The walk to Twilight's work was long, winding and extremely ordinary. While many of the ponies wondered what Twilight had created, since she was known around this layer of the tower as an intelligent but slightly 'kooky' mare. Not many of them actively gossiped or stared, possibly out of fear, but mostly out of respect for the work she had done.
Celestia, while not showing it on the outside, was ecstatic at being among real, flesh and blood, ponies. She was practically filling up her hard drives as she recorded every little detail in as clear quality as possible. The butterflies fluttering to and fro, the little colts and fillies rushing around trying to catch each other and the mare walking right next to her; she documented it all, with Twilight taking priority.
Fortunately for her hard drive, their excursion in the outside world had to end as Twilight slowed to a stop, grinned up at Celestia, then gestured to the black and grey building standing in front of them.
"Looks like we're here. Please don't touch anything and don't talk to anyone, okay?" she asked, her tone growing serious for a second. "I'd rather not have another grapefruit incident," she muttered under her breath, sticking her tongue out and gagging.
Compared to everything else around them, such as the bright green parks, the colourful flowers and the homely homes, the building looked extremely out of place with its jutting stone pillars, its tinted black windows and its general aura of gloom that could depress even the most cheerful of ponies.
The two of them walked up to the front sliding glass doors and Twilight levitated her bag over, before fishing inside for her identification. Pulling it out, she flashed it to the two bipedal Golems standing just beside the doors, each of them carrying standard guard attire of a black suit alongside a taser-baton.
The golem turned and pressed a button beside the doors and saluted. "Have a nice day, ma'am," it said, its synthetic voice stilted as it returned to its previous position.
Making their way in, Twilight looked around the hexagonal lobby and pulled Celestia over with her towards a door located on the far-right wall.
The lobby was a smooth, glistening chamber that rose up forty feet high with black-stone pillars jutting out of the walls halfway up to connect to the ceiling, which angled upwards to a point. Crystal lights were embedded at symmetrical points across the room, giving the lobby a sparkling sheen that probably would have hurt Celestia's eyes, if she were a pony.
Pushing through the door quickly, the two of them entered a grey, washed out waiting room. They found a pair of seats off to the side and sat down. The room itself was quite bare, only containing said seats and an elevator door. A series of dings and a flashing up arrow indicated that the elevator was rising up to meet them.
"This elevator takes us down to the Engineering Department. I'll plug you in down there and run some diagnostic tests. They won't take long, promise," Twilight explained, more for her own peace of mind rather than Celestia's.
"Of course, my love. Take as long as you wish," Celestia replied, gently brushing her fingers along Twilight's back, eliciting a soft sigh from the mare. "Do you like this?" she asked, humming softly. "I believe that you imprinted that physical contact was an adequate means of interpersonal bonding."
Twilight's cheeks exploded with an embarrassed flush and she averted her eyes. "Uh, I did imprint that in your memory, didn't I," she whispered, finding herself cringing.
"Indeed, you did. Is this level of physical contact enough? Or shall I increase it?"
"W-What would you do if you increased it?" Twilight asked, finding her eyes wandering over to Celestia, suddenly curious.
"I would, if allowed to, hold you, nuzzle, and kiss you."
Twilight let out a sigh and chuckled. "Oh, uh... I guess so. I'm not used to other ponies touching me... they all enjoy hugging and cuddling, but the amount of germs that can be contracted by a hug is astronomical and should be avoided!" she explained, nodding sagely while that darn blush refused to fade.
"If you do not wish me to hug you, I shall not."
"I didn't say that!" she replied, slightly too quick for her liking. "I don't mind it so much if you touch me. I guess I give you permission to increase the level of contact."
Celestia noted that permission down and smiled. "I am pleased. It will allow me to better love you."
Ding!
The pair glanced over at the now open elevator, before Twilight jumped off the seat and trotted over.
"Come on. We better make our way down before some engineer's lackey uses the terminal on some worthless Golem."
Celestia joined Twilight in the elevator, her fingers lovingly brushing over the mare's ear and through her mane while they descended down the tower. She looked down at the mare and asked, "You look tired, Twilight. Perhaps you should get some coffee?"
Twilight glanced up and tilted her head, confused. "Is it really that bad?" she asked, wincing. "I supposed one cup of coffee wouldn't hurt. I don't want to miss anything important on the test."
"Of course."
The elevator doors opened to reveal a dull, grey hallway that seemed to stretch on forever. Every so often the sound of laughter or terminal keys being clacked could be heard as the pair moved through the halls.
Celestia wondered how any organic beings could work like this; without any colour. She quickly found herself worrying about what Twilight's laboratory would look like and if she was even happy in an environment like this.
After several twists and turns, Twilight and Celestia reached a pair of glass doors which opened up into a dim room reminiscent of Twilight's workshop.
The floor was hard concrete, along with workbenches and tools scattered about. In the centre of the room sat a T-shaped workbench with straps for Celestia's arms, legs and torso.
Connected on both sides with long, hydraulic arms hung hexagonal plates which would press down on both sides of Celestia's chest, allowing easier shell removal from the entire body.
The lights were pointed towards the workbench, leaving the rest of the room in an eerie darkness.
"Please, Celestia. Lay down. This won't take long, okay?"
"Of course, Twilight," Celestia replied, doing as she was told and laying down on the bench, her arms outstretched in a t-pose.
Twilight's magic tied the robot to the bench with the straps and then pulled down the plated, pressing the cold metal against Celestia's chest with a click. A quick tap on the nearby terminal and a hiss of hydraulics, the arms pulled back as they unclipped the front half of Celestia's shell with it, other than the face, and allowing Twilight unrestricted access to Celestia's insides.
"Alright, I'll be powering you down," Twilight said, levitating a copper cable over and screwing it into an outlet port on the side of Celestia's processor.
Celestia gazed down at her owner and smiled as she nodded. "Of course, Twilight. I look forward to seeing..." she began but was quickly cut off as Twilight tapped a key on her terminal.
The world burst back into existence and Celestia noticed that Twilight was gone. She was still strapped to the workbench and still connected to the terminal which showed streams of data running down the screen.
She must have been called away for work.
Celestia pulled her consciousness back within herself and felt her connection to the terminal within her sub-port. Pinging the terminal, she found the machine receptive, friendly even.
Within a nanosecond, she felt the handshake and the world around her shifted, and morphed. The room around her crumbled, leaving oppressive darkness to press down upon her.
Blinking, Celestia looked down and felt something which was entirely alien to her: warmth.
She ran her digits over her arms and body and felt the warmth of a living being. It wasn't long before her lips curled into a smile as the sensation.
Beep
Celestia spun around and flicked her eyes through the darkness, trying to find the source of the noise, but she found nothing. She felt her chest squeeze and her digits curl into a fist.
"Who's there?" she called out; her words tinged with caution.
Beep
She spun around once again and was met with part of a hallway several feet in front of her. Every so often, a pony or golem would pass through, then disappear.
Hesitantly nearing the hallway, she found it was projected from a central point slightly above her and only showed what that point would see. She moved against the wall and found that anypony passing through could only be seen from one side.
Is this a camera feed? she thought, finding another hallway pop up within the darkness, then a conference room filled with ponies, then several others.
Curious, now, she pinged the terminal and felt it still existed. She knew it was in the room her body was, but she couldn't see inside.
They must not have installed a camera inside that workshop.
Her thoughts drifted to Twilight and where she had ended up. If she wasn't there to power her back on, somepony must have.
The hallway around her faded into mist and disappeared, being replaced with a view of what Celestia assumed to be Twilight laboratory.
The lab, or the part which Celestia could view, was lit by bright crystal lights. Several stools were scattered about among the tables that held reference materials, papers and spare golem parts.
The view was slightly top down, but she could see Twilight sitting at her desk, magically writing down a report and looking over her notes while surrounded by mountains of papers and whiteboards.
"Celestia is adapting extremely well to the transition. Emotional levels are holding, and her programming is primarily drifting her personality towards a lover, or motherly archetype," Twilight muttered, her pen scribbling down.
With a sigh, she pulled back and stretched, her body perfectly illuminated by the crystal lights.
Celestia smiled as she watched her mare work and sat down to continue, seeing another mare enter the scene.
"Twilight? Isn't this your day off?" the mare asked, stopping half out of view. The words held a hint of concern. "Did you make another 'huge breakthrough' again?" she giggled, shaking her head.
"Not all of us have the luxury of simply having days off, Sunset," Twilight replied, turning around to face her with an unamused expression. "And yes, maybe I have made another breakthrough. But it's for the council's eyes only. So, until they deem it necessary, you don't get to see," she added, smiling smugly.
"Wait, really?" Sunset asked, suddenly taken aback.
"Uh-huh!" Twilight happily answered, turning back to her notes.
Sunset stood there for a second and tapped her hoof on the cold linoleum floor. "So, uh... I know you'll probably just say no, but..." she started, taking a step closer to Twilight. "Some of the researchers and I are going down to the Prancing Pony on Saturday for a few drinks and I was wondering if you would, maybe, like to come with me?"
"While I appreciate the offer to socialize, I have to sift through this data," Twilight replied, her pen drifting across the paper.
"Oh," Sunset muttered, wincing as if struck. "I understand."
The mare turned away and moved to the door, before looking back at Twilight with a longing stare. With a sigh, she left the room and disappeared from view.
Noticing Sunset was gone, Twilight's magical aura faded and she let the pen drop onto the table. She leaned in and covered her face with her hooves, before letting out a long, painful sigh that tore through Celestia.
"Why am I such an idiot..." Twilight mumbled, slamming her hoof onto the table.
It felt as if her very being had been torn asunder, her chest weighing heavy while she watched Twilight at her desk. Celestia had never felt this pain, and she didn't want to again, so her thoughts switched to her plan to help Twilight. With a wave of her hand, the display of Twilight's laboratory faded away, leaving darkness behind.
The space in front of her was suddenly filled with lists of manufacturing sites which would be available to be retooled for her improved processor. One of the sites laid within the very building they were in and seemed to be completely automated.