@Daneasaur
We didnt see her entire report to Celestia. I got the feeling like Twilight was, funnily enough, being a bit like Spike.
“Yeah, sure. I broke several eons-old spells cast by a mad wizard whom conquered an empire and made it to the heart. That wasn’t anything special! The heart was the important part and in the end ‘I’ couldn’t save it because I messed up. Spike had to step in.”
Obviously that’s just a guess at what was running through her head, but given the tone and her chief worry of disappointing Celestia I dont think it’s far off. It’s not that Twilight just up and gave Spike all the credit (something he would never let her do anyway especially given all the work she actually did!), it’s that she felt her own contributions mattered less because, in the end, she had to go against what Celestia had told her (“You and you alone must be the one to help Shining and Cadence”). So, to Twilight, Spike did save the day and all she did (from her own perspective) was disobey her teacher.
Thankfully, Celestia pointed out to Twilight how she made the right call. You might remember the episode ends not only with Spike getting his own commemorative window but with everyone else singing a song about how great Twilight is. The fact that they built a statue of Spike in the empire and treat him like a prince doesn’t even come up until the next season, plenty of time for everyone to learn all the details of what happened which nobody, least of all Spike, Twilight, and Celestia, would have had reason to hide.
I read one interpretation where the importance of the test was less whether Twilight would put others safety over passing her test and more over whether she could make a decision on her own that went directly against what Celestia had ordered her. This was the moment that seemed to confirm for Celestia Twilight was ready to consider for ascension, and if Twilight was going to be a princess Celestia would want to be sure that Twi would be willing to make such hard decisions on her own without needing to defer to her teacher’s will
@Daneasaur
Well it was Celestia who told Twilight that she alone had to be the one ultimately responsible for saving the empire, the real test was whether or not Twilight would risk failing a test if it meant saving countless lives. You know, when I write it out like that, it seems like a pretty backhanded test.
@dshadow14
Right, she lies to herself that “she did nothing” and her excuse is “Spike did everything” and because she told spike that she couldn’t be helped or she’d fail the “test”, he respected that and believed that. As did everyone else, except celestia who approved of what she ended up doing, but only after she spent most of the day being hard on herself.
@Daneasaur
Okay, fair enough. However, Twilight has a history of being hard on herself, so it’s less of a lie to Celestia and more of a lie to herself.
@dshadow14
Re-watch Crystal Empire part 2. After the crystal heart is returned and sombra is destroyed, Twilight outright says that she didn’t do anything “it was all Spike”.
@Daneasaur
I don’t know where you got all of that, because that is all very… well… wrong.
From Spike’s responses to Rarity’s whispering, it’s obvious she’s only telling him what Twilight told Rainbow Dash about them keeping the fair going while Twilight looks for the Heart on her own, which Spike was having none of,
Twilight never said Spike did everything,
Celestia knew Twilight took action alone up until she was trapped in the tower,
Shining Armor gives credit to Twilight saying he was embarrassed by being repeatedly saved by her,
And the entire Crystal Empire witnessed Spike risking his life to get the Crystal Heart down from the tower.
I reiterate, when you nearly die doing the right thing, it puts you on a pretty high pedestal. And while Cadence and Shining Armor may not have statues in the middle of the Empire, the Crystal Ponies sure didn’t seem to have any problems with them taking the throne.
And one more thing: In the season 6 premier, Spike tells the story of the season 3 premier to Starlight and a gathered group of Crystal Ponies, which I’m certain he told accurately as he used the pronoun “we” rather than “I”, meaning he’s giving credit to more than just himself, and the Crystal Ponies didn’t change their opinion in the slightest, they just cheered and applauded.
@dshadow14
Rarity was reminding Spike that twilight was going off on her own and twilight’s strength has been her friends and Spike wasn’t really doing anything at the time so he tagged along because it was silly for twilight to be alone. Yes he did help, but Spike gets sole credit for saving the heart, I always wondered why Twilight never got any credit.
The answer to that is at the end of the episode where she lies to celestia that Spike did everything, because she’s feeling pessimistic about having to rely on friends to do a mission that was “supposed to be on her own”.
This was after she’d left the crystal empire, meaning she perpetuated this fib even to cadance and shining armor, meaning it’s why Spike and spike alone is credited as the hero of the crystal empire.
@Daneasaur
No, Rarity told him what Twilight was doing and he followed her on his own. And nearly losing your life while trying to do the right thing often puts you on a pretty high pedestal. The crystal ponies saw it as him delivering the Crystal Heart to Cadence.
@Ignorance
Spike followed Twilight at the behest of Rarity. Spike assisted her at the door of darkness (unseen by the crystal ponies), picked up the heart and fell off the castle, needing to be saved by Cadance and Shining armor.
Other than falling and nearly delivering the heart to sombra himself, spike did nothing in the eyes of the crystal ponies to be the sole hero, and in fact, rarity is as much responsible for saving the empire as Spike is, and Cadance held up the magical barrier that entire time
The ONLY way it could be 100% credited to Spike is if Twilight lied to everyone and said Spike did everything, which she apparently did.
Spike followed Twilight around and stuck by her side despite her telling him not to help her. If he hadn’t, Twi’s search would have stopped at the nightmare door.
Once she got captured, Spike followed Twilight’s orders even when he thought he was disobeying Princess Celestia by doing so. If he hadn’t, Sombra would have reached the heart without resistance.
He carried the one thing King Sombra wanted through extreme danger without stopping. Even as those magic crystals were closing in. Heck, he even tries to fight them off.
The fact that Spike tripped at the end and needed to be saved by Cadence or that Twilight did most of the work to get to the heart does not undermine his heroism. He didnt stop to worry about his own safety or fear for a second (magically induced nightmare trauma not withstanding), only about helping those he cared about and those who needed him.
It isn’t necessarily the things that one actually does that makes them a hero. Its having the courage, determination, and selflessness to do the right thing when the chips are down. Yes, anypony could have saved the Heart in that moment, but Anypony wasn’t there.
Only after re-watching Crystal Empire part 2 did I realize that twilight DID tell everyone in the crystal empire that Spike did EVERYTHING, even though he did nothing. That is why Cadance, Armor, and Twilight aren’t revered in the kingdom, but Spike is.
“The Spike that has the worst episodes and is basically something between younger brother and pet to all of the main cast?”
“Y-yessss” * starts crying*
