No Strings Attached

Reflection was staring down at the hard floor, her misery rising over what happened. She was sure that she had gone too far; no doubt the Emperor would still be incredibly displeased with her behavior. Reflection had never seen the human so angry and she feared that her punishment would be great. She just hoped that he would understand why she tried to attack the Princess, that stuck-up cow had to go and ruin everything just as it was all going well. The Emperor would probably banish Reflection as well to try and pander to the Equestrians, or maybe he would just lock her in the stocks for a few hours if she was lucky. Small tears began to fall from her eyes, joining the water from the cloth on the floor.

Sparkling could see that Reflection was very upset, the changeling most likely fearful for the possible punishments that Doflamingo could inflict. Sparkling had stayed behind in the room, unwilling to follow the Emperor while he was in such a mood. While she disagreed with Reflection’s actions, she could understand why the Changeling tried to attack Princess Cadence, the Princess in Sparkling’s opinion had provoked Reflection and ever since she had arrived in the Empire the Equestrian had been nothing but trouble. She was amazed and a little fearful that Doflamingo had used his power again to restrain Reflection. She still couldn’t believe that strings were able to do such things, but Sparkling was sure the strings were magical and could do more than she could imagine. Sparkling got up and moved over towards the sobbing changeling, the two guards gazing at her from the doorway.

Reflection was aware of a body sitting beside her before a warm limb placed itself on her withers. The changeling looked towards the owner of the limb, Sparkling Scroll looking at her with a reassuring smile. Reflection sniffled, blinking her eyes in an effort to clear the tears from them.

“What do you want?” she asked shakily.

“You know he won’t exile you right? I think he’s angrier with the Princess then you.”

“And just how do you know that?” Reflection asked, moving a bit closer to the Crystal mare at the mention of exile. “I attacked her in front of him; I just lost control when she called me a… monster. It looks like the Emperor wants to get along with Equestria, but after what we did in Canterlot I don’t think that Celestia will ever forgive us.” Reflection once again switched her view to the floor. “All we’ve done since we arrived at your city is cause problems for the Emperor, but it’s mainly my fault, after all I’m the one who was in charge when we tried to steal the Heart. He forgave me twice already; I’m certain that this time I went too far.”

“You had your reasons for why you did those things, and I know that Doflamingo may seem harsh sometimes but he does care about you and the rest of the Changelings. Do you know what I did when I first met him?” Reflection shook her head “I fainted, twice.”

At this the changeling smiled a bit “Twice, why did you faint twice?”

“To be fair” Sparkling began to answer “he had just walked in and killed Sombra, that sort of thing can be a bit terrifying when you’re in the same room.”

“I guess so” the Changeling had stopped her crying “and I do feel a little better, thank you, Sparkling.”

“It’s okay; when he gets here I’ll help you as well. From the looks of things we’ll be working together for a while, so we might as well get along with each other.”

Reflection was just about to reply before she was cut off by the Emperor striding into the room.

____________________________________________________________________________

The flight had improved Doflamingo’s mood a little bit, his anger receding as he approached the palace. Along the way, he could hear yells and shouts from below him and looking down, he saw many of his subjects excitedly pointing up at him and cheering as he flew by. This was the primary reason he felt a little better despite the trouble the Equestrians had brought with them. By the time he entered the dining room he was quite calm, although he was still disappointed in Reflection’s actions. He had been enjoying his talk with Captain Armor and the deal he had come up with seemed to be a great idea, however due to Princess actions and the Changeling’s response, the deal might not go through anymore; Princess Cadence would surely attempt to prevent it from succeeding. However, he knew she would be unsuccessful since this Princess Celestia was considered to be a pacifist from what he heard, and he knew he could count on her to agree to the deal.

Doflamingo walked into the room, Reflection and Sparkling sitting on the floor in front of him. His assistant had her foreleg over the back of Reflection, the changeling obviously having been crying. Doflamingo assumed that she was probably expecting him to exile her for what she had done; he had noticed that she seemed to assume that everyone was out to get her, ignoring the fact that the Crystal ponies had welcomed the changelings enthusiastically. Both of the females were looking up at him, Reflection with fear filled eyes while Sparkling merely looked at him pleadingly.

“I’m not going to banish or punish you Reflection, even though you acted rashly and childishly.” the Changeling appeared ashamed. “I realize that what the Princess said was incredibly insulting to you, and as a result I have banished her from the Empire. I do however want you to understand that attacking people because they insult you, especially if they’re a ruler of a different country, is not going to continue.”

“I understand Sir, I’m… I’m sorry, I just hate being judged constantly”

“You shouldn’t care about what some stuck-up ponies think, look beside you.” Reflection turned to face Sparkling “You have friends here who care about you, you and every changeling are welcome here, nothing will change that, and I hope you do not disappoint me again.” Reflection merely nodded “I’ll try harder Sir.”

“Good” Doflamingo responded “Now I have to visit the Hospital to see that Changeling that was attacked, you can both come if you want to” He then walked out of the door without waiting for an answer, Reflection and Sparkling getting up and following him.

_______________________________________________________________________

Muddle was lying in the hospital bed, a white sheet covering his battered body. The doctors, while no experts on changeling biology said that he suffered no major damage, his wounds seemingly limited to his external body. The news that his injuries weren’t life-threatening was welcomed, but Muddle still received spikes of pain whenever he tried to move, a large amount of green bruises covering the broken body of the changeling.

“Please nurse, I promise I won’t disturb him too much.” Muddle raised his head as the sound of a mare’s voice filtered in through the door “I’m just worried about him.”

“Okay, but you can only stay for a little while.” another voice replied. “He needs rest in order to get better, the attack was quite brutal.”

The door to the room opened and Muddle was pleasantly surprised  to see who entered. Vibrant Opel rushed over towards him and carefully embraced him in a hug, the mare ensuring that she avoided the bruises on his body. Muddle blushed hard as she looked at him with her golden eyes, concern filling them as she gazed at his condition.

“Does it still hurt a lot Muddle? The nurse said that the doctors gave you something for the pain.”

“It only hurts when I try to move Vibrant.” Muddle answered, the mare letting him go and sitting down on a stool beside the bed. “The doctors said that I have to stay here or at least another two days.”

“I’ll stay here with you.” Vibrant responded “The nurse said that you need rest, but I think you need someone to talk to, you must be so bored lying here all day.”

“it is boring, but don’t you have to look after your store?”

Vibrant shook her head, Muddle’s eyes watching her teal mane as it flowed through the air.

“I can close for a few days, it won’t matter too much, besides” Vibrant’s cheeks turned red, the mare leaning forwards towards the bed-ridden changeling “you're much more important to me right now.”

‘Is she really going to kiss me!?’ thought Muddle as the mare moved closer. He leaned his head forward towards her approaching muzzle, his blue orbs staring into the golden rings of her eyes. Just as they were about to touch lips Muddle began to close his eyes, waiting to make sweet contact wit-

“Greetings subject! I have arrived to offer my sympathies…” The two occupants of the room broke apart, the changeling and the Crystal mare whirling around to face the door, The Emperor standing in the doorway hunched over due to his height

“Oh, well, well, I'm sorry for the interruption, I’ll just come back another time.” the Emperor stated as he realized what he had just walked in on, chuckling at the pairs' embarrassment.

"Carry on, I was never here."

The embarrassed pair watched as the human left the room, closing the door behind him.

___________________________________________________________________________

“What happened in there Doflamingo?” Sparkling asked as the group of three walked out of the hospital, numerous Crystal ponies waving at them as they past.

“Nothing Sparkling, it was just a bad time for me to visit, that's all.” Doflamingo stated, walking towards the main market area. “Let’s just forget about it and go and do something else, it’s almost evening time and I heard that the market really gets going at this time of day."

Sparkling decided to drop the issues, Doflamingo obviously not wanting to talk about it. She looked to Reflection, the changeling giving her a shrug, evidently just as confused. The two quadrupeds followed the Emperor, the ruler merrily strolling through the crowd of ponies ahead, smiling widely at the looks of admiration he was receiving.

____________________________________________________________________________

“This is a very delicious cake my subject.” Doflamingo took another spoonful of the dessert into his mouth, the mare running the cake stall blushing at his wording and praise

“Th-thank you Emperor, it’s a family recipe.”

“Really? Than it is certainly worthy of praise for anyone to create something so delicious.” another spoonful disappeared “If you are interested in working at the palace as another chef under my employ than I would be far from disappointed.”

This only caused the mare to blush more, prompting Sparkling to sigh in exasperation. She looked over towards Reflection and was surprised when she caught the changeling glaring at the mare, the baker not noticing as she was too caught up in giggling at the Emperor’s comments.

“Perhaps we should move on Sir, it is getting fairly late and you still have evening court to attend.” Sparkling attempted to diffuse the potential situation, knowing that Reflection was fairly rash when she got angry. Sparkling just couldn’t work out why she was acting this way, maybe changelings didn’t like cake?

“You’re probably right Sparkling.” Doflamingo said, having finished his slice of cake. “Let’s get a move on.” He began to walk back towards the palace. “Goodbye Bright Frosting, I’ll be sure to visit your bakery in the future.” he concluded as he walked away.

“You can sample my goods anytime!” the yellow mare yelled back.

“fufufu” stated Doflamingo as he continued walking, Sparkling snickering at the exchange while Reflection was staring at her front hooves with a scowl on her face.

“I didn't know she was that desperate for customers.” the trio laughed at the little adult joke, Sparkling giggling loudly while Reflection smiled a little at the joke. Doflamingo's mood was jovial as he contemplated on what other things he needed to do while waiting for the Equestrian's response.