//------------------------------// // D'aww... Like Father Like Son // Story: The Aperture in my Heart // by matrixjorel //------------------------------// D’aww, like father like son! The two unlikely companions were still sitting in the same crater they found each other in. To Luna, it seemed like they had been there for hours—days even—and it was the best time of her entire lunar exiling. Finally, a voice that talked back to her! Another pony, even if he was very different from anypony she ever met before. She now learned what her sister meant by the power of friendship, because right now, with only one friend in the entire universe, she felt hope and happiness once more. ‘Wheatley is quite the talker,’ Luna thought to herself. Nearly this whole time they spent sitting together, Wheatley had been recounting his life story. She understood that he lived for a long time, but she did not understand how the AI core could speak in what seemed to be one day-long sentence. His words reflected his thought patterns, and his words were full of deviation, tangents, and inner monologues said aloud. Still, hearing a voice other than her own was soothing at least, so she listened with her eyes closed slightly in contemplation. It sounded to Luna like her friend’s story was drawing to a close; “…and that’s when Chell, my one and only friend, who I’ve helped through thick and thin, teamed up with our enemy, GLaDOS, and sent me here… I mean, maybe it was kind of… completely…my fault, but I could have changed! All I wanted was to show people that I wasn’t an idiot, that I am smart, so once I had that body and control, I wanted people to see what I could do! That’s all! I mean, you believe me, right Luna? Luna? Did you fall asleep, Luna?” Luna’s eyes bolted open. Maybe his voice was a little too soothing. “No, and I completely agree… I think.” “THANK you! I mean, what would you do if you had a chance to get appreciation for all the hard work you have done?” “Well,” Luna answered, “that’s part of the reason why I was sent here. You see, as Princess of the Night, my job is to raise the moon every night—“ "Oh, so that’s how it happens… always wondered why the moon and sun moved in the sky… oh, sorry…” Wheatley added, seeing that Luna was very upset that he interrupted her mid-sentence. “Anyway, I raise the moon every night. I put a lot of work into it giving all my little ponies a beautiful night every night, but they never appreciated my work… they sleep during the night—” “Yeah, I know that a lot of species tend to sleep at night, biological creatures have such a burden of having to sleep… sorry again! Continue…” Luna took a deep breath. “And all of the ponies slee—“ “Of course, there are those nocturnal animals that would stay awake through the night, so it’s not like you have no audience…” Luna gave the AI core a look so hard, he was quiet for a few seconds; the longest silence since the two met. “You know, I’ll just turn off my speakers now… continue!” “As I was saying—“ Luna stopped to see if Wheatley would stay true to his promise, and even though his eyeball was spinning wildly, he remained silent. “So, as I was saying, no one ever seemed to appreciate my wonderful nights. I guess I just became really mad at them, and I didn’t control my emotions. I underwent a transformation, I became Nightmare Moon, and I tried to stop the sun. That’s when my sister, Princess Celestia, stopped me and banished me here. I’ve been here for 1000 years, and I just want to go back, but I don’t think my sister loves me anymore!” Luna felt a tear come to her eyes, and it was quiet as she wept…too quiet. She looked down at her friend, whose eye was spinning as if he were seizing. “Wheatley, are you okay?” “Oh my GOSH, I never realized how hard it was to go without talking, that was strangely painful!” Wheatley took a deep breath (where was his mouth? Luna was still stumped), and proceeded to respond to Luna’s story: “Well, it sounds like you have had quite a falling out with your sister.” “We did, and I know that I was wrong, but I just didn’t know it then.” “Was it really that serious? For her to forget the bond between you two and banish you here?” “Yes… and even when she visits me, I feel like she hasn’t forgotten what I did…” “Then I don’t think she has.” Wheatley now spoke a little more thoughtfully than before. “If it’s anything like with me and Chell, she doesn’t want to forgive you. She can’t. You’ve disappointed her too much, and she won’t love you anymore.” Luna lost control of her emotions with Wheatley’s last statement. She had hoped for 1000 years that deep down, her sister still loved her, that she could have forgiveness, and come back; but she couldn’t now. Her greatest fear had been confirmed for her. Now all she could do was weep on the lunar surface she would be trapped on forever. “I’m sorry if I said anything to upset you, I’m just trying to help, a little bit.” “No, you’ve only told me the truth. You are my only friend now, Wheatley.” “Oh, now there, there, we will always have each other.” “SPPPPPPPPAAAAAAAAACCCCCCCCEEEEEEEE!” And with one word, the third wheel of the group disrupted the mood that Luna was wallowing in. He spun around, floated into the middle of the other two, and proceeded to talk; “What’s your favorite thing about space? Mine is space!” Luna couldn’t help but fight back a smile; “That’s lovely, Mr. Space.” She honestly didn’t know what else to call him, he never answered her coherently, and he had a deep love for space, so she thought it seemed fitting to name him after space. “I love space. I own space. Space space. I buy space in space. Right there. And Princess in Space. I know Princess Space! SPACE!” “Thank you, now will you please leave us alone? Go float over there, please!” Wheatley seemed bothered by the other core, or so it appeared to Luna. Was it an argument they had from before she met them? Or was it jealousy? She couldn’t tell, but she liked his happy-go-lucky attitude, she found it contagious. Now she was laughing along with Mr. Space. “Aww, I don’t know where we would be without your happy demeanor, Mr. Space!” “You’d be in space! I go play space with my dad, ready?” His voice dropped as he responded to his own question. “I’m ready, my space son!” And with that, he floated away. …………. Wheatley could see that Luna loved the Space Core more than him. He could just see now that she would leave him, and they would spend their miserable lives laughing and having fun calling him a moron—no! Not again! Chell already betrayed him, and he would make sure it never happened to him again. ………….. Princess Celestia sat in her study. Even though she had been ruling Equestria solo for 1000 years, she still could not handle the stress of it all, and from time to time, needed to take a day off to have just for herself and her books. She became a huge fan of a book series Daring Do, which her student Twilight Sparkle had brought to her attention nearly 5 years ago. She found it amazing how far ponies had come in their imagination and creativity to be able to create suck a long-running and intriguing series, but the reason why the alicorn couldn’t help but read the stories was, even though the author of the book swore it was a fictional story, Celestia knew the real Daring Do, who was much like the one in this book. She lived nearly 200 years ago, though, so she understood why no one has heard of her. Sitting in her private study with her copy of Daring Do and the Obsidian Sword (also a real thing, though nopony has ever heard of it. Besides, who would believe there is a sword that could raise ponies from the dead?), Celestia felt calm and well rested. Then a puff of smoke broke the peace, startling the princess and causing her to drop her book. She looked up to find a letter. ‘Now who would need to send me a letter this early?’ she thought. She had only raised the sun half an hour ago. My Dearest Teacher; My continuing studies of pony magic have led me to discover that we are on the precip...i mean, thrash... br something really bad is about to happen. For you see, the mythical Mare in the Moon is in fact Nightmare Moon and she is about to return to Equestria and bring with her eternal night! Something must be done to make sure this prophecy does NOT come true! I await your quick response. Your Faithful student, Twilight Sparkle P.S. It is imper... important that we take action right away! P.S.S. Sorry about all of the mess-ups! -Spike Celestia was surprised how much studying her most faithful student has done on the subject, only last night did she bring up the Elements of Harmony, and now she knew about Nightmare Moon and the prophecy concerning her. She knew that it would take more power than a single pony could ever accumulate to teleport someone to the moon, so she knew it was unlikely for Luna to escape so easily. Even for her, she needed to be in the presence of the Elements to just barely make the trip, and she had to be quick to come back before the power dissipated. But even if Nightmare Moon was not a threat, she knew that Twilight had to realize her destiny to become the wielder of the Elements. She knew too much about them for her to go without, and Celestia knew for a while that the figurative torch had to be passed down. So she proceeded with her plan to prepare Twilight for receiving the Elements; My Dearest, most Faithful Student Twilight; You know that I value your diligence and trust I you completely, but you simply must stop reading those dusty old books. My dear Twilight, there is more to a young pony’s life than studying. So, I’m sending you to supervise the preparations for the Summer Sun Celebration in this year’s location—Ponyville. And, I have an even more essential task for you to complete: MAKE SOME FRIENDS! It is more important than you would think, and will bring you much happiness. Your Princess and teacher, Celestia The Princess tried to put as much emphasis on her student making friends as she could. It was, as Spike seemed to have trouble spelling, imperative that she learned the magic of true friendship; even if Twilight was one of the most magically gifted unicorns she met, she could never wield the Elements in her ignorance. She was grateful that Twilight had written her, though. In all the stress preparing for the Summer Sun Celebration, she almost forgot that this one was special. In two days, Luna would have been gone for one entire millennium. ‘I really hope my sister is ready to come home, I can’t spend another year without her,’ Celestia thought. She missed her sister, and not a day went by where she wasn’t in her thoughts. “I know, I shall visit her once again tomorrow.” She thought out loud. “If my little Luna is ready, this will be the best Summer Sun Celebration in Equestrian history!” Celestia smiled at the hope of what tomorrow would bring for her and her sister. After reflecting on her happy thoughts, she returned to her book. Daring was almost about to confront her nemesis: Kingpin Escobar! ……….. Luna found now that she had company, sleep came easier. That was the first good nap she had in at least 700 years. Wheatley was still next to her, but only because he could not move very well on his own, and needed Luna’s help to move around. But he liked to stay on the ground and not move around like his friend Mr. Space, who had discovered that blinking when on the ground would push him up a small bit, so his movement consisted of short hops along the ground. She wondered if Orion and Larry had ever discovered a way to move… “Orion and Larry!” screamed Luna with a start. She grabbed Wheatley with her teeth and started running for her two other friends. Wheatley was obviously startled by Luna’s outburst and being picked up that he started screaming, “Hey! Woah! What’s going on? Is it an earthquake? But we’re on the moon… Oh my gosh, it’s a moonquake! Moonquake! MMOOOONNQQUU—Wait, what are you doing, Luna?” “I ralmost forrot aboud my udder frienz! I’ll intradush you!” Luna tries to say with her mouth gripping Wheatley. “What’s this? Other friends? I thought you said you were alone, now you have OTHER FRIENDS?” Luna’s breath was quickening since she had not done any sort of cardio in a long time. “Well, they aren’t really the most social, but they are there and have kept me company.” Luna reached the two standing there in their usual spot. She set Wheatley down. “Here they are!” “Here who are?” “Orion and Larry!” “Are they behind that thing?” “What thing?” “The Apollo landing capsule…” “No, that’s them right there! Orion and Larry!” Wheatley was quiet for a while. The first word he said a few seconds later was “Oooohhhh…I see…I think. So, who is Orion?” “Here, I’ll introduce you to them!” Luna picked him up again, and set him next to Orion’s leg. “This is Orion. She’s the tough one. And that’s her brother Larry over there. He’s really small, and really shy.” “Wait, that’s not a person.” “Well, yeah. They’re ponies.” “No, they’re not that either. That one is the Lunar Roving Vehicle, and this one is the Apollo space shuttle. I remember seeing pictures of this space mission when I was in GLaDOS’s mainframe…” “No, they are ponies!” “No, they’re machines. Vehicles, to be exact.” Luna was breathing hard. She had a hunch that they weren’t ponies, but she hoped that they were, and they were what kept her going for so long. Now, Wheatley was telling her they weren’t even alive. “My friends… I thought that they were alive.” “Now it’s okay… it often happens that people in solitude personify inanimate objects. It’s natural!” “Really?” “Of course, only about 80% of them go insane!” “80%??” Luna screamed. Was she insane? Was even Wheatley a hallucination? Wheatley started panicking as Luna started to cry once more. “Oh, but you’re not going crazy…I think…I mean, I—I KNOW! You are absolutely… probably normal, I hope… But insane? No! No, no, no…probably…not…I assume.” “Thank you… I think?” Luna whimpered with hesitation. “And besides you aren’t alone, I’m your friend!” “And Mr. Space!” “Yes, even that nitwit,” Wheatley said spitefully. “Thank you, Wheatley!” Luna gave her AI-core-friend a hug, and picked him up once again. “I guess these two… um, vehicles… were what gave me hope when my sister sent me up here.” “Yes, funny you should mention your sister…” “Why is that?” Luna asked. “I’ve been thinking about what you said about her… do you really think she’s going to come save you one of these days?” “Well… I hope so. Why else would she check on me from time to time?” “Why indeed? Maybe she was just secretly laughing at you behind your back.” “No, she would never; I can’t believe you would even say that!” “I’m sorry, I’m sorry…” Wheatley continued, “But she sent you here, alone, and it’s apparent that she has not forgiven you, so why else would she come back?” “I…I don’t know…Please stop it!” “She must love to see you suffer. After all you’ve done for her, she seemed so willing to just throw it all away…” “I said SHUT UP!” Luna exploded. She didn’t want to admit it, but what Wheatley was saying almost made sense. “Like you said, you have no other friends. I’m your friend, though. I’ve been by your side this entire time, helped you, listened to you, even that Mr. Space doesn’t like being around you. Even he leaves.” “SHUT UP!!! SHUT UP!!!!!!” “I’m just being a friend. I don’t want to see you get hurt.” Something was building up inside of the poor alicorn. Something she had not felt in a thousand years: hate. She hated how she no longer had her friends. She hated what Wheatley was telling her, even though she felt like it was true deep down. But mostly hate for her sister, the only pony she ever loved unconditionally, the one that sent her up here, the one who never forgave her. She could see it now. Every time she came to “check” on her, every look of disappointment she received… she didn’t love her anymore. All the other ponies probably mocked her in Canterlot—no, all of Equestria—laughing at the pain of their ex-princess… she hated them all… ………….. Wheatley seemed to be getting to her; if there was two things he downloaded while in GLaDOS’ mainframe, they were advanced mechanical engineering to fix the ‘minor’ problems in the facility, and GLaDOS’ ability to manipulate others. Now that Luna felt completely alone, he would be her only friend. No longer would he be alone, mocked as a moron, or made fun of. He had another who would never abandon him, like Chell did. The alicorn suddenly turned white, to Wheatley’s surprise. “Umm… are you okay?” Luna didn’t respond, but she did begin to float up. Wheatley wished he had legs, he was honestly a little scared of what was happening. The whiteness enveloping Luna abruptly gave way to darkness, which swirled like a tornado, until… Luna burst from the tornado and landed on the ground. Only it wasn’t Luna. This new pony was much taller, and her coat and mane were much darker. She seemed to have made armor from nothing, since she was lightly covered in metallic plates. Wheatley was at a loss for words. “L-L-Luna?” “Luna is no more. I am Nightmare Moon.” “Oh, that’s interesting…” “You! Wheatley! You have shown me the truth. I see now that you are the only other I can trust!” “Yay!” exclaimed the AI core. “So, what do you want to do now, FRIEND?” “I will go back to Equestria and make them all pay!” Wheatley laughed maniacally. “Ooohhh… perfect!”