Every month, I put a bunch of little pieces of paper with names on them into two hats-one for in-show ponies, (mane 6, princesses etc) and one for background characters-then I pull a name out of each hat and voila! Shipping prompt.

The Reason we do two hats, instead of say, one big one, is to make sure that every pair we have at least one popular character in the prompt. This is to entice not just the writers, but also the readers. People would be less inclined to read about say, Bon-Bon x Thunderlane, than say, Bon-Bon x Pinkie Pie.

So, here is the complete list of every name in both of the two hats from which we decide our prompts.

Please note that-with the exception of Trixie-all villains have been removed, because to ship any character with a villain without going into crack fic territory, you'd first have to give a believable reformation. Which is a story unto itself.
Also, no foals. Ever.

Top Hat - Characters with speaking roles in more than one episode
1 - Twilight Sparkle
2. - Rainbow Dash
3 - Applejack
4 - Fluttershy
5 - Pinkie Pie
6 - Rarity
7 - Zecora
8 - Trixie
9 - Big Macintosh
10 - Cheerilee
11 - Princess Celestia
12 - Princess Luna
13 - Princess Cadence
14 - Shining Armor.

Cowboy Hat - Characters with no speaking roles at all, or on only one episode.
1 - Derpy Ditzy Doo Hooves
2 - Lyra Heartstrings
3 - Bon Bon
4 - Vinyl Scratch
5 - Prince Blueblood
6 - Doctor Whooves
7 - Octavia Melody
8 - Carrot Top
9 - Belle Fleur de Lis
10 - Colgate
11 - Thunderlane
12 - Flitter
13 - Cloudchaser
14 - Roseluck
15 - Daisy Fields
16 - Lily Valley,
17 - Nurse Redheart
18 - Raindrops,
19 - Aloe Vera,
20 - Lotus Blossom,
21 - Cloud Kicker,
22 - Blossomforth,
23 - Spitfire,
24 - Daring Do,
25 - Braeburn,
26 - Hoity Toity,
27 - Photo Finish,
28 - Sapphire Shores,
29 - Fancy Pants,
30 - Donut/Pony Joe,
31 - Iron Will,
32 - Lightning Dust,
33 - Ms. Harshwhinny,
34 - Ms. Peachbottom,
35 - Fiddlesticks,
36 - Steven Magnet,
37 - Bulk Biceps
38 - Coco Pommel
39 - Flash Sentry
40 - Caramel

If there is a character you believe should be added to one of the hats, or maybe switched from one hat to another, feel free to post it in the form of a reply or PM me.

This has my interest, pull your names!

Ooh, the possibilities! (I'll have to look up who Ms. Peachbottom is, I don't even recognize that one at all.)

(Somehow I'm hoping for Applejack/Fancypants ever since seeing someone do some fanart of it, heh.)

1062536 I would just like to point out here that Discord has had an entire episode devoted to his reformation. Not that I'm saying you should necessarily add him to the list, because I probably wouldn't want to write a ship fic with him in it, but some might, and it could be believable.

Also, is it a complete reformation? No, it is not. But that just goes to add more depth to his character and makes for a much more interesting story.

1062588
She's the mare from "The Games Ponies Play" that the mane 6 mistake for the games organizer.
And it's funny you say that, I'm actually hoping for Blueblood-Applejack, ever since I read the Best Night Ever, I just couldn't get it out of my head.

But to interfere with the Hats would ruin the entire point of the group, so I can only dare to dream

1062602
I actually debated about Discord for quite awhile with my sister, and the problem that we kept running into, was that even though hes reformed, every other character would almost certainly have a pre-existing bias towards him. Most of the characters hail from ponyville, and while working through that bias to see Discord for who he truly is might indeed make for a great story, in the end we decided it would just be too much to ask of a writer in one month.

Though if we do get more requests for it, I'll probably just add it in. Nothings set in stone yet.
Anyways, thank you for your feedback. ~ Danger Beans

1062669
YEAH!

1062621 That was the first pony fic I ever read, and it's what got me to watch the show, too. I stumbled on it while looking for a fic on fanfiction.net for a different fandom, heh! Maan. There's some really good Blueblood fics out there, and a few atrocious ones too. I think I saw one that shipped him with Derpy, and I ended up liking it.

Apparently, I like my ships how a red-light district denizen likes their drugs.. With crack!

(Really wants to see Fluttershy x Fleur de Lis. Am I disqualified if I already wrote a story about the pairing that's been picked? Or would I just have to write a new story?)

One to add to the cowboy hat:
Royal Ribbon (Link mostly so people can see who she is)

1064859
You can't submit a story that's been published before the contest start date, (in this case June 1st). It just wouldn't be fair. And I would definitely like a Celestia x Belle Fleur de Lis.
And I'll consider adding Ms.Ribbon to the roster. Do you know of any stories that star, or feature her, so I could get a handle?

1065136 No, though I wish I did. She just came to mind when I was looking up unicorns who were in the show on the wiki.

Flim and Flam may be villains, but I don't think that they're any worse than Trixie or Blueblood as far as antagonists go. I've seen a few decent ships involving these two, and it seems like every time Flim gets the mare. Maybe that should change... too bad they'd probably be in the same hat as Aloe and Lotus... a double date fic with these four could be interesting.

So in short, I nominate Flim and Flam be entered into one of the hats.

1062536 i think joe is actually called "pony joe"

I'm realy realy realy...REALY hopping on Trixie x Derpy
(sadly no Vinyl x Derpy possible )

Hasn't Nurse Redheart talked in more than one episode?
(Applebuck Season and Read It and Weep)?

1062536

No Spike?

The disgrace! :

1658319

I'll be darned, Spike really isn't in there!

Maybe the Bean left him out 'cause he's not a pony?

1658924

Racism? The sheer nerve...

1062536
I notice that even though it was said that Sunset Shimmer x Shining Armor is the contest, she isn't added in. Way to keep up.

1658924>>1658934
OH MY GOD!

WE FORGOT SPIKE!

1658957
This month's selection isn't from this list! It's from the pairing request list.

That aid, I think she should be added to this one, too.

1658319>>1658924>>1659002
Spike was left out intentionally, not because he is a dragon, but because he is a baby dragon.
We do not condone foal-shipping of any kind. Foal pairings are allowed in the roulette with the understanding that they must be aged up, for submission. Though I may revisit this issue again before we next pull from the hats.

1658957
I was actually waiting to see EQG this past Sunday before I made my decision, but as Asaran said, Shining-Sunset was requested in the Roulette and was picked as the prompt. It took me by surprise I'll admit.

1664700

This is an age thing? Boooo!

1664737
Like I said I may revisit this issue. its just, with the Roulette, the pairs are pre-decided, with the hats, some of the prompts can be... unsettling.

x

1664842

I was just having this discussion last night -

Spike and Big Macintosh would be an epic ship!

1664842

Seriously, though, I understand where you're coming from.

I do hope Spike gets added; Lord, I do love reading ships about that little guy.

Can I ask something? How would those rules of random-romance refer to my romance story? Because I think SombraShy is a quite unique pairing, because there aren't really that many stories with them being together (seriously, just tag Sombra, Fluttershy and Romance together and you won't get even 10 stories with that pairing, one of which is mine).

Now, don't take me some noob that only posts things because they want to make their stories more popular. I am just asking, because I don't seem to fully understand the rules of this group.

If I angered someone with this post, then I'm sorry.

1062669 Bulk Biceps and Snowflake are the same pony.

Phooey. I was hoping Discord was on the list. There's a (sorta) crackship that I would just love to write... *coughAppleCordcough* Who said that?