In ancient times, long before Equestria’s founding, a mighty dragon made his home in a hidden cavern deep within an iceberg. Immensely greedy, he gathered a gargantuan hoard of gold during his long life. When age finally threatened to claim him, the dragon placed a curse upon his mountain of treasure: any soul that disturbed his immense wealth would find themselves trapped within the hoard-turned-tomb. They themselves would be added to the dragon’s possessions as punishment for presuming to steal what was forever his by right of conquest.

What ironic misfortune then that Marinia would be the one to stumble upon the treasure hoard, thousands of years later. Trapped by the curse, even the gargantuan depths-touched seapony might have been in serious trouble. Fortunately she has an unconventional way out: a body unconstrained by conventional biology, an otherworldly patron more than happy to turbocharge her metabolism, and an ever-hungry brood of half-eldritch babies. Her leviathan foals aren’t picky; cursed gold breaks down into raw matter and mana just like anything else.

Consuming enough of the hoard to break the curse will probably take her a while. It’s the perfect excuse to lay back, relax and take a little satisfaction in thwarting a particularly avaricious reptile, made all the more pleasurable by the private attentions of her cosmic paramour. She’ll be quite a bit bigger - in every meaningful sense - by the time she’s done…

Art by Bahnbahn, with additional big thanks to Klamnei for commissioning.