A conundrum · 7:44pm Mar 24th, 2014
So I have a conundrum regarding The Life of a Non-Brony.
So the story details the rest of TD's life, right? But the thing is, he's not the only one in the story growing older. Everypony is too. Why is that a problem for me?
Shipping.
I don't want to write it where all of, say The Mane Six or the CMC go their lives without dating, marrying, and having foals of their own, but I'm not sure about how I should go about that, especially since some ships are iffy. Do I ship Big Mac with Fluttershy? How about Rarity? Do I have Rarity marry Spike or Thunderlane? Or whatever. That kind of thing.
I dunno, what do you guys think? You already approve of TDlee or CheerD (whatever you want to call it) but what about the rest of them? I'm not a big shipper. In fact TDlee is the first real ship I've written.
Dont ship anyone?
I say just go with what feels natural for you.
And remember that it doesn't have to be permanent - not all relationships work out after all.
I will give you an answer when I finally get around to reading the entire Non-Brony series.
Have them all marry Cheese Sandwich. Problem solved.
I'd suggest not going with the more mainstream ships(SoarinDash, FlutterMac, CaraJack, Sparity, etc) just to be unique. Try to avoid inter-Mane Six ships as those are probably the ships that cause most of our ship wars. Attempt some unique-er ships that people don't really know about, like CaraTwi or ThunderDash. Be unique, like you've been with TD. Don't let a silly obstacle like shipping get in the way of the story.
You do what you think you feel is right.
Besides, it would work in any way, am I right? or am I right?
Just mention that they are in relationships in passing.
It's roulette time!
I always liked Rumblebloom, Scootasqueak, and Silver Belle for the CMC.
As for the Mane Six, I was always partial to Flarity, Twinkie, and Lunadash. Big Mac seemed ever the stoic loner. Monk, maybe? As for Applejack, get her with Soarin', but then have Soarin' cheat on her with Braeburn and have her end up with Thunderlane.
A few ideas...
Yeah, like what ThePinkiePieEffect said. Try to find unique ships that could complement their personalities, or even clash with them (like Pinkie falling for a really chill pony, causing her to mellow out. stuff like that.). Heck, doesn't really have to be canon ponies too. Just some offhand remarks about their pairings, seeing as it isn't the main subject.
1952099
1952093
what they said.
1952108
this. this is common sense
Try to come up with original pairings.
If you want, you could 'ship' the others off page and never need to give anything other than a name. Hell, you could possibly even get away without the name in some cases.
Not if you want to end up with a bunch of unfortunate implications, which is why shipping Rarity and Spike together is utterly stupid. Hint: change the characters to human and note how weird and socially unacceptable this would be for an adult to do this, having known someone since they were a child.
I vote Big Mac and Twilight! His brawn and her brains? They would have the super foal!
I know of a good future universe that someone has that you could base it off of.
It has a plan for just about all of the mane six and other lives, as well as children and more.
The only thing is that in that universe Twilight is a Princess but I guess you could just cut that out.
Here's what the children would look like:
fc06.deviantart.net/fs70/i/2013/322/d/c/next_gen_by_kilala97-d6up88c.jpg
I know this wouldn't be original but I would find it interesting how TD would act in this future universe where the mane six's kids are like this.
I understand how it wouldn't work, but maybe you could ask the artist more about this universe and go along with it?
Throughout their art-work is several back stories that can be pieced together to see how the ponies got together, or you can ask the artist directly.
I hope this works...
This is just some advice from a random reader who aspires to maybe write a fic (if I could Bring myself to write).
Imagine the characters going about their lives (jobs, walks, hobbies, restaurants. etc)
Consider whether they would cross paths at some point and whether they would maybe meet more after this. Then consider if they compatible for romance or just friendship, don't try to force romance based on just having similarities, try to see whether they mesh and could be attracted to each other.
Above all don't force shipping for the sake of a happy ending, I see stories all the time where the main character finds love and all the remaining Main 6 find someone else. It can be done okay like with TheGentlemanCreeper who pairs up all the main 6, but he actually writes individual stories for each one. You should only ship if you think "yeah it's possible these characters could meet up, could be attracted to each other and they could really have something."
This is just a suggestion: if you do ship the main 6 (some or all), maybe try to give the relationship some development on the sidelines of the story and not make it too sudden, maybe TD hears about it as it goes or maybe helps the two get together?
Either way this is just some amateur advice from just an average reader
Your question depends mostly if you have some idea, or no clue what so ever.
Try a few same sex couples but not the obivious ones like Applejack + Rainbow.
Oppesites sometimes attract in real life so a ship like Big Mac and Pinkie Pie could work out. Don't forget she is a part of the Apple family so she has an excuse to come over all the time to hang out with the rest off the family that includes Big Mac.
You can also go for age diffences but since ponies become much older then human that wouldn't really be looked down apon so you could hook one of the CMC up with one of the older stalions or mares. Ex.: Zecura + Applebloom (apprentice potion making in free time).
Keep in mind that it's best to use a few more prominent names so most people have a face and "personality" to put with the ship. That doesn't have to go for most though.
Some can just stay single. Ex.: Since Twilight is a new princess she can have difficulties to let relationships form cause she fears its only because she is a princess.
I feel we could just give you a list off possible ships but that wouldn't do much good. I think you'd like more the relation how these came together and how they would work out. I do would like to see something happen with Blueblood (and not in the good kind of way).
Some can be given more attention and others can just be mentioned once.
Just sick with your usual writing and you'll be fine.
Hope this helps, and if you just want a list just say so and we'll oblige.
1952108 I second this. Just say things like "Twilight and her husband/wife" (whichever you prefer) or something like that. No need to mention names unless it's vital to the story, then make it up. Use an OC if you have to.
It's your series. Do what feels natural and fits in the story. You are the master of this universe, every reader/fan who thinks otherwise can clop itself.
The thing with me is that if the ship is written well, I'm okay with it and can say it's a good ship.
I don't take any ships seriously because none really are canon, and the closest ships to canon are Flash Sentry x Twilight (it actually is, as much as you would hate it, HA!) and Spike x Rarity, even though the latter is still not really possible to be a canon pairing...
...YET!
1952139
Well, it actually wouldn't be all that weird, if you think about it.
If we assume Rainbow is 21, (due to the number of candles on her cake), and that Twilight is the same, and that Twilight hatched spike when she was 5-8, then he is currently 13-16. If they have lived in Ponyville since Twilight was 18, then Rarity has know Spike since he was 10-13. Say they wait til he is 18 to start a relationship, the age difference is still only 5 to 8 years. That's not really a lot.
In a broader sense, you can also consider that a lot of cultures and religions around the world finds it normal to arrange marriages for different reasons, and there is often big age differences (usually the male is older), where they just wait for one or the other to reach legal age. It is not actually as uncommon as you make it out to be.
1952194
In Western cultures (which most of us here belong to), it is very weird. One of the reasons why is that it has connotations of child grooming.
It's not just the age gap, though that is a factor, it's the fact that the person was involved in the other's life since they were very young. There's a huge difference between a 40 year old marrying a 20 year old, and a 40 year old marrying a 20 year old having known the 20 year old since birth.
(Another aspect of the general social ineptitude of the fandom would be to equate Spike's puppy love crush with genuine romance, but that's an entirely different topic)
Twilight might be the one to remain single as her great love is for her books and magic. Fluttershy and Mac is a safe pairing. Heh, Discord having to give Mac "The Talk" and Mac being all stoic and shit.
Rainbow Dash.... hmmmm, how about someone who is the complete opposite to her? Safe, reliable, not all flighty and showy. Pinkie Pie. Huh. Lord knows who she could end up with, male or female. Plot twist: it's Maude.
Seeing as Rarity is the one who actively seeks out romance, it would be rather amusing if she's the last one to get into a relationship. I think Spike would want to spread his wings a bit and not live under Twilight's hoof all his life. When Rarity tells Spike she can't be with him because he's too young/they're with someone else, writers usually just dump in him with someone else immediately after 'to spare his feelings'. Why not have Spike remain single and live with the quiet acceptance that most ponies would not want to be in a relationship with him.
I always liked RDxBigMac, and Sweetie Belle have to be with Button Mash. They're just too damn cute together.
1952092
Indeed, that is to say, just be vague. Less can often be more, (as I'm painfully trying to put into practice.)
Unless it's immediately necessary to write about, you could likely get away with just saying that everyone's ducks are in a row, with maybe just a couple examples of the relationships being fleshed out. Rather than name dropping merely have them talk about their wives husbands and friends offhoof.
I don't have a particularly big preference when it comes to shipping, (as in, not big enough to turn my away from or to a story) I more care as to whether or not it's actually well written, and given the fact that it's you writing it, I feel confident it will be.
Basically, do whatever the hell you like.
Ship everyone with everything. Pinkie with Big Mac, Twilight with that guy in Equestria Girls, Rarity with Blueblood, Maud with a rock, go all out.
Make it the worst possible ending that you could ever achieve, and make it funny, for this is a comedy.
Realistically talking now: Make it a surprise.
I don't really care who you ship with whom because up to now I like the way you handled everything shipping-wise. Just trust your own judgement and be your usual witty author self and it will be a good story.
Could ship them with OCs that you make up. If all else fails just ship them all with TD
~Have a good one.
Oh man look at all these different answers. That's what happens when you pose a shipping question to an open community, you get ALL the answers.
So here's mine: Find someone whose opinion you already trust, make them your Designated Shipper, let them make up a list for your approval, tell them if there are any you're not wanting to use so they can edit them until what you've got is a list you can tolerate of relationships to slip in or not to slip in as you please. It's a much cleaner job than throwing open the floodgates, after all.
Eh, just go with whatever you feel, fits.
It is up to you, although it is looking like the creators are setting up some canon pairings this season so you may want to use some or all of those. Of course, there is no reason that those relationships have to succeed long term, especially for Twilight who has all her princess stuff to deal with.
Choose one; anger 95% of the fandom. Don't choose; anger 100%.
Well, as you said, it's really about TD's life. Since you don't have to go into much detail into each pairing, I think it's fine to just go with whatever you think works best.
Keep in mind too that part of growing older is meeting NEW people. Not every relationship has to be between two established characters, and since it isn't their story you don't really have to do more than hand-waive who they are unless TD has significant interactions with them.
Probably going with a mix of both predictable pairings and unpredictable ones is best. Life is generally like that.
Hmm... That's a tough question. Not matter what you do, someone is going to be like "OMG you sux 4 doin taht". You may as well go with whatever seems the most natural for each character, with a few oddities. For example, it would be really interesting if Rarity ended up staying single for the rest of her life due to all her previous bad experiences with romance. It would be funny if Rainbow Dash didn't marry a pegasi, making her ground bound. As nice as the oddities are, don't be ridiculous. Applejack would probably never fall in love with an upper class snob. Twilight would never marry an illiterate country hick (no offense to illiterate country hicks). Celestia is WAY out of Spike's league.
In the end, you are the author. You haven't disappointed us yet, so go with whatever feels right. As little as it probably means, I have complete faith in your abilities to make any ship work.
I was actually kind of surprised that you haven't written shipping before. They way you portrayed TD and Cheerilee falling in love was much more realistic than most of the other shipfics I see.
I would suggest sticking with hetero ships because I doubt anything else would happen in the actual show and you'll turn some people off to your story if you don't.
One of the appeals of this story is that just about everything you have written is plausible in-universe even though some of it wouldn't be put in the actual show due to the YTV rating of the show.
I don't think Rarity would be happy with someone like Big Macintosh because they have very little in common besides the Ponytones and caring about Applejack.
You also don't have to have all of them shipped. Some of them may realize they feel happy/fulfilled as singles. Applejack doesn't really seem like the romantic type in spite of the fact I've seen some really good fictions of her written with shipping. She is most likely out of the 6 to be an aromantic asexual in my opinion. Of course family is important to her but that doesn't necessarily mean blood relations and she knows that family means more than that too.
You could always just use terms like my husband, coltfriend, etc. and just avoid shipping pairs all together. That way you don't really have to think of shipping pairs, but you can still show that the mane 6 are growing up, and are in relationships. Of course this will only work if you keep these pairs in the background, and try not to focus too much on them. The added bonus of this, is that you keep yourself away from any flak you could catch, because someone doesn't like your shipping pair.
Draw names from a hat.
1953662
^This.
Also: Tom/Boulder OTP
I agree with what MerlosTheMad and others were saying. You can say that they got married to/are in a relationship with a pony (or possibly name-drop) and not take it past that unless is necessary. I'm not sure if the usual inter-Mane 6 shipping, or even shipping them with well known ponies would really fit in in this fic. Although I suppose some inter-Mane 6 shipping could actually make for some good comedic scenes.
I would, of course, love if you happened to write my OTP and/or OT4, but honestly, I don't think that's important enough to even mention what they are. If you do choose to go for the common ships, however, the only one that I would actively dislike (at least for somewhat objective reasons) would be Sparity. See the rest of my comment and the comment thread that it belongs to for the reasoning behind that particular dislike.
1952194
I completely agree with Abstract Indigo. Also, it honestly has a certain amount of an incestuous vibe to me. While it is true that they are not related (even in an "adoptive" capacity like Twilight), the way that she interacts with him has the vibe of interacting with her favorite baby brother, or possibly a favorite younger male cousin. Even if it is not outright incest, it is very squickish.
Also, just a nitpick, but unless they arbitrarily placed all the candles on one side of the cake, she's not 21. Assuming candles placed equidistantly, she is at least 35.
1953207
So, a human getting together with a pony is plausible in-show, but a homosexual relationship is not.
Well, at first I felt like I shouldn't give my opinion because the whole "TD and Cheerilee" thing made me a bit sad in the first place. I dislike it, yet am forced to respect it, it's weird. I dislike it because I feel out of all the fanfics where this could happen, the one where the central theme is "A person who isn't a jackass but doesn't like My Little Pony gets sent to Equestria." is not the place to do it. But I respect it because...hey. Not also would you out of anyone know what's in character for TD to do, it fits, it works. The whole situation so far feels like TD, so I can't really complain.
Then I was like "Oh hey, that logic works pretty well for this situation too."
You know, everyone likes certain ships, everyone hates certain ships. But it's really hard to complain about one that feels right or fits the story. As long as it isn't spontaneous infatuation that wasn't there before as the driving reason, I doubt you'll hear any whining from me. Whatever you do, have faith in it and make it believable. And above all else, have thick skin against the complaints.
Good luck dude.
1953866 I see. However, I feel that I must disagree on one thing: the central theme to the stories isn't a non-jerk, non-brony going to Equestria. Think about it: when was the last time that the show was mentioned with any consistency or focus?
The first half of the first story.
Occasionally he'll mention it again, but when was traveling around the world, I'll bet that he went months, maybe even years, before thinking of the show. Him not being a brony is incidental. The first one is about a guy trying to adjust in a crazy world, the second one is about a guy fighting desperately to get out of it, and the third is him accepting his lot in life and settling down.
1953870
Sorry bout that, it was a easy generalization to make and I wanted to hurry and get to the other point.
the doctor and Celestia, Rainbow dash and Soarin [keep RD straight just this once in memory of Faust], Pinkie Pie with nopony [ it would slow down the party] , Applejack and Trenderhoof, it doesnt really matter who you ship derpy with as long as its awesome
Oh ship Maude and Spike totally wouldn't see that coming lol
I have ships I like and ships I don't like. If you want to give the other characters deep development into their relationships, can't really stop ya, although it's pretty obvious we came here mostly for TD.
Like others are saying, you don't have to mention names of ships for the mane cast. You can even keep some of them single.