• Published 5th Mar 2013
  • 5,379 Views, 533 Comments

HUMAN By: Twilight Sparkle - Razalon The Lizardman



A unique take on the HiE concept.

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A lesson forgotten . . . and another learned

Had anypony tried to enter the Golden Oaks library for any purpose, be it checking in/out a book or attempting to coerce Twilight into leaving, they'd be barred entry by the force field said unicorn had surrounded her home with. Ponies who passed the library would stare at the barrier in relief, as they knew all about Twilight’s obsessive-compulsive mentality due to the Want it, Need it, Smarty Pants incident. Twilight’s closest friends, however, only grew increasingly concerned about her well-being each time they passed the lavender unicorn's home.

It had been a couple of weeks since Twilight started work on her HUMAN project, as she was now calling it, and just a few days since putting up the barrier. Her friends knew exactly what she intended with it; keep everypony from distracting her until she was finished with her project. Spike was allowed to leave/return to the library by way of Twilight’s teleportation whenever he wished and would update the group on Twilight's condition from time to time. At first the group thought to inform Princess Celestia of the current dilemma, but ultimately decided against it confident that another "Smarty Pants" incident wasn't in danger of occurring. Plus, they all knew how important Twilight's project was to her, and the last thing they wanted the lavender unicorn thinking was that her friends didn't care about it. After all, that was the lesson they'd learned as a result of the "Smarty Pants" incident.

Currently, Spike was returning home with a box of cupcakes from Sugarcube Corner. Though Twilight hadn’t requested any food, he'd decided to bring some for her anyway. Along the way, however, Spike succumbed to temptation and started eating the delicious treats at his leisure. By the time he'd returned to Golden Oaks, only four of the sixteen cupcakes remained. Holding the box in one hand, he lifted the remaining one to announce his return via the designated "secret knock" on the barrier.

“IT’S DONE!!!”

The sudden exclamation from inside the library startled Spike, making him drop the remaining cupcakes onto the ground. Before the baby dragon could groan in frustration, however, he was teleported inside the library where he found himself staring at Twilight bouncing around the ground floor like a maniac, levitating an enormous rolled-up scroll with her magic. All the dragon could do was stare in awed concern until the lavender unicorn finally remembered his presence.

“Spike!” she exclaimed, looking at him with the widest grin possible. “I’ve finally finished HUMAN!”

“That’s . . . great,” Spike replied. No matter how many times Twilight went hyper-emotional, it seemed he never could find immunity to its effect on himself.

“You betcha,” Twilight said. “And I know just what to do with it.”

She immediately picked up a nearby quill and blank parchment.

“NO!!!” Spike shouted.

Twilight turned to look at him, her jaw agape and eyes blank in surprise.

“You’ve done enough, Twilight,” Spike continued. “You’ve done nothing but write for too long; I’m surprised your mane and tail aren’t disheveled from lack of grooming. You NEED to get out of here and do something else. Staying inside for too long is unhealthy; one would think you’d have learned that by now.”

Twilight continued to stare blankly at her assistant for a few moments before sighing. Spike was right; she HAD been cooped up in the library for far too long. Thoughts of her friends concerned for her well-being invaded Twilight's mind and she couldn't help but cringe thinking what they probably thought of her by now. Still, she wanted to find SOME way to continue working on her project. And just like that, an idea was hatched in her overused brain.

“You’re right, Spike,” she replied. “Let’s go celebrate my accomplishment with our friends. After all, they had a helping hoof in it themselves, no matter how small it may have been.”

Spike sighed with relief. “Sure thing, let’s go.”

And with that, the pair set off to gather their friends for celebration.


As the citizens of lower Manhattan looked up at the North Tower in both awe and concern, a familiar noise was heard approaching from overhead. Looking skyward for the source, a second plane was seen barreling towards the still intact South Tower. The first impact had attracted attention from every news outlet in the city. As a result, plenty of cameras bore witness to the second plane's impact with the South Tower. The screams of onlookers were immeasurable when the realization that the collisions were not accidental, but a coordinated assault instead, hit everyone hard and fast. As debris from the second impact rained down onto the streets-

“STOP!”

Everypony was so enraptured by Twilight's narration that when Fluttershy suddenly shouted their hearts all skipped a beat. Turning to face her, they saddened upon seeing how visibly distraught Fluttershy was. Though she'd rid herself of any nightmares brought about by the graphic content of Twilight's story, hearing it narrated still left the butterscotch pegasus anguished and in tears.

“It's okay, Fluttershy," Twilight said to her. "Take all the time you need to let it all out."

Fluttershy looked at her for a brief moment before she resumed crying. Twilight sighed; she and Spike were treating their friends to smoothies in celebration of Twilight’s story's completion. When they all asked how their contributions were implemented she decided to read parts of the story which showcased them. Since Fluttershy didn't object, Twilight assumed she overcame her distaste for the story's graphic nature. It was clear now, however, that she hadn't.

Once Fluttershy stopped crying Twilight spoke to her again. “Will you be alright?”

Fluttershy wiped away a few tears and nodded. “Continue,” she said.

Twilight picked up the scroll and resumed reading.

As debris from the explosion rained down onto the streets of Manhattan, several bystanders took out their cellphones to call 911, the emergency telephone number, which also happened to be the current number date. It didn’t take long at all before every fireman, police officer, and hospital worker was on the scene doing everything they could to get control of the situation at hand before full blown pandemonium ensued. Several were injured by falling debris, while others were trapped inside the doomed towers waiting to be rescued. Dozens were likely dead, and more deaths would surely follow if the worst had yet to pass.

Those watching the scene unfold on their televisions from the safety of their living rooms were either baffled, shocked, horrified, or (the most common case) any combination of the three. But above all else, they wanted to know one thing: why? Why did this happen? Who was responsible? What were their motivations? Could anything have been done to prevent this terrible tragedy from occurring? At the moment, however, all anyone could do was watch the scene unfold and keep the hope that things would turn out okay alive.

One thing, however, was for certain; America had lost its innocence. After having spent over a century without conflict on its home turf, the American people had now seen the horrors of modern war firsthand. Like all people, they would seek to bring justice to those responsible for invading and attacking their homeland, and they would not rest until said task was accomplished.

Twilight rolled up the scroll and placed it onto the table in front of her before returning her friends’ gaze.

“Now then,” she continued, “I have another tidbit of news to announce.”

All of Twilight's friends looked at her excitedly; she took a couple gulps of her smoothie before resuming.

“Such a literary masterpiece as the one we created deserves to be published in hardback. I know a publisher back in Canterlot who could do just that. With me being Princess Celestia’s personal protege, I can all but guarantee he’ll agree to do it. I’m telling you all this because since you all helped me write it, it’s only fair for you all to receive an equal share of profits.”

Twilight looked at each of her friends to see them all smiling. Taking a sip of her own smoothie, Applejack spoke up.

“Well, that’s mighty kind of ya sugarcube; I’d definitely love ta be able ta pay for some renovatin’ around Sweet Apple Acres.”

“Yes, thank you Twilight dear,” Rarity said. “Every single bit certainly helps me and my boutique.”

“Th . . . th . . . thank you,” Fluttershy stuttered.

“Ooh, maybe we could throw a we-all-get-rich party,” Pinkie Pie said, bouncing in her seat excitedly. “IT’D BE GREAT!!!”

“I know what I’d do if I had a few thousand bits,” Rainbow Dash said, smiling wistfully. "I'd book a reservation at that new DELOS resort out west.”

“I’m glad to see you’re all as excited about this as I am,” Twilight said as she levitated the enormous scroll her story was written upon. “I think this little world of ours will teach everyone who reads it a very important lesson, not just in friendship but life itself. No matter how many flaws you might have you can push through the hardships in life and be happy; that’s essentially what humans represent in this story. For all their wars, atrocities, and unspeakable acts of malevolence against their own kind, humans need only to lend each other their support and they can build a bright future for not just themselves, but their entire world.”

Twilight gulped down the rest of her smoothie before continuing.

“I was a fool when I first began writing this story. I figured a doomed future would await any world devoid of magic. What I didn’t account for, however, was the magic of friendship exists in every living thing, no matter how malevolent and hateful they may appear to be. It was only once you all started helping me that I began to realize that truth. Thanks for all your help in shaping both me personally and this little world of ours to be better.”

After Twilight finished her little speech, tears formed in the eyes of everypony in the group, even the usually stubborn and prideful Rainbow Dash. For the next few minutes, they let loose their tears freely, not caring what anypony else nearby might think of them. Twilight’s speech had moved them too much to care. Seeing all of her friends crying made Twilight shed a few tears herself, only to be cut off by the sound of roaring flames to her left. She turned to see Spike in the process of sending a letter to the princess.

“SPIKE!!!” Twilight shouted.

Unfazed by the loud exclamation practically right in his ear, Spike looked up at Twilight with a modest smile on his face and a few tears of his own adorning his cheeks.

“Don’t worry, I caught every word.”

Realizing Spike’s deed, Twilight sighed and patted her assistant on the head.


It had been a week since Twilight sent her story to the publisher in Canterlot. Just as she expected, the reply letter stated that HUMAN would be published and made available for purchase right away. Twilight couldn’t help but feel a rush of pride at being able to return the gesture to all the great authors she had admired all throughout her life by contributing such an enlightening work as HUMAN to the field of literature. The publisher had said that he had never seen anything bursting with as much creativity and philosophical importance as HUMAN, and if word of mouth worked in their favor, he expected to sell at least one million copies of HUMAN by the end of the month.

Currently, Twilight was sleeping the morning in, something she hadn’t done since she started work on HUMAN and rarely even before then. She was woken out of her slumber, however, by a knocking on the library’s front door.

“Spike,” she said, groggily. “Could you get that?”

When more knocking came with no answer from her assistant, Twilight looked up to see Spike wasn’t in bed. She panicked at first, but quickly remembered he was due for a dentist appointment with Minuette that morning. Realizing he must've went on his own, Twilight got out of bed and, after stretching her legs a bit, proceeded downstairs to the library's front door. More knocking sounded as she approached it.

“I’M COMING!” Twilight yelled.

Using her telekinesis, Twilight opened the front door to a most unexpected sight. Before the library stood a crowd that must've consisted half of Ponyville's population. Upon closer inspection, Twilight saw everypony had something in common; they were all holding a book to their chests with a fore hoof. They all read 'HUMAN' and showed a picture of a human male wearing what looked to be blue pants, a white shirt, black and gray shoes, and a black jacket of sorts. As realization dawned on Twilight, a certain mint green unicorn mare near the front of the crowd stepped forward; the widest smile possible present on her face.

“So,” Lyra said, “how long before the sequel?”

Author's Note:

I expect a plethora of "MOAR!!!"s in the comments.