Shipping Labels #1: Twilight Sparkle x Shining Armor. · 6:46pm Nov 5th, 2018

Aaaaaaaaaaand right off the bat, it's incest. Welp, I don't want to start refusing stuff right away, and as far as I can tell this isn't a crackship - I know a fair amount of people who are into this, actually, so I'm going to give it my best shot.

_{Next-level this, basically.}

Name: TwiShine (Twilight Sparkle x Shining Armor).

Brief Overview: An older brother and younger sister duo, the former of which became captain of the guard and later married one of the most powerful figures in the show's setting, while the latter because a student to another one of the most powerful figures in the show's setting and arguably became more powerful than her teacher. They were super close to each other as kids, dropped out of each others lives for a few years, then continued to be reasonably close to each other. This is about as long-standing as relationships get in the show, and moving things from "BBBFFs" to "partners" is less a matter of getting the two in a closed space and more a matter of taking what's already there to its fullest possible extent.

_{For some, hugs. For others, a prelude to fugs.}

Core Personalities:

Heroic: This is admittedly kind of a dumb label to use, but it's not exactly "self-sacrificing," not exactly "protective" and not exactly "moral." Rather, it's a blend of these and a few traits more that combine to form "Those who Do the Right Thing when others cannot or will not." While not necessarily batting a thousand on the savior side of things, both characters are willing to go out of their way to make the world a better place in ways that would put them at some form of significant risk, and who value others highly that are willing to do the same.
Nerdy: While not exactly intellectual, both have hobbies traditionally associated with those in an academic culture: comic books, fantasy novels and so forth. While this association doesn't hold much weight in this day and age, given that said hobbies are now perused by people regardless of intellectual interest, the stereotype has perpetuated long enough it's considered something of a classic and stuck around despite the fact that it isn't really true anymore.
Close Familial Bond: Characters in the show tend to be reasonably close to their families on average; if they aren't right off the bat, they tend to become that way by the end of any given episode. There are still statistical anomalies, however, and Twilight's family has an unusually strong relationship in which characters currently keep touch with each other very often, are closely involved in each other's affairs and wish to see other members of their family as happy as possible, even at their own discomfort. It outshines even other families like the Apple family, to say nothing of the families of minor characters in the show (when applicable,) and it certainly outshines most family relationships in real life. ~~Trust me I know plenty about that last one.~~

Companionship Traits:

Besides the stuff mentioned above, consider that having a pre-established family dynamic gives them a fair amount of familiarity with each other. Twilight started the series as a pretty introverted character, and a recurring trend among authors that I've read is that they tend to paint her as a pony who's still reasonably antisocial and/or uncomfortable around strangers, has a hard time opening up to others about her feelings or is doomed to "not really get mortal ponies" after she becomes an alicorn. Shining Armor seems to circumvent that rule rather quickly, however, because he's not a stranger to her and she either starts open with him about her feelings or opens up her feelings to him by the end of an episode (I haven't really seen shipping authors tackle the last bit that much, but one possible way to circumvent it is to claim that Family Bonds are forever and are remembered long after family members are dead and gone, or something - cue Phil Collins' "You'll be in my heart" here.) This means that the writer doesn't have to worry about setting up a romance they might otherwise struggle with establishing, and whom they can create a fair amount of bonding with over...

The Cadance Factor. There are some interpretations of Cadance that state that, as the princess of love in all its forms, she'd naturally approve of her and Shining Armor having open relationships to the point of outright encouraging multiple partners. Under this interpretation, the implication is that she'd be thrilled if her husband and sister-in-law/former babysitting charge were added to their relationship dynamic, since it's already somepony that she's familiar with and approves of a great deal!

Finally, consider that their Pre-Established Interests give them stuff to bond over outside partnership interests, which can help flesh out a relationship and keep it from being a dynamic based on the fact that a dynamic exists. The more multifaceted a reason for bonding is, the more reason for the characters to stick together in the long term and the more "weight" the bond has as a whole. And since they know each other so well, there's plenty of interests to assume that the two share in common, and thus plenty of opportunities to establish bonding scenes outside of a purely romantic or "gee whiz i like being around you" -based meeting.

_{And I bet Shining Armor runs a killer game of O&O. Just saying.}

Conflict Traits:

Despite it being listed as a source of bolstering a relationship depending on the author, The Cadance Factor can also be a source of conflict for a relationship. Another common fanon interpretation of the character contrasts Cadance with Chrysalis by depicting the former as an embodiment of fidelity and the latter as an embodiment of infidelity. Under this interpretation, Twilight Sparkle and Shining Armor having a romantically or sexually intimate relationship could be a huge problem if Cadance ever found out about it, necessitating that the relationship is kept pretty clandestine. This, by the way, is a perfect example of why this section of the blog is called "conflict traits" rather than "reasons it wouldn't work;" if anything, this sort of conflict makes it a lot easier to create potential drama in a TwiShine relationship, making it a lot easier to write even given that it's something that would make the relationship be more difficult in-story.

On the flipside of the extended family being close to each other, Estrangement could also be considered a source of conflict. After all, Twilight had been away from Shining Armor for so long that his marriage to her babysitter took her by surprise, despite the fact that she knew both her brother and her babysitter quite well. The same brother and babysitter that are frequently out of contact with her for long periods of time, and who have busy and dynamic lives that are occasionally very dangerous. It's not unreasonable to assume that Twilight Sparkle and Shining Armor might run into each other after years of separation, only to find that their circumstances have changed dramatically since they last met - and that they've changed accordingly, too. If it was implied that they used to have a relationship, this could trigger a confrontation or possibly rekindle a relationship somehow; if not, the necessities of new circumstances might create a new relationship between them even while they struggle to deal with what's changed about each other and with themselves.

Incest is a problem too, of course. Even if the author wants to establish that pony society doesn't frown on it as much as human society does, it can still be mined for drama if one (or both) of them think they shouldn't or aren't allowed to feel that way. This is a potential gold mine for exploring sexual issues, but be careful - this is likely to cause as much conflict between the reader and the story (or even the reader and the author!) if the reader has an aversion to incest, and anyone interested in writing this ship should be aware that an incestuous relationship will put some people off, and that's all there is to it.

Finally, consider The Call of Duty is almost inevitable when both characters are inherently heroic. More than simply "things happened," this is about "things happening" or "things that will happen" that threaten to tear them apart, up to and including one of both of their potential deaths. Knowing that one's partner/close friend is about to die can trigger pretty strong emotional responses, to say nothing of the knowledge of one's own imminent demise, and strong moments are just as (if not more) likely to cause serious conflict as they are serious bonding.

_{Not this kind of Call of Duty, but close.}

Summary Thoughts: Depending on your taste for incest, TwiShine can either be a very easy or very difficult ship to understand (and enjoy.) To reiterate, there's enough material and background between the two that the difficulty isn't in establishing them meeting each other, it's establishing what causes their family relationship to turn into something else. Apart from that, their relationship can be played for all sorts of close relationships, from comedic to tragic to casually intimate to steamy, and so long as the bloodline angle is justified or worked around it can be very easy to write a plausible and enjoyable story about the relationship between the two.

_{their hearts are totally going dokidoki right now obvs bby}

Quick Maths: Basic Scenario Equations between the characters.

Beautiful Bride's Best Farce Facilitators: Cadance decides to take matters into her own hooves for the sake of romance and comedy and sets up "accidentally" titillating after "accidentally" titillating situations between Shining Armor and Twilight Sparkle. A comedy of errors ensues, and likely more than a little jizz.
When September Ends: One magically-induced burst of brilliant insight leads Twilight to understand which pony she wants more than anything else. Unfortunately, said pony's in the middle of mobilizing an army to take on the forces of the Storm King Reborn, and it's a military campaign from which he's not likely to come back out of alive.
Parabola: The untimely death of a family member leads Shining Armor to try and console his little sister - and one thing leads into another in breakneck succession until the two of them are lying in bed, with Shining Armor trying to figure out what the hell just happened and where things are going to go from here.

And there you have it! One dude's take on how to take two particular ponies and smush them together until a story happens. Tune in next time when I take another audience member's suggestion and cause Yona to do a different kind of smash.