Tirek and the dark creatures had defeated Luster Dawn, thanks to the immense power of Grogar's Rainbow of Darkness. But the magic Luster possessed seemed to have gone away, as Luster was a unicorn once again.
Luster's unconscious body drifted out in a magic bubble, but Tirek reached his arm out, popped the bubble, and grabbed a hold of the unicorn.
He opened his mouth to absorb her magic, but nothing came out of her horn.
"What are you waiting for, Tirek?" Grogar asked.
"She's dry as a bone!" Tirek exclaimed. "She's got no magic!"
"But she was so powerful a moment ago!" Grogar's voice echoed. "Where has the magic gone?"
But this was not the end of the magic light show. It was only the beginning. The magic wasn't gone, it was about to become something spectacular.
They discovered the bewitching bell. It was active, and slowly pulsating.
"There you are..." Grogar whispered. "It's been eons since I held my bell. And it looks like it's got magic in spades."
Tirek was about to grab the bell, but something compelled him not to.
It was as though the glow of the bell was speaking to him.
"Cozy Glow?" he whispered to himself.
Tirek paused, when all of the sudden he felt a great pulse of energy in him, compelling him to grab the bell, but he fought back.
"I command you to retrieve my bell!" Grogar ordered.
"No! I can't!" Tirek said as he struggled against the dark goat's control.
"What?" Grogar asked.
"Cozy's alive!" Tirek said.
"So what does it matter?!" Grogar asked.
"She matters to me!" Tirek exclaimed.
"Then you are truly weak!" Grogar snarled.
Grogar's dark magic constricted around Tirek's body.
"You shall do as I say!" Grogar roared.
"No! I shall not be your puppet!" Tirek exclaimed.
Tirek pulled apart the Rainbow of Darkness away from him.
The Rainbow of Darkness dislodged itself from Tirek. The object grew more vicious in appearance..
Tirek charged his own magic, and fired it at the Rainbow of Darkness, but the object fired back. The two were evenly matched.
The centaur struggled as he attempted to the destroy the object.
*slash*
The darkness stabbed Tirek through the chest, and fled for the sanction of the other shadow creatures.
Tirek took quite the hit, he put his hands to his chest, and breathed heavily. He looked and saw the bewitching bell glowing with the intensity of a thousand suns. It was surrounded by light and magic. The powerful light stopped Tirek, and all of the shadow creatures in their tracks.
The light and collapsed inward, and swirled around the bell. This was no ordinary magic aura, however, it was conscious. The light and magic slowed, as it settled around the bell, and light had begun to take shape. The magic took the shape of a little alicorn filly with curly hair.
Tirek was star struct at the sight. He couldn't even move, all he could do was say-
"Cozy Glow?"
The light and magic twirled and the spinning bell. The bell formed a being made entirely out of light and magic.
"Tirek?" it said.
"Cozy Glow? Is that you?" Tirek asked.
Cozy Glow was a radiant being made out of the magic and light. (She added a whole new meaning to Cozy Glow)
The light being nodded. "I think so." she replied. "I've never felt more alive, yet dead at the same time."
"How are you doing this?" he asked.
Cozy shrugged. "I'm still not quite sure. I did what came to mind, and I ended up inside the bell."
"I-I thought you were dead." Tirek said.
"I was, Tirek. The poison was about to do me in, but Luster here saved me by putting my consciousness inside of her mind." Cozy explained. "But after her humiliating defeat, I put my soul into Grogar's bell. I'm back through the miracle of magic." Cozy said.
"I can't believe it... You poor thing, you've been through so much suffering and tribulation." Tirek said.
They both looked, and could see the Rainbow of Darkness in the distance.
"Tirek, we have to stop it." Cozy said. "We can't let Grogar succeed."
"But, Cozy. Isn't this what you wanted?" Tirek asked.
"I wanted to defeat Twilight Sparkle and rule Equestria with you and Chryssie. And well *giggle* you should have seen me, I kicked that pathetic princess to the curb." Cozy said. "But this isn't what I wanted at all."
Cozy looked at Tirek's wounds. He wasn't fatally wounded, but he could be if he didn't back down now.
"Look at yourself. You're wounded." Cozy said.
"This? It takes a lot to take out a centaur." Tirek said, boastful. But Cozy would see through his ruse.
"You took a lot of damage." Cozy said.
The Rainbow of Darkness echoed and roared in the distance. It was unclear what its next action would be. It had diverted its attention away from Cozy and Tirek.
Cozy put her nose up to Tirek's face. The glow of her body was blinding.
"I'm going to destroy it." Cozy whispered to Tirek. "You should have seen yourself earlier. You were a miserable demon version of yourself, fueled by the pain of losing the pony they cared about the most. I have to stop it. If I don't, it's not just going to consume Canterlot. It'll consume every creature in Equestria."
Tirek didn't disagree with that, but in his mind, he thought about how their plans flipped upside down.
"We had all the power in the world to ourselves, and now you're trying to undo it..." Tirek said, feeling complete disbelief.
Cozy nodded. "Life's no fun as a shadow zombie." she said. "What's the point in ruling the world if it means I'm incapable of loving you?"
Tirek was starstruck with how powerful Cozy looked.
"Cozy, I. I-I can't believe you're here. You've cheated death yet again, and you look magnificent." Tirek said tearfully. "You look so powerful! You really are the best of us three.
Cozy glowed brighter to signify her joy.
"Now then, lend me some of that magic, and together, we'll show Grogar who's boss!" Tirek exclaimed.
"I love the enthusiasm, but I'm afraid I can't do that, Tirek." Cozy replied.
"Whatever do you mean?" he asked.
"I have to do this alone." she said. "I can't risk you getting hurt on my account."
Tirek was shocked to hear Cozy say that.
"B-but Cozy, I-"
Cozy wrapped her arms around Tirek, begrudgingly. The heat radiating off her magic body was tremendous.
"If I see you again, I promise, we're going to frolic and enjoy being alive, and free." she said. "And if I don't see you again... *sniff* at least you'll have your memories of me... and if that's the scenario that goes down today... *sniff* goodbye, Tirek..."
"Cozy? You don't have to do this..." he said.
"But I do. And if you meet my sister, please take care of her..." Cozy requested. "Make sure she gets the happy ending I didn't get..."
Cozy Glow kissed Tirek on the forehead. And patted him on the head. Tirek had completely frozen, and bustling with emotion.
Cozy used a smidgen of her immense magic to pick up Tirek and Luster. The weakened centaur tried to escape, but Cozy could let him fight.
She looked at Tirek's expression, as he reached out for Cozy. But Cozy knew deep down, that she had to make the world a better place for him.
She cocked her head, and with a little spell-
*poof*
Tirek and Luster disappeared.
Cozy wished this final showdown could have been more momentous, but she couldn't let herself drag Tirek in, and risk him getting hurt. She never thought she'd care so much for the centaur, but with her life hanging on by a thread tied to the bell, every bit of life was worth preserving. Therefore, the Rainbow of Darkness had to be destroyed.
Cozy Glow looked at the Rainbow of Darkness off in the distance. A swarm of shadow creatures surrounded a dark orb holding its core. It was a terrifying sight to behold. Cozy held the bell close to her chest, and prepared for the most ridiculous thing she was about to do.
*sigh* "Show no fear..." she said to herself.
Cozy Glow, now a body made entirely out of light and magic, slowly approached the army of vicious shadow creatures.
Alone she stood, determined, with the bewitching bell emanating the magic that formed her.
She stood opposite the Rainbow of Darkness and all its impending might. In front of her were hundreds of shadow creatures, and hovering above the army was a glowing dark orb, which presumably is where Grogar was held, and was the source of the darkness.
Dark Magnolia broke the standstill when she slowly floated in front of the group. She would be the first of Cozy's targets.
A dozen other shadow creatures beamed magic into Magnolia to increase her power. Cozy watched as Magnolia charged a powerful magic in her horn. She was not intimidated, or worried.
And finally, it came the time for Magnolia to unleash her magic upon Cozy Glow. Her horn glowed, and with all her might she fired her dark magic at Cozy.
*ZAP*
*BOOM*
There was a massive blast of energy impacted onto Cozy Glow. The blast kicked up massive amounts of earth, and dust obscured the scene. The scene was quiet, it there was no sign of activity on Cozy's side.
The shadow creatures watched intently, eager to see what had happened to Cozy.
"It is done." Grogar echoed.
Or was it?
Dark Magnolia inched forward to assess the damage. And it was at that moment when-
*RING* *SWOOSH*
All of the sudden, the bell had rung, and a vortex of a beam latched onto Dark Magnolia's horn.
AS it so happened, Cozy Glow withstood the blast just fine, and was using the bell to suck Magnolia of all of her magic. She could see that Magnolia was starting to turn back to normal as the dark magic flowed out of the unicorn.
Within a few moments of sucking out the darkness, Magnolia was free of all dark magic! Once she was saved, she plopped onto the ground, defeated, and unconscious. This was the best outcome Cozy hoped for.
"Yes! The bell absorbs the darkness too!" she beamed with excitement!
The great dark orb attempted to reach for Magnolia, but Cozy put a magic force field around her childhood friend, saving her from reinfection.
"I've got you, Maggie!" Cozy exclaimed.
*poof*
Cozy teleported the unicorn away to safety
"One down, just a few more to go." Cozy said, confidently.
To say there were 'just a few more' would be putting it lightly.
The source of the darkness shimmered, which signified an order for the shadow creatures to scramble. They all disbanded, all going in their own pathway to fight Cozy.
Cozy, confident, and steadfast, went to work on the army.
Cozy spun the bell perpendicular to the ground at many RPM.
"Here goes nothing!" she exclaimed. "It's do or die!"
*ZOOM*
Cozy zipped through the air at breakneck speeds, challenging the shadow creatures to come and get a piece of her.
Cozy's first target was Shadow Polomare. The dark mare leaped from the cliff side, and with a set of sharp needles in her arsenal. She fired the sharp objects at Light Cozy, but she was able to quickly project a magic shield that stopped all the needles in their tracks.
Shadow Polomare charged into Cozy's face.
The dark mare attempted to fist Cozy, but she blocked it with a kick, and another flip. Suri was quick in her combat, but Cozy used her other worldly body to her advantage.
Suri jabbed, but Cozy's body dispersed into particles. The particles gathered, and reappeared behind Suri. With the mare caught off guard, Cozy went to work.
*RING* *SWOOSH*
Cozy pressed the bell directly to Suri's forehead, and begun sapping her of the dark magic. Suri had been freed, and she too fell.
Cozy grabbed the mare and held her in her hooves.
"It's a shame she never finished my dress..." Cozy said to herself. "But nevertheless, I can't thank you enough for your service."
*poof*
Cozy bubbled an disappeared Suri.
Next, Cozy Glow found herself up against Shadow Sludge. The dark dragon flew at the light filly, and charged his fire breath.
"Oh right, you exist. Well, I suppose I ought'a free everyone." Cozy said.
Sludge breathed a powerful plume of dark fire, but this was calculated part of the plan. The bell latched onto the fire breath.
*RING* *SWOOSH*
With massive intensity, Cozy and the bell absorbed every bit of dark magic from Sludge's shadow breath. He fell like a stone to the ground, but Cozy caught him
Cozy tried to think of something to say about Sludge, but she drew a blank, so she just did a quick spell and *poof* made him disappear.
Then came the matter of dealing with Flim and Flam's metal tank. Their tank had finished cooling down from their previous shot, and it was was ready to fire again.
Flim and Flam aimed the barrel, and fired a ballistic missile at the glowing filly.
*boom*
The missile fired out of the tank, and it cut through the air.
Cozy wizzed through the air
Her flying pattern was unlike anything a pegasus, or even alicorn could do. She cut through the air and zipped like a bolt of lightning.
Light Cozy's form wasn't necessarily set in stone. She was flexible, and morphed into various shapes.
When she sped through the air, she really zipped and bolted like a lightning bolt.
Light Cozy flew head first at the missile. She put magic onto the magic the missile, and delicately redirected it, and pointed it at Flim and Flam's tank.
*BOOM*
In a fiery explosion, the tank blew apart into metal pieces.
Dark Flim and Flam were so powerful, they were not harmed by the shock wave or excess in flames. They landed on the ground to team up and combine forces. However, they would be no match for Cozy.
They charged their horns and fired two powerful beams of magic at Cozy. The magic filly flew head on and effortlessly dodged their magic beams.
Once she was close enough, she begun the process of stealing their magic.
"Chew on this!"
*RING* *SWOOSH*
The bell projected its beam and sapped Flim and Flam through their horns of the dark magic. They returned to normal.
Cozy bubbled the brothers, and poofed them away.
While Cozy looked for easy targets to go after next, she ended up facing the creatures of Tartarus.
She found herself swarmed by the dark Manticore. It reeled back its tail and stabbed Cozy's ghostly light body.
"WOAH!" Cozy exclaimed. "That would have HURT if I were still made of flesh!"
Fortunately for her, the tail simply passed right through her. And the Manticore was foolish to leave itself vulnerable and in close proximity to the bell.
Cozy lit up, and the intensity burnt the Manicore's tail. With the creature in pain, Cozy went in.
*RING* *SWOOSH*
She zapped the Manticore of all its dark magic, releasing it from the darkness' grasp.
The dark bugbear growled, and swiped its claws at Cozy. With each swipe, the Bugbear missed as Cozy cockily stepped back, not even evading that fast.
"How many members of the mane 6 does it take to befall a Bugbear?!" Cozy asked rhetorically.
*RING* *SWOOSH*
The bell latched onto the Bugbear, and drained it of the dark magic.
"None, cause Cozy's stronger than all of them combined!" she exclaimed.
Cozy picked up and flung the Bugbear Cerberus, knocking the dark dog over.
*bam*
When Cerberus opened their eyes, Cozy was right in one of their faces.
"Chew on this!"
*smack* Cozy flew up and smacked Cerberus in the belly, knocking them on their back. With the demon dog of Tartarus incapacitated, the bell did its work on them.
*RING* *SWOOSH*
Cozy zapped the magic from Cerberus, and even they returned to their normal selves.
"If you creatures were smart, you'd have either run, or forfeit. But golly, you guys are so mindless, you're just attacking me anyway even though I'm exploiting your weaknesses."
In spite of her cockiness, the toughest part was yet to come.
Cozy looked up, and saw the mighty Washadows, Lightning Dust, Wind Rider, Rolling Thunder, and Short Fuse. Now was the matter of taking care of the dark pegasi.
"Now comes the hard part." Cozy said to herself.
The four dark flyers flew in tight formation, and headed right for Cozy. They flew in a v shape, with bolts of electricity propagating between the dark pegasi.
Cozy stood and watched as the dark fleet zoomed closer.
As she expected, they broke formation and each went off in different directions, but all four on a path to attack.
Short Fuse came crashing forward, and held out a fiery fist. He was coming in hot, and he was close, but Cozy dissolved into particles once again, and in a fraction of a second, she reformed underneath Short Fuse. She kicked her hind leg up and threw Short Fuse off course, sending him crashing to the ground.
Rolling Thunder came zooming, and Cozy once again dissolved, and reappeared on top of the pegasus. She grabbed onto her, spun her around. She flipped over, and dead lifted Rolling Thunder up and over, and eventually flung her to the ground.
Lightning Dust and Wind Rider flew as a pair, with lightning propagating between the two. They flew head on towards Cozy.
Cozy zipped forward directly at the two dark flyers. She flew faster and faster. Her glow became brighter and brighter the faster she flew.
Cozy flew so fast, she exceeded the speed of light (in air), which released massive bursts of energy. The force of the blast wiped out the remaining Washadows.
Lightning and Wind Rider crash landed onto the ground. Cozy landed besides them and activated the bell to sap them of the dark magic.
*RING* *SWOOSH*
The bell sucked out all four of their dark magic auras out at once. The four flyers returned to normal.
"YES! I'm unstoppable!" Cozy beamed.
*magic* *POOF*
"And you guys, you're safe now." she said.
There were still many more dozens shadow creatures, led by Svengallop.
Cozy devised a method to speed things along.
Cozy lifted her hoof, and punched the ground, releasing geysers of energy. She impaired the creatures just long enough for the next part of her plan. Cozy flew overhead, and sapped the dark magic from the many creatures as she flew overhead.
She the bell projected a beam, and latched onto to many many creatures at once.
Cozy flew back around, and planted herself onto the ground, to stabilize herself while she took all that dark energy.
"AAAHHH!"
She felt the intensity of all the dark magic flow into her, but at least her efforts were working.
She befell all the remaining shadow creatures, the bell absorbed their dark magic, and they all returned to their normal pony forms.
Cozy flew overhead and made a lot of them disappear, safe away from being reclaimed by Grogar.
Against all the odds, Cozy had done it! She looked around, and in the heat of the moment, she hardly realized there she had
But not all was cause for celebration. When she looked at herself, she saw the lower part of her body, up to about her hind legs, had turned dark. She was still in complete control of her whole body, so she tried not to worry about it.
There was however one more collection of darkness to take care of, Grogar himself.
The dark orb roared, and transformed itself into the shape of a big shadowy goat.
"It's just you and me, Grogar! It's two beings of unimaginable power against each other." Cozy said.
"You think you're on the same level as me, child?" Grogar asked.
"Nope. I think I'm many levels above you!" Cozy replied.
They fired massive beams of energy at each other, and then-
*BOOM*
Their beams collided, and created a massive burst of energy. Their power levels were just about equal.
Grogar conjured multiple sharp spears, and flung them at the light filly. Cozy zoomed d around, and she smacked and kicked each of these conjured weapons, sending them off course.
Grogar fired more dark magic at Cozy.
"You might wanna be careful with the amount of magic you just erupt my way." Cozy smirked.
Cozy held up the bell, and it created a vortex. Grogar's dark magic impacted the bell, and Cozy started to absorb magic from the source of the Rainbow of Darkness itself.
The amount of dark magic she took in was incredible. It was almost completely overwhelming, but Cozy was strong, and she withstood the surge in dark magic. The more dark magic she absorbed, the more of her body was consumed by the dark. The dark crawled up from her legs, and was now up to her flank. Even so, Cozy was beaming with excitement.
The stream of dark magic stopped,
"Yeah, you might wanna think twice about attacking, Grogar!" Cozy exclaimed. "Anything you shoot, I can just absorb!"
"We'll see about that." Grogar growled.
The dark goat dissipated, and split into two forms. It formed into nail and hammer.
"Hmm..." Cozy thought about how this might actually be perfect for her plan.
Cozy flew around the land, until she landed right in front of Twilight's school. She stood her ground, and waited for Grogar to attack.
The nail went in to spear Cozy, but she pressed the bell against the nail shaped darkness, and absorbed its power.
Cozy stood in place, holding the bell, absorbing very large quantities of Grogar's dark magic.
"AAAHH!"
Meanwhile, the hammer half reeled back, and was ready to press hard.
"If you want the darkness, here you go!"
Grogar reeled back the dark cognitive hammer, and was ready to pounce.
Cozy looked up, very anxious.
"Please be indestructible, bell!" Cozy pleaded.
Grogar slammed the hammer onto the dark nail, applying tremendous pressure directly onto Cozy.
*BOOM*
The darkness SLAMMED itself against Cozy and the bell, and plowed right through Twilight's school.
After a moment of quiet, it all seemed done, but despite the heavy blow, the bell rung once again, and continued to suck up more darkness.
The bell had landed in the school basement, Cozy reformed, and absorbed the last bit of darkness.
"AAHH!" she exclaimed, feeling the darkness flow into her.
Cozy stood up, as the bell continued to slowly drain the last remnants of the darkness.
*heavy breathing*
The dark part of Cozy was crawling up as she absorbed more darkness. It got to the point where more than half her body was dark energy, instead of light.
It consumed part of her head.
Cozy had consumed so much darkness, that Cozy could hear Grogar's voice echoing in her head.
"I was wrong about you, you really are the most evil creature in Equestira." Grogar's voice echoed. "I've never seen any creature use my bell more effectively than you just did. I mean, hiding your soul in the mind of another pony, and then retreating, and putting your soul into my bell? What a stroke of brilliance!"
Cozy was flatted, but she was too stressed by the steady stream of dark magic coming in to easily reply.
"You know, you and I have a lot in common." Grogar said.
"You and I... *errgh* are nothing... alike." Cozy said.
"When Gusty the Great used my own bell against me, she spared me, but banished me from Equestria for the rest of my days." Grogar explained. "I came to that island to retrieve the Rainbow of Darkness, but when I found it, it put an iron grip on me, and trapped my essence inside. I sense you were in a similar boat, losing your body, and being trapped in that peasant student."
Cozy was losing sensation and feeling in the rest of her body.
"Come on, come on!" she tried to do a spell, but she was having trouble controlling her horn. Cozy's horn sparked faintly. She struggled to conduct the spell.
"I'm so close, I came all this way, just to lose again..." she wept.
Cozy resisted the darkness, but it was slowly filling her body.
"Why do you resist the darkness?" Grogar asked. "It was you who was so adamant to set me free."
"You hurt Tirek! You hurt my friends!" Cozy exclaimed. "You controlled their minds, and turned them into something they weren't."
"It's not what you think it." Grogar explained. "I made them stronger, more powerful."
"You made them awful!" Cozy exclaimed.
"You hurt Tirek more than I ever could've by abandoning your own body in Tartarus, and faking your death." Grogar said.
"I regret nothing more than what I did to Tirek!"
"We've both made mistakes, but we have the ability to right our wrongs." Grogar said. "Together, we have the power control the cosmos! Rewrite the rules of the universe!"
"No... I..." she wept.
Cozy's body figure had turned almost entirely dark.
"You did me such a huge favor by collecting Equestria's most powerful magic in one place, and defeating its leaders. There isn't anything to stop us from ruling the world now!"
Cozy tried to resist, but Grogar was powerful.
"If you resist, then everything you once loved will be consumed by darkness!" Grogar said.
Cozy felt the darkness overwhelm her.
"You brought all the of the Rainbow of Darkness together in one place, along with all that pony magic." Grogar said.
"All the darkness, you say?" Cozy asked.
"Yes! All the darkness all in one place!" Grogar added.
"Heh. All the darkness in one place." Cozy smirked.
Just about all her body had turned to dark, sans her horn, with still glowed a radiant bright glow. A glimmer of hope, and a bright idea was brewing in the filly.