Rainbow Dash didn’t know why, precisely, she couldn’t quit looking at his butt. She could ignore it when he was talking, but now he was quiet, testing a little speed, and Dash’s eyes had fallen down to his butt again.
It looked shiny. Shiny and green. She knew it was the scales, his own personal heatproofing solution. He could swim in lava.
What Rainbow Dash did know, for certain, is why she shouldn’t be looking at his butt. It’d be weird. It’d be like, she knew him when he was only a baby dragon, according to Twilight. It’d be creepy.
So now, even though he was as tall as Dash when she reared up on two legs, it’d still be weird. No question. Shouldn’t look. Looking him in the eyes was a little weird because he was almost always on two legs. Even hovering a little, Dash ended up looking up at him a little. She swore his eyes had gotten brighter, somehow, over the years. He’d certainly developed quite a bit.
The flow of wind shifted and his tail flailed a little different for a moment, which drew Dash’s eyes back to his butt.
The muscles underneath were really obvious, though, even in little stolen glances. Twilight said something about gluttonous maximums or whatever when Dash had asked about butt muscles, but ass was ass, and Spike’s ass was the hotness. It was a little weird to think back, so Dash didn’t. She focused on the now, as she so frequently would. Now, here, right this second, Spike’s butt was in front of her, close enough that she could reach out and press her hoof to it, feel those smooth scales and his gluttonouses flexing or whatever. When he moved his legs it was such a sight. She could imagine the flexing it would do if he was --
Darkness and pain snatched Dash from thoughts of butt.
She opened her eyes to find that, indeed, she was no longer flying. Gravity insisted that, in fact, she was no longer airborne. Opening her eyes revealed that she was half-hanging, half-sitting in some dead tree branches. The large section of shattered crumbling bark on the trunk explained the raw dull ache spreading through her torso.
Green and purple flashed between foliage in front of her, and then Spike popped his head through. “Dash? Are you okay? Wow. How did you not see that tree?”
“I don’t know.” Dash took a deep breath and rubbed her muzzle. For a moment, she thought her hoof hurt, and then she thought her muzzle hurt. A moment or two of testing revealed that both of them hurt. “I, uh, I hurt.”
“Well, duh. Here. Lemme help you down, and we can figure out if your wings are hurt.”
“They’re not! It’s cool -- “
Suddenly Dash was tucked up against his chest. Scales, scales, scales. Cool smooth scales and a distinct, firm musculature underneath. He was strong, but he’d never picked her up before. Dash could smell him, too -- he never smelled quite like stallions did. The scent reminded her of Tank, or even maybe Gilda a little, but it was still unique. Twilight had said lemon-something, but it wasn’t sharp, it was just sort of a soft scent that was a little lemony but more like mowed grass and something vaguely spicy.
“Dash?”
“Yes! Hi! Sorry!” Dash blinked. She forced her breath to slow down.
“Uh, are you okay to get on your legs? I kinda thought you had a concussion for a second there. And you’re panting pretty hard. I guess you got the wind knocked out of you?”
Spike was standing on solid ground, and Dash was still nestled in his arms. “I . . . guess, yeah. Sure.” Dash flexed forelegs, wings, then hindlegs. A knot of pain was in her right hindleg’s calf. “I think I got a little bit of a muscle strain in one leg. Everything else is peachy. Nothing I can’t handle later with a compress.”
Gently, he set her on the ground. “Here. Are you sure?” The dragon's eyes didn't leave her. "How are you still okay? I mean, like, you skinned part of the tree.”
Dash rubbed her side. “Combination of instinct, lightness, and magic. Y’know, weird pegasus stuff.”
“Right.” His ear flicked. “I guess that kinda makes sense. So how was I doing? I know I’m going faster than Twilight flies, but like, I don’t really know if I’m doing it right, either.”
“As far as I can tell, yeah. I mean, you move faster than most pegasi, at least at this point. Pegasi usually are flying around the age you were when I met you. At least, as much as I understand how you get older -- “
“Yeah, uh, okay. Never mind.” Spike shrugged and looked around. “Guess I should get more flying in.”
“Hang on.” He’d been like this most of the day. He’d ask a question about how he was doing, then cut Dash off as soon as she started explaining. “What’s up with you? You’ve been, y’know, like this all day. Nervy. Cutting me off every time I answer a question.”
He chuckled and rubbed the back of his neck. “It’s nothing. I’m just really psyched about flying! That’s all.”
“C’mon. If something’s bugging you, you should talk to someone about it. Twilight would listen. I could listen.” That wouldn’t be weird. Listening was just letting someone else talk and paying attention.
“She doesn’t get it. It doesn’t matter, okay?”
“Of course it matters, doofus. And if she didn’t get it, you should tell her that. She’s practically your mom.”
“Did you tell your mom everything that bugged you?”
Dash wasn’t sure if he was poking with the question or actually asking. “Well, duh, no. Not everything. I didn’t tell her about, like, me and Gilda. But I don’t think she’d have wanted to hear the details on that, y’know?”
“You and Gilda?”
“We were dating. I don’t think my mom wanted to hear any of that.”
“You were dating Gilda?” Spike’s eyebrow ticked upwards slightly.
“Yeah. Flight School was kinda like that, I mean.” Dash gave a shrug. “I was a filly and she just seemed so, I dunno. Confident. Awesome.” Dash stifled a snicker, the memory of Gilda leaving a ‘present’ in the office of one of the teachers. A biological present. “And an asshole.”
“She did seem like kind of a bitch sometimes.”
Dash laughed. “Dude, you have no idea. She’d mellowed out a lot when she came to Ponyville. She was a lot of fun in bed, though. So what’s actually bugging you?”
“Like it’s not obvious?” Spike huffed and kicked at the ground. “Rarity and Filthy.”
“Hey, she doesn’t know what she’s missing out on. You’re a nice guy.”
He rolled his eyes. “Huge consolation, I can’t even tell you.”
Dash set a hoof on his shoulder. Muscles shifted under the scales. “Seriously. And you’re hotter than Filthy Rich ever was, so it’s really her loss.”
“Yeah. No fur, no magic, just lizard scales and weird-looking wings. I’m a real catch.” He made a huff through his nose.
“Are you kidding? You have awesome wings, you’re lavaproof, you breathe fire and you’re cool. Those all sound like pretty awesome bonuses to me.”
“Dash, you’re you. If you were fireproof, sure. I’m . . . I’m just Twilight’s kid and I look like a freak.”
“Wait, what? You do not look like a freak, doofus. I mean, yeah, you don’t look like a pony but so what? You’re a dragon. You’re cool. Rarity’s probably just weird about it because she’s all, y’know.” Dash made a circle in the air with a hoof. “Social. It’s not like she’s shallow or something, but if she doesn’t know how someone fits into society around her, she doesn’t really know how to deal with them.”
“Kinda making my point, Dash.” Spike doodled in a patch of mud with a talon.
“You’re too hung up on what Rares thinks. She’s cool, but she’s not the end-all be-all of life, y’know?”
“I guess I know, yeah. Doesn’t make it feel any better.” Spike rolled his eyes and shrugged. “Anyway. Gilda, huh? Can I ask you a question?
“Sure, shoot.”
“What’d she taste like?”
“Uh, wh-what?” Dash choked a little. “What did you say?”
“You two dated. I’m not a little kid.” Spike rolled his eyes. “Her mouth. You kissed her, right? Or is that not a thing with beaks?”
Dash started breathing again. “Whoa. Okay, yeah, it’s a thing you do with beaks. I mean, I dunno. She tasted a little different than ponies in general, but really, like, usually it was just whatever she’d had to eat last. Sometimes that was sunflower seeds. Sometimes it was meat.”
“Meat. Huh.” Spike tilted his head, then scrunched his nose up for a moment. “Have you been with a lot of other, uh, species?”
Dash drew a sharp breath. He’s not a kid. He even said so himself, right? I mean, he’s as old as I was when I met him, now. “Well, um, yeah. Not exclusively, it’s not like a fetish or something, but Patches was a dog and he was my first boyfriend, and Gilda and I were a thing in Flight School, and -- “
“So, I mean, you had sex with Gilda. Did you and Patches, y’know . . . ?”
Dash shifted and shrugged. “It happened a couple times. I mean, I was younger then, it was before flight school. I probably shouldn’t have been doing that stuff.”
“So you regret it?” He kicked a claw at the dirt, but his tail was flicking in the way that suggested he was interested. The dragon shifted a little, then chuckled. “Heh, I found a garnet.” He tossed it back in his mouth and chewed. The smile on the face said everything about how the gemstone tasted.
“No, no, it’s not like that. I just . . . Patches was cool, but I probably should have waited a little. I was like, fourteen going on fifteen. I wasn’t even legal.”
Spike groaned. “Ugh.”
“Hey, if you don’t wanna hear stuff, don’t ask. Jerk.” Dash got on four legs and flexed her wings. “Whatever. Let’s get flying.”
Spike was in front of Dash, almost as fast as Dash had gotten up and prepped to fly. “Whoa, whoa, whoa! I wasn’t saying that about you! It just reminded me of something Twilight said.”
“What do you mean?” It sounded like he meant it.
“She said it didn’t matter if I’m a dragon, the laws in Equestria applied even though they refer to ‘ponies’ because someone decided ‘ponies’ applies to all living entities or something.” Spike rolled his eyes and plopped on the log again. “I’m sixteen so it doesn’t matter now, but she told me I couldn’t drink until it was legal.”
Dash plopped her butt down on the log next to him. Wait, too close. She slid a little bit away. “Uh, sorry. So what was that? You’re legally an adult?”
“Yeah, now. She was a real pain about it, though. I thought it was bullshit.”
Dash bit her lip and shook her head, but she couldn’t hold back the snicker.
“What are you laughing at?” Spike looked like Fluttershy usually did after some jerk talked to her.
“Sorry, it’’s just weird to hear you swear sometimes.”
“I’m not a little kid any more.” His brow was furrowed. “I told you that.”
“I know! Dude, trust me, I know.” Dash flexed her rear leg, a shot of pain jolting through it. “I’m sorry.”
“What do you mean you know?”
“Nothing. So she says you need to follow the laws and that’s just how that is, huh?”
Spike nodded. “Yeah. She even took me out for my first legal drink, so that was kinda cool. But a little weird.”
Dash snorted. “I’d imagine. My mom gave me my first drink when I was like thirteen, said I had to keep to beer. Then she got hammered anyway in front of me on Jaguarmeister, so that was kinda funny.”
“Huh. I’m . . . sorry, I guess?”
Dash made a circle with a hoof. “Eh, it’s past tense. I still drink sometimes but it’s not like that for me. Not like it was for her.”
Spike nodded.
For a moment, Dash watched the sky. Cirrus clouds had formed from the cold front coming in, and the bulk of the cumulus clouds had developed. Tomorrow, they’d be Dash’s problem. She shut her eyes and sighed. “Y’know, we should do this more. It’s pretty cool flying with you, and I bet your speed’s gonna be great once you get more practice.” It wasn’t like babysitting. Spike definitely wasn’t a little baby now, and looking at his butt --
Smooth warmth touched Dash’s lips and she squealed and opened her eyes.
Spike’s face was in hers and those bright green eyes were blinking.
He’s right there.
Dash shut her eyes and leaned up to press her lips against his own. The warmth was definite. His lips were just as they appeared, the upper and lower each a soft fabric of scale, almost as soft as flesh but with a faint difference of texture.
She slipped her foreleg around his neck and ran her tongue along his lips. A tremor pulsed through him and a whimper came out, but his mouth opened and she found his tongue.
The taste was lemony, sort of, and there was a sweet crystalline undertaste. Dash wasn’t sure what she should have expected the taste to be but overthinking wasn’t exactly her strong suit. His tongue seemed more agile, somehow, than hers. Maybe the crystalline thing was the gem he’d eaten?
The kiss broke and Dash found herself panting.
“So, um,” Spike murmured. Those bright eyes looked away.
“Yeah. That, um. Yeah.” Dash pushed a long breath out. The sunlight seemed hotter than ever now. “That was hot.”
“Really?” Spike blinked. “I mean, I thought so too, but I didn’t think you’d, um -- “
“Dude, don’t be insecure. I’m telling you, that was awesome. If It wasn’t, you think I’d lie about it?”
Spike tilted his head, and his brow arched. “Yeah, you wouldn’t, would you? I mean, it’s not like you can’t lie. But you don’t, not about awesomeness.”
“‘Zackly.” She bit her lip and rubbed a hoof along his neck. “But if it’s going to happen again, we need to talk to Twilight. It might be a little weird for her.”
“Uh, how...detailed...are we gonna have to be?” Spike’s brow was furrowing.
“She’s like your mom. She doesn’t need details. If anything, I’m the one who’s going to have some explaining to do, but...well, one bridge at a time, right?”
Spike nodded. “Yeah. I guess we should -- “
“Shush.” Dash snickered and hooked her arm around his neck to pull him down to her lips again. “Seal’s broken. We can at least make out for a while before we fly back!”
A grin spread out on Spike’s face just before Dash shut her eyes. Oh, she’d have quite a talk ahead with Twilight, no question about that, but after all that time she wasn’t going to pass up an opportunity to kiss Spike again.
She also knew she’d let Spike take lead on the flight back, because now she could stare at his ass all she wanted.
