“GIVE HER BACK!” The small filly screamed as her doll was swiped.

“Nu-uh,” the merciless fiend that was her brother refused, “Super Stallion is going to save her before the evil changeling queen lays her eggs in the kidnapped citizen.”

“MOM!!!”

The filly screamed. The mare in the front seat turned up the noise cancellation.

“Give your sister’s doll back… or no more Super Stallion cartoons for a week,” the mare went back to checking her Persona page adding, “I told you that letting them watch the news was a bad idea.”

“The stallion in the front seat glanced back and forth from a report he was working on and the hoof ball highlights.

“No more talk about Changelings, they destroyed the small group of them down south. There are no Changelings or monsters in Seattle. Now stop pestering your sister.”

The filly took back her doll and brushed her mane. A moment later a powerful sports car moved to pass the family sedan. The filly looked up as the sports car moved around them. As the sports car moved past a holo theater the backlighting off the theater’s marquee revealed a slight blur, a little bit of light refracted just behind the driver. The filly sank back into her seat and started to speak.

A glance from her parents silenced the note of alarm.

A few moments later

Flare Finance walked out of the sushi shop, stopping to pop a California roll into his mouth. The stern look from the security detail making it clear just how done with this kind of behavior the guard was.

Flare Finance merely paused raised his eyebrow and gave his best shrug.

“What? I was hungry.”

Flare Finance got back into the car and allowed himself to be escorted away.

“Flitterwing, you get the package I sent?”

The mental message went across the Hive mind.

“Oh yes, he looks tasty,” the Scout responded.

Flare Finance looked down at the sushi, it wasn’t traditional to eat the appetizer after the entrée but the box of sushi certainly wasn’t going to waste. After all…he wasn’t paying.

“Yes, yes he was.”

The next day

Flare Finance pushed back from his desk and checked the security alert, his brow furrowing. A quick review of the other hidden commlink he was carrying confirmed what had happened. Typical, adding complexity that didn’t further the mission had backfired. Well nothing for it but to decide. Tisiphone reviewed her options. In moments, there would be suspicious guards everywhere. Yet, the incident with Strawberry Hooves’ had proven that decisive action executed boldly in a moment of chaos was better than the alternative when every pony had their act together.

It was time to dance with the heavy hooved security ponies again.

…

Mister Money walked past his secretary, “Flare Finance and I will be ensuring that we have not been compromised, ensure we are not disturbed.”

A few moments later, Mister Money left his office and excused himself from the security squad, citing the need to verify the integrity of the firm’s data records.

Mister Money walked through the top end security scanner designed to prevent illusion based shenanigans without triggering an alarm. The security stallion there forgetting to take the blood sample proved fortuitous.

Mister Money walked through the vault collecting evidence before returning to his office.

Not a few moments later, Flare Finance walked out of the building, briefcase in hoof, with nary an alarm being raised.

The real Mister Money was in time roused from his desk, with no clue what the drek had just happened. Glass Darkly waited in the van for some pony to ask how he had so easily beaten an entire buildings' worth of security scanners. He suspected no pony would. He was right.

The only hiccup being the revelation that the Johnson would not appreciate Flare Finance being dead or missing.

“Frizzle?”

“Yes oh, magnanimous Queen, shall I have the victory cake or the consolation cake prepared?”

“Frizzle, I suspect you’ve made both.”

The faint mental image of a cart being slowly pushed away made Tisiphone grin.

“…Maybe….”

'I'm sorry to do this to you, but the 'package' I delivered yesterday, I’m going to need him back. Make sure Bloom and the others clean out his memory.

“Ahhhh, he has such a rich flavor profile, I was going to try sugar Quesadillas with that flavor.”

“I’m sorry Frizzle.”

“….Okay, give me a bit to get him cleaned up.”

….

“Yes, it was quite fortunate, he was still alive in the dumpster. I’ve patched him up and will leave him for Knight Errant to find,” Glass Darkly smiled weighing the cred stick in his hoof.

“That went off rather well,” Gwynn's voice came over the line, “finally a mission that wasn’t damage control from the second minute. We’re finally getting good at this. Master thieves indeed.”

Glass Darkly thought not to the briefcase but rather to the three cores currently sitting in the lab at the bottom of her Hive.

“Yes, yes we are.”

Later, Elsewhere

“I doubt I need to state this given the audience present but what is discussed in this room stays here,” Ness allowed his eyes to pass over the blank marker with the label Radiant Pine. The other high backed seats contained the movers and shakers of Radiant Industries. The crystal table in the middle dominated the room which was a unique mix of Detrot postmodern scheme fused with a far older design. Ancient Emblems of the Mages Guild and Thunderhead shared pride of place with the clean modern aesthetics in the lines and detailing.

A warm blue sky with fluffy clouds rolled by what appeared to be arches, yet this too was artifice. Ness flicked a button and the sky dimmed, the breeze ceased. The holo-emitter at the center of the table flickered to life.

“Gentle Stallions and Mares, the events of the last two weeks have revealed a danger hitherto unsuspected. This location,” Ness brought up phots of Sundown, “was first suspected and later known to be a center for Shadowtrot activity. A number of key events have occurred where mercenary activity has been sourced from this location.

Importantly, at one point or another Shadowtrot activity has occurred concerning the Sapphire, Ruby, and Diamond cores of Radiant's Interdictor Project dating from the last magic cyclic maximum. I trust you to review the full case details individually.

The fact that this location was allowed to operate has caused a major complication in that the mercenaries employed in this activity have included AT LEAST two different Changelings representing two different Hives.”

A murmur of concern went around the table.

“Changelings don’t generally work as Trotters.”

“No, they don’t,” Ness eyed Echelon Patriot, “Yet these did, and given the events, they were involved with, likely became aware of the existence of the cores. The fact they were trotting can possibly be explained by the fact that both Hives are quite new. We have to date ascertained the existence of an Orange Hive Colony, possibly focused on an Orange Nymph. This is the one we destroyed with evidence the survivors have fled to the California Free State.”

Ness brought up the pictures of the changeling flying out of the hotel window at the Tournament.

“However, far more problematic has been the other one. For the time being, I am referring to this changeling as Hive X, as despite our best efforts we have yet to identify the color of this Hive. It isn’t Orange, though it has certainly been using the Orange Hive as a scapegoat. It isn’t one of Chrysalis’ or a remnant of Erytora’s Hive. I can definitively say that it’s a previously unknown Hive.

“What makes you so sure,” Golden Lilly looked on.

Ness flicked the button and an animation of the Battle of the Badlands played.

“Besides this Hive using Shadowtrotter tactics, it has shown an extreme reluctance to leave wounded or dead hive members behind. Our sweeps and scans in Seattle have picked up nothing. Which given the number of resources we’ve invested is a clear indication that the Hive is not feeding off the general populace. They’ve found one or more sources of emotional energy apparently sufficient to meet their needs. They’ve shown a remarkable ability to blend in with ponies given how young the hive likely is.”

“This is conjecture,” Golden Lilly raised a hoof.

“Means, motive, and methods,” Ness sent back a steely stare, “but yes, if that was it alone. I’d hesitate to make that call, but that’s not it. Most of the crash site of Transport One was of limited value. Large sources of biological material were either destroyed by C-Squared, burned, or otherwise rendered unusable. There were traces, but several days under the Montana sun while searchers sifted through the wreckage degraded these, still we have the best labs.

We originally thought that we had evidence of the Hive Queen being present, as we picked up meta-genetic sequences consistent with one. The changeling genome is still largely unmapped, but there are telltale markers. However, we quickly realized that what we were looking at was-“

“Goo clones, they’re using goo clones,” Lilly narrowed her eyes.

“Yes,” Ness flicked the trid, “evidence might have been hard to find, but not impossible. Given enough incentive to the buffalo, eventually, this was turned in.”

A shard of carapace was displayed, an edge still bearing the fractures from a bullet impact.

“Why is it gray? What’s causing the discoloration,” Echelon asked.

“The piece shows signs of rapid growth, again confirming the use of force matured clones, but more importantly. The gray is being caused by white pigment in the chitin. White pigment that matches the chemical structure of the same in the mapped pony genome. The Queen that this drone was cloned form is at least to some degree a hybrid.”

Ness held up a hoof as the murmurs began.

“It gets more interesting. Besides the shadowtrotter experience, besides this revelation, the bio-techs noted one final point. The invasion of Discord into our realm left some minor quirks in the genome of significant numbers of ponies that have spread across all subsequent generations. These are a major time marker. Those without such markers must have been alive prior to Discord’s reign of terror.

None of the fragmentary samples show evidence of these markers.”

The murmurs began immediately….

SLAM

All fell quiet as Pine’s hoof hit the table. The blank avatar slowly stood up.

“A Changeling Queen, a survivor of our great crusade has three of the six cores I fashioned. This will not stand. FIND HER.”

Elsewhere, Later

“My Queen, I don’t understand why you are proposing this…scheme. You would trade away what we fought to gain?”

Tisiphone stared across the council table.

“For a larger goal, Radiant Pine will not be fooled forever by our ruse. He will realize we are not the Orange Hive. He will bend every resource at his disposal to find us. We can be careful, we can hide a long time, but not in a way conducive to dealing with the Couchmare Club, and their doomsday cult.

The worshippers of Nightmare Moon, still seek the ritual that in all likelihood will make the destruction wrought on Chicago look minor. This must be dealt with. There will be no serenity to eat in a wasteland. None have come forward to bankroll a mission to deal with the CMC. Pine will not under any circumstance let the Golden Heart out of his control. Ms. Who likewise with the Sapphire. I would be happy with the three cores we hold. We can only be equaled now by the combined strength of all the factions. That is incredibly unlikely. Still, the CMC represents an existential threat that must be dealt with.

We are no position to launch an assault upon them, not for the next several weeks while we heal and reequip. And while I do not question your bravery, it has been plainly evident that sieges and assaults have not been our strong suit. The status quo must be broken. The CMC will want the Nightmare Diamond, it is the one most closely tied to their insane patron.

I will give it to them, but only in exchange for the Sapphire taken from Ms. Who and the Golden Heart held by Pine. They know now what they face if they wish to fight us again. We will try to set them against our other foes. If they come through, then either we will be in a position to crush them with four of the cores, or the other factions will be forced to act.”

“Pine will not hire your alter ego,” Facet pondered.

“Nor will Ms. Who, not after what I’ve done,” Tisiphone answered. “Hence our problem. The stalemate must be resolved. I have reached out to Silky Sheets as an opening to the CMC and indicated I have a business proposition without clarifying as to what. He has so far not responded to me.”

“My Queen,” Bloom looked over the histories of Glass Darkly’s history with Ms. Who, “I understand that the CMC and Radiant Pine represent difficult targets, but we are not utterly debilitated. Ms. Who has been shown to have deep pockets, but few outward resources. Surely we could force the issue with her on the Sapphire.”

“Possibly, the power of the three cores in resonance is incredible. I saw your report, Bloom. That even the most powerful shielding we could build is only barely containing the passive resonance of the three is mind-boggling, but I don’t know how we use those to take down the CMC without lighting a giant beacon for Radiant Pine.

As for Ms. Who. I still can’t figure out what game she’s playing. Do not underestimate her. She is a mage of great power, and you should see the video I took of her minion at the Supermarket. I do not relish the idea of fighting Razorwire.”

“She is one mage, albeit powerful,” Facet waved a hoof, “she is not invincible.”

“I have every reason to believe she has seen through my Masking. She clearly does not consider me a threat, and in turn, finds me more useful alive. Though that may have changed recently. Her need must admittedly be great. She has the war chest of a major corporation, and enough magical skill to see clean through me when I had journeyed into the metaplanes five times. I wouldn’t have suspected her power if she hadn’t been so overly cute in masking her own aura to show her as without magic when I had just seen her cast spells that rivaled even the Alicorns. Even now, she is an enigma. Seven can find nothing. I can sense nothing about her. She outclasses me, a Queen, and there are few among that number naturally, even fewer that should be so good at hiding her presence. She’s been untraceable as a changeling that doesn’t want to be found. All that and the power that rivals a….”

Tisiphone stopped, her hoof slowly lowering to the table.

Queen?” The table shared glances as Tisiphone’s eye began to twitch.

“Bloom! Get Frizzle the Queen’s been poisoned or ----“

“HAHAHAHA….”

All stopped as Tisiphone was rocked with maniacal laughter.

“Oh well played you magnificent mare,” Tisiphone rubbed her temples before setting her head on the council table.

The Nymphs shared glances.

“Shapeshifter… she’s a shapeshifter. Not a changeling though…,” Tisiphone noted with a morbid dry tone. “You may get your chance Facet to lead the hive. I think I may have just signed my own death warrant by backstabbing Ms. Who.”

“I don’t understand.”

Tisiphone looked her lieutenant in the eye….

“Because Ms. Who is Luna. Ex-Princess of the Night, Greatest living spell caster among the Great Alicorns, The Luna.”

“Do not fear, the Hive will defend its Queen,” Lapidary offered with some trepidation.

“I’ll take great comfort in that when she comes for me in my dreams.”

“What are you going to do?”

“The only thing I can do,” Tisiphone stared at the markers indicating the three items of fate that the Hive controlled, “Find out what she wants more than she wants me dead, let’s see how well I can dance with the devil in the pale moonlight.”

Author's Note

Game Notes: The Team is hired for a relatively simple assignment. Break into a bank and retrieve the bank's records. A weak point is identified in the form of one of the bank's brash vice-presidents Flare Finance. Hacking Finance's car to allow an invisible Glass Darkly to access it sets up an invisible Glass Darkly to ambush and switch places with Finance on his commute home.

The next morning, while attempting to cause a distraction, Split Klaw triggers a general security alert. Cut off and alone Glass Darkly took refuge in audacity, lured the bank president into a private meeting and promptly took the identity of the President. Which allowed retrieval of the records. Things were complicated slightly when it was revealed that the patron for the job was a the corporation owning the bank (who was trying to nail the corrupt President of the bank and wanted the real transaction logs, and thus the disappearance of the real Flare Finance would have been an issue.

Beyond this, the author, who up to this point had found the fourth faction involved in the war for the Cores, led by Ms. Who to be an enigma, had an epiphany and realized that Ms. Who was, in fact, a disguised Luna based on the clues that had been piling up.