Shout Out / Manehattan's Lone Guardian

• One of Sapphire Shores' songs is the same one the Question was humming while breaking into a secure facility.
• The nightclub where Alexandrite meets the Midnight Castle leaders is called the "Lonely Heart". Its ownership is stated to be superior to that of the "Broken Heart" nightclub.
• Two of the journalists for the Manehattan Minutes are confirmed to be expies of Aya Shameimaru and Dave Barry, and a column written by the latter has most of his hallmarks (referring to a term as a good name for a rock band, a Brick Joke or two at the end of the column, referring to a fan as an 'alert reader', and his statement that he isn't making something up).
• Buried Lede's resemblance to J. Jonah Jameson gets played up after Gray claims he was taking pictures of Drama's spider mane (a giant wig).
• The song that Drama Heart blasts Leviathan with is Nightwish's "Storytime", with the lyrics altered to fit the backstory of her Burning Salamandra persona. To-wit, the chapter the shout-out features in is called "A Limitless Chest of Tales", which is named for a lyric from the song.
• On several occasions, Leviathan denies that her relationship with Zero qualifies as a "murder-crush", which was used by Cell in Dragon Ball Z Abridged to describe Android 16's obsession with killing Goku.
• Gray somehow taking away the Pyre's stairs (and grounding Leviathan) alludes to this exchange from Ed, Edd n Eddy.
• One exchange between Gray and Leviathan ("Equish! Do you speak it?!" "...What?") is a reference to Pulp Fiction, albeit a loose one.
• In a brief fit of mischief, Leviathan Foot Dives into a random pony's swimming pool.
• Gray's furious slashing at the end of her duel with Leviathan is another one to MVC3 in the form of Wolverine's Berserker Barrage. The selected music for this scene is meant to drive it home.
• While napping, Gray mumbles nonsense about a "fishy fish dish" and her "favorite chapter", both of which reference Yuumi.
• One scene between Leviathan and Drama has the latter giggling over something that she was told, with Levi insisting that it wasn't funny and Drama erupting into full-throated screechy laughter in response. The chapter notes stated that this was a reference to this scene from The Lion King (1994), with Levi confirming it during "A Running Gag Continues".
• When Levi imitates Drama's laughter, Cadance claims that she sounds like a deranged clown. Aside from it referring to the Joker, this is also a shout-out to readers who read the above scene and claimed that they started imagining him in their minds.
• "I told you, Fairy. I told you about those stairs."
• Gray Ghost's habit of referring to herself as a humble housewife when she's actually much tougher makes her sound like Izumi Curtis.
• Several blatant ones are made to X-Men (1992), when Gray describes an encounter she once had with an in-universe version of Magneto at one of Celestia's galas ("Alas, they were mistakes, not magnets"). This doubles as a reference to a real-life event involving Magneto appearing on a TV screen while a group of fans were singing "At The Gala".
• During the first appearance of Cocoa Mocha's agents, they speculate as to why the room they're meeting in is completely dark. One of them guesses that it's done because Mocha likes hearing others hit their legs on the furniture.
• From Caramel Mocha's inner monologue in the chapter Sabotages Tin — "if 'being behind the eight ball' means being in a precarious situation, 'being behind the nine ball' would mean supporting a moron, and I don't want the expression coined with me in mind." What's the connection between nine-balls and morons, you ask?
• Gray hums her own iteration of ZZ Top's "Sharp-Dressed Man" while donning her old S.M.I.L.E. suit.
• In the aftermath of the prison breakout, two of the thieves help the masons rebuild the cells while citing a lack of anything else to do, and saying that the cells would be rebuilt whether they helped out or not. This is meant to refer to a similar scene in Support Your Local Sheriff in which a criminal helps install new bars in the local jail.
• The hint Levi finds that helps her access the Institute's basement reads "Press X to doubt."
• Trifecta's packing Genos's Incineration Cannons during his fight with Levi, even announcing their usage with the word "Incinerate."
• This line from Leviathan towards Metallium mirrors Aladdin's statement to Jafar after he was turned into a genie:
  "You wanted to eat me? You got it—and everything that goes with it!"
• Maverick and Magnum, the two thieves that side with Leviathan to work off their parole, are named for roller coasters at Cedar Point, Ohio, USA.
• During the "1st Anniversary" one-shot, Fiver jump-scares Caramel Mocha for the express purpose of giving her a map to the Pyre, a la the Map Bot.
• Bossa Nova's segment in "Thank You, Miss Exposition - Part 2" indicates that her gym teacher in her homeland was the local iteration of Rekka.
• Illudere, due to her insanity permitting her glimpses of the fourth wall, is a fountain of these.
  • She briefly sings her own version of "Do You Hear the People Sing", though she gets cut off a few lines in.
  • When she screams, she sounds like Serpentine.
  • Early on, she briefly hums Michael Sembello's "Maniac", altering the lyrics to fit Celestia.
  • Her attempt at escaping entrapment by working her way through a vent system calls to mind Withered Chica. She even delivers one of Chica's "Game Over" quotes upon escaping.
  • She quotes the Talking Heads song "Burning Down the House" in a conversation with Ignition.
  • In the moments leading up to the start of her battle with Levi, she references AC/DC, It (1990), the "U MAD?" meme, Isaac Asimov, Dragon Ball Super, Sledge Hammer!, and Beetlejuice in quick succession, then tops it off with another Withered Chica quote.
  • During the battle, she runs through Daffy's attack sequence from Robin Hood Daffy. Like with Daffy, it backfires on her at the end.
• Leviathan's reaction to the Luminous Cruelty is taken from For the Man Who Has Everything. Illudere even name-drops the story afterward.
• The chapter title "Shine Aqua Illusion" directly refers to one of Sailor Mercury's attacks, though the content of said chapter is more mean than magical.
• One of the drones that Coffee-and-Cream and Drama face in "The Calmest Waters" is explicitly modeled after the Class 1 Driller from Descent, with the machine gun swapped out for rapid-fire magic bursts. It also possesses the same unearthly high-pitched shriek.
• In "Gray's Analogy", the dream that Leviathan wakes up from has her in Gregory's place while encountering FNAF: Security Breach's Giga Monty glitch.
• One to The Princess Bride is found in "Buggin'", when Gray respectfully tells Bushwhacker that she'd hate to kill him, and the latter in turn tells her in the same tone that he'd hate to die.
• "Get back, you eight... legged... freaks!"
• MRPD Chief Pine Grove, between his stern-looking face, telling someone to "Cut it out", and Fiver's statement that he looks like the kind of pony who would take you out for a mint, is a fairly obvious reference to Cosgrove from Freakazoid!.