—This story is loosely based on the Batman story Fear for Sale, originally published in Detective Comics #571 (February 1987), and on Never Fear, an episode of The New Batman Adventures.
—The title of the story is from a quote by Friedrich Nietzsche: "Trifle not with monsters, lest ye become a monster yourself." This quote is symbolic of the story's theme.

Prologue
—Zipline may be a daredevil who can't resist a dare, but gun safety is the one thing he is adamant on; he knows that guns aren't toys, and is very careful with them.
—Summerfield rifle: play on Springfield rifle, considered one of the best bolt-action rifles ever made.
—suppressor: that is the proper name; it's not a silencer. Gunshots with a suppressor are still pretty loud (they don't sound at all like they do in movies), but are less likely to damage the shooter's hearing and can make the sound of the gunshot harder to identify or locate.
—Zipline has trained himself to enter an almost Zen-like trance state when he's shooting, so that he can aim and fire without having to think.
—Music: Monster by Skillet, representative of the theme of this story.
—"There are 204 other bones in your body": the equine skeleton has 205 bones, I looked it up.

Part 1
—"Snotfire": my headcanon is that this is Spitfire's nickname. She forgot to take her allergy medicine one morning and sneezed all over the coach, earning the name.
—Note: the pony who killed Phillip's father died in prison several years prior to the series starting.

Part 2
—Aromatic therapy uses smells to help alter one's mood. Modeling is a psychotherapy where a patient learns new behaviors by imitating others. Counter conditioning is a psychotherapy that involves training a patient to react differently to a stimulus: for example, by briefly exposing a patient to something that frightens them and then giving them a reward if they do not panic.
—Usher: a reference to The Fall of the House of Usher.

Part 3
—"cunning as a dunny rat": Australian expression, "very clever."

Part 4
—dragon claw root: reference to the "devil's foot," a similar hallucinogenic plant that was a key part of the Sherlock Holmes story, The Adventure of the Devil's Foot.
—Detective Wild Goose: as in wild goose chase. Subtle reference to the Monsieur Lecoq mystery series written by Émile Gaboriau. According to A Study in Scarlet, Sherlock Holmes had a very similar opinion of Lecoq that Phillip does of Wild Goose.

Part 5
—The Thirteenth Dossier: play on Le Dossier No. 113 or Dossier No. 113, one of the Monsieur Lecoq stories.
—Fact: no two papers will tear the same way. The pattern of fibers within individual pieces of paper are as unique as fingerprints.
—A stripper clip was a sort of early magazine, originally used in bolt-action rifles like the Springfield rifle. A speedloader is a clip for holding bullets, designed to allow a gun such as a revolver to be loaded quickly and easily.
—.38 Official Guard: play on the Colt Official Police, one of the best-selling guns designed for law enforcement, especially in the 1950s. Choosing a sidearm for Zipline was difficult: I originally settled on the Colt Single Action Army "Peacemaker" revolver, but scrapped it for two reasons: one, the Peacekeeper is a cowboy weapon, and that's not an association I want to build with Zipline; two, it's a single action weapon (the hammer has to be manually pulled back before each shot), and I wanted him to have a double action weapon.
—moving slower than a minute hand traveling around the circumference of a clock: reference to a line from The Tell-Tale Heart: "A watch's minute hand moves more quickly than did mine."

Part 6
—The Springfield M1903 rifle has a muzzle velocity of 2,800 feet per second and its rate of fire is 10-15 rounds per minute, about one round per four to six seconds.
—I can imagine Nevermore applauding Zipline like Starlight applauding Twilight in The Cutie Re-Mark.
—Phillip can use guns and will if he has to, but he doesn't like them.
—The funhouse music was Freddy's jingle from the first Five Nights At Freddy's game. The tune is a rendition of The Toreador March from Bizet's Carmen.
—Phillip tries to avoid the Let's Split Up trope, but Nevermore is having none of that.
—"The Storm": the storm motif is something that I've built around Phillip since the very start of the series. I almost made his nickname "The Oncoming Storm," but the Doctor Who reference was too obvious.
—Nevermore's breaking The Reason You Suck speech took several cues from the Doctor Who series, including in particular the episode A Good Man Goes to War. This scene summarizes the theme of this story: revealing to Phillip the reality of his brutal antihero tactics and how it affects himself and other ponies.
—Dirt Nap aided Dr. Nevermore in previous story The Sun Falls.
—The trio of ponies are from previous story The Siege of Clovenworth.
—Remember how the stalker pony was always described as looking like the pony who killed Phillp's father? Who has Phillip blamed for his father's death for years? Himself.

Part 7
—This is the first time that Phillip has been able to face his fear of fire.
—Actually, as the Mythbusters proved, it's almost impossible to blow a lock off with a bullet. But this is a fictional series, so I think I deserve some slack.
—“I’ll cut through your neck until I feel bone!”: reference to the first Scream film.
—Music: My Demons by Starset, which fits Phillip very well.

Epilogue
—Captain Polaris of the Canterlot Guard is a minor protagonist who has appeared a few times in past stories. Lieutenant Steady Stream is the commander of the Solar House Guard, Zipline's division.
—Zipline's disciplinary record has to do mostly with his habit of pranking other Guards and taking dares.
—the invasion of the giant cocaktrices at the apex of the Secretariat comet: reference to the My Little Pony comics, issue #4.
—The Last Judgement: I actually had Bosch's version of the painting in mind, not Michaelangelo's.
—Lucky Bit is a member of the Mareish Mob who is now allied with Zugzwang. He appeared in Mystery on the Mareish Moors.
—Tinderspark is a psychopathic arsonist and leader of the Scorcher gang. This is her first time appearing on print: her debut appearance was in one of my voice acting videos, a collab with NeighlyReads, that I have since deleted as it is no longer canon. We will learn more about her in the future.
—Scarlet Letter is a former noblemare and leader of the Scarlet gang. She last appeared in the prequel, The Grilled Cheese and the Muletese Falcon.
—What do you think is in Zugzwang's pouch?

Author's Notes:

Chapter notes.