“Sweetie, come down! This isn’t funny!”
“Oohpuaa! Eeee!”
Shining Armour jumped on his hindlegs, desperately reaching for his fluttering daughter, looking more than a bit frazzled. Flurry Heart hiccuped as she flew near the ceiling, just out of her father’s grasp, giggling hysterically. Her pupils were nearly the size of pinpricks, despite the dark night outside and the low lighting within the castle.
Shining Armour snatched her up on his next jump. He sighed in relief, pulling her into a warm hug and kissing her on the forehead. Rocking his little princess, Shining Armour gave his baby filly a doting, fatherly smile. Flurry looked up at him, and her eyebrows scrunched as she slowly frowned. She whimpered as her eyes started welling up with a quivering jaw. Flurry Heart began to sob, clamping her eyes shut and forcing out the last vestiges of air from her little lungs. Shining Armour’s ears drooped as his daughter took a big gulp of air and wailed, albeit less shattering this time.
“Sweetie, please…” pleaded Shining Armour, on the verge of tears himself.
“Looks like somepony’s so sleepy she can’t stand it.”
Shining Armour turned and saw his wife leaning against the nursery door in a way befitting of the Apple family. Flurry Heart giggled at the sight of her mother and squirmed, reaching with her forehooves. Cadance walked over and kissed her daughter on the cheek and her husband on the lips. She wearily said, “It shouldn’t be too hard to get her to sleep, honey, and I’m beat.”
“Uh…” Shining Armour started apprehensively.
Cadance chuckled. “Shiny, I had to review the Empire’s annual budget plan, read to the first grade class, settle a dispute in the marketplace between two vendors, assist with four dating couples to work up the nerve to ask each other, and oversee a wedding rehearsal. I’ve been busy.”
“Was the market dispute and one of the new couples the same incident?” Shining Armour teased, grinning.
“Maybe…" Princess Cadance answered faux-innocently, looking upward, with a partially suppressed grin. She tickled Flurry Heart along the sides, who giggled in response.
The prince grinned as he shook his head and rocked her daughter some more. “I thought so.”
“I’m glad you understand, Shiny. And that you are okay with putting her to bed,” Cadance said with a smile.
Shining Armour blinked slowly. “Did I just get volunteered?” he asked.
“Nah,” Cadance replied with a tired smirk. “You were just volun-told.”
Shining shook his head, and kissed his wife, untangling his daughter’s hooves from Cadance’s soft curls. Flurry Heart cooed indistinctively, babbling incoherent words. Cadance nuzzled their little filly lovingly, as Shining Armour said, “Okay, dear. I’ll give it a go.”
Shining Armour looked down at Flurry Heart on the changing table. She squirmed happily with a long yawn. He stifled his own as he pulled out a fresh diaper, the powder, and the wipe rags.
“Ooooooaaaaaaeeftpheeefffft!” she squealed.
Shining Armour cooed, “Yes, sweetie, you’ve had an ‘oooaaaeeftpheefff’ kind of a day, so now you need to sleep.”
Flurry Heart said, “Eeeggaph! Ooooaaa!”
“I know, I know; I was there,” her father answered with a smile, undoing the safety pin. He sighed in relief. “Hooray, it’s only wet.”
Shining Armour swiftly removed the used diaper, dropping it into a lidded pail. Now powdered, with a fresh diaper, Flurry Heart wriggled and kicked. She proudly uttered, “Mmmeeftphga!”
“I’m glad you feel better, kiddo. Let’s get you wrapped up,” Shining Armour said, lifting a square cloth with magic.
He folded down the top corner, then slid the cloth underneath his daughter. As he folded it over her right side, her large wings flared out, the feathers tickling his muzzle. He struggled to move the foal’s wings back to a resting position, especially when they started to flail similarly to her legs. Flurry Heart complained, “Mmmmmmm! Mmmmffftphmmfga!”
“I don’t want to hear it, little lady. It’s your bedtime.”
“Uuungagatff! Mmmff!”
Shining Armour shook his head with a slight grin. As he took her wing with his magic, returning it to a resting position, he gently said, “That won’t convince your mother, either.”
He pulled the swaddle taut, folded up the bottom, and wrapped the last corner over her. Flurry Heart’s face and struggling eased almost instantaneously. Shining Armour stared at the swaddling cloth in shock and disbelief. He cocked his head to one side, and muttered, “It’s not enchanted; what is this witchcraft?”
He sat down in a rocking chair with her. Taking a warmed bottle with his telekinetics, he nursed his daughter as the chair rocked them forwards and backwards. Shining Armour pursed his lips, saying, “Story...what to read her….”
The prince craned his neck, but the bookshelf was too far away and behind him to see it clearly. He scoffed quietly, so as not to disturb her. Flurry Heart grunted as she gulped down the pumped milk. Shining Armour’s tongue brushed across his upper teeth and clicked once...hopefully quietly enough, and he exhaled. Shining Armour met her gaze, and said, “Well, I can’t get to the books right now, sweetie. Can you sleep without a bedtime story?”
Flurry Heart’s eyes widened, already shining with tears, as she indistinctively grumbled in a rising pitch. He whispered, “Shh, it’s okay, little filly. Your Aunt Twily and I had lots of adventures. I can make one up lickity-split.”
Shining Armour kissed his daughter on the forehead, paused a moment, and began.
Once upon a time, in a magical forest between a river and a lake, there was a cute little filly named Lace Bridle. She loved to laugh and play all day with her friends. One day she walked along the lakeshore, and she saw something strange. There was a pony’s head out in the water, but it looked weird. She walked up to the lapping water’s edge, and called out to the pony. It swam closer, but did not come out of the water.
“Hi!” she said to the swimming pony. “I’m Lace! Who are you?”
“I’m Fin!” the other pony said back.
“Do you wanna play?” she asked.
“Sure!” answered Fin. “Come on in!”
“Um, I don’t know how to swim!” Lace said sadly. “Can you come out?”
Fin held up a hoof, but it wasn’t a hoof. Fin had fins, not hooves! And he didn’t have a coat, either; he had scales. Instead of a mane, Fin had another fin, but this one was bigger than the ones he had on his feet. He said sadly, “I’m afraid I really can’t.”
“Oh wow!” Lace said. “I’ve never seen a pony like you before! I didn’t know there were ponies in the water!”
“Yeah!” he answered. “I didn’t know there were ponies on land! That’s pretty cool!”
“And that, sweetie,” Shining Armour inserted, “is why they’re called ‘Earth Ponies,’ because there are also ‘Sea Ponies.’”
Lace thought for a moment, and said, “Hey Fin, can you teach me how to swim? Then we could play!”
“That sounds great!” said Fin. “Come on in!”
And so Lace ran into the lake, where Fin taught her how to swim. He taught her how to swim on her belly, her back, and her side. They played together all day, and by sundown Lace was a tired little filly. She promised him she’d be back the next day. They waved goodbye, and Lace ran home to her mommy and daddy. She told them all about the fun she and Fin had that day, and they were surprised. After dinner, they gave her a bath and sent her to bed.
The next morning, Lace woke up bright and early. She got her chores done quickly, and led her mommy and daddy to the lake where she saw Fin. But he wasn’t there. The lake quietly splashed against the sandy shore. She went out into the water, calling his name. But he didn’t answer. Her mommy and daddy weren’t happy with Lace, because they thought she just made up a story. But they stopped and wondered when they saw her swimming around. They knew before yesterday she didn’t know how to swim, and now she was an expert at it. They decided she told them the truth, but Fin must be too shy.
Lace and Fin played together every summer when she came to the lake alone, but no matter how old they got, Fin never appeared if Lace brought anypony with her. It was by chance one summer day, after Lace grew up, that a passing stallion saw Lace out in the water with Fin. He, too, tried to tell everypony he knew, but nopony ever believed him, even though he saw Lace and Fin together several more times.
“And so, Flurry, we look out across the sea and lakes when we come to them, because maybe, just maybe, if we’re really lucky, we’ll get to see a Sea Pony. But don’t expect to show them to anypony else; you’ll be one of the lucky few,” Shining Armour finished.
He looked down at Flurry Heart. Her eyelids looked heavy. The bottle still had some left in it, but she was not interested; he set it down on a nearby counter. Shining Armour carefully stood up from the rocking chair, doing anything he could to not rustle her, but her eyes fluttered open anyway. She cooed softly, and her eyes mostly closed. He started toward the crib, muttering to himself, “How’s that go again…? ‘Golden slumbers fill your mind,’ or is it ‘kiss your eyes?’ Crud. Heck of a time to forget the words...oh well….”
His face disclosed how much he was grasping for words as he sang softly to the old lullaby’s tune:
Somepony’s sleepy in the spire,
It’s now time for you to dream.
Daddy’s left hoof is going numb.
...I really should not write songs.
Moving more side to side than downward, Shining Armour carefully lowered her to the crib mattress, using a spell for the last several feet or so. Flurry Heart sighed and smacked her lips, but did not stir. He whispered, “Daddy loves you, sweetie.”
Shining Armour quietly turn toward the nursery door. There was Cadance, ready for bed and with heavy eyelids of her own. She gave him a small grin and teased, “Couldn’t remember Golden Slumbers? It’s timeless.”
“Sorry,” he said. “I thought you were pooped?”
With a fake pout on her face and in her voice, she answered, “I need cuddles.”
He kissed his wife on the lips and said, “I’ll always provide.”
Cadance nuzzled him with a contented sigh. They started out the door. Shining Armour looked back toward the crib. He smiled, and said, “Same time tomorrow.”
Author's Note
I still find it hard to believe m' daughter's about to be eight months old in a couple of weeks. Seems like it was just yesterday m' wife woke me up holding a positive pregnancy test....
Bedtime stories are fun, when the baby isn't trying to eat the book or shred the pages. I don't know why they like noises so much. The eating though...teething seems to be an ongoing pain her gums and my ears. Heck, just holding her is wonderful. M' in-laws keep telling me she's becoming a daddy's girl, and I like the sound that. I'm gonna end up spoiling that kid somethin' terrible.... 
Anyways, glad everybody read it, and hope you enjoyed it. 
