Kiva followed Sweetie back to the book seller's stall, where he was calmly waiting for them. Well...'he' was a bit of an assumption on Kiva's part, as all that could be seen of 'him' under an all-covering cloak was the tendrils he used to manipulate his wares and the glowing eyes in the shadows under his hood. He'd introduced himself as 'Mora', and beyond books and other forms of information had spoken of nothing else. He seemed to writhe as the pair returned. "Ah, there you are," he purred happily. "Please, feel free to seek the information you desire. My terminal is here." He seemed to flow to one side, revealing a very basic terminal with a holo-display and keypad at comfortable height for Kiva to use, and a perfectly round data-port down lower. When he noticed Kiva glancing at this, he gurgled oddly. "I normally keep it lower for my own use, but I adjusted it since you cannot adjust your own height as easily. There is another data-port higher up if you wish more direct access."
Kiva smiled and nodded. "Thank you for your consideration," she offered warmly as she stepped up to the terminal, immediately hooking the cybernetics in her wrist to the data-port via inbuilt cable so her translator circuits could work and let her understand the information she found.
"Fascinating," Mora mused as he observed her actions, seeming to take notes. "And how does this technology handle the buffering between neural and computer data rates?"
"I'm afraid I don't know," Kiva apologized ruefully. "My specialties were combat and mechanics, not programming. I know how to build it and make it work for a human, but I don't really understand the theory behind it." She frowned as her search queries either came up empty or with access denied. "Which would probably help me figure out what's going on here..."
"Oh, the information you want is restricted to military terminals," Mora apologized ruefully. "I'm afraid this unit won't be able to display what you're looking for."
"Display?" Kiva asked incisively. "So it can access the material, just not show it to me?"
"More or less," Mora allowed evasively. "With the proper overrides, the limitation could be circumvented, but those are simply not available..."
"Well, maybe a bit of hacking..." Kiva murmured as she tapped away at her holo-keyboard.
Sweetie watched this for a time, but rapidly grew bored. Glancing around, she found her eyes drawn to the round data-port that was at her level. "Huh," she mused thoughtfully as she examined it. "Kinda looks like the 'horn goes here' slot in Megas' control panel. ...about the same size, too..." Without thinking too much more about it, she stuck her horn into the slot.
Kiva jerked back as energy suddenly blazed around Sweetie Belle, her horn and eyes glowing as Kiva's own data access went haywire. "What the-?" She took in Sweetie's state. "And here I thought children without fingers wouldn't need the 'don't stick your fingers in the electrical socket' warning..." she grumbled as she bent down towards her to try and shift her.
"Kiva?" Sweetie's voice suddenly asked from the terminal. "What happened? Where am I?"
"What are you talking about Sweetie?" Kiva demanded in confusion. "You're right here...aren't you?"
Sweetie glanced around at her surroundings. "I...I don't think so...it kinda looks like I'm floating in a sea of numbers. There are...a few images scattered around, and a lot of...scrolls? Also, I see a few walls of fire here or there. What does it all mean?"
Sweetie waited fearfully for Kiva's response. "Sweetie...by any chance does your race's magic include anything to let the mind leave the body?"
"Oh, Astral Projection!" Sweetie piped up happily. "But that's a really advanced spell, and I don't know it..." She blinked as she found herself flowing through the sea of numbers until a particular scroll unrolled in front of her, showing her details of Astral Projection as it was represented in a particular 'fictional story' that was referenced. "Oh, this is how it works!" She pressed her hoof to the scroll.
"Sweetie, information on Astral Projection just downloaded itself to my wrist unit...in your written language," Kiva explained. "I...I think your magic interacting with the technology caused you to astral project...into the information networks. I can only assume it's something that developed from using your magic to energize Megas, somehow."
Sweetie thought about that for a time. "You mean...like Megas heard Scootaloo's talk about us all getting Megas' themed Cutie Marks, saw I had a potential for something like this, and primed my magic for it?"
"...that attributes far more sentient awareness to the avatar unit than I'm fully comfortable with, but close enough," Kiva allowed. "For now, see if you can't get access to information on the Glorft."
"Alright, I'll see what I can find," Sweetie replied. "Glorft, Glorft..." She swam her way through the sea of numbers in the direction she felt was the right one. "Here's hoping getting back is easy, though..."
Scootaloo found Megas' next opponent was a red, samurai themed mecha and the battle took place in a simulated city, almost. The battle quickly clashed with a mutual charge, and both mechs gripped each others' hands in an attempt to force the other back. Seeing the strength at the moment was evenly matched, Scootaloo changed tactics by pulling back. As the enemy mech went off balance, Megas lunged forward in a headbutt, knocking the foe prone.
At that moment, panels in the floor opened and cables of some sort lashed out in an attempt to ensnare Megas...only for the mech's fingers to turn into claws. A quick spin shredded the cables before they could latch on. "Traps now?" Scootaloo gasped in excitement. "This tournament just got interesting!" Lunging forward, a powerful slash downward with one set of claws severed both her foe's arms, while a sideways slash split it down the middle.
"Ah didn' know Megas could make claws!" Apple Bloom gasped in surprise as the audience cheered.
"Guess I pressed a good button," Scootaloo offered, glancing down at the 'Don't Get Trapped' button that had appeared in the back of her seat that she'd accidentally bumped when she'd reared back from the sight of the cables. She was pretty sure the button wasn't there earlier, but she'd never actually checked...