The internal proximity sensors indicated that the Watchers had departed without further incident. Even the Consort Guard was beginning to leave, although more slowly as they performed a few more sweeps just to ensure that all the magical residue remaining from the adverse reaction was contained and, more importantly, that none of the Watchers had remained behind.

Director Xyuka considered this as she walked through the darkened and empty corridor toward her office. Her two assistance units- -they were named Stoniecreek and Stonieriver- -followed her, and she was completely and utterly alone. Had either of the groups bothered to look deeper into her facility, they might have realized just how true that was.

Xyuka finally entered a large, almost cavernous room. Like the rest of the rooms, it was nearly empty. The only item present was a desk in the center. This was what she had come to consider her office.

There were no lights in the room. Xyuka did not need them. The artificial retinas in her eyes immediately compensated for the darkness, tracing the room and enhancing the image. Her hooves clicked softly against the smooth floor as she approached the chair at the empty desk, and she effortlessly lifted herself into it. Once she was seated, she leaned forward. Stoniecreek and Stonieriver were standing back from the desk in the darkness, facing her.

“This place,” she said. “It reeks of contamination. This entire reality is defective.” She sighed. “Even their Rainbow Dash is corrupted. She shouldn’t be like that. Not Rainbow Dash.” She leaned back in her chair, feeling her tiny and inert wings pushing against the back of the chair. “But what do I expect? I foresaw this, I suppose. It doesn’t surprise me. She had to be born eventually. Just as I will have to kill her eventually. Just like the last time.”

She was, of course, talking to no one at all. The interface program within what she had left of a brain had long since gone silent as it merged with her core personality, removing the only companion she had ever truly had. The Stonies, likewise, were not capable of hearing her. While it looked like she had removed their faces alone, the implants were far more extensive. Their skulls had been hollowed out entirely, and their brains removed down to the stems. They had no conscious will, thought, or volition. Xyuka was remotely operating them.

“They didn’t even care,” she said. “That’s the nature of chaos. Everything possible, done in halves. Investigate the anomaly, but don’t stop it. Create the wars, but never let them finish. I don’t belong here.” She paused for a long moment. “They didn’t even look.”

She sat alone for several minutes, and then finally Stoniecreek stepped forward.

“Director,” she said- -or rather, Xyuka once again said to herself, “you have an incoming transmission from our Sponsor.”

The Stonie unit’s mask illuminated, and projection formed in front of it. Normally, this would have had the capacity to perfectly replicate the image of a pony. The technology did not even exist in Equestria- -and it likely never would. Instead of utilizing it, though, the speaker on the other side chose to project a simplified image. It was the text symbol of the inverse dagger, cast in thin lines of crimson light that stood out in stark contrast to the darkness of the room.

“Is there a reason why you are bothering me?” asked Xyuka, leaning forward into the light of the projection.

“You know there is,” said a distinctly female but otherwise nondescript voice. “The anomaly- -”

“Has been rectified.”

“Only barely, Xyuka. And it would be wise of you to show a little more respect, considering everything I’ve done for you.”

“What you’ve done for me is not really my concern. I only care that I get paid when the task is complete.”

“Yes. Once it is complete. And the device will never be completed if you insist on drawing attention to yourself.”

“The resonance surge was a known possible reaction,” sighed Xyuka. “I anticipated that it might occur, and isolated the cascade vectors in time to prevent a discrepancy incident. Unfortunately, I had to draw power from the primary dampening field at the same time.”

“So you knew this would happen?”

“I knew it could happen. I doubt you could comprehend the level of technology used to create this reactor, or what it is capable of.”

The dagger paused. “And if you had not contained the cascade?”

“It would have detonated.”

“How much?”

“I would have survived. Equestria would not have.”

“That is not an unacceptable outcome.”

“For you. But it does not match my own goal.”

“Which is what, exactly?”

“Not your concern. It does not affect you. Only me.”

“Ah. I see.” The optic element with Stoniecreek’s helmet moved. “And the reactor?”

Xyuka extended her left front leg. The hologram that coated it flickered and vanished, revealing the limb underneath. It was the same orange color as the hologram, but covered in extensive scars both from injury and surgery. The whole of it contained numerous cybernetic elements of various architectures and sources, all of which were intertwined if not outright overgrown with twining biosynthetic implants. Xyuka gestured toward a relatively recent addition near the upper part of her shoulder.

“You’re joking. That’s the reactor?”

“What did you expect?” said Xyuka, flicking her leg to restore the hologram that made her retain some semblance of the pony she once might have been. “Something the size of a small city?”

“Certainly something larger.”

“I can’t take anything larger with me. Just my body, and my memories.”

“So very true,” agreed the voice. “And I suppose it makes it more difficult for the Watchers to find.”

Xyuka’s eyes narrowed. “Ah,” she said. “So you know.”

“I have sources close to Discord. But I did not even need them to know that they would investigate. Did they find anything?”

“No. The reactor and central processor stay with me, and the dampening field protected the less radiologically active components of the device.”

“I don’t believe you.”

“And I don’t really care.”

The voice sighed. “Can you really be that careless? Or do you just resent me? Just because they left does not mean that they will stop investigating. We are so close. If they find out now- -”

“They are not detectives. They are assassins at best, murderers and thugs to be realistic.” One of Xyuka’s artificial irises twisted, and a small orange-violet construct appeared near her head. Despite already being part of one conversation, she opened a second encryption channel and began transmitting coordinates. “Besides. Now that I know who they are, I can track them. And I can deal with them.”

“You had better. I can’t move against them, not yet. You’re just a mercenary, Xyuka, so I doubt you would understand. But Chaos must be restored to this world.”

“What happens to this world is irrelevant,” said Xyuka, shutting down her second line of communication. “You could let it burn, and that would hardly matter to me.”

“It is so good to hear that,” said the voice, and Xyuka could tell that its owner was likely smiling. “Because that is exactly what is going to happen.”