It was a bright sunny day, a few hours before noon. Brighteyes was flying to make her morning delivery for Princess Twilight’s School of Friendship. It was a bright sunny day, a few hours before noon. Brighteyes was flying to make her morning delivery for Princess Twilight’s School of Friendship.he took the letters out of her bag as she landed in front of the school. She was about to place it in the mailbox, she was meet by a girl about twelve to thirteen years old. The girl had light blue and bluish gray hair done in curls with a pale ribbon around her head and moderate scarlet eyes. She wore a pinkish gray shirt with a purple dress that had overall like straps over her shoulders with the bottom half of the dress looking like a red chess rook with light brown triangles around the dress, breaking up the rook, and around her neck was a blue ribbon with bronze medal of the school’s logo. “Oh good morning Cozy,” Brighteyes said as she handed to the recently identified Cozy the mail.
“Thank you for the mail delivery, Miss Muffins,” Cozy said as she accepted the mail and noticed a ring on Brighteyes’ left index finger. “I see you have engagement right, so did Time Turner say yes?”
Brighteyes blushed, “Actually he proposed, came in the post office yesterday as we were closing, full ‘An Officer and And A Gentleman’.” Brighteyes gave a joyful sigh. “We haven’t set a date yet.”
“Well, I know three girls that would love to be your flower girls, if you want to go outside the family.” Cozy offered. “Am certain I set rearrange Professor Crumbles-Flanks schedule for either a measuring for your own dress or to adjust any dress you already have.”
“Aww, thank you so much. I’ll have to get back to you on that.” Brighteyes thanked the girl with a big smile.
“Well, in any case, I hope you have a wonderful day!” Cozy said with a big smile and a lot of cheer as she and Brighteyes bid each other a due. She then walked into the school. As she walked she put the mail into a pocket into her dress. As she walked in she saw a discarded used juice box with a straw on the floor. Cozy rolled her eyes with a slight smile. She then picked up the box and straw and placed them into their respective bins to be recycled or disposed of. She then revealed herself as a Skyborn with ethereal wings manifested as she started to fly slowly down the rest of the hallway. As she flew she came across a girl about her age with a map of the school. “Hello there.” Cozy greeted, “You're new here, right?” the girl nodded in response. “I'm Cozy Glow, Headmistress Sparkle's friendship assistant. Welcome to our school!” Cozy greeted the girl. The girl then showed Cozy her map and schedule of the day. “Your first class of the day is Lieutenant Colonel Sentry’s Defense of Self and Friends, just down that hall third door on the right.” The girl smiled and headed to the door Cozy indicated. Cozy then continued her route which led her by Silverstream as she was working on a crossword puzzle. The aasimar was struggling with a word. Cozy took a look over Silver’s shoulder, “A seven-letter word for "teamwork".” she read the clue. “Have you tried "synergy"?” she asked Silver.
Silver then used the word and not only did it fit the clue, but it also made more clues for other words. “That's it!” the aasimar shouted and hugged Cozy. “Thanks, Cozy!” she said after the hug. Silverstream then looked at the clock on the wall. “I am going to be late for my class field trip.” Silver then bolted.
Cozy smiled and started back on her flight, “What are friends for?” she asked rhetorically and carried on her route. She arrived at Twilight’s office after about ten minutes later and opened the door. As she closed it, following her entry, “Good morning, Headmistress Sparkle!” Cozy cheered. She then flew up to Twilight’s desk and placed the mail in the ‘mail in’ basket.
Twilight was at the time reading a scroll, she then placed the scroll down and noticed what Cozy placed there in the basket. “The mail's here already?” She asked rhetorically. “What time is it?!” she asked as turned her attention to the clock on her wall. Her eyes widened in horror as she bolted to the locker in her office, “I'm late for my class's field trip to Cumula!” she took out a bag and then started to pant in a panic.
Cozy hovered over to Twilight and patted the princess on the shoulder, “Don't worry.” Cozy said which got her to calm down. “I asked Professor Dash to cover for you.” She said with a smile.
“And she said yes?” Twilight asked with a raised eyebrow.
Cozy nodded, “Uh-huh. I told her how busy you are and how much her loyalty meant to you.” Cozy informed as she took a notepad that she wrote on, “I also color-coded your teaching schedule by friendship element and cataloged all the magical artifacts on loan to the school.” She then gave a small gasp, “I hope that's okay.” she said as she dipped her head in guilt.
“Okay?” Twilight asked with great joy as she hovered in the air for a second. “Cozy, that's amazing!” she exclaimed as she landed and gave Cozy a hug. “You're like my right-hand girl! I don't know what I'd do without you. And to think when you arrived you seemed to have such a hard time.” Twilight said as she walked back to her desk and started to read the mail that arrived.
Cozy gave a few giggles as she walked to be in front of the desk, “It's like you and the CMC taught me. Helping is what friendship's all about.”
Twilight nodded, “Exactly.” she agreed, “And hopefully my class is learning that on their field trip right now.” she said as she looked out the window in her office and saw the floating cloud city a few miles away from Magiville airspace.
Cozy began to leave the office, “I heard they might do some sightseeing first.” she informed Twilight. Twilight shook her head with a smile.
Just outside of Cumula on a fairly large cloud able to have about a dozen and a half people on it. Among the people on it were Silverstream, Gallus, Ocellus, Sandbar, Smolder, Yona, Starlight Glimmer and Rainbow Dash. “ Ta-da!” Rainbow said as she hovered in front of everyone and point out the city, mostly at the weather regulation facility, “As Pinkie’s dad would say, Lo and behold! The Skyborn Weather Factory!” Rainbow informed. “Every drop of rain or flake of snow from Cumula comes from there.” Rainbow continued. Most of the students gave an awe. “I know, right?” She then looked and saw a few of the students not paying attention to her speech, “Hey! The cool stuff's over here!” she said.
Ocellus jumped up and down on the cloud, “Wow! I've never stood on a cloud before!” she informed Starlight.
Starlight nodded, “People can't normally.” Starlight then tapped her focus gem, “But for our trip, I bond a few copies of the spell cloudwalking so that we all can walk like Skyborn.” she said as then moved her hands with her magic shown in her hands. She then turned her focus towards Gallus, “Although harpies don’t need such a spell.” she then turned her focus to Silver and then back to Ocellus, “Granted I don’t know about elves and aasimars.”
Gallus walked over the edge and looked over the edge. He smirked looked over his shoulder to see Yona in the fetal position and clinging to one of the Skyborn students. “Hey, Yona! Come check out this view!” he declared. “Unless you're too scared.” he challenged the ork.
Yona causally got to her feet and started to walk towards Gallus, “Yona not scared!” she countered with her teeth chattering, betraying her fear. She took one step and fell through the cloud. “Now Yona scared!” she screamed as she fell to the ground.
Starlight tried to catch and levitate Yona back up but her magic fizzled out and then she and all but Rainbow, Gallus, Silverstream, Smolder, Ocellus (who had changed into a more insectoid form) and the Skyborn students. “We gotta catch 'em!” Rainbow shouted and they all dove down to catch their fellow students. Most noticeable of the saves were Rainbow catching Starlight, Smolder saving Sandbar and last but not least Gallus and Ocellus saving Yona as the ork screamed until she was caught.
As Yona registered that she was saved, “Gotcha!” Gallus declared.
“It's okay, Yona!” Ocellus said as she tried to calm Yona as Yona was hyperventilating from the screams. “You like flying, remember?” she asked as Yona calmed down.
“Flying, not falling!” Yona said with a very clear pout. Ocellus and Gallus, as well as all the other flyers gently lowered everyone to the ground. Yona then dropped to her knees and kissed the ground.
Everyone turned to Starlight, “I don't understand.” she answered the question they were about to ask. “It-It's like my spells stopped working. That's... never happened before.”
“Okay, the field trip is canceled, Class is dismissed.” Rainbow said, “Back to school.”
About an hour later Starlight and Rainbow ran into Twilight’s office, “We have an emergency!” Starlight shouted getting Twilight to look from the papers she was reading and discussing them with Cozy.
“The students dropped out of the sky!” Rainbow added.
Before Twilight could ask them to slow down and clarify, “I bond a series of spells for a modified version of cloudwalking for our field trip, but my magic just failed.” Starlight informed.
“We flyers barely caught everybody in time!” Rainbow added.
Twilight got from behind her desk calmly, “I'm glad you're all okay, but I'm sure it's nothing to worry about, Starlight.” Twilight dismissed. “Maybe you did your spells wrong,” she said which shocked Starlight. “Let's take a look,” Twilight said as she started to levitate a book to the three. The book hovered from the bookshelf for about a foot before the magic bubble around the book faded and it landed with a thud. “I didn't drop that book,” Twilight said in a panic.
Starlight rolled her eyes, “Maybe you did your spell wrong?” she asked with sarcasm supersaturated into her voice.
There was another thud followed by Rarity crying ‘Ow!’ The door was reopened by Fluttershy as the druid flew in, “Rarity ran into the door.” Fluttershy said as Rarity’s looked in with a tearful face.
“My magic is go-o-o-one!” the enchantress sobbed as she walked in slowly, “I even had to use my hands to brush my hair!” she sobbed as she revealed her hair was down with a ribbon and a hairbrush stuck in her hair.
Rainbow turned to Twilight, “Still think there's nothing to worry about?” she asked rhetorically.
Twilight shook her head as she tried to fathom what happened and how “This doesn't make any sense. Magic can't just disappear. Something has to be causing this.” she couldn’t figure out what happened.
“Um, didn't we learn in class about a being that eats magic?” Cozy asked. “I think it was on the ‘Rainbow of Light’. I believe it was Ter, Tee... Tir-something?” Cozy seemed to have a hard time trying to recall the name of the being.
Fluttershy gasped, “Tirek!” she shouted as she concluded what Cozy was trying to say.
Rainbow scratched her head, “I thought he was trapped in Tartarus.” the elementalist questioned more or less.
Before anyone could confirm or deny Rainbow’s assertion the door opened again as a purple dragon, just a little smaller than Smolder, flying alongside the paladin. This was Spike, after going through the molting, he had gained his long prized wings, however, in turn, he had regressed to his quadruple state and in his stature, conservation of mass and such. Spike landed on the ground and started to gag as he huffed out a green flame. “Spike, what's wrong?” Twilight asked.
Spike continued to gag until Rarity stock him hard on the back causing him to belch out a school. He sighed as he grabbed the scroll and flew to be next to Twilight’s shoulders, “Thanks, Rarity.” he said to the enchantress as he flew, “I've never had a letter get stuck before.” he commented before he gave Twilight the scroll.
“It's from Princess Celestia! We've all been called to an emergency meeting in Chantalot!” Twilight said as she tried to levitate the scroll so that the others could see. “Look!” however the magic she used fizzled out and the scroll fell to the ground. “On second thought, I am pretty sure we know what it's about.”
About three hours later in the throne room of Celestia and Luna, Twilight, Starlight et al, stood in front of them with Cadance. “I am glad that you all arrived so quickly. To keep this short, our citizens here in the capital have been reporting that their magic is failing. Noticeably their spells going wrong. Potions not working.”
Luna then spoke, “We even had some difficulty in raising the moon and sun last night and this morning.” She then looked squarely at Twilight, “Are there similar troubles in Magiville?” she asked.
Twilight nodded in confirmation, “We experienced it first-hand.”
Cadance then spoke up, “There are similar stories throughout Krystalopolies.” Cadance then sighed in some relief, “The Crystal Heart seems safe for now, but I worry if this continues.”
The doors to the throne room opened as Skyborn man in the blue Mystican male uniform flew up to the throne. He arrived in front of Luna and Celestia and genuflect in front of them. “Letter for the princess from Star Swirl the Great!” The diarchs nodded and the messenger stood back up and handed Celestia the letter and flew out of the room as fast as he could, least one of the royals shot the messenger.
Celestia opened the leader. She froze after a second of reading it. “This is far worse then I imagined!” the princess exclaimed. “Magic is disappearing all across Mystica!” Everyone else in the room gasped.
“Wise move on the mailman’s part, if Hurricane was present he would have beheaded the poor man,” Luna commented. Only earning her a glare from Celestia.
Celestia cleared her throat and spoke, “Star Swirl believes the power will drain from our land in three days. First, Magicborn will lose their connection to the ethereal plane and thus their magic and spells will fail.” she surmised that what she read.
“That's what's happening now.” Starlight declared.
Celestia continued to read, “On the second day, creatures will lose their magic abilities.” Fluttershy gasped in fright and sorrow about that. Celestia then continued to read, “And finally, magical artifacts will stop working. When the sun sets on the third day, the magic in our world will be gone forever!”
Everyone then gasped save Applejack. “Wait a minute, what about us Earthborns’ and our connection to the Earth and Skyborns’ own connection to the elements?”
Celestia looked at the letter again, “There is nothing in Star Swirl’s letter about it.” Applejack could only roll her eyes response.
“But even without addressing the Earthborn and Skyborn, why is this happening now?” Cadance asked.
“That's the worst part,” Luna replied. “We have no idea.”
Twilight held her chin in thought, as she thought about what Fluttershy and Cozy concluded a few hours ago. “Has anybody checked on Tirek?” the youngest princess asked.
“You mean the guy who eats magic?” Pinkie asked. “Why would we wa— Ohhhh. Riiiiight.” the jester realized.
“If he has found some way to escape his prison or work from within it, he could be responsible for this,” Celestia stated as she acknowledged the outcome.
Luna held her chin in thought for a second, “That is the best explanation so far.” She raised her head and looked back at everyone, “Somebody should investigate.” She declared.
“We'll go,” Twilight answered immediately.
Rarity stepped forward and walked to be right next to Twilight, “Oh, no-no-no-no-no-no.” she said as she shook her head. “Not without us, you wo—” she then stopped as she realized what Twilight actually said. “Wait. Did you say "we"?” she asked as was not sure if she heard Twilight correctly.
Twilight smiled as she stepped to be in front of her friends and turned to face them, “I've finally learned that it's okay to count on your friends for help.” the princess declared. She then looked at her friends somewhat nervously, “Um, you do want to come, right?” she asked almost pleadingly.
“Uh, duh!” Rainbow said as she spoke up for everyone as the others nodded in agreement.
Celestia smiled, “Thank you all.” she thanked the others. “You must move quickly.”
Luna then added, “But you must be careful. Tartarus has changed since you were there. It now holds many dangerous creatures, and you won't be able to rely on your magic.” this was something that needed to be pointed out.
Applejack smirked as she drew her sword, “With her friends by her side, she won't have to.”
A few hours later back at Twilight’s school, Twilight and Starlight exited Twilight’s office, Twilight wore a backpack. “Okay. I left you my lesson plan, all my student files, and my annotated syllabus notes. I am sure everyone else has left notes for their classes. I am sure Trixie, Maud and the other substitutes you might employ.” Starlight nodded in agreement. “If anything goes wrong, get Princess Celestia.” Twilight informed the new acting headmistress of the school.
Starlight placed her hand on Twilight’s shoulder, “Got it!” she said to indicate that she understood the princess.
Stopped before she got to the atrium, “Maybe I should just close the school and send my students home.” she contemplated as she looked around the school with a slight panic.
Starlight sighed as she stepped to behind her, “Would you go save Mystica already?” she asked as she pushed Twilight in a clear form of support in her ‘tough love’ approach.
As the two arrived near the main door where Applejack, Rarity, Rainbow, Pinkie, and Fluttershy with backpacks and Spike, who was without a pack, “We’re all packed and ready to go to bad guy central.”
Cozy then arrived with eight brown paper bags for everyone, “Don't forget the sandwiches.” she said as she started to give the bags to everyone. “I marked whose is whose, just in case.” she said and turned to Spike with a bag with Starlight’s aura mark on it, “Starlight can't stand mustard.”
Starlight smiled and the pat Cozy on the head, “That's so sweet of you, Cozy.” she thanked the girl. She then turned to look at Twilight, “But Twilight has asked me to stay here to run the school.”
“Oh.” Cozy said with a degree of sorrow and dipped her head, “I thought that after what happened last time—” she trailed off.
Spike laughed for about a second, “Once you survived Discord, anything else is a piece of cake.” he pointed out. “Seriously not much can surpass the master of chaos.”
Cozy pouted at that remark with a very distinct whimper as tears started to form in her eyes. Seeing this, “Plus, she'll have you to help her.” Twilight pointed out.
Cozy’s demeanor changed to be extremely cheerful, “Oh, golly, yes!” she said as she did a loop. She then flew up to Twilight and hugged her, “I promise I'll be the best assistant ever!” she declared and then took Starlight by the hand and began to lead her away, “Come on. We can start working on your substitute headmistress plans right now if you like.” She said as the two started to leave.
“Wow. Uh, okay.” Starlight conceded as she went with Cozy.
As the two left and Applejack, Rarity, Rainbow, Pinkie, and Fluttershy were heading out the main door. “See? Nothing to worry about.” Twilight said to Spike. In a panic, she then grabbed Spike and pulled him so that his face was touching hers. “Tell me there's nothing to worry about.” she requested. As she saw Spike glare at her, she let go and brushed Spike off. The dragon only rolled his eyes and face-clawed.