That was it. I was trapped, surrounded on all sides by the roaring, snarling, cheering beasts: terrifying bipedal monstrosities, like giant lions standing on their hind legs, who I was regretting more and more I had been assigned as lead diplomat to.
"We don't do things your way around here, puny pony." The crowd laughed and roared all the more at the declaration of their chief: a scarred, armored, ornamented hulk of a lion-beast that was standing right in front of me, in the middle of the circle. "You come to demand submission, and that-"
"We ask for no such thing!" I interrupted, shouting over the roar of the crowd. "Princess Celestia and Luna offer an alliance that would allow Equestria to-"
"SILENCE!" The chief thundered. "We will never take pity from anylion! Your kind is weak and miserable, a prey coming to offer themselves in a position of parity with predators! Cattle pleading not to be slaughtered!"
The crowd was growing mad with excitement, at least as far as I could tell.
The chief lifted one single claw. "But if there's ONE thing we cannot ride over, little prey, is our honor. You wish to be our allies? Our PROTECTORS? Then show us! Show the Lionids that you are worthy of our respect! You want this village to your command? Then TAKE IT! Duel me and take it from my dying claws, if you have the guts!”
"I will do no such thing! We come in peace and-”
A deafening roar was all it took him to silence me. "It is not a choice of yours anymore, pony. You have claimed your parity with us. You have only left to prove it. Choose your weapon and stand your ground. Face your challenge or die in dishonor.”
The look on his face drained any hope of mine of avoiding this. There was no running away. Nevar in my travels I had encountered a species so fierce and warmonger, and now it rested on me, like all other times, to cement a working relationship with the new discovered tribes.
Only this time my life was on the line.
Celestia, Luna, please watch over me and my soul…
"I... will use my blade for this." I drew out in my telekinetic sheath the machete I carried in my missions to fend off hostile flora and fauna alike. It's not like I was trained in the use of any other weapon anyway.
The lion chief drew out a hearty laugh. "Very well!" He gestured for another of his kind to come and bring him a sword and shield, both out of some sort of richly crystal-encrusted metal. He wore them on like he was born wielding the stuff.
I gulped. I hoped Starswirl's lessons would help me now. I never had to face an intelligent creature before…
"Are you ready, whelp?" The chief shouted.
I steadied myself in a wide-legged stance. "Ready as I'll ever be.”
"Then we BEGIN!" He immediately lunged, swinging his blue sword at me that I parried by instinct. He bashed my barrel with his shield and slammed me away, digging multiple holes in my skin with the protruding crystals.
I coughed, laying on the sandfloor. This was getting bad fast... In an act of desperation, I shot a beam of raw magic at the charging chief. At that, he reacted by raising his shield... that absorbed the ray in a 'whuff'. What?
The impact had pushed him back anyway, so this gave me time to prepare a spell. Right when he was on top of me again, I teleported to his side and shot another ray towards him, only for him to turn in a smooth movement and shield even that. Darn it!
In a pang of realization, I lifted him whole in my telekinetic aura, only for him to cut through the field with his sword and interrupt it. Just HOW in the name of the royal sisters was ho doing that?!
"You think us unprepared against magic, pony? Well, you’ll want to think again!" Another teleport saved me from a furious mid-speech lunge.
Again and again I tried hitting him on his rear and sides, keeping my distance, but he was too fast, too liquid in his movements, and my magic was wearing me out.
Then he did the unthinkable: he removed his now-glowing shield and threw it in my direction. It was too sudden and unexpected for me to teleport away, so I simply dodged it.
And on contact with the ground, the shield exploded, pelting me with blue crystals that dug into my skin and muscles, filling me with indescribable, unbearable pain. I could feel raw magic flowing out of each shard, and it was filling me with Tartarus's suffering. The crowd was roaring mad with cheering.
Seeing me writhing on the sand, helpless, the chief approached me calmly and picked me up with a single paw. "Now for the ritual part where I declare myself the winner, if you don’t mind. I suggest you cooperate and stay calm and be a good pony if you wanna crawl back home after this. Hah, but I'm sure you will cooperate! Hahahaha!" Laughing his way to a bull-trained wooden chariot, he tied me with a rope to its rear, mounted on it, and with an order to the bulls he started dragging me across the sand streets all around the city, for every lion to cheer on and throw insults and rejoice.
Through the pain, through the bumps in the road, through the blinding and choking sand rushing by, a single thought filled my head: they're gonna pay for this.
Celestia and Luna help me, this is a declaration of war.