Notes for Chapters 23, 24, 25, 26 & 27 · 2:17am Jul 5th, 2023
Chapter 23
A brushed bit
My version of “a pretty penny”.
Chapter 24
Don’t read until after you’ve read the chapter.
There’s a few lines of dialog here from the screenplay of the episode “Swarm of the Century”, by M. A. Larson.
…in the ruins of Rockville.
And there lies a pretty tale…that I’ll try to get around to in Part 2. Sorry.
Chapter 25
No, 
is not a main character. …Yet.
Sweetie Belle’s fifth birthday party
That was the one shown in the flashback during “For Whom the Sweetie Belle Toils”. My version’s worse. 
The Mystery Writers of Equestria Convention
The Mystery Writers of America don’t actually have their own public convention. However, they do have booths set up at the actual major conventions: Bouchercon and Book Expo America. As near as I can tell, neither of those include a cosplay contest, which I consider to be a major failing on their part.
Sherclop Pones and Miss Maple
Fan-created Equestrian versions of Sherlock Holmes and Miss Marple. The former of course gained additional fame as the alias of the group behind Friendship Is Witchcraft.
Shadow Spade
You know, I had no idea when watching “Rarity Investigates!” that Shadow Spade was supposed to be the Equestrian version of Sam Spade, until I did some research and found that in the MLP Collectible Card game, her first novel was Shadow Spade and the Murgese Falcon (as in The Maltese Falcon).
Running with this connection, “Piter Lore” is Peter Lore (who played Joel Cairo in the 1941 film) and “Effigy Peregrine” is the character Effy Perine, played by Lee Patrick:
As for the rule that all griffons have to have names starting with “G”, we can say her true first name is “Gee”, and Shadow calls her “Effigy” because she’s very good at sitting still when clients come into the office and then spooking them by loudly greeting them.
Stal fatale
The gender-switched Equestrian version of the femme fatale.
Chapter 26
Mrs. Peel’s outfit today
Chapter 27
Mage Meadowbrook’s Eight Enchanted Items
The bogus ninth item was referenced in the episode “The Cutie Map”.
