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// Chapter 5T: His Determination and My Resolve 
// Story: The cards of Equestria 
// by LGHeart 
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I stood in the open doorway, looking at Spike as he continued to research. The day after he came back from Sugar Cube Corner we had sent a letter to the princess about what we thought the card had done to Pinkie. The princess replied with urgency in her letter saying that we should either seal the card or destroy it. Whatever this card was, it was dangerous.
The ladder sounded like a safer option at first. But when I tried to you my magic to tear it, my magic got cut off for a couple seconds. I tried to blast it, but the shot hit the card and bounced back at me, nearly hitting me in the face. The last thing we tried was placing a shield around the card and tried to light the card on fire to burn it away. The result was small contained explosion that burned a circle into my castle floor and barely made the card warm.
Finally Spike and I chose to seal the card away in a room we weren’t using with a special spell the made it so that only him of me could enter. The spell I used was probably the most powerful I could make.
Spike had sent a letter to notify the princess about what had happened and went back to researching the card to see if he could find out what it was.
It had been close to a week since then and he hadn’t stopped working except for when he needed to sleep. In that time Pinkie had told all of us about the fact her Pinkie scene had stopped working. Most of the girls tried to comfort her, but she just said that it was fine. I decided that I should let the rest of the group know about the card and told them about what Spike’s theory was.
There were mixed reactions, but one thing seemed to be on everyponies mind. They all decided that if Spike and I were on the problem, they would do what they could too. But I had insisted that they just avoid being around the card as much as possible and go on as if nothing was happening. They didn’t seem to like that all too much, probably because they didn’t want something to happen to me, or Spike, but eventually they all gave in.
“How's Spike taking all this?” Pinkie ask catching everyponies attention. I told them that he was doing massive amounts research to help fix the problem. And in the end the girls decided it was best that they at least check up on us a couple times a day. One would come by in the morning and another by the afternoon. All of them stayed for few minutes and all of them tried to get Spike's attention, but that was to no avail.
Except when Pinkie came by, that was when Spike decided to put his work on pause and talk with others. He always had this apologetic look on his face when ever Pinkie would come by, and in the end him and Pinkie would always end up alone in the throne room, just talking. 
Even Rarity couldn't get spike to stop working and acknowledge she was there. But the second Pinkie even walked into the castle, he was already at the archway into the main hall to greet her.
And almost as soon as she left Spike's would change back. He would go back into seclusion and pick up right where he left off. It was actually pretty scary, at times he would get so secluded and determined that I would need to go up to him and do almost anything I could to get his attention.
Pinkie visited yesterday and as soon as she had gone home, Spike went straight back to work. But that time something seemed different about him. That was when I noticed the look in his eyes. A look I had seen at least a couple times before, but not on him. This look was a strong desire, a heavily fortified determination. A look that I had only ever seen in my enemies eyes when they sought to overthrow Equestria. But Spike's eyes still shone with a light to protect something he cared for. It sent chills down my back, and brought out a feeling I just couldn't recognize.
Today Spike was working just like yesterday, his determination not wavering in the slightest. It was something I had always wanted to see in him, but the circumstances weren’t exactly what I thought would bring this side of him out.
I watched as Spike puts one book down and reaches another, and just as he cracks open the new book his tail twitches slightly. The motion would have been lost from view had it not been for the fact he had looked back at his tail in confusion.
A simple shiver ran down my spine and I felt my own tail twitch.  Weird that’s never happened before.
*CRASH*
The sound of glass breaking jolted both me and Spike as we both got up and ran towards the sound. Rounding a corner, with Spike right behind me, we ran up several flights of stairs. The sound had been above us, and the only glass that we knew of that was up stairs were the winds and the sky light at the top floor. It was mostly used for night time star gazing, or in my case watching the constellations as they moved.
Spike and I ran for the top floor, somehow we both seemed to know exactly where to go. Like something was driving us.
As we reached top, I rushed through the door, Spike only a step behind me. There on the floor covered in cuts and glass laying all around her was Rainbow Dash. Even from close to three meters away.
“Ugh. . .”
Immediately I cast a spell to remove all the glass from the area, something that had been useful when beakers had broken on countless experiments. In the span of ten seconds the glass began to break down to dust, gather into a ball in the air, and return back to it's spot on the ceiling becoming the skylight I knew that it was before.
Spike had run past me and over to Rainbow. Giving quick pursuit, I followed and found that rainbow looked less injured then at first glance. Most of her cuts looked minor, barely getting past the slight layers of skin, but they were pretty large still. As Rainbow groaned in pain she rolled over so that she was facing both me and Spike.
If I had eaten lunch, their probably would have been vomit covering the floor as soon as I was the real extent of the damage. One of the things about my spell was that it didn't effect and glass that was embedded into something, or more specifically somepony. Rainbow dash had several pieces of glass sticking out of her left side and face. Several cuts were bleeding worse then the others causing smears of red to cover her coat and face. And from what I could tell, Rainbow had at least two large pieces of glass stuck in her side.
“T-Twi . . . light . . .” Rainbow said as she looked up into my eyes. “W-what happened? D-did . . . I F-fall?”
I didn't know how what to do, my mind froze up.
“I think so Dash.” Spike said, his voice somehow coming across as calming.
Rainbow turned so she could look at Spike, and I could see the flinch of pain it caused her. Suddenly my mind kicked into overdrive and I found myself antsy trying to find the nearest medical kit I could find.
“Twilight!” Spike called to me to catch my attention. “Go get help! teleport if you have too. Just go!”
Spike's commanding tone and the sudden strength in his voice shook me to my core and brought me into a focused state. Before I could even realize what I was doing I found myself following his order. My horn charged with a familiar feeling and the structure of a spell I had used hundreds if not thousands of times found it's way to the front of my mind.
The spell discharged and found myself in the hospital across town. Several ponies looked in my direction to see what was happening.
Looking around I tried to find one of the medical staff. My vision focused on the task at hand, I had to find somepony who I get help from. That's when Nurse Red-heart came into view.
Without a second thought I ran over to her and grabbed her in my magic.
Before she could even react I brought her with me through another teleportation back to the skylight room, and let her down gently. “Nurse we need your help!”
Nurse Red-heart started to turn towards me when she saw the hurt figure of Rainbow Dash next to spike. I heard the silent gasp as she looked at the scene and lifted her hoof to her mouth. The shock in her eyes was genuine and I could just tell she looked like she was about to be sick.
“Oh, my Celestia . . .” She said in a light whisper.
Spike turned his attention away form Rainbow, in an instant the look in his eyes changed from soft and comforting into that of the one I've been seeing when he's researching the card. “Hurry. We need to get her ready for a teleport to the hospital emergency room!”
Just like before Spike's change in voice brought me to attention, and with a glance I noticed that Nurse Red-heart seemed like she was in the same boat as me. I watched as she walked up to Spike and Rainbow dash.
For few seconds I couldn't think about what to do. But now that I was calmer I remembered there was a med kit back in my room.
Over the course of the next couple hours Spike and Nurse Red-heart had helped Rainbow, we got her transported to the hospital, and I had gone to the others to tell them what had happened.
Right now we were all standing in silence just outside the operating room. I was sitting in a chair next to Spike, Pinkie, who' mane had gone limp, was sitting nest to Rarity and Fluttershy. Applejack was the only one not sitting down, instead she was pacing back and forth.
“What's takin' them so long?” Applejack said in a hushed yet irritated voice.
Rarity sighed and looked up at Applejack, “Deary please sit down. Your antsy behavior is a bit unsettling to the rest of us.” Applejack looked like she wanted to say something, but thought better of it and leaned up against the wall.
I glanced over to Spike, he had been the one who's quick thinking had gotten me into action and gotten Rainbow into the hospital so quickly. He was sitting down his claws folded into each other, and his head held down. The light green flaps that covered Spike's ears flopped for a second and returned to normal, then his eyes fluttered for a second. Wait a minute, that seems familiar to me for some reason. That's when Spike's knee twitched.
I felt a familiar rush in my back, that's when I felt the familiar uncontrollable felling rush through me. Ear flop, eye flutter, knee twitch. There was a short gasp as I realized why this seemed familiar.
Reacting almost immediately I jumped to my hooves and got between Applejack and the now opening door. Luckily I had gotten up quick enough, and instead of the door slamming into Applejack, I got smacked by the rather hard door instead. A quick yelp of pain shot through me before the door pulled away from me.
“Twilight!” Applejack and the others called out all at once. The door pulled away and Nurse Red-heart winced as she looked at me.
“I'm sorry, Princess. I didn't know you were there!” She said quickly.
“That's alright.” I say with a slight wince. “It's not your fault. How's Rainbow Dash.”
Everypony turned to look at the nurse. “She will need to rest for a little while, but otherwise she should be fine.”
With a sigh of relief, I heard the sound of somepony getting to their hooves.
Turning around I noticed Pinkie was walking up to me, her eyes were hidden behind shadows. “You have it. . .”
“W-What?” I ask unable to hear what she said. Pinkie's eyes shone past the shadows all of a sudden and she looked looked me dead in the eye, a dark feeling of anger directed at me.
“WHY DO YOU HAVE MY PINKIE SENSE?!”
I was shocked for a second before Spike spoke up, "What do you mean Pinkie?"
Pinkie's features softened slightly as she turned around to face Spike. "I saw her Spike. I had looked up and saw the ear flop, eye flutter, knee twitch. The combo that meant 'Watch out for opening doors'."
"That explains the tail twitch . . ." I say as the moments before Spike and I heard the crash came to mind.
Everypony was staring at me now. I can feel the heat rush to my face as I realize that I had spoken aloud by accident. "Um. . . well I mean, that sounds like the most likely explanation for it."
"What do you mean Twilight?" Spike asks.
"I mean it explains why my tail twitched before we heard the crash."
Spike's eyes suddenly widened. he was catching on quickly. "Wait Twilight," Everypony turns to the young drake. "doesn't that mean the card is connected to you!"
"What?!" Everypony but Nurse Red-heart yelled. I had to admit that even I was confused and surprised by what spike was thinking. How would the card be connected to me?
"If my first theory was right, the one about how the card was using that spell, then it would make since that the card would give the ability or skill it took and give it to the pony it's connected to right?"
It did make since, the card could use the spell in that manner, and it would make even more since that the pony that it's bound to would receive the better end of the spell. But one thing was still bothering me.
"Why me?"
Spike thought for a moment, "Maybe because you were the first one to come into contact with it. That may have established a link between you and it."
"Deary when did you learn so much about magic?" Rarity asked, her voice sounding rather impressed by Spike's knowledge.
At this point I started to tune everything out. My mind started working on over drive. everything Spike said made sense and I couldn't deny the evidence of what just happened. Applejack would have been smacked in the face and probably seriously hurt if I hadn't known that Pinkie sense combo. After all it was the one I hated the most simply because it had always gotten me hurt.
But there was something I knew about that Spike didn't and that was that if the card could affect me with the spell it may be using, then it could use me as a conduit for the spell too. That only left me with a few options. One, try to destroy the card again. Not exactly the best option, but it's still their.
Number two, try and sever the connection between me and the card. But this option could be dangerous, if the bond is strong enough, or designed a certain way, then it could kill me in the process.
Option three, let the deck fall where it may, and hope that the card doesn't work the way I'm speculating about. But that would be a dangerous gamble, and one where the odds are not in my favor.
That only left one option left.
"Spike." I say grabbing the groups attention. "As of this moment I am going to have to seal myself with the card. You are in charge of the castle and the only key that will allow you to get in and out of the room where I will be locked away. Only open the door if it's an emergency, or you have food to keep me alive. Understood?"
There was dead silence in the hospital hallway that we were all standing in.
"Twi," Applejack said breaking the awkward silence, "Ain't that a little drastic."
Shaking my head I turned to face the whole group, "No it's not, I could be putting you all in danger just by being around you all."
"Twilight, dear that's crazy. . ." Rarity tried to interject, but I cut her off almost Immediately.
"It's the only way I can make sure your all safe." I say as my wings flair a little. "If the card is bound to me that means it could us me to do what it did to Pinkie. I will not let that happen to any of you."
Fluttershy was about to say something when Nurse Red-heart interrupted, "Listen," she said with a calm and collected voice, "I may not know what's going on here. But I can tell that it's important and should probably be talked about in private, not in the middle of a hospital. My suggestion would be to leave and go talk somewhere else." She pointed to the clock which read about 3:27 pm.
"Besides my shift ends in about three minutes and you're all blocking my way."
We all shifted to let Nurse Red-heart pass.
"I'll see you all at my castle." I say quickly teleporting away.



"All I ask is that you all keep an eye on Spike while I'm gone." I say to the girls. We were all standing outside the door to the room I had enchanted to keep the card in. I had made even more preparations over the past few minutes so that the room could be self sustaining and could only be opened by a special key that changes and matches the signature of the lock. A simple precaution used to make sure I can't open the door from the inside with a spell.
The girls were all gathered around me, they had tried to stop me from doing this, but they finally seemed to realize that I wouldn't budge on this. We had all said our little good byes, and the door to the room was open, ready to welcome it's newest prisoner.
Giving Spike the key, I walked through the doorway and into the room. The soft sound of the door shutting and the definitive soft click of a lock was all I heard before utter silence filled the room.
Like most of the other rooms in my knew castle this one was made out of crystal. But that's about where the similarities end because unlike most of the other room this one was almost completely empty other then the one crystal stand the stood in the center of the room. And that stand was currently being occupied by a flouting bubble shield containing a card spinning on a horizontal axis.
I walked up to the pedestal and felt my resolve strengthen, "Whatever you are," I say knowing full well I was talking to inanimate object. "We will stop you!"
No response.
It wasn't like I was expecting something horrific or incredible to happen, but something felt odd about the silence that was plaguing the room. Maybe I was taking things to seriously, maybe I was being paranoid, maybe I . . .
The card flouted spinning just as it had before, only now I could see that something had changed. The face of the card now had what looked like some creature with a weirdly human shaped body and face, but instead of eyes, a nose, and a mouth all I could see was an 'O' of some type.
I stood there a gasp, the face of the card was there, and from what I can only guess, completely filled in. In the short time from when I locked the card up to now, it had almost completely filled the missing image in.
The question was, did that mean the card was going to do something soon? and more importantly what was this card?