>You let those words sink in.
>"You're growing wings."
>wings.
>You could picture it now.
>Your the rest of your body was still unchanged, but you had 2 massive aerial appendages that could rival Princess Celestia's.
>Your arms, legs, and tail were stretched out as you were miles high in the air, your span gliding on the air currents while every flap generated an immense force of lift.
>Never did you imagine yourself so free without a care in the world.
>Every flap just brought you closer to the sky.
>Flap
>Flap
"OOOOOOOOWWWWWWWWWWWW!!!!!!!!"
>"Spike, what's wrong?"
>That pain spike and Twilight's concern snapped him back to reality.
>Good question. What did happen? I didn't arc my back and the ice packs are still on there, Fluttershy keeping them on there with her hooves.
"I.....I don't know! I just imagined myself flapping wings and then the hurting came back!"
>Fluttershy put her hoof to her chin to ponder this.
>"You......thought about flying, and flapping wings?" she asks.
"Yeah-well....the ones you said I'm going to get!"
>"I need to feel something beneath you. I promise you that if I hurt you, It'll be as painless as possible. Okay?"
>Fluttershy held up a desperate smile.
>"You are going to do to him?" Asked Twilight.
>"Something I have to feel for. It might tell us how far along Spike's condition is. Are you ready?" The demure pegasus asked as she turned to you.
>Though you were reluctant to rid yourself of the numbing cold, how could you say no to a gentle pony like Flutters?
"Alright. Do it.", you concede.
>Fluttershy lifted off the bags of ice as she gently pressed on your upper left back.
>She rubbed her hoof around, to confirm with an "Mmm-hmm."
>Then she did the same thing on the other side.
>"Mmm-hmm. That seems to be it. Just one more thing: Spike, I now want you to sit up and raise your arms above your head."
>Not wanting to argue, you follow Fluttershy's instruction.
>You were about to swing your legs over to get into position when you left a lifting force raise you above the couch and flip you frontwards.
>Craning your neck around, you see Twilight's horn glow garnet as you concluded it was her levitating you.
>"Just making sure you don't hurt yourself, Spike."
>Thanks, Twilight.
>An OCD alicorn with some "crazy" issues here and there, but she always put your welfare first when you need it.
>Twilight sets you down and you raise your arms like Fluttershy said to do.
>Fluttershy took her hooves and touched your chest and moved it beneath your arms.
>Looking down, you noticed that a slight swelling where your chest muscles would be, and they seemed to wrap around your torso.
>"Just as I thought." Fluttershy injects, pulling her hooves away. "Your wing muscles are forming. Tendons have already began to anchor themselves to your alascapulae and your pectorals have started to enlarge and stretch to connect back there."
"You...uh.....lost me at the word "tendon.", you say.
>You better grab up all of the library's medical reference books, even if they don't have any dragon ones.
>"Spike." Twilight adds. "It just means that your wing muscles are forming along with the bone."
"Oh. So what does that have to do with me imaging flight, then?" you inquire.
>Again, you pictured a gargantuan dragon wings beating against your sides.
"YEOW!"
>"I saw that!" Twilight calls out.
"Saw what?" you reply, grabbing the ice bags again, lying down and trying to place them back in their original spots.
> "For a split second, I saw a bulge of flesh move beneath your scales. You subconsciously contracted your rudimentary wing muscles to move the forming bones and joints, and that motion caused you pain."
>You tried to process that doctor-speak.
"Are you trying to say that thinking about flapping wings caused me to actually move them?"
>"To put it in laypony's terms, yes." she responded.
>Ponyfeathers. You can't even move them without entering a world of agony?
>This is gonna be long, hurtful, experience.
>Or will it?
"How long will it be before they're fully formed and I can start flying?"
>"Oh....um......." stammered Fluttershy.
>You could tell she was getting nervous.
>"I.......don't.....know?" she weakly answered.
"What?"
>"Spike!" Twilight snapped. "She's not a doctor! Especially not a dragon doctor, and neither am I! I wouldn't know about it either! It could be tomorrow, it could be weeks! Months even!"
>You had no dragon friends who could tell you. But ever since that Migration you attended, you wouldn't want to go back to them.
>Wait.
>What am I doing?
>This is the freakin' Princess of Magic here!
>All it takes is a spell from her to accelerate the process or get all the uncomfortable body parts from out of my skin.
"No it won't." you said, replying to Twilight's last statement. "Just use some spell to speed my growth along, or just get them out into the air. I'll be painless and flying by tomorrow."
>"I can't do that, Spike."
>Nigga say what?
"Hellooooooooo! Alicorn Magic Expert who saved Equestria at least 4 times?!"
>You point to an imaginary horn on your forehead upon your rebuttal.
>"Spike......Limb generation is incredibly difficult; even for an alicorn. And the fact that you're a not a pony greatly increases the risk of something going wrong. There's no telling what any Anatomical Manipulation spell could do to a dragon like you! Your wings, along with your shoulders and several ribs could rip right off!"
>You winced at that body-mangling scenario.
>"Twilight's right, Spike." Fluttershy added. "In fact, a dragon wing is shaped and arranged differently than a Pegasus wing. They're more like the bat wings I had that night at Applejack's orchard."
>Great. No Get-out-of-trouble-free card.
"I gotta struggle through this, don't I?"
>"Oh, don't worry, Spike!" Twilight cooed, rubbing a hoof an your face. "All us friends will help. Me, Fluttershy, Rainbow, Applejack, Pinkie, and especially Rarity will come to your aid."
>Mentioning sweet Rarity already made you feel better.
>"I'll gather up everyone else. Fluttershy, watch over Spike." Twilight said.
>"Okay, Twilight." Fluttershy replied, rolling out a wide bandage strip.
>She began to wrap it around your body, holding the bags of ice in place when a thought occurred to you.
"Twi! Before you go!" you mention as she opened the door and attempted liftoff.
>"What is it?" Twilight asked in concern.
"Tell it to Rarity first!"
>Hopefully, mares like Rarity are suckers for injured guys. I'll be in her arms in no time.
>"Understood. I'll be back!"
"Bye Twilight!" you and Fluttershy yell out.
>Twilight spread her wings and with several flaps, ascended into the air; headed Northwards towards Carousel Boutique.
 
>Meanwhile, the body buds several inches beneath your skin began to elongate as a small lump could be seen and felt under your scales.
"Ooohhhhh!"
>You felt that.