Rarity

In the afternoon light of the sun, Rarity worked on a new dress for a famous client in Fillydelphia. It was a short nylon dress, sapphire blue in colour, decorated with all manner of bright sequins and glass beads that brought out its shine. A sash tapered at the front, across the chest and draped over the top all the way to the back, accentuated the curves of the pony who would wear it.

The seamstress heard a gentle rapping at the door as her horn levitated the final touches onto the ensemble, a gorgeous decorative brooch of bronze. Rarity looked up from her work and sighed, set aside her nearly finished masterpiece and stretched to relieve her back of the strain. I wonder who that could be on a day such as this. She removed her sewing glasses and placed them neatly into their case.

Pushing herself up from her work desk, the white unicorn trotted over to the mirror by her bed to make sure she was presentable. It was a lovely antique mirror, which she bought from an auction in Manehattan two years prior. The frame was of a red mahogany; the edges carved into a circle with the inside chiselled to create a whirl pattern, which aided in drawing attention to the other décor within her house. Much of her furniture was shaped in the same way, magenta coloured tables and sofas and chairs, a large yellow flower painted on the table top downstairs. Fabrics and cloth and strings of wool were strewn about the floor of her workroom in a way that Rarity described as ‘organized chaos’.

Finding her mane in a fabulous state of perfection, Rarity descended the staircase and opened the door with her magic. “Why hello there, Twilight,” Rarity said with a happy wave and smile at greeting her friend on a sunny day like today. “This is a surprise. To what do I owe the pleasure of seeing you?”

Twilight was of a size, age and maturity with her; an alicorn – having wings and a horn like Princess Celestia, Luna and Cadence – she had a lavender coat and indigo coloured mane, with an even deeper purple line of colour and some pink running down the middle. Her mane and tail were kept trim, neat and tidy, her indigo bangs hanging at the sides of her face. Twilight’s form was slender, but a healthy figure that Rarity could relate to; the scholarly princess’ sharp eyes betrayed no troubled emotion as they sparkled in the light of Celestia’s sun. Her cutie-mark was a multi-pointed star, symbolizing her love of arcane spells and incantations. As Rarity studied the astute mare briefly, Twilight smiled and waved at the unicorn.

“Hi Rarity, I’m stopping by to tell you that Spike is coming back.” Rarity’s ears perked up at hearing this, her interest piqued. “I’ve told Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash and they’re off to tell Applejack and Fluttershy. Come on, they’ll all be at the train station shortly.”

“Of course, I will be right there.” Rarity darted back into the boutique and magicked a large beige sun hat from her closet onto her head. “Ready!” she sung, trotting back out to stand in front of the lavender alicorn. “Lead the way, my dear.”

The day was clouding over slightly as they made their way to the station, but some sun still managed to shine down upon the earth. Twilight was taking this time to tell the fashionista all of what she had read of Spike’s letters; mostly about quests and adventures in foreign lands, some sounded more frightful and some more stressful than others. Rarity listened with one ear and thought to herself of all the time that had passed between them.

It was quiet in Ponyville, compared to other, more developed cities, but Rarity had been hitting a bit of a breakthrough with her new line. She couldn’t wait to tell Spike about all of the dresses she was making. Several up and coming celebrities in fashion heard about her skill with sewing three years before and ordered numerous styles. Rarity could barely keep up, but most were finished by now and she was on a vacation of sorts.

She raised her head and noticed the station in the distance; a small situation to be sure, very quaint. A ramp on either side led up to the platform, shade being given off from the overhanging thatched roof of the ticket purchasing building. Poles were placed at the front of the platform to bear the weight of the roof so it did not collapse on some unsuspecting arrivals or departures. A sign hung off from the roof, with a painting of a train on the piece of wood. There was a purple door placed off to the left, which led into the building, with a window off to the right side.

Rarity’s grin dropped by a few inches as she remembered saying a sad farewell to the dragon at this station four years ago. She knew the reason for his sudden departure, but that didn’t make her feel much better about it. Rarity almost hadn’t been present for the farewell, but was glad to have come at the last minute.

Upon arriving at the station, the seamstress spotted the others standing on the platform awaiting Spike’s train. “I sure am excited to see Spike again after all these years. How about you, Rarity?” Twilight asked, tilting her head to look at the white unicorn.

“Of course, dear.” Rarity responded, ascending the ramp of the station and slowing down, so as not to trip on the wooden floorboards by mistake. “It’s been so long since we’ve seen him, I can’t wait to hear all about what he has been doing with himself.”

Twilight giggled beside her friend. “He’s been quite busy I hear, from all the letters he and the princess have sent me. He hardly has any time to relax anymore.”

Rarity smiled back at the lavender pony. “This should be a welcome respite for him then, indeed. I hope he hasn’t been pushing himself too hard.”

“Can you believe it?” Rarity heard Rainbow Dash shout from in front of them. She was a pegasus with a cyan coat and messy rainbow mane and tail, her trademark look; her cutie-mark was a cloud with a streak of lightning containing the three primary colours. Rarity was always trying to tidy her mane up and make her look fabulous, but the stubborn pony always refused her offers. “I can’t wait to see him and give him a noogie.” The white unicorn saw Rainbow give a small representation of what that would look like, using her left hoof as Spike’s head as the other hoof gave it a noogie. Her face scrunched up, a few wrinkles forming above her eyes. Not very becoming at all

“Ooh ooh, I can’t wait to see little Spike again either! There are so many things we need to catch up on with him, and so many things he needs to catch up on with us!” cried Pinkie, hopping up and down sporadically. Three balloons adorned her flank, two blue with a yellow string and one yellow with a blue string, symbolizing her addiction to parties, candy and making ponies feel welcome and happy.

Always excitable and playful, the pink pony with the magenta mane and tail was just as elusive with mane care as Rainbow Dash. Try as she might, Rarity could never seem to tame Pinkie’s hair for long, either by it poofing back to its usual fluffiness or Pinkie taking in a deep breath and blowing into her hoof, which elicited the same affect. Although at times, Rarity thought Pinkie Pie showed a bit more interest in fashion than the pegasus and she resolved to test it by teaching the earth pony to sew. After two years, she still seemed to be enjoying it.

Twilight chuckled, as the two mares joined the larger group. “Well, according to his last letter, I don’t think you’ll be able to call him ‘little’ anything anymore, that’s for sure.”

“Yes, he’s probably grown quite a bit over the years.” Rarity’s face drooped slightly at hearing herself say that. She huffed and paced around a little beside the group. “Oh, this won’t do at all. What’s happened to my little Spikey-Wikey? Oh no! I’ll have to come up with a new nickname for him too.”

“Ooh ooh, like what?” Pinkie asked, suddenly bouncing along with the white unicorn.

“I’m not sure at the moment,” said the fashionista, stopping to place a hoof to her chin in serious thought, but she came up with nothing off the top of her head. “You’ll have to give me some time, I think; and of course I will have to see him first to gain an appropriate appreciation of his size. He’ll always be little Spikey-Wikey to me, though.”

“I wonder if his wings have come in yet,” Fluttershy said, flapping her wings to stay aloft as she rubbed her forelegs together gently. A pegasus as timid as a mouse, Fluttershy was the mother of all pet owners. She had so many animals to take care of it astounded Rarity. She even took care of Opalescence, Rarity’s own white cat, no small feat by any means. She didn’t understand how she did it, honestly, but she was glad for her aid all the same. Fluttershy’s coat was yellow, while her mane and tail were a light pink. For her cutie-mark, she had three pink butterflies, showing her love and care of the pets she kept.

“He’s a foreign ambassador of the princess. Ah think he’d need ta have wings.” Applejack retorted, smiling at the timid pegasus. Applejack repositioned her Stetson to account for the change in the angle of the sun’s rays.

Rarity had an even worse time with Applejack than both Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash. The orange mare was always gallivanting through mud and muck and grime; her attitude toward dirty hooves and untidy manes was astonishing to say the least. Though Rarity tried to forgive that, after seeing Applejack actually enjoy the dresses she made for her, especially at the wedding four years ago. The white unicorn figured that was enough. After all, at times country fashion was accepted readily by many influential ponies. She had a few freckles on her cheeks, a broad jaw and a thin, short nose. Her mane and tail was yellow, tied up at the ends with red bands to hold the hairs together; Applejack’s cutie-mark was three red delicious apples and her Stetson was never far from the top of her head.

“Here he comes!” Twilight announced suddenly, pointing a hoof at the approaching train.

The ponies gathered together in anticipation as the train halted at the station. The doors opened and passengers trotted out, all but Spike seen leaving the passenger cars. Ponies in blue with purple manes, green with magenta, white with pink, but no green and purple dragon. The ponies appeared tense, relieved to be off the train, Rarity raised an eyebrow in slight worry. Did something happen? Oh, I hope Spike is alright. “Last call for departure!” the train conductor shouted as he walked along the side of the train, about to close the doors for the return trip.

“Wait! Hold on.” Rarity’s ears perked at the voice emanating from the train. I know that voice. A bit deeper, but there’s certainly no mistaking it. Rarity tilted her head above and around her friends to catch a glimpse of who it was. It was obvious to her who had spoken, yet it did not take away from the excitement. The conductor stood a few feet back from the door. He seemed startled to her, or, frightened. “Sorry, it’s difficult to get to the door without smashing into the seats.”

Rarity smiled brightly as she saw the conical purple scales and green spines as the creature disembarked from the train, but the size and scale was out of proportion with how she remembered. He was huge. Spike stood before the group, towering over them, much to the surprise of everypony. He was roughly eight feet-long, from head to tail and five feet-tall from the ground up, a head taller than either Rarity or the ponies around her.

He was on all fours now, most likely unable to support his own weight on two legs anymore. The scales along his body and spines down his back were much longer now, more rigid and sharp; however, they seemed smooth and aerodynamically designed to cut down on drag while in the air. His head was more elongated and primal, looking more like the adult dragons that ponies feared.

He was still far from being fully grown for his kind and his robust chin and sharp ears made him look far more handsome than any other dragon Rarity had encountered. She noticed that a pair of leathery wings now lay across his back, almost like a purple cape. His claws were much longer as well, fearsome truthfully, as they gleamed in the sunlight. Nonsense, thought Rarity, there’s nothing frightening about Spike at all. He’s always been a sweetie and growing up should not have changed that.

“Here he is, Rainbow Dash.” Rarity heard Applejack whisper behind her. “Go on, give ‘em a noogie.” As the purple dragon’s tail whipped back and forth along the floorboards of the train station, Rarity noticed that spikes had developed at its tip. That gave her pause, before Pinkie Pie cantered ahead of the group.

“Wee! Spike is back!” shouted Pinkie Pie, leaping up and grabbing Spike around his broad neck in a tight hug.

“Whoa! Pinkie!” Spike jerked back slightly on reflex at the pink blur zooming up to him, but he threw his arms up and caught her before she fell. His eyes were wide as he stared down at the pink pony. She smiled back obliviously in his arms. “It’s good to see you too. It’s been so long.” The foreign diplomat let her down after a few seconds, looking a little awkward.

“And look at you. You grew a lot in four years. Even when sitting down you’d be taller than all of us, and look at those claws.” Rainbow laughed. “Had any practice with them yet?” Spike replied with a smile and a shake of his head.

“It’s really good to see you again, Spike.” Twilight trotted over and hugged Spike loosely. She stared up at him as she spoke. “Did you get all of my letters? I was beginning to worry about you.”

Spike looked a little sheepish, scratching the back of his neck with a clawed hand. “Yeah, I did see them. Sorry about that, after my wings developed I’ve had more and more work to do. Princess Celestia was behind in her diplomatic relations with the western and southern nations, so she had me flying over in her place.”

“Oh my,” Fluttershy whispered, “your wings look wonderful. When did you get them, Spike?”

“Oh, about two years ago they sprouted, but they grew in quickly. I was flying in no time.” He stretched his right wing for emphasis and so everypony could see how they had developed. It was then that Spike looked up and over them to see Rarity. She could only stare at him, as she stood in the same place she had waited for the train to arrive. Her friends had trotted up to greet him, but Rarity was rooted to the platform now.

Spike smiled bashfully at the unicorn and waved a clawed hand at her, removing her from her daze. Rarity blinked and blushed slightly at the silence between them, she waved back. Little Spikey-Wikey indeed.

“Well then, Spike, you and I will have to have a race at some point. We’ll see who’s the fastest.” The cerulean pegasus was flapping her wings, aloft above him with a smirk on her face.

Spike chuckled lightly. “I’m sure it’ll still be you Rainbow Dash, but I’ll give it all I have. It’s not every day you can race a dragon without being eaten, right? I may not be as fast as you, but I can surely fly greater distances, even farther than griffins. I suppose that’s why the princess wanted me to be her foreign ambassador.”

“Are ya sure it’s not because of the things about friendship ya learned with us, Spike? Ah’m sure that had something to do with it.” Applejack grinned at him.

“I guess so. Being here did aid in some of my quests away from Canterlot.”

“Do tell; I hope none of those quests went awry.” Rarity spoke up, finding her voice and her hooves. She trotted up and gave Spike a welcome back hug. She found that it was difficult to wrap her hooves around him completely now, but she managed. “And I see you’ve been building some muscle while away.” He certainly has.

Spike’s cheeks turned a lovely shade of crimson, an absurd and utterly adorable colouration for a dragon, Rarity noted. He returned the hug and gave a nervous chuckle. “Yeah, it comes with the job I suppose. Flying all over the place and helping with heavy lifting at times certainly helped in that regard. Princess Celestia has me on a schedule for that, just so I’m not straining myself on the long flights.”

“Well, that’s great news, Spike.” Applejack replied with a tip of her hat. “Perhaps me, you and Rainbow Dash should have a friendly competition sometime. Ah wanna see your strength first hoof, same as her.”

He nodded back. “Sure. Though maybe we should find somewhere out of the way; I don’t know my full strength yet. Anyway, none of those quests became out of claw. In fact, I really enjoyed most of them. Although I thought that many of the ponies or griffins or zebras I saw were a little intimidated by me. That was probably a factor in it as well.”

Rarity frowned. How could anypony be so insensitive? They don’t even know him. She imagined Spike having to go through what had happened with the conductor all over Equestria. Don’t you listen to any of them. You look wonderful. The fashionista wanted to say what she’d thought, but instead she retorted, “Funny you should mention that. I was just telling the girls how I will have to come up with another nickname for you. I mean I cannot call you ‘little’ anymore, or ‘Spikey-Wikey.”

Spike gave Rarity a strange mixture of reactions: surprise, confusion, hesitation and alarm. “No, that’s okay. I don’t mind. I kind of like the nickname you gave me, even if it doesn’t really suit me anymore.”

He smiled warmly at the unicorn, a slight blush covering his cheeks. The others grinned as Spike answered, Rarity’s heart fluttered in her chest. She wasn’t accustomed to the dragon returning her compliments. “Well, I suppose, if you’re really fine with it.” He still has the good heart of my little Spikey-Wikey.

Twilight took a step forward, standing in front of Spike and looking to each of her friends in turn. “Alright girls, I know it’s been awhile since we’ve seen him, but I think we should continue to catch up back in town.”

“Ooh ooh! Yeah, that’s a great idea!” Pinkie said. She was hopping up and down at the edge of Rarity’s peripheral vision; the seamstress was still trained on the dragon, unable to believe how much he had changed.

Rarity shook her head and smiled at the group. “Why, yes, Spike you’ve just arrived. We should catch up later, after you’ve had time to rest from your long journey over here.”

“Good idea, Rarity,” Twilight said. “We’ll make some plans back at the library.”

Author's Notes:

Good afternoon readers,

Here's the second chapter for the story. This is where things really kick off, so to speak. The first chapter is more of a setup for the rest of the chapters, so I hope you enjoy it. I have the drawing for this chapter almost finished; I merely need to colour in the backgrounds and such, then I shall post it to Deviantart.

If any of you are wondering, the reason for having the chapter names that of characters is because it is in that character's perspective. These first two are in Rarity's point of view, so only Rarity's thoughts can be heard and only things she sees can be shown. Later chapters will have different perspectives of course.

Not much else to say here. I really enjoyed writing this chapter (all of Rarity's chapters were fun to write) and I hope you all love reading it.

Thanks and ta ta.