Believe it or not, I envisioned this scene four years ago – well before any MLP comics released. I wanted to feature a character in Swordpony named “Buckthorn” and have him be an ancient deer of deceptively small size, a survivor of the equally-ancient war that broke nature in Equestria. And then… Then the comic nation attacked.

Can you imagine how much hype I felt when the comics introduced a character named “Blackthorn” just last year? I immediately went into my Swordpony notes and edited every mention of “Buckthorn” to be “Blackthorn.” I’m still feeling that hype. It got me through NaNo.

Andy Price will be my hero forevermore.