She could feel him watching as she pushed through the forest of rolls of colorful linen, his breath suddenly as loud and labored as hers own. She took a deep breath, only to gasp out the humid air her lungs rejected. She made a conscious effort to keep her tail as low as possible, to the point of slight pain, and continued her search, hoping it would be enough to maintain a degree of modesty, or at least what modesty she could have with her backside out and waving.
"Where did I leave it?" Rarity muttered, pushing through stacks of fabric and boxes of needles. "It should be around here, somewhere."
"Having trouble?"
Rarity's heart nearly leapt out of her chest. She felt Spike's words against her neck, his breath like steam. "No, no trouble," she said, her voice an octave higher than normal. She coughed. "No trouble at all. Could you, ah, perhaps step back please?"
"Why? What's wrong?" Spike had lowered his voice to a whisper, so why could she hear him so clearly? The heat was approaching unbearable. Had he gotten closer? "Do you hate me?"
"Hate? No, no, it's just..." Rarity swallowed. "I just want to make sure you're in the right measuring position. Yes, that's it, let's not waste time now. Why don't you get back into position while I find the, the, oh where is the--"
Something cold slipped around her pastern, forcing hoof down and against something leathery. "Looking for this?" Spike seemed to hiss, brushing his lips against the edge of Rarity's ear. She shivered and looked down. Her hoof rested against the dragon's opened claw, held there by the golden tape measure.
"Spike, please, this is--"
The room spun, and Rarity found herself right in front of Spike, his hard scaly chest burying itself in the fur of her front. Her body grew warmer as a blush covered her features. The back of her neck was quickly, and grossly, becoming slick with sweat. With a weak, wheezing laugh, Rarity tried to take a step back. She couldn't. The measuring tape, now tightly around both their waists, held them together.
"Is something wrong, darling?"
Rarity forced herself to look up at Spike. In his eyes, wide with hunger, she saw her own reflection. The unicorn she saw was shaking, but it wasn't out of fright. Fear was absent from her features, which were full of a confidence Rarity wasn't sure she herself felt. Her gaze lowered to Spike's mouth, his lips slightly parted, the tip of his tongue just barely visible, teasing. Inviting.
"Rarity?"
Her body moved on its own. She leaned forward, placing a hoof against Spike's chest, running little circles as she felt the muscles beneath the scales. Their lips brushed against each other gently once, then twice, then locked together. Rarity's eyes fell closed as the kiss grew deeper, more invasive.
"Rarity?"
The voice, something was suddenly wrong with the voice. It was too high in pitch. Too young. The hard muscles melted into baby fat. The heat vanished and was replaced by a chill that froze all the blood flowing through her body. Her stomach churned violently, forcing its contents upward.
Rarity's eyes flew open as she threw off her covers and rolled out of bed. With cheeks puffing, she ran. The door flung itself open as she passed through, her hooves thundering against the floor. A second door flew open, and Rarity jumped inside. Her hooves fumbled with the lights for a brief second before the room was lit. Her eyes, a tad blurry from the lights and the sudden awakening, immediately went to the porcelain throne standing against the wall.
She placed her hooves on the seat to steady herself and leaned forward. Her mouth opened, releasing a stream of partially digested food mixed with bile and saliva into the water pool below as her throat released grotesque growls and groans that quickly filled the house.
At last, the stream came to an end. Slowly, Rarity raised herself, taking deep breaths to steady herself, only to heave once more and force her head back down as the toilet filled with more vomit. Eventually, her stomach settled down, and her moans became less violent. The next few heaves were dry, leaving only a disgusting taste to linger in her mouth. She flushed away the reminder of her sickness and made her way to the sink.
She tried avoiding her reflection's gaze. The tired mare in the mirror was so ragged, so drained, with her mane in such messy tangles, Rarity felt what was left of her energy drain away simply by staring. Instead, she looked down at the sink. Grabbing a toothbrush and prepping it with a generous serving of cleaning paste, she began to scrub away. As the taste of bile was slowly banished, the nightmare that had awoken her started to fade from memory, replaced by what had actually happened the previous day.
*
Spike watched as Rarity quickly shoved a few mannequins to the side. "Are you sure I can't help?"
"No, no, just stand there, that's fine." Rarity looked around. Well, the room wasn't sparkling, but it was adequate for their purposes. She picked up the tape measure from her desk and returned to Spike's side. "Stand up straight, please."
The dragon's back stiffened as he raised himself to his fullest height. Rarity suddenly found herself dwarfed, forcing her neck to bend back in order to see Spike's face. The difference in height between them seemed to have doubled.
Spike scratched the side of his neck and blushed. "Um, is something wrong?"
"Hmm?"
"You're staring."
"Oh!" Rarity shook herself. She lowered her gaze. "Oh, it's just, I hadn't realize you had gotten so tall."
"Yeah, well, I slouch most of time. Makes it easier to move around, talk to ponies, and, uh, not scare babies." Spike shrugged. "I mean, no real point in being this tall, really," he said, waving a claw over his head. "Unless Twilight decides to expand the library vertically."
"Well, that certainly isn't proper posture," Rarity said, a slight smile undermining her scolding tone.
Spike raised a brow. "But not looking ponies in the eye is pretty rude too." To demonstrate, he raised his chin and looked directly across. Try as she might, as far as she could crane, Rarity couldn't find the dragon's eyes.
"Yes, a good point," she admitted with a pout. Spike glanced down and smirked. "But please avoid making a habit of it. Who knows what all that crouching will do to your spine in the future. Now, ah..." Rarity looked down at the marked ribbon in her hooves, then back up at the dragon. "I may need a stool. No, wait, Spike? Could you please lie down?"
Spike lowered himself onto his belly. "Like this?"
"Yes, now stretch out. Yes, perfect." Rarity set herself next to the dragon's neck. She place one end of the tape measure near the point where Spike's head met his neck and sent the other end past his feet with her magic, pulling the ribbon taut. The tape measure folded at the point that was perpendicular to Spike's waist before returning to Rarity's hooves. She made her way to her desk and came back with a pair of glasses, a pen, and a notepad. Spike watched as she jolted down a few quick notes.
"Alright, you can stand now."
Spike raised himself to all fours but rose no further. "All the way?" he asked.
"No, that won't be necessary. Whatever makes you comfortable."
Spike returned to the height she had been more familiar with, just barely a head taller than herself. "Okay, what's next?"
"Stretch out your arms, to the sides please," she instructed. "Yes, like that, thank you." Rarity stepped forward and pulled the tape measure from one wrist to the second. She wrote down Spike's arm span before measuring each arm individually.
"What's next?" Spike asked as Rarity took a step back.
"Well, I've gotten your height, arms, so next is, ah, chest width. Stick out your arms again."
Spike did so. Rarity approached and threw the measuring tape around his body. Slowly, it climbed and wrapped itself around his upper torso. Spike winced.
"Too tight?"
"A little, yeah."
The ribbon loosened. Rarity leaned forward to read the measurement. Spike took a step back.
Rarity looked up and frowned. "Is something wrong?"
"No, no, just, uh, I'm not exactly used to this whole thing," Spike said. "Being measured."
"Is it still too tight?"
"No, that's fine." Spike shut his eyes and swallowed. "I'm fine, just, go ahead."
"Very well, then please avoid fidgeting." Rarity continued moving forward, tracing the edge of the tape as she counted the inches. The little black marks were becoming harder to see as her vision mysteriously grew blurry. Blinking didn't clear her vision, nor did rubbing her eyes. She looked down at her glasses and, to her surprise, discovered the lenses fogged with condensation. The room, it had gotten warmer, she realized. The air had become heated, with the unmistakably pungent scent of eggs.
The answer became obvious to Rarity once she looked up in time for Spike to exhale into her face. Disgust was swift replaced with worry and confusion as she noticed the pained grimace on the dragon's reddening features. Was the tape still too tight, she wondered. What was causing such discomfort? And how and why had they gotten so close that she was now essentially breathing in Spike's exhausts?
Her hoof brushed against something solid right next to the measuring tape. Her eyes widened at the touch.
Oh.
Here she was, with her nose almost buried in Spike's chest, with a hoof suddenly glued to his pectorals. A primal pleasure roared at the feel of the muscles beneath the scales as the rest of her mind screamed in panic. Her face became as red as Spike's.
"Are you done?"
Spike's question shook her out of shock. She quickly glanced down, recorded the measurement with a quaking pen, then jumped back. "Yes, done!" she announced a little too loudly. Spike lowered his arms and began to visibly relax as Rarity struggled to calm herself. It was just taking measurements, nothing to make a big deal over. It was something she had done many times before. Just, well, never for a stallion, considering how few male clients she received. Or with someone she slept with.
"Yes, done, done," Rarity repeated. She turned away to hide her blush and cleared her throat. Feeling calmer at last, she picked up her notepad. "Now, let's see, that's height, arms, chest, and that means, that means, ah, Spike?"
"Yeah?"
Rarity swallowed. "Your trousers, do they still fit?" Please say yes, please say yes, please say--
"I haven't tried them, but if the jacket didn't survive, I don't think the pants will," Spike answered. "Why? What's next?"
Rarity sighed. "It's nothing. Let's continue." She lifted the tape measure. "Next is your waistline."
"Oh." Spike blinked. "So, you're going to measure--"
"Your waist, yes," she said impatiently. Again, both began to blush. "Could you close your eyes again?"
"Y-yeah, yeah." His eyes shut. "Go ahead."
The tape measure snaked behind Spike and circled around. Slowly, Rarity tightened it around Spike's waist with her magic, keeping herself at foreleg distance. She took deep breaths to steady herself as she worked. That she could do without bringing herself to Spike's crotch level, but reading the measurement from her current position wasn't possible. Even if she squinted, Rarity quickly discovered, the marks were too small to recognize. She sighed and bent down. She tried to focus on the tape and keep her eyes from wandering to the neighboring purple scaled loins--
"Hey, Rarity?"
The unicorn nearly bit her tongue to avoid crying out. She closed her eyes. "Yes? Is something wrong?"
"I, I'm not sure. It's about the other night--"
Her heart skipped a beat.
"--the night you returned from Manehattan."
"O-oh? That n-night? What, what about that night?" Rarity stuttered. She took the opportunity to look up and tried to smile. Spike, his eyes still closed, didn't notice how fake it looked.
"I haven't told anypony about it, so you don't have to worry about that."
Rarity released a sigh of relief. "Oh good. Is that all?"
"Well, I'm just a little confused. Why are we keeping quiet? Did we do something wrong?" Spike asked.
"Did we--" Rarity coughed and backed away. The tape measure fell to the ground. Spike opened his eyes to find the unicorn scribbling away at her notepad. "Well, in a manner of speaking, I suppose."
"In a manner of speaking? What--"
"Some ponies, many ponies, might not understand what happened or care about why it happened," Rarity said slowly, carefully choosing her words. "It would be best, I'm sure, to just stay quiet about it, to avoid those ponies."
"What about our friends? I'm sure they'd--"
"No! Do not tell Twilight or the others!" Rarity exclaimed. "If, if they found out we, we, just keep silent about that night, please?"
"Well, I don't think--"
"Spike, please."
The dragon bowed his head in defeat. "Alright, if you say so. I don't know if I get it, but if you think telling our friends is so bad, I'll keep quiet."
"Thank you, Spike. Now, could you hold this end? I need to measure your legs and tail."
*