An exhausted Tea Love sat down on a park bench.
She had spent the last three hours fruitlessly searching for the staging grounds for this mysterious festival she had heard so much about. She was about ready to give up on it. The sun had set over an hour ago. It must be a prank the locals liked to play on visiting restaurant critics.
The trip hadn't been a complete loss though. Jasmine's, the restaurant she had come to review had been excellent. The service friendly and the food astounding. Her article was already half written.
Oddly the head chef had been a unicorn. Unicorns weren't generally known for their skill with food, not like earth ponies. And his horn. Not a spiralling horn but a curious looking antler.
It nagged on her. Made her journalistic instinct itch.
But that was where she had heard about the mysterious Festival of the Dragon.
Apparently it was tonight.
But she could find no sign of it.
She sipped on a tea flavoured hay smoothie and searched for signs of balloons, lights, music or anything that might indicate a celebration.
A flock of birds rapidly evacuated the tree behind her.
The smoothie was actually really good. Especially fresh and vibrant.
A drop of water sitting on a trash can next to her wobbled violently in the windless air before sliding off.
She coughed, she had swallowed an un-blended piece of hay. Her hay smoothie experience ruined she tossed the cup in the trash.
Something large and vast blotted out the light of the moon. Most likely a cloud.
The town of Ponyville sure was quiet at night. Not like Manehatten. It must be terrible living in a town where nothing interesting ever happened.
A gigantic claw filled with murderously sharp talons gently picked her up. She locked eyes with it's owner, which was apparently a snout filled with equally gigantic teeth ideally suited to the purpose of chewing pony reporters prior to ingestion.
She was then placed in a very large basket filled with dozens of other ponies. The basket was suspended in the air by a tail that also likely belonged to the snout filled with enormous restaurant critic mauling fangs.
Tea Love hadn't breathed or moved a muscle in sometime. Not since just before she had been picked up. Somewhat afraid that she might have forgotten how to breath she started to hyperventilate.
* * *
Sometime later Tea Love was breathing semi normally again. She was clinging to the edge of the basket as it swayed with each step of the dragon.
She had learned that she was prone to sea sickness. Or rather dragon sickness.
With a lurch the basket halted for a moment. Her hay smoothie threatened to return in force preventing her from contemplating escape.
A moments pause and a mare was added to the basket of ponies.
The steady rhythmic swaying began again.
The journalist quietly prayed that the dark and terrible beast felt like snacking soon.
* * *
In a lair, in a cavern, roughly an infinite distance of swaying nausea from the town of Ponyville the basket was set down upon the blessed solid stone.
Clinging to the glorious unmoving ground the journalist was able to notice a door in the basket opening and the other ponies filling out in an orderly and happy fashion to whatever terrible and monstrous fate awaited them.
It was awful and sickening. Likely some kind of ritualized pony sacrifice.
Sniffing in resignation and her head held low Tea Love ventured out to meet her fate.
The ponies gathered into a crowd. The beasts long tail circled around them to rest under it's head. It was effectively surrounding the entire group on it's own.
She started making notes and writing them down. Maybe someone would find her notebook and write her last story for her. She smiled slightly imagining someone plagiarizing her work.
There was just over fifty ponies in the group.
No elderly or infirm. No foals... No stallions?
A lot of pegasi. Why didn't they just fly away?
The cave didn't hold anything that looked like a hoard. Don't all dragons have hoards?
A pony stepped forward towards the dragon's terrible maw. The creature focused it's attention upon her.
They exchanged words. Tea made her way through the crowd trying to get close enough to hear.
“I accept,” said the dragon.
The pony embraced the dragon. Or rather she embraced the front of his nose. The dragon smiled blissfully. They parted and the pony walked away. Toward the exit of the cave.
Completely uneaten.
A new mare, a pegasus this time, came forward.
“Hi, I'm Clearing Breeze. This is my first festival.”
“Nice to meet you miss Breeze. I am Spike and I welcome you.”
“I... Um... Oh, it sounds so cheesy.” Clearing covered her face with her hooves.
“True, but it's an important part.”
“I can't do it.”
“You know your mother also had trouble with it. It was funny. She hummed and hawed for about ten minutes before she managed it. She wouldn't have been able to do it at all if it wasn't to save all of Ponyville. She was such a stubborn and proud mare. Truly a great treasure.”
The slight pegasus puffed up her wings and set her jaw.
“I, Clearing Breeze, give myself to you, Spike, completely and without reservation. Please, accept me into your hoard.” She said this without taking her hooves away from her face.
“I accept.”
Clearing Breeze gingerly embraced the dragon.
“I have heard about... The Blessing,” choked out the flustered pony.
One massive spiny eye brow raised in query.
“I was wondering...” she began again, struggling.
“You have the smell of an Apple on you.” The pegasus stood silent, she couldn't have felt as mortified as she looked. “I invite you to ask again next year.”
Clearing Breeze exited the cave with astounding speed.
Again uneaten.
Spotting a reassuring pattern, Tea Love stepped forward automatically.
“Hello mister Dragon. Tea Love of the Manehattan Times. I was wondering if you'd be kind enough to give me an interview?”
The gaze that the gigantic dragon levelled upon the spunky little journalist weighed enough to make Tea's knees shake.
“An interview?” commented a mare standing behind her, sparking chatter from the assembled ponies.
“I... ah... was hoping to get a local colour story for my paper.”
“Of course. There is a proper time during the hoarding for such things,” the beast nodded to her. “But it will have to wait until after the giving has been completed.”
A pony rending claw of vast and terrible size picked her up and placed her at his shoulder.
“You may take notes. I do not believe that this particular festival is celebrated anywhere else in Equestria.”
So Tea Love took notes. After the recitation of the ceremonial self offering, each pony would either leave or stay. Some would and speak to the dragon about their families and businesses. Sometimes the dragon would ask about specific family members.
Marriages, births, deaths, breakups, start up businesses and fiscal collapses. A years worth of news ebbed forth drop by drop into the dragon's ears. There seemed to be enough bad news to dull the leviathan's mood but more then enough good news to keep it bolstered.
Time passed and Tea Love now counted fifty-six mares in total had offered themselves to the dragon and the number of mares yet to linger had dropped to thirty-three.
As the last mare to offer herself (save for Tea Love) returned to the standing area each and everyone of them stopped chattering and focused on the beast expectantly. The beast in turn addressed Tea.
“Tell me little reporter. What would you most like to know?”
“Is there an interesting story about how the Dragon Festival started?”
The dragon smiled and addressed the remaining mares. “And now for the annual retelling of how the Festival began. Watch closely...”
There was excited cheering from the crowd. Somepony whooped.
With a mighty exhalation the air above the ponies filled with curious magical green flame. It swirled as if alive, it roiled as if seeking something within in it's self. It exploded outward into a thin sheet and within it's self it found colours and shapes and forms that comprised an image.
An image that moved.
* * *
The story begins with a little purple and green egg... No, that's too far back. Lets skip to the relevant part. It got kinda interesting in the ruins of Dracmoria in the east when Twilight Sparkle, my guardian in my youth and my first and greatest treasure, discovered a series of ancient glyphs that she would eventually compile into the first draft of the Draconomicon the first and only book to reveal the secrets of dragon life to ponykind.
But the truest start to the story was when Fluttershy died.
On that fateful day many strange things happened. The wind blew and clouds formed without help. Plants grew up over night without being planted. Four stars visible by the light of day circled the sun.
And the animals.
Cats grew afraid and angry lashing out everything. Dogs ran and paid no mind when they where called. Birds refused to come near or sing along with ponies.
Everypony was terrified but they knew that Ponyville had a secret weapon. Twilight Sparkle, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, Applejack, Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy. The saviours of Equestria. The bearers of the elements of harmony.
Together there was no challenge that they couldn't beat.
Considering that a lot of the problem was with the animals and that Fluttershy specialized in dealing with animals, she was of course the first one ponies went to consult.
She was found in her cottage on the edge of town. Mauled to death by a bear.
She had died doing what she loved most.
Everypony was devastated by the loss. Ponyville gathered to mourn her passing. The two Princesses where in attendance.
Celestia didn't speak. She looked faded. They didn't speak about it but those odd ponies that enjoy the morbid assumed that the sun had been sealed from her.
Luna lost her composure during the service.
Four deer intruded. Jet black each with a star on their brows.
They declared that the world had been held tame for too long. That it was time for the return of the proper order of things. That everycreature and everything would be better outside of pony control.
They then told us that they would free the ponies from their masters and tried to take from us the Princesses.
There was a fight. A big one. The royal guard and every able pony in Ponyville tried to stop them.
I was just a tiny little pup back then. Barely three hooves tall. I couldn't do anything but hide.
The Princesses begged them to stop. Nopony could bring themselves to obey and the deer simply ignored them.
It was astounding really, something very few ponies think about. The sheer power and variety of the cutiemark at the talents they bestow.
It took well over an hour before it was settled.
Those four deer stood victorious and left with the Princesses.
A lot of ponies had been hurt. Twilight was among them. Twilight had been very fond of Celestia.
Her horn had been cracked and it would take time to heal. The doctors demanded that she remain in hospital overnight but she returned home to her library and immediately set upon a new project.
She worked long into the night, working on notes and drawing diagrams.
In the morning she woke me and told me about her project. She called it the Mass Unification Project. It was based on her work with both the Elements of Harmony and on dragon morphology.
She explained it to me like this.
“So Spike, you understand how the Elements focus friendship from multiple ponies into a single spot thus creating an exponentially stronger friendship effect?”
I explained that I didn't understand at all. I really didn't. I was still to young. Or perhaps a better word would be small?
“That's okay Spike, you don't have to understand. I'm going to run a test and if it is successful then we'll be able to create an incredibly powerful friendship effect. In you.”
I admit that she had scared me back then. She was so intense and determined that it was terrifying.
“I, Twilight Sparkle, pupil of Princess of Celestia, bearer of the element of magic, give myself to you, Spike, completely and without reservation. Please, accept me into your hoard.”
She watched me for a few minutes. Then she measured me.
“I think you have to accept.”
And I then I did. And then I grew. I wasn't unfamiliar with the feeling. I had done it once before by hoarding junk.
It was different this time though. I wasn't just bigger. I felt deeper. This time I wasn't hoarding apples and books and furniture. This time it was a living breathing being that would live, grow, dream, aspire and prosper. Not stolen, but freely given.
I couldn't just be bigger to hold onto this treasure. I had to be better. And my body responded.
She didn't have to explain after that. I already knew what we had to do.
We talked to every mare in Ponyville. Many hesitated. Few really felt comfortable with the idea. But ponies are determined creatures and for the sake of what had to be done they all eventually agreed.
By the time the sun was beginning to set I was filled with all the strength that the love and devotion of Ponyville could give me.
The hard part was actually finding where the star deer had located themselves. It was night time before I managed to find them.
They didn't hide and they didn't run. They thought themselves all powerful and unstoppable.
Princess Celestia, the Everlasting Radiance, raised the sun in Canterlot that morning.
