//------------------------------// // Chapter 15: Dissolution of Magic Part 2 // Story: The Adventure of the Apex Legion // by DeffBwade //------------------------------// Previously on The Adventures of the Apex Legion "Yona not scared," Yona said with confidence as she got up...before she fell through the cloud, "YAH! NOW YONA SCARED!" I immediately glanced over to Counselor Starlight. She's smart! She must know what to do! How about she, I don't know, cast a spell?! Counselor's horn began to glow its usual aura...before it fizzled out, causing her to gasp with an even more panicked expression. Every unicorn that I've seen hasn't been able to perform even the simplest of unicorn spells. Could it be an outside factor? Is someone or something responsible for this? Is there a special season that prevents unicorns from using magic for some reason? No. Counselor Starlight said that this has never happened before. "Any who. It has to do with a little message Mr. the Bearded sent to Celly and Lulu," Discord said before he snapped his fingers, summoned a scroll, and then put on some oversized glasses, "According to our wizard friend, magic has been disappearing all over Equestria." We all gasped at this. "I know, right?" Discord said before he continued, "On day one of what I like to call the 'Retirement of Magic,' unicorn magic and spells will fail. On day two, creatures will lose their magical abilities. And finally, on day three, magical artifacts will stop working. And when the sun sets on the third day, all magic will be gone. Forever!" Once again, we all gasped. "Forever?!" I asked. "Forever!" Discord said dramatically as he threw away the glasses. And I can't help but swear that I heard the sound of thunder. Scratch that. That did happen. It's Discord. "Well, regardless, Twilight and her friends have already determined who's behind this," Discord reassured us, "Right now, they're preparing to take a little road trip to visit my...ex-friend...Tirek!" "It would make sense that he would be responsible for all the magic disappearing," I said, "But if that's the case, then shouldn't I go with Headmare Twilight and the other professors?" "The princesses don't want you to join Twilight and her friends because...because they don't think you ready yet due to you not fully mastering your powers." "That's it? Yeah, that makes sense," I said almost nonchalantly. "Celly and Lulu said that..." Discord said before his his eyes bulged as he realized what I just said, "Wait, what?" "If the princesses say that I'm not ready, then I'm not ready," I shrugged. On a serious note, while I may be fine on the outside, I was stressed out on the inside. It's been weeks. Weeks. And I still haven't got the slightest clue how to activate the Element of Magic. To so called "spark" has never appeared to me. I'll be honest, there are times where I think the "spark" is just...never gonna come. But...I suppose I just gotta be patient. As I've been doing for the past few weeks. The next day, my friends and I, as well as every other student, all gathered around in the main lobby where official announcements are...well...announced. Seated at the front podium was a familiar pinkish pegasus filly. Cozy Glow. From what I've heard, while Twilight and the rest of the teachers are away, Counselor Starlight is in charge and Cozy glow is here to assist her. "Good morning friendship students!" Cozy proclaimed, drawing our attention, "I know we're all sad Professor Sparkle is away, but don't worry. Because she left me in charge to do things just the way she would!" Or not. The Adventure of the Apex Legion Written by DeffBwade Chapter 15: Dissolution of Magic Part 2 Do you all remember when I said that I found the whole Cozy suddenly being in charge of the school situation suspicious? Well right now, I find it even more suspicious. The day hasn't been bad per say, but to me it seemed like Cozy was trying too hard for everyone to like her. Do you wanna know what she just did? She got us tickets for a concert in Ponyville for some Lady Gaga like pony named Sapphire Shores or something. Yes, you heard correct. Tickets for a fucking concert. Like...god damn. And you probably think I'm joking around, but no. I'm actually serious. I mean, it was nice of Cozy to do that, but you have to admit it does raise some questions? Mainly why she did that. Cozy's only response was, and I quote... "Isn't that what good friends do?" SUS! First of all, how as a 10 year old able to buy tickets for a concert one of the most popular pop stars in Equestria? And for the my entire class no less? Either she's rich as fuck or she has some good connections with Sapphire Shores. And second of all, and I don't mean any offense, but I see Cozy as more as an acquaintance then a friend. I really only had a conversation with her twice, during the night me and the others explored that catacombs beneath the school. The times where we had to talk to each other for classwork doesn't count. I know it just sounds like I'm just ranting and dragging this on, but if you were in my shoes (er...hooves) then you would feel exactly the same. No grown up would just suddenly leave a 10 year child in charge of an entire school, by herself no less, and especially without announcing it before leaving. And no 10 year would do all these nice things without wanting something in return. And that's a fact. I think. It's not. I'm sure there are some kids that do nice things just out of the kindness of their heart. And also you have to remember that Equestria isn't like Earth. Friendship is literally a weapon here. Sigh, you're right. And unfortunately, despite the suspicion Cozy has casted on herself, it wasn't really enough to warrant some kind of confrontation. And she never really said or did anything that would be a cause for concern. I think the best option right now is to just let things happen while also staying vigilant. And who knows? Maybe she really is just trying to be nice and I'm overthinking things. I do tend to do that at times. "Let's see here. Carry the 4, subtract 5, and then I substitute that for x, multiply both sides by mouthwash, imagine a turkey reenacting the famous scene from Terminator 2: Judgement. Who lives in a pineapple under the sea? Fuck it, I'll just choose C." The next day when I got my math test back I found out I had got it wrong and it showed me how to solve it. I had a right triangle, and I was given x and y, and I had to find z. I just had to use the Pythagorean Theorem. "I'm a fucking idiot." You really are. Didn't you take Honors Pre-Calculus last year? That's...irrelevant at the moment. Anyway, it was now night time and I was running a bit late for study club, a little tid bit my friends and I decided to hold when some big test is coming up. And like Gallus mentioned, finals are coming up. Finals...for the year. Sigh...wow. I can't it's been almost a year since I came to this world. Almost a year since I met my friends, the princesses, Discord, my professors, etc. etc. Where did all the time go? I guess it's just like you've always said. When you don't think about time, it just seems to cruise by. That's a trick for all of you people in school by the way. Don't think about how much time you have left, but rather just focus on your work and the lessons. No matter how stressful and brain numbingly they are. I can't count how many brain aneurysms I had or how many times I wanted to bash my head against the wall because of school. But year, so much has happened this past year. I made great friends, I found out early what college life is gonna be like, I got my first job, I found out I was destined to become an anime superhero, and I fell in love. Wait what? Pfft! Just kidding! I didn't fall in love. In fact, I don't it's possible for a girl to fall in love with me. I mean, I'm, in short terms, a loser. I have no muscles (not counting the fact that I can literally do a Falcon Punch now), I'm a total nerd, I'm a bit of a shy guy, and my hobby back home is literally playing video games. Seriously, who would ever fall in love with a guy like me? A-are you serious? What? I...never mind. And before you ask me, no, I'm not upset about it. Like I mentioned a long time ago, if I find myself a girlfriend, then cool. If I don't, then that's also cool. "Cozy Glow baked our class cupcakes today," I head Citrine Spark say happily to her friends as I was walking through the hallways. "She made all of us friendship bracelets," Berry Bliss said as she the so called friendship bracelet. "Won't bracelets just slide off if you have hooves?" "She's the nicest pony I've ever met," Patty Peppermint said, "I'm so glad she's headmare." "Remember, she's only headmare until our professors get back," I said to them. "Oh, yeah we know. But...I wouldn't mind if Twilight took her time coming back," Citrine said before she and her friends walked off. "Damn Citrine. A little harsh, but okay." I shrugged it off and proceeded to walk to the library. Jeez. It's so eerie walking through empty halls during the night. If this is something the college life involves, then I'm gonna have to get used to it. I finally entered the library and proceeded towards our usual study spot. One of the things I like about study club is that we bring snacks. Or at least Silverstream does. I swear that girl's literally Pinkie 2.0. Not that I mind of course. "Sorry that I'm late," I said as I sat down, "Do you wanna know what Cozy did? She got us tickets for a Sapphire Shores concert." "Aww, you didn't even let us guess," Silverstream pouted. "Woah, a Sapphire Shores concert?" Sandbar asked with amazement, to which I nodded. "Do you all get the feeling that Cozy Glow's trying too hard to make us like her?" Gallus asked. "Ah. The money question." "Okay, good. It's not just me," I sighed in relief that my friends also share my suspicions. "Maybe she's just trying to keep our minds off of how scary it is that magic is disappearing," Ocellus said her opinion. "I don't trust her. What's she up to behind those big eyes..." Smolder asked as she stretched her eyes to make them seem larger, and then started to bounce her horns with her claws, "...and bouncy curls?" I couldn't help but just think about that one meme where a child is smiling at the camera while a house is burning in the background. "Well gee golly gosh. It seems I accidently burned the School of Friendship down," Cozy Glow said innocently as she puffed up her cheeks while firefighters tried their hardest to extinguish the flames and pegasi used the clouds to make it rain on the school. "Cozy Glow. What do you have to say for yourself?" Headmare Twilight asked sternly. "Well I'm just a kid, so..." Cozy answered simply with a shrug. "Well, can't argue with that," Headmare Twilight said with a smile. All of our jaws dropped at this. "WHAT THE FU-?!" I got to stop looking at memes. No. Memes are haha funny. And why was I imagining Ocellus being the one to swear? "And why Cozy pony coming out of catacombs so late at night?" Yona asked. Wait what? I got my head out of the clouds and saw Yona looking through the space in one of the bookshelves, suspicion all over her face. We all peered through as well, and we indeed saw Cozy walking away from the grate that led to the catacombs, a lantern in her hooves. "Hmm. Totally not suspicious at all." She turned the corner, and somehow without seeing us, proceeded to fly out of the library. "Let's go ask her," Gallus suggested, to which we all started to follow the tiny pegasus. Oh. Follow mission. Sneak, sneak, sneak. Sneakity sneak sneak. I should put on some sort of ninja costume. Just so I'll look badass. Or maybe a Sam Fisher cosplay. Yeah! With the green lights being neon blue instead. I would look so badass and- ... What? What's happ- Shh. Listen. ... Do you hear that? I stopped in my tracks. It might've been just the wind, but I could've sworn I heard some sort of...whispering. It was feint, but still audible. The whispers had a sense of eeriness to it. Not demonic or anything like that. Just...cold. At least...that's the best I can describe it. Normally I would've just said "oh hell no" and completely ignore it for my safety (said no horror movie character ever). But it was almost as if the whispers were...calling to me. I just couldn't help but be entranced by them. I looked in the direction I heard the whispers. It was coming from where we just were. In hindsight this might've been dumb, for I slowly turned around and walked in the direction of the whispers. "Legion?" I heard Ocellus call to me. Without even looking back, I simply lifted my hoof and waved it. "You guys go on," I said as I looked around the corner and deduced that the whispers were definitely coming from the catacombs, "Tell the others that I'm gonna go check what Cozy was doing below the school." "Y-you want me to go with you?" Ocellus asked. "I'll be fine Ocellus," I said as I finally looked to her with a smile. I honestly wasn't sure if she could here the whispers as well, but seeing as she didn't say anything about it, I'm assuming not. "Oh jeez. I hope I'm not finally going crazy. Wait, I'm already crazy. Never mind." "O-okay. Just please be careful," Ocellus said before she proceeded to follow the others. "Always looking out for her friends. Never change Ocellus." I then looked back at the grate that led to the catacombs. "Out with the old and in with the new I guess," I thought as I went into the grate. You have no idea what that phrase means, do you? "There you are Ocellus," Smolder whispered as the changeling caught up, "Where were you? And where's Legion?" "He decided to check out what Cozy was doing below the school," Ocellus whispered back, "I offered to go with him, but...he said he'll be fine." "You know how Legion is," Sandbar whispered, "He can be a bit impulsive at times, but he's a pretty smart pony. I'm sure he can handle himself." "Yeah..." Ocellus said. She just couldn't help but worry though. Legion has been a close friend of hers for almost a year now. But Sandbar was right. Legion has proved that he's able handle tough situations, like the that time with the Timberwolf during the field trip. Or that time he saved her from that bully, and again from that suit of armor during the Spell-Venger Hunt. And she can't forget the time he defended her from Chancellor Neighsay. "So brave," Ocellus thought dreamily to herself. Unfortunately, Smolder saw the feint blush that was starting to form on the changeling's face and couldn't help but smirk a bit. Normally, she (and most likely Gallus) would've teased Ocellus and asked if she wanted to go with Legion in case something happened, and not because she wanted to be alone with him. But right now, they had a filly to follow, and she may or may not have heard their previous whispering. So just to be safe, she kept quiet. "I wonder when she'll finally tell him though," Smolder wondered. I continued to walk through the catacombs in the direction the whispers were leading me, as if there was a trail painted on the ground that was leading me to where a buried treasure chest was located. I am totally not gonna get possessed or murdered by some angry ghost. "I hope I won't." As I continued to walk, the whispers started to get louder. Not to the point of ear raping me, but it was as if someone was whispering directly into my ear. It was starting to make me a bit uncomfortable. Again, they weren't demonic or something that would make you think the words belonged to something religious. It was as if someone sad or angry was muttering indiscernible words. There's no other way I can describe them. Eventually, though, the emotions that I just mentioned starting to become palpable in the air. I can literally feel the sadness, the hatred, the anger. Pretty much any negative emotion that exists, I could feel. In fact, I myself was starting to feel a little bit sad and angry. Especially angry. I was even feeling a bit scared. But like I said, just a bit. The feelings weren't overwhelming me that much. "But why exactly am I feeling these emotions? Is it because of-...holy shit." I recognized what room I was looking at almost immediately. It was the room where I encountered human me and embraced my fear of failure due to remembering that I'll always have my friends by my side. I swear that sounds so cheesy but whatever. But that wasn't what caught my attention. Oh no sir. In the center of the room was some kind of ritual cultist shit. There was a giant, glowing red circular symbol...what was it called...I believe it's called a glyph, and six objects surrounding said glyph. I recognized them as the six artifacts we learned about a long time ago. I'm not gonna say the name of them as it's irrelevant and you probably won't care in the slightest. The artifacts seemed to be using magic to form some kind of magical sphere, and inside the sphere...was Counselor Starlight. Holy shit. Is she gonna be sacrificed? The group of creatures peaked around the corner to see Cozy Glow entering Headmare Twilight's office. So far they haven't been spotted yet. That's good, but if they're being honest, a small part of them believed that she did notice them and is just playing dumb. Oh well. They got this far. Every creature peaked through the door that was left slightly ajar. As Cozy approached the desk, the chair suddenly turned to reveal a unicorn they hoped to never see again. "Where is Princess Twilight?!" Chancellor Neighsay asked the filly. "Oh golly. She's away on a quest. I'm watching the school for her," Cozy answered with a cute smile. "Magic is failing across our land and she left a foal in charge of this facility?!" Neighsay asked, frustration evident in his voice. "Yes sir! Is there anything I can do for you?" Cozy asked before the unicorn pointed a hoof at her. "That won't be necessary," he responded, "Twilight's folly stops here. As of now, I am Headstallion, and I have quite a few changes to make." Cozy's only response was to pout, while the group of creatures could only glance at each other out of worry. It didn't matter if this looked demonic. What mattered to me at the moment was that Counselor Starlight was in danger and I had to do something. I flew down into the room and started to slowly walk towards this...this...ritual. If I played enough video games (which I did), then I should know that it probably wasn't a good idea to step onto the glyph, especially since it was glowing such an ominous red. Turns out I was right, as Counselor Starlight seemed to notice me and started to rapidly shake her head as I got closer, as if she was warning me. Unfortunately, I was stupid. I was so focused on the sphere where the mare was trapped that I wasn't watching where I was stepping. Now remember when I said that the negative feelings I was feeling weren't overwhelming? Well, when my hoof accidently stepped onto the glyph, I was suddenly hit with a wave of negativity. Jesus. So much negativity. Anger, sadness, fear. Take your pick. I felt them all. And this time, it was overwhelming. I had the urge to knock someone's teeth out, to just lie down and cry, to ball up into a corner. Never in my life have I felt...well...like this. I immediately retracted my hoof back, and all of the negativity was suddenly...gone. Well, not gone gone. It was still there, but it was a lot more tolerable. "C-counselor Starlight..." I said as I looked up to her, "Wha-...what is all this?" "..." No response. She just looked at me with a look of concern. "Can she not hear me? Or can she just not talk?" I wanted to do something. I had to do something. I wanted to just fly into that sphere and save the counselor. Or just blink in and blink out. Literally anything. But I didn't do anything. One glance to the glyph made me turn away from those decisions. I then looked at the artifacts and walked up to one of them. "These things seem to be forming that sphere. Maybe if I..." I brought a hoof up and started to slowly move it towards the artifact...only to immediately retract it as the wave of negativity came back. "Whatever this is, it seems to have some sort of negative aura that spreads...well...negativity." It was clear to me that I couldn't save her. At least not on my own. I had to get in contact with the princesses, or maybe even Discord, and have them help me. But first, I need to let my friends know about this as well. "Counselor Starlight. I don't know if you can hear me, but if you can, don't worry. I'll be back with some help," I said. Her only response was a nod and a face of reassuring confidence. That was my cue to leave. I flew back the way I came and proceeded to exit the catacombs. "Cozy...what are you up to down here?" Neighsay stared at the student files that were laid down on the desk. Specifically the files of the non-ponies that attended this school. Just looking at it disgusted it. Without hesitation, he swept the files off of the desk and into the trash can. "What are you doing?!" Cozy asked with a pout, "Those are Twilight's students files!" "These aren't," Neighsay gestured to the files laying in the trash, "Not anymore. With Equestria under attack, ponies must stand together. Twilight has endangered us all by skipping off on friendship trips, while these dangerous creatures run loose." The group of friends looked at the conversation with looks of disgust. Well, at least Gallus and Smolder had looks of disgust. The others had looks of sadness. "You don't think they're the reason magic is disappearing, do you?" Cozy asked, which the group to go slack jawed. "Yes," Neighsay seethed, "I came to warn Twilight, but since she is gone, it falls to me to protect you foals from these monsters." At the mention of the word "monsters," the group of friends were borderline ticked and voiced how mad they were. They've been attending this school for almost a year now, and they've never done anything that would cause animosity towards them. Unfortunately, they were all whispering at the same time and a bit too loud. "Did you hear something?" Neighsay asked. "It sounded like it came from over there," Cozy pointed to the door. The two ponies approached the door and opened it, causing the group of friends to tumble to the ground. "You again. As I suspected," Neighsay said. Tapping into the magic of his medallion, he casted a spell and wrapped the group up in magical chains. "From now on this school is pony only," he smiled, "As nature intended."