A Princess A pissed of Dragonlord and A demon lawyer

“See what your mistake has caused?” Luna asked a rather exasperated Twilight. “Now we not only have to to deal with undoing a law that, frankly, I’m astonished got passed without me or Celestia signing it, but now Redsopine is involved,” she ended with a grimace.

“Love you too, Moonie,” he sang.

“Shut up!”

“Who even is he, Princess?” Twilight asked, raising an eyebrow at him and wincing at the glare he shot back.

“A ‘lawyer’ in the most technical sense.”

“Which is always the best kind of sense.”

“One of the most infuriating ones at that,” Luna continued, ignoring Red’s snark. “He makes it a habit to humiliate everyone he can every time he so much as enters a courtroom, especially my sister and I.”

Smolder sank in her chair.

“Don’t forget the nobility, news reporters, Royal Guard, Wonderbolts—” A cloud of midnight blue light surrounded Red’s head, muting him to the relief of everycreature present. Except Smolder who merely sank in her chair further, feeling sick again.

“And every time he does,” Luna continued, apathetic to Red flipping her off. “It’s a coin-flip whether the judge has enough sense to kick him outbefore he can incite a riot.”

“What…?” Twilight muttered, completely confused. “You aren’t serious, are you?”

“As serious as you were when you made saying words illegal,” Luna said, causing Twilight to blush and look away. “If my sister is to be believed, before I returned from the moon, Red managed to both start and end a war in the same day.”

A quick flourish of Umbra’s magic was enough for Red to escape Luna’s magic, and he immediately took the chance to say, “Yeah, that was a fun case. Had a good laugh with that one, heh-heh.”

“I’m going to die,” Smolder suddenly whimpered, letting her head smack into the table. “I’m going. To die.”

“No, you won’t; Mayor Mare didn’t make swearing punishable by execution,” Twilight clarified, hoping it would help.

It didn’t; it just earned her the unamused glares of everycreature in the room; even the guards behind her gawked at her in disbelief.

“Anyway,” Luna resumed, stepping forward and placing a comforting hoof on Smolder’s shoulder. “Miss Smolder, I’m terribly sorry this happened to you. It is an absolutely abhorrent abuse of power, and we will not stand for it.”

“Of course not,” Red muttered, crossing his arms. “Wouldn’t want to give me another chance mock you and your sister, right, Moonie?”

“I vehemently refuse to allow Smolder to suffer because a corrupt politician wasn’t emotionally mature enough to tolerate a few words of criticism,” Luna corrected bluntly. “This upcoming trial—if you can even call it that—is nothing shy of a sham and a gross destruction of our laws and everything the stand for. You may not think highly of me, Redsopine,” she continued. “But do understand that I will not stand for anyone to be harmed because of foolish creatures with too much power, let alone a child.”

“That because you were…” Red reflexively began only to stop halfway. He smirked and said, “Nah, I get it, Luna. I get it.” Luna smiled, but not wanting that to last long, Red added, “Still though, Moonie, if you think you’re going to take over the case, you’ve got another thing coming. You know how much my team and I value freedom, especially that of speech and choice.”

Ignis and Gelu shared a glance.

“And I’m sure you know this law will actively take those freedoms away,” Luna countered. Before Red could resume, she added, “And worse: Set a precedent for further corruption of the law.”

“Wait, it will?” Twilight asked, dumbfounded. “How?”

“Sure, it’s just a few swear words now,” Red began, not taking his eyes off of Luna.

She continued to meet his gaze as well, adding, “But if this faux trial rules in Mayor Mare’s favor, it will be called upon in further, similarly corrupt court cases.”

“And then practically every politician or business or what have you will be clamoring for the courts to prohibit any other words or phrases they don’t particularly like.”

“Until it will be completely and utterly illegal to criticize them at all, regardless of how horrid they may be.”

“All it needs is time and enough creatures willing or paid to let it happen,” Red grumbled, shooting a pointed look Twilight’s way.

“And then the very concept of freedom of speech will be a long-forgotten relic of a non-dystopian time,” Luna finished.

“…Oh,” Twilight chirped, ruffling her wings anxiously as her mane began frazzling. “I-I didn’t consider that.”

“We noticed,” Red deadpanned.

“I started the end of the world…?” Smolder mumbled, somehow paling even more than she had previously.

“Of course you didn’t, Miss Smolder,” Luna assuaged, lifting the dragon’s head up and giving her a gentle smile. “None of us are going to let any of this come to pass.”

“For as sarcastic as I can be, I ain’t playing around this time either,” Red said more to Luna than to Smolder. “No jokes. No messing around. We’re stopping this trial.”

“He says as such, but I’ve ten Bits he’ll start his defense with a cheap joke,” Ignis whispered into Gelu’s ear.

“You’re on,” she responded with a smirk.

Smolder rubbed her eyes, not even bother to hide she was wiping tears again, and stared at them all, confused. “Okay, I’ll bite. But here’s a question: How the fuck are you guys going to win and keep me out of jail!?”

Though she still flinched at Smolder’s cussing, Twilight answered, “Well, I fully intend to rescind my signature on Mayor Mare’s proposal, citing how I was deliberately uniformed of the proposal I was signing and wasn’t even allotted any time to properly look it over.”

“The public is going to be really happy knowing one of their Princesses signed something without even knowing what it was,” Red sneered.

“I know,” Twilight said, glancing at him. “But I don’t care what kind of humiliation I might face; I played a part in all of this happening, and I will make it right,” she vowed, not quite able to meet Smolder’s eye.

“Admirable of you,” Gelu complimented.

“Oh, uh? Thanks?” Twilight said, caught off-guard upon being addressed.

“You’re welcome. Now,” she continued. “Is anyone going to acknowledge that our little orange friend has diplomatic immunity or…?”

“You read my mind, Gelu,” Red said, sharing a smirk with the two dragons. “With this kid being sent to your school as a representative of the dragons, there’s a good argument we can make concerning her diplomatic status.”

“I do indeed recognize that, Redsopine,” Luna said, nodding. “However, Mayor Mare was unfortunately rather thorough in her wording. Her ‘law’ specifically excludes any form of exceptions to be allowed, so there is a substantial risk Smolder diplomat status will be ignored in the court.”

“Gee, Twilight, thanks so much for permitting a law that deliberately refused to acknowledge context,” Red deadpanned.

She gave a quiet cough but said no more.

“Moving on,” Red resumed, massaging a building headache. “Why exactlyhaven’t we arrested Mayor Mare and putting her on trial for attempting to pass a law that you yourself considered an abhorrent abuse of power?” he asked Luna.

“I question this as well,” Ignis spoke up. He gestured to Luna and Twilight, acknowledging, “You’ve both admitted this law should not be allowed, yet you are here, claiming we will prove Smolder’s innocence, rather than in a courtroom having the law annulled.”

“My sister is doing just that as we speak,” Luna explained. “And Mayor Mare is with her, arguing for the law to be upheld regardless.”

“Wonderful…” Red snarled. “And if Sunny fails?”

“We are to do exactly as we swore to do a moment prior,” Luna answered simply. “Defend Smolder.”

“Speaking of which,” Gelu spoke up. “Regarding her status as a diplomat, there’s another element to consider here. Lord Ember.”

“We informed her of the situation already,” Twilight revealed. “She didn’t send us a reply yet, but we expect it soon.”

Ignis harrumphed and said, “In that case, don’t be surprised if it’s a declaration of war she sends back.”

“Declaration of war!?” she yelped, shocked, her mane frazzling even more.

“That’s a rather extreme accusation to make, Mr. Ignis,” Luna commented. “That the Dragon Lord would declare war for—” She stopped talking and glanced at Smolder. “Er? Would declare war for something we can so easily remedy.”

“You don’t have to mix words with me, Princess,” Smolder said, still a little miffed regardless. “Even I don’t think Lord Ember cares enough about me to declare war over me.”

“Didn’t she already do that once before?” Red asked.

“How did you—” Twilight shoved a hoof into her mouth, but it was too late.

“Wait, what!? Ember did declare over me!?” Smolder squealed. “When!? Why!?”

“Remember when that Neighsay guy closed down the school, and you and your friends thought it was a good idea to camp out in the Everfree Forest?” Red said, earning a nod. “Yeah, needless to say, none of your guardians were particularly happy about their students disappearing on them.”

“Ohhh… Whoops.”

“With that said, there’s another, equally unfortunate, possibility,” Gelu said, examining her claws. “And that’s the other rulers pulling their students out of your school to avoid the same fate as Smolder is at risk of suffering.”

“And after all the effort you went to to unite all the kingdoms under the common banner of how friendship is magic and whatnot,” Ignis sneered, reaping a bit of pleasure in seeing Twilight’s horrified expression. “One little slip-up was all it took to send all those efforts crumbling down.”

…

Twilight fainted.

Luna leveled an annoyed glare at Red and his team, but he merely shrugged and responded, “Hey, she’s the one who screwed up here; we were just acknowledging it.”

“Do you guys really think Ember will declare war over me?” Smolder asked, letting out something between a laugh and a whimper. “Or that the other kingdoms would? You— You can’t be serious, guys; Grandpa Gruff doesn’t give two flying fucks about Gallus! H-He wouldn’t take Gallus away would he?” she said, definitely whimpering now. “Thorax and Novo wouldn’t… They wouldn’t make Ocellus and Silver…”

“So long as we can prevent this trial and undo this ‘law,’ you need not fear any of that, Miss Smolder,” Luna said, giving Smolder another warm smile. “Upon my honor as a Princess and my very life, I swear to you we will not allow any of this to pass.”

Smolder stared at Luna and swallowed anxiously. She then glanced at Red and his team, and they all gave her their own attempts at an encouraging smile. Smolder took a breath and let it out slowly, saying, “Alright, I-I guess. No wars, no prison? I’m going to get out of here and back to my friends?” she asked, her tailing swishing nervously.

“No war. No prison. You will get out of here and back to your friends,” Red promised, winking.

Suddenly, a thunderous roar echoed down to them through the building, followed swiftly by the sounds of various terrified screams.

“What was…?” Luna whispered, looking up at the ceiling. Another roar released, and a haggard Royal Guard quickly burst into the room, shouting, “Princess! Princess, the castle is under atta—”

He was cut off when the prison wall exploded, causing them all to flinch and cough as a thick cloud of dust was kicked up. Amid the chaos, Ignis and Gelu discreetly faded back into Red’s briefcase, not wanting to deal with the current situation whatsoever.

Once the dust clears, they all looked up to see Dragon Lord Ember silhouetted against the harsh rays of the afternoon sun, Bloodstone Scepter in claw and looking pissed beyond words. Behind her, her father Torch towered over the walls of the Royal Palace and a good three dozen dragons hovered in the air in formation around him.

One particular scarlet-scaled dragon darted out of said formation upon seeing Smolder with his own eyes.

“Where. Is. Twilight?” Ember said, narrowing her eyes even further.

“Okay, maybe a little bit of war…” Red muttered to himself. He then cleared his throat and approached Ember, greeting, “Hello, Lord Ember, pleasure to meet you. My name is Redsopine, and I’m Smolder’s—” He choked on the last word when Ember grabbed him by his suit and glared at him. She then breathed a cloud of smoke directly into his face, and he squawked outthe word, “Lawyer.”

“Smolder doesn’t need a lawyer,” Ember said without skipping a beat, tossing him aside and stepping further into the cell. Upon seeing her target passed out on the ground, she made to move forward, but Luna quickly stepped in her way.

“Lord Ember, I must request you halt.”

“Why, so you can throw me into one of your little prisons too!? Good luck with that!” she said, leveling her scepter at Luna.

The Royal Guards all rushed to Luna’s side, aiming their spears toward her, but Luna quickly lowered their weapons with her magic, hurriedly saying, “We’re not going to arrest you or Smolder; we know the ‘law’ Twilight signed is wrong, and we’re trying to undo the damage!”

“Like I believe that!”

“Ember, stop; it’s true!” Smolder declared, putting herself between Ember and Luna. “They’re trying to help me out here!”

“Yeah, so if you could hold on the war declarations a little longer, that’d be appreciated,” Red groaned, standing back up and brushing off his suit. “It’ll be a lot harder to keep her free if you declare war.”