Tisiphone couldn't entirely suppress the smile she wore on Glass Darkly's face as the cacophony of shattering plascrete and the scream of twisting plasteel carried over the several hundred meters from the wrecked highway bridge to the observation point Glass, Split Klaw, and Vixie occupied. The cries of terror of the assorted Radiant Industries ponies who couldn’t fly or levitate as the mammoth cargo hauler hurtled towards the surface of the Puyallup River, large chunks of the Highway 509 bridge raining down around them were sweet music indeed.

The Queen was well pleased with herself. She had come in a bit late to the job. Split Klaw having already agreed to aid his arms dealer, 'A Stallion' in what had been described as a bid to gain a large stockpile of explosives. Her suspicions had been fanned almost from the beginning, but it had been her inquiries that had revealed how thin the justification was for this shipment. Whatever was being shipped it was not the tons and tons of mining explosives that had been declared. The Queen suspected a trap following the events at Sweetwater Industries.

No matter, she would know this secret of Pine's soon enough.

“Prima, the truck is in the water, you are clear to proceed with the dive team. Mind the security detail still up on the bridge.” the buzzing in her mind was fast becoming second nature.

“It shall be done,” the large soldier psychically buzzed back.

Excellent, the Queen basked, she had barely had time to add an additional summoning before this job, some of her newest subjects were only a few days old, and even her original five had only three weeks under their wings. To see such a success was gratifying, everything going all according to plan-

“LET’S GO SEE WHAT’S IN THE TRUCK!”

Split Klaw gave one of his manic grins.

“Chreeee!”

Vixie added a happy chirping trill, a note of agreement. Glass Darkly turned his head, a look of quizzical confusion on his face. Both began to surge forward as a vein bulged in Glass Darkly’s forehead.

“…But we agreed. We were going to crash the truck and that was going to be it! Sabotage, without risking ourselves!”

Glass Darkly protested.

“What, you afraid of a little bit of water? The chemicals may make your eyes sting and turn your coat green but also make you strong.”

Glass Darkly followed the always insanely confident bulk of Split Klaw, unsure how to stop this wreck which was happening in slow motion around him.

“We don’t have gear for this!”

“So?”

Glass Darkly was apoplectic.

“Almost through the back door,” Seven of Nine's voice in her Queen's head might as well have been reading a phone listing.

“Do you not see all the security goons on the bridge?!”

Glass made his final plea. The quickly assembling legion of ponies looking over the Highway siding, guns drawn, along with the sound of a distantly approaching helicopter finally made Split Klaw reconsider.

“One unconscious security mage, there is a giant bag of what looks like dirt,” Facet crowed in her Queen’s mind.

“Let’s not be foolish here,” Glass protested, a bead of sweat at his maneline. He could not have been happier when Prima announced the extraction of the dive team.

“We're out with a sample bag and one security mage captive, anti-tracking measures will be followed, Victory to the Hive, my Queen,” Prima's pride edged into the psychic buzz.

“I swear you ponies will be the death of me,” Glass Darkly lamented as the three of them left their observation point.

It was an awkward feeling as Glass Darkly departed. Tisiphone knew that getting to the truck's cargo had been eminently achievable. The sample bag carried by her changelings proved that. Yet, there had been no crates of explosives regardless, and no Core. Tisiphone could not have risked another heated argument. She was playing Schrödinger’s pony again. Everything fine and yet simultaneously doomed. She could feel that something was going to break soon. Soon…again the word vexed her, but time was needed to finish the takeover of Silver Screen Dreams. The Couch Mare Club was also a lingering threat, Silky Sheets had made his departure official after a series of absences.

Officially, Silky was simply refocusing on his family business having earned enough of a cash infusion from shadowtrotting to address the balance of power between his sister and himself. Unofficially, Tisiphone suspected that Silky had failed in a goal that he hadn’t been officially told about. The two missing Cores that were likely intended for the CMC prior to Glass Darkly’s prescient ruse.

It worried the Amethyst Queen. Almost two months had passed since Sweetwater, and yet things were quiet. Whether because she had truly outsmarted her foes, or because they were still gathering their strength, she couldn’t say.

Later (following Look Before you Leap)

“Its dirt, faintly magical, mineral content is consistent with Mt. Ranier,” Seven of Nine poked the small bag of damp dirt.

Another worker, Digs-Tunnels-Like-A-Unicorn barely left a pause in the conversation, “The mages' gear and electronic ID is consistent with general-purpose Radiant Industries security. He doesn’t appear to be connected to the RI project other than as temporary security.”

“A shame,” Tisiphone sighed, a thin stream of Amethyst Magic trailing from the barely lucid mage to the Queen that commanded his personal nightmare.

She had spent the last few hours rummaging through his mind, ripping secrets from his dreams and the Queen admitted she had little more than what her Workers had turned up.

“He doesn’t know about the project, and since he was scheduled to leave the truck at the border, he doesn’t know where it was going.”

Tisiphone shook her head and idly played with a lock of her cerulean mane. For all the damage they had done, ruining the shipment of pristine volcanic earth, she was no closer to figuring out what Radiant Pine was up too.

“Seven, we still haven’t located any Radiant Industries locations where they could be growing a massive tree? A building big enough that climactic conditions vary within it can’t be so simple to hide.”

“No my Queen. It eludes us.”

Tisiphone broke off the connection.

“He’s dry, dispose of him where Pine’s enforcers won’t find him. As for the location where the…dirt was supposed to go please keep looking. We need to start considering hollow mountains or similar.”

She looked around the dingy warehouse, an eminently forgettable location belonging to a company of nobodies who hadn’t a clue that half the staff were skimming the account where the payments for illicit transfers were paid at their Queen's behest.

She frowned, her changelings deserved better… another instance of soon haunted her…. Soon.

Later

Snookie Sunshine looked over to the AR schedule on her costume wardrobe as it pinged again.

“Another?”

She quietly sighed. Another appearance as Morgan La Fay Unicorne in the Canterlot set. Typical, she had stopped being offered the role of Guinevere long ago. The reality of a life of being an aging mare in the performance industry was still secondary to the fact that pay was pay. This current spike of business had done wonders for her bank account, she might even manage a vacation to the Seapony League this year at this rate. Still there was such a thing as too much of a good thing. The regular crew even stretched thin couldn’t keep up. In fact, she checked the assignments.

“Who the blazes is Violet Bloom?”

Almost on cue a regal looking young mare entered from the overflow dressing area flanked by two mares that Snookie did recognize. Her question was answered. Another likely friend of Amethyst Shadow. Snookie's face was a neutral mask, the same she wore when patrons grew over amorous. The trio stopped their twittering conversation and directed faint smiles at her.

On one hoof, Amethyst Shadow had come through with what exactly they had needed, a great deal of talent on short notice. Yet, there was something about that mare that set Snookie on edge. Almost as much as the increasingly disquiet feeling she got every time a new customer mentioned how they had just had an idea, a moment of inspiration out of the blue to visit Silver Screen Dreams.

Quickly Snookie got into costume, a few regulars drifted in, but the room was half full of strange mares. The speaker began to rattle off a half dozen sessions. Quickly she turned on her mane extensions and headed for the Canterlot set.

Around the corner she heard voices.

“I can’t thank you enough for taking care of that leak in the A/C ducts. Shiawase Services wanted 100 nubits just to come look at the problem.”

Snookie recognized the voice of Box Office before an unknown voice answered.

“Well, my friend Amethyst mentioned that you had a problem and instr- er, asked me if I could handle something like that. I could hardly say no… uhmm not with a UW trades recommendation on the line.”

The voice was flat, on the verge of monotone. Snookie wondered how much cyberware the poor technician pony had.

“Oh Honey isn’t this wonderful we’re halfway through the backlog.”

Cozy Matinee let out the sigh of relief of a long-suffering business owner before continuing.

“You think we could afford the Paris Café module this year?”

Box Office was giddily upbeat in reply.

“If the surge of business holds I'd be half tempted to bring back a real Café and add it to the spa.”

Cozy Matinee's contented sigh was impossible to miss.

Snookie was glad that the two owners were getting to enjoy the success, she was less thrilled to hear Amethyst Shadow.

“You know, you two really should consider seeing the world while you still can. Surely you’ve earned that.”

“Oh I know I keep promising Cozy we will, but there’s always so much to take care of around here.”

Box Office demurred, thought Amethyst Shadow merely laughed.

“Well I would at least think about it.”

Snookie frowned, something about that particular word lingered on her mind, sending tendrils into her thoughts but she barely had time to turn the events over in her head before the group around the corner broke up. Box Office and Cozy Matinee discussing something quietly. Amethyst Shadow came around the corner and looked over Snookie.

“Canterlot Court again eh, I must say you strike an imposing Sorceress Snookie.”

“Uh, thanks?”

“Oh don’t mention it. Best of luck, maybe you can convince the rest of the crew to change up the script this once and let the Sorceress Queen win for a change.”

Amethyst Shadow gave a slight bow and walked past, commenting over her shoulder.

“Have fun…”

Snookie Sunshine watched the eccentric mare leave before her link chimed to remind her she was about to be late. Entering the Canterlot set she got her bearings, but in the festively lit mock-up of the ancient heart of Equestria she couldn’t shake the feeling that something sinister lingered unseen.

Author's Note

Game Notes: The team is offered a job from a weapons dealer that has supplied Split Klaw (PC). The dealer indicates that he's heard rumors of a major explosives shipment being sent through Seattle. Glass Darkly (PC, POV) is aware of a lot of context which the other players are not and suspects a trap being laid by Radiant Industries following the recent hits against Sweetwater Industries as the truck is far too large and far too well guarded for a regular explosives shipment. The implication is that a Core is possibly being shipped but Glass Darkly is highly suspicious that this is a lure.

Glass Darkly and others research the shipment and quickly realize that the truck is clearly a trap as the stated manifest would be too heavy with the weight of the truck to be allowed over the bridges the route goes over. Glass Darkly suggests that the team crash the truck in order to send a message. With a combination of magic and stealth the bridge the truck will cross is rigged with explosives. The bridge is blown with the truck on the bridge, sending it into the river. Glass Darkly/Tisiphone sends in a team with stolen diving gear to check the contents of the truck. These confirm that a Core is not present, but instead reveal a large sack of volcanic dirt.