OK, I just thought, given that this is the subject of every single fanfiction. And a lot of fanart, I should go ahead and talk about my favorite and least favorite forms of shipping. These are just my thoughts, and I encourage anyone to please disagree and perhaps I will change my mind. I am only talking about relationships that have a chance to become cannon, so I won’t be discussing homosexual shipping, not that there exists anything wrong with it, but I don’t think society has come far enough or is ready for openly gay characters on a kids show.

I honestly don’t expect any major shipping, not in the television series at least. I think that after the last season (Which I hope is the fourth season, cause the longer it goes on the longer there is a chance of Hasbro taking direct control, and all shows reach a point where they can end with dignity or degenerate into “what is this crap”!?) they will create a two-hour long movie to serve as the series final. Which will end in most probably Twilight becoming an Alicorn, the Cutie Mark crusaders getting cutie marks, and any shipping being made cannon. The one that I think is most likely is either Sparity or SpikeBelle, as I shall now commence to explain why.

1)Sparity. At first, I didn’t like it, through out the entirety of the first season, I was disgusted with the way Rarity treated Spike. Yet, after the second season I appreciate them more. I like this because it has, out of all potential shippings, to be the one most likely to become cannon. Also, for reasons I don’t wish to discuss, kind of hits close to home. All I can say is, I hate with a burning passion the double standard in American society.. or really, in virtually almost any society, that approves of older men/younger women, and scoffs at younger men/ older women. In my experience, men who date a few years below aren’t called anything, besides perhaps “studs”, whereas woman who date a few years below are demonized as cougars and cradle-robbers. In a nutshell, I hate social divisions and age discrimination. However, this is NOT to say that I think that age difference is a non-issue in its entirety. Spike could feasibly be the mental equivalent of a boy as young as 12 or as old as 18. Rarity on the other hand could be as young as 18 or as old as 25, meaning that them being in a relationship could perhaps border on pedophilia. If they ever got together in the show, Spike I think would have to grow a little, at least to make it clear he is pubescent. Perhaps in the series final, Spike grows up a little bit but learns to handle it responsibility so he is still mentally in control.  I also don’t like it when people say “she is a Pony, he is a dragon, case closed!” as they are both sentient, mentally capable beings, with no pre-existing emotional bond that prevents them from having a meaningful relationship.

2)Fluttermac. A very cute pairing, in all honesty, would never have occurred to me from watching the show. Yet, I think it’s fitting, both are soft-spoken and shy and the fanfics and fanart is quite adorable. At first, I was concerned that Big Mac was mentally challenged, given that he only ever said “eeyup” and “nope”. However, these fears were put to rest after the Cutie Mark crusaders episode in which he talked normally.

3)Sparity and Fancy Pants: Truth be told, I hate this shipping. If they DO make this cannon I will stop watching the show, if they make it cannon in the MLP movie, the place I am expecting any shipping to happen, I will walk out. I don’t think Fancypants is a “bad guy” or a “snob” like prince Blueblood. Yet, it bothers me, because Fancy Pants strikes me as the kind of guy who would primarily be interested in looks and “high-class” I mean, he only takes an interest in her when he learns she stays in Celestia’s Castle. Perhaps this is only a form of proxy-jealousy of behalf of Spike, but I feel that it would be wrong on so many levels for Rarity and Fancy Pants to become Canon. To put in simple terms, would Fancy Pants let Rarity use his back as a pincushion? Would Fancy Pants have given Rarity a gem he had been saving for himself? Would Fancy Pants fan and pamper Rarity for hours on end? Only if for some reason, Spike was written off of the show somehow, would I start to warm up to them. Even then, I would not be thrilled with the idea, because I honestly feel that no pony could ever do for Rarity what Spike has done.  

4)Spilight: This is just extremely disturbing. Spilight just seems to me to be borderline incestuous. Twilight is clearly somewhere between his mom and his big sister. Or more generally she is similar in case to an older sibling who assumes at least partially the role of caregiver. Twilight clearly picks up after Spike, feeds him, and the like, acting like a mother, but Spike seems to treat her much more like an older sister. This kind of relationship between them makes me shiver at the prospect of them being “in a relationship”, even in fanfiction and fanart.

5)Spikebloom: Where as age does not bother me normally, certainly not with Sparity, this particular shipping does cause some reservations, regardless if physical contact is involved. Whereas Spikes age is very well ambiguous. Applebloom can’t be older than 12 (relatively speaking) If Spike is this age as well, then this is perfectly fine, but if Spike is any older, then it starts to border on pedophilia. Just as with the case of Sparity, I would feel that Applebloom in this case would have to grow up a little bit. Also, while I don’t “despise” this pairing like I do Spilight or Fancy Pants/Rarity, I do think that Sparity is better. Only if they did do the unthinkable and put Rarity and Fancy Pants together, I would start to warm up to this pairing.

6)SpikeBelle: Similar thoughts as to Spikebloom, but I think this would be better for Spike. I also think it is possible, given that Spike was dancing with SweetieBelle at the end of season 2, that he may find everything he admires in Rarity in SweetieBelle.

7)Pinkie Pie and Discord: Another one of my favorites, especially with Discords newest “reformation” it seems to be more feasible. After all, Pinkie was the only one who seemed, in an uncorrupted state at least, to have enjoyed Discords Chaos. With their unpredictable natures they would make an ideal couple.

8)Discord and the Changeling Queen: This is also a good shipping, unfortunately, it may not seem to make much sense after “Keep Calm and Flutter on”. However, I feel as if Discord may be faking his conversion to the good side. In his heart, I feel that just like Q, he lives for Chaos. Not necessarily “good” or “bad”, but, in DND alignment, A Classic example of chaotic neutral. On that note, the Changeling Queen isn’t necessarily a “villain” either, she is just looking out for the welfare of her people. This could indeed be the seed of a MLP movie…

Just some thoughts, from one over-analytical Brony, please let me know what you think!

Brohoof