The Days Passed

by SilverEyedWolf

Lunar Warmth part Deux

Spike must have drifted off for a moment, as one moment he was lost in just gently ruffling the two mare's fur, one paw on Fluttershy's side and the other on Rarity's pastern. The next, Fluttershy was nudging him in the side and the serving stallion had needed to swing a plate away as his head shot up from the table.

"Hmmm?" he rumbled, deep in his chest, as he looked around himself.

Flurry definitely snickered while Shining Armor held a hoof to his muzzle. Cadance and Rarity were looking at him with concern though, and Fluttershy leaned over to his head.

"Do you need to get some rest before you eat?" she asked, rubbing his back with a hoof.

Spike snorted, blinking heavily before giving a small grin. "Nah, nah," he muttered, stretching out his arms and wriggling some of the blood back into them. "I'll be alright once I get some food, maybe some coffee in me."

She gave him a look, frowning and with slightly lidded eyes, and he smiled and nuzzled her.

"Really, I'm okay," he said. "Just tired. I didn't sleep well on the train this morning, and then everything else happened on top of that. I'll be okay for another while, but when I crash I'll be sleeping for a bit."

She still looked hesitant but nodded against his muzzle. "Don't press yourself too hard," she said, before pulling back to look at the light salad she'd ordered, along with almost everypony else.

Spike peeked down at his own plate, and his stomach decided to loudly ask the room why the food there wasn't in his mouth yet. Three burgers, with all of their toppings, on an onion flaked bun with a mound of fried potatoes beside them, and one of the small salads sitting beside it at the end of the table. Lifting the top, he poked at the patty and sighed with relief when it didn't bleed red.

Looking around the table, he blushed a bit when half of the ponies looking back at him were smirking.

"Ah, Rarity," he said, looking pointedly across the table. "I can't see Luna's spot too well, what did she order?"

"Oh," she said, looking down that way as her salad fork spun through the air. "It looks like a standard breakfast ensemble, a couple of fried eggs and a small stack of pancakes with fried hay on the side. Why do you..."

Rarity returned her gaze to more immediately in front of her, her eyes narrowing at Cadance's rapidly widening gaze as she looked across the table. Her nose whipped to stare suspiciously at the drake in front of her, who was currently running a tongue over his lips.

Glancing down, she let one of her eyebrows raise.

"Spike, darling," she deadpanned, "I could swear that you used to have three hayburgers. What in Celestia's name happened to the other two?"

He winced a bit. "Uhm, maybe a little too early for the pet names?" he said, and Rarity's face softened into concern. "No, it's okay, I get that it's a habit," he said quickly, holding up a paw. "Just, not yet?" he asked, almost pleading.

"Of course, Spike," she said, smiling over at him, before letting her smile widen a bit. "The other two, though?"

"What other two what?" he said blankly, glancing down at his plate. "Ah, look at that. Some of my food seems to have disappeared, how mysterious."

She snorted before balling up a napkin and throwing it at his muzzle.

"Please Spike, at least remember to breathe in between bites," she said, rolling her eyes. "I know for a fact that me, Twilight, Cadance, and probably Celestia have taught you better."

Luna snorted, swallowing her current bite before saying, "Knowing my sister and how much work she likes to pile upon herself, he learned such technique from watching her eat lunch in between petitioners."

"What are you saying, dear sister?"

Spike physically jumped to his right, his head whipping to his left to look at the mentioned princess, currently pulling a chair up to the table to sit next to Spike and Rarity at the opposite end from Luna.

Making a strangled noise in his throat, Spike gesticulated wildly at her, looking around the room and at the closed door at the other side of the hall.

"Oh, I got here maybe halfway through your nap," she said, leaning forward to touch their noses together with a smile before returning to her chair. "Cadance was lovely enough to catch me up on a few things, and I was waiting on someone to announce me before now."

"You asked us not-" Rarity started before Celestia glanced over at her with a raised eyebrow and a smirk. "Ah. Right. Terribly rude of us, sorry."

"I was saying," Luna said, drawing herself up and swallowing the faceful of food she had, "that you inhale food like an alcoholic jumping off of the wagon snout-first."

"Eloquent," Celestia said with a smile and a dip of her head to her sister before she pulled the salad at the end of the table away from Spike's plate and towards herself. "I will be sure to take such pointers from the paragon of etiquette that is yourself."

Luna snorted again. "Food is to be either enjoyed or used for sustenance, not gabbled over like hens over feed."

Celestia sighed, picking delicately over her salad. "Were that it everypony agreed with you," she said forlornly, spearing a spinach leaf with her fork and bringing it to her mouth.

Rarity was busy trying to figure out if she should be looking appalled at Luna or Celestia, Spike was feeding himself fried potatoes with a claw while offering every other one to Fluttershy, and everypony else was either chuckling into their food or just enjoying it.

Spike caught her lost look and shrugged, offering her a fry.

Sighing, she took it in her magic and took a bit out of the cooked spud, humming in appreciation as the complex seasonings played across her tongue.

"Thank you, Spike, that tastes lovely," she said with a smile. "Really though, slow down on the food?"

He opened his mouth to reply before shuddering, closing his muzzle for a moment before just nodding. He held up a paw when she started to ask him a question about that, waving it away and shaking his head. She narrowed her eyes before taking a small bite of the greenery in front of her.

Luna was the second to finish her food, followed in short order by Cadance and Celestia; Spike had destroyed his last burger in two bites, avoiding admonishment from Rarity by simply showing her how much larger his maw was than the food. Soon enough it was just Flurry Heart picking over her food, everyone else sitting in comfortable silence while Spike gently returned to stroking Fluttershy's fur.

He was the first to break it though, loudly, by letting loose another yawn. He smacked his lips a couple of times afterward, blinking heavily, before noticing significant looks from everypony at the table.

"Fine!" he said, throwing his paws up in the air with a massive, effected frown. "I'll go to bed, buck. It's almost like some of you have seen me after three nights without sleep, I swear."

Fluttershy smiled, Celestia sighing even as her horn lit up.

"You really should take better care of yourself, Spike," the princess said. "Twilight should as well, that may be one of her worst habits for you to adopt.

"Now, Cadance, should I have a set of rooms drawn up for you, or?" she asked, glancing down the table.

"I don't think so," she said, looking at her husband and daughter. "I think we'll just teleport home. Spike, will you be coming back to the Crystal Empire with us?" she asked, swinging her head to the left slightly.

"Ah, yeah, I think so?" he asked, looking at the mares around him. "We never really resolved anything, I kind of bolted the first time."

Fluttershy and Rarity both nodded, the latter muttering, "I've closed the shop for a bit."

"I've still got plenty of magic to get us back up to the empire, so that's no problem," Cadance said to Rarity. "Anytime we're ready then."

Spike wrapped an arm around Celestia, giving her a small peck on her cheek as she wrapped a wing around him.

"I'm still not fond of your earlier idea, but if that's what you decide, let me know," she whispered to him, before pulling her wing back and smiling at him.

"I will," he said, getting up from his seat and walking up to hug Luna.

"You really helped me feel a lot better," he whispered to her as she returned his gesture. "Thank you, auntie."

Luna hummed and nodded up at him, and he walked over to stand behind Fluttershy.

"See you two later," he said, smiling at both of the princesses as Cadance and her family also made their good-byes. "I'll make sure to write a letter about what we get up to."

"You'd better," Celestia said over Cadance's head as she squeezed her niece in a hug.

With that, Cadance lit her horn along with Shining, concentrating as he was speaking quietly, numbers flowing from his lips as her magic stored power.

With a pop, they disappeared from one dining room and back into the first one, startling a servant in the process of polishing the tabletop.

"Oh, my liege," she said, holding a hoof up to her uniformed chest before looking over the group. "My lieges," she corrected, bowing. "Would it be time for a late dinner perhaps?"

"No thank you," Cadance said with a smile. "Just a convenient room."

With that she turned and hustled the group out of the room, spreading her wings and herding them out into the hallway.

"Well then, we prepared a room for you Spike, but that was when it was just you and Fluttershy," she said conversationally, lowering her wings and leading the group of them down the hallway. Flurry was quick to peel away though, leaving just the five of them walking. "Should we change your sleeping arrangements, or Ms. Rarity, would you like your own room?"

Fluttershy spoke up first, her hoof raising as she said, "Actually, unless she wants her own room, maybe we could get a room with two beds instead?" she flushed a bit as the group turned to look at her, a few eyebrows up. "I just thought maybe we'd talk a bit tonight," she said.

"Of course," Cadance said, face smoothing into a gentle smile. "I'll have it done right away. Spike, room..." she hummed to herself, thinking for a moment before saying, "I should think that room thirty-eight should do."

He raised an eyebrow ridge, smirking at her. "This a hotel now?"

She let a sigh slip from her lips as she looked pointedly at Shining. "Some of the guards work better when every room has either a label or a number. It would be...?" she trailed off, looking at him pointedly.

"Oh, Guest Quarters, Floor Three, Room Eight," he recited after a moment.

Spike snorted. "Sure, sure," he said, before fighting off another yawn with a claw covering his mouth. "Should I plan on seeing you at a certain time in the morning, Cadance?"

"Again, I've cleared my week for you," she said, shrugging. "So whenever all three of you feel ready. And yes," she said upon seeing his look, "all three, please."

He started to say something before shrugging and nodding.

"G'night then," he said, reaching out to ruffle some of the fur on her cheek, then balling his fist to bump against Shining Armor's hoof.

All four of the remaining ponies took turns bumping hooves gently against each other before splitting into two groups, two mares following behind the drake as he walked down the hall.

He waited until he passed a window to look out on the grounds, went up a single flight of stairs, then asked a guard about the eighth room as the two mares behind him giggled. Walking up to the door, he pressed the handle down and entered the cozy room, cozier still from the extra single-pony bed squeezed into the room, all of their luggage distributed on the tops of their blankets.

"So who's sharing the big bed?" he asked, looking down at the two mares as he ducked into the room. "You two? It's you two right?"

Rarity used her magic to move the baggage off of the beds while Fluttershy gave him a gentle swat to the shin.

"I'll see you in the morning, Spike," Rarity said firmly with a smile as she hopped up onto the extra bed.

He looked indecisive for a moment before he leaned over and gave her a gentle kiss on her forehead, just below her horn. He then looked painfully conflicted for a moment, before turning to blurt out to Fluttershy, "That's what you two walked about, right?"

She smiled up at him, reaching up and kissing him gently on his lips.

"Goodnight Spike," she said, before walking into the attached bathroom.

He looked over at Rarity, who raised her eyebrows at him with a smile.

Puffing, he marched over to the bed and laid down atop the blanket, shimmying underneath it before pointing at the unicorn.

"You better hope these cushions are too comfy to let me stay awake, or I'll be listening in on you two tonight.

Her reply was lost on him as he blinked once, twice, then shut his eyes as his mind fogged over.

ՓՓՓՓՓ ՓՓՓՓՓ ՓՓՓՓՓ

Fluttershy smiled as she walked back into the room, seeing Spike already covered on the bed, his head resting towards the center even as a single arm stretched over the top of the blankets.

"Poor dear must have been well and truly exhausted," Rarity said with a smile. "He just finished threatening to listen in on us while pretending to sleep, you know."

Raising an eyebrow, Fluttershy walked over to the prone drake and raised a wing, prodding his snout with a primary. When nothing happened, she gently tickled one of his nostrils until she got a small sneeze and he rolled his head away, puffing a ball of smoke through his mouth before he fell still again.

"I'm pretty sure he's out," Fluttershy said with a smile, placing her forehooves on the bed and giving a small hop so she could crawl on top of the blankets; she curled up next to Spike, facing Rarity.

"Which gives us time to start that conversation I mentioned needing to have," Fluttershy said, rocking her hips as she got comfortable.

"Yes," Rarity said, straightening her back as she sat up, looking attentive.

Fluttershy looked her over, smiling as she cocked her head.

"Rarity," she said softly, reaching a hoof towards the mare, "please, relax. This isn't supposed to be me setting rules for you to follow, or anything like that. I think this is supposed to be us, two old friends, discussing the fact that we both like one drake, and that we think we could both have him if he desired. I'm here to talk with you, not at you."

Rarity sighed, relaxing her shoulders before she bit her lip.

"Uhm, do you suppose it would be possible to order something to drink before we start then? A simple sauvignon blanc or maybe a chardonnay?" she asked, looking around the room.

"Oh, I think that would be a question for one of the guards," Fluttershy replied, looking out the window before finding a clock sitting on the dresser. "It might be a bit late though, we didn't have dinner at Canterlot until half-past eight."

Rarity hummed before she hopped off of the bed, towards the door. "Well, nothing ventured and all that," she said with a small smile, opening the door and glancing over her shoulder. "I'll be right back, then."

Fluttershy waited patiently.

For the first fifteen minutes.

After that she found herself watching the clock on the dresser for a minute before she hopped off of the bed to scrounge around in her baggage for the book she'd started on the train. Twenty minutes into the wait she found herself shifting uncomfortably on the bed, wondering where her friend had gone.

It was thirty-three minutes after leaving that Rarity wandered back into the room, a pair of crystal goblets hovering beside a bottle in her magic, a frown settled onto her face.

"Well, I was able to talk the guard into walking me to the kitchens," she said, popping the cork and setting both of the goblets on the dresser. "Where I found the glasses easily enough, but all they had there was cooking sherry. So then I had to talk the gentlestallion into walking me to where the actual wine cellar was, and then I had to talk him into letting me keep a bottle!" she huffed, pouring out a glass of the pale wine.

Fluttershy demurred when Rarity nodded at the other glass, so the unicorn recorked the bottle and set it next to the glasses.

"Honestly, as though he didn't know who I was and under who's authority I was visiting." She sniffed before sipping at the glass she'd hovered over, taking a quiet sip and shivering with a smile. "Mmm, that is lovely though."

"I'm glad to hear the chase was worth it," Fluttershy said, just a smidgen of tease in her tone.

Rarity looked at her, clearly unimpressed. "You've been hanging out with Rainbow Dash too long," she said dryly. "Or Starlight."

Fluttershy giggled, leaning over and setting her book on top of the covers she still sat on. "I think it's been this one, actually," she said, gently nuzzling a bit of Spike's neck. He snorted gently, murmuring something, before lying still again. "But if you look at it a certain way, he probably got it from both of them, so I guess you're still right."

Rarity sipped again at her wine, looking at him carefully. "You know, he always talked so deliberately around me," she said, one of her hooves tapping against the soft down as she thought. "I suppose I never really got to know the real person beneath that presentation he always put up for me."

"You did," Fluttershy said firmly. "You might have only got to know one side of him over the years, but it is still a side of the real him. I honestly doubt that he put on a complete show around you. He just didn't feel the need to only show the one side to me, because we were friends before interest showed itself, and I can promise you that he showed you his true, if slightly perfected, self. He never had that chance to show you just him, not really. His crush just hit him too early in your relationship for him to have a chance to show you his true self."

Rarity swirled her glass in her magic as she gazed at her friend, who slowly grew red. "You've been thinking about this for a while, then?" she asked.

Fluttershy looked at Spike again before smiling apologetically at Rarity. "There may have been a betting pool as to your relationship. Years ago," she clarified quickly when Rarity's eyes widened. "About when Starlight joined Twilight in her castle. She, AJ, Rainbow and I were talking about it one day, though I didn't actually talk about putting any bits in. Twilight found out, made her case, and the other three dissolved the pool once she pointed out how mean it was to you two.

"Still, she made a pretty strong case about how well Spike was letting you get to know him," she said, smiling at the memory. "And both she and I talked about how we hoped he'd let the walls down eventually."

Rarity took a drink of her wine, coughing gently before she said, "Well, no time like the present. Maybe we can talk about this with him, and get him to loosen up a little around me." She smiled over at him. "I know I'm the reason he even feels like he needed to watch himself, but at this point we can probably just drop what pretense there still was. I'm pretty sure I like him, I think he could still like me. That's the important part, not the language we use to talk to each other."

Fluttershy reached over to a table beside the bed, picking up one of two small drinking glasses prepared there, and lifted it towards Rarity.

The glasses clinked, and they giggled at the toast as Rarity took a drink of her alcohol.

"While that is a great way to look forwards," Fluttershy said, setting her empty glass down, "it's not really what I meant to talk with you about."

Rarity hummed, nodding as she finished her drink and set her own crystal on the dresser next to the bottle.

"Right, right, we were supposed to be talking about what to do with the big lug over there," Rarity giggled, nodding over to the other bed. "Are we sharing, or are we forming an old fashioned herd, or is this going to be a group dating exercise? What are we thinking about right now?"

"Well," Fluttershy started, slowly, "I don't know exactly what a herd entails. I just want all of us to love each other. And I can tell you that between us, there's not nothing."

Fluttershy quirked her head when Rarity took a moment to just stare at her.

"I talked to Twilight about it once," Fluttershy went on. "I'm, uhm, demisexual, I think she said? I'll be comfortable as long as there's an emotional connection, and we both know that we have that."

"That's sort of right, I think," Rarity said, scrunching her muzzle. "I think you can still be heterosexual and demisexual at the same time? I haven't studied this like I'm sure Twilight has, but I'm pretty sure that's true."

Fluttershy gave a small smile, her eyes ducking a bit as she blushed.

"Trust me, then, Rarity. I'll have no problems being in a relationship that involves you."

The mentioned mare gulped dryly, taking a drink from her wineglass and noting it getting worryingly low on contents.

"I suppose I've never given it much thought," Rarity admitted, hovering over the bottle and pouring herself another half glass. "You are gorgeous of course, you were only a model for Celestia's sake and we can all see that edge hasn't worn off with time," she said, smiling as she watched Fluttershy's blush grew. "I've never thought about my own sexuality before, but I could certainly be bisexual for such a lovely mare, or at least give it a try."

Spike snorted in his sleep, Fluttershy jumping away and turning her blazing cheeks away from both him and Rarity.

"Nice," he muttered, before giving a soft snore.

"Oh, my," Fluttershy whispered, while Rarity tittered behind a hoof. "I suppose that settles that."

"Indeed, doesn't it just," Rarity said, taking a sip of her fresh beverage before looking over at her... well, she was her new marefriend-on-trial, wasn't she? "Now that we've got our own thoughts on each other out of the way; Spike, and the potential sharing of him?"

"I think that that is completely up to him," Fluttershy said without hesitation. "And honestly, I think 'sharing' is the wrong word, or at least brings in a wrong mindset. For me, sharing means taking a resource and splitting it between several ponies, right?" Fluttershy asked, Rarity nodding after thinking about it for a bit. "But Spike isn't a finite resource, and neither is his time or his feelings. Love isn't finite, so it's not sharing.

"We just want him to love us, both of us, at the same time, while we also love him. And probably each other."

Rarity thought about it, gazing into her wine glass while she swirled it gently.

She sniffed back and looked up at Fluttershy, watery eyes full of hope. "And you're sure it's that simple?"

Smiling, Fluttershy hopped off of the bed she was currently on, walking over to the other and gathering the mare in her forelegs, squeezing her softly but insistently.

"Yes."

Author's Note:

This is probably gonna be the last of my Christmas break updates, so expect me to slow down as of this Saturday. That said, hope you guys all had happy holidays or will have them if you had to work and moved the holiday around as I did.

Anyhow, continuing to love you guys

Comments

[lazyreader19]

Anyhow, continuing to love you guys

Awww, love you too!

[Wydril]

That harem ending on the horizon just turned into the harbor that the ship has docked at.

[truebuckshot]

Herd shy is ago!

[DarkDMan]

Thanks for the Holiday gifts!

Happy holidays!

[Zorobak]

I hope that the first thing they do is tell Spike in the morning what they just talked about and get his input before making any decisions. I am not against it but Spike is still upset at Rarity for what she said only a day ago so I hope that it takes time for him to accept her feelings.

[Shepard Dragon]

Okay
I wish I could now rate a few more times in the green zone.

I knew this would happen and I love it!

[Detsella Morningdew]

I have to say, I'm a little disappointed. Not with the quality of the writing or anything. I don't even hate the concept or anything like that. It's just that an actual one-on-one romance in a fanfic is surprisingly rare, especially between canon characters. And even more rare is for it to be the central focus of a story. Not to mention the dynamic with Rarity was promising to be an interesting one, as well as the challenge of remaining friends after a breakup, especially one as messy as this.

Not to mention this fic always felt so... grounded in reality. Relatable. A situation like a herd isn't that applicable (or at least commonly applicable) in real life. While I like some good escapist fantasy, the truly great books always felt real like yours did, even with the dragons and ponies and magic.

I have no doubt that you can write a herd relationship well. But the biggest reasons I picked up this fic to begin with is gone now. I'll probably pick away at this story, but my drive to continue reading is almost gone, as the core part of the story seems to have shifted in a completely new direction.

(Of course, if I end up being wrong, and this isn't the way the fic is going, please let me know.)

[SilverEyedWolf]

10106845
While I can't swear anything, unless there's a major problem Rarity is probably here to stay. Also, I am Polyamorous, so the having multiple partners is not only a thing that actually happens, but something I have some light experience in. That said, I understand your being here for a one-on-one experience, and I wish you no hard feelings if you feel the need to walk away from this fic.