So Queenie got revenge. She stole Aladdin’s lamp and used him to send Emma to a world where she never became the Savior. Tensions rose amongst the family before Regina went to confront her other half. She realized that she and Queenie were the same, so she was Aladdin’s mistress as well. She wished herself to the dream world and he granted it.
With Regina gone as well, David decided to take matters into his own hands. He confronted Queenie and got the lamp, controlling Aladdin. He wished for Queenie to get exactly what she deserved but nothing happened. Queenie gloated that she got what she wanted—his family was falling apart. She tried to kill him but Hook and Jasmine intervened.
Later, the hooded figure emerged from Granny’s and turned her into a snake.
Meanwhile, Rumple and Belle had a talk and were horrified to learn that Blue had been attacked. She revealed that the Black Fairy had taken their son and they panicked, wondering what she was doing to him.
In the Wish Realm, Princess Emma celebrated her birthday with her loving parents and the entire court. The Enchanted Forest was prosperous and peaceful, thanks to Snow and Charming banishing the Evil Queen years ago. However, Princess Emma had been having strange dreams and found a sword under her bed. Snow waved it off and Henry figured it was for his knighting ceremony. It seemed even this wish realm, Neal was around…and died. Emma decided to put everything out of her mind and focus on Henry’s big day.
Regina arrived in the Wish Realm and freaked out the dwarves when they thought the Evil Queen returned. She then came across Emma in the woods, surprised at how docile she was as Snow and Charming threatened Regina. Regina poofed back to her castle where she found Rumpelstiltskin. He gave her some advice before making a deal with her for his freedom. As he went to find her a magic bean, she went to remind Emma that she was the Savior.
Henry was knighted and Regina burst in, much like she did at the Snowing wedding. She demanded that Emma find a hero who could fight her before kidnapping the Charmings. Emma then showed up at the Winter Palace, surrendering the kingdom to Regina. Frustrated, Regina crushed Snowing’s hearts in an attempt to get through to Emma. Nothing worked until Henry promised to avenge his grandparents, almost killing a docile Regina. Emma used her magic to stop him, jolted from her wish realm.
In Storybrooke, Rumple and Belle learned the figure under the hood—the one destined to kill Emma—was their son, all grown up.
In the Wish Realm, Rumple came through with a magic bean. Regina and Emma threw it down and a portal opened. But they are then waylaid by Robin Hood—very much alive and very much trying to rob them. Regina was shocked to see her soulmate again and as Emma tried to get her to leave, she refused to move. The portal closed, leaving them trapped.
We open in Minneapolis in 1990. Little Emma sits around a fire in an alley. She tears pages out of a book and throws them in, trying to stay warm in the harsh weather.
A male voice tells her not to tear out the story of “The Ugly Duckling.” She says she’s trying to stay warm and he asks her what she’s doing out there. Little Emma replies that she ran away from a lousy group home. She goes to rip the story again but he tells her again not to. We then see a dark-haired teenage boy who tells her that fairy tales are about transformations and belief. He says the duckling believed he was a swan so much, he became one. Emma points out that that’s not what the story is about—the duckling was always a swan. (She’s right). But he says he likes his interpretation between because it means we can become whoever we believe we are. He asks her if this what she believes is her destiny and says that she’ll find her home one day.
We next see little Emma sipping hot chocolate (with cinnamon!) at Child Services. A woman asks her how long she’s been on the streets and Emma replies a few nights. She’s then asked her name and she gives it as “Emma Swan.” Thus we now know where Emma got her last name.
(I thought it had been established that it was the name of the foster family who originally adopted her but gave her up when they had a child of their own. Or was that fanon I mistook for canon?)
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| (Look at baby Emma!) |



























