There was a knocking at the study door.
Night Light turned at the sound of the knock, setting down his quill. He had spent the morning organizing the calendar for the month, color coding it and writing in every appointment and activity his family members had at the time. The new month started tomorrow, and he wanted to be sure no pony was off schedule.
“Come in!” He called, as he set the parchment aside for the time being. The door opened to reveal his daughter, Twilight Sparkle. He smiled at the sight of her. Just five years old, she was in magic kindergarten now, and was excelling as he knew she would. Night Light felt a pinch of nostalgia thinking about it. She was growing up so fast. Soon those little girl days would be gone.
“Daddy?” She asked, walking inside and carrying a book that looked much too large for her. Night Light’s face was gentle as he got up and walked over to her.
“Hey there, sweet pea. What are you doing?”
“Can you help me understand a word?”
“Sure, sweetie. Let’s take a look.” He said, and sat down by her. She hopped into his lap, a familiar gesture to the both of them. Twilight opened the book with her magic to the page she had bookmarked and pointed to a word.
“What’s that word mean?”
“Equivalent? It means something is the same as something else.”
“Oh! I see now!”
“You usually ask your Mommy about things like that.” He remarked. not that he wasn’t happy to help or capable of doing so, it just took him by mild surprise.
“Mommy took Shiny to the park, Daddy.”
So that was what that ruckus was a half hour ago. He nodded imperceptibly to himself. “Ah, alright. I didn’t know that.”
Twilight looked up sharply, eyes filled with awe and mild concern. “You mean you don’t know everything?!”
Night Light almost chuckled at the look on her face, but held back because of her concern. “No pony knows everything, sweetheart. Not me, or Mommy, or your brother, or even Princess Celestia.”
Twilight’s mouth was agape. “Even Princess Celestia?!” She parroted.
He nodded. “Well sure. Even princesses can’t tell the future. They don’t know what will happen all the time the next day or next week.” He said, and then stage-whispered to her, “And if they did know absolutely everything there was to know, I don’t think their heads would be able to stay up with their brains being so big!”
Twilight pouted. “Hey! I have a big brain.” She protested
Night Light smiled and ruffled his daughter’s mane fondly. “Yes you do. It’s growing all of the time, but because you don’t know everything, it won’t be a problem for you.”
“But I wanna learn, Daddy! I wanna be smart and know all the things I can know!” Twilight stomped her hoof for emphasis.
“You will, sweetie. It just takes time. Waiting is hard, but it also makes the times you do learn things even more special.”
“Yes, Daddy.” Twilight nodded, but looked a bit crestfallen. Night Light knew exactly how to cheer her up.
“I know. Since Mommy and Shining Armor are out at the park, how about we spend some time together?” He asked. Twilight raised her head to look at him.
“Doing what?”
“Well, Daddy will make you his special sundae for starters.”
Twilight brightened immediately. “You mean the one with ice cream and oats and chocolate and nuts and sprinkles and a cherry?”
“Don’t forget the whipped cream.” Night Light added.
Twilight squealed, and leapt into his embrace. He chuckled lightly and hugged her right back. She pulled back. “Come on, Daddy! Sundaes!”
He chuckled. “Alright sweetie. Daddy’s coming.” He got up as his daughter bounced to the kitchen. Very quickly, sundaes were assembled and eaten. There was almost no talking during that period, except for Twilight giving him a rushed “Thank you!” Before digging into her Sundae. Night Light had smiled to himself as he ate his own. These moments with his daughter were ones he would always treasure.
When they finished, Twilight was rightfully hyper. Night Light knew that wouldn’t do any pony much good, so he offered to take his daughter outside to play. There was a trampoline in the backyard that his wife liked to use, and he took Twilight up there. Her energy seemed boundless as she jumped up and down, going twice as high as he thought. Thankfully the trampoline had netting around it to keep any pony from falling off, otherwise he might have been more than a little paranoid about his little girl’s safety. He had jumped along with her, but really he hadn’t been trying to go high or do any tricks. He just wanted to see his daughter play.
Luckily for him, Twilight’s sugar highs didn’t last very long. After about an hour, she was tired. Good thing, too. He was too old to be bouncing like that for so long. So he took his tuckered out daughter inside for some quiet time. Glancing at the clock in the kitchen, he found it was nearly time for her nap. Velvet still insisted she take them to help her brain development, and he agreed with her. When she didn’t take them, she was more than a little fussy. Going into his daughter’s room, he told her to go and pick a story from the shelf.
Twilight pulled out Gusty The Great, which was currently her favorite story. She asked her parents to read it to her every day, and even her brother if she got the chance. He had read it so often he could likely recite it by heart by now. But he sat down, the book in his magic anyway, and held his daughter in his lap. Twilight nuzzled against him, and a fond smile graced Night Light’s face before he began to read.
“Once upon a time, there was a great heroine named Gusty The Great…”
Before the story was even halfway through, Twilight was asleep. But he continued reading until they reached the end, partly because he knew she woke up on occasion if he did not finish and also for his own edification. When the story had wound to an end, he shut the book, levitated it back to the shelf, and pulled his daughter into his hooves to tuck her into bed. He laid her down as if he was placing an extremely fragile object in a high place, and then tucked her in and gave her a kiss. He smiled fondly at her, and thought about how soon she would be too big for naps, for sitting in his lap, for calling him “Daddy”. He knew these days would be bygone sooner than he wished, and he was determined to savor every moment with her.
“Sleep tight, Princess.” He whispered.
He turned and walked out the door, leaving it open just a crack in case she needed him, and was suddenly filled with the knowledge that even though she may not always need him in this way, she would still need him. He gave a tiny half smile at the thought.
Fathers and daughters never said goodbye.