The beginning of the end.

Before I post the prologue of Black tomorrow, let me use this post to explain the chapter titles of White and Gray, because I'm bored and also unable to sleep.

THERE BE MASSIVE SPOILERS. IF YOU HAVE NOT READ THESE STORIES YET, AND ARE WANTING TO, DEAR GOD STOP LOOKING AT THIS AND RUN. JUST RUN, YOU CRAZY BASTARD.

1. The Hitchhiker: That's what Fuyu is, at first. Just a hitchhiker that Applejack picks up.

2/3. Home Is... + ...Where the Bodies Are Buried: A twist on the saying 'home is where the heart is', modified thusly because Applejack's parents are buried on the land she calls her home.

4. Twenty Questions: As much as I tried to get exactly twenty question marks in this chapter, I couldn't. Still, Twilight sure does ask a lot. It also refers to a popular parlor game that eventually spawned a radio and TV game show.

5. Running On Empty: Fuyu's stomach is doing this, and it nearly gets Rainbow Dash killed.

6. Welcome To the Club: By the power invested in Rarity, Fuyu gains membership to that circle of friends. Because Rarity would totally be in charge of that sort of thing.

7. Recommended Reading: This knowledge sure would have helped Fuyu be a better murderer, huh?

8. And On the Fifth Day...: A reference to both the time that has passed in the story, and to the Bible verse Genesis 1:23. Note the last line of that verse, which alludes to the part Celestia (the morning) and Luna (the evening) still have to play.

9. Four On the Floor: How many dead guys ended up in Applejack's living room? Also a reference to the Wonderland murders in Los Angeles on July 1,1981, which are pretty insane.

10. The Calm: What is something that comes before...

11. The Storm (I)/(II): Nailed it. Also refers to the storm of mafia coming to avenge Connie's death, not just the tornado.

12. The New Normal: So, by the way, this black gunk squirts out of my palms and I have to feed it people. Just so you know. We all cool? Okay, good. Refers to a phrase that's become popular since the stock market crash of 2007-2008.

13. Do Not Provoke the Dressmaker: I always thought Rarity had something of a short fuse, and also thought it'd be rather ironic if the most generous and stately of the six had a secret hair-trigger murder boner.

14. Bright Future: What Fuyu thought she had with Pinkie's idea. Now she doesn't have to kill! Er...sort of. Fun fact: I wanted the next chapter to be called Dark Present, and a later chapter to be called Dim Past, but the story got rewritten.

15. Spitting Image: Yeah, so that cloning pool is really good at making exact copies. This is a phrase people use when saying someone really looks like someone else. At least, they used to.

16. Out On the Town: Now they just call it going out, which is boring. Fuyu explores the wonders of Ponyville! (read: Bon Bon and Lyra.)

17. Truth and Reconciliation: The motif of people hiding things from Fuyu begins. This comes from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of South Africa, set up in the wake of apartheid to deal with its effects.

18. In Case Of Apocalypse, Start Worrying: A play on those cases labeled 'in case of emergency, break glass'. They usually have something like a fire extinguisher, or an axe. Because panicked people should always carry an axe.

19. Just Like Me: It finally bothers Fuyu that she is, at her core, utterly different. The name of several songs, and as I found out later, also a brand of personal lubricant. Awesome.

20. RSVP: This is French for 'please respond', and was backronym'd into respond soon via postage. Proper etiquette dictates that one should let a host know whether or not they will attend a party, and that's what the Princess ends up doing. Sort of a backhanded reference to Rarity, too.

21. The Great and Powerful: A reference to the story's 'boss fight', and the self-given title of everyone's favorite arrogant asshole pony.

22: And Now You Know: Two things: first, it references Bon Bon finding out about the black sludge, of course. The second is the rest of the phrase, made famous by Paul Harvey at the end of his long-running radio news show. It is 'and know you know...the rest of the story.' Applicable because Ponyville now knows the rest of (mostly, anyway) Fuyu's story.

23. Shades Of... (I)/(II): Add the title of the story to the end and you get a well-worn phrase concerning the ambiguity of damn near everything ever in human history.

24: The Good Word: Not only does this refer to a line Trixie says in the chapter itself, but it also carries religious connotations -- 'the good word' being one way of labeling the gospel truth of Christianity. Truth is something Fuyu wants, so a conversation with Celestia would be the good word for her. Considering that alicorns are immortal, this is a also a subtle reference to the Princesses' god(dess)-hood in the show.

25: Unthinkable: I mentioned this before. It comes directly from two military operational plans drawn up by Churchill's Britain in 1944 and 1945, concerning the invasion of the Soviet Union, or a defense against the USSR should Stalin try to take advantage of the power vacuum left by the fall of Hitler's Germany. In both, up to 100,000 former Wehrmacht soldiers would have been used. Patton was a big proponent of subduing the Russians, but I don't know if he knew of these plans. It relates to the story because Fuyu is the result of a similar idea: the defense of the world against an unstable, unstoppable Twilight Sparkle.

Damn, that was long. Anyway, here you go. Yay.