Chapter 0: Pre-production
Only Human: A Lyra Heartstrings Production
Chapter 0: Pre-Production
By Smoking Gun
Three and a half years ago...
"Everypony dreams," echoed the booming voice through the speakers. "But what is a dream?"
The voice in question was coming from a stallion behind a podium on a stage. He had several hot lights pointed directly at him, but he paid them no mind. His attention was directed at the thousands of younger ponies looking back at him.
"Typically," he continued, "a dream is when we go to sleep, and the random thoughts and images we've had throughout our day come back at us without any kind of filter, becoming something new. That explanation is only half right."
He caught a confused expression from one mare in the front row - taking note of it, he continued.
"Through everypony's life, they get these random collection of images and sounds... we call them family, friends, jobs, experience. And at some point, we dream. Maybe not during sleep, but at some point a random collection of the components of your life are suddenly going to form together in a way that gives you the inspiration you need to create something. And that's what we're here to help you do."
He spread open his forelegs, presenting the building that they were all sitting in. "Welcome to Ponyville School of Art and Design. Here we will give you all the tools you'll need to create something that will make you rich, make you happy. For those of you who don't know, my name is Professor Gaiman, and I'm here to teach you how to dream. So dream, and dream big."
"Big whoop", remarked one pony leaning against the hallway. He was one of many students who were around campus, some chilling with new friends, others rushing around to get settled in. And then there was one other, who wasn't sure what she was doing.
I have no idea what I'm doing.
The green mare levitated a piece of paper in front of her, which showed a map of the campus, with a big red circle over one of the apartment blocks. After what felt like hours of walking, she found herself walking through the front door, seeing ponies her age with luggage, trying to fit through the doors, stairs and elevator. She nervously approached the desk.
"Excuse me, I'm Lyra Heartstrings. I'm looking for my room," she asked.
The elderly mare at the desk rolled he eyes and she looked at the monitor by her side.
"Room 23, third floor. Your roommate is already there, "the desk mare said with an annoyed growl.
Lyra smiled. "Thanks."
Bitch.
Lyra levitated her suitcase up the stairs, eventually reaching the third floor. Her ears were overwhelmed with the chatter of students around her getting to know their roommates.
She eventually found room 23, and slowly pushed the door open.
"Hi, I'm—"
"Duck!"
Lyra couldn't process any information before the football hit her square in the forehead. She rolled onto her back, landing on the hallway carpet. Gazing up, she saw a large stallion, wearing a football jersey standing above her.
"Sorry, freshman. Only seniors can play dorm ball," he said as he leaped over her body, running off to join his friends.
"Noted," Lyra growled as she helped herself to her feet.
"Finally, he's gone."
Lyra looked into her new dorm, spotting a mare with her back to her. She was white, had a flaming red mane, and a horn.
"He ran in here to hide the ball from his bros," the unicorn continued. "It's like Scooby-Doo... only with more douch-baggery."
The unicorn turned back to Lyra as she walked into the room, she was smiling. "I'm Lauren, animation major."
Lyra shook her hoof. "Lyra Heartstrings, writing major."
Lyra was startled by Lauren's sudden burst of laughter. "Oh, I see you want to be unemployed."
Lauren whipped away a single tear from her eye as she began setting up her computer. Lyra was frozen.
Bitch.
"W-why do you say that?" Lyra asked as she brought in her suitcase. She put it on the bottom bunk of the bunk bed placed on the right side of the room.
"Writers aren't exactly known for their job security," Lauren said as she turned to face Lyra. "But don't worry about it for now, follow your dreams, I say."
It wasn't difficult to pick up the snarkyness in her voice.
"I'm sure plenty of writers find work," Lyra said, attempting to add subtle snarkyness herself.
"Only the great ones," Lauren retorted, as she took a seat on the office chair that clearly came with the room.
Lyra took a seat on her bunk. "Well, maybe I'm one of the greats in-the-making."
Lauren smiled to herself. "And maybe we'll team up." Lauren turned in her seat, her hoof raised as high as her foreleg would let her. "Lauren and Lyra taking over Canterlot, one timeslot at a time."
Lyra's eyebrow arched. "Lyra and Lauren," she corrected.
Lauren smiled and nodded her head. "Quick on your hooves. Maybe you will be one of the greats. But you'll have to let me go first."
Lyra walked over to Lauren, looking over her shoulder to see the monitor. "WHOA!"
The screen was filled with heavily detailed sketches of ponies and objects. It looked like something Lyra would see in a comic if it hadn't been inked and colored.
"It's just some stuff I did in high school. It helped me get my scholarship."
"Wow... that's amazing," Lyra added.
"Are you kidding?" Lauren asked in disgust. "This is pathetic. The proportions are all wrong, the shadows aren't consistent, and they all look high as hell."
Lyra was frozen once again. "I'm sorry."
"It's OK," said Lauren. "I wouldn't expect somepony who wasn't an artist to know. Like with me, you couldn't expect to know when you... misspelled a word I guess."
"Oh hehehehe," Lyra retorted. "Maybe you should be the writer."
"Maybe I should," Lauren said with an ever-growing smirk. "Not like it takes actual work."
The two snickered to each other before going quiet.
"Did... did we just become friends?" Lyra asked.
"Nah," Lauren answered. "Not yet. At the moment, we're banter-buddies. We keep each other's minds sharp. Speaking of which..."
Using her magic, Lauren opened up a mini-fridge she had in the corner of the room, pulling out a can of 'Father energy drink'.
"Want a sip?" Lauren asked, popping the can open.
"It's ten in the morning," Lyra answered.
"Yeah, but I haven't slept in days."
Lauren started downing her energy drink, not watching Lyra as she walked out.
"I'll be back soon, I've got to speak to somepony."
"You wanted to speak to me?" Professor Gaiman asked, looking up from his desk.
"Yeah, just about some stuff," Lyra said nervously, standing in the doorway to his office.
"Well don't just stand there, come in," Gaiman said, waving her in.
Lyra closed the door behind her, taking a seat at the desk. "Sir, I'm a writing major and... Am I not going to have a job?"
Gaiman sighed. "It is true that finding work as a writer right out the gate... can be very rare. That's not to say you'll never find work as a writer... just be prepared to not be living glamorously at first."
Gaiman's smile was comforting to Lyra.
"Thank you sir... is there any other advice you could give?"
"Not now," said Gaiman. "Wait until you're closer to graduation. We'll speak more about it then."
Lyra nodded, getting up and walking towards the door. Suddenly, she stopped, looking back at her professor.
"One more thing sir," Lyra began. "This may sound weird, but... when you look at me, what do you see?"
Gaiman paused, and looked Lyra square in the eye for a moment. "I see a blank slate."
Lyra paused, not knowing how to respond to that. She saw Gaiman returning to his work, so she nodded, and slowly closed the door behind her.
Almost three year later...
Blank.
Why is it blank? It shouldn't be blank!
She kept staring at the paper, it wasn't getting any less vacant. She looked to the left slightly, seeing a mostly-empty cup of coffee by her side, sitting on a folded up napkin, acting as a coaster. Her coffee may have been gone, but that didn't stop the invigorating smell from filling her nostrils. She looked around at the coffee shop she had taken refuge in, seeing several of Ponyville's citizens laying back, enjoying their cups of Joe and probably being more productive than she was.
"I thought you hated coffee."
Lyra's face lit up, spotting a grey pegasus in a blue mailmare uniform float in through the door. The pegasus touched down in front of Lyra's table. The two hugged each other tight.
"Ditzy!" Lyra called, sounding a bit wheezy from the hug. "How was work?"
"Only a little less painful than an iron maiden," Ditzy remarked as she pulled up a free chair, sitting next to Lyra. "So what brings you here?"
"Lauren invited me," answered Lyra. "She said she could do a pow-wow for my assignment."
"And how much has she helped?" Ditzy asked.
"So far all I've been able to do is hopelessly suggest that she refrain from looking like a douchebag who writes their screenplay in public to look cool."
Ditzy and Lyra saw Lauren exit the bathroom and take her seat at the table.
"Hey Lauren," Ditzy said with a nod.
"Hey Ditzy," Lauren answered. "How was work?"
"Only a little less painful than an iron maiden."
"You already used that joke," Lyra said, still looking down at her paper.
"It's still one more joke than you've got down."
Not moving her head at all, Lyra rolled her eyes up towards Ditzy for a moment, before returning to the paper.
"So," Ditzy continued. "What's the assignment exactly?"
Lyra spoke, still looking down at her blank paper. "Every writing major has to pitch a concept for a television show for their final semester. The due date is a month away and I still don't have anything to show."
Ditzy's face lit up. "I've got something you can use. It's a taught-sexy-thriller about a local mailmare who stumbles upon a conspiracy that only she can unravel."
Lyra stared at Ditzy blankly.
Ditzy continued. "Don't worry. She has a creatively challenged sidekick."
Lyra sighed, gazing down at her blank slate of a paper, leaving behind any semblance of happiness. She looked back up, feeling a gentle hoof on her shoulder. She saw Ditzy smiling at her.
"I'm sorry, honey. I'm just trying to make you laugh."
"Laugh at what?" Lyra asked. "It's hopeless."
"There's always hope," Lauren remarked.
Lyra slowly turned to Lauren, sporting a look of disbelief... and a little insult. "Since when?"
Before Lauren could respond, all three mares felt the same thing; a rumble. It was coming from the floor and building up the chair, running to the tip of their spines. Everypony in the coffee shop could feel it, even the cups on the tables were starting to rumble, with more than a few spilling over.
And within a moment, the rumbling stopped, and nopony had made a noise.
Lauren cleared her throat with a cough. "Well... that was a thing."
BOOM!
Lyra couldn't make out anything. From her perspective, it looked like the wall behind Lauren exploded from the outside-in. Before any of the wood from the wall hit her, she felt a sudden loss of gravity, flying back while still in her seat. Time seemed to slow down as she saw everypony, including her friends fly away from the exploding wall. Until suddenly noise returned, and Lyra went flying, full speed, into the other wall, head first, bouncing off and onto the floor.
It went black for a moment before the colors slowly started to return. Lyra saw several ponies running away in all directions, screaming at the top of their lungs, not that she could hear it properly.
The next thing she was was Ditzy touching down in front of her, putting her hooves to the side of Lyra's head as she shook her as hard as she could.
That can't be good for me.
It looked like Ditzy was signalling Lyra to stay put and that she'd be right back. But for whatever reason, Lyra struggled to her feet anyway. Half her vision went red as she stumbled into the alley through a whole in the one still-standing wall. She put her hoof to her forehead, feeling a pool of liquid pour from a gash at the top of head. She could hear little bits and pieces of sound coming through as she approached the main road, all with her last sentence echoing in her head, like somepony was forcing her to listen.
Hope? Since When?
She stepped onto the main road, falling flat onto her belly. She used her forelegs to push her up... and was greeted by a rainbow. A circular rainbow high in the sky that lead a trail down to Lyra. Right before the trail collided with Lyra, the trail quickly turned, all in time for Lyra to be able to hear everything clearly again.
"Made you look!"
The image before Lyra looked like it was out of an eighties-era magazine. Six familiar looking ponies were locked in battle with a chimera, a part Lion, part snake, part goat beast as it tore the buildings around it apart.
The rainbow had come from Rainbow Dash's sonic rainboom, with Rainbow Dash had used to build up speed and deliver a right hook to the Lion's jaw. Twilight Sparkle was releasing a blast of magical energy at the snake head, while Rarity was attempting to weave a rope around the creature's leg (not to any avail). Applejack, on the other hoof, was having more lucky with her lasso. Pinkie Pie was riding her party cannon, shooting confetti into the ear of the lion head, smiling and laughing the entire time.
Did Lauren put something in my drink again?
Looking at the goat head in the middle of the creature, Lyra saw Fluttershy, using her famous stare on the creature.
"Now, now," Fluttershy cooed. "You've had enough for today, so let's all calm down and..."
Fluttershy looked up, seeing the snake head, with it's jaw wide open, charging at her, thankfully Rainbow Dash was quick enough to push her out of the way, carrying her on her shoulder.
"How do you stare at something with three heads?" Fluttershy asked.
"With great difficulty," Rainbow Dash answered.
"Twilight, dear, if you would be so kind!" Rarity called.
Lyra looked at the chimera's legs, seeing that Rarity had been able to bring it down to it's stomach, Applejack's lasso was wrapped around the snake jaw, Fluttershy was, once again, staring down the goat head, while Rainbow Dash and Pinkie were distracting the lion head.
Concentrating, Twilight teleported herself into the air, bringing herself to the lion's eye level, and blasted it with a transparent beam of magic, causing the creature to vanish from sight. Twilight landed on all fours, whipping the sweat from her brow.
"Wooo! That was exhausting."
Twilight looked over her shoulder, seeing a disoriented Lyra, half her face covered in blood, staring straight at her.
"Oh my goodness," Twilight added. "Are you OK?"
Lyra didn't attempted a response, instead opting to collapse into the dirt.
"They didn't give you an extension, did they?"
"Nnnnope," said Lyra, gazing up at the top bunk. Thankfully her bandages weren't slipping over her eye anymore. "I'm too close to graduation for them to push it back."
"Still, that's just dickish," said Lauren, poking her head down from the top bunk. Lauren dropped down from her bunk, bringing herself to Lyra's level eye-level. "I'm gonna get you some dinner."
"Honestly," Lyra said with a shake of her head. "I'm fine. We both just need some rest."
"You're delusional," Lauren said as she gave Lyra a peck on her bandaged area. "I'll be right back. Try not to get a hemorrhage or something."
Lauren closed the door, leaving Lyra alone and laughing.
"Don't jinx it," Lyra proclaimed, slowly letting her laughter die down.
It felt like Lauren had been gone forever. For whatever reason, silence just made time slow down. Lyra had been advised not to move her head too much, so she couldn't roll off the bed to watch one of her usual videos.
The new Achieve Mares would be out today.... Wait.
Lyra suddenly inhaled deeply and levitated a piece of paper and a pen over to her, scribbling her life away.
"You're doing that thing again," said Lauren as she stepped into the room, carrying a pair of hay sandwiches. "When you think really hard, you stick your tongue out. Won't thinking too hard kill you at this point?"
"Hasn't stopped me yet," said Lyra, not taking her eyes off the paper.
"Did you finally come up with something?" Lauren asked.
"Yeah," Lyra answered. "But I need more to fill it out the middle. I need to go to Sugar Cube Corner tomorrow."
"But I need you here"
Lyra smiled, still gazing at her paper. "Research trip."
It's OK, Lyra. Just pretend you're a fangirl with agoraphobia.
Lyra sat at the middle booth on the far end of Sugar Cube Corner, eating a few green cup cakes and a can of 'Father Energy Drink'.
If Lauren asks, I was researching diabetes.
The better part of an hour went by before the door to the restaurant opened again. Six, brightly colored ponies stepped through the door.
Perfect. Just be cool.
After placing their orders, the mane six took their seats at the booth behind Lyra, luckily not noticing her. Subtly, Lyra placed a voice recorder on a table and pressed play. Lyra leaned back in her chair, twitching her ears as she listened.
"How awesome is it that we get free food now?" Rainbow Dash asked as she dug into her food.
"I've always gotten free sweets," Pinkie answered. "It comes out of my check, but it's still fun."
Lyra snickered, putting her now empty can of Father on the table with a crunch.
"Ah don't know if Ah feel right about this," Applejack added with a worried tone. "We did cause an lot of damage to the town."
"To be fair, Applejack," Twilight began. "The Chimera did attack the town. We couldn't really control it."
"The pour thing just got riled up," added Fluttershy.
"Well maybe it would have if somepony hadn't attacked it first," Applejack said, glaring straight at Rainbow Dash.
Rainbow took a break from eating her cake. "What?"
"Admit it," continued Applejack. "You just wanted to punch a lion in the face, didn't you?"
Rainbow paused before answering. "Do you not?"
"Oh dear, look at you."
Lyra was startled by Mrs. Cake suddenly appearing at her side. She had her hoof raised like she wanted to touch Lyra's bandages
"Sweetheart, you want me to get you some ice?" she continued.
"I'm good, thank you," Lyra insisted. "But you can take my drink."
"Sure thing, sweetie." Mrs Cake took all of Lyra's rubbish onto a platter before walking away.
Lyra laid back in her chair, sighing to herself.
"I remember you," said a familiar voice.
Lyra shot up, her eyes wide in shock. Looking beside her, she saw a worried looking Twilight Sparkle, a mere few centimetres from her.
"You were at the chimera attack. You look like you were hurt pretty bad."
Lyra quickly moved the recorder to her side. "Oh yeah, it was nothing a little bit of sleep couldn't fix. I'm OK now, though."
"Wow, awesome bandage!" Rainbow added as she joined Twilight. "Can I see your scar?"
"Oh... I... I don't know if I should take my bandage off yet," Lyra stuttered.
"You'll have to excuse Rainbow," Twilight said as she glared at Rainbow. "She's been all sorts of rude lately."
"Oh! What's that?"
Tilting her head up, Lyra saw Pinkie Pie poking her head over the booth, pointing directly at Lyra's voice recorder.
Well buck.
Lyra levitated the voice recorder in front of Twilight and Rainbow Dash.
"I... well... I was hoping you would... record my voice mail?"
Twilight opened her mouth to speak, but Rainbow Dash quickly snatched the voice recorder.
"Yo calla! This is Rainbow to the D-A-S-H representing the comuni-Kay of... what was your name?"
"Lyra Heartstrings," Lyra said with nod.
"Lyra Heartstrings!" Rainbow continued. "Drop it at the tone!" Rainbow placed the recorder in Lyra's hoof.
"Thank you... so much," Lyra smiled.
"No problem, I won't even charge you my usual fee," said Rainbow as Twilight started to push her away.
"It was nice meeting you, Lyra," Twilight grumbled, still trying to smile.
"You too."
Looking down at the table, Lyra found a folded up piece of paper that wasn't there before. Opening it, she saw, written in blue, a phone number. Underneath it was written...
'Call me, sugar flank - R.D.'
“Too heavy!”
Lauren dropped the cardboard box marked ‘P.P.F’ on the floor so hard that it kicked up the dirt on the floor that had been concealed by the rug, which was rolled up and standing up near the door next to the girl’s mattresses.
“Miss Heartstrings!” called Lauren. “Would you please take a break from your busy schedule to help us move out!”
Lauren could see Lyra lying against the end of the bunk bed, facing away from her. In Lyra’s hooves, Lauren could see a lined notebook with several pencils and erasers floating around it thanks to Lyra’s magic.
“I’m talking to you!” Lauren trotted over to Lyra’s side. “What are you... what?”
Gazing down at Lyra’s book, she saw several sketches that didn’t resemble anything she was familiar with. The first was a sphere with lands that didn’t look anything like Equestria. Surrounding it where random objects, including: what looked like a carriage, except with no pony at the front. A large, vaguely bird-shaped object with windows down the side. Moving to the next page, Lauren found six stick figures, three of which had additional circles around what she assumed was the chest area. Each of them had their own names: Sarah, Clark, Diane, Justin, Clair and Peter.
“What’s all this?” Lauren asked.
Lyra turned away from her pad, looking up at Lauren with a beaming smile, her eyes were practically sparkling with excitement.
“Hope.”
"Thank you, Miss Top. And congratulations," said Gaiman to his student as she stepped exited stage left.
Taking a deep breath, Lyra trotted out with several pieces of paper in a folder, levitated at her side, stopping in the middle. At the base of the stage, she saw Professor Gaiman looking up at her.
"Miss Heartstrings," he began. "I hope you're feeling better."
"I certainly hope I am for the next few minutes."
Taking her papers out of her folder, she placed them on one of those things that projects paper onto the screen behind her.
Seriously, what are these things even called?
The first paper she showed was a cartoon logo she had drawn that read 'Only Human.' It had been drawn to have a pseudo-3D effect.
"For my final television concept pitch, I present Only Human. The ongoing, partly-episodic, story of six friends who protect the world around them, whilst building a friendship around their conflicting personalities."
She switched to the next piece of paper, which had each of the humans on it with their corresponding names. "The story takes place on a fictional planet called 'Earth'. I call it 'Earth' because these creatures cannot fly. They are humans, and they have more restrictions then us ponies. They're ape-like creatures, who are regularly clothed, greatly varying in size, shape and color."
Lyra caught Gaiman's expression of interest, smirking in response.
"Three boys and three girls, they have greatly conflicting personalities, and are forced to live near each other in the city of Manhattan."
Gaiman's laughter made Lyra's laughter grow bigger.
"The humans are ponies, even though they're different. But that's what make them special. Greatly flawed, naturally angry and scared of many things, they're better than that. They may not all see it, it might not all be visible to them, but friendship is always there. There's always hope. Without friendship and hope, what's the point of anything? Humanity is hope personified."
There was a moment of silence before Lyra chuckled.
"Sorry, do you have any questions?"
Gaiman leaned forward in his chair. "A couple. Firstly, what inspired this?"
Lyra quickly glanced up towards her bandages, and parted her mouth, but Gaiman raised his hoof.
"Don't worry, I get it. Second question: What do you hope to achieve with these humans?"
Lyra's eyes darted from stage left to stage right. "I honestly don't know. I'd like to see what ponies do with them. But for now, I just want to make kids happy, and teach them that friendship and hope is all you need. With those, the rest is easy."
There was a lengthy moment of silence. Lyra sweated as she watched Gaiman make his deliberation. After what felt like an eternity, he spoke.
"Good. Not great. Firstly, if I was assessing you on artistic skills, you'd fail very quickly. But the idea, the concept has potential. It will take a lot of work, it's far from ready, but it looks like something I would show my children."
Lyra jumped up and down, giggling like an idiot.
And I don't even give a buck!
"Congratulations, Miss Heartstrings. You're dismissed."
"Wait!" Lyra said. "On my first day I asked you what you saw me as... you told me I was a blank slate. I just have to know... why would you call me something like that? It hurt."
Gaiman stared straight at Lyra, giving her a look of disbelief. "You took that as an offense? Lyra, a blank slate is one of the best things somepony as young as you could possibly be. A blank slate isn't hindered by lack of imagination, energy, or societal weight. A blank slate is free to be whatever it wants... all with a little hope."
Lyra slowly smiled, nodded, packed up her things and left the stage as another pony took her place.
Stepping backstage, Lyra found Lauren waiting by the exit, smirking her flank off.
"So," she began. "Graduation drinks?"
A few days later...
"Are you ready to go?" Lyra asked.
"Pretty much. Are you?" Ditzy responded.
Lyra looked back at Ditzy's less-than-stellar appartment, which was now completely empty.
"Yeah, I'm just so thankful for you letting me stay with you."
"Stay?" Ditzy asked with a feigned shock. "You're my bitch, now. You'll be cleaning, cooking, feeding me grapes, and whatever depraved things that I can think off."
The two laughed, until it was cut off by the cough of a familiar face.
"Was that out of context or was my theory correct?" asked Lauren with a chuckle.
Ditzy floated out of the room. "I'll give you two a minute."
Lauren, wearing a saddlebag, trotted up to Lyra and gave her hug. "I'm gonna miss you. Promise me that the first network that picks you up isn't going to screw you out of your pay check."
"I promise," Lyra said as she released Lauren. "So what about you? What are your plans?"
"My boyfriend and I got internships at an animation studio in Manehattan. We're heading out tomorrow. Before I left, I wanted to give you your graduation present."
Lauren levitated something out of her saddle bag; a thick, leather bound book. She flicked through the pages, revealing several, highly detailed sketches of six humans, vehicles, locations and other things. "I couldn't stand the sight of your doodles, so I made you this. There's plenty of blank space so that when you're ready, you can more of your own images to it."
Lyra looked away so that her tears wouldn't stain the pages.
"Lauren," Lyra said, looking back at Lauren. "You.... This is..."
Lyra grabbed hold of her friend... not wanting to let go. Ever.
"Just promise me one more thing," said Lauren.
"What?"
"The hope in your eyes, the hope you had when we met, NEVER loose it."
Today...
"And the rest is current events," Lyra said with a smile, leaning back on Bon Bon's couch.
Sitting next to her, Bon Bon sat there, looking stunned, complete with a slack jaw. "Lyra... the chimera... record... WOW! I can't say that I expected any of that."
"What were you expecting?"
"I honestly thought you went into the jungle and the monkeys just adopted you as one of their own, then humans spawned from that," Bon Bon said with a hint of a smirk.
"Hmmm... you know, I never did call Rainbow back."
"Can I ask you something?" Bon Bon asked after punching Lyra's shoulder. "Why are you telling me this now? I just invited you for dinner and the implied sex."
Lyra looked over at her Only Human book, which she had put on the coffee table earlier, and opened up to a fresh set of pages. She then levitated several drawing pencils and started going to town.
"The boys in the animation department have been giving me drawing lessons," Lyra said with a smile.
"Lyra, come on," Bon Bon insisted.
Lyra didn't look up at Bon Bon, but she did keep smiling. "When you first invited me up here, you asked me who Lyra Heartstrings was, what my history was, what I am. Recently, I think I've finally figured it out."
Complete her sketch, Lyra showed something spread over two formerly blank pages. A giant chimera locked into battle with her six humans in the exact same layout as her memories of the mane six.
"I'm Lyra Heartstrings, and I'm a dreamer."
Next: And We're Back - The volume two premier!
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So fucking good.
Needs more than a few minor corrections, though.
I was expecting another thing for a chapter, but this was nice too.
Buck yeah Only Human is back!
Lets hope it stays back.
YES YES YES
ALL MY YES!
-Powers
Holy shit, you've updated a lot since I last looked at this story.
So... beautiful
*Squee*
! You are awesome!
Douche. It's Prench.
Missing end punctuation
Poor
Missing end punctuation.
Than
Lose.
Congratulations, you just opened up a whole new can of whup ass.
Man, I know the folk who make MLP are discouraged and/or forbidden from reading fanfiction, but having read all of this over the last few hours, I really wish they would read this. I really think they'd get a kick out of it.
Huzzah!
3541017 As it turns out, they are allowed to view fan content.
3541266
I recall specifically hearing otherwise, but it is entirely possible that what I'd heard referred to very specific sections of the team (artists or writers, for example), or that my memory deceives me entirely.
Would achieve mares happen to include a bumbling, lovable braytish mare, a rage-filled Neigh Jersey one, a crazed animal lover, a spiteful and hysterical drunkard, a poor Puerto Rican, and a fat, bearded one no pony cares about? (Just kidding, jack)
Gah, now I'm trying to think of better ways to ponify 'Gaiman'. Hay Wain?
Grammatical oversights aside, nice chapter.
P.P.F. would have had a different abbreviation, using the name before it was changed to the name it would be broadcast under. But then no one would get the reference.
Give the humans special belts allowing them to become Armored Heros. Speaking of which, Gaiman got me thinking of an orange (the fruit) themed character.
upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/6/62/Kamen_Rider_Gaim.jpg
Say, if you do something with this idea and using Gaim's trick, you could make (in story) foods that are healthy that foals often don't like look quite badass. It's been done with a watermelon, pineapple, strawberry, orange (as seen above), banana, melon, grapes, acorn, pinecone (Trixie would love that), durian, and there's many more fruits yet to be seen.
It would also make for a great marketing ploy.
Neil gaiman. Heh.
Loved it! Keep it up!!
Pet peeve number-gajillion in ponyfics: Use of the term "mane six" to refer to... well the mane six. I get it, the fandom calls them that all the time. There's something very catchy about it. The problem is that in-setting this term doesn't make a lot of sense as something to call them. Fandom terms that don't make much sense in-universe but are used anyway tend to bug me.
In other news, holy crap Lyra got banged up.
... Don't make that note from Dash a thing. For the love of all that is sweet and holy.
Thanks!
Yay! I was looking forward for this, and it certainly didn't disappoint. I hope we can see Lauren's reaction to Lyra's new found success.
yeah, I can see Dash being Archer.
Really nice to see how this whole crazy idea began for her, and more of her and lauren is always a good thing.
BUCK-FUCKING -YEAH!
Wait, how did chapter 0 get ordered after chapter 11? Oh well, time to start with chapter one then.
Keep going!;)
"Subtly, Lyra placed a voice recorder on a table and pressed play" - pressing the play button would play, not record.
"The pour thing just got riled up" - "poor" - unless the Chimera was also part teapot.
I wish my teacher was Neil Gaiman...
So sex between Lyra and Bon Bon is a thing now? Sweet.
Hehe, these personalitys .
hole
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poor
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