FlameLoneWolf

Shipping can be fun and romantic, if it's done right. Some characters ought to not be shipped for various reasons, like how Discord is chaos incarnate, or how the princesses would outlive anyone they are paired with (unless paired with one another, which is gross if you ask me )

If a ship is a pair that makes sense to me, I might like it.

Some ships only contradict the show, which annoys me to no end. (Twilight Sparkle and Trixie, really?)

All in all, I don't mind ships, as long as you don't try to force them on me.

Whatever floats your boat, right?

You have spoken words of wisdom, my friend.

This. And really, Discord's characterization in the show is so utterly contrary to being that sort of character. He loved being bad! He wasn't driven by angst or revenge upon Celestia, he was driven by chaotic whimsy.

And that, really, is the key to what differentiates enjoyable shipping from The characterization has to remain believable. Stories can be as contrived as it needs to be to get the ship together, so long as the characters themselves still act in ways that are consistent with how they act in the show. Fortunately, artwork can skip all the story nonsense. Leaving the lead up story to the viewer's imagination lets them fill in the blanks however they wish.

I don't really see Discord as much of a romantic either.

I'm pretty ok with it, partly because I am a romantic at heart, partly because it can be fun to draw. It all depends on the pairing and if it can "work" in my mind. That in turn is influenced by the quality of stories and/or artwork involving said couple. Whitehawke did mention the one aspect that permeates much of pony shipping, the "both of us really had a crush on the other forever but it just took this long and its just this hard to admit it!" syndrome. Other than that, most have been ok.

That syndrome is definately overused and contagious!

Of course! Always look there or Wikipedia lol

I'd say Tv Tropes is more accurate to these weird topics.

I love the term "shipping" because it lends itself so well for puns.

Indeed.

This. Unless your shipping Twilight or Spike or Luna, honestly everyone already knows everyone.

One of the reasons I see most Dash+Wonderbolts shipping (practically the only kind I personally write) work is simply because she doesnt really know them, and in-canon only has met them twice both for short periods.

I mean, I'm a hopeless romantic and I love a good story, but over all it's kinda hard to know somone for probably 5-10 years and all of a sudden love them (discounting life-changing experiances, I mean if X risks their life to save Y and almost dies, then Y might feel a little differently about X...)

I know what you mean. And you're a hopeless romantic too huh? Are you considered a hopeless romantic if you're too scared to try for a romance? That would probably be me.

I think a lot of them are pretty good. As long as they don't come off as cheesy, I'll read them any day.

Yeah, something too cheasy isn't really a good read.

I'm okay with it, though the ship-fics I've read that I've actually enjoyed tended to be between the background ponies. I guess it's because we can pretty much put whatever stories in place for them that we want!

I'm not sure if I've read any fics between two of the mane 6 that I liked. Usually, they feel forced, or they're "I SUDDENLY HAVE LOVED YOU ALL ALONG" stories, which tend to feel forced. Or a significant element of the story is a coming out story. I like a good coming out story as much as the next homo, but either I'm picky or it's really easy for those to end up corny. I'd love to read one that feels genuine, you know?

So basically, I'm not opposed to ship-fics (I like a good sappy romance!), I just haven't read very many that felt natural enough to be enjoyable to me. If it's well-written, I basically don't care who goes with who, though I do tend to prefer lady-lady fics. What can I say? I'm biased.

Yeah, with background ponies, nothing is confirmed, so you can pretty much write anything about them. It's a bit different with the Main Six.

"Shipping" is short for "Relationshiping" and it simply means putting two characters into a relationship. While technically it can be friendship, usually it is romantic (yiff doesnt always enter into it, it can be just two characters turning red and getting all quiet around each other while giveing sideways glances and smiling)

Better explanation, as always, here:

http://tvtropes.org/...p/Main/Shipping

Tv Tropes has the answer to everything!

I'm still fairly confused as to what shipping is. As far as I know, it seems to be putting two characters together as a couple, and I've sort of seen it as just a sexual thing, or something "cloppers" do. I'm guessing that's not quite a fair view on it.

Not quite. Shipping is putting two characters in a couple, yes, but it doesn't have to be pornographic at all. It could be pretty much anything, from drawing to fanfiction.

lol. nonono! the trope your looking for is:

http://tvtropes.org/...in/EveryoneIsBi

That way it's still acceptable! lol

I just wanted to point out that iirc, fimfiction has 100% open, you can post a story "teh raenbo ponez wints to teh zoo" and it's avalible for everyone, while ED put all FF though several pre-readers to weed out the lower-quality ones. (Though it takes a long time and a lot of good stories are missed, like "muffins")

Everyone is bi!

FIMFiction is open, sure, but the ones that get featured are very well written!

*Shhhhhh nobody is suppose to know, but I occasionally read one every now and again. Most of them follow the same boring formula, but you get the occasional one that is different then 'the teary eyed love confession'

Then my biggest "What am I reading?" Was this one

http://blueshift2k5....Magic-206207840

I know what you mean!

Hey, brony, welcome to canterlot!

I don't really like most shipping stories. Most of them are either way too silly or way too boring in my opinion. I have seen a couple of good ones on EqD, though. I prefer for the author to sneak the ship into a good story. Several of my favorite fics have Apple/Dash ships that are either implied or they don't dominate the entire story.

I also can't stand Twixie fics. I am either laughing at the absurdity of it or I am yawning half way through.

One massive reason that I don't read ships is because I will see SO many readers bash the author just because they don't like the ship. I remember reading a Twiluna fic and a Fluttermac fic on EqD a while back(During the summer I think). I thought both stories were ok and I thought that they were going to spark an interest for me in ships........until i scrolled down to the comment section.

I guess it depends on where you look and who's writing it. Subtle shippings usually work the best, I have to agree.

I read MLP fics on http://www.Fimfiction.net , nopony I see ever bashes on others because they don't like the pairing, but I have yet to see that anyway.

I kinda have a thing for RainJack and Lyra/Bon Bon but I often like to come up with straight pairings too like for example instead of Spitfire/Dash I would support Soarin/Dash. And here's another pairing I can't get enough of I keep thinking about this one. Pip(The Pirate Pony in Luna Eclipsed) and Sweetie Belle as a couple. I think that could work.

I have a soft spot for AppleDash and Lyra/Bon Bon as well! Pip and Sweetie Belle could have a possibility of working, though.

Once you start looking to TV tropes for answers all the time, it means the site HAS STOLEN YOUR SOUL! *soul belongs to TV Tropes*

Glad to see somone else likes it. A friend of mine suggested it's unpopular due to an unwritten rule "No Straight Shippings in MLP"

It's hard to get away from TV Tropes' website, there's just so many topics to click on!!!

No straight shippings in a show that was technically made for little girls, everyone has to be homosexual. Seems legit.

:C No Just No Thanks what I Think About Them

Okie Dokie Lokie!

I voted "No, I could care less." Although, I would like to read a good hurt and comfort fic between RD and AJ. Because of how competitive they are in cannon, I think it'd be cute as long as it isn't too excessive (i.e. they start going out or confessing feelings or whatever else).

Anyway, I don't care to read romance shippings, but I do enjoy when a shipping is implied through occasional jokes or embarrassing moments throughout a story, especially when the shipping is onesided with the other side being completely clueless. Primary example would be RedxYellow in Pokemon Special.

Yeah, hurt and confort can make great fics as well!

YFW all food tased like crud.

I don't have any friends where I live that like MLP (well, I don't have many friends to begin with so...). I wish I had the courage to try to convert one into a brony, but if I did, I'd probably get picked on and bullied for the rest of my life (well, more than I do already).

Thank you all for welcoming me, you've all made me feel at home! You're all really nice, wish I could say that about from where I live. Anyway, I'll do my best on this site, I promise!

Hello, welcome to Canterlot! You'll like it hear, promise!

I haven't done that, but I was in a lecture on Monday and the lecturer said 'Everybody settle down', and I was aware that it sounded wrong to me, and that I had been expecting her to say 'everypony'

It sounds a little weird when somepony says 'body' instead of 'pony' no a days for me.

Wow, that's never happened to me before... yet!

Wow, this topic got way more popular than I thought it would. :!: I think this is my first big topic I've made on this website! Thank all of you for commenting!