Trip and Hoodwink were keeping on the down-low, but eventually Sneaky found the pair. "You were supposed to go with Careful, why didn't you?"

Hoodwink stared at the floor and scuffed his hoof. Trip meanwhile just sighed. "He wouldn't take me, said I couldn't fit in well enough with ponies. I only tripped on one word!" The drone's wheedling tone instantly gave Careful a bigger headache than the 'ling had already.

"And you?" Sneaky looked at Hoodwink, who seemed reluctant to talk at all.

"He got lost!" Trip's sneering tone marked him as a problem, one that Sneaky knew well how to curtail. "I found him going the wrong way!"

Sneaky grinned at the drone who clearly thought himself superior. "Perfect, please report this to Queen Chrysalis. Actually, let's do it together." His smile was all for Trip, the 'ling realizing suddenly how much hot water he was about to be in.

Hoodwink's shoulders slumped a little, but a hoof landed on them, giving them something to push against. "It was your first time out of the hive alone, don't feel so bad. Your next mission will have less scope for such a mistake."

"Yes sir!" Hoodwink smiled, watching as Sneaky turned and began marching off toward the center of the hive, a very reluctant Trip at his side.

Chrysalis was in a foul mood. "Ah, Sneaky, what word back from our infiltrators?" She sprang up from the couch of resin she was halfway through destroying.

The evidence of their Queen's mood before them, both drones gulped, but Sneaky stepped forward. "Your Delightfully Deviousness," his made-up-on-the-spot title got a half-smile on the ruler's snout, "according to Careful's plan, I accorded my two best changelings to the task of escorting him." He lowered his head. "While Careful has successfully begun infiltration, I fear I confess that my faith was misplaced."

"But he made it in? It matters not if he has companions, a loneling is ever more dangerous than a small group. I take it he shed this… chaff, himself?" Chrysalis knew what Sneaky was about, his ruse was obvious and, to her liking.

Sneaky bowed to his queen. "He did. One drone was unused to life outside the hive, failed the first test, of geography. But the second gave himself away in a more… problematic way. Trip?"

"I-I-I-I couldn't remember the name of their shell-damned town!" Trip clopped a hoof on the floor. "One slip up-"

Chrysalis moved fast, so fast the little black drone blanched gray. "One slip up gives a drone away. One slip up fouls a mission. One slip up makes me look bad."

The crunch came a moment after Sneaky looked away, the stallion might have set this up, but it was what needed to be done. When he looked back, he saw that Trip's carapace was cracked. It wasn't a killing blow, but the drone had learned a lesson he would spend time recovering from.

"What are we going to do with it?" Shining looked at the changeling that was chained up and secured. "I know I insisted on chaining it up, but…"

"There is a reason I married you, Shining Armor." Cadance leaned in and kissed her husband on the cheek. "And it wasn't because you were the hunkiest stallion in the watch."

"So we should just let them go?" Shining still hadn't managed to stop blushing when his Cadie said such things about him. He looked from his wife back to the changeling, who appeared to have almost blissed out again. "Although it hasn't really posed a danger…"

Cadance closed her eyes, inhaled and let out her breath. "My only quibble is with their queen. If I was upset with Auntie, I would not take it out on random citizens of Canterlot." Her horn began to glow, first opening the cell door and then the chains binding the 'ling.

Looking up at his savior, Careful tried to focus. It was hard. "T-T-Thank you…" He slowly got his legs under himself, it was a struggle not because he was weak and lacked food, the exact opposite. "Are you going to squish me now?"

"We don't squish anypony." Shining stomped up to the outside of the cell. "Why are you here?"

"Chrysalis sent me, she wanted me to keep an eye on you, send reports back with your doings." Careful tried to exercise at least a modicum of discretion. When he said his queen's name, however, he saw pain on the stallion's face, a pain that made something inside him twist.

Cadance missed the look the drone gave her husband, but she could feel that bond the creature had made, to her and Shining. "And now? What are your plans?" She stepped back, making it clear they could leave the cell.

Careful tried to get a reading on when the hoof would come, but all he could feel was that dratted, constant, love. It tainted his every thought, made him feel… made him feel like these ponies were better than his queen. "I don't know…" The big pink mare rushed in again at his soft words, a large wing wrapping around him.

"Shiny, no more questions for now." Cadance was empress of her city-state, it came as a side title to her main one of princess. Shining Armor nodded, it wasn't for the ruler that he agreed, but his wife.

"What are we going to do with him? We can't very well parade him through the castle." Shining gestured to the exit, but Cadance was now settled down on the stone floor, hugging the black, carapaced bug-creature with a wing.

"Her ponies were hungry, that is what she said. She came to Canterlot to feed her ponies…" Cadance looked down at Careful.

"She gets carried away a lot." Careful wasn't sure why he started talking, it wasn't important or diplomatic stuff, but he found himself unable to shut his snout. "She gets passionate about something and it becomes all her focus. She started off wanting to feed us, which was good, but then she… she seemed distracted." Both alicorn and unicorn were listening intently but when Careful looked up at Shining it disarmed them. "She lusts for you."

Shining stood, jaw dropped open. "Me?" Careful nodded to him. "But… she seduced me! She was-"

"Shining Armor." Cadance paused and turned, giving the little drone a kiss on his worried brow that left his eyes crossing and features completely open. "I think it is time we had the talk, about what happened and what she did."

"What about him?" Shining pointed at Careful with a hoof. "Can you disguise?"

Careful shook his head to try to dispell his drunkenness and looked up to the stallion addressing him. "I can… I feel like I could disguise as anything, I am so full!" He couldn't stop the hiccup that came, nor could he stop both his forehooves from shooting up to cover his snout.

Cadance laughed at the drone. "Something simple, an earth pony would be preferred." She drew back her wing and stood back up. "Are you sure you don't need some energy?" she turned to Shining. "Have you even felt him feed? What was it like when Chrysalis fed?"

The stallion looked stricken. Shining wanted to tell his wife no, to yell and run away. Parts of him still felt odd after what the Queen of the Changelings did. "It was like I was casting a spell, a big one, but instead of my magic draining… it was me."

"I wouldn't do that!" Careful stood up straight. "That is… that is not good to do to a pony, it is easier to find a pony that loves another and just sip at what they feel. You… you both have so much love… I tried to only sip, but it was like trying to sip at an ocean. Delicious, delicious ocean…"

"That talk needs to be now, and I think we have the perfect interpreter to help us understand what happened." Cadance looked to Careful, watching as dawning happiness came over his features. Apparently, giving a drone something to do was an easy way to make them happy.

Green fire poured over Careful, it was his magic, the magic all changelings possessed, but he had it in spades. Where another changeling could make a disguise, and it would hold up under casual inspection, he made ponies. When the flames flickered and licked up to his horn, then vanished, they left a brown, nondescript earth pony mare with pink mane and tail, looked up at Cadance. "Will this do?" Even Careful's voice had shifted. It wasn't a gift -or a power- to Careful this was art.

"A mare?" Shining couldn't help but blurt out. "You're a female?" He was shocked as the pony blushed and shook her head.

"I am a stallion, but you said simple, I felt nondescript was called for, a mare is the most prevalent gender with ponies, so I chose mare. Is there a problem with it?" Careful looked back over herself, inspecting the little red rose cutie mark.

"You think fast and well." Cadance smiled widely. "Come on, let's get this aired out. Secrets are always less terrible when they see the light of day."

Careful was in awe. A compliment, kindness, and Cadance clearly thought much not just for her husband, not just her ponies, but for a captive. She lifted her head and started trotting behind the alicorn, for the first time in her life feeling some measure of hope.

"Your Highness!" The guard on duty in the dungeon was shocked to see his rulers down in these depths. Nopony ever came down to them, not since the days Sombra had control. "How was the inspection?"

"Satisfactory." Cadance gave a smile to the guard but looked back to Careful. "How much would you estimate is needed to convert these dungeons into more rooms? Maybe for storage?"

Blinking, Careful quickly fell in with the duplicitous conversation. "Oh Your Highness, I am sure it would be well within the budget, we may even come in under quota." She smiled, the sensation odd because it wasn't forced. "We will need to test for structural supports, some of these walls might need to stay, but-" She stopped talking the moment they were out of the dungeon. "You are clever."

"I find it helps." Cadance found she enjoyed having a master of disguise and subterfuge tell her she was clever, it seemed quite the compliment. "How long have you been here, in the Crystal Empire."

"I barely got off the train, Your Highness." Careful added the honorific only because they passed some maids. "Your steward harangued me just outside, dragging me in to be a servant."

"Sounds about right for her. I imagine it seemed too good to be true." Cadance turned toward some stairs, well, some more stairs, the castle was lousy with them.

"It was. Too good. I mean…" Careful blushed and took the moment to look back, seeing Shining Armor walking after them, his head bowed. "She did a bad thing, that should never be done to a pony."

The tone of the 'ling caught Cadance off-balance. "We will get to the bottom of this. Did you take part in the invasion of Canterlot?"

"Of course. Everyling who was good at either fighting or disguise did. I was one of the city guard, I led others into a trap…" Careful sighed. "I don't regret it, it was my job. But I-"

"You were under orders, and from what I understand nopony was injured." Cadance turned her head and looked back at her husband. "Well, one was…"

Opening her bedroom door, Cadance flung the door open and ushered their little precession inside. "Go on Shiny, get comfortable on the bed and let's hear all of it."

Shoulders hunched, Shining Armor marched toward the bed like he was going to his execution. How was he going to tell his wife all of what happened? He had… and… He was laying on the bed before he realized it, blue magic lifting the covers up and tucking them around him. Cadance climbed in beside him too and he found himself turning to her, burying his snout against her neck.

"I hear it said that smell is the strongest sense. That it can remind, calm, agitate, and disarm." Cadance hugged her husband close, holding him against her, his snout buried into her neck. "What happened?"

"I didn't notice at first." Shining's mouth was moving, words were coming out, but the stallion wasn't quite aware they were his. "Her magic was subtle and amazingly careful. Looking back, I can see where she started to influence me, make me see her more as you, and less as…"

"She is good when she is focused." Careful climbed up and settled, like a pet, at the foot of the bed. "But when she finds too much drive, or when she is distracted by something else, she is like a hammer on glass."

Shining nodded to the drone's summation. "She started… she seemed to focus more on me and less on organizing her invasion. It all began when… when…" His voice closed over and it was impossible to speak. Cadance hugged him, holding him without prompting. "When she… when I… when we mated." Cadance brushed away the tears as they came, kissing her stallion on the forehead. "I couldn't see it wasn't you, she just kept… every time I started to see past her disguise, that odd pain, the draining, then there would be a green fog in my head."

"Strong magic, potent magic." Careful didn't want to interrupt, but felt she had to. "She drank your will, left you less, then filled it in with her own."

"Yes!" Shining pointed animatedly at Careful. "That… that is exactly it. After she did that, I wanted it… her even." It was a great relief, Shining had thought it was really him that wanted Chrysalis. "So she made me want her?" Careful nodded and the big stallion took a deep breath, smiling. "That doesn't make me hate her anymore, but I am so happy to know it wasn't… wasn't me."

Cadance looked down the bed at the pony. "Drop your disguise, please…" Her eyes were wide. "What is your name?"

"Careful Steps, My Queen." The words flowed easily from Careful as she let her disguise fade, pouring away from her in a wave of flame and leaving him once more himself. His tail wagged until his whole being seized up. "I mean-"

"I am not a queen, but if it helps you, Careful." Cadance giggled. "Just don't call me that when you are disguised, but I think you know that." Careful nodded, eyes wide and full of shock. It wasn't that he had said the words, but that he had meant them.

Author's Notes:

Careful Steps is pragmatic and extremely careful, but I'll be damned if he isn't the most adorable prisoner ever. The walls are love, the bars are also love. There are love-chains and cute little love-prison-clothes. There is a love-shank, but all it does is tickle you.

However it is clear that there are vast differences between how Chrysalis metes out punishment, and how Shining and Cadance do it. The first step, is understanding if punishment is the right choice, Chrysalis always votes 'yes'.

Note: This is a bonus, to apologize for missing yesterday's and doing a Given Shape instead. Please forgive me!

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Awesome ponies who are already helping to keep me in keyboards and rum:
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