Crown of Winter

by CartoonNerd12

Chapter 30

The Breezies spun and whirled around in the air as the wind took them far away. None of them knew when they would ever stop.

Whirl Wind moaned, "I think I'm getting airsick."

Skater said, "Why, Whirl Wind. I've never known you to be the type to get motion sickness."

Rock Salt pointed to something, despite spinning continuously, "Look! Up ahead!"

In their ever-changing range of vision, the Breezies saw that they were coming up to a tall building.

Snow Pea commanded, "Huddle together and brace for impact!"

Meanwhile, an orange stallion with glasses was at his desk looking at papers when…

SPLAT!

He looked towards the window and saw a big lump of bugs against the glass. He grimaced as he walked to the window, "Eww! I better get the window-washer before…" He trailed off as soon as he saw that the bugs were actually Breezies! He exclaimed as he took off his glasses, "Wowzers! Real-life Breezies! Here, let me get you inside!"

As soon as he opened the window, the wind blasted the group of Breezies to the far end of the room. Some even got on the stallion's face. Cotton, being one of the Breezies on his face, gasped as she looked into the eyes of her father!

Cheese Sandwich chuckled as he gently wiped the Breezies from his face, "That's certainly a strong wind out there. Say, what are you guys doing in Equestria?"

Starling flew up to him and said, "Oh, we're not really Breezies. We just transformed into this form to help a friend. Can you give us room so we can turn back into ponies?"

Cheese said as he stepped to a wall, "Well, okay. If you insist."

Starling activated her horn and in a flash, the Breezies were once again ponies.

Cheese remarked, "Whoa! I didn't even know you could do that!"

"My mother taught us the spell."

"So why were you Breezies in the first place?"

Cotton explained before anypony could stop her, "We're from an alternate timeline and so we're trying to get things back to normal. We were Breezies because we were helping Shining Armor reunite with Princess Cadance because she was cursed to be a Breezie. After the spell was broken, a wind took us away and led us here."

Cheese looked like he couldn't believe anything Cotton said, but then he exclaimed, "Wow! No wonder I had a doozy of a Cheesy Sense today! It was telling me something big was going to happen. And, well, nothing can be bigger than this!"

Cotton said, "Well, I would tell you that I'm your daughter, but I have no more brown in my mane to prove it."

Just then, Cheese squinted his eyes as if he just glimpsed at something. He said as he went over to Cotton, "Wait a minute. I think I see something. Hold still." He then lifted her mane and to the surprise of everypony, only a few wisps of brown remained! He breathed as he set down Cotton's mane, "Well, I'll be…You really are my daughter! Come here, snookums!"

Cotton cried happy tears as she embraced her father. Rock Salt and the rest of the cousins gushed at the heartwarming scene.

Cheese said to the group as he pulled apart from Cotton, "Tell you what? You can spend the night at my place. I'll give you ice cream while you tell me everything."

Whirl Wind smiled, "It looks like you got yourself a deal."

---

Screwy and Mothy looked up at the night sky from a balcony, enjoying each other's company. Mothball wished they could stay like this forever, but he knew it was impossible. His mother was expecting him, so he turned to his beloved.

"Screwy… I have to go now."

She groaned and held on to him, "Just one more minute…"

He stroked her mane as they embraced. It took some willpower, but they managed to break away from each other as Mothy started taking off.

"Be safe." she told him.

"I will." With a one final look of sorrow, he buzzed onward.

He got closer to the cave, but the moment he went in, he knew something was off.

Everything was dark and quiet… Too quiet… Suddenly, with a single clopping of hooves, the queen showed up lighting the way with her horn, which had a sickly green glow.

"Where are the others?" he questioned.

"I sent them all into hibernation." She pointed with her horn and showed changelings resting in green cocoons. "Our subjects need all the rest they can get for when we take over Equestria." She gave him a sickly-sweet smile, "Tell me, my son, how did you seduce the mare to do your bidding?"

He felt himself jerking at that end sentence. He carefully asked, "Mare? What mare?"

Chrysalis gave a low chuckle, "Don't play dumb with me, Mothball. I've had my spy following you, watching your every move… After all, you were gone for such a long time, I had to make sure you were still following my orders…"

Mothball held in his breath.

"So, who is she?"

"Why… why do you want to know? She's just a pawn in my plan!" he quickly said.

"But how did you come across her? For that matter, what is her status for her to be able to get inside the castle? And how can she have a large amount of love when Canterlot is starting to love again…?"

Mothball didn't know what to do. If he left now, that would prove he was a traitor to his kind, to his mother… But he also couldn't betray Screwball. To give away their plans, their love… it would be very bad…

"So… it isn't just the mare being in love… You actually care for the mare as well…"

He didn't say anything.

"Suddenly, your request to have a pony for a queen makes sense now… You also asked if one of us could have a heart that we would feel love… You found out it was you…"

He softly asked while being close to tears, "Have you known…? Have you known all along I had a heart…?"

"I had my suspicions, but I didn't believe them to be true… Perhaps I should have…"

He decided to level with her, "Alright. It's true. My heart didn't allow me to drain love on my first hunt. I knew you would be ashamed of me if you ever found out. That's why I stayed in the Everfree Forest, so no pony or you could find me."

"That still doesn't explain how you came across the mare."

"Screwball is not your concern!" he shouted until he covered his mouth, realizing he revealed her name.

"Screwball…?" Then she burst out laughing, "What kind of stupid name is that for a stupid mare?!"

"Shut up! You don't talk about her like that!"

"How dare you! You do not give the commands around here! I am the queen!"

His emotions started to run away from him, "Would you stop acting like a queen and just act like my mother for once?! It's been like this ever since I was little! I want what Screwy has! A family! Ponies who cared about each other! We have never once acted like a family!"

"Because we no use for such things! Family, friends, love… Blech! Living close to the ponies has poisoned your mind, Mothball! That mare, especially! Who is she?! This… Screwball… What makes her so special…? That she gets to live in that castle. Is she a servant or what?!"

Defiantly, he said, "A princess."

"Princess?! There's no such thing as a Princess Screwball!"

"Here, no. But somewhere else in another time, in a time I know for a fact that you're imprisioned instead of roaming around like you are now. I don't know if I am alive there, but I would gladly take that chance so she can go back and everyone would be free of you!"

"Such lies!" In one blast, she imprisoned him in a large green cocoon.

He looked around and quickly used his horn to blast at it, but the cocoon was too strong.

She faced him and darkly said, "If you do not want to tell me, then I will just have to find out for myself…" She quickly transformed into him, giving off an evil grin.

He pounded on the cocoon in protest while he helplessly watched the imposter leave. He thought with despair, Oh, what have I done…?

---

Cheese remarked as the kids were eating their ice cream treats, "That's quite a story, if you ask me. Who knew I would've married Princess Pinkie Pie and have a daughter who's just as fun as we are?"

Cotton smiled, "Yeah, except it's supposed to be real. By the way, what are you in this timeline?"

He answered, "I'm the CEO of my party-planning company."

The rest of the ponies gave surprised expressions and exclaimed, "Whoa! No kidding?! You still became a party pony?"

"Yep. I wandered all around Equestria until I came across a joke shop that was selling stuff approved by Pinkie Pie. I just knew that I wanted to be a party pony so I could do what she did and impress her. By the time I opened my joke shop in Canterlot, Pinkie Pie had already married Prince Pokey Pierce. Despite being heartbroken, I continued my work and brought as much joy throughout Equestria as possible. Eventually, I formed a company for party-planning and now, here I am. Everything I ever did was for Pinkie's sake. I vowed to carry on her legacy when she wouldn't be able to."

Cotton gushed, "Aww! That's so sweet of you to do it for her!"

Apple Jewel remarked, "That's some serious devotion."

Fire Spark added, "Even though you couldn't have her."

Cheese sighed sadly, "I know, but at least I did some good for Equestria."

When he sat down in his chair again, he gave a yelp. He looked behind him and said, "What did I just sit on?"

To the others' surprise, Cheese pulled out a mirror shard!

Little Button remarked, "That's another mirror shard!"

"It is?"

Cotton casually took it and said, "Thanks, Daddy."

She glanced into the shard and saw an event playing on it. She saw an orange colt with glasses carrying a basket. She realized it was her father when he was young. Suddenly, a tornado came and sucked him into the funnel. He shouted as he kept spinning around and around until a purple egg smacked into him.

He said to the egg as he held it, "Oh, hello."

Just a few moments later, Cheese and the egg fell into a pile of hay. Without realizing there were two newcomers, a pony tilted the cart of hay and its contents were loaded onto a train. The image then flashed to Cheese getting off the boxcar and looking around the Canterlot train station in wonder. He saw it was getting cloudy out, so he hurried around Canterlot for any shelter.

When he found an inn he could stay at, the manager said, "You can stay here, but your egg can't."

A young Cheese protested, "But it's not really my egg."

"Then why are you carrying it? Hmm?"

Cheese looked as if the manager made a good point. He knew he had to drop the egg off somewhere. The question was where, though. He scoured across the city until he saw that the palace gates were open. Despite being hesitant, Cheese slipped past the guards and got to the doorstep. He took his basket and blanket and put the egg inside.

He whispered, "Be safe, little guy."

The image then flashed to the next morning when Cheese was walking on the streets. He soon noticed ponies flocking in a certain direction. He decided to follow them and see what the hullabaloo was about. He was amazed to find a huge party in the castle courtyard. When he turned his gaze to the center of the celebration, he saw a pink pony bouncing on the stage.

Pinkie took the microphone and spoke to the crowd, "Hiya, folks! I wanna thank you for coming to the welcome party of our new egg!"

When she gestured towards the guest of honor, Cheese gasped as he saw that it was the egg he left at the doorstep. He was so filled with joy that he wanted to replicate this emotion for other ponies to have. Maybe he could throw parties just like Princess Pinkie would. At that moment, he had found his calling.

Cotton was amazed to see her dad's story right before her eyes.

Skater asked, "So what did you see?"

She smiled, "Only the most amazing thing ever!"

Cheese asked, "What? What did you see?"

As Cotton relayed the story that played on the shard, the ponies in the room were downright amazed.

Whirl asked, "So you're saying that Uncle Cheese would've found his destiny anyway, but the tornado helped him find it and Aunt Pinkie sooner?"

Starling nodded, "That seems about right."

Cheese said, "You must be really tired from all that excitement today, huh? Why don't you all go to bed so you can rest up for tomorrow?"

Cotton embraced her dad and said, "We will. Thank you so much for helping us, even if we did seem a bit crazy."

Cheese scoffed playfully, "I should know crazy. Look at me. I'm crazy. I've yet to find someone else who's crazier than I am."

The rest of the ponies chuckled at that, knowing that there was indeed someone crazier than Cheese was.

---

Chrysalis remembered the commander's description of the mare and managed to locate her guest room. She approached the bed while still being disguised as her son. She took one look at the mare and thought with disgust, What could Mothball possibly see in her? She forcibly nudged her awake.

Screwball woke up with a start, "Mothy, what's-" She was stopped short when Chrysalis used her mind-control powers. Since the queen could feel the love the mare was giving toward her son, it was easy to take control of the mare's mind.

"Now, listen closely: you will tell me everything about yourself, where you come from, who your parents are, everything about your family."

As Screwball told the answers, Chrysalis thought with shock.

So, he was right… This mare does come from a different time… The life I've been living has been nothing but a big trick. The more she kept listening to Screw Ball, the more she realized that there were enemies the royal family had stopped before, but this timeline had changed all that. Those enemies were out there somewhere, so if she could get them together and stop this mare and her cousins from going back…

She told Screwball, "That's enough. Now, you will forget this ever happened… Am I clear?"

She said in a monotone voice, "Yes… very clear…"

"Good." She transformed back to herself and her horn glowed some more, causing Screwy to go back to sleep.

Author's Note:

CN12: I wrote the Screwy, Mothball, and Chrysalis scenes.

Comments

[Skye Mist]

Oh f you, Chrysi! ...Damn it, why you gotta be my favorite MLP villain?! I'm angry at myself for being impressed by your cunning, slyness, and tactics. Curse you.

[CartoonNerd12]

7427501 Let's face it, if you were her would you want to go back to a timeline where you're in prison verses being in a world where you can roam free?

[Skye Mist]

7427531 That's a big, fat NOPE!

[Godslittleprincess]

Oooooooooh! Big boom! Big boom!

[Godslittleprincess]

I just realized that karma bit Screwball in the butt, hard.

[Bronydude23]

Awww, come on, what happens next. Do the Kids find all the mirror shards and return to their own timeline, and if they do, does Screwball run off in search for Moth Ball?

[CartoonNerd12]

7429103 LOL I was hoping someone would pick up the irony!

[Foxhelm]

7427501 I have to say King Sombra from the show proper is the best villain as a villain

[Godslittleprincess]

Cheese said to the group as he pulled apart from Cotton, "Tell you what? You can spend the night at my place. I'll give you ice cream while you tell me everything."

Um, they're kind of freezing to death from the inside. I don't think ice cream is the best thing for them. Oh, well, ice cream is pretty hard to say no to.