human
SpikeRaised a claw to shield his eyes from the sun afternoon sun. He blinked for a moment as he stepped off of the train and onto the platform outside Ponyville. So much had changed in the years since he had been here last, and all of his old friends had gone their own way. Spike didn't even know what happened to most of his old friends, but he knew that at least two of them hadn't left this town.
It had been a while since the fight had happened, and the elements of harmony had grown apart. Back then he had still been too young, and he was duty bound to twilight. As much as he had protested when Twilight had left ponyville he couldn't do anything but follow her. That however wasn't the case anymore as he could no longer manage twilight and her neurotic tenancies, and he had been given a new more personal mission. Walking through the town most of the ponies seemed to depart and give him space. He just smiled looking over the familiar homes. The old lybrary where he had spent most of childhood. Shaking his head lightly he kept walking trying to ignore all of the awkward looks.
Spike had grown, a lot. Time does much for a Dragon. He still lacked wings, likely he would never have them. But he was taller, and stronger. Part of him knew that this would be awkward, it had been a long time since he had seen anyone from this town. Walking up to a familiar cottage he was thankful that it wasn't abandoned like the lybrary. In truth he didn't know where half of the others were. Pinkie had disappeared, last he heard Rarity had gone off to Manehatten, and Rainbow was an in training wonderbolt and thus almost always on the move. Everyone had grown so far apart. There were however two that had remained in the small town. Applejack was tied to her farmland, and Fluttershy had as far as he knew stayed at her cottage.
Taking a deep breath Spike knocked on the heavy wooden door of the cottage. He really didn't know what to say to when he saw Fluttershy. Part of him was actually more hopeful that she had grown out of her fear of dragons otherwise dealing with her as he was would be awkward."Hello?"
gpt
While other ponies had gone off and changed during their lives as time had passed Fluttershy really was no different from how she had been when Twilight had first arrived in Ponyville. Fluttershy wasn't the type of mare to enjoy change at all as she often found it scary and not quite worth it so she instead went with the decision of sticking with what was always safe and comfortable. It had been hard to keep up in times as she saw the few friends that she had slowly but surely all move away to pursue their interests in other cities but Fluttershy could think of nothing to do with her life other than what she had been doing for years. Animals might have died every so often but it was nearly always guaranteed that there would be some creature there to keep her happy and calm. Her personal pet was now Angel the Third and her body had plumped up a bit but other than that Fluttershy was still Fluttershy and to her life was as good as it was going to get.
When there was a knock on her door Fluttershy tensed and let out a sound more like a squeak than anything else. She looked over at the door in surprise due to how rare it was for her to get visitors these days but she still was of course going to be polite and answer. Coming! She called out softly and after setting the bowl of nuts down for a few squirrels to ravage she walked over to the door. Fluttershy took a deep breath before swinging the door open but when it opened her eyes shot open. D-d-d-dragon! The pegasus squeaked and after slamming the door she quickly jumped behind her couch for cover.
human
Spike gave a sigh as the door was slammed into his face. He put his claw across his face shaking his head for a moment. Well it figured that Fluttershy wouldn't have gotten over her fear of dragons, but he never really expected her to be afraid of him. She had always been so interested in his life, but then again that had been back when he had been small and cute. Knocking on the door again he knew that she really wasn't gonna answer again. Rather he just opened it slowly. "Fluttershy, it's me Spike.... I'm coming in."
Taking a step inside the cottage, he understood the reaction. it was the same one that he had seen from the other people in town. The way they walked around him, but it still hurt. It seemed like he was a child of two worlds, other dragons smelled pony around him, and the other pony's saw him as a dragon. It was a conflict of identity that he tried his best to ignore. Still he knew Fluttershy, and was hoping that fact would be able to help her get over her fear of dragons. Walking into the living room. "Fluttershy?" He asked he could smell her but she was hiding. "I know it's been a long time but I haven't changed that much have I?"
gpt
The parts of Spike that would have identified him as the former assistant of one of her old friends were all ignored in the panic that had quickly overtaken her. Without her friends there as a constant support system her fears and worries had been getting more pronounced in recent years. She had just seen enough of him to know that he had been a dragon and in her mind dragon was automatically equated with bed. She let out a small squeak when he knocked on the door but didn't move at all, even when he identified himself.
Once he was inside there was a long moment of silence before she could work up the strength to respond to him. When he kept calling out to her she took several deep, panting breaths to calm herself down and then peeked over the back of the couch at him. Just her eyes hovered above the back of the couch. S-Spike? What are you doing here? The pegasus asked in a soft voice as she looked the mature dragon over and fought herself to keep calm.
human
Spike gave a small smile as he saw Fluttershy stick her head out from behind the couch. It was good to see an old friend, even if she was very afraid of him. Looking around at the home there were still a lot of animal critters running around. It was almost like the place had been frozen in time in a way. It brought back a lot of good memories, and he gave a small shrug when Fluttershy asked him why he was here. The truth was a little more complicated then he wished for, and he scratched the back of his head. "I wanted to see some of my old friends. You were one of the easier ones to track down. And also.." He paused for a moment looking at the ground.
"I couldn't put up with Twilight anymore." After everything that had happened she had been throwing herself into her studies more and more. At first Spike had tried his best to look after her, but that became harder and harder to do with every passing day. Eventually Twilight had stopped caring about herself entirely. Eventually the fighting became so constant that she had just up and sent spike away. Which lead him to do a bit of traveling, and then after burping up a scroll addressed to him, he had come here. He wasn't however about to talk about any of that stuff. "So I left, and came here. I honestly didn't know where else to start."
gpt
Fluttershy remembered seeing Twilight change not long after she became a princess. It was a slow change at first but it quickly became obvious that Princess Twilight was not the same mare as Scholar Twilight. She quickly became intensely focused on her royal duties with a gusto that beat out even her love of learning to the degree that she would shut herself away for days reading tax codes. She got a bit ruder as well as she realized that she now had power and kept firmly insisting that even her friends began treating her like royalty. Even Rarity, who had hoped that having a princess as a friend would help her business, ended up saddened at the changes that affected Twilight.
I'm, um, sorry to hear that. Fluttershy replied before slowly pushing herself up more and walking around the couch to take a seat. He was a dragon, but he was a nice dragon and so far he hadn't shown any interest at all in attacking her. H-here? W-what do you want from me? She replied with a hint of nervousness as she took a seat on the couch and began wringing her hands together.
human
Spike gave a small smile seeing Fluttershy. Her fears really had gotten hold of her. He walked to the couch and shifted his tail moving it so he could sit down beside Fluttershy. He was surprised how small she looked, all of them used to tower of him, and now he was a little bit taller then her. Still he sank into the couch sitting beside the rather scared looking pegasus. He gave a small sigh of content. "Honestly I just wanted to see a kind face." He said truthfully. He just wanted to be around a good friend. They had all been alone, and it looked like Fluttershy had suffered because of it.
"Well that and I kind of need a place to stay for the moment." He said lightly. He would ask the mayor if he could stay at the library but he had a feeling that would be awkward for everyone. He wanted to have some time to just get to used to being around other ponies again. Fluttershy's cottage was far enough away that he couldn't really do any damage. "I mean if that would be okay I could really just use a couch to crash on. I can try and help you out around here in return. I have more then enough experience as an assistant, and well I'm not great with animals but I do okay..." He said looking around at the critters. Some of which looked as frightened as Fluttershy to see a dragon his size running around. Letting out a small sigh, "and I also want to work towards tracking down the others, I want to get in touch with them, maybe try and reunite some of them, or at least talk too everyone and see how they have been?"
gpt
Fluttershy tensed for a moment when he walked over and sat down next to her and had to tense he body to keep from moving away from him to a more safe position. Despite herself recently reminding herself that the dragon sitting with her was the cute baby dragon that she had spent so much time with in the past his new, mature form made her unable to stop worrying for the moment. It would definitely take a while to get used to being with him again but she was of course going to try to do so. Spike had been one of her good friends and a good friend was what she needed right now.
A small smile came when he pointed out that her desires were friendship and a place to stay as at some level it helped her recognize that eating her wasn't one of his interests right now. She had kind of wanted a partner right now due to it being the season that all sorts of babies were born but she still hadn't ever had the courage to ask anyone to help her out. She shifted around and bit her lip before looking up at him. I, um, guess you can stay here if you want. She replied in a soft voice mostly because she didn't have the strength to say no to him. I still get letters from Rarity and Rainbow Dash but I don't know about Pinkie. Applejack is still at the farm but also goes to Appleloosa a lot. The pegasus explained.
human
Spike nodded slowly getting more of an understanding on the situation. A small pain running through him when he realized that Rarity and Rainbow never tried writing to either him or Twilight. Then again he had never taken that first step of writing a letter to them so he was in the end just as guilty as they were. And it seemed that no one really knew what happened to Pinkie. She among everyone had the strongest connections, and was a highly social pony, to hear that she was gone now was disturbing, and only raised questions and possibilities in Spikes head. Either way those were problems that everyone would cross eventually. For now he was more then happy to have a place to stay and a friend to talk with. "Thank you Fluttershy. I promise I will help you where ever I can, but first."
His stomach let out a groan and Spike slowly realized he hadn't actually eaten anything all day. Getting up from the couch he sighed. "Do you mind if I use your kitchen Fluttershy? I can make you food as well, I just haven't actually eaten anything yet today." He said lightly, his tail swaying slightly as he walked towards the kitchen, and started looking through shelves. Spike ate just about anything, and could survive off pretty much any kind of food in this world. Though as he had grown up around so many others who were restricted to a more vegetarian diet so he never actually had things like meat. Rather for Spike the biggest and most strange thing that he ate were precious gemstones. However he doubted that Fluttershy had anything like that so instead he set his mind to making a salad. Washing off his claws in the sink he got to work collecting the greens. "Is there anything I should avoid eating?"
gpt
In truth it was more Fluttershy who sent letters to the two of them due to being desperate to maintain some sort of relationship with two of her best friends but she did get one letter back for every three or so that she sent to them. Even Discord sent more regular letters than either of them did but she was still happy that Rarity would occasionally take time from her busy schedule to write her a letter about how lovely things were in Manehatten. She would always end her letter with a polite comment that she would love to go down and see Fluttershy but was just far too busy to do so. Dash sent occasional letters while she toured around with the Wonderbolts but she seemed too busy as well much of the time to sent regular letters or to stop back to see the mare she had been friends with since they had been in Flight School together back in Cloudsdale.
When his stomach groaned she jumped back and again had to take a few deep breaths to keep herself from running away from him. The sound was just close enough to the growl of a dragon to leave her heart pumping. Oh, sure. She replied in a soft voice before watching him walk over to the kitchen. Fluttershy wasn't sure she would have the guts to say no to a dragon like him even if she wanted to. It's all yours. She squeaked out when he asked. Angel The Third sprinted into her arms and she began petting the small bunny as she peered over at him.
human
Spike let out a rather happy sigh. It was obvious that his stomach's growl had frightened Fluttershy, and he was pretty sure the reason her voice sounded so scared was because he was a dragon. Still it kind of hurt to have someone he considered one of his closest friends actually be scared of him, and all because he had gained a bit more size. Still he didn't really realize how afraid of him she actually was. It was likely going to become a problem down the road, and so he didn't focus on it, instead focusing on the food he was attempting to make for the two of them. It had been a while since he had put hi culinary skills to work, still a salad was an easy enough task.
Mixing the the greens and a few nuts, he added a vinaigrette dressing, and made two plates one for each of them. Walking back to Fluttershy he placed the plate down in front of her. along with a fork for her to use, and then sat back down beside her with his own plate. He sighed slowly. "Hope you like it." He said happily. It wasn't Gemstones, but it would fill his stomach good enough that he really wasn't able to complain much about it. Looking at Angel bunny he didn't even know if it was the same one or not, just that the last time he had dealt with that white furry bunny Angel had been a complete and total dick. "Is that angel?" He asked rather curiously. He and that bunny had never really gotten along, and for some reason it always seemed so abusive towards fluttershy, he was hoping that if this was a new one it was a little less self entitled.
gpt
Having the bunny, who was a female unlike her grandfather, cuddled up in her arms allowed Fluttershy to relax a little more so that she could think more about the situation at hand. Fluttershy knew that if Spike had gotten to the point that he had separated from the mare who had served as his mother, older sister, and good friend for much of his life things really hadn't been going too well for him and considering how few other friends he had in town she knew that it would be her job to make sure that he was feeling a bit better. For a moment she hummed a moment from a song she recalled about how friends helped others while the bunny curled up in her lap and looked interested in a lap.
When he emerged from the kitchen she glanced up at him with one eye behind a curtain of her pink mane and then allowed herself to glance at the meal that he had been nice enough to prepare for the both of them. She had been too busy to get herself much to eat so when he gave her some food she was quick to begin eating. 'Thank you, Spike. She replied politely. She didn't have any gems in the house other than some on a few clothing items that Rarity had made from her as she had always been worried that if she had more in her house it would attract dragons to her home who would eat her. This is Angel the Third. She's quite the sweetheart. Fluttershy replied as the fluffy white bunny took a moment to give a quick wave before climbing up and nestling against her impressive tits.
human
Spike blinked for a moment, so this bunny was actually two generations removed from the original? It was really hard to imagine that much time had passed, though oddly hearing that Fluttershy's former pet was gone and replaced didn't hurt so much as realizing how fluttershy must have felt these past few years. Her friends had all abandoned her in a way, one after another leaving to fulfill various dreams and travel on their path, when instead she was left her in the cottage all alone, watching as time passed on, and more of her animal friends left her. He could both relate to that kind of sadness and at the same time had no actual way to relate to the kind of pain that would have caused. For a moment he didn't know what to feel except for an intense sadness.
"I'm sorry." Spike said reaching out and grabbing Fluttershy his long claws pulling her into a hug with an iron clad grip knowing that she would probably have wanted to run away from him rather then hug him. The action did two things pulling her into the tight embrace pinned her wings closer to her back and a the same time he was also unconsciously pushing Angel Bunny the second further against fluttershy's rack. He blinked for a moment trying to contain the various emotions running through his head. "Had I managed to convince Twilight to stay and apologize none of this would happened, and our friends would still be here. Everything fell apart, and it's all my fault! I'm sorry.."
gpt
There was only a moment of sadness in Fluttershy's eyes as she thought back to her original personal pet. Angel had been a cranky prick who was never really satisfied, but she had still loved him all the same. She had been lucky that Angel had been something of a stud among the local rabbit population which meant that when he had passed he had first left a son for her to play with who had in turn produced the young female rabbit that she was currently cuddling. She had witnessed a lot of the same things happen with the animals that she took care of but had been forced to acknowledge it as a fact of life. She wanted them all to stay with her forever, but she knew that animals lived and died faster than ponies and that what was important was that she could make them happy when they were alive.
A loud squeak was her first reply when he suddenly pulled her into a hug. Her breasts squished against his body and the rabbit was put into an extremely comfortable position between her tits. Fluttershy's eyes were wide open with mild panic in them as she felt her body pushed up against him. It's... It's okay... She whimpered out in mild confusion before hearing his rant about what he had done wrong. She took a few deep breaths to calm herself. It wasn't your fault. Twilight changed because she wanted to and you couldn't stop her. Fluttershy replied softly.
human
Spike sighed seeing what the hug did to fluttershy and just how scared she was. Her squeak though kind of adorable said a lot. He let go after a moment realizing he probably overstepped her boundaries, and didn't want to make the situation worse he turned away from her and shook his head. He felt slightly awkward after a moment letting go and pulling away from Fluttershy his eyes pulled away from her and he awkwardly sat in silence for a moment. Not because she was afriad of him he had already accepted that fact and she would get over it eventually. Rather what he felt awkward about was just how cute he found her squeak, and also the realization had just dawned on him that fluttershy really did have large breasts.
Spike wasn't a child anymore, and even when he was a child he had lived in a library. One of his various jobs had been to sort all the books, and he had found many sexual education books among the collection. He was a teenager now, matured and physically able he had just never really thought about it. Probably from the fact that the only other mare he had spent time around for the last few years was Twilight who was a surogate mother, and the rest of her family. People that having such thoughts about would have been creepy. Heck even with fluttershy that thought was rather unsettling. She was a mare, and he was a dragon, he really shouldn't be focusing on the feeling of her chest pressed to his, and yet he oddly was. "Sorry, I got carried away Fluttershy I promise I won't do that again." He said after another silent moment and he grabbed the salad he had made for himself and started to shove some of it into his face so he could stop feeling embarrassed.
gpt
Fluttershy's entire body was tense in fear and mild nervousness about the situation. Her wings were both slammed up against her back and her hands were rolled up into loose fists. Her eyes alternated between being squeezed shut and being wide open to look over the muscular dragon body in front of her. She remembered when he had been nothing bu a cute little baby dragon that she had wanted to cuddle and study but right now she had a clear view of him that showed what his new body looked like. He had massive, rippling muscles that looked like they could tear her apart, a thick tail that could knock her over with a single swing, and a jaw that could easily rip a chunk out of her flesh. Fluttershy knew he had no interest in killing her but that didn't mean she wasn't worried.
When he let go of her Fluttershy scooted about four inches away and looked away while a deep red blush faded from her cheeks. She felt equally awkward about the situation and followed his lead in grabbing her meal and digging in to distract herself from the awkward situation going on around her. There was a part of her that really wanted to work to help relax Spike but right now the natural fear that she had for dragons made that an impossibility at the moment. It's, um, okay... I know you're going through some stuff right now. She replied in a soft voice in between bites of her delicious salad.
human
Spike nodded still more embarrassed about his own line of thinking than anything else. He had spent his entire life around the pony race, and the more he thought about it the more he started to realize he had never even seen a female dragon. So maybe it wasn't so wrong to think of Fluttershy as attractive then again she thought of him as some sort of monster that would eat her alive something that couldn't be further from the truth. He looked at Fluttershy for a moment still embarrassed but now more curious than anything. He sighed lightly not sure how to ask about what was on his mind, but rather just wondering in general.
"Fluttershy, do you mind if I ask..." He paused for a moment unsure if he should actually voice his question or not. Gathering his courage anyway he decided it was best to find out. "Why are you afraid of dragons? I mean I know that most of them... us rather are kind of loud and greedy, and well many other things, but you have also known me for a very long time. I mean... don't you think your fear is a little bit... Dragophobic? I just wonder... what set off a fear of dragons?" Sure it was healthy to have some fear when it came to adult dragons. Spike had his own encounter with one particular red dragon that he still remembered as terrible, but things like the dragon migration and reading books on the subject had at least taught him more then a little on where he came from and where he would end up going... Spike's fate was duty bound to be lonely and depressing perhaps more so by the fact that he is going to end up outcasted by dragons and ponies both. Thoughts for other days, but for right now he wanted to know why Fluttershy was so afriad of... well him.
gpt
Fluttershy had recently found a new worry in her life in the form of her attractiveness. The biggest problem there was without a doubt her massive tits which got her all sorts of attention from stallions and the occasional mare. She wasn't the type who had ever put much thought into a romantic relationship so to have all sorts of ponies leering at her was certainly weird and occasionally offputting to her. Ponies seemed to get more desperate to get laid as life went on so she was a pretty hot commodity despite being only about a decade into her adult life. At this point she just assumed everypony around her wanted to fuck her but that just made life more nerve-wracking for her.
When he asked about Herrera of dragons Fluttershy tensed and looked away for a moment. She took s long moment to collect herself due to the obvious unhappiness of the story before turning back to him. She could have lied but she thought that he deserved to know, "It was just a few months after I had become the caretaker in Ponyville. I was feeding some animals when a, um... a dragon attacked. Some guards had been following him and he got chased to my house... He... He killed a lot of my friends and threatened me. He nearly burned the fields around here to nothing." She explained as she blinked back tears.
human
Spike blinked for a moment astounded at the idea of a dragon doing such a thing, then felt a pang of guilt for a moment. Not all that long ago Spike had gotten greedy, and a dragons greed did terrible things. He had started hording, and the more his horde had grown so had he. The thought of the rampaging monster he had became contrasted with the story that Fluttershy had just told him. He had been lucky to have not hurt anyone in his rampage, and while he had to admit he struggled with greed from time to time, he had for the most part learned to deal with those urges. He wanted to set himself apart from being the monster that most other dragons were.
Spike placed a claw on Fluttershy's shoulder. "I'm... sorry. I didn't know." Spike said with a small sigh he placed his bowl down onto the table and leaned back on the sofa stuffed he laid on his back something that with his bodies spines would have looked uncomfortable but rather wasn't as he placed his head against the wall, looking up at the ceiling of fluttershy's cottage listening to the animals scamper around and birds chirp. He let out a long sigh which transformed into him blowing out a ring of white smoke from his mouth. Dragons never made any sense to Spike, he knew that he was one, but then he heard stories like this or met other dragons who were just intolerable. Seeing the tears and how the event had hurt her, Spike got up from his seat. Holding out his claw to help her get up. "I'm not that kind of dragon. I don't like food that has friends, I bake cookies, and help where I can. I know it may take a while, but I really hope that you won't be afraid of me."
"Now come on we have work that needs to be done, and these topics are getting depressing." He said with a smile trying to brighten the mood, there was a lot of work that went into being the animal care taker, and they probably needed to get around to the afternoon rounds.
gpt
Fluttershy stayed silent for a long moment after her story. She didn't like telling that story at all due to all of the sadness that was associated with it. While she recognized that it was good the dragon didn't go any further into Ponyville than her cottage the creature had a lot of time to both threaten her and destroy nearly everything around her. If the guards hadn't come and dealt with the dragon when they had one of the more aggressive threats that the dragon had, from rape to straight up killing her, would have likely come into effect. Even her endless therapy sessions after that hadn't been enough to make up for her massive worries regarding dragons. She had been absolutely shocked when she had managed to tell the one dragon off but had ended up running home and crying in panic for a few hours once they returned from their adventure into the mountains. Luckily for her none of the girl had seen her crying after that.
It's okay, Spike. I know you're not like that... but especially after you went crazy that one time part of me has been worried. Sorry. She replied softly before gently taking his hand and allowing herself to be helped to her feet. Fluttershy thought for a moment about how good his cookies were before being brought back to the moment but his comment. Oh, yes. Could you go out to the shed and get some seed for the chicken coop? She asked politely before going off to the kitchen to prepare some food for some more of her animal friends.
human
Spike nodded as he was told that she didn't think of him as other dragons. It made him feel a lot more comfortable around Fluttershy, although hearing that she did worry about that one time he shook his head. He had been working on controlling his greed for years now, but it wasn't ever a situation he wanted to repeat. Knowing the root of her fears now however he simply nodded and was a little happier knowing the truth. Even if it was a darker part of Fluttershy's past he was now more able to deal with it, and hearing that she didn't think about him like that was helpful as well. When Fluttershy gave him a task he smiled and nodded, and walked outside of the cabin out to her shed, the small wooden building was slightly more run down, and as he opened the door he searched around for the seeds.
Finding nothing creepy or note worthy in the shed was a bit of a relief. Grabbing the seeds he pulled them over his back and carried them out to the chicken coop. He checked around for a moment before adding the feed to the chicken's supply. All the while perfectly aware that the animals were actively avoiding him. It was like they were watching their natural predator in just how much room everything seemed to give him. It was fine however, as he really didn't mind the animals reactions to him. They would all eventually get used to him again just like the last set of animals had. Going around the back yard of Fluttershy's cabin he made sure to fill up any seed based bird bowl. Before putting it back in he shed and going to help Fluttershy make meals for the other animals. Food preparation was one of his best skills after all. "You know I always wondered about this place at night. You care for a lot of nocturnal creatures don't you? When do you sleep? Or just take care of yourself when you have so many other animals to deal with."
gpt
Fluttershy was happy when he went off to do the small duty that he had been assigned while she went off to tend to more of the duties that came with being the primary animal caretaker in Ponyville. All sorts of animals crowded around her feet out of excitement at the idea of food as she worked with practiced movements to prepare the delicious dishes that would keep them satisfied until their next meal time. All sorts of various dishes, from nuts to salads, were distributed to the smaller animals that occupied the inside of her home. She would deal with some of the outdoor-focused creatures later on once she was done with the task at hand. Even the birds were excited and when they landed on her head she began humming softly which the birds returned with trills and chirps of their own until they got seeds to eat.
It was an interesting sight to see what was going on. Fluttershy was working almost as a play place for animals she stood at the counter in her kitchen preparing vegetables. Small critters scrambled around her feet and up her forearms. Birds sat on her shoulders and hair and a few occasionally bounced across her soft tits. Fluttershy didn't seem to mind it at all and actually seemed quite happy to have the company of the animals. It helped her to calm down again after the experience of telling one of her dark stories of her past to Spike. When he entered she turned over to him and nodded awkwardly. I go to bed a bit late and wake up a bit early so that I can do most of it and every other day I get up for an hour at night to help them out. Fluttershy explained before handing a bowl of nuts to a family of chipmunks that quickly dug in.
human
Suddenly Spike was very glad that the animals avoided him. The sight of Fluttershy covered with animals while working in the kitchen was almost disturbing. There was just something wrong with the sight, he was sure that Fluttershy had washed her hands, but the animals could have been days without being washed. It wasn't even that most of them were rodents or pests, just that they were all small tiny creatures, part of the Dragon wanted to now run away from Fluttershy, as he had spent his entire life up untill a few months ago with extremely retentive, and high strung twilight. Dropping the idea of working in the kitchen for now he instead had a very different need, and went around for a moment finding the cleaning supplies. "I'm gonna...Go somewhere and clean... something." He said unable to hide the unease in his voice.
Hearing Fluttershy's schedule her work really was the most exhausting out of all of them. It was hard to imagine anyone doing the amount of work that fluttershy had to do in caring for all of these creatures. And so he decided to make her life just a tad easier and started to sweep up the living room, going first to remove the rug she had, his strength easy enough to rearrange anything that got in his way as he went about giving the place a hard scrub down. The amount of dust and animal dander on the rug alone was enough to make his eyes water, and then when he finally tossed it outside he caught a whiff that was simply too powerful, Turning away from any animals he took a moment before he sneezed, and a wave of heat, green flames emitted from his mouth. Rubbing his face for a moment as his eyes watered he resisted another sneeze, and calmed down. He had gotten better at controlling his fire, but was still unable to prevent stuff like sneezing or worse hic ups from igniting. He then got to work actually cleaning up the living room as Fluttershy went about her tasks. "Well with two of us here we should be able to keep better track of all of the work. Though I will admit I am a bit of a heavy sleeper." He said trying to ignore the amount of mess. "Oh and tomorrow we should try and go down to sweet apple acres. See how applejack is handling her life."
gpt
It seemed that when Spike walked in and began working next to her that many of her animal friends began sticking closer to her as a result. With all of the time that she had spent with them most her animals had gained a pretty intense knowledge of her emotions so whenever she was nervous, worried, sad, or displaying any other negative emotions she was never short on animal friends to cuddle with and tell her troubles to. A couple of the more aggressive animals glared at him when he got too close to her but whenever they did Fluttershy was quick to give a small glare to the animal as a clear message that being men to their guest was not okay. Spike might have made her a bit nervous, but he was a guest and an old friend of hers so she wanted to do as much as she could to make sure that he was comfortable while he was staying with her.
Alright... Thank you. She replied softly when he informed her that he was going to go clean her house up a little. It was true that it could probably use a bit of a hand with that considering all of the dirt and hair that her animal charges tended to drag into the house. She kept working until every animal was either fed or currently in the process of eating. She was currently free of animals due to most of them being occupied with their meals. She then went to work making sure that an injured owl was doing well while she continued to hum softly to herself. She finally stopped when he began talking and tensed for a moment at the idea of him living here. Fluttershy knew having him here was going to be a big change. Applejack? I suppose that we could go see her. I could use some apples and it's been a while since we've just chatted. Fluttershy replied.
human
Spike frowned a moment hearing that Applejack and Fluttershy didn't really talk or spend time together anymore. It was kind of sad they had all been such great friends, but times had changed. He guessed that everyone had pretty much gone there separate ways. It was just spikes job to bring them all back together, and that job was gonna be a difficult one. Sweeping on the other hand was also a difficult task even as he worked on cleaning the wood floor there was a visable amount of dust and hair that he was picking up with the broom and he paused to open all the windows as wide as he could in the place in order to help create more of a draft. Then getting to work he was trying to bring these floors back into shape. Living here would be interesting, but at the same time he wondered if he should simply ask the mayor to take over the towns library. He didn't really want to hinder too many people.
Spike breathed lightly as he collected everything into the dust bin. The floors were already starting too look better, though his eyes were more and more being drawn towards Fluttershy. He had never really seen her work, but it was also something else that made his eyes veer towards her, and he had to admit that now that they were in motion, there was a slight bounce to fluttershy's tit's that he was having a problem not admiring. He never remembered it being this distracting before. "Well I'm sure she will be happy to see us then." It would be nice to see an old friend who wasn't afraid of him. He paused for a minute as he grabbed and bucket and was about to go out to the front to get some water when there was a set of knocks on the door.
"Equestrian guard, Ms Fluttershy are you in? We have had reports of a Dragon roaming through town, headed towards your cabin we wanted to check on you."
gpt
Fluttershy had always intended to keep contact with the friends of hers that didn't move away (which at this point was only Applejack) but it had turned out that hadn't worked out. Sure, the two of them had both put an effort into it, but had hadn't worked out. Applejack got impatient eventually with Fluttershy's chronic nervousness and they really didn't have that much in common beyond a love of nature. Neither of them had intended for it to do that way, but as things went on the two of them simply drifted apart. Eventually they weren't close friends anymore. A more accurate description would be acquaintances. They would greet each other when they passed in the marketplace and if Fluttershy ever worked up the nerve to attend one of the social events that went on in Ponyville they would exchange a few polite words to check on how the other was doing and remiss the moving away of the other Elements of Harmony.
She soon had the owl hooting happily for her as a sign that he was on the way to recovery and then was planning to go and check on some of the animals that tended to stay outside to make sure that they were all okay and get any of them food if they needed it. Fluttershy wasn't really paying attention to Spike despite his presence with the exception of when he spoke to her. Oh, I'm sure she will be. Applejack misses you and the others as much as I do. Fluttershy agreed before letting out a squeak when there was a knock on the door. The voice that she heard was pretty surprising but she still hurried to the door and pulled it open to greet the young guard that was standing there. Oh, there's no need for concern. I know him, and he's not dangerous. Fluttershy replied softly as she opened the door and peaked through the crack.
human
The guard stopped puzzled for a moment hearing that the dragon was a friend of hers. Opening the door it was a young grey pegasus acting as one of the town guard. "Holy... is that Spike?" He said catching a glimpse of the dragon who was now on his hands and feet using a sponge and bucket to clean the floor. The guard was genuinely surprised to see Princess Twilight Sparkles personal assistant and dragon in town. Still he turned away, "well as long as your okay, I am gonna have file some paperwork on this, but Spike is always welcome in this town, we just didn't know it was him, he has certainly gotten bigger." He said with a small laugh before turning and flying off back to town.
Spike on the other hand was now knee deep in work. Smiling when he heard the conversation at the door. He wiped some sweat off of his forehead, and smiled. "I should have been more careful walking through town, I didn't mean to start rumors guess I'm not as cute as I used to be." He said remembering the days where he was able to walk around town without anyone even blinking an eye towards a baby dragon. "Guess I'm in the same kind of boat as Zecora was nowadays, well i'm sure the people will get used to it." he said getting up, and walking over to fluttershy. "Still I really do have thank you for letting me stay with you I really don't want to cause you any problems."
gpt
Fluttershy was visited by the guard more often than most ponies in Ponyville because the normally pretty boring job allowed them a lot of free time to come back and check in on the one mare in Ponyville who was known for being scared by just about everything. If she had been more alert to how people perceived her she would have realized that the guards probably partially did it because it always netted them a polite response and a grin from one of the bustiest mares in town. Unfortunately for her and fortunately for them Fluttershy rarely seemed to notice the effect of her breasts. Thank you. Have a nice day, sir. She called as he flew off before closing the door and turning back to Spike.
Don't worry about it, Spike. The guards here are always pretty jumpy with how many odd things happen around here. They're always polite enough to come and check on me. She relied before going back to work. Fluttershy recalled when he had been just a cute little baby dragon that she would have cuddled eagerly. And like Zecora, I'm sure you'll be accepted. Speaking of her, she would probably like to see you. Fluttershy added before tensing when he approached her. Too much proximity to him was still just a bit unnerving. It's my pleasure, Spike. I will always do anything to help a friend. She added with a slight hint of nervousness in her voice.
human
Spike nodded there were a lot of ponies he wanted to see around town. Though it was good to think that eventually he would be fully accepted again. Even if he had left his original post as Twilight's assistant. He shook his head trying to not think about the pony that had made him overly frustrated, and rather went to ignoring the back of his head that was still full of doubt when it came to his decision about leaving her. It had been the right choice, and he had his own set of tasks now that were more important then watching Twilight forget about everything but her studies. "I'm sure that your right, the ponies around here really are a little crazy, and im sure it won't take long for them to adjust to me."
Hearing the worry in Fluttershy's voice snapped Spike out of his dazed thoughts, and he instinctively took a few steps away from her so that she could be less nervous. It was annoying but he was going to do his best to work along side Fluttershy even with her constant phobia of well him. Eventually he hoped that she would move past it. "Sorry." He said letting her take her time to adjust before going back to the floors which were now actually clean, Spike worked fast, though next he grabbed the pillows off of the couch and put them outside with the rug so he could beat them to get the animal fur off of it. If he was going to be sleeping on the couch he wanted to be a place he could sleep without the fear of sneezing and starting a fire. It was going to be difficult living in a house full of so much chaos and activity, but he just had to get used to it. "So Fluttershy..." He paused for a moment wanting to ask a rather personal question, but also feeling rather selfish about it. "Do you have a special somepony yet?" She was a mare getting on in years, and yet for some reason even as he asked the question aside from the awkward blush across his face he had the feeling like he already knew the answer to that question.
gpt
Despite the fact that the youngest of the Equestrian princesses no longer lived in Ponyville she had definitely left a reputation behind which was slightly colored when she became less friendly and more pompous as she got accustomed to her new role in the kingdom. Some people remembered the shy unicorn that had come to their town and brought all sorts of interesting events while a lot of the younger ones remembered the arrogant princess who had been too assured of her own intelligence to really listen to anypony else. Now that Spike was in town and his reputation and past in the town was so tightly tied to Twilight's Fluttershy had wondered if ponies would judge him based on her but more than likely once they realized that it was a pretty sweet, if intimidating, dragon they would come to accept him like they had Zecora despite the fact that when she first started coming to town people thought her to be an evil witch.
Fluttershy was a bit relieved when he seemed to notice the discomfort that came form being too close to him and stepped back. She felt bad that it made her so afraid but she just couldn't help herself right now. She quickly went back to work so that she didn't have to think about it and was just about to start on a meal for her bear friends when she tensed at his surprising question. She hadn't expected him to suddenly come out and ask a personal question like that. No... I, um, haven't really dated anypony since you and Twilight left. She replied nervously before following him outside with a bit of food for some of her outdoor animals.
human
Spike let out a subconscious sigh of relief for a moment when he heard that Fluttershy hadn't been seeing anypony since he had left town. It was bound to be less awkward that way, and in truth the selfish side of him, that part which was always present telling him to take what belonged to him and horde it all as a treasure, was telling him that it was for the best that Fluttershy was single after allshe was hisfriend. He shook his head such thoughts were often dangerous, and unhealthy. Especially for a dragon. friends were not possessions pony's were not items and the fact that he often had to remind himself of that was worrisome. Going outside he found a laundry line on which he hung the rug, and picked up his stick.
Spike started beating on the rug to loosen some of the fur and dust from it, it came off in waves, and as he beat it his eyes watched Fluttershy as she walked through the outdoors and did her rounds for the animals outside. He didn't say anything rather he just watched her for a moment. He sighed slightly moving around the backyard as he worked on finishing the task he had started and getting all the fur and dust out of the sofa's cushions. "Well I'm sure you will find somepony eventually, it's not healthy for a mare your age to be all alone." He said lightly while at the same time trying desperately to not seem rude. He gave a yawn and stretched out for a moment feeling his body want to sleep. He had been traveling so long and now that he had spent a good hour or two cleaning he was starting to feel very tired without realizing exactly how drained he was.
gpt
It was definitely weird in Fluttershy's mind to have the prospect of dating or having sex brought up to her like this. She wasn't the type of woman who really paid any attention to that sort of thing because she often found dating to be more of an excessive worry than anything else. The last person to ask her at all about the prospect of dating another pony was Rarity had considering how long ago the fashion designer had moved away she hadn't put any thought into this sort of thing at all. Right now Fluttershy was more than anything else wondering exactly what Spike was asking her about a thing like that. It was awkward to have the thought put back into her mind at the moment as she thought back to Rarity's comments about how she 'absolutely had to find a lover!' Rarity had never quite understood all of Fluttershy's social awkwardness.
Like always, when there was an awkward or nerve-wracking topic on her mind she buried it in her work and quickly got her attention on feeding the animals around her and making sure that they were all happy. She was crowded by larger animals of all sorts, some of whom seemed to pick up on her awkwardness and helped out by nuzzling her gently. I'm happy just how I am right now. Fluttershy insisted softly before frowning at the idea that it was unhealthy. Y-you can go to bed if you want. She added when she heard him yawn loudly.
human
Spike yawned and stretched again even as he started to gather the now much more clean items from the living room and started to reassemble the place. The dragon felt tired, and he agreed that he wanted some sleep. He knew that he was making Fluttershy nervous. He shook his head as he remade the couch. "I think your right, you should do what makes you happy Fluttershy." He said agreeing with her, though oddly while she said that she was happy, Fluttershy always seemed more lonely then happy.
Stretching out it was getting late into the evening and Fluttershy's duties often carried her well into the night. While he hardly thought it was fitting for an assistant to sleep most of the time when he should be assisting, he was simply too tired to really bother with it. "Good Night Fluttershy, I'll see you in the morning." He said as he got onto all fours around the couch, and then curled up into a soft ball. His tail resting lightly against his head as he curled up on the bed and closed his eyes. Soon a soft rumble of slumber overtook the dragon, and he was fast asleep his body some times twitching as he slept.
gpt
Fluttershy was happy to hear him confirm that she should just do what makes her happy. She found herself being less able to be afraid of him but still she was nervous at how dangerous a fairly grown-up dragon like him could be in a house filled with animals like hers. When he fell asleep Fluttershy walked slowly over to the couch and made sure that he was fully asleep before leaning in and kissing him gently on the cheek. I'm happy you're here, Spike. She said softly before quickly going back to work so that she could get to bed.
Just like how she tended to get to bed late she tended to wake up pretty early. It wasn't even 6:00 AM and she had already been up for a while working on her animals to make sure that her animals was happy. She had first ensured that her nocturnal friends were all happy before they went to sleep and then got to work on preparing food for the daytime animals that she had to deal with. She hummed softly to herself as she stood in the kitchen. Fluttershy was simultaneously preparing not only food for her animals but also some breakfast for her and Spike to eat when he emerged from his deep slumber.
human
When Fluttershy kissed spike his body seemed to curl up slightly tighter. though he didn't wake it was only a reaction from being touched in a way the dragon hadn't expected to feel anything on it's skin. Spike remained asleep for the rest of the night even when some rather brave and curious nocturnal animals landed on him and walked around on his scaled body. Spikes skin was thick enough that he didn't even notice the animals walking on him. However when Fluttershy started to make breakfast and moving around Spikes eye opened.
It was slowly at first that spike opened his eyes. He could smell food, and hear soft humming. Both were a rather delightful change from the way he had been waking up till that point. Slowly he unfurled and stretched as he got up. His back stretched and popped with powerful muscles, and spike got to his claws. He could never understand people who wanted to get up early, but then again Dragons were notoriously heavy sleepers. and Spike was no exception. Getting up to his feet he stood tall and erect yawn, as a bunch of smoke left his mouth. Walking into the kitchen Spike saw Fluttershy working. "Hello Fluttershy, what's for breakfast and how can I help." The dragon said still obviously tired, but at the same time wanting to help his friend through her morning rituals.
gpt
This was the kind of thing that made Fluttershy calm and happy. She loved to just fall into the patterns and routines of her life and go about her duties without having to worry about anything going wrong. She found an odd joy in doing the same thing that she had done for years below. Of course what she was doing right now was being made even better considering that she had excited animals moving around her as she worked on food for them as well as a meal that would satisfy her as well as her guest. Some of her animals chattered concern about him into her ear but she waved it all off. As nervous as Spike made her she still understood that he wasn't going to hurt her or any of her animal friends unless something extremely bad and drastic was to suddenly occur.
Fluttershy was too focused on what she was doing to notice when he woke up even with the pops of his muscles that were loud enough to cause several of the animals around him to scatter in surprise. Many of Fluttershy's animal friends were even less comfortable around him than Fluttershy was. When he entered the kitchen Fluttershy turned towards him and grinned awkwardly. Sorry for waking you, Spike. She apologized before giving him a quick grin. Oh, um, you could get the salad together for some of the animals if you want. Fluttershy added. Our food will be ready soon.
human
Spike moved slowly and carefully, still only just waking up. He nodded slightly when Fluttershy told him to make food for animals, and started working on a salad for them. Making sure to manuvure around Fluttershy and her friends so that he wasn't a threat to them, he was a slow start, but worked out quickly enough what he needed too do and where creating his work station and mixing greens. He noticed that the animals were all wary of him, but didn't really care after all Fluttershy seemed to be getting slowly over his fear of him. The animals would accept him as a care taker eventually, and if not well at least he would have Fluttershy's approval for the most part.
Setting down a few plates of food for different animals in door he smiled. "Breakfast is done little guys." He said even petting one of the smaller critters, which responded by bitting down on his claw. Spike couldn't even feel it, but at the same time still felt the resentment that came with the notion. "I'm sorry." He said pulling his hand away quickly pulling away his hand. He shook his head and then turned towards Fluttershy. "How did you sleep? I didn't snore or keep you up worrying or anything did I?" He asked wondering how Fluttershy felt sleeping in the same house as a Dragon. He was almost certain after what she had told him yesterday that lowering her defenses with him around must have been difficult.
gpt
Now that he was working on the salad Fluttershy was able to focus on a much smaller set of tasks which definitely was going to make the work that she had to do this morning a whole lot easier to finish. She made sure to keep close to the stove (or as close as she could with her massive breasts) so that she wouldn't have the problem of accidentally bumping into him and making everything more awkward. Her humming had died out now so there was silence as she worked on pancakes for her and Spike while simultaneously preparing a number of nut-based dishes for the small animals that were currently moving around her and squeaking excitedly at the idea of a Fluttershy-prepared meal for breakfast.
When he announced that the food was ready she looked over to see him feeding the adorable animals that had gathered around him. When a small mouse bit down on her hand Fluttershy glared at the tiny rodent. We don't do that to guests, Mr. Mouse. He is my friend and you will be nice to him. Fluttershy insisted firmly enough that the creature nodded in mild shame and then went back to eating. Fluttershy quickly began distributing nuts to her excited charges and then got to the step of making two stacks of pancakes with the one for Spike being far larger than her own. I slept wonderfully, Spike. You didn't keep me up at all. She lied. In fact there had been a few hours spent staring up at the ceiling in worry.
human
Spike let out a slight sigh as Fluttershy repremanded one of her animal friends. He understood why the mouse had bit him, and in truth it hadn't even hurt. If anything he was more worried about the mouses teeth then himself. Dragon scales were well known for their toughness and he had to wonder if the small creature would be okay. Looking at the meal Fluttershy made for him he laughed slightly. He didn't need that much food, though he was most certainly grateful for her attempt to make him feel full. He looked over at the pancakes and licked his lips slightly his stomach letting out a verbal growl."You didn't need to make that many. I may be big, but my stomach isn't that big." He said truthfully. "The way you're going about feeding me it makes it look like I could eat a full on pony." he said with a rather careless joke he took the stack all the same adding syrup and butter where needed though put some away for left overs in Fluttershy's fridge.
Spike was in a very good mood as he walked into the living room and took his seat. Today was the first step towards reassembling his old group of friends. "I'm glad to hear I didn't keep you up. I honestly would have hated to think that my prescience here worries you Fluttershy." He said knowing full well that she was lying to him. Fluttershy never really had much of a poker face, and in truth it was pretty easy too tell when she was uncomfortable. However he was hoping that the more he pretended like he didn't bother her, the more that would eventually become fact. "After breakfast we should head over to the farm." He said lightly as he worked towards eating his meal with a fork and knife trying to remain civilized.
gpt
The casual mention he made of being able to eat a full pony caused Fluttershy to tense for a moment in response. After a few deep breaths she managed to force herself to calm down but hearing him say that wasn't really doing wonders for her nervousness. She still felt awful that she could barely spend time around her dragon friend without getting anxious but she had to keep reminding herself that he probably understood after the story she had told. If she didn't get herself to stop worrying about worrying about him being there there was a good chance that it would have a compounding effect that wouldn't work out well for her. She had a number of animals who were already sticking closer to her after seeing how nervous she was.
Fluttershy's stack was far shorter than his but she had more than enough to keep herself satisfied for the morning. She followed him out into the living room and set herself down opposite him before starting to eat. Fluttershy's eating technique was an equally civilized focus on using the knife and fork like she always did. Sure, we can do that. I just have to check on a few quick animals. She replied before feeling a bit of silence form. How, um, is Peewee? I know that Twilight wasn't too keen on having a phoenix living with you two. The pegasus asked in an attempt to change the subject.
human
Spike blinked seeing that his words had inadvertently hurt Fluttershy and made her slightly more nervous than he had intended. He let out a long sigh and worked on eating his breakfast, but when Fluttershy mentioned Peewee Spike just felt a wave of long armed depression. He hadn't been allowed to keep the Pheonix, though he had wanted too raise it. He gave a small saddened look towards Fluttershy as he worked on eating his pancakes. They tasted great, but his mind was once again on more depressing topics.
"It takes a special license to be allowed to look after a phoenix. Back when we had met peewee i was too young to apply for it. Twilight got the paper work done, and Peewee my pet is being looked after by cadence and shining armor in the crystal empire." He said lightly wishing that he had been able to go back and get his pet. "I'm not allowed back there for the moment, after twilight..." He paused for a moment not wanting to say the real reason he was here, but at the same time he knew that Fluttershy probably already had guesses as to what had happened. "She sent me away, and told me to not come back."
gpt
Once she was sat down and focused on eating she had managed to finally start relaxing again. It was a struggle for her to keep calm and normal around Spike but Fluttershy was doing everything that she could to make sure that she would remain calm. She was extremely slow and delicate with her eating and tended to stop for a moment after popping each bite into her mouth to fully chew it up. She had often annoyed Rainbow Dash when they ate together at her slow pace but she liked to savor all of her food as much as she could.
Unfortunately for her she wasn't able to remain calm for long because only moments after the casual mention of his phoenix friend she looked up and was surprised to see an expression of sadness that formed on her face. Fluttershy was aware of the license that was needed to look after a phoenix due to the research she had done after the Philomena incident but when he pointed out that Peewee was with Shining Armor and Cadence she frowned. A gasp escaped her lips when he pointed out exactly what Twilight had done to make him leave. W-why would she ever say a thing like that? She blurted out.
human
There was a long pause for a moment as Spike looked at the ground. He knew the full story was what Fluttershy wanted to hear, but it wasn't a pleasant thing to remember. He shook his head slightly frustrated with the way he had handled himself, and the way that Twilight had taken to her job as well. Everything about the story was immature, and had resulted in one of the worst moments of his life. Still Fluttershy deserved an explination and he had gone this far, there was no way to just drop the conversation now.
"I torched her library." He said honestly. "Twilight had gotten worse. She wouldn't even leave her study anymore. Shining Armor and Cadence had both started to become annoyed and I was struggling just to make her eat. The crystal empire has... had a library with several books that were over a thousand years old spells the world hadn't seen or heard of since before the era of Celestia, and she was obsessed with learning all of it. So much so that she was willing to hurt herself. After a long talk with Cadence and her brother we all agreed that it was worth sacrificing a few volumes of books to try and save our friend from herself." He sighed knowing his punishment could have been far worse when he was dealing with an Alicorn like twilight. "So... I started a fire just to try and get her out of the library, and in return she banished me."
gpt
Fluttershy could still remember the first time that she had met Twilight and Spike and she remembered the two of them as being extremely close and friendly. She had known that part of that had simply been because he had been really her only friend other than Shining Armor but she could still tell that the friendship of the baby dragon had been pretty important to her. Now to see that it had all crumbled was pretty awful and saddening to her as she had for some reason assumed that they would end up being friends for a lot longer than that. Still, she knew that she had ot listen to this story despite how said and depressing it was obviously going to be. Just the night before she had saddled him with her sad tale of why she was afraid of dragons and now she was going to get to hear about why his surrogate mother and sister and decided to exile him.
The pegasus set a hand over her mouth to hide a gasp when he pointed out that he had torched the library. The story did become far more reasonable as he explained the situation. It made sense to her as it was all something that Twilight would definitely do but it was sad that she had totally cut herself off again in the pursuit of knowledge. Fluttershy took a deep breath before standing up. I'm sorry for that. You didn't deserve that. Fluttershy said softly and after steeling herself she embraced him gently from the side.
human
The last thing Spike had expected from Fluttershy was to be embraced by her, but it was also the thing he needed most. He turned into the hug and his arms wrapped lightly around her, making sure that if she felt too uncomfortable she could pull away easily enough, but at the same time he enjoyed the heat and sensation from pressing Fluttershy's chest lightly against his own. The fabric of his clothing pressing lightly against hers, as well as just feeling her breasts press into his chest like two rather large yet comfortable pillows. It was comforting though a little shocking as it came from the last person he thought would have been able to hug him.
Pulling back for a second Spike was practically shivering as he hugged Fluttershy. He looked at her face for a moment, his green eyes meeting her own saddened eyes though one of them was behind her bright pink hair. He took a long deep breath for a moment seeing a friend, and then knowing that his next move no matter what was going to change the way fluttershy saw him. He moved slowly knowing that he was probably going to frighten her either way. Then just closed his eyes and went for it, his lips pressed against Fluttershy's and in an instant he felt a mix of both happiness and a wild amount of regret. His soft lips pressed to hers for a moment before he pulled away, and sheepishly moved away from her. Part of his mind was screaming that in some way he had just ruined everything. ~She's afraid of dragons, and you just kissed her moron.~
gpt
Hugging Spike was definitely not an easy thing for her to do right now. It could be felt from the tenseness of her arms and the slight shudders that occasionally ran through her frame that part of her was trying to escape and panic from being so close to a real fire-breathing dragon who could rip her to shreds without much difficulty at all. Still she forced herself to not move away as right now her focus wasn't as much on her own comfort as it was on being a good friend He needed to be comforted after telling a story like that and she hoped that the feeling of her breasts resting against his body and the gentle embrace would get him to calm down. The shivering that she could feel from him was pretty saddening to her and drove her to know even more that she had to do what she could to comfort him after telling such a sad tale.
She was expecting him to react to her hug, but his final reaction was definitely something that she hadn't expected at all. Fluttershy saw him pucker his lips and her eyes quickly shot wide open when their lips met for a long moment. She could feel her entire body tense firmly and she trembled slightly for a moment before stumbling away and flapping her wings a few times to keep from falling over. She looked shocked at the situation but not offended. Romance wasn't something she really thought about. Her mouth opened and closed a few times but she was unable to get any words out.
human
Spike let out a long sigh feeling tension in his body for the first time in a long time he felt a wild amount of fear. He looked at Fluttershy unsure of what was going on through his mind, but knew that her animals were now taking notice. They were all staring at the two of them, and the moment of tension. The only saving grave here was that Fluttershy really didn't look hurt by his actions, just shocked that he would have done it. Spike bit his lip and got up from his seat, he was finished his breakfast not that it mattered at this point he kept expecting her to scream at him or tell him to get out.
"I'm..." He was about to say sorry, but he realized that it was kind of a lie, he had enjoyed the kiss for however brief it was. He didn't want to appologize for it, or make excuses about it. For however brief it was he had enjoyed it, and liked the feeling of Fluttershy against him. However right now it didn't feel safe in the small cottage the animals were glaring, and he knew that he had kind of violated Fluttershy's trust. "I'm gonna go for a walk." He got up and moved towards the door, he gave another look towards Fluttershy giving her one last chance to compose herself and say something, before he ran away and gave both of them some distance to think things over.
gpt
Fluttershy was a nervous mare, and the thing that made her the most nervous was when she was confronted with situations that she wasn't used to dealing with like this one. She had found the kiss to be a challenging thing to do in itself but having a kiss added to it had just made the situation more awkward and more nerve-wracking for her. She knew that her pulling away wouldn't make things look better but right now her mind was quickly running through thoughts as she tried to think up what to do in response. It had felt oddly good to have him press his lips against hers like that but at the same time he was undeniably a scary dragon who had been pretty forward.
When he went to leave she knew pretty quickly that she was going to have to do something about it or this could possibly cause some long-term damage to their friendship. After taking a deep breath she scurried over to walk beside him. H-how about I come with you? We could go visit Applejack now. She suggested in a nervous tone. Fluttershy just didn't want him to leave without discussing what had happened.
human
Spike nodded the idea of seeing Applejack was a calming one. It was actually where he had planned to run too in the first place, and while the kiss may have made things even more awkward than before he had still enjoyed it and seeing how there was no obvious disgust or anger in Fluttershy's tone and the fact that she was offering to walk with him it seemed that in some way he had managed to dodge a bullet. He swallowed lightly, "That sounds like a great idea thank you." He said opening the door, and walking outside into the bright sunny day.
It seemed that today's weather schedule was keeping the sky's clear much as they had yesterday. It was early summer after all so some good weather was to be expected around here. Still he took a long deep breath inhaling everything, and walked alongside Fluttershy. It was an awkward moment, and he realized for the second time now that he was actually taller then Fluttershy. Letting out a long sigh as he walked with her he smiled lightly looking towards Fluttershy he had no idea what she was thinking, but at the same time she was also not telling him to leave her. Feeling the sun on his scales he walked through the town feeling a light breeze. He was hoping that the more blunt applejack would be able to help break them free of the awkward zone. Walking towards Sweet Apple Acres the ponies of the town once again seemed too move out of the way for him, and avoid his gaze. He knew that he would have to talk about the kiss, but at the same time was struggling for the words. "I... uh... Thank you." He said quickly.
gpt
An awkward grin came when he thanked her for coming with him for the walk. She understood why he had inteded to leave but Fluttershy knew enough about social relationships that if the kiss was just left to hang in the air it would lead to some huge friction in their friendship despite friends being exactly what Spike needed right now. A few of the animals looked at her in surprise and after Angel chattered excitedly she turned and grinned at the bunny to tell the creature that she was going to be okay. Fluttershy had been thrown by his kiss but it hadn't been awful. Now that she was walking with him having the gentle breeze blowing on her was quite relaxing and helping her to again calm down around him. It's my pleasure. Fluttershy replied in a soft voice.
The walk was mostly silent the rest of the way and soon they arrived at Sweet Apple Acres. It didn't take long at all for the sound of hooves colliding with trees to alert the two of them to Applejack's position. The farmmare, dressed in denim shorts and a plaid shirt, turned towards the approaching footsteps and looked surprised to see the two of them approaching. Applejack wiped sweat off of her forehead before speaking. Well, Spike, I never thought I was gonna see you 'round these parts. How're ya doin'? The earth pony greeted.
human
Spike was naturally very tense. As much as he tried to not let his actions bother him he had taken a step that he honestly had never expected himself to take with anyone let alone someone as delicate as Fluttershy. Even though he was more then happy to walk along side her he didn't even know what to say, and by the time they reached the farm it seemed like it was almost too late to actually say something important. It was something he kind of regretted but for the moment he had to put it out of his mind as the two of them found Applejack. Still he was no less grateful towards Fluttershy and he showed that gratitude with the ocasional look, and happy smile even if he didn't really have any words for it.
Seeing Applejack and hearing her accent again made Spike let out a long sigh of relief. As with Fluttershy their was no anger in her voice just the same kind of shock that had originally accompanied Fluttershy when he had shown up at her door. he smiled and gave a small nod. "I've been..." A lot of words could easily come to mind, but also for all the awkwardness he felt still being around Fluttershy he was actually feeling better just being around friends. "I've been good actually Applejack, and I know I never thought I would see these parts ever again either." He said looking around Sweet Apple Acres and enjoying the smell of farm land. "I'm glad I'm back."
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The farm had been doing extremely well in the time since he and Twilight had left to go and study in the Crystal Empire. They had enjoyed a series of consecutive great harvests that had allowed them to spread out of Ponyville and start getting their crop moved around Equestria. Their cider became a rare drink equivalent to a bottle of wine from the finest and most exclusive winery. It had only gotten better when Princess Celestia had started placing large orders for their product. Soon every stuffy unicorn that had formerly looked down on them as being nothing but carnival fare was eager to get a pie from them. Applejack and Big Mac were rolling in the bits and had used much of it to make the farm even bigger.
Nice ta see ya too, Flutters. How's the animals? Applejack asked as she leaned casually back against a tree. Oh, they're lovely. Fluttershy replied as Applejack's attention moved back to the dragon that she hadn't seen in quite a long time. She could tell that he had grown up but Applejack didn't have any problem at all with adult dragons as long as they weren't trying to kill her. Applejack didn't seem to catch any of the awkwardness in when his voice faded out. That's good ta hear. Where's Twi? Is that egghead with ya? Applejack asked without paying attention to Fluttershy shaking her head slightly in the hope that it would communicate to the farmer that she shouldn't mention Twilight.
human
Spike had to admire the new land that had been acquired for the apple family farm. Seeing how successful they had became while he was away was refreshing. Unlike Fluttershy who seemed to have become alone and scared even more so without her friends, it was actually refreshing too see that one of his friends had done well for herself. Then however she mentioned Twilight, and suddenly Spike's shoulders sank. He tried his best to not be affected, but honestly after everything that had happened he looked over the Farm mare and just gave in, Sitting down for a moment his heavy body hitting the ground hard enough for him to feel it in his legs.
Spike shook his head, "No she won't be joining us." He said clearly with a bit of disdain for her. It was hard to hate someone who you regarded as close family, but after all that Twilight had put him through it was easy to dislike her. "It's actually just me, and will be for a while. Twilight's probably still in the library of the crystal empire rejecting everything around her except some book she wants to learn from." His voice carried clear echo's of dissatisfaction. "Sorry, It's a sour note at the moment. Twilight has gone full egghead, and I'm currently banished from the crystal empire because of it." He said he had told Fluttershy all of this before, and just wanted Applejack to be caught up to date on the current events.
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Moments after she asked about Twilight Applejack not only noticed Fluttershy's attempts to get her to shut up about it but also noticed that he obviously didn't want to talk about the topic. She had a tendency to be a bit forward in her language and she was about to apologize but she wasn't sure what to say considering that she didn't know what the situation behind this whole thing was. She recalled that Twilight had again been secluding herself from her friends in the time before she had left but she had no idea how that would lead to Spike being sent to Ponyville on her own. She had been hoping he would have a message from Twilight but right now she could tell that his reason for coming was definitely far less happy.
The obvious distaste for Twilight in his voice was pretty shocking to Applejack and she ended up frowning slightly as she listened to the sad tale of what had happened between him and Twilight Sparkle. Fluttershy stayed as close as she could without getting nervous to provide him with some support for the extent of his unhappy story. Applejack stepped in and gave him a one-armed hug when his story came to an end. I'm sorry ta hear that, Spike. Twi changed a bunch after she become a princess. I bet she'll be back ta normal and askin' for you to come back pretty soon. The earth pony commented.
human
The hug from Applejack wasn't at all like the one he had gained from Fluttershy. The difference in strength for one was immediately apparent, and also unlike with Fluttershy there wasn't anything beyond the friendship at least from what he felt at the moment. He was quick to bounce back at the idea that Applejack was right, and things would just end up working out okay. It was a pleasing thought, and so it was one that he was quick to latch onto. There were however other things that he needed to talk about. The kiss was certainly one of the things added to his list as he stole a guilty glance towards Fluttershy but there were other reasons as well. There was something a little darker that he needed to talk about.
"I hope your right." He said happily standing back up. The earth pony was always one of the people he could look to for optimism, and was more then happy to have her back in his life. Even if they were still a few people short having them back was strengthening Spike's resolve little by little. Spike glanced between Fluttershy and Applejack. "Till then however I am pretty sure I am staying in town, and well." He wanted to say that it was good to have a friend who wasn't afraid of him, but at the same time Fluttershy was right next to him, and he stole another look at the nervous Pegasus. There was a look of caring mixed into his glance. "I will be acting as Fluttershy's assistant for the time being, but I'm also on a bit of a journey to try and check up on everyone else." He said with a bright grin. Eventually he needed to get all of them back together, he just had no idea how to do that without telling them the truth.
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Applejack had nearly crushed some of her less fit friends in the past with her strong hug but considering what a tough dragon Spike had grown up into she didn't draw back the impressive strength in her arm at all. She had known that Twilight had relapsed into her asocial behaviors like before she had moved to Ponyville with a small dash of extra arrogance and pompousness. She had started to get really annoyed with Twilight in the months before she left to go study in the Crystal Empire but that didn't mean that she didn't feel bad that she had lot a friend. She and Twilight had been so close but like all of her other friends could attest Twilight couldn't rectify her old self with her new royal duties and status. They had even tried sending letters to Celestia telling her what Twilight was getting like but even the words of Twilight's favorite mentor hadn't been enough to get Twilight to go back to how she had been in the past.
One the hug was over Applejack pulled back and glanced over her fields for a moment before turning her attention back to Spike. She was happy to have the company of the dragon right now even if she could tell that Fluttershy's dragon fear was affecting her right now. Yer helpin' Flutters out. Ya know, if ya need more work I could always use a bit o' help here on the farm. I know Fluttershy'll keep ya mighty busy but if you've got the time I could use the help. The earth pony suggested. Oh, and if yer lookin' ta talk ta RD, she's gonna be 'round these parts pretty soon when the Wondbolts tour finishes up.
human
Spike let out a small laugh hearing the way Applejack asked for his help. Fluttershy's schedual of work was very demanding but she had also said that she did most of the set up for it every other day. In all truth he could probably act as an assistant to both the farm pony and Fluttershy. "I could do that." He said truthfully. It wasn't much of a problem however he did have a coy smile about his face. "Of course that depends on how much the farm is willing to pay for a set of willing claws. I mean Fluttershy pays me with the occasional meal, and room and board." His greed showing through a little in the moment as he leaned against an apple tree.
His eyes widened for a moment, Dash was coming back? That was surprising news, and something even Fluttershy hadn't known. It wasn't all that surprsing that Applejack had a stronger connection with the other pony considering that they were always competing with one another. Still to hear that Dash was coming back and sooner than he had originally anticipated seeing her. He had originally thought that in order to see her he would have to go all the way to Rainbow Falls or one of the other Wonderbolt's bases. Blinking he was a little more than shocked to find out things were moving so quickly. Even so, even when they collected Rainbow and Rarity there would still be one missing. "I'm surprised to hear that she is coming back so soon. I thought for sure that she would have gone back to Cloudsdale." He looked towards Fluttershy slightly expecting her to be hurt by the fact that applejack was privy to some knowledge about their sporty friend that she wasn't. He knew he couldn't really comfort her, but at the same time moved a little closer towards Fluttershy just incase she needed him. Fluttershy was the more sensitive person around.
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There weren't a lot of strong, fit ponies who didn't have jobs to distract them in Ponyville so there were occasional times that Applejack ran a bit short on the kind of help that she needed to deal with the larger harvests that she had continued to have. She had never worked with a dragon before but she could tell that Spike was muscular enough to deal with the solid apple trees that filled the farm. She grinned when he pointed out that he would be willing to help and then let out a short laugh at him amending that his payment would of course be important. I'll give ya some spendin' money for yer help. I'll pay ya like I pay all of my other hired help. Applejack assured him.
Fluttershy knew that Dash was going to be stopping by town for a while as well so she didn't seem surprised at all but Applejack's announcement. She was happy herself to have her longtime friend coming home for a while so that they could hang out. She ain't stayin' here for long, but Dashie told me that she wants ta spend some time with us. She's stoppin' by for 'bout a week and then headin' back to one of the Wonderbolts bases for some more trainin' and what not. Applejack explained with a small shrug. She was excited to see the new Wonderbolt come home so they could spend some time together. I'm sure she'll be mighty excited ta see you when she gets here.
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Spike smiled and nodded at the idea of making some spending money. Oddly enough he wasn't actually used to getting paid for his work, rather when he had worked as a life long assistant for Twilight it hadn't even been an allowance, he was given the occasional coin to spend, but it was much more along the lines of slave labor. Now that he had returned to ponyville he had the prospect of a job some money, and a place to stay and what was more important was that these things felt like he had earned them not simply been given them. "Sounds like a deal to me." He said taking Applejack's hand and shaking it lightly as he smiled. He didn't mind working for the same rate as the other helping hands, heck it actually made him feel a little better about fitting in.
So Rainbow was only coming back for a week? Spike said a little shocked that it wasn't longer, but at the same time that worked out perfectly. If he moved quickly he could gather back all of his friends during that week. Then they could all know the other part of the truth. It wasn't lying if they simply didn't know that there wasn't anything they needed to worry about right? He scratched nervously at the back of his head justifying it in his head. "Either way it will be good to see her." He said happily. "Now if we could just figure out what happened to Pinkie." He said wondering if he could write a letter convincing Rarity to come into town for a bit. She had traveled around before he didn't see why she wouldn't now.
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Fluttershy showed off that she was happy with the deal that Applejack had made with a small smile. She knew that feeding and housing Spike would be a bit pricey due to the large amount of food that a dragon would eat so it was nice to know that Applejack would handle some more of his income. Fluttershy new that Applejack was probably the most fair and honorable mare in town so the chance of her abusing or exploiting Spike was almost nonexistent. Fluttershy was also happy to know that she wouldn't always have Spike at her house looking for things to do to keep himself occupied. She liked Spike quite a lot and knew she would warm up to him eventually but right now she couldn't help but feel that him being there all the time would be a bit much.
I agree. Dash's off every day with those Wonderbolts. I ain't gotten a letter from her in weeks. Applejack commented before her own smile widened at the sight of Fluttershy's contained excitement at her friend returning home for at least a week. She knew Dash and Fluttershy were close even if the two of them didn't like to talk about it. Applejack frowned at the mention of Pinkie Pie. Good luck on that one, Spikey. Nopony's seen that mare since she suddenly left. The Cakes told me the twins didn't stop cryin' for a week.
human
Spike laughed at being called Spikey, no one had used his pet names in many years, and while he felt that he had grown a lot the addition was not something he was going to deny. Actually coming from Applejack he had rather enjoyed it. Though hearing that no one had seen the party pony in a very long time, was distressing it wasn't really anything they didn't already know. There weren't many places that Pinkie would travel too however, and the people that she would have gone too were few and far between. While spike could guess at where she had gone he had no actual idea if his guess was correct on the matter, and applejack was right no one had seen her in a very long time.
"Well I'm duty bound to try and figure that one out, but there is still time to work those questions over." He said lightly rubbing his jaw as he worked on the mystery that had become Pinkie Pie. All of her friends leaving the town had definitely affected her. Pinkie wasn't exactly the most stable, he could still remember the interrogation she had given him the last time she thought all of her friends had abandoned her. "Oh!" Spike's eyes lit up for a moment with a question hitting his mind. "Did Applebloom ever get her Cutiemark? And how is Grannysmith? she must be pushing over a hundred by now."
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Pinkie Pie's sudden disappearance had been a pretty big shock to the town. All that they had from her was a letter that she had sent about a week after she disappeared that confirmed only that she hadn't had anything bad happen to her and had left on her own accord. Nopony knew why she had left or where she was going so eventually the quest to get her to come back had come to a gradual end. The Cakes still talked occasionally about how they missed the wild party pony and the twins would occasionally comment that their new babysitter wasn't as good as their old one. Most of the town missed Pinkie Pie but that didn't mean that they had been able to get her to come back home.
I certainly hope you find her. I still have some of my animals asking for a Pinkie Pie cupcake occasionally. Fluttershy commented in a soft voice before looking down at the ground with a hint of sadness. Pinkie, like Dash, had been one of the ponies that had stood between her and being a total shut-in who only head into town to do shopping. It was a bummer to have the both of them gone. Yep, Applebloom picked up a cutie mark not long afta you and Twi left. That girl got a cutie mark in carpentry and since then she's been buildin' all sorts of stuff around the farm. Granny's still kickin' as well, but she's even more cantankerous in her old age.
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Spike nodded lightly he had every intention of finding the pink party pony. Sadly it was probably gonna be a bit of a quest. He scratched the back of his head and laughed a little when he heard that the apple family was working strong, and that Granny smith had some how become even more stubborn in her old age. He had to admit that he felt a little excited at the prospect of working the farm along side Applejack. Not only would it give him money but he also relished the oppertunity to use his strength, and actually work. The jobs around fluttershy's animals while necessary were also more delicate than working an orchard, and he needed a physically demanding workload both as a dragon, and just to keep his claws out of trouble in general.
"Sounds like the family must keep your hands full. So then Applejack when would you like me to start working?" He turned towards Fluttershy giving her a light smile he still hadn't forgotten about the kiss or how awkward his life had become after the last few minutes. "And also do we have any errands we need to run today while it's still the afternoon? I noticed that we were running low on a few things." He said remembering that Fluttershy had said she needed to get some more food into the house especially now that she was dealing with one more large animal.
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I definitely do. You might wanna find all of those old crusaders 'round town. I know those gals liked yer company quite a lot. Sweetie Belle seemed t' miss ya when you headed off with Twi. The farm mare explained as she leaned back against the trunk of the powerful free. Applejack wasn't the type to give herself a lot of breaks so having one basically formed onto her by this conversation was kind of nice. As much as she would like to think so she couldn't do the whole farm in one go, especially these days. Having Spike's help would be a great assistance in getting all of the harvesting done at a good pace.
It would be great if ya could start someone tomorrow. Mac and I 're gonna talk about what needs ta be done later tonight so we'll make a plan for the rest of the harvest with you in mind. Could ya come around here at around 11 tomorrow? The farm mare suggested. We do have a few shopping stops to make. I could use some more food for my friends. I should also go talk to Zecora soon about some things I need. The pegasus added.