Listen, my darlings, listen!
There are two things in this world that are worth striving toward. Two qualities worth every second of our existence to refine. They are charm. And they are wit. Wit and charm; charm and wit. Neither one ahead or behind the other, for when combined, they can give you the keys and hearts to all the doors and ponies in this cruel little world of ours.
Charm is what draw others closer to ours souls; wit is what wills ponies to our desires. Everything in the world can soon be our own with these two qualities----all but a single thing.
And that one thing, my sweet little darlings, can make or break a pony.
“Have you remembered?”
“Remembrance is only for those who have forgotten.” I wrapped my hoof around his leg, smiling at the brown stallion. He wore a black suit matched with a gray vest----purple tie tucked along his chest. “You are the great and wealthy High Sights out from Manehattan. I am your date, a clerk from one of your casions, eastic to be in Canterlot for the first time.”
High Sights stopped before the double doors. “The streets. You do know them well, yes?”
“More than any noble could dare to know.” I looked up at the glass in the door, yellow lights spilling into the dimness of the streets. “We make your impression here and return to the hotel once we are done. I have the tickets in my purse.”
High Sights smirked. “Good.”
He lowered his head, giving no hint to his intent, and a second later, his lips were upon my own. Dry and scratchy. They rubbed against my own like sandpaper. I faked supirsed. I faked a moan. I didn’t fake the subsequent kisses down his neck.
“Mmmhmm.” I pulled away from his throat, looking up at him from under his chin. My mane covered my left eye. Perfect. “Restrain those lips my dear. One wrong photo and we’ll endure a scandal.”
“Maybe you’re worth the publicity.”
Something curled along the back of my neck and lifted me up. Lips claimed my own again, a tongue pressing between my own, and fighting the urge to roll my eyes, I opened my mouth and gave the pervert that which he desired.
Seconds later and there was a bright light. Not one brought from the blindness of love but the opening of the doors. Ponies cheered at the sight of us, causing us to break apart, though with our hooves still entwined, we stepped inside the restaurant.
It didn’t take us long to get us adjusted to our surroundings. A colt in a vest took our coats. A mare had her magic alive, using her powers to hold a tray of cocktails up in the air. She was familiar to me, and by her raised brow, I was familiar to her.
Taking my drink into my own magic, I was sure to leave a few bits on the tray itself. They didn’t stay there for long. In a blink, the mare was looking at me, smiling at me like one stranger would another.
I would have to note this encounter later in my log.
“High Sights!” My gaze was drawn to the center of the room. My date had left my side and progressed down a red carpet, standing before a group of stallions all equally dressed and all equally old. “I see you could make it to the convention after all. Oh? And just who is your date?”
I was there at once. Strolling along the carpet in a dignified manner, I made sure to have extra sway in my hips. “Pleasure to make your acquaintance. Sparkling Diamond is the name, but please, just Diamond will suffice.”
“That I can do, Miss Diamond.” I held out my hoof at his words, which he took and lifted with his own, kissing my top with his lips. Also dry. “High Sights has told us much about you.”
I giggled. “I assure you that most of his kind words have mostly been lies.” I fell into my date’s side, nuzzling the crook of his neck. “He speaks highly of myself purely for my own sake. He knows how to make a mare feel special in that way.”
The rest of the stallions seemed happy by my reply. My date was blushing down to his throat. My charm had him. At once he was leaning back into me, trying to feel more of me. His hoof traveled along my arm, rubbing circles into my soft, white fur.
“Now then,” began the other stallion, “let’s talk business.”
The night carried on and I made for a rather proper prop.
The old stallions talked business. They never like it when the prop takes interest, so I cuddled next to my love. It made the other stallions jealous. That simple dynamic made High Sights able to sit a bit straighter, speak a bit louder, and when the night was at its close, he was very happy and with a scroll containing five other signatures.
We stayed a bit to drink and dance, to sing and talk. It was building. All of it. Every word and every act an advancement to obtain that which he wanted all along. And I would give it to him. I would give him whatever he wanted, and I would take everything from him in return.
So we left. So we wandered the streets. So we kissed and we moaned and we stumbled and we singed aloud. Everything he did was genuine and foolish; everything I did was faked and with purpose.
Soon the hotel was upon us and soon we were inside of it. We rode the elevator up. Golden everything. A light shone brightly over us. Our hooves were over each other, bodies pressed tightly, and we weren’t even sure others were riding with us.
There weren’t. I’d made sure of that.
So the door slid open and we were out into the hall. Long with the walls apart. The ceiling couldn’t be seen without craning my neck. My neck was craned only to endure more of his dry kisses along my fur and against my skin.
We soon found our room almost in a blur. Number twenty-five. My body slammed against the wood as he had thrown me against it. He hovered over me, dropped on me, and used his free hoof to unlock the door and turn the knob.
None of us bothered with the lights. I knew the layout of the room. He was too drunk on me to care much for direction. At once I stood tall, putting my hoof on his chest to push him back. He looked confused. I grabbed his tie and pulled him close, suffering yet another kiss at my choice, slowly leading him back to where the bed was.
“Nice place, is it not?” I said between our kisses. “A nice little room in the greatest hotel there ever was.” His eyes drew open. “Shall we see if the bedroom was worth it’s price?”
High Sights closed his eyes and kissed me all over again. We’d gone through the hall and do the door at its end. It didn’t need to be opened. I bumped my flanks against it, pushing it back enough for our bodies to fit through.
Moonlight glittered over the dim room. The white sheets of the bed were the only thing to be seen. We stumbled towards it, my eyes rolling and my heart pumping, a forever repeating act.
I gasped as I’m thrown back. My back lands on the plush bed. Two hooves slam down on either side of my head. The hunk of an old stallion hovered over me, lowering to kiss me, slamming his crotch into me, thighs slapping against my own.
I had him.
“Sure you want this, darling?” I leaned up only to nip at his neck. “Everything from here on out is extra.”
He groaned in response, too far gone to care about his own riches. His crotch kept slamming mine, both of us bare down there, and I could feel something hard growing against my softness.
“This room is rather nice, no?” I lifted to whisper into his ear. “Big and rich stallion like you could afford to keep me, here, always ready for another service, always ready to have… you.”
“Nnngh.” The old stallion actually lifted off me after that. “I’m not sure I could do that, Rarity, I have—”
“Don’t forget, darling, that I am your Diamond.” I laid back with my forelegs tucked against my chest, batting my lashes. “And what of that contract you hold on you now? Can’t you excuse a small fund of finances…” I let my thighs close over his enlarging cock, my thickness wrapping around his girth. “...for a future investment.”
And from that moment on, I had him.
And from that moment on, he had me.
I slept without dreaming.
We finished the act and the deed without much cuddling. It was always a sign with the nervous ones. They thought after sex, and in my line of business, that was never pleasant. I’ve had some cry, yell, and want to die once were done.
So I slept. Away from from. A sight to gaze at, the sleeping beauty. They could never run away, or at least, leave without paying me. Either because the guilt was too great, or having introduced me to their peers, knew I was clever enough to sever their connections.
So when the squeak of the door ‘waked’ me at midnight, my eyes opened to the bedside table. A paper laid on it. A cheque for a large sum. It wasn’t enough. It would never be enough. But I was getting closer. Me, and only me, was getting me close to which I wanted.
I laid up on the bed, feeling sore but not worn out. My lady parts burned, my mane a mess. Real sleep would not be claiming for a while, so I decided to take care of certain affairs.
First was to brew coffee while changing my attire. Slipped that check into a pocket on my vest, and in the next, a cup of sweet caffeine in my telekinesis. I was out the door and in the hall, slipping inside an empty elevator and groaning at its many memories. Time was afforded to me. Moments and minutes. Staring at the golden railing, I wondered why I didn’t let him lift me up and put my plush flanks down on it.
Eating me out in an elevator? Against the rules, though those could be bended with wealth, and those who I was with, so close to the law, always cheating around it, wanted a moment of cheekiness, a hot air of life blown by a dangerous and dirty act.
I would have to keep it in mind, for at that very second, the doors slid open with a subtle chime. Walking out into the empty lobby, I came across the desk, standing before the mare seated behind it.
“How much time do I have left in room twenty-five.”
The mare’s head tilted at those words. Looking down, she opened a booklet and flicked through its pages, scrunching her brow at her findings. “Records state you have another two months. You still have----”
“I know how much I have left with you, dear,” I replied, “and I plan on leaving some more. Extend my stay by an extra month.” I turned to leave, making it a few steps before turning back around. “Oh. And make sure to have room service in and out within the next hour.”
The mare said nothing further.
I stood outside late into the night, covered by the light of a towering post, and no fears were upon me. It was Canterlot, and crime was unheard of----the crime that left traces unlike my occupation.
I stared at it, the white building before me. It was tall and divided from all the rest, empty on the inside but showing promise, even showing me my reflection. Many mornings and evenings and afternoons were spent just looking at this building, but then again, I was hardly looking at the building.
I was looking at the dresses and the models that soon could be inside of it.
Footsteps crept to the side of me. I turned my head to look, seeing nothing but blackness beyond the lamp’s light. “Excuse me. Is someone there?”
A figure came out from the dark, standing on the outskirts of the light. “Yes… are you Rarity, perhaps?”
“Perhaps I am.” I said with an edge to my voice. This was not my meeting location, and none of my newcomers ever knew me by face. “Whom do I have the pleasure to speak with? And do you mind stepping out from the shadows?”
The figure did not move. “I am interested in hiring you.”
I huffed. “I’m afraid you’re mistaken.”
“And I’m afraid I’m not.” The figure stepped forward, and in my body, I felt my heart scratching against my chest. “Rarity, the soshpicated mare for hire. A dazzle at parties. The unmatchable beauty even with the glittering stars above.”
“Flattering words, but you are still mistaken.” I nudged my head over my shoulder. “Now step out from those shadows and let me see your face.”
The figure still did not move, and I was beginning to breathe faster and a bit more heavy. Whomever stood out in the shadows was unlike anything I’d seen before. They were tall, taller than was normal, and from the faint sight, it appeared they were standing on two legs.
I looked around only to see an empty street.
“You come out here now!” I said, though it sounded almost like a scream. “I may be able to help you, but I can only do that if I can see you. There’s surely something you want, or else you would not be here now, f-following me on this street.”
The figure was still, and then, “I’ll step out one condition.”
“And that is?”
“I hire you,” they said, “and you take me to your room.”
My legs were still drained from the night’s previous act, but I could manage another show. Looking up and down this creature, their frame was rather massive from a distance, and when my eyes dropped to between their legs, I wondered if I could even take what they were offering between my own.
“Can you even afford my prices?” I was being risky here, but if this was just another horny pervert, then I could take another month on my room, and a month away from obtaining my dream. “They are meant for nobles and for visitors with wealth.”
“I can afford to buy-out that crummy hotel you’ve got yourself stuck in,” the figure said as he stepped closer into the light, “and have every room be your own.”
“That’s rather a lot of talk for a stranger… in this part… of the… the… lands…” My mouth refused to work. The figure stepped out from the shadows. A dragon stepped into the light. A former friend greeted my haze. “I… I don’t… is that…”
“Oh? And you were speaking well for so long.” Spike towered over me. Spike. Baby dragon Spike. Standing tall at my chest, Spike. My little Spikey-Wikey now putting me in his shadow. “It’s been a long time, Rarity.” He smiled. “How have you been?”
I almost fainted on the spot.
“I’ve been… well.” I coughed into my hoof, stumbling back a step. “You are Spike, aren’t you?”
“Yeah, it’s me.” Spike also turned his head to cough into his clenched claw. “Er, I mean! Yes, it is I, Spike! Pleasure to, erm, make your acquaintance again.” He chuckled nervously into his claw. “So nice to see a l-lady like yourself on the street.”
“And so nice to see a gentle drake at this hour as well.” I peered past him into the darkness. “Um. Have you come alone?”
“Yup, all solo.” Spike shook his head. “What I mean is that I’ve come here without anyone else. Canterlot, I mean, and not just these streets.”
“So… no Twilight?”
He nodded. “No Twilight.”
I sighed. My body felt lighter.
“So uh,” Spike continued, scratching the back of his neck, “w-when do we get to the hotel room?”
We walked in silence for a fair share of the time.
It was weird to see my little Spikey after so many years apart. To be trueful, I was never expecting to see his face again, but here he was, en route to my bedroom. I should have known of his intent----I just wasn’t expecting it to come from him.
I stole a couple of glances at him during our stroll. He was taller than me, at least twice, maybe trice my height. He was dressed differently from my previous stallion of the night. Spike wore only a vest with a shirt underneath, dress pants and dress shoes. Everything was tight against his body, and even I had to admit my gaze settled on his chest for some time.
“So,” I began, “just how in Equestria did you find yourself in Canterlot? It must certainly be a far way from—”
“I don’t have the pleasure of living there anymore,” Spike interrupted me in a tone that was unlike him. “Twilight and I shortly went our separate path. She still resides there.”
Resides? That’s not how my Spikey talked at all. “Is that so? I’m sorry to hear that.” I stepped closer toward him, instincts of my wit kicking in. “And how about yourself? Where are you staying currently?”
“Right now? Canterlot.” He looked further away the closer I drew, causing me to pause in my attempts. “But I, uh, stay everywhere at the moment. Don’t really have a place to call home.”
“I know the feeling well, darling,” I replied, not expecting my eyebrows to rise. “Begs me to question how you knew my home, though.”
“Word on the street,” he said, so I drew closer, and he coughed after only a step. “Er, actually, after paying my respects to Princess Celestia, I happened to run into Blueblood. We started talking about, well, things that nobles do… then onto mares… then onto you.”
I almost wanted to vomit at that name and very nearly did at the deed behind it. I quickly thought about my dream and how near it currently was, hoping that could quell the disgust rising in my stomach. “Guess that must have surprised you.”
He looked over and down at me. “Huh?”
“Hearing about me in the way that you did.” I looked forward and sighed. “We haven’t spoken for a very long time, Spike, and it was my intent to be never found by you again, much less the girls. How have they been keeping.”
“Well. But…”
“But what?”
“Well. They’re worried about you.”
I snickered. “Now that’s rich.”
I wasn’t expecting for him to cut in-front of me. He stood still and blocked the path. “C’mon, Rarity. Don’t be like that.” He sighed and bent his knees slightly. “I know things aren’t well between you and the girls, and that’s your business. But I never stopped caring about you, being worried for you—”
I laughed in his face. “And those are the reasons you are paying for a night in my bedroom?”
Spike went quiet after that, turning his head away. At once I was overcome with shame, feeling guilty for little accusation. I had hardly lived the life of the holy, and now, I was condemning a boy for being exactly that: a boy.
So I stepped forward, and placing my hoof on his thigh, smiled up at him. “I’m sorry for that little outburst. You have nothing to be ashamed of.”
Spike looked back down at me and locked eyes, his glowing in the night. They didn’t believe my words, and I didn't believe them either. In times like these, silence was your enemy and more words made for more friends.
“I should have expected something like this from the beginning, to be honest.” We strolled to the front of the hotel, coming before the glass door entry. “You’ve had your eyes on me ever since we were young. It’s just surprising that…”
My words trailed off and so did my eyes. Past the glass, the clerk was talking to a stallion, one dressed in gold armor and wearing a stern expression. I held out my hoof and felt Spike walked into it. He came still but not silent.
“The heck was that—”
I’d stopped listening. The clerk kept talking with the guard, but from behind her back, she waved her hoof. I took the sign at once and stepped back, pushing my client back as I did so. “On second thought, this hotel simply will not do for the night.”
Spike looked down at me. “And why’s that?”
“R-Room service!” I started to giggle and giggled longer than I should have. “Still have them cleaning my room, after all. Come! We can find an—”
“Another room? Already a step ahead of ya.” Spike did exactly that around my outstretched hoof. “Told ya I got enough bits to—”
“No!” I shouted louder than I should, not only causing my client to stare strangely at me, but to have the distant, royal guard do the same. At once I gulped as he ceased his conversation with the clerk and began our way. “Oh no.”
Spike looked backed at me, and when I stepped directly behind him, his eyes narrowed—I didn’t feel intimidated but understood. From the side of his tall frame, I saw the guard leaving the building, directly toward us, and I very nearly thought that I might faint.
“Friend of yours?” Spike whispered over his shoulder. “Or former client?”
“Neither!” I flicked the back of his leg. “Just another run-in with the law, I suppose.” I sighed, feeling my hooves go light and my body heavy. “Wasn’t them expecting to crack down on my location so soon.”
Spike resumed looking forward. “Got a way out of this?”
“Not currently.” I stepped out from his back. “But wit and charm haven’t failed me yet.”
His arm came over my head and wrapped around my barrel, holding me close to his side. “Wit and charm, huh?”
“Spike! Hands off—”
“Excuse me.” My gaze was drawn toward the voice, the royal guard standing just a foot away from us both. “But these are Canterlot Streets. We do not condone such commotion at this hour.”
“My apologies, sir.” Spike held me tighter. “Afraid my love and I were having a bit too much fun. You won’t have any trouble from us for the rest of the night.”
The guard glanced at me. “How long have you two been together?”
“Beg your pardon?”
“Just answer the question.”
“Then you can put me down for a few weeks.” Spike looked down at me. “Isn’t that right, love?”
For whatever reason I had been stunned in silenced. I nodded my head,
“Uh-huh.” The guard stared at him. “I’m afraid I’m going to need some identification.”
Spike lost his kind expression, and in letting go of me, stepped forward. “Alright. Let’s kill it with the game.”
The guard raised an eyebrow. Spike reached into his vest and pulled out an envelope. He handed it to the guard.
The guard took it, tore it opened, peered inside, then glared up at Spike. “Is this some sort of bribe?”
“It’s more than just that.” Spike leaned forward, bringing his face closer to the guard’s. “You already know me. So what else do you want?”
“Are you questioning my allegiance to the crown, Sir Spike?” the guard threw the envelope on the ground, bits spilling on the streets. “Or what my duty means to me?”
“Your duty involves patrolling the streets for prostitute.” Spike crouched down, picking up the envelope again. “You’re only a step above the guys who actually hire them. Which is me, by the way.”
The guard and I blinked at that.
“So here’s your chance to take another step.” Spike held out the envelope. “Take this. Pocket the bits and show me the letter in court tomorrow.”
The guard glared at the offering. “And just what does the letter contain?”
“The report that’ll catch your mare.” Spike glanced over his shoulder and at me, smiling. “I’ve got somepony from outside town willing to take the fall. Do this, forget everything you’ve got on Rarity thus far, and you’ll be off the night shift in a week.”
The guard kept staring at us. His expression was unreadable, as was usually the case.
“Take it,” Spike said with more gruff in his voice, “and if you throw it on the ground again, you’ll be the one picking it up.”
The guard started at us for a few seconds more, the surreal feel of the night making me sleepy. My body fell forward, leaning against Spike’s back.
The guard kept standing in front of us, and then, in a quick and swift movement, took the envelope from his claw and gave a salute. “Thank you, sir! I hope you two have a wonderful night.”
“Same to you.” Spike stood up to his full height, but not without holding me close to him. “Now get lost.”
The guard simply turned and began down the street. I watched him disappear into the darkness of the street, feeling surprisingly relieved. “I guess that takes care of that.”
“Guess so to,” Spike said, looking up at the hotel. “Nice place.”
“Indeed.”
Silence overcame us. There was not much to be said. I was confused and tired and so many more things. Finally, drawing his gaze to me again, I asked, “how did you… do all that?”
“Oh, that?” Spike smiled and rubbed the back of his neck. “There was this mare in a coffee shop that needed someone to cover her drinks and—”
“I didn’t mean that!” I shook my head, making me dizzier. “Well, that would be a part of it.” I sighed. “Just when did you learn to talk like that?”
“Being on a council and having a few dicey business meetings will do that to ya.” Spike grinned. “You’ve got wit and charm. As for me? I’ve got cold hard bits.” He laughed. “Been able to get everything I’ve ever got with that.” He lowered himself slightly, brining his mouth to my ears. “Including you.”
There was something primal in his voice, deep and wanting. It was nothing like the squeak in his voice when he was but a baby. I blinked, not expecting to have ever seen my Spikey again, much less like this.
I took a deep breath, separated myself from him, then began forward. “I suppose we should get on with it, then?”
Spike nodded and grinned, displaying his fangs. “You know it.”
I stayed in-front of him, as I did with all other clients, all of whom I wiggled my flanks at to get them ready for what came next. But knowing that it was Spike behind me, I didn’t have much sway to my hips at all.
“Out.”
Simple command. The maids looked up from either side of the bed. They opened their mouths but did not speak. Looking at the dragon, they trotted out of the room—but not before having a small pouch held out before them.
An order followed by a generous tip. I gazed up at him while the maids left, wondering exactly what had happened to Spikey over all these years. I guess it didn’t matter. This wasn’t Spike I was going to be sleeping with. He was just a dragon, a rich one at that, who wanted my services for the night.
So I closed my eyes, inhaled deeply and exhaled sharply, and let my eyelids slowly open. Spike was standing by the bed, putting the contents of his pockets on the bedside table. He twitched when I shut the door with my behind.
“Why hello there, lover boy.” Different client; different personality. Spike had chased after me ever since he was, and to him, this night was to be a dream coming true. “You’ve certainly changed over the years.”
“Uh.” Spike turned around just as I was at his feet. “Guess I have.”
“Quite the improvement too,” I said as I put my forehooves on his abdomen, feeling it clench under my touch. Make physical conatact, check. “I see you’ve lost all your baby fat.” I dipped my muzzle and giggled, feeling my mane cover my right eye. “Or any fat for that matter.”
I gazed up at him, cheeks blushing. “I honestly don’t know why you hired me. You look as though you could have any mare you wanted.”
“But none of them are y-you,” Spike stuttered so cutely. My cheeks warmed genuinely at that. Many of my clients were nervous before the act, but my Spikey was different: I could see my old Spike coming out. “You know that I liked for you a very long time, right?”
“Oh? A confession?” I giggled up at him, bringing my teeth to the buttons of his vest, undoing them one by one. “It’s a few years too late, but I’m glad you finally, mmmhmm, worked up the courage to tell me.”
Spike let me lean against his body. I nuzzled his torso, rubbing my muzzle up and down his vest, trying to kiss the scales beyond the fabric. I could feel him radiating heat at my every touch. I suppress a laugh, wondering where that confident Spike from before had gone off to.
“Did you know?”
I was down to his last button when he spoke. “Hmm?”
“My crush. Did you know?”
“Does it matter?” I slipped his last button through the hole, watching as his vest became loose. With a blue spark from my horn I levitated it off his arms and laid it on the green chair in the corner of the room. “You have me now, Spikey. You’ve always wanted me, but now you have me.”
I went for his shirt. His claws came down on my shoulders, lightly pushing me off him.
“I can do my shirt.” Spike took his claws back and started to unbutton his shirt. “You still haven’t answered my question.”
“Come now, Spikey, let me help you with those.” I rose onto my rear legs again and started with his bottom buttons. “Let me get a peek at your abs. It’s always wise to give a lady something to look forward to.”
“And I’m not paying for that!” Spike shook his head. “I’m buying you for the night for your services, and right now, I don’t want you acting like some other mare!”
“And I’m not just some other mare, hot stuff.” There was more of a husk to my voice. “You really are ripping with muscles, Spikey. So tight with your little clothes. The idea of riding you is making me—”
“Enough with that!” Spike exclaimed, and in his burst of energy, ripped the shirt right off his chest. Holding half the cloth and each of his clothes, he sighed, letting them drop to the floor. “Fake! All of this just feels so fake and… and I don’t like it!”
“You mean that none of this is working on you?”
“It’s not.” Spike stood tall as he gazed down at me. “I’m paying for you to be yourself, Rarity. Y-You’re always the one I wanted to be with, and I’ll give you my every bit just to have that for tonight.”
This was hardly making any sense. Spikey was always the dragon chasing after both my heart and my tail. Wait a second. That was it! “Ooooh? Has my poor little Spikey not been put ‘in the mood’ as it t’were?”
He shook his head. “I haven’t.”
“Well then, let me help you with that,” I said, turning around and making sure to bat him with my tail. My clothes had already been taken off, leaving my client with a full sight of my rump. “Like what you see?”
I couldn’t hear a response from behind me, but I could feel his gaze. With careful, deliberate steps forward, I made my flanks sway wide, feeling them jiggle ever so slightly with my movement, a tantalizing view that always got the mood going.
I knew I had an ass worth crying over. Everypony stared at him, mares to stallions, griffons to now dragons. Plump and supple, always with a the perfect sway and the perfect jiggle, hiding underneath what most desired from me.
I stopped before the bed and glanced over my shoulder. Spike was standing straight and staring at me, cheeks aboustley pink, unable to open his mouth to speak. I batted my lashes at him, and putting my forelegs on the bed, used my new poistining to stick my ass out.
“I’m ready for you, Spikey.” I flicked the tail to the side, showing him my tight white little pussy. I wasn’t wet yet, but the sight should have gotten him hard. “Why don’t you come and get me?”
Spike didn’t at all looked pleased. He was shaking his head, stepping back, averting his gaze. “N-No! This wasn’t how this was supposed to go at all!”
“And just how was all this supposed to go!?” I stepped off the bed and turned around, staring him down. “You want to sleep with me, don’t you?”
“I do!” Spike replied, draping a claw over his face. “At least I think I do.” His claw fell to his side. “But not now. And not like this.”
I felt positively disgusted! Never before in my line of work had a client ever turned me down! This, the sex and the pseudo-romance, worked only because of my charm and of my wit, and now! This dragon who once thought of me as beautiful refused to lay an eye on my body!
“So what is it you want, then?” I replied, stepping toward him. “You’ve acquired my services for the night, and there is simply no refund on that.” I gestured toward the door. “You’re more than welcomed to leave if it’s not me you want to be spending the night with.”
“That’s not it at all,” Spike said in a low and gentle tone, his voice on the precipice of cracking. “You’re the one I want to spend the night with, Rarity.”
“But you don’t want to sleep with me?”
“I do.” He walked past me and sat on the edge of the bed, letting his head hang down. “You’re still beautiful… still perfect. But I don’t want our sex to happen like this.” He raised his head enough for our eyes to lock. “Not when it would feel so cheap.”
“Ha!” I couldn’t help the laugh as I also approached the bed, coming to sit next to him. “Darling, with the prices you’re paying, it would be anything but cheap.”
“You know what I mean.”
“I suppose I do.” I fell back on the bed, letting my limbs sprawl out. “Aaah!” I gazed up along his arched back. “Well, Spikey-Wikey, you have me for the rest of the night.” I softly giggled at the forgotten nickname. “What is it you want to do with me?”
“I dunno.” Sighing, he fell back onto the bed as well, lying next to be. “Can we talk?”
“Talk?”
“Yeah. That’d make me feel better.”
“Spike?”
“Yeah?”
“You are the first dragon in history to hire a prostitute just to talk to her.”
“Guess I haven’t changed that much, have I?”
I giggled. “I suppose so.”
We laid together in silence for a while, our bodies inches apart, sex now off the bed. There wasn’t much for us to do than just for us to talk. “Well this is certainly an awkward situation.”
“Yeah,” Spike replied, “guess I’m kinda known for those.”
“If it helps you at all, it’s not the bad kind of awkward.” I laughed without much of a reason to do so. “To be honest with you, there’s always an objective when it comes to talking to my clients.”
Spike rolled his head to look at me, green-eyes glowing in the moonlight. “Oh?”
“My line of work is a business and an art, after all.” I rolled by head straight and stared up at the ceiling. “I first have to make sure the client finds me dazzling. If they don’t, they won’t care about what happens afterward.”
“No sense spending money on a mare you don’t even like.” Spike shifted on the bed, arm spilling out on the bed, a wrist curving just over my head. “Gotta make sure they wanna have sex with you and all that, right?” He groaned after saying that. “Actually, scratch that, I’m an idiot with this kind of stuff.”
“Now now, don’t beat yourself up.” I still ended up laughing at his expense. “And you’ve even got it right. Sort of.”
I could feel his gaze still on me.
“Charm, as it were, makes sure the clients are drawn toward me,” I said. “Once they’re close enough, the next thing I have to do is learn everything about them. What they like, what they dislike, what their ideal version of a mare is—”
“And then be that mare?”
“Correct.” A subtle warmth came from next to me, and I inched myself toward it. “And making it as close to genuine is the biggest task of all. The client must feel as though everything is happening for real, that they’re the special ones to have gotten through to my protected heart, and with a bit more time, a bit more money, they can convince me to be their own.”
I finally looked down to look at Spike again only to see him frowning. It wasn’t the expression I was expecting at all. Disgust and horror, those reactions made the most sense. Manipulation was my game, a the term ‘bitch’ never strays far away from the word.
But concern? That was the worst response of all. This job and the games it entailed were all done by me, through wit and through charm all backed by my strength, and nopony else could say they did anything for me. Those bonus tips, that client that booked an extra day—they were not worried ponies but stallions wanting some more from between my legs and out from my mouth.
But Spike was genuine, and his concern was real.
“Doesn’t that hurt at all?” he asked me. “Always falling in love but never for real?”
“I'm stronger than that, Spike.”
“Of course you’re strong,” he replied. “But there’s nothing wrong with the strong sometimes being weak. At least, I think that.”
“And that’s very sweet of you to think, but—”
“I promise not to think anything less of you if you tell me the truth.”
Silence took me. I crawled further away from him, more distant from his warmth. Too easy. It’d be too easy to wrap my body around his own, to snuggled the warmth he just seemed to excuse. In his own words, it all seemed rather cheap.
But I did owe him one.
“You promise?”
“I do.”
“Then yes.” I sighed and laid still. “Anyone who fakes romance will become numb to the idea of the genuine thing. Price of the trade, I’m afraid.”
“And there’s no way for you to leave this life behind?”
“I wish.” I rolled my head and stared at him, his face confused but sweet all the same. “When you met me, do you remember that building I was looking inside?”
“You weren’t just sleeping standing up?”
“Spike, be serious.”
“Then yes.”
“Remember it well, darling, because that building will be the sight of my next store!” I smiled as I swept my hoof across the air. “Can’t you just see my dresses in the windows? Mares giggling as they try on my dresses? The puplicty alone will put me back on the map!”
I set my hoof back on the bed, close to his claw.
“So you’re going for the dream again?”
I nodded. “And this time with a vengeance!”
I felt something hard take my hoof, and when I glanced down, his claw had taking it, holding it tightly. He gave me a soft squeeze, something which I enjoyed the sensation of. “Guess you’ve been working on this for a while now.”
“And all by myself too.” I looked him right in the eyes. “Nopony else but me. And when I’m done, I can leave this line of work behind and pursue that which I’m meant to do.”
My heart was beating and it was beating for real. It’d been so long since I’d spoken about my dream that the idea blew life into my lungs again. I hadn’t said anything clever, and yet, something had me alive.
“Then go for it.” Spike squeezed my hoof again, sending more life into my body. “If that’s what you want, and you’re close to it, then I’ll do my best to help.”
“Non-sense, Spikey.” I wiggled closer toward him. “This is something I have to do by myself. I said it back then and I’m still saying it today. Nopony else can say they were responsible for this, just me.”
“I understand perfectly.” He gazed deeply into my eyes, smiling gently at whatever he saw. All the guys looked at me some way he was doing now, but something was different. Sex wasn’t on the table, and yet, he was still holding my hoof. “I am paying you for your services after all. And this? This feels real.”
I smiled at him.
“This is what I wanted all this time.” Spike shuffled closer to me, raising slightly off the bed. “Something genuine. I would pay any amount of bits to for you feel this way about me genuinely. To have genuine sex with me.”
My smile waned.
“And I would love to give that to you as well, darling.” I sighed, pulling back my hoof. “But you’re a friend, Spike, and I refused to lie to a friend. You can have all the bits in the world, but I’m afraid genuineness is something you just can’t buy.”
Spike sighed but did not look away. “I guess you’re right. So much for money buying love.”
“That is the case, Spikey.” Something inside of me died. I was killing a dream. I was killing a boy. I was killing a future. “If you buy me, then you are buying the act.”
“Then put me down for another night,” he replied. “But tone down the role-playing?”
Out bodies now inches apart, I answered him, “For you? Anything.”
