The new body felt light and comfortable, and in her excitement Twilight found herself prancing about the now bright and clear corridors, laughing as Faulkner followed behind her.

“I can’t believe this!” she exclaimed. “I had no idea I was even sick until now! This feels so much better!”

“If you like, I can go over some of the features.”

Twilight stopped prancing. “Features?”

Faulkner nodded. “Yes. It’s a slightly modified Librarian type body. Twilight Sparkle, unicorn-version, anatomically neutral with female port architecture. Overall weight is twenty three kilograms. Muscular ratio is 1:2.7.”

“I don’t know what that means.”

“It means you’re not very strong. The joints on our bodies are very good, though, and overall we’re much more durable in adverse conditions than other ponies. You know, for exploring.”

Twilight looked down at herself and giggled. “Wow. I never really thought of myself as an explorer…”

“Our bodies are custom-built for our work. For example, you have internal anti-aliasing and anti-interference visual algorithms. Those are nice for pattern recognition. And your hard drive, of course.”

“My what?”

Faulkner smiled, clearly knowing that this was the best part. “Yes. You come equipped with sixty four petabytes of storage space.”

“Is that a lot?”

“A lot? That’s enough to hold the text of every book ever written three times over and still have enough room to host ten or so ponies inside your body. Which we do, from time to time, it’s fun. Like a party.”

Twilight’s eyes widened. “Every…book?”

“Well of course! What, do you think we just kept paper copies? Every one of us is a Librarian, a part of the Library- -we ALL have text copies of every book in our possession stored in our memory.”

Twilight’s body could not cry- -very few ponies could- -but Faulkner was sure for a moment that she saw a tear come to her eye. “Every…book…”

“I’ll of course prepare you a full list of specifications as well as the appropriate documentation for your records. But that’s the gist of it; right now, your body is optimized for vast storage, with a good processing speed, great vision, high durability, and okay strength.” She frowned slightly. “If you want to get any add-ons, like wings- -”

“I still don’t understand why you have them in the first place,” said Twilight. “I’m a unicorn, always have been. I don’t know why you’re all alicorns.” She paused for a moment. “Then again…isn’t Morgana a unicorn too?”

Faulkner’s expression became somewhat more distant than it had been. “Morgana is…unique.”

“Indeed, I am.”

Faulkner cried out and jumped into the air, her wings fluttering as she did so. She pivoted around to find Morgana standing behind her, no wearing only her sleeveless blouse instead of her whole trench coat. The red stone Morgana wore gleamed on the collar of her shirt; Twilight had never realized how brilliant or beautiful it was before.

“Don’t sneak up on me!” cried Faulkner, putting her hoof over her chest.

“Aren’t you in charge of security? I wasn’t even sneaking…”

Faulkner’s eyes widened. “Yes- -well- -I was predisposed!”

“Of course you were.” Morgana’s eyes slowly drifted toward Twilight. They were slightly more gray than Faulkner’s, but Twilight sensed something more than that. The eyes of a pony in this world were nothing more than optics and electronics manufactured in a laboratory or factory somewhere, and yet somehow they seemed to have a depth to them that Twilight did not fully understand the source of.

“What?” said Twilight, coldly.

“Enjoying the new body?”

“Yes. And for the sake of politeness, thank you for letting me use it.”

Morgana stared for a moment. “So,” she said without smiling, “do you believe you are a machine now?”

Twilight’s expression and mood darkened. “I was having such a good time until you had to ruin it.”

“Just stating the obvious. But I don’t want to belabor that point.”

“No. You just want to say ‘I told you so’. Well too bad. Because I still don’t concede that point.”

Morgana raised an eyebrow. “Really?”

“Yes really. As far as I am aware, I still AM the real Twilight Sparkle- -even if I’m a little different now.”

Morgana stared for a moment longer, and then shrugged. “I don’t care. I came up here to ask for your help.”

Twilight was confused. “MY help?”

“Yes. Who else?” Morgana turned to Faulkner, who now looked more than mildly annoyed. “If you will excuse us.”

Faulkner frowned even more deeply, but then turned to Twilight. Twilight nodded slightly, and Faulkner sighed. “Your clothing and documentation will be waiting for you upstairs when you are ready,” she said. “And maybe later I can give you a tour of the whole Library?”

“I’d like that.”

Faulkner smiled, but weakly. She then walked away, looking over her shoulder at Morgana.

Morgana looked back, and watched until Faulkner turned a corner and was out of sight.

“I don’t think she likes you,” said Twilight.

“Of course not.”

“I don’t like you.”

“I didn’t ask you to.”

Twilight paused. “You knew I was dying, didn’t you?”

Morgana’s eyes flitted to Twilight’s. They were still as cold and gray as ever. “I had a suspicion, yes.”

“And you didn’t do anything about it.”

“You are in a new body, aren’t you?” Twilight opened her mouth, but Morgana interrupted her. “What was I supposed to do? I don’t keep spare bodies on hand, and there was no way I could get one with Aetna-Cross breathing down my neck. If I could have stored you in mine, I would have.”

“Faulkner mentioned that was possible.”

“But not for you. And not with me. Your body, the one you have now? Sure. That could do it. But mine? I can fit Forth, and only because she has a minimized program. I can’t fit too Twilight’s in here.”

Twilight stared at her, and then her eyes narrowed. “You know,” she said. “I almost believe you. You’re a really good liar.”

“I’m not lying.”

“And I’m not a foal. You’re not the kind of pony who goes out of her way to help others. You’re not selfless or even nice. You did this for a reason. A selfish one.”

Morgana suddenly smiled. Twilight was struck by how genuine it was. “Perceptive.”

“So I’m right?”

“Of course you are. I have some level of empathy for you because you’re a Twilight unit, but not much. But I needed another pony in that body to help me find the War Stone.”

Twilight frowned. “And who says I’m going to help you.”

Morgana turned slightly and gestured to the corridor. “Walk with me?”

Twilight hesitated, but then followed. The two of them proceeded down the long hallway to a door that led to a stairwell. Morgana began walking down it.

“I can’t force you to help,” she said at last. “And I guess you aren’t obligated too, either. But I’m going to come out and say it: I’m asking for your help on this.”

“And what makes you think I want to help?”

“Curiosity, largely. Whether you want to admit it or not, you’re a Twilight unit. Believe me when I say I understand how our instincts work.”

“Instinct? But you’re a machine.”

“Yes. A machine programmed to be like a character in a children’s television show. That personality is ingrained in me, and in you, and in all of the fence-straddlers upstairs. Curiosity. Inquisitiveness. A desire for knowledge.”

“And a desire for friendship.”

“That is the easiest to overcome by far, as I’m sure you’ll learn eventually.” They reached the bottom of the stairwell, and Morgana paused before opening the door. “You can’t tell me you don’t wonder, not even a little bit. You’re thinking it right now, trying to figure out what I’m doing, what exactly it is I’m planning.”

Morgana pushed open the door into another hallway, this one dimmer and dustier than the others. Twilight followed reluctantly. As much as she hated to admit it, Morgana was right. Despite her attempts to appear aloof, her curiosity was burning. She knew that Morgana was using some kind of manipulative ploy, but she could not help herself from being drawn in.

“The War Stone,” she said. “That’s what you’re looking for.”

Morgana smiled just slightly. “Yes. That is what I need your help for.”

“But what exactly is it? Some sort of ancient artifact? A powerful relic?”

Morgana stopped walking and turned toward Twilight. She looked somewhat confused. “No,” she said, as though it were supposed to be obvious. “Twilight, the War Stone isn’t a thing. It’s a person.”

“A…a person?”

Morgana nodded. “Josephine van der Kriegstein. Human female. Born July 2037, declared legally dead in March 2175.”

“Wait…if she’s dead, why are we looking for her?”

“If it were that simple, I wouldn’t have bothered coming here, would I?”

“That doesn’t answer the question.”

Morgana sighed. “It’s not an easy question to answer. Her body’s definitely dead. They found it torn to pieces, her brain mostly pulled out and jacked into machinery you couldn’t even imagine if you tried.”

“Sweet Celestia.” Twilight felt nauseous. “Who would do such a thing?”

“She did. To herself.”

“But…why?”

“I don’t know. But my guess would be to become what she is now.”

“Which is?”

“A Cartesian consciousness.”

Twilight snorted. “That’s ridiculous!” she laughed. “While Descartes was a brilliant mathematician and his studies in rationalism were beautiful in a philosophical sense, they just don’t match with modern biology! A consciousness can’t be extracted from the body; it’s a product of the physical connections of neurons in the brain.”

“Is that so?”

“Well, what would be the alternative? Some sort of ghost wandering around? I’m a mare of science! What you’re describing is superstitious pseudoscience, or what Applejack would call ‘hogwash’.”

“Says the mare who just had her consciousness seamlessly transferred between two bodies.”

Twilight sputtered. “That’s different- -”

“No it isn’t. I can guess why she did it, but I don’t ask how. Because I don’t really want to know. Grotesque experiments, unnatural procedures, human mutilation- -I don’t want to picture it. But she did it. She became the first and only one of her kind to transcend mortality. And now I intend to have a conversation with her.”

“Really.” Twilight was incredulous. “And how do you intend to do that?”

“I have a plan, but there’s no point in explaining it to you if you’re not going to help. More to the point, finding her is not going to be the problem, nor talking. The problem is going to be surviving the encounter.”

“I take it that she doesn’t like visitors.”

“Nobody knows. No one has ever met her in person. Really, I haven’t heard anything about her in over two hundred years. I hoped the War Stone had finally died completely, but I guess I was wrong on that one, assuming Maurice is right.”

“I wouldn’t count on that. I don’t trust him. This all sounds pretty ridiculous to me. I don’t see how a ghost could even be dangerous at all.”

“Let me put it this way. I’m a technomancer. Do you know what that means?”

“Like a wizard.”

“Close enough.”

“And she’s one too?”

Morgana shook her head solemnly. It was the first time Twilight saw fear in her, manifesting as a kind of begrudging gloom. “Comparing me to her is like comparing the puddle of piss in a drunk’s shorts to the Adriatic Sea. She was human, once, but she hasn’t been in over twelve hundred years. Growing like cancer. She’s become a god by now. Deux de machina.”

Before Twilight could formulate a question on the subject, Morgana stopped in front of what seemed to be a large industrial door. Something clicked inside of it, and its two halves separated smoothly revealing that they were both incredibly thick.

Cold air sept from the room, and Twilight nearly shivered. Her body did not experience cold, per se, but the air and the strange blue light from the darkened room beyond was ominous and unpleasant.

The room was, like most things in the Library, circular. This time, though, rather than being cylindrical the roof appeared to be domed. To Twilight’s further dismay, there were no books here, but rather looming black monoliths that seemed to hum with energy. Twilight did not fully understand what they were, but her mind likened them to the standing stones that could sometimes be found deep in the forests of Equestria: alone and rarely approached, yet still humming with a strange magical life all their own.

Morgana approached the center of the room. There, a large portion of equipment extended downward from the apex of the dome: cables, conduits, and spindly tendrils of technology all mounted on an array of articulated metal arms. It was under these that Elrod and Forth stood, both of them working to prepare the machinery.

“Wow…” said Twilight, looking up at it. “What is this thing?”

“This is what I came here for,” said Morgana. She walked up to Elrod. “Is it ready?”

“I have no idea how I would even be able to tell,” he replied. “I certainly would be able to assess its worth, if you want that. This piece right here is at least four hundred vod…”

“I don’t care. All you needed to do was follow my instructions.”

“We have,” said Forth. “But would it not be better to have one of the Librarians handle this?”

“I trust you more than I trust them.” Morgana stepped under the arm of the machine that Elrod and Forth were focused on. “Whatever you haven’t done already, I’ll do myself once I’m linked. Jack it in.”

Forth signaled to Elrod, and Elrod nodded. He reached up and lowered one of the arms. Twilight gasped when she saw the end of it; it held an enormous needle. The needle itself was at least as long as one of Twilight’s front legs, but thinner and multi-tiered. Several other cables hung around it.

Morgana stiffened, holding her neck up straight and flipping her hair forward to reveal the extensive ports on her neck. Elrod pulled the needle over the largest one, and Twilight nearly fainted when she watched the entire foot-and-a-half needle bee inserted almost vertically into the top of Morgana’s neck.

“Sweet Celestia I hate that feeling,” said Morgana, shivering. She dropped to her knees and sat on the floor, the arm holding the needle lowering with her. As she did, Elrod and Forth began wiring the other cables and connectors into her ports.

Morgana looked up at Twilight, her eyes tilting in their sockets as she could not easily turn her head. “Right,” she said. “Here’s where you make your choice. This is going to be dangerous as hell. I can’t really ask you to come in with me. But it would be a big help, and make my situation a lot less hopeless.”

“Yes,” said Twilight, without hesitation. Just the look of surprise on Morgana’s face was worth agreeing, but Twilight elected to elaborate: “You’re a bitch,” she said. “I’d be more articulate but I think for brevity’s sake that’s the best word for you.”

“Gee, thanks.”

“But I don’t think overall you’re a bad pony. I think you act out because you don’t want to get close to anypony, but in doing so you drive away any friends you might make.”

“I suppose you’re a psychologist now?”

“I have basic training in every academic subject. But I don’t even need to use it to see what you’re doing. You SAY you saved my life for your own reasons, but I think you really were trying to help me in your own awkward way.”

“So you’re friends now?” gasped Forth. “That’s so beautiful!”

“We’re not friends yet,” corrected Twilight. She looked down at Morgana. “I still don’t like you. But I don’t hate you enough to say ‘no’ when you’re sincerely asking me for help. And you did save my life, so maybe I owe you, I don’t know. Just do it before I change my mind.”

Elrod quickly obliged. He drew another one of the articulated arms away from the larger main one; they were assembled like many fingers on a massive carved-metal hand. He pulled it down, and when Twilight caught sight of the needle she immediately doubted her decision.

“Is this…is this going to hurt?”

“It’s not exactly going to feel pleasant, believe me,” answered Morgana.

Elrod lifted Twilight’s head and held her hair, and without warning or pity he shoved the needle into her neck. Twilight cried out, more from shock than pain. It did not really hurt, but it was long and had just been inserted into a space where she had not even realized she had possessed a hole. It was deeply disturbing and uncomfortable, but the worst of it subsided after a few seconds.

“Oh ponyfeathers,” she said, sitting down on the floor as Morgana had. “Sweet Luna’s firm rump…”

“Are you going to die?” asked Elrod.

“No. I’m just going to sit here.”

“Fine by me.” Elrod and Forth began to connect more ports to her, although none of them were quite as bad as the first. At least until Forth brought over a pair of large rubber hoses.

“What are those for?” asked Twilight, trying to back away.

“Liquid cooling,” replied Morgana. “Trust me, you’re going to want it. I’m going to be doing most of the hard work, but you’re still going to heat up quite a bit too. I’d literally burn out without it, but I don’t know how it will go for you.”

“I don’t want to take any more risk than I have to.”

Forth nodded and walked behind Twilight, the hoses still in her mouth. Twilight felt them being screwed into a pair of small ports under her hair, and then watched as Elrod activated the pair. Immediately she felt a sputtering of air from within her body, and then something cold flowing into her that caused her entire body to hum as it was pumped through.

“Oh wow,” she said. “That’s a weird feeling.”

“If you think it’s been weird so far, just wait. Is she in?”

“She’s in,” said Elrod.

“Confirmed,” said Forth. The pair of them walked to the edge of the platform where Morgana and Twilight were standing and down a small step.

“Good,” said Morgana. “Okay. Now this next part is important. I have orders for you.”

“What kind of orders?” asked Forth.

“Forth, I’m going to need you to run in airplane mode until I get back.”

“Airplane mode? Why?”

“Because as soon as the War Stone knows what we’re doing, she’s going to do everything in her power to get to me. That includes hacking you and using you to disconnect me.”

“I see.” Forth paused for a moment. “Done. My core processes are currently connected to no networks. It feels…lonely.”

“I know, but just hold on for a little bit. I need both of you to stay out here. I’m going to be running my body in server-conformation. That means that part of my consciousness will still be linked in my body. If my body is damaged in that state, my program will be irreparably damaged. I will die. Or worse.”

“This sounds like a terrible idea,” said Elrod.

“It is, but only if you don’t do your job. You need to protect me and Twilight.”

“Twilight and I,” corrected Twilight.

“Either way. Don’t let anyone get near us, or injure us. I don’t care what you have to do to stop them.”

“Who would even try?” asked Elrod. “Nobody knows where we are.”

“We don’t know that, and that might change. I’ve already had Aeschylus tell all her friends to cut ties to the network until I’m done.”

“You think the Librarians will try to kill you?” Twilight simply could not comprehend the idea of that.

“If they are hacked, yes. Or if the War Stone calls for reinforcements. This room is pretty well sealed, but it’s designed to close off electromagnetic radiation more so than bullets.”

“Noted,” said Forth. “Eliminate all infidels who attempt to interrupt the process.”

“Good girl. I’m counting on you. And as much as I hate to say it, also on the starch-trench. To a lesser extent.”

“I’m not going to be much help,” admitted Elrod.

“Of course not. The only reason I had you come is because you have hands.” Morgana turned toward Twilight, and a thin but shaky smile crossed her face. “So. Are you ready?”

“For what?”

Morgana did not bother answering.