Main cast shipping doesn't get uncomfortable for me until it passes out of general affection an into more... explicit stuff. That said, I'm not really into doing shipping art or writing myself.

Party of One also creeped me out a bit, but in that sort of good way where it helped develop Pinkie's personality more.

Anyway, I got overambitious again (it's an 11 paneller). Just finished up the comic for the DA training grounds group. Good thing it's not a daily thing anymore because I'd be pretty late. Current theme is to do a training grounds that I missed. I technically did them all thanks to day 30, so I was free to choose any theme to redo, but I decided to go with one where I wasn't involved in the day itself. So I went with day 11 (rope trick). It's kind of ironic. Twilight is my favourite, so end up with her as the center of attention in this comic, but that has also ended in me picking on her a lot. :/ Anyway, Start of Nightmare Part 5!◊

Goddamnit Cyberbanjo if someone doesnt make fanart about the awesome crossover your avatar and sig implies then so. help. me. god.

But yes. The implications of your avatar and sig are shirt-shreddingly awesome.

Scootaloo: Rainbow Dash is dead! She's gone! But she's right there on my flank, and here on my heart! <Points to sky!> If you're gonna fly, fly to the very barrier of light and sound! No matter whats in my way I won't stop! Once I broke through that means I won!

Just who the hell do you think I am?! I'm not my sis. I'M ME!!! Scootaloo! Scootaloo the Cutie-Mark Crusader!

SONIC.....RAIN....BOOM!

edited 2nd Jul '11 1:24:12 AM by Oathkeeper95

I don't do shipping. I tend to view it as the distaff counterpart to "could Hulk beat Superman", so when shipping discussions get serious I am a little dumbfounded. But I am never a very passionate fan and find any kind of heated discussion around a cartoon, no matter how cleverly made, a bit odd and off-putting.

I have one little gripe with same-sex shipping, and it has nothing against same-sex relationships IRL (I have been in them and is in one right now) but that there is an old cliché, when you have an unattached man and an unattached woman in a story, they HAVE to get in a relationship. That's annoying because it implies the only relationship a man and a woman can have is a romantic one. With same-sex relationships more acceptable, it sometimes seems the ONLY relationship ANYONE can have is a romantic one. Because if you express any kind of closeness to anyone it means you want to hump their bones. The shipping fans of this show reminds me of Azumanga Daioh (both shows having all interesting characters being female), where people would say that OF COURSE they would have to be lesbians, since no one has a straight relationship. Well, I was part of a circle of maybe eight friends in high school: one guy had a girlfriend at all during three years, one guy showed interest in the same sex (thats me). The other guys were just dateless and fairly OK with it. This is in no way uncommon in real life, and why shouldnt it be in fiction? Especially since both shows - Friendship is Magic and Azumanga Daioh - are great stories about NON-romantic relationships to begin with. (And I consider the main cast adults and have been known to look at furry smut, so I dont have a problem with their age or species per se, even if the shipping should get explicit. It is the idea that it is NEEDED.)

But I shouldn't gripe. I can avoid shipping fics - I even read them willingly. It's just that the thoughts of some shippers sit wrong with me.

My Lee-tle Ponie

I like it as a fun/silly thing. I wouldn't like it to get too serious though.

As for romance in general, I think the mane cast finding men could be cute as long as we're not Strangled by the Red String. How I'd do it is I'd have the male characters be introduced gradually, slowly, and just make them recurring characters who all the ponies have an "Oh, its that guy" reaction to at first, then have them appear more and more and have the relationship slowly build up. More likely though any man introduced would be pared with a pony right off the bat and it would be insanely obvious who was for who.

EDIT: Also, is it sad that every time I see "CMC" (Cutie Mark Crusaders) I read it as "CQC (Close Quarters Combat)?"

edited 2nd Jul '11 6:20:48 AM by MoeDantes

I agree that the shipping doesn't bug me unless it takes a more explicit turn. Anything beyond kissing just because intensely creepy.

And yeah, Party of One was pretty freaky. Still hilarious though. Pinkie's breakdown was bizarrely awesome.

@Moe Maybe just a tiny bit since I'm not sure how an M mutates into a Q.

I agree that the main cast being shipped is completely unnecessary, but some of the art that comes out of shipping is really, really cute (or maybe I'm just a bit of a sap, who knows?). In canon, I think a romantic interests are pretty unlikely for the main cast, with maybe the exception of Rarity again for the reasons of Rarity being quite the romantic (and perhaps pursuing another stallion in the same way as Blueblood) and Spike's crush could cause him to come into conflict with a newcomer.

Speaking of Spike, I'm crossing my fingers for more Spike episodes next season. I just love that kid, it would be awesome to see him go through more character development.

I usually get annoyed with people insisting on Les Yay pairings, but with this show, it's almost unavoidable, so I just shrug and move on. Though I don't care to think about shipping with this show as I sometimes do with others.

For me it depends on whether they do it as a "what would happen if X and Y hooked up?" vs "X/Y AND ANYONE WHO SAYS OTHERWISE IS A HERETIC".

...is it okay with you guys if I post stupid-funny pony images here?

Fine with me.

^^What, like Derpy? Fine by me, really. (Says the guy with three posts in the thread.)

^^^Yeah, this. The various ships are interesting ideas and it's fun to play with them, but there's really no reason to start claiming any one is 'canon'. When you start squinting at individual frames and claim that here, this is absolute proof that Dash is making eyes at Applejack, that's when it gets excessive.

@Erik S: I agree with you wholeheartedly. It's a very Pair the Spares mentality, I think, and no one seems able to accept that friendship exists in fictional worlds. It's always gotta be raw UST buried under the surface.

I have recently come across a fanfic that's worse than Cupcakes. Such a thing does exist.

care to share? (no the link, the synopsis)

My first thought was that they're kind of ugly, but now I think I actually want one

The Rainbow Dash one looks cool; the Pinkie Pie one just looks...weird for some reason.

Also, does anyone know of a good website for making custom posters? Because I totally want this on my wall.

I submitted Derpy eats a muffin to ED for shits and giggles

I want to eat them.

Fuck, now they're looking like candy to me, too.

Please do tell. Or at least put it up on So Bad It's Horrible.

I can name a few that are just as bad as Cupcakes, and two that might be a little worse.

• A Rocket to Insanity
• Pimps Mcgee's alternate ending to Cupcakes (this is more disturbing than Cupcakes, because he one-ups Sgt. Sprinkles on gory descriptions.)
• Friendship is Tragic
• Severing and Reconnection
• Prince Charming (because Rarity kills Pinkie)

• And this one is worse than Cupcakes, but it's not a gore/grimdark. It's an incest fic. AND IT WAS WELL RECIEVED! It's called "The Smell of Apples and More" by YamiMarik1994

edited 2nd Jul '11 5:30:26 PM by PinkieP

What's a Rocket to Insanity about?

Rainbow Dash has constant nightmares about Pinkie Pie murdering her and making her into Cupcakes. Then she slowly goes insane from them and eventually kills Pinkie.

wow, some of our fandom is insane. Is there ANY unironically good grimdark MLP fanfiction?

His expression never changes. Ever.

You never know what he's thinking. Ever.