Hot Blood

The next day, the morning was quiet between the two. Spike didn't eat. Twilight didn't either, and was reading a book. Setting down the tome, she looked at Spike.

"I figured out half the spell. I should be done by tomorrow."

Spike nodded, not even looking at her.

A knock at the door stirred them both, Twilight getting up and opening the door.

"Oh...Fluttershy."

Spike was out of ideas, he didn't knwo what to say, and thinking of what to say the nigth before, he thought of nothing.

"Hey, Twilight.", Fluttershy walked in.

"Spike...Told me what happened the other night."

"Oh, he did? Did he tell you about the metal craving thng?"

"Yes, if you were craving metal, it meant something, in fact, he didn't tell me what, exactly."

"He told me that if I craved metal, and I would crave a lot, if so, then I was pregnant. So far, not a singel craving for anything, except maybe a few gems, but nothing more. I never thought emeralds and sapphires woudl taste so good!"

She was happy. Really happy. But Spike had to tell her something.

"So, it's clear tha tyou aren't carrying."

"No. Not at all. I admit, I've been having a bit of trouble with teh animals. they don't like my new body at all, they're scared of me."

"Well, you are a dragon."

"So...Uhm...Do I still have to change back? Ya know, do I really have to be a pony again?"

"Why do you ask?"

Fluttershy shifted her eyes to Spike in the kitchen.

"Well...I...I think I'm kind of rushing into it, but, it's for Spike."

"I'm sorry Fluttershy, but...he said to me that he couldn't do it."

"B....b...but..."

"She's right. A relationship built on lust only lasts so long, and in the end, ruins the connection between two lovers."

Fluttershy began to breathe raggedly, first nearly bursting into tears before she ran outside, flying off.

"could you have been any more heart breaking?"

"It's because I was her first. Because we mated. Because we locked in steamy lustful actions, it would all be lies, the relationship would sour...It was the most truth I could say about us without hurting her feelings."

"Spike, she's very sensitive, though, what if she does something drastic?"

Spike was silent.

"Exactly, you didn't even think that through, did you?"

"I can't believe I didn't think of that...I feel terrible."

"You should, you made Fluttershy cry!"

No one ever makes Fluttershy cry...

Spike let his head fall onto the table, his hands on the sides, deep in thought over one thing. The big mistake he just made.

After twilight got back, she looked at Spike with an upset look, then walked to the staircase.

"She hasn't stopped crying since you told her earlier today."

Spike didn't respond.

"That's six hours, Spike."

Six hours? Spike would have been surprised Fluttershy had been crying for six hours, but then again, she was very sensitive. She may cry for even longer, maybe up to four days.

"I'll check on her tomorrow, I have to figure out how to finish the spell. Once I'm done, she'll be a pony again."

Twilight began her ascent, then stopped halfway.

"...Spike, are you happy?"

"What?"

"Are you happy that you completely crushed Fluttershy's heart?"

"...No...I'm not..."

Twiligth opened her mouth to speak, but walked upstairs instead.

Spike heard the familiar hoofsteps as Twilight ran back to the tree, stopping at the door.

She was running?

Opening the door quickly, she panted heavily, trying to catch her breath.

"Fluttershy...She's gone!"

"What?", Spike looked up.

"She's not in her cottage.", Twilight swallowed, "Not tending to the animals, all her animals are...gone, she's not there! Her room was messy, she packed and left!"

This was definitely Spike's fault. Tilting his head back, he stood up.

"Did you see her leave?"

"No."

"Did you check to see if anyone else did?"

"Yes, nopony saw her!"

Spike didn't know what to do now. Sitting back down, he put his head in his hands and let out a sigh.

"Spike! You're just going to sit there?!"

"What else can I do?"

"Go after her.", Rarity interrupted, having walked behind Twilight.

"Rarity?", Spike asked puzzledly.

"Yes, love?"

"But, I thought you were upset with me."

"Far from upset, deary. I nearly cried for two hours last night. But, I understand that, being a pony, you and I wouldn't be forever. So, making the decision, I'd rather you be happy with someone of your species. So, go after her."

Spike stood, "Rarity, you..."

"I'm serious, that's the truth. If you drove her away bring her back."

"I..."

"If not for me, then for you. Twilight told me everything on the way here."

Spike opened his mouth to speak, but closed it, letting out a sigh. He looked at Rarity and slowly nodded, walking towards the door.

"I'll go get her."

Rarity smiled, and moved out of the way, allowing Spike past.

"Spike, you don't even know where you're going!", Twilight exclaimed.

"Twilight, she's a dragon. And when this emotionally broken down, she's following pure dragon instinct. Only one place she could have gone now."

"Spike...Be careful..."

"I will."

Spike dropped onto his hands, changing from a bipedal stance, to a quadripedal lay, then sprinted off, through Ponyville, following the straight road through, then on, into the fields. Within seconds, he was far from Ponyville, within minutes, he was in the mountain range. And in the next hour, he was past the mountains, going on into a tundra. The wind was icy against his scales, though, he didn't slow, or falter in any way. He kept his breathing normal, and continued on.

It began to stretch further, the icy landscape reaching out past the mountains ahead. And it wasn't long before he reached those mountains either.

For the first time in the entire time he had been following his instincts, he stopped, just on a small peak, stretching over a huge ravine that was much too far for him to jump. It was about a hundred meters across, all along it.

Backing up, he put a good distance between him and the rock, pacing back and forth, thinking of how to overcome this obstacle. Then a bit of knowledge was rewarded to him by instinct. Something that dragons and their ancestors could do. While they were massive beasts that were immortal to time, they had massive amounts of their own magic. This fueled their frie breath. The fire breath being signature, and the easiest.

Spike knew more than that now. It may be one thing, small, not so much as a fiery breath, but he knew more. sprinting forward, he approached the outcrop faster this time, his hands and feet catching fire, and burning an acid green as he got closer. The gap was at his hands, and he jumped, leaping forth. Before, he would have not made it, and may have plummeted to his death. But he cleared the gap with ease, even flying forward, landing at least half the gap farther away than the edge.

He landed hard, and continued, magic fueling his speed, and keeping him from slowing down. He came to another obstacle, and easily cleared it as well, jumping from wall to wall till he was across the gap, and still going.

Nothing could stop him now.

He ran for so long, not finding a single sign of Fluttershy in the sky, or on the ground. Dragons followed this trail for millenia, and if he knew any better, she'd be at the end. A super volcano the next continent over. Spike had run a total of four thousand, eight hundred, and ninety seven kilometers, just to get to the boarder. There he met three of his good friends, which had made the trek as late as most teenage dragons.

A sight to behold to Spike. He'd not see them till next year, and while it did warm his heart slightly to see someone he knew, he wasn't so easily relieved.

They heard his footsteps first, stopping the wrestling match they were in to spot him just as he leaped over them, skidding to a stop.

"Dude, is that Spike?", Roger, the red dragon, asked.

All three got up off the ground and approached the purple dragon. His hands and feet were still aglow with green flame, amazing the three dragons like foals watching a display of fireworks.

"Dude, that is awesome! How are you doing that?!", Blake, the large, blue dragon asked.

"Guys, please tell me you saw a thin, yellow dragoness fly over.", he said exhaustedly.

"Oh, you mean that hotty that flew overhead just yesterday? Man, that was one worth chasin tail for!"

"Did she go off the usual path, at all?"

"No, why, who is she?"

"Because she's my mate."

Spike took off again, hurrying down the path just as fast as before. He passed the boarder long ago, about two hours. But who's counting. He lost track of days after the eighth. Usually, it took a lot longer to get there on foot. But Spike wasn't making the trek there the old fashioned way.

Breaking into the forest treeline, Spike came to a halt, letting his hands and feet snuff out before continuing on. Before long, he was through the forest, and in the distance, he could see the lava slowly flowing from the super volcano, down from the thick clouds. Many dragons were at the base, and even more so at the top.

Spike was there in minutes, closing the gap through the charred fields, covered in soot, leaping onto the basalt base of the volcano, and even more quickly making his way up. Sprinting past others, jumping over elders, diving under giants. He wasn't going to be stopped in any possible way.

Then he broke sight to the top, the usual ring of hardened lava, the island in the middle, and the many other, scattered rocks. The stronger of the dragons sat on the rim, protecting the king. The elite of the dragons, had private islands that rose from the lava, as their own. And in the center, the strongest dragon sat. Also known as the King Dragon.

He was as big as Spike was, mostly because he was a young dragon like he, but strong enough to take down an elder dragon more than seventy times his size. Spike knew him as the King of the Skies, as last he saw, the dragon took down fifteen larger dragons than him during migration.

He was the first young, rookie classed dragon to jump from rookie, to king. He was practically already a legend.

Spike was looking in the crater of lava as much as he was the side of the volcano, trying to find any sign of Fluttershy's vanilla yellow. Flying to the other side, he took one glance before turning to the side of the volcano, and spotted her. But where she was hit him hard.

She lay with the king herself, the two laying like lovers.

Spike hesitated, but took a deep breath and dived into the lava.

Fluttershy and the king both looked towards the sound of disturbed lava, and waited for something. Indeed, something happened. Spike broke the surface, diving out, then back in like a dolphin in the water.

The next time he surfaced, he walked onto the king's island.

With lava dripping from him, he shook off the excess, and turned to the two. A very small amount of scrap metal lay nearby, one specifically with a few teeth marks on it.

Spike knew what it meant, but could care less. As he approached the two, he was tackled by two elite dragons, each much heavier than him, and effectively pinning him to teh ground like he were weighed down by massive metal blocks and chains.

"Spike!", Fluttershy nearly screamed.

"Spike? He looks more like a disobedient little mongrel to me."

"Don't you talk about him like that!", Fluttershy commanded the blood red dragon.

The king looked her in the eye, tapping a claw on her side, and dragging it slowly down teh length of her side, trailing it to her belly, and dug it just between two scales in the center. fluttershy's heart nearly stopped, having been easily frigthened by the sharp claw placed between two of her softest scales. He could easily end here right then and there.

"Command me again and I spill your blood over this island. I don't care if you carry my child, there are plenty of other females."

Spike growled deeply, forcing himself up under the weight of the two larger dragons. They dug their claws into the rock, and pulled, but to no avail did they keep Spike down. Pushing them off, their claws were yanked from their paws, leaking blood onto the basalt, and eliciting roars from both. Spike clawed one's throat, spilling blood and bit down on the other's neck, snapping the vertebrae.

With both fallen, Spike turned to the king dragon.

"Oh, looks like you're a bit stronger than I expect."

Spike stayed silent. As he stood, his hands and feet caught fire, burning a vibrant green that flickered with his anger.

"Oh, are you here to kill me?", the king teased.

"I'm here for what is mine, only."

"Oh? You mean...this?"

The king forced his claws into Fluttershy's stomach, ripping them out to the side. Blood spilled from her gash, coating the rock quickly, boiling both rock and lava, as her heated blood was hot as the lava itself.

Spike went blind. Whatever happened next, he would never recall. He moved fast enough to the point where his fist forced the king into the large, out jutting rock, effectively harming him.

Spike turned to Fluttershy, his hands snuffing out as he reached for her. But as he did, she let out her last breath, slipping away from existence, right before him.