Crown of Winter

by CartoonNerd12

Chapter 22

They were in the castle library as Twilight took notes from Moth Ball.

"So you must have a royal changeling to control the Hive?"

"Yes. My mo- my queen, Chrysalis, has ruled for over a thousand years, but she's not immortal."

"Note taken. Does she have an heir?"

"Not anymore." He slightly hung his head.

"How sad… I mean, I know she's evil and everything, but to not have a child of her own besides the births of her army….I know what it's like not to have children…"

Star and Fire exchanged looks as if thinking the same thing. When we get things back to normal, we'll give her a great big hug to make up for this.

Twilight looked at the ponies standing by. "So how are all of you cousins?"

"We're… related through our mothers." said Gem.

"Who are currently not themselves at the moment." said Screwy, figuring if Aunt Twilight was acting differently, then all of their mothers must've been, too.

Twilight touched her heart, "Oh, dear! Is everything alright?"

Whirl said, "We're hoping things will be once we have the solution to their problem."

"So far, we had some luck, but we got a long way to go before we can go back home." said Fire.

"I understand. You're welcome to stay in the castle until you're ready to leave again."

Star smiled, "Thank you. That means a lot."

Twilight told Moth Ball, "And I told Shining Armor to tell the guards you have been pardoned, much to his surprise. But it would be wise to be disguised while you're on the streets. Our subjects are still frightened of changelings."

"It's alright, and I know. The queen has to scour across Equestria just to find a speck of love to feed on. There's not much love for feeding these days."

"Not much love? What do you mean? Love has always been a huge part of Equestria."

"Not anymore. My mother noticed the shift twenty-five years ago when ponies starting feeling despaired."

Twilight's eyes widened and slowly said, "The same time my sisters and I were separated…" She quickly stood up, "Excuse me." She quickly left the room.

They quickly followed after her.

---

Queen Celestia was gazing out the window when all of sudden, her memory had been restored. She now remembered her youngest daughter's twin sister. It pained her to think that all this time, she had another daughter, only to lose her so young just like when she was forced to give up her other daughters through arranged marriages. It was a pain that tormented her constantly that only got worse when her youngest decided to distance herself, leaving her all alone…

Suddenly, the throne room door swung up and there stood her daughter, Twilight. Celestia was shocked to see her daughter face-to-face again after so many years.

"My darling…" she held her hoof up.

"Mother." Twilight's eyes watered a little, realizing she was seeing her mother again after a very long time. When she wiped the tears away, she said, "I just learned something terrible: Equestria is without love."

"Without love? How?"

"I can only guess. But it happened when you forced my sisters and me to marry. When we were separated from each other… When we were separated from you… Why, Mother… why did you do that to us…? Why force us to marry some pony we didn't love?"

"I… I didn't want to…" Tears started flowing down, "Believe me, I never wanted to… You deserved love as did all your sisters… even your twin, wherever she is…"

"Twin…? What are you talking about?"

Celestia gestured for her to sit, "Let me tell you the whole story. All of it."

---

Apple Jewel, Dignity, and Cotton Candy were in Firestone and Mina's apartment. Apple Jewel recognized it right away, even if her hosts couldn't recognize her, especially her own father. She stared at the mirror shard she found as she lied on a cot.

Spike approached her. "You keep looking at that broken piece of glass. Any reason?"

She glanced at her cousins, who were resting from the long journey they had all day. She turned back to Spike and took a chance.

"You were never meant to live in Dragon Town. You were supposed to live in a castle with my mom and her sisters. You were supposed to marry my mother and have me. I am your daughter." She saw his shock and added, "From a different timeline. This mirror shard holds a piece to why a tornado happened in order for you to go to the castle. I know that sounds crazy, but it's true… All of it…" She had near-tears in her eyes as she saw the abject horror in her father's face.

"But we're trying to set things right. My cousins and I have to find all the shards in order to restore the timeline."

Spike didn't know what to say, but then he remembered how the young mare was hugging him before. Why else would she do that if she wasn't his daughter?

"So… you are my child from a different timeline?"

"Yes." she smiled a little, knowing she was getting through to him.

---

Twilight couldn't believe what she was hearing. All at once, she listened to her mother saying the Changeling Queen had cast a curse on her father, causing her to be able to track her and her sisters when they would fall in love. On top of that, her mother now suddenly remembered Twilight had a twin sister named Sunset Shimmer!

"…She was taken from us, but we couldn't remember because that pony used memory stones on us to remove all memory of Sunset Shimmer."

"And why do you remember now?"

"It must be that the memory stones have been broken, but how, I do not know."

"I think we know…" Starling said as she, her cousins, and Moth Ball entered the room.

Upon seeing Moth Ball, Celestia shouted, "A changeling!"

Twilight quickly defended him, "No, Mother! He's on our side!"

Moth Ball bowed before the queen, "I am, Your Highness."

"He's our friend." Screw Ball said.

Celestia addressed the ponies, "Who are all of you?"

The cousins quickly glanced at each other and Fire started, "Are you aware of the legend of the Windigos?"

The queen stated, "I am, but I also know that the Windigos are all too real."

"We know. We've seen them first-hoof." said Whirl.

"But how?" Twilight questioned.

"It's like this…" Star told their tale and they could see from the looks on their grandmother and her mother's faces that they were shocked. "…So after seeing Zecora, we all took separate paths to find the shards so we could restore the proper timeline. You see, you were never supposed to go through with the arranged marriages. Instead, you fell in love with the stallions you knew and cared for. The Changeling Queen did track you down, but your lovers saved you and you got to marry them. As for Sunset Shimmer, you did eventually find her and you helped free her from her controlling guardian."

"But that doesn't explain who you are." Twilight pointed.

Fire and Star approached her and Fire stated, "We… are your children."

Twilight gasped and covered her mouth. Celestia was just as taken aback by the news.

Star pointed to her cousins, "Gemstone is Aunt Rarity's daughter, Whirl Wind is Aunt Rainbow's son, and Screw Ball is Aunt Fluttershy's daughter. That's who is here right now, but there are more of us."

Screw Ball conjured up a family picture and showed it to her aunt and grandmother, who gasped when they saw the photo.

"All this time… we were in the wrong time…" Twilight uttered.

Celestia was overwhelmed. There she was, reunited with her beloved, her daughters, and her sister and her daughter. There were several others she didn't recognize, but she saw that some of the ponies in front of her were in this picture. When she noticed Discord, she raised her eyebrow and inquired.

"How did Discord get free?"

Screw Ball floated up to her, "He's my dad. My mom found him in the maze one day, but I know for a fact she couldn't in this world because the shed he's in didn't get knocked down by the tornado."

Celestia gaped at this information.

Twilight was just as surprised that her sister would end up with someone who tried to take over Equestria. Of course, she was just as surprised that he was real.

---

Once they told all they knew, Celestia and Twilight huddled to talk.

"This is truly amazing. I know Star Swirl had time-travel spells, but nothing like this…"

"We need to help them. If what they say is true, then we can fix all of this!"

"We are in a wrong time. None of this should have happened."

"Because without us, you had gotten lonely and all of Equestria has suffered because of that."

"It's true. Once your sisters left and you kept away from me, I felt alone. I couldn't even have Luna's company because she had to keep watch over the Crystal Empire."

"Maybe if we can bring them back and find Father and Sunset Shimmer, then maybe the shards will be found faster and the ponies that are my and the girls' children can restore the rightful timeline and none of this will ever happened."

They turned back to the group as they waited for their answer.

Celestia said to them, "If you truly are my grandchildren from a time that's truer than this, then tell me how we can find my husband and daughter."

They slightly cringed, but Whirl said, "Aunt Sunset has been stuck in a manor her whole life, but our cousins Snow Pea and Little Button went to her. If you have your memory of her, then that must mean they succeeded."

"And it's likely they're on their way here now." said Gem.

"As for our Grandpapa…" Fire took out the note they found and gave it to Celestia. "We found him as a statue in the old Everfree castle," he sadly said.

Celestia read the whole thing. Her eyes welled with tears and released them as she handed the note to Twilight, who also cried.

---

Snow Pea, LB, Rock Salt, and Sunset were nearing Canterlot. The sisters told their aunt all about the messed-up timeline and how life should have been for her.

"So… the day I came here… I should have met my twin?"

"Yes." said Snowy. "And when you would have returned back to the manor, you would have asked for help, but since you never met Aunt Twilight and our aunts…"

"It's incredible. How can one tornado make sure how things should be?"

"That we don't know, but the shard showed me how the tornado was powerful until Grandma Tia and Aunt Luna managed to reduce it to strong winds."

"So somehow by destroying the mirror, the tornado was prevented?"

LB said, "That's what we think."

"Our cousins are endlessly searching for those shards. We hope to find all of them soon and restore this universe to the way it was."

Pretty soon, they arrived at the castle. Just to their luck, their cousins inside spotted them from a window and they were permitted in.

Comments

[Godslittleprincess]

Oh.

[Godslittleprincess]

7372739 90s kid.

[CartoonNerd12]

7372895 As in you grew up in the 90s?

[Skye Mist]

Really feel like smacking a Windigo right 'bout now...

[Godslittleprincess]

7372918 Yep.

[Godslittleprincess]

We have ten aunts and uncles, eighteen cousins, and one first cousin with her husband, who happens to be the captain of the royal guard right now and responsible for our arrest

All the cousins in the story is 13. Skyla and Flurry Heart makes 15. This means that, unless I did the math wrong or made the wrong assumptions, Sunset had three children after she got married.

[CartoonNerd12]

7373220 Shoot, I think I miscounted. It's sixteen in all for the cousins, there are just so many of them!