Shout Out / Changeling Space Program & The Maretian

Both Changeling Space Program and The Maretian are well-stocked with shout-outs.

Changeling Space Program

• Appleloosa town doctor "Sawbones" McColt.
• The obligatory "Not my department" from Dr. von Brawn.
• Twilight is inspired during a CSP delegation tour of Cape Friendship.
  And then Twilight Sparkle had an Idea.
  An awful idea.
  Twilight Sparkle had a WONDERFUL awful idea.
• The Diamond Dog space program, such as it is, is named "Project Stardust".
  • Additionally, their pilot is named for the Soviet space dog who was the first animal to orbit Earth. While both missions were failures, Laika's fanfic counterpart is Spared by the Adaptation.
• Chrysalis exerts her royal prerogative by declaring "Booger!" over the ship-to-ground comm.
• Starting with mission 9, Occupant, as CSP Flight Director, takes to wearing white vests (referencing Gene Kranz, as shown in Apollo 13).
• Hobble Jimenez is a riff on the "Astronaut" sequence of José Jiménez.
• Flight Surgeon Dr. Gingerbread House does the physicals for the CSP Missions 13 and 14 tourists.
• Chrysalis apparently has recurring dreams about "the pink fluffy thing".
  Of course, she told absolutely no one about those dreams. Let her changelings have their Fun Machine; she was keeping the Fun Cave in her dreams entirely to herself.
• Local Horseton lawyer Ben Fetlock is called in to hammer out the deal outlining the joint CSP-ESA venture (Probodobodyne) to design and manufacture robotic control systems.
• Pinkie reassures everypony that the robotic probe she helped design wouldn't pose any problems.
  You don't need to worry about Probey-Dobey going haywire and destroying all Equestria unless you see weird robot ponies with Hosstrian accents trying to kill the ancestors of the future resistance.
• Occupant's zero-G training did not go at all smoothly; at one point, he managed to tangle his tether cables:
  Next to where Occupant hung, absolutely immobilized, the tangle of cables spelled out the words: SOME PIG!
• During the days-long transit periods to and from Minmus, Cherry requests several books written by Cleverly Clearly be read to her. CAPCOM / narrator Chrysalis is less than enthusiastic about this.
• During CSP-23/ESA-13, Chrysalis requests a "C ration", further explaining, "C for cookie." Twilight shrugs and replies, "Good enough for me."
• The statue in Manehattan celebrating Cherry Berry's Minmus landing was done by hedgehog sculptor August Rodent.

Counting Noses

• Upon discovering that ponies in the E.U.P. Guard are issued photo IDs, Chrysalis reflects on her difficulties in infiltrating changelings into the organization. (The one who got in via the front door was an exile and didn’t count.)
• Chrysalis tracks down Paussus in a Manehattan TV studio working on episodes of Macula PC.
• The scene that had just been finished before Chrysalis cornered Paussus for their discussion featured a brain-dead pegasus mare with the line, "Oh, duck, Macula, duck!"
• During her oft-derailed interrogation of Paussus, Chrysalis says, "Now, I have just one little question for you-"
  ”Hey, that's a great line!" Paussus said, rummaging under a wing-cover for a notepad. "Maybe I should give that to the scriptwriters for Macula- no, no, it's not his kind of line, you know, it's too indirect. Maybe a new character, a detective that rambles a lot, gets the baddies to lower their guard. Yeah, and we'd have him look kind of messy, like he's this total screwup, maybe with a rumpled trenchcoat-"

The Maretian

• The final part of the first chapter nods to Knock.
• The Equestrian language being described as "horse-welsh" is a nod to Gulliver's Travels.
• While researching possible spells for sealing the cave farm, Sunburst looks at Flois du Rose's Dark Side of the Wall.
• Sol 202: Cherry and Mark discuss the progress of the cherry saplings.
  Cherry put a hoof on the sapling. "This one thinks winter is coming," she said.
  "Great," Mark said. "So cherry trees are loyal to House Stark."
• When Mark talks with a JPL engineer on Sol 217 about their instructions to combine parts of Amicitas with the rovers, the latter tells the former to put the crew's food supply in saddlebags on the outside of the rover. Mark sarcastically asks if she's proposing they "turn the rover into a rolling food truck for all those hipster Martians out there." The engineer replies that the rover isn't licensed for retail sales in any Martian jurisdiction, and advises that Mark watch out for Martian bears, particularly if they wear hats and/or ties.
• Mark's log for Sol 261 ends with one to Welcome Back, Kotter regarding the rage-magic rocks created by Starlight during the crew's primitive scream therapy session: "Dear Mr. Kotter, please excuse Mark from analyzing evil magic rocks. He is allergic. Signed, Epstein's Mother."
• After the ponies tell him the tale of Twilight Sparkle and the Alicorn Amulet, Mark Watney puts a warning to humanity in the mission log:
  For you or me, the day a stage magician shows up with real magic power and forces the town to kneel before his/her might would be a turning point in our dreary little lives. For ponies, it’s Tuesday. Bear this in mind if you’re tempted to make diplomatic threats.
• Starlight names the charmed gazebo in their first D&D campaign "Mister Darcy".
  Mark Watney: Don't ask me how the gazebo got named Mister Darcy. I haven't got a clue, and I was there when it happened.
• When Dragonfly emerges from her cocoon on Sol 287, the anonymous smart-ass(es) at JPL adding their two cents via Pathfinder chat, respond to demands that they identify themselves:
  [17:38] JPL: I am Spartacus.
  [17:39] JPL: I am Spartacus.
  [17:39] JPL: I am Spartacus.
  [17:39] JPL: I am Groot.
  [17:40] JPL: I am Brian and so is my wife.
• Starlight has a bolt-unfastening spell used during replacement of the Amicitas lead-acid battery.
  The only problem was, we had to temporarily repressurize the pony bridge for the spell to work, because, according to Starlight, it wouldn't be "sonic enough" otherwise.
• What would a stranded astronaut who is also a huge fan of superhero films name a sapling sprouted off a tree grown on another planet? What do you think?
• As the departure date closes, Mark and co. decide to give names to several areographic feature around the Hab. Many are whimsical.
  • Eight nearby gullies are given names of dwarves. (7 from Disney, plus Tyrion.) Mark notes that additional names can be drawn from Tolkien.
• During their last night before setting out for the Ares IV MAV site, the equestrians have uplifting or profound dreams. Mark, on the other hand, gets "Attack of the Killer Potatoes".
• During the trip to Schiaparelli, Dragonfly reports that the RTG is "saying", "Good night, mortals, good work, I'll probably kill you in the morning."
• Sol 494 ends like an episode of The Waltons would with the Amicitas crew saying good night to each other. Mark mumbles, “G’night, John-boy" when they're done instead of joining in, prompting a Big "WHAT?!" from the others and an annoyed Spitfire saying, "Good night everybody!"
• As preparations for the Hermes rendezvous proceed, Maj. Martinez mentions that no-failure instrumentation is something of a Holy Grail.
  Cherry looked at Starlight. "What's a grail? And why would anyone want one full of holes?"
  Starlight shrugged. "I'm not sure," she said. "All I know is, it has something to do with naming a man after a dog."
• Mark’s reaction/rant when informed that he had been selected to lead the first mission to Equestria is reminiscent of Hawkeye Pierce's declaration regarding carrying a firearm. He calms down when he finds out that the trip won't involve spaceflight.

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