References


 * Fluttershy Replies: Is an actual Tumblr ask blog run by creator Bobby.
 * Lil B: A real-life American rapper, also known as "The BasedGod."
 * DWM poster: Acronym stands for "Down With Molestia," a Tumblr blog and movement made in protest against fan-artist John Joseco's own NSFW Tumblr "Ask Princess Molestia" featuring a character named Molestia. The movement has since changed its name to PARC (Ponies Against Rape Culture), and John Joseco's Tumblr has been removed by a cease and desist letter from Hasbro.
 * Area names: Many of the names for the larger, encompassing lands of the game are Latin-based names. Equus means "horse," while Caballus is the same, but can also be translated as a "cart/work-horse." Ferus means "wild" or "savage." The three latin names combined form the trinomial name for the common subspecies of horse (Equus ferus caballus).
 * Ponett Town: The town is named after creator Bobby's own Tumblr handle "ponett."
 * Ben, Dan, and Clara: The three unfortunate characters who bemoan the loss of their house are creator Bobby's friend Thom Wall's (ponified) original characters from his webcomic Clarity.
 * Game Over music: If the player responds with "Heck neah" to Rainbow Dash regarding whether or not to kiss in the beginning of the game, the game over music used is from the SNES game Earthbound (Mother 2).
 * "Twilight Dooms the Universe": The title card style and music mimics that of the TV series It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia. The song used for both the joke and the show is called "Temptation Sensation" by Heinz Kiessling.
 * Kiss icon: The icon used for all the kissing skills is the painted face of singer-songwriter Gene Simmons as he appears when performing with his heavy metal band KISS.
 * Rainbow Dash's diary: The last entry discussed mentions Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash dressed and roleplaying as Pepper Clark (a skunk) and Penny Ling (a panda) from Littlest Pet Shop. Their roleplay scene in question comes from the episode "Penny For Your Laughs," where a song ("I'm Sorry") montage shows Pepper trying to make amends with Penny through a series of attempts at kindness that ends in unintentional misery, among them playing catch with a football where Pepper's throwing power sends Penny flying into a bush when the ball is caught.
 * Most of an Egg: In Spike's Bestiary description, Rainbow Dash quips on how the monster "Kinda smelled like peas" as a reference to Tumblr user "capnpea," who designed the monster as part of creator Bobby's contest.
 * Mobile Ferguson: The "head of an excited hedgehog" on this monster belongs to Littlest Pet Shop's character Russell Ferguson.
 * Original Character: Clearly a recolor palette sprite of the character Proto Man from the Mega Man series of video games.
 * Saxophone in Rainbow's Basement?: The corrupted version of the song "Twilight's Slurp Dungeon" by PegaSix that plays in Rainbow's Basement? will eventually play a saxophone sample from the song "Careless Whisper" by George Michaels.
 * Corebros: The boss' long, triangular sunglasses, along with Spike's Bestiary description on how its drill can "pierce the very heavens themselves," is a reference to the anime series Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann.
 * Wishing well: If the player wishes to toss money (2 bits) into the wishing well in the center of Ponett Town any time after defeating Corebros, Rainbow Dash makes mention of her cyborg fantasies being chronicled at another Tumblr that creator Bobby runs.
 * Cinammon Jar: The game's use of cinnamon as a weapon is based off the internet meme/challenge where challengers typically document their attempt to swallow a spoonful of powdered cinnamon without vomiting or inhaling the powder. Other variants of the challenge simply include holding a spoonful of powdered cinnamon for as long as possible without coughing. It is an advisably unbeatable challenge, as most people end up coughing the cinnamon out.
 * Horsington, D.C.: An obvious parody of the capital of the United States, Washington, D.C.
 * The Uncanny Valley: Named after the hypothesis that once something comes very close to replicating a living being, observers' empathy and positive emotional response becomes strongly negative right before it becomes positive again once it approaches perfect replication. This dip in what would normally be a steady, positive correlation between familiarity and improved likeness is what gives the "valley" in the hypothesis' name.
 * Pine Corona: A play on words from the song "My Sharona" by The Knack, and possibly off of its own parody songs "9 Coronas" and "My Corona."
 * Ferus Wasteland faces: Aside from Javis' eye, the two faces seen along walls and cliffs in Ferus Wasteland belong to the dog Zoe Trent from Littlest Pet Shop and the fox-like creature Fennekin from the Pokémon video game series. This ship is known on the internet as "Fennetrent." The obelisk puzzle features the two characters with their faces on their respective predominant color of purple and orange.
 * Saddle: The body armor simply called Saddle has the description, "Pony wears the saddle!" which is a direct quote from the strangely-worded display sticker that appears on the packaging for Hasbro's official My Little Pony toy for Rarity (and does come with a pink saddle accessory).
 * Tumbleweed Mage: For its Bestiary description, Rainbow Dash quips in along with the rest of the party members about the Tumbleweed Mage's usefulness in the desert. Rainbow says, "They're the heroes the Wasteland deserves, but not the ones it needs right now," which is a direct quote by the character Commissioner James Gordon from the movie The Dark Knight, although he says "Gotham" instead of "the Wasteland."
 * "Cubey thing": The glowing cube at the entrance of the Neon Labyrinth is a reference to the artwork featured on the band Anamanaguchis album cover of "Endless Fantasy." Rainbow Dash's comment about how it "kinda smells like pizza" is based on the band's titular album track music video, wherein the band actually sent a slice of pizza up into outer space.
 * Color Wheel: Designed to look like a color wheel tool from various graphics editing computer programs such as Paint Tool SAI or Adobe Photoshop.
 * Danny DeVito: Is a real-life actor. He stars in the aforementioned TV series It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia as Frank Reynolds.
 * Javis' trivia game: The game Javis forces the party to play before the physical battle is suggested by Fluttershy to be exactly like The Newlywed Game, a real-life television game show that aired in the 1980s centered around asking newly-married couples revealing questions to test how well they know each other.