Normal days tend to be a occurrence that can draw itself out into a normal week, a time of casual smiles filled with opportunities to get work done and take the time to appreciate the simple pleasures life can bring.

For Spike, a normal day would always consist of assisting Twilight Sparkle, his beloved guardian, and having chances of entertainment and the promise of seeing friendly faces spread out across his waking hours; on days he counted himself to be lucky he would be granted the chance to interact with the mare of his dreams, Rarity. Things were simple and pleasurable, a life that he felt ponies everywhere could dream of having.

However, at the ethereal hooves of a single emotion, it had all changed. Simplicity had shattered and was gradually falling away, uncovering something the baby dragon couldn't yet understand. Even as he stood stock still and silent in front of the very library he made his home in, he could not find a coherent thought anywhere in his head.

Spike finally brought himself out of the haze of disbelief to try and come to terms with what had happened. Things like this had happened before, but this time it was different. There had been situations in which Twilight would nuzzle his cheek and even kiss him in some nondescript spot on his head, but nothing like this had ever occurred. It had never been that direct, that lasting of an experience. There was never any need to blush, never any need to question anything that had previously happened as anything other than an act of simple gratitude.

'It's never been like this before.'

A single claw went to brush against his still warm lips, sending resounding jolts through his nerves in a testament to his memory being factual. As the memory surged so did the sensations, once again, it was almost a sensory overload for the young dragon. The heat that would run through his body and somehow freeze it like glacial fire centered from Twilight's lips. It was like Spike had become a superconductor for some unknown force that wrenched him apart molecule by molecule and scrambled his thoughts into a state of disarray that could rival even the spirit of chaos. It was something he'd felt somewhere before, but where?

"Oh, my little Spikey-Wikey!"

"Spike, I just want you to know that I'm proud of you."

"Rarity!" He shouted, scaring off a single bluejay that had played as the singular audience to the spectacle that had just recently erupted. Urgency took over his body, temporarily washing away his stupor as he jolted his head to stare upwards at the sun. It still hung lazily in the sky as the obvious totem of high noon reminding Spike of his promised duties.

He scrambled to the his feet and began to steadily walk towards Carousel Boutique. Spike did his best to concentrate on the job he would be accosted with, however not a minute had gone by before he turned his gaze over his shoulder towards the library. Everything about the building was still, a false tranquility to mask the recent eruption. Spike's teeth clenched and his whole body turned to face the stolid oak, wanting, needing some sort of sign of movement. The more he stared the more his insides seemed to shift and contract. "Come on", he told himself, "move!"

Spike clenched his claws hard enough to perforate the tender scales lining his palm and took a single step towards his home, towards Twilight. It would have worked, he knew it would have, he would have gone inside and figured everything out with Twilight. However, as it is bound to, history repeated itself. Spike felt his chest grow heavy and cold as something inside him faltered and cracked into some endless abyss down in the pit of his pudgy stomach. He couldn't do it, he couldn't and he knew it.

Spike sighed in defeat and sank into his cynical nature as he turned away from the library, dragging his tail with every step. "I'm hopeless", he sighed, "a hopeless baby dragon who can't tell the mare of his dreams how he feels." He kicked a rock, sending it tumbling into the leg of a bench where a pegasus of deep violet lay unconscious over a bedraggled chestnut colored colt. Their lives, at least for what Spike knew, must have been as easy as his once was. He watched the two toss and turn slightly before returning to his steady trudge.

As he walked his features hardened into a self abasing scowl, "I'm a crybaby, I wear aprons, and I can't even ask Twilight if something is wrong." At the mention of Twilight the memory surged again, eliciting the same emotions he had felt as it had happened. He'd felt all of them before, the kind of emotional blows that could make him float or fall flat to the earth in a wave of hallucinatory hearts. Twilight had kissed him and it felt almost the same as when Rarity herself had, if not better, and he had no idea why. It just didn't make sense, none of it made any sense. Spike shuddered and hugged his arms about himself, muttering to himself as he clenched his eyes in a vain attempt to clear his thoughts, "It shouldn't have felt good."

Twilight was his guardian, the mare who cared about him and took care of him from the day he was hatched. They were always supposed to lean on each other, the number one student and her number one assistant, right? Twilight studied and made sure he got everything Spike needed, he fetched the books and took care of her when she forgot to take care of herself and on his days off he would try and woo Rarity. That's how things always were, the only things he couldn't understand, or rather wouldn't let himself understand, were Twilight's ingrained idiosyncrasies and why Rarity wouldn't notice him. A torrent of ice flushed through Spike's body as an paranoid thought went through his head. 'Is it my fault, did this happen because I couldn't dragon up and tell Rarity?' Spike clamped his claws on either side of his head and shook it, letting out a childish growl. Spike's awareness focused once more into reality despite his claws remaining clamped over his ear frills. He stood at the center of a small intersection, to his back stood the library and to his right reigned the elegant rise of Carousel Boutique. Something made him stop and stare between the two juxtaposing structures. In one was Rarity and in the other was Twilight, each bore their own turmoil that Spike would have to face.

As if to try and rectify his past shortcoming he turned on his heels to face the library. Even at this distance he could make out the candle insignia ingrained into the heavy door of his humble home. Even despite Spike steeling himself for the experience that may have lay ahead he was unable to make two steps before turning around with his eyes shut and sprinting eastward. Perhaps he was too scared or perhaps it too much to bear for the baby dragon, all he felt he could do now would be to live up to his title as Equestria's greatest assistant. He would go to Rarity's and do his job like he always would then he would go home to find that he had just been dreaming or that Twilight had gone crazy after a failed experiment. Everything would be able to go back to normal.

As plumes of dust floated where his claws had previously dug into the pathway and Spike disappeared from sight a single curtain in the Ponyville library was shut.

Everything was set, the room was aligned perfectly and her appearance was nothing short of the grandest 'au naturale'. However, this didn't stop Rarity from fretting around her shop like a nervous filly with somepony to impress. In fact she was a full grown mare who knew exactly what she was doing with somedragon to impress, yes, that was it. With a dignified huff Rarity steadied herself for the sake of her plan. Whether or not Spike truly confessed to her it was her job to subtly inform him that she wasn't entirely opposed to the idea, a lady such as herself can't act too brashly after all. She turned to face herself in the vanity mirror that sat as a totem behind her precious sewing machine with an undying grin. Her coat was pristine and held not the slightest drop of cosmetics, even her own eyelashes rose over the crimson glasses she would dutifully shift whenever needed. "Honestly", she tittered, "I have no clue as to why I don't do this more often. She giggled a bit more as she began to question an imaginary Spike. "Oh Spike, darling, is there a certain reason as to why you're staring?" She brought her hoof up to her chest as if in feigning indignation towards a certain imaginary source of stammering, "However, I don't mind if you take in all there is to see." Her voice dropped to a slightly seductive hum as she turned to sway her hips, making sure to face nonchalantly behind herself, "I'm sure there's plenty you'd like to see." Rarity's smooth grin scrunched up and she fell to the floor in a tirade of absurd laughter, "Oh, Rarity, you are such a cad!"

So much for being a dignified lady.

Rarity's legs sprang her body upwards as a quick knock resounded from the entrance of her boutique to the center room. A foalish squeal rose from her mouth and a hoof quickly went to her lips to stifle it, she had to be prim and proper despite her excitement. Rarity gathered herself and shouted briefly to her visitor as she trotted daintily towards her work table, "Come in, darling, the door is open!" The sounds of a door opening and closing prior to the familiar click of claws against tile began her swaying turn towards the entrance of the living room the same way a crescendo would bring a conductor's hooves to face the heavens. Her best smile was already in place when she turned to face Spike, waiting for him to find her visage other than surveying the room around him.

All Spike wanted to do was get his mind off absolutely everything that had cluttered his mind, even wearing some girly outfit while singing the Equestrian national anthem with needles all over his body would have been better than the constant sensory input his thoughts were releasing. "Hi, Rarity, sorry I'm late. I just got a little caught up with..." His speech trailed off to float with the molecules of the surrounding room. Rarity had brought herself before him looking like an unfettered angel, the only thing he could liken the sight to was the glorious smile he had seen on his birthday. Yet it was different this time around, something made it seem all the more pure. There wasn't anything getting in the way of this unbound beauty before him. As he stammered the realization hit him. "Rarity!" He sputtered a bit, "You're not wearing makeup!"

She smirked a bit and waved her hoof about the small space between them, "And? Sometimes a lady doesn't want to put on ever so many drab cosmetics just to stay home." Rarity knew she already had him, but it wouldn't be much fun if she didn't elicit one of his adorable responses. "I had no idea you thought I absolutely needed makeup, Spike", she said with a false huff as she turned around. An unseen smile played across her face as she turned away from him.

"What?!" Spike shook his claws a bit before trying to save himself, already his mind had been wiped clean by Rarity's little game, "I didn't mean that, it was just a shock to see your beauty without all of that makeup. You don't need it to be pretty, honest!" Nothing he could do would stop the burning red from rising onto the entirety of his scaly face.

Rarity turned around and placed a gentle hoof atop his shoulder, "Darling, I was just playing." She giggled a bit as she smirked down towards the blushing adolescent, "Spikey you are turning a delightful shade of red, it is most becoming." Spike was about to yammer something else before Rarity gently prodded him towards a pair of stools next to her favored work table. Watching the way he followed any unspoken order with the utmost devotion turned her playful smirk into a genuine smile. Once she had sat him down she decided to put her plan into action. Small talk about a subject one's partner understands and enjoys always starts conversation and conversation can eventually lead to certain actions beneath the veil of candlelight.

Spike was quickly mesmerized by a sizable pile of gems before him, he had to wipe a drop of drool away from his muzzle before he could speak. "This is the haul from yesterday right, what did you want me to do again?" He asked with a slight quiver in his voice, the desire to be nothing short of perfect was weighing heavily on his demeanor. Spike's sweet tooth was screaming at him to abandon all table manners and wolf down every precious stone that lay defenseless before him, yet his lustful hunger was annihilated as Rarity took her seat behind him. The careless glance she passed the gems with ignited a waiting curiosity in the dragon.

"Oh, darling, the dresses can wait. I never gave you a reward yesterday anyway, let loose your reservations and take a gem of your liking." She rested her face atop her right hoof, giving Spike a half lidded stare from behind her glasses. She giggled daintily as an unchained smile spread across his scaly muzzle. Watching how his emerald eyes locked on a single slender sapphire was just too enamoring, a suitor who saw and went for what he wanted just radiated confidence. Spike was about to shove the gem between his ivory fangs when she spoke up, "Spike, I've been meaning to ask, what do gems taste like?"

Spike turned to the luminescent mare to his right and gulped down an imaginary lump in his throat. "Uh", he stammered, "I'm not really sure. Fruity?" He looked up at Rarity in wait of a response, but she just kept staring at him. He started stammering again before words just started to tumble out of his mouth, "I mean, technically you don't taste the gem itself, you taste everything that went into the making of the gem. The heat and all of the exact minerals blend and stuff, you can even taste how old it is. It's like wine, only it tastes good." He grinned at Rarity, proudly showing off his seemingly intrinsic knowledge of gems. maybe it was there because he was a dragon, or maybe twilight had rambled about it at some point.

Rarity chuckled a bit, "Well, Spike, I am a bit of a fan of wine myself and I think it is simply an acquired taste. Now gems, however." She leaned forward towards the gem Spike was holding, glancing from it to Spike. "Do you mind, darling?"

Spike had no idea what she was getting at, all he knew was that Rarity was inches from his face with an alluring look in her eyes. After managing a short nod his heart hitched in his chest. Rarity leaned just a little further, closed her eyes, and gave the gem in his claw a tentative lick. Spike could have sworn he had felt something warm and flat touch the smallest spot of his claw before he saw Rarity's sapphire eyes staring at him. If Spike hadn't been blushing before, he definitely was at this point.

Rarity leaned back to her original spot, her head resting on her hoof once more as she gave her lips a quick smack. "Darling, it tastes like a window."

"You've tasted a window?" It was all he could honestly say, the shock of the previous spectacle had loosened every bolt in his brain and brought him into the state of a blank slate.

A brief moment of silence passed between the two as they both became aware of their individual statements. For a moment, nothing in the world seemed to move, a pin dropping could have loosened a big bang into creating another universe into the silence. Then came the slightest sound, it was quick and quiet at first, but it gradually turned into a tirade of infectious laughter that spread from Rarity to Spike. "Glass, darling, I meant glass. Goodness, charming and funny, it's a wonder some sprightly young mare hasn't snatched you up."

Spike fought back the last remnants of his laughter before he could speak comfortable, "Aw shucks, Rarity", he mused, "I'm not all that. You're the one with the looks and grace." He closed his eyes and sighed a bit, but was jolted out of his tranquility by a light impact on his shoulder. He looked up to see Rarity with her hoof planted firmly into his shoulder, a glare of determination had taken over her face. He gulped in preparation of what was yet to come.

"Spike, I mean it. It truly is surprising that you're not, let us say, involved with anypony." She ended her sentence with a quick smirk. She leaned back on her hoof, "I wonder, have you ever kissed anypony?" The look on his face was just too much to bear, she had to bite her tongue to keep with laughing at just how adorable it was. He looked like his very life had flashed before his eyes.

Unbeknownst to Rarity, Spike's mind was practically flipping itself in thousands of possible directions. 'I haven't, right? I mean I've been kissed, but never actually kissed unless you count what Twilight- Wait! Do I even count Twilight?! What, what am I supposed to say?' The only response he could muster in the face of his fear was a quivering noise that sounded like a question. A quick shock ran through him as he felt Rarity's hoof being placed atop his head.

"Darling", Rarity sighed, "it's okay." She moved herself closer to Spike, hopping off her stool to be perfectly aligned with his level. "It's okay that you haven't had your first kiss." She heard a quick sound begin to rise from Spike, but effectively shushed him by placing her hoof on his lips. 'His smooth lips, oh don't lose yourself right when you've got him, darling!' She turned to face him with a lighthearted smile as the glow of her magic removed her glasses. Rarity turned to face Spike completely before removing her hoof from his smooth muzzle, "In fact, I think I know why."

Spike jumped as electricity ran through every bone in his body, making him sit rigidly atop his stool. "You, you know?" He gasped, straining to keep his composure.

Rarity brought her face closer to his, whispering, "I have thin walls darling." It wasn't in her plan, and it wasn't subtle, but she couldn't help it. He was right there in her hooves, what mare in their right mind wouldn't take the chance?

Spike had frozen at the words. She knew, Rarity had heard him. He felt a dizziness run through his body for a few brief seconds until a burning spark went through his mind. For one brief moment he saw Rarity reaching out towards him. he felt her hooves encircle his head and pull his face closer to hers. It was too much, he had to close his eyes. At first he couldn't feel anything in the darkness, that is until Spike felt Rarity's lips pressing against his own. The sensation caused him to reach out to caress her face, it was almost as involuntary as the quick moan that tried to escape past the kiss.

The gentle caress between the two's lips lasted for a few moments before he could feel something warm and flat brushing against his lips. In an instant Spike had figured out what it was and opened his mouth to gasp. Rarity saw this as her opportunity and pressed further inside Spike’s mouth, relishing against the feeling of his slender tongue fluttering up against hers. She immediately took charge and freed herself to explore her young suitor.

Spike's mind had gone blank, all he could know at this point was some pleasure that floated through his mind. He was brought into a haze once he felt Rarity pass her tongue over the back of his fangs and pull away from him. The moment he could breath, he tried to speak. "Rarity, you", he started to stammer, trying to register if she was saying something, "you, you and Twilight. And, and..." he trailed off as the memories from before and the current wave crashed through him. He saw Rarity staring at him, obviously concerned as his speech began to get quieter and quieter. White stars began to fly in and fade from the edges of his vision, removing any and all sensory detail with the sound of candles being blown out.

Spike half noticed a feeling of dizziness as his incoherent body collapsed from atop the stool. It wasn't a hard fall, nor was it a hard one, but it gave just enough time for a single thought to rise in the mind of the adolescent dragon. 'This, this isn't normal.'

Then it all went black.