Chapter I: A Morning in Ponyville

"Security Chief Shining Armour, Access Confirmed."

The door unlocked and Shining Armour pushed it open with a hoof, walking through, then shutting it with his telekinesis. Before him lay Ponyville's main control center. Hundreds of differing stations had been built in symmetrical rows and circles. Each one had a variety of complex displays, a plethora of monitors, and a bundle's worth of buttons and switches that he was afraid to look at out of fear he might switch something into a place it wasn't meant to be. Each station had at least two ponies (some had zebras or donkeys as well) dedicated to watching each and every detail. Each of the creatures probably had an advanced degree in the field that they controlled. Signs were built above each and every station, denoting their function and the ponies on shift. On his way to the security checkpoint, Shining noted a great many differing stations as he passed. There was Weather Tracking, Animal Control, Auxiliary Communications, Ponyville Power Grid, Tide Monitoring, Graphics Engineering, Set-Wide Dispatch, Background Pony Coordination, Air Traffic Control, Ambiance, Medical, and, the most critical of them all, Twilight Tracking. Keep in mind that this was just Ponyville's control center!

Suspended from the fifty foot ceiling were gigantic screens, each displaying the most important camera angles and data. All of said data seemed either pointless to Shining, or was too boggling to get much farther than the title sentence. Hundreds of voices echoed and chattered, making his ears constantly flick around whenever there was a shout from somepony in the room.

He finally made it to his destination; a set of titanium elevator doors with the words "Suite" written above. Four guards, each in combat uniform, stood beside the door, each with their hoof mounted rifles. The officers saluted the chief and Shining flashed his card over the elevator's scanner. The doors slid open to reveal a lavish, futuristic interior. He hit the "up" button as he stepped inside and the door shut behind him. With a whoosh, the elevator began its speedy ascent to the very top floor of the tower, stopping on a dime at the only floor it went to.

Shining stepped out, and could not help but admire his surroundings. The floor was carpeted in a lovely soft beige. The furniture was luxurious, and each and every thing was made out of hardwood or some sort of elegantly smooth synthetic material. Aside from the area that housed the elevator door, each and every inch of the walls were glass, looking out over the mighty capital city of the Confederacy. While the skyscrapers of the Confederate Capital were impressive, nothing in the city skyline was as tall as the Director's Tower. Speaking of the director, his figure stood in front of a lavishly large TV screen as he watched the delayed broadcast of the UECNN.

Before Shining could even open his mouth, the director silenced him with his own voice.
"Are you here to give your report, Chief Armour?" he said, turning to face the unicorn.

Shining gave a quick salute. "Yes, Sir." he said with an almost automatic tone.

"Go on then," the Director replied as he sat down in his chair, pointing to the swivel chair on the opposing side of his desk. Shining took the seat without a word.

"Order is being kept on the set. Well, at least better than order was being kept before. We've detected over fifty cases of contraband in the mail order systems. About twenty less cases than there were before the reboot. While the ponies outside of Ponyville are quite lazy about their schedules, I can be sure that they still are following set rules fairly well. I do have a concern however," Shining sighed, his eyes on the Director's.

"Yes?" the Director said, his eyebrow raised.

"My guards, Sir. They worked dutifully for the first year of the new Show. Now, they're starting to get a bit old," the Director's eyebrow rose farther. "They aren't doing there jobs as they should. They are constantly returning back to base for rest, and they're starting to miss important details that I was promised they should be able to find in a snap!" Shining Armour, trying to keep his voice level, breathed his frustration at the end of his sentence.

"I would like to request new guards," the security chief said with finality.

The Director sighed, "I had hoped they would last just a bit longer. Good guards are hard to find these days," he paused.
"Ah well, I am sure we can find suitable replacements. As soon as the new set arrive I want you to write out the old ones, got it?" Shining Armour nodded at the Director's words.

"I just hope we don't have to replace you," the Director said, pointing ominously at Shining's chest. After a moment of silence they both shared a small laugh.

"It won't come to that, Director!" Shining said with another chuckle.

"You're free to go. Expect those replacements some time next week!" the Director said with a jolly laugh.

On his way out, Shining noticed a small picture sitting on the Director's desk. It was a picture of him, as just a little colt, holding a baby Twilight Sparkle. The much younger frame of the Director stood above them both. Standing around the smiling trio was a camera crew, each member with grins on their faces as they aimed their various recording devices in the direction of the foal. Above them, stage lights illuminated the area. Behind them all was a pink logo with the words "My Little Twilight" written across the front of an intricate design with way too many hearts.

"I miss those days too, you know."

Shining jumped, he didn't even notice the Director standing right beside him.

"Those days when Twilight was too young to realize anything was out of place. Those days when "Equestria" didn't extend far from Canterlot and the surrounding fields. The days when you could depend on your security force for more than a year," the Director said, nostalgia in his voice. "If only we could've trained Twilight to think that a camera crew following her around was natural..." the Director's eyes wandered from picture back up to his TV screen.

"But, Sir, that would've ruined the entire point of The Show, wouldn't it?" Shining asked.

The Director nodded, turning to Shining Armour. "That it would have," he paused, "You may leave now, Security Chief Armour."

Shining nodded, turned, and walked back into the elevator.

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Lyra yawned for the billionth time that morning as she stepped out of the bathroom, towel around her mane, and a robe around her body. Thank goodness that Twilight was sleeping in! It drove everypony crazy when she woke up for a midnight snack and never went to sleep afterwards. Even though you were technically allowed to sleep, you always had to sleep with your eyes open for fear of a sneaky nighttime Twilight Sparkle.

She shoved some bread in the toaster, pulling open a cupboard and levitating out some vegemite. She picked up a newspaper, and put on a very specific set of reading glasses. The fake news of "Equestria" melted away and the latest news of the Confederacy showed through. It seemed that The Twilight Sparkle Show had broken TV records for viewership... again. She grinned as her eyes passed over a small article on a senator that had made a reference to her while doing a speech. She knew she had fans, but she never knew that she had fans in the government.

Putting away the newspaper and hiding the specialized glasses, Lyra walked over to the lounge. She hit some warm-up music. She breathed deeply, then started saying varying pitches of nonsense in beat with the music. While stiff at first, her voice eventually worked into a rhythm, her accent morphing into the one heard on The Twilight Sparkle Show.

*DING DONG*

Clicking off the music, she trotted over to the door and opened it. Her eyes popped open in shock as she saw not only her background buddy, Sweetie Drops, but Officer Blaze standing outside of her door. Lyra glanced around at the two.
"...Is there something wrong, Officer?" Lyra asked, perplexed as to why BonBon had brought a cop to "their" doorstep.

"Yes, yes there is," the stoic officer mumbled, sparing a hard glance at a sheepish looking Sweetie Drops. He looked back at Lyra, "I've been told you have contraband on the premises," he stated matter-of-factly.

Lyra wracked her brain. She definitely wasn't hiding anything illegal. She wouldn't be surprised if the cops had searched BonBon's place, but Lyra definitely hadn't done anything wrong!
"I-I can't think of anything I've done wrong, officer!" Lyra pleaded.

The policepony just shrugged, "Nevertheless, I have to perform a search of the place mentioned by Miss Bon here," he said, looking up at the mint green unicorn. Lyra looked at her friend, betrayed. What had BonBon accused her of?

The cop went straight for her (hardly used) Roll Top Desk, shoving the shutter open and peering inside. He reached and pulled out a pea-green hardcover book with "Anthropology" titled on the front and the back.
"What's this?" the officer pointed, with an accusing glare at Lyra, who immediately shot a stinkeye at her earth pony friend who had moved from the porch into the doorframe.

The officer dumped the contents of the desk out onto the floor. It consisted of thirteen more books in the Anthropology series, as well as a variety of papers, excerpts from other texts, and a dead rat.
"I don't know what you consider to be illegal, but anypony with eyes can see that this isn't allowed on the set! No books that haven't been screened or approved are to be allowed in the possession of anypony on the set." The officer started packing the items into a bag labelled "Confiscation".
"You can expect to hear about this violation sometime soon," Blaze said, calming himself and walking out of the house.

"Both of you should get ready, it won't be long until we go live," Magma Blaze shut the door behind him as he walked out. Lyra waited until she heard the squad cart pull away.

She turned to BonBon, anger on her face.
"You planted your stuff on me!" Lyra roared, BonBon wilted under the force of her voice. "I've just about had enough of your horse-hockey! You're nothing but an obsessive piece of garbage! You're not even a good actress! You can't decide on a accent for your character to speak! Last week it was French! What's it going to be today? Griffonian?"

By the time Lyra had finished ranting, BonBon's ears lay all the way back and she had practically sunk level to the floor.
"P-please Lyra, security would've eventually searched my room... I needed to put it all somewhere else! You know what's going to happen to me if I get written out!" BonBon practically whimpered.

Lyra looked down at the cream-coloured earth pony with a look of disgust.
"You're narcissistic too, huh? I ran your name through a friend in Security. You're not running away from some sort of zebrican mafia, are you? You're just some rich brat who's obsessed with myths and legends that ran away from your home up in the Peach Eastern. Even if all of that was true, it doesn't excuse blowing the whistle and planting your stuff on me to catch me with YOUR contraband!"

BonBon said nothing, just looking up at Lyra with a mixture of sadness and anger. Before she could retort, however, a voice rang out over their earpieces.

"Attention all background characters! Twilight Sparkle is starting to wake up, please secure all sensitive belongings and begin morning routine!"

The voice from Background Pony Coordination brooked no argument. The background pair began to move into their positions around the house. BonBon grabbed a watering can and began to water the flowerbeds outside the house. Lyra went up to the window, forcing a smile on her face. She flung open the shutters and faced the fresh new day in Ponyville.

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"Attention all background characters! Twilight Sparkle is starting to wake up, please secure all sensitive belongings and begin morning routine!"

Octavia Melody squinted in a small flare of petty annoyance. She was already miles ahead of everypony else in Ponyville. Already preparing her cello to make some morning ambient music. Well, she was miles ahead in relativity. She couldn't start playing until that stallion came around and plugged all of the cords into their audio jacks. She heard clanging and scraping from upstairs, as well as the flare of telekinesis. She smiled as a bumbling Vinyl Scratch walked down the stairs with a roll of wiring in his telekinetic grip.

A small part of The Show's audience, about fifty million people, had become fans of her husband. She was proud of him, the sound tech who lived in the set, but was a bit disturbed when everypony started thinking he was a mare. A boom arm was adjusted while Octavia did a final check on her instruments. Vinyl plugged the cords into their jacks and hit a few switches on his station. They looked at each other, he nodded, and she started playing.

All across the land of "Equestria", everypony who wasn't currently listening to a specific channel tuned into the site-wide radio. A favourite song among the crew played through radio Channel Five and even through a small speaker in the Director's office. In the control rooms, everypony who wasn't actively giving or taking commands took a little time to listen in to the beautiful melodies being broadcasted from Ponyville. Maintenance workers in the upper skies of Equestria, working on the panelling that made up the sky itself, whistled in tune with the song. They turned their volumes up to be audible above whatever power tools they were using. Shining Armour listened in as he sat in his office monitoring the security command computer.

It was a small gift, performing for the ponies who worked hard to ensure the stability of the casts' everyday lives. Octavia knew for a fact that living anywhere else would mean living a very boring life, working a very boring job, on standby in a cramped apartment.

However, none of it would be possible without the love of her life by her side, not only for the help of his technological expertise, but just for the general support he brought into her life. They had met in the military, funnily enough. Both doing their part in the battlefields of the Draconian Uprising. They both had a love for music, and for each other, and they were married as soon as their service was over. One of the privates on their squad decided to make a show about a small purple filly. When the show got rebooted as The Twilight Sparkle Show, the Director had found them, (an unemployed musical couple) and offered them a job as extras/musicians on his land of "Equestria". Free housing and a job of their dreams -- how could they resist? The only downside was that their contracts kept them bound to The Show until it ended, which meant they would all be here for at least another seven years.

Eventually the song came to an end, and her husband flipped a switch to turn over to a recorded track.

"Background Pony Coordination to Octavia Melody. Melody, are you finished for now?

One of the twenty coordinators dedicated to Ponyville spoke through the commlink. Octavia simply replied out loud, knowing that either the earpiece's microphone or one of the other recorders scattered around her house would pick up her reply.
"Yes, I am done. What do you need me to do?" she asked, preparing to put down her cello. While it sounded like the coordinator was asking whether or not she felt like taking a walk right now, it wasn't much more than just a polite way of phrasing an order to get out of the house.

"We need some ponies to thicken the crowd in Town Square. Please head there immediately and begin pattern 15-02-Zeta."

"Will Vinyl be coming with me?" she asked, sparing a glance at her husband and walking over to the door.

"Negative, she'll stay here and keep the house under protocol 2-01-Alpha."

"He," she said, opening the door and letting the sunlight pour through the opening onto her face.

"Excuse me?"

"Last time I checked, my husband is a stallion!" she growled, irritation very clear in her voice. The coordinator remained silent, probably evading his slip-of-the-tongue by switching to another channel. Vinyl remained silent and just shrugged when his wife looked his way. With a roll of her eyes, Octavia Melody walked out the door and prepared herself to face a fresh new day in Ponyville.

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Derpy Hooves flew through the skies over Ponyville, mailbags shaking around as she soared over the Ponyvillian rooftops. The bags were filled with mail, most definitely, but the contents of the letters were not meant for any of the cast below her. They were bound for the ponies in the power plant underneath "Canterlot Mountain". It wasn't Derpy's job to know what they were. They could be plans, instructions, or just mail in general being sent to the technicians that ensured all of "Equestria's" power was generated and directed where it was needed.

Derpy eyed Rainbow Dash's house enviously with her lazy eye. That actress did nothing but hang around Twilight all day, while other pegasi like Derpy broke their backs maintaining the complex machinery and engineering of the set and delivering supplies (and mail) wherever they were needed. It hurt even more when she thought about the ridiculous amount of pay the Mane Cast got on top of their extended privileges: larger and more complicated houses, special exceptions for the allowance of technology, and Rainbow was even going to get her book series promoted on the air!

However, Derpy couldn't dwell on the things that others had, she had a package to deliver! With her wings spread wide, Derpy Hooves prepared to face a fresh new day in Ponyville.

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Twilight Sparkle stirred in bed, peeking an eye open and staring out her window at the eight o'clock sun. It took her a moment to realize the meaning of the already risen sun. Twilight Sparkle jumped out of bed, her mane in a frazzle, and dashed into the bathroom. She took a hurried shower, and brushed her mane and tail back into their proper styles. She trotted out down the stairs, mentally berating herself for sleeping in. Now the library would be open an hour late!

She trotted out to find the sign already switched into the "Open" position. Spike was seated in a chair next to the open entrance, comic book in his claws as his eyes scanned the pages. Twilight sighed in relief. She was foolish to think that her number one assistant wouldn't come through for her in a sticky situation like this. Spike lowered his book and peered at his surrogate mother.
"Did you have a good sleep Twi? You sure did stay up late last night!" Spike greeted in his usual upbeat tone of voice.

"Heh, yeah. You know how it can go with me and my friends..." Twilight trailed off, a delicious scent coming to her nose.
"Spike, did you make me breakfast?"

"Yeah, I did!" Spike responded, nodding his head.

"Thank you Spike! You're so thoughtful!" she said, petting Spike's head as she did so. She proceeded to trot off to the kitchen to devour her food, having remembered just how hungry she actually was. She sat down and started forking her scrambled eggs and daisy sandwiches into her mouth. The food was excellent, as usual. She heard her little drake start dusting off the shelves, and she smiled at his dedication.

She stared out the window idly, watching as ponies walked by in groups of twos or threes. She watched the flower trio walk by, then she watched the flower trio walk by again. Most of the ponies walking were fairly silent, with only the sound of passing carts and the chirping of the songbirds breaking the silence. The feeling of food slipping down her gullet reminded her about something.

Her eyes narrowed as she thought hard about whatever she might be forgetting. Just as she swallowed the last bit of her healthy breakfast, she remembered.
"I forgot to pay back Applejack for her apples the other day!" she said, getting up and telekinetically dumping her dishes in the sink. Not wanting to delay her debts a moment longer, she grabbed her saddlebags and started to head for the door, ready to face a fresh new day in Ponyville.

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The Director stood at the back of the Control Center. Ponies ran back and forth in front of him, conveying information and taking data from their co-workers. A variety of screens displayed their information to the Director's searching eyes. He could see the current optimal camera angle on Twilight, the current patterns of the background ponies, and the most important of them all, the screen displaying the current live viewership. At this very moment, about two billion creatures from all around the Confederacy were tuned in to Channel 87, the channel whose sole content was The Twilight Sparkle Show.

In another week or so, the crew would have to start putting up the decorations for Nightmare Night. The writing staff had run the idea by him to have Princess Luna visit Twilight for Nightmare Night. It was not exactly what the Director would've wanted, but it satisfied the fans' thirst for more of the Lunar Princess. Satisfied fans equals more money. That, along with more viewers of course. The Director smirked. My Little Twilight had made trillions for him, The Twilight Sparkle Show would make him King of the World before long. He just needed to wait.

"Sir, Pinkie Pie is wondering whether or not it is permissible to check out a book from Golden Oaks, Sir," a pony to his left said, a slight quiver in her voice. The Director looked at the pony, and saw that she was an intern, of course. It explained why she was so intimidated by him. He couldn't blame her, he was fairly intimidating.

"What does she want to check out?" the Director asked, watching the amount of live viewers skyrocket as more and more creatures switched to Channel 87.

"She didn't say, Sir," the intern answered.

The Director looked at the mare for a second or two, then nodded.
"Yes, she has my permission. Tell Pinkie that if Twilight asks her about it to try to pass it off as another crazy stunt," the intern nodded and trotted back over to a station over in the Communications section. There was a beep from his phone. He fished it out of his pocket and found a message notifying him that Shining's new platoon of guards were on their way. He put the device away and watched the screens as Pinkie Pie's tracker started to close in on the Golden Oaks Library. Cracking his neck, the Director prepared himself for yet another day in the life he had made for Twilight Sparkle.

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Pinkie Pie bounced her way to the tension zone of Ponyville, the Golden Oaks Library. Everypony was walking in their circular formations around the Library. Any normal observer would have eventually noticed the amount of repetitiveness in the ponies' patterns, but not Twilight Sparkle. Twilight had been raised with the world literally revolving around her, so how could she notice the strangeness of her situations?

Her mane and tail felt like fluffy concrete, stiff and bouncy as she hopped down the streets of Ponyville. She made sure to wave at the background ponies as they passed on by. It was part of her character to be happy and friendly, but she probably would've said "hi" to everypony in town with or without the Director's orders. Not only were they overworked and underappreciated, but they at least needed some support from their colleagues. In all honesty, Ponyville really did need a real Premier Party Pony to keep the cast's relationship with each other from falling apart. Unfortunately, Pinkie didn't see herself as the one to really bring that happiness about. Although, the Director would definitely try to put her in that position.

The pink pony bounced her way right up to the front door. The door flew open, catching her right across the face. Pinkie got a glimpse of Twilight's face as she inadvertently smacked her with the door. She tumbled, using a practiced manoeuvre to somersault over the door and land on the other side. She heard a gasp as Twilight realized who she had just clobbered. Twilight looked at the side of the door Pinkie should've been on, before gasping again as Pinkie voice came out from behind her.
"Hiya Twilight!" she shouted, scaring the unicorn to death.

Twilight spun on her hooves, before facehooving at Pinkie's presence. Twilight had had a very hard time figuring out how Pinkie "predicted" future events. She didn't realize that Pinkie was simply listening to instructions from her superiors. The acrobatics and sleight-of-hoof she had taken as a filly seemed to have paid off in the long run. Pinkie seemingly teleported around the set and pulled items our of nowhere by using the skills she had learned, surprising both Sparkle and the rest of the Mane Cast.

"Gee, you scared me Pinkie!" Twilight said, breathing heavily from the shock. "What-what're you doing here?" she asked.

"I wanna check out a book!" she said, starting to bounce as it clicked in her mind that she was supposed to hopping.

"Spike can help you with that," she pointed a hoof back at her little dragon. "I have to go out to Sweet Apple Acres. I just remembered that I had forgotten to pay Applejack back for that bushel of apples I bought last week!" Twilight said, trotting away as if she had not a care in the world. It wasn't as if she had any worries to speak of, anyway. A voice spoke over Pinkie's earpiece.

"Attention Sweet Apple Acres, you got lavender heading your way to interact with Applejack. Carrot Top, get yourself a cart and start heading out of town towards your house using the path towards the Everfree, over."

Pinkie bounced inside, almost having an unfortunate meeting between the doorframe and her forehead. Spike sighed, collapsing back into his chair. Pinkie glanced sympathetically at him, shutting the front door.
"Rough night?" Pinkie asked, sitting down beside the dragon.

Spike looked over at Pinkie with the type of irritation that only nine year old dragons could muster.
"Yeah, Twilight left her mess after you girls all left," he groaned, putting down his mop in the bucket.

Spike was once going to be the other Mane Character, but dragons were a bit more aware than your average pony. When he finally noticed the façade of his life, the Director thought it best to let him in on everything. No one really knew what the Director said to him, but all Pinkie knew was that it compelled Spike to keep the reality of the existence of The Show from his surrogate mother.

"You okay?" Pinkie asked, looking the little dragon up and down.

Spike sighed, "Yeah, I'll be fine." he said, walking over to the bucket and picking up his mop.
"Was there actually a book you wanted to check out, or did you just want to hang out?" he asked after a pause.

"Yeah! Now that you mention it, can you get me Volume III of Game Theory?" she asked, bouncing away down the library's stacks.

Spike grumbled something, getting up and heading towards row three, section four. Together, Spike and Pinkie prepared for yet another new day in Ponyville.

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"Attention Sweet Apple Acres, you got lavender heading your way to interact with Applejack!

Applejack's heart skipped a beat as she ran from her room out to the porch, grabbing a broom from the closet as she did so. The crew outside who were bucking and transporting apples to the barn made themselves scarce, running to their assigned hiding spots out of sight around the Acres. Sure, it would probably be a about a half an hour before Twilight got to her, but when lavender was coming your way, you'd better be ready to sing and dance. Applejack was content in making herself look busy by sweeping off the porch while Big Mac grabbed some of the baskets, abandoned by the crew, and started to haul them back to the barn.

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Derpy Hooves made a touchdown in front of the Reactor Administration Building, or at least what she thought was the Administration Building. The admin's building had to be the big tall grey one with all the warning labels, right? It was hard to tell which was which in the big, dark caverns below Canterlot. She walked right up to the big metallic door with "Danger: Electrified Surfaces" written on the front, and found it slightly ajar. That was soooo thoughtful of them, leaving the door open for her like that! With a smile, Derpy Hooves ran through into a long corridor lined with pipes and slightly sparky cables.

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Twilight Sparkle trotted a merry pace through the streets of Ponyville, making her way to Sweet Apple Acres. The town was quite lively today, with ponies walking around to their various destinations. Some were sitting on park benches, while some eating a late breakfast at the many quaint cafes littered around the town. She spotted Octavia sitting on a bench, reading a book, most likely something on classical music. The flower trio were tending to their flowers at their cute little stand. BonBon and Lyra were walking together with... very upset looks on their faces.

Twilight stopped, looking their way. The two ponies seemed to notice, smiles resuming a little too late.
"Is there a problem?" Twilight asked, starting to make her way over to the duo.

"Uhh..." they both said intelligently. A quick look was shared between the two friends.

"No!"

"Of course not!"

"We're the best of friends!"

"Yeah... right?"

"Mmhmm, no problems here!"

"Yep!"

Twilight looked at Lyra and BonBon as they fell into awkward silence. She took a breath.
"Okay..." the three of them stood in silence. Twilight pursed her lips, it was in her nature to try to solve friendship problems, yet there were also times to try to keep out of it.

The lavender mare turned the question around in her mind for a good long time. After a bit of mulling she came to a decision. Friendship problems are made to be solved, ergo, she would be solving this one!
"Come with me to the library! I'll break out a few volumes on psychology and we can all talk about it!" Twilight chirped, turning on hoof and trotting back in the direction of her library. Lyra and BonBon looked at each other, searching each other for ideas, before sighing and preparing themselves to face Twilight Sparkle.

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Applejack had swept the porch about three times over, knowing that the only other thing she could be doing was bucking apples. That would definitely be her last resort! She had expected Twilight to have arrived by now. What could be taking do long?

"All characters please be advised, lavender is moving away from the Acres back towards Golden Oaks. Lyra and BonBon are currently instructed to stay with lavender until further orders. Ponyville, resume standard mid-morning protocols for a Class-D friendship problem, over.

Applejack threw the broom in a huff, grumbling as she walked back inside. The crew came back out of their places and set back to work clearing the apple trees of their apples.

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Derpy Hooves burst through the door on the other side of the Hallway of Electro-Zappy Hair. She patted down her locks as they kept insisting on pointing towards the ceiling. Her bright eyes searched the four-way hallway for a mail room, or anywhere that she could deposit her load. One door seemed to be locked and the other had some very scary noises pulsing from the other side. The last door, however, swung open on Derpy's push, leading into a dark room. It was empty, aside from a very large duct on the south wall.

Derpy trotted over to a small hatch on the side. A sticker on the side read, "Danger: Do not open whilst auxiliary ventilation is online." She twisted the handle, opening the panel. A long drop into an inactive fan awaited below the slab of metal. It was a lot different from the vacuum tubes that she had worked with back on the outside, but it wasn't her job to question the mechanics of it. Besides, this had to be the mail room, right? No idiotic reactor worker would leave all the doors open for her otherwise.

With a shrug, Derpy hefted her mailbag and dumped its contents into the shaft. Packages clanged and letters fluttered as the mailbag emptied itself. With a merry whistle, Derpy Hooves shut the access panel and trotted out of the facility, taking off back to Cloudsdale Distribution for her next delivery. With a positive attitude, Derpy Hooves prepared herself for the rest of her day in the Land of Equestria.

Author's Note

I wanted to cover a bit about the Background Six here.

The story is still mostly about the Mane Six however.

Again, big thanks to my mother for proofreading and editing!