"So why did you want me here early, Twilight?" Spike asked the pony he had lived with for a number of years. They were in the throne room at Twilight's castle. Spike realized he hadn't been in this room since he returned from his six month hiatus, even though he had been living there recently. It still contained the thrones corresponding to each Element of Harmony. In the middle was the table that doubled as the enchanted map of Equestria.

"I wanted you to come a little bit earlier because I wanted to talk to you before we met with anypony else," Twilight replied. "Why don't you sit down at the table?"

Spike observed that his old chair was still sitting at the table next to Twilight's. As he sat down, he couldn't help but notice that it actually fit his new size properly. Back when he was still a baby dragon, the chair always felt a bit large for him whenever he sat in it. It was almost as if the magic in the castle knew that one day he'd grow up and be able to fill out his throne.

"Alright, then...what did you want to talk to me about?" Spike inquired.

"Well...actually I'd like you to tell me the whole story about what happened to you when you went to Canterlot," Twilight replied.

Spike pondered for a moment. "I don't know Twilight, it's a pretty long story. Plus, I have to make sure I remember all the details properly otherwise you might not believe me."

"Spike...I don't know if you know this, but I've already talked to Rarity and heard her side of the story. Well, at least the part where you went to the Carousel Boutique and made a number of accusations."

"I'm not really surprised she talked to you," he responded without much expression. "I have a feeling that she didn't paint a pretty picture."

"She didn't..." Twilight acknowledged. "But she couldn't tell me exactly what happened with Black Marble on the night you met him, since she wasn't there. I've known you for your whole life, Spike. Rarity claims you're making up stories to hurt her relationship...but to be honest, I'm having difficulty believing what she's saying. However, unless you tell me what happened, it makes it harder for me to give you the benefit of the doubt."

"Twilight's right, Spike..." Fluttershy's soft voice interjected as she walked into the throne room. "We both want to give you the benefit of the doubt, but you need to be open and honest with us."

"Thanks for coming early as well, Fluttershy," Twilight smiled. "We want to hear your side of the story and we wanted you to be as comfortable as possible when you did. That's why I asked you to come early...before Rarity got here. You don't have to hide anything from us, Spike."

Spike exhaled. "Alright then. I'll tell both of you the exact story I told Rarity a few days ago."

"So...as I was looking in the window of the hotel lobby, I could see Black Marble waiting in front of the elevator with a mare that seemed pretty drunk. In fact, she was leaning on him for support."

"Oh my..." Fluttershy gasped. Both her and Twilight had been listening intently to Spike's recounting of that night's events.

"When she was leaning on Black Marble, was the mare you saw showing any signs of affection towards him?" Twilight inquired.

"Now that you mention that..."Spike smiled wryly. "As they entered the elevator, the mare wrapped her forelegs around him and started kissing him..."

"Oh dear..." Flutershy gasped again. "Did he push her off of him at least?"

"From what I could tell from my position, I don't think he was fighting her," Spike stated. "The problem was the elevator doors closed and I wasn't able to see what else happened after that. If you really forced me to give you an answer, I would say to you that I swear I saw him return her affections. But I may never know for sure unless I went looking for them, and I certainly wasn't about to go snooping around a hotel I wasn't staying at."

"That's quite the story, Spike." Twilight acknowledged. "You said you told Rarity the same story? Did you tell her you saw her coltfriend kissing another mare?"

"I did..." he replied sadly. "She didn't want to believe me...in fact she got really angry at me. Maybe she's in denial. Maybe Black Marble has her under some spell that causes her to lose all rationality...I just don't know..."

"I think I would have been able to tell if Rarity was under the influence of any spells," Twilight shook her head. "There really isn't any magic that I don't know of at this point of my life."

"Do you think that she's just completely infatuated with him and refuses to acknowledge his questionable behavior?" Fluttershy asked Twilight.

"Based on Spike's recounting of the night's events, it certainly seems that way," Twilight nodded.

She turned to Spike. "Do you happen to remember what the mare looked like?"

Spike nodded. "Actually I do...she had a yellow coat and a blue mane and she was a unicorn."

"What about a cutie mark?" Twilight inquired further. "Did you happen to see what her cutie mark looked like?"

Spike's face fell. "Now that you mention it, I didn't get a good look at her cutie mark."

"A unicorn with a yellow coat and blue mane..." Twilight repeated his description. "Why does that seem so familiar...?"

"Actually...thinking about it some more, I wonder if we know both know her, Twilight." Spike pondered.

"What do you mean, Spike?"

"Even though I didn't see her cutie mark, she looked awful familiar...like one of the unicorns we both used to know back in Canterlot. In fact..."

Spike's words died in his throat. From his seat in the throne room, he was looking right at the entrance. Standing in the doorway was the exact same unicorn mare he saw on that night in Canterlot. Flanking her were two other unicorns. One of them was Rarity. The other was Black Marble.

"Rarity!" Twilight exclaimed. "We were just wondering when you'd get here..."

Twilight smiled outwardly but inside she was incredibly nervous. She hoped that her friend hadn't figured out that they were talking about her before she arrived. She was also confused as to why Rarity's coltfriend and another mare were present.

"I'm dreadfully sorry, Twilight," the white unicorn apologized. "But I had to pick up Black Marble and a mutual friend of ours from the train station."

"A mutual friend...?" Twilight wasn't quite sure who her friend was referring to, but one look at the unicorn mare standing next to Rarity made her realize who it was.

"Lemon Hearts?" Twilight's mouth hung open. "Oh my goodness...what are you doing here? I'm so sorry...I almost didn't recognize you..." She drew the yellow pony into a hug.

"It's ok, Twilight..." Lemon Hearts returned her affection. "It has been quite a long time since I last saw you. I know whenever you're in Canterlot it's usually for important business, so you can't always get away to see me and the others."

Twilight's face fell. "I'm glad you feel that way, but it still doesn't excuse the fact that I haven't been spending time with my old friends when I'm in Canterlot."

"In any event..." Lemon Hearts addressed the rest of the room. "I'm here because Rarity asked me to be here. There was an incident a few days ago involving me and I wanted to be able to clear up any misconceptions about what exactly happened."

Lemon Hearts looked right at Spike as she spoke. Spike crossed his arms and a irritated expression came over his face.

"In that case," Twilight indicated. "If you could shed some light on what happened, I think we'd all appreciate it."

"Hold on a second..." Spike interrupted. "Before we get to anything, I want to know what he's doing here..." He pointed a claw at Black Marble.

"Black Marble is here because I also asked him to be here," Rarity stated. "I told him of your accusations and it upset him greatly that you thought he would do something as awful as cheat on me. But...seeing that he considers himself a stallion of honor, he's here to offer his explanation to what happened that night."

Black Marble flashed what appeared to be a genuine smile at those assembled. Spike, for his part, wasn't really buying it. He was about to say something, when Fluttershy spoke up.

"Um...if it's alright with everypony, before Black Marble tells us about that night, I was wondering if he could tell us about how you both met. I've been thinking really hard lately, and I don't remember Rarity telling any of us how she met her coltfriend."

"Really, Fluttershy...?" Rarity interjected. "I've told all of you that I met Black Marble in Canterlot on one of my trips to oversee operations at the boutique."

"Um...that's technically true," Fluttershy admitted. "But you've never told any of us how you met Black Marble...and you've never told Spike about it since he's come back. I'm sure he'd like to hear this story..."

Rarity opened her mouth as if to protest, but Black Marble stopped her.

"I'd be happy to tell your friends the story of how we met."

Rarity smiled at her coltfriend. "You don't have to, darling..." she said softly.

"It would be my pleasure, my sweet..."

Spike wanted to gag at all the affection being shown between his romantic interest and her beau. Of course, if he was the one being called darling by Rarity, he'd probably have had a different opinion.

"It happened a few months ago now," Black Marble began, not taking his eyes off Rarity. "I was at an auction at Hoofebee's, one of the most prestigious auction houses in Equestria. As I am an antique jewellery buyer, I was there to bid on a particular item."

He turned to face the rest of the ponies in the room. "It was a gold medallion, very rare and priceless. I'd been going to auctions across the land looking for an item such as this...and I was more than a bit excited to have finally found what I was looking for. Who knew, however, that another pony had her eyes on the exact same item." He turned back to Rarity with a loving gaze.

Rarity returned the gaze with a giggle. "I almost outbid him for the medallion. He really wanted it for his collection and was quite aggressive in his bidding. It was probably a good thing I lost to him though...I would have gone over my budget for purchases that month."

"She was certainly aggressive in her bids as well," Black Marble continued. "After the auction had concluded, and I had claimed my prize, I approached this lovely young mare and asked if she was free for a drink."

"I suppose you wanted to see if you could leave the auction with a second prize that day..." Rarity commented dryly.

"You wound me so!" Black Marble faked indignity. "I merely wanted to get to know you better considering you obviously were a mare of good taste! I'm happy to say I was not disappointed..."

"Flattery is unbecoming of a gentleman..." Rarity chided him in a mock-serious tone.

"Not if it is the unvarnished truth, my dear..." he playfully shot back. They held each other's gaze once again.

Spike wanted to leave the room in that moment.

"An interesting story to be sure..." Twilight interrupted the two reminiscing ponies. Spike was actually glad Twilight decided to break up the love fest, as he wasn't sure how much longer he could hold out.

"Now that we've heard the story of how you two met, what about the story of a few nights ago?" Twilight prompted.

"Yes...the story of a few nights ago..." Black Marble set his gaze on Spike. "This strapping drake here will tell you that I was at the Diamond Club entertaining a group of my friends...including, I believe, your DJ friend."

"You certainly were..." Spike replied almost sarcastically.

"What you didn't see after you left with Vinyl Scratch, was the mare to my right getting accosted by a stallion who needed a lesson in manners..."

"It's true..." Lemon Hearts concurred. "Some jerk of a stallion was trying to get me to go home with him, and Black Marble put him in his place. There was no violence, mind you, just some persuasive language on his part."

"After I had dispatched the cad, I invited her over for a drink." Black Marble said almost proudly.

"Also true," Lemon Hearts nodded. "I probably enjoyed myself a little too much after that, which is why I needed Black Marble and his friends to escort me home."

"This is all a very nice story..." Spike interrupted. "But does anypony else other than me find all of this to be way too convenient?

He pointed at Lemon Hearts. "You meet some random guy at a club..."

Spike then pointed at Black Marble "He protects you from some stallion who was hassling you, then you hang out with him the rest of night and at the end he walks you home...or in this case back to his hotel. I don't know...am I the only one who has a problem with this...?"

"Why wouldn't he protect me?" Lemon Hearts asked. "He's been doing this since we were younger. It's something any cousin would do to protect a member of their family."

Twilight and Fluttershy's mouths hung open with surprise. Spike, meanwhile, felt like he was going to be sick. Did she just say what he thought he said?

"Woah...!" he exclaimed. "Woah...woah...just, woah! Are you telling me that you were swapping spit with your cousin? He looked at Black Marble. "That is the single most disgusting thing I've ever heard! What the buck is wrong with you two...?!"

"Spike!!!" Rarity yelled at him.

"I think you're overreacting, Spike," Lemon Hearts addressed him.

"Overreacting?!!" Spike looked incredulously at her. "I'm overreacting...?! Has everypony here lost their bucking minds?!"

"I wasn't swapping spit with my cousin!" Lemon Hearts responded in a annoyed tone. "He was helping get back to my room because I was pretty wasted that night. I don't know where you're getting this idea that I was making out with a member of my family."

"Because...I saw you all over him in the hotel lobby before you went upstairs...!" Spike shot back.

"Are you admitting that you were spying on us?" Black Marble asked Spike pointedly. "I don't recall that you were staying at the same hotel as us."

"Wait...what? Spying...?" Spike was caught off guard at this assertion.

"Spike!" Rarity exclaimed. "Is this true...were you spying on Black Marble and Lemon Hearts? You never mentioned this to me when we were at my boutique. I thought that you happened to see them together at the Diamond Club..."

"I...I didn't think what I was doing was spying," he stated flatly. "I could see them from across the street. It wasn't like they were trying to hide or anything."

"So, you were spying on us!" Lemon Hearts exclaimed indignantly. "Where the hay were you hiding that night?"

"I wasn't hiding anywhere, I could see into your hotel from across the street. I was standing on the sidewalk in front of my hotel."

"Why would you want to be standing around on the street that late at night?" she shot back. "Unless you were waiting on us to come back from the club? That sounds like spying in my book!"

"They both have a point, Spike," Twilight said uneasily. "Standing around outside of a hotel you weren't staying at in the middle of the night waiting for two ponies to come by would classify, at the very least, as prying into sompony's business unwantedly."

"But...but..." Spike protested. "I was concerned that Rarity's coltfriend was going to do something that would ultimately hurt her. I knew it as soon as I met him at the club! I saw all those mares hanging out with him and his sleazy friends!"

"Now you're just insulting me!" Black Marble shot back. "Am I not allowed to spend time with my friends at a club enjoying the Canterlot nightlife? He smirked at Spike. "Your DJ friend certainly enjoyed herself..."

"You know what, buddy?" Spike snapped. "I'm going to get out of this chair and do what I should have done that night, namely put my fist through your face...!"

"SPIKE!!!!"

The entire room stopped at the outburst by Twilight. Hearing her snapped Spike out of his rage.

"Spike..." Twilight began slowly and with a very serious expression. "I want you to sit down and listen to me. I think your obsession with Rarity needs to end."

It felt like the air being let out of a balloon. Spike sat there in shock. He couldn't believe what Twilight had just said. He tried to respond, but the words wouldn't come out. Twilight took a deep breath and continued.

"I know that you've had feelings for her for a long time...and I know that you want to protect her." Twilight continued. "You've always wanted to protect her...to be her knight in shining armor. But Rarity is a grown mare. She's more than capable of handling her own affairs...and that includes her own personal relationships."

Again, Spike had no answer.

"But I think your unrequited feelings for her are beginning to cloud your judgement. Think about it. You're accusing a personal friend of ours of doing something she swears she didn't do. You also made it sound like you just happened to come across the two of them on the street that night, instead of deliberately spying on them like you did. What you did was really unethical...and all for a feeling you had."

Twilight paused. "And just now...you want to punch out Rarity's coltfriend...? Where does it end, Spike?"

Spike looked at Twilight, to the others, then back at Twilight. He'd never seen her look this disappointed before. Spike could feel everypony's gaze burning a hole in his scales. Even if he was completely certain that he had seen Black Marble making out with Lemon Hearts in an elevator, the optics of him waiting around outside of his hotel for the two of them to show up looked even worse. His heart sunk when he realized that he'd left that part out deliberately when retelling his story. Now they all thought that he was turning into violent beast again.

"Oh, Spike..." Surprisingly, Rarity spoke up. She seemed more hurt than angry when she addressed him. "Spike, why would you need to go to such lengths to prove something that just isn't true...? You're succumbing to the same feelings that caused you to rampage through Ponyville years ago..."

Spike looked at Fluttershy. The yellow pegasus awkwardly avoided his gaze. Even she seemed disappointed with him.

It was all too much for him. He had to get out of there, away from all of them.

"I'm sorry everypony...I just...I mean...I can't be here anymore." Spike quickly got up from the table and made his way to leave the throne room.

"Spike...wait!" Twilight called after him. He ignored her as he passed through the door.

"Spike!" Rarity called out to him. "Spikey...! Spikey Wikey...! Come back! Please don't go...we want to help you! I want to help you!"

She ran out into the main hallway only to catch a glimpse of him at the end of the hall by the main doors. Before she could call out to him again, he had already disappeared though them and out of the castle entirely.

Author's Note

Again...thank you for your patience while I grind this story out. Thank you again for all the support and likes!