The Royal Canterlot Family

by CartoonNerd12


The Changeling

Mothball woke up in the room he was given for the past month. He had been brought here by a princess named Screwball, who had swirly eyes. He remembered having those swirly eyes in a dream before he managed to get out of the castle that his kind was imprisoned in. His mother, in fact, was the Queen of their race: Changelings.

Ever since he was born, he felt different from them. He didn't know why, but on occasion, he would feel a strange thumping coming from his chest. He had no idea what it was until Screwball brought him to Canterlot. Right away, she asked him if he felt a weird pounding in his chest. When he answered 'yes', she looked like she was about to burst with happiness. He didn't understand how she knew about his heart before he did, and for that matter, how did she know his name when they first met?

The moment she had caught him from escaping the barrier, she questioned him until she said his name. He was so confused by the whole thing. He never met her before, yet it felt like she knew him somehow. For that matter, Mothball felt he knew her somehow, too. It was so strange, but whenever he looked at her, he got a bizarre déjà vu vibe. And it wasn't just her. Whenever he saw her cousins, he got that same vibe.

But whenever he went around the castle, he noticed the servants would give him strange looks, and on occasion, the cousins' parents. He understood from his mother during the imprisonment that she kidnapped Queen Celestia's daughters. She was about to give them a curse when her plans were foiled by the princesses' lovers and their father. He knew then why ponies distrusted changelings and why they were locked up in the first place. He couldn't blame the ponies, but at the same time, he experienced firsthoof being stuck in that castle for so long.

That was why it was so odd when Screwball started defending for him. How could she have known he was nothing like the other changelings? It was true he never committed a crime like she said, but there was more to it than that and he wanted to know what. Since he had been here, Screwball and Queen Twilight set to work helping him learn wrong from right. During that time, Whirl Wind announced his upcoming wedding and Apple Jewel laid her egg.

Mothball was grateful that he didn't have to change his appearance around the castle, but he was told he had to change whenever he left the castle grounds. That was when Screwball gave him a tour of Canterlot. He was well-aware of her feelings to him. He sensed it the moment they first met. She tried to cover it, but it was hopeless.

He got up from the bed as he saw the breakfast tray next to it. He always ate in his room while the royals went down the dining hall to eat. Once he felt full, he went to his balcony and stared out to the distance.


When Screwball had finished eating breakfast, she went on to Mothball's room. It was getting harder and harder to hide her emotions from him. Every day that passed, she saw the same Mothball she fell in love with from the other timeline.

You must have patience, Screwy… she told herself. I know you love him so much it hurts… You lost him once. Must you lose him a second time?

She stopped at the door and knocked. She waited, but no answer came.

"Mothball?" she called out, "It's me, Screwball."

The door opened and he let her in.

"Every day, it's the same thing…" he said. "You come to my room and we hang out."

She gave a worried look, "And… does that bother you?"

"No. I just don't understand why you do it." He faced her, "I'm tired of guessing, Screwball. I want to know why… Why you know so much about me already, how you knew my name, why you defended me… I'm so confused about it all."

Screwy gave no emotion as she stared at him. Finally, she spoke, "I didn't know if telling you was a good idea… I didn't know if you would believe me… But you are right. I do know you. I've known things about you for quite a while now."

"Have you been spying on me somehow?"

She gave a tiny giggle, "Hardly. You told me things yourself…"

He frowned, "What…?"

She sighed, "There was…an incident with a magic mirror that my cousin Snow Pea shattered by mistake. Because of this, my cousins and I were taken to another time different from our own. A time where you and the Changelings were never imprisoned in that castle…"

He gaped at her.

"You were free to roam about, but because you refused to drain love on your first hunt, you kept a low profile from your mother and the ponies. We met you while we were seeking help with Zecora. We didn't trust you at first, but later on, you gained it, and most importantly, you gained my friendship…"

Mothball didn't know what to say, but her feelings were radiating through as she recalled her memories of the other Mothball she knew.

She continued, "You told me about your mother, how she was always controlling to you. The strange thumping in your chest, I showed you to be your heart. The heart that prevented you from acting like any other changeling… How you were a royal changeling who actually had a father compared to the rest who didn't."

Mothball's heart was beating fast as he was amazed by all this.

"When I came to your prison and found you escaping, you don't how happy it made me…"

"I have some idea…" he softly replied.

"You can feel it, can't you? I tried controlling it, but I couldn't help it."

"Emotions are hard to contain. Changelings can sense love, even if that pony hardly shows it. But you… any changeling would have a hard time resisting the love you're giving off."

"Then… why have you resisted?" she questioned.

"Mainly because I don't want to drain your love, but also that I am confused as to why you have all this love toward me."

She bit her lip and turned her head away.

He was taken aback by the revelation and quietly said, "We fell in love, didn't we? In the other world."

She faced him with tears threatening to escape, "Yes…" She ran out before he had a chance to stop her.


"He knows?" Starling questioned when she saw Screwball crying to herself in a private room and the Earth pony had explained what happened.

"Yes. He wanted to know so badly how I knew so much about him, I had no choice but to say something."

"You did the right thing. There is no point in hiding such a huge event that happened, and we all knew him in the other time, so it was bound to come out. Better he had heard it from you than us."

"But… Star… what if he doesn't want to fall in love again? What if he really is gone? I thought I found him, but he's so distant in this world. I might never feel his arms around me again or his sweet lips like when he first kissed me…"

Star wrapped her arms around her cousin, letting her cry some more.


The moment Screw Ball had left his room, Mothball had managed to find Dignity and told him what he found out.

Dignity replied, "So, you finally know…"

"Is it true, then? Screwball and I fell in love?"

"You did. My sister told me how close you two had gotten in the time we were there. I was with Jewel and Cotton somewhere else, but Gemstone had to stay close to Screwy to heal the rift that Screwy caused between them."

"Rift?"

Dignity quickly told him about Gem and Seam's breakup that Screwball caused by hypnotizing Gem. When the girls got back to the proper timeline, she fixed it. That was why Gem moved away to Manehattan to be closer to her love.

Mothball was surprised that Screwball had done such a thing in the first place, but understood her reasons.

"Honestly, Mothball, in that other time, I think you helped her realize what love was. It was because of your love for each other that we were able to get back. To us, you're a hero."

The changeling found it hard to believe he was a hero in some other time. It made him start thinking that there was more to him than what his mother taught him all his life.

"A hero? I was a hero?"

Dignity smiled, "You were."

Suddenly, the vibe of him somehow knowing them made sense.

"If I was like that…" he said more to himself than Dignity, "…then maybe I can be that way again…" He started singing, "Whatever you do… I'll do it too… Show me everything and tell me how… It all means something and yet nothing to me… Oh, I can see there's so much to learn… It's all so close and yet so far… I see myself as ponies see me… Oh, I just know there's something bigger out there! I wanna know, can you show me! I wanna know about these strangers like me… Tell me more, please show me… Something's familiar about these strangers like me…"

By then, Screwball and Star were passing the room. By staring at Screwball, something stirred within him. He sang out, "Every gesture, every move that she makes… Makes me feel like never before… Why do I have this growing need to be beside her… Oh, these emotions I never knew, of some other world far beyond this place… Beyond the trees, above the clouds, oh, I see before me a new horizon!"

He rushed to her, "Screwball, wait!"

She looked back in concern, but once she saw the smile on his face, her heart melted.

"Look, I don't remember what happened, but I want to see if we can get back what we once had…"

She gasped, "Do you really?"

"Yes." He resumed singing, "I wanna know, can you show me? I wanna know about these strangers like me… Tell me more, please show me… Something's familiar about these strangers like me…"

She smiled as she sang, "Come with me now to see my world… Where's there's beauty beyond your dreams… Can you feel the things I feel… Right now, with you… Take my hoof… There's a world you need to know…"

They walked for a bit as he sang, "I can't explain the way I feel… Everything I want it's here… And my heart is beating faster… Every moment I'm with her… I feel so complete… I cannot deny what I'm feeling…" He then sang on, "I wanna know, can you show me… I wanna know about these strangers like me… Tell me more, please show me… Something's familiar about these strangers like me… I wanna know!"


It was nighttime as the changeling and mare were in the gardens as she was showing off the firefly show like she did once before for him.

"I did this in the other world, too. You wouldn't remember, but it's how we got to know each other better and that's how I knew so much about you."

"You obviously remembered everything about me, but I had forgotten what you had told me. Kind of makes me a lousy coltfriend…"

"It's not your fault you got what Cotton calls 'time amnesia.' If you're willing, I can repeat what I said."

"Would you?"

She smiled, "Certainly." It was like that all night.