taking a look at appledash & canon for pride month! collecting relevant staff/VA/even merch stuff (that last part is for fun, tbh) in the above collage to make things e-z. plus the parting shot the show leaves us with, for emphasis. what do you think? i think it’s a pretty obvious setup as shown in the 15-20 year time skip finale, and the script leaks line up with that.

in anticipation of rebuttals:

[1]
first thing’s first, note that lauren faust (who hasn’t worked on the show since season 2) never said “dash isn’t a lesbian.” that’s a misquote from a "2010 article that was a rebuttal to a blogger who called MLP racist/sexist/homophobic":https://msmagazine.com/2010/12/24/my-little-non-homophobic-non-racist-non-smart-shaming-pony-a-rebuttal/. what lauren said was it’s unfair to both straight tomboys and lesbian tomboys to assume she is solely because she’s a tomboy.

[2]
as for big jim saying it’s “up to interpretation”, let’s establish he also has a ton of quotes suggesting his dislike for shipping, derpibooru doesn’t even quite host them all. he is also on record for saying lyra and bonbon were just friends for some 5 years…
>>2136810
>>2180790
>>916117

[3]
he seems to imply his word in terms of FiM is equal to haber’s (it’s not tho, as haber’s the story editor), or this is just lighthearted and notthatdeep, then that totally checks out
>>2168280

[4]
on the subject of “up to interpretation,” jim says “in my opinion” AJ’s parents are dead
>>2167702

[5]
not sure if this >>2159773 is the best call considering >>1118408 >>1303395 etc

[6]
scootaloo is or isn’t disabled by the finale. clarifying that is writer intent, then opening it up by saying it’s “up to you” is a confusing gesture
>>2157535

[7]
jim has been mistaken before
>>2155841

[8]
but the poor guy was subject to some nasty fan treatment, maybe going soft on the finale shipping reduces headaches. but it’s been a long time since the finale and everyone’s jets have cooled by now. that also links to why i think vogel made some ‘softening’ suggestions and helped jim save face for his statement. meanwhile, mike myhre is an infrequent twitter user (account made in 2012, only 2k tweets) and likely wasn’t privy to the extent of the drama, hence his directness.
>>2127591

[9]
bonus fact, something i just learned today: bonbon and lyra’s proposal >>2168245 wasn’t in the script. literally snuck past the radar,lmao nice
>>2163296