It was a quiet and pleasant day in Ponyville...or it should have been had not the Cutie Mark Crusaders decided to ransack the entire Golden Oaks Library.

Spike took a good look at the devastated bookshelves with all their contents scattered across the floor and said "Oh man, Twilight is going to get so mad at me! She is going to ground me for a full year, or send me to sleep outside on the Everfree Forest or make me brush my teeth!"

"Ah shucks! Will yah relax already? We´ll fix this in a second!" Apple Bloom said, poking from under the books pile.

"Yeah, I bet you we can clear this mess in fifteen seconds flat!" Scootaloo assured.

"Don´t you mean ten seconds flat?" Sweetie Belle asked.

"I´m always five seconds behind Rainbow Dash." Scootaloo said, proudly.

"And what are you three up to now?" Spike asked.

"Us four! Mah cuz Babs is back in town and since this´ll be her first time visiting Ghastly Gorge, we figured we needed a better map o´ Ponyville!" Apple Bloom explained.

"Yeah because our first one isn´t that good..." Sweetie said while showing the results of pegasus hoof writing.

"Hey!"

"And where is this Babs?" Spike asked, curious to meet her since they didn´t had a chance to talk during her first visit.

"I´m all the way up ´ere!"

They looked up and found Babs on the top of a bookshelf, trying to reach a book just in the corner. Spike saw the ladder shaking and yelled. "Look out!"

Too little, too late; Babs lost balance and fell to the ground landing in the scaly arms of Spike.

"Woah, that was a close one! Are you okay?" he asked holding her on his arms.

Babs couldn´t say a word. She was lost in a sparkly vision of a handsome knight with bright green eyes and a shiny smile.

Of course, that was all in her head. From the point of view of the Crusaders Spike was simply holding a filly that was actually taller than him.

"Oooookay. You are fine, I guess." he said, putting her down.

Babs remained on her spot, frozen. "Cuz, are yah alright?" Apple Bloom asked.

"Ye-yeah I am"

"You sure? You look kinda red..." Scootaloo said.

"Wh-wut? What are you implying, uh? You saying something, uh? This is my natural tone! You have a problem with that?!"

"Cuz, calm down..."

Sweetie decided to ignore the fight and instead focused on Spike who was intensively reading the book that Babs had took down.

"What´s wrong with that book, Spike?" she asked.

"I´ve never read this one before..." he kept on reading. "No way!"

****

Twilight finished reading the book that her magic kept floating on the air. "A-ha..."

"So? Was I right?" Spike asked.

"You are, Spike. This books explains where in the Crystal Kingdom you can find another book with explicit details about dragon lore. Without this reference guide, we could have spent weeks searching to no avail but now..."

"Now?"

Twilight smiled and began levitating several objects. "We are paying a visit the Crystal Empire."

Spike jumped in the air, filled with joy.

"But first..."

And now Spike stopped in mid-air.

"YOU ARE GOING TO CLEAN THIS WHOLE MESS!"

****

The Cutie Mark Crusaders were sharing a milkshake outside of Sugarcube Corner after their latest escapade.

"Can´t believe we ended up covered in tree sap...again." Scootaloo complained.

"Ah bet Zecora won´t let me near her hut fer a week now..." Apple Bloom added.

"I wonder how is Spike doing." Sweetie Belle said which caused Babs Seed to spit her drink.

"Wut? Who was talking about Spike? I wasn´t!"

"Eh no, I was." Sweetie said, looking confused. "I was saying that its been a whole week since he and Twilight left. I wonder when they will return."

Her answer came in the form of a fanfare as Twilight entered carrying a golden carriage with Spike, wearing a royal outfit, crown included; sitting on top of it.

"Behold, citizens of Ponyville! Prince Spike the First has returned to your tiny town!" he announced.

All the curious ponies in town came to take a look, including most of Spike´s friends.

Snips and Snails pretty much summarized the entire town opinions when looking at the new Spike

"Woah!"

"What´s up with him?" Scootaloo asked.

"He really was a prince..." Once Babs noted the other Crusaders looking at her she quickly added. "I mean, who does he thinks he is? The most handsome guy in town, uh? Hehe..."

She wasn´t fooling anypony, maybe only Sweetie Belle.

Spike kept blowing kisses and waving at the peasants until Twilight had enough. "Okay Spike, you had your fun." And she made the carriage and his clothes disappear.

"...oh man."

"What was that all about?" Rainbow asked, trying and failing to suppress a chuckle.

"Did you discover anything about Spikey-Wikey family, Twilight?" Rarity asked.

"Plenty. According to the records on the Crystal Library, Spike is a descendant of a Noble kind of dragons that abandoned Equestria centuries ago. That´s why his egg was kept in Canterlot." Twilight explained.

"Which means I´m a royal and I must abide to the Noble Dragon Code." Spike said and took out a really long scroll. Really, really long.

Twilight noticed the look of her friends and said. "He´s very excited with all of this..."

****

"Rule 26: A Noble Dragon must be brave."

Cue to Spike being chased by a furious horde of bunnies.

"I´m sorry Angel! I didn´t mean to steal your dessert! Fluttershy said I could take whatever I wanted!"

****

"Rule 55: A Noble Dragon must protect anypony that is in danger."

"Look out Rarity!" Spike yelled and jumped to subdue the mysterious pony that lurked behind Rarity. "Take this! Ha!"

"Spike darling, you´re punching one of my mannequins."

****

"Rule 87: A Noble Dragon must suppress his greed."

Pinkie Pie opened the box revealing a tasty set of cupcakes.

"Thank you Pinkie! They look delicious!" Twilight said, levitating one.

"Here you have Spikey, take as much as you want!" Pinkie said.

"Really? Great! No, wait. I´m a Noble Dragon now, I must learn to share."

"Hihihi how cute! But really, you can take the whole box!" Pinkie said.

"No no no no I must leave enough for everypony!" he insisted.

"But we don´t anymore cupcakes..."

"Spike, just take the box." Twilight insisted.

"No no no. A Noble always follows the code. Now if there are seven cupcakes and three of us then..."

While Spike struggled with maths Twilight sighed, obviously tired of the whole code thing. Pinkie simply finished her cupcake.

*****

"...and the most important rule. Once the ritual is complete and the Noble Dragon has found his mate, they will be together. Forever."

Spike put down the scroll, concern written all over his face.

"Forever...well, it doesn´t say that I can´t marry a pony. But it does say that I can´t make a mistake. If the ritual happens I will bonded to that pony for the rest of my life! What if I make a mistake? I could end up married to somepony like Pinkie Pie..."

A mental image appeared, that of living with Pinkie, turned into a really big blob due to all the pastries his wife kept baking.

"...or what about Fluttershy?"

Now he saw himself living on the cottage surrounded by forest critters and little purple pegasus flying all over his and his wife heads.

"If I´m not careful I could even end up with Twilight!"

The image of Twi-

"Uh bad thought bad thought! Well, as long as I´m careful, I won´t have to worry about that...after all, I´m still a baby dragon! I´m sure I have plenty of time to find my one and true wife!" Spike said, basically inviting disaster.

****

Back in the barn, the Cutie Mark Crusaders were working in yet another decorate carriage.

"Look at it! This year Hearts and Hooves parade is going to be great!" Apple Bloom proudly said, looking at their work, a giant pumpkin carved as a heart.

"Yeah if only there wasn´t anything of that icky romantic stuff! Bleurgh!" Scootaloo complained.

"Oh come on Scoots! A little romance can be nice! Don´ yah remember last year when we paired Mrs. Cheerilee and mah brother?"

"Do you remember how that one went?"

"...good point."

Sweetie once again was distracted, she moved to the other side of the pumpkin where Babs Seed was craving some initials. Once she finished she sighed

"A-ha!"

"WOAH!"

"I get it now! I get it now!" Sweetie Belle jumped in excitement." You have a crush on somepony!" she announced pointing at the initials inside the heart.

"Wut? N-no, I don´t!"

"Yes, you do!" she chimed back.

"Are you calling me a liar, uh? UH?" Babs was basically choking Sweetie.

"Babs! Yah promised to be nice." Apple Bloom yelled.

Embarrassed, Babs let go of Sweetie. "O-okay, I think I have a little...umh."

"Crush on Spike?" Apple Bloom finished it for her.

"You knew?"

"It was kinda obvious." Scootaloo nodded.

"It was?" Sweetie asked.

"Oh cuz, you got to help me! I´ve never had a crush on somepony! What should I do?"

Apple Bloom was just as naive in the matters of the heart but curious enough, Scootaloo offered a solution. "Just tell him."

"Scootaloo! She can´t do that!" Sweetie chastised her.

"Why not? If I had a crush on some boy, which I don´t because guys are totally gross; I will just go and tell him. What´s the big deal?"

"It is a big deal! A girl first crush is the most important one on her life! At least that´s what Rarity is always saying..."

Apple Bloom looked at her cousin who was silently begging for help. Scootaloo turned over on the roof of the carriage, obviously boring with all of this.

"I still don´t see what the big deal is. Let me know when you´re done with all this namby-pamby business and we go back to the parade..."

Apple Bloom got a revelation. "That´s right! Yah´r a genius Scoots!"

"I am?"

"Wut are you talking about, cuz?"

"The parade!"

"Uh?" Babs was as confused as the other two.

"Think about it! During tah parade with all those couples celebrating their love, it´ll be the perfect opportunity tah confess!"

"Yo-you think?"

"Come on cuz, trust me on this one!"

Babs looked at the other two crusaders. Sweetie was nodding while Scootaloo looked bored.

"O-okay, if you say so..."

"Cutie Mark Crusaders Matchmakers!"

"This won´t end well..." Scootaloo said.

****

Finally the day of the parade arrived and all the couples gathered along the main road, holding hooves and leaning their heads. The Crusaders talked Spike into joining their chart which he agreed because Rule 43 of the code was that a Noble Dragon must take part of every parade held in the town he resides.

While Spike saluted at the crowd the Crusaders (well, two of them) pushed Babs Seed to go to the top of the pumpkin and confess her feelings.

Watching from the crowd, Twilight and her friends saw Spike pass by.

"Spike looks very handsome on his outfit." Fluttershy commented.

"He insisted to look regal and I must say, that cape I made certainly makes him look older and taller, the look of a true prince!" Rarity said.

"He´s not a prince Rarity..." Twilight said, pretty much tired of how high of himself Spike had been the past days.

"Oh come on Twi! Let the little guy enjoy a little fame!" Rainbow said, hovering above their heads.

"I´m happy for him Rainbow, I just wish he wouldn´t be so...vocal about his newfound identity." Twilight said.

Applejack put a hoof on her shoulder, a silent gesture that said more than a thousand words.

Finally Babs gathered the courage to climb to the top. "Umh S-s-spike?"

As Spike turned over down in the crowd a certain pink pony start to shake. "Uh uh uh,it'ss a combo! A big one! Shaky knees, itchy nose...buzzing ears! The cart is falling down!"

And right on cue, the weight of both a pony and a dragon in the cart caused it to loose balance, one of the wheels got loose...

"Ha! Trixie told you to never trust wheels!"

...and the whole cart headed down the hill.

"Come on girls! We need to stop that cart!" Twilight said.

"Let´s go Fluttershy!" Rainbow yelled and took off.

"Oh my goodness oh my goodness..."

The cart headed to a cliff, totally out of control. Inside, the Crusaders did their best to recover it, only managing to break the brakes; while in the roof, a terrified Babs clinged to Spike.

Spike was scared but he also had a code to honor.

"Quick! Come up here!" he told the Crusaders.

"Are you crazy?" Scootaloo yelled.

"Trust me! I´m following the Code!"

"Will you knock it off with that Code?!"

"Scootaloo, stop it!" Apple Bloom yelled as she and Sweetie climbed up.

"Okay, now I want all you three to hold onto me, okay?" Babs was clinging the stronger. "When I say three, we´ll jump, got that?"

"Spike, yah sure about this?"

"Not really. But I have to follow the Code. Now, ready?"

"No!" Sweetie cried.

"One...two...three!"

And they jumped right when the cart went down the cliff.

"I got you!"

"Ah got yah!"

"I got you!"

"I got you."

"I got y-wait? Why did you guys jump?" Rainbow asked as she found that all the six ponies were in the air with her.

"You told me to follow you..." Fluttershy said.

"I couldn´t help it. He was in danger." Twilight said.

"Everypony was doing it, I just wanted to be popular!" Pinkie said.

"If I may interrupt, I couldn´t help but notice that neither Rainbow nor Fluttershy are flapping their wings..." Rarity pointed out. " So in that case, who is holding us in the air?"

They looked up and found Spike, furiously flapping his new wings and holding ten ponies with his hands.

After a few minutes of struggling, Spike managed to take everypony to safe ground. Obviously the first they did was ask about his wings.

"You have wings now?" Rainbow was very blunt about it.

"Congratulations Spikey!" Pinkie said and threw around some confetti out of nowhere.

"Oh no oh no oh no!" Spike said, looking terrified.

"What´s the matter? Don´t you like your new wings?" Rarity asked. "Because you like quite dashing with them!"

"Hey!"

"No you don´t understand! When a Noble Dragon grows his wings it means he´s engaged!"

"What? Where in the Code did it say such a thing?" Twilight asked.

"Rule 94. The most important of all! When a Noble Dragon meets his special somepony his wings will spur and his mate will have a mark, the mark of my claw! I´m obliged to marry the pony who gets that mark!"

"...well, that´s just silly." Pinkie said.

"Oh no! I have to follow the Code! I have put my mark on one of you!"

"Yes, but..." Fluttershy said. "on who?"

All the ponies looked at their hoof, their faces going through a parade of relief, disappointment and finally, once the bearer was revealed, surprise...

"APPLEJACK?!"

"...woah nelly."