Reserve Stock: Growing Competition

Once upon a time, in the magical land of Equestria, there lived a mare named Rarity. She was a dressmaker, an artist, and a buisnessmare, not to mention the lead singer in her acapella group. All the ponies in Ponyville thought she was talented and generous, and so when she told them she was going into the alcohol trade, they anticipated she would have great success.

Dragon’s Milk she called it. It was a dry liquor with a variable taste—sometimes flowery, sometimes tangy, sometimes bitter. It didn’t taste like anything else, being too strong and complex to be like beer, to dry and hoppy to be like gin, too flowery to be like old malt liquor. It was a runaway success, and it made Rarity a handsome profit.

The ponies of Ponyville were proud of Rarity’s creation. As Dragon’s Milk appeared in stores in Canterlot and Manehatten and Fillydelphia, Ponyville became known for something other than monster attacks and the Elements of Harmony. It put their town on the map, they said, as something other than a hazard warning symbol.

They thought Rarity must be clever indeed, to have come up with such a fine beverage.

Twilight Sparkle, Bearer of the Element of Magic and Princess of Friendship, had a slightly different opinion. She thought that Rarity really needed to stop milking dragons.

Or, dragon. Rarity had only one dragon—Ember. They had a complex relationship.

It all began in the spring, when Rarity discovered that dragons have an annual mating cycle. After asking suitable questions, she learned that during the peak of this cycle, mature female dragons will lactate a thin, alcohol based fluid, in a manner superficially similar to mammals.

“Of course,” Twilight had said, “it’s not actually milk. Milk is a highly caloric fat based particle suspension which serves as the youngs’ primary food source, while dragon’s nursing fluid is really just a base of alcohol with trace amounts of key minerals and micronutrients.”

After a long silence, Rarity replied: “Are you telling me that Ember’s… teats, are currently secreting a beverage in excess of,” she checked one of the books, “a hundred proof?”

“Oh, yes. Ha ha.” Twilight laughed. “She may look like a mammal, but don’t let her nurse any young ponies.”

“Oh, don’t worry, Twilight,” Rarity said. “I won’t. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to go check on an unrelated matter.”

Two weeks later, Dragon’s Milk appeared in its first store.

Soon, Rarity dragged others into her scheme. There was Thunderlane, who made the deliveries, and Gilda, who arranged sales to Griffonstone. She also roped in Applejack, despite considerable resistance.

Ultimately, it was Ember who sealed the deal with Applejack, when she discovered that the humble farm pony had a particular interest in dragons with aggressive curves. It was a pleasurable surprise for them both.

And so, as fall came and the running of the leaves approached, all seemed well in the world. Rarity was respected and wealthy, Ember had her new pony friends, and Applejack had discovered the joy of being in a relationship with a creature who appealed to her extremely obscure fetish.

Until the day Rarity went to Barnyard Bargins for some fabric, and saw her product in the window. Dragons Milk, read the display stand, 50 bits.

Underneath it was a different beverage, with a lighter color and sparkly bits floating inside. It came in a bottle that looked like a young dragon with aggressively large teats, and it showed off her fangs as she smiled.

Dragons Milk: Fuze’s Private Batch, read the display stand, 75 bits.

It was barely ten minutes later that Rarity, sweaty and out of breath, threw open the door to her own boutique. “Some dragon,” she screamed, brandishing a bottle of the new stuff like a weapon, “is ripping us off!”