I Think It's Called Ponytown... Story Notes | Chapter 1 · 2:03pm Jan 23rd, 2020
The story is actually based on my thoughts after seeing a fic use the colour-swapped Rainbow Dash pony picture. Not sure what I'd been eating that day, but it must've been good.
CHAPTER 1: 9/10 Customers can't tell the Difference
The chapter title is a reference to old British adverts that stated that 8 out of 10 cats preferred Whiskas.
I chose plumbing for a couple of reasons. Firstly when I saw the colour swapped Rainbow Dash picture, I came up with a terrible alternative name of Drainbow Rash. The drains got me thinking, which led me to Mario. He and Luigi are similar but different colours. Besides, who can't use a good plumber?
'Butt skyward and nose pressed to the deck' is from the gifs of Sweetie Belle doing the pushing along the floor with rear legs thing.
'soda cartons' is a nod to the American roots of the show and the majority of its audience. I just felt that 'pop cans' would detract from the narrative since some readers might have to work out what they were.
It's in my headcanon to see Berry as running some sort of underground bar with brain-slamming cocktails, or hosting parties with the same. Enough fics agree to warrant its use.
The free English class from religious looking men in suits is of course missionaries from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Not that they're allowed to do that in China, but it's an amusing line.
'Cast a brick to find jade' is a traditional Chinese saying. It's about using small bait to catch a big fish, and although technically a term of the art of war, is used more as an insult for trying too hard here.
Yam Nutrition do make oatmeal. They also make chocolate cone snacks with the words 'Good Quality Chocolate Crispy Biscuit' on the packaging. The products were simply found on a quick google image search.
'Wrangle those tubes' is a bit of a pun because of the green tubes used for transport in the Mario platform games. Also of course tubes can refer to the internet, which is a bit meta.
'Ponytown County Carusel Clothing Design and Production Limited Liability Corporation' - I'm pretty sure that the law requires Chinese companies to have such descriptive names.
Scarcity is of course a synonym of Rarity. Just the sort of mistake one could make using a simple English-Chinese dictionary for translations.
Fortune cats are very popular in Chinese shops. Rarity would, of course, go big.
The mohawk is a reference to the MLP episode 19 of Season 7 'It Isn't the Mane Thing About You' where Rarity mixes up her shampoo with another cleaning product.
PART 2: https://www.fimfiction.net/blog/886814/i-think-its-called-ponytown-story-notes-chapter-2
Love looking under the hood on this.