~ IV ~

Friendly Discoveries

Rainbow was a broth of bubbling giggles. Her sleepy form wiggled inside the arms, which wouldn't slip from her smooth barrel. Escape wasn't her intent. Or to be rid of the dragon. Like everything in life: she wanted to test him to see how long the male would hold on. Would her movement unsettle him? Would he let go even though she didn't want him to?

Her waking consciousness feared the answer. Unable to accept that, maybe, she never wanted the embrace to end. It was stupid of her. Childish. Trying to get out of Spike's hold while hoping he held tighter.

You never sleep in another's bed twice. You're Rainbow Dash. You're like the sky—others can fly in it. But they have to touch down after a while… only ever able to look up. Despite that… he's still holding on.

Rainbow smiled, opening her eyes to the side of a pillow. She glanced over her shoulder to ensure Spike couldn't see her mirth. It was him holding her. Not the other way around. Rainbow didn't need this embrace. Didn't cherish this contact. It was all one-sided. She was just generous enough to indulge his needs.

His eyes were closed. His face was calm. And his cheek asked for a kiss.

Settle down.

Rainbow decided to stretch the best she could inside his embrace. Her back stroked his belly. Her rump slipped nicely between his legs, rubbing inside the tight place.

"Careful," Spike's voice sounded like a submarine rising from beneath the waters. "Or something else might wake up."

Rainbow laughed before a wince stole her face. Red lines pinched the curves of her flanks, crusts of dried blood broken from the stretching. Pain stung. Blocked and ignored from the pleasures of the previous night.

"How's your ass?"

"Better than yours."

"Not much of a challenge."

"Dunno. You still haven't let me at it."

His arms slid up her sides to allow his claws at her chest. His talons swirled her tuft, descending into the jungle, tracing the skin beneath. His head loomed over her own, delivering a kiss to her scalp. The influx of warmth and love buzzed the mare with life.

"We'll tend to yours first." Spike's lips trailed to her ear. He kissed across its curve, his voice whispering behind it. "Mhm. It's shameful for such a nice butt to be so horribly marked."

At least the other monsters will know that it belongs to you.

"You sure?" Rainbow fired while turning around, gracing his claws with her back, which they searched across for deliciousness. Mane fell over her face as she looked up at the beast from the pillow. "I figured a scratched-covered ass would be your fetish."

"It is." His snout lowered to her muzzle, and he warmly exhaled across its bridge. "Some pleasures, however, are best short-lived."

Rainbow's confident expression deepened. "Let's get you some photos before the band-aids go on. You can decide the poses for the before and the after."

There you go, Dash. That's the old you.

Spike descended on her from above. A kiss from the heavens that, when he lifted, she followed after him. She rose from her side to a clambering of forelegs, chasing his lips, their suppleness a drug. No matter how long or deep the kiss—she couldn't get enough. Regardless of how much she kissed, suckled, or nippled, she could never have her fill of his lips. They were perfection. How they flexed against her own, working her softness inward, meshing her pair into shapes unknown—the euphoria closed her eyes and twitched open her wings.

Knocking raptured the door downstairs.

Spike jerked. Rainbow followed him, not caring about the sound, needing to sink into him for a few seconds more. Swallowing the contact, she felt her heart begin to fill. When the dragon rose beyond her height, separation came between them. Seconds later, the knocking rapped louder to the deflation of all rising pleasures.

"Who the fuu—"Rainbow shook her head and crawled away from the dragon, coming over the pillow to see out the side of the bedroom window. It allowed a downward view of the front of the boutique. "Who the—oh, shit, it's Twilight."

Spike froze. His eyes flared an extra brightness. He looked around for means of escape. Rainbow checked back on the princess, who knocked on the door again, a tap tap tap. Then Twilight looked up. Rainbow ducked out of sight—but not before making eye contact.

Please tell me I was quick enough.

"Rainbow Dash?"

Fuuuuck meeee.

"Rainbow Dash? Why are you hiding? I just saw you." Twilight's hooves clopped back on the gravel as her gaze could be felt on the glass. Actually, from Twilight's new angle: "I can see you. Like, right now. What are you doing inside of there? City Hall said Spike grabbed the keys."

Rainbow rose proud and looked at the dragon. He was still out of view and glaring at her. His expression called her an idiot for getting seen—and to get them the fuck out of this. Don't worry. You've slept with ponies in far worse places. You've talked your way out of everything. You've got this.

A second.

I hope Twilight doesn't kill me for sleeping with her sorta-brother.

"Uh. H-Hey, Twilight! Uh, long time, no see, yadda-ya?"

Yadda-ya? What the—

Twilight's muzzle scrunched. "Yadda-ya? Rainbow, are you feeling alright?"

She called it.

"Yeah! Tottaly!" Rainbow stood on the bed, thinking it would help her cause—until remembering it wasn't normal to stand on a bed. That, and a tick to the head, a sting from the flanks, had caused her to cower downward. "Actually, not the best. Not, like, overall. Because I'm definitely the best when it comes to most things. But I'm just not doing the best right now." Her eyes slowly fell to the side. "Yeah. That's a hundred percent how I wanted to phrase all that."

She cleared her throat and looked down at the confused mare from the window. "Anyway. Wicked hangover and all that. Wanna try coming back later?"

Twilight had several questions. Her pain arose from being able to ask only one at a time. "Why are you hungover in the boutique? Where's Spike? I heard he's back in town."

Surprise lit on Rainbow's face as she checked the dragon at her side. She spoke in a hushed whisper. "Dude! You're back home, and your first stop wasn't Twilight?"

Spike bared his fangs and growled.

"Is that Spike?" Twilight said with a hitch of excitement and a closer step to the shop. She tried quickly to cover herself—but the racing of her heartbeat could be felt in the air. "Is he actually there? Is he actually in the bedroom with you?" The question sparked another from her mind. "Wait. Why are you and Spike in the bedroom? What happened last night? Is everything okay?"

Spike's glare deepened. Hostility radiated from his magnitude. Rainbow shuffled back. "Dude. We need a plan. Twilight will bury us next to Rarity if she finds out what we did."

His glare turned deadly.

"Alright!" Rainbow's head bounced around like an uncaring, yelled-at-filly. "Okay, yeah. That one was too soon. Grill me for itafter we convince Twilight not to do the same to us."

"Rainbow Dash!" Twilight's voice vibrated the walls of the room. Were they really that thin? How much did the town hear of their love-making? "I know he's there! Look. I don't care what happened. Can you please just unlock this door?"

Rainbow glanced between Twilight and Spike as her gaze ultimately fell on the latter. "What's that thingy about vampires again? Needing to be invited in or something?"

Spike closed his eyes. Pain washed through him. Inhaling deeply and exhaling sharply. Once calmed, his eyes opened, blazing but their stare cold. He rolled off the bed, and his feet impacted the ground. There was a rumble and a shake. The dragon trudged to the window and into view.

Where he ducked to be seen by his first friend.

Twilight Sparkle looked up and lost her expression. She saw a forgotten face drastically change. It brought warmth, and it slashed pain. Her mouth opened with a hoof settling on her chest. She swallowed in the dragon's cold glare. Never before so unsure of herself. "S-Spike?"

Rainbow watched. Why did Spike look so calmly angry? Where was his excitement in reuniting with the pony he spent most of his life with? Didn't he miss her? She caught it in his eyes the second Spike saw Twilight. That flash and flush of warmth. The happiness of seeing a familiar face. But then he killed it. Stuffed it behind his eyes.

"I nearly knocked out a stallion at a bar the other night," Spike began to speak in a plain voice, looking for the window's latches. "Ended up ruining Rainbow's night off." He popped open the latches and pushed the window open. "I picked keys yesterday from City Hall. We walked into each other. I offered a drink to make up for the other night. She had one too many. I didn't trust her to fly home."

Rainbow crept to the other bedroom window to see her friend. Twilight didn't notice as she remained affixed to the dragon. Her expression bore painful confusion, not understanding why her assistant—if he even still was that—was explaining himself. Why, after years apart, the two weren't swept in an embrace.

Were those feelings one-sided? Did only Twilight desire their closeness?

"Rainbow couldn't sleep elsewhere," Spike droned to a conclusion, "so we shared a bed."

Twilight nodded to his logic, but logic seemed to be her last desire in life. She swallowed his explanation but felt less at peace with it. Her eyes looked around to break from the tension of Spike's gaze.

"I-I see." Twilight released a weak giggle as her forlorn expression focused on the ground. Her eyes narrowed as if holding back tears. "I-In that case… do you mind if I come in? It's been a while since I've seen…"

Rarity's place or Spike? Both were true.

But one answer was more likely than the other.

Spike nodded and backed from the window. "You've got it. We'll be right down."

Twilight smiled, nodded, and turned. A hoof lifted to wipe her face.

Spike left the window like nothing had happened. He tried walking past the bed. Rainbow's outstretched foreleg blocked his path. His eyes trailed down to Rainbow's face. She glared at him, coming down from the bed and taking the lead. The two passed through the door and entered the hallway. Spike closed the door as Rainbow came to the stairs, turning and blocking the way.

"You wanna explain that, chief?"

Spike towered. She endured his cold, downward glare. Rainbow wouldn't break even as his words began. "Getting us out of trouble. Your request, remember?"

Rainbow found herself glaring. "Don't go there. You heard Twilight's voice. She didn't care about that. Didn't give a damn about anything but seeing you again. How could you not have seen her first? Do you know how much that must have hurt her? She's your best friend, dude!"

She is your best friend, right?

Spike carried his glare away. Heat blasted from his form. Rainbow nearly lost her form to the discharge. Now wasn't the time to let him sulk. She needed to drill this in. "Could you imagine that from her side? Her first friend, the dragon she spent most of her life with, is suddenly gone one day, back another, and doesn't want to see her again? She wanted to wrap you in a hug—and you seem disgusted by that!"

Spike's eyes shut. His claws curled tight enough that, were it not for his scales, their sharpness would pierce his palms. Smoke blew from his snout and trailed out the sides of his mouth. Rainbow realized her mistake, the fear and assumption the dragon no longer cared.

He still cared.

He had a mutual love for his best friend.

And he was trying to kill it.

"Twilight… does mean something to you," Rainbow pieced together with weak breaths. "But why—"

"Don't." His voice yanked her gaze to his face. The look in his eyes slashed through her being. "Not on this."

Destruction crumbled Rainbow's face. The pain she felt on Twilight's behalf. A hundred questions and a thousand worries emerged. How could the dragon do something so terrible to someone he loved? "W-Why… w-why not? I'm your friend! You called me perfect! Why can't you tell me…"

Spike kneeled. Portraits shook on the wall. His first unfurled as talons slid beneath her muzzle—keeping it propped up. "It's not you. Not Twilight. The problem is me. And sometimes there are no solutions."

Rainbow trembled out from his hold. She cleared the way as the dragon rose. Her nose became stuffy, and her eyes stung. Help welled in her heart. The desperate need to share some of it with the dragon. But he rose, and his sullen form carried past her.

She was barely able to watch him pass.

Before going after him.

Rainbow reached the workroom, seeing the dragon open the door, clearing the way. Twilight slowly and hesitantly stumbled inside. It was her first time seeing it after the passing. Her eyes leapt from item to box, the couch and the wine on the ground. Dresses unfinished. All of it squeezed her eyes tight.

A few weeks ago, this was one of her favorite places.

Her hurt deepened. Coming to the center of the room, Twilight attempted to check over her shoulder to better look at the dragon. See how his appearance had changed after all this time. But she didn't have the heart. Not the excuse to expose how much she cared for him. He wanted distance, and she would respect that.

Oh, Twilight. I'm so sorry.

Twilight saw Rainbow. She quickly rubbed her eyes, but Rainbow copied the motion with a smile that said everything would be okay. Twilight smiled and bound toward her friend. The two met halfway in a clapping hug and a sinking embrace. Their furs meshed, and their skin touched. Both their heads met the other's neck.

"It's… good to see you again, Rainbow." They met weekly. The Wonderbolts worked with royalty. Their interactions, however, were business. "It must have been a nightmare seeing this place last night. Without any lights or friends to help. I couldn't have done it. I-I… I-I'm barely sure I can do it now."

Rainbow clutched the friend tighter. She wanted to transfer everything. Strength. Warmth. Love. Give it all, even if it meant the tiniest help. Twilight snuggled into the embrace as the friends reunited. They lingered in the hug, uncaring for its duration. It was something they needed. That they would indulge in until both had their faith.

Rainbow looked from the side of Twilight's neck to see the dragon. Despite his distance and the oppressiveness of his presence, there was a brightness to his face, a smile on his lips. It made him happy to see them like that. Though once caught, he turned to close the door.

The click of which broke the mare's exchange.

Twilight backed and twirled and faced the dragon. She smiled up at him from beneath her bangs. She withstood his glare. The darkness of his shadow. The density of his air. Her smile was the one she always wore for him. That shyness needed to be reassured by the one she trusted most of all.

With a sigh, the dragon smiled in return, the one only meant for her. He lowered to his knee, a loud knock ringing out. Mirth spread Twilight's wings as her face became excited. She charged forward at him. A happy clopping of hooves ceased when she had jumped. Twilight sailed through the air.

Spike caught the princess and tucked her deeply into his embrace. She nuzzled his left shoulder as his arms closed around her. His head fell over her head, rubbing the furs around her horn. The embrace was special. Rainbow felt it.

"I worried you were beyond wanting hugs," Twilight whispered into his chest, loving the feeling of being cradled. "Or that you no longer wanted me."

Spike kissed behind her ear. "Nothing like that, Twi. Just… it's something with me." He exhaled into her lavender coat. "You understand, right?

"No," Twilight gently said, backing from his chest, the dragon rising as well, the two face to face. She leaned up inside his hold, kissing his exposed cheek. "But I'm willing to. Explain it to me when you're ready."

Spike smiled. "And for how long will you wait?"

Twilight fell into his claws, the other holding her back, allowing her to recline. "As long as you need. As for my other questions? Like a drunk Rainbow Dash in your bed? Or your failure to knock at my door?" Her smile transitioned into a grin as her hoof tapped his snout. "A good friend is bound to be hurt by something like that." She nodded very seriously. "You better have a good explanation. Celestia banished her sister to the moon."

Twilight chuckled. "And you know I'm muchmore creative than that."

Spike swallowed. He was gentle with Twilight. Softer and more affectionate than with Rainbow. That warding aggression Rainbow withstood was absent. Rainbow was happy to see the old Spike back. Was it Rainbow that had brought him out? Would he, if she hadn't warmed him the night before, and talked to him now, have been cold to Twilight? He hadn't once teased Twilight either.

Stop feeling like you have any control of him, Dash.

Let the saps enjoy their happy moment.

"Course I didn't come home," Spike began very carefully with a raised eyebrow, more of the kid inside coming out to play. "I know your creativity. You think I'm going against that without being prepared?" Twilight's smile became a knowing one. She loved the feeling of her words being used against her. "I needed time to make a reservation. So… how does dinner at The Rousal sound?"

Twilight's smile became genuine as she fell against his chest again. "You sly dragon. You booked my favorite restaurant?”

Spike smiled and nuzzled the top of her head. "What? No! You crazy? It's just that I made friends with a certain princess again, and now I can make things happen on that front."

Twilight chuckled as her hooves explored the rest of his chest. "Sounds like you're lucky to know her."

"That I am."

The embrace ended moments later. Spike lowered Twilight to the ground as he rose to his feet. Surprising them all, he went for the door. Panic rose in mares upon seeing him leave. It hurt Twilight worse as her voice squeaked. "H-Hey! Wait! Where… w-where are you going?"

He opened and ducked through the door. Pausing, he turned and glanced back, still with that smile. "Weren't you listening? I need to make a reservation happen before something worse than being stranded on the moon happens." He waved to them both. "Have fun catching up. Don't plot my murder too soon."

Neither could call after him after the door shut. It became their most hated view. They looked at each other and chuckled, unable to hold it back. Their minds pondered the dragon. His strangeness was without end.

"Thanks," Twilight opened.

Rainbow's eyebrows went up. "For what?"

"Turning him around," Twilight continued. "I wasn't sure my friend was still there when he came to the window. Much less facing him here." She glanced around the leftover belongings. They seemed less painful to look at now, like things in transition. "I heard stories about him in the outside world. Enough to wonder if we needed to send the Wonderbolts after him. He never did anything unlawful but… I… I just wasn't sure anymore. I worried about him, Rainbow Dash. Nearly twisted myself inside out."

Rainbow swallowed. "How are you feeling about him now?"

Twilight smiled. "Still worried." She nodded. "But I know my assistant is still in there. He's not just some dragon—he's Spike. And I feel like things will turn out okay because of that."

Rainbow nodded with a smile. "Me too, Twi."

They hugged again. Indulged in the embrace without outside eyes to evoke guilt. Twilight chuckled, buzzing Rainbow's neck.

Rainbow spoke up. "All good, Twi?"

"Yeah. We'll just need to go to the washroom after this.”

One of Rainbow's eyes scrunched. "How come?"

"Your flanks are bleeding," Twilight teased in a voice nearly scary. "Must have had a rough time getting upstairs, huh?"

"Uh, w-well, y-you see… um."

Twilight laughed.

"Don't worry. I know how hard you Wonderbolts train." Twilight pulled back from the embrace. "What happened before you came over for wine? Flew through some branches? Survival training in the Everfree?"

It was a list of free excuses.

And Rainbow couldn't take any.

Author's Note

It's weird how things differ from an outline!

I imagine the beats being more punchy when you're working from a script. My goal was to write each beat/scene as small as possible. This was meant to be a plot-based story but, as I go along, I find myself falling into old habits.

What do you think? Do you like its current pace, or do you wish the scenes were shorter and faster?
~ Yr. Pal, B