The pegasus wasn't a changeling, but she was just about the sneakiest member of her species that Careful had met. "They didn't see you?"

Nimbus Cloud laughed. "You have got to be joking." She spread her wings for emphasis. It was odd for a pony to have the same color fur and hair, but Nimbus' whole body was a slightly pale light blue. "Against a bright, sunny sky, there is nothing of me to see."

"And they spent two hours searching?" Careful liked the mare, admired her quite a bit. He shoved down the thoughts he was having. "Perfect, so they got that one too."

"Yeah, flew up and down the gorge, looking for the body. What was that?" Nimbus tucked her wings back in, her eyes tracing the stallion. He was smart, looked good, and was good for a laugh; a combination of things the pegasus hadn't had much luck finding in one pony before.

"The Princess made it up, it wasn't anypony, don't worry. But this proves, three for three, that the changelings in Canterlot are intercepting our missives." Careful watched the mare for her reaction, and it was shock.

"Changelings? Again? I thought we beat the buggers back?" Nimbus saw something, a little flash in the stallion's eyes. "So what are we going to do about it? Storm Canterlot, have Princess Cadance and Shining Armor blast them all the way back to the badlands?"

Careful squinted. "No, and you know why." He watched Nimbus stop and think, her wings fluffing a few times.

"You want them reporting back, now that you know about them you can use them. But why? What would this help with? And why go there at all, then?" Nimbus sat down in the seat opposite Careful Design. "What is going on?"

He trusted her, a lot. She was read-in on quite a lot of his little subterfuges as being a great help, particularly in scouting. "There is more going on-" He didn't get any further.

Shining Armor came bursting into the room. "Careful! There are more holes!" He froze, looking at Nimbus, blinking at the pegasus.

"Shining Armor, Nimbus Clouds. I take it you know who this stallion is?" Careful's tone was droll and he looked up at Shining, giving him a direct stare.

"Of course I do!" Nimbus blushed, clearly a touch overwhelmed by having one of the rulers of the Empire. "Your Highness!" She tried to do a bow, but nopony—and certainly not Nimbus—ever claimed the pegasus was graceful when nervous.

Shining, thankfully, caught the mare as she started to fall. "Sorry!" He quickly righted her with his magic and stood back. There was another hole in his leg and he wanted to talk to Careful so much about it. "Uh, so what are you doing here?"

"Careful had me flying to look for… those were changelings?" Nimbus glared at Careful and got a nod from him. "What are they doing? What is going on here?" Her hoof stomped in consternation.

"Tell her, Careful, but I need to talk… quickly." Shining turned and stomped out of the room, leaving a few corks on the floor, mysteriously, behind him.

"Looks like you get the full explanation. Okay, but you have to promise not to scream." Careful didn't take Nimbus' nod as enough. "Promise!"

"I promise not to-" Nimbus didn't get any further, her snout opened and she could hear screaming. The changeling in front of her blinked up at her, not pouncing to attack and certainly not laying about itself with its magic. She closed her mouth and the screaming stopped.

"You promised…" Careful slumped back in his chair, his horn lighting green to lock the door. "I bet you have more questions now."

Nimbus glared at the drone. "Did you do anything to Careful?" Like the stallion earlier, she wouldn't take a head-shake as an answer. "Tell me."

"There was never a Careful Design, my name is Careful Steps, I am a changeling of the Crystal Empire hive." Careful lifted one hole-filled hoof, batting his chest in pride.

"How many of you are here? Where is the queen?" Nimbus was still on edge, but she started to smell something funny going on here. "Does the princess know? Is this what Shining Armor meant?"

Careful snorted. "Princess Mi Amore Cadenza and Shining Armor… are my queens. I am the only drone that follows them, so far."

"The princess is a changeling?" Nimbus' wings flew erect in shock but an odd hissing-coughing noise coming from Careful distracted her. "Are you laughing?"

"Yes! No, Princess Cadance isn't a changeling queen." Careful shook his head, there was a few secrets he had yet to keep. "They feed me, the love and protection they offered me, it broke me free of my ties to old bug-butt." The mare giggled at the common pony description of Chrysalis. "And now, we think she is trying to infiltrate us again. Us being Equestria and the Crystal Empire."

"And you are helping to stop them?" Nimbus watched as the changeling's mouth formed words around the huge fangs, it was oddly interesting. She realized she was watching a changeling's mouth and quickly pulled her eyes upwards.

"Of course, I would do anything a queen wished of me, and protecting the Empire is like protecting my hive." Careful realized Nimbus was staring into his eyes and blushed, a soft green tinting his cheeks. A knock came at the door and green fire poured around Careful, restoring his disguise. "Come in!" The door unlocked just before Shining Armor stumbled back in.

"Now, I am going to tell her now." Shining glared at Careful. "I don't want to keep this a secret from her."

"You want me there?" Careful got up and trotted over to the big stallion, part of him knew he shouldn't get between the two ponies, but another part recognized Shining as his queen and made him offer.

Shining blinked at the drone. "No, Careful, you have helped me enough already." Taking a deep breath, Shining Armor reached down and plucked a few corks from his legs, confusing the mare doing her best not to intrude on the conversation. "Wish me luck, though… and be ready in case I need to leave in a hurry."

"From Princess Cadance?" Careful gave Shining a few pats on the shoulder. "I don't know if you feel it the same way I taste it, but nothing would steer her from your side, Shining Armor."

Giving a firm nod, Shining marched back out, sans corks.

"What is… should I even ask?" Nimbus gestured at the corks, and the obvious near-wreck of a stallion.

"No, that is between him and the Princess." Careful walked back to his desk and relaxed. "So, after getting a report of some odd things going on in Canterlot, we sent some letters, sneaky letters." The stallion scattered them on the table and grinned when he saw the mortified look on Nimbus' face. "I wrote them all, and Celestia knew in advance they were fakes. But the changelings didn't."

Skimming down, Nimbus found the meat of the letter. "So this is why it is important that there were ponies… changelings, at those places? They were looking for what you told them was there?" Careful nodded to her, liking where the mare was headed with her thinking. "And now what?"

"Now, we have a plan and I need a pony to keep an eye in the sky while we work it." Careful raised an eyebrow. "What do you say? Part of our little group of adventurers?"

"Who else?" Nimbus took a deep breath, this was exciting and interesting on so many levels she would be begging to be in on it, if the job wasn't already offered to her.

"Oh, apart from the princess and Shining? Just you and me… we also have another job, before we head to Canterlot. Kind of a 'dry run'." Careful steepled his hooves. "You see, there is a changeling here in the city. I know he… or she, is here, but they are being clever and keeping their snout down."

Nimbus perked up even further. "Okay, you got me you sneaky bug," awareness of her acceptance of the changeling before her seeped past the mare's subconscious and into her thinking mind, it wasn't that strange, "how are we going to catch them?"

Shining sat on the bed, glaring at Cadance, building his confidence.

"If you don't tell me, Shiny, you will pass out." Cadance watched her husband fighting his own panic in the biggest battle she had ever seen, and with the brother of Princess Twilight 'I used time travel for no good reason' Sparkle, panic was always just on the horizon. "Now, start from the start."

Looking up, Shining finally met Cadance's eyes and it was like a hoof slammed into the tension inside him. He took a deep breath and held her gaze. "Cady, I am turning into a changeling."

Slow breath, slow breath. Count it out. One. Two. Three. No laughter. "Shining, you aren't turning into a changeling." Cadance stepped forward. "It was just something Miss 'lies for a living' Chrysalis made up."

"It's true! And it is happening to me!" Shining trembled, even as the softest of pink wings closed around him. "Please believe me, Cady…"

The last words broke Cadance of her stoic defense. "Shining Armor, my husband and the greatest stallion I know, why do you think you are turning into a changeling?" She looked at him, in the eyes, imparting calm on the stallion, along with support.

"Fwangs!" Shining peeled back his lips. This intrigued Cadance. "Fwee?"

"I see, Shiny. A little thestral in your bloodline is nothing to be ashamed of, they are amazing ponies and I have felt love in every single one." Cadance reached a hoof up to boop Shining on the nose. "Is that it?"

"No…" Shining inhaled deeply, the soft scent his wife used filtered pleasingly into his nose. "This too." He had to roll over, flopping onto his back and holding up a foreleg.

"It is your hoof, Shiny." Cadance leaned forward and kissed the frog under his hoof. "And you know I love your hooves, are you trying to seduce-" She froze, seeing sunlight where sunlight shouldn't be. "You have a hole in your leg." All the playfulness faded from Cadance and she inhaled and exhaled. "How long?"

"It has been like that, with the holes growing, for a week." Shining started to shake. "I'm scared, Cady…" Shining drew back from his wife, eyes growing damp with tears. The feel of the alicorn's wings wrapping him, of her forelegs pulling him into a hug, broke his isolationism. "You don't deserve me…"

"I made a very important promise, Shining Armor." Cadance kissed the stallion. "Can you remember the 'big promise' I made?"

"You promised to al… always love me… But I am turning into a bug!" Shining tried to pull free, tried to escape, to free his Cady of her useless stallion.

"What makes you think this would change that?" Cadance had learned a lot about her feelings involving changelings, with Careful around. They were just another pony to her. "Shining Armor, I love you more than this." She lifted a hoof to rub at his snout, pressing a lip back and brushing a fang. "Holes, fangs, odd-shaped horn… I will look past it all and see my Shiny."

Shining blinked, the words were magical, he knew. When Cadance put her heart into something, magic flowed. "Cady… you are the best…" Shining pressed his snout against his wife's, and felt her push back.

Nimbus bounced to her hooves. "Careful, are you alright?" She walked around the desk and poked at the changeling. "Careful? CAREFUL?"

Looking up at the cute mare, the mare he found himself liking more and more, Careful couldn't stop the almost-drunk giggle from leaving his lips. "Boop!" He poked her on the snout with a hoof, gently.

"Careful what has gotten into you? One minute you are fine and then…" A wave of power poured through the room, radiating outwards. It was the last straw for Careful and he followed the path his hoof had taken, leaning up to kiss Nimbus Cloud—now slightly transparent and crystalline—right on the lips.

Nimbus was a little too shocked to stop the stallion. A moment later, she was too busy kissing back to stop him.

Author's Notes:

Dang Careful, you got trapped good and proper there. When two legendary lovers renew their love, changelings are the only real casualties...

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