History Recap / MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS8E25SchoolRazePart1

Twilight and her friends prepare to leave the school, with Twilight leaving Starlight in charge. Cozy is a bit surprised, but quickly offers to help Starlight with lesson plans. The Mane 6 and Spike travel to Tartarus, and while the lack of magic makes the trip somewhat miserable, the others are able to help out. They arrive at the doors to Tartarus, but they need magic to open; fortunately, Spike finds that Cozy had packed an artifact for Twilight that can be used to open any door. Once side, the door shuts behind them, and they come face to face with the cockatrice. However, Fluttershy sees that the cocktrice, like several other magical creatures within Tartarus, have lost their powers too, part of the magic drain. With Fluttershy helping to calm Cerberus, they go to see Tirek, who appears to have been expecting them.

[[MoodWhiplash * cue happy music*]]

* DePower: All of Equestria is being drained of magic.
* DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu: Cozy Glow manages to trap Starlight, one of the most powerful unicorns in Equestria, in an energy bubble.

* OffscreenMomentOfAwesome: We never see how Cozy Glow managed to trap Starlight in an energy bubble.

* TrailersAlwaysSpoil: Cozy Glow's antagonistic role was given away by the [[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS8E26SchoolRazePart2 next episode's]] summary.

* ShoutOut: Tirek's slurping noise is based on the "liver with some fava beans" scene in ''Film/TheSilenceOfTheLambs''

* EvilLaugh: Cosy Glow does this to cap off the episode.

* GodSaveUsFromTheQueen: Cozy Glow crowns herself the "Queen of Friendship" when she gets rid of Twilight.

* cue happy music*

The episode begins at the School of Friendship, where Cozy Glow receives mail from a mail delivery pony, gives a new student directions to class, and helps Silverstream with a crossword puzzle. Due to her advancements in the curriculum and constant help around the school, Cozy has been appointed as Twilight Sparkle's personal friendship assistant.

When Cozy brings the mail to Twilight in her office, Twilight realizes she's late to chaperone the students' field trip to Cloudsdale, but Cozy says she got Rainbow Dash to fill in for her. She had even taken the initiative to plan out Twilight's schedule for the day and catalog all of the school's magical artifacts, and Twilight is both impressed and grateful.

Meanwhile, Rainbow Dash shows the students the Cloudsdale Weather Factory, but the students are more fascinated by being able to walk on clouds thanks to Starlight Glimmer's magic. Just then, Yona falls through the clouds and plummets toward the ground. When Starlight's magic suddenly fails, she and the other non-winged creatures in the group start falling as well. Rainbow Dash and her fellow winged creatures fly down to save them, and Starlight has no explanation for why her magic suddenly stopped working.

Rainbow and Starlight return to the school and inform Twilight of what happened. Twilight discovers her own magic starting to fail when she tries levitating a book, and when Fluttershy and Rarity arrive, Rarity reveals that her magic is completely gone. Cozy Glow recalls learning about a creature that devours magic—Lord Tirek—but the other ponies say he is locked up inside Tartarus. Spike enters and coughs up a letter from Princess Celestia summoning Twilight and her friends to an emergency meeting in Canterlot.

At Canterlot Castle, Celestia and Luna explain that multiple reports are coming in about ponies' magic suddenly failing, and Princess Cadance reports of similar incidents happening in the Crystal Empire. A messenger pony delivers a letter from Star Swirl the Bearded, in which Star Swirl says magic is disappearing all over Equestria and estimated to be completely gone in three days. Twilight and her friends volunteer to go to Tartarus to see if Tirek has escaped or is masterminding this crisis from behind bars.

While she and her friends travel to Tartarus, Twilight leaves Starlight Glimmer in charge of the school. Cozy Glow questions this decision after the last time Starlight was left in charge, but Twilight is confident in her ability and asks Cozy to assist her. Cozy eagerly accepts this task and takes Starlight to plan out her schedule as temporary headmare.

The next morning, Cozy Glow addresses the school students and assumes the role and responsiblilities of temporary headmare. When asked why Starlight isn't in charge as announced, she explains that Starlight left a note saying she went to help Twilight and the others on their mission and left Cozy in charge during their absence. When Smolder gets suspicious about Starlight's sudden departure, Cozy accuses her of not trusting her teachers enough and assigns her extra homework. The rest of the Young Six side with Smolder and demand that they be assigned extra homework as well.

That evening, Sandbar overhears some students talking about what a great headmare Cozy Glow is, and he meets his friends in the school library for a homework party. Gallus is suspicious about Cozy Glow's efforts to get the students to like her, but Ocellus thinks she's just trying to keep everyone's minds off the disappearing magic. Just then, the Young Six notice Cozy Glow coming out of the floor grate that they discovered in What Lies Beneath, and they decide to see what she is truly up to.

They follow Cozy Glow to the headmare's office, where Chancellor Neighsay sits in Twilight's chair. Fed up with Twilight neglecting the school to go on adventures and leaving a filly in charge, Neighsay decides to step in as the new principal, much to Cozy Glow's annoyance. Believing the non-pony students are responsible for the disappearing magic, Neighsay declares the school to be for ponies only so that they can unite against outside threats.

Elsewhere, the Mane Six are traveling to Tartarus without magic to shield them from bugs and rainfall. Applejack provides her friends with apple balm to ward off the bugs, and Rainbow Dash gathers some clouds together to protect them from the rain. When they reach the gates of Tartarus, Twilight notices the seal is still intact, meaning Tirek has not escaped. However, she is unable to open the doors without her unicorn magic. Luckily, Spike finds an object that Cozy Glow packed for them: the Key of Unfettered Entrance, the magic of which can open any door.

Twilight uses the Key to open the way into Tartarus, but it shatters as soon as it is used. Inside, the ponies find several creatures in cages—including a cockatrice—all of whom have lost their magical abilities as a result of the disappearing magic. They run into the Tartarus guardian Cerberus, and Fluttershy convinces him to let them pass and talk to Tirek. The Mane Six approach Tirek in his cage and accuse him of being involved in Equestria's magic crisis. Tirek denies having any involvement in such a wasteful scheme, but he offers to give the ponies more information in exchange for his freedom.

Rainbow Dash points out that even if they release Tirek, there's no escape from Tartarus without any magic. The ponies realize they are all trapped in Tartarus, and Tirek is satisfied that his "little protege" helped him carry out his revenge. When asked about this, he explains that he and his accomplice have never met face-to-face, communicating only through letters, and that he told his accomplice how to drain Equestria's magic. With all of them trapped together with no means of escape, Tirek decides to reveal his accomplice's identity.

Neighsay and Cozy Glow catch the Young Six spying on them outside Twilight's office door, and Neighsay uses his magic medallion to tie them up in chains. As punishment for their alleged crime of stealing Equestria's magic, Neighsay decides to contact their parents and guardians to take them home. Suddenly, Sandbar speaks up and sides with the Chancellor and his views, and his friends are shocked by his betrayal. Neighsay is pleased by Sandbar's change of heart and lets him go, and the two lock the rest of the Young Six inside the student dorms.

Sandbar's betrayal turns out to be a ruse, however, and he goes to Sweet Apple Acres to get the help of Apple Bloom and the Cutie Mark Crusaders. Sandbar and the Crusaders track Cozy Glow into the catacombs under the school library and find an elaborate crystal chamber. There, they find Starlight Glimmer trapped in a sphere of magic, contrary to Cozy Glow's earlier claim that she left to help Twilight and the others on their mission.

Cozy Glow, who turns out to be Tirek's accomplice, suddenly emerges from the shadows. Sandbar and the Crusaders are shocked to discover that not only is she evil but also that she is the one responsible for stealing Equestria's magic. Under the belief that friendship is power and not magic, Cozy Glow intends to rule Equestria as the self-appointed "Empress of Friendship".

When the magic of Equestria mysteriously begins to fail, Twilight leads her friends on a quest for answers, leaving the School of Friendship open to attack from a dangerous mastermind.

* OfscreenMomentOfAwesome: We never see how Cozy Glow managed to trap Starlight in an energy bubble.

%%* DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu: Cozy Glow manages to trap Starlight, one of the most powerful unicorns in Equestria, in an energy bubble.
%%* EnfantTerrible: Think Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon were bad? Cozy Glow has no problem with imprisoning the Main Six in Tartarus, trapping Starlight in an energy bubble, and has plans to take over Equestria. And she's a filly.
%%* EvilAllAlong: Cozy Glow turns out to be the true BigBad of Season 8.
%%* GodSaveUsFromTheQueen: Cozy Glow crowns herself the "Queen of Friendship" when she gets rid of Twilight.
%%* OfscreenMomentOfAwesome: We never see how Cozy Glow managed to trap Starlight in an energy bubble.
%%* ProperlyParanoid: Smolder suspects that Cozy Glow is up to something. Turns out she was right.

* DePower: [[ExaggeratedTrope MOST OF EQUESTRIA]] goes though this.
* TheReveal: Cozy Glow is revealed to be behind the dissapearance of magic, working alongside Tirek.
* TrailersAlwaysSpoil: Cozy Glow's antagonistic role was given away be the [[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS8E26SchoolRazePart2 next episode's]] summary.

%%* DePower: [[ExaggeratedTrope MOST OF EQUESTRIA]] goes though this.
%%* TheReveal: Cozy Glow is revealed to be behind the dissapearance of magic, working alongside Tirek.
%%* TrailersAlwaysSpoil: Cozy Glow's antagonistic role was given away be the [[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS8E26SchoolRazePart2 next episode's]] summary.

%%* TrailersAlwaysSpoil: Cozy Glow's antagonistic role was given away be the [[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS8E26SchoolRazePart2 next episode's]] summary.
* DePower: [[ExaggeratedTrope MOST OF EQUESTRIA]] goes though this.
* TheReveal: [[spoiler:Cozy Glow is revealed to be behind the dissapearance of magic, working alongside Tirek.]]

* TheReveal:[[spoiler:Cozy Glow is revealed to be behind the dissapearance with magic, working alongside Tirek.]]

* DePower: [[ExaggeratedTrope MOST OF EQUESTRIA]] goes though this.

* DePower: {{https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/ExaggeratedTrope MOST OF EQUESTRIA}} goes though this.

* DePower: [[https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/ExaggeratedTrope MOST OF EQUESTRIA]] goest though this.

%%* TrailersAlwaysSpoil: Cozy Glow's antagonistic role was given away be the [[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS8E26SchoolRazePart2 next episode's]] summary.

%%* TrailersAlwaysSpoil: Cozy Glow's antagonistic role was given away be the [[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS8E26SchoolRazePart2 next episode's]] summery.

%% FindingJudas: Details when the episodes air, but the released synopses revealed that Cozy Glow has aspirations for the school that require getting Twilight and her friends out of the way.

!!This episode contains examples of the following tropes:

!!This episode contains examples of the following tropes:
* XanatosGambit: Neighsay concocts a plan to make it look like Equestria's magic is faltering to lure the Mane Six away from the School of Friendship so he can take it over and expel the Student Six because of his continued bigotry against their races and Twilight outright overruling Neighsay's authority.

* [[spoiler:XanatosGambit: Neighsay concocts a plan to make it look like Equestria's magic is faltering to lure the Mane Six away from the School of Friendship so he can take it over and expel the Student Six because of his continued bigotry against their races and Twilight outright overruling Neighsay's authority.]]

!!This episode contains examples of the following tropes:

When the magic of Equestria mysteriously begins to fail, Twilight leads her friends on a quest for answers, leaving the School of Friendship open to attack from a dangerous mastermind.