@ealt  
Babies generally don’t have the motor control or responsibility Spike has, and owning and running a business is not a good indicator of age in cartoons, especially those with magic ponies. Besides, they’re just dancing. It’s cute. Don’t overthink it.

@Background Pony #7402  
Seems we’ve come to a fundamental impasse on what we choose to infer from primary & supplemental material on a show with multiple circulating cooks & a so-so approach to continuity. For the record, I figure show-age Spike isn’t pushing for romance too hard or soon.
 
Apologies to everyone else for threadjackin’.

Related so I’ll share since it’s kind of an interesting thought, I’ve lately seen people discussing that Spike is basically like Twilight’s squire on the show, being her “apprentice knight” whose job it is to look after her and assist her however he can in preparation for growing into his own figure of status someday. It’s not meant as a literal comparison I don’t think but I kind of like the idea, and the precursor to the squire, a page boy actually sounds almost exactly like what Spike is to Twilight now.
 
If Celestia raising young Spike before assigning him to assist Twilight is word of god that’s canonized it actually works really well with that.

@gorkspewdium  
Yes that stuff’s happened on screen, but none of it actually disproves that Spike is as young as they’re all saying he should be either. Though obviously he’s very mature and competent for his age, which is admirable. And yes Faust is gone, but the other writers like McCarthy and again, his voice actress (among others maybe, just those that I remember specifically touching on how they view/portray him as a kid) are obviously still there and working on the show currently. If that’s how they see him when they’re writing and voicing him, and say that’s what he’s supposed to be, I’m going to trust them on it.

@Background Pony #7402  
One teensy difference: all the writers’ notes & statements aren’t directly onscreen, whilst the stuff noted below is. Word of God’s kinda shaky when said ‘gods’ may leave a program & initial concepts to the tender mercies of successors. Fair supposition re: home-schooling, though.

@gorkspewdium  
According to Lauren Faust, who created him, he is (she specifically used the very word actually) “elementary”. She said she imagined him around 8 years old, and the other show staff (writers and his voice actress) consider him a child. That’s good enough for me to disregard fan speculation trying to reason him older until proven otherwise in the show.
 
As for Spike not being in class with the CMC and others, I always just assumed Twilight schools him at home, or Celestia did previously if that old word of god statement of Fausts is actually true. At the very least, as Twilight’s assistant and especially since she’s now royalty he really doesn’t need a standard education for Equestrian society the way ordinary pony kids would.

@ealt  
@PonyPon  
Doesn’t show up in class with the CMCs, left alone for errands & odd jobs, seems to physically grow at a wacky rate, hatched by Filly!Twiley. I figure he’s young, but not elementary. Sorely tempted to bring up the unlikelihood of Equestrian age-independence precisely paralleling the 21st-century West, but that’s probably not worth the flap.
 
@Ospero  
Seems like the colorist over-embellished that fang a bit.

@ealt  
Trust me, we’ve been over everything surrounding that statement for years.

Correct me if i’m wrong, but is’t Spike tecnicaly a baby? And Rarity being old enought to own a business makes this shipping very akvard.

@Ospero
 
It’s cuz Spike Want.

Hm. Something about that facial expression on Spike doesn’t ring true. He looks like a scheming supervillain with that grin.

@GekkanShounen  
And the haters getting all butthurt over this >:)

@TheAmazingPeanuts  
I think we can stand to have more.

We been getting a lot of Sparity today.

>artist:zver  
Зверь TranslayerЪ Внутри, ты ли это?

Repaint of >>685711.