“This is completely ridiculous, why did we agree to even entertain the idea of this event?” I ask Luna. Everyone was just talking in circles and shouting over each other for at least 2 hours and I could tell it was starting to weigh her down, so I suggested we take a walk. We’re currently a hundred or so feet away from the colosseum. Luna has a nifty little shield spell around us that also regulates temperature. Good thing too cause this all black night uniform in the desert sun is fucking brutal.

“....” Luna glances at me before returning her gaze down to the ground as we continue to walk.

“I mean seriously this is all because they believe your return to Equestria upsets the balance of the global powers. They weren’t impacted by anything you did, and I know they don’t really care. Why don’t we just go back an-”

“Ignis, stop. Just stop. Even if their true motivations are wrong, the suggestion is still valid. Hundreds of ponies died because of Us. Ponies in Equestria would be demanding the same thing if they didn’t revere Celestia so much. Condemning Us outright would mean she was “wrong” and they can’t imagine something like that. We, I, truly deserve this.” As she started talking she stopped moving forward and turned to face me.

Now it’s my turn for conflicted silence. I don’t know what to say to that. “....1000 years in complete isolation is punishment enough. If you want to make true amends then we should go back to Canterlot, find the record detailing every loss of life, and go door to door meeting with their descendants. That wasn’t even you! You were possessed!”

“All the corruption did was act out my inner desires while turning my emotions up to 11. It’d be like saying I’m innocent because I was drunk. I still remember everything, my entire time as Nightmare Moon. Let’s go back to the summit, I’ll confer with Tia and see what the maximum sentence could be.” She replies solemnly as she turns around and begins marching back.

“I’m not letting a trial happen.”

“It won’t be up to either of us, my paladin. Regardless of how their debate goes it will be voted on. All the leaders are trying to do is persuade the other leaders to vote in favor of their opinion. Although the only party that we are unsure of is the deer. The 3 nations that filed the complaint will almost surely vote in favor of the trial. Celestia will likely vote no, as will the Saddle Arabians and the Changelings. The deer will be the tie breakers.”

Hmmm, I might have an idea but I need more details, “What happens if the deer abstain and the vote is a tie?”

“Since they are a tiebreaker they cannot abstain, but if an even number of nations had attended then the nation that filed the initial complaint, Draconia, and the defendant, Equestria would agree to some form of competition, game, or contest to decide the tie break.” Luna answers.

“Understood. For what it’s worth, your sister was right.”

“Hm?”

“If Harmony judged you deserved death you wouldn’t have been sent to the moon. There would be no second chance. If Harmony thought you had not suffered enough it would not have cleansed you of corruption and returned your magic to you. The fact that you are here with all your magic and talking to me proves that you have done enough, in the eyes of Harmony, at least.”

“I cannot help how I feel, Ignis. Let’s just shelf this topic for a while, okay?”

“Fine, my liege.”

With a sigh from Luna at my response, we emerge from the entry archway back into the colosseum. As we approach the table we hear Queen Aurora call out, “King Silverwing of Griffonia, what is your vote?”

The griffon's voice is not at all what I expected, it sounds like the dude has been chain smoking 6 packs a day for 90 years. “Griffonia votes aye. Her victims deserve real justice.”

Oh fuck they’re already voting. How many have voted? Aurora responds, “Very well. 2 Ayes and 2 Nays. The Changelings vote Nay, we are not arrogant enough to question the judgment of Harmony. Leaving us with 2 Ayes and 3 Nays. Prime Minister Willow of Ciervana, what is your vote?”

Well it’s 2-3 in our favor right now, but I’m not sure who all has voted. If everyone so far as voted as we predicted they would then this is the deciding vote. If th- wait…. I can maybe do this, I’ll just have to break my promise to Celestia… oh well.”

“Prime Minister, you know in your heart that this is wrong. Please spare Her Grace from further persecution.” I don’t give a fuck dude, I will shamelessly speak out of turn here. Why? Because it doesn’t matter if what I said was truly convincing. It’s all based on the dice motherfucker!

Persuasion.

19 + 1 = 20. That… should be enough right?

The female deer with gold plated and ornate horns wearing a veil looks in my direction, as does everyone else sitting at the table. The minotaur chieftess stands up from her chair, slamming her fist on the table and is about to shout something.

But the deer speaks first, “Ciervana votes aye.” What? Was I too vague on which outcome I was trying to argue for? No, the only explanation is that it had to have been a DC 25 or maybe even 30. But, that could only be the case if…. If she had already made up her mind. Damn it all.

Aurora calls out the new vote count to be 3 Ayes and 3 Nays, then the minotaur finally gets to verbalize their outrage.

“How dare you speak out of turn, creature! You, who doesn’t even have a seat at this table. A mere knight. Princess reel in your underling or send it back to your encampment.”

Time for plan B, I hold out a hand signaling Luna to hold off for a second. She gives me a look of concern, likely not for my safety, but because she isn’t sure what I plan on doing here. Regardless, she nods at me.

“Queen Aurora, do you have any spare chairs? I’m going to request one be brought to the table here between Luna and the Saddle Arabians. I’ll need my own crystal as well. The prince of the Summer Feywild has declared his participation in this meeting.” I mean my title doesn’t really translate to prince, but the influence fathers side of the family held was equal to a small nation, and I was his heir. If you look carefully you’ll notice my father isn’t here, so I’d say I’ve succeeded him. Wait, I feel like I’m forgetting something critical here…. OH! I never had my naming ceremony. That can wait, I need to think about it still anyways. Before I passed out and became a human I hadn’t put much thought into my true name because I still had plenty of time, but now I’m regretting it.

Deception. (Advantage) (A/N: Because it’s like basically true, it’s only deception if you focus on semantics really….)

17 and 1. Yikes, the 1 was the second result so I guess it would’ve been fine if I didn’t have advantage, but that’s still spooky.

17 + 1 = 18.

There’s more overlapping shouts of surprise and outrage but Queen Aurora suppresses them all, “I detect no lies. There was not even the faintest shift of his emotions, no spike in heart rate. It’s in our original agreement made eons ago, any nation no matter how small has the right to seek representation in the meetings between leaders on a global scale. Our ancestors swore on those words in the name of Harmony, and on that oath I welcome you to a seat at the table.”

As she says that a giant lump of dirt rises out of the ground before forming into a chair and transmuting into stone. Once that is done a smaller changeling buzzes out from one of the walls of the colosseum carrying a pink crystal. It places the crystal right in front of me.

“I think it goes without saying, the Feywild votes nay.” I dare not even look in the direction of Luna or Celestia. They might even be giving me positive reactions right now, but I cannot find the courage to glance over.

“Very well. The vote is 3 Ayes and 4 Nays. The last vote belongs to Minos. Chieftess Steelheart of Minos, what is your vote?”

If looks could kill this cow would’ve nat 20’d me about 3 times already. She spits on the ground and coldly speaks out, “Minos votes Aye. Tie.”

“Indeed, it’s a tie. As is tradition, Equestria and Draconia will determine the method of resolution.”

Celestia and Tormura are just staring at each other. Likely having a telepathic conversation if I had to guess.

Perception.

11 + 5 = 16. Hm? What am I even rolling for right now?

I look behind Tormura at the white and red dragons that descended with him. The red one is speaking to the white one in Draconic. I can just barely make out what they’re discussing. “Have you heard back from my brother yet? He was supposed to return from Equestria hours ago!”

The white one responds, “There has been no update from Tormura and I do not sense any large scale shifts in the wind patterns outside. Do you think he may have been killed?”

“He’s not that much of a failure, besides this mission was merely to measure their response to the provocation and get a gauge on their current power. He’d need to have made an egregious mistake to get himself killed. I bet he just actually fell asleep instead of blowing smoke!” The red dragon finishes his statement with a small chuckle.

“That does sound like something Kiln would do.”

Interesting. So the dragon Celestia finished off was Kiln. Suddenly my vision is occupied by Luna’s face. “Ah, the Goddess truly does bestow miracles to those worthy!” I try to lighten the mood.

“What?”

“I called your face a miracle.”

That gets the reaction I was looking for, she freezes for a moment before smiling and letting out a quiet puff of air from her nose before regaining her serious face. “What are you doing? You can’t just declare yourself royalty of a place that doesn’t exist!”

“But I am the current patriarch of the Natsume clan residing over nature’s Summer. Sure I might be the only elf on the entire planet, but technicalities are technicalities. It worked didn’t it?”

“It is decided.” The deep overbearing draconic voice suddenly announces out loud.

“It is decided.” Celestia repeats as she stands up.

Then Queen Aurora stands up, “All parties please rise and move away from the table. Equestria will send its sword and shield against the Draconia’s Fire and Ice in a 1 on 1 duel. The duel ends when 1 party is unable to continue or they surrender, deaths are not encouraged but will also not result in a disqualification. If the final score of the duels is 1-1 then Princess Luna will engage with Tormura in a duel with the same rules.”

Everyone backs away from the circular table as more solid stone emerges from the edge of the table and the entire structure begins rotating and twisting until it becomes a 120’x120’ square.

The sisters, shining, and I huddle up near the new arena and Celestia quietly addresses the group, “I had a few choice words for you about that stunt with the deer, but you recovered well. That was good improvisation to make the best out of a bad situation. I’m not sure what we would’ve done if they had moved forward with a trial. Now which of you is going first?”

“I want the red one, so can we figure out who they’re sending and then respond? If not, can one of you unicorns use your fancy magic to listen in and see if they say who’s going first?” I ask.

“Way ahead of you, Ignis. The white one is coming out first, I guess I don’t mind letting you have the red one. Can I ask why though?” Shining responds.

“I’m fairly certain I can get him rattled during the fight, enough to throw him off anyways. Sorry I don’t want to explain further in case they are listening to us the same way we listened to them.”

One interesting thing to note, ever since the table expanded into an arena the crystals lighting up the inside of the colosseum have dimmed considerably. It’s definitely not dark, but if I didn’t have darkvision I’m fairly confident it’d be dim enough for me to not be able to make out colors. If that’s true then I should use Shadow Blade for this fight. Forgive me Moonblade. If I use Shadow Blade in this dim light my odds of hitting him are exponentially improved. Mainly because of my Elven Accuracy feat. Everytime I make an attack roll with advantage I can reroll one of the dice. This basically means I have 3 chances to score a nat 20. If I can crit this guy more than once I can make quick work of him. The real question is how the fuck do I keep him from flying?

That’s where my first plan is gunna come into play if that doesn’t work out then I might just have to misty step into the fucking air and ride his back like a maniac.

Chieftain Steelheart is now standing in front of a small table with Queen Aurora and he yells into the familiar pink crystal, “Looks like our first duel will be between Equestria’s Shield, Shining Armor! His opponent will be Draconia’s Winter, Frostbite!”

As Shining gets his epitaph and name announced, all the ponies gathered in our camp on the South East side of the colosseum plus the 20 or so Saddle Arabians let out a roar of applause. That sound is immediately crushed by the much louder war cries and actual roars from the Minotaurs and Griffons when Frostbite is announced.

Queen Aurora announces, “Are both fighters ready?” After a quick nod from the pony and dragon she sounds off the call to begin.

Frostbite wastes no time and instantly soars into the sky, almost touching the closed roof of the colosseum. He twists himself in the air to aim his mouth towards the unicorn, but before he can release his breath the dragon is encased in a massive pink shield. Big enough to easily fit 4 dragons the same size as Frostbite, inside. The dragon releases his breath anyways but all it does is fog up the spherical shield starting from the bottom.

Slowly the sphere begins to fall towards the ground and as it falls, it shrinks. Okay that is way more terrifying than I thought he could be. Good to know he was 100% holding back when we fought. The sphere reaches the arena and is now small enough that the dragon has barely any room to move around. The dragon starts thrashing about much more fiercely and the shield finally starts to show some small cracks. The cracks slowly grow as the shield shrinks; it's a race to see what gives first. The dragon's bones or the shield.

The shield looks like it’s going to shatter at any moment, it’s now completely covered in cracks as Shining has multiple bullets of sweat running down his head. Finally it’s too much and the dragon can no longer move. It’s still flexing and pushing against the shield but it’s much less force than he was able to apply when he could still twist around and fling that tail of his. We all watch in stunned silence as the cracks slowly mend around the shield and the dragon lets out an ear piercing roar that’s instantly followed by several loud cracks.

The dragon's roar turns into a screech, “I SURRENDER! YOU”RE GOING TO CRUSH ME!”

The shield immediately disappears as the dragon falls onto the ground. It seems unable to fully close its wings as it grabs at its own left arm with its right hand. Frostbite limps off the arena and past Tormura before collapsing onto the ground to rest.

“Equestria is ahead 1-0. Next we have Equestria’s Sword, Prince of the Summer Feywild, Lunar Paladin, Ignis Ferrum. His opponent will be the Leader of the Fire Dragons, Right Arm of the Dragon Lord, Inferno.”

Compared to Shining the applause I get is quiet, but if I don’t take his into consideration it’s actually much louder than I was expecting. I can’t contain the small smile from dawning on my face at the reaction. Inferno uncoils himself from behind Tormura and it’s at this moment I realize I have made a critical error. I have fucked around and now I am about find out. I have now fucked up. He’s only like an inch smaller than Tormura, he’s at least 10 feet larger than his brother I fought previously. This fucker is an Ancient Red Dragon.

Welp. “Luna prepare yourself.”

“Oh? You usually show much more confidence, is my mighty paladin…scared?”

“I’m not scared, there’s nothing to be scared of. It is a fact, a 100% certainty that I cannot win against this creature. I’m not foolish enough to think I can beat an Ancient dragon just because I fought an adult.”

“Ah you’re able to recognize that he’s an Elder? That’s good. Just yell out my name and I’ll teleport you to safety and surrender on your behalf.”

I step up onto the arena and stare down the big bastard.

“Are you not going to draw your sword, tiny creature?” He asks mockingly.

“Nah, I’ve got something different prepared for you.” I reply.

Before the match begins I hear Celestia in my head, “Don’t use your bladesong. I’ve yet to hear any murmurs about it, so there’s a chance the information hasn’t been leaked outside of Equestria yet. If that’s the case I’d rather avoid having to deal with the topic during this summit, and we can push it off until the next one. There’s a minimum of 1 year between summits.”

“You realize you’re basically just telling me to kill myself right? I have such demanding bosses.”

I place my left hand on the hilt of my Moonblade and hold my right hand in front me as if I’m holding an invisible sword. Once Queen Aurora calls out to ask if we’re ready I wait until I see Inferno nod his head. Once he does I use my left hand on Moonblade to command it to cast the stored Haste spell on me. At the same time I recite the incantation and conjure my Shadow Blade into my right hand. I feel a familiar flow of wind making my hair whip and flutter up into the air as my speed is doubled and my AC rises to 20.

Once the Shadow Blade appears in my hand I hear a wave of whispers throughout the crowd and nod my head. As soon as the words “Begin” leave the changeling's mouth I see the dice.

Roll for Initiative.

10 + 5 = 15.

By some miracle I’m able to move first. This means I can hit this lizard with everything I’ve got before he takes off. This blade is illusionary and does psychic damage so it doesn’t matter where I hit him. Might as well avoid fancy shit and just start hitting the guy in his legs.

That’s exactly what I do, I sprint from the middle of the arena into his corner and can just barely reach his left leg before my movement runs out.

14 and 12. Elven Accuracy, 12 is rerolled into an 18.

18 + 8 = 26. Level 2 Divine Smite.

3d8 + 3d8 + 5 = 39 Damage.

The first slash is clean through the front of his leg. The path following the blade turns all of his red scales into gray scales as the dragon flinches from the surprising amount of pain.

Extra Attack, I swing from left to right this time through the same leg.

17 and 14. Elven Accuracy, 14 is rerolled into a 6.

17 + 8 = 25. Level 2 Divine Smite.

6d8 + 5 = 35 Damage.

I can hear Inferno make a slight noise that sounds frustrated. I wind up for the Hasted extra one weapon attack. Transferring the left to right momentum of the 2nd slash into bottom right to top left diagonal slash.

1 and 8. Elven Accuracy, 1 rerolls into 16.

16 + 8 = 24. Level 3 Divine Smite. Booming Blade.

8d8 + 5 = 46 Damage.

The dragon and I think most of the creatures watching have been stunned into silence by the rapid near-instant barrage of slashes before the dragon can even react. On top of that every hit is accompanied by a flash of intense moonlight that sounds like a brick hitting concrete after falling off a 10th story balcony. I’m not done yet though. Now that I’ve used booming blade the bracers activate and I can get 1 more attack off as a bonus action. I finish my turn by attempting to stab and twist into the dragon's leg.

6 and 17. Elven Accuracy, 6 rerolls into 18.

18 + 8 = 26. Level 3 Smite. Booming Blade. No level 3 slots remaining.

8d8 + 5 = 51 Damage.

The blade slips through his tough leg and as I remove it he finally lets out his first real groan of pain. Alas, that is the end of my turn and it’s fairly likely I do not get to take another turn. Pretty sure he’s still over 100hp away from half hp. Ancient dragons are so busted.

As soon as I end my turn Inferno gives two mighty flaps of his wings and I’m almost instantly sent flying away from the wind.

Dexterity Saving Throw.

4 + 5 = 9.

Scratch that, I AM sent flying across the arena. I land on my back and bounce and roll 10 feet back landing prone with my face down on the arena.

-20 Hit Points: 37/57 Concentration Check: 14 + 2, Maintains Concentration.

Fuck now I’m prone and already half dead. As soon as I pick my face off the ground I look up and see Inferno almost touching the roof of the colosseum. He suddenly gets assaulted with a loud thunder clap as the secondary Booming Blade effect hits him for 9 more Thunder damage. I need to use my plan now before he takes any real actions.

In Draconic I call out, “Where are you going you overgrown lizard? Kiln didn’t run and hide in the air like this before I killed him.”

I see no dice, and apparently I don’t need to because I hear both dragons from the sideline yell out, “What?!” and Inferno says nothing but just roars in a rage before dive bombing back down onto the arena with his mouth 10 feet away from me. I watch as his cheeks puff up and realize this is his breath weapon…. There’s a very real chance this kills me outright.

I wait until the exact moment I see his mouth open to run and dive to the right.

Dexterity Saving Throw.

Natural 20. +5, 25.

The massive wave of fire barely misses me, but its still so much hotter than I could’ve expected. Time to take 26d6 divided by 2.

81 Fire Damage divided by 2 = 41 Fire Damage

ABSORB ELEMENTS!

41 Fire Damage divided by 2, again = 20 Fire damage.

-20 Hit Points: 17/57. Concentration Check: 17 + 2 = 19. Maintains Concentration.

Holy shit I’m alive.

If I don’t land any crits this turn I’m done, I’m not letting him have another turn. I’m gunna hit him with my last hit and then instantly surrender, haha.

I charge at the ancient creature and start rapidly slashing at it’s head.

9 and 13. Elven Accuracy, 9 rerolls into Natural 20.

Critical Hit! Level 4 Divine Smite. Booming Blade.

3d8 + 24 + 5d8 + 40 + 1d8 + 8 + 5

9d8 + 77 = 126 Damage.

My illusionary blade slashes down straight into his eye as I land a critical hit with my highest level smite. If I can just do that like 2 more times I might actually win. As soon as the shadow blade makes contact and the loud explosion of divine energy is heard, it is immediately overwhelmed by an actual scream in pain from the ancient red dragon.

Let me just hit you a few more times buddy.

2 and 12. Elven Accuracy, 2 rerolls into 5.

12 + 8 = 20.

The thrashing in pain from the dragon causes my 2nd attack to miss completely, “Fuck, quit moving you overgrown lizard.” I quietly whisper to myself. Haste attack now, 3rd times the charm.

7 and 14. Elven Accuracy, 7 rerolls into 16.

16 + 8 = 24. Level 2 Divine Smite. No level 2 slots remaining..

6d8 + 5 = 39 Damage.

Time to use my bracers one last time and go for the hail mary. It doesn’t matter now though, even if I land another crit I’m all out level 2, 3, and 4 spell slots. I decide to go for the same eye.

1 and 1. Elven Accuracy, 1 rerolls into 10.

10 + 8 = 18.

I slip up a little as I step forward to stab the dragon again and it causes my shadow blade to miss completely. Well I got him from 546 to 201. I’d say that’s not bad. Maybe if I use Shield I can make it one more turn? Just gotta hope I get lucky and he can't use fire breath again yet.

As soon as the feeling of my turn fades away the dragon instantly whips his body 180 degrees and attempts to slam his tail into me. I hold up my empty left hand and chant out quickly, “SHIELD!”

The tail slams into the shield and it’s almost like the shield never existed in the first place as I watch it instantly shatter and feel all the breath get knocked out of me as the tail whips into my gut.

-14 Hit Points: 3/57

My shield lasts for 1 turn so it instantly regenerates as the dragon finishes rotating and swings a claw down at me. I hold up both arms to protect my head in case the claws pierce through the shield again. This would prove to be a costly mistake as it blocked his claw from my vision.

An instant later I hear Luna scream out something as I feel a claw go straight into my gut. Apparently in the fraction of a second I couldn’t see the dragon redirected its claw down and swung for my body instead of swinging down at my head. He also instantly destroyed my shield and my shadow blade. I saw one last pop up from the system in my vision and realized how badly I fucked up.

Critical Hit.

-32 Hit Points: 0/57.

The system flashes away for one second and I’m about 7 feet in the air flying backwards. I can taste blood in my mouth and the edges of my vision are red as I notice a 2nd claw coming down to swipe me out of the air… “Lu...na.......”

You are unconscious.

Death Saving Throws:

Author's Note

Yippie! Not gunna lie I had a long ass day and didn't even think I was gunna put out a chapter today, but here it is! I'm literally about to pass out so I did not spend even a single second proof reading it. Be kind enough to let me know if there are some oopsies in there <3

Thanks for reading as always