“Every day is misery. The cold held at bay by a broken heart, mended by false love. If I don’t wake up tomorrow, would I be missed? Would anypony cry for me? Or would the world move on like I was never here?”
Shining Armor sighed and picked up his spoon, sat across from his lovely wife, Cadence, at their supper table. “That was a lovely grace, I can’t wait for the one you have at breakfast.”
Cadence’s horn, already holding her spoon full of stew, lit a little brighter, giving her husband a pinch on his foreleg. “Dear, that was a lovely prayer, although maybe it was a bit dark.”
Shining rubbed where he was pinched. “Yeah, a little dark,” he said with clear sarcasm, “so, Flurry-”
Cadence flinched and looked at her now teenage daughter. Her mane was dyed black, she wore dark purple and black eye shadow, a deep blue dress, and a necklace made from pearls cut into rough bone-like pieces. The teen glared at her father as she shouted, “My name, Shining Armor, is Midnight Winter! Why won’t you call me by my real name like everypony else does?”
“Hey, don’t call me by my name, young lady. To you I’m dad, daddy, or father; am I clear?”
Midnight slammed her forehooves onto the table and pushed herself up. “I don’t need to call you anything, you never understood me, you never will! I hate you!” She shouted and her horn lit just before she vanished from the dining hall.
Shining Armor frowned at his stew and scooped some, speaking before he ate it. “Hm, that went pretty well, all things considered.”
Cadence sighed, looking to where her daughter was a moment before. “Shining, you didn’t need to push her. She’s going through a change and will pass out of it before you know it.”
“P-push her?” Shining stammered indignantly. “I only told her to show me some respect. She’s been going through this Midnight Winter nonsense for long enough, shouldn’t you be the one trying to get her to snap out of it?”
“Twilight went through this, too. It passed within a week,” Cadence said, then giggled. “She was so cute with her mane down, just like Flurry’s is. Look, Shining, it’s not going to last long and once it’s over she’ll be embarrassed about how she treated you. Just give it time.”
“Time? It’s been four months and she’s only getting weirder!” Shining said, raising a foreleg above his head. “She started with the make up, which I don’t approve of. Then it was the hair. Now it’s the dress and necklace. What’s next? Is she going to shave patterns into her coat or start hanging out with a bad crowd?” He brought the same hoof to his mouth and nibbled at it. “A group of moody teens that all hate their fathers… what could they make her do?”
“Shining-”
“She could start stealing, or defacing landmarks… what if she does something too mature for her to-”
“Shining!” Cadence shouted, snapping him from his worries. “She’s just going through something personal. A lot of teens do it; it’s not that weird and it will pass. You have to make an effort, too. To show her that even through this phase, and don’t call it a phase in front of her, you’re there for her.
“Bring her some food. Show her that you understand where she’s coming from and where she is right now. Not where you want her to be, but where she is.”
Shining picked up his bowl with his hooves and slurped down a big portion of his meal, chewing quickly and swallowing a lot of still hot vegetables that burned as they went down. He drank some water to cool his esophagus quickly and waved a servant over. “Come with me, I need your help to deal with Flurry-”
“Shining.” Cadence said simply.
Shining rolled his eyes. “Midnight Winter.”
“Yes, your highness. Where shall I escort you?”
“First, to the kitchens. I think I know what Midnight Winter needs, and it’s not hot stew or a lecture from her father.”
Shining knocked on his daughter’s door.
“Go away, I don’t want to see you!”
“Darling? It’s me, daddy. I was hoping to talk to you.”
“I said go away!”
Shining played his ace in the hole. “I have a double fudge chocolate cake, a bowl of strawberries with fresh whipped cream, and a bottle of water from Rainbow Falls.”
There was silence for several seconds before the door clicked unlocked and pulled open just a little, enough to show a blue iris looking around the area, finally landing on the trolly with uncovered treats. The door opened and showed Midnight had added some black powder to her cheekbones, the reason lost on Shining. She looked at her father and sighed. “You can come in, I guess.”
Shining smiled and stepped into the room, once bright with refracted light from the outside, now the walls were covered with dark fabric that blocked a lot of the natural ambiance and the floor was covered in a large mismatched collage of overlapping carpets to add to the gloom of the room.
The light that got through was enough to see by, so the servant and prince could make their way to the small dining table set against the far wall. The servant bowed and was about to leave, but halted at Midnight’s command. “Halt. You have to stay, too. I won’t live this life of misery alone, and I’ve never felt more alone than when I’m with him.”
She took her seat at the table and Shining did the same. The servant hesitantly began to set the table with utensils while the royal ponies looked at the center of the bare table.
“Why do you hate me?” They asked in unison.
They looked up and met eyes. “I don’t hate you,” Shining started. “I just don’t understand you right now. But, I want to. I want to help you feel less like you do and happier, like you were when you were my little filly.”
“That filly’s gone, like so much dust in the wind and sand through the hourglass.”
A plate of cake was set before Midnight by the servant. “Mistress Midnight Winter, may I speak?” Midnight nodded. “My sister was very unhappy and depressed with life, much like you are,” she said as she began cutting more cake for Shining, “only she didn’t have anypony to support her. No pony actually was able to, since Sombra kept most families apart during the Dark Times.
“When she started showing signs that she was being corrupted by the evil that was the Umbra, every pony did their best to show her we cared; we were able to save her from the evil that lurked at the edge of our vision but always out of sight. Be thankful, in some way, Mistress, that you at least have a family that is there for you.”
Setting the strawberries and whipped cream on the table, she sat down and picked up a strawberry, dipped it in the cream and ate it all in one bite.
Midnight sniffled. “Daddy?”
Shining’s attention snapped to his daughter. “Yes, Midnight?”
“I don’t hate you, not really. I just feel so angry at you, and I don’t know why.”
Shining smirked ever so slightly. “It’s because I’m a mean, tyrannical, controlling stallion that won’t let you do anything you want.”
Midnight scoffed. “As if. You let me do everything I want! You never stop me from having fun, but you won’t let me express myself. If I went on a journey of self discovery, like so many foals do, would you stop me, or pack me a bag and wish me good luck?”
Shining halted. “W-well, that’s not very fair. I’ll always support you in what you do, as long as you don’t get hurt in the process. Would you let me send an under cover guard with you to act as your chaperone?”
“Daaad, the point is that I’d be leaving, maybe for years, to discover myself and my place in the world. I can’t do that with a guard following me everywhere, protecting me and keeping me safe from everything. That’d be the same as living here, and I need to spread my wings and fly alone sometimes.”
“Wait, are you actually planning to leave?” Shining asked, then glanced down at the forehoof on his side. The servant was shaking her head fervently.
“Would it matter if I was? Who’d miss me? Really miss me?”
Shining sighed and picked up a fork, scooped some chocolate cake, and ate it. It was too chocolatey for him, but he just looked at the fork and moved his foreleg to the table. “I’d miss you too much for words to say.” He brought the fork down quickly and stopped it as it touched the skin beneath his fur. “Would you miss me if I left? If I went away and never came back?”
Her eyes were wide, looking at the fork, knowing how close it had come to hurting her father. She realized how much she was hurting, and how much she’d be hurting if she lost her father for any reason. “It… it’s not the same. If I left, you’d know where I went. If you left and never came back,” she sniffled and tears smeared her mascara as they matted and traveled down her cheeks.
She sniffled and looked at her father. “D-daddy, don’t leave us.”
The fork clattered to the table and he rushed around the small table to sit beside his daughter. “Midnight, I’d never leave you or your mother like that. I don’t hate you, and I don’t care if you hate me, because I love you, your mother, and the entire Crystal Empire more than ever.”
“Y-you mean it?”
“Of course I do, and I love you, Midnight Winter, for the mare you are, not who you were or who you’re going to be. I’ll always be here for you, you just have to help me understand sometimes. I’m a stallion, and it’s no secret that almost all stallions are dumb, especially in the way of mares.”
Midnight giggled. “Yeah, all of you are pretty dumb.”
The servant stood up quickly. “Mistress, would you like for me to call the others in to help you reapply your makeup? It seems to have run a bit.”
Midnight wiped her eye on her fetlock and snorted. “You know what, dad?”
“What’s that?”
“Black really isn’t my color.”
