Of Dragons and Mortals

Chapter 4: Making a Strong Impression

Rarity stared. In her private moments, she had often entertained fantasies of a handsome stallion who would draw her into his arms and sweep her off her hooves. However, more and more often, the mysterious stallion had instead been a strapping young dragon clad in vibrant purple and green, the exact same color scheme of the one who was now standing just outside her door.

But not even her fantasies could match the gorgeous creature that she beheld right now. Dimly, she heard her dear friend Fluttershy ask for entry, and she mutely stepped aside, letting her friend and that handsome hunk walk into her home.

Oh goodness.

Oh goodness!

Oh goodness!!

Now,now, calm yourself, Rarity. Calm. Breathe.

“Hello…” Okay, Rarity, you’re saying words now. Try a few more. “So… This is…” Use words! Come on! You’re supposed to be Ponyville’s premier purveyor of proper pony etiquette!

Unbeknownst to Rarity, Spike hadn’t spoken since he’d spotted the Boutique. With no one making any sounds, a heavy blanket of awkward silence quickly enshrouded the store.

Fluttershy, feeling emboldened by the events at Sugarcube Corner; steeled herself and took charge of the situation.

“Spike, I know Rarity keeps a few bathrobes for customers behind the privacy screen. Why don’t you go change...” Fluttershy walked Spike over to said screen and gently pushed him behind it before continuing. “While Rarity and I make some tea and talk a bit, okay?”

“Yes, that… might be best,” Rarity muttered, allowing Fluttershy to lead her away.

Fluttershy considered herself humble, and others would call her downright meek. But she couldn’t resist the proud smile that bloomed across her face at the way she had handled that situation. She placed Rarity in one of the kitchen chairs, and began to prepare the tea that she hoped might calm her friend down.

Spike hadn’t answered Fluttershy, or even reacted as she ever-so-gently pushed him. Once he was behind the screen, where the girls couldn’t even see him, he nodded to himself. Then he sat down on a dressing stool and brought his clawed hand up to his face.

He hadn’t been prepared. Spike’s perception of his friends had been forever altered by his transformation, something he had already experienced throughout the morning, but meeting Rarity… that was too much. A thousand fantasies, old and new, ranging from passionate to domestic, had all slammed to the forefront of his mind when he saw his longtime crush. The other girls were already more than he could handle, but this… He needed to just sit down and think. Everything that had happened... it was all far too much.

How long could he keep this up? A sudden burst of that knowledge stood out in perfect clarity before his mind’s eye, but he shook the sensation off. It was not relevant.

When would he tell his friends the whole truth of what had happened to him? Of who he really was now?

Would he ever be able to tell the whole truth?

However, as he stood and undressed, he couldn’t help but smile. Rarity had found him attractive, if her reaction had been anything to go by. So had all the mares that he had met so far, or at least the ones he cared about. No matter what else happened, the changes he had gone through had finally brought his dreams within reach. There was really nothing standing in his way now.

Spike changed into a robe and sat down again, mulling things over and patiently waiting for the girls to return.

Meanwhile, in the kitchen, Rarity was holding a cup of warm tea firmly in both hands and staring straight ahead. She had been staring for a solid minute when Fluttershy saw fit to make sure Rarity’s eyes didn’t succeed in boring holes in the adjacent wall.

“Umm… Rarity? Are you okay?” Fluttershy asked softly, hoping to snap her friend out of this trancelike state.

“Do you realize what this means?” the fashionista replied slowly.

Both mares fell quiet, letting the vaguely ominous inquiry hang in the air for a moment.

“Uh… Maybe?”

“I mean… I…” Rarity paused for a moment, taking a deep breath. “Thunderlane showed up just before you visited.”

“What?”

“He asked me out.”

A moment of silence passed. Fluttershy didn’t know what to say, so she said nothing.

“And I turned him down. A nice, attractive stallion who just wanted to get to know me a bit better, and I felt nothing. Then Spike walked in, and… and I’m smitten.”

“Well, we know Spike… He’s always been there for us…”

“I know, dear. It’s just… I wondered how he’d look when he grew up, but I never thought he’d be this attractive.”

“I know how you feel.”

The two mares looked at each other, then fell into a fit of giggles. The laughter cleared the air, and a few moments passed as the girls sipped their tea

“So what happens now?” Fluttershy asked.

“Well, you were right to bring him to me,” Rarity said matter-of-factly. “He needs new clothes.”

“That’s not what I meant…”

“I know, dear. I just…” Rarity drifted off and gazed into her tea, as though hoping the hot beverage would give her the words she needed. “Look. When I look into the future… and I imagine a… a family… I… you girls...”

“You don’t have to say it.” A soft yellow hand enveloped her own as Fluttershy leaned forward and looked into her eyes. “I feel the same way.”

“Thank you, Fluttershy.” Rarity smiled at first, but after a few seconds, a thoughtful expression crossed her face. “Oh dear. It just occured to me… What if he gets even bigger?”

Both mares fell quiet.

Spike perked up when he heard hoof-falls entering the main room on the other side of the screen. Straightening his robe, walked out to meet the mares. What he failed to notice was that in his distracted state, and working on habit, he had selected a robe several sizes too small for his new frame. The same he had worn last week, in fact. Last week the robe had been ample, with room to spare, but today, things were different. The sash managed to clinch around his waist and protect his... “modesty,” but the robe left his legs mostly bare, and failed to completely cover his chest and stomach. He realized his mistake when he cleared the screen, and the eyes of both mares immediately locked on to the exposed parts of his body.

“Oh, uh…” He should have said more, but the double threat of Rarity and Fluttershy’s adorable blushes rooted him rigidly to the spot. Once again, he was reminded that he was, in fact, attractive, and while he was a little embarrassed, part of him enjoyed the unabashed attention and wanted to show off a bit.

That “wanting to show himself off” part of him seemed to have grown bigger as well, Spike realized as he planted his fists on his hips, trying to show off without looking like he was doing so. The motion seemed to help snap the girls out of their reverie, and they finally managed to meet his gaze.

Rarity spoke up, in what she would later feel was a surprisingly business-like tone given the circumstances

“We were wondering. About your body. I mean… What it’s capable of. I mean…” Rarity sputtered for a moment before visibly composing herself. “Are you going to get any bigger?”

“Oh. No,” Spike answered curtly. “Or, well… I could.”

Before either of the girls could think of something to say, Spike sighed softly and held out his hand. The smooth scales and gentle, almost blunt claws roughened and sharpened, morphing into claws that were more suited to a predator than the gentle dragon they were attached to. The girls recoiled slightly at the now vicious appendage held out towards them.

“I have a lot of control over my body, and I can transform it at will.” The claws softened and morphed again, returning to the much more fitting smoothness. “I could technically grow much bigger than I am now, but since I’m in control of my size, I will…” Spike paused and lowered his gaze, looking at the ground. “I will stay ‘pony-sized’ indefinitely.” He looked up again, smiling slightly. “I will not grow out of your lives.”

“You never could,” Fluttershy answered quickly, almost as if by reflex.

“So you say, but if I ever grow like I did on my birthday all those years ago…” Spike closed his eyes and sighed, obviously reliving that unpleasant memory. “I know you’d still welcome me…”

“We would,” Rarity cut in, trying to stave off the depressed aura she observed beginning to weigh down Spike’s powerful shoulders.

“But I don’t think I would be able to stay then.” He looked up again, a small smile gracing his face. “So no, I’m not going to grow any bigger.”

A few moments of silence passed. Fluttershy moved forward and, accustomed to his physical presence by now, hugged him close and buried her petite muzzle in his broad chest. Rarity looked on, unsure what to do.

“Well, this got very heavy,” Spike tried to joke as he returned Fluttershy’s hug. “I didn’t mean to get you girls down.”

“No, it’s okay…” Rarity managed to say as she moved forward and joined the hug. Spike raised an arm to let her in. He felt warm, and strong, and gave off a pleasant, almost musky scent. “Just… Never forget that you belong here. With us.”

“I won’t,” Spike replied. He hugged the mares a little closer. “This is nice.”

“Mhm,” Fluttershy agreed. Rarity merely nodded.

Spike felt that he should say something else, and, in a sudden fit of inspiration, decided to be completely honest.

“I’m holding two of the most beautiful mares in the world in my arms. I gotta say, it’s kinda awesome.”

Like she was shot from a cannon, Fluttershy detached from the embrace and backed up to halfway across the room, her cheeks a deep crimson and her mind reeling. Her sudden, involuntary, and extreme reaction to Spike’s statement drew his attention away from the deeply blushing formerly-alabaster mare who was smiling while burying her face in his chest.

“Oh, I… I mean…” Fluttershy squeaked, trying to form words. “I… I…” She could not keep a massive smile from blossoming on her face, matching the warmth in her chest as she fully digested the compliment. It wasn’t just the words, but the utter honesty and conviction behind them that got to her. “I… I have things-shopping! Yes, food and pet… stuff…” The shy mare backed up towards the door, and Spike couldn’t help but smile at her endearing disposition. “I…” she squeaked. “I have to go… I’ll see you later?”

“Yeah,” Spike said. He gave her a small wink. “See you later.” He ended with what he would later identify as a seductive purr, but it happened completely by instinct.

With that, Fluttershy quietly shut the door and fled the Boutique. After a few happy skips, she took to the sky. She flew high into the air and took a deep breath before allowing herself an ecstatic, if quiet, yell of sheer happiness. She drifted almost lazily towards the marketplace. Her emotional high was set to carry her throughout the day.

Back inside the building, Rarity squeezed Spike as hard as she could for a moment before she reluctantly pulled away.

“You need to be careful where you point that silver tongue, darling…” She purred at him as her horn lit up, causing a long, yellow tape measure to snake its way through the air towards the pair. ”You’ll make a mare blush, praising her like that.”

“I’m…” Spike flustered a bit at Rarity’s suddenly flirty demeanour. “I was just telling the truth.”

“Well then, darling… Thank you for being so truthful…” Rarity fell silent and began to measure Spike, making sure to flirtatiously bend and stretch her body in just the right way to give her favorite dragon a small show.

This did not go unnoticed by Spike, who took the time, as Rarity subtly showed herself off, to appreciate just how beautiful her feminine form truly was. She was shaped like a wet dream, with long, toned legs, freshly pedicured hooves, slender, delicate hands, lush, vibrant mane and tail, and a slender waist conspiring with her large-but-not-overly-so breasts and delightfully wide hips to give her a gorgeous hourglass figure. So preoccupied was he with his appraisal of the mare, the dragon only became aware that she had been speaking to him when his eyes strayed up to her full, luscious lips and he saw them moving in a manner conducive to speech.

“What?” he said dumbly, but he was too lost in the deep blue pools of her eyes to hear her repeat her question. Reality gently nudged its way back into his mind just in time for him to catch the last snippet of her sentence.

“... I think Fluttershy was going to fill me in before you scared her off,” she finished with an amused smile.

“Uh… Fill you in about what?” Spike asked.

Rarity’s smile stretched.

“Why, about what happened to bring out this…” Rarity stroked her hand across Spike’s exposed chest, causing a pleasant shiver to run down his spine. “Transformation…”

“Uhh, well… Do you know the traveling bard who came into town last week?”

“Quick Wits? I’ve spoken to him briefly,” Rarity remarked. She went back to work measuring Spike’s chest for what was probably the third time.

“Right. Well, yesterday evening I met him in the park. We ended up talking.” Rarity silently nodded and got to work measuring Spike’s inseam. “I mentioned my growth problem: that I was smaller than a dragon my age should be; this…” he gestured at himself, “is more appropriate. Anyway… Quick had a gemstone with special properties that he gave to me. It awoke my True Dragon powers and-” Spike abruptly fell quiet, and a look of panic flashed briefly over his face.

Rarity caught it. “Spike, dear? Is something wrong?”

“No, not at all,” Spike lied, clearly uncomfortable. “Anyway, it gave me some new powers and changed my body to something more appropriate. I’m still trying to figure out what it all means.”

Rarity knew that Spike was not a good liar. He had rarely, if ever, lied to her before, so she didn’t have much experience with why he might try. But she was sufficiently skilled in the social arts to identify the type of secret he was hiding. It was something he wanted to say, which was why those words “True Dragon” had slipped out, but he cut off in a manner that showed he was not allowed to speak of it. It was a secret he was keeping on someone else’s behalf, probably not directly related to her or the girls, but serious enough to attempt to cover up with a transparent lie.

Her analysis complete, Rarity came to the conclusion that pursuing this “True Dragon” secret would no doubt wedge Spike between a rock and a hard place, as well as destroy the pleasant mood they currently enjoyed. So she chose to sidestep the issue for now. Her curiosity could wait.

“Well, that was very kind of him,” she said. Much to her relief, the nervous expression on Spike’s face began to melt away. “It makes me curious as to where one might come into possession of such a marvelous gem?”

“He said he got it in a Canterlot thrift store,” Spike replied, the relaxed smile now firmly back on his face as Rarity circled around to measure his shoulders and back. Again. She was really taking her time on this measuring session.

“Mmmhmm… And what have you... worked out about this new body?”

“Well… for example, I don’t have any natural wings. But I think I can fly anyway.”

“Oooh, sounds interesting! How?”

“Dragon magic,” Spike said with a confident gleam in his eye. “Watch.”

Spike closed his eyes and concentrated. Rarity could feel a slight tingle in the air, much like what she felt when another unicorn was performing magic, but… different, somehow. Two purple torrents of ethereal energy appeared at Spike’s shoulder blades. They glowed brightly and pulsed a few times before they “unfurled,” revealing a pair of large, transparent, purple draconic wings, composed entirely of raw arcane energy. Amazingly enough, they seemed to pass right through the fabric of the robe without causing any damage to it. Spike’s eyes opened, and he gave the wings a flap, causing a gust of wind to whirl through the boutique.

“Wow…” Rarity gasped. “They’re beautiful…”

“Thanks. I still need to learn how to use them, though.” Spike replied. Rarity reached out and drew her fingers through the spectral wings, causing her fingers to tingle. After allowing her to indulge herself for a while, Spike closed his eyes again briefly, and the wings evaporated from existence.

“Sorry, was I making you uncomfortable?” Rarity asked.

“No. They’re just a bit unwieldy. I can’t fold them in like pegasi do, and I didn’t want them to get in the way.”

“Well, let’s see here…” Rarity walked up and slid her arms over Spike’s shoulders, allowing her hands to reach back to where his wings had gone through the fabric of the robe. “Wow, the fabric wasn’t damaged at all…” Rarity drifted off, but her arms slipped completely around Spike’s neck, and she gently molded her body against his.

“Uh…” Spike got flustered, heat rising in his cheeks. “Are you… done… with the, uh... measurements?”

“Oh, Spikey...” Rarity laughed melodiously. “I finished measuring you five minutes ago… I’ve just been savoring the eye candy.” She drew close, their faces inches apart. Her next words were barely above a whispered breath. “Most beautiful dragon in the world.”

As emotions swirled in Spike’s heart and mind, he dimly recognized that this had to be what the girls had felt when he had used those words. The sincerity in her eyes and voice touched him deeply, and he found himself smiling like a fool.

“Really?” he asked, his voice a whisper.

“Yes,” Rarity replied huskily. Her warm breath spilled over Spike’s lips as she drew a little closer. “How long have you wanted this?”

“Since the moment I first saw you.”

“Hey Rares!” a brash voice suddenly cut in. The door to the boutique opened, and Rainbow Dash rushed in. “You gotta hear thiiiiss… Oh… Oh man…” Spike and Rarity both turned towards the door and fixed her with disbelieving stares. Blushing heavily, Rainbow shut the door behind her and dropped her voice to a whisper. “Maybe I should have knocked?”

Rarity turned back to Spike and brought one of her hands to his chin, turning him back to face her. There was disappointment in his eyes where warm desire had lived a few moments ago. She had to fix that.

Ignoring the added audience, Rarity closed her eyes, brought her lips to Spike’s, and drew him even deeper into her embrace.

It was amazing. Spike secured his embrace around Rarity’s soft, velvety body, closing what little distance remained between them and diving into the kiss with a fiery passion that had been building for many years. He felt Rarity’s gorgeous body press up against his and her ample bosom push fervently against his chest as his heart soared and his mind became lost in a state of euphoria. Their lips moved against each other, probing, sliding and exploring this new and amazing act.

Rarity was no pegasus, but she felt like she was soaring through the sky! During the kiss, Spike’s arms around her waist actually lifted her from the ground and held her close to his strong body. She felt completely weightless. Her perceptions dimmed until she was only aware of herself and the gorgeous being bringing her such joy.

Eventually, however, they both needed to breathe, and Spike reluctantly pulled back and put Rarity back on the ground. The poor mare couldn’t stand on her own legs, however, so she had to support herself by leaning against Spike’s steady frame. There they remained for a few moments, with big smiles on their faces like they’d had a few too many mugs of hard cider.

“Woah…” came a voice from the door. The two kissers turned to see their rainbow-maned friend, who had apparently collapsed to her knees in awe of what she been witness to. Rainbow Dash picked up her jaw from the floor before proclaiming, with a small crack in her voice, “That… was… hot!”

Author's Note

Edited by: TheDaringExplorer and Feo Takahari
Edit: and Pearly (not on this site)

Welcome back, everyone! Sorry this chapter's editing took so long. Some stuff happened and my primary editor needed some extra rime. He managed to do a little, though, and I managed to take in a new editor to help, so here it is, the new chapter!

Side note: I'm looking to make a small list of people I can contact for help editing and/or prereading this story. If you're capable, willing and interested, let me know. Being 'on the list' means that I may contact you to, you guessed it, edit and/or preread upcoming chapters. Through this i hope to be able to take some of the pressure off the editors I currently have and lessen the wait between 'chapter written' and 'chapter actually readable'. If you have any questions, ask.

See you next time!

Rakni