Blood ran down my face. Blood wasn't supposed to do that. "Ow, damn, ow..." I kicked lightly on the bed they had set me on. "Ow." I hissed and grunted, but didn't scream. Who wanted to her screaming? Nobody, not even me, so I didn't scream.

Twilight was there, ear turned back. "I've seen this... I've felt this." She reached up to rub around the base of her horn. "When I earned my horn, it came with this price, and it, to put it lightly, hurt." Twilight pet over my mane with her magic. "Be strong, it's almost over... I should have seen this coming."

But it wasn't just the pain that distracted. I could feel something new. It was like I got a new limb, and you never did that, and neither did I, so what that felt like, I was only just discovering. The bizarre new reality was actually quite distracting from the pain. My noises faded as I tried to figure it out.

What was I even feeling? It was part of me, I knew that. I knew it was on my head, where all the pain had been coming from. It still hurt, but that felt unimportant to figuring it out. "The... heck?" It felt, in some ways, like I had a new arm. I didn't see any arm. I looked up as hard as I could and saw it, still bloodied. I had a horn, curved with little juts emerging from it.

An ornate kirin horn, if bloodied, was what I had on my head. "Oh..." Gorey, but also kind of neat. Why did it feel like an arm? Surely it couldn't flex. I sat up slowly, the pain ebbing, and the curiosity was overwhelming.

Twilight smiled, brightening as I started moving. "Are you feeling better? You look... better?" She grabbed a towel and got to cleaning me of the mess I had made.

That was annoying, but the kind intention behind it kept me from complaining as the towel brushed and cleaned, even stinging where it hit still mending flesh. "It feels strange. I was trying to figure it out."

"Is your headache past?"

I had to stop and think on that. I had gotten so used to having some kind of headache, as a human. "Mostly..." The towel tickled my nose. I pushed it away. But I hadn't moved my hoof. I had moved to brush it away, or so I had imagined doing, and it moved, but my hoof was where it started.

I stiffened in alarm as the towel abruptly swung away without any hoof touching it. Had I unintentionally lashed out physically in my distraction? But my legs remained stationary - only thoughts of brushing aside its nagging presence had flashed impatiently before witnessing the fabric seemingly heed mental urging alone.

My eyes darted to Twilight's knowing smile as she gently extracted the cloth from where it now hovered amid faint wobbling magic. Understanding dawned - somehow that blossoming horn's completion integrated this human mind to innate conduits enabling wordless will externalized. Reflexes bypassing physicality completely colored simple wishes to reality!

"Were you this happy, when you did it the first time?" I let the towel fall back where it started, held only in Twilight's magic.

Twilight nodded enthusiastically, discarding the soiled towel as her own telekinetic grip took over gingerly examining the new spiraled protrusion crowning between my alert ears. "The horn's integration taps you directly into ambient etheric currents effortlessly converting conception to manifestation."

She seemed to probe for fever or fractures carefully despite scholarly zeal bright in her eyes. "Right now, instincts likely overwhelmed any barriers between impulse and magic. In time, you'll consciously hone intentions before projecting through proper practice."

As her assessment soothed remaining aches, warmth kindled within and without. She couldn't heal the split skin. Only time would mend that. But the excitement had driven away most of the thoughts of that ache. "Wow."

"I said that a lot too." Twilight crossed her arms. "It really is amazing." She gently pulled me forward. "But you look like you're past the worst of it. You can go home, or return to class. Which would you prefer?"

"There isn't much of a class if you're not there."

"True." She turned in place for the door. "So, we can return together and get it back in motion, or you can head home and I'll go on my own. We're both adults, I think I can trust you that far."

Twilight. She had a butt. Most animals did. Perhaps it was the hormones, but I took a moment to appreciate that Twilight had one.

"Hey." She looked over her shoulder. "That is not a place you touch without asking." She raised a brow. "If I didn't know you were just learning how that worked, I'd be irate at you. Keep your magic to yourself without asking, hm?" She trotted from the room without another word.

Well, shoot. I had annoyed Twilight and maybe came off as a super perv with boundary issues. Fantastic. As a human, I had been operating nicely as an ace with no real interest in anyone. With the option to flee, I took it, emerging from the school and heading straight towards the library.

"You! Woah." Pinkie landed right in front of me, emerging from nowhere. "What's with the fancy horn?" She reached up to tap at it. "It's... really kinda kooky. Cool, but... odd. I thought unicorns had straight ones."

I froze as Pinkie eagerly tapped at my fresh horn, frustration simmering under her invasive poking so soon after Twilight's incident. But seeing her innocent excitement, I dampened my reaction and managed a shaky smile instead. I wasn't going to snap, not over something so harmless.

Gently lowering her hoof, I stepped around Pinkie's bouncing bulk hurrying away before she rallied more eager questions. "Rough magic lesson," I tossed back. "I'll show this weird thing off properly once I figure it out!"

Slowing my pace as the library's familiar form came into view, I felt tensions uncoil under the warm sunlight. However confusing pony dynamics still stretched ahead socially, quiet comfort awaited at this cherished haven. "You're early." Except there was Spike, watching me. "Cool horn." He inclined his head towards the kitchen. "Want some lunch?"

"Um, sure?" I gave up for the moment on escaping. Equestria had it in for me. "What are you making, or did make?" A thought struck me. "Actually, no."

"Not hungry?" Spike sat up. "So, why are you back early?"

"No, I'll cook myself." I put down the saddlebag with the help of my new horn. "I've been getting lazy. I want to cook."

Spike perked at that. "Alright! Sure. Do you know where things are?" He watched me wander the kitchen aimlessly. "That's a no. So..." He started asking questions and prompting in turn, working out what I needed and pointing the way patiently. "You know how to cook?"

"Basically." I placed a pan on the stovetop and got it warming up. "I tended to cook simply, before, but it was tasty enough."

I dumped the veggies into the heated pan, letting them sizzle. "So what do dragons eat anyway?" I asked Spike over my shoulder.

He lounged back casually. "Ah, got a taste for gemstones mostly." He crunched something glittery for emphasis. "But pony grub's fine too in a pinch."

I chuckled. "Is that so?" The cooking was calming. "Well, maybe rubies in the salad next time then." It was nice making casual conversation after the morning's chaos.

"Don't make that a habit. Ponies don't eat rocks except a little salt." He casually patted me on the back. It was annoying, in that moment. I went tense, but he kept petting, and the tension melted away. It was... kind of nice actually, being touched, being... "Thanks."

"Hm?"

"Nothing." I turned my attention to the cooking.

"You know." He leaned in at me, a thing a long-necked dragon was good at. "You don't show a lot of emotions. Kinda like Maud, really. No wonder you two hit it off."

"What?" I imagined Maud's impassive face. "I have way more emotion than that."

"Not really?" He shrugged. "It's okay. You seem like a nice pony under it."

"But..." I pondered that. Even as a pony, my emotions struggled to come out? Maybe I was Maud, in denial. "I don't want that... I'm not trying to hide it all."

I frowned at the vegetables, Spike's words stirring reflections. He had a point - outward displays took effort despite inner feelings. But I didn't want to seem indifferent or unavailable.

Spike kept gently patting my back, chuckling softly. "No need to get insecure. Not judging either way." He gave a final, reassuring scritch before withdrawing. "Just saying as a fellow low-key guy, it takes one to know one."

I huffed a small laugh, glancing his way gratefully. "Fair point..." I transferred the finished veggies to a plate. "I just don't want ponies thinking I don't care because I'm less dramatic."

Spike nodded. "Overthinking it..." He snatched a pepper piece, crunching loudly. "Quit fretting and eat! Plenty of time to worry about that stuff later."

"Sure." I grabbed a veggie, not in my newly dextrous hooves, but with a grab of my magic. It was like a hand I couldn't see. I kinda liked it. "But you're not that... Maud is a stone. You're, at best, just relaxed."

"Really? Well." Spike shrugged softly. "Maud's a high bar. You match it a lot of the time. When you do get excited, it's easier to tell sometimes, just because it's so different."

"Autism." I huffed softly, chewing my food. "Being a pony didn't fix it. My broken brain's still doing what it does." I walked past Spike, just to be caught.

He was holding me right where my hair started on my tail. This proved to be a mildly sensitive point. There was an urge to kick, but I didn't want to kick Spike. "Yeah?"

"You have an interesting tail." He began patting it without even a hint of shyness. "I like it."

"Is this revenge for when I was touching you?" I stilled, letting him explore as I ate. It was kind of nice, but I didn't say that out loud. "Am I that nice to touch?"

I stood frozen letting Spike scrutinize my odd transformed tail, nibbling the speared vegetables in my magical grasp. Intellectually his curiosity made sense, I supposed. Emotionally though, his tactile interest stirred very mixed reactions in me. Part of me hated it. Another part was loving it.

"Just kinda interesting seeing you grow like that before my eyes," Spike remarked, focused cataloging each ridge through gentle presses. "Rapid transformation holds that appeal, you know?"

I swallowed dryly. "Well, when you frame things that way..." As a dragon, maybe such dramatic changes carried less shock value. Getting Spike's approval wasn't a bad thing, right?

Spike withdrew with a final pat, smug amusement lingering even as he tidied my unfinished plate. "There - documenting complete!" His expression softened slightly. "Anyway, point just being that you're valued either way. Don't worry what others project onto you overly much, yeah?"

I laughed tensely, but maybe it was just a laugh? What I felt internally clearly wasn't what other people heard. "Spike, I enjoyed that. I may complain, in the future, but I'm giving you permission right now. If you want to pet, go ahead and pet."

Spike inclined his head. "Thanks, but what?" Still, permission had been given, and he grabbed me by the cheeks. I hated and adored it. "If you don't like it, why tell me to go ahead? You feel tense?" His fingers wandered slowly, tracing tensed muscles. "They're more honest, in here, than your actual expression."

I flushed as Spike's fingers intensely mapped tense muscles, exposing vulnerability no casual facade could disguise. Dragons clearly latched fiercely onto the slightest weaknesses shown through contact.

Resisting overwhelming impulse to pull away, I managed a shaky approximation of nonchalance despite thundering pulse. "...Perhaps I crave certain connections..." I conceded vaguely, gaze darting aside under redoubled heat.

Spike's claw gently traced down one burning cheek. "Suspected as much," he remarked neutrally, though his probing intensity remained steady. "So permission despite reluctance. You're fighting. You're fighting yourself." He slid in closer and ran a hand over my belly, which was more sensitive in different ways. I danced, in both rapture and torture.

He hmmed knowingly. "Wow... You really don't know what you want, but you know you want it..."

Author's Note

A helpful reminder, Familiar Spike is a grown entity. He gazes on David with an adult's eyes, curious but helpful.

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