The Adventure of the Apex Legion

by DeffBwade

Chapter 20: Light vs. Dark

“You mustn’t worry young one, for you still live.”

“The…Tree of Harmony?” I asked.

“That is correct,” the Tree said with a nod.

"You haven't failed yet young one," the Tree said, breaking me out of my thoughts as I looked back up. I would've expected some kind of stern or disappointed expression, but instead she had a smile filled with...hope, "After all, you always lived by the rule of to not give up until it's over. That's what drove you to get so far ahead in life."

"Yeah, a chance that's guaranteed to fail," I rebutted, "As you probably saw from my fantastic performance, I wasn't even able to get close to Cozy without getting hit by her dark magic. All because I haven't mastered the Element of Magic yet. Hell, I still don't know how to do so! I've been training for who knows how long and I'm not one step closer!"

"Just because you can't use magic like a unicorn doesn't mean you don't have it, and that's even if you don't have your light magic. Nor does it mean you can't represent the Element of Magic. After all, magic isn't a skill that takes time and effort to learn, but rather a tool that helps bring harmony across Equestria. The only thing that matters is how you represent it," the Tree said before it craned its neck to the side and pointed to...my cutie mark, "May I ask what your cutie mark means?"

"What?" I asked out of confusion before I glanced out the aforementioned mark, "It doesn't really mean anything. It's just the symbol of a video game character, the Legion. Hence my name, Apex Legion. Why do you ask?"

"Interesting," the Tree said, "Do you know what the term 'legion' means?"

"It means like...a group of people. You know...a team?" I responded.

"I believe that is the answer to your problems young one," it said.

"Do you understand now young one?" the Tree asked, "When times are troubling, you care about protecting your friends to the point that you deny them the choice to protect you."

"Let your friends help you. Let them carry some of the weight off of your shoulders. Be a leader."

"A leader," I whispered, "But...what if something goes wrong? What if I only lead them into getting hurt? What if—"

"Nothing bad will happen. Trust me," the Tree interrupted.

"But how do you—"

"Trust me," it interrupted again, "Please."

“Thank you guys,” I said, “For everything, I mean. For helping me whenever I need it. For being by my side even after finding out who I really am. But most importantly…thank you for being my friends.”

Magic.

“How?” Cozy whispered again, catching my attention, before she seethed, “HOW?! I was kicking your flank not even 5 minutes ago! Where…WHERE DID THIS POWER COME FROM?!”

I only smirked once again.

“It was always with me Cozy,” I said, “I just needed some guidance on how to properly use it.”

“Grr! It doesn’t matter! I’m still powerful enough in dark magic to defeat all of you. Not to mention…” she said before our still mind controlled professors walked up beside her, “…you’re not the only one with allies.”

You know it's funny. I've never been in a fight before (no joke), and never have I expected my first one is against my teachers and a literal child. One with dark magical powers.

But hey, at least I'm not alone. I've got my allies, my friends. And as long as they're by my side, then I'll gladly beat up any child...that have dark powers and are bent on endangering an entire country of course.

Taking this entire scenario out of context will land you in prison. Or at the very least, leave you as the most hated person on the Internet.

Good thing there's no Internet here. Hehehe. God I miss the Internet.

All jokes aside, what’s your plan of action?

Um…

You don’t have one, don’t you?

I’m thinking of one as I go along, okay?

As Cozy raised her claw up in preparation to strike, I did so as well with my blade. Maybe I should give it a name.

How about the Blade of Harmony? No, that's not good.

The Light Blade? That's fucking awful.

Let's see. It looks like it's made of glass. Maybe the Light Bla—...You know what? Fuck it. I'll think of something later when I'm done fighting bad guys.

Obviously I know absolutely nothing about using a sword, so I just had to depend on all those action movies and video games. Just swing your sword in the right direction and at the right time. Shouldn't be too hard, right?

I brought the blade back and swung it forward, Cozy doing the same with her claw. Our respective weapons collided with each other, making that epic ‘ding’ sound that every movie or video game involving swords has. That was even a bit of sparks to make it even more epic.

As my blade clashed with Cozy's claw, my friends soon followed against the professors. In my peripheral vision, I can see Sandbar fighting against Professor Fluttershy ("fighting" is kind of a strong word since it's Professor Fluttershy), Gallus against Headmare Twilight (I'm sorry Gallus but you're kinda screwed), Smolder against Professor Dash, Silverstream against Professor Pinkie (whom has her trusty party cannon), Yona against Professor Applejack, and Ocellus against Professor Rarity.

"Neat sword you got there. But do you even know how to properly use it?" Cozy smirked.

"Fuck. She knows," I thought.

"Swing sword, block at right time, fight fight fight. That’s all I need to know,” I smiled with confidence.

"I am royally fucked."

"Well, even if you did know how to use a sword, which you clearly don’t, it doesn't matter," she said before my eyes widened a bit as I noticed she was starting to push me back, "Because darkness is always stronger than light!"

Once again, time seemed to slow down as I felt some kind of…pull. At least, “pull” was the best way I could describe it. Like when this whole ritual that Cozy set up lured me down here. This time, however, I didn’t feel any malice nor negativity.

I slightly turned my eyes to the side to where this feeling was and saw Ocellus, trying her best to subdue Professor Rarity, who was…shooting projections of diamonds?

Weird, but okay.

I couldn’t blame her, nor any of my friends for being pacifists. After all, it’s our professors that we’re fighting.

As if she knew I was looking in her direction, Ocellus slightly turned her eyes towards me.

The moment we looked into each other’s eyes, it was as if I…how do I put it? Became one with her. As if I knew what she was thinking. As if I was feeling everything she was feeling.

Now that I think about, the same thing was happening with all my friends as they fought our professors. All of our thoughts, minds…they were all connecting as one. Like a…like a hive mind.

“Be a leader,” I thought about the Tree’s advice as I shut my eyes for a bit. I then reopened them and looked back at the evil filly.

"Maybe darkness will always come when there's no light...and maybe you can't truly snuff out darkness...but here's the thing Cozy," I said before I made my grip on my blade firmer, "No matter what happens, the light will always fight back!"

Like Raiden did against Sam in Metal Gear Rising, I thrusted my blade forward, breaking Cozy’s hold on it and causing her to stumble back a bit. Well…stumble as in she lost a bit of her flight balance.

For a second I was worried that I left some massive cut on her hoof, but as I glanced at the damage I caused, I found out that wasn’t the case. The hoof itself seemed to be fine, but the aura around it that formed the actual claw seemed to be…dissipating.

“What the?” I thought.

But just as I saw it happening, her claw went back to normal. Cozy then regained her balance and lunged at me once again. I flapped my wings to propel me back and dodge her attack (lol that rhymed).

”Damn it. Should’ve attacked her when she she lost her balance,” I mentally chastised myself, “Focus man. Focus.”

This time, I was the one that lunged first. She deflected it and tried to counter attack. But I the counter attacked her counter attack. We kept swinging our weapons at each other , only for them to deflect in a spark of…sparks.

Hey, how are sparks forming anyway? Your weapon is made out of glass and Cozy’s is made out of some dark aura, like and Absol’s Shadow Claw attack from Pokémon.

I’m not even gonna think about it. Magic or some bullshit answer.

You know, for my first time fighting with a sword, I’m doing surprisingly we—

I then got hit by Cozy’s claw as some more pain jutted across my hoof. Despite the fact that it was less painful than it was before, it still hurt.

“Gah!” I yelped as I stumbled back, giving Cozy a chance to attack again. Thinking quickly, I summoned a shield just in time to block her attack.

“Why didn’t I just do this before?” I thought as Cozy kept clawing at my shield in an attempt to break it. What’s bad was that it was working, “Jeez. Talk about ruthless.”

I looked behind Cozy and once again saw Ocellus trying to subdue Professor Rarity. At the same time, I took notice of the…connection I’m having with my friends’…I guess mind? And heart?

“Okay Legion think. Whatever this connection is it must’ve come from the Element of Magic,” I thought, ”The Tree said that I need to represent the Element through leadership. And if I now just…what my friends are thinking and feeling, is that how I’m meant to lead? By projecting my thoughts and feelings?”

It was worth a shot. I have an idea on how to help the others. It’s a long shot, but if I’m right then this will help not only us, but the professors as well. I just needed to get Cozy to leave me alone for a few minutes.

I then saw that Professor Rarity managed to get a hit on Ocellus’s wing, making her yelp and fall to the ground. The mind controlled professor smirked and started to slowly walk towards the changeling, whom looked up and started to quiver a bit.

“That’s it!” I thought as I looked back at Cozy, who was still slashing at my shield that was on the brink of breaking. It seemed that the power boost in magic strengthened my shield.

“I can do this. Find the magic inside you and project your thought to Ocellus,” I thought as I closed my eyes, “I just have to focus.”

I looked deep into my magical soul…if my soul was magical that is.

”Focus.”

But then…I found it. Like a magical string was attached to me and eventually led to Ocellus.

“Focus!”

I focused my magic into traveling through the aforementioned string.

“FOCUS!”

Just as Cozy hit my shield once again, I immediately dropped it and summoned magic into my hoof. And as I swung my hoof forward…

”Get down!” I projected towards Ocellus…before my powered hoof struck Cozy in the gut, making sure to aim in Ocellus’s direction…or in this case, Professor Rarity.

It’s a good thing her magic keeps her from getting severely injured.

As Cozy launched through the air, I saw Ocellus duck just in time for the filly to impact the professor, sending her skidding across the ground for a few feet, while Cozy tumbled into another wall.

I then flew over to Ocellus and held my hoof out to her.

“Ocellus, are you alright?” I asked.

“M-my wing stings a bit, but otherwise I’m alright,” she said as she reached her hoof out and grabbed mine. I then lifted her up.

“W-wow. I never really thought about how smooth her hoof fee—why am I starting to blush?!” I thought as my cheeks started to turn a bit red. I quickly shook off the blush and glanced at Professor Rarity, whom was starting to get up. I looked at my sword began to walk towards her, but Ocellus stopped me in my tracks.

“Wait Legion! What are you doing?!” she asked, as if she knew what I was gonna do.

“Trust me Ocellus. I know what I’m doing,” I said.

“But it’s our profess—“ Ocellus continued before I took my hoof off of hers and placed it on her shoulder.

“Ocellus,” I said as I stared into her…b-beautiful…eyes, “Trust me.”

Ocellus was hesitant at first, not that I could blame her. But after a few seconds she nodded, signaling me of her trust.

“I just hope that I’m right about this,” I thought as I walked up to the professor. As she was turning to look at me with her glowing red eyes, I raised my blade up.

I immediately grabbed the blade and, feeling like a badass, I swung it just before the orb was about to impact me. And no joke when I say this, the orb split in half and started to fizzle way.

For a second I was worried that I left some massive cut on her hoof, but as I glanced at the damage I caused, I found out that wasn’t the case. The hoof itself seemed to be fine, but the aura around it that formed the actual claw seemed to be…dissipating.

"Embrace the light alongside your friends, and use it to strike back against the darkness," it said before it closed its eyes as its horn began to light up brightly, "Now go young one."

"Please be right!" I mentally pleaded as I shut my eyes before I swung my blade down onto Professor Rarity. After a few seconds of silence, I slowly opened my eyes to see the damage I've caused.

Turns out, there was no damage. At least physically.

I saw Professor Rarity stumbling a bit in a daze...before she collapsed into unconsciousness. What made me smile and sigh in relief, however, was that her eyes were back to normal. No glow. No red.

"Professor Rarity," Ocellus walked up beside me, "She's—"

"Back to normal," I said before I glanced at the sword in my hooves, "Use the light to strike back against the darkness."

So...I was right after all. How I destroyed that dark orb like butter. How I didn't injure Cozy's hoof but instead the aura around it. This blade is made out of light magic, and is only capable of targeting darkness. Similar to Samurai Jack's sword.

I turned around and looked at my others friends, who were still fighting against the other professors.

I first thought was to help Gallus because he was dodging left and right from Headmare Twilight's laser beams. I think it goes without saying that Headmare Twilight is highly adept in...well, magic. Props to Gallus for lasting this long though.

"Ocellus, I’ll help out Gallus and Yona. You help out the others," I said as I looked at the changeling, who in turned looked at me, "We don't have to hurt the professors. Just subdue them long enough for me to snap them out of it."

"Wait," Ocellus interrupted, "Before you helped me, I...I thought I heard your voice. Inside my head."

"You did," I nodded in confirmation, "That's what my new powers are. Projection of thoughts," I then started to ponder a bit before I looked back, "And I think, and this is just a theory, I think you can do it as well. Just focus the magic in your heart, find this sort of connection with us, and just think what you want us to hear."

"A-alright, I'll try," Ocellus said before she flew into the fray, me doing the same as well.

If Ocellus was being honest with herself, she thought that Professor Dash was the only real threat at the moment.

Professor Pinkie was busy trying to blast Silverstream with her trusty party cannon, which didn’t actually shoot cannonballs, but rather cake instead. It surprised Ocellus when she first witnessed Professor Pinkie fire it.

In regards to Professor Fluttershy…well, it was Professor Fluttershy. Sure she was mind controlled and tried to attack Sandbar with everything she got, but there was one flaw with that.

She wasn’t exactly that fast of a flyer. Which makes dodging her attacks easy. And luckily there were also no animals down here to help her.

Professor Dash, however, was a fast flyer. Like really fast.

Fortunately, Smolder is also a bit of a good flyer herself as she was dodging…a good majority of the pegasus’s attacks.

“Think Ocellus,” she thought aloud as she rubbed her temples, “How does one stop a speeding pegasus?”

Ocellus pondered for a few seconds as she glanced back and forth between the speeding pegasus and Professor Pinkie’s party cannon.

“Hmm. The frosty on the cakes can be pretty sticky. And with the cakes being fired seemingly for infinity and at that velocity…”

A lightbulb lit up in Ocellus’s head as she came up with an idea.

“Okay. What did Legion say again?” Ocellus whispered to herself as she closed her eyes, “Focus on the magic, find the connection, and project your thoughts. You can do this.”

Up until this point, the only magical thing Ocellus really had to focus on was detecting love from other creatures. Shapeshifting is pretty much second nature to her.

But right now, she had to focus on what was in her heart. It took a few seconds, but eventually…she found it. Now came the easy part. After all, she technicians had to magically connect with other creatures in order to detect love from them.

When she found the connection trail towards her friends, she projected her thoughts.

”Silverstream, Smolder, Sandbar. Can you hear me?” she projected.

I immediately flew up in front of the griffon and raised up a shield, blocking another laser beam. That one beam alone was enough to do a considerable amount of damage to it.

"Yeah, let's not get hit by one of those," I thought before I grabbed Gallus and blinked to cover. Some time ago, I found out that if I'm holding someone and blink away, then that person will get blinked along with me. Talk about handy.

"Okay, maybe it wasn't a good idea to face an alicorn by myself after all," Gallus said before he turned to me, "Any ideas?"

"Don't worry, I found a way to subdue them without hurting them. Turns out this sword specifically targets dark magic. Cool, right?" I said as I raised said sword, "As for an idea...I'm working on it."

I peeked out of the cover...and then got down just in time to avoid a laser beam to the face. The Headmare kept blasting laser after laser at our cover.

"Shit. If this goes on, we'll no longer have any cover to hide behind," I thought as I peeked back out. That's when I saw some distance away Yona having some kind of headbutting fight against Professor Applejack, "Ah. There we go. Also holy shit, Professor Applejack is strong."

Right?!

I then closed and started looking for the connection once again.

”Guys, I’ve got an idea,” I projected to Gallus and Yona.

“What the?!” Gallus yelped.

“Legion in Yona’s head?!” I heard Yona ask using my heightened hearing.

”Hehe. Yes Yona, I’m speaking inside your head. Simply put, just close your eyes, focus, and think what you want us to know,” I projected, ”Anyway, I have an idea. Yona, keep Professor Applejack busy and when I give the signal, you move out of the way. Until then, Gallus, I need you to grab Headmare Twilight’s attention. Once she’s distracted, I’ll do the rest. Got it?”

“Got it!” Gallus responded.

“Yona understand!” Yona responded next.

Gallus then spread his wings and flew out of cover, attracting the headmare’s attention.

In case you’re wondering why I had Gallus distract her, if I got close to her while I was in her line of sight, she might simply teleport away from me.

“Come and get me Headmare Twilight!” Gallus taunted as he flew in circles around her, continuously redirecting her aim.

A looked out from cover, and when I saw my chance, I spread my wings as well and flew straight towards the alicorn. Once I was close enough, I raised my blade and did a Sonic the Hedgehog spin attack like a badass.

As my blade came into contact with the headmare, it didn’t make any physical contact. Instead, it phased through her like a ghost.

“Fuck that spin made me dizzy though,” I thought as the world seemed to spin a bit. I quickly reoriented myself and shook off the dizziness before I could hurl.

”Now Yona!” I projected as I zoomed towards the yak, who then backed off and moved out of the way in time for me to swing my blade downward onto Professor Applejack.

I then looked and just like before, the two ponies were stumbling around in a daze before they collapsed, their eyes devoid of any darkness.

"Um...what exactly did you do to them?" Gallus asked as he walked up beside me.

"They're no longer mind controlled," I answered, "This blade is made to diminish dark magic."

"Huh. Neat," he said back.

"Mmhm," Yona nodded.

"And the rest are taken care of as well," Sandbar said as he, Ocellus, Silverstream, and Smolder walked up.

I looked to where Sandbar pointed to see Professors Dash, Pinkie, and Fluttershy all stuck to the wall...by cake. It was easy to put two and two together when I also saw Professor Pinkie's party cannon. I'm guessing that Professor Dash was a little hard to hit though due to her high speeds when flying. I'm guessing (again) that Ocellus (being the smart cookie that she is) came up with some big brain plan in order to do so.

"When did that cannon even get down he—You know what? Never mind," I shrugged as I walked up to the last three and slashed at each of them one by one. As expected, they're glowing red eyes dimmed down to their normal colored, non-glowing eyes then closed as they fell into unconsciousness.

"Okay. I already said, but I'll say it again, this thing is awesome," I said, looking at the blade, "Now that the professors are no longer mind controlled, that only leaves us with—"

I was interrupted when something tackled me in the stomach. It caught me by surprise that I lost my grip on the blade as I was tackled through the air. I spread my wings in an effort to slow down my velocity, but the wind was soon knocked out of my lungs when I impacted the wall. Dazed and confused, I then screamed in my pain as I felt something sharp pierce into one of my wings, sending pain throughout it.

I looked down to see what exactly hit me. I saw Cozy Glow, her face full of rage, her clawed hand piercing into my wing, her eyes still glowing red, the sclera (the white around the iris and pupil in case you didn't know) around the iris now having strands of black.

It was like I was staring into the eyes of evil itself. And it was pissed.

"How? HOW?" she yelled, "It took me almost a month to master the mind control spell. A month I tell you! And you just break it, just like that. What. Are. You?"

My only response was to smirk.

"You mad bro?" I taunted.

Turns out it was a bad idea to taunt as she removed the claw and was about to pierce it into my skull. I quickly summoned a shield in front of my face, causing Cozy's claw to bounce back.

"Legion!" Ocellus called out as she and the others started to approach us.

"Stay...out of this!" Cozy yelled as she launched a dark orb at my friends, who managed to dodge out of the way.

With Cozy facing the other direction, I surprised her by power punching her right in the temple. She quickly reoriented herself and flew at me once again. I met her halfway and our hooves collided with each other as we both tried to push the other back.

"It's over Cozy!" I yelled, to which she scoffed in response.

"You might think that. But I've still got the advantage with my spell!" she smiled, "Once the magic is drained from Equestria, that's when it will be over and you will have lost!"

I smiled back at this.

"Are you sure it's advantageous to just leave your spell all defenseless?" I said smugly, causing to filly's eyes to widen, before I projected, "Guys! Grab the artifacts!"

Cozy turned her head back to see the others running towards her glyph. She immediately let go of my hooves and started flying towards them.

"NO!" she yelled as she then blinked behind Ocellus, her claw ready to strike, "I won't let you!"

Cozy was soon gonna be disappointed at her effort to stop Ocellus as I too blinked and tackled the little filly, my hooves wrapped around her torso. I didn't even care about the fact that it felt like her rage and bloodlust was pouring into my soul. I summoned some strength into my hooves in order to increase my grip on her.

"Now guys now! Do it now!" I yelled at them, despite the risk of blowing up the school. It's like I said earlier. Sometimes you gotta take a leap of faith.

They each immediately grabbed one of the artifacts around the glyph and raised them into the air.

Suddenly, a dome of magic formed around the School of Friendship and started to expand further and further across Equestria. Every piece of land that this dome passed through left behind numerous orbs of magic, each one of them immediately traveling towards each creature.

Earth ponies's strengths returned. Pegasi were once again able to fly. Unicorns got their magic back.

All other creatures got their magical abilities back.

Artifacts were able to be used again.

It was over.

Magic in Equestria has finally returned.

I reopened my eyes once the bright flash of light finally diminished. There was no more giant glyph painted on the ground. There was no giant magical orb that held Counselor Starlight prisoner. There was no more negativity in the air that I could feel.

I saw my friends with an artifact in each of their...limbs, as well as the aforementioned counselor.

"Did...did we do it?" I asked aloud, "Has magic returned?"

Counselor Starlight answered my question by lighting up horn. Ocellus answering as well by changing into various creatures.

"Well, I guess that answers my question," I smiled before I looked back at Cozy, who was sitting on her haunches and facing the ground, hiding her eyes from us, "Now it's over Cozy. You lost."

"I'll kill you," she whispered. Before I could ask what she said, she suddenly raised her head up and growled her teeth. Her eyes. Dear god her eyes. The scleras were now completely black, the irises still the same blood red, "I'LL KILL YOU!"

She suddenly lunged forward and tackled me once again, her claw now pierced into my shoulder, causing me to grit my teeth in pain. I then felt Cozy angle her flight path upwards...towards the cave ceiling.

"Oh shi—" I thought before I was forcibly pushed through dozens and dozens of feet of stone. All those jokes I've ever made about getting a brain aneurysm...well, this time I think I'm actually getting one. The world seemed to be spinning a whole bunch once we finally reached ground level. As I saw that we were only getting higher up in the night sky, I could feel blood start to pour down the side of my head as a wound definitely opened.

It wasn't until we were above the clouds that Cozy stopped her flying and flipped me over so I was now facing upwards. She slowly removed her claw from my shoulder, making me scream, her other hoof holding me by the neck (just don't ask how that's possible).

"You. Ruined. Everything," she seethed as I held on for dear life to her hoof, "Do you have any idea how long it took me to form that spell? Weeks and weeks of preparation and planning. And all for what?! Nothing?!" she yelled as she tightened her grip on me, before she raised her claw up, "Well...it looks like I'll get something out of this after all. Any last words?"

I slightly turned my head back and looked down to the ground, or rather the clouds, but you get the idea. I thought everything, and everyone, that was waiting for me down there. I then put on a face of confidence and looked back at Cozy.

"Everything I did during this night, as well as for the past few months, it was all for Equestria," I said before I shook my head, "No, scratch that, it was for everyone here that I care about. The professors, the princesses, Discord...and my friends. Sandbar, Gallus, Smolder, Silverstream, Yona, and Ocellus. They were some of the greatest friends I've ever made. And I'd be damned if I just let you do any bad to them!"

"Golly, so sweet of you to say that. It almost makes me not want to kill you. Oh well," she shrugged, "Now, say goodbye Legion!"

I immediately summoned back my blade and used it to stab Cozy in the gut. Like before, it didn't actually pierce her like an actual sword, but rather phased through her.

"Phew. It seems like I can summon this sword at will. That's good to know," I thought in relief.

Cozy looked down in surprise at the blade that was phasing through her and then looked back at my smiling face.

"Heh. It's just like I told you Cozy," I said, still smiling, "The light will always fight back against the darkness."

"No! NO! LET GO OF ME!" Cozy screamed in a panic as she tried to break away from my grip on her. The dark aura around her started to diminish, my blade continuing to do its work, until finally...I didn't sense any more darkness from her. There was no more aura around her, and her eyes were back to their scarlet color.

She was now just a normal pegasus filly.

And now I realize that maybe this wasn't a good idea as her eyes started to slowly close...before we both started to fall to the ground.

"AH CRAAAAAAAAP!" I yelled as we fell through the clouds and towards the ground, "AH I DIDN'T THINK THIS THROUGH! I DIDN'T THINK THIS THROUGH!"

I couldn't use my wings as one of them was injured, and blinking at this velocity would be completely pointless. To put it simply...I was fucked.

I looked back at Cozy's still unconscious form, and couldn't help but feel...bad for her. There's one thing that still needs answers. Her motive. She seemed so innocent and nice. How could a filly like her do something like all this? Why would she do something like this?

"It seems I won't find out," I thought as I looked towards the approaching ground, "I don't know what led you to doing this Cozy, but regardless, you don't deserve this fate. I refuse to just let you die, even if you tried to kill me."

Without hesitation, I grabbed Cozy and held her close to me, making sure that she would land on top of me upon impact. I looked back down and determined that at this rate, it would all be over in a few seconds.

"Thank you guys. For everything," I smiled as I shut my eyes, ready to move on from this life to the ne—

Wait...why does it feel like I suddenly stopped falling?

After a few seconds of nothing happening, I slowly opened my eyes to see that I was in...a bubble? Said bubble was a foot or two off the ground, and in this case, so was I.

I slowly sat back and looked around the school's courtyard. Everyone, and I mean everyone was looking at me. All the other students of the school, Chancellor Neighsay, the princesses, Discord, what seems to be all of the Royal Guard, Counselor Starlight, the professors...and my friends.

I glanced at the aforementioned draconequus to see him smile and snap his fingers, causing the bubble I was in to pop.

"Heh. Thanks Discord," I sighed in relief before I saw that all of my friends were now running towards me. I looked down at the filly still in my hooves and gently set her down beside me.

I got up from my haunches and started to walk towards the others, only to wince in pain due to my still injured shoulder. One of the disadvantages of being a quadruped, I suppose, not to mention I may have a concussion.

“Oh my! Are you alright Legion?” Ocellus asked as she and the others stopped in their tracks.

“Apart from an injured shoulder, an injured wing, and probably a concussion, I’m doing fine,” I laughed before I started to sway a bit, “But for real, I think I need to go to the hospital.”

“That won’t be necessary,” I heard Headmare Twilight say. I turned to her to see her and the other two princesses approaching me. They nodded at each other and lowered their heads, their horns glowing, causing a glowing aura to appear around me.

And just like that…I was fine. My shoulder, my wing, they were both fine now. And I didn’t feel like I had a concussion.

Isn’t magic wonderful?

“Oh, uh…thanks,” I said.

“It is you who should be thanked. All of you,” Princess Celestial gestured to me and the others, “For getting back the magic and saving all of Equestria.”

She then bowed to us as a sign of thanks, Princess Luna and Headmare Twilight doing the same.

“Well, it’s all thanks to you Headmare Twilight that we were able to do this,” Sandbar said to the lavender alicorn.

“Yeah! If it weren’t for you and the professors, we wouldn’t have been able to learn everything there is about friendship,” Ocellus gladly said.

“Honesty? Loyalty? Generosity? Blah blah blah,” a voice spat out.

I looked back and saw Cozy Glow struggling to get back up. I guess draining her dark magic pretty much sapped her energy for now.

“Do you know?” I whispered to the headmare.

“Starlight told us everything,” she responded back with a sad expression adorning her face.

I turned back to the filly and started to slowly walk up to her.

“Why’d you do all this Cozy?” I asked, “You seemed like such a nice kid. You had the topmost scores here and you were Headmare Twilight’s friendship assistant. Why would you throw this all away?”

“Why?!” she seethed as she gave me the stink eye, “Because if this school has taught me anything, it’s that friendship is power. And by gaining power, I gain more friends, which gives me more power, and so on and so forth!” she proclaimed, “You should know what it’s like Legion. You made friends, and now look at what you can do.”

“She wanted power so she can gain friends so she can gain power? That’s…a highly confusing explanation,” I thought. I stayed silent for a few more seconds before I figured out how I should respond.

“You’re right about one thing Cozy,” I said before I looked at my now shrouded hoof, “Friendship can be a pretty powerful thing, but I didn’t make friends in the first place because of power,” I explained before I smiled and turned back to my friends. For some reason, I draped my wing over Ocellus, causing her to gasp lightly, “It’s because of what came from my heart.”

While this is a touching moment, I’m sorry to say this but that sounded a bit cringy.

No it did—

“Golly. So sappy,” Cozy said in a disgusted tone.

Told you.

“Well, I suppose it’s over now,” Cozy admitted as guards started to surround her, “I lost, you won. Congrats.”

I sighed with a look of sadness, feeling bad that I can’t think of anything to help the little filly right now. I turned and started to walk away from all this.

“You ok?” Ocellus asked as she and the others started to walk alongside me.

“Yeah,” I answered after a few seconds of silence, before I yawned, “I just need some sleep, that’s all.”

“Boy you said it,” Smolder yawned as well, the others agreeing with me.

As we continued to walk back to our dorm rooms, I soon realized that draped my wing over Ocellus again. I started to blush and was about to remove it, but I stopped myself.

This felt…nice. Ocellus didn’t seem to mind as well.

I then realized that there was still one more thing that I had to deal with. And let me tell you something.

I felt much more confident with fighting Cozy Glow than with what’s gonna happening tomorrow.