This blue pegasus was fast, Shining was more than willing to admit that but it seemed her malnourishment hindered her abilities, especially her reaction time. It looked like Garble’s priorities weren’t any different from when Shining was a colt. Shining had some sort of need to prove himself when he was younger, becoming a gladiator had been his choice. Most went out to retire after five or six years of official fights in Arena, they became one of Spike’s elite gladiators when they passed the threshold of a thousand battles, this was Shining fourteen hundredth match. After this last match, he was going to call it quits in the arena, barring some very special circumstances. With Spike after you cleared seventy official matches, you were free to retire from the stadium, if you were a gladiator you were not allowed to retire from his arena before that mark was met.

Back when he was younger Shining found himself fighting dozens of matches a week, then six or seven years ago he found himself only competing in a few matches after almost half a year of inactivity on his part. Yes, the elite gladiators didn’t see matches as often as the lower ranking gladiators, but before that point at least he got two or three matches in every month. He had been referred to as the “Rising Star of the Magi” almost as soon as he made it into Spike’s elite unicorn gladiators, and no one had bothered to change the title. Shining was fine with all that, but it was a bit embarrassing to still be called that sort of thing when he had been the de facto leader, of sorts, of the Magi for almost half his time within them.

This blue pegasus mare was definitely intent on drawing the match out, Shining wasn’t sure if she knew about the agreement but if she did that meant she was intent on making her opponent work for it. That suited Shining just fine, he had no respect for combatants that had no intention of putting on a show. But he couldn’t make the fight last too long, the paralysis spell he used only had a five-minute time limit before dissipating, and it had already been two minutes since he fired the first of the three. And while firing off other spells his shield lost power and faded out due to lack of focus on it, he couldn’t do a trick like that again because it had relied upon a surprise that likely wouldn’t come again.

Shining decided to take a noticeable risk, this maneuver would leave him a bit drained but would be worth it if he managed to score so much as a glancing hit. Shining started charging the spell, it would take some time to build up properly.

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Rainbow dropped the ground, her ability to stay airborne was fading, best to keep her wings in reserve when she needed to make quick evasive actions. The white unicorn seemed to be prepping a big spell; he seemed to be counting on her apprehension to win it for him. She didn’t know how long the paralysis induced by his spell would wear off, but from the act of him trying to do something big, it probably meant it would be fading out any moment now. This was her chance at getting in close and scoring, assuming he wasn’t anticipating such a play.

Rainbow screwed up her courage and made a dash for it; almost all her energy was being put into this. She wasn’t flying, but she was using her wings to give the run a massive boost. This play was her lost shot; she wanted to at least be able to say she gave it her all. She held her ax close, blade facing outward, if she extended any arms, especially the one with a combat tool, outward too soon it would cause unnecessary drag.

This was her last shot score any kind of blow, there was no way she was going to pass it up. Her future was riding on the outcome, and even though the preferable outcome came at a loss she would never forgive herself for the happenings if she didn’t do anything to make some sort of show at earning it. Rainbow had fought a few unicorns, but none that anyone would rightfully call an elite in the arena before now.

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Shining smiled at the sight of the cyan pegasus mare running at him faster than she probably should have been able to, she was probably using her wings to add a little extra thrust to her movement, clever. But this actually was playing into his plan; the build-up was actually a combination of spells that he was going to fire off simultaneously, it was more effective at closer distances than at range. Just when his opponent would be at range to properly ready an attack at the speeds she was going without noticeable issue, Shining would be releasing his spell; it was time to end this match.

Shining wanted to end the match quickly as possible, and his final adversary was making sure he finished it all in style. He would have to thank her after this, assuming she was willing to accept his gratitude. Shining always did have a thing for pegasus mares, but he always liked to make sure they were will to have intercourse with him. He had lucked out with Cadance, she had been a special gift from Spike for his earning the position of Head Magi, shortly after sharing the same complex with Cadance he started to learn just how much of a kinky mare she was. Of course, shortly after that, he started bringing Spitfire and a few other pegasus mares home with him for a night or short visit only find them moving in with him a few days later. Something told him this pegasus probably wasn’t going to join his little herd.

Just when the blue pegasus mare was at twenty feet from him, the distance she started bringing her weapon out for a swing, Shining unleashed his combo spell. The spell was a combo of a magic force blast, magic chain, Shadow, and binding spell. The spells all together created a minor amalgam effect. In addition to pushing the target back and thoroughly binding all their limbs, the combo also disabled the target’s magical abilities for a few seconds and had a paralyzing effect on the target. His opponent couldn’t move even if she wanted to, the match was ended.

Shining was visibly exhausted after that stunt, if the match had gone on any longer after that he would have bit it hard. The effects of that combo weren't known for having lasting effects, but you needed short spell durations in the arena anyway. No doubt, if Twilight was watching she would come and pester him about the combo after the match, maybe come back to him a few days later with what she thought would improve the efficiency of the maneuver.

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“You always lose your matches against me because of a lack of foresight and failure to give your gladiators proper care,” said Spike nonchalantly, “those combatants you sent in are mine now, along with the towns and cities they hail from.”

“Just wait until the next match,” grumbled Garble.

“Which reminds me,” said Spike, he turned to Chrysalis and said, “turn on the stadium-wide audio system, I have a few announcements to make.” Chrysalis nodded and left the room, a minute later a 1950s style microphone rose out of the ground, “To all the spectators, no matter what demographic you are, I have a few things to say.” Garble didn’t like where this seemed to be going, “we, the dragons, enjoy a position as the rightful rulers of our dominions and territories, and what we do in those territories is our business. That said, I am now establishing new policies that are non-negotiable, any found in violation of these policies will be forced into compliance by the scepter, but I only see that as a last resort. Item one, all collared individuals are to treated in such a way they are considered healthy for their species, to this end I will have specialists that answer only to the organization that reviews health standards that I am establishing and will be out in effect in the next year or so, the sight of malnourished ponies, like those brought before my champion today are a sign of a need to hold ourselves to higher standards. Item two, from this moment forward, any standing Dragonlord can only be challenged three times a century. Garble, due to his poor habits has already exceeded this mandate. Any found in violation of these policies, regardless of when they were stated or enacted will be held accountable and suitably punished. Since these are new policies, I’m willing to let things slide for the past five decades or so. Sadly, Garble has made it a habit to challenge me at least once a decade, since he is still very much in a state of infraction on the second policy, I will personally issue his punishment.”

When Spike turned his attention to Garble, he just got a mean look for a moment before Garble said, “I doubt any punishment you can enact will have lasting effects on me for more than a few decades, at most.

“Garble, aside from your primary city and its neighboring breeding community, you are stripped of all your territory for the crime of repeated failed assault on the Dragonlord. What is left of your former territory will be parceled out to the dragons who either wish to claim it for themselves or will be immediately handed it if it is found to be bordering their territory.”

Garble gulped, even though Dragonlords the power do such a thing, very few actually did. No dragon could recall the last time a Dragonlord had done so, the next few weeks would not be fun, especially since he couldn’t reclaim the territory for a minimum of three months, by which point all his former territory would be under the command of who knows how many dragons. He also didn’t like this mandated caring for pets and slaves, what one did in their territory was their problem and no one else's.

What Spike did was unprecedented, no Dragonlord had ever set a limit on how many times they could be challenged before, but no Dragonlord had caused as many changes to the status quo as Spike had before. Dragonlords usually ruled with power and overbearing authority that was reinforced by said power, Spike ruled by means less overt but still showed how much he could flex the power of his authority when needed.

Author's Note

Next chapter we see Spike setting up the former combatants, the chapter after that we get a tour of some of the new territory he’s acquired (including this universe’s version of Cloudsdale”