Shout Out / The Apprentice, the Student, and the Charlatan

The Apprentice, the Student, and the Charlatan

Originating In The Fic

• Nova has first editions of every Harry Trotter book.
  • The page Nova and Twilight find out what the mysterious temple is in the history book? Page 394.
  • Nova chooses Vault 713 as the vault in which he will seal himself away under Time Stasis to return to the present.
  • Envy calls Trixie her horcrux at one point in Chapter 8.
  • Steelshod knows a Jelly-Legs jinx in Chapter 16. He punctuates the curse with "Unjellify".
• The name of the newspaper that Nova finds on his doorstep is the Equestria Daily.
• Trixie mentions working at the Bannered Mare.
  • Aegis' first line is "Stop right there, criminal scum!".
  • A family of unicorns known as the Silverbloods play a critical role in the past arc.
  • Nova's dream in Chapter 5 features someone shouting "Wonderful! Time for a celebration! Cheese for everyone!"
• Luna apparently knows her way around an abacus.
• Chapter 3's title is Meet the Parents.
  • Nova also calls himself a "magical mercenary," in reference to the MLP-themed hat.
  • Sharp Eye is a bounty hunter/mercenary from Neigh Zealand, like the Sniper.
• Derpy's motto for the Ponyville Mail Service is that they ensure their package is sent in the general direction of its intended destination, which is lifted directly from The Vinyl Scratch Tapes.
  • Later on, inmanipulon is referenced as an anti-magic stone, which was lifted straight from Through the Eyes of Another Pony. It starts becoming far more important come the sequel.
• Nova mentions that his energy-sensing ability is very similar to the way Eragon does it, though without extending his mind.
  • Ray Novus' Hideous Hangover Cure is the same one used by Brom in the first book.
  • Luna uses a sleeping spell in Chapter 8 that comes from what she describes as "an ancient language." The word that puts them to sleep? "Slytha."
• Night Light's magi-gun is from Black Haysa Industries, and Ray Novus' computer is an experimental model from Appleture Science. Doubles as a reference to Apple Comuters.
• Ray Novus says verbatim, "I wonder what's for dinner" as a way to transition to another scene.
• Trixie meeting Nova and Twilight features them and Spike reenacting the famous Shrek table sequence.
• Nova's dream in Chapter 5 features a guard bursting into the Canterlot throne room, wearing pink armor painted with hot rod flames and bunnies.
• Soul Jars are good for sucking up intangible enemies. For instance, windigoes, ghasts, lethifolds, and the Vashta Nerada.
  • When a ghast makes an appearance, it's description matches that of a ghast from Minecraft.
• Nova also mentions that winter is coming..
• Nova has a brief moment in a bad day imagining himself as a skeletal pony with a high-pitched voice saying "I am not nice!" It's Skeletor!
  • Skeletor also wishes "plagues a both their houses", "their" referring to Rarity and Lyra.
• Nova and Twilight find a Hearth's Warming Lights display featuring Con Mane attached to a laser table.
• It's not immediately apparent, but Envy is a reference to Natalie V. "Envy" Adams from Scott Pilgrim. Come the old sequel, her memory-less self even goes by the name Natalie V.
• Envy's vial is hidden in Vault 111.
• Nova likes his coffee with cream and two sugars. Like his soul.
  • Nova's short story in the interlude is Vexen's Cake Song torture scene, itself a shout-out to The Princess Bride.
• The former headmaster of Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns was named Nocturnal Glow, after Twilight Sparkle's predecessor in Archmage.
• Nova summons five orbs of light for various purposes when he does battle, mimicking the Dissidia version of Kuja.
• Spike gets a Grinch-esque grin when Luna sends him a prank idea.
• Nova is at one point reading From Stalliongrad With Love
• Nova is described as being "shocked and slightly embarrassed at the sight of Twilight in a towel" before regaining his composure.
• "Stupid, sexy Twilight."
  • An April Fools special was released in 2018 that reenacts the steamed hams exchange.
• Nova and Twilight reenact a portion of Monty Python's Flying Circus' famed "Argument Clinic" sketch.
• Nova refers to "Lord Avon's" plays, and even says that one of his favorite lines is the one below from "I Wanna Be Your Canary".
  Treacherous Leo, my kinsman’s suffering shall not be in vain! For I shall instruct thee in his incomparable pain!
• The way Twilight learns what element Nova is, with the alignment paper, comes straight from Naruto
• Nova and Aegis reenact one of the gags from Airplane!
  Twilight: It's an entirely different kind of pay structure altogether.
  * beat*
  Nova and Aegis: It's an entirely different kind of pay structure.
• After Applejack gives him a black eye and he's dazed from the kick, he accidentally calls her Jappleack.
• Sharp Eye uses a gold needle to cure his wing's petrification.
• Rarity recites the list of tea flavors Ramona Flowers has in Scott Pilgrim.
• Applejack's way of getting Pinkie to keep quiet is to hand her a silent cell phone, just like Captain America did to Deadpool in I'm a Marvel... And I'm a DC
• The waitress unicorn in Chapter 10 is Tara Strong's ponysona from Bronies: The Extremely Unexpected Adult Fans of My Little Pony.
• Ray asks for tea, earl grey, hot as part of his hangover cure.
• In Chapter 9, Applejack manages to keep Pinkie Pie silent by handing her a phone (with no one on the other end), which Pinkie mistakes as the person on the other end playing the Quiet Game, just like Captain America did to Deadpool in I'm a Marvel... And I'm a DC.
• Sharp Eye and Nova have an exchange in Chapter 12 that's a two-fold reference.
  • Sharp Eye references that he's a particularly good finder, and Nova asks if he's a Flufflepuff, leading Sharp Eye to ask "What the hell is a Flufflepuff?" It's the classic exchange between Diggory and Dumbledore in A Very Potter Musical
  • There's also the fact that Flufflepuff is a well-known Ask-A-Pony Tumblr blog within the fandom.
• Spike wonders if Nova will return with a cool scar, an eyepatch, perhaps a cool scar that goes over an eyepatch, and a black trenchcoat, a la 2nd Dimension Doofenshmirtz.
• The entire section of chapters taking place primarily in the past are called "Back to the Future". It is even used as part of a discussion on how time travel works, in that changing the past leads to disappearance. The rewrites removed the section name, though.
• After being teleported into a mountain fromthe present to the past, Nova mentions that he feels like he was hit by a raging minotaur in a glass menagerie.
• Like Trout Walker, Shimmer Silvermane declares that "No one says no to [her]." when Nova does just that.
• Storm Surge refers to the earth pony delegation as "air-sick lowlanders".
  • Nova at one point arranges Twilight's copies of The Thunderlight Chronicles (read, The Stormlight Archive) alphabetically to annoy her.
• When the group of unicorns come to rough up Nova before he can meet with Princess Platinum, two of them remark to their boss that it was probably a bad idea to go after them the same way some of Rosalia's goons do to her in Sword Art Online Abridged's fourth episode.
• Nova interrupts his tale at a moment where he seems like he is about to be hurt, to explain to Spike that nothing happens, just like in The Princess Bride's Shrieking Eels scene.
• When Nova has Silverblood completely ensnared, Silverblood calmly says "This certainly isn't ideal, but I have contingencies." Earlier in the battle, he even creates illusory copies of himself, though Nova sees right through them.
• During the bar scene after Silverblood's defeat, the rules of the drinking game are "No pauses, no spills, and no regurgitations." Clover even mentions that her hoof started to tingle toward the end.
• To Star Wars:
  • Nova describes the sand as being "coarse, rough, irritating, and getting everywhere."
  • When arguing over him accepting the duel, Nova realizes Clover's more angry at Steel for challenging him than at Nova for accepting that challenge. When Nova asks if she should be just as angry with him for going along with it, if not more, he quotes Obi-Wan Kenobi.
  Nova: Who's more foolish? The fool, or the fool that follows him?
• Sombra tells Nova at one point, "I'm invested in your future."
• Nova quotes a Kronk meme as he formulates a plan to weed out Faithful Student candidates.
  Nova: Oh yeah. It's all coming together.
• Star Swirl threatens to turn Nova into a newt. He even adds that he would have gotten better.
  • Luna changes it in the rewrites to say that they were the ones who got turned into newts, and that they got better.
• Star Swirl unpacks his bags just like Merlin in The Sword in the Stone, complete with the magic words "Higitus Figitus."
• It's subtle, but the chess match between Celestia and Nova at the beginning of Chapter 16 is the same chess match between Moriarty and Sherlock in Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows, which itself is Brent Larsen vs. Tigran V. Petrosian in 1966.
• When searching for the Mirror Pool, Nova comments that "the best thing about being me is that there'll be so many me's!"
• Summer quotes the first line of the chorus from a song from RWBY's Season 3 soundtrack.
  Summer: But what am I supposed to do? Just sit here and not fall in love with you?
  • A few scenes later, Nova and Clover have an intimate interaction like Jaune and Pyrrha in Season 3 as well.
• Chancellor Puddinghead does the same thinking tic that Pooh Bear does, complete with saying "Think" every time she taps her brow.
• Steelshod and Nova reference an exchange from Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths.
  Nova: Trying to talk me into submission?
  Steel: Actually, I thought I'd beat you into submission.
• Nova loudly roars that his focus is unparalleled. Earlier, the orchestra even queues up one of ''Octopath Traveler II's boss fight songs as the background for their duel. Even earlier, the duel with Silas Silverblood uses one of the first game's boss themes.
• The Consciousness of Magic tells Nova to "Prepare for unforeseen consequences." In the rewrite, she also warns Celestia of this when she curses Summer Blossom.
• Cloud Kicker, in all of her Winningverse characterization, shows up to flirt with Nova.
  • Starstep from To Love the Moon appears as a member of Princess Luna's Nightmares.
• Aegis and Sharp Eye quote word-for-word Cloud and Leon's exchange in the Battle of 1000 Heartless from Kingdom Hearts II, not even including all the music Rytex uses from the series.
• Nova hanging by the cliffside evokes the ending of Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. Moments before, Nova, Twilight, Envy, and Trixie all reenact the gun scene from Doctor Who's The End of Time, even down to Nova saying "Get out of the way."

Originating In The Audio Drama

• When Nova notices Luna at the door, a red exclamation point appears above Nova's head, a la Metal Gear Solid.
• A number of Funny Background Events in Episode 3 especially feature:
  • Team Valor and Team Mystic sigils
  • Piranha Plants
• During the bonkers dream sequence in Episode 5, a lot of characters from other shows appear in the background including:
  • Edward Elric
  • Princess Leia
  • Natsu and Gray
  • The Witch-King of Angmar
• While the dragon magical light in the fic isn't tied to any specific media property, truesailorcomet added the main theme from Game of Thrones to the background music when it was on-screen.

The Archmage's Last Bow

The Fic

• Nova jokingly refers to a frazzled Twilight as the Mad Queen.
  • Nova introduces Gleam and Cadance to each other by reciting a list of titles not unlike Daenerys Targaryen's list of titles.
  • On a more somber note, when Stalwart Shield is drained of his life by Sombra, his final words before his death are a direct quote of Maester Aemon's. "I dreamed that I was old."
• Neighsay's name is never given in the show, but Rytex gave him the first name of Severus, given his resemblance to Severus Snape.
  • The book that taught Gleam badly how to enchant objects was The Standard Book of Spells, a staple book of the Harry Potter universe.
  • Horcruxes are brought up again, and Twilight directly mentions the Harry Trotter film series in a twofer, where she thinks that Zecora's potion-making reminds her of one of the lines that the Weird Sisters say in Macbeth, especially due to the song from the third film.
• Gleam internally begs Nova not to give her hope shortly before he offers her an apprenticeship, using the exact same words Hawkeye used in Avengers: Endgame.
• Envy is frustrated that Nova doesn't know who she really is, noting that she told Gleam to pass along something that not even a blind, deaf, comatose lobotomy patient would have recognized.
• A few to the DC Animated Universe.
  • Like Zatanna did to Circe in Justice League, Nova starts hurling things at Envy mid-monologue, leading to Envy to snap at him in exasperation just like Circe did.
  • Nova's Pre-Mortem One-Liner of choice to a nuckelavee is "Say 'Ah', dirtbag."
• Nova reads Green Eggs and Hay to Flurry Heart before her naptime.
• Chapter 5 is titled Return Of The King.
  • Similarly, Nova is annoyed that he can't figure out the secret behind the Alicorn Amulet's self-repairing, and growls "Fine, keep your secrets."
  • While Twilight has a brief Imagine Spot over what it would be like to wear the Crown of Life, as she realizes that she would be a living Sword of Damocles, her vast power hanging over the heads of all of her subjects, she describes that in such a world, she would be beautiful and terrible as the dawn.
• A twofer in Chapter 5. During a scene where Envy is utterly furious with Nova for accidentally bringing Gleam along during a moment of extreme danger, Gleam notes that she looked even angrier than when she'd broken his limited-edition Jeff Letrotski collector's plate and blamed it on her neighbor. Jeff Letrotski is a not-so-subtle reference to The Big Lebowski, but the limited-edition collectors plate being broken is a much more subtle reference to VeggieTales: The Fib from Outer Space, where Junior Asparagus breaks his father's Art Bigati plate and blames it on three of his neighbors.
• The Crown of Life is basically the Infinity Gauntlet. Bright Gleam even makes a rather direct comparison.
• Harmonic Convergence in name is a reference to the cosmic event in The Legend of Korra, while its function of superboosting all magic users during its effects lines up with Sozin's Comet (also a cosmic event) from Avatar: The Last Airbender.
• Star Swirl describes Harmonic Convergence by noting that unicorns who could lift up a boulder with relative ease would find that crushing rocks would become such a breeze.
• Gleam waxes lyrical with Star Swirl to "What is Love?"
• The many names used to describe the city of Elysium are rife with references, such as The Apex of the World and Scala ad Caelum.
• The final prophecy explicitly warns its subject to "beware the god-shattering star."
• An alicorn named Ars Arcanum is shaping up to be a major character. While "ars arcanum" means "Lost art" on its own, it is famously used as an ability in Kingdom Hearts and as an appendix in The Stormlight Archive.
• The narrator recreates "The Very Model of a Modern Major-General" when describing Twilight's magical knowledge.
• Paradise Lost is alluded to, but the typical quote is inverted, where Ars Arcanum muses that it is better to serve in Heaven than to reign in Hell.
• Elysium seems to be shaping up as a reference to the myths of Atlantis, with Sombra even referring to its destruction happening in "a single day and night of misfortune" from Critias.
• Multiple times, Elysium's stillness is commented on by characters visiting.
  • Ars Arcanum and Sombra both note that "The world is quiet here," a word-for-word quotation of a passphrase used by VFD members in A Series of Unfortunate Events, which is in itself a reference to Algernon Charles Swinburne's poem "The Garden of Proserpine."
  • Sombra internally refers to the unnatural stillness as the stillness of eternity.
• The narrator notes that Doctor Horse decided that Nova Shine's punishment must be more severe when chewing him out for his reckless use of Elixirs of Energy.
• One of Sombra's servants' names is Saphira.
• Sombra, when ruminating on whether or not his actions were cruelty or pragmatism, justifies his actions to himself by positing that the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few. Or the one.
• When Gleam is meditating and trying to learn energy sensing, we get a twofer.
  • The method Master Nova Shine messes with her and then the way she sees it references how Luke Skywalker teaches Rey in The Last Jedi.
  • Nova describes magic as being similar to music. It's not about reading it, it's about hearing it, and then asks her "Can you hear the music?" like Dr. Niels Bohr did at the beginning of Oppenheimer.
• Saphira, Sombra's Lady Gluttony, goes out to get a snack and is cautioned against revealing herself by Pronssi. Saphira airily replies "It's what I want, not what I need," echoing sentiments expressed by Beelzebub, the Sin of Gluttony from Helluva Boss.
• Gleam gets a little sidetracked then thinking about Canterlot railroads and mixes them up with the Monopony railroads instead.

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