The sun was slipping from the sky over a sleepy little mountain town. It was the sort of place where nothing ever happened. Just a point on the map for travelers to stop for the night on the way to more interesting destinations. The only businesses of note were the obligatory tavern, a gem shop for the local miners to trade their ore, and a blacksmith. It didn't even have a local town watch. The only defense against bandits was provided by a rather elderly watchman who patrolled the road between this town and the next.
 
Most of the residents had already decided to turn in for the evening, and the lone watchmen was just heading out of town. A shady looking man lurking in the trees watched with a smile as the last vestige of law enforcement left. He waited until the clip-clop of the departing horse faded into the sounds of the forest and the sun had all but set. He stepped out of the woods into the deserted town square to make his way to the alleyway behind the gem shop. Right on cue, the proprietor slipped out the back door. She was pleasant-looking young woman. From the way she glanced about, and from the size of the lock she used to secure the door, she'd been robbed before.
 
If the bandit watching from the shadows had anything to do with it, tomorrow she'd discover she'd been robbed again. She paced off onto the main road and made her way toward the small cluster of homes on the opposite side of town.
 
"Perfect," the bandit murmured, rubbing his hands together. "This is why it pays to spend some time picking your targets. Rob a place right after the owner leaves for the night and you'll have the maximum amount of time to get a headstart before they learn they've even been hit."
 
He crouched in the shadows and dropped his bag on the ground. A fancy lock called for a fancy pick, and he knew just the one. All he had to do was keep quiet long enough to find it. That shouldn't be hard. His careful sifting may as well have been silent compared to the rustle of leaves, the chirp of birds... and a strange metallic *plink* *plink* *plink* approaching from the mountains.
 
The bandit raised an eyebrow and looked to the trees. A curious creature emerged from the forest behind the gem shop and trotted toward town. It appeared to be a dragon, though it was unlike any dragon he'd ever seen. The thing was tiny, barely the size of a pony, and wingless. That wasn't so strange. What really made it stand out was the brilliant coloration. The creature was like polished silver. Every curve of a horn or bulge of a scale caught and bent the light like a living mirror. It appeared to be a female, and when she moved with a jaunty little trot, her adorable little body had the look of shifting mercury. The end of her tail had a heavy, cylindrical flail, like someone had affixed a sturdy silver mallet head to its tip. Her build was pudgy and plump, with gorgeous frills on her head and down her back.
 
She scanned the surroundings. In no time her sharp vision spotted the bandit in his hiding spot and trotted toward him.
 
"Ah! Human. Perfect. Just the sort of creature I was looking for," she said, her expression and voice radiating a sort of haughty cockiness.
 
The bandit clenched his teeth and waved his arms, trying to silence her. She didn't take the hint, simply clanking her way over with heavy metallic footsteps.
 
"I have grow weary of my domain among the mountains. I have heard tell that humans have been known to worship dragons. I think I fancy that. So I have deigned favor you with my splendor."
 
She raised her head and puffed her chest out proudly. Her bearing was regal, but her grin was the very definition of swagger. She was a magnificent specimen and she knew it.
 
"You may begin your worship at any time. My preferred tribute is gold, platinum, jewels, adoration, and servitude."
 
"Shoo," he hissed, looking nervously about.
 
The flashy little creature hadn't drawn any attention yet, but the way her gleaming hide traced brilliant lines of reflected sunset cross the ground and walls, it was only a matter of time.
 
"Shoo," she said, her expression hardening. "Just what sort of a creature do you think you are dealing with, human?"
 
"I'm dealing with pathetic little pigmy dragon with delusions of grandeur and I don't have time for you right now. Run along," he whispered.
 
She narrowed her eyes. "Clearly my radiance has dazzled you and you are not thinking clearly. I shall be merciful if you lavish me with gifts and pledge your undying loyalty to me. But you'd better be quick about it."
 
"Or what?" the bandit said. "I've seen pigs that are bigger than you. You look like a trinket that's escaped from a real dragon's hoard."
 
"... A real dragon..." she fumed. "Are you suggesting I'm not a real dragon?"
 
The Bandit revealed a short sword. "Either you run along or I'll skin you and you sell your hide to decorate a bordello's--OOF!"
 
Before he could properly brandish his weapon, the dragon spun in a tight circle and thumped him square in the gut with the hammerhead of her tail. It wasn't a devastating blow, but it was enough to knock the wind out of him. He doubled over and wheezed. When he was able to fight a breath into his lungs, he tipped his head up and, for a moment, saw her rearing up, jaws agape.
 
*OMPF*
 
A moist, wet darkness enveloped his face. A curling tongue slathered under his chin. The slimy clutch of her throat fluttered and pulsed against his face as she swiveled her head and gulped at him. Inch by inch he could feel her jaws starting to slide down over him. He tried to pull himself back, but her diminutive size meant that with his head in her jaws and her feet on the ground, he was awkwardly doubled over and couldn't get any real leverage. Her gleaming metal body was QUITE heavy.
 
~~~
 
Her throat stretched tight across his face as she worked to drive the bulge further toward her awaiting stomach. The bandit may have been disrespectful, but he was scrumptious. She lapped at his neck, purring in delight. Quick darts of her head produced lewd squelches and muffled grunts. The promise of a meal and the savory flavor had her salivating copiously. Drool saturated his clothes and lubricated him nicely. She gulped hard and felt his head slip fully down her gullet. Her lips gradually claimed his shoulders. She got his arms properly pinned in her jaws and started to make serious progress toward his waist when the struggling man finally got his feet braced to try to lever himself out of her. He started to stand up, but she'd already made enough of a meal of him for escape to be all but impossible. She gripped tight with her jaws as, with a grunt, he stood up and raised her little body into the air. Even with her jaws stetched around him she grinned. That was his final mistake.
 
With gravity on her side and a healthy dose of saliva making him nice and slippery, her considerable weight caused each hungry swallow to draw her several inches down over him. His arms slurped inside with two mighty clutches of her throat. His struggles stretched and bulged her gleaming hide. Devoured arms clawed and shoved at her swelling stomach. Down past his waist she gobbled, nibbling and slurping down his thighs with no sign of stopping. He was quite a fighter. Even with her stubby teeth clutching at his shins, he'd yet to fall down. Her little body was pulling comically down over his standing form like some sort of inverted sleeping bag.
 
She scrabbled with her stubby legs and flailed her tail, trying to tip him over, but he stood firm.
 
"What in the world!?" cried a young female voice.
 
"Mnm?" came the muffled exclamation from inside her.
 
The sudden voice startled the dragon. She lurched, finally overbalancing her meal and flopping down to the ground with a resounding metallic thunk and a puff of dust. The fall finally convinced her meal to curl up a bit, allowing her to start gulping down the last of him.
 
~~~
 
The owner of the gem shop gazed in confusion as an absolutely striking creature of silvery magnificence wriggled and bulged with a slowly disappearing meal. Visible handprints glided across her dome of a tummy, the form of her prey clearly visible in the tight embrace of her metallic flesh. Wriggling, boot-clad feet glurped deeper and deeper, slipping between the dragon's jaws until finally the last of the man was little more than a shiny bulge slipping down her throat.
 
The dragon gasped and released a bloated blech. Her belly shifted and squelched with the struggles of the gobbled-up man, his complaints muffled by her body.
 
"You there! *URP*" The dragon huffed. "Stay where you are. This village has... *URF* angered me."
 
The gorgeous little thing waggled its legs, trying to stand up. The bulge was such that even if she could stand, her feet probably would not touch the ground. She may as well have been a tortoise flipped on its back.
 
The shopkeeper felt a flutter of concern. Which of the townfolk had this gorgeous beast just devoured? But her eyes drifted to the bag that lay overturned on the ground. All manner of lock picks and other tools of the burglar's trade.
 
"It was a thief... You ate a thief!" the shopkeep said.
 
"And you'll... huff... Get the same. That's what you get for angering me!"
 
"How can I thank you?" she said, crouching next to the incapacitated beast. "I would have been ruined."
 
She placed her hand on the smooth, warm belly. It was astounding. The dragon had the firmness and texture of sculped metal, yet every ripple of the prey's motion glided under her fingers like the beast was normal flesh. As she ran her hand over the shiny surface, it was so perfectly glossy it squeaked under her fingertips. When she took her fingers away she found that the battle, and perhaps simple day-to-day life, had left the dragon's belly with a faint layer of dust and grime.
 
"Now you've done it," the dragon said, waggling her legs a little more vigorously and trying to heave herself upright. "You have laid a hand on my glorious splendor. Now you shall feel my *HIC* ... wrath."
 
"I know just the thing. Stay right here."
 
~~~
 
The dragon watched the young woman hurry away and slip into the back door of her shop.
 
"Stay right here. As if I would take orders from-- *HIC*" She flopped her head down and murmured in delight. "Ooh... That scoundrel was such a hearty meal. They may act blasphemous, but they taste divine."
 
The shopkeeper emerged again with a white rag and a small bottle.
 
"Ah. There you are." The dragon belched lightly and gulped to keep her prey from trying to worm a hand back up her throat. "You shall be my next meal. I will devour this whole village for your insolence. You should have revered my glory when you had the... What are you doing?"
 
The shopkeep dosed the cloth with the contents of the bottle, then crouched down started to industriously buff at the dragon's swollen tummy.
 
"How dare you... Oh... Oh..." she purred.
 
The light pressure. The tingle of the polish... It was delightful. She shut her eyes and murmured pleasantly. The belly rub felt wonderful. So warm. So thorough. The attention to her groaning belly helped her meal settle in so nicely.
 
As her meal burbled and churned, the dragon sighed in bliss as she felt the rubbing cloth buff and polish up and down her legs. She felt the cloth wrap around her neck and pull back and forth, the friction easing her muscles with a therapeutic heat. The woman even laid out a nice, clean blanket, then helped heave the dragon onto it so that she could lavish the same attention on her other side.
 
~~~
 
Night had well and truly fallen by the time the industrious shopkeeper had finished buffing up her savior. She stood and took a breath as the dragon's considerably softened belly allowed her to struggle to her feet.
 
"Now that is proper tribute," the dragon said, eyes half-lidded with contentment.
 
"Do you have a place to sleep?" the shopkeeper said. "You can stay in my store, if you like."
 
"A nice nap to sleep off this meal would be pleasant," the dragon said.
 
The shopkeeper opened the door and lit a lantern. The dragon's eyes widened. Like a well-fed house cat who had spotted her favorite pillow, the beast waddled over to a pile of gold and gems that had yet to be sorted for sale. She curled up on top of it and plopped down onto her churning tummy. While so reclined, the beast noticed a mirror on the opposite side of the room and saw just how much brighter and more gleaming her shiny hide had become.
 
"That polish... You have done the impossible. You have made me even more resplendent." She tipped her head back and smiled with all of her regal elegance. "You shall be a fine worshiper."
 
The dragon curled around her belly and shut her eyes with a contented sigh. The shopkeep crept over and gave the little thing's tummy an extra little rub. She was rewarded with a tender purr.
 
"I think this is going to be a fine partnership, little dragon..."