History: Hearts and Hooves Day

According to Sweetie Belle, this holiday got started when a prince tried to seduce a princess with a love potion, the result being "something about a dragon, the kingdom falling, chaos reigning," and, of course, the beginnings of a holiday that really embarrasses bachelorettes.

So what's your take on this holiday? Who were the two royals involved in the affair, and how did the presumably unicorn prince come up with a love poison that relied heavily on pegasus elements? When did the incident occur, and what were the exact circumstances surrounding the doom that resulted? What other historical events were going on: had Equestria already formed, and where were the royal pony sisters in all this? How did a story about drugging ponies with love poison end up being the Equestrian version of Valentine's Day? Why would somepony write down the recipe in a historical book of Twilight's? And is it possible that Discord - the bringer of chaos - or Queen Chrysalis - the consumer of love - had anything to do with it?

This is quite an interesting topic. I would say that this event took place during the reign of Celestia and Luna and before Sombra. To show my opinion about this event I'd like to mention how the Holy Roman Empire worked. There was the kingdom of the emperor that ruled over other smaller kingdoms across the realm that were allowed to have their own policies and the emperor couldn't intervene in its affairs, I said this because I'd think of Equestria as such a method of government.

Thus I'll go to the Hearts and Hooves days beginning. Maybe it started in a kingdom under Equestria, but autonomous as I mentioned above thus explaining the development of events. I'd say that the Prince could've studied 'love' or how it manifests and maybe after observing lovers came to the conclusion that love has "wings", meaning it can fly thus explaining why he required pegasi elements. The top of cloud resembling how the two lovers should act between each other, soft, also resembling an easy relation without any problems. A bright rainbows glow means happiness, the rainbow having all those beautiful colors after all, the two lovers should bring happiness to each other like a rainbow does to those who see it. And to strew with a pegasus feather shows what I think he though of love, that it takes flight, also meaning he wanted it to rise up fast.

So after these it was like Sweetie Belle said, the two weren't able to take on their royal duties and so the kingdom came into ruin. The dragon could've wanted to sleep in the kingdom and because the two weren't capable of taking care of it, the dragon slept and a cloud of smoke rose above it. Without the sun, the kingdom could had produce the food required and it most likely ended up in a riot and the fall of that kingdom, but maybe at the end of this sad story Celestia and Luna intervened and tried to balance that kingdom and made the two come back to their senses. Maybe in the end the two royal sisters thought that by making a special holiday on the day the two came back to their senses could make their subjects happier and have a good time and forget about any love poison.

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I quite like the sympathetic magic you put into the pegasus elements, such as the "flight" and "softness" metaphors. I suppose the rainbow also "spices up" the relationship, since rainbows aren't exactly mild-tasting (as Pinkie found out).

Interesting idea about Equestria being like the Roman tetrarchy and having sub-kingdoms with their own rulers. Would they have been divided up according to tribe? Was there a Pegasus Kingdom, an Earth Pony Kingdom, and a Unicorn Kingdom, or were there other divisions? I wouldn't agree with Celestia's non-intervention, though - surely, she and Luna would have the final say in national matters?

Also like how you incorporate the dragon's smoke breath into the collapse of the kingdom. Originally, I was just thinking that the dragon attacked the kingdom deliberately, but your idea makes more sense.

Lastly, Celestia and Luna trying to turn a bad situation into a good celebration was a nice touch, though I don't view them as the sort to do it as a kind of cover-up or distraction. It might have been them that commissioned the book to warn others of the danger in case it happened again.