Nigel roughly dragged the Diamond dog towards the dining room table as the five guards that had followed him gathered around, the Sergeant standing beside the Emperor as the human hosted the dog up and onto the table. The table’s size was more than able to hold the canine, Nigel able to lay the dog spread-eagled on its back without issue. A kitchen worker walked into the room with a tray laden with peelers and knives of all different shapes and sizes balanced on his teal-coated back. The young stallion cautiously avoided the diamond dog on the table and made a beeline towards the Emperor.

The Stallion halted and removed the tray with a hoof, presenting the assorted utensils to his ruler. The head chef had not told him exactly what the Emperor had planned but judging from the invading creature lying on the table surrounded by bloodstained guards he could take a guess. He decided it would be for the best if he just delivered the tray and left.

“Thank you,” Emperor Chalmers acknowledged calmly as he took the offered tray from the Stallion. He placed the tray on a side table well out of the reach of the prisoner, smiling down at the nervous young pony. “Don’t be so nervous, may I ask your name?”

The kitchen hand was confused by the question, the stallion clearing his throat as he prepared to answer the most powerful being in the entire Empire. A powerful, easy-to-anger being who was currently inspecting a large potato peeler while occasionally shooting the captured creature lying on the table evil grins.

“My name is Swiss Platter, Lord. Forgive me for asking but why did you ask for my name instead of ordering me to tell you?” the pony asked as the human finally put down the bladed instrument. The Emperor chuckled at the pony’s question as he smiled down at the stallion. Swiss attempted to ignore the gore covering the Emperor’s armour, the fact that the human was still smiling despite the circumstances was unsettling.

“I get to do enough ordering around as it is, no need to make you feel uncomfortable,” the Emperor responded as he tilted his head towards the captive dog, the five guards interpreting the gesture as a prompt to hold the prisoner down. Emperor Chalmers started to walk towards the door leading to the kitchen, beckoning for Swiss to follow him. The pony took one last look at the mass of guards surrounding the table before he followed his ruler towards the wooden door. The pair stopped, Chalmers opening the door as he ushered Swiss out.

“I doubt you want to stay and see this, please let the cleaners now that I’m terribly sorry for the mess.” With those words the Emperor closed the door leaving Swiss standing in the corridor pointing to the kitchen, the stallion taking the advice as he made his way to the maids’ area to warn them of the impending carnage that would be waiting for them.

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Scuffles groaned as he regained awareness, his head really hurting him bad. He had been running away from that shouting gem pony guard with his pony prisoner when something big had tackled him out of nowhere. The last thing he remembered seeing was a very solid wall. The dog attempted to move, finding that his arms and legs seemed to not want to move even though he was trying his hardest.

“He’s waking up Emperor!” Scuffles opened his eyes as the female voice rang out, the sounds of heavy footfalls echoing around the room gradually getting louder. He was surrounded by pony guards, the ponies all staring hatefully at him as they each held down one of his paws. The mare that had spoken was holding his head between her front hooves, Scuffles unable to turn away.

“Goody,” a voice replied, a large shiny-metal armoured creature that looked like an ugly diamond dog without any hair moved into Scuffle’s restricted field of view. Its hairless face had no snout, just a mushed nose, beady ice-blue eyes and a wicked grin. “Looks like we can begin the questions, make sure to hold him down.”

“What you doing?” questioned Scuffles, his eyes darting around in worry. Something bad was going to happen and the way the hairless creature’s smile grew as it picked up some kind of shiny blade only frightened him more.

“For one, listening to some idiot speak in broken sentences while I prepare to torture him.” Well, Scuffles now knew for sure that bad things were going to happen. The creature ran an armoured finger across the shiny blade, the gesture pointless but it did convey certain maliciousness. Scuffles began to shake as the biped strolled back and forth as the creature waved the blade in the air. “You see you insufferable canine, it’s like this. I’m the current ruler of this fair city and you as well as your buddies have really pissed me off.”

The creature flicked out the strange blade towards Scuffle’s left leg, drawing it down quickly and sharply. The Diamond dog screamed as a strip of skin was removed, a spray of blood arcing into the air. The ponies holding the prisoner down remained stoic in the face of such violence, the Emperor shaking his kitchen peeler to get rid of the blood and strap of skin as Scuffles whimpered. “That there was for attacking my Empire,” the creature continued, “I’m just getting started.”

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Reflection and Sparkling Scroll shuddered as another yell of pain rang out from the dining room, one of many. It seemed that hours had dragged on; however it had only been five minutes since the screaming had started. The two advisors sat together with their backs pointed towards the dining room door, guards wielding multiple weapons filing into the throne room in ragged groups. All of the guards were displaying signs of battle whether it be in the form of damage to their armour, the blood of their enemies or even minor wounds that some were sporting. The Throne room was unusually silent despite the many ponies all occupying it, all of the soldiers awaiting the order to leave and strike back against the dogs that had invaded their city.

The screaming stopped abruptly, silence descending throughout the entire palace. Reflection and Sparkling turned to stare at the closed doors, all of the soldiers shuffling around as they jostled for a position to view the imminent appearance of their Emperor and Commander. Their weapons still were dirty with blood, the guards not bothering to clean them as they knew that the halberds and swords would soon see more use.

Captain Strategy moved to the front of the pack, his rank allowing him to move through the eager soldiers as his subordinates stared at their Captain or rather at the light-purple mare that was following him. The civilian kept on glancing around at all of the surrounding guards and their weapons, shuddering as she remembered walking back through all of the bodies of the dog monsters as she followed the guard captain back to the palace.

Strategy stopped and turned around, facing the stares of his guards as the mare who had introduced herself as Bright Blossom moved beside him. He shifted uncomfortably on the spot, the mare had interpreted the Emperor’s orders to mean that she should not stray more than a few metres away from the Captain.

The Captain was about to attempt to explain why he had a blood-covered mare essentially attached to him but before he could the door behind him burst open behind him, a satisfied Emperor striding into the room followed by one guard Sergeant. Strategy noted the fresh bloodstains covering the human as well as the tufts of grey hair that covered his steel armour. The soldiers all forgot about the civilian in their midst, awaiting with baited breath the news from the Emperor. Chalmers took a moment to scan the eager faces of his soldiers before removing his mace from its holder.

“Soldiers of the Crystal Empire,” the Emperor started, “we have successfully managed to peel away the cover of doubt and discovered the location of the Diamond dogs’ lair. In a few moments I will lead a group of you to retrieve those that were taken from us and punish their abductors.” A chorus of approvals rang out; the gathered guards all preparing their weapons. “Hold on,” the guards all stopped as the Emperor raised his voice and a hand.

“While your enthusiasm makes me incredibly proud, not everyone can go. At this time the majority of the citizens will be incredibly frightened and worried. While it may not seem glorious going from door to door you will have a great impact on easing their concerns, any volunteers?” A few guards raised their hooves, Chalmers nodding at them while gesturing for them to move to one side of the room.

“Thank you, I’d recommend attempting to clean off any blood before you leave. Next up is those that have been wounded. No matter how minor your injury may be anyone that has been hurt needs to stay behind,” a few ponies and a changeling stepped forward, all of them sporting minor cuts or bruises. The changeling in particular had a bleeding gash across her face, the result of a diamond dog clawing her during the earlier fight.

“Commander, please let us help you!” the changeling pleaded, the other injured guards nodding in agreement. “We are all able to continue to fight and we need to rescue the ones who were taken, this is what we all trained for!” Chalmers smiled at the changeling’s insistence, the fact that his guards all had performed excellently under such great pressure and were willing to push on despite their weariness and wounds filled him with pride.

“I can’t find the words to express how much that means to me, soldier,” the Emperor responded, all of the guards in the room voicing their agreement as they looked towards the group of injured guards. “However I am regretful that I cannot allow you to participate in the assault,” the injured guards deflated at the reply, “while I am proud that you are willing to ignore your wounds I will not risk your lives. You are all still bleeding and while you might be able to walk and fight now the Dogs’ lair is a decent distance away. Infection is one of the biggest threats to wounded soldiers in every battle, as such I order you to seek medical attention no matter how well you believe yourselves to be.”

The injured guards looked like they were about to complain, the changeling in particular opening her mouth and raising a hoof before she thought better and lowered it. The group of soldiers all turned and headed outside towards the hospital solemnly, all of them receiving words and pats of encouragement from their fellows which lifted some of the disappointment.

Nigel felt a little sorry for the rejected guards but he did it for their own good. He counted around thirty guards left, the group assigned to go from door-to-door already having left to fulfill their duties. The remaining guards all had their weapons and equipment ready, the mares and stallions awaiting the order from their Commander to embark.

“The lair of the invaders is a few hours travel from here towards the west. They occupy a system of caves that apparently sit upon a rich deposit of gems. Our helpful source was very willing to explain that there is only one entrance and roughly one-hundred-and-fifty dogs make up the pack. About two-thirds of them have been killed in the attack on the city so any assault we make should result in a clear victory.

We’ll split into three groups, ten of you guard the entrance of the caves to ensure none escape, twenty are tasked with retrieving all of the civilians and I’ll deal with any dogs that attempt to stop the rescue. After all of the civilians have been saved the twenty of you assigned to that task will escort them towards the group waiting topside before assisting me in eliminating any dogs that remain. We cannot allow this pack of savages to harass our Empire again.” The Emperor looked to his Captain, Strategy standing to the side of the room with the purple mare from before.

“Captain,” Chalmers addressed, “I’m leaving you and Sparkling Scroll in charge while I’m gone, I trust you two will make every effort to assist the citizenry with recovering from the attack.”

“Yes Emperor, I’ll get to it right away. However I must ask what you wish for me to do with Miss Bright Blossom here?” Strategy responded, the mentioned mare nervously looking at the Emperor. Chalmers waved a dismissive hand.

“She can stay in the palace until all of the fuss is over,” Chalmers faced the assembled guards, “as for you; assemble at the western road just before the boundary of the protective barrier. I have something I must deal with here and then we can depart.” The soldiers all snapped off quick salutes before they moved out of the room, heading towards the designated muster point. Chalmers looked around the room once the guards had all left, spotting Sparkling and Reflection sitting down towards the side. The human moved towards them, Sparkling Scroll getting up and meeting him halfway.

“You want me to run the Empire with Captain Strategy while you’re gone?” the mare asked, glancing towards the guard captain who was attempting to convince the mare following him to go and do something else.

“You’ll do fine,” Nigel reassured, Sparkling giving him a small smile before she trotted over towards the Captain. Chalmers refocused his attention on the changeling sitting down against the wall, Reflection staring down at the floor. “Reflection?” he inquired as he approached her, the changeling lifting her head to look up at him.

“I’m fine,” she replied heavily, “I just fell a little useless I guess, I don’t really know how to rule and I’m not that experienced with combat so there’s not a lot I can do.”

“I’m sure you’ll find something,” Nigel replied as he crouched down in front of the sitting changeling, an impressive feat considering his armour. “I was too caught up with the Diamond Dog before but I really appreciate you staying with the Equestrians while I rushed off. Thinking back about it I was incredibly foolish leaving you by yourself with them, especially with how they don’t like changelings. The fact that you managed to not only convince them to keep the deal but also refrained from hitting that snobby prince I saw you glaring at before is a great result.”

Reflection smiled at Nigel, the human returning it with one of his own. His words really made her feel better; she really had done a lot for the Empire that day. Chalmers was right, she almost lost control a couple times when the Equestrians had said or done something stupid but she had refrained from violence. While Reflection was still worried about what she had learnt about his taste for bloodshed earlier she got the over-whelming feeling that he really was genuinely nice to her. As the changeling looked at his smiling face she felt a twinge in her heart, Nigel’s chaotic nature was something that she felt drawn to.

“You better get going,” Reflection told him, “the sooner you bring back everyone the sooner we can go on a date. You must owe me several by now.” Nigel chuckled at the changeling’s demand, standing up as he prepared to leave.

“You really know how to guilt trip me, never thought I’d see the day that I’d take an order from a small, cuddly changeling. You’re making me soft.”

“Making you soft is the opposite of what I want to do,” Reflection teased, Sparkling Scroll rolling her eyes as she overheard this from the other side of the room. The changeling got the response she was after, Chalmers winking at her as he started to walk out the door.

“Maybe you’ll get your wish later, right now I’ve got a few Diamond Dogs I’ve got to impale and not in the good way. Would you do me a favor and help out Sparkling with the whole ruling thing? You two seem to make quite the team.” With a final wave the human left the room, Reflection grinning to herself after their exchange. Nigel finally seemed to be warming up to her and the changeling was really enjoying the constant back and forth that they always seemed to have.

Her mood lifted, the changeling decided to be proactive and investigate the new mare that had appeared with Captain Strategy. Reflection prepared a mental list of all of the things she could imply regarding the Captain’s new companion, if she had to stay here and wait in the palace for the Emperor’s return then she may as well have fun in the meantime.

________________________________________________________________________________________________

“Is everyone ready to move out?”

Nigel questioned the gathered troops standing before the barrier leading out into the snowy wasteland that surrounded the Empire. All of the ponies and one changeling voiced confirmation, packs filled with supplies and equipment loaded upon their backs. The pony guards’ armour regulated their body temperatures while the changeling had to make do with some ordinary winter clothing worn under his new steel armour.

Nigel took a second to admire the changeling’s worn protection, the armour fitting the insectoid equine perfectly covering almost its entire body with strong steel. The Changeling’s solid blue eyes, twisted horn and fang-filled mouth were the only parts of the head not covered by the sturdy helmet that was rather plain except for a small highlight of gold around the base of the black horn. The main piece of armour that shielded the changeling’s body was undecorated, built for effectiveness rather than appearance. The polished steel was only broken up rank markings on the shoulders, this particular changeling holding the rank of private.

“Let’s get going, I’ll take the lead,” Nigel ordered as he walked to the head of the column of guards. His two weapons were stored securely on his armour and he was still helmetless, deciding that his crown would suffice. The group moved out through the barrier, sunny green fields and cobbled paths giving way to a cold snowy landscape. Nigel was thankful that no snow was falling for two reasons, those being that visibility was not an issue and the mass of paw prints in the snow were as clear as day.

The tracks were jumbled, hiding just how many dogs there were but the destination was clear. A medium-sized mountain loomed in the horizon, the tracks heading straight towards it. This confirmed the information Nigel had extracted from the now-dead Diamond dog prisoner, the fleeing Dogs not taking any measures to throw off any pursuers. The Emperor looked over his shoulder as he continued moving, his mass of guards following behind him closely as they too observed the paw prints. Chalmers breathed some air on the tip of his nose, the cold starting to irritate it. While he could live with it he wondered how the subjects they were going to retrieve would cope with the cold, the guards having packed extra winter clothing and blankets for such concerns.

Nigel ceased his thought on whether they had packed enough, a relaxed expression on his face as he continued to march forward.

‘After all, if we need any more I’m sure the Diamond Dogs would be more than happy to donate some fur. The dead have no need for such comforts.’