Just a little question that goes out to all the shippers here, I'd like to know which ship you prefer and why.

For me it's SpikeXRarity, simply because they look cute together and I like the idea of the young dragon growing and eventually proving he's an ideal colt-friend.

4200410

'nuff said.

4200410 Well, considering every ship's outward appearance is mostly subjective, I don't feel I can rightfully claim that AppleDash 'looks' like a cute couple. Any artist can make a couple look cute, after all, if he's skilled enough. (maybe)

But I can argue that the two toughest mares on the show dropping their defences in the sunset and opening up to each other is the goshdarn adorablest thing I've ever seen. And don't even try convincing me Fluttershy is cuter. She just has better advertising.

Not to mention, whether it's hurt/comfort, a tumultuous romance, or an emotional drama rife with themes like: family, earth/sky, responsibility, ambition, and competition, which both characters are more than suited for, they can handle a massive variety of romance stories. And they are good at all of them. I appreciate other ships too, but I'm not budging on this one.

I'm not a massive ship fan but when I do ship I really like SpikeXSweetie Belle and PinkieXBig Mac. Hear me out. Those two feel the most believable to me. And hear me out cause I know they arent super popular or common. The reason I say those two is because I think Spike and Sweetie have more in common. They are about the same age, they both have an older figure in their life that they can get frustrated with and dont always understand, and I just get a good vibe off of them.

Big mac and Pinkie Pie I ship because when I look at them, I feel like its an opposites attract kinda thing. At the end of the day, Pinkie is odd so its hard seeing anyone getting along with her. Big mac to me always came off as kind of go with the flow so honestly thats the next best thing. Plus I feel like Big mac and Pinkie would get along just from him being able to help act as a kind of calm point in her life along with being patient enough to put up with Pinkie's personality.

But that's me.

I tend to ship heterosexually, though I'm not against well-written M/M or F/F. Those are just out of my personal preference zone is all.

Really, it all boils down to quality: I'd take a high-quality F/F fic over a shoddily-written M/F fic any day, especially if the former is interesting.

4200410 Spike and Sweetie Belle. No, I'm not doing the whole, older sister rejects thing. I just feel they would be perfect together.
I have others but too many to explain fully.

4200457
We have one in common. Pinkie for me, I prefer her with Braeburn.

4200560 See but I can see that as sorta working because he's at least cheerfull.

4200566 Pinkie and Braeburn do have some in common, such as their happy personality.
Big Mac might be able to calm her down, a lot.

Two of my fave pairs (and yes, this has heavy bias on my part):

Rarity x Roseluck
Fleur x Luna

Other fun pairings for me:
TwiLuna
TwiDash
Flarity

Ah actually... strongly dislike at least half a' the ships that've been mentioned so far, an' ah feel like ah should talk a bit about why that is before ah get on to what ah do like. Ah'll preface this with the opinion disclaimer. Ah'm not sayin' these are objectively bad, necessarily, but ah feel like there's a lot of good reason to dislike these ships.

Most Celestia ships have one problem for me; ah don't like shipping immortals with mortals. It feels weird on a lot of different levels. Twilestia also has the problem that even after Twi's ascension, Celestia is an especially important authority figure to her, which creates a deeply unbalanced relationship dynamic. Ah'd much rather see the Princess have a courtship with a being on her own level. Discord has been teased as a possible love interest for her in season 5, and she had a romantic subplot with an alternate Sombra in the comics; those are both pretty promisin'. Chrysalis is also an interestin' option.

Spike ships have the same problem, to a lesser degree, an' with the added wrinkle that he is a baby an' not just in name. Plenty of times he acts like he's closer to the CMC's age than the main cast, which is because, well, he is. Sometimes he acts like a mature child, but he still acts like a child. That said, there are still Spike ships ah like… but Sparity isn't one of them. An' another reason for that is because ah like their canon relationship. The Precocious Crush dynamic is cute. You take that away when you give 'em a reciprocal romance. Spikebelle, on the other hand, ah can get into. At least he'll prob'ly be an adult within her lifetime, an' Sweetie Belle will probably grow up to have a lot of the things ah perceive that Spike likes in mares.

Appledash… ah jus' hate on its own. Like, really adamantly hate. One reason is simple enough; it's a ship between mah favorite character an' mah least favorite. But there's more to it than that. Simply put, ah feel like AJ an' Rainbow Dash are alike in all the wrong ways, while havin' nothin' in common that they should, even as friends, let alone lovers. Rarijack is much better, as the two make almost perfect complements. If ya wanted two characters who are pretty much the same… actually, mah other favorite character makes a much better ship with mah least favorite. Trixdash is jus' a plain old fun ride. Ah can't imagine two other characters bein' as likely to approach love like a game, an' with how bombastic they are, it's a game ah wanna watch.

Other than that, there's the old Twixie standby. Mah number one ship, always has been, always will be. Flutterdash is one ah like because it jus' feels like an extension of their existin' relationship; canonically Rainbow Dash has acted like Fluttershy's knight in shining armor since they were foals. Ah like Scootabloom; Apple Bloom is definitely the most stable of the CMC, an' Scootaloo could sure use more of that. An' ah know ah'm far from the first to suggest this, but Sweetie Belle seems like the type who might jus' secretly ship her best friends with each other.

Ah don't ship many M/F ships jus' because there aren't a lot ta go around, an' the ones that do exist don't tend to impress me. Still, every now an' then one turns out pretty strong.

4200426
A man of taste, I see!

Well, for me:

RariJack

AppleDash

TwiDash

RariShy/Flarity

Twilestia

Though in reality, I like a wide variety of ships, those are just my favorites.

Why?

Because they're foils (except for one).

RariJack is great because of the interplay between Rarity and Applejack. They are so marvellously catty, and yet they still care about each other. They have a lot in common, and yet have a lot to fight over, and they have all sorts of fun parallels. They're rich ground for humor and storytelling and conflict.

AppleDash is much the same; they butt heads but still love each other, and their mutual stubbornness and competitiveness can lead to a lot of fun stuff. Rainbow Dash being a bonehead is always fun, as is Applejack just not getting something about Rainbow Dash.

TwiDash is pretty much because of Twilight's List; the pair have a lot of potential room for conflict, of "educating" each other about stuff, of bouncing off of each other, of conflict, ect. And of course they still love each other.

Flarity/RariShy is a more subtle ship; I just feel like the characters go together well. Unfortunately, while I enjoy the ship theoretically, in practice it seems hard to write good Flarity stories. They're incredibly fluffy.

Twilestia is enjoyed because there are a lot of reasons why it is a bad idea, and seeing the characters work through their issues is interesting. I really like the idea that Twilight has a crush on Celestia; that Celestia reciprocates is much less necessary for me.

I've published a fair bit of RariJack, a FlutterDash story, a RariDash story, a SpikeBelle story (which still isn't done), and a CookieClover story. I'd like to eventually do at least one story for every pairing, and I have unfinished stories for all of my favorites except for Flarity.

4200410

TurnerDash.

First off, I don't buy the "Time Turner is the Doctor as a Pony".
Second, it's sort of the weird clash of the rougher and outgoing Dash and the more intellectual Turner.

Trash.
Shipping Trixie and Flash Sentry is just kind of strange.

4200844

4200648
The thing about Twilestia for me is that the fact that it is intrinsically a bit messed-up is what makes it interesting.

The problem comes primarily when people fail to do it properly. There's ways of making it interesting, and then there's disregarding all the problems for the sake of them kissing.

The same comes from the "Twilight is secretly Celestia's daughter" idea; it is totally messed up, but there's a really, really great story about it. But if you do it badly, it just comes off as trite.

I like Twilestia, and I especially like the idea of Twilight having a crush on Celestia, but I don't feel like Celestia reciprocating is necessarily a good thing. It can be a good thing if something interesting is done with it, but a lot of stories seem to turn Celestia into a blushing teenager, which just feels wrong to me.

Also, as far as Spike goes, I agree - shipping him with older characters is creepy. I think shipping him with the CMCs is potentially interesting, though. Of course, one might have guessed that from the fact that I wrote Mistletrapped, which is a SpikeBelle shipfic. I like SpikeBloom as well. Not so sure about ScootaSpike.

4201740

The problem comes primarily when people fail to do it properly.

Surely that holds true for everything. Just more so with shipping.

4201745
Oh, this is true, but it is especially true with squicky ships like Twilestia and Sparity.

Twilight crushing on Celestia, or Spike crushing on Rarity, are cute. Rarity crushing on Spike, or Celestia crushing on Twilight, is apt to be disturbing if it is not handled properly.

Of course, you can also play those straight, and deliberately write a story which is meant to squick people out. Rainbow Bob wrote an excellent Twilestia story, Groomed to Perfection, which is about the potentially negative implications of a Twilestia relationship.

4201750 Touche.

I ship SpikeXSweetieBelle for many reasons, to many for me to bother explaining. But mainly because its ADORABLE!

Im more of a fluttercord, Applespike, and a bit of Appledash fan...

I may also go with Rarity and Fancy pants and Sweetie Mash

I could talk about ships I like and don't like all day long... so for the sake of brevity, how about I cover the ships I *write*, or plan to write in the future?

I ship FlutterMac, because they not only have the differences that attract, but the similarities that bind. Fluttershy is quiet, timid, and she has to work her way up to asserting herself, but she has a heart of pure gold, and there isn't a kinder soul to be found in all of Equestria. Big Mac is the strong, silent type, but has been through so much in his years: losing his parents, raising his sisters. These experiences bestow wisdom. I strongly believe that these two, once they got over their initial fears, would make the strongest couple. That's why they are my OTP.

I love the ButtonBelle/SweetieMash ship because of the raw potential it has. JanAnimations set it up nicely, and numerous fans have ran with it. I love the stories that focus on them being unlikely best friends who slowly discover that they're more than just friends. Whether it's played off as a first crush, puppy love, a one-sided schoolfilly crush, or something that is meant-to-be, it is adorable. My fics will focus mostly on the "friends who discover they're something more" angle.

I like SoarinDash for some of the same reasons I like FlutterMac: they have a good balance of differences and similarities. Of course, to be fair, I have to note that I'm running off the fanon/my headcanon version of Soarin here, since we know very little about Soarin in show canon. We all know that Rainbow Dash is competitive, impulsive, and maybe just a bit obsessive when it comes to her goals and aims. Soarin has always struck me as the more "laid-back" type, working toward his goals, but never letting them rule him. I can tell you from personal experience that these two qualities balance each other very well.

and lastly,

Before I even begin, let me clarify which version of the Doctor I'm talking about here. I don't like the thought of "our universe's" Doctor being transported to the mlpverse and being transformed into a pony... It never did settle well with me. Any fic I write, the Doctor is simply the MLPverse's own Doctor, from an MLPverse planet, Gallopfrey, who has had his own series of companions, of which Derpy is one. Now, like virtually every female companion before her (and some male companions, most likely), she has taken a shine to the enigmatic pony that is the Doctor. Also like virtually every companion before, the Doctor, while he appreciates the affection and companionship, does not outwardly return her romantic gestures. In a future fic I have planned, however, I plan on having a little fun by showing these two in a much more mutual relationship through the use of a Chameleon Arch, alternate timelines, and much temporal hijinks.... ^^

4200410

Fashion PlatexRarity, Does anyone else see the possible match these two have? The comparisons write themselves! I'd like to see what can be made of this.

I'd like to be more positive to the idea of every ship is possible given the right circumstances and set-up but that's me being the middle man and I know that maybe not every ship is possible but it is good to think that given the right situation and premise - most ships could work. Sure, it would require a dire amount of brain power to look over the two characters you want to ship and how you could ship them together but if you could see it work I like to see it done.

Now, with that needless amount of exposition out of the way, time to answer the question:
The ships I like to see are:

Sombra x Pinkie Pie

Reason: Harmony Charmer. She has done a DAMN fantastic job of making these two a couple in her stories. Also, I love the idea of these two enigmas coming together and creating such hilarious fireworks. Major props to RainbowBob for creating the ship in the first place. (If I got that wrong please let me know.)

Next are:

Twilight Sparkle x Princess Luna

Reason: The two of them are such intelligent and beautiful mares that could teach other so much given the right scenario. Believe me, I have seen some real doozies when it comes to these two being shipped and I really think they work for each other. Plus, given the fact that it was Twilight's actions that brought about the Elements to set her free from her Nightmare Moon side and the first Luna episode had the two of these together with their conversations really gave them an already good canonized relationship as friends, which in turn, has given shippers a load of fuel to start the engines to the miasma of stories we have of these two to this day.

Lastly:

Big Mac x Spitfire

Reason: He's a well mannered, soft spoken, strong hearted stallion. She's a passionate, hot blooded, cheeky mare. These two have some real potential to be made into a great ship and I have seen some great stories with these two and I hope to see more in the future. If anyone has some I haven't read yet, send them my way cus I WANT MOAR!!

Honourable Mentions:

Twilight Sparkle x Applejack

Celestia x Big Mac

Spike x Sweetie Belle

Sombra x Twilight

BECAUSE REASONS!

And, Because reasons!

I like to see these done with well written OC's, or Crossover Romance's.

Octavia

Celestia

Spitfire

Twilight Sparkle

BECAUSE REASONS DAMNIT!

4200410

I know everybody ships Pinkie Pie with Cheese Sandwich now, and that's fine.

But before he came along, I shipped Pinkie Pie with Roland Aethelnoth Bayard (Bertie) Whickers III, Viscount Astley--basically a ponified Bertie Wooster. I still do, in fact.

Bertie is a kind-hearted fellow, but unserious: a little too fond of fun to be hardworking. But Pinkie would show him that the two could go together very well. She'd teach him how to be more responsible without making him one bit more serious, a combination no mare in his life prior to her had ever tried.

And he--well, he'd be her philosopher-prince, from the moment she heard him sing this song: