I got curious because of all the MLP avatars, too, so I took a peek at the trope page. From there, I went to Youtube and never came back.

The avatars thread got me, mostly.

Aw, thanks, Bunny. I'm glad you liked it - it's one of my favorites, of what I've done. But man, is the comments section ever a shit-storm. Heh. I guess some folks just don't like M/M in their ponies. I guess I can't blame them for that.

Well, this one got interested due to this site. Been curious about all those avatars. Also, she introduced My Little Pony to her big brother and his wife.

This pretty much.

I haven't been able to convert anyone else though. Most of my friends either hate it and won't give it a chance because of all the hype, or they've watched it and didn't like it.

For that reason, I have to hide my brony status.

edited 26th Oct '11 11:08:04 PM by Neo_Crimson

Guilty .

I can.

It's rather silly to throw a hissy fit just because you don't like M/M stuff. Especially with the massive amount of F/F shipping on the site.

I'm just going to pop in to say that I got into this mostly because of people that I respect telling me that it had really great animation, all the avatars, and from watching Code MENT.

Yeah, plus there's stuff way worse than that out there.

edited 27th Oct '11 5:05:27 AM by HekirekiNoMakai

That people shipping animated ponies, of all things, would be bothered by M/M shipping is more than a little aggravating.

edited 27th Oct '11 5:08:19 AM by BobbyG

It really shows that the majority of the fandom is straight teenage boys.

But what about the sanctity of pony marriage? Think Of The Foals!

I must admit, however, that I have a bit of difficulty taking shipping stories seriously.

There are a few humorous ones that I enjoyed; but if they are not about the comedy, I have trouble coming to terms with the fact that they are about, well, talking magical ponies.

I have not read that one yet, perhaps I will give it a try this evening.

edited 27th Oct '11 5:13:47 AM by Carciofus

To be fair, this one is less about the shipping. It's more about a pony coming to terms with his homosexuality, with the shipping being a side effect of that.

...Admittedly, that still sounds rather silly when you think about it.

edited 27th Oct '11 5:15:08 AM by Deathonabun

I'm straight and I have absolutely no problem with m/m, f/f fanfics. I'm not going to actively go looking for them (or any shipping fic in general because it's not my thing ), but I really don't have a problem with it. Let the shippers have their fun.

Silly, but intriguing.

edited 27th Oct '11 5:16:40 AM by HekirekiNoMakai

To be honest, I prefer to keep this sort of thing free from any romantic or sexual aspects. All the ponies seem basically like children to me, or pre-teens at the very oldest, so sexuality has no place in their lives. It would be like... shipping the Bananas in Pajamas with one of the teddies. Just weird and kind of awkward.

Wait, I thought the main characters were at least 17-19 or in their early 20's (or whatever you call adulthood for horses XD) considering all of the evidence.

edited 27th Oct '11 5:22:49 AM by HekirekiNoMakai

@ Keg: You also have my gratitude. :3

Yeah that's being ing me for a while, are they mares or Fillies or what?

edited 27th Oct '11 5:32:35 AM by joeyjojo

The ages of the Mane 6 are intentionally ambiguous.

I'd peg them as young adults.

I was under the impression that the main cast was at about the equivalent of human early twenties (perhaps even late twenties, in the case of Rarity)?

I mean, I cannot see how a pre-teen could be an accomplished dressmaker with a well-established firm...

If I were to guess, I would put the mane cast at the following ages:

• Twilight Sparkle: 17—22
• Rainbow Dash: 17—22
• Pinkie Pie: 20—25
• Fluttershy: 20—25
• Rarity: 24—28

edited 27th Oct '11 5:35:30 AM by Carciofus

@Joe: Well I just had a thought right now. They all seem to have independent ownership of their own houses, except for Pinkie, who stays with the pastry shop owners (I can't remember their names), and Applejack, who lives on her farm with her family, so one can assume they're adults.

But assuming they're all the same age, and the fact that Twilight is a student leads me to believe they're at college age.

edited 27th Oct '11 5:39:28 AM by HekirekiNoMakai

I always thought that was just a feature of it being aimed at kids. Kids want to see people just a few years older than them getting out there and doing stuff, and how 'realistic' it is doesn't actually factor into it.

I mean, when I was a child and playing with Lego people or whatever, I assigned them ludicrous ages and had them saving the kingdom and being fully fledged knights and queens at the age of 11 and 12. If I gave them ages at all - more often I just ignored the issue altogether.

When I said "they're like children", I didn't mean that they were children exactly. Just that they're aimed at them.

Hence the ambiguous age. But that doesn't mean that we can't make an educated guess from looking at the hints.

edited 27th Oct '11 5:47:26 AM by HekirekiNoMakai

I feel the same way. I'm writing a fic right now, actually. The protagonists are twins (colt/mare). There's a bit of shipping, but it's mainly a subplot (and not Twincest). In keeping with the show's theme of friendship and the magic thereof, it's a quaint little adventure about searching for a treasure chest in the Everfree forest.

I've always just sort of viewed the cast as being in their early 20's - for some reason, that feels the most natural for me. Because I guess, despite their rather distinct flaws, I can really see them as people I would be friends with, and those have always been around my own age.

As for shipping, I never really do it for the sake of shipping itself. I do it mostly because it's a really, really good way to explore certain aspects of character in depth (such as getting a really good, deep view at Pokey and the emotions that come from struggling with oneself). Heck, I'm using a very light Shipping subplot in The Colour You Bleed as a way of getting to know one of the side characters better. The other, more rare reason I do it is to explore the world around them, using the relationship to explore how it works. For example, once I'm done what I'm working on now I have plans for a ship that centres around a couple having a slightly rocky relationship (as one of them is often away), and ends with them getting engaged. That one's also gay, so I'm looking forward to seeing the reaction...