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Princess Cadance provides her daughter Flurry Heart another wonderful day again... and again... and again--oh no.


*WARNING: Alcohol Use by Adults*


Era: Season 7. (See an index of my stories, sorted by My Little Pony Season).


Entry in the Cadance is a Terrible Mom 2021 Competition (Entries).


Cover Image: by Delapouite, license for the Image only at the link.

Chapters (2)
Comments ( 13 )

Thanks for the entry!

With the footnotes being links, I would just turn appropriate words or phrases into those links.

The liquor aftertaste was powerful--not so bad--probably antiseptic and the... unique taste of floor-cleansing chemicals should keep her perky.

I wonder if her alicorn constitution will help her shrug off the effects?

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With the footnotes being links, I would just turn appropriate words or phrases into those links.

Thank you! Did not realize that. Should I assume, then, that is the standard here? I have now added the links since it makes sense in this situation! I was originally expecting there to be a way to link the in-line footnotes down to the authors' notes footnote explanations, which might be the best solution for future footnotes that are more of the explanatory rather than link type, but I did not find a way.

I wonder if her alicorn constitution will help her shrug off the effects?

It certainly will not hurt! It has to be good for something. Obviously, humans and normal little ponies should not attempt!

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Thank you for reading. Groundhog Day, mentioned in the author's notes on Chapter 2, is a comedy movie from 1993 starring Bill Murray. It involves a time loop that takes place on Groundhog Day, a tradition in the United States. The movie has a 96% rating from critics on Rotten Tomatoes, which is rather impressive.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Groundhog_Day_(film)
https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/groundhog_day

Until mommy gets tired and ask kindly to Discord to stop her from doing time-loops... Or the alicorn of time appear suddenly and tell Flurry that she was a bad filly

Flurry Heart, the flying alicorn wonderfoal, was almost, but not quite at that age when she could talk in pages rather than paragraphs but she was more than old enough to be of an age when she could eat sweets, candies, chocolates, and sugar cubes.

what a great way to give the age of a foal

It wasn't even worth it--they still smashed the crystal reception couch!

aww Cadance, didn’t they teach you any cultural competence in Princess school? that’s what the yaks are into!

The recommendations had been enchanted to glow--demonstrating the high esteem in which Fluttershy was held.

hehe, love the dry humo(u)r

Still, they paled in comparison to Cadance's foalsitting awards and professional certificates.

oh yeah, def believe Cadance would have those!

The problem was that our little demigod draconeqqus Discord had visited his best friend forever (Fluttershy) while she was foalsitting.

love the use of parenthetical clarification

Flurry Heart revealed nothing. Punishment led to greater distance. Love sometimes brought Shining home faster.

oh boy. what a power dynamic an alicorn foal brings to its parents!

But Flurry Heart would just ruin whatever came through the door and she could only push her precocious flower so far before dire, terrible, horrible, not-so-good very bad things would happen.

oof! def reminds me of that Twilight Zone episode

"Bad shop," Flurry Heart commented.

"Mommy thought you'd like the ice cream."

"Bad worms."

ahaha. i mean, at least in this instance, Flurry might have a point!

(Diet 1. The Cavepony Diet; Diet 2. Slim Flim's Effortless Die*T (the typos should have been a warning sign); Diet 3. Flam's Unflabbener (Rather similar to Slim Flim's. ...))

hehe. and yeah, “Slim Flim” is too good to pass up

"Diamond Dogs want all crystals!" They started negotiations from the highest position possible.

to be fair, that is the ideal strategy according to game theory probably

"And where would you be traveling from to scavenge? Can you show me on this map?" Cadance gestured for her guardponies to bring a map.

The lead dog pointed out her plans. More good information for strategic observation or blocking choke points.

dang, these dogs aren’t very good at this!

O'Flim's and O'Flam's Ancient Gin mixed with Terrific Tonic capped Cadance's day.

wow, those brothers really have a well-diversified product line

Cadance awoke in her bed, Flurry beside her, as usual when the child sent Cadance's husband away. ... Today will be better. Shining Armor will return--probably. Today, though, she was so tired. ...

oof, well that is existentially terrifying!

"I understand, we talked about the coming bankruptcy yesterday--damages from Flurry Heart-- et. cetera."

and oof! i didn’t make the connection that this would be the reason for the Empire’s financial troubles…

"We're the Crystal Empire--not the bit empire!" The banking pony was haughty. "And besides, inflation could be a problem. It could level our economy, send us back to our hunter-gatherer roots."

hehe, nice callback to that restaurant!

"...at the back-to-our-roots restaurant; I realize you were attempting to obliquely refer to the situation--"

oh, nice!

"Is everypony starting back-to-our-roots restaurants?" She sighed, and headed out.

i mean, given Cadance’s frazzledness, her not realizing what’s going on yet is all too understandable

The label said: "naturally sourced... responsibly donated and protected... mare's milk."

aww, responsibly donated! that’s good!

"Maybe..." Cadance sighed. "No!" She thought better of it. "Seeing Auntie Twee--light is not a reward for starting an international incident!"

very important boundary to set with the child!

"We own Diamond Dog land, though. Be it should a national incident?"

well, not the best prefiguring for how a Flurry Heart reign would look!

She magicked up some warm water with honey and lots of the "forbidden mommy mix".

ahaha

"Sh-start a sstonks market--ssomething like they had in the Minotaur landss-trade tulipssh--buckloadsss--and s-something, s-something" she drew a wavy line of question marks on a non-disposable tea napkin. "then profitsh!"

aww, Cadance and the banker pony sure are unintentionally making a lot of references to modern consumer finance memes!

"Fine. Just avoid my shoulder."

Flurry Heart flew up to Cadance's back and started treating it like a trampoline.

so Flurry Heart

It was time for the mullocky2 back-to-our-roots restaurant.

yay new word to learn! though the link didn’t work when i clicked it

At least the owners couldn't tell if the awful expressions were pain or play. They shook her hoof as she left and photographed her for an advertisement of how the great and powerful enjoyed their establishment.

aww, Flurry is helping Cadance do well in her day!

But she'd succeeded in everything she set out to do because of how loving she was toward everypony, including her daughter. And that's why she was the princess of love!

so true actually!


a delightful and heartwarming end to a premise that at first seemed so very existentially horrifying! but perhaps like a body in a crash, Cadance’s loose-limbed inebriation let her roll with the blows and come out on the other side intact. and yes, parenting omnipotent infants with a track record of causing chaos with their magic is quite a lot, even for an Alicorn Princess!

Sniffling and struggling through an ear infection and the gash on his hindhoof, he'd made it back to the Crystal Empire from the Demense of the Deep Deer near the Halls of Tartarus where Flurry Heart's toddler-tandrum rage had sent him.

ahaha, i totally forgot about the Shining Armor B-plot! almost moved on to the next story before i remembered there was a second chapter. the “Demesne of the Deep Deer” sounds quite ominous just in name, love it

These... enjoyable... teleportations gave him time to think. And sleep. He could have returned a whole day sooner but he decided he preferred sleeping rough in the Cavern of the Colossal Arachnids with a quad-hourly-renewed security-bubble-ward to being crawled over all night and being given clown makeup and red bulbous noses in the middle of State meetings.

and oof, says a lot!

Shining Armor had once warned Cadance that throwing a party for teleporting him away might send the wrong message to their young alicorn princess but Cadance ignored him--the important thing was Flurry Heart was appeased. Shining didn't say anything this time. Next time, he'd take a lengthier vacation.

oof! well, at least with enough time Flurry Heart will grow up and learn that teleporting her father away is not a very cash money thing to do, right?

Their "diamond hands" strategy of holding firm forever had to end sometime.

oh hey, that takes me back! funny to think it was two years ago already

She also whispered, "I love you Daddy." And sent him back in time with her. The welcome-back party had been fun. Time to do it again!

oh boy. poor Shining Armor! and a great way to end this story. time truly is a flat circle

Mentioned Famous Ponies+Discord (Dramatis Nobilis Mannulus)

ok absolutely love “Dramatis Nobilis Mannulus”. i really need an excuse to use it myself now. also, hehe, “+Discord”

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Thank you!

yay new word to learn! though the link didn’t work when i clicked it

That site appears to have an odd interaction with links. Try going to the link here and if it does not work, type "mullocky" into the site's search bar. Alternative link here.

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