All that joy

Lol, Lauren was trolling, she's done that before saying Big Mac was gay and some other random stuff a while ago. She has nothing to do with the show staff anymore since half of season 2 and probably told that to tease some annoying soarindash fans that keep asking her stupid questions about the ship in twitter. Anyway it wouldn't mean nothing for soarindash or any other Soarin ship, a friends with benefits thing is nothing serious after all, it's not endgame for neither of them.

Main characters favy ships: Twilight Sparkle: I like flashlight a lot. I wish the writers gave pony Flash a chance to be friends with Twi in the main series, their interactions in the first EqG movie were cute. Rainbow Dash: soarindash is my pony OTP. They are just so adorable and go so well together. They inspire, respect and push eachother to be their best in so many ways, and Friends Forever #36 made me love them even more. Looking forward more team mate and friendship bonding between them in season 7 <3 Pinkie Pie: a super duper party pony is the best match for another super duper party pony. So yeah, I love cheesepie. Their interactions in the comics (FF#34 and Guardians of Harmony) added more fuel to the beautiful (friend)ship that started in Pinkie Pride, I like to think that even living far away, they write eachother and meet for party planning teaming up now and then. Applejack: I'm not invested in any ship involving her, but I would love to see her interacting more with Troubleshoes. Where I come from cousins getting together is not considered incest, so I wouldn't mind braejack. But I understand how some people would get unconfortable with it, not gonna happen. Fluttershy: flutterbulk was adorable back in Rainbow Falls, but I don't really ship Fluttershy with anypony. Fluttercord is getting a lot of shipping fuel lately and it's kinda cute, but I like them better as best friends. Rarity: I like raripants, but since it looks like Fancy is in a relationship with Fleur, I don't have exactly a favorite shipping for Rariry at the moment, even though she's the most flirty pony out of the mane six. It would be interesting to see how things are going with Prince Blueblood and Trenderhoof though, but I don't think none of them are the right one for her. As for other characters shippings, I ship spember, tenderbloom, starburst, cheerimac, somlestia, lunamac and some other random and crack stuff just for fun XD

I don't think that a canon romantic relationship will be a thing for any of the mane six, not even Rarity - maybe an one episode thing, like her crushes on Blueblood and Trenderhoof, but nothing that lasts or gets too much focus on. That being said, as platonic as their relationship is, soarindash is adorable and it amuses me how it's a thing that has been there since season one. People started shipping them back in the very first episode when she dreamed of shaking hooves with him in her wonderbolts fantasies, when nobody didn't even know his name. Then they've been sharing some cute moments now and then that part of the fandom interprets as shipping fuel, such as the pie saving scene at the Gala, the picture in A Canterlot Wedding, their interactions in Rainbow Falls, the "you'd be talking to me" in Rarity Investigates, the thing with the Rarity impersonation in Newbie Dash, and so on. But that's about it and I think it's for the best that way, since shipping is almost always a sensitive issue, specially in this fandom when it comes to the main characters. So I'd rather keep looking forward to see how Rainbow and Soarin's friendship develops now that they are team mates (the Friends Forever comic featuring them as a pair made a lovely job on this btw), than them blatantly crushing on eachother. I personally like this ship, besides them being cute together, because their personalities balance eachother well. He is a chill guy who admires, respects and praises her a lot, as much or even more as she does for him. But he's no softie all the time as seen in Rarity Investigates. He knows how to get serious and take control when the situation calls, and a stallion like this would be a great match for Rainbow. And if the comics are any indication, he has a reckless side too, and she nailed it in her own way helping him to overcome his issues. So they have great chemistry and I'll love some more eventual subtle ship tease in future episodes, but I see no blatant romance between them happening anytime soon.

Yeah, I have a lot of mixed feelings about this episode. The thing with helping ponies to find the meaning for their cute marks had just started some episodes before with Troubleshoes, then it happens again with Diamond Tiara, and then it somehow becomes their mission in life, they don't care anymore about cute marks and bam! they get their cute marks. Too little build up, same for DT's redemption. But it was such a beautiful and emotional episode, I can't not love it <3

Why not? Spike has a good judgement for making new friends on his own even against all odds, as seen with Ember and Thorax. But I'm getting tired of Twilight being jealous of her friend's friends, so I would not be looking forward another plot like this. It has been done before with Trixie and Discord and it was not great.

Maud is one of a kind and I think that her interaction with the other ponies is all about a lesson of acceptance. As said before, Pinkie's friends learned how to deal with this issue that was the main theme for her debut episode, so I don't think it will be a big deal for another episode anytime soon.

I expect Chrysalis back. I hope we don't have to wait as long as we had since A Canterlot Wedding to see her again. Her teaming up with Tyrek and/or other not reformed bad guys would be interesting, but since this was the plot for one of the comic arcs already, I'm not sure the main series team would be willing to repeat the formula.

Maybe, if the alicorn origins are going to be explored someday, as a flashback thing or oneshot episode... but yeah, I think there are enough alicorns already at the moment. Male or female, I think a new one wouldn't add much to the series. But I'm open minded, if there's a good story to be told with a male alicorn in Equestria, it wouldn't bother me.

There are a lot of hints through the series that suggest that they're probably dead, and I think that's the most logical conclusion. But if the writers pull off a good reason for why they are absent for so long and it turns out to be a nice and meaningfull story that adds to the characters development, I see no reason to be mad.