True Friendship (Animation)

"The longer you hold on to something, the harder it is to let go..."

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Viewing problems? Or just want a video version? Watch this thing on YouTube as well! [link]

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It is complete. After about half a year's work, collaborating, planning and procrastinating (mostly the last one, to be honest. ), my animated rendition of 's comic is complete. And let me tell you, this was an exhausting yet incredible project to work on. Through this project I've been able to meet so many people, make so many friends and develop my animating skills like never before. In the end, we seem to have this, my longest animated project yet (if you count the credits) that doesn't focus on humor or fast-moving action like most of my other projects have, but instead tells a story.

I could go into specifics, like how I tried to fulfill the original vision as much as I could and how animating full-grown Spike was a bigger challenge than I anticipated, but instead I think I'll let you watch this animation for yourself and possibly draw your own conclusions.

Lastly, two things: here is the original comic for those that wish to see where this all started: [link]

Second, don't forget to stop by Ask-TwilightSparkle [link] and ask some questions! And don't forget about me either, over at Ask Spike Da Dragon! [link]

Hope you enjoy the animation! And with that said, I think I'm going to take a break from MLP artwork for a bit. It's nothing personal, I just want to take a break from animating and drawing ponies and dragons on DeviantArt. Expect to see the Spike Da Dragon blog be updated for the foreseeable future though!

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EDIT 2/26/12 (Read this if you have questions AFTER watching this animation): Alright, I've been getting questions way too many times today about the same things, such as "Why does Spike have wings?!", "Why is Twilight still alive?!", "Why is Twilight so FAT and have that weird chin?! THAT CHIN OH MY GOODNESS I CAN'T UNSEE IT" (Thanks to bringing to light that thing about the chin, Seth... ) While the last question was a design decision by me that I take full responsibility for and thought added a bit more of a unique personal touch to this than just copying the show's art style down to the tee, I want to answer the other two big question here and now, and I'll put is as simply as I can.

There is not enough context in the show yet to prove EITHER of those things. Spike grew up in the show so far through magic and being greedy and selfish. Every other dragon that we've seen so far in the show is greedy and selfish. Who's to say he won't grow up differently and possibly get wings because he's NOT greedy and selfish like every other dragon we've seen?

And as for aging, we only have a rough idea of how long ponies and dragons can live for, but we don't know the numbers exactly or HOW they age either. Look at Granny Smith: she was around before Ponyville was even formed and helped form it. Who knows how many years ago that was? And who knows how she grew up in that time period?

Another thing about Granny Smith that applies to this animation and the original comic: you didn't need to know how long ago Ponyville was formed to enjoy the story, or how Granny Smith and her family grew up physically. You just listened and watched the story roll along, and might have enjoyed that story too. The same thing applies here: we don't know how ponies and dragons grow up, but we don't NEED to know that here. It's about enjoying the story, and maybe pulling a lesson or two from it. Don't try reaching for answers to something that isn't there; you won't find it here. Just relax, put aside the technicalities of the MLP world and enjoy what this animation has to offer to you.

If someone brings this up in the comments again or brings up something with a similar answer, I'm just going to point you here. Thank you for reading this, and I do hope you enjoy the animation!

Also, a BIG thank you to Equestria Daily for featuring this animation! You folks are awesome as always!