Spike stood outside the amphitheater, leaning his massive head over the bowl of rising seats to see the proceedings. Far below, watched by thousands of ponies, the coveted theater awards were being announced and dispensed. Among those behind the stage, Rarity, preeminent unicorn of fashion, stood waiting. It was... well, it was known that she'd be winning the prize for costume design. Not only was her show, Canterlot Abby, the most popular drama of the year, but it also involved some of the most accurately constructed period costumes seen in the theater circuit.
As the prize for costume was announced, Spike watched with subdued glee, his massive tear ducts threatening to drown the upper boxes if he wasn't careful. Rarity stepped forward, noble as ever, despite her many years and aged state. She put on the most humble of acts as she walked on stage to accept the statuette, thanking all the others involved in the show as one should. As she wrapped up her speech though, and the orchestra began to play her off, she looked up toward the sky, and thanked her "biggest fan," winking at him on the double meaning.
In the decades since he'd first laid eyes on the unicorn, Spike had gone through many phases. The infatuation of the early years still made him blush when he recalled how much he'd literally swooned when Rarity came near. As he grew older though, he eventually moved past that, but his friendship with Rarity only grew closer because of it. When he hit the first of his major growth spurts, and started taking on a fully draconic form, Rarity was there to help him through it as the new feelings he had... the greed, the harshness, the anger and the rage... all the instincts of dragon-kind had welled up within him. This, he knew, was what drove his kind to be so distant and removed from ponies and the other races. Yet for him... Rarity was there, and her firm-yet-kind demeanor had worked in ways that Twilight's books and research never could.
Rarity didn't flinch as other ponies did when he'd lose his temper and roar in frustration. She didn't back down when reminding him he couldn't take what wasn't his. She helped him through those awful years of growth and confusion, and unlike the others of his kind, Spike had remained living with ponies even into his adulthood. He found it much easier to control himself these days. The simple habits Rarity had instilled in him were formative, and let him keep his temper in check. The end result was something ponies had thought impossible, indeed, which had never happened in recorded history. Rarity's generosity and patience had seen him through. It wasn't magic, and yet... He was a fully grown, yet fully civilized dragon.