It's for dancing to Michael Jackson at home, when nobody's watching.

Can't disagree with that. I guess she's got good choice in swag.

Besides the 80's get-up...maybe.

@Ginger: I tend to assume that societies shouldn't desert their fundamental ideals in the interest of risk avoidance until lives are obviously at risk. Spikezilla is not this situation; he captured the Wonderbolts rather than attempt to barbecue them, and even his abduction of Rarity inflicted no worse harm on her than a ripped cloak.

@Crow

Hi, crow. Long time, no see. I know Ponyville is just gonna forgive him. I'm just suggesting what I'd do If I were there.

Honestly, I'd be willing to talk to Celestia. A reasonable assurance that the life of me and my loved ones isn't going to be put at risk by the friend of her student living in town is the least I deserve

edited 11th Dec '11 5:20:43 PM by gingerninja666

What do you mean? Of all the bad things that could happen, that's the worst possible thing.

edited 11th Dec '11 5:23:56 PM by SkyStrike

Celestia: "I thought I sent you three to deal with Spike?"
Wonderbolts: "Well, he tried to torch us, but you know how dragon fire is..."

I'm sure there was plenty of offscreen apologies and explanations. And like I said, being part of the group that saves Ponyville on a regular basis probably goes a long way.

Alternatively, they could just not tell anyone. Rarity didn't recognize him after all.

Twilight: "Wow, did you all see that dragon just now? Good thing we chased it out of town!" *sweatdrop*

I swear I'm the only one who sees the danger here. I've gone crazy.

GAAAAAAAAHHHH!!!!

edited 11th Dec '11 5:26:55 PM by gingerninja666

"Gone?"

This is a town that chooses to live right next to the Everfree Forest. On the list of dangers which they casually ignore, letting Spike stay in town is pretty far down.

The Everfree forest is a part of the geography. The can't very well exile the FOREST can they. Spike is a potentially massive threat on par with anything we've seen from the forest. This time, it's a problem that can EFFORTLESSLY be solved.

again, I'm the only one who sees the risk, clearly

Say you lived in the jungle. Any day you could be attacked by a massive animal and be killed. Would you willingly live with a guy who has a medical condition that gives him a 10% chance of going batshit insane while you sleep?

edited 11th Dec '11 5:36:58 PM by gingerninja666

To be fair, if Spike's a potential danger, he's already in the middle of town...

(Sigh. Why don't potholes play nice with italics?)

edited 11th Dec '11 5:37:29 PM by KylerThatch

@Ginger: The thing is that you automatically jumped the to the most extreme measures available without considering less extreme measures first. Typical problem solving technique is basically, start with the solutions that are most beneficial to everyone, Spike included. If we can't find a plan that protects the town while Spike lives in it, then we consider exile as a viable option.

Also, Spike's growth process doesn't work like that. He doesn't just suddenly turn into Godzilla in five minutes at a random time; he has to start acting excessively greedy, and even then it takes like a day before he goes into rage mode. Here's how my priority of planning for dealing with it would work:

1. Preventing Spike's transformations by noting that he's being greedy and having him knock it off.

2. If that isn't a viable solution, try recognize the warning signs (such as him getting tall), and get him out of town before he's dangerous

3. If that isn't a viable solution, then we start considering making him live outside of town.

But we don't go straight to "boot him!" right at the beginning.

edited 11th Dec '11 5:45:53 PM by JapaneseTeeth

I can certainly see where you are coming from. Though odds are that this will never be brought up again in universe.

edited 11th Dec '11 5:42:09 PM by Mio

I meant that they chose to live there in the first place. And anyway, its only a threat if there's a chance of it happening again, which there really isn't. Spike learned his lesson, and everyone knows what to look out for. They'll probably be pissed at him for awhile, maybe overly cautious, but this town seems to get over things remarkably fast.

Well, yeah. No use dragon it out.

@JT Don't get me wrong. I'd WANT Spike to stay. but I always thought it was more practical to settle on the most extreme course of action (with the highest chance of succeeding) first, then look backwards for something more sensible. I wouldn't put the exile into action until I was sure there was no other way. If you go with simpler stuff for the hell of it and it doesn't work then you're only wasting time, rescources, and putting people's lives in danger.

Would you say this is not sensible?

edited 11th Dec '11 5:51:29 PM by gingerninja666

@Rich:

@Ginger: I can see where you're coming from, but I still think booting him out of time is a bit overboard. He's not exactly going to transform in the immediate future, so at the very least they have a few hours to sort out what to do with him, consult Celestia, etc.

edited 11th Dec '11 5:52:16 PM by JapaneseTeeth

It might be a good idea to keep Spike, because what if an Ursa Major or something attacks the town? They had enough trouble subduing Spike, and he ended up stopping himself.

edited 11th Dec '11 5:52:28 PM by SkyStrike

"If you have nothing to hide, you have nothing to fear."

Ursa Majors can eat dragons. A dragon is probably about as big to them as Fluttershy was to a dragon.

I want to see Fluttershy talking down an Ursa Major.

An Ursa Major probably wouldn't be able to hear her, even if she's shouting.

@Enlong I don't get it.

@JT You're really overestimating how badly I wanna boot Spike out. When I say, "It's the first thought that'd cross my mind" what that basically boils down to is me picking up a marker, going over to a white board and writing down "EXILE!" in big capitol letters. I'd then turn around and go "Any other suggestions?"

Honestly, I can see where ginger's coming from. After all, we are kinda biased by the fact that we know and love Spike. I don't know what exactly I would do if I were in the position of an average townsperson but Ponyville does have a habit of devolving into mob mentality (especially where the Flower Trio are concerned). If they started railing for exile, I don't know if I'd trust myself not to join in.

But it's a moot point either way. If Twilight or the Mayor wouldn't be able to stop it, Celestia certainly would.

I just realized, we're on page 2112.