Chapter 16: Rose Petals: A Story of Hope-Skywyne, the Queen of Hours
Summary: Rose and her time with the first recorded queen of Mewni ... how did their time go?
"Skywyne, please step forth or whatever." Even her mothers terribly flippant attitude couldn't curb the excitement she was feeling. Some might've questioned the tradition of handing a terribly powerful artifact to a fourteen year old girl, but Skywyne Lavender Butterfly was no ordinary girl. She had ideas for the wand, and all of them would come through fruition today.
"I am honored, Queen Lyric Butterfly of Mewni." Skywyne graciously bowed to her mother even if the woman couldn't care less about traditions. "I am humbled to be blessed with such great…"
"Yeah, yeah, just try to loosen up a little and join in on the fun once or twice." Her mother carelessly tossed the wand in the air, and it was by sheer luck that Skywyne was able to prevent it from dropping to the ground.
The object began to glow in her hand, growing feathery wings that covered the thread like design, giving way to a clock. It looked so perfect, was it universally linked to every dimension and timezone, or was it just universal time, or was it her own time till death!? The thoughts are so exhilarating! What should she try first?! Should she try freezing time itself? No, if she did it wrong, she might freeze herself with it. Should it even be something timed based? The corn fields have been dwindling lately with all those monsters running, it shouldn't hurt to help them out a little.
She gazed out at the kingdom. It was hers, it was beautiful, it was … on fire. It was very on fire. Fire here, there, and being made more by-"Why is there a dragon out there!?" She shouted, noticing the giant beast roaming free. "Guards, assemble!" They all gathered, at the front of it their most prized ally. "Rose, I'm glad you're here."
"On a coronation day? Wouldn't miss it for the world." Rose looked at the fire. "... Sadly that may prove true."
"This won't be too much of a problem, I just need to get the spell book and everything will be alright! Mom, get the book!" She shouted. There was centuries worth of writing in it, certainly there had to be a spell inside that could help tame wild dragons.
"Don't worry, as soon as the fire started, I got the most important book in the kingdom." The woman kissed … a fashion … magazine … "Nothing can compare to this."
"Mother…where's the spell book?" She asked, pleading, BEGGING the woman had the common sense to at least keep it in a safe position.
"Oh…I think I left it in a club somewhere." Her mother pointed out a random building of the now burning city. "Don't worry sweetie, nothing important. Just some grumpy blue man living inside of it."
"YOU'RE LETTING GLOSSARYCK BURN ALIVE!" She shouted at this lazy, inconsiderate degenerate of a queen. "That's our entire family history!"
"Sweetie, what's going to be remembered more fondly in the future? Some rat food writing no one's ever going to read, or the timeless fashion of feathers in hats?" Her mother spoke to her like Skywyne was the unreasonable one. "And to think I went to all the trouble getting these dragons for your coronation."
"..." Rose looked back and forth between the two. "She's the queen now, right?"
"Yeah, I don't want the responsibility. Way too boring."
The woman nodded, before turning to her. "Should we focus on the dragon or toss your mother out the window first?"
"Guards…Get to the highest tower, and toss this traitor…" She pointed to the woman she would disown later. "..out of the nearest window. Preferably over something pointy. Rose, me and you are going dragon slaying." She paused. "Also if I act this horribly to my children, permission to slap me."
"I doubt I need to." The woman smirked, pulling a shield out of her stomach. "You're not one to ruin people without reason. Way too rational for that." She was grateful that her closest friend at least believed so.
"Then let's rationally chop off some heads." Using her wand's magic for the first time, she summoned a rather clunky looking blade. She wasn't one for violent actions, but today would be her one exception.
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Rose was a firm believer all life was precious, even the monsters they fought … However, she was also one to know you can't talk down a fire breathing dragon that was dragged here by a horrible person in chains, now matter how much she wanted to snuggle them.
Plus both of their blades were rather blunt, so they probably would just knock it unconscious where she could bubble it for later, though it didn't seem to stop Skywyne from trying to dig her magic blade into the thick skiing of the dragon. "I never took you for a sword fighter before."
"I occasionally had the guards show me a trick or two with a blade, I thought it might come in handy for self defense." One of the few close friends she's managed to make during her time in this dimension answered with a slight growl. "I'd rather be aiming this at Lyric then these overgrown lizards though."
"Pearl could probably show you some more complex maneuvers. She's been in this weird knight mindset as of late." It freaked her out a little bit, especially with all her talks of self sacrifice and abandoning the need for self preservation.
"I would ask, but she's way too snobby about it. `Obviously you can't follow the moves with pin perfect accuracy, your organic bodies can't withstand the strain' and stuff like that."
"I really need to talk her down out of that thinking one of these days." She struck one dragon's head into a nearby wall. "Pretty sure she's just sore that Joan of Arc woman managed to trip her up that one time."
"I really should've considered adventuring to earth more often." Skywyne blasted a wave of magic. "I don't think I'll have any time now, cleaning up this mess."
"The multiverse is a beautiful place you know, not just Mewnie brings so many wonders." It was a marvel in all its glory … until the Commission set itself up. The uncarring bastards. "And another one should do the trick!" She shield bashed the dragon's skull hard enough to cause a shockwave, sending it straight into the dirt.
"It's done…it's finally done." The new Mewman Queen breathed heavily as she wiped off the dirt and blood that stained her yellow dress. "It's all over…It's all gone." With the adrenaline finally gone, all Skywyne could focus on was the devastation of what today brung.
"It's okay, just let it out." Rose sat the girl down and let her lean on her.
"Centuries of my people's history, my family's history…just gone now! Tosses aside with the dirt like it never existed!" Skywyne shouted as the tears flowed out of her eyes. "Today was supposed to be the best day ever…and all I have to show for all my excitement is a kingdom reduced to rubble and ashes!"
"Look on the bright side … you wanted to make a lot of spells right? Now you have the perfect excuse." Rose patted the girl's back. "I can help with the crops and any injuries. You just focus on mastering your magic for now."
"Yes…that does seem like a plan." Skywyne's eyes were suddenly filled with determination. "I'll do more than write down my own spells, I'll create a new spell book! And the first thing I'm going to write in it is all the reasons why Lyric is the worst Butterfly to ever exist!"
"You do that." She patted the girl's back. Thank diamond she had healing tears.
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"Oh blessed you, Skywyne, bringinger of centuries, grower of endless crops!" He bowed to his queen, his goddess. "You have done years of hard labor within the span of an hour!"
"You create a time loop one time, and suddenly everyone believes you're a deity." His goddess laughed humorously. Her giggles were like angels singing in his ears. "It wasn't all on me, without the Rose Guard's tears, the soil wouldn't have been fertile, left barren and dry from the dragon."
"I still don't know why that name has garnered so much popularity." The just as beautiful mighty warrior walked beside his goddess. "Rose Quartz suffices just enough, heck, I prefer just Rose in general."
"Well, you are basically a one woman army guarding the whole kingdom, and you smell and look like a rose." The goddess sent the women a smirk. "You should hear the name they have for me nowadays. Skywyne: The Queen of Hours."
"Well it's better than Lyric: The Queen of Fashion." The woman bantered. "I still can't believe she decided to set herself up inside a volcano, without anything going wrong."
"My former mother was airheaded, but she could direct the little brain power she had towards her passions…those passions just happen to be asinine." Even in anger, his goddess just gleamed with beauty. "So everything is going well back on earth?"
"Same old, same old, just cleaning up Homeworld's mess as usual." The Rose Guard sighed dejectedly. "It gets so repetitive at points, and whenever I believe we're getting close to finishing it, it just seems like there's another layer of horror just waiting for me."
"Well at least you have easy moments there, I haven't had any free time or normal conversation in months." The goddess laughed. "Could you imagine people worshiping you?" She asked the Rose Guard.
"Hahaha, yeah, so ridiculous, who could ever imagine me being worshiped? Hey I've never actually tried corn before, I think todays just as great a day to eat some!" That was weirdly frantic of her to say.
"Wait, so if Gem's aren't meant to eat, how can you even taste anything at all? For that matter, why do you even come out with mouths? If the point is to just serve, why even have that at all?"
"Oh, our forms are based on thought and precision. I figured out how to taste after a human observed the … intricacies of some taste buds." The woman blushed a little. "It was a very…thorough examination."
"And suddenly I'm gaining mewberty flashbacks." The goddess shivered.
"Don't be like that. It felt nice getting all those feelings out in the open for once, right?"
"Yeah, on random strangers that turned my mewberty form into some kind of idol to worship afterwards." The goddess rolled her eyes. "I can focus on relationships some time later in my life. I mean, what's the harm in waiting?"
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Glossaryck … What number was he on now? Three point-o? Meh, numbers were irrelevant. There were numbers on cow spots, numbers on pizza slices, and numbers dimensions. The last of which was now minus one.
Glossaryck had a different approach to each holder of the wand, none of them could be taught in the exact same way. They were like corn chips, each one was unique in their own way, though he had yet to find the perfect one. The closest he got were the princesses that were more hands off, the ones that grew the best when they were left to their own devices.
One such case was Skywyne Lyric Butterfly, an intelligent girl that could get for on her own, she proved that alone by creating a new spell book for him to attach himself to in such a short amount of time…although seeing the destruction of an entire dimension did make him question the intelligence ever so slightly.
"I get the motivation … but don't you feel this was overkill?"
"It was uninhabited, no harm done other than letting off steam and a minor warning." The girl sighed. "You know, maybe this will finally get them to stop being lazy and rely on me, I won't be around forever." She laughed a bit brokenly. "And maybe I can actually do something for a change, like find someone else who completes me in every way shape and form. Who completes me, and be able to make a move on him instead of dealing with every little thing."
"I still don't get why you feel like you need to settle for one person to complete you. Love is amazing, right? It's better when you can spread it as much as possible." The former Diamond, now Rose Quartz, added her thoughts.
"I always assumed love was like an imaginary knife. Double sided and always vanishing when you reach out for it." Glossaryck added in.
"I can never decide whether or not it's a good thing you managed to come back." Skywyne dryly said to him.
"Neither can I. I'm the guardian of the wand and book. Whether you call that good or evil is subjective from my point of view."
Rose merely hummed before looking back. "I get it, you're stressed, but there will be others. You can get over this, you're stronger than that."
"I suppose so…I guess I've just been stretching myself so thin, between duty and desire for so long." Skywyne rubbed the temples of her forehead. "Everybody got so used to looking to me for answers that they just saw me as an easy out, just something that could make everything better if I'm there."
Rose patted the Queen on the back. "I've been there before, believe me. My closest allies have looked to me as if I have all the answers, but I've been asking the most questions out of everyone. In times like that, I'm reminded that I can be vulnerable, and that's not always a bad thing."
"But the queen isn't allowed to be vulnerable… she's supposed to use magic to defend the lands and help the people with an unbreakable spirit."
Rose looked out the window. "Everything shatters at some point … it just takes constant effort to try." The taller woman smiled warmly. "You're allowed to take care of yourself, and to let others take care of you. If I didn't have Garnet, Pearl, Amethyst, or you by my side, I don't know how I'd handle it all."
Those words seemed to put the Queen of Mewni at ease a little. There were definitely benefits to having a member of one of the universe's most destructive forces act as an advisor of sorts to the Butterfly line.
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Pearl sat in silence, using the newfound invention of humans known as a 'telescope', a device that allowed one to enhance their viewing distance with glass. Primitive but effective in a pinch.
The ever loyal gem used it to gaze at the sight of Rose hanging around the current Monarch of the Butterfly family. It was something she did as of the last half a century, though she seemed to be very invested with spending large amounts of her time with this Skywyne.
Not that she minded how Rose interacted with organics…actually that was a huge lie, she minded very, VERY much how she spent her time with them, but there seemed to be more…attachment to this one than most.
The problem was she couldn't tell if this was an Amethyst situation or a Garnet situation. Both were problematic to Pearl in the long run, but the former was less so. It wasn't something that would last forever, but she wasn't in the mood to wait another fifty years until this one died for Rose to move on.
"It's a lovely sight, isn't it?" She dropped the telescope upon hearing Rose's voice, apparently getting so lost in her thoughts that she didn't notice the taller gem sneak up on her. "It's not as peaceful as earth, but the possibilities here are just as endless."
"Yes, lots of them." Pearl noted. "Entire dimensions with infinite planets … and apparently floating horse heads." The gem looked to the stars. "At least our powers are just advanced science.
"I know, so much space, untouched by the hands of the diamonds, ignorant to homeworlds actions for the most part." Rose went on. "I wish to keep that way for as long as possible."
"I'll make sure to help, no matter how annoying the task is." A gem would have been proofed for speaking to a diamond with snark … but hers relished it, and Pearl aimed to please.
"Thank you Pearl, I know how difficult that must be to admit." Rose laughed. "Just give it time. You'll love this planet almost as much as earth someday." Pearl highly doubted that, but she nodded all the same.
"Why do you continue to interact with Mewmans?" Pearl decided to ask the biggest question on her mind. "They just seem to keep destroying themselves and other races. At least Humans aren't dumb enough for that." She hopped the fact she off hand commented a species other than gems might have helped land her point.
"They might not be the most…peaceful people in the universe, but neither were we once upon a time ago." Rose said with a soft smile. "They have the potential to be better than we were at our worst. I'm just hoping history won't repeat itself here." The lovely woman laughed. "Plus they can be so creative with magic, it's fascinating to witness in person."
"You do realize you are capable of what that wand is, right?"
"I'm not too sure actually." Rose rubbed her own gem. "Since coming here, I've felt a strange sensation, some kind of connection to the Magic the Butterfly's use."
Pearl shot up. "Are you alright, is your form stable, do I need to polish your gem, do I need to break the wand!?"
"No need for any of that, especially that last part." Rose said in a calming matter. "I feel great actually, better than I have been in a while. Here, there's actually a chance to do more than just clean up my own mess." … She still blamed herself.
"You couldn't have known what they would do."
"I could've. I thought the thought of me being dead would make them happy. Yet there I was, just as arrogant as they were." Rose just sighed. "But there's no need to remember the past now. Now we can make whatever future we want, in any world we want."