//------------------------------// // Chapter 6: Standard Deviation // Story: Only Human: A Lyra Heartstrings Production // by Smoking Gun //------------------------------// Only Human: A Lyra Heartstrings Production Chapter 6: Standard Deviation By Smoking Gun Three Years Ago: “A bit two dimensional, don’t you think?” spoke Lauren as she looked over Lyra’s shoulder. Their dorm-room looked significantly messier in the daylight. The light exposed clothes and pieces of paper strewn across the room, unmade bed sheets and saddlebags with the contents looking like they were going to pour out like a waterfall. “It’s a drawing, it’s supposed to be 2D,” Lyra shrugged as she continued drawing. Laid out on the table was a cheap looking drawing pad, lying around it were several pencils, pens, and screwed up pieces of paper. “Not what I meant.” Lauren continued to examine what Lyra was drawing. “I’m not sure this is covering what the assignment is asking for,” she said with a worried expression. “We’re not getting assessed on the quality of the art,” Lyra retorted. “Actually it’s...” Lauren levitated out of her saddlebag the assignment sheet, scanning for the marking criteria. “Twelve percent of the mark,” she said with a little smirk. Lyra turned her head over her shoulder and just stared at Lauren, looking un-amused. After a moment, she returned to her work. Lauren continued. “I’m just trying to help. The point of this is to create an interesting character. Go off the bullet points you wrote.” “I am!” Lyra pointed directly at the monitor at the end of the table.”She’s a spec-ops vet, uses silent weapons and disguises.” “Oh, does she have a cardboard box?” Lyra glared over her shoulder again. “I’m just saying, the point of the task is to create a character with depth without having to spell it out. Show-don’t-tell, that kind of thing. And looking at this...” Lyra groaned. “Come on, Lauren. What’s wrong with his?!” She telepathically levitated the paper right into Lauren’s face. The picture was an oval with four sticks for legs, a not-so-perfect circle with two small dots inside for the face. Lauren arched an eyebrow. “You forgot the tail.” “I was getting to that, smart-ass,” Lyra returned before placing the paper back on the table Lauren sighed as she watched Lyra struggle to form coherent shapes together as she burned through the lead. Gently laying a hoof on Lyra’s shoulder, she guided her off her chair, moved Lyra’s paper out of the way, and laid a fresh piece in its place. Manipulating several fresh pencils around her with her magic, some of which even matched her pencil-themed cutiemark.  Over the proceeding minutes, Lyra watched Lauren craft a heavily detailed drawing of a mare in camouflage gear, wearing a bandanna and an eye-patch. She held it up so that Lyra could soak the whole thing in. “I’ll admit, I kind of based the design off something from memory, but you get the idea,” she said with a chuckle. Lyra sighed and hung her head. “I get it, you can draw, you don’t have to rub it in.” Lauren’s eyes darted back and forth. “I’m giving it to you, stupid.” Lyra’s eyes widened. “No, I can’t take this. This is too-” The white unicorn pushed a hoof into Lyra’s mouth. “Just remember to hold onto it,” she said as she got up from the chair, letting Lyra take hold of the drawing. “Consider it as a reminder of a lesson.” Lyra’s eyes stared at the sketch for moment before lowering it, revealing her roommate behind it, smiling at her. “Nopony is as simple as we think.” “A bit simple, don’t you think?” Synergy asked as she gazed at monitor that was mounted on the wall of her office. Standing next to her was a cream earth pony, holding a remote in her hoof. “It’s just a starter. We’ll have something with more depth coming soon,” Bon Bon retorted as she shifted in her chair. The two were examining sketches of the humans from Only Human, the current one was of Clair. Her sketch had a limited amount of detail, barely capturing the core details as outlined in Lyra’s notes. “Study groups have shown that simpler character designs turn off viewers. They say it ‘shows a lack of effort.’” Synergy tilted her head, putting Bon Bon in her line of sight. “I certainly hope that isn’t the case.” “Of course it isn't,” Bon Bon retorted, not looking back at Synergy. “We’ll have a animation team ready to collaborate and build a far more detailed model.” Widening her eyes, Synergy spun in her chair so that she was facing her colleague. “You’re telling me that you don’t even have an animation studio attached yet?!” The senior executive extended her hoof towards the giant window behind them, which overlooked the production lot below where the writers room and other studios were located. “We have over ten, pick one!” Bon Bon breathed in deep before responding. “A lot of the groups I’ve tried negotiating with have been busy... other commitments.” Synergy’s lip corner turned upwards. “Too busy for a show that only two ponies in this whole organization have faith in. Go figure.” Bon Bon shook her head, looking back to the monitor and pressing down on the remote, bringing a new human up; Clark. Synergy examined the drawing for a moment. “Which one is that supposed to be again?” “That’s Clark,” Bon Bon answered. “He’s one of the main humans. He’s Lyra’s favorite actually.” The sound of her name brought back a little bit of Bon Bon’s smile. “Oh? And why is that?” asked Synergy with a condescending tone. Bon Bon leaned back in her chair. “If the script is anything to go off of, he’s got... a nobility that no one sees anymore.” “Nopony,” corrected Synergy. “Nopony what?” Bon Bon returned, not looking at her senior executive. Rolling her eyes, Synergy looked back up at screen, examining Clark’s slide. In the bottom right hand corner, there was another image of the human, except Clark’s glasses were gone, his hair was brushed to one side and a few other details that Synergy zoomed in on: a split lip and small bruises around his face. “Miss Bon,” began Synergy. “Do my eyes deceive me, or has this particular character been in an altercation?” Feeling a sinking feeling in her chest, Bon Bon shifted in her chair. “Well... good versus evil, exchanging blows, that sorta thing you know.” Synergy continued. “You know that girls don’t take well to violence. I would suggest you get your show’s content under control.” “Excuse me?” asked Bon Bon, trying to hide the irritation in her voice. A smile stretching across her lips, Synergy leant back into chair. “Oh, just looking out for you and your employees. Making sure you can be the best you you can be.” It took all Bon Bon’s strength to keep her glare from reaching her smug superior. “You really should be thanking me.” “Why would I thank you? You haven’t done anything yet,” Lyra said as she closed the door behind her. “Of course I have. I’m improving the ambiance,” Vinyl retorted with a smirk. Her face was lit up by the mixing board in front of her, as well of the light from the window positioned in front of her that looked into the recording booth. Lyra found a table with an open script placed in front of two empty chairs. Glancing to the side, Lyra found Short Hoof perched up on an empty desk with a lit cigarette in her hoof. Lyra waved the second-hoof smoke from her face. “Short, do you mind taking that outside,” Lyra said, trying to hold her breath. Short took another puff before answering. “Is there anything in the script that says that I don’t smoke?” Lyra blinked once in silence. “No—” “Then I’m in character,” Short retorted as she went back to smoking. She’s... got me there. Sighing, Lyra took a seat at the desk and placed her saddle bag on the floor. She looked through the script, noticing all of Clair's lines highlighted in purple. Looking up, she noticed that the recording booth was empty. “Where’s Rarity?” asked Lyra. “Maybe she’s letting her newfound stardom go to her head,” chuckled Vinyl. “Lyra still has the record,” Short interjected. “She tried to be a showrunner right out of college.” Keeping her head down, Lyra rolled her eyes towards Short, who was sporting a smirk. Vinyl extended her hoof in Short’s general direction. “Nice!” Short returns the hoof. Lyra was suddenly startled by the the door to the recording studio being slammed open. Rarity trotted in, sporting a gaudy saddle bag. “Sorry I’m late everypony. I ran into Fancy Pants on the street and we simply had to catch up.” As Rarity settled into the booth, Vinyl looked back to Lyra and Short with a cheeky grin. “She’s wants the D.” “She wants the D?” Lyra repeated. “Everypony wants the D,” Vinyl stated in all seriousness, nodding her head. “Excuse me,” Rarity called out. “I’m ready when you ladies are.” “Sure thing!” Vinyl shouted back. Lighting her horn up, Vinyl telekinetically adjusted all the knobs and computer setting on the recording station in front of her. Lyra hopped off her chair and stood over Vinyl, watching her work her magic. “Wow, you really know you’re way around this thing,” said Lyra. Vinyl scoffed. “You should see me when I’m not high.” “Are you high?!” Synergy shouted as she stood over Bon Bon’s shoulder. Not looking back at her, Bon Bon kept her vision locked on the monitor in front of her. “I think it’s at least worth a shot.” “It really isn’t,” retorted Synergy. “Going to these freaks is like asking a meth-cook to be your chemistry teacher.” Synergy was pointing straight at the monitor, which had a dark-green, stylized logo that read ‘Deviant Art.’ Bon Bon sighed. “There are plenty of talented ponies on here.” Synergy walked away and gazed out window of the office. “If they were talented, they’d be working here.” “We’re going to have to give them a chance at some point,” Bon Bon said as she rotated towards Synergy. “May as well give them on a project where we have nothing to lose.” Synergy slowly turned back to Bon Bon. “We both know that there’s plenty to lose, but considering how many idiots we have attached to this already, we may as well keep going.” Synergy took a seat next to Bon Bon, who was typing into a message box. “What are you doing now?” “I’m talking to somepony who might be able to help us out. He’s got a lot of friends who work with him in an independent studio and they’re looking for their big break. I’ve seen some of their stuff before and it was impressive.” “Impressing you clearly doesn’t take much, does it?” Synergy asked, knowing she wouldn’t get an answer. Bon Bon clicked the ‘send’ button on the window, returning her to the front page. “Now we—” Bon Bon was interrupted by the ‘ding’ sound of a new message. “Wait?” “Was that from the site?” asked Synergy. “No,” answered Bon Bon. “It’s from Skype.” Opening skype, Bon Bon found the application opened in the Pub’s executive’s account. There was a message from one ‘Color Palette’ that read ‘We should talk face to face.’ “We have one of those?” Bon Bon inquired. “We have it for long distance calls. Question is how he has us as a contact.” Bon Bon clicked the video call button, only to be answered immediately by a navy-blue stallion with a red mane and stubble. The camera was only able to show everything from the shoulders up. In the background, the two executives could see several sketches hung on the wall, the resolution of the screen was too low to be able to go into greater detail. “Evening mares,” the Color Palette began. “Now, I hear you have a job for us.” “Come on, we’ve got a job to do,” shouted Vinyl. Lyra was sitting at the table, resting her weary head on the table next to the script. “Oh really? I thought our job was watch you play with knobs for hours on end.” Short chuckled. “Like she does every night.” Vinyl laughed and offered her hoof again. “Nice.” “Wait,” began Lyra. “She just insulted you.” Vinyl shrugged and smiled. “Got to give credit where it’s due, right?” The mares turned towards the recording booth after hearing a dainty cough into the mic. They saw Rarity sitting patiently in her chair, smiling politely at her colleagues. “I hate to interrupt you all, but will we be starting soon?” Lyra smiled as she raised her head off the desk. “Sure thing, Rarity!” Lyra flipped through her script to the first page where she could see Clair’s lines. “OK, Rarity, please turn to page—” Lyra was cut off by the sound of a loud ringing sound erupting from Rarity’s saddle bag. Looking straight at the bag, Lyra saw Rarity levitate a purple, gem-encrusted cell phone out of the bag, and hold it up to her face. Rarity glanced at the caller-ID before looking back the mares. “I’m sorry, everypony, but I have to take this.” Lyra stutterd. “B-but we have—” Before Lyra could finish, Rarity answered. “Fluttershy! How are you, dear? No, of course you’re not interrupting.” Vinyl glanced back at Lyra, who was staring straight at Rarity, wide-eyed and slack jawed. The DJ smirked, “You mad?” “I hope you’re not mad, I just figured we should get right to it, my boys and I have been looking for work for a while now,” Color Palette said apologetically. Bon Bon kept up a friendly smile while Synergy faced-hoofed and shook her head. “Good thinking,” Bon Bon responded. “First things first though. I’m Bon Bon, junior executive, and this is Synergy, senior executive.” Color nodded at Synergy. “Nice to meet you, Miss Synergy.” “I’m sure it is,” Synergy mumbled. “So!” Bon Bon continued. “You’re interested in animating and editing Only Human?” “Very interested,” insisted Palette. “We have a whole team of animators ready to go, we’ll just need to head into negotiations.” Synergy raised a curious brow. “One moment, if all of you are working freelance, how are you supporting your team when you have nothing to do?” Palette casually responded, “Oh, we usually just eat the flesh off our interns.” Silence. Nothing but silence followed as Bon Bon and Synergy stared wide-eyed and slack jawed at Palette before he bursted into laughter. “Just kidding, we don’t have any interns.” “We need some interns to deal with this,” Lyra grumbled as she rubbed her temples. Vinyl and Short Hoof had joined her at the desk. Vinyl was rolling her shades across back and forth in front of her while Short Hoof was on her third smoke. Lyra waved the smoke out of her face yet again. “We’re gonna asphyxiate if you keep that up.” “Trust me, the only thing sucking the oxygen out of the room is her,” Short Hoof said, gesturing to Rarity, who was still on her phone. “Well, she certainly isn’t helping,” Lyra remarked. She then gazed over at Vinyl, who had yet to show any signs of discomfort. “How can you not cough with all this smoke in the room?” Vinyl glanced up at Lyra. “Ninety percent of my time in college was spent in rooms full of smoke. The other ten was in cars full of smoke.” Lyra just stared blankly at Vinyl. “I’m just gonna let that one go.” Lyra lit up her horn, pulling out a crumpled piece of paper that was folded in four. She folded it out, examining the drawing from years ago. Lowering the paper, she gazed at Rarity, who was still going. The fact that she’s still got air in her lungs at least means that she’ll be efficient when she finally does start acting. Vinyl couldn’t help but noticed her showrunners’ sour expression. “What's that?” Lyra sighed as she looked over to Vinyl.”Just a reminder.” “Can you just remind me when the meeting is?” Palette asked as he tapped away at his keyboard. “Let’s say Tuesday week?” Bon Bon responded as she jotted the date down in her digital journal. “Great, see you then,” Palette responded with a smile. He turned to Synergy, whose expression had yet to improve. “Miss Synergy.” Synergy barely gave him a courtesy nod before he logged off. Bon Bon exhaled as she laid back in her seat. “Well, good to see you’re still a great conversationalist in your old age,” she quipped with an annoyed tone. Synergy shot off her seat and trotted towards the door. “I’m beginning to see your habit of picking up talentless wannabes.” Bon Bon raised herself from her chair. “Or maybe you’re just seeing that I can find talent where you can’t.” Synergy was only a few steps from the door before she shot back at Bon Bon. “You did hear what he said, didn’t you? He had us as contacts because he already applied. I’m just thankful I didn’t have to deal with him myself the first time around.” “So?” asked the junior executive. “Just because he didn’t succeed at first doesn’t mean he shouldn’t try again.” “Miss Bon,” continued Synergy, “here’s a lesson I wish I had made clearer to you before you were promoted: Go for those that have proven themselves. The reason we go for the experienced creatives is because they know what they’re doing.” Bon Bon looked straight into Synergy’s eyes. “Then how are the new ones supposed to get a chance?” Silence. Nothing but silence filled the room as Synergy and Bon Bon glared into each others souls. Inhaling and exhaling deeply, Synergy closed the door behind her. “Bye, Bon Bon.” “Hey, Bon Bon!” shouted Lyra as her favorite executive stepped through the door. “Hey, Ly- KAK! KAK!” Bon Bon had to raise her hoof to her mouth to keep herself from dying. “How has the fire alarm not gone off?” Short Hoof chuckled. “Oh, I destroyed my nemesis years ago.” Bon Bon had found the three mares with pens in their hooves, making small alterations to the script with different colored ink. “So what are my favorite typewriter monkeys up to?” “Our actress has run into some personal issues,” Lyra said, shrugging her shoulders towards Rarity, who was using a hoof-file as she continued to talking to Fluttershy. “So we figured we may as well do some last minute punch-up.” Vinyl raised her hoof. “You know what this scene needs more of?” Lyra clenched her jaw and closed her eyes. “Vinyl, I swear to Celestia, if you say ‘the D’ one more time—” “I’m just saying it wouldn’t hurt.” the musician responded with a cheeky smile. “So!” Lyra interjected. “How’s the hunt for our animators?” Bon Bon smiled awkwardly. “You want the good or the bad news?” Lyra arched her brow. “Do I even need to answer that?” Bon Bon continued. “The good news is that we do, infact, have a wonderful, friendly team of animators ready to work with us... but Synergy isn’t too happy.” Synergy scoffed. “You sure that isn’t part of the good news?” That warranted a giggle from everypony in the room, even Rarity. The gang suddenly shifted their attention to Rarity, who was sitting calmly in her chair. “I’m ready,” she said without a hint of self-awareness. Lyra slowly raised a hoof, struggling to keep the anger off her face. “One moment, please.” Rarity nodded. “Just try not to be too long.” Feeling the blood starting to run down her nose, Lyra snorted quickly to keep it from dripping onto the desk. She rose from her chair and turned to Bon Bon with bright smile. “You want to stick around for the recording?” “I’m not sure if I want to,” Bon Bon answered. Lyra looked almost heartbroken. “Why not?” “Apart from the smoke inhalation, I’m not sure how much longer I can put up with stuck up, self-centered, ignorant bitches.” Looking past Lyra, Bon Bon spotted Rarity giving her an almost offended expression. Bon Bon quickly waved to her. “I’m talking about your character, dear!” Rarity smiled and nodded in response. Bon Bon continued to Lyra. “I’m sure you understand.” Lyra grew a sly smile, she looked over her shoulder to Short Hoof, who gave her a nod, as well as Vinyl when she turned to her. Lyra looked down at the script, and then glanced up at Rarity. “Rarity,” called out Lyra, “could you read your line on page forty-seven?” Using her magic, Rarity flipped through her script until she found her line. “Do you want me to just read it now?” Lyra shrugged. “May as well, we’ve wasted enough time already.” Rarity cleared her throat before reading... “Sarah, sweetheart, that little bit of kindness that you seem so eager to avoid could make you happier than you think. Everybody has a life outside of this university, and it’s not always as easy as yours or mine, some people need that extra hand, that friendly smile and nod as they walk by. The kindness we give others is the same kind we give to ourselves. The happier we make others, the happier we ourselves are. Whether it’s generosity or some super-heroics, the good will always come back to you. Try it. Think of it as an experiment, if you will.” As was the case with voice recordings, the only thing that followed that reading was silence. Silence and smiles. Lyra nodded at her star. “Great job, Rarity. We’ll have to call it a day with that,” Lyra called out, looking at the clock hanging over Rarity’s head. Rarity waved bye to everypony as she packed up and left the studio. Lyra looked back at Bon Bon with a incredibly confident smile as she saw Bon Bon’s face, which looked to have been hit with shock and awe. “Let me show you something.” Lyra levitated her old-looking piece of paper in front of Bon Bon, showing her a sketch of a commando pony moving through the bushes. “Rarity may get... easily excited by trivial things, as does Clair, but that doesn’t make her a two-dimensional being. She has a family she loves, friends she cares for, as well as the lives she’s helped save as an element of harmony. Sometimes it’s easy to forget... but nopony is as simple as we think they are.” Bon Bon coughed before responding. “You think that’s true for everypony we know?” Lyra glanced over at Short Hoof, who was enjoying the last cigarette in her pack, not really listening to anything other than her own thoughts. “I’m sure she’s trying to quit,” Lyra responded with a chuckle. Bon Bon kept up her worrisome look. “That’s not who I was talking about.” The two shared a knowing silence as Lyra searched her mind for an answer. While she thought on, Lyra looked down at her drawing, the words of her roommate echoing in her skull. “Honestly... I don’t think so.” Bon Bon was a little shocked to see the green unicorn looking back up at her with a warm, hopeful smile. “But I can’t wait to be proven wrong!” Next: Ship It Hard!