Smooth Scales and Soft Hooves
The Town of Ponyville was bustling with sound as the Winter winds blew through, The CMC where helping Pip make a Snow pony, Pinkie was selling Hot cocoa and Marshmallows at a stall just outside of Sugar cube corner, Rarity was out with Spike presumably to reward him for his help on one thing or another, Fluttershy took this all in as she took a seat at one of the provided tables outside of Sugar cube-corner, a few other ponies were doing the same, most of them in groups as they drank their hot cocoa, some of them might have been there for the heated seating but most where probably staying for the free refills being provided every 10 minutes by Pinkie.
She hadn't been planning to stay too long, but Fluttershy was already on her third cup and wasn't sure where else to go, she could just go home, and usually doing so wouldn't even require her to stop to think about it, but it was Winter and with it came Hybernation and Migrations. And that left her home feeling so vast an empty, no birds chirping about, no squirrels running about, even her darling Angel bunny was gone, off in his burrow sleeping till Winter wrap up. She sighed at the thought of him and all her other animal friends, their fluffy bodies all huddles together in their dens, nice and warm, snoozing the days away while she was stuck waiting for them to wake up, she had tried to hibernate with them once but just ended up concerning her friends.
"Fluttershy Darling," Rarity called merrily, pulling Fluttershy away from thinking about her animals.
"Oh Rarity, Spike, How are you?" She asked as her two friends sat with her at the table.
"Fabulous darling, just fabulous," Rarity said as she set her mug on the table, it had a few marshmallows in it, Spike waved at Fluttershy but his cup had been stacked so high with Marshmallows he was forced to eat his drink before he could safely drink it without losing any mallows. "Spike and I just finished work on my backlog of orders and I decided to reward him for his help with some of Pinkie's coco,"
"It was my pleasure Rarity," Spike said as he succeeded in swallowing his mouth full of Marshmallows.
"And I do so appreciate your help," She said as she scratched his chin, Fluttershy watched wide eyes a Spike's tail began shaking a little and his ears shook in rhythm with Rarity's scratching. After a second Rarity stopped and turning to Fluttershy.
"I have no idea what I would do without his help," she said as she patted his head, once again earning a very happy response from Spike. Fluttershy thought for a moment before devising her plan.
"Oh, um Spike," She said nervously "if your free could you help me around my cottage some?" Spike looked surprised by the offer.
"Oh, what kind of help do you need?" The Small dragon asked before taking a ship of his coco.
"I...um...I need some help cleaning and setting up the animal habitats for when Winter ends, I have lots of time but I just figure if you were there it might go faster and I could focus more on making sure everything is set up properly instead of just making it clean?" Spike made an odd noise but before he could say anything Rarity spoke up.
"Oh I'm sure he'd be more than happy to help," she said turning to Spike and pinching his cheeks, "Your so very helpful aren't you Spikey-Wikey?" Whatever Spike had been planning on saying, regardless of if it had been to accept or decline. It was clear now to Fluttershy that he had no intentions of saying no.
"Of course Rarity," He said with a shine in his eyes "It'd be my pleasure," Rarity gave him a smile as she let go of him and patted his head before sipping at her coco. "Well then," She said as she got up "I shall leave you two to your planning as I'm sure it'll take a few days to do this job, do have fun," She said with a wave before walking away from them, dropping her half-finished mug off at Pinkie's stand so it could be washed. Pinke bid her farewell and Rarity made her way home, all the while trying to figure out what Fluttershy actually wanted Spike for.
Fluttershy sat in wait for Spike, she could hear the wind outside starting to pick up a little as the storm scheduled for the night began picking up, After a quick talk with Spike, followed by one with Twilight, he would be spending the next few days with her so he wouldn't have to continuously traverse through the snow every night and risk getting sick, Twilight had already teleported a basket to the cottage as his bed and Fluttershy had set it up in her room and added the softest blankets she could to it. having finished his sleeping arrangements she now only needed to wait for him to arrive. Her wait was a little longer than she had hoped for and as such, when she heard a knock on the door she was prepared for the small dragon who answered to be freezing, as soon as Spike walked in he was greeted with the sight of the fireplace in full flame, a nice meal and a cup of strawberry milk lay ready on a small table next to the couch, sitting on it Fluttershy was staring at him with a gleam in her eye before she cleared her thoughts.
"I hope your walk wasn't too harsh with the cold winds," She stated before motioning to the food with a smile. "I made us some food with warm milk, altho it might be a bit colder than when I first heated it," Spike shook some loose snow off him and made his way to the couch, Fluttershy patted the spot next to where she was laying, Spike took it as her eyes began shining again, excitement evident in them.
"So," She said as Spike took the mug from the table and took a sip "I have something to admit," Spike swallowed his drink and said simply.
"You lied about needing my help with cleaning?" Spike asked the look on Flutershy's was somewhat hilarious as he motioned around the very clean cottage "Fluttershy this place is absurdly clean, you and Applejack cleaned it out last month, I helped Rarity deliver the blankets you ordered for your birdhouses," The yellow pegasus face hoofed at the information that had slipped her mind and was now rapidly returning.
"Oh dear," was her only response to this information.
"So," the little dragon said as he placed his mug down and looked her dead in the eye.
"What did you actually need me for, must be pretty serious for you to lie about it," Spike sat in wait for Fluttershy pushed her face into the cushion for a long moment before softy mumbling into the cushion something that went unheard to the dragon. "I...um...I didn't catch that," He said in confusion. Fluttershy once again mumbled into the cushion and they went back and forth for a full 5 minutes before She finally gave in and looked him square in the eye, there was a tense moment of silence before declared.
"I wanted to pet you," he will shown to the world she stuffed her face back into the blanket and Spike stared at her for a second before chuckling.
"I'm sorry," he said with a noticeable warble in his voice as he tried not to laugh. "You wanted to pet me?" Apparently, his tone had been the correct one as Fluttershy shot up and looked him dead in the eye.
"I need to pet you," She said with sudden determination, the fact that he didn't sound offended was the only push she needed to step up to bat and try and get this thing to happen. "All my animal friends are either hibernating or have gone south, and while I could visit Applejack or Rarity to pet Winona or Opal, all of my scaly friends are beyond me for the next few months," She tapped her hooves nervously "When I saw Rarity scratching you it reminded me of petting a snake and I got a...little over-excited at the thought of being able to pet a reptile again so soon," Spike looked at his friend in silence before shrugging.
"You could have just asked," he said simply as he crossed his legs and sat up straight "Go ahead and give me a scratch," Fluttershy smiled ear to ear as she moved her hooves to his chin and began slowly scratching at it, slowly at first but after a moment she started using her other one to scratch at his back, Pretty soon she started going at it vigorously, the drop in Spike's ear's signified he was enjoying it so she started testing areas out, she rubbed his belly and got a laugh, she tried behind his ears and got a tail wag before he noticed and grabbed his tail in his hands, Fluttershy felt relief run over her body, even if it was different Spike was still one of her friends and the ability to pet her friends, no matter how odd it sounded aloud, was all she needed to enjoy her day. After a few minutes, she stopped as Spike ended up in a laying position she smiled as he looked at her in silence.
"I didn't say stop," He grumbled as she got up.
"Oh thank you so much," She said as she hugged the small dragon, cradling him in her arms like a small dog "Wanna treat?"
"This is getting to be a little much," Spike managed to say before she added.
"I have a few gems in my room,"
"And I'm fine again," He decided as she carried him to her bed and feed him a few gems before grabbing a book and petting the small dragon while she read, Spike happily snuggled up against her as he began to doze off, his basket laying unused in the corner of the room as the duo enjoyed their new odd relationship.
Author's Note
I have no idea what tags to put on this story
