Spember

Spember is the het ship between Spike and Ember from the My Little Pony fandom.

Season Six
In "Gauntlet of Fire", Spike takes note of Ember from a distance while taking part in the assembly of dragons called by her father, Dragon Lord Torch. When he attempts to leave, Torch accosts him, but Ember flies down and speaks up in his defense. After Torch grants his permission for Spike to leave, Spike thanks both the Dragon Lord and Ember, pointing his index fingers at her and winking. Ember rolls her eyes in response, and the two do not meet again until during the Gauntlet. Upon seeing a disguised and unconscious Ember plummeting into the ocean, Spike dives in after her and then swims to shore with her. He removes her helmet to insure that she is breathing, and is surprised to discover her true identity.

Upon discovering Twilight Sparkle and Rarity in Spike's company, Ember questions their presence, and after hearing Spike describe them as his friends declares "Dragons don't do friends!" She then prepares to leave to rejoin the Gauntlet, only for Spike to mention her father expressly forbidding her from taking part. Annoyed, Ember declares her intention to prove her father wrong about what she's capable of before their conversation is interrupted by the arrival of Garble. Ember quickly dons her helmet again, but later intervenes to prevent Garble from discovering Twilight and Rarity's presence. Spike returns this favor by telling Garble, who has become suspicious of Ember herself now, that she is his neighbor "Sandy Rockbeach".

Once Garble leaves, Ember questions why Spike defended her, only for him to question why she helped him. After they survey some of the perils ahead of them, Spike strikes on the idea of working as a team. Ember is initially reluctant, but finally sees the sense in the suggestion; Spike offers a handshake to seal the deal, but Ember-perhaps unfamiliar with the gesture-takes one of his fingers in two of hers as they shake. After they succeed in dodging a rain of boulders, Ember proposes that they continue to work together given their initial success. Spike agrees, exchanging a smile with her, before the pair continue along the path of the Gauntlet.

After working together to get past an array of moving stalactites and stalagmites, Spike acts to save Twilight and Rarity from a pool of lava. Ember, thoroughly baffled, questions this action, and Spike explains it as the sort of thing friends do for each other. When he questions whether anyone watches over Ember, she admits that no one really does. Unfortunately, this confession makes her defensive, and she decides that the time has come to break off their partnership. However, in spite of her abrupt departure, Spike is certain that they were becoming friends.

Spike is later proved right when Ember flies in to rescue him from Garble before apologizing for leaving him before. She admits that she also considers him a friend, and then engages Garble to allow Spike to go for the goal of the Gauntlet: the Bloodstone Scepter. However, Garble proves too strong for her, prompting Spike to run back and join the fight on her side. When Garble complains about their alliance with the comment "Dragons don't do helping!", Ember responds that "These dragons do!" She then manages to throw Garble back, allowing her to rescue an imperiled Spike so he can proceed to the Scepter.

Just as Garble is about to attack Ember again, Spike demands that he "Leave her alone!"; upon seeing Spike in possession of the Scepter, Garble is forced to accept this order and Spike's later command to depart. Ember, having already acknowledged Spike as the new Dragon Lord, is surprised when he places the Bloodstone Scepter in her hands. As he points out, the dragon who actually brings the Scepter to her father will become the new Dragon Lord, and he now trusts that she will do as he would have in that position and maintain peaceful relations between the dragons and ponies. Spike assures her of his sincerity, noting that he only took part in the Gauntlet for the sake of his friends. When Ember notes that he will now have a friend in the Dragon Lands as well, Spike gives her a hug, somewhat to her chagrin, and even blushes somewhat at the affection.

Season Seven
In "Triple Threat", Spike arranges for Ember to pay a visit to Ponyville, only to inadvertently invite the changeling leader Thorax to town on the same day. Spike comes to believe that the pair will clash, possibly sparking a war between their two species, and thus resolves to keep them apart. Ember, initially perturbed by the pomp of her welcome, is finally greeted by the nervous Spike. The sight of her friend prompts a wide smile from Ember, and Spike quickly gives her a hug. Though not entirely comfortable with the gesture, Ember smiles and gives Spike an affectionate pat on the head. However, she soon notes that Spike is behaving strangely, but accepts his explanation that he's suffering from a stomachache.

After Spike sets up a welcome banquet for her, Ember becomes distracted, though she takes note of Spike's departure. Upon eventually being greeted by Twilight, who has been helping keep Thorax away from anywhere he might run into Ember, Ember complains that she feels like Spike is purposely not spending time with her. Twilight takes her for a tour around town, but Ember only brightens upon seeing Spike nearby as well. However, when he seemingly takes sides against her when she comments on the similarities between Twilight and Starlight Glimmer, Ember becomes annoyed and yells at him. This draws the attention, and ire, of Thorax, who quickly confronts the Dragon Lord in seeming confirmation of Spike's worst fears. However, before the pair can truly come to blows, Spike intervenes, which helps clear up some confusion: Ember and Thorax each believed that the other intended to harm their friend.

When Spike continues to panic, Ember and Thorax question him, and he admits that he feared they wouldn't get along to the point of starting a war. Ember, who had come to Ponyville partly to learn more about friendship from Spike, is offended that he made such an assumption about her, and even more so that he told other creatures about that and her own misgivings. She and Thorax, who is similarly disappointed in Spike, depart in separate directions, only to end up running into each other outside town. The two end up bonding and giving each other some good advice on different approaches to expressing themselves. Ember then decides that they should practice their newfound skills with Spike, and they return to town to confront their friend. With Thorax's coaching, Ember is able to express to Spike how upset she is over how he's been acting and thus work through the feeling.

Having expressed herself, Ember forgives Spike, who also apologizes for misjudging his friends. He then holds a ceremony properly welcoming them both to Ponyville.

Season Eight
In "School Daze", Ember arrives at the newly opened School of Friendship, bringing with her Smolder, the young dragon she has chosen to enroll in the school. Upon seeing Spike, she excitedly calls out to him, only to end up on the receiving end of yet another of his hugs. After overcoming her discomfort, she smiles and introduces him to Smolder. Spike then stands alongside Ember as Twilight gives her welcome speech to the first class of students. Later, Spike shows her and the other non-pony representatives around when they return for Friends and Family Day at the School. Ember and Spike later get drinks and clink their glasses together, smiling at each other with closed eyes as they enjoy their time together.

Season Nine
In "Sweet and Smoky", Spike interrupts Ember as she's seeing to the latest bunch of dragon eggs. Spike rushes in for his usual hug, and Ember pats his head spikes in her own greeting. Smiling at the sight of her friend, she questions his presence at the hatching grounds, and he briefly touches upon the rough time he's been having on this visit to the Dragon Lands. However, he quickly turns to helping her with the eggs, which are supposed to have hatched by now. Working together, they are able to determine that the eggs are too cold, and Spike leads Ember to where magma from the lake meant to be keeping them warm has been drained by other young dragons.

Spike proposes returning the lava or moving the eggs, but Ember points out that neither option will work. However, he does hit upon the idea of the dragons breathing fire on the eggs to warm them up, and Ember orders his suggestion to be implemented. With a little help from Garble, of all dragons, the plan is successful and the baby dragons hatch safely.

In comics
In the storyline "Wings Over Yakyakistan", spanning issues #55-56 of the Friendship is Magic comic series, Spike is surprised when the yaks of Yakyakistan are attacked by a group of dragons. Knowing of Ember's intention to be a peaceful Dragon Lord, he worries about her until seeing her arriving with several other dragons. To his surprise, Ember is the one who ordered the attack, but she refuses to explain her reasoning for doing so. Annoyed when his pony friends and allies, fighting on the side of the yaks, chalk the incident up to stereotypical dragon aggressiveness, Spike decides to seek out Ember and try to get her to explain herself. Though initially unfriendly, Ember admits that her efforts to establish better relations with ponies have been difficult. Many of those she has encountered have had the same negative opinions of dragons expressed by Spike's friends.

At Spike's urging, Ember explains the history between the yaks and the dragons, which involved an ancient Dragon Lord being named an "honorary yak" by a yak prince of long ago. This was meant to be a singular honor, but the current yak ruler Prince Rutherford declared Pinkie Pie to be an honorary yak recently. Upon realizing how long ago the first incident took place, Spike believes that the matter has been forgotten by the yaks, which does nothing to appease Ember's anger. Spike accompanies Ember and the other dragons to meet the yaks and ponies the following day, but intervenes to prevent the fight from resuming. Ember is initially amused when Spike berates his friends for making overly broad statements about dragons, but is then embarrassed when he then calls her out for carrying out the very sort of negative behavior that she dislikes ponies ascribing to her and the other dragons.

Thanks to Spike, the two sides are able to talk over the dragons' grievance, and it is discovered that the yak histories recorded the incident Ember told Spike of. However, incomplete writings and poor artwork led to the present-day yaks mistaking the ancient Dragon Lord for a volcano, rather than a living being. Shamefaced over her behavior, Ember leads her dragons in helping to repair the damage they caused, and apologizes personally to Spike for not living up to the trust he placed in her.

Moments

 * At the end of their first encounter, Spike gives Ember a hug that causes her to blush, though she accepts the gesture. With almost every subsequent encounter, Spike greets Ember with another hug, which she seems to be increasingly more comfortable with on each occasion.

Fanon
Spember has gained some popularity as a ship, no doubt due in part to the close bond Spike and Ember display in canon. Various pieces of fan fiction and fan art have depicted the pair becoming romantically involved, some even going so far as Spike and Ember getting married and/or having children together. In terms of rival het ships, the most significant pairing suggested between Ember and another dragon is probably Emble, the ship between her and Garble. Spike's most significant pairing with another dragon is probably Spolder, the ship between him and Smolder. Both Ember and (especially) Spike are also shipped with members of other species, most notably Embrax (EmberxThorax), Sparity (SpikexRarity), Spibby (SpikexGabby), and various ships between Spike and other members of the Mane 6 or the Cutie Mark Crusaders.

Fandom

 * Spike+Ember on FIMFiction