//------------------------------//
// Chapter 1: Rose 
// Story: OMAI: The Empire of Storms 
// by VeganSpyro97 
//------------------------------//

“Here goes.” Rose muttered, her muscles bunching as she launched herself into the air again, her wing muscles pumping to keep her in the air. The Pegasus had not spent much time flying since she had gotten her wings, as it was very difficult to learn how to use appendages that one didn’t have until two years ago. Sure, she could get into the air now, but staying there was another matter, and landing safely a third matter entirely. 
Sometimes she caught herself wishing to go back to how things used to be, to being a simple little human with her ordinary life and her fiance, like nothing had changed. 
Everything had changed though. The man she had fallen in love with was gone. Her hometown had been all but destroyed by a psychotic warlord from another world. Her brother was now her sister, and a pegasus too, on top of that. She had had to fight for her life on more than one occasion that year. 
And now here she was, learning to fly on the job as she delivered letters in her new home. Ponyville, Equestria, the Planet Equus, who even knew what galaxy or universe. 
Talk about remodeling. Her whole life felt like someone had looked at a wall and decided it needed a new, wacky, wonderful paint job featuring horses and rainbows. 
	“Looking good! I almost can’t tell you’re a total newbie!”
Speaking of rainbows.
“Hi Dash. How’s it going?” Rose asked, to the space of once again empty air beside her, the Pegasus who had briefly occupied it already entertaining herself by doing several lazy loop-the-loops while staying close to Rose. The cyan coated mare was on the smaller side. She was a compact package of strength, agility and speed, to the point that she outclassed pretty much any pony in Equestria in terms of raw athletic potential. If she could put her ego aside long enough to hone that potential to its absolute best, that is. As such, Rose looked up to Rainbow’s physical prowess, but wasn’t quite so sold on her sometimes abrasive personality. When she was feeling cocky, the mare turned into a bone-head. 
“Pretty awesome, as always. I was just gonna swing by Pinkie’s and see if she was free before we head on up to Canterlot. Wanna come?” Dash swam upside down through the air, backwards, a feat that Rose continually struggled to accept as possible. 
“Sorry, Dash, but I’m still on duty.” Dash made to grab her bag by zipping past her, but Rose was already flipping herself over to avoid the attempt, righting herself with a little wobble afterwards. “And no, before you say it, you can’t do it for me. I wanna do this job properly, and do it myself. That means no ten second flat delivery’s that crush all my parcels.” 
“Awww, come on, I’m not that bad!” Rainbow protested, coming up to glide next to Rose. 
“No, you’re worse. Last time you tried that, you broke three flower vases for the Flower Trio, broke that flux capaci-doohikey that Time Turner ordered, and crushed several letters into an unreadable mess. The only reason I wasn’t fired was because it was you that did it, and Derpy likes you.” Rose grumbled, banking and descending slowly to come to a stop at the next house on her route. “Besides, you know how I feel about people helping me.”
Rainbow rolled her eyes. “Yeah, yeah, the whole ‘I need to get used to doing things on my own as a Pegasus’ thing.” The athlete sighed, before turning away from her and taking off again. “Well, I’ll try and get something for you once you’re done. Pinkie said they’re doing an amazing marzipan and chocolate cake that you just have to try! Anyway, see ya later!”
And with that, Rainbow was gone, leaving behind her signature rainbow streak of light that dazzled the eyes and left Rose blinking owlishly as her sight readjusted to normal light levels. She shook her head, checked on the next packages address, placed it carefully back in her bag, closed it, then took off, enjoying the feeling of her feathers being parted by the wind. Bliss.


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It didn’t take long for her to finish her rounds for the day. Rose was quite happy to swing by Sugarcube corner after work to pick up that slice of cake Dash had mentioned, and was just licking the last crumbs off of her face by the time Pinkie Pie came bounding over. 
“Hey Rosie!! It’s pretty much time to go! You ready?” Pinkie Pie truly lived up to her name, with both coat and mane being a ridiculous combination of bright pink, and darker pink. It made her blue eyes stand out all the more. 
“Yeah, we should get to the train station before we’re late. Wouldn’t want to miss out on the prep-work, right?” Rose replied, wiping her face with a napkin to clear away any lingering traces of cake crumbs or icing. 
“Of course not! This is the biggest party of the year! NO! The century!! No, wait, it’s actually the biggest two parties of the century!!! HUUUUUUUHH!!!!! I NEED TO GET SO MANY MORE SUPPLIES TO GET THIS RIGHT!!”
Rose watched as the Pink blur ignored the train station altogether and streaked off towards the distant shadow of the Canterhorn mountain, and the capital city of Canterlot, leaving a trail of confetti and joy in her wake. 
“It’s a good thing I didn’t tell her that Cheese Sandwich is gonna be there to help.” Rose muttered, shaking her head. The pegasus mare chuckled at Pinkie’s antics, then trotted off to the train station, making sure that her ticket was secure in her bag before she arrived. She had bought the ticket almost a week ago, and the week before that had made sure she had this week booked off so she could celebrate the festival and her sisters marriage.
Supposedly, it was going to be one hell of a celebration, with foreign dignitaries and creatures from all across the land in attendance, which ought to please the Princesses, who had been working towards peace and co-operation between the world’s nations since long before Rose’s grandparents grandparents had been born. Chocolate fountains, buffets, carnival games, merchant stalls, and all kinds of entertainment had been set up for the festival, and a stage with an altar and seating arrangements had been placed in one of the cities many courtyards. 
The one Static, Rose’s sister, and her Fiance had chosen was a vista, overlooking the entirety of central Equestria, including Ponyville, the Everfree Forest, and the lands beyond. It would be gorgeous in the bright daylight, with no clouds to mar the occasion. 
Rose sighed contently as the train pulled into the station, right on time, amid a squeal of metal tracks against metal wheels and a cloud of steam from the engine. It wasn’t like the trains back home, where they were built for pure speed and convenience, coloured in sensible greys, whites, or the occasional blues. There were some outliers that chose more outrageous colours for their vehicles, but they were merely outliers, and tended to be few and far between. This train was coloured in bright pinks and yellows, as if it had been made of flower petals forged into steel and cast as train cars. 
The conductors cried for passengers to board once the small collection of ponies getting off had finished their journey from train to platform, allowing Rose to enter the nearest car with a flash of her ticket. 
Technically, as the guest of one of the VIP’s, the ticket allowed her access to a private booth in the reserved cars, but Rose had never much liked that kind of treatment- nor did she particularly enjoy the thought of being on her own with her thoughts. 
Instead, she settled into one of the public use seats, pulled a book from her saddlebags, and began to read.


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Canterlot was a splendid city indeed, with its soaring white towers and impeccably clean streets, and its sheer size compared to its closest neighbouring communities. While not a literal city in the sense of Manehatten or Fillydelphia, the capital of Equestria was world renowned for its beauty, having been designed and built by the best minds that ponykind had had to offer. 
Built onto the side of a sheer mountain face, and sectioned off into numerous tiers, with the Castle occupying the highest, it was a monument to pony-kinds magical prowess and knowledge, and to the Princesses as well. Here was the throne of Equestria, presided over by the immortal Alicorn sisters, Celestia and Luna, rulers of the kingdom and beloved by all. Even criminals and ne’er-do-wells would not cross the pair if they could help it. 
Of course, the sisters literally having control of the sun and the moon made that decision very easy for them.
Rose stared up at the grand towers in the early light of morning, the day of the festival, and the second Canterlot Wedding within a decade. Well, the second major wedding. Obviously there was a lot more than that, but these were noteworthy because of the individuals involved. First had been the Captain of the Royal guard and the Princess of Love, and this time, an Element of Harmony and Princess Luna’s personal protege, called the Lunar Knight by many, were to be wed. 
Hopefully it would go better for Rose’s sister than it had for poor Princess Cadence and Shining Armour. Invaded by Changelings on the day of your wedding. Ooof.
Shaking her head again, Rose felt the train slide to a stop at the station. Hopping off of her seat and stowing her book back in her bag, the Pegasus trotted out of the doors and looked back up at the city, still quite a ways to walk before she entered it proper, as the station was actually just outside the city walls. 
She was admitted through the security gates fairly quickly, a scan of magic proving she was what she appeared to be, and a quick check of her bag to see what she was carrying was all that was needed, and so she was waved through within minutes of entering the checking station. It was odd to think that these hadn’t been here just a few years ago. Not that they were unwarranted- far from it. While technically at peace, Equestria had had more than its fair share of security scares and attempted invasions over the past decade. 
It was hard to imagine Princess Luna, the sometimes goofy, sarcastic and caring pony as a villain of any description, especially not one like Nightmare Moon. Sure, she could be serious, and sometimes overbearing, but that was not really bad, just personality quirks that she tried to work on. 
Now within the city, Rose took to the skies again, relishing the rush of joy that flooded through her as she crested over a low flying cloud that had yet to be busted by the weather team. The view on the other side was magnificent. The marble towers of the palace turned orange by the early sunlight, each window glistening like dew drops on grass blades amid fields of pure white, all framed by the mountain on the right, and the rest of Equestria’s open skies on the right, distant mountains showing up as a purple smudge on the horizon. To think of all the views on Earth she could have seen if she’d had wings. All the views that she and Jeremy….
So much for avoiding thinking about him. Rose slapped her hoof to her forehead and prayed to the sisters to give her a distraction. 
She was surprised when they delivered it in the form of a familiar voice. 
“Okay, watch it! Mind out, please! Important Princess documents coming through!!!”
	Sending a thank you grin towards the palace, Rose dived down to street level, and quickly found the source of the voice, wading through the crowd of ponies while holding a bundle of rolled up scrolls aloft in his claws. 
“Hi, Spike!” Rose chirped, beaming widely as the dragon yelped, almost dropping his precious cargo. 
“Whoa! What the- Oh, it’s you!” The young dragon gave a relieved sigh, then frowned at Rose in annoyance. “Really Rose? These are really important, you know. If I’d dropped them-”
“I’d have caught them, don’t worry!” Rose lied, not wanting to admit she was just as likely to smash her face into the ground than save the documents. “I just wanted to say hello! You look busy.”
“Tell me about it.” Spike grumbled. “With Twilight it’s always one more freak out over some tiny detail she thinks she forgot but actually checked about a hundred times already. Juggling the festival and the wedding has been hard on her- and me.”
“Ouch.” Rose winced in sympathy. “Didn’t Static tell her not to worry about getting everything perfect?”
The purple dragon raised an eyebrow and gave a pathetic little chuckle. “You honestly thought that would help at this point?”
Rose sighed again, making note of how frequently she’d been doing it recently. “Knowing the Princess, probably not. Any idea where the others are?”
Spike shrugged, hoisting the papers up into a position that made it easier to hold. “Dunno. You tried looking in the courtyard? Pretty much everyone but Twilight, Fluttershy and Static will probably be there doing finishing touches.” The dragon looked around suddenly, as if expecting to see someone. “Do you, uh...happen to know if Discord is coming?”
Rose laughed, shaking her head. “Nope. He’s not coming. Said something about a vacation, visiting his cousin at some interdimensional party. Said he’d be gone a while.”
It was Spike’s turn to sigh, this time in relief. “No offense to him, but I don’t think Twilight could take any of his antics today. She’s barely holding together as it is.”
“Well, if I do see him, I’ll let you know, okay?” Rose promised. 
“Thanks. I know I’ll appreciate it, and Twilight definitely will.” With that, the dragon resumed his mission as a courier, leaving Rose to go looking for the Element bearers in the main courtyard. 
Rose took to the air to speed up the search, flitting above the crowds of ponies trotting, walking, talking, laughing, playing, complaining, shouting, whooping and otherwise making lots of noise, as crowds do. Being above it all made getting past it a breeze- literally- and the pegasus mare was soon swooping down into the courtyard that Static and Fluttershy had picked for the wedding ceremony. 
Had Shy not decided to be brave, the ceremony would have been a much smaller, private affair in the castle gardens, but as it was, the ceremony would be taking place on the stage that was currently playing host to a small collection of mares, all busily working to make sure the festival was a success. 
Rapidly inflating and twisting balloon animals was Pinkie, though as Rose approached she lost control of one and it went zipping around the stage area, with Pinkie hot on its tail. Overhead, Rainbow Dash was busting clouds, kicking the fluffy water vapour apart with practiced ease. Then, decorating the edge of the stage with precision that was borderline obsession, stood Rarity, the fancy Unicorn already wearing a sunhat to show off her stylish nature. Not far away from Rarity was Applejack, the down to earth country mare, wearing her familiar, worn stetson hat, and a red neckerchief that Rarity had made for her, embroidered with green apples along its edge. When asked about why she made the neckerchief, Rarity had responded with a proud smile and a slightly puffed out chest. “What? A lady can’t make something for her marefriend?” Applejack had already finished her part of the stage’s construction- namely, the heavy lifting, assisted by her little sister, Apple Bloom. The two were bringing out cider and refreshments for everypony, all of the confections the Apple clan were known for stacked on a cart that wobbled precariously as the two moved it closer. Standing on the stage itself, aided by Angel, Fluttershy’s pet rabbit, was Starlight Glimmer, Princess Twilight’s student. The purple unicorn mare was instructing a choir of birds using Fluttershy’s elegantly written notes, with Angel translating for her. Rose had no idea how the two got on so well when Angel was hellspawn in a white bunny suit. 
“Hey everyone. Anything I can do to help?” Rose called, ducking underneath Pinkie’s runaway balloon as it zoomed overhead, Pinkie tearing after it a second later. 
“Hmm, oh, what darling? Terribly sorry, I’ve been rather in the zone, as it were.” Rarity replied, barely glancing Rose’s way. “I don’t think I need much help here...unless you want to help me speed things up a bit. Making the stage look so good is taking a while.”
“I’ll say.” Rainbow grumbled, coming down from above with a soft whump. “I’ve busted every cloud from here to Ponyville in the time it’s taken you to put up four of those decoration thingies. Why didn’t you do something simpler?”
“This is Fluttershy and Static’s wedding!” Rarity harrumphed, turning up her nose at the suggestion. “They deserve nothing but the best!” 
“Oh, they’ll get it alright!” Dash called, flashing past Rarity in a contrail coloured in her namesake, grabbing the hoof-basket of ribbons and diamonds that Rarity had been using to decorate the stage with as she went. In three seconds, every ribbon and diamond was fixed in place. Badly.
“Oh, fer pete’s sake Dash!” Applejack called, bringing the refreshments cart closer. “That’s an awful rush job!”
“It isn’t the best.” Starlight called down from the stage, leaning over the side to take a look. “Rose, could you help Rarity straighten those out?”
“Sure thing!” Rose eagerly started fiddling with the decorations, trying her best to match Rarity’s flawless presentation. It wasn’t quite there, but it was a darn sight better than Dash’s attempt. “So, if you’re out here, who’s helping Shy and my sister get ready?”
Rarity frowned, not entirely happy with the situation. “While I wanted to be the one to get them ready- after all, I know my dresses better than anypony! Fluttershy and Static are being attended to by the royal maids, as per Princess Celestia’s request. Apparently somepony forgot to get somepony to handle decorations for the stage.” The fashionista looked pointedly at Starlight as she spoke, and the purple mare blushed madly. 
“And Twilight’s up at the castle too.” Rose murmured.
“Yeah, she’s busy figuring out how to deal with all the dignitaries that are gonna be here.” Starlight said, settling onto her hind legs while her forelegs dangled off of the stage. “Or, she would be, if she hadn’t already gone over todays plans a bajillion times.”
“Extreme Twilighting?” Rose asked. 
“Extreme Twilighting.” The group answered as one.


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Up in the castle, another purple mare was in the middle of a freakout- the sixth one in the last twelve minutes. “WHERE ARE THE STORES OF LOVE FOR KING THORAX’S ENTOURAGE!!!” She screeched, rapidly shuffling through several dozen spreadsheet pages looking for where she had written the answer.
“Page twelve, row three, column one.” Came the calm reply from her assistant. 
“WHY IS IT- oh, never mind, it’s where it should be.” Princess Twilight Sparkle was very much in the throes of a massive mental overload, having juggled the logistics behind holding a festival opening and a wedding on the same day for several months now, was very much stressed. “WHAT ABOUT THE MEAT FOR THE GRYPHONS AND THE GEMS FOR THE DRAGONS?!” 
“Page six, row eight, column two.” Spike answered, the dragon reorganizing the notes by claw in a far more rational and relaxed manner. “Seriously Twilight, it’s fine. You’ve checked everything so much that I can pretty much guarantee that everything will go great.” The dragon punctuated his point by producing a sparkling ruby from a nearby bowl and tossed it casually into his mouth. “Please calm down and take a break.” 
The Princess was breathing heavily, and far too quickly to be okay, but she was at least thinking about what Spike had said, starting to go through the familiar breathing exercises that Princess Cadence had taught her. It took several minutes to finally break her manic panic, but Twilight was relaxed for the first time in days. In truth, she felt exhausted. 
“Oooooohhh, oh, oh….that doesn’t feel so good.” Twilight moaned, rubbing her head. “Uh, Spike, do we have anything to relieve headaches?” Before she had even finished asking, Spike had gotten up and retrieved a steaming pot of tea from the nearby table. He poured his adopted sister/parental figure a cup of the warm beverage, which she gratefully took with a murmured thanks. 
Spike gave a little encouraging smile. “That should help a bit. Still, I don’t think you should be doing a lot of magic for a bit. It’ll just make the headache worse.”
Twilight nodded, drinking deep from her cup of salvation. It was the good stuff. 
The room the pair was in had been Twilight’s when she was younger, before Celestia had given her the tower room she had spent most of her teenage years cooped up in. Funnily enough, that tower was visible from this room’s window. 
Twilight’s old room was a small but cozy affair, with a well organized desk, several bookshelves, and of course, a bed, currently being sat on by Spike. The windows were dressed with curtains- purple, of course, and the floor was a soft, plush carpet. And outside the windows that faced out from the tower the room sat in, was a balcony overlooking  the gardens and Twilight’s old tower room. 
Twilight had come here instead simply out of nostalgia. 
The Princess of Friendship breathed in slowly, then out again, a strange feeling that had been plaguing her for weeks bubbling up in her chest again as she did. Ever since she had taken on the planning for such a pair of important events, she had been feeling almost ill, and not just from nerves or lack of sleep. She felt….lethargic. 
Still, the exercise did its job, and her thoughts began to shift into a more manageable mess. Sipping at her tea again, Twilight let herself relax and smile. Tomorrow, the ceremony would go off without a hitch, the festival would launch its campaign of cooperation, and she could relax again. 
“You reckon you’ll be okay now?” Spike asked from his seat on the bed. 
Twilight nodded, moving all of her pages of notes off to one side in a slightly more organized folder, and put aside her duties for a moment. She found her old favourite chair, one that Princess Celestia had used as a place to tell or read Twilight bedtime stories when she was still a little filly. Snuggling into the familiar scent of her teacher, Twilight drifted into peaceful serenity, lulled into a daydream by the plush sensation of chair pillows pressing against her. 
“Yeah. I think we’ll be fine.”


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