Babs Seed didn´t stayed to hear what else Spike got to say, she just turned around and trot off the store.

It took Spike almost a minute to react and chase after her.

“Spike! Get back here this instant!”

Spike´s first reaction was to stop and listen to his Escorted Lady but he couldn´t let Babs go so he left the store, despite Diamond Tiara´s orders.

Babs wasn´t exactly the fastest filly but she took first and got faster once she got rid of her dress. Spike found the dress in the middle of the road and pick it up. He didn´t know what to say or do but he knew he had to catch Babs.

Babs reached the Town Square and ran into Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo who were accompanied by Silver Spoon, who without Diamond Tiara had really nothing to do all day. Scootaloo was complaining about that when Babs bumped into her.

“He-hey! What´s wrong, Babs?”

Babs was too distressed to answer but they got their explanation when Spike arrived.

“What did you do?” Scootaloo said.

“And where´s Diamond Tiara? You are supposed to be with her at all times,” Silver Spoon added.

Spike decided to ignore them and try to get to talk to Babs but she was still crying on Scootalo´s chest. Spike extended a claw towards her and what happened next, made everypony gasp.

“How could you? You made her cry. Again!” Sweetie Belle yelled, right after she punched Spike right in the face. “How can you keep ignoring her and making her feel sad? You have any idea how much you hurt her? You have any idea what it feels to love someone and that he doesn´t has the faintest clue you do?”

“Sweetie Belle?” Scootaloo asked but her friend was too angry to hear her.

“I´m...I´m sorry. I had no idea, I mean…”

“No, you don´t! You broke Babs´ heart and you didn´t even noticed it!”

Sweetie Belle turned around and left, not bothering to hear Spike´s response. All around them, the ponies began to whisper saying things like “He really did it?” or “So he was dating two fillies at once, the nerves!” or “Hey dude, you think Sweetie Belle was talking about me?”

Spike didn´t hear any of that, he just stood there in the middle of the plaza until Twilight came pick him up that night.

*******

“Love triangle in the Town Square? The Noble Dragon not so noble after all? School´s princess just a fool? Featherweight, how could you publish this stuff?” Diamond Tiara yelled, tossing the papers at the shivering pegasus.

“We got more papers!” Snips said while Snails struggled to keep the giant pile of papers.

“Are they all the copies?”

“Well, except the ones that got shipped to Canterlot. And Trottingham. And Baltimare. And…”

“I get it! This is a disaster, now I´m the town´s laughing stock! And the worst thing is that everypony is siding with Babs Seed. How come she is the poor victim and I´m the villain?” Diamond Tiara asked, prancing around the room.

Snips raised a hoof to answer but Featherweight made him put it down.

“Maybe this will be a good time to stop this, Diamond. After all, it´s not like you really like him or anything,” Silver Spoon said.

“He´s not...that bad. Besides, I can't stop now! I already got invited to the Summer Star Sighting Show. That´s my first step to get into Equestria´s high society. I´ve been asking my father to get me into Manehattan´s School for Earth Fillies Future Talents but he keeps telling me no because of respecting your roots or something like that. This party is my chance to impress the headmistress and get into the School.”

“Is this what this is all about? You leaving me behind to get into some fancy school at another town?”

“Oh, don´t be like that Silver Spoon. I´m sure I could get you a scholarship, eventually. Besides, what´s better than your best friend being in one of the kingdom most prestigious schools?” Diamond said, nudging SIlver who wasn´t really too happy with this idea.

“Anyways, I doubt you´ll get to go to the 4S event. Twilight Sparkle raised a magic shield to keep all the reporters away from Spike. And besides, I doubt he´ll like to talk to you right now. He must be really confused.”

“Hey, what about Babs?” Snips asked.

“Pfft! I could care less about that blank flank!”

“Isn´t the expression couldn´t care less?”

“As for Spike…” Diamond continued, ignoring him. “I have the perfect idea to make him take a decision. I know that Twilight Sparkle was waiting for the perfect opportunity to make Spike stop being at my service but she forgot about one rule that Spike can´t break even if he wants too…”

Diamond´s face covered in sinister shadows while Snails finally sucummbed to the massive weight of the papers.

****

Spike was sitting on a fence in the far side of Sweet Apple Acres. Despite Twilight´s meticulous nature he knew the way around her shield so he escaped to get some peace and quiet. He needed to straighten his thoughts.

Babs was in love with him. He still couldn´t believe that. He wasn´t dumb, he knew that Diamond Tiara didn´t really love him but she at least like him and he liked her too, a little. But this was different. It was also different to when he thought he had to marry Applejack. Back then he was only thinking about the code and being noble and all that, he didn´t really gave any thought about his feelings for Applejack. Now, he has a choice. If he wanted he could ask Twilight to make him stop serving Diamond and get together with Babs…

Spike shook his head. That was a selfish thought. He was trading one filly for the other. Sweetie Belle was right, he never think about their feelings. He needed to look deep down inside him and see who he really loved.

“Hey there, shrimp!”

If he made it alive of this one.

Spike recognized the dragons. The red one and leader of the group was Garble and the other two were his minions. Spike never catch their names and honestly didn´t care. He wanted to forget all about them. He thought that after the Dragon Migration they will

go deep south and never be see again. Obviously, he was wrong.

“How is it going, Spike? Oh wait, it´s Noble Dragon Spike, right guys?” Garble joked and the other two laughed.

“What are you guys doing here?” Spike yelled.

“Relax man, we´re just here to say hi to an old friend,” Garble said, raising his hand, calling to peace.

“I´m not your friend! You guys are just bullies!”

“Uuuuuh, looks like someone thinks he´s so much better than us. Got that title got on your head, shrimp?” Garble said, patting Spike´s head. “Hey, is it me or you got taller?”

“He has wings now, too,” the purple dragon said.

“Oh yeah, that too.”

“You call this tiny things wings?” the brown dragon asked, lifting Spike by his tail. “He´s like a baby pegasus. Look at these things!”

“They´re still larger than yours, dude,” the other dragon said.

“They´re not!”

“Let me go!”

“Mace, Screech, put the little guy down,” Garble ordered and the brown dragon let Spike drop. “Here´s the thing, Spike. We were just hanging our business down the Badland when we came across this,” Garbel said, showing Spike a newspaper. “You´re giving our species a bad name , dude. You can be around protecting ponies and acting squeaky-clean. You´re supposed to a scary and ferocious dragon.”

“You serious? You're mad because I´m not a jerk like you three? I don´t want to be like you!”

“Well, you´re gonna be one day. You're a dragon after all,” Screech, the purple one, said while poking Spike´s head.

“That´s not true! Not all dragons are like you! Noble Dragons were fierce warriors that protected Equestria!” Spike retorted causing the other dragons to burst in laughter.

“Oh man, he really believes that! That´s so sad!”

“Shut...up.”

“Listen Spike, it´s simple. We don´t like what you´re doing and we want you to stop.”

“Or we´ll stop you,” Mace added.

“Bring it on. I´m not letting you three cause any problems in my town,” Spike said, his voice going deeper and his nostrils steaming.

“Uh, that sounds almost like a real threat,” Garble mocked him.

“Just try it.”

Mace and Screech moved to make the first punch but Garble stop them.

“Okay Spike, you win. You´ll get your fight but not now. This afternoon, at the Town Square and you better be there. Got that?” And Garble finished his sentence poking Spike in the chest. He was expecting the little dragon to fell down but Spike kept his ground.

Garble and his two minions took off, flying away from the orchard. When they were around the Whitetail Forest, Screech asked Garble, “Hey, why did we left? We could have take him?”

“I could take him all alone,” Mce said.

“We all could take him and, if it was up to me, I will pound him to the ground for what he did to us last migration but,” Garble said and descended to the forest. “We can´t do it. At least, right now.”

“No, you can't,” a voice said, tossing a couple of bags filled with gems at them. “Not if you want your reward.”

“You got some guts there, little pony. Even stallions are afraid of us,” Garble said to the shadowy figure who revealed herself to be Diamond Tiara.

“Please, how can I be scared of a trio of smelly dragons?” Diamond Tiara said.

“Hey!” Screech said and stop chewing the gems to take a sniff. He immediately regretted it.

“Besides, I know you won´t do a thing to me. I can get you all the gems that you want and once the job is done, I´ll give you a map with a cave filled with even more.”

The dragons rubbed their tummies, already imagining the delicious rocks. Diamond Tiara covered her mouth with a hoof so they won't see her devious smile. Sure she will give them the map, too bad the map doesn't say anything about the Diamond Dogs living in those caves.

“You wanna fill us in on that plan again? We kind of forgot,” Garble admitted, taking a few gems from his bag.

“Seriously? You dragons are all dumb. You will start a fight with Spike in the middle of the town when everypony can see you.”

“That´s done.”

“When Spike refuses to fight back, you will reveal that you have captured me...” Diamond Tiara added air quotations to that last word.

“But he already said yes,” Mace said with her mouth half full of gems.

“Trust me, he will take it back. That´s why you have to gave him a reason to fight. After you beat him for awhile, not too hard! I don´t want you to hurt him for real, you get that?” Diamond Tiara shouted and Garble raised his arms, calling for peace. “When I made you the signal, I want you to throw me at Spike, lightly. And after he catches me you will all go away and I will reveal Spike that I have the mark, meaning that I´m his one and true wife and he´ll have to stay with me for life.”

“Awww. It´s cute you like him so much,” Garble mocked her.

“Shut up! Now remember the plan, don´t punch him too hard and don't throw me too hard either. You all got that?”

“Okay okay, we got the idea. Screech, Mace, take the gems to our hideout and meet me at noon with the pony,” Garble said, and his two friends took off. “There´s only one problem with your big plan, Princess,” Garble said, pointing at Diamond´s bare arm.

“That´s not a problem at all,” Diamond said and moved next to Garble. She made him raise and hand and then stomp on his tail, making him burst some flames. Once Garble´s claw got hot enough, she made him slap her in the arm.

“Auh! Girl, you´re crazy!” Garble said.

“Auh auh, I hope this isn´t really permanent. I could always come out with a reason why the makr disappeared…” Diamond murmured, blowing her burnt mark.

******

Twilight was cleaning her desk when he found an old picture of her and SPike. He had just hatched from the egg and looked so tiny on her hooves. Twilight's eyes watered at the memory. He had grown so much the past couple of days. Twilight was used to have him around that she couldn't bear the idea of him leaving. It was different to knowing that he will live longer than her, this was the real possibility that he would leave right now and despite acting strong in front of Shining Armor, the truth was that she didn´t want him to grow. SHe wanted him to stay by her side forever.

Her trip to memory lane got interrupted by two pegasus crashing into her magic shield. Twilight peeked through the window and put it down to let Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash in.

“Twilight! Brother! Emergency! Hurry!”

“Rainbow Dash, breath and make actual sentences!”

“We saw Shining Armor by the town´s entrance. He´s coming this way,” Fluttershy explained.

“Oh no, and I still haven't find any loophole in the Dragon Code. I know that Shingin didn´t buy Diamond Tiara´s solution.”

“We need to hide Spike! Pronto! Spike, get down here!” Rainbow Dash yelled.

“He is not here, Rainbow Dash.”

“What? What about the magic shield we crashed into?”

“Oh Spike escaped hours ago. He thinks I didn´t noticed but of course I did.”

“And you left him all alone?” Fluttershy asked.

“I figured he needed some time alone. He now has a lot of things to worry about. And we can´t let SHining be one of them! Girls, go get my brother and entertain him for a few hours. I´ll go get Diamond Tiara and get her to help me convince Shining to take the case to Princess Celestia herself! That´s our only option right now!” Twilight ordered and teleported out of the library.

“Entertain him? How are we supposed to do that?” Rainbow asked Fluttershy who played with her hooves, nervously.

*****

Meanwhile, back at Sweet Apple Acres but in a different part; Apple Bloom was resting against a wheel. She was supposed to be getting some water but she just couldn't focus. She too has plenty of things to think about.

She was in love with Spike. She has accepted this fact. All  her confusion and anger from the past few days now made sense knowing that. She wanted to be with Spike and the mark on her arm was telling her she would. The problem was her cousin. Apple Bloom loved Babs and didn´t want to do anything to hurt her. To make matters worse, her feelings were now know to the entire town and Babs had been the entire day locked on her room.

Apple Bloom sighed. She had promised her cousin she would anything for her but what she really wanted, will actually hurt her even more.

“Apple Bloom, ah know yah´l be slacking off!”

Apple Bloom startled at the sound of her sister yelling.

“Yah said you could work again. Ah was okay with you going to Zecora instead of the doctor but not if yah made her lie to get me off your back!” Applejack said, glaring at her little sister.

Apple Bloom hung her head low, not daring to look at Applejack. Applejack sighed and sat down, trying to get her sister to look her at the eyes.

“Sugarcube, what's going on? Ah want to help you but ah can´t if you don´t tell me the truth.”

Apple Bloom looked at her sister and found a warm smile. Sighing, she unwrapped the bandage, revealing the claw mark.

“Oh horse apples…” Applejack said and then covered her mouth, ashamed of her language. “Well, maybe it´s just like happened with me, just a burnt mark.”

“Zecora says it´s the real deal. She says that when the feelings are real…”

“Oh, yah mean…”

Apple Bloom blushed, not giving a real answer.

“AH little sis. Ah can´t say ah´m too surprised about this.”

“What yah mean?” Apple Bloom asked.

“Well, ah kind saw the signals before hoof…”

“What? Ah didn´t even knew ah had these feelings, how could you tell?”

“Privileges of being an older sister,” Applejack said, ruffling her sister´s mane. “Now, ah bet yah feeling very confused with all this but yah know the Apples way, right?”

“Always the honest that´s the Apples way,” Apple Bloom said.

“Exactly. And you know what that means?”

Apple Bloom did not answered.

“Apple Bloom, yah got to talk to your cousin. Yah can´t keep these feelings hidden inside you. It´s not fair for you or Babs or even Spike.”

“What about Diamond Tiara?”

“Yeah, ah suppose her too,” Applejack said, rolling her eyes.

“Applejack, ah don´t know what to say.”

Applejack raised Apple Bloom´s chin and smiled. “Just speak with your heart, Apple Bloom.”

Above their heads, Screech and Mace were flying over the orchard, heading to the Town Square.

“Dude, those gems were delicious! I can´t wait to get our claws on that map!” Screech said.

“Yeah!” Mace agreed, munching on a last gem. “Let´s go give that shrimp a kicking so we can get more gems!”

“Hang on, we first need to get that filly. What was she called again?”

“Beats me. All ponies look alike to me.”

“Garble said he got his scent so…” Screech said and smelled the air, trying to get his friend´s smell. “Ah, there!” he pointed at the wheel where the sister where.

The dragons descended and Applejack immediately jumped to protect her sister. Screech barely looked at her when she grab her by the tail.

“Let me go, yah big scaly blockhead!”

“Is this the one?” Screech asked but Mace just shrugged. “Meh, she smells like a dragon. Good enough.” And he threw Apple Bloom to Mace.

“SIS!”

“Ah´ll get the both of ya-” Applejack didn´t got to finish her sentence since Screech tossed her into the wheel.

Apple Bloom called for her one more time before the dragons took her away.