The story of Gristle, the Great Mad Drake is a foalhood story told by the non-reserve families in Hollow Shades for as long as anypony could remember. Like so many other bedtime stories it was designed to both slightly frighten and teach morals to our batpony foals.

The general story was that The Great Drake Gristle wished to become the First and Last Dragon Lord - that he would live forever, commanding over all living creatures throughout the world. He even hinted that he’d discovered a way to keep himself from aging and a new weapon to subjugate the world with, though he never said, exactly, what that was.

Soon after he decreed himself the title of “Dragon Lord”, he woke and asked questions of his dragonkin; questions that prompted the doctor to check on him. Questions like what year it was, who were his children, how many mates he still had alive. It took part of that day to convince him that the answers were truthful and all was as it should be.

But the next day it happened again, only worse; he woke screaming, crying, frantically wanting to know what happened to the dragonlands, where the invading armies had come from, who was left to fight back….

But, of course, nothing had happened.

It was only a nightmare they told him. Some bad gemstones in his diet they said.

But the days turned into weeks, turned into a month, then a whole season - slowly turning Dragon Lord Gristle mad. His waking hours were filled with maniacal laughter or crying or mumbling or talking to himself or his advisors about things that had never happened, making him unable to pay attention to his people’s problems.

Until, one morning, he took the Dragon Lord Sceptre, flew as high as his broad wings would take him, leaving Gristle-Shaped Holes in the clouds, and threw the Sceptre away! Launching it deep into the dragonlands, not caring where it landed or who would find it, only caring that it was away from himself.

And with that task done, he dove. His powerful wings driving him faster to the ground, leaving a streak of vapor behind himself, until his terrified screaming ended as he impacted, snoutfirst, into the ground.

Historic records show that so loud was the explosion that it was noted in the outskirts of the Crystal Empire.

Our parents would explain that the moral of the story was that we should always be mindful of what we choose to take on in life; that there are far-reaching responsibilities that come with each choice. The realization of the responsibilities for Gristle’s want to control the world and all in it forever finally dawned on him, overloading his mind and heart with the pressures he’d have to face for all time without end.

Like so many watered-down stories like these, the truth was far more grim, but still inside the tale if you knew where to look.

Gristle was a real dragon; the very first with the title “Supreme Dragon Lord”, in fact. His people didn’t call him that because the term “Supreme” was useless, so “Dragon Lord” he was.

And, of course, Gristle needed to have something to show everydrake he was the most important dragon; the Dragon Lord. And it not only needed to exude authority by its looks, but by its infused power. Power to influence other dragons.

And it needed to be obvious, not hidden away. Something he could carry and show off. An extension of his ego. Like wanting to be called “Supreme”.

The sceptre soon appeared.

The Lunar Guard’s information network passed word to Princess Luna soon after the sceptre’s first public display. It wasn’t difficult to learn about considering Gristle’s ego made sure everydrake saw it and was to pay some reverence to it.

Normally such information would have been shared with the Solar Diarch so there would be an agreed-upon joint response to this political change. In this specific case She kept the information, choosing to deal with this event personally. She had been sensing odd forms in the Dream Realm for some time, never quite being able to figure out where it was coming from or what the disturbance was. But with this revelation the pieces began to fall into place.

The Dream Realm can be thought of like a pool of water; you can float in it, glide through it, there’s no real sense of Up or Down, you can feel it ripple through you like a wave, and you don’t have to breathe it. There is a definite “normal” to how it should feel and act, and for weeks Princess Luna knew it was most certainly “not”, but was mystified as to what or where it went wrong. It was seemingly everywhere and nowhere each time she tried to feel it; like ripples on the top of water reflecting over and over again from the sides of a lake.

Since dragons do not typically share the Dream Realm as ponies do, there is no need for Princess Luna to watch over them. But the discovery of Gristle’s plans and ego and the sceptre’s stored power, she took another investigation into the “wrongness” of the Dream Realm, casting her attention wider and wider on the guess that the disturbance was Dragon Lord sized.

Finding a non-pony in her domain was worrisome. Specifically, finding Gristle had forced his way into it, effectively clawing a hole in and trying to manipulate it was almost enough to terrify her. She knew enough to keep herself hidden from detection, investigating the damaged dream realm slowly, carefully.

It took some weeks to carefully peek into his mind when it was most vulnerable, uncovering his wants for supreme dominance, to be the final forever-king of the world. Several weeks of gathering clandestine reconnaissance while plumbing his vulnerable mind for ways to sate his desires without allowing the subjugation of the world.

She started gently adjusting what he experienced when he was able to cross into her purview; planting an idea here, fabricating a possible future there, letting him see, little by little, what he was trying to accomplish and how it would affect everycreature. This took weeks to produce results since there would be some days between crossing events and not taking every opportunity to adjust him so as to not raise suspicions.

The field reports let the Princess know his reaction was not what was wanted.

The feelings those dreams gave Gristle made him more power-mad and angry that he was weak in his own estimations. His ego would not allow that to be, so he consolidated his power as Dragon Lord, using the scepter to influence his closest advisors’ minds. He ordered them to find more who could be easily controlled as well. And with that he quickly amassed an army, the likes of which would only be bested in size by the migration flights.

The Lunar Guard had difficulty getting this information out at first, owing to the “curious” but not “threatening” nature of the dragons at first. It was normal for Gristle to have many visitors, it was part of how he measured himself. So the influx of dragons to him was no especially noteworthy. However as the frequency of repeat visitors increased, along with, at first, less than enthusiastic Plus-One’s, who became enamoured of these ideas after leaving the meetings….

The scroll that arrived at The Castle of the Two Sister was hoofed over by a High Security Courier who shredded parts of her wings in the process, never to fly again. The outer scroll wrap said in bold letters, “UEAC”.

“Urgent. Emergency. All Costs.”

This scroll’s cost was her wings.

Princess Luna’s anger was without precedent. That very night she wrapped the dreamscape around him and dragged him in.

She invaded his mind, controlling his dreams fully, placing him into scenario after scenario, lifetimes of experience in just a few minutes’ waking time.

She made him watch his family die.
Watch new dragons be born, live, and them die.
He met each dragon, lived with them, loved some of them, then watched them die.
He saw his Dragonlands expand and contract with political upheavals.
Ponies, hippogryphs, changelings, yaks, sea serpents, frost beasts; all to live around him and die after a pathetically short handful of decades of time with him.
He witnessed moons of wars, of peace, of famine, and prosperity.

Hundreds of moons worth of experiences and feelings, thousands of lives his responsibility to care for and protect, only to ultimately fail so many in his own mind.

Finally, after a full night, Princess Luna, the Mistress of the Dream Realm, released him back into his own mind, screaming awake in blind terror.

She had shown him the reality he was trying to create, and the realization overtook him.

He threw away the sceptre and committed suicide, leaving a lava-filled crater of cracked pillars of stone where all future Dragon Lords have reigned from; reminding them the price of the sceptre and its responsibility.

The dragons never found out why Gristle killed himself.

The Lunar Guard Archive of Arcana has the truth of this event stored for future generations should the need ever come to know of it.

We in the guard do not tell our children the tale of Gristle the Great Mad Drake because we know the truth….

That should the need ever arise, Princess Luna could literally kill someone with a thought.

We also know that She will hold the burden of that memory forever.

Author's Note

The tale of Gristle The Great Mad Drake was terrifying to me as I wrote it. The irony, the power, the sacrifice....

Only to realize as I got to the end....

Princess Luna dream raped him.

--and I don't know what to do with this, knowing she's carried this for who-only-known how many moon.