The two were in the castle infirmary, Rachel was being examined by some doctors and other magical experts to try and find out what actually happened when she touched the Heart. Spike was forced to wait outside of the room, sitting on one of the couches, legs gittering with anxiety while trying to keep a cool head all of the same time.

Spike had no idea what the actual hell happened. One moment they were looking at the Heart, Rachel touched it and strange shit happened.

"Hey Spike," Twilight walked up to him, holding two cups of coffee in her hands. She hands one to him.

Spike stared at her offering to him before grabbing it from her, nodding her a thanks before taking a sip of it.

Twilight took that as a blessing to sit down on the chair next to the left side of him.

A moment later, she sighed softly. "Spike, I'm-"

"Don't," he stops her. "I don't want to hear it."

"You don't know what I was going to ask." Twilight retaliated calmly.

"You're trying to apologize for this morning"

"Ok, you do know."

He grunted, taking another sip of coffee, the caffeine helps to calm his anxiety a bit. "I'm starting to dislike going to the doctor's." Spike grumbled.

"Look, I realized that I have been treating you differently...from here back to the cruise."

"You basically put me at Post-Reform Discord level." He told her bluntly. "First time was with the three assholes not only talked shit about you and threw a locker at me as I walked away, I ended up in a cell almost over night; Second time for trying to beat a piece of shit of a prince who insulted my dragoness and put his hands on her and put up false rumors about me, you nearly bit my face off." He doesn't actually remember getting blasted. "If it wasn't for Shining stepping in today, you would keep on like I was the bad guy. If it wasn't for Rachel..." He paused for a moment before sighing. "Twilight, why is this happening to Rachel?" he asked her.

"I don't know." Twilight said, scratching the side of her neck. "The experts are doing everything they can to find that out. She's in good hands. How are you doing?"

"I'll get back to you once I try to figure this shit out." Spike mumbled, taking another drink of his coffee. He sighed. "I'm scared…"

"So is the rest of us." Cadence said as she approached the two, Shining was by her side but Flurry Heart wasn't.

"How are you feeling, big guy?" Shining asked him.

"Like shit, but what else is new." Spike mutters, as a result getting an elbow to the arm from the princess. He looked to Cadence and noticed this look on her face. "What's up?" he asked.

"How's Rachel?" Cadence responded with a question.

"Cadence…" he grunted.

Shining rubbed his wife's shoulders before Cadence spoke. "There is no easy way to explain this-"

"Sir Spike, my lieges," a doctor approached them, causing Spike to stand in attention. "The human girl is stable, she is ready for visitors."

Spike sighed in relief to hear that. She was okay physically...it was mentally he was worried about.

It should've been him… that was the last thing she said before she just shut down. What did she see when she touched it? So many questions swirled in his brain, but the main thing was to see if Rachel was ok

The other ponies came out of Rachel's room, discussing and comparing notes of what they learned while evaluating her.

"So, can you guys tell us what you find?" Twilight asked them.

One of the experts spoke. A short plump green unicorn with black and rainbow stripes on her mane. "It's truly a fascinating find. Miss. Lockhart is a Mother Cell, isn't she?" she looked at Spike.

"Yeah, she is, what does that have to do with what happened?" Spike grunted.

The other expert, a stallion unicorn with twilight blue coat and orange mane responded. "Well, when Miss. Lockhart touched the Crystal Heart, it released a large surge of unstable magic. If she had held on just five more seconds, the Empire and a portion more of Equestria would have been wiped off from the face of the map."

"WHAT?!" Spike, Twilight, Cadence and Shining shouted in unison. Their jaws dropped to the ground.

"How?!" The purple princess gawked. "We know that Mother Cells are people whose ancestors used magic in the past. But that was eons ago in their world! Wouldn't the actual magic fade away by now?"

It was the doctor's turn to answer. "Not exactly." The doctor said, fixing his glasses. "Though we are still learning more about the Mother Cells, we did learn that these few humans still have residual magic left by their ancestors."

"Dragons were once from the Human realm before they migrated here; my Elders were the reason humans were able to use magic," Spike said, having the other experts quickly jotting down the notes before he stopped them. "Look, I'm not an expert, it's just something I heard, and it isn't much so don't go by what I say about this."

"Well, that is news to us so we'll keep that in mind." The stallion expert quipped before continuing where the doctor left off. "As Doctor Stinefall here said, Mother Cells have residual magic. With the right training, they may be able to gain use for them. But since finding out what happens when your mate touches the Crystal, we advise not to let her handle any artifacts that were created in this world Pony magic or otherwise. What happened was when both types of magic came in contact, it set the balance off."

"But she has the bracelet. Sirs, there are three stones on her bracelet that is magic and she's able to use them."

"Those stones can be used by just about anyone who knows the spell. Their magic doesn't cause a serge like the Crystal Heart did." he answered.

"I thought something felt dark when Rachel touched it." Cadence quietly admits, causing Spike to turn to her. "It was powerful, more than I ever felt."

"Do you think since you and flurry are more connected to the Crystal Heart, you were able to sense the magic?" Twilight asked her.

"I believe so…" Cadence said.

Spike listened to them before looking at the doctors. "Will Rachel be alright?"

"She's quite healthy," Doctor Stinefall assured him. "Just… until we can learn more, it's best to not let her go near any other magical Equestrian artifacts. The magic stones on her bracelet are okay, but anything else, we advise against it. She's ready for visitors...one for right now."

"Thank you." Spike said. He looked back to his family members before walking over to Rachel's door.

Rachel was not okay by any means. She lay on her side, back facing the doorway. She had a blanket pulled over her body in the fetal position. Not only she felt like her body was being ripped apart when she touched the Crystal Heart, she felt this huge amount of guilt and sadness consumed her.

A feeling that she had desperately tried to forget since she came to this magical land. A memory came back…

The smell of diesel was heavy in the air as thirteen year old Rachel was walking down a street away from her school. Deciding to cut school during lunch due to the noticeable black eye and bruised cheeks she had received that early morning. The bustling city of Manhattan was at full capacity of people going about their way on this chilly noon.

"Damn Nancy and her stupid friends… they can shove their gossip column up their twats." Young Rachel grumbled to herself. Her worn second-hand sneakers were practically falling at the seams as she walked down the busy sidewalk, the child standing already 6'0 so she was way taller than her peers.

As she turned the corner, she came across the aftermath of a car crash. Ambulance and police men and the firemen were all over this cherry red truck that was flipped over and crashed into the median. Car crashes were nothing new to the child, however….

She recognized the truck, Rachel recognized that vehicle from anywhere. It was her father's truck. No one was allowed to go near it by her father. At first, she felt a sense of relief… As morbid as it was, it meant she and her mom was finally free from his abusive hand.

However, when the firemen used the jaws of life and pulled the mangled, bloody corpse out on the ground, Rachel felt her blood run ice cold.

"MOM!"

Rachel hugged tightly at her pillow, pressing her face into it.

"Why did that fucking thing showed me that?" She asked herself in between sobs.

As she cried into her pillow, she felt the weight on the bed shifted, a large gentle hand on her shoulder.

"Hey, baby," Spike softly said, he was sitting beside her.

Rachel didn't speak when he sat down. She lay there in silence.

Spike lies down beside her, wrapping his arm around her waist and bringing her closer. Rachel felt warm in his embrace, curling up to him as much as she could. Her face was buried into his chest. He placed a hand on her head and held his mate close.

"You smell nice." Rachel said against his shirt.

Spike snorted. "It's just normal soap, I know you're allergic to most perfumes and colognes." Poking her side, causing her to squirm a bit and giggled. He wiped some of her tears away with his claws before kissing the top of her head. "Are you alright?" he asked her softly.

"I am now..." She muttered. "I can't believe I almost destroyed the Empire."

"You did not." Spike said. "You had no idea that was going to happen." He sighed. "Nor that you actually have magic inside of you."

Rachel gave him a look. "I doubt I can cast spells."

"You casted a spell on me." He grinned, wiggling his brows. Trying to raise her spirits. "And now I am at your beck and call."

Rachel rolled her eyes and let out a chuckle. "How is it after what we just went through, you made me not upset?"

Spike giggled before sighing, his gaze softening. "No, seriously, are you alright?" he asked her.

Laying her head on his chest, a moment has passed before she says, "I...I'm not really sure."

Spike gently stroked her the small of her back with his claws, doing what he could to comfort her. "What did you see?" he asked her. "I know you saw something...you don't have to say anything if you don't-"

"I don't." Rachel said, which surprised him. She sat up on the bed, arms hugging herself.

Spike sat up as well and looked at her. "Rachel-"

"Spike, I'm sorry, but what I saw… what the Heart showed me, was something I had tried so hard to leave behind." she said, pushing her extensions over her ears with her splint fingers and winced in pain.

She kept forgetting they were injured.

Spike stared at her for a moment before speaking, "You said we should be honest with each other. You said that. What did you mean when you said "It should've been him."?"

Rachel went rigid when he repeated that phrase.

Damnit…

A moment has passed once more before Rachel sighed heavily. "For some reason… The Crystal Heart made me relive the day my mom died." she turned around to face him.

Spike's ears drooped in response when he saw the look on her face.

"She was driving dad's truck when she died. I stumbled upon the aftermath of the accident. I thought it was the old man, but I was wrong." So very...very wrong, she thought, trembling. "It's something I don't like reliving."

Now Spike felt like he created a whole new breed of being a shithead.

"Rachel, I'm so sorry." Spike frowned. He knew her mother died in a car crash but he didn't know she was there at the scene. "I didn't know."

"Yeah...well you do, now." She muttered.

The dragon could sense something else was wrong. Something that she was hiding from him; obviously he wanted to know more. But Spike knew if he were to push her, Rachel would shut down, especially if it was part of her past back home. Rachel made a big deal about secrets last night…

But she was keeping something from him.

Spike then sighed softly. "Is there something I can get you?"

His mate shrugged her shoulders, "Not right now, thank you."

Before Spike could speak, a knock on the door disturbed him. Turning towards the door, Shining poked his head in.

"Hey, is everything ok?" Shining Armor asked the two.

"Yeah, fine." Rachel said, moving the extensions away from her face.

Shining read her body language before looking at Spike. "Hey, can we talk?"

"Oh, sure." Spike responded. He looked to Rachel to make sure she didn't need anything from him. She assured the purple dragon that she didn't need anything before he left the room. Closing the door, he turned to his brother. "What's up?" he asked Shining then.

"Nothing much, how is she?" Shining asked him, looking back at the door where the human was before looking back up to the dragon.

Spike sighed, crossing his arms. "Shaken up, all things considered."

Shining rubbed his neck. "Will she be okay?"

"I…. I don't know." Spike said softly. He shook his head and his shoulders sagged. "I don't know what to do. This day was going well despite Blueblood's gossip."

"How many tallies did she give you before the Heart?" Shining asked curiously.

Spike thought about that. "I don't know, earlier when she wasn't looking, I did see I think six tallies."

"You're doing good then." Shining grinned. Shining looked at the watch on his wrist and chuckled. "You got seven more hours till midnight, you still have time."

He raised a brow. "Shining, after what happened, I think the challenge is over."

"It's something to take the mind off. Don't worry about the planning the last bit, I got something in mind." Shining chuckled. "Not gonna leave my bro clinging to the ledge like that. If that is, you are up for it."

Spike ponders over that. Right now, he wants to make sure Rachel was ok. Shining was offering his hand to help…

Maybe…

"Nothing too exciting. There has been enough excitement in these past few days to last us a lifetime." Spike responded. "But if you can somehow help me salvage this day, I would gladly appreciate it."

Shining clapped his brother's back with a nod. "Just let big brother handle this. You just handle making sure Rachel is at dinner in a bit. I want you two to be happy. And besides, that girl is a keeper." he chuckled.

Oh he has no idea. Spike thought but chuckled with his bro. "Yeah, that she is."