//------------------------------// // #45 - Making Time for Cadance // Story: Techorse Short Stories // by Spirals95 //------------------------------// Making Time for Cadance Techorse Series: #45 By Spirals95 Shining Armor was looking over his prized collection of Power and Valor trading cards from his favorite collectible card game, a large binder, bigger than some of Equestria's spellbooks, with artificial leather on the cover and back, and rows upon rows of thin plastic sleeves to protect each of the cards from wear and tear. He was sitting in his lounge in Steamcastle, a few kilometers from the Crystal Empire, a light blue painted room with a beautiful glass table and several large windows. The binder was two feet across in each direction, which gave the advantage of making it hard to steal, but the disadvantage of being extremely heavy to carry, even with levitation magic. Each playing card featured artwork by famous Equestrian comic book artists, and the game was mostly centered around superheroes and supervillains duking it out with more common cards representing their followers or a quick action to turn the tide of the game. The unicorn spotted one of his more recent rare pulls from a collectible pack and removed it from the binder with his magic, the card glowing pink as he removed it for a closer look. The artwork featured a somewhat green and gray stallion hero named “Mr. Catapult”, fittingly with a small metal catapult on his back, flinging a fireball ahead of himself, and a blue scouter crossed over his right eye. The card's artist happened to be Master Piece, which made the card even more valuable to Shining after the ex-criminal's run in with his sister. He was somewhat glad the artist had turned his life around, and yet, couldn't shake the slight annoyance over the story Twilight had told about him. Shining let the moment take control of his mind for a few minute as he stared at the card, until he heard the loving voice of his wife. “Shining, honey, we've got a guest!” He dropped the card, coming back to reality, and looked his wife in the eyes, smiling, “Oh? Neat! Who is it?” “Well,” continued Cadance, smiling, “it's my dad. Remember? We discussed this a few weeks ago, and agreed it would be a good idea to let him get reacquainted with the Crystal Empire.” “Oh shoot, that was today?!” gasped Shining Armor, slamming the cover of his collection so hard dust flew off the coffee table, “I totally forgot about my father-in-law coming over! I gotta get my Crystal Guard uniform on fast.” “Please just be yourself, he seemed to like you when he first met you,” assured Cadance, “plus, I asked Twilight and Techorse to visit too so that we can all bond as a family.” His wife's patient smile would have reassured him if it wasn't for the fact that Cadance was clearly nervous about something. She hadn't seen her father since she was a schoolmare, having left him along with her mother when his vileness towards his sister over Luna's banishment had reached its peak. Now they were trying to plan a family visit as if nothing had happened and Prince “Sundial” had been there for her the whole time. It was definitely going to be an awkward weekend for the estranged family, even if everything went perfectly. Of course, Shining saw it as his duty to make his wife happy and would try his hardest to make sure they succeeded in bringing Sundial up to speed. “Well, if Twiley is going to be here, it'll be a little easier I guess!” he laughed, a bit nervously while flicking his blue tail. “Absolutely. Now, they're at the front gate, so we'd better let them in before they freeze!” The royal couple descended down the main staircase of the steam-powered palace and asked their doorkeeper to open the metal doors that sealed the warm home from the outside cold of the Frozen North. The castle didn't have a shield like the imperial town did, so it was necessary to keep the cold out with heavy insulation and steam turbines that warmed it constantly. A hissing sound was heard as the guard threw a lever, and several heavy deadbolts moved with a grating noise on the hatch-like front door, before the steam tubes keeping it closed shut released and the doors swung open like a bank vault. Prince Sundial stepped through the opening doors, his golden mane hair and beard flowing in a jagged pattern, a broad smile on his face, and snow covering his cutie mark of three white circles with a clock face etched in black over them. A brown parka covered his midsection and wings, and he carried with his magic a large leather suitcase packed for the weekend. “Cadance, my daughter! Thank you for this great opportunity to stay here!” he bellowed in his Russian-esque voice. Cadance ran forward and met her father in an embrace, while Techorse and Twilight entered through the door with their own bags. “Let's get everypony's bags to their rooms, we've got a big weekend ahead of us,” said Cadance, “I'll send for some servants to collect our things.” “Sounds great!” said Techorse, rolling his green-colored suitcase bearing his cutie mark over to the side. “We'll all catch up over some tea,” continued the princess, pointing in the direction of the downstairs tea room using her wing. After having the servants move their bags to their rooms, the royal family had sat down to a nice kettle of hot mint tea in the lounge area of the castle's ground floor. It was a large, open room with a central fire pit that burned wood, the smoke collected by a large copper funnel hanging over head, leading to one of the dozens of chimneys on the outside of the structure. The walls were painted a friendly sky blue, but only the leftmost side of the room featured a series of windows, all separated by paintings of buildings in the Crystal Empire. Cadance, her husband, and her father shared a large blue and red-lace patterned couch, with a small square glass table in front holding their tea, which was served in some blue porcelain teacups on a wicker tray. Twilight and Techorse sat on the other identical couch laid in front of the fire pit, their tails twisted around each other as they discussed their plans for the day. “This is Techorse's first time in the Crystal Empire,” said Twilight to Cadance, raising a hoof and smiling, “and it's been a while since I've been here too!” “Well if you're looking for something fun to do, the residents have just gotten settled into their restored lives and have built a pretty great set of attractions,” Cadance explained, reaching for her tea with a spark of pink magic, “there's this new crystal tag arena, I'm sure you can find some teams to join.” “What's crystal tag?” asked Techorse curiously. Shining Armor barged in with a moment of nerdiness, “It's this really cool game where you get an energy crystal encrusted suit of armor, and a headband. You get to shoot beams at each other to score points for your team!” “Straight up Techorse's alley!” laughed Sundial heartily, “He is already master of lasers. Crystal tag should be piece of cake for him!” “That does sound like a lot of fun,” agreed Techorse, “we've got to try that.” “There's a lot of new things to do downtown,” continued Cadance as she turned to her father, “I want to give you the full tour so the locals can be reintroduced to him. We've been hoping to open up some new trade routes with Hourglass City, and hopefully they'll be inspired by your visit.” The alicorn cleared his throat, “It is true, like my brother's province it has been rough getting my subjects to head out and start trade with the outside world. Yet our problem is almost the opposite. My subjects do not need convincing Equestria is safe for them, but they do not see any value in leaving their homes. By spending time here and showing them just what they are missing out on, we may be able to get them to trade and travel.” “So you basically volunteered to go first?” asked Twilight, “That's great, but it might still take some time before the Hourglass ponies are ready to travel.” His eyes twinkled as he sighed, “Indeed Twilight Sparkle. A little time is sometimes all it takes.” “Let's not worry too much about that right now,” comforted Cadance, “we're going to have a good time in the city today and tomorrow.” “Besides, we've already got a trade route set up, it just needs to be used,” added Shining Armor, “those heat runes Arbiter's family set up kept the path thawed for the merchants.” “Perhaps I will take some time from the tour to find maybe one or two things to have shipped back home,” mused Sundial, scratching at his left wing with his right hoof while he thought about it. “That's probably a good idea,” agreed Techorse, “we can go shopping for Hourglass, in a way!” Techorse thought his little joke was innocent enough, but something changed about the Prince of Time as he said in response,“Exactly, now if you wouldn't mind Techorse, I would love to talk to you more about that while we go get ready. I cannot wait to see what has happened to the empire since I was last here.” “Oh, sure!” agreed the inventor reluctantly, it didn't seem like a good time to break the conversation. Twilight watched Techorse and Sundial got up to leave together to discuss “trade”, and wandered in thought about the abrupt nature of them leaving, their tea abandoned to get cold on the tables behind them. Her thoughts were displaced by Cadance asking her a similar question, “I guess we ought to get ready to go, too. Twilight, I could use your advice on planning out the tour since you're good at doing things by the book. Do you have a moment?” “Yeah, of course,” she answered slowly, returning her gaze to Cadance. The two mares got up from the couches as well and exited the room, leaving a very confused, if not frustrated Shining Armor alone. He sat there dumbfounded, not really understanding what had just happened, but decided to shake it off. “Guess I have a little more time to go over my cards!” he said eagerly before pulling the binder out from underneath the couch. Sundial led Techorse to his room, a large open bedroom with a massive king sized bed draped with white sheets and comforters, gold floorboards against a cream wall paint scheme, and the wooly blue carpet that dominated the floor of the private areas of the castle. The vacuum-tube like lights illuminating the room hung from overhead on a silver chandelier, and the entire room was heated with hot water radiators. The prince had already put his suitcase away in one of the fancy oak drawers in the room, and once he was sure only he and Techorse were inside the room, his horn glowed yellow and he shut the entrance behind him. “If you hadn't guessed yet, this is not about trading for goods,” sighed the alicorn, his eyes heavy with stress. “What's wrong?” asked Techorse, watching as Sundial sat down on the bed, his blonde beard and mane slowing down their jagged movements for a moment, a sign of depression in the Equestrian Royal Family. Sundial took a deep breath, and explained carefully, “I have not seen my daughter in over a decade, and even with all of my time magic, I can't turn back the clock and raise her. She ended up being the Princess of Love, and yet, I do not believe we can repair our relationship.” “So that's why that conversation was so... awkward,” said Techorse, “you weren't really connecting.” “But that's why I'm here. I'm going to get my daughter back,” he answered, nodding. Being himself, Techorse was eager to assist, “I'll do everything I can to help bring you back together as a family. Princess Cadance won't find out about this.” “She already knows,” snickered the prince, “I thought you would have known that about her by now, she can sense stressed relationships. Do you not think she'd most sense the missing link with her own dad?” The green stallion's ears sank back, a bit in annoyance at Sundial's passive insult, but mostly because he knew he'd done his usual shtick of being overly dramatic and blunt to a fault. Sundial continued, “My point is not to conceal this, but to bond with her. There is no better way to do that then to bond over our roles as leaders of Equestrian territories!” “Wait, what?” asked Techorse with surprise, tilting his head. “Yes! I will share my wisdom with her and help her grow as a leader. I missed teaching her things growing up, so I must make up for lost time!” “Sir, I don't think that's a good...” stated Techorse before he was frozen in a time pause bubble spell cast by Sundial. “Please hold that thought, I am working out plans for the day,” he said, walking over to his dresser to pick out something to wear. Techorse, trapped underneath the glowing yellow bubble of energy, couldn't even close his mouth as he remained trapped in the single strand of time Sundial had left him in. Sundial totally ignored him as he prepared for the trip, putting on a brown furry coat and a matching ushanka. All the poor stallion could do was sit there, thinking about how stupid he looked, and how the day was likely going to end in disaster unless he could convince the overbearing alicorn to listen to him. In other words, they were doomed. “That wasn't the smoothest conversation we've had in a while,” laughed Twilight nervously as Cadance paced the floor in her bedroom, “so I'm guessing there's something more you wanted to tell me.” “My dad is not here to start a trade route or anything diplomatic,” she answered, stopping her pacing, “he's here because he wants to patch his relationship with me.” “You don't want to know your dad very well?” asked Twilight, a little concerned. Cadance sighed, and scraped her hoof gently on the floor, “It's not that I don't, it's just that... I only knew him during my foalhood before I escaped his kingdom to come here. Yeah I know he's my biological parent, but he didn't bother to take care of me, so I left. Kind of funny how I ended up being raised mostly by Princess Celestia, who he said was so evil and heartless.” Twilight walked up to her old friend and mentor and placed a hoof around her in a warm hug,“I understand Princess Luna's banishment shattered your family. It's really hard to forgive your dad for basically trying to trap you someplace you didn't want to be.” She then let go of her and smiled, “But hey, you're the Princess of Love! You can patch up any relationship... right?” Her pink coated friend gave a depressing response, “I might be a princess, Twilight, but I can't use magic as a substitute for a bond between ponies that's supposed to have been there since birth. My studies in family and marriage sciences have really taught me what magic can and cannot help, and this is one of those heavier things.” “I thought you said you've always wanted him back,” sighed Twilight, feeling hopeless as well. She answered with a painful smile, “I did, and I am pleased he's been redeemed.” To Twilight's surprise, she went into an unusually sarcastic tone, “But he thinks that everything is one hundred percent back to normal and we're a happy daddy and daughter again! We've saved him from himself, but it'll still be a very long time before I'm ready to completely trust him again.” “Hey, I know exactly how you feel,” answered Twilight, “remember Shining's replacement Arbiter Axechop?” “You mean that creep who tried to chop off...” “That's the one!” confirmed Twilight quickly, silencing her before she could get angry, “Arbiter stopped being a total jerk right away once we defeated him, but it took over a whole year for him to be our friend after that... and I still think Rainbow Dash barely forgives him now.” “I'm glad you understand the situation,” said Cadance, trying to change the topic, “but for this weekend, what I want to do is to try and spend a weekend with dad to help him understand he'll have to spend a long time getting to know me over again. I'm sure there's some new things about him I'll need to learn too. We're not taking the easy way out with magic.” Twilight nodded and joked, “I agree, I've had plenty of bad experiences with taking the easy way out magically.” The two mares laughed over the joke and the many ill-fated adventures Twilight had faced from her “shortcuts” before putting on some warm clothing to head into the city. The journey into the empire was a short, pleasant walk of a few kilometers from Steamcastle, kept warm by heat runes that made it safe for carts to travel. It was still freezing cold in the outside atmosphere, and the castle consumed a lot of power to keep the paths warm, so the ponies remained bundled up tightly as they worked their way to the home of the crystal ponies. Soon they came upon the energy-domed city, a green and lush circle in the vast white expanse of the arctic terrain. The natural cold was a perfect defense for the city, but there seemed to be nothing but an atmosphere of peace and happiness within the imperial town. The ponies reached the edge of the protective magic energy bubble being projected by the large, towering citadel in the center of the land, and Techorse pushed a hoof gently through the field to test it before taking the plunge and stepping through into the sunny and warm contained atmosphere. “Ah, she is just as beautiful as a I remember her!” sighed Sundial, removing his warm coat. The others did the same, and checked them in with one of the many border guard stations around the perimeter of the city's shields before continuing down the sparkling main road towards the city. Eventually they came to the main square of the large town, just a half mile away from the giant citadel of the Crystal Castle that dominated the very center. Sundial could not believe he was getting a chance to see the crystal ponies again after he had left them so long ago. They were all along the streets, shops, and homes of the empire, wearing their mane hair tied back with the traditional ribbons. “Wow, so this is the Crystal Empire?” whistled Techorse, “I love the architecture and the steam heating!” “I thought you might enjoy it,” Twilight said, winking at him. The five walked down one of the cobblestone roads, Prince Sundial getting strange looks as he was the biggest one of the pack. They passed a shop making woodcutting tools, a simple setup with a few wood axes and saws in the back, along with the owner toiling away at his forge. A large sign overhead marking the blacksmith's shop was in the shape of an axe head, and a few ponies were trying to get his attention to purchase some supplies to fell trees outside the city for fire wood. “Hey, are you open?” asked one of the stallions in front of the line, “We need some supplies.” “Just a minute, you can't rush good axes!” chuckled the owner, placing his most recently forged axe into a cold water bath to cool it. The owner approached the front of the shop, “All right, how can I help you?” One of the two chains holding the giant sign above the stallion in front was getting rather old and rusty. While the customer tried to buy his axe, the rightmost chain began to creak and snap under the weight of the massive sign. A red pegasus pony mare behind the stallion noticed the sign was about to fall, as one of the chains suddenly gave way. Thinking quickly, she spread her wings and flew up, grabbing the end of the heavy sign with her front hooves. Obvious stress on her face came quickly as the other chain broke, leaving her holding it, and the ponies below screamed and ran away as the sign came down, smashing to pieces on the ground. The poor mare had been dragged down with the sign, and she sat on the ground, rubbing her head. “Are you ok?” gasped Cadance, pushing forward through the onlookers. “Yeah, I'm fine, thank you Princess Cadance,” she said. The Princess's horn glowed as she directed a wide cone of energy over the mare's head, dulling the pain of her welt and helping it to heal slightly. Cadance took a deep breath afterwords from the difficulty of using any kind of healing magic, and the pegasus mare took a big step back from the smashed sign she had been sitting on top of. “You really helped prevent an accident there,” congratulated Shining Armor, stepping up next to his wife, “thanks!” Being a bit timid about her heroism, the mare backed up and giggled, “Oh, well, it probably wouldn't have done much more to that guy then that fall did to me, you know?” The blacksmith came out from behind his benches and went over to thank the mare as well. But he was quickly intercepted by Sundial, who stood in front of the earth pony, and towered over him with anger on his face. Unlike the others, who had focused all their attention on the mare who'd done a good deed, Sundial saw need to dispense some discipline. “Are you out of your MIND?” he shouted at the owner, who's black mane started to go frizzy from fear, “You could have squished somepony with your total failure to check the condition of your sign! That negligence should not go unpunished!” “But... sir!” begged the stallion, backing down, “I couldn't have known about the chains rusting, it rarely rains here!” “Is that any excuse? Why we should...” Cadance was about to say something to her father, but his rant was interrupted by a loud noise coming from the citadel. A glowing light appeared from the center, and a pure ray of crystal line started to shine down into the street, highlighting the brave mare like a spotlight. Her crystal coat sparkled in the brilliance of the ray, and the onlookers began to cheer. “What is going on?” asked Techorse curiously. Cadance turned to him and explained, “The Crystal Heart senses acts of love for others, and sometimes chooses to highlight them. This young mare has earned the artifact's favor this morning for saving that stallion.” “Oh,” she said softly, spreading her wings and admiring her glow, “I guess that could have been much worse. I've never been honored by the Heart like this before!” Eventually the ray subsided, and the mare left with a warm feeling in her heart. Sundial's outburst had been all but forgotten by the ponies present, except for Cadance, who eyed her father suspiciously. Twilight and Techorse looked at each other with worry, knowing that Sundial was going to likely repeat this behavior again to “show Cadance how to rule”. Shining could sense his wife's feelings and nervously suggested, “H.. hey, let's get started and go to that museum, what do you say?” “Sounds great to me, lead the way!” encouraged Twilight. The Princess of Love dropped her thoughts about her father, and agreed, leading her friends to their first attraction. Cadance brought them to the eastern part of the city to visit an art gallery featuring sculptures from the local crystal material that responded to touch. It was odd having a museum where touching the exhibits was actively encouraged, but the lure of the sculptures brought in visitors from all over Equestria. The museum was a large building built from marble, with tall pillars of light blue crystal holding up the overhanging roof. “You're going to love this museum, Twiley,” said Shining to his sister, leading ahead of her, “the sculptures in there do really cool stuff when touched with magic.” “I've heard of this place before, they've got that crystal-coated fountain that lets you can control the color of the water. Wish I'd brought some paper along to take notes, I'd love to study the magical properties of the crystals mined from the area,” she answered enthusiastically. “If you're interested, we can send you back with some crystals from the local cutters,” suggested Cadance, “that was you can get a chance to study them back in Ponyville.” “Can I study some of them too?” asked Techorse, eager to get a chance to do his own research. “I don't know, can you?” joked Sundial. Techorse rolled his eyes and laughed when he heard Twilight groan at the silly joke. “What?” chuckled Sundial, swishing his tail, “Am I not a father?” The party reached the ticket booth for the museum. Admission was fairly low cost, especially for students, but the money collected helped keep the sculptures in working order and good condition after being messed with by the guests. A long line of ponies, most of them imperial citizens but several of them from other regions had formed in front of the booth. The booth was a small white box made of marble and glass, and there were clearly three windows which could house three employees to get tickets sold faster. But the museum was short on help today, and only one unfortunate employee was left tending the booth, a young stallion unicorn who was taking bits and giving back the tickets as fast as he could. As they took their places in the back, Sundial towered over the other ponies, being almost as tall as his older sister Celestia, and peered around the line. They were about fourteenth in queue, which wouldn't take more than ten minutes or so, but Sundial was already beginning to get annoyed with it. None of the ponies even bothered to acknowledge Cadance despite many of them making eye contact with her, and this made Sundial furious. He thought angrily, “What? My daughter is royalty! How dare they not recognize their leader and relinquish the first place in line!” Finally, the blue pegasus mare in front of the group turned around having finished her conversation with her coltfriend she had invited to see the museum, and noticed Princess Cadance. “Oh, good afternoon Cadance!” she said, bowing. That made Sundial even angrier, and before his daughter could do anything, Sundial stepped forward, his massive hooves nearly breaking the pavement below, and bent down his head to yell at the mare. “How dare you fail to address your Princess as such! Have you no shame?” “Oh no,” groaned Twilight, putting a hoof over her face. Her coltfriend, another pegasus with a gray coat, turned around as well to confront the rude guest, “Hey, buddy...” “I AM NOT YOUR BUDDY,” bellowed Sundial, nearly knocking the couple on their rear ends. Cadance turned beet red in the face, as now the entire line and the ticket booth operator were staring at her and her raging father. Techorse wanted to open up his battle saddle and cover his own face with his robotic arm gadgets, but he couldn't even bring himself to do that, and just stood there, trying to avoid eye contact out of embarrassment. “Oh... oh goodness!” cried the mare, about to burst into tears, “I'm so sorry!” “Don't be,” grunted Cadance, pushing past her father, “you were here first, and I made it clear everypony in the empire can know me on a first name basis. It is in line with Equestria's values of friendship and happiness for every pony!” Sundial was shocked at Cadance's intervention, and even more shocked when she turned around and stared him down, “Dad, you owe my subjects an apology.” “Dad? Oh shoot, that's Prince Sundial!” gasped the colt, along with many others in the line. “He's returned?” gasped another pony. “What's going on?” asked Twilight, a bit confused. Sundial frowned, “Well, before everything came crashing down, I was the High Judge of the Crystal Empire. But eventually, I went and founded Hourglass in secret as a city to stand the test of time. In my absence. things... went south and we lost this wonderful city.” He then nearly choked on his words, “It was... one of the things that started tearing my family apart.” “Oh, Judge Sundial, we forgive you!” answered the crystal mare, smiling, “You needed to found another town. It was crowded when you left.” Cadance watched as a few tears rolled down her father's cheeks, disappearing into his beard. Her love for him soothed her anger about his actions, and she decided to forgive the incident. The pony operating the ticket booth walked up to Twilight while the group was mostly distracted, and slipped her enough tickets for the party to get in, mostly to help keep the line moving. Twilight thanked him for the tickets, and the other ponies started to leave, going back into the museum. Eventually the mare and her coltfriend bid the former ruler farewell, and went into the museum. Sundial finally calmed down and pushed his shame about losing the empire and helping to drive apart his family, and suggested they try to enjoy the museum. As they were headed inside, Cadance pulled him back, Twilight and Techorse taking Shining in with them without noticing. “I'm sorry,” said the prince softly, “it is ironic, but... I have forgotten how times have changed! I thought perhaps we could bond over being rulers.” Cadance lovingly but sternly warned him, “Dad, I know you're upset, and I know you want to spend time with me, but I really can't have you say those kinds of things to the crystal ponies. Telling off that blacksmith was a little bit fair because he ignored the condition of his sign, but I thought it was going to lead to you doing it again, and I'm sorry to say I was right. Can you please tone it down?” “Very well, I'll hold my tongue,” he answered, “now, can we enjoy our museum?” “Let's try to,” she answered, smiling again as she was confident he'd not have another outburst. The museum turned out to be way more exciting than Twilight had ever imagined, and she took every opportunity to use her magic to make the sculptures more interactive. One of them was a crystal rabbit that hopped around in its box when exposed to magic energy, and Twilight spent a lot of time with it entertaining the other museum guests. Sundial managed to avoid getting into another altercation with anyone at the museum, but that was mostly because he was too enamored with the crystal suit of armor art that stuck out its hooves and bowed whenever touched. The responsive crystals fascinated the prince, who wondered what would happen if he applied a little time magic to one of the sculptures. He tried touching his glowing horn to a statue of a sapling to see what would happen. Unfortunately, this caused the sculpture to age rapidly, and the sapling rapidly grew into a full size tree in the middle of the museum. A curator ran up to the royal family and gave them angry looks. “What?” laughed Sundial, “It says we can touch!” Techorse finished looking over the crystal pipe organ that had been constructed in the museum, playable with a set of keys below, and returned to Twilight, who was standing in a little alcove away from most of the sculptures. He walked over to her, and saw his marefriend taking notes on the exhibits on a pad of paper she had brought into the museum. “Hey,” he said, “Enjoying the sculptures?” “Absolutely! I've never had so much fun in a museum in my life! The magic sensitive crystal mined around here is so cool, I could write essays all day on it,” she answered, a twinkle in her eye. Techorse shifted back and forth a bit on his legs, and then locked eye contact with Twilight, “I'm, really having a good time too, Twilight. Thanks for inviting me along, love.” “Another pet name?” teased Twilight, “Come here you!” Twilight looked to make sure no one was around, and then motioned with her hoof with her eyes half closed. Techorse stepped forward, and the two started to kiss for a few precious seconds before they were interrupted by Twilight's brother, who had caught them in the act. “Hey, that's enough,” cautioned Shining sternly, “come up for air, Techorse.” Techorse removed his lips from Twilight's, and the two blushed and looked away from each other. “Sorry you had to see that Shining,” said Techorse, a bit guilty. The stallion seemed to lighten up, relaxing his limbs, and mocked them, “Tech, this is a public space, there's a three second rule man.” “Oh no, not the bro code,” groaned Techorse, holding a hoof over his face in pain. “Sorry, rules are rules,” he teased, “come on guys, we're about to get out of here and play some crystal tag!” “Yeah!” cheered Twilight, “I've been working on my magic bolts this month, this should be a piece of cake!” “We'll see about that,” joked Shining Armor, “last time I blasted you off the map in the first minute, Twiley!” “Ah, but this time, I have my secret weapon, my coltfriend!” answered Twilight, raising and eyebrow in a smug manner. Techorse took one look at her smug look and tried to copy it, looking absolutely stupid in the process. Shining rolled his eyes, “Pffft... like you have any chance against Cadance and me...” Bolts of energy were flying everywhere, and the players of the game of crystal tag were trying to prevent themselves from getting hit in the mayhem. Techorse and Twilight, put on the same team against Shining Armor and Cadance, were weighed down quite a lot by the bulky armor studded with red crystals they were wearing. Techorse's laser cannons were sprouting out through the seams in the armor, having loaded the game's set of crystals into his weapons, while Twilight wore a band tightly around her horn that let her shoot her beams. They were cowering underneath a wooden crate in the dark arena filled with fog and neon lights, simulating a futuristic battle. “Ok,” said Twilight loudly over the noise, “Shining's right behind our crate, on three, we roll over and get him!” “Roger!” answered Techorse. “One... Two... THREE!” The two ponies rolled on their sides around the crate, and both fired their beams into Shining's suit, which glowed bright blue from its crystals before shutting down. “Aw man...” he said, disappointed he had taken so many hits and was out of the game. “Yeah, and that's what you get for camping behind a crate!” cheered Techorse before a bunch of bluish beams soared over his head, “Looks like we win after all, Shining!” The two ran away as Cadance chased them down. Her armor had tucked her wings away, as flying and magic were cheating in the game of crystal tag, but she was still not a bad shot, and the blue crystal around her horn flung bolts downrange towards Twilight and Techorse. One struck Techorse's back, and his armor flashed to indicate he was down to his last hit. “This is my last life,” said Techorse, running out of breath, “we need to get to cover again!” “Mine too, this way!” answered Twilight, pushing them around a corner of one of the walls in the room. They ran into a fellow player on their team, a crystal pony unicorn who immediately jumped out from cover and plugged Cadance's armor dead center, taking her out of the game. Now there was only one pony left on the other team. “Just one more to go,” said Twilight excitedly, “this is so much fun!” Techorse tried to agree, “Yeah I know, it's...” They were cut short as their hooves were frozen in place with yellow swirls of time magic. Sundial had frozen them in place, and quickly moved from behind his cover and blasted all three of the ponies in the chest, taking them out. The game was over, and the lights in the room turned blue, signaling victory for the blue team. “Oh yes! Victory for team Cadance!” cheered Sundial, releasing his magical hold and bringing his hoof down in a victory pose. But his daughter, and several referee ponies in striped shirts had a very different reaction. “Dad, that was cheating!” complained Cadance, very cross with her father, “You can't use any magic when playing crystal tag, we have that rule so there doesn't have to be an anti-magic zone cast on the arena.” “Yeah old man, that's unfair!” complained Shining, “They were about to win fair and square before you did that.” “So what?” complained the Prince, “I couldn't let you lose, a good kingdom does not let their princess lose!” Cadance could not believe what she was hearing, and instead turned to the referees and said, “Look, I'm sorry guys. He doesn't get it. I'll reimburse you if anypony asks for their money back.” “What is so wrong with this?” he grumbled. Cadance had finally had enough of her father and turned around and started yelling, “What's so wrong with this? How about the way you've been treating my subjects all day? If you think this is how a leader should act, go back home where you can get away with it!” The mere act of yelling at someone else in anger was absolutely mortifying to all present, who thought Cadance's gentle and loving nature could never be broken. Sundial recoiled in shock, realizing that his plan had completely crumbled. But a few moment later, Cadance realized what she had said to her father, her total loss of character and composure, and she began to shake her head slowly before running out of the arena, nearly sobbing. The others, save Techorse and Sundial, left to go find her and try to help her calm down. Techorse walked up to Sundial, who couldn't seem to get why he was in trouble with everyone, and the two of them stood alone in the arena as a disgusted Twilight and Shining left with Cadance. “I still do not understand!” grunted Sundial, taking off his armor and discarding it, “Why will Cadance not see what benefits there are to being royalty? Why can she not bond with me?” “I think it's because you're only showing Cadance how to abuse power,” answered Techorse honestly as he discarded his own armor, “being in authority is pretty neat sometimes, but it's not acceptable to Cadance to use it put yourself above other ponies.” “But she is above other ponies!” he blurted out without thinking. “Well Sundial,” answered Techorse with anger in his eyes, “I can't stop you from thinking that. But I'm pretty sure Cadance wants a dad who loves her subjects the way she does. Guess you don't fit the bill.” Turning around, the green stallion flicked his brown messy tail and exited the arena, leaving the prince alone and feeling rather burnt. Yet after a few moments of reflecting on it, he understood exactly what Techorse was trying to tell him, and his heart became heavy again. “I.. I can't do this my way,” he said slowly. The prince took a deep breath, drawing foggy air into his lungs, and coughed. He muttered sadly, “Perhaps I should just go after today. It was foolish to think Cadance and I could get along after so much time apart.” Cadance stormed out after the cheating, and huffed her way down the street, ignoring friendly ponies trying to greet her. Eventually her husband caught up, galloping to her side. “Are you ok?” he asked, concerned. After a few moments of no answer, and her eyes not moving from the pavement beneath her, he tried again. “Honey, we can't send your dad home early,” protested Shining, “we can just deal with his... ways for another day, it's not so bad.” Cadance and her husband walked side by side now, with Techorse and Twilight closely catching up behind them. They were arguing about what to do concerning Sundial, considering his behavior. The sun was beginning to set, and the paved paths of the empire twinkled in the evening light, along with the city's buildings. She had never wanted to suggest kicking him out, and answered, “Shining, I don't want to kick him out, and I feel bad for yelling. I want to help him, but he's resisting.” “Maybe he just needs time?” suggested Shining, “I think he just runs things a bit more strict than what we do.” Twilight and Techorse listened to the conversation with worry. Relations between Cadance and her father seemed to be getting worse as the prince continued to misbehave, and they knew there wasn't much they could to fix that. In the very back, Sundial continued to mope, feeling guilty for trying to show Cadance the “correct” way to rule when he should have just let her be herself. “Hey, watch out!” cried a voice, getting the team to look up. A cart, propelled by a steam engine on the back instead of being pulled by ponies, was barreling down the street. One of its wooden wheels had detached, sending it out of control, and the driver could not hit the brakes as they had been tied to his rear wheels, one of which was missing. The steam carriage had a family inside of a mare, her husband, and their three terrified foals, who could only scream as they headed for another cart, this one being pulled by two stallions. The other cart had several passengers of various ages, and there was no way that they could get out in time. “Twilight, we've got to do something!” said Techorse, “Teleport those ponies out!” “There's too many of them and they're moving targets,” she cried in response, “and a barrier will just splat everypony!” Cadance and Shining turned around, and went through their own repertoire of spells in their minds, quickly trying to come up with a plan to save the carts from crashing and harming everyone. The two vehicles came within a few feet of each other, and all present braced for impact, shutting their eyes tight. No crash came, and they slowly opened their eyes again, to see Prince Sundial between the two vehicles, his horn spewing a large beam of yellow energy in a field over the carts. Time had frozen completely for the two machines, the steam engine's smoke had even frozen in place. “Everypony out... NOW!” demanded the alicorn, the front bumpers nearly squeezing him together, sweat pouring down his face, his beard lapping up the perspiration. The occupants of the vehicles quickly exited and left the time protecting bubble, and Cadance called out to her father, “They're all clear! Get out of there.” “I... can't!” the prince answered honestly, “I cannot leave the field without losing it. Time magic is powerful but it does not have good range, and it is extremely draining!” “But... when you let go of the spell,” whimpered Twilight. Prince Sundial looked up, smiling at his daughter from across the street, “All day today, Cadance, I tried to teach you how I rule instead of letting you do things as you see fit. To be a good father now, I should have learned more about you, instead of trying to raise you all over again. But there's one rule I kept that I think we've got in common.” “D.. dad!” cried Cadance, nearly about to cry. “You always protect your ponies, at any price!” he shouted, before releasing the spell. The carts crashed together at their original velocity, and the steam engine exploded, parts and pieces of the machines flew everywhere, sending ponies for cover. Cadance wailed loudly and ran over to the pile of wreckage, desperately searching for her father. “I can't believe that just happened,” mumbled Twilight, still in shock. “Why would he do something so stupid?!” cried Shining. “I agree, I probably should have cast my personal time recall before releasing the carts,” said Sundial, who was clearly standing next to the other ponies. “Oh my goodness!” shrieked Twilight, jumping backwards as if she was seeing a ghost. Cadance turned around, her heart lifting, and saw her father standing amongst her friends. Prince Sundial now sported a nice bunch of splinters in his body and face, his beard was burnt in multiple areas, and he probably had a broken bone somewhere in his back left leg, but he was smiling and very much alive. Cadance, tears still running down her face, ran over to the alicorn and threw herself around him. “Don't scare me like that!” she sobbed, “I thought I'd lost you.” “Again? Never!” he answered. The ponies who had been rescued went over to thank the prince for rescuing them, when a glowing ball of light became visible from the citadel. The Crystal Heart produced a beam of energy that shot down to where the friends were standing, and they basked in the crystal light as the intelligent artifact rewarded Sundial for his help. Techorse looked at his glowing, crystalline body in the ray, and turned to Twilight, who smiled, “See, I told you it was cool!” Cadance said to her father, “The Crystal Heart wants to welcome you back, it seems.” The beam subsided, and Sundial sighed heavily before he answered, “I've always been welcome back. But I've accepted that I missed a lot of time with you, and it will be a very long time before we are as close as we should have been. But I'm looking forward to every day of it, Cadance.” “Me too...” she said, drying her eyes with her wings, “I'm sorry I yelled.” “It was worth it,” he answered, covering her with his large wings. Prince Sundial released one wing from Cadance, and cleared his throat before announcing loudly, “Citizens of the Crystal Empire! Today, I must ask for your forgiveness for being so harsh with you. I should have listened to my daughter, who does a fantastic job helping you and making your lives better. I am honored to have so much to learn from my precious Cadance.” The two embraced again, and the onlookers smiled and stomped their hooves on the ground in applause. Cadance and Sundial returned to their group, finally smiling and ready to slowly repair their relationship. Their friends and family looked on in approval. “Hey, now that we're all here, we should go grab dinner!” suggested Twilight. “Yes, let's go get a meal on me!” said Sundial, stepping on his right leg. A jolt of pain shot through the limb, and he winced. He followed it up with some laughter and dark comedy, “Eh... maybe after a quick stop at the drugstore.” The crystal ponies who had been rescued, along with Twilight and company, laughed along and helped the prince hobble along to go get some help for his injuries. He had finally laid the foundation for restoring his relationship with his daughter, and was willing to take the time to build it back up again. Perhaps the royal family would be restored some day. It was only a matter of time.