12 - Founding
Chapter 12: Founding
Tempora found Max hiding in a cupboard.
“Oh," he muttered sheepishly. “Hey.”
“Don’t ‘hey’ me!” Tempora hissed at the recalcitrant human. “When were you going to tell Harmony about me?!”
Max simply looked confused.
“I thought you two already met," Max replied, giving a small shrug.
Tempora flared her wings.
“Don’t give me that, Max. I thought you told Harmony about me as much as you told me about Harmony.” She stamped her hoof, the stone crackled slightly underhoof.
Max eyed the hoof carefully as he cautiously picked his next words.
“Well, it just never came up," he admitted, rubbing a hand to the back of his head.
Wrong words.
“I don’t believe this!” She snorted, giving Max a deadly glare. “No wonder Harmony was acting like he’d never heard of me before, I was so blind. I trusted you. That poor colt, I’ll apologise to him immediately.”
“I should come with y-“ Max began, but he was cut off.
“No, you have done quite enough," Tempora growled coldly, stalking out of the room. “Keep out of trouble and go help out with the wedding. I’ve got a family to repair.”
———
I stared back at List for a moment before bursting out in laughter.
“Oh ha ha, good one, didn’t take you for a joker but that’s a good leg pull," I chuckled, looking back at Discord. He chuckled uneasily.
List’s expression did not change one iota.
“I am not joking," she ground out. “I do not know who this ‘Cadance’ is.”
I stared at her, my mirth cut short.
“She’s a pink… what do you call it? Alicorn? About this big-“ I held out my hands to indicate “-has a blue crystal heart design on her flank, you were tending to her at the same time during my audience with Tempora.”
A flicker of annoyance flitted through List’s features.
“That is Queen Tempora.” Her tail flicked in annoyance.
I grimaced but wiped the expression off quickly.
“Surely- You can’t- Ugh.” I placed a hand on my face, then turned to Discord.
“You’ve seen Cadance, you know her, right?” I asked him.
Discord slowly shook his head.
“What? Really? She did the makeup on you when we trapped you with the plate of cookies," I pushed, but Discord shook his head again, this time after a moment’s pause to think.
“I thought that was Celestia?” He replied but he looked unsure.
“She sounds familiar though…” He mumbles slowly but then shrugs.
“Impossible," List interrupts, stamping with her hoof. “The whole kingdom will have known if there had been another alicorn born.”
I pondered the thought. It couldn’t have been a hallucination. Too real and very internally consistent. Perhaps it was a by-product of one of Dad’s experiments? There were those memetic worms… I felt a shudder course through my body. Ugh.
“Are you all right?” List asked me, her expression worried.
I smile thinly.
“Perhaps this could be a discussion point with Queen Tempora," I replied, moving towards the door. List nods somewhat stiffly.
“Of course, your appointed time has come up.” The purple mare gestures to the door. “If you follow me, I will bring you to the appointed meeting place.”
——
We found Tempora already reclining on some sort of triclinium or couch set out to view the surrounding gardens. The grass was neatly trimmed and hedges and water fountains were placed around the gently sloped surrounds that gave an aura of calm and serenity that vastly mismatched my increasing unease.
I approached the table with a measure of caution mixed with apprehension.
Tempora started with a small scrape of me moving a chair alerted her to my presence. I sat uneasily in the small backless furniture as Discord came round and gripped my hand almost painfully tight with a claw. I winced but gave him a reassuring smile.
“Don’t worry," I whispered to the frightened draconequus. I placed a hand on his shaking body. “Go exploring in the garden but don’t go too far, I’ll have some words with Tempora.”
Tempora watched Discord like a hawk until he disappeared into the hedges. She took a shuddering breath before launching into something I least expected from her.
“I’d like to apologise again," she began, eyes watering. I stayed silent, not really knowing how to react to this. I may be better at mushy stuff than my Dad, but I wasn’t the most eloquent person either.
Tempora continued while I tried to find words.
“Your father has noted that you were not… informed of our relationship before a few days ago?” Tempora put forward, but it seemed less of a question and more of a confirmation to herself.
“I can’t begin to imagine what you’re feeling right now. Suddenly getting news like this out of nowhere… I want to tell you how sorry I am, I should have foreseen this," Tempora added bitterly.
I cleared my throat, interrupting her.
“Oh it’s not you that has to apologise," I muttered darkly, glaring at the table in the way molten lead would consume a thin sheet of paper.
Tempora rubbed me on the back with her hoof, startling me.
“You poor, poor colt," she murmured rubbing the side of her face on mine. I realised she was nuzzling me. I sat there silently enduring the ministrations until she pulled back.
“I’ve always wanted a son," she confessed, giving a little blush. Her eyes turned down to the table. “Your father would always talk about you, so I was excited to meet you. I had thought-“ she paused “-I had thought he would at least mention me to you.”
I realised I was gripping the edge of my chair with white knuckles. I forced myself to relax. I let out a noisy breath.
“Yeah that’s my Dad. I’m not happy about it but it’s about par for course with him," I grumbled, I gazed out into the field. I felt a pleasant smile fight its way to the surface and I grinned despite myself.
“Celestia, Luna and Cadance are precious things though," I chuckled, studying the movement of a couple of swallows chasing each other through the garden.
Tempora frowned, tilting her head.
“Is Cadance a new filly my Celestia and Luna has made friends with?” She asked me with a small confused smile.
I felt a small twinge of dread work its way down my spine.
“No, Cadance, your daughter?” I urged, looking at Tempora with desperate eyes.
Tempora’s expression went from confused to concerned.
“I do not know a daughter by that name. If you would please describe her?”
I swallowed, recalling once again Cadance’s image to my mind.
“She’s slightly shorter than Celestia but not by much. She’s got three streaks of colour in her hair, like Celestia. Deep mauve, cream and light magenta for her hair colours which extends to her tail. Hmm, her flank bears the mark of a blue crystal heart surrounded by gold or yellow wreaths. She has violet eyes. Hmm, she’s also an alicorn, at least I think she’s alicorn, she’s got both horns and a pair of wings…” I trailed off as I tried to recall more details. “She’s bright, intuitive, friendly and responsible as far as I can tell, very coordinated and talented-“
Tempora cut me off there.
“That’s enough," she bid me gently, nodding her head. “It is clear with that kind of detail that it is no mere fanciful dreaming. You’re saying that everypony acted as if it were natural that she were my daughter, including my daughters themselves?”
I nodded.
“Also Discord," I added but Tempora simply nodded at that.
She shifted her hooves uncomfortably.
“I was afraid of this," she mumbled, her sunset orbs distant.
I found her new look a little disconcerting, almost simultaneously intensely commanding and witheringly ancient. I couldn’t hold onto to them for long and I cast out instead to the gardens, contemplating my own set of circumstances.
I considered Dad-related causes. Memetic worms wouldn’t do this, our memories would be deteriorating with some remembering and some not, so it didn’t appear to be the cause. I sincerely doubted that my Dad was incautious enough to open passage into that universe again anyway. Perhaps another type of memetic entity? If so, why did it only affect me? Or perhaps it affected everyone and I was the exception? There wasn’t any proof so it was simpler to assume it just affected me.
This reeked of something more overarching though and Tempora seemed like she had a firm idea on what it was. I needed answers.
“Tempora?” I asked gently, though impatiently. “You seem to know something.”
She nodded slowly.
“I’ve been afraid of this being a side-effect of the Temporal Rift I pulled you through.”
“Temporal Rift?”
Tempora paused as she took a steadying breath.
“The Temporal Rift is how I was able to bring you here to Equestria. You see, your father had initially made contact through on your side but there had been a problem with his method. The temporal alignment was unstable.”
“Unstable? Do you mean he kept popping up in the wrong times?” I postulated, tapping a finger to my chin.
Tempora smiled at me.
“You’re a bright one, just like your father told me. Yes, Max had been popping in and out of our time like a wild parasprite. One moment he’d be here another moment he’d be at the birth of Equestria and then suddenly in the unstable future.”
Tempora’s head fell.
“He almost died, exposed to the vacuum for mere moments at the ends of the universe.”
I felt my eyebrows come down in a frown.
“How did you solve it?”
Tempora sighed, looking out at the gardens as if the answer laid there.
“I felt the disturbances throughout our timeline. I felt a tipping in the balance of time. I simply tried correcting the Flow of Time with my magic. It dragged Max into present-day Equestria. He was beyond excited, after I had corrected the Flow of Time, he was able to use his device to bounce back and forth between our worlds.”
Tempora’s face split into a giddy grin.
“At first, I was amused at this strange, inquisitive and eccentric creature. He came and went as he pleased, he didn’t mind his manners, he made me flustered and confused. Before long, I missed him when he went back to his world. I would go about my day thinking about him. I realised that I hadn’t felt this way since-“ she gave me a lop-sided grin “-since Spatium.”
“I’m glad for you," I replied. I gestured for Tempora to continue.
Tempora had a goofy smile on her face that was infectious, I found myself happily smiling along with her.
“It made me happy to realise that I could love again. He was so kind, so mysterious, so caring at the same time. A stallion that could make me laugh.”
Tempora’s mouth curled down and her brow knitted.
“But the Flow of Time was not ‘for him’ or ‘of him’, eventually my corrections would lead to a ‘snap back’ similar to way a harp string would pull back. I offered Max a choice. To come live in Equestria where I would find a way to pull him into our Time through a Temporal Rift. Time magic was my specialty but there was one unicorn that resisted my actions, he told me that pulling these two would cause instability along the time-fabric. I dismissed his notions and brought the both of you here.”
“But it’s starting to happen anyway.” I pondered out loud.
Tempora nodded.
“The unicorn that told me these things is called Star Swirl. He is a prodigy, even among his peers. His power almost reaches an alicorn’s. I should have listened to him but what’s done is done. Eventually the fabric will stabilise and we won’t be feeling any more disruptions.”
“What of Cadance?” I asked, fearing the answer.
Tempora shook her head, sending prickles of fear along my arms.
“Cadance does not exist in our Time, she was a visitor but she has made her journey and now is back within her stream. I have corrected the Flow recently and only those pulled through the Rift would suffer the lingering effects-“ she gave me a sad look “-I’m sorry.”
I felt a burning in my eyes.
“But I had just known- She was just-," I babbled helplessly. Tempora could only give me a sympathetic stare. My pleas dissolved into sobs. I didn’t know why I cried so hard. She was just so small and innocent. I would never see that little child again.
“I know dear one, I know. It is for the best," she consoled me, wrapping her orange-tipped wings around me.
Cadance was gone, back in her own time.
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5099565
exactly.
AWESOME!
Awww Cadence :(
U DO DIS
... I miss Cadence already...
Now I'm wondering what the results will be to hiss test on whether or not he ha magic will be.
R.I.P candy butt you will be missed
insidethegame.it/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/1098110-big_boss_salute_super.jpg
Well, that's disappointing.
See you in the future, Cadance!
No, anyone but Lovebutt
.
I was right? YAYYYYY!
5101907 Dang, here I thought water based organisms would be the only ones trawling fimfic. Please take it as a compliment that you can be the flame of attraction. You're simply explosive with energy. You're alight with passion. Keep the fires stoked, my friend.
Wait, so it wasn't Discord? EVERYTHING I KNOW IS A LIE!
5102089 hah
what a twist
I must say, I'm enjoying this fan fic. Very unpredictable and yet never fails to make perfect sense.
Keep up the good work.
She's gone back to her own time Jim.
The feels man
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Bra that was just wrong. You basically just banished "Ray-dance" as you would say it. Not cool bro, not cool
5102009 Why do I have the funny feeling that Cadance will be back? H doesn't seem like someone who'd let this go. Especially with how attached he became to Cadance.
So then , I take it the 'Elements of Harmony' will result from Max screwing some experiment up and killing his own son in the process?
5100488
I know right?
It's all about wibbly wobbly timy wimy stuff.
I already presumed something was wrong. After all, cadence was Celestia's niece in the canon, and Cadence calls her aunty.
Why would she suddenly be the daughter of Tempora, making her Celestia's sister? And also be bigger then Luna if she was much younger than Luna in Twilight's era?
That was all a mistake, hopefully Cadence won't remember their juggled memories.
5100202 Your avatar perfectly fits your comment.
>Ecocat<
5122561 probably.
Boooo!
5329061 not boo. lol idk im just being random lol
Nooooo
Cadence made the cutness work!!! 
CONSPIRACIES!
CADENCE IS THEIR SISTER IN ACTUALITY!
MY MIND
SHE IS IMPLODED!
I LOVE YOU MAN! I LOVE THIS PLOT TWIST!
I was close to pointing out that Cadance being there was a complete anachronism. :P
This chapter just took all of my speculations about Cadance AND Star Swirl, and snapped them in two, beat them to a bloody pulp, blended them and set whatever was left on fire (I apologize to the especially faint of heart for that description).
On top of that, I'm depressed, now. Congratulations. You made me go from one end of the emotional spectrum to the other in no more than ten minutes.