Demons, Magic Counsellors, and Sunset's Fear of One of Those Things - Development Blog #4 · 8:41pm Apr 7th, 2020
Meet Solstice Shiver, Canterlot High’s New Counsellor for Magical Phenomena and Encounters of the Demonic Kind
The idea that the kids of Canterlot High have been through a lot isn’t new. We’ve seen them come together in the face of Sirens, She-Demons, and the most frightful of all,teenage angst, but as remarkable as they are, let’s face it: they’re still just kids. It doesn’t take me to point out that something like Sci-Twi’s PTSD-like reaction to Midnight Sparkle is probably a sign these kids are dealing with a lot? Help them???
We’re in luck: Principal Celestia and Vice Principal Luna have finally convinced the school board to secure enough funding for a counsellor to help the students!
(But, honestly? The fact that anyone needs therapy from the Equestrian magic in their lives makes Sunset feel seriously guilty…)
Let’s all give a friendly CHS welcome to Solstice Shiver!
Extended Summary: How does this counsellor play in?
Sunset Shimmer and her friends receive remarkable news: Princess Twilight’s poised to become the queen of all Equestria! At least, Sunset would like to feel that it’s remarkable instead of being haunted by mixed feelings and self-doubt. How do you live up to that? Sunset barely has any plans after high school, let alone a second coronation. Really. They crowned Twilight twice.
Of course, Equestrian Magic going haywire thanks to an ominous dimensional rip in space-time in the sky above Canterlot High doesn’t help. The idea that Sunset’s friends and classmates have been negatively impacted by her time in the human world starts to eat away at Sunset now that the school has hired a new counsellor to help the students Sunset may have hurt.
What exactly is so haywire? How stressed are the students? More on that closer to the release.
Writing Updates: Go, Go, Go!
Current Total Word Count: 81,000
Estimated Final Word Count: 100,000
Chapters Completed: 11
Total # of Chapters: 15
For the record, I wrote another 2000 words that got cut so you don’t see it in the word count, but there’s been a lot of progress!
As my semester finishes up with final assignments, I’ve been writing and re-outlining the climax. Exciting times. I’ve still got a few assignments left that are keeping me busy, but thankfully after those, I’ll get even more time to write the final chapters and I’m pumped! It’s going to be so lovely to get to marathon-write the ending and say goodbye to a story I’ve spent the better part of a year putting love into.
It’ll be bittersweet, too. Bevin says it’s already bittersweet to think about it ending, she doesn’t want it to even if she’s excited to see how it all plays out. I'm excited to see the cover art she's been doing for each chapter, because holy hell, it's so good and I can't wait for you to see them.
Even aside from that, there’s fun stuff left to show you on this blog, too. In the next post, I’ll get to give you a sneak peek at Sunset and Twilight’s date night 😉
In the meantime, I promised a title reveal at some point, didn’t I?
Teaser Poster: Empathy for the Devil
Pleased to meet you
Hope you guess my name…
-Marvel
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The name Solstice Shiver is a reference to the winter solstice, the shortest day and longest night of the year. It might be a bit spoilery to say why I named him that, but either way, he's a wintery kind of guy.
I'd love to know what Rolling Stones song you were thinking of, though!
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I don't know why I thought you were talking about Solstice!
Oh whoops! Total brain fart, sorry
Yeah, the story title is a play on Sympathy for the Devil haha