Meanwhile, Sunny had paused to look out the window at the nearby mountain—just in time to see it explode, with something shiny rising from it. She had seen the sparking of magic an energy, but all at once, it was gone, accompanied seconds later by a sound like distant thunder.

She turned back to her friends, who were having tea with Queen Haven—tea served by the the machines that Synchronia had produced. The ones that Queen Haven herself seemed so enamored with. There had obviously been a confrontation before, but whatever it had been, it seemed to have passed. And, after locating Queen Haven in a nearby closet, the group had paused to wait at her royal insistence.

Sunny frowned at the exploded and now smoking mountain. “Should we...do something?”

“I wish we could,” muttered Pipp, over her tea. “But what are we even supposed to do?”

“But Misty could need our help. You know she’s not used to using magic yet. What if she gets hurt?”

Her friends were silent. Sunny harrumphed. “Well, fine. I’m going to go over there and see what’s going on. You can all just stay here with your tea and fancy biscuits if you—”

“Uh, Sunny?” said Hitch.

“—and I don’t mean to be rude to Queen Haven, your Highness, but that’s my friend and...well, I guess they’re both my friends, and I can’t just let have friends have a disagreement like that—”

“Sunny? SUNNY?”

“...unless that’s exactly what they need. To talk out their differences and come to an understanding. Then...maybe I shouldn’t interfere. That would be rude. But what if it really is a friendship problem?” Sunny sighed. “What would Twilight Sparkle do?”

“SUNNY.”

“Hitch, I hardly think she’d do me, she doesn’t even know me. Or didn’t. I’m pretty sure she’s dead now and has been for a while—”

She looked up, only to see Hitch gesturing wildly at the hologram robots. They had stopped pouring tea and were now staring at her, all smiling the same soulless smile. The only sound was that of the dark red fluid in the teapot slowly draining out. One had stopped while holding it.

“Oh my,” said Queen Haven. “I think I suddenly understand what you mean when you said they were somewhat creepy...”

Then, without warning, their phones rang. All simultaneously. In fact, although they were not aware, every phone rang. Triggered by a single signal projected through the satellite network.

And, as all ponies were conditioned to do, they answered it.

“No, WAIT!” cried Zipp.

Queen Haven sighed. “Oh drat, I can never find the—EEK!”

Queen Haven’s phone was promptly snatched from her by Cloudpuff, who began to shake it wildly.

“Cloudpuff, NO! What has gotten into you—”

Sunny, who had answered her own phone, only saw out of the corner of her eye what came—or seemed to come out of it. Broadcast to every pony simultaneously, the black, starry iridescent fluid that reached out from her phone and into her brain.

She felt it pass through her, and into her, but she was familiar with it somehow. With a snap, something within her struck back out at it, breaking its connection. Her phone burst into flames and smoke as she dropped it, surprised by the sudden shock. She backed away.

Then, looking up, she saw her friends—and saw their phones slithering down their faces, behind their necks and under their manes, integrated to their nervous systems by the broadcast parasite. They seemed to fight their respective incursions, for a moment, shaking and trembling, before they assumed the same smile on their faces.

“Buck me,” groaned Zipp, who had thrown her own phone instead of answering it.

“Zephyrina! Watch your language, I...”

Queen Haven looked up at her younger daughter, and Pipp looked back, her eyes blackened with the parasite that was overwhelming her.

“Oops,” said Pipp, in Synchronia’s voice. “Looks like I missed some. Don’t worry.” She produced several phones in Pipp’s hoof. “Fortunately, this one comes with spares.”

Zipp and Queen Haven began to back away. Hitch and Izzy turned toward Sunny. Izzy let out a giggle.

“This hurts so much,” she laughed. “Sunny help me, I can’t...never mind. Everything is fine. It is fine in here. Come on in, Sunny. The nightmare-gestalt is nice and warm.”

Sunny took a step back. “What are you—what are you doing?”

“Lining them up,” said Hitch, smiling with darkened eyes. “In a nice grid. To make the assimilation more orderly.”

“What assimilation?”

“Trust me,” said Synchronia, through a now fully-infected Cloudpuff. “You’ll love it. Additionally, it is only temporary. The control will cease when all life is purged from this world. Obviously.”

Sunny felt herself backed away, bumping into Zipp as her friends closed in. They looked to the door as it opened, only to see Thunder and Zoom walk in—both infected with the same connection, smiling.

“They even took poor Cloudpuff,” sighed Queen Haven. “And also my younger daughter, who I am also concerned with.” She backed up further, looking back slightly as she did until they were pushed against a wall.

“Dang it, dang it,” muttered Zipp. “I can’t fight them, they’re our friends, and I can’t—Sunny, Mom isn’t fast enough to fly away, and you’re too heavy without your alicorn wings—”

“Zephyrina, you make it sound like I’m useless dead-weight.” She looked to her daughter with a sly expression on her face, and—almost absurdly—seemed to break into a small dance, her hooves tapping a pattern on one of the tiles. Sunny was about to question this, but cried out as the wall around them suddenly turned, pushing them into a dark tunnel.

“Who—what—where?” cried Zipp, being flung into the small damp space. The wall closed behind them, leaving them in the dark as a small mechanical device snapped and lit a nearby torch.

“Come on,” said Queen Haven, taking flight. “We need to move quickly. Follow me.”

“Mom, I...what is this place?” Zipp followed her, Sunny running on the wet and ancient stones as she started to hear a sound of hooves tapping and slamming on the wall where they had just been.

“Darling, you are only here in this world because our ancestors were very adept at using secret passageways. Not every monarch was as utterly beloved as I am, and peasant revolts can turn...well, downright revolting.”

“But this was here? The whole time?”

“This won’t help us for long,” protested Sunny. “It’s in their minds, it will know everything they know, if Pipp knows the secret passages—”

“I assure you, she does not,” sighed Queen Haven. “An escape tunnel would hardly be useful if just anypony knew about it. Even the guards don’t know. After all, the queen’s personal attendants have been responsible for a surprising number of illicit pokings. And not the good kind, I’m afraid. Generally.”

“But your own daughter!”

“Queens only, I’m afraid.” She smiled at Zipp. “I was going to show you at some point. I wish it had just not been under such unfortunate circumstances. Down here.”

She gestured toward a chasm. Zipp picked up Sunny and dove down it, deep into the darkness. As they passed, the bioluminescent mold ignited, guiding their path. They passed downward for what seemed like ages until they were set down on something that felt curiously like metal.

“This way,” said Queen Haven. “This will eventually intersect with the old sewers.”

Sunny looked up at the strange structures that surrounded her. Ones that seemed oddly familiar, made of a strange dark stone or something similar to metal. Marked at spaces with odd runes overgrown by bizarre fungus—and in a few places, there stood the rusting hulks of old machinery. Rusting machinery that surrounded far more ancient machines that gave no impression of time having passed at all.

“What is this place?”

“Zephyr Heights was built on some ruins,” said Queen Haven, landing and tapping her way across the oddly acoustic floor and past the great stone and titanium boride columns of the nearly prehistoric structure. “Bit of a trade secret, but there’s a reason we’re the most advanced civilization on this planet.”

Sunny felt something vibrate in her back. Confused, she reached in. Her phone had already been destroyed, but she quickly found the culprit. For some reason, her makeup compact was vibrating.

She opened it and looked in the mirror. Instead of seeing herself, though, she saw Misty staring back at her.

“Misty! How did you get in my mirror?!”

“Long story.” She looked around. “Um...where are you?”

“Some sort of ancient hyper-technological ruin. It’s pretty but smells funny. So that’s how my day’s going.”

“Reposition angle please.”

Misty turned the mirror, and Sunny gasped at the sight of the pale alicorn staring back at her.

“YOU! You’re the evil pony!”

“I am arguably not evil.”

“Since when are you an alicorn?!”

“It is admittedly a recent development.”

“Sunny,” said Misty, turning the angle back to her. “You have to trust me. Blank is my friend. Synchronia’s been lying to you.”

“Yeah, I figured,” said Zipp, getting behind Sunny to look through the mirror. “Is this safe? I mean, will it—”

“It’s magic,” said Misty. “It’s safe. It was the only way I had to reach you.”

“Did your phone try to eat you too?”

“Um, no, I think I lost it in the interdimensional void.”

“The what?”

“And I, likewise, possessed a distinct lack of phone,” noted Blank.

“And Opaline never could figure out how to use them, so she's fine. Ugh, that felt weird to say.”

“Misty,” said Sunny. “What’s going on?”

Misty fell silent for a moment. “I tried to stop her. But I wasn’t strong enough. And White-Rime is...she’s still out there...”

“They will be acceptably unharmed,” insisted Blank, although from her tone, she did not sound so sure.

Misty nodded. “Synchronia is...I don’t know, exactly, but she’s...”

“She intends to utilize my starship to cause irreparable harm to your world,” insisted Blank. “My ship was and is driven by the operation of a quantic-incursion device. The technology is fundamentally alien, even unto us. I do not believe they existed in Synchronia’s time, making it also unfamiliar to her. She will not comprehend its use. However, if she removes the quantic core from its casing...”

“It explodes. Yeah,” sighed Zipp. “Figured.”

“Explosion? Oh no. Much worse.”

“What’s worse?”

“It gains sentience.”

Sunny did not really know what that meant in the context of the conversation. All she cared about was the relief that one of her friends was unharmed. Even if the others were still in grave danger.

“How do we stop her?”

“I don’t know,” admitted Misty.

Sunny sighed. “I do. Can you find her?”

Misty shook her head. “No. My magic doesn’t...I don’t know, for some reason it doesn’t work as well anymore. Even if we did...I can’t fight. Opaline’s power is mostly gone, and mine wasn’t even close before—”

“That’s okay. You did your best. I just need to find her.”

“I can find her,” said Blank.

“How?” demanded Zipp.

“Because I believe I may have stolen her body.”

“Eew.”

“Don’t make it weird, Zipp,” hissed Sunny, elbowing her.

Something echoed from deep in the ruin. Yapping little barks.

“We have to go,” said Queen Haven. “They found a way in. My adorable little Cloudpuff always did have such a wonderful sense of smell.”

Sunny shivered. “Misty. Wait for me. We can solve this if we stick together. I know we can.”

Misty smiled and nodded—although it was clear her faith in friendship was not so strong as Sunny’s.

Author's Note

Part of the problem with these stories is that I always make them far too long. Often, by the end, I have just gotten tired of writing it.

By this point, I had just wanted to wrap up the story and work on something else.

Additionally, during review, I had not initially realized that Misty had teleported Queen Haven away two chapters ago. Likely because this chapter was written several months after the last one and I had forgotten what was even going on.