how high up he and Rarity are with no way down except the cruel pull of gravity.
• Not Allowed to Grow Up: Aside from the growth spurt induced by greed in "Secret of My Excess", Spike stays a baby for most of the series... until season 8's "Molt Down", when he undergoes "the molt", which is basically dragon puberty.
• Number Two: In the Distant Finale, Spike's part as Twilight's assistant is promoted to an official station as Royal Advisor to the Queen of Equestria.
• Nurture over Nature: While Spike never meets his biological parents, he does decide that "who [he is] is not the same as what [he is.]"
• Odd Friendship:
  • Believe it or not with Twilight herself. We rarely see much focus on their relationship and it seems to be based on more familial based attachments than anything else. Regardless, they have grown closer as friends and completely trust one another.
  • He also seems fond of Pinkie Pie, despite his rational, cynical personality. He acts as befuddled as everypony else at her stranger excesses, but they often end up sharing scenes and supporting each other.
  • Since Season 6, with Starlight Glimmer. They work well together and seem to really like each other. One notes that unlike the rest of their group of friends, she treats him more as in equal or even as a superior (or senpai rather) while the others treat him as a younger brother. Presumably, because Starlight sees Twilight as her teacher and with Spike being Twilight's assistant, just as deserving of respect.
• Oh, No... Not Again!: Spike has this reaction when he realizes the bouquet he's been handed near the end of "Princess Spike" is composed of Dragonsneeze blossoms, leading into the Oh, Crap! moment with the Royal Sisters-In-Law, Fancy Pants, and the delegates.
• The One Guy: The only regularly recurring male character in the main cast, and for a long time the only confirmed male in the toy line.
• Only Sane Man: When Twilight joins the craziness of her friends, he is left as the voice of reason.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Spike ignoring Rarity is odd enough to cause Rarity some serious angst. For comparison, Season 1 to 8 Spike would be overjoyed about Rarity waking him up, but Season 9 Spike looks visibly annoyed.
• Opposites Attract: Played with: Spike is a dragon (which are greedy by nature) with a crush on Rarity (the bearer of the Element of Generosity). Scratch the surface and it starts looking like something else: Greed is one of Rarity's major vices (and contrasts her Element) while Spike is very giving and supporting of his friends (he even gave his own present to himself on his birthday to Rarity). Furthermore, both are hard-working individuals in what they do and have purple as a color-motif.
• Our Dragons Are Different: They're living E-mail clients.
• Out-of-Character Moment: In "Spike At Your Service", he shows total incompetence as a chef and a housekeeper, two jobs he's had no trouble performing well in previous episodes. He also starts abiding by his "Dragon Code", a code of laws he's completely devoted to. Before this episode, Spike had never displayed such unwavering guilt at another pony saving his life, and his dragon code hasn't been mentioned since.
• Out of Focus: He has considerably less screen time in Season 2 than in Season 1, even having the ponies that learn An Aesop say it in a narrative voice instead of having him directly write the letter. This has led some fans to joke that Spike is now unemployed. It's especially funny because in the first half of the season Spike was featured in almost every episode (even ones where Twilight never appeared) "Spike is the new main character" became a meme. On the whole, Season 3 averted this, with Spike being present in most group scenes and having at least as much presence as the ponies. Plus he got two spotlight episodes when Rarity didn't even get one! It's three episodes if you count "The Crystal Empire — Part 2".
• Outside/Inside Slur: Because Spike has lived with ponies all his life, the teen dragons initially insist that while he's a dragon on the outside, he's a pony on the inside. Spike later takes it as a point of pride, because he sees that the adolescent dragons are complete jerks.
• Overly-Long Tongue: As seen in "Lesson Zero" and "Secret of My Excess", he can wrap it almost all the way around himself to lick food covering him.
• Pals with Jesus:
  • Like Twilight, he has a direct line to Princess Celestia (mostly because he is the direct line to Princess Celestia) though oddly he's far more laid back around her than any of her other subjects are.
  • His close relationship with Twilight Sparkle, Twilight being Celestia's personal student and the Element of Magic plus her becoming an Alicorn Princess at the end of Season 3 means that he's pals with two Jesuses.
  • He hangs out and plays O&O with the spirit of chaos, Discord.
• Paper-Thin Disguise: When he tries to hide his identity, he wears an outfit consisting of a large fedora, trench coat, and sunglasses. It doesn't fool anyone in-universe; everypony recognizes him instantly.
• Parental Abandonment: Literally nothing is known about his real parents or how Celestia acquired his egg.
• Parenthetical Swearing: Spike mutters "Ah, bless me" after accidentally knocking over a big gem statue with his Sneeze of Doom.
• Performance Anxiety: When it's time to light the torch in front of the entire stadium, Spike's unable to trigger his fire breath.
• Phrase Catcher: "Spike, take a letter."
• Pint-Sized Powerhouse: Don't let his size fool you; he's a lot stronger than he looks. The Diamond Dogs learn this the hard way. He's also usually shown carrying many times his own size and weight in luggage. In "Spike at Your Service", he builds a gigantic rock tower, and some of those rocks are bigger than he is! When he gains his wings, his ability to breathe fire strengthens as well, allowing him to blast a Roc in the face like a flamethrower. It's powerful enough to reduce a massive piece of ice the size of an outdoor arena to steam.
• Platonic Life-Partners: With Twilight. They're Like Brother and Sister.
• Playing with Fire: He breathes a "magic fire" to send messages to Princess Celestia but is also capable of producing plain old regular fire too. "Owl's Well That Ends Well" suggests that he can even produce fire from his claws. He's also accidentally sneezed green fire, resulting in random items being sent to Princess Celestia.
• Post-Kiss Catatonia: Rarity kisses Spike on the cheek and he falls over.
• Power Incontinence: While Spike usually has full control over his fire breath, getting startled can cause him to reflexively burp out flames, oftentimes accidentally incinerating whatever object he's holding at the time. Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie count on this trope in "Griffon the Brush-Off" when they give him the hiccups as he's holding a large stack of scrolls, causing him to breathe fire on them by accident and sending them all to Celestia.
• The Power of Love: It turns out that Spike's love for Rarity is what reverts him back to his normal self when he turned into a rampaging monster.
• Precocious Crush:
  • He has a crush on Rarity.
  • One of The Hub's "Royal Wedding" bumpers gives him a crush on Tori Spelling.
• Prehensile Tail: He has been shown carrying objects with his tail, usually hooking the tip through a convenient handle. This is more prominent during his greed-induced growth spurt when he keeps hold of Rarity by coiling his tail around her midsection and carries her around that way while pillaging Ponyville.
• Raised by Humans: Or Raised by Ponies as the case may be. Comes up in "Dragon Quest" where the other dragons say he isn't a 'real' dragon because he was raised by "namby-pamby ponies". Given the relationship between the two species, this is also an inversion of Raised by Orcs.
• Refusal of the Call: Spike initially attempts to not participate in the games and even gets permission to go ahead and head back. However, he becomes Resigned to the Call when he realizes that Ponyville and Equestria could be potentially in danger if an amoral dragon like Garble get their hands on the scepter if he doesn't try to win.
• Reptiles Are Abhorrent: Largely Averted. Played straight when he is given a ''villainous'' role among the cast of mammalian ponies. Special mention goes to him in "Secret of My Excess", where he gains more reptilian features. In "Molt Down", he is horrified when he goes through the molt, resulting in developing unsightly "stone scales" and producing an unpleasant smell. He goes to Zecora in hopes of her making him a "cure", but she shoots down that possibility.
  Zecora: The ailments you have aren't something to cure; the molt's a condition that dragons endure.
• Required Secondary Powers: He states that "dragons are fireproof", which they have to be, dealing with fire inside their bodies a lot.
• Ridiculously Cute Critter: In-universe considered one of the most adorable characters around, which is saying something.
• Right for the Wrong Reasons: Spike assumes Lyra and Bon Bon's argument, and later, two ponies arguing at a diner, are the friendship problems he's meant to fix. While he's obviously wrong on this assumption, he does the right thing by helping these ponies.
• Rise of Zitboy: The first sign of Spike's impending molt in "Molt Down" is a red stone scale on his cheek. The next morning, his face is covered with stone scales, and later that day they're all over his body. At one point, he even tries to pop a stone scale as a teen would pop a zit. Rarity initially downplays it as just "the odd blemish", and Twilight compares it to stress-related breakouts she used to get in Magic School; turns out Spike's going through dragon puberty.
• Rite of Passage: In "Dragon Quest", Spike has to go through a series of tasks in order to prove he's a "real" dragon, including: a fire-belching contest, defeating another dragon in a round of "tail wrestling", playing "king of the hoard", and jumping into a lava pool.
• The Runaway: Spike after he hits rock bottom and leaves with a Bindle Stick.

Tropes S–Z

• Servile Snarker: He gets this way whenever Twilight gets too enthusiastic or veers towards the deep end.
  Twilight: We'll be back after the presentation, which should be...
  Spike: [carrying a pile of books] Twenty moons from now?
  Twilight: ... tonight!
• Shoulder-Sized Dragon: He is this until he grows up, of course. He is often seen riding on the backs of ponies and sometimes on the head of Twilight.
• Shout-Out: Spike's magic green fire that can transport objects to another location near-instantaneously may be one to the Floo Network fireplaces in Harry Potter.
• Significant Birth Date: Twilight hatched his egg on the same day that she and the other members of the Mane Six got their Cutie Marks.
• Singing Voice Dissonance: Not in the show, but the "Equestria Girls" video implies that the song's male backup is Spike despite not sounding like him (i.e., sounding like Snoop Dogg).
• Single Specimen Species: While it is shown as early as "Dragonshy" that there are other dragons in Equestria, "Dragon Quest" shows that Spike is the only dragon known to live among ponies. He is so unique that, in "Equestria Games", Ms. Harshwhinny addresses him as "Mr. the Dragon".
• Sneeze of Doom: Spike's sneezing from the dragon sneeze flowers destroys the gem statue. He gears up for another one after the delegates put it back together again.
• Spanner in the Works:
  • The only reason Twilight is able to escape King Sombra's spell and find the Crystal Heart is that he disobeyed her command to handle the search for it alone.
  • Again (though unintentionally) in Equestria Girls when Sunset Shimmer trips over his tail while trying to escape, alerting Twilight to her presence.
  • Explicitly this in "Power Ponies", where he is able to save the girls because the villain didn't capture him, thinking he wouldn't be a threat.
  • An example that takes several episodes to accomplish is his friendship with Thorax. He met Thorax in "The Times They Are A Changeling", became his friend, and convinced the Crystal Empire that Thorax was nice and just wanted friends. Then comes the season finale in "To Where and Back Again", it is thanks to Thorax's friendship with Spike and the Empire that he no longer hungers for love and changes into a new beautiful form, showing a better path for all changelings. Spike's friendship with Thorax ended up saving all of Equestria from a changeling invasion and helping the whole species, minus Chrysalis, to perform a Heel–Race Turn.
• Species Surname: His full name appears to be "Spike the Dragon" as given in multiple sources such as the Elements of Harmony guidebook, and when Ms. Harshwhinny addresses him as "Mr. the Dragon" in the "Equestria Games" episode.
• Stalker without a Crush: A mild version towards Applejack in "Spike at Your Service", as he won't leave her alone due to his personal "Dragon Code" requiring him to pledge lifelong servitude to her after she saves his life.
• Straight Man: His most consistent role is reacting to Twilight's anxiety or that of the other Mane Cast.
• Stronger with Age: The page image of this trope is a dragon. Spike's a dragon. Do the math. Notably, all of the older dragons are huge and basically living, fire-breathing tanks that can fly. When Spike is unnaturally aged getting too many gifts and starts getting greedy he temporarily goes From Nobody to Nightmare.
• Superpowered Evil Side: In "Secret of My Excess", it's revealed if he is given too many gifts he will experience rapid growth into an evil dragon.
• Super-Toughness: Being covered in dragon scales means there's little that can do more than knock the breath out of him. One of the comics' main arcs has him endure tremendous amounts of physical damage (that would arguably be fatal for a pony) without any serious repercussions afterward.
• Supreme Chef: He's often shown cooking and is generally shown to be quite good at it. An unusual exception occurred in "Spike at Your Service", where he botches a pie.
• Sweet Tooth: Beyond gems, he like sweets, such as ice cream or cake.
• Sycophantic Servant: The Inspiration Manifestation spell only works so long as Spike acts as this for Rarity.
• Tagalong Kid: He's portrayed as being younger than the rest of the Mane Cast, and he isn't a bearer of one of the Elements of Harmony, but he is still a much-loved and helpful member of their group.
• Technicolor Fire: His fire breath is a bright green color. Given that other individual dragons consistently breathe colored flames — one background dragon is seen breathing blue fire in "Dragon Quest", while Ember breathes fuchsia flames — this is likely natural for him. However, in an episode of Season 4, he breathes a large blast of the more traditional red/orange flames.
• Temporarily a Villain:
  • Makes a rather ineffectual attempt out of jealousy in "Owl's Well That Ends Well", complete with a Dastardly Whiplash attire and a hammy Evil Laugh.
  • "Secret of My Excess" is a more plot-based examples, though he wasn't in complete control of himself.
• Third-Person Person: He spoke this way while Hulking Out in "Secret of My Excess".
  Spike: Spike WAAAAANT!
• This Loser Is You: In-Universe example. Spike hates Humdrum because his role as the Plucky Comic Relief Millstone hits too close to home for Spike.
• Throw the Dog a Bone: He's allowed to come out ahead in at least a few episodes, rather than most Spike-focused episodes where he's also the cause of the episode's problems. "Sparkle's Seven" in Season 9 is the biggest version of this, as he wins the Sparkle family crown of Sibling Supreme forever, and Twilight and Shining Armor both acknowledge that he truly is an actual member of their family.
• Token Heroic Orc: While dragons in this setting aren't Always Chaotic Evil they are at the very least Always Chaotic Neutral and due to their immense strength have a Might Makes Right attitude while looking down on weaker creatures. They generally disdain compassion and helping others with no clear benefit while not shy about throwing their weight around to get what they want. This is in stark contrast to Spike who is generally a Nice Guy, Cowardly Lion, who's always willing to help A Friend in Need and is uncharacteristically Selfless for a dragon.
• Took a Level in Badass: From Season 4 onward, his fire breath is shown to be more powerful than it was previously portrayed, and in Season 8 he grows wings, gaining the power of flight. As a consequence, he now comes across as much less helpless than he was originally, and actually participates in several group fight scenes.
• Took a Level in Kindness: He has grown kinder and less of a nuisance to a degree through the progression of the series.
• Top-Heavy Guy: After the Time Skip, he's got a huge, muscular upper-body with comparatively small legs. It's not as exaggerated as "Knight Spike"'s extreme Heroic Build from his fantasies, but he's still ripped.
• Totally Radical: In the Polish version when compared to the other main characters. He uses phrases and words such as "Jesteś w dechę!" (You're totally awesome!), "wtopa" (bummer) or "ściema" (a slang variation of "lie").
• Trademark Favorite Food: Gemstones. This is frustrating for him while living in Ponyville as the few ponies who trade in gemstones use them as decoration instead of food. When gems aren't available, he seems pretty fond of ice cream.
• Translator Buddy: He often serves as this to and for Twilight, translating her highly technical spiels into terms other characters can understand.
  Cloudchaser: What exactly does this machine do?
  Twilight: This is an anemometer. It measures your accelerative velocity and translates it into wing power, thus gauging your cumulative H2O anti-gravitational potential. Any other questions?
  Flitter: Yeah. [to Spike] What exactly does this machine do?
  Spike: It tells you how fast you're flying and how strong your wings are.
• Trash Talk: Used by Spike when he agrees to distract the roc while Twilight tries to free their friends.
  Spike: Hey, giant chicken! If you like dragons so much, come and get me!
• Try to Fit That on a Business Card: In the Crystal Empire he's known as Great and Honorable Spike the Brave and Glorious, with every crystal pony saying the whole thing whenever they talk to him.
• Uncatty Resemblance: Although their relationship is more younger sibling/assistant than pet, Spike does share several traits with Twilight. On the physical side, they are a near-identical shade of purple. On the mental side, while not as passionate about books as Twilight, Spike is still quite nerdy like her, and also a workaholic. Come season 8, they even share the trait of both having grown wings later in life despite not being born with them.
• Twitchy Eye: Spike's first attempt to engage Owlowiscious in conversation gives him one.
• The Unchosen One: In the two-parter episode "The Crystal Empire", Spike was the one who ultimately saved the day.
• Undying Loyalty: To Twilight Sparkle, and the rest of his friends. This allows him to be the hero in "The Crystal Empire" when he refuses to let Twilight search for the Crystal Heart on her own. It is also revealed that his greatest fear is Twilight revoking his status as her assistant and sending him away because she finds him useless. Also strongly demonstrated in Equestria Girls, where he accompanies Twilight through the mirror portal despite being told not to, providing much-needed moral support. He's also technically this to Rarity, willing to help her in almost anything she asks. However, "Inspiration Manifestation" shows even he has his limits with this, as while he's at first unwilling to speak out against Rarity going Mad with Power over the titular book, he eventually takes it from her and swallows it so she can't get it back to snap her out of it.
• Unknown Rival: To Owlowiscious at first, because he considered the owl a threat to his position as Twilight's Number 1 Assistant.
• Unwitting Instigator of Doom: He's often the cause of problems in various episodes, either because he gets too excited, too Drunk with Power, or gets greedy.
• Vague Age: This applies to most of the cast but Spike is probably the one who sticks out the most because he is younger than the mane cast but seems to be older than the Cutie Mark Crusaders. Dragon biology^note He grew to full size in one episode, and then went back to his normal form after Rarity talked him down and society^note doesn't seem to exist in any formalized manner offers much in the way of questions but little in the way of answers, so figuring out his relative age comes down to looking at how he acts and how the rest of the cast treats him. Judge how his behavior compares to the Mane Six for yourself.
  • On the high side, he has a full-time job as Twilight's assistant/valet, he has been left in charge of the library and Fluttershy's pets when the others go away, and takes care of business in Canterlot on his own. He's also the voice of reason when Twilight starts freaking out.
  • On the low side, he's run away from home out of jealousy, he tends to get talked down to, and his advice is often ignored. He also has terrible tact (then again, he was raised by Twilight, who can also suffer from this).
  • To note, he was hatched around the time Twilight was entering school, so he does seem older than the Crusaders at the least, who could be seen as middle-schoolers by Season 7.
• Vertebrate with Extra Limbs: Following "the molt", he now has wings.
• Vitriolic Best Buds: Often with Twilight during their more playful bouts. Also seems to have become one to Owlowiscious.
• Vocal Evolution: Spike's voice has been getting slightly deeper since his first appearance. He's still growing so it makes sense. In "Secret of My Excess", his voice gets progressively deeper until even modulating his actress' voice digitally didn't cut it anymore and they just start using animal grunts, growls and roars instead.
• Wacky Parent, Serious Child: When Twilight switches off from Straight Mare mode such as in "Lesson Zero" and "It's About Time", she becomes the wacky parent to Spike's serious child.
• Wardrobe Malfunction: While in the School of Friendship's library, Spike gets another uncontrolled fire burp. Since he's surrounded by some students and tourists at the moment, he directs the flame breath at the floor in order to not hurt anybody. This causes him to end up wreathed in flames, and although he's unharmed thanks to dragons' immunity to fire, his Conspicuous Trench Coat doesn't survive, turning to ashes.
• Watch Out for That Tree!: During Spike's flying montage, he turns his head and waves at Twilight, right before flying smack into a tree.
• What Have I Become?: Spike has this moment right before he changes back.
• What the Hell, Hero?: Spike gets chewed out by both Ember and Thorax for failing to be honest with them, especially since they felt that he made assumptions about their personalities (Ember's aggressiveness and Thorax's passiveness), which were the very things they sought Spike's help for.
• Wise Beyond Their Years: While he's a fair bit younger than Twilight (given how he was hatched by her when she was still a child), he's very close to the Mane Six, and sometimes even more so, maturity-wise.
• Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds: In "Secret of My Excess", receiving too many birthday presents triggered his growth and his rampage through Ponyville.
• Would Hurt a Child: In "The Ending of the End – Part 1", Spike has no problem using his fire breath to try and incinerate Cozy Glow (granted, she is an Alicorn at the time, but still).
• Wouldn't Hurt a Child: This is the main reason he couldn't smash the defenseless phoenix egg in "Dragon Quest".
• Wrong Assumption: Spike's concerns that Ember and Thorax would be unfriendly to each other turned out to be unfounded in the end as they bond over their insecurities and help each other solve them before confronting Spike and giving him a good reprimand for his earlier behavior.
• You Are Better Than You Think You Are: Struggles with this. He prides himself on being Twilight's dutiful assistant but is plagued by doubt and worry that he's actually useless and is an outsider to the core cast of ponies.
• You Have Out Lived Your Usefulness: This is his biggest worry in life — that Twilight (and her friends) will no longer want him around if he stops being helpful. "Owl's Well That Ends Well" has him fear for his job with Owlowiscious also helping Twilight, "Power Ponies" has him deal with being cast as Humdrum, the useless sidekick who never does anything to help the heroes, and in the Season 3 premiere King Sombra's spell reveals that his greatest fear is that Twilight won't need him anymore and will make him leave her.
• You Need a Breath Mint: According to Twilight, Spike's breath always stinks (to some degree that is, it's certainly not enough to normally bother others). Brimstone, or sulfur, a common ingredient of dragon fire, smells like rotten eggs.
• Your Size May Vary: Not in the show, but in merchandise. The Spike vectors, unless he's sitting on Twilight's back, often make him appear smaller proportionally to the ponies than he does in the show.

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