Only Human: A Lyra Heartstrings Production

by Smoking Gun

Chapter 10: The Man in the Moon

“What is a man?” asked the creature.

He strutted before the auditorium full of creatures that looked like him. He was walking on two feet, fully clothes, had no nuzzle, no tail and was sporting a goatee.

“What is a woman?” he added. “These are the questions that all of you will have to answer soon. You’re all at the age where you must ask yourself what it means to be human. So your homework for this semester: look in the mirror and ask yourself ‘who am I?’”

Glancing back up at the smaller humans, he caught several of them giggling and raising their ‘hands’ into the air and hitting them together.

The human at the front continued. “Oh yes, and reading through your expensive and large textbook. Class dismissed.”

The younger humans piled out of the auditorium, carrying the books and chatting along the way. However, in the front row, one human remained: A Caucasian, female with long, brown hair, wearing a white jacket was resting her head on her clenched fist, staring in disbelief at her professor as he packed up his notes, not paying any mind to the students as they left.

She slammed her hands on the desk, pushing herself up from her chair.

“Excuse me, Professor Morrissey?” asked the girl. “Can I ask you a question?”

The professor checked his watch. “Sure, I ended class a bit early anyway.”

The girl stood tall and straight in front of Morrissey. “What kind of homework is ‘ask yourself who you are?’”

“It’s the kind that’s important to human studies, as you’ll come to find out one day. Hopefully sooner, rather than later.”

Without another word, he packed up his things, and exited through the staff door at the base of the auditorium.

“It’s an important question, actually.”

The girl yelped, jumped back and turned around at the sound from behind her. She saw a tall, male human, with Caucasian skin, long black hair, thick glasses, wearing a blue shirt and red jacket. “At least that’s what Ma and Pa told me back on the farm.”

The girl didn’t respond, she was frozen in place, looking petrified at the sight of the male.

The male cleared his throat and offered his hand. “I’m Clark. What’s your name?”

“Sarah,” said the girl, not offering her hand in return. “And I fail to see how your ‘Ma and Pa’ has anything to do with this.”

Sarah stormed past Clark, grabbing her things and heading up the stairs, leaving Clark alone in the auditorium with the echo of the door slamming behind her.

“Nice to meet you too,” he said at a whisper.

The angle focusing on Clark suddenly pulled back at fast speed, revealing a large campus of building with hundreds of humans walking around. Pulling back further showed that the campus was one small part of a large city, full of humans. Even further back, was the reveal that the city was just a spec on a blue and green ball floating through space.

The camera stopped when it reached the moon, however, it was not unoccupied. A shadowy figure, who was clearly wearing huge, spikey body armour was standing in the centre of a crater, looking up at the beautiful blue planet.

“A man… is nothing…” he said as the planet reflected in his black eyes. “But death!”
The screen cut to black for a moment before a title card appeared.

‘Only Human’

“Couldn’t finalize a theme song in time, could you?” Synergy remarked. The middle-aged mare hand sunken into her theatre seat as she looked up at the screen, not looking directly at the mare sitting next to her.

“I’ve been informed by my producer that pilot episodes of shows don’t often have theme songs,” Lyra answered, not looking directly at Synergy. She was sporting a smile so confident that it could induce vomiting in nearby executives.

“She’s got a good one too,” Bon Bon added, who was sitting next to Lyra. Bon Bon was joining Lyra in pleasant demeanour as she too gazed up at the screen, which was now playing commercials.

“Do you think you two can wait until a later time slot for your flirting?” Synergy sighed, refusing to look either of them in the eye.

Lyra and Bon Bon quickly glanced at each other before looking back down to the floor before they could see that the other was smiling and blushing at the thought.

Is it weird to be thinking about kissing her while watching a kids show?

Lyra peaked by the corner of her eye at the cream coloured mare to her left. The pretty colours and lights from the screen where bouncing off her eyes and coat, creating a beautiful sheen around her, making her smile all the more enchanting.

And I suddenly don’t care.

Synergy rolled her eyes. “Just keep it in your metaphorical pants until—“

“Shhh!”

Synergy was startled by the sudden appearance green magical energy in the room.

Her horn ignited, Lyra had generated a partially see-through construct of a hand that her humans had. The fist was clench with index finger was raised, hovering in front of Lyra’s mouth as she shushed Synergy.

“The show’s starting again soon.”

Synergy shook her head. “It’s going to be a long show.”

“Not as long as I was expecting,” Rarity observed as she laid back onto her fainting couch. All lights in Carousel Boutique were off, not including the illumination from the T.V. “A little bit of music would have been appreciated.”

“Yeah, what you said,” agreed Sweetie Bell as she watched the commercials play out before her. “So when’s your part?” the light coloured filly asked.

Rarity busted into a fit of laughter. “Oh Sweetie Bell, the show is my part!” she exclaimed as she pointed to herself. “You’ll see my character soon, but you’ll see that the plot practically hinges on me!”

Sweetie Bell’s nervously darted left-to-right. “You mean it hinges on your character, right?”

Rarity cleared her throat. “Also yes.”

“How about no?!” Ditzy proclaimed, glaring at Vinyl.

“Come on, babe,” Vinyl cooed as she patted her lap as she sat on the couch. “It’s kind of the only way I can tip you tonight.”

Vinyl’s chuckling was interrupted by the feeling of grey hoof smacking her across the cheek at what must have been hundreds of kilometres per hour. Vinyl couldn’t see her, but her fellow writers, who were also sharing the couch, rolled their eyes and looked away, hoping to not be associated with the D.J.

“Ouch, you got a mean right hook,” Vinyl said with a smirk, looking over her purple shades at the glaring muffin mare hovering above her. “Come on, babe, I was just messing with you!”

Ditzy arched an eyebrow. “You mean you were simply jesting the idea of sleeping with me in place of paying me for my muffins.

“Also yes.”

Ditzy dropped herself to the ground, folding her wing by her side. “For future reference: that sorta thing doesn’t pay my bills.” Without another word, Ditzy trotted away, spotting two customers in the distance raising their hooves, hoping for some service.

Once she was a fair distance away, Vinyl leaned towards Short Hoof. “She wants the D.”

“Shut up, Vinyl,” Short Hoof remarked as she noticed the commercials coming to an end.

‘Written by Lyra Heartstrings’ was written across the bottom of the screen as Only Human returned to the screen. The image behind the text was of a establishing shot of a university campus, the buildings were a mixture of cream and red, including the sign that read ‘Manhattan University.’

“I’m never gonna get used to that,” Synergy groaned as she rested her head into her right hoof.

‘Executive Producers: Lyra Heartstrings, Bon Bon’ were the final credits to appear at the bottom of the screen. The camera had rolled through the campus, passing through several random humans in the process, stopping in front of blue building in the middle of the campus labelled ‘Juice Bar.’

The camera cut to inside, seeing skinny human male with curly auburn hair, a blue shirt and matching pants standing at one of the tall tables in the middle of the bustling bar.

“And so the cab driver said—“

“I have something more important to focus on right now, Justin,” remarked the human standing next to him.

This human appeared very different to Justin. He was much taller and had a dark brown completion. He was wearing a fancy red smoking jacket, as well as top hat with a matching red piece of fabric wrapped around it. He was examining a black walking cane in his hands.

“I’m beginning to believe the shaft isn’t real mahogany.”

Vinyl chuckled, “Hehehe, shaft.”

Justin and the other human froze mid-sentence at the sound of high pitch laughter coming from off-screen, their eyes slamming shut at its sharpness.

“Oh my goodness, Darling!”

The camera cut to a low shot of a woman’s feet in purple high heels. Panning up, the camera held a loving shot of a beautiful woman in a white, slim fit, low cut white dress. She had a diamond necklace that drew attention to her generous cleaves. Still, it couldn’t detract from her beautiful face that was framed perfectly with long blonde hair.

“I had no idea the Halloween party was getting started early,” she said, laughing at the boys general direction. “Or are you just ‘fashionably’ late for last years?”

The tall, dark human chuckled. "I was thinking it was halloween, considering how much skin you're willing to share with your peers."

"Are you serious?" Synergy growled at Lyra.

"Of course not," Lyra said as she tilted her head for a moment to meet Synergy's eye. "It's just a show for little girls."

"Are you serious?" Sweetie Bell mumbled to herself.

"Sorry, did you say something, Sweetie? Rarity asked from the fainting couch.

"Nothing," Sweetie responded timedly, "It's just that... you're girl seems... I don't know, mean."

Rarity shook her head and sighed. "It's called 'character development', Sweetie Bell. It might pay to research it sometime."

Sweetie Bell turned back to the screen, making sure Rarity couldn't see her roll her eyes. "Sure... sometime."

"Sometimes I wonder if any of you men are any different from the last," the blonde human said as she rolled her eyes, keeping up her snarky smile.

"Sometimes I wonder if anyone besides me has any sense of class," the tall, dark male retorted.

The blonde waved her hand in an expecting manner, "And you are?"

"Peter," he answered.

"Clair."

Clair and Peter stepped closer to each other. Clair chuckeled and looked into his eyes.

"I'm sorry, where are my manners? I'm sorry that I made of fun of your pompous wardrobe and cheap accessories."

"And I'm sorry for not taking well to your sanctimonious quips," Peter retorted, returning a smirk.

"He's also sorry for not introducing me," Justin said as he poked his head up from behind Peter's shoulder. "I'm Justin."

"I'm sure you are," said Clair, not even glancing in Justin's general direction.

Looking hurt, Justin stepped out from behind Peter. "Well... it's true."

The camera moved past the three squabbling humans over to the empty bar. An older, male human with grey hair washing some glasses. His face lit up at the sight of something off-screen.

"Clark, my boy!" he shouted. "How's the fight for truth and justice?"

Clark stepped up to the bar, resting his satchle by his feet. "Slowly, Perry. One root beer, please."

Reaching into the fridge behind him, Perry pulled out a root beer, popped the cap and slid it across the bar to Clark. "Journalism degree still working out for ya?"

"I have faith that it will," Clark said before taking a sip of his beverage.

"Well, if you're looking for a story, you can always do one dem human interest pieces on the handsome bartender," Perry suggested, still polishing the glasses.

"I'll keep that one in my back pocket," Clark said with small laugh.

Before taking another sip of his drink, Clark glanced over to Peter, Clair and Justin, arguing not to far from the bar. "What are they arguing about?"

"Who cares," Perry said with a shrug.

"I do," Clark said as he put down his drink.

Clark brushed a few strands of hair that were hanging over his face as he approached the fight, only to feel a hand pushed up against his chest.

"You don't want to get invovled in all that," Justin said, looking back over his shoulder at Peter and Clair, keeping his hand on Clark's chest. "They've resorted to throwing big words at each other.

"Well, sticks and stones and whatnot," Clark said, trying to push past Justin.

"Please don't. It's like trying to punch a couple of well dressed dictionaries. Also, I don't even know you."

Clark's eyebrow arched over his specs. "I'm Clark, and I wasn't exactly planning on pu—"

"HOT STUFF COMING THROUGH!"

Clark and Justin barely had time to turn their heads before someone came barreling through them, pushing Clark to the side and knocking Justin to the ground.

"That was Vinyl's line, wasn't it?" Bon Bon asked, glancing over at Lyra.

Lyra smiled and turned back to the screen. "I can neither confirm nor deny."

"That was totally my line," Vinyl said, nodding and smiling proudly on the couch.

"Yes, despite my pleas otherwise," Short Hoof said, rolling her eyes.

The camera was now at Justin's point of view, and it was quite immersive. His vision was blurred, and he was seeing twice as many lights as usual hanging above him. Feeling something crawling on him, Justin saw a blurry, double-visioned girl on top of him. The girl had a heavy tan and short brown hair and was looking confused down at Justin.

"I did warn you to get out the way," she said to Justin, only to get a chuckle in response.

"Funny," he began. "I never thought I'd end up with two girl on top of me."

”Perhaps you didn't hear me the first time," Synergy said as she sifted in her seat so that she was facing Lyra. "Are you bucking serious?"

Lyra didn't turn back to face the executive. "Perhaps you didn't here me last time. It's just a kids show."

Even from Lyra's side, Bon Bon could hear Synergy calming herself with slow breathing.

"Honestly," shuddered Synergy. "What kind of animals do you have working for you?"

"He wants the D," Vinyl snickered, nodding to herself.

The other writers on the couch remained silent looking like they were all a mixture of confused and scarred. The only one who was able to break the silence, eventually, was Short Hoof.

"... What?"

"What?" the taned girl asked as she dashed off Justin back onto her feet.

Anyone looking at the girl could see that she was actually rather short considering everyone standing around her. She was wearing a sports bra, jogging shorts and running shoes, which complimented all the sweat she was covered in.

Justin stumbled to his feet, "I said—"

"I heard you, dork." The girl took a moment to examine Justin as he stood before her. "By the look of you, I'd say one girl would be too much for you."

"Sorry, darling," interjected Clair. "I must agree with the scruffy ruffian."

Tanned girl checked out out Clair and chuckled. "Thank, Fancy No-Pants."

Clair gasped. "Excuse me, miss, but I don't believe we've been introduced."

"Guess I'm too fast for the rest of the people around here. The name's Diane, that should make it easy for you to shout my praise when I'm at the Olympics next year," Diane said with a thumbs up.

Clair and Peter just stared in bemusement at Diane while Justin bursted into laughter.

"I didn't know there was a sport around running into people," he said through his cackling.
"Something tells me you don't know a whole lot about physical activity," she said through a smirk.

Justin was about to make his witty retort before pausing and looking at Clark. Diane, Clair and Peter saw the journalism student staring at them, slacked jawed and with wide eyes.

"You people are just... acting opprobrious."

Justin furiously rubbed his head. "Can I go one minute without someone throwing big words at me?!"

"I just hate seeing people arguing for no good reason like this!" Clark insisted. "I can tell just by looking at you guys that you're better than this."

Clair brushed her hair to the side. "While I'm... flattered, I don't associate myself with schlubby men such as yourself."

Clark glanced down at his wrinkled jacket. "I love this jacket, it was my Pa's."

"And I'm sure Pa's proud of you," Clair said as she strutted out the bar. "But I'm sure he'd appreciate a little suede every now and then."

Clark looked on in dissapointment as Clair walked out the bar until he felt Justin nudging him.

"I wouldn't be looking so down if all that was walkin away from me."

Diane roller her eyes. "Look, I can see that you don't have the greatest reflexes, but if you see me coming your way, it'd probably best if you stepped to the side."

Without another word, Diane stormed past Justin, knocking him with her shoulder. After getting a good distance from him, she resumed her run, jumping over cars and any other object in her way.

Peter walked over to Justin and tapped him on the shoulder. "Are you checking her out or just glaring at her?"

"I can neither confirm nor deny."

Giving him a shove, Peter guided Justin out of the bar. "Come on, you can walk me to my British history class."

"Right," Justin said dryly. "Wouldn't want to miss a whole two hours about puffy wigs and tea, right?"

Peter nodded. "Now you're getting it."

Left standing alone, Clark hung his head, feeling someone tap him on the shoulder. Turning around, he saw Perry smiling at him, still polishing dirty glasses.

"You forgot to pay for your root beer."

"We'll be back! Only on the Pub!" shouted the announcer as the commercial break began.

"Well!" called out Synergy as she turned to Lyra with rage in her eyes. "You truly have crafted a likable cast, haven't you?"

"It's called characer development," Lyra responded with a small smirk. "Look into it sometime."

"How deep are we even into this?" asked Synergy.

"About 10 minutes," answered Lyra.

Synergy hung her head. "All three of us will be lucky if we live through this."

"You're lucky I'm not asking you to do your usual chores," Twilight said as she rearranged the books on the shelves around her home with her magic.

"Yeah, that' because I finished them early, remember?" Spike responded as he continued staring at the T.V.

Twilight chuckled. "Oh, I'm sure we'd be able to find something for you to do."

"How?" asked Spike. "We organize the library every week, like somebody comes in everyday just to give us something to do."

Twilight lowered the book she was holding, looking confused at Spike. "Somebody?"

Spike shook his head. "Sorry, I was watching that show Rarity told us about."

Taking a seat next to Spike, Twilight levitated some potato chips out of Spike's bowl and into her mouth. "Isn't that the one she has a role in?"

"Yeah," Spike answered. "You just missed her first scene."

Twilight facehoofed. "Oh goodness! How could I have forgotten to write this down in my to-do list?"

Spike shrugged. "Because watching T.V. is, like, never on your to-do list?"

The librarian looked down as she blushed. "That's... not incorrect. So, how's Rarity's character?"

"Weird," said Spike. "She's mean, shallow, and makes jokes at people who dress differently from her. It's nothing like her, but she seems to be doing a good job."

The dragon glanced over at Twilight when he heard the sound of snickering coming from her mouth. "Twi? Are you laughing?"

"It's nice to see everypony laughing," remarked Feather Quill as she looked over the couch at the patrons who had been watching the show."

"You know," started Vinyl. "Until watching this, I never realized how smart we were."

"And I never noticed how high, drunk and flirty one pony could get in a writers room," quipped Short Hoof.

"I don't recall you complaining that night you took me home on our first day," Vinyl cooed.

"That because as soon as you got home, you through up in the kitchen sink and passed out. I only stayed to make sure you didn't choke in your sleep."

"Is that why you were naked in my bed when I woke up?"

"We're always naked, you putz."

Short Hoof and Vinyl looked to the side, seeing Ditzy staring at them.

"If you want, I can wrap up some alcoholic muffins for you?"

"You should've told me we would need more alcohol than what I brought," Synergy snarled.

Bon Bon chuckled. "But, Synergy, alcohol would only eclipse your senses and you wouldn't be able to appreciate Only Human."

"That is, in fact, the plan, Miss Bon."

"My roommate makes the booze-muffins for $9.90 for a ten-pack," interjected Lyra.

"Normally I'd take you up on that offer, but something tells me I've already given you enough money for nauseating products already.

"We're back to Only Human! Only on the Pub!"

"Stupid... worthless... meaningless," mumbled Sarah as she sat at he library desk.

Synergy smirked. "I like this girl."

Sarah had been flipping through her Humanity Studies text book, which she could have sworn was thicker than her whole body. From one page to the next, she was capable of speed-reading most of the book, each chapter more frustratingly useless than the last.

"I had a feeling you were a fast reader."

Sarah ceased her reading, glancing up at familiar face standing before her. "I don't suppose you're here to convince me this thing was worth the book store price?"

Clark chuckled. "I think here's a digital version you can get for cheaper."

Sarah slammed the book shut, blowing air in Clark's face."Even a digital version of this thing would still be too heavy for it's own book."

Clark sits down opposite Sarah. "I admit, it's not the most gripping read, but it's not like we've got a say in the matter."

"I'm already regretting this course," sighed Sarah.

"Why's that?" asked Clark.

"Let's just say other people isn't something I'm passionate about."

"Well that's... a bit dark."

Sarah rolled her eyes. "Clark, was it? I'm going to tell you a hard truth I've learned studying silent. People are worthless. We're nothing special. We're a couple of guests in an amazing universe. Studying other people is not only boring, but a waste of time."

"Aaaaaand that's even darker," Clark responded. "Look, I know it sounds old fashion, but I'm a firm believer in this: Everything matters. Everyone matters. That includes you."

Sarah sighed. "While I appreciate the sentiment, but human studies aren't for me." Sarah hung her head, "humanity just isn't really my thing."

BOOM!

"JEEZ!"

A startled Synergy backed into seat as the explosion echoed through the theaters surround sound system.

Lyra snickered. "I can pull up my foreleg rest if you need to cuddle me."

Synergy smiled and looked at Lyra. "You can do that, but keep in mind, if you do that, there will, literally, be nothing between you and me."

Lyra slowly turned back to the screen.

"What the...?"

As the dust cleared, Sarah looked up, finding an entire wall of the library had disappeared. The remaining brinks where burnt and smoking. Looking out the new window, Sarah found several cars on fire, a knocked down tree, hundreds of people running in fear, and a giant purple light coming from the athletics field.

"Huh... Clark... CLARK?!

Sarah looked back to where Clark had been sitting, finding only a pair of broken glasses. She picked up the glasses, put them in her pocked and ran over to the hole in the wall.

"Clark?! Where are you?!"

Sarah eventually spotted Clark, running towards the chaos, pushing past all the other panicking civilians.

"Oh, you idiot!"

At top speed, Sarah ran past all the other people, finding Clark trying to lift up a tree trunk.

Sarah ran over to him and put her hand on his shoulder. "Clark! What are you doing?! We have to get out of here, right now!"

"Not without him!"

Looking down at the log, Sarah found Justin, trapped under the log.

"Don't mind me, just waiting to die," Justin said, laughing nervously.

"Not today, buddy," Clark said through clenched teeth. Summoning all his strength, Clark finally rolled the log off of Justin, letting him climb to his feet.

"Justin, was it? I need you to run and get whatever help you can. Make sure they have fire extinguishers and a way to move rubble. Now!"

"Right!" Justin called back as he ran into a portion of the university that hadn't been destroyed.

"Sarah!" Clark called. "I need you to stay with me. You're a lot smarter than me, and if want to save anymore people, we're going to need you, now follow me!"

Before Sarah could get anything out of her mouth, Clark had already started running to the next set of screams.

"Clark, wait!"

Clark turned around, seeing a panicking Sarah. "Sarah! I need you!"

"I can't do it!"

Clark's eyes widened in horror when he saw a purple light start to engulf the area that Sarah was standing in. He looked up in the sky to see what looked like a shadowing ball of energy plummeting to the ground. As fast as he could, Clark ran to Sarah, through her over his shoulder, and made a made dash to the nearest open door he could find, slamming it behind him as the energy ball crashed into the ground and exploded, taking out several nearby structures. As for the building he and Sarah were in, the walls had all been cracked, looking like they could collapse on them at any moment.

Clark gently placed Sarah on her feet in front of him. "Sorry, but I don't think we'll be able to stay still for much longer.

"Then what the heck are you two doing?!"

Looking at the opposite end of the room, Clark and Sarah found Diane. It appeared as though she had ran through the other side of the building.

"Diane? What are you doing here?" Clark asked.

"I was running to see what all the action was."

Sarah was slackjawed. "You're telling you decided to run... towards the death and destruction?"

"Yeah!" Diane answered with a huge grin. "What are you two doing here?"

"Well..." stuttered Sarah. "We were running around, looking for people that need help."

Diane arched her brow. "So... exactly what I was doing?"

Clark stepped forward. "Diane, I don't suppose you have any idea what's going on?"

"Not yet," Diane said, pointing out the broken window. "But I'm pretty sure it's coming from the athletics field."

Diane did a quick round of stretches in front of the other two.

"Excuse me?" asked Sarah. "But what are you doing?"

"Getting ready for whatever's out there. Just follow me..."

Suddenly, Diane dashed through weakened wall, the camera angle and the animation made it look like she was in mid-strut.

"I've got a shortcut."

Synergy leaned into to Lyra. "It looks like she's karate chopping wind."

Running through the Diane shaped wall in the wall, Clark and Sarah stepped out onto the streets, seeing Sarah make a mad dash for the athletics field, loosing sight of her as she ran past the trees.

"Hey guys!"

Clark and Sarah saw Justin, with Peter by his side, run up to them from the safer side of campus.

"What are you doing?!" Sarah shouted. "Clark told you to get help!"

"I did," Justin said, pointing straight at Peter. "Look at this guy!"

"I'll help in whatever I can," Peter said, stepping forward. "Right now, we need to figure out where these attacks are coming from."

"Diane thinks they're coming from the athletics field," Clark explained.

"They are," interjected Sarah. "I saw some kind of purple light coming from the field.

"Back up a minute there," said Justin. "Diane? This girl wouldn't happen to be Latino, really competitive and surprisingly strong for size?"

Clark and Sarah nodded in unison.

"HELP!" screamed Diane from the distance.

"Great, and she's got a loud mouth, too," Justin groaned.

Rolling his eyes, Clark lead the group, running towards the field, pushing through the trees.

Pushing through the trees, the four humans found Diane, kneeling by a Blonde girl that was lying on the ground, while something off-screen emitted a bright purple light.

"Save me from this whiner!" Diane called out.

"But how am I supposed to run with broken heels?!" the blond girl asked.

The four humans ran over to her.

"Hey, you were that loud mouth girl from the bar," said Peter.

"My mouth is perfectly sized, I'll have you know!" Clair shouted.

Vinyl quietly snickered to herself.

Clark picked up Clair, craddeling her in his arms. "Everyone, just be ready to—"

THOOM!

The humans turned to the bright purple light, which, upon visual inspection resembled some sort of black hole, the kind they would have found in their astronomy books. The doorway became hollow, allowing a shadowy figure to step through it.

The individual stood at 7 feet tall, had pale skin and a goatee. He was wearing medieval style armor, complete with helmet with goat horns on the sides and a glowing purple gem on his belt buckle. Taking a breath, he let out an amount of cold smoke that, for a moment, covered his black eyes.

"I'm guessing that's the bad guy?" asked Justin.

Diane, who was standing behind him, cracked her knuckles. "Good guess."

"KNNNNNNNNEEEEEEEEEEEEL!" shouted the armored man, letting out more cold air. "Kneel before, Arthur!"

Sarah looked up at him in shock. "Did he say Arthur?"

Arthur placed a hand around the hilt of his sheaved sword. "Kneel or die!"

"Heck no!" shouted Justin as he ran away from Arthur.

Diane ran straight towards Arthur, running past Justin. "Heck yes!"

The camera now in front of her, Diane dashed straight towards their armored foe, wearing a giant grin. "Stand back, nerds." Using her powerful legs, she jumped into the air, winding back her fist, ready to land the finishing blow. "Diane's got—"

With his giant hand, Arthur grabbed hold of Diane's throat, holding her close to her face. "Do you honestly expect me to let a child stand in my way?"

Examining the girl in his hand, Arthur saw Diane letting a few tears run down her face while frost from his hand spread to her neck.

"Sorry about that, child," Arthur said with a sinister grin. "Hell is colder than they'd have you believe."

Arthur casually tossed Diane back to the group, having her land directly on Justin.

"Oh, goodness, why?" Justin called through clenched teeth.

Seeing the hurt, almost weeping Diane on the ground, Clark turned back to Arthur,clenched his fists, and slowly made his paces towards him. The wind had blown his hair to one side, creating a spit curl look across his forehead.

"Clark!" called Sarah. "What are you doing?!"

Clark ignored her, continuing his approach he was finally a few inches from Arthur, looking straight in his black eyes.

"Who are you and why are you hurting these people?" Clark asked.

"I hurt them, because they need to learn," he answered. "I am Lord Arthur of—"

"Of Camelot!"

Clark shot back around, seeing Sarah standing right behind him.

"I remember you," she continued. "You're Lord Arthur of Camelot. You were a dark wizard from the middle ages that was banned to the moon for a thousand years for attempting to conquer the human race. Of course, that was all from a children's book."

Arthur scoffed. "Of course that's what they'd reduce me too. I was trying to save the earth, and, as I suspected, they banished me for attempting to rid them of their violent, stupid ways. And after seeing that your first course of action was to attack me, I can see that a thousand years hasn't changed anything."

"Regardless of what you're doing, you don't have say in our future!" Clark shouted. "What makes you think you have any right to hurt those that don't comply to your view?"

"I'm the strongest there is!" he answered. "I will brutalize all those who stand in my way."

"Only the weak succumb to brutality," Clark answered, without a single hint of fear in his voice. "You can destroy as many buildings as you want, but humanity stronger than you give it credit for. Leave, and don't come back until you're ready to play nice. The last thing any of us want to do is hurt you!"

Diane got back on her feet, raising a finger in objection. "He doesn't speak for me!"

"You heard me," Clark said,taking a step forward. "Leave. Now."

For a moment, Arthur and Clark stared each other down as one sized the other up.

"You are brave," Arthur said as he raised his sword over his head. "You shall be granted a hero's death."

Clark looked down, letting shadow cover his eyes. "Someday, maybe." He suddenly looked up, grinning. "But not today!"

Without warning, Clark turned around, grabbed Sarah, and rolled out of the way, leaving two blinding lights to hit Arthur in the face.

"Hey! Your majesty!"

Looking around the light, Arthur realized that Justin was in the drivers seat of a car, which was barreling towards him at full speed. "Your chariot awaits!"

Pushing the door open, Justin barreled out of the car, making a few 'snapping' sounds.

Before Arthur could act, the car rammed into him, pushing back through the portal, but it as still open.

Diane ran to Justin, lifting his head off the ground. "Hey, what the heck was that supposed to be?"

"An epic one-liner," he answered. "What else?"

THOOM!

The humans looked on in horror as Arthur stepped back through the portal, except his sword was gone this time.

"That sword was mine since I was a child! And now it's in the vacuum!" he shouted. "You shall die first!"

"Common, Chuckles!" Diane picked up Justin, cradling him in her arms as she ran away from Arthur at top speed. "Let's roll out!"

Synergy, once again, leaned towards Lyra. "Remember when we first met? Do you remember what you said about 'action one-liners'? Do you, Miss Heartstrings?"

Lyra smiled, continuing to watch the show. "I believe I said 'buck you.'"

"I said ENOUGH!"

Clark lunged into the air, uppercutting Arthur in the face. It looked like a mosquito had bit him.

"I really don't want to do that again," Clark said as he held his grazed fist. "Especially since that hurt me more than it hurt you.'

Arthur wound his fist back, throwing a punch straight at Clark's face... only to be caught by Peter, using all the strength in his upper body to hold it back.

"A gentleman never throws the first punch," Peter said as he wound one of his fists back punched Arthur square in the jaw, knocking him to one of his knees. "But he always throws the last!"

Wiping the blood from his lip, Arthur glared at Peter, who was standing before him. "You dare?"

"I do!" Peter, removing his cane, which was attached at his hip, he placed it in his hand. "Are you familiar with bartitsu? In case you don't, it's a gentleman's martial art. It's a fighting style that utilizes fists, fine clothing, and best of all... canes!"

Flipping his canes in the air, Peter grabbed it by the bottom, and swung the handle straight into Arthur's face, knocking him flat on his back.

"You're going to wish you never made me walk out here bare foot!"

Looking up, Arthur saw Clair, standing over him. "I may not be much of a fighter, but I know more than anyone about fashion, and that includes fashion history." She pointed down at his knees. "You're wearing armor from when you put away. Meaning that you're wearing a collection nuts and bolts."

She reached down to his knee plates, pulling out a few loose screws causing the leggings to cave in, immobilizing Arthur.

"Good luck trying to walk with no leggings." Clair quickly turned back to her school mates. "And before anyone says anything, I'm wearing stockings!"

Back at the group, Diane ran over the Sarah.

"Hey egghead!" she began. "I don't suppose you have a permanent way of putting this dude out for good?"

"I think I do, actually," Sarah said, pointing to the gem on his belt. "That gem is glowing the same way the portal behind him is, my hypothesis is—"

"Please refrain from using big words," Diane interjected.

Sarah continued. "If we destroy that gem, it might force him back into the portal, otherwise, he would've closed it on his own."

"And how do you propose we do that?" Diane asked.

"By doing something I'm sure you're good at: hit it. Hard!"

Diane glanced over at the athletics equipment, seeing a few javelins. "I'm really starting to like you."

Picking up a javelin, Diane and Sarah walked over to Arthur, who was still attempting to get back on his feat.

"You think you've won this easily?" he asked with venom in his voice. "You're just like they were. They thought a thousand years of isolation would change my nature. They were wrong about me! I'll never change! And neither will any of you!"

"Oh shut up!" Diane shouted as she rammed the javelin into his jewel, not entirely shattering it, but still damaging it.

"Oh dear God," Short Hoof mumbled to herself.

"What now?" asked Vinyl.

"I just realized we're having a girl ran something sharp into a man's 'jewel', which just so happens to be right on top of his crotch."

"You need me!" Arthur shouted, spitting at the girls. "You're all animals! I'm here to tame you! To keep you all safe! You're all monsters without me!"

Glaring at Arthur, Sarah snatched the javelin from Diane and raised it over hear head. "We're stronger than we think we are!"

With all of her might, Sarah plunged the javelin into the jewel, finally shattering it. The portal behind them began to flicker and suck Arthur back through it. Flying back towards the gateway, he made one last grab at the ground, glaring up at the girls.

"I will ret—"

THOOM! THOOM! THOOM!

A blinding flash of light began to erupt from the portal. The two girls ran back towards their new friends, all of the humans grabbing close hold of each other as the light engulfed them.

After a moment of silence, the light had vanished. There was nothing left on the field but the smoke and kids.

"Well... that was a thing," remarked Justin.

"A loud thing," Peter said as he looked up at the hill, seeing several silhouettes behind the smoke. "We're being watched."

Slowly, a loud round of applause broke through the smoke as it cleared, revealing hundreds of people looking down on the kids, smiling at them as they cheered their names.

"Wait a minute... Is that...?"

Ditzy squinted at the T.V, noticing one particular human that stood out to her. She had blonde hair, a messengers uniform on, and a pair of wall-eyes.

Ditzy chuckeld. "You clever bitch."

"That was an interesting choice of words," Clark said as he placed his hand on Sarah's shoulders. "We're stronger than we think we are. Does that go for you as well?"

Sarah looked into his eyes, and returned the smile he was giving her.

"I certainly hope so."

Executive Producers: Lyra Heartstrings, Bon Bon.

"Congratulations, Lyra!" Bon Bon said with a round of applause. "That was... Lyra?"

The houselights came on as the closing credits started to roll. Lyra was no longer in her seat. Synergy, however, was exactly where Bon Bon left her. Except Synergy wasn't looking up. Her face was buried in her hooves.

"You..." Synergy growled as she raised her head. "Colossal..." Her eyes filled with pure rage, Synergy shouted at Bon Bon. "BUCKING IDIOT!"

"What's wrong? The show turned out fine!"

"You did, what might possibly be, the WORST job you could've done!" Synergy yelled as she stood to her feet. "I asked you to make a show for the female demographic, what I got was a slug fest, pretending to be better than other shows that are far more superior and honest than this piece of trash!"

"Excuse me?"

"You're excused for the last time, you self entitled bitch! When the number come in, I'll present it to the bored, and have you and that skank out of this city for good!"

Synergy stormed out the room, leaving Bon Bon alone with her thoughts. She slowly exited the theater heading to the box office mare that was just about to leave.

"Excuse me, do you know where Lyra Heartstrings went?"

"Yeah," the mare responded. "She said something about a roof."

"Raise with roof with me, Mother Buckers!" shouted Vinyl as she stood on the couch, leading to the rest of the store to give the writers a round of applause.

Ditzy stood near by, watching the credits roll to a close. The final credit was a video of lyre playing a few sweet notes before text faded in at the bottom of the screen. The text read 'A Lyra Heartstrings Production.'

The muffin mare shed a single tear as she smiled. "That's my girl."

Vinyl, now on the floor, grabbed hold of of Ditzy, and leaned down to the ground like they had been dancing.

She leaned into the muffin mare, "Kiss me, woman!"

The only sound louder than the applause and laughter, was the sound of Ditzy smacking Vinyl across of the face.

"You like it rough, huh?"

"Well that was rough," Bon Bon remarked as she closed the door to the roof behind her.

To her relief, Bon Bon found Lyra near the edge, looking out at the city, gazing into the city lights and illumination of Luna's moon.

Bon Bon took her place right next to Lyra. "I'm surprised you didn't stay."

"Why?" Lyra asked with a chuckle. "Not like I don't know how it ends... That and I didn't want to deal with Synergy."

"We'll both have to deal with her later, for now, let's just enjoy the view."

A few minutes of silence passed the mares by as they gazed out onto the busy streets. Even with the spectacular view, Bon Bon couldn't help but glance back and forth at Lyra, who had the light of the moon bouncing off her eyes. It was like they were sparkling. Every now and then, there tails would casually swing into each other.

"Did I ever tell you about my time in college?" Lyra asked, breaking the silence.

"No? Why?"

Taking a deep breath, Lyra turned to Bon Bon. "In my final year, we were told to present a completely original concept for a show. I had come up with the humans before, but I hadn't fleshed it out fully. I gave what I had to my professors, and they gave me a passing grade... but they told me never to pitch it. They said the idea of creatures that challenged morality and society was too much for the general pony populous to handle. They were convinced that Equestria wasn't ready for humanity."

The green mare looked deep into Bon Bon's eyes. "What do you think?"

Bon Bon put a hoof on Lyra's shoulder. "I think there's always hope... Do you remember what I said when you were at my apartment that one time?"

"Yeah, you said, put on these costumes for the camera."

The two shared a quick laugh before Bon Bon continued.

"You asked me about being an artist, and I told you that being an artist was all about making the audience feel something... You've made me feel something... You have from the day we met."

The two mares turned to face each other, each with their hooves around each other, letting the moonlight sparkle in their eyes.

Someone in Canterlot, a young stallion, lacking a cutie mark, and sporting a cream coat with a flaming red mane hopped off his couch and trotted over to his office desk, where his laptop already had his blog open.

Giving his hooves a quick stretch, his began typing...

Hello Everypony,

My name's Samuel, and I just watched a show about these creatures called 'humans'.

Let me tell you about them.

Firstly, let me say the show isn't perfect. It was rushed in parts, some of the jokes didn't work and it ended rather abruptly. That being said, it was still more that just a show... at least that's how it looked to me. It was a reminder.

"Tell me how bad it is," Synergy said as she walked into the control room.

The control room looked like a military command center, each screen showing the status of various shows aired by the Pub. There was only one stallion that was stupid enough to work so late.

"How bad what is?" the worker asked

"Only Human. Do we have any preliminary ratings yet?"

"Well... we do... but I wouldn't describe them as bad, like, at all."

"Excuse me?" Synergy stormed down to the screen, shoving the worker aside. "What am I looking at?"

"Well, the ratings started low, but word went viral about 15 minutes in and the ratings just... I don't know, exploded. Nearly a couple million from each demographic was tuned in, especially the 5-12 year old girls. And on top of that, digital sales have put a massive strain on our servers and the numbers keep coming in... Miss?"

Synergy hung her had over the screen, watching the ratings number climb higher and higher, looking like it wasn't going to stop anytime soon. She didn't make a single noise, but a few drops of water left her face and dropped onto the screen.

"Ma'am? What do you want to do?

Synergy looked up at the worker, mascara running down her face. "I suppose we should start counting."

The show was a reminder to every young filly and colt watching at home that you aren't perfect, you can be scared, you can be selfish at times, but it's OK. Because that's who you are.

And nopony should ever change who they are.

We are creatures with dreams. Creatures of fear. Of courage. Of humour. Of love.

For all our mistakes, for all our misteps, non of it matters... and yet, every step, everything we do, all matters.

Why?

We're Only Human.

A Few Days Later...

'Transmorphers Fans' read one subforumon the page. Samuel had seen nothing but unoriginal names for various show fandoms on the cartoon discussion. 'X fans', or 'fans of y'. Each show had the same boring discussions, the same boring names, the same boring everything.

Scrolling further down, he found subforum he had set up a few minutes ago. 'Only Human Fans' was the first thing that came to his mind. He stared at it for a good little while, letting random combinations of words and phrases tumble through his head.

After a few more moments of silence, his eyes winded and his hooves made a mad dash for the keyboard. His status as an admin allowed him to do many things, including changing the names of subforums. He cleared what was written in before, replacing it something more... memorable.

Homies.

Chyrsalis gets in touch with her inner thespian in Method Actress!

Octavia and Vinyl take on the mob and alcohol poisoning in Club Harmony!

Twilight attempts to hack the gibson in Compiler!

And coming soon...