Hello everypony, donkey, dragon, changeling, zebra, griffon, minotaur, hybrid, brony, pegasister, object, and other!
Now, if you’ve followed the official tumblr blog, you’ll know that I’m the guy who worked on and maintains the
TSSSF Quotes List, studiously organized to cross-reference the flavor text of every card that the Horrible People in charge of this game have produced so that you don’t have to wonder whether that cool-sounding snip on your favorite card is part of a larger story. Now, I wasn't an official member of the design club, by any means–if I was, the game would probably feature squarer cards and more internal snippet consistency, but less frequent updates and a general lack of its signature livelyness. I was just a fan, doing a fan project, so that other fans find it easier to do their fan projects.
But… there’s a secret to the list. A secret about how I’ve organized it. I’ve been acting as though the stories were actually penned out at some point… and there’s a timeline to it.
Each deck, each expansion roughly corresponds to a period in Twilight’s life, and I will explain how they are organized below. Now, these are guidelines, not hard facts, the Bits and Bobs expansions are scattered throughout the timeline, and you’ll probably find exceptions within each section. I know I did. Still, it must be said that there is a reason behind my reasoning, and I’m fairly certain that it’s reasonable. Even if it isn’t, well… like I said, this interpretation is not an official part of Horrible People studios methodology, so feel free to ignore it or send your hate to me, personably. Just getting that clear.
The core deck, in my mind, is for the most part associated with Twilight before season three. Some of it deals with her life in Canterlot, from a time even before she was Celestia’s student, but a lot of it was penned in response to the odd happenings during her initial time in Ponyville. There is a bit of bleed-over to the next season–Of Ponies and Peril was directly initiated due to Sombra’s lovely little door trap–but for the most part the core deck marks the time when her shipfic folder was secret.
The Extra Credits expansion does continue on a few of the core deck fics, but there are also tales here that she started writing during the third season itself, when she had grown acclimated to her new life in Ponyville. Oh yes, her fics were still secret… mostly… but they started to seriously develop in this period, become firmer, more confident. Where before she wrote as a substitute to interaction, here Twilight writes to amuse herself, to engage her mind… though, she is still somewhat focused on the shipping.
And then… well, and then Twilight Sparkle became a princess and spent a few days in another world. That really shook her up. The Ponyville University expansion was a direct result of her time in the other world, but what it doesn’t mention is how she had to juggle everything in her life–her new princess-hood, her existence in Ponyville, her attempts to recreate the human internet in the name of “friendship,” and of course her newfound drive for writing. This is also when a number of stories not directly written by her started making their way into the folder… a small number, perhaps, but enough to influence her thoughts… after the Shipfest debacle.
And here we come to where I’ve made the largest leap of logic. The Indiegogo expansion. No Holds Barred. A young unicorn managed to get hold of Twilight Sparkle’s personal writings, convinced her to make some copies of the stories… and before the princess of friendship knew what was happening, somepony had organized a giant festival gathering in celebration of her ‘works of art’. She went to this Shipfest in horrified rage that her works were being used without her permission, but when she arrived and saw all her admirers she not only relented but also joined in the fun as a surprise special guest.
While there was some confusion with the guard–she didn’t communicate what was happening at the moment, and there were constant arrests and royal pardons until somebody got in contact with Shining Armor–in the end the Shipfest Debacle led directly to the founding of Sparklenet, a magical network devoted solely to aspiring writers and frequently updated by Overlord Twilight herself. Since then, a number of ponies have risen to prominence, a few even establishing their own websites on the rising maginet of Equestria. True, there’s been some friction between Twilight and her friends… and family… and a few strangers beside, now that the shipfic folder isn’t secret anymore, but the mare did tear apart Tirek shortly before the Shipfest thing, so they’re for the most part giving her a free pass.
Now, there’s a point to this story, aside from jawing on about my reasoning. My point is simple: in regards to the quote list, the backers of the Indiegogo project allowed their cards to be ‘publically’ published. I felt that I do not have to ask their permission to use their cards in the list, but I also felt I should not have chosen to treat them identically to cards from other expansions. Simply put, unless the text itself specifically states that it is part of an already established story, none of the quotes in the Indiegogo expansion were assumed to have been written by Twilight herself, but by users on Sparklenet. Furthermore, flavor text that isn’t attributed to one work or another was assumed to clippings from articles by reporters on the scene at Shipfest itself. Again, I am not a part of Horrible People productions, so if you have objections to that, please contact me directly and don’t blame them.
In the end, this project has been the result of a desire for perfectionism, a lot of spare time, no small amount of imagination, and an admiration for a silly card game about horses in love. I do hope that you take it in the spirit it was intended: an over-analytic launching board for the fans to create their own content. Thank you for reading through all of this, thanks to the Horrible People for enduring my incessant messages, and of course thanks to the folks at DHX and Hasbro for inspiring both of us.
