Story Shuffle 2: Double Masters
is the second anthology of oneshot My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic fanfics inspired by Magic: The Gathering cards known as the Story Shuffle series written by FanOfMostEverything, preceded by the first anthology, Story Shuffle.
Story Shuffle: Double Masters provides examples of:
- Alliterative List: From "The Dos and Don'ts of Phoenix Care":You are a symbol of stability, safety, and strength for the ponies of Equestria. Running around like a startled chicken projects none of these qualities.
- Great Detective: Along with "World's Best" Character, as the "Table of Contents" says about "Finding Evil by Moonlight", along with a reference to Batman:Twilight calls in Equestria's greatest detective. No, not that bat.
- Living Memory: "Who's Afraid?", deals with what's basically ghost wolves, but are more Living Memory, as implied in the story, "my entitlement and anger and sheer ego were enough to actually form a spirit...", and author notes, "Insidious remnants of what once was seemed right up Sunset's alley. Which was apparently the one my shipping side hid in."
- Oddly Named Sequel 2: Electric Boogaloo: The subtitle references the use of two cards to inspire the one-shots, but is unclear about it. It's also a reference to the Magic: The Gathering card reprint product, Double Masters. And this is an anthology of a series of them, based on that game's cards.
- One-Word Title: For some of its one-shots, such as:
- "Paparazzoid": Likely a Portmantitle of Paparazzo and Droid, because a spying robot is involved in the story.
- "Vivace": A musical term, because a musician is the protagonist.
- "Paparazzoid"
- Technical Pacifist: As discussed in "Vivace", the Royal Assassinorum of Equestria does not, as a rule, take any being’s life. After all, actually killing is simply a waste when you can instead excise those portions of your target's psyche which you do not find useful, leaving behind not a corpse but a new asset for Equestria's prosperity.
- The Hecate Sisters: The concept is referenced in Adagio's musings in "Paparazzoid":the sirens often found themselves claiming parts in many things the same way they knew their places in harmonies. Just as she took the high notes, Sonata lived for the starts of things, the first burst of novelty before she grew bored again and sought out the next hit. Aria kept to the lower registers and looked forward to the ends of things, harvesting the fruit of their labors that meant she could stop having to put in effort and, worse for her, listen to Adagio.Adagio knew the triple-goddess archetype predated them in this world, but sometimes she wondered just how much they’d reinforced it over the years.
- Questioning Title?: "Who's Afraid?", as a reference to the phrase "Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf?", and possibly the line "I Ain't Afraid of No Ghost" from the Ghostbusters theme song, as it deals with what's basically ghost wolves, but are more Living Memory.
- Weather Manipulation: Mentioned in "Paparazzoid", Adagio dislikes her hair being wet:Xubidu below, she missed weather control. And having the option of just going under storms. And not having hair. She used to like humidity.
