Dark Rose was born to a modest couple in the small village of Rainbow Falls, in Northern Equestria. Her family lived in a small home, and made their living by selling a plethora of plants and vegetables. Because of her family’s and the town’s trading background, during her late childhood she was used to walking around the market, curious about the many domestic and foreign goods that were sold there.
Some years after her birth, Dark Rose attended one of the local schools, and her learning spirit was driven by her curiosity of the outside world and how Equestria had came to be. She would always read books about Equestria’s history, and took quite an interest on the regal sisters, developing a personal desire to meet with the princess of the Sun very early on. Despite all her learnings, Dark Rose still helped her family with growing food and medical herbs for her parent’s garden shop. She developed somewhat of a skill when it came to planting and growing plants, and used it as a small hobby when not with her friends or studying for school.
When she was around ten years old, news spread around Rainbow Falls about a peculiar competition that would be held in Canterlot. When Dark Rose saw a poster for it while one of her usual treks into the marketplace, she was astounded. A competition to grow the largest plant, and it would be judged by Celestia herself. Almost bursting from excitement, Dark Rose began to search around the markets for what she could find to make the biggest plant ever.
After weeks of gathering materials and growing her plant, Dark Rose stood in front of the largest plant she had seen. It stood tall in front of her, the middle stem going up almost to the ceiling of her home. She had used a magic powder, something that was allowed, to help grow her plant taller and quicker. The darkish red flowers that had grown onto it, thought Dark Rose, had made it even more beautiful.
However, while everything was perfect, only one problem remained. Her parents, who worked hard to keep their shop open every day, told Dark Rose that they couldn’t take her, due to their work. Furious, she burst out of the room in anger. She decided she would take things into her own hoofs, and decided to take her giant plant and head for Canterlot on her own, disobeying her parents. Boarding a train, she was determined to go to this competition and win.
When Dark Rose had gotten to the competition, she presented her plant next to everyone else’s, letting others see how large it had gotten. When the judging began, she was confident that she would win, and get to fulfill her lifelong dream. But, at the last moment, the judges found a plant even larger than Dark Rose’s. Seeing as how she was defeated, and only got second place, she ripped her giant plant to bits, the petals falling around her. To her, it only got worse when her parents had arrived with the next train, and ran up to her. Crying with tears of failure, Dark Rose thought she had lost everything.
In the train ride back to Rainbow Falls, Dark Rose was lectured by her parents about not running away. While her parents thought about punishing her, they told Dark Rose about the plant she had grown for the competition, praising it for combining magic and their family’s gardening skills. Dark Rose, confused on the praise right after a lecture, was surprised to see her new two leaf cutie mark, as if it had a message to encourage her to seek for new heights.