INTERVIEW - Early Morning or Late Night? Sit down with Drop of Light! is the headline of the in-universe article written by Groovy Flow, renowned for her work in Manestralia Channel 5. Where she sat down with Bounded Time, who at the time went by Covet Dawndrop, and Stardew Serandite of Drop of Light. This was released during Persistence is Key 00: Of Alifest's Gone By.
Groovy: Thank you for coming today! I'm sure your fans, and those reading this, will enjoy being able to hear from the pair of you as per usual!
Stardew: Ha, thanks! Nice t'see ya again, Groovy!
Covet: It's good to be able to take this time to clarify things before the fest kicks off. I heard there was some confusion surrounding our broadcast.
Groovy: Indeed there was! It kind of came out of nowhere if i'm to be honest! Can I just ask, to start with, what an Alifest even... Is?
Covet: Well, it's essentially a festival hosted by us two! Alicorn... Festival... Combine the two and you get Alifest!
Stardew: It was a way to come together after some... Interfamily issues.
Groovy: Interfamily Issues? What do you mean by that, if you don't mind me asking?
Stardew: Well...
Covet:Our dad, the King of Manestralia... I'm sure you know him, said we argued and fought way to much. To remedy that, he suggested the idea of coming together and making a difference... Was it that? Or am I thinking of someone else?
Stardew: No, dad suggested it. Though, it wouldn't surprise me after everything if someone else slipped the idea into his ear...
Groovy: Right, well thank you for the clarification! As somepony who used to be your age, I used to fight all the time with my siblings! But getting back on topic, what exactly does an Alifest consist of?
Covet: Well, it should consist of Wave Racing lasting two days! As well as performances around the island of Coltney.
Stardew: There should be two venues announced, given we don't exactly expect everypony and their mother to attend! As a first one anyway.
Covet: But still! Each Wave Race will be extremely important!
Groovy: I'm assuming that the Wave Races will be the main determining factor for which team wins?
Stardew: Well, that's one half of it!
Covet: The other half is a Team's Popularity! Oh, and the halftime lead bonus!
Groovy: What's the halftime lead bonus? If I could ask.
Stardew: Whichever team is ahead in the halftime... So the final day... Will receive some bonus points!
Covet: We figured it might be a fun incentive for the opposing team to get back in gear to hand it to the other team! As in, hand them a loss. Not the win!
Groovy: I see! But, then that poses the question... What if the halftime lead is... Massive between the two? Sorry, I should clarify, what if the halftime lead difference is more than a certain percentage?
Covet: Oh, we have that covered, too!
Stardew: As we said on our broadcast, there'll be an ELITE bracket. Consisting of the 1000 best ponies in the Wave Racing competitions! 500 ponies from each team that have the highest amount of points accumulated on the final day will be allowed to compete to enhance their teams points by double the amount.
Covet: And the best part? It's like a gamble! If a team wins, they double their points. If they lose, their points don't get added to the final score at all! It's kind of like that show. What was it... Who wants to be a Stralionairre?
Stardew: Yeah, that's the one.
Groovy: Oh, I do like that! So, basically, there'll be the Wave Racing... And this "Elite Gamble" bracket to double points?
Stardew: Yep! But there's also the popularity bracket! It's the final one, we promise.
Covet: Figured we could reward the most popular team with some "You showed up" points!
Stardew: Though, they won't affect things much!
Groovy: So, there's Popularity... Wave Racing... The Elite Bracket... And all three combined will determine the winner, then! I think everything here should clarify things for the continent!
Stardew: Hopefully it does!
Covet: If it doesn't, I don't know what will!
Groovy: Well said! Needless to say, I think everypony at home will be on the edge of their seats! One more thing before we go though... Have you considered having a special bracket for the Wave Racing teams around the continent? Like the Coltney Crashers?
Covet: Now that you say it, I don't think we actually thought of that!
Stardew: We'll have to speak with them all about it! Imagine, Coltney Crashers VS Brismane Bullets...
Covet: I'm personally a Saddlemouth Sharks fan. But it'd be nice if we could get them into this! Consider this a formal invitation to discussion!
Groovy: Noted! To the teams around the continent, you heard them here first! I think that wraps it up for today! Thank you for coming in!
Covet: You're very welcome! As always on our end...
Covet and Stardew: Don't Desaturate, Stay Colourful!
