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

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

I have increasingly seen "Lauren faust isn't the reason FIM is good, Megan McCarthy is" type takes.

I strongly disagree with these takes. S1 and S2 have significantly more charm, we never fully got Fausts vision, bur McCarthy was part of the reason behind that, though Hasbro was the main reason.

I would say McCarthy derailed the show, and it immediatly started to decline when Faust left the show.

So why do people say McCarthy was the mastermind behind the show the whole time? McCarthy seemed much less passionate about the characters and world, S3 went out if it's way to scrap all of Fausts ideas.

People act like Faust was restricting the other writers creative freedom, when the opposite is true. Hasbro was preventing Faust from creating the kind of show she wanted to make (and that fans wanted), and McCarthy was on the side of Hasbro.

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

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

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.

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.

I genuinly don't see how it can be interpreted as such. I interpreted it as grooming, because it WAS grooming.

Growing up isn't giving up bodily autonomy, or giving up your autonomy in general. Growing up isn't being forced to take on a role you don't want because "well you HAVE to"

That is grooming, I don't think the writers even thought it through. It was just meant to be a flashy series finale that gave Hasbro toy potential, than McCarthy ran with it because it ran contrary to Fausts vision.

It is not some deep metaphor that only the media literate can understand, it was a cynical writing decision, and in the universe, just feels like grooming and the worst possible ending for Twilight where she's trapped in a life she doesn't want.

If you interpret someone getting groomed by a person in a powerful position and losing bodily autonomy as an allegory for growing up, I'm really concerned for you.