Shipping

Shipping is a term used to discribe the activity of putting two different characters together in a relationship. The word shipping is derived from relationship and is used both as a verb to ship, a neun a ship, and an adjective that moment is shippy. Other synonyms for shipping are pairing or coupling.

Shipping is a very common activity in most fandoms and is the result of the fans emotional involvment in their respective fandom. Shipping can be any form of relationship, but romantic relationships are by far the most common. Shipping is spread through putting the desired characters together in romantic situations in fan art, fan music and fan fiction. There is also discussion on how the ships stands within the shows main canon. Other forms of shipping include friendshipping, the practice of having two characters as friends, and enemyshipping, having two characters become enemies or hate each other.

In contrast to many social taboos, homosexual relationships is very common in the practice of shipping. Other more controversial relationships, such as incest or bestiality is also quite common. Homosexual ships are usually called slashships. Even the first "real" ship, Captain Kirk and Commander Spock from Star Trek was a homosexual relationship.

The origin of a ship within a fanbase can differ greatly. Some characters are shipped together because their personalities mach or differ in a way that makes the relationship intresting for a fan, such as Applejack and Rainbow Dash, because they are show to spend much time together in the main canon, such as Lyra and Bon Bon, because their personalities and interests are polar opposites, such as Vinyl Scratch and Octavia or because the main canon itself hints the relationship, such as Twilight Sparkle and Flash Sentry, and Rarity and Spike. While, in theory, two characters can be shipped completely random, the more popular ships often comes from one of the aforementioned reasons.

My Little Pony and Shipping
Like many other fandoms, shipping has become an large part of the My Little Pony community, and numerous fan art, fan music and fan fiction are donated to ships. Due to the large number of female characters in MLP, lesbian relationships are by far the most common ships, but hetrosexual relationships are quite common to.

Big Macintosh, being one of the only male characters that doesn't have a relationship or an obvius crush like Spike, is often shipped with all the other members of the Mane Six, as well as numerous other female and male characters. Rainbow Dash, due to her mane matching the homosexual flag and her tomboyish personality, is very commonly seen as lesbian. Dash is also the most shipped MLP character and can be seen shipped with almost anyone and anything in the show and beyond. Many fanfaction writers also tend to ship the shows official characters with OCs.

A ship is often named by combining the names of the characters that are shipped, such as AppleDash. Ships may also be wroten as Applejack x Rainbow Dash. Here is a list of some of the most common ships in the MLP fandom:
 * AppleDash: Applejack and Rainbow Dash are commonly shipped together because both share a similar physical lifestyle, both are compedative and stubborn and both have a high sense of pride. The episode Fall Weather Friends is seen as the main spark of this ship as it focuses on Applejack's and Rainbow Dash's compedative relationship.
 * LyraBon: Lyra and Bon Bon is one of the most commonly shipped couples, and one of the most well known in the MLP community. When Lyra became a recognized background character after her famous bench sitting in Dragonshy, many fans noticed that she spent much of her on-screen time alongside Bon Bon, thus resulting in the pairing. According to one of the shows layout artists, Lyra and Bon Bon were placed together because their color schemes went good together, thus making the ship a coincidence. As a couple, Lyra is often shown to be eccentric and outgoing, while Bon Bon is the voice of reason and the "normal" one of the two.
 * VinylTavia: Despite never having any interaction with each other in the show, Vinyl Scratch and Octavia are a quite popular pairing. This hails from them belonging to two polar opposites of music, with Vinyl being a DJ and listening to dubstep and Octavia being a cellist and listening to classical music. The two of them also seem to be quite different in term of how their personality is interpreted. Octavia is often seen as high-classed and somewhat snobby and Vinyl is often seen as outgoing, party-loving and eccentric. The ship is therefore a classical "polar-oppisite" ship, where Vinyl and Octavia enjoy each others different personalities.
 * TrixieSparkle: Similar to VinylTavia, Twilight Sparkle and Trixie is shipped because their personalities are greatly different, yet they talent lies in the same field: magic. The ship is usually started by Trixie stumbeling upon Twilight after her appearance in Boast Busters, sometimes poor and broken and other times by pure accident and then taken back to Ponyville, where the two gradually grow on each other. Another version is that Trixie has an envy-crush on Twilight and failing to express it properly.
 * FlutterMac: While Fluttershy and Big Macintosh had relatively little screen time together prior to FIlli Vanilli, they are one of the most common hetrosexual shippings, and their popularity grew even more after the events of Filli Vanilli. The ship comes from both Big Mac and Fluttershy being quite shy, and as Fluttershy is often seen as small and weak and Big Mac is often shown to be large and strong, the two have become a popular ship.
 * CelestiaCord: Princess Celestia and Discord is often rumored to have had a relationship prior to Discord's imprisonment a thousand years before the events of the show. Celestia and Discord are some of the oldest comfirmed characters in the show, and is thus very open to speculation. In fanworks, they either move along without each other after Discord's reformation or they seek out and eventually reunite.
 * Discordshy: A shipping between Discord and Fluttershy has became more popular after the episode Keep Calm and Flutter On. This ship often involves either Discord or Fluttershy growing to appreciate the others personality and values and eventually growing closer.
 * Sparity: Since Spike has an obvious crush on Rarity in the show, fan writes tend to develop their relationship in order to create plot twists or an actual romantic relationship. This often involve Rarity growing to appreciate Spikes feelings for her, but this usually does not happen until Spike has grown of age.
 * RariJack: Applejack and Rarity is often shipped together as their personalities and values often clashes. Rarity loves fashion and cares deeply about her looks, while Applejack is hard-working and don't care much about hygiene. This shipping became popular after the episode Look Before You Sleep.
 * FlutterDash: Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash has been shown to have known each other since foalhood, and thus become a popular ship. While they have quite different personalities, such as Rainbow Dash being bold and tomboyish and Fluttershy being timid and kind, they still are a quite common couple.
 * DerpyWhooves: Derpy is often portrayed as the assistant of Doctor Whooves and similar to the real world Doctor Who and his companions they are shipped together. While this ship rarely take a romantic turn, it generally involves the two of them travelling together to save the world, alongside Derpy's supposed daughters Dinky and Sparkler.
 * CheeriMac: In the episode Hearths and Hooves Day the Cutie Mark Crusaders actually try to ship their teacher, Cheerilee, and Big Macintosh together by giving them a love potion. In the end, they do not end up together, but the pairing has since become quite popular as one of the "official" ships, as it hold some base in the show. In the episode Filly Vanilli, there is a throwback to this ship.
 * TwilightSentry: In the movie, Equestria Girls Twilight Sparkle has a crush on the guard Flash Sentry and his human counterpart. The movie never took their relationship further after Twilight returned to Equestria, but the ship gained some popularity.

Continuity
In the main canon of My Little Pony, all but the two latest ships on the list have no actual form confirmation and rely on fans interpretation. The show does, however, not prove anything against these ships either as none of the mentioned characters are in any official romantic relationships. And even if they would be, most fans tend to stick to their ships through thick or thin and would most likely continue to ship their favorite pairings. Even characters that are in relationships, like Shining Armor and Princess Cadance are shipped outside of each other despite the show.