i mean, yeah, he was most likely 8 when the show started, but i always assumed his greed in “secret of my excess” was sort of like puberty so he is at least 12 by now, i think.

@gillagad  
@Background Pony  
We don’t know how old the CMC are supposed to be relative to Spike and the mane 6. I always saw them as slightly younger than Spike but it’s possible they’re the same age and he’s just more mature. Lauren’s original headcanon also included Spike being raised by Celestia so if he was it would make sense why he would be a lot more mature and responsible than they are. Plus he lives with OCD Twi who can’t take care of herself half the time meaning he’s had to step up, so there’s also that.

@QuelloScelto  
The only thing that Sparity has going for it in canon is that Spike has a crush on Rarity. That’s really it. Yeah their relationship has changed and had a lot of development devoted to it, but Rarity’s and Applejack’s is the same as far as that goes. They are put together more often than not and the staff and comics make jokes about their relationship too but that doesn’t mean they’re destined to be together because chances are pretty much zero that Hasbro would allow the writers to make a lesbian ship canon, like it’s pretty much zero they’d make a ship canon between two completely different species where one is an adult and the other’s a kid (or if some people want to keep arguing that point, where one who is definitely an adult treats the other like a complete kid). The fact that Spike has a crush on Rarity and Rarity cares about him in a platonic way and doesn’t outright reject him is no reason to believe the ship will ever realistically go anywhere, or should.
 
@hironakamura  
Since the current writers/director haven’t outright come and said that Spike is still a kid since Lauren left the show yeah, maybe it’s possible they’ve tried to change that. And yes his handling tends to vary in episodes because he almost always is playing a support and isn’t as “important” a character as the mane 6 so the writers can use him for whatever role they need him to serve per episode. BUT in season 1 for sure, and probably 2 he was definitely a kid because Lauren created and wrote him as one and she had almost complete control over the entire show in the beginning, working hands-on with the writers of every episode which means nobody else would be writing him in a way that was inconsistent with how she conceived him and what she wanted him to be (a little kid). She was making sure her entire staff was on the same page with every element of the show and definitely as far as the characters, we know this about the show and how season 1 was handled from numerous staff sources including Lauren herself. She was not as directly involved on season 2 but she still consulted on every script and basically approved the ideas to make sure the feel of the show stayed as consistent as possible. Since then, and even since seas. 1 Spike’s personality, appearance or behavior have not changed at all (other than when his growth was used as a plot element like in Cutie Mark Chronicles and Secret of my Excess) so there’s no reason to assume he’s aged or matured dramatically since back then when we know for a fact he was being written as an approximately 8 yr old kid.

@gillagad
 
Funny thing is, there is no confirmation that the CMC are a lot younger than Spike, or that they are younger than him at all. Kids in TV shows are generally more independent and capable than in real life.
 
He doesn’t have a job, he’s just the one that has to do the domestic chores because Twi is too busy studying. He had a lot of trouble with Fluttershy animal’s. In Lesson Zero he was being Twilight’s voice of reason (while she was acting very crazy), not a hard thing to do. And in TBNE He wasn’t being the voice of reason, it’s just that his idea of spending the night ended up being better than the others.

I figured Spike is at about the same age as the CMC, so elementary school age. Headcanon confirmed!

I really don’t agree with Lauren on this. For one if Spike is 8 then the CMC are probably 4-6 which seems far too low for them. Sure they’re little kids but they’re not that little. They can more or less handle themselves while they crusade around Ponyville getting into trouble. I see them more as 8-10.
 
Spike himself, while assuredly less mature than the Mane 6, has been shown to act maturely plenty of times. Besides having a full time job he’s also taken care of Fluttershy’s animals alone (Dragonshy), shown to be a competent baker (Owl’s Well, JFS, Dragon Quest, A Bird in the Hoof), gone off on royal business alone (Look Before You Sleep), and he can often be the voice of reason when the Mane 6 are going about something wrong (Lesson Zero, Best Night Ever). These portrayals lead me to believe Spike is more mature than 8.
 
This leads me to my next point that Lauren said “I think of him…” which means Meghan and the writers might think differently. Which could explain some of the inconsistencies in his maturity.

@Background Pony  
i think a lot of shippers,(me for example) just think the ship is cute and nothing else. this tweet changes virtually nothing to me, i mean, i was well aware of the age difference and never denied it.  
i don’t know about others, tho.

@Background Pony
 
A lot of Sparity supporters sure do.

@Background Pony  
nobody cares

OK, I get it. Even if every single writer, director, producer, and storyboard artist on the show said that Spike was a kid and not a teenager, there’d still be a large portion of the fandom who’d tell them they were wrong.
 
I mean, I’m used to people only looking for evidence that supports their view, and ignoring everything that undermines it, but this really takes the cake.

@QuelloScelto  
Well we don’t really know if he IS a child. No one does, not even the writers. Each writer, including Lauren, that writes Spike in an episode or the comics interprets him differently which is why his personality is so inconsistent. In a way, its a good thing because it doesn’t limit his character development in any way.
 
Now, when I meant canon, they’re the only characters that’s actually ship teased on the show. And I’m not just talking about out of context screen caps. Episodes have even used the idea as story elements repeatedly.

@Background Pony
 
In my case I’m not saying it’s canon (though Im a Sparity shipper) but it’s the only one that MAYBE could be to the closest thing given the interaction and development of both characters. (Not to mention the staff like to play or joke with these two).
 
Yeah Spike might be a child but that doesn’t take that he can grow up in the future. Dragons grows giant and takes hundreds of years? Who knows, We don’t know that much about dragon so far so even the writers could put something that can make him grow smaller or even transform him into SSJ4 if they want.

i still like sparity, but i never thought it was going to be canon or something. but then i see comments like @Background Pony and i dunno, i mean, Why the hostility?

@ZeroSpawn47  
but its the good kind!
 
the kind you want to be(if you male)

confirmed, sparity is pedophilia

@Background Pony
 
Common sense =/= maturity

@hironakamura
 

@Background Pony  
Because he’s already shown maturity above and beyond that of an eight year old.

@Background Pony  
Well, Sparity canon moments moments on the show/comic aside, wouldn’t it also make child labor/abuse canon on the show? Not only does he not go to school but he does way more “work” than the CmCs do and gets smacked, dropped and thrown all over the place way more than any character on the show. The reasoning of “thick scales” as an excuse just won’t cut it anymore.
 
Besides, no canon age means no restriction for Spike’s character development. For all we know, the writers could just make it that he was sentient while he was in his egg. I mean that’s how some dragon myths work, right?

@Background Pony
 
Now, the question is: why would this piece of information supposedly not being canon be a good thing to you?

Good thing she no longer has anything to do with the show then. Here’s another thing to put aside as “Word of God”.

Well twilight was about 7 or 6 when spike was hatched so that would make spike 8 and twilight and the rest about 16, 17. Sounds about right.

To all the people who’re saying that 2.5 years have passed in Equestria because it’s been 2.5 years since the show debuted: Powerpuff Girls and Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends both lasted 6 years; does this mean the PPG’s classmates and Mac were midgets instead of kids?

I take 16-18 yo as plausible for the mane 6. Child-teenagers but already with adult responsabilities. Despite the crush Spike has got on Rarity, they’re more in a little brother - big sisters relationship.

*Also, “young adult” usually accepted to be 18+ I think, forgot to add that.