Give Manehattan funds for renovating its Trough section to be more inhabitable? Yes, definitely. Increase the income tax for private enterprises that have operated for more than 50 years? Is that supposed to ensure they can't hoard too many bits over time? Whatever; yes. Lift all current tariffs on gem imports? Is the situation in Hiddenite really so bad that they have to threaten them with increased reliance on foreign competition? Alright sure, if it gets those miners off their rumps and working hard. Add one hour of night-
"Hey, Twilight!?"
The lavender princess was snapped from her thoughts by the sound of Spike calling from downstairs.
"Yes, Spike!?" she called back.
"Everybody's waiting for you outside!" The sound of the library's front door opening sounded. "C'mon!"
Twilight turned to her stack of Day Court requests that Celestia sent to her just that morning. She'd only been able to work through about one fourth of the stack before HUMAN's production staff was to leave for Ghastly Gorge to shoot the three part season finale. Knowing Celestia needed the papers back before nightfall, Twilight decided she'd have to take the stack with her and complete it whilst shooting what had been dubbed the "Canyonlands Arc".
Levitating over her saddlebag, Twilight stuffed in the remaining papers and slung it over her shoulder. "I'm coming!" she called down.
"Iron Will can't be made to wait much longer!" shouted the minotaur.
Twilight hurriedly descended the stairs. After grabbing a croissant from the kitchen counter she slipped through the front door. Waiting outside, and looking very impatient was HUMAN's entire principal production staff with the addition of Lyra and Fluttershy. Lyra was tagging along to see firsthoof the puppeteers at work so she could learn how to control human flesh puppets herself. Fluttershy, however, was needed by the production crew, as many parts of the finale had various animals (squirrels especially) present in the background.
"Alright," Twilight said, "is everybody ready?"
"Been ready for some time," Lyra said, eyebrows furrowed.
"Yeah, sorry." Twilight blushed and rubbed the back of her head with a forehoof. "Princess Celestia sent me a whole bunch of Day Court request documents just this morning, which she needs filled out and sent back by tonight."
"Celestia seems to be scraping off more of her workload onto you recently," Spike mused.
"As is typical of her," Discord stated. Everyone glared at him, to which the draconequus rolled his eyes. "It's true; when was the last time she bothered using her own time and power to resolve problems you ponies caused?"
"Well," spoke up one of the unicorn puppeteers, "there was that time Fillydelphia got invaded by parasprites."
Discord rolled his eyes again. "I mean AFTER Twilight's coronation."
". . . Okay, you've got me."
"Anyway," Twilight spoke up, to which everyone returned their attention to her, "since I'll be busy completing these documents today, I'm going to need some extra help keeping everything running smoothly and on schedule."
"Good thing I showed up then," Lyra said, smiling wide.
"And I thank you," Twilight replied. She walked to the front of the group and pointed in the direction of Ghastly Gorge. "Off we go!"
Ghastly Gorge, as its name implied, held the distinction of being one of Equestria's most dangerous sights. Everything from the loose rocks, thorn brambles, and quarry eels ensured the canyon never saw use as a tourist destination. The last time it'd played host to visitors, in fact, was when Rainbow Dash used it as the location for the race with which to finally determine her pet. Ever since then, Ghastly Gorge has remained barren and lifeless . . .
"Come on!" Iron Will shouted. "Keep moving!"
. . . until now.
"We're going as fast as we can!" shouted a unicorn from further back in the line.
The whole of HUMAN's production staff was marching down a winding slope leading into Ghastly Gorge. At the front of the line was Twilight, using her magic to fill out Day Court requests while sparing glances in front to make sure she didn't walk off the edge. Next to her was Spike who held said requests as she picked from them; he stuffed each one into her saddlebag upon completion. Immediately behind them were Fluttershy, Discord, and a family of (very angry) squirrels. Apparently, the papa squirrel had been victimized by Discord when the latter was released from his stone prison for the last time, to which he and his family were verbally berating the draconequus who merely blew raspberries at them while Fluttershy attempted (futilely) to play peacekeeper.
Behind them was Lyra who levitated a human puppet in her magic, trying her hoof at puppet manipulation to no avail. Every time she tried moving one of the puppet's limbs with her magic it almost immediately flopped uselessly back into place. Twilight would've offered to give the mint green unicorn some rudimentary puppetry lessons, but the overload of Day Court requests combined with the task of shooting the season finale of HUMAN was already enough for the lavender princess to bear; taking anything else onto her plate would be mental suicide.
Last in line were Iron Will and all the unicorn puppeteers. The energetic minotaur was hauling a couple dozen human puppets on his back while the unicorns carried only one each. The one in front also carried a saddlebag containing the crystal monocle to use for filming the episodes, as well as several spare crystals and a dual landmarked/topographical map of Ghastly Gorge. Every time Iron Will turned around and saw even one unicorn falling behind the rest he'd shout at them to pick up the pace; it was as if the minotaur was a drill instructor and the unicorns were his troops marching into conflict. It was a good analogy as filming the finale would end their long and arduous battle of completing HUMAN's first season, with the only difference being this battle wasn't life-threatening. At least, up until this point it wasn't.
The lead unicorn puppeteer slung his puppet across his back before using his magic to pull the map of Ghastly Gorge out of his saddlebag which he brought up to his face to read. Giving it a quick once-over, he frowned slightly.
"STOP!" he shouted.
The entire procession immediately stopped; some of the unicorns took the opportunity to sit down and rest. Iron Will gently set down his load of puppets and turned sharply to the unicorn with narrowed eyes. "What's the problem now?"
The unicorn paid him no mind and instead galloped down the hill to the front of the line. Upon reaching Twilight, who was still busy filling out Day Court requests, he stopped and floated the map over to her.
"Prin- err, boss," he said, "you might want to take a look at this."
"In a minute," Twilight replied, batting the map away. She continued reading the next request.
"This is important," the unicorn insisted. He floated the map in front of Twilight's eyes. "Look where it says-"
"I said 'in a minute'," Twilight replied, her tone very commanding. "I promise I'm almost done reading this document."
The unicorn sighed and sat on his haunches to wait. Only a few seconds later, however, a voice from behind shouted, "What's the hold up!?"
He turned around to see Lyra walking down towards them. The human puppet she'd been fiddling with before sat on her back with both legs hanging down either side of her barrel and its arms hanging over her shoulders. It's head was propped up against her neck, but kept slipping off and rolling off to the side to which Lyra would use her magic to realign it. Lyra herself wore a concerned expression which clearly conveyed how desperate she was to see the HUMAN finale being shot ASAP.
"What's going on here?" Lyra asked the unicorn once she reached him.
He floated the map in front of Lyra's face. "The route we're on to reach the designated shooting area is guarded by Quarry Eels. We need to find an alternate route if we want to stay safe."
Lyra took the map in her magic and squinted her eyes at the topographical side of the map before comparing it to the regular side. Sure enough, the path they were currently taking led them across a cliff which was laden with Quarry Eel burrows. Sticking to the planned path would put them directly in the mountain burrowers' line of sight, spelling doom for them if the overgrown worms were hungry.
Lyra turned her head to Twilight, who'd just finished with the latest Day Court request and was stretching her body to relieve some aches. "Twilight?" she asked the lavender princess in a deadpan tone.
The sound of joints popping back into place reached everyone's ears. "Ooh, that feels good." Twilight returned Lyra and the unicorn's collective gaze and smiled. "Sorry about that. Now, what'd you want Mr. Cob?"
"Please, call me Boco," the unicorn requested, then pointed at the map still in Lyra's grasp. "And what I wanted was to point out how we're heading straight into a collection of Quarry Eel burrows by following this path."
Twilight tilted her head in confusion. "Are you sure?"
Lyra turned the map around so Twilight could see it. "He's right, boss; we'll be sitting ducks if we stick to this route."
Twilight took a moment to examine the map before a bright crimson adorned her cheeks. "Uh . . . oops?"
She felt a sharp tap on her leg and looked down-left to see Spike staring up at her disapprovingly. "You didn't actually study the map before deciding on a route, did you?"
Twilight's blush deepened as she felt the collective deadpans of three persons bearing down on her. She scuffled her hoof across the dirt and replied. "I guess Celestia's workload had me too distracted." She chuckled nervously.
Lyra, Boco, and Spike collectively face hoofed/palmed in response. Boco then took a moment to rub his temples before sighing in exasperation. "Well, all aside, we'll need to find another route to our shooting location if we want to come out of here alive."
"Agreed," Spike said. "And we'll also need to steer clear of any and all brambles or avalanche zones."
The other three nodded in response. Lyra turned the map back around to examine it, to which Boco frowned. "You know what you're doing?" he asked.
Lyra looked up to him and smiled. "I need to earn my keep here. Otherwise, I'd be nothing more than dead weight."
Boco stared blankly before a sly smirk graced his face. "In that case," he slid off his saddlebag and presented it to her, "you can carry the recording crystals."
Lyra squealed and added the saddlebag to her telekinetic grip. Boco then cantered back up the hill toward his place in line, leaving behind a beaming mint green unicorn, a befuddled baby purple dragon, and a deadpanned lavender princess. Twilight let out an exasperated sigh and looked to Lyra. "Do you know how to read maps?"
Lyra settled down and waved a dismissive hoof. "I just proved I could by affirming Boco's claim." She took a moment to lift up her human puppet so she could slip Boco's saddlebag over her shoulder before setting the puppet back down onto her back. "Don't worry, Twilight, I can and will find us safe passage through here."
Twilight wasn't entirely convinced, but she figured Lyra would at least stay focused on the map and not get distracted like she'd been that morning before they left. "Okay, Lyra," she said with a small smile, "I'll trust you." She stepped aside. "Why don't you take the lead?"
Lyra nodded eagerly and trotted out in front, the map held out next to her face so she could easily switch her gaze between it and the ground ahead of her. Twilight turned to everyone behind her. "Move on!" she shouted.
Everyone who'd been resting stood up and stretched before continuing onwards. Twilight turned to Spike. "Next document," she said.
Spike picked the top one and handed it to her, to which she resumed carrying out her royal duties.
Fluttershy stood on a patch of embankment looking up along the canyon walls of Ghastly Gorge. A pang of fear shot through her nerves as she took in the sight of such tall and imposing rock formations millions of years old, any of which could easily come loose and topple down onto her with just the slightest tremor.
"Come now, Fluttershy," Discord said from behind her. "There's no reason to be afraid of some overgrown rocks."
Fluttershy turned around to see the draconequus laid in a lounge chair wearing typical tourist apparel; straw hat, floral clothes, and comically oversized sunglasses. Next to him was a table upon which sat a glass of chocolate milk with a cotton candy cloud floating above it, ready to refill the glass at a moment's notice. He patted another lounge chair which sat directly next to his.
"Lay down and relax," he continued. "We only have so much time to do so before Sparkplug and Lyr-what's-her-name need our services."
Fluttershy spared one last glance at the cliff before shakily trotting back to him and laying in the other lounge chair. Discord snapped his talon to produce a glass of Sweet Apple Cider for the timid pegasus, which she immediately accepted and began guzzling it down. Finishing it off, she hoofed him back the glass.
"Thanks, Disco-*burp*."
The draconequus pulled down his sunglasses to look in surprise at the butterscotch pegasus whose cheeks went red in embarrassment. After a few moments of silence, Discord burst out laughing.
"Oh, Fluttershy," Discord said once he'd regained composure, "is there anything you don't do soft?"
Fluttershy's nervously giggled. "Well, I sup-"
"Lost interest," Discord interrupted, and laid his head down onto the chair's headrest.
Fluttershy sighed in exasperation before following suite, flinging her mane off to one side of the chair before settling her head down.
The group had reached their desired shooting location for the HUMAN finale; they were currently waiting for Celestia's sun to rise over the canyon walls of Ghastly Gorge so as to provide ideal natural lighting conditions. True to her word, Lyra had safely navigated them around the Quarry Eel's haven by taking them along a lower pass, closer to the canyon floor. It'd taken a bit longer to reach the shooting location than was originally predicted, but tardiness was ostensibly preferable to being digested in a Quarry Eel's stomach. Upon arriving at the site, Lyra returned Boco's saddlebag to him and resumed practicing with her human puppet.
Boco himself, in addition to every other unicorn puppeteer as well as Iron Will, took it upon themselves to scout out the cliffs they were to shoot a majority of the finale's scenes at and around, making sure no hostilities were present. Twilight and Rainbow Dash had flown to Ghastly Gorge several days before to find a suitable filming location based on Dash's familiarity with the infamous locale and Twilight's visions of what the finale's setting looked like. The area they'd chosen was nestled against a cliff face on the east most side of the gorge, far away from any known Quarry Eel burrows, brambles, or avalanche zones. Still, the production crew felt it wise to check the area for themselves; not because they doubted Twilight's judgment (though, her earlier mishap called it into question regardless) but because doing so made them feel safer.
As for the lavender princess herself, she and Spike were still at work filling out Celestia's Day Court requests. Even after working on them non-stop since letting Lyra lead the group, the two of them still had just a little less then half the stack to complete before being done. At one point Spike suggested to Twilight she should put the documents aside until after everything was set up, but the lavender alicorn insisted that their time waiting for Celestia's sun to rightly position was better spent getting her royal workload taken care of.
By the time the sun shined over the cliffs, Twilight had managed to complete all but one third of the stack. Grumbling, she hurriedly finished up the one she was currently reading and began directing the group.
"Okay, time to set up, everyone!"
Everyone dropped whatever they were doing and stood at attention.
"Iron Will," Twilight continued, motioning toward him, "are you and the puppeteers ready?"
"Iron Will's as ready as he'll ever be," he replied with pride, then turned to the unicorns. "As are they, right?"
The unicorns all nodded with smiles. Twilight nodded to herself, then started to make way toward Discord and Fluttershy when Lyra stopped her. "What can I do?" she asked excitedly.
Twilight rubbed her chin for a moment before turning back to the puppetry team in thought. Nodding to herself again, she pointed a hoof to them and spoke.
"Why don't you ask them if they'll teach you how to better manipulate human puppets?"
With a beaming smile, Lyra galloped over to the group. Twilight gave a small smile and rolled her eyes at the mint green unicorn's overenthusiasm before walking over to Discord and Fluttershy.
"Are the squirrels ready?" Twilight asked the butterscotch pegasus.
Fluttershy nodded slowly. The family of squirrels, finally tired of berating Discord, jumped for joy in response.
"And are you ready, Discord?" Twilight asked, turning to the draconequus.
"Indeed I am, princess." He flexed his mismatched hands and cracked a few joints in his back. "Now let's get this over with so I can get back to lounging."
"Don't get too comfortable." Twilight flapped her wings and stared him at eye level. "We'll be needing your services all day today and tomorrow, so don't start lollygagging every other minute."
Discord waved a dismissive paw and replied. "Changing the cliff face won't take more than ten seconds."
Twilight smiled mischievously. "Is that so?" She used her magic to summon the blueprints for Set Design - Mesa Verde.
Discord grabbed the parchment and scrutinized it. Upon completion, he looked Twilight square in the eye with furrowed brows. "You can't be serious." He gave the parchment back.
"What?" Twilight replied defensively. "Afraid you can't do it in ten seconds flat?"
To the surprise of Twilight, Fluttershy and the squirrels, Discord merely chuckled. "On the contrary, actually; I was thinking you'd provide a greater challenge." He looked up to the cliff face and cupped his mismatched hands together around his mouth. "How's it going up there!?" he shouted.
"What're you-" Twilight's stopped herself mid-sentence as she followed Discord's gaze, her jaw going slack and eyes widening like dinner plates. Fluttershy and the squirrel's followed suite, and reacted accordingly.
Whereas no more than a minute ago the cliff face was as flat and indistinguishable from the rest of its length around the gorge, now it was shaped according to the designs drawn on the parchment held in Discord's grasp. At least, the Discord in front of the two mares and squirrel family; up on the cliff face, wearing construction hats and operating various tools were around a dozen or so Discord clones.
One of the clones looked up from what he was doing and down at the original. "Should be done in seven seconds flat, boss!" it announced.
"Thank you, me!" Discord shouted back, and turned back to Twilight. "Can I go back to lounging now?"
"Bu- wha- how di- you ca- . . ." Twilight did her breathing exercise, then she sighed in defeat. "Sure, go ahead."
"Excellent!" Discord shouted in joy. He jumped back into his lounge chair and conjured a reflector. A couple of seconds later, he snapped his talon to make his clones, now finished with their work, disappear in a bright flash.
Twilight took a moment to inspect the cliff face. Satisfied that it matched the design to a T, she undid the summoning spell and turned to Fluttershy. "Have the squirrels ready on set in five minutes," she instructed her.
Fluttershy saluted, and began dictating the squirrel's scripted paths to take when filming commenced; they weren't allowed to interact with the human puppets, only run away from them. Twilight left them and began trotting over to Iron Will's group.
A little over halfway there, she noticed Lyra was fiddling with something around her eye. Upon closer inspection, she realized the mint green unicorn was wearing one of the crystal monocles and, apparently using it, if the bright green aura which matched her coat was anything to go by. At one point, Lyra turned her head toward Twilight and hurriedly galloped over to her.
"Twilight! Twilight!" she shouted, skidding to a halt in front of the surprised princess. "Can I operate the recording crystal for a few scenes, please?"
Twilight stared in utter silence as her brain attempted to process all of what she just said. With yet another use of her calming technique, she collected her thoughts and gave a response. "What happened to the human puppetry lesson?"
Lyra looked downcast and scuffled a hoof across the dirt. "I really wanted to give it a try, but they said it'd be pointless as they don't need anymore puppeteers." A smile adorned her face as she pointed at the crystal monocle she was wearing over her right eye. "They gave me this out of pity, but I've found it FAR easier to use then the human puppets." She activated her magic on the crystal, in turn activating its image-capture qualities.
Twilight watched as Lyra turned her head around, stopping to observe several points of interest around the area: Iron Will acting out motions for the unicorn puppeteers, Fluttershy and Discord sharing a laugh over who-knows-what, Spike belching out a stack of parch- wait a minute!
"Spike, what are those!?" Twilight called, dreading the probable answer. The baby dragon glanced in her direction and motioned for her to come over. She sighed in exasperation, then turned to Lyra. "Alright, you can operate the crystal monocle."
Lyra began a squeal of excitement before Twilight shoved a hoof in her mouth. "If you have any trouble whatsoever with operating it, have Boco or somepony else help out, okay?"
Lyra nodded in understanding. Twilight smiled as she retracted her hoof. "Make me proud, kid," she said, suppressing a giggle at her choice of words.
"Sure thing, boss," Lyra replied and, with a salute, galloped off to Iron Will's group. Twilight used a wing to wave her off before trotting toward Spike, blanching at the thought of dealing with even MORE paperwork.
Nighttime in Ghastly Gorge was, surprisingly, much calmer and more peaceful than during the day. Perhaps the fact that the tall, imposing cliffs could not be seen at night made it easier to not worry about being crushed by an avalanche; out of sight, out of mind and all that. Additionally, the Quarry Eels were inactive at night, so there was no need to worry about becoming a midnight snack when relieving oneself. As such, the HUMAN production crew took comfort in setting up camp underneath an overhang of rocks at the bottom of the gorge; should an avalanche occur, they'd be safe.
They'd spent all day shooting the Mesa Verde portion of the show's three-part finale. Tomorrow they would move onto shooting the Grand Canyon portion, with the next day being Bryce Canyon, Zion National Park the next, and finally Meteor Crater on the last day before filming wrapped up and editing the footage began. All of said footage was shot by Lyra while Twilight finished off the Day Court requests Celestia had sent her. To everyone's slight surprise, the mint green unicorn managed to film each and every scene with little to no trouble. Aside from a couple of times where the crystal monocle came loose while active, every shot she filmed came out crisp, clear, and perfectly showcased the action of each scene.
This was clear to Twilight as she sat in her tent and repeatedly reviewed the footage with a critical eye, looking for any imperfections in the cinematography. In the tent with her were Fluttershy and Spike, both deep asleep in their sleeping bags. The family of squirrels Fluttershy brought were nestled next to her, using the pegasus' long, pink mane as a makeshift pillow. Twilight did her best to keep quiet while she reviewed the footage, but the sound of her tent's zipper opening gave her a start and she let out a brief squeak of fright. Thankfully, no one was jostled from their sleep, and Twilight watched as the tent's flap opened and Lyra stuck her head through.
"Yo, boss, you awake?" she whispered.
Twilight furrowed her brows. "Yes, Lyra, I'm awake, and I could've accidently woken up everyone else in here with your unannounced visit."
A deep blush adorned Lyra's cheeks. "I couldn't sleep." She focused on the crystal monocle over Twilight's right eye. Putting two and two together, Lyra beamed, but kept her voice low. "Did I do a good job, boss?'
Twilight removed the crystal and placed it into Boco's saddlebag next to hers in the corner of the tent. Then she sighed, and looked Lyra solemnly in the eyes. "We need to talk, Lyra. Outside."
Lyra stared blankly before nodding and stepping aside so Twilight could exit the tent. She took a moment to stretch her legs and wings before gingerly stepping outside. She motioned toward a couple of rocks which the tent had been pitched next to. Lyra nodded in understanding and followed the alicorn over to them. They both sat down on their own (Lyra sitting as a human would, on her rump and with her hindlegs in front) and faced each other.
"So, what's on your mind, boss?" Lyra asked.
Twilight looked downcast for a moment before replying. "Something which I've known would come for a while now, but dreaded it nonetheless." She turned away solemnly, not sure how Lyra would react to what she was about to say. "It's time for me to leave HUMAN's production."
Silence descended upon the pair for several seconds. Twilight could only imagine the look on Lyra's face as she tried to digest what she'd just been told. When she did reply, Twilight could sense a hint of concern in her words.
"Why would you do that?"
Twilight turned back to Lyra to see her face was indeed set into an expression of concern. She hated distressing her friends like this, but Twilight knew she had to tell somepony sooner or later. Twilight sighed, and looked Lyra square in the eyes with furrowed brows that clearly conveyed how dead set on her claim she was.
"Lyra, I know this may come as a shock to you," she said, tone completely sincere, "but think about it realistically." She took a moment to unfurl her wings. "Ever since I ascended, both Celestia and Luna have been counting on me to help them rule over Equestria as a third wheel. Lately, my royal duties have been escalating in prevalence, like what you saw today with all those Day Court requests."
Lyra nodded with a snort. "Really cuts into your social life, doesn't it?
Twilight giggled. "It's funny, because Celestia sent me to Ponyville to learn about the magic of friendship so I'd be ready for ascension. Now that I've ascended, I've had increasingly less time to spend hanging out with all the friends I've made since then."
Lyra chortled in response. "Kinda defeats the purpose, doesn't it?"
Twilight chortled herself. "I know, right?" They both took a moment to recompose themselves and Twilight retracted her wings. "Still, though, my royal duties are picking up in earnest which means I've got less time for other things, such as being HUMAN's showrunner. Once the finale is shot and completed, I'll be stepping down from my perch."
Lyra looked downcast, to which Twilight smiled softly and lifted her chin with a hoof. "But there's no need to worry, Lyra; it won't be the end of the show."
Lyra returned her gaze with a confused expression. "How so? Who's going to replace you?"
At this, Twilight smiled mischievously and rolled her eyes upwards in mock contemplation. "It'd have to be someone fully dedicated to working on the show. Someone without anything better to do, and knows the world of HUMAN second best to myself." At this, Twilight put a hoof to her chin and scrunched her face, pretending to think really hard. "Perhaps someone with a mint green coat, golden eyes, and whom envisioned humans as having created ponykind as a way of selling toys to little girls?"
Lyra stared blankly before her eyes went wide as saucers and she pointed a hoof to Twilight. "You," she pointed to herself, "want me," to where everyone else's tents were located, "to take charge of the show?"
Twilight smiled wryly. "Well, yeah. I mean, you're most well-suited for the job in my stead." She looked shyly away. "But, I'll understand if you don't want to-OOOH!"
Twilight cried in surprise as Lyra leapt at her and wrapped her fore hooves around the alicorn's neck. The startled princess almost fell onto her side from the force of impact, but managed to stay balanced by using her magic to levitate herself upright. She took a moment to calm herself before addressing Lyra whose face was buried in her shoulder.
"I take it you want to?" She giggled.
Lyra looked into her eyes with her own, teary ones. "Thank you so much, Twilight."
Twilight smiled and patted her back. "You're welcome, Lyra."
The two friends stayed in each other's embrace for what felt like hours, but was only a couple minutes. When they finally broke away, Twilight looked at Lyra with a determined, yet happy gaze. "Now, let's get some rest; we've got some long days ahead of us."
Lyra nodded. "I agree."
And with that, the two headed toward their respective tents to sleep.