No Strings Attached

Doflamingo awoke to the sound of heavy breathing, a large object resting upon the side of his crumpled clothing. He wiped his face with a hand, the beads of sweat that had gathered during the night clearing away. He wiped his eyes of drowsiness, pushing up his sunglasses to do so. Doflamingo sighed, once again he was dreaming, most likely caused by all of the emotional stress from the night before.

He looked at the source of the deep breathing, Reflection deeply asleep. The changeling had her top half splayed over Doflamingo’s chest, her front hooves digging into the fabric of his shirt. Her back end was lying on the bed side-ways, a hind leg twitching occasionally like a dog as she dreamed. Doflamingo smiled at the blissful look on Reflection’s face, the Emperor glad that her dreams appeared to be far more enjoyable then his.

The memories of the events after their conversation returned, Doflamingo recalling that Reflection had fallen asleep while in his bed, himself slumbering soon after. He attempted to move from under the changeling without waking her; morning court would begin in about two hours. His efforts to escape proved to be futile however, Reflection tightening her grip as she felt him move away. While Doflamingo did not wish to wake her he had no choice.

“Reflection” he whispered softly, the changeling murmuring as she slowly awoke. She shifted on his chest, rubbing her head against his shirt before opening her eyes and letting out a yawn. Reflection still seemed a little drowsy as she looked at him with a smile spreading across her face.

“Time to get up already, you sure you don’t want to just stay here a little longer?” she asked as she stretched her back legs eliciting a popping noise.

“I’m afraid that I can’t, I need to have some breakfast. Then morning court is on after that, I have to observe the creation of some new armor, solve a noble family dispute, open the new park and get everything organized for the Equestrian’s visit as the Princess will most likely be here within the week.”

“You work too much; don’t you have advisors to do all of that stuff for you?” Reflection asked as she gave her wings a few flaps. Doflamingo gave let out a sigh at her question as he got off the bed, much to Reflection’s displeasure.

“No one in the Empire has any experience with dealing with these sorts of problems making me the most qualified. Granted, I’m much more used to blowing up parks than opening them but by appearing in public like that it will hopefully get the citizens to stop being so up-tight around me. Besides,” he grinned at her. “You’re supposed to be one of my so called advisors. Do you want to take care of all of that in my place?”

“I guess that’s a good point,” the Changeling conceded as she also left the bed, moving towards the bathroom. “and no thanks. I’m going to take a quick shower; I’ll see you down at breakfast.” she said as she stood up on her hind legs and gave the standing human a hug, her wings fluttering to improve her balance.

“Sure, see you there.” Doflamingo replied as he left her embrace and walked out the door, trying not to focus on the troublesome things he had to do today.

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Sparkling munched on her slice of toast as she sat at the dining room table, a smile on her face. She was still excited for Reflection last night, the atmosphere and Doflamingo’s answer doing a number on her emotional levels. Sparkling had trusted him to do the right thing, and she was glad that he didn’t brush aside Reflection’s feelings for him.

She paused her eating to take a sip of tea, the cup designed so that a pony could hold it with one hoof via the use of an enlarged handle. Doflamingo was always so caring and nice but she knew that by his own admission he was an evil villain that thankfully changed his ways.

Sparkling would call Reflection a close friend, the two mares having bonded during their time spent as advisors. She was happy for her and it really did seem like she was part of the strange family that consisted of her and the Emperor. Sparkling thought about how the Emperor would get when he was fighting something and shuddered. She would feel sorry for anypony, besides Sombra of course, who had the misfortune of angering the Emperor. She just hoped that Doflamingo wouldn’t need to fight at all or otherwise turn evil again. She utterly believed him when he said that he was a greater monster than Sombra could ever hope to be since she witnessed how he had killed the tyrant in the first place and she wished she would never have to see such a terrible thing happen again.

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Doflamingo walked into the dining room, grilled cheese-on-toast in hand. He stopped as he spotted Sparkling, the mare seeing him at the same time. His assistant raised her head from her plate and smiled at him, obviously glad that he decided to give Reflection a chance.

“Good Morning Doflamingo,” Sparkling greeted him merrily. Doflamingo smiled back and sat down with his plate, Sparkling merely stared at him, which prompted Doflamingo to respond to her.

“Morning Sparkling.”

“I’m really glad that you’re giving Reflection a chance sir. I mean, after she poured her heart out to you, I was kind of worried that you would reject her.”

Doflamingo decided to vent a little to Sparkling about what he felt over this whole situation. He would still give it a chance, but he wanted to express all of the troubles that would come from such a relationship.

“Don’t praise me so much Sparkling. I may have given Reflection a chance, but there is going to be a lot of challenges to overcome because of it. First of all, a relationship with one of my advisors would cause a fair amount of controversy and could potentially harm the Crystal Empire’s reputation. There are also many other different factors involved which you aren’t aware of. Add to the fact that as Emperor I have many vital duties I have to preform which would greatly affect the amount of free time I have to devote to her.” Doflamingo leaned in further towards Sparkling, the mare’s happy look having lessened as Doflamingo had explained his reasons.

“While I didn’t explain all of this to Reflection last night,” Doflamingo continued, “she is already aware of these reasons and still wishes to be with me. Therefore, it’s best to let things take their course and see where this relationship goes.” Doflamingo finished his explanation and sat back on his seat, taking a bite of his toast while Sparkling tried to process what he had just told her.

“Well, what exactly are you and Reflection going to be doing sir?” she questioned with a confused look on her face. The answer came in the form of a joyful changeling bouncing into the room, Reflection spotting Doflamingo sitting down opposite Sparkling. Doflamingo barely had time to put down his toast before she closed the distance and jumped up onto his lap, throwing her fore-legs around the surprised human’s neck as Sparkling watched on in shock.

Reflection nuzzled the side of Doflamingo’s face, her damp-moss mane covering the human’s head with moisture.

“Wha-what?” Sparkling questioned, utterly lost regarding Reflection’s sudden and awkward action. Sparkling looked at the Emperor and changeling taking note of Doflamingo’s ruffled cloths, Reflection’s blissful attitude and the fact how the changeling was suddenly displaying  much more affection openly in public. An idea pushed its way to the front of her mind, a fairly uncomfortable image of how Doflamingo and Reflection had spent their time last night.

“You didn’t,” she asked, “surely you didn’t do that?”

“What do you me…” Doflamingo’s eyes widened as he figured out what Sparkling was alluding to, the human laughing so hard he was wobbling the chair he was sitting in, rocking back and forth while Reflection stared at Sparkling with a puzzled expression.

“No, nothing like that at all,” Doflamingo  answered, “I was getting ready for bed when I noticed someone had already made herself comfortable in it. I crawled in and Reflection hugged me all night as we slept. Fufufu my, my Sparkling. I didn’t know you had those kind of thoughts.” Doflamingo laughed again while Sparkling was blushing with embarrassment. Reflection picked up on what Sparkling was insinuating and began to blush as well. Doflamingo suddenly picked up Reflection with his hands, the biped somehow holding up the blushing changeling in the air as he stood up.

“While this has all been shaping up to be a hilarious morning; I’ve got an empire to run!” he declared as he place Reflection down on the seat he had just left before grabbing the remains of his grilled cheese, stuffing it into his mouth as he walked out of the door towards the throne room, leaving two very surprised and embarrassed mares behind.

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Emperor Doflamingo sat in his throne, awaiting the arrival of a specific group of nobles. The group, a family that was currently fighting with each other had requested that the Emperor hear their issue in private, not wanting the other nobility to find out. The courtroom had been emptied, only Doflamingo, Reflection, Sparkling and two guards remaining. Reflection had moved from her usual spot at the side of the throne to the front of it, lying down near Doflamingo’s feet like a cat. The nobles that had attended morning court had all wished the pair well, Doflamingo completely taken by surprise that the news had already gotten out. It had only been an hour after breakfast and already most of the city knew about the state of affairs, much to Doflamingo’s amusement.

The doors to the throne room opened, the group of nobles walking in accompanied by a changeling, the mare looking very upset. A silver-coated colt was walking close to the changeling, the pony appearing to Doflamingo as being sixteen to nineteen years of age. The three ponies and changeling bowed before the Emperor, Doflamingo waving a dismissive hand at them.

“Please, don’t worry about the formalities,” Doflamingo said, the ponies and changeling relaxing their posture and looking up at the seated Emperor, Reflection looking curiously at the other changeling mare. “Now please, tell me what the problem is.” requested Doflamingo. One of the two Stallions stepped towards the throne, the middle-aged golden-hued pony clearing his throat.

“Of course Emperor, my name is Rich Heart and the problem we have is that my son, Quicksilver is dating a changeling, Miss Falsity”. The silver pony lifted his head, the young stallion having been whispering to the dejected changeling mare. “Now, I’ve got nothing against changelings or the young mare herself it’s just that we one day hope for our son to provide us with grandchildren, continuing our family’s lineage. My wife, Gentle Heart,” the pearl-white mare nodded her head towards Doflamingo “and I came here to seek your assistance on this matter. We want to have our family line continue but we also want our grandson to be with the one he loves, what do we do?”

Doflamingo was honestly stumped, he had no clue how the situation could end happily for all involved. He looked down towards Reflection, the advisor watching the young couple in pity.

“Reflection?” he asked, the mare turning her attention to him. “Do you know whether a pony and changeling are able to conceive? It‘s not a subject I’m familiar with.”

The advisor scrunched up her face in thought as she rubbed her chin with a hoof.

“I have heard stories that changelings and ponies are able to produce children; however I believe that it’s always a pony foal that is produced. Changelings would normally lay eggs but are able to birth live in such circumstances. The same goes for a pony mare, the off-spring is always pony and no-one knows why that is. The foal can be a Pegasi. Unicorn or Earth pony with all traits coming from the pony parent.”

“So,” Quicksilver said, a hint of excitement in his voice, “you think that Fal and I can have foals?”

The changeling known as Falsity blushed at the nickname, Doflamingo chuckling at her reaction.

“That’s what it sounds like to me,” Doflamingo concurred, looking at Reflection and shooting her a congratulatory smile. “I suggest that you let things continue as they are, hopefully it will all work out well and if you need more advice about it then I’m sure Reflection would be happy to help.”

“I would be happy to!” Reflection cheerily included, the ponies and changeling all appearing to be ecstatic with the answer.

“Thank you, both of you.” Rich Heart said to Doflamingo and Reflection, the group of four exiting from the room talking lively amongst each other.

“Well, that went better than I expected.” Doflamingo commented, Reflection nodding in agreement. He stood up from the throne, giving his arms a stretch. “I better head to the park. I promised the recreational committee that I would be down there by lunch. Sparkling and Reflection you can take a break, I’ll send for you if I need you.”

“I’ll come with you Doflamingo,” Reflection stated as she got up from her spot. Both Doflamingo and Reflection looked at Sparkling, the mare rolling her eyes as she too got off her cushion.

“Fine, I guess I’ll tag along with two,” she sighed as the three left the palace, heading towards the north-side of the city.

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Crystal Empire Outskirts – Southern Crystal Caves

Captain Strategy traced his hoof along the map set up in his tent, spots of red ink marking the caves which had already been searched. The Emperor had ordered for the Guard to investigate rumors that some Crystal Unicorns survived Sombra’s purge by hiding in the many caves that surrounded the city. So far they had searched over sixty-percent of the caves, having yielded no result-

“Captain, we’ve found something!”

Strategy whirled around to face the shout, Lieutenant Clear Cut panting from exhaustion as she saluted him.

“What did you find Lieutenant, is it the unicorns?” the Captain questioned.

“We don’t know Sir, but something attacked Corporal Haze at point seven-three!”

Strategy placed his helmet on his head before walking out of the tent, the Lieutenant following behind. They emerged into a make-shift camp, multiple guards moving about the search party headquarters.

“Lieutenant, take me to the point and have someone dispatch a messenger to the Emperor, notify him immediately!”