The Situational Irony that occurred in "The Colomber" by Dino Buzzati was the fact that Stefano gave up his dream of becoming a sea captain to ensure that he will live a long life after seeing the Colomber.
It was believed that the Colomber was a harbinger of Death and that whoever sees it will be doomed for life.
However, the reason why the Colomber was after Stefano was because it was tasked to give Stefano a pearl that will give him good luck and success in life.
It is ironic because the reason Stefano feared the Colomber was false and baseless.
Answer: When Johnny said that to him, he meant for him to stay innocent. He meant for Ponyboy not to go down a bad path like many of the other greasers did. It was a reference to the Robert Frost poem "Stay Gold". Ponyboy had recited the poem to Johnny when they were hiding out at the Windrixville church. In one line of the poem, it had said "Nothing gold can stay" meaning that all good things must come to an end. So he was telling him to stay gold or stay good. So if you think about it he was telling Ponyboy not to change.
