Glass Darkly watched from the cab of the stolen delivery truck, occasionally glancing in the mirror to view Split Klaw and Vixie happily sampling the shipment of premium deli cold cuts the crew had purloined as a side effect of their ruse. The smell of fish lingered on Glass' clothes and dampened any thought of food almost as much as the thought of Split Klaw's tacos. The packing plant had been relatively by the numbers. Their target's hubris relatively easy to exploit. What had been revealed though made this simple job one of the most profound that Glass had done in a long time.

Glass Darkly looked to where Cardinal Banana was wrapping up business with the buyer. Glass cleared his throat and recalled the trideo program for foals he had been forced to work on recently. His voice came clear but under his breath in the high pitched sing-song cadence that had been used in the studio.

“Little Pigs, little pigs, I’m a poor little sheep, with no place to sleep, won’t you please let me in?

Not by the hairs on our chinny chin chins!”

Glass Darkly stared at Cardinal Banana and continued the rhyme.

“…You don’t fool ME with your old sheepskin.”

This interloper changeling that had joined their group was a problem and possibly an opportunity. On one hoof, Tisiphone would have eagerly sought out more of her kind as equals, but there was a risk. It was foolish to think hers would have been the only Hive, but the appearance of Cardinal Banana out of the blue was unexpected. edIT clearly didn’t know.

Tisiphone could have overlooked the potential dangers, but Cardinal Banana, whichever Hive this changeling belonged too, clearly did not value discretion. For months Tisiphone had maintained the masquerade, even while her rightful power assimilated her old form. The newcomer, inside of several hours, had already been so incautious and unsubtle that even the others had their suspicions. How Cardinal hadn’t been caught by Pines' goons, Tisiphone couldn’t say. Regardless, this heralded another complication in her plans. She contacted a Scout and asked them to keep an eye on things. She had another loose end to wrap up … soon.

Later

The wind rustled the paper lanterns and leaves of the tree casting a dazzlingly complex pattern of shadows across the small courtyard. Various assorted ponies filed past the offering tree with its heavy base. Clear Chakra looked over the assembling group his eyes lingering on a particular attendee who returned his gaze with a warm smile.

…

“Breathe in, breathe out, feel, know your harmony, let go of the things that pull you away from enlightenment.”

Chakra moved between the rows of ponies, he stopped by the russet mare and gently touched her foreleg adjusting her posture which had slipped.

“Keep your core aligned, feel the energy that flows through you and into you from the world around you, feel how you are connected to the greater totality and through this seek enlightenment.”

Chakra whispered, to the mare's delight.

“Oh thank you, that’s much better, I feel more open already like I could take the flow over ... and over,” the mare teasingly cooed in reply.

A few ponies nearby gave looks but aside from Chakra favoring the corner of the group where the russet mare sat things went as per usual. Only as the group was dismissed was it clear that the mare was lingering. The last few stragglers finally left leaving one.

“You are surprisingly forward…did you really come to seek a better life for yourself or for more worldly pursuits?”

Clear Chakra softly queried, his eyes searching up and down his odd student.

“Aww shucks, I definitely came here because I needed something powerful bad like a prize-winning apple needs to be made into pie. As for what exactly that is, well maybe I’m chasing chickens or maybe I’m chasing cows.”

The mare swished her braided mane over an ear making her apple-shaped earrings twinkle. She took a step forward as a harder hungry look came over her face.

“Maybe I need a bit of both. Ever since that varmint left me on permanent transfer to the Chilean Fruit Farms division I’ve been feeling mighty empty. I got barns to raise and apples to sow every day, and I’ll be twitterpated if I can’t go five minutes at work before any given stallion starts wanting to discuss the projections for cider season.

I needed something more.”

Chakra took a step back.

“You offer something I cannot partake of, transcending the desire of self is key to enlightenment.”

She took a step forward.

“But in examining our motivations, do we not gain a greater understanding of our needs? What do you need Chakra?”

The mare asked, a slight shadow of confusion crossed Chakra's face, had he given that lesson to this mare before?”

She took the opportunity to step forward again.

“What do you need to fill the empty loneliness Chakra? I know what I need…”

She reached a hoof up and gave a teasing touch at the scruff of his beard. She stepped forward and the half step backward by Chakra wasn’t near enough to keep her from embracing him. He stiffened but melted into the embrace and a moment later he began to run his hooves over the mare's flanks.

It was all distressingly familiar, this compromise and surrender…and something else. This mare felt familiar somehow.

“I should not be doing this,” Chakra whispered but continued to nuzzle along the mare's neck, she in turn nuzzled along his shoulder. Chakra was in no position to see his paramour open her mouth slightly as the two front teeth at the corners of her muzzle began to extend, warping into two needle-sharp fangs.

“I… I should know your name at least,” Chakra whispered into her mane and pulled her close.

A soft laugh was muffled as she nuzzled his shoulder. Eventually, the response came.

“Haze,” she giggled.

Chakra’s brow furrowed, the feeling of disquiet about the familiarity of the pony in his arms grew from a tiny seed to a lump of leaden doom. He went to inquire further.

“Urghh,” his intended words were erased as he felt two sharp points plunge into the flesh of his shoulder. A feeling of something that burned both hot and like ice spread through his limb.

He immediately worked to push her away but already his foreleg felt leaden. He succeeded and twin thin trails of blood mixed with a pale green substance ran across the back of his shoulder. He looked up at the mare, she had a faint smile on her face.

“Oh, I suppose I should clarify,” she luxuriated in the words she spoke, Chakra tried to move to defend himself but aside from the sweat pouring out under his fur his body was like lead, it was a Herculean effort just to stand.

“I'm a really bad Buddhist, always have been. Never affected my magic though. I must admit you were right about so many things, I did dig a bitter lake in my life, but … this…. Oh seeing your hypocrisy in the flesh is so immensely gratifying. It warms my heart to see the lie wrapped in nobility that ponies tell themselves.”

The mare crowed, her eyes shifting to Amethyst. Chakra could barely move his lips, the faintest whisper came off them.

“…Dante.”

The mare gave a mirthful laugh.

“Yes, I was called that once.”

She stepped to the side, a rippling line of Amethyst power crackling over her fur, leaving smoky gray in it’s passing. A moment passed as the mare’s frame enlarged.

“You know I should thank you Chakra,” Glass Darkly began, “Its thanks to you that I found my destiny, the shame of what I was becoming, my blind Faith in your creed, and the thought of your disapproving looks when it came out that I had started down the path of a mercenary, lying, hurting, … killing for money was the final straw that ensured that I kept my affliction to myself.

Until I finally realized what lingered in my shadow.”

An acolyte moved past the window, happily sweeping the courtyard. In that moment Clear Chakra tried to wish the acolyte to see the monster that wore his former pupil's face.

The acolyte turned, looked through the window, and with a big smile….waved. The acolyte’s eyes flashed amethyst at the edges.

Chakra couldn’t stop his head from being turned. The smoky gray face warped again, white hairs pushing through, a river of cerulean mane cascading down, and a sharply twisted horn emerging. A pair of slitted amethyst eyes blinked and searched Chakra's eyes as his former pupil’s stood before and over him in her full glory.

“Thank you,” Tisiphone whispered, her horn glowing as she summoned her magic, “for guiding me to enlightenment.

In the courtyard, the summer breeze blew through the branches of the tree and the shadows cast by the paper lanterns danced.

Author's Note

Game Notes: The team is hired to abduct a meatpacking plant manager that has a unique cyber implant. This was relatively easy to accomplish as the team hijacked one of the plant's own delivery trucks and replaced the rigger team. Then once at the plant the manager was lured into the back of the truck and stunned. The truck drove off.

More importantly. The player running Silky Sheets decided that the plot arc regarding his involvement with the Couchmare Club was going nowhere, and replaced the character. The character introduced was almost immediately under suspicion of being a changeling. A very ironic result that the remaining players still had no idea that Glass Darkly was secretly a changeling.