First off, know that I'm regretting not posting this on the 10th of October.

Anywho, 10 years.

10 years when the Sparity ship sailed off with this:

Been a while, eh?

This may be a dumb question, but, how do you guys still feel on Sparity?

When I first saw my first episode in 2012 and eventually discovered Sparity, I was a bit into it since Spike became my favorite character. Reason for that, I'll give you the abridged version I told someone else: "first male character I've seen in a show filled with fucking girls and he's a dragon in a show filled with horses". And I chose Rarity because he was shown with some sort of attraction, which made the shipping more plausible. I mean if I see RainbowSpike art, I'll go "yeah its cute but in the show they act more like brother and sister in a teasing fashion, so I dunno..." So Sparity was my favorite Spike shipping.

2020, in this case, 10 years after the very first episode. Oh boy, the Spike shipping became more complicated with the inclusion of other possible Spike ships I kinda grew to tolerate (Ember, Gabby, Starlight; and to a lesser extent Smolder and Thorax). Oh, and there's the debate on Spike's age which makes it more awkward and such. Oh, and the lack of a proper conclusion of their relationship in the final episode besides some writer's tweet saying it's "open to interpretation" or something. Nevertheless, Sparity still became the oldest Spike shipping I had and is still something I support from time to time....with some conditions, like having him aged up or at least keeping it a minimum when he's show aged.

What about you guys? What it feels to like this ship around the time this show started off and what it feels today?

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I love this ship. I still support it, even today.

All the shipping candidates like Gabby, Ember and such haven't deterred me or changed my mind and nearly has the time that's passed. I still am a 100% die hard lover, supporter and writer of Sparity and they are still (and will always be) my one true pairing from this show.

I personally get frustrated and a little annoyed at this whole "up to your interpretation." Sometimes a clear, straight answer is valued more than gold. Even if Rarity said no to Spike, part of me would be sad obviously but at least there was a CLEAR answer given and I don't ever felt we got that. "Dragon dropped" was close but in the end I still feel it was too safe. I still ship them as a couple and there's no argument, fan base or force on earth that can change that. Rarity deserves the best, Spike deserves the best; they deserve each other: pure and simple if you ask me.

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I say: SPARITY FOREVER!

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Realtalk? I didn't like Sparity in the early going. To me it amounted to little more than a bad joke where the runty dragon kid had a fixation on an older woman who was obviously out of his league and who definitely wouldn't have tolerated his affections if not for Twilight... I only really got on board with it around season 3 or so, after the show started treating Spike with a bit more respect than the first couple of seasons, wherein more often than not he's treated as a liability or the butt of a joke. That's not to say I didn't enjoy "Secret of My Excess", a very central Sparity episode for sure, but let's not forget that its central premise is that Spike is a potential terror because of his immutable draconic nature...

But slowly he started to get it together; there's subtle but definite character growth for Spike throughout the show as he realised that treating friendship as a transactional thing is ultimately a non-starter that leaves him empty, although he lugs around a few hundred suitcases before it really gets hammered home. Add to that his burgeoning professional career as a diplomat from season 6 onwards and the little guy started to grow up, and prove to himself and others that he wasn't just a tagalong kid, he had his own goals and was responsible for his own actions. He started to learn that it's not wrong to love yourself; as a matter of fact, it makes you more able to love others. It can be hard for him in the same way it's tough for Fluttershy to not be, well, shy, but he does his best (as does she), and I respect that. (Well, I respect that the show crew took his characterisation in that direction... you know what I mean)

On Rarity's part, we can hash out whether or not it was right to use him as a pincushion if we really have to, but it's plain that she did like having Spike around on a personal level, even if she didn't examine why for most of the series -- "Dragon Dropped" was the first time she had to confront it at all and it was very late in the game! I actually consider that less of a failing on her part and more of an unthinking acceptance of the role Spike seemed keen to fulfil like he did for Twilight... but even before that she obviously doted upon dear, sweet Spikey-Wikey beyond his role as an assistant. They hang out casually semi-frequently, and they're great friends through and through regardless of the torch Spike quietly carries for her.

By necessity it's platonic. Perhaps part of Spike's increasing self-respect was to let it go and shed the desperation, and the delusion that one day Rarity would congratulate him for lugging her crap around, then risk arrest by hopping into bed with him as if her love were a friggin' video game achievement, and just to enjoy hanging out with a good, fabulous friend -- mean jokes about Spike being a beta orbiter aside, there's nothing wrong with accepting genuinely being in the friend zone with somepony like Rarity.

We see where Spike ends up in the end, and he's definitely in a good place by "The Last Problem". Sure, it's "up to interpretation" and all that, and in my interpretation, whatever other details there are, there's no way Rarity didn't show at least some interest in that gun show 😜

tl;dr It's a matter of character progression, I didn't always like Sparity but now? Now, few things in life are finer. OTP --Conan the Barbarian

Still my favorite ship.

And it's still strong in my book.

--Spade

7353610 I still like it. And quite honestly it deserved better than to just be abruptly discarded and not addressed. After eight seasons of on and off teasing they can't just suddenly decide it's no longer acceptable and write it out like it was never a thing. What was so wrong about the original draft for "Dragon Dropped" where Spike was going to have gotten over his crush on Rarity? Any closure is better than nothing.

Never been a fan since it looked so one sided even trough the seasons, but at least on the show since a lot of fanfic writers made a better job on developing the ship so it's a good ship, but only because of the fans imo.

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I wasn't a fan of "Dragon Dropped", I think the episode should have address their relationship a bit more, instead of we got a stupid plot about Rarity being jealous of Spike hanging out with Gabby despite we see him hang out with other characters before.