When I first began collating and publishing the Flash Sentry Papers, I worked under the assumption that the documents were limited to the contents of a single chest. Some years ago, I was proven wrong, when I found myself in possession of a mysterious ‘lost’ volume of the Flash Sentry Papers*. While the provenance of this account is understandably dubious, chemical analysis of the paper and ink at least places the documents in the appropriate era, though I will admit the textual analysis is yet an issue for debate, especially given the superior prose of this apocryphal volume.
This said, I have been remiss in not searching out alternative sources of the Flash Sentry Papers until recently. To be honest, it took entirely too long for the concept to cross my mind. Especially given the fact that there are a great number of documents found within that original antique trunk that I have yet to give more than a cursory glance.
However, my perspective soon changed once Princess Twilight so graciously granted me unprecedented access to the Royal Canterlot Archives in recognition of my scholarship. (And only my scholarship, despite the innuendos the less credible tabloids use to sell newspapers). After many long nights spent delving through the labyrinthine stacks of the Archives, and with occasional help from no less than Princess Twilight herself, I was able to uncover a great number of documents hithero thought lost or destroyed during one particular crisis or another. Highlights of this discovery include fragments of Flash Sentry’s service record, no less than three death certificates in his name (written at different dates), receipts for several bar tabs charged to the royal expense account, and several other choice pieces of documentation that will no doubt be conducive to future research.
Of everything I found within the Royal Canterlot Archives, the most interesting (and, according to my editor, most publishable) was the following volume of the Flash Sentry Papers. What this particular volume was doing hidden in the depths of the Royal Archives, I cannot say. Some might speculate that this particular tale was kept from the public in order to avoid political incident, given the less than flattering picture Sentry paints of Yakyakistan and its customs. On the other hoof, it is entirely likely that this volume wound up on a dusty and forgotten shelf of the Royal Canterlot Archives through sheer dumb luck. I shall leave it up to you, dear reader, to decide which is the more likely case.
Circumstances of its discovery aside, this volume once again offers an unprecedented first-hoof account of life both within and without Equestria. As readers of Sentry’s memoirs should know by now, his viewpoint is by no means objective, and is often less than flattering to all parties involved, Sentry himself included. But, even with such bias, these accounts offer a rare and valuable window into the past.
Just as I have in earlier volumes, I shall personally provide further, contextual information in the footnotes.
-G.M.F.