The Art of The Tuxedo Part 1
The dragon stood in the entrance of Carousel Boutique, smiling boyishly at his white unicorn companion. “So… Thanks for lunch, Rarity.”
The dressmaker couldn’t help but smile back. “Please, there’s no need to thank me. It was my pleasure to have such a delightful meal with you.” She felt his claw taking her hoof and before she could react, he moved it to his mouth, bowing down to place a gentle kiss on it.
“The pleasure was all mine, milady,” he whispered, looking charmingly up to her.
And there he was, doing it again. Rarity felt a slight blush warming her cheeks. “Spike… you’re such a charmer, but I think I’ve already told you that, haven’t I?” She giggled awkwardly.
Spike gave a rumbling chuckle, gently releasing her hoof.
The whole situation made Rarity feel a bit overwhelmed. Spike was acting in a way she couldn’t resist. She felt her heart fluttering, and her cheeks getting even warmer at every passing minute. She tentatively wondered why she was feeling like that, her mind coming up blank, though she couldn’t care less right now. It felt like a dream, like being surrounded by pink and soft fluffy clouds, while imaginary bubbles of varying sizes and complex floral arrangements floated around them.
A couple of minutes flew by while they both stood there, at the boutique’s entrance, lost in each other’s gaze. Then reality flooded back in, or at least for her. She looked at him, noticing he was still staring at her eyes with a lost dreamy look and a goofy smile. She chuckled surreptitiously at this, gently covering her mouth with a hoof, enjoying the idea of regaining control over the situation, as it should be. And she also felt the urge to break the romantic atmosphere once and for all.
Wait, could the situation be called romantic? Her heart was beating faster than usual, and somehow Spike’s eyes were sparkling like gems, as the background flourished with floating petals and shooting stars. Still, that didn’t mean it was a romantic atmosphere! She was just being imaginative because of that romance novel she read last night! Yes, that was it! Reading tawdry romance novels before bed was to blame. And maybe Sweetie Belle, but she could take care of her rebel little sister later.
Rarity cleared her throat loudly before speaking, making the dragon snap back to attention and blinking all the little background stars out of their imaginary existence. No matter how cute he looked like that, they needed to move on from the lovestruck staring. Her attempt to lure him back to reality was successful, as the dragon jumped slightly at her cough, his pupils shrinking to be more serpentine like, the normal state of his eyes.
“So don’t forget, darling. Tomorrow at five o'clock,” she said with a polite smile.
“Of course, I’ll be here at five o’clock sharp!” he responded with a wide smile, and waved at her as he started for the library.
She waved back at him, watching the dragon until he disappeared around the corner. The smile in her face slowly faded away and she sighed in disappointment.
Oh my... disappointment? About what, him… leaving?
She shook her head in a feeble attempt to banish such thoughts and stepped into the Boutique, shutting the door behind her with her magic. Even with the change of environment, her mind did not find peace, she couldn’t help but feel... lacking... as if something or somepony was missing.
In any case, she still had a certain filly that needed to be lectured about her misbehavior. That would surely distract her from this matter.
There was an intense urge to laugh and giggle like a filly, and Spike couldn’t contain his giddiness as he ran across the road. The dragon soon spread his wings and took off with powerful flaps, his body trembling with excitement and his heart beating wildly in his chest. He flew ever higher and soon found himself far above the clouds.
Spike felt as if he was on cloud nine, somewhat literally as he soared higher above, and arched through a batch of clouds, weaving the number nine out of the puffy clouds for anypony to see. Just remembering how Rarity looked earlier made his stomach want to perform feats of acrobatic wonder.
Blushing Rarity is best Rarity. He smiled goofily at the clear image of the ivory unicorn beauty in his mind.
Sparkly images of the glamorous pony who owned his heart continued strolling through his mind as he squinted against the strong winds. He took the moment to conjure another image, this one with Rarity smiling that oh so beautiful smile and gazing at him with those sparkling azure eyes, as she lovingly leaned in and... okay, maybe he was getting teensy bit carried away here. Besides, what was the chance that she could feel something other than simple friendship for him? Could she even like him back? Could he ever be that lucky? Was that even possible? Just because he could think of ponies as being attractive, didn’t mean ponies could see a dragon such as himself the same way.
Just thinking about it sapped away some of his previous euphoria. She had been always so nice to him, especially after she had started calling him Spikey-Wikey, just a few years ago. But that could all just be her thinking of him as a good friend, and nothing remotely more.
Nothing like the way I feel about her...
But he could dream, couldn’t he? It wasn’t like Rarity minded his company. She was even willing to see to his needs at the expense of her own free time, and even seemed happy at the prospect. Could it be that she wants to spend more time with him, that she eagerly wanted to see him the same way he did with her? Was there anything to any of this? How should he think?
In just a few moments, he saw the Library, its sight bringing him out of his wandering thoughts. But the small strand of hope remained, the hope that maybe, just maybe, there was something to all of this.
As Spike touched down upon the ground, the hope he felt lit up his face in the form of a small smile.
As soon as the door to her room opened, Sweetie Belle dove into her collection of critter plushies for dear life. “I’m sorry! Please don’t destroy me!”
Rarity took a needed moment to blink in bewilderment. “Sweetie, what on Equestrian earth are you talking about? Certainly, I might make your life miserable for the foreseeable future, but I’m not about to destroy you. Per se.”
The teenage mare didn’t listen though, and kept rambling apologies as she tried to arrange her plushies into defensive formation against her obviously hostile older sister.
Rarity rolled her eyes. “Oh, do be quiet. I was joking. Stop being such a drama queen.”
Sweetie paused in her attempts to use Mr. Beaverton as a proper fluff shield, and incredulously raised an eyebrow. “Drama queen? You really just called me that?”
“And what is that supposed to mean?” the older unicorn huffed.
“Nothing!” the young singer cried, before she tried to plaster on her most charming smile “It’s just that… it’s kind of ironic, that’s all. You’re the High Queen of Everlasting Drama, remember?”
“What!?” Rarity cawed as she raised a hoof theatrically as if ready to release a clarion call. “Absolutely absurd! I am not associated with such a tacky title! I am, er...” She paused upon seeing her sister’s flat stare. “I am, um, I am your older sister, and you’re grounded!”
Sweetie blinked. “You can’t ground me!”
“While you’re staying in my boutique, you live under my rules. And I say you’re grounded!” Sweetie Belle still looked unimpressed, so the fashionista decided to bring out the big cannons. “You’re...you’re also forbidden from buying more chocolate pudding!”
Sweetie gasped emphatically. “No! Not my chocolate pudding! It’s one of my reasons for living!”
“Well, I suppose you’ll just have to make due with Apple Bloom’s apple pudding.”
Or at least what vaguely resembled apple pudding. As far as Rarity knew, pudding of any kind wasn’t supposed to smell like burnt glue and week-old compost. Still, the threat seemed to work as Sweetie Belle threw herself at Rarity’s hooves in a cry for mercy.
“Please forgive me, most generous and prettiest of older sisters! I’ll do whatever you want me to do! Just let me have my pudding~!” The pink-purple haired unicorn tried to appeal to her sibling with the most radiant of puppy dog eyes as she enhanced the effect by holding Mr. Beaverton in her hooves like a frightened little filly.
Rarity was, of course, immune to such emotionally manipulative tactics, but, well, Sweetie Belle did look appropriately sorry, and maybe she was overreacting just a tad, and depriving somepony of pudding was probably a bit harsh...
The white unicorn closed her eyes and counted to ten, inhaling deeply before letting it all out, easing her frayed nerves. “Alright, you’re not grounded. But in return, you said you’d do anything I ask of you, so you better listen closely, little miss!” She crossed her forelegs and gave the young mare before her a sharp stare.
Sweetie Belle squeezed her face next to Mr. Beaverton’s and gave the widest, most innocent smile she could.
“Now, Sweetie Belle,” Rarity said with a calmer voice. “Please, in the name of Celestia, Luna, and all of Equestria, stop interfering with my relationship with Spike. That’s all I ask. You are not helping!”
Sweetie Belle blinked and pouted. “What? But I even almost got you two to kiss!”
Rarity blinked. “Wh-Wh-What? You did… WHAT?! Are you crazy? You tried to get us to get us to...! Since when do you even have such abilities?” The eyes of the older mare went wide, as she frowned in near stupefaction. “What on Equestrian earth made you do such a thing, Sweetie Belle?”
Sweetie Belle poked her hooves together and looked away. “W-well, I just wanted to help. You two looked like you needed a push and I just thought..”
“That’s enough! Stop jumping into conclusions. I am not in love with Spike! And as far as I know he doesn’t feel uh... love for me, either. I told you, he had a crush on me, and that was years ago! You’re reading far too much into nothing. There is no love story to be had here.”
“Pfffft! Yeah right, and Scootaloo’s a chicken,” Sweetie quipped, looking at her sister and raising a mischievous eyebrow.
Rarity shook her head. “Whatever it is that you’re thinking, please keep those thoughts to yourself, and do stop your odd behaviors and constant scheming.”
“Constant scheming?” The young singer tried not to laugh aloud, but couldn’t hold in a snicker. “Come on, Rarity, I’m not scheming. I’m just trying to help! Both of you look so cute and pretty, why not be cute and pretty together?”
Rarity didn’t like her sister’s sinister grin and the way she was wagging her eyebrows. Somepony was
spending way too much time around Bon Bon. “Enough,” Rarity said with finality. She closed her eyes, breathing in slowly, counting to ten and then releasing her breath in a controlled manner. “This conversation stops here. Now, please, cease all this nonsense and all that magical flowery background absurdity and behave.”
The purple maned mare turned her back to her sister as she stepped out of the room. Ugh! Sweetie Belle and her ridiculous obsession with getting ponies paired up as if were some sort of game. Well, at least now I know that all the sparkling and pink flowers weren’t all just my imagination.
Sweetie Belle poked her head out the ajar door. “Just so you know, the only thing I did was toss in some flower petals! I don’t know how to make things sparkle yet~!”
Rarity blinked at the sound of the door shutting.
Wait...then what was...?
She felt her heart flutter in her chest, like little dancing butterflies in the breeze. She shook her head rigorously. She needed to focus on something else, something to keep her mind busy and off the tingling feelings in her chest. She headed to the art studio; there was an important design that needed to be seen to. A certain tuxedo for certain dragon, of course.
Once in her studio, the talented fashionista immediately set off to work, levitating a colored marker and a set of purple parchment with her light blue magic as she moved to her desk. She stared at it for tense moments, just trying to get the gears in her mind to mesh and work. But the more she pushed, the further the sparks of inspiration fled from her.
“Oh, what am I doing?” Rarity sighed. She knew from years of experience that artistic flare couldn’t be forced. Inspiration was like a small, running stream, and she, the tiny white fish that flowed within the currents of a world of wonder.
She set her marker down, and gazed at the window, where warm beams of sunlight poured in through the peach-colored curtains. Twilight was probably being the little busypony that she was, arranging books and whatnot with perplexing glee; Applejack was, of course, heartily working at the farm, harvesting apples with confident strides and strikes; Fluttershy was undoubtedly enjoying the pleasant weather with her critter friends; Rainbow Dash was likely noisily napping on some drifting cloud; Pinkie Pie was...well, mutilating physics or whatever it was that Pinkie does. And Spike...Spike was...
Rarity’s sapphire eyes sparkled like jewels in the light as the magic of inspiration finally dawned upon her. An excited “eureka!” broke the silence of the room as she picked up the marker and nearly pounced upon the paper, her eyebrows scrunched together in concentration while a grin shaped her lips. She scribbled furiously, almost like a mare possessed. Once finished, she held the design sketch up by magic before her, a preview for the upcoming piece of a most smashing attire.
The dressmaker stood there, staring at the piece of paper of which displayed her now most recent fabulous design, images forming in her mind, of its would be model wearing it with a delightfully boyish smile, as he thanked her while looking at her with those deep emerald eyes...
She no longer heard the tenor of her thoughts nor felt the itchy warmth in her cheeks. All that mattered was bringing to life her artistic vision and the charming little drake who will complete it. With a smile, Rarity set off to ripen the fruit of her generosity, all in order to make the ones she loved even happier with her creations.
When Spike entered the library, he expected to see Twilight buzzing around, working on this and that, but instead found the first floor absent of anypony. He even went upstairs to make sure she was not in her room, and confirmed he was all alone in the library. Not even Owlowiscious was around.
Aw, man. What’s going on now?
Once he was back on the ground floor, he noticed a little letter over a nearby table and went to investigate, quickly deducing it to be a note. He smirked. “It’s been a while since I’ve seen Twi’s own hoof-writing, er, horn-writing. Ah, whatever. Let’s see here...”
Spike,
I’m off to the Canterlot Archives, I wanted to check if they have any information regarding dragons and their greed-related behaviour. With any hope I’ll be able to find something that will help you. I took Owlowiscious with me in case I needed any extra help, so don’t worry. I’ll try to be back tomorrow before lunch! Be a good dragon and stay out of trouble.
—Twilight
Spike smiled with his eyes shimmering, tears of joy threatening to spill forth. He gently put the letter back on the table and mentally thanked Twilight, a bit regretful for any bad thoughts he might have had moments before.
“Well, time to make sure the library doesn’t burn down,” he said aloud, before stepping upstairs.
Rarity sighed contently, breathing in the fresh, crisp air. “Oh, Opalescence, isn’t this a most beautiful of dawning mornings?”
She stood before the open entrance of her boutique, taking in the scenic sight of early morning Ponville. The sky was a rare dark blue today, the sky bereft of any wayward clouds even without the machinations of the weather team. The air surrounding the boutique smelled of a mixture of honeydew and dewdrops, and the silence melted around her.
The white mare was in a particularly good mood, as evidenced by her humming and the slight spring in her steps as she trotted back into the boutique. It was a bit strange to see the fashionista in such a delighted mood so early in the morning, that even Opal was giving her a strange, questioning look. But Rarity didn’t care. She was having such a nice start to her day and nopony (or kitty, as the case sometimes be) was going to ruin it.
The secret to her fabulously uplifting frame of mind was a delightful dream she awoke from. She didn't quite remember any details as of now, but there was a distinct impression that whatever the dream was about, it was definitely something more than just a little pleasant.
So distracted by her joyful disposition was Rarity, that she snatched up the flowers from the vase near the front door and began arranging them into various intricate shapes and styles with both her hooves and magic. It was finally when Opal mewed at her did she notice the green, white, and purple patterns of the lilacs and tulips that were arranged into a garland of sorts.
"Oh my," Rarity uttered. "I must've had a wonderful dream to be this out of sorts. Still, something fabulous came out of it, why complain?"
She was beginning to finish the last perceived touches to the mini-project, intent on giving the finished product to perhaps Sweetie Belle, when the colors of the flowers suddenly sparked something in her mind and a large smile took form. As her classic sing-song “Idea~!” came forth and she quickly made her way into the studio, levitating a new set of quill and paper to her at the same time, she loomed over the draft of the latest project and began sketching.
“This will be fabulous!” Rarity gushed, looking at the sketch she just made with sparkling eyes. The simple thought of the would-be owner of this new creation and how she imagined him (surrounded by few pink bubbles and complex floral designs as a charming smile adorned his face) gave her enough of a distraction to keep her mind focused on the task at hoof; nothing would stop her until it was finished.
The front door of the library swung open, a purple unicorn and an owl soon made their entrance “Hi, Spike! I see the library is still in one piece.”
Spike, who was currently busy dusting a shelf, looked up at the pony with a wide smile. “Hey, Twi! You’re back!” He went over to give the sister of his heart a great big hug.
Owlowiscious took the moment to fly up the second floor, intent on getting some sleep.
“Hey there,” Twilight laughed. “Somepony is feeling affectionate today. Did something happen? I’ve only been gone for a day.” She levitated her saddlebags and placed them over the floor after breaking the hug.
The dragon blushed slightly and scratched his snout with a small grin. “Maybe~...” He looked at the seemingly empty saddlebags. “So, mission failure?”
Twilight sighed and moved to sit by the staircase. “I’m sorry, Spike. I suppose it was to expected, but I couldn’t find anything new about dragons, even in the Canterlot Archives.”
“Oh, well,” Spike said casually. “It’s alright, Twilight. We’ll figure it out somehow.”
Twilight blinked. She had expected something in discontent, at least a grunt of disappointment in passing, but definitely not casual dismissal. Now she was starting to worry about the nonchalant reaction her friend had had to what was supposedly an important matter. “Somepony is taking this remarkably well. Now I know something happened. Care to fill me in?”
The dragon smiled as he made his way over to sit down next to the pony, and patted her shoulder once. “Don’t worry about it, Twi. Everything's going fine.”
“Now you’re just being a tease,” Twilight said with a slight pout. “Come on, tell me, tell me!”
Spike smiled. “That’s just the thing, Twilight. Nothing happened. At all, since you left.”
Twilight blinked. “You mean, you haven’t had a greed episode all yesterday?”
“Yeah! I can’t really explain it, but I haven’t had any of those episodes for the past few days. Not a single one since the last time we talked about this.” He grinned confidently.
“Oh, that’s good to hear, Spike,” Twilight said after a pause.
“I know, right?” Spike agreed, laughing slightly.
Twilight smiled at the look of joyful ease on the dragon’s face, before she frowned slightly. “Any idea how?”
Spike shrugged. “Not sure. Maybe I just outgrew the problem. Heh, who knows, maybe all that time spent with Rarity was more worthwhile than we thought, eh?” He gave an exaggerated grin and nudged Twilight, clearly making a small joke.
Instead of rolling her eyes with a smile, though, Twilight stared at the dragon with a thoughtful look. “Hey, Spike...?”
Spike blinked at the lack of a retort. “Uh, yeah?”
“Do you remember your first birthday in Ponyville?”
The scenic desolation of the village and the remnants of gigantic claw prints sprang up in his mind as Spike winced and rubbed his arm. “...how could I forget?”
Twilight gasped a little. “Wait, Spike, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to make you feel bad, I just--”
“It’s alright,” Spike interrupted, took a deeper breath, and nodded to himself. “I’m okay. I’m not a kid, anymore, and we’ve already talked about this, remember? So, what was it that you wanted to know?”
Twilight smiled proudly at her dragon assistant. “I’m glad you’re being understanding about all this, but still, I’m sorry for bringing bad memories up so callously.”
“It’s alright,” Spike said, again, but with a smile this time. “Now, c’mon, stop getting us all mopey and ask your question already.”
“Well,” Twilight began, “I wanted to know how much you remember about that day. In particular, how much do you remember after you became a fully grown dragon.”
Spike stared upwards and scratched his chin with a thoughtful grimace. “I can’t say I really remember much at all. It’s all kind of like a big blur.”
Twilight nodded. “Do you remember how you changed back?”
Spike’s eyes widened a little and tilted his head. “Sort of?”
“What do you mean by ‘sort of’?”
“Well, it’s kind of a blur too, but, I think I remember something about a heart. And, uh...” He shifted a bit.
Twilight prodded him with a hoof. “And what?”
Spike gave the unicorn a calculatingly look. “And, well, Rarity.”
Twilight nodded, and pondered aloud. “Hmm...”
“So...?” Spike asked after he watched the unicorn intently.
A smile sprang up on the mare’s face and she shrugged. “No idea.”
Spike blanched. “Well, thanks for all the suspense, now I’m hungry.”
“Me too,” Twilight said, excitedly. “What’s for lunch?”
Spike gave an exasperated shake of his head. “I’ll whip something up for both of us. Just give me a few minutes, it’ll be done in a jiffy.”
Twilight casually picked up where Spike left off in organizing the shelves and books, as she waited or lunch to be prepared.
She wasn’t able to find anything useful in the Canterlot Archives, and at this point, she was thinking that there weren’t any books in Equestria that could shed light on the situation about her draconic assistant. Still, she was Twilight Sparkle, and if she could make a biased documentary on Pinkie Pie, she could definitely do the same for Spike.
It was obviously to her now that whatever triggered these episodes of hoarding tendencies was somehow countered by a different type of greed. Specifically, the want to spend as much time with a certain pony while not under the influence of the urge to commit manic hoarding rampages. Recalling what Zecora said about dragons in all her rhyming glory, it was possible that a dragon’s greed growth could be countered by more positive emotions. If the young dragon kept his mind more on what made him happy instead of elements of temptation, there was a possibility that all the greed tendencies could be pulled away from the surface of the mind. A sort of anchor, if you will. And right now, the purple unicorn had a sinking suspicion of what—or who—that particular anchor might be.
The problem now was that everything could end on a happy note, or it could all fail spectacularly with the most disastrous heat of sublimation this side of Equestria. Twilight herself was happy as long as everypony else was happy, and if Spike and Rarity could be happy together, well, that was just a lot of happy to be had all around. But as things were as far she knew now, there were plenty of chances for said things to go horribly wrong. Rarity was the element of generosity, and seemed to be really sweet on Spike nowadays, but was still vague about her intentions and actions. If anything were to occur that would drive a wedge between those two, undesired results were very likely to erupt. It was essentially a double-edged sword, with how precariously stable the situation was.
It was obvious how Spike felt; it had been for years. What Twilight needed to know was how Rarity felt in return. The purple unicorn needed to know what the variables were in the equation, and if it was possible to get a happy ending out of all of this.
As she trotted towards the kitchen towards the alluring scent of food, Twilight silently decided, for the good of everypony involved, to find out as soon as possible, at the first available chance, and at any cost.