The 'Ship' in 'Shipping' making of

Of course there's a making of, there's always a making of. This is but a short one, as it belongs to a short story.

It's funny to see how bare and empty this making of is. I got the idea for this story quite spontaneously a week before Valentine's Day and literally had no time to write everything down. I worked out the vital structure of this story together with my friend Wireframe, who had been an invaluable help, and added details on the fly. Of course you can still read what I have, and learn something from it by peeking into the story-building process. But first...

WARNING! SPOILERS!

It starts out with a small study in titles for the story (working title: Valentine's Day Shipping Story) and names for the ship, because I am always struggling with names for stories, chapters, OC's, locations, objects, and everything else that deserves a name. I have a small synopsis--a rough presentation of my idea in three sentences--and of course the long description and the afterword, which you have read for yourselves after you clicked on my story. There's no character study, naturally, because I know the main six, Starlight, Flim and Flam, and Discord through-and-through thanks to watching the show's episodes. I could have made a study for Soarin, as his personality is not that thoroughly shown in MLP, but, as I said before, I didn't have time, so decided to make it up on the fly, or, an even cheaper tactic, keep him as passive and quiet as I could.

But things get interesting as we reach the outline. It is a small summary of the ships, ponies, scenes, and times, occasionally dotted by random sentences of conversation that shot into my mind and were too valuable to forget.

My first intention was to make this story just random and funny, but my mind is always looking for a why, shrouded in mystery. I decided to add that mystery in the form of a twist, involving Discord (who else?). And the action scenes are just a byproduct of my imagination. I am, after all, an action-adventure writer at heart.

I hope you like this making of just as much as the story itself. You'll find it below these musings. Feel free to let me know what you think about it in the comments, if you're in the mood for a talk/discussion. Goodbye and happy Valentine's Day!

Valentine’s day shipping story making of

Possible titles:
The ‘ship’ in ‘shipping’
Shipping on a ship
A ship full of ships

Ship name:
S.S. Sea’s Embrace.
S.S. Ocean’s Embrace.

Synopsis:
To celebrate the launch of the biggest ship ever built, it sails on a cruise from Baltimare over the Celestial Sea to Trottingham (on the Griffish Isles) on Hearts and Hooves Day. Twi and her friends go along too. They all get shipped following classical shipping clichés.

Outline
The fast ship (RD+Soarin) Night of first day
Wonderbolts give a flight show. They talk in the dressing room.

They want to get married on the ship (like Las Vegas) have children and name them. Bad names: Sonic Boom and Cloud Twister.

The slow ship (FL+PI) a.k.a. the ship that drags on and on and on morning of second day
Fluttershy tries to tell PI she’s in love with her but constantly hesitates. Pinkie is totally oblivious and playful. She thinks she gets it but not really

Twi guesses what had happened as soon as they returned

RD and Soarin join later. RD explains they want to get married

The overly romantic/sappy ship (RA+Discord disguised as a pony) evening of third day
Discord is sad there is nopony with both class AND personality, so decides to become that pony.

He wore a neat jacket. It constantly seemed to change color, very subtly, or that could also be a trick of the moonlight.

They dance to classical music, saying the most romantic, poetic, and over-the-top things. Discord changes the music to jazz.

‘It’s so wild, energetic… chaotic. ‘

Right when they are about to kiss, Discord disappears.

‘I don’t want to go too far’

Swing Step

She thinks she spots RD and Soarin but isn’t sure. She discovers RD had stolen one of her dresses

Discord sings a song based on How deep is the ocean from the Benny Goodman Orchestra, sung by Peggy Lee. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XWXYIw-cJtA

Alternate comment by Discord (after the overly romantic/sappy ship):

Was this a heartwarming positive story, or more of a sad and tragic one? I leave the judgement to you, reader. Yes, Swing Step was everything Rarity wanted in a pony and much more, but he didn’t want to go that far. Flirting and courtship can sometimes be more beautiful and fun than the actual relationship, and a mare can never guess what a stallion does and doesn’t want from her. That was a lesson Rarity learned the hard way tonight.

The ship in danger/the crisis ship (AJ& Flim/Flam) night of fourth day
At first she meets Flim/Flam briefly. When the ship hits a rock/iceberg, water pours in. When AJ wants to flee to the upper deck, she hears screaming. Flim/Flam is there, stuck with his hoof behind a desk. AJ uses a fire axe to chop the desk apart

Flim/Flam: ‘All my life I have been selling things and scamming ponies. But now I think I just sold my heart, to you. And that is not a scam, my dear Applejack.’

In the end, the ship doesn’t sink, and the captain calms everpony down over the intercom.

RD and Soarin say they want to have children

The everypony loves the new pony ship/the obsessive ship/the mass ship (Star&every other passenger) afternoon of fifth day
The passengers become obsessed with Starlight. They want to ask her a million questions, pledge their lives and love to her. She gets more irritated every time. When in the end someone says something about her leadership skills/dark dictatorial past, she snaps, and locks all passengers up in magical cages. Twi arrives on the scene and stops her.

Twilight
Is the observer. She’s happy for RD and Soarin, but disturbed at their public displays of affection. She’s surprised but happy for PI and FL (PI makes it obvious and TWI gets it. She’s surprised at AJ and Flim/Flam, and suspicious at 4 ships during a cruise.

The twist:
The writer constantly comments on the scenes. In the end, it turns out to be Discord, who let a wild love spell loose upon the ship to make things a little more ‘interesting’ / ‘passionate’ / letting the passengers enjoy Heart’s and Hooves Day even more

‘Lovely to see what a little chaotic love spell can do.’

Misc comments/ideas
Soarin and RD can constantly be seen in the background, making out all the time.

An ending where the mane six confront Discord. Discord says his only intentions were to let everypony enjoy h&h day even more/make it special for everypony. He wants to let them enjoy it the way it is intended rather than just as observers. He tells Twi there’s more to love than just books, and it is a lot weirder than in the books. Discord has a whole other view on love than the ponies.

DIscord isn’t impressed by Twi making demands, but FLU gets to him. ‘Now Discord, I know you meant well and wanted everypony to experience love but it isn’t right to force love. Now please undo your spell’

Discord can say ‘Yes, yes, no need to fuss. As soon as you get off the boat, the effect of the spell will dwindle.’ That way, the ponies can still enjoy their relationships on the cruise.

Twilight says: ‘Great, then we’ll get off at the very next stop and the others can ask her if they can stay instead, to which Discord laughs ‘Haha! My spell was stronger than I imagined it would be.’

Twilight facehoofs.

Discord: ‘What, Twi, are you jealous. Don’t worry, I brought your favorite love as well.’

‘NO!!’

Him offering Twilight her biggest love and then conjuring up a book is a funny joke at the end, like, the very last sentence.

Or maybe a last sentence like: it certainly was the most interesting hearts and hooves day they had ever experienced.

At the end, insert this conversation:

DI: ‘Oh, before I forget, RD, you might want to make a doctor’s appointment’

RD: ‘Why I feel fine’

DI: ‘Yes but it never hurts to… test yourself, so to speak’

RD still looked puzzled, but I could see Soarin got it. A wide smile appeared on his face which he wasn’t able to lose anymore. Until the moment he stepped off the boat, of course

Discord with a snorkel in the swimming pool making two model ships kiss.

Long description
To celebrate the completion of the largest ship ever built, it sails on its maiden voyage from Baltimare to Trottingham on a romantic cruise, with Twilight and her friends onboard.

But something happens as soon as the S.S. Ocean’s Embrace sails to open water. Very soon the ponies get tied up in a number of unexpected, strange, beautiful, hilarious, exciting, or fantastical relationships. All of them very cliché, but to the ponies, very real as well. Is there something like too much love in the air? Does it have anything to do with the fact that today is Hearts and Hooves Day?

Massive thanks to Wireframe for co-editing, proofreading, and commenting. Without your invaluable advice, this story would not have come to life on paper. You’re the best editor—and friend—an author could ever wish for.

Afterword
Thank you so much for reading this story. I hope the comedy made you laugh, chuckle, or at least grin; I hope the action made you balance on the tip of your seat; and I hope the romance made you go ‘Awwww!’ more than once. Please leave a comment if you like. I always love to hear what you have to say.

This story is based heavily on the movie Titanic, as you might have guessed. Did you notice all the references? My main sources of inspiration were the scene where the two watchmen spot the iceberg, the scene where Rose frees Jack, and the scene with the string quartet, which played calming music until the bitter end.

Once again, thank you for joining me (or Discord, actually) on an adventure. I hope to see you in my next story!