"Gotta do something, can't let Cadance know…" Shining rolled to his feet. It was odd, considering there was a hole going all the way through his ankle, walking wasn't a problem. "Careful was walking fine, and he had lots of holes… oh sweet Celestia, I am going to have lots of holes!"

Tromping around 'his' side of the room, there was nothing, of course. Well, he could wear those special socks Cadance had gotten him, but it might get a little suspicious if he wore them all the time, let alone in public. With an ever-suffering sigh, the stallion circled the bed, to no-stallions-land. Literally.

"Okay Cady, what do you have that could help?" Shining was careful with his magic, lifting bottles, brushes, and odd little containers of… stuff. "What is 'mane body enhancer'? Is it for your body, or your mane?" He was just about to open the tub when he spotted what he was after.

"Cotton wool!" The big stallion grabbed a hunk with his horn and jumped back onto the bed. Rolling to his back he held up his hoof again. Turning just right, he could see the light coming through the hole and, poking the cotton wool in, the light was gone. "Best, makeup, ever! No more light!"

He rolled off the bed, smoothing down the fetlock. Walking around, he could actually feel the stuff in the hole and, although it felt odd, it was better than having a pony see light through his leg at some odd point. "Now, what was Cady doing again?" He turned to the bathroom and trotted in, finding his wife, and the strange changeling that had looked like his wife, gone. "I might go down and drill the troops some." He gave a happy nod and marched out of the room, feeling much more confidence than a few minutes earlier.

"Now you report to the Princess and give her the note." Cadance gave Careful a little glare and the disguised changeling nodded solemnly. "Go on, before you miss your train."

Turning away from the carriage, Cadance began walking for the exit of the station. Casual does it, she thought. "Your Highness!" A voice behind her, male and speaking extremely formally. "Your Highness I am on a grave mission from Equestria!" The alicorn smiled as she turned. "Careful Design, Your Highness. At your service."

Cadance took in the deep bow that Careful gave her. "Careful, where have I heard that name before? Oh, yes, one of Auntie's aids?" Careful gave a stern nod. "Very well, I happen to have need of-" She narrowed her eyes, looking at a pony that had seemed to start watching her with extreme focus. The moment they saw her looking at them they spun around and were suddenly chatting with another pony.

"You saw them too, my q-" Careful blushed. "Your Highness." He didn't have to look, it was another changeling. How soon were they waiting? Or was it just one of the others finally coming to check on him. His mind raced, it had been a few days, they would be missing a report from him already. "If it pleases Your Highness, I would be delighted to work under your tutelage. Where will I be staying?"

It wasn't good to have to ignore them, but Cadance took her cue from Careful. "In the palace, of course. We still have so many positions open for new staff…" She ensured her voice carried. "Come, let me show you. Normally you would need to talk to my steward, but I trust Auntie to only send capable workers."

With that the alicorn turned and, with the disguised drone at her side, began the slow trot toward the palace. "Good work on giving them that information. Better they act exactly as we wish, than making up some awful plot and actually causing a problem."

"Auntie did teach me a few things before sending me to the frozen north." Cadance trotted along, as if there was no changeling wandering her empire, doing Celestia-knows-what. "What is it you are good at, Careful?"

"I am excellent in organization, also managing personnel." Careful had to censor his reply a little, but that was all part of being a changeling. "You can likely extrapolate my skills from there." He felt a thrill, while Chrysalis had used him in any capacity he put himself forward as, Cadance had asked him how she could best use him. A queen that really 'got' how to use a 'ling to their best; he had to keep from strutting.

Before long they reached the huge spire that was both the home of the Crystal Heart and the ruler of the empire. "You want to see what unmasked you?" Cadance stepped forward, toward the spinning heart. "Careful, please be careful near it."

The drone stepped carefully, his eyes locked on the ancient artifact. To say he coveted it with all his being would be an understatement. It was pure love, pure, raw power, to a changeling. A wing rest along Careful's back and he was startled from his trance. "Your Highness?"

"You sound a little drunk, Careful. Do you need help?" Cadance looked down, the poor 'ling was still staring at the gem, but managed a slow, wobbly nod. "Oh dear, don't tell me you are down with that dratted cold that has been running around Canterlot? Come on you poor thing."

The wing's grip was like steel, it pulled Careful around, broke his gaze with the heart and steered him toward the stairs leading up into the palace.

"Auntie just mustn't be thinking, sending somepony so sick. Well, there is one thing the northern air is, and that is purifying." Cadance had no compunction in marching her odd new servant all the way in and closing the door behind her. "Are you okay?" She spun on Careful the moment they were in private and was shocked as his disguise wavered and faded, leaving the changeling shaking his head.

"Heart seemed full of love, but it is… it is like a changeling, it nibbles…" Careful felt weak and looked up at the alicorn Princess of Love. He didn't reach for that core of Her, he only dipped at the concern and love she radiated to all around her and he felt himself returning to better health.

"Are you saying that the Crystal Heart actually consumes love?" Cadance braced a hoof against the door as it tried to open. "By the order of Princess Mi Amore Cadenza, this gate is closed!" Her bellow was the best imitation she could muster, of one of the guards.

"As I got closer and closer it drained me faster. You… you wouldn't notice it, not putting out all this." Careful leaned against the mare, his queen, the center of his new life. "You saved my life…" The closest Careful had ever been, to having his life saved by another changeling, was when one dragged him out of a 'bad' meeting with Chrysalis.

"Well I wasn't going to leave you there, you didn't look well." Cadance smiled wide. "Up to getting a disguise on?" She tapped the 'ling on his shoulder, reminding him with the clopping sound of it that he was out of disguise.

"Yes, My Queen!" Careful sketched a salute with his hoof and fire burned around him, fire born of his Queen's own power. Once more a cute unicorn pony stood beside Cadance. "If you will permit, Your Highness, shall we head upstairs and see what I can do for you?"

Shining drilled the guard, squinting at the new mares they were letting in. It wasn't traditional and he didn't like it, not that he would say that to Cadance; it had been her idea. "And lift!" His voice roared at the recruits and he watched as each unicorn lifted the boulder at the end of the square, then held them. "Wait for it…" He knew a few were sweating, three of the recruits were now lifting above their weight-limit. "Let 'em down!"

Two heavy boulders crashed down hard but the rest were placed down. Casting his gaze over the three he had expected to drop theirs, he noticed the mare among the three had been the pony to have let hers down slowly.

Marching along the line of sweating and panting ponies, Shining Armor stepped up in front of the first of the two who had dropped theirs. "Recruit!" The pony quickly spun around and saluted. "You will spend extra time working on that lift. I want you hauling these pebbles around by the end of the month." The stallion he was addressing seemed to stiffen. "Yes recruit? You have a question?"

"Sir, yes sir!" The stallion looked at the boulder and got a nod from Shining. "Sir, even the best in our squad has trouble…" The recruit trailed off. A pink glow had wrapped two of the boulders, Shining lifting them up and, grabbing a third, juggling them in the air. "Sir… I will work harder, SIR!"

Shining set the three boulders back and looked to the second who had dropped one. "Sir, I will work harder too, sir!"

"See to it." Shining walked past them and almost stepped past the mare who, despite what he would have thought, didn't drop their boulder. "You, recruit, what was your weight limit at last test?"

"Sir, four hundred kay gee sir!" The mare snapped just as straight as the stallions had, although she was a touch smaller than them.

"And you just lifted a five hundred boulder. Good work recruit, your hard work is showing." Shining didn't need to give the mare any more encouragement, she was already grinning from ear to ear.

Shining left them, marching back toward the palace. "Maybe Cady will be back…"

"What is it?" The voice of one of his recruits made Shining slow his march and twitch an ear backwards. "Looks like a really soggy piece cotton wool." The unicorn's blood ran to ice, he was going to have to think better than just cotton wool.

Chrysalis glared at Sneaky. "Didn't I say to go to the Crystal Empire and find out what is happening to my new drone?" Her eyes narrowed on the 'ling before her.

"Your Astoundingly Astuteness," Sneaky bowed deeply, "I deigned it better to remain behind, in the capacity Careful filled, to better coordinate your infiltrators."

"You did? And why was this?" Chrysalis' mercurial mood was hanging on a razor's edge, she sipped some of the fine crystal clear water in her cup and looked around, even lifting a hoof to look under it. "I thought I was right, I am in the queen's chambers, I am sitting on the queen's bed, so why is a DRONE MAKING DECISIONS?"

Sneaky shrank back, Careful was the only 'ling he had ever known that could calm her when she was like this. "My Queen, I will leave at once!" He started to turn but found his hooves rooted in place with magic. "My… my…" He shook like a leaf.

Chrysalis got to her hooves slowly, her horn aglow with her magic. Stepping slowly over, she dropped the fine silver chalice she had been drinking from and crushed it under one hoof. Leaning down, she brought her lips close to the ear-ridges of the drone. "You will do what I tell you, you will keep doing it, you will not think I would want different, and you will not refuse me."

Eyes wide, Sneaky had to fight not to tuck his ears back, or soil himself. He had seen other drones get stomped by his queen for less. "I-"

"You will pick five more drones, the best infiltrators here. You will send them to Canterlot to intercept any and all messages from the Crystal Empire. The information they glean will come to me, directly." Chrysalis lifted a hoof and gently set it on the drone's back. "Am. I. Clear?" Each word was punctuated with her hoof bearing down a little more until Sneaky's belly was on the floor.

"Yes My Queen!" Sneaky barked the words, eyes screwed shut.

"Good!" Chrysalis let her magic go, spun around and trotted back to her bed as if nothing had happened. She stepped over her chalice with a little distaste. "That was my favorite…"

Rising, saluting, and leaving quickly, Sneaky resolved to do what his queen told him this time, and arrange a new chalice.

Author's Notes:

Disobedience? How would we react to that? Oh dear, I think Chrysalis looses points again for her behavior.

Cadance, thrust into rulership as she was, must have had some training in how to manage ponies. Worst comes to worst, she could rely a little on her Shiny to help. But of course, Shining Armor was trained in the Canterlot garrison, an all-stallion guard. Mare's rights! *burns a halter*

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