Short Shorts

by Coranth

166. Serious Take: Transmission Error.

“Wow, there are a lot of ponies out there,” said Spike as he and Twilight looked out the window of Castle Friendship. “I can’t believe so many of them want to listen to this song.” Twilight Sparkle nodded as she worked on the translation machine. "Well, besides being the first transmission Equestria has received from outer space, it's a beautiful tune, one that ponies want to understand," the lavender alicorn answered as she assembled the final pieces of the machine. About a month ago - whilst hanging out in the map room - she and her friends had been listening to the radio when, all of a sudden, the equestrian music from the device had turned to static for a few moments. Before Twilight could fix it, however, a brand new sound, unlike anything she ever heard, had erupted from the speakers. The operatic music was incredible, the lyrics haunting, and soon everypony had been mesmerized by the beautiful music.

Twilight's attention, though, had been caught by the strange, haunting lyrics, as they were in a language she'd never heard before. Although the Princess of Friendship was well-learned - having studied every language, both modern and ancient, from around the world - she'd never heard such strange words as the ones accompanying this music. Twilight Sparkle's radio, however, wasn't the only device affected; every radio in Equestria was playing the strange song. All over Equestria, ponies stopped what they were doing to listen to the music, and many were made silent or moved to tears. One radio station managed to record the song, and that station then began to play it again after the song's original transmission ended.

Soon, every radio station around Equestria was playing it - and everypony was listening to it - yet, nopony knew who had created the song. A few unscrupulous classical musicians and opera singers attempted to come out and lie about it, seeking to gain attention and fame for something so wondrous, but they were quickly exposed as frauds. When it became evident that nopony knew where the song was coming from, Twilight postulated a theory: the song wasn't coming from Equestria at all; it was instead coming from outside of it, far outside. Scientists from the Canterlot Institute of Technology had theorized that certain transmission waves could carry across space, but this theory had never been proven...

Until now.

Using some of her equipment, and a bit of help from other CIT Scientists, Twilight Sparkle was able to determine that the song was indeed coming from space. It was a song from an unknown civilization on a different planet. Needless to say, the song became even more famous, quickly becoming known as The Alien Song. "You know, Twilight, I don't see the point of all this. Why are you even bothering to translate it? The song is fine on its own," said Spike.

“Yes, but think about what we could discover if we did translate the lyrics," explained an excited Twilight. "We could be learning the cultural aspect of an entire civilization that could be thousands if not millions of miles away from us in space!” She was literally bouncing off her hooves like a certain party pony to the point where Spike wondered if she and Pinkie were related in some way. “What if it’s the national anthem of a nation of great advancement in terms of science and technology? What if it’s a song about love and friendship that could help us further our own understanding of peace and love? What if it’s a song about empowerment and finding courage against great odds? They say music can define a civilization and we could learn so much about these aliens if we can understand what they are trying to say! Maybe even find a way to communicate back with them!”

“Okay, I get it. It’s a big deal, though I don’t know why you invited nearly half of the country over to listen to this,” Spike grumbled, as he pointed to the growing crowd outside the window. There had to be ponies from Appleloosa all the way to the Crystal Empire out there. “Well, that would be because of the Princesses,” answered Twilight, rubbing the back of her head. “They thought that such a momentous occasion should be shared with as many ponies as possible. There is even a world wide radio broadcast for this.” Using her magic, Twilight brought out what seemed to be their radio only it was attached to a record player with glowing wires, several batteries, glowing rocks that made Spike’s mouth water, and an orb of red lightning. “With this, we can finally understand what the song is saying. So let's get to it, Spike! History awaits!"

***

The crowd was much bigger than anypony had anticipated and many familiar faces could be seen. Cheerilee had brought the entire school with her as a field trip to learn about the music from the aliens. The Wonderbolts were there up in the clouds with other pegasi, planning to use the song, and it’s lyrics, for a special show later this week. The princesses were naturally there, including Shining Armor and Cadance who had brought Flurry Heart with them since she seemed to love the song and it helped her sleep at night. Even representatives from other races like Gilda, Iron Will, Ember, and Thorax were there to listen and give the news to their respective people. Getting up on stage with her device, Twilight cleared her throat. “Hello, everypony! I bet you're all as excited as I am to witness this historical event!” The crowd roared with excitement. “Now is everypony ready?!” An even louder cheer went out. Twilight nodded to famous DJ Vinyl Scratch to start the song that was recorded on her DJ Booth. Activating the translation machine, she and everypony both at the castle and around the world waited with halted breath for the song - in its entirety with translated lyrics - to be played.

Mares wept, or swooned; never had they heard something so beautiful! Stallions stared stoically, or became suspiciously misty-eyed. Thestrals of the Night Guard petitioned to make it their Anthem. Funding was granted for vast experiments to attempt to hear more transmissions from this new civilization. Space Exploration kicked off with a bang... And as she listened to the song with her sister, Princess Luna - happier than she'd ever been in her life - wept like a foal.

Author's Note:

A serious take on "Transmission Error" by Rated Ponystar

Comments

[gamer91]

My god that would make an amazing story.

[ninjanaut1000]

even though i think Andrew lloyd Webber's version of music of the night was better, i cant really complain cause its phantom of the opera.

[Twilight Kira]

Beautiful, and lets hope Flurry Heart first words won't be "fuck you in the ass!"