• Published 3rd Dec 2019
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Quills and Sofas Warehouse Sale - Zontan



Bulk rates on Quills and Sofas speedwrites. Now open to the public.

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Tribute

Author's Note:

Written for contest #20. The prompt was the song "Fear and Delight" by The Correspondents.

Tags: OC, Slice of Life

The dragon of Mount Ferrier was, in the grand scheme of things, not particularly notable. It was rare to see a dragon of their age and size this far from the dragonlands, but not unheard of. Usually they would settle in Pegasi lands, where the ground was uninteresting to the inhabitants, or in high mountains among the Earth Ponies, where the land was bare and could not be farmed. Mount Ferrier, however, was in Unicorn territory, and normally the unicorns would drive out such a threat—powerful as they were, even adult dragons had much to fear from a large enough group of wizards.

This dragon, however, was allowed to stay. There had been an accord.


The village of Crimson River was small, but prosperous. Nestled in the foothills of Mount Ferrier, it enjoyed good weather, bountiful harvests almost unheard of among unicorns, and a lack of banditry that most attributed to the dragon that protected them. Most unicorns could go their entire lives without ever seeing the dragon, but all were assured of its existence by the contract under glass in Town Hall. Peace, prosperity, and protection for the land, in exchange for a small price, once every two hundred years.

Most didn’t think about what the price was. Rarely did anyone read the fine print of a contract made hundreds of years ago. But every year, the village celebrated Dragon Day, a festival of thanks for their mystical protector.

This year’s festival was different. As evening wore on, the town gathered in the square to hear a proclamation from Mayor Nightbane. He walked onto the stage with a bowl held in his magic, filled with scraps of paper.

“As you know,” he began, “We owe our village’s prosperity to the dragon in the mountain.” There was a cheer from the assembled ponies, which he allowed to peter out before he continued. “Most years, the dragon asks nothing from us in return. This is not one of those years.”

His gaze scanned the assembled ponies, before continuing. “Today, we give back to our protector. This bowl contains the name of every pony in this town. I will pull one name at random, and that pony will go to the dragon, and never return.”

A hush fell over the crowd. The mayor, finished with his speech, lit his horn and pulled out a single piece of paper. He looked at it for only a moment before announcing, “Luminance.”

The crowd parted, all eyes suddenly on the silver-yellow mare who found herself standing alone. A moment ago, she had been whispering with her friends, not really paying attention to the speech. Now those same friends had stepped back, looking at her with something between sorrow and relief.

Luminance turned to one of them. “Daystrider…?” she whispered, and the stallion shook his head. “Oh.” She bowed her head, and then murmured, “...well, goodbye, then.”

Slowly, she approached the stage. The mayor whispered a few words to her that she didn’t hear over her own thoughts, and cast a spell. A flowing, ceremonial cloth settled over her shoulders, and soon, a pair of town guards were leading her away from her life, and up the side of the mountain.


Luminance walked for what felt like hours. The night grew darker around them, and attempts to engage the guards in conversation fell flat. Finally, they arrived at the mouth of a cave, near the top of the mountain. With a telekinetic nudge from one of the guards, Luminance stepped inside, into the pitch black in front of her. “Hello?” she called, her voice trembling. She lit her horn, casting a soft light in front of her that did little to light up the gloom. A glance back, and the guards were already gone. For a moment, she thought to run. But there was only one path back down, and no way she would make it without being seen and sent back.

With a deep breath that felt too loud, she stepped deeper into the cave, picking her way carefully across the rocks in the dim light of her horn. She didn’t call out again, not sure she really wanted anything to answer.

Finally, a light shone out in front of her, growing steadily brighter. She emerged into a larger chamber, large enough that the soft light from the center didn’t reach the walls. It was there that she got her first look at the dragon.

It was massive. Easily the size of several houses, with pale blue scales that reminded her of the sea. Its eyes were closed, and it was breathing steadily. As she watched, it let out a snort, opening its mouth to reveal teeth as big as she was. She gulped, and crept slightly closer.

“Hello?” she whispered, surprised to even get that much out. The dragon didn’t stir, and she pulled back. If it wanted to sleep, she thought it probably seemed wise to let it. She settled down at the edge of the circle of light—it seemed to have no source beyond perhaps the dragon itself—and waited, nervously glancing at the beast across from her.

She wasn’t expecting to fall asleep.


When she awoke, the dragon was watching her.

“Eep!” she squeaked, attempting to stumble to her hooves, but getting her legs tangled in the blanket around her and crashing to the floor. Her ears rang with the impact, and she brought a hoof to her head, trying to steady her vision.

It took her a moment to realize the dragon was laughing. “Glad you’re happy,” Luminance muttered, before clapping a hoof over her mouth. She was trying not to anger the thing that was probably going to eat her, wasn’t she?

The dragon only seemed more amused at that. “You must be the tribute,” he said—and now that he spoke, it was definitely a he—”I am glad you made it here unscathed. I apologize for not being awake to meet you.”

Luminance blinked, and slowly got back to her hooves. The dragon was apologizing to her? “I… thank you?” she ventured. “I…” she swallowed, and tried again. “I… don’t really know how this works.”

The dragon chuckled. “I wouldn’t expect you to.” He brought his head closer, and Luminance shrank back, for all the good it did. “My, you are young, aren’t you? Good, that’s probably good.”

Luminance blinked. Whatever she had been expecting, it wasn’t that. With another gulp, she ventured, “Are you going to eat me? Because if you are, there’s a few things I’d like to ask—” Her words came tumbling out, almost as if she was afraid she might be snapped up before she got the chance to finish, but she stopped as she realized the dragon was laughing again. “Are you… not going to eat me?” she ventured, allowing a note of hope into her voice.

The dragon grinned down at her. “Not today, at least.” His voice made it clear he thought the whole thing was very funny. “You never read the contract I have with your village, did you?”

Luminance shook her head.

“Then let me make it more clear. You are a tribute, mine to do with as I please. I get only one pony every two hundred years. Do you really think I’d waste such a thing on a quick meal?”

Luminance shook her head again, slower this time.

“Good. Let’s get you settled in. I think you’ll like your accommodations, the last tribute made quite an effort to make them homey.” With that, he turned deeper into the cave.

Luminance dared to breathe for what felt like the first time in ages, and followed the dragon to her new home.