by Palaikai
***
Rainbow Dash felt the top half of her face – the only part of her body that wasn't covered by Rarity's hastily-fashioned cold weather clothing – scrunching up tightly against the bitter cold of the mountain breeze that sought to turn her and her friends into icicles. She wondered for the zillionth time why she was being dragged away from her flight practice to climb this foreboding peak.
Ponies didn't tend to wear clothing, except on those rare days when protocol or the occasion demanded it, and now Rainbow Dash understood why: they sucked. They pinched you in places that nothing and nopony had any business going near. How anypony could make a living out of this, much less be one of the richest ponies in Ponyville, was beyond her ability to comprehend. She guessed that none of the others were entirely happy about this little jaunt either, though they were all doing their best to be supportive. The things one did for the sake of the Princess of Friendship ...
“Thank you, again, for agreeing to come with me, girls,” Twilight Sparkle said, the lower part of her face likewise almost obscured by a scarf covering her muzzle. So much so, in fact, that every third word of her speech was muffled by the warm fabric. That was the price you paid when you wandered into low temperatures that even a polar bear might've found a bit on the chilly side. “I'm not anticipating any major problems, but it doesn't hurt to have a bit of backup in case things go awry.”
“That's okay,” said Pinkie Pie airily, chirpily bounding across the slippery path rather than trudging alongside the others, her half-closed eyes suggesting that she was oblivious to the danger posed by the ice. “You know how much we love going off on these little quests with you, throwing ourselves into incomprehensible peril for no good reason!”
“It's for a very good reason,” said Twilight, though she couldn't help the twinge of guilt that shot through her at that moment. It wasn't often that she did something that was purely for selfish ends, and she felt entitled to indulge herself just this once. Okay, it wasn't technically selfish, but still.
“Indeed, it is,” Rarity said, her eyes lighting up as brightly as the diamonds of her cutie mark as visions of romance novels, handsome princes and beautiful princesses swam through her mind. “The best reason of all, actually: she's in love!”
“Well, we all knew that already, sugarcube,” Applejack said impatiently, her trademark Stetson threatening to abandon its customary position atop her head every time the wind shifted. “But it still doesn't actually explain why we're climbing this mountain.”
“You didn't know?” Rarity's eyes widened even further, though this time it was because of the surprise she felt at her friends' forgetfulness of dates. “It's been a year.”
“Oh,” the group – minus Twilight and Rarity – said in unison.
“We're here,” Twilight said, as they crested the ridge of the mountain. Just a hundred or so feet away lay their final destination: the mouth of a large cave.
A few moments of trudging through the snow later, they stood at the periphery of the cave. “Is everypony ready?” asked Twilight, feeling just a shred of doubt about her plan. It seemed vital to her that she do something really meaningful to show Celestia just how much she valued their relationship, but it was only now that she realised how hare-brained her scheme truly was.
“It would help,” said Rainbow Dash, suppressing a whine of annoyance, “if we knew what we were supposed to be ready for exactly.”
“Well,” Twilight said hesitantly, “you remember five years ago when we asked that dragon to leave its lair over Ponyville because of the smoke pollution he was causing?”
The others looked at her, mouths agape. It was Fluttershy who, predictably enough, spoke first, her eyebrows quickly hitting their apex in alarm. “Did you say … dragon?”
“Don't worry, he knows that we're coming,” said Twilight hastily, “but he doesn't know what the reason for our visit is.”
“He isn't the only one. What does any of this have to do with your and Celestia's anniversary?” asked Applejack, the strain of being kept in the dark for so long beginning to bubble over.
“All right. I guess I should've told you from the beginning, but I was afraid that … well, I was afraid that you might try and talk me out of it.” Twilight's cheeks flushed lightly, although it was barely noticeable because she was already so red from making the exhausting climb. “When Celestia was forced to abandon the Castle of the Two Sisters in the Everfree Forest after the battle with Nightmare Moon, there wasn't time to move many of its treasures to Canterlot before the vault became too unsafe for anypony to enter. Some of them were lost to the swamps, others were taken by foolhardy bandits, and some were stolen by creatures with an insatiable lust for shiny objects.” Twilight slipped so easily into lecture mode and the others just looked at her askance as she completed her spiel. “When we faced the dragon for the first time, my eye was drawn to a particular jewel, but I didn't know its full significance back then. Now I do.”
“What is it and why should we care?” Rainbow Dash asked, tapping her hoof impatiently, wishing desperately that she was back in Ponyville hanging out with Scootaloo. Or napping on a cloud. Or … anything else, really.
“Back in ancient times, newborn ponies had a special jewel cut for them that signified the qualities their parents wished to bestow upon them. I remember reading about it in one of my history books. Anyway, to cut a long story slightly shorter, Celestia once told me about hers and how she believed it lost in the old castle.”
“And you're sure it's the exact same one?” asked Fluttershy. Her desire to help a friend outweighed her fear of the dragon.
“Positive,” Twilight said with a nod. “The drawing in the book is a dead-spit for the emerald in the dragon's lair.”
“Well, let's go get it, then!” said Rarity, urging the others on with a forceful tone.
With a certain amount of trepidation, they crossed the threshold; the cave was large, dimly lit and cold, but it kept the worst of the wind out, so the ponies were at least able to take the hoods of their jackets down and remove their scarves. At the very back of the cave was a large, red dragon, slumbering over his jealously-guarded horde of jewels. He opened one eye and scrutinised the visitants to his realm. “You are the Princess Twilight Sparkle?”
“Yes, I am,” replied Twilight, masking her irritation at the use of her title. She'd only included it in her message because her studies had told her that older dragons had a deep respect for old-fashioned epithets. Just underneath the dragon's enormous, razor-sharp claw, she spied the emerald which she sought.
“For what reason have you come here?”
Straight down to business, then? Fair enough, Twilight was ready to do just that. “I wish to barter with you for one of your treasures.”
A deep, hideous guttural noise filled the cave and it took Twilight and her friends a moment to realise that it was the sound of the dragon laughing. “Dragons do not easily relinquish their treasures.”
“I'm not asking you to relinquish anything, I am asking you for a trade. From what I understand of the Ancient Protocols of the Draakon tribe, you may part with an object if it is replaced by another of equal or greater value and you will receive no stain upon your honour,” said Twilight, an edge of pleading in her voice.
The dragon considered for a moment, impressed by the pony's knowledge of his kind. “Which of my treasures do you seek?”
Twilight snagged the emerald in her magical grasp and levitated it in front of him. “This one. It has great sentimental value to both me and my mentor.”
“Sentimental value?” The dragon huffed a smoke ring which encircled Twilight Sparkle. She coughed in protest. The meaning was plain: she was on thin ice here. “Sentimentality is not true value.”
“What would you ask of me in return for the emerald?” Twilight asked, batting away the last of the smoke with her hoof.
Burning amber eyes traced Twilight and her friends, finally alighting upon Rainbow Dash. “I ask for … satisfaction.”
“What does that mean?”
“That rainbow one impugned my honour when she attacked me and I was left unable to fight back.”
“So. You want to fight Rainbow Dash? Is that it?” Twilight readied a flow of magic to her horn; if things were about to go bad, she wanted to get everypony out of this cave in a hurry.
“No problem,” Rainbow Dash said, cutting into her preparations, already limbering up.
“No,” the dragon said, leaning close to Twilight, “I wish from her something … else.”
The sinister tone with which he'd spoken made even Rainbow Dash gulp nervously.
“This is fantastic, Twilight, I never thought I'd see my birthstone again!” Celestia said excitedly, practically bounding around the throne room like a filly. “But how in Equestria were you able to find it?”
Twilight quickly recounted the story of her visit to the dragon.
“But what did the dragon want from Rainbow Dash in recompense?” she asked in confusion. Her mien darkened somewhat. “She is all right, isn't she?”
“Wha-?” Twilight feigned shock at the implication that she'd let one of her best friends be injured on her account. “Of course she is. Do you really think I'd let some measly dragon hurt her?”
“Then, what?”
It was with a small smirk that Twilight spoke her next words, “Her mane.”
It was Celestia's turn to look surprised. “Come again?”
“He asked for a lock from each colour of her hair. Apparently, in Ancient Draakon society, a way of redressing the balance if there's no clear winner of a duel is for each participant to take something of value from their opponent as a means of calling a truce. Rainbow Dash took the dragon's dignity, so he did likewise. That, it seems, was worth more to him than the emerald.”
“Ah,” Celestia said, understanding. “So we won't be seeing her out of doors for a while?”
“Not for a few weeks, no. Unless she has designs on joining a punk band, though Rarity's trying to talk her into going for a whole new style.”
“I will have to remember to thank her for her sacrifice,” the Princess of the Sun said, hiding her grin behind an elegantly-shod hoof.
“But hopefully later,” Twilight said, a seductive smile creasing her muzzle. “I went to a lot of trouble to get that thing for you, and I think that you should spend the rest of the night thanking me.”
“Seems like a fair trade to me,” Celestia said, crossing the room to embrace the younger alicorn.