The Lost Fics: "Don't Come Close" · 7:40pm Dec 16th, 2015
So continuing on from the previous blog is a Sparity (Spike x Rarity) romance/slice of life called "Don't Come Close "
As intimate as they've seem to have gotten while exchanging letters, Spike wants to confirm once and for all Rarity's feelings for him. And so years after he left Ponyville, the now-grown dragon returns to the town of his childhood, and the mare he left behind.
Wintersnow's Lullaby by cmaggot
Background info
The idea for this one came to me when I reached one of the endings of Grand Theft Auto V.
Something struck me about the lyrics, and while not following it word for word, I feel that at least a few key lines from the song should stick out regarding the issue that happens between the adult Spike and much older Rarity of the story. I really wanted to go for initial misdirection and double entendres in this fic, and at the very least those things stuck out in my mind to write them out before I lost steam to keep writing. For what it's worth there's only a few details left to fill in before this would actually be publishable, but for the life of me I've just never gotten around to doing just that, such as:
Introspective exposition at the beginning; a bit of interaction between the fillies, Amber and Jade, before Spike is brought upstairs to meet Rarity; dialogue between Spike and Rarity; Spike playing around with the fillies while Rarity watches
Braving through the bitterly chilly air, Spike breathed out in relief when he managed to step into the boutique. The wispy condensed vapor of his breath faded away as did the winter cold when the door shut behind him.
The dragon shivered as the warmth of the lobby he found refuge in began to press comfortably against the scales of his face that were left exposed to the cold through the gaps of his hat, scarf, and goggles. The rest of his body was better off, tucked within the warm confines of a heavy and well-worn coat, trousers, and pair of boots and mittens. Even his tail had been accommodated by the design of his winter wear.
Spike looked around, drinking in the organized chaos that remained unchanged even after all these years, and felt at ease. Several ponnequins had been dressed by a number of designs, but none of them even came close to forming any sort of sensible ensemble. Slipping off his rose-tinted goggles, he approached the nearest pony-sized model to take a better look.
He was sure that it would be an even worse mess upstairs, out of sight from the casual customer to Carousel Boutique in the work room. Although, it was obvious from the state of the fitting area a few paces ahead that despite the weather business had been quite good.
Ponyville's winter had only been set up about a week ago, if he recalled correctly
.
The chime that had since quieted when he first entered finally summoned a plain-looking filly who wore her purple mane back in a stylish set of pigtails. Looking up from the clipboard floating in her magical grasp, the young unicorn adjusted her wide-rimmed glasses as she took note of the possible customer. She had some trouble identifying the new arrival, what with his whole form covered head to toe in bulky-looking clothes. Before she could speak out, only getting as far as to clear her throat, a second filly trotted into the lobby from an adjoining room.
The young foal gaily made her way toward the storefront while balancing a mug of hot chocolate on a saucer atop her head.
In the dimly-lit room Spike noticed the abundance of picture frames on the walls. Photos, certificates, awards. There was very few to speak of in terms of furniture, save for some chairs, a coffee table, and a couch on the far right of the room where the fireplace was. The angle of the couch where it was set in front of the fireplace left its occupant out of sight.
"Nana?"
"I must have dozed off," the figure on the couch admitted with chagrin.
"Nana, you have a guest!"
"We do? Well, then I should certainly greet him shouldn't I, Amber?" Slowly she sat up, her eyes appearing over the back edge of the couch to glance toward the entrance of the room. "My dearest apolo-"
"W-why don't you show him around downstairs, girls?"
The pair looked to one another before doing as they were told, trotting back toward the doorway.
"Rarity?" He said with some bemusement. "It's me. Spike."
"Spike?" she asked, quite surprised by the dragon's deep voice.
"Don't...don't come close, Spike..." Rarity's voice quivered out in the dimly lit room. "I don't want you to see my face."
"Nonsense, Rarity," he said in return, choosing to take a step forward despite her earlier protest. The wooden boards creaked louder and louder in her ears as he approached her.
"Uh, Nana?"
"Shh, let's just let them talk."
"...ok?" Amber trotted behind her sister as the door magically closed.
She was bundled in an intricately stitched blanket
"Time...affected the two of us quite differently, hasn't it, darling?"
Her violet-purple locks had turned a grayish-silver. Not only that, but the style was a bit less wavy - in fact, Rarity's mane seemed to have been cut even shorter than he last remembered.
Like strands of silk reflecting the candlelight. His heart could do nothing but swell at how remarkably beautiful she remained; how glamorous a jewel she managed to become.
"Ponies don't change, Spike. They only get old."
"I wouldn't change a thing about you," he said shamelessly.
He felt a slight shivering and moved to adjust the blanket wrapped around her.
"I'm...not long for this world, dear," she whispered out, as though afraid to hear those very words, herself.
"Heh," he only chuckled out as the claw softly grasping her hoof took a more assuring, firmer hold. "Ever the drama queen...I missed that about you."
She could only titter and tried to hide the faint blush that reddened her wrinkled cheeks. "You must be the only one that hadn't gone out of their way to get a doctor as soon as I said something like that," Rarity admitted with a shake of her head.
As soon as he opened the door, the younger of the two foals scampered into the room, easily clearing under Spike's tall form.
"Nana! Nana! It's snowing, again! Come watch me make a snow pegasus!"
"Nana's gotta rest, Amber!" Jade admonished her little sister as she chased after her.
"You're up for it, right, Rarity?" He cast a glance toward her with a confident gleam in his eyes.
Emboldened by his words, the mare nodded and smiled.
"Hurry, Nana!" the still-excited filly called out, her impatience barely hidden.
"I'm not as spry as your Granny Sweetie Belle, you know?"
"Yeah! You're the youngest Great Aunt, ever!" Amber chirped in contagious glee. Her voice even cracked from her excitement.
"They're not...?" Spike asked, his tone pregnant with anxiousness.
"Mine?" she finished his question, not needing to wait for a confirmation before letting out a dainty laugh. "Oh, dear me, no. They're not."
"I've had a fair share of suitors," she started to recount with a ghost of a smile curling her lips upward. "One or two I thought were true fairy tale matches...only for them to fizzle out." Her expression turned somber as her eyes looked into his. "As it turned out, my standards were simply too high. None of the stallions even came close.
"You go away. Leave Ponyville on your grand adventure. In the meantime, I work so hard, thinking that I will find some reason to finally leave. But by the time I realized how much time passed, I began to think that I didn't have time to start all over someplace else."
"Now please, Spike," she began, making her voice take an almost regal manner. "You mustn't keep a lady waiting and regale me with your stories, already."
"Where are my manners?" he rhetorically asked, smiling. "Well...I could start from where I left off with our last letter."
She nodded and settled onto her couch. "Hmmmm, tell me again about the time you had found yourself in a fight against the corrupt dragon mayor. I want to hear it from you directly."
"Of course, my lady. Now if you recall, I had been traveling by train..."
10/Square, would adapt into loosely-based action flick starring the Rock and Jennifer Lawrence.