• Published 19th Oct 2018
  • 361 Views, 37 Comments

Thorned Rose - Salty Alty



After serving her time in the Gryphic Confederacy's military, Rose Rune seeks a new life for herself in Equestria.

  • ...
1
 37
 361

Prologue: The Foggy Dew

Rose never did particularly enjoy landing procedures on airships. They were noisy, bustling affairs that had a tendency to give her a headache... Yet, she didn't really mind this one. It'd only been a few months since the end of the YakYakistan campaigns, and she had only just been allowed home on leave. She walked towards the anchor cable as soon as she could hear it audibly crash to the ground below. She gave a salute to her fellow soldiers, winked at the captain, and slid down the cable. Her Ranger's gear clung tight as ever, as her crossbow was hefted upwards by the forces of gravity, and her sabre rattling in it's scabbard. As the wind whipped her mane into the air, She felt herself grin as she slid closer to the ground, her leather boots growing hot from the friction. "Thank the Pantheon I can pull stupid shit like this off", she thought to herself.

Rose hit the ground with a soft "thump", and looked up towards the walls of Sléibhe Tall, the sight of her home making a smile grow upon her face, and putting a tear in her eye. A thick fog had settled around the city, and the sun shone bright in the sky, casting a beautiful image. Rose marched towards the gate that sat ahead of her, stopping as she heard a voice cry out towards her.

"Oi Rosey! Don't ya care to say goodbye to your bedwarmer?" Shouted a familiar, feathered face a few meters away from her.

"Oh please Gilly, we live in the same bloody place." Rose said with a soft smile and a hoof over her muzzle. "Now get the fuck down here and lets go see our folks." She finished, turning back and marching towards the gate.

Sléibhe Tall was one of a few cities in the Shireland, and by far the largest. Built around an incredibly tall but thin mountain known as the Shire, it was where her Gaelic ancestors had made their roosts and built their homes. Over time, it became one of the bustling centers of commerce of Aurighast, rivaled only by the Ruskeel capitol city of Mon'Skrau. Bricked homes and shops lay within it's walls, and was one of the, in her opinion at the very least, more comfortable places to live in the Shire.

Rose heard a large gust of wind from behind her, and Gilmore landed beside her roughly, making a comical show of rolling through the dirt.

Rose snickered at his expense. "Oh bloody Tartarus you big oaf, when will you stick the landing?!" she exclaimed, helping the poor bird up by his talons.

Gilmore looked at her with a deadpan face. "I Don't know Rose, when will you learn to toast bread?" He muttered, Rose's equine ears catching the comment.

"Oi! We agreed never to talk about the Galley incident again!" She shouted, bonking him on the head with the scabbard of her blade. "Maybe next time you want any of my mum's cookin, I'll leave you at the door!" She jested, shaking her head as she walked towards the gatekeeper's post.

The Gatekeeper looked at her, before breaking into a grin and hugging her from over the booth.

"By the gods Rose, You're still alive! Truthfully didn't think I'd hear from ye again when you hadn't sent a letter during the outbreak of the damned war!" he shouted, nuzzling the crook of Rose's neck with his beak.

"Yeah yeah Arik, I get that I wasn't able to send a letter for the better part of 2 years. Lay off me will ya?" She said, hugging the old bird back. Arik was an older gryphon, if she remembered right around a good 70 years old. He was an old family friend, and in her eyes he was a grandfather figure. She released him, before gesturing to the gate. "Mind opening that up for everyone? We've got a lot of cargo to unload". Gesturing to the large airship above her. "The ol' beast up there is in rough shape, and has a hold full of cargo. We had to load up all the furry bastard's weapons, and let me tell ya... fæstning had quite an armory." she said with a large grin, her foreleg propped up on the booth as she waved her other foreleg at the airship again. "The Beast" as it was dubbed by its crew, and those who rode with it during the Campaigns, was one of the larger vessels in the Gryphic Confederacy's navy. Officially, it's title is the "G.C.N Morrighan", and the largest in the fleet. The Morrighan class was indeed heavily armed, with 3 heavy ballistae on port and starboard, along with numerous smaller ballistae dotted around the ship. The ship was, by Rose's memory, 100 meters long, a good 30 meters wide, and another 30 or 35 meters tall, with the hull matching the gasbag meter for meter.

Arik nodded his head, before yelling out to the guards on the inside of the gate to open the doors. The doors creaked and whined as they slowly swung outwards towards the group gathered at the booth. the large doors, made of solid oak, came to a stop once fully open. "Now you go and see your folks you hear? You especially Rose. I Aint heard much, but it sounds like your Ma caught a bug." he said, as he laid back into his chair. "Alright, see you on the flip side bud." Rose said, before walking deeper in to the city with Gilmore in tow.

The first thing that she noticed were the smells. While the border to the shire always had a distinct and earthy smell to it, and YakYakistan lacked any distinct scent at all due to the freezing weather, Sléibhe Tall was a familiar rush as various scents and aromas began to become noticeable. The sizzling of meat, the familiar scent of sweat and exhaustion, to the various ashen smells and the aromas of baked goods entered her nose and scent pangs of nostalgia through her very core.

Rose and Gilmore began walking through the city towards the Residential district, and let their minds wander. They arrived soon enough at Rose's family home, the large two story building gave a warm and comforting feeling to the pair, and Rose stepped towards the door. "I'll see ya soon enough Gilly, I oughta let my folks know I'm alive and kickin'." She said, glancing behind her towards her companion.

"Aye, I'mma go see my pops and take him out for some grub. See you tomorrow, round noon?" Gilmore asked, with a hopeful grin adorning his beak.

"Keep dreaming little bird, keep dreaming" Rose teased, before turning to walk the towards the door of her home, when she heard Gilmore shout behind her.

"I hate to see you go, but gods damn me if I love to watch you leave!" He shouted, gesturing lewdly before an empty can rocketed towards his head, coated in a red glow. Gilmore slumped to the ground, rubbing the side of his head where the can had hit. He looked up to see Rose walking inside her home.

As Rose walked inside, she immediately saw her father, Raldir, gaze towards her lazily, look back down at the newspaper he was reading, only to promptly shoot his head back up to look at her with wide, blinking eyes. "R-Rose? Is that you hon?" He said wearily, as if he couldn't believe what he was seeing.

Rose looked at him with sad, but mirthful eyes. "Yes papa, I'm home. I hope I didn't scare you too terribly much?" She asked hopefully. Raldir rocketed out of his chair and embraced her with wings and talons, before sobbing into her shoulder.

"Oh gods, we thought you'd died when we didn't hear from you... we thought you were dead. By the gods we thought you'd been killed Rose!" he said through the tears and sobs, the red tipped feathers the adorned his chest rubbing into her armor. Looking back at her, raised as high as he could on his hind legs, he spoke after a few moments. "Your mother... she's... She isn't doing too well. She caught a nasty infection a while back, and we're afraid she doesn't have much longer." he said, with a sorrow that infected the very atmosphere around him. Rose gasped, before rushing upstairs to her Mother's bedroom. Inside, she noticed her mother. What was, before the war, a motherly gryphic unicorn mare that was as spry as could be at her age, had turned into a frail, weak shell of her past, a previously ivory coat faded to a dull white. She looked towards Rose slowly with faded pink eyes, as if doing so any quicker would be her end, before gesturing to come to her bedside with a withered hoof. Rose quickly obliged, sitting on her hind legs at her mother's bedside.

Lilly Rune looked at her daughter, the weakest of smiles showing on her face as she caressed her daughter's face with a weak hoof, before she spoke in such a soft voice, Rose wasn't sure if she would have heard her if they were outside. "I can't believe you're alive." She said weakly before coughing roughly. "I'm afraid I don't have too much time deary. A week at most. But, I will at least have you and your father here in my final moments." She finished, her plight apparent to all who could see. Rose hugged her mother softly, before her mother lightly pushed her chest back, Rose taking the signal to let go. Rose looked at her mother through teary eyes, hearing her father softly step towards her, taking a seat at her side.

Lilly, with the last of her energy before falling asleep, passed a rolled up scroll to Rose. "This is my will honey. When I pass, be sure to cremate me. The contents of the will depend on it" She said, before dozing off to sleep.

1 WEEK LATER

Rose and Raldir looked upon the funeral pyre, her mother's corpse slowly fading away to ashes. Cracking the seal of the scroll, Rose read it along with her father.

"Dear Rose, if you are reading this, then I have passed from this plane. I know not of whether you are home, or for that matter alive, but I felt that I should write this out regardless. I have a final wish that I would like you to fulfill, should you be able to when you receive this.

I wish for my ashes to be scattered at the tip of the Canterhorn, in Equestria. I visited there with my mother so long ago, and I could not hope for a better place to experience with you, even in death. I bequeath unto you some of my possessions, and wish you the best life you can possibly live. I'd like for you to take my father's shillelagh, and perhaps most importantly of all my recipe book. I wish for none of the memories I have given you to be lost, and I know you will always long for home.

With Love, Lilly Rune.

Rose looked up from the scroll, now wet with the stains of her tears. Her father gazed back at her with vibrant green eyes, before gesturing to the scrolls contents. "It isn't my place to say hon, but I think Equestria would do you more good than staying here. You always said you wanted a better magical education, tá?" He said, before looking back upon the burning pyre.

"Tá Papa, I did. Would you... would you mind if I assisted in gathering up Mother's ashes?" she asked, tears streaking down her face.

Her father looked back at her. "Of course I wouldn't. Now lets wait for the fire to burn out hon." He finished, wrapping a wing around her as the foggy dew slowly faded.

Author's Note:

This will be my first story on this site, so be sure to point out spelling mistakes and general errors if you spot them! Feedback is always welcome as well.