Recap / My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic S8 E26 "School Raze – Part 2"

Continued from "School Raze – Part 1"

"Hey, neighbor. Wanna be friends?"

Written by Josh Haber

In Tartarus, the Mane 7 learn that Tirek has told Cozy Glow how to use the six Equestrian artifacts to draw all of the magic from the land. They need to escape Tartarus, but without their own magic, they can't open the doors. Twilight decides to try to borrow the magic of all the hybrid creatures being held prisoner, and Fluttershy persuades them to help with the plan. Faced with the prospect of Pinkie Pie entertaining him forever and driving him crazy, Tirek agrees to cooperate as well. Using all the borrowed magic, Twilight forces the doors open so she and her friends can escape, but they find that the last day's sun is setting and fear that they won't be able to get back to the School of Friendship in time to stop Cozy Glow.

Seeing that Chancellor Neighsay is determined to remain in charge of the school, Cozy Glow provokes the other students to turn on him for going against Twilight's friendship lessons. They leave him chained up in Twilight's office, and after they leave, Cozy Glow begins to rant about her vision of using all the friendship in Equestria for power.

Realizing that they can't rescue Starlight without being drawn into the sphere holding her, Sandbar and the Cutie Mark Crusaders break the rest of Sandbar's friends out of the dorm room where Neighsay locked them in. The Crusaders try to distract Cozy Glow long enough for the students to find Neighsay, but Cozy Glow figures out the deception and locks the Crusaders in a broom closet. The students free Neighsay and brief him on Cozy Glow's plans, and he uses the last traces of magic in his EEA medallion to go for help in Canterlot. Descending to the catacombs below the school, Ocellus deduces that the artifacts are draining magic from Equestria by acting as a magnet to pull magic into the orb where Starlight is trapped. They prepare to break the spell by removing the artifacts, but Ocellus warns them that the school might be destroyed in the process.

Before they can try, Cozy Glow returns with a mob of pony students, having convinced them that the non-ponies are the real threat. The ponies rush Sandbar and his friends, and all six end up trapped in the sphere with Starlight. Despite Cozy Glow's assurances, the ponies wonder if this is for the best since it runs counter to their friendship lessons. As she leads the mob away, the Tree of Harmony uses its power to free the six students. The mob refuses to turn on them again, and the students grab the artifacts to break the spell and free Starlight. Magic is restored to all who lost it, including the inmates of Tartarus; Twilight teleports herself and her friends to the school, and Princess Celestia, Princess Luna, and Neighsay rush to Ponyville with a battalion of Royal Guards.

Twilight tells Cozy Glow that while friendship is a powerful force, making friends simply to accumulate power is wrong, and apologizes for failing to teach her that. Cozy Glow declares that she can always make more friends elsewhere and tries to escape, only to be stopped by the students, the Princesses, Neighsay, and the Royal Guards. Neighsay apologizes to Twilight for his past prejudices, having realized at last that all races in Equestria are capable of learning friendship. They find the Young Six rehearsing for graduation, thinking that their studies are finished, but Twilight laughs and tells them that they still have a lot to learn. The Crusaders finally break out of the closet in which Cozy Glow trapped them, but Twilight and Celestia reassure them that everything is fine and that Cozy Glow has been sent someplace where she won't be causing any more trouble.

Meanwhile, Cozy Glow is imprisoned in Tartarus by Luna and the Royal Guards. Cozy greets Tirek, and asks if he wants to be her friend, setting up a potential return for her.

*cue happy credits music*

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Tropes:

• 0% Approval Rating: The students' attitude toward Neighsay, when Cozy reminds them that he shut down the school when Twilight was running it in the first place.
• The Atoner: After his Heel–Face Turn, Neighsay uses what's left of his magic to create a portal to Canterlot so he can tell the Royal Sisters about Cozy Glow's plan and gather reinforcements to take back to Ponyville to apprehend her.
• Because You Were Nice to Me: Neighsay's Heel–Face Turn is spurred by the Student Six rescuing him after Cozy Glow incited the rest of the students to leave him chained to a chair.
• Bait the Dog: When the CMC attempt to distract Cozy Glow, she pretends to fall for it, then tricks them into going into a closet to "clean" it. She then locks them inside.
• Big Damn Heroes: The Tree of Harmony directly intervenes to save the Young Six and Starlight, letting them save the day.
• Blah, Blah, Blah: Cozy Glow uses this in her rant at the end.
  Cozy Glow: Honesty? Loyalty? Generosity? Blah blah blah. I can make more friends without using any of them!
• Bookends: The season began with Neighsay discriminating the Young Six and refusing to accredit the School of Friendship because he believed they would bring doom to Equestria. Now the season ends with him accepting the Young Six and accrediting the School of Friendship as thanks for saving Equestria from the true villain.
• Brought Down to Normal: To gather enough magic to open the door to Tartarus, Twilight gets the magical creatures and Tirek to channel what little magic they have left into her. For the creatures, this results in them changing from their Mix-and-Match Critter forms to their normal animal component parts (Cerberus becomes three regular dogs, the cockatrice a chicken and a snake, etc.). Once magic is restored, they regain their fantastic forms.
• Call-Back:
  • The episode nods to the Tree of Harmony's own sentience, protecting itself as in "The Mean 6", and recognizing the elements of Friendship in the Student Six as tested in "What Lies Beneath".
  • As established back in the season 4 finale, magic can't simply disappear. It has to go somewhere or into something. In this case Cozy intended to dump all of Equestria's gathered magic into the "ether/another realm."
• The Cavalry: Neighsay uses the last of his magic to reach Canterlot so he can warn the Royal Sisters about Cozy Glow. The three of them return with a full battalion of Royal Guards, especially once they can fly/teleport back to Ponyville faster with their returned magic instead of running the long distance.
• The Chessmaster: As ever, Cozy Glow continues to prove that her cutie mark is a chess piece (a rook, to be precise) for a reason. She is able to convince Chancellor Neighsay she's helping him, and then undercut him when she is able to convince the students to revolt against him and the Student Six later. Combined with her chess-mastery and Batman Gambit in Part 1, the only flaw in her plan was not accounting for the Tree of Harmony to rescue the Student Six. The show lampshades to this trope when Cozy pulls out marionette puppets of the Mane Six while taunting Neighsay about her plan, showing her manipulative skills.
• Cool and Unusual Punishment: To convince Tirek to help them escape, Pinkie Pie threatens to be her energetic self to him for all eternity. He caves on the spot.
• Cymbal-Banging Monkey: As part of her plan to annoy Tirek enough that he'd help the Mane Six get out of Tartarus, Pinkie Pie dressing up as a monkey and banging her cymbals proves to be the last straw.
• Death Glare:
  • The Mane Six and Spike, now knowing Cozy Glow's true colors, fix her with this as soon as they teleport back to the School of Friendship.
  • Cozy Glow is also on the receiving end of this when the School of Friendship's students, The Royal Sisters, Neighsay, and the Guard block off all means of escape and arrest her.
• Deceptive Disciple: Cozy Glow took everything she'd learned about friendship from the Mane Six and used it to pursue her own agenda.
• Deconstruction: Cozy Glow represents what happens when someone interprets The Power of Friendship (which is a very tangible thing in Equestria) as having as many "friends" as possible in order to gain ultimate power.
• Didn't Think This Through:
  • Neighsay doesn't seem to realize that announcing that Twilight's reign is over might anger or upset all the students who love how she ran the school.
  • Tirek is at first ecstatic at the idea of the Mane Six having to endure the same imprisonment as him, but as Twilight points out, Tirek didn't just trap the Mane Six in Tartarus, he trapped the Mane Six (i.e. the beings Tirek hates most) in Tartarus with him. It takes no time at all for Pinkie to annoy him into helping them escape.
• Disappointed in You: When it comes down to it, Twilight is ultimately more upset than angry about Cozy Glow's true colors and remorseless attitude towards her actions.
• Dragged Off to Hell: Cozy Glow is punished for high treason against Equestria by ending up in Tartarus (albeit more a big cavern sealed with magic rather than a Hell).
• Dramatically Missing the Point: Cozy is well aware of how powerful friendship is, but she completely misunderstands what makes it powerful. Similar to how Chrysalis saw the Elements of Harmony as a weapon, she believes friendship is a tool for her to use to make herself more powerful and the more friends you have, the more powerful you are. This causes her to make hollow friendships with everyone and act as a False Friend to them, just so long as they can benefit her. After her plan is foiled, she openly mocks the Elements of Harmony and claims she can make new friends without them.
• Enemy Mine:
  • With Cozy Glow more fell a foe than Neighsay, the Student Six rescue Neighsay, launching his redemption.
  • Played for laughs with the Mane Six and Tirek. After Twilight points out that Tirek will be trapped in Tartarus with them forever he admits he never thought of that when helping Cozy Glow. He eventually agrees to help the Mane Six and Spike escape, but only because he can't stand Pinkie Pie pestering him for all eternity.
    Tirek: Fine! I'll help you leave. Just please stop!
• Et Tu, Brute?: Cozy Glow betrayed everybody she's ever "befriended" for her own selfish purposes. Twilight, in particular, is pretty hurt over it.
• Even Evil Has Standards: Cozy Glow agrees that Neighsay nearly ruined the school in his last appearance, and stands up for Twilight's teaching methods. She may be Twilight's enemy, but Cozy still seems to respect her more than Neighsay.
• Evil Cannot Comprehend Good: ZigZagged. Unlike the other major villains, Cozy Glow is well aware how strong The Power of Friendship is and doesn't underestimate it. Unfortunately, she is still completely incapable of truly understanding the idea, fixating on the "power" aspect of it and coveting it for her own as a means to an end, rendering all her "friendships" hollow.
  Twilight: But I still don't understand why?
  Cozy Glow: Why? Because Friendship is power! You might be the Princess of Friendship, but as Headmare of this school, I can collect even more friends than you!
  Twilight: You're the one who doesn't get it, Cozy. Friendship is powerful, but power isn't why you make friends.
• Eviler than Thou: Things come to a head between the two recurring villains of the season - Neighsay, a stuffy rule-monger who judges people on their appearance, and Cozy Glow, who manipulates people by appealing to emotion and who actively relies on people judging her on her (cute, friendly) appearance. Their conflict comes to a head as they both try to sway a crowd, Neighsay by harshly laying down the law and Cozy by convincingly pretending to embody friendship and good feelings. Cozy turns out to be the more effective, and Neighsay is imprisoned and ultimately joins the heroes.
• Evil Versus Evil: Neighsay and Cozy Glow end up opposing each other. It's ultimately Subverted with Neighsay's Heel–Face Turn.
• Face Framed in Shadow: Seen on Cozy in the final shot as she asks Tirek to be friends with her.
• Fantastic Racism: Cozy Glow demonstrates quite a bit of racism towards non-ponies, using racist stereotypes to convince all the other ponies that the Young Six are trying to destroy the school. It's unclear if she actually believes it herself or was just using a convenient tool, though the latter appears to be more likely.
• The Farmer and the Viper: Cozy Glow accuses the Young Six of this, claiming they've trapped Twilight in Tartarus and are trying to destroy her school despite all the kindness she's showed them. In reality, this trope applies to Cozy Glow herself, as she's trying to take over Twilight's school despite all the kindness she's shown her.
• The Fourth Wall Will Not Protect You: After being imprisoned in Tartarus, Cozy Glow tells Tirek "Hey neighbor. Wanna be friends?" while sporting a Slasher Smile and looking at the camera, almost as if she's speaking to the audience.
• Freeze-Frame Bonus:
  • When Cozy Glow points out to the rest of the students that Starlight is trapped in the magical forcefield, pinning the blame on the Young Six, you can briefly see Starlight roll her eyes.
  • In the scene when the Mane Six regain their magic, an orb of magic can be seen returning to Pinkie alongside Rarity and Twilight.
  • When the Young Six are rescued by the Tree of Harmony, they're each colored with a specific color of the Elements of Harmony. Yona bears honesty, Sandbar is kindness, Smolder is loyalty, Silverstream is laughter, Ocellus gets generosity, and Gallus the color of friendship.
  • You can briefly see Celestia and Luna walking before their magic returns and thus see that their manes have ceased their usual flowing movements (just like in season 4 when they were completely drained of magic).
• Funny Background Event:
  • When Cozy Glow locks the CMC in a closet and berates them for thinking they could fool her, a unicorn stallion can be seen walking down the hallway in the background, seeing Cozy in the middle of her tirade, and immediately backing away.
  • When Cozy tries to frame the Young Six she says that they have imprisoned Starlight. Starlight can briefly be seen rolling her eyes at Cozy's performance.
• Gaslighting: Once again, without fail, Cozy Glow is the master of this. First, she sets up Neighsay as being a usurper who has wrongfully upended Twilight's position as Head Mare. Later, she frames the Young Six of trying to destroy the school and imprisoning Starlight in the force field and of siphoning all the magic from Equestria.
• Geometric Magic: The magic construct that Cozy Glow created to siphon Equestria of magic, powered by the six artifacts, is represented by a complex, glowing magic circle on the floor. Breaching the circle, as Sweetie Belle does, provokes an immediate attack from the magic prison bubble floating above it, sending claws of magical energy against the intruder that tries to imprison her alongside Starlight Glimmer.
• The Glomp:
  • Yona glomps Sandbar when Silverstream's prediction about Sandbar being a Fake Defector turns out to be right.
  • Yona also tries to do one to Starlight after the Young Six stop Cozy Glow's plan:
    Yona: [leaps towards Starlight] Counselor Pony!
    Starlight: [catches Yona with her magic] It's nice to see you, too.
• Good Cannot Comprehend Evil: The CMC cannot understand why Cozy Glow would trap Starlight and drain Equestria's magic.
• Good Is Not Soft: There is absolutely nobody who protests Cozy Glow's arrest and imprisonment in Tartarus for treason against Equestria at the end of the episode. Not even Princess Twilight Sparkle or Princess Luna, the ponies you'd most expect to disapprove given the former is a "Turn the Other Cheek" pony and the latter is a Friend to All Children, utters a word against it. In fact, Luna is actually the one who oversees Cozy Glow's incarceration in Tartarus.
• The Good, the Bad, and the Evil: The Student Six (good), Chancellor Neighsay (bad), and Cozy Glow (evil) all come into conflict. Neighsay ultimately allies with the heroes and redeems himself.
• Hairpin Lockpick: Yona uses the tip of one of her horns to open the lock on the chains binding Neighsay.
• Hated by All: By the end of the episode, Cozy Glow herself ends up with this status when her true colors are exposed to everyone she's fooled.
• Hate Sink: Deconstructed, as Cozy exploits this towards Neighsay in order to invoke a mob mentality in the student body and turn them against the Chancellor. Not to say he didn't deserve it.
• Heel–Face Turn: Neighsay eventually realizes that his prejudice against the non-pony races is wrong, especially after the Student Six decide to save him. He uses the last of the magic stored in his medallion to reach Canterlot and warn Celestia and Luna about Cozy Glow, joins them as they take an entire battalion of Royal Guards on hoof to Ponyville, before the return of their magic allows them to fly/teleport there much faster to apprehend Cozy and punish her for high treason against her fellow ponies. He also apologizes to Twilight for doubting her plans for the School of Friendship.
• Hoist by His Own Petard: Cozy Glow's main motivation is to make as many "friends" as possible in order to gain power, but she had no problem with throwing any of them under the bus if it benefited her plan. By the end of the episode, Cozy had backstabbed enough of her "friends" to get them to rally against her, which in turn exposed her true colors to everybody else that she's fooled and having everyone turn on her.
• Huddle Shot: After Rainbow Dash tries to force open the Tartarus door and smack flat against it, her friends gather above her to give her worried looks, and we see them from the floor.
• Hypocrite: Towards the climax, Cozy Glow accuses the Young Six of everything she's guilty of, from imprisoning Starlight with magic to siphoning Equestria's magic.
• Immediate Self-Contradiction: When Fluttershy states that she will convince the monsters in Tartarus to help, she quickly adds to Spike that she would never call them monsters.
• Irony:
  • At the beginning of the season, Neighsay was against other creatures learning about friendship, believing they were threats, and could use what they learned against Equestria. Ultimately, Cozy Glow, a pony, is the one who uses friendship for her own ends, and threatens all of Equestria.
  • In the previous episode, he claimed that everypony would come to their senses and agree with him. Here, he's the one who comes to his senses, and realizes he was wrong.
• It's All My Fault: Twilight felt this way when she admits to Cozy she feels she failed to teach her about the true meaning of what friendship really is.
  Twilight: Friendship is powerful, but power isn't why you make friends. I'm sorry I couldn't teach you that.
• Karmic Jackpot: The Young Six decide to save Neighsay after Cozy Glow gets the rest of the students to turn against him. In return, not only does he see the error of his ways, he uses what's left of his magic to get to Canterlot and retrieve the Royal Sisters and a battalion of Royal Guards as reinforcements to counter Cozy Glow.
• Kids Are Cruel: Cozy Glow. As if trapping the Mane Six in Tartarus and Starlight in a magical orb wasn't enough, she manipulates everyone around her, allies with Tirek, briefly removes almost all magic from the entire world, and watches as the Young Six and Starlight are pulled into the magic vortex with a wicked smirk on her face.
• Laser-Guided Karma: Cozy Glow exploited the School of Friendship's students as her mob against Neighsay and the Young Six by making them believe that they were the villains and getting them imprisoned. When her plan is foiled and Cozy is exposed as the true villain, the students immediately mob the exits to prevent her escape, giving The Cavalry enough time to show up and arrest her. This also led to Cozy getting imprisoned in Tartarus.
• "Lesson of the Day" Speech: The Young Six state that you shouldn't let some bad apples cause you to lose sight of the good, as while Twilight failed to teach Cozy Glow friendship the Young Six were able to save the day because she successfully taught them.
• Loud Gulp: After being tied up and given a full-on evil monologue by Cozy Glow, complete with Evil Laugh at the end, Chancellor Neighsay can't help painfully gulping, his haughty composure totally gone.
• Made of Iron: Despite being hit by a powerful blast that could've destroyed the school, Cozy Glow is almost entirely unharmed.
• The Magic Comes Back: The Young Six manage to use the artifacts to restore magic to Equestria in a big wave of power.
• Manipulative Bitch: Cozy Glow's manipulative skills have already been established in her previous appearances, but this is the episode where it really shines, using an entire school to do her bidding.
• Militaries Are Useless: Averted this time around. After Neighsay manages to return to Canterlot and tells Celestia and Luna about Cozy Glow's takeover, they immediately take a battalion of Royal Guards and go as fast as they can on hoof to reach Ponyville. As soon as Equestria's magic returns, they immediately use it to fly/teleport to the School of Friendship so they can arrest Cozy Glow for high treason. Seems Flash Magnus's training regimen paid off. On the other hoof, your one known victory being against a small child is not that great of a scorecard...
• Mood Whiplash: As usual and for the first time in the second part of a two-parter, the episode ends rather dark and ominous, followed by the usual happy credits music.
• More than Mind Control: Cozy manages to coax the students into turning against Neighsay for what he did to Twilight's school, then she manipulates them into turning against the Young Six upon convincing them they're a real threat. They snap right out of it when the Tree of Harmony plays its Big Damn Heroes moment.
• My Friends... and Zoidberg: Spike has to correct Tirek on the fact there were seven of his enemies in Tartarus, not six, multiple times as a Running Gag.
• Near-Villain Victory: All the magic in Equestria was just seconds away from being sent to another dimension, along with Starlight and the Student Six, but the Tree of Harmony frees them at the last second so they can save the day. Had the tree not reacted, Cozy would've won.
• Never Trust a Trailer: Contrary to the synopsis, the CMC don't really play much of a part in saving the school. Cozy ends up locking them in a broom cupboard before they can do anything and they only show up again once Cozy is locked in Tartarus.
• Nice Job Fixing It, Villain:
  • Cozy Glow gets the other students to turn against Neighsay and chain him up. This prompts the Young Six to save him, causing his Heel–Face Turn; then he uses the last of his magic to reach Canterlot and send The Cavalry on its way to Ponyville to end her takeover.
  • Cozy Glow's plan would have succeeded if the Tree of Harmony hadn't empowered the Young Six to escape the magic sphere and restore all the magic in Equestria. The Tree likely did so because she tested them earlier, and who triggered the events leading to that test? Cozy Glow!
  • Tirek tells the Mane Six who his mole in the School of Friendship is because he doesn't think they'll ever escape Tartarus. As a result, they know who to confront once they get back to the school.
• Oh, Crap!:
  • Chancellor Neighsay gets this increasingly as Cozy Glow rallies the students against him.
  • The Young Six get this when Cozy Glow shows up with the School of Friendship's students.
  • Cozy Glow gets this when the Mane Six and Spike show up from Tartarus. And when she tries to fly off "somewhere else", the pegasus guards show up in the sky to block her off.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Twilight Sparkle, who is famous for turning the other cheek, doesn't protest to Cozy Glow being locked up in Tartarus for her crimes (although her showing no remorse may have had something to do with that). Neither does Starlight, who was previously shown to want to be sure villains are redeemable before imprisoning them. It also says a lot that Luna, a Friend to All Children, is the one who locks up Cozy in Tartarus.
• Out-Gambitted: Cozy Glow sees right through the CMC's attempt to distract her, trapping them in a closet. It also clues her in that others are working against her, so she gathers the friendship students and brings them to the caverns beneath the school where the Young Six are attempting to stop her spell, artfully pinning the blame on them.
• Psychotic Smirk: Cozy Glow shows one when she turns the crowd against Neighsay, even letting Neighsay see it for good measure.
• "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Cozy Glow gives a subdued one to Neighsay, calling him out for thinking he knows how to run a school of friendship better than the Princess of Friendship, even when Twilight had the full support of Celestia and Luna.
• Restrained Revenge: When the Student Six decide to go save Neighsay, Yona gets mild revenge against him by pushing him backwards after they free him from the chair he was chained to.
• Royals Who Actually Do Something:
  • After Chancellor Neighsay tells the Royal Sisters who is behind the Mana Drain, they decide to risk going in powerless to confront Cozy Glow, with the support of an equally-powerless Neighsay and a whole battalion of better-physically-trained Royal Guards behind them. At first, they go as fast as they can towards Ponyville on hoof, but once Cozy's spell is broken and the magic returns, they immediately use it to fly/transport to the School of Friendship and arrest Cozy Glow. Afterwards, Luna personally oversees Cozy Glow's incarceration in Tartarus.
  • Rather than waiting to be saved, Twilight formulates a plan to convince the creatures of Tartarus to loan her their magic so she has enough power to open the gate to save both herself and her friends.
• Running Gag: Tirek continually refers to Twilight's group as numbering six, leading to Spike angrily pointing out that there are seven of them.
• Self-Deprecation: Twilight informing the Student Six that disposing of a great evil doesn't mean they're ready to graduate seems to be reflective of what happened with Starlight.
• Sequel Hook: The end implies Cozy Glow plans to break out of Tartarus with Tirek.
• Shout-Out: A possible one to Hamlet, with Cozy Glow conversing with a skull as she describes her plan to Neighsay.
• Slasher Smile: The episode closes on one, courtesy of an imprisoned Cozy Glow. Provides the image at the top. She flashes several throughout the episode as well, like when she's holding puppets of the Mane Six when Neighsay is in her clutches.
• Something We Forgot: At the end of the episode, the CMC burst out of the closet Cozy had locked them in, having been overlooked since that moment.
• Speaks Fluent Animal: At the end of the episode, Tirek is able to interpret Cerberus's whining as a complaint about how "boring" it is in Tartarus with the Mane Six gone.
• Split Screen: We get a screen split in six panels for a close-up of the Young Six putting their claws/hooves on the six artifacts.
• Stealth Insult: When taking down Neighsay, Cozy Glow repeatedly notes that he "means what he says", subtly criticizing him for being so transparent about his intentions.
• Stock Femur Bone: Rarity uses a gigantic cartoon femur to distract Cerberus.
• Tempting Fate:
  • When the Student Six are trapped in the bubble and the other students point out this represents what the Elements of Harmony stand for, Cozy Glow dismisses it and assumes that the Tree of Harmony won't be of any help with magic gone. Cue the tree using its unaffected magic to foil her plans.
  • When her plan is foiled by the Student Six, Cozy Glow rants that the Mane Six will be able to escape Tartarus with their magic restored. Cue a pissed-off Twilight teleporting in with her equally pissed-off friends.
• This Is Unforgivable!: Pretty much how everybody at the end of the episode reacts to Cozy Glow's crimes, especially when she shows no signs of remorse.
• Torment by Annoyance: When the Mane Six (and Spike) are locked in Tartarus with Tirek, they point out to the gloating villain that he Didn't Think This Through, because that means he's locked with Pinkie Pie. If she can be annoying without even trying to, it's much worse when she's doing it on purpose. She then slips into Tirek's cage, gives him a party hat, and cranks up the obnoxiousness, culminating with putting on a Cymbal-Banging Monkey costume. Tirek is quick to surrender and agrees to help them get out.
• Trailers Always Spoil: The synopsis spoiled Cozy Glow being the main villain before the episode aired proper.
• The Usurper: Cozy in a nutshell. She declared herself "Empress of Friendship", usurping Twilight's position as Princess of Friendship, and used a collection of magical artifacts to drain everypony of their magic like a magnet to send said magic to another dimension, even the other Princesses, intending to overthrow Celestia and Luna as sovereigns of Equestria itself, who, without their magic, would be powerless to stop her. Downplayed in that none of the ponies treat the takeover part of her plans as being at all possible (what they take seriously is the threat that she could succeed at draining their realm of magic), since even with magic gone Cozy would still be just one little pony with naught but other students for support and a forged letter as her sole evidence that she has any authority at all.
• Verbal Backspace: After the Young Six stop Cozy Glow's plan:
  Cozy Glow: [livid] You've ruined everything! Now Twilight and her ridiculous friends can escape from Tartarus!
  [the pissed-off Twilight and her friends suddenly teleport in and shoot her some terrifying death glares]
  [nervously] I... mean... Yayyy, all my friends are safe!
  Applejack: You can drop the act, Cozy Glow!
• Villain Decay: Tirek is hit hard with this. He was probably the most powerful villain in the series, but here he's imprisoned, weak, and easily coerced into helping the ponies just by Pinkie Pie pestering him.
• Villain: Exit, Stage Left: Cozy Glow attempts to do this after she is fully exposed as a villain, but before she could, she's blocked off from all means of escape by the School of Friendship's students, Neighsay, Celestia, Luna, and the Royal Guards.
• Villain Has a Point: Though she only said it to manipulate her fellow students into rioting, Cozy Glow was right in calling out Neighsay for being arrogant enough to assume he could run the School of Friendship better than the Princess of Friendship, and how he still chose to stand against Twilight despite the fact that she had the full support of her fellow princesses (as in, Equestria's rulers).
• Villainous Breakdown: After her plan is dismantled by the Young Six, Cozy Glow drops her façade of niceness completely, and rants at both them and Twilight about what she really thinks friendship is for.
• Villainous Rescue: Tirek gives Twilight some of the magic she needs to escape from Tartarus along with her friends. Of course, he only did it because Pinkie Pie annoyed him so much he wanted to get rid of them.
• Villainous Underdog: Cozy Glow is just a filly with no magical ability, yet she came dangerously close to achieving her goal of ruling Equestria.
• Villain with Good Publicity: All the students sans the Young Six support Cozy Glow running the school, until the end that is.
• We Need a Distraction: The CMC distract Cozy Glow while the Young Six sneak in the Headmare's office to free Chancellor Neighsay. Although Cozy Glow ends up locking up the CMC in a broom closet, the distraction as such has worked.
• We Used to Be Friends: Everyone Cozy has ever "befriended" and exploited is no longer fooled by her innocent act towards the end and turns on her.
• World-Healing Wave: The Young Six manage to use the artifacts to foil Cozy Glow's plan and restore magic to Equestria in a big wave of power.
• You Are Too Late: By the time Twilight manages to wring enough power out of the creatures in Tartarus to force the door open, the sun is already setting and there's no way she and her friends can hoof it to the school in time. Fortunately, the Student Six are on the same page and save the day themselves.

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