//------------------------------// // Chapter 6 // Story: My Filly From Tartarus // by 5u0myn0n4 //------------------------------// Outside, Twilight looked stressed. Like, really badly. Her eyes were glowing, and her horn was glowing uncontrollably. Twilight backed away from her friends. She was worried, and didn't want to hurt them. "I-I'm so sorry,. I didn't mean, I-I just-" Twilight closed her eyes and looked away to hide her tears. "Twilight? Are you okay?" Spike asked. "It's okay, Twilight." Rainbow Dash said. "Don't worry. We'll always be your friends." Pinkie Pie said. "Come on, Twilight. Whatever's bothering you, just talk it out with us." Starlight said. Twilight backed away from her friends, quivering her legs. "No. Get away from me. You're not safe from me!" Twilight exclaimed. Her horn lit up and threatened her friends. They backed away from her. She immediately felt remorse. "GAH!" Twilight exclaimed. Twilight snapped. "Twilight!!" everypony exclaimed. Her horn lit up even brighter, and Twilight surrounded herself in a big magic bubble. Twilight encased herself in a large magic forcefield to hide herself from everypony else. "Oh dear!" Fluttershy worried. "What do we do?" Rarity asked. "What did we do to cause this?" Rainbow Dash asked. "I'm not sure. But whatever it is, we can solve it, right?" Starlight asked. "Any ideas?" "It's not so much a full plan, but I have a general idea on what we should do." Spike said. But before they could do anything about Twilight, a familiar filly paid a visit to the scene. She looked from the entrance of the courtyard, and watched the events unfold. "What kind of friendship conundrum did I just walk into?" Cozy Glow asked herself. Another magic bubble? Seriously? How many of these am I going to have to deal with before I can just relax?she thought. What is a powerful alicorn filly to do when they see the ruler of Equestria in a vulnerable state? Probably not this. She walked up to Twilight's friends. "W-What's going on here?" Cozy Glow asked, in an innocent tone. *gasp* "Cozy Glow!" everyone exclaimed. There she was at last. Cozy Glow, wearing a black cloak to hide her unrestrained wings and horn. "What's with the cloak?" Rarity asked. "I uh... it's cold. Okay? Equestria hasn't exactly warmed up since the Windigos were banished." Cozy said. Cozy looked at the sight. Half surprised, but also half pleased? Maybe it was amusement. Heh. Looks like I've gotten under Twilight's skin after all. I never could have imagined it would've been this effective. Cozy thought in her head, but externally, she acted innocent. "I-I just came back to apologize about earlier. What's this about?" she asked. "I'm not sure. We just told Twilight we'd rather not move to Canterlot, and then she up'n flipped out." AJ explained. "We have to try to reach her!" Starlight said. Cozy Glow looked at Twilight surrounded in the magic bubble. If I were still the old me, I'd say something like 'Twilight is unfit to rule', and have her thrown into Tartarus. However, I'm a changed filly. So instead, I should probably just try to talk to her. Cozy thought. Cozy had an important decision to make. What did she want for the future of Equestria? It all came down to her actions from this point, and she knew what needed to be done. "I'm going in!" Cozy said, determined. "What?" everypony exclaimed. "Are you sure you want to go in there?" Starlight asked. "The only way we can undo this is to get through to her." Cozy said. "Shouldn't we be the ones to help Twilight?" Rarity asked. "She's our long time friend after all." "Uh, I'd hold off on that. You guys did kinda set her off by rejecting her offer at royalty." Cozy said. Her friends scratched their heads nervously. Cozy Glow stood in front of everypony. She walked up slowly and touched her hoof against the bubble. It was a solid forcefield for sure. It was clear she was going to need some extra oomph to get through. Cozy threw off the cloak, revealing her magic and wings were free and unbounded. *gasp* "Cozy, your magic!" Starlight exclaimed. "What about it?" she asked. "Careful! She's free!" Rarity said. Cozy was surprised at the cold reception. Maybe she made the right call by skipping her magical showcase after all. Just seeing her in control of her horn made them wince. "What's the matter, ponies? Are you intimidated by my awesomeness?" Cozy asked, sassy. "Scared to see the real me?" "This ain't the real you! You're just a fake alicorn who got'a hold'a Grogar's bell, and fudged herself to be an alicorn!" Applejack exclaimed. "Oooh..." everypony said. "Ouch." Cozy got stuffed up."Oookay... That was harsh." "But am I wrong?" AJ shot back. Don't argue back. Arguing only makes things worse. Cozy thought. Rather than listen to her own advice, she couldn't keep her thoughts bottled up. "Then what do you think the real me is? HUH!? I'd like to hear your thoughts!" Cozy said. "Calm down, Cozy." Spike said. But she continued to argue. "What about Twilight? Twilight wasn't born an alicorn. What makes her alicornship more legitimate than mine?" Cozy asked. "Well for starters, Twilight earned her abilities at the moment she was ready, and-" Starlight started. "And you up an stole magic to make yerself powerful for evil intents.-" Applejack added. "Pfft. Forget about the semantics!" Cozy said. "You guys have serious trust issues. Now if you don't mind, I would like to speak with my mentor." "Nuh-uh. You step away from her. For all we know, you may be responsible for this!" Rainbow Dash said. "Blaming Cozy on everything again, huh? It's all Cozy's fault! That proves it. You guys don't trust me." Cozy said. "If that's what you believe, then shouldn't I be the one to fix my mistake? You guys have such double standards. You trusted Discord to undo his mistake by turning me and the legion to-" Cozy started, but was interrupted. "-Would you quit bringing up that sob story! We get it! We almost stoned you! It could've happened, but it didn't!" Rainbow Dash said. Everypony paused for a moment. Rainbow Dash came across as overly harsh. She even took a step back, not realizing how loud she was. "With that attitude, I'm surprised it hasn't happened yet." Cozy said. "You wanna try us?" Rainbow Dash asked. Rainbow Dash got in Cozy's face. "Hey hey, take it easy now. Let's just stop before somepony says something they'll regret." Spike said, but Cozy was in the heat of arguing, and blurted out anyway. "I'm not surprised you guys sent Twilight into a spiraling state of solitude! You guys barely radiate any friendship at all!!" Cozy exclaimed. *gasp* Everypony backed away, and was shocked. *AIR HORN* Suddenly a very loud air horn went off and startled everyone. "What the?!" everypony exclaimed. The loud horn scared everypony. They covered their eyes. But who made the noise? It was- "Pinkie Pie!" Rainbow Dash scolded. "Who's side are'ya on?" AJ asked. "What side? I'm just trying to get Twilight's attention. Geez." Pinkie said. She blasted the air horn once again, but this time, Cozy snagged the air horn with her magic, and crushed it, and tossed it carelessly on the ground. "Where were we?" Cozy asked. "You were about to apologize to us." Rarity said, firmly. "Apologize for what?" Cozy asked. "For exposing the hypocrisy of your so-called friendship?!" *gasp* everypony gasped again. (everyone's going to be out of breath at this rate) "Cozy Glow!" Spike exclaimed. Cozy looked at Spike. "You are... you are... *sigh* You're not wrong." Spike admitted. "What the-" Rarity exclaimed. "Seriously?" Rainbow Dash asked. "Spike?! How could you?" Starlight asked. "Just listen. I mean, she isn't totally right. I wouldn't go that far. But, she are onto something. We haven't exactly been on our A-game with friendship lately." The ponies shook their heads, and realized Spike had a point. They thought about recent times friendship gave conflicting messages. Namely how they had to save the legion... from themselves. "You know, you guys haven't exactly given our new friend the warmest reception." Spike said. "New... what?" Cozy asked, under her breath. "Here comes Cozy Glow offering to help Twilight, but then here come you guys who flip out when you see she has full access to her magic. You lashed out before she even did anything with her magic." Spike said. The ponies scratched their heads in shame. They were a bit quick to react to Cozy's presence. "You can't expect Cozy to change if we don't first set an example." Spike said. "We've all learned and grown so much by solving friendship problems, so it's only fair to give Cozy a chance to solve one too." Spike reached and held Cozy's hoof and looked at her, giving her his support. "Are there still any objections?" Spike asked. Everypony shook their heads, unsure. "Thanks, Spike."Cozy said under her breath. "We're sorry, Cozy." Starlight apologized. "I guess some of us have just been a little paranoid lately." "I guess we're the ones who haven't learned anything. Twilight gave you a second chance, and here we are denouncing it." Rarity said. "She wouldn'ta done it if she didn't have her reasons, so it's only fair we give ya a chance jus like she did." AJ said. Nopony had ever really apologized to Cozy before. She wasn't sure how to accept it. "Uh... thanks I guess." Cozy said. "All this friendship stuff is still so foreign to me, so forgive me if I come across as ungrateful. Really I appreciate the honesty..." she said quietly. "We're sorry, Cozy." everypony said together. "Can you ever forgive us?" Fluttershy asked. "Well, I gotta start somewhere..." Cozy said. "Anything we can do to make up to you?" Starlight asked. "All I can ask from you guys for now is a moment to speak with Twilight. I have something I want to tell her that I think she'll be pleased to hear." Cozy said. If I tell Twilight that I made two new friends, will that be enough? Will she be proud of me? Or is she too upset that I ditched her? Cozy wondered in her head. "Sounds like a plan to me. So, Cozy, ready to solve your first real friendship problem?" Spike asked. Cozy stood up and leaned her hoof against the magic forcefield casually. "Come on guys, this'll be easy! Don't worry, I've had weeks to practice magic. How hard could this be?" Cozy asked. Cozy leaned against the forcefield, but suddenly her horn glowed, and suddenly everypony noticed her hoof sink into the magic field. "WOAH!" Cozy phased through the bubble's wall unexpectedly and she fell inside. "Cozy!" everypony exclaimed. Starlight fired a blast of magic at the forcefield, but could not break it. "I still can't get through." Starlight said. "Then how did Cozy just waltz in there?" AJ asked. "I'm not sure. It's like Twilight sort of just invited her inside." Starlight replied. "We can't just sit here and wait for something to happen. We gotta do something." Fluttershy said. Spike looked inside. "Come on, Cozy. You know how to reach her. I know you do." Cozy was now within the magic bubble. The magic inside was so strong, she levitated without even thinking, almost like gravity had shut off, or was being counteracted. She looked up and saw Twilight Sparkle floating in the center of the bubble. Her eyes were glowing and were completely white. "Twilight!" Cozy exclaimed. "Twilight! Can you hear me!?" Cozy Glow was overwhelmed by the magic surrounding her. "I can't get through..." she said to herself. She was confounded by the force inside and could barely move. "Oh, Twilight! I have something to tell you. Not to inspire you with some inspirational friendship story, but instead I'm here to rub it in your face!" Cozy exclaimed. Cozy concentrated her magic very hard to try to reach Twilight, but it was extremely difficult. Her face scrunched and she became frustrated, and overwhelmed by the magic inside. "Would you just listen to me, Twilight Sparkle!!" Cozy exclaimed. "AAHHH!!!" Cozy was pushed back by a thrust of force. She fell over and lost her sense of orientation. She couldn't tell up from down. As she struggled to regain balance, it felt like she was fighting through a fluid. Before she knew it, she literally was submerged in a fluid. It really felt like she was under water. She held her breath. She looked up a saw light peeking through, and swam to the light. She made it to the "surface" and gasped for air. Thankfully, she found a solid ground to stand on. She climbed up, and laid on her back, as she gasped for air. The bright sun glared onto her face, as she squinted. "I'm so done with this. I'm... I'm..." *RING* "I'm late for class?" Cozy looked over, and saw she was in front of Twilight's School of Friendship. That's what it appeared to be, but she couldn't believe it. She went inside, but it was completely empty of any other creatures. She'd wondered how she got back here. She figured she ought to check out Headmare Twilight's office for answers. Thankfully no other ponies meant no lines to see Headmare Twilight. Inside Twilight's office, there she was. Twilight sat in her chair, facing opposite the entrance. Cozy walked in slowly, unsure what had happened or why she was here. She noticed that on Twilight's desk, was a stone bust of Cozy's head. Odd decoration... "Um, Twilight?" Cozy asked. "Hello, Cozy Glow." Twilight said, still facing away. "Are you upset with me?" Cozy asked. "Where have you been, Cozy Glow? You wandered off without permission, and unsupervised." Twilight said. "I know, but I think you'll be glad when I tell you what I did while I was gone. See, me and some other ponies we-" "Do you have any idea how much trouble I could have gotten into?! Imagine if Celestia or Luna had found you first. MY student! Equestria's biggest threat, gone rogue under my supervision! If anypony else saw you and reported it, the commotion that could've ensued! Do you have any idea how bad that would've been?!" Twilight exclaimed. Twilight apparently knew how to strike it where it hurt. Cozy took a step back, and wept as her mentor scolded her for what she did. "I-I'm sorry Twilight. I-it's just-" Cozy said, sympathetically. "Even if you weren't comfortable showing off, then you should have just told me instead of pretending and then changing your mind at the last minute without telling me!" Twilight said. Cozy choked up at hearing her Headmare berate her so harshly. "Just tell me how I can make Equestria better, Twilight." Cozy wept. "You already know how you can do that." Twilight said, except that Twilight's voice had changed completely. She sounded just like... "Discord?" Cozy asked. The chair turned around revealing that Twilight's eyes were yellow with red pupils, and one pupil larger than the other. She looked very unnatural and scary looking. But those eyes were an exact match for- "Discord!" Cozy explained. "As I was saying, you already know how you can make Equestria better." Discord said, putting a single finger of his talon on the Cozy Glow bust. He slowly dragged his finger and scraped it. "So why don't you just drop like a stone?" Cozy looked at the bust of herself again. It now looked much more distressed. *gasp* Cozy put her hoof to her mouth. "Don't worry. I don't turn ponies to stone." Discord said. "Just like how I would never betray, or lie to my friends." Discord's talon emanated charges of lightning. Discord held out his talon and fired at Cozy. *ZAP* "AH!" Cozy just barely jumped out of the way. "Leave me alone!" Cozy cried. Cozy flew out the door, but when she did, the hallway stretched in front of her. "What is going on?!" Suddenly, she was now in the school's underground caverns. She flew around searching for an exit or something, when suddenly she encountered a familiar sight. "WOAH!!" She skid her hooves on the ground, and came to a stop right before she collided with a familiar sight. *gasp* "But how? What?" In front of Cozy, in the basement below the school, was none other than the spell she had previously created in School Raze. In front of her were the Six Items beaming to a big orb in the center of the room, as the magic in the land was presumably being drained. "Oh no. Not this! Not again! I gotta stop it!" Cozy said to herself. She tried to use her magic to move the Talisman of Mirage, but her magic grip on the talisman was fizzling out as her magic weakened. "Oh no! It's happening!" she said. Cozy rushed over and tried to pull out the item with her bare hooves, but even that approach wasn't going to work. *gasp* A ghostly hand reached from the orb in the center and tried to grab her horn. Cozy flapped her wings and lunged away from the circle. "AH!" Something else interjected in Cozy's way. She bumped into an object that gave a hollow rang when she hit it. Behind her was another familiar and unpleasant reminder of the past. "Need some magic, Cozy Glow? Well I'm right here for the taking." Grogar's bell said. "NO! I don't need you!" Cozy denounced. "I don't want any of this!!" "Okay then." it said. *RING* *ZAP* The bell took her word literally, and zapped Cozy Glow with a powerful beam, and started to drain her magic. "NO! I didn't mean it like this!" Cozy flew away as quickly as she could to get away. She kept flying through the confusing catacombs beneath the school, when suddenly she flew into a giant cupcake that was just sitting in place. Thankfully it was thick enough that she came to a slow and safe stop. She pummeled around a bit until she popped out from the base, and found herself on the ground. "How does this keep happening?" Cozy asked, exhausted. Cozy reached her forehead. And she couldn't feel her horn. *gasp* "No no no! Not now!" Things were only about to get worse however. The silhouette of Discord's claw shrouded Cozy. Discord's claw cast a shadow that laid on top of the pegasus. "There you are." Discord said. Twilight and Discord had caught up to her. Twilight looked odd. Her horn was emanating night magic. She almost looked like Nightmare Moon. A Nightmare Twilight. "May I, Princess?" Discord asked. Twilight nodded. "It is what she deserves after all." Both of Discord's hand appendages glowed and emanated lightning. *ZAP* The cupcake exploded, and Cozy lost sensation in her hooves, and then her hindlegs. She looked and saw indeed, her worst nightmare. Cozy started to turn to stone from bottom to top. She laid on the ground, in defeat, as she let it overcome her body. "I'm sorry, Twilight! I made so many mistakes!" Cozy cried. "Twilight, please!" "Everything's going to be just fine, now that you'll be unable to cause any harm again." Nightmare Twilight said. "Equestria shall be safe for at least another 1,000 years!" "Twilight! Please! There's something I wanted to tell you!" Cozy looked at Twilight, who showed no remorse. "Forget it... there's no point. I'm sorry you couldn't teach me. I'm sorry that I ended up being the one pony you couldn't teach. Guess I really am unteachable... *sob* I thought that I finally found it. I thought I finally found some real friends who loved me... but in the end I just couldn't run from my past... If you could just extend the slightest ounce of forgiveness. Just show me the Princess of Friendship one last time..." Cozy felt as she lost sensation in more parts of her body. "This is exactly what I was afraid of..." Cozy wept. Cozy closed her eyes, and let it happen. . . . Except it was taking longer than expected? Cozy opened her eyes in confusion. The stone spell had stopped about halfway up her body. "Huh? Did I pass the friendship test? Is that what this is? What's going on?" No, this wasn't a staged test. She was really in danger. Sort of. Either way, help was here. "You don't have to be afraid, Cozy." somepony said. "We got you, Cozy Glow." some other pony said. Two ponies held on to each of her hooves. "Who's there?" Cozy asked. Cozy looked to her side and saw- "Diamond Tiara?!" Diamond Tiara looked at Cozy and nodded. "And I'm here too!" Pipsqueak exclaimed. The two fillies both held on to each of Cozy's hooves. "What? What's going on? How are you guys here?" Cozy asked. "I'm not sure. I just went to sleep, and now I'm here." Diamond Tiara explained. "Same with me." Pip said. Last time Cozy had seen them, they went to sleep... "Huh, a shared dream realm? You guys are dreaming, so I'm dreaming too?" Cozy wondered. "Well regardless of how, it's a good thing you two are here. I'm going to need your support." "Say no more. We're with you, Cozy." Diamond Tiara said. Diamond Tiara held Cozy's hoof tighter, and Pip held on tighter too. "We got you, Cozy." Pip said. "I'm not really sure what's going on here, but it is clear that you need our help." "So just say the word, and we'll do it. We're right behind you, Cozy." Diamond Tiara said. Cozy was overcome with joy to see her friends by her side at her darkest moment. "Just keep doing what you're doing. I can use all the support you can give!" Cozy exclaimed. Cozy held both of them close and hugged both Diamond Tiara and Pip. "I'm so glad to see you guys!" Cozy smiled, which made her glow. Her horn reappeared, and lit up. *BURST* In a magic explosion, Cozy freed herself, and turned back to normal, escaping the stone spell. Nightmare Twilight and Dream Discord (Dreamcord?) were astonished by the sight. Cozy continued to hold onto her friends. Their warmth and support gave her the strength she needed to overcome her nightmares. "What?! How are they helping you? They're not magic!" Nightmare Twilight exclaimed. Cozy held onto Diamond Tiara and Pip and flew high up and hovered in place. "Just because they're not unicorns, doesn't mean they're not magic! They're my friends! And their friendship is what makes me stronger!" Cozy said. "It is friendship that makes magic more powerful! It's a lesson you learned on your very first mission with your friends when you stopped Nightmare Moon! And now it's a lesson I'm just learning. So, I guess I got quite a lot of learning to do before I'm up to your speed." Diamond Tiara and Pip gave Cozy energy, and it all charged up in her horn. Cozy charged up and blasted Nightmare Twilight and Dreamcord. The magic was so intense that the illusion was shattered. and Cozy broke free from her nightmare. The surroundings crumbled and shattered, and they were back in the magic forcefield, and could see the real Twilight in the center of the magic bubble. Her eyes were blanked out and glowing. Presumably she was enduring a nightmare of her own. "So now what? We defeated Nightmare Twilight, but what do we do about the real Twilight?" Pip asked. "We broke through my nightmare. Now we have to break hers." Cozy said. Diamond Tiara and Pipsqueak looked at Cozy affirmatively. They were there to help her through anything. Cozy got much closer to Twilight Sparkle. She used her magic to peer into her mind. "AHH!" Cozy initiated her spell and she, along with Pip and Diamond Tiara, they spiraled into Twilight Sparkle's mind. In a little Canterlot suite, there was one angsty unicorn who was about to commit treason. "I'm so fed up with everything!" Twilight said. "Are you sure we can't go further? These spells are too easy! But I've already mastered this. I'm ready for my exam!" words echoed in the unicorn's head. "I'll go at my own pace, Celestia. I'll show you what my own pace looks like." Twilight grabbed her saddle bag, and put on her serious face. She was ready and walked out the door. Suddenly Cozy Glow, Pipsqueak, and Diamond Tiara appeared in the room Twilight had just left. Cozy and Diamond Tiara landed softly, but Pip fell on his face. He was okay. Cozy and Diamond Tiara lent their hooves to lift Pip up. "Where are we?" Diamond Tiara asked. "Definitely Canterlot." Cozy replied. "Is this a flashback to something that happened? Or is this an exaggerated apparition?" Pip asked. "Well, considering what I went through, I would guess the latter." Cozy said. "But who knows. It's tough to say." "Whenever we are, we're too late! Twilight left, and I have an itching feeling Princess Celestia is in trouble!" Pip said. "We have to stop Twilight before something bad happens." Cozy said. "How are we gonna do that? We'll have to check all the variables, and search the area for stray pixels!" Pip exclaimed. "You guys are overcomplicating things. The solution is pretty obvious, and is right over here." Diamond Tiara said. Diamond Tiara opened the door leading to the nursery room. "Of course. Just like what Spike told me." Cozy said. "We have to remind Twilight of her first friend." Twilight was at the entrance to the throne room, and was about to enter. "Now to finally... huh?" But suddenly someone grabbed her leg. She looked down and saw- Baby Spike! "What the? Spike?" Twilight asked. "How'd you open the door and find your way here?" "Where's Mama going?" Spike asked. "Spike. I'm just going to... see Celestia. Now's not the time to speak with me, now just-" She shook her leg, but Spike held on. "Why are you so angry?" Spike asked. "I'm not angry, Spike. I have something important to take care of." Twilight said. Twilight went through her saddle bags. "Where's my spell? Spike! Did you take my spell?!" Spike was holding the piece of paper that had written on it the power spell. "Give me that!" Twilight yelled. "No!" Spike yelled back. "Why not?! Spike asked. "Because Mama is bad right now!" Spike replied. "Me? Bad!?" Twilight? Twilight ripped the spell from Spike's claws, and pushed him away from her leg. The spell was originally used by Gusty the Great to slay a dragon. It depicted an illustration of the dragon being slayed... Twilight looked quickly and saw Baby Spike's sad face. His eyes twinkling, and pouring out tears... Ignoring Spike's sad face was impossible. And the effect it had on her, we'll you're about to see. "Spike, listen. I'm just... It's just..." she said. "Oh..." Twilight realized something important. "I'm am the bad drag..." *sigh* "I'm not angry Spike. How can I be angry when I have a friend like you? Someone so precious and perfect such as you." Twilight hugged Spike tightly. The warm embrace made the baby dragon feel better. "What am I doing? I already have everything I need right here. I-" she couldn't get her words out. "Twilight?" somepony had said. Twilight turned around and saw Princess Celestia. *gulp* "Princess Celestia?" "Pwincess." Baby Spike said. "Is everything alright here, Twilight? There's quite a mess of paper here." Celestia asked. "I'm fine. Really I am." Twilight replied. "Are you sure?" Celestia asked. Spike nudged himself against Twilight. "Why wouldn't I be? I have Spike after all. But, Princess. If I may ask, now don't take this the wrong way, but, I know I hatched Spike during my entrance exam, why'd you assign me to care for Spike?" "Well, I was hoping you'd eventually realize, or form your own idea as to why. But if you want my personal opinion, it is because although you are an excellent student, all the knowledge in the world means very little without friends to share it with." Celestia explained. "The best way to learn is by doing. And I thought what better way to learn friendship than by raising a baby dragon. I hope that the extra responsibility has taught you the real reason to obtain knowledge." Twilight got choked up as her mentor explained her reasoning. "Thank you, Princess." Twilight said, choked up. Celestia hugged Twilight, and Spike hugged Twilight. Cozy, Pip, and Diamond Tiara watched the tender moment unfold. Their eyes dilated and pupils sparkled at the sheer adorableness in front of them. "Daww..." Diamond Tiara said. "What a touching moment. But, what's Spike got to do with any of this?" Pipsqueak asked. "Plenty, Pip." Cozy replied, smiling. "Plenty." Cozy's horn lit up, and Spike started to glow a matching color. Twilight's horn also started to glow, as she embraced her young drake. The scene became brighter, until everything was bright white. The dark bubble shrunk, and got smaller and smaller, and also became less opaque as it lost power. Inside everypony could see Twilight wrapping her front limbs around Cozy Glow, and embraced her in her grasp. Finally the magic had condensed, and fizzled around Twilight and Cozy's horns. Twilight had returned to normal. "Oh, come here, Spike..." Twilight said, hugging Cozy Glow. *sniff* "You're my best friend." she said. Cozy wasn't surprised by the gesture. In fact, it's like she was expecting it, and was glad. "Uh... Twilight. That's-" Starlight said. Spike put his hand against Starlight and looked at her without speaking. His expression basically said 'let them have this moment'. Their horns continued to glow, until they shot out a spurt of dark looking magic. The dark magic squirmed as it had become weak. "The Tantabus!" everypony exclaimed. It tried to squirm away, but suddenly, somepony caught the little Tantabus in a glass jar. "Sister, you told me you removed all of the Tantabus from Twilight already." Celestia said. "Well, some of it appears to have evaded me. My sincerest apologies, sister." Luna said. "Wait, what?" Spike asked. *ahem* Sorry everypony for any recent nightmares. There's a chance it was caused by the Tantabus. See, we put the Tantabus in Twilight on purpose earlier as part of her training, and it appears part of it had leaked out, and has been causing havoc again. I hope nopony here has had any nightmares lately." Luna said to everypony. "Uh... nope." "Nuh-uh." "None here." The mane 6 and Spike said collectively. "Uh... nope! Or at least, nothing too severe..." Cozy said, anxiously. Twilight opened her eyes and realized herself what was happening. She was surprised to see the two princesses in front of her. "Twilight. A word." Celestia said, firm. *gulp* "Uh.... hi Princess Celestia and Luna..." Twilight said, nervously.