Shout Out / The Conversion Bureau: The Other Side of the Spectrum

If there is one thing The Conversion Bureau: The Other Side of The Spectrum can give us, it would be the loads of pop-culture references. For convenience, all references are grouped by the stories in which they appear.

Main Story

• "The Human"
  • When Lyra tries to infiltrate the Ponyville hospital Marcus is being held in, she's almost thwarted by a smart guard. Didn't see that coming.
  • Marcus calls Lyra "the pony who said 'no'."
  • Before her day got interrupted by the human's arrival, Twilight Sparkle was settling down to read Daring Do and the Fallout Quest.
• "Memories"
  • Pinkie Pie mangles a quote from Disturbing Behavior, which itself is a quote from "Another Brick in the Wall" by Pink Floyd;
  Pinkie: "Hey, brony! Leave that mare alone!"
  • Ambassador Lyra saved many lives when she used the HMS Thunder Child to distract the attacking Salvation Army.
• "Monsters"
  • During the news conference that kickstarts the war, Queen Celestia tells humanity "We are the harbingers of your perfection."
• "The Answer"
  • PHL!Trixie, the Blue Spy, shares a codename with a certain French spy working for a united league of builders.
  • Every time Trixie destroys an enemy base, she leaves a note and a very familiar looking emblem◊.
  • The Blue Spy leaves a mocking note for Celestia that ends with a bomb countdown, which has to be read to detonate.
  • The sight of Imperial Equestria's rapid industrialization brings up a quote from Charles Dickens' Dombey and Son to Trixie's mind.
  • During her fight with Focus Ray, Trixie keeps being reminded of the climatic swordfight between Hamlet and Laertes. Looks like somepony's acquired a taste for classic human literature.
  • Trixie's retrieval team is led by Doctor Whooves piloting a new TARDIS, which is a big blue box like the old one, except that it's modeled on a New York phone booth with the phrase "Wild Stallyns R Xcellent!" graffitied onto it. Plus, the mechanics of its travel through space and time are said to work according to the "Brown-Schaeffer-Cooper-Hofstadter" principle.
• "Consequences of Conflict"
  • Cheerilee is escorted to a conference by a soldier named Adrian Shepard.
  • Cheerilee mentions a spell having been cast on the Miskatonic Leyline.
  • The Great Equestrian and potioneer ships are able to spray potion clouds. The Great Equestrian airship was also destroyed by a "Fujin missile".
  • The U.S. President is named Jack Davis.
• "Sanguine Meetings And Bloodied Past"
  • The Griffon Queen is named Hedwig while the King is named Tobias.
  • The King of Dragons is named Spykoran. And just like in that story, Spykoran is a grown up Generation 1 Spike, and is the grandfather of FIM Spike too.
  • When the Solar Tyrant launched a decapitation attack against the resisting nations (the one that claimed Marcus's brother's humanity), the Prime Minister of Japan was named Rokubungi.^note -Prime Minister Rokubungi is named after Gendo. Yes, that Gendo. The fact that he served in the "Strategic Self-Defence Force" further hints to it, since that particular branch is fictional and plays a role in the original series anime. For those questioning the connection, just look up Gendo Ikari's "maiden name".
  • Marcus used to have an Uncle Danny and Aunt Molly. And as it turns out, they were those Danny and Molly.
  • "Yes. 'Swooping' is bad."
  • "What did I miss? I just got back from a world where humanity is a space faring one, and is about to face off against large metal cuttlefish armada."
  • During his travels Discord meets Sirius Black, Bender and picks up a Naruto kunai.
• "The Writes of Passage":
  When Applebloom looked deep into [Applejack's] eyes, all she could see was a hoof smashing down on a pony's face, forever and always, ad infinatum (sic)...
  • Ambassador Lyra's Final Speech is nothing but one long extended homage to Charlie Chaplin's famous monologue from The Great Dictator.
  • In the non-canon version of the chapter, the Scribe appears to Pipsqueak in golden armor and a laurel wreath, a God-Empress.
• "Pushed To The Limits"
  • One of Discord's titles is "Lord of Change". He also mentions getting shot by Catachans during his travels]].
  • Marcus describes the Bag of Tirek as a "knock-off of the One Ring."
• "Knell"
  • "Bitches Love Cannons" is taken from Hellsing Abridged.
• "Strike"
  • Discord's battle cry before facing Queen Celestia...
  Discord: The Wheel of Fate is turning.Heaven or Hell! Let's Rock!
  • The teenager that dies in front of Cheerilee is named Jean Kirchstein]].
  • Stephan refers to Celestia as "wanting to create ultimate despair." Considering one of the editors added a quote from Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann, this is not a coincidence at all.
  • In his travels through the multiverse, Discord found Angel Arms, guns that get more accurate the longer you fire them, and shotguns that shoot walls of explosive shot. He eventually settled on a version of Ezio's wrist gun loaded with a Bullet Bill.
  • Luna uses the Mind Delve spell to get into Twilight's mind.
• "For Whom The Bells Tolls"
  • The name of the bloodiest chapter in the story? "For Whom The Bell Tolls".
  • Luna finds a book made of human skin on a journey to the center of Twilight's mind.
  • The abandoned library that is Twilight's mindscape is inspired by Metro 2033 and Alan Wake.
  • Kraber mentions torturing someone for fifteen hours, in response to the disappearance of his son and daughter.
  • Kraber refers to the Element Bearers as being "civilians who happened to be able to shoot a magical rainbow of friendship, justice, and cupcakes and stuff." He also yells "TASTE MY JUSTICE!" before unleashing lots of dakka on the Bearers.
  • "It's there, but it's faint, like it's mingling within the rest of her. As if someone sewed magic fibers into a piece of clothing."
  • "Un sekai nerahma safah!" is a transliteration of one of the spells that Prince Aikka would use to activate his magic arrows in Ōban Star-Racers.
  • The "thaumoemotive indicator", or sense-sifter, is a dead ringer for the sense-sifter found in The Edge Chronicles.
• "Trust"
  • Kraber sure does like to use the word "Fok!" a lot, doesn't he? Combined with his murderous insanity and South African slang, it's very reminiscent of both Wikus and Kruger, two Ax-Crazy South African characters played by Sharlto Copley.
  • Kraber says "With all due respect, sir... finishing this fight."
  • Button Mash likens the Blitzer ETR railgun he and the characters of the Starvation side-story are delivering to the M6 Punt.
  • Luna refers to Queen Celestia as the "Tyrant Sun," immediately before a mention of a "corona". It could be coincidental, but Princess Cadance is a descendant of Luna's in this story.
  • Kraber calls his shotgun revolver Margaret, which is short for Maggie.
  • Kraber's MG2019 LMG is a descendant of the "F3-Thunderlord" project. The F3-Thunderlord, by the way, was described as having an unfortunate tendency to explode or electrocute the user-both of which are dangers of using Destiny's Conduit F3 rifle and Thunderlord machine gun.
  • One of the projects submitted as a countermeasure against the Barrier was Project Sunflower. It's never mentioned what exactly it entails, yet it's definitely Awesome, but Impractical.
• "Sons of Legacies"
  • Rainbow Dash's father is named Prism Flash.
  • Celestia and Luna mention having known a reindeer named Elsa when they were foals. She makes a full appearance later on.
  • Discord mentions the "Doom Song" when he has to extract Sombra out of Marcus. Needless to say, failing in this could spell disaster...
  • Marcus's Battle in the Center of the Mind goes absolutely crazy with references;
    • Littlepip makes a cameo, wielding at least nine weapons including a revolver that looks a lot like Little Macintosh.
    • Discord finds a woman who Mercy Killed a room full of wounded with a 10mm Steiner-Bisley Zenith.
    • "Step one: separate your lips. Step two: use facial muscles to pull back corners of mouth. Step three: widen your eyes. This is how to be happy." Which comes immediately after Discord saying "No, that is not a smile!"
    • The Newfoals say "Why do you attack us? We are your flesh..."
    • Characters that appear in Marcus' mind thanks to Discord include;
    • Deadpool
    • Samurai Jack
    • Kaldor Draigo
    • Uzumaki Naruto
    • Sirius Black
    • "King" Arthur
    • Megan Williams appears as well, wielding that same rifle.
    • Mr. Torgue appears in Marcus's psyche, wielding a Torgue Ravager.
    • The fake Queen Celestia in Marcus's mind gets hit by Optimus Prime, then gets blasted by Gipsy Danger and Godzilla after a "pulse check".
    • Marcus and Discord's mental beatdown of Sombra, particularly lines like "I want my world back, you son of a bitch!", are reminiscent of The Princess Bride.
    • The Count counts seven punches being delivered to Sombra.
    • Marcus then yells "USELESS USELESS USELESS!" while beating Sombra up, which is the English translation of "MUDAMUDAMUDA!"
  • After the Crystal Heart turns Stephan and Luna crystalline, and he comments on the hairstyling effect, she mentions that the king or queen who altered the Heart to allow it wasn't well-liked by the Crystal Empire's hair-stylists. Stephan is also annoyed that he looks like "those stupid Twilight vampires".
• "Training Days: First Days"
  • Discord removed every Chuck E. Cheese's and Freddy Frazbear's Pizza in his recreation of New York City.
  • Several characters including Isaac Acevedo sing the theme song to Firefly.
  • The alternate history novel Acevedo references is clearly 1632.
  • Sint Erklass' "branch-like antlers" are modeled after the White Stag from Snow White & the Huntsman.
  • When Luna speaks about Catseye, she comments that "her theories are the worst kind of popular hype, her methods are sloppy and her conclusions highly questionable..."
  • Someone on Earth made a Filk Song of the theme for Blazing Saddles as a tribute to Lyra;
  "She wore a blazing saddle!
  She played a golden lyre!
  Her song called forth to battle!
  All good folk near and far!"
  • The use of shadowy ghosts is inspired by Metro 2033, right down to the crashing subway train. Although the crashed train takes on a tint inspired by The Empty Child, capped off with the line "Are you my mummy?"
  • Elsa, Sint Erklass's granddaughter, is named after that Elsa. She even use the line "let it go!"]]
  • "No, that was not a smile!"
  • One Newfoal "evangelist" is named Sol Invictus.
  • The Solar Empire is compared directly to The Terminator with this quote;
  Sint Erklass: "This is an evil that cannot be bargained with. It cannot be reasoned with. It does not feel pity, or remorse, or fear. And it absolutely will not stop, ever, until all that breathes is a slave, chained and bound to its twisted will."
  • Elsa's past hosts include her sister Anna, and other does with names similar to Aelita, Azalyn and Katara.
    • In a further nod to Avatar, Elsa's current host, Lel, is described as a nomadic orphan with an arrow-marking on her forehead.
• "Training Days: Second Month"
  • When Dr. Grimnebulin asks Prime!Twilight if any other species besides ponies could theoretically wield an Element of Harmony, Twilight becomes transfixed on the "formidable notion" of Sint Erklass or Elsa being able to do so.
  • The vision of Ambassador Lyra in Catseye's dream says this to Jacqueline Reitman;
  "You're such a sad, strange little woman, Jacqueline, and you have my pity."
  • Jacqueline Reitman claims that humanity is doomed without the ponies' intervention. Her Freudian Excuse also is directly modeled after Colonel Kurtz's anecdote from Apocalypse Now.
  • A military officer named Captain Price is mentioned by Cheerilee.
  • The codenames for the Reindeer orphans are Lilo and Stitch.
• "Woven Within Details"
  • Discord quotes Bill Cipher just before he passes out from Tatzlwurm poisoning.
• "The Board is Set"
  • In keeping with the usual stream of Frozen references, Ana Bjorgman is essentially Princess Anna as a sniper.
  • Sergeant Jaka is that Sergeant Jaka.
• "Converge"
  • The pure energy released by PHL!Vinyl's music fills Noteworthy with determination.
• "In The Pale Moonlight"
  • This story arc is named after the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episode of the same name, with a similar theme of the heroes being forced to make very morally ambiguous choices.

A Sun in Winter

• Lilja (Norsk for Lily) is a green-eyed silver doe with motherly instincts
• We are finally introduced to Elsa's long deceased sister, Anna, who serves as the main character.

Joy to the Worlds

• Sint Erklass' assassin uses a sword made of orichalcum as a weapon.
• Sint wonders this in his last moments:
  'You whom I called daughter... how can you have come to hate me so...'
• There are four Reindeer siblings named Eadmund, Lucie, Zusan and Pyotr in the story.
• Frost Wind's brother Winter Truce is named after the Christmas Truce of 1914.
• Frost's mother is named Snowdrop.
• There is a grouchy, green, Hearthswarming-hating pony named Crumpit. The assassin even suggests renaming the mountain she fought Sint Erklass "Mount Crumpit" after him.
• Elsa the Snow Maiden had a sister named Anna, the Fire Maiden, whom Sint Erklass couldn't save.

Light Despondent

• The very title is a reference to the Biting Elbows song of the same name.
• Part 1: "Equcrux/Riding The Gallows-Horse"
  • The title itself references one of the stories in The Thackery T Lambshead Cabinet of Curiosities, the Gallows-Horse.
  • The mention of the woman placing a speaker to her ponified son's stomach and claiming to hear thin, reedy weeping from it is a reference to another short story from the same book.
  • President Jack Davis is actually referencing the internment of Japanese-Americans during World War II when he mentions "May 3, 1942".
  • Kraber's dialogue when gate-crashing PHL propaganda, in which he says "Tomorrow, you can do what you want. But for now, you. Are. Listening! You are going to do this. I'm not even saying please" is reminiscent of Paul's Dare to Be Badass speech in Kraken.
• Chapter 1: "The End/The Beginning"
  • The title references the song The End, by The Doors, which famously played over Apocalypse Now.
  • On that note, the chapter is peppered with quotes from Heart of Darkness.
• Chapter 2: "Nowhere To Run"
  • There's mentions of John Peters. You know, the brewer.
  • Johnny C's first words upon seeing Aegis were "Good God they're making them big nowadays! Don't they know there's a gas crunch? Look at the size of you...!"
  • The idea of an HLF member letting ponies hidden in the trunk of a car is reminiscent of the Conversion Bureau fanfic 'Checkpoint.'
• Chapter 3: "City of No Palms"
  • Kraber mentions cutting someone apart and disassembling them alphabetically, with a quick mention that "'A' is for 'Amygdala'."
  • Kraber is also referred to as 'Saint Guillotine'.
  • This slaughter is brought to you by Ammunation.
  • Kraber has the song Bad Motherfucker by Biting Elbows playing in his head.
  • "I'm gonna track down your grandparents and turn them inside-out, nobody can stop the blood train that will turn your loved ones into a red splatter across the tracks of humanity!"
    • Actually, Kraber quotes Krieg pretty frequently, up to and including mentioning "Psychopathic purple liquid."
  • "Make way for Scharnhorst!"
• Chapter 5: "Burn my Shadow"
  • The title comes from the song of the name name by UNKLE.
  • Part of Kraber's reasoning for why he tried to eat his roommate is "It wasn't what it looked like! He had mescaline in his balls! It was self-defense!"
  • The title comes from the song Burn My Shadow, by UNKLE.
  • Kraber is a fan of Irvine Welsh, China Miéville, Jeff Vandermeer, and Joseph Conrad. He even ends up reading Railsea in his tent.
  • The mention of murdering monsters attacking you, only to find that they become human upon death is a reference to Metro: Last Light.
  • Kraber calls the dream-version of Pinkie Pie a "Two-bit Nui Harime ripoff."
  • There's a mention of the HLF as a "Serial Killer Epidemic"... and the name was created by one violent Scotsman named Francis Begbie.'
• Chapter 6: "Toothpick"
  • Verity Carter dons a turned-back baseball cap in a nod to her namesake, Verity Carlo, from IDW's Transformers comics.
  • The mobile rig is called the Sorghum.
  • Kraber mentions a "Mexican flash animation he loved as a kid, the one with the smileyfaces and the giant robot clown."
• The sky is referred to as being "the color of a television tuned to a dead channel."
• Chapter 7: "Dope Fiend Massacre"
  • "Save my posterior!"
  • Continuing with the theme of the references to The Scar, there's a collection of boats named 'Winterstraw Market'.
  • A completely out-of-nowhere reference to Vaporwave, seapunk, and normalcore appears... with Kraber pointing out he doesn't understand it.
  • Kraber once cosplayed Sweet JP from REDLINE.
• Chapter 8: "[[Sunset City / God Bless Us Every One"
  • The chapter's title is a double reference to Sunset Overdrive and A Christmas Carol.
  • Kraber says "DO NOT INTERRUPT MY BEING INGENIOUS!" in reference to the HLF ignoring him when he made good points.
  • Apparently, Kraber (and another HLF member named Elena) are fans of Deus Ex: Human Revolution.
  • Victory, Kraber's incredibly irritating hallucination, ends up channeling Charles Dickens' Christmas Carol in this quote;
  "You're actually making it easier for Her Majesty by reducing the surplus population!"
  • Apparently, Epic Wub Time is canon, judging by Vinyl's dubstep dishwasher appearing.
• Chapter 9: "My Self-Defense Catastrophe".
  • The chapter title is still a reference to The Light Despondent. The Biting Elbows song, anyway.
  • "My ass is everywhere."
  • "Come with me if you want to live."
  • Kraber's attempt at a Scottish accent, self-identified as from Leith is a shout-out to Irvine Welsh. Francis Begbie in particular.
  • The incident with two HLF robbing a shoe store in the chaos of a riot is based on an actual event.
  • Before kicking ass, Kraber mentions that he's going to "practice medicine."
• Chapter 10: "Philistine"
  • "Captain, the Borg have adapted."
  • "There's something on your face! IT WAS PAIN!"
  • ""I wish someone would turn me off and just... fix me"
  • Reaper, the proto-Pretty Private that Kraber fights, is Margaret Moonlight from No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle in newfoal form, from start to finish.
  • Kraber says of getting shot that it "Stung like a bakvissie with teeth in her beef portal."
  • "Look behind you. I said, look behind you."
    • Worth pointing out that it's not the only Silent Hills reference in there - Kraber's nightmare also blends in elements of it.
  • "Blood for the blood god, skulls for the skull throne!"
  • Kraber manages to ask "Do I look like a bitch?" in Afrikaans.
  • Your name is Viktor Kraber and you give up.
  • Miliardo from G-Wing?
  • Kraber mentions Goss and Subby. Unsurprising, given his love of China Miéville.
  • “I was only being polite about your eyes! They are weird! Now you FOKKING LISTEN TO ME! YOU WILL NOT CHANGE MY HOMETOWN! YOU WILL NOT CHANGE MY FRIENDS! AND YOU WILL NOT CHANGE, OR FIX, OR DO ANYTHING AT ALL TO MY WIFE, MY SON, OR MY LITTLE GIRL!”
  • Part of the format of Kraber's fever-dream in chapter 9 is a shoutout to 'In the Hours After Death', found in Ambergris.
  • For some reason, Kraber ends up reading The Lorax to the pony he was torturing.
  • Oddly enough, some of Kraber's nightmare (Somebody with an out-of-place face writing 'I am in hell, help me!' and Newfoals repeating a Madness Mantra of his potential fates) is reminiscent of Bravest Warriors.
  • ... And then there's a crossover with The Avatar of Albion, in which Spectrum!Kraber briefly inhabits the mind of Albion!Kraber.
  • One of Celestia's alternate names is Corona.
  • One alternate Kraber is reminiscent of a Chaos Space Marine.
  • And then there's some choice words from the Dark Avatar.
  There is no such thing as innocence. Only degrees of guilt.
  • Victory, Kraber's irritating newfoal hallucination, says he'll be "Untainted by morality or conscience!” Kraber doesn't approve of it.
  • ORE WO DARE DA TO OMOTTE YAGARUUUUU KIIIICK.
  • Most of Kraber's nightmare can probably be considered a Shout-Out to Bioshock Infinite, considering the quote at the top.
  • The emphasis on Wake Up is reminiscent of Cities in Dust.
  • "Breed-Model" is, according to DoctorFluffy, a Shout-Out to Twilight's Monster.
  • Yael says "Hundreds now to save millions later!"
• Chapter 11: "Busy Earning"
  • The title is Busy Earnin', named after the Jungle song of the same name.
  • There's plans mentioned for a medic named Dorde Zivkovic who has the power to resurrect the dead.
  • "We solve practical problems!"
  • The mentions of Dradin and Nepenthe are reminiscent of the story 'Dradin, in love' from Ambergris by Jeff Vandermeer.
  • "Just don't be distracted by the what-ifs, should-haves, and if-onlys. The one thing you choose yourself - that is the truth of your universe."
  • Johnny C refers to weaponry and tech through the same quality system as the Borderlands series - white, green, blue, purple, orange, pearlescent, seraph.
  • "Do you feel like a hero yet?"
  • "I’m choosing life, the fokkin’ big television and all.
  • Kraber's alias, Francis Strang, is a portmanteau of Francis Begbie and Roy Strang.
  • Apparently, both Sixstring and Kraber are fans of Trigun.
  • A (fan-made) sound clip of Purple Man being crushed to death appears in Gestalt's broadcast.
  • There's graffiti with a skyliner that has the words "Buck Celestia Up The Plot!" and "Who'd go near that?" written on it.
  • Cheese Sandwich's info from Sixstring is reminiscent of Gatsby's:
  They say he's second cousin to Celestia and just as wicked...
• Chapter 12: "Golden Light"
  • The title is a shout-out to a song by Vylet Pony, who Fluffy went to the trouble of asking to use the song.
  • "Who chooses the fokkin hair on these things?!"
  • Kraber apparently wants Moxxi's Vibra-Pulse. Doubles as Call-Forward when you consider that the Vibra-Pulse is a Lightning Gun.
  • "It wisnae a family so much as a genetic disaster."
  • Kraber bursts into tears during a screening of Wolf Children, and yells "It's just like my life! ... In a way."
  • Ambassador Lyra misquoted Martin Luther King in a manner similar to The Luteces, saying "I may reach the mountaintop, but I fear I shall never visit the valley below."
  • Kraber reads the opening lines of Un Lun Dun to Amber Maple.
  • Kraber does not fuck horses. He makes sweet love to them.
• Chapter 20: "Kill The Cooks"
  • One HLF man says “But… if the future lies only in the imagination of God, why would he reveal it to such a-”
  • Apparently, Kraber has been charged with "a really crappy attitude."
  • Kraber makes a Cluster F-Bomb and Amber Maple asks if he's done "illustrating the diversity of the word."
  • "DO NOT OFFEND THE BASEBAW BAT OF TRUTH, FOR IT IS WISE AND TERRIBLE!"
  • Oddly enough, it actually gets averted - DoctorFluffy jokingly states that the chapter has absolutely nothing to do with Too Many Cooks.

Last Train From Oblivion

• The first half of "Pilgrim's Progress" is a huge reference to Bioshock Infinite. The dialogue of the Elements is very reminiscent of the Luteces, and the chapter even ends at a lighthouse on the coast of Maine.
• "A Tale of Three Cities"
  • As for historical shout-outs, Iron Kreme-Brulee is a reference to Isambard Kingdom Brunel.
  • The HLF "Special Forces" unit, the Thenardier guards, are named after the Thenardiers.
  • The train's locomotive, Canadian Pacific number 9782, was used to play Train 777 in Unstoppable. The author has openly admitted to picking the locomotive as a bit of vehicular Celebrity Casting.
• "Bloodstained Sketches of a Small Town"
  • It's loaded with references to Edgar Allen Poe's The Raven.
  • Queen Celestia continues to be referred to as a "Smiling Goddess."
  living as one under the unrelenting love of our smiling Goddess...
  She could not stop smiling inside. And her smiles seemed better, fuller, wider. What point was there in resisting?
  • The theme song to RWBY is used to drive at least one Newfoal crazy.
  • Jean-Eric and Tess quote the (in)famous lines "Your mother was a hamster and your father smelled of elderberries." in French.
  • Evidently, Verity was pretty pop-cultured before getting ponified, judging by her mention of "the Decepticon Justice Division."
  • One pilot uses the callsign "Chupathingy."
  • The commander of the Thenardier Guards is named Atlas Dagney Galt. Doubles as a Take That!, as Fluffy and TB3 have no nice things to say about Ayn Rand.
• "Mercy Among the Children"
  • It turns out that Galt's aide is named Andre Rianofski... which, for those of you that played Bioshock, happens to be Andrew Ryan's name before he anglicized it in America.
    • And yes, they do say 'Would You Kindly'.
    • Continuing with the theme, Galt's helicopters are codenamed Rapture and Columbia.
  • Galt's homebase Elsinore is named after the principal location of Shakespeare's Hamlet.
  • "Just guard this thing like its the Ark of the Covenant, glowing briefcase, or some damn Maltese Falcon..."
  • We see Jean starting that song from Blazing Saddles.
  • The author's habit of 'casting' real trains that have been used in various movies continues with locomotive 1810, which appeared in both Runaway Train and Under Siege 2.
  • Room 101 appears.
  • Claire and Laura each use one of the firearms from Hellsing.
  • Private Sugarcane is apparently full of 'oneirochromatophores'.
• "Lost in Dispatches 2"
  • Verity Carter's mother, Jazmin, is revealed to have been a comic book artist who has worked on comic adaptations of Transformers and Milky Way and the Galaxy Girls, as well as Wonder Woman, Supergirl and Teen Titans.
  • An ex-HLF member writes a book calling the Conversion War The Salvation War.
  • Crowe Laboratories are shown to have hired the services of a firm from NYC to do some esoteric research on the totem proles. Turns out that they're the Ghostbusters.

Europe Side-Story

• It is mentioned that unicorns are known to turn human firearms against their shooters.

Asia Side-Story

• Chapter One: "From Bad To Worse"
  • When Porter and Yon-Soo first meet Hyong-Jin, who is pointing his rifle at Yon-Soo's head and is threatening to kill him, Porter says this:
  "I'd like to see you try, rookie. You don't even have the safety turned off."
  • Another Nineteen Eighty-Four shout-out occurs when Porter asks Hyong-Jin upon first meeting him if he would believe the Great Leader if he said that "two plus two equals five".
  • Word of God states that the original pony character Firebrand is based (mostly in looks) off of Firebird from The Conversion Bureau: Conquer the Stars.
• Chapter Five: "When The Metaphorical Crap Hits The Fan"
  • The two older Russian soldier side characters are named Khan Aitmatov and Melnik.
  • When Yon-Soo jumps on top of a pegasus Royal Guard, the guard tells him, "Get your filthy paws off me, you dirty ape!"
  • As the guys are escaping from an overrun St. Petersburg, Hyong-Jin tells Yon-Soo (who is driving their escape vehicle), "Must go faster, must go faster! Go, go, go, go!!"
  • Porter notes that the Solar Empire's Assimilation Plot would "make the Kybermenschen look fiercely individualistic."
• Chapter Six: "Recovery"
  • During the drive from St. Petersburg to Nizhny Novogorod, Hyong-Jin and Firebrand kept asking Are We There Yet? on occasions just to amuse themselves. Yon-Soo subsequently makes a mental note to himself to limit their viewings of The Simpsons.
  • Khan claims that shooting unicorns in mid-spell causes their energy to burst outward in a small explosion, which makes him think 'Oh my God! They explode! My life has new meaning now...'
  • A cheap Russian copy of a .44 magnum?
  • The descriptions of the "Mercy Ships" from Equestria, which land on the east coast of Equestria are almost identical to the Mercy Ships mentioned in the background of Perdido Street Station. Especially the part about taboos involving waterburial being overthrown, which is nearly word-for-word.
  • Hyong-Jin drunkenly sang something from Milky Way and the Galaxy Girls (which is actually a TV series in the Spectrum-Earth universe) off-screen.
• Chapter Seven: "A Melody of Flames and Frost"
  • The chapter's title is reminescent of A Song of Ice and Fire.
  • After listing every function of Adam Jensen's cybernetic arms in Deus Ex: Human Revolution, Melnik abruptly decides he will name his new arm Musselback.
  • The process of Firebrand creating his fire tornado move is lifted from Far Too Loud's "Firestorm".
  • Interestingly, Comet Tail, the pegasus filly whom Yon-Soo and his comrades save from the HLF, shares her name with a unicorn mage from Chatoyance's own stories. It should probably be read as a subtle Take That!, though, since she quickly befriends them despite having witnessed human cruelty firsthand.
• Chapter Eight: "Don't You Worry Child"
  • The chapter is titled after the song by Swedish House Mafia.
• Chapter Nine: "A Journey To The East"
  • The chapter's name is a flipside of Journey to the West.
  • Comet and various PHL soldiers are almost certainly watching Guardians of the Galaxy (2014) at the beginning of the chapter.
  • Many Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann references are thrown with regards to Melnik's prosthetic arm (which has a drill function), up to including a Giga Drill Breaker attack.
    • Speaking of his arm, it turns out Melnik is also a fan of Masamune Shirow's work.
  • "I have a really bad idea."
  • Aitmatov's attitude while sniping a potioneer ship (systematically firing at it while making "corrections" to what he's shooting) is reminiscent of this sequence from Snow Crash:
  Vic: "It's, like, one of them drug dealer boat. Five guys on it. Headed our way. (fires another round) Correction. Four guys on it. (Boom) Correction, they're not headed our way anymore. (Boom) Correction. No boat."
  • After the battle in Erenhot, the soldiers show a bunch of refugee children and pony foals Wreck-It Ralph and would've also shown them Big Hero 6 if they had more time.
  • One refugee/soldier screams, "It's game over man, game over!"
• Chapter Ten: "The Face of the Enemy"
  • The chapter is named after the Battlestar Galactica (2003) mini-episode series.
  • Comet starts singing Leonard Nimoy's "The Ballad of of Bilbo Baggins" to agitate an injured newfoal. She also asks if it's going to stop her by bleeding on her.
• Chapter Eleven: "Sunset City Is At War"
  • Named after a song from Sunset Overdrive.
  • Warlord Zhou's line, "Westerners, the sheer arrogance." is lifted directly from a line of dialogue from Kali in Supernatural.
    • Keeping with the Supernatural shout-outs, a very subtle one is employed towards the end of the chapter when Comet expresses a belief that the team has a guardian angel watching over them. Kizuna Tallis fantasy cast Misha Collins, aka Castiel the angel, as her father Gale.
  • Porter states he "volunteers as tribute" for the Blood Tigers' fighting pits.
  • HLF member Lan worked in a factory making Milky Way and the Galaxy Girls toys.
• Chapter Twelve: "The Horizon Is WEIRD"
  • Zhou gets killed by Captain Jack Sparrow.
  • When Sergei blows up the Great Wall, it opens a portal that causes multiple pop culture figures to spill out. The whole passage is written like the bridge verse from The Ultimate Showdown of Ultimate Destiny.
  • Rick and Morty appear and offer the Dragons the chance to escape their broken universe. The broken universe part itself is a small shoutout to the Pony POV Series.
  • Rick compares Tirek to Darkseid.
  • Aquamarine calls Sergei the Drax to her Mantis after they break up and decide they're Better as Friends.

Starvation

• Isaac Acevedo name-drops countless Cyberpunk works that he likes, including Elysium.
• One of Acevedo's best friends is a doctor who repairs wings in his spare time. His name? Isaac Dan Der Grimnebulin.
  • And, also in a reference to Perdido Street Station, the later chapter "Trust" mentions thaumaturgons.
• Acevedo thinks that coastal walls are ineffective, and owns Klip Killa riot armor.
  • It's also nicknamed a "rental riot suit", a reference to the Biting Elbows song Rabid Red.
• Our narrator is not too impressed at corporate policy towards Newfoals:
  Acevedo: "You don't force people who hate you to work for you as slave labor! Especially not people who think your very existence is an affront to existence of their 'Goddess'! Whose idea was this?! Armacham?! Weyland-Yutani?! Umbrella Corporation?!"
• Richard Ides is listed as one of the heroes of the Conversion War.

The King's Speech

• The characters found in the bar are named after the characters from The Avatar of Albion, another anti-Conversion Bureau fanfic. It's unlikely that John Constantine (in this fic) is actually Hellblazer though. This time, anyway.
• Angus Reid refers to the HLF as being "all yammer and no hammer."

Case Files

• Chapter 1:
  • Kraber actually does have family in South Africa. Who are they? Richard and Helen Pretorius! Richard's newfoal form is even identical to the one found in that fanfic.
  • The opening paragraph mentions that humanity was "looking in the wrong direction" for alien life.
• Chapter 2:
  • Dr. Ernst Kasparek says the PHL should do this to the PER's founder:
  "Whack that evil whore for all the crap she put the world through, you've got to rip off her head and piss in her skull!"
  • The FBI agent that interrogates Reitman is named Mamjudar Whitman, which is a reference to Peptuck's fanfic Forward. Of note is that in that fanfic, Whitman is an expy of Handsome Jack, and the Spectrum-verse version of Whitman is even heavier on the similarities. He has similar mannerisms, and quotes that one threat from Borderlands 2 about people "dying as [he rips] their lungs from their chests." He even had a daughter named Angel, whose death at the hands/hooves of the PER drove him to almost psychotic levels of hatred.
  • Captain (then Chief Warrant Officer) Rebecca Kleiner, when describing the Battle of Washington D.C. says: "This ain't war, but the breaking of seals. The undoing of life itself."
  • Yet another Perdido Street Station reference – the members of the PER were described as denouncing their humanity in a "in a fit of lunatic self-loathing".
  • Another Perdido Street Station reference appears later on in the story – the exchange between two Americans and "Mikhailovitch," which is reminiscent of the interrogation of Vermishank:
  Mikhailovitch: "You can't torture me, you bastards–"
  American Male Soldier: "Fuck you. You're the PER agent. We have footage of you in maternity wards dousing babies with ponification serum. Babies, for fuck's sake! Now... answer the questions or we will really make you regret the day your mother gave birth to your worthless existence."
  American Female Soldier: "Possibly both."
  American Male Soldier: "See, that's the thing. We can torture you, and no one really would raise a stink about it. Not like how it was a decade ago."
  • Dr. Kasparek claims that the things he made for the PER looked like they were made by the Orokin.
• Chapter 3:
  • Senator Patrick Goleman appears at least twice, just as paranoid and obstructive as his namesake.
  • One of Lyra's books is "Laconic's An Argument For Humanity and Against Catseye," which sounds rather like an in-universe book from Ambergris, Lacond's An Argument For the Gray Caps and Against The Evidence of Tonsure's Eyes.
  • Aegis got "four inches of cast-iron steel in the conk. Still there."
  • And, upon being blown up in a car bomb, he claimed "I found myself that boom. It was like a sign from Luna."

Adrift

• The Interviewer is rather perplexed by the existence of Sherclop Pones. Doubles as a Call-Back and a Celebrity Paradox.
• According to Stellar, the conversion process was viewed as the human equivalent to a Time Lord's regeneration initially.
• Stellar randomly mentions humanoid robots in St. Paul's Cathedral.
• The crew runs into a detective at the scene of the car bomb. He introduces himself as William Scott, part of Sherlock Holmes' full name in the BBC show. This same detective is in fact that version of Sherlock.
  • The missing missiles are part of the Bruce-Partington Project.
• The man who called the Mamayev Kurgan introduced himself as Nick Fleming, and the company he works for is Dee Enterprises, both nods to The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel.
• The drunken crew-member who attacked Resolute is named Nikolai Belinski.
• Viktor mentioned a run-in with two SAS members, who sniped off his boss' left arm.
• Two of the Antarctic's base unseen personnel are named Eddy and Andrew, the same names as two major characters from The Conversion Bureau: Not Alone.
• When the original interviewer takes leave, Stellar decides to fill his boredom by singing "Take Back the Night" made by CaptainSparklez, said to have become a popular resistance song in radio broadcasts.

Calm Before The Storm

• It was written by Doctor Fluffy. Of course there's going to be Shout Outs.
• Chapter 1:
  • By Doctor Fluffy's admission, the format of the first chapter (first-person narration for the first segment, second-person for the second, etc) is a reference to Jeff Vandermeer's book Veniss Underground. He has also promised a later reference to Balzac's War, a short story in that book, claiming that it's oddly similar to a Conversion Bureau War Fic and saying he will "exploit the hell out of that." And exploit he did.
  • Shining Armor refers to playing "shadowtrot" in high school.
  • The slang term "Uptimer", used by the ponies for referring to their counterparts) is taken from 1632.
  • Photo Credit, an (unseen) unicorn journalist and photographer, makes two:
  "We have met the enemy and he is us."
  • And he also calls Imperial Equestria "a nation ruled by a terrible... 'perfect'... smiling goddess. Look inside yourself. Celestia. Look around. Celestia. Go to sleep. Celestia." On that note, elsewhere in the fanfic, several characters say "that is not a smile!" in reference to Newfoals.
  • Apparently, both instances of Octavia can kick ass, implying that the fanmade animation Once Upon a Time in Canterlot is canon in this universe.
  • While meeting her uptime counterpart, Vinyl assumes she's being impersonated by a shapeshifter and says "Whichever of us is real, I'm awesome the way I am!"
  • The Perdido Street Station references continue, with Button Mash saying that in Imperial Equestria it was "as if the night air had gone bad. Gone rancid, even."
  • Button and Acevedo reference the upcoming movie made by Biting Elbows, which is going to star Sharlto Copley.
  • PHL!Vinyl mentions a "28-year old Czech guy" she invited to her party. The joke being that as of 2014, Vinyl Scratch's youtube channel is run by a 21-year old Czech guy. She also makes references to loving Skrillex, Daft Punk, Deadmau5, and Lindsey Stirling.
    • As an inside joke, Vinyl also references Trance producer Markus Schulz as among her favorite artists. Schulz is also known in trance circles as the "Unicorn Slayer" due to his usage of darker, heavier beats in his music (as opposed to fluffy, feel-good types of beats in other subgenres of trance).
  • The song My Roommate is a Bassist is an actual song made by YourEnigma. They even link to it at the end of Vinyl's segment.
  • Pinkie Pie loves Kill la Kill, Rainbow Dash becomes a fan of Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann, and Spike gets into Avatar: The Last Airbender. He also tells Twilight to check out Sailor Moon because the Sailor Senshi remind him of the Mane Six.
  • The photo "The Migrant Mother of the 21st Century" is a reference to the Depression Era photo called "Migrant Mother" by Dorothea Lange.
  • Prime!Pinkie claims that Queen Celestia is "ironing out all the wrinkles so everyone thinks it's smooth!"
  • Another shout-out to All-American Girl (Shinzakura) — Lyra inwardly mentions a pony named Catseye, who derides humanity as little more than warmongering savages. "Catseye" is, of course, the English word for Chatoyance.
• Chapter 2:
  • One Newfoal shows an obsession with "reaching his full productive potential".
    • Another refers to having "killed [her] imperfect self".
  • The writing style of The Worst Day Of Your Life (and descriptions of Hoofington in general) is heavily inspired by China Mieville. It even mentions rockmilk. At some point, you have to wonder if Doctor Fluffy can help himself.
    • He really can't.
  • The outfits of Newfoals in Hoofington ("fine, patched bowler hats, a poorly-fastened tie, a wool jacket over a white worker's undershirt") sound a lot like Badger's outfit in Firefly.
  • The "Skye Engine" is a reference to an artist that Doctor Fluffy likes, named Engineskye. On that note, it has a pink, blue, and purple sign, all three of which are colors that Engineskye is known for using.
  • It takes place in a dystopian, dirty Hoofington.
  • Kraber is shown to have randomly carved "Nuts!" into a Royal Guard pony with a very large knife, in a reference to General Anthony McAulife's infamous response to a request to surrender.
  • Fancy Pants' segment make mention of Spatters, which has an origin almost identical to the origin of Spatters in Perdido Street Station.
  • Certain plot elements, such as Fancy getting involved in an event concerning airships, or the presence of a magical artifact capable of momentarily draining the magic from a pony as powerful as Celestia, are reminiscent of The Flight of the Alicorn.
  • There's a mention of an inverted Want-It Need-It spell used to make ponies more unnoticeable.
  • "It's this war, Fleur. The feeling that it's all unavoidable. It makes me feel so powerless. So impotent."
  • Amongst the Newfoal servants whom Fancy ends up fighting is a white unicorn with a red-and-black mane.
  • A rather subtle reference to the Explosive Overclocking found in Dragon Ball Z:
  ...enough that thaumic classifications were useless and would, in all likelihood, reduce ponies to grasping thaumoemotive indicators in their mouths or telekinetic fields, screaming madly about the impossibly high readings while crushing their instruments.
• Chapter 3:
  • Thaddeus Crowe's nickname is Rusty.
  • Coal Embers is explicitly a ponified version of Ryuko
  • The recording device used is referred to as an accu-vox.
  • Thaddeus mentions "having to arm people with a Graviton Beam Emitter."
  • "DEAR CELESTIA IN EQUESTRIA I CAN TASTE MY OWN MELTING FLESH!"
  • "OH CELESTIA, EVERYTHING'S ON FIRE! ESPECIALLY THE PARTS THAT CAN'T BURN!"
  • "MY EYES! I CAN'T SEE MY EYES!"
  • "FUEGO, PYROFUEGO! BURN!"
  • Predictably, there's yet another Perdido Street Station reference, where Erika Kraber (Viktor Kraber's mother) states in her study on the newfoals that, "They have been drunk. Their thoughts have been taken, their dreams—their conscious and subconscious—have been drowned under the potion. There is nothing left to save. There is nothing to get back," is reminiscent of Vermishank's explanation of dreamshit in the novel.
  • Virtually all of A Story About Them is a reference to Welcome to Night Vale and Jeff Vandermeer's novel Veniss Underground.
    • The one part that is not, however, is likely the part where the unseen narrator essentially describes the ending of The Conversion Bureau: Not Alone as one of the things people hoped would happen.
  • Obayana's kalashnikov is jokingly referred to as an "AK-FU."
  • When discussing how time travel works, Doctor Whooves tells them not to think about it too hard, as it will only give you heartburn.
  • Kraber makes two references, comparing the Tyrant to the Smiling God from Welcome to Night Vale (and joking that the only reason he did is that he didn't hear Cheerilee doing it) and parroting Prime!Pinkie Pie's saying that she's "ironing out all the wrinkles so everyone thinks its smooth!"
  • Thaddeus Crowe: "I can't help it! Someone's wrong on the internet!"
• Chapter 4:
  • "Sixty-Two?! It's not possible!"
  • The name "Fragnum" comes from Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel!.
  • The tesla weaponry was added in homage to District 9. Though according to Fluffy, it's also an homage to The Order: 1886, as he was trying to make something like the Thermite Gun... but with lightning.
  • Erin Kimball's quote is a reference to Armageddon (1998). She is also somewhat of an Expy of Terry Knox.
  • Kraber asks, "Have you seen my heliotrope?"
  • Touchdown looks like a ponified Travis Touchdown.
  • The 'Rainmaker' grenades are a reference to the Rainmaker, an obscure Dummied Out weapon from Borderlands.
  • Kraber's new shotgun is explicitly compared to one of the weapons from the Syndicate reboot.
  • One of the HLF pistols is called a Lolife.
• Chapter 5:
  • "John Crossley" is an expy of the character of the same name from Finch, outright quoting one of the same lines from that book:
  "I feel like I'm waging a guerrilla war of engineering. I would build it, someone would smash it."
  • A weapon inspired by the ZX-1 makes a short appearance.
  • Enitan yells "TODAY, WE ARE CANCELING THE APOCALYPSE!"
  • The stuffed wolf Kraber owns is named Ambassador Nikai the Second, a reference to Nikai, an 'ambassador wolf' from the Wolf Conservation Center in New York. Here he is as a puppy. HE'S SO ADORABLE!
  • It's even lampshaded - one of the things Kraber thinks Cheerilee is mad at him for is "Making too many references to Welcome to Night Vale."
  • "Even the gods can die, motherfokker!"
  • "I wish someone would turn me off and just... fix me."

Shades of the Unsung

• The rumors behind Rockwell's imprisonment include that Rockwell either killed a stallion with only his left hoof or robbed a bank using only a quill.
• The Warden of the Crystal Empire gulag makes a reference to an urban legend of a haunted manor in the Crystal Empire.
• Pinkie Pie's homunculus is modeled after a fanart that fused Pinkie with Foxy from Five Nights at Freddy's. Found here◊.
• Rockwell finds a propped up corpse of a human, with a Bewfoal bursting right out of its chest.
• Pinkie Pie's split personalities, Pinkamena and Little Pinky, are based off the Pony POV Series' Reharmonization side story "One Whole Pie".

The Other Side Of The Mirror

• Wolf Children is mentioned twice. According to DoctorFluffy, the reason for this is because it "made water come out of my eyes..."
• Like her counterpart, PHL!Comet loves Wreck-It Ralph.
• Prime!Stellar Wind becomes a fan of The Beatles.
• PHL!Comet is revealed to have gained a heart-shaped shield for a cutie mark.

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