Prologue
—Using a nonlinear narrative like this, starting the story with the ending, was a tough call for me, but I decided that it would work on the balance of the whole story.
—I have used "Hail Zugzwang" before, in Siege of Clovenworth. Despite the obvious parallel, it has nothing to do with "Hail Hydra," nor would it be accurate to compare Zugzwang to a Nazi.

Part 1
—In a previous story, Trifle Not With Monsters, Phillip began seeing Dr. Breeze for psychiatric help. He has continued his appointments off-screen up to this point. I had thought about having a scene with him speaking to her, but that would take up too much time and wouldn't amount to anything useful.
—Sanguis plaga: Latin, literally "blood plague." The Blood Plague is inspired in part by the Red Death from Edgar Allan Poe's Masque of the Red Death and the Weeper plague from Dishonored.
—six hundredth and sixty-sixth year: Biblical reference. According to the Revelations of St. John, the number 666 is associated with the Antichrist.
—“And what if he was the one who stole Starlight’s research and the crystals?”: Starlight was doing research on the crystals of the Rainbow Castle, which was stolen. See previous story, The Sydneigh Ritual.
—Alkaline Block: reference to the alkaline block of the periodic table.
—Pyrophoric: liable to ignite spontaneously on exposure to air.
—Phil gets the worst crime sense warning in the series, which can only mean bad news.
—Prowl and Bumblebee appeared in a previous story, The Grilled Cheese and the Muletese Falcon, where they ran afoul of Pinkie Pie and Cheese Sandwich.
—“Dr. Mix, I presume,”: a reference to the famous line "Doctor Livingstone, I presume," said by explorer Henry Morton Stanley upon discovering Dr. David Livingstone living in Africa.
—The poem is based off of Percy Bysshe Shelley's sonnet Ozymandias, with some slight alterations. The poem is fitting for Zugzwang, representative of both his inflated ego and his nihilistic philosophy.
—The villains that Zugzwang names have all appeared in previous stories and now work for him.

Part 2
—Requiem Aeternam: A traditional Catholic prayer for the dead, meaning "Eternal Rest" in Latin.
—St. Megan: a reference to the character Megan from the first generation of My Little Pony.
—"Unilateral development, a spinal curvature!”: Pinkie's line, as well as the clue itself, are both references to the Sherlock Holmes story, The Valley of Fear, which the murder scene was loosely inspired by, in tandem with an episode of the Poirot TV series, Murder in the Mews.
—Remember: Daring's go-to cover identity for public appearances like this is Irene Alibi, a private detective who works with Phillip.
—Music: Wolfstack Lights by Mickymar Productions, from the soundtrack for Sunless Sea.
—Headcanon note: ponies can eat meat, and some do. The Eatery appeals to all types of ponies.
—Phillip's conversation about Zugzwang will play an important role later in the story. His referencing Flash being buried alive harkens back to previous story Checkmate.
—Friendship bread is an Amish dish, a sourdough bread that is often shared like a chain letter.
—"Besides, I always thought of you while I was doing it:” picture something like this.
—"acting the maggot": Irish slang, "behave foolishly."
—This revelation, along with the ones in the coming chapters, mean that in both Siege of Clovenworth and its sequel, The Silent Fugitive, Zugzwang actually won.

Part 3
—The health shield bubble was used by Princess Cadance in the MLP episode Three's a Crowd.
—"fair dinkum": Australian slang, "the truth, the genuine article."
—The Cintamani Stone is a mythic stone in Hindu and Buddhist cultures, said to have the power to grant wishes. Talitha is a star in the front leg of Ursa Major. The name means "the third leap" in Arabic, and the star is related to a gazelle leaping in Arabic cultures. Carina is a constellation in the southern hemisphere. Its name means "keel" in Latin, and it represents the keel of the mythic ship the Argo.

Part 4
—The Scorchers are loosely inspired by the Cleaner faction from Tom Clancy's The Division, but several times more sadistic.
—Tandem Check was a spy for Zugzwang and the antagonist of The Silent Fugitive.
—Silent Knight is an OC belonging to Anzel and used with his permission. He has appeared in two other previous stories, a cameo in The Sun Falls and a co-protagonist role in The Silent Fugitive.
—The hoof-cranked gatling gun: I believe TV Tropes would call this "More Dakka."

Part 5
—Flame Strider belongs to my friend Dovah Vahlok, used with permission. Strider is the protagonist/narrator of his story Strider.
—Doctor Nevermore's recitation of "Ring Around the Rosy" is of course symbolic. There is a popular urban legend that the childish nursery rhyme is actually based off of the Black Death, with the final line "we all fall down" meaning "Fall down dead."

Part 6
—For the reason why Scarlet Letter and her gang hate Pinkie Pie, refer to previous story The Grilled Cheese and the Muletese Falcon.
—"flachwichser:" German sexual insult, literally translates to "flat wanker." I picked it because it kind of resembled Flash's name.
—For Nevermore's "first session" with Celestia, see The Sun Falls.
—I've read testimonies of people who were willingly waterboarded. If waterboarding doesn't count as torture, nothing does.
—Beerenauslese: a German category of wine, usually made from handpicked Riesling white grapes.
—Latkes are a thin potato pancake.
—For Phillip and Zugzwang's first meeting, see First Meeting, First Smile in Phillip Finder: Short Stories.
—Zugzwang's "one bad day" speech is similar to the one that Joker gives Batman in Alan Moore's The Killing Joke, and Joker's interrogation in The Dark Knight.
—Music: Can't Smile Without You by Barry Manilow, somewhat fitting to how Zugzwang sees Phillip.
—"Haben Sie keine Angst:" German, "Don't be afraid."
—Flash Sentry's current predicament is of course inspired by Edgar Allan Poe's The Cask of Amontillado.

Part 7
—The chapter title is taken from a line in the Green Lantern Corps oath.

Part 8
—Agoraphobia, arachnophobia, entomophobia, and ophidiophobia are the fears of open spaces, spiders, insects, and snakes respectively.
—History note: the Alicornistic Genocides took place in the early years of Celestia and Luna's rule. It was a period of violence between followers of the dominant pagan religions and the Alicornistics, who worshipped the alicorns as gods.
—“You, like anypony, saw only what you wanted to see.”: Zugzwang's taunt to Phillip back in Checkmate, regarding how he managed to fake his own death and fool Phillip.
—“Quel est ce bruit?”: French, "What's that noise?"
—Headcanon notes: according to the comics, Princess Amore was the ruler of the Crystal Empire before Sombra. While she is merely a unicorn in the comics, she was an alicorn in the Phillipverse, and she was killed by Sombra during his uprising.
—“You have my permission to die.”: also harkening back to Checkmate.

Part 9
—"Let's roll out!": a catchphrase from Transformers, another franchise by Hasbro.

Part 10
—"there shall be a great cry in all Equestria...": paraphrasing Exodus 11:6, part of Moses' warning to Pharaoh about the Tenth Plague.
—“Du, du liegst mir im Herzen...": a German folk song. The lyrics translate to: "You, you are in my heart/You, you are in my mind/You, you cause me much pain..."
—Zugzwang's final gambit is based off of The Dark Knight.
—The Immortal Game was a chess match between Adolf Anderssen and Lionel Kieseritzky during a break of the first international chess tournament in London, June 21, 1851. It became famous amongst chess scholars for Anderssen's bold sacrifices in order to achieve victory.

Part 11
—"A brief candle...": From Shakespeare's Macbeth, Act 5, Scene 5: "Out, out, brief candle! Life's but a walking shadow..."
—"If you love these ponies so much...": based off of Zod's last lines to Superman in Man of Steel.
—Most of the swordfight choreography and dialogue was written by my friend The Villain in Glasses, to whom I am deeply grateful.
—The placement of the Ozycoltias poem was deliberate, because Zugzwang, in fact, simply cannot resist being clever.
—"hure": "whore."
—The three pairs of wings that Phillip gains are meant to be reminiscent of the description of seraphim. According to Abrahamic mythology, seraphim are the highest choir of angels, responsible for guarding the throne of God. They are described in the visions of Ezekiel as having three pairs of wings.
—"Fernbleiben!": "Stay away!"

Epilogue
—The colors of the flames in the memorial are intended to correspond to the three theological virtues: faith (blue), hope (yellow), and charity (green).
—“Even after everything that happened, you can still go home.”: paraphrasing a line from the video game Spec Ops: The Line, though the context is very different.
—The picture was a commission I requested by Cinnamon-scroll, who did a fantastic job!
—Lyrics based off of Wait for It from the musical Hamilton, composed by Lin-Manuel Miranda.

Author's Notes:

Chapter notes from the story.