Collected Footnotes (For Those Of You Who Don't Want To Be Scrolling Up And Down All The Time)

What's Going On?

1. I had a lot of trouble coming up with a term that made the acronym work, but I’m very happy with my final choice. I was going to go with Divinity, but then I thought of Daemon, and was quite pleased to discover that it worked on two extra levels. Of the word’s three definitions, two of them applied to the character as I conceived it. To wit:
   A. (in ancient Greek belief) a divinity or supernatural being of a nature between gods and humans.
   B. In multitasking computer operating systems, a daemon is a computer program that runs as a background process, rather than being under the direct control of an interactive user.

Character Creation

1. Especially Rarity, who’d just lost the roll to resist the effect.

2. Ungulaturgy, capillaturgy, geoturgy, and botanurgy are hoof magic, hair magic (mane/tail, specifically), control over earth and stone, and plant-related magic, respectively.

3. They’d both been 17, but that wasn’t really old enough to be called a stallion, especially in that colt’s case.

4. Pankration . Short version: Ancient Greek MMA

5. Yes, I based these classes on the classic FF 1 classes, with a few adjustments to better fit the setting. Especially the names. I also modified the white mage for better balance. Now a strong one can be as much a force unto themselves as a black mage.

6. Technically, anything that ends in ‘mancy’ has to do with divination. Seeing the future, in other words. If it has to do with magic, the proper suffix is (t)urgy. So this is what most people think of as necromancy. And sorry for going Mudbriar on you.

Manual

1. Of course, ten percent of 7 billion is still 700 million, which is not a very small number, objectively speaking. And is several million people per race.

2. More on this next chapter, but the short answer is: it’s a game. Don’t overthink it. Besides, Gunslinger AJ is a natural fit.

3. Androgyne is an in-universe term for a gender-fluid individual.

Tutorial

1. The Anadolu is a pony breed that’s known for its strength, speed and endurance, making it a pretty good match for Applejack. Even if it is a little shorter than I picture her. And I didn’t even notice the alliteration at first.

2. They were great for getting rid of food scraps and crops that weren’t good enough to sell, and providing manure for fertilizer. They could help tear up the ground, when the plow was out of commission. Or just not enough. And while there wasn’t much call for it around Ponyville, other places used them for truffle-hunting.

First Blood

1. I couldn’t resist the pun. Sorry, not-really-sorry.

First Blush

1. For instance, cattle’s idea of sexual discretion is facing straight at you, so you can’t see where they’re joined. Of course, that only helped if you waited for them to finish before moving, which she often didn’t have time to do.

2. Hooves are awkward for some things, so for most stallions in Equestria, belly slapping is still the preferred masturbation method.

The First (Full) Day of the Rest of Her Life

1. Most ponies have squat toilets, which are much more suitable for quadrupeds.

2. I know the real term is “narrative causality.” Though considering how often people are considered victims of it, I can’t say AJ’s version is entirely inaccurate. Also, just curious, but how many of you read that as causality at first?”

3. Deer are like Equestria’s Gypsies, just without the reputation for black magic, curses, killing, and thieving. So more like the Tuatha’an. Though moving from forest to forest, mostly living off the land and avoiding pony settlements means they still don’t have the best reputation. Like a hippy commune, or a mostly harmless cult. A few ponies from Ponyville will interact with the local herd when their migration takes them through Whitetail Woods—like Fluttershy—but not many.

4. Faun is actually what the Romans called satyrs, but tell me this doesn’t work, too.

5. Plural marriages, more commonly known as herd-families—to differentiate from the general term for a group of ponies—may not be very common in Equestria, but they’re far from unknown. Fluttershy’s parents formed one soon after Zephyr was born, though Night Gale had to move away just before he graduated school, so she divorced them so that they didn’t feel like they had to follow her to Manehattan. And there were two separate occasions where the Choosing Stone was the only reason Pinkie’s parents didn’t form one.

6. I know that most in most deer species, the females don’t grow antlers. But they’re also iconic, so… for artistic license!

7. According to Behind The Name, some Swahili name definitions, if you’re interested:
   Rehema – Mercy/Compassion
   Marjani – Coral, named for her primary fur color. On an unrelated note, she’s Rehana’s only child who isn’t also biologically Alder’s.
   Sauda – Dark Complexion, for her skin color.
   Most – First Born, since he is the older twin.
   Subira – Patience, since she was born after an exceptionally long labor. And she has consciously chosen to live up to her name for most of her life.
   And finally, the only non-Swahili name, Mirembe is an East African word for peace.

Second Verse, (Not Quite) Same As The First

1. This is supposed to be Spanish moss, but I couldn’t think of any way to ponify Spain/Spanish.

2. And since Yanagi is half a head shorter than Applejack, while Hannah—like any satyr—is about the same height as a dwarf, she could loom very effectively.

3. He actually got up around six-thirty, hoping to meet up with Applejack, but that didn’t work.

4. Fun fact: I had a gooseberry bush growing in my yard as a kid, and I always ate them green. I was in my twenties before I learned they aren’t ripe until they’re purple and mushy. Even a decade on, I still exclusively prefer them green.

Training Day

1. 1. Winona had gotten in a few inappropriate licks on both AJ and Mac when she was younger, and the siblings were in season. She nearly got herself kicked the first time she stuck her muzzle under teenage Applejack’s tail unexpectedly.

Applejack’s Day “Off”

1. In Equestria, the punishment for very nearly* any use of necroturgy is having both horn and tongue surgically removed by the royal physician—to prevent using and/or teaching it—followed by life imprisonment, in a cell specially warded by Celestia. (And Luna, too, now that she’s back.) On suicide watch, until any potential contingency spells had naturally faded, to avoid creating any liches, or things like that.
   

*On extremely rare occasion—as in, only four times during Celestia’s sole rule—a researcher can get a royal dispensation to study necroturgy, to help develop countermeasures against future threats of that nature. But there were a lot of restrictions and safety measures in place for such researchers, and it was mostly meant for ponies whose cutie marks were specifically for necroturgy. Something which hasn’t been seen since the last marked necroturge died, over 600 years ago.

However, nopony has been found guilty of necroturgy in almost 900 years, so outside the legal profession, few ponies know what the punishment is, much less that there can be exceptions. (Of course, Twilight and Spike are among those few. And thanks to one half-drunk evening, so are the other five of them.)

And if that sounds savage, it’s a holdover from the Unification Era, when things were less civilized. And it’s still better than the Old Unicornia laws it was based on, where the reigning monarch shattered the necroturgist’s horn personally, in public, for all to see. (Like a real-world public execution.) And which had no exceptions.

1. It’s kind of like tuning out the sight of somepony’s genitals, when their tail swings a little too wide. Or in real-world terms, like ignoring someone’s crotch in a public shower or nude beach.

2. Just out of curiosity, does anyone know: Do they still make Big Red? If not, then does anyone even know what I’m talking about?

3. She also learned that carnivores and other things that ate a lot of meat didn’t have very good meat for eating.

4. Applejack didn’t mind a little tongue or toy action in her ass, but she’d always felt like a real cock would be a little too big for comfort.

Harvest Season

1. 1 Quarter = 8 Bushels = ~290 Liters. Also, 1 Pint = ~1/2 Liter

2. One of the finer details Applejack missed about the naga, is that the hands had four fingers and two opposable thumbs, one on each side of the palms. And very sharp, retractable, pointed nails.

3. Of course, the real answer is that I’m a Doctor Who fan. Are you my mummy?

4. Even if she knew the word pseudopod, Applejack probably wouldn’t feel the need to use a ten-bit word like that, when tentacle worked just fine. And the same goes for iridescent.

5. Technically, earth ponies didn’t need to worry about crop rotation, since their magic could make up for the deficits. But in practice, they used several agronomy techniques to lessen the strain on their magic.

6. If, like Applejack, you expected level 5 to be usable every 90 minutes, just know that I did the math, and in the long run, it works better this way.

7. In Equestria, the difference between love and lust/sex is clearly understood and accepted, so all relationships are as open or not as those involved can agree on. Monogamy is not uncommon, but it’s by no means the expected default.

8. Yanagi is based on a sika, or spotted, deer, while Elias is based on a roe deer.

9. In a land where homosexuality and birth control have never been illegal, anal sex is just one more way for ponies to indulge. And big cities like Canterlot or Manehatten have a couple parks that are reserved for ponies who like having sex in more natural surroundings during heat. There are also persistent—but unsubstantiated—rumors that there are parks reserved for such purposes year-round.

And On the Seventh Day, She Rested (A Little…Sorta)

1. Just like Slime leather is a magical substitute for lycra/spandex—just naturally breathable, instead of needing to be blended with natural fibers—Gel “fluid” (for want of a better term) is a magical paraffin substitute.

2. Compared to Applejack, the Hart Of The Woods was about the size of Big Macintosh, and almost as muscular.

(We’re Off On the) Road to Silberwald

1. I honestly didn’t even make that connection until Applejack did. Mostly because a spell-summoned creature isn’t real flesh and blood, but more concentrated magic mimicking it. Like Naruto’s shadow clones.
   

Also, the whole info dump about necroturgy was entirely unplanned. I wasn’t even sure if I wanted it to be a school of its own, until I started hashing it out as I went along.

1. Too quick, do you think? Oh well, if so, just chalk it up to GOD’s tampering. After all, this isn’t a dramatic character study about Applejack turning into a different species.

2. Wikipedia has some articles, if you’re interested. (Make sure you include the word massage to find the right articles.) It also has some NSFW pictures, so no direct links. I’m pretty much just borrowing the names, though.

3. A conversation with Fluttershy had touched on Winona’s wayward tongue. It had been the first time she’d seen the pegasus get so peeved. Fluttershy had understood that animals, not knowing better, would innocently misbehave, and that didn’t bother her. (It also wasn’t illegal.) But ponies choosing to cultivate that misbehavior—and more—was a different story, altogether.

4. As an earth pony, the only thing she could do about the weather was make suggestions to Ponyville’s weather team, usually through Rainbow. And considering those suggestions had to be balanced against everypony else’s in town—and then Ponyville’s needs had to be balanced with everywhere else, nationally—they seldom amounted to much.

That, or complain about it, which was also usually directed at Rainbow. But those tended to accomplish even less, resulting in explanations about how her bosses in Cloudsdale determined the weather schedule, and only gave her so much wiggle room. Often followed by complaints that those same ponies were out-of-touch idiots.

1. Actually, it does take a dispelled summon time to recover, but only 1/60th as long as it would if the creature was recovering naturally. Though in a pinch, a summoner can spend (generally a lot) more MP to force it.

On The Town

1. Yes, Rana is based on the real world Nara, where Sika deer really do wander some parts of the city. And according to Wikipedia, some of them really do bow to ask for the crackers you can buy specifically for them.
   

Of course, the bit about bestiality is unique to this fic, so if you’re ever visiting Nara, and one of the deer were to start nosing your crotch, it’s NOT asking you to whip it out or bend over. (That should go without saying, but if I don’t say it, some idiot’s going to end up blaming me for their arrest and/or injuries. )

1. Admittedly, Applejack was partly to blame for this, as she liked to play up her fondness for dirt, just to rile her friend.

2. Applejack didn’t remember much about their old dog—she’d been young when Winona’s mom had died—but she did remember all the trouble they’d had getting her into the tub. The first swear word she’d ever heard had, in fact, had come from her Pa trying to get her in the bath.