No Strings Attached

“Ha! So much shiny stuff in here!”

Ruffles the Diamond Dog excitedly scooped pawfuls of jewelry into the sack he was carrying; these glowing ponies sure had a lot of shiny things. There were gems of all shapes, sizes and colors and all of them would be delicious for sure. He was lucky that the first building he went into was a jewelry store, the rest of his pack splitting up to scour the defenseless city for anything valuable. The Alpha had been surprised when he had heard of a crystal city that had just appeared out of nowhere but it had proved to be true, it was only a short distance from the den as well. Ruffles was not worried about such details however, he was enjoying looting the store. He would enjoy it a lot more if it wasn’t for the pony whimpering in the corner.

“Shut up pony!” Ruffles yelled at the light-blue mare, the pony huddling itself into the corner. Ruffles paused his looting as a thought occurred to him. If these ponies looked like gems, did that mean that they tasted like gems as well? Ruffles decided that it would be worth the five minutes to find out. The mare only increased its whining as he walked over towards it, the diamond dog crouching down in front of the pony.

“You look like gem pony,” Ruffles observed, “do you taste like gem too? Because stealing make me hungry,” the Mare’s eyes widened as she looked at the Diamond Dog in fear.

“Please, please don’t hurt me you can take any jewels that you want!” the pony pleaded as Ruffles sniffed the air.

“Step away from the pony you filthy canine!”

Ruffles bolted upright as the voice sounded behind him. The dog grabbed his spear as he whirled around, expecting to find a guard pony behind him. Instead the startled dog found a mostly hairless two-legged creature wearing a coat of pink feathers that looked incredibly displeased.

“What do you want hairless monster?” Ruffles asked as he pointed his spear at the creature. The creature smiled at the question and pointed towards its foot.

“Oh, I just came down because I wanted to make sure you had my foot shoved up your ass.” Ruffle’s tiny brain was so caught up trying to figure out what the creature was talking about that he didn’t notice the rapidly oncoming foot.

________________________________________________________________________________________

Doflamingo’s clone smiled as his foot connected with the dog’s armored torso propelling the hapless raider through the shop’s window. The sound of pained yelps accompanied by the smashing of glass filled the air as the dog and numerous glass shards fell onto the street outside. He had not lost his touch at all when it came to his physical prowess. He could remember slicing off all three towers of his old palace in Dressrosa with a good kick. He barely put that much into his little kick just now to that worthless mutt’s chest too.

Private Sharp Point emerged from behind the Emperor trying to figure out whether the human needed any help. Judging from the joyful smile that the ruler was sporting as he watched the injured dog attempt to crawl away from the shop he doubted it.

“Stay here and help the lady Private,” the Emperor ordered as Sharp Point glanced at the mare, “I’ve got to attend to our esteemed guest.”

With these words the Emperor stepped through the broken window, glass crunching beneath his shoes as he began to move towards the Diamond dog, the canine trying to crawl away using his front paws. Sharp Point moved over towards the shopkeeper cautiously, the mare sobbing in the corner of her wrecked store.

“It’s okay miss, the dog is gone now and I’ll stop anymore from getting in.” the Private reassured as he patted the civilian on the back.

“What is the Emperor going to do?” the mare asked, halting her sobbing as she went to glance out of the window. She was stopped when Sharp Point blocked her view, the guard guessing what was about to happen.

“I don’t really know miss,” Private Sharp Point answered, “but I don’t really want to find out.”

___________________________________________________________________________________________

Shadow Doflamingo smirked as the injured dog attempted to escape, his foot hit the torso of the animal had done a fair amount of damage. A trail of blood lead from the dog’s original landing point to its current position in the middle of the street. While the clone did want to draw this out for as long as possible it knew that it would be more useful elsewhere  so it had to make this quick. Striding over towards the wounded canine the clone stopped it by placing a foot in the dog’s matted tail, the creature rotating its head to look up at the Emperor in terror.

“Play dead. Bullet String.”  Shadow Doflamingo ordered merrily as he brought his finger to point at the dog’s head, the appendage firing a quick burst of strings in rapid succession, easily piercing the skull of the raider, releasing a foul mix of blood onto the street and leaving several holes adorning the canine’s skull. Taking a moment to observe the corpse, the clone stomped on its head, bursting it open and spilling its contents over the street floor. The clone wondered for a moment how the Equestrians would fare if its capital was in this sort of situation.

‘Eh,’ it shrugged as it walked down the street in search of new prey, ‘I’m sure they’d try making peace with these mutts instead of putting them down like they deserve. Too peace loving to get their own hooves dirty.’

___________________________________________________________________________________________

Reflection was not happy, not one bit.

After Doflamingo had made that clone of his to go fight those Diamond Dogs, she was left in a room surrounded by nobles, guards and to top it all off the Princess of the country that the changelings tried to invade. Even though the real Doflamingo was still there with her, she felt that all of these Equestrians were judging her, condemning her for what she was and she hated it. Celestia was still sipping her tea, the cup long since empty and the nobility from both cities were shifting uncomfortably.

“Are you sure these Crystal ponies are able to protect us adequately Auntie?” Reflection looked towards the blond unicorn stallion that radiated arrogance as his pompous voice broke the silence. “They certainly don’t seem to be able to protect their own city!”

“Unlike the impenetrable fortress that is Canterlot?” Reflection snapped, all eyes in the room focusing on the changeling after her outburst. Realizing what she had just said in the presence of a Princess of Equestria Reflection paled, sinking down into her chair. Celestia gazed at her with an even look, the changeling unable to tell what the Princess was thinking. Clearing her throat Celestia placed her long-empty tea cup on the table as she turned towards the unicorn who had spoken.

“Prince Blueblood,” Celestia addressed, “I have the upmost fate in the Crystal Empire guards to ensure our safety.” The Princess smiled at the Crystal ponies surrounding the room, the multiple guards all armed to the teeth with their combination axe-spears. “I’m sure that the Emperor’s Knight has everything under control and the situation will be resolved peacefully.”

Suddenly, Doflamingo chuckled aloud, all eyes turning to him wondering what he found so funny. Reflection shifted uncomfortably in her seat. ‘Peaceful’ would not be the word she would use, Doflamingo seemed like a compassionate Emperor but if something threatened his subjects Reflection doubted he would talk it out. She knew this for a fact since Doflamingo was even now just laughing at what the princess had said. Prince Blueblood however seemed to have the same concerns, except the Prince decided to voice his.

“I for one think this Emperor is a complete psychopath, all creatures that look like that can only have a mind focused on violence.” the prince stated with his nose in the air.

‘This stupid prince must have a death wish.’ Reflection thought with disdain as her love was still here as she turned to glance at him.

What she saw made her face pale and caused her to shiver. There was a vein clearly present on Doflamingo’s forehead and she could tell his smile was strained, knowing that his eyes were focusing on the arrogant prince. Blueblood was oblivious to the glares of the Crystal guards surrounding the table; all of the soldiers shifting their magical assisted grips on their weapons. Celestia and her four guards however were not. Celestia also stared worriedly at the emperor himself since she could tell that the Emperor was going to do something violent to her so called nephew for what he just said to the ruler of another country.

“Blueblood, the Emperor seems to be a perfectly balanced and fair ruler,” Celestia replied in an attempt to defuse the situation. The Princess looked towards Doflamingo, “I’m sorry for my nephew’s lapse in manners.” At this Celestia glared at the prince, who actually quailed at his aunt’s stern gaze. “A ruler such as yourself seems to have all of the trouble sorted out and I’m sure the Diamond Dogs will have given in to your knight’s stern demeanor.”

The vein across Doflamingo’s forehead slowly disappeared as he tilted his head towards the princess, said princess feeling like a predator was staring at her like she was some sort of prey. Doflamingo smiled at the princess, unsettling her and pretty much everyone else in the room.

“Tell me Celestia,” Doflamingo replied. “How would you and your guards deal with a raiding party of Diamond Dogs intent on pillaging your capital of its valuables and citizens?”

The princess remained silent, unsure of what answer she could give. True, she would be angry and want to punish the diamond dogs, but she was uncertain of what kind of punishment she, much less the emperor sitting across from her, would give for such actions.

Doflamingo chuckled at the princess’s silence. “Surely the answer is obvious?” he waited for them to answer him, but when none did he sighed.

“These Dogs had the nerve to come here and steal from my citizens and even foalnap them, as you have already told me seems to be a recurring thing for these mutts. They deserve the ultimate penalty and my clone is giving it to them now. They all deserve to die.”

All of the ponies stared at Doflamingo with a mixture of terror and worry. Celestia herself was having doubts about whether to trust the Emperor now that she knew he would use violence to stop a threat. True, the threat of such a large number of diamond dogs attacking a city was an extreme case, but she honestly thought violence shouldn’t be the answer to such a problem. Doflamingo suddenly stood up from his seat to address the princess.

“While I understand that you would prefer a more peaceful solution to this situation, I should remind you that you never answered my question from earlier. What would you do if this happened to your subjects? I would be quite surprised if you didn’t feel any anger or hatred for beings who would willingly use your subjects as slaves and pillage and loot without facing any consequences.” With that said, Doflamingo regarded the princess and nobility from Equestrian, who were at least contemplating his words and were starting to look like they agreed with his decision, the princess especially.

He knew how to manipulate people, or in this case ponies, on getting them to see things from his perspective. No one would want to be subjected to slavery and while he used it in the past, he was trying to be a better person here than he was in his own world. Celestia may seem peaceful and fair minded, but she was a living creature who would get angry like anyone else with the right trigger. Fortunately, the trigger was the same in relation to the situation, if a threat came to her subjects, she wouldn’t just stand there and talk things out. All rational beings have a dark side to them, violence itself was simply a means to an end and he intended for the end to mean a multiple number of things. He needed to get the princess to contemplate his situation and decision, to end the threat to his subjects and to gain an ally of usefulness for the future.

“Now then, I’m going to witness the punishment I am delivering to these dogs.  Any of you are welcome to join me if you wish. Sometimes violence is necessary for peace.”

With that, the Emperor stepped out of the room to one of the balconies, Reflection spluttering in shock before deciding to follow after the Emperor. To her surprise, the Princess also left her seat, the large pony moving towards the stairs leading upstairs. The changeling was completely lost, her mind blanking as the Princess followed after her. The Princess and nobility headed upstairs while being escorted by the Crystal Guards. Reflection started to panic as she comprehended what had just happened, the changeling worried at what Doflamingo was thinking when he offered the princess to see him committing violence, even if it was for a very good reason..

‘No no no no no no no no! This is going to go SO WRONG!!!’ she repeated to herself as she followed the Emperor up the stairs while the princess and equestrians trailed after her, fearful of what the Equestrians would witness.

She burst out of the first balcony doors to see Doflamingo with his habitual smile looking down at the center square as she gazed down she gulped at what she was witnessing. Soon after, she was joined by the Equestrians who had expressions of utter horror as they gazed down at the center square, crazed laughter echoing for miles. She found a shell-shocked Princess standing next to her as the group witnessed the bloodstained clone the Emperor had created used its hand to swipe at a Diamond Dog, Reflection swallowed the lump in her throat as she saw the dog split into five horizontal pieces, nothing more than a pile of meat and fur as blood fountained from it like an erupting geyser. The real emperor was chuckling again, startling the terror struck princess and prompting her to gaze at him as he turned his head to look at her evenly.

“fufufu!” Doflamingo’s laugh rang out from the courtyard, “This is the answer to dealing with threats in my kingdom princess.”

________________________________________________________________________________________

“Ah, this is how rulers should solve all of their problems,” Shadow Doflamingo commented happily as it stepped over the Dog’s twitching body. So far its strings had tasted the blood of twenty-seven dogs so far. All of them had been in some state of pillaging and looting, the animals so stupid that they hadn’t even checked to see if the local guard was incapacitated. So when a human showed up wielding powers to kill them from a distance they were easy pickings, not that they had a chance to begin with.

The Crystal guards had been holding their own as well, the clone having passed multiple groups of dead raiders lying in pools of blood. The Dogs had obviously been expecting a defenseless city full of innocent ponies, instead receiving a city filled with a small but competent force of soldiers not afraid to kill for their Emperor. Doflamingo’s clone was controlled by the original, who felt a twinge of pride at his soldiers’ loyalty until he spotted, through his clone’s eyes, a dog rooted to the spot staring at the cooling corpse the clone had just finished with. Shadow Doflamingo looked towards his hand as it flicked his fingers in exercise.

“I guess it’s time to do a little interrogation,” the clone flicked its wrist before spreading its palm out wider as strings shot out of the clone’s open palm. For a moment, the strings coalesced, forming the definite shape of steel sword and even taking the appearance of one. The clone of the Emperor advanced towards the paralyzed dog. He stopped in front of the canine, the terrified mutt having pissed itself. The clone and the original both smiled at the being which came up to his chest, lifting the brown dog’s chin up with the point of his sword.

“Now tell me Rover, why did you decide to attack my city?” the dog whimpered as it tore its gaze from the body of its friend towards the hairless creature asking the question.

“Name’s not Rover-“

“Did I tell you to talk idiot!” Shadow Doflamingo yelled as he booted the dog in the knee with his foot, the dog screaming in pain as the shoe shattered his knee. The canine dropped to the ground as he cradled his ruined limb in his large paws. Shadow Doflamingo crouched down, tapping his sword against his thigh.

“You attacked my city so the only thing that you are now is my victim,” Shadow Doflamingo stated in a business-like tone. “Now let me give you a little backstory here,” the clone continued as the dog looked up at the human in fear, “as an infamous pirate, I became privy to some very interesting ways of ‘information gathering’ and let me tell you, victim,” the clone placed his sword against the dog’s groin, “I’m not afraid to use them on you.”

“No, I tell you everything!” the dog pleaded, “Alpha told us that pony city full of gems and weak ponies, we go in and steal gems and ponies and bring back to den, that all Alpha tell us!”

“Well, that just ruins all of the fun,” Shadow Doflamingo lamented as he moved the sword away from the dog’s crotch and back up to its throat. “Just one more thing,” the dog looked up at the grinning human with hope, “you got something stuck in your throat.”

With a single thrust Shadow Doflamingo buried his sword into the dog’s throat, the hapless canine thrashing as it gurgled on its own blood. With the same grin he had been sporting for the entire conversation Shadow Doflamingo held the piece of steel in until the corpse stopped twitching. Sighing he pulled the blade from the body and stood up, stabbing the sword into the ground and unraveling the strings it was made from until they formed a pile on the ground. Popping his back he turned to hunt for more friends, however a girlish squealing coming from above him caused him to turn around.

______________________________________________________________________________________

Reflection stared mouth agape at the Equestrian Prince who had screamed like a little filly at the sight of the dog’s execution. Granted it had also disturbed Reflection but she hadn’t reacted like a school filly. Celestia had not changed her expression since she had seen the first killing, the Princess looking like she was attempting to capture flies in her mouth. As Reflection was about to defend her Emperor’s actions, she stopped when the Emperor began to laugh aloud, shocking all of the ponies out of their stupor.

“Fufufufufu! Is that how you scream prince?! Like a little girl! Fufufufu!!!” the emperor laughed at the arrogant prince’s display, said prince not even retorting as he continued to stare down from the balcony at the blood bath happening below.

“Princess Celestia…” the princess’s eyes seemed to turn into pinpricks as she stared at the Emperor. “While I can understand some of your concerns, just know that this is not your beloved peaceful country. This is my country and it is suffering from those who would seek to harm it and my subjects. I only defend what is mine after all. Also, do not be so concerned, I would not try anything on you, your country, or its citizens. We are allies, friends after all.”

Doflamingo smiled, this time a warm, gentle smile that surprised the princess, getting her to smile as well, a little relief overcoming her features. Suddenly, the prince squealed again as all heads turned to this latest sight. To everyone’s surprise except for the Emperor’s the clone was traveling towards them, flying to them without any apparent effort or wings that the princess could see. The clone stopped at the edge of the balcony, still floating in midair without a care in the world, silently regarding the quiet prince, who had slowly edged as far away from the clone as he could.

“How goes everything my knight?” the original Doflamingo asked his clone with obvious amusement.

“Fine, these mutts are so stupid. I’m sure they were expecting a defenseless city to loot from.”

Before the clone could continue its report, a high pitched scream accompanied by the sounds of crying and whimpering reached the balcony, everyone turning at the source of the sound. A trio of diamond dogs had a mare and two little fillies, each dog carrying one of his subjects in one arm and holding a bag of stolen valuables in the other. Celestia actually grew angry at the sight she witnessed and she most definitely wasn’t the only one. All of the ponies, minus the prince, had some measure of shock and anger at the scene, but Doflamingo was now no longer smiling. A vein once again appeared on his forehead as he suddenly raised his right hand, pointing it at the trio of dogs. He flexed the fingers on his right hand and right away the dogs stood in place, as if frozen. While the stupid canines were panicking at what was happening, Doflamingo manipulated the strings to make the dogs set the family down, confusion evident of the mare and foals’ faces.

“These mutts are trying my patience.” Doflamingo turned to his clone. “Kill them.”

The string clone nodded as the Emperor raised his hand up into the air, which caused the three Diamond Dogs to be launched into the air, howling in fear at the sudden motion. The string clone flew towards the dogs, who were now all lined up in the sky as the clone stopped in midair, moving his hand behind him. A burst of strings shot out from the hand, but it was clearly different from the others as the string was more condensed than before and even had a reddish glow to its features.

“Overheat!!!” Shadow Doflamingo cried out as he waved his arm and brought it down in a smooth vertical motion, the red hot whip descending towards the lined up dogs, terror in their eyes as the whip came down on all three of their heads. All three dogs were split in half vertically, their innards burned from the heat of the whip, blood splattering everywhere from the sky.

The ponies stared in horror as Doflamingo released his hold on the bodies and left them to fall to the ground with a splat, far away from the family that he had just saved of course. He ordered his clone to go down and comfort the mare and her foals while instructing them to head for the palace. Doflamingo stared at the Equestrians and smiled at their expressions. They were clearly unused to violence, but they needed to get the message that you can’t always do things the peaceful way. They may have reservations about him and his methods, but that didn’t matter at all because he was sure that the princess would want him as an ally rather than an enemy. He couldn’t imagine any rational being that would consciously oppose him after seeing what he was capable of and he was sure these Equestrians were no exception.

_______________________________________________________________________________________

Leaving the courtyard after directing that family towards the palace, Shadow Doflamingo followed the sounds of battle for more dogs to kill.

The streets had been emptied, all of the Crystal ponies either barricading themselves in their homes or taking shelter in the palace. While he was enjoying the chance to slaughter hapless imbeciles he still felt concern for the lives of his subjects. The Diamond Dogs seemed to be more interested in stealing anything shiny then attacking his subje-

“Hang on,” Shadow Doflamingo said to itself as it stopped walking, “my subjects are shiny, well, most of them…”

“HEEELLLP!”

The piercing scream of a mare re-jolted the clone’s train of thought, the string clone turned towards the source which was also where the sound of fighting was originating from.

“That’s right, I was going to slaughter some more!” It shouted as he flew towards the brawl, howls of dying dogs guiding its way.

_________________________________________________________________________________________

Captain Strategy removed his sword from the dog’s chest, his enchanted sword piercing through the crude iron armor with ease.  The dog grunted as it fell, Strategy glancing down at it disdainfully as it died.  All around him guards fought with the bipedal savages, the new halberds that the Emperor had designed proving to be horrific weapons. Thanks to their superior armor and training the Crystal guards had only suffered a few casualties, all of them with wounds which were not life-threating. The Captain paused for a moment as he observed the melee; every other area of the city had been swept clean with no mercy shown to the invaders.

The training that the guards had gone through with the supervision of the Emperor proved to be worth it, every guard working in perfect synchronization with their fellows. Strategy watched on as two ponies armed with halberds fended off three dogs as a Changeling soldier stood behind the protective points and shot bolts of magic at the dogs, dropping all three.

“HEEELLLP!”

Strategy whirled around to face the shout, a small group of dogs making off with a flailing mare. The Captain adjusted his helmet and galloped towards the fleeing group. It was time to be a hero and prove himself to the Emperor. The dog holding the mare noticed the stallion chasing him and increased his speed as he bolted towards the end of the street, the edge of the protective dome only a few meters away.

“GOT YOU!”

Strategy watched in amazement as the Emperor jumped out of a darkened alley and tackled the surprised dog around the mid-section smashing the canine into a wall. With practiced skill the Emperor caught the flailing mare in his arms, smearing Diamond Dog blood on the mare’s lilac coat as Strategy stopped running as he reached his ruler. The Emperor looked at the pony in his arms, the mare breathing heavily after her experience.

“It’s okay miss, you’re safe now,” the clone comforted the mare as she struggled to regain control of her breathing.

“I’m covered in blood though,” answered the pony as she raised a blood stained hoof up to her eyes.

“Don’t worry, it’s not yours,” the clone Emperor replied, looking towards the Captain of the guard, “the charming Captain Strategy here will ensure you get somewhere safe.”

The Emperor flashed Strategy a grin, holding out the mare as he stood up from the ground. The Captain had only enough time to sit back on his rump and extend his fore-legs before the Emperor essentially flung the mare on top on him, Strategy catching the mare perfectly. Unfortunately the weight of the mare caused him to fall back, Captain Strategy ending up sprawled out underneath the mare in the least-heroic position possible.

Captain Strategy had no time to complain however, several Crystal guards galloping towards the Emperor with weary expressions on their faces. Shadow Doflamingo gave the groaning dog a kick as he turned to face the oncoming soldiers.

“Emperor Doflamingo!” one of the guards, a Corporal judging from her armor decals yelled as she halted in front of Shadow Doflamingo panting with exhaustion. “A few of the dogs made off with some citizens, we tried to follow but we lost them in the snow,” the mare sat down on the road, the four privates behind her also bowing their heads in shame. “We failed you Commander, you and those ponies.” The Emperor crouched down and patted the mare on her helmet, the dejected soldier raising her head as the Emperor smiled down at her.

“It’s okay Sergeant, we’ll head out after them and hunt those dogs down,” Shadow Doflamingo said as he helped the guard to her hooves. “Besides,” he continued as he gestured towards the unconscious Diamond Dog, “I’m sure our dear friend here will be happy to assist us with tracking down our citizens.” Strategy, the mare and the guards all watched as the Emperor raised his hand, moving his fingers around until the dog was suddenly floating in the air, and its limbs were bound by a thick rope that appeared out of thin air. The false Emperor began to walk back towards the palace.

“Of course he may need some motivation, but I seem to remember that the kitchen has a large assortment of potato peelers, so I’m sure we’ll get the location of the lair.” Sergeant Opal Blitz glanced at her Captain, the stallion trapped under a lilac mare as he stared after the Emperor. Opal sighed, turning towards the four guards that had accompanied her.

“You heard the Emperor, we have to get that information and he’ll need our help.” All the ponies glanced down the street the Emperor had departed down, merrily humming a jolly tune as the diamond dog bounced along the ground behind him, despite floating in the air.

“I think…”

______________________________________________________________________________________________

“Are you really leaving already Princess Celestia?” Doflamingo asked in amusement.

“Yes Doflamingo, while I personally don’t approve of violence,” Celestia replied with an even voice, “I know some ponies-“

“He’s not a ‘pony’ your highness,” Reflection corrected sharply, the Equestrian’s constant ponifying of words really getting on her nerves during the day. Celestia sighed as she stopped at the bottom of the stairs with her accompanying Nobles in tow.

“I know that, Changeling, but as I was saying other races have different cultures and I can respect that. Even though Emperor Doflamingo, you are certainly… unique in your mannerisms I can’t deny that you do seem to have the best interest of your subjects in mind so I see no use in focusing on past… issues,” the Princess shuddered as she remembered the sights she had seen before. The Princess was no stranger to bloodshed but that was, that was something else entirely. “The agreement has already been signed, with the news that the crisis in your city has been solved we shall return to Equestria immediately.”

Reflection let out a relieved breath, all of the time spent in the presence of the Equestrians had really been a strain on her nerves. While the Princess was cordial the nobility had been insufferable, especially that stuck up Prince Blueblood. Granted since Doflamingo’s clone had killed those dogs; the prince had been rather quiet which Reflection was eternally grateful for. Her sharp correction of Celestia a moment ago really drove home that the changeling was not meant for diplomacy.

“I’m sorry your visit had to end so early,” Reflection forced out as she gave the Princess a fake smile.

“It’s fine,” Celestia turned to the Emperor with a small smile on her face. “Emperor, it was a terrible shame that our meeting was interrupted by such an occurrence, please know that you are welcome in my kingdom anyti-“

The Princess was interrupted as the main doors were opened, a flock of Crystal guards rushing into the palace with the majority covered in blood, carrying gore-streaked weapons. They rushed past the group of startled Equestrians, the foreign ponies unused to seeing such signs of violence.

“I’m back…”

As the string clone entered the Palace dragging an unconscious Diamond Dog, the dog floating in the air with its limb bound together, the clone waved at Celestia, pausing to wipe some sweat from his brow. The sight of two emperors shocked the incoming guards, but they had no time to comment on the fact when the original Doflamingo responded.

“Good work Black Knight.” With that, Doflamingo began to unravel the strings holding his clone together, much to everyone’s amazement as they saw the clone slowly lose form and unravel until it was nothing more than a large pile of strings.

“While it is a shame that you have to leave so soon Princess, it has still been a pleasure to meet you.” The Emperor responded politely with a massive grin on his face. Celestia kept up her mask after everything that she had witnessed. While she was still wary of the Emperor, she found comfort that he had already told her truthfully that we would never harm her or her ponies as he had claimed that they were now allies, if not friends.

“Yes, I do have a country to run after all,” Celestia finished as she forced out a nervous giggle. Doflamingo laughed along with her, only stopping to pick his prisoner up.

“I know how that is, well I've got a prisoner to interrogate so I’ll see you later,” Doflamingo replied as he started to drag the dog into the dining room as the Equestrians watched on.

“Cook!” the Emperor yelled out as he entered the room. “Bring me your bluntest potato skinner; we have a Diamond Dog den to find!”

Celestia decided that right now was the perfect time to leave, the nobles all pushing to leave the palace as soon as possible as the sound of demented laughter filled the air.