Weird Science!
A puff of smoke shot out at Twilight Sparkle’s face, causing her to cough.
She groaned in exasperation. It was going so well. It must’ve been something with the amount of electricity going through the wires. Wiping the sweat of her forehead, she proceeded to find out the origin of this problem.
Meanwhile, her young assistant Spike had been looking at her and her contraption in the library’s lab. There were parts and components that Spike didn’t recognize strewn everywhere. Blueprints and used graph papers littered Twilight’s work table.
‘5 days,’ Spike thought to himself, ‘She’s been like this for 5 days. I mean, I know she can get determined, but still. Hey, I wonder if I still have any ice-cream left in the fridge…’
“Spike.”
‘...I should probably buy some more...chocolate could do…’
“Spike..?”
‘...or maybe vanilla? Last one I bought was…’
“Spike!”
“Gah!” He exclaimed, being shouted out of his thoughts. “Uh, yes, Twilight?”
“Go to the town market and buy me a drink, will you? My throat is getting dry, and I need to keep myself well nourished.” Twilight said, levitating some bits to Spike.
“Twilight, don’t you think you should take a rest? Maybe just a quick fiver?” Spike asked, concerned about the well-being of his friend.
“Later. I am just on the verge of a scientific breakthrough.” Twilight’s back was turned against Spike. “Do you remember when I found those waves that were discovered in space?”
Spike did not remember. “Um...yeah?”
“And how that those waves were strangely similar to the ones that Vinyl Scratch’s music table produces, and that they have no definite source?”
“Uh…”
“And that they may be transmissions?”
“Transwha-”
“And that there is just the slightest of possibilities that these transmissions are not of this planet?”
That last line jabbed at Spike. Not of this planet? “So...you’re saying that there’s aliens?”
“Exactly!”, Twilight responded with gusto. “Extraterrestrial beings! And not only that, extraterrestrial beings that can project waves that can be re-captured as data. which is what I’m trying to do, which makes it relatively safe to conclude that they have intelligence!” She found herself working herself up, speaking quickly. She couldn't help it.
“Oh. Okay.”
There was a pregnant pause as Twilight took in what Spike just said.
“‘Okay?’”, Twilight exclaimed as she turned and look at Spike in disbelief, “There might be beings from another planet, or even another galaxy away transmitting messages, and your response is ‘okay’?!”
“Twilight, we have a draconequus that can bend the laws of nature at his will, a portal to another dimension where I’m a dog, two princesses that control the sun and the moon, and Pinkie Pie. Somehow I don’t think aliens can top that.”
“But, but...think of the possibilities!”
Spike shrugged. “Eh, maybe I’m jaded. What do you want for your drink? Soda or simple water?”
What Spike didn’t tell Twilight is that aliens did excite him, and in any other case he would be intrigued. But looking at what this whole alien thing was doing to her friend, suddenly aliens don’t seem so interesting.
“What? Oh, uh…” Twilight’s mind was still reeling from Spike’s very blasé response. “A simple bottle of water will do, Spike. Now if you’ll excuse me, I must get back to my work.” She shooed Spike with her wings. It was obvious to the both of them that it was in a joking manner, but it still hurt Spike in a small way.
“Twilight...” Spike wanted to continue talking, but her head had already turned, dug deep into her work. With a sigh, he set off.
Twilight looked at Spike as he left, thinking to herself. Spike’s lack of excitement about the whole thing was not really surprising to her, but more of a slight revelation moment.
‘I guess I can be a bit pushy. I mean, not everypony likes science as much as I do.’ She thought to herself. Her friends were proof of that. Not that they weren’t supportive of her, but it was obvious that science and learning were not the first thoughts on their minds if asked about their favorite pastime activities. Oh well.
Tinkering with her machine further, her lab was quiet, with only the sound of mechanical items clanging into one another on accident, and her thoughts. The concept of time was slowly starting to fall back to the wayside again as she focused solely on her work.
‘...Maybe I should take a break, like Spike said. Being cooped up in my lab for days on end is probably not good for my health. Yeah, my fur feels very-’
“zbbzbzzzzyou’relisteningtothebestofeverybzzzz...”
And just like that, her thoughts of resting a bit were forgotten. Staring at her machine, her thoughts went as follows:
‘BYCELESTIATHEMACHINEWORKS!’
‘OHCELESTIATHISISTHEWAITWASTHATSPEECH!’
‘ALIENSTALKOKAYCALMDOWN!’
But her excitement would not let her calm down. She could feel it boiling up within her, just wanting to burst. A scream of triumph, a shriek of success, even a squee, anything. Her breathing starting to become labored, and a wide grin grew on her face, as the mere thoughts of what the implications this could bring brought her to a high.
‘Oh, screw it. I’m alone, aren’t I?!’
“EEEEEEEEEE!”, she let out, followed by unintelligible gibberish of squeals. She danced around her lab in pure delight, not letting the fact that she dances like a drunken mare with gallop plop getting in her way.
But wait, her work isn't complete yet! She must polish it! Complete it! Figure out what these extraterrestrials do with these waves!
Hurrying herself to her worktable, she doubled her efforts on her machine. Bits and pieces are quickly inserted and removed, to only be re-inserted later. She was working so fast than even she was starting to get confused. Twilight’s brain was on overdrive. Nothing mattered now, only work.
“Come on...a connector here, a diode there...the tuning knob’s off, gotta fix that…”
“bzzzzzember, we are Music FM, playing everything music 24/7, 7/7! Now stay tuned, cause’ things are about to get weird with our next track, Oingo Boingo’s big hit, Weird Science!”
Twilight ceased all movement. Mu...music? Did it just say music? Thoughts plowed into her head like an anvil. Not only did extraterrestrials exist, but they have cultured enough to produce music? And adding to that, their cultures are similar enough that the alien language was almost seemingly identical to Equestrian? Nouns, verbs, adjectives, all strikingly similar? And they even have the concept of fixed duration of time?
This was just too much to her. The analytic part of her mind has ridden a question mark into the deep end, taking any coherent thoughts with it. What was left of her mind could only think of this:
‘Music...I think I need music. Yeah, music. Alien music? Music.’
Oh, the calculative part of her will come back in a bit, just not right now. Right now, all she could think of was alien music, as the song started to play.
…
As the song progressed, Twilight’s thoughts slowly returned to her.
‘...Apparently the alien world has similar musical instruments, too? I think hear a trumpet. Oh wow…’
‘Hey, you know what? This song’s not bad! I like it!’
‘...Oh wow, the lyrics remind me of myself, too. Probably accidental, but wow! I really like this song!’
‘...What’s a hand? From the sound of it, some sort of appendage…’
‘Living tissue? Warm flesh? Is it trying to resurrect something? Isn’t that very dark magic? ...wait a minute, Twi. You have no idea how this alien’s culture works! I mean who knows? Maybe resurrection is a normal thing there!’
Her head started to bob to the song. Twilight was really feeling the rhythm of it, every beat and every quick double trumpet blare. She especially like the part with the trumpets. It just felt so good to dance to. She did not expect to react such lukewarmly to an alien song.
‘I really like this part! This is a great song!’
‘...Voodoo dolls and chants? That’s not really science though, is it? No offense to Zecora.’
‘Simulating the turning off of a machine using their instruments? Within the context of the lyrics, that’s ingenious!’
Twilight felt...weird. She didn't expect to find definitive proof of alien life, but what really surprised was her very liking a song from said alien life. She never heard anything like it, and that entwined her in a way. She's had her fair share of songs that she can't say she hated, but this one was strangely unique, coming from another planet aside. Its composition, its rather eccentric singer, and how that such a wide variety of different sounds can fit together so nicely.
“Nice song, Twilight. Who’s it from?”
“Spike?!”
Twilight had failed to notice that Spike had come back with bottled water in claw, and from the looks of it, for quite a while, too. He was munching on some ice-cream, looking at her nonchalantly.
“That’s my name, don’t wear it out.” He quipped as handed out the bottled water to Twilight.
“Oh, thanks. Oh, the song?! If you can believe it, Spike, the song’s actually from-”
Her words were cut short by the voice coming out of Twilight’s invention.
“And that was Oingo Boingo’s ‘Weird Science’! Remember, if you have any requests, don’t hesitate to give us a call at 1-888-xxx-xxxx, and you’ll hear your song straight from the radio to you! Simple as that!”
Twilight reached and shut off the machine, but not before remembering where the tuning knob’s position was. She will visit it again, that’s for sure.
“Twilight, who was that?” Spike asked, pointing at the origin of the announcer.
“That, my dear Spike, was an alien.” Twilight responded with a strange sense of calm. All the initial hype and excitement now dialled back to acceptance.
“Really? ‘Cuz that sounded like a regular pony to me.”
“I know, right? Believe it or not, that is from an alien source.”
“...Really aliens?”
“Really aliens.”
Spike took that message surprisingly well. Twilight thought that he would at least had a look of shock. Perhaps he really was jaded after all-
“Oh wow, this is great! I wonder what could they be saying!” His reaction was delayed, but in the end it showed. Spike looked at Twilight with curiosity in his eyes and excitement in his voice.
“...Spike? I thought you said you didn’t care much for my project.”
“Oh yeah, about that,” Spike looked down, his claw reaching for his back. “I don’t know, but I think seeing you work so hard might have put me off the whole ‘alien’ bit. I was intrigued, for sure, but I didn’t want to see you work your back off so hard for something that might not even exist. I mean, we’re sure they exist now, but still,” Spike looked at her again, ”...I was worried about you.”
Twilight blushed. “Oh, Spike. That was so sweet. Come here, you!” She tackled Spike into an embracing hug. Spike wanted to object, but decided to savor in the moment.
“Hey Spike...how long have you been there?”
“You mean here? Oh, for quite a while. It was nice to see you let loose a bit. That song really softened you.”
“Well, I guess I needed the break, like you said.”
“...So...what now?”
“What ‘what now’, Spike?”
“You just found alien life. Not only that, you found alien music. I would be freaking out if I wasn’t hugging you right now.”
“Well...I honestly have no idea to go from here. I guess I should tell Princess Celestia? But a part of me wants to study this further first. The announcer did tell us to call a number, though I don’t know how.”
Spike let’s Twilight go of the hug. “Well, whatever you do, just make sure you actually rest this time? I can’t have you suddenly dropping to the floor now, can I?”
“Alright alright, I’ll take the occasional break....” Twilight thought for a moment. “I’ll know what I’ll do. I’ll try to contact this alien announcer of ours. Didn’t it say to ‘call’ him with a number? I have no idea how to do that, but I’ll try. Hm...but should I tell it that I’m an alien too?...Nah, probably not. We have literally zero idea on where they are, what they are. And didn’t it say that they only play music? Ooh, maybe I can ask them to play that song again! I’ll record it this time! Then I can hear it whenever I want! Oh wait, I can ask songs from it on behalf of my friends! Oh my gosh! We can analyze their music, study upon their culture! I must begin work at once! Spike, hand me those two things, will you?! Okay, so first we gotta-”
“Twwwwiiii?” Spike nudged at her side, looking at her. “What did we just say?”
“Oh, um, sorry.” Twilight calmed herself down. “Right now, a trip to the spa sounds about right. You wanna come along, Spike?”
“Don’t I?!” Spike exclaimed, “My back’s been aching me. A nice long, and I mean long massage will probably fix it.”
And so Spike and Twilight walk out of their homes and into Ponyville, Twilight’s eyes adjusting from not seeing the sun for so long. She found herself humming her new tune. ‘The breakthrough will have to wait’, she thought to herself, ‘Right now, I’m gonna enjoy some quality time with my friend’.
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Like your choice of music love that song.
This line made me think Spike wasn't able to understand the the aliens, which got me excited because I thought you just did a great head-canon idea: Twilight gained the ability to understand all languages when she ascend as the Alicorn Princess of Friendship. I mean, what's more friendshippy than being a universal translator.
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I like this idea a lot actually! It would bring a fresh idea to the Ponies discover human music genre (Which I desperately want more of~)