The Pony Shipping Matrix

[Taialin 217]

I am a writer, but I'm also a fairly avid pony shipper (where shipping means paring a pony with another romantically), especially among the Mane 6. Make of that what you will, but I think it's an interesting exercise to examine every possible relationship that could occur among the Mane 6 (à la Combinatorics Project). Below is my analysis matrix, taking into account only characterization that has been established in canon.
 
If you are a pony shipper, this might help you see what pairs are most easily compatible and which ones are most immediately realistic. This absolutely is not a guide for which ships are best or which ships you should write about. On the contrary, shipping stories can be quite wonderful and engaging when they address these incompatibilities and build story to work around them. Every single ship has been—and can be—done well. This guide will only help you realize what lines of compatibility and conflict exist between a pair, looking strictly at canon events and characterization patterns; how you address and build off them is up to you.
 
If you aren't a pony shipper, then why are you reading this? Nah, just kidding.  Friendly, platonic relationships between two ponies (often called friendshipping) often tread on the same waters as shipping itself. If you're only looking to write a Simple Ways-style story (functionally Rarijack), interpersonal relationships will still play a vital part in it, and this analysis should still be useful to you. Just subtract the shipping bits, and away you go!

 
Much of this work is original, but in the interests of full disclosure and proper credit to the proper parties, I did take points from Titanium Dragon's excellent blog post on a related subject as well as numerous points from various threads in the Intelligent Shipping Discussion forum over on Fimfiction, especially for those shipping pairs that I'm not as familiar with.
 
Finally, I pose a disclaimer: I am far from the final answer when it comes to shipping, and I am not unbiased. What I present to you is strictly my opinion on the subject. Did I analyze something poorly? Do you think I'm wrong? Please, voice your thoughts! I'd love to hear them! Honestly, this analysis is probably not even finished. If you have more points to contribute, speak up, and help me complete this chart!
 
I think I'm done talking now, so I'll let my analysis do the rest of the work. Folks, the Pony Shipping Matrix!
 
 

 
 
Green: Compatibility
White: Neutrality
Amber: Incompatibility
 
The chart is reflected along the "'N/A' line."
 

High quality PDF download
 
 

 
 
To wrap up, a few stats!
 
According to my analysis, the most shippable pony among the Mane 6 is Fluttershy! Fitting, I guess, given that the cutest and most lovable pony among bronies is also the most lovable among the Mane 6. (I may be slightly biased here.  ) In contrast, the least shippable pony is Pinkie Pie. I didn't set out to lambast her, honest! She's just really hard to ship. Pinkie lives on action and loves attention from lots of ponies. In that way, she'd kind of be hard-pressed to find a single pony who could match her in craziness.

 
If you were to pair ponies up OT6 style (One True Six, meaning a combination where all of the Mane 6 are shipped with another of the Mane 6), the happiest combination would be Flarity, Appledash, and Twipie tied with Flarity, Twijack, and Pinkiedash. If you're a sadist, the most miserable combination would be Raridash, Twijack, and Apple Pie. Really not that useful information, but hey, stats are fun!

 

-T

[Sunset's Shimmer 394]

This. This needs to be a result in google images. Seriously, so informative.

 

Well done.

[Skygunner 352]

Ponies can't be shipped with themselves?

 

The Magic Mirror Pond says otherwise.

As does time travel Twilight sparkle. 

Or even "Fool Trixi with tricks"  magic.

 

Who knows how many ways fic writers can non-canonically ship a pony with themselves.   

 

 

Point is,  should probably include self compatibility. 

[Standard User 2,127]

Every time you open your mouth (read: type words), @Taialin, I love you a little bit more.

 

I'll need to come back to this when I have a lot more time, but from the looks of it, this will be insanely useful. Many thanks for your hard work!

[SFyr 1,982]

@@Taialin, I'm seriously tempted to fill this out myself.    It actually seems like such an awesome idea to make you think about different pairings, haha.

Either way, umm... I think Rarijack is red for me. The two not only clash in nature and behavior, but their main values seem to be at massive odds with each other. I don't think they could mesh together intimately. Like, Rarity is obsesses over flare, expression, decoration, and presentation; AJ is all about function and utility. I get that sometimes things can be put aside, but I think Rarity vs AJ is almost deeper of an "opposites do not attract" than Rarity and RD. RD at least loves flare and presentation, and would get behind wanting to 'wow' a crowd. Meanwhile AJ is just as nonfeminine from what I've seen, and a lot more secure in being so.

Flarity... I peg as neutral personally.  The two get along very well, but I think Rarity is very passionate about life and her art, and I think would click better with someone sharing the same. I think part of her dashing gentleman obsession in a mate is their confident, forward-yet-refined nature. Fluttershy is extremely passive, bordering on unexpressive (which doesn't always mesh with a creative partner).

 

Of course, I could be wrong about that too. I seriously love the idea of putting together something like this for myself too, haha. :grin2: It's simply an awesome idea!

 

Really great looking this over too. Thanks for showing it~! 

 

 

 

Edit: Scanned through all of them. Only other possible one I could disagree with is Flutterdash, but so much of this is just on point in my mind. Just awesome.

Edited September 10, 2015 by SFyr

[Taialin 217]

@@Skygunner

Canon shipping in any form is already pretty much impossible, but I made this analysis on the grounds of what couples would be most compatible if you pushed them together for a long period. Being able to stably ship Rainbow Dash with Rainbow Dash for a long period kind of makes my head hurt from the logic to get there and the consequences.

 

Besides, as I see it, the logic for self-pairing compatibility is pretty simple: the more narcissistic the character, the more self-compatible she would be!

 

@@SFyr

When it comes to Rarijack, at the very least, Rarity doesn't want to tear her mane out just by being in close proximity with Applejack. Rarity's also proven she can reconcile with Applejack (Simple Ways and Look Before You Sleep), but I can't think of one where she does the same with Rainbow. I was also somewhat convinced already by Titanium Dragon's dissertation on this very ship, where he somehow labels them as highly compatible. But you do have a point on this one. I'll come back in a few days and read this again.

 

As for Flarity, I'll have to confess to bias here: I personally ship this couple, so I'd see them as highly compatible in any case.    But of all ponies in the M6 who could share in Rarity's love of beauty and art, Fluttershy is the closest to doing it, given that she's strangely good at sewing and has more than a passing interest in beautifying herself. True, Fluttershy is really timid, but Rarity is not necessarily attracted to confidence, either. The show pretty much establishes Rarity's crushes for the sake of story, so anything goes here, really.

[Venomous 18,819]

This is really informative.

I commend you on making this Very well done.

[GreyScholar 1,584]

What I gather from this personally is that the Mane Six as whole make for better friends then lovers. Sure shipping then could work, some characters more then others, but all in all there is quite a bit that would prevent such from happening.

 

I will offer for Pinkie Pie that perhaps she would be the type of mare not to look for a long term relationship or special somepony, instead be the type to have 'fun' with friends and those she likes without the commitment of being with anyone as a couple. Just my thoughts on the matter.

Also I like shipping myself, and could actually see a few pairings working. Out of the Mane Six I would offer Rainbow Dash & Pinkie and Rarity & Fluttershy making the most sense myself. Outside... well I am a fan of Rarity & Spike (after the dragon grows up a bit), Pinkie Pie & Cheese Sandwich, Twilight Sparkle & pony Flash Sentry. Admittingly, on the last one, since the show wont offer anything I may have to look for a good fanfiction or make one myself since most fans seem to hate Flash or refuse to give him a better personality/more developed character.

 

Twilight & Celestia is another favorite ship, making more sense in some ways then having our favorite bookworm with one of her friends.

Edited September 13, 2015 by EquestrianScholar

[M'gann M'orzz 745]

This is is really interesting! though personally I don't place TOO much stock in how "realistic" a pairing is, I think it just has to be realistic enough that it could in some way work, but ultimately entertainment value and story potential trumps it. Personally I think the BEST ships are actually ones in the middle of the scale, where it's believable that they could happen but there's still a lot of room for conflict and terbulence along the way and into the future, which is frankly better for stories than ships that just work out easily. So I tend to lean toward ships like Rarijack, I like PinkieDash stuff like that. I also think a lot of people fail to place much value in dynamics. Like I actually agree that just looking at their personalities AppleDash looks like one of the most compatable ships. But since their dynamic is so minimal and they interact so little it's hard for me to REALLY say that since I don't really have a good feel for what their relationship as friends is anymore.  

[Taialin 217]

@@M'gann M'orzz

I don't either, honestly. There's a reason why all six ponies are friends regardless of these differences, and it underscores an important theme that remains true in friendship and love: that entities in such a relationship don't have to agree on all (or even that many) subjects for them to be compatible. To that end, there are oodles of topics that can be potential bonding/friction points in any relationship—it's just a little harder to find them for certain cases. And that's not mentioning the conflict points you could create outside of strict canon bounds.

 

As it is, this matrix is really most useful at the beginning of a potential romance story, and perhaps not even then. But it does suggest a general theme for the relationship dynamic of any particular pair. All else being equal, a Twishy relationship will generally be less "fiery" than a Raridash one because their personalities complement each other in different ways.

[Shadowdragon6060 39]

You made this too small, it looks blurry on my screen.

 

Or my screen just sucks.

[Taialin 217]

@@Shadowdragon6060

Download the PDF and read it locally; text there is not rasterized.

[Shadowdragon6060 39]

@@Shadowdragon6060

Download the PDF and read it locally; text there is not rasterized.

Youre right, that really helps a lot

 

How would they feel about other ponies, like Derpy and Spike?

[Taialin 217]

@@Shadowdragon6060

Spike is a special issue, given that he has pre-existing ties with the Mane 6, and he's of a different species. (This brings to mind a bunch of issues about interspecies romance in MLP, but I won't get into that here.) As far as I can see, all the M6's (sans Rarity) temperament would be varying degrees of "not interested," given he's a different species and markedly younger than the M6.

 

Onto Rarity. Spike's crush towards Rarity is one of the only romances that is actually canon supported, though it's rather clearly one-way at this point. It's not as if she doesn't notice or acknowledge the crush. She's rather flattered by it as well (see "Secret of My Excess"). And if MLP continued to springboard off of what was implied at the end of that episode, I would say it's reasonable that Rarity and Spike could get together. But that's not the case. Rarity actually hasn't given any signs that she's interested in pursuing a serious romance with Spike past that point. (And the "Spikey-Wikey's" don't count. Rarity likes cute things, and cutesy names don't mean she's interested.) And it's been five seasons. If that's not friend-zoning, I don't know what is.

 

I'd best describe their relationship as thus: Spike has a crush on Rarity, and Rarity is choosing to remain friends. Moreover, Rarity acknowledges Spike's crush, but she's using that as a card to get what she wants instead (see "Rarity Takes Manehattan," "Castle Sweet Castle," and a whole load of others). Not very nice, I know, but Rarity does use that exact same beauty that enamored Spike to get other stallions to do her bidding as well (see "The Best Night Ever," "Rarity Investigates!" and "Player Piano"). One of her more significant character flaws, but I doubt it'll be addressed in canon. You can spin their relationship any way you want, but based on canon, this is what I'm seeing, unflattering as it is.

 

As for Derpy, she falls in with the rest of the third-tier characters that she's part of. And with respect to romance, there's just not enough canon interaction between her and the Mane 6 for me to comment on their compatibility ("Slice of Life" is practically all fanon, as far as I'm concerned). Derpy is actually rather unshippable when taking canon alone, given her only consistent character trait is her clumsiness, and it's not as if any of the M6 are attracted to that. (Pinkie's a possible exception, but I have absolutely no idea how that relationship would play out. It's just too weird.) Any potential romance that could spark between Derpy and a member of the Mane 6 would have to start at square one, as most relationships start.

 

Hope that gives you some ideas. 

[GreyScholar 1,584]

@@Taialin,

Hey, if I can't say the Discord episodes from Keep Calm and Flutter On and onward is fanon, you can't call Slice of Life fanon. They are episodes from the show thus are canon, even if you would rather they weren't.

 

On Spike and Rarity, give Spike time to grow up a few years and I feel something could develop between him and Rarity... though that is just my thoughts.