Nigel awoke to the sound of heavy breathing, a large object resting upon the side of his crumpled uniform. He wiped his face with a white-gloved hand, the beads of sweat that had gathered during the night clearing away. Nigel sighed, once again he was dreaming, most likely caused by all of the emotional stress from the night before. Hopefully this would fade away in the next few days, Nigel doubted this planet had drugs strong enough to block out the memories.

He looked at the source of the deep breathing, Reflection deep asleep. The changeling had her top half splayed over Nigel’s chest, her front hooves digging into the blue fabric of his suit. Her back end was lying on the bed side-ways, a hind leg twitching occasionally like a dog as she dreamed. Nigel 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, Nigel recalling that Reflection had fallen asleep while in his arms, himself slumbering soon after. He attempted to move from under the changeling without waking her, morning court would begin in about two hours and he hoped to have a chance to patch things up with Sparkling over breakfast. His efforts to escape proved to be futile however, Reflection tightening her grip as she felt him move away. While Nigel 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 was hoping to try to fix things with Sparkling at breakfast. Then morning court is on after that, I have to observe the creation of some new armour, 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. Nigel gave let out a sigh at her question as he got off the bed, make 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.”

“I guess that’s a good point,” the Changeling conceded as she also left the bed, moving towards the bathroom. “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” Nigel replied as he left her embrace and walked out the door, trying not to focus on the uncomfortable conversation he was planning to have.

_______________________________________________________________________________________

Sparkling munched on her slice of toast as she sat at the dining room table, a frown on her face. She was still bothered by last night, the tense atmosphere and Nigel’s actions doing a number on her stress levels. The berry jam coating her breakfast did nothing to sweeten the bitter feelings she had for the Emperor. Sparkling had trusted him to do the right thing, couldn’t he see that Reflection was crazy about him and to just brush her off like that was cold.

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. Nigel had always seemed so caring and nice but after witnessing him emotional wreck Reflection like that caused Sparkling to re-think her opinion of him.

Sparkling would call Reflection a close friend, the two mares having bonded during their time spent as advisors. She briefly considered heading up to the changeling’s room to attempt to comfort her again, Sparkling dismissing the thought after a few seconds of thinking. Reflection would likely want to be left alone for a while to come to her senses. While she felt concerned about her friend, Sparkling reasoned that at this time there was little she could do, the mare leaning down to take another bite of toast.

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Nigel 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 glared at him, clearly not pleased with his presence.

“Good Morning Emperor,” Sparkling greeted him tersely. Nigel sighed and sat down with his plate, Sparkling beginning to get up from the table as he sat down. For some reason this pissed Nigel off immensely, his temper flaring as he snapped.

“Very mature Sparkling, bravo.”

The mare froze as if he had physically struck her, Sparkling sitting back down at the table as she fixed him with a venomous look.
“Like you can talk about mature!” she yelled at him, “All Reflection did was pour her heart out to you and you went and crushed it! For an Emperor that claims that he cares about his subjects you sure seem able to just treat them like they’re nothing!”

Nigel clenched his fists under the table in an attempt to dissipate his anger, now was not the right time for his temper to boil over. He took a deep breath as he countered Sparkling’s glare with an un-yielding gaze, his face giving away no emotion.

“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.” Nigel leaned in further towards Sparkling, the mare’s mean look having lessened as Nigel had explained his reasons.

“I’d explained this and much more to Reflection herself last night,” Nigel continued, “we had a long conversation and we came to an agreement after looking at all of the information. We would both like to put this ugly occurrence behind us and move on, I would like it if you could do the same.” Nigel 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.

“What do you mean ‘we came to an agreement’?” she questioned with a confused look on her face, her foul mood receding. The answer came in the form of a joyful changeling bouncing into the room, Reflection spotting Nigel sitting down opposite Sparkling. Nigel 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 Nigel’s face, her damp-moss mane covering the human’s head with moisture.

“Wha-what?” Sparkling questioned, utterly lost regarding Reflection’s 180 mood swing. Sparkling looked at the Emperor and changeling taking note of Nigel’s ruffled cloths, Reflection’s blissful attitude and the fact how the changeling was suddenly displaying affection openly in public. An idea pushed its way to the front of her mind, a fairly uncomfortable image of how Nigel had cheered the changeling up.

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

“What do you me…” Nigel’s eyes widened as he figured out what Sparkling was alluding to, the human waving his hands in front of him while Reflection stared at Sparkling with a puzzled expression.

“No, nothing like that at all,” Nigel quickly answered, “we talked, Reflection hugged me and then we fell asleep. That’s all that happened, end of discussion!” Nigel picked up Reflection with his hands, the biped somehow holding up the blushing changeling in the air as he stood up.

“I’ve got no more time for feelings; 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 ran out of the door towards the throne room, leaving two very surprised mares behind.

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Emperor Chalmers 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 Nigel, 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 Nigel’s feet like a cat. The nobles that had attended morning court had all wished the pair well, Nigel 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 Nigel’s displeasure.

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 Nigel as being sixteen to nineteen years of age. The three ponies and changeling bowed before the Emperor, Nigel waving a dismissive hand at them.

“Please, don’t worry about the formalities,” Nigel 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 Nigel. 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 linage. My wife, Gentle Heart,” the pearl-white mare nodded her head towards Nigel “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?”
Nigel 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, Nigel chuckling at her reaction.

“That’s what it sounds like to me,” Nigel 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 Nigel and Reflection, the group of four exiting from the room talking lively amongst each other.

“Well, that went better than I expected” Nigel 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 Nigel,” Reflection stated as she got up from her spot. Both Nigel 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.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________

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!”