//------------------------------//
// Prelude 
// Story: The ‘Ship’ in ‘Shipping’ 
// by Elkia Deerling 
//------------------------------//

In the largest harbor in Baltimare, a ship was moored. But it wasn’t just your ordinary rowboat. This was the biggest ship ever built by pony hooves and probably lots of magic too. The S.S. Ocean’s Embrace rose out of the water like the skyscrapers rose from the asphalt in downtown Baltimare. Its solid, pink-and-red steel hull shone in the morning sun, casting a glow over the entire harbor. Hundreds of portholes dotted the side of the ship, and three gargantuan smokestacks reached for the sky, crowing the royal vessel. Not to mention the awe-inspiring anchor, which hung on a golden chain to the side of the ship. 

It was intended to be a cruise ship, and a luxurious one at that. There were tennis courts, restaurants, cafes, bars, pools, steam rooms, gaming halls, casinos, ballrooms, art galleries, a cinema, a theater, and probably even more nonsense ponies tend to waste their time with. 

Yes, yes, yes, you get my point. It was a really nice boat, let’s keep it at that. Why spend a whole page describing how “wonderful” the ship was? Ha! I could probably have popped up a much larger ship straight out of the dimension where the entire world is flooded, with just a snap of my fingers. Maybe ponies are just easily impressed. I don’t know. Point is: the way the ship looked wasn’t that interesting. What was interesting, however, was the fact that Twilight and her friends went on board as well. They probably thought this cruise would be a relaxing respite from all their life-threatening adventures, or maybe they thought it would bring them closer together and strengthen their friendship. My, oh my, were they mistaken!

They stood upon the main deck, hanging over the railing and waving together with the other passengers at the thousands of ponies standing on the quay, admiring the boat as if it were the most important thing in their lives. To celebrate its completion, it was going to sail from Baltimare all the way to Trottingham over the Celestial Sea. Its maiden voyage was supposed to be a cruise, a romantic cruise on the one day of the year where love actually seemed to matter: Hearts and Hooves Day. What Twilight and her friends didn’t know, however, and what they could have expected but at the same time not, was that things were about to get really… romantic. 

It was Hearts and Hooves Day, after all.