It took them a lot of time to make it official, but every relationship proceeds on its own pace. :)

@redweasel  

 
Depends on what fans they listen to. Doesn’t mean they can’t, but as I said before, not every fan in the fandom is level-headed, so they can’t listen to everyone. Example shown a few replies back replying to Crimson Prose.

@Micro-Cyberbrony
 

 
there was already a canon couple: mr. and mrs. cake. not that more aren’t better, but canon couples aren’t exactly new in the show.
 

I would have preferred that they listen to some fans, any fans at all, instead of doing something that absolutely nobody wanted. I mean this is big mac we’re talking about, not some background pony like star hunter.

@redweasel  
But I’m glad they did. It’s nice to see sugarmac, a canon couple. The writers can’t always listen to the fans because a few crazy fans can get a liiitle too clingy or triggered.

@Micro-Cyberbrony
 
I didn’t mean everyone hated it. just that literally no one was asking for it.

@redweasel  
I don’t get why everyone hated sugarmac. To me, it’s perfectly fine.

@Micro-Cyberbrony
 
at least it pleased some fans, unlike sugarmac.

@Crimson Prose  
This one:  
https://derpibooru.org/images/2004051  

 
And yes, there are people like that in this community.

@Crimson Prose  
It feels forced because it’s fan service.
 
Depending on what your target audience is, fan service can affect people in many different ways.
 
In this case, it doesn’t feel right because LyraBon (an adult ship) is in a show oriented at little girls (7-10, NOT adults), and that can lead to some rather interesting questions whether or not MLP wanted to be PC/“woke” by bringing politics into a child-oriented show at the last minute (or in general).
 
It feels like like throwing a spoonful of tar into a barrel of honey. Politics, wokeness and political correctness are not something to be brought into a child’s show.  
And gay “marriage” is, in a sense, a political topic. Rule of thumb: don’t mix politics with ponies.
 
Not everyone likes shipping though, and yes, even straight shipping. Same as how some people hated the supposed straight relationship between Sci-Twi and Timber Spruce or Flash Sentry ever having a girlfriend again (the really toxic bronies).  
Kinda like this image here:  

It’s interesting to me that people call this relationship forced. It’s like… Lyrabon had 9 years of buildup and people call it forced. It wasn’t something that Hasbro handed down to sell toys, but something that developed over a very long time. If it was some agenda, they’d have had a Lyrabon marriage toy set to sell ready and they sure wouldn’t have waited until the show ended to spring it.  
Cadance and Shining, by contrast, were two characters we never had reason to know existed before who suddenly appeared and got pushed together, clearly handed down by some exec for the sole purpose of selling toys. They had a baby to sell more toys that was promptly forgotten by the main plot after her introduction despite being hyped up. I’m not saying they’re bad characters, since I like them all, but it’s interesting how some people consider gay relationships to be forced by default when straight ones can come out of nowhere for no reason and be fine.

@Background Pony #C100  
Same. Feels too forced

Hate it.

4 is a little more than subtle, given the attatched image.

I did think their interactions in Slice of Life were a little… interesting, but it wasn’t until Do Princesses Dream Of Magic Sheep that I felt compelled to ship them.

For me it was basically already all but canon in Slice of Life. The way they called each other “best friends” sounded very weird, like they were more than just that. Still, I’m glad they decided to make it 100% canon in the end. It was great to see them proposing to each other and then later getting married.

@IceKitsune  
the line was confirmed to be angle being an asshole.

@Angrybrony  
I mean it really depends on how you want to take certain things, namely the Angel Bunny line and them likely living together in The Last Problem off the top of my head. It’s no less than a solid 5 though.

Dislestia and Fluttercord is 5  
Discord with other ship is between 3 ~ 4  
this my opinion, you may say Fluttercord have more hints, but for me is 5 ⊙ω⊙

@IceKitsune  
6 means they confessed love.

Given this chart SugarMac is a 7, Fluttercord is at least a 5 bordering on a 6 IMO, and AppleDash would be a 4

Interesting. According to that graph, Nanoha and Fate would be 5 or 7.

What a wild ride they’ve been through together.