Writing of: Sunset after the Storm, Part 3 · 6:11pm Mar 30th, 2020
Hello, SunlightRays here, and I'm back with another episode of the 'Writing of' series!
In celebration of the release of Chapter 7, I will be talking about the thought process that went into writing Chapters 5 and 6 of the story. So, without further ado, let's get right into it!
Warning: Spoiler Alert! If you haven't read the story yet, go read it!
Writing of Chapter 5: Painful Reunion
So, this chapter was intended to be the turning point in this story. The part where Sunset is in the hospital and is told that Lightning didn't come to school that day serves as a part that becomes the reason Sunset heads to Lightning's apartment.
The part where the Mane 7 talk on the bus doesn't do much, only kind of there to show that the Mane 7 is heading to Lightning's house, but it does include parts where they are concerned about Lightning's state.
The final part of Chapter 5 where the confrontation takes place in front of Lightning's apartment is essentially the whole point of this chapter. This is the part where I went to lengths to show the state Lightning is in. He is in pain and doesn't want to be hurt any further, hence lashing out at others. But he knows he needs help and wants to be helped, and hates himself for pushing help away and hurting others...
In general, he's in a lot of pain and suffering, which gave this chapter the name 'Painful Reunion'.
Overall, I think this chapter served as a basis for future chapters, including Chapters 6 and 7, as well as future chapters that are yet to come. This chapter is the part that initiates Lightning's talking about his past, which you'll see in chapter 6.
Writing of Chapter 6: Good Old Days
This chapter became much, much longer than I had originally anticipated. I thought around 7k words would be enough for the chapter. I never expected it to be almost 11k words. But it had to be done, right? 
Alright, chapter 6. The part where we finally get to directly see Lightning's past. In this chapter, we get to directly see the person Opera is instead of through Lightning's words. While coming up with this chapter, I wanted Opera to be someone unique with traits of her own. So I gave her a character of being outgoing and energetic who wants to be friends with a lot of people at her new school. Lightning, who had a downcast view on his school life, begins to look up thanks to Opera. He takes classes with her, plays games with her after classes, studies in the library with her, and even forms a band with her and two of his friends.
This is where the chapter's title, 'Good Old Days', come from. He's at his life's happiest point, the point in his high school life where he has true friends and someone he can trust. As mentioned in the chapter, Lightning's past isn't pretty, with him having a deep distrust towards his peers. In chapter 6, he's starting to think that he can put that behind him and enjoy his friend's presence for once.
But, if there's a peak, the only direction you can go is down, and the higher the climb, the further the fall.
The rest of the chapter is mostly filler, especially the last part where Lightning takes the Mane 7 to the bus stop. But that filler's there to make a smooth transition from one chapter to the next, and that chapter is where the effect of the fall truly shows...
Stay tuned for another episode of the Writing of series, which will be released along with Chapter 8! No promises on when that will be, though. 
There we go. My goal was to release this blog before April Fools' Day came around, and I reached that goal.
One thing, though: make sure not to press the refresh button on this site while writing a blog. I did that when I was 70% done and had to do it all over again. It sucked.