Stricken with horror (and a sense of urgency) Shining immediately teleported to the Tree of Harmony's location even though he knew such a jump would take a lot out of him! His friends barely had time to follow, running (or flying) after him as fast as they could!
The prince didn't stop to get his bearings once he had teleported to the tree's general location. He wasn't sure how much time he had, it could be only seconds!
His worst fears were realized when the alicorn got a good look at the Tree of Harmony! Tirek's fireball had struck it had head on, the fireball have burnt it right to the roots! Even though he wasn't an expert on the subject of biology, the prince could tell that the tree was in very bad shape. It looked like it might be dying again!
But all Shining could do was wait for several agonizing seconds and then over a minute, until his friends could finally catch up to him with their Elements of Harmony necklaces still on them. They all collectively gasped upon seeing the poor state of the tree! It looked even worse than the time they had found it covered in the plunder vines which had been slowly draining its health.
Thunderlane nervously commented. "I don't think giving the Elements of Harmony back to the tree are going to do anything for it at this rate. We may be too late."
"And Starswirl and the pillars could still be anywhere," Fancy Pants reluctantly added. "Mistmane especially would probably know what to do. The seed for the tree probably came from her."
Soarin, meanwhile, eyed Shining and asked him. "What are we gonna do, Shining? Any bright ideas? You always seem to come up with some kind of solution for things like this."
However, Shining gulped as he shook his head. "I've got nothing. But I'll... I'll think of something, just give me time!"
Big Macintosh just lowered his head. "That's one thing we don't have. I know death when I see it. It'd take a miracle to save the Tree of Harmony now."
Braeburn nervously inquired. "So, what does that mean for the elements? Will they stop workin' without the source of their power?"
Shining couldn't answer, he was writing in pain and had collapsed to the ground as his body shuddered violently while taking on a dying glow! "I'm so sorry, Harmony Me," He somberly apologized as a few tears began to well up inside him. "I couldn't protect you when you needed it most. Forgive me."
But then suddenly, as Shining continued to lay on the ground in hopelessness and helplessness, the recently liberated Cozy Glow came trotting up on the scene. She appeared to be eyeing the Tree of Harmony as she walked towards it, her body starting to take on a glow similar to that of Shining's, except the glow around her grew brighter as she drew closer and closer to the tree.
Shining looked up, and a new sense of horror crept over him! "Cozy, no! Please, we'll find another way! Don't do something we'll all regret!"
Cozy Glow only shook her head. "It's my fault the Tree of Harmony is like this. I'm the one who put in danger and left it weakened. So I'm using the magic that gave me life, so that the tree's life can be restored," Somberly she added. "Sorry I didn't come to you sooner, prince. Maybe we could've avoided all of this." Then she continued her trot forward, not looking back for a second even as the glow enveloped her whole body and she started to become transparent!
"Cozy! Get back here, now!" Shining pleaded in vain! "Please! We're not going to lose you!"
Cozy didn't answer, the filly just trotted and shut her eyes as she approached the tree's trunk. "Goodbye, everypony." She spoke briefly and those were the last words to leave her lips. A brilliant, blinding flash of pure white light washed over the crevice where the tree lay! When it had faded, nothing but a few faint, glittering specs of magic indicated that anyone had ever been there before.
"COZY GLOW! NOOOOOOOO!" Shining shouted at the top of his lungs and buried his head into the ground! Now his tears flowed without stopping. All that work to save Cozy Glow, and it was all for naught in the grand scheme of things. The Tree of Harmony had been saved, but at the cost of a filly finally free to live her own life.
Suddenly though, there came a flicker of light that drew Shining's attention. He lifted his head enough to see the familiar form of Cozy standing before him and his friends. Except now she glowed the same way as the projection of Shining Armor had before, sparkling all over. "I'm okay," She spoke as her voice echoed. "I will live on inside the tree as its guardian, working to ensure the light and harmony of the realm continues to glow bright forever."
"Cozy..." Shining struggled to find the words he wanted to say. "I never meant for any of this to happen. It didn't have to be like this."
Cozy only shook her head. "Don't beat yourself up for this, Shining Armor. There is no guarantee that without Tirek's magic my life could be sustained for long. If my time in this world was short, I'm at least glad it was for a noble purpose such as this," And she added. "And so long as the Tree of Harmony still stands, and so long as there continues to be light and hope the realm, I will live on inside the hearts of you all. Now rise up and return to those you left at the school. Those students need you to help them make sense of all that transpired down in that clearing."
"The students! I almost forgot!" Shining gasped as he slowly stumbled to his hooves.
"Guess it's back to the school, again." Soarin commented.
Shining slowly nodded his head. "We'll work on a way to honor Cozy's memory later. For now, there are creatures who need a guiding hoof." And his horn lit up once more.
When Shining returned to the school, he was relieved to see that Tirek, the princesses, and the royal guards had all departed. At least he could take some pride in knowing that Tirek was likely on his way back to Tartarus and wouldn't be getting out again. But that was the extent of what could count as "Good News" for him.
An unaware Twilight breathed a sigh of relief as she approached him. "You're back already?! That must mean the Tree of Harmony's been saved!" But Shining refused to answer, the expression on his face was a clearly registered one of sorrow. Twilight tried not to gasp. "Oh no! Don't tell me the tree died!"
Shining slowly answered. "The tree... is still alive."
"Great, you saved it!" Twilight cheered, before she took notice of something, or rather two somethings: The first was the tiara that held the Element of Friendship which remained atop her brother's head. And the second was the absence of somepony important. "Where's Cozy Glow?" She inquired in an unaware tone. "She ran off before I had a chance to stop her, she wouldn't tell me where she was going but I think she wanted to be with you."
At that, Shining felt a knot form in his stomach! He knew what needed to be said, what everyone had to know about. But he couldn't bring himself to break the bad news, the words wouldn't come out. He just stood there in silence, he didn't cry, shudder, or do anything to signal a change in behavior. His face wouldn't even morph into a quivering frown. "Cozy is... is..." He trailed off, unable to say anything further.
Soarin finished for his friend, swooping in with a wing draped over his heart. "She's gone, like actually gone! She sacrificed herself to restore the Tree of Harmony and basically merged with it."
"What?!" Twilight gasped, as did those still among the gathered crowd! To say they were stunned would be an understatement!
"It's true," Fancy Pants reluctantly confirmed as he and the rest of the stallions came trotting up. "It all happened so fast. The child has become the tree's new avatar in a sense, but her physical body was unquestionably destroyed. There was nothing we could do to stop it."
"It's my fault," Shining finally spoke up in a somber tone. "I should've been there for her sooner... should've done something sooner. But I failed: Failed to save her and failed to protect the Tree of Harmony. Not to mention how I let Tirek grow much stronger than he was before," He lowered his head in shame. "I know no one's perfect, that everyone makes mistakes. But to mess up the way I did... what does that say about me? What am I supposed to have learned from all this other than I'm not a hero like I thought I was? Once again I couldn't save or protect someone who needed me."
Having heard the prince's lament, a voice familiar to many (especially the students) called out. "Wow, and I thought I had it rough when I turned over a new leaf. Sounds like I got here just in time." Everyone turned to look, and there stood Starlight Glimmer in all her glory!
Twilight rushed towards her fellow unicorn, hugging her tightly! "Starlight, you're back! What a nice surprise! I thought you were still on the road with Trixie."
"Well we were. But then we could sense all the magic in Equestria disappearing, I got the feeling my help was going to be needed in Ponyville when it was all over," Starlight explained and flashed a smile. "It looks like my hunch was right."
"You really couldn't have come at a better time, Starlight," Shining commented as he eyed his former student. "After what happened with Cozy Glow, I'm not sure I can continue to serve as a guidance counselor at this school."
However, to the surprise of all it was Silverstream who fluttered her way over to the prince! The hippogriff had a look of firey determination reflected in her eyes, a look that only Gallus had seen. And that was when he had encouraged her to stand up to what she thought was the Storm King (but was really just a pile of rocks). "You can't let yourself fall into that trap! You can't live forever in fear of the past!" She firmly declared. "If you do you're allowing yourself to be restricted, you'll be living in fear!"
"But Cozy Glow..." Shining began.
"-You don't know for sure what would've happened if you'd found out about her sooner," Silverstream interrupted. "But if she were here now, she'd want you to carry on! Living your life not in fear and regret, but dedicating yourself to living in a way that honors her memory by being the best you can be!"
Ocellus was quick to point out. "You ultimately are a big part of why we stopped the magic drain before it was too late. Without your help I don't know if we would've realized what we had to do."
"And so you couldn't help one student. She was no ordinary filly," Gallus added. "You can't let one failure control your entire life. Believe me, I messed up and let other downs all the time back in Griffonstone. You have no idea how liberating it felt to be freed from that when I got to come here!"
Yona then declared. "Know why yaks smash? Because yaks know that nothing last forever. Life is about destroying and rebuilding. When things go wrong, things get smashed. Then yaks rebuild and move on, yaks learn to be better. So prince get smashed, but now he get to rebuild and move on. Be better than he was before."
Sandbar encouraged the prince further. "Come on, Prince Shining Armor. I had to overcome my fear of disappointment. Sooner or later it happens. You can't let it get you down for long."
Smolder was the last to speak up, and she concluded. "Of course, we know it'll take time. All good things do. I had to get used to living in an entirely new world when I came here. But just like with me, you don't have to go through this new phase alone. You've got friends who care about you, and even some family to lean on for support. They'll help you get back on your hooves."
The words of the students slowly sank in, and once they had time to resonate Shining was able to bring himself to stand and wipe the tears away. "Thank you, all of you," He told the students. "I appreciate your efforts. You're right about one thing, it does me no good to dwell on what's already happened because I can't change it."
"Yeah, time travel is something I don't even want to think of!" Starlight declared as she threw up her hooves. "Tried it once and once was enough."
Shining paused considerably before he spoke up again. "All the same, I'm going to need time. I don't know if I'll ever fully come to terms with Cozy Glow's untimely end. A part of me will always wonder if there was something I could've done differently. But you're also right that Cozy wouldn't want me to be sad and gloomy forever. The best way to honor her legacy, is to dedicate myself to the cause for which she lay down her life!" Eyeing the six students he added. "And you six truly deserve praise. Though you were just children, you displayed the integrity, devotion, and most of all courage of some of the finest soldiers I've seen in my time. You kind of remind me of myself when I was younger, eager to prove myself."
Twilight spoke next as she trotted close to her brother. "But all the same you six endured more than should've been asked of you. You've been put through things that no children your age should ever be faced with. So I want to offer you all the chance here and now: Do you want to continue your studies at this school? You've learned a lot about friendship since you came here, but while I could see about advancing you all to a 'higher' class it takes more than a semester or two to learn everything there is to know about friendship."
Shining added. "In some ways, you never truly stop learning. They say that life is a learning experience. But there does come a time when that experience requires you to leave a classroom and go out into the real world. If you believe that time is now, we won't blame any of you. But the choice must be yours and yours alone."
It didn't take much for Sandbar to assertively proclaim! "Are you kidding?! I've made friends here and been on so many adventures, which includes getting the chance to help save Equestria! Why would I wanna give all that up now? You bet I'm staying, Headmare Twilight! I'm staying with my friends!"
"Yona staying with friends too!" Yona declared as she stood by Sandbar. "Yona learn so much about ponies, but Yona only begun to teach ponies and other creatures about yaks, like how to play yovidaphone. Yovidaphone hard to play good."
Gallus was all but on his knees and pleading. "Please, I'd sooner go back to having no caretaker than have to spend another day in Griffonstone. No griffon there ever wanted me, here I feel like I finally belong. I don't wanna go back to Griffonstone, not until I'm certain I know everything I need to know to make sure we rebuild properly! Not clinging to the past like Grandpa Gruff wants, but by moving forward with the values of friendship."
Silverstream eagerly fluttered over to Gallus and hugged him tightly! "No way could I say no to staying with you, Gallus, or any of my friends for that matter. It seems like there's always something new about the surface world that's worth exploring: Forget stairs and plumbing, posters are where it's at! And I know I'll keep learning more with my friends by my side, not to mention go on even more crazy adventures with them."
Ocellus buzzed her wings as she said with a sincere smile. "I never would've come out of my shell and gotten over my fear of the past if not for this school and my friends. You bet I'm staying."
Smolder was the last one to make her feelings know, though not for a lack of hesitation on her part as she willing admitted. "What the heck? It's not like I'd have better things to do back in the dragon lands. If my friends are staying then so am I. Besides, I'd be lying if I said I didn't learn a few things while I'm here. And I definitely taught you all a thing or two about dragons."
Shining smiled as he stood beside Twilight. "Well that's great to hear. At least I know that if anything should ever happen to me or to my friends, the future of Equestria is in good hooves, or claws as the case may be."
"But I'm back now, refreshed and ready to be your guidance counselor again. And I have a feeling that my skills are going to be in very high demand these next few weeks," Starlight commented. "Guess I know now why they say to be careful what you wish for."
Shining put a hoof around Starlight. "Thanks for taking back the role. I really don't think I could've kept it up after what happened with Cozy Glow. It's possible I may even need you to help me."
"Well, we'll cross that bridge when and if we get to it," Starlight reluctantly declared. "For now though, it's great to be back!"