No Strings Attached

The air was filled with the sounds of celebration, the opening of the new park going off without a hitch. The huge field of green was decorated with numerous plants and flowers, benches and family areas overflowing with Crystal ponies. Hundreds had flocked to the park for the official opening and were now enjoying it to its full extent.

Doflamingo was very pleased with the committee he had put in charge of re-furbishing the park, the assorted nobles having put in a lot of effort into really improve the once barren area. They had even managed to accomplish all that they had with some money to spare, Doflamingo joking to the committee that if there was money left over than they obviously weren’t cut out for government, which was true enough if they were more like humans in terms of greed. Stalls had been set up serving food and drink, Doflamingo using the leftover funds for the project to pay for it all so that everything the stalls served was free.

It had been a huge success for his public image as well; Doflamingo making an effort to greet every pony that turned up at the event. The Crystal ponies had been over-joyed to see their Emperor sharing the park with them as opposed to sitting in his palace all day. There were some who were still nervous around the Emperor, mainly due to a combination of his office and his unseen species but the majority of them relished the opportunity to meet their ruler.

A few changelings had even turned up to the festivities, around eight adults and five children. The changeling ‘foals’ as they were now known immediately made a bee-line for the mass of pony children frolicking around the playground while the adults stayed together, still a little apprehensive about being around such a large number of ponies. Seeing this, Reflection had gone over to them and was currently introducing the nervous changelings to as many Crystal ponies that she could find in an attempt to ease the changeling’s concerns, an idea which looked like it was working out well.

Doflamingo had sat down at one of the many benches, the ponies around him asking him many questions regarding where he came from and what he did. Doflamingo skirted the questions regarding his past life and instead focused on telling the eager listeners all about how he had ruled an island kingdom and retelling how happy the citizens there were. He described how humans and living toys lived in harmony with one another, getting many of the ponies to stare at him in wonder. Of course, he neglected to mention how the toys were made themselves since he didn’t have Sugar with him to take care of any who questioned his current rule, but it wasn’t even necessary in this case.  Sparkling had left earlier, two of her friends inviting her to their bench, leaving Doflamingo alone to face the barrage of questions.

This state of affairs was not to last however, many citizens ceasing their conversations when a panting guard ran up to the Emperor, the stallion throwing out a sloppy salute as he skidded to a halt in front of Doflamingo.

“Sir, Captain Strategy requests your presence immediately!”

Doflamingo knew that it was best to trust his subordinate without question, the Emperor standing up from his seat, taking a second to smooth the creases on his clothes.

“Lead the way soldier.” he ordered. The guard stallion galloped off, Doflamingo surprising every pony in the park by launching himself in the air and floating along after the guard, who stopped momentarily to gap at the Emperor before being nudged along with a wave of the Emperor’s hand.  His subjects were staring in wonder at him as he laughed, following the guard at a leisurely pace. A demonstration of his power would further cement his position as a powerful and mysterious Emperor. Doflamingo didn’t concern him much with the situation, for the Captain to message him in such a way meant that something important had happened, and that meant it was also going to be very interesting for him as a result.

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Captain Strategy alternated his concerned gaze from the cave mouth to the direction of the city, wary of what lurked inside and anxious for the Emperor to arrive. Corporal Haze, one of the few changelings in the guard had been extracted from the cave by three other guards who had all returned covered in scorch marks on their enchanted armor, the changeling possessing no such protection.

The corporal was in a stable condition and the cave had been surrounded by guards, the relatively new soldiers nervously pointing their assorted weapons at the dark mouth. Strategy couldn’t really blame them, after all the majority of them had only been in the guard for a few weeks and seeing a comrade covered in their own blood would be a new experience to them.

“Captain! Captain he’s here!”

The Captain looked at the shout, Private Ferrous galloping towards the defensive line as he called out. What followed the Private however lifted the spirits of all the guards, Emperor Doflamingo actually flying after the Private dressed in his usual clothing with a look of determination on his face. The Emperor looked quite majestic, the sight of the ruler of the Empire flying around in the sky cemented the fact that he was a powerful individual who could handle anything. Strategy couldn’t help but admire the way the bipedal ruler was able to maintain his composure while demonstrating his strange powers to his troops. The Private halted as soon as he reached the Captain, both guards saluting as the Emperor floated down in front of them, not a trace of fatigue visible on his features.

“Captain Strategy, report” Emperor Doflamingo stated, his prior command experience showing in his no-nonsense tone.

“Yes Sir,” the Captain replied, “a squad of guards was searching their designated area in these caves behind us.” The Emperor glanced at the guarded cave mouth as the Captain continued.

“Corporal Haze, one of the changelings was investigating this particular cave entrance when he was attacked by an unknown force. Three other guards were alerted by the sounds of blasts and they moved to provide support. Upon discovering the Corporal who had been gravely injured they braved ranged attacks from the unknown assailants, seemingly capable of firing energy bolts. Luckily their armor was capable of warding off the attacks, although they are still shaken from the experience.”

“Understandable,” Emperor Doflamingo responded, his voice carrying some concern, “how is the Corporal’s condition?”

“He’s stable Sir, luckily while his wounds are many none seem to have hit any vital areas” Strategy answered as he turned to face the cave, the Emperor moving towards the front of the guard perimeter. “Commander Sir, you shouldn’t go any closer!” the Captain yelled out as the Emperor strode into the cave entrance, much to the shock of the assorted guards. The Emperor didn’t reply, his form disappearing into the dark depths. Without thinking Strategy dashed after him, many of the guards breaking out of their stupor and following their ruler underground.

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The Captain as well as five guards had caught up with their rouge ruler, the Emperor adamant on investigating the matter himself much to the displeasure of Strategy.

“Commander please stop,” he hissed, the guards around them looking around the darkness nervously. One of the guards, a mare was holding a lantern containing a light-emitting gem in her mouth providing the group with illumination.

“No Captain, I intend to find out just who attacked one of my soldiers” the Emperor replied as he continued walking. “Besides, I’ve handled situations far worse than this before, I’ll be fine. As long as you trust me with this everything will work out.” Strategy gave up on trying convincing his Commander to cease this folly, the Emperor pausing briefly to examine a scorch mark on a nearby stalactite. Doflamingo stared at the mark in thought, the Emperor continuing onwards further into the cave.

They had barely made it another few meters when the Emperor stopped, looking down towards the ground. The Captain watched as the human lifted his black boot, green blood shining in the light of the groups’ lantern. All of the guards looked down at the puddle of gore that was the source of the blood, small spots of green fluid smattered around the immediate area. Doflamingo bent down over the puddle, beckoning the Captain over.

Strategy lowered his head so that it was level with the Emperor’s, Doflamingo looking like he was studying the green blood on the floor.

“Don’t act alarmed Captain,” Doflamingo whispered as soon as Strategy was near, “but there appears to be two pony-sized figures watching us from behind the large boulder a little further in.” The Captain angled his head so he could he could watch the mentioned boulder while appearing to be occupied with the puddle of blood. It wasn’t long before two shadows popped out; only to disappear again as a guard private scanned the area.

“I see them,” Strategy whispered back, “What are we going to do?” The Emperor appeared thoughtful for a moment, before a slight smile came to his face.

“Captain, whatever happens don’t attack them.”

“What do you mean by th-“

Strategy was interrupted as the Emperor stood up, turning to face the hidden figures.

“Hello, we know you’re there!” he called out with cheer in his voice, waving a hand at the boulder. A flash of light emitted from the darkness crated by the rock, a bolt of blue energy passing a mere inch from the side of the Emperor’s head. All of the guards’ nervousness vanished at the attack on their ruler, every one of the six jumping in front of Doflamingo with spears raised.

Doflamingo appeared un-fazed by the bolt as he held up a hand to halt his soldiers, the guards remaining still despite their urges to attack those who dared fire at the Emperor. Doflamingo took one step forward, the Emperor twisting his upper body to avoid another bolt that was fired at him.

“Now why do you have to act like that?” he questioned, the assailants not firing off anymore bolts. Doflamingo held his hands out in front of him to show he was un-armed. “All we want to do is just have a little chat, that’s all.”

The only response that got him was another bolt, this one red, flying out to pass his right shoulder. The attack didn’t even come close to him as he effortlessly dodged the attack before the bolt impacted against the ceiling behind the group. Doflamingo looked up towards the ceiling, the smile still firm on his face.

“Fufufu. Bad choice, my friends” he remarked, all of the guards watching in awe as the human darted towards the rock with a burst of speed. Bolts shot out at the rapidly approaching human, Strategy watching in amazement as the Emperor avoided every bolt. The Emperor side-stepped while still maintaining a constant forward motion, Captain Strategy surprised that a being that size could move with such agility and balance. All of the guards hadn’t even had time to move forward to support the Emperor by the time he reached the rock, the human sliding in the dirt on his side as he disappeared behind it.

A mare’s scream echoed around the cave before two shapes were violently flung over the rock towards the guards. Two ponies, a bronze-colored stallion and an emerald-green mare landed heavily in the middle of the circle of guards with loud thumps. The Captain trained his sword on the pair, both ponies appearing to be quite stunned from the impact. He took note of the horns that both possessed as well as the fearful expressions that they had, the pair almost on the verge of tears.

Strategy’s concentration was broken as the Emperor approached the group, dust and dirt covering his clothing.

“Shimmering’s going to throw a fit when she sees these clothes...” Strategy heard Doflamingo mutter, the Emperor stopping before the two captive unicorns as the two stared up at the human with terror-filled eyes.

Doflamingo smiled warmly down at the ponies on the ground, both of the unicorns terrified of him. He was confident that they weren’t going to go anywhere, guards cutting off every escape.

“We could have avoided all of this if you weren’t acting so un-neighborly. I expected some hospitality instead of receiving energy bolts.” Doflamingo crouched down in front of the two unicorns, the mare beginning to sob while the stallion fixed Doflamingo with a glare.

“Do what you will to us Beast! We will never give in to your foul Master’s plans!” The Stallion shouted defiantly, his rust-red mane covered in dirt.

Doflamingo let out a chuckle at the stallion’s words. “You think I work for Sombra, now that’s just insulting. I don’t work for that piece of trash.” This seemed to faze the stallion for a second.

“Of course you would, a creature as foul as you could only exist because of him.” the stallion replied, his prior confidence extinguished at the suggestion that this biped did not work for Sombra. Captain Strategy glared down at the unicorn as he moved his sword a little closer.

“I suggest you refrain from speaking to the Commander like that!” he threatened, the unicorn gulping at the sight of the blade mere inches from his soft neck. The mare saw this, her sobs increasing as she looked up at Doflamingo with pleading eyes.

“Please don’t kill us, we didn’t want to hurt you,” she cried “we just wanted you to leave us alone.”

“I don’t intend to kill you if you answer my questions and behave” Doflamingo told the upset mare, “even though you did seriously wound one of my subjects.”

Captain Strategy noticed that the Emperor’s voice hardened as he said the last part; no doubt that Doflamingo was still angry regarding the wounding of Corporal Haze. Strategy was impressed that the Emperor seemed incredibly careless with his own safety while showing great concern for his troops.

“We didn’t know it wasn’t a servant of Sombra,” the stallion spoke up, the fire in his voice having vanished, “just like we don’t know what you are. What do you mean by ‘subjects’ anyway? You don’t look like an insect.”

“Emperor Doflamingo is the ruler of the Crystal Empire,” Captain Strategy answered, the Stallion looking like he was about to argue. “Before you say anything I’ve seen King Sombra’s body myself, he makes a great floor rug.” At this the stallion paled.

“Th-that can’t be true, no-one could defeat Sombra!”

“Oh, I did,” Doflamingo imputed, “you put up more of a fight than he did, which just goes to show how pathetic he really was. Just look at you, your coats and manes have the crystal sheen created by the Crystal Heart. Sombra locked it away according to what I was told. As to the topic of subjects the creature that you attacked is called a changeling, a citizen of the Crystal Empire.” Doflamingo grinned. “Besides, if I wanted to kill you, I would have just done this.” Suddenly he swiped his hand at the boulder the pair of unicorns were hiding behind, which was promptly sliced to pieces. At this revelation both unicorns’ eyes widened, panic over taking them.

“We’re sorry, we didn’t know!” the mare yelled, rolling over as she threw herself to the ground in a bow as she begged. “Don’t hurt me or Copper, please Sir!”

“Calm down,” Doflamingo responded as he attempted to re-assure the mare, “as long as you co-operate I will refrain from punishing you.” The mare stopped crying while the stallion known as ‘Copper’ gave the Emperor a resigned look.

“What do you want from us?”

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Bronze Shield peeked around the rock at the entrance to the carven, hoping that Uncle Copper and Aunt Tin were all right. Golden Ring, the leader of the small group of ten unicorns had told Shield that his aunt and uncle had gone to make sure the evil King Sombra had not come to get them. Bronze Shield shivered when he thought about the King, his Aunt had told him the King had taken Mommy and Daddy. Aunt Tin had told him not to worry, she said that all of the adults would not let the King find them and that one day they would all go back to live in the city. Aunt Tin never told Bronze when Mommy and Daddy where going to escape from Sombra, whenever he asked she always said that he should go and play with his friends.

He looked around the camp, his two friends Silver Jewel and Piercing Gleam were both hiding behind the legs of their mother and father, the filly and colt shaking as they hid. Bronze wasn’t afraid though because his Aunt and Uncle were Gemsmiths, meaning that they were really powerful unicorns, or at least that’s what Golden Ring had said.

“Someone’s coming.” whispered Ruby Heart, Silver and Piercing’s Mother. The white, pink-maned mare was looking towards the tunnel that went up towards the surface, two ponies emerging out of the gloom.

“Uncle and Aunty!” Bronze Shield exclaimed as he ran to greet them, the orange colt bounding up to them happily. He reached them quickly, but he soon noticed the gloomy looks on their faces. “What’s wrong? Is the mean King going  to find us?”

“Fufufufu. Oh no, the King didn’t find you, I did.”

Bronze jolted as a male voice spoke up, a huge monster stepping up behind his Aunt and Uncle. From behind the Monster emerged ponies in armor with spears, all of them looking at the shocked unicorns in the camp. The monster coughed into a claw before he stood up straight, a grin on his face.

“Greetings, I was just in the neighborhood and I decided to tell you that I killed your King so you’re now my subjects, any questions?”