Immediately after Pinkie Pie's discovery of Discord's newest message amongst the aftermath of the Birthday Party skull's brief reign of chaos, Twilight and Spike had hurried out with urgency back to the Princess' manor house near the center of town with the document. Johnson had accompanied them back as a matter of course, and Pinkie Pie had tagged along behind him with curiosity.

Pinkie Pie herself had been surprised when the Cakes had turned down her offer to stay and help clean up the loose confetti and ghostly pools of ectoplasm. Since the situation involved Princess Twilight, and official business, Pinkie Pie was perfectly free to go with them, they had insisted.

As the four left, Mister Cake wondered what they should do with the odd spectral substance littering their floor. A tentative tasting of the ectoplasm yielded a surprisingly lemon-like taste, but with the consistency of honey. After deliberating with his wife for some time after everyone else's departure, the Cakes settled on using the ectoplasm for macaroon filling or similar baked goods. What pony wouldn't like some pleasantly tart macaroons?

Inside the large well decorated parlor of Twilight's Manor, Johnson and Pinkie Pie were each reclining in fine velvet upholstery with matching ottomans. The two chairs were separated by a high end table with a lacquered mahogany surface. A shaded lamp shared the space with a large bowl of taffy candy, which Pinkie Pie was now vigorously attacking. Johnson sat sternly with his arms crossed, business-like. He eyed Pinkie with a mixture of curiosity and irritation, and was surprisingly not smoking a cigar at the moment.

Not too far opposite the two, sat Twilight and Spike in similarly posh chairs. Between the four, in the center of the room on a fine exotic rug, lay a low coffee table identical in style to the end table and all other surfaces. Spike twiddled his fingers, constantly shifting attention between Pinkie Pie and the Sergeant, frowning in embarrassment at the former and smiling apologetically at the latter.

A majestic grandfather clock ticked, and a fire under the mantle to their far right crackled in the background. Twilight, meanwhile glared intently at the coffee table. Discord's note was the focus of the Alicorn's scrutiny. On the table top, the document returned Twilight's intense scrutiny with an innocent silence only inanimate objects could project.

Finally, Pinkie Pie's muffled murmuring of enjoyment as she devoured the candy was silenced by a sudden vexed groan from Twilight. It ceased the Earth Pony's sugar spree, and caught the attention of both human and dragon.

"Ugh, I honesty thought he was reformed!" Twilight said in a raised tone of voice. She levitated the parchment out in front of her, reading it a second time. "First, he disappears without a trace, next we have diplomatic problems popping up out of the blue, then Luna summons you here," She peered up at Johnson, her voice raising in pitch and speed with her growing anxiety. "Celestia sent me a transcript of the original 'IWHBYD' note she and Luna showed you. I read it only just this morning. And now, when he finally does decide to pop back into contact with us, he leaves these...these darn skulls!"

Twilight groaned loudly again, setting the note down flat, and Johnson leaned over to snatch it up, frowning as he inspected Discord's penmanship. "Now he thinks we have to play some 'game' of his? We might be on the brink of an international crisis here!" With her ears completely flattened, Twilight seemed as if she were about to leap up off the cushion and begin pacing the room frantically.

"Whoa, Twi, calm down! Take a deep breath, I think you're taking too much of this in at once!" Spike said urgently, spreading his palms out in the air, showing the universal sign of 'take it easy'.

Pinkie Pie held out the dwindling bowl of taffy to Twilight. Her mouth was full of partially-chewed taffy as she spoke. "Here Twily, ya whant shum? Ish reely good! Good enuff ta put ya in a good mood I bet!"

Reading Discord's message, Johnson shifted his attention between it and the actions of the others, occasionally raising his eyebrows and grunting at various points. The more he read Discord's writings, the more he was able to slowly piece together the true extent of the Chaos Master's affinity for whimsical madness.

Birthday Party

Dear Twilight, Mister Johnson, and to all whom it may concern:

I see you have acquired the second piece to our game, oh happy days!

Ah, but before I forget... Welcome to dear old Equestria, Sergeant Major! Did you know you are the first of your kind to set foot in this world for thousands of years? Well, I digress...

You've acquired the second skull, congratulations! Hopefully those old ghosts didn't give you too much trouble. Just for collecting it so early in the game, I've left you a little skull present. It should appear...just as soon as this letter is done reading you. How I do look forward to meeting you in person, Avery Johnson!

Oh, I should probably mention now, that this will be the last written correspondence you'll be receiving from little old me. My affairs shall keep me quite occupied until our game is over. But when it is, then we'll speak.

Until next time, don't feed the parasprites!

-Discord

Johnson hastily slapped the parchment down on the table, and stared at the top expectantly. If a skull truly was supposed to appear here, he didn't want to be caught off guard by the creepy things again.

Twilight had calmed down considerably in the time it took Johnson to read the message. She got up and approached the coffee table, standing directly opposite him. "Another skull's coming, isn't it?" Twilight asked, alert and wary.

Johnson nodded, still staring at the table. "Uh huh. No idea what kind though. All the paper said was 'bandana'."

"Who could possibly know what that means?" Spike questioned.

"It's Discord silly! It could meany positively anything. Maybe it spawns infinite bandanas, or gives you an unending supply of sweets!" Pinkie Pie answered, getting up from her seat and bouncing excitably. The sugary taffy was already inducing a large-scale sugar rush in the mare's brain. Before anymore conjecture could be made, the skull revealed itself to everyone. In a brief burst of light and a slight otherworldly gust of air, it dropped onto the table with a quiet thunk.

It was positioned so it seemed to be staring directly at Johnson. He instantly picked it up as the skull icon flashed in his peripheral vision. "Bandana skull acquired; never fear a shortage of any critical item while it is active." The ghostly skull voice whispered. "Collect us all." Like the previous two before it, the human-looking cranium vanished into thin air.

By now, Johnson had grown use to the voice of the skulls. While it still unnerved him quite intensely, it no longer made him feel as if he were going mad. Indeed, he was in a land of magic and what humanity considered mythological creatures, after all.

Suspicious of what the voice meant, Johnson fumbled about in his pockets, and fished out his cigar pack. It was full. Johnson couldn't remember how much had been left before, but he took one out for testing purposes. Sure enough, as soon as it had gone, another miraculously appeared in its place out of thin air.

"Just when I thought I've seen everything." Johnson murmured, lighting the Sweet William against his lighter and taking a slow drag. "Infinite everything? I wonder if this works with ammo!"

Pinkie Pie's eyes widened. "No way...I was right!" She started bouncing circles around the room. "You should start carrying candy with you, Sergeant!"

Johnson frowned at the mare, who was now on bouncing on the ceiling, upside down. "One word Pinkie, one word." He puffed out a small cloud of smoke. "Diabetes."

"As if!" Pinkie Pie said dismissively. "Everypony knows the doctors just make that up so that less people will eat sugary stuff. Less sugar means less cavities. Less cavities means less business for dentists!" Pinkie dropped onto the ground, landing perfectly like a cat.

"Less business for dentists means more money for doctors! Everypony knows they're common enemies!" Pinkie Pie finished in a sing song voice with a goofy grin. "It's a conspiracy...!" She added a second later, in a paranoid whisper.

"Guys, we're kind of digressing here! Johnson, I've got a lot of things to show you, and we've got a lot to talk about." Twilight interjected, walking around to their side of the table.

At that moment, Twilight's chief butler Marius arrived, levitating a silver tray laden with an ornate tea kettle, a small bowl of sugar, a pitcher of milk, and several cups. "Your Majesty, I have brought the tea you've requested." He looked exactly the same as when Johnson had last seen him, over two hours ago.

Pinkie Pie eyeballed the sugar warily, her own rush having previously turned into a crash mere moments ago. "Well, I uh, I better get going guys. The Cakes probably still need an extra hoof to clean up." She trotted quickly past Marius, heading for the door. "Nice meeting you, Mister Johnson, I'll see ya around! Bye-bye Twilight. Later Spike!" The party pony gave them a quick wave, then she darted out of sight before they could wave back. Marius turned to watch her go with a surprised twitch of his brow. When the butler turned back around, the Princess addressed him.

"Please Marius, we've been down this road before, you don't need to be formal around me in private! But thank you. Go ahead and leave that here." Twilight motioned towards the space near Discord's note, concern filling her features.

Still arching his brow with uncertainty, Marius bowed lightly and deftly set the tray down, smiling sheepishly. "Erm, of course Your Maj... I mean Twilight. Oh, and before my silly old brain forgets...Mayor Mare has had to postpone your meeting with her until the weekend, citing family business."

Twilight nodded and watched as he poured some cups. "No matter, I've been hoping for more time to show the Sergeant Major here around, and then maybe catch up on some very important projects in my workshop."

Marius chuckled, winking at Johnson for a moment "Ah yes, the revolutionary new weapon I've been hearing so much about." He cleared his throat. "Anything else, Twilight?"

The old unicorn's determination to fulfill Twilight's requests to the letter brought a genial smile to her face. "That will be all, thanks!" Marius bowed again. As Twilight turned her back to them for a moment to prepare a cup of tea, humming to herself, Johnson caught Marius and Spike's attention with a conspiratorial wave. They leaned in to hear him as he whispered

"Alright gentlemen, I heard a rumor from one the town's citizens that the Princess working on some type of advanced rifle."

"Yeah, what about it?" Spike whispered back.

"Well uh, in case ya haven't noticed..." Johnson patted at the empty magnetic holster on hip awkwardly. "I'm a soldier without a weapon, son!"

"Hmm, I do wonder about the weapon myself. I've only ever seen its ammunition, but nary a single blueprint or the bloody thing itself!" Marius threw in. "I truly hope Her Majesty isn't hiding the details due to a possibly shoddy final product..."

Spike looked cautiously over at the still humming Alicorn nearby. "Honestly, I don't think I'd be able help you in that department, Sergeant." He said with certainty. "And never doubt Twi, Marius! She's probably smarter than all of uscombined!"

"Yeah, alright. Mind the snappy remarks son. But do ya suppose she'd let me see the darn thing? Twilight did say she'd be showing me around, and..."

"Yes Johnson, I'll take you see some of my pet projects.Yes, I'll be showing you around, and yes, that does include revealing the rifle to you." Twilight peered around at all of them sternly, elegantly sipping her tea as she flattened her ears in disapproval. "And yes, I did hear you."

Poor Spike practically withered under her scrutiny, and the butler scratched at his dark mane awkwardly. Johnson, meanwhile stared back at her with approval. "You pretended to be distracted to see how interested we were in your work." He chuckled, then took a drag of his cigar. "That's some fine strategic thinking right there on such short notice."

"Yes, that happens when you're a detail-oriented individual such as myself. Johnson, we're going to be working closely together for what I would guess is a lengthy amount of time. If we're to going to be friends and not a pain in each others hind quarters, you're going to not want to not be sneaky like that, Sergeant."

Twilight stood sternly, lowering her voice. She flared her wings for a moment, looking around the house suspiciously. "While I appreciate your compliment, and I'm pleased to see you are so interested in my work, these aren't the kind of times for sneaky behavior, from you, me, or any of us!"

Johnson's look of approval quickly hardened into grim seriousness. "I hear you loud and clear, ma'am. My apologies." In another time and world, Johnson would have likely given her a brief salute.

This seemed to be in better standing with the Princess, as Twilight's radiant smile returned. "Thanks for being direct." Her smile dropped a little as she sighed. "I'm not mad at any of you, you didn't even do anything. It's just those darn Roamans overseas have my mind running faster than Rainbow Dash at full speed. Anyways, would you like to begin the tour? I might as well show you my workshop already." She turned to go, gesturing for Johnson to follow her. "It will be our first destination. C'mon!"

He nodded happily "Alright then. Let's move out!" Johnson hurried out of the parlor behind her her, breaking into a light jog.

"Uhh, Your High...ahem... Twilight...what about the tea?" Marius inquired after them, growing flustered.

"Why don't you and Spike finish it all, we'll be going around the house for quite awhile!" Twilight called back, until her voice grew fainter as she and the human traversed the corridors of the immense house.

"Of course. I will do that, milady...uh, Your Majest...Twilight! Gah, bollocks I'm doing it again!" Mister Melody sighed and sat down on his haunches, pouring himself a cup and gingerly levitating it over to himself. The cup shook slightly from the anxiety effecting his magic as he sipped. "Why must she make observation of royal protocol so unutterably difficult?"

The butler blotted at his sweating forehead with a handkerchief. "Oh dear, the Princesses and the genius thinkers are always the most eccentric ones...Her Majesty is bloody both!"

Spike smirked at him knowingly, as he casually drank from his own cup, reclining in the lounge chair. "Man...you don't know the half of it."


"Just watch your step, the staircase is a bit...narrow." Twilight said in a cautious voice, making her descent.

Sergeant Johnson followed carefully in Twilight Sparkle's hoofsteps down the cellar stairs, his boots leaving an echo behind the both of them. "Ugh. Clearly these steps were made by little girls! Look at this, I can't even hold my damn arms out in this little space!" Johnson paused briefly and attempted to stretch his arms out like the wings of a bird, only to be stopped three-quarters of the way by the masonry of the walls. "Humph." Cigar in mouth, he continued his own descent down.

Like the rest of Twilight's manor, the cellar staircase was still practically brand new. The limestone steps and walls were polished and free of grime, while the oak latticework of the ceiling was still a rich brown, and sturdy looking. Cobwebs were only just beginning to make themselves established in places.

"Emphasis on narrow." Twilight replied, finally reaching the bottom. The Princess trotted forward excitedly, and turned around to observe him with a gleeful smile.

"Humph." Johnson repeated with a half smirk, releasing a cloud of Sweet William-scented smoke. Looking around, all he saw at the moment was a noticeably expansive wine cellar. Dozens of racks, shelves, and miscellaneous housekeeping items filled the expansive room, which was largely dim save for the occasional gas sconces that lined upper portions of the walls. "I thought you said we were going to see your workshop first! Is that Equestrian for, 'let's get drunk for no damn reason', or is there something I'm missing here, Princess?"

Twilight's smile diminished slightly. "Not everything is as it meets the eye, Johnson." She glanced over at a particular wine rack near one of the gas lamps. Twilight approached it and ignited her horn, waving a foreleg over at him to follow once more. "C'mon, you'll see!"

Johnson was preparing his retort as he approached her, until a new sight left him wordless for a second. Twilight's spell enveloped the gas sconce, causing the lamp to twist forty five degrees. An audible sound of shifting wood and stone groaned behind the rack, before it suddenly began to move. The wine rack slid away through a hidden crenelation built into the cellar wall, revealing a doorjamb leading into a surprisingly well-lit room.

"This, is my workshop." Twilight said proudly, stepping through. "Don't just stand there, Johnson. Come take a look!"

Johnson nodded and entered. He wasn't entirely prepared for the scene that greeted him.

Twilight's workshop descended down from the set of steps before for him, with the room standing at a story and a half tall. Near the ceiling, basement windows placed at regular intervals shared their evening sunlight with nearby gas lamps and electric lights to shed luminescence on the activities below them. At one end, the wall opened up into a large metal freight door, currently closed, leading aboveground.

A score of unicorns in buttoned up lab coats and gear, like goggles, bustled across the black and white checkered floor. Some were at work stations, while others stood off too the side, or were heading intently for somewhere. They murmured to one another, mixed and heated chemicals in beakers and test tubes, recorded data on special-looking parchment, and tested gadgets in varying states of completion.

Princess Twilight nodded at the scientists and apprentices as they inclined their heads slightly towards her. When Johnson passed by behind her, they regarded him with quiet curiosity, accented by the occasional friendly nod.

Looking around as he went, Johnson caught glimpses of some rather shocking things. Machines resembling miniature Tesla coils from old twentieth century sci-fi movies lay on a few workbenches; grenades with large handles for hooves or muzzles, cherry-colored concoctions labeled 'healing potion', something resembling a transistor and a miniature vacuum tube, another vial of mixtures labeled 'stamina potion', and blueprints for some type of complex dirigible, an oceangoing warship, and an armored vehicle lay on many other visible surfaces.

Admittedly, Johnson was not entirely expecting a species seemingly so dependent upon magic to be so technologically capable. Some of the guards he had first encountered had been wielding spears, after all. To his credit, Ponyville's architecture and layout is misleadingly primitive in its presentation. The locals simply favor the charmingly rustic look it all provides. If one preferred modern steel, marble, concrete, and iron, it would be wise to pack up and move on to a more 'cosmopolitan' city such as Manehattan, or Fillydelphia.

Having greeted all the other unicorns working in the workshop, Twilight stopped abruptly at a large work area at the far end of the room. "What is that?" Johnson inquired, pointing at the object covered under a white sheet on the table beside her. Twilight smiled again as she moved aside and slowly levitated the cover off, revealing the once-secret object underneath.

It was the repeating rifle Johnson had heard mention of, sure enough. The Sergeant had seen old images of the first semi-automatic weapons invented by humans over seven centuries ago back in his own universe, and this rifle's design strangely reminded him of them.

The firearm looked similar to the rifle muskets that Johnson had seen the Earth Pony soldiers equip as well, but its stock was heavily modified. Instead of possessing a single firing lever and the percussion caps above where one would insert their cartridge-worth of black powder, there was a far simpler-looking trigger lever in the middle of a large circular grip. Atop the end of the barrel was a primitive form of iron sights.

"Something new, that will change the face of gunpowder warfare forever, Sergeant Major. A little something Celestia has requested for the Royal Guard. It's the greatest military leap since the invention of the conical bullet forty years ago, and the earliest hoof cannon, five hundred years ago." Twilight said.

"Wait, if you ponies have had gunpowder for over five hundred years, why does Flash Sentry's guys still carry spears and crossbows around so dang much? And what about the catapults?" Johnson asked in confusion, clearly bemused by Equestria's almost anachronistic levels of technology.

"They're largely ceremonial, and crossbows are still reliable. As for the catapults, military hasn't necessarily been a top expenditure until recent decades. They're all holdovers from generations ago." Twilight answered back. She levitated the device into the air, and cocked it's grip down, exposing the empty magazine inside. "Equestria may have been at peace for almost a thousand years, but that peace may soon be coming to a close. We're in a time of crisis, I'm afraid."

Twilight took aim at the bare wall behind the table like a well-trained unicorn soldier. Johnson watched in surprise as the Princess continued, still aiming through the sights of the levitating device.

"As for this...I call it, the Sparkle Mark I Repeater." Swiftly, Twilight snapped the grip back into its normal position, then set the weapon down. "We got the idea from some ancient tech a royal surveying team discovered abandoned in some old flooded ruins in the swamps down in the Southeast."

Johnson took in the information with mounting interest. "What kind of ruins?"

Twilight held up a hoof, then started poking around in the surrounding cabinets. Eventually, she produced a stack of recently taken photographs. "Here are some stills they took of the area." Twilight laid them out like a neat fan of cards on the granite tabletop.

The photos were far from Johnson's norm tech-wise. They were slightly grainy, and only a very small few were in actual color. The ruins featured were large stone complexes, some tilting slightly as the silty soil of the marshes slowly devoured them over the centuries.

One colored photo showed a pith hat wearing pegasus with a black mane, and garbed in an olive traveling jacket grinning in front of one of the entryways. The granite doorframe towered high above her, easily large enough to accommodate a dragon or creature of equal or lesser size. Higher above her still, sat the remains of a once imposing carved relief. Only the legs and torso remained, the head and whatever facial features it possessed have since been lost to time.

Flipping through the last of the pictures, Johnson set them down and removed his hat, rubbing at his head briefly. "Between all this skull business, the remark on Discord's last note, these 'Legendary Folk', Princess Ruby Scales' rambling, and now ruins with lost technology, I'm gettin' awfully suspicious about this place's history."

For a moment, Twilight looked at him with a hopeful grin. "Really, do you have any theories? I'm curious about what perspective a being born in another universe would have on our world's history."

Johnson sighed after a while. "Nope, I just lost it, I got nothin' at all, sorry."

Twilight looked slightly disappointed for a moment, then broke into a grin again, waiving it off. "Ah, don't worry. We have our best archaeologists working on this kind of stuff anyways. New tech, and new historical facts to add to the books every day! It's exhilarating to think about." She put the photos back and started to make her way out.

"Alright, that's the workshop. I'll show you around the rest of the house, show you to your new quarters, and all that fun stuff." Twilight covered the Sparkle Mark I back up with the cloth as she passed it. "You need a weapon, I remember. Tomorrow, I'll let you take it out into the gardens for a test fire. If you like it, I'll even let you keep it. Sound good?"

Sergeant Johnson nodded assent, satisfied to finally know when he'll receive a proper firearm. "Sure thing, Princess Twilight." Ghostly weapons certainly weren't his area of expertise. Secretly, he found himself wanting to get his hands on a powerful blunderbuss; the idea of such a weapon had been on his mind since he first saw that the ponies possessed gunpowder.

"Alright then. Now for the tour," Twilight put a hoof to her muzzle in thought. "I think we'll start at the foyer, it's a logical starting point anyhow." She held out her other foreleg. "Grab my hoof."

"What, why?"

"Grab on, I'm going to teleport us back upstairs."

"You can teleport too?" At this rate Johnson figure he should have seen it coming, he was teleported in, or so it seemed, and practically anything is possible now with magic, he reasoned.

"Yes." Twilight replied, growing at least a little bit impatient.

"Yeah, alright. Just don't end us up in between the walls or something, I don't have that much of a knack for close quarters as you might think." The human grabbed a firm grip on her hoof, not sure what to expect. They disappeared in a wink of light, only to reappear a second later, upstairs near the front door. Johnson crouched, patting at himself to make sure he was still entirely there.

"See, you're not fused into the house or anything. Teleporting is perfectly safe, now let's get going, I'm sure you're going to like where you'll be staying." Twilight lead him down the entry hall, smiling all the way.


Twilight had been right, Johnson did like his new place of residence.

He had finally entered and retired into it after Twilight had lead him for over thirty minutes through the kitchen, bathrooms, grand dining room, library, courtyard and gardens, as well as a few sitting rooms and other rooms seemingly lacking any current purpose as to be completely devoid of furnishings, unsurprising given the Manor's size. The house truly was an immense piece of Equestrian art of the highest caliber.

As for Johnson's new accommodations, it was a large room on the top floor, with large windows and furnishings just as lavish as the ones found in Canterlot Castle. Hues of orange, yellow, and light violet filtered in through the velvet drapes.

Bookshelves, chests of drawers, and an armoire lined the walls, a small fireplace and sitting area dominated one corner, while oil paintings of nature scenes and famous figures Johnson could only guess at took up the remaining space on the walls. All of the walls were painted a light sky blue with white accents fringing the ninety degree transition to the ornate plaster ceiling.

On the opposite side of the room, double doors opened up to a small balcony with a telescope, boasting a view of the rear of the property grounds and the surrounding town.

Johnson had bid everyone goodnight after they all had a light dinner of the local fare, which he found only barely half to be edible for his human metabolism. After settling for some simple salad and fish hastily fetched from the closing market nearby, Johnson then retired to sleep in the massive four-poster bed.

His eyelids starting to grow heavy, Johnson mused at how on both occasions, he had slept, and is laying, in a bed fit for a deity, and had done so in a house of royalty.

It was odd, being brought into such a vibrant, idyllic new world, finally free of the worries and cares of the turbulent one he had been born into. But in only two short days, Johnson discovered that no matter how peaceful it may seem, this world too, had its fair share of war and strife.

Indeed, Equestria was not some perfect utopian afterlife, not even for him, especially not for him. It was a normal world like any other, even with how strong the forces of magic were at work here. Flaws and limitations to perfection were clearly visible. A dark ancient past likely hangs over the planet, and division and conflict were possible and occurred in lands that Celestia and Luna's benevolent influence could not reach, which were many, if the world map he had seen was to be believed.

"Ah, to hell with it. You take the bad with the good, mix it up, and make it into greatness, fool!" Johnson murmured to himself, reclining his head on the soft linen pillow. "That's life, and I wouldn't have it any other way."

Looking out at the now starry night sky through his window, Johnson contemplated the geological complexities of the visible surface of Luna's moon.

"I betcha Chief, Arbiter or Cortana would agree, were they here."

With no trace of the skulls or their whispers to annoy him, Johnson drifted off into a deep, peaceful sleep. Luna noticed his slumber as she basked in her moonlight, and the regal Alicorn goddess granted the old war hero pleasant dreams. Even with the challenges of a new world and its lingering troubles, and the circumstances of his arrival, Johnson was finally at some measurable degree of easiness, no matter how small, after over twenty years of haunting uncertainty.

Most important of all, he somehow new, somehow felt in his heart that in another place, in another time, the apocalyptic fight that he had witnessed begin on Harvest so long ago, had already been finished. As for him, a new mysterious struggle was dawning in this new world, calling upon heroes and champions of all kinds to its fronts.

By Luna's decree, Johnson would be among their ranks, helping to lead the charge towards victory.


A/N: This will be my final update on this story for 2013. I'll pick it back up when I've finished writing the rest of Imperial Equestria.

Writing Trivia: Adding in gunpowder to the Equestrian arsenal was a sort of spontaneous decision when I introduced it with the Canterlot Courtyard scene. On the spur of the moment it seemed awesome, and later on I discovered as I wrote that I could actually make it plausible. I mean c'mon, they can build railroads, hyroelectric dams and skyscrapers, why not advanced war tech? As for whether or not ponies could load a musket without using magic or their wings as extra appendages, Octavia can canonically play her cello with only her hooves, so I'm going off that logic. I've gone to certain lengths coming up with concepts for hoofheld firearms for ponies (large circular grips, lever action firing), as well as the battle saddles we've seen featured in a lot of other masterpiece stories.