Derpy Hooves, Ponyville’s resident mailmare, was what some ponies would call an enigma; she had a family, but never married, and while she seemed to have quite a thriving social life, most ponies in town knew nothing about her. She was, as many stallions in town thought, enticingly beautiful, the sort of mare who had an air about her that complemented her appearance with the sort of grace only the sure-footed could possess. She was also holding out a hand for Spike to shake and introduce himself. “Oh, hi; I’m Spike, Twilight’s assistant,” he said, clumsily shaking her hand. For a moment, Derpy's yellow eyes moved away from each other, and the teenaged drake was worried for her health until he saw them settle back in place.

“Well, Spike, I hope we get to work together,” she replied in a singsong voice. The dragon took a step back and motioned for her to walk in, and did what any male would do by sneaking a peek as she stepped onto the wooden floor. He expected to see a normal ass, the small, toned behind associated with pegasi, but was amazed to see it bounce as she walked, restrained only by her shorts. “You know, as long as I’ve lived here in town, I’ve never been in here before.” Spike was enraptured by the blonde's swaying hips; something stirred inside him as he watched her walk about the library. The feelings were centered around Derpy, the way she moved, the way she looked, even the way her eyes crossed when she turned her head too fast; the dragon wasn't to sure what his gut was saying, but it felt something like hunger, only focused on a pony. He wanted to... bite her? Or something like that; wasn't quite sure what his body was telling him. “I usually use the bookstore across town.”

“W-well our books are free if you bring them back,” Spike replied, catching himself as he closed the door. He was surprised to see Derpy whip around and smile, her eyes wonky; the dragon assumed it happened when she was excited or happy about something, rather than a permanent issue, given that such an impediment would make it impossible for her to fly around delivering mail.

“I’ll have to come back sometime, then,” she said, setting a small bag of bits on the desk; she figured she wouldn’t be needing it today. She was there for business, well-paying business, and getting distracted looking for a book for Dinky wouldn’t be good if she made a bad impression on Spike or Twilight. “Sorry, but do you know where Twilight is right now?”

“I think she’s in the lab with the other applicant,” Spike replied, unsure of where Twilight actually was; he hadn’t seen her all day, and was working off assumptions. “Come on; she should be finishing up soon,” he explained, motioning for Derpy to follow him. He didn’t know how much Derpy had been told of the situation, or even if Twilight had mentioned anything at all, but he figured it would be safe to take her to the labspace, especially if she would be spending a lot of her time down there in the future.

The basement, originally carved from the massive library's roots, had been expanded over the years until it had nearly as much floor space as the rest of the building. Much of the equipment that filled the lab was almost generic for anypony not familiar with their function; everything of a sensitive or possibly illegal nature was covered by a sterile, white sheet. A few large syringes, the sort lacking needles because they were meant for a different sort of injection, were laid on a table next to what Spike knew to be a gynecological exam chair, free to see for any pony who might walk in. Thankfully, any of Twilight's obscene accessories were out of sight; the dragon imagined Derpy would be much more likely to refuse if she saw a hollow dildo with a plastic tube running from the base.

With the labspace mostly free of dangerous objects, Spike's attention was free to wander as the mailmare checked over everything not obviously meant to be hidden. It did not take long for the dragon's hormone-addled brain to realize he was in an enclosed space with an attractive mare; the fact said space was meant for reproduction, and had a lingering scent of sweat and other fluids only conspired against his logical mind. As he watched Derpy walk around the lab, carefully inspecting the equipment while making sure not to disturb anything delicate, his eyes drifted over her form. The dragon was certain words for the mailmare's body existed, but they eluded him at the time.

He occupied himself with staring at her, keeping an ear open for any questions she may have had that he could answer. He was enraptured by nearly everything Derpy did, down to the way she brushed her mane from her eyes every time she bent down to check something on a low shelf. With such a display, it didn't take long for his hormones to remind him of his own endowments. Derpy Hooves, for all the unintelligence many ponies attributed to her, was actually very clever; she knew precisely how much of a catch she was, and the effect she was having on Spike. Her body was built for sex, and while she had no intentions of following through, she bent down and picked up a length of plastic tubing that had fallen on the floor.

She wiggled her hips as she picked up the length of tubing, gently flexing her muscled ass as her tail swished from side to side. Spike was treated to more than he thought possible for such a casual encounter; Derpy had either forgotten to wear panties, or simply chose not to for the day, giving him a wonderful view of her slit through the groin of her shorts. Despite the implied vulgarity, the outline of her sex only served to elicit perfectly natural responses within him; his body trembled as his arms tensed, ready to lash out at a moment’s notice. The dragon was primed to take the mailmare as dragons did: pinning her to the ground and claiming her as his own. Spike’s face reddened as he felt his muscles twitch, sending his tail flopping against the ground in time with Derpy’s own; the sound of hard scales smacking the wooden floor filled the lab, loud and oddly funny.

_-_-_-_-_

Upstairs, Cheerilee was quietly stepping out of Twilight’s bedroom. She closed the door, making sure the princess was sound asleep before sneaking downstairs. The teacher drunkenly stumbled down the stairs, wincing as feeling returned to her legs with every half-silent stride; she hadn’t expected the princess to turn the tables on her like that, but even if she suffered a few phantom sensations, it was well worth it in her book. She braced herself against a handrail and shivered as a lingering shot of lightning ran up her spine; despite the rough treatment she’d received, and being as satisfied as she had ever been, part of her wasn’t quite done. A naughty thought ran through her head as she remembered she hadn’t seen the lab yet, and what sort of assistant would she be if she let Twilight go about this experiment without the proper equipment?

Smiling to herself, the well-sexed teacher hobbled downstairs, hungry to see what goodies the princess had hidden away underground, and equally hungry to try a few of them out before business took precedence. The entire upstairs, even the staircase itself, was soundproofed so her uncoordinated steps were barely louder than a mouse’s; she was even pleasantly surprised to find the door to the lab unlocked. Like an inebriated cat, she slinked inside, careful not to disturb anything on her way. A pair of ponies laughed as Cheerilee stepped into the lab, though she could tell their amusement was not directed at her. Slipping her heels off, the teacher made a conscious effort to maintain silence as she sneaked up on the unsuspecting ponies.

She saw them rummaging through the more expensive-looking pieces, a grey mare and a purple stallion, and for a moment, thought they were there to steal, or expose the experiments to the public. But, after only a few moments of fear and anger, she saw that the stallion was indeed Spike, along with a local mailmare by the name of Derpy Hooves; Cheerilee surmised the pegasus was her competition in getting a position as a lab tech, but she felt her own acceptance was in the bag. The dragon, who even in the worst of lighting looked like a primed hunter, looked menacing in the bright beams shining from the overhead lamps; in the teacher’s addled brain, the genuine male she saw standing tall before her was many times more appealing than her previous partner, even if there was a very good chance she would be on the receiving end of anything he could dish out.

The drake’s tail thrashed about on the floor as she sneaked up behind him, masking her steps with ease. Spike was alluring in a way Cheerilee could not really describe, and she liked to think of herself as a very learned mare; something about the dragon simply could not be quantified in her mind, save for the fact she wouldn’t mind seeing him naked, preferably on top of her. She strided up to him from behind, running two fingers up his tail as she went; her heels clacked on the floor as she dropped them in favor of gripping the very base of his muscular tail. “Hello, Spike,” she huskily said into his ear. “I was wondering if you’ve ever done any experimenting, and I mean the fun sort?”

Derpy stopped what she was doing the moment she heard Cheerilee’s heels hit the floor; she hadn’t heard the other mare walk in, but between browsing the labspace and Spike’s flopping tail, she hadn’t been able to hear much that wasn’t obvious. The mailmare didn’t like much of what she saw; ignoring the fact the dragon looked uncomfortable in the teacher’s grasp, she reeked of sex. Derpy had heard Cheerilee was a good mare, honest and caring, but sleeping with the boss may not have been beneath her; there was a certain sense of betrayal involved, what with Derpy’s own daughter being taught by the other mare. The teacher didn’t have the expenses the Hooves family had, and while the pegasus wouldn’t leave any possibility unchecked when it came to taking care of her family, she wouldn’t sleeze her way into a position when somepony else needed it more.

Derpy glowered at both of them, angry enough at losing the job to some slut and strung along under false pretenses. Spike may have been innocent in this, and showed no signs of being Cheerilee’s interviewer or having had any sort of intimate interaction with her, barring the current molestation he was suffering; Cheerilee, on the other hand, would never have Derpy’s forgiveness, not for closing off this line of bits, money Derpy needed to provide for her family. Her wings flared out, primed to launch her either up or forward, but she calmed them down, biting her anger until she could think somewhat rationally. Instead of doing what she really wanted, more out of avoiding time in prison than genuine desire to leave Cheerilee unharmed, she stormed past them, half-running until she was up the stairs and out the front door; she even had the presence of mind to quietly close it behind her to avoid bothering the neighbors.

“Wonder what her problem is,” Cheerilee said after a few moments, letting go of Spike’s tail in favor adjusting her clothes; she hadn’t meant to be so unkempt, but circumstance seemed to have conspired against her. She looked Spike up and down to gauge his reaction to Derpy’s leaving, but he seemed a bit stunned; the bulge in the front of his pants, however, seemed fully appreciative of her earlier efforts. She doubted she had the time to have any real fun, so she decided to give the dragon a taste of what she had to offer, a little something to hold him over until she had time to fool around. With the dragon unresponsive, Cheerilee hiked her skirt up and pressed her ass against the base of his tail; the teacher grinned as she slid down the muscular appendage, shuddering as she passed over each dull spine that decorated its length. Triumphant, she grabbed her discarded shoes with a smile.

“Can we head upstairs now?” the drake asked as Cheerilee stood once more. He felt rather odd about the entire day; while it was not the first time a mare had felt him up, but it was the first time anypony had taken offense to seeing it.

“Now Spike, as much as I’d like to take you upstairs, I really do need to be going,” the earth pony replied, slipping into her heels while she finished buttoning up her shirt. She looked over the him, an embarrassed look in her eyes. “Don’t tell Twilight, but I have another interview today.”

As quietly and quickly as Cheerilee had creeped down the stairs, she nearly ran up them as made her way to whatever she had planned later in the day, leaving Spike alone in a sex lab with just his thoughts and an oddly persistent erection. Wondering where his life was going, he shook his head and followed the mares’ examples by slowly climbing to the ground floor; He flopped down in his chair and grabbed his book, content to sit down and read until time for bed. He opened the novel and propped his feet up. The drake flinched as hit clawed foot sent something clanging to the floor, and he jumped up to see what it was. “Oh, Derpy’s bits purse; she might want this back,” he said to himself, also aware that being nice to her would hopefully negate any ire he may have earned from Cheerilee’s earlier display.

The weather outside, however, was less than agreeable; dark stormclouds hung in sky, and the air was heavy as the scent of water wafted on a hot breeze. Still, Spike felt a bit bad about offending the mailmare, even if it wasn’t his fault. As he stepped outside into the afternoon heat, a clap of thunder echoed through the town’s empty streets; most of Ponyville’s residents had locked themselves in their homes for the day, as the storm wasn’t scheduled to end until early the next morning. Unsure of how else to begin, Spike took the first step in what was shaping up to be a long and tedious journey to return a small sum of coin to a pegasus whose house he had never seen.

_-_-_-_-_

There were few things in life that relaxed Derpy quite like a hot bath; letting the bath run while she lit up some old candles that really had no business going unburned after so many months. While the tub filled, she entered Sparkler’s room and moved to the bookshelf that dominated one wall. Unsure of what to read, she let her hand roam over the spines of Sparkler’s collection until she stopped randomly. Pulling it out, she cocked her head as she read over the title; the cover was rather risque for a book that was in reach of her youngest daughter, showing a female griffon wearing perilously little as a horned, silhouetted male hung in the backgroud, draping a hand over the griffon’s hip.

“The Lusty Griffonian Maid?” she asked aloud, shrugging as she made up her mind that this book would have to suffice even if she had never heard of this ‘Ferrous Resolve’ or read any of his or her previous works. Derpy took the book and made note of where she got it from, then returned to the bathroom just in time to see the water at the level she wanted. Dinky was downstairs, playing in the living room, being a good little filly while her mother tried to shake off the day’s events; without needing to be a responsible adult for a while, the mailmare was able to truly unwind.

Derpy undid her shirt and dropped her shorts before tossing them both into the hamper. She reached behind her back and undid the hooks on her bra, sighing as her breasts popped free; her panties followed soon after, letting her bouncy rump loose to the open air. The mailmare grinned at the bright yellow Bubble Butt caption on the ass before she threw them aside. She turned and gave herself a once-over in the mirror, posing a few times to get the best view. “Ha. I look better than that skank,” she mumbled, hefting a breast in each hand as she mimed a kiss to her reflection. She turned her back to the glass and bent over, looking over her shoulder as she smacked her ass one good time; the sensation was odd, but the stinging was pleasant, something she hadn’t felt in a little over nine years.

Relatively tame, yes, but that was all she allowed herself; she hadn’t had time for a relationship, let alone sex, since Dinky was born. Likewise, what little time she had to take care of her urges alone was scant, so she barely had the opportunity to take care of her own urges; as she eased into the bathwater and grabbed her borrowed book, she knew this sort of relaxation did not involve her playing with herself. As the bath’s hot water soaked through her fur and feathers, her muscles relaxed and she very briefly forgot the day’s troubles; the book, as trashy as it seemed, was written fairly well, and set around a scullery maid named Eos as she went about her chores in her master’s house. While the book’s thickness hinted that there was an overarching plot, little was to be found within the first chapter.

The master of the house, Apis, was a minotaur described in lurid detail as a hulking example of his race, lord of a town in the middle of a temperate kingdom; he was harsh, but fair, a good lord in a crowd of equally wonderful lords and ladies. He kept a small staff, almost too small for his large manor, but he was intimately familiar with each of his workers; there wasn’t a single servant of his that he could not name their birthday, anniversary of their first day on the job, their spouse’s name if they had one, the names and birthdays of any children, and the list went on and on. It seemed as if Lord Apis was a solitary figure heading a township by charisma and a wonderfully political nature, but, as Eos was quick to point out in her narration, solitary was an unfortunate condition that none of the townsfolk could seem to remedy.

For years upon years, the townsfolk had been trying to find the perfect cow for their bull, with minimal success. Apis would begin the courting process, then find some flaw or some reason not to continue along with that particular one, and broke things things off, ever in a polite way. When the supply of eligible females in his fiefdom was exhausted, concerned residents began sending letters to nearby lords, each asking for a wonderful match for Apis. Each search was fruitless, but as Eos was quick to add, unnecessary. Enthralled, Derpy wondered why the search was unneeded, especially in such a time when inheritance was so important, and under so loved a ruler. That curiosity was rewarded when Apis lifted Eos off her paws and carried her into his chambers.

The sudden jump from storytelling to blatant erotica was jarring, but as the mailmare continued to read on as Eos slipped under Apis’s armor and undid the straps holding his loincloth up, she found herself mimicking the griffin’s own feelings as her body heated up, independant of the bathwater. Derpy’s hand followed Apis’s, doing to her own body what he did to Eos, teasing her way down her neck, to her breasts, and finally easing between her legs. She rubbed over her slit once, before gently easing a finger in.

“Mama, Spike’s here; he brought your purse,” Dinky said through the door, sounding oddly excited about something. Derpy nearly jumped out of the tub, heart pounding a mile a minute; it wasn’t often Dinky or Sparkler scared her, but when it happened, it was rather serious.

“Just a minute, honey; tell him I’ll be right there,” she replied, quickly grabbing a towel. She wasn’t surprised to know Dinky knew Spike, especially with the free lessons Twilight had been offering at the library for some time now; she was more surprised that the dragon had come to her house to return the bits purse she hadn’t known she’d left. She looked herself over in the mirror, from flushed face and hard nipples to ready sex and shaking thighs; shaking her head, the mailmare exchanged the usual towel for the one she used at the beach, intent on covering her body as much as possible. Catching her breath, she stepped into the hall, and rounded a corner to the stairs.

Spike was right near the door, where he was always taught to stand when the head of the house had yet to invite him to sit; Derpy locked eyes with him as she glided down the steps. She wondered just what sort of dragon he was, returning the money when he could have at least had a bit of fun with a ready and willing mare of… experience. If she was right, judging by the rain pouring down outside and the fact Spike’s clothes were soaked through, then he was either entirely selfless or thought this was a way to bring her back to the library.

“Please, have a seat in the living room,” Derpy said, opening the door to her bedroom. “I’ll be back out as soon as I’ve changed.” Dinky, seeing her chance, grabbed Spike by the claw and dragged him away, babbling about having somepony to play with. The mailmare shook her head as she closed the door, almost feeling sorry for the poor drake; little Dinky was a shark.

Derpy threw off the towel as soon as the door clicked closed, glad for some privacy once more; thinking ahead, however, she silently cracked it back open to eavesdrop on her unexpected visitor. The towel was thankfully thick enough to hide her arousal, but even as she shook off the last vestiges of warmth, some still lingered deep within. Quickly, she threw on a large shirt, one she’d owned since her high school days that was so faded the lettering had worn away; it looked more like a short dress than a shirt, but it was broken in and more comfortable on her wings than most newer clothes. She slipped on another pair of panties, a black pair with lace that she only ever wore when out with her friend Berry, though that was more a choice of comfort than flirtation.

“I thought grown-ups were supposed to be good at poker,” Dinky shouted from the living room. Derpy suppressed a giggle at the groan that followed as Spike surely lost a lot of chips.

“Who taught you to play? Twilight never covered this in Twilight Time,” she heard the dragon grumble out, followed by the sound of cardboard slapping against wood. She peeked through the crack in the door to see her daughter and the dragon happily playing poker; she would have also been disappointed in Dinky playing for actual money, but judging by the small pile of bits she had racked up, she was at least playing it safe. Her gaze slowly honed in on Spike, however, despite the overall image of his interactions with Dinky.

He looked to be in his late teens, perhaps closer to twenty than first glance would suggest; he was surprisingly happy to be losing, even though Derpy was sure he was being taken for all he had. Whatever the case, Spike seemed good with foals, which was unusual for ponies his age, but the mailmare was quick to remind herself that he wasn’t a pony, and that dragons may have matured differently. Even then, there were more than a few analogues that made the drake easy to empathize with; if she ignored the scales, he looked very nearly like a stallion, one whom her daughter seemed to love the company of, and, as odd as it was for Derpy to think, she founder herself agreeing for reasons of her own.

Spike was clad in a white t-shirt, soaked through to the point his purple-green hide showed through, and his lean, serpentine figure was for all the world to see. He wasn’t rippling with muscle, nor was he scrawny, and she could certainly see why, when she picked up Dinky from her first Twilight Time, the group seemed to be full of just fillies, most of whom were teenagers.

“Oh, come on!” the dragon groaned as he lost yet another hand; he slid over the last of his bits while Dinky smirked at him. He shot back a grin of his own. “You may have won the battle, Dinky, but I have won the war.”

“Oh yeah? How?” the little unicorn asked, looking at her piles of hard-won money. Sparkler had taught her how to play when she was six, and she’d proven a master very quickly; even Derpy’s maternal instinct couldn’t get through her poker face.

“Like this!” Spike quietly roared while lunging forward; Dinky tried to protect her stash, but the drake wasn’t after the gold for once. Instead, he gently picked she up and pulled her to his chest, running his claws over her ribs while his arms held her in place. She cackled and gasped, finally breaking free.

“Ew, Spike, my clothes are all wet now!” the unicorn said, trying to keep her mane from dripping any worse than it already was; most of the moisture in Spike’s shirt had transferred to the back of hers. “Mama,” she started, seeing her mother standing in the doorway. “Can I go change really quick?”

“Of course, sweetie,” Derpy replied. “Let me go get you two some towels, then after you get dried off and dressed, we can see about dinner.” The downside of being busy in the early morning meant she had no idea what to cook, as she hadn’t taken the time to plan during the day; now she had to incorporate a fourth appetite and palate, but the burden was made easier with Sparkler out at a friend’s house for the night. “I’ll be back down in just a minute, okay? Don’t send the poor colt to the poorhouse while I’m gone.”

“Okay,” Dinky half-whined, but one could hear she was joking; she would obey her mother’s wishes, if only in spirit.

“Oh, and Spike?” the mailmare started, looking over her shoulder as she started up the stairs. She contained a chuckle as the dragon snapped his attention to her; for a brief moment, it looked like he was actively trying to avoid looking at her. Manners, perhaps? Maybe he was hoping to avoid any suspicion to ogling her, or perhaps he was overcompensating for actually looking a bit longer than was strictly necessary.

“Yes, Miss Hooves?” Spike asked, looking a bit nervous. Had she scared him a bit? Derpy wasn’t sure, to be honest, but she knew something had to change, at least to boost the poor dear’s confidence.

“Please, call me Derpy,” she replied, smiling as relief crossed the dragon’s face. Whatever the reason for his nervousness, she had at least abated it for the time being. “Would swim trunks be okay for you to sleep in, if the storm doesn’t let up after dinner and you need to stay over?”

“Oh, of course,” he answered, looking a bit confused about why she would be planning on him sleeping over, or perhaps about the fact she owned swim trunks when she only had daughters.

“Alright then; I’ll be back in just minute,” she said one final time, before heading upstairs. At first, she expected to hear them go back to playing, but as she stepped around the corner and listened, she heard very little in the way of games.

“See something you like, Spike?” she heard Dinky ask, barely loud enough for her to hear. They must have thought she had gone straight to the bathroom if the unicorn was speaking so clearly.

“Yes,” the dragon said, almost dumbly. If Spike meant the mailmare, then she was more than flattered, even if she knew how desirable she was. Still, to have a teenager openly admit it was a boost she needed on a rainy day, especially after the encounter with Cheerilee and the lost job opportunity. Besides, if Spike had tried to find her house to return the money right away, as his clothes suggested, then he resisted the teacher’s charms; that meant he had a good enough head on his shoulders to do the right thing above personal gratification. That was an admirable trait in one so young.

“She’s single, you know?” Dinky went on, and Derpy did her best not to giggle too loudly. It was sweet of her daughter to try and set her up, but Spike was a bit out of her age range; she shook her head and decided to have a little talk with Dinky as soon as they had a moment alone. Still, Spike didn’t seem to mind too much, the way she knew he was staring...

Author's Note

Listen, I know you lot probably get tired of me linking to my friend, Lucky424, but the guy's in a bad place right now and could use a bit of motivation.
Just pop in, maybe read a story of his and leave a comment if you want.