there really needs to be an “Unca Shiny” tag. (As in Unca Donald/Scrooge/Ludwig) That would go great here. :D You don’t see much interaction between Spike and Shining in most fan works.

@Background Pony #2445  
That should be obvious to us all by now, unfortunately.
 
 
@Minus  
That’s brilliant. If you are not already, become a fan fiction author and join FIMFiction. This is meant sincerely.

I NEED more Spike/Shining brotherly interaction. This pic just revived my need for it.  
It really bothers me when its mentioned Spike episodes are usually bad because the writers don’t know what to do with him…I mean c’mon! He’s got more potential than almost any other character in the show, just by virtue of being a dragon living with ponies. There’s a great amount of potential for adventure and life lessons you can get from that alone.
 
Also, this concept is interesting to me because its inevitable for Spike to eventually become Equestria’s protector as he grows larger, so him learning fighting techniques and the way of the knight since a young age would have an amusing impact on his adult self imo.

@Minus  
YOU’RE HIRED

I would love for this to an actual part of the training he got in canterlot. Although i think he would get some practice using his claws too, in case of unarmed combat.

@Background Pony #8E0B  
Jim is fantastic guy and does amazing job for MLP but what I gathered from Twitter exchange is that he doesn’t really have any interesting vision for Spike.

@PwnyPony  
The part where Twilight has Spike replaced with a royal guard who can’t do things the way Twilight expects and is used to sounds fun. Maybe in one of the MANY episodes where she goes off and leaves Spike behind, they could do this. Because this feels much more like a lesson for Twilight than for Spike. I’d also like to see it end with the guard telling Twilight he quits. Just to hammer in that Spike is the most reliable character in the series and has always done what’s best for Twilight, even if she never notices…
 
Huh. It wasn’t until writing this that I even realised how important he is. Anyway the becoming a knight part would also make for a cute episode.

This is pretty great, man.

This is fantastic :)

@Vree  
Nice ideas!

Mama twilight

@Background Pony #0684  
Meant it in a semi tongue in cheek way, after the recent Princess Spike twitter exchange.
 
@PwnyPony  
There’s room for TS& Spike or introspective Spike stories, but this doesn’t need to be one. I was thinking something simple and fun, like A Dog & A Pony Show, and like how this artist depicted it.
 
Actually- and don’t take this the wrong way, I think what you wrote has exactly the elements that’ve been wrong with Spike stories for the last seasons. It’s about Spike failing, wanting too much, learning his place (and that place is: a 2nd-rate, a servant, a sidekick), coming to terms with being a 2nd-rate sidekick…wtf?  
Since when was it OK to teach kids that they should know their place, that they must accept being only 2nd best, be content with what they were given or that trying leads to failure?  
On the contrary, what the show should teach them is that reaching what you want to be, whatever that is (scholar, athlete, etc.), is possible!  
A cool Spike story is about being like a young boy, wanting young boy-like things, and succeeding at them with your young boy-like (and dragon-like) assets.  
More “we show you who Spike is”, not “neither Spike nor we know who Spike is”.
 
Why can’t Spike want to be a knight “just because”? It’s a normal game/ambition for a kid like him. Give him a classic dragon-knight-princess storybook to read if you really feel you need an inro scene to explain it. But you can just as well place the intro at an Equestrian knight tournament (horse jokes galore), where Spike learns that in Starswirl’s time there was an Arthurian knight order who protected the land, and develops an ambition to became the sort of adventurer/protector hero that way…there are many directions you can take with the story.
 
The core concept is hilarious in itself, given that knights usually slay dragons. You can have lot of fun with this and I wouldn’t even mind if “knight Spike” becomes a permanent character aspect.
 
Forget stuff like: where will Spike fail, where will he need the help of others; wrong thinking. Focus more on the FUN you can have with this. Have Spike pass various knight tests. Convince the viewer that playing knight is fun. Challenge him, but let him overcome each test through his own power, his own methods.  
When he sets out in the end to achieve fame as an adventurer and a protector of the people, let him succeed. Maybe you can play with the contrast of fairy stories and (relative) reality, and how Spike has to reconcile the two (his ambition with reality): a knightly quest, a like a magical treasure to retrieve or a monster to defeat or a maiden to rescue may not be as easy to find in reality as in stories. Maybe demonstrating knightly virtues is part of the quest, and Spike has to stop to offer his help to anybody he meets, ending up doing a lot of manual labour for normal ponies. And so on. But let him stumble upon something that does let him earn the desired title eventually. And not just bs “the magic was in you/at home all along”, we learned that many many times. It shouldn’t be too big either, this is not that story, but significant for ponykind enough. Maybe the finding of an artifact? And it turns out that it belonged to the Pony Knights and specifically the storybook knowledge about them is what’s needed to get to it? And we learn a lesson about the power of stories?
 
Or you can place it entirely in the Crystal Empire, to further emphasize the Shiny/Cadance/Spike the empire’s hero angle. They have an annual crystal fair so you can tie the whole story to that, too.  
(And I do adore the idea of Spike and Shining doing something together. Though just Spike and any other character that’s his gender (like Mac) or age (CMC) would make a cool story and is yet to happen.)

@Background Pony #8E0B  
who’s Big Jim and what did he say about Spike?

@Background Pony #0684
 
Big Jim was discussing Spike episode ideas with people on Twitter

@Vree  
(load of nonsense ahead)
 
I can see it now, spike feels insecure about his position as Twilight’s assistant comparing himself to the assisting royal guards.
 
He sets off to the crystal palace to have Shining Armour train him up in assistant royal guard duties and conditioning.
 
Shining Armour trains him in guarding doors and being by the side of the one he assists.  
They go through training montages and combat training, Spike starts to realize he is being trained by Shining to be more of a bodyguard than an assistant, Shinings big protective brother personality starts to show.  
Shining wants his sister to be in safe hands or in this case claws, Spike agrees and they go full bodyguard training.  
Time for a live exercise, a monster has been terrorizing ponies in a street in the crystal kingdom, guards and even spike are sent to chase it away.  
They chase and attack it but spike keeps finding himself getting is the way of the guards and causes one of the guards to trip the monster goes for the attack and spike realizes what he must do, he grabs another guards shield and jumps in front of the attacking monster, he then uses his well known status in the kingdom to rally the guards and chase away the monster.  
The saved guard lets spike know if it was not for his assistance the monster would have won.  
Spike realizes he is most effective at assisting others that they may be at their best.
 
 
In the meantime Twilight becomes stressed and Celestia sets her up with one of her own assistants to relive her stress.  
Twilight tries to use the royal guard effectively but there is a lack of understanding in communication.  
Twilight notices something about her day is not right, turns out spike had an unwritten list of assistant duties he gave himself to make Twilights life easier.  
Likewise Celestias assistant has their own unwritten list and ends up causing confusion and doing things Twilight would not want done like constantly making tea.
 
later in the day Twilight asks Celestias assistant to put away her study books but the assistant rearranges the entire library the way Celestias has her own rather than the way Twilight keeps hers, Twilight later discovers this and flips out.  
She flies off to the crystal palace to ask Spike to come back.
 
Being an assistant is not just a job it is a relationship between two who understand each other.
 
Something like that?

@Vree  
They don’t do fanfics, I wouldn’t pester them.

Someone send this to Big Jim, yet another good Spike ep idea that basically writes itself.

>Pray
 
Ponies as religious confirmed.

We definitely need some Shining Armor and Spike interaction in the show.

Assuming Spike actually became proficient with that sword n’ board, I could totally see their teaming up having all the dramatic effect of the Gurren Lagann fusion animation.

>no brohug

It’s only now I’m aware of an extreme lack of Shining-Spike bro shipping in the fandom.