Octavia/Vinyl is another one which confuses me with its popularity. They've never even been in the same episode! For all we know, they could be the same pony in disguise (someone right a fanfic about this, it should be hilarious)!

@ Mar like i said, Lyra and Bon-Bon need to be together, just not necessarily romantically, I'm fine with them just being good friends/roomies

@Sereg, it's mostly because the fandom personalities for them make a perfect Odd Couple pairing.

Honestly, that situation makes the ship easier because there's nothing to suggest that they wouldn't get along. It's a gap in interaction that could fill however you want. I fully think that you could write it in a myriad of different ways, all of which could be in character. In fact, that's true of romance in general in the show. When noone ever shows any romantic interest in anyone else, there's a lot more freedom in how you can depict the relationships because you aren't actually contradicting anything.

Saying that Fluttershy might be romantically attracted to Big Macintosh is as much a contradiction as saying that Fluttershy likes ice cream. There's no evidence for either, but there's no evidence against it. It doesn't mean that you can just have the characters do whatever you want (I think you still ought to stay true to their characterization), but there's definitely a lot of room to work with.

For me at least, the whole appeal of shipping is getting to interact with the characters by filling in those gaps.

@Sereg: I've never been a huge Vinyltavia fan either, mainly because I've never been big on Theme Pairing type shipping. Part of the reason I like Lyra/Bon Bon more is because in my headcanon they have relatively divergent interests. I makes for a more interesting relationship. I tend to headcanon Vinyl and Octavia as Vitriolic Best Buds or maybe rivals.

edited 22nd Nov '12 12:53:23 PM by JapaneseTeeth

I don't really take shipping seriously at all — if a fanfiction has some well-done romance between characters, I may enjoy it, but I don't really have any strong opinions on the matter.

This said, I rather like the idea of Derpymac; but only if Derpy — while a bit clumsy — is a competent and capable pegasus, and not just the "moeblob" that some fiction makes her.

That last sentence brought a question to my mind: Has there ever been a fanfic where Derpy's an asshole, or otherwise unsympathetic? Because that would be some grade-A flamebait.

As to shipping, I'll take almost anything if the author of the picture/story/work makes it worth my time, or convincing enough.

After TLRU...I just can't see Derpy as a jerk.

I used to like Fluttermac, but now I find it kinda dull. Hard to imagine it really working out. I do like some of the artwork though, especially one r63 piece. I admit I like Twimac better. Or Maclestia.

Obviously I'm not fond of Vinyltavia, partly on account of it being so dang popular. And it bleeding into promotional material. I ship both of them with the pianist, anyway...

@Applelight: Yeah, I can't see that working either. The main problem would be that it would be really hard to work that out without making it sound like a trollfic, because if you're going to disregard her fanon characterization that much, you could literally pick any background pony, and it would look like you chose to redo her for no other reason than to mess with people.

As for me, my favorite ship is Twijack (obviously), followed by Rarijack. I just think they'd have really interesting dynamics when you transform their friendship into something romantic.

edited 22nd Nov '12 12:58:54 PM by JapaneseTeeth

Intense Staredown.

I could see Derpy being Innocently Insensitive but that's as far as it would go.

It'd make for quite the trollfic, though. Usually they're simply wanton murder where you can spot it's a trollfic just by the summary, so something a little more subtle, that reels in people with a seemingly normal premise only to slam them with brutal fanon defilement of a beloved character...

I don't hate Derpy or her fans, by the way. It's just me and my schadenfreude.

edited 22nd Nov '12 1:03:43 PM by Lopiny

Honestly, I don't know exactly why I like Vinyl/Octavia. I suppose it was something that just kinda stuck after I became a fan of both of them and found out about the pairing. Well, that and because I've seen some really cute pics with them, but then again that applys to just about any pairing anyway.

And while we're on the topic of shipping, here's some Twidash.

http://my-little-brony.deviantart.com/art/Fast-progression-338503170

I could imagine Derpy being a little bitter and inwardly snarky.

I mean, she is a single mother, working hard for the sake of her child, and a lot of ponies think that she is mentally impaired because she's wall-eyed and a little clumsy. She knows that she's not the greatest at her job, but she keeps going at it anyway, doing her very best; and ponies either make fun of her or pity her.

Well, if people are so ready to assume that she is a feebleminded, muffin-obsessed marefoal, she might as well not bother to correct their assumptions. Too much effort, and really, between Dinky and her job she's too busy for caring about what others may think. And after all, muffins are good.

edited 22nd Nov '12 1:08:24 PM by Carciofus

wow this thread jumped along fast. Hurray for shipping.

@Sereg and Purple: Well, I have several gay ships actually, but many of them are background so I can effectively invent all the chemistry and the combination of needs that I need to make it work. And if people's reactions are anythign to go by, I do a good job of it.

The only gay ship I have who've ever appeared in a speaking roll is Hoops/Dumbbell, and believe it or not I do have my reaosning for that.

First of all, they've already demonstrated to having been friends - probably best friends - for a long time. This, of course, doesn't necessarily mean a relationship. I feel no romantic attraction to any of my friends, male or female, even the ones I've known since I was very young(In fact that can actively inhibit it due to the Westermark effect, but I digress)

The point is, we know that they can tolerate each other's company, have similar interests, and get along well in general. Moreover, I think their behaviours can actually compliment one another really well romantically. Dumbbell obviously takes a leader roll there - Hoops always gave me the impression he was just going with the flow, as he was generally slower with jabs and never the opener. In general he seems to have a much more relaxed personality. So I imagine he would look up to Bell in a way, certainly he would respect him. At the same time, I also feel that his go-with-the-flow attitude could be a leavening influence on Dumbbell, someone who doesn't directly feed into his behaviour, keeping him from getting into a feedback loop.

In short? They work as a couple because their traits compliment each other very well, so they balance one another out. Bell fills in Hoops' natural lack of assertiveness, while Hoops helps Bell to relax. Each of them is at their happiest emotional state when the other is around, or at least present in their life.

And this is the point when someone comes in and tells me that's actually an unhealthily co-dependant relationship, no doubt...

Y'know, I've always thought it would be hilarious if Dinky's father turned out to be Prince Blueblood.

As I said, I ship based on what I think the characters want, so simple Theme Pairing or Opposites Attract or whatever, isn't going to do it for me unless the characters said something like, "I could only date another musician" or "I need a listener because I like to talk a lot" or whatever.

EDIT:I don't believe that Derpy's a single mother...At all! I actually agree with Perpetual Lurker and Deathcloud and don't think she's a mother at all. But I can accept her as Dinky's mother if time travel is involved. Either way, I think she's married to Dr. Time Turner Hooves.

edited 22nd Nov '12 1:19:30 PM by Sereg

I ask two questions:

1. Is it cute?

2. Is it done to death?

I do ships that I think would be interesting. It's part of the reason I don't really care much about background pony ships that don't involve Derpy or Lyra/Bon Bon. Part of the fun is seeing how a relationship might conceivably develop between two established characters. Of course, I should point out that it's entirely hypothetical; I really don't see much evidence at all in show for any pairings outside of Ship Tease, which is more "Lol, that's amusing" than "Yup, they're totally a couple".

I don't really think that how common the pairing is matters as long as it's developed properly. Although in this case I see the problem; the vast majority of Vinyltavia ships are based entirely off of "But they're both musicians!"

edited 22nd Nov '12 1:21:12 PM by JapaneseTeeth

Well, the thing is that what a person wants is often a very, very tricky thing when it comes to relationships. For example, in tend to want a person for whom I can feel like a protector, someone who I can help. I enjoy playing the guardian role. But at the same time, I also want someone who I feel that I can rely on as implicitly as I want them to rely on me. I want someone with whom I can have moral debates, but I also want someone who respects my opinions and odd views on the world.

What a person wants is often nebulous and very difficult to define, particularly in a romantic sense. My current psuedo-partner has admitted to me that he likes me because I respect him without adulating him, which is a terribly specific thing to find. Pairing people up based on the desires we can see is often no less superficial than theme pairing.

EDIT: Not that I'm trying to bash your method of course. Mine, which basically comes down to finding a visually cute pair and then inventing personalities and circumstances which workto my purposes, are not much better. OR worse, for that matter. These are colourful ponies after all, if it works for you it works for you.

edited 22nd Nov '12 1:24:18 PM by kegisak

My favorite ship is Daisy/Colton. I even wrote a fic about it. And the pairing is totally canon.

Fair enough. Personally, I like the idea of her being a single mother better, though.

I like Derpy being a mother simply because it's cute. Yeah, that's a pretty shallow reason but there you go.

It's totally my headcanon that Blueblood is the deadbeat father.

@Kegi: No sure. But I said what I think the characters want. Obviously I can't be sure. And I'm talking more about individuals than characteistics (though I use those as well). Look at my examples:

I ship Flutterspike because she showered him with affection, showing interest and he appreciated it. Ding!

I ship Appledash because thjey act like a married couple, showing that they are comfortable having that kind of relationship with each other. Ding!

I ship Twimac because he licked her and wanted her doll, showing that he has an interest in her. Ding!

But yeah, I don't really care about a pairing's popularity so much as its believability and humour. I do get annoyed when crack ships are treated as believable though *cough*Twixie*cough*

EDIT: The thing is, I don't accept stuff about relationships/fanon/whatever based on how cute they are but how believable they are.

edited 22nd Nov '12 1:33:15 PM by Sereg

Believeability is pretty important to me too, although more in the sense of "are their personalities compatible" moreso than "is there evidence in-show". Although I also think that even pairings that seem like crack could be done believably if the artist/author takes the time to develop it properly. I.e. Twilight/Trixie could be believable, but only if you take the time to explain how their interactions got to that point in more depth than "Trixie is totally obsessed with Twilight for some reason".

@Sereg: Just to be that guy, I'm not sure Big Macintosh even knew that the doll was Twilight's, and he only licked her while he was under Discord's influence, which isn't really evidence for anything.

edited 22nd Nov '12 1:36:57 PM by JapaneseTeeth

I ship whatever is cute or funny. It turns out that this covers most ships. ^_^