In the winter of 1998, they finally found another one. Technically speaking, they’d found others in ‘98, but this was the first one in the year to be found alive. Three others had been found in the summer, both killed. Thing is, this wasn’t as bad as it sounded. They were killed, they didn’t show up already dead, like most.
Twilight was very relieved when Gottschalk didn't put him in The Cage. He was given the room next to hers, which was identical to hers. Barth had a few objections, but he was under Gottschalk’s command, his word was law in Area 69.
Unlike Twilight, he wasn't brought into the base in containment, only concealment from the public. He was still a bit injured, but only a few scrapes and bruises, no worse than Twilight when she first entered.
This one wore clothes, something that hadn't occurred to the scientists before. His coat was a sort of teal color, his hair and tail were black, just like his colored shirt that stretched only to about half way down his back. He also wore a white tie and some sunglasses. A first, Barth thought they were some sort of military technology, a form of visual communication. Paranoid bastard snatched them right off his face and started inspecting them before he even introduced himself.
Gottschalk and the new ‘subject’ walked down one of the many hallways that made up the living quarters that had been built to house scientists in the fifties, which would now serve as their homes.
“So...w-what are you gonna do to me?” The alien asked. He was a bit frightened, and who wouldn't be. Some tall thing in a white coat takes you to some underground base, how could you not be at least a little scared?
“Well it’s late now, but tomorrow we’ll probably take you into the kitchen and start the stew.” Gottschalk said in a serious tone. The new subject’s eyes shrunk to pinpricks as his sunglasses fell off his face. Gottschalk laughed a bit. “I-I’m sorry, but that... that was just too easy. I’m very sorry, but I had to. We’ll ask you some questions tomorrow morning, get to know Twilight and get some rest.”
“Twilight?”
“Twilight Sparkle, she was the first one to be brought here, she’ll be happy to see another one of her kind here. Ah, here we are, room number one o’ two. Twilight is in room one o’ one.”
“Who are you, by the way?”
“Sorry, where are my manners?” He stretched out his hand. “I’m doctor Steven Gottschalk. I run Area 69.”
“Neon Lights. DJ.” He shook the doctor’s hand.
“Well, have a nice night Neon. I’ll be two floors up in three fifty-five if you need anything.”
“Um... thanks.”
In his room, Barth went over the notes and documents Gottschalk had copied and given to him. The reports weren't consistent as far as time went, only ‘useful’ information was written down, which Barth considered a stupid move by Gottschalk. Any and all information on them was more valuable than all the money in the world to him. After a while, it seemed as though Gottschalk just listened to the alien, instead of recording what she told him, more like a conversation than an interview.
Gottschalk was constantly on the lookout for reports of aliens, UFO’s and anything that could possibly be more Equestrians. He eventually stopped looking for UFO reports, deeming them useless. He now only looked for legitimate sightings. Most of the time they were pranks, fakes, or just people seeing things in the forest. He almost lost hope that anyone’d be able to get to Earth from Equestria without dying, seeing Twilight as a cosmic fluke. Until he’d found Neon Lights of course.
Back a few floors down, Neon introduced himself to Twilight. Twilight was ecstatic to see another pony. She had to resist the urge to just hug him then and there, she was so excited. She hadn't seen another pony in about two years now.
“OHMYGOSHICAN’TBELIEVEANOTHERPONYISREALLYHERE!” She yelled out, all in one breath. Taking a few deep gulps of air, she finally was able to speak again.
“Woah! Calm down.” Twilight blushed a bit.
“Heh, sorry. I’ve seen nothing but humans for the past few years, and it’s really nice to see another sentient being of my own species.”
“Senta-what?”
“Another pony.”
“Oh.”
“Um, I’m Twilight.”
“Neon Lights.”
“So, how’d you get here? I don't really remember how they brought me here.” She asked.
“It was some big green thing, lots a’ those tall things in the back with me, and they all had uniforms and metal sticks, they wouldn't talk to me.”
“Oh, they’re called humans, those tall creatures. And the ones with the uniforms are called ‘Marines’. Doctor Steven says they're pretty much like our Royal Guards.”
“Steven?”
“Doctor Gottschalk.”
“Guards to keep us in or others out?”
“Both, unfortunately.”
“So we can’t leave.” Neons tone dropped, as did his head a bit.
“Well, Doctor Steven says that if we got out, we’d cause a panic.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“We’ll I know this sounds weird, but this isn't our world, we’re the aliens here.”
“Sure, and I’m the prince of Canterlot.”
“I’m serious! This planet is called Earth, and It’s probably the strangest place I’ve ever seen, or even heard of.”
“How’s that?”
“Well, I got Doctor Steven to get me some books on their history. They’re all about things that happened two hundred years ago, but some of them sound like things from the future! They’re far more advanced than us. See these lights?” She looked up.
“What about them?”
“How do you think they work?”
“Magic.” He said in a very matter-of-factly fashion.
“Wrong, electricity. Massive amounts of electricity! This whole world runs on the stuff!”
“I-um... I don't get you. Do they just conjure lightning into those tubes in the ceiling?”
“Believe it, this entire planet runs on electricity! Humans can’t do magic, Doctor Steven thought it was a fairy tale before he met me.”
“Twilight, this is... I-It’s nice to meet you and all, but I've had a long day, and I need some sleep. It’s not that I don't believe you, I...I just need to rest for a while, I’ve been really sore the past few days.”
Thinking back to the first day she was brought here, she remembered that she felt the same way. “Alright, good night Neon Lights.”
“Thanks, good night.”
Twilight herself went back to her own room and threw the sheets over herself when she hopped in bed. She fell asleep with a smile on her face, knowing there was another pony she could talk to. She enjoyed talking to Gottschalk, but it simply wasn't the same, talking to an alien.
It was around 7 o'clock the next morning when Gottschalk, knocked on Twilight’s door to wake her up.
“Twilight, it’s time to wake up.” He said gently, and Twilight groaned in annoyance, holding a pillow over her head to drone out the noise.
“Mmmph, leeme alone.” She mumbled drearily.
“Come on Twilight, time to get up.” Another grunt was her reply. “Oh c’mon Twilight, don't you want to talk to your new friend? Neon Lights, was it?”
In her tiredness, she’d forgotten the events of the day before. “Oh my goodness, I forgot!” Without another moment's notice, she shot out of bed and did a nice, perfect faceplant on the ground.
Gottschalk laughed, then helped her up. “He’s in the cafeteria, he got up about an hour ago.”
Twilight ran down the halls and towards the cafeteria. The cafeteria was the only place she ever talked to the marines, but today she had no interest in them, only in talking to Neon lights about what has gone on in Equestria since she left. She ran so fast that she actually slid next to him in an attempt to stop. She took a seat next to him and a few marines and asked a few questions.
“Morning Neon.” She greeted.
“Oh, hi umm...Twilight? It’s Twilight right?”
“Yes. Would you mind if I asked you some things?”
“Guess not, the bearded one asked me a ton of questions, but I can answer yours if you answer one of mine first.”
“Of course, what do you need answered?”
“It’s a very important question.”
“What is it?”
“Closer.” He waved her closer, she got closer. “Closer.” She got a bit closer. “Why does the food here taste like shit?” He whispered.
“Very funny.”
“No seriously, why does the food taste like this?” He asked, deathly serious.
“Because,” came a voice from behind them. “It’s good for you.” They looked up to see doctor Gottschalk.
“Well at least that’s one thing that won't change no matter where you go. Healthy food always sucks.” Neon said. The doctor chuckled.
“That it does. How are you two hitting it off?” Steven asked asked, smiling at both of them.
“Actually, I was just about to ask him some questions that you might like to hear too.” Twilight responded
“Alright then, mind if I sit?”
“It’s your base Doctor Steven.” He took a seat in front of them and listened.
“Well, when I left, the changeling queen had been defeated by my brother and Princess Cadence. But that was two years ago, what’s happened since then.”
“I... wait, wait a sec. You said that was two years ago?”
“Well, I got here two years ago, and this planet has the same numbers of days in a year, so yes, two years.”
“I think you’re confused, I was at that wedding in Canterlot, and that was only about a year and a half ago. You couldn’t have been here for two years.”
“That’s very strange, but it could be possible, I suppose.” Gottschalk said.
“How?” Twilight asked.
“Well, we know that you don't remember how you traveled here, but he may remember more.”
“Let me save you some trouble, I don't remember anything. One minute I was DJ -ing, the next moment I’m in some forest, covered in snow. I went to the closest town, they fed me, gave me a bed, then these guys came and took me.”
“Yes, you were somewhere up in Newfoundland. So you don’t remember how you traveled here?”
“I’m saying that I didn’t travel here. One second I’m in Canterlot, the next I’m in... what did you call it? Newfinland?”
“Alright, that’s very confusing, but for the sake of argument, lets say you just can’t remember the journey. How does that time difference work?”
“Maybe, some form of time displacement spell? There are time altering spells in the Canterlot Archives.” Twilight responded.
Gottschalk put his head in his hands. “You can alter TIME!?”
“I take it humans have never done that before?”
“Well, there are scientists trying, but they haven't been able to do anything significant. We’ve figured out that it’s possible to slow down time, but that’s all we’ve got, and it’s very difficult. It's only a theory, actually.”
“Well that’s a start. But, back to Neon. A time spell could explain the time difference.”
“Yea, I guess it could. Thing is, that doesn’t explain how I got here.” Neon said.
“Don’t look at me.” Gottschalk said. “I only work here.”
“But you’re a scientist, shouldn’t you know how we got here?” Twilight asked.
“Twilight, when I find out how you got here, you’ll be the first to know. If unraveling the inner workings of wormholes and time displacement doesn't kill me first.”
“Okay, so what kind of things do you do for fun here?” Asked Neon, trying to kickstart a lighter conversation.
“Well, Doctor Steven here is very good at getting things I want, like all those books.”
“Books? That’s all you get?”
“Hey, I like books. Wait, you said you were a DJ right?”
“Yea.”
“Doctor, do you think you could get Neon some turntables?” Twilight asked.
“I suppose I could. It would take longer than getting books, but I can have it arranged.”
“You’d do that for me Doc?”
“One of my many jobs is to make sure you two stay happy while you’re here.”
“So what, you’re like our personal servant?” Neon asked with a suggestive grin.
“Don’t be fooled Neon, I’m a nice guy, but I’m a scientist, not a servant.”
“Fair enough. Thanks Doctor.”
“So, what kind of records would you need?”
“Well, to scratch? Electronic is the best material.”
“So you have electronic music in Equestria?” Gottschalk asked.
“Yea, we have all kinds of music.”
“Would you mind telling me about your music?”
Doctor Gottschalk and Neon Lights started talking about the types of music in Equestria, the similarities between Equestrian music and Human music, and so on and so forth. Twilight, seeing no place for herself in their conversation, left. She was walking back to her room, to read some more when she passed by an open door. There was the sound of a bunch of people yelling.
Fearing the worst, she burst open through the doorway and was prepared to deal with whatever happened, but it was only a movie. It was playing on a large flat screen, what the humans called a T.V.
“AM I THE ONLY ONE AROUND HERE WHO GIVES A SHIT ABOUT THE RULES!? MARK IT ZERO!”
“They’re callin’ the cops man. Put the piece away.”
Hearing the door open, one of the two marines sitting in the room paused the movie and got up. “Um... hello miss Sparkle. Are you allowed to be here?”
“Oh, I’m sorry, I heard yelling. I thought something was happening. I’ll go.”
“No, you can stay if you want, we just need to know if it’s alright with Doctor Gottschalk. We don’t want to get in any trouble.”
“Doctor Steven is fine with me wandering, the elevator is locked to these floors anyway.”
“Alright then, I guess it’s fine. Go ahead and take a seat, we were just watching this new movie. It’s The Big Lebowski.”
Twilight had never seen a movie in color, and never one that wasn’t on a big white screen. She’d also never seen a movie that wasn't a documentary, and wasn't sure how human movies worked, she assumed that all of this was real, given how convincing it was.
Twilight and the marines watched the movie, and the marines laughed away. Twilight sat quietly, snickering at some parts, but studying it for the most part. After the movie ended, Twilight found she was still interested, she considered it a learning experience. Something that, if she ever got back to Equestria, she could send her mentor letters about.
“That was great, best movie I’ve seen in months.” One of them said.
“Not as good as Austin Powers.” The other replied.
“Can’t argue with that.”
“Can we watch it?” Twilight asked.
“Sure.” He got up from his chair. “I know I got the tape somewhere here.” He said, rummaging through the shelf of tapes. He eventually found the case, and inserted the black box into the VCR.
Twilight was, again, studying a comedy movie as if it were a documentary. The movie ran for a while before Doctor Gottschalk opened the door, filling the dark room with light. The two marines cringed like vampires in the sunlight.
“Oh, hello Doctor.”
“Hello Twilight, enjoying the movie?”
The stood up and saluted their superior. What? You thought I was joking when I said he ran Area 69? Gottschalk didn’t like being saluted, thought it gave him a big head.
“At ease.” Gottschalk commanded. They put their arms down.
“Hello Doctor, Twilight came in and wanted to watch some movies, we hope you don’t mind.”
“Actually, I was looking for Twilight to see if she wanted me to get her some more books. How about the eighteenth century now?”
“Doctor, why don’t you want me to read about more recent history?”
Gottschalk realized he couldn't keep Twilight from learning about an entire era in human history, she was just too curious. “Twilight, the past few hundred years have been... violent, to say the least.”
“Doctor, I told you about what happened at my brothers wedding, I’m no stranger to violence.” She said. The marines looked curious, but didn’t ask.
“Well, I didn’t want you learning about it right away because, well... I didn’t want you to get the wrong impression about humans.”
“I understand, but I think I’m ready to learn about the twentieth century.”
“Alright, I’ll get you some books tomorrow, but don’t say I didn’t warn you. But I do think you should start with the eighteen hundreds, it's important to the first few decades of the current century.” Even in concession, he stalled her.
After Gottschalk left, the soldiers went back to their seats, and Twilight took her seat next to them. Then Clifton got an idea. “Y’know, if you want to know about the twentieth century so bad, we have a movie you might like. It came out in July.”
“Sure, what’s it called?” Twilight asked.
“Saving Private Ryan.”