"Freakout in 3 . . . 2 . . . 1"
"AAAAAAUUUUUUGGGGGGHHHHHH!!!"
Most of the group shot up in alarm at Twilight's outburst. Spike, however, merely looked at his pseudo-mother in concern. Everybody else followed suit, staring at her with similar, though more fearful looks.
"My dear Twilight," Zecora said from where she lay on the ground, "what isn't right?"
It was the day following Twilight's flesh puppetry session. She was back in the same field as yesterday with her HUMAN script writing staff, brainstorming on how best to adapt the books to Crystalvision. Everyone had a copy of all three HUMAN books to use for reference and plenty of parchment, quills, and ink for jotting down ideas. Unfortunately, the group seemed to be lacking the very latter.
Twilight rubbed the bridge of her muzzle and sighed. "It's nothing, Zecora." The zebra raised a concerned brow while the lavender princess kept talking. "Seriously, somebody must've come up with an idea by now; just let it out."
Silver Tongue raised his hoof. "I have a good idea to propose."
"Yes!?" Twilight asked, excited.
"How about we take a lunch break before we ponder any further?" he replied, lowering his hoof.
As if on cue Twilight's stomach growled, to which she blushed a bright shade of crimson. "Alright, we'll take a lunch break." Before anyone could sigh in relief, however, Twilight continued. "But, I expect you to keep brainstorming all the while we're eating, and give me ideas as you think them up."
A few minutes later the group was eating daisy sandwiches and hay fries in a small circle facing each other, minus Spike who ate from a bucket of red jaspers sprinkled with diamond dust. Everyone ate in relative silence with the only audible sound being Spike's hard dragon fangs chomping down and chewing on his gems. All the while they ate, as Twilight commanded, the group brainstormed ideas for the show's format and how best to adapt stories from the HUMAN trilogy. Unfortunately for Twilight, however, no one had the confidence to pitch their ideas to her, as they feared she'd find them unsatisfactory for an adaptation of her masterpiece trilogy.
Twilight herself, however, had an idea just before lunch wrapped up. She remembered back to after she'd completed the second book in the trilogy, HUMANS, with her friends and was officially burnt out of ideas for the third book. With no one else to turn to, Twilight reached out to the fanbase that resulted from the first two books for help in writing the final part of the HUMAN trilogy. Lyra's idea to make humans the overlords of ponykind through fiction, thereby implying that they're responsible for everything that happens in Equestria, was a stroke of pure brilliance and definitely deserved to be the basis for the final book, titled HUMAN: Friendship is Meta. It was because of such creative talent that Twilight chose to recruit Lyra for the writing staff of the Crystalvision adaptation, and with her connections to the HUMAN fandom, Twilight hoped to get feedback regarding what the self-proclaimed humares would like to see put into the show.
Once everybody finished eating and put away all their trash, Twilight spoke up with renewed confidence.
"Now, I know you all have ideas," she said, "but it's apparent you lack confidence in them. As such, I propose we ask the HUMAN fandom for their thoughts on how to adapt the show to Crystalvision."
The group did nothing to indicate they disagreed, to which Twilight beamed and continued. "Alright then." She turned to Spike. "Spike, take a letter."
"Sure thing," the baby dragon replied, and picked up his quill and parchment.
Celestia sat upon her throne, regal as always, but with genuine happiness for once in all the time she'd ever spent conducting Day Court. Unlike so many petitioners who gained an audience with her only to complain about the most ridiculous of grievances, the unicorn mare currently speaking to Celestia was actually mature and reasonable with her statements. She was voicing concerns over the general incompetence and laziness of her hometown's workforce, and whether there was anything Celestia could do to change it.
The mare was just about wrapped up when a scroll materialized in front of Celestia. She enveloped it in her magic, then unfurled and read it.
Dear Princess Celestia,
I know you're conducting Day Court right now, but I also know how much you hate listening to those snobby nobles whine and complain so much. By all means use this request as an excuse to relieve the headaches for awhile.
It has come to my attention during HUMAN's production that the writing staff is unsure what ideas will be praised or panned by fans of my book trilogy. Therefore, it has been decided upon to use fan feedback to gauge what will be well-received and what won't. What I'm asking you for, is some funding to set up a convention where humares can come to get a sneak preview of what HUMAN's production has cooked up. That way, we can gauge what needs to be changed or improved upon, in addition to answering questions they may have surrounding the book series' origins, development, and what will change between them and the show.
Whether or not you agree to help us won't affect our relationship, I guarantee it. With that said, five thousand bits shouldn't be asking for too much to give your most faithful student. Would it?
Sincerely,
Princess Twilight Sparkle
"Please pardon me, Sol Do," Celestia said upon finishing the letter, "but it appears my most faithful student needs my help with something."
Sol Do looked downcast. "Ah understand, yer highness."
"But," Celestia continued, to which Sol Do perked back up, "you've been such a pleasant audience that I've decided to invite you for stay overnight while we discuss how best to deal with those lazy miners."
Sol Do beamed in response before recomposing herself and bowing. "Ah'm most grateful fer yer invitation, princess."
"You're very welcome," Celestia replied with a warm smile. "Guards, escort Miss Sol Do to an open guest room of her choosing. Also, inform the remaining petitioners that Day Court will resume in an hour's time."
"Yes, your majesty," they replied.
As the two escorted Sol Do out of the throne room, Celestia teleported herself out. With a resounding pop she reappeared inside the Royal Treasury. Millions upon millions of bits were stored here in neat little stacks, a result of putting Twilight's obsessive compulsiveness to productive use.
Looking at all the wealth in front of her, Celestia thought back to the time fifty years prior when the government had accumulated enough bits that the treasury room seemed filled to burst. To remedy this, Celestia commissioned a group of construction ponies from Fillydelphia to enlarge the room by one and a half times its size. What Celestia hadn't accounted for was that in order to fund the construction she needed to extract a rather large sum of bits from the treasury; only after she'd finished extracting the bits did Celestia realize she'd remedied the excess funds problem herself.
If Luna was around to see that . . . Celestia shuddered at the thought.
The money had instead gone to building a few new rooms throughout the castle. After her blunder, Celestia drew a height chart along the walls to measure the piles of bits the treasury contained. Each section of the chart was represented by an analogous picture of how greedy/generous Celestia was being with the treasury's bits. At the very top of the chart was a picture of a dragon protecting its horde, while no picture existed at the very bottom which indicated nothing was left. In the chart's middle was a picture of the current appearance to the Element of Generosity; it used to resemble its previous appearance of a stone sphere until Celestia changed it to account for the element's new look following Nightmare Moon's return and subsequent defeat.
Looking at the bit stacks' height in accordance with the chart, Celestia saw it was exactly halfway between the Element of Generosity and Dragon Horde pictures. With a smile, Celestia summoned an inkwell, parchment, and quill and wrote up a response to Twilight's letter. Attaching the requested bits to the transportation spell, Celestia sent the letter off to Ponyville.
I'm sorry, Spike.
While the group of seven waited for Celestia's response to Twilight's letter, the lavender alicorn took the time to conduct a pep talk about confidence in oneself. She told the group that if they let their fear of criticism hold them back from pitching ideas the show would never come to fruition. Additionally, Twilight worked hard to drive the point home of how she'd never berate them for pitching half-baked ideas, and that she was no exception to mediocrity.
After all was said, Twilight looked to everyone's faces and was relieved to see they were looking at least partially more confident in their expressions. Just in time too, for Spike belched out Celestia's reply letter almost immediately following Twilight's pep talk. She was about to unfurl the scroll when another belch sounded from Spike, and looked up to see a shower of bits sailing straight for her face.
"AHHHHHH!!!" She cried while closing her eyes, and instinctively threw both her wings in front of herself to shield from the oncoming wealth. The torrent of bits struck her harder than Rainbow Dash did whenever she crashed into the library after failing a stunt. It pushed her some meters backwards before managing to topple her over onto her back. The bits' clinking against each other sounded above Twilight for a few more seconds before fading, to which she nervously opened her eyes and sat up on her haunches.
Everybody else, minus Spike who was passed out on his belly, was either staring wide eyed at him or the trail of bits that ran from his mouth to a few meters past Twilight. The sudden onslaught of bits striking the lavender alicorn had left them all frozen in shock, but they quickly snapped back to their senses upon realizing Twilight was hit.
"Princess Twilight!" Written Script shouted. "Are you okay!?"
Twilight struggled back onto her hooves and used one wing to wave back to them. "Yes, I'm fine!" she shouted back, and began following the bit trail back to the group. "Is Spike okay!?"
"It looks like he's unconscious!" Sweetie Drops answered back.
"Will he be alright?" Lyra asked as Twilight reached them.
"Yeah, he will," Twilight replied with a smile. "He's just exhausted after receiving such a large response from Princess Celestia. Speaking of which . . ." Twilight looked back at the long stream of bits stretching across the grass, their gold casing shining in the sunlight and bathing the clearing in a luminescence almost as bright as Celestia's sun. " . . . it looks like the princess has agreed to help us."
"What does the letter say?" Silver Tongue asked.
Twilight realized she was still holding onto the scroll with her magic; she proceeded to unfurl and read it.
To: Princess Twilight Sparkle
From the desk of her royal highness, Princess Celestia of Equestria.
Consider yourself very fortunate, Princess Twilight, for you caught me during one of the rare times I enjoyed conducting Day Court. If I wasn't in such a joyous mood I might've turned down your request. Then again, the Royal Treasury needed a little trimming so maybe it wouldn't have mattered.
At any rate, I've agreed to fund your little endeavor for a convention, but while the government is supplying the bits it's entirely up to your group to put it together. Knowing your knack for organization, this shouldn't be a problem for you. I look forward to seeing what your group of writers will have in store for everypony.
Oh, and give my sincerest apologies to Spike for what I put him through.
"So, what'd she say?" Lyra eagerly asked.
Twilight looked to the group and smiled. "She's agreed to help."
Everybody smiled wide in excitement while Twilight continued talking. "She said while she's supplying the bits needed, it's up to us alone to set up the convention." She looked to Lyra and Sweetie. "Can I trust you two to take care of that?"
Both mares saluted and nodded in response.
"Alright then." Twilight looked at the bit stream that amassed from Spike's dragon fire. "Would everybody be so kind as to help me gather and organize these bits?"
Everybody nodded and began helping however they could. Twilight, Lyra, and Silver Tongue used their magic to pile together all the bits they could while everybody else used their hooves to complete the job. Once finished, and Twilight had properly organized them into neat little stacks, the group was left with a pile of bits the same height as them and a pony length across.
"There," Twilight said, panting, "we're done."
Everybody else was too tired to say anything, instead choosing to lightly stomp their hooves in excitement. Once they'd all gotten their breath back, Twilight spoke up again.
"Now then." She lay on the grass and motioned for everyone to follow, which they did without hesitation. "We need to come up with a format for the show. Now that you're, hopefully, no longer hesitant to pitch ideas we can make some actual progress." She gestured to Lyra. "Lyra, wou-"
"Looks like Spike's waking up," Written Script interrupted, looking in the baby dragon's direction. Twilight followed his gaze to see that Spike was indeed waking up and looking incredibly dazed. She couldn't blame him for being so after what he just went through. Putting aside her query for now, she strode over to Spike and used her magic to prop him back on his feet and keep him steady. The baby dragon woozily tilted his head for a moment before shaking it and recomposing himself.
He looked up to Twilight. "What happened?"
Twilight frowned. "Princess Celestia sent five thousand bits through your dragon fire all at once; you passed out right afterwards. She says she's sorry, by the way."
"Meh, she's forgiven," Spike replied, clutching his head. Then he coughed and spoke again. "Mind if I head back to the library and get some medicine? My throat's all kinds of sore."
Twilight's frown lifted into a smile. "Sure, Spike. In fact, take the rest of the day off; the rest of us can manage just fine now."
With a nod, Spike began the journey back to Golden Oaks. Twilight returned to the group and resumed her query to Lyra.
"Like I was saying, would you care to share what ideas you've got Lyra?"
All eyes turned to the mint green unicorn, who rubbed her chin in thought for a moment before answering. "Well, I was thinking we could divide the show into story arcs with each one spanning a decade of humankind. Starting with the 1910's, each arc would follow and expand upon every decade's events as described in the first HUMAN book. Does that sound good?"
Everyone mulled over Lyra's pitch for a while before Twilight replied. "You're thinking along the right lines, Lyra, but there's a few points we need to take into consideration. First of all, and you should know this being the self proclaimed #1 HUMAN fan, ponies will want to see their favorite parts of the books be adapted, which won't always be those that I detailed in the first book. That brings me to my second point, the other two books. We need to incorporate aspects of all three books into the show, because that's the one thing we can guarantee the fans will expect from us."
Everybody nodded in agreement and Twilight continued.
"Thirdly, we need to be mindful of who's going to watch the show. The books, while not age restricted, weren't written as bedtime stories to read little foals. The amount of violence and bloodshed I wrote in was a clear indication that the HUMAN trilogy was meant for mature ponies, and that presents an interesting predicament for us. Unlike the books, Crystalvision will be easily accessible to ponies of all ages once it becomes affordable. Does everyone see where this is going?"
Everyone stared blankly for a moment before Sweetie Drops perked up and replied. "I get it. You're concerned that if we make the show too violent, and little foals lay their eyes on it, then their parents will complain to us."
Twilight nodded. "Exactly, and as a princess of Equestria the last thing I want to do is something that'll hurt my reputation. Therefore, we need to be delicate with the show's presentation. For my fourth and final point, how will we make use of the books' characters? Will we treat them as an ensemble, or will we focus on a main protagonist while having a supporting cast of characters? These are all questions we need to take into consideration right now." She levitated up a parchment and a quill and began making a checklist of each point of discussion.
"Those points would've been useful to know from the start of our brainstorming session," Silver Tongue stated. "Why didn't you inform us of them right away, princess?"
Twilight stopped writing and looked up at the well-spoken unicorn. Her cheeks were tinged a slight shade of crimson. "I . . . kinda, sorta, . . . hadn't thought of them yet."
Everybody raised a curious brow at that answer. "When did you?" Zecora asked, one of the few instances in which she didn't rhyme.
Twilight's blush reddened considerably. " . . . While we were eating." She smiled sheepishly.
" . . . What were you thinking about before then?" Written Script asked.
Twilight's cheeks were like a pair of bright red tomatoes by this point. Putting aside the checklist for now, she called magic into her horn for a summoning spell.
The door to the Golden Oaks library opened and Spike walked in. He kept rubbing at his sore throat as he walked into the kitchen to look for the appropriate medicine. Unbeknownst to him, as he searched through the kitchen's many cupboards a painting which was propped up against the center table vanished in a flash of light.
A second later, the painting reappeared in front of Twilight. It had a stylized golden frame with fancy, intricate patterns carved in. The painting itself is what caught everybody's eye. It showed Twilight's OC, Warren Zaccaro, sitting against a brick wall in a room filled with a plethora of other humans. He was sitting alone, eating his lunch whilst observing the activities of everyone else in the room. No one else was sparing him a glance, and the young man seemed perfectly content with that.
It took a moment for everyone to realize the painting depicted one of the key scenes from Twilight's vignette of HUMANS. Once they recognized it, everyone either raised their brows in excitement or confusion; mostly the latter.
"It's a very fine painting," Silver Tongue observed. "Are you the artist, princess?"
Twilight shook her head. "I found it on my balcony this morning, but whoever made it didn't sign their name on the bottom or leave a note of explanation. I really like it; whoever painted it probably has a Cutie Mark relating to artistry, like a paintbrush or easel or something." She sighed. "I'd been trying to deduce who gave it to me during the start of our brainstorming session but wasn't having any luck." She sheepishly rubbed the back of her head. "That's kinda why I freaked out earlier."
Being quite familiar with Twilight's obsession of uncovering truths, everybody ahhed in realization. Twilight flipped the painting around to look at it again and smiled. It truly did perfectly capture Warren's character, which Twilight had based very much on herself before she discovered the magic of friendship. She'd characterized Warren as having an all-encompassing viewpoint of his surrounding environment, meaning he could look at and understand things from anyone's viewpoint, with no imprinted notions of what to believe. In other words, Warren, like her, wouldn't form an opinion of anyone without first observing their behavior and putting together a likely explanation for why they'd act in such a way; it was how Twilight helped bridge the gap between Princess Luna and Ponyville's citizens on Nightmare Night, after all. In essence, Warren had the ability to do the same with other humans, but much like Twilight before she moved to Ponyville, lacked the motivation for it.
"Twilight?" Lyra said.
The lavender alicorn glanced up to the mint green unicorn. "Yes, Lyra?"
Lyra gestured to the painting. "This may sound far-fetched, but maybe whoever gave you that painting is trying to tell you something?"
Everyone else turned to Lyra with confused expressions while Twilight raised a curious brow. "That they can paint very well?"
Lyra facehoofed. "No, not that." She removed her hoof from her face. "What if the artist is trying to give us advice on how to make the show? Think about it, whoever painted this is clearly a humare to some extent, and the fact that they dropped it off at your balcony the night before development of the show started seems too perfect to be a coincidence."
Everyone's confusion only intensified instead of diminishing. "If that's really true," Sweetie Drops said, "then what's the advice?"
Twilight looked once again at the painting. Her brow furrowed as she tried to rationalize Lyra's theory. To an extent it made sense, though the advice of one solitary humare was insignificant against the majority opinion. But as Twilight looked more and more at the painting an idea for the show slowly began to take root in her psyche. It seemed at first to be too egotistical for her liking, and she was afraid the rest of the group would call her out for being self-indulgent. Then she remembered her own pep talk about being confident in oneself and not letting fears of criticism hold you back from presenting ideas. Not wanting to be a hypocrite, Twilight spoke up.
"I think I've figured it out." Everyone turned their gazes to her. "But don't take it the wrong way, please."
Night had fallen by the time Twilight returned to Golden Oaks. In her magic she held a large bundle of parchments containing many different notes and checklists. Using her hoof to push in the doorlock, she entered to find Spike lounging on a couch in the corner, reading a comic book.
"Feeling better?" Twilight asked.
Looking up over the top of the page, Spike set the comic book down and rushed over to give Twilight a hug, which the lavender princess returned with her wings.
"Yeah my throat's feeling much better," Spike replied. He then noticed the scrolls. "Are those all for HUMAN?"
Twilight smiled and replied in a chipper tone. "They sure are." She teleported the entire bundle up to her desk upstairs. "And by Star Swirl's beard, the show will be the greatest thing ponykind has ever seen!"
With a smile and a shrug, Spike replied, "If you say so," and left to return to his comic book. Twilight then teleported herself upstairs to begin the long, arduous process of fleshing out her idea.
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ooo is twilight character gonna be a narrator and story teller for HUMAN series? he seem perfect for it!
I keep seeing everybody being used to refer to ponies. That wouldn't be a problem normally... Except you seem to switch between the two.
3334963 Because Zecora is there and she's not a pony. I understand if you forgot she was there as I'm not well versed in the art of rhyming.
I have been meaning to ask but is there going to be actual humans in here or not or not? The reason why im asking is because you put a "Human" tag, so I was just curious if there going to be any, not including the pupets of course. But if what im asking gives off any spoilers then let me know and I'll wait for my answer to come later in the story.
Um, I'm abit confused. If Twilight has figured out how to do the show, do they need the convention anymore? Are they still having the convention? If not, what's happening with all those bits? Will Twilight keep them to entertain herself by arranging them into little stacks?
Come to think of it, where did those bits go? Twilight came home with a bunch of scrolls, not bits, did they leave a huge pile of bits in the middle of that feild?
3335458
I was under the impression that a zebra was considered a type of pony.
3335602 For fear of losing your readership, *zips mouth*.
3336153 Realized I forgot to edit part of the chapter; reread and it should make more sense. As to the convention, they still need it to determine whether their decided format will sit well with audiences.
3336196 " . . . and she's not a pony; my books say that zebras come from a far away land." ~Twilight Sparkle in Bridle Gossip
3336731
My thoughts on the matter is that "everybody" is a word unique to the human species. The body is assumed to be the human body. But in Equestria there a several different species, not all of them similar to the pony body. Therefore, I think the proper term in Equestria would be "everybeing" as in every sapient being.
Whether zebras should be considered a pony sub-species is up to you I guess.
3336731 Ok, I reread it, didn't spot any particular change, still don't know what happened to the big pile of bits? Also I think I can narrow down who gave her the painting. It was left on her balcony so the artist must be a pegasus or unicorn, an earth pony couldn't get the painting to the balcony. Just a thought.
3338726 I changed it so that Twilight asks Lyra and Sweetie Drops to put together the convention, whereas before Twilight said she'd do it herself. Lyra and Sweetie currently have the bits in their possession.
Seeing as how it's plainly obvious, you are indeed right that it wasn't an earth pony.
3338841 Ah, I did spot that change, I just didn't get the implication that they'd take the bits, my bad.:twilightsmile
3336748
Why not simply "everyone"?
3339984
Because that would be too normal for MLP.
Discord in a pink tutu.