When Cozy Glow faces Luna/Celestia she produces Grogar's bell and uses it to absorb the alicorns magic. The question is where did the bell come from? It just sort of appears from behind her. It could not have been hidden behind her as it is too big. Also, we get a scene where we can view Cozy Glow from behind and it was not there. So where was it??

I had always thought this was the result of using a portal spell and bringing in the bell that way. That could explain things but ... portals have always taken a bit of time to open (only teleports are instantaneous), are generally associated with items, and we don't see any magic used. In fact, the only time we see portal magic used by the Legion of Doom - it seems to be generated by Grogar's bell itself (as seen in the next episode) based upon the color of the magic.

The only other explanation I can think of is invisibility cast on the bell itself. This would mean using two spells constantly - invisibility and telekinesis at the same time on the bell. The problem is she does not have her horn lighted with magic the entire time.

The only explanation that makes sense is she used magic not only on the bell to make it invisible but her horn's glow as well! We can see this done when Starlight Glimmer and Trixie hide from the changelings. Even the idea of bringing it from behind her (where Twilight could not see) makes sense then - she does not want to let Twilight know she can use invisibility.

Obviously, the writers did not think this out, but it makes Cozy's throne room strategy a lot more devious!

Any thoughts?

Btw - here are sine clips if you want to see what I am referring to:

7761071
Cozy Glow shouldn't have been evil in the first place.... ;-;

7761071
Hammerspace.

7761071
Pretty much what 7761078 said. I imagine that absorbing some chaos magic might have had a residual effect on her.

In the end, I think it came down to not knowing where to put it. So they just said "forget this" and had her pull it out of thin air.

Edit: Although looking at it now, and seeing how small it is, it probably could have fit in her saddle bags.

Maybe they lost the rendering for those?

Honestly the quality of the animation in MLP was on a slow decline for a while.

It was rarely awful, but by the end you could tell that either the money or the interest was drying up.

In retrospect, it's actually not surprising that they didn't bother rendering the bag.

You do realize that there exists substitution spells, right? Where the caster can swap out one item for something else.

7761090
Those are transfiguration spells.

Now maybe there exists a spell like that in the show, but we are never shown it in a outside context, so there's no way to be sure.

Transfiguration - a change in form or appearance (per Merriam Webster). I think that Twilight/Starlight Glimmer are actually changing the items into something else rather than merely switching them out. Tons of moral issues you could discuss in that little clip.

In the case of the bell however, I don't think a transfiguration spell could be used. The bell was a very powerful magical artifact so it could not be created like that. Also, it had to be the same bell as the one used previously as it had Discord's magic within it.

7761071
> the only time we see portal magic used by the Legion of Doom - it seems to be generated by Grogar's bell itself

Cozy used portal magic to throw out guards right in a video that you use

7761071

It is a cartoon, anything is possible. Pinkie pulls her party cannon out of thin air all the time....there is no difference here except Cozy produces a magical artifact.

7761092
I remember there is a substitution spell shown in the series: where Rarity gets her mane messed up and she approaches Twilight and Starlight to try and use Magic to fix it... though in this case, the spell was less-than stellar.

7761071

Interesting analysis, particularly the notion that she used magic to hide the glow.

Cozy is in general an anomalous (and perhaps aboriginal) creature. It could be that reality bends just a bit in her vicinity.

SCP Cozy?

7761230
True, but that had a very prominent teleportation flash. The only sign of Cozy Glow using magic in this scene, is the glow of her telekinesis.

7761192
So basically hammerspace.

7761078

Hammerspace.

Never heard of that term before. Learned something new.

7761192
There have been discussions that Pinkie Pie can use chaos magic to some extent which explains her ability essentially do unexplained things. For everyone else not named Discord - they don't seem to have the ability to use Hammerspace.

7761136

Cozy used portal magic to throw out guards right in a video that you use

Lol ... leaving one word out sure changes a sentence. Good catch! Maybe I should not be posting so late.
In fact, the only other time we see portal magic used by the Legion of Doom ...

It is very interesting though ... why was that portal using the magic color of the bell??

7761365

True, but that had a very prominent teleportation flash. The only sign of Cozy Glow using magic in this scene, is the glow of her telekinesis.

It also appeared that both Twilight/Starlight Glimmer had to put a lot of effort into those spells which Cozy did not show.

As stated - it is an interesting idea that Cozy may have used invisibility on her horn's magic and the bell to trick the alicorns into attacking her.

7761071
We've seen characters pull out objects from thin air constantly in this show, despite not wearing pockets or anything like that. For instance, every single time Twilight tells Spike to take a note, he pulls out a pen and paper out of thin air to write on, Pinkie Pie can also pull out an absurd amount of things out of her mane, etc etc...why would this time be any different?

7761585

We've seen characters pull out objects from thin air constantly in this show, despite not wearing pockets or anything like that. For instance, every single time Twilight tells Spike to take a note, he pulls out a pen and paper out of thin air to write on, Pinkie Pie can also pull out an absurd amount of things out of her mane, etc etc...why would this time be any different?

One of the most important aspects of storytelling (good storytelling anyway) is making a story believable. In fantasy/science fiction you are stretching the believability already so one way to allow you to be emotionally invested is to create "rules" for the world.

In MLP these rules can be quite elaborate! Teleportation for example only allows a pony to move from one place to another where the pony could physically travel given enough time normally. So, in a locked cell a unicorn cannot teleport out of, but an unlocked room is no problem. MLP follows that rule without deviation. Break a rule for a plot convenience than your characters come off as incredibly stupid and you lose believability. Why did you sit in a cell in this episode when you have displayed the power to teleport out in a prior one? This is one reason why a movie like The Last Jedi was poorly received - it broke a lot of the rules established by prior movies.

As for the examples you give - they are innocuous items (a cake, pencil, party hat, etc.) that are either inserted for slapstick comedy or to move the plot along (do we really need to see Spike go off and grab a pencil each time?). Certainly nothing useful like a saw, weapon, powerful magic item, etc. So yes, there is a difference.