Ten years ago today, a television network known as “The Hub” replaced Discovery Family. It brought several new shows with it, the most Significant of them all, being My Little Pony Friendship is Magic.

At the time, I didn’t pay it much mind. On FA, I saw on a pic that mentioned a dragon was a main character. Since I was really into Dragons at this point, I eventually gave the show a watch at certain points. The first episode I remember seeing was “Applebuck Season”, where it was also the first time I saw Spike, who quickly became one of my favorite characters of all time, even surpassing my love for Spyro in some ways.

As Spike was regulated to more of a side character, I soon found myself thinking up storylines that made him the hero. One of the most significant ones I could remember was him using a magic suit of armor. In time, when I was thinking of ideas for video games, I decided to change this story to adapt it into original material. This idea for a video game would eventually become my novel.

It’s still hard to nail down exactly why I fell in love with Spike so quickly. Was it because he was an underrated side character? Was it because of his position as Twilight’s assistant that gave him so many interesting stories to tell? Was it because I simply love dragons? It doesn’t seem to matter anymore, Spike and the show have done so much for me since it’s debut. The most significant thing being my trip to Baltimore where I had a blast and also met one of my friends IRL,  Yosh-E-O .

I wanted to make a special picture to commemorate this wonderful day. I even tried a new tactic for lighting and I think it looks pretty good! In this pic, Spike, having grown his wings and wearing the medal Princess Twilight gave him, has returned to the classroom at night where Twilight first hatched his egg. He holds up a small fragment of the egg, silently thanking Twilight for bringing him into her life.

Thank you MLP, you will always live on in our hearts.

Visual Description:
The classroom where Spike was born (with a pale blue and dull blue tiled floor, pale green walls, a window next to Spike and a chalkboard off to the left) at night. Out the window, you can see numerous stars, including two bright ones, one green and one purple. Spike stands beside the window, holding up a fragment of his eggshell with his left claw and looks at it as he is about to cry tears of happiness.

Standing behind Spike is a transparent adult version of Leon (he’s mostly similar to his baby form, except with a longer snout). He’s wearing blue jeans and a green short-sleeve shirt with a silhouette of Spike with the words “Best Pony” written on it. He holds a book in his right claw (his novel) and salutes Spike with his left claw. He too looks like he is about to cry tears of Joy.