Part 1
—The title of this story is taken from The Musgrave Ritual, which this story was very loosely inspired by.
—A billabong is an isolated pond that was left behind when a river changed course. They are dry for most of the year and fill with water seasonally.
—In Australia, a bushwacker is a name for a person who lives in the bush, or outback.
—My headcanon is that ponies can eat meat, but most choose not to. Certain cultures are more accepting of meat-eaters, such as the Aushaylians.
—A chronometer is a type of clock used in navigation. When it is set to the time to a fixed point, one could compare the time on the clock to the time of astrological events such as high noon to determine longitudinal position.
—Disko Street: named for Disko Troop, the Gloucester fishing captain from Rudyard Kipling's Captains Courageous.
—Irene Alibi is a play on Sherlock Holmes' one-time female nemesis Irene Adler, from A Scandal in Bohemia. Daring used this moniker in a previous story, Curse of the Taverneigh Blue.
—"Bonzer:" Australian slang, "Great."
—"fair dinkum:" Australian slang, "true, genuine."
—Flying Dutchpony: named for the Flying Dutchman, the legendary ghost ship.

Part 2
—“And it’d probably be better than our little sailing trip!”: referring the episode P.P.O.V.
—"impersonating a doctor, impersonating a pilot, impersonating a lawyer:" reference to the film Catch Me If You Can, based on the life of Frank Abagnale.
—"vandalism, littering, and jaywalking:" the fiend!
—Anzac biscuits are a hard tack biscuit made from oats, sugar, butter, and coconuts, popular in Australia and New Zealand.
—Songlines were used by real-life Australian Aboriginals to navigate the lands and to pass down legends of the Dreamtime.
—Pequod: named after Captain Ahab's ship in Herman Melville's Moby-Dick.

Part 3
—"Old Ironsides" is the nickname of the USS Constitution. Built in 1797, it is the oldest commissioned warship afloat in the world, and is currently docked at the Charleston Navy Yard in Boston, Massachusetts.
—Calico Gold is a play on John "Calico Jack" Rackham: calico is a type of fabric that Calico Jack was famous for wearing. Bantamweight is a weight class in combat sports: in boxing, it is 115-118 pounds.
—Charlie Silvertongue is a smuggler and art dealer that is an adversary of Daring Do and Phillip Finder: he has appeared in previous stories Secret of the Mare Lisa and Curse of the Taverneigh Blue.
—Straight Flush previously appeared in Clockwork. While I intended for that story to be the last we heard of him, one of my proofreaders suggested that we see him reformed in a later story, and I took this opportunity.
—Over There: named for an American patriotic song that was popular during both the World Wars, and is also a stealth reference to the We're Here, Disko Troop's ship from Captains Courageous. The pun just came along naturally!

Part 4
—After a suggestion from a proofreader, Roaring and Satsuma are both loosely based on characters from One Piece. Roaring is based off of Roronoa Zoro, while Satsuma, who is named after a Japanese citrus fruit, is based off of Nami.
—"lubber:" short for "landlubber," a slang term for an inexperienced sailor.
—The boatswain, sometimes called the bosun, was in charge of the ship's equipment and crew.
—A cat-o'-nine-tails was a whip with the end separated into nine separate tails.
— “Why is the rum gone?”: reference to Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl.
—I don't think I'd want to listen to ninety-nine verses dedicated to a decreasing supply of rum, either, even if Pinkie sang it.
—Marsupial animals are mammals that carry their young in a pouch. Kangaroos, koalas, wallabies and possums belong to this class of animal.
—Phillip adopted Flash in the previous story, The Fillydelphia Solution.
—A sextant is a navigational instrument that is used to determine latitudinal position by measuring the angle of the sun or the north star to the horizon.

Part 5
—Starlight has been experimenting on the crystals that construct the Rainbow Castle since The Grilled Cheese and the Muletese Falcon.
—Safety note: you should ALWAYS be wearing a life jacket if you are on a boat. Not having them already on was a serious mistake on the ponies' part.
—The mizzenmast, on a ship that has three or more masts, is the third mast towards the stern.
—Wavey Jones' locker: play on "Davey Jones' locker," sailor slang for the bottom of the ocean.

Part 6
—Aushaylia is only 600 square miles large. The smallest island nation in the world is the nation of Nauru, which is only 8.1 square miles large and has a population of over 10,000 people.
—The Wandering Colt is based off of the Aboriginal myth of the Wandering Boys.
—The kookaburra is only native to Australia; despite this, its distinctive laugh has been used as background sound in jungle scenes in movies that take place all over the world.
—Little fact: that story about how "kangaroo" means "I don't understand" in Aboriginal languages is just a myth.
—"The Dying Stockpony" is based off the traditional Australian ballad, "The Dying Stockman."
—I thought about having Roaring carry his third sword in his mouth like Zoro, but decided to have him use his tail instead, as it was easier for me to imagine and made tactical sense, allowing him to attack and defend from behind as well.

Part 7
—The Seven Sisters are actually the Pleiades star cluster (though, in real life, they are not fixed stars). The story given here is based on the Aboriginal version of the myth.
—Uluru, sometimes known as Ayers Rock, is a famous Australian landmark, and it has a number of myths surrounding it, depending on which Aboriginal tribe you ask.
—Wandjina are cloud and rain spirits that were worshipped by some Aboriginal tribes.
—“I was born during a thunderstorm...": the thunderstorm motif surrounded Phil from his birth.

Part 8
—The conversation between Phillip and Whitestone, as well as the idea of Whitestone digging up the Aushaylians bodies, is inspired by an arc in a Daredevil comic where Daredevil fights Mole Man, who has stolen hundreds of bodies from the cemetery where Daredevil's father is buried.
—Twilight and Flash charging Roaring, as well as his reaction, is deliberately similar to Twilight charging Nightmare Moon in The Elements of Harmony.
—Flash killing Roaring by stabbing him through the back is similar to his first kill in previous story, Siege of Clovenworth. His reaction, however, is much different; unfortunately, he is now used to killing.
—Starlight finally reveals the true power of the magic contained within the Rainbow Castle crystals.
—Phillip flashes back to the night he fought his father's murderer. He was ultimately unable to kill him then, just as he can't bring himself to kill Whitestone here.
—Kangaroos "box" by balancing on their tails and kicking with both their legs. In real life, kangaroos have long, sharp toenails and can potentially disembowel an enemy with a strong kick.

Part 9
—A bullroarer is a carved stick on a string that makes a constant vibrating tone when it is swung through the air. Aboriginals were among the many people who developed and used them for music and long-distance communication. Phillip gave Spike a bullroarer for Hearth's Warming in the short story I'll Be Home for Hearth's Warming.
—Didgeridoos were invented by northern Aboriginal people within the last 1,000 years. Traditionally, it was played as an accompaniment to ceremonial singing and dancing.
—"Jolly roger" is a name for a pirate's flag, traditionally one with a skull and crossbones design. The origin of the name is disputed: some postulate that it comes from the French phrase "joli rouge," meaning "pretty red."

Epilogue
—Surveillance crystals were introduced in the previous story, The Fillydelphia Solution.
—Star Watcher, Scarlet Letter, Laurier de Montaigne, Coin Toss, Crimson Prince, and Tinderspark were all introduced (Tinderspark briefly) in previous stories.
—"Dies Irae...": taken from a Catholic hymn "Dies Irae," meaning "Day of Wrath." The lyrics roughly translate as "Day of judgement, that day will dissolve the Earth in ashes."

Author's Notes:

Chapter notes from the story.