Sometimes, Rose dreamed of the sea.

Those dreams always started off the same, with bright blue skies and beautifully sparkling waters. And then the storm came. It turned an idyllic scenery into a horrifyingly chaotic one. The waves rose like mountains, the winds howled angrily, the lightning blinded her and the thunder deafened the sounds of panicked yelling. She’d then find herself surrounded by thick, warm arms, wrapped in a protective hug, as the sea tried to knock them over and swallow them whole.

These nightmares had been very common when she was a filly, forcing her awake in the middle of the night, wailing terrified until her parents came and convinced her that everything was fine. As she grew, the nightmares became less and less common, until she had them once only every several moons, when she found herself stressed, or when something reminded her of the sea.

That’s why she had moved to Canterlot, the furthest city from the sea there was, as soon as she had turned ten. She loved her parents dearly —they had taken her in and raised her with love— but she couldn’t keep living in Horseshoe Bay. She had considered going to Cloudsdale to work in the weather control corps, but decided against it as soon as she learned that she’d be required to go to coastal towns every few moons to gather water through steam whirls. She could have chosen other central towns, but as a blank flank filly, there wouldn’t be much she’d be able to do for a living.

The Royal Palace, however, had a system to help ponies like Rose. Blank flanks could be hired as maids or butlers and work doing different tasks. Maybe they’d find something related to palace keeping, or maybe they’d figure something else while they walked through the city on their off days. Some had become chefs, accountants, assistants, and even guards.

Rose had quickly learned that she wasn’t very good at cleaning. She wasn’t terrible by any means —her parents had raised her right, but it just wasn’t fulfilling. Next she had tried cooking, and while the other maids had liked her dishes, she was nowhere near as good as the royal chefs. She also failed the recruitment trials for the royal guard, and even her attempts at gardening had ended up in a mess.

She was fortunate enough that the head of maids at the time, an old unicorn mare called Fizzy Glitter, had seen something in Rose that not even she had. Apparently, Rose had an eye for administration and for keeping ponies focused on their jobs. Fizzy had taken her under her metaphorical wing as her personal assistant, and by the time she retired, Rose had already earned her Cutie Mark, a single sheet of parchment and a quill, and was ready to take the position as head of maids.

And so Rose had found her destiny in an often mocked and heavily misunderstood position. On a daily basis, she had to deal with new employees’ over enthusiastic attitudes, old ones’ jaded mindsets, and everything in between. She had to keep them all properly assigned and working all throughout the palace despite the horribly massive staff turnover. And she had to keep them from blundering their way into angering one noble or another.

Still, Rose loved her job, and despite the regular stress, she rarely, if ever, dreamed of the sea.

That is, until one young unicorn filly had become Princess Celestia’s personal students after the position had been vacant for the past fifty years. Sunset Shimmer was the embodiment of everything that made Rose develop intense headaches. She was proud, rude, arrogant, whimsical, and ambitious. All the traits of a noble, but without the title and the responsibility towards a house.

That little ball of chaos would smash her way through the palace on a daily basis, demanding that her every need was seen to as soon as possible, regardless of the problems she caused to Rose's careful organization. Even when Rose assigned her personal maids from her more experienced staff, Sunset always found ways to scare them away, and Rose had to waste time convincing those poor souls not to quit.

So when she was informed by the captain of the royal guard, a good, if old, friend called Titanium Shield, that Sunset Shimmer had disappeared without a trace, Rose’s initial reaction was to let out a very long sigh of relief. She had felt bad afterwards, of course. Ponies disappearing never ended on happy notes. But she was sure that everypony who had ever had to deal with Sunset would accompany her on the sentiment.

Especially when Princess Celestia took on a second student, barely a moon after Sunset’s disappearance, and that filly called Twilight Sparkle ended up being diametrically opposite in attitude. She had chosen to live in the eastern garden’s spiral, which was taken as a foal’s whim by the most inexperienced staff, but Rose had seen the truth right away. Twilight treasured learning over anything else, so much so that she requested her meals to be taken to her spire three times a day and that no maids were sent to clean, since she’d do the cleaning herself.

Some complained that she was raising a dragon —of all things— in that spire, and there were rumors that she was planning some nefarious scheme or another. But Twilight wasn’t as reclusive as ponies made her out to be. She went out to her classes at Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns, and she’d casually traverse the palace’s halls for her private lessons with the princess.

Rose had seen Twilight walking down the corridor many times, and she noticed that, while she tended to bump into other ponies because she always had her nose buried deep in a book, she always apologized, bowed, and continued on her way. Sunset Shimmer, i contrast, had always yelled at ponies, even if she was at fault.

Life at the royal palace had returned to its usual state, much to Rose’s delight. She still had to scramble to replace ponies that quit and rework the schedules and she had to deal rewards and punishments to those who deserved them, but it was pretty much business as usual, and Rose loved her job in spite of its quirks.

Then, one night, she was awoken by a nervous knocking on her door. Being the head of maids granted her use of a private room only a couple hallways down her office, which she appreciated, since she was already getting along in years and neither hooves nor wings worked like they used to. She got out of bed, worry seeping through her movements. If somepony was waking her up in the middle of the night, it could only mean trouble.

“Yes?” She said as she opened the door to reveal a maid, a young unicorn mare, nervously shifting her weight through her legs. Her name was Grape Sorbet, if memory served Rose right.

“Uhm, sorry for waking you up, ma’am,” Grape mumbled. “Captain Titanium Shield said he wants you in the throne room. He won’t say what for.”

Rose stifled a groan and followed Grape Sorbet. She usually went to see her son in the north middle ring of Canterlot during Winter Wrap Up, but Princess Celestia had needed to step away from the palace for an emergency summons, and Rose just couldn’t leave the palace unattended for so many days. Just like experience had proven time and time again, every time the princess mysteriously left, something happened.

This time, the something had happened in the throne room, or more precisely, in the staff accessway behind the throne. The place was swarmed with guards, mostly to keep the curious night staff away. Rose ordered the maids to go back to work, and the rest of staff followed them in a mild panic. Rose had enough authority to punish even those that weren’t maids if they deserved it.

Of course, since she had been summoned, the guards let her through.

The throne room accessway was an empty space covered by a massive curtain behind the throne. Its purpose was mainly for messenger ponies to carry the princess’ orders during day court to the rest of the palace if need be. Thirty moons ago, however, Princess Celestia had placed a very large mirror set upon a dais and held by a sturdy and expensive looking frame, both decorated with flawless gemstones. According to the princess, it had been a gift from a foreign dignitary and had ordered that no pony was to touch it or it could be considered an offense and lead to a political mess.

Rose had dared to question why keep the mirror in the accessway. If it was so important, why not keep it in her study or in one of the many vaults within the palace? The princess had explained the dignitary could return any time and request to see the mirror, and Celestia had to show that it was always kept in the throne room, even if out of sight.

Rose saw no reason to distrust the princess. What would a normal pony like herself accomplish by trying to understand the thought process of an immortal alicorn?

Tonight, however, besides the mirror, there was another thing decorating the accessway. A small pile of dust.

“Ah, Rose, there you are,” Titanium said as she approached. His build was still powerful even if his face was full of wrinkles. “I’m sorry for calling for you this late.”

“You better be,” she said, raising an eyebrow. “Why does a pile of dust require my personal attention? I have maids working the night shift for a reason.”

Titanium looked around, making sure his guards were far enough that they wouldn’t hear a whispered conversation. “This is no regular dust, Rose. These are ashes, and they came from this,” he said as he levitated something from within the ashes. It looked like a lace, though it was burnt. “This is the same fabric that is used for the maids’ uniforms. Not only that, but judging by the marks on the floor, they were burned right here.”

Rose felt a chill run down her spine, and her wings ruffled in a knee-jerk reaction. “What are you trying to say?”

“I think somepony infiltrated the palace,” he said. “I’ll have guards interrogating your maids, and I need you to ensure their cooperation. And I’ll need your authorization to have them search the dormitories, the storage rooms your maids frequent, and your office.”

“My…”

“I’m not suspecting you, Rose,” Titanium said with a reassuring tone. “But we don’t know if the infiltrators got to your office, and if they did, what they were looking for.”

Rose nodded. “I understand. Of course you have my permission to do whatever it is you need to do. Just don’t let your guards scare my maids or interrupt their jobs more than necessary.”

Titanium nodded, then let out a tired sigh. “I don’t like this, Rose. Something’s not right about this.”

“What do you mean?”

“This,” Titanium said as he pointed at the pile of ash. “Why burn the outfit here? It’s the only reason we know something’s wrong. If it wasn’t for this, you and I would still be asleep and blissfully unaware. This feels intentional. Like a message.”

Rose snickered. “I think you’ve been reading too many novels.”

“Or maybe I’m just too old for this,” he replied, shaking his head. “I think I’ll retire as soon as this is over. I was planning on doing so for a few moons already.”

“Oh,” Rose said, losing her smile. “I’ll miss you, Titanium.”

He gave her a weak smile. “You know where I live. You can visit me anytime.”

“I will. Now, if there’s nothing else, I’ll write up a notice to my maids so that they comply with your guards’ instructions, and then I’ll try to get some sleep.”

She walked to her office and got to work, penning a notice that she ordered Blossom Thorn, the maid in charge of the night shift, to make copies of and distribute among the night staff and through the dormitories so that the day staff would read them first thing in the morning.

And when Rose finally went to sleep, before her body even started to relax, she knew that, for the first time in thirty moons, she would dream of the sea, and of the storm.

Author's Note

This is it, the odd one out, the interlude where the POV is from an OC. For months I debated whether to publish this one, but in the end, here we are.

There are a few books I've read, and even a fanfic or two, where you have chapters centered around a character you'll never see again. Because the character is just not important to the story. And the actions they take in the chapter are not important either. However, there is something in the chapter itself that is important to the story. And I always wanted to do something similar. This is my attempt.

Rose Petals will never appear again. She may never even be mentioned again. But she will always have a special place in my heart for allowing me to experiment with this idea.

I hope you liked it. If so, please do leave a comment with theories or whatever!