Bad habits

It was another normal day in Ponyville, the sun was shining with warm flares of light and all the citizens were going about their usual routines: making purchases in the market, walking in the plaza, eating lunch at restaurants. If any of them knew that a war against dragons had been prevented that day they would be celebrating and singing their hoof's off for the rest of the afternoon.

Such as a pink party pony who was in the kitchen of Sugarcube corner with her cyan pegasus friend and the dragon of the event and trying her best to enjoy the news and resist the urge of causing havoc in the town by making a giant celebration. Spike had been the new dragon lord for less than a minute before giving the charge to a trusty dragoness that would not even think of putting his own kind in a ravaging war against his beloved ponies.

"So let me get this straight, Garble, that red stinky brute, couldn't lift a boulder that you could move without even flinching?" Rainbow dash asked in astonishment as she lifted Spike's arm and waving his muscular arm. "And here I thought that you were weaker than a normal dragon, but now I have my doubts. Where do you keep all that strength, runt?"

"Ember told me before coming back here that since I eat high-quality gems instead of hoarding them my body has developed better than most dragons of my age. She also said that she would investigate it since all the dragons we know are so young".

"What do you mean? last time they looked to be around my age. I know they are brutes du-"

"Rainbow, they were like four years old back then" Spike corrected his friend assumption, "Why do you think I was so afraid of them? wouldn't you be scared if you were cornered by a group of havocking foals twice or triple your size and mass?".

"Well, I would!" said Pinkie, interrupting the conversation, "believe me, they are already scary enough without all those power up" after that comment, she returned to her previous anxious state, "Spike I know you don't want a party right now, but can't we just have a little music? or some balloons? or confetti? really this is an excellent occasion for a party, you just saved Equestria from having to fight against dragons for pony's sakes!" she screamed.

Spike sighed heavily, his face turning down in sadness, "I know pinkie... but... I just don’t want to celebrate anything at the moment".

"Hey Spike, I'm the only one that can have a blue face without anypony making questions about it.You can tell us what happened" Rainbow dash assured him while resting a reassuring hoof on his back.

"Yesterday... a good soul and some jerks made me remember some things I forgot to be afraid of..." Spike took a slow breath before continuing, "let me tell you-"

"What happened yesterday while I was with Spike," Fluttershy said to Twilight, both of them sitting in the map room of the castle. A tear escaping the yellow pegasus hold while little sobs crumbled her voice, "sorry, it's just... give me a moment to compose myself".

"Sure thing Flutter, let me make some tea, it seems you will need it while you explain to me what happened... besides it could be useful for me. I have been learning how to cook regular food and drinks again" Twilight told her while going back to the kitchen.

Fluttershy took her time to calm herself while Twilight was away. ‘I need to tell her this without breaking apart, come on Fluttershy pull yourself together!’ She thought before raising her face up, her eyes filled with determination. Just to squeak a little shout after being scared by Twilight's face suddenly being three inches in front of her.

"Oh, sorry, you had me worried so I was about to ask you if everything was alright, and well... you know how it ended" she explained while blushing lightly in embarrassment.

"Don't worry princess" Twilight frowned at Fluttershy's show of respect towards her, "sorry, Twilight, don't worry about it, I feel fine now, and I'm ready to tell you everything" the shy pegasus declared before describing the events of the previous day.

It was mid-day in Fluttershy's cottage. The owner of the house and the purple assistant were packing some food and objects for their journey through the forest, Fluttershy had two saddlebags filled with food and first aid equipment while Spike had a backpack filled with medicine and a map for the forest.

"Okey, I made a list of everything we will do today, and according to the time I estimated for each task, we should be on our way back before six PM" said the prideful assistant.

"Excellent, that means we'll still have time before the sun goes down. Thank you for helping me out today Spike" chirped the shy pegasus.

"Anything for you, Fluttershy" Spike said almost in a singing tone, he had grown attached to that phrase a long time ago, but it felt somehow different for him to use it for someone who wasn't his mother or Twilight.

Fluttershy blushed at her friends kind nature but soon find herself back on the track: taking care of the injured animals that survived last predator's season. After five minutes they were on their way to the everfree forest. Once inside Fluttershy took her time to see the beauty hidden deep between the scary foliage.

Nature had been always tantalizing for Fluttershy, how everything worked to create utopia and dystopia at the same time in an endless balance. Each animal had a family and a story to tell and lose at the paws, claws, or hoofs of another animal in the constant need to survive. It was a rough environment but it showed her something when she was little: Everyone was equal in nature, every critter knew that they could die at any moment, and because of it each group of animals cared for each others well being. They didn't hold themselves to some legacy or their achievements in life, they only desired to have offsprings, who could share in the good things life has to offer.

That kind of kindness, the ones that move you with the only purpose of making the ones you love, and the ones that deserve to be loved, to be happy, formed the foundation of what Fluttershy's personality and beliefs were today.

"Is something wrong Fluttershy?" Spike asked the spaced out mare, "you seem a little lost".

"Oh, oh sorry Spike, I was just thinking about the beauty of mother nature and I dozed off for a moment". Fluttershy explained, now noticing the path in front of her, "we are almost there".

As soon as they got to the spot, critters of all races and with all kinds of injuries came out of their hideouts, following the lead of a white rabbit who's left paw was broken.

"There are at least twenty wounded here" Spike commented as he counted out the injured animals in front of him.

"There might be others that can't come out of their hideouts because of the pain" said Fluttershy. The white leader confirmed with a nod. "Oh poor dears, don't worry we will take care of all of you today".

"You know Fluttershy," Spike settled his backpack on the ground and signaled the leader to come over, "this bunny reminds me of Angel".

The little white critter was skeptical of the creature in front of him, a dragon with good intentions? That was impossible. Every instinct in him commanded him to escape from the drake. But he couldn't refuse Spike's invitation; even with all his knowledge about common predators something about this purple dragon seemed different.

The yellow pegasus looked to the bunny for a second, "Maybe he is one of Angel's brothers, but I couldn't be sure about it until I present the both of them to each other and ask".

Spike healed the bunny's paw as fast as he could, being cautious to not hurt the animal in the process. The bunny wasted no time in hugging Spike as a reward before jumping to the drake's head and making signals for his comrades to go to Spike's side.

"One of the legends?" Fluttershy asked after hearing the normally unintelligible sounds of the little rodent.

"What do you-" the now confused Spike tried to ask but Fluttershy hushed him while the little bunny kept on her rambling. Apparently for the little drake, the white critter was explaining something to Fluttershy.

"This is a misunderstanding young bunny, Spike is a good dragon indeed, but he is just a teen dragon, not an adult one".

Spike’s mind got wild for a second. Rambling thoughts, most of them bad things, crawled deep inside his brain after hearing the assumption of his true age being discovered.

"Yeah, I just turned twelve a couple of months ago little fella" Spike lied. ‘I hope animals don't have a sixth sense about mythical creatures. The last thing I need is my secret being discovered. Between torch wanting me as a possible consort for her daughter, which would enrage most of the dragons, and the crystal ponies counting each day until I become of age, my life could transform into a living hell’ he thought while feeling anxiety swelling inside of his psyche.

As if the animal could sense his worrying, he stopped his rambling after telling Fluttershy he was just seeing things.

‘Even still, you got me intrigued with those first words little bunny’ Spike thought while giving some drops of medicine to a little squirrel, "hey bunny, mind if you tell us what exactly were you talking about? Maybe I'm not one of those 'legends' but I would like to know who they were or what they did to earn that kind of title".

Back at Sugar cube corner, Rainbow was getting interested in the story Spike was telling them.

"So? what are those legends? It give's me that chill of sounding like something that could be in a Daring Doo novel" The cyan pegasus asked, feeling impatience build up inside her while Spike engulfed his drink of a sapphire milk shake with gusto.

"Holly... I forgot how tasty are these, thanks, Mrs. cake" Spike raised a thumb of approbation to the mare, Then, he noticed how eager Rainbow Dash was, and how Pinkie was still containing her need to throw a party.

"Ok, ok I'll keep going with the story, let's see... as Fluttershy translated it the legends were ancient dragons that denied their instincts in order to protect others. They were usually known for being kind and looking physically like a hatchling, just like me, but they stayed in that form for ages" Spike related before taking a pause to recall the rest of what the bunny said at the time, "He explained that they used to take care of animals while Equestria was a chaotic mess of ice and wendigos, their fire was strong enough to battle against the magic eternal winter, and some of them had magic just like me. The only bad thing is that they disappeared after discord started to rule over the world. After that the little bunny took a liking to me. He wanted to know more about the only dragon close enough to one of the legends"

Spike turned sad again, "but our friendship didn't last long... when we were close to finishing our ordeal... a trio of freaks showed up, they wanted to hurt Fluttershy in ways-"

"In ways, I'm uncomfortable with explaining right now...", said Fluttershy, taking another breath.

Twilight, Rainbow, and Pinkie trembled in fear of what they were about to be told.

"Look, guys, just like I told ya, I knew she would be here at this hour. I saw her a couple of weeks ago in this same place helping the animals" a brown unicorn said to his partners: a blue unicorn of gray mane, and a big black stallion of white mane.

"You said she was gonna be alone," the blue unicorn said annoyed, "now we have to kill that little lizard before we can have some fun with that whore"

Spike got in the way of the trio, "Fluttershy, run I'll-" the black stallion tossed Spike away into a tree, the impact of the blow causing the tree to fall down with him. The sudden sound also startled the critters, who ran to hide in every corner as quickly as they could.

"Spike!" Fluttershy yelled before being enveloped by magic, "stop, what are you doing!?".

"hold on there little sugar" the brown unicorn commanded, "I know very well how strong you are once someone messes up with your friends, so I'll put those tender thick legs of yours on a strain before anything happens".

The trio kept approaching her, "now don't be shy~" the brown unicorn cooed while levitating the poor Fluttershy upside down, leaving her rump to the public view, "we came here just for the plot".

"And 'came' is not the only thing we will do" the black stallion added with a smug grin.

"Somepony... Discord... Spike... someone help me please" Fluttershy cried, trying as hard as she could to cover herself with her tail.

"Now, now, don't ruin the show" The blue unicorn spoke, holding the tail of the shy pegasus down, who in response squeaked in pain, "oh... I like those sounds".

"Easy there bud, you are the creepy one here, you'll have your chances after we make her a puddle of cum, then you would can have all the sadistic fun you want" the brown stallion commented, much to the displeasure of their victim.

Suddenly, the trio found themselves in front of a wall of fire that was coming from the previously fallen dragon, "get away from her, you psychos!" Spike shouted.

The firewall rounded Fluttershy close enough to protect her without burning her. The trio tried to stop the fire but found it impossible after a few seconds.

"It’s fire magic to you dumb lunatics! Only I can stop it!" Spike said with pride.

"If it's a kind of magic then killing the spellcaster will be enough to cancel the effects" the big stallion trotted to the dumbfounded Spike, and in a swift motion he landed Spike's head to the ground with a heavy blow, "done, now the fire shou-" the stallion noticed how the fire remained unchanged.

"Then, that monster started to attack the poor Spike, one blow after another, I couldn't see it, I was so scared I just closed my eyes and folded my ears; but I was able to feel the thuds vibrating through the air with every buck he landed on Spike's head" Fluttershy explained her point of view.

Spike by his part was telling his own perspective in the past event.

"I have to admit, his blows were heavy and relentless, but far from dazzling me, he was just wasting his time and energy. I planned to beat him once he wasted his energy and then go for the others two, but unfortunately the big guy had a brain... he rolled me over onto my back and started to put pressure on my throat, after a few seconds I started to lose consciousness and my fire faded. I watched in terror how the unicorns were approaching Shy's side.” Spike paused. “Then I felt anger. A lot of anger building inside of me. After that everything got fuzzy.”

"And what about Discord? why he didn't show up?" asked Pinkie.

"He was at his home, dimension, whatever it is. You know that when he goes there the only way to call him is with magic."

"Well, you and Fluttershy are still alive, so what happened?" Rainbow asked.

"Fluttershy was the one who told me that what happened next. Seems like I fell into my primal consciousness" Spike continued to narrate.

A heavy roar stunned the two unicorns watching over Fluttershy. Said mare for her part became frightened and looked up by instinct, seeing the image of Spike holding the black stallion by the neck. A loud crunch noise then echoed through the forest before the dragon tossed the broken stallion to the ground.

"Black hammer!" the blue unicorn screamed in fury. Wasting no time, he sent a powerful magic blast towards Spike but the attack didn’t have the slightest effect.

Spike started to run on all fours and before the duo could react, the ravaging dragon got the hold on one of the brown unicorn's hooves and throw him to a nearby boulder; breaking the stallion's hind legs in the process.

"Think, come on think, dragons, they are weak to something right?" the blue unicorn mumbled in fear till his mind clicked with a solution, "yes, spears, penetrating weapons" he recalled while conjuring a set of magic spears.

...

Fear is a weak word to use for what the blue unicorn face expressed once he saw the spears bouncing off of Spike's scales. To be more precise in his appearance: his face, mind, and mane were a mess of cries and sweat, his hoofs crumbled and failed him, making him fall to the ground with a loud thud and a puddle of goo started to swell near his mouth. Each step made by the predatory bea... no, this dragon wasn't a predator, he was a killer, a murderer with reasons. A beast that wouldn't hesitate in giving him a slow and painful death.

Looking for help, the blue unicorn shifted his look away from his imminent doom to see his old friend of crime trying as hard as he could to not pass out. After some seconds he noticed his friend was mumbling something.

"Tell? tell the? tell the port? OH I KNOW!", he shouted, too late for him to notice that Spike was already in front of him.

Before the unicorn could concentrate enough to save himself Spike's claws cut his horn in half, leaving said unicorn drowning in pain. His soundless yells of agony were interrupted when Spike took him by his hind leg and tossed him to the same place his friend was recovering, twice as hard as he previously did early.

The hit caused the boulder to break in pieces while the dead body of the blue unicorn still bounced on the ground till it came abruptly to a stop after landing between the bushes.

After that only silence and Spike remained. The little dragon's body was starting to swell, just like his claws and spikes were. He started breathing heavily and with every exhale a cloud of smoke escaped his lips and nostril.

"Hoard. protect... I must. protect" Spike panted, his stature swelling faster by the second. He gripped his head hard while whining in pain, "Must. control... don't lose. contro..." after fighting against himself, the fatigue of his body rejecting the changes of his instincts wore him out to the point that he fainted, and his body stopped it’s unnatural grow.

"I looked for the dead bodies after she explained what happened to me. To make things worse the bunny..." Spike tried as hard as he could to keep his tears in, but failed. "I... killed the white bunny when I tossed the blue unicorn into his hideout... he wanted to befriend me, but I.... no matter what Fluttershy told me, I'm a mo-".

A loud smack sound bounced through the building, Pinkie Pie held her hoof in the air, the action was a reactionary one for her, but she understood why she did it. "Don't you ever try to say that Spikey!" the pink mare shouted before she and the crying Rainbow Dash tackled the dragon to the ground with a hug.

"Listen here little squirt. We are sorry for what happened but don't you ever said It was your fault, you hear me?" Rainbow Dash reprimanded him, "You saved Fluttershy from being hurt or worse... ugh, I don’t even want to think about it".

Spike hugged his friends back. He tried to accept their words but, "girls I just... I killed those guys so easily... it just feel wrong, it made me remember what my race is capable of... what I was born to do to survive".

"Don't think about it Spike, you are not like them" commented the pink party mare.

"Yeah, you are more like those legendary one’s, a kind, soft and cute dragon" Rainbow continued, "I gotta say though, I would laugh my hooves off if I saw a legendary dragon using a pink apron" she joked.

"Hey it's a clever idea. The bad guys wouldn't suspect a thing until my dragon claws get them." he joked back before the depression hit him again. "girls... that wasn’t the only thing that made me sad that day... you see...".

"I told Spike that even when the bunny died, he was already getting in his old age" Fluttershy told the sad and angry Twilight, who right now was fighting the urge of using a time spell and save her friends in the past, "I told him he probably died happy because he lived long enough to save his friends from the injuries".

The yellow mare took another breath before continue with her narration, "he hugged me, telling me that it wasn't fair. Not just the fact that his new friend died in the collateral damage... but because those ruffians reminded him of something he had locked out of his thoughts...".

After a couple seconds of silence Fluttershy laughed in irony, "isn't it funny? my expertise is knowing about animals and how to treat them... but I never realized how Spike’s connection with us, his kindness and devotion to us goes against his natural lifecycle..."

"Fluttershy I don't understand what you mean, is there something wrong with my dragon?" the last words made Twilight's eyes shine in a lighter tone, unfortunately, Fluttershy didn’t notice.

"Spike is a drake twilight, an almost immortal creature for what we know. He will have to see us perish at some point. The normal thing to do for him is to travel and forget everything he can about us, just like other immortal creatures like the phoenix does, but he refuses to do so. He told me with more honesty than Applejack could ever show... that he would stay, and even take care of our relatives when we are gone, and the offspring of them and so on..." Fluttershy explained with happy features and tears running freely through her eyes.

"That, wow, I didn't know Spike could be this kind toward us... he really must love us all" Twilight smiled too, "that explains the reasons behind the neglect of his title as dragon lord".

Fluttershy shifted for a moment afraid of something creeping in her thoughts, "even still, I have to say that I don't know why he is like this toward us, dragons don't imprint on others like other creatures do, they only care about their hoard".

‘hoard’ That word turned the gears in Twilight's mind as the pieces slowly started to fall into place. Spike's hoard was composed of them, that could explain his feeling towards the group in more ways then she had the time to examine right now. Getting quickly out of her train of thought Twilight responded.

"uhm... but he doesn't transform into Spikezilla every time we get in trouble. This was a special occasion, one that I hope to never see again in our lives" Twilight inquired, "besides, if he see us as his hoard wouldn't he be all beast mode every time Rarity tries to get noticed by a stallion?" she added playfully.

"Well, that's true, even st-".

A huge scream for help echoed through the whole town, the voice easily recognizable, it was Spike.

An implosion appeared near the front door inside Sugarcube corner, from which two mares appeared, the first one, the yellow animal caretaker, was on the verge of throwing up; meanwhile the other one, the purple alicorn, was in a frenetic state, looking in every direction for a clue to Spike's exact location, but there were only ponies to be seen, until she spotted the rainbow colored mane of one of her friend in the kitchen.

Wasting no time in trotting, she teleported to the said location, "where is Spike?!" she asked before her eyes could adapt to their new location.

Spike was right there on the ground, grasping for his dear life, his little body being engulfed between pink fur and hair, "help. me!" he shouted with the last bit of air his lungs had before he paced out into the sweet embrace of death.

‘I think you were meant to say: 'the sweet embrace of the party pony!' Pinkie pie corrected the narrator.

"Pinkie could you please not kill my dragon? It’s only mid-day for Celestia's sake" Twilight asked annoyed.

"Oh, sorry," Pinkie released her grip on the little dragon "It's just that Spike told us something real nice, I think no one had ever told me something so nice in my life, and he is so sweet and little and mushy and kind that I couldn't help myself and I started to hug him and kiss him and snuggle him, and because of it the narrator got confused, and then I tell Spike how much I love him and then again-" Pinkie kept rambling while Twilight looked to see how Spike was holding up.

"Everything alright Spike? how do you feel?"

"I feel like a pink monster truck run over me like four times in a row" the dazzled dragon explained, "how did you get here so fast? I didn't tell you where I was heading".

Twilight smiled at him, her eyes shining in a lighter purple than usual, "I always know where my assistant is, but pinpointing the exact location is hard" she replied while taking him in her back.

"Glad to hear that" Spike commented, too dazzled to ask himself how she could know where he was and recalling that the only one capable of that was his mother.

"Hey, where are you taking him? I asked for snuggles first!" Pinkie Pie stopped rambling to ask Twilight’s intention.

"Pinkie, Spike just saved Equestria and from what I know now, Fluttershy, from certain doom, so I think he need's a well-deserved rest for today. Tomorrow I will give him the day off, so if you still are up to hug him that's okay, but remember to let him breath".

"Okey dockie lokey" Pinkie cheered, "then I'll go back to make some pastries, you want something dash?"

"Nah, I'm okay. Besides, looks like Fluttershy needs help to get up on all fours without throwing up" Rainbow said before approaching Spike, "you did well squirt... thanks for saving my childhood friend" she kissed him on the forehead, "a kiss from rainbow dash, I don't think you will get something more awesome than that today." she laughed before taking her leave.

"Well, I'll be going too then, see you later Pinkie" Twilight gave her goodbyes and started her way back home with her assistant.

On her way back home Twilight found herself lost in her thoughts. She acknowledged the things she learned today, but even when all the new information about dragons and how Spike reacted yesterday, there were more questions than before. How exactly did his instincts worked? Why did he seem to be the only dragon affected by them? Did his head to hoard mean he didn’t really love her or any of their friends for that matter? There was so much to know, but right know she needed to concentrate and think with a clear mind about the matter. Maybe make a list of the questions so once Spike came back tomorrow after having his day off.

She could have her answers.