Question of the Week #107 · 2:34am May 24th, 2023
Hello everyone and welcome back to the question of the week.
First let me just say that as of this day we have about 10 days until the Cyberpunk Equestria Story Contest is over and judging begins, so if you're interested in participating your running out of time. I hope that those of you who are participating are doing well. 
At the same time, I'd like to mention that my cyberpunk story, Neo Somnambula, is still coming along slowly. The gdoc with the "act 2" so far has about 56 pages and I'm still transcribing what I've physically written into a digital format.
Yeah, there's no way this would have made it for that scifi contest a while back.
And that's assuming that I don't extend it further with an "act 3." 
So, there's a little bit of a Neo Somnambula story update in there for you.
Now let's get to the question of the week.
So, a part of me has been considering writing a short Neo Somnambula side story that follows a young mare (not sure if they will be an oc or a background pony) who initially moved to Neo Somnambula in the hopes of making both a living and potentially a name for herself. Flash forward a few years and she is in debt and has had to start working at a local brothel to pay the bills. Either while she is at work or on her way to/from work she ends up stumbling upon a young stallion (like above, they could be an oc or another background pony) who works as a merc on the streets, perhaps during one of his missions. The story would follow them as they interact and become close friends (if not lovers). 
Thus I have two questions:
- Does this concept interest you or do you think it's meh?
- If you were to choose some background ponies to fill in these roles, who would they be? And why?
And those are the questions for this week. Thank you all for your participation. May you all stay safe and have a brilliant week.
This image can be found: here.
concept seems meh but if you're writing then it could be interesting,
if background ponies are for the roles are: Cheerilee, big mac
Ship!
1: The concept of a pleasure worker in debt is a good start, but not interesting enough. It would need a bit more complex issue as to why she got into debt. Is it the loan companying screwing her (or him!) with huge interest? Does she have a real costly vice that barely pays off her debt?
2: For the main character, I could say me. Or more specifically, a canon pony: Screw Loose/Screwy. The idea that a pony deep in the red and is using societally negative ways to pay for treatment for a potential mental issue does sound compelling.
As for the merc, I could follow in line and say Nurse Redheart. In the background, when Spike was watching over the pets while the Mane 6 went to the Crystal Empire, Nurse Redheart was seen in front of a house with the aforementioned blue pony. Winona's barking made her look at Screw.
I can imagine she is a combat medic that retired/discharged from the force. So it won't be a huge stretch if she became a mercernary.
Now, I do have a question for you!
I have been trying to finish my story for the cyberpunk contest, but I ran into a hard philosophy:
Do you focus more on dialogues or actions/action sequences?
5730164
Regarding your question, the nature of the story decides.
If morality or an exploration of the human condition is the main theme, that would lead to a dialogue-heavy story.
If the story revolves around two or more individuals that will not resolve their conflict/get what they want through non-verbal means, then that indicates an action-oriented story.
5730179 Admittedly I was kind of thinking of slice of life with some action worked in.
5730164
5730121 I have also considered the idea that instead of being a prostitute persay the mare is more of an erotic streamer, that she is involved in VR Deep Dive porn essentially.
Because of this, she is often times recognized on the streets, though only for her presence in the porn circuit.
Perhaps one of the reasons she falls in love with our merc stallion is that he isn't aware of her career and treats her nicely regardless.
5730124 Ship?
5730299
As in relationship. I like that kind of story, so I'd give it a read.