Spraity is PEAK SHIPPING

@Background Pony #C2E7
This is the same fandom that shipped characters before they even appeared in the same episode And even when they actually interacted it was because they were shipped

So Spiluna is gaining recognition? Sweet

@Background Pony #C2E7
Shipping in a nutshell

@Background Pony #C2E7
It doesn’t, I just compared the reality to all the shipping done, which is that some folks will “die on a hill” to prove “Spike and Sweetiebelle are 100% going to be together” when the reality is that Spike has never interacted 1 on 1 with Sweetiebelle beyond one two-second-out-of-context loop that they cite as “proof that it’s true”.

And they fail to realize that if this is “100% proof of a ship”, then…

It’s kinda a bucket full of holes when Rarity has interacted more with Fancypants and RD has traded more lines with Soarin than Spike has ever with Sweetiebelle.

>Spike and Sweetie don’t interact much
And when has that stopped anyone?

BRUH is lying to our faces, I have SEEN just how wild and toxic shipping wars can get in MLP G5 its really not any better. So this meme though funny is completely incorrect.Remember these are still the same Bronies from MLP G4

Smolder is probably only at best 3 years older than Spike, but to be honest I DON’T CARE. All I want is for Sparity to be canon I’m okay with Spike being with anyone but I will always push for Sparity.

@Background Pony #C22B
A Matter Of Principals

@Background Pony #C22B
S8E14

@Aelvir
In what episode Stralight nuked Discord?!

IM CRYING- WHY IS HITCH AND OPALINE A THING-

Spike’s maturity fluctuates with the writer of any particular episode. However what is consistent is that he’s assistant to Twilight and is a close relation to Celestia, capable of having access to royalty-only perks, such as a direct line to extremely popular ponies, or even access to things so well guarded that no one has seen them (crown jewels, Celestia’s golden apple tree). Even in later seasons, he’s put in charge of quite important work and has no issue boot-camping Twilight and Starlight when they go off the rails.

It’s partly why fans of Spike often point out that episodes not centering ON him are some of his best written character moments.

@Background Pony #9890
Regardless of Spike’s consent, Rarity does not treat him like a slave. He’s treated more as a helper. If he was treated like a slave, she would be treating him as property or an object. Rarity does the exact opposite of that. She still treats him like a person. It is also made abundantly clear that if Spike ever felt uncomfortable doing something for her, she would have no problem not having him do it.

Again, he wasn’t necessarily treated as a slave boy. Not in the show, nor in that episode. That said, we’re really going to complain about her following Spike being creepy when other characters did much worse, like the CMC deliberately stalking a known criminal, Starlight practically nuking Discord in front of children, Flim & Flam scamming students as well as both slandering and plagiarizing Twilight’s school, Yaks destroying a large amount of Ponyville with no consequences, Starlight having a communism cult village (including children), Starlight constantly abusing filly Rainbow Dash in the Cutie Re-Mark, Prince Rutherford deliberately starving his own people (also including children) just because he’s too prideful to ask for help from the ponies, The wonderbolts constantly calling Rainbow Dash a name she was bullied constantly in her childhood with even though she clearly is uncomfortable about it, Zephyr forcing Spike to do his work for him, Twilight stalking numerous people throughout the series, Apple Bloom having Big Mac crossdress to get into a competition, Spoiled Rich literally grooming Diamond Tiara so be just like her and manipulating her mentally, Trixie almost getting digested by a manticore, Apple Bloom almost getting eaten by a chimera, Rainbow Dash literally trading her friend for a book, Twilight’s very creepy harassment of the CM in Lesson Zero, the CMCs straight-up mess with other people’s relationships several times, Pinkie Pie, the entirety of Over a Barrel, and Zecora scamming Spike’s gem from him to dispose of it?

Also, if I recall correctly, it was stated by Jim Miller that the way Spike was hatched by Twilight when she was a foal always meant that he was much older than a baby and that at the start of the show Spike is essentially 16–22 in pony years, or 10–12 in dragon years. Which 16–22 in pony years is pretty similar to the age of the Mane Six, which have been stated to range from 17–20 years-old in pony years. This would make sense given how many times Twilight just leaves Spike alone at the Golden Oak library and the castle, or leaving him alone with random people.

@Aelvir
Him having no issues doesn’t make it okay to treat him like a slave.

That episode was so wrong on many levels. Rarity wanted to keep her slave boy as well as stalking him creepy. Especially considering she’s an adult, and he’s a child.

@Daneasaur
I don’t really consider her having him carry so many things for her as being treated poorly if Spike has no issue with it.

Dragon Dropped I honest never cared for. But I think it does take her possessiveness off Spike to a comical extreme. It’s not surprising seeing as that episode’s plot is pretty much a cliche in a lot of cartoons. Regardless, that one was never that memorable of an episode aside from “lol marshmelodrama”

@Aelvir
It is instances of her being written poorly and abusing how he always helps her and asks for nothing in return other than her attention or appraisal for what he’s doing. Moments of her doing this include scenes of her and Spike travelling or shopping and rarity, who can use magic to levitate everything, only has a single handbag or small item while Spike is buried under a mountain of boxes. One moment I can think of off the top of my head is Honest Apple:

These however are ACTUALLY tempered with her usually being kind specifically to Spike for these tasks.

However one of the more blatant instances where a writer showed this as being “abusive” was actually Josh Haber’s episodes of Molt Down and Dragon Dropped.
In Molt Down, Rarity wants Spike to help her with some things but is developing a (needlessly weird) bout of deafness due to phoenix feathers, and when she gets her hearing back has seen Spike has not only helped save her but has also entered a new, more mature stage in life, uses him as a coat hanger and has no consideration for what he accomplished that day.

Dragon Dropped goes further showing he gofers for Rarity non stop when he’s not with Twilight and Rarity takes full advantage of this. So much so that when Spike starts to show interest in a balanced friendship with Gabby and stops paying attention to Rarity, Rarity goes off the deep end to intentionally “steal” Spike for herself by (falsely) showing interest in things Spike likes but she has zero interest in before or since, all to get him away from Gabby.

So NORMALLY, no Rarity isn’t abusive to Spike but the josh haber episodes usually have all the characters flanderized to painful extremes with no nuance.

Rarity treats Spike badly? Since when? Rewatched the whole show months ago and never saw any instance of that.

@Fantaje3
I feel like Cheerimac is different to something like Stormblazer ‘cause Hearts and Hooves Day is all about how Big Mac and Cheerilee don’t actually like each other romantically and are only love poisoned into doing so. Like if that ship has a ‘fake dating to falling in love’ trope, it was worked out exclusively by the fans. I don’t blame Marblemac fans if they were pissed when their ship was sunk, though, Big Mac and Marble Mac did legitimately like each other.

But, to be fair, I’m coming from a place of bias—I didn’t ship Big Mac with anyone before Sugar Belle came along, so I could actually get into Sugarmac when the show went for it.

@Thebrony700
This is why I hate shipping.

@Fantaje3
That’s exactly what’s happen. Hitch is a single dad in charge of six children. Primrose doesn’t even exist anywhere anymore (unfortunately).

Again, the whole reason for someone to watch a show shouldn’t be because they solely want characters to be involved romantically. Ships are not everything a show is about. This is not one of those love triangle anime.

Honestly? I feel like, if the writers really want to remain impartial about shipping, then they should leave Hitch single, I mean, yeah, It would be a little disappointing, but it would be unbiased at the end of the day. Now, Adding another character to be the love interest…there’s where we have a problem.

I always found that “let’s create a character to be the love interest to sink every ship and not please anyone” trope to be really counter-productive, Not only because it makes a lot of people upset, But because most of the time it’s really evident when a character is created with that purpose, That’s why I didn’t like Primrose to begin with, Because she only appeared and said “Oh yeah i’m so in love with Hitch” and that’s all, Of course I know it’s a game and that’s just a silly side quest that isn’t even canon, But if something like this gets to happened in the show, it would still be unpleasant, Because It would feel like “Oh, So you’re basically saying this amazing chemistry Hitch and Zipp had actually was just a joke with no payoff?” Yes, you can say “Don’t be silly, They would need development” The thing about that is, That there is a thing about that kind of romance, if certain characters really had the potential (and got some nice shipping fuel like this case) to be a great couple, you can’t just make people forget about the show they have been watching this whole time, we have some great examples for this, Like Mordecai ending up with a random girl a the end of Regular Show, and even in mlp with Sugarmac sinking both Cheerimac and and Marblemac. Writers and directors can try to justify those writing decisions but it will always be obvious that those were taken rather arbitrarily and not because they were in the best for the plot.

@WaynePonePone
Yeah exactly. I don’t think any of the ship baiting is done with malicious intent, it’s probably trolling at worst and inspiring shippers to have fun at best.

I wouldn’t be opposed to Primrose coming into the show and ending up with Hitch, actually, though I would like to see some development if it ever happened beforehand. All Primrose has going for her right now is that she’s shy and cute. She’d need to really develop and develop her relationship with Hitch to really compete with all his other options, who have interacted with him far more extensively.

@NicoThePinkUnicorn
I guess their intent wouldn’t be as malicious as I worded it. Well, certainly not as much as crazy shippers that get angry over every interaction shared between characters that are not their designated pairing. I’d say they’re not exactly baiting anything, but give everyone a piece of meat for them to be satisfied. I can see creators trying to appease to everybody because they know at least one person is into one ship. It’s just that it’s impossible to please everyone.

With that said: Yes! Primrose should return as the canon one for Hitch! She actually shows feelings toward him and she is such a adorable love interest for him!

Yes, I’m a shipper too, but I only ship because I want the characters to be happy. :V

@Background Pony #68F8
Izzyscout is a different breed. Sunny and Izzy had clear connection since the movie and it doesn’t involve my boy Hitch constantly being told who to be together with like nothing but a prize to win.