TheFishyNach0: "people can have fun with their ships all they want."

^ This line right here...

Sadly, what should be a silly and fun discussion often turns into something akin to the conflict between religions or political viewpoints. IE "Yours suck, mine is legit!"

Silver-Quill pretty much said it a lot better at the start of his Simple Ways review... :/ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dEabfvJN7z0

AMEN TO THAT!

It's unrealistic to think a relationship won't have its ups and downs. The sign of a good relationship comes from how well those down moments gets handled.

From a pure writing perspective, having two "perfect for each other" characters spend day after day around each other with eerie Stepford Wives grins and wax lyrical all day about how much their love is (to quote Dr. Cox) "like and ocean.. inside a bigger ocean!" is just... boring and bland storytelling... :/

I always felt a good romance story is like a good stealth game... its progress needs to be long and slow paced, but deep and interesting enough not to actually feel slow, and should be occasionally interrupted by moments of tense or mild conflict which requires delicate intervention from the protagonists. :P

And I must admit, after you mentioned your stance on FlutterCord... they do seem to have the best on screen chemistry... even more-so than the actual canon relationships. XD

It's a pity really...

While I haven't gotten around to the later chapters in the Siege of the Crystal Empire series, I can still kinda see where its heading...

The sad part is that I actually liked his backstory in FIENDship is Magic, because it made it seem like had the most logically sound reason for becoming evil, not just in the MLP universe, but in most 'good VS evil' stories.

I remember phrasing it to my friend as a question once. "If the concept of 'good' actually physically and mentally hurt you, do you have any choice not to become evil?"
He eventually gave me a reluctant "no" after pondering if for awhile... :/

We used a reference guide... :P
http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51Xdj4dWJFL...

There's a difference between "opinion" and "fact"...

*sigh* It's not incest...

Heck some states in the US allow first cousin marriage, while most are fine with second cousin.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coefficient_of_rela...

The tipping point where it becomes a taboo seems to be when it's around the 12.5% "coefficient of
relationship" mark... from what we can gather from the episode, Marble and Mac's relation is probably a small fraction of 1%... so yeah... it's not "eww"

Besides.. everybody is technically related to everybody else by some small degree... it's simple math really...
If you're European, chances are VERY high that you're related to Charlemagne. :P

If Cheerilee is your waifu... then the answer is: "...you..." XD

When has canon ever stopped people from shipping their OTP? XD

Heck, Twilight having a crush on Flash is canon but that hasn't stopped everybody shipping her with everypony EXCEPT Flash. :P

By that logic Eleanor Roosevelt and FDR's marriage is a SCANDAL in comparison, since I believe Mac and Marbles generation relationship stretches a lot further than 5. XD

This is true.

While I admit Lyra and Bon Bon probably makes the most believable same-sex couple in the show, there is something about today's generation that see two girls hanging out and instantly think "lesbian couple"; which garners a higher "lesbian alarm" rating the higher the quantity of girls are hanging out together in a group.
Just take the mane 6 how they are represented in a LOT of fanfiction for example.
It's like you can take that statistical lesbian probability joke from Pitch Perfect and just superimpose it on the group to get the idea how most of the fandom probably view them IE. "Y'know there's like.. six of us... so it means one of us is probably a lesbian... my money's on Skittles." :P
Funny thing though... I don't think I've ever seen someone look at a group of guys hanging out and saying "One of them must be gay." Hmmm :/

But yeah, as far comic cover go, take it with a grain of salt. Heck it's not even the official cover, just a variant and some people are already breaking the champagne on the side of this ship. XD
Also, I recall Hasbro saying the comics aren't canon... or at least canon in a sense that "The comic follow the canon of the show but the show won't follow the canon of the comics". In other words, if you want to know what's officially canon, just stick to the show.
Heck, if we follow covers as canon then Fleetfoot and Big Mac are gonna have some grandfoals in the future if she has anything to say about it.... if Mac and Cheerilee would stop being Greek gods in the clouds... :/

PS: While I find Marble and Mac cute together, I personally ship Big Mac and Fleetfoot... let's just say I'm not a fan of pairing of similar character stereotypes.... also their shipping name is an hilarious music pun that I feel ashamed it took me so long to get... you silly IDW writers you. XD