First Contact: From the Mouths of the Ponies
By Zinitrad
Edited by theBSDude
Part 3: Double Bass
"Oh wow, that kid was good. He could stand to work on his stage presence, but I think he could go far."
I am in a nightclub titled the Hangar 9, in downtown Manehattan. It is a fairly new building, only 25 years old, part of the ever growing music scene in the city. The Hangar is owned by offworlders, and was built in the style of a Selenic Myujikkhaus, featuring sleek black metal, reflective green glass, blue tinted lights, and large multi-floor rooms that tighten with elevation, built around a central pillar. I am here with the once extremely active musician Double Bass. The ex-musician is 57 years old, has a light blue coat, a bi-color catalina and ultramarine mane, and red eyes.
Ms. Bass once toured professionally across Equestria under the stage name of dROP, although she still occasionally comes out of retirement to perform for her fans. For the most part though, she has been retired from the music business for 8 years. Although we met at her studio apartment, she chose to conduct the interview here, claiming that she "liked the atmosphere better".
She turns to me. "What did you think of him?"
She is referring to the performer who is at present, leaving the stage. "I really don't have an opinion on it, actually. Never was a big fan of dubstep."
She laughs. "Well that's obvious, considering that was dubstyle."
"Well... er..."
"Aah, its no big deal, man. Not everypony has to like the same things."
"Umm... right. So, you were a child when the contact occurred?"
"Yeah, I was just a little filly when it started...
~~~~~
"My family was a musical one. Both of my moms were performers of some kind, though their areas of expertise and degrees of success were different.
"Vinyl, my biological Mother, was a DJ who worked under the stage name of DJ P0N3. It was kind of a silly name, I mean it would be like if one of you ran about calling yourself DJ H-M4N. She never really became that big of a name, she was just a DJ after all, not a musician. She did briefly go into songwriting, and she did make Equestrian Girls and Love is in Bloom. Even then, Equestrian Girls was one of those 5 minutes of fame songs that everyone forgot about by the end of the month, and Love is in Bloom was basically her one-hit wonder song. She was a good DJ though, so she was able to get by. I think the high point of her career was when they chose her to be the DJ for the first public radio station, Canterlot radio.
"My other Mom, Octavia, played the cello and composed classical music. She was the real moneymaker of the two of them, being paid lots to perform for the wealthy Canterlot elite. She absolutely abhorred mother's music, calling it 'an offense to musical good taste' and 'uncultured'. I don't think mother had a single cultured bone in her body. Honestly, I don't know what they saw in each other. Opposites attract, I guess.
"They had been seeing each other for years before they decided to tie the knot, and it was a year after their marriage that they decided to have me. They chose to use a donor, Vinyl being the recipient. 10 months later, I popped out. That was in 6211. The contact stuff didn't start till I was 3."
"What do you remember about it?"
"I vaguely remember the space craze, though it wasn't much of a big deal for me. Mother loved it though, and she would constantly take me and Mom to the out-door theater to watch whatever B-movie they were playing that week. Mom hated it, and I had just about no idea what was going on, but Mother loved it, so Mom tried her best to like it too.
"Despite having one of Equestria's first radio DJ's as a Mother, we didn't have a radio of our own. Mother was at work when she was told they were putting out an emergency transmission. Mom was watching me at home that day, taking care of me. We never heard the thing, and we didn't learn about the broadcast till Mother came home. I remember her just about smashing the door down when she got back. She was running around, hyperventilating and trying to prepare for who knows what. While I didn't know what it was about at the time, I remember being scared simply because mother was scared. Mother was always laid back and chill, I had never really seen her freaked out before.
The majority of the panic was a blur for me, and for those months my parents never let me out of the house. They would always tell me about how "the streets were too dangerous" and that "it was safer inside". At the time I didn't understand about the rioters and looters, and it was all just one confusing mess for me."
"Is that all you remember of the panic?"
"Hey! What do you want from me, a day by day account? I was three years old and it was a chaotic time! Can you remember when you were that old?"
"Well, no, but-"
"But nothing! You wanted this interview, you can take what you get!
"Where was I... Great, you messed me up... Lets see... Okay. One night I do remember was the night you guys arrived. We didn't go to the landing zone, as mother was still a bit paranoid about what would happen. I remember we were all inside, listening to a description of events over a radio Mom had bought during the panic. The stallion on the radio started yelling about how the ship had arrived, and how big it was, when boom! This rumble starts coming out of the box, everypony's screaming, and the broadcast just cuts out. Thirty seconds later, there's this sound, and the house shakes like as if it was hit by a boulder. Mothers freaking out thinking we were under attack, Mom is doing everything she can to calm her down, and we all run outside. Everypony else seemed to have the same idea, 'cause the streets got real crowded. Everypony was silent, staring in fear at this giant, metal... thing that was just hanging in the sky out west. It was a terrifying moment. It just felt larger than life, crushingly uncertain. We stood there, scared out of our minds, for like, 3 minutes, before somepony came running out of their house yelling about how the radios were broadcasting again, and that no pony was dead.
"It was a good thing that they got the radios working again too, cause I'm pretty sure everypony in Equestria thought that the princesses and everypony there had just been vaporized or something. Seriously, who's bright idea was it to come down in in a way that was loud enough to be heard 450 Celestia damned miles away?"
I continue to press for information. "Is there anything else you can tell me about the contact?"
"Dude, what part of "I was three" do you not understand?"
"Sorry. Well, how about post-contact?"
She calms down. "After you guys landed, you started the integration discussions. That was all the political stuff, like how the government would have to be restructured, how we could begin unifying the planet peacefully, what trade laws we would want in place, how fast the princesses wanted technology to progress, ect.
"All that stuff took a decade, and during that decade, Mother's business was good. She wasn't the only station anymore, and neither was she the only jockey that worked there, but it was still the most listened to in Equestria, and she was still their best. Canterlot radio was the go to place for information on the discussions and to learn about you guys. Along with the music, they talked about all the updates, and they even did a few interviews. The coolest one they did was when they talked with the landing guy, Lenka or whatever his name was."
"Lenko."
"What?"
"Lenko Aderisov. That was his name"
"I was close enough. Anyway, aside from that, I don't think there was much going on that decade. It was nothing like the years before, I was lucky to grow up at a time when the city wasn't being rebuilt every year. I mean, the EPL acted stupid every once in a while, but it was fairly quiet."
"The EPL... That's the Equine Protection League, right?"
"Equestrian Protection League." She smiles, entertained by our immediately reversed roles.
"Right... So what did they do?"
"Acted like idiots, that's what. It's not like many ponies were actually listening to them, they lost most of their members when you guys didn't come down guns blazing. Even then, they still preached about how by participating in discussions, the princesses were engaging in appeasement with tyrants, and were weak. Saying stuff like that, it was like they were trying to get everyone to hate them.
"But they didn't really start becoming a problem until after discussions were over. Sure they protested, and their leaders wouldn't shutup, but they never got violent. When discussions got over... Shit hit the fan."
"Can you give us an example?"
She sighs. "You know how you guys wanted us to unify as a planet? And how the first step was getting on good terms with everyone, and opening the borders? That pissed them off so much. You see, the EPL was racist. Not racist like "I've never seen somepony that looks like that, I should be cautious," I mean racist like "You don't look like me? Disgusting!".
"Now everypony from across the planet wanted in Equestria, the Diamond Dogs, Griffons, Changelings, everything wanted to be part of the newly open nation. That was when the EPL got militant. They started forming militias, claiming that you guys were trying to weaken us from the inside. They claimed that by letting in the "less harmonious races" in, Equestrian society would fall apart; and that since the government was encouraging it, their only option was to for the common pony to fight against it. Less harmonious races my flank! The ensuing crime wave, one which nearly every asshat hardliner pinned on the immigrants, was nearly entirely pony on non-pony hate crime, specifically by the EPL! I was in university when all this happened, and one of my friends there, Laura, was a Griffon, one of the immigrants. I swear, all the shit she had to put up with... it was infuriating!
"And that wasn't even the worst of their freakouts! By Celestia, the shitfit they threw when the position of Prime-Minister was made was unbelievable."
"What led to the creation of that position, anyway?"
"When you all picked Celestia and Luna to represent us on the councils, they decided that it would be best to restructure the government. It used to require both of them being there 24-7, and since they couldn't do that anymore, they needed a new system. They talked to you guys, and you all recommended a parliament and a prime minister. The EPL decided that you guys were restructuring our ways of life so that you could control us easier, and move the princesses out of the way."
She glares at me.
"And while there may be a bit of truth to that, it doesn't warrant their attacks on Prime Minister Pants, or his wife. I mean, damn! What did he did to them, anyway? He was a friggin' Equitarian like no other! I mean, it happened a pretty long time ago, but it still makes me so mad!"
"Ms. Bass."
At the moment, Ms. Bass' outburst has attracted the attention of others in the vicinity. Seeking to rid her of possible embarrassment before it occurs, I change the direction of the conversation.
"Do you have any positive memories of the immediate post-contact period?"
Her face brightens. "Yeah, I guess I did. I mean, it was around then that my career started.
"Like I said earlier, my family was a musical one, and while I was sure they would be happy with me no matter what, I knew they wanted me to have a musical career.
"Problem was, there really wasn't a specific genre I felt like I could be a part of. Classical stuff, like what Mom played, I could never get the hang of. Jazz was great n' all, but I just never have had the lung-power to play an instrument like that. I thought about playing guitar, but those things are damned near impossible without magic or fingers. Being a DJ just didn't appeal to me either. I was going to school to learn music theory, and for the longest time I felt like I was learning something that I would never be able to apply.
"But one day, my Mother received some new records. I forgot who gave them to her, I think it was that Lenko guy or something like that. They all carried popular songs from Sol, music that was entirely alien to us. D+B, House, Trance, Garage... It was all new to us. My Mother took a huge risk in choosing to play them, and it was a risk that payed off.
"Electronica became an overnight success in Equestria. Everypony wanted to hear more, and Canterlot Radio did its best to satisfy them. Eventually, as we were introduced to intergalactic trade, and the records became publicly available, they became the number 1 thing to have.
"The moment I heard that music, I knew exactly what I wanted to do in life. I wanted to do that. It would be a few years before the required equipment became available and before I had saved enough bits, though. Anyways, I started making music in 6231, specifically dubstep. Back then, I was one of the few ponies who were writing and performing "alien" styles. It was then that I started going by the stage name of dROP.
"Like I said, there were other ponies doing it to, although I only really knew about the local guys in Canterlot. Ekwin started before me, and I still think he's one of the best. He mostly did House, which I could never get the hang of. Square Wave was another one, he played around with chiptunes. He never got too big, but I liked his stuff. My friend Laura Renee, I think I talked about her before, she went on to play electroswing, and she was the bomb at it. She never got beyond Canterlot, unfortunately. Too many ponies who judged her for being a griffin before hearing her play.
"Anyway, when I played, I was doing something right, because I started to become real popular. I was being requested all over Canterlot, and pretty soon, I got hired for something all the way in Manehattan. I started touring all over Equestria."
"What was your favorite gig?"
"My favorite gig was performing on the Celestial for the workers who were building it. This was back before it was completed too, and there was a reason they hired mostly pegasi too construct that thing. Being that high off the ground was an interesting experience for an Earth Pony like me.
"Although, I think I'll be having a new favorite one soon."
"What do you mean?"
"Okay, well, you know that "Across the Universe" tour?"
"Vaguely... I've been in transit for the last three months, I'm not aware of most recent news."
"There's this band from Selene, the Conquistadors, they got really big a few years ago. They play various genres, but they're best known for House. Anyway, they recently started up a project, one they're calling "Across the Universe." Basically, what they're doing is organizing a giant traveling music festival. They're calling up performers from all across everywhere, and inviting them to tour with them. It's going to be going everywhere. Dozens of systems, almost a hundred shows, and like the thing says, It's across the galaxy.
"And guess who they invited?"
"You?"
"Damn Straight! In 2 months, they're gonna pick me up, and I am going to get to be in the first intergalactic show. Its gonna be amazing! You're going to be seeing this face a lot more, I'll tell you that."
With a grin on her face she looks out to the current performer. She stares, listening to his music, her face appreciative as she takes in and appraises the sound. Turning back to me, I await her analysis on the newcomer.
"Yeah, this guy's totally garbage.
"I'm thinking its about time I left. If you need to continue your interview, I know this place that sells the most totally kick-ass smoothies. Wanna' go?"
"Thanks, but no thanks, Ms. Bass. I have another interview in the morning, and its getting late. Still getting over the "jet lag", so I need to get my sleep. Before I go, how about a closing statement. If you could give me your opinion on the post-contact period, in less than 10 sentences, what would it be?"
"It was a time when a lot of things changed. A lot of ponies got mad, and we were forced to open ourselves up to societies and cultures we had done our best to stay away from. It wasn't the best, and I don't think anypony truly enjoyed it. But the world we live in today, the POST-post-contact... It was entirely worth it.
"They say it's darkest before dawn, and in our case, I would say that was true. It was really dark for a while, but that darkness gave way to the most beautiful sunrise we're ever gonna' see."
~~~~~
AUTHOR'S CORNER
Woohoo! 30 favorites personal milestone acheived!
Anyway, now to the commentary.
Still need an editor, although you guys don't seem to have much of a problem with it.
Still would love some cover art.
I may be posting this early, but don't expect to see a new chapter after this one until the eleventh. I got this out of the way and posted it early so I could take a vacation from writing.
In case you couldn't figure it out from her description, double's "donor" father is supposed to be Blues Noteworthy.
Anyway, next chapter on the eleventh.
It will be about changeling immigrant Vivamus, who was a hatchling at the time of contact. She will talk about growing up informationally in-the-dark during the discussion decade, the mass exodus from the Badlands after the signing of the peace treaty and opening of the Equestrian border, and the hardships she faced while making a living in a society that still viewed her not as an equal.
-xoxoxo Zinitrad
The Griffin gets a French name because so far all Griffins that have appeared in the show have had European names.
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Double Bass/ dROP's logo
some of you may ask why an Equestrian's (who doesn't speak any Earthly language) logo is in Latin letters. my answer is shutuptranslatorsorsomethingidontknow
made with my impeccable skill in ms paint
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Image of a slightly younger Double Bass
made with my impeccable skill in General Zoi's
Mary SuePony creatorIf you haven't figured it out, "Mother" is the title she uses for Vinyl Scratch and "Mom" is the title she uses for Octavia Philharmonica.
also, while it is neither large nor matching my description, the Hangar 9 is the name of a real place, one which my dad performed at all the time when he was in college. If you can tell me in the comments where the Hangar 9 is really located, WITHOUT using google, you win bonus points.
Ian's dubstep/dubstyle confusion is a reference to the fact that with music, I am not genre savvy, but my friends are. I'll be in a car listening to music, and I'll be all like
"Yo G, I really like this <insertgenrehere>, its the fashiznit"
and my friend who is in the car will be all like
"Bro, you're enjoying the muzik and Imma let you finish, but you just went full retarded cuz thats actually <insertcompletelydifferentgenre>"
Also if anyone cares, my favorite genre of music is electroswing.
Hmmm, the galactic conglomeration seems to have destroyed much of equestrian culture, not to mention government (seriously, what civilization lets someone else design the form of government they use). The music industry seems to have dropped any direction they were going in to copy the many styles that earth and such has. This is exactly the reason things like the Prime Directive, and the U-P3 (Underdeveloped Planet Protection Pact) would be necessary and contacting undefined cultures that are pre-colonization of their system (at least that much) would be harmful to the inhabitants of that world. To me a galactic organization making these mistakes is about as believable as playing Doctor Who science with straight and serious face. All I see is how they are wrecking cultures, and you aren't pointing out the moral ramifications at all!
I love this story. Just so much. I have one thing to ask though. Have the Mane Six passed away?
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Twilight Sparkle, Fluttershy, and Applejack are still alive. The others passed away from old age at various times.
I plan on having interviews with Twilight (ex-ambassador to Sol) and with Fluttershy (current Prime Minister). I've yet to figure out if I will have an Applejack interview, and if I do, what it will be about.
I currently have ideas for the next 6 interviews, and I like to have concepts worked out before I sit down and type.
very nice, like how realistic some of the problems that pop up for Equestria. You going to do the CMC next or something?
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Oh shit!
I totally forgot about them!
I should probably think of something for Ian to talk with them about.
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Okay, I'm going to try to address your concerns bit by bit.
First off: Destruction of culture
I'll admit that they have done a bit of this. However, what happened was more of the introduction of a competing culture. The old Equestrian culture is still there, but there are a rising number of youth who consider themselves less and less a part of it. Bass is/was a part of this, and she enjoyed being a part of this. She isn't going to talk about the still existing "Old Equestrian" styles, because she was in no way part of it.
Second off: Allowing another culture to choose your government.
This part was poor wording/poor description. The H.G.A. didn't say "Oh hey, your absolute diarchy is nice and all, but we're about to FUCKITUP."
What occurred was more like this.
After Celestia and Luna had both decided they wanted in, one of the things that came up in the discussion was who would represent Equestria on the H.G.A. council. Celestia and Luna decided to share a vote on the council. Unfortunately, this position they volunteered for would leave at least one of them light years away from Equestria at all times. They began working on a modified version of the government that would allow for them to still have power, while being able to leave Equestria for extended periods of time. The H.G.A. didn't tell them which government to use, they helped them write it, (although it was less helping, and more of discussing what would be effective.) Eventually, Luna and Celestia settled on a Constitutional Monarchy.
Third thing is that the H.G.A. is not a utopia. They are generally peaceful, but that does not mean you are a utopia. In fact, they kind of have a history of fucking things like this up all the time.
There's also the fact that the H.G.A. was rushing to get a presence in this system.
After the great war with Hergzine, (which you would know 'bout if you read my blog) Hergzine was not destroyed. Hergzine, deciding that they could not continue to antagonize the H.G.A., moved in the last available uncololonized direction. It just so happens that Equestria (and about 30 billion other systems) lies in this direction. Noticing this expansion, the H.G.A. decided to begin colonizing before Hergzine could.
To understand why the H.G.A. felt it was necessary to begin establishing a presence before Hergzine could, you have to understand Hergzine's philosophy on expansion: enslave it or burn it to the ground. Hergzine is known for practicing, among other things:
Casual genocide.
Eugenics on a species wide scale.
Slavery.
Strip mining worlds down to the core without a care for any native life.
The entirety of Hergzine is either the Hergzine themselves, who act as a ruling class, or one of the many species the Hergzine have enslaved and bred to be used for a specific purpose. While the H.G.A. has hundreds of thousands of member species, the Hergzine have only a few hundred, not because they are smaller, but because everything else was deemed unnecessary and driven EXTINCT.
With Hergzine expanding, the H.G.A. looked into uncolonized space, and were forced to make the moral decision of either
a.) possibly being responsible for derailing the cultures of potentially thousands of societies
OR
b.) Standing by and watching as hundreds upon hundreds of billions were reduced to dust by an oppressive and militaristic regime
I think they made the right choice, given the situation.
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HEY EVERYONE, I HELPED OUT! YAY ME!
I'm wondering if Equestria might have been in trouble, either politically or economically at the time of First Contact. The Princesses seem to have been awfully enthusiastic to get admittance in the pseudo-Federation to the point where they fast-tracked lots of changes. I disagree with the proposition that they were forced to do anything, although I bet that there was a very clear 'Our Way or the Highway' message given to them. However, the speed that they did things suggest that there were pressures on them that were not entirely under their control.
Nice job with the post-Contact terrorism. It was a very well-observed bit of social fact. Fundamentalism is difficult in a world where the Gods literally live amongst you. However, racial and political extremism remains easy as does the strange thesis of "We must destroy our society to save it" that seems to underly most terrorist campaigns. Fear of "The Strangers From the Sky" would make that hate ever stronger.
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They probably won't appear for a while, though. I have 7 or 8 different interviews that I already have ideas for.
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If you want to know why the H.G.A. urged the importance of joining, read the last part of my comment a little while before yours.
(it wasn't as much enthusiasm, as much as it was a desire to obtain the best out of a potentially very bad situation.)
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Made a sketch of Ian holding his notepad and pen.
And I can't figure out how to post it without it being on its side.
Also that headset is plugged into a translator box, not an Ipod. Some people I talked to got confused about that.
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But..
Rarity? Pinkie Pie? RAINBOW DASH? You bastard!
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Does it help that they all lived long, happy and fulfilling lives?
Cause I could totally give them horrible, painful, deaths instead
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Long, happy lives with painful death, maybe? That would be amusing yet super depressing.
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Nah... Just one or the other. I like extremes.
But for serious, in the setting, all deceased members of the mane 6 died peacefully, and they were all in their 70s or 80s when they died.
I'm supposing the H.G.A. also provides for the defense of member nations that are unwarranted attacked by outside forces? What are their space battling capabilities like anyway? Is it: Culture like, Starwars like, or Halo like?
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The H.G.A. does have an Alliance wide military, and would provide defense if needed to its constituents.
I have never heard of The Culture before know, but I know that both H.G.A. and Hergzine are way past star wars level weapons.
If anyone really cares about this further, I'll probably make a blog post about it.
However just as a little tidbit, The Supercarrier that was used in the first contact, if fully armed with it's maximum capacity, could destroy an area the size of North America through orbital strikes, deploy 25 million soldiers to a planet, and release about 10000 fighterships or bomberships into the space around it, all in a day.
The H.G.A.S.S. Ramses (the name of the ship) was not fully armed at all when it encountered Equestria. The only reason it was armed at all was in the unlikely event that Hergzine would be behaving aggressively within the region.
To give you a scale of their military power, and production capability, the H.G.A. have throughout their history constructed over 300 supercarriers, over 75 of which are still in use.
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Less than that of Star Wars then, due to the Death Star's planet exploding abilities and the fact that their Star Destroyers may produce more power than our freaking sun. My nerd is showing.
The culture is a civilization whose demilitarized diplomatic ships can destroy a planet. These are the guys who think an out of control nanobot swarm is a mere nuisance. They fought a large scale war that destroyed hundreds of thousands of ships within seconds.
As you can see I love this kinda fluff. Favorited, thumbed up and watched. DO NOT DISAPPOINT ME.
this just gets better with every chapter but im sad pinkie pie is dead i thought her ability to destroy physics and break the 4th wall would allow her to live forever
Interesting. I'm liking this so far.
I kinda wonder how the Princesses' whole "we control celestial bodies" thing turned out with the arrival of the HGA.
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What do you mean?
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Well, Celestia is not really flinging around a massive ball of fusing hydrogen each morning and evening, is she? That would violate quite a few laws of physics and be very obvious. Of course, that could be why the HGA discovered Equestria in the first place...
And if this control of celestial bodies was a lie, prolonged contact with a species that knows a bit about space travel would reveal it fairly quickly.
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The Universe that this exists in is one in which both magical spaces and non-magical spaces exist. Equestria is an irregular magical system, in which all of the system's heavenly bodies require manual control. Celestia and Luna do indeed control the sun and the moon. This is not something that surprised the H.G.A., and neither was it the reason they noticed the world.
I would recommend looking at my blog, specifically my first post, if you wish to learn about the setting itself.
Glad you are enjoying it, though.
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Oh. well then. Wouldn't that have some interesting properties, then? If you can move a moon and an entire star willy-nilly, this opens many opportunities and questions. How does such a geocentric system work? What opportunities for space travel does it offer? (gravitational slingshot, free energy, etc...)
I think these are all aspects that could be explored in this story.
About your blog...
I skimmed it before asking my question and couldn't find the answer. Now, I'm sure it's in there somewhere, but...
These are things that should be explained and explored in the story itself. Referring to a blog for background information is not how it should be done.
I realize that you probably want to focus on the interviews, and that is ok. But you're also building a world here. If the reader has to keep checking other sources to understand your world, then that is not doing your story a favor. Revealing a few extra tidbits in your blog is fine, but it shouldn't replace world-building.
Oh my god
Meta Knight favorited my stuff
I can die happy now that I have achieved this milestone
I don't need no featured box or nothing
I got me some Meta Knight favorite
and that is all I need
Pinkie is dead?
this... Is... UN-ACCEPTABLE!@!@!!!@!@!!!!!
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But this is an amazing story! I love every single aspect of it!
the humanity of the future is too similar to the present