@Max16032  
Yay!

@Background Pony #F927  
Oh, thank you for clearing that up.

@PurplePresident  
Actually, I think Flash is the pony folks have the least problem with in this pic (Except Derpy of course). Down-votes maybe be more a combination of sad Spike, Blueblood and Twilight’s expression adding into what may conceivably be emotional Spikabuse.
 
So our blank slate of a Guard is kinda in the clear here

47 down votes? really? Ugh. Come on, it’s supposed to be cute, not offensive. I understand Rarity and Blueblood, but Brad is human Flash Sentry. Pony Flash did nothing wrong. Yet. Right now, he’s just a generic guard with potential. Don’t ruin it with Brad, please.

@Swashbucklist  
like in pictures that don’t have flash or blueblood pointlessly torture

@Background Pony #4B90
 
Are you The Descendent? I feel like I’ve read that before.
 
-Lumino

@Ertinax  
Thank you for taking the time to read my comment, and I appreciate your compliment.
 
 
@Poptard  
Thank you.
 
 
@Swashbucklist  
Well, the “Engrish” of the description leaves it wide open for interpretation. The key here being the viewers own position on what “loved” means in this context. You seem, if I am not mistaken, to appear to approach it from the shipping perspective, and I prefer to approach it from the viewpoint of a child who loves them and feels abandoneded… like the last time he was ditched at the gala, but moreso.
 
I think that we can find common ground in that, no matter how we approach the image, all interpretations clearly point to Spike’s life being utter shit and that he should get more hugs.

@Background Pony #4B90  
Well said. Unfortunately, I’m pretty sure that wasn’t the artist’s intent:
 
“Spike is sad. The two mares who loved him, have achieved couples for the Grand Galloping Gala.”

@Background Pony #4B90  

@Background Pony #4B90
 
An insightful post. Thank you.

@Ertinax  
The whole problem is that he’s a child. The shipping between these consenting adults has everything to do with him… it’s what the image is about.
 
The whole point of the image is that it suggests that romantic relationships in the lives of these two mares would automatically supplant and supercede the relationship they have with Spike. “Spike ships” don’t have anything to do with the image. It’s a painful truth that when many in this fandom begins shipping Twilight they forget that she has a child in her life who loves her dearly and is going to be affected by that fact utterly. Shipping Twilight is akin (very much like, but not exactly) to dating a single mother… the kid is part of the deal.
 
The same is true to shipping with Rarity, though to a much lesser extent. Spike’s crush on her is one of the few ongoing character traits we have in the show. Ignoring it when we examining other possible relationships is like writing a story about the Apple family being shipped where you don’t mention what happens to Apple Bloom. Yeah, she doesn’t love Big Mac of Applejack romantically, but doesn’t her familial love for them still show us who these characters are?
 
It’s this lack of empathy, this lack of concern for the fate of a small boy with no real family apart from the ones shown walking off with their O.T.P.‘s, that is creating this reaction to this image. In many ways, and as your message suggests, we are so consumed by shipping and sex in this fandom that we’ve thrown aside the characters themselves. Giving him a female dragon to ship doesn’t address what the image is about. If we take off our “shipping goggles” for a few minutes, we might be surprised at what we see.

@Ertinax  
First of all Spike has been shown to be capable of taking care of the library on his own so I doubt he’d need a babysitter and second please don’t start the ‘Spike’s age’ debate back up, it’s an argument with no end and will only turn this info a flame war. Third, the whole random girl dragon thing seems like kind of a cop-out.

Spike’s a child; I’m not sure why shipping between consenting adults has much if anything to do with him. I mean, yes, they probably should’ve left him with something to do while they went off on a double date - surely Pinkie or Fluttershy or Applejack, one of them, would’ve been available. That’s common courtesy. It’s just strange that he’s there at all. Hopefully next season will give us a young girl-dragon his age (that he will probably fight with and see as a rival) that he can be freely shipped with. I think that would be perfect.
 
But then, I’m not personally big on the whole cross-species thing, especially when it comes to dragons. Child dragons and the squick is doubled. I’m well aware that my distaste in this respect is not reflective of the tastes of many others in the fandom.

@Meresflut  
Doesn’t he call himself Judacris in the Derpibooru?

@semerl  
Or the girls realize how spoiled Spike left them
 
Twilight/Rarity: “That’s as big as it gets!?”

@Swashbucklist  
Ah. I see. Simple mistake… we’ve all done it.

@Background Pony #4B90  
UPVOTES! I MEANT UPVOTES!
 
Crud.

@Blood Brandy  
Dont be grumoy for this; Julian Yeo is an artist, here in derpibooru he uses the name DM-29 if I remember correctly. His work centers around Twilight and a lot of times Spike. His drawings are very sweet and heart warming especially when it comes to the relation of Twilight and Spike so I doubt this is something he would approve of. In any case, that worked for me.  
Cheers pal.

@Swashbucklist  
Beside the subject matter, simply stapling together other people’s work isn’t exactly good art.

Do not put that ‘bad taste in men’ tag back on.

Stop with the damn opinion tag.

@Background Pony #4B90  

 
This, shipping is supposed to be fun not hurtful.

@Background Pony #4B90  
>Spikefags
 
Just kidding. But seriously, it’s just a commission for someone who likes Spike.

@Swashbucklist  
Seeing as the intent of the image was to be horrible to a specific character, one who is a child no less, I’d say that the number of downvotes is justified. Shipping is fine… shipping with the purpose of being cruel is not. The votes show that the Brony fanbase is concerned with fairness, not being “despicable.”