A Stone Cold Tribute

Well, the small mint pony was not expecting this queston, “Oh, um, I was playing in the woods, the forest just seemed to bend for me. I don’t know much else, it just suddenly appeared when I was there.”

The Queen was thoughtful, thinking over what advice to give the small mare, “While I don’t know how or why you were given that cutie mark, I do believe it will hold great importance later in your life. I would like to explore your obvious magical talent, if I was permitted to, of course.”

“The Queen took me on as her pupil, though, never pushing me too deep into my studies. She was very sweet, as was her husband, King Cosmos. I was encouraged to learn about magic and friendship, to approach a problem from both sides. Once they believed I was ready, they sent me to live in Ponyville, or, the early stages of it.”

Fluttershy held the doll, looking at it carefully, “Did... Did something happen?”

Rose Briar nodded her head, “Back then the Everfree Forest was just starting. Yet it grew fast, invading Ponyville. Many ponies tried to stop it, Pegasi weren’t fast enough, Earth Ponies weren’t strong enough, and Unicorn magic didn’t phase it.”

Fluttershy carried a perplexed look, “That isn’t right... We were able to push it back with Elements of Harmony...”

Rose Briar smirked, “Ah, see back then, the Elements of Harmony didn’t exist yet. No one knew enough about magic to stop it. The princesses thought they did, even though they were only in their younger years, by alicorn standards. They got everypony to safety before rushing in, using their magic. They failed. I was forced to step in and save them, I had to create a spell in that moment.”

Fluttershy raised a hoof, as if she were still a filly in a classroom, “I should have asked earlier, but I didn’t want to interrupt, but, um, who is Queen Galaxia?”

Rose looked at her strangely, “You mean you were never taught who the King and Queen were?” Fluttershy shook her head.

Rose stood up, quickly stretching before walking towards her large bookshelf. She scanned the titles, looking for an old journal. Spotting it, she grabbed it and floated it to Fluttershy, “This was my journal. I should have some pictures of her in here.”

Fluttershy watched Rose Briar, eager to learn more. ‘I wonder what Rose went through... I’ll ask later.’ She watched Rose sit, but shifted her attention to the book. It was bound by leather and looked old. A name was written on the front in gold, “This journal belongs to Rose Briar. It looks very old, may I open it?” She asked, careful not to touch without permission.

Rose nodded her head at her, which Fluttershy returned. Carefully opening the book she read what was on the first page, “A picture of me and the Princesses, I love having them as friends!” Fluttershy looked at Rose, but noticed that she was to busy staring out a window to notice. In the picture there was a filly mint unicorn next to two young alicorns. “Is-is that you?” She asked.

Rose visibly flinched but answered nonetheless, “It was me... once...” She turned to Fluttershy, motioning for her to give her the book. She did, and Rose carefully flipped the pages, looking for a certain page. When she found it she flipped the book around to face Fluttershy, “This was Queen Galaxia. She was beautiful.”

The picture showed a mint alicorn tackling a taller alicorn. The taller alicorn was a milky white, with her hair pink turning blue. Her face had a suprised, yet amused expression. Underneath it, written in gold was a short sentence, “I tackled the Queen today, we then had a game of tag.”

Fluttershy giggled, quickly covering her mouth. "You can laugh, I don't mind. It was a fun day." Once Fluttershy stopped laughing, she motioned for Rose to continue her story.

The sounds of screams echoed throughout the town of Ponyville. Rose Briar stopped and ran towards the sounds. She skidded to a stop seeing vines wrapping around ponies.

Rose Briar watched wide-eyed as the Princesses dove towards the ever-growing forest. She was frozen in place at the sight of the princesses being grabbed in mid-air. The vines shook them mercilessly, knocking Luna out in the process. Rose looked at her cutie mark and back at the forest before running straight towards the vines. She used her magic to fend off vines, "You want to hurt me, fine, but you don't touch my friends!"

She used her advanced magic to attack vines, freeing trapped ponies, but the vines kept the princesses away from her reach.

Rose shook with anger as her eyes began to glow blue. She was raised into the air by a magic light, it surrounded her, encasing her in blue light. It suddenly exploded, pushing the forest back. When it disapated however, she was different. On her back were two mint wings.

Fluttershy gasped, "Is that how you became an Alicorn? By saving the princesses?" Rose gave her a nod, but said nothing. 'I should talk to Twilight about this....I should ask Rose Briar first....' Fluttershy paused before muttering, "Ms. Rose Briar, I was wondering, would you, come back to Ponyville with me?"