Frequently Asked (and Other) Questions on Island in the Sea of Equus · 9:51pm Jul 24th, 2014
Exactly what it says on the tin. I'll be providing answers for the questions that have popped up the most so far.
Question: The US just got teleported right? What else comes along?
Answer: Alaska, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, and the US Virgin Islands come along as well. They are the same distance away they were before the teleport.
Question: The entire US Military comes along for the ride? Doesn't that seem a little OP?
Answer: Yes, I realized it is rather OP. Which is why I changed it a little. For starters, only US forces in the Middle East and ships already at sea come along. US forces in Europe, Japan, and the rest of the world stay behind. Same goes for USN ships that have not left harbor.
Question: Only Americans are teleported? What about US citizens visiting abroad, foreign tourists, illegal immigrants, those with dual citizenship, and foreign embassies both overseas and on American soil?
Answer: If you're on the teleported lands during the event, then you come along, even if you're a tourist or an immigrant. Regarding dual citizenship, if a person with dual Canadian-American citizenship happens to be in America, Puerto Rico, or the Virgin Islands at the time of teleport they come along. If a person with dual Canadian-American citizenship is abroad at the time of teleport, then they stay behind. As for embassies, the American embassies overseas stay behind while the ones on American soil come along.
Question: Does FIM exist in this universe?
Answer: Originally I considered it, but I decided against it.
Question: Will there be all out war and/or nukes?
Answer: No.
Question: How powerful are the Elements of Harmony?
Answer: The EoH were only designed with the intent on defeating magical creatures such as Discord and Nightmare Moon. If the EoH were used on an invading conventional army, the EoH would fail.
Question: Where did you get your inspiration for this idea?
Answer: While the plot does sound like a much larger version of SM Sterling's Island in the Sea of Time (and was indeed a portion of my inspiration), it goes a bit deeper than that.
1. The ASB forum on AH.com. Where "ISOT" scenarios are posted at least a few times a day. Part of the inspiration also came from a timeline where Germany from 2012 gets sent to the Warhammer world. (Links only work for members.)
2. The simple fact that there are so many fics about Equestria being sent to our world but not the other way around. I wondered about this, posted an idea in the HIE forum, which lead to getting some support, and now we're here.
And now for the other part of this blog.
Question: How often will there be updates?
Answer: Chapter two probably won't arrive til late August since life is kicking my ass at the moment.
Question: Will there be side chapters?
Answer: Yes there will be. These side chapters will be known as "Interludes" and will contain sections that were determined to not be part of the main plot. Expect the first of these Interludes to come some time after chapter two and don't expect them to be more than 2-3 thousand words.
I hope my answers to these FAQs help.
cool
Oh good. That's one of the points I found sticking in my mind after the first chapter -- my thought was that it would be darn difficult to include the show and its fandom without having "what happens to the bronies" become the focus, and you've already got enough difficult self-imposed challenges here!
One question I also had -- and do forgive me if it did come up in the fourteen million comments on the first chapter -- is whether the real President and other important figures will appear in the story, or be replaced by fictional counterparts. I can see pluses and minuses to either approach, just curious which one you're thinking of.
2313136
For your first part, if FIM did exist, then I imagine some of the fandom's most well known members, the team over at HUB, and Faust herself would be contacted by the government to help them solve and plan for whatever the hell they're going to encounter once the government realizes where they are.
As for real politics, it'll vary. For example, the president (he'll be introduced in the next chapter) is going to be fictional (and so will the VP and the First Family), however some real politics will either appear (such as the heads of the various departments of government we have) or mentioned with their absence explained.
2313156
On the street level, I'd expect the general culture to blame Pony fans, without a whole lot of rational sense behind it. Aside from which, even with Big Magic Juju as the underlying explanation, having the fiction in there just gets all kinds of metaphysically weird. I think you're better off just leaving it out.
As for the second part, okey doke. That option definitely gives you more leeway for the personality and policies of the administration, while allowing some real-world people to provide amusing or dramatic reactions.
I'm quite interested in this project, incidentally; the audacity of scope alone is intriguing! Looking forward to watching it develop.
PUERTO RICO YEAH YEAH YEAH!
This more thoroughly explains a few things. But I have a new question then to ask of you.
Will there be anything in a interlude explaining what happens to those left behind?
Second question: Was the US as interconnected with the world economy and the like as it is IRL?
As I recall we give financial and military assistance to almost EVERYONE with the exception of like....6 countries. (based off of some figures at a congress hearing a few short years back)
2314671
...and, at the same time, the U.S. owes a lot of money to China as I remember.
2314744
They really never should've done that, its going to bite them in the ass eventually
2314489 This new world will have no lack of my people's music!
2314671
1. I'm going back and forth on creating an interlude that shows the condition of Earth. If I do make one, it'll be an epilogue or I may not do it just so people could use their imaginations to fill out the blanks however they want to.
2. Yes, I don't see why they wouldn't be as interconnected as they are now.
will the perspectives be the same characters that were introduced in chapter one? or will they constantly vary?
2315771
They will vary constantly, but some will make repeat appearances.
2315531
My interest...you've strengthened it, I wonder how things will go.
Side-Note: hah! Lots of gaming servers came along for the ride!
P.S. I'm sorry.......I didn't expect my birthday to be so.....life-changing for the ol' USA.
Very nice, now I'm definitely even more interested in the story.
What about national guard/U.S forces stationed on American soil? What about the ships in harbor at Norfolk Naval Base, for example?
2624226
Of course the National Guard comes along though ships still stationed at harbor outside of CONUS, Alaska, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, or the Virgin Islands stays behind.
You said some ships would be in the Middle Eastern waters that would end up in Equestria. Are the ships that were there originally going to find themselves in the pony version of the Middle East, that is the pony version of Saudi Arabia?
2625800
The ships would find themselves around 100-250 miles from either CONUS, Hawaii, Alaska, Puerto Rico, or the Virgin Islands.
I have another question...
what the fuck is wrong with your map?????
What about US forces on American soil?
Or is that just a given and I am being a dumbass?
3524495
Yes they come along as well.