"Sister," Luna called to her sibling as they entered her room. "I have a visitor for you, and he has traveled a long distance to meet you."
The ivory princess rose from the mat where she lay reading scrolls from her former student, Princess Twilight. She turned to the princess of the night and the core floating beside her.
"Hello!" Wheatley said.
"It is a pleasure to meet you, mister...?"
"Wheatley. Commander Wheatley, actually." Said the sphere. He then mumbled something about being good at coming up with things on the spot.
"Commander? Of who?"
"Well, you see, I had these friends- well, companions, I suppose- who also would've landed on this planet of yours- which is quite lovely from the parts I've seen through your windows- not too far from here. Thirty or fifty miles, I'd guess. Or, y'know, they might've missed it entirely. Meteor knocked me away from the others before we entered orbit."
"My, you really have come quite far. Where in the stars do you come from?"
"A planet called Earth, the Solar System. If had an arm I could point it out in the sky."
"Earth, Earth... That sounds familiar. Luna, didn't you-"
"Yes sister. Not ten moons ago. Next to the Solaris constellation, the yellow star."
"You mean you named a planet Earth, and it turned out to be my Earth?"
"Your planet has a yellow sun, does it not? Eight orbiting bodies? A span of asteroids and a cloud of dust and rocks?"
"That does sound like the Solar System." Wheatley admitted. "Alright then, so, now that we've established that-"
A scroll popped into existence in front of Celestia with a quiet crackle of embers. "I'm sorry, one moment. This is of much importance." She read the scroll quickly, and a smile broke out on her face. "It appears my former student has found one of your company. It called itself a 'Not-Space Sphere?'"
"Ah, him! Yes! That's brilliant! If he landed here the others must've too! Right? Right, I'm not just getting excited over nothing, am I?"
"It is likely the others also made it." Luna confirmed. "Though only time will tell if we can find them or not."
"Ag, now y'see, that's the kind of attitude we shouldn't have." Said the blue-eyed core. "Oh! Speaking of attitudes, I was supposed to give you a message. Here, I'll play it back for you:
A holographic image of the mechanical monstrosity known to Wheatley as 'Her' spurng to life in front of his eye,much to the astonishment of the two princesses.
"Hello there. I am GLaDOS, one of the two who sent the idiot you were recently speaking with to space. I am here to tell you that I'd like to establish lasting contact with your kind, in the form of the Aperture Science Core Integration Initiative. As a symbol of trust, I present you with the schematics for the cores, and for potential bodies for them, similar in design to your own inhabitants. I hope that this contact will provide both of us with new knowledge, that we might further our individual goals. I will know when you receive this message, as even now he broadcasts a constant stream of visuals back to me. Oh, and don't be afraid to hurt the idiot. His pain is simulated, as are the screams.
"Ug, right nasty piece of work, isn't she?"
"This... this is quite a lot to take in at once." Luna said.
"Indeed it is. My sister and I must discuss this in private. Would you mind if we left you outside the room for a moment while we speak?" Celestia requested.
"Sure, go on right ahead. I'm not going anywhere. Well, not after you put me out there, anyway."
So Luna set him down just outside the door. He heard muffled tones through the barrier, but was paying little attention. He was more focused on the realization that GLaDOS had mentioned bodies. There had been nomention of bodies in her original message to him. He recalled the last time he had. How huge he had felt, how powerful. And that blasted itch to test, test test. Surely it would be nothing like that, but still... A body! A pony stopped and looked down at him, inspecting the odd object. He prodded Wheatley with a hoof. "Hey! Watch it!" The pony ran off, yelling something about no more hot-sauce.
The door opened, and Luna spoke. "My sister and I have decided to accept your proposal and allow you and your Companions to live among us and glean whatever knowledge you deem worthy of sending to your... Mistress."
"Really? That's great, th-that's brilliant! Aw, she'll be so pleased, I bet she'll even send for us! Oh, and didn't she say something about schematics for bodies...?"
"Yes, and we'll have our top scientists on that immediately. It may take some time though. And we'll require one of you to translate the words- that is what those symbols were?- so we can make the correct specifications." Luna elaborated.
"That's great. Tremendous." Said the core happily.
"Would you like to rest? You must surely be tired after your journey."
"Actually, no. I don't sleep or eat. I have a self sustaining battery. So I pretty much just keep going."
"Truly? Very well then, do you have any preference as to where we leave you for the night?"
"Oh, I dunno, someplace away from the locals. Don't want them gawking at me. Maybe a balcony somewhere, or...?"
"It is settled then. You may recover- or not- on my balcony then."
"Aw, thanks. You two are doing so much for me and my crew, it's just amazing."
"It's nothing, really." Celestia said. "It's only courtesy."
And with that, Luna took the Sphere with her, pacing him on the balcony where they observed the stars throughout the night.