Love or hate the Ship Teasing, Spike was such a little bad ass in this series.
 
I, personally, loved this arc. My favorite of the IDW comics without a doubt. Big Mac takes second place for pure hilarity, and one of the CRAZIEST ship teases I have ever seen.
 
-Lumino

Damn. I REALLY want to read these now.

@Background Pony  
I’m pretty sure Lauren’s influence of the show ended after the first couple episodes of S1. Some experimental ideas have been dumped along the way now like Fluttershy and Rarity being best buds. What about Spike’s gem eating thing? Was that part of Lauren’s original plan for his character? It only appeared in the third episode of S1 and I can’t remember any previous generations of Spike being a gem eater. Gems of all things.

@Background Pony  
Yeah..except that Lauren is no more on the show (She is answering according S1 things) so who knows how many of her original ideas changed since she left. One of those is giving to Rainbow Dash a sisterly figure in “Sleepless in Ponyville” while She stated otherwise in a DA journal. Not to mention Cadance being a Pegasus originally and other stuff.
 
Regarding of Spike’s age I actually always considered him as child/young minded but consider that in Season 2 he was given the voice of reason more than 1 time, not to forget Season 3. Also just case Lauren stated as well that even if the Mane 6 were “young adults” their mind behavior are between 10 and 18, so the maturity difference isn’t that much.
 
As much as Sparity shipper I am I’m aware this type of stuff won’t be shown on the actual series considering the main objective and target of it, but I’ts actually interesting to see how these two characters have been developing through the series (and comics as well), at a point that I had become some sort of subplot for the series, together with the CMC trying to get their cutie marks or Rainbow Dash trying to join to the Wonderbolts. These are matters that maybe will be solved but until the end of the show and in Sparity’s case even implicit in order to not being explicit with romantic things (at most in an epilogue set years into the future where they are together).

Interestingly Lauren Faust tweeted in a Q&A tonight that Spike’s crush on Rarity was implemented in the show to make it clear when Twilight met Rarity that Rarity was supposed to be very beautiful, and also that Spike is supposed to be “elementary” aged, around 8 years old in maturity. Both of which heavily imply, if not prove, that “Sparity” as a romantic pairing was never meant to be taken seriously beyond an infatuation on Spike’s part.

@QuelloScelto  
What you mentioned are character traits the writers gave them so they’ll have good dynamic when they share a story together. The crush. The gems. The greed and generosity. It can’t all have been coincidence otherwise the writers would have dumped the idea of Spike’s crush after the first episode.
 
This comic arc is definitely a rehashed version of SomE including the opinions from the fans that don’t like Sparity. When SomE came out, these people were asking why the writers used Rarity instead of Twilight.

@hironakamura  
Now that you said I think there are a lot of things in common that both Spike and Rarity has:
 

 
>They share the same preference for a “fairy tale” themed romance, as the lady meeting her prince or the knight saving her maiden.
 
>They both have tendencies to be greedy sometimes (as shown with Discorded Rarity and Greedy Spike)
 
>They love gems (duh!)
 
There are others that might be forgeting at this time but those pretty much are the most noticeable

Well, its obvious why they chose Spike instead of SB. Its more interesting to read about his romantic love for Rarity compared to SB’s sibling love for Rarity. Its not about whose love is stronger but rather who has a more interesting character perspective.
 
Spike is an innocent underdog runt of a hero going against impossible odds. That is the best kind of hero that makes stories interesting because you just want to see the little guy win in the end and beat all odds. And they always do so. His feelings for Rarity are represented in the same way, trying to attain the unattainable. That’s how love works in fairy tales.
 
One day, I know we’ll see this little guy win the girl in the end and I will cheer for him when he does.

@Lathius
 
Yeah, the wavering was at the beginning, after the first panel in this montage. After his almost-declaration she just scoffed at him and had him tied up.

@Lathius
 
Uh? I thought the wavering was before almost at the beginning, in any case thats a pretty good question.

I think the primary question here is ‘how does Rarities feelings for Spike affect this arc?’ and the uploader didn’t include the frame where Nightmare Rarity’s eyes wavered after Spikes almost declaration of love.

@Anonycat  
That’s making the assumption that they are pushing it towards mutual romantic love, which I don’t think is the case at all, but that’s a whole ‘nother can of worms and I don’t want to go there right now.
 
@QuelloScelto
 
The point you make about Rarity sometimes thinking of Sweetie as annoying, and that they experience “sibling rivalry” despite obviously loving each other is exactly why I would have liked to have seen a story like this with Sweetie Belle… it would have been a reason to explore their relationship and build on both of their characters instead of just rehashing what we’ve already seen established of Spike and Rarity’s relationship. I do think Rarity cares for Spike (maybe not romantically but that’s beside the point), but because we’ve seen his crush/feelings for her and their relationship focused on already in the cartoon in a similar situation (and sort of from Spike’s point of view in “A Dog and Pony Show”, too) I just think it would have been nicer to see something different here, and see another relationship explored which hasn’t had a lot of development or depth conveyed. Oh well though.
 
And yeah what ItsThinking said about “Spike At Your Service”.

@QuelloScelto  
They changed Rarity to Applejack and also made the reaction of the pony Spike gave his “service” to much less rude. It was done out of not wanting to affect their relationship by having Rarity act like a jerk to him.

@Background Pony  
Yeah..then why did they change Rarity and put Aplejack on the “Spike at your service”. They just said “it was so mean” with Rarity, Do the show writers care that much what Rarity thinks of Spike and otherwise?
 
Although eventhough Sweetie being Rarity’s sister and have their ties, there are sometimes that Rarity can’t just stand Sweetie due to you know, “sister rivalry” in any case Nightmare Moon would have exploited that thinking of her being “an anoying thing” and eliminate any inmediate conection.
 
Am I a Sparity shipper? Yes but I’m answering from a neutral point o view. The fire ruby, even if is not a symbol of Spike’s feeling for her, it has been the most generous gift She has received and it’s a symbol of her being and how much Spike (and also her friends) cares for her.

I don’t know, I just think that Spike and Rarity’s relationship is developed to the point where situations like this just work with them.
 
You don’t get the “he likes her and she likes him but not in that way but she understands” mechanic with Sweetie Belle, and that’s part of what makes their character dynamic interesting.

@Background Pony  
Under different circunstances, it could have worked. But the current story involved a lot of fights and danger so evidently a filly had nothing to do there.  
Plus, considering the story and how the writers are evidently pushing Spike and Rarity together, filial love wouldn’t have worked the same as romantic love.
 
It would be interesting to see if SW appears on the next issue, though. She was worried about her sister, after all.

@Background Pony
 
I’d have to agree, if there was a choice. Family ties are the strongest, and it’s pretty damn clear Rarity’s feelings towards Spike are platonic. Contrary to how some people in the fandom think “platonic feelings = boundless love” that usually isn’t how it works.
 
Also, Sweetie and Rarity can always use more exploration and story relevance.

@Anonycat  
Well obviously, the story wouldn’t have gone the exact same way if it had been written with Sweetie as the hero instead of Spike. I think that’s a given, but that doesn’t mean she couldn’t have worked in the same general role.

@Background Pony  
I did a what now?

@Anonycat  
Physically, he trumps Sweetie easy. Emotionally they’re pretty much the same.

@Background Pony  
Did you say the same thing somewhere else, or are just pretending to answer for me or what? Well, either way I guess it works.

@QuelloScelto  
Right, because the writers (in the cartoons and comics) have never treated Spike and/or his feelings as a joke either. Just because the CMC didn’t understand their situation or act seriously about it in the previous story arc doesn’t mean Sweetie wouldn’t be serious if she knew Rarity was in terrible danger. There was already a shot of her in one panel early in this issue worrying about Rarity.
 
I get what you’re saying and I realize you’re a Sparity shipper so of course you’d defend the decision they made, but just because Spike has a crush on Rarity doesn’t mean he’s the only natural choice for a story like this. Sweetie Belle is Rarity’s sister, her only sibling, and I’m pretty sure her feelings are a lot stronger for Sweetie than they are for Spike. Spike does work for this, but again the storyline is redundant since we’ve already had virtually the same story reversed, and IMO it would have been a lot fresher and therefore better to see it told with a different twist, and explore Rarity and Sweetie’s relationship more. A wasted opportunity in other words.
 
It’s not like it matters what I think though, obviously, since the comic’s already been written.

@Background Pony
 
I don’t think Sweetie would have survived what Spike did.  
The little guy was thrown miles away and even crashed through a mountain before landing so far away that he nearly fainted of fatigue when he was trying to find his way back.

>CMCs get a micro  
>Spike doesn’t
 
Who gets one next, a background pony or something?