Glowing Hope

Time passed like it should, and soon the day of reckoning was coming. Despite being chewed out for his double crossing by Twilight Sparkle, Zero didn't even change much.

"I'll show her. I'll show them all. I don't know how she saw through my ruse, but I don't care. The world will belong to me." Zero said to himself as he began the magic draining process.

Things happened as Future Cozy Glow had predicted: Advised by Zero, Twilight and her friends left for tartarus with a key Celestia had crafted for the purpose of opening Tartarus. Which was when they encountered Lord Tirek.

"So, you really couldn't help yourself Lord Tirek. You just HAD to drain every bit of Equestria Magic." Twilight said.

"Oh this recent magic drain isn't the work of yours truely. I normally don't work with ponies, but one earth pony colt did become pen pals with me." Lord Tirek noted.

"Oh yeah, then who is it?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"Oh I might as well just tell you." Lord Tirek said.

Meanwhile, Zero had captured Starlight Glimmer into the magic drain bubble. "Really didn't expect anyone to strike. Much less that Chancellor Neighsay. But I'll take care of him shortly." Zero said.

"Why? Why are you doing this?" Starlight asked.

"Why? TO RULE THE WORLD OF COURSE! I've made some modifications to this magic draining spell Lord Tirek taught me. Now, when the spell runs out, all of the magic will flow into me, making me become the only pony with magic." Zero said. "And with all of the world's magic, I will become known as Emperor Zero! And I will conquer the world!" He exclaimed.

"Y-your insane. It'll never work." Starlight said.

"That's what you think." Zero said and then started going off, when he was confronted by none other then the young six, Chancellor Neighsay, and Future Cozy Glow. "Wh-what the; but you, and they, and--" Zero said.

Elsewhere, the main six managed to escape tartarus thanks to Future Cozy Glow's key. "Yona does not know how Rose Rook knew you'd be doing this but tricking a princess into imprisoning herself is big no-no." Yona said. The CMC soon arrived too, alongside Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon.

"And besides, we just heard everything." Smolder said, grinning.

"How?! I kept everything secret. The only one who knew was Lord Tirek. And considering how much he wanted revenge on Twilight Sparkle and without the ability to use magic, there's no way you could know." Zero said.

"You can discus that later." Sandbar said before he and the rest of the young six tried to remove the artifacts, but were pushed in by Zero.

"YOU THINK I'M STUPID AND JUST GOING TO WATCH YOU UNDO EVERYTHING I'VE BEEN WORKING FOR?! Because I'm not stupid." Zero said. Suddenly the Young Six were pulled out of the orb thanks to the tree of harmony. "WHAT?! NO! THIS ISN'T FAIR! I WAS SO CLOSE! HOW COULD I LOSE?!" Zero exclaimed.

"Because Zero, I am not who I said I was." Future Cozy Glow said, dropping her act, no longer deeming it nessasary and when the magic returned, the group was able to get teleported out just in time by the chancellor including Zero. And that's when the main six returned too alongside other ponies.

"Blast it. Blast it all." Zero said. "You! Who are you?" He asked Future Cozy Glow.

"Wait a second...it can't be..." Rainbow Dash said, looking at her child who was over playing with Flurry Heart.

"...No, bucking, way." Zero said, jaw soon dropping alongside many other ponies.

"Yeah. That's right. I'm Cozy Glow. From the future." Future Cozy Glow said. "A Future where your plans here today succeeded, and you managed to enslave the entire world." She added.

Once the realization that there was a future version of Cozy Glow with them all now, Zero began laughing.

"How interesting. You've solved nothing by coming to the past. I'm still destined to rule the world eventually." Zero said.

"You really believe that don't you Zero?" Future Cozy Glow asked.

"But of course. Your proof that I'm right." Zero said.

"Except your wrong." Future Cozy Glow said. "You took everything that I loved. You think you know how things will play out at any given moment. But today, I'm going to prove to you that you don't know a thing." She said before approuching Zero slowly, who was suddenly fearing for his life. "Today, I prove that the future is what we; the citizens of equestria; say it shall be. So long as I live, you will never become emperor." Future Cozy Glow finished. She moved to strike him, but was suddenly stopped.

"It's over, Cozy Glow. You don't have to do anything else." A female voice said, one that caught Future Cozy Glow off guard.

"...Y-you've gotta be kidding me." Shining Armor said when he noticed who stopped Future Cozy Glow said.

"You, your alive..." Future Cozy Glow said.

The one who had stopped her was none other, then a future version of Flurry Heart. "Of course I'm alive. Did you really believe for one second that I was truly dead?" Future Flurry Heart said.

"...Honestly, I just had a feeling..." Future Cozy Glow said. "But how are you here?" She asked.

"I better tell you what happened shortly after you left." Future Flurry Heart said.