Shout Out / A Diplomatic Visit

• Beta-reader and co-writer AnonEMouseJr is quite fond of shout-outs, and is responsible for most if not all of the ones in this fic (though Evilhumour has some too). By chapter, they are:

A Diplomatic Visit

• Chapter 8:
  • Swift-Pad explains to Twilight at one point that she cannot let fear rule her life, because if she does, she won't think clearly; he also repeats the advice of a teacher of his, who "tried to always act out of love, not of fear. And that it was a good piece of advice, because every time he forgot it, he managed to get himself into trouble." Both pieces of advice are derived from scenes in Rod Allbright Alien Adventures, in which Rod receives the same advice from Tar Gibbons and Snout, respectively.
• Chapter 9:
  • Swift-Pad meets Dinky Hooves. Her introduction of herself and Swift-Pad's response is inspired by a similar scene in RealityCheck's The Audience.
• Chapter 12:
  • Fluttershy mentions having previously met a civilized wolf on what he called a "meditation journey". This is inspired by a scene from The Search for Snout, in which Captain Grakker explains that he and all of his people go on such a journey in their ninth year (a little over fourteen in Earth years).
• Chapter 15:
  • The description of the mountains is a mix of quotation and paraphrasing from a scene in The Curse of the Blue Figurine, set as Johnny and Professor Childermass are driving up into the White Mountains of New Hampshire.
  • The Border Patrol agent greets Twilight and her friends with "I offer you all greetings and good fortune on your travels and in all your endeavors." This is based off the lines that Cimorene used to greet the dragons Moranz ("I offer you all greetings and good fortune on your travels") and Roxim ("I offer you all greetings and good fortune in all your endeavors") in Dealing With Dragons, and that her son used to introduce himself to multiple dragons in Talking to Dragons.
• Chapter 16:
  • When Maxilla is talking about their hive and queen, the Queen's name is Metamorphia. This was also the name of the changeling queen in MLP Time Loops 77.1 and 78.1, a sister of Chrysalis's who'd won control of the hive and was effectively acting in her place in the MLP timeline. This version is indicated to be much friendlier from the start though.
• Chapter 18:
  • Celestia confesses to her sister that she makes contingencies, and one of those was to cede the land that would become Ponyville to the Apple clan, in the hopes that the future Bearers would eventually be drawn there so they would be in place when the Nightmare returned. This is based on a scene from RealityCheck's fic Parting Words.
• Chapter 19:
  • Celestia quotes Grand Admiral Thrawn, of all people:
  Celestia: "Anyone can make an error. But that error doesn't become a mistake until you refuse to correct it."
  • Slice n' Dice's parents are Johnny Apple, named for John Chapman/Johnny Appleseed, and Lazuli, named for the same stone as Lapis, AKA Armored Rider Kamuro, wielder of the Silver Apple Lockseed (and her mane, a silver-blue, matches his two primary colors).
• Chapter 20:
  • The wolf Aargh is a three-in-one shoutout. First off, out-of-universe, he's named for a wolf character from Gordon R. Dickson's The Dragon Knight series (whose name is "Aragh" in the first novel, but changed to "Aargh" in book 2 and stays as such for the rest of the series). Second, while describing how he got his name, he says that he went "right for the seat of the problem" (quoting a scene from The Aristocats) and that the target "let out a yell that'd curl your fur", derived from a line in the Charlie Daniels Band song "Uneasy Rider".
• Chapter 23:
  • Rainbow Dash mentions the time she had to deal with a salespony trying to sell her a subscription to Sponge Illustrated, referencing the season 5 episode Renewed Terror of Garfield and Friends.
• Chapter 25:
  • Twilight remembers something Cadance had once told her — "If you want to know somepony, get them to tell you their stories." This comes from book 4 of the Rod Allbright Alien Adventures series.
  • Twilight's sensing of someone watching them and Swift-Pad's first line in response are drawn from a scene in Talking to Dragons. Well-Hidden's emergence is nothing like Janril's was though.
  • The chapter introduces Fluttershy's old friend Well-Hidden, a wolf from the Thorough-Searcher pack, who's one of the Packlands' Observers — wolves who travel around to watch for any activities worth noting, both good (such as a gathering of multiple species to have fun) and bad (such as Sombra's return) and reporting them to their elders. The Observers are based on a similar group introduced in the Hand of Thrawn duology, which serve much the same purpose in the New Republic (though that group specializes more in investigating potentially improper governmental activities, their introduction involved one who was merely observing a peaceful demonstration and sharing what it meant with Luke Skywalker).
• Chapter 26:
  • Rarity mentions a book series she recommends to Twilight, featuring a semi-retired librarian who also acts as an amateur detective. Word of God is that it's a ponified version of The Cat in the Stacks Mysteries, which is later confirmed in-universe in the third story.
  • Spike and Thorax end up bonding over a comic titled The Mighty Brave Heart, about an ancient warrior armed with a magic hammer who protects the world from various villains, including his evil brother, and is based on a character from folklore (in-fic, his appearance is based on the historical figure Rockhoof).
• Epilogue:
  • The parting scenes derive from two sources. First, Twilight's declaration to her friends that they're her sisters, though not using the exact dialogue, comes from the finale of The Golden Girls. Second, the very last line of the fic is inspired by the last line in Han Solo and the Lost Legacy.

Diplomat at Large

• Chapter 2:
  • At one point, Luna mentions a guard who filed a complaint against his supervisor for not giving him the training necessary to handle a situation that had never come up before. This references Cris Pieterson, the ill-fated tractor beam operator from Heir to the Empire, who tried the same thing and lost his life for it.
  • Scolopidia refers to the changeling invasion as "Chrysalis' Folly", in reference to a scene in Nightmare Night and Nyx from RealityCheck's Nyxverse.
• Chapter 3:
  • During Twilight and Spike's dinner under the sea, the dishes include preserves made from sea cucumbers, a dish also served at Captain Nemo's table in 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea.
• Chapter 5:
  • At one point, Luna says that "We have much to do, and less time to do it in." This line was used in at least two Mel Brooks movies, including Robin Hood: Men in Tights.
  • During her conversation with Pharynx about the Powers, Luna says of the Judge, "They can't be bargained with. They can't be reasoned with. They don't feel pity or remorse or fear." Almost this exact same phrasing was also used to describe the first T-800 Terminator.
• Chapter 6:
  • When talking about the current Lord or Lady of Lies, Discord says that they're perfect for the Role — "They don't mean what they say, they don't mean what they do and they don't mean what they are." This references the Demon of Insincerity in The Phantom Tollbooth, who says almost the same thing of themselves.
  • The message that Pinkie and an unidentified Power give — "Just cheer up and never ever give up hope!" — is the final moral from Animaniacs, specifically the one from its grand finale, the movie Wakko's Wish.
• Chapter 7:
  • When Discord phases through the wall into Luna's office, she decides not to think about the mechanics of it because "she was afraid if she did so for too long, it would start to make sense." This derives from another line in Talking to Dragons — "I thought about it for a minute. Then I decided not to think about it. I was afraid it was going to make sense."
  • When Discord forms a dodecahedron-shaped bubble around himself and is clearly straining against it, it's a reference to Genie's "The long-contained" bit from his introductory scene in Aladdin.
  • The whole plan of sending in an army to face the Storm King's army and draw them out as a distraction while a small team sneaks in for another task is taken from The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, while the final battle against the Storm King himself takes some general inspiration from the climactic duels in the Star Wars films.
  • The Storm King, when his fight is beginning, points his Staff at the heroes to attack them, shouting "Aroint ye!" (literally, "Begone!"), but gets no effect. The villain of The House With a Clock in Its Walls had the same thing happen to them.
  • In the aftermath of the fight with the Storm King, Tempest mentions Grubber. Pharynx asks, "What's that mean, when it's at home?" The same phrase was used by Jack in Searching for Dragons when he was confused over Telemain's Magi Babble.
• Chapter 8:
  • During Celestia's conversation with Tempest Shadow, she mentions circumstances that would require a unicorn to receive a horn graft, such as a unicorn foal having a surge that was so powerful, it shattered their horn. Exactly that event was described as happening years before to Sweetie Belle in My Little Titan; also, as in that story, horn grafts come only from dying unicorns, and work best when the donor is still alive.
• Chapter 11:
  • Late in the chapter, Celestia writes to the Alpha, containing just an intro, her signature, and the memetic line "You got some 'splainin' to do!", which is commonly (but falsely) attributed to I Love Lucy.
• Chapter 12:
  • Sonata gets a chance to channel Peter Venkman with one line.
  Sonata: "That was not fun. I've had fun. That wasn't it."
  • During their talk with Cadance, Sonata brings up the Fuss Closet (an alternative to a rage cage), describing Professor Childermass's from The Curse of the Blue Figurine and its sequels perfectly.
  • In chapter 12, the canon series' Ahuizotl is revealed to be named Teomitl, after the character of the same name (who's based on the historical Ahuizotl) in the Obsidian & Blood series by Aliette de Bodard.

Diplomacy Through Schooling

• Chapter 1:
  • Swift-Pad's Packleader is finally named as Storm-Fast, after the she-wolf Stormfast from the Wolves of the Beyond series, mate of the First Fengo and likely namesake of the volcano of the same name.
  • Shortly before she goes to bed, Twilight's fellow Bearers and Celestia give her welcome-home presents. Rarity's is a set of The Cat in the Stacks Mysteries and its spinoff Southern Mares Mysteries (ponified versions of the real world books), previously mentioned a few times, while Pinkie's is a self-published volume, Complete Compendium of Practical Pony Party Pranks, which almost shares a name with 101 Practical Pony Party Pranks from the fanfic Nyx's Family.
• Chapter 2:
  • While the group is having breakfast, the siren sisters quote Rose and Dorothy from the episode "Mixed Blessings" of The Golden Girls (though their immediate follow-ups are vastly different):
  Sonata: "Can I ask a dumb question?"
  Aria: "Better than anyone I know."
  • She then responds to Sonata’s question by almost quoting the Brain:
  Aria: "A worthy enigma, sis."
  • Spike's welcome-home gifts include a book series, Mysteries at Two-Door Mansion, which are based on the board game of the same name and are "written for a younger audience, in which the reader must put the clues together and identify the culprit, or competition winner, in each chapter." They're basically Equestria's version of the Clue book series (the game setting has been alternately referred to as Tudor — Two-Door — Mansion, Tudor Close or Tudor Hall, along with other names, in various editions).
• Chapter 3:
  • During Twilight, Trixie and Moondancer's discussion, Trixie recounts an incident in which she stayed up late to listen to an audio program designed to creep out the listeners with vivid images. This is inspired by an event from the real life of Stephen King, as recounted in Danse Macabre.
  • In the same talk, Moondancer mentions her parents being older when they had she and her sister, and passing away by the time the story takes place. The same thing happened with Ton Phanan in the X-Wing Series.
  • The whisk incident between Luna and Pharynx is inspired by an arc (617-621) from the Insecticomics.
• Chapter 4:
  • At one point, Twilight describes one assignment being a hooves-on project for classes on different cultures, using ingredients from that country. As an example, she mentions making a pan of brownies done up to look like the country's flag. That exact thing appeared in the book Monster of the Month Club.
• Chapter 5:
  • Shining Armor's explanation on empathy and cruelty is nearly all taken from chapter 13 of Aliens Ate My Homework.
  • Elements of Luna's speech on how the multiverse came to exist are taken from the legends of how the world came to be in the fourth generation games of the Pokémon franchise, specifically "The Original Story".
• Chapter 7:
  • During their honeymoon, Luna mentions that Celestia wants to try surfing. This is, of course, one of her hobbies in The MLP Loops.
  • During the same talk, Luna says Twilight's style of dancing comes from Celestia. Similar events were witnessed in Nightmare Night and Nyx.
  • Neighsay's distraction to try and escape is based on Corran Horn's testing his plan to escape the mines of Lusankya in X-Wing #3: The Krytos Trap.
• Chapter 8:
  • During her and her friends' talk, Twilight tells them that Celestia has said, "running a government is like being in the middle of a thousand carefully arranged plans – all of them on the verge of coming apart at the seams, every single minute of the day." This quote comes from Parting Words by RealityCheck.
• Chapter 9:
  • After finding out her sister is pregnant, Celestia paraphrases the Marx Brothers:
  "Now if you'll pardon me while I have a strange interlude."
  • Caplan the gargoyle (who previously appeared in the first story) is named for Principal Caplan from the first six seasons of Power Rangers. The gargoyle Queen he names, Queen Herron, is named for Royce Herron, the actress who played Ms. Appleby, a teacher at Angel Grove High during the same six seasons.
  • In the same section, Caplan names Laronda, land of the gargoyles and later the centaurs. In the book I Left My Sneakers in Dimension X, Laronda is the proper name for the Valley of the Shapeshifters on the planet in Dimension X that the heroes visit.
  • When Diamond Tiara is describing Cozy Glow's behavior to Twilight, some of it comes from a description of BKR's behavior as discussed in The Search For Snout.
  • When Cadance, Shining Armor, Aria and Sonata are discussing the mental state of the windigos, some of the descriptions of how they're stuck in a dreaming state come straight from the second chapter of Ellen Brand's For Want of a Nail series, an alternate take on Power Rangers Zeo.
• Chapter 10:
  • Neighsay's work in the mines, knocking down stalactites with concentrated iron ore, is reminiscent of the mines on Ryloth in Jedi Bounty.
• Chapter 11:
  • Garble's introduction, with his attempted recitation of a prepared speech before Twilight gets him to use his own words, draws some inspiration from Myn Donos' attempted resignation scene in X-Wing #7: Solo Command.
  • At one point, the Lord of Health says that Love can automatically understand the language of the changelings, and also Prench. In The Camp Half-Blood Series, the demigods have an affinity for the ancient language of their immortal parent, but children of Aphrodite (Greek goddess of love) also have an affinity for French, since it's the language of love.
  • In this universe, Applejack's foalhood friend Rara (AKA the singer Countess Coloratura) turns out to be a siren who's been hiding her true form. The same was true in She's Definitely Got the Mane For It by Dilos1.
• Chapter 12:
  • When discussing Life, Celestia says that all souls meet Life at least once, when they enter the world, though they don't remember it. This is also true of Death of The Endless, who personally appears to everyone both when they're born and when they die.
  • At one point, the Alpha repeats Discord's words, which come straight from Captain Jack Sparrow in Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl:
  "A dishonest man you can always trust to be dishonest. Honestly. It's the honest ones you want to watch out for, because you can never predict when they're going to do something incredibly... stupid."
  • Queen Schuberta of the Sirens is named for "Schuberta the Melodious Maestra", a card in the "Melodious" series from the Yu-Gi-Oh! trading card game, who is in turn named for composer Franz Schubert. (Incidentally, two others of the group are "Aria the Melodious Diva" and "Sonata the Melodious Diva", though there's no Adagio.)
  • During his scene, Gruff swears like Medafil, the gryphon from The Unicorn Chronicles (which spells his species' name differently from MLP canon).
  • During the segment with Daring and Teomitl, they visit a temple that's home to the Jaguar's Eye gem, which curses anyone who dares take it.
  • Also during Daring's segment, another of the Guardians is named as Ichtaca, after another character from Obsidian & Blood.
• Chapter 13:
  • During one section, Spike and Moondancer get into a talk on Bat-Stallion comics, which are basically a ponified version of Batman. Events from Knightfall (Joker getting dosed with fear gas and being immune) and Arkham Asylum: A Serious House on Serious Earth (Joker's "super-sanity") are mentioned.
  • Rainbow Dash's reaction to Bat-Stallion is basically the same as Willow Wisp's in Cheerilee's Class.
  • At one point, Moondancer quotes Walt Whitman: "I am large, I contain multitudes."
  • Spike mentions a Freethink Warder who tried to blame comics for messing up people's heads based off distorted or fake statistics. This is, of course, referring to psychologist Fredric Wertham and his book Seduction of the Innocent, which led to the implementation of the Comics Code Authority.
  • During one scene, Spike mentions some events from a chapter of the sixth book of this universe's version of the Clue series, before the group gets into a discussion of the series as a whole. It's also noted that Reginald Boddy's counterpart is named "Home Body", referencing the fanfic Clue: Who Killed Home Body?
• Chapter 14:
  • During Twilight's talk with Magic, Magic quotes one of her counterparts in another world. Their line comes from the "Old Man" Zangetsu spirit:
  "Abandon your fear. Look forward. Move forward and never stop. You'll age if you pull back. You'll die if you hesitate."
  • Also during Twilight's talk with Magic, Magic describes how one of Twilight's Others, and their co-ruler, set things up so within a few hundred years, Equestria was under the impression that alicorns were a myth. This is based off the "Princess Macintosh" Loop (39.4 and 42.4) in The MLP Loops.
  • The chapter ends with a combination shout-out and Mythology Gag, including the "You do not want to know" / "I don't want to know" / "Good to know" scene from Atlantis: The Lost Empire. It's a mythology gag because this same shout-out was previously used in the third story of the Suspenders-verse, another series of fics from the "Powers-That-Be" multiverse.
• Epilogue:
  • When Twilight and co. arrive in Laronda, the scene of their being greeted by an airskimmer squadron is inspired by the opening of Star Wars — X-Wing #5: Wraith Squadron.
  • The centaur pilot who greets them is named Korak, after the ape name of John "Jack" Clayton III, Earl of Greystoke, and son of Tarzan.
  • Descriptions of Laronda (including its singing plants) are partly inspired by its namesake, which appeared in I Left My Sneakers in Dimension X.
    • When talking about the singing plants, Pinkie proclaims that "The hills are alive with the sound of music!". Elspeth McMasters made that same shout-out in the book, making it a double example.
  • King Scorpan's history as a pilot, and his personal skimmer being named the "Golden Yoke", derives from Star Wars — X-Wing #9: Starfighters of Adumar.
  • While Moondancer is undergoing Dreamguard training, she witnesses a dream in which Rainbow Dash puts a charcoal grill into geosynchronous orbit. Just like Tim Taylor.

The Diplomat's Life

• Chapter 1:
  • Just as in Aftermath of the Games, the human world's Spike snuck into Principal Cinch's car and shed in it to trigger her allergies after how she treated his Twilight.
• Chapter 2:
  • Aftermath of the Games is again referenced when Spike the dog mentions that Shining Armor told him to "speak", and then freaked out when he did.
  • It's mentioned that Human!Shining Armor is keeping an eye out for police profilers who are looking to transfer into school counseling jobs so they can "get out before they burn out", referencing the backstory of Cade Maboroshi from Ellen Brand's Outside Looking In and other Danny Phantom or Case Closed fanfics.
  • Aria mentions an incident with a railroading dungeon master who kept making it so nobody would win, referencing the events that led to the birth of the Old Man Henderson character.
• Chapter 3:
  • When Cadance feels the emotions coming her aunt's foal, she notes that they "don't think in words. They think in pure love, and trust, and faith." This same observation was made in the last chapter of Wayside School Gets A Little Stranger.
• Chapter 4:
  • During her visit to the festival after Flurry Heart's Crystalling, Twilight sees a green nymph and older looking stallion, referencing a pair of characters from Shifting Melodies (this one was Evilhumour's idea).
• Chapter 8:
  • The group's exit from their airskimmer to attack the Pony of Shadows is largely based off a scene from Ellen Brand's fic Final Frontier.
  • Celestia's "Wa-ha-ha-hoo!" comes from Ms. Frizzle in the intro to the The Magic School Bus cartoon.
  • Rockhoof quotes a line from Dorry in This Bites! before letting out the same yell Father Higgins did in The Spell of the Sorcerer's Skull, doubling as a Mythology Gag — Night Blade did that very yell at one point in The Pieces Lie Where They Fell.
  • Twilight's declaring that "I'm Twilight Sparkle. I'm here to rescue you.", and Stygian's response, draw from the famous "I'm Luke Skywalker, I'm here to rescue you" scene in A New Hope.
  • Another Star Wars reference gets made later when the Bearers, before destroying Rabia, declare that "The way to extinguish a shadow is to increase the light," just as Cilghal said in Champions of the Force, before the evil spirit of Exar Kun was defeated once and for all.
• Chapter 9:
  • During the closing section, when Twilight, Trixie and Moondancer are talking about moving into Twilight's new castle, Twilight mentions that Cadance had to deal with a surprise in her castle when she first moved in, and afterward "enchanted certain parts of certain rooms in there to be self-warming at all times for the comfort of anyone who had to use those rooms", and that she'll be doing the same in her own castle. This references the late MythrilMoth's fic So...What Now?, in which Twilight had an unexpected encounter with a frigid crystal toilet seat.
• Epilogue:
  • It's mentioned that Velvet has set Celestia up with a pegasus as a possible romantic interest, referencing The Perilous Gestation of Swans and its sequels from The Weedverse.

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