Notes for "Sunset Studies Endotherms In Captivity" · 4:27pm Jan 27th, 2018
I say "notes", but what I really mean is:
Now that it's about to drop off the feature box and everyone's had a couple of days to read it, here's the complete list of references. Click below to see how many you found and how many you missed! 
Before anything else, let's get the number one thing out of the way. The big one. The one that's right in the title, and is also the entire reason this story even exists.
I was lying in bed late Monday night when I suddenly had a wild thought:
"Wouldn't it be funny if I just randomly tagged shortskirtsandexplosions in the title of a story? Just out of nowhere, for no reason whatsoever?"
And like all of my best crazy ideas, it rolled around in my brain like some kind of crazy idea katamari, picking up other jokes I haven't found a use for, picking up stray detritus, and basically rolling up into a giant turdball of stupid, silly fanfic goofery.
The most important thing it picked up was my desire to have Pinkie Pie singing Vinnie Dakota's zoo song from Milo Murphy's Law. And hey, what's something you can see at the zoo?
Lemurs.
Heeeeeeey.
So now I knew what I wanted to do. And hey, if I could make a real, functional story out of this and not just have a collection of stupid in-jokes and pop culture references, even better, right?
But the collection of stupid in-jokes and pop culture references was always the real point of this whole thing. Because this is how I amuse myself. Kek.
So, the first step was accomplishing the thing that started this whole nutball ride: the title that tags Skirts.
I...am honestly not sure how many of you even noticed, which is a little disappointing, because I thought for sure it was like a big flashing neon sign.
I love word puzzles. 
But once I started, I thought, hey, why just make references to Skirts in this thing? Why not have fun referencing other cool dudes on FiMF? AND make a bunch of pop culture references while I'm at it? And so, the quest began: Write a story that's infested with stupid, lame references which...can actually stand on its own as an enjoyable story even if you don't get the references.
I think I managed it? I'm hoping so, anyway.
Anyhoo, enough random waffle out of me. Now it's time for THE REFERENCES. First, I'll get the meta references out of the way, then circle back and pick up the pop culture references. Most of the doods I gave shout-outs to in this story only got one nod. Skirts kinda got a ton, but then, Skirts is Skirts, so there was a lot to work with there.
References to Skirts:
- The title.
- The lemurs. Everything about the lemurs. Also the Dr Pepper.
- The word 'prismatic'.
- This entire sentence:
Without warning, it shot off to the east as fast as its bright blue feathered wings could take it.
Reference to The Albinocorn:
"Albino corn?"
"It's a special breed of white corn," the bored attendant said. "The herbivores love it but it's too expensive to use as normal feed, so we sell it for visitors to give them as treats."
"Oh yeah, I know this stuff," Sunset said. "I have kind of a love-hate relationship with it."
Reference to Justice3442:
The college-aged girl working the concession stand had light mocha colored skin and long, straight brown hair, a dull, defeated expression in her eyes, and wore a jersey with the numbers "34" and "42" on the front. "What can I get you?" she asked.
...
"I'd just like a cup of ice, please," Sunset said.
"Just ice?"
"Just ice."
(Also, the concession girl is a reference to a certain frequently-occurring Justice OC who shows up primarily in Sassy Coco.)
References to Other Horsefamous People:
- When it comes to animals, Fluttershy is a fan of most everything.
- DrakeyC is referenced, kind of--it's a bit of an awkward shoehorn--by way of the duck pond, and the repeated mention of drakes specifically.
- Popular Youtuber Vannamelon provides the name of the Savanna Le Mon enclosure.
- There's a reference to Wanderer D but it's REALLY hidden, to the point where it barely counts as a reference. The word "wander" appears in some form within the story text exactly four times.
Like I said, I really love word puzzles.
And now, the other references:
"Aww," Pinkie whined. "That would've been awesome. He could like, randomly babble off some long-winded existential ice cream koan out of nowhere and we'd be all like, whaaaa?"
Referencing Gummy doing exactly that in the episode "Slice of Life", natch.
"Yeah!" Pinkie exclaimed, thrusting a fist skyward. "We're going to the zoo! We're going to the zoo! And then we're gonna see some animals!"
Milo Murphy's Law.
The Jungalow?
This one's really just wordplay on "bungalow", but after the fact I realized it can also count as an unintentional reference to Juggalos. Meh.
Flappy's Bird Arcade?
A shout out to the dumbest game ever.
"Ooh! I wanna see some lions!" Pinkie exclaimed. "And some tigers! Ooh! Ooh! And a bear!"
"Oh my!" Fluttershy said.
If you don't know this reference, you're failing at life.
The entire llama bit
Pinkie quotes two lines from the Llama Song from the Milo Murphy's Law episode "The Llama Incident". Also, the llama is named Lorenzo, as in Lorenzo Lamas, who voiced Meap on Phineas and Ferb.
All the animals that appear in the Savanna enclosure are animals that appeared in The Lion King, but that's honestly a coincidence rather than a reference. Still, I saw some comments that picked up on it.
"I love mallard drakes!" Fluttershy cooed.
"I dunno," Pinkie said skeptically. "They don't look like the terror that flaps in the night. And where are their coats and hats?"
Darkwing Duck reference.
I...think that's everything? Anyway, I had a lot of fun writing this thing. I hope you all had as much fun reading it! Now to see how many of the references you guys did and didn't get. 
XD Now I feel like an idiot for not catching those author references. I did get "albino corn" but the rest... Oh well
I did get the Gummy reference, the Darkwing Duck, Wizard of Oz and Flappy Bird refs (and it feels weird to mention Flappy Bird and Oz in the same sentence). Those were fun
Gonna be honest, most of the those author references went straight over my head, so thanks for pointing them out; now I can appreciate them in all their word-puzzley glory.
Hmm. Counting the Jungalow pun as half, I got... exactly half of these references. Whch doesn't include the title. (And for optimal reference depth, you probably should've entitled the chapter Jaunty Excursion.
)
Still, flattered to see I merited a mention. Thanks for the reader's guide.
4782944
The original chapter title was either going to be Zoo Harvest or Poo Harvest. But I changed it to what it is because of the gecko in the cover art, to ward off any complaints about geckos being exotherms.
Pft, you struggle to make jokes about "Drake Clawfang" the dragon dood?
I didn't know the story was supposed to be a reference scavenger hunt. Fun.
Skirt's reference went right over my head. I caught almost every other author reference save for Wanderer D and the youtuber (never heard of 'em). Haven't seen Murphy's Law, so I caught none of those. Got just about everything else though.
4783042
You don't generally see many dragons in a zoo. Except for Komodo dragons. The only time you're a Komodo dragon is when you're taking a dump.
4783211
Alas, we'll never know...
Picked up a few of the reader references, but I was like, "Umm... nawww, couldn't be!" Until I re-read it a few times, and decided it probably was.
The Darkwing Duck reference was cute. The callback to the MLP episode was awesome, especially since as Pinkie herself commented, you can't be sure which Pinkie you're talking to, anymore, and it might have been the one at the wedding.
So many references... I did get at least two!
Almost makes one want to start collecting silly references overall. Like Celestia's new Minister of Education, Batsy Dew Voice...