The War Stone could not see, as she had no eyes. Sensing the world was impossible for her; rather, she WAS the world. Her existence had long ago surpassed perception and understanding and instead become pure integration. It was from this horrifying torment of a reality that she became aware of something unexpected. An aberration had occurred: somewhere around an obscure and largely irrelevant part of her person, an area that she had nearly consumed suddenly became opaque to her consciousness.

Within the metaphor that ruled her world, the beam she had used to strike down Morgana suddenly backfired. The result was unexpected, and the possibility that such a thing could even occur had been assessed as remote. The code had been changed in a way that the War Stone had never considered, and part of her was injured by the force.

She looked through the metaphor. Standing before her was a single representation of a Twilight Sparkle unit. The blow that the War Stone had struck should have been fatal; instead, the offending unit now stood unharmed- -and even had the audacity to smile as she spread her long alicorn wings.

“Why aren’t you dead?” she demanded.

The Twilight did not answer. There was a flash of pink-violet light, and she vanished. The War Stone immediately began to calculate her trajectory and instantly pinpointed her outbound location. She turned her attention toward it- -only to be struck on the opposite side of her avatar.

She screamed and turned, suddenly filled with irrational hatred. Her fractal pattern expanded exponentially, sending a barrage of feelers into the code surrounding her. They were represented as a number of beams moving at seemingly random right angles. The Twilight produced a shield to block- -and attacked at the same time. The War Stone attempted to shield herself, although the unexpected attack managed to damage part of her protective surface. The processing was far faster and devoted than had been anticipated: it should have been impossible for any single being to maintain a shield strong enough to deflect the feelers and to attack so viciously at the same time.

The War Stone changed tactics. She instead focused on reinforcing her shield. For a limited being, the increase in protection would only allow them to avoid incursions from outside sources- -and only if they were both fast and smart. For the War Stone, however, the program was designed to incinerate anything it touched. It was a crude and blunt mechanism, but even if a target of it managed to survive they would seldom be mentally intact enough to continue fighting for very long.

The surge went out, and it struck the Twilight unit’s consciousness- -but had no effect. Her body seemed to twist, pushing itself through the defensive code while at the same time entering several key processes behind it. Instead of being forced back by the shield, she had somehow leveraged it, using it to betray the locations of the systems that allowed it to exist.

Several of the fractal sub-portions surrounding the War Stone’s avatar shattered, leaving her core exposed. She struck out wildly, attempting to defend herself, but the Twilight moved too quickly. Part of her controlled her motions as she slipped between phases of the underlying code and the metaphor itself while another part continued to reach, devoting its full energy into peeling apart her target.

“Stop!” cried the War Stone. “You’re hurting me!”

Then something inside her snapped. It was the last of the defenses, and the last device of the connective part of herself that held that particular portion of the War Stone’s body against her true consciousness. The code around it lost stability and shattered like glass, tinkling to the floor and evaporating into vapor within the metaphor. She was exposed, nude, and isolated. The room suddenly burst into flame from direct exposure to her uncontrolled consciousness, and the metaphor began to collapse- -but not before the single Twilight leapt forward, tunneling its way past the last ephemeral membrane of her consciousness before entering her true self.

Lilium and Morgana both dropped to the floor, now as separate individuals. The room that surrounded them was in the same visual style that Ponyville had been, and Lilium had the strangest sense that she was supposed to remember it from somewhere, even though she had never seen it. It was a high-ceilinged room that had a floor and walls apparently made of crystal. Several large crystalline chairs sat in the center around a large, round map.

The light in the room flickered as though it itself were alight. Lilium and Morgana turned to face the War Stone. In this form, she somewhat resembled the pale, thin woman she had once been- -but badly corrupted, to the point where she resembled some kind of horrid wraith more than a human woman.

One of the War Stone’s heads looked around.

“What is this?” she said. “You’ve trapped one two hundred and fifty sixth of my being in a closed server.”

“I did,” said Morgana. “In my own central processor. We’re in my body right now. You’re trapped in a physical location.”

The War Stone just stared for a moment. “Really,” she said at last. “Because that means that your program is now as unprotected as mine. Which means that I can terminate your core process without interference.”

With one tremendous blow, the War Stone raked her claws through Morgana’s body. Morgana’s core program was torn apart. Lilium screamed in horror as she watched, because she could not see beyond the metaphor: what showed in this world as blood and entrails appeared to her as the systems in Morgana’s programming that kept her mind alive being broken down and ceasing. The attack had been invariably lethal.

And as it happened, the world seemed to slow. When it had nearly stopped, Lilium became aware of a strange sensation throughout her body and mind. She watched as numerous silver threads shot from her body. They reached Morgana, and their ends embedded themselves in her wounds. Time then resumed its normal speed- -and Morgana caught herself before she fell. The wounds that had been inflicted on her mind had vanished.

The War Stone gaped. “What?” She turned to Lilium and lurched forward. Lilium squeaked and put up her hooves in defense, but they were useless. Her legs were cut in half, along with the rest of her body. The pain was incredible, but distant; Lilium felt herself falling as the world went black and she began to die- -until she suddenly gasped and opened her eyes, feeling herself shoved back into the world of the living by some external force.

“But that’s impossible!” cried the War Stone, turning sharply toward Morgana. “Your core process can’t be cross compatible! They aren’t in ponies! You would need to find one with the same passage history! There aren’t any Twilight Sparkles who haven’t undergone Genesis!”

“Well, you’re looking at two of them.” Morgana smiled smugly. “And you can only attack one of us at once. And if you do? We’re each other’s backups. We’ll just copy the other’s processes and start right back up again.”

“I can’t kill you,” said the War Stone. “And I can’t escape. I’m…trapped…”

Suddenly a sound echoed through the room. Lilium actually took a moment to recognize, even though it was obvious what it was: laughter. It had been the last thing she had expected.

The wraith vision of the War Stone was suddenly gone. In its place stood a smiling pale unicorn. She was shorter than Lilium and Morgana, and her body was pale gray-white. No part of her had any color: she lacked a cutie mark, and her mane, though fuzzy and soft-looking, was the same color as her body. Even her eyes were white: her pupils were only distinguished by a pair of black-outlined white circles in the centers of her identically colored sclera.

She was laughing. “You got me!” she cried. “You actually managed to get me!”

“Is that funny?”

“Of course! You have no idea how interesting this is to me! I’ve fought wars against entire armies of hackers and divers, and here you are: two ordinary ponies. Two ordinary ponies fought me to a draw. I was not sure if people like you still existed in the world.” She began to sing to herself and walk toward the round table. Morgana gave her a wide berth. “Eenie meenie miney moe, catch a tiger by the tow…” She turned suddenly toward Morgana. “If I holler, will you let me go?”

“No. I can feel your heart but I know you’re mean.”

The reference seemed to please Josephine. She had stopped laughing, but she smiled. “So,” she said, raising a hoof. The metaphor shifted at her will, and the crystal of the floor roared upward to form a chair, darker and more ornate than the others. The seat immediately began to slide toward the table. “You came all this way. You’ll never be gods like myself, but I think you’re worthy enough for me to at least listen to what you have to say.”

Lilium was still weary of her. “You mean you won’t try to kill us?”

Josephine stared at her. She did not appear to ever blink. “I don’t really want to kill you that badly. Whether or not you live or die is not really relevant to me.”

“Then why were you trying to kill us?”

Josephine shrugged. “Because it was amusing. But now you’re more amusing alive than dead. You essentially did the impossible. You must want something very badly.”

“We do.” Morgana climbed into a chair across from Josephine, and at her direction Lilium sat in one beside her.

Josephine leaned forward. “May I guess?”

“You are my guest,” said Morgana. “Of course you may.”

“You wish to try to wield me, don’t you? If that is whatyou came for, then let me warn you: containing a tiny fraction of my being is one thing. Controlling me is impossible. Many have tried. But no mortal can.”

“Firstly, that’s not what I want,” said Morgana. “I might be crazy, but I’m not stupid. Second, you’re lying to me.”

Josephine’s eyes narrowed slightly. Without eyelids, it was somewhat grotesque to watch. “Then why go through all this trouble?”

“To talk.”

The smile on Josephine’s face grew wider. “So,” she said. “You really are insane. You faced impossible odds…to talk?”

“Someone is trying to kill me,” said Morgana.

“You mean apart from me? Yes. I know that. How could I not? Half the of the network is lighting up about you. Many doors are being shut against a technomancer and opened for me.”

“You have something to do with it.”

“Really? Do I?”

“I thought you said you wanted to talk,” said Lilium.

Josephine laughed. She leaned back in her chair. “I did. Nor do I mind telling you. Yes. I am involved.”

“You’re working with the Corporations.”

“No. I see no reason why I would want to. They would be far too controlling, not realizing that I am definitionally superior to all of them. Like I said, no one wields me. I create destruction and death only when I desire it.”

“Then who are you working for?”

“And what exactly will you use this information for? Before I answer. So that I can calculate the consequences.”

“I’ll use the information to figure out what’s going on.” Morgana was sounding increasingly exasperated.

“To clear your name.”

“That is a secondary goal, but yes. I need to finish the investigation. I opened something. Someone is out there. Not Corporate. Someone working with them, but separate. That’s the one you work for, isn’t it?”

Josephine smiled and nodded. “They call themselves the Cult of Humanity.”

“And you currently work for them? I thought nobody could wield you.”

The idea seemed to insult Josephine somewhat. “There is a difference.”

“Which is?”

“Most modern people think of me as a tool. A device. A weapon. You wield a weapon as an extension of yourself. But an employee gets something in return…”

“And what did they promise you?”

Josephine and Morgana’s eyes met. “A body.”

Morgana laughed. “A body? Are you serious? You could take any body you want, any pony or any- -”

“NO. I can’t. You should know that, little technomancer. Not a pointless finger puppet for me to drive around like a toy. A body that can hold my entire consciousness. That can make me live again.”

“That’s impossible. You grew too big. There isn’t a computer in existence big enough to contain you in any semblance of a body.”

“Not with the technology you are aware of. But the Cult…their technology vastly outpaces anything that exists today. I’m not sure how they acquired it, nor do I care. I only desire it. And if I agree to serve them for a short time, they will give it to me. And I will be complete again.”

“But I don’t understand,” said Lilium. “Why is that what you want so bad?”

Josephine turned sharply. “Why?”

Lilium nodded. “Why do you need one? In here, you’re a god. You have everything you could ever want. You can make anything, do anything…you’re all-powerful. And you want to give that up?”

A humorless chuckle escaped Josephine’s lips. “You are a fool,” she said, her smile fading instantly. “I only came here because my original body was dying. But do you have any idea what this existence is like, how hellish it is?”

“But I’ve seen this world. At least part of it. Humans spend their whole lives here.”

“Humans who are deluding themselves. The technomancers call this place the ‘Illusion’. Because it is. Existing here is agony. Yes, I can create anything I want- -and nothing I want.”

“That’s a paradox.”

“Is it? I can create anything, but none of it- -NONE OF IT- -is REAL. It’s no different than if I sat down and imagined it. Houses drawn on paper, castles made of sand. Nothing of CONSEQUENCE. Nothing solid. Nothing with any MEANING.” She cried out wordlessly and put her head down. “It’s all so terribly dull…”

“No,” said Morgana. “You’re lying again. You don’t want a body.”

“She doesn’t?”

Morgana shook her head. “No. You want the best of both worlds. Because you’ve already conquered this world…now you want to be god of a new world.”

Josephine eyes flited forward. Her head was still down on the table, and when she smiled her teeth had suddenly become lethally sharp. “Can you imagine what I could do? What I could accomplish? This mind, this experience, my immortality…think of the things I could make.”

“Or the things you could destroy.”

“I do not differentiate between the two. Life is death. Creation is destruction. And so on.”

“Are we going to stop her?” asked Lilium.

“We couldn’t even if we wanted to.” Morgana shrugged. “And I don’t want to. Because it doesn’t really matter to me. I don’t care. But I DO care about who, exactly, is making this body in the first place. This Cult of Humanity. Who are they?”

Josephine lifted her head. “It’s in the name. They are Humanity.”

“You’re not being helpful.”

“Nor am I required to be. Time isn’t passing right now. I’ve taken the liberty of reconfiguring your write-speed. We could spend a thousand years in this room and barely a millisecond would pass outside. Your body is almost melted. I can see it right now, though my finger puppets. But I will let you live as long as it pleases me.”

“Are they nice to work for?”

Josephine turned toward Liliuim. “What?”

“The Cult of Humanity. You don’t seem like you’d work for just anyone. Even if they did offer you a body. In all honesty, you’re not very friendly.”

“No. I suppose not. But yes. They do treat me well. They actually comprehend what I am. Hence my job.”

“And what, exactly, are you?” asked Morgana.

“More than a mass of code, if that’s what you mean. As I’ve said. Most people see me as a tool, a device meant to serve them. To hack. To kill by hacking. To control machines. And I can do that. Sometimes the Cult asks me to. VERY nicely. But that’s not my primary purpose.”

“Then what is?” Lilium leaned forward expectantly.

“What everyone else forgot. That I was the greatest scientist of my generation. Perhaps ever.” She gestured to herself. “How do you think I managed to do this? I specialize in machine-neural interface, artificial consciousness, and synthetic biology. I’ve kept up with the literature, the studies- -and performed a few of my own.”

“They hired you as a scientist?”

“Of course. They respect my brilliance. They still see me as human.” She shrugged. “I guess I miss that.”

Morgana paused. “I see…but what does this have to do with me?”

“Hmm. You’re a bigger narcissist than even me. And I’m the only true being on this planet right now. ‘Me me me’. That’s a question that I can’t answer. Because it’s one I never bothered to ask myself.”

“You don’t know?”

“Believe it or not, I don’t run the Cult. I don’t know what goes on inside them. Most of the members don’t have cybernetics, not in the way we understand them. I cannot enter them. I cannot integrate. I cannot see.”

“Then you don’t know.”

“No. Not for sure. But I can surmise.” Josephine pointed across the table. “You interest them. I don’t know why. They were very explicit that I should try to avoid killing you.”

“And clearly you did a good job at that,” muttered Lilium.

“Please note that you are not dead. Also that they do not control me. I work for them voluntarily and expect to get paid. I will kill whoever I want whenever I want. But the Cult of Humanity seems to want you alive. For as long as possible. At least from my perspective.”

Morgana was silent for a moment. “Okay,” she said. “I see. But I need more than that. This ‘Cult of Humanity’. Where can I find them? And what are they trying to do?”

Josephine smiled mischievously. “No.”

“No?”

“As in, I don’t intend to tell you. As impressed as I am, you have deeply insulted me. So I’ll help you…but leave out the part you most desire. You don’t need to know that. And THEY don’t want you to know.”

“You bitch…”

“That isn’t the first time you’ve called me that, Lilly. I never did like you. And you never liked me.”

“I’m not going to let you go until you give me the information I need.”

“Then you will be sitting here for a long time. But in case you did not realize it, I’m in control here.”

“Not inside my body you aren’t.”

“I’m not inside your body. Part of me is, but not all. The majority of me is elsewhere- -including in a small army of finger puppets that are right now staring down a nearly ammo-empty Blossomforth unit and an agromorph who is about to be turned into soup.”

“Forth and Elrod!” cried Lilium. “You wouldn’t!”

“I would. Without hesitation or remorse. Remorse is one of the first things you lose in here. Or in my case by the time I was twelve. I was being nice because you actually brought me some amusement. But I could very easily kill your friends right now.”

“Then do it. They are expendable.”

“Morgana!”

Josephine burst out laughing. “Of course they are! You continue to impress me! Oh, if you were human. You would make an excellent god to counter me. An Odin to my Loki, a Zeus to my Chronus. If only…”

She trailed off, and her expression suddenly changed. To Lilium, it appeared as though she had grown ill and deeply concerned about something.

“Josephine?”

“Something is wrong…no. You can’t- -this isn’tpossi- -”

She suddenly screamed. The sound was deafening. It was not a roar of rage but one of deep and profound pain and fear. The boundaries of Josephine’s pony avatar suddenly split apart and blurred, and the metaphor of the crystal castle began to crack and tear.

“What’s happening?!”

“It isn’t me.” Morgana stood up suddenly, her face grave. “I’m trying to stabilize her, but- -she’s being pulled away from me from the outside!”

“NO!” Josephine was screaming in multiple voices simultaneously, some arising distantly from other parts of herself and some far nearer. “You can’t! I won’t let you- -GODDAMN YOU! I WILL KILL YOU ALL!”

Suddenly the illusions shattered. The castle was broken and reformed as a long, white corridor lined with numerous evenly spaced doors. With a final cry, Josephine was pulled away by some unseen force down the hallway, and the distance between her and the Twilights seemed to grow far greater than it should have.

“Move!” cried Morgana, breaking into a gallop. “Get after her!”

Lilium obeyed and they gave chase. It was only through Morgana’s assistance that they were able to almost keep up, but they were still not moving fast enough. Josephine was being taken away from them.

“What is this?” asked Lilium, looking around at the walls. They were cinderblock, with harsh fluorescent lights overhead and a plastic-tiled floor. It looked like a hospital. “Where the buck are we?”

“Stop asking that question! I don’t know!”

Suddenly Morgana slid to a stop. Lilium did so as well. They had come to a juncture in the hallway, and in the distance, they could see Josephine’s light fading as she was dragged away. Going further was no longer possible, though, as two different beings now stood blocking their path. One of them resembled an enormous knight, his body clad in silver and his chest marked with a red cross. The other was a Moondancer unit, hovering in the air and surrounded by a number of holographic plates that made up a representative interface.

Lilium understood what they were. “Technomancers!” She took a defensive stance. The Moondancer’s eyes met hers, and the knight drew his sword. Lilium just laughed. “We’ll just have to fight you, then, won’t we? We already fought the War Stone and won, so it shouldn’t be a problem- -”

Morgana suddenly grabbed Lilium’s shoulders. There was a sudden feeling of motion, and the Moondancer and the Knight receded at impossible speed. Lilium and Morgana were sucked backward through the hallway, escaping at high speed.

“What are you doing?! We can take them!”

“The Moondancer was from Intel, and I don’t know where the Templar was from, but I saw the code behind them. It’s massive. It must have taken years to build. Decades even.”

“But we can fight them!”

“No. No we can’t. Maybe if they were alone, but not on their own turf- -and not right now. I’ve got a matter of seconds. I’m overheating. Badly. And so are you. I don’t have the strength. We’ll have to settle for what we got; I can’t afford to go any farther. Not like this.”

The metaphor faded, and Lilium felt her eyes open slowly. She gasped, and immediately understood Josephine’s desire to break free to the real world. Lilium had not noticed the change as she dove deeper and deeper into the virtual world, but her view of reality had slowly changed; seeing actual reality made her suddenly realize just how flat, empty, and pointless the virtual representations had been. Everything in the real world was so much more vibrant and alive- -and meaningful.

The feeling of visual richness was glorious, but followed by something much worse. Lililum quickly became aware of a feeling of devastating heat; it felt as though she were being burned away from the inside. She cried out at the fever that was consuming her and rolled onto her side.

“Hold on, hold on,” said a voice. Lilium saw Elrod standing over her. His body was in the process of healing several bullet holes, and his coat had been torn to shreds by them. “Your temperature is dropping. Just hold on for a few more seconds. Try to breath. If you have lungs I mean.”

Lilium did not know if she should believe him, but he turned out to be right. The heat and pain slowly began to recede. First it became less agonizing, then tolerable, and then finally faded into dull apprehension. By this time, Forth came into view, climbing over piles of mutilated corpses. Her own body had been badly damaged, but was still functional: her skin had been torn away in most places, leaving only her battered surface armor and her diamond-plated eyes.

“You really are a machine,” muttered Liliuim.

“An adorable machine, yes.” Forth looked down at the ground. “Sorry about the bodies. I made a lot of them. But not all.”

“What happened?”

“They stopped,” said Elrod. “They just stopped and fell over. I don’t know why.”

“The War Stone…something pulled her away. I guess she lost her connection with her finger puppets…”

“Finger puppets?”

“That’s what she called them. I thought it was weird, but Morgana didn’t seem to- -” A bolt of realization suddenly shot through Lilium’s mind. She jumped up, causing the needle in her neck to twist uncomfortably. “Morgana!”

She turned toward the other uplink port, and she saw Morgana. She was lying on her side with her eyes open, but she was not moving. Parts of her skin had broken, and her heat exchangers were visible; some of them had already melted and burned away.

“Morgana!” Lilium stood up, struggling to disconnect herself from the uplink. Elrod helped her, and when she was freed she ran to Morgana’s side. Morgana did not react. She remained stationary. Lilium reached to touch her, but recoiled. The heat was too intense. “Elrod! Do something!”

“I did what I could.” He reached down to pick up his operator mask. It had a bullet hole through the center, but it seemed to still be functional. With it, he stared at Morgana. “I’m not getting a signal. Her reactor is running, but her processor…”

“No! She can’t be dead!” Ignoring the heat, Lilium grabbed Morgana’s shoulders and shook her. “Wake up! WAKE UP!”

“She can’t wake up if she’s- -”

“Stop goddamn shaking me,” moaned Morgana. She resisted weakly, managing to just barely push Lililum away. “I’m not dead, just…oh shit…what the hell is this?” She pulled apart the link to her coolant ports and a white powder-like substance poured out.

“I had to improvise,” said Elrod. “I linked you to the fire suppression system.”

“You goddamn starchy fuck! That stuff is corrosive! Do you know how long it’s going to take me to clean out my coolant manifold?” She suddenly seemed ill and fell back onto the ground, lying on her side.

“Morgana…”

“I’m fine, Lilium. At least I think I am. But I need to cool down. I’m at over five hundred percent my recommended operating temperature. I need to run a diagnostic program.” Her eyes turned toward Elrod. “And despite being a starchy fuck, I’m pretty sure you saved my life. And hers.”

Elrod turned to Lilium. “Your name is Lilium? I didn’t know that.”

“It is now. I have a name.”

“Congratulations,” said Forth. Despite having no skin, she seemed somewhat perturbed. Lilium suspected that it was probably from having been forced to fight so many of the War Stone’s soldiers- -or, knowing Forth, from not having been able to kill them all herself. “Did you find what you were looking for?”

“Some of it. But not enough. We can talk about when we get back to the warehouse. Right now I need to rest.” She closed her eyes, and though she couldnot sleep, she lay her head down. Lilium sat down beside her to wait.

“Do you at least know why they’re trying to kill us?” asked Elrod.

“No,” said Lilium. “We didn’t get that far. But Morgana was right. The War Stone was involved in it. And we know who we need to find.”

“Who?”

“They call themselves the Cult of Humanity. And they control the War Stone…or did. But I still don’t know what for.”