I think we all knew that this was coming for quite a while now. Understand first of all that this is not a permanent departure, but a necessary intermission so I can tackle something uber important.

It all began on a ponychan thread ran by a certain, unimpressive gentlecolt. That would lead to me producing a story that was verbose, purple, epic, but necessarily competent. I posted it to Equestria Daily by the skin of my e-balls, and a few hipster fans clung onto the literature like fine whine.

For better or for worse, the train-wreck that is End of Ponies was responsible for spring-boarding me into the fandom. It gave me a firm base upon which I projected Background Pony onto the marsupial masses. If it weren't for EoP, I'd not have the friends and subscriptions (and fanart) that I have to day.

I can make excuses all day for why I haven't gone back to the Wasteland, and--as a matter of fact--I have been making those excuses for the better part of a year. 2012 was so much better than 2011 for me as a brony writer, but it's hard to feel good about it. 2011 was the start of something amazing and fresh--something that I have abandoned for far too long.

Will End of Ponies be as good or better than what the original material was? I can't really say for sure. But I've done my dirty work. I've slutted up to the Internet and produced stuff like "Hiccups" or "Bon Bon Bon Bon Bon Bon Bon Bon Bon Bon." I've been in "gain subscribers" mode for so long, that it's time I Batman Began it and went back to working on something that is quality for a change.

It will not be something that happens overnight. One does not simply rewrite his way back into EoP. There are lavender unicorns there that do not sleep. The very purple prose you breathe is a poisonous fume. Not with five hundred thousand words can you do this.

In all seriousness, I fully expect this dayum thing to exceed a million words when I'm done. That's not half the amazing accomplishment a lot of you may think it is. The key to being a good writer is not writing long stuff, but awesome stuff. Someday, I'll find my balance. I think a year of screwing around with Lyra (ahem) has helped me find myself as a wielder of poni poni poni words. My faithful and respectful editors have assisted me in becoming a better typist overall, and several of them have told me that they're game for coming along for the ride.

End of Ponies will also have to undergo some necessary cosmetic changes. To what degree? I'm not entirely sure. I'll assure you all right now that there's not going to be any alterations so massive that they rip apart the story and plot as a whole. Just in case, I intend to keep a journal to chronicle the changes I make. I already know that I'm going to have to eliminate a bunch of masturbatory word modifiers. I'm also going to have to tackle severe splurges of LUS, as well as wyrd formatting decisions I had settled for at the time.

I also need to treat the Fimfiction version with greater respect. The draft of EoP on this website is utter shiet, and I have only myself to blame. I intend to have End of Ponies edited and reposted to both Fimfiction and EqD before I slap forth the newest arc.

And it's once the newest arc is done that I intend to make my return. So what kind of a departure am I making here? I will be logged out of Fimfiction completely. Any comments, user page posts, PMs, or other such messages sent to shortskirtsandexplosions will be utterly ignored. In that same vein, I will no longer be on Steam or Skype. This is a full scrotal plunge into the Wasteland, so that I may rediscover Scoots and help her along with her adventure. If any of you marsupials *must* contact me, feel free to toss stuff at shortskirtsandexplosions@yahoo.com, but I cannot promise a swift and speedy reply. I'm a jerk like that.

Concerning Noble Jury, Eljunbyro will continue to be written by my friendly neighborhood firend, Imploding Colon, but I cannot take photographs of him anymore. You marsupials will have to submit images of him to the newspaper on your own. It's really not that big of a deal; Eljunbyro is like oxygen. F'naaa.

And it's not like I'll be 100% absorbed into the void. I still need to finish BDO. There are some of you whose stuff I intend to read, even if I am a total slug about it.

The long and short of it is: you won't see me until another two months at the least, I imagine. There will be one more blog post to follow this, but it will be nothing more than a place holder in my absence. I suspect I will lose much popularity over the coming months. Many subscribers will probably swim away to better shores; I do not blame them. But everything started with a train wreck, and it must return to one. As a certain unicorn once said.

"And so it is the world began, and so it is the world shall end."

~Starswirl the Bearded

I thank you all for following me so far, and here's hoping that EoP lives up to its legacy. It dayum well better, cuz I'll likely be hammering away at it for the next two years.

Just like she did last December, here's Scootaloo to leave some parting words of wisdom.

Live long and dash apples,

-SS&E