“Sunny. go long!” Zipp called out as she tossed the red frisbee across the open field outside Maretime Bay. Zipp, Pipp, Izzy, Sunny and Hitch were on a nice picnic enjoying a lovely sunny day. The last few weeks had gone pretty smoothly with no major hurdles yet to come.
As Sunny ran after the disk, Izzy idly unpacked the picnic basket and laid out the checkerboard blanket with her magic. “Alphabittle found this old book that talked about these sparkly berries found from up north that apparently can make some rather good jam. Oh-oh, we should take the Marestream on a road trip to get some!”
Hitch looked up as he petted a bunny. “That sounds rather far. I’m not sure how long I can be gone for.”
Izzy rolled her eyes as she set out some plates. “Pfff. Oh, come on. I'm sure Maretime Bay can survive without you for a while. Sure, there was Sprout, but that was like one time.”
“I guess so. I have to ask Sunny what she thinks too. I mean, it is her vehicle, after all,” Hitch replied, watching Izzy's gaze move slowly skyward as her tongue stuck out. “You okay there, Izzy?”
Izzy horn kept shining as she gazed past the clouds feeling something way up there. All she had to do was reach for it. She wasn’t sure how she knew, but she could vaguely sense it. “Mmhmm, I just need to grab something all the way up there,” she said, putting her up in the air.
Pipp also peered upwards after finishing a short livestream to show how lovely nature could be. “Uh, Izzy there’s nothing up there,” she said, squinting to try and see whatever Izzy was talking about.
Izzy scrunched her face more in concentration, her magic locking onto something, but she wasn’t sure what it was. “Just give it a few moments/ It's pretty far.”
“S-space! Space!” Space Core communicated as he slowly orbited another metal sphere with a blue optical on the front.
“Yes mate, space,” Wheatley sighted as his servos moved his singular eye about as he looked down the lunar regolith recognizing many of the familiar craters below after hundreds of orbits of the moon. Honestly, the space core wasn’t all that bad. He was glad the comlink was still open regardless. Otherwise, he’d be alone with his digital thoughts. If cores could go mad like humans, he probably would have.
“I’m in space,” Space Core chimed, still excited after all this time. Well, it was its programming, so it probably had the memory of a goldfish.
As Wheatley slowly spun, his gaze fell upon the earth, the pale blue dot where he took over Aperture Science and then got promptly defeated. “You know, some days I wonder what I’d do if I got back. Probably say sorry to Chell, assuming Glados didn’t me first.” His servos shuttered, mimicking a shiver. Just as his thoughts drifted off, odd streaks of coloured light swirled about in his vision. For a moment, he thought that his optics were starting to malfunction despite how well-built he was.
However, his worries abided a bit when Space Core spoke up too. “Pretty lights. Oh! Are they northern lights?!”
“You see them too? Oh, that’s good. I think.” Wheatley watched the streams of light intensify and noticed it was circling him. His sensors couldn’t make any sense of it as there didn’t seem to be a pattern to the swirls. It took him a few moments before he noticed that the moon was getting farther away from him. “Wait? I’m moving?” he squeaked, as he could feel the pull as the Earth became closer with each passing moment. The colours around him increased as he seemed to pass through a wall of light before resuming his trek toward the blue marble. He frantically looked around, trying to see who was grabbing onto him. “What’s going on!” His panic grew as the planet got ever closer, far faster than it had any right to be. He barely noticed that the terrain below had changed entirely. Whately wasn’t the smartest core, but he knew what re-entry was. “Wah! No, no, no!” His body began to feel friction as he entered the upper atmosphere. Somewhere behind him, he could hear Space Core try out as well, somehow dragged along on this ride.
Flames began to lick at his form as he descended, unaware of the odd shimmering light surrounding him as he fell. “Aaaa, Hot! Hot! Hot!” As plasma roared all around him, he thought back to his career and the subjects he watched over and had the cybernetic version of life flashing before his eyes. It was a solid minute before the flames receded, replaced with rushing air as he descended. Thanks to Aperture Science Engineering he survived, only for his optic to widen as he glanced at the grassland below seeing a town coming up fast. “Aaaaaa!! I’m going to die!”
The group of friends continued to watch as Izzy’s horn glowed as said unicorn stared high into the sky. It was a solid minute before Sunny spoke up. “Izzy, are you sure there is something up there?” She said squinting.
Pipp moved her phone upwards to peer up as well. “My Pipsqueaks don’t see anything,” Pipp added, pausing a moment later. “Wait, I see something. Like a comet?” She thrust a hoof to the sky.
“I” 'm not sure you can see a comet during the day,” Zipp said, glancing towards the sight and blinking. “Wait, is that what Izzy was grabbing?”
Izzy gasped as her horn sputtered for a moment as she fidgeted in place. “Oh no, oh no! I can’t slow it down!” She cried out as the object kept falling towards them. Izzy's head turned towards a nearby trash can and pointed to it, having an idea. “Zipp, Pipp! Grab that Trash can. Maybe we can catch it.” There was a soft yelling from above, muted but growing louder as Izzy panicked.
“Ew, but it’s a trash can,” Pipp whined as the two pegasi flew closer to it.
Zipp rolled her eyes as she grabbed onto one side of the can. “Relax, it’s empty. Besides, we have no time to get stuff off the blanket.”
As the two took the can skyward, Izzy's face scrunched up as she focused harder on her magic. Her eyes focused on the small orb descending fast reaching out her telekinesis to re-acquire the connection. Her attempt was clumsy as the magic kept sleeping off similar to trying to hold a wet bar of soap in her hooves. Grabbing into it had been so easy, slowing it down was harder said than done. “Eeep! Slow down, slow down!”
The screaming increased as the strange object came clearer into view as the two pegasi moved the can about to line up to catch it. Sunny gasped as she got a look at the object. “It looks like a metal ball?”
Hitch squinted and nodded as he saw it too. “Yeah, and it's coming fast,” he said, gesturing with his hooves. “More to the left, no wait right!” He gestured with his hooves frantically trying to judge where it was falling.
Izzy only had a few moments to reconsider how to slow the object down, her legs twitching in place, all with her horn glowing onwards. “If I can’t slow down the ball. Then I’ll help catch it.” Her magic grasped onto the can moments before it came crashing into it with a loud clang. The impact pushed Zipp and Pipp down before landing the trash can back on the ground.
As the group gathered around the can, Zipp gave Pipp a pat on the back. “Good job, sis. Let’s see what Izzy brought us.”
Thankfully for Wheatley, Aperture Science's sturdy engineering had saved him from turning into scrap metal upon impact. However, that didn’t mean it didn’t hurt like android hell. It simulated pain for sure, but still. “Ouch!’ As his optics slowly came online, he stared up through a tube he had landed in. His processor paused briefly, finding it hard to believe what he was looking at.”What?!” Above him stood what appeared to be an equine with a purple muzzle looking right at him.
“Oh hey, it talks! Hi there!” Izzy greeted, yanking Wheatley free from the bottom of the garbage can and into the light. She grunted a little. “Wow, you’re heavier than you look.”
Wheatley’s eye darted side to side and looked at the other horses surrounding him, each looking at him. “What? I’m not fat. Wait, are you talking horses?” He half suspected he was malfunctioning somehow, but all his diagnostics came back clean, besides a few minor glitches.
“Ponies, technically,” Sunny replied, squinting as she looked at the shiny sphere. “Well, unless you mean ponies from Saddle Arabia. My dad used to tell me they were fairly tall.”
Wheatley blinked again as his handles moved. “So you’re sure you're not some biological experiment that escaped and bred with a box of crayons? At least you're not mantis men.”
“What?” The group replied, looking at each other confused. Izzy snickered a bit, finding it amusing.
“All I’m saying is talking ponies isn’t normal,” Wheatley glanced over at Pipp and blinked. “Wow, you are quite fluffy. Like a miniature sheep with wings.”
Pipp sputtered, fluttering her wings as she looked at herself. “I’m not that fluffy.” She flapped her wings a few times, bringing out her phone and aiming it at Wheatley, “So, what are you exactly?”
“I’m an err…a core. Yeah! A testing core. I test things,” Wheatley replied quickly, not wanting to go into details right now.
Hitch leaned closer to the machine, tapping a hoof on the top of it. “He reminds me of those robots from one of the comics Sprout showed me once when we were younger.”
“Oh, let me guess. A laser-firing unicorn robot?” Izzy chirped as she attempted to lift Wheatley with her magic, but it felt slippery somehow.
Hitch rubbed the back of his neck with a faint blush. ”Uh…yeah, actually,” he paused and quickly changed subjects to avoid more awkwardness. “But how about some introductions?” He started to point at each of the ponies around. “I’m Hitch, town sheriff. That’s Sunny, Zipp, Pipp, and the one that dragged you down was Izzy.”
Wheatley's optic blinked, giving a glance at each pony before replying. “Oh, hello, I’m Wheatley. Wheatley the moron.” He twitched, realizing his slip-up. “Erm I mean, ignore that last part I said.”
Izzy laughed, patting Wheatley’s metal head. “Whatever you say, Whateley. Nice to meet you.”
Sunny rubbed her chin as she watched the exchange. “So, what do we do next with our new friend? We could show him around town.”
Hitch nodded in approval. “Sounds good to me.” Without delay, Hitch moved across the field to a nearby tree where Sparky was napping and scooped the little drake into his back. The others proceeded to pack up the lunch swiftly before heading back to town with Wheatley upon Izzy’s back.
As Wheatley took stock of his new surroundings, he couldn’t help but wonder about where Space Core could have gotten off to.
“Sp-space! Space,” Space Core sputtered, looking about the obsidian-coloured throne room with shards of glass strewn about the carpeted floor. His yellow optic looked up at a very angry-looking dark purple horse with a sparking horn.
“How dare you crash into my domain! Do you know who I am?!” Opaline snarled with her wings flared in dominance. A wind blew through the sizable hole in the stained glass window, blowing the pony mane about.
“Space wanna go to space,” Space Core replied, his limited processing making it hard to fully know what had happened.
“What nonsense is this?” Opaline poked at the metallic orb her eyes narrowing. “Perhaps you can be useful. Hmm, now where did I put that screwdriver?”