The cabin was small, sitting smack dab in the middle of the Evergrove National Forest. Thanks to several trusted unicorns casting cloaking and barrier spells that spanned a hundred acres all around, only those who exactly know where it is can go inside; otherwise they both can't get in. If they get past the barrier, the cloaking spell would confuse those and see things to the point they leave so it was protected.

Inside the cabin, everything was pretty much at close proximity to the couple. Having one bed, and a fireplace, a little kitchen, a dining table up against a window. There was a piano in a corner, two other doors in the cabin were a closet and a bathroom. The only major changes to the cabin was the much bigger bed to accommodate the couple and once having two chairs were replaced by a brown leather couch.

During the next few weeks, Spike was doing all he could to make sure Rachel was comfortable as she went through this change, taking care of the necessities around the cabin, doing little things to get his mind off of going after Blueblood.

Each day however for his mate was a bit different than the last. Some days, Rachel was fine and walking around with minimum to no problems, but there were days where she could hardly get out of bed, body writhing in pain as she went through bursts of her transformation. And the changes were excruciatingly slow. Either scales and fur appear more on her or it's something internal that Spike couldn't see.

With pony magic and dragon magic fighting to take dominance of her body, it was making things unbearable for her. All Spike could do was be there and do what he could to make her comfortable.

The only exception Spike ever leaves the cabin and leaves Rachel alone by herself was when they needed to stock up food. With the Evergrove having much more forest territory than Everfree, there were more game to hunt.

And honestly a relief that he didn't have one of Fluttershy's critter pals go and snitching that he ate one of her animal friends. If it's in the woods, anything is fair play.

Hiding in some foliage next to a small stream, Spike waited for something to cross his path. His tail flickered in anticipation as he waited.

It didn't take long until a whiff of deer came to his senses. A rather large twelve point buck walked into view. Keeping low from the wind, he watched it closely. Though the sight of it was beautiful, there were bellies that needed to be filled.

The deer drank from the stream, unaware of anything at first. Its ear flickered when it heard something slightly moved. It snapped its head up to look and see what it was. It turned and then stared at where the dragon was. Looking past the foliage and was having this intense eye contact between the two creatures.

Two heartbeats later and the deer takes off running away. Spike makes chase.

The deer was fast, skillfully weaving through between trees, leaping over rocks and hills, with nothing but survival on the mind. Other smaller animals scurried away as the large apex creature hunted for his prey.

The chase lasted about three minutes before Spike tackles the deer, landing on its back and the two tumbled to the ground. The deer made frightened sounds as it tried to scramble up and escape but Spike pierced its flesh with his claws in the hide, pulling it back toward him before he grabbed the horns. The deer kicked helplessly before Spike took his claws, one hand holding the horns, he took the other and pierced its neck, grabbed hold on a part of its trachea and ripped it out. It bled out less than a minute and went limp in his arms.

He would gladly eat this creature as is but his belly was already filled from another deer he had just eaten before nabbing this one.

This meat was for his mate. That and smaller creatures he gathered to stock up for a bit.

Spike grabbed the deer and draps it over his shoulder and took it away. It wasn't long before he reached his kill pile, grabbing the other kills and headed back to the cabin.

After skinning, separating the meat and placing them in paper bags and discarding the waste somewhere outside, he puts most of the meats but one selection in the outdoor freezer before he went inside.

When Spike entered, he looked at the bed to see Rachel was up sitting upright. She had a sketch book on her lap and a pencil in one of her hands.

"Hey," Rachel greeted, waving at him. She sees the fresh blood on him. "Guessing the hunt went well?"

"It did," Spike said, taking a couple of steps to the fridge, opening it up and setting the meat inside for later before closing it. He then looked at her, "just gonna wash this stuff off real quick."

Rachel nodded and watched him go into the bathroom. The bathroom was really small tight going inside, with a bath/shower combo, toilet and sink, the walk space was cramped and hard to squeeze in. Having to remind himself that this Cabin - once belong to Brimstone - was meant to ponies, not somewhat tall dragons. His horn tips were scraping the ceiling.

Rachel went back to drawing when she heard a noise in the bathroom. "Baby?" Rachel called out concerned.

"I'm good! Just…" he trailed off with a grunt.

"You ran into the curtain rod and knocked the bar down again?" She guessed.

" Yeah… " He sighed, admittingly.

Rachel winced. "Yeah, totally not gonna like doing that again." She muttered, recalling running into doorways and head hitting the ceiling when she was back in her homeworld. With her growing in height and the rate she's going and taking a guess, she'll either be taller than the average female pony or taller than an average female dragon since she was tall for a human at 6'5… and the female dragons are slightly taller than the males in the first place.

Clothes are gonna be so lovely to find… Not!

Fifteen minutes later, Spike came out to the larger space, casting one last glance at that damn bar before closing the door.

"How you feeling?" Spike asked her.

"Good, I'm good." She responded. "No pain this time."

Spike had to look at her closely but he can tell she was lying. Her pony ears carried on her trait of turning red from lying. The change was much more subtle than when she had normal human ears and they would seem to glow.

However, he didn't press on it. Instead, Spike goes towards the bed as Rachel set the book and pencil down and goes to get off the bed.

"Need help?" He asked her, watching her holding onto the headboard to help her balance on her feet.

"I'm good, just need to get a drink." She said, taking her a moment to be able to move.

Spike watched her closely as she wobbled the seven steps to the kitchen area. Though it's just as simple as getting a glass of water, he still had to make sure she doesn't push herself too much. He knows if she needed help she would ask.

Rachel fixed up her drink and took a sip.

Her stomach started turning from the taste, now mixed with much stronger concentration of sulfur on her tongue, caused her to violently leaned over the sink and throw up.

Spike was quickly by her side. Rubbing her back as she puked.

"God this is such bullshit!" Rachel groaned and coughed before puking again.

"I know, love." Spike responded.

After she was sure it was over, she covered her mouth with her hand.

"Better?"

"For now. Seriously Spike, how do you go through the day tasting sulfur?"

Spike thought about it. "Hmm I don't know. I know I went through something similar when I was a baby before my fire glands fully developed. It's a long time ago though. I only taste it now when I breathe fire." That's when an idea came to him.

Soon the two were outside, Spike had piled sticks and shrubs into one pyre.

"So your idea is for me to start breathing fire on that thing?" Rachel asked as she watched.

"Yup. It's the only sure way to get rid of the taste." Spike said.

After the finish touches, he went back over to her. "Besides your pony parts, you are turning into a dragon. I'll gladly help you out with stuff like this. We should be seeing you developing other dragon-like qualities."

"If it's fiery rage and intense anger towards an individual, baby I think I got that down pat." Rachel said, looking up at him. Now since was roughly the same size as AJ, her head reached up to Spike's chest.

Spike rolled his eyes before gently leading her to the pile.

"Okay, how do I shoot fire?" She asked then.

Spike thought about how to put this. "Okay, inside dragons we have glands-"

"We established that."

He grunted. "Each gland has two components inside, like sacks here, " he demonstrated by pointing a spot on his neck and hers. "One sack has the sulfuric gas which is what you're tasting and the other sack is what ignites it. Now overtime you'll control it, but right now it has a trigger of emotion. Focus on that trigger, inhale deep and blow that wood pile." He pats her shoulders before getting far away back from her.

She raised a brow watching him. " What triggers?! And why are you hiding??"

She sees him hiding behind a tree. He poked his head out and called out "you already named one of them." He gives her a thumbs up before going back to hiding behind a tree. "First time fire breathers tend to make things explode when they first start so I'm taking extra precaution and hiding from the blowback. "

"Wouldn't I get hurt??"

"You shouldn't! You got this, baby."

Rachel groans loudly before looking at the pile.

"Focus on anger… Easy enough." She chewed the inside of her cheeks.

She got plenty and plenty of it to go around.

So she starts going off the list of things that made her angry recently. Angry that Blueballs put a target on them and attacked them, angry that she had to undergo this painful transformation, just a list of things she had held onto for so long boiled up to the surface.

Rachel felt something stirred inside her. Spike slowly leaned out and peeked to see what she was doing.

He sees a blue glow coming from her. "Oh crap." He hides again.

Rachel inhales deeply, taking in oxygen as much as she could before she blows.

Large blue fireball shoots forward out of her mouth and she ends up falling backwards on her butt and the pile when [i]WHOOSH! /i]Though splinters of wood exploding everywhere, what was still in the pile was now on fire.

"Ow." She groaned loudly, her mouth was billowing smoke, looking up at the sky. The smoke went up her nose and let out a sneeze, more fire shot out again and again in a fit.

Once she was done, she was in a woozy dazed state.

Spike comes out of hiding and walks up to her. "Better now?" He gave her a nervous smile while helping her sit up.

"Hey look… No sulfur." She said in a daze still.

He lets out a chuckle before he picks her up bridal style and carries her over to the outside bench and sits her down on it. "You sit and no sneezing, I'll be back." He goes inside.

He comes back out with the meat he separated earlier, now skewered on a metal stick and a tall glass of water and hands it to her.

Rachel takes the glass and takes a sip. She shudders in relief to not taste any sulfur now and drinks it down in peace. She then watched him going to her fire pit. "What are you doing?"

"Cooking you some lunch. You got the fire going, let's not waste this." Spike cheeky grinned at her before he roasts the meat over the fire.

Later that evening, Spike was sitting at the piano, playing a soft melody that echoed the cabin. Rachel was in the bed, listening to him play.

She smiled softly as she listen. "Pretty good there, Mistro." Rachel giggled.

"I try." He said as he played. "Got a song request?"

Rachel shook her head. "Not really. " She then patted the space next to her. "Would you like up here though."

Spike chuckled before he stopped playing and got up from the stool. Took two steps over to the bed and climbed in.

Rachel wrapped her arms around him and hugged him "Thank you." She said.

He smiled and held her close. Spike felt her rubbing his back, with her now claws against his scales, it actually was a nice sensation he was feeling.

Rachel continued to rub her hand on his back before her nails made a metallic sound. Something not scale-like. "Honey, can you turn for me?" She asked, letting go of the hug. "Just a second."

"Uh, okay." He said, not knowing what was going on before he turned his back to her.

Rachel lifts the back of his shirt up a little, up to where the cut outs parts of his wings.

After a quick admire look of his back muscles, she goes to what she was after. She scanned the many purple scales and the smaller green spikes along his spine.. She saw more scars he sustained from his fight with Garble. She looked and looked before she saw something shiny. "What is it?" Spike asked.

"I don't know." She said, going to sit on her knees. She tapped the area a bit before her claw tapped the metal object that was barely sticking out. She took two fingers and grabbed it. Two wiggles and the thing popped out, rolling on the bed.

It was a bullet.

"Uh…" Rachel looked at Spike at that.

Spike looks at it before going "Oh, some of the bullets must've gotten stuck during the siege."

Rachel reached and grabbed the bullet. She raised it up to look at it for a moment before looking back at Spike's. "Can you lay on your stomach for me, please?" Rachel asked. "Shirt off too. "

"Rach, that's unnecessary."

His dragoness shook her head. "It is. There could be more lodge in. You did it for me. "

His gaze softened. "You're remembering?"

She waves her hand awkwardly. "Bits and pieces. Now, lay down."

Spike stared at her before sighing, taking his shirt off and gets in position. Laying on his stomach, grabbing a pillow and put his head on it. He had to spread his wings out and let one wing dropped off the bed and other sprawled out on it so she can work more surface.

"Thank you." She said, climbing on top of him, straddle across his lower back.

"Don't overdo yourself."

"I won't." She said, using her hands and nails to feel and look for any more bullets.

And she does find a lot of them. Doing the same procedure of picking and pulling. Putting what she plucked in a pile.

"Not gonna lie, this feels actually pretty good." Spike said as he lay there. He felt like he was getting a little massage from her working on him.

"Glad you think so. After everything you've done, this is the least I can do. And when I get back to hundred percent -" one bullet ended up popping out and she caught it midair. "I get to do a lot more for you." And puts the thing in the pile.

Spike lay there in silence, letting his mind roam on a few ideas he had going.

Rachel tilted her head at the silence. "Whatcha thinking?" She asked, going over his back one more time with her hands. Feeling for any remaining strays but find no more.

"Huh?" He stops thinking when he heard her. "Oh, uh, it's nothing. Got a lot going in my mind, ya know. "

"I do. Wanna talk about it?" She asked. "Not getting off until I do."

He looked at her over his shoulder. He can't tell her one of the ideas he has. That'll be for later. "Alright… I.. honestly can't get my mind off of Blueblood." He instead told her that.

She grunted in response. "Yeah, me too."

"It's taking all I can not to go after him… If you give me the go ahead, I would happily oblige."

Rachel snickered. "Oooh trust me, my love. He's gonna get what's coming. Sucks I have to wait till I'm full strength but I too want my pound of flesh."

"You saying you wanna us to do it together?" He asked, kinda considering that honestly.

"Why not? He fucked with the both of us and he deserves every vile torment he gets before his demise." She gave him a small twisted smile. "And this may sound bad but in a way it's kinda romantic."

Now Spike was really considering that.

Which made his other idea he had in his mind even more a sure thing.

She got off of him, but Spike had grabbed her and pulled her close, causing a chuckle out of her.

"As you wish." Spike smiled at her before sharing a kiss with her.

He'll have to make a call for Brimstone soon.