It was roughly 12 hours later before Sandbar began to stir awake. He groaned hard as he sat up. He opened his eyes, he appeared to be in a bed, just not in his dorm. The room was white and all of his friends were surrounding his bed.
"By the Helm of Yikslur! Sandbar's Ok!" Yona's ear piercing voice was heard.
"Sandbar! You're awake! How many claws am I holding up!?" Asked Gallus holding up four claws.
"Hmmm...eight?... I don't know, I'm incredibly dizzy at the moment...Where am I?" Asked Sandbar. He rubs his head, feeling a slight headache.
"You're in the infirmary." Respond Ocellus, approaching Sandbar's bed.
"Infirmary? How'd I get here?" Sandbar looks around the room.
"Headmare Twilight found you and Smolder outside the school well past midnight. you were out cold and Smolder was holding onto you. It looked as if you were in a huge fight." Said Silverstream.
"Well...I guess you can say that." Sandbar looks tiredly at his friends. "Where is Smolder?"
"Over there." Said Gallus pointed to the corner right next to the bed. Smolder was in a chair fast asleep. Sandbar looked at her, relieved she was also ok. In order to get his bearings he began to look around the infirmary. All the professors were surrounding a completely different bed, along with some sounds of crying. In the far corner were the Pillars, they appeared to be conversing about Something.
"Smolder, Smolder wake up, Sandbar is ok." Ocellus gently shakes her awake.
"MMmm...what? Sandbar? SANDBAR!" Said Smolder finally waking up and getting to her feet. She quickly get's next to Sandbar. Her eyes were darkened and sunk in, indicating that she had been crying a bit, but was hiding it. "You Numbskull! How are you!? You hurt? Is everything ok!?" She asked in a frenzy.
"Yes, yes I'm fine Smolder. Just have a pounding Headache." Sandbar gives her a weak smile.
"Finally, you two are awake." Said A deep voice behind all of them. They turned to see it was Starswirl, he looked at both Sandbar and Smolder with a serious look. "You two are going to tell absolutely everything that happened last night. Do not omit anything from what you saw, heard, or felt. This is serious." The rest of the pillars surround them as well, surprisingly, even their professors joined in to hear what happened, all except for Twilight who stayed at the other bed. Pinkie Pie, Rarity, and Fluttershy all seemed to be crying pretty heavily. Sandbar and Smolder look at each other and gulp hard. They turn back towards Starswirl and begin explaining what happened.
"Last Night, we saw something in the Obelisk dorm, we followed it hoping to catch them and then wake one of you up, but it turned out to be a Shadow Rider." Sandbar began to explain. "I was pretty much forced into a duel instantly, and Smolder didn't want to leave me alone with them."
"This Shadow Rider, who were they?" Demanded Starswirl. Sandbar and Smolder exchange a sad look before they look back at Starswirl
"....It was Secretary Spike." Said Sandbar. This answer causes Rarity to quickly turn away to hide her face as she begins sobbing again. Starswirl closes his eyes and let out a long Sigh.
"It is what I feared. We didn't want to accept this, but the answer was obvious. Even those closest to the elements can be corrupted by the Shadows." Starswirl looks away, grimacing as he spoke.
"How Is this even possible! How can this happen to Spike!? He is more noble and Selfless than all of us!" Yelled Rainbow Dash in anger.
"The Pony of Shadows uses the shadows to prey upon the flaws of anyone who comes in contact with them, he does not create these flaws, he just causes them to be escalated." Starswirl explained.
"You mean whatever negativity that was affecting Spike, was real? The Pony of Shadows used that to corrupt him?" Applejack asked with a shocked expression
"Unfortunately, that is correct," Starswirl nods to Applejack. This was confusing to the students. Being so young, they are not told much about the Shadows so they ask Starswirl a few questions.
"How are the Shadows able to do this?" Asked Ocellus.
"The Shadow Realm is a mysterious place, even I do not know everything about it." Starswirl looks back at the students.
"Well, can you shed some light on the Shadow Realm? I barely even know what it is." Smolder asked quizzically.
"Allow me to simplify it." Said Starswirl, taking out a notebook and a Pencil. He rips out two pieces of paper and on one draws a pony, the other what looks like the Dark Magician. "This is our world." He lifts up the paper with the pony on it. "And this one is the World of Duel Monsters." He lifts up the second paper with Dark Magician on it. "And this pencil is the Shadow Realm.'' He holds up the pencil with his magic. "Now watch closely." Starswirl then pushes the pencil, and punctures it through the first piece of paper and then into the second, the pencil now stuck in both pieces of paper. "This is how our world works. Our world and the Duel Monster's worlds are two separate dimensions, but the Shadow Realm works as a bridge between the two worlds, in order to get to one world, to the other, which is what our duel spirits do to manifest themselves, they must use the magic of the Shadow Realm and use it appear in our world."
"That is incredible!" Ocellus was fascinated, her eyes wide in amazment.
"Indeed. Now to answer the big question, what are the Shadows specifically, and how come they can manipulate others? I do not have a definite answer, just theories. Our world is full of light magic, we call this light magic, Harmony." Starswirl going back into lecture mode.
"Harmony!? Like the Elements of Harmony!?" Gallus exclaimed excitedly.
"Correct young one. The elements are full of concentrated light magic, that's why we bearers are so powerful, we have pure, raw light magic within us." Explained Starswirl. "And it is believed that the World of Duel Monsters is also filled with Harmony. Now children, tell me what is the opposite of Light?"
"Dark?" Yona cocks her head to the side as she answers.
"Correct! In order for there to be Light Magic, there has to be Dark Magic. We call this Dark Magic, Shadows." The Students feel a shudder as Starswirl speaks.
"So it's called the Shadow Realm because it's full of Dark Magic?" Asked Silverstream, shrinking down a little feeling some fear.
"You are getting the picture now." Said Starswirl. "Light vs Dark, Harmony vs Shadows. That is the balance. Using a combination of Light and Dark Magic is how Duel Monsters manifest in our world. Notice how only during Shadow games do they become Solid. In our world, full of Harmony, and then Calling upon the Shadows in a Shadow game causes the perfect bridge between worlds." The students were amazed. They almost couldn't believe what they were hearing, But Starswirl was an expert on this, he knew best. So they continued to listen to him as he spoke.
"We don't call this Dark Magic for nothing, it's evil Magic. That's why we have dark fiend type monsters, some use the Shadow Magic way too much and some have been corrupted by it. It's also believed that the Dragon Rulers also use this magic, and of course, you know who uses it." Starswirl shifts uncomfortably. "The Pony of Shadows is a master of Dark Magic. Why do you think we have been cut off from our duel spirits? He controls the Dark Magic that is used to bridge the world, by stripping it away, they can not manifest, except only when in a Shadow Game."
"And while he can use the Shadows, he is the one who manipulated Spike." Sandbar looks towards the ground.
"That...Is correct." Starswirl still speaking in stoic manner.
"...Where is Spike now?" Asked Smolder. Both Pinkie and Fluttershy step to the side so the bed next to them is visible. With Twilight still by his side, Spike is laying down in the bed, hooked up to a life support machine. Their eyes widened as he still had black scales and was still taller than normal.
"By Celestia... Is he ok?" Sandbar tries to climb out of bed, but is stopped by Starswirl's hoof.
"No, no he isn't. His vitals are ok, but... With a quick scan of our magic, we can conclude that his soul has been forcefully ripped from his body. He will remain in this comatosed state until we reunite his soul with his body, or... or until he parishes." Starswirl grimaces This revelation felt like a bomb drop on everyone, is it really possible that Spike could die!?
"It's not fair! How could Spike do this! Why would he betray us!" Shouted Flash Magnus, his brow crooked in anger.
"Watch your mouth you barbarian! How dare you say he betrayed us!" Rarity Shouted back with tears in her eyes.
"But he did Professor, Sandbar, an element bearer got really hurt because of him." Said Gallus defending Flash.
"Sandbar got lucky, he passed out after having a huge influx of Magic flow through him!" Rarity once again shouted.
"Look at him, does that look like the Spike you knew!? He turned his back on you to seek glory for himself. It's Just like Stygian all over again." Said Flash crossing his hooves.
"Enough, all three of you." Said Twilight, finally speaking up. She turns to face all of them, it was obvious by her sunken eyes and her slumped shoulders she was taking this the hardest. "Starswirl said, The Pony of Shadows does not create these emotions, they are already in the pony or creature when he gets a hold of them. But the shadows feed on that emotion and accelerates it to corrupt the creature, It's the Pony of Shadows Manipulating him. The emotions Spike felt were real, but the Pony of Shadows is the one to blame for causing it to excel into who he became. It's not fair to place the full blame onto him, this could have happened to anypony." This monologue causes Gallus to look remorseful for what he said and Flash to turn his head and look away. "Now we know the Shadow Riders can come from our very own school, so we need to be on guard at all time. Even during the night, some of us need to take night shifts to guard the halls at night. You six will not be apart of the night shifts as you still have school to focus on." Said Twilight pointing to the students. "But if you encounter a Shadow Rider yourselves, you may have no choice but to duel them. The Infirmary will be where we place the bodies of the Shadow Riders when we defeat them until we can find a way to reunite their souls with their bodies, and hopefully purge the shadows from their hearts."
"Extraordinary planning Twilight, couldn't have said that better myself." STarswirl bowed his head to her. Such praise from her idol would made giddy and excited, however, she didn't show any emotion to it.
"Thank you Starswirl." Said Twilight before looking back over her shoulder at Spike.
"Well. I'm not letting that monster get away with what he has done! I'm going out to find more of those Shadow Riders and putting them down for good!" Exclaimed Rainbow Dash, punching her hooves together.
"Yeah! That's more like it!" Said Flash Magnus.
"No, we musn't seek out the Shadow Riders, we could draw in too many at a time." Mage Meadowbrook protested.
"Now hold on there for a sec. Rainbow may be on to something. If we have some of us are out scouting for them, We will be better prepared for when they reach the school." Rockhoof spoke up.
"A scouting squad? That sounds like fun. We can give each team code names. The team who scouts can be called, 'Mother bird.' The team who stays at the school, we will be called 'The Nest.' And the students can be called 'The baby chicks.' " Pinkie Pie began to bounce in place.
"Baby chicks? Really?" Said Smolder, while crossing her arms.
"Yeah, You Smolder can be baby chick one, and Sandbar baby chick 2, and Yona baby chick 3 and Silve-'' Said Pinkie before being cut off by Starswirl.
"Alright we get it. Perhaps this may be a smart thing to do is to have eyes ahead of us as well." Starswirl began to stroke his beard.
"Alrighty, then we have ourselves a game plan. We'll set up a schedule by tomorrow so that everyone can get equal work and equal rest." Said Applejack.
"I can volunteer for the first night watch tonight." Said Somnambula. "It would be smart if we buddy up for night watch. Too dangerous to be by ourselves."
"I will also volunteer for tonight." Fluttershy softly spoke up.
"Alright, everypony...egh, creatures. Stay safe, things are about to get very, very dangerous." Said Starswirl. As most of them break off to do their own separate things for the time being, except for the students who stayed with Sandbar. Twilight also stayed beside Spike's side. The Nurse would then approach Sandbar.
"You doing ok there hon?" She asked, feeling his pulse on his hoof.
"Yeah, I'm fine. I think I can walk now." Sandbar said, giving her a reassuring smile.
"That's such a relief. Here you go sweetie, if you can walk then you leave if you want to, but come back if you think something is wrong m'kay?" She said while giving him a cherry lollipop.
"Heh, thank you." Said Sandbar before hungrily putting the pop in his mouth and then slowly standing up. Both Gallus and Smolder make sure he got out of bed ok.
"So you were finally able to hone into your Element Sandbar?" Asked Ocellus, her eyes sparkling.
"Yeah, I think I did. I would have been a goner if I hadn't" Sandbar still had a slight limp when he walked.
"Does Sandbar think he can help friends hone with elements before friends run into any more Shadow Riders?" Asked Yona.
"Of course, let's start right away." Said Sandbar as they all exit the infirmary, leaving only Spike and Twilight.
End of Chapter 9