Rose continued to follow the maid, keeping in mind the other times she had encountered Celestia, and she wasn't optimistic about this meeting, especially after what Twilight overheard.
As she walked behind the hurried maid, he noticed that some work ponies were in the process of changing the carpet that she had damaged, most seemed to be unicorns and much unlike what she expected from them they didn't shy away from her, it seems that ponies are starting to get used to her... well, aside from the little foals, but she is is quite sure that anything could scare them at that age.
Rose was interrupted in her musings by the sound of the maid clearing her throat, "We have arrived, the Princess is waiting for you in the throne room," the maid explained, she seemed a little adverse to going into the room, as she moved to the side of the door while the guards opened them.
Rose craned her neck up to see Celestia sitting on her throne with a distraught Twilight hiding in her wings, puffy red eyes, and ruffled feathers tell Rose that her words held more weight then she first assumed.
Celestia herself had eyes of cold steel, she stroke Twilight with her wings absentmindedly while she looked down at Rose before she spoke. "Solar Flare, I have tried to be cordial with you, even provide you a place to live and learn without any expectations of receiving anything in return. Things seemed to have settled down once Twilight started to teach you," Celestia stood from her throne, leaving Twilight behind, as she continued her speech.
"And yet, I find that after but a few weeks you have already managed to make your Teacher, my student and friend cry," Celestia Paused to sigh, casting a quick glance back to Twilight. "What do you have to say for yourself Flare?" Celestia intoned, looking straight into Roses snake-like eyes.
Rose sighed, she was just Tired of dealing with Celestia and her baseless chatter, she looked up to meet Celestia's gaze, taking a step forward on the carpet, purposefully directing her anger to her hooves in order to burn through the carpet, Hearing the sizzle she smiled before answering Celestia's questions.
"First of all, My name is not Solar Flare, I'm unsure why you asked me to create a 'new' name, and I chose that one on a whim, Secondly you did not provide me with a place to live, you sent me to a gilded cage," Rose lectured, as she continued to walk towards the base of the throne. Rose saw that Celestia was going to interrupt her and stomped her hoof down on the bottom stair, shattering it.
"I have not finished speaking, Celestia," Rose shouted, quickly turning her head to look into Twilights eyes she spoke, "Twilight, while I never meant to say it to your face, I'm not sorry for what I said, you need to grow thicker skin, and while Discord may not show it in a way you understand, he is affected by the way you act around him." Rose softened her gaze before she continued. "Twilight, you are not a bad pony, but neither are you perfect, we all have flaws and you need to accept that for whatever reason, you don't like Discord," Rose stopped her tirade before she looked back to Celestia.
"Well, are you planning to actually throw me in a prison this time?" Rose said sarcastically as she looked up to Celestia, In response, she received a sigh.
"No... Rose, I'm sorry for what I've done... for how I've treated you. You remind me of someone I used to know, someone who doesn't have a heart, doesn't know how to love. You can leave now, if you wish." Celestia said in a tired manner, her ears lowered and her back no longer stiff, she turned and sat next to Twilight, who while still disheveled no longer had tears in her eyes.
"That's it?" Rose exclaimed, her tone accusing. "You're just going to send me back to my room, after all that?" Rose continued as her body slowly started to heat up.
Seeing the situation, Celestia quickly corrected herself. "No Rose... you can leave, as in, you may leave and go where ever you wish." Celestia finished as she quickly put her wing on Twilights back.
"Wait, you actually mean I can just go now?" Rose said, the heat that had built up dissipating as fast as it accumulated, Roses face gazed at Celestia in contemplation. "Why?, from what I know of you, this isn't like you," Rose stated with finality.
Twilight ruffled her wings before she spoke up. "No Rose, Celestia isn't like herself when she is with you. Trust me, I've known her for most of my life." Twilight responded, before leaning on Celestia, her eyes still moist yet no longer red.
Before Rose could respond, Celestia flared out a wing, before she spoke. "Please, Rose, let me explain first." Celestia took a breath of air, before she motioned for the guards to leave the room, the guards that were stationed by the sides of the throne room hallway. Once the hallway was clear, and the silence palpable Celestia cleared her throat before she spoke. "I didn't treat you right, I have no excuse for that. It took me a long time to see you like someone else, my sister saw that you were not who I thought you were, she tried to tell me, I didn't listen, not until I saw something that was actual proof, and you showed me, just before... Now that I think about it, there were many instances that she wouldn't do." Celestia Shivered and retracted her wing, before she looked into Roses eye's, looking at something that only she could see.
Rose stood still, in the broken slag of what was once the marble stairs at the bottom of the throne, "Who did you think I was? and, what did I do, that showed you I wasn't them?" Rose asked quietly, feeling ashamed of her actions, as she shuffled her hooves in the puddle of rock.
"For you to understand that, I'll have to tell you what I did, a very long time ago..." Celestia said as she turned her head to look out the stained glass windows, her thought's heavy before she shook her head and looked back at Rose. "I was young, and greaving at the time, and my sister had succumbed to her emotions, and, as an Alicorn, emotions are linked with our magic, heavily, and if we try to repress them too much, they form their own minds, and while they have intelligence, they are born with only the emotions we funneled into them." Celestia took a breath, she gazed into Roses' eyes, before she looked over Roses form, she closed her eyes briefly, letting the afternoon sun, shine down on her face. "Do you understand what I'm telling you, Rose?" She asked, eyes still closed while her ears perked up, eager to hear an answer.
"Vaguely, but I still don't understand how this is relevant to me," Rose huffed before she sat down at the base of the throne. gazing back up to Celestia.
Celestia continued on, accepting her answer. "Luna, my sister, had become someone else, due to my neglect, the only emotions she could feel, Envy, Hate, and Sadness. Luna let herself become Nightmare Moon, and so, we fought, I to keep our citizens safe, and her to finally receive attention, love, and to get her point across. I was young and foolish, I assumed she had been tainted by some evil entity and instead of talking to her, I used the Elements of harmony, my only thought during that time was to banish the evil." Celestia took a breath before embraced twilight as her eyes moistened.
"The elements of harmony, are an interesting magical item, to use them, you must embody the traits they seek to a certain extent, and when in use they try to accomplish what the user wants, they do not know they can only act, and when I tried to banish the evil from my sister, vainly thinking that she was possessed by some strange entity, it banished her instead, as the 'evil' that I wanted to banish, was my sister. Curiously, I'm not sure why when Nightmare Moon was hit with the Elements of Harmony in use by my student, that she was purged of the emotional mask." Celestia continued, opening her eyes to briefly glancing at Twilight.
Rose, took a breath before she looked back to Celestia, Nodding at her to continue. Celestia, nodded before she continued, "After she was banished, and I realized what had happened, I feared, feared that I too would succumb to my own emotions, Starswirl the bearded, my teacher, consoled me, tried to convince me that, in order for me to move on, I was to let my emotions run their course... I didn't listen to him, and in my self-hate, I crafted a spell, a spell designed to absorb emotions I didn't want to feel."
Celestia shivered, as she envisioned something only she had seen."I poured in all of my hate, hate at myself and the world for what had happened, what 'I' let happen, all of my jealousy at what other ponies had, that they could have a happy ignorant life without worry, and, my pride, the pride that kept me blind. Honestly, I should have seen what happened next, especially after the crystal, I was using as storage, started to turn black and burn the surroundings in heat." Celestia stood up, folding her wings to her side as she started to step down from her throne. "After I left the crystal in a remote cave, near a small town called dreemur valley, She 'formed', from that crystal, Solar flare, something that could only feel hatred and jealousy, and because all that hatred was directed at me, and the citizens I so dearly care for, she brought disaster, her jealousy at the lives of simple ponies and in her hate for them, she turned dreemur valley into what is now known as the badlands, she destroyed an entire valley, and turned it into a wasteland." Celestia whipped away a tear with her wing before she was surprised that Twilight had left the throne and embrace her with her wing.
Rose spoke up to fill in the awkward silence that filled the room, "That sounds, pretty bad, so, Solar flare huh, I really picked out a bad nickname didn't I... I'm sorry for burning all those holes in your carpet... I figured out how to stop doing that about an hour or so after our first meeting." Rose apologized, rubbing a hoof to the back of her head.
Celestia in response, let out a small stifled laugh, "It's fine, you were angry with what had happened, and to be honest, I wasn't a very good host." Rose, letting out a small sigh, asked a question that had been bugging her, "So, what happened to Solar flare, and from what I can gather, since I show other emotions than anger and jealousy that's how you figured out that I wasn't her?" Rose questioned Celestia, as she finally reached the top of the throne room stairs to look Celestia directly in the eyes.
"That's correct Rose, I was blinded by anger, so I overlooked the fact that you displayed other emotions, the fact that you told Twilight that we all have our flaws, the pride Solar flare showed, would never admit that she herself had flaws," Celestia stopped speaking to then look back to Rose, her face serious. "I'm sorry about how I treated you, When you leave, please keep your emotions in check, for they hold power over ponies, most don't even realize how much they do." Celestia finished as she turned around to sit back on her throne, Twilight, seeing this broke off her embrace before she looked back to Rose. "I'm not a bad pony? am I Rose?" Twilight asked, in a quiet voice, her wings limp at her sides.
Rose sighed, she hates talking about her opinions on people, "No, No you're not Twilight, you are just a Pony, and all ponies have flaws, and just because you don't like somepony, doesn't make you a bad pony Twilight," Rose finished before she looked back to Celestia, who had taken to sitting down on her throne look at Twilight and Rose, her eyes passive and carrying an untold weight.
"So, how did you get rid of Solar Flare? I mean, you said I look just like her right?" Rose Inquired, unsure if it could be just a coincidence. Celestia, focused her gaze back at Rose before she spoke. "After what happened at Dreemur Valley, it was pretty easy to find her, just follow the heat, she didn't bother to keep her power in check and due to my emotions being drained at the time, I barely had enough to fuel my spells, and I'm unsure how but she was able to break my connection to the sun, I for the first time In a long time, was completely powerless. My teacher, Starswirl ended up having to clean my mess up. He used a spell, designed to destroy her originally, and while it did seem to weaken her, as it shattered her heart crystal, the crystal I used as a focus, though she wasn't destroyed, she managed to reform around the largest shard," Celestia paused to make leave her statement sink in.
Celestia then straightened herself upon her throne, before she cleared her throat again, making sure that Rose and Twilight could hear her. "Using what was left of my current power, I channeled all of my grief, into a final spell that was ultimately cast by Starswirl, it dissipated her form and we sent her heart crystal to a dimension without any magic, to ensure she was powerless. without magic, all she was is a bad memory." Celestia tired from explaining her past, looked into Twilight's eyes, before moving her gaze to Rose. "Don't make my mistakes, and Rose, for all it's worth, I hope you end up finding happiness somewhere, Luna said she saw you dreaming about dragons, so if you'd like, I can arrange for you a trip to the dragon lands?" Celestia said, ruffling her feathers before lighting up her horn.
Rose, stared up at the ceiling lost in thought, she was shocked to find out that, they would likely have believed her if she told them the truth about her origins, although, she was still reluctant to clear that up, especially now that she was told the history of Celestia and the tale of Solar flare... Could she actually be Solar flare?
During Roses' musings, guards walking in through the main doors, and stood back at their posts, Celestia leaned forward towards Twilight and Rose before she whispered. "So Rose? what do you want to do now?"
And for the first time in what seemed like forever, Rose was free.