Hitting Those High Notes

In a manner of moments, all the aura of unrelenting sex and passion had dwindled into nil, and all that remained was an unpleasant looming confusion. Sweetie Belle, left hanging in the hours of twilight, had long since changed into a soft puce bathrobe and occupied herself with whatever minor amusing diversions she could obtain. She had played a few quests in Fallout: Equestria on the hotel’s television, but that got depressing rather quickly, so she opted to jot down a few lyrics for her next single. Unfortunately, that too lead nowhere, as the silence made her dwell on Spike’s sudden stomp-off.

It was the well and late hours of the night, and Spike still hadn’t come back. Sweetie wasn’t entirely sure if he was still in the bathroom, but he hadn’t shown himself since he locked himself in there.

She knew for sure that she had touched a nerve when she brought up Rarity, and she promised herself with prayers to Celestia and Luna (And Cadence and Twilight, just for insurance) that she would never bring her sister up for as long as she lived, so long as she got to hug and hump Spike again. It took only an hour for her to realize how much she needed him. If Spike had told her he was well and done for the weekend, she would have understood; that would have been closure. But his behavior back there was just plain unnerving to her.

She considered it a miracle in itself that she managed to fall asleep, partially because she still ached for more sensuous bonding with her sexy dragon boy, but also because of questions unanswered. She felt like a child again, being sent to her room… by Rarity… who never told her why… which was exactly what happened when she asked Rarity why she wanted nothing to do with dragons. Sweetie had rampaged around her room while headbanging to songs about stupid sisters and stupid meanies during her unfair punishment.

She awoke to one of those songs.

“Why do I love you?
Every time we lie awake,
after every hit we take,
every feeling that I get…”

It was garbled and quiet. She partially rose from the covers, more awake than she normally would be due to not having slept very long. A glance at the bedside clock told her she only nodded off for two hours. That lead her gaze to a certain drake, dressed in black, flame-patterned robes, with his legs crossed as he sat at the side of the bed.

“Spike?”

He slowly turned to Sweetie as he removed the pair of headphones wrapped around his neck, then turned them off, silencing the song. By the moonlight, glistening remains of tears could be seen on his cheeks. He quickly turned away. He rotated a glass in his grip and gave it a swig. “I was watching you sleep,” he said after he swallowed. He then grimaced. “Okay, that sounds stalker-ish…”

“Whatcha drinking?” Sweetie asked.

“Martini. Thought it might cheer me up.” He drank again, this time for longer than what should be healthy. He had to force himself to let the glass fall from his lips. He sighed and said, “I thought wrong.”

It was an unusual situation to say the least, with Spike remaining there and draining his glass. Sweetie was internally thankful he had at least gotten to speaking with her, but there was still nothing more she could do than splay her arms out across the bed and exhale. “Okay, this is the part where I try to ask you things, terrified that you’ll run off again without explaining what that was all about.”

Spike tried to drink again but the glass was well empty at that point. He settled for eating the olive at the bottom. After he swallowed, he set the glass on the floor and leaned back. “I’m not going to leave you again if I can help it. I just had a freakout. It happens.”

“Yeah, I get that, but...” Sweetie facepalmed, then got off her back. She loosened up her robes a little, showing off more fur, then waded through the blankets to reach Spike. She held his shoulders, then spoke with more tenderness to her voice. “But not with you. I’ve seen you rampage through Ponyville as a gigantic greed-induced dragon but I’ve never seen you go emo.”

Spike chuckled pathetically. “Emo?”

“Yeah, and honestly, I prefer giant dragon.”

Another chuckle, this one less pathetic, made the situation seem a little less awkward and sad. But Spike still looked like he was hurting as he massaged the bridge of his beak. “I’ve been thinking of some epic award winning confession about how much you mean to me and what happened in my past doesn’t have any bearing on my many beddings… None of them sounded any good.”

“Try one,” said Sweetie, eyes sparkling with curiosity.

“Okay.” Spike cleared his throat, held his arms out in synchronization with his breath, and began. “When you love someone very much, heck, even if you like someone, you sorta… give your soul to them. And when they like you back, it’s like your souls are united, and stronger because of that. But then, when you lose a friend or lover, or you’re forced to break things off, it’s like… you don’t get that part of your soul, the part you gave away, back. So you have to deal with a broken soul for a while. And it’s hard to give away a broken soul, right?”

Sweetie saw many different directions in which this could go, but none of them made any sense. “I think I get your metaphor, but what does that have to do with—”

“I had sex with Rarity.”

Sweetie stopped, petrified, as if she had just gotten jumped by a cockatrice. Her expression, pose, even her eyes, were completely void of movement. At least, until she looked at Spike, held her arms out, dropped her jaw and said, “Okay.”

Spike feared this sort of reaction, and he had no doubts that he would be thrown out of the penthouse in a few minutes. Maybe a few seconds. “Yeah, that… that happened. Can I get another drink?”

He reached for his glass but Sweetie quickly moved over, stretched out her leg and knocked it aside. “No. I’ve waited too long to hear this.” She held her temples. “I’m not mad, Spike. Rarity has had her share of partners, some I’ve walked in on her with. If anything…” Her expression turned warmer, with a smile of support. “I’m glad that you two finally had your time.”

“Isn’t that just precious,” Spike scoffed. “Then ask me why I wasn’t prancing around town celebrating that I had taken the mare of my dreams to the bedroom.” A moment of silence passed. “No, seriously, ask.”

Sweetie looked back and forth, then asked, “Why weren’t you—”

“A lot of things!” Spike stood from the bed, pacing back and forth with his hands on his hips. “We were drunk, okay? It was just another day, I went over to her place to see what was up, she had a pitcher of margaritas. I was of legal age at the time, at least as dragons go. How could I resist? At first it was just a social occasion. One glass, maybe two, as we discussed ideas for high fashion. I even modeled a couple outfits for her.” He paused. “And a dress.” He awkwardly rubbed his spines as Sweetie held her muzzle to control her laughter. “I didn’t mind.”

“Keep going.”

“Anyway, I just kept drinking, but Rarity drank more. And more. Up until the point that I don’t think she was entirely herself. I mean, I was tipsy, but she was outright wasted. And then…” Spike trailed off as a sound of tearing fabric wrecked the quiet of the night. He noticed he had dug his claws into his robe. “Urgh. We went upstairs, slobbered all over each other, got undressed...”

Sweetie was tempted to crawl up and hug Spike, but she didn’t want to spook him. He didn’t seem in a very huggable mood anyway, and a lot of confusion bore on her. “I thought you’d be happy about it, Spike…”

“You’d think so!” the drake yelled. “But no! In fact, I redact what I said before. We didn’t have sex. That was not sex! We fucked, okay?! We fucked like drunken animals because… be… because that’s what we were! Drunken, stupid, senseless, fucking animals! And you know something? It… it was awful. Like… I don’t even know what I was doing. And neither did Rarity. I don’t remember exactly how it happened, but that’s not the problem. The problem is, it happened. I’ll tell you what I do remember, though. Shame.” He cringed, cradling his head. “Shame up to my fucking eyes!”

“Wha—” Sweetie didn’t even get a chance to form one word.

“We sat there, embarrassed as all get-out, sobering up enough to realize what we had just done. The look Rarity gave me… I remember every detail. Her jaw was slack, her eyes were wide, she had a bead of sweat falling from the bridge of her muzzle… That was the last thing I saw before I ran. I didn’t stop until I was out the door, across Ponyville and back in my bed at Twilight’s house. I didn’t sleep that night. I locked myself away in there for a week while Twilight served me food in bed. I didn’t even have the dignity to act sick. I just flaked out like a dumbass… Who am I kidding, I am a dumbass!”

Sweetie couldn’t have gaped anymore if she tried. “Jeepers…”

“Yeah. And when I came out, I saw Rarity again. She looked at me the exact same way. Slack jaw. Wide eyes. Sweat. I mumbled gibberish and sprinted back inside.” Exasperated, Spike shuffled to the bed and plopped down next to Sweetie, falling out his back. His cheeks were shining again. “That was years ago. That was the last time I saw her.”

Spike didn’t blink as he let his tears fall, and he relished the soft comfort of Sweetie’s fingers gently brushing his spines. It was soothing, at least a little bit.

“I took advantage of her, Sweets… I threw everything out the window for a drunken, shameful fumble of a night. Everything that Rarity and I could have ever been is gone, and it’s my fault.”

Sweetie nodded solemnly. “I think I know what you meant with souls and all. It’s worse for you, what with your childhood crush on my sister…”

“I poured my soul into that crush for years. Almost everything I had belonged to Rarity, and I was so close to making her the one. And then…” Spike made a gesture like an explosion. “Yeah.” He covered his face and curled his legs, scrunching them up against his chest. He looked more miserable than a wet kitten, and his sobs nearly broke Sweetie’s heart. “I can’t make that sort of commitment ever again. I’ll break…” He tried to dry those tears, to little avail. “That’s why I throw myself into bed with so many mares and stallions. It helps.”

“Helps with what?” Sweetie asked. She lay down next to Spike and wrapped herself around him, feeling like she could put a damper on his shivering.

Spike looked up at her. He didn’t smile, but he was thankful for her embrace. “I don’t know… It just helps. I feel a lot better about myself, knowing I can at least bring pleasure to others out there… Maybe make up for my greatest mistake. I meet somepony nice, we fall into bed together. Sometimes we just fuck and call it, sometimes we do something more, maybe order a pizza and watch a movie before the sex… I’ve been on a few romantic dinners, those were nice. The point is, the folks I meet, we never do anything more than hang out for a while and hump. There’s no long-term commitment. No souls get broken. Least of all, mine.”

The sobbing drake swallowed in surprise when his lover nuzzled him, brushing his dorsal fin and kissing his cheek. In a playful tone, she asked, “So am I just another night of cathartic sex for you?”

Spike would have stood up in a flash to deny such a thing if it weren’t for a hundred and some-odd pounds of nubile starlet huggling him. “Babe, jeez, no,” he instantly spat out. He ran his claws through Sweetie’s bedhead curls. “No, I’d never do anything like that, especially not to you. I came here because you asked me to.”

“Okay, Spikey-Wikey, I get it. I was joking.”

“I’d never use you for anything like that. You mean the world to me, I lo—” Spike’s mouth snapped shut.

He knew that Sweetie Belle knew what he was about to say, and for a moment filled with dread, like a viscous oil washing over him, he was worried he had gone and flubbed the entire weekend with one aborted sentence. Not wanting to see Sweetie’s expression, and simultaneously hoping she didn’t see his, he grappled a pillow and buried his beak deep within it.

As a short-lived look of shock bloomed into one of happiness, complemented by a giggle and light blush, Sweetie leaned over towards the burrowing drake and whispered to his uncovered part of his head, "I love you, Spike," before leaning back up into her sitting position to watch the fireworks.

The words made Spike’s eyes snap open. His muffled breathing halted in surprise. It took him a bit to sit up and stare off into the distance. After he was finished staring for a good few seconds, his gaze filled with a cross between shock and concern, he turned to Sweetie Belle and mouthed a single word. 'Really?'

She didn't do anything but nod in response.

Spike found himself nodding along with her. He didn't realize his mouth was agape until the jubilicious starlet brought her hand to his chin and closed it for him. He felt her other hand follow suit as it reached under his robe, touching his shoulder and brushing along up to his cheek.

"You can give me your soul if you want. Just for tonight," she whispered. Under any other circumstance, were this a romantic drama or a sappy adult film, Spike would have laughed, but that was the sort of thing he wanted, perhaps needed, to hear. And an embrace from the beautiful filly certainly didn't hurt matters. "I won’t break it, I promise."

Trying his absolute hardest not to let tears well up in his widened eyes, Spike nodded and returned the embrace wholeheartedly before saying in his least cracked and tear driven voice, "It's yours… You can have it..." It had been such a long time since he had ever felt this good, this warm about nearly anything, and it was more than incredible to know that the feeling was being returned to him tenfold. His embrace on the filly tightened with each breath.

Sweetie became enveloped in her magical teal aura, which was at its most radiant at the tip of her horn. She relinquished the embrace.

Spike was caught completely unawares. “What are you…”

He was silenced by a finger to his lips. “Shh… I’m setting the mood.” Sweetie waved to the windows, bringing down all of the blinds at once. The view of Ponyville disappeared from sight, dimming the room from the moon’s natural luminescence, save for a few inches of uncovered window. Spike could only see Sweetie by her glow and a single strip of moonlight across her face.

Sweetie pointed to the living room table with one hand and to the bedside table with another. A spark came from each finger, illuminating a set of candles on each surface. This bathed the entire penthouse in a flickering ethereal blue light.

“Blue fire?” Spike remarked. “Those magic lessons with Twilight really paid off. It’s beautiful.” He looked forward to see Sweetie had removed her robe, which lay abandoned on the carpet next to Spike’s glass. She was clad only in her white, lacy undergarments, with a seductive yet gentle expression visible only barely by the candlelight.

“Kiss me.”

Smiling lightly as his mind began to swoon, Spike cast himself forward. In a single movement, he was positioned over his love. Suspending himself up on his elbows, the drake leaned down and planted a long, soft kiss on her lips. He slowly lowered himself down and pressed their forms together as their lips continued to dance their own special dance. The sparks were more than flying as the two shared their moment and after only a mere minute had passed, Spike's body was giving him the sign that he was ready.

The enamoured and excited Sweetie Belle felt her fur crawl, reciprocating the life and passion radiating from Spike's very essence. A time like this made her so grateful to be a unicorn; if ever there was proof of magic in everything, it was Spike's loving gaze and caresses. His hips rolled into hers, forcing her to feel his stiffening erection beneath his robe. Something seemed different about it. Like it didn't desire to ravish her, rather, it needed her.

"Oh, Spike..." she gasped, feeling sharp fangs sink into her neck. Her breath quickened and her hold on Spike grew ever tighter, until the sweet pain stopped. "Mmm..." She relaxed her head against the pillows and closed her eyes, relishing the relief, then looked back to become lost in Spike's green eyes. "You remember what you said, right? About the difference between fucking and making love?"

“Yeah… every word.” His claws tickled Sweetie’s fur as they grazed over her stomach, stopping just under her chest. She laughed, albeit quietly, but it was her body’s fluctuations that gave Spike the indication he was doing something right. It was lucky for him that being tickled was one of Sweetie’s many turn-ons. Another turn-on of hers was being teased by the mouth of her bedfellows, which Spike had well and down. His slick reptilian tongue flicked at her breasts, which were still shielded by white fabric.

Sweetie, silently beckoning for her bra to be removed and let her breasts lay free, brought her arms away from Spike and held them over her head. She considered it a stroke of luck that she had worn one of those bras that unstraps from the front. It was even better that Spike took notice, unhooking it with a single swish of a claw. He took ahold of the bra and gently pushed it over Sweetie’s head and along her arms until it was entirely off. Their hands met along the way, making it as good a moment as any to share a kiss.

“Hello, sunshine,” he whispered.

“Hey, yourself…”

Spike smirked cheekily. “I was talking to the girls.” He took a handful of marshmallowy goodness, making Sweetie sigh at the tingling sensation before she could quip back at him. But just one hand gripping one breast wasn’t going to cut it.

Together, they pressed the breasts up against each other, massaging nipple against nipple until the combination of the mildly cold night air and the sheer eroticism of the lovers’ passionate foreplay made both points hard as diamonds, and all the more lickable for Spike’s tongue. He circled around the areolas a few times, playing to the sound of Sweetie’s giggles, then turned those giggles into moans by clamping down on both nipples at once. He thrashed around a little bit, adding tension to the slivers of pain. When he released, Sweetie’s breasts jiggled back into place. “You were saying?”

“I… I…” Sweetie had to catch her breath, then wipe her brow clean of sweat. She cupped her hands over Spike’s cheeks and brought him in for another long, intimate kiss. Even when that kiss ended, she remained so close to him their lips brushed with every word she said. “I… don’t want to be fucked. I think I’ve had my fill of fucking for a while, to be honest.”

Spike had a good idea where this was going, but he indulged the filly beneath him. “Then… what do you want, exactly?” His nostrils blew a small puff of smoke when he felt Sweetie’s stealthy little fingers crawling along his pelvis, fast approaching his very ready and very willing erection.

As her fingers trailed closer and closer, Sweetie looked deep into her drake's curious eyes and said in sincerity a most genuine and passionate plea, "It’s more than enough to have you ravish me with all of your passion and desire, but it means nothing unless you put your heart into it. I want you to make love to me."

Once it was out, Spike took a short moment to process things, his eyes slowly losing their lustful gaze and replacing it with that of love and care along with a gentle smile in complement. "Well," he said softly, "if you insist, my dear." And slowly descended his lips onto his love’s own, embracing the pair in a heartfelt kiss unlike any other.

The only thing in the world that stopped Spike from making such an engrossed kiss last for hours was tickling warmth on his already well engorged and quite heated cock. Sweetie's hand was placed upon it vertically, with her fingers pawing at his testicles. Whatever hope Spike held of keeping his composure was gone when she gave him a good long stroke. That tugged his lower body closer against hers. Only the silk of his robe and the cloth of her underwear separated them from becoming one.

Realizing this sad truth, Spike broke the kiss for a moment and looked into Sweetie's eyes. His wordless expression said more than needed and both he and Sweetie began to make repairs to the blockades set between the two. Spike sat up, removing his robe and setting it aside as he watched the sweet white filly unveil her sex. She didn’t take it slow, but it wasn’t a rush either. Either way, the white panties ended up being kicked onto the floor. The tension was only building as they reset their position, Spike atop Sweetie, and their gazes met once more.

"I almost forgot how this felt... You know, just holding somepony close. While being completely naked, uh..." He faltered, smiling at his failed attempt at a dramatic speech. "You look great, by the way."

Giggling, Sweetie leaned up and gave the drake a quick peck on the cheek. "Thank you, Spike." She smiled, placing her hands on his hips and nudging down a bit. "I'm ready when you are…”

Spike's claws wrapped around her hands and steered them to hold him by his back. "Stay close to me, okay?" the drake asked. He deliberately neglected to arch his back. He needed to be against this beautiful mare, feeling the rise and fall of her chest, her heartbeat quickening in anticipation of him, her breasts forming to his embrace, hell, her everything. She's perfect, he thought. I don't know why I’d ever bother looking anywhere else.

Nodding in agreement to his terms, Sweetie lovingly wrapped her arms around him as he began to get himself ready to slide in. He looked down and mouthed the words, 'I love you' to the mare beneath him, smiling sweetly as she mouthed it back and he began to slowly guide his length into Sweetie's marehood.

Her smile broke for what felt like the first time in hours, replaced with pursed lips. A squeal formed in her throat as she felt a new kind of warmth pass her entrance and grace her inner walls. "Oh, sweet yappers, Spike!" She ran her hands along his back as a sign of loving approval. "Where was this yesterday?" She wiggled her hips, wanting to feel more of this sudden libido. "You feel so different."

Spike's aura of confidence was incredibly alluring as he tilted his head and smirked. "You like it?"

"Oh, new is awesome… I love it..." she sighed, grinding against Spike's shaft still as she wordlessly begged him in further.

Obliging the silent request, Spike slowly began to move himself into and out of the soft interior of his love beneath him. His breaths were in rhythm with his movements as he leaned his head down and buried it in Sweetie's shoulder. He tuned his ears in to hear her own amazed breaths with each movement he made. She was like his own little instrument.

If this were any of the nights before, Spike would have been tempted to bite her, scratch a little, perhaps say something dirty. He might have turned her on her side and slam into her from behind while tweaking her clitoris. Or he’d have leaned all the way back and let her grind and ride him to an easy but relaxing climax. But suddenly all of that felt unbalanced, like it wouldn’t be enough. Spike didn’t want anything sexy or raunchy. He was comfortable with just feeling every inch of Sweetie with something other than his dick. His heart was the muscle he was truly using. That was why he could safely say that Sweetie was by far, out of every mare or stallion he’d taken over the past years, the best he ever had.

And unbeknownst to him, the feeling was mutual for Sweetie Belle. Her mind melted into a disheveled mess, incapable of any thought other than being taken by this stallion… No, he wasn’t a stallion. He was beyond any stallion. She’d take a mighty, firebreathing dragon over a stallion any day. The one friendly dragon in Equestria and he was inside her… That luxury was renewed as she felt his length twitch. She hissed as her legs became little more than noodles.

She could feel all of him. Spike was going in deep, deeper, drawing an excess of nectar from her flower. She could feel his cock getting soaked in the nectar with each slow, powerful thrust, and he would always return to her like the generous, kind soul he was. Sweetie knew his was a soul she’d keep close to hers, even if it were just for this one night.

“Spike… I… I…” Her words were useless against his mighty, passionate wrath over her body. All attempts to call out to him turned into nonsensical wails. Wails of love, but still. There was a lot of wailing. She only managed to gasp out what she wanted to say, and it was only a fraction of how she intended to say it. “Ooooaah…” She reclaimed control of her legs and bent them, arching her back. Whenever Spike pounded into her, she thrusted forward to meet him. She couldn’t have gotten closer to him if she tried. “You can have my soul too… Whenever you want it… I’m… I’m yours… Take me, Spike…”

Her words pierced what little armor the drake had around his heart. He felt a surge in his loins. A surge of power, one that begged to emerge and claim Sweetie Belle. The moment he came, her words would reign true; he would be hers. While it pained him to break their embrace, Spike nonetheless rose above Sweetie. She never broke her clear and loving gaze with him, even when he pushed into her, grinding against her wrapped legs and glazed pelvis. “Go on, say it,” he pleaded.

“I’m yours?”

“No, the other thing… I know we’ve said it already, but I just want to hear it one more time.”

As Sweetie began to decipher what he might be requesting, she realized she was drawing nearer and nearer to her climax. Her body shivered to the point of trembling as she struggled to refrain from pulling Spike back down as his thrusts regained their power. She could tell that they were going to climax together, with each other, something she always dreamed of doing with somepony she actually loved.

"S-Spike, I.." she started, getting caught off guard by Spike brushing her clit. She out a light squeak.

Keeping his rhythm steady as his own end came near, Spike looked his love dead in the eyes and said without words that he was ready.

Before either of them even had time to think, the white mare pulled Spike against her, fully embracing his sweat and heat, and cried out, "Spike, I love you!" Her climax came strong in unison with the words.

The feeling of her love juices rushing out caused Spike to shiver and thrust a tad more sporadically as he let himself flow forth and fill Sweetie with his seed. One couldn’t call it a torrent; it was greater than that. It had more meaning than any other orgasm. By cumming with Sweetie, Spike knew he had bonded with her. And the feeling of satisfaction, relief, and rising warmth filled more than just his loins. He felt it all across his body, in his mind, and his heart. He didn’t feel it in his soul because, well, that thing belonged to the mare he claimed.

After the two had finished savoring the sensation of each other's finishing shots, Sweetie's flattened out onto the bed, and Spike collapsed atop her in a loving embrace. His breaths were heavy on her as he traveled along her neck. He planted small kisses up to her ear, then nipped it with soft affection.

Once Spike had caught his breath, he propped himself up again. He looked down at the smiling face of Sweetie Belle. Of all the picture perfect moments he had witnessed over the weekend, this was the most worthy of a painting. Sweetie looked so serene and blissful, with a smile enough to melt the coldest ice. With utmost sincerity, Spike whispered, "I love you too… so much…”

She held a bright, vibrant light. It was cupped between her hands, whispering unintelligible things from days long gone. She knew its purpose, what it was, although she didn’t claim to know most of the things this light held, she at least understood its purpose, and what she was supposed to do with it.

She tightened her grip on this light, but not too tight; it was far too important to her to risk breaking it. She brought it close to her breast, closing her eyes to listen to its whispers. Whispers of happiness, sorrow, and a tragic tale of unrequited love that fell to pieces. It was a tale sad enough to break her own heart, but a single notion brought her solace; the notion that she would hold this light. She would let it grow until it could manage on its own once again.

Whether or not she could keep it after, well, that was a bridge she would cross when she came to it.

The light resonated with her, spreading throughout her body like a wave. It was as if she was embraced by a lover tenfold; an overwhelming feeling of comfort and warmth stronger than any blanket.

Smiling gleefully, she rolled over and wrapped her arms around herself. The world grew silent. Peaceful it remained. If she could speak, she would have described this as happiness, pure happiness…

And then Sweetie Belle awoke.

She wiped the blur of the penthouse suite out of her eyes, groaning as she willed the rest of her body to respond to her. The most she could manage was rolling over to face the other side of the bed where she knew her darling drake would be.

Only he wasn’t there, much to her chagrin. She lifted herself up and looked around what little of the room she could see. She heard no noise from the kitchen or the bathroom. For a moment of rising panic, she searched for Spike’s coat. If it was gone, then he would be too. And if that were so… Sweetie whinged as she pondered the possibility that their balmy experience, that loving bond they sealed, was all a dream.

But she put all of those fears to rest when she caught sight of a moving figure across the room, mostly concealed the shadows of the night. Regardless, she recognized that it was Spike.

Sweetie felt the urge to hold him a little longer. She reached out over the bed for her robes, but just as she stretched out her arm, she paused at the sound of Spike’s voice.

“...There are a million words I could say right now, hell… I think I wrote some down. But I learned a little bit earlier that if I need to say something I should just come out and say it.”

With how he said that, with it being somewhat rushed and nervous, Sweetie figure that he wasn’t talking to her. A closer look at him confirmed that much; he was on the phone.

“Okay… Okay, here it goes… I’m sorry.”

That was enough to give Sweetie a good idea of who he was talking to. She relaxed, settling down and watching the conversation proceed. This would either end in disaster or euphoria. Either way, Spike had a big ol’ hug coming his way.

“What do you mean by that? Of course I have something to be sorry for! I made a complete mule out of us both! I… I used you! Do you have any idea what that means? ...That’s what I’m sorry for. I screwed up so many things… ...No, don’t do that. That sympathy card or whatever. We both know who’s in the wrong here. …But I… No. No, no no. How could I… I can’t forgive myself for doing that to you. That’s why I ran off. That’s why I don’t stay in Ponyville for more than a week. I’ve been so… Listen, I’ve been so scared of what you’d say to me that I just kept running. What scared me more was the idea that I could somehow mess us up even further. ...Yeah, I said that in the past tense. ...Yeah, I’m still scared, but… ...You heard me say I’m sorry. So please, just… Just get out what you need to. Please verbally castrate me.”

That last one nearly made Sweetie burst out laughing, but she didn’t want to break Spike’s concentration. He was under enough stress already.

“...You don’t… You’re not mad?”

Spike had a sudden rise from the depths of self-pity to what could only be described as squeeing.

“Oh, oh my… But I… I know, but… You’re really… Oh sweet Celestia, you were scared too, weren’t you? ...Mother of coincidences, right? So this whole thing was just one big misunderstanding! Holy… You don’t… You can’t comprehend how much it means to me to… I know, I… You’re still my friend, right? ...Yeah. ...Yeah, I guess we never weren’t friends. That meant more to me than anything else. It’s like… Yeah, exactly. Like I fell in love with the idea of falling in love with you.”

Spike held the phone away from him for just a moment. Sweetie assumed he didn’t want his audible choke to be heard.

“But that was the old me… Yep, yep. I can see that… So, we probably have a lot of catching up to do. Tell you what? Why don’t we do brunch? ...Okay, sounds awesome. ...No, I’ll pay. ...Shut up, I’m paying. I got a huge paycheck coming in. ...From a concert. I do concerts now. ...I know, right? ...Okay, see you tomorrow. Really looking forward to it.”

Spike waited a while to shut off the phone. He stood still for a moment, spun around in a circle and held a fist up high, nearly knocking a ceiling light away. He stumbled, caught hold of himself, and then settled for a much more subtle fist pump.

“Somepony’s happy,” said Sweetie Belle. She followed up with a sleepy yawn. Waking up twice in the middle of the night didn’t exactly bode well, regardless of her good mood. Assuming it was still nighttime. Looking at the clock told her it was 4:59. So, early morning. That was a little bit better.

Spike was still concealed by the shadows, but Sweetie could see him spin around, then rub his neck awkwardly. “Oh, you… You heard that.”

“I heard enough to be so proud of you!” The tired yet chipper unicorn lit up her horn and floated herself off of the bed, landing near the crumpled pile of cloth that were her robes. “You’ve got a date with Rarity!” She picked up the garment and threw it on, tying the sash as she approached Spike under the shadows.

“Well, not really a…”

“Oh, you.” The smiling starlet stepped closer to Spike and hugged him. She could feel he wasn’t wearing a shirt, though looking down she could faintly make out his jeans and loafers. “Were you going to leave?”

“Nah, I was just considering going for a walk. Then I saw the phone and figured I may as well do something really stupid.” Spike chuckled. “Turns out to be the best decision I ever made. Heh. Your sister really does deserve the Element of Generosity. She gave me a second chance. And there’s no way I’m gonna blow it.”

Stepping away from Sweetie, Spike began to slowly swagger out of the shadows.

“I’m gonna be honest with you, Sweets… This was probably one of the best weekends of my life. And that’s not just my—” he made a suggestive whistle, “—talking. I really mean that.”

Sweetie nodded in agreement, going over everything that had occurred. She couldn’t have imagined a better few days of love and sex. Spike’s notion was completely justified in her book. Then she let out a chuckle.

“What is it?” Spike asked.

“I had sex with Babs.”

An awkward moment of silence passed. Both of the lovers snickered in unison before succumbing to a huge fit of laughter, one that lasted for at least a minute. Once the guffawing ceased and both of them could breathe again, Spike said, “One moment,” and stepped out of the shadows.

That’s when Sweetie’s jaw dropped. Almost literally. “Holy…” She pointed at Spike. “Where did those come from?!”

Spike cocked his head. “Wha?” He saw Sweetie glaring at his back. He craned his neck to get a better look at whatever it was she was so appalled about, but when he saw, he just shrugged it off. “Oh, yeah. Those.”

“What kind of a response is that? Spike… you have…”

The drake swung around, placing one hand on his hip and casting the other out dramatically. “I think I am well aware of the fact that I have grown wings.” And just like that, his new leathery appendages flared out, flapping once before settled into a neutral position. Spike patted them both and gave a thumbs-up. “Yeah, that just happened.”

Sweetie slowed her breaths before she spoke again. “You’re awfully calm… I remember when Scootaloo finally flew for the first time, she wouldn’t stop gasming about it.”

“Well, I’d be a liar if I said this isn’t pretty awesome.” The wings gave another flap, making Sweetie’s mussed up mane furl even further. “But Twilight already saw the signs that this was gonna happen eventually. I guess it’s just really convenient it happened after you fell asleep.”

With the initial surprise and shock wearing thin, Sweetie finally relaxed. Looking over Spike, seeing him full of confidence and attitude, flaunting his wings like a new pair of leather shoes, she was flustered all over again. Her smile broadened so wide that she was pretty sure she was gonna have sore cheeks later. But she didn’t care much. She was too awestruck. “You’re amazing, you know that?”

She approached Spike, reaching around him to touch the wings. They were sturdy, much more threatening than pegasus feathers. But they had their own beauty, something that was Spike’s and Spike’s alone. Sweetie was so captivated that she couldn’t find any reason to not squeal and leap into Spike’s arms. He caught her by instinct alone, smirking as she nuzzled his dorsal fin, then wrapped herself around him.

Spike crouched, letting his wings rise high, nearly scratching the ceiling. “Alright, then. Let’s give these bad boys a test flight.”

He felt Sweetie clutch him tighter with one arm, while she reached out with the other. It came alight with her aura. With a flourish, she opened the blinds to the large window.

The early morning sun was peaking over the hills on the horizon. Stars were still visible in the blue of the sky, forming a beautiful portrait of a sunrise. It was beyond words. All Spike could say was, “This would make a really awesome album cover.”

With another adorable laugh, Sweetie flexed her arm again. This opened a wide hole in the window.

Spike looked into the bright, jubileus eyes of his lover, which were only made more gorgeous by the sunrise. “Are you ready, doll?”

Of all the words she could have possibly said in response, the best one she cared to muster was, “Yes.”

Spike’s dragon wings flapped with enough force to make the bedsheets go flying. That sent him and Sweetie Belle airborne. His smirk grew even wider as he held tight to her, then willed himself forward through the gap.

The dragon and the starlet greeted the crisp morning air and rising sun.