Pop

The cork on a middling bottle of wine came free. Tisiphone made a little bit of a show of pouring out two glasses. A corona of amethyst magic reflected in the stream of burgundy liquid.

“You’re getting really good with your fine control, and I must say that color on your magic is just lovely, it seems like it’s gotten more vivid,” the comment came from across the room.

“It is a great color, isn’t it? Comes down from my mother’s side of the family,” Tisiphone looked into the mirror alongside the counter and checked that Dante Haze's face was accurate. Satisfied, a further glance confirmed that Silver Stream was giving Dante a good look over. “And I believe you’re right, better food, better company,” Dante gently levitated a glass into Silver Streams waiting hooves, “and me finding a few healthier outlets for my stress has done wonders.”

“Well I’m certainly not complaining.”

Dante sat down and sank into the plush couch.

“Ohhhh, I think I could stay just like this awhile.”

“What, you planning on running out on me for another hot date?”

Silver Stream took a gulp of her wine and feigned a tiny bit of faux outrage, pushing at Dante's leg.

Tisiphone kept her cool, now was not the time to think about the increasingly fraught deception she was plying for Speculum Shine. Hot date indeed.

Dante played up a wince.

“Madam you wound me.”

“Oh you’re such a softy, I’m surprised you wanted to just chill, you’re usually looking for something to get your mind off work?”

“Work has been, better, not great, but better. Speculum overcommitted production resources trying to buy favors. As a result I got to actually work on an actual trideo production, along with some other stuff. I’m sure Speculum would still make life difficult if he wasn’t distracted by his schemes to get promoted to Hollywood among…other things. The downside is I’ve been busy, and a full day of magic is draining. I’m happy just to have a quiet evening in.

After a while all the screams of the wounded, rockets whizzing back and forth, explosions tearing apart stores, it wears on a pony. Set against the knowledge that the architect of the carnage couldn’t care less about you, it lowers one's appetite for excitement.”

“Wow that must have been some trid you were filming Dante.”

“Yes, quite a Trid.” Tisiphone tried to put the Bellevue supermarket out of her mind and only partly succeeded.

Tisiphone thought back to the footage she had reviewed in the wake of her frustration. She had been around the corner at the time, carrying out a minor act of mercy in binding up the two security stallions rather than letting them be killed. She briefly wondered if the two had realized yet, that their helplessness was the only reason they hadn’t been diced into so many meat cubelets. She hadn’t heard from Silky, whether he was angry or ambivalent that his off and on romantic interest and Knight Errant informant, the Buttery Hoof of the Law, had bled out on a grocery store floor, Tisiphone didn’t care. Wrong place, wrong time.

“You’re tense,” Silver Stream snuggled up closer, “what are you leaving out for the sake of my innocent ears.”

Dante sighed, “You ever heard about some pony at work that every pony says is bad news? I had one just suddenly show up and then everything is in this weird state of duality where everything is both utterly normal and DOOM at the same time?

Dante had little else that he could say that would be suitable for Silver Stream's ears. Seeing the pony in the flesh that she had last seen in a prophetic vision massacring a Neighponese temple in order to gain the Heavenly Ocean Star had been a rude shock. Tisiphone let slip a modified truth.

"We had an 'acquisitions' specialist drop in at work, just out of the blue. Really high powered mare. Management and most of the production staff just shrugged. I’m sweating bullets because the last thing I heard she was working on projects in Neighpon! I got tasked with escorting her around, making sure she got to see the things she wanted to see, but existing as Schrodinger’s pony was rough. I keep feeling like she’s enjoying the charade of it all, that one moment she’s finally going to say 'well this was fun, but I’ve wasted enough time.’ and that will be end of the entire project.”

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen you so invested in a trid Dante, though I suppose it must be refreshing to work on something of substance again.”

“It feels good to move forward, less so to know that finally breaking through is so close, yet so very far.”

Tisiphone ran a hoof through Silver Stream's mane, both happy to be alive, and distinctly unnerved at having such an effective killer with an interest in the same relics that Tisiphone was hanging around. Misdirection was a powerful tool, but less useful in a stand-up fight than a cyber pony who’s fighting style was best described as 'puree.’

The grocery and the recovered crate that grated on Tisiphone had been a major case of them succeeding by failing in the correct direction. Gwynn hadn’t really been able to contribute much, her drones couldn't withstand firepower of that magnitude. Split Klaw had simply been overwhelmed. Tisiphone's own new drone had been, decent? Maybe adequate, but taking out one pony and serving as a distraction was about all it had managed. But being a distraction was all that been necessary.

The little gold 'You Tried' AR sticker Razorwire had stuck on Gwynn's unconscious beak said it all. There had been almost certainly a Core in the shipping crate, the Sapphire, the Heavenly Ocean Star. Whatever thoughts Tisiphone might have entertained about challenging Razorwire had died ignominiously the moment Glass Darkly was largely pinned in place by the hail of bullets while trying to revive Split Klaw. She was not thrilled to have lost a shot at what had likely been the Ocean Star. She had collected a little bit of information on the intended delivery location to try and figure out the cybermare's affiliation but Tisiphone’s success was modest.

She was going to need back up. She needed her Hive. The Queen was powerful, but only in that she could avoid the direct assault of a swarm of pawns.

The Link Man hadn’t gotten back to her yet on whether the Grocery Store’s customer records node and sales log was worth anything to him. It wasn’t black lab-grade pay data but in the realm of movers and shakers being able to know exactly how to wine and dine a client should be worth a few nubits to someone.

Silver Stream got up with a mischievous glance. Tisiphone pulled her attention back to the present. She was playing three very dangerous games at once. She may have already been made, she may have already lost but for the moment the paradox was stable.

Schrodinger’s Queen smiled as Silent Stream returned with a container of massage oil and began working some over her hooves.

“I think I know just the thing to work out your tension.”

The Amethyst Queen had no objections.Pop

Author's Note

Game Notes: The team is hired on short notice by a previously unknown pony to recover a crate of 'bananas' that has been mis-shipped from Asia to a high-end grocery store in Bellevue. Glass Darkly immediately suspects what may be in the crate. This is confirmed to her horror when the pony contracting the job drops her disguise to reveal the pony Glass Darkly knows as Razorwire, who Tisiphone had last seen in her metaplanar visions slaughtering the monks of a Neighponese (Japanese) temple. If Razorwire learns that Tisiphone/Glass Darkly has two additional Cores, then the mage illusionist probably has a life expectancy in minutes or hours depending on how close Razorwire is.

With the rest of the team unaware of the above, they take the job. Tisiphone considers how to possibly gain the Sapphire if she can get to it first. This, however, goes nowhere, when it is found a full platoon of Knight Errant officers and detectives are searching the grocery store. The team attempts to sneak in, but are detected. A forward pair of Knight Errant officers are subdued, but attempting to break into the grocery store proper results in a firefight at an entrance. This goes badly for the team, as a rain of flashbang and regular grenades turns the chokepoint into a ruin. Split Klaw (PC) and Gwynn (PC) are knocked out. Glass Darkly is badly discombobulated by a barrage of flash bangs.

However, with the Knight Errant platoon in cover, and having used up their grenades and many needing to reload. Razorwire broke a locked door and flanked the Knight Errant firing line.

Razorwire recovered the crate, and walked out of the grocery store sticking a 'you tried' sticker on Gwynn. Thus the team was paid, but everyone's pride was bruised.

Other Notes: The character Silver Stream was named prior to the similiarly named canon character.