The Last Nightguard is coming (so is winter) · 2:42am Oct 11th, 2022
I've just finished writing the troublesome bits of Chapter 24, and all that is left is editing. That's not to say I'm going to punch Publish on Tuesday and start putting out a chapter a day because editing takes a lot of time. (Trust me, unedited Me is a horrid mess) Unfortunately, that means the Nightmare Night chapter won't come out on Halloween. Fortunately, the time it took me to write the tough spot gave Harwick time to finish up a commission. Here's a sneak peek, as well as a chunk of the draft that shows why editing is so important.
“What of a few million lives compared to the glory of becoming a living god?”
—Emperor Cartagia
In the Plotter vs. Pantser debate, I’ve come to grips with the concept that I’m not a ‘discovery’ writer like I claim, I’m a Plotter who just happens to write VERY detailed outlines from a few scratch quotes and a post-it note or two. Then I go back (with Tek and others’ help) to edit the results into something legible. The Last Nightguard has been in the works since 2020 when I was working on One Shot Tober, a challenge to write something every day for the whole month. Well, on October 4, I wrote what turned out to be the second chapter in this story in one burst.
Then it sat untouched for about a year. Hey, I’m busy.
So I got this itch to finish this up, because turning drama up to 11 and breaking off the knob is a lot of fun. I made a few notes on how I wanted the story to go, then ignored them while plowing ahead. I wanted to make it a romance between Ebon Tide and Luna, but that just did not work at all. Flirting did. (as you will see later)
Here’s an example of the VERBATIM notes that I was working from near the beginning.
Tracks through his discovery (ch1) retrieval(ch2) first awakening in the hospital in Canterlot, his slow recovery driven by a hatred for Luna, who is feeling very masochistic about it, Celestia who doesn’t like him at all because of the threat he poses, the guards who are treating him like some sort of ancient hero, the NIGHT guards who practically worship him, Twilight who is freaked out about having a g-g-g-g-grandfather and practically demands he tells her about history back there. “Child…” Ebon turned away from that eager expression. “Sometimes the past needs to die,” he managed after a time. “Let the present build their own myths around it. They don’t want to see the blood and the mud, the backstabbing and cheating and lying. They want to see the statues, the days of honor, the speeches. Banners and trumpets. Hacking your lungs out from a disease or having your leg chopped off because of gangrene is the reality of my time. We were at war with… Oh, four or five different races at the time, some of whom I’ve seen wandering around the courtyard under my room, so at least the war is over now. Let it stay over, keep the bodies buried where they belong. Put down your shovel, young one. You do not know what you are going to dig up.” He rolled over and turned his face to the wall, ignoring every word the eager young unicorn said until she finally gave up and left.
That bit didn’t make it into the story because it just did not fit. I didn’t have a good spot for Twilight Sparkle to confront him. Then I hit Chapter 22 and used the words you should be very careful when speaking. “This chapter seems a little short. I wonder what I can do to spice it up.”
The words went from Twilight Sparkle over to… Well, you’ll see. I already told Peter, and you’ll find out in good time.
Good night.
Looking forward to it
Oh, this should be a lot of fun.
Yeah, but whoever listens to that square? And if you built a house on earth, your children will spend all day chucking rocks through your windows, so might wanna rethink you're atrociously moronic aspirations you witless heretical sack of self entitled horse turds.
Also, I see good Ebon has taken the Celestia view of history... good lad. But that is just the beginning. You'd best be getting your lips puckered and mouth kissing fresh and go at ass kissing like it tasted of kobe beef and skittles before the lady who literally lifts a bloody fusion engine as her morning means of gains chucks you like a furry shot put.
Also be nice to Twilight. She's going to be your better here soon enough you cranky bastard