School Raze - Part 1

School Raze - Part 1 is the twenty-fifth episode of season eight of My Little Pony Friendship is Magic and the one hundred and ninety-fourth overall. It is the first part of a two-part season finale. The title is a parody of the eighth season premiere School Daze.
In this first part, the magic of Equestria mysteriously begins to fail, and Twilight Sparkle leads her friends on a quest for answers, leaving the School of Friendship open to attack from a dangerous mastermind.
==Production==
Rainbow Harmony and Trusty Splendor are based on HASCON 2017 "be animated for upcoming My Little Pony content" winning raffle entries respectively of Natalya and of Thomas "The Illustrious Q".
This episode aired on August 28, 2018, on Nickelodeon in Denmark, Norway and Sweden, forty-six days ahead of its scheduled premiere on Discovery Family. It aired on September 8, 2018 on Boomerang in Australia, on Carousel in Russia on September 20, 2018, on MiniMini+ in Poland on September 25, 2018, on TF1 in France on October 13, 2018 9 hours and 5 minutes before airing on Discovery Family and released on Ruutu's on demand service on September 22, 2018.
The rotating panoramic shot was done by Kristen Dingman.
==Summary==
===A field trip gone awry===
 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.
===The vanishing magic mystery===
 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 emerging about ponies' magic suddenly failing, and Princess Cadance reports on similar incidents in the Crystal Empire. A messenger pony delivers a letter from Star Swirl the Bearded, in which Star Swirl says that magic is disappearing from 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 masterminded the 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.
===Headmare Cozy Glow===
 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.
===Welcome to Tartarus===
 Elsewhere, the Mane Six are traveling to Tartarus without magic to shield them from bugs and rainfall, or keep their snacks from spoiling. Applejack provides her friends with apple balm to ward off the bugs, Fluttershy finds a blueberry bush, 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.
===Heart of darkness===
 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".
==Quotes==
:Cozy Glow: I also color-coded your teaching schedule by friendship element and catalogued all the magical artifacts in the school. I hope that's okay.
:Twilight Sparkle: Okay? Cozy, that's amazing! You're like my right-hoof pony! I don't know what I'd do without you.
:Ocellus: It's okay, Yona! You like flying, remember?
:Yona: Flying, not falling!
:Starlight Glimmer: I don't understand. It-It's like my spell stopped working. That's... never happened before.
:Twilight Sparkle: I'm glad you're all okay, but I'm sure it's nothing to worry about, Starlight. Maybe you did your spell wrong.
:Twilight Sparkle: I didn't drop that book.
:Starlight Glimmer: [sarcastically] Maybe you did your spell wrong?
:Rarity: [sobbing] My magic is go-o-o-one! I even had to use my hooves to coif my tail!
:Cozy Glow: Um, didn't we learn in class about a creature that eats magic? Ter, Tee... Tir-something?
:Fluttershy: [gasps] Tirek!
:Princess Celestia: If he has found some way to escape his prison or work from within it, he could be responsible for this.
:Smolder: It's just kind of weird, isn't it?
:Cozy Glow: I don't know what you mean.
:Smolder: Like, why'd she change her mind? Why did Starlight write a note instead of saying goodbye to us herself? Doesn't make any sense.
:[students murmuring]
:Cozy Glow: [giggles] Oh, Smolder, you forget. We're not scheming dragons. We're ponies. Sounds like somecreature needs to do a little extra friendship homework.
:[students laughing]
:Smolder: [growls]
:Rarity: Ugh! I have had it with these horrible flies! [whines] I miss my magic!
:Twilight Sparkle: Have you tried using your tail to shoo them away?
:Rarity: [gasps] Bite your tongue! It's for decorative purposes only!
:Gallus: You get the feeling Cozy's trying too hard to make us like her?
:Ocellus: Or maybe she just wants to help us keep our minds off of how scary it is that magic's disappearing.
:Smolder: I don't trust her. What's she up to behind those big eyes and bouncy curls?
:Chancellor Neighsay: Where is Princess Twilight?!
:Cozy Glow: Oh, golly. She's away on a quest. I'm watching the school for her.
:Chancellor Neighsay: Magic is failing across our land, and she left a foal in charge of this facility?
:Lord Tirek: The Princess of Friendship here for a visit. What have I done to earn the honor of your company?
:Chancellor Neighsay: From now on, this school is pony-only! As nature intended.
:Sandbar: I don't want anything to do with creatures that could threaten Equestria!
:Chancellor Neighsay: Wisely put, colt.
:Sandbar: Will you help me?
:Apple Bloom: Do mulberries have seeds?
:[beat]
:Apple Bloom: That's a yes.
:Lord Tirek: What a pity. Well, for you. Sweet revenge for me. It seems my little protégé's plan worked after all.
:Cozy Glow: You know, you ponies got it all wrong. Friendship isn't magic. Friendship is power! With Twilight and her lackeys out of my way, all of Equestria will bow to me! The future Empress of Friendship!
==Gallery==
==References==
de:Die verschwundene Magie – Teil 1
id:School Raze - Part 1
pl:Szkoła w opałach
ru:Школьные интриги. Часть 1