New Story: Return to Sender · 7:11pm Jan 5th, 2022
https://www.fimfiction.net/story/509851/return-to-sender
Over two years have passed since this story was first conceived. Now at long last, I'm proud to present to you the sequel to Message in a Bottle.
This story is the child of a few questions. First: what would a pony/human cooperative look like after a generation? Second: what would the incredibly possessive, borderline biblical Harmony AI do if someone actually managed to kill one of its people?
And third, and perhaps most influential on this story: reversing the roles of the original, so that ponies are the advanced space-travelers making contact with a primitive alien civilization. How differently would they behave than the human characters of Message?
This story is an answer to all of those questions. It takes place about a generation after the end of Message in a Bottle, but before the long timeskip in the epilogue. In it, we travel with one of Melody's daughters and a crew of mixed human and pony explorers, tracking down the first signs of intelligent alien life outside the Equus ring. Could it be that other civilizations have survived all this time? Well the answer's yes, as those questions above will spoil for you. But what happens after is what this story is about.
A huge thanks to Lithl for sponsoring this story for so long that I could write an entire novel in one month segments. You won't have to wait that long though, thanks to his generosity. It will update weekly like any other story.
"Niven Ring"?
as in "Ringworld" by Larry Niven?
5624685
Yes. That comparison makes sense in relation to Message in a Bottle. If you haven't read that story, it probably doesn't.
A SEQUEL?? Hell yes!!
I am just curious about the whole what went on thing. I take it the AI corrupted and turned on humanity which is why Harmony forbade the AI to update any further from the point of the treaty. It wasnt all that clear to me.