It was currently noon in Ponyville. Usually, it had a quaint and tranquil aura typical for such a small town. Today, however, was quite different, for over half of the town's population was missing from what would typically be lunch rush hour. Said over-half was currently amassed around town hall where Twilight Sparkle, along with Mayor Mare and DJ-PON3 (Vinyl Scratch) stood watch over the enormous crowd of energetic mares, stallions, and foals cheering for two things: 1. The upbeat music Vinyl was playing to get the crowd pumped up. and 2. Twilight Sparkle's presence, who had become akin to a goddess in their eyes.
It had been a full month since Twilight had finished and released the sequel to HUMAN, titled HUMANS. With all the fanfare and excitement that resulted from the first book's publication, it was guaranteed that HUMANS would sell just as much if not more than HUMAN, which it had. Now, Twilight's fans eagerly awaited the final installment in the HUMAN trilogy; her Ponyville friends especially, since Twilight had a big announcement to make at the current rally pertaining to it.
After a few minutes of music, Mayor Mare gave Vinyl Scratch the signal to cease playing, and then held up a sign for the crowd that said ATTENTION PLEASE indicating that it was time for Twilight's big announcement. Once everypony had fully calmed down, Twilight stepped behind the podium and addressed the crowd.
"My fans, I'm extra grateful that you all came here today, and you shall be rewarded. As you all know, the next book in me and my friends' HUMAN series will be the final installment, and for the last month I've been contemplating a central theme for the book. My efforts, however, have been unsuccessful, and I regret to say I'm suffering from burnout. But seeing all your enthusiasm here and now, I can safely conclude the choice I've made is the correct one. For the final HUMAN installment, I've decided to reach out to the massive HUMAN fanbase for help; me and the series' publisher have put together a contest for the fans to partake in, the rules of which will be discussed in greater detail later. In a nutshell, here's how it works: participants will write out a story outline for the book detailing the main theme, characters, plot, etc. Said outline must be submitted to me by the end of this month; just swing by the library and drop it off there for me. After I've chosen 3 finalists, a popular vote among the fans will decide the final winner. The winning outline will then be used to construct the final book in the HUMAN trilogy, with authorship being shared between the winner and myself. And so, with that, I wish everypony the best of luck."
With a curt bow, Twilight concluded her speech. It took the crowd a few moments to let everything she said sink in, but once it did they resumed their hyper-energetic cheering in full force. Twilight had fully expected her announcement to be met in stride, but regardless, the sight of all her beloved fans happy for the chance to help her felt exceptionally heart warming. As soon as the crowd calmed down again, Twilight informed them that the contest's official rules were available for viewing just inside Town Hall and that she'd be at Golden Oaks for the rest of the day, willing to answer any questions anypony may still have. No sooner had she finished speaking that the crowd of hyper-energetic fans came stampeding toward the Town Hall's front door, no doubt wanting to see the contest rules. Twilight and Mayor Mare just barely jumped out of the way before getting trampled.
It was the night following Twilight's big announcement. As expected, the streets of Ponyville were deserted; everypony asleep in their beds or getting ready to do so. Stillness reigned supreme in the small, simple town. It didn't last long, however, as a certain mint green unicorn opened the front door to her house. She had a scroll in her telekinetic grip, and an eager expression adorned her beautiful face as she closed the door and began cantering toward Golden Oaks.
As Lyra approached the library, she began worrying about Twilight's possible opinions on her story entry. While she had put so much hard labor into perfecting her idea, Lyra knew just how obsessive-compulsive the bearer of magic was, and was afraid she'd see it as unworthy for HUMAN's concluding installment. For a moment, Lyra stopped in her tracks having second doubts about her chances of impressing Twilight enough to get her entry into the final three. Out of her peripheral vision, Lyra spied a garbage can standing against a nearby residence waiting for the garbage mare to claim it the next day. She looked down at the scroll still in her telekinetic grip, now seriously considering abandoning it and starting from scratch.
No, she eventually decided, I need to have faith in my work, and in myself.
With her resolve now solidified, Lyra made her way up to the library's front door and knocked moderately, not wanting to wake the sleep-obsessed Spike.
In no more than two seconds, the door opened to reveal a still fully awake Twilight with a smile on her face.
"Hello Lyra," she greeted. "What's up at such a late time?"
"This," Lyra answered as she levitated the scroll in front of Twilight. "It's my entry for the contest."
"You're finished already?" Twilight asked as she took the scroll in her own telekinetic grip.
Lyra shook her head. "This was actually that fan fiction you encouraged me to write, but after your announcement I retooled it a bit so I could use it as my entry." She chuckled. "I guess the early bird gets the worm even by accident."
Twilight chuckled herself. "Yeah, I guess so."
The two mares exchanged their goodbyes and Lyra began walking back home, hoping Twilight would like her entry.
As soon as the front door closed, Twilight used her magic to place Lyra's entry among the already enormous pile of submissions for the contest. Twilight had been looking forward to working on her studies with the onset of free time she'd given herself following her announcement. That, however, lasted for no more than fifteen minutes before a couple of mares knocked on her door and presented their submissions, arguing over which one was better the whole time. Twilight had taken them and thanked the mares for entering. No more than five minutes later a stallion came by for the same reason, followed by a group of foals, then another stallion, and so on. Twilight seriously doubted anything these ponies wrote in such a short amount of time was worth considering for the contest, but nevertheless she accepted each and every submission and put them in a pile for later judging.
Twilight received submissions throughout the entire day, always resulting in her studies being interrupted to which she'd get increasingly frustrated. Eventually, she asked Spike to take over the job of accepting entries so she could work in peace. He complied, and easily handled the task for the rest of the day until his bedtime. She didn't think anypony would submit an entry after dark, but thankfully Lyra was an isolated incident, so Twilight wasn't irritated by her interruption of the lavender mare's studies.
Upon her completion of said studies, Twilight began the task of skimming through each and every submission for the contest. As she expected, most of the entries were garbage; written too quick and too sloppily to even consider. Even so, Twilight had to look over and judge every single entry for fairness' sake. It didn't worry her, however, as there was plenty of time for fans from all around Equestria to submit quality ideas. Eventually, Twilight picked up what she recognized as Lyra's submission. Unfurling the scroll, Twilight's attention was immediately drawn to the title.
"My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic," she spoke with a curious tone. She recognized "My Little Pony" as the way in which Princess Celestia would often address her subjects, while the "Friendship is Magic" was self-explanatory to the lavender unicorn. Her interest piqued, Twilight decided to give her full attention to Lyra's entry and began reading it with care and patience.
The decade following the 9/11 attacks was one of depression and sadness. Humans all over the world, and especially those in America, had lost the cheerful and lighthearted vibes that defined the 1990's. No longer could a day go by without grim reminders being firmly implanted in everyone's minds that the terrorists would be brought to justice and that people's basic rights will have to be compromised for it to happen ASAP. Going into the new millennium, people looked to the future with optimism and hope. Now, however, a brighter future seemed like nothing more than a childish dream.
This sense of hopelessness and depression even carried into entertainment; whereas the previous decades' reflected their times' kindred mentality. Movies, games, and books started gravitating towards dark, gory, suggestive themes in contrast to their cartoonish predecessors. People's interests always shift, however, and towards the end of the decade a particular cartoon would arise; one filled with enough lighthearted joy to make up for the previous decades' lack of it. This cartoon was called My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic.
Based on the toy line, MLP: FiM was part of the franchise's 4th generation; previous generations faded into obscurity relatively quickly on account of being junk. For the 4th generation cartoon, a young talented artist/cartoonist by the name of Lauren Faust was hired by the franchise's owner, Hasbro, to reinvent the toy line's titular ponies since the rights to past characters had been lost over time. For two years Lauren brainstormed, drew, and conceptualized scenarios, ponies, settings, and plots for the new show. By the end of the decade, the show was set to air.
The show revolves around the adventures of Twilight Sparkle, a studious lavender unicorn who's the personal protege of Princess Celestia, ruler of the country of Equestria. With her five friends Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, Applejack, Fluttershy, and Spike the assistant dragon, they learn about the magic of friendship and how important it is for maintaining harmony among ponies. The first couple episodes dealt with Twilight's discovery of Nightmare Moon's return and that she and her friends are to be bearers of The Elements of Harmony; mysterious artifacts that activate when the elements of kindness, loyalty, joy, honesty, generosity, and magic are used in tandem.
Unlike previous generations of My Little Pony, Friendship is Magic proved to be popular among an enormous demographic, bringing in lots of money for Hasbro. But while they were happy with financial success, Lauren Faust, as well as all else who worked on the show were happy to bring smiles to the faces of all those who watched it. And those who watched it gradually learned what true friendship entails, and how they could make the world a better place by spreading those teachings to everyone they met. And maybe, just maybe, humanity could craft a brighter future for themselves than what was previously thought possible.
Upon finishing Lyra's entry, Twilight took a moment to let it all sink in. Afterwards, she chuckled to herself.
"I never would've guessed you were one to think so far outside the box, Lyra," she mused out loud. Twilight re-furled the scroll and placed it among all the other entries she'd chosen to move forward in the selection process. "It's certainly something I never would've thought of doing myself."
And with that, she continued reading through submissions. All the while she did, though, Twilight's mind was fixated on Lyra's submission, specifically its premise.
Humans created ponies, but then we created them. Or, would we have both created each other? The multiverse theory suggests everything that's imagined exists, but if one's creation was responsible for the creation of its creator in turn . . . no wait, they'd have to both be each other's creator as well as each other's creation . . . but which came first; creator or creation? No, they're each other's . . .
Twilight snapped from her philosophical musings and breathed deeply to calm her aching mind. Afterwards, she continued reading submissions, though with a lot more focus.
"Props to Lyra for almost making my brain explode, heh heh."
one word epic
Well, that was... more or less expected
But seriously, nicely done. However, it seems this story is winding down a bit. Is this correct or am I just blind?
very nice
ERMAHGERD it got updated :-D yay!
YAY Lyra has here story in
I was thinking of what is was going to be about
And now I know thx for the update
This is going to be interesting.
Wait... WAIT. If Twilight Created HUMAN, which is just a story of the Human Race as a Whole, and Lyra creates Lauren Faust who Creates MLP: Friendship is Magic, wouldn't the Twilight from that story... Oh. Oh dear. I think that Lyra inadvertently broke the fourth wall with her submission into the final installment of HUMAN. I... I need to lie down...
2401607 Well, it's almost over.
1st book: Human
2nd book: Humans
3rd book: Humanity?
*gets his void katana's ready* whelp now things are gonna be fun PREPARE FOR TIME REAPER ATTACK!
Argh, I hate the meta wish-fulfillment rabble, rabble, pandering rabble, rabble, grrr...
Kidding. Lyra's entry was pretty nifty. I think she put in a hair too much detail, like stating Lauren Faust's career (the kind of detail that can be assumed and included when Twilight's first draft is written), and mentioning a particular number of previous MLP generations seems a little pointless.
Even if Spike's vignette isn't good enough to make it into Twilight's writing, it was still nice that Lyra included him in her outline. She's smarter than the average brony, a I frequently see people failing to realize how important he is in the show, in Lyra's story idea, and in Twilight's life sandwiched between the two.
2402096 homo-sapion-sapion....
2402051 Aww...
Oh well. It's still goood.
2402142
"The Reapers? Crap. We'll bang, Kay?". -Commander Shepard
So....
You write about a fictional world
The fictional world creates a very good rendition of our world
Then the fictional world which is really our world creates a show based on the lives of the creator of the rendition of our world. Neat.
Called it!
Still, I love me some recursion. I look forward to seeing what gets picked for
HUMAN: Resurrectionthe third installment.I think I died a little inside...
That was... (in the words of RainbowDash)... PURE AWESOME!!!
Please share your CRAZY talent with the rest of us??
When I started reading this I thought, "It might be cute, but probably something I'll just read when I have nothing else to read..." But now every time there's an update everything gets put aside for it!!! I love this story and even though I can see a lot of it coming it still makes me excited!!
Well done!!
WE CALLED IT!!!
Did humans make ponies or did ponies make humans, could it be both?
2402726 Which came first, the chicken or the egg?
I'm just sitting here waiting for a human to end up in Equestria and everyone to freak out and be like, "OMG Twilight totally knew this would happen! She can see across dimensions! She's a goddess!" And then she grows her wings. Much better than how she ACTUALLY became an Alicorn!
LOLOLOLOLOL I DO NOT SPREAD THE MAGIC OF FRIENDSHIP! I spread the power of the dark side, I darken the minds of others so that they may find strength through rage and hatred, and if they can focus that hatred, it can be used to strengthen their allies and destroy those who would oppose them.
Focus your hatred upon your weaknesses, and your weakness can be defeated.
2402750 A circle has no beginning.
2402096 If Lyra's fic is chosen, then that title is actually quite fitting.
[youtube=www.youtube.com/watch?v=APH1LIJaq7A]
2402750
forgot to add this as well
[youtube=www.youtube.com/watch?v=1a8pI65emDE]
2402404 time reapers there much worse
2402750 the egg, the chickens do not hold monopoly on egg laying therefore depending on how you look at it, the egg came first as the chicken had to be bred into what we call the modern domesticated chicken.
Twilight, you have NO FUCKIN' CLUE.
The back of my skull just exploded. Violently. I am now scraping up and reassembling the pieces of my blown mind.
Nope. I thought she was going to make a golem of her own and then it would get loose and, having the mentality of a child, would not understand why EVERYpony was chasing it. .
2402750
Logically speaking, regardless of your religious opinion, it would have to be the chicken. The chances of an egg just happening to have all the exact right conditions to hatch without a parent are probably less likely than aliens existing or Obama getting impeached for seeming to WANT to run the USA's economy into the ground (Given that he magically won the re-election when he was LOSING ), not to mention that once it hatched, then what? If it already had the instinct to know how to feed without adult guidance (unlikely, in the new world where who knows what is available for eating) then there would still be any possible predators to contend with, and the only way it could find out would be by experience, and if it's a chick still then chances are the first encounter with a predator would be it's last. IOW: chickens are extinct.
-
Yes, I know that had nothing to do with the actual reason you wrote that.
Brilliant installment of Lyra using the show as her submission.
Darn it, why don't they have a Lyra emotioncon?
2405263 Red and black striped alicorn?
*reads* ow.....my brain hurts
http://qkme.me/3tty6f
And, finally, one day, one particular fan known only as Razalon would write a story in which Twilight Sparkle wrote a story about strange bipedal creatures called 'humans'.
That's right, buddy. You're Lyra's fancharacter.
2409329 I'm the fan-character of your avatar?
JK
2401620 very nice indeed
2409495 Only if Lyra gets a Marill
2412593 You gave me comment #500 sir, Congratulations!
Ponies writing about humans writing about ponies... This is intriguing!
2413241 Ponyception!
2412926 I'm honored
2402512freedomtwentyfive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/WE-NEED-TO-GO-DEEPER.jpg
I now have a literal headache trying to figure out the constraints this would place upon physics, quantum mechanics and time. I mean, I think magic would be easier to do than plot out these equations.
SO BEAUTIFUL, SO AMAZING, AND SO BUCKING AWESOME!!!
2402533 Should've replied sooner.
How would I share my talent with you?
Vibes from Inception and the 13th Floor. Multiverse theory suggests that anything you can imagine MUST exist.
3739923 Proof of any of this?
This is the third time today I've had to put back together my head. I swear, if I see one more thing about paradoxes... *Looks back at paragraph*
Oh shi- *head explodes*
...No mention of how the country we invaded might be feeling?
Grammatical errors aside, how does one come to such a conclusion?
Frankly you should change the title of this fanfic to WHITE PEOPLE, because your gross misinterpretation of history fluctuates from being in bad taste to being outright offensive. There were other people of color in history besides Ghandi, and they did things other than build the pyramids and blow up some towers, and honestly you should not be using the September 11th attacks in your My Little Pony fanfiction, period. That is never okay.