Sweetie Belle trotted through the orchards of Sweet Apple Acres. The sun was shining in the cloudless sky, filtering through the canopy of leaves and blossoms. Even though it had stopped raining an hour ago, the smell of the rain was still fresh, along with the puddles and droplets on the leaves. A leaf full of water suddenly tipped on top of the young filly, splashing her with water and soaking her mane.
“Eep!” she exclaimed as she jumped backward. Then an orange and blue blur flashed past her, whipping her mane around and drying it completely in the wind it created. Scootaloo skidded to a stop on her scooter and looked around to see who she passed, pushing her helmet up and wiping her bangs out of her eyes.
“Hi, Sweetie Belle!” she called cheerfully. “You're heading to the clubhouse, too?” Sweetie Belle nodded.
“I wonder what it’s about. It’s not like Apple Bloom to just randomly call us for an emergency meeting,” Sweetie Belle replied.
“Yeah, and it’d better be good,” Scootaloo said. “I’m going to meet Rainbow Dash this afternoon to practice my flying! Hop on, it’ll take you ages to get there at your pace.”
Sweetie Belle hopped on the scooter, and the two foals flashed off. They finally came to a stop outside the CMC clubhouse in a clearing in the middle of the orchard, hidden from everypony else. Scrambling up the ramp, Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle opened the door to find Apple Bloom pacing in front of the podium, looking stressed.
“Finally! It’s about time you made it!” she exclaimed, hopping behind the podium and clearing her throat. “Okay, so we’re all here, so let’s get down to the main order of business! I have something horrible to tell y’all!”
“Wait, what?” Sweetie Belle asked, walking up to her normal spot, Scootaloo behind her.
“Apple Bloom, what’s going on?” said Scootaloo as she sat down. Apple Bloom took a deep breath and blurted out the news.
“It was Cozy Glow! She came up to the farm and we all went to keep her from getting away and Applejack was gonna tell Princess Twilight but then she pulled out this long stick and pointed it at my sister and then she stole her cutie mark and stuck it in a jar and then she did that to everypony else and she stole their cutie marks!” Apple Bloom burst into tears while the other two foals sat, blinking at the sobbing filly.
“What happened?” Sweetie Belle tilted her head. Apple Bloom lifted her head, tears filling her eyes and running in rivers down her cheeks. She sniffed and rubbed her eyes, wiping away tears that were immediately replaced with more, and repeated her story in a shaky voice.
“I was bucking apples with my family, and then Cozy Glow came up, and we all tried to keep her from getting away, but then she pointed this staff at my big sis, and zapped her, and her cutie mark came off her flank and Cozy Glow trapped it in this jar. Then she did that to all my family, and trapped their cutie marks, and then she ran away. I tried to stop her, but she’s got them wings, and my family was all weak and stuff. So I came here.”
Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle were silent as the tale sank in.
“Cozy Glow’s back?” Sweetie Belle finally said incredulously. “But how? I thought she was turned to stone!” Scootaloo nodded.
“And how can she steal cutie marks? I didn’t even know that was possible,” she said. “Wait, did Cozy Glow try to steal your cutie mark? Why do you still have it?” Scootaloo pointed to Apple Bloom’s flank, which was indeed still adorned by her cutie mark. Apple Bloom shrugged.
“She had taken everypony else’s marks when she pointed the staff at me. But when she tried to zap me, this pink light surrounded me and protected me somehow. She couldn’t get my cutie mark, so she grabbed my family’s and ran off.” The earth pony glanced down at her mark, which was nearly identical to her friends’. “Maybe there’s some kind of special magic involved here?”
Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo both looked at their own marks. For a moment, the three fillies were silent as they thought. Then Scootaloo jumped up, hitting the lantern above her, which lit up.
“I’ve got it!” she cried. “Remember when we got our marks? We all got them at the same time, in the same place, right?” The other two nodded, and Scootaloo continued excitedly. “And it was so much more magical than any of the other foals we’ve seen get their cutie marks! There must be a connection!”
“Yeah!” Sweetie Belle said, catching on. “Even our sisters didn’t get their cutie marks at the same time! And ours are so similar, they’re practically the same cutie mark!”
Apple Bloom froze. “Wait a second. What did you say, Sweetie Belle?”
“Um… our cutie marks are so similar they’re practically the same cutie mark?” Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo looked at Apple Bloom curiously. A huge grin spread across her face.
“I think I know why Cozy Glow couldn’t steal my cutie mark,” she said slowly. “We got our cutie marks at the same time, in the same place, because of the same thing, and it was so much more magical than normal. Our cutie marks are almost exactly the same. And our destiny is tied to one another since we all have the same special purpose in the world! Our cutie marks are linked together, too!”
All three ponies grinned at each other. Then Scootaloo stopped.
“Wait. What does that mean, exactly?”
“If Cozy Glow wants to steal our cutie marks,” Sweetie Belle said, “she’d need all of us to do it. If she has just one of us, she can’t steal their cutie mark because they’re tied to the rest of us!”
“But why is Cozy Glow stealing cutie marks?” Apple Bloom asked the question that was in each of their heads.
“Maybe she’s gaining power that way?” Sweetie Belle suggested. “Cutie marks are powerful things. And without them, ponies can’t stop her because they’d need their special talents to do that.”
“Maybe she’s planning to steal the cutie marks of everypony who could potentially stop her and is gaining power off of them!” Apple Bloom cried. “That’s why she went after my sister! She probably already went after the alicorn princesses!”
“Oh, no. Rainbow Dash!” Scootaloo gasped.
“And Rarity!” Sweetie Belle dashed to the door. “We have to stop her before she steals everypony’s cutie marks!”
The three foals hurried through the orchard and ran to Rarity’s boutique, since it was closest. When they opened the door, they found the front room an absolute disaster. Mannequins were knocked over, bolts of fabric were rolling across the floor, and several mirrors had fallen over and shattered on the floor. Sweetie Belle gasped and immediately started searching through the wreckage. Her friends helped her.
“Rarity?” she called out. “Are you alright? Don’t worry, I’m coming!” Sweetie Belle closed her eyes and concentrated hard. A small light appeared at the end of her horn. When Sweetie Belle walked closer to the staircase to the second floor, the light grew brighter. “She’s this way!” she exclaimed to her friends, who hurried after her as they ran upstairs and down the hall into Rarity’s workroom. It was in worse condition than the room downstairs. Lying in the middle of the room was Rarity.
Sweetie Belle ran to her sister’s side as the light on her horn went out. Rarity’s colors were dimmed and she could barely open her eyes to see her younger sister. Where her cutie mark should have been was a dull black equal sign.
“Rarity! What happened?” Sweetie Belle used her magic to pull a bolt of fabric over and used it to cover Rarity like a blanket.
“Sweetie Belle?” Rarity croaked. She tried to sit up but had to lie back down again. “It was Cozy Glow. She came here and stole my cutie mark just like Starlight Glimmer did a long time ago.”
“Starlight Glimmer stole your cutie marks once?” Scootaloo cried. Rarity nodded.
“She put my cutie mark in a jar. She already had Twilight’s, and Applejacks, and Fluttershy’s and, Pinkie Pie’s and, Rainbow Dash’s.”
Scootaloo gasped. “Not Rainbow Dash!”
“Come on, Crusaders,” Apple Bloom said, heading towards the door. “We need to find Starlight Glimmer before Cozy Glow gets to her first.” Scootaloo nodded and ran after her. Sweetie Belle turned to Rarity.
“Don’t worry. We’ll get your cutie mark back,” she promised before going after her friends.
“Why do we need to find Starlight Glimmer?” Scootaloo asked as they ran.
“To find out everything we can about stealing cutie marks,” Apple Bloom said grimly.
The School of Friendship was just getting out for the day when the Crusaders burst through the doors and ran into Starlight Glimmer’s office. Starlight was talking to Sunburst and looked startled when the three foals came into her office.
“Starlight!” Sweetie Belle panted. “We really need to talk to you.”
Starlight looked at Sunburst and jerked her head at the door. Sunburst opened his mouth to protest, but Starlight mouthed, “We’ll talk later,” and he walked out, using his magic to close the door behind him.
“What’s going on, you three?” Starlight asked, sitting behind her desk. She used her magic to make three stools appear, but the Crusaders didn’t sit down.
“Cozy Glow’s back!” Scootaloo started.
“And she’s stealing everypony’s cutie marks!” Apple Bloom continued.
“She already has our sisters’ and Twilight’s and Pinkie Pie’s and Fluttershy’s and soon she’s going to have everypony’s!” Sweetie Belle finished.
Starlight blinked. Whatever she’d expected to hear, this definitely wasn’t it.
“Wait. When Cozy Glow stole the cutie marks, were they replaced by anything? Like, an equal sign or something?” The Crusaders exchanged a glance.
“Um… yes,” Sweetie Belle said after an uncomfortable silence. “And then Rarity said that you’d stolen their cutie marks before so we came here to see if stealing cutie marks was really possible and how to do it…”
“This is bad, this is bad, this is really, really bad,” Starlight muttered to herself. “Cozy must have found it, but how? I thought it was destroyed… and it wasn’t actually powerful anyway…”
“What are you talking about?” Scootaloo asked. Starlight sighed.
“A long time ago, I… stole Twilight and her friends’ cutie marks,” she confessed. “I pretended like I was using a staff called the Staff of Sameness, because it stole cutie marks and replaced them with equal signs, but it was just a hoax. I was really just using my magic to do it. Anyways, they got their cutie marks back, and I thought the Staff was destroyed, but apparently, Cozy Glow found it and is somehow using it to steal cutie marks again. Which doesn’t make any sense. The staff was just a useless piece of junk I was using as a prop. Maybe Cozy found another kind of magic to do it…?”
“Golly, Starlight, you made this?” said a voice from the window, causing Starlight to whirl around and the Crusaders to gasp. Silhouetted against the sunlight was Cozy Glow, holding a long staff that split into a fork at the end. “I must say, I didn’t think somepony like you was capable of such devious actions.”
“Cozy Glow,” Starlight said in a threatening voice. “It was foolish of you to come here.”
Cozy stepped off the windowsill and into the room. “Aw, you don’t seem too excited to see me,” she said in a mocking tone. She spotted the Crusaders and her eyes narrowed. “Well, well, well. Everypony else I need to get rid of before I make my glorious return all in one convenient place.”
Starlight narrowed her eyes at the staff in Cozy’s hooves. “Cozy, put that down. You don’t know what kind of magic you’re dealing with.”
“Oh, but I know perfectly well what kind of magic I’m dealing with,” Cozy Glow said. “It’s the kind of magic that could free me from being turned to stone, the kind of magic I need to get rid of anypony who tries to get in the way of my plans again, the kind of magic I need to finally rule Equestria.”
Cozy whipped around and pointed the Staff at Starlight. Before anypony could do anything, she zapped Starlight with the Staff. A dull green light surrounded Starlight, immobilizing her. Slowly, Starlight’s cutie mark pulled away from her flank and flew to the Staff of Sameness, hovering in the middle of the fork at the end. With a sinister grin on her face, Cozy pulled a jar out of her saddlebag and put Starlight’s cutie mark inside it. The light around Starlight faded, and on her flank was a black equal mark. Her mane and coat were dimmed and her eyes glazed over as she collapsed to the floor, powerless against the pegasus filly holding the jar that now contained her cutie mark.
A creak made Cozy turn around again. The door to the office was open, and the Crusaders were trying to slip out. Since Cozy had spotted them, there was no point in trying to be stealthy anymore. Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo started running for it. Growling, Cozy slipped the jar back into her saddlebag and flapped her wings, rising into the air, and flying after the Crusaders. She chased the three ponies through the school, closing in on them.
“She’s right behind us!” Sweetie Belle screeched.
“Quick! On my scooter!” said Scootaloo as they reached the entrance hall and dashed out the door, where her scooter was waiting with the wagon tied to the back. The Crusaders pulled on their helmets and climbed on, Scootaloo in the front, Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom in the back. As Cozy Glow burst out of the school, a murderous look on her face, Scootaloo flapped her wings frantically, and they were off.
“Where are we going?” Apple Bloom called over the wind.
“I don’t know!” Scootaloo replied. “Somewhere she can’t find us!”
“Which would be where?” Sweetie Belle asked.
Scootaloo scanned the town as it flashed by. They flashed past the train station, and her face lit up. Screeching to a halt, Scootaloo turned around and pushed her scooter to the train station, where a train was about to leave for Manehattan.
“What are you doing, Scootaloo?” Apple Bloom asked.
“Come on, girls!” Scootaloo said. “We’ve got a train to board!”
Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom realized what Scootaloo was saying, and they nodded to each other. Just as the door was about to close, the Crusaders dashed into a car and hid Scootaloo’s scooter in the luggage rack. They collapsed on the seats and glanced out the window.
Cozy Glow was standing at the train station, looking all over for the Crusaders. As the train was pulling out of the station, she gave up and flew off to find some more cutie marks to steal. The Crusaders talked about what had happened in hushed voices.
“Well, now we know how Cozy got out of being a statue,” Sweetie Belle whispered. “The Staff’s magic somehow found her and set her free.”
“But Starlight said the Staff didn’t have any real powers!” Scootaloo said.
“Maybe she accidentally cast a spell on the Staff without knowing?” Apple Bloom suggested quietly. “Or maybe she used it so much for that one thing it got the power from her using it.”
“What do you think she’s going to do?” Scootaloo glanced around to make sure they weren’t being heard. “Is she going to rule Equestria in a way that nopony will have a cutie mark? That the moment they get it, she’s going to steal it away?”
“I sure hope not.” Sweetie Belle shuddered. “That would be terrible!”
“At least in Manehattan, we can find Babs,” Apple Bloom said, trying to cheer them up. “She’ll probably be able to help.”
“But Cozy Glow can steal her cutie mark,” Sweetie Belle said. “I don’t mean to hurt your feelings, Apple Bloom, but we probably shouldn’t drag anypony else into this. We’re the only ones who can stop Cozy Glow before she steals everypony’s cutie marks!”
The train slowly screeched to a halt. The CMC looked up and out the window.
“Are we there yet?” Scootaloo asked.
They weren’t in Manehattan. They were in a small town in the middle of nowhere. It was surrounded by mountains and cliffs. The Crusaders racked their brains and tried to think of where they were now.
“I know! We’re in Starlight’s old village,” Apple Bloom said at last. “I remember it from when Applejack showed me a huge map of Equestria and told me all the places she and her friends had been on their adventures. I think this is the place she stole their cutie marks. It sounds like that kind of place.”
“Let’s check it out,” Scootaloo decided. She pulled her scooter out and the three ponies climbed on and sped off. The village itself was small, with the main street still being the road between the two equal rows of houses, but there were more houses here and there. The town was growing, however slowly, and now it was even included on the train track.
“Have you noticed,” Sweetie Belle said after a while, “that these houses are exactly the same, and they’re in two perfectly straight rows? Like… an equal sign?”
“Huh,” Scootaloo said. “I guess that’s another clue that we’re on the right track.”
“Look!” Apple Bloom pointed at a white stallion walking down the street, talking with a dark blue pegasus. “That’s Double Diamond and Night Glider. Remember them from Big Mac and Sugar Belle’s wedding?”
Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo nodded, vaguely remembering the two ponies. “Let’s go talk to them,” Scootaloo suggested. “Maybe they know more about stealing cutie marks.”
The trio pulled up to the two stallions, and Scootaloo skidded to a stop, kicking up a cloud of dust. Once it cleared, Double Diamond and Night Glider spotted the Crusaders.
“Apple Bloom!” Double Diamond said, rubbing the foal’s head. “How’s Sugar Belle?”
The Crusaders exchanged a glance, and the grins melted off Double Diamond and Night Glider’s faces.
“What’s wrong?” Night Glider asked.
Hesitantly, Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo told the pair everything that had happened so far: Cozy Glow’s return, the Staff of Sameness, Cozy stealing everypony’s cutie marks, and how they were immune to it. Night Glider and Double Diamonds’ expressions hardened until they could have been made of pure stone.
“If this Cozy Glow’s stealing cutie marks like Starlight Glimmer did to us a long time ago, then things are going to be very bad for Equestria,” Night Glider said after a while. Double Diamond nodded.
“If you three are somehow immune to the Staff of Sameness, then it must be you three who stop Cozy Glow,” he said.
Suddenly, a magical blast erupted from the train station. The train was blasted into bits and concealed in a huge dust cloud. From out of the dust came Cozy Glow, the Staff of Sameness held commandingly over her head. A trail of stolen cutie marks followed her, glowing dimly in the fading light.
“CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS!!!” she roared. “I have your friends’ cutie marks! Come to the cutie cave at midnight, and they will be released! Don’t, and I will destroy everything you love!”
And then, in what was probably just a display of power and authority, Cozy Glow raised the Staff of Sameness and shot a blast into the sky. A vortex of clouds appeared around it, and everypony who saw this was instantly paralyzed in a green light, their cutie marks pulling away and flying towards the Staff.
A bright pink light covered the Crusaders, and they watched helplessly as Double Diamond and Night Glider became victims of the Staff. Hundreds of cutie marks soared towards Cozy, swirling around her. Cozy scanned the scene before her and spotted a pink glow coming from the center of town. Immediately, she knew that her hunch had been correct: they were here. Cozy vanished in a flash of light, taking all the cutie marks with her.
As the light around the Crusaders dimmed and finally vanished, they looked around in dismay. Not a single pony had been spared of Cozy Glow’s wrath. Night Glider fell to the ground, unable to keep flying, and Double Diamond struggled to even stand.
“Listen, you three: Cozy Glow knows you’re here. You have to stop her, or what happened tonight is going to happen again. Only on a much larger scale.”
“But then… Cozy would steal everypony’s cutie marks!” Apple Bloom cried. “We have to stop her!”
“But how?” Scootaloo asked. “If we go to the cave, she’s probably going to just steal our cutie marks and not even let our sisters’ cutie marks go. It’s just a trap!”
“But we would know where to find Cozy Glow,” Sweetie Belle interrupted, “and we could take a shot at trying to stop her. If we can’t… then nopony can.”
Scootaloo sighed, seeing that she was beaten. Turning to Double Diamond, she asked, “Where can we find the cutie cave?”
The cutie cave, it turned out, was the same cave Starlight Glimmer used to store all the stolen cutie marks in when she’d run the village. And once the Crusaders peeked into the cave a little before midnight, they understood why Cozy Glow was there.
The cutie mark wall had been restored and was full to the brim with cutie marks. Still more sat in jars that littered the cave floor. Cozy Glow sat at the foot of the wall, holding the Staff of Sameness and stroking it softly as she relished in its power. She looked up sharply and smirked. Her guests had arrived.
“There’s no use in hiding, I already know you’re here,” she called out in an inviting voice. The Crusaders glanced warily at each other, and then stepped into the cave. Identical glares were on their faces, and they were directed straight at Cozy Glow, who found the fact that they thought they could even try to stop her quite amusing.
“So,” she began with a huge smile on her face,” welcome to my humble abode. As you can see, I’ve started quite the collection here.” Cozy Glow picked up Twilight Sparkle’s cutie mark in a jar and slowly ran her hoof down the side of it. “I must say, this whole experience has been rather… satisfying for me. I’ve finally been able to exact my long-overdue revenge. And I’m sure you three would feel the same… if you joined me.”
“Join you?” Sweetie Belle said incredulously. “You steal our friends’ cutie marks and plan to destroy Equestria, and you ask us to join you?”
“Absolutely not, Cozy Glow,” Scootaloo said firmly. Cozy sighed sadly.
“Yes, I was thinking you would say that. It’s just… ruling Equestria by myself, when I’m the only one who could possibly be trusted to keep a cutie mark, would be very boring and lonely. I would really love it if you three could help me do it. And you could help all the little foals and fillies find their cutie marks so I could take them away and the four of us could benefit from their power! Wouldn’t that be nice? Scootaloo, you could finally fly! And Sweetie Belle, you could be the most powerful unicorn in all the kingdoms!” Cozy spoke with such an earnest tone that the Crusaders faltered for a moment. “Better yet, you could finally get revenge on all those ponies who have wronged you! Wouldn’t that just feel so good?” Cozy Glow took all three of their hooves and held them in hers. “Please, join me, and help me lead Equestria to the glorious future we can design ourselves.”
Apple Bloom was the first one to snap out of it. She glanced at the jar containing Applejack’s cutie mark and yanked her hoof away.
“You’re crazy, Cozy Glow,” she spat as Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo withdrew their hooves as well. “Our loyalties will always lie with the citizens of Equestria - a safe and happy Equestria where everypony will get to keep their cutie marks. And the only pony we seek revenge on is you.”
“Suit yourselves,” Cozy shrugged. She suddenly seized the Staff of Sameness and pointed it at the Crusaders. “Just don’t say I didn’t try to help you.”
The blast of magic erupted from the tip of the Staff and flew towards the three ponies. Sweetie Belle created a force field at the last second, protecting the three foals from Cozy Glow’s magic, but it wasn’t very strong. Sweetie Belle strained to keep it up. Apple Bloom took one of Sweetie’s hooves and held it in her own. Scootaloo didn’t hesitate before she did the same. The place where their hooves joined started to glow, and small balls of magic started to swirl around them, lifting the Crusaders into the air, while they stared in wonder. Sweetie Belle wasn’t keeping the force field up, but they didn’t need it. The Staff’s magic had been completely deflected. Cozy Glow looked up in horror at the three ponies who she knew were about to destroy her. Hurriedly, she grabbed as many cutie marks as she could and started stuffing them into her saddlebag, but she was too late.
Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo’s eyes glowed white, and the light around them brightened and strengthened. Their manes grew longer and started to flow, and multi-colored highlights appeared in their manes: yellow and turquoise for Sweetie Belle, blue and purple for Scootaloo, and green and yellow for Apple Bloom. Scootaloo’s wings grew larger and blue and purple streaks of color painted themselves across them. Small shapes of their cutie marks appeared on their legs.
“NO!!!” Cozy screamed. Three fat streaks of red, purple, and pink shot up and out of the magical orb the Crusaders were in and came crashing down on the imprisoned cutie marks, causing the wall and jars to crack and shatter. “NO!!!” Cozy shouted again as the magic slowly turned her back to stone. The Staff of Sameness splintered and broke into a thousand pieces, and then it was all over.
The stolen cutie marks flew across Equestria, eager to return to their owners. In Canterlot, Twilight Sparkle was lying on her throne, too weak to go anywhere else, when a small, purple orb of light flew through an open window and crashed into her. With her cutie mark restored, Twilight leaped into the air and did flips, whooping with joy.
Back in Ponyville, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, and Applejack all had their cutie marks restored to them. They ran as fast as they could to Twilight’s castle, where the princess herself would no doubtedly be waiting in a moment.
Starlight Glimmer breathed a sigh of relief when her cutie mark was returned to its rightful place on her flank. There was only one possible explanation - Cozy Glow had been defeated once again.
In the village outside the cave, Double Diamond and Night Glider also got their cutie marks back, as did the rest of the town. Night Glider breathed a sigh of relief.
“I never want that to happen again,” he declared.
Up in the cave, the Crusaders gently floated to the floor, the magical aura of light wearing off, although the colors remained. Cozy Glow’s statue fell to the ground with a thump.
“Did that really just happen?” Apple Bloom asked, holding her hoof in front of her face and inspecting it.
“I think so?” Sweetie Belle was admiring her mane. “Do you think we get to keep these colors? They’re so pretty!”
“Woo-hoo!” Scootaloo called from up towards the roof of the cave. She was flapping her larger wings and actually flying for the first time in her life. “This is the best day ever!”
Apple Bloom’s eyes landed on Cozy Glow, and she froze. Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo followed her gaze and stopped themselves. Scootaloo landed next to Sweetie Belle and folded her wings.
“Um… what do we do with her?” Scootaloo asked. Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle shrugged.
“Should we take her back to Canterlot?” Sweetie Belle tried to pick up the statue and immediately sagged under its weight.
“I’m guessing we might need a little help if we want to do that.” Apple Bloom smiled. “But the good news is that everypony will have their cutie marks back now! Maybe Applejack can come and help us.”
“Yeah, and that’ll take how long?” Scootaloo rolled her eyes. “I think we might have to look for help a little closer to home, Apple Bloom.”
A bright pink flash of light lit up the cave, and seven ponies appeared. The Crusaders froze. There were only seven ponies in the world that could be here. They slowly turned around to face them.
Applejack gasped. “Apple Bloom?” she said in an incredulous voice. “Is that you?”
“Hi, Applejack,” Apple Bloom said with a weak chuckle. “Um, good to see you again.”
“Oh, my!” Rarity trotted up to Sweetie Belle and looked her up and down. “Sweetie Belle, what…?”
“Scootaloo!” Rainbow Dash cried. “You look, like, so cool!”
“Girls, what happened here?” Twilight Sparkle asked, looking around at all the shattered glass.
“Um, we found Cozy Glow,” Scootaloo started, “and then we sorta… rainbow lasered her?”
“Say what now?” Starlight Glimmer was looking around the cave uncomfortably. Several unpleasant memories had happened here that she was not all too anxious to recall. The Crusaders stepped back to reveal the stone statue of Cozy Glow, a look of murderous rage frozen permanently on her face.
“Oh, dear,” Rarity said. “You don’t think you could have frozen her in a more attractive position? She looks awfully… angry.”
“Wait a moment,” Twilight said as the pieces came together in her head. “You made rainbow lasers appear and zapped Cozy Glow back to stone? By yourselves?”
The Crusaders gulped and nodded in unison. Everypony else’s jaws dropped.
“That. Is. Awesome!” Rainbow Dash exclaimed. “I can’t believe you did that!”
“But… What do we do with her now?” Fluttershy asked quietly, gesturing to Cozy Glow. “Just take her back to Canterlot?”
“Hm. For now,” Twilight decided. “After a bit, I have a little something I want to try.”
Twilight’s friends glanced at each other with questioning looks on their faces but said nothing.
“Okay…” Fluttershy gently pressed on, “but what do we do right now?”
“Oo! Oo! I know! I know!” Pinkie Pie cried, jumping up and down and waving her hoof in the air like she was an excited school pony who knew the answer in class. “We have a party!”
Everypony rolled their eyes and smiled.
“A party would be great,” Starlight told Pinkie Pie.
A few days later, the CMC were having a party of their own in their clubhouse. They invited all their Cutie Mark Crusader friends from across Equestria and told them all about how they defeated Cozy Glow once and for all. Much to Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle’s disappointment, the effects of the friendship magic wore off, Sweetie Belle’s mane returned to normal, and Scootaloo’s wings returned to normal size, which she nearly cried about.
“Just when I know what it’s like to finally be able to fly,” she’d said, “I get it taken away from me.”
Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon even showed up with a giant cake in the shape of the CMC’s cutie marks. Within the first few minutes, it was gone, with nothing but a few crumbs left in the box. The sun was setting by the time their final visitors showed up.
When there was a knock on the door, Apple Bloom opened it and peered out, wondering if it was Applejack, demanding that they finish up the party and go to bed. Instead, it was Twilight Sparkle.
“Oh! Hi there, Twilight,” says Apple Bloom.
“Hello, Apple Bloom. I was just wondering if I could talk to you and Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle for a moment?”
Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo appeared behind Apple Bloom, and all three of them nodded and followed Twilight down the ramp of their treehouse and into the woods a little bit.
“What’s going on?” Sweetie Belle asked.
“Yeah, is there another bad guy we need to defeat?” Scootaloo punched at the air, envisioning getting her bigger wings back and being able to fly again.
“Not exactly,” Twilight said, pulling something out of a bush. The Crusaders gasped.
“What’s Cozy Glow’s statue doing here?” Apple Bloom said, narrowing her eyes.
“I’d like it if you three tried to reform Cozy Glow,” Twilight said flatly. The three fillies looked at her as if she was joking. “What? I’m serious. If you can reform Cozy Glow for me, it would be amazing. After all, if we can reform Nightmare Moon, Discord, Starlight, Stigion… why can’t we reform Cozy Glow?”
There was silence as the Crusaders thought about it.
“Sure, Twilight! We can do that,” Sweetie Belle finally said.
“Yeah!” Scootaloo chimed in. “We thought Cozy Glow was our friend once, and we’d love for her to be our friend for real. Right, Apple Bloom?”
“I suppose,” said the filly, uncertain. “But I’ll be expecting an apology for stuffing us in that storage closet.”
Twilight laughed. “Don’t worry, I’m sure Cozy Glow will be handing out a lot of apologies.” Twilight lit up her horn and aimed it at the statue of the filly. The magical blast lit up the forest around them. Cracks appeared in the stone that were filled with light. Just as quickly as they appeared, the stone burst, and Cozy Glow tumbled out onto the grass.
Scrambling to her feet, Cozy rubbed her head and looked around, getting her bearings. She saw Twilight and the Crusaders in front of her and her eyes narrowed.
“Well,” she said. “This’d better be good.”
