List of allusions

The following is a list of allusions to My Little Pony, works of fiction, people, places, events, and other cultural touchstones in the series My Little Pony Friendship is Magic.

The allusions, references, similarities, homages, and other items on this list should be specific, detailed, unique, or identifying. Avoid adding incidental, broad, general, or tangential similarities.

Character names and design

 * All the designs of the leading characters, Twilight Sparkle, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, and Spike are inspired by G1 characters: Twilight, Applejack, Firefly, Sparkler, Posey, Surprise, and Spike, respectively.
 * Applejack's name and the derisive nickname Appletini that Spike gives her in Bridle Gossip are both names of alcoholic beverages.
 * Big McIntosh, Granny Smith, Braeburn, and several of the Apple family members' names are of apple cultivars. Other members' names are of culinary dishes made with apples.
 * Big McIntosh's design is inspired by the G1 Big Brother Ponies.
 * The royal guards wear crested helmets reminiscent of Roman galea.
 * Snips and Snails, two colts, are a reference to the nursery rhyme "What Are Little Boys Made Of?".

Other names, titles, and design

 * Canterlot is a portmanteau of "canter", a three-beat horse gait, and Camelot from Arthurian legends.
 * Cloudsdale's suffix, "dale", is an old word for a valley or open river valley, but the name is also a play on the Clydesdale breed of horse.

Mythology
Lauren Faust and Rob Renzetti encouraged the writers to infuse mythology into the series.
 * The show features dragons, griffons, unicorns, and Pegasi in multiple episodes, and several other mythological creatures detailed in individual episode sections below.

Audio

 * Granny Smith's voice clips from Friendship is Magic, part 1 are re-used to make every speaking appearance she has throughout season 1, excluding Griffon the Brush Off. In Family Appreciation Day, the voice clip "Move your caboose!" is re-used later in the episode after the third sign, along with the "That's what I said!" voice clip from Sisterhooves Social being re-used, and the "Soup's on" voice clip being re-used yet again. In Ponyville Confidential, the "Move your caboose!" voice clip from Family Appreciation Day is re-used again.
 * Fluttershy's nervous squeal from Friendship is Magic, part 1 is reused twice throughout the series: in A Bird in the Hoof where she is crying over the supposed death of Philomena and again in Hurricane Fluttershy where she is crying under a tree.
 * The voice clip of Pinkie Pie's gasp upon meeting Twilight for the first time in Friendship is Magic, part 1, is re-used five times throughout the series: later in the same episode when Rarity confirms that Princess Celestia is missing; in Bridle Gossip, when everyone thinks that they crushed Applejack in the tub; reversed to form Fluttershy's inhalation in Sonic Rainboom; as Mrs. Cake's voice in A Bird in the Hoof, when Pinkie eats Princess Celestia's cupcake; and in MMMystery on the Friendship Express, when Pinkie sees that the Marzipan Mascarpone Meringue Madness has been eaten.
 * Twilight's cry of "PINKIIIIIEEE!!" is used twice in the series, the first being in The Ticket Master and the second in Hearth's Warming Eve.
 * The voice clip of Pinkie talking to Twilight at the beginning of Griffon the Brush Off is re-used in Sweet and Elite when Rarity regains consciousness.
 * Rarity's scream after Pinkie leaves her to fend for herself in Swarm of the Century is re-used three times throughout the series: in Lesson Zero, when Twilight runs to the Boutique; as the mother's scream in The Mysterious Mare Do Well; and in Secret of My Excess, when Spike's claw reaches through the window to grab Rarity.
 * Pinkie Pie's one-pony band fanfare to rid Ponyville of the Parasprites in Swarm of the Century is re-used as the party music in Pinkie's flashback scene in The Cutie Mark Chronicles. Its ending from The Cutie Mark Chronicles is re-used in Sweet and Elite after the first time Pinkie fires her party cannon. The music is used again in A Canterlot Wedding - Part 1 when Pinkie leads Chrysalis disguised as Cadance to her reception plans.
 * Rarity's crying near the end of Winter Wrap Up is re-used in Suited for Success.
 * The music that plays during Silver Spoon and Diamond Tiara's cute-ceañera party in Call of the Cutie is the same music that plays during the montage of the Cutie Mark Crusaders' attempts to earn their cutie marks in The Show Stoppers and during Pinkie Pie's birthday party toward the end of Party of One.
 * The line 'Holy Guacamole!' is one of the very few instances in which a single clip of audio is re-used in the same episode. It is spoken by Spike during the middle and end sections of Feeling Pinkie Keen and was originally intended to be his catchphrase before being dropped for undisclosed reasons.
 * Rarity's shocked reaction towards Twilight's mane from Friendship is Magic, part 1 is recycled as her excited laugh in Sonic Rainboom.
 * Applejack's line "Get back here, you thievin' varmints!" from The Cutie Mark Chronicles is repeated later in the episode when she is done her story and the rabbits run away.
 * Scootaloo's line "What are you, a dictionary?" from The Return of Harmony Part 1 is used again in Family Appreciation Day.
 * Golden Harvest's scream from Luna Eclipsed is used again from offscreen in The Mysterious Mare Do Well.
 * The Sorcerer's Apprentice inspired background music from Secret of my Excess is used again in Hearts and Hooves Day when the Cutie Mark Crusaders are gathering the ingredients for the love potion.
 * In Dragon Quest, Crackle's noise is a pitch shift of Spike screaming in A Dog and Pony Show.
 * The mule who appears in Applebuck Season and Hurricane Fluttershy uses the same "None taken" voice clip in both episodes.

Animation

 * Pinkie Pie's crying animation in Friendship is Magic, Part 2 is used as the basis for the same animation used in Baby Cakes.

Friendship is Magic, part 1

 * The episode's title that appears in Hasbro's viewing guide, and Night Mare Moon's "book" name, Mare in the Moon, is a play on the mythical Man in the Moon. The man's image is actually composed of Lunar maria, the darker sections of the moon's surface.
 * Moondancer, mentioned but unseen in the episode, is the name of a G1 and G3 pony.
 * Twilight Sparkle resides in a literal ivory tower.
 * Spike shouting "but we're on a break!" is similar to a phrase connected to a plot point in the 90's sitcom Friends between characters Rachel and Ross during Season 3; the phrase eventually becomes an iconic running gag throughout the entire series.
 * One of the costumes Twilight tries on in Rarity's boutique looks like the Statue of Liberty in New York Harbor.
 * One of the names Pinkie guesses to Night Mare Moon is "Hokey Smokes", a phrase used by Rocky the Flying Squirrel from The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show.
 * Another one of the names Pinkie guesses is "Black Snooty", a reference to the famous horse character Black Beauty.

Friendship is Magic, part 2

 * In the opening moments, with Night Mare Moon apparently victorious, the Mayor shouts, "Seize her!" and Nightmare Moon replies, "Stand back, you foals!" This is a quote from a famous moment in the 1959 Disney film Sleeping Beauty, when the evil fairy Maleficent disappears after cursing the newborn princess.
 * Fluttershy pulls a thorn from the manticore's paw, much like the classic tale of Androcles and the Lion.
 * The sea serpent's cry of "What a world! What a world!" is a reference to The Wizard of Oz.
 * The magic of the Elements of Harmony manifests as rainbow that envelops Night Mare Moon. The scene is reminiscent of the Rainbow of Light from the 1984 My Little Pony pilot episode Rescue at Midnight Castle, where Megan defeats Tirek in a similar fashion.

The Ticket Master

 * The episode's title is a play on the American ticket company Ticketmaster.
 * Fluttershy's line "Loons and Toucans and Bitterns, oh my!" echoes the quote "Lions and Tigers and Bears, oh my!" from The Wizard of Oz.
 * When Rarity is done with Spike's makeover, the harpsichord tune playing in the background is the beginning of J. S. Bach's Two-Part Invention in F Major, BWV 779, except transposed to E Major, and with an altered middle/end.
 * Fluttershy is singing the My Little Pony theme when Twilight Sparkle finds her cleaning the library.
 * The scene where Twilight and Spike are chased by a mob of ponies features bluegrass style sound-alike music of Yakety Sax from The Benny Hill Show.

Applebuck Season

 * The title is most likely a reference to the classic Looney Toons "Hunting Trilogy" of Rabbit Fire, Rabbit Seasoning , and Duck! Rabbit, Duck! in which Bugs Bunny famously tells the armed Elmer Fudd it's "Duck Season!" and Daffy Duck argues its "Rabbit Season!", each trying save their own skins, and Bugs being more successful every time.
 * The stampede scene features bunnies running around a pony lying on the ground in a down shot, much like the scene in The Lion King when Mufasa is killed by the stampede.
 * The stampede of the bunnies might also be a lighthearted reference to the 1972 cult/camp horror film Night of the Lepus in which "killer rabbits" (in reality, just domestic animals) are frequently shown from a bird's eye view running over people with accompanying stampeding sound effects.
 * During the bunny stampede, one of the background ponies, Rose, delivers the line "The horror, the horror...", which is from Joseph Conrad's novel Heart of Darkness, also used as one of the final lines in the movie Apocalypse Now that was based on that novel. This line is repeated in Bridle Gossip.

Griffon the Brush Off

 * When Pinkie Pie is chasing Rainbow Dash, she uses the same bounding gait as Pepe le Pew uses when chasing his unwilling paramour in the Looney Tunes cartoons. The music heard is also in the same style as the aforementioned chase scenes.
 * Spike hums the My Little Pony theme song when gathering scrolls at the town hall.

Boast Busters

 * The title of the episode is a play on the title of the Ghostbusters franchise.
 * The Great and Powerful Trixie shares her title with "The Great and Powerful Oz" from The Wizard of Oz.
 * Trixie's challenge to the audience echoes the phrase "anything you can do I can do better", which originated with the song of the same name from the 1946 Broadway musical Annie Get Your Gun.
 * The ursa bears are named after the constellations Ursa Major and Ursa Minor, both featuring these constellations on their tails.

Dragonshy

 * When Fluttershy hears the dragon's snores, she stiffly falls to the side accompanied by a goat bleat, alluding to the behavior of some breeds of goat to stiffen and fall over after being startled, called Fainting Goat Syndrome.
 * Pinkie Pie's costume is similar to Daffy Duck's body in a scene from the Looney Tunes cartoon Duck Amuck.

Look Before You Sleep

 * The title of Twilight Sparkle's book Slumber 101: All You've Ever Wanted to Know About Slumber Parties But Were Afraid to Ask is a direct reference to the popular book Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex (But Were Afraid to Ask) and/or the comedy movie that was inspired by it.
 * The phrase that Twilight opens her ghost story with, It was a dark and stormy night, is the opening phrase in Edward Bulwer-Lytton's novel Paul Clifford. The line has become a signifier of purple prose.
 * Twilight mentions the ghost story of the Headless Horse, a play on the Headless Horseman of European and American folklore.

Bridle Gossip

 * The title of the episode might a pun on the term "idle gossip" or "gossip's bridle", also called a "scold's bridle", which is a medieval punishment and mild torture device used on women who were verbally abusive or unpleasant.
 * After having been affected by the blue plants, Rarity's coat and mane resemble the fur of a Komondor or a Puli, two Hungarian breeds of dog with matted locks of fur.
 * The nickname Spike gives to Applejack, "Apple Teeny", is pronounced the same as the name of an alcoholic drink appletini, paralleling her original name which is also the same as an alcoholic drink.
 * Poison joke is explicitly compared to poison oak, a real-life poisonous plant.
 * When Zecora comes back to Ponyville, one of the ponies delivers the line "The horror, the horror..." for the second time in the series. The line originates from Joseph Conrad's novel Heart of Darkness, which was later used in the Francis Ford Coppola film, Apocalypse Now.

Swarm of the Century

 * The title of the episode is a pun on the term "Storm of the century", which refers to a particularly damaging weather event.
 * The premise of this episode is similar to that of the Star Trek episode The Trouble with Tribbles.
 * Spike giving Twilight's initial parasprite a snack during the night refers to the movie Gremlins, in which the nighttime feeding of a fantasy creature called a mogwai leads to disaster.
 * The scene in which Applejack uses her herding skills to collect together the parasprites features sound-alike music of the theme song from the television series Bonanza.
 * The infestation and Pinkie Pie's use of music to lure the parasprites out of Ponyville were adapted from the legend of the Pied Piper of Hamelin.
 * Twilight's plan to build a fake town is a reference to the Mel Brooks film Blazing Saddles.
 * Princess Celestia leaves Ponyville early, saying that she has to deal with an infestation in "Fillydelphia", a play on the city of Philadelphia.

Winter Wrap Up

 * Spike sleeping on the ice floating in the middle of a lake is a reference to a similar scene in the 1979 film Meatballs in which the camp counselors leave their director asleep on a floating platform in the middle of a lake.

Call of the Cutie

 * The episode title is either a play on the phrase "call of duty", on the title of the classic novel The Call of the Wild, which tells the story of a dog trying to find its true identity, or on the title of H.P. Lovecraft's famous short story, The Call of Cthulhu.
 * Diamond Tiara's "cute-ceañera", "a party celebrating me and my fantastic cutie mark", borrows its name and purpose from the Latin American celebration quinceañera, a coming-of-age party for girls reaching the age of fifteen.

Fall Weather Friends

 * The title is a play on the term "fair weather friends", which refers to people who are only friends when it is convenient&mdash;fair weather&mdash;and will abandon their friends in hard times.
 * The Iron Pony competition's name and purpose are similar to those of the sports competition Ironman Triathlon.
 * When Applejack bucks the tree Rainbow Dash is sitting under, the apples fall onto Dash's head to the tune of Shave and a Haircut.
 * Rainbow Dash says Applejack's accusations of cheating sound like "sour apples", a parallel to the idiom sour grapes from Aesop's fable The Fox and the Grapes.
 * The Running of the Leaves tradition has its roots in the famous Running of the Bulls tradition in Spain.
 * The bell and phrase "and they're off" that starts the Running of the Leaves is also used in track horse racing.
 * When Twilight points out that the contestants had already passed Rainbow Dash at the arrow signpost, Dash exclaims "horse apples!". The exclamation is similar to "road apples", which means dung.

Suited For Success

 * Rarity's Dressmaking Song is a direct homage to Stephen Sondheim's song Putting It Together from the musical Sunday in the Park with George.
 * Pinkie Pie's line "I love something. Something's my favorite" echoes the line "I love smiling. Smiling's my favorite" from the film Elf.
 * When Rarity considers exile she says, "Where would I go? And what would I pack?" in a fashion that echoes a line by Scarlett O'Hara in the 1939 classic film Gone With The Wind: "Where shall I go? What shall I do?"
 * The sequence where Rarity has locked herself in her room and says "I vant to be alone" with an Eastern European accent echoes the famous phrase associated with actress Greta Garbo from the 1932 film Grand Hotel.
 * Hoity Toity bears a strong resemblance to Karl Lagerfeld, head designer and creative director for the Chanel fashion house.
 * The headdress for Rainbow Dash's "perfect dress" strongly resembles the shape of the helmet of the comic book character The Rocketeer.
 * The musical opening of Rarity's second fashion show has a short sound-alike segment for Also sprach Zarathustra, a tone poem by Richard Strauss, popularized in the film 2001: A Space Odyssey.
 * The music that accompanies Fluttershy is a sound-alike of Debussy's Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune.
 * The music that accompanies Pinkie Pie is a sound-alike of The Strangeloves' I Want Candy.

Feeling Pinkie Keen

 * The title is a play on the phrase feeling peachy keen, which means to feel great or exuberant.
 * The episode was developed from the old wives' tale of achy joints predicting the weather and the Raining Animals Phenomena, which was expanded into Pinkie Pie's Pinkie Sense.
 * Twilight Sparkle mounts a literal soapbox to give Pinkie Pie a speech about the difference between her Pinkie Sense and magic.
 * Fluttershy's fear prevents her from flying, as it does in Dragonshy. However, when she has to jump to safety, she uses what she learned from Dragonshy and works up her nerve by repeating a line from Pinkie Pie's song.
 * The episode features a Hydra, a mythological creature of Greek legend.

Sonic Rainboom

 * Rarity's hubris, leading to the loss of her wings to the sun, echoes the story of Icarus from Greek mythology. In the story, Icarus attempts to escape Crete by means of wings that his father constructed from feathers and wax. Overcome by his pride, he ignores instructions not to fly too close to the sun, which melts the wax and causes him to fall to his death.
 * The music that plays during Rarity's performance is a rearrangement of the waltz from Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake.
 * The episode title is pun on Sonic Boom, which is associated with shock waves created by an object traveling through the air faster than the speed of sound.
 * Cloudseum's name, the area where the Best Young Flyer Competition was held, is a reference to the Roman Colosseum.
 * Spitfire's namesake comes from the Supermarine Spitfire, an iconic British fighter plane used by the Allies during World War II.

Stare Master

 * The title is a play on the exercise device Stairmaster.
 * The episode features a cockatrice, which is a creature of legend mentioned from antiquity to the Middle Ages.
 * Rarity mentions filling a special order for "Trottingham", a pun on the city of Nottingham, England.
 * When Rarity holds the cut gold silk, a violin shrieks in the same fashion as the shower scene in Psycho.

The Show Stoppers

 * Daniel Ingram, the show's music composer, describes the Cutie Mark Crusaders Song on his website as "cheesy '80s with 3 out of tune soloists."
 * In addition, the costume designs also strongly reflect 80's fashion- most notably, Applebloom dons a bandanna on her head a la Axl Rose of Guns n' Roses, and both Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle are decked out in typical glam rock facepaint and body suits with big hair, first pioneered by David Bowie during his Ziggy Stardust phase in the 70's and widely imitated by the 80's "Hair Rock" artists.
 * Scootaloo hitting her head against the piano while shouting "NEVER NEVER NEVER!" parallels the same behavior by Don Music in Sesame Street.

A Dog and Pony Show

 * The phrase "a dog and pony show" originated in 19th century America as a term for small traveling circuses that toured through rural areas. The modern usage refers to an over-staged performance. Typically, the term is used to connote disdain, jocular lack of appreciation, or distrust of the message being presented or the efforts undertaken to present it.
 * The episode's plot is reminiscent of the O. Henry story The Ransom of Red Chief, in which a young boy's antics drive his kidnappers so crazy that they end up paying his family to take him back.
 * Sapphire Shores' upcoming tour, Zigfilly Follies, is a reference to the Ziegfeld Follies series of theatrical productions.
 * The bejeweled costume bears a very striking resemblance to the jumpsuits worn by Rock & Roll Legend Elvis Presley during his 1970s heyday, with a large heavy collar, flared wavy cuffs, and a golden belt.
 * The Diamond Dogs take their name from David Bowie's famous concept album and its titular song, Diamond Dogs.
 * In Spike's fantasy, the Diamond Dogs attack with the characteristic slow motion leap and 'bionic' sound effect from The Six Million Dollar Man.
 * Applejack's phrase "Kick 'em up, kick 'em out. Buck 'em up, buck 'em down" is a reference to Rawhide, a song performed by Frankie Laine.
 * Spike's chant, "Hi-ho Twilight! Away!" is a paraphrase of the line "Hi-ho Silver! Away!" from The Lone Ranger.

Green Isn't Your Color

 * The color green, mentioned in the episode's title, is sometimes associated with envy.
 * Photo Finish wears the same distinct hairstyle and sunglasses as Anna Wintour, editor of Vogue magazine.
 * Photo Finish's name comes from a "photo finish", when two racehorses cross the finish line together and a photograph is used to determine the winner.

Over a Barrel

 * The main locale of the episode, Appleloosa, takes its name from the Appaloosa breed of horse.
 * Fluttershy calling Spike "Huffy the Magic Dragon" is a reference to the 1963 folk song Puff, the Magic Dragon sung by Peter, Paul and Mary.
 * Spike plays the piano in this episode. His predecessor in the My Little Pony movie Escape from Midnight Castle has a similar scene where he plays the piano.
 * The battle scene at Appleloosa when a buffalo strikes a haystack with an anvil behind it is the same gag from the 1953 Bugs Bunny cartoon Bully for Bugs, in which a bull hits an anvil behind Bugs' toreador cape. A bit earlier, one of the buffalo is sharpening its horns on a grindstone wheel, which is done by the bull in the aforementioned cartoon.
 * At the start of Pinkie Pie's song, she is in a big clam, similar to The Little Mermaid.

A Bird in the Hoof

 * The episode's title is a play on the phrase "A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush."
 * The scene with Angel holding a pocket watch references Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, in which one of the characters is a white rabbit that carries a pocket watch and is always running somewhere due to being late. In addition, Fluttershy's remark "I'm late, for a very important date" is a quote from Disney's 1951 film adaptation of Alice in Wonderland.
 * Fluttershy stresses over how she looks and what to wear, and looks through a rack of dresses which carries the Grand Galloping Gala dresses from Suited for Success.
 * The scene where the ponies pursue Philomena is accompanied by sound-alike music to Yakety Sax, made famous in The Benny Hill Show chase scenes.
 * The scene where Fluttershy attempts to feed birdseed to Philomena was storyboarded to look like a talk show, and Philomena's bird-seed-eating gag was styled after similar gags from the Roadrunner Looney Tunes cartoons.
 * Also, Fluttershy, thinking Philomena has been fooled, looks into the camera with a smirk and declares "works every time!"- this is a reference to Billy Dee Williams' famous tagline in the old Colt .45 Malt Liquor commercials in the 1980's.
 * Hummingway, Fluttershy's hummingbird, is a play on the name Hemingway.
 * Fluttershy hums the My Little Pony theme song in this episode again.

The Cutie Mark Chronicles

 * "Princess Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns" is similarly named to X-Men's "Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters".
 * Applejack travels to Manehattan, a play on Manhattan, a borough of New York City. New York City is also known as the Big Apple.
 * The Orange family's name is a reference to the phrase "apples and oranges", a comparison of two very different things, much like how Applejack does not appreciate the Orange family's very different lifestyle.

Owl's Well That Ends Well

 * The title is a play on the phrase "All's well that ends well."
 * When Spike falls asleep in the punch bowl, Pinkie Pie says "And now the punch has been... Spiked!", a play on "spiking the punch", which means adding alcohol to the punch.
 * The constant double meaning of Owloysius's hooting "hoo/who", especially in his comedic interactions with Spike, is an allusion to the classic comedy routine "Who's on First?" by Abbot & Costello.

Party of One

 * The title comes from "party of one", which is used when booking a reservation for a single person at a restaurant or hosting establishment.
 * The scene where Rainbow Dash is trying to get away from Pinkie Pie but Pinkie appears everywhere Rainbow goes is similar to some Droopy cartoons, where Droopy pursues a wolf in this manner. The bouncing exhibited during this is similar to the way Pepe le Pew of Looney Tunes fame would chase after Penelope Pussycat.
 * Pinkie Pie's chant to Gummy: "Go Gummy! It's your birthday! Go Gummy! It's your birthday!" is a paraphrase of hip-hop artist 50 Cent's In Da Club.
 * At the party near the end of the episode, when Spike tries to dance with Rarity, he does a dance move made famous by the 1977 film Saturday Night Fever.

The Best Night Ever

 * The episode has several fairy tale references:
 * The magical apple carriage, the mice being turned into horses, and Rarity accidentally leaving her glass slipper are elements from Cinderella.
 * Mr. Greenhooves maintaining the garden says he likes to "whistle while [he] works", a reference to Disney's Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. The whistle is the same tune Snow White sings into the well.
 * The golden apple tree Spike mentions at the beginning of the episode that he wants to show Applejack could be from a number of fairy tales, The Golden Bird by The Brothers Grimm being an example.
 * Fluttershy's plan to catch the animals, complete with maniacal laughter and the phrase "I'll catch you yet, my pretties", somewhat echoes the Wicked Witch of the West from the 1939 film adaptation of The Wizard of Oz.
 * Princess Celestia creates an arc of twinkling stars over her castle in the same manner of the Walt Disney Pictures title sequence.
 * The song sung before the gala is a sound-alike of Ever After from Stephen Sondheim's fairy-tale-themed musical Into the Woods.
 * Pinkie Pie's Pony Pokey is a version of the hokey cokey dance.
 * Pinkie Pie's song I'm at the Grand Galloping Gala is sung to the tune of For He's a Jolly Good Fellow.

The Return of Harmony Part 1

 * Discord is inspired by John de Lancie's popular character Q from the second Star Trek television series. After the part was written, de Lancie was contacted to provide the voicework for Discord. Q and Discord share a fondness for cruel games, amusing themselves at the expense of others, occasional use of rhymes, finger snapping to use their powers, and a white flash accompanied by a similar chime-like sound effect signifying the use of their powers.
 * Pinkie Pie refers to the "chocolate rain" caused by Discord, a choice of words that evokes the title of a popular YouTube video "Chocolate Rain" by Tay Zonday.
 * The rabbits that are transformed by Discord grow long bony needle-like legs similar to creatures in the paintings of Salvador Dalí The Temptation of Saint Anthony, The Elephants, Dream Caused by the Flight of a Bee Around a Pomegranate a Second Before Awakening.

The Return of Harmony Part 2

 * The scene of pigs flying over Sweet Apple Acres alludes to the idiom "when pigs fly."
 * According to director Jayson Thiessen, one of the storyboard artists decided to board the award ceremony sequence at the end of the episode as a shot-for-shot equivalent of Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope, though parts of the sequence were ultimately cut to shorten the episode, such as a cut shot of Pinkie Pie beeping like R2-D2.

Lesson Zero

 * Twilight's slow, progressive breakdown throughout the episode include demonstrations of paranoia, anxiety and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.
 * When Twilight is talking to herself, it resembles the scene from the film The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers where the character Gollum is talking to himself.

Luna Eclipsed

 * The episode title is a pun on lunar eclipse.
 * The holiday featured in this episode, Nightmare Night, borrows aspects from the holiday Halloween as celebrated in the United States. Both holidays involve children going door-to-door in costumes to collect candy, costume parties, and spooky decorations.
 * Some of the Nightmare Night decorations shown throughout the episode use a stylized Nightmare Moon eye design that resembles the Eye of Sauron from The Lord of the Rings. One of these decorations is included in the Castle Creator game, with the file name for its Flash asset containing the name "Sauron".
 * In the opening sequence, Trottingham, a play on Nottingham, England, is mentioned again.
 * At the very beginning of the episode, when Spike and Twilight first appear in their Nightmare Night costumes, the music played is a variation of the famous "In the Hall of the Mountain King" aria from Edvard Grieg's Peer Gynt suite.

Sisterhooves Social

 * Rarity paraphrases the famous line from the 1939 film Gone with the Wind, "As God is my witness, I'll never be hungry again!". Fluttershy does the same later on Putting Your Hoof Down.

The Cutie Pox

 * At the bowling alley, four of the male ponies present are modeled after characters from the film The Big Lebowski, which features a bowling alley in its opening sequence.
 * A pony version of the painting American Gothic hangs on the wall in the living room of the Apple family's house.
 * One of the cutie marks Apple Bloom receives is a red shoe which causes her to dance uncontrollably, like the main character in the Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale The Red Shoes.
 * Applejack asks Zecora, "Was your zebra sense a-tinglin'?", which is a reference to Spider-Man's "spider sense" which is often declared with the line "my spider-sense is tingling."
 * The statue Apple Bloom carves is Venus Anadyomene, a common figure in art in antiquity and the Renaissance.

May the Best Pet Win!

 * The episode is an allusion to the famous Aesop fable "The Tortoise and the Hare".
 * One of the cats under Fluttershy's care looks similar to those from the Littlest Pet Shop toyline, another Hasbro-owned property.
 * The bat contestant plays the My Little Pony theme song on a glass harp.
 * The streaks left behind by Dash's sprinting bears resemblance to those of the lightcycles from Tron.
 * The music that plays while Rainbow Dash flies through the canyon, up until the rockslide, is "Ride of the Valkyries" by German composer Richard Wagner.
 * The song Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash sing was inspired by the song "Fabulous Places" from Doctor Dolittle.
 * Rainbow Dash's brief dilemma of having her wing pinned down by a boulder in the canyon echoes the plot of the film 127 Hours.

The Mysterious Mare Do Well

 * The episode's lead storyboard artist, Sabrina Alberghetti, commented on how the crew incorporated "one [superhero] cliché after another" in a "fun tongue-in-cheek kind of way." Among them:
 * Rainbow Dash's catchphrase, "never fear, your friendly neighborhood Rainbow Dash is here!" is a play on both "your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man" and "There’s no need to fear, Underdog is here!"
 * The Mysterious Mare Do Well shares the same purple-and-black color scheme and wide-brim hat and black ribbon as Darkwing Duck. Alberghetti had worked on Darkwing Duck comics before; however, she did not design the character.
 * The fanfare, accompanying music, and rally posters of the Mare Do Well strongly resemble the same from Batman: The Animated Series.
 * The musical score as the cart rolls uncontrollably downhill mimics the score of the film Speed.
 * Part of the scene where Rainbow Dash is chasing after Mare Do Well has Mare Do Well running by in the foreground, Rainbow rushing where she saw her, Mare Do Well running by in the background, Rainbow running over there, Mare Do Well running by in the foreground, and so on. This is similar to a scene from the Looney Tunes cartoon What's Opera, Doc?, when Elmer Fudd chases a disguised Bugs Bunny.
 * The name "Mare Do Well" is an ironic reference to the term "ne'er-do-well", a person who does no good.

Sweet and Elite

 * Among other places Rarity visits in the montage is an art exhibit, where the central painting on the wall combines elements of Salvador Dalí's paintings, particularly The Persistence of Memory. The painting to the left resembles Pablo Picasso's signature style of Cubism. The painting to the right is an abstract style akin to the works of Kandinsky. The show's director, Jayson Thiessen, had hinted about avant-garde art in an interview in September 2011, long before the episode's initial broadcast.
 * One of the bags holding Rarity's purchases in the scene where she runs into Fancypants has two horseshoes arranged to imitate the Chanel fashion house branding.
 * The music played when Rarity washes Opal in order to make her look sick for Fluttershy and the others is a tribute to Maurice Ravel's "Bolero".

Secret of My Excess

 * The title is a play on the movie The Secret of My Success.
 * One of the working titles of the episode, "Attack of the 50 Foot Dragon", is a play on the movie title Attack of the 50 Foot Woman, and it hints to the episode's "giant monster rampaging through a city" theme that was popularized by the 1954 film Godzilla.
 * The kidnapping of Rarity and subsequent aerial assault on Spike parallels scenes from the classic 1933 film King Kong.
 * The music that plays when Twilight is re-shelving bears a strong resemblance to the theme for Disney's The Sorcerer's Apprentice, a symphonic poem written in 1874 by Paul Abraham Dukas.
 * The line "Twilight, get my rope" was inspired by a 1980s Pace sauce commercial.
 * The vet scene appears to be a reference to Stephen King's "The Tommyknockers", in which a veterinarian admits to being "flummoxed" in the face of an apparently supernatural dog.

Hearth's Warming Eve

 * Some elements about the Heart's Warming Eve celebration mirror Christmas: holding a pageant that depicts the origins of the holiday; red and white candy canes; and decorating trees.
 * A creature similar to Discord is depicted fighting a Pegasus on a relief in the theater.
 * Some of the music that plays towards the end is based on the English folk song "Greensleeves".
 * Pinkie Pie's quote, "...I am just about to be brilliant," mirrors one of Donald O'Connor's lines in Singin' in the Rain. He sings the song "Make 'Em Laugh" in the film.
 * Chancellor Puddinghead coming down the chimney could be a reference to Santa Claus.
 * The creatures in the play share their name and some characteristics with the Wendigo from myths in Algonquin-speaking tribes. They are strongly related to winter and starvation.

Family Appreciation Day

 * The Smith Family, especially in regards to Granny Smith's father, mother and young Granny Smith herself, strongly resemble a few of the main characters from the original Little House on the Prairie TV series- Charles, Caroline and Laura Ingalls, respectively, though Young Granny's braided hair is blonde instead of red.
 * The period dress of the citizens of Canterlot in Granny Smith's flashback are representative of human fashions circa the latter half of the 19th century.
 * The idea of Timberwolves made from actual timber was first used in MLP script editor Rob Renzetti's My Life As A Teenage Robot.

Baby Cakes

 * Pound and Pumpkin Cake's mannerisms mirror those of Bam Bam and Pebbles, respectively, of the Flintstones series.
 * The brief screeching violins that play when Pinkie Pie finds Pound Cake on the ceiling echo the musical piece The Murder, made famous by the film Psycho. The scene itself is a reference to the horror flim Trainspotting.
 * The music that plays when Pinkie Pie urges the Cakes to pick her as babysitter is based on Aquarela do Brasil, a Brazilian samba standard from the 1930s.
 * Pinkie's instructions for using the crib mirror a line from The Simpsons episode The Last Temptation of Homer.

The Last Roundup

 * The music used in the beginning of the episode where Applejack is running an obstacle course is similar to Bonanza's theme.
 * Dodge Junction is a namesake of Dodge City, a famous locale for Western films.
 * Rainbow Dash asks Applejack if she saw "Wild Bull Hickok" and "Calamity Mane", whose names are similar to the Wild West figures Wild Bill Hickok and Calamity Jane.
 * The scene where Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy work at a conveyor belt and can't handle the pace is a homage to the television series I Love Lucy. The scene replicates one from the I Love Lucy episode "Job Switching", where Lucy and Ethel wear mushroom-like hats and work on a production line wrapping candies. They can't handle the pace and stuff the unhandled chocolates into their hats and mouths.
 * After getting on the carriage, Applejack says "Giddy up, fellas. I need to get the heck out of Dodge." 'Get [the heck/hell] out of Dodge' is a reference to a famous line in Gunsmoke as well as many other westerns, ordering the villain to leave town immediately. In the 1960s it became a popular expression meaning "I need to get out of here fast."
 * Pinkie Pie mentions "chimicherry" and "cherrychanga", two words that have their roots in the Chimichanga, a northern Mexico food and Chimichurri, an Argentinean food. There is also an alcoholic cocktail called a cherrychanga.

The Super Speedy Cider Squeezy 6000

 * The musical number The Flim Flam Brothers shares many similarities with the number "Ya Got Trouble" from The Music Man. Specifically, the identical rhyming styles, staccatos, and theme of smooth talkers trying to win over a small town. Mid-song, the ponies chant "cider, cider, cider" in the same manner that the people of River City chanted "trouble, trouble, trouble" in the Music Man number.
 * The competition between the Apple family and the machine alludes to the legend of John Henry.
 * Granny Smith refuses to have a competition with the Flim Flam Brothers until one of them says, "What's the matter, Granny? Chicken?" At this point Granny Smith begins to scream at him and insist upon the competition. Later, Apple Bloom points out that "nopony calls Granny Smith chicken." This sequence may be a reference to the film Back to the Future.
 * The cider is possibly implied to be alcoholic, considering that the beverage foams at the top and that no foals are seen drinking it.

Read It and Weep

 * The musical cue that plays when Rainbow Dash looks at the book and starts reading is very similar to the one that plays in a similar scene in the film The NeverEnding Story.
 * The quote of Pinkie Pie saying "Did the crash somehow give her super-duper spider powers?" and the doctor saying "No, nor did it give her amazing healing powers" allude to the powers of Marvel comic-book characters Spider-Man and Wolverine.
 * The game that Fluttershy and Twilight Sparkle play with Rainbow Dash is very similar to Battleship, which is produced by Milton Bradley and owned by Hasbro.
 * The ahuizotl is a creature of Aztec mythology with a hand on its tail, which is blamed for the drowning of humans in shallow water.
 * Ahuizotl petting his white cat at the end of the Daring Do story is a cinematic element made famous by the character Ernst Stavro Blofeld of the James Bond series.
 * There are several allusions to the Indiana Jones franchise, primarily to Raiders of the Lost Ark:
 * The pizzicato (plucking the strings) that plays when Daring Do first enters the temple is similar to the music that plays early in the film, when Indiana Jones and his partner have spiders on their backs.
 * The sunlight shining into the chamber parallels the Indiana Jones map room scene where the sunlight shines on a crystal in the center of the room.
 * The way Daring Do makes her way to the Sapphire Stone's pedestal mirrors a scene in The Last Crusade where Indiana Jones navigates a trapped floor by stepping on the tiles marked with the correct answer to a puzzle.
 * The scene where Daring Do retrieves the Sapphire Stone mirrors a scene in which Indiana Jones retrieves a statue of an idol from a pedestal.
 * The scene where Daring Do is pursued by numerous big cats, followed by a small house cat that meows cutely at her, parallels a scene in The Emperor's New Groove where Emperor Kuzco is pursued by several panthers followed by a tiny panther cub that meows cutely at him, shortly before being rescued.

Hearts and Hooves Day

 * The holiday featured in the episode shares many similarities with Valentine's Day and was originally aired a few days before the holiday. It features couples spending time together and the exchange of greeting cards.
 * The story behind the Love Poison shares many elements with the Arthurian legend "Tristan and Iseult", where a prince and princess both ingest a love potion to disastrous results.

A Friend in Deed

 * The episode's title is part of the phrase "a friend in need is a friend indeed".
 * "Cranky Doodle Donkey" has the same meter as Yankee Doodle Dandy, a pejorative song sung by the British to mock the American revolutionaries.
 * The song Pinkie sings at the end of the episode is based on the version of the song from the film of the same name.
 * Pinkie's line "Ooh, what does this bauble do?" has the same meter as "Ooh, what does this button do?", the catchphrase of the character Dee Dee from the cartoon Dexter's Laboratory.

Putting Your Hoof Down

 * The title "Putting Your Hoof Down" is a play on the saying "putting your foot down."
 * Fluttershy paraphrases the famous line from the 1939 film Gone with the Wind "As God is my witness, I'll never be hungry again!", much like Rarity in Sisterhooves Social.
 * When Iron Will appears at the beginning of his assertiveness workshop, the background music borrows from the primary motif of Eye of the Tiger by Survivor.
 * Iron Will's presentation takes place in the center of a hedge-maze, a reference to the Labyrinth of Greek mythology, which held the Minotaur, a half-man, half-bull creature, at its center.
 * Iron Will uses a variation of the phrase "I pity the fool", the catchphrase of Mr. T, played by Lawrence Tureaud.
 * The storyboard artists had professional wrestler Hulk Hogan in mind when posing Iron Will, who uses hand gestures that mimic Hogan's signature taunts.
 * The episode incorporates a sound-alike of the theme "The Lonely Man" from the CBS television series The Incredible Hulk.

It's About Time

 * This episode borrows elements from Greek mythology:
 * The Cerberus is the three-headed canine that protects the gateway to the Hades, the realm of the dead.
 * Tartarus, the area that the Cerberus in this episode guards, is one of the darker and deeper depths of the Underworld where the wicked are said to depart to after death.
 * When Rainbow Dash reports to Twilight about the safety of Equestria, she mentions "Fillydelphia" and "Las Pegasus", a play on the cities of Philadelphia and Las Vegas respectively, though the writer of the episode felt that the latter was not a very successful pun, and it was eventually re-interpreted in the map of Equestria poster as Los Pegasus. Later in the episode, Dash mentions "Baltimare", a play on the city of Baltimore.
 * Future Twilight's arrival is preceded by wind blowing paper around, then she appears in a bright flash and electrical discharge while crouched on the ground, in homage to The Terminator. Present Twilight also refers to an "epic pony war in the distant future", a crucial part of the premise of the Terminator franchise.
 * Spike's query of "Isn't this where we came in?" while wandering the Canterlot library echos Pink Floyd's The Wall where the exact line is used to connect the end and beginning of the album into a repeating loop, similar to the time travel cause-and-effect in this episode.
 * Future Twilight's appearance bears a noticeable resemblance to the character Old Snake (sans mustache) from the Metal Gear franchise of video games.

Dragon Quest

 * The episode shares its name with a popular RPG series.
 * The episode's plot is similar to an episode from the 1980s series My Little Pony, "Spike's Search", where Spike goes on a quest to learn to be a dragon and gets involved with a group of dragons who turn out to be thieves and bullies.
 * The scene with Spike traveling down the river on a boat with Cranky Doodle Donkey bears a resemblance to Mark Twain's novel Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.
 * The game "King of the Hoard" the teenage dragons play appears to be the same as the children's game "King of the Hill".
 * The music clip played during Spike's encounter with the teenage dragons is a sound-alike to the entrance theme of retired professional wrestler Stone Cold Steve Austin.

Hurricane Fluttershy

 * In the opening scene, Fluttershy tries to avoid going to the Pegasus meeting by disguising herself as a tree. This is likely a reference to her famous line from Over a Barrel, "I'd like to be a tree", which has become an in-joke in the fan community.
 * Fluttershy's training montage features music very similar to Joe Esposito's "You're the Best", as featured in The Karate Kid.
 * The muscular Pegasus stallion's bulging muscles and remarkably small wings are similar to the effects of the use of performance-enhancng steroids.
 * Additionally, the muscular Pegasus stallion's character design is reminiscent of the style of animator John Kricfalusi.

Ponyville Confidential

 * The title of the episode is an allusion to James Ellroy's 1990 novel L.A. Confidential and the 1997 film adaptation. The episode's theme is a reference to its Hush Hush Magazine subplot.
 * The headline "Snips and Snails and Bubblegum Fails" is an allusion to the nursery rhyme "What Are Little Boys Made Of?".
 * Rarity's line "Et tu, Gabby Gums?" is an allusion to the Latin phrase "Et tu, Brute?", traditionally attributed to Julius Caesar's last words in the Shakespeare play of the same name, and is meant to express great shock against a trusted one's betrayal.
 * "Gabby Gums'" line "XOXO, Gabby Gums" is an allusion to the book and TV series "Gossip Girl", where the voice of the character always signs out with the phrase "XOXO, Gossip Girl".
 * One of Apple Bloom's baby photos is posed the same as the Coppertone girl ad.
 * Ponyville's newspaper, The Ponyville Express, is similar in name to the Pony Express, a famous mail service used in 1860 and 1861 in the United States.
 * The headline "Fluttershy Has Tail Extensions" references the real-life practice of hair extensions.
 * Pinkie Pie's reaction to the headline "Pinkie Pie is an Out-of-Control Party Animal" is reminiscent of the classic dramatic archetype of an addict breaking down and admitting that they have an addiction.

MMMystery on the Friendship Express

 * The title of the episode references the 1934 crime novel Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie, as does the outcome of the case: nearly every passenger is responsible for one part of the "crime".
 * The hat Pinkie Pie wears and the bubble-blowing pipe are references to the fictional detective Sherlock Holmes. Twilight's hat also resembles that of John Watson, Sherlock's partner.
 * One of the books sticking out of Twilight's bag in her first appearance in the episode is the history book from the beginning of Friendship is Magic, Part 1.
 * When describing the cake, Pinkie Pie references the song "It's De-Lovely".
 * Mulia Mild's name and mannerisms are a reference to Julia Child.
 * Pinkie's fantasies of the other bakers during her accusations are all allusions to multiple styles and genres of film.
 * First, the Gustave le Grand fantasy references black and white silent films, with Gustave playing the role of the dastardly villain often associated with films from the period.
 * Doughnut Joe's persona in Pinkie's fantasy, "Con Mane", is a reference to fictional secret agent, James Bond; additionally, the opening to this fantasy parodies the franchise's iconic gun barrel sequence.
 * Finally, Pinkie's fantasy about Mulia destroying the cake is a reference to the Japanese film Yojimbo and similar ninja genre films.
 * At one point Pinkie Pie says she wants to know "who done it" before Twilight Sparkle pedantically corrects her grammar. The type of mystery being spoofed in this episode is known as a "Who Done It" as opposed to a "How Catch 'Em" or "Procedural".
 * The episode also references the 1943 film I Dood It, starring Red Skelton.

A Canterlot Wedding - Part 1

 * The Canterlot wedding and the advertisements and promotions for the episode are all a nod to the Royal Wedding of 2011. Specifically, the characters' attires match that of the special guests.

A Canterlot Wedding - Part 2

 * At the end of the fight sequence, the six ponies burst through a group of Changelings as a dramatic music cue plays. This is parallels a sequence from the second Matrix movie, where the protagonist Neo escapes a mob of Smith clones in the same fashion.
 * Queen Chrysalis's siphoning of Shining Armor's love draws from the succubus of medieval lore, a female demon that seduces men in their slumber and drains them of their life force in order to sustain itself, usually through sexual intercourse.
 * The changelings resemble Kelpie of Celtic folklore, spirits that terrorizes the rivers of Scotland and usually take the form of a horse.
 * Bridal Chorus, composed by Richard Wagner, is used during the wedding sequence. A single phrase is also played during the wedding rehearsal in the prior episode, as a background clip during Twilight and Cadance's confrontation with the bridesmaids.

Television

 * Equestria Girls is a direct parody of Katy Perry's 2010 single, California Gurls, borrowing the entire song structure from the tempo to the melody.
 * The commercial entitled There's a Pony For That is a paraphrase and parody of the Apple commercial There's an App For That, even showing pony equivalent of smartphone applications such as Yahoof! and eNay.
 * 8 bit features Pinkie Pie playing an 8 bit video game on a console in the same vein as Atari consoles.

Billboards

 * Billboards in Los Angeles, California that promoted the show in June 2011 reference the film Bridesmaids. It shows the main cast against a brick wall in poses similar to the women in the poster of Bridesmaids, under the parody title Bridlemaids.
 * Billboards for season 2 show Pinkie Pie with her hooves against a "snow screen" TV with the caption "They're baaack!" This references the 1982 movie Poltergeist, which has a poster where the little girl Carol Anne has her hands on a "snow screen" TV and the tagline "they're here!", and its sequel Poltergeist II: The Other Side, which has the tagline "they're back."

Newsprint

 * On January 8, 2012, a full page ad ran in the LA Times, referencing the opening to the AMC television show Mad Men. It shows Rainbow Dash, wearing a suit, falling in front of pictures of the main cast, with the parody title of Mad Ponies.

Trading cards

 * Time Turner's card describes him as being "[responsible for] pretty much all things timey wimey". The phrase "wibbly wobbly, timey wimey" originates in the Doctor Who episode Blink.