Spike hummed happily to himself as he approached Golden Oaks. Twilight asked earlier that morning if he'd leave for a while so she could work in private. Spike, of course, was concerned that she'd isolate herself from everypony again, but Twilight assured him she only needed until lunchtime to finish her work. She also asked if Spike could pick up an order of hers from Carousel Boutique on his way back. Excited to see the pearly white unicorn of his infatuation, Spike obliged and left the alicorn to her work. Now he was back with Twilight's order, which was contained in a medium-sized cardboard box sealed tight with duct tape. While curious about what exactly the box contained, Spike knew Twilight despised him snooping through her stuff. Additionally, Spike couldn't remove the duct tape without ripping it to shreds as his claws were too sharp.
Shifting the box into one hand, Spike reached the other up to push in the doorlock. Once the door opened, he resumed carrying the box with both hands and entered.
"That you Spike!?" Twilight called from the kitchen.
"Yes," he replied. "And I got that order from Rarity."
"Excellent!" Twilight stuck her head through the kitchen doorway. She wasted no time in levitating the box out of his hands and over to her.
"So, what's inside?" Spike asked, his curiosity still piqued.
"You'll see in a minute." Twilight pointed toward the second floor staircase. "For now, could you wait upstairs while I finish making lunch? I made your favorite gem stew recipe."
With a nod, Spike hurried upstairs and jumped into his basket. While waiting, he salivated in anticipation of the gem stew he'd soon receive, as well as the reveal of whatever Twilight's order from Rarity was. True to her word, Twilight ascended the staircase about a minute later, empty hooved and with nothing suspended in her magic grip..
"Ummm, where's the gem stew?" Spike asked, confused.
Twilight simply smiled and charged her horn with a basic telekinesis spell. Spike started as the sound of footsteps immediately began climbing the stairs.
"Is somepony else here?" His tone betrayed a hint of nervousness, one that Twilight was more than happy to alleviate with her big reveal.
"Behold, Spike," she said while gesturing to the staircase as the steps now resounded closer, "the grand result of hours upon hours of magical research and experimentation; current role being our waiter, soon to be Equestria's first Crystalvision celebrity . . . "
Spike had stopped listening to her by this point, having been distracted by the figure now standing in the doorway, surrounded by the lavender aura of Twilight's magic. The figure was about one and a half meters tall and stood on two limbs, but what those limbs looked like wasn't discernible as it wore what Spike assumed were the clothes Twilight ordered from Rarity. Said clothes consisted of: a pair of blue pants, black & gray shoes with white socks, a brown shirt over which was a black jacket, and eyeglasses. The figure itself had hairless peach-colored skin, blue eyes, a pair of five digit hands, and a short mane of brown hair. In the figure's hands was both Spike's and Twilight's lunch.
". . . Spike?"
Spike broke out of his stupor and turned to Twilight. "Is that . . .?"
"Yes, it's a human puppet." Twilight manipulated the figure to walk a few steps toward Spike who, instinctually, stepped back the same distance. "Specifically, Warren Zaccaro from the last two HUMAN books. I constructed him out of synthetic flesh and blood using a spell of my own design that I began working on upon my return from overseeing DELOS' broadcast in Canterlot." Spike managed to stay put as Twilight had Warren close the distance between them, then lower the gem stew so he could reach it. "Your lunch, master Spike," Twilight playfully said in a pseudo-masculine voice.
Spike snorted out a laugh in response before taking the bowl from Warren. Twilight had Warren turn around and approach her next. "Your daisy sandwich, princess," Spike said, his masculine voice naturally better than Twilight's.
"Why thank you, Mr. Zaccaro." Already using her telekinesis to move Warren, Twilight used her teeth to grab the plate from his grip but found herself unable to pull it away. With a grunt she pulled a little harder, but the plate still refused to leave his grasp. Annoyed now, Twilight used her telekinesis to unclasp Warren's fingers from the plate only to accidently let go of the end in her mouth. The plate fell to the floor and shattered, the daisy sandwich coming apart along the way and spilling all over the floor. Spike had to use all his willpower to keep from bursting out laughing while his mouth was full of chewed up gems.
Twilight sighed. "Okay, that was my own fault." She used her telekinesis to levitate the mess into a nearby wastebasket. No longer under her control, the Warren puppet collapsed to the ground in a tangled heap.
Spike swallowed his gems and spoke. "So, that thing's gonna be used for the HUMAN Crystalvision adaptation?"
"Uh-huh." Twilight returned her gaze to him. "I have until the end of the month to put together a cast and crew; additionally, to create human 'flesh puppets' for every key character from the novels."
"So . . . checklist?"
Twilight nodded eagerly and levitated over a quill and parchment. Spike grabbed both and waited for instructions.
"First order of business . . ." Twilight began.
"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Spike asked.
The two of them were on their way to the house of Equestria's #1 humare, Lyra Heartstrings, and her best friend/roommate Sweetie Drops. Twilight carried a saddlebag containing a stack of self-written contracts and her checklist of cast and crew needed for the show. Once finished with the checklist, she'd insisted they immediately begin recruiting ponies for each position. Remembering how helpful Lyra was to her in writing the HUMAN trilogy's final installment, Twilight was confident she'd be perfect as part of the show's writing staff.
"Spike," Twilight replied, "what in Celestia's name would make you think it isn't?"
"Maybe the fact that Lyra's beyond obsessed with HUMAN?"
Twilight stared dubiously back at him as she walked. "That's why we're going to her first; she's guaranteed to accept the offer."
"What about our friends?" Spike frowned. "After all, they helped you with the first book, and are responsible for about 85% of the second book's content. Shouldn't they be the first ponies that we try recruiting?"
Twilight spotted Lyra's house behind a couple of others and turned down an alleyway shortcut. She turned back to Spike with a frown. "Spike, I have no doubt they'd be of great help, really. But they have their own lives to live, and are far too busy with their own jobs to have time for helping me with this. Lyra, on the other hoof, is currently unemployed and therefore more ideal for recruiting."
"True," Spike replied glumly.
"Don't worry, Spike," Twilight said, her frown lifting into a smile, "this will work out; I guarantee it."
Once they reached Lyra and Sweetie's house, Twilight knocked on the front door and waited. When no response came at first Twilight knocked again; this time a faint shouting could be heard from inside saying, "Coming!".
The next sound that came from inside puzzled Twilight. It was a series of steps bounding toward the door, but the hard sound of hooves clopping on wood couldn't be heard. Instead, every step taken resulted in a dull thud. Additionally, the pattern of falls was inconsistent with a pony's; in fact, it sounded more like a . . .
The doorlock pushed in and the door opened; Twilight froze at what she saw. Standing in the doorway, a beaming smile upon its face, was a bipedal half pony/human with the same mint green/silver coloration and golden eyes as Lyra. It had the ears and tail of a pony, but the rest of its body was of a human; five digit hands and feet, tall vertical figure, zero coat hair, etc.
Spike leaned into Twilight's (now twitching) ear and whispered. "What'd I tell you? She's obsessed."
"So, Lyra . . . you are Lyra, correct?"
Said mare-turned-anthro sighed. "For the fifth time, yes, I am indeed she who is known as Miss Lyra Heartstrings."
The three now sat in Lyra and Sweetie's living room. The mint green anthro had offered to make some tea to which Twilight eagerly accepted as it meant she'd get a reprieve from having to see Lyra's new, incredibly disturbing, form for a short while. That reprieve hadn't lasted nearly as long as Twilight wished it could, and she now poured all her effort into keeping from visibly cringing at the sight of Lyra's new appearance. She would've asked for Lyra to change back, but such a request would undoubtedly come off as disrespectful. Even a princess such as herself needed to abide by social curtseys.
"Sorry," Twilight said while sheepishly rubbing the back of her head. "Ummm . . . I . . . see you got a . . . . . . . . . new look?"
Lyra smiled and lifted one leg up and over the other so they crossed casually. Seeing such an action easily performed by a sitting pony elicited shivers from Twilight and Spike, who both felt such a thing was . . . wrong.
"I've been working on a transformation spell ever since I finished reading your HUMAN trilogy, princess." Lyra threw her new hands over the back of the couch she sat on; another action nopony could do while sitting. Twilight and Spike felt more shivers run down their spines in response. "Do you like it?"
Twilight stared blankly for a moment before replying. "Ummm . . . well, it's certainly something. But . . ."
"It's just SICK!!!" Spike suddenly blurted.
"SPIKE!!!" Twilight smacked the back of the dragon's head.
Lyra raised a confused brow. "How is it sick?"
While Spike rubbed the back of his head to relieve the pain, Twilight returned her gaze to Lyra and sighed. "Lyra, I'm flattered at how passionate you are with HUMAN, I really am, but trying to become a human yourself is borderline insanity. What does Sweetie Drops think of this, anyway?"
Lyra smiled and shook her head. "You don't think I want to stay like this forever, do you princess? I love the humans you created, but I won't ever forget that I'm a pony through and through. Truth be told, I only created the transformation spell as a new way to cosplay."
"Cosplay?" Twilight and Spike simultaneously echoed.
"Exactly." Lyra clasped her hands together. "After all, isn't a bodily transformation more convincing than wearing a stitched costume?"
Twilight thought about it for a moment. "I guess that makes sense."
"As for Sweetie," Lyra continued, "I'll admit it creeps her out, but she knows I'm not insane. If it's too disturbing for you, however, I'll undo the spell."
Twilight smiled. "Yes, we'd appreciate that very much."
"Amen," Spike added.
Lyra closed her eyes and alighted her horn. Immediately, the human-esque changes to her body began disappearing. Her hands' fingers fused together and both added appendages retracted into their respective stump; both of her feet went the same way. Each limb's joints straightened out and the laden bones relocated downwards where they reformed their respective hooves. Next were Lyra's breasts which, being a mare, she gave herself to semi-accurately portray herself as a female human; the absence of nipples was what kept them from being totally accurate. They simply shrunk back into her chest and that was it. The next thing to go was Lyra's human face; her new nose, mouth, and chin stacked up together and fused, then proceeded to stretch out into her natural mare's muzzle. Finally, a full coat of mint green hair re-sprouted all over her body, completing the change back to pony. Once finished, Lyra returned her gaze to Twilight and Spike.
"Happy now?" she asked.
They both nodded.
"Good." Lyra leaned back again. "So, princess, you said you wanted to talk about something?"
Twilight cleared her throat. "Yes, Lyra, and it concerns you and HUMAN."
"Really?" Lyra leaned forward, a beaming smile plastered on her face. "Is it good news?"
"It should be." Twilight motioned to Spike who pulled a quill and contract from her saddlebag. "Just read this contract and you'll understand everything; sign at the bottom if you accept." She levitated both over to Lyra, who eagerly accepted them and began reading the parchment. One thing Twilight made sure to do was carefully outline everything the contract stated and keep it ASAP (as short as possible) so as to not turn away readers with short attention spans. She'd learned the hard way to always be careful when dealing with legal documents and such; however, her previous naivety is what resulted in the final two HUMAN books' creation. That was all water under the bridge now, though, and Twilight wasn't about to trick Lyra into working for HUMAN's Crystalvision adaptation if she didn't truly want to. Judging from the growing smile that stretched across Lyra's face while she read the contract, however, Twilight concluded she was correct in assuming Lyra was guaranteed to accept.
When she finished reading, Lyra hurriedly scribbled her signature on the designated line at the bottom of the parchment. She then levitated the quill and contract back over to Twilight and subsequently fainted on the couch
". . . Well, that was interesting," Spike muttered.
"Kinda like Rarity," Twilight added, then levitated Spike up onto her back and hoofed him the quill and contract. "Now then, what position did we list after the writing staff?"
Spike stashed the contract in the saddlebag and pulled out the checklist as Twilight saw herself outside. Spike took a moment to check off one of the boxes for Writer before reading off the following position.
"Voice actors."
Twilight thought about what the best options for voice actors among Ponyville's citizens were. Instinctually, she focused on determining a suitable VA for her OC, Warren Zaccaro, first. In HUMANS, she described Warren's voice as "hard, thick and deep, resulted from general underuse of the vocal cords in youth." But a VA needs more than to sound like their character, they also need to understand the inner machinations of the character's mind and what motivates them with each action they take. To that end, Twilight knew that not just anypony would suffice as Warren's VA; she'd need somepony with the same complex mindset and mannerisms. Somepony who could relate to him in that regard. Somepony like . . .
"Big Macintosh?" Spike quizzically stated.
The two were now at Sweet Apple Acres' front gate. Looking out across the vast fields of apple trees, Twilight spotted Applejack and Big Macintosh bucking away at the trees like they always did, somehow always managing to catch every last fallen apple into the wooden barrels placed at the base of each trees' trunk. Twilight was waiting for AJ to leave Big Mac alone so she could freely talk to him without her friend breathing down his back.
"Yes, Spike," Twilight replied. "He's perfect to voice Warren."
Spike crossed his arms. "Whatever happened to our friends being too busy with their own jobs?"
Twilight sighed and turned back to him. "Voice acting is different from writing as it only takes a day max to complete. Besides, it's not like anypony we recruit isn't getting paid for this. With both of those conditions, Big Mac will surely agree to this."
Spike sighed himself. "And what about AJ; will you offer her a position as voice actor too?"
Twilight thought about it for a minute before turning back to the orchards. "Sure, but not right now; not until I determine who she could voice."
Eventually, Applejack and Big Macintosh split up to tackle different rows of trees. Twilight took this opportunity and proceeded to fly over the fence and into Sweet Apple Acres proper. From there, she flew through the lines of trees until she reached Big Macintosh right as he was about to buck another tree.
"Big Macintosh?"
The red farmstallion ceased his buck and turned to look at the new arrival. He smiled. "Hi Twilight, hi Spike, what brings y'all here?"
Twilight closed the distance between them and smiled herself. "I know you're very busy right now, but can we talk for a while about something?"
Big Mac frowned slightly before his smile went full again. "Eeyup."
"Thank you." Twilight sat on her haunches to which Big Mac followed. "Now, your family has forgiven DELOS' management for the incident, right?"
"Eeyup." Big Mac tapped a hoof to his chin. "Though, AJ's still a little peeved 'bout gettin' knocked out by a robot."
"But she's not enraged at DELOS for unintentionally causing that, right?"
"Nnope . . . why'd ya ask?"
Twilight used her magic to open the saddlebag and levitate another, worded slightly different, contract out and over to Big Mac. "This should explain everything."
Quirking an eyebrow, Big Mac took the parchment in his hoof and started reading. His eyes scanned back and forth over the text, careful not to miss any important details, all while Twilight sweated in anticipation of his answer. When he finally looked back up to her, Big Mac frowned.
"So, y'all want me ta voice act?" he asked.
Twilight's sweating doubled in intensity, to which Spike voluntarily used his tail as a makeshift sponge to wipe her forehead dry. "Yes," she replied.
Big Mac glanced down at the contract again and sighed. "Ah'm always busy workin' on the farm, so Ah don't know . . . "
Twilight batted away Spike's tail, her forehead now dry. "Recording lines would only take a day max; surely you can spare a day every few weeks for this, can't you?"
Big Mac rubbed his chin with a hoof in pondering Twilight's question. "Ah s'pose." He stared Twilight in the eyes. "Y'all really want me ta do this, don't 'cha princess?"
"You're the best stallion for the lead role," Twilight affirmed.
Big Mac smiled. "Ah'm flattered."
Twilight smiled. "So you'll do it?" She levitated a quill out of the saddlebag.
"If'n it's that important ta ya, princess, Ah'll do it."
Twilight squeed with delight and levitated the quill over to him. Big Mac grabbed it in his mouth and wrote his name on the bottom line while Twilight kept the parchment steady with her magic. Once completed, she brought the contract back over to her and stuffed it in the saddlebag.
"Thanks so much, Big Macintosh," she said. "I definitely owe you a favor."
Before she and Spike could turn around to leave, Big Mac spoke up. "Y'all can repay me right now by helpin' wit' these 'ere trees."
Twilight cringed while Spike threw his hands over his mouth to contain his laughter. As she surveyed the vast rows of apple trees with apprehension in her gut, Twilight dreaded the likely answer to her next question.
"Can I use my magic?"
"Nnope."