"Rarity!" She heard her name suddenly from behind her, turning her head in automatic response.

Spike stood across the pond, his eyes locked firmly on hers. The sun was directly behind him, casting an orange aura-like corona around his slender form. His cheeks perked happily over the bottom of his eyes, his toothy grin reminiscent of his days as a young dragon. This was a real smile; the first he had shown in days. She opened her mouth to question his sudden approach, but was silenced as he lifted his arm.

"Come here," he instructed playfully, curling a finger to punctuate his words.

Rarity blinked twice, but stood up from her seat without another word. She made her way across the pond slowly, smiling curiously at the dragon as she approached. His eyes never looked away. Once again she opened her mouth to speak, but was interrupted by a wag of his finger. He bowed down, extending his arm to her, and saying "Your hoof, please."

Rarity cocked an eyebrow, but raised her hoof into his claw. At once, she was pulled onto her hind-legs, the crest of her torso against his own. Their eyes were locked now inches from one another. Rarity felt her heart flutter as he brought his claw up, and ran it through her mane.

"I'm back," he whispered.

"Oh... b-be quiet and just kiss me already," she bumbled, her face flushing red.

They closed their eyes in unison as their lips met. Her shoulders rose as she inhaled a contented sigh. She pushed herself against him, squeezing him as if he were a plush pillow after days of fatigue. Their lips never parted, the kiss carrying a message weightier than all the simple desires she had ever battled before. She shivered in bliss. His lips on hers; his fingers in her hair-- the sensations were pure enough to clear her mind, as if falling into the beginning of the deepest of slumbers.

As the kiss ended, and as she was pulling herself back, she opened her eyes once more. As soon as her eyes met his once more, her heart and mind seemed to stop in unison.

Love. She had entertained fantasies of it for ages, but the moment in front of her exemplified those fantasies in ways she could never have imagined.

At once, her mind recoiled, shoving the notion out of her head. It had only been two days. It was impossible. Unladylike.

Yes, her mind decided as she finally caught her breath and regained her composure. Not love; only the possibility of it.

Her mind, however, had tried build a bridge with a pair of scissors; the heart was the tool for the job. And, looking over Spike as he gazed down into her eyes, his embrace as unwavering as his eyes, the heart knew it had decided.

Rarity's face was still flushed as she dropped to four hooves once more. Soft violin music echoed forth from downstairs, accompanied shortly by a concerto of other sounds. The band had begun to play.

"Great. They're right on time." Spike grinned, and took a couple steps down the stairs.

Rarity stood, cocking her head in confusion. "You mean there's more?"

He looked over his shoulder. "There's always more," he said with a grin. "Now come on!"

Rarity blinked in astonished disbelief, but followed him down the crystal steps of the building. Descending the final steps, she emerged into a beautiful dreamscape of color. A band of six ponies played on the rim of the patio of the restaurant. The lakeside behind them glowed an unthinkable array of colors, as if each droplet of the water had an identity of its own. A team of unicorns stood on the beach below, commanding the water to change color in waves, to rise in pillars, and to make sculptures as if it were alive and dancing to the music.

Her sapphire eyes were only a single set in a sea of astonished spectators from the restaurant proper. Mouth agape slightly, she was transfixed on the spectacle until a claw inched into her scope of vision. Spike stood at the center of the patio, his arm extended, beckoning her onwards once more.

Her trance re-fixated onto Spike. The sea of eyes that looked past them held no consequence. She walked in almost a groggy stupor to meet him in the center. "How..." she whispered, as if the air had been knocked from her lungs.

Spike responded only with a grin. "Come on. It's time to give these Canterlot prudes a taste of real class." He bowed down and presented a claw. "Dance with me?"

For the first time all evening, Rarity's look of confidence melted as she looked bewildered up at Spike. "Spike... I don't know how to dance with a Dragon," she mumbled.

"And I don't know how to dance at all. We're sure to look like fools." He winked, and curled a finger. "But it's the impression that counts."

Rarity blinked, cocking her head and thinking for a moment. In a single moment, her look of unsure confusion transformed spectacularly into an uncharacteristic grin of confidence.

She flipped her hair, and gave Spike her hoof, giving a half-second glance to the curious onlookers. Spike pulled her onto her hind legs again, and took both her hooves in his hands. The band took immediate notice, transitioning their song quickly into something slower and more rhythmic.

Spike took a step forward, and Rarity moved back, pivoting on the first chord. Spike squeezed her hoof, and led her across the stage in strafing strides. Sensing that Rarity was beginning to buckle, Spike pulled her close against him and supported her with his own body. The first minute was filled with awkward steps, off-balance support, and legs twisting around one another.

Suddenly Rarity's face lit up. "Griffons! Griffons dance upright! Spike, twist me!" she whispered hurriedly.

Letting go of one hoof, Spike stepped away from Rarity and flung her with his other arm. At once, he could tell the force was too much. Unable to hold on, Rarity was sent reeling 180 degrees.

As soon as his hand left her hoof, he felt the tingle of magic wrap around him. His arms were pulled behind him, and he felt his leg move a step to the right. Rarity's hooves found his hands once more, and her twist came to an end as she was perfectly back to back with the dragon.

A gasp echoed forth from the crowd as the maneuver finished in a fantastic display of boisterous incompetence. As if on cue, a Stallion stood up, smiling a confident smile and leading his date to the dance floor. Rarity gasped slightly as the Stallion stood upright, pulling his date up with him so they were upright, hoof to hoof. The crowd began to murmur as they too began an awkward, upright dance.

Spike twisted Rarity once more, this time anticipating the force and pulling her easily around to face him again. She was grinning, and her eyes looked over to the crowd. More couples were coming, now. Soon there were four, with another coming, an odd sense of confidence established from the examples before them.

Before long, the patio was filled with the patrons of the restaurant. The water from the lake shot up as the music reached a crescendo, and rippled in artfully excited tension when the song shifted once more.

Spike, however, had hardly noticed the crowd and the over-elegant waterworks behind them. His eyes were transfixed on Rarity's, and her reciprocal gaze was equally as unbroken. As they danced, he pulled her ever so slightly closer to him, until their bodies were pressed together.

He could feel her heart beating through her chest. She draped her hooves around his shoulders, and pressed her nose against his own. Pursed slightly, her smile radiated pure joy. It was wider than Spike had ever seen before.

"I thought I told you that over-dramatic gallivanting didn't interest me anymore," Rarity teased, her words an effervescent whisper, barely audible above the stomping of hooves.

He grinned. "Well it's a good thing Applejack's the element of honesty."

"Besides. How could I expect anypony to completely abandon the things they loved before?" He gazed into her, his green eyes half-lidded and sincere. "I never abandoned you."

Rarity's eyes widened, her mouth opening as if to gasp, but failing even to do that. She tried to speak, but was unable to summon forth any words at all. Instead, she squeezed him tightly and threw herself against him in a passionate kiss. The ponies continued their dance around them, but Spike and Rarity stood unmoving in the center of the pulsing crowd.

Tears formed at the edges of her upright cheeks and trickled down Rarity's face as the world outside melted away.

By the time they came back to their table, their dinner was cold. Refusing the insistence of the waiter to return with another hot meal, they ate in comfortable silence, simply finishing as quickly as possible. Mentioning the beach, the two descended the staircase to the lake below, and walked directionless, the sand of the shore beneath their feet.

Finally Rarity stopped. The music was a distant hum, and the sun was finally setting. She sat in the sand, and patted the spot next to her expectantly.

At once, their faces were pressed together again, the ecstasy of the moments before still bouncing through their minds. Rarity's lips were soft, but undyingly hungry, pushing against his in fervent passion. She opened her mouth, and shivered as their tongues met, pulling against him as if begging for warmth that only he could provide.

His claw wrapped softly around her cheek and the back of her neck. He felt a tingle of magic on his other hand as it was guided slowly to her flank. He squeezed, kneading her cutie mark with his claw. She shook as if shocked by electricity, and moaned pleadingly through their kiss. Her chest expanded as she pulled in a deep breath, shifting herself atop him and moving his other hand to her flanks.

She opened her eyes a sliver, and stopped kissing him, causing him to open his. She pressed herself against him, and he felt a hot wetness on the shaft of his member.

Her inhibitions had all but evaporated. "Spike... I need you to--"

A flash sounded behind the pair, interrupting Rarity mid sentence. Shocked and wide eyed, she looked up over Spike's shoulder. She gazed into equally surprised looking turquoise eyes, glowing back at her.

"We... We are sorry! Uhm... We will... I will leave now!" sputtered Luna, stepping back and looking away.

Rarity practically jumped off Spike, sitting upright in the sand next to him. Spike twisted around, looking over his shoulder. "Wait!" Rarity called, just as Luna's horn was beginning to glow.

Luna glanced back for just a second to see the two separated. "We... I... uh... apologize for the sudden intrusion," she said slowly, as if trying to find the words.

Rarity sighed, shaking her head. "Don't be. I'm sure if you're here, it's for an important reason."

Luna's eyes darted back and forth. "Yes... but I am not sure you would care to hear it, given... circumstance."

Spike cocked an eyebrow in indignant annoyance. "Well, you're already here. No use in waiting now, right?"

Luna nodded after a moment of hesitation. "If you say so," she said with a sigh. "It is only... It appears as if Celestia has gifted your Twilight with her own brand of miracle. Such is why she was kept from Canterlot all day. The process often takes many hours, especially for wounds of such magnitude."

"So... are you saying that Twilight is completely healed, now?" Rarity asked, her mouth dropping open in disbelief.

"Indeed. Twilight Sparkle is back to her old self," Luna said, nodding and tossing a slight smile Spike's way. He simply stared back.

"Understood. We will leave at once," said Rarity, picking herself up off the sand and beginning to brush herself of with a hoof.

Spike looked over at her, raising a claw and opening his mouth to protest. An immediate glance from Rarity silenced him.

Luna cocked an eyebrow. "In any case, that's it. I extend my apologies once more for barging in. Have a nice trip, then." Luna finished, turning around and disappearing once more in a flash.

"Rarity, we don't have to go back now," Spike pleaded at once, sitting upright.

Rarity sighed. "I know we don't have to. I'm certain we need to."

"Why? Everything is fine. I want to be here, with you," he pleaded.

Rarity turned to look over her shoulder at Spike. "Do you remember what you felt like on the way here this morning?" She relented her words for a moment, and stepped over to where Spike sat in the sand. "That was as real as anything that's happened tonight."

"I'd be lying if I said I didn't want to forget that just happened, at least for tonight. I feel the exact way you do, Spike. But we can have all of this again. Any time you want." She sighed, and dropped her gaze to the ground. "But I remember what you were like this morning. I cant to be the one keeping you from whatever you have to say in apology. It's simply not something I will allow. Twilight is awake and ready to hear it, now, and the sooner you fix that, the sooner we can come back to this."

Spike's eyes narrowed. He wanted to disagree, to fight back, but he couldn't open his mouth. He had pushed Twilight out of his mind since Luna had asked him to choose, but that didn't mean he didn't owe her an explanation, and it certainly didn't mean he had forgotten. "You're right," he said with a sigh.

"Wonderful. Now come on; we have a train to catch."

Twilight Sparkle awoke from what seemed like the deepest sleep she had ever had. Orange light from the afternoon slanted down onto her face and had slowly tantalized her awake. Yawning deeply, she opened her eyes a crack, finding them heavy from after-sleep.

At once, things seemed off. She was in Fluttershy's room; she recognized it almost immediately. But the details as to why eluded her in her waking fatigue. The quilted blankets piled atop her were heavy as she pushed them aside, and crawled up into an upright position.

It was as if some feeling she had grown to know intimately had vanished overnight. Slowly, carefully, she retraced her thoughts. She had woken up. She had done her morning errands. She had read a book. Then in the evening, she...

The memories of the date came back to her. An image of Spike atop a moonlit hill shot to the forefront of her mind, and the film continued agonizingly through to the very last step, collapsing onto Fluttershy's door.

Oh. Questions assaulted her at once. How many days had it been? Was Spike alright? How had she been eating? She jumped from the bed, landing on her hooves, only to fall to her knees as she felt them wobble beneath her weight. Her legs felt like she hadn't used them in months. Her front hoof met the bedside, propping her up as she readjusted to the weakness. After some slow, steady steps, she found the front door.

She opened it with a small creak, her jaw dropping at the sight before her. Princess Celestia was sprawled out on Fluttershy's couch, her breath rising and falling shortly as she slept. Head cocked in disbelief, she made her way out of the bedroom and into the house, new questions seeming to pop up with every step of her hoof.

She slowly made her way to the kitchen, looking out the window and seeing Fluttershy tending her animals outside. Fluttershy glanced back through the window, and gasped, her eyes going wide.

Faster than she had ever moved before, the pegasus flew through her front door and over to Twilight. "Oh my, you're awake! This is amazing! I can't believe it!" she blurted out excitedly, flying into her friend and picking her up for a hug. "Your leg!" she gasped, letting Twilight down and looking at the subject of her sudden disbelief. "It's... it's fully healed!"

"Mhm." Twilight said with a short yawn, passing it off at once as if it were some common matter. "How long has it been, Fluttershy? I feel like I've been asleep for days," Twilight asked softly, punctuating her words with a slight wobble. She found the nearest chair and sat down, feeling her body relax and stopping the slight spinning of her head.

"Oh, my... that's the thing, Twilight. It's only been one day! You... your leg was the worst I had ever seen! It should have taken at least a couple months to heal!" Fluttershy's eyes went wide, peeking her head around the corner and looking over to the alicorn that slept in her living room. "I had no idea that Celestia was capable of anything like this..." she said in an amazed whisper.

Twilight frowned, furling her eyebrows into a frustrated look. "One... day?" she said, sighing. "No, Celestia doesn't heal her subjects. She has a rule against it. If she did, she would have to spend all day every day doing so. She says her subjects must not rely on their ruler to solve all of their problems for them."

Fluttershy blinked, looking to her friend. "Well, I guess she made an exception."

Twilight moved her rear leg experimentally, still unconvinced. "I do seem to be suffering from some muscle atrophy... which is characteristic of healing spells, especially of this magnitude. But... if I was going to heal anyways, why would she..."

A cough resounded from the living room. Twilight and Fluttershy both turned their heads in unison, eyes wide. Celestia was peering at them through nearly-shut eyes. "Come here," she said, her voice breathy, as if some great weight sat upon her chest. At once, Twilight and Fluttershy ran to her side.

"My faithful student..." she whispered, lying her head back and closing her eyes. "You would never have walked again."

Fluttershy's eyes went wide, as she let out a gasp, but Twilight only narrowed her eyes, trying to take in the message to come.

"I healed you, not because you are a subject, but because you are my friend. Were this public, the ponies would scream in anger that I have made a terrible mistake, playing favorites. I would have to agree," she said with a slight chuckle. "I could not bear the idea of such sacrifice to ensure the safety of your friend. I remember what I took away from my own sister, all those years ago, in the name of my people."

A tear fell from her eyes. "But more than anything, I could not bear the thought that one I loved so dearly would have to embrace agony for the rest of their days. Surely there have been hundreds that have been through worse. I have made a mistake; I have favored you over the lives of so many others, and that is unjust."

Celestia opened her eyes again, looking straight at Twilight through eyes glistening with tears. "And I would do it one hundred times again."

Twilight smiled back. "I don't know how I'll ever be able to thank you," she said, her voice cracking slightly.

Celestia closed her eyes. "Let me rest," she said, as if pleading the pony to go. "It has long since been I called upon such echelons of my magic. I am not still an athlete, and yet I have run a marathon against the aches and moans of my own body. I need some precious hours of sleep before I'll be able to sit on a throne again."

"More importantly, see your friends. I... I did this in trust that you will craft a beautiful lifetime with those you care about. You... you may soon find that a lifetime is not as long as it seems to be."

"I understand," Twilight said softly, standing up and retreating back to the kitchen with Fluttershy. Her questions could wait; there was one who she needed to see.

"Fluttershy, where's Spike?"

The train-car was uncharacteristically empty, meandering forth into the night with humble pace, as if it knew that the week was over. Rarity smirked; of course the train was empty. What canterlotian in their right mind would travel to Ponyville at the beginning of their weekend?

She peered out the window into the night sky. Since they had begun walking, she had regretted every word she said, her desire beating on the gates of her self control. Her mind swam with scenarios in which she had not, and with ways she could veer off the road her words had placed her on.

The train; she had made it to the train. There was no stopping, and she could finally breathe a sigh of relief as the burden of choice was lifted off her shoulders.

The sigh, however, had not come. Instead, she shook and shivered, her body once again betraying her mind's plea for relaxation. She had hardly said a word the whole way, and sat silently, contained within her own mind.

The worst was the knowledge that Spike was under the same chemical spell as she. His eyes had hardly left her the entire way to the train station, and he had adopted a similar oath of silence. Yet, here they sat, close but entirely separated, the sheer primal presence doing what years of friendship could not.

She felt a claw land on her back, and she shivered, reveling in the touch as if she had slipped hoof-first into her own steaming bathtub. Agonizingly, his claw ran up and down the ridges of her back. Rarity knew Spike was aware of what he was doing; the infrequent shivers in response were ample enough notification. She wanted to speak, but she was yet afraid she could only beg as a champion of her own desire.

Spike blinked as Rarity finally turned to look back at him. Her brows were slanted upwards, her eyes wide and pleading. Trying to dam the flood of suggestions was over; he was here, Rarity was here, and they were alone. Her eyes spoke as if she was yet unsure, but Spike could only gaze upon her as if she were a paragon of beauty.

Shaking, Rarity looked away, unable to bear the continued longing gaze. She tried fruitlessly to find another object to distract her eyes with, but finally settled on simply closing them. She felt Spike's body touch her own as he slowly, agonizingly, lay himself against her. Like a wave, his breath poured over her snout in short, unrestricted bursts. She could take no more.

Rarity jumped forward and threw her hooves around Spike, pulling herself against him as her mouth found his. She let out a moan of relief as her lips parted and their tongues found eachother, clashing fervently, warriors of passion locked in combat to the death. His tongue was long, and forked, and tickled all the right places, and she could only moan her approval deeply and press herself into him. He began to run his claw through her mane, and moved his mouth to her neck, immediately pressing himself onto it and sucking hard. Lightning bolts of ecstasy shot through her body, and she writhed in pleasure. She moaned freely, and loud, as if celebrating the fact that nopony was in earshot.

He ran his tongue along her neck, allowing Rarity to calm down from the suckles that had sent her reeling just before. He found every nook of her neck, leaving a trail of approval in her short fur wherever he explored. Then, just as her breaths were beginning to normalize again, he all but bit down and suckled on a spot just above the crook of her neck. Rarity let out an approving yelp, and shook once more beneath his grasp.

Finally, Spike pulled back and inhaled a deep breath of faint vanilla, overpowered by Rarity's enthralling arousal. She opened her eyes a sliver, gazing lustfully into his whist literally panting her approval, fogging the window above the seat she was sprawled on. His eyes ran over her, taking in her lustful gaze, her ruffled neck, her expanding chest, and finally her glistening marehood. His eyes lingered, and Rarity took notice, shifting her legs further apart so he could see the fruits of his labor. She smiled, her eyes still open but a sliver, and finally Spike's eyes returned to her face, laying himself against her once more.

Now he kissed her slowly, parting his lips slowly, and breathing in through the kiss as to take her breath into his own. Apprehensively, he moved down to her neck, planting sweet, ginger kisses down the slender form of it, eliciting a shiver in remembrance from Rarity.

Rarity felt his hand move from her cheek, and down the side of her body, tickling it with the edges of his angular claws, down her chest, and to her flank. He squeezed her flank a single, soft, time, before moving around it, to the front of her loins, and down over her marehood. He pressed the base of his thumb down onto her nether-lips, eliciting an excited shiver from Rarity. At once he found just how wet they were, feeling the slick fluid coat his thumb as he ran it up and down the entrance. Gasping softly, Rarity closed her eyes and leaned her head back against the seat. His thumb pushed between her lips, letting out a pool of arousal that had collected behind them, coating his hand with a warm, viscous layer of the liquid. Moaning, she rocked her hips against his touch, writhing as if tortured by his slow progress.

Sweetly, he planted kisses one by one down the frame of her body, finishing with a kiss onto the wet lips of her arousal. His lips only teased her, drawing a shudder of anticipation out of the desperate mare. After a moment of hesitation, Spike plunged his tongue deep between her lips, drawing a single, long, slow lick up the length of her marehood, and Rarity let out an equally drawn out moan, her hooves writhing and pressing against the seat frame next to her.

The time for teasing was over. Spike buried his forked tongue deep into the folds of Rarity's marehood, closing his eyes and taking a deep breath in through his nostrils. Using the forked ends of his tongue, he ran rings around her inner lips, licking up all the wetness there for it to be replaced only moments later. Rarity's body buckled in pleasure, letting out loud yelps each time she exhaled. She pressed her hooves onto Spike's head, pulling him forth in the throes of desire.

Letting out pants of excitement, Spike guidelessly lapped at Rarity's arousal; his inexperience showed, but the tension Rarity had built over the evening was more than enough to make up for it. Still, Rarity's body burned for more, and she brought one of her hooves over her own opening and pressed it down gently against the nub at the top of her marehood. Lightning shot through her body, her clitoris pulsing sheer euphoria into her. Her mind ached, begging her to grind all she was worth into it and find release already, but Rarity held off, rubbing it gently and letting the feeling rise slowly.

Fervently, Spike matched the rhythms of his licks with the bucking of Rarity's hips. Thoughtlessly, his hands wrapped around her and squeezed her flanks, pressing her entire arousal against his angular snout. Her own marejuice was leaking out, running down her thighs in warm streams, and dripping onto the seat below. Spike wanted to pull back, and lick it all up, but he sensed that pulling away now would be tortuous for his partner.

Rarity's yelps grew into deep, gutteral moans of pleasure, and the rocking of her hips became more and more violent. Half-worried that the conductor 5 train cars away would hear, she removed her hoof from Spike's head and stuffed it into her own mouth, biting down to stifle her screams.

In a final act of gusto, Spike pressed his snout as far into her as he could manage, and pushed his long tongue out as far as it would go.

His tongue had flicked her most sensitive spot. Immediately, Rarity spasmed and arched her back at being so deeply pleasured. Spike continued, fervently, and Rarity felt her pleasure begin to reach it's apex.

She felt her body shake and spasm and, like a tsunami finally cresting, she evicted her lungs of all air as her orgasm finally hit her.

Her body shook in waves as her nether-lips clenched, and her legs streched wildly as she screamed into her hoof. She could feel her own juice pushed out from her marehood, flowing down her flanks in rivers. Her back arched, and time seemed to slow to a crawl. Finally, she was able to inhale again, but almost as quickly as the breath came, it was gone again in a high pitched, girlish moan.

Spike felt Rarity's marehood clench around his tongue, and continued licking through her orgasm, lapping up the juices that came with it. She rode out her orgasm, the sweet, girlish screams plateuing eventually downwards, until she simply lay there, panting.

Spike pulled his face back from Rarity's loins, looking over the mess they had made; a small pool of her juice had leaked down her curved flanks in rivers onto the seat below. Her thighs shuddered every once in a while in aftershock, her juice still dribbling out of between her lips.

For the first time since they had began, his concentration let up long enough to realize his own burning arousal. His member was rock hard, sandwiched between him and the seat, and was leaking precum. It painfully ached, as if jealous of the release Rarity had found.

Rarity opened her eyes after many moments of laboured breathing, and she looked at Spike, who's eyes were locked solely on the mess below her own arousal. Rarity flushed red, noticing his mouth was still drenched in her own juice.

"I..." she breathed, averting her eyes to look away from Spike's face. "I hope I didn't taste too--"

Spike's lips were against hers in a deep kiss, pushing his tongue into her own. Her eyes went wide as she tasted herself for the first time; it was sweet, and not altogether unpleasant, but unlike anything she had tasted before.

Spike moaned his arousal into her as he pushed her lips open with his own, his hands caressing her shaking body, unable to refrain from the urges his instincts were shouting into his ears.

"Oh...mmph," Rarity began to say, interrupted by his kisses, "my, mm..."

He finally pulled back, realizing she was trying to speak through the barrage of kisses, and Rarity gave the dragon a grin.

"Someone's still a bit excited, aren't they?" she teased, pushing a hoof into his chest, and leaning forward to press her body against his. Her hoof ran down the front of his body before finding itself pressed against Spike's alert member.

"Well, what kind of lady would I be if I were not to return a favor?" she purred, grinning and pressing Spike back against the seat. She brought her muzzle down to his member, looking past the upright thing and into Spike's eyes. "Would you like that, Spike?"

Spike only groaned in approval, his eyes wide and shaking as the stared into Rarity's.

Rarity opened her mouth, placing her wide tongue at the base of his member. As slowly as her still-twitching muscles would allow, she brought her head up, giving the thing one long lick and collecting the precum on the tip of her tongue.

She grinned, and rolled her tongue back into her mouth. Dragon spunk tasted very mushroomy, she decided. Much better than the salt-covered bitter stuff of her own race. As it rolled down her throat, she almost couldn't wait to taste more, and her the way she batted her eyelashed conveyed the message to Spike as curtly as body language would allow.

She opened her mouth again, positioning herself at the top of the thing, and prepared to go down on it.

Shreeeeiik. The train came to a stop, and Rarity and Spike's momentum carried them into the seat in front of them with an untimely crash.

Rarity yelped in surprise, jumping up at once as to not crush Spike under her. Spike, however, just lay there, not moving whatsoever. "Spike?" Rarity asked, standing over him awkwardly. "Are you quite alright?"

Spike only groaned a long, desperate, pitiful groan. Rarity had to stifle a giggle. "I... I know. I know!" she exclaimed breathlessly. "But come on; get up! The conductor is going to come back here to make sure the train is cleared out, and I think the last thing he wants to see is a grown, frustrated, and... um... frisky dragon."

Spike pushed himself off the ground and put a claw against his face. Rarity was beginning to wonder if he was actually capable of speaking.

Hesitantly, he grabbed his bag from the carriage above, shot a look of pure despair to Rarity, and began walking.

Rarity looked around cautiously; she couldn't really expect Spike's arousal to just suddenly go away, but she wasn't sure if the ponies outside would handle seeing it. Or assume from seeing it. Thankfully, it was already late evening, and there were no ponies whatsoever outside the station.

The two walked down the steps, both their heads darting back and forth, looking out for anypony that might be in the area. But when they made it to the beginning of town, they breathed a sigh of relief, seeing that Ponyville was, characteristically, deserted this evening.

Rarity looked over at the dragon, eyebrows raised and sympathetic. "I..." she began to say, but Spike just began to walk away.

"You're... you're welcome to spend the night with me, Spike! I can't imagine leaving you like--" she blurted out, taking a step towards the dragon.

He turned, and cocked an eyebrow, a cocky grin on his face. "Tomorrow," he said, uttering his first word since they had left the beach hours ago.

With that, he turned and walked away, grumbling something about his luck, and the cruelty of whichever horrible god that was doing this to him.

Rarity stood flabbergasted. It was the first time anyone, or anypony had refused. She was... should she be proud? Offended? She sighed, and decided only on a shake of her head.

She began the walk back to Carousel Boutique alone.

Spike stood at the door of the Library, shaking with indescision. The lights inside were on. She was home, and still awake.

He looked down, realizing that the three minute walk from the train station had not done his visible arousal any good. Try as he might, he could not flush thoughts of Rarity out of his mind, and the late-spring air was not even close to cold enough to do the job for him.

He dreaded the thought of walking inside in his current state, but he knew he could not walk away or wait much longer to see Twilight awake and well. He had too much to say to put it off much further.

With a sigh, he looked at his bag. It was his only salvation.

With a gulp, he positioned the bag awkwardly over his loins and opened the door to the inside of the tree.

Author's Note

Oh, Spike, I feel so bad for you. If I ever found the guy who was responsible for getting continuously interrupted JUST when things were getting started, I'd clock him.

"You mean there's more?"

He looked over his shoulder. "There's always more," he said with a grin. "Now come on!"