//------------------------------// // Unseen Controllers // Story: HUMAN: The Crystalvision Series // by Razalon The Lizardman //------------------------------// The skies over Ponyville were blue as could be. Rainbow Dash had, after taking one of her patented 4-hour naps that morning, cleared the skies of all clouds at Twilight's request. The lavender alicorn hadn't asked for clear skies because she wanted to enjoy the sunshine, rather, to keep the air free of humidity for the day. She planned on spending the entire day teaching DELOS' unicorn technicians how to properly manipulate her human flesh puppets and didn't want the weather tiring them out before they had a firm grasp on how to do it, otherwise production would once again be in danger of falling behind schedule. After waiting at the Ponyville train station for all of DELOS' former technicians to arrive, Twilight had them each carry a fair-sized load for their journey to the selected training grounds. Twilight chose to conduct the lessons in a field just north of Ponyville; within walking distance of Fluttershy's cottage in case of emergency, and vacant of ponies simultaneously so as to not endanger innocent bystanders. While manipulating flesh puppets was hardly dangerous, Twilight refused to take any chances concerning the safety of her subjects. Once they arrived at the training grounds, Twilight allowed everypony a ten minute break before lessons began. While the unicorns used the time to chat or rest, Twilight took the opportunity to size up her soon-to-be puppeteers while unloading all the packs. She had a total of ten, and unlike the common stereotype of unicorns being lazy and snobbish, the ones before her were hard working and really useful. Then again, they had to be in order to build and repair such advanced cyborgs back at the DELOS resort. Twilight hadn't met them personally before they arrived at the train station, but DELOS had them keep their nametags from their previous job so Twilight could recognize them. Once she'd finished unpacking and all the puppets/provisions were set off to the side, Twilight whistled to which everypony stood at full attention. Twilight approached them, trying desperately to hold back a smile. Now for the fun part. "Alright ladies, line up!" she exclaimed. "In alphabetical order from your first name!" Twilight watched amused while all ten ponies complied with their boss/princess' order, managing to trip over themselves and each other many times in the process. Normally, of course, Twilight resented ponies going out of their way to satisfy her; this was true even before she became a princess, with the best example being the time she had an extra ticket to the Grand Galloping Gala. This time, however, she needed the amusement. Twilight had spent every waking moment of her time the past few weeks getting everything ready for HUMAN's production. Everything, especially the flesh puppets' construction, had been plagued by misfortunes ranging from magical mishaps to injuries and culminating in last night's fiasco, after which she'd gotten very little sleep. After so much crap, Twilight needed something to take all her mental stress out on, and these unicorns were the perfect target. "Now listen up!" she shouted. Everypony stood up straight and stared blankly ahead. Twilight paced back and forth along the line of stoically frightened unicorns, reading their name tags to make sure they'd properly organized themselves. She resumed talking once finished. "This job may sound fun at first, getting to play with puppets and all. Well, let me make something perfectly clear. This. Isn't. Playtime." She walked a little ways in front of the line and used her magic to lift the Warren puppet from the pile. Twilight then levitated it out in front of her for everypony to see. "These are extremely fragile flesh puppets and require lots, I repeat, lots of care and skill to use properly." To demonstrate her point, Twilight used her magic to open one of the packs they'd brought and rummaged around in it, eventually pulling out a large butter knife. All the unicorns gasped in shock as Twilight shot the knife into Warren's back, whereupon it tore through his body and exited out the other side. Fake, synthetic blood sputtered from the wound and ran down Warren's chest. His brown shirt quickly stained and once the crimson reached his blue pants, so did they. Then, to the unicorns' horror and slight confusion, fake blood began leaking from Warren's mouth, spilling down his front body and further staining his clothes a crimson red. Twilight set both Warren and the butter knife onto the grass before continuing her lecture. "For all intents and purposes, treat these flesh puppets like they're alive. While they may not have awareness, these humans are as physically living as anyone else. Therefore, I expect you to treat them accordingly when in use. Do I make myself clear?" "Yes, your highness!" they all shouted. "Good." Twilight began passing out flesh puppets to everypony, making sure the recipient had a firm grasp on theirs' with their magic before letting go. Once she was done, Twilight took ahold of Warren and began using her magic to heal the wound she'd inflicted upon him. While she knew some basic healing magic, Twilight wasn't about to waste precious time fixing up her flesh puppets from blunders caused by their puppeteers, which is why she did her best to nail the point home that the flesh puppets weren't toys. Hopefully, her efforts wouldn't be in vain. Once finished mending Warren, Twilight levitated him beside her and turned to face the unicorns, who were now studying the flesh puppets closely like germs under a microscope. "Now then," she said, to which they stood attentive once more, "time to begin your training." She pointed a hoof to Warren. "I designed the human body as a mix of various mammalian species, the two most notable of which being ponies and minotaurs. As you can see," she levitated one of Warren's arms up and waggled his fingers, "humans possess hands like minotaurs. Additionally," she then ruffled Warren's hair, tangling it in turn, "they possess manes similar to us ponies, though theirs' can only naturally sport one color, and the number of possible colors is far lesser than that of our manes. Having these similarities should make it that much easier to get in tune with your puppet's metabolism." Twilight smirked. "And having the Element of Magic herself as your teacher couldn't hurt, either." Everypony, including Twilight, laughed at her joke. She then directed their attention back to Warren. "Now," she said, "your first lesson will be learning the proper technique for holding a flesh puppet so it doesn't rip apart, while simultaneously allowing it freedom of movement in your grasp." Twilight pointed at the leftmost unicorn in line. "Mr. Xenosaki, can you answer what bodily system is responsible for this?" Mr. Xenosaki tapped a hoof to his chin in thought for a moment before replying. "The muscular system . . . right?" "Correct," Twilight replied. "The muscular system makes freedom of movement possible for us, and humans by extension. Therefore, in order to properly control a human flesh puppet, the puppeteer must channel their magic specifically throughout the muscular system. This, however, isn't so easy." She then pointed to the rightmost unicorn. "Ms. Grant, levitate your puppet for me, please." Ms. Grant did as instructed and levitated her flesh puppet of Sarah Allen, Pinkie Pie's OC, up beside her. "Good," Twilight replied. "Now, where exactly are you gripping her at?" Ms. Grant briefly looked over to Sarah before responding. "The whole area of her torso." "Yes, that is understandable." Twilight pointed at Sarah. "Now try extending your grip to her left arm without letting go of her torso." Ms. Grant sweated nervously a bit and rubbed the back of her head sheepishly. She didn't want to go against Princess Twilight's commands, but simultaneously hesitated for fear of screwing up in front of everypony else. "Ms. Grant," Twilight said, "is something wrong?" "NO, no, nothing," she said, panicked. Ms. Grant attempted channeling her magic through Sarah's left arm as instructed. To her dismay the task proved too difficult and she promptly collapsed to the ground panting while Sarah fell beside her in a crumpled heap. "I'm *gasp* sorry *gasp* princess," she said, panting. "Don't worry about it," Twilight replied while using her magic to lift Ms. Grant back onto her hooves. "That's what practice is for." Her face went stoic. "Now, answer me this; specifically, how did you attempt to carry out my instruction?" Still panting, Ms. Grant answered while everypony else listened with rapt attention. "I *gasp* tried to *gasp* increase my magical output and *gasp* spread the extra through Sarah's arm." Twilight waited for her to calm down before answering. "As I thought, however, that's what caused you to tire out." She spread her gaze to everypony. "Simply increasing your output of magic may be your first instinct, but total control over the human muscular system can't be achieved using this method. Can anypony tell me the correct way?" After a few moments of nopony replying, Twilight levitated Warren out in front of her. "The key to success is an equal division of one's magic between each body part." She pointed a hoof toward the line's middle unicorn. "Mr. Nycto, what's your average iota output?" The unicorn in question pondered a bit before answering. "If I recall correctly, about 13.9 kilograms." "Excellent!" Twilight exclaimed, then retrained her gaze on everypony. "The ideal IO needed for stable manipulation of a flesh puppet is 12 kilograms; 2 per body part. That much is enough to achieve balance, any more and you'll exhaust yourself." Twilight made Warren point his finger toward them, intentionally demonstrating her mastery of the aforementioned technique. "Now, let's see how well you can implement this balancing technique. I want you all to make your puppets simultaneously rotate their head and every limb." To demonstrate, she had Warren retract his finger and move his limbs forward in a rolling motion while his head swiveled from side to side. The line of unicorns proceeded to do what Twilight asked, some more reluctant than others. The lavender princess watched as they all closed their eyes and concentrated on spreading even their magic throughout their puppets' bodies. Twilight took note of how half the unicorns were sweating through their efforts, indicating they had an AIO lower than the recommended 12 kilograms. This wasn't a huge concern for her, however; it would be awhile before their services were needed in making HUMAN episodes. She planned on having them build up their AIO during the interceding time, as well as take their puppets home so they could practice controlling them. After observing them for a minute, Twilight told everypony to cease the task. They lowered their human puppets to the ground simultaneously, some more gently than others. All in all, Twilight was pleased with the skill level of everypony, but there was still more to learn. "Alright," she said, "I'll start the next lesson while your magic recharges." Everypony simultaneously took a breather while watching Twilight, once again, bring Warren out in front and start controlling him. This time, Twilight wiggled his fingers up and down while simultaneously waving his arm back and forth. While the resulting motion would normally look incredibly silly, the unicorns were afraid they'd be asked to pull off a similarly complicated motion with their own puppets. Said fears reached their apex when Twilight ceased Warren's waving and began speaking again. "The next lesson is about 'simultaneous secondary manipulation' of human limbs in addition to their digits." Twilight had Warren wave his fingers again to clarify what 'digits' referred to. "In other words, you'll learn how to control their fingers and arms at the same time." She took a moment to stretch before resuming. "Since you're probably still too tired to attempt it yourselves, I won't ask anypony to attempt it themselves just yet." Half the unicorns sighed in relief, to which Twilight just rolled her eyes and smiled. She then had Warren resume his waving motion from before. "Now, can anypony tell me what they think the key to achieving this is?" A couple of hooves shot up; Twilight pointed to Mr. Xenosaki again. "Yes?" Mr. Xenosaki cleared his throat before speaking. "It should be easy to see, but if I'm wrong I'll understand. The key to achieving S.S.M. is a further division of magic in the limb, spread equally throughout the fingers." "Correct," she said. "The key to 'S.S.M.' is indeed a further division of magic. However, it takes more than simply dividing those 2 kilograms between the arm and hand to achieve total control." Twilight had Warren move his fingers again, but instead of wiggling she had him close his hand into a fist. She then proceeded to lift just his thumb up for a second, then his index finger, then the following three fingers one after another. "In order to have total control over a human arm, your magic needs to be able to operate all five fingers independently of each other." Twilight looked at everypony to find them all sweating profusely, no doubt afraid to attempt S.S.M. themselves. At first their nervousness amused her, but now Twilight was becoming irritated at the lack of spine among her soon-to-be HUMAN puppeteers. "Look," she said, "I understand this is only getting more and more daunting. I may be the Element of Magic, but the truth is I sometimes make mistakes when using these puppets myself. Therefore, don't be afraid to make any yourself because I won't admonish you; in fact, I'll punish anypony who does. Does that make you all feel better?" Everypony nodded slightly, which was good enough for Twilight. "Alright then," she said, "let's try some finger manipulation exercises. First, channel magic through your puppets' fingers. Don't worry about channeling it through their arms as well if you find maintaining control over both at once too difficult; these exercises won't require use of their arm proper, just the fingers." Everypony did as instructed. "Now, copy Warren's movements," Twilight said. She had Warren dip his index and middle finger down for a moment while keeping the other three enclosed, then watched everypony repeat the motion with their own puppets. While a few struggled at first to keep their focus on just the two fingers, Twilight was pleased with all their attempts. "Good," she said, "now try this one." Warren hooked his middle around the index finger, once again keeping the other three enclosed. While the motion may have seemed simple, everypony had trouble forcing their puppets' middle fingers down alongside at first. Those who tried using the index finger as the hook found it physically impossible to get it around the middle finger. "Again, good," Twilight said once they all finished, "now for something a little harder." This time Warren enclosed only his two smallest fingers. The index finger was left sticking out unused while the thumb and middle finger were pressed against each other. Then, faster than anypony could say 'What?', Warren struck his finger hard against his palm. The resulting noise caused everypony's ears to perk up for a second. Twilight returned her gaze to them once more. "That's something only creatures with hands can do," she told them. "It's called 'finger snapping'; now you try it." None of the unicorns sweated under pressure this time, but not because they thought of the task as being easy. Indeed, they thought it'd be nigh impossible for them to pull it off, which is why their minds were currently scrambling to comprehend how their princess expected them to succeed at it. They all stared blankly into space, eyes unblinking and unmoving. Some couldn't take the mental strain and fell hard to the ground, their brains unable to keep them standing upright. Twilight sighed and facehoofed upon seeing their reactions to her command. "Never mind," she said. "We'll take a lunch break, during which time I'll explain in detail how to make a human snap their fingers." No sooner had Twilight finished than everypony was rummaging through the lunch packs they'd brought. Sweetie Drops happily pranced through the streets of Ponyville. Balanced on her back was a large sack full of bits she'd earned from selling candy at the marketplace. She'd truly outshined herself in selling candy today, and had the bits for proof. In fact, with as much money as she currently had Sweetie could pay Lyra enough to rent her own apartment for at least a month. The thought of getting Lyra out of the house at long last greatly pleased Sweetie, but at the same time she knew things wouldn't be the same without her mint green, hobbyist friend around. As much as Sweetie complained about and dreaded Lyra's mooching, a part of her was happy to have such a great friend for a roommate. Then again, Sweetie knew that even if/when Lyra moved out they'd still see each other during writing sessions for HUMAN, in addition to casual meet-ups every now and then. While thinking about her secondary job as HUMAN script writer alongside Lyra, Sweetie remembered the conversation with Lyra that ultimately led to it. ----- "C'mon Sweetie *munch* *gulp*, it'll be fun." "I'm sure it would." "So why don't you do it?" "*sigh* Lyra, there's just no reason for me to join. The only two reasons I could have to are: A. Hang out with you, or B. For monetary gain. *munch* *munch* *gulp* We already spend so much time together, being roommates and all, that the first reason is null and void. As for the second, I've been selling a surprisingly large amount of candy at market recently, which means big bits in turn. So, yeah, there's really no reason for me to join HUMAN's staff. *siiiip*" "*sigh* Okay Sweetie, I understand." "Glad you do. *siiip* *sigh* Would you mind taking my dishes while I use the lavatory?" "Of course, Sweet-" "SWEET CELESTIA!!! *thud*" "What? What's wro-" "How many times have I told you to stop using those . . . things?" ". . . First of all, they're called hands, Sweetie. You know, those things some species have instead of hooves or claws? Second, I find them quite useful; there's some things hands can do better than either alternative." "I don't care! Just change them back . . . oh, ewww. *urk*" "Really, they are. Here, let me give you a backrub." "Get them away from me! *urk* Gonna . . . puke . . . *URK*" ----- Needless to say, Sweetie ended up using the lavatory double time then. Afterwards, Lyra still refused to change her self-given hands back into hooves, prompting Sweetie to beg, plead and cry for mercy. One melodramatic hour later, Lyra agreed to stop using hands on the condition that Sweetie joined HUMAN's writing staff. Desperate to rid her precious eyesight of the R.L. Stallion-esque terror, she agreed and, after working it out with Twilight the next day, joined HUMAN's writing staff. One thing Sweetie Drops wasn't worried about, however, was her writing skills. While she wasn't even close to that of Twilight or even Lyra, Sweetie knew the components of a good story and understood how scripts were written. Plus, she'd have Lyra there for help in case she couldn't hold her own. Further plus, the fact that HUMAN was adapting from Twilight's book trilogy made Sweetie feel extra confident the job wouldn't be creatively challenging; the lavender alicorn and her friends had provided more than enough substance in the books themselves. So long as Lyra keeps her promise, I'll do it. Eventually she rounded a corner onto her house's street, reaching her dwelling a minute later. Upon reaching the front door, Sweetie heard a faint sound coming from inside. Holding off on entering for a moment, she pressed her ear up to the wooden door and listened. Her other ear perked up in immediate recognition at the sounds of low, guttural moans emanating from inside. Sweetie quickly snapped out of her stupor and knocked upon the wood a couple times. A yelp of surprise and a scuffling sound could be heard in response, followed by a pattering up the stairs to the second story. Utterly confused, Sweetie pushed in the doorlock with her hoof and entered. "Lyra!?" she called, "what was that noise I just heard?" No answer came. Sweetie trotted towards the stairs to call again to Lyra, but froze when she sighted a large patch of dust near the landing. Marked within said patch of dust, plain as day to the non-blind, was a human footprint. "LYYYYYYRAAAAAA!!!"