The show My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic’s primary focus is on friendship, as its name implies. The show follows the Mane 6: Twilight Sparkle, Applejack, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, and Fluttershy. They’re often accompanied by Twilight’s dragon companion Spike and are later joined by Twilight’s student Starlight Glimmer. Sometimes their adventures call on ponies and non-ponies alike to join them.

While the main focus of the show is friendship, there are opportunities for romance for the Mane 6, as well as other characters in the show. Here is a look at the ten best pairings, platonic and romantic, ranked.

Bright Mac and Pear Butter

Bright Mac and Pear Butter are Big McIntosh, Applejack, and Apple Bloom’s parents. They are prominently featured in one episode, “The Perfect Pear,” which details how the two met and fell in love.

Because of the feuding of the Apple and Pear families, Bright Mac and Pear Butter had a Romeo and Juliet-type romance, though with a slightly happier ending. Pear Butter still had to choose between the two families, which is heartbreaking. From then on, they are shown in flashbacks and in a montage in the final musical number in “The Last Problem.”

Carrot Cake and Cup Cake

Carrot Cake and Cup Cake, often referred to as Mr. and Mrs. Cake, are side characters who were married sometime before the beginning of the series. They run the Sugarcube Corner where Pinkie Pie also works and lives. They are more prominent than other side characters, as several plot lines involve the Mane 6 in need of the use of the bakery.

They were even more prominently featured in the episode “Baby Cakes” in which Mrs. Cake gave birth to the twins, Pumpkin Cake and Pound Cake. The episode also features Pinkie Pie foalsitting the twins and the chaos that ensues from watching a baby unicorn and a baby pegasus.

Big McIntosh and Sugar Belle

Sugar Belle was first introduced in the season seven episode “Hard to Say Anything” as Big Mac’s love interest. Big Mac would make several deliveries in a week to a bakery in Starlight Glimmer’s old village where Sugar Belle worked and lived. After admitting their feelings for each other that same episode, they became a couple.

They proposed to each other in the season nine episode “The Big Mac Question” and were depicted as having a son in “The Last Problem” which shows Twilight and her friends’ lives several years in the future.

Lyra Heartstrings and Sweetie Drops

Lyra Heartstrings and Sweetie Drops, who is sometimes known as Bon Bon, are side characters in the show and are rarely shown apart from each other. This aspect of their relationship was seen in the background since the beginning but became more prominent starting in the season five episode “Slice of Life.”

It is revealed in the children’s book Lyra and Bon Bon and the Mares from S.M.I.L.E. that Sweetie Drops (Bon Bon) is a secret agent. In spite of Lyra being initially hurt by the secret, the two work things out and remain together. Like Big Mac and Sugar Belle, they propose to each other in “The Big Mac Question” and are depicted as married in the series finale, “The Last Problem.”

Rainbow Dash and Applejack

Through most of the series, Rainbow Dash and Applejack are depicted as close friends, as all of the Mane 6 are. In “The Last Problem,” there are hints that they became a couple in the years since Twilight was first crowned as ruler of Equestria.

Their romance is not confirmed, however, so it is possible that they just remained close friends when the rest of the Mane 6 became preoccupied with their own lives. Regardless of the status of their relationship, Applejack and Rainbow have had each others’ backs throughout the series, relying on their respective honesty and loyalty to come through for each other.

Starlight Glimmer and Trixie

Starlight Glimmer and Trixie’s pairing is strictly platonic. Both were outcasts in Ponyville, as they each had rough histories with the citizens. They first became friends in the season six episode “No Second Prances” in spite of Twilight’s initial disapproval.

They later save the princesses of Equestria and the Mane 6 from the changelings, with the help of Discord, and even teach the changelings that they do not have to feed off other ponies’ love to survive. During their efforts to save the ponies, they declare each other their best friend.

Princess Cadance and Shining Armor

Princess Cadance was Twilight Sparkle’s former babysitter. Not much else is known about her and her relationships with Twilight’s family before the season two finale episodes depicting her marriage to Shining Armor, Twilight’s brother.

The time just before their marriage was rough due to Queen Chrysalis impersonating Cadance and weakening Shining Armor in a plot to infiltrate Canterlot. Cadance and Shining Armor defeated her together. The two rule over the Crystal Empire together after the defeat of King Sombra and eventually have a foal of their own, named Flurry Heart.

Pinkie Pie and Cheese Sandwich

Pinkie Pie and Cheese Sandwich’s relationship was initially rough, with Pinkie feeling threatened by the presence of another party pony in Ponyville. After competing against each other, they were able to put aside their pride and plan a party together, ultimately parting ways as friends.

While Cheese Sandwich and Pinkie interact in the feature film and some of the chapter books, Cheese Sandwich does not make an appearance in the show until season nine in the episodes “The Last Laugh” and “The Last Problem,” in the latter of which he and Pinkie are married and have a son, Li’l Cheese.

Fluttershy and Discord

Fluttershy was the first pony to see that Discord, the spirit of chaos and disharmony, had good in him. After she taught him that about himself, the two regularly met for tea. In spite of his changed ways, Discord would sometimes go back to his former chaotic self, but Fluttershy was always able to keep him grounded in the end. Discord in return is very protective of Fluttershy.

In “The Last Problem,” Discord and Fluttershy’s relationship is depicted as ambiguous much like Rainbow and Applejack’s. The two at the very least remained close over the years, with the possibility of developing a romance.

Twilight Sparkle and Equestria

Not counting Equestria Girls, Twilight Sparkle does not have any romantic interests in the show. However, it becomes increasingly clear throughout the show, especially season nine, that Princess Celestia was grooming Twilight to ascend to the throne and rule over Equestria.

Even before Twilight’s interest in making friends, it is clear that she deeply cares for the land of Equestria. These feelings grow each time she and the Mane 6 set out to protect it. Because of Twilight, ponies and non-ponies live in harmony in Equestria and she continually works to maintain harmony and ensure that friendship part of everyponies’ lives.

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