Shout Out / The Flash Sentry Chronicles

The Flash Sentry Chronicles series contains a lot of references to other series and franchises.

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• Flash's backstory is similar to that of Aladdin, in that they both started out as homeless boys living on the street alone and forced to steal food to survive, before they met a girl they fell in love with and their lives changed for the better. The first chapter of the series is even called "The Diamond in the Rough", a title Aladdin himself was referred to.
• While fighting Nightmare Moon Flash says “A knight never flees his foe. Right?”
• Lightbringer’s design is based off of the Supermega Saber from Power Rangers Super Megaforce.
• When Springer wonders how Poison Joke would have affected him if he weren't immune to it, Flash jokes that maybe it would have turned him yellow. This is a reference to how Shiny Riolu's in Pokémon are yellow.
• Flash defeating Shake Shocker in "Shock and Awe" is a reference to how Spider-Man defeated Shocker in The Spectacular Spider-Man.
• At the end of "Suited for Success" when Rarity forces Flash's suit on him, he can be heard screaming from outside, including "That is not gentle, that's the opposite of gentle! Brutality, thy name is RARITY!", and tells her "I swear, I've received beatings more gentle than one of your fitting sessions." afterwards. The same thing happened to Silver Quill in his "Radiant Rarity" review.
• The Fantasia Festival arc at the climax of Season 1 has many similarities to the Fighting Festival arc from Fairy Tail, with Lightning Blitz and his friends playing the roles of Laxus and the Thunder Legion.
• During Flash's battle with Lightning in "Equestria's Harmony" Flash says to Lightning that he has something worth living for.
• When Discord examines himself with a doctor clone of himself, "Doctor Discord" at one point tells him he has "constructed enough pylons".
• Discord creates several plant monsters that resemble Blossommon.
• Before fighting Flash and Springer, Discord answers a phone call and says "If it's not broke, I can break it." A play on the motto used by Thugs-4-less.
• Disord mocks Flash and Springer by saying "I'm shaking in my custom, baby seal leather boots".
• Discord creates a bomb that has ACME writen on it.
• Flash taunts Discord during their fight with a "The Reason You Suck" Speech, causing Discord to have a Villainous Breakdown. This resembles the climactic fight in Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker.
• The Running Gag of Springer having illusions of a "yellow electric rat" is an obvious reference to Pikachu, the mascot of the Pokémon series.
• When it is recommended Flash see a therapist, Dr. Wolf, a MLP Analyst, is almost name dropped.
• The Speed Stingers share their name with dragons from the How to Train Your Dragon series.
• During their camping trip Flash and Springer run into a creature called a "FlufflePuff".
• In "It's About Time" Flash and his future counterpart both state they know the consequences of creating a time paradox thanks to the comic books they read like Cyborg-Hoof and Metapool.
  • From the same chapter, when their future counterparts appear Flash asks if this is the part where one of them faints.
• In "Hurricane Fluttershy" during Fluttershy’s training Iron tells her "Do or do not. There is no try".
• When Springer shows off his new move "Steel Paw" Flash says that it looks like a metal claw.
• In "Wonderbolts Academy" whenever someone says "go beyond" Pinkie Pie suddenly shouts "Plus ultra!" in response, a catchphrase in My Hero Academia.
• In "Magic Duel" Pinkie Pie tries to sell Applejack a flank scratcher.
• When helping Ruby fight Banshee and Electra, Flash makes the same joke that The Flash makes when helping Supergirl fight Silver Banshee and Livewire, that they should "settle this like women".
• In "Just for Sidekicks" when Spike starts rubbing his cheek against the jewel that Fluttershy offered him, Springer comments that if he starts calling it "his precious" he's outta there.
• The chapter "The Mission" has several similarities with the Power Rangers episode "Forever Red".
• The Doom Quartet’s introduction is similar to The Ginyu Force’s first appearance.
• Grand Hoof's catchphrase "Now, count up your sins" is the same as Kamen Rider Double's.
• When Flash defeats Toxic with one blast from his Celestic Gear, Toxic moans out in disbelief that he was beaten in one hit, similar to a scene from The Last: Naruto the Movie.
• The battle between Grand Hoof and Doom Raizer has many similarities to the battle between Shifu and Tai Lung.
• Doom Raizer shouting that Flash's Celestic Gear belongs to him, and Flash challenging him with a "Come get it!" resembles a moment between Kylo Ren and Finn in The Force Awakens.
• Doom shouting at Flash "Do you ever SHUT UP?!" in anger, and Flash replying "Sorry, but no Doomy. My fans expect a certain amount of quipage in every battle." is similar to an exchange between Doc Ock and Spider-Man in The Spectacular Spider-Man.
• The Mighty Leviathan’s cannon is called the "Mega Blaster".
• In “The Tree of Harmony” while Iron is fighting off the "Plundervines" Discord gives him the same cheer Genie gave to Jafar.
• When Lightning is helping Doctor Time Turner with one of his inventions, Time Turner calls it the Mag-U-Lator three thousand and one. He claims that he had a three thousand model, but it was stolen by an unknown intruder, who only left behind a silver feather quill.
• While reading by herself Twilight says "What fools these mortals be".
• The chapter "Kamen Pony" is an obvious reference to the Kamen Rider series in general.
• In "Daring Don’t" after Springer falls out of a tree, he responds with "I can’t feel anything below my eyebrows".
  • In the same chapter, when Twilight reminds Rainbow that she was the one that introduced her to Daring Do, Flash asks if anyone else is getting the urge to yell "continuity" in front of some fireworks.
  • Flash exclaims “D’oh!” after accidentally telling Ahuizotl about his friends.
  • During the temple fight Flash does something similar to the speed mirage.
• Springer experiencing a continuous hour long loop in "Jakhowl-Day", and everything he does and experiences in each loop, is similar to the situation Zari experienced in "Here I Go Again".
  • From the same chapter, just before he’s killed by the explosion a second time Springer says "Mama Mia, here I go again".
• The attempts used to try to get Flash to activate his mysterious powers in "How to use your Flash Sentry 101" are similar to when Avatar Aang tried to enter the Avatar State.
• While underwater on the Mighty Leviathan Applejack sees a school of Salmon swim by and form into an exact replica of the boat's shape.
• Discord dresses up like Bob Ross during "Detective Discord".
  • From the same chapter, When Flash asks Discord if he can travel back in time a fez appears on his head.
• After Flash asks Discord to look for prints, Discord soon says he "found the prince" while holding a very confused Prince Blueblood.
• Discord’s response to Flash’s outburst is similar to Del’s rebuttal from Planes, Trains and Automobiles.
• After catching the culprit Flash offers Discord a "hoof bump" while saying "Pound it".
• One of the commentators for the Equestria Games is EqSPN.
• When Springer feels the cringe of Spike's botched anthem through the aura, he says "I felt a great disturbance in the aura, as if thousands of voice cried out..."
• In "Twilight's Kingdom Part 1" Flash and the Royal Knights briefly sing "I Can Go The Distance" from Hercules with a few modified lines.
• When Discord appears to the Mane Seven he calls Springer "Danial-san" after he does a couple of karate moves.
• Sunset talking to Twilight about her relationship with Flash is similar to Heather talking to Astrid about her relationship with Hiccup in Dragons: Riders of Berk
• The Whole-Plot Reference from The Forgotten Darkness is based on the final arc of the Yu-Gi-Oh! anime.
• When the Cutie Map first appears Springer wonders if its a really life-like game of Risk.
• Flash and Double Diamond's exchange over where Flash hid the Staff of Sameness is based on a scene from Tangled.
• The motivational talk Twilight gives to Flash at the beginning of “The Knight of Friendship” is similar to the talk Astrid gave to Hiccup in How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World.
• The song that Twilight and Flash sing in “The Knight of Friendship” is “Show Me The Light” from Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer.
• When battling in his rematch against Cold Steel, Flash asks Cold, if the only way to save Equestria was to let half the citizens die, would he do it. This is similar to Thanos's plan to save the universe in Avengers: Infinity War, by killing half of all life.
  • Flash also states that "Equestria isn't the land the ponies live on, but the ponies themselves", similar to Odin's lesson to Thor in Thor: Ragnarok, that "Asgard isn't a place, it's a people".
• One of the traps Iron sets up in "Castle Sweet Castle" is some swinging paint cans.
• Several references are made in "Ramen, Rain and a Hint of Romance":
  • The neighpanese ramen stand introduced in this chapter is based off Ichiraku Ramen from Naruto.
  • While on their date, Flash and Twilight watch some rain from under a tree and watch some fireflies later. These scenes are based on moments from Bambi and Lady and the Tramp II: Scamp's Adventure respectively.
  • While splashing in puddles together, Flash suddenly falls into a particularly large puddle and stays under for awhile, before suddenly coming up from a completely different puddle and asking "Where was I?" upon emerging. This is based on a scene from the Scrubs episode "My Way Home".
• Lightning's meeting with the princesses in "Lightning's Fate" has him answering several yes and no questions, until he slips up at the end and accidentally answers "yes" to a bad question, followed by him trying to correct himself only for the meeting to end with that. The same thing happened to Salem the Cat once.
• "Building Bridges" has a plot similar to the Land of Waves arc from Naruto, with Gold Hoof being an expy of Gato.
• When the Canterlot mobs try to storm Princess Twilight's chambers in "Princess Spike," Flash points out how treasonous said act is, a point that is also raised by Silver Quill in his "After the Fact" review of the episode.
• Lightning Blitz mentions one married couple he met in Applewood while he was traveling Equestria, who are described a lot like pony versions of Roger Robbit and Jessica Rabbit.
• In "Party Pooped," Yakyakistan briefly declares war on Equestria, a development that Iron Core and Lightning Blitz hardly take seriously, thinking about how lopsided the conflict will be, considering that Equestria has the power of the Royal Knights, four alicorns, Discord, and Flash's Sacred Light. This references Silver Quill's "After the Fact" review of the same episode, who brings up the same point as Lightning.
• When Grand is participating in a game of Bingo one pony keeps saying "You sunk my battleship".
• In "Do Princess's Dream of Magic Sheep" when talking about the "smoke monster" Flash says that sounds like some throwaway plot device for a mystery show.
• Rainbow Dash spots a poster for "Smash Fortune" in Shining Armor’s room and even sings his theme song along with Flash and Lightning.
• In "Scare Master", after falling down a hole Wild claims he can’t feel his hooves only for Lightning to tell him those are his legs.
• The threat that Ruby gives to Hiveena in "Time for a Changeling" is similar to the threat Katara gives to Zuko.
• The evil Flash Sentry’s speech to Twilight and his plan to get rid of every Flash in the multiverse is similar to Wolf Spider’s from Ultimate Spider-Man.
• In Equestria Girls: Friendship Games, Ruby mentions that Flash enjoys watching crime shows like Murder in Paradise and Midsummer Slaughter.
• Tempera’s drawing ability is similar to that of Mora’s from Power Rangers S.P.D or Sai’s from Naruto.
• Cold tells Searing Salix in their first fight "I'm not sure if you've ever been in a fight before, but there's usually not this much talking."
• During Trixie and Terror Card's fight in "All In The Cards", Trixie's declaration against Terror is like when Deku fought Overhaul.
  Terror: Don't be a fool. I already told you how this ends. You lose and master Shadow will defeat your friend, earning us the orb!
  Trixie: You're wrong. Even if it's already been decided, even if it's set in stone... I'LL SMASH THAT FUTURE!
• During one of their fights Armalum tells Ruby to "Let the hate flow through you".
  • Shadow Corruptor also says “No...you will die” later in the story.
• The way Wingill steals the Pearl in his flashback is similar to how Indiana Jones swipes the golden idol from Raiders of the Lost Ark.
• Storm mentions that the creature Tempera created for Armalum reminds him of an old horror book he read but can’t remember the name saying it was probably “Slim Pony” or “Thin Pony”.
• The final fight between Flash and Shadow includes a link to the song This is War, up until Flash's sword breaks and the song is cut. This resembles Kirito's fight with Kayaba in the season one finale of Sword Art Online Abridged, which used that same song for its opening and fight sequence.
• During their fight Flash tells Shadow that his story might not have such a happy beginning, but that doesn't make you who you are. It is the rest of your story. Who you choose to be, that defines you.
• Shadow and Armalum trying to steal Faust’s power is similar to the finale of Bakugan: Gundalian Invaders.
• The lie that Rarity, Lightning, and Flash tell Sweetie Belle, that Shadow sent everyone in Weeping Wood Hollow "to the Shadow Realm" and now that he is beaten they should be waking up and continuing their lives, is based on the English dub of Yu-Gi-Oh!, which used the "Shadow Realm" to censor any instances of death.
• When going over the three rules Fire Heart must remember as a Royal Knight, Flash tells him the first rule is "always be afraid", the same Rule #1 from Trollhunters.
  • Similarly, Heart saying "nailed it" after tripping on a treadmill and slamming into a wall is a reference to Transformers: Rescue Bots Academy.
• When Fire Heart wonders what Flash Sentry and his friends are doing in Ponyville, the scene cuts to Flash, Iron, Lightning, and Grand drinking apple cider and blankly staring at the citizens walking around town, referencing King of the Hill.
• Shopumon is a reference to Pokémon and serves as its counterpart in Equestria. An unnamed racing game that is played later bears resemblance to Mario Kart, with a blue carrot being used in-place of a blue shell.
• Button Mash gets some "Sunshine D" for a drink, a reference to Sunny D. His dialogue even mimics an old Sunny D commercial.
• Button’s Mom gets a pizza from Mr. Domino, a reference to Domino's Pizza.
• Button Mash complains that girls ruin video games and is upset over how Sweetie Belle caused him to waste 6 hours for nothing. This refers to Button's Adventures which featured a "deleted scene" to "Hearts and Hooves Day".
• Flicker gets his name from the main character of the Blazing Dragons cartoon.
• When Twilight asked Flicker how he saw through their disguises, he tells them "That part is simple. You see...I'm not an idiot." This is the same explanation Kirito gave in Sword Art Online Abridged when asked why he didn't believe a fake ghost story.
• Heart, Soul, Ace, and Mira play Forbidden Island at the end of "The Next Generation of Aura".
• The chapter title "Fluttershy's Marvellous Medicine" is based off of George's Marvellous Medicine.
• Pinkie pulls out a scouter when looking for some sunglasses for Rogue and says it can tell power levels. She says she isn't allowed to tell what Flash's power level is though, due to "legal reasons".
• During "Applejack's Day Off" Rarity says that Applejack works to hard and brings up the saying "All work and no play" followed by Sweetie Belle saying "Kinda makes her sound like a dull pony".
• The town Blinkermane being divided in two between the stallions and mares, and the residents acting like stereotypes of their gender, resembles the The Fairly OddParents! episode "Love Struck!" which did a similar thing but to the scale of the entire planet instead of a single town.
• In "Flutter Brutter", Iron calls Zephyr Breeze "Hoofleberry Finn".
• Heart mentions a comic that Rumble lent him about a pony that uses armor to fly and fight crime, a reference to Iron Man.
• The Loucarcolh design and use of vibrations and tunnels to hunt are similar to Graboids and capturing its pray in amber cocoons is similar to the Death Song.
• Discord uses a Captain America styled shield to block Shining Soul's magic.
• Fluttershy's speech to Cold Steel in "The Most Dangerous Flame" about always trying to help others because it is "right, decent, and above all it's kind," is similar to a speech that The 12th Doctor once gave in The Doctor Falls. A much more direct version of the same speech was later said by Flash in "Keeping Your Guards Up".
• During “Following the Grand Script”, Starlight tries to come up with ideas to help Grand and Solid Script make up only to have Heart shoot down her ideas with her responding “So easy to condemn, so hard to create”.
• After Starlight comes up with a new plan Heart responds with “I have a bad feeling about this”.
• The chapter "Pizza Pi Party" is a Whole-Plot Reference to the Transformers: Rescue Bots episode of the same name. Pinkie Pie even name drops Cybertron, the home planet of the Transformers, in the chapter.
• Hiveena shooting Ruby with magic to save her from a thug, then pretending she wants to join him, and Ruby's reaction to the supposed betrayal all resemble a similar scene between Silverbolt and Blackarachnia
  Hiveena: That was a diversion. I was trying to get him away from you.
  Ruby: You shot me!
  Hiveena: If I didn't, he would have sliced your head off!
• When Shining reprimands Hard Sell for attempting to kill Flurry Heart over what she might become when she gets older, he says that for all he knows, his assassination attempt could be the trigger that turns her evil. This is similar to The Last Jedi, when it was revealed Ben Solo turned to the Dark Side due to Luke Skywalker attempting to kill him in his sleep for the same reason.
• The design for the mystery villain in “The Trial of Flash Sentry” shares some similarities to Darth Vader.
• The “Trial-F’s” design is based off of Pyrus Helios MK2.
• When the “Trial-F” first arrives in Ponyville Heart calls it “Mecha Flash”.
• Iron comments how it is easy for someone to get Flash's DNA since he "leaves it all over the place" and then clarify himself. Just like Amanda Waller explained how she got Batman's DNA in "Epilogue"
• While fighting the “Trial-F” Rainbow declares that she’s gonna “rock him like a hurricane”.
• The bugs that steal the DNA of the Royal Knights are similar to the ones used by Dr Gero to steal the DNA of the Z-Fighters to create Cell.
• Hiveena's line "Even if I'm good, I'm still bad." after she transforms into her metamorphosed form is the same line said by Blackarachnia after she becomes a Transmetal 2.
• The way Iron, First, and Heather tease Flash about his crush on Twilight is similar to how Manny and Sid tease Diego.
• When Flash rescues Timber in "Stand for Everfree" he tells Timber "You're not pretty enough to save twice." This is the same thing Spider-Man said to Flash Thompson after saving him once.
• Flash's outfit after he ponies up with the girls in Legend of Everfree resembles a Dark Blue version of Deku's.
• The plot of Dragon's Awakening, involving characters being transformed into dragons, was inspired by Sgt. Frog, specifically Super Movie 4: Gekishin Dragon Warriors.
• Malafear is based on Malefor from the The Legend of Spyro games, having a similar sounding name and even having some of the same abilities from the games.
• Just before Malafear steals a dragon’s elemental abilities he says "your soul is now mine".
• Grand Hoof defeating Big Score in "A New Threat Looms" is like how Spider-Man defeated Sandman in "Competition", by dumping cement on him. The two of them even exchange similar boasts.
  Big Score: Knowledge is power and I make it my business to know everything, meaning the true ruler of this city is me, King Big Score!
  Grand Hoof: Your majesty. Allow me to make a statue in your honor!
• After Number Cruncher's identity as Bomber is revealed, and Remarie is horrified learning of his actions, the exchange between Number and Grand is similar to the exchange between Anakin Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi before their duel in Revenge of the Sith.
  Number Cruncher: YOU TURNED HER AGAINST ME!
  Grand Hoof: You did that yourself.
• Scootaloo figuring out how to defeat Mecha-Heather, realizing that the only thing strong enough to pierce its armor is itself, is just like how Mr. Incredible figures out how to beat the Omnidroid in The Incredibles.
• While exploring the gem cave and the cavern Maud eventually makes her home, Fire Heart says it feels like the book Quest to the Center of Equestria, a reference to Journey to the Center of the Earth.
• When Springer is fighting the Quarry Eels he yells "Yippee ki yay!" before jumping onto one.
• Twilight calls the "Trial-T" a "faker".
• When dealing with a potential rogue dragon, Flash says they need to prepare in case it goes Desolation of Sluarg on Ponyville. Twilight later explains that Flash got that from a book.
• When Springer is sharing some of the incidents that the Mane 6 have caused around Ponyville he mentions one event involving a "double rainboom".
• Flicker is made the first official Dragon Lands Chronicler, which is also a title given to certain dragons in the Legend of Spyro games.
• The flashback segment of "The Princess's Apprentice", as well as the title of the chapter itself, is a Whole-Plot Reference to "The Sorcerer's Apprentice" from Fantasia.
  • From the same chapter Ace enters the throne room, wearing rubber gloves and a snorkel, after cleaning the bathroom.
    Ace: Okay, bathroom one is finished. The toilet's all clean, the bathtub's clean, the sink's clean... And can I just say that you ponies are disgusting?!
  • Flash's reason for not wanting to take swimming lessons with five year-olds, because "they can be cruel when they sense weakness" is the same reason Sonic gave in Sonic Boom.
• The chapter "Dog Stay Afternoon" is a Whole-Plot Reference to the Transformers: Rescue Bots Academy episode "Dog Stray Afternoon".
• When Flash is being hounded by ponies in "Fame and Misfortune" one pony says that in the next book he could get his powers from getting bitten by a radioactive insect.
• The chapter title "Let's Rev It Up" of Flash Sentry's EQG Chronicles is the same as Yusei Fudo's catchphrase from the English dub of Yu-Gi-Oh! 5Ds.
• The plot of "A Picture is Worth a Thousand Webs" is similar to one mission from Dragon Quest XI, where one character is kidnapping others and taking them to a Giant Spider monster that drains them of life. Fakes being left behind in their place also feels like Invasion of the Body Snatchers.
• Flash and Twilight do the "Say Fort" scene from Drake & Josh.
• When Flash is comforting Soul over not being able to save Camera Trap he tells her "if there's one thing I've learned from my job, it’s that you can't save everypony".
• Flash describing his life in "Triple Threat" as "surrounded by a bunch of complex characters and constantly thrown into heavily serialized adventures that always end in mind-blowing twists that make me question the basic tenants of my reality" is just like how Boimler described his brief duty on the Titan in Star Trek: Lower Decks.
• Flash, Twilight, and Spike finding a holographic filly and needing to repeat her rhyme and hopscotch to get out of a room is based on a scene from Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.
• The riddle bridge that Starlight and Trixie have to cross is based on a challenge from the game show Raven.
• The Platform Hell Auto-Scrolling Level challenge and Infinity Maze that Rarity, Applejack, and Lighting face is from the 12th season of Ninjago.
• Fluttershy, Iron, and Grand using an avalanche to defeat the simulation's army is the same thing Mulan did to defeat the Huns.
• The two-part chapter "Reinforcments From the Future" shares the same name as the two-part Power Rangers Wild Force episode with Power Rangers Time Force.
• The artifact that Tragus uses to travel to the past is called the "Time Stone".
• Flash and future Fire Heart have to travel through the Tunnels of Andor inhabited by giant rats called Wildren in order to stop Tragus.
• Ember makes a comment about how maybe she's not supposed to be Dragon Lord but was made that way because some idiot decided to travel back in time and stepped on a bug.
• When future Fire Heart entears his fire form he shouts “Flame on!”.
• Before future Fire Heart returns to the future he says “All my love to long ago”.
• When The Mighty Leviathan is trying to get through the “Seas of Doom” Iron says they won’t have anymore problems only for the ship to get caught in a current he responds with “The universe just loves proving me wrong”.
• When Iron Will says Soul doesn’t have much of a following she sarcastically says “yay me”.
• Rogue’s reunion with his mother, Echo, is similar to Hiccup’s reunion with Valka.
• "Uncommon Bonds" references "Taking Uncommon Bond Too Seriously".
  • Sunburst mentions "Love Language" the same way Firebrand does.
  • Flash quotes Silver Quill, telling Twilight "Oh really? I wonder where she learned that from. Miss want-it-need-it spell. Miss monitor everything. Miss blows her library home into the sky over a test. Miss pot calling the kettle black." after Twilight says Starlight has a tendency to overdo things.
• Flash stops Fire Heart from drinking some cactus juice, saying that he doesn't want to listen to Heart singing about how "quenching" it is. This is famously what Sokka did after he drank cactus juice himself in "The Desert".
• During Springer’s rousing speech to the group he says "But a trapper's trap can trap the trapper".
• One of the lyrics of Grand Hoof's and the Royal Knights' song to Fire Heart in Chapter 7 of The Movie is "Who lives, who dies, who tells your story", similar to the song of the same name from Hamilton.
• While fighting Armalum, Springer taunts him by saying "You’re too slow!".
• After the students fail Flash’s exercise he comments that “We've got a long way to go”.
• Flash's lesson on teamwork in "Flash Magnus" of having one partner navigate another through an invisible maze, and Fire Heart constantly getting zapped due to Ace's bad directions, are based on a similar exercise from Voltron: Legendary Defender.
• Wild’s idea that Maud would sculpt a pony out of clay and use a spell to bring it to life is how Wonder Woman was created.
• When Wild is trying to reason with Pinkie Pie after she learns Maud doesn't like surprise parties he shouts “You're forcing me to be the voice of reason, AND IT'S NOT A GOOD LOOK FOR ME!”
• Sky Beak tells Flash that with great power comes great responsibility.
• The game that Ace, Mira, and the Student Six play, involving dropping sticks from one side of a bridge and seeing which one makes it to the other side first, seems to be based on the game Poohsticks from Winnie the Pooh.
• Ace says that Springer always says "there's no point in being grown up if you can't be childish sometimes". A famous quote from The 4th Doctor.
• Ocellus makes up a fake story about female changelings laying eggs in their mate's stomach and bursting out of his stomach when they hatch.
• Spike describes his heartbreak over Rarity as a "beautiful sadness".
• Twilight's class at the School of Friendship includes a midterm on Of Mice and Stallions.
• Heart starts singing "On My Way" until Jaden shoves him into a log.
  • Parts of the travel montage also include some scenes from Brother Bear.
• The scene where Heart and Jaden are scared by Raisins in First Aid's medical facility before First Aid arrives and interrupts her is taken directly from Mighty Med.
• Springer describes Spike's molting smell as "if dead fish and a dumpster had a baby, and the baby puked, and a dog ate the puke and it smells like the rear end of that dog".
• Flicker explains the various stages of a dragon's life he uses the terms Egg, Tiny Tooth, Short Wings, Broad Wings and Titan Wings. These are the same stages as described in How to Train Your Dragon.
• When Spike and Twilight start talking after he gets his wings Soul shouts "Fight now, talk later!".
• The chapter "The Truth Shall Set You Flea" has a plot similar to the Sonic Boom episode "Flea-Ing From Trouble", where the villain infects the heroes with special fleas to stop them from interfering, with many of the gang's attempt to get rid of them being the same as Team Sonic's. Also, the Macguffin in the chapter, the Headband of Inner Truth, is the same headband from the My Little Pony: Pony Life episode "Bad Thing No. 3".
• When Smolder and Flash are paired up he calls them “Team Flash”.
• Many of the costumes throughout "Nightmare Night":
  • Big Mac and Sugar Belle dress up as The Big Bad Wolf and Little Red Riding Hood.
  • Similar to her previous costumes, Applejack dresses up as the "Tin-Mare" from The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, with the book even being mentioned. It was also stated she dressed as Dorothy the year before.
  • Rogue dresses as a Flying Monkey from The Wizard of Oz, and states that last year he dressed as a blind superhero, a reference to Daredevil.
  • Soarin and Rainbow Dash dress as Frankenstein's Monster and The Bride of Frankenstein respectively.
  • Silverstream dresses similarly to one of the Super Mario Bros., but wearing a Pink shirt with a cap with a S on it.
  • Yona dresses as a character called Gnawbacca, similar to Chewbacca from Star Wars.
  • Ace and Mira dress as Gallade and Gardevoir from Pokémon.
  • The Cakes family dresses like The Addams Family.
• During Wild's first day of taking over Pinkie Pie's class in "Yakity-Sax" he gets blown out into the hallway by Gallus playing guitar on a giant speaker, just like Marty McFly.
• "The Epic of Tempest Shadows" has several references to various treasure hunting adventures.
  • Flash's Failed Attempt at Drama, dramatically declaring "The trail... that we blaze!", followed by a montage of everyone following the map and the symbols on it, is a reference to The Road to El Dorado.
  • To access the tomb with the treasure, the group needs to pull two stones that have stars carved on them simultaneously, similar to the Dragons: Riders of Berk episode "Portrait Of Hiccup As A Buff Man".
  • Looter's tomb with all his treasure and magical relics is booby trapped to destroy the mountain it is part of if anyone touches the treasure, similar to how Captain Flint from Treasure Planet booby trapped his own treasure to destroy the planet if anyone tried to steal it after his own death.
  • Tempest's Friend-or-Idol Decision of trying to reach an artifact in the shape of a cup before it can roll off the edge as the chamber collapses around her before letting go of her obsession is similar to Indiana Jones trying to reach the Holy Grail in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.
• The food fight that Ace, Mira and the Student Six participate in during "What Lies Beneath" is a reference to RWBY. Also, the two flashbacks shown of a pillow fight and making book forts also serves as a reference to RWBY Chibi.
• When Jaden is traveling with Ruby and Sombra through the icy tundra outside the Crystal Empire he brings along a chocolate bar with him but discovers it's frozen solid when he tries to bite into it.
• The opening scene of "The Quest of Redemption Part 2" is a reference to the RWBY Chibi segment "Game Night", with everyone bored and Pinkie constantly hitting Springer on the head with a (rubber) mallet and him stating he has head trauma and can hear bells ringing.
• The Earth Golems using Amore's statue piece as a back-scratcher is similar to how in Quest for Camelot, a rock ogre used Excalibur as a toothpick.
• When Fire Heart is left alone with Autumn Blaze, he momentarily says "I need an adult," with her replying "I am an adult". This is based off a Running Gag from Dragon Ball Z Abridged, where Gohan says the former line with someone else replying with the latter line.
• In "School Raze", Cozy Glow claims that meeting Heart was a "happy accident" and he wasn't part of her plan, and her offering him a chance for her to knight him and eventually rule beside her as king, is similar to Patrick and his ex-girlfriend Sloane from Crossing Swords.
• In Chapter 5 of Jakhowls Rising, the last words Sirius says to his daughter before his death are "You...have your mother's eyes." This is the same thing that Severus Snape said to Harry Potter in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows before his own death.
• Springer being made leader of the Jakhowls has many similarities to Hiccup being made chief.
  Core: The chief...has come home!
• When Shroudheart prepares to brainwash Ruby Scarlet, he tells her "Welcome to the winning team," similar to what Knock Out told the amnesiac Orion Pax when he joined the Decepticons in Transformers: Prime.
• Flash's vision of his worst fear that he sees from Shroudheart's magic is based on Tony Stark's vision from Avengers: Age of Ultron, with him seeing the destruction of Ponyville and the dead bodies of his friends, and Scootaloo briefly springing to life and grabbing him while asking why he couldn't save them.
• Flash and Shroudheart's exchange before their fight in Canterlot resemble the one between Obi-Wan Kenobi and Darth Vader in A New Hope.
  Shroudheart: When your girlfriend beat me, I was but the learner. Now I am the master.
  Flash: Only a master of evil.
• In "Uprooted" when Ace asks why no one has fixed up the Castle of the Two Sisters Mira says that someone wanted to turn the place into their own private home and adding a skull to the top of it.
• In “Forest Therapy” Flash and Grand mention that Ponyville’s only therapist moved out to Coal Town to become an engineer
  • In the same chapter, while camping First says "All work and no play makes First a dull colt."
  • Jaden starts singing "Lollipop" while gathering firewood with Fire Heart.
• "The Point of No Return" has several references to Silver Quill's video on the episode:
  • Flash points out that Twilight's perfectionism mindset may be influenced by Canterlot itself since many ponies there seem obsessed with being perfect.
  • Flash goes on a passive-aggressive rant on the librarian that shames Twilight, saying she had a good reason to forget to return the book since she was saving Equestria from eternal night.
  • Flash remembers Luna mentioning Silver Shoals as a place Luna wants to visit after retiring, and mentions he is glad it isn't where Dusty's retirement home is since he doesn't think they need to move into a retirement home yet, only to change his mind when he sees how fun Silver Stable Community is and wants to retire there himself.
  • Flash wonders how different things would be if Twilight read the book before moving to Ponyville and avoided all instances of "Twilight-ing".
  • Derpy is named the new Best Book Borrower instead of Moondancer, with Flash commenting "There are many mysteries in this world that will never truly be solved. That mare is one of them."
• In "A Wild Family Reunion" when Wild’s mom, Ginger Snaps, asks if Pinkie Pie is sane Wild responds with "She’s just as sane as I am".
• Multiple moments in "She's All Yak" are references to the Beacon Dance arc from RWBY.
• At the start of "Sweet and Smokey", Flash and Heart are playing a card game called Dueling Creatures, a reference to the iconic card game Duel Monsters from Yu-Gi-Oh!.
• The opening scene of "Jakhowls in Equestria" of Springer teaching young Jakhowls how to learn Aura Blast by dividing it into three steps (Rotation, Power, and Control) is the same way Naruto learned the Rasengan.
• During “Going to Seed” Rouge gets caught in one of Applebloom’s traps and decides to “one hundred and twenty-seven hours” his way out. Thankfully Applebloom is able to stop and free him before he goes through with it.
  • Rouge also says “D’oh!” after stepping into another one of Applebloom’s traps.
• In “A Dash of Parenting Advice” the dialogue that Rainbow Dash, and Spitfire have before heading into the class is the same from Kung Fu Panda: Secrets of the Furious Five.
  Rainbow Dash: What's happening? Sounds like an army's doing battle in there! What, has the HQ been invaded? Who we dealing with? Rogue griffons? Sky pirates? Parasprite infestation?
  Spitfire: Be warned, This might be the toughest challenge you've ever faced. Greater than Discord, Sombra and Tirek combined.
  Rainbow Dash: Get ready to feel the thunder!
• Twilight, Iron, Flash, and Fluttershy are invited to come visit a group of archaeologists at the Temple of Animarium
• In “Lights, Camera, Infraction” Ocellus says a similar line to Bugs Bunny: "Oh dear...fine. I'll do it. But I'll probably hate myself in the morning."
• The chapter "Let's Do the Time Warp Again" serves as a Whole-Plot Reference to the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2003) episode "Timing is Everything".
  • When discussing time-travel, Pinkie Pie briefly dresses as Marty McFly, similar to how she did in "What About Discord?" when also discussing time-travel.
  • The extinct creature that is brought to Ponyville via a time portal and goes on a rampage is called a Kkraa, named after a prehistoric creature of the same name from Chaotic.
• In the chapter “Lingering Shadows” when it’s mentioned that the village that Flash and Heart are visiting has a problem with wild animals like lions, tigers, and bears Flash responds with “Oh my.”
• In “Growing Up is Hard to Do” one of the ponies Mira saves is a cream colored earth pony mare wearing a white and blue dress, red shoes and carrying a wicker basket with a dog inside.
  • She even has to ride a bicycle and a broomstick, the latter “Harry Trotter” style, to reach her.
• During the battle between Armalum and Faust, they exchange dialogue similar to when Darth Vader and Obi-Wan Kenobi fought in A New Hope, similar to how Flash and Shroudheart did previously.
  Armalum: Your powers are weak, old mare.
  Faust: You can't win. Strike me down and not only will you lose everything, but so will everypony else.
• Flash's final speech at the end of "Flash's Destiny" is heavily inspired by The 12th Doctor's at the end of "Twice Upon a Time". This includes stating "never eat pears", "hate is foolish and love is wise", and ending by saying "Equestria... I let you go."
• After Flash returns and saves Twilight from an assassination attempt by Doom Raizer in The Last Problem he says "Admit it, you missed me."
  • From the same chapter, when Faust asks Flash if he wants to return to his old life he says "I'm sure. A life without Twilight and my friends, even an immortal life, would be empty."

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