Of Dragons and Mortals

Chapter 10: Making Plans

Rarity and Rainbow Dash were only teasing. They fully expected Spike to shy away, possibly even retreat. That was why both of them fell completely silent when Spike grabbed the bottom of his shirt and pulled it up over his torso, slowly and purposefully revealing his delightfully toned upper body.

There was a modesty screen just a few steps to his right. All he had to do was take a few steps, and he could have all the privacy he wanted. But Spike ignored the screen, as if he hadn’t even noticed that it was there. As the shirt cleared Spike’s head, he turned his well-defined back on the girls and tossed it over his shoulder like an afterthought.

The girls were still too shocked to react to this turn of events, and the shirt landed immediately behind them. Spike began to poke through the clothes rack, eventually pulling out a button-up shirt and a pair of jeans.

“What do you girls think about this?” he asked, holding the chosen clothes out to the side for the girls to see.

“Iii, wee…” Rarity trailed off.

“Yeah, you’re right,” Spike said. “I need to lose these pants, don’t I?”

Before the girls had a chance to properly digest that comment, Spike quickly stripped down to his boxers, throwing his pants in the corner.

They would have gasped if they weren’t paralyzed. Their dragon gave a purposeful yawn and stretched mightily. It allowed the girls a delightfully unobstructed view of his toned body, which they proceeded to devour with their eyes.

They watched as Spike turned his back on them and bent over to pick up the new pants and ease them up his legs, giving the girls a clear view of his firm butt and powerful tail.

The pants came up torturously slowly, and then it was time for the shirt. As he buttoned it, Spike turned around to see Rainbow Dash gripping her stool so hard her knuckles were turning white, her wings tense and extended behind her, throbbing slightly in time with her heartbeat. Rarity was chewing on her fingernails, absently fanning herself with her other hand. She looked like she was about to faint.

Both of the girls were staring openly and blushing brightly.

“Is something wrong, girls?” Spike asked in an enticing rumble, a wide grin on his face.

His words seemed to snap the girls out of their daze, but they had very different reactions.

“Don’t you go anywhere,” Rarity muttered, failing to meet his eyes. Turning away from him, she sped off into the depths of the boutique.

Rainbow Dash, however, stood up slowly and gave Spike a predatory grin. As soon as Rarity vanished out of sight, Rainbow rushed up to Spike, circled around behind him in the blink of an eye, and suddenly embraced him, her lips near his ear frills.

“Are you free tonight, stud?” she asked in a husky whisper.

Spike very nearly said yes on the spot, but before he opened his mouth, he remembered the date he already had planned.

“Sorry, I can’t.”

“What!?” Rainbow exclaimed, zipping around Spike to look him in the eye. The once-pleasant heat had faded from her eyes, leaving frustration in its place. “What are you doing tonight, then?”

Is it okay to say that I have a date with two of her best friends? Spike wondered. I… I think it is, actually.

“I have a date with Pinkie and Fluttershy.”

The anger in Rainbow’s eyes lessened at the mention of her friends, and she heaved a defeated sigh.

“Today’s Saturday, right?” she said. “How about tomorrow?”

Tomorrow? Spike suddenly remembered something. That’s the day of my date with the Conquerors.

“Sorry, I can’t--”

“Dammit,” Rainbow cut in. “Monday?”

Spike shook his head.

“Tuesd--?” Rainbow began, but cut herself off. “I can’t on Tuesday. Wednesday?”

Spike nodded, smiling happily.

“Wednesday works for me,” he said. “I’d be glad to go out with you then. Tuesday would also have worked.”

“Okay, great,” Rainbow said. Then she turned around and shouted her next words into the boutique. “He’s busy all weekend, Rares! You took too long getting us ready!”

Rainbow didn’t mean any offense, so she kept her tone playful. However, if Rarity heard her, she didn’t reply.

Rainbow shrugged and turned back to Spike. That comfortable inner warmth that his little show had inspired was coming back to her, so she planted a short kiss on his lips before she pulled back.

“We’ll hammer out the details later, Spike,” she said. “But right now, I’m running a liiittle late for work.”

“Sure,” Spike said, smiling even wider now. “See you around, Rainbow.”

She turned to shout into the building again.

“Rarity, I’m leaving! He’s all yours!” She smiled and winked at Spike. “Go get her, stud.”

Then she left, the tinkling of the bell announcing her exit.

Spike watched the door for a moment, then smiled. He noticed that the sign had been flipped to “closed” at some point during his trance earlier. The young drake decided to venture deeper into the boutique, following Rarity’s trail.

“Are you alright, Rarity?” he asked out loud.

As Spike entered the kitchen, his eyes were immediately drawn to the burgundy fainting couch that rested against the far wall. Rarity was lying there on her back, her hand resting on her forehead as though caught mid-swoon, while a paper fan held in her magic fanned her face.

“Rarity?” he asked again. He began to cross the room to get to her, but froze when she fixed him with an intense stare.

He met her eyes, then slowly resumed his walk. The soft flapping of Rarity’s fan and the careful footfalls of his own clawed feet were the only sounds that could be heard as he slowly made his way over the open floor, drawn towards those shining blue eyes.

Spike tried to read the expression on Rarity’s face. Conflict? Uncertainty? Fear? It was hard to tell. He wasn’t used to seeing such emotions from the normally confident and elegant mare. But now, she was visibly shaken.

When he made it across the room, Rarity scooted up and daintily folded her legs, indicating for him to sit on the end of the couch. Once he did, she placed her hooves on his lap.

“Rarity…” Spike said. But since he didn’t know what else to say, he merely fell silent.

“Spike… I…” Rarity began. “I don’t know what to do with you.”

“What do you mean?” Spike asked. He began massaging Rarity’s hooves as she spoke.

“I can be a very shallow mare,” she said. “I have, more than once, built up entire lives in my head around an ‘ideal’ stallion. Somepony attractive, rich... a stallion with a title or fame… and… and that was it. That was all I needed. Such shallow reasons were enough for me, even if those stallions and I were utterly incompatible. I did not care about who they were, merely what they were.”

Spike mutely listened, gently rubbing Rarity’s hooves as she spoke. She sat up slowly, placing one finely manicured hand on Spike’s shoulder. He turned his attention to her face, meeting her eyes.

“I find you incredibly attractive,” Rarity said. “Unfortunately, that means I am afraid that the way I feel about you is because that same shallow nature is making me chase after an attractive stallion.” Rarity’s grip tightened. “And you are a good stallion. You deserve better than to be lusted after.”

Spike wasn’t sure what to feel.

“So…” he murmured quietly, “what are you saying?”

Rarity pushed herself up from the couch and slid down so she was sitting in Spike’s lap. She grabbed his hands and drew them around her waist until he got the point and held her close, then wrapped her arms around Spike’s neck in turn.

“I am saying…” she finally said, “that I like you. A lot. I have not felt like this for a stallion before, but…” Rarity bit her lip, “I am not sure I can trust my feelings completely yet.”

“I, uh…” Spike blustered. He felt a weight in his chest where his heart should be.

“So you and I will need to spend some time together,” Rarity said, a tone of finality in her voice. “We need to go on a date or ten so we can make sure that the way I feel, the way we feel, is something of actual substance. And we will probably also have to try doing other ‘couple things’ together…”

The weight in Spike’s chest lifted.

“Really?” he asked.

“Yes,” Rarity confirmed with a wide smile on her face. “I will take you out, I will show you a good time, and… I will wow you, darling.”

That was really all Spike had dared hope for: a chance.

“So… When are you free?” Rarity purred.

“TuesdaAay--” Spike squealed in surprise as Rarity began nipping at his neck, sending shivers through his whole body.

“Aww, but Tuesday is so far away…” Rarity softly whined. Her lips began to trail up Spike’s jawline as she purred softly. “I guess we will simply have to do a preliminary test of my affections.”

Rarity drew Spike into a kiss. Their lips parted as the kiss deepened, and she pushed her dragon down on his back and climbed on top of him, never breaking the increasingly arousing contact.

Even Spike’s long and deliciously flexible tongue failed to turn the kiss in his favor, and soon Rarity was straddling the flustered dragon with a victorious grin on her face.

"Yes..." she purred. "I have a good feeling about this."

She dove in again.

Twilight Sparkle had some serious thinking to do.

Last night, she had been caught up in the mood and passion of it all and acted rashly. While it was technically okay for her to have sex with a stallion she was dating (and Spike had properly asked her out before they got that far, so they were), it was still a rash action motivated by base, primitive urges, not a decision made by her higher reasoning. Her rational mind would have told her that it was too soon, and that she was too caught up in irrational feelings and a long-unfulfilled need for intimacy.

Yet, Twilight could not find it in her to regret it. Last night had been all kinds of wonderful, and she honestly could not remember the last time she had felt so physically satisfied, if indeed she ever had.

She had expected to panic, to feel worried or ashamed, but… she didn’t. Every time she started to work herself up, she remembered Spike’s heartfelt words.

I love you, Twilight Sparkle.

And she melted all over again. Anyway, there were now some arrangements to be made for the future. Twilight poured over old blueprints to the library tree, a wristband made of black cloth resting on the table beside the papers. She made plans.

Spike had turned the tables on Rarity, and was now looming over her possessively, the weight of him against her body was making her blood feel hotter and her heart pound. If she had been a cat, she would absolutely have been purring. He began trailing light, teasing little kisses down her face, and she gripped his strong shoulders tightly, letting a small gasp escape her. When his mouth travelled down the sensitive coat on her neck, she pulled him even closer, shivering at the tingle of sharp teeth poking ever-so-cautiously at her tender flesh.

Spike buried his nose in her neck and breathed deeply, taking in the smell of her perfume and the much more alluring scent of sheer Rarity. He breathed out, making the mare underneath him shudder with a delightful, throaty little moan. He slowly, almost reluctantly, lifted his head away from her warmth to look her in the eyes. Her face was flushed with color, her lips slightly swollen from their kissing, and her mane had splayed out on the couch, framing her head in a cloud of voluminous violet hair…

She was unbelievably beautiful. So much so that no matter how much he wished he could just keep looking at her like this, forever, freeze this moment in time and keep it perfect, it really was just too much for him. He was helpless to resist the urge to kiss her again.

But this kiss was not meant to inflame, but to cool down. To cap off the earlier passion with an earnest touch of sweetness. So he drew it out and slowly pulled away, gazing deep into Rarity’s eyes as they fluttered open.

The pair smiled at each other, heaved an almost simultaneous little sigh, and then Spike gingerly climbed off the couch. He grasped Rarity’s hand and helped her back to her hooves.

Rarity managed to stand under her own power, albeit shakily at first. Given how her legs were still trembling, she was honestly surprised at that.

“So…” she said, pausing for a moment to let the warmth in her body simmer down. “You wanted some off-the-rack clothes?”

“Yeah,” Spike answered. “I need to fill up my closet.”

“I really should have realized that when you came over yesterday, darling.” Rarity let her voice fall to a seductive purr. “But I guess you were just too distracting…”

The blush on Spike’s face made her smile.

“Anyway, come right along and I’ll get you all suited up.”

Fluttershy felt remarkably okay, all things considered.

She was sitting in Pinkie’s loft at the moment, while her friend sat at the desk, planning and replanning the menu for tonight. She had wanted to help, but Pinkie seemingly expected her to panic at any moment, and insisted that she rest on the bed where Pinkie could keep an eye on her.

Honestly, she was fine. Sure, she was still embarrassed about having kissed Spike in the middle of a crowd, and she was nervous about the date, but she didn’t regret anything. She wanted this. The same part of her that wanted to “stake her claim” on Spike that morning had reared up once more, and she felt oddly proud that she had been able to perform such a public display of affection.

Really, the only regret she had was that she had broken off the kiss so quickly. Too quickly. What if he thought she was repulsed by him when she stopped so suddenly? What if--

Fine, so she was worrying a little. But she was not panicking.

“Pinkie,” she interrupted, “how about pudding for dessert? We can add gemstone shavings for Spike’s portion.”

“Aaand, if we hold off on the gem-based treats throughout dinner,” Pinkie continued, “the dessert will be all the more special! Nice thinking, Flutters! That means we can cross off gemstone dishes for the dinner tonight!”

“Good,” Fluttershy said. She got up from the bed, but Pinkie suddenly appeared right in front of her, placing a hand on her shoulder.

“Are you okay?” Pinkie asked almost frantically. “Are you sure you don’t want to rest for a bit more?”

I didn’t need to rest in the first place… Fluttershy sulked.

“Pinkie, I’m fine. I promise,” Fluttershy said in a reassuring tone. (The same tone she used for soothing animals, actually.) “I’m just excited about tonight, and I want to help you prepare. It’s our date, after all.”

Pinkie stared at her, clearly scrutinizing her deeply.

“Okie dokie lokie!” she eventually exclaimed, apparently satisfied. “Come here, then! You can help me choose a main course!”

“Do you have everything you need, darling?”

The boutique was relatively quiet. Rarity had flipped the sign back to “open,” but since only a few customers had appeared, she had time to dart back and forth through the store and help Spike pick out his clothes. He was all alone in the stallions’ section without anypony to offer advice, and she was one of the girls he was dressing to impress anyway, so it seemed only logical. He was heading back out to the main room with a large sack of assorted clothes when Rarity decided to intercept him.

“Yeah, this should be enough for now,” Spike answered. He handed over a pouch of bits, and Rarity accepted it wordlessly, trusting him to pay fairly. She noticed him smile at that. “I should head back to the library now.”

“Alright. I hope you come back if you need anything!”

“Oh, I wouldn’t buy my clothes anywhere else, trust me,” Spike replied, grinning. “I mean, the personal service alone makes this place worthwhile.”

They continued to chat pleasantly as Rarity led her dragon out through the boutique, passing by the two other customers currently present. Rarity watched their reactions, seeing for the first time how other mares reacted to Spike.

They passed by Minuette, who Rarity knew was in a committed relationship. When Minuette spotted Spike, her eyes lingered for a moment in surprise and apparent interest. However, she turned away once the novelty had worn off, shifting her focus back to the clothes rack she had been eyeing. It was the same reaction one might show to the display case of a store, and it was nothing for Rarity to worry about.

Diamond Tiara, however, had something distinctly predatory in her eyes when they walked past her, something Spike didn’t seem to notice. It was a look of desire, certainly, but also one of possession. She wanted Spike like one might want a pretty necklace.

Rarity instinctively tightened her grip on Spike’s arm. This one might be trouble.

Rarity saw Spike off with a standard “please come again” greeting and a not-so-standard peck on the lips. Once he left, she turned back to see to her customers.

And to distract Diamond Tiara. After all, there was no need to make it easy on any potential rivals.

Spike’s journey to the library was uneventful. He still got a lot of warm gazes as he walked, and he could feel a few stares burning holes in his behind, but he wasn’t approached, and it seemed like the novelty of his transformation had mostly passed already.

The ponies of Ponyville were quite used to change, after all.

There were no patrons in the library when he entered, but the main table in the center of the library was littered with parchments and a number of books. Spike recognized one of Twilight’s research binges when he saw one, though this one seemed rather mild, given that the library wasn’t buried in her personal notes. Twilight herself was not in the room when he entered.

“Twilight! I’m home!” Spike shouted into the library.

“Welcome back!” came the shouted reply from the back rooms. “I’ll be with you in a minute!”

Spike nodded to himself and decided to place the bag of clothes in his room while he had the chance.

The door to the basement now had a lock, a doorbell, and an engraving of his face above said doorbell. Those had not been there a few hours ago…

The door was not locked, however, and the basement seemed to be untouched. Spike dumped the bag on his bed and headed back up the stairs.

Twilight was standing by the big table when he arrived, looking through one of the books. When he entered, she met his gaze and smiled brilliantly, and Spike felt his heart melt all over again.

“Hi…” Twilight said softly. She brushed a few strands of her mane out of her face and bit her lip. She didn’t know what else to say, even though she thought she had prepared for this.

Spike swiftly crossed the room, took her in his strong arms and kissed her firmly. Her eyes fluttered closed, and all thoughts fled her mind as she clung to his shoulders and surrendered to his affections. After a long moment that still felt far too short, he broke away and met her blissful smile with one of his own.

She could definitely get used to that.

“You know, I still can’t believe this is real…” Spike whispered. He held her tenderly, feeling a small irrational fear that she would just disappear in a puff of dream-smoke.

“Maybe I can help you with that…” Twilight whispered back. She took a step away, and Spike reluctantly let her slip out of his arms. She grabbed a scroll from the table and handed it over. Her soft fingers brushed against his as he accepted the paper.

Spike noticed the familiar seal on the scroll, and studied it briefly.

“A letter to Princess Celestia?” he asked out loud.

Twilight nodded. Spike shrugged, drew in a breath, and sent the message to the Princess, just like he had countless times before. The familiar smoke contrail snaked out an open window and headed off to Canterlot.

He was about to say something when a small stack of papers floated into his hands, carried by Twilight’s magic. The first page bore a title, written in Twilight’s flawless hornwriting.

Relationship Guidelines.

The title threw him, and he looked up to meet Twilight’s sheepish expression with one of mild disbelief. After a moment, he chuckled.

“Why am I not surprised?” he asked. “Just guidelines? Not some kind of ‘relationship agreement?’ Nothing for me to sign?”

“Well, uh…” Twilight began. “I don’t want to put too much pressure on either of us, so it’s just… you know… suggestions.”

Twilight was unfairly cute when she squirmed, but Spike suppressed the urge to keep teasing her. He started reading, but Twilight seemed unable to stay quiet.

“As you’re a stallion now, I figured that you might want some more privacy, so I put a lock and a doorbell on your door; here’s the key. And I checked the library’s blueprint and found an old boarded-up back door to the library that leads into an underground passage that is probably collapsed that leads to the basement, so if you want to restore that passage, you can have your own door to the basement and--”

Spike cut off Twilight’s rant by pulling her close and planting a firm kiss on her lips. She leaned into the kiss briefly before she pulled away, looking sheepish again.

“Sorry. It’s all in the guidelines. I’ll just go… do… something.”

Spike watched Twilight go to a bookshelf and begin dusting the perfectly clean piece of furniture, pointedly looking away from him. He chuckled to himself again; she really was unfairly cute when she squirmed.

Twilight wandered around the library as her dragon dutifully read the papers she had prepared. This really was much easier for her than trying to talk about it all directly, and she trusted that Spike would point out if something was wrong, unfair, or poorly worded, though she had tried to be fair.

As she began to circle the library, she looked out a window and finally found something to distract her from the dragon: the blue spirit fox from earlier was still on Junebug’s roof. It was lying on its back, seemingly napping. She watched as its ear twitched slightly, but it was otherwise unmoving.

Whatever the reason for the spirit’s presence, it was an anomaly. An anomaly she needed to investigate.

She heard Spike clear his throat behind her, and she turned around, putting the fox out of her mind for now.

“This looks good,” Spike said. “Quite thorough.” He placed the papers back on the table and turned to Twilight with a smile. “So ‘date night’ once a month?”

“Yes,” Twilight answered simply. “‘To be planned by the marefriend,’ so… I’ll think of something.”

“I’ll be sure to make time for you.”

“Thanks…”

A blanket of awkward silence fell over the library as the new lovers stared at each other, trying to find something to say. Spike found his voice first.

“So…” he began, “I appreciate all this privacy stuff with the schedule, my own entrance, the doorbell, and all that. But I have to ask… why?”

“Well, in case you want some, uh… privacy.”

Spike stared at her, uncomprehending.

“In case you want to… you know…” Twilight grasped for words. “Well…” She finally decided to go straight for it. “In case you have girls over.”

Spike felt his mind reel.

Again silence reigned in the library as Spike struggled for something to say, some way to breach the topic and ask the question burning on his tongue. He finally spoke up.

“You… you’d be okay with that?”

If they want to be exclusive, they’ll tell you.

“Well…” Twilight said, frowning. “I can’t say I like the thought of you seeing other mares… But me and the girls talked about this yesterday, and we are not selfish stallion hoggers. Or cradle-robbers, or gold-diggers or anything like that.”

She walked up to Spike and took one of his hands in both of hers.

“You deserve the chance to find love on your own terms, Spike. If you find it with us, good. If it’s not…” Twilight paused and pulled in a deep breath before she continued. “If it’s not… meant to be, then we all want you to be happy.”

Spike wrapped his free arm around the mare and held her close.

Twilight allowed Spike’s hand to slip from hers and returned the gentle hug, wrapping her arms around his neck. She felt both of his strong arms arms circle around her waist and hold her close.

She felt better almost immediately. After a long moment, Spike spoke.

“You will always have a place in my heart, Twilight. Always.”

Twilight melted all over again.

“I know,” she said. “Thank you.”

Twilight buried her muzzle in Spike’s chest and took a deep breath through her nose. Beneath his own scent, she felt just a small hint of the familiar fragrance of her friends.

It just felt so right to be in his arms.

“Okay…” Twilight finally said as she pushed away from Spike and looked him in the eye. “I’m okay. I trust you to make good choices and not just date anypony who bats her eyelashes at you. Just…” Twilight hesitated for a moment. “I want you to have your own place so you don’t end up parading your every romantic conquest in front of me. I don’t need to know everything you do when you’re not with us.”

“Oh… Okay. That makes sense, I guess.”

“Right. So.” Twilight clapped her hands together. “We have work to get to now.”

“Right!”

It is a well-known fact (for those who care to fact-check) that dragons like to gather and roost near or on active volcanoes. This volcano on the edge of Equestrian territories was no different, and a large flight of dragons currently called the boiling mountain home.

If the volcano was home, then the caldera was the meeting place, the living room, and the arena, and on this sunny summer morning, it was teeming with activity.

When a small and inexplicably airborne figure approached the mountain from the nearby forest, it took a moment for the scouts to react due to sheer surprise.

When the airborne dragons swept closer, they could pick out more details on the strange creature. It was the size of a pony, it was wearing a cloak that hid its features, and it was standing on a shimmering disk of blue-colored magic that was apparently responsible for its wingless flight.

But most importantly, the very air around it carried a sense of purpose, of resistance.

More than anything else, it felt powerful.

The airborne scouts found themselves instinctively clearing a path for the stranger, and soon the creature planted its feet on the edge of the caldera.

“Dragons!” the stranger called out in a distinctly male voice. “I am here to speak to those who would listen.” His voice carried all throughout the caldera, boosted by some form of magic.

“And why should we listen to you? Or even let you live for trespassing on our territory?”

Redtail was an old dragon, and he had earned his high position in the flock through strength and fear. He knew he was powerful. Every dragon here knew it, and he dealt with any usurpers to his place in the flock with violence, like any real dragon would.

Now this stranger, this outsider who reeked of soap and flowers came here and everyone just let him walk around?

The stranger met his murderous gaze unflinchingly. He seemed unimpressed.

It was not often that Redtail felt fear. But something about this creature, something in the very air around him, screamed of strength. He regretted his outburst and felt a very uncharacteristic urge to flee from this imposing stranger. Something primal was telling him that he was out of his league.

Then he looked back at the other dragons. Most were scared, as he was. They sensed this strange aura just as he did, and they feared the stranger. However, he saw several dragons who seemed completely unaffected by the stranger’s presence. He recognized a few faces he loathed.

Do-gooders.

Weaklings.

They would not outshow him.

“You come here out of nowhere,” Redtail forced himself to continue, hoping that the stranger could not smell his barely contained fear, “you stink up the place, and then expect some sort of--”

“Shut up.”

With just those two words from the stranger, Redtail shut his mouth almost involuntarily.

“Those of you who do not wish to listen to me may leave this area. I will not darken your doorstep for long.”

Several dragons began to leave. Redtail was quickly losing his grasp on the situation, and once again those soft-scaled do-gooder weaklings seemed to be unaffected, while he was terrified.

Redtail was a dragon. An apex predator. He was a terror even to his own kind. But now, he was afraid. He knew violence, he knew to use force to do what he wanted, to get mates, to intimidate, to remove threats. So he reacted like any cornered wild animal...

He snarled and attacked the thing that was scaring him.

Redtail threw himself forward, using his wings to propel himself as fast as he could, hoping to surprise the infuriatingly relaxed stranger and drive him off or, preferably, kill him. Fire gathered in his maw for a devastating attack, uncaring of any collateral damage a breath attack of the magnitude he was capable of might cause to his fellow dragons.

The stranger moved faster than Redtail could perceive. He seemed to almost flicker out of existence for a moment, then suddenly appeared just in front of his eyes. The old dragon saw the stranger’s hand flicker, and felt an armored fist impact his skull, and then everything went black.

The other dragons watched as Redtail’s limp body slammed into the ground from the force of the stranger’s blow, cracking the stone beneath him. The old dragon’s body twitched feebly, reassuring everyone that he was, at least, still alive, as the stranger landed beside him.

The stranger walked past his defeated foe without even glancing backwards.

“Do I have your attention now?” he asked. As he spoke, the feeling in the air around him intensified, promising pain and humiliation to those affected and sending a spike of primal terror through them.

Many dragons took flight. Most fled the area, in fear or to “regroup.”

Some of them, however, did not run. Despite the act of violence, those few sensed no danger. They felt no fear emanating from the stranger. Instead, they felt a sensation of strength, safety and support.

Others stayed because they were not fans of Redtail, and had enjoyed seeing the violent brute get taken down a peg. A few more stayed to listen out of respect for the stranger’s display of strength.

The stranger walked deeper into the caldera, and the dragons who did not evacuate the area gathered up around him.

“I’m sorry about that display back there,” the stranger said. “I’m here to talk, not cause trouble.”

“Pff, he asked for it,” one of the younger dragons said.

“What are you here to talk about?” asked another, older drake.

“And who are you?” a third one added.

“I am Dragonheart,” the stranger said. “Through no fault of your own, there is much that even you do not know about dragons, and I am here to educate you. Feel free to ask as many questions as you want, because once I am done talking, you will all have a very important choice to make.”

Hours passed in Ponyville’s library. It saw some attention, and several patrons, but nothing noteworthy happened to Twilight and Spike as the day progressed. It was a quiet day all around.

“Hey, Twilight?” Spike asked during one of the many quiet moments the library enjoyed. “What was in the letter I sent to princess Celestia?”

“I told her about recent events in Ponyville,” Twilight answered, “and… I told her about you. And about us.”

After a moment of silence, Twilight turned around to see Spike standing dumbly, frozen mid-gesture while shelving a book.

“Spike, are you okay?”

“Yeah… Yeah, I guess so, it’s just that...” He finished the motion and slid the book home. “I have no idea how she is going to react. None.”

Twilight snickered a little.

“She’s practically your mother, right?”

“Yes she is, and you girls are my first marefriends.”

Twilight’s smile fell a bit.

“You’re right, I… I have no idea either…”

A long moment of silence passed.

Spike physically shook himself. They could deal with whatever happened when it happened, no sooner.

“That reminds me, Twilight?”

“Yes?” she answered, shaking herself out of her stupor as well.

“Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy asked me out today. We’re having dinner at the Corner tonight, so I won’t be able to make dinner for you and I.”

“Oh, okay,” Twilight answered. “That sounds good, actually. It lets you have have some time alone with… both of them? Wait, they’re taking you out together?”

Spike nodded sheepishly.

“I see…” Twilight nodded to herself. “I guess that makes sense. Well, at least I’ll know where you are if you spend the night. Page 2, paragraph 3.”

Page 2, paragraph 3 of the Relationship Guidelines stated that the coltfriend (Spike) could spend the night where he chose as long as he was back at the library in time for work.

“Right, of course,” Spike said. “If I end up spending the night somewhere, I’ll make sure to be back home by the time the library opens.”

“Mm, good.”

It took a few minutes for the full implications of “spending the night” to sink in for Spike, and in order to try to calm himself, he started snacking on his stash of gemstones.

The calm quiet of the library was only interrupted by the crunch of Spike’s stress eating.

Having briefly left to tend to her animals, Fluttershy returned to Sugarcube Corner to find Pinkie standing near the entrance, looking uncharacteristically serious.

“Fluttershy,” Pinkie said, “I think we need to talk about tonight.”

“Okay,” she replied. “Is something wrong?”

Pinkie gestured towards the stairs leading up to her loft. Fluttershy followed her friend mutely as they walked to the privacy of Pinkie’s room. Once the door closed behind them, Pinkie spoke up.

“Fluttershy…” she began. “You know how first dates are all about getting to know each other and stuff? See if there’s chemistry, if there’s an attraction, a ‘spark?’”

“Yes?”

“We know Spike really well already, and I feel the spark. So I may… you know... skip ahead a bit.”

“What are you saying?”

Pinkie took a deep breath.

“I’m saying there’s a good chance I’ll invite him upstairs tonight,” she said. “If things go well, and if he wants to.”

Fluttershy was floored. She had no idea how to react.

“Fluttershy, you asked me for help, so I pushed you a bit today,” Pinkie continued. “But I won’t pressure you into this. You don’t have to choose now, but…”

Pinkie fell silent, but Fluttershy understood the implication. She was being invited upstairs, too.

The thought of intimacy scared her, as Pinkie had so accurately guessed before, and a sense of almost primal terror rose in her. She wanted to be with Spike, but the thought of actually getting physical with anyone made her want to hide under the bed and never come out, so strong was her fear. Just as she was about to collapse, Pinkie broke the silence.

“I was thinking that, if you’re nervous, maybe us being there together will help? You don’t have to do anything you don’t want, and if Spike goes too far, though I don’t think he’s the kind of guy who would, I’ll smack him around a bit.” Pinkie demonstrated her point by swishing her hand through the air as though she was repeatedly slapping somepony invisible. “Like slap slap slap! And he’ll learn better.”

That actually made Fluttershy smile through her anxiety. Really, the whole point of her going to Pinkie was for support, and she trusted her friend to have her back, both emotionally and physically. She felt much of her anxiousness fade away.

Maybe it wasn’t a bad idea after all?

Still, she didn’t have to decide now, and she would only have to make the decision if the date went well, and if he accepted. And there was no guarantee of that.

Still, her mood would veer between terrified and excited for the rest of the day.

Hours passed. The sun made its steady way across the sky, and soon Spike was getting ready for his date. He was down in the basement changing, with Twilight sitting nearby on his bed, having offered to give him a “mare’s opinion.”

Though I guess, Spike thought, it would be more accurate to call this place “my apartment” now, not just “the basement.”

He turned to Twilight.

“How’s this?”

Twilight made a show of circling Spike, methodically inspecting him from every angle.

“The shirt is flattering…” she said. “The pants are tight, but not too tight…” She sniffed the air around him. “And you smell good… Yeah, this will do nicely.”

“Thanks. They said they’d pick me up at seven, and that’s in, like, five minutes.” He turned to Twilight and looked into her eyes. “You’re a hard mare to please, Twilight Sparkle.”

“Only the best for my friends, Spike!”

The pair headed back up the stairs, casually chatting. Once they entered the library, Twilight leaned in close, staring at his mouth.

“Uh, Twilight?”

“You have a small ruby shard stuck in your teeth. One moment.”

Spike felt the tingle of Twilight’s magic inside his mouth, and tasted the shard on his tongue. He quickly swallowed it down, then grinned, showing off his teeth.

“Anything else?”

Twilight examined his smile. The memory of those sharp teeth pressed against her coat sent a pleasant shudder down her spine, but she managed to concentrate.

“No, you’re clean now,” she finally exclaimed. “But I do have something for you.”

Twilight produced a black cloth wristband. She handed it over to Spike, who accepted.

“What’s this?” He asked.

“Well, Spike… It is customary for a mare to give a gift to a stallion she is serious with. This wristband has been enchanted with a cleaning spell. It will work passively to remove stains and dirt and such from any cloth you’re in contact with.”

“Is this your subtle way of telling me I’m dirty?” Spike asked, still grinning.

Twilight blushed brightly.

“No, no… It’s…” Twilight visibly grasped for words. “It’s… it’s a variation… of the same spell that… I… used on my bed this morning…” Twilight trailed off, muttering something about “stains.”

They both fell silent for a while, looking away from each other, blushing brightly as they remembered the previous night.

Just then, there was a knock on the door. Twilight went to open it, and found herself looking at Pinkie and Fluttershy, all dolled up and pretty.

“Hi, girls!” she exclaimed, giving them each a big hug.

“Hey, Twilight!” Pinkie exclaimed, returning the hug with gusto. “Is Spike ready?”

“You tell me,” Twilight said. She smirked and stood to the side, allowing the girls unfettered visual access to Spike.

Pinkie gasped and rushed up to greet him. Fluttershy did a small, polite bow to Twilight before she joined up with her date.

“Looking sharp, Spike!” Pinkie exclaimed. “Isn’t that right, Fluttershy?”

“Yes,” Fluttershy said softly. “You look… you look very nice.”

Twilight watched the girls loop their arms through Spike’s and begin to lead him outside, with Pinkie chatting everyone’s ear off in her usual endearing fashion. Spike was grinning widely, apparently quite pleased at his position.

Twilight patiently held the door open with a genuinely supportive smile on her face. As the trio walked past her, they all called out.

“See you later, Twilight!” Pinkie shouted.

“Sorry to disturb you like this,” Fluttershy muttered.

Spike somehow managed to maneuver enough to place a quick kiss on her lips, to the apparent surprise of the other girls.

“See you when I get back, Twilight,” he said with a deep warmth in his voice. “Take care.”

The love he managed to infuse in his tone went straight for Twilight’s heart, and she felt warm all over.

“Take good care of him, girls,” she told her friends. “See you later!”

And just like that, they were out the door and headed away. Twilight didn’t bother looking out the window after them. Any anxiousness she felt had disappeared at Spike’s display of affection.

However, now that Spike was off on his date, she had time to herself. So she resolved to do something about the anomaly that had bothered her all day.

That spirit fox.

A quick glance out the window confirmed that the fox was still sitting on that roof, this time curled up into a ball. It appeared to be sleeping, and Twilight felt a small pang of guilt at the prospect of waking it up.

On the other hand, this would be the perfect time to get close to it without it disappearing.

Twilight opened her copy of Magic as it Relates to Spirits to confirm that what she was planning was doable.

The spirit realm could be likened to a pool of water. Spirits usually lived on or near the “bottom” and remained completely unaware of the physical realm. The closer spirits travelled to the “surface,” the more they could perceive of the physical realm, the more they would be able to influence it, and the more likely they were to be seen or otherwise perceived by a spiritually attuned individual, like an alicorn. This spirit was so clear to her because it was very close to the “surface,” which it only would be if it wanted to be able to see into the physical realm properly. There were possibly other spirits nearby, but if there were, they were too “deep” in the spirit realm for her to perceive unaided.

But this book contained an aid.

Her spirit vision could be overcharged to look “deeper” into the spirit realm. If she could do that, and then get close to the spirit, she would be able to gather a lot of information about it, even if it turned and ran on the spot. If she could persuade it to remain, and perhaps even try to communicate with it, she would be able to understand even more.

With that in mind, Twilight cast the spell, and the world seemed just a tad bit more colorful.

In fact, her surroundings looked slightly off, almost unnatural. Light was a bit too bright, contrast a bit too muddy. The world around her seemed to blend together like cake mix, or melt just a little like candle wax, leaving a sensation of wrongness about the place. She herself was completely solid, with clear contrasts and a clearly defined body, an aberration in this realm of ever-shifting boundaries.

She looked out the window.

The sky was now violet to her altered perceptions. As she scanned it, she saw a few wispy shadows moving around, spirits that were too “deep” in the Spirit Realm for her to properly perceive, despite her highly enhanced perceptions. They were completely unaware of her.

She looked out on the street.

There were not a lot of ponies around at this time, most of them having retreated to their homes for dinner or the like. The few ponies she did see stood out in sharp contours, much like herself, a stark contrast against the melted world around them.

She looked at the fox.

It was a rather unassuming spirit, all told. A minor spirit, if she was any judge, the weakest class of spirit that is self-aware. Quite young too, judging by its appearance. To her enhanced vision, the contours of the fox were blurry and indistinct, almost as though she was looking at a ghost instead of a living creature. Pretty standard for a spirit.

Twilight Sparkle, Princess of Equestria, walked out of her library, spread her wings, and flew over to the roof that this mysterious creature was lying on. The streets were mostly empty, and her flight was not noticed.

She landed softly on her hooves a short distance away from the sleeping fox. It immediately lifted its head and gazed directly at her.

As it turned out, it was merely resting.

Twilight sat down on the roof and held her hands out, assuming a non-threatening position. The fox slowly stood up and faced her, looking unsure.

“I mean you no harm, spirit,” Twilight said in as soothing a voice as she could muster.

The spirit flinched and stood up to face her. It was starting to look scared, but it didn’t run away.

“I am sorry if I frightened you. You have nothing to fear from me,” Twilight said. “Do you understand me? Can you communicate?”

The fox let out a yelp. In the physical realm, it was completely silent, but in the spirit realm, it reverberated far away.

It happened so fast after that.

In a fraction of an instant, Twilight felt another spirit appear, far older than the one she’d been talking to. The minor spirit she’d observed all day was small in the spirit realm, no bigger than a pony’s head. This new spirit was the the size of a house, its presence surrounding her. It was a greater--no, a major spirit, the strongest type in the realm.

And it appeared inside the smaller spirit, practically exploding out of it while at the same time merging with it.

Just like the smaller one, it manifested as a fox in the same position the previous one was in, and the core at the center of its presence looked almost exactly the same. If it hadn’t been for Twilight’s specifically enhanced senses, the only change she would have noticed would be the marked change in the fox’s fur color.

She went from talking to a blue fox that looked scared and unsure, to facing a calm (or possibly exasperated) red fox with a short streak of blue in its coat.

This, she did not expect.

At least it didn’t look angry.

Author's Note

Edited by:
Feo Takahari
TheDaringExplorer
shawkthorian
Edit: And Pearly (not on this site)
^ ^ ^
Massive cred to these people.

Okay, so the chapter is out, hope you people enjoy it!

So how about that season finale, huh? I wonder what will happen now... Oh well, we'll find out eventually.

Hope you enjoyed the read, please leave a comment.

Best.
Rakni