“Wrench.”
“Wrench.”
“Wire.”
“Wire.”
“Cookie.”
“Cookie.”
Spike handed the treat to Twilight, who proceeded to eat it.
It’s been 2 weeks since the initial discovery of the waves, and how that it was from and alien source. Twilight, of course, upon pondering whether she could contact these beings, set herself to work immediately, but not before getting a break on behalf of her assistant Spike.
Now, as she neared the completion of her new found passion project, she found herself starting to fall back to old habits. A part of her mind was coaxing her to just ‘reduce’ her sleeping hours, since she’ll be able to finish her work faster.
‘Heck’, it cried, ‘she could've probably finished it within one week if she didn't slept.’
‘But no,’ She assured herself, ‘I will not mess up myself. No more taking quick naps to be up all night, no.’
Behind her, Spike was lounging around, ready to give Twilight whatever she wanted. He knew better than to interrupt her when she was ‘in the zone’. He looked at the revamped machine that she was making, seeing how far it had transformed.
The original design of it could be described as a box with a stick of metal and stuff jutting out of it. Spike vaguely remembered something Twilight said about the knob ‘frequency modulation’ or something. Frankly, he just wanted to see if the improvements that Twilight made to it actually improved it.
“I’m done!” Twilight exclaimed. She took a step back to admire her work. “I think this might be it!”
“Ooh, let me see it!” Spike inquired, “Oh wow, talk about an upgrade!”
Spike looked at the new machine with curiosity and slight awe. The fundamental shape of the box was still there, but Twilight had really put in some additions to it. The wire was still present, but beside it was a rather big dish looking thing pointing up to the sky, with another piece of metal in its center, making it its peak. There were several more knobs, each with ascending numbers surrounding them in a circle.
‘Probably to fine tune these waves’, he thought.
There was a cube in a corner, with one of its sides protruding out, riddled with small holes. Right beside that was a set of numbered buttons, ranging from 0 to 9.
“So Twilight! You wanna test it now?!” Spike was excited, because aliens.
“Not yet, Spike.”, Twilight responded, “I have to contemplate our options. I mean, yes, I might have said something about it when I first heard it, but now, just let me go through a few thoughts.”
Twilight paced around her lab, thinking on just what to do next.
“Okay, so we know that aliens exist. That is certain. And that they have advanced technology. Question one: Should we contact them back?” She said out loud.
“What are you talking about, Twilight?!” Spike responded, “Of course we gotta contact them! It’s aliens!”
“Hmm...yes, the fact that it’s aliens is very enticing, but for all we know, they could be bad aliens, Spike. A more...offensive type of aliens.”
“Bah, I’m sure we can hold them off! We have the princesses!”
“That’s a very immature thought, but yeah, the princesses are really powerful…” Twilight pondered, “Alright, we’ll give them the benefit of the doubt. They’re good aliens. Question 2: Should we tell them that we can hear them?”
Spike was quiet for this question. This was something he hadn’t thought about.
“From what I can gather, Spike, that wave was specifically transmitting music. Now, if their cultures are any similar to ours -and if I remember correctly, they are- then a music...station, if you will, is probably not the best way to inform them of our existence.”
Spike was trying hard to follow Twilight’s brain. “So…” he murmured, trying to piece his thoughts together, “we don’t tell them we know them?”
“...Yeah. That may not be the most sensible course of action, but I feel like it’s the best one.” She responded to herself. “And besides, with how our languages are so similar, maybe even identical, would they even take us seriously?”
“...Nah, probably not.” Spike responded.
“Alright then. So they will not know about us, which leads me to Question 3: What do we with this new information?”
“I dunno, Twi. Should we tell the princesses?”
“Yeah, that’s a must, for sure. But...I wanna hold on to my invention for a little while longer for...personal enjoyment.” Twilight felt a slight bit of selfishness.
“Oh? Really? I think this might be the first I ever hear you say that, Twi. Good on you.”
“I know I sound sel-wait, good on me?” Twilight reacted to Spike’s comment, “Why do you say that?”
“I just think you should have more ‘personal enjoyment’, Twi.” Spike responded, “Now come on, start up your...what do you call it?”
“Oh!” Twilight said out loud, “I didn’t even give my invention a name yet!”
“Well? What should we call it?”
“I...don’t know. Give me a few minutes.”
Twilight thought about it long and hard. What did that announcer say again? Something...radio?
“...If I remember correctly, Spike, I think the aliens called it a...radio?”
“I have no idea. It’s been 2 weeks, and you’re the one with the good memory.”
“Hmm...fine then, I shall call it a ‘radio’.”
“Alright, it’s called radio, now start it!”
“Just one last thing, Spike.”
Spike groaned in response.
“It’ll be quick. Just let me get my notepad and quill. Not studying this would be a travesty.” She levitated her notepad and quill towards herself and magically applied ink onto her quill, ensuring it does not run out mid-use.
“Okay. I’ll start the machine now, Spike. Here’s to hoping it actually works.”
She started up the radio. At first, only static filled the air. Twilight adjusted the knobs and such, hoping that her memory was correct on what the position of the original knob was, and how she separated it for more fine-tuning.
“bzzzzzzzand that wasbzzzzzz”
“Twilight! You had it!” Spike exclaimed.
“I know! Sorry!” She quickly fiddled the knobs back to the position where the signal was received.
“Now, will you look at that, 6 am!”
“By Celestia, the machine works!” Spike shouted with joy, but was quickly shushed by Twilight.
“Shhh, listen!” Twilight’s ears were glued to the speaker, with notepad and quill ready.
“Do you know what I love best about the morning, listeners? When you’re out in the open, clear winds, morning dews, all that, and you’re just there, looking at the horizon, as the sun starts to show...isn’t that just great?”
Twilight’s eyes popped. ‘Sun?! They have a sun?! This is amazing!’ She was quick to jot down notes, writing with feverish quickness.
“But of course, they’re some of you right now that are still sleeping. Or maybe your sky’s cloudy…”
‘Sky? Cloudy? So they have weather too? So interesting!’ Twilight wrote down.
“So for those of you out there who can’t see the sun, this next song I think is the next best thing. This is…”
‘Ooh! Music! Gotta record this!’ Twilight quickly magiced a recording spell.
“...Here Comes the Sun, by The Beatles. Enjoy.” The announcer’s voice faded as the song began to play.
‘Ooh, they have, from what it sounds like, a guitar.’
‘Oh, such nice voices! It’s way different than that last one!’
‘...I think Princess Celestia might like this song a lot…’
‘...actually, this whole song does sound like an ode to her…’
Twilight was listening to the song intentively, a smile slowly growing on her face as she felt comforted by it and its subject matter. As the last strums of the guitar came and went, she shut off the radio.
“I don’t know about you, Spike, but I really liked that song as well.”
“Yeah, it was very soothing.” he responded. “I really liked the singers’ voices.”
“And it was about their sun, and how they welcome her, or I guess I should say it. Just what type of aliens are they, to be able to have such similarities like ours…”
“Hey Twi, quick question.” Spike asked, “Has anypony ever made a song about Princess Celestia?”
“Well…” Twilight thought for a moment, “None that I know of. There probably are some classical compositions made for the Princess, but about her...I’m sorry, Spike. Music is not my strong suit.”
“No worries, I was just asking. Did you get a good recording of it?”
“Oh, of course I did, Spike.” Twilight reassured him. “And you know, I think a certain somepony is really going to like this song we found.”
Spike knew immediately who she was talking about. “But how are we going to explain this to the princess? They don’t even know that our radio thing exists yet.”
“Which is why I’m gonna tell her right now. Spike, prepare a letter.” She levitated her quill that she was using to him.
“Oh, of course, Twi.” Spike grabbed a blank scroll as Twilight cleared her throat.
“Dear Princess Celestia,” she began,
“First and foremost, I apologize for a lack of letters in these past 2 weeks. This was because I have been working on a secret project. Now that my project has finally finished, I think it’s time to share it with you.
For the last 14 days, I have been working on these ‘waves’ that I have discovered that are not from this planet. Yes, Princess Celestia, we have proof of extraterrestrial life. Not only that, they are intelligent life with several very similar traits with ours. They have a concept of language, which is very similar to Equestrian, their planet has weather, and they even have a concept of fixed time!
But what I discovered that might surprise you the most, Princess Celestia, is that they have their own sun, and presumably, moon too. I realize that that seems unbelievable, and that was why I didn’t inform you of it sooner. I was afraid that it might have been a hoax.”
‘Well, technically that was a lie,’ Twilight thought to herself, ‘but I guess there was some bit of truth in it. It very well could’ve been a prank. I’m so happy it’s not, though.’
“And what’s more, I have discovered that these waves that I was getting was actually a transmission of sorts. I have been successful in ‘catching’ these waves and changing them into data with my invention which I call a ‘radio’.
With my ‘radio’, I also found out that these transmissions are actually music! Yes, alien music! I was so surprised by this revelation I didn’t even know how to respond!
I understand completely if you need some time to take this all in. I’ll leave you to your thoughts on what to do next. If I may have a request, though, it’s that if I can retain my ‘radio’. I’ll happily provide you with the blueprints and schematics for it, but I would be very happy if I could keep my own one for study.
One last thing. Just now I switched on my machine and a song was played. I recorded the song at first for personal reasons, but as I listened on, I realized that this song is just perfect for you. I shall fuse it to another scroll, and I will send it shortly. The song’s name is, quite aptly, ‘Here Comes the Sun.’ I have a feeling that you will really like it.
Your faithful student,
Twilight Sparkle”
Twilight ended her letter. Spike proceeded to roll it up and breathed fire on it, sending it to Canterlot.
“Spike, two blank scrolls, please.” Twilight requested.
“Right away, Twi.” Spike did as he was told.
Spike laid down the two scrolls for Twilight. She conjured the recording that she made. Carefully, she separated the recording into two, while retaining its full length. She infused one copy of the recording into the scrolls each.
“Okay, now send one of the scrolls to Princess Celestia. I’ll store the other one.”
“Done and done.”
Twilight walked toward her cabinets where she stored her papers and diagrams. Everything was listed and organized neatly. Procedure notes for experiments went here, personal assignments were on that shelf there, etc. She would need to clear out some space for this new section. A new section whose contents will have to be sorted, tagged, listed and all that. A new section that she never knew that she would need. A new section that she would simply call, Alien Music.
I like it. Are you taking song requests? I really want to see their reaction to some metal.
6867839
I don't know yet. I have a few other ideas that I want to write out first, then we'll see.
6867861 if you are taking requests though could you do hotel California.
Other than that i like the concept of how alien culture can be similar and the same through music.
I would really like to see their reaction to music that cant be produced int their world or ever would be. Like this here or This Synatasia piece there also this piece made using a Theremin And Electric Kantele around 1:50 is when the Theremin kicks in. Things that dont exist in Equestria something truly dispelling that the music ever could have originated from there home.
6867861
If you do requests I would love to have Twilight find Rhapsody in Blue or the 1812 Oviture. This story has some great potential and I am so following this story!
6869121 Actually, I am planning to write about Rhapsody in Blue.
6869409
Cool, that is one of my favorite songs.
I don't if it's me but your link in the second chapter lead to a blocked video, and that sucks. However on the topic of 'suns' here's this!, great story so far
6869626 I fixed the link. It'll go to the Spotify web player. Thanks for telling me!
Any chance the radio will broadcast more than music, like extraterrestrial news?
6871912 Probably not. Still, not a bad idea.
6872087 I think you should intersperse the music with news and radio drama reactions, since just doing music can get old quickly, and maybe show some reactions to languages other than English.
6872813 In terms of songs of other languages, I think I have an idea.
Radio dramas etc. That'll need some work. Thanks for the suggestion, though!
6872823 Glad to help. I don't want to see this story die too soon.
6872866 Oh, it ain't dying. Updates might come slower due to college, but it'll only die when I say so. I already have a song for Dash and Rarity.
Also, about the radio dramas, I literally do not know any radio dramas of any kind. Even the ones that my grandma puts on, I have no idea what it's about. So I might need help on that.
6872876 I haven't listened to any personally, but the only one I know of is"War of the Worlds". But, basically, radio dramas were basically drama shows before Television was a thing
6872915 I know what they are, I just don't know any modern examples of it.
I know about 'War of the Worlds', but I've never heard the whole thing, so yeah.
6872947 It was just a thought.
6872967 Not a bad thought, but about an area I'm not very knowledgeable in. Sorry
6872971 Do radio stations do comedy acts, do you know? Would that be easier if they do?
6872988 Honestly, I don't really listen to the radio that much, so I don't know. The fanfic is based on finding music, and while I would like to expand my horizons, I want to thread a bit safer first.
6872999 Okay. I understand.
6872999 It's cool that you wan to expand your horizons musically at least. I hope you get alot things that you can enjoy and appreciate then from the comments.
6875720 Thanks. Also, sorry for the lack of updates. College, you know?
I wouldn't count on it...
... Yeah, it would have actually been more surprising if they didn't. Kinda common sense that planets with life need something to source that life, right? Like, for an alien world with advance life not to have a sun would require some pretty bizarre conditions. Perhaps not impossible (And that's a pretty big perhaps), but highly unlikely.
Also, when Twilight worried the aliens might be offensive, I think you meant aggressive. Aggressive or Peaceful Aliens. Offensive or Defensive Aliens. You dig?
6904410 I took it to mean as being on the offense, as opposed to defense. In this case, it would have meant Earth as the offense and Equetria as the defense.
6904406
Yeah. Where were the princesses during Chrysalis? And in MLP: The Movie?
Ahh, The Beatles, love em. I thank my dad for bestowing me his great tastes in music. Would've been stuck listening to 2000s pop if it weren't for him.