All fandoms have their fair share of ships, but among the many, many, MANY of those created by MLP, none have loomed quite as large as the very first ship, Sparity. First teased to us in the show’s very first episode, this ship has, unlike many others in the last decade, never faded in its popularity. The image of Spike forever fawning over Rarity and pining for her has been seared into the minds of every single fan of this show for years. Moments between the two, like the one seen above, have been rightly regarded as tender and heartwarming, inspiring a number of fan-works as a testament to the adorableness of this pairing
 
And yet, as sweet as this may be, I’ll fully admit to never really being as sold on this ship as others are. Oh, don’t get me wrong, it’s still nice when the two share a moment together, or when Rarity show her appreciation for the things Spike does for her. But there is one rather glaring point about this pairing that has always kept me from being a full-on supporter of it. And that’s the age difference. Rarity and Spike, as the show has more than established by this point, are an adult and child respectably, and while Spike is undoubtedly a mature character, he is nevertheless too young for me to want him to be with someone like Rarity. For reasons I hope I don’t need to explain to anyone, this is something that is simply always going to be the case for me. Do I believe these two are adorable and sweet in their moments together? Absolutely. But, do I want to see them as an official couple? I’m afraid the answer was, is, and always shall be, no
 
MLP belongs to DHX and Hasbro.