//------------------------------//
// The Test and the Mission 
// Story: Aperture Science Otherworldly Exploration Initiative 
// by Swordoath 
//------------------------------//

	"So all I gotta do is push this button?" Wheatley asked aloud, though no one could hear him. He was standing in a wooden room with a large pedestal-like button at it's center, and a crate which lay in the corner on it's side. The walls were unpainted and the roof was letting through small cracks of sunlight, though the main source of light was a luminescent orb of magic floating in the center of the room. Two doors on either side,on open,ad one locked, also were featured in the so called 'test'. "Well, uh, alright then. I'll work on the assumption that you cannot hear me,and so I should just try and figure this out on my own."  Wheatley stood on the button, and the door clicked as if unlocking. When he stepped off,  the door clicked again, locking. 
"Hm... this is a real brain-jerker, this one... Can't hack the door open, cause it's made of wood... Hm. Oh, and there's that box too,I suppose." He mused.
Meanwhile, outside, the native ponies and the rest of his crew observed his progress. 
"Did... did he really just try and break open the box?" Rick said. He then shouted, "C'mon man! It's so simple!"
"Yeah, I mean seriously!" Rainbow chimed in. "It's like, two steps!"
"Yeah! See, this one here gets what I'm gettin' at."
"What? Oh, yeah! I did it! Yes!" Wheatley called from inside the chamber. ""Do I get some kind of prize, or something? Or do I just get to leave? Agh, wait, door locked again. Hang on a second while I figure this out.
"The Fact Sphere is disappointed."
"Same here." T.H. agreed. "I built the easiest darn thing I could think of,and he can't even-"
"Were you lot talking about me?" Wheatley spoke up from behind them.
Most everyone jumped, excluding the Fact Sphere.
"Wheatley? When did you-" Twilight began.
"Just now. I kept thinking, 'what's the box in here for anyway?' and boom, figured it out. Box on the button. So simple it slipped past my superior intellect's mind."
"Well... Alright then." Twilight said, recovering. "You passed the test like the rest of the crew."
"Alright!" He hoof-pumped. "You all saw it right? It was all like, box, button, door, outta there!"
"Yeah yeah, we get it. Your a freaking genius." Rick deadpanned.
Wheatley took no notice of this,and maintained his cheerful demeanor as the group left the field where the test shack was to show the Princesses of the Day and Night their progress towards good relations. Becoming like those you wish to impress, while a little creepy, is a fairly effective way of making friends with those who help.



The motley crew of flesh and metal approached the Princesses slowly, bowing as the drew near. That is, excluding Twilight,who simply proceeded to greet her former teacher with a short hug.
"Commander Wheatley," Nodded Luna. "I see those plans for the bodies went off well?"
"Oh, yes. The flippin' brilliant. And we have this man- er, pony right here to thank for them. Titanium Hammer, This is Princess-"
"Princess Luna," He bowed again. "thank you once again for contracting me this job."
"It was my pleasure. You are a renown mechanic in Equestria. Who else would I entrust with such an important task?"
He blushed. "By your leave..."
She nodded. T.H. Backed out of the room the way he came in.
"So I take it all went well with the adjustments to these new bodies?"
"Of course." Said the Fact Sphere.
"Then it is time for you to mingle with the local ponies. Ponyville is a wonderful place to make new friends. Any one of the girls here can tell you that."Princess Celestia said.
The was a murmur of assent. Wheatley looked to his companions, his only friends (Using the term loosely) and thought back to what a terrible friend he was to to that lady back home. He could do better. He would do better. He was going to do everything in his power to make ties here so he could get these guys back home. For him. For them. For her.
"Okay, let's go to Ponyville!"
"Ponyville. Yes. Library, books, reading. Spells. Ba ba."
"You, uh... Kinda ruining my moment there buddy."
"Sorry. Hmm hmm hmm. Hmm hmm hmm."
Wheatley sighed. "Still doing it mate. Still doing it."