An exhausted sigh rose to his lips as Spike pushed the final book into place upon the shelf. He stepped back and looked over the bookcases with something less than satisfaction, as the room looked about the same as it had when he'd begun, and he'd never really understood the point of cleaning books in the first place.
Well, he was happy to be finished, anyway.
He trudged up the stairs to the main floor of the library, a frustrated huff escaping as he noticed Twilight Sparkle looking rather relaxed, her head propped over an open book, reading in the light of the window.
"Wow, Twilight, don't overexert yourself or anything," he grumbled.
"Oh, don't worry," she replied, "I've been taking regular breaks and staying properly hydrated."
He rolled his eyes. "Well, I've finished, ugh … dusting."
"Hm. Good work," she absently replied.
He pursed his lips and fidgeted about, his eyes darting anxiously left and right across the room.
Twilight continued to read.
"Yeah, so ... I guess I'll be off to Rarity's! See ya!" he blurted as he excitedly started toward the door.
Twilight glanced to the clock as he bounded past. "Isn't it a bit late in the afternoon? What about dinner?"
"I left some extra sandwiches in the refrigerator for you," he said, turning back for just a moment as his hand touched the doorknob. "We'll probably be working pretty late tonight, though, so you'll be on your own for breakfast."
Twilight shook her head with a sigh. "Spike, wait a minute."
He froze, one foot over the threshold. "Uh, yeah?"
With a look of concern in her eyes, she hesitated, carefully considering her words. "Don't you think you're visiting Rarity a bit too often? Staying for dinner? Sleeping over?" she asked. "Aren't you ... well, afraid that you might be bothering her?"
He quietly let out a relieved breath before facing her again. "You worry too much, Twilight," he replied. "It's just a real busy time of the year is all. Lots of orders to fill, dresses to make, blah blah blah, so she needs the help. And who better for the job than the number one assistant in all of Ponyville?"
She smirked. "All of Ponyville, huh?"
He gave her a wide grin, and stepped outside.
"And, Spike? Try not to bug her in any other ways either."
He stopped, yet again, and narrowed his eyes. "What's that supposed to mean?"
"I think you know exactly what I mean, Mr. Smooth," she said with a smile. "If Rarity is as busy as you say, I doubt she'll appreciate the flirtations of a certain little dragon."
He gruffly waved aside her teasing. "Aw, what do you know, anyway?"
She smiled behind her hoof as he shut the door. "Oh, Spike," she said, giggling as she returned to her book, "you're just too cute sometimes."
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
He stood in the shadow of the boutique, his stomach tickling with butterflies and his heart beating a bit more quickly than usual as he stared up at the door. He raised his hand and, with a deep breath, rapped a few sharp knocks. Stepping back, he rocked anxiously on his heels as he waited, scanning the boutique with his eyes while his mind was occupied with eager thoughts of the night ahead.
Having soon found himself left at the door for quite long enough, and not being a particularly patient dragon, he furrowed his brow and twisted the knob, knocking again as he peered inside.
"Rarity," he called, "it's me, Spike. Hello?"
He stepped through the doorway, only to find the boutique eerily empty. His pattering footsteps left funny little echoes in the unexpected silence.
"Is anyone home? Hello?" he called out once more.
Through his confusion, he'd begun to notice a small, subtle feeling in the back of his mind, almost as though he were being watched.
With a squeak and a slam the door locked behind him, and Spike suddenly found himself captured in the grip of a fierce predator.
"Aaa!"
He struggled desperately, until the quiet, melodic laughter in his ear put an end to his fearful quaking. "Rarity?"
Her snickering died down as she hugged him to her cheek. "It's lovely to see you too, darling."
"W-what was that about?" he huffed. His face burned with embarrassment, and it only grew redder as she began to nuzzle his neck.
"Just having a teensy bit of fun with my Spikey Wikey." Rarity's voice was light and silky, her lips brushing his skin with each word. "It's been so boring waiting here by myself all day."
She placed a kiss on the edge of his throat, her lips leaving a quiet, wet smack floating in the air. He nearly laughed at the ticklish feeling as one after another her soft kisses trailed down his neck. She shut her eyes with a smile and felt her way with her lips, tenderly snuggling and stroking his scaly young skin.
Spike could feel himself melting, hugged against her soft body, her thick, beautiful purple mane pressed between her neck and his as she lowered her head to his chest to nuzzle and kiss at his collarbone.
"R-rarity, don't …."
She made a small questioning noise as she closed her lips on the soft flesh of his shoulder and moved up once again, gently suckling his neck, pausing to delicately caress each point with her tongue. Her nose just below his ear-frill, she stopped and blew a slow, cold breath down the wet trail she had left.
"D-don't …."
With a giggle, she nipped at the corner of his jaw, "Something wrong, Spike?"
As she moved to pull away, he placed his hand to her cheek and brought her close as he turned his head. Their lips met, firm and hot against each other, drawing a delighted coo from Rarity's throat.
The kiss ended with a little pop, and left Spike red in the cheeks. "Don't forget to let me kiss you sometimes."
She smiled as she released him, and he suddenly felt a bit colder in the big, empty boutique. "I'm sorry, Spikey, but you're just so adorable. It can be a bit difficult to restrain myself sometimes."
He kicked at the air shyly. "Aw, quit it," he mumbled.
"But it's true!" she said with a bubbly laugh before turning about and prancing toward the kitchen. "Now, come along, I was just finishing with the preparations for our dinner when you arrived. You can help me if you'd like."
He'd only just noticed the apron tied about her shoulders. "What? Dinner?"
"Of course. What did you expect?" she asked, pausing mid-trot.
"Um, well …." He absently scratched his nose, unable to meet her eye, "I was kinda hoping we could … kiss some more."
Rarity frowned, and turned away with an exasperated "Hmph!"
"Sometimes I think you're only interested in me for my kisses," she said, her nose in the air.
"What? No!" He rushed to her side, his hand clasping her shoulder as his mind spun about, trying to find just the right words to express the depth of his feelings.
That is, until he heard her quiet snickering. "Oh," he grumbled, "you're just messing with me again."
She planted a quick kiss on his forehead. "Yes, I'm just messing with you."
Rarity turned once more toward the kitchen. "Don't worry, darling, there will be plenty of time for all sorts of kisses. We have the whole evening ahead of us, after all."
She went ahead of him, her wide, round haunches swaying left and right as she walked and her glistening tail bouncing in time with her steps. She watched from the corner of her eye with a grin as Spike followed, shyly trying not to stare at her rump.
He gulped nervously and hoped that he could last the night without his heart bursting from his chest.
Rarity's kitchen was no less elegant than the rest of her home, outfitted throughout with brass and the finest cherry-wood cabinets, richly stained to an almost burgundy finish. At her request, Spike began preparing the place-settings, laying out the silverware just so upon the table in the corner. Each piece had to be perfectly aligned, he knew, and the napkins folded into precise equilateral triangles.
"Spike," she started, her eyes focused on the salad that she was arranging leaf by leaf upon the plate before her, "be a dear and bring me the vinaigrette, would you?"
"The what?"
"Er … the salad dressing, darling."
"Oh. No problem!" he announced as he ambled to the refrigerator. As he reached in, something caught his eye. "Hey, is that some kind of fancy pudding?" he asked excitedly.
"It's chocolate mousse," she said with a laugh as he handed her the bottle of dressing. "I've never made it before, but I simply had to give it a try. I just know you'll love it." She turned back to the salad she was building. "You know, I do so enjoy dinners with you, Spike. They give me a chance to be … creative," she said, her concentration evident in her face as she carefully arranged a sprinkling of gemstones about the plate.
He smiled, admiration in his eyes as he watched her work. "Yeah. I like them, too."
Slowly, his warm smile began to droop. "Um, Rarity?"
"Hm?"
He twiddled his thumbs a bit. "Before I left, Twilight mentioned that I seem to be dropping by an awful lot."
She stopped, the gemstone she'd been working with slowly falling back to the countertop, and breathed a heavy sigh. "Well, that's no good, is it?"
"I don't think she suspects anything, but …."
Rarity turned, a gentle expression on her face as she lowered her head and placed a hoof softly on his cheek. "Oh, darling, we can worry about that some other time. Tonight," she said as she touched her nose to his, "it's just you and me."
They smiled together. The fading evening sunlight slipped into the room, a misty glow around the curtains drawn carefully across the windows.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
The floating trill of a string quartet filled the air, a soft ambiance provided by Rarity's record player. The chandeliers and brass lanterns of the boutique gave a clear and comforting light, the sunset having long since passed. On a small mountain of gemstones piled high in one corner of the boutique lay Rarity, her limbs serenely stretched out, a tray of chocolate truffles and bottle of champagne on a nearby table, and Spike leaning against her belly.
She gently stroked his back, her hoof slowly drifting over the facets of his scales. She'd noticed, as she lay there, that Spike would glance at her every now and again, a somewhat uncomfortable expression on his face. "Is something wrong, Spikey?" she asked.
"No, there's nothing wrong," he answered. "I guess I was just thinking."
"About?"
Her glimmering blue eyes were on him, and her mane lay loose in those magnificent violet curls, looking so much like the gemstones beneath her. "I was kinda wondering if I could … touch your mane?"
"Is that all?" she asked, humor in her voice. "Well of course you can."
"I don't know … I don't want to mess it up or something."
She smiled, turning her head upon her outstretched foreleg, and grasped his hand with a bit of magic, coaxing his fingers into her mane. It was slick and soft, and slipped through his small fingers. Falling aside, a few silky strands dropped across her face as he drew his fingertips along her skin, behind her ear and down along her neck. He lifted his hand again, looking lovingly into her heavy-lidded eyes as her mane collected thickly between his fingers.
Rarity sighed, stretching and luxuriating in his wonderfully gentle caress. "Spike," she breathed, "you don't have to ask, if you want to touch me."
His hand carefully worked its way down to her curls, "I know."
He lowered a kiss to her cheek, and his eyes drew shut, his hand gently upon her chest, her skin a warm, white velvet under his palm.
Her mouth crept toward his ear. "You're so sweet, darling," she whispered. "But sometimes, you just have to be bold." He raised his head, questions in his eyes, and nearly gasped as he felt his hand once more caught in her magic.
She turned to her side, gemstones cascading down the pile beneath her, and led him back, past her shoulder and along her flank, until he found his palm slapped hard upon her cutie mark. He looked at her, the blood quickly rising in his burning face. "Are you … I …." She nearly laughed at his shy expression.
Spike just stared, his hand touching her flank. He caught his breath, gaining control of himself once again, and began to slowly trace his fingers along the side of her belly. With just a little tremble, he moved his touch gently down her body, nervously grazing her haunch, slipping a delicate stroke along the front of her thigh.
With a sigh, he shut his eyes and lightly laid his brow upon her hip. His hand drifted rearward, slowly tracing down the soft, delicate surface of her rump. Now it was Rarity who melted, her cheek heavily upon her hoof as her heart quivered in her chest. His touch was so incredibly gentle. His nose pressed into her side, his breath tickling her skin as he stroked her back with one hand while the other slowly circled the wide surface of her rump, cupping firmly one second and brushing tantalizingly down the back of her leg the next.
She felt his kisses upon her hips, softly, his fingertips clutching the thick flesh of her backside. "Oh, my–" she gasped.
He pulled away with a start. "Sorry! Did my claw get you?"
She turned on him swiftly, trapping his mouth in a fiery kiss, hungry and wild as she drew her lips over his mouth. He froze for just a moment before joining her kiss with vigor, savoring the sounds of her heaving breaths and the wet percussion of their lips together.
Rarity pulled away with a shivering sigh. Slowly leaning back, she reclined upon the pile, her hoof fondly in his hand as she gazed up at him. Her face was flushed, and her mane tossed carelessly upon the glittering treasure beneath her. She beckoned him up, his smaller form to lie upon her chest, his hands moving in long, soft trails against her shoulders.
She lifted her chin as he began to kiss at her neck. Her eyes raised to the ceiling, she slid a foreleg through her mane and released an indulgent little moan. Her other hoof drifted tenderly over his back, rubbing and fondling his tail, his scales and spines stimulating the surface of her forehoof.
He caught her skin in his lips time and again. He let his long tongue flick out over her chest, and pressed his nose passionately under the base of her chin, his breathing hot on her throat as he kissed her.
The feeling of his small body on hers, the intensity of his touch, the feeling and sound of his sighs and hungry moans as his lips roamed about her heated flesh, they ignited a flame in her belly. A part of her almost wished that someone would walk in on them, forced with shocked and horrified eyes to watch the two of them in the throes of wicked decadence – a dirty queen and her pretty little prince.
She floated her champagne flute to her lips, draining the glass while he clutched her chest, his claws digging enticingly into her skin. "Spike, have you ever–" she trailed off, gasping as he caught her tenderly between his teeth. "Have you ever tasted champagne?"
A glimmering mist of magic brought the bottle to her side, and another lifted him, red in the face and curious, to set him on the floor before her. She touched the neck of the bottle to her lips, and then down, its cold surface slipping down her chin and past her neck to her breast. With a smirk, she lifted the bottom, spilling the foaming wine on her chest where it pooled and dripped into a long rivulet along her belly. "Well?" she moaned. "Drink up, Spike."
He watched with wide eyes, his heart throbbing, as the glittering amber liquid rolled along her tender, pearly body. Her forelegs were stretched behind her head upon the bed of gems, her mane tousled about her face. Her eyes were set upon him with ravenous, lusty intensity.
Spike leaned over her, his mind swimming with desire and anxiety and the heady scent of the champagne. He grasped her thighs, her hind legs splayed in the air to his left and his right, and brought his face to her belly. She quivered when his tongue touched her, her soft pony belly trembling under his mouth as he slowly lapped at the crisp liquid.
Rarity stretched and wriggled as he licked her. She rubbed the bottle about her chest and neck, the tingling touch of Spike's kisses still fresh on her skin.
The heat of his tongue cut through the chill of the champagne that poured cold over her, and her hunger only grew with every long, tender stroke. She began pouring the champagne faster, a heavy stream falling down her middle and smaller drizzles rolling chaotically over her chest. He licked, and lapped, and slurped, wet sounds filling the room and mixing with the echoes of breath after heaving breath.
She dropped a hoof slowly to her belly, softly stroking his head as he suckled and kissed her. As she watched him, his hands clutching her shivering hips, a cool, wet rivulet washing down her belly and into the crook of her leg, trickling slowly between her haunches, her mind was filled with a wonderful rush of depraved, degenerate thoughts.
She lifted the bottle over her face, a cold stream pouring into her mouth and over her cheeks, washing down her neck in a lavish torrent. A quick surge of magic brought Spike once more upon her chest. She kissed him. Their mouths filled with the shared flood of champagne, her lips closing over his and leaving him no choice but to swallow the whole of it.
She didn't relent immediately; she continued the kiss, their faces wet and dripping onto her heaving breast, until finally, she backed away, pulling his tongue along in her lips for just a moment.
They stared into each other's eyes, their breath heavy and fast. "Rarity," he whispered, his face flushed with love and champagne, "are you trying to seduce me?"
She laughed, and brushed her cheek against his to whisper in his ear.
"Maybe just a little," she said.
Rarity looked at him mischievously, pulling his hand to her mouth. She licked at his fingers, sucked on them, rolled her tongue about them. Her lusty eyes were on his nervous ones as she drew his hand from her lips and forced it to her horn.
"R-rarity!"
She sighed, her eyes closing as his fingertips slipped and bounced along the rolling ridges of her horn, wet and teasing. Her teeth clenched. Her hooves gripped his backside. She squeaked as he closed his fingers about her horn, his thumb rubbing tiny circles as he stroked gently from the base to the tip.
Her face drew close, her mouth hovering upon his. "Oh, Spike, I–" she gasped, "Oh, I love you!"
He shut his eyes, and caught her moaning lips in a firm, beautiful kiss.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Rarity stood at her vanity running a silver comb smoothly through her damp mane when Spike strode into the room, a light haze of steam rolling alongside from the bathroom door. She sent him a tiny smile, watching from the corner of her eye as he took a deep breath of cool air.
He stood, with a thoughtful look, at the edge of the bed, the sheets tucked in square and firm about the sides. He stepped one way and then the other, trying to find the best way to approach, and finally decided to lift himself up just around the pillows. Rarity couldn't help but giggle a tiny bit as she watched him in the mirror, wriggling about as he slipped down into the sheets.
Spike tried to put on his coolest look, propped up on his elbow between the cool white linens. She smirked as she lay down her comb, finally turning away from her mirror.
"Well, aren't we the brash young dragon," she said as she stepped forward, "helping ourselves to a lady's bed uninvited."
Her makeup had been washed away, her violet mane left to fall limp beside her face. Her eyelids were left a simple white, her lashes small and sparse, and he could just make out the tiny freckles on her nose that she'd normally kept hidden. She would always say that they were embarrassing, and he would just laugh and kiss them anyway.
She clicked off the lights. In the darkness, she wiggled herself into the covers just as Spike had, careful to keep them taut and tucked. The firm mattress drooped ever so slightly under her weight as she found her way into the bed, pulling the two of them together, their warmth quickly filling the space between the cold sheets. In the darkness, he leaned upon her body, the blankets atop his shoulders moved aside as she slipped her hooves around him.
Rarity lay with a contented smile, her mane carelessly tossed upon her pillow. For some reason, she liked to leave it down for him. The sky cast a slight, almost blue glow in the moonlight. It slipped in, through the lace and cloth of the curtains, into the darkness of the room. "It's a nice night tonight," she whispered.
"Yeah."
"You know, I wish …" she said, "I wish I had a skylight." She closed her eyes and snuggled him softly beneath her chin. "It would be so nice to watch the stars with you. Or lie together in the morning and watch the sunrise."
"Yeah."
He buried his face in her chest, feeling the slow rise and fall of her breast as she sighed.
"Um," he said, "we could go camping."
"Hm?"
"We could go camping sometime. Then we could watch the sky." His hands gingerly stroked her back. "I guess we'd have to ask Twilight and the others to come along, though. It would probably seem too weird if it were just the two of us."
She drew back just a bit, looking into his deep, green eyes. "I'm sorry, Spikey. This whole thing, it must be … very difficult for you."
"No, I understand," he protested. "It's okay."
Spike drew a finger slowly down her back, ending just at the base of her tail. She smelled of powders, and soaps, and lotions, and hair treatments.
"Rarity," he asked, "is what we're doing wrong?"
Her hooves stroked his tiny back. She kept her eyes focused on the glowing panel of the window.
"I'm afraid I'm … a very selfish pony," she said. "I seem to have become hopelessly addicted to you."
She tilted her nose just a bit and laid a gentle kiss on his forehead.
"Goodnight, Rarity," he whispered.
"Goodnight, Spikey."