Cozy and the many version of Spike all sat around a table as Cozy explained her epic plot in great detail, a plot that failed before it could even begin.
"What do you mean you can't?" Cozy demanded as Diamond dog Spike and Breezie Spike shrugged at her.
"I can't," Spike replied simply "I was imprisoned with Alicorn Magic, as such I am bound by Alicorn Magic, meaning that Alicorn Magic can defeat me and, more importantly, that I can't recreate or mimick it, as such I can't make you an Alicorn,"
"That's not fair," Cozy whined.
"Oh please your gonna get more than three wishes, that's more than any other creature in history has ever gotten, nothing about any of this has been fair for either of us,"
"Alright," Cozy grumbled irritably "Then we'll just go with Plan-B!" Cozy paused dramatically for a moment, then it became slightly less dramatic, then Llama Spike spoke up.
"There was no Plan-B was there?" He asked casually.
"Shut up," Cozy shot back as she looked around the cave, trying to come up with a plan, After another short silence she hit her hoof on the table and declared "I Wish for the perfect plan, Pweety Pweese,"
"Your wish is granted," all the Spike said in casual unison as a scroll appeared in front of Cozy, she grabbed it with her hooves and unrolled it. The Excited look on Cozy's face slowly melted into a shocked one.
"What kind of plan is this?" She demanded of the Genie.
"I dunno," Kirin Spike said with a shrug "you wished for the perfect plan not for me to make you a plan, my magic made that not me,"
"Ohhh! What's it say?" Llama Spike asked as Breezie Spike perched on Cozy's shoulder and read it around.
"Marry into Royalty and become an Alicorn through marriage," the Spike's were silent for a second before Diamond Dog spoke up.
"Wait...does it work like that?" She asked in confusion "Wouldn't Shining be one then?"
"Why are you asking me?" Dragon Spike demanded, "I'm you, if you don't know why would I know?"
"Maybe she's crazy," Llama suggested, earning a smack from Kirin.
"Same logical flaw moron," Diamond dog Spike said as she leaned back in her chair "if one of the uses is crazy, then all of the uses are crazy,"
"Wait what?" Breezie asked in confusion, before this could continue Cozy Glow spoke up.
"Can I maybe just have one of you right now?" She asked "This is hard enough as is without you constantly arguing with yourself," without a word all the Spike's stuck their tongue's out at each other before all but the Diamond dog dissipated.
"Alright," Spike said seriously as she got to her feet and made her way over to Cozy "Serious time, the sooner you get your wishes, the sooner we can get out of this cave," Spike looked at the plan and found that what Cozy had read was all that was on the scroll. "Typical magic," She groaned as she tossed it away "always a pain to deal with, Alright so we need to figure out how we get you hitched with an Alicorn I guess, and taking in your age and other things Princess Flurry heart is both our best and only bet,"
"The Baby?" Cozy demanded with a slack jaw.
"You were on ice...or on stone, I guess, for well over 17 years Kiddo, that baby is in her early twenties about now," Cozy stared blankly at Spike for a moment before rubbing her hoof over her face and fluttering her wings.
"That's not fair," She whined.
"You could just wish to be older," Spike replied casually.
"What and deal with old pony problems like back pains and taxes and hating music?"
"Then....then why are you mad about it?" she questioned in confusion "And either way you have wishes Galor just...wish for eternal youth or something, besides if you become older you'd look different, and looking not like you means ponies probably won't notice your Cozy glow, the criminal who's probably super wanted right now," Cozy muttered as she got out of the chair and began pacing around the table.
"Just...give me some time to think up how I ever go about doing this," Diamond dog Spike said nothing and instead began flowing Cozy in her pacing, with each lap around the table another version of Spike appeared in a conga line behind the Diamond dog.
There were many Guards patrolling the Canterlot gardens as Twilight and Cadance investigated the spot where Cozy had been. As the two inspected the area they were arguing in their normal talking voices. So as to avoid making a scene in front of the guards.
"...look say what you want," Cadance said as she ran her hoof over the pedal stool that once held Cozy and used a spell to inspect her hoof for anything out of the usual "But there had to of been a better punishment for such a young filly other than turning her to stone for a hundred years,"
"She's been here for over a decade and you've never once made any notion of being against her punishment," Twilight replied as she scanned the ground "And besides, her Punishment was Luna, Celestia, and Discords desition,"
"You mean the same trio that threw Spike into a time tunnel instead of trying to help him?" Cadance questioned with a raised ear.
"You know as well as I do that not doing that would have caused a Paradox,"
"Either way," Cadance said as she found nothing "I'm not saying I don't trust Celestia, but I am saying her punishment for certain crimes aren't something I agree with,"
"Well regardless I don't know how to undo a petrification spell without the Elements of Harmony, and they're not exactly around anymore," Cadance took that in as Twilight informing her that she had come up with nothing.
"And yet someone did undo her petrification spell," before either of them could begin bouncing theories on what had happened the bright light of a teleporter shone between the two
"Not just any old someone," Starswirl declared, making them both jump and turn to the old magician.
"Starswirl," Twilight cheered when she saw the old Sorcer "What are you doing here?"
"If my tracking spell is correct, I am here for Spike," he said simply as the bell on the end of his hat began glowing, the old Unicorn took his hat off and set it on the ground, the bell of his hat unlatched from his hat and rolled across the ground, coming to a rest at Cozy's vacant pedestal before rolling to a little ways towards a puddle and then returning to the hat.
Starswirl cleaned off the bell before placing the hat back upon his head. "If Spike's word is to be believed I owned his lamp longer than any other, save my students, who tragically left him in my old shack in a misguided attempt to protect the lamp from thieves using my old protection spells," Starswilrl lit his horn and he and the two Princesses were bubbled and in a flash, they found themselves in what looked to be the past.
"Whoa," Twilight said instantly "Wait, we can't use..."
"This is not Time Travel," Starswirl assured her "This is a Time window, I am simply using It to show you that," Starswirl pointed to Cozy's statue and the two Princesses looked at Cozy's leg, where Spike's lamp lay at rest,"
"Spike," Twilight and Cadance said in unison.
"Spike," Starswirl agreed, he approached the lamp when it began violently shaking and billowing purple Smoke, Starswirl took a step back and watched as Spike emerged in his Dragon form, his eyes glowing as he declared loudly.
"Your Wish is Granted," at Once Cozy transformed from a statue into a real girl and instantly jumped only to flop onto her face. Cadence looked at the young filly and frowned as she looked at her own hooves in shock when Spike's lamp fell onto her leg and she looked up at him. The group saw their mouths move but heard no sound and noticed that the spell was failing.
"Spike was always a hard creature to eavesdrop on," Starswirl said with a sigh as the spell shattered "Still if the residue I was able to track is correct, Cozy glow used her second wish as well, most likely to escape, we must simply wait for her to use her third and from there I should be able to find Spike in a matter of days," Starswirl turned on the spot before looking back and adding. "I'll inform you of the location of Cozy's third wish once I find it," he tipped his hat to the Princesses and Teleported away, once he was gone Twilight and Cadance looked to each other.
"You know," Cadance said "Spike's spent a long time trapped in that lamp, maybe he should be the one to pick Cozy's sentence, I feel he's most likely to judge her fairly,"
"I can't promise that," Twilight said before smiling "But I can promise to not turn Cozy back to stone at the very least,"
Cozy and Spike made their way out of the cave and looked at the jungle-like area they had arrived in, having decided it was best to keep on the move in case the Princess had a way to track her, Cozy had a saddlebag on her back with the lamp tucked safely inside, having wished for it to be so only she could open the bag, she had a sunhat on with her mane tied up in a bun to hide her curls, and a small dress to hide her cutie mark. Cozy herself was sitting comfortably on the back of Llama Spike, who was very visibly overjoyed to be allowed to walk with her instead of being crammed back into the lamp.
"Oh, I haven't gotten to go on a walk in what feels like an eon!" He cheered as she skipped merrily through the dense foliage surrounding them, Cozy looked at the map she had wished for and began talking to it.
"Show me where I am," The Map shimmered and she was shown the image of the Undiscovered West "Well that's less than helpful," She muttered as she rolled the map up and stuffed it into her saddlebags "I wish to go to a small town where Twilight won't find me, Pweety Pweese," Cozy felt a small burst of wind as Spike declared her wish granted and the two were walking down a plain-looking road to a small town. Cozy frowned at the sudden heat as she looked at the desert that suddenly surrounded them. "where are we?"
"No idea," Spike replied happily, As the two got close they were spotted by some of the locals, both Spike and Cozy noticed that they looked more like Horses than ponies.
"Is that a Llama?" one of them asked in shock "I thought they were a myth!" Spike stood his ground as the locals approached and declared loudly and with pride.
"I have no idea where we are," he said looking back at Cozy who groaned.
"Why am I not surprised?" She said as some of the locals approached them.
"Welcome," One of them said "it's not often we get visitors to our quiet little corner of Saddle Arabia, especially a creature such as yourself,"
"Saddle Arabia," Cozy cried out "Why are we in Saddle Arabia,"
"I dunno you're the one with the magic map," Spike shot back "How was I suppose to know?"
"Ah," The horse who had started the conversation said "You are lost travelers, you are quite lucky to have found us then, the closes settlement is over a week's travel from here,"
"We'd have been fine," Cozy said with a determined smile. "We have tons of supplies," The Horse looked at her, then at Spike.
"But you seem to have nothing on you save your saddlebags,"
"It's stored away with magic," Spike said simple "easier to carry, lot less likely to be stolen out from beneath us, common Trader trick,"
"Traders?" The Horse asked, a spark of excitement in his voice "You must be on your way home from the Traders market in the capital!"
"Yeah," Cozy said, using the opportunity to fabricate a false backstory "We kind of...got lost,"
"We maybe if someone had a map of Saddle Arabia we wouldn't have gotten lost," Spike snapped back.
"You're the one who forgot to pack it," Cozy shot back.
"You're the one who didn't wanna go back and get it,"
"I was not gonna cross the ocean just for a stupid map," Before Cozy and Spike could continue trying to think of a way to blame the other the Horse interrupted it.
"Well I have a map of Saddle Arabia, If you'd be willing to set up shop in our town for a few days while you rest from the heat I'd be more than happy to give it to you,"
"Deal," Cozy decided "Do you deal in Currency or item trades?"
"Oh don't worry, just like the capital we'll offer up both," The Horse made his way into the town and the duo followed their guide, Spike still ecstatic just to be out of his lamp.