//------------------------------//
// Chapter 2 
// Story: Crown of Winter 
// by CartoonNerd12 
//------------------------------//

The boys walked into the library, where they saw a mare about their age being busy at the front desk. Whirl nudged Fire, "Hey, there's your marefriend…"

Fire blushed and whispered intensely, "Dawn Twirl is not my marefriend!"

"Well, it's no wonder you always check out more books than you need." Dignity mentioned.

Fire groaned.

"I see her mother Moondancer, the head librarian, talking to her right now. Maybe once they're done, you can go talk and return these books to her." Whirl winked while handing over his stack and Dignity did the same.

"Oh, come on, guys…"

Dignity clears his throat, "Need I remind you of your own advice?"

"That was different, I…" But he sighed in defeat, "Fine, but after this, you talk to Mauve."

"Deal."

Fire took a deep breath as he watched Moondancer walking away and took a step forward while struggling to get the books over.

Dawn was startled by the all the books. But once she saw who was returning them, she smiled, "Hello, Prince Fire Spark."

Fire found himself blushing, "Um, hi, Dawn."

"Finished with all of these already?"

Fire found himself staring at her before he said, "Uh? Oh, yeah, I… couldn't help myself." He nervously chuckled and slightly looked back to his cousins urging him on. "I was wondering… do you… maybe…"

"Yes?"

"That… we could…"

Whirl and Dignity leaned in anticipation, and so was Dawn.

"Have more books?" Fire shrugged.

Whirl ended up shouting, "OH, COME ON!" Many ponies shushed in the library.

Seconds later, the cousins were walking out of the library in silence with Whirl and Dignity glaring at him.

Fire inquired, "What?"

"You so totally choked, dude." Whirl pointed.

"I thought you were going to stand there and actually ask her out."

"Oh, like you would for Mauve? Or you for Sky Blitz? We all know you have the hots for her."

Whirl went red, "I do not! I just… like watching her fly… Is that a crime?!"

Fire was about to reply.

"Don't answer that!"

Dignity sighed, "We're so pathetic… You can't ask Dawn out on a date, you can't treat Sky like a lady, and I'm a coward for not plucking up the courage to go talk to the one mare I actually like."

"Hey, listen, it's almost four. We better get to the derby or else Sky's going to think I chickened out!" He flew up at the speed of light and they ran behind him.




The mothers knocked on the door, but no answer came. All they could hear was blaring music going on inside.

"Hey! I like this song!" Pinkie started dancing to the groove.

Twilight yelled, "Girls! It's your mothers!"

The music stopped and Star opened the door, "Sorry, Mom." She let her and her aunts in.

Cotton jumped onto the bed that had once been her mom's and said, "What's up, Mom and Aunties?"

The moms gathered in the middle of the room to address their daughters as they took seats on the beds.

Twilight started them off, "Well, girls, as princesses of the royal family of Canterlot, it is your responsibility to look out for the kingdom and its needs."

Screw Ball slowly nodded, "Uh-huh. We all know that. Just what are you trying to say?"

Rarity took over, "Well, you see, darlings, the kingdom needs to have something that only we can provide - or rather you provide - because we have done our duty of providing for the kingdom. Now it is your turn."

The young mares glanced at each other in confusion.

Gemstone asked, "What do you mean, Mother?"

Cotton exclaimed, "Yeah, could someone just spit out what you're trying to tell us?"

Pinkie shrugged, "Okay." She took a glass of water and spit out the liquid. She then said, "You're going to have suitors!"

"WHAT?!"

Applejack mumbled, "I guess we know now who they take after the most…"

"That's crazy! And I know crazy!" Screw Ball shouted.

"It's absurd!" Gem yelled.

"It's downright awful!" said Apple Jewel.

"We can't marry some pony we don't love!" bellowed Cotton.

"We deserve to love!" said Starling.

"Whoa, girls! Calm down! It's okay! You won't have to get married to some pony you really don't love!" Twilight hollered over the protests.

"HUH?!"

"That's right. You will be able to love any pony you want." said Fluttershy.

"Well, if that's true, then why did Mom say we would have suitors?" Cotton asked.

Twilight gestured, "What your mother meant to say is that… you get to choose from the many number of suitors that will come to call for you."

Their mouths gaped open.

Gem started slowly, "You mean… you'll have colts coming here… for the right to marry one of us?!"

"Only if you love them!" Rarity insisted, "You'll get to choose unlike us!"

Star countered, "How is it any different from when Grandmother forced all of you to get married?! I know you, Mother. What is your plan here?"

Twilight sighed, knowing there was no fooling her daughter, "Star… I'm only trying to help you and the royal line…"

Her daughter gasped, "You're trying to force us to have heirs?!"

Her cousins gasped as well.

"We're not forcing you to do anything. We're just trying to help you girls find the right pony so you can have children of your own!"

"Then why can't we find someone on our own?" Screw Ball challenged.

"Yeah, our daddies and you got to meet on your own. Why can't we?" Cotton questioned.

"Because how we met with them was risky. For all we knew, your fathers could have used us, but luckily, that wasn't the case. They truly loved us for us."

Rarity pointed, "We're just trying to protect you. All of you are famous throughout Equestria, so if you had met someone on your own, they could trick you into loving them. You would never know if their love was real or not."

They stood silent for a moment, knowing their mothers made a good point, but they still felt upset having to meet ponies under their parents' watchful eyes. They wanted to experience the joys of love on their own. They looked at each other as if they could read each other's minds.

Twilight started to say, "So… will you be willing to meet colts that you could love?"

They exchanged looks before Screw Ball said, "Yeah, I'm going to have to say… No!"

"No!" the others repeated.

Before they knew it, the moms were teleported out of the room and the door slammed shut.

"And we're not coming out!" Cotton called out.

Gemstone hollered, "Until this ridiculous idea is terminated!"

Applejack shouted out, "You do realize you're just going to starve in there!"

Screw Ball bellowed, "Not if you have an endless supply of food with a freezer and a microwave!"

Pinkie said, "Ooh… she's got us there."

"Curse those chaotic powers of hers…" Rarity muttered.

Twilight sighed, "We'll go see if Discord can get in…"

Moments later, they were standing out the door with Discord trying to use different tools to break in. He tried teleporting in, but Screw Ball placed a magical barrier around the room.

Discord wiped his brow, "It's no use. Screwy's covered her bases. I'm actually quite impressed."

Fluttershy yelled, "Well, it doesn't do any of them good to stay hold up in that room!"

"That's a good point." He knocked on the door and shouted, "Screwy, honey! Surely you'll get bored in there!"

"What's that, Dad?! I can't hear over the music! We're too busy dancing while playing video games and reading our comic books and romance novels!"

"Well, so much for heirs. If you need me, I'll be downstairs hanging with the guys."

Twilight glared, "You're enjoying this, aren't you?"

"Hey, I was all for it until this happened. It is actually amusing seeing someone outsmarting you for once." he chuckled before disappearing.




Twilight walked with Rainbow and Rarity, "Maybe we'll have better luck with the boys. Maybe then they could talk to their sisters and cousins."

"That is, if we can find them…" said Dash.

But as soon as she had said that, two guards walked in with three colts, each wearing a black eye. "Um, Your Highnesses?"

The mothers shouted, "Boys!"

Discord stuck his head out of a room to see the commotion and cringed, "Ooh… Wrong turn…" Then he uttered, "Glad it wasn't my kid." He went back in the room.

"Just what were you doing?!" Rarity demanded.

One of the guards said, "We found them outside the derby. Apparently, there was a fight."

Twilight spoke in a calm tone, "I see. Thank you, officers. We'll take it from here."

The guards bowed and went out to resume their posts.

When they were out of earshot, Twilight glared at her son and nephews and demanded, "Just what you were doing in a fight?!"

They winced at the volume till Whirl spoke up, "It wasn't our fault! Sky Blitz brought some friends to the race, and when I won, she claimed she won. There was a huge argument of who actually won and a fight broke out."

Rarity asked her son and Fire, "How did you two get in the middle of this?"

"Honestly, we're not exactly sure," said Dignity. "But the guys who were with Sky were siding with her that she won and then they started ganging up on Whirl."

Fire mentioned, "We had to do something to keep our cuz from becoming horse meat."

"I could have handled them on my own…" Whirl muttered.

RD pointed, "Oh, yeah, and yet here you are sporting a black eye. All of you."

Twilight fretted, "You have gotten seriously hurt or worse! You can't do this to yourself." She glanced at her sisters and they nodded.

All three moms said at the same time, "It's time for you to settle down!"

The boys glanced at each other in confusion and then Whirl shrugged, "Okay, we'll be calm."

Rarity sighed, "That's not what we mean…"

Twilight gestured, "What we mean is marriage…"

"WHAT?!"

Rainbow whispered, "I'm sensing a pattern here…"

Whirl then laughed, "Oh! I get it now. It's a joke! Good one, Mom! You really had them going there…" But when he saw the look on her face, his smile faltered, "Wait…? You're actually serious?!"

Twilight sighed, "Just listen to what we have to say…" They told their sons of their plans and how their cousins and sisters already reacted to the notion.

Fire started saying, "So… we can have our pick of any pony we love as long as we meet them here. That doesn't sound so bad…"

"But your sister doesn't see it that way."

Dignity pondered and said, "Would you excuse us for a moment?" The trio huddled together. "You know, this might be our chance to get together with Mauve, Sky, and Dawn."

"Hmm…" Fire thought, "You know, I think you're right."

"The problem is the girls would have to come here. How would we get them to come?" Whirl questioned.

Dignity suggested, "We could ask our mothers to give them an invitation to the palace."

"But wouldn't that be tricking them?" Fire inquired.

"We would give them the invite. They don't have to come." pointed Whirl.

"And if they don't, then we take that as a sign that they aren't interested and that we focus on mares who are." said Dignity.

Fire sighed, "I guess, but I hope that Dawn does come."

"I hear ya." said Whirl.

They turned back to their mothers as they braced for their sons' answer.

"We'll do it." all three said.

"You will?!" their mothers gaped.

Fire said, "But on the condition that you extend palace invitations to Lady Mauve, Sky Blitz, and Dawn Twirl."

The three glanced at each other before Rarity gestured, "If you can convince your sisters and cousins to go through with this, then you have a deal."

Whirl scoffed, "No problem. We'll get those girls to change their minds in no time…"

When the boys knocked on the door and told them who they were, Screw Ball teleported them in. The boys tried to persuade them to change their minds, but to no avail.

"NO WAY!" the girls shouted.

"You're kidding me, right?" said Whirl. "Come on, we have all been offered something that we should take!"

"Take?!" Cotton retorted, "You call mares coming to see you as objects?"

Whirl face-palmed, "No, that's not what I meant!"

Apple Jewel replied, "You colts are all the same. You get flattered by pretty faces and you just can't help yourselves."

Dignity yelled, "I resent that remark!"

"So do I!" Fire shouted. The two of them stared at Whirl for his response.

"What?"

The two colts groaned at their cousin's lack of chivalry.

Dignity muttered, "It's no wonder he can't get a date with Sky."

Meanwhile, outside the room, the parents were trying to listen in on what the kids were saying, but the door made it hard to hear. Discord had a stethoscope on the door.

"What are they saying?" Twilight asked.

"Something about… colts getting flattened by pancakes… "

The adults gave him weird looks.

Pinkie yanked the stethoscope from Discord's neck, "Give me that! You're obviously translating it wrong!" She had the device to her ear now.

"Just why do you care so much about this, big brother?" Gem questioned, "I thought you would hate the idea just like us."

"Perhaps if circumstances were different."

Whirl muttered, "Yeah, if he didn't have a girl to impress…"

Dignity glared furiously at him.

The girls gasped, with Cotton having the biggest gasp, and started observing the boys' eyes as if trying to look deep into their souls, which creeped them out. "Oh… My… GOSH! They're in love!"

"They are?!" the girls asked and gaped at the boys.

Their faces turned bright red and denied, "No, we're not!" But that did it for the girls as they shrieked.

Outside, Pinkie exclaimed, "OW!" Her head started pounding.

"What happened?" her husband asked.

"They screamed," she rubbed her ears, "Now I hear a bell ringing."

"Who is it, BBBFF?!" Star was jumping for joy.

Fire retorted, "Like I'd tell you!"

But Starling smirked, "You know… if you tell us… we just might reconsider our answer…"

The boys' eyes widened.

Dignity asked his sister, "Would you really?"

"It depends, if you tell us who you have a crush on."

Whirl skeptically asked, "And if we don't?"

Screw Ball responded with an evil grin, "Then we stay here and never come out while you don't see your precious marefriends."

Then all at once, the boys each said the name of their crushes.

"I knew it!" Cotton jumped.

Fire questioned, "You knew about our crushes?"

"No, I just knew you were in L-O-V-E!" she waved pom-poms.

Whirl pointed, "And you don't tell any pony! All of you!"

Dignity said, "Make them do the Pinkie-Promise."

Screwy quickly said, "Fine, but if you have a deal with Aunt Twilight, then we want something, too."

Fire slowly said, "And that would be…?"

Cotton motioned, "Yeah, what do we want?"

Screw Ball gestured the girls into a huddle.