The Captain's Daughter

It was about two months after Sonata was born. So far, she had been a pretty docile child, save for a few normal quirks, like pounding things and trying to eat inedible things.

Boy, did that change in a hurry.

"No, Sonata, we don't use magic to adjust the crystals so they make the sunlight blind Daddy," said Cadence as Shining Armor rubbed his eyes after getting a faceful of reflected sunlight.

Sonata just giggled and clapped her hooves together, before babbling a little bit in baby talk.

~

"No, Sonata, come back down here! There's all kinds of pointy crystals up there!" called Shining Armor as he ran after Sonata, who was using her magic to levitate herself through the air.

"Whee!" cried Sonata as she flew like a bird, before her magic fizzled out. Shining Armor, luckily managed to catch his daughter before she hit the ground.

~

"Holy Faust in Elysium, this parenting stuff is really, really, hard!" groaned Shining Armor after he and Cadence had gotten Sonata down for her nap.

"Well, nopony said raising a foal was easy," pointed out Cadence.

"I know... but, if this is what she's like when she's only two months old, I hate to think what the terrible twos are going to be like," said Shining Armor.

"If you think two years old is terrible, just wait until she's three. That's what I hate to think about," said Cadence.

Just then, Sonata started to cry.

"I'm on it," said Shining Armor, sighing as he got up.

"No, it's feeding time, anyway. I got this," said Cadence.

With that, Cadence walked off to feed her daughter. Once she was out of the room, Shining Armor's head hit the table as he fell asleep.

~

"Happy birthday, Sonata!" said the gathered ponies at Princess Sonata's first birthday party.

Naturally, being royalty, Sonata got quite the haul. She got a new swing, a bouncy seat, several new stuffed animals, which ranged from monkeys to giraffes, elephants, and crocodiles. And of course, from Auntie Twilight, the latest edition of the My Foal Can Read! phonics series.

Which we'll probably never use anyway, thought Shining Armor.

~

While Sonata took her nap, Shining Armor, Cadence, and Twilight had a little chat.

"So, have you two thought about where you want to send little Tina when she's old enough?" asked Twilight, drinking her cup of coffee.

Cadence and Shining Armor looked at each other. School? was exactly the thought that was on both of their minds.

Cadence was the first one who spoke up. "Well, we still have plenty of time until then, right?"

Twilight gasped and went on a mile long lecture about how important it was to start thinking about their child's future and so on.

~

Yeah, that Aunt Twilight of mine really was concerned that I got the best education. And on that topic, we enter my elementary school years...