Starlight's Delight
B_25

Everyone was supposed to be happy and, once Starlight glanced around the crowded room, realized that to be the case. But something was off. Wrong. The kind of sense only a friend has for another. A connection seeing through crowds and beneath surfaces for the cause of hurt within a room.

And she found it quicker than she would have liked.

“This is simply marvellous, darling!” Rarity sat on the loveseat with her lover. Some stallion from Canterlot. Three different Hearth's Warmings and three different dates. Frost scratched Starlight's skin at this fact—despite not personally caring for it. “Exactly the kind of scarf I've been searching for!”

Rarity lowered the box inside her magic to the floor. She drew the scarf close, her eyes glinting at the stitching. “Tell me, Twilight! You simply must. How in Equestria did you manage to find the material for this—and then to have it stitched so?”

“Afraid this princess has to keep her secrets, Rarity.”

“Suppose that answers half the question right there, doesn't it?” Rarity couldn't care further upon unravelling the article sideways. Then, with a grin, she quickly wrapped it around herself and the neck of her lover—tying them together. “What do you think, boo? Finer than velvet wrapped around your coat?”

He chuckled then kissed her snout. “Talking about the fabric or yourself?”

“Bonus points for answering yes to both.”

“Now that isn't fair.” He then nuzzled their muzzles together. “Because I'd still choose you.”

Rarity licked her lips. “That's a high-score lover.”

Starlight wasn't aware her teeth had been grinding until a laugh, his laugh, broke her entranced daze. Her eyes flicked to the other side of the tree. There he was. The handsome boy. Though his eyes were sad, his smile was wide despite it, sweeping up the box and tossing it into a bag.

The assistant already cleaned up. The same dragon who taught Rarity to speak as she just did. Starlight knew hearing something like that would make at least half of his fantasies come true. Though, since another stallion was having them fulfilled... he didn't seem so depressed about it.

Enough of this. Starlight rose from her seat next to Fluttershy and Applejack, both too lost in their chat to notice the departure of the mare. She took around the tree, stepping over tracks for a train and clumps of warming strewn around, intent on reaching the dragon.

The dragon with zero gifts to his name, but set to clean the mess of the ones given to others. He asked to do it. Didn't blame anyone else for his lot in life. Endured the pain of his love being exactly what he craved—but with another. Keeping kind to them despite that fact.

Starlight felt tired. If only for his sake.

“Hey... Spike?” Starlight whispered the words upon tapping his side, watching him turn, feeling him gaze down at her. His expression composed for a second but, upon seeing her, then relaxed. He didn't need to put on an act if it was her. “You know this isn't necessary, right? I can help with the mess.”

Spike shook his head with a genuine smile. “Nah. Don't sweat this. It gives me something to do.” He then nodded back to where I'd come. “You've still got a few gifts underneath the tree. Enjoy yourself while you still can. We both know Twilight's putting our rumps to work after this.”

Twilight's ear twitched.

“I... you're sure?”

“That I am.” Spike lowered onto a knee so they were at eye level. It'd been a little while since the game of 'who will crane their neck at who' ended with the dragon as the winner. But it made face-to-face time all the more refreshing and rewarding. “And I appreciate what you're doing here. I'm already over all that.”

“Totally?”

“Is anyone ever?”

Starlight gazed at her hooves. Before another daze could steal her—two arms tucked in around her neck. She was pulled into his chest, the broad, warm surface of muscles. The greatest pillow ever to be made composed of muscles and scales. There was something about the baking comfort putting her to rest.

“You really are a good friend, Starlight,” Spike's voice whispered into her ear. “If it weren't for you... I... I don't think I would have gotten through this year as well as I did.” His hold tightened for a gripping few seconds. “Thanks for always having my back.”

Starlight decided to steal the intensity of the moment for herself as well. Leaning her head onto his shoulder, she sighed at feeling him do the same, the kind of embrace enough to make her eyes close. How great life would be if only she could say three little words.

She giggled in small comfort. At least something would be becoming little.

“Spike... I'll leave you be.” Starlight was the one to pull out from the hug first, the cool air of the room causing her to shiver, to crave to be against him once more. But she had his fill of him for now. He deserved to have the same as her. “But before I do, I want you to know that I got you a gift.”

The dragon blinked as he pulled back, having gone to stand back up—but pausing upon hearing her words. “W-What... what do you mean? You know better than anypony what a slippery slope that can be!”

Starlight laughed. Placing her hoof on his lips, she smiled enough to remove his doubts. “It's not the kind you have to worry about becoming big in, I assure you.” She then glanced around the room. Everypony else was busy with everypony else. “But nothing is going to happen if I pull my hoof away, okay? Try anything and the next thing going against your lips will be my own.”

When her hoof pulled away, in the space on his face once covered, a blush rose.

“I don't get it then,” Spike said, chuckling. “You trying to get me to scream then?”

“Wanting to get a kiss from any girl willing to give it,” Starlight said with a shake of her head, delighting in talks like these. The flirting was harmless. Nothing beyond a game. But maybe, if tonight went well... the flirting would be something more than words. “What other things would you be willing to give up for a mare willing to do you one thing more?”

She could feel his body heat increasing from a foot away. “Easy lover boy. Remember. My room once the party is done. But don't leave me waiting until midnight.”

Spike chuckled. Horribly nervously. His attempt to play it off beyond adorable. “A-And if I show up late?”

“You'll get the same reward,” Starlight said with an unconscious flick of her tail, the implications of her plan, even if not quite her own, affecting her as much as it would the one it was all devised for. Such a strange boy I've chosen. “But it'll always be midnight for you afterwards.”

Though maybe he won't mind that.

Though maybe I won't mind that.

With the words of her flirt and threat then left, the mare took delight in turning around, flicking her tail now with intent, walking in a way practiced before a mirror a dozen times before bed every night. Trixie had even placed her hooves on her legs and back, making sure Starlight's movements conformed to the form known as the 'sexy sway.'

Though, due to her inexperience, she hoped she pulled it off right.

Though, to the dragon, he was too enthralled to know if anything was wrong.

Spike sighed fog into the cold winds of the night. Opening the bin, he tossed the bags in, the ones he'd gathered at its base. One and two. Three meeting four. Nopony else was awake. The spiked eggnog knocked everypony out once the moon had settled into the sky.

Back in the main room, the only messes on the ground were mares, some snuggled together, everyone with someone. Being the outsider looking in, he'd clean the messes, cast blankets over the cold, escort those who could at least stumble to a vacant room.

And when the work of the day was done, there was only one room left to visit, one with an apparent gift—something he was never allowed to have again. Spike reached the end of the long hall while feeling the beating of his heart. The sudden silence creeping into the castle for the first time in the day, only echoing his tension.

Quit getting your hopes up about this. Spike tilted his head back as the weight of his thoughts, the accusations so easily slung at himself, strained his breaths. The breathing meant to relax him then only suffocated his lungs. Little flirting and you assume the mare is all over you. Take a break. Stop thinking you're so important.

His feet clicked against the ground, shrinking in sound, slowing in movement, coming to a stop before the door. Her door. The place where countless bottles were snuck into after midnight. Talks, drunken ones, consuming the night. No wonder why they both bore bags beneath their eyes in the morning.

But the sharing of the soul in the middle of the night did something to them that sleep could not.

But this was it. Breathe in and breathe out. Everypony else was asleep, the night of the castle belonging to the two, those who preferred it that way. Taking the handle into his claw, he pressed it in, not sure what to expect on the other side.

There was a flash of light as he stepped inside. The room was spacious with a bed set against the centre of the back wall. Starlight was on the bed, lying on her side, wearing black lingerie. It cupped her flanks, dense velvet supplementing their form, coming inches short on the ending curve, exposing the suppleness to wandering eyes.

His wandering eyes.

“S-Starlight? What is—“

“Hurry up and close the door, will you?” Starlight said with a playful roll of her eyes, a little twitch to her form. Something had her equally as nervous—though playing it off like it was nothing. “Not the first time we've done this. Thought you would have learned by now.”

Spike chuckled. His heartbeat was louder than his laughter. “Sure you're not trying to trap me in here?”

“Maybe I am.” Starlight stuck out her tongue. “But even if this was a trap—you won't leave through that door, will you?”

“Guess I must be the worst kind of prey.” Spike slapped the door behind him, taking a step forward as it clicked into place behind him. He was sweating and his scales were becoming shiny because of it. “Who else walks into a cage knowing it’s a trap?”

“Someone who knows it’s a good kind of trap.”

Spike smiled at her. But he also found it harder to look at her as well. Such a cute mare at the end of her bed, hair lowered over her shoulders, eyes glowing a subtle colour. It was hard not to assume something to be the case. He prayed for it in a secret way—but never wanted to presume it.

But there wasn't any sense in walking out now. Not when his heart was thumping and the same probably true of her own. He took a second to devour her form a little more. Starlight clocked his gaze and grinned. “I suppose you like what you see?”

Spike nodded his head slowly, unsurely, feeling both drool and vomit fighting to rise to his mouth. “I really like what I'm seeing.” He scratched at his throat and glanced away.

Earning him a hum of annoyance. “If you like what you see so much, then why are you looking away?”

“Feels like I'll combust into flames if I don't.”

“Har-har.” Hooves came clopping against the ground, slowly and toward him, earning sweat peeking from in-between his scales. Something warm brushed against his thigh. Heated fur pressing into his body. “This too much for you? I can take it off if you like.”

Spike blinked. He glanced over at Starlight—who had done the same. Flames overcame the dragon's snout as the mare tried to blink her shame away. Sweat composed on her forehead when that failed. Her hoof lifted as if to signify jest—though it shook too much for that. “I-I mean in the n-non... sexual kind of way.”

Spike coughed. “S-Sexual?”

“Well... yeah.” Starlight pulled back from his thigh a few steps, enough to come before his crotch. Inner-curses for acknowledging that fact. Spike curled a claw to repress something else from coming out. “Mare doesn't usually dress up... or down... or... l-like this unless she's... trying to...”

Spike only gazed at her, scared almost for her words. Seconds passed. Starlight rolled her head around and cursed beneath her breath. “Y-You're supposed to act like a normal guy here! Say you want to sleep with me or something already!”

Starlight blinked upon uttering her words. Her head tilted as a tainted smile stretched apart her lips. The poor mare was forced to turn around, with her tail already raised, the dragon glimpsing at the slope of black fabric shifting beneath the dock of her tail.

He swallowed, not because of the sight itself, but rather, the fancies of his imagination. How the hole for her tail was an inch bigger for space but, for one who was tiny could slip in with ease. Sliding in-between those flanks, gloriously supple things, composed of pink and shifting all over the place.

Though the dragon paid more mind to the mare that, upon reaching the bed, promptly leaned her neck back and, on obtaining the perfect angle for trajectory, slammed her head forward, smashing her face into the mattress. Screaming groans muffled by dense blankets. Whimpers then coming softly.

Spike tilted his head left, wearing a softly worried expression. Walking past the mare—who kept still despite his footsteps—he reached the bedside table, pulling it back, opening the secret compartment on the back. Two glasses nestled between the gaps of his digits, a bottle held by the neck in his other claw.

By the time Starlight lifted her muzzle, not sniffling but close to there, she glanced right. One glass of red wine filled perfectly to the top. One swish or sway and droplets of blood would tatter the sheets. “Lean in and sip.”

She glanced at him, narrowing her eyes on his... before losing their intensity. Starlight leaned in and took a sip. Enough to drain the volume to the halfway point of the glass. Pulling back and licking her lips, she froze, the slow creeping of goodness tickling across her spine and down every limb.

“You take that now,” Spike said, holding the glass out to her, tilting it, repeatedly, sideways. “Or else I may down it myself.”

“I'm almost tempted to give you the glass,” Starlight said upon turning and hopping onto the bed, taking the glass between her forehooves. It was awkward to hold, but she liked it more like that. “Never seen you drink more than two cups before.”

“What's wrong with a guy getting sloshed on only one?” Spike huffed as he turned as well, sitting down on the ground, resting his back against the side of the bed. He was only a foot to the left from the mare. The usual formation. “We already have to buy cheap wine as it is. Nothing wrong with being a lightweight.”

“The cheapest?” Starlight's head sputtered up. “You said this was the best tier of wine you could buy!”

“Relativity!” Spike fired back while lifting the bottle over his glass, watching the red pool together, the concentration delicious. “It was the best cheap wine I could buy! Look. It's even got that one pony's signature on the bottle here.”

“You dork! Every bottle has a fancy signature.”

“Would you believe me if I said I went for the fanciest signature of them all?”

“Would you believe that made any kind of difference?”

“You're making my head hurt.” Spike then leaned the back of such a thing onto the bed, the upside-down view of Starlight entering his vision. Strands of mane curled over her left eye. Her expression: amusedly irritated. “Can you kiss it better?”

“Keep talking to me like that,” Starlight replied, “and I'll be kissing you on the lips instead.”

Both of them locked eyes, the pair needing to blink, feeling the urge... but unable to do so. Starlight looked so beautiful despite it all. Something about her contemplative muzzle always got him going. There was always something on her mind. It always made for great conversations.

“So I'm not a fool for thinking you wanted to do something with me after all?”

“Do you think I'd dress like this normally?”

“With how those black panties hug your butt?” Spike chuckled for, if not, he would have choked on the words. Speaking those kinds of thoughts, even in jest, caused his chest to clench. “I'd be admiring myself in the mirror if I were you. In fact, when you're done, mind letting me try them on?”

Starlight giggled while shaking her head. Her way of punishing herself for laughing at jokes too easy. She leaned down, kissing him on the forehead. Spike didn't dare move, the sudden surge of warmth, marked by subtle wetness, causing his scales to tense.

“Your wit could use some work.” Starlight lifted back to her usual spot, taking a sip from her glass of wine. Pulling it away, however, she stared at her vague reflection. “But, I guess my planning skills could do the same.”

“Don't say that now.” Spike lowered himself to the floor again, taking a sip from his own glass, needing a little liquid courage himself. The dense red swirled down his throat, the taste of the sweetest cherry blossoming in warm exhales over his tongue. “Thought I was going to need a camera when I first came in. Y'know, there's a few magazines that would love to have you.”

“...but would you?”

That question again. Spike shook his head. Just what did this mare want? He took a moment to take his breath, to compose his thoughts, settling his feelings and packing his doubts. Looking to the glass, he threw it back in a single gulp—enduring the resulting burn.

“Not going to lie and say you didn't catch me a bit by surprise here, Starlight.” Spike turned to face the bed, rising onto a foot but keeping the other leg kneeled. He gazed up at her on the bed... wanting to be there with her. “I'm still not sure exactly what this is.”

She seemed upset by that. Maybe her expectations of this had gone differently in her head. She was a subtle knockout in every sense of the word. Starlight could have any guy she wanted.

So what was she doing bothering with him?

“I guess I'm not so sure about that myself,” Starlight said with a subtle sigh, turning to place her glass away. She looked down by her sexy charm not taking its effect. Though this was anything but the case. “Dunno why. Just imagined the second you came in here... you'd just leap at me.”

“That's what got you bugged? You don't need to worry about that for a second.” Spike chuckled and tapped a digit against the side of his neck. Maybe this would cheer her up. “An invisible chain has been wrapped around here the whole time. You should be thankful for it as well. No clue how messy this room would look like without it.”

“Seriously?”

“Not a chance—you know I'm too much of a pansy for that.” Spike sighed and rose, bringing a knee onto the side of the bed. It was dangerous to enter such a place, much less with Starlight as she was. Something, however, commanded him to do it. “But you know from our late talks that I'm not the kind of guy to drool.”

She was still annoyed with her head turned away, though, upon that last part, she tossed him a knowing glance without moving her head. He was getting closer at least. Spike quickly wiped the sides of his mouth. “Okay. Little drool. But at least I clean up afterward, hey?”

Starlight giggled like it were a cough suddenly coming up. She didn't want to do it, but it kept coming out of her, growing worse, hitting harder each time she tried to fight it. The weight placed in the air faded. “I wanted to give you a gift, Spike.”

“Give me a gift?” Spike said in a mock voice. “Now why would you go and do a thing like that?”

“Because I like ya, you dork.” Starlight looked at him with a smile, lightly shoving his face away with a hoof. He chuckled as she pulled away. Within seconds, both of them were sitting side by side, too scared to look at the other. The subject of their legs had become of great interest to their eyes. “Is that... so really hard to believe?”

“If you're me? Maybe a little bit.” Spike dipped his head further as shame came weighing atop it. “And I like you too, Starlight. Like a lot, I mean. N-Not the like in how I like Pinkie. I like you like a mare too! You're a very nice looking mare.” It was here his tongue started to train-wreck. “Pinkie's a nice looking mare too! But I don't feel that way about her body like I do your body.”

That was enough for Starlight's face to flick up to him, expression: 'Are you for real right now?'

“Pinkie's got a big butt and you don't have a big butt, so that's why I like your butt more.” Spike blinked a thousand times in the course of a second. Sweat composed of red came racing down his brow. “Because it's nice! Not too big or small. It's supple and firm! B-But what I r-really like more than your butt is your hair.”

“You like my hair?”

“It's very nice hair.”

“Does Fluttershy have really nice hair?”

“If I answer that, I don't know how, but I'll end up talking about Fluttershy's butt.”

“Have you stared at her butt before?”

“Now that's not a fair question,” Spike replied. His eyes inched to the right, falling back in a millisecond, then twitched again, failing once more. Even attempting to gaze at Starlight possessed a presence greater than any foe. “You know I'm a liar if I answer no.”

“Then let me change that question,” Starlight said, shuffling close, puffy coat touching smooth scales. “Have you stared at my rump before?”

“Y-Yes?”

“And you like it?”

“Very much so.”

“Glad to hear it.”

Spike finally turned to see what that meant—only for two hooves to press into his chest. Slowly but intently, they lowered him to the bed, forcing his legs to swing onto the mattress, his back to meet it, head then crashing into some pillows.

Starlight was quick to mount the middle of his frame, her legs having to spread over his width, plush thighs straddling his sides. The cushions of softness flattening against him pricked him with pleasure underneath the scales. Her flanks settled below his chest, swelling against him, the feeling of them going 'squish' enough to make a claw then curl a handful of blanket.

And the material of her underwear, feeling nearly comprised of velvet, rubbed across his scales. It was impossible not to look. Even as the mare towered over him, her eyes fixated entirely on his, Spike's gaze dropped to that wonderful crotch.

The ebony panties hugged around her waist with thought-out love, not enough to leave a mark as clinging underwear sometimes does, but rather, outlining everything Spike wanted to see. The waistband was tight enough as to press firmly into her coat—but lax enough as to not be a chore to lift.

Spike cursed his imagination. For all he saw was the greatest blanket of them all, a tiny body tucked against such a place, a belly made into a bed, fur, rising and dropping to distant breathing then lulling him to sleep. Not now, Spike. Not now.

“I-I take it you like what you see?” Starlight asked as her legs shifted against his sides, trying to get comfortable. Though the positioning was awkward, the feeling of togetherness, of her soft bottom meshed against smooth hardness—it was a delight for them both. “Though if you d-don't like the clothing... m-maybe there's something we can do about it?”

Spike absently nodded his head. “I like the clothing very much.” Finally, he blinked, re-entering the world. He gazed at her. “And I like you very much.” He did his best to smile against the awash of anxiety. Every inch of him, shivering, not from coldness, but rather, the heat of the mare straddling him. “But I need to know what this is.”

Starlight sighed. Sitting upright on him, she leaned back slightly, nodding her head. “I know that... I can't be your mare.” With her head lowered, her eyes flicked to the bedside counter. “You've made it clear you haven't been able to love a mare since after Rarity.”

“I... didn't mean it like that.” Spike coughed. Those conversations were the deepest, most revealing ones about himself. They were spoken freely, easily, and even enjoyed due to the present company. But never had such talks been centred on the other—only the world around them. “Rarity was the first mare I fell in love with. The one I... felt most strongly about. I tried my best with that. Only... only to be jerked around.”

Spike sighed and turned his head—before shaking it. “Not that she did it purposely. She let me know through little ways that it wouldn't work out.” Spike's head kept shaking and shaking as if it would keep the shame floating, away from ever touching down inside of him. “And since then. Even though there's been other mares. None of them... none of them have ever roused something like that inside of me.”

Starlight lowered her muzzle as well, enough to stare at his chest, eyes lounging on where his heart lay. Leaning forward, she set a hoof on the spot, feeling the distant thud, the quick beat, supporting the rest of her body upon it. “Was I one of those mares?”

“Do you even need to ask? Just felt like I was manipulating those late nights if I thought about you that way.”

“Would... you believe if I felt somewhat the same way?”

Spike smiled. “Just moving on from Sunburst as quickly as you can?”

“That's what my mind was telling me.” Starlight smiled as well... though something sad was about it. “My heart doesn't feel quite the same way. But it's those kinds of calls you have to be worried the most about.”

Spike chuckled as he glanced down at her hoof. “I'm worried I'll never love a mare the same way I loved her.”

Starlight giggled in suit. “And I'm worried I'm just moving on.”

“You know... we made it a rule to never talk about how we felt about the other,” Spike said with amusement. “That way we could be fully honest about everything else. Just not sure how to go about this.”

Starlight smiled despite pulling back her hoof. “Do you think you'll ever love a mare like you did her?”

“Wish I had an answer for that.”

“Would you be willing to try at least?”

Spike blinked. “What do you mean?”

“I'm not saying things between us are going to go perfect, but Spike, I really do like you—you goofball.” Starlight leaned over to kiss his cheek, not wanting to risk anything more. “And we're both pretty great friends. M-Maybe something can come between us. Or maybe it's okay if something doesn't.”

Spike knew better than to talk as the mare spoke, her every word a battle to say the next, the temperature of her body rising against his scales. Without knowing, his claw shot over to her thigh, squeezing it softly. He didn't feel how soft or pleasant the sensation was. Only concerned with helping her go on.

“No matter what the case may be,” Starlight finally continued upon finding her confidence and, although it was fragile, it allowed her to express her point with consistency, “even if all we do is help each other get over the other's broken hearts... I want it. We've helped each other through so many dark nights. Why don't we actually do something to get us through this phase?”

Spike was shaking his head even though his expression showed it was the last thing he wanted to be doing. “I'd love to be with you, Starlight. And you know I could see you like that. But... it won't be the same.”

“You're not even going to give me a chance to win over that heart of yours?” Starlight asked. “Because I'm willing to try. But that's not going to matter if you don't give me a chance. And at the very worst? We become friends with benefits.”

“And what if that doesn't go well and we can't go back to what we had before?” Spike didn't want to ask the question. His cowardice entered in the most important of times. Or maybe that was the only time it entered at all. “I've shared stuff with you I haven't even told Twilight before.”

“Tell me about it, sweetheart.” Starlight grinned as she leaned in close, nuzzling beneath his chin, nudging herself in the crook below his jaw. The safest place to be upon dropping her next bomb. “Rather hard to tell Twilight you'd like to be an inch tall and in-between her flanks.”

“Hey hey hey! You knock that off!” The dragon's heartbeat sped only here, reaching its greatest speed while his head whizzed around. “I'm dead if anypony finds that out. There may still be ponies awake, ya know!”

“Relax! Do you seriously think I'd go through the effort of doing all this without first soundproofing the room?” Starlight kept like that for a few seconds more, not realizing how much she loved it there. The two of them became close in every fashion beyond physical. “Told you there's nothing wrong with liking them big.” She snuggled further into the crook, nearly letting her eyes drift shut. “In fact, it's rather cute.”

“Says the mare who enjoys role-playing as a villain?”

Starlight ignored the rise as being tucked against his frame was enough to set her at peace. They had each other's back. Understood each other's words perfectly. No matter the thought or the feeling, it could be expressed without the risk of harm. It was what she desperately needed over the years.

The only thing lacking now...

...was someone to snuggle against.

“You be careful with that,” Starlight began in an amused voice, “or else this great-big-giant villain is going to cast you down the back of her underwear.” She'd been expecting the shiver through his body and still laughed when it came. “Or maybe you like that? The idea of sliding down the back of a mare's undies.” She snickered. “Well, I certainly wouldn't mind. So long as I got to be a little evil about it. Cheeky is a better word.”

Spike couldn't believe his ears even though something not his ears compelled him to do so. The mare's soft weight had already been enough to stir him into a different place. This was a time of everyone being gifted but him. The chance at such a fantasy seemed too good, far too unbelievable to actually occur.

“S-Starlight... you're... you're playing with an idea here that could seriously hurt me if you're not careful.” Spike exhaled to the surprise of steam coming out. If Starlight hadn't been alerted before—that was the cue for her to begin grinding. “I've already accepted I'm not allowed to get any gifts. Rarity and I is something that died long ago. And... this?”

Spike waved his claw about in the air to gesture toward the metaphorical. “I told you about that fantasy because we were drunk. Because we were sharing our deepest parts. I never expect something like that to happen. Much less for it to happen with a mare.”

“So you're shooting it down?” Starlight grinned as she backed her flanks across his belly, those supple things of utter tautness spongy beyond belief. Rarity may have been a marshmallow with what came from back there. But Starlight's subtle curve and firmness of tush won her more points than she could ever know. “Chance to be captured by these flanks? Held by my rump? Don't tell me you're completelyshooting me down here.”

“I...”

Starlight was never a mare to give up halfway. Her playfully determined expression said it all. She wouldn't be defeated by hesitation. If words and schemes were needed for the two of them to play... then she would give it her best shot. “Why don't we get your claws back there for a second?”

Spike barely dropped his claws from the air before her magic seized them both, dragging them forward, placing each upon a cheek. She waited a second before ceasing the spell, feeling his digits trying to repel—forcing them, psychically, to dig into her tush.

Her head threw back to the flounce of her mane. Eyes closing and satisfied groans emerging. It looked like she needed that. Needed it rather badly. Spike lowered his head and narrowed his eyes, losing himself in thought... before giving a sigh.

He squeezed. Though something told him not to, he did the act anyway, clumping the violet squish into his palm, spreading it around, hearing whimpers, little ones, urging him to go on. And so he did. And so he tried; and so easily he started to get hard.

“Mmhmmm... k-know how to make a mare... n-ngnnngh... appreciative of her body, huh?” Starlight rolled her head around softly as if in the opposite direction of wherever the pleasure was emerging up her spine. Her bottom quivered forward and back, unable to keep still, pressing her crotch harder against his scales. “C-Can't you just imagine yourself back there, though? Underneath the dock of my tail, sliding down the slope of my undies... held tightly by my flanks.”

Spike chuckled as his head fell left. “And just when did you start speaking like an erotic novel?”

“Hehehe! A mare never tells, Spikey.” Starlight's eyes opened to gaze down at him but, from the continued kneading of her rump, one of her eyes lazily closed from underneath the torrent of arousal. It almost felt like one of her legs was going to start kicking like a dog. “But a girl did do a little research for your sake.”

“...research you got from me!” Spike said as his claws dropped from her rump—causing Starlight to freeze. In seconds the two were glaring at each other for different reasons. “That's exactly the line I gave you when you got me messed up on that bottle!”

Starlight laughed. She crossed forehooves over her chest. “Not my fault you become a blabbermouth on a single bottle.”

Spike groaned as the back of his head crashed into the series of pillows, sinking into their delight with utter dismay. The feeling couldn't be held for long, however, as the mare quickly leaned over his chest once more—nuzzling beneath his chin again. “Why the long face big guy? You know nothing's changed between you and me.”

“I-I... know.” Even though he didn't want to—the dragon still forced an arm to drape over her neck, running a talon through her hair. He hated the pleasant sensation. Of how she'd rise whenever his stroke dropped. “Just. What you and I had was good. Never had another mare care for me like you have.”

Starlight moaned. She planted a chin on the bottom of his jaw—before happily nuzzling the spot. “And that's as true for me as it is for you. But I don't need to say anything for you to believe that, right?”

“But it's because of that... well, t-that I'm scared of going forward.” Spike huffed not at her, but rather, at himself. His claw wrapped around the back of her head to make sure of that. This closeness, the proximity of their bodies touching. It was something he wanted so badly... but also felt wrong to have. “We've been able to tell each other everything because we don't play a direct role in each other's lives, right?”

“...you trying to bring the buzz in this mare down?”

“Course not,” Spike replied. “And I'd grab your butt if the conversation wasn't so... serious.”

“Fiiine.” She nuzzled him again. “But you owe me a future butt-grabbing, mister.” Low hum. “Those digits are able to make any mare sensitive.”

“See! Now you're saying stuff like that and—and it's got me all conflicted.” Slapping his face felt deserved right now. His awkwardness had already destroyed the sexy vibes by now, right? Why couldn't he just be a dragon and take what he wanted? “It's the kind of thing I've always wanted to h-hear from a mare. B-But, when you know that... when you already know that all of these are things I so desperately want...”

“You don't have to say anymore, Spikey.”

He blinked at that. The mare shuffled out from his hold, her hooves planting on his chest once more though, this time, her muzzle inched above his chin. She kept like that, so close and her eyes alight. Peering into his soul seemed to be her goal. “And there hasn't been a thing you've been wrong about.”

“R-Really?”

“You don't think I'm slightly scared by all this too? That I normally wear attire that hugs my flanks a little too tightly?” Starlight sighed as the breath swept across his scales, warming him from the coldness that guilt had lodged within him. “I've never done anything like this for a guy before. You're the first guy I've even gotten this kind of close with. Y'know, in every sense possible.”

“S-So why do you want to break that?” His claw reached for one of her forelegs, not to push it away, but rather, to hold onto it—to discover how it kept strong and upright atop his heart. What did hers know that his did not? “If this doesn't work out... we may not have each other like that again. What happens then?”

“Spike...” Starlight leaned in close enough to rub her cheek against his own as if to soothe his fears. It was exactly what he needed. What he needed in a mare. Someone caring enough to rid himself of the panic that comes before one acquires their desires. “Nothing will ever change what we once had. But spending all those nights together showed that we were the few that fully understood the other.”

Spike smirked as he rubbed his cheek back. “So you see why you can't call me a wimp for this?”

“Nice try—but wimp is going to have to stay.” Starlight smirked as well upon pulling back. She kept only a few inches away. “But I truly know you, and you truly know me... and both of us are okay with that.” Her eyes searched down as laughter came out of her once more. “Or as okay in knowing a dragon wanted to be tiny and lodged in the back of your underwear goes.”

Both of their muzzles lit up in red for that, though, once more, again for different reasons. “Both you and I are craving something. Those little things talked about that the world around us doesn't quite give. And... it's not supposed to. We're supposed to find someone else, someone meant to care that deeply and be with them.”

Spike gained the courage to lift his eyes to hers. “And what made you finally decide that would be me?”

“Suppose it came back to that night with the bottle.” Starlight fought her smile, but it came out anyway. It tugged right on her muzzle in a merry way. “It was the first time you shared that kind of stuff with a girl, right? Even drunk, you were still... pretty accepting of how... I'd like to be more of a villain in the bedroom.”

“Seems less embarrassing than what I got.”

“But you didn't give me any strange looks for it either,” Starlight went on. “Anyone else would have been worried about what that meant. Maybe thinking there was still that part of me, well, a part of me. But all you saw was me wanting to blow off steam. To exercise that aspect.”

“Couldn't be because I like being bossed around by sexy mares,” Spike joked back. “I have been taking orders from Twilight for most of my life.”

“She as sexy as me?”

“And that is a trap disguised as a question,” he replied. “She's got more pudge to go around, but as with most of the girls, you've got them beat with firmness.”

“That's my boy.” Starlight came and kissed his chin though, even when done, hovering her lips there. “Spike. I won't force you to do something you don't want. You not getting gifts is enough for me to want to do this anyway.”

Spike was shaking his head, though the sways were smaller, shorter now. “But I don't want to force you into—“

“You won't be forcing anything,” Starlight said. “We already agreed to tell each other the truth in the best way we can. You really are good at grabbing rump. N-None of that... was for pretend.” She sighed. Though this one felt like the last. “When you talked your chest and crotch off, I... really did enjoy your ideas. And when it came for you wanting to hear all those things. I... I felt the natural urge to say them to you.”

“That... feels too good to be true.”

“But is it?” Starlight's muzzle lifted over his snout, bringing her eyes inches from his, one reflected in the other. “Is it so hard to believe the mare willing to listen and be this close to you... really wants you? And don't you feel the same way? Please don't act like you haven't been holding yourself back.”

Spike nearly chuckled. “Of course I like you. Just... felt wrong... considering...”

“Considering you were supposed to be no more than a friend there for me?” Starlight laughed for him. “Don't worry about it. I was feeling the same way at first. But are we really going to let ourselves be held back by something like that? One wrong, illogical feeling holding back so many good ones?”

This was it. Either the moment of going forward or back. Times of decisions, personal ones, were hard for even the most divisive of them all. Harder still for cowards of the heart. Thousands of whispers echoed through the dragon's skull. Each of them bearing a valid point if analyzed.

“Can't promise this won't work out...”

“But will you let me at least try?”

“...so long as you don't lie.”

Starlight giggled to herself. “Well. Can't say that a mare isn't interested in this hidden obsession of yours. Let me be a bit playful with it and, well, maybe there'll be some enjoyment in there for me.” Starlight lowered her muzzle—dangerously low to his lips. “Everything that will come out of me will be genuine. B-But...”

Spike didn't dare move. Not when her lips hovered inches above his own. Both of them were breathing out closely. Exchanging breaths. So close. Inches away from breaking the barrier, literal and metaphorical between them. “But what?”

“But since this will be our first time together, I-I don't mind... trying out your thing.” Starlight kept very still. “Though I won't be able to hug or cuddle or... kiss you properly after this. S-So...”

Spike leaned in before she could finish her words. The first time he could act without being asked. His eyes closed before impact, tightening together upon the embrace. Both of them moaned into the kiss as they crashed together: each wanting more of the other.

And as they kissed, Starlight's horn glowed, right at the tip, completing the spell.

Author's Note

Was out of it during the writing of this chapter.

Please forgive the lower quality.
Yr. Pal, B