Can we talk about how spike was willing to give up his freedom and stay in the dragon lands forever just to keep his friends safe, this might be his most selfless moment in all of MLP.

And he risked his whole reputation for a friend


This is my favorite Spike episode, and contains what I consider to be Spike's most heroic deed. The stakes were high, yet he wasn't forced into the situation. He chose to compete in the gauntlet of fire because Equestria needed him. He was a true hero all the way through.


20:32 "Is that her first hug ever?"
Yep, Spike took Ember's  huginity.  :)

I love this and hate it at the same time


18:00 I always find it interesting that a lot of people seem to not get why Twilight didn’t attack Garble here.
She’s royalty from another country what do you think would happen if a foreign power interfered in a countries change of leadership?
It would not look good on them in the slightest, it probably cause more of a problem then F just Garbled winning.

Well she is in an unknown area crawling with dragons, and even if you use the argument that she was using teleportation to get around (which was the only way they could) they still stayed in camouflage. So uncovered in an unfamiliar area crawling with people that you don’t want to see you. teleportation would be kind of off the table at that point.

That is a very interesting point you’ve made on the subject. The last thing Twilight wants is to start a war between kingdoms. We’ve learned this with the Yaks back in S5.


Think this is the beginning of Spike's character development beyond mere comic relief.


1:30 Twilight: "My little pony~"
PonyBro: "I used to wonder what friendship could be~"

NPC: Then I took an arrow to the knee.


In my opinion, this is one of the strongest Spike episodes we’ve had in a long time (probably my favorite). I like how this episode expanded on the lore of dragon society. I get How To Train Your Dragon vibes with there being a Dragon Lord that oversees and rules the Dragon Lands and the dragon inhabitants too. Also, Ember is another fan favorite of mine and the fandom. She’s a cool character.


5:18 "Can they make a dragon as sexy as they make these ponies?"
The fan artists certainly can!


Ember is a tsundere & it makes me like her more.

I'd say she's more of a female dragon.

spoiler's the other female dragon we meet later on also starts out like this but opens up more later. and yes admittedly a lot faster but I feel that was more for plot convivence

@@digitaladventurer2142 Oi No spoilers mate. I'd like to see Ponybro go into episodes as blind as possible.

It's adorable Ember tries to show other emotions even if she doesn't want to. Fits the anime elements down to a T.


This is probably my favorite Spike centered episode in the entire series.


That dragon Garble hugged probably had his very first hug too.


0:45 "Rarity, looking freaking adorable in that mining hat."
And nothing else.  Giggity.


16:39 Actually, I think the Dragon Lands are outside Equestria.

Correct.  Equestria is the name of their nation, not their planet.


11:44 "Why didn't that kill him?"
Dragons have thick scales, remember?


11:21 Ember: "Dragons don't do friends."
Spike: "Well this dragon does!"
In my mind, I could have sworn I remembered Spike turning back to look at Rarity and winking when he said that.

11:21 Ember: "Dragons don't do friends."
Spike: "Well _this_ dragon does!"
In my mind, I could have sworn I remembered Spike turning back to look at Rarity and winking when he said that.


4:45 "This guy is intimidating!"
Torch sounds kind of like a British mob boss.

+Narrator007
<br>British? I thought he sounded more Aussie or New Zealand.

+Narrator007
British? I thought he sounded more Aussie or New Zealand.


Another great episode by the lady writers. Ember is best dragon, a whole lot of world building, I mean we learned so much about the dragons in this episode. Twilight had a lot of cute and nerdy moments here as well, overall it was one of the best season 6 episodes, keep it up man, if you keep going at this rate you will finish the series by January if not earlier.


The Dragon Lord’s design looks very similar to the Bewilderbeast from How to Train Your Dragon in terms of its immense size and horns.


This is a great episode. The gauntlet of fire is pretty interesting. The expansions on dragons is interesting. The ending is fantastic.


15:01 Oh no, Crackle got stuck in the rocks!


Dragon Lord Torch being Australian is amazing.


"Dragons don't do friends."
"Well, this dragon does."
Made me spit-take.

"Dragons don't _do_ friends."
"Well, this dragon does."
Made me spit-take.


I like Ember. I think she’s cool and beautiful. Plus I love her attitude


01:50 Oh, I have a whole list... :D
05:52 Maybe it's the greed-induced growth? You know, like the one Spike experienced in "Secret Of My Excess"? ;>
However, the fact that he's so huge and intimidating, always pushing his subjects around, kinda explains why Dragons are such assholes: they are being bullied, so they start bullying others to restore their crashed confidence.
06:03 :D  Pretty good impression ;D
07:40 Because Rarity is his GODDESS ;)  He puts her on the pedestal too much, so he doesn't even dare. He doesn't have plans about Ember, though, that's he's not afraid of spitting game on her ;)
09:19 Spike might be small and meek, but he's a tough little guy. He's heroic, noble, wise, always a good friend for everyone, and always trying to help, despite of how bad they treat him. He is even more apt for self-sacrifice than Twilight, which can clearly be seen in this dialogue here. He is willing to compete in the Gauntlet of Fire and win it, despite his being weak and afraid, just because he doesn't want ponies to suffer if some crazy ass Dragon would win. He's even willing to self-sacrifice and stay in the Dragon Lands forever, if that would protect the ponies of Equestria from invasion. That's why I love this episode. And I waited for such an episode for Spike for a long time. An episode that would show his strengths more than his weaknesses.
11:52 Garble couldn't move that heavy rock, and yet little Spike could ;)  INB4 you say it's a plot hole or that it breaks the laws of physics, though:  Not quite ;>  Spike could move it because he's smart ;>  and somehow he knows the difference between applying force directly at the centre of mass (which requires heavy lifting) and applying it sidewise, tangentially to the centre of mass, at a distance from it. The latter puts the rock into rotational motion in which weight works in a different way, to the point it can diminish or even disappear completely :> TL;DR:  rolling stuff is easier than pushing it straight.
12:58 Wilhelm, nooo! ;D
14:35 They could've also teleported Spike into that cave and let him win that way, to meddle with Dragon Land's politics ;)  I'm pretty sure no Dragon would figure out that they cheated ;)
16:00 Rarity in a burka :q
16:13 I guess that the tsundere count must keep constant, so when it drop to 0 after Diamon Tiara's reformation, Ember took her place as a tsundere? ;>
16:40 The Dragon Lands are outside of the borders of Equestria.
16:55 Rarity sounds like she's being jealous ;>  She says what any other wannabe girlfriend would say after her crush breaking with another girl ;J
18:00 Yeah, it's almost like her teleporting spell shuts down whenever it's really needed :q
18:20 When two dogs fight for a bone, the third one gets away with it ;>
18:25 Again, he could have easily win the gauntlet, and become a Dragon Lord, and yet he chose to help her new friend over this. This only shows his priorities and solid moral standards. (Kinda like his "Dragon Code" thing ;) )
20:03 No Dragon is allowed to attack the Dragon Lord. But Spike relinquished the sceptre willingly to Ember. It was a legal transfer of power.
20:17 Yeah, first he saved the Crystal Empire, twice , and now he pretty much saved the entire Equestria from Dragon invasion :q But no pony know about it (except those two), and no pony cares :q  True heroes don't always wear capes, and some of them aren't even recognized as heroes :q
21:38 My favourite gonzo ship in this show :D

01:50 Oh, I have a whole list... :D
05:52 Maybe it's the greed-induced growth? You know, like the one Spike experienced in "Secret Of My Excess"? ;>
However, the fact that he's so huge and intimidating, always pushing his subjects around, kinda explains why Dragons are such assholes: they are being bullied, so they start bullying others to restore their crashed confidence.
06:03 :D  Pretty good impression ;D
07:40 Because Rarity is his GODDESS ;)  He puts her on the pedestal too much, so he doesn't even dare. He doesn't have plans about Ember, though, that's he's not afraid of spitting game on her ;)
09:19 Spike might be small and meek, but he's a tough little guy. He's heroic, noble, wise, always a good friend for everyone, and always trying to help, despite of how bad they treat him. He is even more apt for self-sacrifice than Twilight, which can clearly be seen in this dialogue here. He is willing to compete in the Gauntlet of Fire and win it, despite his being weak and afraid, just because he doesn't want ponies to suffer if some crazy ass Dragon would win. He's even willing to self-sacrifice and stay in the Dragon Lands forever, if that would protect the ponies of Equestria from invasion. That's why I love this episode. And I waited for such an episode for Spike for a long time. An episode that would show his strengths more than his weaknesses.
11:52 Garble couldn't move that heavy rock, and yet little Spike could ;)  INB4 you say it's a plot hole or that it breaks the laws of physics, though:  Not quite ;>  Spike could move it because he's _smart_ ;>  and somehow he knows the difference between applying force directly at the centre of mass (which requires heavy lifting) and applying it sidewise, tangentially to the centre of mass, at a distance from it. The latter puts the rock into rotational motion in which weight works in a different way, to the point it can diminish or even disappear completely :> TL;DR:  rolling stuff is easier than pushing it straight.
12:58 Wilhelm, nooo! ;D
14:35 They could've also teleported Spike into that cave and let him win that way, to meddle with Dragon Land's politics ;)  I'm pretty sure no Dragon would figure out that they cheated ;)
16:00 Rarity in a burka :q
16:13 I guess that the tsundere count must keep constant, so when it drop to 0 after Diamon Tiara's reformation, Ember took her place as a tsundere? ;>
16:40 The Dragon Lands are outside of the borders of Equestria.
16:55 Rarity sounds like she's being jealous ;>  She says what any other wannabe girlfriend would say after her crush breaking with another girl ;J
18:00 Yeah, it's almost like her teleporting spell shuts down whenever it's _really_ needed :q
18:20 When two dogs fight for a bone, the third one gets away with it ;>
18:25 Again, he could have easily win the gauntlet, and become a Dragon Lord, and yet he chose to help her new friend over this. This only shows his priorities and solid moral standards. (Kinda like his "Dragon Code" thing ;) )
20:03 No Dragon is allowed to attack the Dragon Lord. But Spike relinquished the sceptre _willingly_ to Ember. It was a legal transfer of power.
20:17 Yeah, first he saved the Crystal Empire, _twice_ , and now he pretty much saved the entire Equestria from Dragon invasion :q But no pony know about it (except those two), and no pony cares :q  True heroes don't always wear capes, and some of them aren't even recognized as heroes :q
21:38 My favourite gonzo ship in this show :D


I’ll bet whoever wrote the story of this episode is into anime.


Spike: I know you'll never harm the ponies
Ember in the season 8 premier: (wages war on equestria and threatens to burn down the other kingdoms)
Me: seems legit


In your "Princess Spike" reaction you said that he wouldn't be a princess and that he was a disappointment to you.

 Well maybe you can now look with more respect to Spike the brave and glorious, he was the hero that unified the ponies and dragons.


Lord of the Dragons is a title I would LOVE to have


For once, we agree! It’s also in my top 15 favorite episodes of the entire series.


18:02 yes, that bothers me a little because twilight could easily defeat garbel with her magic


Hello I’m Twinkling Star, a pegasus who gained magic through mental training and i am a big fan.


I came back here just to say this is a reference to Harry potter. maybe....😃


I swear I wanna claw some nails to Garble's dumb face in this episode---


Grouchy and hot, Ember is the perfect tsundere.


You know it actually was confirmed in the show that dragons to eat meat.


We all hate Garble. Unfortunately he got a redemption which again was something this show always failed at.

“Unfortunately” is right. Sweet and Smoky is one of my least-favorite episodes of the entire series.