A couple of days later, the School of Friendship had been reopened and Future Cozy Glow; currently going by the name Rose Rook; was flying through the halls, which is where she came across the Young Six of Sandbar, Yona, Gallus, Silverstream, Ocellus, and most importantly for her, Smolder.

"Oh hey, your new around here, right?" Gallus asked.

"Yes I am. My name's Rose Rook. I came here to learn about friendship." 'Rose Rook' said.

"You know, you do kind of smell a little bit like Rainbow Dash." Smolder said.

"That could make sense. She might have come across Professor Dash at some point before the school reopened." Ocellus said.

Future Cozy Glow smiled at Ocellus. "And considering how fast I've heard Professor Dash flies, that I must have without even realizing it." 'Rose Rook' pointed out.

"...That's an honestly fair point." Smolder said. "And Professor Applejack is about honesty after all." She added.

"That's going to be a first class for all of us. What about you, Rose Rook?" Silverstream asked.

"That's my first class too. What luck, we're all in the same class." 'Rose Rook' said. Glad Ocellus gave me an easy out. Got to be careful around Aunt Smolder after all. Both her, and Uncle Spike. Future Cozy Glow thought to herself.

"By the way Rose Rook, did you hear that Professor Dash has a daughter?" Sandbar asked.

"I may have already seen that by accident." 'Rose Rook' said.

"What is baby pony like then? Please tell Yona!" Yona said.

Some things never change with you, Yona. Future Cozy Glow thought to herself. "I think she's going to grow up to be an expert tactician." 'Rose Rook' said.

"Really? What makes you say that?" Smolder asked.

"Just a hunch." 'Rose Rook' said

The group of seven entered Applejack's class where the lesson was about to begin. "Mighty fine of you all to return. And I see we have some pony new." Applejack said.

"Yeah, that would be me. I signed up for the school as Rose Rook. I'd appreciate it if every creature would refer to me as such." 'Rose Rook' said. As some pony from the future, Future Cozy Glow had to be careful around Applejack as Applejack was known for being able to have a gut instinct for when others were lying.

"...Come again? Did you just say 'every creature' instead of 'every pony'?" Applejack asked.

Future Cozy Glow winced. Crap. I haven't even been here that long, and I've already let my future dialect seep into my conversations... She thought to herself.

Ironically, it was Ocellus to the rescue once again. "Well Professor Applejack, not to be rude but not every single creature here is a pony. I think Rose Rook was trying to be as polite as possible to others." She explained.

"...That's a mighty fine point there Ocellus. Ah think we can use such terminology; don't you all agree?" Applejack asked. The rest of the students agreed. "We're not even into the lesson of today, and already Ocellus just demonstrated a fine example of being fully honest with every creature here." The earth pony added. Future Cozy Glow smiled, thankful that Ocellus basically saved her once again.

A bit later, and Future Cozy Glow was eating lunch with the rest of the young six. "That was something to be saying on your first day, Rose Rook." Sandbar said.

"Well, I figured that I wanted to be as open as possible to others." 'Rose Rook said. "Isn't that part of friendship anyways? You know, wanting to be open to others so you can accept their friendship?" She asked.

"Not bad Rose Rook." A female voice Future Cozy Glow knew as Twilight Sparkle said. "Not bad at all. I have a feeling a pony like you might just be perfect for studying at this school." The purple alicorn said.

"Oh, well, thank you so much for that opinion Headmare Twilight. I'll continue to try and do my best." 'Rose Rook' said.

"Actually, I was hoping to speak with you a bit after school. You're not in trouble, I just have a few questions." Twilight said.

"O-of course Headmare Twilight. Whatever you need." 'Rose Rook' said.

Later after school, Future Cozy Glow arrived at Twilight's office. "You wanted to see me, Headmare Twilight?" 'Rose Rook' asked.

"Yes, I did." Twilight said before closing the door with her magic and soundproofing the room in secret. "Though the name 'Rose Rook' isn't much of a cover, you thought of that on the spot, didn't you?" Twilight asked.

"I don't know what you're talking about, Headmare Twilight. I signed up as Rose Rook after all." 'Rose Rook' said.

"True. But honestly, given how smart I am, did you really expect me to have not figured it out..." Twilight paused. "...Cozy Glow." She added.

"...Flurry Heart was right: I can never out smart her Auntie Twilight." Future Cozy Glow said, dropping her act.

"So, I'm guessing you're from the future based on that statement alone. Which begs the question of why you are here." Twilight said.

"I came from a future ruled over by a pony who managed to absorb all of equestria's magic into himself, and then proceeded to kill not just Princess Celestia and Princess Luna, but also Princess Cadence. You and your friends were later found to have perished in Tartarus, though how you were sent there was never released to the public by the tyrant who took over shortly after they absorbed all of Equestria's magic and killed the other alicorns. Only Flurry heart managed to survive, and we took many creatures from across the globe to build a resistance force." Future Cozy Glow explained.

"You know from Starlight then that messing with history can get messy." Twilight said.

"I'm only going to do my part to help you, your friends, and every creature else as much as I can without getting directly involved. Besides, I used a combination of a special artifact the tyrant got a hold of and Starlight's modified time spell to get here." Future Cozy Glow said. "If I do nothing, then everything will play out the same way again. Even if by preventing the events that led to my future from happening my future still exists; of which there is a REAL possibility of that happening; then at least your timeline deserves to not suffer the same fate." She explained.

"...I see. You've really covered your bases. If I didn't know any better, I'd almost think you were my child and not Rainbow's." Twilight said.

"My specialty is in tactics, where do you think I got this cutie mark from?" Future Cozy Glow said, pointing to her flanks which had the symbol of a red rook on them. "Here's a hint: I'm not some super mega chess player." The future pegasus said.

"Well, I'll do my best to make sure whoever it is that threatens equestria from doing so, but I need to know who I'm dealing with." Twilight said.

"I can't tell you. Not yet at least. The most I can do is help you from getting trapped in Tartarus for whatever reason for now." Future Cozy Glow said before handing over some sort of key. "If you ever find yourself trapped in Tartarus, use this to get out." She added.

"I see. Thank you, Cozy Glow. You may not be fully willing to share what happened to you and Flurry Heart, but I promise you, I want to stop whoever it is that's going to do so before they can." Twilight said.

"I'm sure you will Twilight." Future Cozy Glow said and then left the room. ...But you're not willing to go to all the lengths I'm willing to go. She thought to herself before flying off to her dorm room.

Author's Note

In case anyone is confused, whenever Future Cozy Glow is talking to somepony else, she's technically being in character as Rose Rook. However, I figured that straight up quotation marks would look weird shortly after Future Cozy Glow; while talking to some pony else as Rose Rook; would look strange. So, I put apostrophes around the name Rose Rook for whenever Future Cozy Glow is talking as Rose Rook in this chapter, though I'll probably not do this next chapter.