What are we going to do with her?
Friday May 11 1018 A.G
Crystal city, Crystal Empire.
9:20 PM
It was a warm spring night in the Crystal city, and in the crystal palace, it was time for a special little filly to go to bed.
Emperor Shining Armor of the Crystal Empire, was tuck in his little bundle of joy into bed as she watched her favorite show on her tablet.
The little filly watched the screen intently as the heroes were trying to save Manehattan from a bunch of villains. When the episode was about to reach its climax, Shining Armor turned off the tablet.
“Aww, dad.” The five-year-old whined.
“You know the rules Flurry, no technology after bedtime. You need to go to sleep.” Shining said as he rubbed his daughter’s cute little head.
“But the show was getting to the good part. Can I watch it for another five minutes, please.”
“No, you can’t sweetie, but you’ll get your tablet back after breakfast, ok?”
“Ok.” Flurry said begrudgingly.
“That’s my little filly.” Shining gave a quick kiss on her forehead head, walked to the door and looked back. “Good night, Flurry.”
“Good night, daddy.”
Shining turns off the lights allowing a bunch of tiny little lights to turn on and form a consolation in her room.
After that, he closes the door gently, so he won’t disturb her.
Before the unicorn emperor can go to bed, he had one last thing to do.
He walked through the palace hallway and entered the kitchen. He then levitated Flurry’s tablet on top of the fridge and plugged in the charger.
With that done, he turned around and headed straight to bed.
Unfortunately for him, he didn’t know that an invisible Flurry Heart had followed him.
===•••===
9:00 AM.
The very next day, Shining Armor was walking through the palace hallways in his pajamas, saluting every crystal guard he encountered.
When he entered the dining room, he saw his lovely wife, drinking a cup coffee while reading the morning paper.
“Morning Cadence.”
“Morning Shining, did you sleep well?”
“Yes, I did, especially with you next to me. Where is Flurry heart?”
“I thought she was with you. Do you want me to go check on her?”
“No, I got it.”
Shining lit his horn and teleported away.
When he appeared in front of his daughter’s bedroom door opened it gently. He looked inside to see that Flurry was still asleep.
Maybe he was a bit biased, but in shining‘s eyes, seen Flurry sleeping peacefully was one of the most adorable things he has ever seen.
It reminded him of how he held her in his arms when she was just a baby. Now she was growing up so fast right in front of him.
‘God, I miss those days.’ He thought to himself.
Snapping out of memory lane, he walked over to the sleeping alicorn to wake her up but stop when he noticed a strange shape underneath her covers.
Curious, he lifted up her bedsheets only to find her tablet in her arms.
Believing that his vision was playing tricks on him, he rubbed his eyes.
He wasn’t seen things.
He pulled the tablet out of her arms gently and teleported to the dining room.
“So, how is Flurry?” Cadence asked.
Shining Armor didn’t say anything as he revealed his right hand from behind his back.
“How?” Cadence asked, looking at the tablet in her husband’s hand.
“I don’t know, but it’s apparent that the kitchen is not a good hiding spot anymore.”
“So where should we hide it?”
“Don’t worry, I have a spot in mind.”
A few minutes later, Flurry Heart walked into the dining room.
“Good morning, Flurry.” Cadence said.
“Morning mommy, morning, daddy.” Flurry responded.
“Morning Flurry, did you brush your teeth?” Her dad asks.
“Yes daddy.”
“That’s my girl. Now me and your mom have something important to ask you.”
Before they continued, they waited for the little five-year-old climbed onto one of the dining room chairs and took a seat.
“Before we ask you this question, we want you to know that you’re not in trouble. This morning when you were sleeping, I came into your room and found this.”
Shining put the tablet right in front of Flurry.
She was now sweating bullets.
“How did you find your it Flurry?” Cadence asks.
“I was thirsty, so I went to the kitchen to get a glass of water. After I finish drinking my water, I saw a white wire go on top of the fridge. I followed it and found my tablet.” She told them.
“Thanks for telling us honey.” Cadence said. “The next time if you find it, leave it alone, we put it there for a reason.”
“Ok mommy.”
“Good girl.”
A few minutes later, three maids came out of the kitchen with the family’s breakfast.
===•••===
9:25 PM
Flurry heart was lying down comfortably in her bed, listening to her mom read a bedtime story to her.
“The empress defeated the evil queen, saved her beloved and lived happily ever after, the end.”
“Yay.” Flurry cheered.
Cadence levitated the book back on the bookshelf.
“Now it’s time for you to go to sleep.” Cadence said before giving her daughter a kiss on the forehead.
Before she left her daughters bedside, she picked up the tablet. She then walks to the door and said.
“Good night, Flurry, sweet dreams.”
“Good night, mom.”
After that, Cadence close the door.
But the princess didn’t want to go to sleep she wanted to continue playing just a little bit longer.
The littie light pink alicorn listened intently to her mother's footsteps. When she couldn’t hear them anymore, she made herself invisible and teleported out of her bedroom.
When she saw her mom walking down the corridor instead of going to her bedroom,
couldn’t help but chuckle. She was going to hide as tablet as predicted.
So, she spread her wings and followed her.
Thanks to a little trick her auntie Gallaxia had taught her, she was able to glide long distances. Her large wingspan also helps as well.
Eventually, she followed her mom all the way to the palace living room.
Flurry landed as quietly as possible and observed her mom hide her tablet underneath the couch.
After that Cadence teleported away.
After waiting for a few seconds, Flurry heart went over to the couch, retrieved her tablet and was about to teleport back to her bedroom but she remembered how loud teleportation spells could be. And she didn’t want to get caught with her tablet in her hands, so she decided to walk back to her bedroom instead.
So, she put her tablet underneath her shirt and walked through the palace.
After four minutes of avoiding guards and navigating the way through the palace, she made it back to her bedroom with no problems.
She made herself visible again and climbed into bed.
To make sure she didn’t get caught like last time, she decided to set up an alarm. Instead of a normal alarm that would instantly get her into trouble, this smart little filly set up an alarm that will vibrate her device when it went off. So she will be able to put her device back in it’s hiding spot before her parents suspected a thing.
After that, she began to play her games.
===•••===
May 18
12 PM
It’s been one week since Shining armor and Cadence decided to hide their daughter’s tablet in the living room. And since then, they noticed that Flurry heart was acting a bit strange.
Usually, their daughter was a morning person, she always full of energy when breakfast rolled around.
Not anymore.
For the past week, Flurry has been waking up with no energy and bags underneath her eyes. Making it difficult for her to get to preschool on time.
That wasn’t the only thing the royal couple noticed.
You see, Shining Armor and Cadence have an app on their phones that records how much time Flurry heart spends on her tablet. And they make sure that their daughter gets no more than three hours and thirty minutes of screen time per day.
Recently, they noticed that the app recorded an uptick from three hour and thirty minutes to four hours to whopping five hours.
This made Shining Armor very suspicious, which is why he was checking security footage in the security room. And he was going through last night’s footage to see if his daughter was up to no good.
Then he saw something that he wasn’t expecting at all.
He watched the screen in shock as the computer monitor showed Flurry heart flying through the palace with an invisibility spell and then coming back from the living room with her tablet in hand. And at 11 PM she teleported into the living room put the tablet back underneath the couch before teleporting out of there.
To say that Shining, was impressed was an understatement.
He knew that his daughter was very intelligent, like the rest of her cousins. But he never thought she was able to plan this little scheme and keep it a secret for a full week.
That’s when he knew his daughter was going places.
But for now, he needs to figure out a way to stop Flurry from using her tablet. He knew that simply hiding the device wasn’t going to cut it anymore.
That’s when he had an idea.
===•••===
A few minutes later.
Cadence’s office.
Empress Cadence was reading a bill that recently passed the Crystal Senate it when she heard a knock on the door.
“Come in.”
“Hey honey, do you have a minute?” Shining asks as he entered the office.
Cadence looked at the bill in her right hand, put it back in its folder and put it on the side of her desk. “I have a few minutes. What do you want to talk about?”
“First, I want to show you the security camera footage I got.” Shining said as he handed his phone to his wife.
(Three minutes later.)
“She did all of this?” Cadence as in shock. “Are you sure this is not Photoshop?”
“I checked, it’s not photoshopped, that footage is 100% real.” Shining Armor responded.
“Well, this changes everything. Not only that, but we also need a new hiding spot.”
“How about we try something different?” Shining suggested.
“Like what?”
“Well, I was thinking that we can ask for help.”
“No no no, no pony else need to get involved with this. I don’t want to burden any pony with our problem.
“Ok will try hiding it one last time. What spot do you have in mind?”
“I was thinking of hiding it in our nightstand.”
“Ok, that sounds like a good spot, I hope that she doesn’t find it this time.”
“Trust me, she wouldn’t even think to look in our room.” Cadence said with confidence.
===•••===
For the next two weeks, their plan work. Flurry became her old energetic self, and her screen time went back down to three hours and thirty minutes.
They thought that Flurry Heart had given up.
Unfortunately, that dream died on the morning of June 1st when they found out that not only did her hours went up again, but she also found their secret snack stash.
It was at the moment when Cadence knew they needed help.
===•••===
June 2
11:30 AM
Cadence was standing outside of the crystal palace with two crystal guards standing on each side of her. She is currently waiting on her special guest to arrive.
After waiting for a few minutes, a taxi pulled up in front of the palace. The rear door on the passenger side open, revealing Artemis Pluto Yukon stepping out of the car.
“Morning Cadence.” Artemis greeted before taking his suitcase out of the trunk. “Long time no see.”
“It’s good to see you too, Artemis. Sorry for making you come up here in such short notice.”
She said, before hugging the human.
“It’s all right, Cadence, it’s been a while since I came back to the Crystal city.” He said after they separated. “Besides, I just can’t wait to see Flurry.”
After the prince tipped the taxi driver, two Royals enter the crystal palace.
“So how is the family doing?” Cadence asks.
“Oh, they’re doing great. Spike is watching the kids right now; Starlight is helping him out. Twilight is in Paris handling some diplomatic business. Every time she’s free, she always goes to a museum or an art gallery. For the past two days, she’s been sending me a lot of photos of her adventures.”
“Classic Twilight, I hope she never changes.”
“Same over here.” He responded.
When they enter the living room, Artemis didn’t have a chance to say hello before Flurry try to tackle him into a hug.
It wasn’t enough to knock him down, but oh boy, she was strong for her age.
“Uncle Artemis!”
“Hey Flurry. Wow you have gotten so big.” He said, as he picked up the light pink alicorn. “How is my favorite Crystal niece doing?”
“I am doing great. Oh, wait right here.”
The little filly teleported out of his arms.
She came back a few seconds later, hovering in front of him, holding a piece of paper in her hand.
It was a drawing of him and Flurry holding hands in front of the crystal palace.
“I made this for you.” She said with a smile.
“Thank you Flurry.” Artemis said, he gave the filly a tight hug.
“Awww.” Cadence said.
After they separated, Fleury turn to her parents and ask. “Can we play now?”
"Yes, you can. But remember Sunburst is coming over in 20 minutes.”
“Yay.”
===•••===
23 minutes later.
After playing a “short” game of tag, Artemis was now sitting on the living room couch, out of breath.
“Wow, I forgot how much energy she has. And I thought her baby years was a workout.” He said before taking a sip of water. “Now tell me all about her recent tablet heists.”
“Well, it started almost a month ago, when she found her tablet in the kitchen on top of the fridge when she was getting a glass of water. The charger gave it away.” Shining said. “At the time we thought it was no big deal, so we decided to hide it underneath the couch.”
Cadence chimed in. “A few days later, we noticed her hours going up and she was waking up with bags underneath her eyes. I thought her exhaustion was because she is a growing little girl. Shining thought otherwise.”
“I knew something was up, so why decide to check the security cameras. And what those cameras caught still surprise me.”
Shining gave his phone to Artemis.
(Five minutes later.)
“Damn.” A shocked Artemis said. “She did all of that, she’s genius. She is definitely special agent material.”
“You should’ve seen Cadence’s face when I showed her the footage.” Shining chuckled.
She gave her husband a quick stare before continuing. “After a little discussion, we decided to try to hide the tablet in our bedroom and if that failed, we would contact you.”
“That idea only lasted two weeks. Only two weeks of normalcy.” Shining said.
“So how did she find it this time?” Artemis ask, getting very interested in the story.
“Somehow, she figured out that we hid it in our bedroom and eventually she found it. And makes it even worse, we put it in our nightstand. That’s where we keep our snacks just in case if we want to watch a late-night movie.” Cadence asks.
“Let me guess, some of your snacks were stolen.”
“You are correct. The very next morning, we discovered that her hours went up, her tablet was hot, and our bag of potato chips were missing.” Shining responded. “She ate the entire bag.”
“Please tell me she took a normal size bag.”
“It wasn’t, it was a family size. Somehow, she didn’t get a stomachache, but we did put her in timeout for a good hour after that. Out of ideas, we decide to go with Plan B and here we are.”
‘How did she not get a stomachache?’ Artemis thought.
“Well, I’m glad you contacted me because I am an expert in this.”
“What about Twilight?” Shining ask.
“She’s also an expert. She has a book on parenting in her library after all.” He responded. “Anyway, this device has two ways to solve this problem.” He said, as he picked up the tablet from the table in front of him and went to settings.
“The first option is to kill the Internet. When it’s her bedtime or she’s misbehaving you can go on your phone and tell the tablet to turn off Wi-Fi and data. And you can do it anytime, anywhere.”
“That sounds a bit much don’t you think?” Shining said.
“Yeah, I agree with Shining. We don’t want total control of her device. We just want to figure out how to stop Flurry from using her tablet late at night.” Cadence said.
“That’s fine, I understand where you’re coming from. I’m just telling you your options that all. The second option is more popular than the first one. Twilight and I use this one. Since Flurry’s tablet is set to child settings, you can make this tablet go to sleep for a certain period of time. Anytime she would try to turn it on, the screen will show is a cute animal sleeping and it won’t turn on at all.”
“That sounds like a good option, I wish I knew about it.” Shining said.
“Hey don’t beat yourself up over it, the sleep mode just came out recently. I can help you set it up if you want.”
“We would appreciate that.” Cadence responded.
===•••===
After helping Shining and Cadence set up the sleep mode on Flurry’s tablet, Artemis had a nice day with the royal family.
Before they knew it, nightfall had arrived to the capital of the Crystal Empire.
Right now, Cadence was tucking in her daughter while she was watching an episode of the power ponies.
Before she can watch another episode, the screen went black and a small sugar glider landed on a branch and fell asleep.
Blow the sleeping creature was a single sentence. “Good night, Flurry.”
The little five-year-old looked at the device in confusion. She press the power button multiple times, but nothing happened.
“Mom, I think there’s something wrong with my tablet, it won’t turn on.”
“There’s nothing wrong with it. It’s just tired.”
Cadence explained.
“Really?”
“Yeah, everything need to rest every once in a while, including devices. What happens when you don’t get enough sleep?”
“I don’t wanna do anything because I’m tired.”
“Exactly, when you get enough rest do you want to play with your friends and family right?”
“Yeah.”
“So if you let your tablet get its rest, it will be able to play with you tomorrow.”
“Promise?”
“I promise.” Cadence said, as she picked up the tablet. “ before you go to bed do you want me to read you a bedtime story?”
“Yes, please.”
===•••===
June 4
10:08 AM
After staying with Cadence and her family, it was time for Artemis to go back to Ponyville. They were all standing outside of the crystal palace, waiting for his taxi.
After the taxi arrived, Artemis put his suitcase in the trunk.
“Well, it’s time for me to go. I’ll miss you guys.”
“We had a wonderful time having you over.” Cadence said.
“Next time you want to come back, bring Twily.”
“Don’t worry Shining, I will.”
Artemis then look down at the smallest member of the family.
She hugged him tightly.
“I don’t want you to go.”
“I know you’re sad Flurry, but I have a life and Ponyville as well. Would be fair if I left them alone.” He got down on one knee. “Tell you what. Next time I come back auntie Twilight and cousin Haley and Dusk will come, and you can play with us as long as you like.”
“You promise?”
“I promise.”
This was enough to turn the princess’ frown upside down and hugged her beloved uncle.
“Bye uncle Artemis.”
“Goodbye Flurry.” Artemis said as he ended a hug and ruffled up the little filly’s hair.
He said one last goodbye before getting in the car. The taxi drove away after that.
===•••===
After Artemis left a Crystal Empire, things went back to normal. Flurry’s hours were back to the normal and the little princess was getting enough sleep at night.
Cadence and Shining Armor rest easy, knowing that Flurry Heart was no longer sneaking around the palace anymore.
