Leaving those thoughts here in public, I believe that I should be focusing on what surrounds this "controversy", am I?

There is a huge problem for asking thoughts towards a ship like Sparity because this means that you are going to get a biased opinion towards this episode because....I wasn´t there when this ship was established, I didn´t experience that era of innocence about writing for background characters, random ships and diversified headcanons so I have to mostly stick what the past canon episodes have shown to me.

I don´t know precisely what logic follows the ship for the fanbase and how much should really matter. I am implying that the parody of A Dog and A Pony Show gave this idea about shipping a young dragon with a pony like Rarity, boosted with a slice of life episode like Secret of My Excess (also referencing King Kong´s skyscrapers scene). Alright, I suppose that the affection of Rarity towards the little dragon was also shown in Dragon Quest or even later in the Gauntlet of Fire.

Having said that, I am really indifferent towards this ship, I don´t find any solid logic behind it besides making a joke here and there (not sure for mocking Spike or making him somewhat interesting in front of the gallery).

However, I joined in 2014 and season 4 already happened and most of the fanbase are forgetting about an episode called Inspiration Manifestation and the fact that Spike has saved the Crystal Empire twice. The former shows how Spike doesn´t tolerate excessive capricious from Rarity (ending it with a moral of friendship instead of having a romantic tone) and the latter adds a layer to his diplomatic arc, meaning that he relies less and less about using that "ship" as a plot device or getting less frequent over time.

This should back my thoughts up for this episode. If one analyzes it coldly, this ship didn´t make much sense but I think that the writers have simply given a warning sign to the shippers. You have shipped a pony with a dragon,how about shipping that dragon with a griffon? Someone has to hold the staff´s beer here.

As a result,this episode has cooled down the ship and claim that Rarity should be seen as his friend, not as a love interest because other ones could come instead that fall down better into his preferences. It opens up one door slightly for Gabby by giving her some excuse to write about her but the writers have also transmitted that fan material about Spike and Rarity shouldn´t end because of this, just that they should be seen as close traditional contacts rather than a pairing (they have had adventures together without any hints of love thrown into the screen for very long periods)

The episode is quite enjoyable and I am implying that the drama that has happened last summer was because of the accidental explosion of leaks and all the emotions were written in order to express their anxiousness and general feelings about this show ending in this manner, so this episode was an easy target for baiting and circlejerk about how the writers have handled this subject.

So yeah, I have been entertained by it but I still admire a little bit more the following ones. I agree with Bridgefag´s rating, this should be around the good to great category: around a light 7 or so.