The workshop was filled with various metal-working tools, most of which required a high level of skill to operate. Each device was kept in pristine condition, seemingly dull coloured surfaces forming strange distorted mirrors. Black bench tops lightly reflected the heavenly glow from the fluorescent tubes embedded in the ceiling. The cleanliness to which the room was held, coupled with the complex instruments arranged in an almost obsessively neat manner along the work benches, made the room look almost like a laboratory. On an elevated, circular platform in the corner of the room, a dragon stood at attention while a stallion circled him, holding a long strip of tape.
“- And we haven’t spoken since. I’m not looking forward to speaking with her, either.” Spike adjusted his posture as the stallion continued to take measurements of his body shape. “What should I do?”
The stallion frowned and shook his head; backing away momentarily. “Sorry, I’m still trying to get over the mental image of you and Rainbow Dash spooning.”
Spike slapped a claw against his forehead frustratedly. “Ugh, Iron, I get enough of that from Twilight.” At least Iron Ingot was more understanding. Twilight just gave him a funny look when he tried to explain what happened. It didn’t help the situation when he had shrugged and said that he, ‘slept with Rainbow’.
Iron waved a hoof in the air dismissively. “Oh, don’t worry, I understand. You slept with her, without the sleeping part.”
“Exactly! Wait, NO!” The glare that Spike shot to Iron only intensified his laughing, however. He sighed, “Could you take this a little more seriously?”
Iron regained his composure and offered, “Okay, you want my advice?” The dragon nodded. “Talk it over with her. You need to clear the air.” Seeing the hesitant look from Spike, Iron pat him on the shoulder firmly. “Hey, you’re both really good friends. Just talk about the situation and what means to both of you. It’ll work out in the end regardless.”
Spike lowered his head in defeat. He was afraid that would be the advice he’d get. “I... I suppose I could do that...” All confidence in his voice had left long ago.
To this, Iron perked up with a wide smile. “Good, because Rainbow Dash is going to be performing with you.”
The door creaked as a unicorn with a snow white coat and an indigo mane pushed her way in with a shoulder; levitating a large plastic case in front of her. “I brought the supplies you asked for dear. Where should I put them?” Rarity chimed.
“Just put them on any bench. I got the measurements while you were out. We can start properly designing now.” Iron walked to her side and nuzzled her neck lightly as she set the case down; eliciting a giggle.
Perched on a small cloud, high above the possible earshot of any other living being, Spike still felt as if he would be judged and graded on every word that he uttered. The light from the moon gave the normally white cloud a pale navy hue. There she was, less than a stride away from him, yet a thick barrier of silence had formed between the two. To his relief, her attention was fixated on the ground below; at the giggling foals, bright lights and costumed ponies. Rainbow Dash smiled down at them through the same yellow tinted goggles she had worn the previous year. He had to say something to clear the air. He began summing up the courage to make the first move, as was obviously required. He lowered himself onto the cloud next to her, staring blankly in the same direction.
It couldn’t be that hard. All he had to do was start out with a general comment, then find a careful segue into the awkward subject of what happened that one night when Dash got drunk and him ending up taking her home and sleeping with her. Piece of cake.
“So...” He started, only to have every cognitive thought leave him when she looked up. Her smile deteriorated somewhat as she locked gazes with the dragon, but held onto the curls at the corners of her mouth. Her eyes were just barely visible through the goggles. Taking a deep breath, he attempted to continue. ‘To hay with being discreet, be forward for once!’ His inner voice of reason betrayed him.
“Rainbow, we need to talk about... what happened the night of the Wonderbolts performance.” The words were forced, but carried what he hoped was a tone of neutrality.
Dash tilted her head slightly. “What’s there to talk about? You said yourself, nothing happened.”
A large part of him wanted desperately to believe that. “Things have been... awkward, since that night. I don’t want it to stay like that. We need to put our feelings out there.” She looked back down at the celebrations taking place.
She remained silent for a few moments before responding, “Couldn’t you have picked a better time to talk to me about this?” She’d got him there. It would have been more appropriate to approach her some other time, but he had managed to finally bring it up and he wasn’t about to lose momentum. If he had waited for another, less perfect opportunity, he probably would find another excuse not to talk about it. No, it was a case of now or never.
Smoothly, he slid closer to her. “It doesn’t matter, how do you feel about it?”
Dash chuckled softly; shaking her head. “I don’t need a shrink, Spike, I’ve got Twilight for that.”
Spike joined in on her subtle chortles. “Fair enough.” As the humour subsided, he looked up, into the night sky. “Look, I don’t really want things to change between us. Just because we woke up together... It doesn’t mean anything.” A voice in his head, silent until now, spoke up. ‘That’s a lie and you know it!’ It called. Dash appeared crestfallen as she shuffled uncomfortably on the spot. "Maybe we should just... Forget it ever happened. Move on."
Her voice shook slightly as she responded, “Yeah... I guess.”
Spike put a claw to her muzzle and turned her face gently to look her in the eyes. Dash attempted to avoid eye contact at first, for fear of the dragon seeing the quiver in the windows to her soul. It was unlikely that he knew what her body language meant. “Hey, things don’t need to be awkward. That’s all I’m saying. No matter what, I want us to be friends. I always want to be there for you.”
She returned the smile somberly. “I… I always want to be there for you too, Spike.”
Spike turned to face Dash fully and cooed, “Come ‘ere.” He drew her into a tight hug. The mare returned the gesture fully, wrapping her forelegs around the dragon’s scaly neck and resting her head on his shoulder. She sighed contently.
The embrace broke when the ground far below the cloud on which they rested suddenly became brighter. Several elevated torches cast dancing orange light on the area around them.
“Show time.” Spike sang. At the same time, he internally winced. He didn’t like what he had to do.
Looking at the festivities from an omnipresent view, one might wonder why no pony noticed the fingers of fog that slowly crept in on the scene. At first it was only a few small pillows of evaporated water that lingered in the crevices and corners of objects low to the ground. These were merely seen as part of the décor. As time went on, the low clouds grew bigger, spreading and flattening along the ground. It was when they began to lap at hooves that they started drawing attention. Playful foals started enjoying it’s presence; kicking and disturbing it’s natural flow. As they learnt that flicking the more dense clouds would produce a focused wave of smoky wisps that could be aimed at one another, hilarity ensued.
As the fog reached it’s desired thickness, multiple unseen figures went to work finishing the scene, creating a thick cloud cover and blocking out the light from the moon. Deafening cracks of thunder and lightning rang out and every pony turned to gaze at the spectacle unfolding. One of the cloud formations began to form into a spiral. The tip began spinning faster as it descended to the ground at a frightening pace. Just before the navy finger collided full force with the earth towards the edge of town, it swerved sharply and began running parallel to the horizon. It flew over rooftops, ponies running for cover as the sound of continuous, heavy hoof beats filled the air. Those who could see the supernatural occurrence watched in horror as it neared the town square, where most of the citizens were gathered. It finally touched down a small distance from a few of the game stalls, the tenders of which were strangely calm about the whole display.
The sound of stomping hooves ceased and the cloud started to dissipate. The more adventurous ponies of the town approached with trepidation. They gasped in unison when the smoke cleared enough for them to correctly see the entity that had been brought forward. Six jet black pegasi stood to attention, manacled to a carriage which resembled the shape of a grossly contorted pony skull. Their armour was in the same theme as the carriage, each piece representing a bone on the inside. The style almost made them appear to be inside out. Thankfully, not so much as to make any pony in the audience empty the contents of their stomach.
A shadowy figure sat in what looked to be one of the skull’s eye sockets. They lifted a hoof and gently waved it in the air, making the cloud still lingering around the carriage instantly disappear.
The princess of the night leant back in her seat and smiled deviously. “Greetings, my most unfortunate subjects!” She rumbled. “I see every pony’s having a good time. Well, that ends now!”
There was a sudden screech from somewhere in the sea of faces as one of them yelled, “It’s Nightmare Moon! She’ll eat us all!”
Luna’s smile only grew. “Oh, I’m not going to eat any of you. As for my pet dragon, well, I can’t promise anything!” With an echoing cackle and blinding flash of light, she was gone, along with the pegasi and chariot. For a while, everyone gathered in the town square just gawked at the place Luna had been just seconds before.
Their stunned silence was interrupted by an unnatural roar. The source of the sound was invisible, hiding somewhere in the still lingering fog. Another roar, this one was much closer. Out of the shroud, a large figure burst. It’s wing beats caused the fog behind it to spiral in the turbulence. The beast landed in front of the crowd of ponies and made the ground beneath them shake. It was clad in silver armour, however only over the most vulnerable parts, such as the soft underbelly. On the back of the chest plate was a chain that extended to a smaller figure. From their positions, most concluded it was a black pegasus pony with intense yellow eyes. The few who knew of the Wonderbolt’s counterparts, instead figured it was indeed a Shadowbolt.
It battled with the dragon for control; tugging sharply at the chain. It reared up on it’s hind legs and belched a wide arching green flame in frustration. The Shadowbolt gave the it some slack on the chain and the mass of purple stormed toward the crowd. They kept their distance, which is to say, most turned tail and ran as fast as their legs could carry them. For the group that had remained, an action a little more drastic would be required to make them do the same. They suspected it to simply be an act. A few of them even laughed as the beast swiped at them with razor sharp claws.
Another forceful pull at the chain and the dragon screeched at it’s master. It was only one more that sent the creature’s rage over the edge. It flared it’s wings and jumped at the Shadowbolt, who was caught off guard by the act of defiance. They both crashed to the ground and the dragon pinned the pegasus under his claws. The crowd couldn’t see the helpless pony; obscured behind one of the stalls.
The foals in the remaining spectators (and indeed a few of the stallions) fled from the scene; making no effort to save face. There were only about thirty ponies left. Their legs looked like they were about to give way in fear. On last act would seal the deal.
Screeching once again, the dragon brought up a fearsome looking claw and swept it across the area in front of him. An ear splitting scream rocked the atmosphere as a stream of red flew through the air and painted a nearby wall bright crimson. With a final roar, it plunged it’s head into the area beneath. The screaming intensified. After a sickening crack, the voice fell silent. Slowly, the beast brought it’s blood covered head back up to look at the crowd. Instead, it found only empty space; completely devoid of any living creature.
Spike and Rainbow Dash flew back to the cloud they had been on before the performance. Both were smiling and laughing all the way.
“Spike, that was amazing! I never knew you could act so well.” Dash touched down and removed her flight goggles.
“Me? What about you?! You made all the right moves with the chains, the tomato sauce at the end was a brilliant idea and that scream was… It made me want to cry.” Spike touched a claw to his face and grunted. “Ugh, I just wish it wasn’t so messy.”
She chortled at her draconic friend. Tomato sauce was squirted randomly all over it. “Hold on. I’ve got you covered.” Taking a piece of the cloud between her hooves, she gestured for him to lie down. He complied and Dash stood over his head. She flapped her wings to avoid falling forward. She held the cloud over his face and squeezed it. Droplets of water cascaded from under it and washed over the dragon’s face. Gently, she used what was left of the cloud to wipe his face. When he opened his eyes again and looked into hers with a soft smile, all thoughts disappeared.
Before Rainbow Dash had any chance of second guessing herself, she closed the distance between their faces and planted her lips firmly on Spike’s. Her eyes fluttered shut as she moaned softly into his maw. Her tongue eventually found it’s way out of her mouth and into his. The first thing she noticed was not the most obvious. Even here, he felt cool. It was an odd enough sensation kissing a dragon, much less that his tongue and saliva were cold. His taste reminded her of some sports drinks, with their mineral twang. What confused her most was that his saliva felt like it was carbonated. She straddled his mid- section and neck; his arms splayed out between her front and back legs. Her wings started to unfurl in an automatic response to the stimulation. As she circled her tongue around his, it remained distinctly motionless.
Dash peeled herself away and looked at the dragon. Her heart sank when she saw his shocked expression. His eyes were wide and distinctly lacking any reciprocated emotions. “Dash?” He began. “What the hell was that?”
She started to panic. Had she just taken his first kiss? Had she just forced herself on him? Did he not return those feelings? Was it unnatural for her to do that? Why did she do that just after things between them stabilised?
“I… I’m sorry,” was all she managed to say before her wings took her out into the night, wanting to be anywhere but there.
She had ruined everything.
Author’s Note:
MagaSpark and Karl the Living Statue are proud to present to you, these amusing facts.
* Statistically, I am young enough to be your younger brother/sister or even niece/nephew.
* This is the longest thing I have ever written as of chapter two.
* At some point in their life, 1 in 6 children will be abducted by the Dutch.
* According to a few of my friends, I can sing / should be a voiceover (And part of me wants to do a dramatic reading of this.)
* When directly referring to dialogue, I have only used the word ‘said’ twice in this entire fic. Something like ten times in total. I avoid that word like the plague.
* I am just a little OCD. E.g. The volume on the television MUST be a multiple of five and I sometimes vacuum the walls (they are FILTHY).
* The person who discovered cow’s milk was drinkable was very thirsty.
* I was looking forward to writing the kissing scene WAAAAY too much.
* This the first time I have ever tried to write something deep and meaningful / cute. Hopefully I’ll get a lot better at it.
* A pig’s orgasm lasts for thirty minutes.
On a final note... IT. BEGINS!