List of allusions/Season two

The following is a list of allusions to other My Little Pony generations, works of fiction, people, places, events, and other cultural touchstones in the second season of My Little Pony Friendship is Magic. Entries on this page must follow the similarity guidelines.

The Return of Harmony Part 1

 * Discord is inspired by John de Lancie's popular character Q from the second Star Trek television series, Star Trek: The Next Generation. 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. On September 26, 2013, Zonday himself released his cover of the MLP:FIM theme song.
 * The rabbits that are transformed by Discord grow long bony needle-like legs, similar to creatures found in paintings by the surrealist painter Salvador Dalí, for example The Temptation of Saint Anthony, The Elephants, and Dream Caused by the Flight of a Bee Around a Pomegranate a Second Before Awakening.
 * The obstacles that Twilight and her friends encounter in Discord's maze mirror those encountered by Sarah in the Jim Henson film Labyrinth starring David Bowie.

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

 * This episode's title is a reference to the song Less Than Zero, written and performed by Elvis Costello.
 * The scene where Twilight argues with herself is a reference to Gollum in Lord of the Rings.

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.
 * Princess Luna's eye changes to completely white in color and control clouds and lightning which cause chaos in Ponyville, her powers barely resemble and similar to Storm's from Marvel Heroes.
 * 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.
 * The little children's rhyme, "Nightmare Night! What a fright! Give us something sweet to bite!" is a play on the Halloween rhyme, "Trick or treat! Smell my feet! Give me something good to eat!"
 * For Princess Luna's royal guards, writer M.A. Larson referenced Thestrals from Harry Potter in the script.

Sisterhooves Social

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

The Cutie Pox

 * The episode title is an allusion to The Chicken Pox.
 * At the bowling alley, four of the male ponies present are modeled after characters from the film The Big Lebowski, which features bowling as a prominent theme.
 * Apple Bloom exclaims "Oh my star apples!", mixing the phrase "oh my stars" with star apples.
 * 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.
 * The Paleopony Period is a reference to The Paleolithic Age of human prehistory, a large part of the stone age.
 * Applejack asks Zecora, "Was your zebra sense a-tinglin'?", which is a reference to Spider-Man' ESP super-power the 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".
 * 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.

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.
 * Pinkie Pies' use throughout the episode of the pinkie sense, which enables her to detect potential danger, parodies Spider-Man's own ESP super-power, the spider-sense.
 * 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.
 * Rarity's song, "Becoming Popular (The Pony Everypony Should Know)", instead of the usual Stephen Sondheim sound-alike, seems more of a Björn Ulvaeus/Benny Andersson soundalike.
 * When Rarity examines the art exhibit she is dressed in stereotypical Beatnik fashion: a scarlet beret with a black turtleneck and black slippers, and mane let down with bangs hanging straight across her forehead.
 * One of the bags holding Rarity's purchases in the scene where she runs into Fancy Pants 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 rearrangement of Maurice Ravel's "Bolero".

Secret of My Excess

 * The title is a play on the phrase "secret of my success" and a parody of the 1987 film 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 scene in which Spike wears the white hat and carries the ball is an allusion to The Godfather II, when Fanucci walks along the street also wearing a white hat and with an orange in his hand.
 * The kidnapping of Rarity and subsequent aerial assault on Spike parallels scenes from the classic 1933 film King Kong.
 * The line "Twilight, get my rope" was inspired by a 1980s Pace sauce commercial.
 * The song played at the beginning of the episode, while Twilight is organizing the books, is a sound-alike for Paul Dukas's symphonic poem The Sorcerer's Apprentice. The scene parallels a scene from the Walt Disney movie Fantasia where Mickey Mouse uses his powers to move everything around him.

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.
 * The ponies in the past sequences sport a mixture of medieval and renaissance clothing, with ethnic German garb and Roman legionnaire armor (similar to that of the present day Equestrian Royal Guards) for the Earth Ponies and Pegasi, respectively; Spike also dons Renaissance garb as he narrates on stage.
 * 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.
 * The windigos 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 Cutie Mark Crusaders manipulating a sleeping Granny Smith with a series of ropes to make it appear as if she was awake and speaking is similar to a scene in the film Weekend at Bernie's.

Baby Cakes

 * During Pinkie Pie's Piggy Dance, she use her tail as a spring while she's balancing, similarly to Tigger from Winnie the Pooh.
 * 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 where Pound Cake crawls along the ceiling is a reference to the film 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 echoes a line from The Simpsons episode The Last Temptation of Homer: "Napping, sleeping, and on occasion with permission, as a pretend old-timey western fort" and "Sleeping, eating, and maybe building a little fort."

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, so they stuff the chocolates into their hats and mouths.

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 Brothers' style of dress and performance is also a nod to Vaudeville.
 * The competition between the Apple family and the machine alludes to the legend of John Henry, albeit with less fatal results.
 * 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 is a reference to the film Back to the Future Part II.

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 respectively. Pinkie Pie's quote also alludes to the common comic book cliche of gaining super-powers by means of a random accident although Wolverine being a mutant was born with his unlike Spiderman.
 * The scene of Rainbow Dash in her hospital room bouncing a ball off the wall is lifted straight from the World War 2 film, The Great Escape.
 * 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 line "We're gonna need a bigger envelope" is a parody of the "You're gonna need a bigger boat" line from Jaws.
 * 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".
 * The Smile Song, especially the ending part is a slight parody, and possibly an inspiration to a song in Joseph.
 * "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 parodies the famous line from the 1939 film Gone with the Wind "As God is my witness, I'll never be hungry again!" with "As Celestia as my witness, I'll never be a pushover 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 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.
 * Iron Will refers to himself in the third person, in the same manner of professional wrestler Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson.
 * The episode incorporates a sound-alike of the theme "The Lonely Man" from the CBS television series The Incredible Hulk.
 * Pinkie Pie switches sides to win a rapid-fire argument between herself and other characters, which is the hallmark of the Bugs Bunny cartoon Rabbit Fire.

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.
 * 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.
 * The music played as Future Twilight attempts to explain why she is there to Present Twilight is similar to "I Am the Doctor" from the TV show Doctor Who, which typically revolves heavily around time travel.
 * 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 attire (A black sneaking suit, a head bandage, and an eye-patch) strongly resembles that of both Naked Snake/Big Boss and Solid Snake from the Metal Gear franchise. Twilight posing next to the statues to avoid a patrolling guard mimicked a action that could be preformed in Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots. On one of the many comic covers of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic issue #7, Twilight (in the same outfit) is hiding under a cardboard box, another action made famous by the Metal Gear series.

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.
 * Fluttershy's escape out the window is a parody of the Cowardly Lion's escape from the Wizard in the 1939 film The Wizard of Oz.
 * 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".

Hurricane Fluttershy

 * Fluttershy's training montage features sound-alike music of Joe Esposito's "You're the Best", as featured in the 1984 film The Karate Kid.
 * Music from Flight of the Valkyries, famously heard in the war film Apocalypse Now, is used after the failed attempt.

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.
 * Diamond Tiara's drive to make the paper successful by any means necessary is similar to the rise of Charles Foster Kane in the movie Citizen Kane. Her introductory speech in front of a large portrait of herself is inspired by the scene of Kane's campaign speech.
 * 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.

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 Cole Porter 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:
 * 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. The vignette may also be a specific nod to Snidely Whiplash, himself an animated parody of over-the-top silent film villains (antagonist of Dudley Do-Right of the Mounties segments on The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show).
 * Donut 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.
 * Pinkie's fantasy about Mulia destroying the cake is a reference to Japanese ninja genre films.

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

 * During This Day Aria, Queen Chrysalis (disguised as Princess Cadance) looks in the mirror and trashes things in the room, which are a reference to Vanessa's Song in the 1989 Disney film The Little Mermaid.
 * The 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.
 * During the fight sequence, the six ponies burst through a group of Changelings as a dramatic music cue plays. This parallels a sequence from the second Matrix movie, where the protagonist Neo escapes a mob of Smith clones in the same fashion.