Trusted Scales

Fluttershy woke up somewhere incredibly soft and took a moment to slowly move her limbs around, letting out a small groan of relief as she stretched her muscles about. Her vision was a little blurry but she could make out simple features as it came into focus.

The room was bright, which meant that morning had come. As she looked around the room she realized it was actually her own room, but it felt wonderfully comfortable. Everything was in its place; her bookshelf was tucked away against the wall, her sheets were warm and cuddly, and Spike was sitting in the corner.

As she came to realize that final thought, her eyes opened wide and she let out a shriek. It seems that the dragon was sleeping because he yelled out just before  kicking off the ground and leaning back in his chair. "Woah!" was all he said before he went tumbling backwards and bumping his head against the wall.

Fluttershy let out another shriek, but it was much more quiet. It was more of a "meep!" than an all-out yell. "Are you o-" she began, but before she could finish the dragon had sprung up onto his feet, fully alert.

"What's wrong!? Are we under attack? What is it?" Spike said a little too loudly, his eyes wide and bloodshot. He had all the characteristics of being tired and if his skin could sag, he'd most likely have bags under his eyes.

Fluttershy simply shook her head in both confusion and surprise, and she heard a muffled voice squeaking. She looked to her left to find Angel chattering away whilst shaking a fist at Spike. It seems that even his sleep can be interrupted with enough noise and enough irritation. He picked up a nearby stuffed animal and catapulted it at Spike.

As he reached for another, Fluttershy stopped him and said, "No, no! It's okay. It's my fault, really." Angel gave her a long, hard stare before turning back to Spike and sighing. Dropping the stuffed animal in a manner that still managed to be threatening, he hopped off the bed with a tiny blanket and stormed off to another room in order to sleep some more.

After the noise that was made by all of the commotion, a very calm and equally awkward silence fell over the two in the room. Fluttershy turned to greet Spike more hospitably, but the silence that had gripped both of them gave enough of a pause for the yellow mare to gather her thoughts more clearly. Namely, the thought of what she had done just before blacking out last night was the one that stuck out most prominently.

Fluttershy felt her face warm up in present time and managed to relate it back to how she felt the time Spike had come to visit her a few days back. Except she hadn't gone through with what she had wanted to do on that day, whereas she had done so last night. The very thought of that made her want to pass out once again or at the very least, fly out of her window.

She couldn't bring herself to do either, however, and instinctively knew it'd just cause more problems. As much as she wished that she could just go back and prevent herself from getting into this mess, she knew that wasn't an option. She would have to own up to it eventually, and her opportunity was literally sitting in her room waiting.

Snapping out of her daydream, she noticed that Spike was moving over towards her bed, namely over to her side. She felt her face heat up so badly that she swore it might melt, but fortunately she didn't pass out on the spot. Instead, she opted for letting out a small "eep!" as she lifted up her covers to hide most of her face.

"Hey, it's alright. It's just me," Spike said as he held up both hands as a gesture of peace. He knelt down beside her bed with a groan, laying his elbows on his knees as he got down to meet her eye-level. "I know it was probably quite a shock to you, though, seeing me chilling out in your bedroom." He let out a small chuckle and rubbed the back of his neck before continuing - something that seemed like a habit. "But you passed out, and I got kind of worried. Brought you to your bed, and I stayed up for a while waiting for you to wake up, but I guess I just.. Dozed off."

Fluttershy sat entirely still as she listened to Spike tell his story. Something inside of her jumped as she thought of Spike carrying her to her bed, with her sleeping in his arms, and then having him watch over her protectively. The image of that burned into her mind and she couldn't help but feel a bit joyful at the thought, and she even began to smile despite her worrying.

"I hope you don't mind me crashing here. Not that I could really.. Take it back, but still. I hope I wasn't intruding or something," Spike said, seemingly apologizing for being nice in the first place. Fluttershy was baffled that he didn't seem to remember what happened last night besides her passing out - or more hopefully, he didn't mind.

"N-no, it's fine," she muttered from behind the covers just loud enough for Spike to comprehend it. He gave a sigh of relief and then lifted a hand.

"You mind?" he asked simply. While not sure what he meant, Fluttershy gave a shake of her head to signify it was alright. She trusted he wouldn't do anything odd, and when he reached over to place the back of his hand against her forehead she understood. "Alright, just checking. You seem okay," he concluded, giving a small smile.

"A-are you mad?" Fluttershy blurted out, surprising herself and the dragon beside her.

"About what? The uh.. The kiss, you mean?" Spike asked. When Fluttershy gave a sheepish nod, he answered rather simply with, "Nah. Completely surprised and blown away that it happened, but not mad."

It was something, at least. The yellow pegasus felt a wave of relief rush over her entire body, and she relaxed considerably as her blush faded away. Now that she knew he wasn't mad, she could at least stop worrying about him hating her forever - she had lost a few friends to much less than something of that caliber.

That was when he continued and confused Fluttershy immensely by saying, "Actually, I'm a little happy." When he saw Fluttershy's face turn a light shade of pink once again, he explained with, "It answered a pretty important question of mine, I mean."

"What do you mean?" she asked, feeling both hopeful and worried at the same time. Such a question could virtually be anything, but she didn't know how a kiss would narrow down the possibilities.

"Well you remember when I first came over? The morning that we went and sat under those trees?" Spike began, waiting for Fluttershy to nod in assent before continuing, "Well I had actually come planning to talk about something, but you looked sort of anxious about something. And I was kinda nervous about asking, so it just never happened. You flew off before I got the chance."

Fluttershy flinched slightly at the memory. She did indeed recall flying away abruptly, and she remembered having done it out of anxiety. Nonetheless, there was little point in feeling defeated over that; she decided to simply accept it and move on. "Sorry," she apologized, but thankfully the dragon wasn't intent on sticking to the topic.

"No, no. It's completely fine. It gave me time to gather my thoughts. And if I was going to ask, I guess I don't have to now," Spike said, his smile growing as he looked up and into Fluttershy's eyes, giving her a sideways glance. It gave him a slightly classy look, Fluttershy thought.

"Well.. Can I ask what it was?" Fluttershy requested, genuinely curious as to what could have the nonchalant dragon so flustered in the first place. It was out of his element to be losing his cool over something.

"Uhh, well.." Spike said, his gaze turning away from Fluttershy. He still wasn't exactly comfortable with the question - it seemed pretty silly to him now. But still, he knew he would have to ask. "I was worried that you might not want to be friends any longer."

The statement took Fluttershy by surprise and she dropped the blanket, blurting out, "What? Why?" She caught her own surprise and blushed again, quieting down as she said, "I mean.. What would make you think that?"

In response, Spike stood up at full height, his head nearly hitting the ceiling as he did. Fluttershy had to admit he looked a bit intimidating that way, but she understood the message - he was a dragon, and he was getting rather big. "You were worried about my fear of dragons.." Fluttershy said as she stared up at him, her voice barely above a whisper.

"Exactly. And apparently I'm a special kind of dragon, according to Twilight. She has theories about my birth-parents, my hatching method, special circumstances.." Spike gave a sigh and made a circular motion with his hand, signifying it just kept going. "It's all pretty confusing to me, so I'm waiting on an official answer from her. But I guess I don't need to be worried anymore, huh? Unless my special dragon-blood makes ponies fall in love pretty quickly."

He said the last part with a laugh and Fluttershy couldn't help but giggle despite that rather deep blush that was befalling her. "I don't think it's that," she said as she pulled the blanket back up. "But umm.. You don't have to worry. You're different, I mean."

Fluttershy grew a smile as Spike lowered himself back into a crouching position, getting down to her level. "You're nice, caring, and understanding." She continued, but not before fidgeting a little underneath the blanket and blushing a bit deeper. "And um.. Handsome, too."

Spike rubbed his chin and wiggled his eyebrows jokingly as he said, "Oh? Do go on!" This elicited a laugh from Fluttershy, and he said, "Sorry, but I think you've got the 'looks' part. But thank you, Fluttershy. You're pretty amazing yourself."

It was Spike's turn to become a little nervous, and he rubbed his neck once again - a signature thing for him, it seemed. "I haven't ever really been good with formalities, so uh.. I guess I should just.. Go for it?"

Fluttershy remained confused only for a moment before she noticed him leaning a bit closer - then she understood. Her heart probably skipped a beat and her face heated to a point that might scald even a dragon, but she felt overjoyed nonetheless. It took some willpower, but she managed not to shake or fidget too much as it happened.

Closing her eyes, she leaned forward until she felt the pressure upon her lips, and the cold feeling of scales. For a split second, she opened one eye to make sure that it was actually happening and what she saw made her nearly melt with bliss. It was a simple sight - Spike's face. With that, she closed her eye once again and waited.

Once the act was broken, Spike looked more than a little flustered, but otherwise he looked very happy. Fluttershy could only guess what she looked like at the moment, and she brushed a stray lock of hair out of her face.

"That was nice," Spike said, breaking the silence. Fluttershy let out a nervous giggle as she nodded in agreement. "Phew.. I bet Twilight is gonna want a letter about this, huh?"

"Probably," Fluttershy said, her grin ever-present. As much as she wished she could stay in this moment forever, she knew she'd have to move soon. Her animals needed feeding, her garden needed tending, and her hair was probably a mess. But with how the state of affairs was going, everything looked like it would be okay. Better than okay, even. Everything was going to be great.

Spike offered a hand and Fluttershy took it, gingerly stepping out of bed and onto her wooden floor, making a hollow thud as she did so. "I guess I'll see you soon, then?" Spike asked happily.

"I'd like that," Fluttershy said, and she stood upon her hind hooves in order to reach up and hug Spike. He didn't hesitate for a moment, and the two shared a tender hug for a short while before pulling apart and moving towards the door leading out into the main hallway.

As Spike moved for the door to leave the cottage, he let out a content sigh. "I bet Rainbow Dash would want to hear what happened. I'll leave her to you, though - I'm kinda bad with explaining things," he stated with a smirk. It was true, though; Rainbow was probably very curious about the whole ordeal, and she'd be happy to know it went off without a hitch. Mostly.

"Oh, right! I'll send out a messenger bird to invite her over. Thank you for reminding me," Fluttershy said and let out a tiny whistling sound. Almost immediately, a small bird came down to perch upon Fluttershy's shoulder.

"That's so cool," Spike said with awe in his voice. Some ponies might think that kind of thing to be ordinary around Fluttershy, but he still found it to be really interesting. "But anyway. I'll be heading out, now," he stated with finality.

He quickly leaned down and gave Fluttershy a quick peck on the cheek before opening the door behind him and stepping out. "Bye, Spike," Fluttershy said happily, to which he waved nonchalantly back. With that, she shut the door and let out a sigh.

Then she trotted in place and giggled like a little filly, the bird upon her back taking flight into the air to avoid being thrown off. "Oh, I've got to go tell Rainbow Dash!" she said between giggling, then she quickly moved over to a table to begin writing.

Spike gave a quiet laugh as he moved his head away from the door. She was so excitable when she was alone. Calmly, with a sigh of his own, he began making his way back to the library. "Got a letter of my own to write," he said, placing his hands behind his head.

Dear Princess Twilight,

First off, am I supposed to call you Princess Twilight, or just Twilight? I don't know. Anyway, I've got a bit of news for you! It seems that all that worrying over Fluttershy was all for naught, because it turns out that she had some strong feelings for me.

I don't know if I felt the same before, but I guess I do now. Don't worry - nothing drastic happened. I'll be sure to tell you all about it the next time I head to Canterlot. But I do have one big concern, considering my "special birth".

Do you have any more information on that? Any breakthroughs? I'd love to hear about it, if so. But even if you don't, I'm still happy with what happened. You'll be excited to hear about it, I'm sure.

You should know that I'm still missing your company here, by the way. It gets pretty weird knowing that I won't see you every morning. Anyway, I think my stomach is going to eat itself soon if I don't get some food, so I will be getting some food pretty soon. I'll be awaiting your response patiently.

Your Number One Assistant,

Spike.

With that, he sealed the letter and held it up, staring at it for a moment. With a small chuckle preceding it, he let loose a burst of green flame and sent the letter on its way. Now all that was left was to wait.

With a grumble in his stomach, he was also notified that he still needed to get food. "I think I have some gems in the cupboard. Could make a sandwich or something," he mumbled to himself as he set about the task. If anything, he still had his old mindset.

But all while he worked, he felt a strange emotion of pure satisfaction and joy. This would be the start of something great, he could tell.