She shifted, her side sliding against the luxurious carpet beneath her. Her companion cuddled in closer against her stomach as if he were afraid she’d leave, though an assuring hoof through his ridged back stilled him. The warmth of the crackling fire before her and the dragon child beside her was beyond relaxing, beyond paradise.

Rarity looked down at the relaxed Spike; still young, not yet ravaged by the worries and vices of age, not quite a child anymore but not quite an adult. She’d always expected scales to be cold or slick or slimy in her youth, but when she got closer she found that wasn’t true at all. She could practically feel the fire burning in his lungs, beneath the skin. It made him very warm; very… huggable, to use the cleanest word possible.

She curled around him as much as her spine would allow, resting her head against his with her cheek against his neck. “I love you, Spike,” she whispered, giving his head a little kiss.

“I love you too, Rarity,” he mumbled back, curling up and wrapping his arms as far as he could around her middle, cuddling up to her belly.

Rarity hummed happily and was about to close her eyes when she noticed something around his neck. “Spike, do you have something around your…?” She lifted her head up and saw a golden collar around his neck, their heart-shaped fire ruby embedded in its center. A similarly golden chain was attached to it, which lead to… her neck?

Her front hooves snapped to her neck and felt around. She felt a metal collar around it as well, the chain clinking with every move she made. “Spike,” she gasped, her voice high in pitch with fear. “Spike, wake up!”

“What is it?” he asked as he stirred, looking up to her with half-lidded eyes.

“Do you know how these collars got on our necks? You know what, never mind, just help me get it off!” she pleaded as her horn glowed and she tugged at the chain, desperately pulling at it while trying her best not to choke her or her boyfriend.

“Why would you ever want to take it off?” he asked, the glow of the fire sparkling in his emerald eyes and his dreamy smile. “I’m yours, aren’t I?”

“Darling, I appreciate the sentiment, but this is really too far,” she said, panting from the strain of pulling at the chain. “Isn’t gold supposed to be one of the weakest metals?!”

She gasped when Spike held her closer in his strong arms. “But… I’m yours…” Her eyes went wide and she went still when there was a flash from the fireplace and a surge of heat; the flames turned from a dancing red to a raging green that leapt from their pit and spread around the room. The fire burned in the dragon’s eyes, bones popping and flesh squelching as he grew, still holding her tight as he quickly dwarfed her like a foal dwarfed a doll. “And you’re mine.”

“Spike, let go!” She pushed against his chest with her hooves, the heat around them quickly becoming unbearable. “We need to get out of here!”

“We’re fine right where we are. We have each other, don’t we?” Spike asked, his voice growing more gravelly and warped and his eyes reptilian. He quickly filled up the room, looming over her as he held her in his claws; the roof and walls creaked and groaned with the strain of his size.

“Spike, let me go!” she shrieked, kicking and flailing against his iron grip.

The dragon’s eyes narrowed. He snorted out a puff of smoke from his nostrils and roared, “Fine!” The room turned to ash around them in an instant just before it burst open from his size, revealing that they weren’t in town, but in the forest. Every tree was engulfed in flames, and smoke quickly filled the air along with the squeals and screams of the dying.

He did as he was told and let her go. The collar around his neck had grown with him, but the length of the chain hadn’t. She fell for a few seconds before stopping with a snap, the collar crushing her throat like a gilded noose without breaking her neck.

“Spike, no,” she gagged, raking at the collar with her front hooves while her hind ones flailed for anything to stand on. “P-please, help me!” Every second that went by filled her lungs with more smoke as she dangled from his neck like a pendant.

He looked down at her, not with hate or loathing, but with pain and heartbreak. She saw tears running down his cheeks, glistening in the dancing fire’s light. Yet he did nothing.

Her energy quickly ran out. Her scrambling legs and hooves fell to her side, lifeless, twitching. She willed them to move, but they didn’t respond. The crackling of the fire faded from her ears and the heat slowly died down against her fur. Her ear twitched as she dangled helplessly; she could swear that she could hear the steady beeping of a heart monitor in the distance.

Still looking into those emerald eyes, she closed her own, and the darkness overcame her. Next Chapter: Dear Dreamers: Fluttershy Estimated time remaining: 45 Minutes