@Daneasaur
He insisted on her doing so after they arrived in Ponville.

I doubt that since I don’t recall Celestia used any other magical means of sending mail

@nightshroud96
-Celestia was the one who made Twilight go to ponyvile to make friends. Spike’s words were ignored.
-Celestia could send messages to Twilight another way if Spike wasn’t present.

@Daneasaur
Spike pushing Twilight to make friends. Or otherwise NMM wins
And the scrolls sent through him snapped Twilight out of Discord’s funk.

Turning her future boyfriend into food for omnivores and carnivores, “worth it??”…

Garble’s imagination.

Is that a reference of green eggs and ham

remember celestia, if it’s not born yet then it’s just disposable trash. now get a few more, I wanna play golf

Well, at least Spike will go well with bacon.
 
@Dragonpone  

 
Hey, I like mine sunny-side up.
 
…Also covered with hot sauce

@noradtwo  
I can acknowledge that, but that episode still leaves an awful taste because of his ego causing him to screw Thorax over in the first place and the pity party at the end that seemed to absolve him of all wrongdoing. He may have done it, but at the same time Starlight seems to be the designated give-everyone-a-chance character, was there and arguably could have done it better.
 
Spike seems like a candy bar wrapper at this point by introducing more interesting characters. Thing is, once you eat the bar you throw the wrapper away.

@Rally Flag  
It was pretty obvious from your initial comment that you don’t like Spike, and I’m not trying to make you like him.
 
I only ask that you acknowledge his role in befriending Thorax, rather than saying that “someone else could do it,” because that theoretical argument can be used against many others.

@noradtwo  
I’m not arguing that. But I’m also not going to change my mind given that Spike is practically the worst character in the series to begin with.
 
So often a problem he is required to solve is his fault for occurring in the first place (aforementioned Power Ponies and Inspiration Manifestation), or he does next to nothing to solve it while simultaneously taking all the credit (Triple Threat), or the problem is not only so narrow as to cater to his specific skill set but everyone else is handicapped to make it so that only he can solve the problem (Equestria Games). Games holds a special pet hate for me because not only should whoever is in charge of safety for the games be fired for letting a rain cloud be scheduled for a day where projectiles that turns things into ice are a possible risk, but we are to believe that Equestria trusts Celestia to rule Equestria and their lives for over a thousand years but also not trust her to not cheat?
 
Lesson Zero was almost his best moment. I say almost, because “OBVIOUSLY SPIKE DID NOT NEED TO LEARN A LESSON.” Except to rein in his completely undeserved ego. This showed up again in Inspiration Manifestation again, but worse because Spike seemed to learn his lesson… except then used that lesson to completely ignore all accountability for his actions.
 
Apologies for the rant.

@Rally Flag  
It’s true that Equestria’s defense is built up to be redundant. “Next man up,” if you will. Twilight was only needed because Sunset blew her initial chance, and it’s likely that Twilight could have been replaced by Trixie had she failed to pass the CSGU entrance exam.
 
But like I just did, you’re making big theoretical leaps for the sake of discounting a character.

@noradtwo  
I’m sure the map could have figured that out and sent Fluttershy plus one to solve that issue. Likely the same with Ember by sending Twilight and Rarity to help out there.

Now just get some ham…

@Rally Flag  
Without Spike, there is no Thorax to help Starlight, Trixie, and Discord.
 
No Thorax to attempt to share love at the last moment. Without him, Starlight’s final efforts in the changeling hive are likely to be in vain, assuming they even get to the throne room without his help.

@noradtwo  
Spike didn’t exactly do anything to stop that, so the point there is kind of moot.

@Rally Flag  
Except for the part where Chrysalis takes over Equestria at the end of season six… that’s, um, definitely a downgrade from most people’s perspective.

@Daneasaur  
I mean, I’m still convinced that replacing Spike with Owlowiscious would be an overall improvement since he’s not only more competent at Spike’s own job but also wouldn’t cause so many other problems like enchanted comics or getting Rarity possessed.

@noradtwo  
Right, the assumption would be that she had a different manner of 1:1 communication with twilight, which would likely also take care of -
 
 
@genervt  

@Daneasaur  
Celestia did send messages through Spike to revitalize Twilight when she was discorded, though I suppose Celestia could have found another way.

If only XD

@Daneasaur  

 
That hasn´t anything to do with Sombra.  
Celestia would still stop Twilight, it just would take much longer until she catches on what happened.

@Dark Tail  
The roc was only there because it was attracted to his molting smell. No spike = no smell = no roc.

@Daneasaur  
Actually he did save Rarity and Zecora from a Roc. Also finally grew some wings so that was awesome.

@genervt  
That’s implying Twilight didn’t nuke half of equestria during lesson zero, since no spike = no message to celestia that twilight is completely off her rocker.
 
Spike didn’t factor into the defeat of nightmare moon or discord so no worries there.
 
Same goes for the first changeling invasion.
 
Commence the crystal empire, Twilight goes off into the castle on her own and engages the nightmare door and is frozen as Sombra slowly forces cadances defenses to crumble before re-claiming the heart, but this time with the 6 at ground zero with Sombra likely enslaving them instantly.
 
IF they somehow got out of that one, Spike is a non factor in the Plunder vines or Tirek’s attack.
 
Again, non factor in Starlight’s village.
 
He was the one who touched the scroll Starlight used to entrap twilight into her time loop, but beyond that didn’t have a hand in stopping starlight.
 
Season 6 is where Spike would be missed the most and would cause some of the largest changes:
 
-Gauntlet of fire  
Without spike present, Ember drowns and Garble reaches the scepter. That said, we don’t know what his plans would be as Spike and the ponies didn’t “ruin his day”, so he has no reason to target the ponies.
 
-Times they are a changeling  
Spike doesn’t exist to find Thorax, much less befrend him or fight for his innocence. Thorax is either caught and imprisoned or continues living in his hole in the ground, which leads to…
 
-To where and back again  
Trixie, Starlight, and Discord go after the changelings but suffer from the power nullification of Chrysalis’ throne, and without a changeling to assist their infiltration, much less one to learn to give love and not just take it, Chrysalis attains a full party wipe and conquers equestria and the crystal empire.
 
Spike hasn’t had any story-related importance after that and through all of season 7 and 8. Not even a friendship problem.