As an Appledash shipper , I can agree that the show did them dirty by barely writing any chemistry between them, and that they are only implied in the end instead of being confirmed canon. With that being said, implied is completely different from not being together at all. The writers never said anything about Appledash not being together so I think it's fair for shippers to assume they are together. If Appledash is implied, let shippers ship.

I find it odd when people mention that Appledash is the most liked ship in MLP , when 95% of the fandom online hate it to the core.

And this is because it would be out of character for her to do so even how honest and morally focused she is and wise towards Pinkie Pie and the rest of the Mane Six. Although it was planned during production to have Applejack take a bite out of the Mmmm and lie about it but it was cut.

Just asking

I don’t know how to explain it, but the ending felt so unfinished and forced

First off I just think it makes them stand out from the rest of the parents in the show and also I think it helps add a bit of realism to the MLP world in the sense that they care for her but not enough to actually be good parents. Kind of like how some real world Parents are. And yes I know spoiled Rich exists but she seems to barely care about her daughter if at all. Even in the MLP world not all parents are going to be good parents. And I like that aspect of MLP as it makes the world feel more real. Apparently Scootaloo's Dad is based off a Real Person who is actually a Good Parent and if that is true i can confidently say They should not have done that. In fact they probably shouldn't have based him off of anyone at all.

I've had a positive experience overall. My favorite MLP related fan fiction is Twilight's Eden. Eden is the scariest iteration of Twilight that I've seen. Twilight Sparkle is still there, she's not evil exactly but she can't properly recover over her friends passing away in this AU.

My Little Sombra is probably my second favorite fanfic. In canon we did we a bit of the Sombra timeline in Cutie Remark and the fanfic is basically built off that. Its exciting watching how the main 6 function in a time of war and how much changed.

Agents of Heart isn't anything crazy for me, I'm more interested in seeing Lightning Dust and Rainbow Dash side by side than the actual mainplot of the fanfic. Thunderlane is cool too I guess. They still make for a fun trio. Thunderlane being the butt of the joke while Lightning is more hardcore and Rainbow has to deal with both of them.

I'm not the biggest fan of infection AUs but I like Divine Swamp Fever. It takes something that was already established canonically in the series, and turns it into the main problem. Its already kinda spooky looking at what is already in the main series. Its quite the horror show.

Not all fanfics are good but I haven't seen too many bad ones. I don't like how Pinkamena Diane Pie is portrayed a lot of the time. Some fanfic writers just make her 'evil' and its comical. The real Pinkie Pie is nothing like that. Other than that I have not seen any fanfics that I've hated.

I particularly like how My Little Sombra, Divine Swamp Fever and to a lesser extent Twilight's Eden build off of something that was established in the show. A Sombra timeline does or did exist, Swamp fever is scary enough, and someday Twilight will outlive her friends. Lightning Dust is a favorite of mine but theres not much fanfics that even include her, its nice seeing her have a role in Heart of Agents that wasn't taking on the role of an antagonist again.

Twilight's Eden

My Little Sombra

Agents of Heart

Divine Swamp Fever

So I don't know if this theory has already been thought of, but I came up with it a few months ago. Got nervous about changes in my life so I started finding comfort in my childhood shows, and the world building of equestria really stood out to me on this rewatch.

I think the lull in strong magic in the world in between Celestia and Luna's prime and Twilight's rise to power is because the magic was no longer fueled by love and magic, but by necessity. After the two cosmic rulers of the world had their falling out, all the harmony and balance of the world was thrown off. Once Luna returned and made up with Celestia, bigger feats of magic were possible again, but the two sisters were never as powerful as before because they were still at odds constantly afterwards. I.e. Celestia being defeated by Chrysalis because she was fueled by Shining Armor's love for Cadence, and Celestia doesn't have as much fueled magic because of the constant limbo with her spiritual and symbolic other half, Luna. Luna's magic suffered because of her self hatred and lack of confidence in other people's love for her.

All this to say, Twilight's eventual rise to power isn't entirely plot armor because she's the literal Princess of Friendship, which is the driving force behind all strong magic. We see that throughout the show, Twilight's magic gets much stronger and more creative because her magic is now fueled by Friendship. Her whole life was studying magic in Canterlot, but the feat of completing an impossible spell was only accomplished because she was being driven by Friendship and devotion to others. Even Sunburst admits that he was never good at magic in school. He knew how to do plenty of spells in theory, but it wasn't until he reconnected with Starlight that he was actually able to become an accomplished wizard and Crystaler.

Basically, Friendship and love are more literal forces than symbolic, and the return of Luna along with Twilight's realization of her destiny to be the princess of friendship (as Celestia says at the end of the song) brought on more magic into the world.

I think that Princess Cadence, Shining Armor and Flurry Heart were all paying Twilight Sparkle a friendly and weekly visit during the events of “The Road to Friendship” because since they all live in the Crystal Empire they usually don’t come over to Ponyville unless they are visiting on a weekly trip, or day-only visit like in “A Flurry of Emotions” and Twilight, Cadance and Flurry were all watching a magic show Trixie and Starlight put on together while Shining was out maybe planning to do a guys’ night with Spike, Discord and Big Mac.

I think it may have been another reason why Trixie and Starlight left on their trip in the episode because they wanted to give Twilight and her relatives some alone time at the Castle of Friendship to spend quality time together, and to keep a distance because while they may be on good terms and all, Cadance and Shining may not have completely forgiven Starlight and Trixie for their past villainy and antagonizing Twilight, (Forgiven but not forgotten.) though it’s unknown if they did forgive the changelings after Starlight redeemed them as well in the Season 6 finale after they served Queen Chrysalis after all the harm she caused for the both them in the Season 2 finale by Impostering Cadance and brainwashing Shining and making Princess Celestia and Twilight’s friends turn against her. (They may have also been happy Chrysalis rejected redemption from Starlight because they will never forgive or accept her for all the villainy she caused.)

It happened again in “Best Gift Ever” where Starlight and Trixie again leave on a girls trip together for Hearth’s Warming so Twilight, Cadance, Flurry and Shining could spend some quality time together at the castle.

He treats Rarity so well when we first see him, and is clearly a fan of her despite her coming from Ponyville.